The Book of Oneness

The Book of Oneness

By Jeff Munnis

Published by Rocket House at Smashwords

© 2014 Jeff Munnis

www.jeffmunnis.com

www.rockethouse.co

NewRevised Standard Version Bible, © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

English translation of Deuteronomy reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The new JPS translation to the traditional Hebrew text, ©1985 by The Jewish Publication Society, with the permission of the publisher.

To Stelli, my wife and partner,

who is a constant source of inspiration and love,

with thanks for her commitment to me

and the work I have chosen.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

How to Use this Book

Chapter 1: MEDITATION

Possible Experiences During Meditation

Benefits of Meditation

Establishing a Basic Meditation Practice

Establishing a Christ-Centered Meditation Practice

Chapter 2: STAGES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Stage One: Beginning of Self-Awareness

Stage Two: Author of Our Own Story

Stage Three: Discovery of the Unconscious

Stage Four: Recognizing Unity

Stage Five: Recognizing Our Identity

Stage Six: Embodied Spirituality

Stage Seven: Oneness with God

Chapter 3: DAILY PRAYERS

Morning Prayers

Mid-Day Prayers

Evening Prayers

Additional Prayers

Chapter 4: TOPICS FOR CONTEMPLATION

Moral Action

Fulfilling the Law and the Prophets

Falsely Attributing to Oneself What Belongs to God

Right Action

The Alien or Stranger

Virtue

God

Law of Creation

Wisdom

Covenantal Relationships

Repentance

The Eye is the Lamp of the Body

Come and See

Incarnation

Cooperation

The Inner Condition of a Person

The False Self

Hidden Knowledge

Stumbling

Knowledge

Meditation

Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

Anticipation

Contemplation

Grace

Forgiveness

Oneness

Christ In You

The Human and the Divine

The Image of God

Steadfast Love

Identity

Love and Truth

Divine Order

The Mind of Christ

Regeneration

Bear Witness to the Truth

Ruling Love

Seeking Justice

Goodness

Purpose

Four Loves

Freedom

Peace

Time

Vastation

Resurrection

Faith

Love

Presence

Illumination

References

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The description of the stages of spiritual growth in The Book of Oneness is my own, but there are several models that have influenced my thought. They are Emmanuel Swedenborg’s (2008) description of the successive states of regeneration of a human being in Secrets of Heaven, the seven stages of true insight described in chapter two of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Bryant, 2009; Davis, 2004), Stages of Faith (Fowler, 1995), Ego and Archetype (Edinger, 1992), and Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Jung, 1978).

I extend my heartfelt thanks to Sue Grossbauer and Natassia Williams of the Grossbauer Group, who read, re-read, helped edit, and contributed much help in the preparation of this book for publication.

I’d especially like to thank my wife, Stelli, who made important contributions to this book through her reading, commentary, and editorial work. Her interest helped me in my effort to make the book easier to read and understand. Stelli brings an awareness and commitment to the truth in everything she does. I cannot imagine a better companion for my journey.

PREFACE

I’ve always felt a deep, inner calling to be connected to God. Even as a young child I had a strong sense of purpose and felt different from those around me, including my family. For a long period, I followed the wisdom of the world and did the things I was taught to do: I worked hard, moved up in the world, and was a good provider for my family. It wasn’t until much later when I developed a greater understanding of myself, my calling, and life purpose that I understood how different the path of oneness truly is. The wisdom of God can only be grasped by going within, by listening, and through a process of inner transformation. This book describes that process, and outlines the stages of spiritual development that people go through as they grow in oneness with God. The book is also a reflection of my own personal experience as I have journeyed on this path, including personal revelations I refer to as the readings that have come through me to aid in my understanding.

The readings began coming through me in November of 2003, when my wife, Stelli, and I were sitting in our apartment in Palo Alto, California, in the early evening. It was dark outside and I was sitting at a table in our living room. Stelli was in a chair across the room from me. I remember vividly the feeling in my body: my skin tingled and it seemed as if every molecule of my physical being began vibrating at a very high frequency. I looked at my hands and it appeared to me as if they were sinking into the table. Surprised, I pulled them back and they seemed to pass right through the table to my lap. I asked Stelli if she could see what happened and she said that my skin appeared transparent. Soon the intense vibration ended and if I had not spoken with Stelli during part of the experience, I might have thought I’d dozed off and was dreaming. While this part of my experience was startling, and has not been repeated, it marked the beginning of new experiences that challenged my understanding of myself.

I went unconscious for a short time after the feelings of intense vibration. Stelli told me I started speaking about our spiritual journey and life, but with a different tone of voice. She did not write down or record this first message. There was a second, and perhaps a third time where I spontaneously went unconscious and delivered a message. Between both of us trying to recall these early experiences, we are a little unsure how many times this happened, but very soon Stelli began recording them on her iPod. After the difficulty of transcribing the readings from the iPod, she transcribed them by hand, then on her laptop computer, and soon she began asking questions as I spoke. In the beginning I was completely unconscious and had no recall of what I said.

I was 50 years old when these experiences happened to me. The word happened feels like the right word to describe them, because they were not something I consciously tried to do to myself. Soon after they begain I made an appointment with Arthur Hastings, a well-known scholar in Palo Alto who conducted research into altered states of consciousness. His recommendation was to listen as long as nothing harmful was happening. He thought it was a great opportunity for both Stelli and me to observe and learn. Stelli and I also sought out discussions with two intuitives, a friend Dr. Marcia Emery, and then through her recommendation, Penny Pierce. Both of them encouraged me to go beyond Dr. Hastings’ observe and learn to accepting, listening, and trusting.

Even with the encouragement I received, it still took me a long time to trust the readings. Stelli responded positively to them from the beginning, but I was more skeptical and all through this process I have felt called to look carefully and question everything. Now, after 10 years of experience I am able to accept the process and the content of the readings. I still have questions, but my skepticism has been replaced with openness and curiosity.

At first, during the readings, I was unconscious and would have to read the transcribed text to know what came through me. The feeling that accompanied the beginning of a session was very distinct. When I would feel it coming on, Stelli and I would find a place for me to sit or lie down. At times these feelings came on suddenly; other times I knew something might occur later the same day. Eventually I developed the ability to enter into this altered state of consciousness after meditation and prayer. After many readings, I began to have some memory of what was said, but very small parts. Today, I wake from this altered state aware of almost everything that has been spoken.

One of the most important messages that came through the readings is that all forms of revelation—the readings being one form—are personal and specific to the person to whom the material has been revealed, much the same way that dreams are specific to a person. Since the second or third reading, Stelli has recorded or transcribed every reading for the past 10 years. We would have been wise to learn from others who have had similar experiences—like Edgar Cayce and Emmanuel Swedenborg—who started indexing and numbering the content of their experiences and readings in a way to make it easy to find specific subject matter. We are on task now and everything is being cataloged and indexed in a way that we believe makes the content useful.

Useful to whom? We know the readings have contributed greatly to our own spiritual journey. Keeping in mind that the readings tell us that revelation is specific to a person, we first began cataloging and editing the information for ourselves. Stelli was the first to suggest that the material would be helpful for others, and making them available has become part of our purpose. This does not mean that we think the content should direct the lives of other human beings without being questioned. We are offering the content with the understanding that what we have experienced may help others along their specific path and purpose. With all the things in this book, my recommendation is this: Test and question what you read. If you find the material helpful, I am pleased that it can be of value to you on your journey.

Many spiritual leaders suggest that one should not share personal revelations except with your spiritual director or guide, but in most cases I have read about, this advice seems intended to maintain the student-teacher relationship and the accompanying power relationship. I have no desire to be someone else’s authority, but I am willing to share what I have experienced and learned. My heartfelt desire is that I fully support anyone I meet on their own journey to oneness with God. I believe that openness and collaboration, especially in the ways that help us in relationship to each other, are part of the reason we are here. God calls us into relationships in infinite ways, all of them meant to serve our well-being and wholeness.

Here is a reading that came about this book. The numbering system used to identify the readings is the year of the reading followed by the paragraph number.

2013-99 First we will say that The Book of Oneness is not going to have that perfection that you long for because this type of perfection is never found in a book. Second, you must remember that all forms of revelation are personal forms of revelation, and to take these forms and to try to make them universal leads to error. The forms are best expressed as simply as possible, and by this we mean present the material in a way that others can decide for themselves. The practice that each individual chooses is a key part of their own spiritual growth, so any formalized practice will eventually show its limitations. These are some of the problems that you both find with the church and ritual. In many ways these forms can be preserved and revered, but they represent ancient forms of consciousness and they are not relevant in everyday life for all people. For most, the resonance with these forms is the resonance found in the archetypal images, the power and the emotion associated with those images. And these change for people internally, yet they remain the same externally in the material world. This is the reason that each person must find those images, find those practices and those forms that they resonate with. Too much adherence to these forms leads one stuck in the same dimension or spiritual realm associated with the form. God, love, and truth, are very dynamic, and each person must learn to use the freedom associated with those dynamic aspects of God. So whatever form the book may have held in Jeffrey’s mind, or any concepts he had, these should be understood in different ways, in new ways, and evaluated uniquely. The mind will categorize and make divisions, draw lines or make borders, to make it convenient for the mind. In this book we have many overlapping themes, ideas, bits of wisdom, and revelations. As such it is one book, The Book of Oneness. It will be helpful for each stage of the process to be evaluated through the readings. Fresh readings should be given after each section has been studied, each stage of growth, and the edits that are made, and then further guidance will be given regarding each stage, and this will become part of the book as well. It may seem strange to have readings about the readings, but a process of clarification and organization will ultimately be the result. This should be methodical work. It should be understood as important work, even though you will be doing the work in the manner of a personal revelation to yourself. You are right in thinking that certain things will not happen until the book is complete. And it may be frustrating at times that it can’t just spill out onto the page as one whole, coherent, well-written, carefully examined and revealed document. But you are being given the chance to witness your own process. And in one form or another, each person on a spiritual path goes through a similar process. By laying bare the process on the pages, you will be exposing to those who will read it reminders, small points of inspiration, little gems of thoughtfulness, memories, prayers, and ideas that will prompt them on their spiritual journey. And you must do your best not to make the book a manual. It is not a blueprint or a plan that can be followed like a recipe. Just like your own journey, every spiritual journey has a beginning and end, with starts and stops, fun times, anxious times, clarity, and obscurity; you will not be immune from these.

I have included excerpts from the readings throughout the book. Many are relevant to the context of my own spirituality and the perspective I write from. Text that appears in parentheses reflects questions or comments made by Stelli. Names of friends and family members have been changed to protect privacy. A few minor edits have been made to improve readability or to provide additional context.

The following reading excerpt shows how the use of language in the readings is important with respect to who is speaking. Words in brackets are words I have added to the text for clarifying certain key topics. These are interpretive and based on my understanding as it has evolved through working with the material.

2011-57 You should know of the manner in which we speak to you. You have asked before about why there is the use of the word we. You must know that there is collaboration in heaven [other dimensions]. You must know that even though Christ’s voice is a voice of authority, many things are done in collaboration with those who attend to him and to all spiritual matters. And so, though we speak, we speak in harmony with the voice and the will of Christ. These things you must come to know gradually in order for them to be fully understood. You are finding and enjoying and living within the oneness of God and Christ. This is your path, and you will not be disappointed.

In my own theology and throughout the readings, Christ refers to the Universal Christ, something transcendent and more than the person known as Jesus Christ. The most helpful way to understand this is to think of Jesus as one who became the Christ, as one who merged into the Christ aspect of God, as might be understood in the first chapter of the Gospel of John where the writer describes the Word of God in this way: In him was life, and the life was the light of all people (verse 4) and The true light, which enlightens everyone (verse 9).

2012-246 Here is where The Book of Oneness is so important to Jeffrey’s work. The breakthrough in consciousness is poorly understood in Western traditions, and it is the desire of Jeffrey to accurately describe a practice that can lead to a better understanding of how the consciousness of Christ, how the Cosmic Consciousness of Christ, can be better understood and realized in human beings. This important work is gradually coming into manifest consciousness for Jeffrey. The writing of the book requires the change in consciousness of the writer, and this is why the process is so awkward and so difficult at times. It is easy to underestimate the change in consciousness required to articulate this practice. And Jeffrey should not be discouraged when it is hard, because it is difficult. We have the material mind, which has become aware of eternal consciousness. Being able to describe or make plain an understanding or a path to the experience of that consciousness sometimes feels beyond words, beyond conceptualization. Be patient. We are talking about the awareness, the consciousness that exists on the other side, or if you choose to say, in another dimension from where the mind exists. This sometimes is like trying to describe a shadow and an object, and the description of the shadow somehow will communicate the reality of the object.

The purpose of The Book of Oneness is the full realization

and revelation of God in a human being.

INTRODUCTION

The spiritual material presented here—a practice of oneness—is intended to help a spiritually aware person grow into and realize the full meaning of what the revelation of God in a human being means for us. First we must understand that a human being’s purpose is spiritual growth and development. The spiritual growth process and my experiences are discussed within the context of Jesus Christ and what it means to follow his way. My emphasis is on what Jesus said and did, a perspective that is open to spiritual knowledge and wisdom that values spiritual truth above dogma, doctrine, and creed. Each person is unique, and the way we integrate purpose into our lives is also unique. If you do not feel you have found your purpose, the process of meditation will help you find it. If you know your purpose, this process will help you fulfill it. Another person cannot give your unique purpose to you. You are the author of your purpose, and it is up to you to discover the ways to manifest that purpose.

2011-74 There is always a question in the human mind about purpose. This is usually a mental exercise. The soul finds its purpose in loving other souls and having compassion, and nurturing compassion for other people. You will find that almost all things that human beings do just happen to go on around a purpose of loving and having compassion for other souls. It is why every person can fulfill their purpose in whatever job they have, if they see their relationship in this context. There are many facets of love, many ways to express. One manner of expression is to be a companion on the journey with other people. But there are hundreds of ways, thousands of ways to use love in a fashion that does not take regard for what it means to be a companion. These ways are often selfish or very limited in their perspective. They are usually seeing love or using love from a selfish perspective.

Second, I work with and use the Bible as a record of the evolution of human consciousness and the evolution of the human understanding of God. The Bible was written by human beings inspired by their experience of God, but subject to all the limitations and imperfections of human beings. When the Bible is understood within this very human and fallible context, we can begin to discover the deeper truths that are part of the text. The Bible becomes like a mirror of human consciousness reflecting our condition back to us in much the same way that dreams reflect our human psychological condition. The very brokenness, the contradictions, the unreasonableness, the limited understanding of God, all can teach us profound spiritual truths—truths that should not be limited by seeing the Bible as historical or scientific fact, or limited by believing that the Bible contains all that God might have to communicate to human beings.

Third, progress through the various stages of spiritual growth requires a method of looking within at who we are—our motivations, our fears—and developing a higher perspective of ourselves as human beings. These internal processes are facilitated by the use of meditation and prayer. Too many people tend to avoid responsibility and accountability and sit back thinking that a belief-centric focus on Jesus can substitute for the necessary developmental work. Obedience without understanding—especially in a rule-based system of spirituality—becomes spiritual blindness. We miss seeing the true causes of our suffering and behavior because they have been repressed or avoided. This belief-centric perspective on Jesus distorts key elements of his message; it avoids the understanding of his example, and fails to understand that we must live out our purpose as authentically as Jesus lived his purpose. Through his manner of authentic, purposeful living, Jesus revealed the Way, the Truth, and the Life in such a way that they became synonymous with him. The same manner of authenticity is required of us to fulfill our purpose as human beings. Jesus calls us into relationship with God and each other—do unto others with love; giving to the least is the same as giving to God. A belief-centric approach violates this call into relationship because it denies the experiences of the other person. It begins with denial of the other person’s experience because it claims to know the answer before seeking to understand. The material presented, when properly used and understood, helps us avoid bypassing important inner work. The practices here help us turn inward in self-examination, and at the same time they promote compassion. The full understanding of compassion also means we must learn to love ourselves. Strong inner work of self-examination and questioning, through meditation and prayer, is what builds within us self-esteem and the ability to act morally in moments of crisis or doubt.

Fourth, we need an understanding of the oneness of God that includes our relationship with other human beings. This helps us understand our internal condition (often expressed through our intention) as an indicator of spiritual development. Many of the ways that we grow can only be accomplished through relationship, and this is why I believe that God calls us into relationship. Everything in this practice and in life work together. It is in our relationships with God and with other human beings that we live out our ideals and our purpose. These relationships help us grow. Sometimes this is accomplished painfully, without awareness. On a spiritual journey we have the opportunity to accomplish our purpose with awareness, and perhaps less pain. Love, compassion, respect, and humility are just a few of the ways that we relate to each other. Respect for life and the free self-determination of others is