INNER CIRCLE: All Of Us Standing As One

SAYING 23: Jesus said: “I shall choose you, one out of a thousand and two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one.”

Here we have the same non-duality nugget of truth as every other saying we’ve looked at thus far, but the message is communicated in an economy of words.

Before we jump into the statements themselves, it’s worth noting that, in Hebrew numerology, the alphabet begins with “alef” (or “aleph”) which also represents the number 1, and, when used at the beginning of Hebrew years, it means one thousand. So, literally, one and one thousand are the same.

In Jewish mysticism, “aleph” represents the oneness of God. The letter can be seen as being a representation of the hidden and ineffable aspects of God while also signifying God’s revelation and presence in the world.

So, when Jesus says that he will choose one out of a thousand and they shall stand as a single one, this is not inconsistent with what Hebrew linguists and mathematicians, and perhaps even theologians, might already understand: the one and the one thousand are the same.

Yet, when we read that Jesus tells his disciples that he will “choose” them, it suggests to us, at first, that they are called out and special.

This is consistent with how early Christians used the term “Apostle” which referred to how those same disciples were “sent out” by the Holy Spirit, because the word actually means “sent ones.” It’s also similar to the original Greek term for what we now refer to as the Church which was “ekklesia”; a word which means “the called out ones.”

Both of these Christian terms convey the idea that those who are closest to Jesus are special, unique, separate and spiritually elite.

Right away we can see how an immediate “us vs them” mentality was created simply by the terminology that was chosen by Christians to refer to themselves.

For example, the term “sanctification” is taken from the Greek term for “set apart,” so to immerse oneself in this religious terminology would invariably lead one to understand that being separate from non-believers was built into the DNA of the faith.

Yet, here, Jesus subversively introduces the notion that, even as he chooses his disciples and plucks them “one out of a thousand” or “two out of ten thousand”, they are not separate from those countless others who are not chosen in any way.

Surprisingly, he turns the entire idea of separateness and being “called out” totally on its head when he says, “…and they shall [all] stand as a single one.”

So, our being separate from those who are not called or chosen is an illusion.

They – and we – are not fundamentally distinct and disparate beings. None of us exists apart from an inseparable connection with the Divine.

If the Christ who calls us out and chooses us, is, at the same time, “the one who fills everything in every way,” then “we are all filled with the fullness of Christ” whether we know it or not.

Our Oneness with Christ is what makes us One with everyone else. Whether we are “chosen” or “called out” or “sent out” or “set apart” changes nothing about our fundamental Oneness with God through Christ, or our inseparable Oneness with all creation through Christ.

Being called out or chosen may allow us to awaken to our Oneness with Christ, but it does not create our Oneness with Christ. Those who awaken to Oneness are no less One with Christ than those who have not yet awakened.

Some of us are aware of this Oneness, but we have not always been aware. There was a time when we too were oblivious to the Oneness of Christ with all things. We had to be awakened to this reality, and even now we may require constant reminders of this reality until we truly, finally, ultimately begin to live in the glorious reality of Oneness with Christ and with one another.

So, it should not surprise us that our awareness, or lack of awareness, changes nothing about reality itself. Reality is real whether we know it, or accept it, or believe in it, or not.

Eventually, Jesus promises us, we “shall all stand as a single one,” and all of us will inevitably awaken to this Oneness and share in it with one another, regardless of our condition in this specific moment.

What we see and experience now is not reality. Reality is that we are all One with Christ, and reality is that one day the veil will be removed and all of us will have eyes to see the glorious Truth of our Oneness with God and with all of Creation.

That is the promise we should hold on to, and that is the reality we should try to live within and experience on a daily basis, even if we don’t always see it with our eyes.

When Jesus calls us, he calls us as one out one thousand, but once we realize that both “one” and “one thousand” are the same “Aleph”, we finally understand what he is saying: There is no distinction or separation.

All are the same.

Keith Giles is the author of the hot new bestseller, SOLA MYSTERIUM: Celebrating the Beautiful Uncertainty of Everything, available now on Amazon. Keith is also the host of Second Cup with Keith, a new solo podcast available now on the Ethos Radio App, for Apple and Android and on Spotify. Keith is also co-host of the long-running HERETIC HAPPY HOUR PODCAST.