Are ye gods?

 I facilitate a Metaphysics class at a Unity congregation. We've been studying Lessons in Truth by H. Emilie Cady, a classic in metaphysical Christianity. Although the Unity movement has no formal creeds or doctrines, Lessons in Truth is considered its foundational text.

H. Emilie Cady (1848-1941)

In Chapter 11 of Lessons in Truth, Cady writes that each person has "an instinctive feeling that somewhere there is a power that can give him just what he wants; and that if he could only reach that which to his conception is God, he could prevail upon God to grant his desires. This feeling is itself God-given. It is the Divine Self."

But what is God? From Chapter 1 [emphases mine]:

God is not a being or person having life, intelligence, love, power. God is that invisible, intangible, but very real something we call Life. 

There is but one God in the universe, but one source of all different forms of life or intelligence we see, whether they be man, animal, tree or rock.

God is Spirit. We cannot see Spirit with these fleshly eyes; but when we clothe ourselves with the spiritual body, then Spirit is visible or manifest and we recognize it. You do not see the living, thinking “me” when you look at my body. You see only the form through which I am manifesting.

God is Love. We cannot see love, nor grasp any comprehension of what love is, except as love is clothed with a body. . . . A mother’s love, so infinitely tender, so unfailing, is the same love, only manifested in greater degree through the mother.

God is Wisdom or Intelligence. All the wisdom or intelligence we see in the universe is God—is wisdom projected through a visible form. To educate (from educere, to lead forth) never means to force into from the outside, but always means to draw out from within something already existing there. God as infinite Wisdom or Intelligence lives within every human being, only waiting to be led forth or drawn out into manifestation.

Heretofore we have sought knowledge and help from outside sources, not knowing that the source of all knowledge, the very Spirit of Truth, was lying latent within ourselves, each and every one, only waiting to be called on to teach us the truth about all things.

God is Power. Not simply God has power, but God is Power. In other words, all the power there is to do anything is God. God, the source of our existence every moment, is not simply omnipotent (all powerful); he is Omnipotence (all power). He is not alone omniscient (all knowing); he is Omniscience (all knowledge).

As I understand Cady, this God is known only through your consciousness, so one could say God dwells in your consciousness, or that consciousness and the Divine are the same. To live the life we want and to be the person we want to be, we must look to our consciousness to find the answers to our questions. 

Look within, don't "gather information through the five senses from the outside world." They give a partial view of the world and the illusion of limits and scarcity. Your consciousness, however, is one with the infinite. My power is limited only by my beliefs. Stories about Jesus of Nazareth reveal his unlimited belief in himself, because he was fully conscious, one with his consciousness. That is, "one with the Father who is in heaven."   

Since its publication in 1896, Lessons has undergone multiple edits and editions. For the most part, the edits have been minor, such as switching the Bible version quoted from and changing some words and phrases. There were, however, two ideas Cady discussed in the first edition that were omitted sometime later on. As defined at Fillmore Faith, a source for traditional Unity teachings:

1. Chemicalization - "A condition in the mind that is brought about by the conflict that takes place when a high spiritual realization contacts an old error state of consciousness."

2. Thought transference (telepathy) -  "exchange of thought between persons without visible means of transmission"

I could see why later editors, viewing Lessons in Truth as a beginner's introduction to Unity's New Thought principles, thought these topics were departures from the main thrust of the book and omitted them. In my class, however, I decided we'd read these deleted parts, mainly because I was interested in what Cady said about telepathy:

"More recently scientific people are learning that they can dispense with the batteries and the connecting wire between two points, and can so project the silent thought of their own mind out through space to another mind that the latter can inwardly hear or receive the message. As we say the other mind  'catches the thought.' It is a sort of mental telegraphy, and is called telepathy." 

Cady warned against using telepathy to impose your thoughts on others, even if you mean well or want to implant thoughts you think are good for them.

”You may feel justified in silently sending your thought into another one’s mind to cause him to go to prayer meeting, or to some other good place, because you desire him to lead a moral, upright life. Beware how you use this power of thought transference on your neighbor for any such specific purpose, though it may seem to your mortal mind as though the thing you want him to do is the only right thing for him. You cannot know, for only the Spirit within a man can know for himself. You have no right to interpose yourself between him and the God in his own soul; no right to steal silently into the inner portals of his being to turn him one way or the other. If you do so, remember the wrong you thus do another will invariably react upon yourself."

I get the impression that Cady thought that the study and use of telepathy was the wave of the future. She certainly didn't expect that the field would eventually and prominently be attacked as "pseudo-science" and worse. That development may have been an additional reason the telepathy section was removed: it became too controversial and distracting. 

Telepathy and other forms of extrasensory perception are the subjects of Mitch Horowitz's (highly recommended) limited podcast series Extraordinary Evidence: ESP is Real. Horowitz documents the scientific rigor of experiments and studies indicating the existence of telepathy, precognition, remote viewing, and more. He also discusses how "skeptics" often resorted to lies and fraud to discredit the findings.

In other words, the "extraordinary evidence" that would be sufficient to change a rational mind has failed to change the minds of these skeptics. If one earnestly believes something is impossible, then evidence of its existence must have been manufactured, doctored, or otherwise fraudulently produced. Because I'm right, you cheated. 

I'm not sure what the skeptics are frightened of, but I can guess. ESP might show the existence of a metaphysical, paranormal, or "supernatural" universe. The idea may lead people to embrace misguided religions and cults that cause considerable political and social damage. The skeptics may also be afraid of the psychological and physical harm individuals may do to themselves and others in following occult or magickal practices.

Then again, ESP might not indicate anything "spiritual" at all. Merriam-Webster defines "extrasensory" as "residing beyond or outside the ordinary senses." Google's AI-generated response to the word says "beyond the scope of the five known senses," which would be taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. 

If a mechanical, unconscious universe can produce life and the five "ordinary" senses, why couldn't it produce other senses that transmit information to the brain? A naturalistic explanation of telepathy hasn't been discovered yet, and yet, telepathy exists. The experiments Horowitz discusses tell us it does.

You can't deny that something exists because you can't explain it. As a child, I knew other people existed before I knew how babies were born. I didn't think, "because I don't know where people came from, they are not real."

There might be another reason for the attempted suppression of ESP studies. Could it be that the scientific study of ESP might have frightening consequences? Perhaps we'd discover that almost all humans have latent abilities in these "extra" senses.

In Extraordinary Evidence, Horowitz discusses how remote viewers, working for the U.S. government, found a Soviet spy plane that crashed in Africa during the Cold War. Thanks to the information, the Americans recovered it before the Soviets did.

What if we are all able to "see" things at a distance? What if, at the cellular level, we are supercomputers, storing all the knowledge of the universe and constantly receiving real-time information akin to broadcast signals?

What if the story of Jesus is the story of the awareness and use of this knowledge, accessing it whenever he wanted to? Psalm 82:6 said, "ye are gods, children of the Most High." Jesus quoted it. Perhaps he was saying that we all have the powers we had once ascribed to an external God. Perhaps we are "children of the Most High" in the sense that we are children of Life itself. 

To the extent that most of us do act on the information of these "extra" senses, we call it "instinct" or "intuition."  Horowitz mentions instinct in the podcast. I don't recall the specifics as I wasn't taking notes, but I was struck by how "instinct" is often cited as an obvious fact instead of an extrasensory mystery.

Perhaps each life form has an "inner" knowing, and the evidence of telepathy, precognition, etc. is evidence that the knowledge within our being is an infinite gold mine. This mine is the source of intuition and instinct, but it is otherwise mostly ignored.

Jesus said we are capable of greater works than Jesus himself did. 

We don't know the potential of accessing our "inner knowledge," which isn't the knowledge of the five senses and their limited perspectives, but the knowledge of everything stored right within our bodies. This is frightening to skeptics and other defenders of the status quo because knowledge is power.

The idea that all knowledge is within our cells is speculative but not mystical or supernatural. It may be just part of the emergence of life itself; all-knowledge is just an aspect of what life is.

However, in that case, there may be no discernible difference between the "faith-based" concept of "God" and the scientific concept of "life." Either way, we must look within for our power and strength. 

In any case, follow your intuition and trust your instincts. They know more than what your senses are telling you.

   

© James L. Wilson. You may reprint with attribution and a link back to the original URL.

James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase (subscribe) and JL Cells (subscribe). Thank you for your subscriptions and support! You may contact James for writing, editing, research, and other work: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.