Series 1 - Lesson 6 - Annotation 13
What is resurrection?
13. The root of the word resurrection is given in Webster's dictionary as: re, meaning again, and surgere, to rise. It means, therefore, a rising in consciousness from the limitations of the human to the limitlessness of Spirit. It is the lifting up of man out of false and limited states of mind into a higher state. Resurrection is the lifting up of man as a threefold being -- spirit, soul, body -- restoring him to his rightful place in God's Kingdom. It is lifting man to the consciousness of the omnipresence of God.
Resurrection is raising the consciousness of life from the human concept to the God idea; from the limited expression of life to the unlimited expression of eternal life. It is the soul coming up out of a belief in death to faith in life. "We all can see our body with the single eye of which Jesus spoke, and through this faith in the reality of the invisible body we can regenerate the flesh" (Talks on Truth 119).
Resurrection is, therefore, a constant, conscious understanding and realization of oneself as a son of God, created in the image and after the likeness of God, thus always one with God. Jesus expressed this oneness when He said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).
Regeneration is the process by which ideas of abundant life are consciously incorporated into the soul and body of man. These divine ideas begin a cleansing work in man's consciousness, freeing him from all belief in death as being reality and establishing the truth of undying life in every cell of his body. As this work continues in him and reaches into every fiber of his being, all the unproductive spots are lifted up, reanimated, and revitalized. We need to remember that all the work of regeneration begins in our consciousness, is developed in our consciousness, and is completed in our consciousness.
On the other hand, resurrection begins when man takes hold of the idea of his body as being spiritual; as a body of divine ideas (light). The belief in death and the belief that death is God-ordained have caused man to come into a state of mind that is far below his true estate. Man must come to recognize his body as the life, substance, and intelligence of God in expression, and not subject to decay and death. Only then he can start the process of resurrection of the body.
Resurrection is the ultimate fulfillment of the work of regeneration in man's being. Since the law of manifestation for man is the law of thought, his body begins to show forth the new patterns when he raises (resurrects) the character of his thinking and feeling. The body is restored to "the heavenly estate, which is substance so pure that no disintegrating force can be found in it" (Talks on Truth 118). The body can then be seen in its original purity, a body of light, the temple of God.
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Preceding Entry: What is reincarnation? What purpose does it have in the experience of man?
Following Entry: How does salvation come to men?
