The way that I see it, is that we are all on a spiritual path up the mountain of Truth. One thing is certain – we will all eventually get to the top, most probably not during this present mortal experience! Some will take the wide path which then leads to an impassable obstruction, some will find huge boulders in their way, but through persistence and courage, will find the path again. There will be some who use sign posts, maps or guide books. Some of those guides have been produced by wise people who through the ages, have cleared the path of stones to help others find the way and then described how to find them. Then, we get those who have no time for any aids and set off on their own. Some will get there, others won’t. I rejoice for all who make it on their own. Personally, I choose a guide book.
Though it seems not to be connected, some remarks above remind me of the “old days”, before the Christian Science Bible Lessons were available in print format and we had to clean off the previous week’s chalk markings, then insert metal page markers (up to 54) in our dual pastor (the Bible and Science and Health), following the citations printed in the C S Quarterly.
Well I used to insert all the markers first and then pick the chalk up to mark the passages. My mother used to do it citation by citation, picking up the marker, inserting it, then picking up the chalk etc. One day when she was staying with me, she offered to mark my books for me. I had already started, so the markers were in. She couldn’t handle this at all. “What a STUPID way of doing it.” she said. “No Mum, not stupid, just different. We both end up with the same result at the end.”
Love and peace,
Judy
Ruby, thank you for your explanation I understand now where youre coming from! Its the difference between the one Ego and many egos.
And I agree with you that the great works done by prophets, sages and Jesus are not the mission to me, they are the side effect of an understanding and communion with God.
God is I AM. To me, God is the I and the real spiritual man and the universe is AM. As I understand it, its not about annihilation or absorption which is what came over to me from what you wrote, but something indescribably wonderful, as described here in the Bible:
[COLOR="Purple"]But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (II Cor 3:18)
And here are some ways Mary Baker Eddy describes it first from the standpoint of of our real and eternal spiritual identity - the one idea man, both male and female (but not as gender):
[COLOR="Blue"]
Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the barriers of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with God and the universe. (Science and Health 266)
Then from the standpoint of mortal man progressing:
[COLOR="Blue"]Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual,--they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite,--in order that sin and mortality may be put off.
This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace. (Science and Health 265)
Love and peace,
Judy