At this time of year the Christian world celebrates the birth of Jesus during a holy day we call Christmas. This birth happened some two thousand years ago, which brought into the world a man who many billions of people today have come to adore and worship as both human and divine.
Jesus is known as the Son of God, God made Incarnate in the flesh, who lived among humanity, taught divine truths, and who many believe took upon himself the sins and errors of all of humanity, all people who have ever been born, in order to save humanity, to bring salvation to the human race in a heavenly kingdom of God. He became known as the Christ, the “Anointed One.”
Much of this story has truth in it. However, many mystics and others throughout history have intuited that we have largely corrupted the essential teachings of Jesus so that we greatly misunderstand who he was and what he did and taught. Consequently, we greatly misunderstand ourselves and the meaning of our lives. As Esau, we have sold our birthright for a mess of pottage.
Jesus didn’t come to proclaim his own exclusive divinity, saying “worship me and me alone as God,” but rather he had this radical realization:
Divinity exists in all of humanity, and in Life itself, even the Light of Truth that lives within you and within me. It is our essential Being.
This is what he taught. This is what has been lost repeatedly throughout human history, even since long before Jesus, and is continually being restored by mystics like Jesus. The following is what I perceive to be real about Jesus, and what Christmas means to me.
Jesus was born as any other typical Jewish baby. He was raised in typical Jewish circumstances, with typical Jewish parents. There was nothing extraordinary or abnormal about his upbringing, his education, his vocation, or his stature in society. He was a normal member of the Jewish culture and community of his time. He may have been taught to be a carpenter by Joseph, his father. There was nothing in his childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood that would bring him any attention. He lived a fairly typical life for a Jewish man. He was like you and me.
Then something happened which changed everything.
When Jesus was about the age of thirty, there came a Jewish preacher into the area known as John. He preached that the Jews should be baptized in order to be cleansed from their impurities, a kind of ritual washing from uncleanliness (perhaps related to the Jewish tevilah, or ablution), becoming pure in body and spirit, in preparation for a coming Messiah. Jesus sought out John, perhaps followed him for a time, and asked to be baptized of him.
At some point around the time of his baptism, Jesus had an ultimate spiritual awakening, a rebirth, an enlightenment, a unitive mystical experience, a deep shift in his consciousness, a realization, a resurrection, an insight into the divine nature of his Soul. Jesus saw and knew that he was much more than his temporal egoic persona, more than his name, more than his limited human knowledge, or abilities, or memories, or mortal life. His ego psychological self fell completely away in consciousness and he perceived the depths of his being, even Being itself, the I AM.
He saw that he was Life, the Light of consciousness, the Truth of existence and of the cosmos that had become aware in the Incarnation of flesh and bones that was his physical body. He knew his true Self as the Light-Energy of the Universe that flowed in and through all things, all life, even the Universe itself that had fully awakened within his body and conscious mind.
This was ultimate and final peace, rest, love, joy, and eternal life, for he knew that he was not a limited mortal human individual, but a living manifestation of the Whole of the Universe itself, and that this Being extended to encompass all things within the Universe, all people, all beings, all existence, all life, all love. He saw that he was One with it all, and that this All was the Source of his mind and body. This was final salvation, liberation, freedom, and release from all the limitations, faults, sufferings, and errors of his human ego, and thereafter he suffered for all of humanity only as they suffered as the Self. He went about comforting those who needed comforting, mourning with those who mourned, because they were Him!
This experience that Jesus had encompassed the whole of the message that he was to spend the rest of his life teaching to others, and helping to guide them to have the exact same realization for themselves. He called this realization the “kingdom of God,” and the way to it “repentance” (the Greek metanoia, meaning a “change of mind”). It meant putting off all selfish egoic pursuits, wants, desires, aversions, thoughts, concepts, and even egoic consciousness itself.
All that Jesus taught from that day until his death was related to helping others come to the very same state of unitary consciousness that he had attained himself, to perceive the fullness of one’s own being perfectly at-one with the whole of the Universe and Cosmos, eliminating all obstacles to that realization, and promoting the Life and Love that emanate from that Divine realization. This is resurrection, salvation, liberation, even the coming of Christ consciousness within one’s own Self, even the Second Coming. This is the “Anointed” consciousness, a consciousness which perceives all things as one eternal loving union with the Cosmic Self.
This was the apocalypse, the revelation, the parousia. This was the “Savior” of all beings, the “Messiah” of humanity, being saved from their very own selves (egoic consciousness) in the Self, realizing a much greater and true identity with the whole of the Universe from which we all emerge from and are ultimately embedded within. We’re not separate from it; we never have been. This was the Infinite At-one-ment, the perception of the perfect, holy, pure, complete, and precious soul of one’s Incarnation, absolutely clean from all faults and imperfections, as a stainless and bright creation of the Universe. This was redemption from the Fall, a return to the Garden of Eden, a union with all things as One, all existence, even the Presence of God. Jesus helped to bring others into that same conscious Union, as described in the Mount of Transfiguration.
It was not just Jesus who was the Savior of all humanity, but each and every human has this Savior within them that saves them from themselves. It was not just Jesus who was the Messiah, but each and every person could realize this Messiah within, this Anointed perception of perfect Being. It was not Jesus who suffered for our sins, but each and every person suffers for their own offenses against nature until they become One in God, and then they suffer for the Self, and do all in their power to alleviate that suffering in others, spreading the Love found in the One abroad.
It was not Jesus alone that was Divine, but each and every person who ever lived is ultimately an emanation of the Divine, part of the One essence that is this Universe, and can each realize this within themselves, within their own minds and hearts. It was not Jesus alone who was the Light of the world, but he explicitly said “you all are the Light of the world!” It wasn’t Jesus alone who was a Son of God, but each and every person ever born is a Child of God, a direct Creation of this Universe. It wasn’t Jesus alone who was the Incarnation of God, but each and every one of us is that Incarnation of the Universe in materiality and consciousness. It was not Jesus alone who realized the Christ, but each and every person has this Christ within them that may be realized, and that name then becomes their true identity. It was not Jesus alone who entered this “kingdom of God” while living, but each and every one of us may do likewise, while we live.
That Peace, that Hope, that Joy, that Rest, that Jubilee, that Oneness, that Wonder of Wonders, that Miracle of Miracles, that Way, that Truth, that Life, that Light, that Endless Love, that Godhood all exist within each and every particle of creation, all beings, all persons, including You and I.
This was Jesus’ message.
This is Christmas.
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Great post! My question is what happens if one does not enter into the kingdom of God while in this present incarnation?
Bryce, I thought that maybe I was done posting here–at least for a while. But I must say, reading this post has saddened me deeply. There’s so much I wish I could say–but I dare not. It’s too sacred.
I think what saddens me most is that your view is based upon a premise that, IMO, stands against just about every doctrine, prophecy, and pronouncement in the LDS standard works regarding who (and what!) the Holy One of Israel is.
Remember this from 2 Nephi:
29 And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out.
This is not about merely arriving at a sense of our true selves. This is about humbling ourselves before Him who is the greatest of all of God’s Lights–KLB. The One who stands nearest to God’s throne. Remember that all things were created:
–By Him,
–Through Him, and
–Of Him.
Notice the obvious implication of various agencies working with Him; those who are below Him; those who are above Him; and He, Himself!
The mystery of Godliness how great it is–and part of that mystery is that Christ is, in His most fundamental manifestation, an individual; a Man; indeed, the Son of Man. And, of course, it goes without saying that we mortals lack the power to comprehend Him in His fullest manifestation where He is garbed in layers of unimaginable glory. But it is His individuality that makes His condescension so utterly miraculous and His suffering so utterly selfless. Without the reality of Christ’s ability to act as an independent agent; out of pure love for others; His sacrifice loses it’s poignancy and therefore it’s power to draw us unto Him.
As the Lord of Hosts He asks us to join with Him through covenant that He may embrace us as a unified whole; as Israel, His sacred bride. And, as your God and my God, he seeks to embrace each one of us with arms that are as tangible as yours and mine.
“I believe that Christ is also the source of our ‘primal intelligence,’ because this intelligence is ‘light and truth,’ both of which are of God.”
I think this is the most fundamental point of our disagreement. I view both the Light and Truth of God and our individual “lights” as being made of the same stuff–in the sense that we are essentially the same in kind.
Maybe I misunderstand you, but if the singular being, Jesus Christ (Jeshua, son of Mary) , is not the ultimate Savior of mankind (as it seems you’ve put it), then why have there been so many prophecies pointing to Him alone as the Savior of all? For example, why would people be put to death, if the sign of Jesus Christ’s birth was not shown, if He were not destined to be THE Messiah? And how could He have possibly communicated to Nephi saying, “On this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world,” if He were not to be the one, true Savior of the World?
I love many of the ideas you’ve presented, and I believe that God is light and truth and we, therefore, are originated from God in the sense that He too originates from Light, so it is all the same there. I also believe that we too become saviors in the sense that we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and help others in kind. However, to say that we achieve salvation ultimately ourselves without the necessity of the person Jesus Christ’s atoning blood is blasphemous (see Alma 21:9).
I agree, Dylan. In spite of the special abilities the Father and the Son (and other divine beings) possess which enable them to be one in ways that we don’t fully comprehend during this mortal life, they are separate entities with their own unique center of consciousness.
Bryce, it’s just me blathering again–
Your God is incomprehensible to me. I don’t know why He would have any concern about anything that happens on this dusty little planet–except for, perhaps, His own ontological diversion.
The greatest fictional story ever told was concocted by Constantine, who created Jesus’ public murder into a “final” blood-sacrifice, sin-saving ritual, modeled after the Pharisees’ literal following and enactment of an allegorical mind-expanding set of instructions (Torah), thus causing a religious sector of the world to believe in the very thing Jesus came to do away with through his teachings, which were purposely left out of the books chosen to be put together into a “bible,” the books where Jesus taught that there was no saving of sin by the shedding of blood, that the sacrifices were to be internal sacrifices, that animals were not to be slaughtered and their burnt bodies offered up to God, that his purpose was to teach the kingdom is within and how to achieve it and was even the exemplar of how to achieve it when he became the “first” begotten “son” of God when, through his perfecting the will of God, became anointed, where the “God mind/cell” that is within everyone merged with the Mind of God aka the Son of God aka the Logos, thus, causing Jesus to become a “Son of God,” not at birth but at the anointing, which caused a “resurrection” while he was alive, that resurrection being the ascension into the Mind of God, making him “one” with his Father. Today, people in their Pharisee mindset, will be celebrating a death ritual, which if people paid attention to the scripture, the Father said He never commanded the slaughtering and blood shed, that His desire is for His creation to be merciful and love Him with all their heart and mind and soul. And with that “true” love, the carnal nature is dissipated, and people work at sacrificing internally their flaws, which is the “missing of the mark” of doing the Father’s will, and eventually becoming “perfect” like Jesus became perfect, and eventually becoming themselves a messiah, receiving the anointing, become merged with the Mind of God aka the Son of God and themselves becoming a “begotten” Son of God, all having been created with the “God-cell” spark within them. There is no right or wrong in the realm of God; but humanity (allegorical Adam) became influenced by their humanly-fleshed separateness from God and opened up their own duality. What was once the male/female wholeness of the God-cell within became the duality and the free will to be cocreators of good and evil. God does not create the evil; humanity (adams) does. Adams (humanity) became prodigal sons through free will; they separated their “image,” their likeness of God so as to live life at their will, not the will of God, for the will of God is inherently within, as it is the God-cell. Jesus came to tell people aka the “lost” how to go back to the Father; and it wasn’t through animal sacrifices of the carnal-minded man. Three-dimensional man was given the like-minded consciousness of God, which is “good.” The duality caused evil to be good. The evil is the separation from wholeness, and evil is akin to being the opposite of the will of God. Jesus taught, by being the example, of how to return to the wholeness, where there is no right or wrong, for God is pure good; it just is the pureness, where there is no duality, no right or wrong. Jesus was killed for this teaching; the Pharisees wanted their animal sacrifices, burnt and to appease their mind-concepted carnal God with the sweet smell of burnt flesh. Constantine’s mind represents evil, and he has convinced all blood-shedding-sin-saving-believing Christians that Jesus is the “sweet smell of flesh.” Jesus’ resurrection occurred while he was alive, when he became perfect and was anointed and became a Christ, a Son of God, “one” with the Mind of God. Constantine created a different version of the Pharisees. Jesus called the Pharisees liars and murderers. Sadly, so have become the modern-Christian, for they murder Jesus over and over again in the holy day called Easter, look upon his body as a blood-shed lamb, where a ritual literal act of an allegorical mind-expanding-inner sacrifice never saved anyone. Only by becoming a Son of God, merging with the Mind of God, becoming your own Christ/Anointed is one saved, because that “save” is done by no one but God Him/Herself, when the prodigal son “returns” to the Father. Nobody is saved because Jesus “has risen.” And nobody is “saved” until they become whole again aka “the image of God,” the “female/male wholeness.” The Soul is genderless. It is the “spark” of God, It is the “Light.” It is the wholeness of the Soul that returns to the Father. When Jesus said, “I am the Light. No one comes to the Father except through me,” he was saying “you” are that “me.” Only through yourself can you return to the Father. Constantine formulated a belief system to keep people in bondage. Until people realize it is through their own self, the “me” that becomes a begotten, a Son, they will remain in bondage. The Passover is about slaying the internal flaw and next keeping sin away (the leaven) and becoming whole, seeded in the good ground (internal) and becoming a “harvestable” firstfirst of that ground. The holy days are allegorical. The whole theme written through the allegorical texts of the “bible” is for humanity (adam) to return to the Father. Jesus does not save your soul. He taught how to do it yourself based on the will of God, which has always been internal (the kingdom within.) Bondage keeps your Light snuffed, when all along your Light is waiting to return to the Father, as He/She is the Source of the Light. Jesus does not save your soul. He came for the “lost,” those prodigal sons who needed redirection because they were under the spell of the Pharisees, under the spell of being carnal-minded. He said he did not come for the righteous. Big key, “righteous.” They were the people who were not carnal-minded, understood the sacrifices are to be an internal sacrifice, knew the will of God and were doing the will of God; they are the people “not in need of a physician.” The parables, the allegory, it was written to expand the mind. But people remain as Pharisees, learning from rote, passed down from generation to generation, a continual bondage.
Wow, Jocie! These are some great thoughts! Thank you for sharing them. I agree with many of them. We have given up our birthright as One in God. The whole spiritual journey is finding our way back to that Oneness, that true At-one-ment in our consciousness and being. I wish I could know you better, but it seems I can’t friend you on Facebook. Can you be my Friend?