Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty eight, Sixth Friday of Lent, Love the Divine Spark

Day Thirty eight, Sixth Friday of Lent

Love the Divine Spark within others and ourselves.

John 10: 31-42

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” 

The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” 

Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’— and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God's Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 

Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 

And many believed in him there.

Another wonderful story from John about Jesus which describes how Jesus taught that the Divine Spark was within Him just as it was within them, and they were enraged, calling His teaching blasphemy and tried to arrest Him and wanted to stone Him.

What were they so angry about? They believed in a judgmental God who punished people for sinning, making mistakes, and Jesus was teaching a different God who loved everyone and, in fact, they were all part of the Oneness of God. Jesus taught that they needed to join together and appreciate the inherent worth and dignity of every person instead of judging, dividing, separating, attacking, and excluding.

Jesus was undermining the whole rationale for their religion and lives. Jesus was a big threat to their view of life and their positions in it. They wanted to exclude the threat by silencing Him and what better way than by killing Him?

In the world of the ego, you can kill the body, but you can’t kill the Spirit because the Spirit lives on and is eternal. 2020 years later we still remember what Jesus taught and remembering, apply His teaching to our lives. We are to love the Divine spark within one another and ourselves.

In the Lenten season we are reminded to give up the things of the ego and focus on the things of the Spirit which is Love. Jesus tells the people who accuse Him and hate Him, “Even if you don’t like me, look at the things my state of consciousness has done, and believe that it is the Love of God which is within me and I am in the Love of God.” Some who were threatened by this wanted HIm gone, but then He went across the Jordan and some came to learn from Him further and they believed Him.

Where do you stand? Do you want Jesus silenced so you can enjoy the things of the ego or do you believe in the path of the Spirit where we all are part of the Love of God?

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty seven, Sixth Thursday of Lent, Becoming vicious and violent

Day Thirty seven, Sixth Thursday of Lent

Suggesting giving up the ego makes people vicious and violent.

John 8: 51-59

“Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” 

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?” 

Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” 

Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 

Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” 

So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Now that’s a funny story. It makes me laugh. People don’t understand the metaphysical psychology of Jesus at all. They take Him literally and don’t perceive, let alone understand, His mystical teaching.

Jesus tells His audience that whoever gets off the path of the ego and onto the path of the Spirit will not die. The physical body will die, but the Spirit will live on forever.

The audience calls Jesus crazy. They say He has a demon in Him. They attack Jesus claiming that He is saying He is better than Abraham. Jesus laughs and tells them they misunderstand what He is saying. He says that if a person says that they do not have a divine spirit they are a liar. He, Himself, is not a liar so He cannot deny that the Divine Essence is not within Himself.

Jesus only ticks them off more and they are about to stone Him but Jesus went and hid, and then left the temple.

Every person has inherent worth and dignity. Peace Pilgrim called it a “Divine Spark.” In A Course In Miracles it is called our “natural inheritance.”

Jesus is describing a metaphysical psychology of the path of the spirit not the literal perception kof things on the path of the ego. The audience didn’t get it then and few people get it today. In order to understand Jesus, the student must shift from the world of the ego to the world of the Spirit and giving up the things of the ego, which is what Lent is about, fills most people with terror and they become vicious and violent.

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty six, Sixth Wednesday of Lent, The big mistake still being made today.

Day Thirty six, Sixth Wednesday of Lent

The big mistake is still being made today.

John 8: 31-42

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 

They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” 

Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father's presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.” 

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” 

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.” 

They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.” 

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

John describes Jesus as continuing to teach the Jews about the path of the Spirit as distinguished from the path of the ego. The Jews don’t get it. They defend their law and beliefs and practices, and see Jesus as a trouble maker.

Jesus is upsetting the apple cart, going against the grain, disturbing the status quo and the Jews feel threatened. The Jews are experiencing what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. When people’s point of view, their raison d’etre is threatened they get defensive and then they attack. Jesus knows this and says to them, “you look for an opportunity to kill me.” The Jews want to silence Him because what He is teaching is undermining their belief system in the ego which is the source of their security.

What Jesus is doing is suggesting a better way to live their lives. Jesus is suggesting that they consider the path of the Spirit which is Love rather than the path of the ego which is based on fear based on its laws and punishment.

At Lent, more than any other time of the year, we are encouraged to renounce the things on the path of the ego and turn onto the path of the Spirit. That’s all. It’s very simple, really. We can choose the path of deprivation and scarcity and a feeling of never being able to win, to get ahead, or the path of Spirit which is Unconditional Love where we can become one with the All and claim our natural inheritance which is peace and bliss. Knowing the difference between the path of the ego and the path of the Spirit, this truth, will set you free.

Jesus senses that they will kill Him for suggesting that they give up their egos. That of course is a huge mistake which some call “sin.” We are still talking about it 2,020 years later.

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty five, Fifth Tuesday of Lent, Embarking on the path to peace and bliss.

Day Thirty five, Fifth Tuesday of Lent

Embarking on the path to peace and bliss.

John 8: 21-30

Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 

Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 

He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” 

They said to him, “Who are you?” 

Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 

They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” 

As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

John describes Jesus’ interaction with the group around him and they didn’t understand what Jesus was trying to communicate with them  any more than most people understand it now.

The audience mistakenly think that Jesus is talking about his physical death. They think He is despondent and talking about suicide. Jesus isn’t despondent, He is talking about the death of the ego. Jesus is talking about making a decision to be aware of the cosmic consciousness, the Oneness with God, the path of the Spirit. In order to enter onto this path of the spirit, a person must allow the ego, the sense of individual self, to die.

Jesus tells them as plainly as He can according to John’s account, “I have risen above the path of the ego and I am aware of the path of the Spirit. You will not get it as long as you stay on the path of the ego which is a huge mistake. When you walk the path of the ego it’s as if you are asleep and when you walk the path of the Spirit you are awake, enlightened.

Jesus then tells them, “I don’t say these things from my ego. I am telling you this because I have become aware of the Oneness of God and you are part of the Oneness too if only you would give up your egos and realize it. You keep searching on the path of the ego for the things that will make you happy, but it never works. You could find what you are looking for if you joined Me on the path of the Spirit.”

The story ends saying that some of them believed what He was telling them. That is comforting news. How many people believe it today? How many people understand the meaning of this Lenten season which is to give up the path of the ego for the path of the Spirit? 

The very idea of giving up the ego, the idea of an individual, separate self, fills people with fear and dread, and yet overcoming this fear and moving in this direction is to finally be on the path to peace and bliss.

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty Four, Fifth Monday of Lent, All there is, is love.

Day Thirty four, the fifth Monday of Lent.

All there is, is love.

John 8: 1-11

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him,“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 

They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. 

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.

When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 

She said, “No one, sir.”  

And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

This is one of my favorite bible stories. Contradicting what religions teach, Jesus does not condemn people for committing sins. Jesus, in so many words, says, “Look you made a mistake. It is a good idea if you didn’t do it again.” In other words, mistakes are learning opportunities to help us become a better person.

The scribes and the Pharisees apparently realized this too when Jesus told them that the person without sin could cast the first stone and they all walked away beginning with the eldest.

As we get older, if we grow up instead of just growing old, we become wiser and this wisdom helps us become less judgmental. The elders, being the wisest, walked away first.

Jesus is quite a teacher. He cuts through the nonsense of the ego and gets right down to the spirit of things. Jesus teaches us that God is Love and anything less is of the ego. “Sin” is an illusion, and like the Beatles sang, “All there is, is Love.”

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty three, Fifth Sunday of Lent, Love doesn't die.

Day Thirty three, Fifth Sunday of Lent

Love doesn’t die.

John 11: 1-45

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 

Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 

But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarusd was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 

The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 

After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 

The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 

Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 

Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarusd had already been in the tomb for four days. 

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 

She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 

Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” 

They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. 

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 

But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” 

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 

Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 

So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. 

Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

John is a good story teller. This is a story for our modern times when the popular culture seems to be enamored with zombies. In the world of the ego, Jesus brings Lazarus back from the dead. However, like so many of John’s stories that can be read on two levels. The first level is in the world of the ego, and the second level is in the world of Spirit.

On the second level, the world of the Spirit, the story isn’t about zombies at all. The story is about consciousness and which mind the believer is in. Is the believer in the wrong minded level of the ego or the right minded level of the Spirit?

Jesus says to Martha, I am teaching about the world of the Spirit, the Love of the Father, do you believe this? Jesus, according to John, personalizes this and has Jesus say “Do you believe in me, that I am the resurrection and the life,” but what Jesus probably said, was not “me” but “my teaching.” “Do you believe that my teaching about the world of the Spirit where love never dies is true? If you do, you will know that you have eternal life and live forever as does your brother and all people.”

And so, according to John, Jesus acts this out by raising the physical body of Lazarus from the dead, but physical bodies don’t come back to life anymore than zombies are real. John’s zombie story is not literally true, but the moral to John’s story makes a significant point which is that we can awaken from our dream life in the world of the ego, and perceive and experience the peace and joy of the world of the Spirit.

The biggest point that Jesus is trying to make is that Love doesn’t die but exists forever.

During Lent we are reminded frequently of physical death in our renunciation of things of the ego world. We experience this giving up as losses, little deaths over and over again. It is in this giving up of the things of the ego that we are purifying our minds to be liberated from worldly attachments to ascend to the world of the Spirit where Love is all there is.

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty Two, Fifth Saturaday of Lent, Should I Give Up Some Of My Prejudices?

Day Thirty two, Fifth Saturday of Lent

Should I give up some of my prejudices?

John 7: 40-53

When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” 

Others said, “This is the Messiah.”

But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” 

So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” 

Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law— they are accursed.” 

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesuse before, and who was one of them, asked, “ Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” 

They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.” 

Then each of them went home.

I can imagine John telling this story shaking his head at how stupid those in authority are. Things haven’t changed at all from the times of Jesus to our current times. People in authority and their fundamentalist followers appeal to some external authority in the world of the ego like laws, regulations, prejudices of social class, where people live, etc.

Galilee was rural. It was not urban like Jerusalem. The chief priests and Pharisees could not believe that someone coming from the sticks would know anything. They are discriminating based on the rural/urban divide.

The chief priests and Pharisees were the authoritarians of their day. They put their loyalty in the law not in wisdom. They put their faith in the world of the ego not the world of the Spirit.

And so, Jesus’ teachings when over their heads. They dismissed it and marginalized it without even considering it. They treated Jesus’ teaching in a contemptuous and disdainful way. They wanted to silence HIm and not be bothered with considering and reflecting on it because Jesus had no authority to teach and His teachings are about the path of the Spirit and Love, and not about the path of the ego and laws and regulations.

When the police refused to arrest Jesus, the chief priests and Pharisees apparently were disgusted and frustrated and just went home for the day. But that is not the end of the story because their fundamentalist mindset is pervasive and persistent, and eventually leads to an attempt to silence the country boy from Galilee by killing him.

Lent is a time to examine our prejudices and biases. Who do we give credence to and will listen to and who do we reject outright because the speaker does not fit our pre-ordained ideas about who is worthy to be listened to and who we can ignore and shut down?

If Lent is a time to give up things we are attached to on the path of the ego, perhaps we should  reexamine our prejudices and biases and give some of them up.

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty one, Fifth Friday Of Lent, You can kill the body but not the soul.

Day Thirty one, Fifth Friday of Lent

You can kill the body but not the spirit.

John 7: 1-31

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” ( For not even his brothers believed in him.) 

Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.” 

After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. 

The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” 

And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.” Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews. 

About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning,  when he has never been taught?” 

Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him. Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?” 

The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” 

Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man's whole body on the sabbath? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” 

Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” 

Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 

Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?” 

Jesus knows His days are numbered. He knows He has been rocking the boat, going against the grain, upsetting the apple care, disturbing the status quo. The authorities feel threatened and want to squelch Him by killing HIm.

It seems that some of the group is for HIm and others are against Him. Because of this Jesus at first goes about secretly but then, apparently, changes His mind and starts teaching in the Temple, and the folks there are amazed at what comes out of His mouth.

Jesus tells them, your amazement at what I have to say has nothing to do with me. What I am saying is based on my awareness of the cosmic consciousness. Jesus is sharing His metaphysical understanding of the source of His knowledge and experience.

Some of the people in His audience say that He is crazy, “You have a demon!” Others seem enthralled and wonder if He is the promised messiah they all have been waiting for.

Jesus is walking on the path of the Spirit not on the path of the ego. Because He has given up the things of the ego the observers don’t know what to make of His teachings. Jesus was misunderstood in His own time and He is still misunderstood today.

Many of the stories about Jesus make no sense if they are taken literally in the world of the ego. But if these same stories about Jesus are understood metaphysically in the world of the Spirit a giant light bulb lights on and our understanding is illuminated.

Jesus is careful about who and when and where He shares His spiritual understanding and for the time being, the majority of the crowd tolerates HIm, but Jesus knows it is only a matter of time before they try to silence HIm by killing His body.

Lenten Reflections, Day Thirty, Fifth Thursday of Lent, Becoming Aware Of One's Holiness.

Day Thirty, Fifth Thursday of Lent.

Becoming aware of one’s holiness.

John 5: 31-47
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 

You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 

But I have a testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. 

 You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 

I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 

How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

John reports these words of Jesus and they can be interpreted on different levels. On the level of the ego they make Jesus sound dismissive, contemptuous, and arrogant. On the level of the Spirit, these words are profound and transport the reader upward to a higher consciousness

In the very first sentence, Jesus tells the audience that His life, His story, HIs teachings are not about HIm. They need to get this. He is not blowing his own horn.

Jesus laughs and jokes and says to them, you thought John the Baptist was a big deal and you raved about him for a while, but what I am telling you is far more important and wonderful than what John ever taught. However, hold your applause and your adulation because I’m not telling you things for my own benefit but for the glory of the God of which you seem to know nothing.

Jesus laughs further at their looking for God in their holy books. Jesus is telling them that looking in their scriptures is a waste of time. God is in their own hearts and minds not in some book. Jesus is telling them what the Buddhists teach that instead of looking at the finger pointing at the moon, look at the moon. Holiness is not to be found in texts and creeds but in experience of love in one’s own heart and relationships.

At the end of the passage, Jesus seems sad. He tells His audience they have missed the boat. They do not understand what he is teaching. They listen to each other and look for peer recognition and acknowledgement but God is not to be found in the things of the ego. They have to rise above this human reinforcement and regard, and seek the Oneness of the Divine which is beyond any human specialness of kudos..

During Lent we are supposed to be giving things up. It is a good time to renounce the things of the ego like good grades, certificates, “atta boys,” and “atta girls.” Seekers on the right track are looking for something much higher and deeper (notice the paradox?) and eschew ego reward for the true satisfaction and fulfillment of experience and awareness of one’s holiness. It is this awareness that Jesus attempts to make us aware. Unfortunately, most people don’t get it.

Lenten Reflections, Day Twenty nine, Fifth Wednesday of Lent, Path of the Ego and the Path of the Spirit

Day Twenty Nine, Fifth Wednesday of Lent

Path of the ego and the path of the Spirit.

John 5: 17-30

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” 

For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 

The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 

Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. 

The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

 Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 

 I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

John puts some fine words in Jesus’ mouth. The words John reports Jesus as saying have little meaning unless you understand Jesus' metaphysical philosophy. Jesus sees the world in a non dualistic way. Without understanding Jesus’ metaphysical cosmology, His statements in this passage are incomprehensible.

Jesus sees all life as One. We are all part of the Oneness. Jesus is speaking from a position of cosmic consciousness. Jesus is not referring to things on the path of the ego. So when Jesus says that He and the Father are One as well as the people who understand His teachings, Jesus is not referring to the usual meaning of the words His is using based on separation, and this offends the Jews. They are taking Him literally rather than spiritually.

Richard Rohr suggests that when we read the words “judge” and “judgement” in this passage we substitute the word “mirror” or “mirroring.”

The Love of God is mirrored in us, God’s sons and daughters, and we mirror it in each other. Those who perceive the inherent worth and dignity, and spark of the divine, in themselves and others are alive and will have eternal life, and those who don’t see the inherent worth and dignity, and divine spark, are dead and consigned to darkness.

Jesus is describing in this passage what can be called the “path of the ego” and the “path of the Spirit.” Which path are you walking?

Lent is the season of the year when we become more aware of our choice of paths. Those who celebrate Lent make a more intentional effort to eschew the things on the path of the ego and engage and embrace the things on the path of the Spirit.

Lenten Reflections, Day Twenty eight, Fourth Tuesday of Lent, Searching for a better way

Day Twenty eight, Fourth Tuesday of Lent

Searching for a better way

John 5: 1-16

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrewc Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids— blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” 

Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 

At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 

But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 

They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” 

Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared ina the crowd that was there. 

Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 

The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.

Another interesting story which can be interpreted on many levels. Is Jesus a magician, a miracle worker, a faith healer, or a good psychotherapist?

The man, apparently, has been playing the victim for 38 years blaming his problems on other people who get to the healing waters of the pool first. Jesus, though, isn’t  buying the “playing the victim” schtick and says to the guy, “Listen do you want to get well?”

The guy makes excuses and Jesus says to him in so many words, “You can do it. Don’t wait for others to carry you and put you in the pool, do it yourself.”

So, the guy, I imagine, says to himself, “Well, if he (Jesus) thinks I can do it and should do it, then what the heck, I’ll do it” and he stands up, takes up his mat, and walks.

Are people happy for this guy?

No.

They tell him he shouldn’t be taking up his mat and walking around because it’s the Sabbath when observant Jews are to do no work. Instead of rejoicing at the man’s initiative and improved functioning, they attack Jesus who helped him on the Sabbath. Does this mean that psychotherapists shouldn’t work on Sundays?

As a psychotherapist myself, I don’t work on Sundays except in emergencies but I know many who do offer their services on Sundays and many clients who request office hours on Sundays.

At any rate, the things in the world of the Spirit know nothing of time and are not constrained by the limits of time. In the world of the ego, though, time can be a big deal and used to coerce and shame people as well as to coordinate activities and create a harmony for team work.

One moral of the story is that things of the Spirit, Love, trumps things of the ego like playing the victim and time. Increasingly in our digital fast paced society, time marginalizes and squelches Love. We don’t have the time or the will to make the time to attend in a loving way to other people. Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to be made well?”

Great question. What would you say? Do you want to continue playing the victim stressed by external circumstances over which you complain you have no control or would you choose to shift gears and search for a better way? The better way, as Jesus demonstrates, is not on the path of the ego, but rather on the path of the Spirit.

Lenten Reflections, Day Twenty seven, Fourth Monday of Lent, Nondualism and love

Day Twenty seven, Fourth Monday of Lent

Nondualism and Love

John 4: 43-54

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee ( for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet's own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. 

Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 

The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” 

Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” 

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” 

So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Some people might say after reading this story that the moral of the story is that faith heals. Jesus, though, is not a magician. He does not dabble in superstition and the occult arts.

Another interpretation of the story might be that Jesus does not care about the path of the ego. Why would a “royal official” consult an itinerant, homeless, street teacher? Why would someone with status, rank, prestige, power ask a bum for help? It makes no sense on the path of the ego.
The “royal official” was wise enough to be aware that there was something much deeper going on with Jesus and he wanted to get in on it for his son’s welfare. What would make a “royal official” think that someone like Jesus could have something to offer that could help his sick son and his family?

John points out Jesus’ statement earlier that a person can’t be a prophet in his own land. It is only outsiders who see things from a distance, a distance that gives  perspective, who can appreciate the insights and wisdom of someone different from them.

When the royal official asks Jesus for help Jesus laughs and says, “Unless you see magical illusions you folks don’t believe what I am trying to share with you.”

After a good laugh. I imagine,  Jesus sends the royal official on his way and says, “Don’t worry, Your son is going to be okay.”

When the royal official hears from his servants that his son is better, he is overjoyed and credits his son’s recovery to Jesus. The story tells us that the royal official and his whole household became “believers,” but in what it does not say.

Does the royal official and his household become believers in Jesus or Jesus’ message? The story doesn’t tell us.

What is Jesus’ message? What was Jesus’ metaphysical philosophy and His recommended psychology?

Jesus’ metaphysical philosophy is about nondualism and his psychology is about the experience of love.

Lenten Reflections, Day Twenty Six, Fourth Sunday of Lent, Fear or Love?

Day Twenty six, Fourth Sunday of Lent

Blindness or sight; darkness or light; fear of Love?

John 9: 1-41

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 

When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). 

Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” 

Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” 

He kept saying, “I am the man.” 

But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 

He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 

They said to him, “Where is he?” 

He said, “I do not know.” 

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 

Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 

Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 

So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” 

He said, “He is a prophet.” 

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 
His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesusa to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 

He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 

They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 

He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 

Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 

The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 

They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 

He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 

Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 

He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 

Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

That’s quite a story. It can be interpreted on many levels. Is Jesus a magician, a miracle worker showboating or is there some deeper meaning to the story?

If we leave the superficial literal level and attempt a deeper awareness of the metaphorical meaning we could say a few things about the story.

We are all born blind and socialized and conditioned on the path of the ego. We all, in some sense, are beggars trying to eke out a living with the goal in our material society of becoming “successful” meaning we obtain and accumulate money, status, power, prestige and security.

There comes a point when we realize that material success on the path of the ego isn’t contributing to the deeper satisfaction and fulfillment we seek so begin to search for a better way. We start looking for Love and this is what Jesus came to make us aware of. Jesus is a teacher not a magician. Jesus is a facilitative catalyst for helping people become aware of their innate worth and dignity, their holiness. When people realize that Love is their natural inheritance from their creator, they are awakened and no longer blind. They now see the light and are no longer living in darkness.

“Sin” means mistake. Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are mistaken if they think that following the laws and the rules about  adhering to the regulations of the Sabbath are going to help them experience the Love of God. Complying with the socialization and conditioning of the law is keeping them blind because they are missing the spirit of the law which is Love. If they could only see this, they would no longer be blind.

The blind man’s parents live in fear of rejection and ostracization so they side with following the rules and regulations on the path of the ego rather than opening themselves up to the ways of Love which is Jesus’ awareness and teaching helping the blind man see.

Bottom line is simple. We have a choice. Will we choose fear or Love. Jesus and the blind man chose Love and the Pharisees and the blind man’s parents chose fear. What do you choose? You will have many times today when you will be offered opportunities between fear and Love. When you become aware of these forks in the road ask yourself, “What would Love have me do?”

The purpose of Lent is to remind us of our ongoing choices between the things on the path of the ego or the things on the path of the Spirit.

Lenten Reflections, Day Twentyn Four, Fourth Friday of Lent, Love is all there is.

Day Twenty four, Fourth Friday of Lent

Love is all there is. 

Mark 12: 28 - 34

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 

Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one's neighbor as oneself,’— this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 

When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” 

After that no one dared to ask him any question.

The scribes and the Pharisees, as many people are today, were a litigious bunch. They loved the law. They looked at the world, people, their relationships and themselves legalistically. They were conventional and their sense of morality was based on a legal code. So they, in this frame of mind, ask Jesus, “What’s the greatest commandment?”

In a way it is a trick question because it assumes a legal frame of reference, but Jesus rises above the legal code and says that the greatest thing is love and if you loved God and each other you wouldn’t  need a legal code.

Jesus was a wise person. He is what the Jews call in Yiddish a “mensch.” A “mensch” is a wise person who rises above legalistic formulations and functions from a place of integrity and honor. A mensch is a person who has their shit together. A mensch functions way beyond the world of the ego and operates in another dimension of loving kindness.

At this time of Lent, if not all through the year, we are reminded that being legalistic and following the code of the ego only gets a person and society so far because without love they are simply a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal as St. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians in Chapter 13.

Of course the Beatles had in right in their great song, “Love is all there is.”

Lenten Reflections, Day Twenty three, Fourth Thursday of Lent, Which path will you take?

Day Twenty three, Fourth Thursday of Lent

Which path will you take: the path of the ego or the path of the Spirit of Love?

Luke 11: 14 - 23
Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 

Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?— for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Why is it that when people do good things there are always some people who tear them down? Are they jealous? Are they threatened in some way?

When anyone takes a principled stand, they often are going against the grain, upsetting the apple cart, disturbing the status quo, and members of the group will attack them. So, some members of the crowd attack Jesus and mock him and challenge him to give them even “more signs from heaven,” but Jesus, in a few words, says to them, “What’s up with you people?”

You’d think that people would want to work together for the common good and be pleased that an afflicted member of their community was healed, but instead they take offense that Jesus is showboating. There are members of the group who apparently think Jesus is showing off even when He is merely helping a fellow human being.

Jesus is not having their jealousy, their false accusations and says to them “Look, you can play your ego games or get on board and help me make people aware of their holiness and sanctify the world.” But, the reader gets the sense that the people would rather play their ego games than choose the way of Love. Jesus is very clear, in a few words, that people can’t have it both ways. You have to choose: the way of the ego or the way of Love. He asks people to gather with him on the way of Love. Which path do you choose?

Lenten Reflections, Day Twenty two, Fourth Sunday of Lent, What God do you believe in?

Day Twenty two, Fourth Wednesday of Lent.

What God do you believe in?

Matthew 5: 17 - 20

“ Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Many Christians like the New Testament better than the Old Testament. They like the New Testament, God, Abba, Daddy, better than the Old Testament God who is often full of wrath and violence and condemnation.

Jesus teaches that you should  respect both. The Old Testament God has His place but unless you move past the Old Testament God you won’t find the peace and bliss of the kingdom.

Parents know this. Parents know there are two kinds of love: the warm fuzzy lovey-dovey love and the correction, the discipline, the “I love you enough to make you behave yourself and keep you honest” love. As human beings we need the carrot and the stick.

Tough love often doesn’t look like love and the person on the receiving end of it often doesn’t experience it that way, but it is often clear that the person going to the trouble of extending tough love obviously cares about the object of this love and is willing to expend the energy and effort to help them become their better self.

Yet there must be more than this tough love. In fact without the warm fuzzy love in the first place, tough love isn’t likely to help. The Old Testament God provides the tough love and Jesus tells us about the New Testament God who provides the warm fuzzy love. People need both. The scribes and Pharisees were only concerned with the tough love, the letter of the law. They were not concerned with the Spirit of the law. Jesus teaches us that without the Spirit of the law, the letter of the law falls far short in guiding us to the kingdom.

God is unnamable and yet, as human beings, we tend to anthropomorphize God. He/she/it is both good and bad, constraining and freeing, restrictive and empowering. During the season of Lent as well as all through the year we struggle to renounce the things of the ego and search for the Unconditional Love of Spirit. We can attain the peace and bliss of Spirit but we must be purified first through forgiveness of ourselves and others to attain the height of Cosmic Consciousness.

This attainment comes from a choice. Which God do we believe in: the God of the Old Testament or the God of the New Testament or both? Jesus tells us to choose both but the first doesn’t do much good without the second.

Lenten Reflections, Day Twenty on - Third Tuesday Of Length, The primary lesson of Lent

Day Twenty one - Third Tuesday of Lent

The primary lesson of Lent

Matthew 21 - 35

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”  

Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-sevenhtimes. For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 

So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 
But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii;  and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 

Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 
But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 

When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 

Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 

And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

When it comes to forgiveness Jesus doesn’t mess around. Peter asks Jesus, “How many times do I need to forgive a person? Seven?”

Jesus says, “No. Seventy seven!” Then Jesus goes on to tell the story about the forgiving Landlord of the manor and the slave who owed him money.

People, who think they are being generous and wise, often say something clever like “Forgive but don’t forget.” What does this mean? Is this half hearted forgiveness? Make nice but hold a grudge? Move on into the future, but hold on to the past?

Jesus’ story winds up with the statement saying that we have to forgive “from our heart” which means we need to rise above it and forget about it as well.

Sometimes people change and do you really want to hold the past against them? What kind of forgiveness is that? That is forgiveness on the path of the ego. Forgiveness on the path of the Spirit rises above the perceived hurt and injustice and moves on as if it never happened.

Forgiveness, as defined in A Course In Miracles, is making a decision to no longer hold the person responsible for your unhappiness. The only person ultimately responsible for your unhappiness or happiness is you. To make other people responsible for your unhappiness is a trap of the ego which contributes to resentment, grievance, and a desire for revenge.

As Jesus is being crucified His Spirit is resurrected when He says with a laugh, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus demonstrated in the most extreme of circumstances that the world of Spirit transcends the world of the ego. This is the primary lesson of Lent.

Lenten Reflections, Day Twentieth, Third Monday Of Lent, Are You Living In The World Of The Ego or The World Of Spirit?

Day Twentieth, Third Monday of Lent

Are you living in the world of the ego or the world of Spirit?

Luke 4: 24 - 30
And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 2
When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

“No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” I have observed this phenomenon many times and having sometimes been the prophet myself know that family and friends don’t listen to the things I say, but strangers listen readily and benefit from the knowledge shared.

Jesus refers in the synagogue to the story about Naaman and Elisha in the Second book of Kings, Chapter Five, verses 1 - 19. Naaman was a Commander in the Syrian army and Naaman had leprosy. The King of Syria sent Naaman to Elisha to be healed. Naaman being an outsider brought Elisha money and fine clothes but Elisha wouldn’t take it. Elisha told Naaman to bathe in the river Jordan, but Naaman refused saying he could bathe in his own rivers in his own land. Finally, Naaman’s servants talked him into following Elisha’s advice, he bathed in the river Jordan and was healed.

In telling this story in the Synagogue, the people felt insulted being compared to Naaman. They didn’t like being called pig headed, chauvinistic, and parochial. They were so upset that they tried to kill Jesus to silence Him, but somehow He escaped.

There is danger in upsetting the apple cart, going against the grain, rocking the boat, disturbing the status quo. In the world of the ego people want security, they want to be right, and anyone who disturbs their cognitive consonance will be challenged, marginalized, ostracized, attacked, and silenced.

In the world of the Spirit, Love reigns supreme and there is no fear. In the world of the Spirit, Unconditional Love and acceptance brings about peace and bliss. In the world of the ego, a person cannot be a prophet in their own land, but in the world of Spirit Oneness is the rule of the day and for eternity.

Lenten Reflections, Day Nineteen, Third Sunday Of Lent, Is there a better way to live life?

Day Nineteen, Third Sunday Of Lent

Is there a better way to live life?

John 4: 1 - 42
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized. He left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. 

So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ( His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” 

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 

The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” 

Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 

The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 

Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” 

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 

Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “ Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 

They left the city and were on their way to him. 

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 

So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

There are many interesting observations that could be made based on this story.

Jesus was an interfaith teacher. He didn’t care that the person at the well was a woman, and He didn’t care that she was a Samaritan and not a Jew. Jesus saw in her inherent worth and dignity. Jesus tells his disciples that there are all kinds of people with inherent worth and dignity all around them. Jesus says that the inherent worth and dignity of these people is nothing that the disciples sowed, it just exists, and is there for them to reap. The inherent worth and dignity of every person is something that their job is to make people aware of. This is the same mission as UU A Way Of Life blog and community.

Jesus tells the woman that he doesn’t see things of the ego world, like water which is a basic element of the physical world, as important as Spirit and when a person is aware of the Love of Spirit, physical water no longer seems as basic. Jesus tells her that the things of the Spirit are more important than the things of the ego.

Jesus tells her that He doesn’t care that she has had five husbands and now is alone. He implies that these demographic facts are not important. It is her spirit which is important to Him and that He loves her (agape.) She realizes that Jesus is on to something and becomes excited and leaves what she is doing to share what she has learned with others.

When others hear her story of this marvelous person, they don’t know whether to believe her or not so they check it out for themselves and they also fall in Love and ask Jesus to stay with them and He does for a couple of days.

Meanwhile, the disciples seem clueless. All they seem to care about is whether Jesus ate or not. He tells them He’s not hungry and He’s got better things to do at the moment than eat. He is making people aware of their holiness which is so satisfying and fulfilling for Him than food almost seems a nuisance.

When people are in love they often forget to eat and find it easy to lose weight if they need to. Love does rearrange our priorities. Things of the physical world of the ego become much less important as we experience and enjoy another state of consciousness.

In the last analysis how important are the things that we use to separate and divide ourselves from one another? Jesus unifies people and erases artificial divisions of the ego. People are uplifted to a different and better place when they experience His consciousness and state of being. It is during this time of Lent that we become aware that there is a better way to live our lives. This story about Jesus and the Samaritans is a great example which we can emulate.

For a video commentary which lasts about 8 minutes click here.