Cause, Expression, and Manifestation - The Nuts & Bolts of the Bible Message Concept 1

Most books created by Man begin with the basic concepts of a subject and then build on that area of knowledge by utilizing those basic concepts. Why should we view the Bible any differently? I do not believe we should; and pursuing Bible interpretation through this belief I paid particular attention to Genesis to determine basic concepts. I found several wrapped in allegorical language. These basic concepts help us to understand ourselves--how we grow spiritually, how we can go wrong, and they even reveal the make-up of who we are. This make-up becomes our image of GOD. Most of these basic concepts are easily seen in the Word Picture of Reality offered on this web site. This Word Picture reveals all of Reality which encompasses three realities. The first is GOD, the Creator and Absolute Reality (uncreated). The second is a created Spiritual Reality, in which Christ is born and grows. The third is the Physical Reality, in which we see ourselves living and breathing.

First Basic Concept

The first basic concept revealed by GOD to Mankind is the Cause -> Expression -> Manifestation order (CEM) of any changing reality (living). Few appear to recognize the importance of this concept. It reveals that there is a Cause of all changes that are manifested and that CEM is a one way process in any reality. Recognizing and accepting this concept also points to a First Cause--GOD. This is actually a very easy concept to prove if we just take a close look within ourselves and what is manifested in the Physical Reality. For spiritual Man, Cause is our heart; Expression is our soul; and Manifestation is our mind. Our mind is then part of the Cause level of the Physical Reality.

When we observe the Physical Reality, we always assume any changes in the reality to be the result of a cause. Many changes are more like a chain reaction or the domino concept. Man learns how the Physical Reality functions by tracing back along these chains until the first cause in the Physical Reality is believed to have been found. It would be difficult for a living domino in the middle of the chain to recognize that the first domino in the chain was pushed in someway by something other than another domino. In the Physical Reality, we have apparent first causes like the Sun that produces chains like temperature changes, which produces weather on Earth, which results in moisture at the ground level becoming clouds in the air moved by winds that take the moisture to areas for rain, and etc. It is difficult for us to prove that the Sun was started by a chain before it leading to a First Cause outside the Physical Reality. We must admit the existence of the chain of changes, though, because we can observe many such chains and trace them back to a certain point in the chain that we may consider the first cause for the chain in the Physical Reality.

If you came across a chain of numbers like 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and was familiar with the relationships of numbers, it would not be difficult to assume that the author of the sequence probably intented it to continue according to the same pattern; and the next number in the sequence was 24. In the same way you could assume that the number before 9 was 6. What we have concluded with this example is that we recognize the author's purpose. In other words we have a level of "faith" that we know what the author intended to have as numbers before and after the given sequence. This simple example illustrates the process by which we can determine GOD's Purpose and contribute to it. As you can see it is through "faith" which will be discussed in more detail later. The process requires a reasonable understanding of the laws of our reality; but more importantly an understanding of ourselves.

From where do our thoughts come. Consider this carefully. It is possible to prevent our thoughts from occurring by applying our will to the task, but it is difficult to maintain that focus or force of will. Therefore, thoughts that we did not willfully initiate will eventually be manifested in our mind. How do we know our thoughts are manifestation for us? We know because we only know about them after they have occurred. We are the reader of our own mind just as if we were reading a book. We can also direct our thoughts toward a particular task, but we still only know our thoughts after they have occurred. Just as we may use paper to solve a complicated math problem; we can also use our mind to solve problems without paper or other aids in the Physical Reality. With practice, we can improve this ability considerably. Since we can read our mind and have control over it through force of will, it is below the awareness of who we are--our soul. Also, since we become aware of our thoughts only after they have occurred, it is the past relative to our awareness. Since the awareness of who we are is always in the present, it is Expression. Following the CEM order, we should be able to recognize that our thoughts are initiated above our awareness--our heart or the Cause of who we are at any given moment in time. Our heart is, therefore, the future relative to our soul or the awareness of who we are at the moment.

A very important aspect of the CEM order is to recognize that nothing below our awareness can control us. Essentially, it is incorrect to believe anyone made us who we are. Yes, we may have ignorantly responded incorrectly in our heart to what occurred in the Physical Reality to become a person that is less than GOD created us to be, but we can change. The important view we must always have is that nothing in the Physical Reality can produce an incorrect life in our heart unless we allow it to occur either willingly or ignorantly.

This very important concept should increase our understanding of how any reality functions, the reality of GOD who has a Purpose, how we should view life situations and respond to them; and it helps us to understand the real problem when we encounter someone who has responded to life circumstances in a negative or self-serving way.

Yes, this concept is utilized in the New Testament also when GOD is spoken of as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are the heart, soul, and mind of GOD. They all exist in the Reality GOD is, but each is in a different plane within that Reality.

To better understand Reality, meditate on the concept of CEM and all the ways we can use the resulting understanding to grow closer to the person GOD created us to be.