They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, “ Caesar’s men demand taxes from us.”
He said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give to God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine.”
As mental beings, we are prone to extremes. Creating dualism in our minds, we tend to go to one pole or the other, denying what appears to us as the opposite and contradictory side. Many people abandon God, spiritual practice, and spiritual community for the sake of worldly things, but just the same, many spiritual aspirants attempt to deny and escape the world for the sake of spirituality and God. Neither of these two extremes represents the enlightenment about which the perfect Master is speaking in his teachings. In either case, there remains an immaturity and imperfection in the soul and an incomplete enlightenment.
I certainly cannot betray my soul and my God for the things of this world, for nothing of this world will give me my soul nor the enlightenment that leads to resurrection and eternal life. I know what the pearl of great price is, and it is that alone which is worthy of purchase. If I do not have contact with my Neshamah, my Divine nature, I am not myself and I live apart from God. It is also true that the Lord my God has placed me in this world for a reason, that God has created the world and all who dwell in it. Just as I cannot deny or abandon God, neither can I abandon his Creation or seek to escape involvement in the world by hiding behind my spirituality and faith in heaven. In truth, as a human being, created in the image of God as a co-creator and partner with him, it is my role in Creation to uplift Creation to God and to bring God down into Creation—to live in such a way as to unite heaven and earth.
If I establish myself in a Spirit-connectedness and take up the Divine Life, but deny the world and retreat from it, seeking escape from my responsibilities in the world, how shall I practically bear forth the Word of God and extend the Light? If I do not live in the world, how shall I labor effectively to win souls for heaven’s sake or for the resurrection of the world? It is just the same with the person who does not labor for the sake of heaven—how shall they expect to enter into heaven when they have made no place for themselves there while in this life?
More profoundly, there is this point: Who is it that makes a separation and division between heaven and earth, between the human soul and God, and thus would divide spiritual and material life? Whatever separation or division there appears to be, it is only in the mind, a product of mental being as yet incomplete in evolution. For the real truth is this: there is no separation between the earth and the heavens, nor between the living soul and God. Where there is division, it is the creation of the human being on account of fundamental ignorance. Hence, both extremes of seeking only the world or seeking only God are the product of ignorance, the domain of the evil one.
If I realize the unity underlying all of Creation, both the heavens and the earth, there is no more delusion that a choice is to be made between one or the other. I come to understand the interconnection and interdependence of heaven and earth, the Creator and creature, and seek the fulfillment of both creature and Creator in conscious union. It is this very unity the Master is speaking about in this teaching, suggesting that duty in the world, duty to God, and duty to the holy tzaddik are, in fact, one unified duty or responsibility—a duty to life, light, love, and liberty.
God abides in heaven above, and above the heavens, transcendent of Creation, yet the Spirit of God is also in Creation and all creatures. My duty and responsibility to God’s creatures is equally my duty and responsibility to God. There is no separation or division whatsoever.
Just as all direct activities of Gnostic worship, such as prayer, meditation, and so on, are a duty or responsibility of my soul to God and serve as vehicles for the Holy Spirit, so also are my mundane activities and responsibilities potential vehicles of God’s Spirit and are as important to my spiritual evolution. The whole of my life is a vehicle for the Truth and Light, including matters of work, family, and the community at large. In the midst of the mundane world and my daily living, not only through my words but through my behavior and actions, I must bear forth the Light and the Word of God. How I respond in any given situation or go about any given activity directly reflects upon my faith, all of the faithful, and upon God to anyone who is watching. This I must bear in mind each day and so live in such a way as to bring light and hope among the people. And surely to live in the way of righteousness is its own reward on earth and in heaven.
Whether in spiritual community or in the midst of unenlightened society, the duty of the faithful and elect is always to reflect the Spirit and Truth, and moreover, to utilize every circumstance, situation, event, or activity of life as a vehicle of the Holy Spirit. While a yearning for mystical experience is good, which illuminates the individual, so also is the yearning and labor for historical and social justice, which is the illumination of a whole society of individuals. I am placed here, in this world, by God for this divine labor. As long as I am in this world, it is the duty of my soul to act as a conscious agent of God in both the mundane and supramundane dimensions of life. Save that I am fully in the world while maintaining a higher rung of enlightenment, I cannot labor for the upliftment of humanity and the transformation of the world. We have a duty to our society and to God, and it is the same sacred task—the Divine Life.