The
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Wisdom
January 2008

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“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.” (Author, Reinhold Niebuhr, 1930s or 40s).  

“In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.” (I Kings 3:5).

“And Solomon said, “…O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" (I Kings 3: 6 to 1st , & 7-9).

“And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing. And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him”. (I Kings 5: 10 & 12).

“For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” (Proverb 2: 6).

“For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.” (Proverbs 8: 11).



      Probably everyone reading this knows the Serenity Prayer shown at the top of this article. (Teachers in high school used to teach it in classrooms before it became a no-no.) It speaks to the desperate need for wisdom that we all face at different times in our lives. And in this human condition, where we only know what we’ve heard and accepted as real from our parents and our own experiences, the wisdom to know what to do often eludes us, just when we need it most. In short, human wisdom is limited and inadequate.

      So where do we find a higher quality of wisdom and reason? We already recognize the limitations of human wisdom; but where do we go from that realization to finding wise and precise answers when we need them, and without asking everyone we know?

      Let me offer a starting point: In walking the many paths we take in our lives, as we switch jobs, move to new locations, marry, have children to raise, and balance our many decisions so we don’t lose ourselves in the process, there is one biblical statement that leads the way to the Fountain of Wisdom. That statement is, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2: 5).

      Now, finding or uncovering that mind which was in Christ Jesus may seem rather complicated, but it’s not. Throughout his entire ministry here on earth, Jesus was trying to show us our true mind and true body. There is only one Truth, one Intelligence that exists throughout eternity, and we all live, consciously, within it. Heaven is a spiritually mental state; it’s a fully-awakened state of mind—it isn’t a physical location.

      This awakened or enlightened state of mind has no material beliefs in it; but when we’re under the destructive spell of materiality (which produces illness, poverty, violence, or other ills of the flesh) the enlightened mind that was in Christ Jesus is still in us, too. We can call forth this dormant consciousness, which knows the particular truth that will deliver us from whatever false-belief conditions temporarily afflict us. But we have to ‘let’ this higher mentality be there within our consciousness. We have to allow its divine presence to communicate with us, by mentally calling it into action.

      How does this relate to zooming in on the wisdom we may suddenly need? This mind that was in Christ Jesus is the Wisdom of God, expressed to and through humanity. There is only one, true Intelligence or Mind, one Truth, one Reality. Our Christ Consciousness already knows this Truth and spiritual Reality. It is capable or answering any questions we may have about Truth and Reality.

      My aunt, Ev, used to say that words of wisdom were like “golden words on a silver platter.” (This is much like the simile from Proverbs 25: 11 in the Bible which states, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”)

      Here’s a practical example of how the divine wisdom within came forward in my thoughts, so precisely, just like those ‘golden words on a silver platter’. (I’ve written of this before, but please bear with me again.)

      During a trying emotional time that continued for many months, I tried to reason out the difference between meekness and weakness. Jesus taught meekness and ‘turning the other cheek’ when confronted with mental and physical assaults from others. But when does meekness turn into just plain weakness, or lack of assertion of our own rights? My thoughts ran in circles. I couldn’t reason it out.

      Finally, I remembered the story of Solomon receiving wisdom from God, and I asked God to provide me with that same wisdom, granted to Solomon, ending my mental struggle on this issue of separating meekness from weakness. I also remembered that, whatever thing I desired was already part of me as a spiritual child of God. Therefore, the answer should come from within my conscious, spiritual connection to God—from that universal Christ Consciousness that’s within us all.

      As I recall, I was driving my car at the time of this prayer, when, clear as a bell, one, short, powerful thought came to me: Meekness acts out of faith; weakness acts out of fear. In a flash, and in just a few words, I had the answer I’d been seeking for months!

      My answer was: the reason Christ Jesus was meek and unwilling to do battle in this world was that his faith in God’s invisible, but almighty, presence and power left the greater wisdom and intelligence of God to handle what needed to be done. When threatened, Jesus never acted out of fear. The Master’s meekness never crossed that line and became weakness. Instead, he demonstrated that trusting God’s almighty, spiritual power (rather than a limited human sense of power) conquers all physical cause and effect—even material death.

      That was the last time I ever really stewed over finding an answer I needed to find. I knew where to find it. I’d found that Fount of Wisdom within each of us. Like the innate wisdom that Solomon possessed, but didn’t know he possessed, we have the answer to every question within our own divine consciousness. We have divine knowledge, untouched by our own human persona. It’s not the wisdom of this world (universe of materiality) that we need for final resolutions. It’s the spiritual wisdom and intelligence of God, which underlies the material scene, but never becomes a part of it, except to heal it.

      We all have our entire being, the Christ Selfhood, in the substance and Mind of divine Spirit. This Christ mind is filled with all spiritual truth. This is the Christ Consciousness, our link to the God Intelligence, which Jesus was showing to humanity. We only need to know that it’s within us, in order to go to it for the higher truths which save us from the human conditions and errors we produce in the human scene. It is the Christly truth within us all that heals us. It is the wisdom of God within, ready to come forth in our human consciousness whenever we turn to it and call it forward.

      When Jesus was about his ministry, he said and did many things. But he had themes; and these themes show what thoughts he was thinking and realities he followed. They give us hints that all lead to our divine mind and wisdom contained within.

      For example, one such theme was that the Kingdom of God (heaven or harmony) is always present. When asked where, he answered, “…the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17: 21) So, what, exactly, did Christ Jesus mean by, within you? It has to be within consciousness, or conscious awareness. Nothing else makes sense. So, here is one instance where his teaching on this theme was clearly pointing to our own conscious awareness and deeper knowledge as the path to the kingdom of God and Its wisdom within.

      Another theme was Truth. He once said, “And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” (John 8: 32). But what truth was he talking of…a truth of a material universe and being, with physical laws of life, death, health conditions and poverty we can’t escape—or a spiritual truth of the universe and our being, with spiritual laws of life, health, and everlasting provision? Clearly, the latter; for Jesus turned away from the mortal and physical laws and healed in direct defiance of them.

      A third theme the Master addressed was Eternal Life. Actually, this is clearer to discern, because he raised others and himself from their physical death experience, showing life to have a spiritual source, not a material source. If life itself has a spiritual Source, doesn’t it follow that our true mind and body also have a spiritual substance and Source?

      In these three themes, alone, the mind or conscious awareness that was in Christ Jesus is seen to override the whole human, material situation as a false concept of existence. His thoughts were definitely spiritual, recognizing a spiritual reality, instead of, not along side, a material reality. God’s spiritual creation is the only creation, existing with its own laws, right where a physical creation appears to be, but is not.

      These themes of his ministry show the spirituality of Jesus. The universal Christ was the name or universal title of everyone’s spiritual identity. It was not just for himself that Jesus demonstrated life to be spiritual and eternal, but for everyone. God’s kingdom is universal and its everlastingness belongs to everyone and every thing in creation. To come to this realization is true wisdom, all in itself.

      Jesus was the way, the truth and the life, because he came into the human experience to show us the way home—back to our conscious recognition of who we really are and where we really come from. He came to turn us away from the physical scene and back to our consciousness when looking for God. He came to call forth the remembrance that is within our own divine Consciousness. By realizing God within our own conscious awareness, we also find the truth, wisdom, love, supply, and harmony that is heaven. These things deliver us from all evil—but we can bring heaven to our earthly experience, only when we find this heaven within.

      Here’s a fine point to absorb (and you may struggle with this point for awhile before seeing it). We are never separated from our divine Source, which is Spirit, God. We are all one being. There is not God and you; there is only God as you. It’s like a sunbeam is an individual beam of the sun, so it can never be separated from its source. No one beam IS the entire sun; but all sunbeams, collectively, make up the totality of the sun. Just so, no one individual IS God, but we’re all a part of God, and God shines through each of us through the divine Intelligence and Wisdom of Spirit’s divine consciousness. Thus, we always have had the wisdom we seek. It’s been with us forever, even before we made our entry into the material condition or physical plane of thought.

      Since all creation is spiritually everlasting, everything is complete; not one thing has to be added to God’s eternal creation. Whenever one passes through this human theater, so to speak, every individual identity, throughout the universe, still emanates from God Itself. We live and move and have our being within the divine Consciousness which creates and knows us. But when we make our entry here, or incarnate (taking material form) our memories are mostly wiped clean because we’re on a lower level of conscious awareness. This means we’re relying only on physical perception to define reality.

      Turning to the divine Mind within to guide us with Its wisdom, we are like explorers who, in finding our eternal life within God’s care, have found the Fountain of Youth—our forever spiritual wholeness and health. We can never be without our wholeness and health again, even when it seems hidden, by materiality, from us. Likewise, by finding the Fountain of Wisdom within, we can never be without it again; for it goes with us, wherever we go. And if we forget where wisdom hides, it’s never very far away from our remembrance.

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