III. The Holy Encounter, P 8
8 Power and glory belong to God alone. So do you. God gives whatever belongs to Him because He gives of Himself, and everything belongs to Him. Giving of yourself is the function He gave you. Fulfilling it perfectly will let you remember what you have of Him, and by this you will remember also what you are in Him. You cannot be powerless to do this, because this is your power. Glory is God’s gift to you, because that is what He is. See this glory everywhere to remember what you are.
Journal
Power and glory belong to God and so do I. I belong to God. I love to think that. I belong to God. Because it is His nature to create by giving Himself, He gave me everything that belongs to Him and it is my function to do the same, because it is the function He gave me. In fulfilling my function, I will know what I have and what I am. It won’t be just words and concepts, but will be what I know.
In addition, I am told that I am not powerless to do this because He gave me His power also. Finally, I am told that Glory is God’s gift to me, and that to remember what I am I must see this glory everywhere. I restated everything this paragraph said because I wanted to be sure I understood it.
It was hard for me to get what Jesus was telling me, and I’m not sure why. He seems to be telling me that God creates by giving all of Himself to His creations and that I am to do that as well. I think the reason I had trouble understanding at first is that I was thinking of myself as the ego self, as if he were talking to Myron the character in my story.
The ego personality cannot imagine what to do with those words. It has no idea how to give all of itself. Giving even a bit of itself often seems like a burden, and generally it gives only because it expects something in return. However, as I realized that this was not instructions to the ego, but to my true self, it began to make sense.
I don’t remember what this feels like, but the memory is in my mind somewhere, so I can retrieve it. I can find that memory as I let go of the little self I made to take the place of my true self. Jesus reminds me of my power and glory and this is something else I don’t remember, but it is incentive to do the work necessary to reach the truth in my mind.
First I know I have the power to do so, and I want to know my glory. I am also given a clue as to how to begin this search. I am to look for the glory everywhere, because if it is anywhere, it is everywhere. Not just in some people or in special places, but everywhere. I put this into practice in very simple and practical ways.
When I see that I am looking with my ego at another ego, I remember that this can’t be right and I ask that the Holy Spirit correct my perception. I ask to see the glory that is right before me. I ask for vision. I make no exceptions. I leave no one out. And I don’t tilt my head at just the right angle, squint my eyes and hold my tongue just right.
I don’t try to see glory through these eyes the ego made. I simply request that the glory that is of God be revealed to me. I give my willingness to see it. This must work because I am simply following the instructions I have been given and because I have been given the power to do this. Actually, I know this works because I have experienced it to some degree. Now I am willing to see as God sees. I open my heart to this. I am willing to put aside all other goals the ego has offered me.
So what does this have to do with the holy encounter? I understand now that it is the holy encounter. I encounter a brother and choose to disregard his appearance and truly see him. I see into him. And the glory I see there is reflected back to me, as I realize that he is the mirror in which I see myself. It is an amazing thing to glimpse my holiness in this way, and the reason I am willing to accept this as my function, and to look into everyone rather than looking at them.