The Creation Process

Transcription

1 The Creation Process This is a Unity church. For the most part that means we welcome information and traditions from all spiritual paths; that we look at contributions of science and psychology; and that we use literature, music and art as part of our spiritual process. It also means we are based on the teaching of Jesus and we use a metaphysical interpretation of the Bible as the foundation for our understanding of our spiritual path. Last week I read Matthew Fox s book, In the Beginning There Was Joy but this week I want to go old school and talk about Charles Fillmore s interpretation of Genesis, and his 7 Steps of Creation. Is it still relevant to our creativity and how do we apply it to our lives? Genesis begins: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. We begin creating out of the void, out of emptying ourselves and clearing away what is past. As we put away holiday decorations yesterday, the sanctuary walls looked barren and empty. It is as it should be in the beginning empty and waiting for new creation. Sometimes I have a problem trying to create on top of too much; trying to create something new without letting go of what is past and what is cluttering my mind and heart. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Light represents awakening to spiritual consciousness, awareness of the One Light, and moving into relationship with spiritual co-creation. That is a distinction I should make here. We are creating all the time. And we have multiple avenues and channels through which we create. The process we are talking about today is our spiritual creativity or the spiritual creative process. Some of us create in darkness, in unawareness or in unconsciousness, all the time. And what is created is temporary and does not serve our spiritual well-being. It may create some opportunities for awakening or some lessons for us so nothing is wasted. The 7 Step Process of Creation is about our Spiritual Creativity and we begin with awakening to the One Light. 1

2 And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. The dome or firmament in some translations represents Faith. Notice it separates waters above and below. The same waters above and below, separated by the dome. So the dome is a separation and yet a bridge between above and below. Faith is the deep knowing that connects the spiritual truth and divine ideas to what is manifest from that below. Fillmore writes in The Revealing Word, When faith is exercised deep in spiritual consciousness, it finds its abode; and under divine law, without disappointment, it brings results that are seemingly miraculous. Fillmore does not believe in miracles if we define a miracle as somehow contrary or beyond spiritual law. They may be beyond our understanding of spiritual law but Fillmore does not believe that divine law can be violated or suspended. So faith is our connection to open the flow of the divine into our manifesting consciousness. And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. And in this separation of land and water, two fertile beds of creation were made visible. Fillmore associates this separation with Imagination and the great multiplying power of Imagination. In Prosperity, Fillmore says, The mind creates by forming things according to its ideas. The world is awakening in a wonderful way to the truth about the creative power of mind. Fillmore wrote that in the early 1900 s but how amazingly true it is right now. Have you noticed how main stream religions, Oprah, The Secret, Wayne Dwyer, thousands of writers and psychologists as well as religious leaders are talking about the power of our thoughts. And with imagination and the next two steps, we focus on the fact that imagination and our thoughts can run in many directions. We can multiply destruction as well as creation; we can multiply according to our faith. And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And the lights were the sun for day and the moon for night. The Sun, according to Fillmore, represents spiritual Understanding and the Moon 2

3 represents Will. In The Mysteries of Genesis, Fillmore explains, The will does not reason [as the moon does not shine] but in its harmonious relation acts easily and naturally upon the inspiration of Spirit. Divine Will expresses itself as the I AM in man. And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky." This step represents the acts of Spiritual Judgment and Discernment. I think it is interesting that birds and fish get a whole day unto themselves. Fillmore says that fish represent thoughts of multiplication. He doesn t give a straightforward interpretation of birds in either Revealing Word or Metaphysical Bible Dictionary. In the Revealing Word he does say flocks represent thoughts and in other places I have read that birds represent higher thoughts or spiritual thoughts. In the Revealing Word he also says Spiritual Discernment is the inner voice through whose expression we come into a larger realization of ourselves. I loved that phrase, we come into a larger realization of ourselves. In our spiritual exploration we come to know that we are so much more than we thought ourselves to be. We are more than other people s opinions of us; we are more than our emotions and our bodies and our actions. We are an endlessly evolving beingness that finds new expressions every day. We are this and yet we are asleep to this so much of the time. We fail to be this so much of the time. Spiritual Judgment is a process of compare and contrast to find what serves us best. Fillmore points out that judgment, when based on sense perception its conclusions are fallible and condemning, but when based on spiritual understanding, they are safe. Judgments based on spiritual understanding are not only safe for us, they are safe and non-condemning for others. Our spiritual creative process requires the discipline of aligning with our true nature and being able to discern that which is sense perception and ego learned behavior from that which is our authentic self. To align our will with Spirit s direction and to know when we are going off course are part of our spiritual process. God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so. Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our 3

4 likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. It is somewhat baffling that a people, the Hebrews, so focused on monotheism would have a plural reference to God. Let us baffles Bible scholars and so there is an abundance of theories. Some say it is the trinity nature, some say it is the male and female nature, some say it is the royal we or the culture of referring to oneself in the plural when you are in authority. I ll let you explore that on your own and come to your own conclusions. It is interesting that there is not a separate day for humanity but we are lumped in with all the other animals. I wonder what the authors were thinking? Fillmore says this creation step is about love. Yet just as Matthew Fox refers to Mr and Mrs Joy as Wisdom and Joy, Fillmore brings Wisdom into this step. In the Mysteries of Genesis he writes, Divine Mind blessed the union of wisdom and love and pronounced on them the increase of Spirit. When wisdom and love are unified in the individual consciousness, one is a master of ideas and brings forth under the original creative law. So to be in the spiritual creative process, one must be aligned in Faith, Love, Wisdom, Discernment, and Oneness. We must begin by emptying ourselves and opening the void to Spirit. We must cast out ego thoughts and creating from sense consciousness. And then what? The Sabbath. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day. This is the point at which we have to trust the creative process and let go. We have to trust. We cannot plant the seed and tug it forth; we cannot give it to God and take it back. This is where we let the seeds we have planted take root and produce. In Keep A True Lent, one of my favorite Fillmore books, Charles writes, The true Sabbath is the consciousness that we have fulfilled the divine law in both thought and act. And in the Mysteries of Genesis, he adds, The 7 th day refers to the mind s realization of fulfillment; its resting in the assurance that all that has been imaged in it will come forth into expression. To know we have done what was ours to do and we allow the process to unfold. For some, this is the hardest part of the creative process. 4

5 I had a minister explain that congregants were sometimes upset that he did not call to check on them after they gave him a prayer request. He asked why they thought he would do that. He said, I see the answer already present and it is not up to me how or when that appears or even what it looks like. He prayed affirmatively and let it go. Do we have confidence in our Sabbath? Do we ever think there is time to rest; to trust that we have done our part? I believe this a part of our discernment. Can I let go of one situation and be at peace with what I ve done and then begin anew with something different? How do I know when I am complete? This is the practice of being in the silence and listening to the still small voice. Is there more for me to do? Have I not sorted through appropriately and am I creating out of lack or greed or pride? Only you and your co-creator can know those answers but they are there. The creative process or the process of creation begins in the void. This is not a comfortable place to go to. This is the place of confusion and chaos and nothingness. It comes to all of us and we can create it by allowing all that we know or expect to be released. In nothingness and chaos, nothing is certain but all things are possible. Let us go there and begin to create. 5