God Beyond Religion: Doing Greater Works

John 14:12 “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

What if Jesus really meant what John recorded here? What if Jesus was the ultimate mental alchemist? It is obvious that he understood his connection with creative consciousness. He knew for certain that he was the incarnation of the Logos. This is a good place to express the idea that the Logos and the Christ are the same thing. And, while Jesus was the incarnation of the Logos and the Christ it is an error to conflate the Logos and the Christ with Jesus of Nazareth. The time for that has passed. This does not negate his teaching on what it means to love. It does not negate his assertion that if you see him and his activity you have essentially seen the Father-Mother Creator. It is obvious from the accounts, especially of John but the other gospel writers as well that Jesus was able to manipulate material reality at will.

This should not be surprising as it is quite evident that the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians were able to manipulate material reality as well. There are many references in the Old Testament text that the Magi were able to do miraculous works. An example is Moses turning his rod into serpents. The Egyptian’s were capable of the same feat. So there is little question that mental alchemy was widely reported over the millennia from a variety of cultures. Jesus was just profoundly better at it than others. But, in the above passage from John’s gospel Jesus declares that we who are also incarnations of the Logos are capable of greater works. Why? Because the Logos is returning to the Father. Not that it ever left the Father, as the Father cannot be separated from his word, but Jesus the first born of a new humanity returned to the Father after delivering this understanding. In returning, he promised that believing his message would make it possible to do the works he did. What was his message? John sums it up in his letters. As Jesus was in the world so are we.

So then, what is mustard seed faith? How can we accomplish these greater works? I do not claim it to be an easy task. If it were everyone would do it all the time. I think it takes focused faith. William Walker Atkinson in his “Arcane Formulas” suggests that it takes development of what he calls egohood. He explains that it is different than as we view the ego today. Developing egohood is developing the I AM that each of us are. It is first acknowledging and believing that the source of the universe is a mind that has absolute egohood and will. He offers and exercise for developing this kind of egohood: “Let the Neophyte place himself in a quiet place, away from the disturbances and distracting influences of the outside world. Let him assume a position of rest, relaxing the tension from muscles and nerves. Then, let him fix his attention upon his physical body; first the body as a whole, and then beginning at the feet let him move the attention upward until the whole body has been included in attention, step by step, until the brain is reached. During this process the Neophyte will become aware, by degrees, that he is a Something inside of the body, viewing and considering the latter in all of its details, instead of being identical with the body. There will be found a dawning realization that the body is but the physical envelope or sheath in which the Ego dwells—or a garment which the Ego has assumed for the conveniences of physical life.”

It is through work and meditation and does not come instantaneously. What is the difference between Creflo Dollar and some of the new age manifestation gurus like Bill Harris? Nothing! They both are offering a get rich scheme by paying them for information. What they do not tell you is that it requires work, fastidious work. It may be of a spiritual nature but it is none the less time and effort that is required. The above is just the first step of many to develop egohood and become proficient at mental alchemy. William Walker Atkinson wrote a 70 page booklet called the Arcane Formulas to help one understand what that spiritual work is. You can find a free PDF of the Arcane Formulas here.

This may be one avenue to help you develop mustard seed faith. I think it is what the Apostle Paul meant when he mentioned apprehension and apprehending in Philippians. He meant apprehending in the criminal sense. When a criminal is apprehended, they are handcuffed and not allowed to escape. This apprehension is the definition of mustard seed faith. This is the first of a bite size series that will examine the potential of the greater works promise.