"Emanate: To come out from a source." (Webster's New Student Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Co., 1969, p. 272.) "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17: 20, 21; New King James Bible). . "But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." (Isaiah 65:18, King James Version). "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12: 6,7; King James Version). "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9, King James Version).
Our modern world has come a long way in comprehending truth. For example, it's been said that when the camera was invented, many primitive people (who had little technology) were afraid that the camera was trying to harm them in some way. I remember reading a book, about some Native American tribes, who felt that the camera 'stole the soul' of those who allowed their pictures to be taken. But as time went on and the mystery of the camera was revealed, these stories and superstitions mostly faded from the collective consciousness, as myths usually do when new information comes to light. Yet, some misconceptions from the past often continue through time. Today, many people who believe in God, still believe that this human experience is a place where we've been cut off from our Creator—kicked out of our forever, spiritual home, and left to face all the evils of a treacherous mortal, material existence without much help from God, unless we beg and plead with God and win back some of His favor. But this isn't the God that Christ Jesus came to reveal to humanity. As shown throughout Jesus's ministry as recorded in the four New Testament gospels, (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) Jesus spoke of God as the Father of all and that the heavenly kingdom (from which we often think we've been separated) is still invisibly present with us, wherever we may go. In these gospels, Jesus presents the more enlightened view of a oneness with God (and God's unconditional love) that exists for each of us, throughout eternity. In modern language, this oneness can be perceived in the word, 'emanation.' This word describes how our spiritual link can still be, not only possible, but certain. Thus, a closer look at what it means to emanate can shed some light upon our real relationship to our heavenly Father/Mother (God having all spiritual male and female qualities). It can also make us realize that, just because we don't perceive the presence of God, Spirit, with out physical sight and other material senses, doesn't mean that this harmonious kingdom is in an unreachable dimension. Sunlight is actually one of the best examples of emanation. The rays of light that we see reaching the earth have emanated from the Sun, but never disconnected from the Sun. The Sun is their source; and while clouds may hide the sunlight from our physical vision, the rays will break through, again, when the clouds move out of the way. Sunlight does not exist of itself. It exists only because the Sun is its origin. (See dictionary definition of 'emanate' at top of article.) The fact that the rays of sunlight (and heat) are always connected to their source is quite symbolic of our connection to God as our own Source of being—our own origin. We exist because our Creator and origin exists—and in order to exist, we must stay connected to our divine Source. In fact, the Bible tells us, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28: King James Bible Version) When Christ Jesus said "…call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven," (Matthew 23.9 shown at top of article) he was addressing both our divine relationship as sons and daughters of the Almighty and was showing that God is our only origin—the real Source of our existence. We are eternally connected to this divine Source, and we cannot exist, anywhere, without this eternal connection. Thus, we emanate from God, our own Source, just as the rays of sunlight emanate from their source, the sun. To grasp this truth of our own emanation is to become conscious of the kingdom of God, right here, where a material existence appears to be our reality, but is not. The flesh is not our source or origin at all. Our true, spiritual being isn't even connected to the flesh. Our true and eternal body, soul, and mind are spiritual in substance, with no real connection to the flesh (except from what we're manifesting into physical form from our material beliefs). Yet, our true, spiritual identity exists, invisibly, right where the fleshly body seems to be our identity, but is not. For just as the clouds hide, but do not extinguish, the sunlight, so, also, does the material substance of body hide, but not extinguish, our true being—forever safe and sound in Spirit's allness. The fleshly self is a false sense of being—and all the problems of this human experience result from the erroneous notion that when we were disconnected from divine Spirit (God), our spiritual identity changed to a fleshly, finite form and imperfect personality. We ceased to be sons and daughters of God, (this collective, worldly consciousness tells us) and we became sons and daughters of the race started by Adam and Eve—two beings who are said to have displeased God (particularly, the woman, of course) and who were banished from God's heavenly, harmonious kingdom and loving care. Yet, no such disconnect ever happened, even though the deep sleep that fell upon Adam is still afflicting humanity today. This lower level of consciousness, so to speak, has been passed along. We (everyone here on this material level of thought) all share the collective Adam-dream of life in material substance, rather than the everlasting spiritual freedom of Spirit. The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is a parable that is symbolic of the deep sleep, which causes humanity's dream state to exist. It is the erroneous belief that Adam fell asleep and became a 'creator' of his own universe, and that in this creation (to which we, collectively still seem to belong) we've disconnected from our spiritual Source. To go into this analysis just a bit further: In Adam's dream, God's spiritually immortal creation became a mythical, finite creation of material form. Notice that Adam's creation is not perfect and eternal. All in it (the material forms and identities) are mortal. This material creation consists of two dueling powers of good and evil (the presence of all good and the lack of all good). God is not perceived at all, in this mortal 'creation' because God never created it. It is an illusion over consciousness and perception, which all dream-states are. To the dreamer, a dream-state (lower level of conscious perception) has no reality outside of the dream. It is bounded by the dream. It only disappears into a higher level of perception when the dreamer awakens. Only then is the dream revealed as an unreal experience, created only by the dreamer's own wandering consciousness. Now, it is significant to realize that Adam was not really a creator. In naming all things in his dream, he was merely transforming, in thought, all the positive life-concepts of God's spiritual realm, turning these concepts into finite form. These formations are still symbolic of the real and perfect formations of Spirit. Each concept, including people, exists spiritually and eternally perfect, right where the material form makes its appearance. Yet, Adam added the opposite of good (called evil) and applied it (in belief) as shared characteristics of all persons, places and things in his dream. Evil symbolizes nothing—it is only, and always, that lack of some God-ordained good. For example, poverty is the lack of our God-ordained abundance; hate is the lack of God-ordained joy and love; death is the lack of our God-ordained eternal life—the list goes on. In Adam's creation, the mental-state (that still afflicts all of us in this human experience) has all the lacks, afflictions and woes that such a good and evil existence would predict. In this Adam-dream state of consciousness, God, and the spiritual substance of all things, are absent from the material creation and not perceived within the dream—until, that is, we individually awaken to our spiritual identity and we perceive the true Kingdom of God through our own mental seeking and moments of individual enlightenment. Little by little, we mentally awaken to God's spiritual, everlasting and harmonious kingdom, which has never left us. So, despite all the beliefs and appearances of this outer world of material form, we are still at one with our spiritual Source. We will never exist outside of our God-connection, (on any level of thought) anymore than the sunbeams will ever exist without their connection to the sun. As God's image and likeness, in infinite variety, we are God's emanations—we come out from Spirit but are held, for eternity, in Spirit's grasp. So, exactly how did we end up here, in what we call the 'human condition'? If this is all true, how did we enter the Adam dream? We didn't. Mortal existence is a state of self-deception—a case of mistaken identity. We are still in the kingdom of God, and our true self is still going through our immortal life, no matter what level of belief we're entertaining at any time. A dreamer, (sleeping in a beautiful dream, or a nightmare) has no perception of his or her true circumstances. All dreams seem real when asleep. But here is a fact I must put in bold print because of its importance: As children of God, who is the Creative Mind or Intelligence of all that is spiritually made, we have the creative ability to bring into form, anything we are believing. We can conjure up both good things and bad things in our own human creation...but we will never change the spiritual creation of God's creating. Human belief has no real power. It only seems to have power in the human experience. When spiritually and fully awake to the truth of being, we don't manifest anything but good. But, while still believing the false sense of materiality, (which originated in Adam's dream-state) we have been taught to be the children of the flesh, rather than Spirit's children. Material existence not only seems real, it is often believed to be our ONLY reality. Our bodies seem solid in substance, and we have thousands of so-called physical laws to obey. Our fleshly bodies often control us with the science of physics, which we've been educated to accept in consciousness as reality. Yet, it is only as reliable as our own degree of faith in it. Our human body form, however, does not react to anything on its own. We control it through consciousness, however misguided we become sometimes. If we punch someone in the nose, our fist didn't act alone. We THOUGHT about doing so first, then our fist acted in obedience to our thought. Likewise, if we decide to build a house, mentally plan it out in consciousness, and then (if building it ourselves) our bodies do the work in obedience to our conscious plans. Here's another example: when we touch 'poison' ivy, we've been taught to expect a diseased response from our touch. By accepting this worldly belief about this physical plant, (that this particular ivy is a 'bad' thing to touch) we give our body permission, or even a directive, to bring forth the rash that is taught and expected by our own consciousness. But God's spiritual ivy is never poison. Nothing in God's spiritual creation has destructive qualities (even though we seem to behold such an item in material form.) Neither ivy, nor anything else in God's creation, will ever hurt us. All that ever touches us, in spiritual reality, is divine Love—which is the only quality of everything created by God. (If this were not so, nothing could be eternal; for even the teeniest element of destruction would eventually destroy God's entire universe.) "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD" (Last sentence, Jeremiah 23:24; New King James Bible). This passage from the Bible points us back to Spirit, God, as the only Creator of all, who has created only good, throughout creation. For anyone who might like to try their hand at spiritual healing, here's an experiment for you (if not interested, just ignore this experiment): If you should come into contact with poison ivy (or maybe poison oak) in the future, reject your programmed response from consciousness, and realize the spiritual truth of ivy as part of Spirit's forever benign creation, invisibly present, despite the appearance of things. If you succeed in disbelieving your programmed response, it will over-ride the expectation of a negative result, and no rash will appear. (You will have cast out your belief in evil as ever existing in God's creation.) However, if you are not sure of ivy's true nature, or if you doubt the spiritual truth about ivy on this issue, your own consciousness is telling the physical form to proceed as normal, and produce the rash. Then you will need to find, what you most believe to be the physical product that will make the rash disappear. Such is the process, in this human experience, when accepting the carnal mentality's false education concerning God's creation. Now having said all this, let me bring common wisdom into play: We must keep using the world's way of handling the 'evils' we encounter, in this human experience, until we train ourselves to guide our consciousness away from material beliefs, into the mental realm of spiritual understanding. We should gradually grow into the realization of God's sovereignty and spiritual laws of life, health, and abundance and allow ourselves to learn to trust God's loving care for us, in every human situation, good or bad. In other words, we need not rely upon blind faith, but rather a peaceful faith in the ever-presence of the Almighty. Since God is the Source of all good, who will never deny to us whatever good is humanly needed, (including our eternal wholeness and health as shown by Christ Jesus in his healing ministry) the divine Intelligence is able to lead us to our God-ordained harmony, by healing our thoughts in the Adam dream-state, as well as in a more enlightened mental state. So, as we gradually comprehend that God's loving control is forever present and over all creation, including every individual we encounter, (however they act) something begins to shape our life experiences into joyful and more abundant living, while still in our fleshly experience. This doesn't happen overnight. Since it is a growing thing, we must be patient in handling doubt. Old beliefs don't go away easily. We've had a lifetime to acquire them. Yet, material-world beliefs pretty much leave consciousness out of the equation, when difficulties occur—when, in fact, what we hold to be true in our consciousness is the only relevant thing to discern. Everything becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, when we fail to realize that we emanate from Spirit, alone, and nothing is as real as God's eternal presence with us and unconditional love for us. It is God's grace and will that we be happy. Grief and hardships do not come from God, but the divine grace of God delivers us from all human evil, whenever we turn to that invisible presence and trust it completely. Christ Jesus told someone who came to him for healing, "Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee" (Matthew 8:13; King James Bible). Here, the Master healer was showing us that our own beliefs are the unseen power at work in all healing and situations in our daily lives. And the good news is that nothing can keep us from knowing the truth of spiritual being and God's loving presence with us. We are always free to know the Truth of spiritual, rather than material, being. When we do, a peace, not of this world, comes over us; and the divine harmony (that was always there, all along) comes into the human scene, often in unexpected ways. In other words, the realization of our emanation from God is an awakening concept to ponder. It helps us to finally see what Christ Jesus meant when he said, "…the kingdom of God is within you." (See full quotation at top of article). Knowing that we emanate from Spirit, God, helps us to understand that God is our only Source of being, and so Christ Jesus' directive about calling 'no man your father upon the earth' begins to make more sense. Then, as we let go of so many reliances on material genetics to outline our view of ourselves and others, (health-wise and behavior-wise) we begin to find a newness of life we really never dreamed of.
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