 The great central fact in human life is the coming into a conscious, vital realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflow. “I and the Father are one,” said the Master. In this we see how He recognized His oneness with the Father’s life. Again He said, “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” In this we see how clearly He recognized the fact that He of Himself could do nothing, only as He worked in conjunction with the Father. Again, “My Father works and I work.” In other words, my Father sends the power, I open myself to it, and work in conjunction with it. Again He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” And He left us not in the dark as to exactly what He meant by this, for again He said, “Say not Lo here nor lo there; know ye not that the kingdom of heaven is within you?” According to his teaching the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven were one and the same. If, then, His teaching is that the kingdom of heaven is in us, do we not clearly see that, putting it in other words, His injunction is nothing more nor less than, Come ye into a conscious realization of your oneness with the Father’s life. As you realize this oneness you find the kingdom, and when you find this, all things else shall follow. Again, the Master said, “Call no man your Father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Here He recognized the fact that the real life is direct from the life of God. Our fathers and our mothers are the agents that give us the bodies, the houses in which we live, but the real life comes from the Infinite Source of Life, God, who is our Father. One day word was brought to the Master that his mother and his brethren were without, wishing to speak with Him. “Who is my mother and who are my brethren?” said He. “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” Many people are greatly enslaved by what we term ties of relationship. It is well, however, for us to remember that our true relatives are not necessarily those who are connected with us by ties of blood. Our truest relatives are those who are nearest akin to us in mind, in soul, in spirit. Our nearest relatives may be those living on the opposite side of the globe, -- people whom we may never have seen as yet, but to whom we will yet be drawn, either in this form of life or in another, through that ever working and never failing law of attraction. When the Master gave the injunction, “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven,” He here gave us the basis for that grand conception of the fatherhood of God. And if God is equally the Father of all, then we have here the basis for the brotherhood of man. But there is, in a sense, a conception still higher than this, namely, the oneness of man and God, and hence the oneness of the whole human race. When we realize this fact, then we clearly see how in the degree that we come into the realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life, and so, every step that we make Godward, we aid in lifting all mankind up to this realization, and enable them, in turn, to make a step Godward. The Master again pointed out our true relations with the Infinite Life when He said, “Except ye become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” When He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” He gave utterance to a truth of far greater import than we have as yet commenced fully to grasp. Here He taught that even the physical life can not be maintained by material food alone, but that one’s connection with this Infinite Source determines to a very great extent the condition of even the bodily structure and activities. Said the great Hindu sage, Manu, “He who in his own soul perceives the Supreme Soul in all beings, and acquires equanimity toward them all, attains the highest bliss.” It was Athanasius who said, “Even we may become Gods walking about in the flesh. The same great truth we are considering is the one that runs through the life and the teachings of Guatama, who became the Buddha. “People are in bondage,” said he, “because they have not yet removed the idea of I.” To do away with all sense of separateness, and to recognize the oneness of the self with the Infinite, is the spirit that breathes through all his teachings. All the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world’s history became what they became, and consequently had the powers they had, through an entirely natural process. They all recognized and came into the conscious realization of their oneness with the Infinite Life. God is no respecter of persons. He doesn’t create prophets, seers, sages, and saviours as such. He creates men. But here and there one recognizes his true identity, recognizes the oneness of his life with the Source whence it came. He lives in the realization of this oneness, and in turn becomes a prophet, seer, sage, or saviour. (from: In Tune with the Infinite) |
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