Blessed Night, Family Of Light 😊

I Pray All Is Well With Everyone…And Your Hearts And Minds Are Full of Love, Joy, And Compassion…For All Your Brothers And Sisters In Spirit. And Since Our Loving Energy Emanates From The Spirit Of The Living God Within Us…Drawing Us Nearer To The Spirit Of The Great “I AM” – Every Time We Use It; Let Us Radiate The Love And Light Of Our “Mighty I AM Presence” All Throughout The Atmosphere…At Every Opportunity Given Us! Not Only For Our Individual Benefit; But For The Blessings, Benefit…And The Upliftment…Of All Mankind Everywhere! Cuz Our Loving Energy Matters…And Our Loving Energy Is Our Power…When We Use It! Amen…

Give Thanks And Praises For Love And Life…

And Y’all Be Love…

“The earliest written and probably most authentic account of the illumination of Jesus runs as follows: “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him – and a voice came out of the heavens saying Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. And straightway the Spirit driveth him forth into the wilderness”.

…The fact that Jesus went to John to be baptized shows that his mind was directed to religion and makes it probable that he had, (before illumination), the earnest temperament out of which, when at all, the Cosmic Sense springs. It is not necessary to suppose that illumination took place immediately upon the baptism or that there was any special connection between these two things. The impulse that drove Jesus to solitude after his illumination is usual, if not universal. Paul felt it and obeyed it; so did Whitman.

The expression: “He saw the heavens rent asunder,” describes well enough the oncoming of the Cosmic Sense, which is, (as has been said), instantaneous, sudden, and much as if a veil were with one sharp jerk torn from the eyes of the mind, letting the sight pierce through. So, describing this same oncoming of Cosmic Consciousness, John Yepes says, (he has been inquiring whether, in this seemingly miraculous occurrence, it is God or the human soul which acts), and he concludes: “It is the soul that is moved and awakened; it is as if God drew back some of the many veils and coverings that are before it, so that it might see what he is”. So too, the sense of the words, “Thou art my beloved Son,” agrees perfectly with the message conveyed in all the cases; the, “I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own”, of Whitman; and Dante’s words: “O love that governest the heavens, who with thy light didst lift me,” being strictly parallel expressions. The apparently objective voice, too, is a common phenomenon; it was heard by Paul, also by Mohammed.

Another important element in the case is the so-called “Temptation.” The theory here accepted is that Jesus, at the age of thirty-three, or even thirty-five, was simply an intelligent, very earnest-minded mechanic, with an excellent heredity and an exceptional physique. That he was in no way distinguishable, in no way different, save in his eligibility for spiritual expansion, which was hidden in the depths of his nature even from himself, and which may equally exist in any of them, from hundreds of young mechanics in every city and town of Christendom today.

Suddenly, instantaneously, the change came, and this young man felt and knew within himself the seemingly illimitable spiritual force through the exercise of which almost anything might be accomplished. How was it to be used? To gain what end? Power? Wealth? Fame? Or what? Jesus quickly decided, as these men all decide, that the power must be used for the benefit of the race. Why should he, why should they all, decide in this sense?

Because the moral elevation, which is a part of Cosmic Consciousness, will not permit any other decision. Were it not so, were the intellectual illumination not accompanied by moral exaltation, these men would undoubtedly be in effect, so many demons who would end by destroying the world. This temptation is necessarily common to all the cases, though they do not all speak of it. The essence of it is the appeal of the old self-conscious self to the new power to assist it in accomplishing its old desires. The devil, therefore, is the self-conscious self. The devil, (Mâra), appeared to Gautama as well as to Jesus, and urged hint not to launch out on a new path, but to keep to the old religions’ practices, to live quietly and comfortably. “What dost thou want with exertion”, he said to him. Mâra did not seek to allure Gautama with offers of wealth and power, for these he had already possessed, and even the self-conscious Gautama knew their futility.

As already intimated, every man who enters Cosmic Consciousness necessarily passes through the same temptation. As all the rest, Bacon was tempted, and as doubtless many others have fallen, he, in a sense, fell. He felt in himself such an enormous capacity that he imagined he could absorb the wealth of both the Cosmic Sense and Self Consciousness – both heaven and earth. Later he bitterly repented his greed. He acknowledges the gift from God of the divine faculty – “the gracious talent” – which he says he “neither hoarded up unused, nor did he employ it to the best advantage, as he should have done, but misspent it in things for which (he) was least fit”.

The superiority of Jesus to ordinary men consisted, (among other things), in intellectual acuteness, moral elevation, an all-embracing optimism, a sense (or the sense) of immortality. The mental superiority thus characterized is again almost certainly confined to those who have passed into Cosmic Consciousness, and therefore, if granted, would settle the question. The accounts given in the synoptic gospels of the transfiguration of Jesus can only be explained, (if accepted), by supposing that he was seen while in the condition of Cosmic Consciousness, the change in appearance, (striking enough in itself), being probably exaggerated, (as it would almost certainly be), in the narration.

Here are the accounts as given: “And he was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as the light”. “And he was transfigured before them: and his garments became glistening, exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them”. It is singular that this observer should confine his observations to the garments of Jesus. Again: “As he was praying the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment became white and dazzling”. It is believed that there is no known human condition, except that of Cosmic Consciousness, which would justify the above words. The change in the “raiment” of Jesus spoken of must be understood as reflected from his face and person.

…If, now, Jesus had Cosmic Consciousness, he must have referred to it over and over again in his teaching, just as all other such men have done. If he did so, it should be easy for anyone who knows about the Cosmic Sense to detect the references, while for those who do not know there is such a thing, these would necessarily be otherwise interpreted. It is not necessary to attribute a misinterpretation, since the words of Jesus, (as those of Dante, “Shakespeare” and Whitman), would carry, and doubtless would be uttered with the intention of carrying, more than one meaning.

At the same time, as Jesus did not write, and as his words were carried down by tradition, (for some short time at least), and as these words, (according to the present supposition), were imperfectly understood by those who passed them on, they would inevitably be altered. In some passages they certainly were, and in many others they probably were. Phrases, the meaning of which is only partially apprehended, cannot be carried down verbally intact unless they have already become sacred, as was the case with the Vedas. The incomplete meaning attributed to them would inevitably suggest and lead to more or less important changes to match it.

If then, Jesus had the Cosmic Sense, and referred to it more or less often in his teaching, the passages in which he so referred to it would probably some, if not all, of them be more or less altered. But there is a long series of passages coming ostensibly directly from him and running especially through the synoptic gospels, which passages, even in their present form, seem to refer unmistakably to the faculty now in question. And if some of them do not so clearly as others, it may be that such divergence can be fairly accounted for as above. The passages in question are those treating of what Jesus sometimes called “the Kingdom of Heaven”, and sometimes “the Kingdom of God.””

Cosmic Consciousness, by Richard Maurice Bucke, 1901

***Read the Book of Matthew, chapters 5 thru 13, at your leisure, to contemplate the passages regarding the “Kingdom of Heaven”.