Encoded in the seed of every soul is the "only begotten," the divine idea for humankind, the Christ. This truth is made distinctly clear in The Gospel According to John in the first chapter. The "Christ" is referred to by several different terms: the Word, the Life, and the Light.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He [the Word] was in the beginning with God ... In him was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:1-4)
"The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world." (John 1:9)
From these quotes, we can clearly see our own divinity proclaimed. This does not mean, however, that our divinity is fully realized without going through an evolutionary spiritual journey in which we come to know oneness in God. As a matter of fact, the writer of John indicates this is a gradual learning process by saying, "he has made him [God] known" (John 1:18).
Knowing our oneness in God is revealed through the incredible journey of becoming conscious. That journey, for the purpose of this course, begins with the state of awareness known as "mortal consciousness" and evolves into the same mind that is in Christ Jesus, "the master consciousness."
As we embark on this journey, it will be important to remember three things:
- We are continually being drawn by God into the fullness of our divinity by the activity of God's grace which is at the core of our being: "And from his [Christ's] fulness have we all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:16). We are destined for Christ consciousness.
- Each new level of awareness carries the former level with it. We do not forget what we have learned.
- As we are being drawn into new or expanded levels of awareness, we often revert to old patterns of behavior until we become fully identified with the new state of consciousness.
