"Let There Be a Firmament in the Midst of the Waters." A talk by Dr Ian Ellis-Jones. Copyright © 2024 Ian Ellis-Jones. All rights reserved.

Dr Ian Ellis-Jones (born 1955) is an Australian academic, lawyer and published author. He has also worked for many years as a minister and teacher of New Thought, mindfulness and meditation. He regularly gives talks and lectures to community groups and other organisations on philosophy, practical psychology, religion and spirituality.

Ian is a member of the International New Thought Alliance (INTA) and the Theosophical Society of Australia, has been president of a Unity centre in Sydney, and was formerly president of both the Humanist Society of New South Wales and the Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS). His most recent book is Making Australia Positive (2023).

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LET THERE BE A FIRMAMENT IN THE MIDST OF THE WATERS
by Dr Ian Ellis-Jones

[A precis of the talk]

‘And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ Gen. 1, v6.

I’ve held the view for a long time that sacred scripture makes much more sense when it is interpreted spiritually or metaphysically. What that means, among other things, is that many of the stories and events described in sacred scripture should be taken to occur within the mind or consciousness of the reader—that is, you and me.

The word ‘God’ refers to that ‘I Am-ness’ that is the very ground of your being, the reality of your life—that is, life in you, and as you. More specifically, the word 'God' refers to your own particular understanding or concept of God as a power-not-oneself, that last mentioned expression encapsulating the ‘real’ person that you are, as opposed to all those little ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ that parade before your consciousness and demand your attention.

Now, the Bible verse I quoted at the outset—Gen. 1, v6—when interpreted metaphysically, means this. Just as God is said to have created a ‘firmament’ to divide the waters from the waters, so must we in our moment-to-moment living. The word ‘water’ (or ‘waters’) is a very important word in sacred scripture; it refers to ‘spirit’—that is, your consciousness or mind. More specifically, the word refers to the creative process of mind dynamics at work in your mind.

Now, I’m not into Christian Science—although I have made quite a study of it—but as I see it Mary Baker Eddy got several things right. In the ‘Glossary’ to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mrs Eddy defines ‘firmament’ as spiritual understanding, being the line of demarcation between Truth and error. I see it this way—‘firmament’ is the line of demarcation between living mindfully and living mindlessly. Living mindfully is living from and with a choiceless awareness of Life as it unfolds from one moment to the next. Living mindlessly is living in bondage to those false selves, those likes, dislikes, cravings and attachments in our mind and body, which we mistakenly believe are the ‘real’ person that each of us is. In Truth, each one of us is a person among persons. We are not those waxing and waning false selves, those ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ that misdirect and mislead us into thinking they are ‘us.’

A Divine Science minister of yesteryear, H B Jeffery, wrote in his book The Principles of Healing that each of us must be a ‘firmament,’ which Jeffery described as a ‘firm mind.’ Jeffery advised us to ‘stand firm with your eye single to one thing only—the Presence of God.’ Another way of expressing that is this—don’t allow yourself, that is, the person that you are, to be deflected by the content of your consciousness or mind. Watch, with choiceless awareness, what unfolds from one moment to the next, but don’t identify with any of the content or mental wallpaper. It is not ‘you.’ Not at all.

We need to rescue ourselves, the person each of us is, from everything that separates us from the fulness of being. We need to shift our focus from a false concept of being to a right one, the latter being nothing less than be-ing-ness itself ... the one primal cause. At its best, every religion seeks to rescue us from our 'selves', in the knowledge that everything—yes, every single thing—is being created, or rather re-created, afresh in each new moment!

So, live mindfully. Create and maintain a ‘firmament’ in your mind, separating error (your false selves) from truth (life as it unfolds from one moment to the next).