Christianities

[Gnosteric]

Think pre-Nicene creed. Think pre-canon. (Think Bart D. Ehrman’s “Lost Christianities.” )

 

Way back in the early days there were bunches of “Christians” running around with various beliefs and practices. They all claimed a connection to Jesus, but they also reached vastly different conclusions as to who he was and what message he was bringing to us.

 

Three questions:

 

Are they all (Ebionites, Marcionites, Gnostics, Docetists, Adoptionists, etc.) valid forms of Christianity?

 

How many Christianities do you think we have today?

 

How many should be welcome under the Progressive Christian umbrella?

[Kay]

Are they all (Ebionites, Marcionites, Gnostics, Docetists, Adoptionists, etc.) valid forms of Christianity?

 

According to orthodoxy, no. According to me, yes. But then I'm a heretic myself so ...

 

How many Christianities do you think we have today?

 

I have no idea.

 

How many should be welcome under the Progressive Christian umbrella?

 

Good question. It's funny what people will or won't accept. On some boards JW's aren't allowed to post in Christian sections. On another board I know, a JW is allowed to post JW related subjects on the Christian board, but liberal Christians are not.

 

Sorry I didn't have more to offer. I find myself in a similar pickle.

[des]

I guess I join Kay in encouraging any and all heresies.

Some heresies might not be terribly progressive.

 

 

--des

[Realspiritik]

Jesus here.

 

I think perhaps a question that might be asked is who among these various groups believed not only in a message of love and forgiveness, but in a practice of love and forgiveness. You'll quickly realize, if you carefully consider church congregations you've known in your own life, that the answer to this question has nothing to do with the formal doctrine of the group. The labels tell you little about how each individual chooses to live his or her life. Within the most orthodox of congregations (and by congregation I literally mean John + Mary + Malachi in Church A, or Genevieve + Pietro + Rachel in Church B ) some of the individuals will be cold, calculating, judgmental, and unforgiving. Others will be kind, compassionate, willing to learn from their mistakes. Church A could have 100 unforgiving types, and 100 forgiving types. In that church, only half the people are practising their faith. Are we then to say the Church is a Christian church, or a non-Christian church? Can you put a label on a large group, and expect that label to mean anything as far as the practice of my message is concerned? The Kingdom Within is, in fact, the church, the sacred temple of your own soul. No external labels can be attached to the Kingdom Within. Inside your own mind and your own body, it's just you and God. It's between you and God to figure out whether or not you're following the Way. The church you attend may be filled with a majority of persons who follow the Way, and if this is the case, you'll find tremendous, meaningful support to help you be a practising Christian. If, on the other hand, the church you attend happens to be filled with individuals who have chosen a life path of anger, fear, and judgment, you won't find much help there. In fact, the individuals in that church may actually harm the connection between you and your own soul by teaching you to be fearful of God. The only question that matters as far as God the Mother and God the Father are concerned is whether you're trying as hard as you can to be the best person you can be. Sometimes that means making the choice to stop supporting a toxic church.

 

Amen to the Mother and Father.

Love Jesus

October 1, 2006

[soma]

Because I am a Christian I feel there is only one Christianity even if some call their way Buddhist, Taoist, Yoga, Catholic, Protestant or Humanist. I feel we are all on the same Path, learning from each other, and inspiroring each other to the source, no matter what we call it.

[mystictrek]

I like to think I am protestant, catholic, orthodox, evangelical, ecumenical, esoteric, progressive and reformed. In other words, authentic Christianity is built on all of its wisdom traditions. There is a need for some kind of orthodoxy or "quality control" or else we become a very loose association with no unifying and identifying credo. I think all of the wisdom traditions within Christianity are important and their contributions need to be identified and affirmed by all Christians even some of the apparent contradictions. We keep evolving and the new church for the new age emerges as God's "new thing." "I am making all things new." This is happening now. Wow!

 

It's a fantastic and wonderful process but does require discipline and accountability which sometimes is quite lacking in mainline churches. Maybe the Islamic tradition can help us with this one. Islam means submitting to God. A Muslim is one who submits to God. In that sense, we are all called to be Muslims.

 

The church requires submission, not woman to man, or slave to master, or child to parent, but submission to God and mutual submission to each other. Sitting in a pew and hardly getting to know the person next to you is not faithful Christianity. Becoming a devoted friend to another and another and another in mutual submission and accountability is what this Love we proclaim, this Good News, is all about.

[rivanna]

mystic,

 

Don't you think maybe God wants us to be in partnership with him/her? rather than submission. That idea does bother me.

[soma]

When the ego is submissive, we are in partnership.

[JosephM]

The church requires submission, not woman to man, or slave to master, or child to parent, but submission to God and mutual submission to each other. Sitting in a pew and hardly getting to know the person next to you is not faithful Christianity. Becoming a devoted friend to another and another and another in mutual submission and accountability is what this Love we proclaim, this Good News, is all about.

 

Hello Mystictrek,

 

It seems to me that God does not 'require' submission and therefor why should the church if it is God's? We are free to choose to go our own way, believe waht we want or submit that which we think we are to our source. If it were a requirement to submit, then there would be nothing other to choose. As Soma said, when the ego identity is submissive, there is only God and therefor one could look at it as a partnership, however, perhaps one might be more accurate to look at it as there being only One rather than partners.

 

Love in Christ,

JM

[fatherman]

How many [Christianities] should be welcome under the Progressive Christian umbrella?

 

It seems to me that God does not 'require' submission and therefor why should the church if it is God's? We are free to choose to go our own way, believe waht we want or submit that which we think we are to our source.

 

I'm just about sick of umbrellas. Let it rain, friends! Just like Jen channelled to us, "the answer to this question has nothing to do with the formal doctrine of the group". We are standing on the brink of a new age in Christianity that excludes no one, that welcomes the Pharisee and the Filthy, and here we are trying to build another fortress. "The Way" is being practiced in all kinds of churches by all kinds of people with all kinds of beliefs. "The Way" (as we've often discussed) is not the way to believe, it's about the way to live. And in the case of Christianity, "The Way" is the servant life. A Christian serves. How does a Christian serve? By feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the prisoner, and by pouring herself out for the sake of the world. That is "The Way" that Christ showed us. And a servant that does not submit is only really serving himself. It is not God that requires our submission, it is us. We need to submit to something greater than our own egos. Yes we are free to choose to go our own way, but so was Christ, and he chose to go our way...God's way. He chose to give up his will in favor of God's will. This is the Christian model, and there are just as few Progressives (perhaps fewer) as there are Conservatives who are willing to do this.

[JosephM]

I'm just about sick of umbrellas. Let it rain, friends! Just like Jen channelled to us, "the answer to this question has nothing to do with the formal doctrine of the group". We are standing on the brink of a new age in Christianity that excludes no one, that welcomes the Pharisee and the Filthy, and here we are trying to build another fortress. "The Way" is being practiced in all kinds of churches by all kinds of people with all kinds of beliefs. "The Way" (as we've often discussed) is not the way to believe, it's about the way to live. And in the case of Christianity, "The Way" is the servant life. A Christian serves. How does a Christian serve? By feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the prisoner, and by pouring herself out for the sake of the world. That is "The Way" that Christ showed us. And a servant that does not submit is only really serving himself. It is not God that requires our submission, it is us. We need to submit to something greater than our own egos. Yes we are free to choose to go our own way, but so was Christ, and he chose to go our way...God's way. He chose to give up his will in favor of God's will. This is the Christian model, and there are just as few Progressives (perhaps fewer) as there are Conservatives who are willing to do this.

 

Greetings fatherman,

 

Perhaps it is good not to associate oneself too much with labels. As Jen said, the label tells you little about how one actually lives ones life. Perhaps it is wise not to be so concerned about all kinds of practices and all kinds of beliefs under the umbrella of christianity. Ones life is ones testimony and if the church under the umbrella of christianity wants to eat their own bread, so be it. There is no need to support it as Jen indicated.

 

The walk of the Christian is in my view an individual walk. Perhaps we at times get a bit self righteous by telling others what they need to or don't need to do? Personally, I choose to have no Christian model for others but rather see Christ in everybody no matter how obscured. It seems to me good to have no expectations on how others 'should' live their life but rather focus on my own walk and leave the rest to God.

 

Love in Christ,

JM

[fatherman]

Greetings fatherman,

 

Perhaps it is good not to associate oneself too much with labels. As Jen said, the label tells you little about how one actually lives ones life. Perhaps it is wise not to be so concerned about all kinds of practices and all kinds of beliefs under the umbrella of christianity. Ones life is ones testimony and if the church under the umbrella of christianity wants to eat their own bread, so be it. There is no need to support it as Jen indicated.

 

The walk of the Christian is in my view an individual walk. Perhaps we at times get a bit self righteous by telling others what they need to or don't need to do? Personally, I choose to have no Christian model for others but rather see Christ in everybody no matter how obscured. It seems to me good to have no expectations on how others 'should' live their life but rather focus on my own walk and leave the rest to God.

 

Love in Christ,

JM

 

Good words for me, JM. I take them with sincere gratitude.

 

I don't really have a direct response to your good words about personal paths. I'm totally with you on that, I just get a little out of hand (self-righteous) from time to time. But it did make me think of a recent discussion at church. In my Sunday School class, we've just finished a DVD series called "Living the Questions" and started a followup called "Saving Jesus (From the Right-Wing)". They both feature theologians such as Marcus Borg, Matthew Fox, Bishop Spong, etc. Our most recent segment dealt with the historical Jesus and the Cosmic Christ. In discussing the Cosmic Christ, we talked about the Christ in all people and all creation (an idea I'm fond of). This notion that Christ is a transcendent spiritual presence. One fellow asked, "Then what is the difference between the Cosmic Christ and God? If there isn't any difference, then why do we need Christ?"

 

This is not a simple question, and he has a good point because from one perspective there is no difference: "I and my Father are one". It's one that I've wondered about for 20 years or so. A possible answer came to me from a novel I read recently, "The Life of Pi" in which a Hindu born Indian describes his journey floating on a raft with a bengal tiger for over a year or so after the ship taking his family to Canada sinks. In the opening chapters, he becomes a Christian and a Muslim, giving him 3 religions. He adores each, and is really torn when he is finally confronted by his parents, the Hindu priest, the catholic priest, and the emam. He loves each for their unique flavor of God. When he describes and struggles with what is unique about a Christian God, he asks concerning the Passion, "Why would God wish that upon Himself? Why not leave death to the mortals? Why make dirty what is beautiful, spoil what is perfect?" The priests answer is, "Love". Now, don't get distracted by the orthodox theology here, the point it that rather than a perfect, all-powerful God that demands sacrifice, Christians have a view of God (in Christ) as loving, compassionate, serving, and self-sacrificing. That is what is unique to Christianity. The Cosmic Christ is a unique flavor, face, or fragrance of God. That's why Christ matters (to me). I am drawn to this particular flavor of God. So as a Christ-ian, I try to use Historical Jesus as my model for living and Cosmic Christ as a way to coming to God. Admittedly, I have found other ways of coming to God and other models for living, but something about the Christian way is compelling to me...compelling enough that I call myself a Christian.

[john1520]

Okay, my first post. I think you are considered a Christian if you follow the basic tenants of Jesus' teaching, namely Love your Neighbor.

[JosephM]

Okay, my first post. I think you are considered a Christian if you follow the basic tenants of Jesus' teaching, namely Love your Neighbor.

 

Hi John,

 

That's pretty well sums it up but I would modify the summation by adding ' Love God with all your heart' and Love your neigbor as yourself.

 

In answer to the one question in your first post.... There are over 1500 identified denominations under the Christian umbrella.

 

Look here for a specific list. of 300 better known branches.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations

 

Love in Christ,

JM

[soma]

So there are many ways to view Christ in the many ians and even more ways to view God in the isms. Praise the Lord we should be able to see God everywhere and in everything.

 

I see you all have posted God's view of unity and harmony softening the harsh cutting edge of an isolated existence without love. The hostilities felt quickly dispelled by the natural processes you all have mentioned serve the function of reunification bring me back to God and love. The absence of unity and love in lives is what makes the crude and incomplete feelings so seeing the world as a backdrop for unity smooths away the tensions in the body and the mind so energy is seen flowing through dogs, cats, bacteria, people and the food we eat. Freely choosing unity and surrendering to its flow of energy assists the natural processes of relaxation that reduce mountainous problems to a size that I can cope with and overcome while learning to love.

 

Now, how do we focus all these views so we learn, love and live together instead of against one another?

[JosephM]

So there are many ways to view Christ in the many ians and even more ways to view God in the isms. Praise the Lord we should be able to see God everywhere and in everything.

(snip)

Now, how do we focus all these views so we learn, love and live together instead of against one another?

 

Hi Soma,

 

Excellent question and it appears a tough one to answer yet perhaps it is not. It seems to me that each one of us by a growing trust and faith in God (surrender) is transformed daily into the image of Christ. As each allows God to do what the carnal self cannot do, the world is transformed into the Kingdom of God. Each then fullfils his/her own destiny. There is no need that we focus views or create more positionalities but rather there is a natural surrendering of them which is part of the transformation and then it becomes natural to love and live together and the 'against one another' ceases to be an option. Just something to consider concerning your question.

 

Love in Christ,

JM

[Realspiritik]

I'm just about sick of umbrellas. Let it rain, friends! Just like Jen channelled to us, "the answer to this question has nothing to do with the formal doctrine of the group". We are standing on the brink of a new age in Christianity that excludes no one, that welcomes the Pharisee and the Filthy, and here we are trying to build another fortress. "The Way" is being practiced in all kinds of churches by all kinds of people with all kinds of beliefs. "The Way" (as we've often discussed) is not the way to believe, it's about the way to live. And in the case of Christianity, "The Way" is the servant life. A Christian serves. How does a Christian serve? By feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the prisoner, and by pouring herself out for the sake of the world. That is "The Way" that Christ showed us. And a servant that does not submit is only really serving himself. It is not God that requires our submission, it is us. We need to submit to something greater than our own egos. Yes we are free to choose to go our own way, but so was Christ, and he chose to go our way...God's way. He chose to give up his will in favor of God's will. This is the Christian model, and there are just as few Progressives (perhaps fewer) as there are Conservatives who are willing to do this.

 

 

Jesus here.

 

Thanks, Fatherman, for your kind and supportive words. May I please use your post as a springboard to discuss the all-important ideal of submission? I recognize your words, and they resonate with me, because I recall speaking words very like these during my time as a teacher and healer. I tried very hard to teach my friends what I meant when I used a word similar to submission. The problem was -- and yes, there was a problem -- was that I hadn't fully completed my training under God the Mother and God the Father, and I didn't understand what the path would be for those who followed my teachings explicitly. I didn't understand at the beginning of my three year ministry that the heart yearns for one thing -- to be of complete service to others -- but the mind must be honoured as well. This is not the human mind I speak of. This is the angelic mind, the soul mind, the eternal part of your being that understands patterns using logic, common sense, memory, and experience.

 

The first lesson the Mother and Father taught me was forgiveness -- the transformative power of forgiveness. This never changed. They taught me what love and trust feel like. They taught me what it feels like to belong -- to truly belong to a family of close-knit, funny, kind, generous folk (those were my angelic friends with whom I connected at a quantum level). They taught me what it felt like to be of deep service to others. All these things brought me intense joy. The joy radiated from me. It brought songs to my lips. It brought long hours of service to others. It brought many new questions, and astounding answers to those questions.

 

But in all that time, surrounded as I was by divine love, I missed an important lesson, and this is the lesson I wish to share with you today.

 

I entirely underestimated the power of the human brain -- the biological self, not the eternal self -- to resist the power of love.

 

In no way do I wish to imply that those who resist love's healing might are "evil" or "possessed" or "lesser" or "fallen". They're beautiful souls with big problems to deal with -- and many of these problems are generated by their own not-so-beautiful brains. Their not-so-beautiful brains cause them to be angry (when their souls are never angry), to refuse to admit their own mistakes (when their souls are instantly ready to honour and correct any mistakes that are made), to think they're better than others (when their souls live and breathe according to the angelic creed of love's radical equality), and to revel in vengeance. This last propensity of the human brain -- the desire for vengeance -- surpassed my comprehension. I couldn't reconcile it with what I knew about the soul within. As Jesus, as the man who taught love and forgiveness, I was convinced -- wrongly, as it turned out -- that if I loved another man enough, forgave him unconditionally, gave unending and compassionate service to him, that he would "see the light" and return to his true angelic roots of love. I thought love alone would be enough to heal him. But I failed to understand that in some human beings, whose brains have become badly miswired through various etiologies, the love bounces off them as if they're made of teflon. It bounces off and fails to heal them because they're resisting their own needs. They're resisting their own need for love and trust. They're resisting their own need to be of service. They're resisting their own need to be loved and appreciated by our Mother and Father. They're miserably unhappy. But they can, at times, be dangerous. To understand why this would be so, the science of the human brain must be understood. But my goal at the moment is to talk about the idea of submission.

 

There's much talk on this site and elsewhere about the ego. Let me say this to you. From the point of view of God and the angels, the "ego" is construct of the human biological brain, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your soul. The ego is a series of belief systems that clutter up your brain and prevent your brain from operating in synch with your soul (which, as I've mentioned several times, is hardwired into your brain). The belief systems -- the sum of which create a rather unloving ego persona -- can be dismantled one by one, just as they were stuffed into your head one by one. The ego is a reversible brain process, though it takes a lot of time, a lot of persistence, a lot of support from trained professionals, and possibly medication. The soul, on the other hand, is permanent. Nothing you can say or do can take away the true attributes of your loving soul self. No human belief system can undermine or eradicate the integrity of your soul.

 

When the ego is dissolved -- when you've learned to take responsibility for your own choices, when you've learned to accept loving emotions as a divine gift -- the person who's left is not a pale pastiche of humanity. You're not a piece of flotsam drifting on the tides of other people's wishes and aspirations. You're not living in the moment, unattached to desires or needs. In fact, if you're following the Way, the ego dissolves to reveal an exceptionally vibrant, colourful, unique individual who isn't afraid to be himself or herself. It's the ego that's afraid of being different from others, not the soul. It's the ego that falsely believes God wants you to be meek. You'll shoot yourself in the foot if you strive to be meek, because you won't know how to draw on your soul strength to stand up to bullies. God wants you to be compassionate, but compassionate isn't the same as meek. God wants you to be forgiving, but forgiving isn't the same as letting bullies walk all over you.

 

I didn't get this at a gut level until the horrible day when my own cherished family and friends betrayed me, and allowed me to be taken into custody. I have more tales to tell about my imprisonment, which, I'm sad to say, got glossed over in the gospels, but today I'd like to say that Judas was the bag man for people who were close to me.

 

I don't regret my arrest, nor my torture, nor my painful near-death, because to my amazement my near-death was turned by God the Mother and God the Father into a Living Miracle. By that, I mean the people who saw and knew and trusted the truth of this profoundly awe-inspiring mystery told others, who told others, and so on. A Living Miracle is part of time and history, but is also outside the bounds of 3-dimensional time and space, so that anyone who listens to the story with the heart of an angel can still feel the wonder of it as if it were happening in this moment.

 

The goal for you, as an angel-in-human-form, is not really to submit but to dissolve the belief systems inside your own brain that prevent you from being your best self. Once you've lifted the grimey, tired, grey ego streaks from your beautiful soul (and it's doable) you'll find that you live your life in a state of partnership with God, not submission. Others may wrongly believe, just looking at the surface evidence, that you're giving up your life in order to submit to service in God. But it isn't like that. Not at all. It feels like . . . you're laughing with God.

 

Best wishes to all. Happy Thanksgiving. Love to our blessed Mother and Father.

Amen.

Jesus

October 7, 2006

[earl]

Jesus here.

 

Thanks, Fatherman, for your kind and supportive words. May I please use your post as a springboard to discuss the all-important ideal of submission? I recognize your words, and they resonate with me, because I recall speaking words very like these during my time as a teacher and healer. I tried very hard to teach my friends what I meant when I used a word similar to submission. The problem was -- and yes, there was a problem -- was that I hadn't fully completed my training under God the Mother and God the Father, and I didn't understand what the path would be for those who followed my teachings explicitly. I didn't understand at the beginning of my three year ministry that the heart yearns for one thing -- to be of complete service to others -- but the mind must be honoured as well. This is not the human mind I speak of. This is the angelic mind, the soul mind, the eternal part of your being that understands patterns using logic, common sense, memory, and experience.

 

The first lesson the Mother and Father taught me was forgiveness -- the transformative power of forgiveness. This never changed. They taught me what love and trust feel like. They taught me what it feels like to belong -- to truly belong to a family of close-knit, funny, kind, generous folk (those were my angelic friends with whom I connected at a quantum level). They taught me what it felt like to be of deep service to others. All these things brought me intense joy. The joy radiated from me. It brought songs to my lips. It brought long hours of service to others. It brought many new questions, and astounding answers to those questions.

 

But in all that time, surrounded as I was by divine love, I missed an important lesson, and this is the lesson I wish to share with you today.

 

I entirely underestimated the power of the human brain -- the biological self, not the eternal self -- to resist the power of love.

 

In no way do I wish to imply that those who resist love's healing might are "evil" or "possessed" or "lesser" or "fallen". They're beautiful souls with big problems to deal with -- and many of these problems are generated by their own not-so-beautiful brains. Their not-so-beautiful brains cause them to be angry (when their souls are never angry), to refuse to admit their own mistakes (when their souls are instantly ready to honour and correct any mistakes that are made), to think they're better than others (when their souls live and breathe according to the angelic creed of love's radical equality), and to revel in vengeance. This last propensity of the human brain -- the desire for vengeance -- surpassed my comprehension. I couldn't reconcile it with what I knew about the soul within. As Jesus, as the man who taught love and forgiveness, I was convinced -- wrongly, as it turned out -- that if I loved another man enough, forgave him unconditionally, gave unending and compassionate service to him, that he would "see the light" and return to his true angelic roots of love. I thought love alone would be enough to heal him. But I failed to understand that in some human beings, whose brains have become badly miswired through various etiologies, the love bounces off them as if they're made of teflon. It bounces off and fails to heal them because they're resisting their own needs. They're resisting their own need for love and trust. They're resisting their own need to be of service. They're resisting their own need to be loved and appreciated by our Mother and Father. They're miserably unhappy. But they can, at times, be dangerous. To understand why this would be so, the science of the human brain must be understood. But my goal at the moment is to talk about the idea of submission.

 

There's much talk on this site and elsewhere about the ego. Let me say this to you. From the point of view of God and the angels, the "ego" is construct of the human biological brain, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your soul. The ego is a series of belief systems that clutter up your brain and prevent your brain from operating in synch with your soul (which, as I've mentioned several times, is hardwired into your brain). The belief systems -- the sum of which create a rather unloving ego persona -- can be dismantled one by one, just as they were stuffed into your head one by one. The ego is a reversible brain process, though it takes a lot of time, a lot of persistence, a lot of support from trained professionals, and possibly medication. The soul, on the other hand, is permanent. Nothing you can say or do can take away the true attributes of your loving soul self. No human belief system can undermine or eradicate the integrity of your soul.

 

When the ego is dissolved -- when you've learned to take responsibility for your own choices, when you've learned to accept loving emotions as a divine gift -- the person who's left is not a pale pastiche of humanity. You're not a piece of flotsam drifting on the tides of other people's wishes and aspirations. You're not living in the moment, unattached to desires or needs. In fact, if you're following the Way, the ego dissolves to reveal an exceptionally vibrant, colourful, unique individual who isn't afraid to be himself or herself. It's the ego that's afraid of being different from others, not the soul. It's the ego that falsely believes God wants you to be meek. You'll shoot yourself in the foot if you strive to be meek, because you won't know how to draw on your soul strength to stand up to bullies. God wants you to be compassionate, but compassionate isn't the same as meek. God wants you to be forgiving, but forgiving isn't the same as letting bullies walk all over you.

 

I didn't get this at a gut level until the horrible day when my own cherished family and friends betrayed me, and allowed me to be taken into custody. I have more tales to tell about my imprisonment, which, I'm sad to say, got glossed over in the gospels, but today I'd like to say that Judas was the bag man for people who were close to me.

 

I don't regret my arrest, nor my torture, nor my painful near-death, because to my amazement my near-death was turned by God the Mother and God the Father into a Living Miracle. By that, I mean the people who saw and knew and trusted the truth of this profoundly awe-inspiring mystery told others, who told others, and so on. A Living Miracle is part of time and history, but is also outside the bounds of 3-dimensional time and space, so that anyone who listens to the story with the heart of an angel can still feel the wonder of it as if it were happening in this moment.

 

The goal for you, as an angel-in-human-form, is not really to submit but to dissolve the belief systems inside your own brain that prevent you from being your best self. Once you've lifted the grimey, tired, grey ego streaks from your beautiful soul (and it's doable) you'll find that you live your life in a state of partnership with God, not submission. Others may wrongly believe, just looking at the surface evidence, that you're giving up your life in order to submit to service in God. But it isn't like that. Not at all. It feels like . . . you're laughing with God.

 

Best wishes to all. Happy Thanksgiving. Love to our blessed Mother and Father.

Amen.

Jesus

October 7, 2006

It is indeed easier said than done not to get caught up in the ego/mind's story lines-as a good of description of ego I've heard is stories bound together by fear/insecurity. It's very useful to have a practice that allows us to take a step back from any story we're telling ourselves in order not to get swept up in them and associated negative feelings. That, of course, is why I've long been a fan of Buddhist mindfulness practices. One of my problems is I think too much literally. I love to speculate on metaphysics but that too for me anyway can be one more subtle way to distance myself from simply, open-hearted and open-minded moment to moment trustful living. Lately I've had some interesting quasi-"dream-like" experiences-"messages," "voices" that speak to me in the netherwrold between sleep and everyday wakefulness. Most recent one as I was awakening said to me "no theologies for you." I took its advice to mean stop speculating and simply live and live simply. Easy for Him/Her to say have a good one, earl

[Realspiritik]

Lately I've had some interesting quasi-"dream-like" experiences-"messages," "voices" that speak to me in the netherwrold between sleep and everyday wakefulness. Most recent one as I was awakening said to me "no theologies for you." I took its advice to mean stop speculating and simply live and live simply.

 

Yet you're here . . .

 

Perhaps, Earl, your message is meant to be taken literally. No more theologies. To an angel on the Other Side (and that would be who gave you the message), the concept of "theology" is foreign. Angels are all for thinking, all for speculating, all for change. So don't stop speculating. It's what keeps you (and everyone, for that matter) going. Maybe you need to tweak the subject matter, is all.

 

Keep on dreaming, good friend.

 

Love Jesus

[soma]

I like the post about the mind and the different tools to go beyond it. Our linear mind is a slave that is never stable, never secure and is always at the mercy of change. The mind cannot rest because it can’t see the whole picture, but when it makes spiritual choices to live by its reason and consciousness as a man over its instinctive, animal, blinding passion then the mind starts to live not only by the linear, earthly, physical life inherited from Adam, but by the harmonious spiritual life that is experienced in Christ consciousness. Therefore, we must have images of the earth and Adam, but also of heaven and Christ consciousness to build a world of success, happiness and health. If we are not satisfied with our condition we only have to train our minds to visualize a consciousness where that condition can be changed. This is where Buddhism, Centering prayer and contemplation can help. In Christ consciousness there is nothing that our minds cannot have, if we learn to conceive of our consciousness in the limitless pure consciousness of God that surrounds us. It is so nice to see Christians talking about the mind and its distractions on the path beyond it.