Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? — 1 Corinthians 3:16
Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned—1 Corinthians 2:14
Prolific writers, modern-day quantum physicists and theoretical scientists, shamans, mystics, and sages of all eras and lands have grown to understand that the potential for human consciousness is infinite. The prolific writers of all times have seen that the more that we write, the more that there is to write. The more that we learn, the more that is revealed that we do NOT know, thus creating the urge to learn more, barring brain damage from personal trauma and/or If curiosity has not been stymied by fundamentalist ideology and its resultant restrictive conditioning of the mind. The more that we make “conscious contact with a power greater than ourselves”, the higher levels of consciousness that are revealed to be available, and the more enhanced and empowered our personal and world views can become.
Throughout recorded history, both Mother Earth centered pagan practices and other less grounded forms of spiritual understanding that we now call religion have been the philosophical guiding lights behind bringing people together to explore the human potential for spiritual awareness, healing, and growth. Yet, as a collective body of experience, culturally institutionalized religion acting through ignorant, hypnotized adherents can also become a source for human evil when their fear and superstitious understanding creates traumatic engagement with the world..
Yet, mankind forever has access to infinity, and to its own noble, “divine” possibilities, and has an innate capacity to deliver salvation to itself. A realization comes to the few that there is no teacher, leader, or prophet who does this work for us. We are personally responsible for creating the conditions whereby wholeness or healing becomes possible. We must all work out our own salvation, for nobody is going to do it for us, regardless of the dogma one might be adhering to. There are those who awaken, and finally realize that, in the absolute, all that we see, unto eternity, is our expanding, evolving sense of self, and it is UP TO US as to how to best express our own unique, evolving perspective of the absolute truth of being and existence. Yet, these awakening individuals are not yet the majority of humanity, and religion and modern spirituality must continue to exist to support all who have not yet made their own conscious contact with infinity, or the “God” of their and/or their culture’s (mis)understanding.
Mankind has reached the stage of evolution and relative stability whereby the capacity for contribution to the human race’s evolution by “co-creating with God” is an expanding reality for the present, and future generations of mankind. Science continues to show the way, exploring, then defining, new methodologies for tuning up humanity’s genetic code for better health and higher intelligence. Science has discovered that the introduction of human stem cells into a diseased human body gives our medical profession the capability to return life and function to dying or diseased aspects of the human body, as well. Technology now provides to each human citizen the capacity to receive information at the speed of light, and access it anywhere on our planet by their own hand-held phone.. Science and technology continues to improve artificial intelligence and robotics, to assist mankind in its search for higher levels of efficiency and productivity as we manage planetary resources to be utilized for the betterment of humanity. And, some billionaires, and elements within certain computer chip development research departments, are studying potential methods for transferring or merging human consciousness with a new generation of computers, such as the newer quantum computers presently being developed. Science now considers immortality a possibility through the merging of our soul with our technology.
It is fair to assert than the possibilities for science and technology are infinite, and have the potential to ultimately work directly in tandem with the concept of “God” whose creative and healing potential once solely dominated mankind’s expression of hope and faith for its continuing prosperity and survival. Due to global warming, as well as diminishing resources, a new world order is coming into view. It is now strongly encouraged by reputable scientific experts that all cultures, all nations, and all peoples come together into an agreement to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions, as well as protect rainforests and other natural resources so as to best serve the continuing health of the planet, and all of its diverse population, be it human, animal, insect, or plant. So, science is now a most important part of our collective global awareness, providing data and insight for better ways to co-exist, and co-create, with all life upon our sacred planet Earth.
Perhaps one of the most remarkable insights that science has brought to humanity is the theory, and actuality of the “observer effect”. In quantum physics, the observer effect is the unanticipated action that the act of observing a situation or phenomenon necessarily changes that phenomenon. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner. The most famous example of this is the experiment of trying to determine whether a photon is a wave or a particle. When a quantum “observer” is watching, quantum mechanics states that particles can also behave as waves. In other words, when under observation, electrons are being “forced” to behave like particles and not like waves, if the observer expects to witness particles. Thus the mere act of human observation affects the outcome of any process being studied. This “observer effect” has been now extrapolated upon to include virtually all observable phenomenon, both on the quantum level, and on our plane of three-dimensional existence.
Evolutionary growth is the action of creative insight upon previous knowledge, with the intention for systemic improvement. The human mind is the most powerful instrument in human existence for observing phenomenon, and developing insight into its basic nature. And the human mind is the creator of the measuring instruments where quantum changes through observation have been witnessed, thus showing the actual origin for the “observer effect”.. And this is a most important support principle for the spiritual principle, and potential future hope for humanity, that “when mankind finally opens its mind far enough to see truly, all that we will ever see, unto eternity is our self”. In mankind’s search for truth, it is of ultimate importance to note that the person seeking the truth may only find projections of expectations, unless the mind is first cleansed of its hopes, expectations, and perceptions from the past. The logical corollary to this is if mankind does not consciously and carefully observe itself, it CANNOT BRING CHANGE TO ITSELF.
It is important to mention that the observer must find a place of peace and quiet within the mind to make as accurate of observations as is possible. A mind burdened by fear, haste, anger, or despair is incapable of dissecting the complexities of the human experience, and is prone to projecting its own misperceptions unto the phenomenon under observation. In the case of our shared human experience, humanity is a diverse, though fragmented and broken, expression of human consciousness. If the damaged or unhealed aspects of society are being observed, with the hope for change, by damaged observers, only the projections of a damaged mind, with its damaged perspective, and resultant perceptions, will arise from the observer. In truth, our problems cannot be accurately witnessed from the level of the problem itself, and the damaged perceiver only adds new layers of incongruities to the issues being observed. A silent mind, characterized by love and compassion for that being witnessed, provides the optimum platform for observation for positive, healing change.
To observe the world clearly today is to note that humankind, through its unconscious patterns of ignoring its basic responsibility to and relationship with nature and the environment, has created dangerous, potentially lethal conditions, which indeed threatens the survival not only of 1000’s of species of animals, insects, and plants, but humanity itself. Modern world society is an amazingly diverse blend of humanity, with its human populations assembled together into unique blocks of cultural, geographic, and, in some cases, spiritual identities. .Yet, with the shared threat against all of humanity from the effects of global warming, the entire planet is coming together, regardless of their differences, to work towards planetary salvation. We need not either fight or run away and hide from each other, if we can keep the channels open to dialogue between all impacted parties, and all work together towards implementing a world-wide solution to the threats against all of us. It is imperative that the blocks to change are examined by all of the human race, and the resistances to positive, healing change are addressed and ameliorated, both within all of the diverse regions of the world, as well as within their political ideologies and religious belief systems. Some religious communities are out of touch with the natural world and its problems, even disbelieving or disregarding reputable science, like the backward elements of American Christianity. These superstitious, ignorant supporters of their “faith” continue to support the wayward American president’s intentions to ignore the Paris climate agreement, and real world threats that global warming presents to all nations of planet Earth.
World society, collectively, spends millions of hours every year observing itself, and developing better ideas for ways to manage the human resources that it is comprised of. Society continues to work towards more efficient and equitable distribution of resources, to the extent that the most powerful of that culture, as well as the prevailing political agendas will allow such activity. Religion continues to work towards the “saving or redemption of the soul”, especially within the Judeo-Christian based philosophies, yet this body of thought spends insufficient time in introspection and examination of itself and its historical, collective beliefs in the ways and manners that modern society is forced to do.
There are many religious and spiritual traditions present in the world today, and I now mention the practice of Buddhism as a reminder that there are other productive paths to the spiritual goals that humanity sets for itself. Most Buddhist traditions create lives that are characterized by the study of sacred texts, meditation, prayer, group rituals, and heightening self-awareness, especially of the limitations of the human mind and the false sense of self it creates for us. Buddhists embark on the path towards enlightenment, or enhancing the awareness of the life beyond the limitations of the human self. Buddhist practices have the intention and effect of eliminating most blocks to the revelation of man’s most fundamental, noble nature. Yet Buddhism, Christianity, or the rest of the religious beliefs, must remain aware of and give attention to the reality that is revealing itself RIGHT NOW. The present CANNOT clearly be intelligently looked at solely through a clouded lens from the distant past, and religion needs to work in close conjunction with the most recent developments that science and technology has revealed, or risk the continuing the loss of relevancy to all sincere seekers of truth.
Society and religion both play to humankind’s basic fear of chaos and death, and their need to find some sort of protection from that which is beyond their individual control.. Yet they also play to the needs to not only be part of a social group or network, but, for many, to feel connected to a greater vision for life and expressing it in a more loving, meaningful manner.. For the religiously inclined, there may even be an intense interest in the possibility for transcending death, or for the continuation of life beyond the grave in some sort of life in a “heavenly realm” or through the experience of reincarnation (but not through technology!). Both structures of human creation continue to exist to help facilitate the need for protection and care for oneself, one’s family, and all others within the group, while the individual’s within the group develop their own human potentials.. With this kind of stability, each member of the society is enabled to wrestle with the historical challenge of finding one’s own unique place in both the “civilized” world, as well as their place in the infinitely more mysterious, complex and vast, unexplored portions of our exterior, and interior, universe
There can be an enormous disconnect between becoming civilized and acculturated within any social group, and thus following the particular educational, political and religious path(s) sanctioned by that society, and that of sensing, addressing, and attempting to meet our own or our entire planet Earth’s evolving physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.. The “letter of the law” as stated by the Ten Commandments has a specific intention to keep the herd from self-destructing through trampling itself by the chaos created by “uncivilized” behavior. Yet, there are those who seek a higher law, or order, to bring to their lives and to the lives of all others, the order that their experience of the “love” that is revealed through the eruption of truth and healing within consciousness. For that “spiritual” desire or inclination to come to fruition within the supporting community, there must be at least the minimal adherence to the established order and laws by self and others within the community. Otherwise, the evolving person may face indifference, abuse, retribution, persecution, prosecution, excommunication and/or exile for not “fitting in” with the status quo…
Society has its need for order, and minimal chaos, and sets up its own rules and laws to help maintain stability. Religions also have their own understandings and agendas for establishing and maintaining order within their limited understanding of “God’s kingdom”, though in American society and Christian religion there are many commonalities and overlaps of intentions. The historical overlap of Hammurabi of Babylon’s law code of ethics (supposed channeled to Hammurabi from his culture’s God Shamash) and the Ten Commandments of the Jewish Torah or Christian bible (supposedly channeled through Moses from his understanding and connection with his culture’s God, Yahweh) of around five hundred years later is a fundamental case in point, and indicates that humanity has the capacity to share in a “common knowledge”, while not being required to share the same language..
There appears in history true “common knowledge” that binds people together in an understanding as to how to best behave to maintain social order in the community. The powerful “common knowledge game” (extensively developed in chapter 8) is practiced to extremes by both society and religion, keeping people thinking and acting in the same socially approved ruts or patterns of behavior. This can be for both an advantage and a disadvantage for all of us who must share in the collective consciousness. Virtually every member of a long-term community share in a “common knowledge”, and this shared information functions to make the community more self-regulating and more self-controlled. which typically serves best the interests of the status quo. A society just can’t have a policeman in every house, or on every corner, and “common knowledge” fulfills that function. Can you imagine the destructive potential of going for a drive in downtown Portland without the other drivers sharing the same understanding of the rules of the road as you do? The internal dialogue and control that the common knowledge game stimulates is quite similar in nature to Freud’s concept of the “super-ego” that is embedded within human psychology.
Some people within the community seem to naturally entertain a “spiritual and material prosperity consciousness”, and are less self-absorbed than average. They have somehow come to know that not only are they alive to serve their own needs, but to be of service to others in need, as well. These people may appear to be better aligned with the statement of 1 Corinthians 3:16. And, based on some interesting studies on human development, they may have had a happier gestation period in their mother’s womb, and/or more emotionally intelligent, conscious parenting during the first several years of childhood. For others, they may entertain a “scarcity consciousness”. Their nature, may also have been heavily influenced by a combination of conditioning of their minds beginning in their gestation period, and, potentially, for early exposure to both the damaging aspects of unconscious parental practices and to a damaged society.. The induced trauma may create a personality that is much more fear-based and “self-conscious” and may not be so inclined to be “service oriented”. They may be better aligned with the “natural man’ referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:14 of the Christian bible. The truth is that both energies are present in all human beings, in unique proportions.
In almost all human beings there exists the “fear of rejection”, which includes rejection by our own self, our families, our culture, our religion or, even, our concept of God, and we all develop our own unique mechanisms for dealing with that fear. There are the “IN” groups, which are usually for the few and the elite, and there are the “OUT” groups, which are for the many and the mediocre, when its comes to social bonding and the circles of relationships that are eventually created and maintained within a community. We tend to associate with like-minded people, and most of us participate in experiences from both grouping categories. How well we conform to expectations of others may determine which group, or on which tier within a group, we will be accepted.
A community member may be motivated to engage people with enhanced people-pleasing attitudes and behaviors thus suspending or hiding beliefs and behaviors that are not acceptable to the group while trying to fit in. There are many who actively engage in some passive/aggressive behavior that helps the individual appear to be conforming to group expectations, while being only grudgingly compliant and internally resistant and judgemental against the expectations and norms of others . This combination of factors may contribute to the development of many of the diseases of the bodies and minds of members of the community, including overeating and obesity, crime of all types, loneliness, suicide, and mental illnesses of all types such as depression, drug addiction and alcoholism.
We try to find security through others’ acceptance of us within a new community, or we maintain connection within a existing one by obeying the established rules for inclusion. Humanity resides on a spectrum of willingness to extend love to others through providing care and service for their fellow man, depending on the individual’s nature and/or family training. Society and religion tends to honor those who appear to care the most about others, or who have not only found a way to bring the most goods and resources to themselves, but who have also found a way to share their resources. Religion really likes the rich members of society who are either naturally philanthropic, or have eventually evolved into that understanding.. Through tithing, religion hopes to encourage those of more limited means, those on the other end of the prosperity spectrum, to share their resources for the common good of the community.
Sometimes, to be a successful member of society, it is acceptable and normal to take the “every man for himself” approach to life. A common refrain from this core group of humanity is that we all must “lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps”, or “save our own asses”. This philosophy of personal empowerment and “rugged individualism” is still alive and well in today’s fractured society. Many of those who are considered “conservative” in their thinking tend to track to this direction. Proponents of this way of thinking tend to reject the social agendas and government programs that serve the poor and disadvantaged, especially those targeted for other races, ethnicity or religious persuasions, and they are not so welcoming to strangers such as immigrants and new community members.
Yet, in the “liberal” tradition of societal thinking, the idea of universal love and service to all, especially those considered “poor” in nature, is readily entertained. Religion tends to honor those who are willing to reach out from themselves, whether they feel spiritually and/or personally empowered or otherwise, and help those who are less fortunate than themselves, and offer assistance, spiritual or material. One could say that the “liberal tradition” parallels Christian theology better than the “conservative tradition”, especially if one is well versed in the message of Jesus of Nazareth.
The majority of members of any religious community, Christian or otherwise, tend to, at least in the first stages of their spiritual unfoldment, cling to the stories and heroes of their tradition, and do not yet have a real, meaningful relationship to the truth of their being, and to the being of all others. Yet, while they wait for their “miracle”, they still have the physical and emotional support of fellow members of their congregation. They have not yet had a personal experience of the truth that exists beyond their limited sense of self, and their concepts of time and space. And, for some, the community will remain the only connection with a “higher power” that is achieved. In the first stages of our spiritual unfoldment, seekers after truth and love tend to look outside of themselves to the religious texts, leaders, mentors, rabbis, ministers, or gurus to help guide them toward that mystery known as “God” or “Love” or “Truth”. A tension arises for those brave souls whose search for truth must, for a period of time, take them outside of the safe confines of their religious group and its history, to find their own pearls of spiritual wisdom..
Problems inevitably come to the person, and to the population cluster the person belongs to, who perceives that the society and the religion in which he/she are now participating in has failed to meet its minimal obligations to their human spirit. Yet, this dissatisfaction is eternally part of the evolutionary, and revolutionary, cycles of life, with its principles and processes which support mankind’s continued existence and the potential for evolution, while hinting at the source for our hope for some form of a healing spiritual or societal transformation. There must be a dynamic tension between what is perceived to be true now, and the eternal unknown, with the unknown being the space that “God” originates within and operates through.
Institutionalized Christian religious understanding remains eternally resistant to evolution, or to change, because change is threatening to its established order, as, according to the bible that they quote from, “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. Yet, the people making that association may well be “the natural man” , the very people who we are warned about in first Corinthians. We first have to overcome the ignorant and superstitious traditions of our religion, which opens our minds up to the minimum spiritual discernment necessary to even understand what “God” might be, or how we might access the “powers of God”. Then, we might finally be able to have a “mystical event” or a “spiritual experience” and personally experience what was really meant by that biblical statement “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
One great example of spiritual misinterpretation is within the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis in the Old Testament shows, at length, the process of mindfulness necessary for mankind to bring better order out of the chaos that naturally arises through the evolution of consciousness. Each human being is required to witness the world, and create internal pictures/images, words, and stories to best represent what they witness in the “outer world”. Literally, each of us is responsible for “creating the world” that we witness, at least the internal world, and world view, that becomes our own unique “internal” representation of the “external” universe. And, we will never find peace, or rest, until we have created an optimized, enlightened world view, and act consciously out of that spiritually evolved structure and narrative.
Yet, the “natural man” does not understand the book of Genesis, instead thinking that the story is a factual account of the creation of Earth, when in fact it is both an instruction set and an affirmation of the value and function of insight and mindfulness towards creating our own individual consciousness. Yes, humanity has the innate, though undeveloped capacity to create in the same image or likeness of, or as an identical expression of, a more truthful, love-inspired, reason-inspired “God-centered” consciousness..
It has been said that the Christian bible was written both to entertain the ignorant, while pointing to the truth, in metaphorical form, for those with discernment could understand and apply within their own lives. In our minds, we have created both the categories of the “entertained”, as well as the “enlightened” ones, and it should be noted that both descriptions applies to all of us, with each of us having our own unique proportions of each quality..The stories in the bible, or any religious text, are static in nature, yet we, as human beings, are a dynamic energy manifestation of the universe, and subject to enormous change. And as the individuals change, so must their collective stories eventually change. Ultimately for unity and healing, our collective and personal myths and stories must change, the closer that we get to the truth of being. If love is our compass, our stories have to be continuously updated to reflect the latest messages from the “Great Unknown”, for, by their very nature, ALL OF OUR STORIES SUFFER FROM A LEGION OF FALSEHOODS, and need to be continuously updated to reflect the newly revealed or discovered facts (see the latest scientific advancements and understandings, for example). The “Great Unknown”, and unknowable, not only does not recognize our stories, but also does not hold us prisoner to a static understanding of ourselves and our relationship with God and Truth. Religion is designed to do a fine job of that, however.
There are, literally, millions of victims of religious hubris and evil, and their stories painfully reveal where religion has brought harm, destruction and death to all who do not strictly adhere to their codes, or were innocent victims of patriarchal sexual abuse or white supremacist missionary zeal. Shame mongering and ostracism, excommunications, inquisitions, crusades, witch burning, book burning, incarcerations and other hateful and hurtful behaviors have characterized the church’s response to threats, criticism, or new ideas over their history. There remains sexual perversion institutionalized within the Christian tradition, with legendary failures at attempts to accept, understand and control the sexual activity of humanity. This tradition has wrought predatory and sexual evil upon innocent woman and children by the Christian missionary/ministerial presence in both indigenous and foreign lands and now even within our own country, and is now well documented, and continues unto this day. The present-day Christian attitudes towards homosexuality are not supported by any of Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings, and instead reflect back to Old Testament times when it was acceptable to harshly judge against many types of human sexual behavior and, thus the seed story for ignorant Christians was created that allows their tribe to persecute LGBTQ’s. I only hope that the Christian church has benefited more people than it has harmed over the two thousand years of its existence.
Too much of American Christianity or “religion” in general, appears to be only the elevator music playing in the background while their bad boys and girls continue to misbehave, justify each other’s bad behavior and “forgive it” if it serves their immediate needs to affirm some sort of intention for unity. They tend to celebrate their special, if not imaginary, tribal relationships and connections with their “Santa Claus God”, while judging against others not of their mindset, and lording their pseudo-truths over all others not presently included in their minds, and lives. What unrepentant boy or girl would not want to belong to a club like that? It sounds like their spiritual house could use a different leader, or a different understanding of the present leader, to help in its evolution towards a more loving, spiritual order.
All manners of illusion can be created with the marriage of religion with society’s need to stabilize and govern itself. This is a historical problem, with similar aspects occurring in other religious offerings from other cultures, and it dates back to prehistoric times. Humanity resides on a spectrum of understanding, with the vast majority of “religious adherents” living in relative measures of ignorance and superstition, while engaging with others as part of their social/spiritual community. One of the functions of any community is to provide a measure of safety and identity, while giving people an opportunity to share in an enhanced vision for life, even if they are so spiritually, morally and ethically undeveloped that they choose not to fully adopt it. Because of the stage of consciousness that they presently occupy, too many “followers” seek only the safety and security in their own, or their tribes’ misunderstandings. All too often, the adherents are both victims and enforcers of the Common Knowledge Game, a phenomenon describing how our culture and our desire to fit-in and win approval can nudge us into accepting as fact those ideas that should have required more examination and potentially, wholesale rejection of.
There is no shortage of “fundamentalists” who abide by this mind-numbing, old wayward saw::
“God said it, I believe it, and that is all there is to it”.
There is no greater block to spiritual evolution and understanding than cultivating a closed mind, but structured religion shuns the “unknown” and tends to create and promote the acceptable verbal pathways for communication and “understanding” for their “God”, or that which remains incomprehensible by most human beings. Yet, to question the church’s, or the religion’s, authority to define that which remains undefinable, opens one up to extra scrutiny, and the potential for adverse judgement, rejection, and exile from the religious community. Conform, or be shunned, become driving forces for those seeking enhanced social/spiritual connections not presently being promoted from within the tribe. And, one’s sexuality better be expressed through acceptable avenues, or watch out! Tow the line on that one, or be the victim of spiritual abuse like sexual orientation conversion therapy, or become the object of judgement, hate, derision, and exclusion..
Christian religion, in addition to giving hope for transcending death and the human condition, has been used as a form of state sponsored propaganda and control for nearly 1700 years. It is an interesting inverse relationship that exists between human curiosity and its potential for revealing the individual’s innate potential for spiritual healing and freedom, and religious indoctrination, with its superstitious reasoning, dogma, propaganda, and mind control. The latter tends to produce lives dominated by fear and guilt-based attitudes, negative judgements against all others unlike themselves, herd-like behavior, and reduced levels of individual freedoms, resulting in an unwillingness or inability to search for and find one’s own unique answers to the questions of life.
Christianity began to flourish through the actions of a Roman leader, Constantine, and his spiritual seeking mother, Helena, in the fourth century AD. An interesting experiment to perform, for the curious ones, is to interview a diverse blend of Christian adherents and see if they are interested in understanding the process by which the “present version” of Christian religion was created and became a state-sanctioned religion. I remain amazed and enlightened by the resistance I have encountered over the years of Christian religious “fundamentalists” to this line of questioning. One would think that everybody would want to understand the very history and ground of consciousness that is fundamental to their particular religious philosophy, but many do not. The truth is threatening to those whose unconscious minds remain married to a lie.
“Why, then, does truth generate hatred, and why does thy servant who preaches the truth come to be an enemy to them who also love the happy life, which is nothing else than joy in the truth—unless it be that truth is loved in such a way that those who love something else besides her wish that to be the truth which they do love. Since they are unwilling to be deceived, they are unwilling to be convinced that they have been deceived. Therefore, they hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is that they love in place of the truth. They love truth when she shines on them; and hate her when she rebukes them”.—-Augustine
In the fourth century, the mass murderer and evil Roman ruler Constantine saw the need for a drastic change in the way that Rome was philosophically structured, and proposed the establishment of a state-sponsored religion. Yes, this Constantine was the same criminal that was to become Saint Constantine. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Although he lived much of his life as a pagan, and later as a catechumen, he joined the Christian faith on his deathbed, being baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia. He is venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. This shows, how a person can have his life and image “rehabilitated” even after death, and create more idols to worship, more superheroes of the faith around which understanding of their religion can be further wound. If a human being is “sainted” or worshiped as a savior, their status is no longer open to being questioned, and any who dare to ask questions are subject to severe punishment, and, in some cases, death.
In third and fourth century Rome, there was a wealth of diverse pagan, religious and spiritual inclinations and traditions practiced by Constantine’s citizens, with none apparently providing any collective cultural healing/unifying message. He was to eventually organize and convene a “religious convention” He literally forced thousands of spiritual leaders of that time to help design, accept, and spread a new religion, Christianity, with many new defining dogmas that would help bring his people back under some measure of control. Constantine had feared the further loss of his power, as the Roman empire continued its slow collapse, and he counted on a new state religion, Christianity, to help hold the fraying strands together of his dying civilization.
Of course, the Roman Empire continued its collapse, yet Christianity was to grow exponentially in power and influence over the next several generations.. This was the continuation of an epoch of time when patriarchy remained firmly entrenched in the world’s understanding of itself, though the pagan understanding outside of structured religion balanced some of that out with their more earth friendly/woman centered understanding of life. The concepts of God as “father”, and God’s only begotten son being the ultimate spiritual power helped to carry non-pagan, religious patriarchal understanding forward. It is enlightening to read the religious texts which are used as the vehicles for historical transmission of many of those agendas, as well.
Constantine, a pragmatic leader, knew the power of organized religion to keep people under control, people whose lives tended towards chaos and unconsciousness and who were inspired by fear and awe of powers that they did not yet understand and didn’t believe that they have innately have access to. Constantine was well aware of the message presented by 1 Corinthians 2:14, and knew that the power of the human need for social conformity with its common knowledge game would keep most of the ignorant and disempowered citizens under some continued, and enhanced measure of control by the leaders, which now included the ministers from their old religion, who were now converted to “Christianity”..
Constantine chose Jesus of Nazareth from among 25 different “prophets” known to that era, as Jesus’s teachings encouraged enhanced community connection and the potential for the healing of relationships the most, and his mother was already enamored with the man and his whole philosophy. She had followed Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings for years, and traveled the Mediterranean world seeking sacred artifacts from Jesus’s life. Constantine and Christianity became mutually supporting and sustaining, while providing a new cultural format for the continuation of both the supporting government, the society it ruled, and the new religion.
Constantine knew that it is much harder for the citizens to reject the message of an honored dead person, especially one who fantastic legends had already been created around, than it had been to reject the power and authority of a leader his subjects had already lost some respect for. He needed, in effect, to design a leader with even more authority and power than his own, who would not be threatening to Constantine’s continuation of power. and link himself positively with this new spiritual leader, who just happened to be dead, of course. The stories that were created to enhance Jesus’s standing in relationship to God, or to the ultimate power, by association were now helping Constantine attain a more exalted status with the Roman citizens. This sounds like the modern equivalent of Evangelical Christians associating Donald Trump with Jesus Christ and God’s will, doesn’t it? Trump signing bibles for tornado victims in Alabama in March of 2019 was quite the hubris by Trump, and showed impoverished spiritual understanding by the recipients
Many of the uncorrupted aspects of Jesus’s teachings did survive the Constantine conventions’ editing, manipulation and outright bastardization of facts and history. And, many of the stories written about Jesus were NOT canonized and included in the newly created bible, which indicates that this leader needed to keep a philosophical agenda and form of a cultural control story foremost in the adherents minds, to keep them, more or less, in resonance with Constantine’s underlying intentions, The neglected gospels that reveal the more mundane nature of Jesus’s life, such as him being both a husband and a father, were omitted. There were no great publishing houses to distribute the new bibles, and the common folk were not necessarily great readers and frequent visitors to the library, so minimizing the length of their new religious tome was certainly important, as well as making sure that there was a consistent interpretation from all of the new bearers of the new state-sponsored religion.
One great example of this is the story of the Prodigal Son, which did end up in the bible. Jesus told the story of the “prodigal son”, which happens to be the truth about not only our lives, but of Jesus’s life, as well. As real life human beings, we are born “the natural man” who has no clue about ultimate reality, and the individual’s relationship with it. We all are the “prodigal son”, until a deep desire to find and experience the truth develops within us. This was Jesus’ evolutionary, and revolutionary path, as well. You won’t hear that truth being revealed in church next Sunday though. Many Christian congregations spend too much time adoring and worshiping their “golden calf” rather than doing their life’s real work, and evolving to become the best version of themselves..
To this day, much of Christianity still parrots Constantine’s intentions, and spends too much time promoting and claiming spiritual superiority for their prophet Jesus, while imbuing Jesus with supernatural qualities, and a unique history, MUCH OF WHICH NEVER HAPPENED. Add this to the LIE that Jesus was immaculately conceived, and was born enlightened, and that his body could be revived, or resurrected, after his death on the cross. This creates an IMPOSSIBLE chasm for potential followers to cross. Those who profess to be followers of Jesus, will magically overcome this separation by claiming God’s grace and forgiveness through the “sacrifice” of God’s only Son. Wow, for a God that is One, there is only one “Son/Daughter” anyway, which is the totality of God’s creation, including our planet, and ALL ANIMALS upon it. Can a human being be so self-centered that they think that the human race is the center, and the point, of all creation, and that only the image of a man must represent the truth? Just looking at our present state of world ecology and its affairs gives the tragic and sad answer to this question. Yet, if religious adherents reading this story had “spiritual discernment”, they would see that Jesus’s story is a symbolic/metaphorical representation for the capacity that we all have, when we seek healing and spiritual connection. We all suffer immensely just for being human beings, whether it is from the hands of others, or from our own ignorant, self-defeating choices, though we can rise from the spiritually dead and be “resurrected into a life imbued with love, new meaning and purpose”.
One of several practices of Christianity that are worth continuing in earnest is forgiveness. Understanding what forgiveness entails can be contained within a book to itself. Check out the Liberian war lord “Butt Naked” and his horrific story when you can. Any religion that can allow a former mass murderer and war criminal, who feasted on the live, beating hearts of human babies, to become a Christian minister is an amazing story of transformation. And, his story is more believable than that of Jesus’s, because it is happening in OUR time, with the humanity of NOW being able to witness this “miracle”. If he can give his life story a happier ending than he deserves, what does that say about the power of forgiveness? (I will provide no commentary on potential legal, moral, or ethical questions that “forgiveness” brings up, especially in situations of expressed brutality and evil). Shall we follow the absolute laws of the Ten Commandments, with the historically mandated punishments, or pursue an evolving understanding blanketed in love and compassion, as pointed to in the New Testament of the bible? .
The story of Christianity is an amazing, conflicted story, which, after 2000 years of being told, still brings a measure of hope for a large sector of the human race. .Substantial parts of it’s theology remain out of sync with the laws of nature and modern scientific discoveries, though many of these incongruities and discontinuities can be healed through spiritual discernment. Much of Christianity still resides in the “old days” of superstitious and supernatural reasoning, earning themselves a collectively perceived lack of relevancy by many younger thinkers, as well as maturing pilgrims. No wonder there now are millions of ex-Christians seeking a deeper, more profound personal experience of Love and the truth of being, based on a more evolved understanding that present-day Christianity presently does not encourage or endorse.
There can be philosophical difficulties in the way we encourage each other to improve our outlooks on life. We have created names to represent states of being that we may not presently occupy, and that which we aspire to achieve. Higher self, Christ consciousness, God consciousness, the proclamation that Jesus Christ lives in me, etc.point to potentialities to be developed within ourselves. We must build our own consciousness of what really is true, what life reveals to all not paralyzed with fear and massive self doubt Our Christian culture has created philosophical and psychological problems through its worship of a prophet who is also purported to be the “self” that we have all lost, and are now seeking through our present religious pursuits. This can be quite “crazy-making” and temporarily sets all of their adherents onto a path of a form of culturally sanctioned schizophrenia. Yet, what can Christian religion possibly do about that error now, especially since throughout the history of mankind’s presence on planet Earth we have not fulfilled our potential? If we can’t find our way on our own, we need to find a living example or role model that we can really identify with and thus want to emulate.
Does a consciously aware and evolving human being need the continuing presence of a church or church community? That is the question each of us must ask ourselves. When two or more are gathered together in the name of some greater truth or principle, the extra energy can be palpable, as if it is being generated by the presence of two similar intentions. which can carry enormous potential for power, spiritual or otherwise. The structure that a church or religion provides is not required for an enhanced spiritual evolution, however.
Truth only requires the overcoming of fear, and an innocent heart and open mind to recognize it. Truth, if truth erupts within an individual’s mind, is foreign to our mind and our normal experience of reality and it’s appearance IS an apocalyptic event. If one is not disoriented and shocked by the exposure to the fullness of truth, then one has not really experienced truth. Truth does not need religion to create or support it, but religion needs the truth to bring healing back to itself from the self-generated diseases of its man-made misinterpretations. Without truth, religion will continue to devolve into the tribalistic buffoonery that presently characterizes the political elements of that philosophy..
The truest test for Christianity that there is, is how well do those who profess a belief in “Christ’ adhere to this passage from John?
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
– 1 John 4:18
In America, we do not have a “national religion”, though to listen to certain Christian propagandists and promoters, our democracy should be infused with more “Christian ideals”, “ideals” which may not support the collective good of humanity. The US Constitution was crafted with the parallel ideas of protecting the citizens from both overzealous governments AND religions. Our American society is presently not under attack from Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Atheists, or Agnostics, but instead by unconscious, wayward Americans, some of which practice with a corrupted form of Christianity, which exposes potentially dangerous issues for all of us. Judging as incomplete, diseased human beings all those who are part of the LGBTQ community is self-defeating and hateful. The now-common pseudo-Christian siren call of saving an unborn baby is NOT EQUIVALENT to saving the planet, PERIOD. Our unborn human babies ARE NO MORE SACRED than the unborn babies of dolphins, whales, elephants, baboons, or other sentient life, and we hear too little from this philosophy about protecting their rights, as well. Their other ignorant, divisive arguments are legion in number, and will not be addressed in this writing.
Those religions who promote fear have failed at their most basic task in life.
Members of these tribes are just more relatively unevolved, ignorant power hungry, fear based broken human beings, though still ONE with the rest of us, which is this eclectic package of damaged goods known as HUMANITY..
Who is responsible for bringing order out of this chaotic scrum of humanity?
Rather than asking the silly, potentially divisive and disempowering question:
“What would Jesus do?”
We should be asking of ourselves, while in community:
“What will we do?”
And we should ask of ourselves, in the privacy of our own mind:
“What will I do?”
My response to that question is to first save the world from aspects of my unevolved self, while encouraging others to do the same, which is the beginning of the opening of the spiritual doors to infinite love, healing, and transcendence. In truth, there is no “you” to attack, or to support, as there is only one life expressing through the many, with billions of human beings looking through their own broken kaleidoscopes of perception, and thus spawning all manners of mistaken judgement of others, those non-unified, scattering parts of their fragmented self. “You” can never be real, but it certainly can be entertained as an incomplete, ignorant concept within one’s own mind, or the collective mind that mankind shares through its conditioning, education, and historical ignorance.’
Throughout my early life, I had a “revolving door relationship” with Christian religion. Now, my personal religion is not an institutionalized understanding of historical or spiritual texts, but it is much more present moment and personal. My adult religion is that I must protect at all costs the sacredness and health of our Mother Earth. I must respect all of life, denying dignity to none. I must bring no conscious harm to self or others, encourage all others to do the same, and to give the love and support for all of life, including all animals, plants, and insects.
To support the planet, and to enhance my search for truth, I practice meditation, mindfulness, insight, and I perform personal inventories, and make amends, according to the needs revealed through honest and integrated self-examination and evolving spiritual intentions. To the best of my ability, I see things as they are, and if certain aspects of myself or my life, and the life that I share with the rest of this planet, needs to be changed, I work towards that transformation. I have seen the toll that human suffering has placed upon our world, and I work to help heal the diseases of the spirit, such as alcoholism and drug addiction, which contribute greatly to the problem of darkness and despair within humanity. I continue to support the indigenous people’s of our continent, who were sexually and culturally abused by Catholic priests and white supremacists in generations past. I celebrate my connection with Mother Earth by spending enormous amounts of time outdoors immersed in nature, and I am a devoted wilderness hiker. I continue to spiritually and financially contribute to many, many ecological and social justice orientated foundations and charities. I feed the birds, squirrels, opossums, and raccoons that frequent our home, and I do not use pesticides or chemicals OF ANY KIND on our plants, including weeds.,
I choose, at this point in my life, not to align myself with any group of practicing Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, Atheists, or Agnostics. I continue to reject exclusivity, which is endemic to tribalism, isolation, bullying, indifference, and false judgements. I continue to embrace inclusivity, which points to the foundation for collective healing. Those whose isolating philosophies motivate them to take up arms against their fellow man, are actually taking up arms against love, and our potential for healing. Those who greedily exploit the planet for its resources and its sacred life are hurting and exploiting all of us, and are the source of a great evil. Too many religions are unfairly critical and/or disempowering of one’s gender, sexuality or place of birth or ethnicity, creating yet more unfortunate opportunities for evil to prosper
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite”––William Blake
It’s always good to be reminded that all of humanity is still in the middle of a big, never-ending conversation, with many voices and opinions on what both our history was and what our human/spiritual capacities once were, what is possible for us now, what we could become in the distant future, and what we should not be, or should have never been. There are over a billion different possibilities for intelligible sentence construction using all of our words in the English language, as well as over a trillion different possibilities for story creations, so we need not be limited to the stories that now dominate our collective discussions, no matter how worshiped they may now be.
“Have you noticed how little space we have in our brain? It is cluttered up, full with so many thousands of things; it has very little space, if you take a journey into yourself. Empty all of the contents that you have collected and go very, very deeply, then there is that vast space, that so-called emptiness, that is full of energy, and in that state alone there is that which is most sacred“—–J Krishnamurti.
What should be our world’s religion?
“To save your world, first, strive to know your real self and then do it’s unique work”.
Some spiritual theories about our distant past indicate that mankind once enjoyed a pure relationship with Reality and Love. In this telling, mankind fell from grace, and, sensing its loss of true identity, began the eternal search for its lost self, or homeland, its original “Garden of Eden”. Most modern-day thinkers do not buy the theory of mankind’s original “purity” or innocence, or the concept of “original sin”, and instead posit that we all must work hard, and consciously evolve, to find our “spiritual homeland”. They stress the need for insight, meditation, prayer, and acts of conscious service to our fellow man. It is important to note that many Buddhists, Tibetan or otherwise, may spend over 100,000 hours of meditation, prayer, and spiritual practices over the course of their lives. The same can be said about many monks and seekers from the Christian mystical path, who also tend to isolate themselves from the scrum of humanity while they attempt a more complete union with the purity and wholeness (holiness) of their “beloved”.
. It is also important to note that the latest studies on human babies and maternal attachment theory indicates that by the proper and timely exercise of “extended physical presence” in human babies first two years of life, parents can create more stable, less anxious personality matrices in their children. Children could be much less emotionally needy, damaged human minds, thus preparing humans for better physical and mental health, while encouraging a more natural, spontaneous reaction to the Spirit. Perhaps by changing our culture’s haphazard parenting styles to more conform to the latest studies, we can save people from the experience of feeling out of touch with our real self, and instead, to find, and eventually to Be The Health, that a firm relationship with this style of parenting is reputed to provide. Yet, these studies may also be promoting a new variation of the “Garden Of Eden” fantasy, and take energy away from the need for all of humanity to become more conscious and caring in their movement through every moment of their life.
Our world needs a new religious paradigm, a new story that brings hope for the entire planet and its inhabitants. We need a new paradigm that honors planet Earth as the sacred foundation and provider for all our lives and needs. We need a new paradigm that re-establishes mankind as the conscious, loving caretaker of the planet, and loving, caring stewards for ALL of the life upon it. We must reach beyond the limited boundaries of our religions and their belief systems and prophets. It is time to stop fighting about which religion has the greatest prophet, and about the sundry details of a prophet’s life that was lived a thousand or more years ago. It is time for all of us, to search for our life’s truth, and bring a higher measure of healing and love to our world. It is time to convene another spiritual convention akin to the one held in Constantin’s time, to develop a collective theology that is more inclusive, loving, and mutually supporting. We need a new story that recognizes that the story teller, and the listener, are more sacred and precious than the story being told ever could be. This is a nearly impossible task, yet it is REQUIRED that humanity begin to undertake this historic mission. To do nothing is to resign ourselves to living lives solely dependent on historical misunderstanding, and experiencing lives that continue to fall short of our human and spiritual potential, and, collectively, descending into deeper levels of chaos and collective suffering..
We, as a human race, will always have our members clustered in groups along the entire spectrum of spiritual potentiality. We, as a human race, will always have the spiritually and materially poor among us, and it remains our responsibility to reach out and help each other, on this side or, the other side, of the ocean.. We, as a human race, also need a new common knowledge. We can create a new world religion, based on a new world order of inclusivity, sharing of resources, reduction of population, and loving service to our planet Earth and to ALL of its life. To survive as the human race, we must bring peace to our minds, and love and healing to our world. To not do so is to support collective insanity, global destruction and suicide.
All that we will ever see, unto eternity, is ourselves. We will either ascend onto our “God” and explore and actualize our infinite potential, or we will remain tied to the past, stagnate and descend into chaos with the continued destruction of our sacred planet Earth. The truth is that our future will continue to be a tension between both possibilities.
How again, shall we see ourselves today?
