Aggregate levels:
As more and more minds open to the power of God within, and reject the concept of God as ‘long ago and far away’, higher unions will form. Not only does cream float to the top, but, warm air rises. Mountain climbers seek higher heights. And you, you may at times feel that you are getting ‘warmer’ in your personal investigations into truth and where you fit in. Here is what you can expect: like iron filings within the influence of a magnet, we shall be drawn together.
See Acts 4:32, “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart (mind) and of one soul (higher identity).”
We will be drawn together to form the body of Christ (who is the Word of God: an attribute of mental communication), and yet at first, we will seem to be divided. We are yet in development. As in the formation of the physical body, where single cells align themselves in small clusters that must yet develop into organs, so it is with us - we will be small at first. The direction of our development encourages us while we are in our smaller states. While we are small and weak, we are vulnerable to attacks from the ‘establishment’ camp. They are a discontent bunch, and give themselves a liberal license to think and act for others, but, we are not without developmental defenses.
See 2 Corinthians 5:12, “That ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance (corporeality), and not in heart (mind).”
The aggregate levels are levels of transition, migration, and correction. They are levels of personal inquiry into the exact nature of who we are. They are levels of consolidation and growth. We are individuals, each with a burning fire within, each seeking truth personally. Yet, we are drawn together, noting that others also have experienced the new revelations that we have so far borne alone. We see a highly personal, yet amazingly common, work in progress. It is a work that is neither distant nor impending, but a work that is taking place here and now within our present condition.
See Ezekiel 11:19, “And I will give them one heart (a single mind), and I will put a new spirit (a new mind) within you; and I will take the stony heart (disconnected mind) out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh (a spirit that is integrated with their flesh).”
Lead toads and iron moths.
We left the toads on the moist level ground near the pit. They hop in and out at will. They have always a chorus of irritating voices wherever they land. We moths have risen ever higher, ever focused on a single bright light. We will surround it like a living cloud of white beating wings, but this living cloud might never have come together as such a host had not the light drawn it. We have chosen our direction and our direction has chosen us but we have yet to arrive. It would be well, at this point, to ask ourselves why we were separated out and drawn – and not the toads. Might it be that moths have wings and toads do not? The answer may possibly be found in our very inclination to rise up and fly.
See an iron filing take wing in Matthew 22:32, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
We have corrected our courses; we have amended our paths. We have made those corrections most befitting our fluttering: no toad-like thoughts enter here. And yet, not only have we made corrections but we have been corrected.
See Hebrews 12:9, “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits (minds), and live?”
Whether singly or two by two, we flutter and we fly. We seek and ask and knock. Our small coalitions align with others so inclined as we. Our numbers grow ever larger; the God-mind is magnified. The more we look into the light, the more we have only light in our thinking.
2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart (a brightly lit mind).”
Moth eyes see differently than toad eyes. A toad surfaces; croaks cacophonously; shoots out the tongue and devours something with wings. The toad’s thoughts follow patterns of toad action. The toad moves through a dark, dank world, and so also does its thoughts. We ‘wingy’ things must stay out of reach; toad tongues are slick and lethal. We are drawn higher and we seek higher, because (if you will permit the pun) we see in a different light. That which we see is invisible to toads.
I use the word ‘invisible’ in the sense that even though they see it (they must perceive the light to see us flying through it and to it), it is useless to them and therefore meaningless. For the toad, to discern its own mind is only to see the tool by which its actions have delivered something warm and wiggly into its belly. The toad may or may not acknowledge God - if it does, it is not a personal God; it is not a God within, but some personal derivation of the ‘long ago and far away’ formula.
On the other hand, let's just take a moth’s-eye view.
See Numbers 16:22 and Numbers 27:16, “The God of the spirits (minds) of (within) all flesh (corporeality).”
Growing, we grow. Coming together, the diverse are more nearly one. Knowledge is not an end in itself; knowledge is the practice of learning. We are aware that a wagon follows the horse only because the horse pulls it. We are aware that when thoughts fall into our heads, they must drop from higher climes. Our greater knowledge is like the practice of having a head open and ready for such manna. We have seen from scripture that we normally ascribe our better nature to one who gives, or implants.
Open up to 2 Corinthians 8:16, “But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart (mind) of Titus for you.”
We commonly attribute a shared bond to our interactions. We perceive that the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that we communicate between our members come to characterize all of us: individually and collectively. What we share identifies us. After all, one may define an organ as a body of cells that share the same traits, functions, and goals. Each cell in that organ partakes of the collective character of the whole.
See Philippians 1:7, “Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart (mind); inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.”
The heart, or mind, must be broken and rewritten, like Moses’ tables. The upward path is never easy or static. Change and growth involve not only building up but tearing down and rebuilding. Eventually, the messenger becomes iconic. We do not think of Moses unless we think of the Ten Commandments; we do not think of Paul unless we think of the gospel message spreading across ancient boundaries, filling the pages of the New Testament, transcending time. We think of Moses’ conversations with God, his forty years and death in the wilderness. We think of Paul’s traumatic conversion and his beatings.
The messenger, thus, is characterized by the nature of the message.
See 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts (minds), known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit (mind) of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart (mind).”
We are aware of the transient nature of our minds – that they are constantly in a state of flux, both affecting and being affected. We know that when a new thought comes into the mind, that is a changed state. We know that the things that change the mind are many. We know that change is actually the practice of change.
See Daniel 2:29 and Habakkuk 1:11; see Daniel 5:20, “Thy thoughts came into thy mind.” “Then shall his mind change.” “His mind hardened in pride.”
Also, we now know that practiced change is like physical exercise – if you exercise the good, the
good will grow strong.
See Zechariah 10:7, “They of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart (mind) shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; (and then) their heart (mind) shall rejoice in the Lord.”
Clearly, this references practiced change that is communicated via the nature, character or outward manifestations of the individual(s) that experienced the change. We see, in the messenger, the message that attracts and builds an organ of shared character and shared purpose.
What do you mean when you say that a person is mindful? Do you think of a process? Do you think that a mindful person is one who has had the mind filled? Let us, for a moment, think of that mindful person as a ‘gas-full’ car. A mental image comes to mind. The car parks by the pump, the driver gets out and performs a process. The tank is first opened, then the nozzle is inserted, the trigger is squeezed – and voila! – the tank is ‘filled’.
See man parked at the ‘gas-pump’ of knowledge in Hebrews 12:23, “To the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, which are written (communicated) in heaven (where the God of knowledge dwells), and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits (minds) of just (pure, single-minded) men made perfect (whole, complete, full).”
The God of knowledge tells us in Ezekiel 11:5, “I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.”
As a seeker, I am convinced that is true because the God of knowledge sits upon His throne – within our minds. Heaven is a spiritual state or location, and as we say: spiritual is mental is spiritual. Our thoughts parade before His throne. He is exposed to all of them. Our thoughts are like a picture puzzle on a table in front of God. If He so chooses, He may remove any of our thoughts and replace them with His own. While we naturally assume that our will is our own, the seeker must be aware that the will is an aggregate of individual thoughts.
The God-mind is a process.
An individual’s thoughts and will are but half of the mental map. See Proverbs 16:9, “A man's heart (mind) deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.”
The aggregate levels are levels of transition, migration, and correction. They are levels of personal inquiry into the exact nature of who we are. They are levels of consolidation and growth. We may consider these levels as the pumps at which we park during the process of becoming ‘mindful’. Heaven is the state or location where the God of knowledge dwells and deals with the machinery of our whole identity. We have on this side the brain; we have on the other side the mind.
That is the machinery of our whole identity: our spiritual, or ‘mindful’ solidarity that we sometimes
call our soul. Notions of the isolated human will must fall away. Our thoughts within us are affected by the spiritual strategies of God. Since God-thoughts happen without regard to our will, all that we may do is open our will to them. Then we may rejoice as a mighty man, with other mighty men, as one mighty body with a single mighty voice.
See Mark 13:11, “But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost (the God-mind).”
Those of lesser inclinations will resist this concept for the reason being they resist the implication of another’s will imposed upon their own. And isn’t that the mind of rebellion? Yet, it matters not how hard the rebellious resist; they are rank amateurs pitted against a pro.
See them vainly struggle against a superior will in Job 23:13. “But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth.”
Any who resist will be overthrown as in a flood. The dam breaks from the sheer weight and force of the water. Well-rooted trees are ripped from the ground. Large rocks are thrown forward like straw. Who can stand before the onslaught?
See the spiritual fury of God in Hosea 13:8, “I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul (obstruction) of their heart (mind), and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.”
We seekers seek not to resist, but to open our heads like bowls that God may pour Himself in. We seek to be mindful. We seek to be ‘God-mindful’. We are in long lines at the pump. Each vehicle is a different color; each driver dresses differently, each horn sounds individually. What brings us together, what we cannot move forward without, is that filled tank. We may roll down the window and call to one another, but the seeker is mindful of the true communication.
See Luke 10:20, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits (minds) are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names (character, nature, outward manifestation of inner growth) are written (communicated) in heaven (where the God of knowledge reigns).”
Our aggregate levels have been a preparation for a type. We shall become a type both individually and collectively. Quite a few have failed, remained vile toads in the quagmire of mismanaged genesis. Some few of us have taken white fluttering wings and sailed up toward the light. For the toad, a slime-covered rock and a belly filled with wiggling prey are satisfactory prizes but the real treasure for the toad is the practice of its craft and the pride of its solitary fulfillment. The white moth seeks the bright light within himself and the camaraderie of the congregation of God-minded brothers and sisters. Will you be the mindful type?
‘X’ marks the spot in Matt. 6:20-21, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven (where the God of knowledge lives) . . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart (mind) be also.”
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