Introduction to These Comments

The Christians I associated with over the years, both while I was involved in religion and afterward, usually took the stance that the Bible is the "Word of God", and as such is full and complete, and was intended as a grand plan for us to use as a guide to living and finding salvation along with escape from punishment. Since I was taught that way from a very young age, it made sense for a time that I would believe these things. But my believing them did not make them true. When I say that however, some take it that I'm saying that the Bible is just a fairy tale or falsehood. While that is not the case, it "is" the case that there are some things presented in the Bible which are not true in the way believed by the Christians of my earlier experience (which was a literal, fundamentalist viewpoint). Even if the things written about in the Bible were true in the literal sense (as fundamentalists believe), such a fact would not change the truth of our shared reality...which is the only all-inclusive whole permanent reality. Certain things said in the Bible tend to indicate that some "prophets" had glimpses of truth, and yet other things said by those same people also indicate that whatever they were inspired in order to understand was deeply colored by their belief system, making it impossible to grasp fully. And as the generations passed, there was a tendency to try to behave and interpret everything that happened in ways which, in their minds, fulfilled prophecies of the past, and yet they were not all in agreement about what events fulfilled which prophecies, etc. Jesus' perceived mission as messiah was just such a fulfillment attempt.

     "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus." – Matthew 1:18-25

Our Shared Reality & Biblical Gold

The following comments are not an interpretation of the Bible...even when they seem to be, and are often taken completely out of context to the stories presented in the various books of the Bible. Instead, quotes presented are just given to provide a basis for "food for thought" in conjunction to the philosophical comments given on this site. Even though it is unlikely that the authors of any of the books intended a meaning similar to what I am suggesting, it is nonetheless true that the influence of our shared reality on our lives and on our world are what they are. Our reality itself and its natural influence are the same today as they were thousands of years ago. Nothing has changed but our opinions, our doctrines, our behaviors and practices, and perhaps our willingness to accept a little more of our own views as being valid, rather than only accepting writings said to be authoritative.

There are many things which could be said about the presentation offered by what is today called the Bible, as also many things about religion in general. My own experience growing up was Christianity-oriented, with my father eventually becoming a Pentecostal pastor. The comments provided on this site with reference to the Bible are not given to support Christianity or any religion, and are not given as an interpretation of the Bible. I'm not concerned with what the various authors of the books found in the Bible meant when they wrote, or about what is purported to have been said or meant by "God" back then. The truth of our shared reality is what it is without regard to modern opinions about the contents of the Bible, or what was interpreted to have been meant at any point in time.

In the Beginning, God Created and Mankind Fell Asleep

The various portions of the biblical story about the beginning as presented in Genesis, show example after example of opposites pairs, or in other words division. In fact, it seems to be the predominant feature.

Genesis 1 (not necessarily in order of occurrence):

• form / without form
• earth / heaven
• light / darkness or day & night
  • cycles of day & night...numbering
  • lights plural in heaven
  • greater / lesser...as rulers of day & night
• waters below / waters above
  • seas / dry land
• seeds / seeds (i.e.-male & female nature of)
• moving creatures / non-moving objects
  • multiple kinds
  • multiplying (i.e.-male & female nature of)
  • God (as plural) / man (as plural)
    • God / like God
    • controling / controlled
• that which is consumed / that which consumes...plants & moving creatures

Genesis 2 (not necessarily in order of occurrence):

• work / rest
• non-sanctified / sanctified
• in earth / made before in earth
• rain / mist from earth
• nostrils (left & right)
• living soul / not living soul
• not eastward / eastward
• specific place where put / not where put
• not good to partake of / good to partake of
• instructed to avoid / not instructed to avoid
• knowledge of good & evil / knowledge of good only
• rivers with multiple heads
• land where there is gold / land where there is not gold
• asleep / not asleep
• man & woman...husband & wife...father & mother / not male or female
• out of man / not out of man
• not naked / naked
• ashamed / not ashamed

1 — "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. "And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. "And the evening and the morning were the third day. "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: "And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. "And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. "And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. "And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. "And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2 — "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. "The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; "And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. "And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. "And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." – Genesis 1 & 2

Dividing into two and into multiples is the theme in this story. God is given as one throughout the Bible. God and man creates a division. Man and woman creates a division. Man and mankind creates a division...oddly called multiplication.

The most remembered part of this story of division is what has come to be called "The Fall". Christianity has focused on a particular opposites pair: obedience / disobedience. While someone choosing to hardline this story can turn their act of partaking as a horrendous beginning of evil and sin in the world, that is a pretty slanted view. Their partaking was not said to only bring evil into the world, but also good. No one seems to notice...as though this was not important. However, it is far more vital than any notion about disobedience.

A house, such as the house of the Lord, or the kingdom of God...when divided, is necessarily divided against itself, and such a state cannot be real but must have both a beginning and an ending. The kingdom of God is permanent and unchangeable without regard for time. The perceived state of dividedness and separation between God and man, as well as all other divisions, are not so, and MUST complete their cycle(s) by ending the perception of such state.

"And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. "And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end." – Mark 3:24-26

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Where Evil is, God is Not...and That, is Impossible

Although Christianity mostly looks at "Satan" as an entity, often given as related to the story of Lucifer and the fallen angels, if we but ponder this a little, we will notice that Satan...has an end. I would submit that the illusory kingdom(s) attributed to "him" also have an end...rather than being place(s) of torment where one is tortured forever without end. So, here in Mark it lays out what would happen if Satan rose up against himself.

When we understand that Satan is actually the vexation process of denial, we can entertain the idea that it will eventually fail to stand, and will have an end. Satan is that which "attempts" unsuccessfully to stand against God (and yet evokes imagery which makes it seem the attempt was very successful). These false images seem to divide God's wholeness into complex multitudes seeming to be multiplying these, but actually further dividing them. Satan is a characterization in metaphor of the futile vexation of denial, based on misunderstanding what denial is and why it is noticed on every hand, along with its expression as conflict.

There is no need to call our reality "God", or to call it by any other (symbolic) name. It is the all-inclusive wholeness that it is, regardless of our applying any definitions or labels to it. Writings by those considered to be holy or authoritative tend to twist this into something other than what it is. An interpretation of the Bible? No. It does not need to be that. Denial is denial and it needs no religious connotation to be so. Denial ends when we stop denying and refusing to look upon our shared reality as it is...just as denial began when we chose...anything at all (for choosing requires two or more, attempting to fly our proclamations of a false reality in the face of oneness, our true reality) and thereby began denying our own ever-present whole vision of the truth.

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The Creation...What Is It?

The world we think we know, and which we regard as reality, is the creation...is the product of favoring imagery invented by vexation of mind over the simple acceptance of the single whole reality that we are. That is why everything about our much-adored, much-abhorred world is divided into opposites pairs throughout its appearance. We are encouraged to return home, as though leaving this world behind in favor of the wholeness called heaven was the answer. But we already had our whole reality and still have it, right here, right now. There is nothing "wrong" with denial. It is how we exercise freedom. But we carry it so far that it turns into extremes of disparity and rather insane operation, both in nature and in our collective behavior.

What is needed, rather than literally returning home (for we are already home), is to become willing to allow peace as reality to express as the influence which realigns our perceptions and feelings as love. This leads us toward peacefulness, toward caring, and toward resting from exacerbating the conflict aspects of our denial process here in the creation. We are responsible for the creation because we made it, and that responsibility is our dominion: not to control the creation, but to relax from controling it, and to trust the influence of our reality to provide for us according to our willingness to look upon it and "know as we are known".

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Commandment? Or Instruction with a Warning?

When humans have children, it is expected that they do not fully understand their environment or how to act within it. Any parent can tell you that it usually takes telling a child an instruction more than once, and that it often needs some clarification, and perhaps a good bit more than this. A caring parent would not give an instruction, then punish their child in horrible ways for not behaving in the way instructed. It doesn't make sense to do so, especially when characterizing God as the Father of mankind. So let's downgrade the "commandment" and "disobedience" aspect to what it was actually presented as: a very emphasized instruction and warning.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." – Genesis 2:16-17

It was not a warning which spoke of angry punishment. It was a warning that there were consequences to that particular act. If you tell a child that touching the hot stove will burn them, it is all too often the case that they must experience this to really "get it". My mother told me to quit pestering the honeybees flying around the bushes by the porch, telling me they'd sting me. Well, I had no idea what that meant or what the experience of getting stung would be like. Let's just say I showed those bees a thing or two about who was going to control my dominion over them. But...I found out that getting stung is not pleasant. Mom told me, but I didn't listen. I really had no idea what she was talking about until I found out for myself. She didn't "punish" me and the bees didn't "punish" me...there was simply a consequence to my actions.

Ponder just a tiny moment and reflect on what Adam and Eve knew about commandments, death and "good and evil" before they partook.

• Had there been people dying horrendous deaths all around them?
• Did they have any idea what a tree of the knowledge of good and evil was, based on first-hand knowledge of good and evil?
• Did they understand the importance of obedience?
• Did they have any actual experience that told them "God" would place such harshness upon them or even have a clue what harshness was?

I suggest that...

1. ...yes, people died around them (for beyond the metaphor of the story of partaking, they were already partaking from the very first breath in this world of duality).
2. ..."God" was not an entity separate from them and holding ownership and great power over them (but instead was the presence of their reality...the leading of which they could follow or not follow, but with consequences).
3. ...still today people do not seem to grasp what "good and evil" is about. Instead, they perceive "good" and perceive "evil", then assume that their perceptions are real, based on visual and tactile experience, and the positive and negative responses which arise in them as feelings. That however, does NOT give an understanding of "good and evil". These internal and seemingly external experiences are the very expression of "good and evil", arising from our partaking.
   • Partaking of just what?
   • Of false knowledge.
   • Why am I saying it is false knowledge?
     • The presence of reality (or "God") is everywhere without exception, and there is nowhere (real and permanent and faithful) for this false "good and evil" to exist...except in our minds and its seemingly external projections.
     • The result of partaking of this knowledge is today blinding us to whole vision or true knowledge. This results in perceiving instead...split vision (false knowlege because it is in denial of and seeming opposition to undivided whole vision). That result culminates in the world we think we see, with all its swirling promises of bliss followed by devastation of the hopes those promises portend.
     • There's a saying: "What you see is what you get!" When what we "see" is perception according to our chosen blindness, that perception is a different and opposed view that is split into "good and evil". It is a very convincing vision and experience.
     • Although simple to remedy, we've come to believe in the false imagery and experience before us to the extent that we do not notice our reality. In essence, we have turned away from "God" unto the idols and imagery of this split vision. And...en masse we don't want to let go, or even consider that we are the cause of the created, perceived and really messed up world we perceive.

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The Fall? Evil Entered the World?

But what about this bringing good and evil into the world? Well, it takes a little explaining.

• God...(whoever or whatever that word could actually mean, beyond our beliefs about God)...is omnipresent, or existing everywhere simultaneously. In the beginning, our reality (God)...is one...is only...is infinite and eternal...is life (but is not death)...is good (but is not evil).
• God doesn't change...the same yesterday, today and forever.
• In him we live, move and have our being...and yet...
• This same God that we live in, also lives in us. That is omnipresence.
• Whatever is in me...IS ME!
• Whatever is in God...IS GOD!
• Wherever God is, that is God's kingdom. Thus we see that God's kingdom is everywhere. Even were we to be able to descend into hell, there would God also be.
• God is not evil or defiled. Since God is everywhere in God's kingdom, everything that God's kingdom is...IS GOD! There is nothing that is evil (and also real) in God's kingdom, or literally IN God.
  • If the evidence shown forth all around us in our world suggests strongly that "good and evil" (or that which defiles by dividing) truly exists as real, such a vision and experience is not true. It is but belief established by false witnesses...the objects created by denial as imagery evidence, appearing according to their design...which is denial.

So here we find Adam and Eve in the garden, partaking of what? Of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Whatever that tree literally is or was, it is not and cannot be evil and yet also exist in God and in God's kingdom. This knowledge of good and evil then, is not true knowledge. It is false knowledge...or more accurately, is not knowledge at all. One cannot "know" something false, but can only believe in it.

Even with a huge amount of evidence...if it isn't so, if it isn't real, permanent, unchanging and faithful, then it isn't...and no amount of believing OR experiencing can make it real. The proper purpose and meaning to the story of Adam and Eve partaking of this fruit in the garden was not about the disobedience aspect, but was about whatever this tree's fruit of great and undesirable consequence actually was. And it was the false knowledge, or actually belief in...good and evil...an archetypal symbol for opposites pairs, or duality, or dividedness and separation. "Good and evil" does not exist in reality. It only appears to exist in our temporal world. In other words, it isn't real.

The dividedness we experience and believe in takes many forms, but a key one is found in that we believe in a view of ourselves as being separated from God, as though that is actually possible. But...there is nowhere "else" to be that could be away from or separated from God. So it is false knowledge, and whatever our experiences may be, and whatever evidence we may believe we see, it is still false. "God with us" (i.e.-Emmanuel) has a meaning. And it means we cannot ever be truly separated from God (not because a book or spiritual school of thought says so, but because we are one).

We have been taught from birth to choose the good and avoid the evil. This seems natural to us because we have believed it ever since we can remember. But...it is not true. There is only God...only the shared reality of God in us, through us, and as us...one God (if we choose to call it God). It actually has no name in words.

• Along comes introduction of good and evil, and consequent separation from God, declaring that the truth of our literal oneness with God is not true, and that separation is true.
• We believe this.
• We teach it to our children with stories of promise and warning...dire, fearful warning. We teach our children falsehood. We teach them to trust in the evidence in the created world of illusory, separation-oriented imagery instead of trusting in the shared reality of all.
• I call reality "God" at times, in order to have something to call it (even though the common understanding of God is incorrect). Formal, personal names given to God are in error. God's name and God's reality are one and the same (rather than the name being a symbolic representation...for there are no symbols in reality). There is no symbol or word in any language which can represent that which is all-inclusive, infinite, boundless and unchanging. All symbols and words within language are limited and bound to their defining shadows, and thus cannot represent that which is not limited, not bound, and has no defining shadows with which to identify it.

Partaking of what has been called symbolically, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is simply choosing...choosing anything at all. Infinite, all-encompassing one cannot be chosen, for it does not exist as one among many separate from it, but only as one indivisible all. Choosing is tantamount to denying the truth of the shared reality or oneness that God is...that we are. By our choosing, we are substituting a doctrine of separateness instead of remaining aware of that oneness.

To deny oneness (or God) is not literally possible. However, the mental attempt to do so by attempting to see more than one and then choose among these false images, vexes vision to spin-off reflective symbols, images with definition. The appearance of these imagery symbols proclaims that separateness is real, when in fact it is not. This creating multiplicity through divided ideation in mind, allows us to see whatever we've created (as perceptions of imagery), clouding over our actual whole vision of the undivided whole of our shared reality. We choose to see a lie, a complex collage of interwoven lies, blinding our own selves. Chosen blindness brings with it a sense of uncertainty, which develops immediately into fear in many forms. These work together to blind us according to our initial self-vexation, in which we desired to choose (even though it was impossible).

We're choosing to look upon that which is untrue, and concentrating focused energy into maintaining that belief and viewpoint. Thus, the blindness and all the dysfunctional appearances of our world, along with falsely perceived good (instead of whole real permanent good), appear because we are choosing them. There is then, one...and ONLY one...solution. And that is to relax our choosing machine, which is our thinking and related feeling and experiencing machine...to pause in the midst of all our doing, and allow ourselves to notice our true vision...for just a moment, even if we don't think we see anything (because of our strong habit of perceiving imagery instead). That's it...it's that simple. On one hand, we choose. On the other hand, we relinquish our grip on incessant rounds of choosing. This is what repentance is, what atonement is, what salvation is. No mediator can be willing to let go for you.

We open ourselves to notice reality more, and gradually rely upon choosing less.

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Regarding the Title of This Introductory Section

One. Only one. One is not about being singular among other, but is about being all (i.e.-one reality).

The oneness of that one cannot be increased or decreased, but is whole and complete now. There is nowhere for it to be expanded to, as there is no boundary of that one. "Nothing" is an appropriate word to describe anything, everything, and all that could be "thought of" as other than that one. Nothing can be entertained by vexation of mind, but such temporary mental entertainment cannot make the imagery of nothing to be real. Such nothing, posing as something, has its beginning with the vexation that created it. That is creation. Creation is not only an event in time, but is an energetic process of mind, the cessation of which process is the ending of the creation that seemed to be its outcome as though it never was...for indeed, it never was, as also the time and space in which it seemed to exist. That describes our universe and world. We may be dismayed to hear this, and yet it is cause for gladness, for in that truth lies perfect innocence and the full power of reality...as peace, and not conflict or violence, neither pain nor death.

BEGINNING and ENDING is the way of creation and necessarily is also the way of letting go of creation. All that has a beginning is temporary. Because it is temporary, it is not real (faithful or permanent) and cannot be made real. In order for it to have a beginning, energy or vexation of mind is required...not only to cause it to become a perception as that beginning appearance, but throughout the lifetime of its appearing. Once the energy of its appearing is no longer built up and out into the illusion that it is, it ceases to call to attention for its denial counterpart, pseudo-attention or in other words attention in which partiality, disparity, temporariness and dividedness can define the "things" falsely called real, but which are not. Because they are not real or not the "things" they appear to be, the term "nothing" is appropriate.

Please note that their being nothing does not mean they're bad or that we should try to ignore or remove them from vision. It simply means that they are not reality. We spend our entire lives in this world, ensconced in our bodies and their unreal framework or world and universe. That temporary situation, eventually ending its cycle for each one here, is not real according to its faithfulness and thus its dependability from an eternal perspective. Just beyond the false witnesses our bodies and the memories of their world, and yet not beyond (for one cannot be beyond nothing), lies that which is neither something nor nothing, and which therefore is real, for it does not pass away with the vexation-created illusion of time.

Reality then, in a conceptual way of speaking about its seeming relationship to the nothingness of denial's domain, quietly and without conflict or strife, holds that which we seem to be close and dear forever...whether experienced as life during a lifetime or not ensconced in such experience (which we would think of as dead, but which is not dead at all). Reality (or "God" for those who prefer that term) does not in any way whatsoever resist the illusion created by denial, for reality does not enter into denial, even though vexation through dreams that seem real makes it seem so. There is no war between good and evil in reality, for neither of these false witnesses (which are bound together for the duration of their illusory appearance) actually exist in reality. Only within the limited pseudo-vision we've created along with our unreal world does such a battle rage. And yet, if we become willing to allow awareness of our reality to influence our journeying here, that conflict need not be a raging beast, but instead can add wonderful color to the creation we share.

Stories of old say that "God" created the universe, our world, and our very selves. But as we open to the influence of our reality, we discover more and more about what we are as that reality. It was said that Jesus did not feel it robbery to consider himself equal to God. Some go so far as to say that he "is" God. Understanding from within illuminates the truth that all are created equal, and that we are created equal because we are one reality where no disparity of higher or lower exists. John called the Baptist declared that one was coming (Jesus) who was mightier than he and whose shoes he was not worthy to bear. And yet it is apparent that Jesus understood differently, for he submitted to being baptized by John.

Note: In this passage in Matthew 3, it also says that upon being baptized, Jesus had the heavens opened to him..."not" to everyone around him. Thus it was in his own inner vision and understanding that "he" saw the gentle reality of God lighting upon him. Why? Because that reality "was" him...and it is also everyone else. When his disciples wrote about it, they characterized this as special and unique to Jesus. However, Jesus prayed that they would come into realization of their oneness with him and with God...in which oneness Jesus did not feel it robbery to consider himself equal to God. Once we realize that God (or the one eternal reality) is what we are and is our inheritance outside of time, his baptismal vision and later prayer begin to make perfect sense. His message was not that salvation came through the blood sacrifice of crucifixion, but through a contrite heart, open to the revelation within about what we actually are. And it is "that" which frees one from what we perceive as sin, and all that arises from partaking of the false knowledge "good and evil". It was a similar story when his friends and disciples were distraught because Lazarus had died. To Jesus, Lazarus was but asleep, but they did not understand how to relate to such a view. Know the living truth, that perfect eternal one, for in knowing this one is found salvation as atonement, and restoration of knowledge thought lost.

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• Stars and planets begin, then end and are no more
• Mountains begin and end
• Species begin and end
• Nations begin and end
• Individual people begin and end as to their sojourn in this world
• Thoughts and feelings begin and end
• Relationships begin and end...in every case of their seeming existent joined separateness
  • Relationships would join that which does not exist beyond its appearance
  • Reality knows of no separation needing or capable of joining
  • Resolution to conflict is not through unifying, but through governance by that which is neither separated nor conflicted
    • We are already one and thus need no synthesis called joining or unification

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• Denial as choice based in desire vexes mind to energetically perceive beginning
• Beginning and ending is creation, for everything created must include its ending
  • Ponder attempting to create a line which extends from a known starting point outward without end. This is impossible, for in order to be a line, it must have definition and dimensions...including two ends...otherwise it is not a line. We are eternal and infinite, without definition and without end. But our created appearance as manifest in the illusory temporal world has definition, has dimensions, has a beginning and has an ending as pertains to appearance in this world or denial's domain.
• Creation is the beginning of conflict because it is the beginning of perception of dividedness and separateness
• Continuance of the process of the futile effort to deny exacerbates conflict, as conflict trying to overcome itself
• Conflict in that process polarizes more and more (similar to charge in a battery)
• Resolution to exacerbated conflict is sought
  • Balance reduces conflict's polarization, as the influence of reality is noticed in awareness
  • Conflict ends when the denial driving it ceases (on a "per cycle" basis)
• Creation and its conflict ends (and yet new cycles begin)
• The flow of beginnings and endings as the flow of creation's manifestation itself, are governed by the influence from awareness of our shared reality.

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• Denial of whole real vision in mind vexes the mind...and that denial is accomplished by the unreal mental effort we call choosing.
  • Choosing requires two where two could never be.
• Although the one cannot be increased or decreased, such vexation of mind to refuse real vision by choosing to create imagery and dividedness, darkens and blinds the mind by setting up belief to replace the knowledge that whole vision is, thus effectively creating an imagery-clad, temporary state in which these things can appear, and can appear to be real.
• Acceptance of imagery as reality requires desiring, creating and choosing "more" (or increased appearance in vision)...which energetic process of creation and acceptance or belief becomes pseudo-vision (for real vision is always whole).
• The instruction given in the garden to not partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the corresponding warning, informs about this seeming fall into darkness and the blindness of self-chosen deception...or simply denial.
• Since there is only one reality (which we can loosely refer to as God), it is God who creates (or believes in creation)...it is God who exercises innate freedom, and mentally uses freedom to choose (or rather to believe in the validity and reality of choice).
• The "apparent" effect is that "God" sends his imagery-defined vision of self as separated from the one into an environment which vexation creates to facilitate and accommodate seemingly separate existence. This establishes that which can be likened to the parent/child relationship...manifestation. Given in metaphor, we find God sending Adam into the world, later portrayed as sending his only begotten son into the world, as also acknowledging that the process of the son being made manifest also created everything that was made.
  • A literal father sending his son to be murdered would be cruel. But God descending into the world of conflict he himself made, and journeying there as though a humbled disinherited son, and reaping the reward of partaking of the false knowledge of "good and evil", is not cruel, but is a natural consequence of his having chosen, divided and defined a choice-driven (or denial-driven) creation.
  • It is said that Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered. That obedience was to open himself in prayer within, and there discover that a different sort of humility was needed and required. And it was by that humility in which he acknowledged he was not less than God, and that all his brothers were also not less than himself or God, that he also understood the resurrection of his own awareness of his reality as God within, sharing that with his disciples.
    • But largely, they did not understand, and preferred a king filled with power to conquer evil foes, cast out devils, and heal people (who had to become ill first before he could heal them). For them to take that same mantle of understanding and responsibility for creation was too different from what they'd grown up hearing all their lives from religious leaders.
    • The exact same problem is extant today. People would prefer to call themselves sinners, and grovel at the feet of someone higher, and give all responsibility to him, rather than accept it themselves. However, despite what is taught, this is simply not possible. Each one has talents which culminate in full awareness of our shared reality, by and through which they can be saved from this world's dread and temporary bliss. But it is requisite that each one come willingly and wait upon that revelation to appear within. There is NO OTHER MEANS OF SALVATION ANYWHERE IN ANY WORLD OR REALM.
    • The "unpardonable sin" is to continue to refuse to accept this and to refuse to become willing to be taught by the eternal presence of their reality as spirit within, instead of being taught by books and doctrines written by men wearing deeply colored glasses and proclaiming and assigning great authority to their writings to the detriment of all the world.
• Salvation is simple and no one need err in this, for it is equally given without condition other than that one must become willing to come, and to receive what is given to all, and to accept what is freely given. From the foundation of the world (the beginning), the end was set in place...and indeed, it must end, and can only end one way...through prideless atonement and remembrance of that which our choosing and creating attempted to set aside.

Note: Christ is the redeemer because it is his own creation which must end, and yet which can be balanced by remembrance of his father (his reality). In common writings, Christ is raised up by the father in three days; however, in reality, there is but one day and that day is the Sabbath in which no work can be done. That is so because no work is ever done...on any day...other than in the dreams of his manifest son. Despite his son having created the world with all its conflict and woe, the father yet sees his son as wholly innocent and filled with all power...and as the one who calls forth peace (the father) into the world ("peace, be still"), as the revealed influence of his prayerful remembrance.

This is true of everyone who denies by choosing to perceive this world and who cover their eyes to reality's presence. It is not true only of a man named Jesus, but is true of everyone everywhere.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." – I John 3:1-3

In Christianity, this is often regarded as a literal relationship between "God the Father" and his only begotten "God the Son". However, we are called the sons of God because we temporally ARE the sons of God, divided in mind and body as male and female...in this world but not truly of it. The world we created does not know or see God (reality) because the very existence of the creation and world is specifically denial and refusal to look upon God.

In Christianity, when it is said "Behold, now are we the sons of God...", it is taken to mean that "now that we are Christians, we are the sons of God". It may well be that this is what was meant by the author of 1st John, but that does not matter. What does matter is that we all are sons of God by virtue of our having created the temporary state and illusion of our existence as being manifest in this world (God created, mankind fell asleep). It is further believed that "when he shall appear" means when Jesus returns and can therefore be seen. This is actually true; however, not in the way that is typically believed. Jesus returned...to the father...to remembrance of his reality. We are yet choosing to not look upon the father (our reality), and therefore, what we actually are is not apparent. But we may know...once we become willing to look and to notice our awareness of the father (our reality)...that we will see that we are that very one we have sought to see...notwithstanding our belief that we would see him as separate from ourselves.

Despite my opting to leave religion and Christianity behind some forty years ago, Christ (meaning my reality rather than some separate other one named Jesus) is dear to my heart, because Christ (as the father) IS my heart, the very core of my being. The father and the son are one reality, dreaming a creation as denial not meant to be harshly conflicted, but to be our reason to rejoice, as one by one we come into remembrance. And this is the gift of God, our reality, in that while we are yet sinners (dreaming illusion with its conflict), we are forgiven (pre-existent as reality) and invited to come and see the truth of that eternal innocence which we are.

The Title:

Faith as Trusting that which is Faithful
rather than
Trusting in Beliefs About that which Changes

In our temporal view, our ideas about order and peace are sought to be established by control, typically with a central form of reigning.

• Reality does not control; reality is one (peace).
• Because reality is one, no order is needed, and in fact is impossible.
• Because reality is one, control is also not needed, and is also impossible.
• If we follow everything the temporal world presents back to its beginning (which is also its ending), we find that choice is not real. Also not real are all of the seeming objects, imagery and separation-accommodating environment (i.e.-these are not permanent and unchanging, and thus they are not faithful).
• Anarchy is feared because people believe in conflict as part of believing in the imagery objects of their denial creation, adultery and idolatry.
  • Anarchy is the idea that, if control were to be removed, necessary order would be lost and without binding limitation, control would then run amok.
  • But if one notices their awareness of the one...order, control and any running amok are no longer seen as issues. In reality, these are not real or possible.
    • In this temporal world however, they are possible in terms of appearing as these, and can be exacerbated into great conflict
    • or allowed appropriate governance by the influence of regularly noticing our awareness of reality...toward peacefulness that is founded in the influence of peace.