The Organisation and Religion to Re-unite All Religions

INNER TRUTH IN OUTWARD STORIES

 

--------- I chose to submit this story as an illustration of how Gnostics would tell a story to express their ideas of God. This story is a modern parable, a myth, similar to how Jesus would have taught. And it is similar to many of the texts we would call Gnostic scriptures. A myth can be seen as a story which is false on the outside, and very true on the inside. There are many such modern myths, which we can find around us, most of them remakes of older stories. I will be writing an article on this soon...Namaste.

 

The Little Soul and the Sun

a children's parable adapted from Conversations with God

Once Upon NO Time there was a little Soul who said to God, "I know who I am." And God said, "That's wonderful! Who are you?"
And the Little Soul shouted, "I'm the Light!"
God smiled a big smile. "That's right!" God exclaimed.
"You are the Light."
The Little Soul was so happy, for it had figured out what all the souls in the Kingdom were there to figure out. "Wow," said the Little Soul, "this is really cool!"
But soon, knowing who it was was not enough. The Little Soul felt stirrings inside, and now wanted to BE who it was. And so the Little Soul went back to God (which is not a bad idea for all souls who want to be Who They Really Are) and said, "Hi, God! Now that I know Who I Am, is it ok for me to BE it?"
And God said, "You mean you want to be Who You Already Are?"
"Well," replied the Little Soul, "it's one thing to know Who I Am, and another things altogether to actually be it. I want to feel what it's like to BE the Light!"
"But you already ARE the Light," God repeated, smiling again.
"Yes, but I want to see what that FEELS like!" cried the Little Soul.
"Well," said God with a chuckle, "I suppose I should have known. You always were the adventuresome one." Then God's expression changed. "There's only one thing..."
"What?" asked the Little Soul.
"Well, there is nothing else but the Light. You see, I created nothing but what you are; and so, there is no easy way for you to experience yourself as Who You Are, since there is nothing that you are not."
"Huh?" said the Little Soul, who was now a little confused.
"Think of it this way," said God. "You are like a candle in the Sun. Oh, you're there all right. Along with a million, ka-gillion other candles who make up the Sun. And the sun would not be the Sun without you. Nay, it would be a sun without one of its candles... and that would not be the Sun at all, for it would not shine as brightly. Yet, how to know yourself as the Light when you are amidst the Light-- that is the question."
"Well," the Little Soul perked up, "you're God. Think of something!"
Once more God smiled. "I already have," God said.
"Since you cannot see yourself as the Light when you are IN the Light, we'll surround you with darkness."
"What's darkness?" the Little Soul asked.
God replied, "It is that which you are not."
"Will I be afraid of the dark?" cried the Little Soul.
"Only if you choose to be," God answered. "There is nothing, really, really to be afraid of, unless you decide that there is. You see, we are making it all up. We are pretending."
"Oh," said the Little Soul, and felt better already.
Then God explained that, in order to experience anything at all, the exact opposite of it will appear. "It is a great gift," God said, "because without it, you could not know what anything is like."
"You would not know Warm without Cold, Up without Down, Fast without Slow. You could not know Left without Right, Here without There, Now without Then. "
"And so," God concluded, "when you are surrounded with darkness, do not shake your fist and raise your voice and curse the darkness. Rather be a Light unto the darkness, and don't be mad about it. Then  you will know Who You Really Are, and all others will know, too. Let your Light so shine that everyone will know how special you are!"
"You mean it's okay to let others see how special I am?"
"Of course!" God chuckled. "It's very okay! But remember, 'special' does not mean 'better'. Everybody is special, each in their own way! Yet many others have forgotten that. They will see that it is okay for them to be special only when you see that it okay for you to be special."
"Wow," said the Little Soul, dancing and skipping and laughing and jumping with joy. "I can be a special as I want to be!"
"Yes, and you can start right now," said God, who was dancing and skipping and laughing right along with the Little Soul. "What part of 'special' do you want to be?"
"What part of special?" the Little Soul repeated. "I don't understand."
"Well," God explained, "being the Light is being special, and being special has a lot of parts to it. It is special to be kind. It is special to be gentle. It is special to be creative. It is special to be patient. Can you think of any other ways to be special?"
The Little Soul sat quietly for a moment. "I can think of lots of ways to be special!" the Little Soul then exclaimed. "It is special to be helpful. It is special to be sharing. It is special to be friendly. It is special to be considerate of others!"
"Yes!" God agreed, "and you can be all of those things, or any part of part of 'special' you wish to be, at any moment. That is what it means to be the Light."
"I know what I want to be, I know what I want to be!" the Little Soul announced with great excitement. "I want to be the part of special called forgiving. Isn't it special to be forgiving?"
"Oh, yes," God assured the Little Soul. "That is very special."
"Okay," said the Little Soul. "That is what I want to be. I want to be forgiving. I want to experience myself as that."
"Good," said God, "but there is one thing you should know."
The Little Soul was becoming a bit impatient now. It always seemed as though there were some complication.
"What is it?" the Little Soul sighed.
"There is no one to forgive."
"No one?" The Little Soul could hardly believe what had been said.
"No one!" God repeated.
"Everything I have made is perfect. There is not a single soul in all creation less perfect than you. Look around you."
It was then that the Little Soul realized a large crowd had gathered. Souls had come from far and wide-- from all over the Kingdom-- for the word had gone forth that the Little Soul was having this extraordinary conversation with God, and everyone wanted to hear what they were saying.
Looking at the countless of other souls gathered there, the Little Soul had to agree. None appear less wonderful, less magnificent, or less perfect than the Little Soul itself. Such was the wonder of the souls gathered around, and so bright was their Light, that the Little Soul could scarcely gaze upon them.
"Who, then, to forgive?" asked God.
"Boy, this is going to be no fun at all!" grumbled the Little Soul. "I wanted to experience myself as One Who Forgives. I wanted to know what that part of special felt like."
And the Little Soul learned what it must feel like to be sad. But just then a Friendly Soul stepped forward from the crowd. "Not to worry, Little Soul," the Friendly Soul said, "I will help you."
"You will?" the Little Soul brightened. "But what can you do?"
"Why, I can give you someone to forgive!"
"You can?"
"Certainly!" chirped the Friendly Soul. "I can come into your next lifetime and do something for you to forgive."
"But why? Why would you do that?" the Little Soul asked. "You, who are a Being of such utter perfection! You who can vibrate with such a speed that it creates a Light so bright that I can hardly gaze upon you! What could cause you to want to slow down your vibration to such a speed that your bright Light would become dark and dense? What could cause you-- who are so light that you dance upon the stars and move throughout the Kingdom with the speed of your thought-- to come into my life and make yourself so heavy that you could do this bad thing?"
"Simple," the Friendly Soul said. "I would do it because I love you."
The Little Soul seemed surprised at the answer.
"Don't be so amazed," said the Friendly Soul, "you have done the same thing for me. Don't you remember? Oh, we have danced together, you and I, many times. Through the eons and across all the ages have we danced. Across all time and in many places have we played together. You just don't remember.
"We have both been All Of It. We have been the Up and the Down of it, the Left and the Right of it. We have been the Here and the There of it, the Now and the Then of it. We have been the male and the female, the good and the bad-- we have both been the victim and the villain of it.
"Thus have we come together, you and I, many times before; each bringing to the other the exact and perfect opportunity to Express and to Experience Who We Really Are. And so," the Friendly Soul explained a little further, "I will come into your next lifetime and be the 'bad one' this time. I will do something really terrible, and then you can experience yourself as the One Who Forgives."
"But what will you do?" the Little Soul asked, just a little nervously, "that will be so terrible?"
"Oh," replied the Friendly Soul with a twinkle, "we'll think of something."
Then the Friendly Soul seemed to turn serious, and said in a quiet voice, "You are right about one thing, you know."
"What is that?" the Little Soul wanted to know.
"I will have to slow down my vibration and become very heavy to do this not-so-nice thing. I will have to pretend to be something very unlike myself. And so, I have but one favor to ask of you in return."
"Oh, anything, anything!" cried the Little Soul, and began to dance and sing, "I get to be forgiving, I get to be forgiving!" Then the Little Soul saw that the Friendly Soul was remaining very quiet.
"What is it?" the Little Soul asked. "What can I do for you? You are such an angel to be willing to do this for me!"
"Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!" God interrupted. "Everyone is! Always remember: I have sent you nothing but angels."
And so the Little Soul wanted more than ever to grant the Friendly Soul's request. "What can I do for you?" the Little Soul asked again.
"In the moment that I strike you and smite you," the Friendly Soul replied, "in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possibly imagine-- in that very moment..."
"Yes?" the Little Soul interrupted, "yes...?"
The Friendly Soul became quieter still.
"Remember Who I Really Am."
"Oh, I will!" cried the Little Soul, "I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!"
"Good," said the Friendly Soul, "because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are."
"No, we won't!" the Little Soul promised again. "I will remember you! And I will than you for brining me this gift-- the chance to experience myself as Who I Am."
And so, the agreement was made. And the Little Soul went forth into a new lifetime, excited to be the Light, which was very special, and excited to be that part of special called Forgiveness.
And the Little Soul waited anxiously to be able to experience itself as Forgiveness, and to thank whatever other soul made it possible.
And at all the moments in that new lifetime, whenever a new soul appeared on the scene, whether that new soul brought joy or sadness-- and especially if it brought sadness-- the Little Soul thought of what God had said.

"Always remember," God had smiled, "I have sent you nothing but angels."

What is the purpose of life?

 The purpose of life has two major aspects;

1.) Perfecting the soul - this is the process of learning the true meaning of being good, in the absolute sense that God Himself is good. This process is one of testing yourself against adversity, and seeing how you act (Love) or react (Fear). This is the key as adversity is needed to provide a mirror, a test. None of us can come to know ourselves, and our actions, until faced with a situation of the opposite polarity. If you wish to experience yourself as happy, you would have to experience unhappiness or sadness. If you wish to experience yourself as the aspect of forgiveness, then you would have to have experiences for which you can forgive something.
 
2.) Experience God's Knowledge - God created all of us to be the experiencing, active part of His knowledge. This knowledge, in it's potential state, is not in motion and is static. All of humanity is the totality of God's experience. Our goal is to perfect our soul, to evolve, and experience is the method to do so. Perfection is the process of evolving your soul. You perfect by experiencing God's knowledge, in both polarities of positive and negative (good and evil), and witnessing your actions and reactions to hardships. These "tests" are successful when you come from Love, compassion, and caring. You can cannot know yourself until face with what is the opposite of yourself.

It is all how you perceive, what circumstances life throws at us. In all actuality it is us who chooses and creates everything before we incarnate, and as we are incarnated. Each physical embodiment is "charted" and this "chart" is a covenant (or contract) with yourself  and God, for your experience. You must complete it, through a number of lives if you have to, but you will experience everything you choose. We chose these inequities, not to learn, but to remember who we are. We are the best judge of what is needed to perfect our soul; the inner spark of God within, that knows the best plan for us. The planning process allows God to have His voice direct in our life and to have an orderly experience for all of His knowledge. The illusion of pain and suffering exist precisely because we perceive it to, as a tool to know ourselves.

Walking the Path

We can improve our lives by using positive programming techniques. Protect yourself against negative people by using the strength of your soul. Rely on intuition (gnosis), taking "gut level" messages seriously. You have the tools to discern good from bad; use them. Talk with God, through prayer and meditation; staying in constant communion, and aligning your will with His will. Negativity abounds in the world; in fact, it dominates it. Even so, in the darkness there is light; and that light is YOU. Negativity is here for a purpose. It is a tool by which we come to see ourselves through. It is not real. Just a backwards reflection of who we really are, just an illusion. We as humans constantly are bombarded by this negative illusion. We confuse what is false for what is real. This continual in-flux of programming, from the time we are born, from our parents, teachers, and society at large, can lead to negative self-images and fear (false evidence appearing real); which leads to guilt, addiction, paranoia, and negative behavior patterns. We must guard against those who give guilt, even ourselves, and ruin our self worth as a part of God. All experiences you need will occur at specific times. But you need not have all aspects of life in misery. We can program ourselves for the good things in life; for the strength to endure, for the wisdom in times of confusion, to know why life can be so harsh. Often, just knowing why we must experience pain will ease the burden; although not always. Be kind and forgiving to yourselves and others. Love yourself as much as you love others. We do the best we can and in doing that, we can do no wrong; no mortal sin will affect the soul. Walk proudly in life, knowing that you are a wonderful, unique part of God. You are as worthy as any person on the planet, even as worthy as many of the saints and messiahs. Seek out the positive, in your life and yourself, and soon you will become a magnet; a beacon of light, where positive events and people will be attracted to you. In a positive environment, with positive people, your chances of becoming negative are less. We begin to absorb negativity, in a negative environment or from a negative situation, and then manifest it towards others. The main task is to recognize it when it is happening, do not succumb to it, beat yourself up over it, fight it, or sweep it under the rug. Change your environment and your perception.
 
The physical body is a temple for the Spirit of God; a true house of God. It is merely a vehicle used to do His work. It is the Spirit/Soul, inside and outside, that is important most; how you treat others and yourself, your patience, tolerance, kindness, and the Love you show towards others. The physical body is to be cared for; do not abuse your body in any way, unless it is part of your "charted" experience. Always try to treat others in a loving and kind manner. If they do not receive your Love in a positive way, then simply be tolerant and have compassion, and avoid this group or particular individual so you may help others. Don't get caught in the trap of trying to help someone who refuses to be helped. Realize that there are people who do not want help; pray for them instead.

Some Guidelines for an Authentic Spiritual Path

 Love others and your self; care for them, and be kind.
 Never harm someone or thing, with malicious intent.
 Do not unfairly manipulate others for personal gain.
 Worship God, however you may know Him.
 
Realize that you are a beautiful, shining part of God. Let others see that light in you and around you. Walk proud knowing that He knows your name. Use your innate goodness to survive life and do the right things at every turn. Listen intently to your inner voice; let God run your life. Be like a beacon of truth to others, dispensing His love, grace, and knowledge to all you meet, through your example. 

Rev. G. C. Koukouris

 

Sources and Credits:
Conversations with God

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