Principles of Discovery -- Part 5

2006-6-12 00:56:00

[Compiler's Note: The text of the original article was edited by JJ Dewey, and per his request was re-published below.]

Perceiving God's Will

Let us return to the scriptures:

"Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7:16-17)

What principle was the Master teaching here, and how can we use it in the discovery or confirmation of truth?

Perhaps some additional questions will get us going here.

Where do we look to find the Will of God?

How is following our perception of the Will of God a test that proves the perception true or false?

We are also told that "by their fruits you shall know them." What does this mean and how is it a guide to the discovery of truth? What are the different fruits?

It is inevitable that those who have a genuine love of truth and its application will display fruitful characteristics in their lives.

When Jesus was talking about knowing them by their fruits he was saying that "false prophets" bear bad fruit and genuine teachers bear good fruit. As he taught, people were amazed at his wisdom and his teaching them as "one having authority...not as their scribes." In other words, he displayed good fruit -- the hallmark of someone people could listen to with confidence.

One of the ways of discovering truth is to identify teachers who bear good fruit and to listen to what they have to say. Unfortunately, this gift is missing from the lives of those who feel they don't need a teacher or who are not ready to listen.

If a teacher's creations result from his decisions and represent God's Will, then it makes sense to say that to him the Will of God is the highest unselfish good he can perceive within which he acts. If he follows this inner perception of the Omnipresent Will, his creations will, on some level, make the world, both his and those around him, a better place. It will solve and free up instead of weighing down or complicating, bringing unity and power through harmonizing of diversity. Whatever he wills, will be consistent with God's Will in that moment of time and space.

Jesus basically told us that if we "do" God's Will two things will happen:

We will "know of the doctrine." In other words we will discover whether or not the teachings are true.
"Whether I speak of myself." We will know whether the teacher just speaks for himself out of his own imagination or whether he speaks for one higher than he.

Question:

What do we have to do to be able to have these two gifts of discernment?

Answer:

We must "do His Will."

Notice what the injunction does not say. It does not say "believe his will," or "think his will." It does not say "preach his will," or "write his will," but "do."

Do what?

"I'd love to know what God, Christ or a Master has for me to do, but I just haven't heard any voices lately," says the seeker.

Actually you do not have to receive a divine revelation to know the Will of God for there are always parts of the Divine Will that all can perceive. Then when that which we perceive is followed additional Will is sensed and additional truth is also perceived.

Question:

Try and name three or more things the average seeker would correctly perceive as the Will of God -- that all of us should "do" -- so the truth can be known.

The Seven Perceptions of Will:

There is a revelatory principle behind the perception of the Will of God and that is this:

All of us can perceive some aspect of that Will, and when it is perceived and followed a higher aspect will be given. Then when we follow that aspect, something higher still will be given. All of us (except a handful of Dark Brothers who have completely denied the light within) perceive a part of the Divine Will as it applies to us, and are struggling to harmonize with it.

The first perception of the Will that most of humanity understands in one degree or another is Love, which is perhaps best expressed in the statement of the Master: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Even the hardened atheist or skeptical agnostic accepts this concept as a good idea to incorporate into their lives.

Most of us know within ourselves that it is better to love and to give than to think of only self. And when this aspect of the Will is followed to the satisfaction of the Spirit within, the person receives more light which is poured in through the soul.

Forget about being judgmental here and condemning others as being ignorant of true love. Each person has a different degree of understanding on it, but we must recognize that each normal person has an inner compass that points him in the direction of love, if he will seek it.

The second perception of Will is: Goodwill and Friendship.

Extending goodwill to all and the hand of friendship to all who need it is considered a good thing to do in the minds of all who are sensitive to any kind of positive direction and this action is within the grasp of us all.

Practice telling the truth or non-deception. The interesting thing about this is non-deception is definitely within the Will of God yet one does not have to be spiritually minded to appreciate this quality. Even the biggest scoundrel likes to be told the truth; the difficult thing is telling the truth ourselves. We want the truth told to us, but many find it difficult to practice honesty as we want it given to us.
Work toward perfection. All of us sense that we can do better and that we should be taking steps to improve ourselves.
Be responsible for your actions and for your families.
Promote and advocate the principle of liberty and freewill.
Take reasonable care of yourself, those within the realm of your responsibility and the planet earth so future generations will have a pleasant place to live.

Just run these seven concepts by the average person and ask him if he thinks they are all good things to do and the chances are that he will say yes, even if he has no interest in the spiritual path. They have no great mystery behind them, but every thinking person will admit that if there is a God, and God is good, then these things would be within His Will.

The trouble is that many are seeking some divine calling to fulfill the Will of God when all humanity already have these seven before us; and many of us are miserably failing to follow the highest we know concerning them. But when we do follow these seven with devotion, the eighth stands revealed.

And what is that?

It is...

Service.

But one may ask, doesn't everyone believe that service is a good thing? Not really. The masses do not understand service as it is expressed in the Will of God. We all understand service for pay or even praise, but only a small number understand selfless service as it relates to the good of the whole. The correct feeling on this matter is a reward given to those who have followed the highest they know in the seven principles mentioned above.

When selfless service is accepted by the seeker and this selfless service becomes a real plan of action for him on the physical plane he then can share in the Will of God that is projected to His reflections and this is the Peace of God. True selfless service brings forth the revelation of this Peace. This Peace is sensed by all those who diligently strive to follow the highest that they know.

After the pilgrim serves and comes to the Peace, then a specific -- or ninth aspect of the Will of God will be revealed or presented before him in some way. He will become aware of a Plan with aspects higher than he can understand. Nevertheless, he will sense that the Plan is from higher intelligence than himself and great joy is available to those that participate in it. He realizes that he is only one part of many participating units, but his part is unique and he begins to sense and understand his role that he is to play. When he understands this role and acts it out he will be treading the path of great joy. If he seeks the role of another instead of his own, he will sound a note off-key, and become out of harmony with his brothers in service.

Let us return to the scripture under consideration:

"Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:16-17)

All of us have within ourselves the capacity to recognize at least seven aspects of the Will of God and if we follow all of the Will of God that we understand then we will have the power to recognize teachers who are in harmony with that Will and we will be given a sensitivity to the truth so we will know whether or not the principles the teacher teaches is true.

Now let us itemize the principles of discovery that we have covered so far:

Take the things you know (for reasonable surety) to be true and use them as a foundation or stepping stones for testing additional truths.
Be willing to let these foundation beliefs be either altered or dropped as some of them are replaced by higher vision.
The teaching should be in harmony with common sense.
It should increase the power of Decision and freewill.
It should bring you to a new level of awareness and usefulness.
Seek out true sources of knowledge, study and incorporate them into your life. Knowledge dispels error and illusion.
Gather all the reliable information you can about a subject of interest and try and see the principles suggested by the data. Then draw conclusions and run the conclusions by your soul and see if you receive a response.
Follow all the aspects of the Will of God that are within your perception and your sensitivity to the truth will increase.

The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896)

-- End Of Part Five --

Go to:

Principles Of Discovery, Part Six

Principles Of Discovery, Part Four

Principles Of Discovery (Index Of Articles)