Biblical Quotations

What does it mean to possess unity or will? In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus speaks:

Father, if it be thy will, take this cup from me.
Yet not my will but thine be done. – Luke 22:42

And in Matthew 7:21:

Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my heavenly Father.

Will – Consciousness – Unity – Three Sides of a Triangle

Will, consciousness, and unity, described in the Fourth Way as three aspects of the same thing. As we are, we stand with Simon Peter in the New Testament. Peter demonstrates his lack of will, denying Christ three times, after asserting:

“I will never disown you.” (Mark 14:31)

Many other Biblical examples illustrate man’s lack of unity, lack of will, and lack of consciousness. Other stories show the beginning of will. Abraham agrees to sacrifice his son Isaac. Moses reluctantly accepts the leadership of the Israelites. Jesus tells Satan to “get thee behind me” in the desert. And Peter and Andrew follow Jesus when called, as do James and John, and later Matthew.

In Shakespeare’s Pericles, will, as in the New Testament, signals a submittal to a higher power. The lords in the play submit unto their king, with deference:

Your noble self,
That best know how to rule and how to reign,
We thus submit unto our sovereign.

 

Unity and Will as Properties of Man Number Five and Six

Unity is the property of a man number five or six, a man in whom higher centers begin to operate. The lower centers of man are full of division, each ‘I’ climbing over the next to emphasize its needs for food or sleep, sex, movement, feeling, or thought. Higher centers do not deal in division, but present a state of unity. In unity, will can begin to be found.

Will is self-remembering or, we can say, being present is will-power. The lower self is wilful–the Higher Self is conscious will. – Robert Burton