The Christian Vision of the New Creation - Part 3

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

In Part 2 of " The Christian Vision of the New Creation, we ended with:

 

" {P. 80} In the great prophetic movement of the eighth century Yahweh finally

passes from being the mythical god of thunder and the tribe to the status of the

one transcendent God of all creation. At first Yahweh was conceived as above the

other gods but still one among many; only later was he recognised as the one God

compared with whom the other gods were nothing, and eventually these gods came

to be regarded as " demons " , that is, as powers opposed to the one God like the

'asuras' in Hindu tradition. Perhaps the greatest significance is to be found in

the interpretation of the name of Yahweh as " I am " . This was the profound

insight that the supreme Person is essentially supreme Being. It may be that the

name was first of all taken to mean " I will be " , signifying the relationship of

the God of Israel to his chosen people, but the deeper insight that God is

absolute Being must have been reached in time. This is the same insight which is

found in the Katha Upanishad, where it said: " How shall we speak of him except

by saying, 'He is' (asti)? " (Katha Upanishad 6:12) Thus one can trace the slow

stages by which the idea of God evolved in Israel as in the Vedas, the

Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. (P.81} Each appears as a unique revelation by

which the true nature of absolute Truth and Reality came to be known. "

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 80-81

 

Here now is Part 3 and please excuse if i intersperse some 'Notes', as i am

trying to integrate knowledge from many sources in order to see a more

comprehensive 'whole picture'. If something is the truth, it will agree with all

else that is 'truth'.

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

The Christian Vision of the New Creation - Part 3

 

(P.81} When we come to consider the relation of humanity and the world to this

God of Israel, we find that in Israel God was commonly conceived in a dualistic

manner as totally separated from the world. The very word " holiness " , which is

the essential attribute of the God of Israel, means literally " separate " . He was

often conceived on the analogy of a potter making a pot, as though the universe

existed apart from God. But there are indications also of a deeper

understanding. In the creation story of Genesis the world is said to have been

created by a word. God said, " Let there be light, and there was light " . This

suggests that the universe comes forth from the mind of God, as a word expresses

the mind of a person. In the New Testament this was developed into the concept

of the Logos, the Word or Mind of God, through whom and in whom the world was

created. There is also in the Genesis story the conception of the Spirit or

Breath of God brooding over the waters. This suggests something of an immanent

presence, which will develop later into the profound understanding that " the

Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole creation " (Wisdom 1:7) and to the

conception of the Wisdom of God, which " pervades and penetrates all things " .

(Wisdom 7:24) [break Quote]

 

[Note]:

 

Folks, where the author quotes the Scripture of:

 

God said, " Let there be light, and there was light " , we must know from Shri

Mataji's teachings (and others teachings too) that:

 

LIGHT=CONSCIOUSNESS (a.k.a. " En-light-en-ment " )

 

Shri Mataji has taught us that God the Father watches, while God the Mother does

the Work of Creation, i.e. " gives birth " - " as above, so below! " This is borne

out also in the Mayas belief system of 'Hunab Ku'. To them, 'Hunab Ku' is the

" Mother Womb " that constantly gives birth, in the form of " Consciousness Energy "

or " Light " :

 

" Hunab Ku was, to the Mayas, the supreme God and ultimate Creator. It

represented the gateway to other Galaxies beyond our Sun as well as all of the

Consciousness that has ever existed in this Galaxy. Hunab Ku, according to the

Mayas, is also the Consciousness which organized all matter, from a " whirling

disk " , into stars, planets and solar systems. Hunab Ku is the " Mother Womb "

which is constantly giving birth to new stars and it gave birth to our own Sun

and Planet Earth. They also believed that the " Creator " directs everything that

happens in our Galaxy from its center through the emanation of periodic

" Consciousness Energy " bursts. Today, modern astronomers have verified that at

the center of our Galaxy is a " whirling disk " with a " Black Hole " at its center

that is both swallowing and giving birth to stars. "

 

http://www.aztlan.net/rumblings_center_galaxy.htm

 

[End Note]

 

[Resume Quote]:

 

(P.81} But it is in the story of the Garden of Eden that one can find the most

significant symbol of original unity of creation. In the Garden of Eden humanity

is represented as being in harmony with nature, with itself and with God. The

earth brought forth every tree, " which is pleasant to the sight and good to eat "

(Genesis 2:9), and the man and the woman " were naked and were not ashamed "

(Genesis 2:25). This is a symbolic picture of the original harmony of humanity

with nature, and at the same time the Lord God was seen to " walk in the garden

in the cool of the day " (Genesis 3:8). (P.82) In other words, human beings were

at peace with the world around them, with themselves, and with the indwelling

Spirit who " walked " with them. but there was already a power of evil, of

disharmony there. The serpent was " more subtle than all the beasts of the field "

(Genesis 3:1) and proceeded to tempt the human couple. There are two things to

be observed about this. The first is that in the ancient world, as among the

American Indians today, animals were conceived as parts of the cosmic whole, in

which trees and animals and human beings were all subject to the cosmic powers,

the gods and angels, and to the supreme Spirit who pervaded all things. The

second is that what we would consider to be subjective phenomena, experiences of

the inner self, were then experienced as objective realities. Gods and angels

and all kinds of spirits and the Lord God himself, were all conceived as

objective beings. Paradoxically, what we take to be objective, the phenomenal

world " outside " us, they conceived as a spiritual phenomenon, a psychic event,

and what we take to be subjective, our thoughts and feelings, they conceived as

objective realities. This, of course, is simply due to the difference in the

functioning of the human mind, the reality itself being always beyond the sphere

of the dualities.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 81-82

 

 

[Note]:

 

In conclusion, Shri Mataji expressed something very akin to what the author is

saying. Shri Mataji expressed this in terms of the difference between " what is

symbolic " at the gross level and " what is symbolic " at the subtle level and how

they appear opposite to each other. Here is how She explains it:

 

" Without the life, there is no awareness. And then, it grew out from there.

First, " the life came " , because everything is " jaddah " , meaning everything is

dead. And when it comes to life, it has awareness. So the awareness started

growing in the sea. This is a symbolic expression at the gross level. At the

subtle level, it is the other way around. But because of the way we see

[perceive] things at the gross level, we say 'it is symbolic'.

 

From the other side [subtle side] if you say 'this is symbolic' - for Me it is

symbolic to see how life came into being in the sea and that it [made] Me aware

[of itself]. For Me, that is the symbolic [meaning] and for you, it is symbolic

the other way around. I mean, if I see something from this side I see it this

way, while you see it from that side. The one who is at the subtle level, sees

the gross as a symbolic expression of the subtle [and vice versa, " i.e. the

person who is at the gross level, sees the subtle as a symbolic expression of

the gross " ]. (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi - Diwali Puja, Hampstead, England,

9/11/80)

 

[Written in the English way, with what Shri Mataji gave, being retained]

 

/message/9153

 

[End Note]

 

[To be continued in Part 4]