Self Perfection

Jesus said:
‘No one can be the slave of two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cling to one and despise the other. You cannot be a slave to God and Mammon too.

‘I bid you therefore not to fret about your lives and what to eat and drink; nor about your bodies, and what to put on them. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky. They neither sow nor reap, nor bring the harvest to the barns; and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of greater consequence than they?

‘Can anyone of you by fretting add a moment to his years? Then why be troubled about clothes? Learn from the lillies of the fields and how they grow. They do not work, they do not spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was robed like one of these. And if God so clothes the grass of the fields, which is there today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not all the more clothe you, slow though you are to trust him?

‘Then do not fret and say “What are we going to eat or drink?” or “What will there be for us to wear?” – things that the pagan world pursues- for your Heavenly Father knows that all these things are your necessities. No, pursue the Kingdom and the Father’s goodness first, and these things too will all be yours.

‘Do not then be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will look after itself. Today’s trouble is enough for today.’
Mark.

Most often people who study the Gospel intepret these principles on a limited worldly basis, rather than perceive and understand the Truth taught.

In the last post we wrote about Jacob Boheme’s experience where he described how, through centering his consciousness on Jesus, he attained oneness with the Absolute consciousness of Self.

We reproduced his experience to demonstrate that the way to Oneness in Light can be achieved by following Jesus’ understanding. Boheme wrote that Jesus was the way, and had demonstrated that. Often Jesus said to others “follow me”, and by this he meant- do what I have done, because the Kingdom of Light is within.

In this post we are going to study the above parable which, like all parables that Jesus gave us, is inspired to stimulate truth and understanding.

The parable begins by comparing our relationship to serving two masters, suggesting that we may hate one and love the other, and that we can only be a slave to one master.

Using the term “master”, Jesus is referring to the Self and the personal “I” or ego.

The body is an object reflected in consciousness and has a limited existence dependent on food and air for its consciousness.

Generally, we have been conditioned to believe that we are the I amness and it is through this body/mind that consciousness is attached to the body. Because this I amness is only a thought it cannot exist except through identification with the body, and the I amness has limited the outflow of pure consciousness by replacing it with the body’s consciousness, a consciousness that is dependent on food and air for its manifestation. When we believe we are the body, then we are a slave to the limited body consciousness, and cannot serve the Self – the I AM.

Jesus tells us that life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. He compares the human being with the birds which, like all other life forms, do not reason or fret about their existence. Every day for them is a new beginning, and they do not think about the past or future, because that only exists in the illusion of the human personality.

So now we begin to appreciate what is meant by the ‘way’. In the illusion of humanity everyone believes they have the capacity to do, to create a life and existence in their world. But this illusion is based on the concept that their personality and body reflect their true nature. We all exist in the limitation of a consciousness based on the body and mind, which constitutes the illusion of knowledge based on the concept ‘I am’, and the subsequent limited consciousness restricted by bodily identification.

When you become aware of the state of consciousness within and understand how your consciousness is limited by the personal ‘I’ thought that ‘I am the body’, you then perceive that everything you do involves a loop of repetitive thought and action, and you begin to change the function of your mind. Without any change in the way you think and act, your life is mechanical, operating through memories and habits. This pattern of existence leads to the death of the body and the separation of the vital force, with the pure consciousness remaining unchanged from when the body was born.

In this parable Jesus tells us that we are more than just the body and mind: ‘The Heavenly Father knows all your necessities. No, pursue the Kingdom and these things too will all be yours’.

You are unlimited consciousness, and you are asleep to your true state with the body. Already you know you are not the body. Why would you want to be something that has a limited existence in time and space, when you know you are eternal?

When you cast aside the thought that you are this limited consciousness in a body, and, with that, the I amness or personality, then there would be nothing left, and you will be what you have always been: pure consciousness and awareness.

Jesus taught that without faith you cannot enter the Kingdom of Light and Oneness in the Absolute Self Consciousness. Such faith is not blind belief, but it is the trust and confidence in Self. There is nothing you can do in this world, although you think you have the power to create everything you want. However, within the higher consciousness of Self everything IS, everything is perfect, because every thing that manifests, manifests in Self. We must know the Self is not within our body, but we are in Self.

Whatever we need is always known in Self. All our problems, which are the result of our thinking, disappear when we have faith. When we destroy all desires for the world and the body and live in pure awareness that we are, then there are no thoughts, just pure knowledge and awareness. Again, Jesus said: ‘Do not then be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will look after itself. Today’s trouble is enough for one day’.

Usually in our illusion we are living yesterday’s thoughts and problems, projecting yesterday’s events into an illusional future. When you cast aside all your learned concepts and desires in this world and just ‘be’, you live in the oneness of Self’s consciousness, outside time and space. Jesus said that the Heavenly Father knows all these things your body needs, as he does for the birds and all living creatures. All you have to do is have faith, and everything will be.

At this time of year many people in some countries are mounting up debt under the illusion and pretense that somehow it is a time for giving materially; however, life should be a constant giving and help to one another, because our true nature is love, peace and joy, not that of being limited to the illusion of time and space.


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