Father and Mother of Life — Shekinah Pattern

Father  and  Mother  of  Life — Shekinah  Pattern

an excerpt

Uranda   August 16, 1953  Class

I would like to share some meditation with you upon a passage which we have recently considered together, in Class and in service, several times; but I do not believe that we have exhausted the possibilities of deeper realization, a larger vision, with respect to these vitally important words with which the Gospel according to John is opened.

In our study and meditation upon the reality of the Shekinah Pattern of Being, we’ve been gaining a deeper realization of the fact that insofar as we in the outer sense are concerned, in the human sense, in the physical sense, we have both earthly and heavenly parents. We recognize that the Fire of Love is the Father of Life, and that the Reality of Truth is the Mother of Life. And in our Class meditations we came to realize that the commandment, Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days of life may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, applies more to the heavenly parents than to the earthly. Sometimes earthly parents are not worthy of honour, but the heavenly parents always are.

And we have come to recognize that the word Father, as the Master used it, included, generally speaking, the One Who Dwells, but that the word included, specifically, the Shekinah Pattern of Being; and that in the outer sense, in the direct and personal sense, the One Who Dwells or the God Being, is not the Father, for the One Who Dwells is the Father of the Only Begotten Son, which is the Spirit of God issuing forth eternally from God; and that this Son or Spirit, is the Shekinah Pattern of Being—and in that Pattern we find that the Child, which is Life, must be born in the form, from the parents of Love and Truth.

We have come to recognize that Life, as such, is not something that is projected into one from some source above or beyond—we can release the radiation of the Life Current into another, but the true manifestation of Life in the individual is something which must be born in the form through which it appears—and that the presence of the parents of Life must be in the form, in harmony, or united in union, before this Child, which is Life, can appear. If Life is diminishing, then the human form, the human mind and heart have been functioning on a basis which has tended, insofar as the human being is concerned, to separate the parents, to hinder their union, their coordination, and consequently their Child, Life, begins to disappear. When the parents of Life are separated, insofar as a specific human form is concerned, Life is gone and that which remains is called a corpse.

The Father then, includes the One Who Dwells, but the Heavenly Father which we can contact and know in a direct personal human sense is God’s Love. And so we have in heaven at hand, within range of comprehension, Father God, which is the Fire of Love, and Mother God, which is the Reality or Water of Truth. From the union of these two comes the Child, Life. And these are heavenly parents, individually speaking. When there is One Body of Many Members, the same Pattern is developed in relationship to all.

Once we begin to realize that the Father means more than just the Being, the God Being, but includes the Shekinah Pattern of Being, we can more readily understand many of the statements which the Master made, as in the prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” When the Father is spoken of, the Mother is automatically included in the pattern of portrayal utilized in holy writings; so honouring the parents, or keeping the name of one’s parents, or one’s Father, sacred, is seen as something of vital importance so that we do not violate that which is Divine.

Now we have recognized the Fire of Love and the Water of Truth, but Truth is symbolized by a different term also—Light—the Light that Glows, and our Master spoke of, “The light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” He said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” If then we have Love and Light being made manifest through us, we have the reality of the parents of Life present in our form, and the pattern of relatedness with invisible God, or the One Who Dwells, is clearly established; for in us, in outer form, there is the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells.

YouTube  Audio

In the First Chapter of the Gospel according to John we have a vitally significant passage; and here the word Word is used to symbolize or signify the sacred or secret word Shekinah. So instead of reading this text as it is written here, we recognize that which the author indicated by the word “Word”, and we will use the word Shekinah; and let us see how much more there is for us to understand.

“In the beginning”—a few moments ago we heard a rendition in song bringing to our attention the reality of creation. In the beginning—in the beginning of what? The creation of the world, the earth, and all the things that are therein? Yes, but in the beginning of any creation, in the beginning of any of the things that we would do to the Glory of God and the blessing of the children of men—to the Glory of God, to the increased manifestation of Life from God on earth through form, for we remember that Glory always relates to Life. And these things we would do, to what end? to the Glory of God and to the blessing of the children of men.

If it be then to the Glory of God it is to the increase of the manifestation of God’s Life, or Life from God on earth through form, so God’s Glory may be increased on earth; and if God’s Glory is increased on earth we have an increase of Life. There is no suggestion anywhere, authentically presented, that I am aware of, that indicates that there is a need for more Glory in Heaven, or more Life in Heaven. According to all the indications there is enough Glory in Heaven, and enough Life in Heaven, so that it is not in Heaven or in some invisible realm that we need an increase, but it is here on earth that this need is present. So if we would glorify God we are not going to trying to get out of the earth into some heaven. We are going to remember the words of the Master’s prayer, “I pray not that thou shouldn’t take them out of the earth but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” And what is “the evil”? In our earlier meditation we recognized what the evil is, for it is the failure of man to let God’s provision be made manifest. So if we are to be kept from the evil, we are going to let God’s provision be made manifest, and that will let Life increase on earth, and the forms shall be changed to the patterns of Life instead of being changed to the patterns of death, disintegration and decay.

Now, in the beginning—in the beginning of anything that we would do to glorify God and be a blessing to the children of men—in the beginning was, in the beginning is, the Word. In the beginning is Shekinah, and Shekinah is with God, and Shekinah is God. Now sometimes these words have seemed to be ambiguous. If we read the text using the word Word, which obviously was the word utilized by the author to signify the secret word Shekinah, we find that there is the appearance of ambiguity. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” This is put in the past tense—but if it was true in the beginning in relationship to the earth, it is likewise true in this moment; so tonight in our meditation we transpose to the present tense, because God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that which was true of God, is true of God tonight. And, how can something be God, and be with God? We have meditation upon this point before but let us be sure that it is clear.

Let us use the illustration on my hand. My hand is a part of my body. If you see my hand and recognize it you can reasonably assume that my body is nearby. Suppose we had a curtain here and my hand extended out from behind the curtain, you would naturally assume that my body was there, and you would say that my hand is here. My hand is a part of me, therefore it is me, but it is not the all of me. It is the evidence of my presence. And my whole body, it is not the all of me. But you look at me and you think of my name. I look at you and I think of your name. But your body is not the all of you. I look at you when I come before you here and I do not assume that you're just a lump of flesh. I assume, shall we say, that you have intelligence. I cannot see your mind but I have a reasonable assurance that there is a mind present in you. And so when I see your body I see that which is a part of you, but it is not the all of you; and yet I can look at your body and say there you are. But that is not all of you because there is your mind. I cannot see your mind with my physical eye, nor can you see my mind with your physical eye, but there's reasonable evidence that each one of us here has a mind. So also with the heart. You cannot see the heart but you can see evidence of the presence of the heart, or the emotional nature, and so on. Then with respect to the mind, the mind is what you are in part. We can say your mind, we can say your body, or we can simply say you. And so your mind is present with you and yet your mind is not all of you; but the expression of your mind is the expression of you, therefore it is you. So exactly the same way here.

The reality of God is revealed by Shekinah but Shekinah is not all of God—it is the evidence of the Presence of God. So Shekinah was with God, and Shekinah was God, but Shekinah was not all of God—and as that was true then it is true tonight. In the beginning of that which we do, there is Shekinah, and Shekinah is with God, and Shekinah is God. The same—Shekinah—is in the beginning with God.

Now, let’s read it again. In the beginning is Shekinah, and Shekinah is with God, and Shekinah is God, is God in action; the same—Shekinah—is in the beginning with God. Having this present pattern then, of reality, let us note the next verse: “All things were made by Shekinah, and without Shekinah was not anything made that was made. In Shekinah was Life, and the Life of Shekinah was the Light of men.” If the life goes out of the body, is there any light in the body? No. The presence of Life is necessary to the reality of Light, the reality of comprehension, the function of the mind or heart or body. And so, “The Light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Let’s bring it up to date, in this present moment, not only what was but what is. All things. Now all means one hundred percent: good things, evil things or bad things. There is no creative power but God’s power. If we use the power of Life, the abilities that we have, the capacities, to produce some evil thing or bad thing, then we have stolen God’s force, God’s Life, God’s capacities, and used them to produce something that is contrary to the Will and purpose of God, but still, that life in us is the thing that made it possible for us to produce the ill thing. Therefore every ill thing is produced by the same power that produces good things, right things. But when that power that is from God is used wrongly, according to a distortion pattern to produce some ill thing it is not according to God’s Will, but contrary to God’s Will. Therefore, we must recognize that all things, absolutely one hundred percent of all the things that have ever been made, or that are being made, or that ever shall be made, and man says, “I have made these things.” Perhaps an automobile, perhaps a mechanical brain, perhaps something else—he made these things. In and of themselves they are neither good nor evil; their uses determine whether they shall cause good or evil to manifest. But how were these things made? Did some man who had no life make them? No. The life that was in that man enabled him to make them; the intelligence, the ability, the comprehension, the inspiration, whatever it was, all came from God. How? By means of Shekinah.

So it does not make any difference what any human being anywhere makes or does, that which is done is done by the power of Shekinah; but if it is done contrary to God’s Will it means that that individual has stolen something that belongs to God, that came from God, and used it for a purpose contrary to God’s Will. Nevertheless, all things, without a single solitary exception, anywhere at anytime, all things were made by Shekinah, all things are made by Shekinah, and all things that shall be made will be brought forth by Shekinah—and without Shekinah there is not anything made that is made; there is not anything that will be made but what it will have been made by the use of Shekinah. If we, by human self-will and self-centredness, take the forces of Shekinah and use them contrary to the Will of God we cause these forces to diminish in us, and finally they are gone from us. But while we misuse them it is still Shekinah, and by Shekinah all things have been made—good things, evil things, indifferent things.

By Shekinah, by the working of Shekinah, you were conceived. You could not be conceived, you could not develop in your mother’s womb, you could not be born, without Shekinah. And it is in this sense that we begin to see that while every individual has a physical father—and the Master’s body had a physical father too; that story has gotten a bit mixed up, as we can find if we study into it. Nevertheless, in His life, He was emphasizing not His earthly father but His heavenly Father. And we have a heavenly Father, just as surely, individually, as Jesus had. And just as surely, as the Holy Spirit, which is sometimes called the Holy Ghost, was present and working in relationship to His conception, the Shekinah Pattern of Being or the Holy Spirit was working in relationship to your conception, each and every one of you.

So we begin to see that we are conceived of the Holy Spirit. The seed, the physical seed of the father is present, but it is not the physical seed of the father that causes conception. Actually, there has never been a baby born upon the face of the earth, which includes you, but what you were conceived, that baby was conceived, by the Holy Spirit. If the patterns were wrong, perhaps there was something wrong with the babe at birth, or other things went wrong in various ways, but as far as the conception is concerned, there has never been a baby conceived upon the face of the earth at any time but what that baby was conceived of the Holy Spirit, of the Shekinah Pattern of Being. Regardless of the limitations or distortions with respect to the earthly parents, it is not the seed of the male that causes conception. It is necessary to conception; the seed of the male is necessary to conception, but the seed of the male does not cause conception—it never has and it never will. But it is the Holy Spirit that caused the conception, and it’s just as true of you as it was true of Jesus Christ, the man that was called Jesus.

So, all things, without a single exception, have been made by the uses of Shekinah—whether Shekinah was used self-actively by man or divinely by God—all things were made by Him. Now, since that is true, all things are made by Shekinah, and without Shekinah is not anything made that is made.

In the beginning, God said, “Let us”—note the plural—“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” And God did so, and created man, “male and female created he them.” And for what purpose? “Let us create man in our image, after our likeness, to have dominion upon earth.” And after man was created male and female, he was instructed to have dominion upon the earth, and to subdue it. Subdue what? The things of the earth, the forms of the earth. Now man has been trying to subdue the earth and the things of the earth according to his own will, according to his own idea and determination. He has not learned to let God’s Will work on earth as it works in heaven. However, God’s purpose was clearly stated in the beginning, and God’s purpose remains the same today. It is not something different. And what do we find with respect to God?

God was a Creator, and man, male and female, was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore it means that God made man to share creative work on earth. If we are going to share creative work we must share in the function of Shekinah on earth. God provides the means by which Shekinah functions in heaven. We do not need to be concerned about that. But the body of man, male and female, was brought forth on earth to the end that there would be an instrument through which Shekinah could act on earth, under the Will of God, so that God’s dominion could extend into the earth, and man should be the means by which that dominion would be established. And if there is dominion there is the Kingdom. A kingdom is a dominion, a place where there is control; and the earth is a place where there has not been control. Human beings have gone this way and that. There is chaos and darkness and misery, physically, mentally, emotionally—a lack of control according to the pattern of the Divine Design.

If we were all with one accord in one place, in full agreement, in harmony with the things of God, which includes the Will of God, we would find that all chaos would begin to vanish away, all illnesses would begin to disappear, every ill condition would be overcome or cleared away. Now, if we are to let this be a reality, we must acknowledge for ourselves that God’s purpose for us is that we should so function in relationship to Him that Divine Dominion, the Dominion of the Kingdom of Heaven at hand, can be made manifest on earth—for what purpose?—for God’s purposes! Man made in the image and likeness of God.

Man is the image and likeness of God. The qualities, the characteristics of God, can manifest through man on earth. We have the capacity of mind so that God’s intelligence can work through us. We have the capacity of heart or feeling, emotional nature, so God’s Love can work through us. We have the physical body so that Life can work through us. But the body as such is the means by which Shekinah may act on earth; and if we have life on earth and become self-centered and self-willed, we use Shekinah for a little time, wrongly; we use it for purposes not according to God’s Will. We destroy ourselves if we do so. Billions of human beings have lived on earth and have tried to use Shekinah—they didn’t know what it was, but their own life. People have said, “My life is my own to do with as I please.” But it wasn’t. And whether they knew it or not, everything that they did was done by using the power of Shekinah. But they used it wrongly and destroyed themselves. If we let God use the Pattern of Shekinah rightly, through us, we will not destroy ourselves, but we will live.

On a certain occasion the Master emphasized the point that under certain conditions you have eternal life. Now actually, we come to realize that there is no life but eternal life. We have eternal life now. We remember that people imagine that they're going to get into eternity when they die, but we know that we are in eternity now. If there is such a thing as eternity it is present where we are. It extends into the past and it extends into the future, and no matter what you do you can't get out of eternity. You are in it now, and that which is in you that is of God is eternal. You can't destroy it but you may remove it from yourself, so that you destroy yourself as a human being.

We are made in the image of likeness of God to be creators. Unless we are creative in life we are not happy. Those who do something constructive that really establishes a service to others, or helps others in some fashion, a creative expression of life, can have a high degree of satisfaction even though they do not know anything about these things. But that high degree of satisfaction tends to get distorted and spoiled because the individual unwittingly or unknowingly gets into patterns of self-activity, and he destroys that which he has built. He may have worked hard, he may have been ever so earnest and sincere, but he brought forth something destructive, as well as something constructive, because ignorantly he used the force of Shekinah to produce things that did not belong. And human beings don't accomplish what they thought they were going to accomplish. Why? Because with the human mind self-actively functioning, man cannot see all of the factors, and he cannot remain completely creative. He has the capacity to be completely creative, but every misuse of these energies, or the Shekinah factors of being, is destructive. Just as surely as right use is constructive or creative, every wrong use is destructive. That is not because God wills something to be destructive, but because man takes the force which is available to him and uses it wrongly, contrary to God's Will.

Once we begin to see God’s Will and to accept it, to know something about it so that we know how to let God’s Will be done, we begin to find that more and more that all factors of our life become creative, begin to produce a blessing to others. Instead of trying to get something for ourselves we are giving, and we are constantly creative. Without creative action in life there is no such thing as true happiness, true satisfaction, or accomplishment. We’re not trying to get something. We are ready to give something—but what? You are giving something, whether you ever think about it or not. He who is just out trying to get something is giving something, but it isn't very pleasant; he is giving something into life. And you are asking others to accept and receive, and share, whatever you give into life—if it's a temper reaction, a thoughtless thing, if it is cruel, whatever it is, you're giving that into life. Every word we speak, every thought we think, every act, whatever it is, we’re giving something into life, either to bless or to curse. And all things, all actions, all functions—you do not have a single function, you cannot do anything, without Shekinah. It is present in every person on the face of the earth, and does not leave the body until the body dies; when it does leave the body the body is dead, but it is there. All things are made by Shekinah, and without Shekinah is not anything made that is made—and Life, can you see it? it is a part of the spirit of God; Love, have you ever felt it? the Light of Truth, have you ever seen it, intellectually with understanding something that dispelled darkness? These are the evidences of the Presence of God. Used to produce blessings, they bring forth into form that which belongs in the Kingdom of God that is at hand, or the Garden of Eden, or the Promised Land, whatever we want to call it, it makes no difference—the name has meaning by reason of the thing that is named.

Your name has meaning by reason of you, by the meaning you give that name by the living of your life, by the things you do, by the things you give into Life—either to create or to destroy, to build or to tear down, to increase health and life or decrease it, to make things wholesome and beautiful or to make them ugly and sordid. Either there is wholesomeness or there is not—wholeness, the dignity of man, nobility. As we do those things that increase nobility in ourselves and in others, we have an influence which tends to cause others to be inspired to do the right things.

Many people have ignorantly judged us as being this or that or the other thing; all kinds of ideas have been expressed by people who didn't know what they were talking about, and who didn't want to find out. But what happens? Step by step—if we are living noble lives, if we are doing the right thing, if we are creative—step by step that which is false is revealed for what it is, and that which is true is revealed for what it is, and we increase nobility, we increase the wholesomeness of Life, we are creative, bringing forth blessings to the children of men, to the Glory of God—the Glory of the increased manifestation of God’s Life on earth in form.

And that is the coming of the Kingdom—the Kingdom, the control in forms on earth where it is needed. It is here that the need is; here that the misery is; here that the false things are that need to be cleared away. When you get to heaven can you improve heaven any? Will you be a special ornament in heaven, or what will you do in heaven? Presumably heaven can get along without you, for a while anyway. Let's do a job on earth to remove the evil, to clear away the ill things, to help create that which is of the Divine Design, and establish that control by which all things are caused to work together to perfection for all who love and serve the LORD.

And the Shekinah Pattern of Being is used, rightly or wrongly, whatever is done. So let us serve God by letting Shekinah be used in us and through us, according to the Will of God. So shall the LORD’s Prayer be answered. Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And I thank God that it is so, and for the privilege of sharing that creative work on earth with you, in the Holy Name of our LORD and KING.

© emissaries of divine light