Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it
Until we seek the Spirit
Where It is to be found,
We seek amiss…
WHISPERS FROM WITHIN
December, 2008
The Kingdom of consciousness/God Is Within
The allness of Spirit is closer to us than breathing, nearer than hands or feet. This is something we must come to see and understand. More than this, it is something we must come to experience. Because all the thinking it to be so will not make it thus! The only thing that will accomplish it for us is the actual experience of God in us. How are we to do this?
Since God is already within our consciousness, is in fact our very own Consciousness, we are to find a way to turn within to it. In the message of The Infinite Way, the manner of doing this is meditation. Joel has reiterated in class/tape after class/tape that the spiritual realm can be accessed or experienced in no other way than by meditation. And although there are many forms of meditation available to seekers, Joel teaches us that the one which proved effective for him was that of quieting the thinking mind, and then listening into the resultant silence or stillness. This has proven itself to be so in my own case too. It is the way to eventually become aware of a presence or a something already in us. It is absolutely vital that seekers see this point and afterwards begin turning their efforts more towards meditation than to anything else.
If the Kingdom of God is in me, then if I truly want to know it for a certainty I must do all that I can to go within myself and prove it. I see now that I hold the key to the likelihood of me having this experience. That key is my willingness to spend the necessary time for meditating many times during the day and night whereby I present myself as a “listener” that is receptive to whatever may unfold or reveal itself in the very depths of my inner being. As much as I might enjoy the many outer activities which are spiritually wholesome and rewarding, I see that these still are external things and so they, in and of themselves, will not take the place of my own need to turn within myself. Nothing and no one can do this for me! I alone have to do it or it just will not get done! I alone have to walk into the Promised Land. There’s no Moses, Jesus, Joel, or anyone else who can make that trek for me. This is the universal truth about all of us!
The great sin is to be unaware of the truth that the Kingdom of Consciousness/God is within, and that each must go there to consciously reunite with It. We ignorantly run around out here in this world looking for a god because this has been the way we were conditioned. Sure we found all of our intellectual knowledge in this respect and it’s natural for us to seek spiritual awareness in the same way. But, spiritual wisdom cometh not forth from this manner of searching; It requires the discovery of another faculty, spiritual discernment, in order for It to be made available to conscious awareness. All of us have this inborn faculty but to be of any use it has to be developed, and this is another function of meditation. It opens up this faculty in individual you and me to the point where we are able to say, “where as before I was blind now I see.”
For those of us on this path, the need for meditation – properly understood and practiced according to this teaching – can never be emphasized enough. That’s because this is the only way to open one’s awareness to the deeper realm of consciousness. The neglect and/or improper practice of meditation is what accounts for any lack of progress or development in the individual. The initial stage of meditation, that of contemplating truth, which is totally a mental process is often the most difficult for us because we’ve become so lazy and inert when it comes to thinking. All of life’s distractions have robbed us of the ability to think for ourselves for any extended period of time. We’ve become reactors rather than actors. We take in all the ideas presented to us by the different forms of media, by friends, by books, etc and end up responding to whatever has made the deepest impression on us. It is the rarity to take the time to be alone with ourselves and think through a situation before deciding on some action that will be to our own, as well as to that of anyone else’s, benefit who may be a part of our life. So it is, that when we come to doing the mental work of contemplating truth we find it to be a great burden, just so much work, and we either give up or perform it haphazardly rather than on a regular basis.
In studying, reading, and attending classes or tape group sessions we’re simply preparing our consciousness to be able to receive the word of God when It announces Itself. That is, we are getting our consciousness acclimated to the atmosphere of being still. In this way we are gradually opening the door inward to permit the infinity of our true Self to enter our conscious awareness. For it is this, that has been gently knocking at the door of individual consciousness, but unnoticed, due to the constant clamor of the noise of the human mind.
It would be a wonderful thing if this stilling of the mind was within our own power to do, but it isn’t. And I started to add, but unfortunately it isn’t. The truth of the matter is that fortunately it is an act of grace, because in this way we can be assured that the mind will be stilled in accordance with the operation of a divine principle rather than that of our human willingness to have it so.
At some point, all on the spiritual path must come to recognize that gathering more intellectual information about the Truth isn’t performing the task of accessing the deeper realm of consciousness. This is merely preparing the way for the experience to take place. So once we understand that the kingdom of God is within us, and have gone further into the practice of meditation, then, it is we ourselves who will be chiefly responsible for this last step of opening our consciousness because it is strictly an individualized journey from this point on. We will succeed if the grace of Spirit propels us forward on the path, giving us the needed motivation and inspiration to endure whatever comes our way, because we will have our attention riveted to the attainment of union with God at our center.
“I am in you and you are in me for there
really isn’t two of us, only one. It seems
to be two of us when we have to use words
to speak of it. But in the interior stillness all
is revealed as I.”
All of the intelligence we acquire and experience we have via external sources can be categorized as the truth about the inner kingdom of Consciousness, and this is a far cry from Truth itself. As an illustration, I know quite a bit about the foreign lands of the world from my own reading and investigation, as well as from sources like Joel who was a seasoned world sojourner. But since I’ve yet to step foot out of this country I don’t really know from my own experience what life is like anyplace else. And, what’s more important, I never will know until I do visit some other places. This is likewise true of our spiritual awareness. We will not set our own foot in the kingdom of God until we clearly understand where It is and how to get there, and then go about doing the work (meditation) that ushers us gradually along to our destination. Only then will you and I know beyond all doubt that there really is such a place, a thing, a state, a presence, or a something called the kingdom of Consciousness/God in us.
It’s always to be remembered that we ourselves aren’t really the one who is doing this work; It is the spirit of God in us that performs it. For we know not how to come in or how to go out. The ways of God are foolishness unto man whose breath is in his nostrils, so the sheer slow pace of the development of our consciousness is enough to dissuade the majority of travelers on the spiritual path. And this isn’t a condemnation by any means, but rather more of a loving protection for it reflects, to those who have eyes that see and ears that hear, that Spirit in us knows which of us - Its manifested form - is duly and truly prepared to endure the long and drawn out journey leading to union, to oneness, and, those who aren’t. And because of this, each is granted an individual measure of grace that will provide contentment at whatever stage of development he/she may be in this particular incarnation. As Life never began and will thus never end, each can look forward to an improvement in their development throughout eternity. Whenever we are thoroughly prepared Spirit will shepherd us along the sure way to union with It.
Surely we would rather wait to have the presence consciously alive in us to lead us along the path. Is there anyone who would endeavor to make such an uncertain, unknown journey with only their own knowledge for a guide? I know there would be no way that I could make such a choice because I’m all to familiar with just how unstable and unreliable is my store of appearance based intelligence. If infinite Wisdom is within my grasp, then I’ll do whatever it takes, wait for however long, to have it come to life in me consciously to lead and direct my footsteps on the path. Wouldn’t this also be your choice?
With each one of our seemingly non-productive meditations, we are taking a step toward that wonderful reunion with our true Self, with God, with the kingdom of consciousness within in us. It isn’t much different than any other journey we would embark upon. Each advance on the way is but a step. And though from afar off, it appears that we have such a long, long way to go, nevertheless, if we intend to reach our destination this doesn’t deter us; we keeping stepping forward. Likewise, our spiritual journey of reunion is taken a step at a time even though we can’t be as certain of the inner invisible progress as we can in our outer visible travels. But if on our journey we are vigilant along the way, we’ll notice things which assure that changes in our consciousness are indeed underway. For instance, we’ll notice that our attachment to people, places, and things is lessening; our emotional response to the happenings of the world becomes reoriented; our liking of peaceful, quiet surroundings and persons becomes enhanced.
Yes, the whole kingdom of Consciousness/God/Spirit is within you right now, but because the faculty of spiritual discernment has not been developed or opened in you it isn’t a reality to you. And, before it can be of any real lasting benefit to you or me we must know it to be a living presence in us. Without such assurance, hearing and reading of it only leaves it in the realm of… maybe. However, when once we have our assurance that it is indeed within us, and furthermore, that it will never leave nor forsake us, then we need no further outer declarations of its existence. We know it and are convinced. Nothing further needs to be added. We merely go about our way doing whatever we would normally have to outwardly in the conduct of daily living, but inwardly living in constant union with this infinite goodness we’ve discovered in us.
GG
In Stillness,
John Drewery
GG….Glorifying God abbreviated
Fruitage of Spiritual Consciousness
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance
