THE SPIRIT>>THE MIND
ROM 8:6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
As we see from this passage, the mind is something to be controlled. We are not our minds, but we can direct our minds toward either carnal thoughts or spiritual thoughts. In other words if our mind identifies with the flesh, it will become sick with sin and die. If our mind looks to the spirit, it will find life and peace beyond what the world can offer. The mind is the part of man that is the medium between the body and spirit. For this reason, the two battle each other for the mind’s attention and union.
Many times I have used the words “mind, soul and consciousness” almost interchangeably. Paul used the word PSUCHE (Gr.) translated soul. This Greek word is where we get the English word “psyche” that means soul, self or mind. While there may be some subtle differences, the mind or soul is where our emotions, will and personality exist. Some truth seekers have come to see that there are two separate minds within our being. What I believe is being realized here is we have a natural mind more in tune with the body and brain, and we also have spiritual mind that communicates to the spirit. Paul called this the “mind of Christ,” and said that those born of God have the mind of Christ, or perhaps more accurately, come to realize a higher state of consciousness.
The mind of Christ is our higher, spiritual mind that houses the spirit of Christ, which is the spirit of sonship. It is in the mind of Christ where true wisdom is kept for each of us to use. All of our meaningful experiences throughout our past lives are held in this mind. It is kind of like the hard drive on a computer. During each life, our higher mind gathers wisdom and saves it for later use. The mind of Christ (our higher mind) is at peace. This mind is forgiving. This mind does not know sin. This mind cannot die.
We can then think of our natural minds as our “RAM,” or temporary memory. Each time we power up a new life, our RAM begins to “act” like the hard drive while there is power and gets programmed by the world. These more natural and superficial memories are only held for this current life. When we are “shut down,” so to speak, they are erased and lost. This would include the memories of sin, pain and death.
We can, I suppose, even imagine that God, the Father, must have mind in some ultimate way. God releases a thought, out comes the Word (Christ) who represents the thoughts and expressions of the Father. From the Word (Son) then come more thoughts and expressions, which are responsible for the creation of all things seen or unseen through the power of the Holy Spirit. All minds create and experience, so they can know. This is their purpose. Even the carnal mind of man is not so different in many ways than the mind of Christ. They both follow the same protocol to gain consciousness. The natural mind brings us to self-consciousness while the spiritual mind takes us to Christ-consciousness. Again, a mind is like a tool, or vehicle used by our spirit to serve a purpose.
DREAMS-
ROM 13:11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
Are we spiritually asleep? Could all that we see around us be a spiritual dream? Some truth seekers have come to view this world as more like a dream from a higher mind’s eye. As mentioned earlier, all things were created in this world from the mind of Christ. So in a very real sense and from a higher perspective, this world is imagined by God and becomes a reality for us who are moving through it.
What I find fascinating is that even with our natural minds being so feeble, we continue in the way of God’s mind- a chip off the old block you could say! When our minds are left to themselves and fall into sleep, they conjure up more worlds that we call dreams. Isn’t it a matter of perspective though? From who’s point of view is this world real or not? I mean we don’t believe dreams are real, but tell our mind that as it raises the body’s blood pressure. Tell those characters in our dreams that it isn’t real. Do you see my point? That person you created in your dream believes it is real. To him it is real because it is his only life. Our life rest in the hand, or should I say MIND of God. If God had not thought of us, then we would not exist.
Dreams are the reality until we awaken to a higher state of awareness. This is why Paul was pleading with the followers of Christ to wake up to the higher reality found in him. Instead of being the character in the dream, you could be the dreamer! In a lucid state, we could have the dream control that Jesus had. Say to the mountain, “Move!” and it will be done. Faith in a reality will determine the depth of our reality. Upon waking, we come to realize that this world does not hold our life or reality. What is happening in the spiritual also happens in the natural.
In the natural world, after we fall asleep our minds take us into a different world of the imagination that can seem as real as this one. Understand that to get into a dream state we have fallen asleep- lost consciousness. This is to say we have lowered our self into different state of consciousness. Once a dream is created time, space and matter have lost their meaning and have no hold on us. Interestingly, this natural dream seems to resemble the higher reality of heaven with no time and space nor natural laws to govern us. In my dreams, I have defied gravity as well as time and space. I believe that in our natural dream state, we get a taste of our higher mind and reality. This higher mind has no natural boundaries, rules or laws, but simply is free to take the spirit where it wills. However, as long as the spirit resides in consciousness, and consciousness believes it is a body, the spirit remains grounded. If our consciousness is freed, even for a moment, from believing it is a body, it and the spirit are free to fly!
So as we dream at night, we are, in a sense, having a dream inside a dream. This experience is like creating a spiritual “double negative,” which is a positive. Because of this, the world we experience in our dream gives us a closer sense of what heaven (the higher reality) is like. Just as heaven has no rules concerning time, space or matter, so also are the ways of our dreams. The only rules or boundaries in a dream are those set by the mind itself. When the mind that is dreaming awakes, it becomes conscious and remembers the higher world from which it had fallen. In turn, it then also can forget the world it now sees as merely a dream.
SIN-
HEB 8:12 “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Imagine God forgetting our sins or anything for that matter! How is it possible that an omnipotent, omniscient God can forget our sins? Well, as you already suspect it has to do with the dreaming of the mind. To truly forget about something as if it never really happened, our consciousness (or mind) must change. Sin is like part of our dream. In the beginning of our dream, there is no such thing as sin. Gradually, sin comes into our dream. As we move out of the dream, sin can be seen as purely imagination and can be forgotten.
The notion of sin must be considered in the context of the mind because this is where it was born and this where it ends. In the beginning, there was no such thing as sin just as a newborn can do no wrong. However, sin came to life in the expanding mind of man as knowledge of good and evil increased. It was in the mind of man where sin came to life. We came to realize through our many lives and experiences what was good and what was evil.
As we grow in consciousness of God, He speaks to us differently and we hear differently. Let me explain. Consider a newborn child. Can this child do anything deliberately wrong? Why not? Well, most would agree that because the child has very little knowledge or awareness of right and wrong that it could not be expected to act in a particular way. If the baby accidentally scratches her mother with her newly formed nails, is she guilty of anything? Of course not! Only as the child matures in knowledge, can he or she be held accountable. This is how we can better understand the condition of sin.
The feeling of sin is here to help us leave this world. Through the ages, this world provided many pleasures for the mind, but now the growing pains are here to tell us to move on. We want to leave this world because we want to leave the feeling of sin, which is falling short of God’s glory and perfection. Sin is nothing more than a feeling that something is wrong. Just as a pain in our stomach tells us we ate something wrong, sin also tells us we did something wrong. Still, sin only exists as long as we need it to. It is like all things of this world; it is a shadow. It is part of the big dream as well. Sin and pain have a way of helping us out of our “dream state.” Upon awaking, we realize that I am not the character who was sinning, but rather it was “I” who was dreaming! Paul even touched on this when he said it was not himself that was doing evil things, but sin was working in him. Yes, sin is “working” in our dream! It gives us pain, so that we will awaken. As they say no pain, no gain.
EMOTIONS-
Pain is just one of a multitude of emotions we feel. Emotions are the minds way of telling us how things are going. We know the body will tell us when something is wrong by sending pain signals into the brain or pleasure signals when something is “right.” In the same way, the mind uses emotions to act as indicators and guides through our experiences in life.
Also, the mind seems to use emotions that way the body uses the senses. The mind protects the body with using the senses just as the Spirit protects the mind using emotions. The deep sense of peace, joy and harmony are certainly used to bring us closer to God. These emotions we feel in God’s presence gives us the assurance that all is well. It all boils down to this- everyone is looking to feel all right. We seek pleasure over pain. What we will find in the end is that only God can satisfy the longing of our souls.
PROCREATION-
They say a man’s mind thinks about sex (on the average) every 6 seconds. While I don’t necessarily believe this statistic, I do believe the lower mind does instinctually seek to procreate. This can be one of the strongest motivations of the natural mind. As mentioned before, the mind is always creating and seeking pleasure. This is its nature- a nature given by God. So even the drive of the carnal mind to have intercourse with another is simply a shadow of a higher truth.
The word “intercourse” can have different meanings at different levels. On a physical level, it refers to having sex. The body feels pleasure and is trying to create another body in the process- hence procreation. On a mental level, intercourse means having a meaningful exchange of ideas or dialogue. Here the mind is trying to “connect” with another mind to plant ideas. Again, usually the goals are the same- to get some (intellectual) pleasure and to spawn new life. So is this also true on a spiritual level? As should be expected, the pattern is the same.
For conception at any level, there is a kind of male and female mating to create something new. Within the context of our being, our spirit is the “male” and our soul is the “female.” This is the Adam and Eve relationship spoken of in some of my other writings. However, in relationship to God, our whole spiritual being is the female (bride) and Christ is the male (Bridegroom). Yes, there is a wedding and your invited! Just as two bodies can join to create a new body, so can two spirits join to create a new spirit- the new you!
The procreation of God is the whole point of our existence. God isn’t pro-choice, but God is procreating! We observe that body connects with body, and mind connects with mind. So it must be that spirit connects with spirit. For God’s procreation, there must be a male spirit and a female spirit. In relation to man, the spirit of Christ is the male and spirit of man is female.
To be “born of God” then refers to Christ immerging from our being. This is not accomplished by any physical ceremony or by any mental incantations. No, it is by the will of God we are “born of the spirit.” The Wind blows, but you didn’t see it or cause it. It just does. What we feel inside is the result of the spirit of Christ maturing in us.
GAL 4:19 My dear children, for whom I am again in pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.
Paul often wrote about Christ in us. He went to great lengths to explain that this is a wonderful mystery that has been kept from man. For so long man associated himself with the beasts of the field and believed he was a beast. Christ changes all of that. The Holy Spirit gives us life in this world, but Christ gives us life into the next world. Christ, who is the kingdom within us, grows in our being without rhythm, reason or religion. It just happens.
Again, this spiritual intercourse is for both pleasure and procreation in a spiritual sense. The spirit desires the soul, and the spirit satisfies the soul. The natural shadows the spiritual. Just as a man becomes aroused, so does the spirit within us. In the natural, the penis fills with blood that represents life. So it is with the spirit that fills with the life of God. When the mind is ready, the spirit enters her darkness to plant his seed. For the mind to be ready, she must be willing. She must be mature in knowledge and wisdom. She must be clean and healthy. The two join and become one. We need the spirit of Christ for a higher life. We need the mind of Christ to realize who we are.