I, Life, God (Ch. 3 of 'The Impersonal Life')

​The Impersonal Life, Chapter III
I, LIFE, GOD

Chapter Three is titled 'I, Life, God.' These three words speak to me of:

I - universal, self-knowing consciousness which pervades and unifies all that is, the One Being;

Life - forces of Nature set in motion by the 'I AM', including the animating principle. The instrument through which the One Being expresses itself;

God - Creative Source, expressing itself in and through the unfolding mystery of its creation of Life. The actions and qualities of the One Being. 

The will of the One Being is not will as humans understand, but the essential nature  of expressing itself in unendingly diverse dimensions and forms. Self-expression is not what it wills or does but what it is. The One Being has no law though it has set in motion natural laws to govern its expression.

'The Impersonal Life' claims that the person who questions the book's voice of Divine authority will receive no benefit from its words. From my perspective, within I, Life and God there is neither will nor authority but only the nature of self-expression. Authority is a fabrication of fragmented humanity and the phrase 'will receive no benefit' a fear tactic to control penned by a human, subject to the same fragmentation. 

The third chapter states, "Once you recognize My Authority, that moment the undermining of the authority of the personality has begun. The days of its dominion are numbered, and you will more and more turn to Me for help and guidance."

To clarify this, in Chapter Eight it is written, "When the time comes, as it inevitably will, that you become dissatisfied in your search among the teachings of the various religions, philosophies and cults that now are interesting you, and you grow discouraged at finding yourself no nearer the attainment of the powers and spiritual growth so authoritatively described and supposedly possessed by the writers of the books, the teachers of the philosophies and the promulgators of the religions,—then will I show you that while all these books, teachings and religions were originally inspired by Me, and have done and are still doing their part in quickening the hearts of many, yet for you it is now meant that you cease looking to any outer authority, and instead confine your study to My Book of Life, guided and instructed by Me within, by Me alone."

Yes! to 'cease looking to any outer authority' includes the teachings of 'The Impersonal Life.' It means to be guided by the One Being alone.

Chapter Three goes on to repeat the central theme of the book, “Be still!—and KNOW—I AM—God.” 

This sentence is from Psalm 46:10 which says, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

"Be still - The word used here - from רפה râphâh - means properly to cast down; to let fall; to let hang down; then, to be relaxed, slackened, especially the hands: It is also employed in the sense of not making an effort; not putting forth exertion; and then would express the idea of leaving matters with God, or of being without anxiety about the issue...."

"And know that I am God - See, in what I have done, the evidence that I am God."

— 'Barnes' Notes on the Bible', Bible Hub

'The Impersonal Life' re-interprets this verse (rightly, in my view) away from the literal sense of looking to God as an external power and authority who commands men, divides nations and cares to be exalted. It re-focuses the meaning to individual awareness of the One Being within as the true identity of the person and essential nature of all that is.

Chapter Three goes on to say, "Yes, I AM that innermost part of you that sits within, and calmly waits and watches, knowing neither time nor space; for I AM the Eternal and fill all space."

"....I AM that which animates your body, which causes your mind to think, your heart to beat. 

"I AM the Innermost, the Spirit, the animating Cause of your being, of all life, of all living things, both visible and invisible. There is nothing dead, for I, the Impersonal ONE, AM all that there is. I AM Infinite and wholly unconfined; the Universe is My Body, all the Intelligence there is, emanates from My Mind, all the Love there is, flows from My Heart, all the Power there is, is but My Will in action. 

"The threefold Force, manifesting as all Wisdom, all Love, all Power, or if you will, as Light, Heat, and Energy—that which holds together all forms and is back of and in all expressions and phases of life,—is but the manifestation of My Self in the act or state of Being. 

"Nothing can Be without manifesting and expressing some phase of Me, Who AM not only the Builder of all forms, but the Dweller in each.  In the heart of each I dwell; in the heart of the human, in the heart of the animal, in the heart of the flower, in the heart of the stone. In the heart of each I  live and move and have My Being, and from out the heart of each I send forth that phase of Me I desire to express, and which manifests in the outer world as a stone, a flower, an animal, a man...."

CONTENTS - BLOG POSTS

THE IMPERSONAL LIFE, UNABRIDGED