Our Spiritual Identity
Photo by Travis
The more we know of God,
the more we know of
God’s man[-ifestation].¹
— Bicknell Young
Wait till you look within yourself
and see what is there,
O seeker,
One leaf in that Garden
is worth more than all of Paradise!²
— Rumi
Neither this body am I, nor soul,
Nor these fleeting images passing by,
Nor concepts and thoughts, mental images,
Nor yet sentiments and the psyche's labyrinth.
Who then am I?
A consciousness without origin,
Not born in time, nor begotten here below.
I am that which was, is and ever shall be,
A jewel in the crown of the Divine Self,
A star in the firmament of the luminous One.³
— Rumi
You are holy, because
I, your God YHWH, [am] holy.
— Leviticus 19:2 LSV
All that I have is thine.
[All that I AM is thine.]
— Luke 15:31 KJV
In the Science of Oneness, at-one-ment is not about unifying God and an individual; it’s about acknowledging the qualities of God infinitely appearing as individual, divine man-ifestation. As II Peter describes: “partakers of the divine nature.”
To be clear, from the standpoint of at-one-ment, manifestation is not a channel for the divine but the very presence of Divinity. It’s why we can acknowledge: I AM THAT!
To know the nature of Divinity
is to know the true nature of one’s Self.
It’s that simple.
As the image and likeness
—the very emanation—of God,
all of the attributes of God are eternally ours.⁴
— Expressions of Joy
The essence of any particular thing,
is the essential qualities
of that particular thing,
which give it character and substance.⁵
— Martha Wilcox
God said, ‘Let us make [a man-ifestation]
in our image, by our likeness,
to hold sway over the fish of the sea
and the fowl of the heavens
and the cattle and the wild beasts
and all the crawling things
that crawl upon the earth.’
And God created [a man-ifestation]
in [the divine] image…
male and female God created them.⁶
— Genesis 1:26, 27 JPS
Man’s inward reality
is identical with the Divine Reality…
While the other things in creation
manifest some Attribute or another,
man [and woman] assume the unique position
of manifesting all the Names [Attributes of God].⁷
— Mukhtar H. Ali,
from the teaching of al-Qunawi
Since the day
that God created man and woman
upon the earth…
has there been anything greater
than this great thing?⁸
— Deuteronomy 4:32
God’s work is perfect.⁹
— Deuteronomy 32:4 JPS
Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father-Mother which is in Heaven is perfect.¹⁰
— Matthew 5:48 KJV
All that divine Being is,
is mine.¹¹
— John 16:15 KjV
You were born from divine attributes
in the first place:
Now return to those attributes.¹²
— Rumi
Whether we acknowledge
divine qualities as ours
by divine emanation, reflection or manifestation,
they comprise our essential nature.
We are divine Being in action.
Enjoy getting to know your divine Self
more each and every day!¹³
— Expressions of Joy
Shake thyself from the dust.
— Isaiah 52:2 JPS
Cease ye from man
whose breath is in his nostrils:
for wherein is he to be accounted of?
– Isaiah 2:22 KJV
Metaphysical Science teaches
that one is the expression of God’s being.
An acknowledgement of the characteristics of Being…
is an acknowledgement of one’s character…
the character of your Self.¹⁴
— Betty Albee
A conscious acknowledgment of our divine identity makes spirituality practical and, therefore, makes Spirit-based living possible. How? By our consciously being divine Being in action.
For example, Lorene Lotz Finfrock writes, “The [homemaker] can bring into experience the [conscious awareness of] order, beauty, and harmony of Soul. Qualities of Love, such as gentleness, mercy, and consideration, are inexhaustible and equally as vital as the daily fare served at the family table.
“The [businessperson] can find sales work translated into service, expressing the inexhaustible giving of divine love.
“Office work will take on a new light when [consciously] viewed as an expression of accuracy, alertness, honesty, and unlimited opportunities for good.
“The academic student can find that scholastic achievements are [gained] in proportion to the acknowledgement of God as Mind and of [each individual] as Mind's reflection.”¹⁵
We are Divinity in action, literally an emanation of divine consciousness. Whenever, for example, we express loving kindness, tenderness, nurturance, appreciation, courtesy, etc., we express God as Love because, as the Bible reminds us:
God is Love.¹⁶
This is why we can—and why we must—consciously be God’s expression of Love. God is Love, and therefore as the image and likeness of God, it is our divine nature as well. And our neighbor’s. Yes, it is even our so-called enemy’s true nature.
God expresses in [each of us]
the infinite idea forever developing itself,
broadening and rising higher and higher
from a boundless basis.¹⁷
— Mary Baker Eddy
Let this [divine] Mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 2:5 KJV
(emphasis added)
Now is always the time
to embrace our divine nature!¹⁸
— Expressions of Joy
See also Divine Names and Nature and
We Are God’s Boots On the Ground.
Bonus
[Is all this blasphemony?]
What is blasphemous
is to…set oneself up
as a being apart from God’s being.¹⁹
— Rupert Spira
Waves of the Ocean
[1] Bicknell Young, Bicknell Young Notes of 1936 Primary Class Instruction, (Editions Bonne Route), p. 53 • [God’s man-ifestation] replaces ”man” AX 8171
[2] Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva, A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi, (Bantam, 1992), between the title page and the contents page.
[3] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Garden of Truth: The vision and promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition, (HarperOne, 2007), p. 10
[4] Joy Hirshberg, Our Spiritual Identity, Expressions of Joy, https://www.expressionsofjoy.com/readexpressions/attributes-of-god
[5] Martha Wilcox, The Martha Wilcox Collection, (The Bookmark), p. 68
[6] This is a re-translation inspired by The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary: Three-Volume Set by Robert Alter, (W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition), pp. 75-76 • [man-ifestation} replaces “human,” [the divine] replaces “His,” and [God] replaces “He”
[7] Mukhtar H. Ali, The Concept of Spiritual Perfection according to Ali ibn Sina and Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, (Academia.edu / Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies, 2009), p. 7 AX 7157
[8] A re-translation inspired by the JPS translation below:
For ask now of the days past,
which were before thee,
since the day that God created man
upon the earth,
and from the one end of heaven
unto the other,
whether there hath been any such thing
as this great thing is,
or hath been heard like it?
[9] Deuteronomy 32:4 JPS [God’s] replaces “His”
[10] Matthew 5:48 KJV [Father-Mother] replaces “Father”
[11] John 16:15 A re-translation inspired by the Good News Translation:
All that my father has is mine.
[12] Rūmī, cited in William C. Chittick, “The Descent and Reascent of the Spirit,” in The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1983), p. 81 • footnote cited in Rumi’s Original Sufi Enneagram Introduction by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos https://ia800703.us.archive.org/7/items/RumisOriginalSufiEnneagram2/Rumi%E2%80%99s%20Original%20Sufi%20Enneagram%201.pdf • p. 11 06.29.2022 • [divine] replaces “His,” [those] replaces “His” AX 7140
[13] Joy Hirshberg, Our Spiritual Identity, Expressions of Joy, https://www.expressionsofjoy.com/readexpressions/attributes-of-god
[14] Betty Albee, Look to Your Seeing, Rethink Quarterly: Experiencing Conscious Living, January-March 2025, (The Institute of Metaphysical Science), p. 2 • [one] replaces “man” AX 8148
[15] Lorene Lotz Finfrock, Spiritual Translation, Christian Science Journal, November 1965, (CSPS, 1965) • [Homemaker] replaces housewife,” [businessperson] replaces “businessman,” [gained] replaces “his,” and [each individual] replaces “man.” Please note that the emphasis on is has been added.
[16] I John 4:16 KJV
[17] Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 213
[18] Joy Hirshberg, Our Spiritual Identity, Expressions of Joy, https://www.expressionsofjoy.com/readexpressions/attributes-of-god
[19] Rupert Spira, The Heart of Prayer, (New Harbinger Publications, 2023) p. 11 see also https://youtu.be/NhDn4EoNybU?si=wt1evp7_SXCHbQhb 10.19.2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Yc_qOYoujk8 10.23.2023 AX 7407
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