Material Man And Spiritual Man
Martin Cecil May 19, 1974 a.m.
The True Tone: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-true-tone.html
In Three Days: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2024/11/in-three-days.html
This Is The Day: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2024/11/in-three-days.html
Delivered From Evil: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2025/01/delivered-from-evil.html
Represent The Truth: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2025/04/represent-truth.html
The Third And Last Call: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-third-and-last-call.html
The Way Of The Master: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-way-of-master.html
Evening Meditation: greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2025/06/evening-meditation.html
It’s very good to be here with you again at 100 Mile House. Many of you had opportunity yesterday evening of viewing the video tape of last Sunday morning's service [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2025/06/evening-meditation.html] on Sunrise Ranch. What was offered through the spirit and words of that particular service was of a vital nature and, no doubt, some of the points which were touched upon will provide food for further meditation in the days to come. Mention was made of material man and spiritual man. Material man and spiritual man are two aspects of each person, whether male or female. Properly speaking, material man, who is the one with whom most people are familiar, is under the dominion of spiritual man, even as spiritual man is under the dominion of the Lord. When this correct pattern is established, then man gives evidence of being a living soul.
In connection with these two aspects of each individual and of mankind as a whole, I mentioned the story of Cain and Abel. Cain is another name for material man and Abel for spiritual man. Material man is triune in nature. He has a physical body; he also has the capacity of mind and the ability to express spirit. These three aspects of material man are generally looked upon as being the complete person. The most obvious part of a person, it's true, at least from the standpoint of usual human observation; but this is in fact, in present experience, less than half a person and a distorted half at that. We might profitably consider the story of Cain and Abel, not only seeing it in the light of a historical event—even in that regard it is in the form of an analogy—but at the same time we may see that it is very aptly and specifically applicable now, at this present time, with respect to anyone and everyone. This is the 4th chapter of Genesis: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.”
This is what happens, isn't it? A child is born on the basis of certain laws and principles which are here described. When a baby is born, in this case apparently a boy, the most evident fact is the little physical form. There is also related thereto a sense of something heavenly. The baby may be called a gift from heaven. There is this little physical form together with a heavenly atmosphere, so that a person could well say that a manchild has been gotten from the Lord, but in the initial stages the primary factor is the little physical form. Of course, gradually that form grows and there is the development of the mental capacity and also the emergence of the ability to express spirit. It is really the expression of spirit through a child that distinguishes one child from another. Up to a certain point children tend to be very much alike; their behavior is similar; but gradually, as the ability to express spirit increases, the distinctions emerge.
Now, of course, here is the beginning of material man, who rightly is the means by which spiritual man may be made evident on earth; and spiritual man is available to be made evident by reason of the Lord. “And she again bare his brother Abel.” Now here is the proper sequence: when material man is on hand, spiritual man should become evident. Spiritual man could not be known at all on earth if it wasn't for material man. So there is nothing wrong either with Cain or with Abel, insofar as the initial portrayal is concerned. The material child is born, and in the development of that material child the opportunity for the emergence of the spiritual child is made possible. There are two births, in other words: there is the material birth, the physical birth; and later, consequent upon growth and development, there should be the spiritual birth.
Insofar as human beings in the world are concerned now, it seems that the spiritual birth, the birth of spiritual man, is rather conspicuous by its absence. The whole thing is supposed to be material man; that's about as far as most people go. They grow up physically speaking; there is some concern that there should be a healthy development in this regard. At the same time, there is a recognition of the growth of the mental capacity, so that various forms of education are undertaken. And there may be a recognition of spiritual possibilities, in which case usually it emerges on the basis of some religious pattern or other. When all this is put together it's considered to be a human being and sometimes called man, even, but it certainly isn't a living soul; rather, a dying one.
There is a picture here, then, of what actually occurs. The fact of material man is there, the potential of spiritual man is there, but somewhere along the way something usually happens to spiritual man; in fact, he never reaches the point of being on hand with material man in any balanced sense. Mind you, anyone, in the material sense, expresses spirit, but the mere fact of expressing spirit doesn't mean that spiritual man is being revealed. Most of the spirits which human beings do reveal, in the material-man sense, are evidence of the absence of spiritual man. There is fear, there is shame, there is resentment, greed, hate, what have you, all expressions of spirit but certainly not of spiritual man. We have evidence, then, of a physical capacity—human beings get around— and we have evidence of a mental capacity—human beings think that they think—and the evidence of a capacity for spiritual expression which conveys some sort of spirit. But apparently Abel has been slain.
“And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.” That pretty well describes the characteristics of spiritual and material man respectively. The sheep, of course, are in the charge of the shepherd, so that spiritual man is under the dominion of the Lord. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/the-lamb.html] This is the condition of spiritual man; there is no spiritual man except on that basis. There may be the expression of spirit in the material-man sense, but that spirit will not be the evidence of spiritual man. “But Cain was a tiller of the ground.” Well, he's concerned with material pursuits, doing things from the standpoint of physical action, mental action, and, of course, conditioned by whatever spirit may be appearing. And we find these spirits very much dominate the experience of material man in the world. The spirit of shame is present in all people, sometimes keenly felt, sometimes submerged. And the spirit of fear—this is sometimes consciously recognized, sometimes it is an unconscious experience. And the spirit of greed—I suppose this might be described in less crude terms, but that is a dominant characteristic in the expression of spirit in material man. He has his values laid up upon earth; there are his values, and because his values are there his spirits are accordingly. So here is material man on the one hand and spiritual man on the other.
“And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.” Spiritual man rightly provides the connection between the Lord and material man, and spiritual man offers in his expression of life what is of the true quality and characteristic of his own nature, made in the image and likeness of God. Of course that's acceptable to the Lord, because it is, in fact, the expression of the Lord. Spiritual man is, rightly, under the dominion of the Lord; this is the only existence that spiritual man has. If there is no experience of being under the dominion of the Lord, spiritual man is absent. So his offering is acceptable. But if material man proceeds to do what he wants to do and then anticipates that this will produce a satisfactory condition of life experience, he finds that it doesn't work. His offering is not acceptable to the Lord. While material man may not put it in these terms, the fact is constantly being made evident that the offering of material man is not acceptable to the Lord.
He's always in trouble. He finds himself continuously related to a disintegrating state of affairs; he expends a tremendous amount of energy trying to hold together whatever it is that is disintegrating, but still it disintegrates. His offering is not acceptable to the Lord; it doesn't belong. “But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?” Most people don't stop to look at that; they just get very much annoyed and irritated and angry that things aren't working out the way they expected. They don't pause, as a rule, to look at themselves; they look around to find somebody to blame, or some circumstance, or maybe even an act of God! “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”
Now we recently have come to recognize how it is that sin lieth at the door. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/original-sin.html] There is a veil, the veil of the impure heart, which separates material man from the experience of spiritual man. So material man sits under the veil, on the wrong side of the veil, and “sin lieth at the door.” Sin lieth at the door, blocking the experience of spiritual man; and the sin is the impurity of heart—a very obvious, not at all mysterious, state of affairs. As long as the heart is impure, spiritual man is shut out of material experience and all there is left is material experience. Material experience without spiritual experience is the experience of a dying soul; material experience with spiritual experience is the experience of a living soul. Human beings have no awareness of what that would be at all, because theirs has been an entirely material existence the wrong side of the veil.
Actually, there isn't a wrong side of the veil if the veil doesn't constitute a barrier, if sin doesn't lie in the door. When the heart is pure the veil is no obstruction between spiritual man and material man, and it is found that they are one. But as long as material man is on his own he feels ashamed, he feels empty, he feels there's something wrong, there's something lacking; but he is loath, apparently, to acknowledge that the lack is consequent upon his own action in slaying Abel, excluding spiritual man. He tries desperately to make a state of affairs that would be satisfactory, while remaining merely material man with sin lying in the door. “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” Therefore, obviously, if what man does is not acceptable, if it is constantly disintegrating and falling apart, then he is not doing well and he needs to look at himself. “… and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
Here is what occurs in human experience; the human being becomes subject to the material self. He's ruled over by the material self; his desire is in that direction; his values are material values. Those material values may be with respect to physical things or they may be with respect to mental things, intellectual things, or they may be with respect to what he thinks of as spiritual things, religious things. That is the direction of his desire, and because of this, “sin lieth at the door”; he has an impure heart, and the reality of spiritual man appears to be slain. “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” This is the usual human experience in the field—that is, in the processes of daily living: Cain prevails. The government of the individual life is in the hands of material man and any consciousness of spiritual man tends to be obliterated in favor of the material values.
“And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?” And I think He says that to human beings everywhere now: “Where is thy brother?” “And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”
This is a picture of mankind, individually and collectively, a fugitive and a vagabond, running away, trying to escape the results of the slaying of Abel. And each human being has done this ever since that first occasion. Very rarely has there appeared on the face of the earth spiritual man. The outstanding example, of course, was that of the One called Jesus. Here was spiritual man. He was given short shrift—exactly the same situation as when Cain slew Abel: “Get rid of spiritual man; we don't want to be faced with our own failure.” And yet the failure is there, and because the failure is there human beings are fugitives; they are always running away, trying to escape. All kinds of methods of escape have been developed by material man to try to help him to forget his failure. Sometimes human beings get so wrapped up in their escape mechanisms that they seem to forget for a while; but the discomfort remains, the pain, the misery, and human beings wander on the face of the earth. This is what Satan did, as I recall; he went to and fro in the earth and up and down in it. This is the way human beings behave. What an accurate story is here told, applicable in present human experience. Spiritual man seems to be slain. The whole Divine Purpose ever since that first event has been to restore spiritual man.
When our Master was on earth He spoke in many parables. One of them related to the numerous times when the lord of the vineyard sent his servants into the world that the vineyard might be restored to its true owner. The manner of that restoration requires spiritual man, because spiritual man is under the dominion of the Lord. On each occasion, and there were many such, the means by which this restoration could have occurred was rejected. Those who came to make it possible were ill-treated in various ways. And when the LORD Himself came in human form, He was rejected and human beings tried to dispose of Him.
But He came to clear sin out of the door, to clear the impurities of heart at one point in the body of mankind. That one point related to Himself, of course. For He was present in the world, a man, part of the body of mankind, and He undertook to clear through, insofar as He Himself was concerned, in what has been called the resurrection. The resurrection related to Him; He is the evidence of purity of heart, a purity of heart that was established within the range of the whole body of mankind—one might say, a crack in the door; the door was unlatched and opened a crack. It was described as the veil of the temple being rent. Of course, the veil could just hang there and nobody would know that it was rent, even though it was; and this has been just about what has happened. It has remained hanging there insofar as human beings are concerned, so that nothing has happened with respect to their own impure hearts and sin has remained in the door—Cain has been dominant; material man has appeared to govern.
But nevertheless there is a means by which restoration can occur, a means that was never there before, since man first fell. One man came all the way through, giving evidence of spiritual man dominant. Material man at the time thought that he had triumphed, but it didn't prove out that way. Now this has seemed to be a very mysterious and impossible thing, but here is the evidence of spiritual man. It seems mysterious and impossible simply because there has been nothing on earth but material man and insofar as material man is concerned, therefore, what happens with respect to spiritual man is looked upon as being mysterious and impossible. Well, it is mysterious and impossible insofar as material man is concerned, that is true, but spiritual man and material man belong together. They represent heaven and earth, and heaven and earth are one. They were not created with an impenetrable veil between.
Now the veil has not been entirely impenetrable, in view of the fact that material man has continued to exist; so something—very little—of spiritual man has filtered through, enabling the continued existence of material man. But the veil has been thick and in spite of what has been called Christianity there has been virtually no evidence of the fact that the veil was rent. Do you think there is all that much difference between human beings now and human beings before Christ—BC? People say human nature doesn't change. No, the nature of material man under the veil doesn't change. It gets modified in various ways and people nowadays like to think of themselves as being civilized, but it doesn't take very much, does it, to upset that applecart. If one looks around at the antics of human beings, the trappings of civilization don't seem to count for very much.
But we recognize the veil for what it is and we see that when primary values are placed in material things, whether at the physical level, the mental level, or the supposedly spiritual level—all below the veil—then we have the condition of a dying soul, and that condition must continue to exist as long as the cause of it prevails. Only when there is a recognition of the reality of spiritual man behind the veil, and a willingness to allow spiritual man behind the veil to come through the crack which is there in the veil, is there the beginning of true spiritual expression. This is made possible by reason of the fact that there is a crack, that the veil was rent, that the way has been opened, that one human being on earth allowed it to be so. It took the incarnation of the LORD Himself to get the job done, which in itself is an indictment of the millions and billions of human beings who have lived on earth and never let it get done. And even when the way has been opened, even when the opportunity is present, how many human beings have let it have any meaning at all? Material man prefers his shame, his religions, his science, his politics, his material riches of various kinds, to his brother, spiritual man.
It requires quite a switch in human attitudes if spiritual man is to be accepted into material expression, for the only reason for the existence of material man is to permit the expression of spiritual man. There could be no expression of spiritual man on earth if it wasn't for the fact of a material body, if it wasn't for the fact of a material mental capacity, if it wasn't for the fact of a material capacity for spiritual expression. Nothing would be gained by slaying Cain, because without Cain, without material man, spiritual man cannot exist on earth. But material man has made it so that spiritual man cannot exist on earth.
Finally, however, there are those who are willing to acknowledge responsibility in the matter, are willing to acknowledge that the veil is rent, are willing to acknowledge that the LORD did the job on earth. Human beings have pretended to acknowledge that in what is called Christianity, but they never actually did it. They talk about it but it has no application at all insofar as human experience is concerned; sin still lies in the door in spite of all the confession and all the forgiveness that has been going on in the religious world. Sin lieth at the door; the heart is still impure; the veil is still in place—even though it is rent, even though it is possible for spiritual man to emerge in material experience. Seeing the truth of this, we may recognize the simplicity of the restoration of spiritual man on earth. There is nothing to stop that restoration except the intransigence of material man. The very moment material man begins to be willing to acknowledge that there is no reason why spiritual man may not come into the earth in material expression, something begins to happen.
What about you? Do you acknowledge that? Or do you have ready-made excuses of various kinds? Are you still a fugitive? A fugitive from justice, incidentally; a vagabond wandering around, trying to lay up treasures upon earth to feel secure? Cain is a fugitive and a vagabond, but Abel's blood cries from the earth, from the ground—the life of Abel, to be given expression because there is an acknowledgment that the way is open, has been opened by the LORD. It is there, and when treasures are laid up in heaven—that is, all value is seen as relating to spiritual man—then heaven and earth may be known to be one; spiritual man becomes apparent through material man in spiritual expression, so that the spirit that is expressed by material man is no longer the evidence of the absence of spiritual man.
Human beings make such a problem of all this, as though spiritual man wasn't present, as though material man had somehow to create spiritual man. And they try so hard. But spiritual man is present, the blood of Abel cries from the ground, longing to find expression, to fill the voids which have given evidence of the absence of spiritual man. But how determined human beings have been to maintain the evidences of the absence of spiritual man! They are going to get angry when they feel like getting angry. They are going to resent when they feel like resenting. They are going to be fearful when they feel like being fearful. They are going to be greedy when they feel like being greedy. There are many different kinds of greed, you know. And so the veil is maintained firmly in place and human beings say, “I'm not going to change.” Of course, they usually excuse it and say, “Well, I can't change. You can't change human nature!” No, maybe not, but how about the nature of spiritual man? It is present and can be given expression when there is a willingness that it should be so, when there is real honesty in the matter.
Human beings are all the time fussing about themselves: “Oh, I know what I should do but I have this stubborn streak and I'm darned if I am going to let it go; I'm going to keep it there.” That is dishonesty, isn't it?—human beings struggling with themselves. If you are struggling with yourself you are maintaining material man at the expense of spiritual man. You are subject to what you fight against or struggle with, and so that's the best way of hanging on to the evidences of the absence of spiritual man. But spiritual man is present. Let the expression appear! That's all there is to it, when you place your value in that and not in your stubbornness, not in the human attitudes which want to hold on to the ill things. Well, if you want to hold on to the ill things, you're welcome to them, but don't complain when the results of holding on appear.
Spiritual man stands behind the veil and he's quite capable of coming through the veil when you let him. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” That's the way it is; regardless of human fancy to the contrary, that's the way it is. Spiritual man is present and ready to find expression the very moment material man is actually willing that it should be so. Prove it!
O LORD, by reason of Thy Presence on earth in human form so many centuries ago, and by reason of the steadfastness of spiritual expression, true spiritual expression, that was made evident by Thee, the door was opened in spite of what seemed to be insurmountable odds. There are no such odds anymore. If there has been human failure to follow Thee it has been because there was an unwillingness to do it. As material man we welcome our brother, spiritual man, that the oneness of heaven and earth may be known in the unfoldment of what is called the resurrection, the restoration of spiritual man on earth, which includes the restoration of material man in consequence. We would accept the responsibility of this because we love Thee, because we know we are here to serve Thee, to fulfil the reason for our being on earth, in the Christ. Aum-en.
