VIII. Where Is God?

An Eternal Career, by Frank and Lydia Hammer, [1947], at sacred-texts.com

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VIII

WHERE IS GOD?

"Do not seek Him—SEE Him!"

A hindu child once said to his playmate: "If you can tell me where God is, I will give you a mango." The playmate replied: "If you can tell me where He is not, I will give you two mangos."

Yes, where is He not? While most religions teach that God is omnipresent, the majority of people have difficulty in grasping this truth. They are under the illusion that He must be sought in particular places and in definite localities, such as in churches and in Heaven. Many make the mistake of attempting to fit their ideas of the Deity into their limited intelligence, and liken God unto themselves. They ascribe to Him hands, feet, face, senses and emotions, and assume that He is local and individual. The majority are unable to realize His ever-present nearness, but believe He is remote and separated from the universe, inaccessible and only to be approached through intermediaries.

Yet Jesus, who knew the Father, has told us that God is Spirit. Spirit fills all infinitude, is

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wholly and completely present everywhere and cannot be divided into segments; nor is Spirit relegated to some parts of the universe and excluded from others.

God is Pure Intelligence or Spirit; the Primordial Essence of all things; the eternal basis of all forms. God is everything there is, seen and unseen, manifest and unmanifested; for nothing is lifeless but endowed with varying degrees of Intelligence, Spirit or God.

What is His relation to the universe? Deity and Nature are counterparts; the phenomenal world is the body of God just as the physical form is the body of man. Just as man's spirit animates all parts of the corporeal body, so does Infinite Spirit animate all His creations. However, the objective universe is God no more than the corporeal body is man. God is in everything, yet all these things are not God. God is in me, but I am not God.

Is God with form, or is He formless? God is both with form and without form. God is one but becomes many and is constantly projecting Himself into all manner of forms. Forms are superimposed upon Spirit and change continually; while God or Spirit remains forever the same. God creates by thought and the universe is filled with creations which form His parts. All things are in reality the same substance with different rates of vibration. Seen subjectively there is Unity—beheld objectively there is multiplicity.

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Is it possible to see God, and what is meant by seeing Him? Is He perceived or conceived? Never can God be seen with the physical eyes, but only with the eyes of the soul. Never can the Architect of the universe be seen sitting on some planet, sun, cloud, throne or mountain. The only necessary qualification to behold Him is to be pure in heart. He whose spiritual eyes are open sees God in all existing things.

Those who have difficulty seeing God should begin by looking for Him in man at his best. It is there we receive the clearest revelation. Every man is God-made flesh. He dwells equally in all men, the humblest as well as the greatest, be he man or angel, saint or sinner. God dwells on earth as well as in Heaven. He mingles with man and in men on the battlefield, the home, and on the street; in the market-place and in the mosque. Man is never out of the sight of God.

How can we know God? God and Truth are inseparable, and our knowledge of the one increases our knowledge of the other. Knowing God is the most important truth to be known, and a true understanding of Him is found within oneself. Since man is never separated from God, He can be contacted instantly and without intercessors. If man wants happiness in this life, if he wants to know who he is, why he was born, and what is the purpose of this life, then let him devote himself to knowing God.

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However, in order to know God we must study more than His forms; we can do that forever and learn little. We must devote ourselves to observing His ways, His modes of manifestation, methods of operation, and study His attributes, which are Wisdom, Beauty, Order, Power, and Love.

Knowing God, or Oneness with the Divine is the supreme goal of spiritual aspirants. It is the highest spiritual experience, to be attained only by deep contemplation. Oneness with the Divine implies not only consciousness of God, but identification with Him. For example, take the term "body conscious." This means that we are identified with the body and cannot separate ourselves from it or its conditions. The same state is true when we are God-conscious; we feel a oneness with Him, and cannot separate our consciousness from His. It is a blending of consciousness much as the fragrance of flowers intermingle with the summer breeze.

Oneness with the Divine is the intuitive recognition of being one with the source of all life and all created things. It is a kinship with the leaves, grass, flowers, birds, animals and all forms of life. It is a love and sympathy for all which breathes and lives, an affinity with all nature, animate and inanimate.

God-conscious people are known by their great compassion for their fellowmen, and labor unceasingly for their improvement and enlightenment. They know that when one man falls, all fall; that when one man rises, all rise, as all share the one

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life for each is bound to every living being and thing by unbreakable bonds. Only those who are yet unaware of their relationship to God and His creations ever injure or exploit their brothers. Those who enslave and degrade others wind up by becoming enslaved and degraded themselves. This is true of both nations and individuals who hold people in bondage.

Many people are unable to see God in men, particularly in the unfortunate members of His family such as the criminal and the depraved. Nevertheless, despite the repellent exterior, God dwells in them, too; otherwise they could not exist. Since God dwells in all, there is good in all. The so-called "good" people who attempt to exterminate the so-called "bad" people end by becoming like the bad. They should instead look for the good, or the God, which is in them and appeal to it; the spirit will respond.

Jesus healed and reformed men because he saw them as perfect expressions of the Father. He appealed to the Divine or Good within and always got response. For life is a mirror in which we behold our own reflection everywhere, and Jesus was too pure to see aught but good. Who, for instance, had first claim upon him? It was the lepers and sinners, who were considered outside the pale by the respectable people of the community.

We do not see God because we are short-sighted, inexperienced and lack soul vision. We see only . the outside of men, which is often disfigured with faults and imperfections, and which covers the real

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man. In order to behold the real man, or the God within, we must pierce the exterior and see him as he actually is, as God made him, innately Divine and beautiful. No amount of sin and error can ever defile this inner man. While it is often impossible to love the outer aspect of man, it is easy to love God or the Good within. A spiritually minded person constantly strives to do this, and always thinks of men as spirits, not as bodies or intellects.

Unfortunately for mankind, rulers are completely unaware that God and man are one. They arc equally ignorant of man's true nature, for they believe he is matter and exploit him only to attain their selfish aims. Life they use primarily to promote their vanity and ambition. They protect private property and wealth, but desecrate and destroy these temples of God, the bodies of man. Judas was innocuous compared to the recent crop of traitors who sold their country and millions of souls to foreign greed and power.

Leaders are needed who have reverence for human life, who realize that life has dignity, that every man is an expression of God, and that one soul is of far greater worth than a continent. "For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" The first consideration of any government should be to safeguard human life and not to protect territory. When millions are slaughtered for the multiplication of wealth and the acquisition of real estate, rulers are guilty of treason against God and man. Those who profess to love

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[paragraph continues] God and hate man are liars and traitors. The masses need to be dehypnotized, to regain their usurped rights; for no man rules by Divine right, but only by the consent of the governed.

Never has human life been held so cheaply. Never has the slaughter of millions occasioned so little comment. When mossy monasteries, ancient cities and antiquated cathedrals were destroyed there was loud lamentation. When works of art were in danger they were buried deeply underground. Yet such loss is not irreparable. Ravaged cities can be rebuilt; demolished structures replaced; damaged churches repaired and other works of art created. But temples of God no man can raise again. There is nothing made by hand in the house of God; they are not made of steel, stone or wood. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? And the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. And he who those destroy, him God will destroy."

Only man does not trust God. All other forms of life trust God implicitly to supply their every need. But man with his superior ideas believes the Creator incapable of providing for him. Man, in his folly, trusts too much in material wealth, and little does he know how unstable it is. What is his today, is another's tomorrow. Those who know God depend upon Him as their source of life, love, health, knowledge, supply and power. They know nothing can ever separate them from the Infinite.

Those who know Him, never put a limit to His

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[paragraph continues] Infinitude. To them, God is not a matter of opinion: HE IS. He is boundless love, beyond the grasp of the intellect. He alone knows, he alone understands His mysteries, to whom God in His Infinite mercy reveals Himself. When a man realizes Him, the gates to infinite knowledge open. When a man attains enlightenment, he knows for certain that he is in God and that God is in him. The mysteries of this world and the next are open books to him.

Do not seek Him—SEE HIM! Where? EVERYWHERE.