““Humanity, the image now existing on this planet, is the product of creative law, as is evidenced by his subordination to that law; but when the likeness is obtained, then will man no longer act blindly under the impulse of law, but he will have awakened to a state of knowing. This state of ultimate knowing was intimated by our Lord when he said to his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you.”
He here brings out the thought, dimly, it is true, that all organized life, man included, is under the absolute dominion of creative law, is a servant, is a mind-center acted upon by that law, without absolute volition; with but partial volition, limited by the organic qualities and the general form which govern the desires, loves and sympathies, and consequently, the decisions of the will.
Thus, man is in the image of God and as yet is a servant, controlled by a Mind, a Will, of which he knows comparatively nothing. And if our conclusion is correct, that man, by acting under the impulse of a higher intelligence, is being led through evolutionary processes toward the estate of a volitional, intelligent being, and if this law is universal, then it follows that the higher planets, the elder worlds, must have reached a point where the body politic is not only in the image of God, but has attained to a degree of his likeness, of his purity, of his comprehensive knowledge, and of his volitionary dominion over all below is a mind-organ for the Infinite to fill.
And our sun, at least in its physical manifestation, may contain a luminous humanity whose very bodies are a flaming fire, and who have reached such a degree of likeness to the Father as to have attained the right, through mental and spiritual unfoldment, to have dominion over all below them. And having this dominion over that which is below them constitutes them God (Exodus 7). And if the inhabitants of our Father-Mother world, the sun, are the God of the worlds that they have created, then are not they, in their turn, the children of a higher world of their parent-sun? And thus, may we not see in the heavens the great spiritual nervous system of an individual man, having centers-of-mind beyond centers-of-mind, as in our physical structure; there being one center transcendently above all others ruling all below it?
For we find from careful study of our own body that while we have a brain-center, the head, from which all voluntary action emanates, yet there is another brain-center, some think it is the solar plexus, which governs all involuntary action, such as digestion and the tearing down and the rebuilding of the body; and there is in the experience of many, a consciousness of a mind-center transcendently beyond this, so high, so spiritual, that probably no one has been able fully to comprehend or locate its power.
Many have started out “in search of the soul”, but it has ever eluded them. And if in our own organism we find that which is transcendently beyond our comprehension, there may be worlds that have become so spiritualized as to be beyond the perception of worlds upon lower planes of existence. Therefore, in our contemplation of universal law, we come to the conclusion that the words recorded in our Bible, “Let us make man in our image”, etc., are eternal words; words that have been traversing the infinitude of space through all eternity and will continue to traverse it to all eternity, or so long as organic form finds expression, so long as the Creative Mind continues to form organized mind-centers through which to express itself in some well-defined direction.
For truly we see in nature that every organized form has what we call a specific character; even among men we find that each man has his own peculiar character and sphere of use, the sphere wherein he is normal. Consequently, God in his infinite purpose is not creating worlds to float in space without a definite purpose, but every organized form is made to be a mind-center, a mind-organ of the Infinite, through which to express some useful thought.
And when man has awakened to a realization of his place in the universe, to the object of his creation, and has voluntarily united his will with the will of the All-Mind, and has complied with the laws of his being, then he will awaken to find God manifested in him, and to find also that that manifestation of God in him is one with the Spirit of the Infinite, manifested in all diversified character and form throughout the universe. And, so far as his organization and sphere of use make it possible, he will be enabled to know all that is relative to his plane of existence; and recognizing his position as a mind-organ of the Infinite, he will realize the force of the words expressed by the Nazarene, “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth.”
But the full manifestation of this authority and dominion, this image and likeness, is obtained only through organization, correct formation in harmony with universal law. This organization we shall consider later on, in the chapter on “The Elohim”; and elaborate in the chapter on “The Eternal Order of Melchizedek”; and further formulate and elaborate in the chapters on “The Image of God” and “The Likeness of God”, and consummate in “The Image and the Likeness.””
Hiram Butler
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 