The Word and the Way
II. Of Man and the Father

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Oh man, consider this:  How shall the Infinite be revealed to the finite, using finite words and means?  How shall the All and Whole be comprehended by that which is a part only?  How shall that which is in time and space know that which is beyond time, timeless within which time and space are but states of being?

 

The answer is that man cannot know the Almighty, the All One, the Whole, the I AM, save in part only, as He reveals Himself through the soul of things and through His creations.  These are before all men and all angels forever.  Nor can man or angel grow or rise so high that the Whole, the All, the creations of the Creator, stand not before him growing greater in magnitude, in wonder, in majesty, with each advance in man's knowledge.  In this, man is like one who peers upward towards the sun through thick mist.  He sees a little, and he peers again and sees a little farther, and looks yet again seeing farther still, knowing more clearly, yet knowing in part only.  Nonetheless, he knows that he knows.

 

Such is the standing place of man before the Almighty.  For the Almighty, the All One, is the Whole, comprising all things: the seen and the unseen; the manifest and the unmanifest.  Of Him and within Him is darkness, which moves not and reveals Him not.  He is in the light, in which all things are in motion, revealing Him forever, changing from one thing into another within the universe of His Person.

 

To seek to enlarge the understanding of man of the All One by using words is as if a man piled bricks upon one another that he might lift himself to the sun.  Yet words thus used may be with power when they are made the vessels, the vehicles, of a man's love and faith, in praise or prayer, in adoration; for these quicken the soul of man so that his consciousness, being quickened, begins to know the Father more than before.

 

None can prove the existence of the Father to a man save the Father Himself, through the light of His Presence within that man's soul.  When a man has attained to the beginning of faith in the Father, that knowledge will grow until in time it becomes mighty, transforming the man with the Father's wisdom, love and power. 

 

To the man thus grown, the Father stands within him as a central pillar of light illumining his being, so that his faith and knowledge of the Father grow always greater; illumining his being so that his understanding and perception of all things about him are illumined also; illumining his being so that he is able to distinguish the real from the unreal in all that lies before him, all that he encounters' illumining likewise every step of the way which opens before him.

 

Men in all ages, being taught that there is an All Highest, an All Power above them, have striven to give names to describe Him, that they might speak of Him and to Him.  Nor is it of moment what names are thus used, save only that they point to the Whole, the All, the All Highest, the Whole Compriser of all things, whom none can attain to forever, or know in His entirety, however great their growth and their knowledge.

 

It may be asked:  Why is it necessary that man be taught of the Creator?  Why should he be taught to look towards Him, to aspire towards Him, to love Him, and to pray to Him, with praise and adoration?  Is not such a conception a relic of man's immaturity?  A means by which he might be led towards growth and strength and wisdom to know for himself?

 

The answer is that without the knowledge of an All Person forever beyond them, none have risen, nor can they rise beyond themselves, which sets to them a limit.  The Whole stands before them, but save they recognise its Person and its power as the Sum of All Consciousness setting all things in motion, creating and transforming without end or limit, they cannot comprehend effectively even that part of the universe which lies open before them.  They see no grand design, no directive purpose, only the parts moving and changing from one thing into another, without cause or source.  There comes a time to them in their search when the search itself becomes so vast in the diffusion of its aspects that comprehension ceases to be possible and the very discoveries themselves cease to have meaning.

 

But when man knows the All Person, the Central Sun of Being, however small his knowledge, he is in possession of a key which, with growing power, will enable him to fit all discoveries into place, the parts into the whole; to uncover and reveal the directive lines of purpose which have carried them along, changing and developing without end or limit.  He becomes as one who, seeing the centre, understands the periphery; who, knowing the source, discerns the direction of motion; who, observing the motion, observes also its purpose; yet not in any final degree, but in the nature of a revelation which expands forever before him.  As his knowledge and understanding thus expand, so do the powers of discovery open anew before him.  Thus may it be understood that to advance in real knowledge man must start from the centre, having faith that there is such a centre from which all may be seen and known, all that had place within time and space, proceeds and is directed and sustained. 

 

So far from being the negation of man's maturity, to understand, to know, to have faith in the existence and Ever Presence of al All Person is the beginning of man's maturity:  the first, most important step upon it, from which man's real knowledge begins to open out with new vision and new power.  For if man cannot understand the phenomenal universe of matter and energy in motion which lies before his senses, open to his reason, how can he hope to travel forward is discovery and knowledge of those more potent realms of being of which the phenomenal universe is but the material counterpart?

 

To know the Almighty, the Creator, to have faith in Him, is the first step towards real knowledge in all that lies beyond the reach of man's reason and judgment, and man's intellect, focussed through his corporeal senses.  Having faith in, and knowledge of, the All Person, the Creator, the All One, he may the more readily understand that all things, all states of being, proceed from and are held in the Father, the Person of the Whole.

 

By virtue of His thought set in motion are all things created, given purpose and direction within the universe of His being.  All things that are seen, all things that are known, are representations of thought.  To travel up the lines of thought thus leads to origin.  The estates of consciousness are thus unfolded to man's understanding.  He realises and knows that beyond the corporeal expression of consciousness turning outward are realms of being, of consciousness, which must be approached by looking inward towards the centre, towards the soul of things.  Here, also, if man attempts such travel and discovery without knowledge of the centre, the All One, the All Person, he finds himself presently involved in a seeming confusion, a multiplicity of illusion, which he cannot unravel.  Thus in the also is faith in the All Person, knowledge of the All Person as the Central Cause of all, the beginning of knowledge, the first sure step on the roadway to discovery of the real.

 

Yet in all that is here said no compulsion rests on man to believe or not believe, to have faith or not have faith, to seek in this way or in that.  The universe of being lies open before him, and he is free to essay it in his own way; nor can he do so otherwise than from the light of his own standing-place as now he is.  Nonetheless for those with capacity in faith, with a desire to have faith, with a humility that causes them to seek and long for wisdom greater than their own, these words are written.  They will know that, in proving the Creator and His power in them, He proves His Presence before them and within them, around them and about them, over them and beyond them, in ways which become an ever-increasing wonder.  Barriers to advance hitherto deemed insurmountable are seen to have no real existence.  Gulfs, which appeared beyond the capacity of man's understanding, are crossed in the sudden expansion of man's comprehension.

 

The capacity to have faith is from the All Father in Person.  It is implanted in the soul, and like a seed can be either smothered or nurtured.  With its nurture and culture man attains to travel the road of All Knowledge.

 

Of the Presence of the All Person, the Father, the Ever Present, the Supreme Being, the Source and Sum of All Consciousness, manifest and unmanifest, these words are written:

 

I am I, I am Central and Boundless saith EOIH, the All One.

In Me growth is,

Toward Me movement is,

Perpetual forever.

As state is to motion

As motion is to state,

So am I to the emancipated soul.

To the bound spirit am I the goal of aspiration,

The ever-open door to peace, harmony and brotherhood;

To the unbound, the element of freedom,

The enabling will, the threshold of discovery.