The Parable of The Lost Son

The parable of the prodigal Son represents one of the greatest spiritual instructions in the history of religious education. It is an attempt, on the part of the Great Teacher, to show the God turns to us when we turn to Him; that there is an interactive action between the Universal and the individual mind; that the Spirit is swift to help us whenever we turn to it.

The ultimate lesson we have to learn is the unison of Love and Principle; the necessity of principle in molding a divine individuality and the necessity of experience in waking to this divine individuality. God is Love and God is Principle; the Love of God is omnipresent and the Principle is omnipresent. The Love of God is the Divine givingness: the eternal outpouring of Spirit through Its creation. The Principle of God is the Principle of Cause and Effect, which says that we can have only what we can take. Since this taking is a mental and spiritual (as well as physical) act, we can take only that which we are receptive. Jesus taught that it is done unto us as we sincerely believe.

In rendering the parable of the Prodigal Son to His listeners, Jesus began by saying that the Father (which is the Universal Spirit) had two sons, implying that, as the son of God, man has the right of self-choice. This takes with it the possibility of a deceptive duality (but, not a real one) and the risk of experiencing good and evil.

Moses mentioned the same thing when he said that he had set a blessing and a curse before the Children of Israel, and they must choose whom they would serve. The two sons referred to in this story; allegorically mean the two states of consciousness vital to real individuality. Man is a conscious, self-knowing mind, endowed with decision and choice; he is an individual and can do as he chooses.