THERE IS NO MYSTERY IN CHRIST!

If one hundred theologians were asked to define Christ, they would likely give a thousand different answers. Why are there so many opinions? Because theology echoes the myriad distortions that spring from the intellect. Once the intellect has been subdued sufficiently to allow the Heart to be heard, we begin to get the answers; and the Heart's messages are soothing and uncomplicated, not the the bedeviling bamboozelment of a befuddling intellect! So, how does the Heart interpret the Christ? As simple truth! As gentle, unpretentious truth. You can spell this word with a capital or not--it is the same truth which is the Christ! The Heart reveals that "Truth" and "Christ" are identical--meaning "the same one." The dictionary defines truth as "fact; that which is; conforming to reality." "I am the truth," said Jesus Himself. "Identity-I (and not the possessor of it) am the Truth, the fact of Reality." Identity is the Christ-Truth itself. This is much too simple and unsophisticated for human theology, of course. Man has a penchant for complicating the simple. He would have that Christ range from a very literal, bleeding body named Jesus of Nazareth, to a metaphysical mystery of transcending Light and Illumination, or both. The simplicity of "Christ" and simple, lowly, unpretentious, gentle "Truth" as synonymous terms is too naive a concept for intellectual churchdom. Erudition is steeped in the esoteric, ego-building disciplines of its man-hewn theological "mysteries." The world church makes Truth one thing and Christ another; but the fact is simple Truth (truth) itself is everything meant by the term. The Christ proclaims: "I am the Truth. I, Truth, am come to take away the untruths of the world. Behold, I am with you always. I will never leave you nor forsake you." Indeed, the Christ-Truth is here--not far off, not something we struggle up a long, rugged mountain to reach. Let us understand this here and now! If we can comprehend and admit that the alphabet is here, or that Life, this Now-Awareness-I-Am, is here--then we can surely rest, stop fighting it and admit, concede, surrender to the fact that the simple truth--the Christ-Truth--concerning our rightful Identity is right here, right now. Present! Are you willing to make this simple admission? Or will you deny it? The only "second coming" Truth awaits is our individual acknowledgments of its presence as our very own Identity!

THE CHRIST IS HERE

Surely, the truth that is "with us always" and "withholds himself from no man" is not so arcane and difficult that only the Illumined elect are "saved," as mysticism teaches! Surely, the truth that says "Come unto me all who are weary" doesn't withhold itself from all but those who have suffered long years of self-immolation or have died as intellectual churchdom has taught from is conception! The truth withholds itself from naught! It is not out there somewhere else, but here, ready and available to separate fact from friction; present to awaken man-kind from his prodigal-like peregrinations around his silly misjudgments of Identity. The Christ is here this instant to show us all the truth.

ILLUMINATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT

QUESTION: Where is the truth first discovered? ANSWER: Within oneself alone.

When one turns within himself to this secret place and listens to the Heart, something is soon felt as a warmth and excitement, as a joyful Presence. This simple stirring-within is the Christ-experience. It has been called "Enlightenment" and "Illumination." But, how many times this simple, tender stirring of the Heart has been overlooked, unheeded, unheralded, unappreciated, even denied, because Truth was believed to be a blinding road-to-Damascus illumination. It is no such thing. "I come when thou least expect, as a thief in the night, " the Christ declares. "Behold, I stand at the door. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. I came quickly. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you always. Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, Christ shall give thee light."

LIGHT Inevitably, the truth puts a new light on everything because Truth and Light are the same Christ. The truth of anything is the light that dispels the darkness (ignorance) concerning it. "I am the light," says the Christ-truth. Furthermore, "I am the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Does this sound as if the Christ were something far removed, nebulous and unattainable? Or that we must await its first or second coming?..........

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND VIRGIN BIRTH

At the time of this writing, the theological concepts of the "immaculate conception" and "virgin birth" are under growing attack by those who can no longer stomach the faltering explanations of churchdom. The pity is that intellectuality believes nothing less than intellectual answers, and this is what the churches are attempting to give; the blind leading the blind, so to speak, unable to explain something they cannot understand. How lucid and understandable are the immaculate conception and virgin birth in the light of the Christ as truth!

The Christ-truth is perceived within--a personal and intimate experience; an event untouched, untainted, by the anything out there. When one feels the truth stirring within himself, the experience is pristine, pure and unblemished. It is immaculate. This intimate and solitary signing of the Heart is the fabled immaculate conception; the virgin birth of the Christ; the coming of Truth that ultimately "waxes strong," "tells us all things" and "overcomes the world" of personal misperception and illusion! This feeling-within is the "babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." The manger, the secret place, the Holy of Holies, the Bridal Chamber wherein nothing enters that "maketh a lie" is the Heart!

The time has come to let go the theological history of Jesus of Nazareth, historical Christ. Now is the time to be concerned with the present Christ. It is the same Christ, the one and only Truth ever destined to be known. More than that, this is the Christ-truth we be. We are free to feel its warmth and excitement welling up within us here and now! The very moment one turns to the Heart within, acknowledging Deific Truth itself to be the Christ, one has done all that is necessary to do!

"I come quickly" says the Comforter. Sooner or later, in contemplation or meditation, while reading, writing or working; maybe while doing the dishes or having a romp with the children; or while looking at the beauty of a little flower or into the vastness of the night; mayhaps even as you read these words--sooner than you expect, the Heart will speak with a feeling of warmth and well being, with a soothing, tender touch of love! You feel a sense of soft excitement, wonderment THIS is the one "not born of woman"! This is the Christ! This is the Truth! Acknowledge it! Adore it! Worship it! It will change your experience completely. It has come to declare Reality, to set everything aright and to show forth the wonders of the Infinite Being you are. Joy in it! This is the alone Identity-I-Am!

THE DIVINE DISCONTENT

For all of us there comes a time when we finally get down to brass tacks, living and being the Spiritual Life. Usually, adversity of some sort, health, business, grief, loneliness or boredom, drives us to this decision. Oftentimes it is fear of one kind or another. Perhaps we simply yield to the prodding of others, or to the urge of an intangible feeling within--the "divine discontent"; but whatever the reasons for our action, one fact is certain: the decision that brings it about is very personal. It is an alone experience that takes place within. You know this is a fact. . All have discovered that, from the moment we act on the decision to discover Reality, we begin to find it.

The moment we sincerely begin a determination of the Absolute, it continues of its own accord until Reality is disclosed! The acted-upon decision to determine fact from fiction is somewhat like pushing a canoe into a river where it is quickly caught up in the silent and effortless flow to a happy and Infinite awakening. It is like putting seed in fertile ground. . "Mr. Samuel, be specific! Exactly what action is required? Church activity? Prayer? Healing? Self-immolation?" . Here is the answer: our first action is the effortless turning within to the Self to listen to the Heart. This is it. This is all! . Is this a disappointing oversimplification? Did your erudite nature expect a profound revelation, a metaphysical pronouncement of reason and logic to shake the intellect? So you, like so many, expect Reality to come forth only from blinding flashes of Light and ecstatic Illumination? . Here is the unadorned Truth, stripped of the ego's covering of abstruseness and intellectualism.

Truth is simple. It is always simple. The Truth is easy and uncomplicated. It is tender and effortlessly available. Its location is not limited to the great libraries, nor to universities, temples and cathedrals. Truth, and the honest statements about it, are simplicity itself. It is found with the heart, with the Self, here and now. . For years we have gone outside to teachers, leaders, and holy books, when the entire universe of Truth has been within us all the while. Its confirmation is found nowhere else. Where? Within the Heart! Here! Now! REALITY IS EASILY COMPREHENDED inevitably, intellectual mankind complicates everything and makes a mystery of truth.

In intellectual circles the idea is prevalent that Reality is relative at best and can never really be known; that all we can do is get closer to it--and that, say the ministers, philosophers, theologians, and educators, takes years of study, prayer, self-immolation, self-denial, suffering, toil and perhaps a death or two thrown in for good measure. Malarkey! . Reality is real, not relative, and it can be discovered without labor! Instead of effort, it is the tenderest labor of love; it is happiness beyond belief; it is reward that hasn't even been dreamt of! .

Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. For this proof, the first action is simply, quietly to turn within to one's Self, there to listen to the Heart, where Truth is and where the answers are! . THE ANSWER IS HERE One's own Heart is here, consequently the Truth is here. It is comforting to desist from the rat race for a moment and acknowledge that Truth is at hand. Truth is the solution to all that seems untrue, hence unreal. How wonderful to realize, no matter what the apparent problem, that one is never any farther from the Happiness, Peace and Tranquillity he may think he needs than himself. "Himself" is right here, this very now, closer than breathing. . My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever-more; Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.