Spiritual Unfoldment Makes Man Master
Is man the equal of God?
ACCORDING to Genesis, Elohim God planned that man, created in His image and likeness, should have all the qualities of his Maker (Gen. 1:27) At first glance this man created in the beginning seems the equal of God man or God son.
Further insight into the creative process however reveals that man has a work to do in developing his innate abilities, the "image" and "likeness." Following the paragraph "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" we read: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.1:27And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 1:28And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
In modern language we would say that God imaged a man like Himself who would fulfill the law of his being when he had gained the mastery
over certain forces in his field of activity. These forces are symbolically described as "birds," "fish," "cattle," and "creeping things," through which man replenishes the earth.
How does man develop his innate abilities?
The whole Bible tells of man's experience in striving for the mastery. In addition to the Bible, all the history of man is a record of how the human family has struggled to fulfill the creative ideas implanted in it from the beginning. The "birds of the heavens" are their high ideals, the "cattle" or "beasts of the field" are of a low order, the "fish of the sea" are their generated or accumulated impulses, and the "creeping things" represent the micro-organisms of modern science that are claimed to be the cause of most diseases. It has been assumed that man's dominion was to be exercised through aggression, through physical mastery. This idea has instigated man to wage war and rule by tyranny, all of which his higher thoughts tell him is in direct violation of divine law.
Our higher reason, backed by experience, forces us to look to another source than the physical for a solution of the problem of "dominion."
As the great example of one who became a master through spiritual unfoldment we point to Jesus, who became the Master of all masters. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh.
Today Jesus Christ is the realized, ideal Master. He is the full, perfect expression of the superman. In Him "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). To Jesus Christ God was a being of infinite
goodness that He was to realize and express. So today through Jesus Christ God is a being of infinite goodness that we are to realize and express. Today the name Jesus Christ is called "Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). Jesus Christ is the Master, majestic yet simple. His relation to man makes His tenderness toward humanity exquisitely touching. When we think of the mighty revolution that has taken place in the consciousness of the race through His teaching, we realize at least to a degree what He has done for the race.
"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
And he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city" (Prov. 16:32)
How did Jesus become a master?
Jesus ruled His own spirit. Through Christ we are learning to rule our own spirits, to gain the mastery over every word and thought, yes, over every impulse of the whole being, not only on the soul plane but on the physical plane as well. His presence right in our midst is teaching us control. His presence right in our midst inspires us with new ideas, incites us to go forward to achieve.
In the world of affairs a master is one who can enforce obedience, but the Master of masters did not "enforce." Through His spiritual ability He inspired obedience.
Jesus attained mastery over sin, sickness, death. He attained a permanent state of consciousness where mortal weakness cannot enter. Emerson says
that the measure of a master is his ability to bring all men around to his opinion within twenty years (The Conduct of Life, Culture). Today, as never before, two thousand years after Jesus closed His ministry here on earth, He is bringing men around to His opinion or rather to His truths as never before.
But Christ is also a servant. We follow Him because He serves best; because He bears with us as we strive to overcome our sins -- He bears our sins with gentleness and patience. As we work in prayer with Him, He leads us into a high state of spiritual consciousness where we realize the allness of God and His laws.
Why is the unfoldment of love so important in gaining spiritual mastery?
Here Mr. Fillmore clears up some confusion as to the right relationship between a person's superconsciousness and the Christ Mind. They are not the same things. Superconsciousness is a level of HUMAN MIND. Christ is a level ABOVE HUMAN nature, yet they are connected. Mr. Fillmore uses the word "synchronization" to describe the unifying of human mind (superconscious) with Divine Mind THROUGH CHRIST. Mr. Fillmore also makes an intriguing statement in regard to the difference between divine ideas and our thoughts: "Thoughts act in a realm just above, around, and within the material. They have BUT ONE DEGREE MORE OF FREEDOM THAN MATTER." (Teach Us To Pray 144) This is quite different than the "absolutist" belief that our thoughts are the most powerful things in the universe. They are not. Divine ideas are. Ed Rabel, Metaphysics 1, Prayer and Meditation, The Christ Mind"
- Ed Rabel
When Jesus was asked by a crafty lawyer to name the greatest commandment (Luke 10:27) He quickly answered that all the Law and the Prophets could be summarized thus: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets." This is a test, a challenge, to all those who would unfold spiritually. This attitude of mind brings us in tune with Divine Mind so that we are prepared to receive its blessings. When our thoughts are established in love, a divine synchronization takes place. Divine Mind has a fixed rate of vibration to which, through Christ, the mind of man is synchronized, just as a radio receiving set is synchronized to the frequency of a broadcasting station. In order to
tap Divine Mind we must bring the rate of vibration of our mind up to the standard, for it is only when our mind is vibrating at its most accelerated rate that God can make Himself known to us. The efficiency of the radio receiving set depends upon the number of its tubes and their adjustment to the electromagnetic field in which its kilocycles function. By this same law the perfect man must have his twelve great powers developed, operating in perfect tune with Divine Mind, in order to bring forth the image and likeness man.
In the silence when his mind is fixed steadily on God and is functioning in the consciousness of infinite love, the activities of man's brain cells synchronize with those of the very brain cells of the Master. Even the intelligent principle of the love center responds, and thus man becomes a spiritual radio with power to receive radiations from Divine Mind as well as power to broadcast them throughout his whole organism. He even is able to broadcast them throughout his environment near and far, an ability that is limited only by the spiritual power he has developed.
Humanity must bear in mind that it is traveling the road of spiritual unfoldment and hold its eye on the goal. Right here in our midst, in the mind realm as well as in the manifest world, will be developed a mighty neutralizing power that will render all destructive powers null and void, that will dissolve disease, and resurrect the consciousness of peace, health, and abundance.
