Where I Am
by Rev. Greg W. Neteler
(February, 2002)
Look for the good in all things and you will
find God in all things. And when you find God in all things, God will be with you in all
things. Say that life is beautiful no matter how things appear on the surface. Say that
you are strong and well no matter how your body may feel. You will speak the truth about
your real state of being and what you say, you create. Say that you are well and you
create health. Say that life is divinely good and you create such a life. And what we
create today we shall realize tomorrow. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
good. And to be pure in heart is to think pure thoughts, thoughts of sublime spiritual
Truth. The reason that we do not see God is found in the fact that we have clouded our
minds with impure thoughts. Thought that is out of harmony with the divine order or the
real order of things. Pure water is transparent. The same is true of your mind. The deep
things of God are easily discerned through a pure mind, just as easily as the rocks on the
river bed are discernible when the water is pure. —Anonymous
Sometimes I do not know
where I am. And I seem to be wandering all around life and the world trying to find my
way. What do I mean? Don’t I know where I am standing, or what I am doing in the
moment? Yes! But how did I get here? Have you ever wondered how you got to where you are?
Why is it that we say, "I don’t understand. I’m sick. I’m tired.
I’m lonely. I’m angry." Where is the "I" of you? Is it centered
in the presence of life—"I am alive; I am whole and well"—or someplace
else? Sometimes I wonder where the "I" of me is and why it is in such a place.
Jesus said, "an anah
oorha, o shrara, o khaiye" (John 14:6) in his language, Aramaic. "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life." The man, Jesus, could not say these words. Only the
impersonal in Jesus—God individualized as the Christ—could speak this truth. The
"I" that is the way, truth and life is the Christ in everyone, the real and
eternal spirit that we are. There has been a lot of confusion over this term, Christ. Some
think it is a name, even Jesus’ last name.
Matthew begins his gospel
with a genealogy that is too often ignored. It is an interesting study in itself and
includes several colorful characters. As the genealogy comes to a close, after Joseph and
Mary, it says, "Jesus was born, who is called Christ." (Matthew 1:16) There is
no indefinite article in Aramaic—no a or an—so it just as
correctly could be translated "who is called a Christ." While Matthew
lists the genealogy from Abraham to Jesus, Luke presents a somewhat different approach.
Luke begins his list in chapter 3 with Jesus and works backwards to Adam. He also uses a
particular pattern which is, "the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of
Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son
of God." (Luke 14:37, 38) Each person is the son of the one who follows. Notice how
it ends. We have all been taught for centuries that everyone is descended from Adam and
Eve. If Adam is a son of God, we are sons of God. My genealogy and yours end exactly as
Jesus’ does, with Adam, son of God. You are related to God in the same way as
Jesus.
What was said of Jesus can
be said about you: Jim was born, who is called a Christ; Louise was born, who is called
Christ. And what is the Christ? It is a translation into Greek of the Hebrew or
Aramaic word for "messiah" or "anointed" and refers to the
consecration to God of kings, prophets and priests by anointing with oil. The savior in
Jesus was God’s spirit individualized. That same spirit is individualized in you as
the "I" or divine self. Jesus told us through John’s words that God’s
spirit in you, that "I" or Christ in you, is the way through every situation,
the truth of your Being and the door to the fullness that life has to give. Behind every
experience, in back of every thought and all feelings is a part of you that is eternal,
unchanging and never diminished by anything which appears in your world. Behind thoughts
of lack, feelings of fear, beliefs in disease is this I or Christ which is
God-life expressing as you.
Paul told us "we have
the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) and reminded us that "we are God’s
fellow workers". (1 Cor 3:9) The same mind that healed through Jesus, that fed a
multitude and raised the dead is the "mind of Christ" in you. Because you have
the Christ mind within you, you are a co-creator with God, "God’s fellow
worker." The divine "I" of you is creative power and every time it is
called upon, it begins its creative work. Whatever we attach our sense of "I" to
becomes a creative act. "I am sick and tired" is a creative act. "I am not
good enough" is a creative act and so is, "I am an expression of all that God
is." Jesus’ creative secret was that he identified with the divine "I"
and the power of God expressed through it continually. He also reminded us that we have
the same creative power to build up or tear down, that the things he did we also shall do
and even greater.
Can you imagine someone
following you around all day observing where you invest your "I" and
periodically saying, "You’ve just committed a creative act." Would that
creative act be what you want or what you don’t want? Would you follow "I
am" with statements that are true about God and therefore you as God’s child, or
would you speak lies about yourself into expression? Charles Fillmore said that what one
thought made another can unmake, or remake. Anytime you I-dentify with something that
isn’t true, something you do not want in your life, you can change it; you can
restate it. Do you see what I am asking you to do? I am asking you to find out where
"I" am, where the "I" of you is invested as you move through your life
experiences. If you recognize that you have I-dentified with something you do not want to
create or experience, you can rethink and I-dentify with what is true about Christ in you.
At any moment many thoughts move through our
minds and feelings can change with the daily news. Even the cells of your body are not the
same today as yesterday. Your pancreas is practically new every day. Behind all the
changes that occur in us and around us, there is one thing that is eternally the same. It
was the same "I" that said, "I am five years old," or "I just
graduated from college," or even "I am much too old." The same creative
power was there in each one and is there in you today. Remember that you are a
"fellow worker" with God and every I AM is a creative act. Wherever you are
today is not where you have to be tomorrow. Each time you recognize a misplaced
"I" you clear the mind a little more that you may discern the deep things of God
and see good everywhere.
Copyright 2002, Greg W.
Neteler
Used with Permission.
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