Metaphysical Interpretation of Haggai (Ed Rabel)

Haggai

There is a positive and negative aspect of all Truth teachings. Did you all hear that folks? There is a positive and negative aspect of all Truth teachings. This should clarify a point for those who still think that for a teaching to be a Truth teaching it has to be completely positive. Positive is a word that we bandied about too freely until now it has assumed a position that is not rightfully his. There is a positive and negative aspect to everything and the only point in which you abandon that, or that it is no longer the case is in the absolute.

In the absolute you have only oneness, only unity, only incomprehensible perfection, but on every level below the absolute you have polarity, positive and negative. If you did not, you could not call it a level beneath the absolute. That is what makes it beneath the absolute, it becomes polarity.

So, now we do not need to be afraid of considering and even at times presenting the negative side of a good Truth teaching, if it will accomplish consciousness growth. We don't need to be afraid of the negative, the only thing we must be careful is to let the negative to take the place of polarization, there is where the danger is, the negative will not hurt if it is a part of polarization of substance and even the substance of an idea can be polarized and do no harm, do lots of good. It is when the negative is separated and made the entirety that trouble begins and we don't need to do that because we are aware.

Now, I am going to repeat things that were said in our wonderful devotional service this morning simply because that is what we come to. I want to present now the negative side of the prosperity teaching. In the Gospels we find Jesus making his very famous but little understood statement about the talents, "to him that hath, unto him shall be given an increase and unto him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away." This is a law of consciousness, a metaphysical law, but the first Old Testament presentation of the negative side of this which then Jesus worded: "he who hath not, that which he hath shall be taken away" (Mark 4:25).

The prophet Haggai illustrates that same principle with these words in the first chapter of his book, verses 4 to 6, "Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes." (This is RSV, see also King James).

See, everything we had vanished, now, what caused it to dissipate? What caused it to go away from manifestation? Now, we know that life is consciousness. He is illustrating the effect of a certain type of consciousness which Jesus called and which Unity now calls the "hath not" consciousness.

Since life is consciousness, the events and the factors within our environment and within our experience are manifestations of states of consciousness; therefore, the constant depletion of my good must be a manifestation of a certain kind of state of consciousness I am holding as a persistent attitude, and this attitude is "not enough," "can't get," "don't have," "might not," "it will run out someday," or "why can't I instead of her," "why wasn't I born in Hollywood instead of Pittsburgh," "why did I have to lose my hair at the age of 32, etc.."

When I think this way I am establishing a persistent attitude for myself and it is an attitude of "might not get," "might run out," "not enough," "get out the competition or else..." and this kind of an attitude will manifest as never having enough, never been satisfied, never quite making it, you see? The very antithesis of what we should be experiencing which we call prosperity, true prosperity.

Now, again, in the Old Testament, let's look at the positive side of this same idea, but I think, first, I want to share my notes with you about this "hath not" business. This passage that Haggai writes describing the predicaments of these people is an illustration of the opposite of the principle of God as All Sufficiency in All Things. This statement could be describing insufficiency in all things, food, clothing, shelter, and sense of well being, these are the essentials of life.

Where does this sense of insufficiency comes from? It comes from indulging in too much materialistic thinking and believing. The material serves the spiritual or it should, but all too often we try to reverse the process, that is, the material should serve the spiritual and by doing so the spiritual serves the material by increasing it, improving it, and enhancing it, and by raising everything with it to constantly higher levels of awareness, cosmic evolution.

The material can never be satisfied, never, only inner spirit really provides and satisfies, all else eventually dissatisfies. Now, this is a hard teaching for some people, so we never want just to teach this and let it go with that, you don't want to use denials and leave out affirmations, so it is with your presentation of both polarities of Truth teachings, present the negative, if you want to, and always give the other side of the coin, as Jesus did.

Transcribed by Margaret Garvin on February 6, 2015.