It's Easter Friday today. What's does that mean? It means a day off from work for a lot of people. Not much more, unless you are a Christian. Then it means something like this: Jesus, the Son of God died on the cross for our sins on this day. OK, but what does THAT mean? That we are all miserable sinners, but God sent his only son to suffer and die so that we could be saved and go to Heaven if we believed this story.
I did as a child. I grew up with Bible stories, and I always talked to Jesus. I still talk to him, but I don't believe the sinner story any more. For me, he has become an elder brother. He has become an example of what all of us are capable of, which is embodying unconditional love. More than that, he has shown that our true essence IS love. This I learnt from him in A Course in Miracles which is a book he gave us to correct the misconceptions of his teachings.
Being Love is much different from being a sinner. Knowing ourselves as Love, I believe, is the goal of all our searching. All of us are searching for something, however we are going about it. We may be trying to manifest the perfect relationship, the perfect job, or be after fame or fortune, or we may be trying to achieve spiritual enlightenment. It doesn't matter what form our searching takes, what we are trying to do is to erase our deep sense of unworthiness. Whether we grew up believing that we are all sinners from birth or not, we still have somehow internalized the idea that we are not good enough just the way we are. Indeed, we have almost completely forgotten who we really are.
In his lifetime on earth Jesus tried to show us who we are. He embodied Love and told us that we are like him, but over the centuries his teachings got twisted and turned so that we were told that we are anything but all powerful sons and daughters of God. We carry this feeling of unworthiness deep within us until we start to awaken to the realization of our true nature. Jesus came to remind us of who we really are in A Course in Miracles, and many other teachers over the centuries have tried to do the same. My question is: why have we been misled so deeply about who we really are?
The best answer for this I have found in the The Ringing Cedars Series where Anastasia reveals the true history of humanity. The following are the pictures we were given when we were children: Firstly, picture a mindless caveman hunting for wild animals for survival. Secondly, picture a war hero, conquering foreign lands, and thirdly, look at the picture of happiness in modern society: someone with fame and fortune, living in a fancy house surrounded by a host of modern gadgets. From these subconscious pictures fed to us ever since childhood we naturally conclude that we have made progress in our civilization.
Now, consider just for a moment that these pictures are false - and most importantly that the first picture of the barbaric caveman is false. Picture this: The first civilization on Earth were intelligent people living in perfect peace and harmony with each other and nature. Picture happy families, each with a magnificent garden, living in beautiful communities. Now, look at the second picture: a half-crazed soldier trekking through the mud, fearing for his life, on his way to kill his so-called enemies while stern-faced priests are orchestrating the wars from behind the scenes. Then, look at the next picture: pale and sickly looking people pretending to be happy, leading meaningless lives surrounded by a host of modern gadgets, slaving away at jobs they hate.
Following the second version of our history, we may ask: have we really made progress or have we gone backwards? Are we now more evolved or more barbaric than before the so-called modern civilization? And what part has religion played in all of this? Are we free or are we slaves and don't even know it? Are we helpless victims and miserable sinners, or are we all powerful sons and daughters of God, created in His image and don't even know it?
Isn't it time we ask these questions?
0 comments:
Post a Comment