Do you recall the words of Glinda, the Good Witch, spoken to Dorothy in the closing scenes of the Wizard of Oz? As you might recall, Dorothy spent a great deal of effort yearning and striving to get back home from a place that was foreign to her. She was uncomfortable, she ran into many difficulties, and she was challenged.
Although she had run away from home in the opening scenes of the movie, after being transported to the Land of Oz all she wanted was to get home. She asked for help finding her way and accumulated a small band of friends also seeking to find what they lacked. She looked to someone she had never met, The Great and Wonderful Oz, to tell her how to get home. And in the end, the Good Witch Glinda told her……
“You’ve always had the power, my dear. You’ve just had to learn it for yourself.”
You Were Born With The Power
No truer words have ever been spoken when it relates to just about everything in our earthly lives. We have the power now and have always had the power to do whatever is needed to return home to our authentic self. Not only do we have the power to return to our higher self, we also have the power to maintain our highest selves. We arrived on this wonderful planet Earth with this power innately built in to our being. Through out our own yellow brick road adventures, we feel the yearning to realize that blissful state of perfection.
Jesus spent a great deal of his teaching time nudging his followers along toward this same realization. Many of the people of his day tried to make a god of him, as has always been done with religious leaders. But he said, “What I am, you are also. But the problem is you don’t know it. And my mission is to help you to know it.” In so many teachings and through his living example, Jesus spent his brief life on earth attempting to convince his followers that we have the power within.
Discovering The Divinity Of Man
In his metaphysical classic, Discover the Power Within You, Eric Butterworth writes, “Therefore, it’s my feeling that whereas tradition has emphasized the divinity of Jesus, and that goes without saying with most of the Christian movements today, it’s my thesis that Jesus himself taught the divinity of man.” This statement often shocks those who have not yet experienced Unity teachings.
Divinity of Man? Surely, this cannot be. Only the Trinity of God, Christ, Holy Spirit may be considered divine? But as we come to pull apart and examine deeply what Jesus, the Christ, had to say while on Earth, we are encouraged to consider that Jesus wanted us to know how special we are. And he wanted to demonstrate that the divinity of God is ours to claim.
The Divine In The World Is The Divine In You
We cannot blame anyone or any faith tradition for the different understanding of Jesus’ teachings. Neither our creator, nor our master teacher, were ever separated from us. Personally, I do not believe they ever intended for us to feel inferior to them in any way. I do believe that realizing our potential, our divinity, is truly a joy to behold, not only for us, but also for Spirit.
As parents, we know how wonderful it is when we witness our children being joyful, full of bliss, and reaching the fullness of their life’s potential. What we recognize as “divine” in the world, is actually within us. The divine is us, and expresses through us. Just as we feel joy when our own children achieve their innate potential, it is our Creator’s great pleasure to see that same potential come into fruition through us.
Trust In The Inner Christ
Father Richard Rohr writes in The Universal Christ that the love and essence of God is not only in his people, but also in every single creation. Father Rohr encourages us to look within and then to expand without. “All people must learn to draw from their own Implanted Spirit, which is the only thing that will help them in the long run anyway. Jesus gives them the courage to trust their own “inner Christ”—and not just its outer manifestation in himself.”
As Glinda so wisely told Dorothy, we have the power within and have had it all along. It is ours to claim, ours to grow and use. And as we are taught within the Unity Movement, it is the great pleasure of Spirit to see it so.
