Christ Awareness; The true anointing

Christ, Greek CHRISTOS, means anointed or anointing. Actually, the Greek word for anointing is CHRISMA, however, they are etymologically directly related. Thus, in my view, Christ is the awareness of the divine presence within and chrisma is the awareness of the divine presence. However, I am of the opinion that for one to be aware of the divine presences one must be a part of the divine presence. One hears in evangelical Pentecostal circles and churches the term anointing often. You will hear things like that sermon was anointed, or this or that person is anointed.

An example of anointing where it is not mentioned but inferred in Luke chapter twenty-four. Luk 24:32  They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" This indicates that they felt the divine presence, which is the anointing, and thus they were anointed. After all, John stated that as Jesus was in the world, so are we the same in the world. He was anointed because of the indwelling Logos and therefore we too are indwelled by the divine Logos. The indwelling divinity is our direct connection to the divine presence, the divine parent. The Gnostic “Gospel of Truth” states that we forgot who we were, and Jesus brought remembrance of the Father and our familial relationship which constitutes or true identity. We are divine. All humanity are children of the divine parent. I use Parent instead of father because divinity is androgynous. Both the divine masculine and feminine are within the Parent.

Now on to the anointing. There is the real anointing and there is the fake anointing which is really a product of emotional hype. The true anointing attends the presence of the divine source. It can be described as a burning within the heart, but it is likewise accompanied by an unfathomable peace and love. It is a feeling. It is not an emotional feeling, but a deeper feeling and it is like pleasant fire.

It is interesting because I have experienced the anointing in unlikely places. I have experienced it at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. Jesus or God was never mentioned. The Glide Ensemble their choir was completely anointed. The reason was they feed thousands of people every day in the San Francisco Tenderloin District. They house many more as well. They are doing the work of the divine spirit. They are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and giving shelter to the homeless. There is an inexpressible peace at Glide Memorial. At least there was when Cecil Williams was pastor back in the 1990’s.

I experienced the anointing one evening waiting for the BART train at the Del Norte station in Richmond CA. Across the tracks on the opposite platform two obviously drunk people were arguing about whether or not the woman was a child of God. She was forcefully and coarsely demanding that she indeed was a child of God and of course she was as she too was indwelled by the divine nature. She was in the imago dei, the image of God.

I experienced the anointing in the presence of two Mormon Elders that were praying for a sick child, listless with a fever, and watched as the child came to life and was playing feverless in the middle of the floor after they anointed him with oil and prayed for him.

This causes me to reason how dare some individuals claim that they have the anointing and others do not because they believe in a certain set of facts about the divine parent? This in view of what they consider the anointing is merely emotional hype. If there is no unfathomable peace and love, there is absolutely no anointing! When one judges that another does not have the anointing, they are judging God, they are judging Jesus because he said that we are divine, the parent is in us and we are in the parent.

 

The Conscious Cosmos: A look at the Kybalion and why it is the perfect statement of Hermetic Teaching.

I was introduced to the Kybalion about four years ago by my son. Being a theologian, I was somewhat skeptical of it at first glance. It did, however, have a message that resonated with me to a degree. I was likewise skeptical of Hermes Trismegistus. Over the four-year period that has all changed. I now think that the Kybalion is one of the most accurate mystical works in existence. Since that is quite a bold statement, I will share my reasons and the process I went through to arrive at that conclusion.

The Kybalion was published in 1908 and was written most likely by William Walker Atkinson. I say that because he used the Pseudonym “The Three Initiates. This was what gave me pause, but it also started me on the path of exploring Hermetic teaching. In that pursuit, I found that there was a writing called the Corpus Hermeticum and of course I read it several times. I was still at that time skeptical of the Kybalion. I read a book by Tim Freke and Peter Gandy entitled “The Hermetica; The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs” and learned more about Hermes and the Hermetica. I also obtained a copy of The Corpus Hermeticum translated by G.R.S. Mead, and later the translation by Brian Copenhaver.

This study convinced me that The Hermetica was indeed ancient wisdom, and that Greek philosophy was built on it. I still, however, did not give the Kybalion the respect that it deserves. By this time in my journey, I was becoming familiar with Hermetics and the works of William Walker Atkinson. I also read his works entitled the Arcane Teaching and the Arcane Formulas. They are an excellent companion to the Kybalion and are very helpful in understanding and implementing the law of attraction.

Now for my view of the Kybalion; I now see that the Kybalion expresses the nature of consciousness as the creator without religious trappings, and presents an explanation that is compatible with current scientific understandings of quantum physics. It presents ideas that are compatible with panpsychist and idealist philosophy. It states that we are in the All and the All is in us, and while it agrees with various religious doctrines about the nature of reality, it does so without the superstitious and judgmental aspects that accompany religion.

And yet it offers an assurance of the benevolence of the All and how it relates to us and how we can rest in the knowledge. The following quote is more assuring than any of the promises found in the bible. It does so without claiming that any souls will receive punishment from deity. And more than any other thing it does not anthropomorphize the creative source. Here is the quote I find so assuring: “So, do not feel insecure or afraid — we are all HELD FIRMLY IN THE INFINITE MIND OF THE ALL, and there is naught to hurt us or for us to fear. There is no Power outside of THE ALL to affect us. So we may rest calm and secure. There is a world of comfort and security in this realization when once attained. Then "calm and peaceful do we sleep, rocked in the Cradle of the Deep" — resting safely on the bosom of the Ocean of Infinite Mind, which is THE ALL. In THE ALL, indeed, do "we live and move and have our being." ~The Three Initiates. The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece (Illustrated) (p. 31). The Kybalion Resource Page. Kindle Edition.

It also gives a better definition of what we have called demons in the past. It is an encouraging message as even those that may be considered demons will not always have to remain in that state. Here again is the quote: The legends of the Fallen Angels have a basis in actual facts, as all advanced occultists know. The striving for selfish power on the Spiritual Planes inevitably results in the selfish soul losing its spiritual balance and falling back as far as it had previously risen. But to even such a soul, the opportunity of a return is given — and such souls make the return journey, paying the terrible penalty according to the invariable Law. ~The Three Initiates. The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece (Illustrated) (p. 52). The Kybalion Resource Page. Kindle Edition.

You see in the above quote that even the demons have a chance to rehabilitate.

The seven principles of the Kybalion explain all of the aspects of material and spiritual reality and Atkinson gives important insight into how to use the law within the ALL to transmute circumstances by using law against law. Using the higher law against the lower law.

While it explains and elucidates the divine, it does so without moral judgment. That is not to say that it ignores morality but that it provides the understanding to motivate moral behavior in a non-religious way. It presents these ideals in a spiritual way. The one who reads the Kybalion and begins to understand its teachings will move higher on the plane of vibration toward unification with the ALL. It shows that it is a process that happens over various incarnations into a variety of planes and dimensions of existence. In fact, it teaches that the planes of existence are infinite, existing within the ineffable ALL.

The quote, “When the student is ready the teacher will appear” is a reality for me. When I was ready for understanding, I was introduced to the Kybalion. To anyone who is a panpsychist or a philosophical idealist, one who believes that consciousness is foundational to reality, I cannot recommend more highly any work than the Kybalion.