Away In A Manger
Away in a manger,
No crib for His bed,
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down His sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay.
The story of the Master Jesus’ life was once given to humankind as an allegory of how each one of us, as soon as we have become sufficiently evolved, is required to conduct ourselves, not only in our daily lives on the outer plane but – far more importantly – on the inner level. The birth of Jesus, his temptations and crucifixion, illumination and ascension provide us with illustrations of the initiations, i.e. experiences every human spirit on the Earth plane eventually has to undergo on its way back into the conscious awareness of its true nature and oneness with God.
The tale of the baby in the manger and its visitors, the three wise men, contains a wealth of hidden esoteric wisdom. It must have puzzled the sages for a very long time why gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh should be given to a newly born child. This parable is filled with symbolisms. Gold stands for the Sun and material health, frankincense or incense for wisdom, and myrrh for bitterness and sorrow. All of them are gifts from the wise ones in charge of us and our world on the Highest levels. Because every child of Earth needs these gifts for a full experience of life in physicality, they are sent to every one of us whether in any given lifetime we are born to wealth or poverty. The gifts are teaching us how to deal with all aspects of the material world, with its great gifts just as much as the humble ones.
When we have matured sufficiently and learnt how to use them wisely, i.e. with the kindness and gratitude even the smallest gift deserves, we have reached the developmental stage of taking control of everything the Universe puts at our disposal. Yet, in order to get us there we first have to learn how to deal with the gift of sorrow and bitterness that is an inevitable part of every earthly life, for without experiences of this nature we would not learn anything. The gift that arises from any kind of suffering we have to endure is the one of wisdom and sweetness. And frankincense burns within us each time we are reaching out to the Heavens in true prayers. From human hearts they rise like incense up to the Highest and call from there the responses our souls are crying for.
Every child receives these gifts from the three wise men, who in the original prophesy were described to be kings. This is a metaphor for the Angels and Masters from the highest levels of life, who are responsible for the development of us and our world. They have been put in charge by the Great Father/Mother of all life, our true parents. And because on the inner level all is one, they are part of us. This means that they accompanying every soul through all aspects of its education that for each one of us consists of experiencing all levels of life. At all times they are guiding and protecting us and no child of Earth is ever left entirely to its own devices. Becoming familiar with the sorrow and bitterness of earthly life, as well as its joys and pleasures is an inevitable part of every soul’s curriculum in physicality, without these things no growth and expansion of consciousness would be possible.
In never ending cycles and circles the evolution of all life inexorably moves forwards and upwards – and we with it – onto ever higher and more beautiful levels of experience. Humankind’s destiny is indeed a high and holy one, for we are young Gods in the making. That is why lifetime after lifetime and round and round the wheel of life, whose symbol is the zodiac, every child of Earth must wander, as in this way along it can learn from and grow, each through our own experiences.
Every new lifetime takes us through a different sign of the zodiac. In each one of them different lessons are integrated and character aspects acquired, which are re-enforced each time we re-enter the same sign in other lifetimes. The more we learn to pay attention and willingly listen to what the stars can teach us, the more the signs can impart their special blessings upon us. To find out more about this, I recommend the study of my interpretations of the Sun signs in the Astro Files.
All the qualities that are in God are also in us and as earthlings each one of us contains the very best as well as the worst. Our potential is unlimited and anything anyone else can do, we can do too. If that’s what we wish with all our heart and soul, within reason the Highest will help us to bring it in manifestation, so that we may learn from the outcome. Any spiritual gift we acquire in the form of wisdom and understanding is ours to keep in all Eternity – no force between Heaven and Earth will or can take them from us.
Top of the list of desirable characteristics we have been placed on the Earth plane to acquire is loving wisely, the way God loves us, totally and unconditionally. This is closely followed by tolerance, honesty, integrity, truthfulness, loyalty, compassion, kindness and simple goodness of heart. We are here to develop the kind of gentleness that is by no means a sign of weakness but of strength of character. Any of these things can only be gained by living through all manner of experiences in the course of a vast number of lifetimes on the Earth plane.
In contrast to this, the material gifts the Universe so generously hands out to all of us are of a temporary nature and have to be handed back at the end of each earthly sojourn. Every child of Earth eventually has to learn to let go of them gracefully and thankfully and returning them in as good condition as possible, when the time for doing so has come. The most important material gift is a new physical body, which the Universe supplies free of charge, each time our education demands another re-entry into physicality. Our daily food and drink, clothes to wear, fuel to keep warm and everything else we find in our environment is a gift from the Creator to us, Its human children of the Earth. This applies especially to the natural world and everything that shares our beautiful planet with us.
In my view, the Christ child, promised of old, the one we and our world have been waiting for, ever since each one of us came away from God, is the spark of the Divine, the magical child that is at present in the process of waking up in ever more human hearts. Guided and protected by our inner teacher, our Highest or God Self, we have been placed in this life so that in the fullness of time each one in their own right finds their way back home into the conscious awareness of their true nature and oneness with God.
Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Christ child, represents the heart and soul of the whole of humankind. And the Star that stands above the stable of this town in which the child is born is a symbolism for the Universal Christ, the Highest and the brightest Light in the whole of Creation, the only born Son/Daughter of the Great Father/Mother of all life. From the spiritual background of earthly life S/He has always been lighting the way for each child of Earth, so that in the end its earthly self becomes of the presence of the Christ child’s seed in its own heart.
I believe that ‘The second coming of Christ’ has always been an allegory for this awakening of the Divine seed from its slumbers in ever more human hearts. That is why in my view those who are hoping that the Master Jesus will take on another physical form to walk in our midst as the long promised World Teacher, shall wait in vain and be disappointed. Even if the Master really had existed and walked in our midst, another appearance during our world’s present evolutionary phase would be undesirable because too many would be distracted from the fact that the World Teacher is an inner exploration. And that requires a journey which every soul eventually has to undertake on its own. Instead of continuing to search for outside influences to show us our way through life, we are here to learn listening to the guidance of our inner guide and teacher, the wise one and living God within. This is the only authority who knows the answer to any kind of question we may ever care to ask.
God is the Divine Trinity of the Great Father/Mother of all life and their only born Son/Daughter, the Christ spirit. This is the Universal power and light, wisdom and love through which all things on every level of life come into being. God is in everything and everything is in God. S/He is therefore present in anything that manifests itself on every level of our planet. On the inner plane life has always remained one vast living and breathing organism.
Because we are part of God and God is part of us, we too are in everything, even though during the early part of its existence in physicality our earthly self was unaware of this. Without us consciously knowing about it, we have always been in search of experiences that will help us grow in wisdom and understanding and lead to an expansion of our consciousness. For all human beings this continues until the outer as well as the inner parts of their nature have become consciously aware of the presence of God in every aspect of their own being, as well as every other lifeform in your world and all others.
Every particle of our whole being on the physical, mental, spiritual and astral planes is part of God and its essence is infinite and eternal. We are related to God not merely because our spirit is a spark of the Divine, but because every cell and atom of our physical body contains it. God cannot be separated from anything that exists anywhere on Earth or in the Heavens, i.e. the higher and highest levels of life. And nothing anywhere in the whole of Creation is beyond or out of the reach of God’s will and power.
Recommended Reading:
• ‘The Coming World Teacher’
• ‘The Road To Bethlehem & No Room At The Inn’
• ‘The Winter Solstice, Christmas And The New Year’
• ‘Christ The Redeemer’
• ‘The Jesus Mysteries’
This article is a chapter from ‘Healers And Healing’.
If it has whetted your appetite to read more, please follow the link below:
‘Healers And Healing’