The rider and the rose

I stood in the middle of the world, 

and in flesh I appeared to them.

I found all of them drunk. 

None of them did I find thirsty.

And my soul ached for the children of humanity,

because they are blind in their heart, 

and they cannot see;

for they came into the world empty,

(and) they also seek to depart from the world empty.

But now they are drunk.

(But) when they shake off their wine, 

then they will change their mind. 

Gospel of Thomas 28:1-4*

The power, the sheer power in the brilliance, the genius in His words just blows my mind, over and over and over again.  And didn't He say He had a new wine, a wine of the spirit, to give us and that wine would make us sober? Since I was a child, I have felt drawn, compelled really, to explore deeper meanings in things and nothing drew my attention more than the mysterious meanings to Jesus' words. 

Life is a journey of discovery, of looking for meanings and messages in all things.  Truly nothing is random or accidental.  We draw all experiences to ourselves for a million reasons, some of which just to know what we don't want.  That too is a marker on the way to guide us as we sort through these things to make sense of it all.  

Then, wonderfully, at some point down that road, you catch the fever, the passion of this great life, and the nature of that inner fire is so powerfully compelling that it wants to scream from the housetops, or write in a little Tiger lilies blog what it is.  Love's nature is to spread itself.  It is always relational, connecting - all of life is being born, moment by moment by the power of the creative life force, which is a catalyzing love dance, rhythmically ever creating, ever repeating, yet always different in a kind of webbed lace design, from the tiniest mitochondria of biological life to whole galactic star systems throughout the entire universe.

Jesus' teachings take us from the deepest recesses of our own inner being outward to the farthest reaches of our multi-dimensional universe, which, on another dimension from that which we are commonly aware, He calls the "kingdom."

The kingdom is inside of you, 

and outside of you. 

When you come to know yourselves, 

then you will be known, 

and you will realize that you are 

the children of the living Father. 

But if you do not come to know yourselves, 

then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty."

Gospel of Thomas 3:3-5 

One might wonder what Jesus really is talking about. It becomes clearer as you seek for understanding. Once that light dawns, you will see that it always has been there.  His teachings go back to the dawn of recorded history, and according to writings on the ancient pyramids - all around the world - it goes back before our recorded teachings which further suggests that there were human civilizations on the earth long before us.  But, that's another story.

The way into the cosmic experience, our authentic state of real being, where we really are and of which we are aware, if we are enlightened, is through the heart, transcending this everyday life we call "reality," which is what Jesus calls a drunken experience. 

This "heart" is part of your physical heart, the one pumping in the center of your chest in the fifth chakra and the most powerful chakra in your entire energy system.  It not just a metaphorical heart as in good-heartedness, although living through the heart would shine out into the world as good-heartedness, as loving your brother and, yes, loving your enemy ("rather than bombing him into the stone age,"  per Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Detroit, MI) 

I think our dependence on technology is an indication of our failure to evolve to the next step of our collective consciousness.  It is an indication that we have not evolved, developed (not to mention mastered) our heart's wisdom, that sheer creative power manifested by intention fueled by vision, emotional desire, spiritual wisdom and divine light.

If you do not abstain from the world, 

you will not find the kingdom.  

Gospel of Thomas 27:1

For centuries, mainstay Christianity suggested the way into the kingdom (which it thought was some remote place other than here in the heart) was by acting lovingly to our neighbors (although too much of Christian history shows up as a great and terrible hypocrisy on that one, but at least it said we should do that.)

Light exists inside a person of light, 

and he shines on the whole world.  

Gospel of Thomas 24:3

Thankfully, that time is over and past now.  Jesus' Christhood and His teachings belong to the entire world - to all people, all faiths, cultures.  He wanted so much to teach us how we all could enter into that perfect state of oneness (perfect unity and communion) with God, with the All that Is, which is Christhood.  

His teachings were (are) a cosmic invitation to enter into the same state of Christhood that He was (is) in, which is why He called us his brothers and sisters. So, a Christian is one who evolves spiritually through practice (and prayer) into that perfect state of union with God and experiences himself as one with the universality of the all in one.  Such a person would never call him or herself a Christian, but would rather call him or herself a Human Being, fully aware that the state of Christhood is perfected humanity. It is what we are all meant to be, when we grow up a bit more.

Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. 

Matthew 5:48

Perfection means no scratches, no cuts, no divisions. There is no division in God's oneness, so there is no Christian and other, as St. Paul writes**, no Jew, Greek, Muslim, Hindi, etc.  We are all people seeking to grow and evolve, as all of life is in the process of doing.  Sadly, and I don't know how it happened, but somehow we got stuck in our evolution.  We failed second grade on the spiritual evolutionary scale and detoured into the left brain, the intellect, from which modern technology stems, cutting ourselves off from our true natures, which are heart-centered. 

Jesus' teachings very much harken back to those of the ancient Egyptians.  There seems to be no question about that.  There is indisputable evidence that his early life (those missing first 13 years about which theologians and church historians have pondered for centuries) in Egypt, most likely either studying or teaching in the mystery school there, where he would have learned or taught sacred geometry, and learned the ways of the heavens and the energy patterns of the universe, and how to connect to God through an incandescent, transcendent method of meditation, which we now call the "Mer ka ba."  

The way is simple, once you know it, but learning it means unlearning so much of what we've been taught for centuries.  There is also that deep boundary of loyalty to whatever faith you were raised in.  If you are a Jew or a Muslim, couldn't you also step across that boundary and enter into the heart, now lit by God's divine power of love, wisdom.  Christianity calls that power the Holy Spirit; Judaism calls it Holy Shekina and Islam calls it Holy Wisdom.  It is the same thing.  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.***

Today, the biggest barrier to our heart entrance is our fear. I think something terrible must have happened to us along time ago which lies buried in our collective unconscious.  Just as a child's development is stunted by an abusive or traumatic childhood experience, leaving a fear marker which forever effects his limiting life choices, I think that must have happened to us.  I don't know what it was and I don't know if it matters.  

What's important now is for us to grow up beyond it.  Look to the future, rather than the past, but be aware that it left a fear marker, spintering us into seven billion different pieces.  If we came together as one consciousness, drawing from our heart centers, drawing from the one power of life and focused as a single mind on healing and loving and evolving, what do you think might happen? WOW!

So, fear is our enemy.  It is the barrier to our own selves, our own hearts, the portal to the multi-dimensional life, eternity, God. Maybe we know this in the abstract, on an intellectual level, but we all - each and every one of us - need to face it in a very personal way.  We have to look at what happened in our lives - look at it long and hard and be as honest with yourself as possible - and then, reach for the scissors and cut the cord that links you to that past.  Be very brave.  Step out of that moment of awareness with courage.  

Dare to dream your biggest dream, dare to accept the fact that you are loved and it's all OK.  Dare to be you and to let you being you your number one priority today.  Forget about all the old boundaries - at least for a moment - as you meet yourself in your true light and wonder.  If you see imperfections, note them as you would note an unruly child in class, and then forgive them.  

Look for your most joyous thought about yourself and hold onto that one.  That's the horse you're going to ride on.  It's a stallion, a beautiful, big shiny, glossy, steed.  That is going to take you far. That stallion is your way into your heart and on into that realm of light, power and utter, unbelievable joy.  It will take you to your destiny.  And, it will be the ride of your life, forever leading you on and on, even beyond your physical death.

*Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson

** Galatians 3:28

*** William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600:

JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.