Guest post by : Nadine Hendrickson : To Know God, One Must Know Thyself
Because so few of us have attained that Enlightenment, we only know God by what He has done. Our mission, while we are here in the flesh on Earth, is to come to know God for what He is. When we have fulfilled our purpose of Life, we will know God, our Creator, for what He is.
Just as we know Michelangelo through his works of art, we know God through his creations. First, God created the Universe for Us. Our mission was to live in harmony and balance with nature: the plants and animals, the land and sea, the stars, the planets and the sky. We were meant to be the guardians of all the physical realm.
But we haven’t done that yet. We’ve hunted animals to extinction. We have overused, abused, polluted, and corrupted our surroundings to the point where we must now make strenuous efforts to save our planet. Is this how we want to be known to God? Most importantly, God created Man and Woman because God is Love. Therefore, in order to know God, we must know Love in every aspect and incarnation, with a depth of passion that knows no bounds. Only after we have known such Love will we know God.
How will we come to know Love? God created our “school” of Love: the family. The bond of Love found in the family is the most powerful force in the Universe. Once we’ve experienced the Hearts of Love within the family unit, then we will know God. There are four stages of Heart.
In the first stage, we are meant to experience the unconditional love of our parents as a baby through to adulthood. Ideally, we would come to know a Father’s love as protective, courageous, enduring, empowering, enlightening, engaging - full of strength and respect. A Mother’s love is nurturing, comforting, sacrificial, supportive - full of faith, hope, and guidance. But we haven’t done that yet. Instead, we have child abuse and pedophiles, child pornography and slavery, parents killing children and children killing parents. Is this how we want to be known to God?
In stage two, we learn to love our Self by growing into our full potential as an individual. Ideally, we would become educated, healthy, energetic, foster self-respect, and achieve mind and body unity, thus being spiritually and emotionally mature. “Love God with all your heart and soul; love thy neighbor as thyself” (Luke 10:27} But we haven’t done that yet. Instead, we are guilty of the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, anger, envy, pride. As individuals, we’ve become addicts, obese, aggressive, selfish, greedy, abusive, jealous people. Is this how we want to be known to God?
By stage three, we are ready to unite with a mate and discover mutual love through marriage. We experience conjugal love as sharing, supportive, respectful, and honorable. We come to understand partnership, cooperation, and negotiation. It is here that we experience Love’s deepest passion and romance. But we haven’t done that yet. Instead, we fight with our spouses, commit adultery, bigamy, divorce, and engage in alternative lifestyles. Does God want to know us like this?
In stage four, our union produces children. Here, we grow our hearts to its greatest depth in our role as parents and grandparents. But we haven’t done that yet. If we had perfected our hearts in the first three stages, we would naturally know how to be parents: loving, giving, sacrificial, nurturing, supportive, knowing how to raise responsible children of filial piety.
Once we’ve experienced these hearts of True Love, then we will fulfill our purpose of Life for we will know God, Our Parent. But we haven’t done that yet. We will…one day. God knows Us…He’s waiting. The time has come for Us to know God for who He is.
Guest Post By : Nadine Hendrickson : Nadine Hendrickson is a Real Estate note broker based out in New York City.
