Dr. Royal accepts that Jesus expressed the Christ nature, and expressed It perfectly. The Christ is “the only begotten son of God,” and lies at the center of all person’s lives. Jesus was a person like the rest of us except that he came to know himself fully. He found the Christ at the center of his life, and allowed the Christ to express him. The recognition that we are all at center Christ beings is what Jesus was teaching us. The Christ is waiting within all of us “to be expressed.” That is, the Christ is the principle behind and within our greater expressions of life. It is interesting to note that the word, “Christ” comes from the Greek word, “Christos,” which was a translation of a Hebrew word meaning “anointed.” The idea that the Christ is within us thus includes the idea that we have been anointed or declared to have a divine essence at the core of our beingness. Dr. Royal does not emphasize the idea of people being saved as though they are dependent upon someone else in order to be acceptable to God. Nevertheless, he substantially agrees with the fundamental conception about Jesus as having been one person with two natures, neither mixed nor separated from each other. The acceptance of that idea throughout Christendom concluded a controversy in the early Christian Church in the Council at Chalcedon in 451 A.D. However, the words “neither mixed nor separated from each other” is better replaced with “the human self being One with God.” The most significant difference between Dr. Royal and orthodox Christianity lies in his awareness that all persons have the same nature as the historical Jesus had. That is, we generally agree that all persons, including Jesus, are made of the same substance. We often say that we are “spiritual beings having a human experience.” Why have the reports about Jesus claimed that he performed miracles on a daily basis and left a legacy of extraordinary proportions? Dr. Royal believes that it was because he knew himself deeply. If we knew our real nature as well as he did, we too would have similar experiences. Moreover, through these teachings about affirmative prayer, we are enabled to experience many healings and resourceful experiences that are much like those of that master teacher. Jesus taught that other persons who functioned with the same Spirit as himself will do even greater things than he did. This is not a claim that any of us have exceeded his manifestations of great deeds. However, as we express ourselves with the awareness that we are both divine and human, amazing experiences do occur. We can know that nothing is impossible, given enough positive and constructive thought, and attributing their occurrences to the higher power that indwells us. To consider the ethics of Jesus as the basis for being a Christian is a worthy reason to call ourselves very Christian. This is not because we would then be any better than other people, but rather that our interest would be to emulate the ethics of Jesus. His teachings are about unconditional love. They are about regularly speaking with the Supreme Intelligence, and doing all we can to adjust our thoughts, feelings, and actions to be in alignment with God’s wisdom. Rather than to react in kind to those who treat us unkindly, we are wise to turn to the divine essence of ourselves and allow a higher understanding to speak through us, responding with love and understanding. Everyone does what they do as a result of their consciousness of Truth. All of us are growing spiritually, and wherever we are is bound to be reflected in our considerations and behavior. Jesus was the great wayshower; we would do well to live by his ethics. They constitute the message about life that he presented. Again, the man Jesus knew how to conduct himself successfully. We are wise to emulate him in that way and in other ways of good. Inasmuch as we see him as our equal, yet one who lived more fully than most of us, it is obvious that others could become like him, and that this awareness means we all have that possibility right now. Thus, whenever a person has greatly benefited people and the planet, such a one has recognized his or her divinity along with his or her humanity. It does not necessarily mean that such a one would claim to be divinely inspired. Nevertheless, some significant inner sense of Truth has guided all such persons. Sensing oneself as in some way simultaneously divine and human is the basis for these great ones. We would include great avatars of other religions like Buddha and Lao Tzu. We would add Socrates and Plato. Einstein and Thomas Edison were greatly expressed too. All of us have the latent and too often dormant ability to express divine action in any situation. To discover how to do this is to know how to think deeply and feel sufficiently to embed great thoughts into mind. Of course, when that is done, actions must follow. Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Helen Keller, and Carl Sagan all demonstrated an interest to act out their convictions. Something greater than their biochemical, physical natures moved these persons to be benefactors of our greater livingness. The most wonderful thing we can do is to get in touch with the Christ or the deep inner essence of who we are, and combine it with everything else we already know. Dr. Royal is not interested to save people, because they are already whole, perfect, and complete; they simply need to learn who they are. Jesus told us that he came that we might “have life, and have it abundantly.” (John, 10:10). It is Dr. Royal’s interest to assist people to discover what he meant. Jesus also said, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” (John, 5:22). We consider that we are all sons and daughters of God, but we have used our judgments carelessly. We are not all that we can be until we think and feel positively, constructively, and without malice. As we do this, all threats that we have imagined as coming from God will fall away, because, again, as Jesus said, “The Father judges no one.” All judgments of our lives are given by the sons and daughters. We simply need to think better of ourselves, to follow the teachings of Jesus and/or the other great avatars, and the great wisdom that lies deeply within us.
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