Fence Sitter wrote:
Hi Sheryl,
Are Christ and the Universe the same thing in your view or does Christ have some sort of 'otherness' that separates him from the Universe?
Hi Fence Sitter!
Christ is within and also beyond the Universe. Some call this manifest and unmanifest, so that some of Christ is manifest as not only this Universe, but all Universes, and all Cosmic Cycles. And some of Christ is unmanifest, thus hidden, or a mystery.
You might be familiar with these verses?
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.
yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
but Christ is all and in all.
The problem we have in understanding is due to the delusion of separation. Instead of Christ being over there and creation over here, what actually occurred is more akin to creation flowing or outpouring in and through Christ, as though we are in the womb of God (which actually we are!).
And so Christ and all that has or will be created come from the same thing. This is why the analogies of trees and vines and blossoms. The kingdom of heaven is like the blossom on the tree of Christ, or vine of Christ.
But it is important to remember that the totality of the tree or vine is beyond our comprehension, all that 'exists' is the body of Christ. And so Christ is ever beyond us. The Infinite within and beyond.
Shalom!
Sheryl