| The
term "New Frontier" is generally understood to
mean the exploration of uncharted regions of space. Occasionally
that description will include previously unknown concepts
of time and dimensions. It is not widely recognized that
the next step forward, the frontier humanity must conquer
before all else, is the understanding of self. These days
a change is taking place that is more profound than mere
travel into the depths of space; it is a realization that
will involve every person on Earth and sweep like a tsunami
over your institutions, your beliefs and your individual
lives for the next thousand years. The human spirit is awakening
and is about to discover its identity and the new frontiers
of its consciousness; humanity is on the verge of meeting
itself.
Before
we examine the phenomenon now in progress, we need to take
you back and review some of the material we covered in previous
volumes. To the best of your knowledge, humankind is the
only Earth species that can look at itself and say: "I
AM". Who specifically is this "I"? Is it
the infant scarcely born, or the young adult in the pride
of years? Are you still "I" when you are old,
sick, bald, disabled; when you receive blood transfusions
or a new heart? Do you keep your identity if you loose all
your limbs? The answer is of course:" Yes ". It
follows that the part that claims: "I AM" is not
the body, since that body can change radically and still
retain its identity. Is "I" the mind then? Think
about it. What is the mind, how big is it, does it extend
beyond your cranium and if so, how far? Without writing
a philosophical treatise, let us agree that the mind does
not fit the bill any better than the body does. That which
proclaims: "I AM" is the self. So far so good,
all we need do now is identify what the self is. -"
Well, you might say, the self is I, it is what I am."
And with this we are back at the beginning of our argument!
While
it is true that you are the self, we must now clarify what
or who the self is! Your self is not limited to the dense
material form that inhabits the third planet from your sun.
You are instead an unlimited eternal immaterial consciousness
whose spatial location is the universe. In order to experience
and examine its existence, this vast entity condenses a
minute portion of itself into matter and gives it the opportunity
to incarnate on Earth. Ideally that portion of the greater
self should have remained in constant contact with its entirety
and sent back a running report of its adventures, but somehow
it forgot. Incidentally, let us make clear that this incredibly
vast identity that is you, is but an infinitesimal portion
of the next larger identity, and that that one... but you
get the picture. So when we speak of "the" I AM,
we mean the ONE, the single all encompassing consciousness,
the Origin that is forever beyond our reach since, as we
develop, It does so as well. Now that you know who you are,
we can at last proceed with this chapter. |
