I AM; the Divine Principle

The great search for light, life and love only begins on the material plane. 

Carried to its ultimate, its final goal is complete oneness with the universal consciousness.

 The foundation in the material is the first step; then comes the higher goal of spiritual attainment. 

 - Doreal

Did Life, as we know it, have a Beginning? Will it have an End? I guess I could be a little less ambiguous & just say outright that I'm writing on two main assumptions here, the first being that the Bible is not a Science textbook; the first couple of chapters in Genesis, what most know as 'the creation account' ( or 'accounts' ), are NOT a record of the literal formation, however many eons ago, of the known universe, even of what what most people envision when the term 'heavens and earth' pops up. My second assumption here, built upon the first, is that the inhabited earth goes back much further in Time or Eternity than previously thought.

Principle, more or less, is the Law by which a thing is governed. It may also be called the Source. The Source, or Principle, ultimately, of all created things, both visible & invisible, is what we call 'God'. This 'God' is known, by most religions, to be the Creator of all living things, the Divine Source of Life. It is this Divine Principle which governs all things & while most people, especially Christians, will put a 'face' on this Creator God, or Source; It may rightly be defined as Universal Law. It is when this Law is not obeyed ( Jesus presented this Principle ) that problems, diseases & such are presented by human beings & animals alike.

The History of Humanity proves that mankind has always been aware of the Creator. The mythologies & legends of time past show that even the most ancient of civilizations knew that there was a Higher Power that initiated Life on this planet, in particular. Now, to be sure, most if not all of these ancient civilizations honored a multiplicity of Gods, while we as Christians, worship the Creator as One God, in several different aspects ( most Christians use the term 'Trinity' ); however, this is not to say that the ancients, with their pantheon of Gods, were totally wrong!

Our God, our Heavenly Father, as many call Him, is, according to our understanding of the Truth revealed in Scripture, the Source of all Life. 'In the Beginning, God Created': these opening words of our English Bibles, we now know, spoke, not so much of the beginning of Time, but of the institution of a special Covenant, the End ( Goal ) being the Revelation of the Son of the Creator God. Scripturally speaking, we know this Son of God as Jesus. Jesus the Christ was the Messiah of Israel, for He presented to the World, through Israel, the Creator God, the Principle of Life, in human form. Though obviously human, Jesus incorporated Divinity, revealing to all with eyes to see that humanity had been perfected, indeed, was perfect!

Perfection, in this day & age is most often viewed as something to be attained, but when we try to attain perfection rather than just being perfection, we run into the problem that ego presents. We tend to overthink things & when combined with the erroneous notion that we must attain perfection, we often end up actually fighting against our own perfection! The ego, also know as the lower ( base ) mind tells us that we are naturally prone to evil & therefore we focus unduly on the equally erroneous notion that we are mere human beings & must be thus perfected. This error has caused humanity to fight against our true nature, something the Creator God obviously never intended!

We may use the analogy here of the opposite poles of the Earth, or of a magnet. They, especially in the case of magnets, might seem to be opposing forces & though they a seem to be opposite in nature, they do not oppose each other in the sense that they are antagonistic. Rather they bring balance to the object they are a part of. As with positive & negative ( charges ), Yin & Yang, Body & Spirit, All are necessary to the perfect balance of Nature, whether it be human, animal or plant.

Universal Law thus brings it all together, human, animal & plant life. All are meant to live together as One & when one part isn't functioning correctly, the balance is affected, however slightly or greatly. When this occurs, we have death, disease & kinds of evil!

All ARE One, coming from the same Source, but not all function thusly & so we have wars & rumors of war. If all were to function as the One that we ARE, wars would cease & the brotherhood of man ( sisterhood of women ) would rule supreme: until that glorious day, however, we must focus on reconciling with our own perfection, our own spirituality & from there, work outwardly!

Jesus told His Disciples they would do even greater works than He did, according to our understanding of Scripture. Whether or not this was a metaphorical statement addressing their present distress, or a universal one for all Eternity may be up in the air, but one thing is for sure; He knew that human beings were capable of so much more than they had, to that point, at least in the History of Israel, exercised. If only humanity could move past that barrier, break through that veil & pierce the darkness, only glory awaited!

By saying we are One with the Source of All, we are not saying we ARE that Source; we are simply of the same Essence & being of the same Essence, we carry that same Fire, or Spark of Divinity! Not all manifest that Divinity to the same degree & some never do manifest it. Even so, it is there, even though it be smothered to the point that it is all but unrecognizable. When we present the Christ, however, we do manifest that Divinity to a gasping world that desperately needs to realize the glorious fact of our oneness. Realizing this glorious fact will bring humanity to the brink of a lasting peace such as the prophets foretold!

The same Principle that formed the worlds & brought Life into existence is the Principle that brings us together into this necessary realization. Understanding that this Divine Principle is our Beginning & End, our Alpha & Omega, helps us to realize that as we belong to It, so does everyone & everything else! Thus, while we may have our differences, as parts of a whole, we may function as One Body, living together in Peace & Harmony, the way Nature intended!

Asking if Life had a Beginning, in a sense, is akin to asking if the Universe itself, even if Divine Principle had a Beginning. Christians, for ages, have viewed biblical history as the Beginning & End of Time. With further unveiling, we have discovered that, just as the End of biblical history did not signal the end of time, so the Beginning of biblical history did not reveal the beginning of Time. Maybe it's time we stopped thinking of History, or Time, as linear & started understanding it's circularity: 'What goes around comes around', right?

Charles Haddon Shank