Divinely Human

After service this past Sunday, during which I talked about the importance of knowing our Oneness in God and standing firm in the conviction our Divine Nature, a congregant asked if I would consider giving a talk on the value of separation.

In Unity, we teach that the idea of separation is simply a misperception. We cannot ever be separated from God, because we are Divine by nature. Realizing that I do talk a great deal about Oneness, I was curious to know what he was truly interested in hearing about. When I asked him for clarity and we discussed it further, I deduced that he was asking me to talk about the value of being human.

I have asked similar questions many times in one way or another. It goes something like, “If I am Divine and have conscious awareness of my divinity when disembodied, why would I choose to forget that and come into this realm of existence?”

I don’t think there is a definitive answer to questions such as that. From our limited consciousness, we can only presume. Further, our presumption is based largely upon what we believe about ‘God’ and our relationship to ‘God.’ I certainly do not claim to have the answer. I am sharing some of what I have learned and discerned as I have grappled with this question for myself over times.

Let me simply say, in case you don’t want to read the entire article that I believe the purpose of our humanity is to come into conscious realization of our divinity and to revel in it as we co-create and expand enlightenment in this time and space reality.

What is God?

I have pondered this question for years and continue to do so. Again, I do not claim to have the definitive answer. My understanding of ‘God’ continues to evolve.

When I use the word ‘God’ today I am certainly not referring to the God of my childhood, a man with a white beard and white robes sitting up in heaven somewhere judging me and everyone else and most likely damning me to eternity in hell because I do not measure up to his criteria for admittance to heaven. When I say ‘God’ I am not referring to a being or beings; and while I do not consider myself an atheist, neither do I subscribe to theism. I am, instead, to the best of my ability giving voice to that which is ineffable. 

The ‘God’ of my understanding today is not noun, pronoun nor verb: God is. God is “no thing,” yet is All. God is the Essence of all that is real. As Unity co-founder, Charles Fillmore stated, “God is the eternal verity of the universe and humankind.”

Today, I use the word ‘God’ to refer to what I understand to be the ground of all being. Some of the ways I now see ‘God’ are:

·         ‘God’ is the Conscious Life Force; the Source of all that is.

·         ‘God’ is Consciousness Itself.

·         ‘God’ is the field of pure potential and possibility from which all comes into manifestation.

·         ‘God’ is Universal Law which governs all creation.

·         ‘God’ is self-conscious Consciousness.  

·         ‘God’ is not a being: God is the Essence of BE-ing.

·         ‘God’ does not evolve: God is evolution itself.

·         ‘God’ does not create: God is Creative Life.

·         ‘God’ does not provide: God is Source.

·         ‘God’ is Originating Spirit.

·         ‘God’ is Foundational Substance.

·         ‘God’ is Infinite Fluid Energy

By the above, I do not mean to imply that I view ‘God’ as a cold, impersonal principle alone. ‘God’ as the Originating Spirit is also the essence of all the qualities I aspire to embody and experience.

·         ‘God’ is Love.

·         ‘God is Peace.

·         ‘God’ is Joy.

·         ‘God’ is Life.

·         ‘God’ is Order.

·         ‘God’ is Beauty.

Who am I?

Ramana Marshi, a great teacher in the yoga tradition, said that to attain inner freedom one must continually ask the question, “Who am I?”

Gangaji, in her book, The Diamond in Your Pocket – Discovering Your True Radiance, says, “The most important question you will ever ask yourself is, “Who am I?” You may listen to an excerpt from the book by clicking the following link: Gangaji

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth shares his story of awakening when one day he heard himself say, “I can no longer live with myself.” As he heard himself speak those words, he wondered, “Who is the ‘I’ and who is the ‘self’ that ‘I’ can no longer live with?” Thus began his journey to discovering his truth and claiming his freedom.

Who are you, really? We often define ourselves by our bodies, whether we are male or female; tall or short; young or old. We also describe ourselves according to our emotional state at any given moment; i.e., “I am angry, hurt, happy, hungry, lonely, tired, sated or joyous.” Perhaps most commonly we label ourselves according to the roles we play in life, as in, “I am a mother,” or “I am an accountant.” In keeping with our social norms, when asked, “Who are you?” we most often respond by giving our name, occupation, or by sharing some aspect of our life experience to which the questioner can readily relate. 

The ‘self’ to which Tolle referred when saying he could “no longer live with myself” is comprised of all of those labels; however, none of them can define who we truly are. Our true Self is changeless and eternal. It can best be understood as ‘awareness,’ that which is aware of the body, emotional state, and the roles we play at any point in time. Gangaji says, “You are awareness and awareness is consciousness.” The consciousness that was aware of the body, the mind and the emotions at age ten is the same consciousness that is aware of the body, the mind, and the emotions today. While all of those external conditions change, consciousness remains constant and is infinite.

Tolle expounds on this truth in the forward to Gangaji’s book. He says, 

“Know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’ These words spoken by Jesus refer not to some conceptual truth, but to the truth of who you are beyond name and form. They refer not to something that you need to know about yourself, but a deeper, yet extraordinarily simple knowing, in which the knower and the known merge into one. I am not what happens, but the space in which it happens. This knowing, this living truth, frees you from identification with form, from time, as well as from a false, mind-made sense of self. What is that space in which everything happens? Consciousness prior to form.”

Again, this is a question I continue to ponder. Taking into consideration the forgoing and my one revelation, I say…

I am a point of self-conscious awareness that is aware of itself both subjectively and objectively by means of physical and hyperphysical senses. I am subjectively aware of myself by nature of my thoughts, emotions, and physical senses - sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. I know myself in subjective relationship to others and to my surroundings. I am also objectively self-aware through intuition, or inner knowing – that which I know, but is transrational knowing.

Who am I in relation to God?

Each of us is a point of awareness through which Consciousness (God) experiences itself consciously. In other words, we are ‘God’ becoming subjectively aware of Itself through our thoughts, emotions, physical and hyperphysical senses. We are also ‘God’ becoming objectively aware of Itself as our knowing.

In addition to ‘God’ becoming aware of Itself, we are also ‘God’ expressing the nature of Itself through our humanity by virtue of our innate faculties.

What is the purpose of coming into form?

We come into physicality because without it we do not have subjective awareness. Unless we experience our thoughts, emotions and senses, we can only know ourselves through objective awareness. And, while that is important, it is incomplete.

We are endowed with powers or faculties, twelve of which Unity cofounder Charles Fillmore identified as The Twelve Powers of Man, which we can use to further our conscious evolution, as well as to bring into manifestation our more expanded awareness and expression of ‘God’ as Creative Life for all eternity.

We come into form so that we can experience and express those faculties. Through our power of self-reflection and self-contemplation, we can know ourselves as endowed with all these qualities. Additionally, through thoughts, emotions and our senses, both physical and hyperphysical, we can experience the interplay between ourselves, others and our environment, which are all aspects of ‘God.’ Again, we are points of awareness through which ‘God’ becomes subjectively aware of ‘God.’

We also come into human form in order to bring into manifestation greater expressions of Divine Ideas inherent as ‘God.’ As portals for this manifestation, we are co-creators through our thoughts, words and actions.

We are divinely human.

When we say there is no separation, we mean it. We are constantly expressing our divine attributes in every moment of every day through our humanity. We are co-creating our lives and influencing the life of humanity with every thought, word and action. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Am I using my divine faculties consciously?”

This Sunday, September 4, we will begin our exploration of Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett’s book, Divine Audacity. Her book delves deeply into The Twelve Powers of Man and offers practical tools for conscious application of them in our lives. As we awaken to our Oneness in ‘God,’ our Divinity, we can more fully embrace the innate powers we are endowed with in our humanity, and we can more consciously and audaciously co-create the lives we desire in harmony with ‘God’.

I hope you will join us on Sundays at 10:00 for the next seven weeks as we grow together in our capacity to live with Divine Audacity.