Revealing God can be appealing to everyone.

When diverse factions of Christianity experience the joy of finding the common faith, a step has been taken toward intimacy with God. What makes us divide into groups in the first place is the fringe of darkness around our understanding that keeps absolute truth from being realized. As our light expands, we feel a deeper sense of oneness with all life. Ultimate unity will not be realized by a common doctrine or some universal concept of God. It begins with the revelation that what we call God is perfection of being. Here all things are already one. An individual’s journey to this perfection is accomplished through realization of what already is. A quest to perfect the universe is futile. When the light breaks through our ignorance, the division and imperfection we have imagined will melt away.

Division is taught us very early in life. My parents were Catholic and so I was brought up to believe that anything not Catholic was not God. At some point I realized that God would not forsake so many people. I learned about grace and then struggled from then until now to stop trying to earn favor with God. Now I am convinced that He was not lying when he said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I am equally convinced that I don’t have to belong to any denomination, faction, fraction, cult or any other club for those words to apply to me. No longer will I cast someone else out of the reach of God because of some outward appearance.

As foolish as it was to believe that all but the Catholics were condemned, has that elite grouping only been stretched to include all those who call themselves “The Church”? Or those who have followed the steps laid down to arrive at the Pearly Gates? If so, we have only diminished the group we have cast into outer darkness by a few. It is evident that not all those who call themselves Christian are following Christ. The cross you must carry to wear that title is the end of your identity as an individual. Among the trappings you would then give up is your vanity that what you do or say makes you a child of God. You must also give up the authority to judge another. This secular thinking would be replaced by the idea that all things are sons, or issues from God and we are no more or no less a son than anything else, but, all sons are in different stages of development from conception to maturity.

An immature son is still a full son, even though he cannot take his father’s place as prince. To do the work of the father, as Jesus did, you have to grow up into unity with the father, as Jesus did. This is not accomplished by becoming something more than you are now, but by stripping off the layers of what you think you are until all that remains is what you’ve been all along.

1 Cor. 3:3–7 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one said, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planted any thing, neither he that watered; but God that gives the increase.

Unwrapping Truth

I have developed a metaphor to help in the process of stripping away nonsense and delusion on the road to realization of oneness. I call it “Onion Theology”. We can use it to model God, the universe, reality or truth, which are all essentially the same thing, or should we say, non-thing? Estimating the number of people who would struggle with the concept that God is an onion, we will apply the model to Truth.

If the Truth contained in the Christian bible were an onion, then reading it as a mere history book would be relative to eating the outer skin of an onion. This is as far as many people get. They read the bible like it was a sacred version of People Magazine. The events are only historical accounts of people now dead, but perhaps by reading this documentary, lessons which would pertain to our own lives can be gleaned. The first thing one must do to go any further in Truth, is to know that more exists underneath. So . . . let’s cut the onion in half from top to bottom. Truth looks quite different as we view a cross section of the onion. We can see that there are layers beneath layers. Now, let’s pick up another whole onion.

Knowing that there is more underneath that thin membrane, we peel it off. Toss aside details like, the first man was created when God decided to make mud pies in Mesopotamia; or, Noah and his sons built a ship the size of a football stadium and loaded on board two of every creature on earth (except fleas. There had to be more than two fleas.). What was the moral of that story anyway? How great and powerful Jehovah is? He’s not particularly awesome. Can’t even build a boat.

Get into the deeper layers of the stories and see that all life in the physical realm is a mixture of structure (earth) animated by spirit (breath of God); and when we are in a state of rest (Noah), tranquility and contentment, we will rise above the destructive elements of this world, taking with us all the pairs of opposites to release them into a new earth that is free of judgment. Oh joy! This layer of the onion is much tastier than that paper-thin epidermis. Eating this layer only exposes a deeper layer.

We can now ingest that one, discovering its particular flavor and texture. What’s this now? Yet another layer! Smaller, but still encircling the whole onion. As we peel off deeper and deeper layers we make other observations. The amount of onion in each successive layer diminishes, but the flavor and tenderness increase. If we took the bible and listed all the stories contained therein, it would be quite a long list. This would parallel the size of the first layer of onion. If we wanted a list of the principles taught in the bible, it would be much shorter. It could be reduced to: sowing and reaping, vision and manifestation, faith, etc. The multitude of mythical events would all fall under one of these principles, represented in the onion model as a smaller but still all-inclusive inner layer. Near the center of this onion is perhaps the most compact and most universal principle of them all: either the road to unity or the road to division. When we have peeled off the last layer of onion, we find within its ultimate depths . . . . nothing!

We can use this model to find that there is infinitely more to the story of Genesis than God creating a man and woman who disobey their Lord and go on to populate the world with sinners. When we peel that outer story off and discover a deeper meaning to what’s being said, we can then chew and digest something that can actually help us grow.

Individuals perceive different layers of the onion. Instead of making this a basis for disagreement, we should always use it to our mutual advantage by discussing our diverse perspectives. We are always dealing with one onion no matter how many different layers there are. Exposing a deeper layer does not deny the existence of the outer ones.

To illustrate this, we’ll pick up the Genesis onion and look at it. Remember, we aren’t going to argue about our views, we are just going to present them. The first argument to lay aside is: Did the garden, the first couple, the trees and the snake really exist? Does it really matter? We are looking for the truth IN the story, not the truth OF the story. It isn’t necessary for the Three Pigs to be real pigs in order for us to learn that we shouldn’t build our lives on flimsy beliefs.

There is, however, more pitfalls in exclusively taking a story literally than there is using it symbolically. What happens when you accept only a literal ‘Adam and Eve in the Garden’ story? You blame them or the serpent for the curse that you believe is on you. The FALL, as many call the experience, is seen as a one-time event that sent the whole planet to the prison of sin, sickness and death. Then one may conclude that we are serving the sentence for another man’s crime and are not responsible for our predicament. That’s the danger (or the advantage) of holding to a literal interpretation.

If, on the other hand, we see the story as a figurative illustration of a principle, and that principle is in operation in our lives, it transfers the responsibility of it to us. Having the revelation that all the characters and events in the first two chapters of Genesis occur within you, you can understand why a current situation is either a blessing or a curse to you. What did you do to cause it?

The point here is, there are deeper layers to the story than what we’ve previously swallowed. As a tale of sin and disobedience, it doesn’t align with Truth. The knowledge of good and evil is part of every man’s learning experience. If we are to grow up we must pursue discernment of good and evil. As it states in the New Testament:

. . . every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5 :13,14

Whew! The author of Hebrews should have read Genesis. Doesn’t he know you’ll surely die with that advise? Wait. Solomon seems to agree with both writers:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs 18:21

Are not death and life part of the knowledge of good and evil? Yes, all pairs of opposites are on that tree. Let’s let an even higher authority have the last word:

Thus says the Lord, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live. Deuteronomy 30:19

After chewing on those statements, another layer of onion is revealed. We were (are) led to the knowledge of good and evil, that we might by reason of use (comparing good to evil) get our discerner in shape to choose life over death. After that . . .

. . . that you may love the LORD thy God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may cleave unto him: for he is your life, and the length of your days: that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30:20

Stay with me now on the same layer of onion. We aren’t discussing patriarchs or the nation of Israel. This is much more important! We are exposed to a world that presents to us an image of good and evil, life and death, that we might wisely turn from both images and choose the reality of Life that transcends opposites, the Life that is eternal, therefore, cannot be achieved or lost. Then we will return to the land that, as was promised, belongs to us and always has: the garden where birth and death are part of an eternal cycle.

Life isn’t a war or a game. It’s a school.

Once we master the material in a textbook, we put the book aside and enter into the life of the knowledge, which is the practical application of it. When we graduate from school, we apply what we learned there in the real world. The world of opposites, of sowing and reaping, of cause and effect, is the classroom of our life. The day will come when we will walk out of the school gates, and live in pure life — death free. We will experience pure Life, with no judgment of the appearances of good & evil. Pure goodness is wholeness, which has no opposite. Life has no opposite either. Death is the opposite of birth. We will have returned to wholeness accepting all of it, after so long a journey of imagined separation. Imagined because we saw a self other than the one Self. We never really left omnipresence. It played hide and seek with itself. The game is a pretend-life as another self. When the game is over, we are absorbed by unity. We were one all along.

Jesus showed us you can live in a physical school, but retain a conscious union with the Source (symbolized by “father” or carrier of the seed of life). Jesus represents a man on the earth plane, yet one with the spirit realm at all times. The man Jesus, if he existed at all, wasn’t the way, the truth and the life. Christ, the voice of the Source said that. It is the Source, which is available to all men that is salvation. Realizing that eternal life isn’t attached to a form but lives as free as the winds of spirit for all time — that’s freedom from the cares of this world.

To the Christ, or anointed one, everything, regardless of appearance was created as a reflection of limitless potential. A problem isn’t a problem, it is an opportunity to do some gardening. Why argue about whether the glass is half empty or half full when you can fill an empty glass by saying, “Let there be…”?

This conscious union with creative intelligence is awareness of the whole onion even when certain layers are being observed and interacted with. When someone we know is stressed out about something and we aren’t, we tell them, “You’re not seeing the big picture.” We could have said, “You’re not seeing the whole onion.” But I don’t recommend it. The onion is always whole. It is our vantage point that makes it appear to be broken.

Damned if you do . . .

If your cherished interpretation of scripture is now shaken, you probably have some questions that all begin with, “Yeah, but what about . . .!” I had the same questions at one time or another. Why did the Lord say, “Don’t eat.” if it wasn’t meant to be a restriction? Have you considered that the statement, “For in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” is one that hangs from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? The irony is this: Because of that statement, Adam ate from the tree before he ate from it. If the command of the Lord was, You shall not eat from this tree., then how could Adam not make the judgment: “Eating from this tree is an evil thing to do. I was told not to.” At that moment he would already have a mindset of good and evil. The same would be true if he chose the Tree of Life. But isn’t that the right choice? Isn’t “right and wrong” hanging from that damned other tree?

If the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is symbolic of a principle, then that principle operates on all levels (all layers of the onion). The good versus evil mindset is the principle of judgment. Without judgments, there can be no good, no evil, no moral, immoral, no opposites at all. The reason Adam was warned about the knowledge, is that if he partook of it, he would surely die. He wasn’t forbidden the fruit of that tree, he was informed that if he ate the fruit, there would be consequences. For surely he must eat of the tree if he is to find his destiny. The Tree of Life will always be there, but only after Adam walks the long road of existing and dying amidst the pairs of opposites and finds unity once again, will he return to the Tree of Life. Not to eat of it. To be it. He didn’t die literally. He lived to be cast out of the garden, father children and live over nine hundred years. But with a judgmental mind, he cannot have life without also having death. With judgment there has to be a separation, or else how could you judge? One thing is invariably compared to another when a judgment is conceived.

Are you ready to go to an even deeper layer of our onion? I see the garden of Eden not a piece of property with trees and animals and such. I see the realm of all creation. A single infinite consciousness is the only one really present. Isn’t it said that God (Elohim, creative principle) breathed into form and what was once mere dust became a living entity? This new creation is created in the image and likeness of the creator, correct? Without the divine spirit of life, there is no life in the man of clay. So there really is no Adam separate and apart from wholeness. The breath (neshamah, vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect, soul, spirit.) was the life of something as dead as dirt. God was not inflating the man like a balloon. The breath was not air from a set of lungs. It was Spirit from the heart of God. It was not a portion, facsimile, or reproduction of the Source. So what was it?

All things are formed first as an idea or feeling. Afterwards comes the physical expression of the formulated idea or feeling. Man was not the only expression formed in the first two chapters of Genesis. Each manifestation of stars, planets, trees, animals and man was preceded by, Let there be . . .” Each idea or desire that is intended focuses creative intelligence into a specific pattern of energy that results in a corresponding manifestation. Let’s pause here for an onion layer check. The light spoken of on Day One is not stars and galaxies bursting into existence. Those were created on Day 4, right? So what light is it? It’s none other than enlightenment. The formless void it came from is ignorance. Genesis is happening right now and I hope enlightenment is now happening to you.

Creative potential is unbounded, unlimited possibilities. Just having the desire to create is enough to manifest physical stuff from spiritual non-stuff. Like sugar molecules floating invisibly in water until a string is suspended in the water. With the string as a point of focus, the molecules are drawn to it until a form appears bearing the image of the sugar molecule and the likeness of the string. The physical attributes of the large clump of sugar conform to the structure of the sugar molecule applied to the path of the string. The rock candy which our senses perceive as various forms, is the image of creative intelligence in the likeness of its thoughts and desires. The man in the garden is still the lonely creator which simply and deliberately thought itself into the shape of a man. Becoming a creator is as easy as knowing that you already are one.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … Gen 1:26

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: Gen 3:22

That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; John 17:21–23

We are co-creators. What we do to creation, or what creation does to us is irrelevant. What I do, I do to myself, for myself. The account of God appearing as a man is free from laws, sins, punishments, rewards and condemnation. See it as the Creator playing a game of discovery and adventure. As Light is defined by drawing it out of the darkness, oneness is revealed against a background of division. The Tree of Life is understood when the joyful/painful process of living/dying by judgment is experienced. We learn that death follows life, but that life also follows death. When we understand that even good and evil are one, we will be partakers of the Tree of Life. To see all pairs of opposites as contrasting extremes of the one perfect whole, we can see that they must manifest together. By breathing intentions into patterns of energy and form, creators demonstrate that they are not unwilling to invent pain for the purpose of experiencing joy.