22. What is Christ Consciousness?
Choose Love Every Time
Thanks to my dear friend Shawn Gallaway for permission to share his song here. It’s a great sing-along song!
At Unity we celebrate the metaphysical meaning of Jesus’ birth, that is, the birth of the Christ Consciousness into the world. Jesus was the human who fully expressed what God intended us to be: human beings aware of, and living our divinity.
According to Luke 17:21, Jesus told us that “The Kingdom is within you.”
What is “the Kingdom” to which Jesus refers? It is our divinity. It is the Christ Consciousness. And just what is this Christ Consciousness?
Jesus exemplified what it is to have attained a Christ Consciousness. A few examples of what he expressed, and what we will focus on today, are:
Love
Goodwill
Surrender to God
New Possibilities, as in Miracles
Miracles happen when we “But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matt 6:33
Let’s explore what Miracles can happen when we let Love, Goodwill and Surrendering to God’s Will be our mode of operation.
First, let’s look at the model of being “of the world”. You don’t have to look far to see the world has gone mad! And reacting to the madness with your madness only begets further madness!
Please take a moment to consider a person in your life that drives you mad! And I mean a person who really makes you angry!
As you read the following story, please keep this person in mind. In fact, imagine holding a photograph of this person, and bringing it with you into this story.
DARTS
A college professor prepared to teach his seminary class an object lesson. He had placed a huge target on the wall and asked his students to draw pictures of someone they didn’t like or even hated. One by one he allowed his students to place their pictures on the target, at which they could throw darts. The students gleefully lined up for their turns to throw darts at their “enemy”.
(Perhaps you’d like to stand in line with the students, ready to post the picture of this person who grieves you.)
Some students really got into it, throwing darts so forcefully that the target ripped and shredded. As the end of class approached, Dr. Smith had the students sit back in their seats. He removed the target from the wall, revealing a mangled portrait of Jesus, with holes and jagged marks covering his face, and his eyes pierced. Dr. Smith then said only these words, “In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matt 25:40
Jesus said this because he knew that madness only begets more madness.
He said this because to throw darts at another is to throw darts at… whom? The divinity that resides in each of us! It is to pierce all of humanity. (We are One.)
If you throw a dart at another, who is it sure to pierce? (think: what you sow, so shall you reap. That dart is a boomerang!)
Jesus knew all of the implications of dart-throwing, and it only hurts the world.
He taught us about Love because he knew that only Love can transform the world.
I’d like to share a personal epiphany with you that I believe illustrates this point, that Love is what creates Miracles, new possibilities!
My Epiphany, September 2003
I’d like to introduce you to my husband, Shawn.
We’d just celebrated our sixth year of marriage. We had what could be called “a working relationship”—it is taking work to make it work! We both came into the relationship with a lot of baggage. And adding to the challenge, as he’s British, we have to contend with cultural differences as well as a language barrier (he says he speaks English, but cockney sounds like a foreign language to me!). Yes, we’ve had our share of struggles.
One day he confessed that he was in extreme distress and told me that he simply could not withstand the relational turmoil any longer. He wanted out. And he did mention the ways in which I tried his patience. The picture he painted was not a pretty one.
I could feel my defenses building, words forming in my mind, welling up, ready to spew forth about how he was wrong, and I was misunderstood, and bla-bla-bla.
But then something stopped me from spewing. I had been doing my inner work for a while, and two of my intentions were to choose peace and be diligent for the Truth. Those intentions assisted in creating a little gap before my emotions took control of me—just enough of a gap that I could hear the “still, small voice” of Holy Spirit say, “Don’t go into defensiveness and counter-attack. Go for a walk instead.”
Now, the still, small voice of Holy Spirit always speaks to us—but how can we hear it if there’s a cacophony of ugly emotions banging around in our heads?
I wanted to hear more, so I chose then to follow the promptings of Spirit. I went for the walk.
As I walked, I started to lament my woes. But again Spirit prompted me, saying, “Don’t go there. Go to the place of Gratitude.
So, I went to my heart.
I thought of all the ways in which this relationship had blessed me. I counted my blessings one by one. Oh, yes, Shawn was truly a blessing in my life.
Then insidious fear crept back in: But he said he wants a divorce. if we divorce, I will no longer feel secure, I cried. And Spirit prompted me to surrender my fear and rely on God for my blessings, not on any person. So, I gave my situation to God. I affirmed that regardless of what happens, I’m in Good Hands!
Defensiveness made an appearance: But I need to make Shawn understand that he simply doesn’t understand me! Then Spirit prompted me to seek to understand him, rather than trying to get him to understand me. I prayed that I would be able to do that, that God would shut my mouth and open my ears.
For two hours I alternatively recycled through the fear, defensiveness and the prayer. I walked and I prayed, blessing the situation and my husband and wishing him good will.
It wasn’t easy, this process. I found myself time and again going out of my heart and into fear; then made the conscious effort to return to my heart, using gratitude and a willingness to seek to understand, and I surrendered to God over and over again.
And when my fear finally and totally abated, when I finally felt a steady peace that “passeth understanding”, my walk was done.
Upon arriving home, Shawn inexplicably grabbed me into his arms for a long, heartfelt hug. Where had his animosity gone? How could he have changed so radically from the time I left to the short time of my return?
Where that heartfelt embrace came from, I can only surmise that Love changes everything on the invisible level! Love creates Miracles, New Possibilities.
LIVING THE TEACHING
Allow the Christ to work a Miracle in you. That person whose picture you were ready to throw darts at, instead, be willing to:
surrender that relationship to God;
find a blessing in the relationship and give thanks;
wish them your good will, pray for their highest good;
seek to understand them;
and trust that YOU will be blessed by your willingness to choose love.