| Answer
from Jesus:
I deeply appreciate it when
a question demonstrates that the person has thought about the topic
by using his or her intuition instead of the analytical mind. I fully
understand your feeling that every time you think you have found one
answer, that answer leads to more questions. However, what you are going
through is only a temporary phase, and as you grow toward Christhood,
it will come to an end.
When you start the spiritual path, it is like trying to assemble a jigsaw
puzzle without having the box. In other words you don’t know what
the assembled puzzle is supposed to look like, so how can you tell where
a piece is supposed to fit? Yet as you continue to study spiritual teachings
and seek intuitive insights, you will one day be able to see the picture
on the jigsaw puzzle even though some of the pieces might still be missing.
I can tell you that you are demonstrating the exact qualities that are
needed for spiritual seekers on the path:
- You are willing to consider
a topic even though it is difficult and goes beyond your current knowledge
and beliefs.
- You are willing to wrestle
with the difficult questions and you refuse to let them go until you
find a higher understanding.
- Even the fact that you
sometimes walk away from the table is part of the process. You cannot
resolve some of these deep questions with the outer, analytical mind.
So once you have stimulated creative tension, it is necessary to walk
away and give your outer mind a rest, so that the answer can surface
through intuitive insights.
The entire process is the
process of discovering and applying the key of knowledge. You might
recall that I said the lawyers had taken away the key of knowledge.
Woe unto you, lawyers!
for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves,
and them that were entering in ye hindered. (Luke 11:52)
The lawyers believed, as
do many orthodox Christians today, that the truth can be found only
in the outer scriptures, in the letter of the law. They were not willing
to go beyond the outer scriptures and doctrines in order to achieve
an intuitive understanding. They wanted only to consider what could
be described in words and what could be interpreted literally.
Yet the simple fact is that words are linear, and the spiritual reality
is spherical. Therefore, there is a limitation that makes it impossible
to fully describe the spiritual reality with words. This becomes even
more of a problem when people have descended into the dualistic state
of consciousness that takes linear words and makes them relative on
top of being linear. This makes it very difficult to explain spiritual
truth by using words, because people will often interpret those words
according to what they want to believe.
So the only way for spiritual seekers to know truth is to use words,
such as an outer scripture or the words I give on this website, only
as a stepping stone. The fallacy of so many orthodox religious people
is that they believe the truth about God can be confined to a scripture
composed of words. In reality, no scripture was ever released for the
purpose of giving a complete and infallible description of the spiritual
reality. It intended to give people a foundation that they could stand
on as they reach beyond the outer words and open their minds to an intuitive
experience that goes beyond words. So the words are only meant to be
a tool that enables the mind to reach beyond the material universe and
receive an insight that cannot be expressed in words.
This then is the key to overcoming your frustration. As you continue
doing what you are doing, perhaps using some of the tools I give on
this website, you will gradually become more attuned to your Christ
self. Thereby, you will receive more profound insights about the spiritual
reality. Many of those insights will be inner experience that are in
many dimensions, almost like the difference between watching a photograph
and experiencing the actual object in three dimensions. Some of these
experiences simply cannot be expressed in words, yet they will still
unlock your understanding of who you are.
With that being said, let the comment on some of the points you raise.
Many people today are aware and accept that they are spiritual
beings, however, I would guess that most do not realize they are actually
a creation and extension of an I AM Presence, not a creation directly
of God.
That is true. Yet the value
of knowing that you are not created directly by the highest expression
of God is that it is easier for the soul to gain a sense of connection
and oneness with the spiritual being that is right above it in the spiritual
hierarchy. In other words, all spiritual beings are part of a hierarchy
that reaches all the way back to God. Although this hierarchy has innumerable
individual beings, they are not separated from God. They are individualizations
of and extensions of God, but they do form a hierarchy that has many
layers. So for your soul, it is far easier to relate to the I AM Presence
out of which you sprang than to relate to the highest manifestation
of God which might be many levels above you.
This is why the Ascended Host released the concept of the I AM Presence.
When you consider what I said about words being linear and the spiritual
reality being spherical, you will see that no matter which concept we
use to describe the spiritual reality, there is always an inherent danger.
If people take our description literally, the description can become
a hindrance to people's understanding rather than being an aide to it.
My point is that the concept of an I AM Presence is just that: a concept.
It is one way to describe the spiritual being out of which your soul
came to life. It is not the only possible way, and it is not an absolute
and unchangeable concept. One could as well say that your I AM Presence
is actually a spiritual or ascended being. You are therefore an extension
of, an individualization of, a spiritual being.
The problem with this concept is that because of the intense idolatry
surrounding God and myself for thousands of years, most people will
find it difficult to accept that they are extensions of an immortal
spiritual being. That is why the Ascended Host, in the 1930's, released
the concept of the I AM Presence as a neutral way to help people relate
to a being in the spiritual realm. For example, there are indeed people
in embodiment today whose souls were created out of a spiritual being,
which we might call an I AM Presence, that has the status of an archangel.
Yet how many people can accept that they are extensions of an archangel?
How many people could accept that they are extensions of an ascended
master, such as myself or Mother Mary?
Is it fair to say that we humans are not actually spiritual
beings, or rather, that we are not whole spiritual beings, but only
a part of another spiritual being and we remain only that part until
we achieve Christ consciousness?
That is correct, and you have expressed it very eloquently. Although
it must be added that because the soul has free will, it has the potential
to separate itself from the spiritual being that created it and therefore
begin to see itself as being separated from that spiritual being.
One might say that because of free will there is the potential for a
split in the soul’s reality. Nothing will change the fact that
the soul originated as an individualization of a spiritual being. Yet
at the level of the soul’s sense of self-awareness and identity,
the soul can create its own temporary reality. Because the soul has
free will, the soul will act according to how it perceives its own identity.
In other words, if the soul denies its spiritual source, then the soul
is no longer acting as an extension of that source. It has the potential
to walk the path to Christ consciousness, and in so doing it will regain
its connection to its source.
It is like my parable about the prodigal son (Luke 15:10). The son was
lost in a strange country, so the father did not know if the son was
still alive. He did not know if he had a son, and there was no guarantee
that the son would ever return. One might say that for a time the son
acted as if he had no father.
For a long time I believed that my true spiritual identity,
the identity I forgot when I descended to the material realm, was
my I AM Presence. I’m now beginning to think that my I AM Presence
is not, in fact, my true identity.
This is where we run up against the limitations of words. In a sense
you are correct, because, as I just said, your soul is who it thinks
it is. One can also say that your soul has a sense of identity that
is separate from the I AM Presence. That is why you can choose to build
a sense of identity as a mortal being instead of an individualization
of a spiritual being.
On the other hand, your soul's individuality is designed as an extension
of the individuality of your I AM Presence. Your soul is more than the
individuality of your I AM Presence and your Presence is more than your
soul. Yet your true spiritual individuality is permanently anchored
and preserved in your Presence until you achieve full Christ consciousness.
In other words, even when the soul descends into a lower state of consciousness,
your individuality is not lost or permanently altered. When you attain
contact with your Christ self, you can reclaim that true individuality,
and you can then begin to build upon it based on your experiences in
the material realm.
My point is that your soul was created as an extension of the I AM Presence,
and it was sent into the world with the command to multiply and take
dominion. You are to take dominion over your own sense of self, over
your physical body and the outer mind and over your personal circumstances.
You are then to use that dominion to multiply your talents, to multiply
the individuality given to you, so that you become more than you were
created to be by your I AM Presence.
My true identity is my Soul identity which is a spiritual
being, self-contained, self-aware and one with God.
Your statement is correct for a soul who has attained Christ consciousness.
Until you attain Christ consciousness, the soul is not truly a spiritual
being. The soul is not self-contained and it will not feel complete
until it reestablishes contact with the I AM Presence. The soul is self-aware,
but it does not have full or true self-awareness. Therefore, it cannot
see itself as an extension of a hierarchy of spiritual beings reaching
all the way back to God.
Would it be incorrect to state that, in a sense, I am separate
from my I AM Presence, at least in regards to my individuality?
Again, this is where linear words cannot quite describe the reality
of the situation. Let me attempt to use a metaphor.
A couple goes to the beach with their young child. They spread out a
blanket and after they have eaten lunch, the child begins to move away
from the parents and ends up digging in the sand close to the water’s
edge. The child is an individual human being, yet the child is not separated
from its parents and could not survive without them. The child does
not feel that he is separated from the parents, because even though
he is some distance away from them, he knows they are right there when
he needs them. So although the child is a separate human being, he does
not feel separated from his parents.
Now imagine that the child became caught up in playing in the sand and
forgot about his parents for a few minutes. When he looked up, he discovered
that the parents were gone and nowhere to be seen. At that moment, the
child will feel a fear-based sense of separation from its parents. Yet
if the parents had not disappeared, the child might never have developed
this sense of separation.
Likewise, a soul is meant to venture into the material world without
ever developing a fear-based sense of separation from its spiritual
source. It is meant to roam the material universe while feeling the
security of knowing that its I AM Presence is always there for it. In
the natural scheme of things, the soul would remain this childlike innocence
and trust until it gradually attained a mature sense of self-awareness
that enabled it to become a truly self-sufficient, self-contained spiritual
being. This is what I call full Christhood, and in other religions it
has been called other things, such as enlightenment.
When a Soul’s earthly lifetime ends and the Soul returns
temporarily to the Spiritual Realm, awaiting reincarnation, what then
is the relation between the Soul and the I AM Presence. I assume the
Soul remains an individualized extension of the Presence, even though
not incarnate. Does the Soul and the I AM Presence get together and
talk about things face to face, so to speak?
This all depends on the soul’s state of consciousness before
it leaves embodiment. Most people on Earth have descended into such
a low state of consciousness that they have lost the connection to and
the memory of their I AM Presence. The soul retains much of its consciousness
after it leaves embodiment, so therefore many souls simply cannot reach
high enough to communicate with their I AM Presence. Such souls go to
the lower levels of the spiritual realm where they are assisted by spiritual
teachers.
Yet it is true that between embodiments most souls have a broader sense
of awareness than they have while they are in a physical body. The soul
is no longer restricted by the limitations of the outer mind and brain
that are a product of the physical body. Therefore, many souls do have
a higher sense of awareness and understanding than while they were in
embodiment. It is like the difference between looking at the landscape
from inside a house, where you can look through only one window at a
time, and standing on the roof of that house where you have a panoramic
view.
And what about when a Soul reaches full Christ consciousness?
Can the Soul in some way shed its I AM Presence and become an I AM
Presence unto itself, capable of creating its own Souls?
When the soul reaches full Christ consciousness, it becomes a self-contained
spiritual being that radiates light directly from inside itself. In
other words, before the soul attains Christ consciousness it can exist
only because it receives spiritual energy from the I AM Presence. That
energy is truly God’s light and it is not produced by the I AM
Presence. The Presence simply serves as a conduit through which the
light of God streams from the universal source. Yet because the soul
has not become self-sufficient, it cannot absorb the light from its
source. Therefore, it must receive that light from the Presence.
When the soul attains full Christ consciousness, it realizes that because
it is an extension of the I AM Presence and because the I AM Presence
is an extension of the universal source, the soul can call upon the
light of God directly from the source. At that point it becomes an immortal
spiritual being, just as its I AM Presence is an immortal spiritual
being. The immortalized soul can then create souls out of itself.
This does not mean that the soul technically sheds its I AM Presence.
It means that the soul becomes a spiritual being in the chain of hierarchy,
and the I AM Presence is right above the soul in that hierarchy. I do
talk more about this in Save
Yourself, and you might want to study that teaching to gain a deeper
understanding.
Always remember the difference between trying to understand something
with your outer mind and understanding it with the multidimensional
mind of Christ. So the real key to understanding these issues is to
let this mind be in you, which was also in me. You will then be able
to understand and internalize what cannot adequately be expressed in
words.
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Copyright
© 2004 by Kim Michaels |
