Legend
< What May Be Known Of God (continued from page 10-59) >
and hence the immortality of that spirit and the brotherhood of the human race. From this starting point our course upwards, from man to God, from earth to heaven, is clear and sure. I am the Son of God, and from that relation I claim all that is implied by Sonship in this temporary state, and infinitely more. I claim all that must be comprehended in Divine Sonship, however little I may as yet be able to apprehend of that perfect relationship. Whatever I can apprehend of the Divine Nature, through outward relations or inward intuition, reveals to me somewhat of my own nature. Whatever I can learn truly of what is good in my brother or sister increases my knowledge and love of God. To know God perfectly is to know man perfectly. If we could know any man or woman, yea, any flower of the field or blade of grass, in essential being, we should apprehend the mysteries of universal nature. For the universe, in all its modes of manifestation, is so absolutely one that if we touch any point we are in contact with the one absolute existence. Every visible object is a manifestation of Divinity, and were our eyes open, in all degrees of life we might discern the sum of Divine attribute in everything. Our eyes being open only on the sensuous plane of being, we see nothing as it really is. So much of the universe as we can see by the corporeal eye is maya —illusion. It is not merely that one or two senses remain closed, but whole kingdoms of perception have to be opened before we can, through the shadows, discern realities.
The origin of the instinct which leads men, before the intellect is quickened, to seek after and worship the invisible Father through visible forms of nature or art, is divine. For the Omnipresent One is in every object, but not equally manifested. A rude image of the human form with many hands may be the best representation of Divine power that the maker and worshipper can reach, but a living flower or tree, and still more a good man or woman, are fuller manifestations of Divine qualify.
Every perfect member of a species represents the whole species. Every perfect man represents humanity in its highest state. Every perfect man is thus the Son of Man, or the Son of Humanity. And as man is the Son of God, every perfect man is Son of God in the fullest realisation of Divine relationship. We are now only sons of men; to become, as a whole and individually, Son of Man, as we grow into the nature of, and in fullest sympathy with Humanity in all hypostasis of being; and every Son of Man is Son of God.
In essential being everyone is even now son of God, but not in actual realisation. For the most part we live only on the surface of our being—in the temporary sensuous realm—the impressions of which we correct more or less truly by the exercise of the rational faculties. Yet sufficient light shines through from the inmost nature to enable us to discern somewhat of the nature of God and of human destiny. For as sons we have the full Divine nature of the Father, latent or germinal within us. Is there any attribute of Deity that we can think of that is not an infinite, or indefinite extension of human attribute? Omnipotence is unlimited extension of power and omniscience of knowledge. But infinitude! How can that exist in human form? Can any quality or attribute become infinite? Why not? Has the forehead to be enlarged every time a new language, science, or art is acquired? What is the. size of the mind which uses the brain as its instrument? What is the real size of man’s spirit in inches? Nay, what is the size or limits of anything, except as relative to external sense? A violin, though very small, has an infinite capacity of expressing musical thought. My Father is infinite, and if I, in my essential being, am not as He is, I am not His Son. We are children of God to the whole extent of His Divine nature. There is an attribute of humanity, the power of which I trust no one will seek to limit by form or size, and that is love. They who can realise what love is know of God in his inmost nature. If love in its infinitude is not a divine attribute, any man or woman we meet would be greater, in that respect, than Deity.
Some theologians, dwelling in the brain, and closing the door of the heart, have imagined God living solitary through eternity ere the thought occurred to Him to create a universe of habitations for intelligent being. Such a conception of Divine life tends to atheism. It is utterly impossible that love can exist apart from life which can receive and reciprocate its fulness. We believe in Divine Unity, not in any Divine Soleity.
We see from what obtains in the manifestations of life in nature, that the simpler any form is in structure the lower it is in the scale of life. The highest organisms are most complex. Homogeneity, not unity, is manifested in the lowest forms. The harmonious co-operation of all parts to one end is essential unity. The body of man is a unity, because it has many members. Man himself is one, although, as psychologists, we recognise in him three degrees of existence apart from the physical frame, any one of which might be manifest as a personality apart from the others, as anatomists show in pictures the skeleton, the nervous, or the muscular man, in separate human form.
Prochis, a Neo-Platonist of the beginning of the fifth century, in the first book of his Commentary on the Theology of Plato, observes that,—“As in the mysteries, those who are initiated at first meet- with manifold and multiform gods, but being entered and thoroughly initiated they receive the Divine illumination, and participate the very Deity; in like manner, if the soul look abroad, she beholds the shadows and images of things. But returning into herself, she unravels and beholds her own essence: at first she seemeth only to behold herself; but having penetrated further she discovers the mind. And again, still further advancing into the innermost sanctuary, she contemplates the θεων γενος (the offspring of Deity). And this is the most excellent of all human acts, in the silence and repose of the faculties of the soul to tend upwards to the very Divinity; to approach and be closely joined with that which is ineffable and superior to all beings. When come so high as the first principle she ends her journey and rests.”
The psychology of the Grecian philosopher is that which our experience as students of spiritual phenomena confirms. Spirit, mind, soul, form the human <... continues on page 10-61 >