Gaylon explains the Variety of Oneness. While we are all given different gifts and life experiences, we are not separate, we must all work together.
Transcript
This “talk” is electronically transcribed. Please excuse any errors or omissions.
Gaylon: How you feeling after losing that hour of sleep? Do we need to shake it out a little bit, and make sure that we’re where we need to be. If you need to just shake your leg, shake your arms, whatever, move your body. Just make sure that you’re waking it up, because I need you to be present. All right?
Gaylon: I know I saw some people dragging in here. I saw you with that coffee coming in here like, oh man. The lesson today is the variety of oneness, and obviously it’s a part of the series We’re All in This Together. One of the things about oneness is when you’re having conversations about oneness with people in and of itself is something that normally a person will say, yeah, I get it, and they really don’t, because we view ourselves only in our separateness, not necessarily as one anything.
Gaylon: I’m me, you’re you, and that’s how I roll. Right? The more you look, or act, or behave differently from me the more separation I see. All right? When we start talking about oneness, and the oneness of humanity, and oneness in spirit, many times it is difficult for people to get a mental grasp on because we have a tendency to live in the illusion, and the delusion of human consciousness.
Gaylon: What I want to do today with this sermon is kinda walk through the process of what it means to have the variety of oneness, and then hopefully from this series, or this sermon … well, I will say this series as a whole, but this sermon as a part of the series, help you see your uniqueness in the oneness. Does that make sense?
Audience: Yes.
Gaylon: First of all, let’s break down a few words, because I’m a person who believes in teaching. The word variety. The word variety means the quality, or state of being different, or diverse. The absence of uniformity, sameness, or monotony, so the moment you say that something has variety you’re normally saying it doesn’t show up the same way as everything else. At the same time, we’re saying there’s variety in oneness, so one of the things we have to be mindful of is changing the word variety, and I want you to use another word. Repeat it after me.
Gaylon: Creativity.
Audience: Creativity.
Gaylon: Creativity.
Audience: Creativity.
Gaylon: When you recognize that you bring a certain level of creativity, which is your uniqueness to the oneness that changes and shifts the conversation, are you following me?
Audience: Yes.
Gaylon: All right. What is one, since we talk about oneness. Oneness means being a single unit, or thing. Being the same in kind or quality, so how can I be one when I also am showing up uniquely with my variety, and my creativity. I’m glad you asked. That’s what we’re gonna talk about today.
Gaylon: What is shows up as is a paradox, and this is the next definition before I start drilling down into my points. A paradox is a seemingly absurd, or self-contradictory statement, or proposition, that when investigated, or explained, may prove to be well-founded, or true.
Gaylon: What you will discover when you start to study metaphysical principles, principles around spiritual oneness, and spiritual law, that it seems as though it’s a paradox. How can God be universal love, and universal law. That is true. That seems to be a paradox. Right?
Gaylon: How can God be transcendent, and imminent without and within? That seems to be a paradox, but it is true. Right?
Gaylon: It seems to be a paradox because we’re looking at it from a limited point of view, all right? What do I mean by limited point of view. What I’m saying is the infinite does not come down to the finite mindset.
Audience Member: Can you say that again?
Gaylon: The infinite does not come down to the finite mindset. What does that mean? That if you’re saying I’m gonna put the universe in this box of my belief that is delusional. That infinite will not shrink in size so you can get a grasp on it.
Gaylon: Therefore, when you start to look at spirituality this is the danger of religion. Religion has many things that are wonderful. I stand here as a part of the community, so I believe I can criticize it as needed, as well as [inaudible 00:05:21] it. The danger is somebody’s belief gets crystallized as eternal truth. Someone’s perspective gets eternalized, crystallized rather, as this is absolute, inerrant, and infallible.
Gaylon: What I’m recognizing, that their revelation for their time was a part of passing the baton in a way that allows us to continue to progress. I wrote in the Science of Mind Magazine. I don’t know if you all saw my article on hardcore metaphysics in January, and February, but one of the things if you didn’t I’m sure back order it. One of the things that I wrote in it was that you don’t have to think like a first century person to practice 21st century spirituality.
Gaylon: In other words, I don’t have to think like 1st century Christians, 1st century Jews, 1st century Buddhists, 1st century Hindus, or anybody else, because the same spirit that enlightened and empowered those individuals is the same spirit that is working in and through us now.
Gaylon: Paradox. Quick story. I wasn’t planning on sharing this, but I feel as though I need to. A few years ago I was assisting someone in their wedding ceremony. I was one of the officiants. There was two lesbian women that were getting married, and before the wedding, the day of, Lola, one of them got the call from the Pentecostal family member.
Gaylon: You’re about to sin upon God. You’re about to go where you can’t come back, like Star Wars, going places, and universes, that you’ve never been before, and you’ll never be able to come back from this. Bible says this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this.
Gaylon: She asked me, what do you say about it? I said, so what? Literally, that was my response. So what? Why did I say what? Because the only question now is, now what? What are you gonna do? So what?
Gaylon: You can’t practice oneness, and then try to defend something on somebody else’s premise, and false premise at that. In other words, do you love her? Yes. Does she love you? Yes. Have you’ll committed to being with each other? Yes. Then you live your life, and let other people live theirs.
Gaylon: Now, let me get back to it. In the midst of the variety of spirit my next point is God is one, spirit is one, divine mind is one, God is omniscience, all wisdom and intelligence, omnipotence, all power, and I’m that presence, all and only presence, so before we could ever get to a conversation about one we have to wrap our brains around how spirit shows up, and how spirit functions in our space.
Gaylon: These words, these good big Latin words, only try to give us a glimpse of the allness that we’re really talking about, because the human mind really can’t grasp omnipresence. We talk about it. The human mind really can’t grasp omnipotence. We talk about it. The human mind really can’t grasp omniscience, but what it does is it pulls you away from the belief that God is some Santa Claus figure upstairs in what we call Heaven checking the list, checking it twice, trying to find out who’s been naughty or nice.
Gaylon: We started to think about a presence, and power, and invisible energy, intelligence that permeates the sustains, and maintains all of the universe in integrity that is the universe, and transcends the universe at the same time, now we can stop talking about oneness, because you have to ask yourself the question, if God is all this, and I am according to many religious traditions made in the image and likeness of it, where do I fit in?
Gaylon: Where do I fit in? Who am I in the context of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence? Let’s talk about it a little. Humanity is one in spirit. That’s my next point. Humanity is one in spirit. Human beings are individualized expressions of God. The allness of God expresses as the eachness of individual people. We are God’s idea of itself experiencing itself.
Gaylon: Let that sink in. I am God’s idea of itself. Let’s just say that together.
Gaylon: I am God’s idea of itself expressing as itself.
Gaylon: That’s what the image of likeness means. God’s idea of itself. Now, you notice I didn’t say himself? You notice I didn’t say herself? Because all of these labels try to get us back to human constructs. When I say itself I’m talking about power. When I talk about itself I’m talking about love. When I’m talking about itself I’m talking about substance. When I’m talking about itself I’m talking about wisdom. When I’m talking about itself I’m talking about life.
Gaylon: I’m not talking about a person. I’m talking about these attributes and collective ideas that make up what we understand to be God, or spirit, or whatever terms you like to use. One of my teachers Reverend Evelyn Boyd used to tell me when I was in class years ago, she said, “You could call it peanut butter, it doesn’t matter.”
Gaylon: You’ve heard that statement before, what I am seeking is seeking me. You’ve heard that before.
Audience: Yes.
Gaylon: Reverend Coleman used to tell us at Christ Universal Temple that what you are seeking you are. In every culture in human history has sought a revelation, a realization, of the divine, why? What you are seeking you are. You are. You’re not trying to become something. You’re trying to discover and then uncover something. There’s a big difference. We think that many times religion, or religious leaders, can give us something, but it is our job to help you discover something, uncover it, and then express it.
Gaylon: Here’s the thing. We can’t discover it for you. We can help you. We can’t uncover it for you. We can help you. And Lord knows we can’t express it for you. Here’s what we can do, and this is why I’m eternally grateful for the people who taught me, Reverend Coleman, and many other people that were a part of her team, some who are still active now.
Gaylon: The spiritual leader’s job, and that doesn’t mean minister, it could be practitioner, it could be you sitting and being committed for instance in this community to hold this community, and it’s leadership up in consciousness. It is the spiritual leader’s responsibility to stand in the gap in consciousness, behold the truth, behold the reality, even in the face of appearances.
Gaylon: Someone recently asked me in 1993 when I almost died from an asthma attack, and I was in the hospital for almost five days, and home for two and half weeks, and on two inhalers, and medicine, asked me, “How did you make the conviction? How did you push through that?”
Gaylon: Because I believed that the leader that was in front of me who I had just encountered three weeks ago knew something about God that I didn’t know, and if I could find out what she knew I could heal my body. I leaned on her faith. I didn’t lay on it.
Lola: Wait. Could you say that one more time? Monday night conscious leadership practitioners listen up baby.
Gaylon: I leaned on her faith, but I didn’t lay on it. I knew that as I held her ideal in my mind, and could lean on her consciousness, I had to do the work myself. What that allowed me to do was discover this indwelling God, she used the term indwelling Christ, don’t get caught up in the term. It doesn’t mean indwelling Jesus like some man is inside of you. It’s talking about God’s idea of itself.
Gaylon: When I discovered it for myself I was able to produce results. Why are you here? To express your variety. 1st Corinthians chapter 12, verse 4-7 says it this way. Now, there are a variety of gifts, but the same spirit, and there’re a variety of services, but the same lord, and there’re a variety of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the what? Common good.
Gaylon: We’re one but we show up uniquely, so we can express the manifestations of spirit for the common good. I can’t sing. You know, a lot of preachers want to sing, they’ll hum, hmm, hmm, all that other stuff, but everybody can’t sing. Everybody can’t sew. Everybody can’t perform brain surgery. We all have gifts that show up for the common good. Why? Because here’s the thing, hear me, we were created to work together.
Gaylon: Why? Because you’re individual souls, we’re individual souls. You are here to share your gifts and evolve as a soul. If you’re pretending to be someone else the world is robbing your uniqueness, so we get caught up without thinking about who we really are. I’m an individual soul, and I’m here to show up, and express, and manifest my uniqueness. When I’m pretending to be somebody other than who I am the world is robbed.
Gaylon: Let’s draw down on this. What does this look like? We get caught up in our personal identities and culture, and forget that we’re spiritual beings living in a spiritual universe governed by spiritual law. That’s who I really am. Not these rolls, not these hats I wear. No. It’s easy to get caught up in these identities, because we’re so invested in them. We think the variety is us.
Gaylon: You can go to a restaurant and see 15 different types of fish, but they’re all fish. You can have the same type of fish seasoned 25 different kind of ways, but it’s still perch. However, we show up in the different sizes, and colors, and sexuality, and all of the other stuff you’re still the image and likeness of God showing up through a vehicle that we call a body.
Gaylon: The most important thing about you is not the body. I’m not devaluing or discounting the body, because we’re spirit, soul, body, all are important. All are needed for the expression, but you don’t get caught up in identifying solely with just your body, and personal identity, because now you have neglected two thirds of your being, so if your spirit, soul, and body, and you’re only looking at yourself as a body, now you’re just ignoring the essence of who you are.
Gaylon: The part of you that is unchangeable, the part of you that you can lean on through the tough times, is the spiritual part of you. God’s idea of itself in you. That’s the power that heals. That’s the power that transforms. That’s the power that prospers. That’s the power that gives you peace. Not the changing dynamics of the human relationships that we have in the world, and our perceptions and beliefs that go along with them.
Gaylon: My last point is from Gary Zukav. A culture is a treasure, but identifying with the culture is a prison. Your skin color is a blessing, but identifying with your skin color is a prison. When you assert the superiority of your own way over others that is fear, and when you value the ways of others as much as your own, that is love. When you love the collectors remain, but the fortress mentality is not present, and race, sex, and history become clothes you wear, not who you are.
Gaylon: Now, let me drill down on this, because sometimes people try to … when I teach this type of hardcore metaphysics people push back. What’d you mean I’m not my culture? What’d you mean I’m not my identity? What’d mean I’m not my race? What’d mean I’m not my gender, or my sexuality, or whatever term you want to use?
Gaylon: I’m saying, and I stand on it, it’s not the truth of who you are. It’s changing. I’m saying whether you can accept it or not that this is not your first go around in a body, and I stand on it. I’m saying that however you showed up, and whatever race, or gender, or sexuality, or whatever, et cetera, was perfect for your soul growth, your soul development, what you needed to know, and I know that to be taught from the human perspective especially when we’ve been through pain.
