In his recent article, 16 Scriptural Reasons NOT to take the Bible Literally, Joshua addresses a matter which is a little difficult for me. Although I totally agree with him that not everything should be taken literally and that the Bible was not written in order to give an exact account of historical happenings, I feel that putting it this way goes too far. I know that Joshua does not mean it that way, but I do feel some kind of judgment in his title, some feeling of superiority and also duality, right versus wrong. I also feel it will hurt the feelings of people who honestly believe that everything is meant to be taken literally and certainly will not make them willing to listen to any explanations.
In Judaism there are four different levels of Bible interpretation, starting with the literal one. They build on one another or stand side by side, but do not oppose each other. People may move through these levels, slowly moving from one to the next, but also use all four of them at the same time as each gives different insights and some things will always literally be true and meant to be taken literally while other things are not. We just have to develop the talent to distinguish between them and we must be given the chance to do it in our own way.
It is all too easy for instance, when Jesus tells us to love our enemies, or to turn the other cheek, or not to judge, to say that that must be meant symbolically because this is too difficult, something that only Jesus can do. I think it is not. It should be taken absolutely literally.
We have to find out what Jesus means by love here. Of course it is not romantic love—no butterflies in our belly. It is not love that wants something in return, either. It is the unconditional love that loves everyone and everything just like the sun shines on everyone and everything. It is a force within ourselves that must wake up, it is the Christ consciousness that must wake up within us.
We could start by looking at our enemies as people, real people with their own lives and loves, their tragedies and sorrows. Then we might start to feel empathy with them and compassion for them and finally we then begin to understand why they might want to hurt us. Once we know that, it makes it possible to react in a way that is not threatening to them (turning the other cheek for instance), which might turn things around, without anyone getting hurt. Then we might indeed become brothers and friends who live together in peace and harmony.
It is during that whole process that the Christ consciousness will be waking up inside us. And no, this process is not easy but we should do it anyway.
I agree with Joshua about the huge importance of esoteric interpretation of the Bible in order to work towards this goal, but it is by no means the only way towards it. There are different ways in different traditions. Native peoples work through and with nature, and people within all religions also work with opening their hearts in very practical ways, even though they may take things literally which are not meant to be taken literally, and they turn into beautiful, loving people who are certainly not sticklers for doctrine anymore. I cannot stand in the shadow of many of them in that respect and have no right to feel superior in any way, simply because I am using the gifts I have received in another way. I think we each go our own way and that is the way it should be, as long as we all move towards the centre of Unconditional Love. Unconditional love really is the only thing that contains Real Truth in this dream world we still live in, and that Love connects us all.
I myself grew up in a church where the Bible was taken literally, but not oppressively so. I was free to grow towards a more symbolic approach very gradually and there was no threat with hell and damnation if you did not believe a certain doctrine anymore. Evolution also was not really a point of debate. As long as I can remember, I believed in a combination of both creation and evolution and I was very surprised when I found out later that there was a battle about this going on elsewhere. We could freely discuss this with our pastor and our teacher of religion at school (which in my case was one and the same person) without any problems. So I could move on whenever I was ready and I did, even to the point of eventually leaving the church. The point is that I would never have done so on someone else’s say so.
The central point for me in all this has always been Unconditional Love. Somehow I have known from birth that Unconditional Love exists – indeed that God is Unconditional Love – and it has always been my criterion for life. That is why Jesus became my greatest hero in my childhood. Where other people only saw sins for which someone had to be punished, I only saw Love because he voluntarily had taken that punishment on himself. Only later did I tumble to the fact what this way of thinking implied about God if He would demand such a punishment and then I immediately started searching for another explanation for the crucifixion because I knew it had been a deed of tremendous Unconditional Love. This of course catapulted me into the search for the symbolic meaning of everything, which proved to be beyond my wildest imagination.
However, when I found out that there were people who had turned to symbolic interpretation of the Bible stories only, even going so far as saying that for instance Jesus had never lived at all, that went way too far for me. And it still does. Because there is so much added value if this historically happened as well, in whatever way. There is this principle, As above, so below, and I believe that is true here as well. Everything manifests at several levels.
I personally believe that Jesus incarnated at a time when mankind had completely lost its way again, as did others before and after him, in order to remind us again of who we really are and in order to show us the way Home. Each had to address the issues and the problems of his or her time and culture. For instance Moses taught the people to take an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth in a time that people used to kill someone for the slightest insult or even without cause. A call to love your fellow man as yourself would have been way beyond their understanding. With his crucifixion, literally or otherwise, Jesus set an example by showing us that victory (resurrection/ascension) is still possible, even in the direst of circumstances, and that we can do whatever he did. I also believe that energetically speaking that had an enormous impact. Matthew speaks of earth quakes twice and even if they did not really happen, it points to something momentous. It must have given an enormous boost to people in that time.
We have seen the same in our time with people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, to name a few of the most well known. They all took a task upon them that they knew would bring them in a position of danger at the very least and cause them a lot of suffering but they did what they had to do anyway out of unconditional love for their people, and they always remained positive, also towards those who had harmed them. Just think of what their impact on the world has been and still is.
Thich Nhat Hanh is the only one who is still alive today and, at age 87, is still at it, promoting peace among all people. He preaches mindfulness, inter being, and compassion for all life. He preaches unconditional love and teaches us to embrace our pain, which of course is the same thing as what Joshua calls the crucifixion of our ego, a term I have taken over as well. Most of all he teaches the importance of meditation.
I do not think he is into esoteric Bible interpretation though, so do not let us get too full of ourselves. There are other ways to work toward this goal and each person should be allowed to find his own truth in his own way and his own time, without any kind of judgment from anybody else.
I believe that we can only determine for ourselves what is right for us on our path but never for anyone else, as we each create our own world in this dream world we live in. Our truth will never be totally the same as someone else’s and that is okay. As long as we all work towards that common goal of living in unconditional love and in full respect for each other the way we are and the way we feel.
I think that also is unconditional love.
Hi Anny!
Thanks for sharing your heart on this one. I know many of my readers will appreciate your post, and I can definitely see your point with the background you’ve had. And I certainly respect it. I do want to add a few points though.
As you already stated in your post, I didn’t mean to offend anyone, nor do I mean to sound judgmental, but I think my post on 16 reasons the Bible should not be taken literally is important for several reasons.
I am glad you got to grow up in a church that allowed free thinkers, but there are many, like me, who grew up in a church that taught it was a sin not to take the Bible literally. To even question that much of the Bible may be allegory or myth meant to show a higher spiritual truth was severely frowned upon. Like me, there are many that have a love for the scripture, but intuitively knew there was something beyond what was being taught in church. My post was meant to give seekers of truth an extra validation on what they might have already been feeling from the very scriptures themselves. I didn’t mean to say that we shouldn’t take anything in the Bible as literal, but rather that the scripture itself teaches us overall that much of the Bible was never written to be taken literally. Does that make sense?
I am not really too concerned about pushing people away with my title, because all who believe it is all literal usually aren’t going to accept much of what we who interpret it esoterically have to say anyway. Preconceived notions and judgments are a powerful thing. My post was written more for the open-minded who just need a little scriptural incentive to step out and follow up with a gut instinct they may have already felt, but didn’t quite know how to act on it yet. These are the people who are questioning everything they have been taught and what to have a voice to encourage them to trust their own heart.
I think this is an area that needs to be addressed boldly for those people who are almost ready to step out of fundamentalism and into a deeper spiritual interpretation. I know it was the same kind of boldness that helped me many years ago. I didn’t get offended even in the beginning of my journey, because as long as someone was using the scripture itself to make a point, I was ready to put bias aside and give it a chance.
Many blessings, and thanks for all that you have contributed here to Spirit of the Scripture. Your knowledge is a great addition.
Hi Josh,
Thanks for your comment and for publishing my post. I knew you could not agree totally with it and I appreciate that you published it anyway.
I did not react to your article as such so much as indeed to the title. As far as the contents of the article are concerned, I very largely agree with you. What I do not agree with is your opinion that this title does not push people away because it does. It pushed me away and I agree with most of what you are saying in the article!
I just react from how I would feel if someone would say something like that to me about something I love. I would resent it and because of that not listen to another word. Whereas if I had been given the possibility to look at whatever it was without any expectations or judgment from the other side, I might have done so just because I was curious to see what it was about. Chances are that after that I would have turned away again for a while if it seemed to go against what I believed but if it was something loving, respectful, worthwhile in itself, I would certainly have turned over the idea again later in my mind, and maybe let it rest again and so on. No certainty that I would come round but a possibility anyway. As long as I was not pressured into doing something or prevented from it by what I would have experienced as a lack of respect for where I was at that moment.
For example, years ago I read a lot of books about Jesus, both from Christian sources as from Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist writers. I did not necessarily agree with everything that was written but it interested me and taught me a lot. Except for the book of one Jewish writer who had written his book to the express purpose of showing how wrong we all were. We were there with a group of Christians and attended a lecture given by him. I do not think he sold one book to the lot of us, even though we were all very openminded and to start with interested what he had to say to us. So he really defeated his own purpose by the way he spoke to us.
A title I could live with is: 16 Scriptural Reasons not to take Everything in the Bible Literally.
Love,
Anny
Fundamentalist Christian here…
I just wanted to tell you both that each of your articles has helped me. I shared the 16 Reasons article with my fundamentalist christian mother, as well.
No matter what it is titled, even hinting at the fact that people are taking the bible in the wrong manner will ruffle peoples feathers. BUT…isn’t that necessary to even broach the subject? It was for me.
I had to get mad over the whole idea and it was very similar to what you are describing Anny, in that I tossed and turned that whole concept around in my head for nearly 2 years before I was able to even allow myself to ask questions and seek answers. It really seems like people are being made aware to me step by step (this blog being one of those steps, thank you) to help me transition from an entire life of apparently warped thinking. It is extremely hard and scary for me. I can’t stress that enough.
So, just the simple fact that you are putting out this information for people to grasp at just the right time, is enough. I believe that what is meant to be, will be. I have always believed that deep down…even though it doesn’t always seem to work out ideally for me and others, I still hold the idea in my mind that the ultimate good will prevail.
Both of your articles were very helpful and so were the comments you both made on them.
Thanks.
Hello Keri,
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate it very much that you have taken the trouble to describe how it was for you to read our articles and comments. That is a great help to us.
I am very glad that what we have written has been helpful to you. It was meant to. And I know how hard and scary it must be for you in this stage. Although my background is somewhat different from yours, I still remember the times where I just had to let go of the old before there was something new to replace it and it felt like I stood with totally empty hands. Everything seems to disappear from under you and still there was no alternative to letting go and just trust and rely on the Love of God.
That is the only thing that never was in doubt for me. Not ever. And then it is possible to take the scariest steps. I am sure it will be that way for you too.
Love,
Anny
Thanks for sharing, Keri. I appreciate you taking the time to also share your heart.
Hi Keri,
I just read through the comments once again after a few days and I noticed that I had not reacted to one of the things you wrote: No matter what it is titled, even hinting at the fact that people are taking the bible in the wrong manner will ruffle peoples feathers. BUT…isn’t that necessary to even broach the subject? It was for me.
I would like to say to that it is not my intention to prevent myself from ruffling people’s feathers at all cost. In fact, the things I write will probably ruffle a great many feathers but that is okay. That is me telling my truth. But I do not want to ruffle people’s feathers (nice way of putting it!) by judging their truth. Do you see the difference?
If you reacted positively to the way Joshua phrased things however, then there must be something in it and I am glad. It shows again that different people need different approaches, so my approach might reach people that his does not and the other way round! Great.
Love,
Anny
Joshua and Anny
So glad to see both of your concepts as both are helpful to all. One thing that I have learned is that if I do not see it as stated then it goes on a shelf. This way truth is not rejected. If later it is found to be true or false it comes off the shelf. Truth keep it false throw it out. One great example of this was when I heard a man say that Adam lived 930 years to see what happens when we except false ideas.
He then said Adam can back and was Jesus Christ when he came back. This was something I had never heard before. So I asked if this is true then show me. Later in that audio or the next one I am not sure. The answer came. Now I know the truth of that statement.
Joshua some times I do not exactly follow what you are saying. Read some several times. I love your post as they come from a different perspective and it allows me to see some things clearer.
Also going to find Anny’s so that I can read her post. No doubt this will give me another perspective.
Hi Ken,
Not going to be lengthy here, as I can sometimes be, but just a few words for you to ponder on…
GOD IS SLOW BUT SURE
True understanding will never abandon you!
and watch out for all those books on the shelf…heads up
Love,
Sparks
Hi Sparks,
Well put.
Hi Ken,
Thanks for your comment. I am glad that more people recognize this process of carefully getting acquainted with something and then putting it on the shelf for a while. Sometimes you even forget it is there but when the time is right, you remember and down it comes.
I had not heard that example of Adam coming back as Jesus but I like it. And when we think of the fact that in Reality we are all aspects of the One Who is experiencing Itself as the many, then it could not be otherwise. We are one with everyone and everything, even with those whom we tend to judge sometimes. It is good to always remember that.
Thanks for your contribution.
Anny
Thanks, Ken. Yes, it can be hard to grasp esoteric concepts, especially when they are new to us. But the more you immerse yourself in it the easier they will become to grasp. An important part of this process is to look seriously as the questions you have about scripture. Questioning is part of the process of finding God. It’s like a hide and seek game that God and the scriptures play with us. Some become afraid of their own questions or trust in another to explain it to them, but the answers can be found within yourself as well. Sometimes I try to point at this process with my writings, but none of my posts can give you the ultimate truth. Only you can discover this as you meditate on scripture privately.
Hi All,
Thank you Anny for this awesome & beautiful post, especially on the eve of our traditional New Year, although I still feel that we are living in a different time structure (in other words not a reality universal time). I have to question that the time flux is due to actually giving us more time to learn and grow in unconditional Love, these two words pack a lot of power, very easy to say and even think we are living, but not as easy to put into practice and become one with it.
For myself, practicing or turning the other cheek has significantly helped me to grow stronger in my heart, as one should always look into the eyes of another and see this unconditional love, I have actually done this and diffused some highly volatile situations not only with myself but as an outsider. It is almost as if you can pass that energy into them without saying one word, helping them to REMEMBER…after all the world holds much beauty but systems are increasingly becoming much more distracting, stressful, angry and confusing.
As Anny has stated the Native Americans were very close to nature, and I believe nature can and does gives us that feeling of being with unconditional Love and always encourage my fellow travelers to get out there and “just be”, Thich Nhat Hanh, was a teacher of this very philosophy, as was our beloved teacher Jesus, He was always with nature, walking, in the Gardens, near the sea and on and on the theme of being with nature as we follow Scripture during his time with us.
Just the other day, when the weather was spring like for a few days, I went for a walk, as we happen to be caretakers of 22 acres, which we are, as we never really own anything do we? People always say I own this and that, (myself included), but during my seeking I have learned we are the caretakers, not only of the Earth, but the nature and each other!, getting back to my original point…as I am walking, my heart condition tires me quickly, but I was pressed to move on, only to find a deer trap set up, baiting and slaughtering of the beautiful deer that feel safe here because we do not allow hunting or especially baiting them! I was angry and horrified that a close neighbor would do this, trespassing to the enght, which they well knew. Instead of trashing their set-up, which was my first reaction (anger), we spoke with the neighbor, who admitted to doing this, and kindly asked them to remove the horror and respect our wishes. Just one an instance of responding rather than reacting. Another was my only niece screaming in my face, holding back the tears thinking how could she be so hateful, and my hand from smacking her across the face, she backed off and later apologized for her behavior. Unless, we put into continual action our own heart and soul realization of unconditional Love, we simply cannot pass it on.
Try it, it never fails and we definitely know God continually tests us, be ready! Arm yourself with unconditional Love and see a miracle come to life.
Keri,
Your heart beliefs are your purest, never be afraid to seek, it will and can only bring you to a greater and more fulfilling understanding of Scripture and your mission, and yes, sometimes peeps feathers do get ruffled, but you will find they will come back and thank you. Remember how Jesus taught in parables, I myself always wondered why He taught like this, sometimes being so frustrated I would say “Just tell me!”, He had his reasons and that was for us to think, to expand our consciousness in our own way, in our own time.
I also have shared with my mother, an old Irish Catholic, whom I thought I could never reach in a spiritual way and to my delight, she would think about our conversation and agree that she, in fact did “feel” a certain resonance or renewed Truth.
Keri, Be brave and remember YOU are LOVE!
I have just started a new book titled “The Emotion Code” by Dr. Bradley Nelson. It concerns and contains knowledge on how from even prior to birth, emotions, although we think we may have dealt with them, can stay in our bodies, thus becoming trapped emotions and leading to all kinds of health and relationship issues later on. In this book Dr. Nelson goes on to teach us how to remove these emotions in hiding, freeing us from the unhealthy ties that prevent us from leading a happy and fulfilling Life. This is something I have always felt deeply about but could never assimilate the information enough to share it as he does in this wonderful book, which I recommend for all to put on their “to read” list for 2014. As I am reading this book, I can’t help but think about all the “emotions” associated with our religious conditioning that was not meant to harm us but in some ways did. When I am finished with it I will be happy to pass it along to anyone here, just let me know.
Happy New Year to all my family here & BE LOVE in 2014!
Sparks
Hi Sparks,
Thanks for your loving comment to my article, as always. I just had to write it, even though I knew that Joshua could not agree with everything. However, I think that it is good to show also that it is possible to disagree about things and still be in harmony, unity in diversity.
You really added something very valuable here with your experiences. It shows that it is possible to turn around things by turning the other cheek. Even if it is very hard to do, every time again. Yet we are all in this together now and right in the middle of it.
Thank you for your very valuable contributions in this respect.
I wonder what it would have been like to share all these new-found truths with my mother who also believed in the Bible literally but for whom Love came first. She never had the chance to find out about how I developed spiritually as she suffered from dementia many years before she passed away in 2002. I think she would have approved of it though.
Love,
Anny
Anny,
Are we sisters? I think so…
My mom 86, also suffers from dementia, and she is in and out of these episodes. She is in my life 24/7 now, so I do share with her or I would be talking to myself! My parents always gave us (my sister and I), the love we needed to speak our truths and therefore we never hid anything from them, I feel so blessed to have the family I was born to, they as I have come to realize were exactly what I needed to grow spiritually. My mom who is in decline right now is the hardest for me to let go, she will be the last of my immediate family, as a result I want her to know where all the love she has given has gone, and your mom still can hear you even though she has passed and Anny, she does know the beautiful woman she raised and loved!
After all, they did give us the foundation, as I was reminded of on this Christmas morning building Legos with my tiny 5 year old great-nephew, we began with the foundation. Legos, right lol
Josh would surely agree, Legos should be called Leg-up’s! (a leg-up is a cupping of the hands and arms of one person to help another mount the horse, for those that have never rode)
As we both know the truest of LOVE is never wasted, it goes on and on and on…it is Eternal.
May the New Year bring you and your family much happiness & love,
Sparks
Hi Sparks,
Thanks for your reply.
I know how hard it is to let your mother go, particularly when she is the last of your immediate family.
My mother was too, apart from my children. I do not have any brothers or sisters, so really all of my youth reminiscences went with her. When however the time came to do so – and I had to take conscious decisions about that: would I let her be taken to hospital and subjected to all kinds of painful examinations and treatments or allow her to go, which I knew she had wanted for years already – I decided to let her go and told her that she was free to go and that Jesus would come for her and all of a sudden she seemed to understand and began to glow with joy. I will never forget that. After she had died, we had a memorial service of thanksgiving for her life instead of mouning her death, during which all her favourite songs were sung. The thing was, it made me strong and joyful as well during those days that I dreaded so much before before. Of course you feel the pain of the loss but you will also be aware that she is where she wanted to be. And yes, I know she can see me and knows everything about me now.
Thank you, and all the best wishes for the New Year to you, and everyone, too!
Anny
Hi to all of you … and happy new year!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your amazing insight and for the entirety of this blog. Before I address the topic, I grew up in a Greek Orthodox Church. Then left. Then bounced my way thru various other bible based denominational churches, and then simply non-denom bible churches, and now … after more than 15 years of intense bible, history, theology, cosmology, egyptology, etc ,,, studies and research … I simply choose to go nowhere because I can no longer be fed from the pulpits where people are not being enabled to the God within.
Concerning biblical literalism, there are problems with this that are simply too difficult to brush away. For one, it is due to the literalist view that we have wars and conflict among many peoples. Among the ancients, the Truth was evidently clear in the allegorical and metaphorical lessons to be gleaned from each of the scriptures among various people and civilizations.
The Hebrews took what was a collection of allegorical teachings with deeper hidden apocalyptic Truth and then changed the names and geographic locations in an effort to create for them a history and a foundation that they did not have. In later years, Rome, under the direction of Constantine as Emperor … at the Council of Nicea in 325CE made literal what was once esoteric. He created an exoteric literal teaching for the masses and buried the esoteric Inner Mysteries in the process.
There was no parting of the Red Sea … literally. There was no walking on water … literally. There was no wandering in the desert for 40 years … literally. ALL of these biblical stories pertain to what happened spiritually within mankind and not without mankind. I could go on for hours but I will simply end by stating … my belief … that the scriptures were never intended to be taken literally. In fact, JESUS was (among the ancients) the principle of Joshua, Yehoshua, Yeshua, or … “YHWH SAVES” as the word actually means. Whether or not Jesus the man was Appolonius, Dionysus, Attis, Osiris, Horus, or any of the other crucified Godmen we may never know … but we do know he was a composite of all the sages of ancient days brought together into one person, one principle.
The underlying Truth becomes virtually unrecognizable when taken to be a literal story. In fact, sometimes lies are told on purpose … to teach a deeper resolute Truth using something that never happened. So, there can be Truth, in a lie. We just need to have eyes to see, and ears to hear.
Instead of “did it happen” … perhaps we should ask “DOES it happen?”
Bless you guys … wishing you the best in 2014.
Hi Justin,
Thank you!! You have an amazing soul, so full of light!
Magnificently written with such clarity of thought and wisdom, your seeking has blessed the world with more than you can possibly know…
May you also Be Blessed with all the best in 2014!
Love,
Sparks
Hi Justin,
Thank you for your comment, the first for me to see in this New Year this morning. And for your good wishes.
I love your question: Instead of “did it happen” … perhaps we should ask “DOES it happen?”
I think you are absolutely right there.
I also thank you for sharing your background. I think it is very good to know things like this about each other when we meet time and again in comments on this blog, and of course I do not only mean you and me but everyone who interacts with all of us regularly.
You have very strong views about the possible historicity (is that a word?) of the Bible and I am sure you know I do not totally agree with you there but I respect your view and I hope you do mine.
My purpose is to put as few obstacles as possible in the way of people who do still believe that everything in the Bible is meant literally but still for one reason or other want to have a look at this site.
I also want all of the attention focussed on the esoteric interpretation and as little as possible on what might ot might not be true. Besides, I lived in Israel for many years and have visited many archeological sites with remains that do carry biblical names; I read them for myself. And they range over many centuries so the Jews do have a history there. Whether the Bible stories are that history is of course a totally different question but I do not want quarrelling over that question to prevent people from looking at what according to me is really important. And on that last question we totally agree. The rest I just leave for what it is. It is what it is and I do not want to spend time on it one way or the other.
I want to clarify one more thing. You state: “In fact, JESUS was (among the ancients) the principle of Joshua, Yehoshua, Yeshua, or … “YHWH SAVES” as the word actually means.”
What you write is absolutely correct for Joshua or Jehoshua, but Jeshua means help, rescue, salvation. As I mentioned already somewhere in an article or comment this word is used as a principle in the Old Testament and the rescue etc. is of course the process we have to engage in and in first instance not the name of a person. It is the principle that is important in the esoteric interpretation, but at the same time that does not mean that it is impossible that there was a person (whether or not with that name; there were many people with that name in that time) who showed us the way.
Actually I think that all the names you mentioned above were such wayshowers at one time or another in their respective cultures and myths were created around them later. They all served as embodiment of the principle but not necessarily rolled into one. In my view that is.
All the best wishes to you too for the next year and beyond.
Anny
Hi Anny,
I read the blog one more time and I share your idea about some things can be taken literally.
The one problem people have with this is that they cannot imagine these things can come true.
Thus I like the come about ‘does happen’ as to read these things to happen in the present.
Many will comment : impossible ( and so it comes to pass that things happen according to ones beliefs).
On the other hand ‘turning the other cheek’ taking it literally ? Or can I find out what it could mean in my own present life ?
Yes, when sometimes happens that raises the feeling of hurt in me I can react strongly : you hurt me ! and then strike back . . .
Or I can let it pass through me, find the calmness inside, see the events that evokes this feeling and stay open to meet the other ( meeting in the dutch meaning 🙂 ). I feel like that is meant in the words ‘turning the other cheek’. It might be that the other will strike again, but it could also happen that the other will recognize oneness and will open up.
The wonders of Jesus will keep on wondering people, as in could that happen to me too ?
It may create hope and intent to act in a benevolent way.
Matter is condensed energy, so what is storytelling ? what are myths ? Maybe this is all part of some celestial magic that enables us to go on and on, to find more and more, and it may one time enable us to do things Jesus did or the greater ( John 14:12 ).
With kind love,
Leo.
Hi Leo,
Directly after reading your post to Anny, this came right into to my email from the Alignment Project, and I wanted to share the encouragement it conveys with you.
They allow the content to be shared freely…
A Vision for Strength…
We envision ourselves living in a world where people everywhere have evolved out of their gullibility; where we can feel, in our body, when someone is lying to us; and where we know, in our heart, whether someone else has our best interests in mind when they are trying to persuade us to do what they want us to do.
We see a world full of happy people because we have finally and fully seen through all the methods and manners of human suggestibility; where we are no longer susceptible to the power of suggestion; and where the power of suggestion is no longer consciously used in any situation, anywhere, ever – unless it serves the highest and best good of everyone concerned.
Subsequently, all subliminal advertising, devious sales techniques, patriotic propaganda, false statistics, and fear mongering have been seen for what they truly are: efforts to do unto others as one would not want done unto themselves. Now we live in a world where we can easily spot those who would play on our weaknesses because we have found our strength. We see through the motivations of those who would be predators, pirates or parasites, and we are untouched by their trickery because our gullibility has been replaced by our ability to know the truth when we see it.
Hope this can be of use to you in a good way!
Love, Sparks
Hi Sparks,
Thank you for sharing A Vision for Strength. This does contribute much.
Maybe we have found our strength because we are not afraid of our weakness anymore. Nobody can blackmail us anymore when we take off our mask and show who we really are. The Latin word for mask is persona, so by becoming a person we put on a mask.It is time to take it off.
Love,
Anny
Hello Leo,
Thank you for your loving comment and I agree with you.
Of course you are right and turning the other cheek is mostly symbolical, but taking this symbolical meaning very seriously feels for me like taking it literally. And the way you describe it, it looks like you do too.
And in special cases it might have to be taken literally, as it seems the Jewish people have done when the Romans (or maybe the Greeks) wanted to bring a pig of stone into the Temple in Jerusalem which the Jews would have to worship. They were threatened with death if they refused and then a huge number of Jews entered the temple square and bared their necks to be beheaded and the decision was turned back. My memory is frightful and so I forget who the oppressors were and when exactly this happened but I always remember the essence. This impressed me no end and indeed creates celestial magic.
Love,
Anny
Justin,
Thanks for your comments. Another fact that people often overlook is the Eusebius, Constantine’s established church leader, had no problem falsifying information in order to establish a literal historical timeline between the Old and New Testaments…but that’s another topic entirely.
Thanks for your comments here!
Hi Josh,
As far as falsifying biblical information is concerned, as long as you stick to the Hebrew language (whether original – OT – or translation – NT ) and the important words are used, no matter what story you tell with them, the LANGUAGE will keep the Truth intact.
Anny
Good point, Anny!
Happy New Year to all of you wonderful people in our little cyber church!
It is so great that we can all share our differing opinions, thus not only celebrating our unity in diversity, but demonstrating how the consciousness of humanity is evolving.
I was brought up in a church where everything in the Bible was taken literally. That was what I needed then, and I am thankful for it. Now I prefer reading Norman Vincent Peale, Thich Nhat Hanh, Caroline Myss, Barbara Ann Brennan, Cyndi Dale, Helena Blavatsky, Alice Bailey and the Tibetan, Louise Hay, Bruce Lipton and the like.
At the moment my understanding of all this is that the words “spirit,” “energy” and “consciousness” are interchangeable, and essentially describe our state of being at any one time. With regard to Jesus, at present I believe in both the literal and esoteric Jesus, that from time to time souls like Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Buddha and so on and so forth, incarnate and are living embodiments of an aspect or aspects of deity, and that when Jesus incarnated, he was the living embodiment of the Christ consciousness, which is the state of being that many of us, whether consciously or unconsciously, are now aspiring to.
But of course, where “energy,” “spirit” and “consciousness” are concerned, as Bruce Lipton would say: “the only constant is change.” So at some point my take on it all could change.
Thank you all so much. I am learning lots from all of you. And thanks to Joshua for allowing this to happen, and to Anny for extending the knowledge. The two of you are creating a great balance/harmony.
Much love and many blessings to all!
Hello Sheila,
Thank you for your comment. All the best wishes and blessings to you too!!
I like what you say that spirit, energy and consciousness are interchangeable. I think you are right or at the very least they are very closely interconnected.
I also agree that the only constant is change, no matter how much we dislike that sometimes.
Of course your view on all this could change but spirit, energy and consciousness themselves are also subject to change I believe. They might be descending ever deeper into matter where matter is rising ever higher in consciousness as a result of the balancing process. I think you can see that in the Star of David where everything has come into balance. This is a powerful symbol, just like the cross.
It is also the total balance between male and female energy, but all this balancing occurs on an ever rising spiral of consciousness and continuous growth. Or maybe also a growth in leaps and bounds as in quantum leaps. But growth anyway. It is hard to put it into words.
Of course in the end we are all meant to be an embodiment of the Christ Consciousness and we will. So let us all start living according to the standards that lead to this state of being: unconditional love.
Let that be our intention for the incoming year and see where it leads us.
Love,
Anny
Hi Anny & Sheila and all,
You both have brought about some very good points harmoniously together and in one way or another I think all of us here, (our cyber church!!), we have come to the agreement and even a bit further than that with a commitment to continue our seeking and striving to, as Anny has stated, be an embodiment of the Christ Consciousness.
For myself, there was an immediate feeling or knowing upon joining Josh’s site, that all of us here are definitely attached and have carried throughout our lives a deep love of Jesus and his teachings and as we have grown, have only refined or defined them to what He would want to see in our world today, I see Him smiling and proud, that we in fact are expanding our consciousness in more than profound ways, whilst still honoring/cherishing his very words/teachings…
John 14:26
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
How can one interpret this? We all have the foundation of Christ’s teachings, regardless of any particular religious culture, and even to the extent that a person has never even partaken in the word, that person will still have a hidden trigger point, thus enabling them to open their hearts to more knowledge. The Christ Consciousness dwells within the spirit of all humankind. If it did not, the essence of HOPE would not exist!
On this New Year’s day I would like to share with all of my family here a re-current dream I have had most of my life, it is a very beautiful one that I treasure and remember vividly:
I am in dressed all in white and I can fly, or am learning to fly, as occasionally I will stop on a step, in a beautiful castle, it is a castle with spiral stairs, and is infinitely high, there are windows and when I look out I see all the stars, I am happy, smiling, flying, dancing, feeling full of light and unconditional love. A feeling of playfulness and a knowing that I am awaiting something wonderful!
When I would wake up, there was always a feeling of Joy and Renewal
Here is a poem I wrote about it: I titled it “Who is she?”
She is dancing in the night
Clothed is silk…long, flowing, white
The castle stairs are of spiral type and help to aid her in her flight
She stops to check the stars in sight
Inviting in her friends, her light!
Her happiness cannot be contained
As if she has been Ordained
At last she’s chosen for the task
She loves them so, how dare she ask
Music plays, she lights the Flame
Angel Star is her name…
To my dismay, the dream stopped at age 45/50, and my entire life changed, my interpretation of this dream was that my Christ Consciousness was now perfected to the degree that I could consciously begin to navigate my soul, learn my truth and share it in some way with all of life.
Initially, I was abundant in Spirit, in fact so much so I needed to formulate a plan, this plan would be: MINIMALISM; Simple Structures, Clarity, Poise, and Uncomplicated Philosophy.
The gift of Minimalism is, CONTENTMENT; I have no position, knowledge or wisdom to defend, I have only the Living Spirit of Christ and of all things, I can offer you that, if it is of any use to you.
There is never an end, only Beginnings
Be Strong, my friends, amidst the turmoil…Have HOPE
Again, Happy New Year to all, May each new day of 2014 be a new beginning!
With Love,
Sparks
Hi Sparks,
What a beautiful dream you used to have and what a beautiful poem! It’s a gift I most definitely do not have, writing poetry, so I enjoy it all the more when others have.
Thank you for sharing them with us,
Love,
Anny
Shelia,
I agree with you…spirit, energy, and consciousness are interchangeable. And it is great that we can all agree and disagree on various points. None of us have ALL the answers, but each of us do have things to contribute in a place where we don’t have to worried about being ridiculed. And like Anny said, what’s really important is the spirit behind the scripture, and that’s the real reason I started this blog. Personally, I think more like Justin above. To me the scripture is more powerful as myth and metaphor rather than being literal, but I also believe Jesus was based on a real historical figure. Happy New Year!
Thanks for all the comments, and for the lovely poem Sparks. Yes – I see the truth in what Justin is saying too.
Sheila,
you’re welcome! I have to say I enjoyed sharing it, in fact I have shared more of my closest, most intimate spiritual moments here at SOS, then with anyone in my life. Being around many who would simply not move on certain areas of spirituality and God.
We can pick up a beautiful rock we can handle and admire, but some rocks we simply cannot move, we can gaze at their inner beauty but must leave them in their place. I feel here at SOS we are all magnificent, beautiful rocks, sharing and learning w/o judgments or ridicule and that’s a great feeling!
This post on “Unconditional Love”, is amazing and has received much attention and it brings to mind all of the times I have questioned my own evolving towards it or with it. If we really search our hearts and souls, today, I know I can still question “What do I really know about love?”, and I will be 60 years old this month!
2 words, yet not so easy to fully awaken in our lives and conscious everyday living, I do know it surely requires much sacrifice of self, are we serving ourselves? or are we serving others? This is where the trickster comes in…many times I have questioned my own motives, am I manipulating under the guise of unconditional love or is my purest intent engaged fully?
One day long ago, there was a man, Jesus, who willingly and consciously picked up a Cross and carried his sacrifice as a gift to all of humanity, the gift of unconditional love. Could he have not done this? Yes! He had many opportunity’s to do so, but if he did, he would not have followed His Soul’s Truth. His purest intent, on that day, awaked in our consciousness a conduit for this Love to flow through all of us here. Going within is the only access to unwrap the entirety of the glorious gift we were given…on that one day long ago.
I would like to ask the group here to share some of their own struggles, experiences with evolving towards unconditional love? or do you believe it is possible to achieve this wondrous gift in the here and now?
Loving nature and animals has given me so much inspiration to continue on, being a female and childless, has not been easy by far, so instead of being angry and bitter about it, I chose to embrace the beauty of the wild, the natural world and was given through that an acceptance and contentment, helping to teach me that unconditional love goes on and on.
One of my favorite quotes is: “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself” (John Billings). For all here who have ever shared their lives with a dog, they have learned unconditional love, through man’s best friend! A title well earned…
With love,
Sparks
Hi Sparks!
Next to meditation, nature is my most sacred space, as it were. I love walking my dog, or being in my wee garden with my dog and my rabbits. They are just so lovely to be with. There’s a huge lesson in that.
I too am questioning my motivation. Do I serve because I see a need that needs to be met? Or do I serve because I want people to like me? Or to use it to my advantage? I do so truly hope that I serve for the right reasons now.
Like you, the unconditional love of Jesus is what I aspire to, though I know I fall far short of it. I hope that I do love people, even when they misunderstand me, or whatever. I do try. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful example in Jesus. He is the perfect role model. Some people are not so lucky.
Much love and many blessings,
Sheila
PS. Have you read the Pierre Pradervand book “The Gentle Art of Blessing?” It’s great! And why I’m always blessing people!
Hi Sheila,
Thanks for sharing!
Sure makes me happy to know you contribute so much love to nature and the animals, which really always returns the loving gift of contentment.
Lately, I have been doing so much reading, but I am going to try to pick up the book you have mentioned as it definitely sounds like my kind of reading.
There also have been many spiritual teachers that have given me much inspiration but like yourself my heart/soul always goes back to Jesus as my perfect role model and teacher.
Blessings and love to you!!
Sparks
Hi Sparks and Sheila,
Thank you both for your very valuable experiences which you shared with us.
I totally recognize your questioning of your motives when you act lovingly towards someone. I feel exactly the same and sometimes my love indeed is not unconditional or has a secret agenda behind it. However, the fact that we have become aware of this and that we do question our motives every time is a sign that we are awakening. We do not have to be perfect right away. I do not think that Jesus got everything right from the start. His forty days in the desert might have been about this and he may have had to face his own demons instead of an external Satan, whether in a literal desert or not. Although a literal desert is indeed very suitable for such a thing, considering the fact that the first monks all settled there.
Sparks, you asked: What do I really know about love? I can only answer this for myself but I have already mentioned the two occasions where I experienced that. The first time was when I took the decision to stay in Israel during the Jom Kippur War and the second time when I took the decision to allow my mother to die, even though she might have lived for a couple of more months or even a year if I had given permission for all sorts of invasive treatments. Both decisions took time to take and were not as easily reached as it may have looked. I really had to take a huge jump into nothing and complete surrender to whatever might follow. Once I had taken those decisions however, I was flooded with love, which in those cases was indeed unconditional, and also with a complete lack of fear somehow. It did not last, it was still temporary, but I do know it exists and it changes everything.
With me however, the potential suffering remained potential in the first instance, and that meant also this really unconditional love faded somewhat. In the case of people like Jesus and Nelson Mandela the potential turned into reality and their unconditional love never faded away. So it is possible and it does happen, but it also takes some very conscious decisions sometimes.
Love,
Anny
Good Morning Anny!
Coincidently, as I was writing my prior post, my heart and mind went to the 40 days Christ spent in the desert and have been there myself during my own “dark nights of the soul”.
All, I believe contributed to my soul evolving towards Unconditional Love, so I do see Jesus in the desert as not only a truth but also one of His and God’s greatest lessons for us.
Your writing this article and Paul’s article were perfectly timed! They both address distinct levels of consciousness and will surely benefit all visitors of SOS who contemplate on them.
Thank you Anny, Paul and Josh for your phenomenal way of communicating from the heart!!
Love,
Sparks
Hi Sparks …
I read your reply and just wanted to add something if I may. The 40 days in the wilderness for Jesus, as well as the 40 years wandering in the dessert for Moses and the Israelites, and the rain for 40 days and 40 night for the story of Noah … all come down to the gematria and numerology symbolism of the number 40. One of these being that the average gestation period of a human being from conception, to birth … is 9 months. This is 40 weeks. Therefore, metaphorically speaking in each of these Bible stories, “40” represents our spiritual journey from base-nature man (Jesus the man/mankind) to christed being (Jesus the Christ/anointed and begotten son-divine). It’s our opportunity to be “born again” in the gnosis or knowingness of who we are rather than the ignorance (sin) of who we believe ourself to be. As the umbilical cord provides nourishment to the unborn child, the silver cord and Christ consciousness feeds us as adults experiencing life in this world of matter. In the beginning, there was heaven (spirit) and earth (matter). Spirit, being our soul-source is Father … and earth being our matter. The body is but the shadow cast from the mind/thought … the world of the unseen. The body/matter cannot effect the source of what is cast. But the source, can and does effect the body or shadow. This is cause and effect. Sowing and reaping. Peace …
Dear All,
what a joy it is to be in communion with you All. My heart goes out to you.
Thanks Josh for this meeting place. I feel it is now partly my church, i am able
to express myself and hear/see others express themselves.
unconditional love and crucifixion of our ego,
ough Anny what a subjects again
I am not there yet but every once and a while it starts to work through me.
Just to intercept my habits/thoughts and tell myself there is a Christ in my enemy,
and that the enemy is doing his/her things the best way possible. It lays down my ego
on the cross of awareness (judgment), makes me look at other angles. And can make me
act towards the perceived enemy in a changed way, outwardly fiendish, inwardly more
friendly.
I have a sort of prayer I use for myself, and occasionally i pray for my enemy the same way :
May there be Light in your thinking,
Love and Wisdom in your heart,
May You have the Power to do what is necessary.
And, yes after that a small voice enters my head asking ‘even if it hurts you ?’
And then I confirm, Yess, even if it hearts me.
Thanks again, you All,
Leo.
Hello Leo,
So here we meet again. It remains a bit strange to have to communicate with you in a foreign language but I do not think the others would appreciate it if we would turn to Dutch.
I recognize your attitude towards enemies as well and I share your views. It is easier though when the ‘enemy’ is far away than when it is somebody close by who keeps annoying you. Still, by surrounding them with Love even their attitude will change in the end, but regardless, we do have to see the Christ in them too. When we consequently do that, things start to change inside us, even if not in them yet. Constantly focussing on unconditional love, no matter what, and calling yourself back from the brink when you start judging someone or something again, helps too, I have noticed recently. We will get there!
Love,
Anny
Hi Leo!
Nice to meet you!
Thank you for sharing your special prayer with us, its a simple yet powerful one, especially the second part when you ask yourself to confirm the commitment of your prayer. that second part really sends it skyrocketing!
I love it and am going to start praying these very words as well…
Blessings & love
Sparks
Hi Sparks,
What a beautiful name !
Thanks for receiving the meaning of my words. The words were taken from a much larger text distributed by an esoteric family. I adapted it to my personal need. Also I could not take the effort to memorize the whole text :).
You wrote ‘being a female and childless’,
I am male, and have no children. But always I am surrounded by children and they kind of fill that gap. I am now retired, living in Thailand and the Thai families around me call me paapaa (a Thai honorary title for father). I have been looking and searching for friends here in Thailand, where i can share myself, but up to now no success.
So much more I enjoy sharing here with you All.
Kind love,
Leo.
Leo,
How lovely, the children calling you paapaa, they are our little wonders and I also have them bond to me like glue.
I feel this is a very good sign and like to think we, although childless, have many children, with our positive spiritual energy as our ultimate Love to the Master.
Remember how all the children would surround Him? So very comforting and just makes me so happy when the little ones love us…possibly the truest of all Unconditional Love!
We were not blessed with our own families, but we somehow energetically had a celestial litter!!
If you ever visit the, USA, you are welcome in my home.
We are always here for you at SOS as you know.
Love, Sparks
Hello Justin,
With your reply to Sparks you add a whole new dimension of information. Thank you. I like it when you come with gematria (Hebrew numerology for those who do not know this word) from another side. This concept of 40 being the gestation period of the human being and the concept of 40 as the character mem, which means water and symbolizes a.o. ego and emotions, taken together show two levels really: the first one is the gestation period of the physical human being and the second one is the gestation period before the birth of the Christ within that physical human being by going through this whole process of crucifixion of the ego.
You write: “In the beginning, there was heaven (spirit) and earth (matter). Spirit, being our soul-source is Father … and earth being our matter. The body is but the shadow cast from the mind/thought … the world of the unseen. The body/matter cannot effect the source of what is cast. But the source, can and does effect the body or shadow.”
I would say: … and earth being our matter/Mother. As such I see the body as something more than the shadow alone and I believe that it does have effect on the source as well. Or in other words, both Father and Mother are changed by the birth of the child. And I have heard it stated that God grows as well by our experiences as in Reality we are all One, forever growing in conscious awareness.
I find it very fascinating to ponder all this. Do not you?
Love,
Anny
Good Morning Justin & Anny,
Justin, I wanted to reply to your post and thank you but the reply link was not there for me to do so, then Anny’s post showed up! (giving me the opportunity to respond, thanks Anny) concerning the gematria/numerology and the invisible dimensions it adds to our spiritual growth.
Both of you bring so much aboard here with your knowledge and expertise in this area of not only Scripture but so many other dimensions as well.
Although personally I have never had any formal training or learned knowledge concerning specifics in gemetria or numerology, I can certainly attest to its immense value to our soul’s path/enlightenment.
This was a learn as you go lesson, (similar to learning to swim) for me and the realization of Spirit with me was made manifest. My spiritual quest was always a strong desire, but the rebellious nature of myself held onto the shield and sword. It was not until I laid down the shield and sword, and surrendered myself to Spirit, then my own magical mystery tour began. Repetitive numbers, prevalent were 11, 13, 16, 106, 333, 49, 40, 400, 126, (my birthdate), as well as other numbers which came twice, either by ear or eye, these were also followed by a letter directly leading me to the exact Scripture I was to go to on any particular day that mind was asking/questioning and to my amazement there the answer would be (a gleeful feeling, I might add). Another example was one day I was sitting in a front of an Old Navy store (night time) and the channel letters of the sign were all blown out with the exception of 3 letters DNA, and on that particular day I remember pondering the spiral symbolism, etc., all multi-dimensional signs, with deep feelings of love, joy, and sorrow. As I have mentioned before my dad was a sign maker, erector, and that was his craft/business, so signs were always a “pay attention” moment for me.
My point here is you both have verified that YES, gematria/numerology is by no means insignificant, and both of your contributions on this subject have added an enormous benefit to Josh’s site.
Some days when Spirit is with me all day, my lessons are very intense and stream in like a waterfall, bathing me in light and love. The other days are long and arduous, which is not necessarily a bad thing as I am blessed with the gnosis that something invisible is happening.
Just a side note for all here and reading this, I appreciate and respect all the articles and posts here by everyone, there is not a single one that has not added something wonderful to my journey, hoping my own posts have given as much to you as you have given to me! True Gems, all of you!
BTW…Anny & Justin, can you enlighten me on the spiritual significance of the number 192?
Love, Sparks
Hello Sparks,
Thanks for your comment. As I think I already told you, I myself also have not had any formal training in gematria at all. I just read some books by prof. Weinreb and also some novels by Chaim Potok, which did not give me any practical knowledge of it however. I know the Hebrew characters and their numerical value by heart and learned some of the meanings that prof. Weinreb attributed to them, but the rest is largely intuitive as in insights from meditation.
By and by I just learned to trust meanings when they came up in connection with information from other sources and if everything came together as in formulas sometimes, then I knew I had to be heading in the right direction. Also other people came up with the same conclusions, following a different way, like Paul Young, or with a conclusion that proved to be an addition, like Justin just now. I have longe since found out that formal training is not everything and if your heart is not in it, it often proves to have no value at all, as I am sure you know as well by now, Sparks.
And you do not need any formal training at all, you are doing just fine as you are and every time you add a unique perspective to look at things, which we all appreciate.
I am sorry to say that I do not know offhand what the number 192 means; it can be reduced to 12 and 3 but if that had been the idea, it would not have come to you in that way. I can figure out the numerical value of a Hebrew word if I know how it is written, but I cannot interpret a word into a number. I went to check the register of numbers, mentioned in the book by prof. Weinreb which taught me the most, but the number 192 is not in there either, so the words he used in it do not have that numerical value. If I do happen to stumble on such a word (and remember your question at that time) I will let you know.
Your example of the sign with DNA in it is very significant. I believe in signs. There are lots of signs everywhere that are meant to help us remember. And everything is already programmed into our DNA (junk DNA does not exist, only DNA that has not been activated yet but soon will be!).
Love,
Anny
Hi Anny,
Thanks for looking into the numerology of that number for me, nothing more on that for me as yet but it may show again in a way I can remember!
Strong signs, I wanted to mention to you also come with a vibrational or tonal frequency.
Am also glad you enjoyed the “Vision for Strength” that I shared with Leo, you may also like the content here:
http://www.intenders.com/
And YES, the masks, as I removed the masks I became sick, very ill, leading me to a new dimension of my spiritual journey, but what I am seeing more and more, when out and about is encouraging as people do in a subtle kind of way seem to have more of a desire to speak and act from their hearts w/o their mask or animation.
Holding the dream!
Love, Sparks
Hi Sparks,
Thank you for your comment. It does look indeed that we are a lot alike. I checked out the link you sent for a moment and it looks ineteresting.
I can imagine that you felt sick, removing the masks. So did I, it is very scary and until recenty I really was more or less hiding myself because you never know what people might say to what I think or write, right? But once I finally took the step it started to matter less. Slowly, slowly.
I experience what I hear or see now mostly as energy, indeed as a frequency of vibration, and not as good or bad.
Love,
Anny
To all. Catching up on what I missed in the last few months. This new years message and endless string of comments really topped off the year with a bang. More fun than watching the ball drop. I feel like I missed out and feel a little left out, so I thought I might try to add my two cents and a half (for annual inflation). If you have no religion and zero spiritual understanding, that Olde Time Religion can be like water in the desert. The NT model for unconditional love (and unconditional forgiveness) is unparalleled in all the well known sacred texts (I’m aware of). The love passage in 1 Corinthians 13 is the most poetic and definitive. I don’t know where the author of Corinthians (supposed to be Paul) came up with it, if he borrowed it from some ancient teaching, or it just floated down from the sky. He cuts through all the obsession over gifts and miracles and techniques, and refocuses our awareness to the highest level. And what a Sunday school lesson this passage makes. That being said, my problem with the NT is that it is geared to conforming to lofty standards. It describes clearly what we need to be like to be like our hero, but leaves out an effective “how to”. So, we make a little progress from our new knowledge, but the moment we fail to turn the other cheek we become a loser in our own eyes and disappoint our hero, and have to keep apologizing for not making the grade, as if that was going to empower us to improve. We become the “bad boys” club who have favor with God and who will someday magically cloth us in purity and glory. Hallelujah. Somebody shout Amen. This is what many Christians call “faith”. But I had a friend with an encyclopedic mind who became a walking and talking bible. Everyone thought he was bound for sainthood, and were shocked when he committed suicide. This was a worst case scenario. There are a lot of saintlike Christians. What I am getting at is the bible is useful but not complete. A deeper understanding of being ego-driven and having the capacity to transcend that limitation begins to compensate for the deficiency in the literal meaning of the bible. That’s my two cents. There is a difference between being under compulsion to love someone unconditionally, and actually loving them unconditionally (that’s the half cent for inflation). Happy belated new year.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for yet another comment, though this one is not directly related to my post, I guess. I am glad you got that off your chest!
I understand that it feels bad when thing somehow do not add up. I have been there too, though I think that the attitude in my church was different. Still, things did not feel quite right for me. So I started searching as well and the esoterical Bible interpretations proved to be the answer for me.
Especially that there were many ways to look at texts and that people following different ways could come up with the same results. The esoterical interpretation makes clear to me that truth is to be found in the Bible and that is is not an easy truth but one that appeals to our own responsibility for our life and for our actions but most of all to reach that state of unconditional love again. It is possible but it is a process and it is no sin to make mistakes.
I think we need to take the compulsion out of the equation, as you yourself already mention too!
Love,
Anny