A couple of months ago, I saw a video on Facebook showing a 9-year-old playing a jazz tune on the piano. He wasn’t just tentatively pecking away at the keys; he played as if he had been honing his craft for 20 years. He was jaw-dropping spectacular! One person commented, “Can someone PLEASE explain this!” It didn’t seem possible that someone so young could play with such brilliance and skill. When we see great potential like this manifest itself in another person, we may think, “He had this talent in a previous lifetime and must have reincarnated,” or, “She’s just a genius” and God gave her a special blessing.
The fact of the matter is, there is an inner splendor or genius within all of us: the Christ presence. When we refer to the Christ, we are not talking about Jesus as a person, rather the perfect pattern that is intrinsic in all of us. It not only manifests as genius like with the young piano player, it is also the key to overcoming any obstacles we face and healing any disease we experience. It is the source that enables us to do the greater things that Jesus spoke about.
Yet we may ask ourselves, “How can we release this inner splendor?” This presence cannot be given to us from the outside and we can’t acquire it by believing in an external deity because it is already the essence of our being. In other words, we can only become what we already are. Upon first blush, this may be a puzzling statement. But we must understand that we are all made in the image and likeness of God: the totality of all possibilities. That image of divine potential is inherently part of each and every one of us. It is impossible to be separate from it. Just as it’s impossible for a rose to come from an acorn, you cannot become something that you don’t already have in your design. Our job is to draw forth this potential. As Apostle Paul noted, we are here to “Stir up the gift of God within.” We have the ability to awaken the slumbering God Self on a moment’s notice to heal any situation, meet any need or achieve any goal.
When life’s obstacles appear or a big goal shows up and energizes and stimulates our imagination, that obstacle or goal is challenging us by asking, “Who in the heck do you think you are?” We can honestly answer, “I am an expression of the Christ and this inner splendor is more powerful than any circumstance I face and can achieve any goal in my heart.”
We can tease this power out of us using the mirror feedback technique, which is simply standing before a mirror, looking yourself right in the eyes and asking without a hint of whimsy, “Who do you think you are?” As you ask this question, you realize the truth about you: you are not merely a body, you are not just the product of your environment or at the mercy of your circumstances, you are the individualized expression of the divine that yearns to express itself as you.
When you realize this, you are unstoppable. And you are spectacular.
Peace and Blessings,
James