INNER TRUTH IN OUTWARD STORIES
--------- I chose to submit this story as an illustration of how Gnostics would tell a story to express their ideas of God. This story is a modern parable, a myth, similar to how Jesus would have taught. And it is similar to many of the texts we would call Gnostic scriptures. A myth can be seen as a story which is false on the outside, and very true on the inside. There are many such modern myths, which we can find around us, most of them remakes of older stories. I will be writing an article on this soon...
Namaste.
The Little Soul and the Sun
a children's parable adapted from Conversations with God
Once Upon NO Time there was a little Soul who said to God, "I know who I am." And God said, "That's wonderful! Who are you?"
And the Little Soul shouted, "I'm the Light!"
God smiled a big smile. "That's right!" God exclaimed.
"You are the Light."
The Little Soul was so happy, for it had figured out what all the souls in the Kingdom were there to figure out. "Wow," said the Little Soul, "this is really cool!"
But soon, knowing who it was was not enough. The Little Soul felt stirrings inside, and now wanted to BE who it was. And so the Little Soul went back to God (which is not a bad idea for all souls who want to be Who They Really Are) and said, "Hi, God! Now that I know Who I Am, is it ok for me to BE it?"
And God said, "You mean you want to be Who You Already Are?"
"Well," replied the Little Soul, "it's one thing to know Who I Am, and another things altogether to actually be it. I want to feel what it's like to BE the Light!"
"But you already ARE the Light," God repeated, smiling again.
"Yes, but I want to see what that FEELS like!" cried the Little Soul.
"Well," said God with a chuckle, "I suppose I should have known. You always were the adventuresome one." Then God's expression changed. "There's only one thing..."
"What?" asked the Little Soul.
"Well, there is nothing else but the Light. You see, I created nothing but what you are; and so, there is no easy way for you to experience yourself as Who You Are, since there is nothing that you are not."
"Huh?" said the Little Soul, who was now a little confused.
"Think of it this way," said God. "You are like a candle in the Sun. Oh, you're there all right. Along with a million, ka-gillion other candles who make up the Sun. And the sun would not be the Sun without you. Nay, it would be a sun without one of its candles... and that would not be the Sun at all, for it would not shine as brightly. Yet, how to know yourself as the Light when you are amidst the Light-- that is the question."
"Well," the Little Soul perked up, "you're God. Think of something!"
Once more God smiled. "I already have," God said.
"Since you cannot see yourself as the Light when you are IN the Light, we'll surround you with darkness."
"What's darkness?" the Little Soul asked.
God replied, "It is that which you are not."
"Will I be afraid of the dark?" cried the Little Soul.
"Only if you choose to be," God answered. "There is nothing, really, really to be afraid of, unless you decide that there is. You see, we are making it all up. We are pretending."
"Oh," said the Little Soul, and felt better already.
Then God explained that, in order to experience anything at all, the exact opposite of it will appear. "It is a great gift," God said, "because without it, you could not know what anything is like."
"You would not know Warm without Cold, Up without Down, Fast without Slow. You could not know Left without Right, Here without There, Now without Then. "
"And so," God concluded, "when you are surrounded with darkness, do not shake your fist and raise your voice and curse the darkness. Rather be a Light unto the darkness, and don't be mad about it. Then you will know Who You Really Are, and all others will know, too. Let your Light so shine that everyone will know how special you are!"
"You mean it's okay to let others see how special I am?"
"Of course!" God chuckled. "It's very okay! But remember, 'special' does not mean 'better'. Everybody is special, each in their own way! Yet many others have forgotten that. They will see that it is okay for them to be special only when you see that it okay for you to be special."
"Wow," said the Little Soul, dancing and skipping and laughing and jumping with joy. "I can be a special as I want to be!"
"Yes, and you can start right now," said God, who was dancing and skipping and laughing right along with the Little Soul. "What part of 'special' do you want to be?"
"What part of special?" the Little Soul repeated. "I don't understand."
"Well," God explained, "being the Light is being special, and being special has a lot of parts to it. It is special to be kind. It is special to be gentle. It is special to be creative. It is special to be patient. Can you think of any other ways to be special?"
The Little Soul sat quietly for a moment. "I can think of lots of ways to be special!" the Little Soul then exclaimed. "It is special to be helpful. It is special to be sharing. It is special to be friendly. It is special to be considerate of others!"
"Yes!" God agreed, "and you can be all of those things, or any part of part of 'special' you wish to be, at any moment. That is what it means to be the Light."
"I know what I want to be, I know what I want to be!" the Little Soul announced with great excitement. "I want to be the part of special called forgiving. Isn't it special to be forgiving?"
"Oh, yes," God assured the Little Soul. "That is very special."
"Okay," said the Little Soul. "That is what I want to be. I want to be forgiving. I want to experience myself as that."
"Good," said God, "but there is one thing you should know."
The Little Soul was becoming a bit impatient now. It always seemed as though there were some complication.
"What is it?" the Little Soul sighed.
"There is no one to forgive."
"No one?" The Little Soul could hardly believe what had been said.
"No one!" God repeated.
"Everything I have made is perfect. There is not a single soul in all creation less perfect than you. Look around you."
It was then that the Little Soul realized a large crowd had gathered. Souls had come from far and wide-- from all over the Kingdom-- for the word had gone forth that the Little Soul was having this extraordinary conversation with God, and everyone wanted to hear what they were saying.
Looking at the countless of other souls gathered there, the Little Soul had to agree. None appear less wonderful, less magnificent, or less perfect than the Little Soul itself. Such was the wonder of the souls gathered around, and so bright was their Light, that the Little Soul could scarcely gaze upon them.
"Who, then, to forgive?" asked God.
"Boy, this is going to be no fun at all!" grumbled the Little Soul. "I wanted to experience myself as One Who Forgives. I wanted to know what that part of special felt like."
And the Little Soul learned what it must feel like to be sad. But just then a Friendly Soul stepped forward from the crowd. "Not to worry, Little Soul," the Friendly Soul said, "I will help you."
"You will?" the Little Soul brightened. "But what can you do?"
"Why, I can give you someone to forgive!"
"You can?"
"Certainly!" chirped the Friendly Soul. "I can come into your next lifetime and do something for you to forgive."
"But why? Why would you do that?" the Little Soul asked. "You, who are a Being of such utter perfection! You who can vibrate with such a speed that it creates a Light so bright that I can hardly gaze upon you! What could cause you to want to slow down your vibration to such a speed that your bright Light would become dark and dense? What could cause you-- who are so light that you dance upon the stars and move throughout the Kingdom with the speed of your thought-- to come into my life and make yourself so heavy that you could do this bad thing?"
"Simple," the Friendly Soul said. "I would do it because I love you."
The Little Soul seemed surprised at the answer.
"Don't be so amazed," said the Friendly Soul, "you have done the same thing for me. Don't you remember? Oh, we have danced together, you and I, many times. Through the eons and across all the ages have we danced. Across all time and in many places have we played together. You just don't remember.
"We have both been All Of It. We have been the Up and the Down of it, the Left and the Right of it. We have been the Here and the There of it, the Now and the Then of it. We have been the male and the female, the good and the bad-- we have both been the victim and the villain of it.
"Thus have we come together, you and I, many times before; each bringing to the other the exact and perfect opportunity to Express and to Experience Who We Really Are. And so," the Friendly Soul explained a little further, "I will come into your next lifetime and be the 'bad one' this time. I will do something really terrible, and then you can experience yourself as the One Who Forgives."
"But what will you do?" the Little Soul asked, just a little nervously, "that will be so terrible?"
"Oh," replied the Friendly Soul with a twinkle, "we'll think of something."
Then the Friendly Soul seemed to turn serious, and said in a quiet voice, "You are right about one thing, you know."
"What is that?" the Little Soul wanted to know.
"I will have to slow down my vibration and become very heavy to do this not-so-nice thing. I will have to pretend to be something very unlike myself. And so, I have but one favor to ask of you in return."
"Oh, anything, anything!" cried the Little Soul, and began to dance and sing, "I get to be forgiving, I get to be forgiving!" Then the Little Soul saw that the Friendly Soul was remaining very quiet.
"What is it?" the Little Soul asked. "What can I do for you? You are such an angel to be willing to do this for me!"
"Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!" God interrupted. "Everyone is! Always remember: I have sent you nothing but angels."
And so the Little Soul wanted more than ever to grant the Friendly Soul's request. "What can I do for you?" the Little Soul asked again.
"In the moment that I strike you and smite you," the Friendly Soul replied, "in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possibly imagine-- in that very moment..."
"Yes?" the Little Soul interrupted, "yes...?"
The Friendly Soul became quieter still.
"Remember Who I Really Am."
"Oh, I will!" cried the Little Soul, "I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!"
"Good," said the Friendly Soul, "because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are."
"No, we won't!" the Little Soul promised again. "I will remember you! And I will than you for brining me this gift-- the chance to experience myself as Who I Am."
And so, the agreement was made. And the Little Soul went forth into a new lifetime, excited to be the Light, which was very special, and excited to be that part of special called Forgiveness.
And the Little Soul waited anxiously to be able to experience itself as Forgiveness, and to thank whatever other soul made it possible.
And at all the moments in that new lifetime, whenever a new soul appeared on the scene, whether that new soul brought joy or sadness-- and especially if it brought sadness-- the Little Soul thought of what God had said.
"Always remember," God had smiled, "I have sent you nothing but angels."
What is the purpose of life?
The purpose of life has two major aspects;
1.)
Perfecting
the
soul
-
this
is
the
process
of
learning
the
true
meaning
of
being
good,
in
the
absolute
sense
that
God
Himself
is
good.
This
process
is
one
of
testing
yourself
against
adversity,
and
seeing
how
you
act
(Love)
or
react
(Fear).
This
is
the
key
as
adversity
is
needed
to
provide
a
mirror,
a
test.
None
of
us
can
come
to
know
ourselves,
and
our
actions,
until
faced
with
a
situation
of
the
opposite
polarity.
If
you
wish
to
experience
yourself
as
happy,
you
would
have
to
experience
unhappiness
or
sadness.
If
you
wish
to
experience
yourself
as
the
aspect
of
forgiveness,
then
you
would
have
to
have
experiences
for
which
you
can
forgive
something.
2.)
Experience
God's
Knowledge
-
God
created
all
of
us
to
be
the
experiencing,
active
part
of
His
knowledge.
This
knowledge,
in
it's
potential
state,
is
not
in
motion
and
is
static.
All
of
humanity
is
the
totality
of
God's
experience.
Our
goal
is
to
perfect
our
soul,
to
evolve,
and
experience
is
the
method
to
do
so.
Perfection
is
the
process
of
evolving
your
soul.
You
perfect
by
experiencing
God's
knowledge,
in
both
polarities
of
positive
and
negative
(good
and
evil),
and
witnessing
your
actions
and
reactions
to
hardships.
These
"tests"
are
successful
when
you
come
from
Love,
compassion,
and
caring.
You
can
cannot
know
yourself
until
face
with
what
is
the
opposite
of
yourself.
It is all how you perceive, what circumstances life throws at us. In all actuality it is us who chooses and creates everything before we incarnate, and as we are incarnated. Each physical embodiment is "charted" and this "chart" is a covenant (or contract) with yourself and God, for your experience. You must complete it, through a number of lives if you have to, but you will experience everything you choose. We chose these inequities, not to learn, but to remember who we are. We are the best judge of what is needed to perfect our soul; the inner spark of God within, that knows the best plan for us. The planning process allows God to have His voice direct in our life and to have an orderly experience for all of His knowledge. The illusion of pain and suffering exist precisely because we perceive it to, as a tool to know ourselves.
Walking the Path
We
can
improve
our
lives
by
using
positive
programming
techniques.
Protect
yourself
against
negative
people
by
using
the
strength
of
your
soul.
Rely
on
intuition
(gnosis),
taking
"gut
level"
messages
seriously.
You
have
the
tools
to
discern
good
from
bad;
use
them.
Talk
with
God,
through
prayer
and
meditation;
staying
in
constant
communion,
and
aligning
your
will
with
His
will.
Negativity
abounds
in
the
world;
in
fact,
it
dominates
it.
Even
so,
in
the
darkness
there
is
light;
and
that
light
is
YOU.
Negativity
is
here
for
a
purpose.
It
is
a
tool
by
which
we
come
to
see
ourselves
through.
It
is
not
real.
Just
a
backwards
reflection
of
who
we
really
are,
just
an
illusion.
We
as
humans
constantly
are
bombarded
by
this
negative
illusion.
We
confuse
what
is
false
for
what
is
real.
This
continual
in-flux
of
programming,
from
the
time
we
are
born,
from
our
parents,
teachers,
and
society
at
large,
can
lead
to
negative
self-images
and
fear
(false
evidence
appearing
real);
which
leads
to
guilt,
addiction,
paranoia,
and
negative
behavior
patterns.
We
must
guard
against
those
who
give
guilt,
even
ourselves,
and
ruin
our
self
worth
as
a
part
of
God.
All
experiences
you
need
will
occur
at
specific
times.
But
you
need
not
have
all
aspects
of
life
in
misery.
We
can
program
ourselves
for
the
good
things
in
life;
for
the
strength
to
endure,
for
the
wisdom
in
times
of
confusion,
to
know
why
life
can
be
so
harsh.
Often,
just
knowing
why
we
must
experience
pain
will
ease
the
burden;
although
not
always.
Be
kind
and
forgiving
to
yourselves
and
others.
Love
yourself
as
much
as
you
love
others.
We
do
the
best
we
can
and
in
doing
that,
we
can
do
no
wrong;
no
mortal
sin
will
affect
the
soul.
Walk
proudly
in
life,
knowing
that
you
are
a
wonderful,
unique
part
of
God.
You
are
as
worthy
as
any
person
on
the
planet,
even
as
worthy
as
many
of
the
saints
and
messiahs.
Seek
out
the
positive,
in
your
life
and
yourself,
and
soon
you
will
become
a
magnet;
a
beacon
of
light,
where
positive
events
and
people
will
be
attracted
to
you.
In
a
positive
environment,
with
positive
people,
your
chances
of
becoming
negative
are
less.
We
begin
to
absorb
negativity,
in
a
negative
environment
or
from
a
negative
situation,
and
then
manifest
it
towards
others.
The
main
task
is
to
recognize
it
when
it
is
happening,
do
not
succumb
to
it,
beat
yourself
up
over
it,
fight
it,
or
sweep
it
under
the
rug.
Change
your
environment
and
your
perception.
The
physical
body
is
a
temple
for
the
Spirit
of
God;
a
true
house
of
God.
It
is
merely
a
vehicle
used
to
do
His
work.
It
is
the
Spirit/Soul,
inside
and
outside,
that
is
important
most;
how
you
treat
others
and
yourself,
your
patience,
tolerance,
kindness,
and
the
Love
you
show
towards
others.
The
physical
body
is
to
be
cared
for;
do
not
abuse
your
body
in
any
way,
unless
it
is
part
of
your
"charted"
experience.
Always
try
to
treat
others
in
a
loving
and
kind
manner.
If
they
do
not
receive
your
Love
in
a
positive
way,
then
simply
be
tolerant
and
have
compassion,
and
avoid
this
group
or
particular
individual
so
you
may
help
others.
Don't
get
caught
in
the
trap
of
trying
to
help
someone
who
refuses
to
be
helped.
Realize
that
there
are
people
who
do
not
want
help;
pray
for
them
instead.
Some Guidelines for an Authentic Spiritual Path
Love
others
and
your
self;
care
for
them,
and
be
kind.
Never
harm
someone
or
thing,
with
malicious
intent.
Do
not
unfairly
manipulate
others
for
personal
gain.
Worship
God,
however
you
may
know
Him.
Realize
that
you
are
a
beautiful,
shining
part
of
God.
Let
others
see
that
light
in
you
and
around
you.
Walk
proud
knowing
that
He
knows
your
name.
Use
your
innate
goodness
to
survive
life
and
do
the
right
things
at
every
turn.
Listen
intently
to
your
inner
voice;
let
God
run
your
life.
Be
like
a
beacon
of
truth
to
others,
dispensing
His
love,
grace,
and
knowledge
to
all
you
meet,
through
your
example.
Written
by
Priest
and
Rev.
G.
C.
Koukouris