Chapter 26
Generation and Regeneration
“No one hath ascended into heaven, hut he that descendeth out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in Heaven.” (John 3:13)
1. IN the descent of the soul of man into form, there must be some great purpose to work out, else the world of manifestation is but an idle dream.
2. There is little comfort to be gotten out of our struggles with experience here, if they count for nothing; but shown the golden purpose that links our efforts and struggles with life’s ascending spiral, we feel that we belong above and not below, and are reconciled with climbing.
3. The idea that man is the product of physical generation is an error of race ignorance. Man’s understanding that he is in reality brought forth through the action of the mind will restore him to the divine law under which he will increase, multiply, and replenish the earth according to the plan of God’s creation.
4. According to the Bible allegory, it was not until after man separated himself from the spiritual consciousness of life that the curse fell upon generation, and pain and sorrow followed in its wake. In order to restore Adamic conditions, man must open his mind to divine inspiration and again walk and talk with God.
5. Jesus of Nazareth was an example of this restored companionship between God and man. So close was His conscious relationship with the spiritual source of His being that He called the Source Father and acknowledged Him in all His thoughts, words, and works.
6. In ascribing Sonship and power to Jesus, the Christ, we are merely recognizing that which exists in ourselves and which can be developed only through the exercise of our spiritual consciousness.
7. “But,” it may be asked, “did not Jesus have the advantage of a miraculous birth?” Yes and no. The mother of Jesus from childhood received spiritual thought and training. This prepared her for the bringing forth of the divine ideal of man, unhindered and unhampered by the physical limitations put upon motherhood by the race thought.
8. Mary perceived the true idea of life, looking beyond the traditions and ignorance of fleshly generation; and behold, the glory of the one and only Parent was acknowledged. With her mind and soul filled with the exaltation of the spiritual idea of what her child should mean to mankind, she drew upon herself the power of the Holy Spirit, and conceived the germ of the divine possibility. As Jesus is the type man, so Mary is the type mother.
9. Every mother must raise her thought of generation from the fleshly concept to the spiritual. This will bring forth the Christ child in her own soul and in her progeny, if she desires to be a mother after her divine ideals.
10. When once the ideal man is conceived in the mind as a possibility, and the requirements of the Law are complied with, the regeneration of mind and body is under way; then he who descended is no longer hampered by the thought of sinful flesh; he is glorified with the manifestation of divine substance in his body. This is the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven.
