The problem (for God) is to harmonise the individual free-wills of a multitude of men. This must be on the one hand a choice, yet on the other hand robust - permanent - if Heaven is to be viable.
It was the work of Jesus to enable free wills to harmonise in this way.
This could not be achieved by The Father - he could only subordinate wills, passively, by obedience to his laws. It could only be achieved by the Son.
This was possible because the real-divine self is universal - and thus selves are 'overlapping', but the incarnated body is capable of genuine agency. In this way, a choice of the real-divine self has universal consequences.
So, while thinking from false, or superficial selves is merely a personal and private fantasy; thinking from the real-divine self is a potentially-universal, shared reality. The 'mechanism' of salvation is consciousness - and by theosis - meaning that it is by becoming divine in our thinking that we attain to permanent salvation, in which state all wills are naturally aligned, because all are thinking from reality.
(Reality being the creation of God.)
In this sense, the mechanism of salvation by the incarnate Jesus, was that Jesus was thinking from his real-divine self, and whatever he achieved in his body was therefore universal.
But this becoming-divine (divination) of consciousness can only be chosen; it cannot be imposed. Thus Jesus need to be incarnated as a Man, to make this free choice.
In contrast, those who take a path of not-thinking, or of obedience merely to the father - and also those who choose a path of amplifying their purely-personal imaginings - cannot move to the level of universal reality that is Heaven.
It is love that enables the move; love that makes people want reality; hence the two great 'commandments' to love God and 'neighbour'. These commandments are not orders to be 'obeyed'; they are an objective description of the choices that are required.
Unless you love God and his creation and also your neighbours - who will dwell with you in Heaven - then you Will Not join it.
We join as individuals; but we then live in-creation with all others who live in-creation.
If you do Not want to live with these others in chosen harmony, because you love them; then you will Not inhabit creation. You will therefore live out-of-creation, in chaos; either consciously alone in your own imagination, or else unconsciously (unaware) alone in chaos (Nirvanah).
Choice is a necessary aspect of free will, which is a fact of existence; the creative harmony of Heaven cannot be imposed but most be chosen - and for Heaven to be harmony it must be chosen for love.
'...either consciously alone in your own imagination...'
ReplyDeleteIs this state of being hell, or is it a state of being for those who did not embrace the son, and lived only according to the law of the Father?
Is there a way out of this state, or is it for forever?
When I read what you said, an image of a suffering person held in nothingness, reaching out with one hand was clear in my 'thought area' (not in my head - it feels bigger than that), and then another hand, and then a whole being emerged out of the nothingness and took the sufferer's hand. The whole image was a an unspoken question - 'Will you come now?'
This all happened in what seemed like a revelatory instant when I read your piece.
What I would like to know - to be sure of - is this sort of thinking something like thinking from the divine self, or is it 'just' imagination - a fleeting image, signifying nothing? Or, worse than nothing, could it be satanically inspired thought, aiming to pull me away from real thinking and truth? And how the heck can I be sure? This worries me a lot. Please don't laugh at me, I am being serious.
Tobias
Ultimately, the choice of whom to believe and trust, as well as how to act in relation to what you believe as a result, is determinative.
ReplyDeleteAre you drawn towards God's divine truth or towards Satan's lies?
There really isn't a need to tell them apart, whichever you prefer to be true is already sufficient. That is the nature of love. Think of it as analogous to romantic love. Two women hold out open arms to you, which do you embrace? The one you love. Which of them is honest and which a deceiver doesn't really enter the equation, if you don't love the honest one it does little good to know that the other is deceiving you.
There are probably finer divisions than a flat binary division. There are probably people enticed by Satan's lies who will find it too difficult to keep believing them eventually. But the fact that they love the lie more than the truth won't change.
@Tobias - Yes, I'm suggesting that this is Hell, or at least one type of it.
ReplyDelete"Is there a way out of this state?" - The answer entirely depends on the person who has chosen Hell - God doesn't want anyone to choose Hell, and would presumably do anything to encourage late repentance.
But there does seem to be evidence that it may *in practice* be unusual for a person to change this choice, once made in full awareness of consequences.
I would say that a fleeting image is Not the same thing as a self validating and real intuition. It can't be, since such fleeting visions are often starkly contradictory. But sometimes it may lead-onto a solid intuition, by clarifying the situation.