We Are -- God's Play Of Consciousness

When God breathed forth, unity became duality, then multiplicity, and each portion of Him/Her inhabited each creation. Thus, souls descended in ever-decreasing power, vibration and expression of consciousness till the Spirit of the Rock manifested as mineral. Then the curve turned upward, and mineral consciousness became plant consciousness, then animal consciousness, then human. Consciousness is the divine inheritance, the divine inspiration, the divine essence. But with the human came a new capacity: to realize consciousness, to reflect upon itself, to know the "I" and, therefore, God within the self. Thus self became Self, reflecting, knowing, and finally creating.

God's knowledge of Himself (Herself, Itself), too, was a reflection, a turning inward. And through the inhabiting of His creations, He knew Himself, and nowhere was that knowledge so great as in the human. When the human discovers his divinity within, he knows that he is the inheritance of God. He knows, and in this God feels more nearly completely the creation and the creating. When we know that we are who we are, when we know the "I" within, when we know we are divine, we also know that we can create in His image, for we are His image. Insofar as we are His image, God can play His consciousness upon us, and within us, and in this way return ourselves to Him, and thus realize us.

This is no small play upon words. When we realize that we are not only the inheritance of God, but the God within, we then can elevate and elevate ourselves to the level of aspiration which returns us to Him through good works. And the more we create good works, the more we create the power that is His.

Accordingly, even the demon has light. One day in meditation, I found myself surrounded by my angels of protection: my dear departed, my mother, my father, my beloved cousin Shirley, and Cab Calloway, that impish and ancient jazz musician who is always hovering over my right shoulder. And as I sat in meditation, I saw the demon, and the demon coming at me. I knew that it was fearsome because it was myself, my demon within. I wanted to shed light about it, to prevent it from harming me or anyone else. I wanted to surround it with protection. But I knew that that was wrong. I should let it be, I should let it approach, I should absorb it within myself. While doing this I imaged myself like the Buddha faced with demons, or the Christ tempted by the devil. As the demon approached, and became more frightening, I absorbed, withstood, allowed. Then it retreated, grew small, even humorous. And I knew that the demon, too, had light, for the demon was a creation of God.

When I told this to my dear friend Pat Joudry, she said, "How like you to see the good in things, and to turn what is evil into good." I realized that this may be true: it is my work. I encourage my patients to confront the evil as well as the good within -- and to absorb it rather than to flee from it. Absorbing it, light is shed upon it and the Light within is revealed. It then changes -- aggression and hatred turn into energy, construction, power, and giving.

What a joyous thing it is to turn evil into the light of good! How good it is that we are -- God's play of consciousness.

Maurie D. Pressman, M.D. is the co-author (with Patricia Joudry) of Twin Souls: A Guide to Finding Your True Spiritual Partner, published by Carol Southern Books, an imprint of Crown Publishers, New York.

Dr. Pressman is Emeritus Chairman of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center. He is Medical Director at the Center for Psychiatric Wellness, clinics that operate in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, N.J. These clinics bridge traditional and spiritual psychotherapy. Dr. Pressman can be reached at 200 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106; telephone 215-922-0204.