What does Pentecost really mean for us today?

We must first look at the original meaning of Pentecost. It was known in Hebrew as the Day of the “Harvest of the Grain” or the “Festival of First Fruits”. It was always celebrated 50 days after Passover. The first Pentecost after Joshua Bar Josephs' Ascension was the time of the first recorded coming of the Holy Spirit's Baptism upon the disciples. Acts 2 (1-4). It signified a gathering of Spiritual powers for the purpose of harvesting the first fruits of Spirit, dedicating new forces of Spirit to unselfish service in the vineyard of the Lord.

“And when the day of Pentecost was fulfilled, while they were assembled together, suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues which were divided like flames of fire and they rested on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in various languages, according to whatever the Spirit gave them to speak. Now there dwelt in Jerusalem devout men and Jews from every nation under heaven. As the sound took place, all the people gathered together, and they were confused; because every man heard them speak in his own language. They asked, “How is it that we hear every man in our own native language?”

What does this story mean metaphysically? To understand this we look first at people, places, and symbols used in the story to better understand the different phases of the unfolding of humankind. In short, we look at what happens to us when we are in different states of consciousness. The Apostles or Disciples had, as we all have today, the Christ nature inside them. We have in us this Christ presence, according to Charles Fillmore, as “the universal divine idea that is the Spiritual Perfection inherent in all”. Charles Fillmore often bears repeating. We have in us this Christ presence, according to Charles Fillmore, as “the universal divine idea that is the Spiritual Perfection inherent in all.” We speak with the voice of our own holy “I am” and our words then are of Spirit. Remember that Jesus, Joshua Bar Joseph, said, “Why do you call me good? It is my father who is good. All that I do ye shall do also and more.” This is how he is our Savior, following the way he lived his life, not worshiping him, not making him a God.

According to the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, the metaphysical meaning of the “day of Pentecost” is that in the unfoldment of the Spiritual Mind there are periods when the ideas that we have meditated on and accepted as true spring forth into consciousness, becoming living realities in our life instead of mere concepts. In the awakening we get the fruits of the ideas that we have planted in our minds; we have escaped from Egypt, the land of limitation and darkness, essentially our ego self, and have entered into light, the “Promised Land”.

The apostles in this case were ready to receive what had been promised to them. There were three definite preparation steps that they took to make sure that this would happen. We must do the same. The steps were:

1. They were in a place of peace represented by Jerusalem, that calm and serene state of mind and heart, which enables us to rest in Spirit.
2. Their consciousness was unified; that is, they were together united in prayer and meditation. When our people (our thoughts) are gathered in the upper chamber (a place of high Spiritual understanding), and are unified in thought and purpose (in prayer), the way of the Lord is made straight. This can be done walking in nature, sitting in front of a lighted candle, or sitting quietly here in service with your eyes closed concentrating on your breath.
3. Their attention was centered in heaven, a state of mind that is an expanded awareness in harmony with thoughts only of God. In short, they were in “the upper room”, one high place waiting in joyful expectation. Their mind and their body were in a place of true acknowledgment and praise of Spirit. The result of this concentration is that the ordinary thinking mind, the conscious mind, and the super-conscious mind, the perfect Christ Mind which we all have in us, blended and there was a descent of spiritual energies into the body. They and we receive the gift of gifts – the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The gift of the Holy Spirit, which came to the disciples at Pentecost, described the first descent into human consciousness of that dynamic substance, which Jesus radiated when he raised his body vibration to that of the Spiritual Plane. “Divine substance, this radiated state,” according to Charles Fillmore, “is our supply of creative divine ideas in the realm of pure potential that we live in.” In other words, it is saying, “I am that which I conceive myself to be in Spirit'” While in this meditative state the disciples did, as we can do, they allowed the Spirit of God to move through their being as their own Spiritual Truth in creative expression. That truth speaks to each individual today in his or her own unique way of understanding. When we go into meditation we do the same three things as the disciples did, by focusing on our breathing, we take ourselves to a higher serene state of mind, we unify our consciousness by allowing in only thoughts of good coming from Spirit. Then in a high place in our mind, we wait, we breathe, and we wait in joyful expectation for inspiration to come to us. When doing this, remember Dr. Leenerts' explanation of the egos' interference here, calling it “Lily”:
“Lily's loose, Lily's loose, Lily's loose today.
Tell everyone around me to clear out of the way,
The things I say won't make much sense - all common sense is lost,
Cause when Lily's at the switch board - my wires all get crossed.”

Dr. Leenerts also told us how Eckhart Tolle recommended to control “Lily”. Tolle suggested for us to meditate in a state of detached or dispassionate observation, simply watching the ego thoughts float by without engaging in them. Put a balloon around them or see them floating in a cloud: but, do not argue with them. Breathe, wait, watch dispassionately, and breathe again.

Now in meditation there are periods, when the ideas that we have meditated on and accepted as true, spring forth into our consciousness, becoming living realities in our lives instead of mere mental concepts. In this awakening we get the fruits of our ideas. We are ready to act. We have escaped from darkness and have entered the light. We fill our minds with the idea that “I am Spirit” and then there is an inrush from the higher realms of consciousness that fills our whole body. We then bring the truth into creative expression, just as the apostles did, in a way that speaks to each of us in our own way of understanding. It often lets us know beyond a shadow of a doubt, what Jesus tried to teach mankind so very long ago, that we are the unique expressions of love and creation that holds us together and holds this planet together in peace.

Experience what meditation has shown us that a habit of praying, meditating, and giving thanks to Spirit daily will finally lead us to a state of exhilaration of the whole man, similar to that state produced by wine. On the Day of Pentecost the Spiritually exhilarated disciples were thought “to be filled with new wine”. People thought that they were drunk but they were not drunk on any liquid substance. They were fully alert, awake, and aware of all that was around them. Each experience of prayer and meditation adds new joy, new exhilaration, a new stronger power to express truth. Peter, Faith, lets us know that this new feeling is holy, not evil or intoxicated in any way. The mind is alert and open, awake and aware.

We are here to love and to create. Then why do we have so much trouble believing this, believing that we are unique expressions of Spirit, of love? Seeing ourselves as God sees us? Seeing ourselves as love or light or truth?

A potential answer to this question is as Charles Fillmore States, “The mask of the personality that we wear hides our real Spiritual Perfection. We see ourselves as our body, our job, our emotions and not our true Spiritual self.”

In A Course In Miracles Jesus said, “every loving thought is true, everything else is an appeal for healing and help regardless of the form it takes.” How do we appeal for healing and help? Look into your own heart. There we sense all the guilt, the thoughts and emotions that we are not O.K., that we are not lovable, that there is something wrong with us. Look at the culture that we have built around us. Is it a culture that has love at its foundation or fear? Love is not the predominant theme of our news media, our educational system, or our government. Instead, what we hear are countless appeals for help; a rude remark, taking or giving an offense, manipulation, violence in the home and on the street, our morbid interest in the problems and pains of others in real life, in reality TV shows or in regular sitcoms or movies, and, or our fascination with diseases of all kinds. What is an appeal for love saying? “Love me, please love me, help me to believe that which I have so much trouble believing myself that I am lovable and good.” We don’t have to look a certain way, be a certain way, or have a certain amount of money to be lovable and good. We will never be more than we are right now or than we were at the hour of our birth. Our worth was determined by Spirit at the time of creation. God pronounced us Good. We didn’t believe it. Jesus tried to tell us in hundreds of different ways. In Matt.22: verse 17 he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The “as yourself” is underlined in my book. We are to love ourselves. If we see the love of God in us, we will see it everywhere, for it is everywhere. We must hold and see for others what they can not see. We must see them as whole and healthy, and full of life, until they can see it for themselves, that is our work, that is our blessing, that is what we do here each week in our closing prayer circle.

Finally, as the disciples did, we can any moment of any day, go to our quiet high place, breathe and awaken our hearts and higher consciousness and wait patiently and openly in the realm of pure potential for creativity and love to blossom in us. We just need to get quiet long enough and still enough, and aware enough to do it.

Namaste,

Barbara