Who
are you?
Are you a mortal sinner, a blob of tissue, or are you an immortal spiritual
being? What did Jesus say about your true identity?
By Kim Michaels
The question of who we really are is one of the fundamental questions
that have followed people since the beginning of time. These questions
have always had answers, although the answers have taken different forms
at different times and in different cultures. In today’s culture,
most people have been brought up to accept one of the following answers
to the question of who they are:
-
Your
identity is defined by worldly characteristics, such as your name,
family background, race, ethnic background, sex, nationality and
occupation. You are nothing more than what the world sees you as
being.
-
Your
identity is defined by scientific theories. You are defined by your
physical body, and all of your thoughts, feelings and dreams are
nothing more than chemical reactions in your brain. You are simply
a slightly higher evolved monkey. You are nothing more than a collection
of tissue, nothing more than matter, and “you” will
disappear when the brain dies.
-
Your
identity is defined by religious doctrines. If you grew up in a
Christian culture, you were probably told that you are a soul who
is a sinner by nature. You are nothing more than the soul, and your
salvation depends on forces outside yourself.
The
very fact that you are reading this website proves that you have never
fully accepted any of these definitions of your identity. Deep
within, you have always known that you are more than the worldly image
of you, more than the physical body and even more than a sinful soul.
You have always known that there is more to life and more to you than
what you were told in school and Sunday school. So what is that more?
Where did the “more” come from?
If you are more than the body, more than an evolved animal, we have
to question the claims made by science. During our childhood, many of
us were told that science has proven that there is no need for God because
everything could have evolved from nothing. In other words, the material
universe is a self-contained unit and there is nothing outside of it.
What we were not told was that some scientific findings actually open
the possibility that there is something beyond the material universe.
Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and the findings of quantum
physics prove that everything is energy, and energy is a form of vibration.
The conclusion is that science has pointed to the possibility that the
material world is one spectrum of frequencies, and there could be other
frequencies, other worlds, beyond the material realm. And while a scientist
might call it a parallel universe, religious people have for millennia
called it “Heaven.” (For a more detailed discussion of these
topics, see the following section.)
If you are willing to look at the philosophical implications of the
latest scientific discoveries, there is not necessarily a contradiction
between science and a spiritual outlook on life. It is quite possible
that a part of you could have originated in a realm made of higher frequencies
than those found in the material spectrum. This part of you could be
what spiritual people have always called “the soul.” But
what exactly is the soul and where did it originate?
The soul is more than the body
To fully understand the soul, we have to not only question the scientific
view of our identity; we also have to question the Christian view. Most
mainstream Christian churches claim that you are a soul but that this
soul has some very strict limitations. One such limitation is that the
soul did not exist before the conception of your physical body. Another
limitation is that your soul is, by its very nature, a sinner. Yet are
these claims true, or is there more to understand about the soul? As
a starting point for this discussion, let us look at Jesus’ teaching
to Nicodemus:
3 Jesus answered
and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel,
and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall
ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John, Chapter
3)
This teaching tells us several
things about Jesus’ view of the soul. Here are a few important
points:
-
The soul has the potential
to enter (see) the kingdom of God. Yet before it can do so, it must
be born again. This rebirth is not a worldly rebirth (of the flesh)
but a spiritual rebirth (of the Spirit).
-
When the soul is reborn
of the Spirit, it is no longer “of the flesh;” it is
now spirit, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
-
When the soul is reborn,
it can ascend to Heaven. Yet according to Jesus, this means that
the soul originally must have come from Heaven, because, “no
man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.”
This clearly tells us that
the soul originally came from Heaven, meaning from a realm of higher
frequencies. The soul was created in that realm, it was created by or
of the Spirit, and it descended into the material realm to abide in
a physical body for a time. Yet the soul can free itself from the body,
be reborn into a new sense of identity, and ascend back to the spiritual
realm. The conclusion is clear. According to Jesus, your soul is not
a creation of matter (of the flesh), it is a creation of Spirit. Therefore,
your soul can exist independently of your physical body, meaning that
your soul is a spiritual being. This can help us resolve the question
of whether our souls are sinners by nature.
Are you a sinner?
If you accept that the soul is of the Spirit, then you have two options.
You can reason that there must be sin in Heaven or you can reason that
the soul was not created as a sinner, and thus the Christian doctrine
is incorrect. Obviously, the idea that there could be sin in Heaven
would contradict everything Jesus said about Heaven, and thus we must
conclude that your soul was not created to be a sinner. This is supported
by Genesis, because Adam and Eve obviously were not sinners until they
ate the forbidden fruit.
As Jesus explains on this website, your soul was not created as a sinner.
However, you were given free will by God, and that is why you have the
option to sin. Jesus also explains that original sin is a sense of separation
from God. The story of Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man is really a
symbol for what has happened to every soul. The “fruit of the
knowledge of good and evil” is a symbol for a state of consciousness,
namely what Paul called the carnal mind.
The soul “fell” into this state of consciousness because
it separated itself from its spiritual source—it decided to hide
from God (Genesis 2:8). This caused the soul to build a new sense of
identity, and the soul now sees itself as a mortal human being instead
of the immortal spiritual being that “descended from Heaven.”
This new sense of identity is based on the illusions of this world,
namely the consciousness of duality that causes souls to see themselves
as separated from God. This sense of identity is “born of the
flesh.” Because a soul has free will, it has the potential to
create an entirely false sense of identity, and the soul can then see
itself as a mortal, human being, as a sinner or as nothing more than
a blob of tissue. When the soul identifies itself this way, it cannot
see Heaven because, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”
The soul has now become spiritually blind, and it thinks it is a mortal
soul instead of an immortal spirit.
In reality, you are who you were created to be, namely a spiritual being.
Yet in the “here and now,” in time and space, you are, for
all practical purposes, who you see yourself as being. If you identify
yourself as a mortal sinner, you will act as a mortal sinner, thereby
denying your spiritual origin and your potential to reclaim your true
identity.
The only way out of this false sense of identity is that the soul must
be reborn. This means that the soul’s sense of identity must be
reborn, so that it is realigned with the reality that you are –
and always have been – a spiritual being. You must be reborn by
the Spirit, whereby you realize that you always were a spirit, “That
which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” It is only after you regain
your true sense of identity that you can ascend back to Heaven.
When did you lose your true identity?
As explained above, we have fallen or descended into a state of consciousness
in which we see ourselves as separated from God. Yet when did this happen?
Most of us probably don’t remember feeling connected to God, so
when did we lose the connection? Did it happen in early childhood, when
we did not have any clear understanding of what we were doing? If so,
it would seem God has dealt us an unfair hand. Yet what if we were born
without a clear connection to God, what if the fall happened a long
time ago?
To fully understand our identity, we need to question another Christian
doctrine, namely the one that denies the preexistence of souls. There
is good historical evidence that this doctrine was not part of early
Christianity. In fact, there is some evidence that Jesus taught the
concept of the preexistence of souls. This has been explained in several
places on this website, Link
1, Link
2, Link
3.
The very fact that Jesus considered the soul as a spirit shows that
it can exist independently of the physical body. A spirit does not depend
upon and is not limited by anything in the material world. Thus, there
is no reason to assume that your soul came into being when your body
was conceived. And when your body dies, the soul does not necessarily
have to either ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell.
Why is it important to consider that your soul has lived before? The
reason is that you cannot fully understand who you are unless you realize
that your soul has a long history on this planet. In other words, your
false sense of identity was not simply created in this lifetime.
You also need to know that when God gave you free will, he did not put
unreasonable demands on you. For example, God did not demand that you
qualify for salvation in just one lifetime, a lifetime that for some
people is very short. How could a child that dies in infancy ever have
an opportunity to rise above the consciousness of duality and be reborn
in Spirit? Yet is it fair that such a soul would be lost?
In reality, God created a world that serves as a schoolroom for our
souls. Originally, our souls lived in a realm of higher vibrations than
the material universe. This realm, this spiritual schoolroom, is what
the Bible describes as the Garden of Eden. In that realm, we had direct
contact with a spiritual teacher. Some of the souls in the garden decided
to experiment with the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. This
is a symbol for the consciousness of duality, and by descending into
this state of consciousness we lost our sense of identity as spiritual
beings.
When we lost that sense of identity, we could no longer remain in the
garden, so we descended into physical bodies. We also lost contact with
our spiritual teachers, so the world became our teacher. As explained
elsewhere,
God created the material world as a mirror that reflects back to us
what we send out. Therefore, we create our outer reality as a reflection
of our state of consciousness, meaning that the way out of human suffering
is to raise our consciousness.
After we fully learn the lesson that we need to rise above the consciousness
of duality and reclaim our true identity, we can ascend back to the
spiritual realm. Yet until we learn that lesson, we cannot go back.
So what happens if you have not learned your lesson after one lifetime?
The reality is that your body is dead, but your soul cannot permanently
ascend to the spiritual realm. Therefore, you receive another opportunity
by coming back into another body, another lifetime. This process can
go on for a long time.
Why is it important to know that you might have lived many lifetimes
on Earth? You need to know that you might have had many lifetimes to
reinforce certain incorrect – dualistic – beliefs, thereby
building a very complex mortal sense of identity that covers your spiritual
identity. If you really want to be free, you might have to make a serious
effort to free yourself from these beliefs, so that you can be reborn
into a new sense of identity.
Finally, it can be helpful to realize that you have had many lifetimes
to enjoy the pleasures of the Earth. The fact that you are now interested
in the spiritual side of life means that your soul has had its fill
of “the things of this world,” and it is beginning to long
for something higher, something more. What your soul is really longing
for is to regain your true identity as a spiritual being.
What does it mean that you are a spiritual being?
What does it really mean that your soul was created in the spiritual
realm? It means that your soul is an extension of a self-conscious being
that permanently resides in the spiritual realm. This being could be
called your spiritual self, but on this website Jesus generally calls
it your “I AM Presence.”
The consequence is that you are not a mortal human being. Your true
identity is an immortal spiritual being, and no matter what your soul
has experienced or gone through here on Earth, nothing has damaged or
negatively influenced your I AM Presence. Nothing from the lower vibrations
of the material universe can hurt your spiritual self because it is
sealed from this world by a barrier that cannot be penetrated by the
lower vibrations of fear and anti-love.
One consequence
of this fact is that your I AM Presence cannot descend into the lower
vibrations of the material universe. Your I AM Presence is not just
some faceless, nameless angel. It has a unique individuality, a unique
spiritual flame, and it is different from any other being in God’s
creation. Therefore, your true self can express a unique creativity
and bring forth a unique gift. At some point in the past, your I AM
Presence decided that it wanted to share its unique individuality by
bringing a gift to the material world. Therefore, it created your soul
as an extension of itself that was designed to descend into the lower
vibrations of this universe. Your soul is therefore an extension of
the unique individuality of your Presence.
Your soul is not just a clone of your Presence; it is not a robot. Your
soul is an individual being, and it has free will and its own sense
of identity. One might say that at its very core, your soul is a sense
of identity. It is a self-conscious being that has the ability to know
that it exists and to identify itself. The central question for the
soul is, “How does it identify itself?”
Your soul contains the unique individuality of your Presence, and thus
it has the creative potential of your Presence. Your soul was literally
designed to be a co-creator with your Presence, a co-creator with God.
Your soul was sent here to bring a unique gift that would contribute
to the manifestation of God’s kingdom on Earth. One might say
that because your soul was created as an extension of the Presence,
it was never created to be alone. It was designed to be a planet orbiting
the sun of your I AM Presence. What keeps your soul from fulfilling
this original role, its reason for being?
The taskmaster of the ego
When the soul descended into the consciousness of duality, it lost its
connection to the I AM Presence, and it eventually lost the memory that
it is a spiritual being. Because the soul was not designed to be alone,
this was an unbearable loss for the soul, and the soul simply could
not live with that aloneness. To make up for the “paradise lost,”
your soul created a new sense of identity, a new self. This pseudo-self
is what many spiritual teachings, and even many psychologists, call
the human ego.
The ego also has a certain individuality, but it is a reflection of
the consciousness of this world rather than your true individuality.
Your ego was created out of the sense of separation, and its reasoning
is based on the consciousness of duality. The ego cannot accept the
fact that you are a spiritual being because it is “born of the
flesh.” As Jesus said, “If I have told you earthly things,
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly
things?” The ego simply cannot understand your “heavenly”
identity, and that is why so many people deny their spiritual potential.
Furthermore, the ego has a survival instinct. and it knows that it can
continue to exist only as long as your soul thinks it needs the ego.
Therefore, your ego does not want you to reclaim your true, spiritual
identity. It wants you to remain trapped in the dualistic sense of identity
created by your ego, so that the ego can continue to survive. Therefore,
your soul must decide to actively fight the ego in order to reclaim
its true identity.
One might say that the process of reclaiming your true identity is a
process of putting off the old man of the ego and putting on the new
man of your spiritual identity. Paul described it this way:
22 That ye put
off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. (Ephesians, Chapter 4)
Throughout the ages, the
Ascended Host have given many spiritual teachings and tools in their
efforts to help us overcome the ego. Behind all outer religions is a
universal path, often called the spiritual path. This website is dedicated
to presenting this path in a universal form designed for modern people.
You will find here many tools that can help you successfully walk the
path.
The way out
It is the process of overcoming the ego that will lead you to be reborn
in Spirit. Your ego has created a new sense of identity that is based
on a number of dualistic lies. It is impossible for your soul to see
through these lies by using the human intellect because the intellect
is a relative faculty; it is “of the flesh.” So to see through
the illusions of the ego, your soul must reach for a higher mind, a
higher faculty of reasoning that is “of the Spirit.” That
higher faculty is the mind of Christ in the form of your individual
Christ self. Jesus has described the Christ self in more detail in an
important
discourse.
As you begin to put on the new man of the Christ mind, you will follow
Paul’s call to,
Let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5)
You will gradually overcome
the dualistic illusions of your ego, and you will begin to gain a higher
understanding. This will lead you toward a breakthrough point, and you
will then be able to accept the fact that your are a son or daughter
of God.
And will be a Father
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
(2Corinthians 6:18)
This will empower you to
fulfill the original purpose for which your soul was created and for
which you were sent into this world. At that point, it will be as true
of you as it was of Jesus,
And behold a voice
out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son [or
Daughter], in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
(Matthew 17:5)
You will then be here below
the spiritual being that you already are in Heaven.
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Copyright
© 2008 by Kim Michaels |
