What Does It Mean To Be a Temple?

Let us consider a scripture as we begin: 2 Corinthians, 6:16.

In these verses Paul is teaching the new Christians and helping them establish a new perspective of embracing the heart-centered faith and what that means.

16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols (do not think this only means statues of god/goddesses….it means the false truths we may be serving or honoring or to whom we are giving life energy) for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. 17) Wherefore come out from among them, (the public) and be ye separate (embrace a new identity), saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean (that which was forbidden by the law approach) thing; and I will receive you, 18) And will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty…

Around the world there are many temples and of many traditions. Wise ones who constructed those temples believing they were inhabited by divine energies or presences which were aspects of the Higher Reality which they worshipped. In each tradition certain requirements were followed to make the temple ‘holy”, “acceptable”, and proper for its purpose.

Temples were to be constructed properly with appropriate rites and rituals performed in the style of the local area and religion. The attitude of the people was expected to be one of reverence, sincerity and love or awesomeness. We know from history this was certainly the case.

Proper conditions were believed to be necessary for the divine presences to be drawn to dwell there. The great Neo-Platonic philosopher, Plotinus, said that when the temple is prepared properly, the divinity has no choice but to enter. Now we are beginning to hear that we can make of ourselves a magnetic that calls, invokes higher energies and influences and this is an unknown to so many. We must recall the role of a living temple is to serve as a bridge between the two worlds.

So we now think for a few minutes about our temple, the body we are building and the lifestyle we are modeling. The life we are constructing is to be one of dedication, refinement, and living in harmony with our soul. As we do we find ourselves impressed by the soul and we awaken to a great desire to serve the soul. This draws us into becoming a world server.

What is required to be a conscious World Server? We will certainly follow some assumptions from the Bible that we can understand. We tend to study inspired teachings from scriptures, other commentaries and mentors when we begin to prepare ourselves….we say to become a disciple.

First, we come to believe and accept that there is a One Great Creator and with this divine being comes a divine plan that guides the evolution of all life within it. In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being…

Second, we come to believe that each of us has an inner divine nature or soul that is the true self. We begin to move our attention from our personality with its idiosyncrasies to become more and more a vehicle of expression for our Soul. We daily prayerfully say the affirmation, “I Am The Soul”.

Third, we come to know that through aligning with the Soul we can contact the divine within ourselves, the Christ Within—the hope of glory and thus be in alignment with the greater divine life, as well.

Fourth, knowing the true purpose of life is to be a channel for divinity on earth fills us with great desire to be “a temple of love-wisdom”. Such a vision inspires us to naturally seek to serve the divine plan.

Fifth, from expanded consciousness we come to know the universe in which we live is only one of many planes, dimensions or realities that exist in the divine…our own experiences in prayer and meditation fill us with true knowing, not just believing…in my father’s mansion, are many mansions.

Sixth, Albert Einstein, the great thinking first began to teach that the solution to any problem does not lie at the level of the problem; but at the next higher level. Thus, to solve the problems of the world or to solve our personal problems requires we be in contact with a higher reality than our own personality. The disciple stretches his or her self daily to reach a higher level of comprehension so that glimpses of a higher way can be realized.

Seventh, and finally, we know that to walk the path of initiation we train just as dedicatedly as to be an astronaut. To be a divine server we must devote ourselves to spiritual development, purification, and transformation and meet the challenges Life brings which are uniquely designed to force growth in each one who embraces the path, most daring...

Most of us acknowledge we are in the process of growth. We have embraced the challenge as important. We realize transformation is alchemy and that we are walking on the burning ground…that challenge that will change us as we grow increasingly wise, not so much intellectually but in compassion. We do know ourselves to be on our personal journey to become a dedicated World Server, to be whatever that means. Therefore we are building our temple and dedicating it to service to the divine.

The process of transformation has a number of important elements:

• First we must practice silence, at least to some degree. We must learn to listen inwardly. The poet, Rumi, I have been reminded, once said, “The old life was a frantic running from silence”. To hear the divine presence, we must clear away our consciousness which is filled with lists, ideas, worries, that we dwell upon. Now we gradually learn to move that aside and listen inward.
• Secondly, we must honestly evaluate ourselves and notice that we are a divided being. Our emotions, thoughts, and actions are often in conflict with each other and even contradict each other. We must cultivate each aspect of our nature. I suggest we think of these levels as separate bodies, and move forward with dedication to upgrade each.
• Our next task is to spiritually bring them vehicles into a unified will. I call this soul-infusion. Paul Brunton calls it “the long path” or “the path of the ant” because it takes so much time and each must make such a super effort to allow the soul to guide how the parts will be brought together.
• WE must learn to face our life circumstances with neutrality and acceptance. This is not just being passive, but embracing/allowing with a particular receptive attitude every experience. Gradually we come to truly know that the happenings have some thing to offer. Rather than push the experience away as meaningless or resent the events because they do not seem fair to us when we are trying so hard. We really many circumstances do not meet our expectations; others do not be as we would have them be, but we will learn to embrace the situations knowing there is value in each moment whether we can see it or not. We begin by trying to be the truth of this statement and in time it proves itself. Again quoting Rumi, “the grief we welcome turns to joy."
• Fourth, we remind ourselves that our true nature and purpose of life is to immerse ourselves in mimicking the lives of the wise ones who have been close to God. We walk close to them seeking to resonate with them. By study, obedience to their guidance we seek to absorb their vibrations of unification and peace, to be One with them.
• We learn to live as if the Divine Presence is with us every minute of every day.

All of this is challenging thus this work is call self-transformation or the path of discipleship. Whether or not we travel around the world visiting the temples that served many people absorbing the energy there for us that has waited for us (a few years ago it was popular to call this reopening the temples), we realize our real work is to be a temple…

Communion is the great sacrament taught to his followers in the Christian tradition by Master Jesus, the Christ. As we accept it to truly connect us with the Lord Christ in the inner world, it becomes alive. After our invoking, we take the sacred food into our bodies asking that the divine strength its presence in us and be with us as we energize our intentions to live a holy life. We know when we pray such that life will provide us with the challenges and the solutions, the love and the wisdom each of us need to meet the experiences that come our way. Let us add the prayer of our heart-mind that we understand the awesomeness of being called to be a Temple of the Living God.

Thank you for pondering these thoughts with me. Carol

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