Watching the Olympics would make one wonder if man’s only purpose for being was to see what ‘race’ could produce the world’s best athletes. Surely the physical aspect of man must be secondary to the real purpose for which man was created. The Divine must have had a higher purpose in mind for this creation that we know as ‘mankind’. We read in the Bible where God made ‘man’ in his image and likeness... that ‘man’ might have dominion over the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea and over everything that creepeth on the face of the earth. Was ‘man’ not meant to be a loving, responsible steward over the other created beings? Instead, he has come to see every living thing beneath him as his to exploit. God made man in His image and likeness that man could, through his God-given creative consciousness, sustain himself by the right use of this creativity. But, instead of living as Gods, these Divine manifestations have chosen to live as men. Each and every one of us is an individual manifestation of that which is God, only we’re not aware of this... we function as ‘men’! It is more fun to live as man than it is to live As God. To live As God is much more restrictive. ‘If ye would be perfect... go, sell that ye have, give to the poor, and come and follow me’. That is the prerequisite to live as God.

To live As God requires constant self-discipline. To live As God is to live by faith ... faith in the creative power of consciousness... for that is what a man is... creative consciousness embodied! To depend upon your personal resources... your accumulated wealth... your pension plan, etc. is to give lip service to your faith in being ‘God’ (one with God). You can never really KNOW that you and God are one until you begin to live by faith! ‘Whatsoever things ye desire, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them!’ Then, and only then, will you know that you and God are One... one and the same.

To function in ‘that’ consciousness, is to function in the ‘Christ Mind’. Those who function in the Christ Mind (Christ consciousness) are looked upon as being ‘mystics’ to those who function as ‘men’. Yet those who function in ‘Christ consciousness’ are those who are actually living in reality, as they were created to live, while those who function as ‘men’ are the ones who are living in a world of illusions. They are the ones who ‘think’ it is the ‘mystic’ who is living in an illusion. To ‘men’ Christ consciousness is considered to be ‘mysticism’.

In Psalm 82 we read, ‘I have said ye are Gods ... and all of you are children of the most high’. When ‘sons’ of God choose to live as men ... they drive themselves ‘out of the garden’. They can not live as men while at the same time ‘take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live forever’. Because they choose to live as men ... they have to live by the ‘sweat of their brow’. They shall also die as men!

It is a fact that God made man in His image and likeness. Whether we ‘buy’ this or not makes no difference .... that fact shall remain a fact for all eternity. We have but to realize it and know that of ourselves we have no being. The source (God) is the reality of man (the manifestation). Only the source has being. Man is God embodied.

It is a paradox ... ‘Man’ ... is not God. That which God is ... is what a man is! It’s just that God is called ‘man’ in the world of form. We are not aware of the fact that man and God are one and the same. In fact ... that which God is is the reality of every living ‘thing’. But ... only as ‘He’ manifests as ‘man’ can He be God in the world of form ... (in the world of effects)!

We have but to realize that God ... is the reality of man ... of every man. He is the ‘Tree of Life’. (In Him was Life ... and the Life was the light of men ... the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.) We must identify ourselves with the ‘Tree of Life’ ... AS THE ‘TREE OF LIFE’. God is the macrocosm ... He is also the microcosm. God is Universal Life ... He is also individual life. He is the ‘Father’ ... He is also the ‘son’. (I and the Father are One.) When we realize this ... and choose to live in that truth .. in that consciousness, we begin to take upon ourselves the likeness of our ‘source’. That likeness is known as the ‘Christ’. Christ is not a ‘specific individual’ ... ‘Christ’ is the Divine Mind personified. No one can function in ‘Christ-consciousness’ without first realizing that he/she is an individualized manifestation of God ... the Divine Mind. The ‘source’ (God) is the reality of man. The ‘cause’ is the reality of the effect. God and man are one ... one and the same. If you continue to choose to live as a man you shall die as a man. Should you choose to live as God .. in your ‘I am that I am’ identity ... your real identity, you have the assurance of everlasting life. God is ETERNAL life ... and you (the real you) are that life embodied.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat ... but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16 & 17)

What is the 'tree' of knowledge of good and evil? It is a false belief!, It is a belief in the existance, the ‘reality’ ... of good and evil ... creating a sense of duality ... thereby, denying the omnipresence of God ... the Oneness of God!