The Pagan Path

Those who wonder are not lost; they are trying to awaken! 'The Sleeper must awaken!'

Sunday, June 09, 2019

We Are Gods?

You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum,[k] do also here in Your country.’
Luke 4:23

You who destroy the temple and build [ it ] in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Matthew 27:40 

Jesus Himself, along with the Psalmist ( Psalm 82:6 ), called the religious leaders ( judges ) of Israel 'gods' ( elohim ). This, as we've noted previously in this blog, is the exact Hebrew word translated 'God' in Genesis 1 ( 'In the beginning God created...................' ) This, as we've also noted, is not to say that we, or the 'judges' of Israel in Jesus' day, are on par, or even to be compared with the Almighty, the Maker of Heaven & Earth. On a bit of a side-note, a 'rabbit-trail', as a good friend of mine used to say; from the Hebrew point of view, in covenant context, the 'Heaven & Earth' that 'God created', at least as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, refers not so much to the material universe as to the priesthood of Israel & what might be called 'the common man'. In no way should this put doubt in the minds of my readers as to the notion of an Intelligent Designer. However, as the case may be, the point here is that though the 'creation' of a covenant people for Himself is attributed to the Hebrew 'God', He Himself acknowledged that we are 'gods' as well ( Genesis 3:22 )!

Could Jesus have saved Himself, even as the human being that He was? As the Son of God, admittedly ( ? ) God Himself, Jesus could doubtless have come down from the cross & kicked some Pharisaical ass! But He chose not to: 'why?' Even as a human being with the Power of God, as One who had walked on water, turned water into wine, healed the sick, raised the dead & yes, even forgiven sins, Jesus could have simply released Himself from His bonds ( nails ), jumped down & showed them beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was truly the Son of God, but as the Story goes; He chose not to. For whatever reason, He showed His power by, among other things, rising from the grave some days later. As a Human being, one might note, Jesus was not 'Yahweh' of Old Testament fame. According to His own admittance, He was the Son of 'God' & in trinitarian lingo, the Second Person of the Trinity. Having discussed 'the Trinity' before & this not being the subject of my post, nor having much at all to do with it, I will go no further than to offer this food for thought, that in somewhat the same sense, human beings are a 'trinity'!

The Pharisee's main problem with Jesus, though not their only issue, was that Jesus, a Man, claimed to be 'God'. Though He did many miracles that should have established the fact & this is where those other issues come in, Jesus did not come to bring physical, or political, salvation to Israel, which is what many in Israel looked for. The 'God' part, if you will, of Jesus was not His humanity, obviously; if It was, like an ancient 'Kal-el' ( 'Superman' ), the scourge would have had no effect & the nails wouldn't have pierced His flesh! No, the 'God' part of Jesus was His spiritual nature. Scripture records that He 'was in all [ points ] tempted as [ we are, yet ] without sin' ( Hebrews 4:15 ) A quick question here; 'can we be tempted ( as He was ) without sinning?' Whether we attribute it to the Hebrew 'God' ( 'Yahweh' ) or to our Higher Self, it is without doubt possible to be tempted but not yield to that temptation. That, One could well say, is the 'god' ( or 'God' ) part of us; the power to choose, the power to judge.

Human beings are NOT 'gods' ( or 'Gods' ), at least, not in their humanity; let me make VERY clear that is NOT what I'm saying! Though some human beings so let their Light shine that they DO seem almost God-like, it is still not their humanity, their biology, that is 'God'; rather it is the Spirit in Humanity that is 'God'. Though not all humans have shown their capacity to make good choices, good judgements, even those who choose to do 'evil' with all their power show the 'god' part of their nature, in that they are 'mighty to do evil'.

Human beings, as I've noted before, are strange creatures! Yes, they're creatures, created by the Gods for a certain purpose, that purpose being to serve as vehicles for our true Selves. 'As above, so below'; we are not primarily human beings, though that is definitely the most noticeable ( to the 'naked' eye ) part of our makeup. We are, at heart, in our innermost being, not physical creatures, but spiritual beings.  We are, in that Innermost Being, One with the Source of all Life, that Divine Energy that makes up the Universe!

As human beings, at least, to the 'naked' eye, we do not always act like we are One with the Source; in fact, some people act as if they are under the power of what Christians call 'the wicked one' ( ? ). The actions, the choices of these people, these 'creations', betray them & show that rather than living from their Higher Self, the Source, they have chosen to live as a creature, as a mere human being, being driven by their ego & lower animal nature. Some, however & history bears witness to this Glory, have chosen to bless the world by manifesting the Source, by showing their true nature; transcending their merely human ( animal ) nature & BEING the Love they ARE!

The Love that we are comes straight from the Source! Being what we are, in a manner of speaking, both human & God ( or god ), many people focus on their human nature rather than their Divine nature & thus allow their Ego to rule over them, making their choices, their judgements & thus acting according to the dictates of their human nature. Some, even while being being driven by their lower animal nature, not unlike most other animals, prove the Love that they are, simply by BEING. Being What we are, One might note, we, in that sense, do not have a choice; we ARE What we are! As human beings though, we DO have a choice! We can choose to BE or we can choose to DO. By DOING, we do not necessarily choose wrongly, though striving most often causes conflict, both within & without! By simply BEING, on the other hand, by being still & knowing, by observing, we allow our true nature, our spiritual nature to manifest in our human vehicle!

I'm sure that every Healer, in at least one point during their earthly existence, has heard words very similar to those aimed at Jesus; 'if you're Divine, why can't you just say the word ( meditate? ) & heal your physical body?' For those who say such things ( ignorantly? ), One might well refer to the biblical story & ask them ( rhetorically? ), 'why didn't Jesus come down off the cross?' 'Why did Jesus allow Himself to be treated so cruelly ( inhumanely? ), even to the point of death?' Might we not claim much the same reason?! For whatever reason ( there are many & varied explanations ), walking through this life in one form or another, transcending these weak human vehicles, this biology, in a manner of speaking, we can be more of a blessing to other weak human beings! In our Divinity, our Higher Self, if you will, can we heal our diseased human bodies? Doubtless we can, at least to some extent! The question we should ask ourselves though, is why we are in this biology ( diseased or not ) in the first place!

Charles Haddon Shank