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Unity Church of Castro Valley

Sunday Message for August 27, 2006

Original Peter Principle

Dr Laurence J Peter, educator and author, wrote the very popular book called “The Peter Principle.”  He was bothered by the paradox that in spite of all our marvelous technological advances, there is an almost ridiculous breakdown in the human element by which it is administrated.  For example, we can fly coast to coast in a couple of hours, but when we get there, nobody can find our luggage.  Or, our appliances can automatically do nearly anything, turn themselves on or off, tune themselves, almost think for themselves; but hardly anyone can make the simplest repair on them.

Good craftsmanship and workman’s pride are becoming rare.  And, although computers have provided spacecraft with every possible safeguard, the difficulty of correcting one computer credit card mistake can be staggering.  Many years ago, the “Unity Village News” carried a story about a Unity worker’s misadventure with a credit card collection.  She received a bill for $0.00 cents. She wrote several letters to point out the error, but each time she received a more demanding and abusive letter to “pay up.”  Inspired, she finally got an idea.  She sent in a check made out for $0.00 – and she never heard from them again.

Dr. Peter recognized that the incompetence that constricts us exists in the human hierarchy of institutions and organizations. It is in our schools, our work, and our government – all with their arrangements of ranks, grades, classes, and pyramids of leadership.  As he put it: “Along with all the glorious achievements, man has produced some horrendous incompetence.  He has developed bureaucracy to the point where achievement of the simplest task requires great amounts of time and effort.”

As Dr. Peter studied the hierarchies, he discovered that people in established organizations usually climb the ladder of success until they hit a lack of ability; and from this, he formulated his so-called “Peter Principle,” which states: “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

Dr. Peter has written a sequel called the “Peter Prescription,” which could be called, “A Positive Program for Protection from the Perils of the Peter Principle.”  But Dr. Peter has really hit on something.  Millions have read his books, and many executives and educators have taken them quite seriously, seeking a more competent way to make things go right.

The important thing to remember in dealing with the principle is this: Incompetence is not essentially inherent in life.  The universe itself is magnificently organized.  As we expand our vision of space (both inner and outer), we find that all creation is uniformly organized, proceeding from one basic radiant energy into a variety of vibrational patterns.  And for all living things organization is further evolved according to an indwelling plan dormant in a tiny seed.

Man, the image and likeness of the Creator – in Spirit – is heir to and potentially capable of incorporating all the qualities of the cosmos into his life.  But doing so isn’t automatic.  To develop his dormant possibilities he must learn to base his life on eternal Truth and work with the spiritual principles and laws that move all things toward fulfillment within God’s plan of good.

The true spiritual foundation on which to build a better life and make things go right – spiritually – is found in what might be called the “Original Peter Principle,” which follows: (Matthew 16:13-20)  “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”

This is a much debated passage in the Bible.  The main problem has been the word rock and its connection with Peter.  This didn’t become important at all until about A.D. 300. 

The early church was the Roman Empire’s official state religion.  For purely administrative purposes the Roman Empire had been divided into the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire, based in Constantinople, and the Western Roman Empire, based in Rome; and as a result, the church hierarchy also was divided.  In A.D. 300 there was a shift of the political power from Rome to Constantinople. This increased the importance of the church patriarch of Constantinople, which led the Eastern Church to challenge the supremacy of the Pope in the Western Church.  This produced the first major split in the church.  The Western Church in Rome founded its claim for authority as the one true church on the “primacy of Peter.” They said that the passage in Matthew referred to Peter as the rock, designating that Jesus had appointed Peter as the head of the church.  Peter had eventually traveled to Rome, and the Roman Church therefore claimed that this made it the successor to what was assumed to be the power and authority given to Peter as the designated foundation.

We know Scripture can be understood at more than one level, including both human and spiritual understanding.  Going back historically, it can be appreciated why the Western Church would justify its authority on the understanding that it was inherited from Peter as a former leader.  It is just as easy to see why the Protestants can regard Peter as a presiding chairman, not the first divinely appointed Pope, and consider that it was the faith of Peter that was the rock.  The apostle Paul got to the heart of the matter when he said: (1 Corinthians 3:11) “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian church.  And the foundation of the Christ-life is the Christ Spirit.  Christ is the true Rock, not Peter, not even faith.  The basis of all spiritual work is the recognition of the divine Christ presence, the living God, which Peter saw in Jesus.  And when Jesus replied to Peter’s seeing him as the Christ – He was saying: “Peter, you have at last glimpsed the great fundamental Truth – I am the Christ.  And it is upon this spiritual realization that my work must be built.  Peter, you now have the key to all that heaven contains, the initial spiritual perception that will unlock the potential of spiritual consciousness that nothing can obstruct or defeat.”

Have you ever wondered when and where Jesus first realized this truth about Himself?  We might think that Jesus just always knew.  But we must remember that He came into the world an infant and had to learn and grow as we do.  He had to learn to walk and talk and discover and increase the use of His Godlike attributes.  We know that at the age of twelve He had developed such a precocious grasp of Judaism that it intrigued and amazed the religious scholars in Jerusalem.  The next view we have is when John the Baptist recognized Jesus as the Messiah.  We don’t know when Jesus recognized His own Christhood.  Perhaps it came, as with Peter, in a flash.  Perhaps, having learned the prophesies and promises and all the expectations of the long-awaited Messiah, one day He realized, “Why, I am the Messiah!”

It was the revelation of the ages.  But finding ways and means to share it and to lead other people into the same realization was also one of the most difficult missions in history.  It must have been very heartwarming to Jesus when, after nearly three years of teaching and demonstrating His message, one of His own disciples finally glimpsed the presence of God in Jesus and exclaimed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  It is doubtful that Peter fully understood the divine principle that he saw in the person of Jesus, but he loved Him and believed in Him personally.  And this understanding alone has worked spiritual wonders and built the faith and strengthened the lives of millions of people, just as it did in Peter.

It was the apostle Paul, however, who grew into the fuller understanding of what Jesus truly represented as the Christ.  When Jesus, as a youth, received the initial revelation, “I am the Messiah,” it didn’t only mean to Him, “I, Jesus, am the Messiah,” but I AM – the sacred ancient name of the Spirit of God in all men, the Christ – is the Messiah.  The knowing had come to Jesus that the same Christ Spirit that He had discovered in Himself is implanted in every child of God, and this indwelling Christ Spirit in each person is the ultimate Messiah.  As Paul eventually realized and wrote in (Colossians 1:27) “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Paul wrote in (1 Corinthians 3:16) “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” The true Church of Christ is a state of consciousness – the Christ-life is built under the direction of the Christ within, and the first foundation step in Christ consciousness is the recognition of the indwelling Christ in every human being.

Jesus wanted to introduce His disciples to the Christ Spirit, first in Himself, then in all others, making this recognition of the indwelling divinity the basis of building and living the Christ-life.  The primary objective of this principle is to lead each of us to see what Peter glimpsed in Jesus, to see it in Jesus, in ourselves, and in everyone.  To the extent that the church organizations have done this, they have remained well-founded.

It should be obvious, however, that the human element of Peter’s principle has also had its effect in the organization of the church.  There has been a constant history of splits and divisions among the churches, all based on some difference that set them further apart, each organizing a new hierarchy of people and a new authoritarian religion, which claimed “this alone is right.”

The spiritual element by which we can transcend the pitfalls of the human element in anything can be found in the principle of not only seeing what Peter saw in Jesus, but in seeing what Jesus saw in Peter – and would see in you: You are the rock.   Each of us is symbolized in Peter – each of us can be a disciple.  Each of us can become an apostle, by divine right of spiritual succession.

The church itself is built of individuals, as are all creative efforts. I want each of you to become a member of this church – because I see the church in you.  The greatness of anything comes from those qualities that constitute the greatness of an individual.

God didn’t ask Moses to bring a committee up with him on Sinai.  Committees, conferences, conventions, and counsels have brought forth many of the ideals and institutions throughout history; yet, at best, they were midwifery.  Inspiration and creative ideas, the building blocks of the Christ-life, never come from groups; they are conceived and born within individuals.  The Mona Lisa couldn’t have been painted by a committee.  The Sermon on the Mount couldn’t have come from a conference report.

Every man, woman, and child is an individual, creative temple of God.  The true Church is within – within the soul of each child of God.  It is built - (Ephesians 2:21) “and grows into a holy temple in the Lord” – on the creative possibilities of our latent divinity, the kingdom within; and it is established on the foundation of a new consciousness from which spiritual transformation becomes possible.  The great fundamental truth that Jesus revealed is that God has placed His Nature in us.  The world and most church organizations lack his spiritual understanding.  Religious faith can be a wonderful and thrilling thing, but the sure faith can only be known through a personal spiritual awareness of the abiding power and presence of God.  As H. Emilie Cady said: “There comes a time when every man must stand alone with his God.”

God is never really found in a place, nor even a ritual or a ceremony.  God is found in a state of consciousness.  To worship Him in spirit and truth is to recognize the truth of His spiritual presence in us and base our lives on basic truth: “I AM that I AM,” the great principle of Christhood – God’s Nature implanted in every person.

The revelation “Christ in you, the hope of glory” takes nothing away from Jesus.  Only a Christ could fully reveal the Christ Spirit.  It only accents the magnificence of His Sonship.  In addition, it greatly expands our relationship with the Father within and multiplies His influence and power through us. The “Original Peter Principle” elaborates the great Truth hidden through the ages: God indwells us.  The same Christ Spirit that was in Jesus is implanted in you.  The great principle of life – the key to the kingdom of heaven is: Find that Christ in yourself.  And upon this rock of recognition He will build His church, the Christ-life in you.

REFERENCES: Great Dramas of the Bible William Earle Cameron; The Peter Principle Cr. Laurence J. Peter

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 16:13-20; 1 Corinthians 3:11 & 16; Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 2:21

Last updated August 27, 2006