BECK index
LIFE AS A WHOLE Contents

God and the Divine Principles

God
Goodness, Truth, and Beauty
Reality, Awareness, and Joy
Love, Wisdom, and Power
Life, Growth, and Fruition
Will, Freedom, and Responsibility
Creativity, Balance, and Harmony
Courage, Faith, and Patience
Law, Justice, and Peace
Wholeness, Health, and Perfection
Being and Becoming

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God

      God is one, infinite, all in all and over all. God is the creator of souls which are part of God and the same divine essence which is the source of consciousness and awareness without which no one would know or experience anything. God is eternal, the beginning and end of all. God is the creator of the divine principles that govern the life, consciousness, and the laws of this physical universe and the energy and matter created in an intense moment that set in motion time and space. God is the ultimate being and the source of life in this universe.
      For those who deny or doubt that God exists, I believe that they will realize there is a greater awareness and being than our limited human consciousness after the body dies, and the soul is liberated from its confinement. Many proofs for the existence of God have been offered such as a creator, first cause, or prime mover that is necessary for existence and that enables the free pursuit of the good or all values, intelligent consciousness, and any purpose freely chosen. Panentheism is the belief that God is not only in all things but also transcends all created things. Every soul experiences the ability to freely choose how to direct one’s consciousness which is given with life.
      Is it possible to prove with certainty that God, or anything for that matter, does not exist? What evidence can there be that something does not exist? We would have to be aware of everything that does exist in order to be sure of what does not exist, and that would be omniscience, one of the characteristics of God! As human beings we are often reminded by ignorance and errors that others know things that we do not. Even the human race as a whole continues to learn new things and really knows little more than what is found on one small planet. We must surely realize that many things exist beyond our limited awareness. That we can never know what does not exist, I call the paradox of negative knowledge. This is a paradox because we cannot know that there is no way to prove that something does not exist either. Nevertheless this recognition of our experienced limitations of awareness can open us up to the infinite possibilities of what can exist. Perhaps after all it is possible to be God and know everything that does exist. If so, then there still is no way to prove that God does not exist.
      I do not aim to prove the existence of God but rather to describe the characteristics of the absolute and total reality according to what mystics and I have intuitively experienced. Just the concept of the infinite transcends all mental limitations, for wherever the mind places a limit, the infinite asks, "What is beyond that?" Let us experiment by thinking. Why should our physical universe with its billions of galaxies be the only one? Could there not be other physical universes with their own space-time continua somewhere else? Certainly all reality is not even merely physical. We have many nonmaterial experiences that indicate to us that there are realms beyond physical bodies. How many other types of realms could there be? Theoretically there could be an infinite number. We might even be so bold as to wonder whether the God that contains all the realms we experience is the only God! Perhaps there are an infinite number of Gods, each one creating its own self-contained universe. Perhaps the ultimate thought we might imagine in this direction is a divine evolution where each God in its universe is giving birth to individual gods which are evolving to become Gods of their own universes after they "graduate" from the universe where they "grew up" to Godhood. Obviously these thought experiments take us into speculation which some might consider blasphemous. Or, we might conclude that no matter how many "universes" and "Gods" there are, they are all a part of the One Universe of the ONE GOD. Actually then, if the ONE GOD is infinite and absolute, there could be nothing outside of it, and all "Gods" and "universes" must be contained in Its ONE UNIVERSE. Since I accept that the infinite is real, the existence of a divine reality is a basic premise of this work.
      What, then, are the characteristics of God? If God is infinite and absolute in every way, then God must be eternal, perfect, complete, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. God has no beginning and no end, but is eternally present. God is whole, total, and perfect in every way. God is everywhere all the time. God is totally aware of everyone and everything. God not only has the power to do anything and everything, but also God actually is everything and does everything. God is absolute reality, and nothing can exist except as a part of God. Everything is part of this divine unity, and to understand anything perfectly is to know its relationship to the whole and to everything in the whole.
      Since God is in everything, and since we can understand things by knowing their relationship to the divine whole, it will certainly help us to describe and understand some of the divine attributes or qualities as they are experienced in life. Although everything has some relationship to the divine whole, as attributes of God these principles are perfect and pure in their divine essence. In the relativity of the phenomenal world, the dualistic mind contrasts each of them to its polar opposite. As we shall see, this is because of the nature of the created worlds. However, the negative contrasts only exist as relative opposites, but not as positive and absolute essences. Thus absolute good, God, has no absolute evil or devil because God is one and whole. That one whole is good; but within the parts of the complex whole, temporal and partial evils are interpreted as contrasts to the good we seek. In the relative world of light and darkness the multiplicity includes gradations of good and evil. Otherwise there would be no freedom to choose what one conceives to be better. Again this can be understood by the mystical experience of God and the divine essences or by the intuition of the infinite logic—that what is infinite is one and whole and therefore can be defined in absolutes. Because nothing can be outside of God, the “devil” or negative contrasts must be contained within God. These divine principles are described as absolute values because they guide us to the direct experience of God, help us to understand various aspects of God, and show us how God manifests in the world.
      The divine principles are all one in essence and interrelated to each other. They are being discussed separately for the purpose of clarification and understanding. These principles apply to our experience as guiding Light, but to try to follow some of them while violating others abuses the divine unity which integrates them in the whole. I will discuss them in nine groups of three, where the first represents an active principle, the second a receptive principle, and the third a synthesis.

Goodness, Truth, and Beauty

      “Good” is probably the closest synonym and the adjective most frequently used to describe God. Not only is the total reality of God good, but also this spiritual principle within us means that we always seek what is good or to do what is good, that is, what we think or believe is good. Consciousness is intentional and purposive. Spirit, the God within us, is always moving toward the greater good or some value. Good is the most generalized concept of value. Individuals do not always agree on what they think is good. Even one person often feels inner conflict between different goals and motivations, consciously and subconsciously. Which good, then, is best? Since all of God is good, and since the Spirit of God is in each one of us, then all of us must decide from moment to moment according to the Spirit within us what is good. In fact we do by the choices we make, by how we direct our consciousness, and by the actions we take. What standards do we use? I believe the divine principles discussed here can guide us to experience these same divine qualities, if that is what we choose. Who judges us? Each soul ultimately judges itself according to the divine principles. Those expressions that some people judge comparatively as bad are finite and will eventually be resolved by all those who are involved. Yet even when we make evaluative judgments, the purpose is to mentally and emotionally clarify the situation so that we can decide what would be good to do about it. No one ever tries to do evil, except in the convoluted case where a person has been perverted to believe that "to do evil" is actually good. Our spirits can rebel against past beliefs of what we thought was good, and thus choose new values; but all this is done as a search for the good. As spiritual beings our essence is goodness; we have an innate sense of well-being; and our consciousness is always moving toward the good in various experiences. Our process of living is constantly choosing what we understand to be good. Through experience as we grow in wisdom, our understanding of what is good improves the quality of our life, and we approach closer to the absolute goodness of God.
      God is also absolute truth, that which is. As the good is the basis and objective of action, truth is the basis and objective of knowledge. We can know things only by the Light of truth, the knower within us. Consciousness always seeks the truth, whether it be physical, imaginative, emotional, abstract, or spiritual. Falsehood is illusionary shadow and darkness which only has meaning because of the truth it lacks. Everything always is what it is, but consciousness is dualistic in that a being is conscious of something, and thus is free to choose its objects of consciousness. Truth is the consciousness of what actually is real. God, Spirit, and soul are the truth, because they are the divine reality aware of what is. As human beings we can realize that we are this divine reality, as when Jesus the Christ said, "I am life, the truth, and the way." Because we are the truth as souls, we can also be aware of the truth about the phenomenal world through our consciousness. However, the spiritual truth of being is one and eternal while the truths about phenomena are many, finite, and changing. Thus spiritual truth is one and absolute while objective facts have meaning limited to their relationship with time-space, energy-matter, and mental definitions. Understanding the truth of spiritual principles is essential to the spiritual life, and understanding of the facts related to our experience in the world helps us live a better, more knowledgeable life. The principle of truth is the guiding Light of our consciousness in its search to become aware of reality and its manifestations. By choosing truth over falsehood and deception, we align ourselves with divine reality and the spiritual flow of life. By being true to ourselves and the divine principles, we radiate Light for all to see. To the extent that we deceive ourselves and others we cast a shadow on our life. An old saying of divine wisdom declares, “There is no God higher than the truth.”
      Beauty is another of the classical Greek ideals that can be attributed to God. People know beauty when they experience it, but philosophers have difficulty trying to describe what it is. Beauty attracts love; it charms, delights, and bewitches us. Beauty is the value found in appreciating the wonder and enchantment of God's universe. Again because we are the divine essence of beauty, we perceive it in the world. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Beauty is a subjective evaluation of what pleases our personal perception. Thus objectively it is difficult to define standards for judging the degrees of beauty. Some might say that beauty is related to balance, harmony, rhythm, symmetry, vividness, originality, expression, contrast, consistency, accuracy, coherence, truthfulness, meaningfulness, and many other qualities, while others might disagree with any or all of these criteria. Perhaps beauty is what awakens love—for a person, an experience, or simply love of life. Beauty has a major purpose in helping to perpetuate life on earth. The beauty of flowers is designed to attract insects for pollination and reproduction of the plants. In many animal species the male uses his beauty and charm to attract a female for mating. Among humans beauty and attractiveness are more often associated with women than with men. As intelligent beings we are able also to perceive beauty in God’s creation and thus be stimulated to love and seek God. Through art we can create new forms, which through their beauty can awaken love for people, art, and life. When we perceive life through the consciousness of love, then we become aware of the beauty in all things. Thus love creates beauty in order to perpetuate or create more love. Beauty is evidence of love in the world. Beauty carries love's message. Beauty pleases and reflects joy back to the loving heart.

Reality, Awareness, and Joy

      In the mystical philosophies of India the term satchitananda is used to describe the experience of God. Sat means being, reality, existence; chit means consciousness, awareness; and ananda means bliss, joy. God is absolute reality, the total being of all. Thus our beingness or existence is the reality of God, and we are divine. Reality is probably the most basic of all the divine principles. That we are divine beings is fundamental to the experiencing of all the other principles. Because our existence is divine, our essence also is divine. God is real, and we as souls are real. Reality here also implies being eternal. Illusions change in space-time, but that which is truly real always exists. God is infinite. Since we are divine beings, we are eternal also. Eternal reality has no beginning and no end but always exists. What has a beginning must have an end, and is therefore transitory. The infinite reality of God always exists.
      Reality without awareness is impossible or at best is hypothetical. As Descartes observed, we know we exist, because we are aware. Berkeley then showed that everything exists, because some spirit (God) is aware of it. Thus the method of experience reveals to us that it is contradictory to think that something exists beyond consciousness because even to think that gives us some awareness of that thing. God is absolutely real and totally aware. Everything that exists, including all phenomena that are created, exists within the total awareness of God. Thus God's consciousness is also absolute. Our experience as humans tells us that we share this divine attribute of awareness. Although as individual extensions of God in limited forms, our personal awareness is not complete. As divine beings though, we are aware and have the potential to realize total awareness. We can be aware that we are divine beings, and by living according to divine principles we can expand our awareness infinitely. To be divine is to be aware. God is conscious of everything. Thus everything in the universe is known by God and can be known by us.
      Being conscious is joyful. This lilting bliss is a divine quality. Spirit springs up from within us and fills us with enthusiasm, inspiration, and even ecstasy. We are exalted by the divine presence. Our eternal source of true happiness comes from within. To be true to ourselves gives us inner contentment. As Spirit flows through us, we vibrate joyfully and radiate a sense of well-being. “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.” Happiness is the one goal in human life that is not a means to something else. Rather, any other goal can be viewed as a means to happiness, which is an end in itself. Ultimately to be happy is to be blessed by God.

Love, Wisdom, and Power

      Omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresent love are the trinity of God the Father, Mother, and Child or Christ. I believe that love is the single, most important attribute of God, and thus it is the basis of this philosophy presented here. Love is the Spirit within that moves us toward what is good, true, and beautiful. God loves all of creation. As individuals, to live is to love. Love moves us. We do what we love to do. We seek what we love. We go where our love directs us. The quality of our experience is determined by the qualities of what we love. Our love may be confined and limited by selfish desires and motivations, if we love personal gratification, comfort, security, prestige, etc.; or our love may be expanded to care for others, a group, humanity, and ultimately God and the whole creation. We cannot live without loving something—even if it is simply clinging to life itself. Love is how God extends and expands Its Spirit in creation, and it happens through us and all creatures. Love attracts us to each other for survival and procreation. Love of life guides every creature in its efforts to survive. Love for the opposite sex of our own kind motivates us to reproduce our species. Love in most creatures is limited to these selfish and instinctual concerns, but humans can become aware of the principles of divine love and expand our concerns to care for all of life, as God does. Love gives, shares, accepts, understands, allows, adjusts, nurtures, enjoys, pleases, soothes, responds, cares, supports, vitalizes, guides, etc. Divine love does all these things and more in the way that is best for all.
      God is all-knowing. God is not only conscious of everything that can be known but is wise as well. Wisdom is better than knowledge of what is because it means also to know what is best. By using wisdom we are able to assimilate and integrate information with values and principles so as to understand life qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Wisdom includes intelligence, the ability to know, reason, evaluate, and understand. The intelligence of humans surpasses that of all other creatures on land. (Dolphins and whales appear to have comparable intelligence.) We are able to transcend impulse and instinct through thought and consideration of our environment and how our actions may alter our situation. This divine ability makes us much more godlike than other creatures as we become essentially rulers and masters on the Earth. Yet human intelligence is not all-wise as God's. Thus we are still learning through our mistakes and limitations. The facility of our intelligence can be observed by the amazing ability of two-year-old children to learn to understand and use a complex language. The intelligence of the individual is developed over the years by learning processes, and the capacity for intelligence of the human species has evolved over generations. Yet the source of this intelligence is the absolute wisdom of Spirit which extends Itself as souls of infinite potential. As divine souls, intelligence is our birthright, but it is up to us to develop it and to learn to use it correctly so that it becomes wisdom.
      God is all-powerful. Having created the whole universe with its laws and principles and being all as well, everything that is done or can be done is accomplished by God. God is both unitary and plural as souls in the world. Thus the power of God is disseminated among all individuals. Because we are divine souls, we each have divine power or infinite potential. However, unlike some human conceptions of power, spiritual power is one with all the divine principles such as goodness, love, truth, etc. Spiritual power in humans can best be understood as ability and virtue. Power without virtue is a menace and cause of injustice, sowing weakness and destruction to be reaped later. Virtue is the power to do good in the world; its power is real and lasting. Because of intelligence, humans have great ability to act creatively and through experience to learn to act wisely. These ever expanding abilities come from God and are accumulated in the soul. The integrity of virtue gives a person true strength which cannot be overcome by any worldly force, for the source of virtue is a divine energy.

Life, Growth, and Fruition

      Spirit is life eternal, giving life to all creatures. Life is a gift from God, and living is giving or sharing in that gift. To live is to give ourselves and others experiences. Only killing temporarily stops or changes this process. Most people think of death as the opposite of life, but actually the opposite of death is birth. The opposite of an end is a beginning, yet both are really transitions, ending one phase of existence and beginning another. Since life as Spirit is an eternal and divine essence, it has no real opposite, being absolute. Life as Spirit in form organizes the processes of that body into a functioning unit that draws energy from its environment, metabolizes substances, and releases the materials it no longer needs. At some point when that form is no longer useful to the individual spirit, then that spirit or life withdraws from the body at death. The organic unity is then broken down by other forms of life. God is always alive and well in all of Its creation. It extends Its Spirit of life according to the capacity of the forms available.
      The essence of life is to grow, develop, and evolve to increase the capacity of forms to experience Spirit. This divine growth is not merely quantitative and certainly not uncontrolled like a cancer, which is an aberration that has its purpose in the universe as a process of degeneration. Growth, development, and evolution are natural processes of life; yet they are also magical accomplishments of Spirit. All organisms grow, and their development depends upon the advancement of their evolution. Spirit is the agent that grows, develops, and evolves Its creatures over time and space. As humans we are conscious of our development and can accelerate our conscious evolution through learning. This Spirit within us constantly urges and helps us to improve our situation. This principle balances the material law of entropy such that when work is done and some energy is released as heat, the materials have been organized to serve some purpose. Thus from a physical viewpoint everything tends toward entropy while spiritually everything is evolving toward greater organization and awareness. As we evolve in spiritual consciousness, we can make better use of energy-matter.
      Fruition and success are the natural results of organized growth. God created life to be abundant and to multiply. Everything is provided for the needs of life. Creatures interact and give to each other, often sacrificing the forms they have developed in order to nourish other forms. God is continually successful at expanding and perpetuating life forms. Spirit always prospers in one way or another. As humans, Spirit guides us toward success in whatever we do, although many lessons may confront us along the way. As we are successful in our work, we are able to give more and thus magnify our life experience.

Will, Freedom, and Responsibility

      God's will is the central theme of much human prayer. Will is the original intention and initiation of movement toward a purpose that is considered good. Divine will is based on absolute wisdom and perfect love and therefore is always directed toward what is best for all. Human will can be aligned with God's will, or it may be misdirected by limitations or errors in consciousness. Human beings have the ability to use their portion of the divine will to create and pursue their own purposes. Many think of will as a forceful effort of the psyche toward a specific purpose or goal, but it is also a calm willingness to flow with Spirit in a divinely guided direction toward a general good. This primary movement of the soul is a divine principle and cannot be taken away by anyone or anything.
      The choice that the will has is based on the principle of freedom. God is absolute freedom, and the soul seeks complete liberation as a divine being. The freer a consciousness is, the more it is experiencing Spirit. Expanding awareness increases the range of choices available. To follow divine will does not limit freedom but increases it because a person discovers more and better ways of doing what is truly good. Choosing divine principles expands awareness, love, joy, power, freedom, etc. while choosing limited or divergent purposes limits or confines experience. To obey God's laws and principles is to share in the freedom of divine blessings, but to disobey is to bring upon oneself troubles and sorrow.
      The reason for those troubles is that we are responsible for what we do, simply because we experience our own actions. God is responsible for all of Its creations, and as divine beings we are responsible for what we do with our lives. The concept of karma has been popularized to explain this principle. Literally karma means the product or measure of action. Simply stated it means that we are responsible for everything we do—not just physically but mentally, emotionally, etc. The soul is aware of and responsible for everything in the consciousness it is enlivening. Since the soul is infinite and eternal, it knows that it must live with these things forever. Therefore it takes responsibility for balancing everything it creates in harmony and justice according to these and other divine principles. The soul is perfectly responsible, because it knows that the divine life is best. Thus consciousness at all levels must learn how to be responsible for itself. In this way all actions return or stay with their source. Consequences are not separate from actions. Because we are all one, whatever we do to others we do to ourselves. The soul knows that because it is one with all other souls. Through this responsibility, consciousness is educated by its use of freedom.

Creativity, Balance, and Harmony

      God is the creator of everything. As souls we share that creativity. God creates the entire universe. As souls extending into the universe as individuals, we create our experience by interacting with other souls and the creation. These experiences teach us how to create wisely and responsibly. We have the ability to significantly alter our environment and create new forms mentally, emotionally, imaginatively, and physically. All souls are co-creators with God.
      The laws and principles of the universe require that all creation be balanced so that equilibrium may be maintained and the experience of life continue. This balance is divinely established by the laws of nature and of spiritual relationship. Every interaction between souls is balanced eventually according to equality and justice. The balance of nature has been established in such a way that any temporary imbalances become self-correcting or adjusted by other aspects of the whole. Humans experience balance in innumerable ways through various physiological systems of homeostasis, emotional and mental adjustments, and spiritual and ethical considerations; even finances are balanced by debts and credits.
      Harmony is a principle of good relationship between the parts of the universe. God's universe is diverse and multiform, but it all fits together and co-exists in harmony. Harmony is experienced by humans as friendship, cooperation, complementarity, integration, and interdependence. It is not necessary for everyone to be or do the same thing but only to get along and adjust so that we can all share the same universe happily. We can appreciate the harmony of the way everything fits together and act so as to create that which will make the whole beautiful. By harmonizing with the whole we experience joy, beauty, and other divine principles. Harmony includes a sense of rhythm and proportion in time and space, feeling tones, logical relationships of the mind, and spiritual values.

Courage, Faith, and Patience

      Courage is the inner strength to do what we feel in our heart is best. God as Spirit is the source of all courage, for God is the power within that moves us to act for the good. We gain courage by discovering and being true to our deepest ideals, convictions, and principles. The word “courage” derives from the word for heart. We feel spirit stirring in our hearts, urging us to act on what we believe is best. The benefit of courage depends on our wisdom of knowing what is truly best for all. Courage without wisdom gets us into trouble and can hurt others and ourselves. Yet courage is necessary to the divine life because it enables us to act boldly. Courage urges us to act, and by our actions we learn to be responsible and thus evolve in our awareness. Through courage Spirit moves people to bring about the divine plan on Earth.
      Faith is the basis of most religion. Faith in God enables humans to trust in the divine principles. God also has faith in us and in the principles that guide the universe. Faith in goodness and justice gives us the courage to act. Faith in the divine Spirit within us gives us confidence, and love enables us to trust others. We also have an implicit faith that the laws of the universe will remain consistent. As eternal beings we can have faith in the future that our existence will continue and that nothing could ever harm the soul.
      Patience transcends space-time, resting always in the eternal here and now. As souls we live in Spirit continually, although we express ourselves in the phenomenal world of energy-matter and space-time. Faith that everything will be worked out and resolved according to divine principles gives us patience to endure any temporary sorrow or pain. Patience is also needed in trusting others to do their part. God's patience with human error and folly is infinite, allowing us to learn in our own way and in our own time.

Law, Justice, and Peace

      The Greek conception of the universe as cosmos implies that the world is ordered and meaningful. In creating the universe God established laws and principles which can be discovered and understood by the human mind. We are discussing some of the spiritual principles here, and through science we know many of the laws of nature and how they work. These laws, which are perfectly consistent, give the universe order and patterns that enable it to maintain itself in balance and harmony. This stable order provides a matrix that is not completely chaotic for us to experience life and freedom. As creators we are free; but as we experience life in the phenomenal world we are bound by the laws of creation. Laws are freely created by Spirit to keep the universe orderly and comprehensible. Similarly human societies establish laws and rules to maintain social order. However, human laws are neither absolute nor perfect. They are chosen by groups, are subject to the freedom of individuals to obey or disobey, and are enforced by the groups as well. These choices give humans the opportunity to learn collective decision-making, justice, and cooperation for the good of the whole by means of trial and error.
      Justice is the divine principle that maintains fair and harmonious relations between souls. Since all souls as Spirit are the same essence, all individual souls are equally divine. Thus justice is based on the principle of equality as well as the principle of responsibility for freedom. Combining these two gives us reciprocity—that whatever we do to someone else we are spiritually doing to our own self. The efficacy of spiritual laws, which are absolute, maintains perfect justice in the universe. In the world of space-time humans may go through many trials and tribulations until that perfect justice is experienced. The soul knows all and keeps a record so that eventually all actions can be perfectly balanced. This sense of justice is innate and is a guide for human action so that we can learn to apply this principle. Justice may be attained and learned in many ways, and souls are able to release karma or forgive sins through love and mercy which can bring awareness of divine justice and harmony. Justice may be learned through suffering, or it may be learned through love. Justice does not necessarily require punishment. Meting out punishment may be part of the process of learning justice for both the criminal and the judge. Ultimately justice teaches us to love others as we love ourselves.
      Peace is the fruit of justice. When we are in harmony and one with God and the universe, then we naturally experience peace. God, of course, being that whole harmony, is perfect peace. The soul, as God, is always peaceful, and thus by centering ourselves in meditation we can experience that divine peace. This can help us to understand and clarify those injustices and imbalances in our personal lives and the world that we need to rectify. By acting from this divine center we can help to establish peace in the world by radiating calmness, removing oppression and injustices, and resolving conflicts through love and understanding.

Wholeness, Health, and Perfection

      God is one, and the entire universe is unified in God consciousness. Thus everything is related and connected to everything else. Spirit is whole and pervades the universe as the Holy Spirit. Souls as divine entities are whole individually and collectively. In this mystical, holistic paradigm each part contains the essence of the whole because of the presence of Spirit. Humans can experience this oneness through spiritual consciousness. The universe becomes most meaningful to us when we see how each thing relates to the whole. As we identify with the whole instead of just a part, we spiritualize our awareness.
      Health is the natural and best condition of a living organism. God is the perfect health of the whole, and Spirit is a healing power which maintains and adjusts living processes for balance and harmony. We say, “The body heals itself,” but it is the living Spirit that is the healing agent. When the soul withdraws from an organism at death, that organic unity is dissolved as other living organisms continue to function and break down the corpse. Life gives health; but if we act against the principles and processes of life, then our health can break down. These experiences teach us how to be responsible for ourselves. A natural life-span in a limited body makes this an educational challenge that cannot be avoided.
      God is perfect, and every soul is perfect also. They are pure Spirit and therefore unconditioned. Creation of energy-matter in space-time establishes conditions and limitations which are designed to be thus incomplete so that individuals can exercise freedom in choosing experiences to learn responsibility and the other divine principles. Perfection means completion, wholeness, purity, and totality. Spirit and all souls are these qualities, and ultimately consciousness experiences this realization. In human experience we look at perfection as a goal or end, but it is also our source and beginning as well. As souls, we are always perfect. As humans, we are always learning how to be perfect.
      These divine principles are the attributes or qualities of God as we experience them in the world. They are concepts describing how Spirit manifests in creation; they are also guides and spiritual values that humans can use to experience the divine while on Earth.
      God also transcends all earthly life and worldly experience, but it is almost meaningless to try to describe the infinite aspects of God that are beyond our experience. All we can do is infer that God is so much more than we could ever conceive or imagine. Yet it is helpful to acknowledge our human ignorance of transcendent God so that we can see a more accurate perspective of our limited worlds.

Being and Becoming

      Ontology asks the question, “What is being?” Being is. It is what is. True being is always what it is and therefore is eternal. God is true being. Souls as divine Spirit are also true being with no beginning or ending—eternal, infinite, and perfect. Spiritual being, again, is indefinable; but when Spirit creates worlds of experience, then being enters into a process of becoming. Souls always are Spirit; but when they clothe themselves with changing manifestations to gain experience with creation, then characteristics of experience arise which can be described. The realms of being beyond or prior to creation can only be described in absolutes—infinite, eternal, perfect, good, holy, etc. The realms of becoming that are created by Spirit can be described in relative and experiential terms. That which is limited is more definable, although that which is changing can only be described as a process.
      Some think of the created worlds as passing phenomena and therefore not really our true being but only temporal or illusionary experiences. Yet in a broader sense as spiritual beings that are eternal, we are also everything that we become as well. Our experiences are changing, but we never really lose experience. All experience is a gain for the soul. In this sense our experiences in creation are continually expanding and enriching our divine value. Spirit is not a static being but an ever moving, evolving, dynamic process of life. In this greater sense being not only transcends becoming but also includes it. Yet it is important to realize that the limited experiences in the created worlds are not the whole of who we are.

Copyright © 1987, 2016 by Sanderson Beck

LIFE AS A WHOLE has been published as a book .
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BECK index

LIFE AS A WHOLE:
Principles of Education Based on a Spiritual Philosophy of Love

Contents
Introduction
I. The Universe
Divine Principles
Nature and Evolution

II. The Individual
Self
Physical Body
Motivation
Memory
Imagination
Dreams
Emotion
Mind
Intuition
Will

III. Society
Social Relationships
Politics and Law
Economics
Science
Technology
Art and Communication
Recreation
Religion
Education