I Hear You

Yesterday, I had some physical pain, and I challenged myself to try to remember that somewhere, within the man-I-am is The I Amness of God. This idea has taken a lot of sorting for me. At first, I thought my gurus were trying to teach me to believe that I was God. As a man, I knew I was not God. However, I could not find the firewall between myself and God. This is very revealing if you will go looking for that partition; there is not one. From a strictly human point of view, you might think that your entire experience is confined to your body and all of its affairs, but it really does not take a leap to see that our experiences are in a universe and dependently connected to it. As Alan Watts says, “You did not come to the earth; you came from it.”

That distinction does away with separateness.

I’ve listened to countless lectures by Neville Goddard and I have read many of his essays. His work is controversial; only because he blatantly claims that the wonderful, human imagination is Christ. However, Goddard’s views were never meant to create a new debate; especially a religious one. Goddard simply refused to use a filter and he made his bold statements as a way of directing his students to something they already possess. He would begin many of his lectures by saying something like, “If you think that Christ is something other than your own imagination, you have the wrong Christ.”

I must admit that I did not like his terminology in this case; but it did force me to consider where I might look for Christ within myself. Even Jesus is quoted as saying:

“…The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” ~ Luke 17:20-21

After much consideration, I began to realize that God’s Kingdom was not in my bones, my organs, my blood or my moving parts. I began to realize that if I really wanted to see God in me, I must look at my own imagination. What have I done with what I know about God? I’ve got Him in my mind.

Does this idea reduce God? Does this limit Him to me?

Not at all. If I go outside and look up at the sky, I am considering the sky in my imagination. The sky is within me. The whole universe is within me. Why would God not be within me as well?

The difference may be in the way I think of God, hearing my prayers. If I accept the fact that my being is within God, and that God is within me, I can easily imagine the entanglement’s advantages. If I pray, and hear my own words, then there can no longer be any doubt as to whether or not God hears me.

The further I go with this idea, the better it feels and the closer I feel to God. I accept my limitations as a character in a life-sized drama; however, I also accept the fact that an infinite, infallible God is the source of myself. In other, simpler words, “I and My Father are One.”

Do I blaspheme? Do I equate myself with God? Is this spiritual robbery?

None of the above.

I am simply learning to trust in Oneness. I can either lean unto my own understanding or:

Trust in the Lord with all my heart; and lean not unto my own understanding. In all my ways acknowledging him; knowing he shall direct my paths.

If I have to keep us separated, I could easily consider Christ as a passenger in my body. However, it works the same way. With Christ sitting beside me, I would never make a move without asking Him what to do. This amounts to acknowledging Him in all of my ways.

Maybe Goddard’s shocking statements could have been delivered without sounding like another one of those weirdos who claim to be God. Goddard never really intended that at all. He never demanded anyone to follow him or to worship him. It always sounds a little odd when someone tries to explain The I-Amness of God. It is very hard to say it without saying, “I Am,” but when you start out with those two words, it has the tendency to sound like a madman claiming to be God.

To me, it seems God wanted everyone to eventually awaken to his or her connection to God as something natural. If you happened to be an intelligent rose, it may occur to you that you grow out of the earth. At some point in the rose’s lifetime, it may even claim to be one with the earth. Other roses would be appalled and they would say, “You foolish rose! You think you are the earth!”

The rose would naturally try to explain itself.

“No, it’s not like that, but everything about me was once just the earth. I am just fortunate enough to be a rose, wherein the earth might express itself as a beautiful, red flower.”

In the same way, everything about me was once just the universe. I am just fortunate enough to be a man, wherein the universe might express itself as a regular man.

God, when thought of as a Big Guy in the sky, is very unlikely to hear me when I pray.

However, if I begin to see that God and I are cohabitants of this same body, I realize that my acknowledgement of Him allows for a seamless partnership regarding this particular story.

I thought I needed to develop an internal sextant to observe God; always trying to get the angel of His celestial presence in the mirror with my own reflection.

But it is just not like now; I see it this way instead:

“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me." ~ Meister Eckhart

When I look at a beautiful sunset, I never feel as though I created it; however, God knows that he created the sunset. By considering the beautiful sunset with my eyes, God can finally appreciate what He has done, as if He hadn’t done a thing.

In Him I move, and in me, He moves.

Acknowledging God is to invite Him to join you in the unknowingness you enjoy.

God wants to know what it is like not knowing.

When I pray, and ask God for anything at all, He is there with me, wondering what His reply will be. Whenever I develop a belief regarding His answer, His answer seems to follow that belief, but it was His answer before I even asked. My belief is the signal for us both; I accept His answer and His answer supplies my need.

In any event – and I mean any event at all – God hears me when I pray.

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” ~ I John 5:14-15 KJV