The Father is Greater

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"There are two parts to the statement ["I and my Father are One"] in recognition that the Father is greater." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section II, 4:7

Using this quote and this terminology may get me into hot water with some of my friends, who feel that using the male 'Father' image perpetuates patriarchal stereotypes.  And I agree with them to a point.  But the larger point is that A Course in Miracles and much of the non-dual teaching that is available in the world is written using our very patriarchal language, but has nothing to do with gender.  The Truth can use any symbol and point beyond it to what is True.

This statement is not about gender.  It's about individuality and Wholeness.  We have come to accept that God is All.  We have come to accept that we are One with Allness.  But what happens to me then?  What is my individuality, my uniqueness in this world?  Am I nothing at all?  Yes and no.

This question preoccupies our egos, our false sense of individuality.  The ego thinks it's only something in comparison to something 'other,' something or someone else that is separate and apart from self.  This is the illusion of false identification.  On the other hand, the infinity of God can only express ItSelf as infinite uniqueness, infinite possibility.  Uniqueness is an attribute of all aspects of the Infinite Oneness of God.   Every snowflake is unique, every fractal image new, to infinity and beyond.  But the snowflake only exists as an aspect of snow.  It's not separate, but it is unique. 

Specialness is the false identification of the ego.  It's as if that snowflake tried to imagine itself as separate from the rest of snow, endlessly competing with and comparing itself to other snowflakes, and trying to exist forever as a separate thing.  It's not true for the snowflake and it's not true for us as individuals.  Often, that delusion only becomes painfully clear when we are confronted with challenges to our own self-images.  Self-image is a good word here, because all images are projections, and self-created in consciousness.

So we return to the statement by Jesus, "I and my Father are One."  We are One with our Creator.  If we are One, why speak of Father and Son?  Because it's important to see that we are expressions within the One, and each expression is unique.  But to catch a snowflake is not to experience snow.  The infinity of the Father is unfathomable to us, just as the depth of a snowbank would be unfathomable to a single snowflake.  Our task, should we choose to accept it, is to value the uniqueness of each expression of the One, while forgiving and releasing all thoughts and beliefs that interfere with our awareness of the Wholeness and Oneness of our True Self. 

We did not create ourselves.  We are not the source, but we are One with Source.  It's in our complete awareness of and dependence on God, the All-Encompassing, All-Loving Good that is our Source, that we find our true Self.  It's in letting go of the false that we find the True.  Jesus called our Source the Father, and was always very clear that he did nothing of himself, that Jesus the man was not the source.  He said, "Of myself I do nothing.  God doeth the work."

To say the Father is greater is not as the ego mind imagines it.  It's not a hierarchy, and not a competition.  It's our assurance of Source and our eternal Home.

"You are the means for God; not separate, nor with a life apart from His.  His Life is manifest in you who are His Son.  Each aspect of HimSelf is framed in holiness and perfect purity, in love celestial and so complete it wishes only that it may release all that it looks upon unto ItSelf." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 25, Section I, 4:1-3