The Twenty-third Saying (Part 4)

And The Man continued his discourse addressing the Companions of The Way.

“‘Let me demonstrate this point: If a religious person becomes ill, or suffers pain from an incurable disease, that person’s whole existence is dominated by that suffering and pain. What I am trying to say is that the physical or material being within the environment is the sole means of reality. If the world were to suddenly be plunged into great cold or great heat by the lack of or increase of heat from the sun, the body would cry out for warmth or coolness. Everything else would be blotted out of that being’s awareness. Man is a product of the environment.

“‘Although the world has many churches, temples and synagogues for the worship of God, or of a god, any great world calamity, such as a deluge or some other catastrophe, would cause people to flee holy places because they are consumed with a great desire to live. The physical environment dominates humans. They have nothing else to measure reality by except the physical environment experienced by means of the physical senses.

“‘The same thing takes place on the mental and psychic levels. We are also victims of our environment on those levels. We respond to the Powers of Darkness to an enormous degree. Most people do not realize how strong Evil is. It is very strong. In our own ignorance and innocence, we believe we can overcome Evil and Darkness which, by ourselves, we cannot. It can only be done with the help of God. But how do we find God? Only by living The Way.

“‘The physical world is, beyond any shadow of a doubt, dominated and controlled by the radiations of the sun. The psychic world – the world of the fourth dimension, which is beyond our own visible dimension – is dictated to by the tremendous Powers of Darkness. And these Powers unquestionably exist. There is God, the True Maker of the original Creation, and there is the world of the third dimension that evolved out of the lesser world of the fourth dimension. And we are the product of a maker who is not the True God.

“‘Christian and Jewish scriptures state that God created the world. Thus people believe God is a person or being who created this physical world with all of its pain and suffering. In olden days, in the Hebrew as in most of the early religions of the past, animals were sacrificed to this god. Today, we have a Christian religion that says beautiful things but does not practice them, for the most part. Christians have been the cause of extinction of many peoples, many races. They have been the cause of many wars. They do not practice what they preach. And the reason is that people are like the god they worship, which is a blood-thirsty, vengeful god.

“‘If you read the Old Testament, you will find yourself a stranger from the god depicted therein. That is not a god of reason, an illuminated or enlightened being. However, people cling to this version of God because they have nothing better. And large numbers of people in the world, especially those of the Buddhist, Brahmin or Hindu worlds, do not have much respect for the Christian religion because of that fact. But Christians and Jews cling to that god because they do not know any different.'”

The Twenty-third Saying (Part 3)

“Having read the Saying, The Man put down the scroll awaiting comment from the disciples who had heard the words. The Mariner was the first to speak. He said, ‘Throughout the course of the Teachings you speak of the Image and the Word, while in this Saying you have spoken about the Pure Image. Would you elaborate on this?’

“And The Man answered, ‘The manifestation of Light, which is God’s Truth, appears in the Sun of Righteousness during God’s Second and Final Advent. And within that Light is the Word of God which is Knowledge, or Wisdom, of Himself greatly magnified in this final age. But along with the manifestation of the Light, Darkness also manifests. As you know, we must begin our ascent to the Godhead in stages, first through the material sun. We go through the sun at sunrise and at other times of the day in hopes of seeing the Face of our Maker. And, of course, over a period of time we are inspired by that act. The physical sun is not the Power of Light and of Goodness. We know that there is a Dark World, which in our theology we call the fourth dimension, that was the origin of the third or material dimension.

“‘Beyond the physical sun is a manifestation of energy from higher realms, meaning that the physical sun receives energy from a higher source. When we look at the physical sun, we are looking at the energy on the physical level; but we are also looking at the energy, or the Light, and receiving within our brain and nervous system, the radiation and the intelligence from higher worlds beyond our own solar system. Because we live The Way, we aspire to that true Pure Light of God that is within or beyond that manifestation of Light. If you recall from the allegory of the Garden of Eden, when the Dark Angel spoke to Adam and Eve, they could not tell the difference between the Dark Angel and an Angel of Light. Therefore, it is very difficult to have an understanding of, and to be able to distinguish between, the two. The reference to the Pure Image is to the Pure Image of God.’

“And a Companion of The Way addressed the Teacher saying, ‘In other words, the only way the false can be determined from the real is by experiencing true reality through the Sun of Righteousness. After that experience, you cannot deceive and you cannot be deceived. And that experience is a oneness, a consistent oneness of view, which is all encompassing, all inclusive, all penetrating.’

“‘That is right.’ The Man nodded approval then continued to expound, ‘The world of man and woman is one of environment. As a physical being, or as a human, one may say, “I believe in God,” and “God is my Maker,” and “I want to be good.” But how can one know God if one is ignorant of The Way of becoming spiritual? Unless we have a Soul incarnate with God’s Image and Word, we are only human.’”

“‘It is the mission of this Church – the only Church that knows God and is moved by His Image and Word – to teach of the One True God. And it will instruct the whole world in The Way of observing the Image and hearing the Word. And the Good will assist the One God to blot out the Darkness of Evil, and all will be restored and made Good forever.

“‘The human family must see that Good and Evil do exist in the present condition of the world and they must be able to distinguish between the false gods of Evil religion and the True God of True religion. And this is the beginning of their emancipation and freedom from Darkness.

“‘God, joined together with Good men and women on earth in the Image and the Word of the Sun of Righteousness, represents the first stages of the Great Union. Regardless of their station in life – their age, sex or education, wealth, or intelligence – those who love God and wish to do Good need only unify in the True Church to become Sons and Daughters of God, reborn and restored with Him forever in the New Creation which has already begun. And these will be the people of the New Race forming the New Nation of which I have spoken.

“‘Even as God sent me into the world to proclaim His coming into the world to call back His Creation, and as God revealed unto you His Image and Word before its manifestation as great Light, God has kindled the spirits of others to assist in the building of the Church. These are His beloved workers who have labored for aeons of time in the Great Work of redeeming humankind from the bondage of Darkness. Because we are all immortals of spirit, we are able to make the commitment in devotion and sacrifice which lesser mortals are unable to do because of their uncertainty of being.

“‘The Church of Nations and of Peoples will come as a result of a supreme effort made by those called of God who will serve as humans without evident understanding. But in the end, they will know the reasons for their love and devotion, for God in His infinite Goodness will send to them the Angels of Light and they will ascend together to the Eternal World of Light whence they came before the world was made. And they will have remembrances of their true beingness.

“‘It was said among the ancients that in order to know God one must be like God. But I say unto you that unless a person possesses the secrets of how to live The Way, a person cannot find the One God; for He is not found in ordinary religious expression nor in the privacy of one’s inner being. Because the world has lost knowledge of The Way and of the existence of the One God, it is essential that this knowledge be restored. But because the world is Dark and Evil, and because the spark of Light and Goodness is weak, God wills that the strong of spirit – the pre-ordained – lay down the foundation so that it will stand against the adversity of evil and wicked men and women in whose spirits the Darkness is manifest.

“‘The laying of the foundation requires that the whole world be told of the existence of the Image and the Word and the means by which it can be experienced, for unless the pre-ordained labor together in the work of the Church, God’s Light will fade from their spirits and they, too, will become imprisoned by the Evil One who even now labors with vigorous effort to spread Darkness over the spirits of men and women in the world.’”

After a two-month hiatus which included an exhilarating expedition to legendary Vilcabamba in the Peruvian jungle east of the Andes, which my father discovered in 1964, and which I will be describing in detail at our Community Convocation in September, we will now resume our review of The Secret Sayings of Jamil.

The Twenty-third Saying (Part 1)

“On the third day following the giving of the Twenty-Second Saying, on the ides of October, The Man went to the home of a Companion of The Way to expound upon religious doctrines. Six disciples had gathered together to hear his words. Taking a scroll in hand, The Man broke the seal and unwound the ribbon girding the sacred document and, as he had promised, proceeded to reveal to them the Twenty-Third Saying. The Man spoke softly.

“‘These are the words of the Twenty-Third Saying:

“‘To acknowledge that the Eternal One God exists is a natural and normal inclination, for man and woman are the bearers of the spirit created by God. Many seek God and many religions purport to possess Divine instructions that lead man and woman to God. But, I say unto you that not one religion of the world knows the One God nor instructs its followers in the True Way to God. This is a hard but truthful Saying that I have entrusted into the care of the Church. That you must teach this to the human family is a sacred obligation placed upon you by the God who is the Father of all.

“‘Many religions preach of an earthly god, a god made in the image of the mind of Man – cruel, bloodthirsty, harsh in His judgements, jealous and vengeful. And this is not the character of the One God of Eternal Goodness, Truth, Beauty, and Love. Make no pact with these religions or their gods by whatever name, but strive to teach what has been or will be revealed unto you by inspiration of the God of whom I speak.

“‘That Good and Evil exist in the world can be observed. To deny that either exists is to contradict reality. Good and Evil have a source. The Good comes only from the One God, Father of Goodness. The Evil comes from the Dark One, the rival of the One True God. The One God rules over an eternal World of Spirit where there is neither death nor pain, suffering nor want, where all is Beautiful and Good.

“‘The Evil One of disunity rules over the Worlds of Darkness whence the physical universe had its origin. And here much Evil prevails because of its separation from the One God. The strong and the powerful, the deceitful, the cunning, and the wicked rule with strength and are worshiped and adored by the weaker and the unsuspicious. Here the Great Lie rather than the Truth prevails, and all living things suffer and die for it, never knowing the Eternal Life of Light to which the spirit is heir.

“‘Because there is some goodness in the world and because the spirit of Man yearns to know the one God and return to Him, He has manifested His Pure Image and Word so that all may know of Him. But more than this, He has so ordained that all Darkness is to be burned away for all time by the brightness of His Image and all memory of Evil will be blotted out by the Truth of His Word. And the whole world will see that God is the worker of Good and that Evil is the absence of God.