The Glory of God

w.hat is the glory of God? What is the defining expression of that which transcends yet includes all things? The glory of God is the shattering realization that every- thing is always perfect. The glory of God is the inherent perfection of all things at all times, in all places, through all circumstances. Even earthquakes, disease and bloody warfare —that's all the glory of God too. The glory of God is the inherent perfection of all things as they are. You see, from an absolute perspective, the eye of the Self sees only God and makes no distinctions whatsoever. Heaven and hell, good and evil, everything known and unknown, seen and unseen are all recognized only to be different expressions of that one inconceivable mystery beyond name and form. Beyond all pairs of opposites, the glory of God is all there is—just absolute, incomparable perfection. Before time and space, before the universe was born, there was nothing. Then suddenly from nothing came some- thing. There was an explosion, and .what we all are_ right The Glory of God now—including you and me—is that explosion in motion. That explosion in motion is one radiant bein^—conscious, whole and undivided. Enlightenment is the direct recognition of ones own true face as none other than that radiant being—conscious, whole and undivided. And it is the recognition of the utterly complete and always perfect nature of that true face that releases the sense of individuality from identification with the hypnotic grip of ego consciousness. But there is more to Enlightenment than the liberating discovery of the inherent perfection of the absolute or non- dual nature of all things. And that is the emergence of a powerful imperative to evolve. When something came from nothing, and the explosion in motion that is all of life came into being, a perpetual state of becoming was born. In the spiritual revelation, that movement is experienced as an impersonal command from the Self to transcend, to evolve, to utterly transform this world so that it can become a dynamic, living expression of the perfection that it already is. This spir- itually inspired passion, which arises from the Self, unleashes the fire of absolute love and ego-defying compassion into this world. It is always a force to be reckoned with. Its unceasing demand is evolution and its tangible expression is to create order out of disorder. Indeed, the boundless creativity of this evolutionary impulse in action strives to manifest hig;her and higher expressions of miraculous wholeness and integration. Embracing Heaven & Earth This call for transcendence and evolution experienced in the spiritual revelation is the unrelenting scream of the Absolute beckoning all who have the ears to hear and the eyes to see to surrender wholeheartedly for the sake of that evolutionary imperative. This ceaseless imperative to evolve is also the glory of God. And the greatest paradox is that that glory is both the radiant, ever full and complete, always perfect ground of all that is and the very foundation and essence of that explosion in motion that^ stjriyes jo manifes t higher and higher expres- Enli^htmment, then, is the direct realization oj the dual nature of the glory of God as the inherent perfection of all things and a ceaseless imperative to evolve. In that reaUzation, there is not only the release from the hypnotic grip of ego consciousness but also the ecstatic movement of energy that occurs only through submission to the creative principle. What is so precious about human life is our sacred potential to experi- ence this glory in our own hearts and minds and, by so doin^, become aconsdous instrument of it. But the evolutionary journey is a perilous one, and the blossoming of the human spirit can go terribly wrong. When the ecstatic embrace of the evolutionary imperative is not hrmly grounded in the profound knowledge of the inherent perfection of all things, the consequences can be disastrous. Why? Because the ego's insidious and deadly The Glory of God investment in domination and control can easily be fueled by the tremendously empowering discovery of the evolu- tionary imperative unless one is first firmly grounded in the awakened knowledge of the inherent perfection of all things. Indeed, without that grounding, inspired passion easily becomes fertile ground for the ego to identify itself with that which is Absolute, thereby enabling our darkest impulses to masquerade as the greatest good. The other great potential for confusion is when the glory of God is seen to be only the inherent perfection of all things devoid of any evolutionary imperative. Whenever this mis- representation of the complete and paradoxical nature of the glory of God occurs, the unrestrained creative potential of the explosion in motion that is ourselves will be pro- foundly inhibited. Not only will it be profoundly inhibited, but in that partial perspective, the full glory of the Absolute principle is denied, depriving our own deepest Self, which is God, our unconditional participation in that glory. Enlightenment—^when it is deep and profound, vast, full and complete—always recognizes the glory of God as being simultaneously the inherent perfection of all things and the ceaseless imperative to evolve. Embracing Heaven & Earth