From time immemorial, mankind has attempted to decipher the awareness and understanding of God. These various attempts have made man to propagate different approaches to God. These approaches include idol worship, monotheism, polytheism, etc and other forms of worship. These different approaches to God are also reflected in the different cultures of the different regions of the world.
If one were to conduct a study of these different religions on earth today, one would see a concentration of different religions or approaches to God in different locations. In the Far East we have Buddhism and Sikhism being predominant while in the Western Hemisphere we have various forms of the Christian Religion. In the Middle East and to the northern part of Africa, we have the Islamic Religion and around Israel we also have Judaism. We also have tints of Animism or Idol Worship spread across different parts of the world but in limited and unidentifiable proportion compared to the major religions.
All these represent different awareness levels of man’s relationship with his Creator God but based on a personal experience of the main proponents of such religions. But all these religions are for the purpose of leading man back home to God at man’s different levels of understanding; except that some would take millions of years of merry go round.
But when man was first placed on the Earth World many millions of years ago, he could see the sun rise every morning and then darkness in the evening. With his residual knowledge of the pure heavens of God he is used to, man knew that Light represents the God Force while darkness is what man was not used to. He then reasoned that the sun must be worshipped. And thus began the worship of the sun gods in various cultures.
Through the spiritual evolution of man, he has made significant progress to that point where he now knows that God is not outside himself despite the fact that the realization of this is still below about 5% of the human population today.
This represents the different levels of Spiritual Consciousness.
Spiritual Consciousness is the awareness of man with his higher self known as Soul, the Holy Spirit Individualized. Some of us are not aware of this relationship hence the need to pray to God regularly to tell God what to do. This misconception of the relationship of man with God has also led to the worship of ‘Gods that get angry’ at short notice or Gods that destroys its creations. These definitely are not the God of love that we know about.
If God is love, pray, why would God be angry or destroy Its own creations?
The levels of Spiritual Consciousness therefore implies that we have different levels of understanding of God and these different levels are reflected in the different religions we have in the worlds today. These levels are; The Animal Consciousness, the Human Consciousness, the Social Consciousness, the Soul Consciousness and God Consciousness.
The Animal consciousness indicates the consciousness where there is no self awareness of a relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is the level of the brute. Its only responsibility therefore is basic existence of survival. These are administered strictly by the Lords of Karma who are in charge of creatures under this level of consciousness. The mineral consciousness is a sub group of this level. The only difference being that it is devoid of movement. It is usually thought of as inanimate but actually contains spirit for those who have the eyes to see.
The Human state of consciousness is depicted by mankind and his relationship with God. The man in the Human state of consciousness is recognized by his relationship with God. He is the individual who believes that God is outside of himself and therefore, he represents God with many items of reverence and attempts to communicate with God through different media. This approach is still prevalent in many societies in the world today.
The Social Consciousness is the awareness of God at the level of duality. This is depicted by man equating his God to a rival generally known as ‘Satan’ or ‘Devil’. This has gained so much prominence in the world today that man feels that he can ‘bend’ the ways of God to suit himself through endless prayers to God. It is also based on the worship of God at the mental level whereby images of ‘different sons’ of God are like intermediaries between man and God. These religions operate from the mental plane where man has reduced himself to communicating with God through self appointed intermediaries. This is the relationship of man with the Universal Mind Power. For if God is omnipotent how can God Almighty have a rival? The entity called ‘satan’ or ‘devil’ is actually a minor spiritual worker in the heavens of God. His job is to ensure that no impure soul gets access into the pure worlds of God which is beyond the Fourth Heaven.
This dual faced god achieves his goal by tempting man with material riches and wealth thus tying man down to repeated sufferings in the materials worlds. When man prays for wealth, he obliges man. When man desires power, he gives man power that will rope man unto the wheels of Karma and Reincarnation until man learns how not to request anything from God.
Until man learns how to say ‘God let thy will be done!’, this entity will continue to tempt man.
If we look into the Holy Books of all religions, we shall find this entity tempting all known children of God. If he were not working for God, why would God allow ‘his sons’ to be tempted or why has he not been put out of business? In any case all who pray to any God outside themselves are operating at this level of spiritual awareness.
The level of Soul Consciousness is that level where the individual has come to the realization that there is no difference between himself and God Almighty in terms of his spiritual make up. For man is God clothed in rags without his knowledge. But how can man know that he is Soul, created in the ‘image and likeness of God?’ Only few individuals in the world today are aware of this level of Consciousness.
Man should know that he is beyond flesh and bones. That at the core of man is the Holy Spirit individualized and that the only thing man needs to do is to find out the will of God in all situations. This can be done if man can only learn how to communicate with God on a day to day basis. This two way communication can be achieved through man ‘knowing’ himself as Soul. This can be achieved in three major ways.
The first is for man to look for a teacher who can show him the way. This teacher must be alive to be able to lead man in the right direction.
The second is for man to be linked up to the Holy Spirit and this can only be done by the Living Godman whom God has appointed to lead those who are ready back home to God.
The third is for man to study and record his dreams for in his dreams are the secret of the knowledge of both man and God. For if man discovers the secret of the microcosm, man, the secret of God, the Macro is easily deciphered.
The state of God Consciousness is beyond the scope of this article. But suffice to mention that the awareness or consciousness of the God state is beyond the language of man and will continue to remain so. For it is in the experience of this state that man can totally realize his relationship with God Almighty. All the attributes of God lying latent in Soul, a spark of God is fully realized and man becomes the ultimate channel for God.
The human being who achieves this state has realized his spiritual destiny. For the purpose of the whole spiritual education of man in the lower worlds is for man to develop these attributes of omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. In order words, man would evolve and unfold as a spiritual being and be all powerful (loving), all knowing and all present. When man has unfolded to this level, man becomes the Living Godman and has the sole responsibility of leading other souls back home to God. This Being also has the responsibility of coaching other souls to also become self realized and eventually, God Realized.
This is the difference between being a ‘man of God’ and being the Godman!
The fellow who calls himself the ‘man of God’ is a man of book knowledge a man of words. He is the one who would be searching for the knowledge of God from ‘Holy Books’. What he fails to understand is the fact that what he reads and studies in ‘Holy Books’ are merely recordings of the activities of individuals who have had their own experience with God at the level of consciousness described earlier.
Reading of other peoples experience with God can never make an individual have the experience of God.
Therefore any individual who calls himself a ‘man of God’ without having an experience with the Holy Spirit of God is a ‘spiritual joker’. He can continue to deceive some ignorant children of God for some time but he can never deceive the Holy Spirit, the Voice of God.
On the other hand, the Godman has the experience of God directly without any intermediary. He is a living embodiment of spiritual virtues and values. As the Way Shower, he has the special ability to link any interested individual with the Holy Spirit and guide such individual to the heavens of God while still alive. This is a special activity that would make the individual lose his fear of death. The fear of death is mainly the reason why most individuals seek refuge in different religions without any experience with the Holy Spirit.
The levels of consciousness lets an individual realize his relationship with God at his own level of understanding. Each individual’s level of understanding is unique and cannot be forced on another. This is also the reason why no individual can force his religion on another person no matter how much he tries. It is only the experience and obstacles encountered by the individual that would let him take a decision on his relationship with God within the ambits of his present religion.
This is the meaning of that statement ‘Obey God or suffer!’
This is why it has been written severally in this column that every problem or situation has a spiritual history. In other words, there is a reason behind every problem faced by any HU-man being. The purpose of these problems is to enable man to know that the solution to any of man’s problem resides with God Almighty.
But man must first have this realization by himself!
The spiritual destiny of each soul- in- form is to become a God realized being and eventually become a Coworker with God. But for man to achieve this feat, he has to pass through the crucible of purification and learn his catechism while residing in the lower worlds of God. Through the process of reincarnation, man is given the opportunity to learn and relearn his spiritual destiny and achieve his spiritual purpose of attending this spiritual school on earth.
But man should not remain despondent and think that the challenge is insurmountable. Man can overcome his shortcomings by taking the following steps;
‘Man know thyself!’ The first step is for man to know that he is a spiritual being. Man should know that he is Soul that has no beginning and no end. Soul is eternal and indestructible but is created from the fabric of God. How can man know himself if he cannot see himself as Soul? One of the ways he can see this is through his dreams where he has the freedom to move around within the lower worlds of God.
Secondly, man should evaluate his religion and decide if he is benefitting spiritually or socially. The individual who really desires God must strive to move from one level of awareness to another. If the individual is having problems that are beyond him that is a sure reason for the individual to reappraise himself and his religion and seek the one that can assist him to have a spiritual perspective to his problems.
Thirdly, man must know that there should not be any intermediary between man and God. For any individual that has chosen an intermediary between himself and God has inadvertently created a big obstacle between himself and his Creator.
Yes, all souls are created equal but in the hu-man consciousness we are not equal because of the spiritual baggage each of us carry. This is what is responsible for all our individual problems in life.
TOWARDS SPIRITUAL FREEDOM
By Tuborki Dauyemie
