Genesis Reinterpreted

Now that we've dispensed with the preliminaries, let's decode the symbolism used in the first chapter of the Old Testament Book of Genesis. Does it really say that God created the world and everything in it in seven short days? No, because God's Will is done all at once, from Alpha to Omega, in the Holy Instant of Milta. More to the point, our Heavenly Father didn't DO anything Genesis describes directly, because the word "God" was an erroneous substitution for "Elohim," a plural Hebrew word meaning "Divine Grace."

I explained all of this -- and a whole lot more -- in Part 1 of this series. If you're coming late to the party, I strongly suggest you read that post before this one -- or, better yet, start from the very beginning with my post dated January 6, 2023.

Okay, so ... with the correct wording restored, the opening lines of Genesis read as follows:

In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim moved upon the face of the waters.

Based on all we've established thus far, the Elohim powers could NOT have created Heaven and the planet we call "Earth" in literal terms for two indisputable reasons. The first of these is that Heaven, being eternal, has always existed. The second is that the dream-universe was, according to Genesis, “without form, and void” at this point in time. There were, in other words, no perceived galaxies, solar system, planets, or other astral objects -- and wouldn’t be for thousands (if not millions) more dream-years.

If, then, this description is valid, it must mean something OTHER than what it APPEARS to mean (which it absolutely does). That Elohim created “heaven” and “earth” when the void was “without form” tells us the Spirit of Grace re-engineered the dream-realm to serve the Shared Will of Father and Son BEFORE we imagined the drifting clouds of matter consolidating into solid forms. Thus, that “darkness was upon the face of the deep” indicates that, even before "the intrusion of fire and ice" blocked God's tonal transmissions of Agape, the Ego Mind's fear-based thought-system had jammed the channel through which God speaks to our Souls.

Moving “upon the face of the waters” does NOT mean Elohim flew over the oceans, as many Biblical interpreters (both scholarly and clerical) wrongly presume. If there were no planets, how could there be oceans?

The obvious answer is: There could NOT be. 

The "waters" in Genesis aren't the wet stuff; rather, they symbolize thought vibrations. Luminously interpreted, “Moved upon the face of the waters” simply means the Spirit of Grace acted in the formless void to change its purpose from miscreating through fear-based thinking to learning or remembering how to create again in accordance with the Law of Love.

As you contemplate these events, keep in mind that Elohim changed the world's purpose NOT by tinkering with the structure of matter, as many occult "scientists" falsely report, but by tinkering with the vibratory "wiring" within our image-projecting minds.

To confirm the accuracy of what I’ve just explained, let’s consult the Gospel of Mary, another of the early Christian texts unearthed at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945. Written by Mary the Magdala, the "beloved disciple" and wedded wife of Jesus, the Gospel of Mary first resurfaced in 1896, but events conspired to keep its discovery secret until two more copies were found many decades later.

In Mary’s gospel, Jesus says the following about the nature of matter: 

All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots. For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Here’s what he means: Matter consists of vibratory thought-waves, projected outward in image-forms symbolizing the underlying idea. Although fear-based, that underlying idea is still creative thought or “spirit.” Thus, matter and spirit share a cause-effect relationship. They are not two separate things, but ONE idea in different stages of manifestation. To dissolve matter, therefore, we must purify our minds of the dense fear-based thoughts through which we project the illusion of form in collusion with the Ego Mind.

When we stop projecting the dark and dense emotions of fear and guilt, in other words, the illusion of solid matter will simply disappear. What will then remain is the only thing that’s REAL: The Great Light of God's Mind in which “all nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another.” 

Got it? Good. Let’s get back to Genesis.

Here’s what happened next, according to the Old Testament account:

And Elohim said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And Elohim saw the light, that it was good, and divided the light from the darkness. And they called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night.

Did the Spirit of Grace create visible light at this point in time? No, because the Ego Mind projected the image of suns much later to support the illusion of physicality. What Elohim ACTUALLY did was shine Holy Light into the "dark void" of fear-dominated perception. Like most things in the Bible, “Day” and “Night” are symbolic references. “Day” represented the Light of God the Spirit of Grace brought into the dream to change its purpose, while "Night" symbolized the dark deceptions or unreal opposites the Ego Mind manifested to block the Higher Mind "receivers" of the Separated Ones.

The ancient Chinese Yin-Yang symbol represents this duality of this concept of Day (mind-awake) and Night (mind-asleep). Like everything else the Ego Mind touches, the symbol's real meaning has been distorted over time. Yin and Yang are NOT two opposing forces (such as male and female) working in harmony, as modern philosophers erroneously profess. They are two opposing forces, only one of which is REAL.

Originally, the word "Yin" meant "firm," while "Yang" meant "yielding." The "Yin" aspect of the universe encompassed, therefore, the perfect, eternal, and unchanging aspects of Creation, while "Yang" symbolized the ever-shifting dark opposites that blocked the "Yin" from our awareness. To see the truth of our being, early Chinese sages RIGHTLY advised, we must seek and honor only the "firm," "light," or "eternal" components of being. 

Thus, in the story of Genesis:

Day = Yin = the "firm" or "light" creations of God (mind-awake/knowing/Agape-inspired)
Night = Yang = the "yielding" or "dark" manifestations of the Ego Mind (mind-asleep/perceiving/fear-inspired)

Genesis continues as follows:

And Elohim said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” And [the] Elohim made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And [the] Elohim called the [upper] firmament Heaven.

Most ego-deceived Biblical interpreters take this to mean Elohim (or God) divided the sky from the oceans on Day Two of the (Re) Building Cycle. That is NOT, however, what it says at all. “Firmament” means “sphere” or “realm,” while the “waters,” as explained, were the two opposing thought-systems (Day/Light/Yin or Night/Darkness/Yang) the Separated Ones would be able to choose between after the Atonement Plan was activated.

To divide the Higher Mind “waters” or thought-vibrations from the lower-mind “waters” or thought-vibrations, Elohim established a “realm” in-between Heaven (Superconsciousness) and “earth” (Ego Consciousness). The Spiritual Triad is that middle “realm.” To return to Heaven-proper, we must first pass through that middle-firmament. This is what Jesus means in the New Testament AND the Course when he says, "Nobody can reach the Father except through me." Nobody can, in other words, restore their mind to Superconsciousness or Knowledge without first passing through the corrected perceptual state of Christ Consciousness.

Throughout the Course, Jesus calls this middle-firmament or Spiritual Triad the Inner-Altar.

To verify the accuracy of my interpretation, let’s look more closely at the Hebrew word translated into English as "Heaven." The word was Shamayin, which (like Elohim) is PLURAL. Etymologically, Shamayin combines two smaller words: sham or samu, meaning “sky” or “lofty,” and mayim, meaning “water.” What Shamayin means, therefore, is “lofty-water,” Higher Mind, or Higher Thought.

In Jewish theology, Shamayin has three levels. The highest is the dwelling place of the Lord of Hosts; the middle level houses “the living”; and the lowest tier is “the realm of the dead.” Most Jewish scholars and teachers understand these three levels as Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. In actuality, they are the three “planes” or “kingdoms” governed by the Trinity Powers of Elohim, which are:

Throne of the Lord of Hosts = Seventh Plane, the dwelling place of the Spirit of Grace, who represents the Father part of the Will to liberate the Sonship from Ego-enslavement;

Land of the Living = Sixth Plane, the dwelling place of the Christ and Christ-Realized Souls (the “living” who’ve overcome “death” through "resurrection");

Land of the Dead = The Fifth Kingdom, the dwelling place of the Atman or Soul-Self and awakening Souls who’ve not yet "resurrected" -- i.e., “realized” their shared Christ Identities or Wholeness.

Let’s proceed to the third symbolic “day,” on which the Spirit of Grace reportedly did the following:

And Elohim said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear”: and it was so. And Elohim called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters they called seas: and they saw that it was good.

The meaning of this passage suffers greatly from unilluminated translation and interpretations. We now know that the “waters under heaven” are the lower-mind planes of Ego Consciousness. To gather them together in one place, Elohim organized the drifting and divided Souls into orders or "kingdoms" below the Spiritual Triad, but still in the “waters” of perception. Based on various things I’ve read, these orders are roughly as follows:

Fourth Kingdom = Humans
Third Kingdom = Non-Human Animals
Second Kingdom = Plants
First Kingdom = Minerals or Protoplasm (depending on source)

In the passage under discussion, the Hebrew word translated as “seas” was yammin or yamin, which means right hand, right-mind, or Higher Mind. The word translated as “dry land” was hey-yabbasah. Hey means “to reveal” or “true revelation comes from Heaven alone.” It refers, therefore, to the third power of Elohim: the illuminating Light of God within all living things. Yabbasah, meanwhile, means “dry,” “withered,” or “ashamed.” The word translated as Earth was Adamah, which has come to mean earth, soil, or ground, but didn’t at first. Originally, Adamah was the name of the allegorical Garden of Eden, the paradise God created for His Souls to practice creating.

Similarly, the Hebrew word adam has come to mean “man” or “humankind.” Originally, the word meant “red,” while its root (dam) meant “blood.” Adam, therefore, symbolized the Souls in Adamah. In the dream, Adam is represented by the Atman -- the Divine Spark or Christ-fragment in all lifeforms. In the dream-realm, that Spark is a chip off the old block, so to speak. As such, it's the same color as its Source: the One on the Ruby Throne referenced in the Book of Revelations.

This particular Genesis passage is, in fact, a great example of how off-base literal or unilluminated interpretations of the Scriptures can be. This confusing description has nothing to do with the land and water we perceive on Planet Earth. Rather, it echoes the allegory of Adam and Eve AND the Course, both of which describe how, under the Ego Mind’s corrupting influence, the Separated Ones believed they had shamed themselves in the eyes of God. To escape their disgrace, they fled (projected their split minds) into a lower realm devoid of the “waters” or "graces" of the Higher Mind. They descended, in other words, into the denser plane of ego-body consciousness. And it was then that they jammed their communications with God.

That Elohim gathered together the waters of yamin (the Soul’s repressed Higher Mind memories) means the Trinity Powers extended the Inner-Instrument into the lower realms of Persona and Matter. In so doing, they equipped the Separated Ones with an internal mechanism that would 1) restore their direct communication with God and 2) gently and gradually bring them back up the six levels they fell down.

On the proverbial third day, Elohim transformed the Ego Mind's barren worlds into habitable learning environments for the sanity-restoring At-one-ment curriculum. Shrouded in fear, guilt, and physical bodies, the Souls shared the belief they required food to survive, and thus made the need real in the dream. In Truth, they only needed the manna of God's Saving Grace, which the Christ Mind provided through its vibratory "Song of Heaven."

On the fourth day, according to Genesis, the following occurred:

And [the] Elohim said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the Day from the Night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth”: and it was so. And [the] Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the Day, and the lesser light to rule the Night: they made the stars also. And Elohim set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the Day and over the Night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and Elohim saw that it was good.

This passage SEEMS to describe Elohim creating suns, stars, and moons; but we know that can’t be right because, like God, the Spirit of Grace creates through Divine Will. The two great lights Elohim "made" were the Christ Light and the Divine Spark or Atman, which "gave light upon the earth" from the Spiritual Triad or Inner-Altar. Being within us, these two lights divide the light (Spiritual Truth) from the darkness (Ego-manifested deception).

The next section of Genesis reads:

And Elohim said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that [they] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” And they created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and Elohim saw that it was good … [and] blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”

In the Course, Jesus tells us unequivocally that the Ego Mind made our physical bodies to perceive separation and the sense of limitation and littleness it engendered. Thus, Elohim could NOT have created birds and sea creatures, as this passage SEEMS to suggest. To decipher the real meaning, let’s again consider the symbolism.

Waters = the vibratory levels of thought, now organized into seven planes

Open firmament of heaven = the three higher planes of the Trinity Powers

Because this Biblical passage mentions whales and birds, we can infer that the Souls from the Third Kingdom (non-human animals) were now “falling” into bodies on the denser physical plane. So, Elohim said, more or less: “Let the corrective devices we’ve provided bring the fallen Souls back to the Spiritual Triad in great numbers.” They also encouraged the body-clad Souls to “be fruitful and multiply” so more of them could enter the new Atonement Academy they’d reengineered the dream-world to be.

“The whole [reproductive] process was set up as a learning experience in gaining Grace,” Jesus explains in the Course's URText. He also says that procreative sex was introduced as “a creative tool” for two primary purposes. The first was to enable Souls to make new homes for other Souls and lovingly “parent” them, as God parents us. The second was to allow Souls to “live” many lives with the goal of improving their "Records."

On the symbolic sixth and final day, Elohim did the same for the remaining Souls from the Third Kingdom, as well as for the human Souls in the Fourth Kingdom. Regarding human Souls, Elohim said:

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” So [the] Elohim created man in their own image, in the image of the Elohim created they him; male and female created they them. And [the] Elohim blessed them, and said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Let's stop here for a sec, because I need to explain that the Hebrew word translated as "dominion" in the passage above actually means "to lower oneself." Contrary to popular presumption, Elohim did NOT command human Souls to rule over the lower orders of body-clad Souls; they commanded us to right-mindedly perceive ourselves as EQUAL with all the other orders of Creation.

This is what Jesus attempts to express in Matthew 35:40, when he says, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." What we do to ANY lifeform, in other words, we do unto our own CHRIST-SELF (and will receive as we gave).

In the Course, Jesus also explains that we can't get back to Heaven until we RIGHTLY perceive that we are one with and equal to the Souls in ALL lifeforms. This is, in fact, how we "save" the lower orders of Creation. In the Manuel for Teachers, Jesus also lists "Gentleness" as a characteristic of Advanced or Enlightened Teachers of God. Gentleness, as defined by Jesus in this section, is identical to the Yogic "yama" or virtuous discipline of Ahimsa, non-violence, or harmlessness -- the guru-prescribed moral practice of not harming any living thing.

In case you're still on the fence about God's position on our treatment, consumption, and/or extermination of His Sons in the bodies of animals, fishes, and insects, read the rest of Genesis. In what is arguably the least cited passage in Biblical history, Elohim specifically instructs the Souls on earth to EAT ONLY PLANTS!!! 

The passage regarding the final day of the building cycle is also the one from which we got the crazy idea that God made human bodies in His mirror image. Since Elohim is a divine thought-force, the above CANNOT mean she/they made human bodies like theirs or that we physically resemble them or God (as we've already established). It has to mean, therefore, that the Graces did something to remind us of our resemblance to God in terms of our shared Holiness, Will, and Creative Powers -- the aspects and attributes of divinity we elected to forget when we chose earth over Heaven.

What did Elohim do to help us remember these aspects and attributes? The answer is: She/they installed an ingenious mechanism within us to accomplish God’s Plan over time and within the parameters of free will. In Course terms, that inner-instrument consists of the “Temple” (the lower four chakras or planes) and the "Inner-Altar" (the upper three chakras or planes).

Based on what Jesus explains in the Course, the Inner-Instrument also is equipped with the "tools" or components listed below. For ease in cross-referencing, I've added the now more familiar Hindu/Yoga terms for each of these elements in parenthesis where applicable. 

—An ever-sounding Call to Awaken (the Aum or Cosmic vibration)
—An embedded compulsion to return to God (Atman)
—A reasoning part of the mind that can learn Spiritual Truth, up to a point (Buddhi)
—A pre-set time (chosen by us) for the Shared Will to activate within our dreaming minds;
—A gentle force to uncoil that Will, once activated (Kundalini);
—An upward path for that Holy Will to follow as it uncoils over time (Sushumna);
—An inward-looking "eye" to enable correction (the Spiritual Eye);
—Two curative powers to “grease” the whole machine (the Great Rays within the Ida and Pingala nadis).

An invisible “body” sheathes these elements within us. That “body” is known by many names. Some call it the Astral or Subtle Body; others call it the Soma Pneumatikos. In the Course and the New Testament, as I’ve said, Jesus calls this Inner-Instrument "the Temple." He also states in no uncertain terms that the Temple to which he refers is NOT the physical body.

As I understand it, this Inner-Instrument and the physical body have nothing to do with each other, as each is projected by a different part of our dreaming minds. The Temple is projected by the Christ Mind, while the physical body is projected by the Ego Mind.

In the simplest possible terms:

Physical Body = instrument to enable lower-mind perception

Spiritual Body = instrument to restore Higher Mind perception

While experiencing ourselves in the world, we seem to wear this invisible Spiritual Body under our flesh-and-bone perceiving instruments. In reality, our "being" extends everywhere. With the addition of the Spiritual Body, Elohim made it possible for us to hear God again. We could not, however, hear God’s Voice yet. Before the Elohim powers could activate the plan, they had to wake up the Great Rays, which still slept in the Christ Mind. And that, in a nutshell, is how Jesus saved the world.

I'll describe all that Jesus did to earn the title "Savior" in a future post. For now, just know that even after Jesus awoke the Atonement Rays, the Christ Mind couldn’t communicate with its Soul-fragments unless invited to do so. The Elohim powers had erected the cell tower, so to speak, but we still had to turn on our phones to receive Christ's calls. Giving us this choice preserved free will -- or appeared to, at least. 

Other devices built into the Great Plan would eventually force the surrender of even the most stubborn hold-outs. I won’t go into what all of those devices are. Just know that nothing occurs by accident. Absolutely nothing. And all things work together for the greater good or accelerated awakening of everyone involved. To judge events without understanding the complex tapestry of whys, whatnots, and wherefores is to perceive them without context.

Okay, so ... that's my spiel on Genesis, but there's more to tell about the Elohim powers. Lots more. So, be sure to come back for the next installment in my "Who or What is Elohim?" series.

What is God? (Part 4)

God is the Spirit of Divine Will 

that actuates Perfect Creation

Are you enjoying my rather ambitious series explaining what God is (and is not)? I hope so, because compiling this information was no small undertaking -- and one I definitely could NOT have tackled alone. Up to this point in the series, we've established that God is 1) the Causal and Cognitive Creator of All That Is, 2) the invisible mind-bubble that houses Creation in harmonious Oneness, and 3) the Cause, Effect, and Creative Force of Agape -- the end-all, be-all of All That Is in Divine Reality. 

Along the way, we've also touched on the Law of Love, the Karmic Record, and the Ego Mind's God-blocking Dark Veil, Etheric Web, or Auric Shell. What I have yet to explain -- vis-à-vis God's various attributes -- is how Perfect Creation works.

To set the stage, let's review my definition of Agape. As you may recall, I described this Divine Concept or Covenant of All-Inclusive LOVE as the essence, ethereal substance, or mental vibration of All That Is, Has Ever Been, or Will Ever Be (inside the God-Mind Bubble). Agape is, therefore, the Cause (Father), Effect (Son), and Creative Force (Actuating Spirit) through which Cause wills Effect into being. Stated another way, God is Agape, God's Creative Will is Agape, God's Creations are Agape, Christ's Creations are Agape, and the Creative Will those Creations (be they God's or Christ's) share with their Creator also is Agape.

If it helps clarify the concept, imagine the multi-generational process of Perfect Creation as ripples on a pond, extending outward from the center. In this simple metaphor, God is the pond, the ripples on the pond, and the force that caused the ripples to radiate outward in concentric circles. To set this eternal process in motion, God metaphorically spoke "the Word," as described in the preamble to the New Testament gospel of "John." In the King James version, John 1:1-4 reads as follows: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Is this description accurate? Yes, more or less, if we correctly interpret the symbols. Stated without metaphor, God (the Supreme Causal Mind) spoke (activated the Creative Force) to bring the Word (the Divine Idea of the Sonship) into being.

Pretty clear, right? What isn't clear is who the "him" in John 1:2 - 4 is supposed to be. Is this "him" the Word or God? Most Christians believe "him" refers to the Word, the Son of God "made flesh" in the person of Jesus Christ. This all-too-common interpretation is, I believe, inaccurate on more than one level. First of all, the "him" to which John refers HAS to be God, the generative source or "creator" of all things, and without whom nothing real can be made. Second of all, "the Word" is the originating Divine Idea behind the whole Sonship or Christ Mind, not just Jesus.

In the Course, Jesus states this FACT emphatically. He is our brother in the Christ Mind, not the "only begotten Son of God." He also spells out that the Divine Idea or "Word" God willed into being was the Sonship. He further explains that the Divine Idea or abstract concept God willed into being as the Sonship was "My Son is as Perfect and Holy as my Self."  That idea, Jesus also tells us, is how God still KNOWS His ONE Holy Creation. God does not, in other words, recognize sin, guilt, fear, separation, or imperfection as a legitimate idea, let alone as an achievable state of being.

Got it? Good. 

Let's revisit John 1:1-4 with the word God inserted where I believe it belongs:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by God; and without God was not any thing made that was made. In God was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 

Makes more sense this way, doesn't it?

Okay, so ... now that we better understand the process of Perfect Creation, let's examine more closely the various components or "aspects" of Agape involved. As I see it, those "aspects" are these:

A) God = Causal Source of Agape (the Pond)

B) Creative Force = Divine Will of Agape (the force introduced to activate the rippling)

C) Creation I (Son of God) = Created Effect (the first set of ripples)

D) Creation II - Infinity (Grandson of God, etc.) = Created Effect of Christ (the subsequent ripples, ring by ring)

Okay, so ... the keys to Perfect Creation are A and B -- the Causal Source and Actuating Force of the ripples (C and D). The ripples, being the effects or products of A and B's inseparable union, can't make more ripples on their own. To keep the process going, the ripples must join the fixed union or partnership of the Source and and actuating Will of Agape. They must, in other words, SHARE their Father's Will to create ONLY the Divine Idea of Perfect Love. To take the metaphor one step farther, the ripples can't even BE what they are without the pond and the actuating force that brought them into being.

To help you visualize what I'm talking about, let's crack open the God-Mind Bubble. The layers we'd find within are remarkably similar to those seen in the cross-section of Planet Earth below. 

The correspondences are, I believe, as follows:

Inner Core = God + Creative Force of Divine Will

Outer Core = God's Creations (first generation)

Mantle = Christ's Creations (second generation)

Crust = God-Mind Membrane

As in my pond-ripple example, the rings of Creation extend outward, generationally, into timeless and spaceless infinity.

Or, as Jesus explains in the Course's "original" edition (not original dictations):

A co-creator with the Father must have a son. Yet must this son have been created like himself. A perfect being, all-encompassing and all-encompassed, nothing to add and nothing taken from -- not born of size nor weight nor time nor held to limits or uncertainties of any kind. Here do the means and end unite as one, nor does this one have any end at all. All this is true, and yet it has no meaning to anyone who still retains one unlearned lesson in his memory, one thought with purpose still uncertain, or one wish with a divided aim.

Does that help? I hope so, because this stuff is a bitch to understand, let alone explain.

When John says "without God was not any thing made that was made," he means that nothing real can be created without God's Creative Force of Divine Will. When John says "In God was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not," he's telling us that the only thing OF GOD in the Kingdom of Darkness is the Divine Spark of Eternal Life that is our Soul. When we perceive the world through the Ego Mind's dark lens, we can't "comprehend" that God-created Spark, Soul, or Christ-Self light-fragment in ourselves and others. To see that inner light or "face of Christ" in ourselves and our brothers, we have to strip away the Ego Mind's Dark Veil, layer by layer.

In the Course, Jesus tells us that God placed that Divine Spark or Christ-Self fragment at the center of what he calls the "Inner-Altar" or "God's Altar" within us. As I understand it, this metaphorical "altar" can be found on the uppermost/innermost plane of the "separated" or "dreaming" Christ Mind, which butts up against the God-Mind Bubble. As we advance through the Holy Spirit's at-one-ment, purification, undoing, forgiveness, or salvation process, we begin to see that "altar" through the inward-looking Spiritual Eye. The image below offers a rough idea of what we might see in meditation as we approach that Inner-Altar.

In the Dream of Darkness, that bright "spark" or "star" shining down from Heaven is the only created effect of Agape. As such, it is the source of our Eternal Life and Divinity -- the only part of us that's actually real or alive. It also is the only part of us that's recognized by and still connected to God.

Or, to quote Jesus:

There IS no life outside of Heaven. Where God Created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven, life is illusion. At best, it seems like life; at worst, like death. Yet both are judgments on what is not life, equal in their inaccuracy and lack of meaning. Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusions stands; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven. Illusions are but forms. Their content is never true.

John tries to tell us this but, like many things in the Bible, his message has been obscured by unilluminated interpreters. When luminously interpreted, John's gospel also imparts something else of vital importance. That something else is that neither God (A) nor the Creative Force of Agape (B) are present in the Dream of Separation.

Without these conjoined components of Perfect Creation, we can't create anything REAL or ETERNAL. With our puny, separate wills, we can only conjure fantasies that will break our hearts when they crumble into dust and blow away. Anything and everything we produce in partnership with the Ego Mind is, in fact, MISCREATION. It's all smoke and mirrors, my dreaming brother, and nothing more. The instant we wake up, the world and universe -- and everything they appear to contain -- will vanish into thin air.

What I've explained so far raises some important questions. The first is: Why are God and the Creative Force absent from the dream-dimension? The answer is: Because we wanted to experience what it would be like not to always share everything with everything. We wanted to be "special," in other words, instead of the same as everything else in Creation. When God refused to indulge this insane "whim," we bailed out of Heaven -- by splitting part of the Christ Mind away from the God Mind. In so doing, we manifested the realm of perception -- the little basket hanging under the God-Mind Bubble in another dimension. In that dimension, our understanding of reality is completely upside-down.

Another question we might ask is: How did we exclude God and His Creative Spirit from the split-off dream-dimension? The short answer is: When we asked the Ego Mind to manifest a sphere of mind in which we could perceive ourselves as separate, our new creative partner wove the silken threads of fear into a web to block God's transmissions of Agape. That web didn't only block God and His Creative Will; it also trapped us in the dream-realm it manifested OUTSIDE the God-Mind Bubble. Once we were caught, it wound those same threads around our Soul-memories to bind us within its Agape-starved Dark Kingdom.

In the Course, Jesus tells us that Agape and fear, being antithetical to each other, can't co-exist in the same sphere of mind. He also tells us fear isn't real because God didn't create it. Fear does NOT, therefore, exist within the God-Mind Bubble.

Stated another way, we can't experience fear in the Sphere of Superconsciousness or Knowledge we share with God. We can only experience fear in the split-off Sphere of Consciousness we projected part of our mind into to hide from God in shame and guilt. As the product of the unreal ideas (fear and separation), the Sphere of Consciousness doesn't actually exist. It's only a dream or alternate-reality we keep in place as long as we value anything it appears to offer more than the Truth about what and where we really are. Stated another way, the dream won't dissolve until we choose the priceless virtues of right-minded creating over the worthless vices of wrong-minded miscreating.

Okay, so ... another big question we might ask is this one: If God is All-Powerful, couldn't He just throw a lightning bolt through the Ego's Web of Fear and blow the whole dream-world to smithereens? The answer is: He could, but 1) God doesn't throw lightning bolts because we're inside His Mind and 2) having given us free will, He won't do anything to override or revoke it (within reason). Thus, we have to choose to end the dream of our own accord. We are not, however, on our own in this regard. After the dream went south, God sent the Holy Spirit into the Sphere of Consciousness to help us choose right.

In future posts, I'll describe how the Holy Spirit helps us "see the Light." For now, let's jump back to the gospel of John. To comprehend the preamble's full meaning vis-à-vis God's creative powers, we must know a few facts of history. The first of these FACTS is that the four gospels chosen for the New Testament were written accounts of oral narratives of what Jesus did and said. These four gospels were originally written in Greek, the common language of trade and higher learning in Judea in the time of Jesus.

The second FACT is that the surviving disciples of Jesus, all of whom spoke Aramaic, were the original sources of these narratives. The third FACT is that the early followers of Jesus were hunted down, stoned to death, crucified, beheaded, burnt alive, and fed to lions, among other atrocities. To escape persecution, torture, and death, they met in secret and shared their stories orally for at least a century before these narratives were written down. Except for the gospels composed by the disciples themselves (including John, James, Mary, Philip, and Thomas) these passed-down narratives were recorded by various unknown scribes in several languages, including Aramaic, Coptic, Greek, and Hebrew. 

The fourth FACT is that the gospels written by the surviving disciples were not only excluded from the New Testament canon, they also were condemned as heretical by the men who chose the four New Testament gospels. The author of "John" is NOT, therefore, John, the alleged "beloved disciple" of Jesus -- but the men who commissioned that gospel to promote their own ends wanted people to believe it was.

What's my point? I have three, actually, which are: 1) More than a century passed before the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written down; 2) Those four gospels were recorded in Greek, rather than the original spoken Aramaic; and 3) The men who chose those four gospels OVER the writings of the surviving disciples did so because these four best told the story of Jesus the way they wanted it told.

As we move forward, I'll explain the history in more detail. For now, just know that the New Testament canon was chosen by men with ego-motivated agendas. Some of their primary aims were to 1) dictate what Jesus was and taught, 2) unite and institutionalize the various "Christian" sects under a flagship "catholic" church whose authority couldn't be questioned by anyone claiming to have direct illumination from the Holy Spirit.

To achieve their aims, the leaders of the "catholic" movement condemned as heretical anyone promoting conflicting interpretations of what Jesus was and/or taught, as well as anyone claiming to have received contradictory "inner-knowing" from the Holy Spirit. To fuel the fire of their condemnation, these "catholic" leaders attached to both these groups the loaded label "gnostic," a word THEY made synonymous with "heretic" or "blasphemer." Stripped of this contrived negative "frame," the word "gnostic" simply means "inner-knowing." 

Let's pause here for a moment, because I want to point out that the New Testament and the Course say pretty much the same things when both are interpreted correctly. The Course does, however, present a more thorough and modern explanation of the process and requirements of salvation than does the New Testament. As stated earlier, this is because the men who selected the New Testament canon wanted the last word on what Jesus was, taught, and did. Because they were virulently anti-illumination and anti-gnostic (inner-knowing), they excluded the teachings about accessing the Holy Spirit directly and seeking the Kingdom of Heaven within our minds.

Jesus DID, in fact, teach these truths and techniques during his earthly life. How do I know this? Because the gospels of Thomas, Mary, Philip, John, and James (among others) say as much. Not only were the gospels of these five Apostles of Christ destroyed by the "catholic" authorities, their legitimate authors were also systematically and mendaciously discredited as heretics, imposters, and/or hypocrites. To slur Mary -- who was both the "beloved" disciple and wedded wife of Jesus -- one of the early Popes went so far as to identify her as the demon-possessed prostitute "saved" by Jesus in Luke 8:1-3. That this mischaracterization of Mary the Magdala (NOT Mary Magdalene) was a slanderous fallacy wasn't openly acknowledged by the Vatican until very recently.

Had these and other equally illuminating so-called "gnostic" gospels not been found in the Jordan Desert in 1945, the world would never know of their existence.

Despite all this, I still consider the Holy Bible (when accurately interpreted) to be a credible source of Higher Truth. Not the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth, perhaps, but certainly credible enough to warrant deep and careful study. Like the Course (as Jesus makes clear), the New Testament is a beginning, not an end. To go "the rest of the way" (to Transfiguration and Ascension), we have to switch the radio-receiver in our hearts and heads from the Ego Mind's blaring, chaotic, and fear-mongering channel to the Holy Spirit's quiet, ordered, and love-mongering one.

(Is it just me, or does it also strike you as strange that the word "mongering" is only ever linked with a negative word like "fear" or "rumor"? The word mongering simply means "the act or practice of promoting, spreading, or trading in a specified thing." So, what do you say to joining me in doing a whole lot more love-mongering in the world?)

Okay, so ... the point I'm trying to make is this: To dismiss the Course, the Bible, or any sacred text or teaching as wrong, inferior, heathen, or blasphemous is, therefore, a narrow-minded (ego-inspired) judgment rather than an open-minded (spirit-inspired) assessment. All such teachings serve a purpose in God's Great Awakening Plan, and ALL -- including the Course and the Bible -- have fallen prey to the dirty tricks the Ego Mind uses to block out Higher Truth. Some of those sneaky tactics are literal and fearful interpretation, inaccurate translation, agenda-driven redaction, "form-over-content" ritualization, and charlatanism, both deliberate and well-intentioned.

What's all this got to do with the preamble to the New Testament gospel of "John"? I'm glad you asked, because the answer is: The real meaning was lost in translation. When the oral Jesus-narratives were written down in Greek, the Aramaic word Milta was changed to Logos. Why? Because there is no Greek word that conveys the full scope of Milta's meaning. Around 1,500 years later, when the New Testament was translated into English, Logos was changed to "the Word" because there is no English equivalent for Logos.

Let's now explore the subtle-yet-illuminating differences in meaning between these three terms. "Word" just means, more or less, "a name humankind has attached to the physical form of an idea." Logos, meanwhile, cuts away a layer by referring directly to the idea. Logos also communicates that the idea to which it refers is Divine, rather than a product of human intelligence. Milta also translates, more or less, as "Divine Thought or Idea," but the Aramaic word also captures the way God's Mind works. Unlike Logos, Milta encapsulates the whole Alpha-to-Omega gamut of the Divine Idea referenced.

Because the God Mind operates inside the ever-repeating now-moment of Superconscious Eternity, the Creative Force of Perfect Love doesn't just bring a Divine Idea into being the moment God thinks "So Be It" or "Let My Will be done."

Yes, well ... it does and it doesn't.

In actuality, the Creative Force plays out everything that Divine Idea will do and become the same now-moment God divines the idea into being. This is, in fact, how God creates and also why His Creations can neither usurp His Supreme Creative Will and Laws nor change their True Identities or destinies in the slightest way. Stated another way, the perfect completion of the Sonship was a done-deal the Holy Instant God first said "So Be It."

This is partly what the Burning Bush meant when it said to Moses, "I Am that I Am." Dialed back to the original Hebrew, "I Am that I Am" means, more or less,  "I Am what always was, what is now, and what will be again." What Milta expresses also is partly what the author of Ecclesiastes meant when he or she wrote: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

I say "partly"  in both instances because the Old Testament bush and scribe also meant that the dream of earthly existence is both already over and never happened ... but let's table that mind-bending Truth until another time.

The point I'm trying to make NOW is that "the Word" wasn't an actual word because God doesn't communicate in words. God thinks and communicates abstractly, as do (according to Jesus) the Souls He created. More specifically, God communicates directly (telepathically) with His Thought-Creations through "concept-packets."

Being ONE with everything, God also has a one-track mind; meaning He only ever thinks, communicates, and creates ONE all-encompassing and ever-extending "concept packet." That "concept packet" expresses Perfect Love in all its Divine Attributes, which include glory, joy, peace, comfort, devotion, mercy, abundance, generosity, goodness, loving kindness, fraternity, charity, sharing, eternal being, and grace (among others).

Unfortunately, by substituting "Word" for Logos, the men who translated the New Testament into English perpetuated the FALLACY that God looks, speaks, and behaves like a human being. In actuality, our Heavenly Father has NOTHING in common with our ego-authored self-concepts -- our humanness, in other words. Despite what the Bible appears to say, God did NOT create "man" in His physical likeness. God, being CAUSAL SUPERCONSCIOUS MIND, is invisible, and so are His Creations.

What God created in His own likeness (meaning "of a like quality," according to Jesus) is the Divine Idea or Sonship that IS Creation. That Sonship is God's clone or twin in every respect but one. Being the Causeless Cause, the God Mind existed before the Christ Mind, which the God Mind ideated into existence by extending the Creative Force of Perfect Love. The God Mind is, therefore, the CAUSE of the Christ Mind, while the Christ Mind is the EFFECT of the God Mind.

This may seem like a minor distinction, but it's actually of vital importance. Why? Because, as Jesus explains in the Course (and John explains at the start of his gospel), nothing real can be created without the Force of Divine Will through which God and His Creations expand the Divine Idea, "concept-packet," "pond" or "bubble" of Perfect Love that GOD IS.

In the Course, Jesus says something else of monumental importance pertaining to the relationship between creative mind and thought. What does he say? That ideas can't leave their source. Part of his meaning is this: Being God's Divine Idea, we're still safe at home in the God Mind, only dreaming we're in exile on Planet Earth. And if nothing we do in God-excluding dreams can have any real effects, then nothing we do on Planet Earth can change anything in Creation.

Let's take this idea one step further: If nothing we do changes anything REAL, God has no reason to get mad or punish us when we screw up in our dream-lives. Not that anger, wrath, judgment, sin, punishment, or damnation are Divine Attributes. They are, in fact, unreal opposites invented by the Ego Mind to fool us into agreeing to live in its God-less "desert." The Great Deceiver also uses our BELIEF in these unreal opposites to 1) keep its love-blocking Web of Fear strong in our minds and 2) use the anger, guilt, and condemnation we project onto others to both punish our dream-selves and chain our Souls to the Karmic Wheel of Rebirth.

What we THINK in the dream can't create anything real, but our ego-generated thoughts can and DO generate their like at the level of form. As explained, this is because the Divine Law of Love dictates that we receive (at the level of effect/form) what we give (at the level of mind/will). And Divine Law still governs how thought manifests, even in the Kingdom of Darkness. It is, however, our belief in sin, guilt, and karma that chains us to the Ego Mind's Wheel of Rebirth. To liberate our Souls, we need only forgive ourselves and others for wrongly believing in these dream-imprisoning deceptions.

Is this a tall order? Hell, yes. Can it be achieved? Not until we fully accept that the world we perceive is a dream in which nothing real actually happens. Because our acceptance of this FACT is the key to the karma-busting practice of True Forgiveness, we must strive with every fiber of our being to 1) see the world as the thought-projection it actually is and 2) correct the wrong-minded thoughts and beliefs blocking our memories of God and Heaven.

My job is to help you achieve both objectives, so keep reading.

What is God? (Part 1)

God is Causal Mind

Contrary to what many of us have been duped into believing, God is NOT a bearded old man looking down on the world from a big shiny throne up in Heaven. Our Heavenly Father is NOT, in fact, a person at all, nor is Heaven an actual place. Rightly understood, God is the Supreme Creative Mind or Causeless Cause that, "in the beginning" extended and/or projected the Creative Thought Force that brought into being all that is, has ever been, or ever will be. 

All that is, has ever been, or ever will be is, therefore, God's creative EFFECT. This effect is known by various names, some of which are the Son of God or Sonship, Creation, Christ, the Christ Mind, and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Oh, yes, my sleeping brother. All of these terms are synonyms for the Christ-Self, Holy Mind, or Superconscious Sphere our Souls comprise in Divine Reality. Because God's "Sonship" includes everything the Father created "in the beginning," its membership extends to the Souls within ALL lifeforms, not just human Souls -- and certainly NOT only Jesus.

Think about this the next time you order a hamburger -- or step on a cockroach.

In the dream-desert, Jesus SYMBOLIZES the Christ-Self we all comprise in Divine Reality. That Christ-Self is the "loaf," and our individual Souls are the torn-off pieces or fragments of that greater "body." This is the idea Jesus tried to get across to his disciples at the Last Supper, when he urged them to break the symbolic bread "in remembrance of me." He meant, "Break bread on occasion to remember that you are all parts of the Christ-Self, as am I." He did NOT mean, "Imagine consuming my flesh as a wafer to remember how I died for your sins."

As a symbol of the Christ-Self, Jesus represents the purified State of Grace all human beings must attain before returning to or -- more accurately -- REMEMBERING their True Identities as the Perfect and Eternal Idea the God-Mind willed into being "in the beginning." When he says (in John 14:6), "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," he means, "I am the WAY because it is I who will guide you along the path back to Christ-Realization; I am the TRUTH because it is I who helps you see through the Great Deceiver's illusions; and I am the LIFE because it is I who symbolizes the immortal Christ-Self we all are deep-down in the core of our beings."

Got it? Good, because our Savior's message is lost on those who erroneously insist Jesus was God's "only begotten Son."

As Jesus himself explains in the Manual for Teachers, The Christ, Christ-Self, or Christ Mind still abides "within the Mind that is His Source." That Mind -- the God Mind -- is our Holy Home, now and forever. In that Holy Home, Jesus tells us, we (as Souls) are still as perfect and innocent as God created us "in the beginning."

The God-Mind in which we dwell eternally is a Superconscious Sphere of Knowledge or Omniscience. The part we occupy is called Heaven or the Kingdom of Heaven. Contrary to what many religions teach, our Souls do NOT go to Heaven when they drop the maya-perceiving instruments their physical bodies actually are. Rightly understood, Heaven is the natural state of Omniscience or Knowledge our Souls share with their Creator. Heaven is NOT, therefore, a reward Souls receive for repenting or being "good"; it's the All-Knowing state-of-being to which they return by remembering what they really are, where they really are, and how they really think and will.

WHAT they are is God's Holy Son; WHERE they are is inside the God-Mind, safe, sound, and impervious to anything Satan can dream up to deceive them into believing otherwise; and HOW they think and will is the same way God thinks and wills.

Jesus affirms much of what I've just explained in the following excerpt from Lesson 45 (God is the Mind with which I think) of the Course's Workbook for Students:

You think with the Mind of God. Therefore you share your thoughts with Him, as He shares His with you. They are the same thoughts, because they are thought by the same Mind. To share is to make alike, or to make one. Nor do the thoughts you think with the Mind of God leave your mind, because thoughts do not leave their source. Therefore, your thoughts are in the Mind of God, as you are. They are in your mind as well, where He is. As you are part of His Mind, so are your thoughts part of His Mind.

To summarize: Only the thoughts we share with the God Mind are REAL and TRUE. Everything else is smoke and mirrors conjured by the Ego Mind -- the Anti-Christ, Devil, Great Deceiver, or Alien-Mind that broadcasts the Dream of Separation into our sleeping minds. Rightly understood, the Ego Mind weaves a Dark Veil, Etheric Web, or Auric Shell around our Higher Minds to block our memories of God, Heaven, and our True Identities.

This "egg" is the cocoon in which we see ourselves as earthbound caterpillars. It's also the Cosmic Egg or Womb in which we prepare for rebirth as the Sons of God we really are. Rightly understood, the Cosmic Egg is a purification chamber, rather than an evolutionary environment.

In Heaven, all thoughts are shared (telepathically) between Father and Son. Everybody knows everything there is to know, so there's no need for words or language. Behind the Ego Mind's Soul-memory barricade, Dark Veil, Etheric Web, or Auric Shell, we can't hear God's direct transmissions, but we ARE still connected to His Mind. And, thanks to Jesus, we CAN hear the Holy Spirit, who "speaks," "sings," or intones on God's behalf through the Christ Mind.

Technically speaking, Heaven isn't just the Holy Home of the Christ Mind. Being the spaceless sphere the Christ Mind occupies within the God Mind, the Kingdom of Heaven IS the Christ Mind. We don't just live there, in other words; we make up that shared Superconscious "kingdom," sphere, or realm. This is the Great Truth Jesus attempts to impart when he says things like "You are the Kingdom of Heaven" and "The Kingdom of Heaven is spread out upon the earth, but men do not see it."

The Kingdom of Heaven is spread out on the earth as the Soul or Divine Spark within all living things. That indwelling Holy Light is the only part of this world created by God "in the beginning." It is, therefore, the only part that's Real and/or Eternal. We don't see that Spark as long as we perceive the world and our fellow creatures through the Dark Veil of ego-manifested opposites and grievances. 

To behold the Kingdom of Heaven all around us, we must look inward -- deep into the Higher Mind memory "banks" of our Souls. Those ethereal storage units are the chakras, which are blocked by the Ego Mind's unreal opposites, unloving thoughts, fear-conditioning, and grievances. The at-one-ment apparatus that enables our inner-sight or Holy Vision is the Spiritual Eye or nous -- the intuitive "eye of the heart." Only by opening this symbolic "single eye" can we look through the Dark Veil into the chakras. And only through this "single-eye" -- as Jesus explains in the Bible AND the Course -- can we perceive the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Why must we turn our focus inward? Because the TRUTH is in our minds, NOT in the forms we perceive as outside and unconnected to us. What we perceive "out there" is merely our fearful thoughts and beliefs, projected outward in material form. More specifically, what we perceive with the body's senses are materialized symbols of the wrong-minded errors that blind us to the inner-Truth. To correct those errors, we have to forgive ourselves and everybody else for being duped into believing what happens in the external world is not only REAL, but also consequential.

I'll revisit these and other Great Truths in future posts. Up next, we're going to talk more about how the God Mind thinks, wills, and creates, so be sure to read on or come back. 

Epiphanies, great and small

 

Heaven Itself is reached by empty hands and open minds,which come with nothing
to find everything and claim it as their own.

—Jesus Christ, A Course in Miracles

When A Course in Miracles first came to me, through an undeniable act of Spirit, I remember thinking two things. The first was that the teachings DEFINITELY came from Jesus Christ -- not Helen Schucman, the clinical psychologist who scribed this "metaphysical masterpiece." In no way could an ordinary human-being have conceived the perception-reversing pedagogy this extraordinary book presents. My second thought was that the elevated mindset the Course promotes seemed nearly impossible to apply on a daily basis.

These many years later, I’m not yet enlightened, but I do feel the presence of Christ burning in my heart, I can hear the ever-present echo of God’s Saving Grace in my head, and I absolutely perceive the world and its purpose very differently than I did before starting the Course back in 1997.

My point is this: The Course delivers what it promises if we interpret the teachings correctly and do our part in the ego-undoing process. We must read and reflect on the mind-bending concepts presented in the Text; we must do the daily lessons that enable us to apply those ideas; and we must strive to see the world not as our egos would have it be, but as the Soul-liberating learning-simulator it actually is.

I can’t tell you how often I try to impress this upon my fellow Course students - and how stubbornly they resist doing the work that will free them from the pain and suffering caused by their own wrong-minded thinking. They’re miserable, poor Souls, yet they persist in choosing hell over Heaven day after day. When I grow frustrated with their Truth-blocking obstinance, the Holy Spirit gently reminds me that my earthly ministry is NOT OF ME.

I am only HIS messenger.

The same is true of this blog. I’m not writing all this to make money or attract devotees. My only desire is to be truly helpful to those, like myself, who seek Spiritual Truth through A Course in Miracles. Whether my readers are three or 3,000 in number makes no difference to me. Many or few, they are parts of my Self – the Higher, Christ-Self I am and always have been in Divine Reality.

Launching THE HOLY MEETING PLACE on the Feast of the Epiphany wasn’t accidental – nor was it strictly my idea. When guided (in meditation) to launch the blog on this date, I knew that January 6 marked the arrival of the three Wise Men in Bethlehem. I also knew the event was symbolic, rather than historical, as are most things in the Holy Bible. What does the Adoration of the Magi represent? News of the Savior's birth reaching the "gentile" or non-Jewish peoples of "the Orient," the vast region comprising India, Arabia, and the Far East.

Through subsequent research I learned that the Feast of the Epiphany is observed on a different date in regions still using the Julian calendar. Christian churches in these eastern regions celebrate Epiphany on January 19, which just happens to be my body-birthday.

Happy accident or a carefully orchestrated part of God’s Great and Perfect Plan? The answer is ALWAYS the latter, as Jesus attests in the Course.

Noteworthily, the later Feast Day commemorates the baptism of Jesus, rather than the arrival of the Three Kings in Bethlehem. Why is this noteworthy? Before I answer that, let me explain that the word "epiphany" predominately means "the revelation or incarnation of God in the world." In Christianity, the word is mainly applied to the incarnation or manifestation of God in the world as the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Western Christians, believing Jesus was God-incarnate from birth, celebrate the Epiphany when the news of that presumed incarnation spread to the "gentiles" in India, Arabia, and the Far East. Eastern Christians, conversely, believe Jesus attained, realized, or remembered his inner-divinity (i.e., embodied only the Christ-Self) through the ritual purification of baptism.

In actuality, Jesus first wholly embodied the Pure State of Grace that IS Christ Consciousness not at birth or through baptism, but at the event described in Mark 9:2-13, Matthew 17:1-13, and Luke 9:28-36. He experienced this TRANSFIGURATION from Son of Man (lower-self body-ego identification) to Son of God (Higher-Self Christ-Spirit identification) AFTER and as a desirable effect of his forty-day ordeal in the "desert" or "wilderness." As explained in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus was repeatedly harassed by Satan during an extended period of isolation and fasting. During that time, according to the Epistle of the Hebrews, the Evil One tempted Jesus "in every way that we are, except without sin."

We'll discuss the accuracy of that statement another time. For now, just know that Satan departed in defeat only after Jesus resisted EVERY offered temptation. Shortly thereafter, Jesus went into the mountains, where he experienced what Christians RIGHTLY understand to be, "the revelation of the eternal glory of the second person of the Trinity" (as per Britannica.com).

In case you don't know, the second "person" -- or, more accurately, ASPECT -- of the Holy Trinity is the Son of God, Sonship, or Christ Mind. Having been reborn as the Son of God (through Transfiguration or Christ-Realization), Jesus returned to Galilee to begin his three-year ministry in the world.

As I said, almost everything in the Bible is symbolic or allegorical, rather than literal or historical. This is, in fact, true of all scriptural texts, including the Course (despite what one prominent ACIM teacher would have us believe). When it comes to sacred texts, "literal" is code for "unilluminated." The deeper meaning of these teachings is revealed by the Holy Spirit through illumination. Without the luminosity ONLY God's Spirit can provide, we can NOT interpret the Higher Truths these texts impart with any degree of accuracy.

Unfortunately, many unilluminated teachers, preachers, and self-proclaimed "authorities" have tried to tell us what these stories mean down the ages -- and erroneously believe they've succeeded. All they've really succeeded in doing is twisting the Higher Truths these texts contain into contradictory and fear-inducing hogwash that obscures rather than clarifies their meaning.

Having been gifted with scriptural illumination, I will shed much-needed light on the teachings of Jesus Christ, as presented in the Course, the New Testament, and other scriptural texts. In this post, I will de-code the two allegories mentioned above: the Last Temptation and the Transfiguration. Let's start with the story of the Last Temptation, in which Jesus goes alone into a "desert" or "wilderness," where he passes forty trying days fasting and resisting Satan's many temptations.

Okay, so ... did Jesus really do this? Probably, but that's not the point. The point is that he was acting out a script for the rest of us to follow. That script was written by the Holy Spirit, to show us the way out of the Dream of Separation.

As in most allegories, the elements in the story of the Last Temptation have deeper symbolic meaning than a literal reading can reveal. Jesus isn't Jesus-the-man exclusively, for example; his character in the story represents the Soul or Son of God WE ALL ARE in Divine Reality. Likewise, the "desert" or "wilderness" isn't a specific physical locale; the "desert" or "wilderness" in the story symbolizes the illusion of physical existence we only THINK is real. That illusion takes place in the imaginary "world" we PERCEIVE through our lower-mind bodily senses. 

That Jesus was alone during his ordeal in this metaphorical "desert" speaks to the isolation, loneliness, alienation, and abandonment we experience in the dreamscape variously known as the Kingdom of Darkness (Christianity), Brahmanda (Hinduism), and Samsara Maya (Buddhism). That Jesus fasted to the point of starvation while in this emblematic "wilderness" denotes the terrible hunger and/or thirst our Souls feel in the barren wasteland of nothingness this Godless hallucination actually is.

Contrary to popular belief, God did NOT create the illusory Kingdom of Darkness, Cosmic Egg, or Sea of Samsara. Nor, for that matter, did our Father in Heaven make the bodies through which we experience the illusion of physical existence. All visible matter is woven from the fibers of FEAR, a dense thought-substance we produced eons ago to block our memories of God, Heaven, and our True Identities. Fear, Jesus tells us in the Course, is the UNREAL opposite of God's Perfect Love. As such, he also explains, fear "literally starves the Soul by denying its daily bread."

The Soul's "daily bread" isn't made from yeast and flour; it's the "manna" that flows from Heaven into our minds in blessed streams of God's Saving Grace. Elsewhere in the synoptic gospels, Jesus describes these Soul-sustaining streams as the "living water" that alleviates our thirst for ALL worldly temptations.

In the Course, Jesus uses the dreamscape-as-desert metaphor several times. In one especially pointed reference, he says, "A desert is a desert is a desert. You can do anything you want in it, but cannot change it from what it is. It still lacks water, which is why it is a desert. The thing to do with a desert is to leave."

We leave the desert, he tells us in the synoptic gospels, by drinking the mind-purifying "waters" of God's Saving Grace. He does not, however, specify WHERE we find this Holy Water or HOW we drink it. That's because his instructions were removed by unenlightened men who sought to replace the Holy Spirit as God's messenger of Higher Truth in the dreamscape.

In the Course, Jesus DOES disclose the WHERE and HOW. The WHERE is within us and the HOW is listening in deep silence. Why, then, does nobody teaching the Course in the world today (insofar as I'm aware) say as much? The answer is: Because most (if not all) of them are still chasing mirages in the desert at some level. 

We'll talk more about the WHERE and HOW in future posts. For now, let's return to the Last Temptation. In the story, Satan offers Jesus some rocks and says, "Hey, if you're so powerful, turn these stones into bread to sate your hunger." By refusing to perform this little "trick," Jesus is sending us a message. What does he want us to learn? That the Soul he represents in the story can't nourish itself with anything Satan made. To understand the message, we also must understand that Satan -- NOT God -- made the dream-world of time, space, and matter. It was also Satan, and NOT God, who made our bodies and everything we seek to make them more beautiful, wealthy, powerful, healthy, popular, happy, or comfortable.

The story of the Last Temptation also conveys the Great Truth that to leave the desert of earthly existence, we must reject ALL the temptations, false idols, and/or Anti-Christs Satan uses to spin "cocoons of fear" around our Higher Minds. To break free of these amnesic "sleeping sacks," we must remember that we are and always have been God's free-flying butterflies -- not the Great Deceiver's earth-bound caterpillars.

To escape our perceptual pupas, we must empty our hands of possessions, our hearts of grievances, and our minds of every idea the Devil would have us believe and defend. As long as we still desire EVEN ONE of the Evil One's sticky threads of deception, we will remain his web-bound prey.

Let's now turn to the Transfiguration narrative, which is similarly allegorical. In parenthetical shorthand, the story's actual meaning is this: After defeating Satan (the Ego Mind) in the desert (the lower levels of consciousness), Jesus (the Soul) will go into the mountains (of Higher Consciousness), which it will climb until it is purified enough to experience "Transfiguration."

Okay, so ... why am I telling you all of this? The short answer is: Because it matters. I hinted at this earlier, but now I'm going to drive the point home: Everything Jesus did on earth symbolized the journey we all must take to return to God, Heaven, Knowledge, Omniscience, Superconsciousness, or Spiritual Sanity (choose your preferred term). More than just instructive allegories, the events recorded in the synoptic gospels are the milestones the Holy Spirit set in place, through the life of Jesus Christ, to mark the path we all must follow out of the metaphoric "desert" or "wilderness."

Those milestones are inside us, not "out there" in the physical world. Hindus, Buddhists, and other metaphysical teachers call these internal markers "chakras." In the Course, Jesus refers to them as the Lamps of Heaven or Lamps of God. Using these "lamps," he tells us, the Great Rays light our way back up the metaphorical ladder we climbed down into deeper and denser levels of the illusion of physical existence.

The rungs of that ladder represent the levels of consciousness, perception, or Self-awareness our Souls dropped down over time. To reawaken to or remember who, what, and where we really are (and always have been), we must climb back up those "rungs" in the same order we descended them.

We must, in other words, RETRACE the steps we took, downward and outward, into the "desert" or lower levels of consciousness after the Fall from Grace, Detour into Fear, Great Projection, or Exodus from Eden (again, choose your preferred term).

The ladder I've just described is the same one famously seen by Jacob, in the dream described in the Book of Genesis. Rightly interpreted, our reincarnating Souls are the angels the Biblical patriarch saw moving up and down the rungs (as pictured below).

Understanding the steps, their correct order, and what they actually signify is, therefore, crucial to anyone sincerely seeking to master A Course in Miracles. Ditto for anyone striving to attain enlightenment through another form of the Holy Spirit's at-one-ment curriculum. While there are SEVEN steps in total, the New Testament only describes the higher three: Baptism, Transfiguration, and Ascension. Translated into broader metaphysical terms, the higher three stages of awakening are these:

Fifth Step: Baptism = Self-Realization
Sixth Step: Transfiguration = Christ-Realization
Seventh Step: Ascension = God-Realization

When Jesus says, "Follow me," this is what he means. To return to God, Heaven, Knowledge, Omniscience, Superconsciousness, or Spiritual Sanity, we need to follow the trail he blazed 2,300 years ago. To follow that gentle path, we must strive every hour to empty our hands, hearts, and heads of the Evil One's temptations, unholy opposites, misguided teachings, wrong-minded values, and false beliefs. At the same time, we must strive to open our hearts and minds to the Higher Truths God would have us learn, cherish, and teach. We can't undertake this perception-reversing journey on our own, Jesus tells us. To return to Christ Consciousness, we must step back and allow the Holy Spirit -- our inner guru -- to show us the way to go.

That being the case, we must be clear about 1) what the Holy Spirit is, 2) how God's Spirit speaks to us, 3) what to listen for, 4) what to do (or not do) to hear His Voice, and 5) how His Voice peels away Satan's sticky threads of deception -- not only from our own minds, but also from all the minds connected to ours in the Golden Circle of Creation. Once again, none of the books or blogs I've read about the Course explains any of this accurately (if at all). At best, the authors of these books and blogs offer very limited or elementary explanations of the teachings. At worst, they profess to understand what they do NOT, thereby misleading their readers and followers.

Or, to quote what Jesus says in the Gospel of Thomas: "If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a hole." 

I don't mean to be critical or sanctimonious. I'm simply calling it as I see it. To escape the "desert" of pain and suffering, we have to stop chasing mirages and drink ONLY the Living Water of God's Saving Grace. We drink that metaphorical "living water" by going inward in meditation and listening for the ever-present echo of God's Saving Grace. We DO NOT do it by "enjoying" the world's offerings, asking our followers for money or positive reviews, moving to Hawaii or the Himalayas, or by preaching political activism.

The image on the Ace of Cups in the Rider-Waite Tarot beautifully depicts the purifying streams of God's Grace flowing from the Higher Mind "waters" of Christ Consciousness into the polluted lower-mind waters of Ego Consciousness. The symbolism employed in this particular deck is highly illuminating. I will, therefore, discuss the useful symbols on various cards from time to time as we move forward. Like everything else in the Valley of Death this world really is, Tarot cards can be used for the Ego Mind's purposes or for the Holy Spirit's. Also like everything else in the arid wasteland of existence, only the Holy Spirit's interpretations are truly helpful to those seeking enlightenment.

Okay, phew. Let's stop here for today, because I've thrown a lot of information at you and I'm still just clearing my throat. If your head is swimming, don't worry, because I'll explain all of these ideas -- and may more besides -- in greater detail as we move forward.

Up next, I'm going to answer the BIG question "What is God?" in a multi-part series. So, keep reading or, better yet, subscribe or follow THE HOLY MEETING PLACE you don't miss any new illuminations.