Tag Archives: Christianity

DINER MYSTIC LOOKS AT JESUS THROUGH THE SCRIM OF CHRISTIANITY AND SEES A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT PERSON

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The “True Self”

If you want to know what Jesus thought about our “true self” – it’s simple – one’s “true self” can be discovered when we achieve the openness and receptivity of a small child. It’s the state of innocence human beings possessed prior to developing an “ego” or “false self” to deal with a potentially hostile world.

            “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10:14-15.

Jesus – in telling us to become “like a small child” – means we need to move towards a radically different, and earlier, version of the human spiritual world – accepting the “natural reality” directly created by God –  as opposed to a “reality” created by technically and theologically “sophisticated” human beings in modern manmade civilizations.

The “Essential Choice”

What deters us from becoming “like little children?” It’s our desire for and love of money – creating a stark choice between love of God and love of money.

            “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Mathew 6:24.

Jesus made this crystal clear by pointing out the impossibility of someone who’s rich to be able to enter God’s kingdom.

            “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.  Mark 10:24-5.

Jesus also emphasized God’s preference for the poor:

            “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20.

And said we needn’t worry about clothes or food:

            “… do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body, more than clothes.” Luke 12:22.

What Kind Of “Human Love” Does God Want?

If you want to know what God is “like” – that is, how human beings can start “living like God” – it’s simple: “God is Love” and “Love is God.”

But that begs the question, doesn’t it? What is this “love” God wants for us and how are human beings supposed to achieve it?

Jesus radical (and true) answer is: “Love your enemies!”

            “I tell you: Love your enemies… that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous…. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Mathew 6:44-48.

So, don’t be nationalistic, tribal, or self-centered – no, be like God. Remember, people who love their enemies have no enemies. If we can live like this – that is, how God would live if God were a human being – then we’d be able to enter God’s world and start living like God’s children. After all, there’s no ego in the sun or rain!

Another good example was love of one’s “neighbor.”  In response to the question of “Who is my neighbor?” (in the context of “Love your neighbor as yourself”), Jesus gave the example of the “Good Samaritan.” Because there was serious animosity between Judeans and Samaritans at that time (another example of “Love your enemies”), the story demonstrates that non-Jews (and, later, non-Christians) sometimes follow God better than the “official people” of God. Therefore, people like Muslims, or even atheists, may be able to do what God wants even better than those committed to the Western majority faiths.

Such “radical” examples of love go further than the “Love Commandment” later set forth in the Gospel of John:

            “A new command I give to you” Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

This, however, is the least radical of Jesus’ love teachings. That is, it’s significantly less radical than loving one’s enemies or hostile neighbors! This kind of “love” was addressed to Jesus’ immediate circle of disciples.

Who Should We Spend Our Time With?

Jesus tells us that people who act on behalf of God can be spiritually closer to us than our blood relations or close friends – emphasizing doers over listeners.

            “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Luke 8:21

How Can We “See” God?

Finally, how can we see and experience God’s kingdom? Jesus indicated that God’s rule is close or already present but unobserved – that God’s rule is all around us but difficult to discern:

            “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say “Here it is!” or “There it is!” because the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21.

In other words, God is spiritual, not materialistic. God’s Spirit can be seen and felt through one’s imagination and heart. That is, it takes an awakened inward “mystical” sense for us to be able to “see,” “feel,” and “sense” the presence of God.

NOT THE PICTURE BUT THE REAL BEING

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Where is Jesus in this ancient religion called “Christianity?”
Certainly not in a silver medal hanging around one’s neck
Requiring people to nod when passing.

Jesus is not anybody who needs to be worshipped
Since, today, Jesus is you – and nobody else.

If you do decide to “become” him –
Open the doors of your soul and say, “please come in.” 

Jesus is not the world religion created by Paul and institutionalized by Constantine
At which all the good seats have already been taken –
Hypocrites being the first to rush in
Pretending, unconvincingly, like modern-day Evangelicals to be Jesus’ best friends.

When someone decided (who was that who decided?)
To merge the Roman Empire into the name and spirit of Jesus –
He (Jesus) quickly left by a side door – and has never been seen again.

Curators plaster museum walls with pictures of him
Framed with gold and precious jewels –
But Jesus, himself, is back out on the street – searching for God
All over again.

Birds see him
Cats turn their heads when passing
But only crazy people are willing to unembarrassedly acknowledge him in public –
When they see
Not the common-accepted picture – but the real human being!

TWO REVOLUTIONS

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Evolving from animals into humans, the issue has always been one of freedom –
Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual –
Because freedom releases huge amounts of energy,
As well as increases our demands for self-fulfillment.

With limited freedom, human beings are dull, subdued – frequently subservient –
While with more extensive freedom – available mainly to the few at the top –
They do have fun!

Athens was the cynosure of the world’s first revolution –
A political revolution that’s still playing itself out –
Providing people with individual responsibility for their nation
As well as for their personal lives.

Today, this battle is still raging on – the 1% versus, literally, everyone else.

This revolution, begun in Athens, has now become partially successful
And is responsible for releasing stupendous amounts of energy across the globe.

The second and a parallel revolution was the attempt to achieve spiritual freedom –
Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed pushed open those stubborn doors
To a freedom providing human beings with the soul-openness of God –
That is, so that people could live pretty much like God does – but in human form –
In spite of their mortality.

Unfortunately, this revolution failed –
Primarily because it involved too much work and too much risk –
Requiring us to give up our cherished egos – those utilitarian “self-puppets.”

Jesus died providing us with a spectacular example of human spiritual freedom
But those who followed, later on, established a world religion instead –
Which taught that only one person could become as free as God –
Jesus himself –
While everyone else needed to live “through” him –
Giving up their own, once in a lifetime, opportunity to achieve a similar spiritual freedom –
In exchange for a promise of some “afterlife”
Available “nowhere,” “no-time,” and “no-place” –
Which is how Christianity turned Jesus’ spiritual revolution upside-down and inside-out.

This failure, and the consequent abandonment of radically increased spiritual freedom
Has resulted in an almost infinite loss of energy and hope for the entire human species.

Political democracy has always been thrilling because, with it,
We’re personally able to improve our society and individual living conditions.
Spiritual democracy, however, could provide us with an even more profound freedom –
The key to almost infinite human energy –
Freeing human souls to become their “true selves”
And allowing human beings to mature in a straight line after being born
Without having to stop along the way to develop an artificial “ego” for self-protection.

Freedom, political and spiritual, takes a lifetime of hard work and courage to achieve –
But, without both these freedoms, human beings will never be able to experience ultimate joy.

It takes guidance from Athens and someone like Jesus, Buddha, or Mohammed
To achieve ultimate human joy in our everyday quotidian lives –

And that’s no joke!

SEA OF WHITENESS

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Western people live in a sea of whiteness
Like they’re on a big ship traveling from one white land to another
Observing colored people only from a distance
Through tiny portholes, and then only
Dimly.

White people can be cruel at times – without thinking about it –
About the pain they cause –
While still relishing all the societal buttons and levers
Designed especially for their personal use.

They can’t see into the past
Because, for a long time, they’ve been living off its fruits –
They also can’t clearly make out the present because, to them, it’s wholly white –
And the future promises to be more of the same –
That is, if they have anything to say about it.

What could change?

White people’s souls could become more humble – more human;
Christianity could begin disconnecting itself from the tight grip of capitalism;
Or the old Gods might get re-shuffled – into surprising new patterns.

One day, however, Nature might commence a long and serious talk with us
Sometime before the human world comes to an end
When, from that vantage point, all our political and racial differences
Might no longer appear to be so great
After all.

 

 

POETS AND GOD

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Great poets desire to express the inexpressible
And that’s why the greatest of them – spiritual amateurs all –
Reach for the Divine.

Early on, Christianity got rid of spontaneous poets
And replaced them with orthodox priests and ministers –
And this is why, eventually, Christianity evolved into a religion of rationality –
A religion without fresh poetic inspiration.

People on a long journey towards the holy, however,
Want their favorite poets free to “sing” to God
Because they understand that spontaneity
Is essential in expressing spiritual truths.

Once they’d given up holy ecstatic singing,
Western poets, over time, increasingly became colorless and dull –
Proving that poets need the energy that can be imbibed
From the “living juices” of a “living God.”

In other words, artists (which all true poets are)
Require a subject matter that is “colorful” – “packed with life” –
Like the Divine (the “face” of God)
And Nature (the “back” of God).

In sum, to have the experience of God remain “fresh” –
God needs poets who are willing to reach out to the Divine –

So, tell me, how did Western poetry ever get so far off-track?

THE NEXT ROOM

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In the West, poetry has pretty much been “dying on the vine”
Because there’s simply no “juice” left –
Especially since there’s no longer any believable God to write for.

In ancient Islam, mysticism and poetry frequently were allied –
And in medieval Sufism, with Hafiz and Rumi,
You might even say that, for a time, they became the same thing.

Christianity, knocking through a couple millennia of violent materialism
And repressible crimes,
Has, unfortunately, over time, devolved into contemporary Evangelical/Republican paternalism.

Sufi poets, however, spent their time and spiritual energy searching for the “heart of humanity”
And found it in “Love” –
Which enabled them to dance and sing ecstatically.

Westerners might one day experience this too –

But from way over, in the next room.

SPIRITUAL STATIC

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What’s “good” would be to have a direct relationship with God –
That’s the ultimate!

Christianity, however, requires a relationship between its believers and Christ –
Who, in turn, has a great relationship with God.

Personally, I view Jesus as a “shining example”
Of someone able to achieve a direct relationship with God –
Not to sublimate to – but to emulate –
Especially since neither the Bible nor any church or other religious institution,
And not even Jesus himself (no matter what the religion says), is capable of substituting
For the real God.

SPIRITUALLY, DOES CHRISTIANITY STILL MAKE SENSE?

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Jesus knew everything, spiritually, about being “born again” himself –
But, unfortunately, the Christians who came after him
Never became interested in their own “true selves”
Into which they could be born again (like Jesus) –
And live a life parallel to God.

Even though Jesus believed God was “Spirit,”
Christianity was founded, in large part, upon “spiritual materialism” –
Because that requires an external “savior” – in this case, Jesus himself –

This understanding of human beings as objects that need to be saved
Was in stark contrast to Jesus’ understanding of human beings as subjects
With an inherent ability to save themselves
By spiritually being “born again” into their “true selves.”

TODAY

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Christianity is a big city religion
Because Jesus, Peter, and Paul all went into capitol cities to die.

Cities are a domain of control –
The opposite of nature or God.

As a consequence, Christianity decided to place its God into an unchangeable canon –
And then closed it for good –
Whereas “spirit” is like an invisible ball
Children enjoy playing with.

Starting quite early, however, Christianity’s most serious games
Involved war –
Taught, derivatively, by its self-designated “13th Apostle” –
Constantine.

On the other hand,
Each individual could be like Jesus
Deciding to become a child of God –
And live as God would live
If God were human –
That is, completely “free.”

Anyone could do this – it’s what Jesus, Buddha
And Mohammed all taught –

But isn’t that the opposite of what the world religions are teaching us
Today?

FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND

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There was no real “physical” miracle here –
So this shouldn’t be seen as qualifying Jesus as “God.”

However, there was a profound teaching –
About sharing.

As the day wore on –
The disciples started wondering
How the thousands of people who had come to hear Jesus were going to be fed.

At first, the disciples considered going out and buying food at nearby villages –
But, instead, Jesus said: “You feed them” –
Instructing his disciples to start sharing their food as an example
Of how followers of Jesus should respond to a common need.

This particular teaching, at the time, was such a striking “symbolic action”
That, eventually, it became established in Christianity as the Eucharist –
Illustrating that followers of Jesus, when meeting to share teaching about God,
Should also share a meal-in-common – that included everyone –
Men and women, poor and rich, old and young.

The Gospels refer to 5,000 men being fed,
But the heart of the story actually centers on the biblically-invisible women –
Without which there would have been no food to share.

The men came to listen to Jesus without (like men sometimes do) thinking ahead about food –
While the disciples only started becoming concerned about it later in the day –
But the women had already planned ahead
And brought enough food to feed their families and friends.

Jesus intuited this, of course, because his soul was both male and female.

This first “all-people” spiritual dinner turned into a big outdoor picnic –
Celebrating God’s word as taught by Jesus –
Along with the sharing of food by the women enabling everyone to be fed –
With plenty of leftovers.

This was a teaching about spiritual democracy –
That all persons, of whatever age or sex, stand equally before God –
Symbolized by their common sharing of food.

There was no “magic” here at all –
The teaching was simply that Jesus’ followers, using their initiative and faith,
Should simply share what they had with others –
(As opposed to the segregated eating by classes and sexes common at the time).

This teaching eventually was included in all four Gospels – establishing a new social pattern for Jesus’ followers –
Ultimately becoming the Eucharist (which, unfortunately, over time, has largely lost its original meaning).

Neither the Christian Church nor the rest of the world, has yet to fully embrace this teaching –
That followers of Jesus (whether Christian or not) are called upon
To start the reign of God –
By starting to share what they have.

If America, for its part, could drop its primitive faith and reliance on military and economic power
And start sharing what it has with the rest of the world
Wouldn’t we – especially under the leadership of women (who respond naturally to people’s physical needs) –
Be capable of successfully feeding, clothing, and housing all eight billion of us?

Wouldn’t that be the miracle God wants –
For human beings to thoughtfully and lovingly share the world’s resources with one another.

As I said, Jesus didn’t believe in physical miracles like the “magical multiplication” of loaves and fishes –
But he did believe in spiritual miracles involving the kinds of changes possible for a human heart

If just given a little “spiritual push”.