Je moet dieper gaan

Onlangs was ik op een dinsdag van plan om 's ochtends een ontspannen motorrit te maken, iets wat ik vaker doe op mijn vrije dag. Terwijl ik aan het rijden was en erover nadacht om naar een supermarkt te gaan om wat snacks te kopen en die vervolgens op een bankje langs de weg op te eten, kreeg ik een innerlijke impuls om naar Margraten te gaan.

Ik herken deze impulsen. Elke ochtend bid ik om leiding van mijn Gidsen om mij gedurende de dag bij te staan. Sinds ik dat doe, krijg ik dit soort impulsen. Ik volgde de impuls en ging naar de oorlogsbegraafplaats in Margraten. Toen ik daar aankwam, ging ik op een bankje voor bezoekers zitten en vroeg ik mijn gidsen: “Waarom ben ik hier?”

Toen kwamen er twee gedachten bij me op. De eerste was: “Je moet dieper gaan.” De tweede was de gelofte die ik had afgelegd toen ik minister werd bij Magnum Opus Ministries Nederland: “Ik beloof mijn leven te wijden aan het dienen van mijn Schepper, opdat Zijn plan om Zijn Zoon te verlossen nu in mij voltooid wordt.”

Toen besefte ik waarom ik hier op de begraafplaats was. Het was om me eraan te herinneren dat ik de wereld niet moest romantiseren, maar moest zien wat ze is, of wat ze wordt, wanneer God wordt genegeerd. Ik ben hier, op een plek gewijd aan de dood, om het Leven te vertegenwoordigen! Ik ben hier om een predikant van God te zijn, om het Licht van de wereld te zijn. Ik ben hier om alle duisternis weg te schijnen, om altijd in vuur en vlam te staan voor God!

God zelf vraagt mijn hulp om Zijn Zoonschap te verlossen. Wat van mij gevraagd wordt om deze taak te volbrengen, om deze gelofte na te komen, is mijn volledige toewijding, niet mijn gedeeltelijke toewijding. Toen ik dit tot me door liet dringen, besefte ik dat ik deze herinnering van mijn Gidsen nodig had. En na de eerste tranen en onrust, werd ik dankbaar. Ja, dit is mijn hartsverlangen!

Nadat ik mijn gidsen had bedankt, ging ik bidden en gebruikte ik wat Rananda mij had geleerd. Ik zegende de hele oorlogsbegraafplaats met het Gouden Christuslicht, met de intentie om te helen, te transformeren, alles nieuw te maken. Om de duisternis te doen verdwijnen door het Licht. Want dat is wat het Licht van de wereld doet. Altijd. Dank U, Vader!

Namens Magnum Opus Ministries NL,

Thijs Hottenhuis

De visie van Joel Goldsmith

Joel Goldsmith

Jaren geleden stuitte ik op een prachtige tekst van Joel Goldsmith in zijn boek The Art of Meditation. Dit hoofdstuk, getiteld ‘A Circle of Christhood’ (Een Cirkel van Christus Bewustzijn), sprak me erg aan, omdat het veel overeenkomsten vertoont met de visie van een Instantaneous Healing Temple (Tempel voor onmiddellijke Genezing), de visie van Magnum Opus Ministries Nederland.

Toen ik deze tekst opnieuw las, ontdekte ik dat hij nu in het publieke domein staat op archive.org, zodat we hem vrijelijk in zijn geheel kunnen delen op onze blog. Ik wil je aanmoedigen om deze (Engelse) tekst met een open geest en hart te lezen, om te zien of het ook bij jou weerklank vindt. En als dat zo is, nodig ik je uit om je aan te sluiten bij deze ‘Circle of Christhood’!

Namens Magnum Opus Ministries Nederland,

Thijs Hottenhuis

A Circle Of Christhood

(Chapter 18, The Art Of Meditation – Joel S. Goldsmith)

Is it reasonable to expect that there can be a whole group of people in modern times so dedicated to the Christ-life that they will live by actual spiritual contact? Is it conceivable that a body of students or earnest aspirants on the spiritual path will evolve, who will seriously accept the hypothesis that they, of themselves, are nothing, but that God is all? Is it within the range of possibility that a group of people will appear on this earth, who have arrived at that point of realization where life is lived by the Spirit? Such a group would establish a pattern for the whole world.

Always there have been isolated individuals who have achieved Christhood by grace, but at no period in the history of the world has it been either realized or maintained by a group. No one has been able to impart it to a group, because up to this moment no effective way of transmitting the Christ-consciousness to large numbers has been found – at least none that has been effective. It was imparted by Jesus to his twelve disciples, and out of the twelve only three or four were able to maintain it. It was taught to several students by Buddha, but only two of them understood it, and of Lao-tse's disciples, only one was able to carry on.

Today the wisdom of all ages is again coming to light in human consciousness: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” This teaching of oneness is the ancient secret of the mystics revealed throughout all time by every one of the great spiritual lights of the world. Every great religious teacher has caught this vision of oneness. This it is which enables us to unite in that selfsame realization that if I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, then, you are in me, and I am in you; and we are all one in the Father, united in one consciousness.

Despite the diverse forms of religious worship and teaching prevalent today, men and women of whatever persuasion should be able to unite in the age-old wisdom of oneness. The teaching of oneness is universal and in no way interferes with the continued practice of our present manner of worship. In reality, there is no cleavage between “your” teaching and “my” teaching. There is one Spirit and that Spirit is God, permeating human consciousness wherever human consciousness is receptive. This Spirit of God works through me for your blessing and through you for my blessing, since we are one in Christ Jesus.

The world has made great strides forward in religious and metaphysical teachings since those early days of Jesus, Buddha, and Lao-tse; but too much of this teaching has remained mere speculation in the realm of the intellect. Somehow, somewhere, a group known by their fruits must come into active expression, a group who actually live the Christ life. They must keep their fingers on their lips, not talking truth, not teaching truth, but living truth, their every act a demonstration of the presence and power of God. As discord or inharmony flash across their horizon, they will resist the temptation to affirm truth, and instead, turn to that center where the Christ is enthroned and let It make the crooked places straight. It, not they, will be the blessing.

The answer, the solution to all problems, is the realized Christ; let us call It the Risen Christ. Christ buried in the tomb of the mind will not come forth and do wonders, but Christ risen in our consciousness, Christ raised up from the tomb through meditation and communion-that is the miracle-worker of the ages. It may begin with us and express in the improvement of our health, supply and environment. Then, as the Christ becomes active in our consciousness on behalf of those who are receptive to It, It will begin to be an influence in their experience. Thus, going from one to another, touching a few here, a few more there, eventually, it will encircle the globe.

Every person who has prepared himself for the awakening of the Christ may become an integral part of this circle of light. It is not, however, an experience that is possible to every person at this present moment, just as it is not possible for everyone to earn a degree in engineering or law, without the required preliminary study. Much as all those who are interested in the deep things of the Spirit would like to include their friends and families as their companions along the Way, this is not always practicable. Often the members of one's own family or others closely related by ties of friendship, love, or association are the very ones who are most antagonistic to truth. They are the rocky or barren soil to which the Master referred. It is not for anyone to judge or to know who is ready for Soul unfoldment. That is something between every person and his God. Eventually, every knee must bend, and ultimately, all will come into their spiritual heritage.

Spiritual unfoldment must begin with one – always one. It has to begin in the consciousness of one person. That consciousness could just as well be yours; that consciousness could just as well be mine. It all depends upon the degree in which we come into the realization of the Christ. The realized, risen Christ, active in one person, becomes a potent force in the entire world. At any given moment there may be a receptive person in some hospital, in a prison cell, on a battle field, in high political office or low, someone anywhere in the world crying out, “O God, can you help me? Is there a God to help me?” Wherever or whenever there is a reaching out to God, there the realized Christ is, in Its fullness. No one can fully apprehend the widespread effect of the realized Christ when It is loosened in the world. There is no way of knowing how many people have had healings – mental, physical, moral, and financial – by the very act of reaching out to the Unknown, and thereby, touching this very Christ, which has been released in meditation by you or by me.

It is for this reason that I have been asking our students in The Infinite Way to devote one meditation period each day to God alone – not for themselves, their families, their business, their patients, or their students, but for God alone. In other words, we reserve one period for a meditation in which we go to God with clean hands:

“Father, I seek nothing. I come to You in the same spirit in which I would go to my mother were my mother available, for communion, just for love. You are the Father and Mother of my being. You are the Source of my life. You are the Soul of me, the Spirit of me. I have no favors to ask of You. I come to You for the joy of communion, to feel the assurance of Your hand in mine, the touch of Your finger on my shoulder – just to be in Thy Presence.”

The realized, demonstrated presence of God is the Saviour of the world. The time has passed for any one individual to set himself up as the sole representative of the Spirit of God on earth. Every person must show forth that same Spirit. If this book can bring to a few the experience of the Spirit of the Lord, then they, in turn, will be able to go out and help others reach this same experience. The Saviour is the Spirit of the Lord – not a man or a woman. The Saviour is the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord must be realized by you and by me individually.

The most that any spiritual teaching or book can accomplish is to lead the student to the realization that there is a kingdom of God within him and then inspire him with the desire to achieve it. The most that a spiritual teacher can do is to open the consciousness of those individuals who look to him, so that they may attain the realization of the Spirit of the Lord. But one teacher, as we have seen in the case of Jesus Christ, could not do this for the entire world – not even for his own disciples, except for the few who were receptive and responsive. Judas is an example of one who did not respond to the Christ. Only those with a deep spiritual hunger can be lifted by a spiritual teacher into the God-experience.

Every mystic throughout the ages has succeeded in opening the consciousness of students to the experience of the Spirit of the Lord. In some cases, hundreds received it through their teacher. But the world went on its merry way to destruction, because those who reached this high state of consciousness set up a worship of the teacher rather than a practice of the teaching. Everyone who through this work is touched by the Christ should dedicate himself to opening the consciousness of others in the same way as has been done for him. This he can do by being a witness to the activity of the Christ in his own consciousness, demonstrating to the world that anyone with sufficient interest and devotion may be led to the same experience.

Wherever there is a realized God-consciousness, it becomes an instrument through which God functions in human consciousness. The activity of the Christ can function through my consciousness, reaching and touching yours to illumine, heal, and supply. In the same manner, as you are attuned to the Infinite Invisible in meditation, Christ finds an outlet through your consciousness, touching the lives of others, awakening their consciousness, and bringing what the world calls healing to their bodies and affairs. The activity of the Christ, with no human intervention, flows into whatever human consciousness is opening itself to God's grace.

The day will come when there will be a band, a circle of spiritual wisdom around the entire globe. The fabric of this circle will be formed throughout the world by the realized Christ-consciousness of teachers and students. When this circle has been developed sufficiently, then everybody who seeks spiritual light will be able to reach out and touch the realized Christ-consciousness of anyone in this band of illuminated Souls. Then the world will be uplifted, not one by one, but by the millions. When this consciousness is released through individual realization in meditation and communion, it can no longer be localized in either time or space and anyone in the world who touches it can attain it in some measure.

[The End]

Heling op Afstand

Met gekruiste benen zat ik op een avond in mijn “stiltetijd” met gesloten ogen te zakken naar het veld van waaruit ik mijn gebeden “doe”.

Ik zakte naar mijn hart, nodigde het Gouden Licht uit en liet komen wat er wilde komen.

Er waren wat gedachtes over de afgelopen dag. Het was een best drukke dag op het werk geweest en mijn aandacht ging naar een collega. Ik herinnerde me dat ik vond dat ze er wat moeiig uitzag, en ik vroeg me, een beetje terloops, af: “zou het wel goed met haar gaan?” Er kwam een stroom Licht uit mijn hart als antwoord op die vraag en daarmee werd haar beeltenis omhult. Het ging best snel en ik besteedde er verder geen aandacht meer aan en ging verder met bidden.

De volgende dag kreeg ik een appje van haar, “Lily! Ik zat zo diep (in de put) gisteravond. Hoe je dat wist en hoe je het gedaan hebt, weet ik niet, maar opeens was jij daar! Jouw energie. En dat was zo behulpzaam! Dank je wel daarvoor.” Ik werd zoooo blij van dit appje. Want ik “deed” helemaal niks. Alleen maar beschikbaar zijn, zodat het Licht Zijn werk kan doen. Zo simpel is het dus!

Namens Magnum Opus Ministries NL,

Lily