“To teach thee that God attributes to place No sanctitie, if none be thither brought By Men who there frequent, or therein dwell.”
This is a quote from “Paradise Lost” by John Milton, one of the great thinkers of all time. It is part of the Harvard Classics, 44,000 pages. The poem is long, complicated. It makes you wonder if most Bible dogma, about creation, the war in heaven, Adam and Eve, is not a creation of Milton. For me it has been a stumbling block; it is not an easy read, I lost my persistence, my rhythm, my daily quota. I longed to be past it, on to more interesting things, but I realized I should endure, that it would bear fruit.
We don’t know the origins of man. Were there originally two? Science toyed with the idea of Lucy, one common origin. You need two to copulate heirs. How did the originals survive? What was the process of the evolution of knowledge? In the disparate languages, cultures, that populated the earth there was always basic commonality.
Who knows, exactly, how the world was created. What is paradise, utopia, something we all seem to seek and long for; all the philosophies, theologies, the various “isms” the pie in the sky constructs, the certainty, time and time again, that Nirvana is right over the next hill. All the ardent adherents, the fierce dogma, the wars, the gulags, the oppressions, the millions of deaths perpetrated by true believers, believers irregardless of the reality created. There is no sanctity in it. No place where God dwells.
Paradise is a mind where God and the man are united. It is the Kingdom of God Within. The individual is sanctified, as Paul says, “Takes on the mind of Christ.” It is a process of contemplation, submission to God. It is the essence of charity, all action benefiting all; “Without Charity you are a forlorn gong in the wilderness.” “Unless God builds the city, the builder labors in vain.” Christ sanctifies us. Love, according to Milton, is obedience. Christ said, “My food, is to do the will of The Father.” Paradise was lost through disobedience!
They could not keep their hands off the one tree, the single fruit. Obedience is hard for man. The tree, the fruit, might be a metaphor but it is a good one; we lose so much for so little. We obviously have a birthright. Why would we long for utopia, one last government program, one last crazy idea? Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of oatmeal. How often do we sell ourselves for so little. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet suffer the loss of his soul.” “My ways are not your ways, says The Lord.” “How often have I wanted to gather you to myself.”
Abraham communed with God. It is a lesson. We all have the ability to commune with God. Abraham was obedient to the promptings in his mind, the conversation in the mind, the contemplation, the seeking for knowledge, the revelations that enhance decisions, actions that lead to prosperity.
Abraham was childless; in those days, no children meant that life was meaningless. He perceived the inner voice, the promises, a son would be born, even if his woman was past the years of possibility; he believed that his progeny would be numberless like the grains of sand by all seas. He believed that voice, was obedient to God. He had the son. God asked him to sacrifice the son. He obeyed. He was obedient.
Is the story true or is it metaphor? Was the crucifixion real? Did Christ call out during the agony in the garden? Did he say, “Thy will be done.” Was he obedient? Christianity is born again, die to the old self, to be resurrected in Christ, to enter into the Kingdom of God, to begin the journey in the wilderness, to achieve, through grace, communion with The Spirit of Christ, sanctity. Enabling yourself to make holy your sphere of influence. “All the universe is groaning for completion.”
Palestine is not sanctified ground, murderers tread it.
Christ is not in any place. We have the opportunity to have him in our hearts, the opportunity to regain Paradise Lost, enter The Kingdom of God all around, here, and now.
Whom will you obey? Who has everlasting truth? There is no man that has the authority to lead the children of God, only Christ, The Good Shepherd, “My sheep know me, hear my voice.”
The world is an adulterated place; it is a Tower of Babble of increasing outlandish lies. Sanctity does not even dwell in many churches, false prophets and religions abound.
“If today, you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
Whoever unites themselves to the voice of God, is obedient, is heir to the Kingdom of God, progeny of the example of Abraham, one of the grains of sand prophesied. Is in Paradise Gained. These people sanctify the earth.