Life and OG

Life and the Oneness of God

By John Taylor; 27 February, 2006

My daughter Silvie for a while went around the house confronting all
who would listen with this little joke across which she came in some
children's publication: "What can an elephant do that no other
creature can do?" Answer: "Make more elephants..." For me this was not
humour so much as food for thought. Indeed, I though, this might be
called the universal uniqueness of each life form. It can be said of
any and all types of living creatures, whales, ants, chickens,
whatever. Even viruses, which are not alive according to most criteria
of a living organism, they can do this as well, as well as a whole
breed of self-replicating computer programs known as trojans, bots or
viruses. It certainly includes humans, and maybe God too, in a certain
sense. Albert Schweitzer, for one, believed that the definition of God
is "reverence for life." In the same way, the Qu'ran declares,

"And the things on this earth which He has multiplied in varying
colours (and qualities): verily in this is a sign for men who
celebrate the praises of God (in gratitude)." (Q16:13, Yusuf)

Each species holds this one ability as totally unique, its ability to
reproduce itself through time, to make more examples of itself, to
evolve, change and improve.

This mysterious reproductive ability is important in all faiths, and
especially tribal and pagan religion. Naturally enough, it has long
been understood as a largely womanly ability. As a result, in simple
traditions God is thought to take on the form of a female. This is a
matriarchic conception of deity. Scholar of religion Karen Armstrong,
referring to an ancient fertility goddess, writes,

"She was called Inana in ancient Sumeria, Ishtar in Babylon, Anat in
Canaan, Isis in Egypt and Aphrodite in Greece, and remarkably similar
stories were devised in all these cultures to express her role in the
spiritual lives of the people." (Armstrong, HistGod, 5)

Judaic faiths emphasize instead the male parent. Yaweh is seen as a
father not a mother. This tradition consummated in the Son of God,
Jesus Christ. Born of a virgin, the story of His conception and birth
could not be more explicitly patriarchic. Consider this:

"No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:18)

The term "only begotten Son" has always been mysterious to me. Does it
mean that Jesus has a closer, or even a genetic tie to God that we do
not? If so, surely the mother of goddess religions would have an even
closer connection than a father. What, for that matter, does begotten
mean anyway? I looked it up and the definition of "beget" in my
dictionary is "to procreate as the father, to sire, or to produce,
especially as an effect or outgrowth."

In ancient times the role of men in reproduction must have seemed
tenuous indeed. At least one primitive tribe was discovered in the
last century who were wholly unaware that men have anything at all to
do with the origin of babies. Even now, though we know many more
technical details about the process, sexual reproduction is still an
astounding and mysterious miracle. How do the genes of both mother and
father mix together equally and form a new creature, permanently
separate yet strangely similar to each parent? This is a mystery.

According to the above quote from John, then, the relation between God
and creation is mysterious, but not wholly beyond comprehension. We
are never a "part" of God in the way that the matriarchic idea of a
goddess implies that we are, or were in the womb. A "holy ghost"
fathers our human world entirely separately, through reason, the Word
and the declarations of His "Son." No human ever sees God in the flesh
or deals directly with Him. Only through the Son does He inseminate
creation. Only with the explications of the Master, I think, is this
idea made wholly comprehensible. I will end with this example, which
is a succinct explanation of the Oneness of God taken from a longer
discussion of the Power of the Holy Spirit.

"This quickening spirit emanates spontaneously from the Sun of Truth,
from the reality of Divinity, and is not a revelation or a
manifestation. It is like the rays of the sun. The rays are emanations
from the sun. This does not mean that the sun has become divisible,
that a part of the sun has come out into space. This plant beside me
has risen from the seed; therefore, it is a manifestation and
unfoldment of the seed. The seed, as you can see, has unfolded in
manifestation, and the result is this plant. Every leaf of the plant
is a part of the seed. But the reality of Divinity is indivisible, and
each individual of humankind cannot be a part of it as is often
claimed. Nay, rather, the individual realities of mankind, when
spiritually born, are emanations from the reality of Divinity, just as
the flame, heat and light of the sun are the effulgence of the sun and
not a part of the sun itself. Therefore, a spirit has emanated from
the reality of Divinity, and its effulgences have become visible in
human entities or realities. This ray and this heat are permanent.
There is no cessation in the effulgence. As long as the sun exists,
the heat and light will exist, and inasmuch as eternality is a
property of Divinity, this emanation is everlasting. There is no
cessation in its outpouring. The more the world of humanity develops,
the more the effulgences or emanations of Divinity will become
revealed, just as the stone, when it becomes polished and pure as a
mirror, will reflect in fuller degree the glory and splendor of the
sun." (Promulgation, 59)

--
John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com