Here are two messages that are the same. They are writtien in completely different words, but the core thought, the core content of the message, is exactly the same. Through seeing sameness in seemingly different messages, we begin to see beyond the words to a message that is wholly consistent.
1. All metaphysical discussion is profitless unless it causes us to seek within the Self for the true reality. All controversies about creation, the nature of the universe, evolution, the purpose of God, etc., are useless. They are not conducive to our true happiness. People try to find out about things which are outside of them before they try to find out “Who am I?” Only by the latter means can happiness be gained.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
2. You are a being made in God’s image through the process of creation that is God. In this way, you are the same as He. The process that you are is what you are. It is your truth. It is how you live and exist.
What you do through your mind is made and created, not alone, but in conjunction, through oneness, with your brothers. The process that you are, in conjunction with your brothers, is a process meant for joy….
~ NTI Ephesians
How are these two messages the same? They point to the same core truth. They point to who we are in truth and how who we are affects our experience, or our present awareness of being.
A Course in Miracles tells us that God’s Will for us is perfect happiness. That’s our Will for us too. Whenever we do anything, including murder another person, it is because at some level we believe that action will ultimately bring us some kind of happiness. However, if we murder someone for happiness, or maybe take a more common action like trying to manipulate someone into doing things our way, we are forgetting what we are and we are forgetting how what we are affects our awareness of being (our experience).
The Holy Spirit’s interpretation of Ephesians teaches that we are the process of creation that is God. This means that what we do with our mind makes our awareness of being (or experience). It doesn’t mean that we are actually creating ourselves, because we aren’t. We are what we are, and that is the creative process that is God. That will never change. But we experience ourselves based on the thoughts we accept into our mind.
Let me paint a picture with words. One person makes a spiritual statement that I perceive as wrong. It goes against everything I’ve been learning, and I believe I am right. I don’t like seeing this statement posted on an internet board, where it could mislead others. I need to comment. So, I comment. The other person doesn’t like my comment and comes back with his own. Others don’t like the comments they are seeing and join in. Opinions are flying everywhere. I vacillate in my mind between pride (for my last intelligent post) and a deep feeling of unworthiness (when I read some of the criticism about my post).
What’s really happening here? My brothers and I are seeming to conflict. We are sharing thoughts of separateness, attack, defense, and unworthiness on the flow of mind that is the process of creation, which is what we are. In other words, we are making our own experience, which is an experience we don’t want, because our Will is Happiness. We want one thing, but we are actively creating a different experience. This is why we are told that the ego is madness. It is madness to want to go north, but to continully keep turning south, and yet that is what we do.
Ah-h-h-h-h-h!
Ok, the good news is that once we begin to realize what we are and how we make experience (or awareness of being), we can begin to make different choices. If we understand that we are the process of creation that is God, and we realize that our true Will is happiness, we can begin to make choices that are in harmony with our Self. Let me paint another picture.
Someone makes a post that I disagree with. I notice the lack of peace coming over my mind. I choose to stop right there and remember that lack of peace is not what I want. I notice the thoughts within my mind that are creating my current experience of lack of peace. I choose to let those thoughts go instead of following them into more of what I don’t want. (I choose to turn and go north instead of continuing south). I simply rest the mind and let the thoughts that I don’t want fade from the mind while I remember my true Will and what I am and how my true Will is experienced through what I am. I remember that I experience perfect happiness by being perfect love in all situations.