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' A Metaphysical Interpretation of the Bible ' - Steven L. Hairfield, Ph.D

808 Pages - Hardcover Book - Dustjacket

The next subject I would like to discuss with you is a remarkable discovery that I made during my personal journey into life. We have read and heard of the seven natural wonders of the world where, in reality, there should be eight. The one that is missing should ironically be the most significant of them all, yet it has been overlooked completely. What would this eighth wonder be? The answer is apparently quite simple: it is the human itself. Frankly, it should be the very first on that list. We are the only one of the eight that has the ability to comprehend the other seven and make them what they are, natural wonders. Truly, we are the one entity that also makes God and the cosmos what they are. It is humanity, along with its ability to realize life, which gives us dominion. We simply have the capability to think independently from all other creations. As a result, we actually contribute to the whole of consciousness, the true one mind over all things. We contribute directly to God and to life, and this just may not be avoided. We are the greatest wonder of all. It is a humbling and awe-inspiring experience when viewed at this level of mind and emotion. It is living through the soul.

As you may recall, we are told in Genesis that we have “dominion” over all things – and this applies to each of us equally. It is not power over others. It is simply dominion, or an ownership of sorts, if you will. I do not recall reading that some of us have dominion and others do not. Let me attempt to shed some light on this subject. As I suggested earlier, it is not to say that we have power over all things, because in this arena, we do not. That is not what “having dominion” tells us. We may be able to influence things, but we do not necessarily control them. How can humans who are internally out of control be in command of anything externally? They are simply not able or competent to do it. We must learn to manage what we plant, and then we may influence and guide, but we are not able to control. My perception tells me that we honestly feel we are in control, or that we need to be. However, the truth indicates that if we were in control of ourselves, why would the world be in the state that it is in today? Were we to look at the situation objectively, we would realize that we do not have as much control as we believe we do. The question is: what is really in control of our individual lives? The Creative Principle is! The best that It can do is to influence us, but as the Bible states, we are not awake. We do not hear the higher thought forms, and now we have the world the way that it has become. We are indeed asleep at the wheel – our personal steering wheel! And what happens to a vehicle when the driver falls asleep while in motion? The answer is rather apparent. If we were to awaken to the higher concepts, the world would change. It would have to. Throughout His life, the Master taught us about the truths of life, and we have managed to miss the message because it falls on external ears only. We really were not placed here for power and control, because, as we can see, it has led us in the opposite direction from the intention. We are here for a different purpose, and that is to rise to meet the Creative Principle and to align with It so that we become one as the image in Its mirror and Divine mind. We are a walking, living, thinking, feeling miracle of life. We were created as creators, and nothing less!

“Dominion over all things” means that we are able to do something that no other living thing in our world may do. We are able to think and to realize. Metaphysically, dominion implies that we are above all else because of these abilities. No tree, or plant, or animal may accomplish what we are able to do in this one arena. We are able to learn and grow in any direction that we choose, while no other living thing can conquer this simple task. Dominion is the key handed to us in Genesis with the capability to choose. If we prefer a different outcome, we simply choose another way. Instead of doubting and fearing, why not choose the other direction, because doubt is the teacher of acceptance, and fear is the teacher of confidence. We are all special and unique to ourselves, and we have the ability to be divine once we subdue the power of the ego and focus it. At that point, the subsequent process should be an easy one to follow. We need to realize that we are indeed worthy, and that no one has the right to suggest that we are not in any way, merely because we do not believe in what they do and how they choose to believe. It should ease the path to being single in purpose, and only then are we able to influence directly.

Later, in the Far East, I was told by a Monk that the most powerful thing in the cosmos was a single “thought”, and that the more aligned we are with divine principle, the more powerful it becomes. Doubt will not provide us with this mindset. Ironically, I have found this to be true, aligned or not. Years later, I read in the Dead Sea Scrolls that a single thought may overcome death, disease or sadness, and there is no limit to its power. In fact, in these same scrolls, it was even stated that a single thought is more potent than the greatest earthquakes that shape land and form mountains. It has more power than a bolt of lightning, and when I read in Genesis that we have dominion over all things, it emphasized why we do. We simply misuse our selves, and we do so through a religious concept that is called “sin”. Let me offer you another perspective on this subject. Long ago, religion established a dogma known as the seven deadly sins, one to which it does not necessarily adhere. We are told that if we are guilty of these thoughts or deeds, we will journey to a very uncomfortable place. In the Gospel of Mary (Magdalene), we can find a brief description of what she suggested were the seven wraths of the heart being released onto humanity. Over the centuries, it seems to have shifted from an emotional dilemma to a purely corporeal problem. We now have seven categorized sins used by the churches to prove us unworthy and insuring their congregational dominion. As the Master said in the same gospel, there is no sin, except for those that we create ourselves. However, we cannot ignore the original sin that is the separation of the human from the Creative Principle, or the erroneous preference of the physical over the spiritual. It happens in our minds, as we move away from divine schools of thought. As a result, it places us out of alignment with the natural harmony of life.

As an example, let us consider anger, first on the list of the religious sins, at least alphabetically. I made a statement above that the churches themselves do not necessarily succeed in resisting these “errors”. Being at the top of the list would tend to make us think that it is the most important. If it were the most egregious of the sins, what have the world and our country missed in the meaning of this simple word? What church leader – or what “Christian” – does not display this “sin” at times? The truth is that we are all prone to anger at any given moment in time, when we or others say and do things that are counter to our lives. Could this have prompted the Master to say: “…let those without sin cast the first stone…”? Is it a sin against God? The answer would have to be no! Why would it be? When we hear the church leaders proclaim that we have an angry God, we must be just like It. And if anger is a sin, would God not have to go to the same place of punishment so often mentioned? We must keep equality in mind, and the Master did tell us that nothing is above the law! If we are a true image and likeness as the Bible declares, the answer would be yes, and the same doctrine would apply to the rest of the so-called seven deadly sins. Here is the fallacy of this religious dogma. The churches use the idea of sin to control us by urging us to be saved. Saved from what? Satan? The Devil? Could it be to save us from ourselves? There simply is no such thing as the devil. There is only the Creative Principle! The Master Himself confirmed that there is only one. This is when the expression “a house divided” becomes quite important. We think that we are separate from God, and herein lies the only sin, one that evolves into not being worthy. We are not separate. We cannot be. It is all in how we see it, and nothing less. If heaven is within us and heaven is where the Creator is, It is obvious that the Creator must be within us. Along with separation, sin is an illusion. We are not able to be separate, nor do we have the power to do so. We are simply misaligned or out of balance on the subject. If we do not align the tires on our car, it is difficult to control it, and the same is true with us. We need to realign our inner self to the divine principle, and at that point, we become it. It is that simple. By so doing, our self-worth improves, reaching toward the divine like a plant growing toward the sun when watered and nurtured. We have divine ability. It has always been there, but we seem to prefer choosing the opposite. That is the result of not planting the appropriate seeds of worthiness.

Let us take sin and self-worth in one more direction. We mentioned earlier something that Sri Ramakrishna of India once said: “If you repeat enough that you are a sinner, you soon will be”. That is so simply and perfectly expressed that I feel we may all understand it. This philosophy is true in all things, for repetition in any subject may take on the role of a confirmation, whether illusionary or not. I heard his statement later on in my life, while studying in the Far East. Later yet, I heard a similar one from one of my Tibetan teachers, and it all rang true. A seed is a seed. The Tibetan philosophy teaches us that if we stare at something long enough, we will truly become that thing. Was my teacher referring to the material shifting of human molecules? No. His message was simply the same as the first one I quoted. It was more of an analogy directed to our mind and our emotions staying on one thing for a period of time or for a lifetime. Please remember our discussion concerning the power of a single thought for a moment. The words of Ramakrishna and my Tibetan teacher are more on the subject of a single repetitive and prolonged thought stream. If we repeat anything long and often enough in our minds, we truly grow in that direction until we literally become the substance of the thought. Both lessons are similar. In the same vein, we know from the study of the principles of karma that we attract to us what we are, and not necessarily what we want or desire. Our thought streams on a given subject, for a long period of time, are what create the return action. Ironically, the Vedas, Sutras, and the messages of the Bible tell us the same thing. When we look in Matthew 7:11, the Master did say that we are evil, but as we suggested in that segment, it was not a literal statement, or what He intended for us to understand. However, it is a tool that scriptural literalists use to chain us to the old school of thought, and nothing less. Because of our lower carnal nature, we have the propensity to be that way in life, but only in the context of how we treat each other and how we use the power of our minds. In a sense, we do have the ability to be evil, yet we are not born that way. Only our inner aspect knows it. Conversely, it is just as powerful as our ability to be divine. Where there is one, so will the other be, for they are the two primordial forces. It is the direction in which we focus this power that creates the result. We focus it in the direction that we choose because of our sense of self-worth, and because we can feel and see physical reality. We do not visually see what is going on within us. We may only sense it, thus the idea of inner tuition – or intuition.

From the time we are born in this world, we live through a set of circumstances. The latter are formed by our childhood years, and through these, we create the different emotional and mental thought streams. In turn, these have the creative powers that ultimately shape our lives in whatever direction it has led us, especially in light of what the Dead Sea Scrolls have to say. Allow me to present a personal example. When I was about nineteen, stationed in Southeast Asia, a Zen Monk asked me if I liked myself. My answer was that I did not. My early years had developed this in me. It was what I had been taught, my personal condition. If no one else liked me, I concluded that I must be broken; therefore, I could not like me. His response surprised me as he told me to merely change my mind, because I was the perfect temple of my Creator! His statement brought forth an interesting and fascinating journey for me. At first, I found nothing but frustration, and then I felt anger as I continued to seek this temple of perfection. After all, I had been staring at something that was broken for most of my young life and, of course, I had become it, and that supported what the Eastern school of thought suggests. In that moment, I realized that I was looking in the backward or opposite direction while reinforcing the same circumstance. I was still looking externally for someone to tell me that I was just fine and that I was not broken. Even if someone had, I would have defended my broken nature, and I would have owned it even more. It just would not have worked, because, within me, I was not worthy. When the internal lights came on, I suddenly realized that I had to accept myself first, and I shifted my focus in the direction of perfection, where I found heaven and a wonderful level of peace. I was worthy, and my concept of being a sinner was an illusion. In reality, my father had been my greatest teacher. He had placed me on the path of acceptance of who I was, and not what I was. There is a difference. In that moment of inner realization, I understood what Christ had been attempting to show us, in that all things are perfect as is the Father (Matthew 5:48).