Understanding the Sheep and the Goats Part Three

Who Are "The Sheep And The Goats?"
(By John of AllFaith © December 06, 2007)
Part Three

Go to Part One (Click Here)
Go to Part Two (Click Here)

God is One.

As the Sheep act for the good of the Kingdom they are inwardly led, at least for the duration of their service. Being led by the One they are plugged into the Kingdom Consciousness due to their good intentions. Through their actions they are building the Kingdom of God as though one brick at a time. How can these Sheep be described?

They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water. (Tao Te Ching 15)

When the Sheep are under the direct anointing of the One they act as they are led, they are open to the Spirit. What is the Source of their anointing? Whose voice are they heeding? There is a well known saying of Master Y'shua that, "The Kingdom of God is within you."

Awesome! God lives within the Sheep!

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Do you hear the Master's voice? From time to time? The Sheep do.

People sometimes ask how I can claim to know for certain that God is real, as if the question is supposed to trip me up! This is how. I don't "believe," I know.

This knowing stems from the Source of the anointing. It simply is what It is. When we seek to define It we lose it. It is Tao. It is the point where all dualities converge into Sweet Oneness...

But... what is Oneness?

In India Master Sankara argued for Advaita, Absolute Oneness, demanding that only Nirguna Brahman (unqualified existence) is real. Saguna Brahman (qualified existence), he taught, is but illusion, a false dream. Hence all that is (or seems to be) is One due to its non-distinctiveness: Tat-Tvam-Asi: I/you/we am THAT.

Conversely, also in India, Master Madhva argued for Dvaita, absolute dualism, demanding that both Saguna Brahman (with qualities) and Nirguna Brahman (without qualities) are both real, but that the two are eternally distinct. Hence literal Oneness is not possible he explained.

But then came to India the gloriously enlightened Master Caitanya Mahaprabhu who expounded the understanding known as Acintya Bheda Abheda, which is to say, the wisdom of inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and diversity.

What does this mean? For our present considerations it reveals that those who hold to absolute oneness and those who hold to absolute diversity are both correct! Mazel tov! The Nature of the One, the Nature of the Spirit, is utterly inconceivable! Reality, existence, is inconceivably both simultaneously One and Diverse! Oy gevalt! Who knew?

This being true, and it is, then those who dwell within the Kingdom are boundless, beyond all limitation! They are free!

How can this be true? It is true because, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." If the Sheep are bound by notions of oneness or diversity, if they believe themselves bound by the physics, by human laws, by education, by gender, by age.... then they are not truly free are they! And yet what does Y'shua say? The Sheep are free!

Are you one of the Sheep?

Can you understand this? Can you grasp this truth? All of the limitations we accept based on our material confinement within these bodies of saguna, these bodies of material form and duality, are lies! Controls! Chains! For those living within the Kingdom of God there is only freedom! Every single limitation we accept is false!

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he -- Prov 23:7a

It is for precisely this reason that Master Y'shua promised those who embrace his teachings will do even greater things than he!

And they are!
Even today!

How and where are such things happening today?
Come back for Part Four!