Dissertation Concerning the Nature of Reality in the Universe
In substance and in modern phraseology Jesus said to Ganid:
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The source of universe reality is the Infinite. The material things of
finite creation are the time-space repercussions of the Paradise Pattern and the Universal Mind of the eternal God. Causation in the physical world, self-consciousness in the intellectual world, and progressing selfhood in the spirit world--these realities, projected on a universal scale, combined in eternal relatedness, and experienced with perfection of quality and divinity of value--constitute the reality of the Supreme. But in an ever-changing universe the Original Personality of causation, intelligence, and spirit
experience is changeless, absolute. All things, even in an eternal universe of
limitless values and divine qualities, may, and oftentimes do, change except
the Absolutes and that which has attained the physical status, intellectual
embrace, or spiritual identity which is absolute.
The highest level to which a finite creature can progress is the
recognition of the Universal Father and the knowing of the Supreme. And even
then such beings of finality destiny go on experiencing change in the motions
of the physical world and in its material phenomena. Likewise do they remain
aware of selfhood progression in their continuing ascension of the spiritual
universe and of growing consciousness in their deepening appreciation of, and
response to, the intellectual cosmos. Only in the perfection, harmony, and
unanimity of will can the creature become as one with the Creator; and such a
state of divinity is attained and maintained only by the creature's continuing
to live in time and eternity by consistently conforming his finite personal
will to the divine will of the Creator. Always must the desire to do the
Father's will be supreme in the soul and dominant over the mind of an
ascending son of God.
A one-eyed person can never hope to visualize depth of perspective.
Neither can single-eyed material scientists nor single-eyed spiritual mystics
and allegorists correctly visualize and adequately comprehend the true depths
of universe reality. All true values of creature experience are concealed in
depth of recognition.
Mindless causation cannot evolve the refined and complex from the crude
and the simple, neither can spiritless experience evolve the divine characters
of eternal survival from the material minds of the mortals of time. The one
attribute of the universe which so exclusively characterizes the infinite
Deity is this unending creative bestowal of personality which can survive in
progressive Deity attainment.
Personality is that cosmic endowment, that phase of universal reality,
which can coexist with unlimited change and at the same time retain its
identity in the very presence of all such changes, and forever afterward.
Life is an adaptation of the original cosmic causation to the demands and
possibilities of universe situations, and it comes into being by the action of
the Universal Mind and the activation of the spirit spark of the God who is
spirit. The meaning of life is its adaptability; the value of life is its
progressability--even to the heights of God-consciousness.
Misadaptation of self-conscious life to the universe results in cosmic
disharmony. Final divergence of personality will from the trend of the
universes terminates in intellectual isolation, personality segregation. Loss
of the indwelling spirit pilot supervenes in spiritual cessation of existence.
Intelligent and progressing life becomes then, in and of itself, an
incontrovertible proof of the existence of a purposeful universe expressing
the will of a divine Creator. And this life, in the aggregate, struggles
toward higher values, having for its final goal the Universal Father.
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Only in degree does man possess mind above the animal level aside from
the higher and quasi-spiritual ministrations of intellect. Therefore animals
(not having worship and wisdom) cannot experience superconsciousness,
consciousness of consciousness. The animal mind is only conscious of the
objective universe.
Knowledge is the sphere of the material or fact-discerning mind. Truth is
the domain of the spiritually endowed intellect that is conscious of knowing
God. Knowledge is demonstrable; truth is experienced. Knowledge is a
possession of the mind; truth an experience of the soul, the progressing self.
Knowledge is a function of the nonspiritual level; truth is a phase of the
mind-spirit level of the universes. The eye of the material mind perceives a
world of factual knowledge; the eye of the spiritualized intellect discerns a
world of true values. These two views, synchronized and harmonized, reveal the
world of reality, wherein wisdom interprets the phenomena of the universe in
terms of progressive personal experience.
Error (evil) is the penalty of imperfection. The qualities of
imperfection or facts of misadaptation are disclosed on the material level by
critical observation and by scientific analysis; on the moral level, by human
experience. The presence of evil constitutes proof of the inaccuracies of mind
and the immaturity of the evolving self. Evil is, therefore, also a measure of
imperfection in universe interpretation. The possibility of making mistakes is
inherent in the acquisition of wisdom, the scheme of progressing from the
partial and temporal to the complete and eternal, from the relative and
imperfect to the final and perfected. Error is the shadow of relative
incompleteness which must of necessity fall across man's ascending universe
path to Paradise perfection. Error (evil) is not an actual universe quality;
it is simply the observation of a relativity in the relatedness of the
imperfection of the incomplete finite to the ascending levels of the Supreme
and Ultimate.
Although Jesus told all this to the lad in language best suited to his
comprehension, at the end of the discussion Ganid was heavy of eye and was
soon lost in slumber. They rose early the next morning to go aboard the boat
bound for Lasea on the island of Crete. But before they embarked, the lad had
still further questions to ask about evil, to which Jesus replied:
Evil is a relativity concept. It arises out of the observation of the
imperfections which appear in the shadow cast by a finite universe of things
and beings as such a cosmos obscures the living light of the universal
expression of the eternal realities of the Infinite One.
Potential evil is inherent in the necessary incompleteness of the
revelation of God as a time-space-limited expression of infinity and eternity.
The fact of the partial in the presence of the complete constitutes relativity
of reality, creates necessity for intellectual choosing, and establishes value
levels of spirit recognition and response. The incomplete and finite concept
of the Infinite which is held by the temporal and limited creature mind is, in
and of itself, potential evil. But the augmenting error of unjustified
deficiency in reasonable spiritual rectification of these originally inherent
intellectual disharmonies and spiritual insufficiencies, is equivalent to the
realization of actual evil.
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All static, dead, concepts are potentially evil. The finite shadow of
relative and living truth is continually moving. Static concepts invariably
retard science, politics, society, and religion. Static concepts may represent
a certain knowledge, but they are deficient in wisdom and devoid of truth. But
do not permit the concept of relativity so to mislead you that you fail to
recognize the co-ordination of the universe under the guidance of the cosmic
mind, and its stabilized control by the energy and spirit of the Supreme.