TOPICS: Carnal mind is a computer that runs the body – the dweller is a decision to hide from God – must be faced and overcome for each step you took away from God – difficult if you don’t realize this was a wrong decision – must recognize what decision entails –
Question: I have one more question in relation to my question of the Christ self and I AM Presence. Where/how does the dweller-on-the-threshold fit in to this picture? Is the dweller just another name for the carnal mind?
Answer from ascended master Jesus through Kim Michaels:
The concept of the dweller on the threshold was is comparable to the human ego, as that ego is described in The Inner Path of Light. That book describes the carnal mind mainly as a computer designed to run the physical body.
However, the term “carnal mind” can also be used as a general name for the entire conglomerate of the human consciousness, which includes the ego. That is how it was used by Paul, for example.
The expression “the dweller on the threshold” refers to the process described in The Inner Path of Light of the lifestream deciding to hide from God. As a result of separating itself from God, from the spiritual self, the lifestream started a process of gradually walking further and further away from God, meaning that the lifestream descended into successively lower states of consciousness.
For each time the lifestream descended to a lower level, it made a decision that caused and seemingly justified that descent. When the lifestream starts the spiritual path and begins to reverse the process of walking away from God, it must face and undo each decision that caused it to descend to its current level of consciousness.
Let me illustrate this by comparing the spiritual path to a staircase in a building. One section of the staircase leads from the bottom floor to the first floor, which is a plateau or platform from which the staircase goes to the next floor. Each section can be compared to one level on the spiritual path, so each level has several smaller steps.
When the lifestream starts the spiritual path, it is at a certain level, but not necessarily the lowest of the 144 levels of consciousness. It now ascends each of the smaller steps that lead it to the first floor. Each step represents a certain state of consciousness, a certain decision and an amount of misqualified energy. Each step is relatively easy to overcome. Yet when the lifestream stands on the uppermost step and is ready to move on to the next level of the path (the next section of the staircase), the lifestream must face the original decision that caused it to descend below that level of the path. That decision is what is called the dweller on the threshold. This expression signifies that the decision is waiting on the threshold to a new level, and before the lifestream can take that final step and ascend to a higher level of the path, it must face its previous decision and undo that decision.
If the lifestream adopts a systematic approach to the spiritual path and is willing to surrender itself to the higher will of the spiritual self, this will not be all that difficult. Once you have transmuted the misqualified energy and overcome any minor decisions made on that level, all that is left is to undo the final decision.
However, if the lifestream does not realize the need to overcome this decision, if it does not recognize why the decision was wrong, then the lifestream might fail to undo that decision. If the lifestream has not truly understood the need to surrender every aspect of the ego, it might tie in to the entire momentum of its rebellion against God. Therefore, instead of having to undo only one small part of the ego, or dweller, it now has to battle the entire momentum, which is often overpowering. Therefore, the lifestream cannot take that final step onto the next level, and it can indeed become stuck and perhaps even begin to slide back down the staircase.
So the dweller on the threshold is a valuable concept, especially when it is understood to be a decision that stands in the way of the lifestream’s progress. The lifestream can overcome the dweller only by fully recognizing what the decision entails, why it was wrong and by making a conscious choice to replace it with a right decision. Obviously, each aspect, or layer, of the dweller must be undone before the lifestream has its final victory.
Copyright © 2003 by Kim Michaels