Introduction

The secret teaching of Jesus inexorably draws us to an extraordinary conclusion: each of us is a divine spiritual being, not just in theological terms, but on a level that can be personally experienced by anyone willing to go through the process of spiritual transformation.

There are four levels of consciousness: simple, self, cosmic, and master consciousness. Animals have simple consciousness: they are aware of their surroundings, basic needs like food, water, rest, and the body language of other animals. Instinct is the single word that describes simple consciousness.

People have, for the most part, self consciousness: they not only have the simple consciousness of the animals, but they also have a sense of self. People are capable of abstract thought and dealing with concepts and principles. The primary pattern of self consciousness is the experience of separation. We think in terms of being an individual, unique in many ways, but always separate from all other people and all other living beings around us. Separation is the single word that describes self consciousness.

Cosmic consciousness is as far above self consciousness as self consciousness is above simple consciousness. Cosmic, or Christ consciousness, connects us with everything. God and creation become one seamlessly connected experience. The person with cosmic consciousness no longer experiences separation of any kind. Everything is intimately interconnected and interdependent. Every living thing becomes a personal extension of us. In the intense, intimate way a mother feels connected to her baby, the person with cosmic consciousness feels connected with all of creation. Through cosmic consciousness the universe appears both fully conscious and interactive. There are two levels of cosmic consciousness: the first level is spiritual awakening, characterized by an increased awareness and our first step into the oneness. The next level is spiritual enlightenment and brings us into conscious contact with the interactive universe. We also become much more sensitive to other people’s thoughts and feelings. Oneness is the single word that describes cosmic consciousness.

Master consciousness exists in many levels above cosmic consciousness and consists of being able to manipulate the physical world around us. Ultimately master consciousness gains control over matter, time, and space. Master consciousness is also referred to as God consciousness.

Gnosticism was the dominant religious teaching in the Middle East for two hundred years before Jesus was born. Both of his parents were spiritual teachers in the Gnostic system, which was the public face of a much older teaching recognized as the ancient mystery school system, dating from 2,750 BCE.

The mystery school system had been involved in establishing spiritual communities across the Middle East, such as the Essene community on the western shore of the Dead Sea. As explained in my previous book, The Sermon on the Mount – an Introduction to the Secret Teachings of Jesus, Joseph and Jesus were not carpenters, but highly skilled and educated people. In Laurence Gardner’s book Bloodline of the Holy Grail (35), the concept of Joseph as a carpenter is explained,

“The word translated into English as ‘carpenter’ represents the much wider sense of the ancient Greek ho tekton, which is in turn a rendition of the Semitic word naggar. As pointed out by the Semitic scholar Dr. Geza Vermes, this descriptive word could perhaps be applied to a trade craftsman, but could equally well define a scholar or teacher. It certainly did not identify Jesus and Joseph as woodworkers. More precisely it identifies them as men with skills, learned men, who were masters of what they did. Indeed, one translation of the Greek, ho tekton, relates to ‘a master of the craft’, as may be applied to modern Freemasonry.”

Mary was no different. The entire family was deeply involved in the mystery school system.

Jesus, as a master spiritual teacher, led a number of people through the mystery school system and on to the apostleship level of training. According to the first section of what has been preserved as The Book of Revelation, Jesus went on to establish seven communities in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The leaders of each of those communities answered to him.

The Mystery School used a substance known as the white powder of gold. This is a pure, non-metallic form of gold. In this state, it cannot be dissolved by normal chemical means, which is why it was referred to as a “stone” and not a metal. There were two primary means of ingesting the white powder of gold. The first was to mix it with flour and make bread. This was no longer regular bread, but was referred to as the bread of the presence of God. For 150 years before the time of Jesus, the Essene community at Qumran, on the shore of the Dead Sea, was extracting the white powder of gold from the salt water of the Dead Sea and mixing it in the unleavened bread. Each day the leaders of the Essene community were eating not just bread, but the bread of the presence of God. This is the other meaning of “give us this day, our daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer. On the worldly level, the level of ego, daily bread refers to the basic substances we need for our survival. But on the heavenly level, the level of spirit, daily bread refers to the bread of the presence of God, that which feeds the spirit, not just the body.

The second means was to ingest large quantities of the white powder of gold during a forty-day fast. This initiation was the crossing point from discipleship into apostleship in the mystery school system. As the new personality of the true spiritual being emerged, the person was given a new name. It was necessary to let the transformation continue to its conclusion before the final spiritual personality was fully formed.

The mystery school teaching and the white powder of gold play a significant role in the secret teaching of Jesus. In the seven letters to the churches in the Book of Revelation, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches (communities, rather than churches, is a better translation of the Greek, ecclesia). The angels are apostles who graduated from the mystery school ministry of Jesus. The seven golden lampstands are the seven spiritual communities that Jesus established. In the first letter, it ends with “To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” The tree of life is another reference to the white powder of gold. To him who conquers refers to those who have come through the spiritual journey and have conquered the ego within them.

In the second letter it says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” The crown of life is cosmic consciousness, or the Christ consciousness. It goes on to say, “He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.” Again, he who conquers has conquered the ego.

The first death is the death of the body. When our spirit is separated from the body the ego no longer has the means to generate the fear-based emotional energy the body is capable of producing to sustain the ego. So when we have based our belief and concept of ourselves on the ego, and the ego loses its supply of energy, the level of consciousness we have cannot be supported. In time we lose whatever consciousness we have based on the ego. This is the second death: the death of consciousness.

As a spiritual being we have eternal life. What we don’t have yet is eternal consciousness. This is the primary function of spiritual enlightenment; to raise us into eternal consciousness as being one with the universal consciousness that is God.

The third letter says, “To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.” The hidden manna is a reference to the practice of the Essene community to mix a portion of the white powder of gold into the bread they ate.

In the last letter, to Laodicea, Jesus recognizes that the apostle in charge has weakened in his level of consciousness, stating, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” This apostle has lost his higher awareness and not recognized that it has happened. Jesus advises him, “Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich and white garments to clothe you . . .” The early Church did not understand the references in the original documents from which the seven letters to the churches were taken. Why would the apostle need to buy gold from Jesus and not anywhere else? The reason is that the gold Jesus offers is the white powder of gold that was only produced by the mystery school system. It wasn’t available anywhere else. The white garment is the love-based emotional nature that is the result of the transformation of emotions and the result of in-depth forgiveness. The white powder of gold acts as an amplifier for the mind and the emotions. It helps keep the level of consciousness and awareness high.

In the two to three hundred years following the life of Jesus some of the concepts of the Pharisees became infused into the teachings of Jesus by Paul ( a former Pharisee) and his writings. By the time the early Christian Church was formed at the council of Nicaea in 325-7 AD the teachings of Paul had taken the dominant place in Christian theology. That theology was based on much older religious systems that focused on a world savior figure, where belief in a specific doctrine was supposed to lead to some form of salvation. Kersey Graves’s book, The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors (first published in 1875) lists thirty-five past savior figures, not including Jesus. The belief that modern Christianity is original and attributed to a faithful rendition of the life of Jesus is not well founded.

A common practice before and during the rise of the early Christian Church was pseudopedigrapha, where an author attributed his or her writing to another person, usually to a famous figure. This practice was used to insert some, or all, of the early Christian Church doctrine into texts thought to be from Jesus or his disciples. For the sake of clarity, I will refer to the modern theology of the Christian Church that differs from the original teaching of Jesus as simply, church doctrine.

The meaning of words or phrases has changed over time. Where I am aware of that happening, I will explain the original meaning and context as best I can. One example of changing meanings is with the word, messiah. In the Gnostic system messiah was used to describe a spiritual teacher who has reached full spiritual enlightenment and was teaching others how to become enlightened themselves. Through the Greek translation, messiah became savior, and our entire perception of Jesus was changed. From the gospels we have in the New Testament, Jesus was commonly referred to as teacher, which is consistent with the older Gnostic tradition.

My intention in this work is not to denigrate the teachings of the Christian Church, but to explain in plain language what the secret teaching of Jesus is and how it differs from Christian theology. In essence, the teaching of Jesus has been a secret for two primary reasons: one, the Gnostic system used symbols to represent concepts, and two, the early Christian Church included the basic teachings of Jesus, but glossed over them in favor of the savior figure theology. As a result, few people realize what Jesus was actually teaching.

The bulk of the secret teaching of Jesus resides within the parables. Parables hold a special place in the process of spiritual teaching. They are easy to remember, entertaining and packed with hidden meaning. Parables have a point to them, much like the moral in an Aesop’s fable. In the tradition of the ancient mystery school, parables provide a system of encoded information intended for the esoteric audience. Esoteric has two general meanings; meant for the few, and applying to inner processes. The ancient tradition is to provide information describing outer things or events, while actually applying to inner thoughts and feelings. Part of the power of the parables is that they use images or symbols that people are familiar with in their daily lives.

Many of the parables talk about the kingdom of heaven. Because the parables are all about inner processes, the kingdom of heaven is also inside of us. The kingdom of heaven is not a physical place, but rather a state of consciousness. In fact, all of the spiritual teachings are about states of consciousness, not physical places.

Our level of consciousness is also a function of what part of the brain we are using. Our spiritual connection to higher consciousness is primarily through the frontal lobes, which are active when we are in a peaceful, relaxed state of mind. Anger, fear, and hatred, for example, tend to deprive our frontal lobes of circulation and refocus our thinking back and down into the limbic or reptilian brain. This is where our “fight or flight” center resides and where our survival mechanisms are functioning. In martial arts, practitioners are trained to not give in to anger or fear because they lose awareness and perception as anger or fear fills the mind. The fight or flight response involves redirecting blood flow from the outer skin to the inner organs and muscles for increased energy and resistance to life threatening injuries. But the same process deprives us of our higher levels of awareness and reasoning and reduces our level of perception. This is also why both martial arts and spiritual practices often include the use of meditation. Meditation calms the body and the mind. It increases awareness, reasoning, and perception by increasing blood circulation to the extremities, including the frontal lobes of the brain.

In many spiritual teachings the idea of duality is presented. Duality involves the concept that we are not a unified being as we like to think, but rather we are a divided being, functioning from both a spiritual and a worldly level. In reality we are a spiritual being having a human or physical experience. This dual experience, divided between the spirit within us and the physical body, is characterized by two different centers of awareness and personality within each person: the spirit, and the ego. The world ties us into the ego because the ego is created and functions from the physical body, and the physical body is part of the physical or outer world. The body has been created out of the material of the world and belongs strictly to that world. Many people view the body as the source of life, but if that were true, why, when someone dies, do we say they are gone? The body is still there. Where do we think they went?

The spirit is not of this outer physical world. One of the things we realize on our spiritual path is that the spirit within is the source of our life, and the spirit already has eternal life. The body is the recipient of life. The spirit is the creation of divine consciousness, or God. We are literally the substance of God; living light. This living light has existed, and will continue to exist with, or without, a physical universe. Time is meaningless to the living light of spirit. Death is also meaningless to the living light of spirit. Death only applies to the physical body. We cannot die, we can only be separated from the physical body, which we all come to realize, is temporary. If we live to be 100 years old, it may seem like a long time, but compared to eternity, as experienced by the spiritual being we really are, it is but a fleeting moment in our true existence.

One of the things spiritual teachers and mystics have all told us is that there is only oneness, that everything is interconnected. God is everywhere, in everything, all knowing, and all powerful. What we come to realize is that the Spirit and divine consciousness that is God is the real source of everything. Nothing exists without it. Consequently, everything exists within the consciousness and presence of God. Every rock, plant, and creature in the universe exists within an ocean of God, or divine consciousness. Part of our human experience is to deliberately separate our mind and awareness from this constant connection to God. We do this because we need the separation from the oneness to experience life’s lessons in all of their intensity. The misery and the ecstasy of life are only meaningful if we believe that’s all there is. The contrast between the agony and the ecstasy in life creates our appreciation and understanding, not only of the way the world works, but of how we work as individual beings. The specific mechanism we use to create the separation is the subconscious mind, which operates between the oneness of universal consciousness and the limited consciousness we believe we are.

A common theme in spiritual teachings is that a time comes when we need to reclaim our place within the oneness and put an end to the separation. In the parables this is often described as the end of an age, or the end of time. These references do not apply to an actual end of the world, for the world is a school, and it will continue to exist and function in that capacity as long as there are souls willing and interested in attending this school. The end of the age is whatever time we come to the point in our spiritual journey where we have learned the lessons we needed from the school of life on earth and are ready to return to the consciousness of oneness.

Re-entering the oneness requires an end to the duality, and subsequently, an end to the ego. The ego, and its world-based personality, will have served its purpose and is no longer needed. But discarding the ego is not a simple matter. Because we have associated ourselves with the ego for so long, it has come to believe it is real, and it feels threatened by the new spiritual knowledge and perspective. The ego will not walk quietly into oblivion. It will fight and struggle for its survival, and it will use the limbic brain to accomplish that goal. The battle we face on our spiritual journey is control of our mind, and more specifically the control of our brain. Our spiritual goal is to function strictly from the higher levels of consciousness and from the frontal lobes of the brain. The ego’s goal is to keep us focused on fear-based emotions and to keep us locked into the limbic brain.

The physical body is a biological energy transformation machine. It takes in food, water, and air, and transforms it into various forms of energy. The energy generated inside of us is created with different frequencies. Higher frequencies feed and empower the spirit within us. Lower frequencies feed and empower the ego. The body will create the type of energy we direct it to make. Those directions come from the emotions we experience. The tools of this inner battle are ideas, concepts, and our feelings. The ego will focus on the lower fear-based emotions because the fear-based emotions feed the ego and starve the spirit. Our goal, as spiritual beings, is to focus on the love-based emotions that feed the spirit within and starve the ego.

Two terms are used that need some explanation: Son of man, and son of God. The Son of man refers to a person who has awakened spiritually and has recognized that he or she is a spiritual being having a human or physical experience. The son of God refers to a person who has become spiritually enlightened, one who has established a one hundred percent conscious contact with God, or universal consciousness. It is through this elevated state of consciousness that we experience the oneness that exists within the universe.

There are three separate and distinct groups of parables, plus a number of different sources of the writing. The first group comprises the parables that are probably original to Jesus, or at least to the mystery school system. Those parables are love-based and symbolic in nature. The second group is composed of those parables that were probably original, but were modified by adding concepts that were not part of the original teaching. The third group contains the parables that have been generated by the early Christian church and contain the theology and doctrine of the church, at the expense of the original teaching of Jesus.

The parables attributed to Jesus in this work are from the mystery school system. In this collection of twenty-nine parables, eighteen are from the mystery school teaching that Jesus presented to the people. Five are parables that have been modified to support church doctrine. The remaining parables are from other authors and were created to support the doctrine of the early Christian Church that developed two to three hundred years after Jesus. We have to keep in mind that when Jesus was teaching and the parables were originally used, there was no Christian Church and there was no church doctrine. Consequently, parables that contain what was to become church doctrine following the Council of Nicea in 325-7 AD, were constructed hundreds of years later and were added into scripture by the early Christian church. Our concern in this presentation is the secret teaching of Jesus. As a result, we will ignore most of the parables created by the early Christian Church.

Another concept that many people may find strange is that we live in an interactive universe. If the spiritual teachers and mystics are correct, and that we live in an ocean of consciousness, then we are intimately connected with the oneness and the universal consciousness that is God. There is no reason to think that the universe isn’t paying attention to us and interacting with us every moment of every day. Just because we have created a subconscious barrier so we can experience separation from God doesn’t mean it has to work both ways. It doesn’t. Because we are created out of God substance; spirit, consciousness, and the life force, we are forever connected to universal consciousness. We can ignore that connection, but it will never ignore us. We are an integral part of an interactive universe, and the spiritual journey is the means of rejoining our conscious mind with the consciousness of God.

Let’s begin our study of the parables and see what they might mean.

The Key

Matthew 13:10-17 (RSV)

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah which says: “You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.”

This is the key to understanding the parables. Why wouldn’t people understand what they heard? It was all spoken in words they understood. Translated into English, it’s all in words we understand. How is it that we can hear the words but do not hear, nor do we understand? The reason is that the words in the parables are symbolic in nature, and if we do not know what the symbols represent, then we cannot understand what is being said. The information is encoded so that only initiates who have been taught the secret symbols will be able to understand the lessons.

Jesus was a member of the ancient mystery school system and graduated from the very highest level of initiation. The ancient mystery school was well aware of the internal workings of both the body and the mind, and these concepts are embedded within the inner spiritual teachings. The parables are no exception. The hidden meaning within the parables is focused on consciousness, our mind, and our emotions. The goal of the parables is to provide a means for us to return to the oneness and eliminate the influence of the ego and the lower emotions. To accomplish this goal, the parables are encoded with symbols and images that are used to explain exactly what we need to do in order to re-enter the oneness.

Common symbols include seeds, fish, pearls and other small objects. All of these items represent thoughts or feelings within us. When a parable takes place on dry land, it is talking about our intellectual processes; thoughts and how our mind functions. When a parable takes place on water or the sea, it is talking about emotions and how our feelings operate. When something is under the ground, it represents an idea or concept within our subconscious mind. When something is under the water, it represents feelings or emotions from our subconscious emotional nature. Uncovering an object from the ground means bringing an idea or concept up from the subconscious mind into our conscious awareness. Similarly, bringing an object up from under the water means bringing our feelings and emotions up from the subconscious level to conscious awareness so it can be examined and resolved.

A house or building represents our belief system. Fields or crops represent our mind and how we think about things and the concepts and conclusions we have come to about ourselves, others, and how the world works. The higher items are in the parable, the higher the state of consciousness involved. For example; birds in the air represent higher ideas or higher concepts. Birds on the ground represent lower, worldly ideas. When the character is a man in the parable, it is about our thinking. A woman then, represents our feeling nature.

Spiritual teaching has always been encoded, which is why this prophesy of Isaiah is included, “You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.”

The mission of the mystery school was to teach people only when they have turned to them to learn. Physical healing was provided when it is necessary, but the true healing that is offered is healing the separation between us and God or universal consciousness. Oneness is the ultimate healing, for the body is a temporary manifestation. Healing the mind, the consciousness, and the separation of the spirit within us from its true source of universal spirit is the only true healing.

Life in the world tends to focus our attention on the things of the world, which, in turn, dulls our senses to the spiritual both within us and around us. Our churches repeat the spiritual scriptures, without really understanding them, our ears grow heavy of hearing and we never perceive what the spiritual scriptures are really saying to us. We read the words but do not perceive what they really mean. Once we know the symbols being used, the scriptures open up and we see the hidden meanings, we hear the voice of the spirit within and we understand within our heart. Only then can the mind and the emotions be healed and oneness achieved.

The Net

Matthew 13:47-48 (RSV)

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.

Both heaven and hell are states of consciousness. Heaven is a very high, love-based state of consciousness. By contrast, hell is a very low, fear-based state of consciousness. There are two basic types of emotions; love-based and fear-based. The love-based emotions are: love, empathy, compassion, generosity, gentleness, kindness, understanding, happiness, and affection. The fear-based emotions are: fear, anger, hatred, lust, envy, jealousy, shame, resentment, bitterness, guilt, and greed.

The primary factor in our life that determines our state of consciousness is our emotional state. It is hard to be happy, peaceful, and generous when we are consumed by anger, jealousy, envy, guilt or fear. We can raise our emotional state, and subsequently our consciousness, by changing our emotional responses to the circumstances around us from fear-based to love-based emotions.

The parable begins; “the kingdom of heaven is like . . .” This means that if we want to enter into the higher states of consciousness that are represented by the kingdom of heaven, then the parable gives us an inner process through which we can help make that happen. The parable continues, “a net was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.” What this means is that we are filled with various feelings, emotions, and emotionally related concepts (fish). So the net, when it is drawn ashore brings up fish from under the surface of the water, which represents bringing our feelings and emotions up from the depths of our subconscious and examining them in the light with intellectual understanding (the light of day). When the net was full implies a fullness; a maturity that needs to be achieved before the sorting out of our emotions will benefit us. Men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the fish out. So we must use our logical mind (represented by men) to evaluate the feelings we have inside. Not all fish are valuable, not all feelings are valuable either. Some fish are toxic; so are some emotions.

Just because we experience an emotion and identify with it (I’m angry, for example) doesn’t mean it actually holds any real value for us. Fear-based emotions depress our immune system, lower our consciousness and our awareness and move our thinking from our natural higher functions in the front part of our brain, back and down to the limbic or reptilian part of our brain. We become tense and delve into the realm of unfeeling toward others. We become more likely to do or say something that we will regret later. In general, these fear-based emotions cause problems for us at work, at home, in our relationships, and make our life harder than it needs to be. Fear-based emotions are non-productive at best, and destructive, or deadly at their worst.

Love-based emotions do just the opposite. Love-based emotions enhance our immune system increase our consciousness and our awareness and move our thinking forward into the frontal lobes where our spiritual connection to the higher consciousness of God exists. We tend to think before we speak or act and make allowances for the behavior of other people. This helps improve our work environment, home life, and interpersonal relationships. Love-based emotions are productive, supportive, and life-affirming.

The interim benefit of changing over to love-based emotions is a happier and more productive life. The long-term benefit is the progressive change in consciousness that takes place. As we become more love-based in everything we do, we also become more interested in being of service to others. This shift in attitude will gradually lead us to our higher purpose in life, which will be more satisfying to us personally, and be of greater benefit to those around us.

The higher spiritual states can only be achieved as we calm our mind, refocus our emotional responses on love-based feelings, and redirect our actions to being of service to others. As we progress, the unconditional love that comes from God begins to flow more strongly through us. That unconditional love fills us first, and then as we start radiating that love out into the world through our thoughts, feelings, and actions, the flow of that love creates the inner transformation we recognize as spiritual awakening and eventually spiritual enlightenment. That transformation places us firmly into the conscious experience of the kingdom of heaven.

What we hold in our heart is the measure of what we are. In the parable, the bad fish are thrown away and the good fish are placed in a vessel. That vessel is our heart, our conscious emotional center. By throwing away all of the fear-based emotions and keeping only the love-based ones in our heart, we transform both our life and our level of consciousness.

The Net Continues with an explanation

Matthew 13:49-50 (RSV)

So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and separate them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

This is our first example of an addition to the parables by another author. The parables of Jesus are consistent in their spiritual approach: they are non-threatening, non-judgmental and overall love-based. They are intended for internal understanding and inner work. The added parables are generally threatening, judgmental, and fear-based. They are intended for an audience focused on external things and external events.

“So it will be at the close of the age.” This portends a time often referred to as the end times when human existence will either end or be profoundly transformed. It also refers to a time of Judgment by God when all humans will be held accountable for their actions. This parable, like several others we will examine, was created in support of church doctrine: that God will judge mankind and only those faithful to the Church will be spared.

Ideologically, they differ profoundly from the parables of Jesus, which are esoteric in nature. The parables constructed by the other authors are exoteric in nature – meant to be taken literally rather than interpreted as being symbolic. Here the threat is that the angels of God will come out of heaven and gather the evil people (those who haven’t become part of the Church) and subject them to the eternal fires of hell. This is church doctrine and is completely adverse to the teachings of Jesus. The threat is intended to scare people into either joining or remaining in the church. This is a fear-based doctrine and is used to manipulate people and bring them under control.

The teachings of Jesus are intended to empower the individual and gradually lead them into a profound freedom, separate from the control of religious organizations. The teachings are intended to guide us on an inner journey and bring us into full conscious contact with God.

Even though the parable is exoteric in nature, we can still apply the same symbolism used in the esoteric parables with some interesting results. “So it will be at the close of the age” symbolically refers to the close of a period of growth, such as infancy, childhood, teenage, young adult, mature adult, and senior adult. The age here indicates a level of maturity has been achieved where we can examine our thoughts and feelings with a certain amount of wisdom. The angels represent the faculty of discernment, which is used to separate the fear-based (evil) thoughts and feelings from the love-based (righteous) thoughts and feelings. The procedure indicates that the fear-based thoughts and feelings are to be destroyed or consumed so they are permanently removed from our consciousness.

“There men will weep and gnash their teeth” is a threat and clearly not within the teachings of Jesus. This marks the writing as being from another author, someone who does not have the same level of understanding that Jesus had.

The Pearl of Great Value

Matthew 13:45-6 (RSV)

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Pearls represent ideas or concepts. We are each like a merchant, seeking fine ideas and concepts. The world is full of ideas. Some are good, fine ideas, and some are bad ideas. When we are young, we lack the experience and wisdom to separate the good ideas from the bad ones. But life experience teaches us that not all ideas are of the same value. A wise person seeks good, fine ideas, for he or she has learned that fine ideas are the most profitable and most rewarding. This merchant finds one pearl of great value—one idea that exceeds the value of all the others. He went and sold all that he had and bought it. In other words, on finding this one idea of great value, this person got rid of all of the other ideas and focused on this single, most valuable one.

What exactly is that one idea of great value? It is the idea that we are spiritual beings, that we are made of the same substance as God; the living light of Spirit. Once we awaken to this reality, our true spiritual journey can begin. We can grow in light and love each day, becoming closer to God and universal consciousness with every loving thought, feeling, and action. As we become more loving, we move deeper into the higher levels of consciousness we recognize as the kingdom of heaven. A true spiritual path leads us into direct conscious contact with God. This change in consciousness is more valuable than anything in the world, for when we die, all of the things we have collected in this world will remain here without us. Only what we hold in our consciousness will come with us, and the greatest height of consciousness that we can bring with us is full one hundred percent conscious contact with God. Everything else pales in comparison.

So this parable is showing us the importance of recognizing that we are spiritual beings, and that is the single most important idea we can grasp. By “getting” that we are spiritual beings first and focusing strictly on that concept, we can eventually enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Hidden Treasure

Matthew 13:44 (RSV)

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

This parable is like the pearl of great value, and embodies the same principles. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field means that somewhere in our subconscious mind is something of great value. Aside from the recognition that we are spiritual beings there is the spiritual mind. Because our life is dominated by the ego and our attention is focused on the things of the world, the spiritual mind has fallen fast asleep.

The treasure hidden within our subconscious mind is cosmic consciousness, or the Christ consciousness. We have the power to enter into the oneness and transform not only our own life, but the lives of those around us. We don’t understand the power of love within us. Only after we see the effect on other people’s lives that the love within us holds do we come to appreciate the transformative power of love.

As long as we remain in the grip of separation we cannot see the power that we have buried within our own mind. It takes learning, effort, and dedication to enter into the cosmic consciousness buried deep within us. Just as the man goes and sells all that he has, so too must we get rid of all of the thoughts and feelings of separation. It’s a long and difficult process, but it is absolutely necessary if we are to successfully make the journey into spiritual enlightenment. Nothing of the ego can remain. To the exact extent we retain even a sliver of the ego, to that same extent will we be limited in the oneness and interactive nature of the universe. In order for us to gain all of the kingdom, we must lose all of the ego and its attachment to the outer world. We have the potential to transform the world. That potential resides within the spiritual mind. We need but awaken it from its deep sleep.

The Talents

Matthew 25:14-30 (RSV)

For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, “Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have five talents more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.” And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, “Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.” He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master answered him, saying, “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from he who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Parables have multiple levels of interpretation. The usual interpretation of this parable is about talent or ability. In a higher level of understanding the talents represent our level of consciousness. In his groundbreaking book, Cosmic Consciousness by Richard Maurice Bucke, the author introduces the concept that people who have entered into cosmic consciousness have an additional source of learning, well and far above normal people. This learning comes to them from the universal consciousness that is God.

In the ordinary world, learning is a linear process. What I mean by that is we learn basic numbers, followed by basic math functions such as addition, subtraction, then multiplication, and division. Higher math functions such as algebra, trigonometry, and calculus come as incremental steps based on our past learning.

People with cosmic consciousness can still learn through the linear method of the world, but they also acquire knowledge through a quantum process, where a complete understanding of a subject arrives all at once, complete in every detail. There is no step-by-step learning process, just the arrival of a complete understanding of a subject, which happens almost instantly. Many times the insight into a subject comes when there is no outer record of the subject to refer to. Many of this world’s inventions came by this very method. The invention of three-phase alternating current production by Nicola Tesla is a prime example. His insight and resulting invention now powers the entire world with electricity.

This is another facet to higher levels of consciousness: the world benefits as we put our level of consciousness to work in service to others. A higher level of consciousness results in greater knowledge, deeper understanding, and an increase in our ability to learn and grow. The higher our level of consciousness, the more interactive the universe becomes, and the more we learn and produce for the benefit of the world. Just as in the parable, the universal consciousness favors people with higher levels of consciousness. And just as in the parable, fear is the limiting factor in our life and in our consciousness.

This is why it is so important to transform the fear-based emotions within us into love. Fear and fear-based emotions are the single most limiting factor in our life. Fear relegates us to the darkness of ignorance and separation. Love raises us into the light, and the light is knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Here again another author has added the last line, “there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” The threat is not needed in the original and only detracts from what is meant in the parable.

The Tares

Matthew 13:24-30 (RSV)

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the householder came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?” He said to them, “An enemy has done this.” The servants said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he said, “No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

This parable explains the human condition and the basic process of spiritual growth. The field represents our mind and the good seed represents the beneficial ideas and concepts we learn. While men were sleeping means while we were not paying attention to the thoughts that were forming in our mind. Sleeping refers to a general state of inattentiveness, where we are essentially unaware of the true nature of the ideas and concepts we allow into our thought processes. So, while we are unaware, we allow ideas and concepts into our mind and consciousness that are not beneficial to us. These are the weeds, or tares. Tares are thistles and the root structure of thistles spreads out under the ground. The analogy is that the ideas and concepts that are not beneficial spread and undermine the good ideas and concepts.

In the process of life, both the beneficial and non-beneficial ideas and concepts are allowed to grow together, and for the earthly level of consciousness and general lack of awareness, that’s how life generally works. Most people go through life unaware of the difference in quality of ideas and concepts. Spiritually they are in a state of deep sleep or hibernation. Jesus referred to this state of unawareness as being spiritually dead. When the disciple talks with Jesus he says, “let me go and bury my father and then I will come and follow you”, Jesus replies, “let the dead bury the dead.” In other words, there comes a time when we must decide to follow the spiritual path rather than the worldly one. The worldly path leads to the consciousness of death and the spiritual path leads to the consciousness of life. This is what Jesus means when he says I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly. The statement refers to a state of consciousness, and does not refer to the body or the things of the world.

In the spiritual process we need to develop the skill of discernment, and that is something that only comes to us as we mature. The harvest, or harvest time, refers to that level of maturity when we have developed discernment. Reaping is the use of discernment, specifically going through all of the ideas and concepts that we have learned and evaluating each one of them with the values we have acquired in our maturity.

The weeds, the non-beneficial ideas and concepts, need to be removed first. At first it seems like a simple process, but it becomes a little more complex as we proceed. We have become attached to various ideas and concepts during our growth and maturing process in the world. The tendency is to accept our treasured ideas and concepts as true and good, when, in fact, they are not. So the discernment process is applied repeatedly, not just once. What we find is that many of the concepts we have accepted as true in the past are not true at all. They are non-beneficial to us spiritually, and must be rooted up and destroyed before the good concepts can be gathered and stored in our heart (barn in the parable).

The first level of discernment that we can use is to decide whether an idea or concept is love-based or fear-based. Jesus says you are the light of the world. That is a love-based concept. The opposite concept is that you are a sinner, born in sin and in need of being saved by a savior figure. That is a fear-based concept. So is any concept or idea that ascribes evil to Satan, or the Devil. Ascribing the motivation for our thoughts, feelings, and actions to an outside source is self-defeating. It allows us to deny responsibility for what we have created in life. Responsibility and authority are two sides of the same coin. Accepting responsibility for our life also grants us the authority to change it.

The second level of discernment is whether something is actually true or simply accepted as true. A profound amount of information today is accepted as true, when, in fact, it isn’t. The bulk of our educational system teaches not truth, but what is accepted to be true, or at least what is politically correct. Any ultimate truth is completely ignored. The truth of the world is established by those who control the establishments of government, religion, academia, and business. This is what keeps us locked into the world system—our belief in the truth of the world. But there is a higher truth, a spiritual truth, which needs to be embraced in order to free us from the hypnotic mantra of the world. The teachings of Jesus were designed to do just that; free us from the hypnotic falsehoods of the world.

The Weeds of the Field

Matthew 13:37-43 (RSV)

He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear.

This is also an example of something written by another author, but we can still learn something from it. The Son of man is interpreted as Jesus, with the good seed being those who follow the Church and the weeds are those who don’t accept church doctrine. Again the threat is present of punishing those who have chosen not to become part of the Church.

Using the symbols of the esoteric system, the Son of man is the spiritually awakened person or consciousness, and the good seeds are the spiritual ideas and the love-based concepts. The field is the mind and represents the use of logic and intellectual evaluation. The weeds are the fear-based thoughts and feelings, and the evil one, the devil, represents the ego, the worldly based personality. The close of the age is again when a certain level of maturity is reached.

The angels as reapers represent the spiritual faculty of discernment. The Son of man sending his angels therefore represents the spiritually awakened person using his or her discernment to separate all of the fear-based thoughts and feelings (causes of sin and evildoers) from the love-based thoughts and feelings. The love-based thoughts, feelings, ideas, and concepts will thus shine forth as examples of the kingdom of God when there is nothing left to diminish their light. As the spiritual light shines forth within us, our good works become more and more obvious to all those around us.

The Sower

Matthew 13:3-9 (RSV)

A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and chocked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.

Some of the world’s greatest inventors have clearly stated that ideas are available to all those who will tune into the universal mind or universal consciousness and be open to receiving the ideas. History provides us with multiple examples of this exact phenomenon. The radio wasn’t invented by just one individual; it was developed in five different places around the world at the same time by people who had no contact with each other. God, as universal consciousness, seeds the needed ideas into the world.

So in our parable, the sower is the universal consciousness of God and the seeds that are sown are the beneficial ideas to help mankind. Our focus is on the spiritual ideas and concepts, which enter the consciousness of people the exact same way. The spiritual ideas and concepts are seeded into the world from universal consciousness.

“Some seeds fell along the path.” The path is the general consciousness of the world, the well-accepted ideas that make up the general consensus of thoughts and conventional wisdom. The problem is that the spiritual ideas sown by universal consciousness are not readily accepted by society in general. Here, birds on the ground represent fear-based thoughts and ego-based consciousness. The lower level thoughts and ideas displace, or consume the spiritual ideas, so they cannot take root in the general consciousness of the world.

“Other seeds fell on rocky ground.” These spiritual ideas have fallen in with rocks or firmly-held beliefs, where there is very little soil. The soil represents our ability to think, consider, and analyze ideas with an open mind. With firmly-held beliefs, there is little room for new ideas. The spiritual ideas conflict with the firmly-held beliefs and may grow for a time, but without being supported and nurtured, the ideas will wither and die.

“Other seeds fell upon thorns.” Thorns are the primary characteristic of thistles, which represent the fear-based ideas and concepts of the ego. The fear-based thoughts and feelings of the world will choke out the spiritual ideas that come from God as universal consciousness. The fear-based consciousness of the world supports the ideas of separation and competition, which in turn are a control strategy of divide and conquer. If we are being divided, we are being conquered. Love-based ideas and concepts bring us closer together and bring an end to separation. Love-based ideas sponsor cooperation rather than competition, so instead of separating people, these ideas bring people together where we can share resources, skills, and knowledge which benefit everyone.

“Other seeds fell on good soil.” Some of the spiritual ideas came to people who were receptive and had open minds and hearts. There the spiritual ideas took root and grew. People grew in understanding and wisdom and produced great benefits, not only for themselves, but for everyone around them.

The Sower Explained

Matthew 13:19-23 (RSV)

When one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundred fold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

This is another example of the work of another author. The fear-based approach is obvious and contradictory to the teachings of Jesus. Here again church doctrine is being presented as if it were the true teaching of Jesus, where it is intended not to help people grow and understand, but to frighten people into submission to the Church. Here the “word” is church doctrine expressed as the Church’s interpretation of scripture. But “word”, “logos” in the Greek, also refers to a system of thought, a teaching, like the teaching of Jesus. So he who hears the word and understands it is a person who knows the symbols used, hears the teaching of Jesus, and understands what is being taught. This person indeed bears fruit; he or she grows spiritually and creates benefits for others as well as growing closer to God. Some individuals will grow profoundly, some significantly and others only some. The degree of growth is both a function of ability and dedication. Both are required to produce maximum results.

The reference to the evil one is again a reference to the ego and the fear-based ideas and emotions. Whatever love becomes sown in our heart can be removed by fear and fear-based emotions. Anger and hatred will displace love and kindness. It is only when we clearly see the folly in engaging in anger and hatred that we consciously decide to abandon the fear-based emotions and focus only on the love-based thoughts and feelings. With dedication, the love-based thoughts and feelings will displace the fear-based concepts that have driven our lives. We will accumulate the type of thoughts and feelings upon which we focus our mind and our life. We can choose anything we want, and what we choose will bring the associated results into our life.

The Mustard Seed

Matthew 13:31-32 (RSV)

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed . . .” The most important part of the teachings of Jesus is repeated over and over so the attentive student can’t miss it. Once we begin to unravel the symbols, these repetitive parts simply fill out the interpretation. The kingdom of heaven is a state of consciousness. It appears to be a small thing in the perspective of the world, just as the grain of mustard is one of the smallest of seeds. But once we sow the basic concept that we are spiritual beings into our mind (our field), it gradually grows and expands, just as the mustard plant becomes a shrub and then a tree. The realization that we are spiritual beings expands and leads us naturally into service to others and eventually into the realization of the oneness; full conscious contact with God or universal mind.

In that process we become more open to other ideas and means of being of service. Universal mind or God continues to fill us with more ideas and advanced concepts represented by the birds of the air (higher ideas and concepts) making nests in the branches, which represents an expanded understanding of consciousness and the related meanings of more and more concepts in life (the emergence of wisdom). We begin connecting the dots, making logical connections between many different aspects of life and the spiritual knowledge-base we are gradually collecting. In making these connections we are branching out our understanding, seeing clearly how much of life is interconnected and interactive. The series of realizations this generates makes us much more aware and expands our perceptions, opening us up to even greater insights.

The mustard tree becomes the symbol of our expanded consciousness and understanding. In this context we should not ignore the close association the symbol has with the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden, which represents exactly the same thing. Consciousness and life are intimately interconnected. Jesus said he has come to bring us life so that we may have it more abundantly. He is not talking about fame and fortune; he is talking about consciousness.

Leaven

Matthew 13:33 (RSV)

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.

Leaven is a substance that causes bread or similar mixtures to rise. The parable is about a woman, so we are dealing with our emotional nature. Love-based emotions cause our emotions to rise and act as leaven to our emotional nature. Fear-based emotions do the opposite. If we are to raise our spiritual level we must raise both our intellectual nature and our emotional level. By incorporating loving thoughts and loving feelings into our lives we begin to raise our level of consciousness. By including loving actions we complete the process. This is the meaning of the three measures of meal: the three things we have control over in our lives: our thoughts, feelings and actions.

Spiritual growth is primarily emotionally based. The peace of God that comes to us is first experienced emotionally. So is the love and joy that are a constant part of the experience of the kingdom of heaven. Fear-based feelings accentuate our separation from God and other people and limit our relationship to the outer world. We tend to see other people as competitors for what we want or what we need, which, in turn, fosters feelings of resentment, bitterness, and jealousy, or envy. The whole process becomes a downward spiral leaving us more depressed and desperate for the things we don’t have.

Love-based feelings lead us toward oneness and away from separation. Love-based feelings foster a sense of forgiveness, understanding, and consideration. Our whole outlook on life softens and becomes gentler. We begin to value other people more and listen to what they are saying rather than simply thinking of what we are going to say next. Love-based feelings lead to making connections, first with other people, and then with God. There is a wise saying: people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

The Love that flows from God is the pure transforming power that we all have access to in our lives. But we have to consciously choose to incorporate that Love into our own emotional nature and into our relationships with other people. It is not possible to love God and despise other people. Love is the creative power of God; it is the life-force of everything that lives and the mechanism that renders the un-manifest universe into the manifest universe that we can see and experience. Love is the only power and we need to mix it thoroughly into our thoughts, feelings, and actions before we can raise the spirit and consciousness within us and become one with God.

The Lost Sheep

Luke 15:1-32 (RSV)

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.”

This is one of the more popular parables, and we have heard the conventional interpretation so many times that we don’t notice some of the interesting details hidden within the parable. For example, sheep are tended in a field where they can graze, yet when the shepherd finds the sheep it does not say the sheep is returned to the flock. That part is conspicuous by its absence. Instead, the shepherd returns home and invites others to join in a celebration.

Parables are carefully constructed. People assume that the lost sheep is returned to the flock, but that’s not what it says. Many spiritual lessons are constructed as puzzles. The puzzle is created allowing the uninitiated to make unwarranted assumptions so they will miss the point of the lesson. This is one of those examples.

There is an amusing story about little Johnny. The teacher in school presents a story math problem to him, saying, “If you have ten sheep in a field and one of them jumps over the fence, how many sheep are left in the field?” Little Johnny replies, “None.” The teacher says, “That is not correct. If you take one sheep away, nine are left in the field.” To which little Johnny replies, “Teacher, you may know math, but you don’t know sheep. If one of them jumps over the fence, all of them jump over the fence.”

Sheep are followers and they function in a herd mentality. Sheep represent the conventional thinking of society; people who conform to the established interpretation and don’t question the paradigm. The lost sheep leaves the conventional thinking of the group and begins thinking for him or herself. This is what is required on a spiritual path; we must leave the conventional thinking and explanations behind and find the hidden truth for ourselves. From the perspective of the group, we have become “lost”. Yet what we really seek is the truth. In its essence, a spiritual journey is a search for the truth.

In the parable, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and goes in search of the one. That is exactly what happens on our spiritual journey. Jesus says, “Seek and you will find.” But how it actually works is that through our seeking, we come to the attention of universal mind, or God, just as the missing sheep has come to the attention of the shepherd. God, as unlimited Spirit, comes to us in the midst of our search. Instead of finding the kingdom of heaven, it finds us. Just as there is a celebration when the shepherd returns home; so too is there a celebration among spiritually conscious beings when universal Spirit brings another awakened soul home and into the oneness.

Another similar story is the goose in the jar. A spiritual teacher tells his students a baby goose was placed in a large jar. Water and food was supplied and the goose grows to full size inside of the jar. The goose, long ago, outgrew the opening in the jar. The question is then posed, “How do you get the goose out of the jar without breaking the jar or killing the goose?” The puzzle has no obvious solution because the story is symbolic. The goose represents us and the jar represents the conventional paradigm or belief system. When we are small children we are taught the conventional paradigm, and that is what we believe is true. We grow up confined within that paradigm, within that belief system. Only by “thinking outside of the box” do we realize a different level of existence, a different level of consciousness. When we do, the spiritual teacher suddenly claps his hands and shouts, “The goose is out!” We have escaped the confines of the jar and we are free.

This is the same process of the parable of the lost sheep. When we leave the conventional paradigm behind and seek the truth on our own, we finally change our perspective and break out of the old belief system. We become free, just as Jesus said, “You will come to know the truth, and that truth will set you free.”

The Lost Sheep Continued

Luke 15:7 (RSV)

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than in ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

This section of the parable was added many years later by another author. Here church doctrine is presented; the sinner who repents and gets into heaven. Repent comes from the Greek word, metanoia, which refers to a change in thinking or perception. This is exactly what happens on our spiritual journey; our search for truth. When we change our belief system to a higher level of understanding, we also change our level of awareness and our level of consciousness. As we do so, we eventually enter into the oneness, the kingdom of heaven.

Church doctrine assumes that the righteous, the members of the Church, will go to heaven after they die. This is the exoteric explanation, the outer version meant for the many. The reality is that the conventionally righteous are not going to enter into heaven upon their death. Heaven is a state of consciousness, and death does not, and cannot change our level of consciousness. That has to be a deliberate act and process on our part. We have to free ourselves from the conventional paradigm and enter into the higher states of consciousness on our own. That is the basis of the entire teaching of Jesus.

Jesus said, “Wide and easy is the path that leads to destruction. Narrow and difficult is the path that leads to salvation, and only he who persists unto death will be saved.” Organized religion provides the wide and easy path. Only the inner spiritual journey follows the narrow and difficult path. Only those who persist on the spiritual journey unto the death of the ego will experience the enlightenment that is salvation.

The Lost Coin

Luke 15:8-10 (RSV)

Or a woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

This too was added many years after Jesus by another author. This parable is again based on church doctrine instead of the teachings of Jesus. By now the difference between the parables of Jesus and those of other authors should be more obvious.

The Prodigal Son

Luke 15:11-26 (RSV)

There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.” And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself and said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.’” And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and now is found.” And they began to make merry.

This parable provides us with an overall view of incarnation and its hidden purpose. As spiritual beings we exist within the presence of God. In the beginning the presence is continually conscious, just as the two brothers are aware of their relationship to their father. But one of the sons, representing each soul who decides to experience incarnation, asks for his share of the father’s estate. We, as spiritual beings experiencing human incarnation, have also asked for our share of our Father’s estate, which is pure Spirit (the upper-case Spirit refers to the spiritual essence of God, unlimited Spirit. The lower-case spirit refers to the share of God’s unlimited Spirit which has been assigned to us as individual spiritual beings, which becomes our individual spirit).

We take our inheritance, our individual spirit, and we incarnate. In the parable the son goes into a far country. A country refers to a state of consciousness, and a far country refers to a state of consciousness that is well removed from the consciousness of God. This is what we experience in physical incarnation as we attach our consciousness to a physical body. Since God, as universal mind is everywhere, there is no physical place we can go where God is not. So the solution is to create the separation from God within our own mind. This is accomplished through the subconscious mind. When the subconscious is filled with fear-based thoughts and emotions it acts as the veil that separates us from the presence of God. By transforming the contents of the subconscious from fear-based to love-based thoughts and emotions, the veil gradually clears and becomes our natural connection to universal consciousness and universal mind. The veil of separation fades and we slowly step into the oneness.

In the parable the younger son squanders his property in loose living. In our physical incarnation we squander the spirit within us as we focus on the body as the source of life. We believe we are the body and that when death arrives, we die. We spend many lifetimes believing we are the body and we experience all of the lessons we have selected as the body. Sometimes we experience wealth and power, sometimes poverty, illness, arrogance, lost loves, betrayal, loneliness, and dependence. Each lifetime grants us the experience of dominance, submission, control, helplessness, guilt, or shame. And with each life lesson comes a small amount of understanding, and a small amount of wisdom.

After many lifetimes of being focused solely on ourselves, we come to the lowest point in our series of incarnations. In the parable, the son had spent everything when a great famine arose in that country. This represents when everything stops working in our life; our job may come to an end, we may lose the relationships we have, we may also lose our health. We hit bottom.

In the parable the son goes and joins himself to one of the citizens of that country. This is a form of indentured servitude. He becomes a slave. This is also what happens to us during incarnation; we become a slave to the body, feeding it, maintaining it, and servicing its desires. What the body wants, we believe is what we want and we become driven by the body. Many times we may fall into addictions that speed our journey to the bottom.

Then something special happens. In the parable the son comes to himself. A realization takes place; there is a better way of doing things. He will be better off as one of his father’s hired servants. In our life we come to the same place. We realize that we will be better off being of service to others than we are trying to serve only ourselves. An intellectual transformation takes place. We come to ourselves; we recognize that we are spiritual beings and not just a body. We realize it is time to go home, back into the presence of God. Just as the prodigal son makes his journey back home to his father, so too do we embark on our spiritual journey back into the presence of God. The spiritual path is a journey without distance. It is a transformation in mind, emotions, and spirit.

In this parable the father sees his son returning from a distance. So too does the universal consciousness that is God see us from a distance on our spiritual journey. We do not have to get all the way back to begin receiving the benefits of our journey. While we are still some distance from being in the oneness, the presence of God comes to us, filling us first with peace, then love, and then Joy.

In our human experience, through life after life, we gradually come to the point where we have learned humility, the value of honesty, and ethics. We have left the ways of the world behind and we have followed the higher path, doing the right things simply because we have developed compassion for others and will not hurt them. We have become dedicated to being of honest service to others, not for what we can get, but rather for what we are becoming—a truly spiritual being.

This is where the father comes to the son and says, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and now is found.” Jesus has referred to those who have not awakened spiritually as the dead. This too is the meaning of the father’s statement, “My son was dead, and is alive again.” We have awakened spiritually and are returning home to the oneness and interconnected nature of the kingdom of heaven. We have been separated from the conscious contact with God and were “lost”. Now we have worked our way through the subconscious mind and we have entered the oneness; we are now “found”. Just as Jesus stated, “I and the Father are one.” So, too, have we become one with the Father.

The Prodigal Son Continued

Luke 15:25-32 (RSV)

Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.” But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, “Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I may make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!” And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”

The elder son was in the field. He was operating from the intellectual center of his being. This means that he is not living from the heart center, which is home to the spiritual nature. The spiritual journey is sometimes described as a journey without distance. From a practical aspect, it is the journey from the mind center to the heart center. Once he finds out that his brother has returned and a celebration is taking place, he becomes angry. In the parable he refused to go in (to the celebration). The symbol represents the reality that anger and other fear-based emotions cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Neither can we, as long as we maintain any form of fear-based thoughts or emotions. They all have to be transformed into love-based thoughts and emotions for us to enter into the kingdom of heaven and experience spiritual enlightenment.

The elder brother has stayed where he was, and has not taken the spiritual journey. There is no transformation and the earthly estate of his father will be his. The younger son has made the spiritual transformation. He was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. He does not inherit the earthly estate; he inherits the Kingdom of Heaven.

Unshrunk Cloth

Matthew 9:16 (RSV)

And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will tear away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.

Belief systems and levels of consciousness are not interchangeable. We cannot bring the kingdom of heaven and insert it into our worldly level of consciousness. The two are incompatible. In the parable new wine is put into fresh wineskins. Wineskins are constructed from leather. As the juice ferments and produces carbon-dioxide as a byproduct, the volume of the wine increases, and subsequently stretches the leather. There is a practical limit as to how much the leather wineskin will stretch before it bursts. Once the fermentation process is complete, the wineskin has no more need to stretch, and thus becomes a viable container. If we put new wine (juice) into an already stretched wineskin, the wineskin will burst. We will lose both the wineskin and the wine.

The wineskin represents our belief system and the new wine represents a new idea, or a new level of consciousness, as we grow on our spiritual journey. The problem comes when we try to fit the new spiritual understanding into our old belief system. The belief that God is someone or something outside of us is a very restrictive thought system. It doesn’t allow us to grow or think for ourselves. When we actually do begin to think for ourselves and see things more clearly, pressure builds within our belief system. Old ideas and new thoughts are in constant conflict with one another. Some kind of resolution is necessary.

The eventual outcome of this inner struggle is that our old belief system breaks down. We lose faith in what we have believed, and we often blame the new thoughts or new teaching for the destruction of our faith. We lose both the wineskin and the wine. It is no wonder that the church considers spiritual growth such a threat. Anyone who considers that the spirit of God is within them is in eminent danger of losing their faith, and the value they have placed upon the church. This is why many churches regularly remind their members that they are sinners, unworthy of the kingdom of heaven without the saving grace of Jesus.

The reality is that no one enters into the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God through believing. No one is saved by believing in a savior figure, whoever that may be. We experience our salvation through the transformation of our consciousness. The ego personality, embedded in fear, anger, hatred, resentment, bitterness, envy, greed, and lust is simply incompatible with the level of consciousness that is the kingdom of heaven. Remember, it’s not a place; it’s a level or state of consciousness.

The example of the goose inside the jar is a simplified version of what actually happens. The image of a Lotus blossom is much more like the actual spiritual process. Spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment do not happen as one sudden event or realization. The change of consciousness comes in stages, just as the many petals of the lotus blossom gradually peel away from the central core of the flower. Our belief system gradually changes as we learn more and understand what we have learned. It’s not just ideas. The heart of the transformation process is emotionally based, not logic based.

We begin with the mind, and we end with the mind, but the transformation is almost entirely emotional in nature. In the beginning, we learn some new ideas and some new concepts. We learn that we are spiritual beings, rather than just a body. We learn that we are children of God, created out of God substance; the living light of Spirit, a portion of the awareness of universal consciousness, a soul, and that we are an individualized expression of God. These concepts are far from the demeaning label of sinner. It takes time and experience with the new ideas before we release our old restrictive beliefs. Concept-by-concept, we gradually let go of the old fear-based thoughts and embrace the new love-based ideas. As we do this, our belief system expands. It stretches, much as a new wineskin does.

It is the inner emotional transformation that changes us and creates our salvation. As we practice the transformation of emotions there is a gradual shift within us. The initial concept of being created out of God substance begins to gather emotional support as we focus on changing our fear-based feelings to love. We begin to feel kinder toward ourselves and others. This slowly translates into a better and more positive self-image. The emotional shift away from fear-based feelings and toward love-based feelings creates questions within our mind. We start to challenge some of the guiding principles we have lived by, and in doing so, we gradually open our mind to higher levels of knowledge and greater possibilities.

In a simplified form, we learn a new concept, then we practice the transformation of emotions connected with the new concept. The change in our emotional state raises questions regarding what we have believed in the past about God, the world, and ourselves. Those questions lead to learning more about our inner selves and an expanded knowledge of how our mind works. Then the whole process repeats: new knowledge leads to more emotional transformation, which leads to a deeper understanding of who and what we actually are.

The Unclean Spirit

Matthew 12:43-45 (RSV)

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation.

This is another example of a modified parable. Everything in it represents the symbolic mystery school system and its inner teachings, except for the last sentence. So shall it be also with this evil generation is a fear-based threat from church doctrine. It was obviously added at a later date by another author.

The unclean spirit represents the ego. From the mystery school perspective, the ego feeds off of fear-based emotions rather than love-based feelings, making it unclean. Only the spirit within can be fed from love-based emotions. We can work on purging the fear-based emotions from our feeling nature, but if we don’t replace the feelings with an emotion of a different level (love-based), then the inner emotional nature becomes depleted. We become more stoic; less connected with the universe around us. This emptiness will last for only so long, before what is left of our ego returns with a vengeance, and we are worse off than we were before.

The solution is to not leave our emotional nature empty. By transforming our emotions from fear-based feelings into love-based feelings, we are keeping our house full. That way there is no room for the ego to return.

From a practical point of view, fear-based emotions feed the ego, while love-based emotions feed the spirit within us. As we focus on love-based ideas and emotions, the ego gradually starves. This is symbolized by the ego passing through waterless places seeking rest, but finding none. Waterless places represent a state without emotions, specifically the fear-based emotions that feed the ego. The ego can’t feed off of love-based emotions. If we leave our emotional house empty by suppressing our fear-based emotions, the ego will eventually resort to much more drastic emotions in order to regain its control over our life. This is symbolized by the unclean spirit that brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself. It’s not really about unclean or evil spirits that exist outside of us; It’s about the ego, which we have come to believe is who and what we are.

The Banquet

Matthew 22:1-14 (RSV)

The kingdom may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, “Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.” But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants and treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said unto his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you can find.” And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.

The symbols of a marriage, a marriage feast, the bride, the groom, and wedding garments have very specific meanings within the mystery school system and the secret teaching of Jesus. All of these symbols have to do with spiritual enlightenment and the state of oneness that is entered into as a result of our spiritual journey. A man who has completed the journey to spiritual enlightenment is the groom and the Christ consciousness that comes to reside within him is the bride. For a woman, the terminology is reversed: a woman who has completed the journey to spiritual enlightenment is the bride and the Christ consciousness is the groom.

When the word marriage is used, it refers to the mystical marriage, entering into the Christ consciousness and becoming one with God and the rest of the interactive universe. The marriage feast is the celebration that takes place both within the individual and within the community of enlightened beings as another soul becomes an active part of the oneness. Wedding garments are the emotional states of love-based feelings and the associated love-based thoughts within each person. In the parable, the king saw a man who had no wedding garment. In other words, the man had no love-based thoughts or feelings.

For a moment, imagine being in a group of close friends having a good time; laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Then imagine someone you don’t know entering the room, angry and upset, full of resentment and bitterness. The emotional shock is palpable. It doesn’t matter what the person is wearing, their attitude says it all.

Another concept we are dealing with is the light and the darkness. The light is both a state of knowledge and a reference to the increased spiritual light we generate as enlightened spiritual beings. The darkness is the lack of light, so it represents both ignorance and the lack of spiritual light from within. The marriage feast is a place full of light. It is the celebration of the community of enlightened beings. The king orders his men to bind the man without a wedding garment and cast him into the outer darkness. As we are working to attain spiritual enlightenment, this is what we must do to the random thoughts of the ego: we must recognize that it is a fear-based thought, or a fear-based feeling, bind it, so it cannot feed and become stronger, and cast it back into the darkness from which it came. We must throw out every last vestige of the ego. None of it can remain.

The invitation to the wedding feast, or banquet, goes out to all we know. But many will not respond. Every excuse will be used to not follow the spiritual journey. The same explanation applies to the following parable as well. In this parable the main character is the king; a person who has mastered his own thoughts and feelings. Some of those invited simply refused to come “while the rest seized his servants and treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” This is another example of exaggeration added by another author. It doesn’t really fit into the concept of love-based thoughts and feelings.

We have to recognize that as we change, our relationships will also change. Some long-held friendships will gradually cease to be viable. People will drift away from us, preferring to be with people of like mind. We, too, will prefer to be with people of like mind. Some relationships will end and some relationships will start. In both this parable and the one that follows, strangers are invited into the wedding feast or into the banquet. This represents the changes in relationships that will inevitably take place as we grow on our spiritual journey. Some people will drift away, and others will be attracted to us. It’s all part of the process of transformation.

Again, the statement “there men will weep and gnash their teeth” has been added to the parable by another author.

An interesting part has also been added: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” This is also an added concept from church doctrine. It is a reference to the selective nature of the religiously elite. The practical reality of spiritual growth and the inner spiritual journey is that all are called, but few choose to go.

The Great Supper

Luke 14:15-24 (RSV)

A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for all is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray to you, have me excused.” And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.” And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.” And the servant said, “Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.” And the master said to the servant, “Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”

Here the parable is about a banquet, rather than a marriage feast. A banquet represents the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. It is a less intense version of the Christ consciousness, and has to do with spiritual awakening, a major milestone on the way to full spiritual enlightenment. Again, the invited guests make excuses and do not attend. Others are brought in to the banquet. “Then the householder in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ ” There is an interesting quality to those who seek and follow the spiritual journey; they have suffered enough to the point where they will do almost anything to change their life. In the parable the man brings in the poor and maimed and blind and lame; people who have suffered in life and who are seeking a chance to improve the quality of their existence.

Who did Jesus teach? The wealthy and powerful were too busy with their lives to take time and listen. The people Jesus taught were what the church identifies as sinners: the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame. He taught people who had already discovered that their life wasn’t working, and were looking for a chance to change. He was teaching people who were dedicated to transforming their life, no matter what it took. These were people who instinctively knew that what they had learned so far in life wasn’t what they wanted, so they were ready, willing, and able to scrap all that had come before and start anew.

The Ten Maidens

Matthew 25:1-13 (RSV)

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom (and the bride). Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.” And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.

Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

“The kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom (and the bride).” So this is also about the Christ consciousness and the kingdom of heaven. The parable is about ten maidens, so we are dealing with our emotional state. “Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.” Foolishness is born out of ignorance, a lack of knowledge. Wisdom is created from knowledge, tempered with experience. Here the difference between the foolish and the wise maidens comes down to how much oil they have brought with them. Oil is the fuel for the lamps, which create light. The oil thus is a symbol for the love we have created and hold inside of ourselves, which is the spiritual fuel for the spiritual light within each of us. The spiritual journey is a long one, taking many years and a great deal of dedication and persistence.

The parable says, “As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” Anyone actively engaged in the spiritual journey is somewhere in between being sound asleep and awakened. In other words; slumbering, or asleep. The kingdom of heaven is a state of being awakened and coming alive, entered into through the process of spiritual awakening.

Very late in the spiritual journey, described as midnight in the parable, the call goes out, “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” The maidens trimmed and lit their lamps. If we do not have enough love within us, our spiritual light flickers, and goes out at times. We can become angry, bitter, or resentful. All this means is that we have farther to go on our spiritual journey. We have to transform more fear-based feelings into love-based feelings. When we become filled with love, our light will shine brightly and constantly. Our spiritual lamp will have plenty of oil.

As can be expected, while the foolish maidens are out trying to buy more oil, the bridegroom arrives and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. The Christ consciousness is entered into only at the very end of the spiritual journey. It is only open to those who have completed the emotional transformation from fear-based emotions to love-based feelings, thoughts, and actions.

“Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ ” Entrance into the Christ consciousness isn’t a matter of prayer, meditation, or asking. It is the result of full and complete transformation in our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

The Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37 (RSV)

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?”

He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

 

The Good Samaritan is a popular parable. We’ll start with the discussion with the lawyer, who represents an exacting type of interpretation. The question is posed; what shall I do to inherit eternal life? This is the primary leverage that organized religion uses to manipulate people. If a person becomes a member and follows the dogma, they will gain eternal life. The problem with it is we already have eternal life as a spiritual being. In essence, organized religion is offering us something that we already possess. Organized religion cannot give anyone eternal life, no matter what they do. No organized religion possesses eternal life, nor can they influence God or anyone else to grant something they do not possess. It’s not theirs to give. The manipulation depends on our basic ignorance of whom and what we actually are. There are two basic principles we need to examine: a person cannot earn what they already freely possess, and an organization cannot give something that it does not possess.

Jesus asks, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” In other words, what is your interpretation? The law is the Law of Moses, the foundation of Judaism. The lawyer answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” In other versions of the same or similar story, parts of the Ten Commandments have been added to support church doctrine. In this example we have a fairly clean explanation that is based solely on the quality of love, which is consistent with the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus replies, “You have answered right; do this and you will live.”

The lawyer then gets to the crux of the issue: “And who is my neighbor?”

In the time of Jesus, Samaritans were considered heathens. They did not follow the Law of Moses and were thus disrespected by the society of Judea. Priests and Levites, on the other hand, were well respected people. Jesus drives the point home by having the priest and then the Levite avoid the injured man, leaving him to succumb to his injuries. The despised person, the Samaritan, stops and provides basic medical aid to the injured man. The alcohol in the wine acts as an antiseptic to limit infection. The oil helps to keep the wound clean. At the time of Jesus a number of substances were infused into oil. Among them are myrrh and frankincense, both are powerful healing agents.

The key that Jesus is getting across is that the Samaritan had compassion, something that develops as we progress on our spiritual journey. Compassion is often a quality that is missing in many people. So Jesus asks, “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?”

The lawyer answers, “The one who showed mercy on him.”

So many times we define our neighbor as someone who lives close to us, or more commonly, someone who believes as we do. The human ego bases everything on the principle of separation: I am separate from God, your religion is separate from mine, I am separate from the objects in the world, I am separate from other people, I am separate from the plants and the animals, and I am separate from the universe. In this separation, we only feel moderately safe with people of our own kind, and those who believe as we do.

We have been told to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Herein resides the problem; if we have not learned to love ourselves, how can we give that non-existent love to anyone else? We cannot give what we do not have. As long as the ego is in control, the inner emotions are, and will be, dominated by fear-based thoughts and feelings.

Jesus tells the lawyer, “Go and do likewise.”

It is a task that, for the most part, cannot be done. This is the importance of the secret teaching of Jesus: we can transform the thoughts and feelings within us. Fear-based thoughts and feelings can be changed into love-based thoughts and feelings.

Jesus was asked about eating unclean food. His answer was that food passes through the body system and passes out the other end. The type of food we eat is not the problem. It’s not what goes into our mouth, it’s what comes out of it that defiles us. For what comes out of our mouth comes from our heart. The thoughts and particularly the emotions that come from our emotional center define whom and what we are. If our heart is filled with anger, bitterness, and resentment, then that is what comes out of our mouth. Again, the only thing you have to give is what you have in your heart and in your mind.

Each one of us is responsible for the content of our mind and our heart. We may have been programmed and imprinted with self-destructive beliefs and feelings, but that does not mean we have to leave the erroneous programming and imprinting in place. We are divine creatures; spiritual beings created out of pure God substance. We have the power of transformation built into our very being. All that is needed to start the transformation process is the recognition that we have not only the power to transform our thoughts and feelings, but the responsibility to do so.

The Rich Young Man

Matthew 19:16-24 (RSV)

And behold, one came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus said, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these things I have observed; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

This parable includes the church doctrine regarding the Ten Commandments, so it is a parable modified by another author. The point is still well made; “go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.”

Again, possessions are outer things that actually refer to inner thoughts and feelings. Selling is a term that specifies an exchange. In this case we are exchanging the inner fear-based thoughts and feelings for love-based thoughts and feelings. The instructions that Jesus specifies are to sell what you possess. In other words, we are to exchange (transform) all of our thoughts and feelings first. Once we have transformed all of our thoughts and feelings into love-based thoughts and feelings, then we have something of value to give. It is only then that we can become the Good Samaritan from the previous parable.

In this case, the rich young man had great possessions, meaning he had a very strong ego, filled with a large volume of fear-based thoughts and emotions. Transformation is a difficult task under the best of circumstances. A rich ego makes the task even harder.

Jesus tells his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The inner meaning is that the richer the ego is in fear-based thoughts and feelings, the more difficult the transformation process is going to be.

Jesus adds, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

The eye of a needle comes from a much older term and refers to an opening in the outer wall of many ancient cities. Provision was made for merchants and other travelers to make camp outside the city wall, while being able to bring their animals into a small area protected from the weather. The entrance to the area for the animals was specifically designed for camels and was key-hole shaped. The opening was just large enough to allow a camel to pass through without a saddle or any other burden.

The hidden meaning is that if we are to enter the kingdom of God, we must do so unburdened by our baggage. We have to leave our fear-based thoughts and emotions behind. Our spirituality is strictly limited by the amount of fear-based thoughts and emotions we cling to. Fear, anger, hatred, greed, guilt, envy, jealousy, resentment, and bitterness have no place within the consciousness of the kingdom of God. We can’t bring them in. We can’t enter while those thoughts and feelings are still active within us. They all have to be transformed. Then we can enter the kingdom.

The Two Debtors

Luke 7:36-50 (RSV)

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at his table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was sitting at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “What is it, teacher?” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other owed fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

This is another parable based on church doctrine, but it does bring up some interesting points. The alabaster flask was not a common form of container, so it represents something of value. The ointment is probably oil infused with frankincense, which is used for both healing and anointing. Simon apparently considers Jesus a prophet from the wording of the parable. The term Christ refers to an anointed being, one who has become one with God and the universal consciousness.

The woman is described as a woman of the city, who was a sinner. This again is church doctrine and represents the emotional part of us that has been abused and debased. She represents the injured and disrespected emotional core of so many of us. Yet she recognizes the Christ consciousness and pays respect to it. She washes his feet and anoints him with precious oil. When we are ready for our spiritual journey it is mostly because we have suffered at the hands of others and been taken advantage of so much that we are willing to do whatever is needed to create the transformation from where we are into the Christ consciousness.

“And he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ ”

Forgiveness is an essential part of the transformation of emotions. We begin with forgiving others for what they have done to us. This accounts for about ten percent of the work of forgiveness. The other ninety percent is forgiving ourselves for all of the things we have done to not only others, but to ourselves as well. We must also forgive ourselves for the things we believe we should have done, but failed to do. Forgiveness is essentially the intellectual work of correcting our perception of what has taken place. It serves as a correction for our mistakes of the past in regards to others and to us. The transformation of the emotions is the emotional work that changes the content of our emotional nature from fear-based to love-based thoughts and feelings.

“Then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this, who even forgives sins?’ ” The Church and the priests take it upon themselves to be the authority for the forgiveness of sins. Ordinary people aren’t allowed to forgive sins. Yet it is up to us, not the Church or a priest, to forgive others. Forgiveness is designed to relieve our suffering, especially when it is linked to the transformation of emotions. It is our life. It is our responsibility to transform the thoughts and emotions within ourselves. Forgiveness is not granted from God or from anything or anyone outside of us. Forgiveness is what we do to begin the transformation of our life from suffering to wholeness, from separation into oneness.

“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” This is a platitude that is used in church doctrine. In reality, if we seek forgiveness, faithfully doing the forgiveness and the transformation of emotions exercises is what “saves” us.

The Strong Man

Matthew 12:29 (RSV)

Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

While this may seem strange as an original parable, it has an important point to make. The strong man is the ego, and the strong man’s house is the contents of the subconscious mind. When we go into the ego’s domain to remove the old ideas and concepts and resolve the emotional issues, the ego isn’t going to stand there and watch. The ego is going to fight back either actively, or passively. Active resistance from the ego includes the denial that the exercises will have any effect, or that any exercises need to be done at all. The ego assures us that just intellectually knowing that we are spiritual beings is enough to make it all real for us.

Passive resistance by the ego generally takes the form of misdirection; coming up with easier ways of doing the exercises, or a different exercise that will work so much better. While the modifications to the exercises, or a different exercise, proposed by the ego seems subtle and minor at best, the end effect is to render the exercises useless and non-productive. The other approach by the ego is to be unable to find time to do the exercises. Either way, no progress to spiritual enlightenment is made.

The reason for going through this explanation is that we need to know what tools the ego will use against us on our spiritual journey. This is how we bind the strong man; by understanding how the ego will undermine our efforts to awaken and become spiritually enlightened. Once we understand the tactics of the ego and recognize what the ego is doing, we can consciously decide to go ahead with the exercises, stick to a schedule, and make consistent progress on our spiritual journey. Perfection isn’t required, but persistence and dedication are.

The ego is armed with all of our intense emotions: shame, anger, hatred, guilt, envy, jealousy, resentment, and bitterness. It is also armed with all of the false conclusions we have accepted as valid over our lifetime: that we are useless, valueless, defective, stupid, ugly or unattractive, or generally unable to do anything right. None of these feelings or conclusions about us is true or valid. We need to begin with the knowledge that the ego will use all of the feelings and thoughts from the subconscious as a weapon against us.

The temptation is to think that we are feeling the fear-based emotions and that the feelings are valid. Feelings are not facts; they are just feelings. When we realize that it is the ego that is invoking these emotions for its own benefit, we can smile to ourselves at the realization that we don’t have to identify with the thoughts or feelings that the ego is using. We are spiritual beings, not the disrespected people the ego portrays us to be in our minds. We have the option of simply observing the temper tantrum that the ego is throwing and not buying in, not taking part in the fear-based thoughts and emotions that are being presented to us. We are free to not participate.

The ego is fed by fear-based emotions. That is the energy source for the ego. By practicing non-participation in the ego’s attempt to be fed and grow stronger, we deprive the ego of its energy. We bind the ego, so it no longer has free reign to do whatever it wants. Once we bind the ego, we can enter the subconscious and bring the subconscious thoughts and emotions to the surface so we can examine them. The love-based thoughts and feelings we can keep. The fear-based thoughts and feelings are toxic to us and must be rejected and removed from our consciousness. When we plunder the ego’s house, we remove every thought and emotion it has used against us all of these years. This is how we become free.

Scattered Seeds

Mark 26-29 (RSV)

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow. He knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

This is another parable written by another author. It illustrates the church doctrine that if we believe and spread the doctrine to others, we do not have to understand how salvation works; we just have to be ready to take advantage of the situation at the right time.

We can also apply some of the inner principles to this parable with some interesting results. If a man should scatter seed upon the ground bears no qualification as to whether it is good seed, or bad seed. Seeds are ideas and concepts. In the parable a man scatters seeds on the ground, in other words, he spreads ideas and concepts into his mind. The seeds sprout and grow. The ideas take hold. He knows not how, but there is a definable progression: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. Ideas and concepts grow and come to fruition within our mind, whether they are good ideas, or bad. The process is always the same. We have so many misguided sayings: as the twig is bent, so grows the tree; raise a child in the way of the lord, and he will not depart from it; spare the rod, and spoil the child.

The “wisdom of the world” is filled with so many self-destructive and damaging ideas and concepts that it boggles the mind. Our cultures are filled with misunderstood sayings and principles that it is no wonder that the condition of the world is the way it is. Based on what we have been taught, no other outcome is likely. The difference is that we can learn new things; we can learn to transform our life from the inside out. We don’t have to blindly believe. We all have the capacity to learn to one degree or another. We can all transform at least part of our life, and in the process, make the world a better place.

Many organized religions tell us that we cannot understand the ways of God. That we must take on faith what the doctrine is and follow it without question. I know a number of people who have challenged the doctrine of their church, wanting to know what it really means. The typical result is excommunication from the church. If you are not a sheep, they don’t want you in their flock, and I agree with them. If you can think for yourself, you don’t belong in their congregation.

We are created out of God substance. We have consciousness, and we are able to learn. I teach people that there are no mysteries that we cannot understand. We are capable of coming to know the truth, and it is that truth that sets us free.

The Unmerciful Servant

Matthew 18:23-35 (RSV)

Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him, who owed him ten thousand talents; and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, “Pay what you owe.” So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.”

He refused and went and put in prison till he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all of his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

There is an interesting modification that has taken place in the Lord’s Prayer from the Gospel of Matthew. The text from the Revised Standard Version reads,

“Our father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors;

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive men their trespasses,

your heavenly Father also will forgive you;

but if you do not forgive men their trespasses,

neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

 

What I find interesting is that in most versions, the prayer is ended after “But deliver us from evil.” The statement, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever,” is customarily added at that point.

What is it about the last four lines that church doctrine dictates that they be ignored? Could it be that we are not supposed to know that we are responsible for what we do? Is believing and faith enough?

Over and over the secret teaching of Jesus brings us back to the point that we are responsible for the content of our own mind and our own heart. If we do not forgive others, if we do not transform the fear-based thoughts and feelings within us, how are we to ever expect to enter into spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment?

The parable makes the point that some kind of an exchange is required. If we are to be forgiven, then we must forgive in exchange. The actual exchange that is required is the transformation of our thoughts and feelings from fear-based to love-based.

The Two Sons

Matthew 21:28-32 (RSV)

“What do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he repented and went. And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.

As the saying goes, it’s easy to talk the talk, but difficult to walk the walk. This, again, is the difference between believing and becoming. Believing is the easy path that leads to destruction. Becoming is the narrow and difficult path that leads to salvation. And only he who persists unto the death of the ego will be transformed.

Our thoughts and feelings are the beginning point for our inner transformation. It is essential that we transform the fear-based thoughts and feelings into love-based ones. But more is required. We must also take action. Whether we like it or not, taking compassionate action in the outer world is a vital necessity.

In the New Testament, there is a disagreement between Paul and James. Paul insists that faith alone is all that is required. James, who was the brother of Jesus, stated in The Letter of James, “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

Conclusion

The secret teaching of Jesus is a system of inner transformation presented in symbolic form. The symbols are consistent for the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, and the other sayings of Jesus. When taken as a whole, the teaching of Jesus is a love-based approach offering people the option to do the inner work and transform their life in the process.

The demonstrated goal of organized religion is to manipulate and control people for the profit and power of their own organization. The actual teaching of Jesus clearly moves in the opposite direction, giving people the spiritual tools and knowledge they need to resolve their inner turmoil, programming, and imprinting, thus freeing them from the manipulation and control of large religious organizations.

Some religious groups have structured their teaching on a framework of being select, or elite in some way. It’s a clever strategy to attract large numbers of people. Being among the elite, is very attractive to a lot of people.

The part I find interesting is that as we go through the inner process of emotional transformation, we come face-to-face with all of the things we have done to other people, and all of the things we believe we should have done, and did not do. As we work at resolving those emotional issues we lose the pride and arrogance of the ego. In the end we lose the ego altogether. We become truly humble. We see ourselves as being on the same footing as every other person in the human race. We are all on an extended spiritual journey. Those at the very beginning of the journey don’t recognize it as a journey at all. They just see what they either want, or don’t want in their life. They pick a life path based on what is most important to them. They are here for lessons and in many cases, it’s easy for us to recognize the lessons they have selected for their life. We simply see them as being at a different point on their spiritual journey. We have compassion for them, and where appropriate, we help them or give them suggestions that will help them learn.

Even though they don’t see the spiritual side of life, and generally don’t have any real interest in it, we still see them as a spiritual being and an integral part of the oneness.

The spiritual path is a solitary journey. We may have friends and guides along the way, but the whole of the work is within our own selves. We are responsible for walking each and every step on that journey. The blessing of making this inner journey is that the person who completes the journey into spiritual enlightenment is not the only one who benefits from the work. Everyone around them benefits from the love, generosity, gentleness, understanding, and kindness that emanates from them because of the inner transformation.

Emotions are a form of energy. Just as with electricity, emotional energy can be changed, or transformed, into another more useful form. Fear can be changed into love. The key is in understanding that emotions are an integral part of what we are (a spiritual being). When we are not feeling an emotion it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Think of water and ice. Both are exactly the same substance, just in different forms. Emotions work in essentially the same way. When we are not feeling an emotion it resides within the subconscious in a basically solid form. The thoughts in our mind trigger the release of emotions from their solid form into a liquid form, which we experience as feelings. When a feeling has been experienced and we move on to something else, the emotional energy again solidifies and resides within the body. When we are feeling the emotion it is fluid, moving, and capable of change or transformation.

There is an exercise that will bring us to awakening, and eventually, to enlightenment. We are filled with conclusions and emotions from our past. Our childhood is the source of those conclusions and the emotional trauma in our lives. The majority of the exercises will be done on our experiences with our parents, siblings, teachers, and other authority figures from our childhood.

When we trigger a fear-based emotion it is energy in motion. You can think of the word e-motion as being a condensed form of “energy in motion.” When this emotional energy is in motion it can be transformed. We do that by changing the fear-based emotion into love. Once we have changed the nature of the emotional energy from fear-based to love, we can stop the exercise. When we stop feeling the emotional energy in its love state of vibration, it will settle down as love in a solid form. By doing this exercise repeatedly for twenty minutes, twice a day, we can gradually change the nature of the emotional energy stored within our body into love.

Our idle thoughts and feelings are transient, and for the most part, do not change our lives to any recognizable degree. It is our core beliefs and core emotional states that the interactive universe hears. That is what needs to be transformed.

With time and practice, we will gradually transform the basic emotional nature within us from fear into love. Fear-based feelings act as a veil between us and God creating the experience of separation. Love-based feelings act as a clarifying conductor of consciousness, not a barrier. Through the continued practice of transforming fear-based feelings into love-based feelings, we gradually become one with God and all of creation in the universe. This is the step-by-step path to spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment.

In our normal state of consciousness the vast majority of our feelings are fear-based. The mind of the ego cannot perceive the oneness of the spirit mind. The spirit mind cannot perceive the separation of the ego mind. A tipping point comes at just over fifty percent in the process of emotional transformation. That is where spiritual awakening takes place. Full spiritual enlightenment comes at one hundred percent love-based emotions.

John the Baptist represents the highest level of consciousness that the ego mind can attain. John’s highest perception was the Law of God. In John 3:26-31 (RSV) it says, “And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bore witness, he is here, baptizing, and all are going to him. John answered and said, :No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegrooms’s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks; he who comes from heaven is above all.”

The ego mind is of the body and thus is of the earth. It cannot experience the oneness; only separation. The spirit mind comes from the universal consciousness that is the kingdom of heaven. It can only experience oneness. When we encounter the tipping point in our emotional transformation our consciousness shifts from the ego mind to the spirit mind. We suddenly see and experience the oneness. The separation ceases to be. Jesus said, “he who is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist.” This is the shift from the ego mind to the spirit mind.

This spiritual awakening and its new perception tends to fade over time. We must continue the transformation of emotion exercises to solidify the gains we have made. Through continued practice we move deeper into the oneness. If we revert back to the fear-based emotions after awakening we run the risk of falling back into the ego mind and the separation. We will lose the mystical marriage that is the Christ Consciousness, also known as Cosmic Consciousness.

Our emotional transformation is balanced by a series of changes in our thinking as a result of forgiveness. As we confront and resolve the emotional issues within us, we must also modify the conclusions we have come to about ourselves, God, other people, and the universe around us. The realization that we live in an interactive universe and that we are an integral part of that living universe prompts a profound change in our perspective, which invariably changes our level of awareness and consciousness. The end of separation also comes with a series of insights and realizations that are profound and life-altering. We realize that we are exactly where our level of consciousness has brought us. The conditions in our lives are an exact fit to our consciousness, no more, no less. As disconcerting as this realization may be, it also comes with the realization that if anything is going to change in our lives, our level of consciousness has to change first.

For much of our life, we have believed that we are separate from everything else in the universe. We have believed that our thoughts and feelings are private. But that’s only because we haven’t been listening. No such restriction has been placed on the interactive universe. It’s listening to us all of the time, and our lives reflect exactly what we have selected as life lessons and what we have created through our consciousness.

Through the transformation of emotions, described above, we can gradually change our core beliefs and core emotional states. As we do so, we transform our consciousness and eventually our entire lives. We finally come to realize a fundamental principle: oneness is the only reality, truth is the only value, and love is the only power.

Introduction

Over the centuries since Jesus walked the earth, many have believed there existed a secret teaching, meant for only the few. Like many ancient secrets it was hidden in plain sight, available to the few who knew how to decode that secret.

The Sermon on the Mount is the first major presentation of the teachings of Jesus. The Sermon presents, in a condensed, encoded form, the basic principles of the entire spiritual program Jesus was teaching to the people of his time. This was not a new teaching or a revolutionary new religion. What Jesus was presenting had already been practiced for close to 200 years in the Gnostic and Essene communities. The word Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means to know, usually through direct experience. The Essenes were a spiritual community associated with the Mystery School System on the shores of the Dead Sea and were responsible for creating the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The secret teachings of Jesus come directly from the Mystery School System, which was founded in Egypt in 2750 BCE. The spiritual communities in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, which appear as the seven churches in Asia in the opening to the Book of Revelation, are examples of the communities founded on the Mystery School System and are described within this work.

These spiritual communities, ecclesia in Greek, were the forerunners of our modern-day churches. The purpose of the communities was to bring people through a system of theology and practice that culminated in spiritual enlightenment; full 100% conscious contact with God.

The sermon will be presented in two sections; the Beatitudes, and then the more general teachings. The Beatitudes are given in a heavily encoded form because it is being presented to the general public. Jesus reserved specific explanations for small groups composed of people desiring a deeper understanding of spiritual things.

The encoding takes the form of words that have symbolic or hidden meanings. Knowing the symbols used allows us to decode the sayings and get a much deeper understanding of the secret teachings of Jesus. The same symbols are used in the Sermon on the Mount, the Parables, and the general teachings of Jesus, so once we understand the symbolic language, the entire secret teaching of Jesus opens to us.

The first symbol used is the location for the sermon – on a mount or mountain. Higher locations represent higher states of consciousness. Statements made from higher locations represent higher principles and higher levels of teaching. Jesus is inviting the people listening to his sermon to come up to a higher level of understanding and consciousness by joining one of the Mystery School System spiritual communities.

 

The Beatitudes

Blessed are the Poor

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:3 (KJV)

The poor in spirit has a specific historical reference. The Essene community was part of a network of religious groups throughout the Middle East and Egypt. Individual groups adopted different names, but the communities shared a large amount of principles and practices in common. One of those practices was the pooling of resources as community property. Private ownership of tools, property and money was not allowed. The purpose of this practice was to help the individual focus on spiritual work instead of being focused on material things.

While some people were born into some of these communities, others joined as a result of missionaries promoting the community in public places. When a person joined one of these communities their personal property was held separate for a period of one year. During that time the person was housed, clothed and fed from the community resources. The person was also expected to work in the community in exchange for the basic needs of life the community provided.

During the first year the basic spiritual theology was taught, but a great number of details were withheld as to how the theology was actually implemented in more advanced study and practice. At the end of the first year the person was asked to make a decision to stay or leave. If community life was not a good match for the person they could leave and their property was returned to them. If they decided to stay, their property was added to the community stores. This practice is reflected in Christianity today through a vow of poverty taken by priests and a number of other clergy in the faith. The poor in spirit refers specifically to members of these communities who renounced the possession of personal property in their quest for spiritual enlightenment.

The first phase was the initiate level and consisted of general theology presented during the first four years of residence in the community. After this time initiates were sent out on missionary work to spread the theology to the general public. Most of them were not knowledgeable about the advanced information taught later in the process, so they could not reveal restricted information to people outside of the organization. Missionary work lasted about two years during which time the initiates were observed to see if they were strictly upholding the theology and practices of the community. Upon completion of the missionary work, if they had performed well and kept to the teaching, they were invited into the second phase of spiritual work known as the Discipleship phase. Jesus’s closest followers were students of the Discipleship phase.

Discipleship lasted for an indefinite period of time and progress beyond that level was dependent on demonstrating a high level of mental and emotional purity. The final level was the Apostleship phase and resulted in full spiritual enlightenment and living in the presence of God.

The goal of living in these communities was to attain Apostleship, the state of living in the presence of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, in this lifetime. The Kingdom of Heaven is a state of consciousness defined by living in the oneness and the presence of God. This is an inner state of experience and has nothing to do with a place people believe they go to when they die. The teaching, practices and support provided by the community were all geared to bring about this experience within the individual. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven is the coded statement of what the communities offered to any who joined them and followed the theology and practices being taught.

Blessed are they that Mourn

“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 (KJV)

Mourn is not used in its usual sense as mourning the death of a loved one. Here mourn means the regret and sorrow felt for the things in life we have done, or should have done and didn’t do.

The heart of the Discipleship phase is the work of inner purification of our thoughts and emotions. No one among us goes through life free of regrets and guilt. The discipleship phase is also the inner journey of self-discovery. During this process a detailed, ruthless examination of our inner thoughts and feelings is required. This will, at some time, bring us to the darkest point of our lives. Many refer to this time as the long dark night of the soul. This is one of those moments in life when we are moved completely to tears. We mourn for what we have done and the pain and injury we have caused to others. We also mourn for the things we should have done and did not do. The pain we have caused others comes back to us strongly and clearly at this time. Where we can, we need to make amends to the people we have hurt as long as doing so will not cause further harm. Where we cannot, the inner forgiveness process will complete the task. In either case the peace of God will come to us and we will be comforted.

Just this process alone will bring us closer to God. The deep abiding peace we experience from going through this process will be with us for the rest of our lives. If this is all we accomplished it would be well worth the effort we put into it. But there is so much more we can enter into and experience.

Blessed are the Meek

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 (KJV)

The meek is another term, like the poor in spirit, used to describe these spiritual communities in the time of Jesus. We have to keep in mind that this was an area under military occupation. Tribute in the form of taxes was being extracted from the people. The land that was theirs in previous generations had been taken from them. The people were no longer free, but were subjected to foreign rule. They paid rent on land they should have owned. Because of the intimidating force of the Roman army, there were a multitude of people who sought favor with the authorities by providing information on other individuals. It was not safe to speak openly about many things. This is another reason why Jesus spoke in parables to the general public.

The foundation of freedom is control of the land and natural resources. When individuals or groups of individuals like the spiritual communities own the land and the natural resources on the land, they are free of outside control. The people become self-sufficient and can stand on their own. Take away control of the land and resources and you take away their self-sufficiency and their freedom. You make them dependent. This is how an army of occupation maintains control: by controlling the land and the natural resources on the land.

People of Jesus’ time had memories of freedom and the struggle involved to gain that freedom. The Maccabee rebellion was still in their minds, just as the revolutionary war and the civil war is still in the minds of Americans. It had only been about 200 years since the time of Judas Maccabee and the stunning victories over the armies of the Seleucid kings placed in control of the area by Alexander the Great. Inspired by this history, some of the communities were in favor of military action against the Romans. (In fact, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the War Scroll depicting an armed battle against the Kittim, the Roman army of occupation.) Others did not advocate violence but sought peaceful means to gain control of their land back from Rome. Either way, return of the land to the people was a hot topic of discussion.

In essence, the meek shall inherit the earth is Jesus promising the spiritual communities that they will eventually get control of their land back. Jesus does not advocate violence, but he is clearly indicating that through the spiritual communities control of the land can be returned to them. We have a modern day story of just such a struggle. The non-violent movement of Gandhi in India resulted in the removal of British occupation. The power of people unified in a spiritual base can accomplish amazing things.

Blessed are they which Hunger

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (KJV)

Righteousness can be described as right thinking, right feeling and right action. Righteousness embodies a strong sense of ethics and morality. Righteousness is also the experience of the presence of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. In this state everything is right – the way it should be. Even if things in our personal life are not ideal, there is a feeling of acceptance in the rightness of God’s plan for our life.

This author recently spoke with a lady who had just been fired from her job. She was experiencing the presence of God in her life and being fired did not disrupt that experience. Quite the contrary, she saw being fired as part of God’s plan for her life. There was a sense that everything was right in her life. She was aware that she needed to find another job, but the experience of being fired did not weigh her down. (She subsequently found a temporary job that was “right” for her based on her experience and interests. The job also unexpectedly became permanent.) Even though she had been fired, she remained connected to God. In fact, the desire to move deeper into the Kingdom was stronger than ever. This deep desire for more of the Kingdom is the hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The underlying drive for spiritual growth is often a feeling of emptiness, like something is missing. We wonder if there is something more to us than we have come to believe in the past. We begin to believe that we too can experience the gifts of the spirit on a spiritual journey. This is the hunger and thirst for righteousness, but it is too early in the process to clearly identify what it is and where it is leading us. As we progress on our spiritual path, the hunger and thirst become stronger and easier to recognize. Once we are experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven on a more regular basis, we recognize the hunger and thirst as our desire for this closeness to God, this 100 percent full conscious contact that Jesus was experiencing. In the end, the hunger and thirst for righteousness is our desire to go home – back to the love and security of God from which we were created.

In the Gospel of Thomas (saying #28), Jesus said, “I take my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in the flesh. I found them all intoxicated; I found none of them thirsty. And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight. For empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave the world. But for the moment they are intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent.”

None of them have this thirst and hunger for righteousness. They are intoxicated by the ego. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent. Jesus clearly sees that when people have shaken off the intoxicating effect of the ego, they will repent. The word repent comes from the Greek word metanoia, which is spiritually related to the word metamorphosis, meaning reformation, transformation and transfiguration. To repent is to change our mind, but to do so in a way in which we are reformed, transformed and transfigured. The spiritual implications are clear.

This emptiness we feel in life cannot be filled with possessions. No amount of wealth can fill the emptiness within the soul. The ego tells us the answer is out there in the world, so we go out in search of happiness and fulfillment. In the end we come back to ourselves and ask, “Is this all there is to life, just more things?” The answer is yes, and no. Yes, this is all the ego has to offer; more things. And no, there is more, much more, but only the spirit within can bring us into the more, into the presence of God. By changing our awareness and consciousness from being ego centered to being spirit centered, we have reformed our thinking and entered upon the path of transformation that leads to transfiguration. In this process, the emptiness of the soul is filled with righteousness; the presence of God. The spirit within experiences its fulfillment; we become whole and complete. We awaken and come into our own as a spiritual being, standing fully and completely in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are the Merciful

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:7 (KJV)

In the ancient Egyptian ceremony following the death of a pharaoh, the pharaoh’s heart is symbolically placed on the plate of a balance and a feather is placed on the other plate. If the pharaoh’s heart is lighter than a feather (free from guilt, anger and resentment) then pharaoh is entitled to enter the afterlife. If pharaoh’s heart is heavy then he cannot enter into paradise.

This ceremony is the outer representation of a basic spiritual principle. Jesus tells us (Luke 6:45) that it is what is in our heart that is important. An evil man brings forth evil from his warehouse, which is his heart, and a good man brings forth good from his heart. As a man is in his heart, so is he. The heart represents our inner emotional nature.

In the outer expression of religion the battle is between God and Satan. The inner expression is the same battle, just between the inner spirit and the ego.

If our heart is filled with the lower, fear-based emotions, then our ego is being fed and is in control of our life. The ego seeks control, power, manipulation and separation. If our heart is filled with the higher, love-based emotions, then our spirit is being fed and is in control of our life. The spirit seeks freedom, empowerment of the individual, support of others, oneness with God and the unity of all of mankind.

The currency of the ego is judgment. Judgment is what the ego deals in every minute of every day. Nothing is exempt from the judgment of the ego; nothing is sacred. When the ego is in control, constant comparisons are being made and judgments are being rendered. We are better than some and not as good as others. This is why the ego wants possessions. Possessions are the outward showing of a higher status and position in the world. A collection of high value possessions demonstrates an important ego, separated from all the other lesser egos in the world. Is this why kings and queens have the finest things? To demonstrate that they really are superior to everyone else?

Wealth and power are not the only things to which the ego is attracted. Anything exclusive will do. This is why we have private country clubs and all the other things that are for members only. Many outward expressions of religion have adopted this same mentality of exclusiveness. Being saved and going to heaven while the unsaved are going to hell is very attractive to the ego. It maintains the elite status in the mind of the holder. Going out and saving more souls only intensifies the feelings of importance and accentuates the separation among people. It’s always us versus them, good versus evil. The overriding hallmark of the ego is separation, and it is this separation from everyone else that separates us from God as well. This is the judgment; that we are separate from God, and as such really are in need of salvation.

The currency of the spirit is mercy. Mercy is what the spirit deals in every minute of every day. Nothing is exempt from the mercy of the spirit. It is freely given to all. No qualifications, no conditions and no judgments are ever attached to real mercy. It is the extension of God’s love, which is unconditional. Mercy heals the wounds to the soul and spirit, restores sanity to the mind and calms the raging storm of our emotions. Mercy heals the separation between ourselves and other people, just as it heals the separation between ourselves and God. Mercy unifies us; it gathers our common strengths and overcomes our common weaknesses. Mercy fills the gaps in our needs and frees us from the judgment of our own ego. Mercy is the hallmark of the spirit within and the evidence of God’s love flowing through us into the world. Our mercy is the demonstration of our salvation and our connection to God.

Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. We receive exactly what we give. If what we give is judgment, then judgment is what we will receive. If, on the other hand, what we give is mercy then mercy is what we will receive. Blessed are the merciful: for the love that comes from God has replaced judgment, and they are free at last.

 

Blessed are the Pure in Heart / the Christ Consciousness

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 (KJV)

This was the dividing line between the Discipleship phase and the Apostleship phase in the time of Jesus.

Our emotional nature, not what we believe, is the key to our spirituality. The goal of the discipleship phase was to cleanse the mind and heart, to become pure in heart. This is a condition that takes different amounts of time with different individuals.

There are indicators which can be used to estimate the level of progress toward this purified state. A person becomes more loving, merciful, gentle and kind. The concept of a self, of me and mine, subsides and ceases its activity. A person becomes less concerned with himself or herself and more involved in supporting others and their quest for truth and God.

In the Gospels, John the Baptist represents the highest level the ego can attain: the recognition of God’s laws. This is the focus of John the Baptist – the insistence on obeying the laws of God and baptism; the symbolic cleansing in preparation of the coming presence of God. In John 3:28-30 (RSV), John states, “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This is the real relationship between the ego and the spirit: the ego comes first and prepares the way, then the spirit increases and the ego decreases. In the Gospels, John the Baptist dies before any of the major miracles of Jesus take place. This represents the need for the ego to die, leaving only the spirit in control of our life.

In the ancient Mystery School System this purified state of mind and emotions where the ego has been eliminated is described as virginity. It is a state that applied to both men and women and really had nothing to do with a person’s state of sexual experience. The teaching of Jesus is esoteric, meaning inner. His teachings always refer to inner things and processes, not the body or outer conditions. Attaining this virginal state was required before the ceremony or initiation into the Apostleship phase, the third and highest level of spiritual development.

The initiation into the Apostleship phase consisted of a forty-day fast during which time large amounts of the white powder of gold were consumed. Jesus went through his Apostleship phase in Egypt, not in Judea. When Jesus appears before John the Baptist at the river Jordan his status as a master spiritual teacher is recognized. But before Jesus can teach others in Judea and establish disciples, he must demonstrate his true spiritual level.

That demonstration was a repeat of the initiation into the Apostleship phase: the forty-day fast and consumption of large amounts of the white powder of gold, represented by the image of the white dove. The fast took place at the Essene spiritual community in Qumran on the shore of the Dead Sea, code-named the wilderness.

One of the elders of the Essene community would periodically challenge Jesus. This individual, in his role of challenger, or opposer, was operating under the title of Satan, which simply means opposer, or one who opposes. We use the same process today when someone plays the devil’s advocate for the purpose of drawing out opposing views and clarifying the discussion. In the outer form of religion, Satan, or the devil, challenges or temps Jesus, the Son of God. In reality, the Essene elder was checking to determine if Jesus was truly pure in heart and had no remnants of greed or lust for power left in his consciousness.

The ceremony or initiation into the Apostleship phase was referred to as the mystical marriage. A man becomes the bridegroom with God as the bride. A woman becomes the bride with God as the bridegroom. During this process the Holy Spirit enters and joins with the person’s spirit. Following initiation is a nine month process of spiritual transformation where the merged spirits of the person and the Holy Spirit bring forth a new level of spiritual being. This is the Christ, the fully awakened and empowered Spirit within. This bringing forth of the new spiritual being within is referred to as being born again, or being born from above. The process is described as the birth of Christ and is presented as the birth of Jesus in the Bible.

Matthew 1:18 (RSV) reads, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.” Following this line is a footnote that explains, “Other ancient authorities read ‘of the Christ.’” When the substitution of ‘Jesus Christ’ for ‘of the Christ’ is changed back, we have “Now the birth of the Christ took place in this way.” Now we are talking about the raised up and empowered spirit within, not a physical person. Christ is a title, the recognition of a highly elevated state of consciousness, which we now refer to as the Christ Consciousness. The communities described as the poor in spirit were in the business of bringing about the Kingdom of Heaven in the individual members and creating Christed beings as an end product. Jesus was not the one and only Christ. Every graduate of the Apostleship program had the same 100 percent full conscious contact with God that Jesus was experiencing.

Mary, the wife of Joseph, is an example of this process: “When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.” This refers to the awakened and empowered spirit coming forth in her, and not a physical baby. This is a child of the Holy Spirit, a Christed spiritual being, not a body. The early Christian church, with their perspective of male supremacy, can only understand a physical child as it relates to a woman. To admit that women were equal spiritually with men and could become Christed beings would have been absolutely abhorrent to the early Christian Church.

Remember, these communities were specifically created to bring about this high spiritual state in as many people as possible. So we need to take a closer look at Joseph and Mary. In Laurence Gardner’s book Bloodline of the Holy Grail (35), the concept of Joseph as a carpenter is explained,

“The word translated into English as ‘carpenter’ represents the much wider sense of the ancient Greek ho tekton, which is in turn a rendition of the Semitic word naggar. As pointed out by the Semitic scholar Dr. Geza Vermes, this descriptive word could perhaps be applied to a trade craftsman, but could equally well define a scholar or teacher. It certainly did not identify Jesus and Joseph as woodworkers. More precisely it identifies them as men with skills, learned men, who were masters of what they did. Indeed, one translation of the Greek, ho tekton, relates to ‘a master of the craft’, as may be applied to modern Freemasonry.”

Jesus was constantly referred to as ‘Teacher’ or ‘Rabbi’. Could his father have also been a teacher, a spiritual teacher? In the outer form of religion we are led to believe that the spiritual nature of the teaching of Jesus is a result of his being the only Son of God, or in some cases, God himself. But what if Jesus grew up in a family of spiritual teachers, a family highly placed in one of these special communities, a family of Christed beings? Would this change our perception of who Jesus was? If Joseph were a graduate of one of these communities, it would only make sense that Mary, his betrothed, would also be a graduate. And what do we have? Mary was with child of the Holy Spirit. Mary had gone through the entire process of Discipleship, on to Apostleship, and was becoming a Christed being herself.

The apostleship phase was where the full 100 percent conscious contact with God was perfected. This is where we see God. This is the level of experience where Jesus tells us “The Father and I are one.” Jesus is not the only one to have this experience, it was open to anyone who went through the same process he went through, which is why he told people to follow him and did not ask them to worship him. He wanted us to follow him through this process and become a Christed being, just as he had done. This option is still in place. We can still follow the teaching of Jesus, cleanse ourselves of the ego, become pure in heart, and see God for ourselves.

 

Blessed are the Peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9 (KJV)

Who are the peacemakers? Is someone a peacemaker if they stop two people or two countries from fighting? A peacekeeper is a better description of someone who stops others from fighting. They are keeping things peaceful, at least on the surface. But the underlying anger and hatred is still there. The people are not really experiencing peace. A peacemaker makes peace within himself or herself.

We have control over three things in our life; our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions. We have control over nothing else. We cannot create peace within another person, only within ourselves. Creating peace within ourselves is a process of resolving the inner conflicts, something over which only we have control.

This is the work of Discipleship: resolving the inner conflicts in our mind and heart. As we do this, we experience the peace that comes from God. This is different from the peace we experience in the world. This is deep abiding peace that passes all understanding.

There are different stages of this peace. In the early stages it comes and goes. The more of the inner conflicts we resolve, the longer the peace stays and the deeper it becomes. Then we come to the stage in our development where the peace never leaves us. We become firmly rooted in the peace and serenity of God, unshaken by the events of the world.

During this same peacemaking process we become closer to God. We begin to realize that we are intimately connected to God and that the spirit within us is the same as the substance of God. We begin to associate ourselves with the spirit within and with God, not with the ego and the world. We see ourselves as being in the world, but not of the world. We become born of God, not born in sin. God becomes the parent figure in our lives and we become the children of God. In this same process we come to see everyone else as we see ourselves. We are all children of God.

Blessed are they which are Persecuted

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:10 (KJV)

There is no question that Christians have been persecuted for their beliefs. The practitioners of every religion have been subjected to some level of persecution at some time, so this is not an unusual statement from the outer perspective. But since the teaching of Jesus is esoteric, an inner teaching, what does this persecution have to do with our mind and heart? And why is this persecution done for righteousness sake if righteousness is the presence of God, the Kingdom of Heaven?

This persecution appears in two different forms in the Discipleship process, which is also why it appears in two of the beatitudes. The first persecution, which appears in this verse, is an inner process. The ego stands in the place where the presence of God should be. We persecute the ego within ourselves to diminish and eventually eliminate it from our consciousness. As we do this, the presence of God takes its place.

Our intention is the guiding light in this process. If we simply empty out the ego, anything can take its place. In Matthew 12:43-45 (RSV) Jesus tells us “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” By emptying out the ego for the sake of righteousness, for the sake of the presence of God, we are inviting God to come in and fill us with His presence, peace and love. This way the house is occupied when the unclean spirit returns and there is no place for it to enter and dwell.

This emptying out process is critically important in the cleansing of the mind and heart. Imagine purchasing a house, and when moving day arrives you find the house full of someone else’s furniture and belongings. How can you move your things in and make it your home when it is already full? The same principle applies to consciousness. How can we bring the presence of God into our lives when our mind and heart are already filled with the things of the ego? We cannot. Just as in the example of a house full of furniture and someone else’s belongings, as we clear out a closet, the space can be filled with the new belongings, and once a room is cleared out, it too can be filled with the new furniture. Step-by-step the old can be removed and replaced with the new.

This is how the persecution of the ego proceeds. One issue at a time is addressed and resolved. The space occupied by that issue in our consciousness is then filled with the presence of God. One by one, the tools and weapons are taken away from the ego until nothing remains. The ego has been persecuted out of existence; it has nothing and it is reduced to nothing. When the ego no longer exists and we have filled ourselves with the peace, love and joy which come from God, we have entered into the Kingdom of Heaven and have become one with God. We have transcended the world and graduated as a mature spiritual being ready to take our place in the spiritual fabric of the universe which is God.

Blessed are the Persecuted

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Matthew 5:11 (KJV)

How do we know when the ego has been emptied out and the Kingdom of Heaven has taken its place? If we live in a protected and supportive environment like a monastery, convent or temple, the ego can remain undetected, acting covertly within the individual. In the outer world, we are hassled, challenged, conned and manipulated in countless ways. All of these things trigger a response from the ego. In a protected environment most of the things that trigger the ego are reduced or eliminated, so the functioning of the ego is much less obvious. This was also the problem facing the spiritual communities 2,000 years ago. How do we know when the inner process of transformation is complete?

A test was devised to make that determination. By this time the individual had spent many years in the community growing, maturing and moving deeper into the Kingdom of Heaven. This was their life now; nothing of their previous life remained. The person was brought into a private room without notice or preparation. They are then accused of all kinds of things falsely, told they are being expelled from the community and that they are a disgrace to everyone around them. Having spent a large portion of their life dedicated to this community, you can imagine the stress and confusion the person would be going through, being accused of evil and disgusting things which they have not done. That would be the ultimate injustice. If there were any fear, anger, guilt or resentment left in the person, it would be shown in that moment.

That, in fact, was the whole purpose of the test; to see if there were any lower, negative emotions left inside the person. If the person responded only from love, with gentleness, kindness and respect, they were deemed to be pure in heart and were immediately taken into the Apostleship phase. They would not return again to the community until the initiation and transformation process was complete. Failing the test would mean remaining at the disciple level from that point on. This was a time-honored process used for centuries. All prophets of God in the Old Testament went through the same training, the same emptying out, and the same test of persecution. All were pure in heart and had become one with God.

Jesus is telling his disciples to rejoice when this happens to them; the leaders of the community are recognizing the disciple’s spiritual growth and are doing this because they believe the disciple is ready for the Apostleship phase. Great is their reward in Heaven for they are moving on to the perfection of the spiritual state, the full 100 percent conscious contact with God. When Jesus says in Matthew 5:48, (RSV) “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” this is what he is talking about; the perfection of the spiritual state in the Apostleship phase, becoming one with God.

 

The General Teachings

Ye are the Salt of the Earth

“Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Matthew 5:13 (KJV)

Salt and salt of the earth have some interesting meanings. Salt, in addition to the obvious meaning, also means that which purifies, preserves or corrects. “Not worth one’s salt” means “not worth one’s wages or sustenance”. Salt is the Latin root for salary or monetary compensation. Salt of the earth refers to a person or persons regarded as the finest, and noblest. Salt of the earth people are honest, moral, responsible and dependable.

Jesus recognizes the common people as being basically honest, moral, responsible and dependable. In the eyes of Jesus, these are people suitable for spiritual growth. Jesus generally avoids the wealthy and powerful and speaks to the common people. He has a history of teaching spiritual truths to people of lesser social standing and is accused of teaching tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus has recognized that the wealthy and powerful are well convinced their lives are working and are not in need of change or correction. Many people like tax collectors and prostitutes are convinced their lives are not working and are open to change and correction. These are the people Jesus is seeking.

You are the salt of the earth recognizes the basic honesty, moral strength and dependability of the people wanting to learn more about true spiritual growth. “But if the salt have lost his savor” refers to people who have lost their honesty, integrity and dependability. Wherewith shall it be salted? questions how a person’s integrity can be restored once it has been squandered or lost to the world. “It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Means that once a person loses their integrity and morality it is very difficult to engage in spiritual growth. In most cases there is no desire for spiritual things, only more of the worldly things, which have cost that person their integrity and morality in the first place.

Our salt of the earth nature can be re-established, but it usually comes only after hitting bottom and coming to the realization of how much damage and injury we have caused to ourselves and to others. This hitting bottom can be compared to being trodden under foot of men. This is the story of the prodigal son and is the foundation of twelve-step programs across the globe.

In the parable, the prodigal son comes to his father and demands his share of his father’s estate. The father grants his son’s demand and divides up his estate and gives his son his share. The prodigal son goes into a far land and lives a riotous life filled with parties and easy friends.

This is what we have done as we come into physical existence. We have taken our spiritual substance and gone into a far land. We have used our subconscious mind to create a separation between us and God. Once in the physical world, we use our spiritual energy to learn life’s lessons. We party, we become drunk, we engage with easy friends. We pursue worldly goals of power, money and influence. We may seek fame and fortune and receive a great collection of items and property. But the time comes when we ask, is this all there is? Ultimately, we discover that more things are never enough. There is a hunger within us that no amount of things can ever satisfy.

This is the point in the story where the prodigal son runs out of money. His easy friends abandon him. He finds himself without shelter or food. He takes a job slopping the hogs, sharing what they eat to keep him alive. This is the lowest point in his life. He has hit bottom. This is where he realizes that the servants in his father’s house live better than he does.

This is also the point of spiritual transformation we seek within our own self. The inner spiritual journey of self-discovery is how we come to our self. This is the Discipleship phase: self-examination and forgiveness; eliminating the lower emotions that feed the ego and moving into love-based thoughts and emotions rather than fear-based thoughts and emotions. As we do this, we become more concerned with others and less concerned about ourselves. We make the shift from service to self into service to others.

This is exactly the choice the prodigal son makes: he chooses to become a servant in his father’s house rather than trying to be in service to himself. He begins the long journey home. When we forgive others and most importantly forgive ourselves, we are ready to begin our long journey home to the presence of God – to the Kingdom of Heaven. A journey highlighted by service to others, not to self.

With the transformation from a fear-based consciousness to a love-based consciousness, we naturally focus on service to others, not service to self. As we do so, something very special happens, just as it did to the prodigal son. God sees us from a great distance and comes out to meet us. This is the symbolic image of the prodigal son’s father coming out to greet him. The father embraces his son, puts a ring on his finger and wraps him in a cloak. The father orders the fatted calf to be killed and a celebration to take place. This is also what God does. God greets us before we have returned all the way home. We are embraced in the unconditional love that flows from God and we are made one with God. This is where we receive the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The story of the prodigal son is our story of incarnating into physical reality, experiencing our separation from God and, when we have hit bottom, our re-examination of our life, thoughts, feelings and actions. The spiritual journey is coming to our self and realizing that being of service is better than the selfish activities we have pursued in the past. We overcome the ego, move from fear-based consciousness to love-based consciousness, and return into the presence of God.

Spiritual growth requires an honest assessment of the issues within us and necessitates becoming responsible for our thoughts, feelings and actions. No excuses or rationalizations can be tolerated, for any defect in our integrity will deny us the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven.

We can restore all we have lost through the process of inner transformation. The salt can regain its savor, and we can become whole again.

Ye are the Light of the World

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:14 (KJV)

The most common interpretation of John chapter three is that Jesus is the light which has entered the world. In the outer form of religion, the difference between Jesus and ordinary people is accentuated. In that view, Jesus, as the only Son of God, is the only light of the world. Ordinary people cannot be the light. Yet Jesus is telling the assembled crowd that they are the light of the world. How can this be?

The light is not an individual person, but rather the living spirit within each and every one of us. The light is the God substance from which our spirit is made. The light is the source of everything that lives, and nothing lives without it. Plants, animals and people all have this light of God within them. For those who are sensitive and can see auras, even rocks have a small amount of this light in them. The light of God is in and of everything. From this perspective there is nothing that is separate from God.

You are the light of the world calls attention to the light within each of us, and challenges us to change our perspective regarding our perception of ourselves and our place in the world. As children, we grow up in an essentially adult world. Our skills as children are inadequate compared to the adults in our lives. With all of the comparisons and judgments the emerging ego makes in our childhood the vast majority of us have come to accept that we are of little value in the world.

But if the light of God resides within us, how does that change our view of whom and what we are? How can we be of so little value when the single most important thing in the world, the substance of God, resides within us?

In Matthew 10:29-31 (RSV) Jesus tells us, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” In this and many more verses, Jesus is trying to get us to see that we are of greater importance than we have believed. Our value is not determined by the opinions of other people; God, who has created us and placed within us His very substance, His own Spirit and nature, determines our value.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. As we grow spiritually the light of spirit shines brighter within us. This is something that we cannot hide. It shows in our face, in our actions and in our character. Just as a city on a hill cannot be hid, so too is our spirituality there for all to see. The light of spirit is not something of which we need be ashamed. This is the substance of God; it is your real self, who and what you really are: not some fake person other people may want you to be. You are a personalized creation of God, a child of the divine. The spirit within you was perfectly conceived and perfectly created. You were not born in sin, you were born of God; the living light of spirit, the God substance within, is proof that it is so. Any imperfection we may see is in our bodies, in our thoughts, feelings or our actions. This is not who we are. We are not our bodies, our thoughts, feelings or our actions. We are divine spirit and we must let our true nature, the loving nature of God, shine through.

Spirit manifests not only in our thoughts and feelings, but also in our actions. As the emerging spirit transforms our thoughts and feelings, we must have the courage to allow the spirit within to transform our actions as well. This will be uncomfortable in the beginning. We are not accustomed to doing loving things for others. What will they think of us? How will they react? People expect us to be the way we have always been. Whenever we change, some people don’t like what is happening, even if the change is for the better. Changing our thoughts and feelings is relatively safe; we are not confronting other people. But changing our actions disrupts relationships. The balance we have established with others is upset and we feel pressured to return to our old ways. But the power and light of spirit is so important that we cannot afford to keep it hidden. If we do not have the courage to change our actions, the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be fully established within us.

Jesus speaks again of this light within in John 3:19-21 (RSV). “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.”

Here again, the saying is cast in outer terms but applies to inner things. The light has come into the world means that we, as the light of the world, as the spiritual beings we are, have come into the world through the process of reincarnation. And this is the judgment, refers to the judgment of the ego, and the ego loves the darkness, which is another description for the subconscious mind. The light and the spirit are one and the same. The ego can only experience separation, and as such, the ego’s domain is the realm of the subconscious mind, the veil that separates us from the presence of God. The ego hates the spirit because somewhere within the knowledge of the ego, it realizes that only the spirit is real; the ego is not. But he who does what is true refers to awakening and raising up the spirit within, and this indeed brings us into the light.

In John 3:13-14 (RSV) Jesus tells Nicodemus, “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

The light within each of us is the Son; the substance of God that we all are. This is what God sent into the world. The early Christian church tried to convince people that Jesus was God’s only Son by adding the word “only” in John 3:16, but that is inconsistent with the totality of the teachings of Jesus. In John 3:16-18 Jesus is speaking, and he is speaking in third person, thus referring to something other than himself. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

The substance of God that is our true nature, the spiritual light within each of us, is the Son that God sent into the world. We have come into the world, not to condemn the world as the ego wants to do, but that the world might be saved, as the spirit within us wants to do. It’s not about Jesus, it’s about each of us. Jesus said, “He who believes in him is not condemned.” If we believe that the substance of God resides within each of us then we are not condemned. We have the opportunity to grow into the spiritual adults that God created us to become. But if we do not believe that the substance of God resides within each of us, then there is nothing to work with from a spiritual perspective; we are lost and condemned already. It’s not about believing in Jesus, it’s about believing that we are the light and that the substance of God resides within each of us. The word “name” means nature. Believing in the name of the only Son means that we believe that the nature of God exists within each of us.

Jesus told Nicodemus “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” The conventional teaching is that as God’s only son, Jesus descended from heaven and thus can ascend back up into heaven. The awakened spirit within each of us has descended from the higher consciousness, and it is the enlightened spirit that ascends back up into the higher consciousness that is heaven.

Jesus also told Nicodemus “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in him may have eternal life.” The serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness represents the Mystery School System, which is where Jesus learned these teachings. The whole point of the teachings of Jesus is to raise the spiritual consciousness of people to allow them to become spiritually enlightened. Believing in the spirit within, the substance of God within, allows us to lift up our consciousness into eternal life and eternal consciousness.

 

Think not that I am come to destroy

“Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, ‘Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled.’ Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:17-20 (KJV)

The ancient form of Hebrew was a written language of consonants only. The “jot” and “tittle” were small marks introduced into the written Hebrew language shortly before the time of Jesus to clarify which vowels were to be used.

The Christian church tries to present Jesus as the fulfillment of certain prophesies, and as such is fulfilling the Law of Moses in the Old Testament. But consider that Jesus and his disciples were accused of not washing their hands before eating and of working on the Sabbath. Both of these were relatively serious violations of the 613 Laws of Moses. How can Jesus be fulfilling of the Law of Moses if He is not following that Law? It becomes clear to us that the law Jesus has come to fulfill is not the Law of Moses, but some other law. If that is the case, what is this other law? Looking at the life of Jesus, and taking His teaching as a whole integrated system, the concept that emerges is the perfection of the spiritual state. Based on His teaching, the law Jesus came to fulfill is the Law of Spiritual Perfection, which originated within the Mystery School System. This law can be stated in the following terms:

• Each person has the light within him or her, and this light is the substance of God.
• The light, or spirit within, is in a general state of deep sleep, or hibernation, similar to death.
• Through love, the spirit can be awakened and raised up to a position of power and authority within each person. This awakening and raising process is referred to as the resurrection.
• Each person is responsible for awakening and raising the spirit within through love.
• Each person is responsible for cleansing and purifying the thoughts and feelings within, transforming all fear based emotions into love.
• Each person is responsible for overcoming his or her own ego and shifting his or her consciousness from the ego to the awakened spirit.
• By cleansing and purifying his or her thoughts and feelings, and overcoming the ego through love, each person will enter into a higher state of consciousness referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven.
• By following the Law of Spiritual Perfection, each person becomes one with God and experiences his or her salvation.
• In this oneness with God, each person is born again.
• In Spiritual Perfection, death is overcome and each person enters into eternal life.

This is the same process all of the prophets have used and it is the basis for all of the spiritual communities that were spread out over most of the known world at that time. The fulfillment of the Law of Spiritual Perfection is what brings us into the higher consciousness known as the Kingdom of Heaven. The process of spiritual perfection is a gradual one. The Kingdom does not wait for the last vestige of the process to become complete before manifesting itself. Rather, the Kingdom comes in small increments as we grow spiritually. Each step is rewarded with a little more of the Kingdom. The important part is to keep working on the whole process, so when the process is complete, total oneness with God is achieved. If a part of the process is not taught, or followed, then total oneness with God will not result.

Whoever does not teach the complete process will be considered the least in this higher state of consciousness (the Kingdom of Heaven). Whoever teaches the complete process, and practices the whole of it, will rise to the highest level in oneness with God, and will be regarded as the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The scribes and Pharisees were very practiced in the Laws of Moses, and yet this did not bring them into this experience of the Kingdom of Heaven. A person’s righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the strict following of the Laws of Moses; otherwise, he or she will not experience the Kingdom. The Law of Spiritual Perfection leads us into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thou Shalt not Kill

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca’ [fool], shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, ‘Thou fool’, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Matthew 5:21-24 (KJV)

Anger is one of the stronger emotions used by the ego. Anger feeds emotional-based energy to the ego and produces nothing usable by the spirit. The spirit within cannot grow or function in an environment of anger. Through anger, the ego becomes stronger and more firmly in control of our life. This is one of the choices we face when we embark on our spiritual journey: we must choose love over anger; we cannot have both. By allowing anger into our life, we lock our self out of the Kingdom of Heaven and condemn ourselves to the tyranny of an out-of-control ego.

There are some conditions where a demonstration of anger is appropriate. This is why Jesus included the qualification “without a cause” in this statement. There is a difference between living in anger and a demonstration of anger. When Jesus chased the moneychangers out of the temple, this was a demonstration of anger. Jesus is not allowing the anger itself to become part of Him or His consciousness, but He is using it for the effect it has on other people. Jesus does not hold on to the anger. It is just a demonstration, a performance, which is put on to create an end result. There is no real anger within Jesus, only love. As such, the demonstration of anger does not disrupt the experience of the Kingdom of Heaven, whereas real anger will quickly destroy any semblance of peace, love and joy within, and the experience of the presence of God will stop immediately. We have been given free will and it is up to us to choose what will be in our heart: anger or love.

Raca or Thou fool are representative of all denigrating comments that are made about people. Like everything else, this is not about specific comments, but the thoughts, and more importantly, the feelings we have about others or ourselves. This type of comment is demonstrating what is in our heart. As Jesus tells us, “it is not what goes into our mouth which defiles us, but that which comes out of it; for what comes out of our mouth proceeds from our heart.” If we make these comments, or even think the thoughts, we are not seeing everyone as part of the oneness, but seeing them as separate from us and from God. When we have the love that comes from God in our heart, we see everyone as a child of God, fully connected to us, God, and all of creation. Jesus mentions these comments because they demonstrate the lack of God’s love in our heart.

Notice that Jesus instructs “first be reconciled to thy brother” before presenting ourselves to God. This is an important aspect of spiritual growth. The general focus is on changing our thoughts and feelings, but if these changes do not become reflected in our actions, then it is not a real change, but an act that is put on for the benefit of others. We want the love within us to be real and the anger to be an act, not the other way around. There is no real benefit to living in anger and pretending to love. The love must be real for the Kingdom to be real.

Agree with Thine Adversary

“Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way [on the way to court] with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, ‘Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.’” Matthew 5:25-26 (KJV)

Spiritual growth represents a fundamental shift in our thinking, feelings and actions. The ego and the spirit within function from two diametrically opposed positions: the ego functions from the position of conflict, challenge and judgment, while the spirit operates from the position of understanding, compassion, gentleness and kindness. Even if we do not create a dispute, someone else’s anger and judgment may bring us into conflict with them. How we respond to that conflict is critical to our spiritual well-being.

During the process of spiritual growth, conflict resolution is both an inner and an outer process. The existence of outer conflicts is representative of holding on to inner conflicts. These inner conflicts are issues we hold against others and are used by the ego to manipulate and control us. These inner issues are taking the place of the presence of God in our lives, and must be removed for the full presence of God to be experienced. The peace, love and joy that come from God is restricted or blocked by any form of conflict, resentment or bitterness. Only by removing every last remnant of the conflict are we free from its effects. Until then we are held captive by our own thoughts and feelings related to the conflict. We are imprisoned by our own resentment and bitterness, and will not be set free until all of it is resolved (“till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.”)

So the primary goal is to establish an inner state of mind free of conflict, and then to extend that inner peace into our outer world to resolve the conflicts that come to us there. What this often means is that we will take more responsibility in conflicts in order to get them resolved. Many people enter into conflict with others because of a belief that they are right and the other person is wrong. From a spiritual perspective, arguing over who is right and who is wrong is much less important than establishing a state of peace both within and in our outer world. Experiencing the Peace of God is much more important than trying to show someone else the error of their ways. The desire to be right will usurp the Peace of God within us and deny us the Presence of God. The underlying question becomes; would I rather be right, or would I rather live in the Presence of God and experience God’s Peace?

Thou Shalt not Commit Adultery

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shall not commit adultery: but I say to unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:27-30 (KJV)

These are sayings that are difficult for people to understand when viewed from the commonly held perspective. Thou shall not commit adultery: but I say to unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. What difference should it make what our thoughts or feelings are if we don’t act on them? Our entire code of social and legal behavior is based not on what we think, but on what we actually do. Why is this different?

Jesus is teaching us about the Kingdom of Heaven, living in the presence of God in our everyday life. In order to accomplish this, we have to live and function from a higher set of standards. If we want to stay in the experience of the world, the standard of the world will serve us well, but if we want a higher experience, the Kingdom of Heaven, then we must adopt a higher standard.

For a man to look upon a woman and lust after her is standard for the world. In order for these thoughts and feelings to take place, the man generally has to see her as something that is separate from him, a sexual object rather than a person. This is exactly what Jesus is pointing out: all of the things Jesus is mentioning require us to view another person as being separate from us. The thought and feeling involved is not the cause of the problem; the concept and the point of view of separation is the real issue. As long as we are viewing others as being separate from us, we cannot live in the Kingdom.

Perceiving others as being separate from us is also the root of the discrimination against others based on sex, race, religion, culture, language, disabilities and every other source of anger, hatred and violence in the world. All of the conflicts and wars in the world are only possible when we view others as being separate from us. The presence of God is about oneness, the interconnected nature of everything in creation. To see anything as being separate is to deny the Kingdom and the presence of God.

There is another aspect to this that is worth considering: thoughts give us direction and emotions create movement. If we think a great deal about someone and harbor lustful or even loving feelings for that person, our desire to be with that person grows accordingly. We may not act on our desires, but the thoughts and feelings we express within our own being draw us in that direction. That inner desire can also move us out of the Kingdom of Heaven and back into the separation from which we are trying to escape.

While Jesus is referring to body parts (and if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee), we must remember that spiritual teachers often use outer images for inner processes. The right eye connects with the left hemisphere of our brain and represents how we see things — our inner perception. If we perceive others in the world as being separate, we need to pluck that perception out of our consciousness and cast it from us. The left hand represents ego-related actions, while the right hand represents spirit-related actions. If thy right hand offend thee refers to our spiritual or religious related actions that are offensive to the Spirit and presence of God. While many actions are considered normal in the world, they are not compatible with the presence of God within and need to be changed. Only actions which are compatible with the love that flows from God, can remain with us if we are to fully experience God’s presence in our life. The greater the degree of compatibility, the greater the presence of God will be.

Our incompatible perceptions and actions are part of the whole body in the world. The world, in turn, is full of pain, suffering and distress. The world can therefore be considered a form of Hell. In essence, we do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a whole body, for this would include the ego, and the ego is not compatible with the presence of God. We enter the Kingdom egoless, and missing the attributes of the world. In the view of the world we are no longer a whole body. In the view of God we have cut away the limiting factors of the world and made ourselves compatible with the presence of God, and through our union with God have become “whole” spiritually. There is a correlation between whole, in a spiritual sense, and Holy. To become one with God is to validate our divinity and the true nature of the spirit within. We are born of God, created out of God substance, and are destined to overcome the world. Our divine nature will not be suppressed forever.

 

Writing of Divorcement

“It hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: but I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” Matthew 5:31-32 (KJV)

In the Middle East during the time of Jesus, women were considered little more than personal property. A man could divorce his wife by publicly declaring “I divorce you” three times. But without a written divorce decree, the woman was socially considered to still be married, but without a home or any means of support. She could not legally remarry or have a new relationship without risking being stoned to death for adultery. This situation forced many women into lives of prostitution, abuse, disease and early death. Jesus was dedicated to changing the social structure and improving the lives of women. Jesus taught the higher spiritual principles and practices to women as well as men, so anyone who would do the inner work could enter into, and experience, the Kingdom of Heaven.

The point Jesus is making is that we are all children of God. Women are no exception. The spirit resides in all people, male and female alike, all creeds and all races. Every living person is a child of God, created out of God substance, loved and cherished by God for all of eternity. No social situation or personal opinion will ever change that fact. As long as we hold any other person in lower esteem than we hold ourselves, or anyone else, we have blocked the Kingdom of Heaven from our lives. We cannot fully enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as long as we hold anyone as being separate from us or from God. The Kingdom of Heaven is a kingdom of oneness; there is no place for separation.

Thou Shalt not Swear

“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shall perform unto the lord thine oaths: but I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by heaven for it is God’s throne: nor by the earth; for it is His footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” Matthew 5:33-37 (KJV)

In the time of Jesus swearing referred to making a promise, rather than cursing as it does today. People make all kinds of promises. We grow up making promises. It used to be “cross my heart and hope to die”, now it’s “pinky promise”, linking pinky fingers. In the time of Jesus it was “I swear by heaven above,” or “I swear by Holy Jerusalem” or “by the hair on my head”. Swearing on your mother’s grave was also popular. All of these things are efforts by the ego to manipulate others. The making of a promise is an inducement for someone to do something for us that they may not otherwise do. Many promises are an integral part of the agreements that we enter into each day. Most of the time we expect to honor our agreements and promises and we think no further than that. But sometimes promises are made with the explicit purpose of deceiving someone else and getting them to do what they ordinarily would not do. This clearly becomes a form of manipulation and is an element in fraud. Rather than making agreements with promises, the simple use of yes, I agree, or no, I don’t agree should be used. When used in this context, a promise becomes a form of exaggeration used to manipulate the other person. It is best to let the agreement stand on a simple yes or no.

Spiritual growth is a process of self-discovery and inner unification. During this process we sort out all of the things of the ego and discard them, leaving only the things of the spirit within. Manipulation and control of other people is gradually abandoned, along with the promises. The spirit deals only with “yes” or “no”. Either it is, or it isn’t. It’s a true or false decision.

It may take many years for the transformation to become complete. The key to success is persistence: if you persist, you will succeed. Spiritual growth seems like some wild and exotic process, and in many ways it is, but the root of real spiritual growth is getting to know our true self. What we find are true things and false things, and things that are a mixture of truth and falsehood, all thrown together. A great deal of the process of self-discovery and inner unification is really sorting out the true from the false, keeping the true and discarding the false. At first it seems like an easy task, but over the years we have accumulated so much information, opinions, conclusions and personal theories that the task can feel overwhelming. Add to this the emotional investment we have in certain things and it really is a difficult task. It will help if we keep in mind that the most important things in our life are the things that have taken the most work. Spiritual growth will take more work than anything else in life, but it will become the single most important and valuable activity of your entire existence. Everything the world has to offer pales in comparison to living in the presence of God, becoming one with God and all of creation. The process hinges not on promises, but on “yes” and “no”.

An Eye for an Eye

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee — turn not thou away.” Matthew 38-42 (KJV)

“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” is a reference to Hammurabi’s Code. Around 1780 BCE the King of Babylon set down a Code of Conduct, carved in a large stone near the center of the city. It was the first publicly written code and was quite extensive in nature. The code is recognized by the principle of whatever you do to someone else will be done to you. Rabbi Hillel, one of the great Jewish teachers who lived just before the time of Jesus, states the premise in a slightly different wording: “Don’t do to someone what you don’t want done to you.”

Scholars believe that Jesus restates the same principle in positive terms in the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Hammurabi’s Code is reactive, and is characteristic of the world of the ego. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth is reactive because it depends on what someone else does to you first. It is a brutal form of retribution. Rabbi Hillel’s form is restrictive in that he encourages people not to do hurtful things to others in the first place. The form Jesus uses is proactive because he is encouraging people to do kind and helpful things without anything having happening to them first.

When taken in context with the rest of the sayings of Jesus the Golden Rule is firmly placed within the world of spirit-based thought, feeling and action. The first example Jesus uses is whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. The Code of Conduct of the time allowed you to do to someone else what he or she had done to you. But Jesus is advocating something remarkably different. He is advocating to stop the cycle of aggression and violence, to make ourselves love-based, doing good to others first. Jesus recognized that great changes in society begin with small changes in the actions of individual people. The only reliable way of changing the world is to change it one person at a time.

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain refers to the Roman custom of conscripting people to carry the supplies of the Roman Army for the soldiers for a distance of one mile. Jesus recognizes that this is the limit of what can be forced on a person, but says that if we are to become love-based, we need to go the extra mile. This simple act transforms what is required of us into an act of love and not an obligation. This is what going the extra mile means to us today: go beyond what is required of us and give something extra of ourselves, something that was not expected.

Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee — turn not thou away is also part of the teaching of Rabbi Hillel. At the time the Torah required that all debts be forgiven at the celebration of the seventh year. Consequently when the seventh year approached money-lenders were reluctant to loan money, knowing in a short time the debt had to be forgiven. Rabbi Hillel instituted a type of arrangement where a debt would not be cancelled or forgiven during the seventh year, so that people who needed to borrow money could obtain it. Here Jesus continues the same tradition.

 

Love thy Neighbor

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your bretheren only, what do ye more than the others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 (KJV)

To love our neighbors and hate our enemies is to keep us divided. It always comes down to an “us-versus-them” mentality. Anything that keeps us separated from each other also keeps us separated from God.

I was working with a gentleman on an engineering project and he came to a point where our differences in religion were no longer tolerable to him. I was unceremoniously thrown out of his work place and told repeatedly that I was going to hell. I could not in good conscience abandon him. He needed things I was in a position to provide and he had no other assistance for his project. We lived out in the country where services and resources are limited.

There were parts that were still needed so I volunteered to get them in. Slowly he accepted the help he needed, mostly because he had no other real options. At all times I treated him with the respect, kindness and gentleness that all children of God deserve. Gradually his attitude changed. It took about a year and a half, but the relationship changed significantly. In place of an adversary, I now have an ally. In place of an enemy, I have a friend. Where there was anger in his heart, at least some love now resides. Not everyone will respond this way, but some will.

Jesus understood that this was an inner process. It was designed to create change within the individual. Jesus also knew that an act of love is contagious — it can be passed from one person to another and in doing so, love can reach out and touch the heart of another person, transforming them in the process. However, loving your enemies, blessing those who curse you, and doing good to those who despise you is not really intended to change them. The point is to remain within the flow of God’s love, for in that flow we are not only blessed, but also transformed.

If we pay attention, we will recognize that God treats all of His children equally. The sun shines on all, both good and evil, and the rain falls on all as well. It does not matter what religion we follow, what race we are, or what the color of our skin might be; we are all held equally in God’s loving arms. God’s love is the standard. As we work toward the perfection of the spiritual state, we must adopt God’s standard as our own. We must love all children of God as He does. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This is the Law of Spiritual Perfection. It is the perfection of the spiritual state within, and the perfection of the love for all of God’s children.

Give Alms Privately

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen by them: otherwise ye have no reward of your father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doist thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doist alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:1-4 (KJV)

When we need to advertise our spirituality to others, it is only a show of the ego, meant to impress others. When our spirituality is for show, it is not real, and we derive no real benefit from it. We can appear to be spiritual, or we can be spiritual. When our spirituality is real we do not need to make a show of it. Our loving actions, our kind and gentle attitude, and our respect for others are the demonstrations of our spirituality. Without these, there is no spirituality. Either we are love-based or we are fear-based. Being love-based is of the spirit, and comes from God. Being fear-based is of the ego and comes from separation from God. Our thoughts, feelings and actions demonstrate, moment-by-moment where we are based: in God and God’s love, or in fear and the ego.

Our spiritual growth is done in private, not in public. Most of our friends will not be aware of the inner work and transformation going on inside of us. If we are advertising what we are doing, we are defeating the purpose of our spiritual growth. This is a personal thing, between you and God. We do our work in private, in secret, and the results, our spirituality, will be demonstrated in the world openly through who we have become: a loving, kind and gentle person.

Pray in Private

“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:5-6 (KJV)

There is a still quiet place, deep within the center of our being. Rather than a physical place, this is a place in our consciousness, a state of being. This is the place referred to as thy closet. This state functions as a bridge between the outer world of ego, with all its hassle and turmoil, and the inner world of spirit, with its peace and serenity. From this place we can see both worlds. This is the place attained through meditation and prayer. Here we can relate to the things of the world, but we also have a channel to God at the same time. In this place we can access both the problems we face in life and the guidance of Spirit which we can turn into solutions to resolve our problems.

When ye Pray

“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Matthew 6:7-8 (KJV)

Prayer can take many different forms, mostly dependent on how we perceive God. When we perceive God as being separate from us, prayer is seen as the process of asking God for something. Like a child, we repeat our request over and over hoping that the repeated requests will result in the granting of our desire. God is often perceived as an authority figure, someone we must please in order to have our prayers granted.

When we perceive God as the source of everything in the universe, the repeated prayer is simply a means of focusing the mind on a single end result, thus channeling the energy of God into that specific form. Jesus is trying to get us to see our relationship with God as something very different from the perception of conventional religion. He is trying to get us to see that we are part of a much larger family, the family of mankind, and that we are all connected. He is teaching us that there are techniques and perspectives that can break down the barriers between us, bringing us into this experience of oneness, which is the kingdom.

As our perception shifts into recognizing God as Universal Consciousness and the source of all life, the form of our prayer changes into a more personal relationship, where we become co-creators with God, not only in our life, but in the universe as well. God, as Universal Consciousness, knows exactly what we need, usually before we know it ourselves. As we grow spiritually, our prayer thus becomes a process of co-creation with God rather than a verbal or mental asking and persuading God to provide something for us.

Prayer also takes the form of listening to the guidance that comes to us from God. Meditation is the practice of listening for that guidance and the inspiration that comes from God. In its highest form, prayer is a shared consciousness with God, which is exactly what Jesus was experiencing, and exactly what He wanted us to experience as well.

The Lord’s Prayer

“After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our father which art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done in earth,

as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

forever.

Amen”

Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV)

It may help us to get a different view of what this prayer means by starting at the end and working our way back to the beginning. There are two different states set forth; the last one presented For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever is the Kingdom of Heaven, which we have been discussing. This is the end we seek: oneness with God.

The other state, represented by Lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, is the state of the world, where suffering, death and destruction come to each of us. No one is exempt. Every physical body will suffer, die and be destroyed. These are the two worlds: spiritual and physical, eternal and temporal, spirit-centered and ego-centered.

What we seek is not the duality and separation of the lower level of the Lord’s Prayer, but the oneness and unification of the upper, or higher, part of the prayer: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. This is the state of grace, of oneness with God, which we all seek. The will of the ego is a reflection of what is in the world: the desire for possessions, power, control and influence. The will of the inner spirit is a reflection of the will of God. What stands between, and acts either as a barrier or as a bridge, is forgiveness. And forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors is the act, and practice, of forgiveness.

The practice of forgiveness is the key to entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It unifies the inner fractured nature of the ego-based personality, centering it on the foundation of the spirit within. As this practice progresses, everything ego-based is dismantled and discarded, so in the end, only the spirit remains. All of our consciousness becomes spirit-centered. This is the end effect of Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.

As we enter into the oneness our thinking and perception become transformed. We align our consciousness with that of God, or Universal Consciousness, and in the process the oneness becomes an integral part of our perception of earthly things as well as spiritual things. In fact, the two merge: we realize that all of the earthly things we thought were separate from God are in reality simply the manifestation of spiritual thoughts, energies, and activities. We begin to recognize the spirit and presence of God in other people, animals, plants, rocks and the street signs around us. The air and the water are there because of the presence of the Spirit of God within them. Nothing exists without the spirit and presence of God within it.

Through the process of forgiveness, what emerges is our true personality, not the false personality of the ego. In this new personality there is no anger, hatred, fear, jealousy, envy, resentment, bitterness, guilt, pride or greed. We emerge into love, kindness, gentleness, politeness, understanding, respect and compassion. As we clear out the workings and tools of the ego, we are making room for the presence of God in our lives, which enters and fills each and every place we have emptied out. In this way we are gradually filled with the presence, peace, love and joy that come from God. Through these experiences, we fully and completely enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Forgive men their Trespasses

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV)

This is the single most important statement in the Sermon on the Mount. It is also the most ignored. The outer form of religion may focus on the sacrifice of Jesus as the means of removing sin and being forgiven by God, but here, in Jesus’ own words is the clear, unequivocal statement of how we gain God’s forgiveness. Let’s place it in context with its related segment from the Lord’s Prayer, changing debtor to the trespass version for consistency.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. This is the same principle in leaving our offering by the altar if we have anything against another person. Forgiveness of everyone and everything leads us to a pure heart, and the presence of God. Every little bit we hold back is a place within us where we cannot hold the presence of God. Complete forgiveness of others and of ourselves results in the complete presence of God within. It’s that simple, and that powerful.

When Ye Fast

“Moreover when ye fast, be not; as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:16-18 (KJV)

Periodic fasting was a part of the religious practices in the Middle East. Fasting helped people move their dependence from the body to God. Periodic fasting is still a part of Judaism, Islam and Christianity today. Organized religion gradually become an outer show of piety to impress other people. If our focus is on the outer form, we will miss the blessings of the inner experiences and connection to God. We will trade the Kingdom of Heaven for the approval of other people, giving away the eternal for a fleeting and tenuous boost to our ego. Once we understand what is really at stake, supporting and feeding the ego becomes extremely foolish at best, and totally self-destructive and depraved at the worst.

The inner form, which we can identify as spirituality, is private and not intended to impress other people. Spirituality becomes a process of inner transformation and self-unification. Fasting also needs to be a practice of the mind and the emotions. We must fast from the destructive and limiting thoughts and feelings. By disciplining ourselves to focus on love-based thoughts and emotions we move our consciousness closer to God and the Kingdom of Heaven. Fasting from, or avoiding the fear-based thoughts and emotions allows us to move further away from the controlling interest of our ego.

By focusing on the inner path and supporting the spirit within with love, the peace, love and joy of God begins to flow through us, transforming us in the process. In time, the inner transformation becomes obvious to others around us, and the reward we have received from God is clearly seen.

 

Treasures in Heaven

 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (KJV)

In the course of everyday life we become so focused on the ways of the world that we forget, or do not perceive, that it all must come to an end. There is nothing in this world that will not be taken from us. Moths will consume all of our fine clothes; the metal things will rust, and our jewels and gold will be carried away. Nothing will remain. We are all familiar with the treasures of the world, but what are the treasures of heaven?

We can begin to get a feel for what these treasures are by talking to an elderly person and asking them what they treasure most in their life. There may be some things of the world that are important to them, but many times what is treasured the most is the love they share with someone special. The memories of good times, the intimate sharing of thoughts and feelings, the trust and faithfulness of the ones we love are the most valued of life’s experiences. Also highly valued are the humorous events that remind us of our humility, and the “humanness” of those around us.

The body is a temporary manifestation. It is a vehicle for our spirit and our consciousness. Once its usefulness is concluded, it is set aside, and all of the things we thought were so important to the body lose their value. Only the spirit within is eternal. The lessons we learn, the love we share and the peace we experience will all remain because it is part of our consciousness. We will carry those with us forever.

The closer we become to God, the more our consciousness expands. God, as Universal Consciousness, is the source of everything and the closer we come to the consciousness of God the more our individual consciousness experiences and retains. The love, the joy and the appreciation of just being human are as much a part of God as they are of life. It makes sense: if God is the source of life then the inner things of life which we value the most become more abundant the closer we come to God. As the love that comes from God flows through us, we generate more of the loving memories, more of the intimate connections with other people and more of the humor and humility that we will value above the rest of the things in life. Above all else, it is the connectedness we value the most. The Kingdom of Heaven is pure connectedness: oneness with God and all of creation.

If Thine Eye be Single

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23 (KJV)

As with many of the sayings of Jesus, this is not about our physical eyes, but rather about our perception. If our perception is spirit-based and the ego has been dismantled and discarded, then our eye is single. In other words, our perception has become unified. We are not divided between the spirit and the ego. We have moved out of duality and fragmentation, and into oneness and unification.

But if the eye is evil, if we are still locked into the ego – subject to the lower emotions of anger, hatred, fear, jealousy, envy, greed and guilt – then we are not filled with the light and love which comes from God, but rather we are filled with the darkness of the lower emotions.

Each of us has experienced enough of other peoples’ anger and hatred to know the dark reality of what the lower emotions bring. The pain and suffering of the world is a direct result of the expression of these emotions. The wars, the murders, the inhumane treatment of people all over the globe are the direct result of peoples’ anger, hatred, greed and envy. To believe the ego is not the source of evil in this world is to perpetuate the pain, suffering and injury that damage us all. In assigning the source of evil to an external entity, we attempt to remove ourselves from the responsibility, which is rightfully ours. We are responsible for our thoughts, feelings and actions. We are responsible for the pain, suffering and injury to others, and we have the duty, and the ability, to stop it. By taking responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and actions, we naturally acquire the authority to change them.

As we move deeper into the presence of God, we become more and more connected to the oneness. We also experience more of the pain and suffering of the world. We experience an increase in sensitivity, which allows us to experience the presence of God, but that sensitivity, combined with the increased connectivity, connects us with the suffering of others in the world. When the Love that flows through us from God comes in contact with the suffering of others, compassion is created. Compassion is the hallmark of our spirituality. It is a type of bittersweet experience. Finally, we come to know what the Love that flows from God is for: to heal the suffering we find in the world.

What good is light if it cannot dispel the darkness? What good is love if it cannot heal the soul? Indeed, this is what God has brought: the light does dispel the darkness, and love does heal the soul. We are saved from the darkness by the light, and we are healed and brought into oneness through God’s unconditional love.

 

No Man can Serve Two Masters

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24 (KJV)

Mammon refers to a social, or worldly, nature; figuratively that of wealth, personified (The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 1990); the deification of greed or avarice. It is power and social position, pride in one’s standing in the social order, or the driving desire to gain or accomplish the acquisition of power and control over others. This is the ultimate goal of the ego. Mammon is the realm of the ego and all it desires.

When we serve the ego, the respect, kindness, and gentleness of spirit are seen as weakness. It is hated and despised. We also despise people who appear weak. Strength and power are the standard by which we judge the people of the world. It is no accident that the predators among us are often the most respected because they appear strong and powerful.

So what does this portend for the future of the world? Is it really a hard and competitive world, or is it that way simply because we have imposed that standard? One of the things we learn along the spiritual path is that the world is interactive. It responds to our attitude and beliefs. When we are angry, the world brings us things to be angry about. When we are aggressive, it brings us opportunities and reasons to be aggressive. But the opposite is also true. When we become loving, the world brings us opportunities and situations of a loving nature. We think that our attitudes are the result of the way the world is, and yet it may be the other way around; our experience in the world may be the result of our attitude.

When we shift our consciousness from ego-based to spirit-based (from mammon to God), our entire experience of the world shifts along with it. The problem is that as long as we are sending out mixed messages, trying to serve both mammon and God, we will get mixed results in our life. We will feel even more confused and divided. It is necessary for us to choose. We can live in the world of the ego, separated from one another and from God, or we can live in oneness with God and the rest of creation; the choice is ours to make.

We have grown up in a system controlled by the ego. If we are going to change that system, we are going to encounter a great deal of resistance. It will take persistence to overcome the effects of a lifetime of ego based thinking, feeling and acting. It is not an easy task. But it is the only one that leads to something real: living in the presence of God, with its attendant peace, love and joy. This is not an overnight process, but if we persist, we will succeed.

Lilies of the Field

“Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?”

 “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them… And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow… and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these… Therefore take no thought, saying ‘what shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘Wherewithal shall we be clothed?’ (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you…” Matthew 6:25-34 (KJV)

Historically, the function of the spiritual communities was: to provide the food, shelter and clothing which we all need, and at the same time provide the teaching and guidance for their spiritual growth. These communities, and others similar to them, were spread out over most of the known world in the time of Jesus. They covered northern Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and Pakistan. In different faiths they appeared in Great Britain, India, China, and most of Europe. All had the same purpose: to provide for the material needs of the people so they could grow spiritually in a supportive community.

People have a long history of equating clothing with social status. Expensive clothes are used as a symbol of the value of the person and reflect on the self-worth and self-esteem of the individual. Jesus indicates that the value God places on us is far more important than the clothing we wear and the opinion of others in our world. The reality is that other people don’t know us and are a poor source of evaluating our worthiness and value. Only God truly knows us and that is the only measure we should be using to determine our self-worth.

Some organizations try to convince us that we are poor worthless sinners and only our belief in a savior figure can redeem us from sin. None of that is true. As Jesus clearly demonstrates, we are born of God, not in sin. We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. The spirit within us is the source of our value and worthiness and is the substance of God. There can be nothing in the world that exceeds that value.

But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you, was Jesus’ invitation to join one of these spiritual communities. We do not have any spiritual communities today that fulfill everything that was offered in the time of Jesus, but we can still dedicate a portion of our lives to seeking the Kingdom of God.

 

Judge Not

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:1-2 (KJV)

 

Understanding this principle is the key to initiating the inner transformation and awakening the spirit within. The currency of the ego is judgment, and the currency of the spirit is mercy. The ego may put on a show of judging others, but the final victim of the ego’s judgment is ourselves. All of the comparisons made by the ego are judgments. “I’m better than you” or “I’m not as good as you are” are all judgments. Ultimately, the ego judges us, and in the ego’s final judgment, we will be found defective and judged harshly.

Some outer forms of religion have incorporated the judgment of the ego and projected it onto God, making God the ultimate judge of mankind. This is not what Jesus was trying to teach us. He taught that His God is a God of love and forgiveness, not a God of judgment and destruction. Many people believe that the New Testament replaced the Old Testament, but what they miss is mercy, was also intended to replace the God of the Old Testament, the God of war, judgment and destruction.

Paul tried to explain what this really means in Corinthians 12-13 (RSV).

“And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

“Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Love is not provoked. Love does not judge. Love does not condemn. If God is a God of love, then God is not provoked, God does not judge, and God does not condemn. This is the message of Jesus: God is love.

We live in an interactive universe. All of our thoughts and feelings are reflected back to us in the conditions of our life. I have a friend that I worked with many years ago. He was angry and the universe brought a constant stream of conditions where he could experience and express his anger. Traveling home from doing some field service work he was pulled over for speeding by a lady state trooper. After receiving a ticket he angrily pulled back onto the highway spewing gravel over the front of the state patrol car. She pulled him over again and issued him another ticket. That was how his life worked.

We talked about the power of forgiveness and how changing our attitude can change the patterns in our life. He listened, but I didn’t know whether he would actually change anything or not.  I met him again six years later. He thanked me for the information I had shared with him about forgiveness and attitude. He had changed his attitude and forgiven the things that had made him so angry in the past. His life had been transformed. He was now happy and his life was much more rewarding. The anger was gone and an attitude of gratitude had taken its place. He explained that it took some time, but after he began changing his thoughts and feelings the conditions that prompted him to be angry gradually stopped coming into his life. Now he was experiencing peace and he was teaching others how they too could stop the anger and bitterness in their lives and come into the peace and serenity that waits for each of us.

Everything we judge, even if it’s only in our mind, gets reflected back to us in the conditions of our life. When we let go of all forms of judgment and begin to view the world through the perspective of unconditional love, the interactive universe responds in kind. It takes time for the things we have sent out into the universe to work their way back to us, but as they do and we respond from a position of love everything gradually changes and our life becomes transformed.

All judgment is of the ego, not of God, and not of the spirit within, which is the substance of God. If we are to change our consciousness from the ego over to the spirit within, then we must abandon all forms of judgment.

Mote in the Eye

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, ‘Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye’; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5 (KJV)

Other people’s faults are so much easier to identify than our own. We have a natural resistance to examining ourselves in any kind of depth or detail, yet self-examination is exactly what is required on our spiritual journey.

After going through school, where everything is a matter of repeating information back on tests, we have come to expect the same process for everything in life. And yet, if we will pay attention, life gradually teaches us that an intellectual understanding is not sufficient. More is required of us in life. The same holds true of our spiritual growth.

The work of dismantling and eliminating the ego must be done first. Only after the ego is gone can the spirit within rise to its position of authority, and only then will our perception clear. We really don’t realize how badly the ego clouds and colors our perception until it has cleared through the perception of the spirit within.

The knowledge we gain about our spiritual path is not the objective. These are just tools. A good analogy is learning how to use a hammer to drive nails, a measuring tape to determine and mark distances, and a saw to cut wood. We think we have learned a lot when we master these tools, and may be anxious to show our new skills off to others. But when the objective is to build a house, the tools are clearly seen as a means to an end.

This is what we are trying to accomplish: gain enough skill with the tools of forgiveness that we can empty out the ego, have a series of spiritual experiences, and enter fully into the presence of God. It is the repeated experience of God’s love flowing through us that creates the transformation within. Spirituality is not a thing of the mind; it is a thing of the heart. A certain amount of understanding will come with the spiritual experiences, but the objective is not the understanding but rather the inner transformation of spirit and heart.

We must go through the entire process before we will see clearly. Until then, our perception is faulty. We will see our own issues imprinted on the actions of others, and will fail to clearly perceive and recognize what is in the other person’s heart. Only the clarity of the spirit, without the interference of the ego, will perceive the truth.

Pearls before Swine

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Matthew 7:6 (KJV)

Spiritual truths and principles are holy things and are not suitable for every person or situation. Most of us have been told not to discuss religion or politics in social gatherings. The reason is that very few subjects will create higher levels of antagonistic emotional reactions than religion and politics.

Spiritual truths are generally not well received. It is necessary to determine if the other person is open to new information before providing it. The process of spiritual instruction is not a debate, nor is it a process of convincing another of the validity of what is being offered. Spiritual instruction is the process of teaching the use of basic tools, and allowing the student to work with the tools and see what they accomplish. As the student progresses, more questions will come to the surface. In asking questions, the person is demonstrating their openness and desire to learn.

The teacher must resist the temptation to flood the student with too much information. The flood of information is like trying to eat a month’s worth of food at one meal. It takes time to digest information, just as it does food. The best way is a process of planting seeds, or ideas, and waiting for the person to come back and ask for more. During this process, the student will become prepared to accept and comprehend the higher spiritual principles and truths. Lacking this process of feeding an inner hunger for more information, we are much more likely to start an argument, where not only will our wisdom be rejected, but we may become the object of personal attack.

The Gnostic path is not a process of convincing others of what we believe to be right. It is a process of feeding those who are seeking a closer relationship with God, without the fear and guilt associated with orthodox religion. Gnosis is about freedom, not about control.

Ask, and it Shall be Given

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 (KJV)

Many times this verse is used in reference to material things when the original intent is about spiritual experiences and spiritual understanding.

The idea is not to go out and spread a new teaching, but to respond to the inquiry of others. This is a system that is totally driven by the student, not the teacher. The student must ask for the teacher to give. The student must seek for the teacher to assist in finding. The student must knock; in other words the student must be persistent in gaining the inner experiences, which result in inner transformation before the Kingdom of Heaven is opened.

The Gospel of Thomas states in saying #2, Jesus said, “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the all.” The true spiritual student must continue to seek until he or she finds, and once he or she finds the inner truth, he or she will become troubled or disturbed. This is because the true spiritual path is not what the orthodox religions have been teaching people. It is different, and overcoming that difference by altering our beliefs to accommodate a new set of experiences is not easy.

The new system is not based on belief, but rather on a series of inner experiences where God reveals the true nature of our own spirit and the true nature of God as well. The resulting inner transformation ultimately empowers us, but it first strips away the falsehoods and misperceptions. This is the refiner’s fire, which burns away all of the impurities, leaving only truth and oneness with God and all of creation. Nothing else will remain, for nothing else is real.

Stone for Bread

“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask for bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Matthew 7:9-11 (KJV)

Jesus is using some interesting interplay with words.  From the perspective of the world, we would certainly give our children bread and not a stone, a fish in place of a serpent. But as usual, Jesus alludes to other things. This is where the core of the Mystery School System comes together with the synthesis of the concept of light, bread and the stone.

Bread has a number of meanings and connotations. Manna, which comes from heaven, is also referred to as bread. There is also the bread of the presence of God and our daily bread. Plain bread feeds the physical body, but in its other forms bread also feeds the spirit within.

In Matthew 12:3-4 (RSV), “He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?’” The bread of the presence of God has a long history within the Mystery School tradition.

The Mystery School used a substance known as the white powder of gold. This is a pure, non-metallic form of gold. In this state, it cannot be dissolved by normal chemical means, which is why it was referred to as a “stone” and not a metal. This is the white stone, the hidden manna. In the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation 2:17 (RSV), Jesus says, “To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.” Here is our connection between bread and stone.

The word name means nature. Jesus is saying to him who conquers, or overcomes the ego, I will give the hidden manna and a white stone with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it. This is the apostleship program. Once the ego is overcome and a person’s heart is pure, they were given large amounts of the white powder of gold and the spiritual personality emerges – their new nature, for which they were given a new name in recognition of the transformation that has taken place.

There were two primary means of ingesting the white powder of gold. The first was to mix it with flour and make bread. This was no longer regular bread, but was referred to as the bread of the presence of God. For 150 years before the time of Jesus, the Essene community at Qumran, on the shore of the Dead Sea, was making the white powder of gold and mixing it in the unleavened bread. Each day the leaders of the Essene community were eating not just bread, but the bread of the presence of God. This is the other meaning of “give us this day, our daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer. On the worldly level, the level of ego, daily bread refers to the basic substances we need for our survival. But on the heavenly level, the level of spirit, daily bread refers to the bread of the presence of God, that which feeds the spirit, not just the body.

Communities locate in certain places for specific reasons. Fishing communities locate in places where there are natural harbors, providing protection from storms and deep-water access to the sea. Commercial communities locate at the crossing of trade routes, where the transportation of goods is easily accomplished. Farming communities form where the land is generally flat and the soil is good for crops. So why did the Essenes locate their community on the shore of the Dead Sea, where there are no fish, no trade routes, and little or no flat land with poor soil for growing crops? Almost everything the Essenes needed had to be carried in from someplace else. Why there?

The single answer is the Dead Sea has the world’s highest concentration of the white powder of gold in its water. The Essenes dug a three-foot wide canal from the Dead Sea into their community. You can’t drink the water; the concentration of magnesium sulfate is much too high. They also constructed a series of carved out “pools” with the means for letting fresh water into the carved out places. Why would they do that?

There is a simple pH swing method using lye (produced from draining fresh water through wood ash) and vinegar (produced from the fermentation of grapes or apples), which will extract the white powder of gold from the Dead Sea water or salt. Archeologists have assumed the pools were for some sort of ritualistic bathing practice. But could they have been for the specific purpose of processing the white powder of gold?

Once the white powder of gold is mixed into the bread, why is this bread then referred to as the bread of the presence of God? For the answer we need to go back into ancient Egypt, to the formation of the Mystery School.

In the ancient Mystery School founded in Egypt, the white powder of gold was mixed with flour and baked into a cone-shaped cake. This mixture was used to feed the ‘light-body’, which is how the spirit within was perceived. The light-body, or spirit, was considered to be the consciousness. So here we also have our connection to the spirit within. The Mystery School’s fascination with the white powder of gold earned them the name of the Great White Brotherhood.

What we now know about the white powder of gold is that it does several things within the physical body. Small amounts can gradually increase our perception and expand our awareness. We now also know that the Essenes were mixing the white powder of gold into the bread they made every day. The highest-ranking members of the community were receiving much larger amounts than the rest of the people, but it appears that everybody was getting at least some of this material. The loaves of bread had numbers placed onto them so each person got the loaf designated to them. This is how the dosage of the white powder of gold was distributed.

During the initiation into the Apostleship program the white powder of gold was not mixed with food, it was taken directly as a powder during a forty-day fast. This is the second method of ingesting the white powder of gold. The white powder of gold absorbs into the digestive system slowly, so the extended fast allows a majority of the powder to be absorbed because during a fast nothing is eliminated from the bowel.

Larger amounts of the white powder of gold have a very different effect. This larger amount acts as an amplifier. If a person still has an active ego, then the ego is amplified and the person is further away from the spiritual than before. This is why there was so much emphasis on becoming pure in heart. The large amounts of the white powder of gold were not administered until the person demonstrated that their ego was gone. Only then was it safe to use the larger amounts of the white powder of gold. This initiation with the white powder of gold marked the transformation of the person from a disciple to an apostle. It took approximately 9 months for the transformation to become complete. This relationship with the 9 months of gestation for a baby may be one of the conditions that prompted the concept of being born again.

The white powder of gold migrates through the body system during the nine-month period following initiation. The white powder of gold collects and settles into the brain and forms a Meissner Field which is a room-temperature superconducting energy field. Light is the essential component of this Meissner Field and is identical to the light of the spirit within. The energy from a fully charged Meissner Field within and around the brain can be seen around the head and is usually perceived as a halo. The Meissner Field can also be charged and discharged.

In Mark 5:25-34 and Luke 8:43-48 is the story of a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years and it was getting worse. She believed that if she could only touch his garments that she would be healed. As Jesus came by the crowd was pressing up against him. She reached out, and touching his garment, was healed. Jesus felt the power flow from him – the Meissner Field discharging. Jesus stops and asks, “Who touched me?” The disciples are confused because of the nature of the crowd, but the woman comes forward and explains that she was the one who touched him and she was healed. He tells her, “Your faith has made you well.”

The healings and the miracles of Jesus were done through the use of the energy of the Meissner Field. Jesus spent 8 hours a night in meditation recharging the Meissner Field that formed around the white powder of gold within him. All of the graduates of the Mystery School could do what Jesus did. In the Greek language they were called Therapeutae; healers.

The 40 day fast of Jesus closely approximates the initiation into apostleship within the Essene community. Jesus received his training and apostleship initiation within the Mystery School System before he came to the Essene community. A demonstration of his master level was needed for him to be accepted as a master teacher in the Essene community. The initiation of the 40-day fast with large amounts of the white powder of gold was that demonstration. During the fast, Jesus was tested for his purity and strength of character. Scripture identifies the opponent of Jesus as Satan, upon which the outer form of religion has based the concept of an evil entity that competes with God. What the Hebrew word Satan really means is simply someone who opposes. We take the same reference when we become the devil’s advocate simply to challenge what someone says in order to draw out more understanding or a deeper meaning in a discussion. It doesn’t mean anything more than that. Following the initiation, Jesus was accepted as a master teacher.

Properly used, the white powder of gold enhances our perception and awareness and amplifies the effect of the spirit within, significantly increasing our natural abilities. It also clarifies our connection with God, intensifying the oneness and conscious contact with God. Understanding the process, it is no wonder Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.”

The serpent has been the symbol of the Mystery School System from the beginning. To be gentle as doves and wise as serpents (Matthew 10:16) is a direct reference to the Mystery School System. The Mystery School was the equivalent of today’s universities, teaching different languages, mathematics, and sciences such as basic chemistry, physics, astronomy/astrology, plus the healing arts. Advanced spiritual studies were included along with studies in psychology, politics, history and human relations.

The symbol of the fish can be equated to the education needed for basic trades and commerce. The serpent equates to an advanced education, far above the level generally available in most of the world. From the perspective of the world, we should give our children the bread and the fish, but from the perspective of the Mystery School System, the wise parent should give their children the consciousness and awareness of the white stone and the wisdom of the serpent. These are gifts much more valuable than gold.

The Golden Rule

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12 (KJV)

The Golden Rule is the rewording of an older saying of Rabbi Hillel; who taught his people not to do anything that they would not want done to them. But rather than acting as a prohibition, Jesus put the saying into a proactive mode, instructing his followers to do good things for other people if they want good things to come to them, “for this is the law.”

Many people wait for their good to come to them without sending any good out. Think of your life as a harbor and your thoughts, feelings and actions as ships. “Someday, when my ship comes in,” is an expression of waiting for our good. But how many ships have we sent out? And how many of those ships have been good? If we haven’t sent any good ships out, how many of them can come in?

With the popular positive thinking movement, we are at least beginning to see that there is a connection between the interactive universe and us. The assumption is that if we can straighten out our thinking, the rest will follow. This is not necessarily true. For we all harbor ill will within our heart, in one form or another, and until we change the contents of our heart, what we send out into life will only partially change. The law Jesus spoke of is the interaction between our thoughts, feelings and actions and the interactive universe. We don’t have control over the universe, but our thoughts, feelings and especially our actions do have an influence, and we are the primary recipients of that influence. In this way we can experience the direct results of our connection to God and the interactive universe. How else are we to learn, but through experiencing the consequences of our choices and our actions?

Once we “get” the connection, we can alter our thoughts, feelings and actions, paying particular attention to the changes in our experience of life as it comes to us. The conditions of our life right now are the result of our past thoughts, feelings and actions being reflected back to us by the interactive universe. Until now, we didn’t want to recognize we were receiving what we were sending out. But now that we recognize how the interactive universe works, we are free to create a new life and establish new conditions and experiences. The more good we do for others, the more good ships we will be sending out and the more good experiences will return to us.

 

Enter at the Straight Gate

“Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV)

A true spiritual path is not easy. It requires the development of discipline: not the discipline imposed on us by an outside source, but the much more difficult practice of inner, self-imposed discipline, cultivated by the spirit within. This involves doing what is beneficial for our own mind, heart, body and soul.

World religions are built upon millions of believers, because believing is easy. This is the wide gate that leads to destruction because believing is a function of the ego, and not of the spirit within. Believing places the responsibility for our salvation in the hands of someone, or something else. We may claim that salvation is ours, but words do not make it so. The narrow way, the straight gate, is the way of inner truth, inner transformation, and inner purification of mind, heart and body that leads to living in the presence of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Once the experiences of the presence of God begin coming, there will be little doubt that this really is the way to true salvation. Belief is not required. The direct experience of the presence of God and the love that flows from God through the heart will teach us everything else we need to know about God. When gnosis comes, belief is dropped because we see with the eyes of experience how worthless belief really is. Belief is intended as a beginning, a place to start. If we cannot believe there is a spirit, a living light, the substance of God within, how can we begin the process of transformation? How can we enter into that which we cannot see without the belief that it is actually there?

The main purpose of this book is to offer the initial belief that each of us can enter fully and completely into the presence of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, just as Jesus described it. Without that belief, no one would invest the time and energy in the inner work and inner discipline necessary to enter into the Kingdom. Faith replaces belief, which comes not from more believing, but from actual experience in the presence of God. Without that actual experience, without the knowing of gnosis, there can be no faith, and there will be no inner transformation.

Beware of False Prophets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:15-20 (KJV)

People are easily distracted and misled by the words of others. What we have as a reliable indicator of the true character of a person is not their words, but what they actually do. Jesus describes what a person does as their fruit. “A good tree brings forth good fruit…” is the statement of the inner relationship between our belief system (the tree) and our actions (the fruit). The actions we take are the best reflection of what is in our heart, for we will not vary from that which we truly feel within. A good person brings forth good deeds, for there is love in their heart, and their actions are created out of that love. An evil person brings forth evil deeds, for there is anger, envy and greed in their heart, and their actions are driven by those emotions. Once we come to know a person they cannot hide what is inside their heart; over time the primary emotions within a person make their appearance, and we discover what really drives them.

Jesus said, Beware of false profits, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Religion and politics are prime examples of areas that offer rich opportunities for a predatory individual to gain control over a large number of people. Just because a person becomes a leader of a religious group does not automatically elevate them to being a good person. Sometimes the opposite is true: a person of a predatory nature is attracted to religion or politics for the power over people it provides, and the access to large amounts of money, provided by their followers. We have had some interesting revelations about the character of some of our more popular televangelists in recent years. Jim Bakker was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud. Jimmy Swaggart was disgraced with multiple sex scandals. ABC’s Primetime Live broadcast on November 21, 1991, that Robert Tilton’s organization threw away prayer requests without reading them, keeping the money and valuables sent in by viewers to the tune of $80 million a year. And this is just the tip of a huge list which includes sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church.

We need to be mindful of the real character of the people in general, and especially those in positions of leadership. Trust is not something we should give easily. Trust needs to be earned, not by rhetoric, but by deeds. This is one of the reasons James speaks so intently about doing good deeds; the deeds of a person demonstrate their inner character. In The Letter of James, 2:14-17 (RSV) he states, “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

This is also the primary problem with just believing; belief is an expression of words, which can be used to deceive. Actions are an expression of inner conviction, feelings and faith.

Both words and short-term actions can be used to deceive. Words are more often used because it’s easier to speak than to do. Short-term actions can also be used to deceive. When we look at actions over a longer period of time we get to see more of the real character of the person emerge. This is why trust needs to be earned. By getting to know a person over an extended period of time we can determine their true character. What a person does reflects who that person is within.

Do the Will of my Father

“Not everyone that saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord.’ shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’” Matthew 7:21-23 (KJV)

We have learned that flattery and adulation can be effective tools for getting ahead in the world. This is where the desire to worship Jesus comes from. The desire to call upon His name for all the things we do in the outer form of religion is little more than flattery and contrived adulation. This is not what Jesus asked us to do. Jesus asked us to follow Him, to do what He has done, not to worship Him.

In Matthew 19:17 (Oxford), Jesus says, “Why callest thou me good. There is none good but one, that is, God.” Jesus states that only God is good and worthy of our worship. This is a clear statement on the part of Jesus that He does not want to be worshipped. What Jesus wants us to do is to follow His teachings, use the forgiveness process, become pure in heart and enter into the presence of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, just as He had done. This is how He comes to know us – through our spiritual growth and our entrance into the same level of consciousness He has. Isn’t this how we know our best friends: through a shared consciousness? And isn’t this how we “know” the author of a book: through shared ideas, concepts, points of view, and a shared consciousness? Similarly, Jesus comes to know us as we bring our consciousness in line with His.

If all we do is flatter and use adulation and worship, we are attempting to manipulate and impress Him. This is hypocrisy. It is insincere and is iniquity in the eyes of Jesus. No wonder He says He doesn’t know us! How could He?

House upon a Rock

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV)

Building our house upon the rock is building our consciousness upon the spirit within. The spirit has eternal life, and can be compared to bedrock, which is solid and will not be destroyed. Building our house upon the sand is building our consciousness upon the ego. The ego can be compared to sand, which is ever shifting, changing and easily destroyed.

The ultimate storm we face is the process of death. In that process, the physical body is removed and the ego loses its source of energy. Any consciousness attached to the ego will fade and be lost forever. Only the consciousness built upon the spirit will survive. This is the primary choice we have: to build our consciousness on the rock of the spirit within, or on the sand of the ego.

Conclusion

The Sermon on the Mount represents the complete outline of a program for spiritual growth. The Beatitudes show us the general structure of the religious communities and the expected course of progress through the teaching. Following are the spiritual concepts taught by the communities.

Prime among those concepts is that each of us is the light of the world, and that the spirit of God resides within each and every one of us. Even if we fail according to worldly standards, and lose our self-respect, we can recover and regain our spiritual value.

The temptation in life is to try to elevate ourselves above others. Many religious organizations support the idea of being God’s chosen or elite, either by right of birth, religious conviction, or by being saved. As Jesus points out, none of that has any importance whatsoever. What is important is treating all people with respect, dignity and kindness.

The importance of spirituality is the inner transformation it creates within our mind and our heart. This is where the real salvation takes place. In the end, we are not being saved from eternal damnation by a savior figure, we are saving our spirits from ourselves and the worldly consciousness we have ignorantly adopted and perfected. The spiritual system Jesus taught was designed to move us out of the consciousness of the world and into the consciousness of God, and to transform us into what He had become: a Christed Being.

 

Glossary

Apostleship

Apostleship was the advanced degree program of the Gnostic Communities and included a 40-day fast while ingesting large amounts of the White Powder of Gold. The result was a nine-month transformation during which the true spiritual personality emerged and a person was considered to have been born again.

Bread of the Presence

Bread of the Presence of God is a mixture of bread and the white powder of gold. The bread feeds the physical body while the white powder of gold feeds the light body or the spirit within.

Christ Consciousness

The Christ Consciousness is another term for spiritual enlightenment and represents the conscious union with God or Universal Consciousness.

Discipleship

Discipleship was a training system in the Gnostic Communities and included a more in-depth teaching of spiritual principles and meditation. The key quality of discipleship was the practice of forgiveness in order to attain a purified state of mind and emotions referred to as being pure in heart.

Essene

The Essenes were a mixture of traditional Judaism and Gnostic and formed a Community on the shore of the Dead Sea. The Essenes were the creators of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Their Community came to an end with the invasion of Roman troops in approximately 74 AD.

God

God is defined as Pure Spirit, the source of everything, present everywhere. God is not a person or a physical body. The physical manifestation of God is the Universe. God can also be considered to be Universal Mind or Universal Consciousness.

Gnostic

Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning, to know. The Gnostics, as a formal group, were centered in Alexandria, Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea and taught out of the Temple of Serapis which was connected to the Great Library in Alexandria. The Gnostic era ran from 150 BCE to approximately 400 AD and was driven underground as a result of persecution from the Roman Christian Church.

The Gnostic writings have re-emerged through the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Scrolls and include The Gospel of Thomas, The Secret Gospel of John, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and a number of others.

Mystery School System

The Mystery School System was founded in 2750 BCE in Egypt and was dedicated to finding the brightest students from around the known world and training them in the Spiritual and Healing Arts. The Mystery School System was also known as The Great White Brotherhood and The Therapeutae.

Kingdom of Heaven

The Kingdom of Heaven is not a physical place; it is a state of consciousness characterized by a deep sense of peace, love and joy. The primary characteristics of this state of consciousness are a profound sense of connectedness to all of life and compassion for others.

Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is also a state of consciousness characterized by an in-depth understanding of higher spiritual truths and principles. The Kingdom of God is synonymous with spiritual enlightenment.

Righteousness

Righteousness was the term used to describe the purified spiritual state experienced in the Apostleship program. Righteousness is also another term for spiritual enlightenment.

Satan

Satan is a Hebrew term that means one who opposes. In spiritual terms, Satan is the ego, which opposes the Spirit within.

Son

The Son, as presented by Jesus, is the living light of spirit within each of us. The Son has eternal life because it is the substance of God, pure spirit, which can never die. The Son is the spiritual being we are, which descends from heaven and ascends back up into heaven.

Universal Consciousness

Universal Consciousness is a description of God, indicating that everything that exists does so in a field of Consciousness. Everything has its own level of Consciousness, from rocks, to water, to plants and animals. Once we raise our level of personal consciousness to where we can connect to Universal Consciousness, we become aware that everything is alive and interconnected. There is no separation and there is no death.

Universal Mind

Universal Mind is another aspect of God. As we are learning about God and Universal Consciousness, we can connect with God through the use of our mind. All inspiration and inventions come through Universal Mind. Meditation is the primary exercise used to connect with Universal Mind.

White Powder of Gold

The white powder of gold is a non-metallic form of the element Gold. All Platinum Group elements form, or can be formed into, the non-metallic state and have different properties from their metallic counterparts. All Platinum Group elements in their non-metallic state can, and have been used to enhance the physical and spiritual qualities of people. These non-metallic elements can have profound effects on our body, mind and consciousness and should only be used by those who have been through an extensive program of forgiveness and introspection. Improper use of these substances can result in insanity and suicide.

The Book of Revelation is usually interpreted as a prophesy of the future. It is not. The Book of Revelation is a revealing of past history. I have divided the Book of Revelation into three sections: The first section deals with the Seven Churches of Asia, which were spiritual communities founded by Jesus. The second is a symbolic retelling of our history under the rule of the Anunnaki from about 2400 BC to 1500 BC, the rebellion of Marduk around 1500 BC, and the destruction of the vast majority of the Middle East in a war among the Anunnaki. The last section is a symbolic telling of spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment.

Contrary to what is taught by Christianity, Jesus went on to found seven spiritual communities that were essentially Gnostic in nature. Jesus was a graduate of the top level of the mystery school system. He went into Judea to teach and form spiritual communities. This required an initiation into the system in control of the area. That system was the Essene community of Qumran on the shore of the Dead Sea. He went through a 40 day fast while taking large amounts of the white powder of gold. Upon successful completion of his initiation he was granted permission to teach and form spiritual communities in Judea. The Seven Churches of Asia are those communities.

The Anunnaki founded the civilizations in the Middle East. They ruled directly over the people until the human population grew too large. They then instituted a system of human kings under their authority to rule over the people. Enlil, the Anunnaki, was commander of the Anunnaki presence on our planet. The Anunnaki were considered gods, and Enlil, the commander of the Anunnaki gods, became the God of the Torah and the Lord God of the Christian Old Testament. Marduk, son of Enki, rebelled against Enlil and his control of planet Earth. War ensued. Seven weapons of mass destruction (the seven plagues) were used in a vain attempt to eliminate Marduk and his human supporters. The resulting destruction swept over the Middle East destroying people, animals, crops and cities. Babylon, Marduk’s cult city, alone survived the destruction. Enlil abdicated control of the Anunnaki and Marduk took over. Babylon became the ruling center of what remained of the Middle East.

In anticipation of the conflict between Enlil and Marduk, the Anunnaki center of influence was quietly moved to Central and South America where it remained until the Anunnaki home planet, Nibiru, passed through our solar system in 199 BC. The bulk of the Anunnaki returned to Nibiru at that time, leaving only a small contingent behind, which remains hidden to this day.

The final section of the Book of Revelation, presented as the return of Jesus and the arrival of the New Jerusalem, is a symbolic presentation of spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment. The New Jerusalem is the symbol for the consciousness of oneness in the ancient Gnostic system.

For the sake of discussion I have broken the Book of revelation into three sections: the seven churches in Asia, the new Jerusalem, and the apocalypse.

Revelation 1:11 (RSV)
“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

Revelation 1:20 (RSV)
“As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

Jesus graduated from the highest level of the mystery school system in Egypt. He traveled to Judea to teach and to start spiritual communities. In order to do this he needed a letter of authority from the organization that controlled spirituality in Judea: the Essene community at Qumran on the shore of the Dead Sea. Jesus first appears to his cousin, John the Baptist for baptism. This is his gateway to the Essene community. While John is not recognized as part of the Essene community in the Bible, researchers have discovered a headless set of remains at Qumran (a very rare occurrence) suggesting that John was an Essene, and following his death, was buried at Qumran.

Jesus is said to have fasted for forty days and nights in the wilderness. The wilderness is a symbol that represents the Essene community at Qumran. The primary way that the Essenes would know who was worthy of their authority was to put them through a forty-day fast while taking large amounts of the white powder of gold. This process was fatal unless the person was in fact a full graduate of the mystery school system and had taken the white powder of gold over decades in gradually increasing amounts.

In Matthew 4 (RSV) It says that Jesus was tempted by the devil. The original term is Satan, which simply means one who opposes. We get the saying “playing the devil’s advocate” from the same term. In this case the opposer was the high priest in the Essene community, who states, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

There are two levels of consciousness in the mystery school system: the Son of man, and the Son of God. The son of man represents the consciousness of separation and the Son of God represents the consciousness of oneness, the Christ consciousness, or cosmic consciousness. The Christian church intends the confrontation to be taken literally, so the words are selected to reinforce the literal meaning. We know that the story is symbolic in nature (they all are). “If you are the Son of God,” is a recognition and challenge to see if the person is functioning from the consciousness of separation or the consciousness of oneness. “Command these stones to become loaves of bread,” again is meant to be taken literally by the church. What is meant is, “demonstrate that you know how to make the white powder of gold and properly mix it into bread to make the bread of the presence of god.” This is the backbone of not only the mystery school system, but the Essene community as well. Jesus would have been fully trained and competent in the practice.

In order to understand the references to bread and the white powder of gold we need to go a little deeper into the teachings of Jesus.

“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask for bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Matthew 7:9-11 (KJV)

Jesus is using some interesting interplay with words. From the perspective of the world, we would certainly give our children bread and not a stone, a fish in place of a serpent. But as usual, Jesus alludes to other things. This is where the core of the Mystery School System comes together with the synthesis of the concept of light, bread and the stone.

Bread has a number of meanings and connotations. Manna, which comes from heaven, is also referred to as bread. There is also the bread of the presence of God and our daily bread. Plain bread feeds the physical body, but in its other forms bread also feeds the spirit within.

In Matthew 12:3-4 (RSV), “He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?’”

The bread of the presence of God has a long history within the Mystery School tradition.

The Mystery School used a substance known as the white powder of gold. This is a pure, non-metallic form of gold. In this state, it cannot be dissolved by normal chemical means, which is why it was referred to as a “stone” and not a metal. This is the white stone, the hidden manna. In the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation 2:17 (RSV), Jesus says, “To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.” Here is our connection between bread and stone.

The word name means nature. Jesus is saying to him who conquers, or overcomes the ego, I will give the hidden manna and a white stone with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it. This is the apostleship program. Once the ego is overcome and a person’s heart is pure, they were given large amounts of the white powder of gold and the spiritual personality emerges – their new nature, for which they were given a new name in recognition of the transformation that has taken place.

There were two primary means of ingesting the white powder of gold. The first was to mix it with flour and make bread. This was no longer regular bread, but was referred to as the bread of the presence of God. For 150 years before the time of Jesus, the Essene community at Qumran, on the shore of the Dead Sea, was making the white powder of gold and mixing it in the unleavened bread. Each day the leaders of the Essene community were eating not just bread, but the bread of the presence of God. This is the other meaning of “give us this day, our daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer. On the worldly level, the level of ego, daily bread refers to the basic substances we need for our survival. But on the spiritual level, daily bread refers to the bread of the presence of God, that which feeds the spirit, not just the body.

Communities locate in certain places for specific reasons. Fishing communities locate in places where there are natural harbors, providing protection from storms and deep-water access to the sea. Commercial communities locate at the crossing of trade routes, where the transportation of goods is easily accomplished. Farming communities form where the land is generally flat and the soil is good for crops. So why did the Essenes locate their community on the shore of the Dead Sea, where there are no fish, no trade routes, and little or no flat land with poor soil for growing crops? Almost everything the Essenes needed had to be carried in from someplace else. Why there?

The single answer is the Dead Sea has the world’s highest concentration of the white powder of gold in its water. The Essenes dug a three-foot wide canal from the Dead Sea into their community. You can’t drink the water; the concentration of magnesium sulfate is much too high. They also constructed a series of carved out “pools” with the means for letting fresh water into the carved out places. Why would they do that?

There is a simple pH swing method using lye (produced from draining fresh water through wood ash) and vinegar (produced from the fermentation of grapes or apples), which will extract the white powder of gold from the Dead Sea water or salt. Archeologists have assumed the pools were for some sort of ritualistic bathing practice. But could they have been for the specific purpose of processing the white powder of gold?

Once the white powder of gold is mixed into the bread, why is this bread then referred to as the bread of the presence of God? For the answer we need to go back into ancient Egypt, to the formation of the Mystery School.

In the ancient Mystery School founded in Egypt, the white powder of gold was mixed with flour and baked into a cone-shaped cake. This mixture was used to feed the ‘light-body’, which is how the spirit within was perceived. The light-body, or spirit, was considered to be the consciousness. So here we also have our connection to the spirit within. The Mystery School’s fascination with the white powder of gold earned them the name of the Great White Brotherhood.

What we now know about the white powder of gold is that it does several things within the physical body. Small amounts can gradually increase our perception and expand our awareness. We now also know that the Essenes were mixing the white powder of gold into the bread they made every day. The highest-ranking members of the community were receiving much larger amounts than the rest of the people, but it appears that everybody was getting at least some of this material. The loaves of bread had numbers placed onto them so each person got the loaf designated to them. This is how the dosage of the white powder of gold was distributed.

During the initiation into the Apostleship program the white powder of gold was not mixed with food, it was taken directly as a powder during a forty-day fast. This is the second method of ingesting the white powder of gold. The white powder of gold absorbs into the digestive system slowly, so the extended fast allows a majority of the powder to be absorbed because during a fast nothing is eliminated from the bowel.

Larger amounts of the white powder of gold have a very different effect. This larger amount acts as an amplifier. If a person still has an active ego, then the ego is amplified and the person is further away from the spiritual than before. This is why there was so much emphasis in the discipleship phase on becoming pure in heart. The large amounts of the white powder of gold were not administered until the person demonstrated that their ego was gone. Only then was it safe to use the larger amounts of the white powder of gold. This initiation with the white powder of gold marked the transformation of the person from a disciple to an apostle. It took approximately 9 months for the transformation to become complete. This relationship with the 9 months of gestation for a baby may be one of the conditions that prompted the concept of being born again.

The white powder of gold migrates through the body system during the nine-month period following initiation. The white powder of gold collects and settles into the brain and forms a Meissner Field which is a room-temperature superconducting energy field. Light is the essential component of this Meissner Field and is identical to the light of the spirit within. The energy from a fully charged Meissner Field within and around the brain can be seen around the head and is usually perceived as a halo. The Meissner Field can also be charged and discharged.

In Mark 5:25-34 and Luke 8:43-48 is the story of a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years and it was getting worse. She believed that if she could only touch his garments that she would be healed. As Jesus came by the crowd was pressing up against him. She reached out, and touching his garment, and was healed. Jesus felt the power flow from him – the Meissner Field discharging. Jesus stops and asks, “Who touched me?” The disciples are confused because of the nature of the crowd, but the woman comes forward and explains that she was the one who touched him and she was healed. He tells her, “Your faith has made you well.”

The healings and the miracles of Jesus were done through the use of the energy of the Meissner Field. Jesus spent 8 hours a night in meditation recharging the Meissner Field that formed around the white powder of gold within him. All of the graduates of the Mystery School could do what Jesus did. In the Greek language they were called Therapeutae; healers.

Jesus received his training and apostleship initiation within the Mystery School System in Egypt before he came to the Essene community. Properly used, the white powder of gold enhances our perception and awareness and amplifies the effect of the spirit within, significantly increasing our natural abilities. It also clarifies our connection with God, intensifying the oneness and conscious contact with God. Understanding the process, it is no wonder Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.”

The serpent has been the symbol of the Mystery School System from the beginning. To be gentle as doves and wise as serpents (Matthew 10:16) is a direct reference to the Mystery School System. The Mystery School was the equivalent of today’s universities, teaching different languages, mathematics, and sciences such as basic chemistry, physics, astronomy/astrology, plus the healing arts. Advanced spiritual studies were included along with studies in psychology, politics, history and human relations.

The symbol of the fish can be equated to the education needed for basic trades and commerce. The serpent equates to an advanced education, far above the level generally available in most of the world. From the perspective of the world, we should give our children the bread and the fish, but from the perspective of the Mystery School System, the wise parent should give their children the consciousness and awareness of the white stone and the wisdom of the serpent. These are gifts much more valuable than gold.

The remaining two challenges are a form of testing for true humility, which is the hallmark of the consciousness of oneness. There must be no remnant of the ego left in the individual. As Benjamin Franklin noted, pride is the last of the vices to be eradicated.

Jesus received his letter of authority and was free to travel and teach within Judea. He was authorized to train people and form spiritual communities. He brought at least seven people through the entire process to the level of apostles. Those seven people (the seven stars) were placed in charge of the seven communities (the seven lampstands – sources of light or knowledge) that Jesus founded.

An explanation of what a spiritual community is will help us understand what was happening. The Essene community was part of a network of religious groups throughout the Middle East and Egypt. Individual groups adopted different names, but the communities shared a large amount of principles and practices in common. One of those practices was the pooling of resources as community property. Private ownership of tools, property and money was not allowed. The purpose of this practice was to help the individual focus on spiritual work instead of being focused on material things.

While some people were born into some of these communities, others joined as a result of missionaries promoting the community in public places. When a person joined one of these communities their personal property was held separate for a period of one year. During that time the person was housed, clothed and fed from the community resources. The person was also expected to work in the community in exchange for the basic needs of life the community provided.

During the first year the basic spiritual theology was taught, but a great number of details were withheld as to how the theology was actually implemented in more advanced study and practice. At the end of the first year the person was asked to make a decision to stay or leave. If community life was not a good match for the person they could leave and their property was returned to them. If they decided to stay, their property was added to the community stores. This practice is reflected in Christianity today through a vow of poverty taken by priests and a number of other clergy in the faith. The poor in spirit refers specifically to members of these communities who renounced the possession of personal property in their quest for spiritual enlightenment.

The first phase was the initiate level and consisted of general theology presented during the first four years of residence in the community. After this time initiates were sent out on missionary work to spread the theology to the general public. Most of them were not knowledgeable about the advanced information taught later in the process, so they could not reveal restricted information to people outside of the organization. Missionary work lasted about two years during which time the initiates were observed to see if they were strictly upholding the theology and practices of the community. Upon completion of the missionary work, if they had performed well and kept to the teaching, they were invited into the second phase of spiritual work known as the Discipleship phase. Jesus’s closest followers were students of the Discipleship phase.

Discipleship lasted for an indefinite period of time and progress beyond that level was dependent on demonstrating a high level of mental and emotional purity. The final level was the Apostleship phase and resulted in full spiritual enlightenment and living in the presence of God.

The goal of living in these communities was to attain Apostleship, the state of living in the presence of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, in this lifetime. The Kingdom of Heaven is a state of consciousness defined by living in the oneness and the presence of God. This is an inner state of experience and has nothing to do with a place people believe they go to when they die. The teaching, practices and support provided by the community were all geared to bring about this experience within the individual. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven is the coded statement of what the communities offered to any who joined them and followed the theology and practices being taught.

The letters to the churches in Asia.

Revelation 2:1-7 (RSV)
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

“ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and found them to be false; I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ ”

Jesus trained the people who are referred to as the angels of the church. These are the spiritual leaders that he placed in charge of the spiritual communities. There were many people who claimed to be apostles; unfortunately, Paul was among them. The issue Jesus had with the leader of the Ephesus community was that he had lost the powerful love that comes with the consciousness of oneness. This can happen when we get too tangled up in emotional situations, such as dealing with people claiming to be spiritual when they are not. Jesus is telling him to get back into the love that is the cornerstone of the consciousness of oneness.

Jesus reinforces his objection to the Nicolaitans. Why? The Nicolaitans were a group sponsoring the practice of a priesthood. The Essene community and the spiritual communities Jesus founded were based strictly on the personal experience of the consciousness of oneness – living in the presence of universal mind and universal spirit. This was a direct individual relationship between a person and the Prime Dimension. The Nicolaitans wanted an hierarchy, a priesthood, interposed between the people seeking spiritual enlightenment and the consciousness of oneness – a priesthood they controlled. Ironically, this unenlightened priesthood is exactly what the Christian church implemented at the Council of Nicaea in 325-7 AD.

The tree of life in the Book of Revelation has a different meaning than it does in Genesis. The meaning here has to do with the extension of consciousness and its source of energy rather than the physical extension of life. Jesus warns his disciples not to be concerned about the death of the physical body, but to be more concerned with the second death; the death or loss of consciousness. People embedded in the consciousness of separation must use the physical body for the source of energy for their consciousness. That energy is produced by the body using fear-based emotions. When a person embedded in the consciousness of separation dies that energy goes with them, but because they have been separated from the physical body the energy cannot be replaced. For most people that energy will last for around fifty years of our time. When the energy is used up, they fall asleep since the energy for their consciousness is gone. When a person is living from the consciousness of oneness their consciousness is supported by love-based energy, which is the only energy available in the Prime Dimension. Those living in the consciousness of oneness can draw on the love-based energy in the Prime Dimension, so there is no second death of consciousness. “To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” This is a reference to the love-based energy in the Prime Dimension.

The letters to the churches are like the parables in that they have been in the possession of the church for sixteen hundred years. They have been subject to editing and revision numerous times and the changes have been lost in the copying process. What we have left are copies of copies of copies. None of the documents are originals. You’ll see what I mean as we go through the letters.

Revelation 2:8-11 (RSV)
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

” ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.’

“The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.” The literal meaning intended by the church is to represent their interpretation of Jesus as the savior figure. But it has a deeper symbolic meaning: the first and the last refer to states of consciousness. When we, as spiritual beings start the process of reincarnation, we are generally ignorant and lack any real experience. This is where we begin the process of spiritual growth. Those who are embedded in the consciousness of separation are referred to as the dead since the higher spiritual self is not yet functioning. Spiritual growth and the subsequent spiritual awakening brings the spiritual self to life. So this is a reference to the process of spiritual growth and awakening that each individual will eventually go through.

Most of the rest of the letter has been created by the church to support their theology. Its propaganda.

“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” has a specific meaning. We begin the process of spiritual growth with an ego. The transformation of the emotions is designed to change the core emotional state from fear-based, which feeds the ego, to love-based emotions that feed the higher spiritual self. The transformation of emotions needs to be followed persistently until the ego dies from a lack of energy. This is being faithful unto death. At that point the higher spiritual self is awakened and love becomes the basis of all of our thoughts and feelings. This eventually brings about spiritual enlightenment, which is the crown of live. Nothing in this world has any greater importance, or value, than spiritual enlightenment.

“He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.” He who conquers the ego and experiences spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment will not lose their consciousness.

Revelation 2:12-17 (RSV)
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
“ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality. So you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.’
The bulk of this is more church propaganda. The reference to the hidden manna, the white stone, and a new name (nature or personality) is again more about the white powder of gold. The hidden manna comes from the Egyptian mystery school tradition and is another name for the white powder of gold.

Revelation 2:18-29 (RSV)
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
“ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your later works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay upon you any other burden; only hold fast what you have, until I come. He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Again, more church propaganda in fear-based language. Ruling with an iron rod is another threat of violence embedded in the church doctrine. The reference to the morning star is interesting. The morning star is the planet Venus, also known as the evening star depending on where it is in its orbit. When Venus appears in the east as the morning star it is a forerunner of the sun rising. Spiritually, the morning star is the consciousness of oneness within an individual that comes before that consciousness becomes an active part of the consciousness of humanity.

Revelation 3:1-6 (RSV)
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“ ‘I know your works; you have the name of being alive, and you are dead. Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard; keep that and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
The name of being alive; this is the apostleship level in the Gnostic spiritual communities and indicates the consciousness of oneness. Being alive spiritually is synonymous with the consciousness of oneness or cosmic consciousness. In contrast, the consciousness of separation is considered to be dead spiritually. There is a level of awareness and perception that is part of the consciousness of oneness that can be lost in the early stages if not supported by continued inner work. This is what Jesus is addressing.
Once a person graduated from the apostleship level of training and initiation, they were presented with a seamless white garment. This white garment was the outer sign that this person was a graduate of the mystery school system. The white garment was another reason the graduates were called the great white brotherhood. They were all healers – therapeutae as well as master spiritual teachers.

Revelation 3:7-13 (RSV)
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens.
“ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie–behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
This is primarily church propaganda written in fear-based language. The reference to a crown symbolically refers to spiritual enlightenment. The reference to the new Jerusalem also symbolically refers to the consciousness of oneness, as does the kingdom of god, or the kingdom of heaven.

Revelation 3:14-22(RSV)
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
“ ‘I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I councel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Hot and cold refer to passion. Lukewarm, therefore refers to a lack of passion for this person’s mission in life. “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing” are the statements of an ego that has returned and concerns earthly things, not spiritual things. It also indicates a loss of the consciousness of oneness. The nakedness is a reference to an enslaved mind, one that is no longer free of ego constraints. The solution is to buy from Jesus gold refined by fire. This is the second method of producing the white powder of gold. For this leader of the spiritual community in Laodicea to regain the power and status of apostle, he needs more of the white powder of gold to re-establish the Meissner energy field which supports the high level of consciousness and awareness as well as the healing power of an apostle.

The New Jerusalem.

Revelation 21 (RSV)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life. He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Then came out of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And he who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its breadth; and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height are equal. He also measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits by a man’s measure, that is, an angel’s. The wall was built of jasper while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eight beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth the twelfth amethyst. Abd the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made from a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

And I saw no temple in the city, for the temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be shut by day–and there shall be no night there; they shall bring into the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abominations or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 22:1-5 (RSV)
Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.

This is the basic story of the return of God and Jesus to the earth. The literal meaning is clear, using fear-based language to manipulate people into believing the fantasy put forth by the church. Twice Jesus is said to say, “I am coming soon.” I don’t know about you, but 2,000 years doesn’t qualify as soon to me.

The symbolic interpretation, on the other hand, is rich in meaning. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” The new heaven and the new earth represent the fundamental change in perception that takes place during spiritual awakening. As I was studying spiritual literature in my twenties I assumed that spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment would be added onto what I already believed and felt. That turned out to not be the case. The advanced level of perception that comes with spiritual awakening is a replacement of our old perceptions, not an addition to them. This is what the new heaven and the new earth represent; a replacement of our perceptions.

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;” Jerusalem comes from jeru, meaning city, and salem, meaning peace, hence; the city of peace. Even a cursory study of the history of Jerusalem reveals that Jerusalem is probably the most fought over piece of real estate on the planet. It has never been a city of peace. But the new Jerusalem represents a new level of consciousness and awareness. Houses, or estates, in the teaching of Jesus, represent a personal belief system. Cities represent major belief systems, and countries represent cultural belief systems. So the new Jerusalem represents a major change, or shift, in belief systems. Specifically, this is the change from the consciousness of separation into the consciousness of oneness. It represents the change from “normal” consciousness into cosmic consciousness. The holy city, the new Jerusalem, is aptly named: it represents a consciousness built on the consciousness of oneness, cosmic consciousness, and is founded on the peace that comes with spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment. That peace is real and enduring. The new Jerusalem is described as coming down from God. In other words, it is a level of consciousness that comes down to us from a much higher source: the Prime Dimension. This consciousness is described further as, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” In the teachings of Jesus, a woman represents our emotional nature. This is appropriate since spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment are emotional experiences rather than an intellectual understanding. The bride reference is there because spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment are the result of the mystical marriage.

“And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling of God is with men.’ ” This is a statement of cosmic consciousness; we realize that we are divine spiritual beings, that the interactive universe recognizes us and works with us as co-creators in our life. “He will dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” The suffering and the separation has now passed away; we are one with universal spirit. We now see the suffering of the world as individual spiritual beings going through their selected life lessons. We realize that we have gone through those same lessons in other lives and we have compassion for all those who are experiencing life lessons.

The first thing that came to me during my mystical experience was that death is a cosmic joke: we cannot die. We are eternal spiritual beings: we cannot die, we cannot be sick, or injured, or disabled, or disfigured. The only way we can experience those things is through a physical body, which can experience all of those things. Death is not the end. Death is the separation of our spiritual self from the physical body. The spiritual self goes on.

“And he who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ ” This is spiritual awakening and eventually, spiritual enlightenment. Everything is seen through a new perception, through new eyes. “And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.’ ” This is the spiritual journey: we begin as inexperienced spiritual beings, as children of god, if you will. We have no real experience. This is what multiple lives as incarnations in a physical body provides for us; experience, growth, and ultimately, maturity as a spiritual being. The end of that journey is full spiritual enlightenment. At that point we become both the beginning and the end: the Alpha and the Omega. It represents the full completion of our spiritual journey.

Now an important part: “He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.” This is when we become the son of god. There are two designations: the son of man, and the son of god. The son of man represents the consciousness of separation and the son of god represents spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment – the shift to the consciousness of oneness.

“Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” The lamb represents a state of innocence. This innocence is gained through the transformation of our emotional core. By transforming our fear-based emotions into love, we become pure in heart, from the beatitudes, (Matthew 5:8) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This is all part of the spiritual journey. To see God is to awaken spiritually and recognize that we are eternal spiritual beings, who’s true home is the Prime Dimension. The Bride is always cosmic consciousness.

“And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” A great high mountain represents a very high level of perception and awareness, which is present in a number of spiritual experiences. The holy city is, again, cosmic consciousness, the Christ consciousness, or the consciousness of oneness. Clear as crystal is a description of our new awareness and refined perception: our thinking clears, as does our perception. These are some of the qualities of full spiritual enlightenment.

There is a reference here to the second death. It is more of the fear-based literal interpretation that is being used to scare people into compliance with the church. None of it is real or true. It’s just more propaganda.

A physical description of the city follows. This is a necessary component of the literal interpretation; to make the city seem as real as possible. Two important details are included in the physical description: “the city was pure gold, clear as glass.” “and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.” This is an important detail: pure gold, clear as glass. As we all know gold is a yellow metal, it’s not clear by any means. Or is it?
What we have learned from the research of David Hudson is that yellow metallic gold can be broken down chemically by Aqua Regia, a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. This is a classic chemistry experiment: dissolving gold in Aqua Regia and then reducing the salts back down to yellow metallic gold. Except a small amount of gold is “lost” in the process. But what happens if we continue to dissolve the gold in the acid and dry it into gold salt? Eventually the clusters of yellow metallic gold break down below the eleven-atom cluster size and become what David Hudson describes as monoatomic gold. The gold is now a very fine white powder – the white powder of gold. This form of pure gold has a peculiar property: when the white powder of gold is heated to 1,100 degrees F, it fuses into a glass-like form. It is perfectly clear, yet pure gold.

This makes the description of the holy city of new Jerusalem firmly based in the mystery school system and the use of the white powder of gold.

“And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” “And there shall be no night there.” Light represents knowledge and night represents darkness: ignorance. Spiritual enlightenment brings the end of ignorance. “Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city;” The river of the water of life is the love that flows from the Prime Dimension through the spiritually awakened and the spiritually enlightened. That love, as it mixes with the pain and suffering in the world, forms compassion, the one true sign of the spiritually awakened and the spiritually enlightened.

One last point. The Book of Revelation presents the return of God and Jesus as a collective event, where every person will witness the arrival. That isn’t how spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment work. There is no mechanism that will awaken all of humanity at the same time. Spiritual growth, awakening, and enlightenment are individual endeavors and are dependent on the process of inner work and inner transformation. The new Jerusalem isn’t about the second coming of Jesus, it’s about the emergence of the Christ consciousness, or cosmic consciousness, within you.

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Religious scriptures often contain some, or parts, of true spiritual teachings. The difference between true spiritual teachings and political doctrine is two-fold: spiritual teachings are about transforming the inner consciousness of the individual and are symbolic in nature. Political doctrine is literal and in plain fear-based language.

Each spiritual system uses a different set of symbols. Christianity uses the following symbols: Light represents knowledge and darkness represents ignorance. Small objects such as seeds, pearls, or birds represent ideas or concepts. Fish represent our individual feelings. Birds on the ground represent lower ideas or concepts such as the ideas and concepts of the world. Birds in the air or high up in trees represent higher spiritual concepts. A man represents our intellectual nature and a woman represents our emotional nature. The ground represents our mind, and the water represents our emotions. A building or an estate represents a belief system and a city represents a cultural belief system. If something is under the ground it represents something in our subconscious mind. Something under the water represents something in our subconscious emotions.

I’ll give you a couple of examples.

Matthew 13:44 (RSV)
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The treasure is hidden –in other words it is under the ground. A man found the treasure – meaning our mind becomes aware of something of great value in our subconscious mind. The man covers it up so no one, including his own ego, will steal or destroy what he has found. He goes and sells everything he has – in other words he gets rid of all his other ideas and concentrates on this one concept. Buying the field represents buying into the one concept. That concept is that each one of us is an eternal spiritual being and that our level of consciousness can be transformed into a higher state, the consciousness of oneness.

Matthew 13:47(RSV)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.

This deals with our emotional core – the feelings are mostly in our subconscious (under the water). We may not even be aware that we have such emotions. When we bring the subconscious feelings into our conscious mind (drawing the net ashore) we use our adult mind (men) to examine the feelings. Some fish are bad – toxic. So are some feelings. We sort the feelings out; the good, love-based feelings go into a vessel (our heart) and we throw away the bad feelings. This is the essence of the transformation of emotions. We can’t actually throw away our emotions, but we can transform them.

Each spiritual system has its own symbols. I’ll give you an example from the Sufi system.

Listen to the sound of the flute as it touches the lips of the beloved.

Spiritual teachers go through a process that gets rid of their ego and world-based emotions. This process leaves them hollowed out, like a flute. The flute represents the true enlightened spiritual teacher. The beloved is the consciousness of oneness; cosmic consciousness. A true spiritual teacher goes through a process when they speak to a group; they consciously step into the flow of spirit and speak the words the oneness guides them to say. The saying tells us to listen to the words of the enlightened spiritual teacher as he or she steps into the flow of spirit, connects with universal consciousness, and shares the nature of the oneness with us.

Esoteric means “meant for the few” and refers to an inner interpretation, while exoteric means “meant for the many” and refers to an outer interpretation. The inner interpretation is symbolic in nature and the outer interpretation is literal in nature. The literal interpretation is generally fear-based and uses that fear as a tool of manipulation. The goal of the literal interpretation is to empower the religious organization at the expense of the individual. The symbolic interpretation is love-based and is focused on improving, empowering, and liberating the individual.

Here’s a good example, from Genesis 3 (RSV).

The main characters are: the Lord God, the serpent, the man (Adam), and the woman (Eve).

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.”

This is the crux of the story. In the literal interpretation, this is where man disobeys God resulting in mankind’s fall from grace. This is the original sin that condemns mankind to the realm of sinners. Some even go so far as to blame women in general for mankind’s fall from grace. Threats and condemnation follow in the story, reinforcing the fear that is used as a tool of manipulation to get people to believe that they are inherently sinful and in need of being “saved” by a savior figure.

Now let’s look at the symbolic interpretation.

The symbols are as follows: the Lord God is the Anunnaki extraterrestrial Enlil, who was the commander of all Anunnaki on planet Earth. The Anunnaki were considered gods because of their vastly extended lifetimes and were also believed to be supernatural because of their use of advanced technology, which people didn’t understand. Because of Enlil’s position as commander of the Anunnaki, he was referred to as the “Lord God.” The serpent is the Anunnaki Enki, half-brother to Enlil, and ultimate founder of the mystery school system. The serpent is also the symbol for the mystery school system itself and the wisdom it brings to people. The man represents our intellectual nature and the woman represents our emotional nature.

Some additional insights: the garden of Eden is a walled garden. People were used as slaves by the Anunnaki. In general people were not allowed to get close to the Anunnaki because even though they lived for vastly extended lifetimes, they were also mortal. Clothing could hide weapons, so people in close proximity to the Anunnaki were required to be naked. Nakedness was also a sign of their status as slaves. The tree of life was a genetically modified tree that produced a large amount of the enzyme telomerase in its fruit. This enzyme rich food was consumed by the Anunnaki, known as the bread of life. Telomerase repairs and lengthens the telomeres on the ends of our DNA. During cell division, a portion of the telomere is lost in the process. As the telomere gets shorter, cell function decreases, and when the telomere gets too short the cell can no longer divide. This condition is known as senescence and leads to apoptosis (cell death). This limits the physical lifespan of humans and is referred to as the Hayflick limit. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is also known as the tree of wisdom.

Let’s go back to the story and look at the symbolic interpretation. This interpretation also includes more of the historical references that we have access to at this time.

The man and the woman are slaves. They have no rights. They live inside a walled garden, tending to the trees therein. The serpent, the mystery school system, teaches the woman that she will not die if she eats of the forbidden fruit. The ripe fruit of the tree is the end result of a long process of blooming, fertilization, growing of the fruit, and the final ripening of the fruit. The fruit represents the end benefit of spiritual growth: true wisdom. The opening of their eyes represents spiritual awakening and the shift from the consciousness of separation to the consciousness of oneness. Spiritual awakening is an intensely emotional experience. The consciousness of oneness is also an emotional experience. This is why the woman eats of the fruit first. The woman represents our emotional nature. The fruit, the spiritual awakening, comes to the man, our intellectual nature, second. Spiritual awakening transforms us emotionally and intellectually. It opens our eyes, our conscious mind, to the reality that exists around us. The man and the woman now understand they are slaves. They sew together fig leaf aprons to cover themselves because they no longer want to be slaves; they want to be free.

The threats from Enlil are essentially meaningless. They are, however, a reminder that hardship comes with our freedom. We must become responsible for ourselves in order to become free. The man and the woman do not die, but the older, ego-based thought system of separation does die. Enlil makes clothes for them (abolishes their slavery) and sets them free. An important statement from Enlil follows: “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever”– Now that we have restored the original context to the Anunnaki, the use of the plural form Elohim, translated as “us” in the above quote, makes sense. Over 200 hundred Anunnaki were revered as gods. The church has had a difficult time trying to explain that the singular form, El, and the plural form, Elohim, were actually both singular. They’re not. I find it interesting that the fruit of the tree of life was not forbidden to Adam and Eve as long as they were ignorant, but once they have knowledge and understanding, Enlil doesn’t want them to have access to the tree of life. The argument that Adam and Eve eventually do die is a specious argument because both humans and the Anunnaki are physically mortal. All of our physical bodies are going to die eventually.

What is glossed over in the literal interpretation is that Enlil, the Lord God, lied to Adam and Eve. It is Enki, and the mystery school system, that told them the truth. This ties in with the teachings of Jesus, specifically, John 8:32 (RSV) “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

As you can see, the two interpretations are profoundly different: the literal interpretation is used to oppress, manipulate, and control people. The symbolic interpretation is used to educate and free people from whatever system is being used to enslave them.

This is why I have this forum; people can have their minds enslaved and be “god-fearing Christians” (or whatever faith they choose) for as long as they want. I have no objection to that. It’s a life lesson they selected. What I want is to have the opportunity to explain to people what spirituality really is when they finally want to be free of the fear and the manipulation of religion. Spirituality and freedom are your birthright, they are there for you whenever you are ready.

Born Again – John 3:1-21

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘you must be born anew.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can this be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Let’s look at the symbols being used: Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Darkness is a symbol for ignorance; light represents knowledge and wisdom. Being born anew, or in its more popular form, being born again, is a transformation in consciousness. The older term is born from above, which indicates the arrival of a much higher level of consciousness. Jesus said, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” This is not about going to heaven after we die, it’s about transforming our state of consciousness from the consciousness of separation into the higher form of the consciousness of oneness, which he identifies as the kingdom of God. This process is available to everyone who has incarnated here on planet Earth.

To be born as a baby is to be born of water. The mother’s water breaks just before the birth of the baby takes place. Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Here we have the dual nature of humanity: we have a physical body, which is of this physical world. But we also have a spirit, which is not of this world. It is an individualized expression of Universal Spirit. Notice the use of capitalization; Spirit refers to Universal Spirit and spirit refers to the individualized form of us as spiritual beings. Both Universal Spirit and individualized spirit are eternal in nature. They were not created, nor can they be destroyed. For spirit, there is no beginning and there is no end.

Being born of the Spirit refers to spiritual awakening. When that happens, our perception of the world around us shifts profoundly. Suddenly the whole world seems to have come alive. Colors are brighter, often everything has an aura around it. We feel connected to everything. We quickly come to realize that we are spirit, not just a body. We realize that we are eternal spiritual beings, not just as an intellectual concept, but in actual experience. Now we understand that this is the real world and what we experienced before this was a form of illusion. We know it’s real because we can feel it so intensely. We have never felt anything this intense and real before in our life. We perceive the world as being born anew, but then we gradually realize it is we who have been born anew.

“No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” This is the central concept of spirituality: we, as spiritual beings, descend from heaven. We exist within what I refer to as the Prime Dimension; a state of being in spiritual form where there is no material reality. It is a dimension of Universal Spirit, universal consciousness, and universal love. The Prime Dimension brings everything into existence through consciousness, spirit, and love; the life force. When what has been created in consciousness needs to appear in material form, it passes through an inter-dimensional portal and becomes wrapped in materiality in this dimension. This is why everything that exists in this dimension has a form of consciousness and spirit within it. Being wrapped in materiality does not change its true nature. The consciousness, spirit, and life force remains within it.

We, as spiritual beings, come through an inter-dimensional portal and arrive within the physical body of a woman just before conception takes place. We “read” the DNA and supervise the process of cell division and differentiation as the baby grows and is formed. When our physical life comes to an end, another inter-dimensional portal opens and we return to the Prime dimension. This is why Jesus said, “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.”

The Son of man is a symbolic term that refers to our state of consciousness as being within the consciousness of separation. When we transform our consciousness into the consciousness of oneness, the term becomes the son of God. This higher state of consciousness is also referred to as the Christ consciousness, or cosmic consciousness. This higher state of consciousness doesn’t make sense when viewed from the consciousness of separation. This is why Jesus includes, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”

The next section, John 3:16-21, has its own controversial background. The two sides of the controversy are: is verse 16 through 21 the words of Jesus, or are they narrated from some unidentified source? In the red-letter version of the Bible I have, verses 16 through 21 are printed in red, indicating they are intended as the words of Jesus. As such, it is curious that the quotation marks have been removed. The difference in perspective is profound. The Christian church obviously prefers the narrative, but the source of narration is not identified. The narrative would be speaking about Jesus as a separate person from the conversation he was having with Nicodemus, and would be separate from the train of thought presented in the material immediately preceding it. Taking verses 16 through 21 as a continuation of the discussion with Nicodemus restores the original context, but destroys the intent of the Christian church in the process.

Let’s take a look at what it says.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

This section of scripture has obviously been heavily edited to reinforce the savior concept the church prefers. But we need to look at the symbolism involved: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Notice that the word, Son, is capitalized. This is a direct reference to the Son of man, above, and refers to the consciousness of separation. The key here is that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. The ego, born out of the consciousness of separation, will perish. The ego is not real and functions only within the experience of physical life. Eternal life is a quality of the spirit, not the physical body.

We are back to the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus; “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” The entire reason for us to come into physical incarnation is to grow spiritually and eventually raise our consciousness into the consciousness of oneness.

“For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” The world is a school. It is not the world that needs to be saved, it’s us. The thing is, the ego is the one who condemns. Condemnation is a form of power in this world. It builds us up at the expense of others. “He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Here we have the crossover from the Son of man to the son of God. The church’s implication is that we have to believe in Jesus as the savior, but that’s not really what it says. Him is a pronoun and refers back to a previously identified noun or proper name. And what do we have as a previously identified noun or proper name? The previous paragraph ends with, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” That’s right, “him” refers back to the Son of man who must be lifted up to become the son of God. It’s referring to the inner transformation from the consciousness of separation into the consciousness of oneness and the realization of eternal life.

So what exactly are we to “believe” in? The answer is simple; either we believe we are the ego, or we believe we are a spiritual being. If we don’t believe we are a spiritual being then there is no life after our physical existence, for the ego is not real and eventually ceases to exist. He who does not believe that we are a spiritual being is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. The word “name” means nature, as in character. The “nature” of the Son of God is spirit, consciousness, and love; the life force. If we believe we are a spiritual being, an individualized expression of Universal Spirit, universal consciousness, and love, then we are capable of transforming our consciousness from the lower consciousness of separation into the higher consciousness of oneness.

And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

Yes, the ego loves ignorance and people love to function from their ego. Why would the ego love ignorance? Because the reality is that the ego is not real. Remaining within the ignorance that the ego is real maintains the illusion of power and control. Every one who acts from the ego hurts and limits others, which is a form of evil. The word evil is also a version of veil, which hides our true nature from us. The light is the knowledge and wisdom of our higher spiritual self, which the ego hates. But he who does what is true (functions from the spirit rather than the ego) comes to the light (comes into the realization that as spiritual beings we are all interconnected and interdependent).

The belief that we need a savior is a function of the consciousness of separation in which all power is manifested outside of our self. The belief that we are a spiritual being here to transform our consciousness returns all power to where it properly belongs; in us.

I want to add something important here. In the version of ancient Gnosticism that Jesus taught, the word Father is used to represent the masculine aspect of god. Sophia is the word that represents the feminine aspect of god. The feminine aspect of god was removed by the early church to support a patriarchy rather than a balanced male/female concept. The male aspect of god is the intellectual form, which is knowledge. The female aspect is the emotional form, which is wisdom. When the male and female forms come together the offspring is the pure white light of Christhood. That pure white light of Christhood is you. The core of each and every spiritual being is that living white light of Christhood. This is why we are eternal spiritual beings. The process of incarnation teaches us, over the course of many lifetimes, that we are in fact eternal spiritual beings and the necessary substance within us is that pure white light of Christhood. It is through that pure white light within us that we are able to rise from the consciousness of separation (the son of man) into the consciousness of oneness (the son of god).

John the Baptist

John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins. There are some interesting statements that are made regarding John.

John said, (Matthew 3:11 RSV) “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Jesus said, (Matthew 11:11 RSV) “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

John said, (John 3:28-30 RSV) “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Let’s take a look at the symbolic interpretation of John and Jesus.

John represents the ego, that perception of our self that we have used to relate to the outer world. The ego is bound to the physical body and does not have eternal life. The ego exists solely within the consciousness of separation. Jesus represents our higher spiritual self, which has eternal life and transcends physical death. Jesus also represents the consciousness of oneness. Both selves exist side-by-side within us. Both are fed from the emotional energy that we produce. Only one of them can be dominant at any given time. While one self is active, the other rests. The ego feeds exclusively off the fear-based emotional energy we produce and the higher spiritual self feeds exclusively off the love-based emotional energy that we also produce.

Just as Jesus and John are related in the literal interpretation, so are the ego and the higher spiritual self related in the symbolic interpretation. John is the forerunner of Jesus just as the ego is the forerunner of the higher spiritual self. Many people live their life with the ego in charge and never experience the higher spiritual self at all. But those who become interested in spiritual growth can find themselves on a path of transformation and illumination.

The ego is limited in what it can achieve and perceive spiritually. This is because the ego is bound to the consciousness of separation. That is why Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” The ego cannot enter the kingdom of heaven – the consciousness of oneness. Only the higher spiritual self can enter the consciousness of oneness.

The higher spiritual self can exist within the consciousness of separation or within the consciousness of oneness. The difference is the amount of love-based emotions that are in our emotional core.

John baptizes with water for repentance. Repentance means to change our thinking. Our thinking guides our emotional state. Loving thoughts generate loving feelings that feed the higher spiritual self. But we also need to transform the fear-based emotions that we have collected in our emotional core. The transformation of emotions, explained on this website, will gradually change the content of our emotional core from fear-based emotions into love-based emotions. When we combine generating loving feelings from loving thoughts and the transformation of our emotions, we move ever closer to the consciousness of oneness, the kingdom of heaven.

The ego eventually comes to recognize that it cannot experience the consciousness of oneness. It is at that point that the ego realizes that it must decrease so the higher spiritual self can increase. This is the statement of John; “I am not the Christ.” The ego is not the higher spiritual self. The Christ represents the higher spiritual self elevated into the consciousness of oneness. John says, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full.” The bride represents the consciousness of oneness, the kingdom of heaven. The bridegroom represents the higher spiritual self. Spiritual awakening, the transformation of the higher spiritual self into the consciousness of oneness, is the mystical marriage of the bride and the bridegroom.

Once the higher spiritual self awakens into the consciousness of oneness, we focus exclusively on loving thoughts and loving feelings so that only the higher spiritual self is being fed. From that point on the ego goes to sleep and is not reactivated. It is the end of the active ego in our life. As John indicates, the ego is the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears the voice of the bridegroom and as the consciousness of oneness takes hold in our life, the joy of the ego is now full. We have become the Christ in the kingdom of heaven, the consciousness of oneness. We are now one with God and everything else. The separation has come to an end.

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Our emotional core determines our level of consciousness and awareness. Being born into the consciousness of separation, our emotional core is filled with fear-based feelings. Fear-based feelings are: anger, hatred, fear, jealousy, greed, shame, envy, resentment, bitterness, lust, and guilt. This is simply how the world around us works. The good news is that we don’t have to remain filled with fear-based emotions. Emotions are a form of energy, and energy can be transformed from one state or quality into another. We do it all the time in our outer world. We flip a switch and electricity is transformed into light or heat. Unfortunately, the inner process isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. We must reactivate the emotion within us to a small degree so the experience isn’t overwhelming, and then we can use our mind to change the nature of the emotion into love. We can do this by using whatever imagery works for us as an individual. We can think of a favorite child, a puppy, a kitten, or a butterfly – whatever makes you feel loving. Then we end the exercise.

The secret to the transformation of emotions is that feelings are stored in the physical body in a more or less dormant state. By reactivating the emotion, we transform it from a type of solid state into a fluid state. This is where it can be transformed. Once we change the feeling to love we stop the exercise. This allows the feeling to condense down into a new solid state and be stored in a different part of the body. Each exercise can take less than a minute. A short pause is used between each exercise to clear the mind and let the feeling settle into the body. Then the exercise is repeated. I recommend doing the exercises for 20 minutes, twice a day.

The exercise can be boring. It will take some dedication to continue the exercises. It also takes time to see the results. The whole process can take several years. Over time you will see your core emotions changing to love-based emotions. This will manifest as kindness, gentleness, generosity, understanding, patience, and compassion.

When the balance between fear-based emotions and love-based emotions shifts to more than 50% love-based, spiritual awakening happens. This is the change from the consciousness of separation to the consciousness of oneness, also known as cosmic consciousness. The exercises need to be continued. Spiritual enlightenment takes place when the love-based emotions reach about 90% of your emotional core.

One of the primary reasons for incarnating into a physical body is to have access to the production of emotional energy. Some people explain the differences in energy as frequency-based. I find that analogy useful. The human body is an energy transformation machine. We take in food, water, and air. The physical body uses these components to generate energy at the cellular level through the mitochondria. But we also need energy at the emotional level as well. Think of the word emotion as an expansion of the word motion. Motion represents movement which requires energy. While the physical energy comes from complex chemical reactions within the body, emotional energy is also created, but it is used in a different format.

Exactly what form, or frequency, of energy is produced is controlled by what we have focused out thinking on. Specifically, fear-based thoughts produce fear-based energy, and love-based thoughts produce love-based energy. Those two forms of energy can coexist within the physical body system. We are constantly thinking; going over a number of issues each day, some excessively. We may think that our thoughts and feelings don’t really matter, but the reality is that they do. Our thoughts and feelings have a direct effect on our physical body. Some illnesses are at least triggered, or supported, by excessive negative emotional states.

The way we are raised is generally controlled by culture. In that culture most people are taught that they have a place in society and that they must comply with the expectations of that culture. As a result, the dominant emotional state is one of generally fear-based feelings. Over years of repeated exposure to the fear-based emotional state, our emotional core becomes a reflection of what we have experienced. That fear-based emotional core determines our state of consciousness: the consciousness of separation.

In essence, we are a being with two minds, two personalities, and two emotional bases. The lower frequency energy that negative thoughts generate feeds only the ego by creating the fear-based emotional energy that the ego thrives on. The ego then uses that fear-based energy and emotions to control us. But when we focus our thinking on love, the body produces a higher frequency energy that is suited only for the spiritual mind. Each moment of every day we have a choice: we can feed the ego, always becoming the victim of its abuse, or we can feed the spirit within us, which in turn will free us from the tyranny of the ego.

There is a lot to be said for the positive thinking movement. Keeping our thinking positive can have a significant effect on our core emotional state. But the problem of numerous or excessive past fear-based feelings remains uncorrected. The good news is that even old emotions are still a form of energy, and the nature or quality of energy can be transformed. That is the process of transforming our emotions.

Our emotions are linked to our thoughts. An emotional response can be triggered by an outside event, someone’s words or emotional state, or by remembering a past event, comment, or traumatic event. The thought we have associated with a specific emotion will remain linked. We can start the transformation of emotions by observing what words, phrases, or actions trigger an emotional response within us. We can use that trigger to summon the emotion from its storage in the body. Once the emotion is activated, we can change the nature and quality of the energy.

The process is simple and straight forward: trigger the emotion so it is flowing (fluid). Use our mind to change the nature of the emotion, from fear-based to love-based. Once the love-based emotion is established, end the exercise and allow a moment for the emotion to stop flowing (solidify). The energy will settle into the physical body in a new location. We don’t have to be concerned about exactly what that location is; the process is essentially automatic and happens without our direct participation.

However old we may be, that is the number of years that fear-based emotions have been adding to our emotional core. The transformation of emotions can gradually change the content of our emotional core. We must also take care that we are not adding significantly to the store of fear-based emotions by focusing on loving thoughts, loving feelings, and loving actions each day.

The intellectual component also needs to be addressed. Many of the thought processes and conclusions we have come to about our self, other people, the world, and our perception of god have all been formed in our childhood or teenage years. We have to go back through all of our thoughts, conclusions, and assumptions and re-evaluate them from what we know and understand now. What we will find is that the vast majority of what we believe is actually not true. We are not who and what we have believed, neither are other people. The culture or society in which we live is deeply flawed and functions on a significant amount of superstition and false beliefs. The government we live under is also deeply flawed and corrupt. Don’t be offended, they are all corrupt. Remember, psychopaths seek positions of power and authority over others. That is what government is by definition; an organization that exerts power and authority over people.

We do not have the power to significantly change the world, but we do have the power to change ourselves. That, ultimately, is much more important. We cannot control other people, but we can influence them by our courage, integrity, insight, and personal transformation. That can only take place after we have transformed our self and our life. A good example needs no explanation; it is self-evident.

The work of transforming our emotions is a long and boring process. Dedication is required. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does need to be persistent. Persist and you will succeed. As your core emotional state becomes transformed and you seek the truth in your understanding of yourself and the world, your life perspective will also gradually change. Judgment will gradually and eventually be replaced by observation. You will begin to observe who people really are, what they believe, and to what extent their false beliefs rule their lives. It will be tempting to try to tell them what you have learned. Honestly, the best thing you can do is let them learn their own life lessons. If they see the changes in you, and are curious about what you have been doing, let them know a small amount, give them a small introduction to this teaching. Remember, you are planting a seed, nothing more. Then let the subject alone. If they want more, they will come and ask. If they don’t ask, then they are not ready and there is no point in pursuing it any further. Don’t impose on others, let them come to you or leave them as they are.

The consciousness of oneness will never force itself on you. It will patiently wait for you to create a place of love inside your heart. When that place of love is large enough and strong enough, it will come and fill you with a love you never knew was possible. The intensity of that love will transform you in ways that you cannot imagine. You will become a different person. In the old tradition, this is the point where people were given a new name, a recognition of the new emerging spiritual personality.

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As we grow and mature we gradually learn to clothe, feed, and shelter ourselves. We learn to protect our physical selves from danger and disease and to provide for not only ourselves but others as well. What we are generally not taught is how to fulfil our own inner needs intellectually and emotionally. Those inner needs are:

• Protect ourselves
• Care for ourselves
• Value ourselves
• Respect ourselves
• Love ourselves

We have fallen into the belief that other people should be doing these things for us. We feel victimized when other people fail to protect us. We feel abandoned when other people fail to care for us. We feel worthless when other people fail to value us. We feel unworthy when other people fail to respect us. We feel rejected when other people fail to love us. Other people fail to do these things for us because no one is doing those things for them. We’re all in the same boat here. We have also come to believe fulfilling our inner needs is the responsibility of whoever is in a relationship with us. If you loved me then you would … (fill in the blank).

The reality is that almost no one is fulfilling the inner needs of another person, and when they do, there is often a price to be paid. We are also back to a basic principle; you cannot give what you do not have. If you are unable, or unwilling, to protect yourself, who is going to do it for you? When we were children our parents were responsible for protecting us. Now that we are adults that responsibility is ours. It’s the same for the other inner needs. Now that we are adults that responsibility is ours. We are responsible for protecting ourselves, not only physically, but intellectually and emotionally.

I’ve always had to smile at the saying, love thy neighbor as thyself. That is the cause of most of the world’s problems; we don’t love ourselves, so we are unable to love anyone else. Again, you cannot give what you do not have. If there is no love in your heart for yourself, there is no love for anyone else either. Fortunately, there are ways we can start to fulfill our own inner needs and in doing so, we can mature intellectually and emotionally. This simple process can save us from the emotional devastation and intellectual crippling that has limited our function and our life so far.

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We are trans-dimensional beings. We transit from the Prime Dimension into this world through a portal. That portal opens and we, as a spiritual being, find ourselves inside a female human body at the time of conception. Then the portal closes. We select the individual sperm that will fertilize the egg. We surround the selected sperm and egg with a protective blue light. Once conception takes place the spiritual being that we are “reads” the DNA created for the new body to be formed. That spiritual being guides the process of cell differentiation that ultimately creates the physical body. The spiritual being remains “connected” to that physical body until the process of death severs that connection.

We thus live our life as if we were that physical body. What the body feels; we feel. What the body experiences; we experience. That process continues for our entire lifetime.

At the time we have selected for our death the portal opens again. The portal may appear as a tunnel of light or a hallway. As we move through the portal, our connection to the body is severed and we return into the Prime Dimension. Then the portal closes. We then go through a life review. We already have the experience of what we have said and done in our life. The purpose of the life review is not a criticism. The life review brings us the experience of the other people we have interacted with during our lifetime. This gives us both sides of the experience. When we have hurt another person, we feel the hurt we have inflicted on them. When we have been kind and supportive, we experience that kindness and support. When we have acted in pure love and compassion toward another person, we now experience the blessing of that love and compassion. The life review gives us the rest of the experience. This is how we learn to be kind to other people and animals. It’s feedback in its purest form.

Incarnating into a physical body isn’t an event; it’s an extended process. The body becomes imprinted by a number of things beginning well before birth. The sound of our mother’s voice and her emotional tone affect us from the third trimester on. Nurturing is a critical factor in child development. All of these conditions have been selected by us before we come into physical form. We are not victims; we are co-creators.

On very rare occasions we have someone who experiences spiritual awakening and enlightenment at an early age, like Paramahansa Yogananda. This is very rare because we are intimately connected to the physical body and there are physical conditions that regulate the development of our spiritual nature. The first example is the formation of the frontal cortex in the brain around the age of 21 years old. The frontal cortex shifts our focus from the emotion-based reactions of our teenaged years into the thinking and logic of adulthood. This is why many states identify adulthood as starting at age 21.

The next major advancement takes place at around age 40, with the maturing of the frontal lobes in the brain. This also coincides with many mid-life crises experiences where we re-examine where we have placed our values in our life. This process can be very disorienting, but it’s a necessary part of the maturing process. The frontal lobes are where we gain the capability to experience spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment. This is why mystical experiences often take place around age 39 on average.

Spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment utilize the frontal lobes almost exclusively. The vast majority of our thoughts and experiences will change when we change where the focus of our consciousness takes place. Where we center our consciousness is determined primarily by what we focus our thoughts on. If our thoughts are centered on greed and lust for power, our consciousness gets focused in the limbic area of our brain. This is also the reptilian portion of our brain. The reptilian portion of our brain only sees what we desire and views other people as obstacles to be eliminated, manipulated, or controlled. This is the primary characteristic of psychopaths in our society. Psychopaths have no conscience, no compassion, no love, and no real concern for the wellbeing of others. When you hear a person called a snake in the grass, it is a reference to the reptilian brain focused consciousness.

We also have a mammalian brain, which consists of eight lobes: starting at the back, the left and right occipital, parietal, temporal, and frontal lobes. The mammalian brain is where our tribal or herd mentality is centered. Our society is formed based on our mammalian brain, where the focus is on family, community, culture, and religion. Our sense of fashion and belonging is centered in our mammalian brain. When our consciousness is focused in the mammalian brain, we are connected to family and our community. National identity is also a function of our consciousness centered in the mammalian brain. Love and caring about family and community are traits of our consciousness focused in the mammalian brain.

When we start focusing our thoughts and feelings on helping other people without regard to family, community, nationality, or race, we begin moving our consciousness into the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes are our gateway into our true spirituality.

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From the spiritual perspective, the purpose of a physical life is to experience life lessons, to gather knowledge, and to distill the wisdom we seek from that acquired knowledge. This perspective encompasses the concept that we are spiritual beings having a mortal human experience. We, as spiritual beings, are eternal. We had no beginning and we have no end. We have always existed.

As eternal spiritual beings; we cannot die, we cannot be sick, we cannot become disabled, and we cannot be injured. We cannot directly experience any of those limitations. The only way for us to experience those things is to incarnate into a physical body that can, and does, experience all of those things. That way we can have the experience, gain the knowledge, and extract the wisdom that we seek. The physical body is designed to experience pleasure, pain, limitation, lack, success, and failure. As a spiritual being embedded within the physical body, we fully experience what happens to the body.

Each spiritual being selects the series of life lessons that will provide the experiences that individual seeks. The interactive universe perceives each eternal spiritual being as a co-creator, and arranges the flow of life to bring those exact experiences to us. The life lessons apply to the physical body and hold firm as long as we are incarnated in that body. Life lessons are a type of spiritual contract and the terms of that contract are enforced for the physical life of the body. When death comes, the spiritual being is separated from the physical body and the contract of life lessons terminates. We, as spiritual beings, are left with the knowledge, the feelings, and the effects of the life lessons on our consciousness.

One of the things that happens during the process of death is a life review. The traditional view is that this is where god judges us. That belief is not valid. The interactive universe does not judge us, anyone, or anything. It views us as co-creators. There is nothing to judge. We do, however, have a need for balancing our perceptions. During our lifetime we are focused on our own personal experience of life, perceived from within the consciousness of separation. As such we have only half of the story. The other half, how we impacted other people and what they experienced as a result of our attitude and actions, is the content of the life review. We get to experience our life from their point of view. The life review is not a criticism; it is simply providing the other half of our life experience to us so we can balance all of the experiences of our life.

We are given time to sort out what we have experienced in life and make sense of what we have learned. At some point in time, we select another set of life lessons and incarnate in another physical body. Through this process we gain an incredible amount of knowledge and develop the wisdom that we extract from the knowledge.

To me, the purpose of life is to grow and mature spiritually. In order to do that we incarnate in a physical body. As spiritual beings we cannot experience pain, pleasure, passion, ecstasy, frustration, depression, creativity, or lust. Ultimately, this is why the material universe has been created: so we can become a part of the material universe for a limited time and experience all of the things we can’t as purely spiritual beings.

We value what we learn based on what it cost us to acquire the knowledge. We have carried that wisdom with us into the physical world. This is also why the most desired objects in the world cost so much. We value most what costs us the most. It’s just that we have been taught that the principle applies to objects and not necessarily to knowledge and wisdom. The key to sorting out what is valuable from that which is not is a function of time and place. What I mean by that is no matter how valuable an object may be we can only possess it during our lifetime. When we die, we cannot take it with us into the Prime Dimension. The obvious exception is knowledge and wisdom. Those qualities can return with us into the Prime Dimension. That, after all, is the whole point of incarnation. Death is the final arbitrator over what is valuable and what is not. If we can take it with us, it’s valuable. Otherwise…

What constitutes a life lesson?

Some are more obvious than others. The primary form life lessons take is as part of a relationship. A life lesson is something that consumes our mind and emotions. Addiction is an obvious example. There are plenty of choices: alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, food, religion, certain activities that get us hooked on an adrenaline rush. There are so many different life lessons that we can’t possibly experience them in a single lifetime, which is the point of reincarnation. Each life lesson is designed to get us to thoroughly understand one simple point. The point could be that certain things aren’t so valuable after all. This applies to almost everything. We think that just because the thing we want is different from something else that we thought was valuable doesn’t change anything. Each life lesson is focused on a particular detail or application of a general principle. Control and power over other people is a life lesson.

Life lessons, over time, give us balance. What I mean by that is if we take advantage of someone, or hurt someone, we unbalance the relationship. At some point we have to go back into that relationship and experience the other side of what we have done. That is how we re-establish balance. If we have killed someone, we rebalance that act by being in a position where we are killed by that person. That way we experience both sides of the action and it’s back in balance. In the process we hope that we also derive the knowledge and wisdom of what principle is involved. If we don’t learn the lesson, if we don’t become wiser in the process, we can repeat the individual life lesson for as many times as it takes. The goal is the knowledge, and especially the wisdom, that we extract from the experience.

Life lessons have two sides to them: the challenge, and the overcoming. Alcohol or drug addiction is the challenge; sobriety is the overcoming. The knowledge of what alcohol or drug addiction is and does to us and others around us is challenging. The knowledge and wisdom of sobriety is the reward for overcoming the challenge. Both are valuable experiences for us. The challenge is incomplete without the overcoming.

Manipulating and controlling the behavior of other people is the challenge; kindness, gentleness, and compassion are the overcoming. Treating all other people with gentleness, kindness, understanding and compassion is an extremely valuable lesson.

In the consciousness of separation other people are more like objects to be dealt with. In the consciousness of oneness we are them. They aren’t just other people, they are fellow spiritual beings, just like us and intimately connected to us. Ultimately what we do to them, we do to ourselves. Remember, it’s about balance. The interactive universe will not let a single detail go. Every single detail of our relationship must be returned to complete balance.

Fear separates; love unifies. Fear-based emotions inflict pain and injury on others; love-based emotions heal the injuries and soothe the pain. This is why the balance of our emotional core is so important. As long as we act from fear-based emotions we are hurting other people. When we make the shift from fear-based emotions to love-based emotions in our emotional core, we begin the process of healing not only of ourselves, but of others as well.

The life lessons we select for our lifetime cannot be changed, but we can convert the challenges into overcoming. That adds significant value to not only our life, but the lives of others as well. There are many people who have had very difficult challenges in life, and having overcome those challenges, go on to help and inspire others to overcome their challenges as well. This is how we bring true blessings into our life and into our world.

Life is challenging. It’s supposed to be. We are taught that it is better to have a “good” life, generally taken as having an easy life. But an easy life doesn’t happen in this world. We sometimes see a very wealthy person that has all the luxuries of life, and we think they must have an easy life. In almost every case that is not true. Wealth and power bring its own set of challenges. We have been told that adversity builds character. That may be true as far as it goes. But the true test of character is power, not adversity. With adversity, it seems as if we don’t have any choice in what happens to us. Through the strength of character we can overcome adversity. Overcoming the challenge of power is extremely difficult, mostly because power provides us with so many options. Choosing to be kind, gentle, understanding, and compassionate with everyone, while having power is the ultimate challenge. It is the most difficult life lesson there is.

Religion is also a life lesson. Religion is something that many people take very personally. Religion is designed to be addictive. Each religion has its own set of emotionally addictive components.

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Everything that exists in our universe took form in the Prime Dimension of pure consciousness first. When it was time to manifest in physical form it was clothed in materiality. The consciousness and spiritual substance in which it existed in the Prime Dimension remains with it in physical form. This is why everything in this universe has some form of consciousness and spirit to it. A rock knows that it is a rock, and a street sign knows that it is a street sign. We routinely change one thing into another as we manufacture the products and objects that we want. That process of change imprints part of our consciousness on the object and changes its true nature in the process.

A quick look at Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla and their inventions will demonstrate my point. We can use altered states of mind to tap into the creative aspect of the interactive universe, as has been demonstrated by inventors such as Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla, and many others.

Thomas Edison used a state of deep relaxation to tap into the knowledge-base of the universe. This is what he had to say about it:

“I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us – everything that exists – proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.”

He recognized that there was an implicit order to all things, whether he understood the true nature of that order or not, he knew it was present in everything.

Nicola Tesla was much more connected to the interactive universe than Edison was, as evidenced by this quote:

“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.”

The prolific nature of his inventions is a testament to his connection to the interactive universe. While Edison focused on direct current as a power source, Tesla envisioned the three-phase alternating current system used throughout the world today. This is a prime example of tapping into the interactive universe and bringing forth the information that ultimately is available to all of us. We just need to transform our thinking into the more efficient process of intuition.

Nicola Tesla’s recognition of the core of the universe from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration is an important insight. He recognized that the core of the universe contains secrets and that those secrets are not easily accessed or penetrated. That is because from the consciousness of separation we lack the awareness and perception to delve into those secrets.

The point of this forum is to explain that those secrets can be accessed and understood by transforming our core emotional nature so we can enter into the consciousness of oneness. Within that state of oneness the secrets of the universe will gradually be made available to us. The process is slow in order for us to absorb the knowledge and develop the necessary understanding before we proceed to the next step. We will not come to know all of the secrets of the universe within one lifetime, but over a vastly extended experience of many lifetimes we will eventually acquire complete access.

As long as we remain within the consciousness of separation, we will miss the most amazing parts and aspects of the interactive universe. The consciousness of oneness isn’t something we can learn and use as we learned about the world of separation in school; it is the result of an inner transformation that we ultimately must create within ourselves.

We cannot, as science suggests, be an independent observer. Our presence as an observer changes the nature of what we are observing to one degree or another. In most cases the difference is minor and the scientific method appears to work. But there are times when our presence and consciousness totally changes the nature of the observation.

The material universe accounts for approximately 4% of what’s there. The other 96% is consciousness. Scientists have invented the concepts of dark matter and dark energy in an effort to explain the movements of galaxies that they observe. The known matter doesn’t have enough mass, and thus not enough gravity, to explain the movements. The idea that the entire universe is conscious is nonsense to them, so it is rejected out of hand.

I refer to the unmanifest universe as the Prime Dimension. It is a dimension consisting entirely of consciousness. Universal mind, universal spirit, and universal love are all part of that universal consciousness. We are citizens of the Prime Dimension. We are eternal spiritual beings having a mortal human experience.

We depend on science to understand the universe around us. This is part of the problem; we don’t understand science anywhere near as much as we should. The comment I hear a lot is: there’s no proof that (fill in the blank) exists. The problem is with the word, “proof.” There is also no proof that it doesn’t exist. What we need to do is exchange the word evidence for the word proof. What do we have evidence of that something either exists or doesn’t exist? This opens up a whole list of subjects. At one point radio didn’t exist on this planet. Now it does. The process of inventing radio came to at least five different people, spread out all over the planet, at approximately the same time. Nicola Tesla was one of them. Ultimately, Tesla shared his concept for radio with Guglielmo Marconi, who is now credited with its invention. This happens all of the time. It’s how new inventions enter our world; the interactive universe beings the idea or concept, out of the Prime Dimension, to a number of people in different parts of the world. Whoever has the means and the dedication to reduce the concept to practice usually gets credit for the invention. Nothing comes into this world unless it first exists in the Prime Dimension. When the time is right, the concept is shared with individual people resulting in the concept becoming a reality in our world.

The same principle applies to many natural processes. We are aware that a number of plant and animal species die out and become extinct each year. What takes us a longer time to discover is that millions of new species appear on our planet. All of these new species are fully formed in the Prime Dimension, then they are clothed in materiality as they appear. Some are evolutionary offspring of existing plants and animals, some are not. Some simply appear and we don’t know how that happened. There are many things that come into existence in our world that we don’t understand. There are also many things that happen that we don’t understand either.

In many ways science has become a form of religion. We have become so invested in certain concepts and theories that we discount or reject what is happening right in front of us. The theory of evolution is one of them. We are taught evolution as established fact, rather than the flawed theory that it actually is. We look for “the missing link” when there are thousands if missing links. I’ll give you an example: flowering plants depend on insects (bees in particular) for pollination. So which came first; the bee or the flower? As far as we can tell, they both appeared at approximately the same point in time; neither one evolved before the other or because of the other.

The argument is often presented as evolution vs. creationism. This is another form of the binary argument: either it’s totally this way, or it’s totally the other way. In reality there are usually thousands of different possibilities in-between the two extremes. Just because we have been trained to think in certain terms and methods doesn’t mean that other principles and methods were not used. Just as with inventions, many things are seeded into our world directly from the Prime Dimension, or another method has been used that we have rejected for lack of proof because it doesn’t fit within our belief system. The problem isn’t the fact that things appear, the real obstacle is our limited belief system.

Because consciousness is a common thread between the Prime Dimension and our world, some people have taught that we can create anything we want through imagining and believing. If something in our life is within the life lessons we have selected the process of manifesting appears to work. Most of the time it doesn’t. I have found from experience that we are better off listening to the interactive universe rather than asking or demanding something from it. If there is a problem that needs to be solved in our life, we need to clearly define the problem and any conditions that are present, and then open our mind to any possible solution, not just a solution that we have become emotionally invested in. In this way many problems can be solved.

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There are two basic forms of religion: individual experience, and savior-based. Individual experience based religions include Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, and a few others of similar structure. Savior-based religions include Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and a few others of similar structure. The real dividing line between the two forms is individual experience based religions focus on a transformation and empowerment of the individual, while savior-based religions focus on empowering the religious organization, often at the expense of the individual.

I am going to make another distinction between the two forms of religion based on their scriptures: either the scripture is about the transformation of the individual, or it is political in nature. Any scripture that contains violence, invasion of another’s land, killing other people, or taking the natural resources of another people is political in nature. Violence, war, invasion, and conquering others are political objectives, not spiritual goals. The Torah of Judaism, the Old Testament of Christianity, and the Quran of Islam are all political documents being passed off as religious scripture.

But this is what god wants is the argument. This is the way god is. This is where brutal honesty is required. The god of savior-based religions in every case is actually an extraterrestrial with a high degree of technology at their disposal. The so-called miracles involving god are the result of advanced technology, not supernatural abilities. The god of Judaism and the god of the Christian Old Testament is an Anunnaki by the name of Enlil. The Anunnaki left over 500,000 clay tablets behind in cuneiform writing. At least 20% of those clay tablets describe the relationship between the Anunnaki and people. By their own account the Anunnaki came from another planet, Nibiru, which makes them extraterrestrials by definition. Islam focused on a different Anunnaki, changing the name to Allah, but the end result is the same; god is an extraterrestrial. In Hinduism, more than one god is followed, some of which are Anunnaki, and some are of another extraterrestrial race.

But I don’t believe extraterrestrials exist, you might say. My suggestion is that you follow the evidence. Here are some books that can help you gather the evidence you need to make an informed decision:

• Reign of the Anunnaki – The Alien Manipulation of our Spiritual Destiny by Jan Eric Sigdell, Bear & Company, Rochester, Vermont, ©2016
• Secret Life – Firsthand Documented Accounts of UFO Abductions by David M. Jacobs, Ph.D, Simon & Schuster, New York, ©1992. David Jacobs has been researching UFO abductions for over 20 years and is one of the premier researchers in the world on the subject.
• Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens by John E. Mack, M.D. John Mack was a psychiatry professor at Harvard. He started out to prove that alien abductions were a hoax. After 2 years of research and interviews he concluded alien abductions were real.
• UFOs are Real – Extraterrestrial Encounters Documented by the U.S. Government by Sergeant Clifford E. Stone, U.S. Army (ret). SPI Books, New York ©1997. Clifford Stone was involved in UFO crash retrievals for the Army for 20 years.
• Children of the Greys by Bret Oldham, House of Halo, © 2012. Bret has been abducted repeatedly since he was 5 years old. This book is a true, first person account.

These books are a good start on the subject.

The Roman emperor Constantine formalized the Christian documents that became the Bible into a political movement at the Council of Nicea in 327 AD. As a result, bishops in the new Christian Church were given essentially the same authority as judges in the Roman Empire. The early Christian Church was political in nature and was intended to unify the fractured Roman Empire.

There were two power centers at this time: Rome was the center of political power, and Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, was the cultural and intellectual center. The library, attached to the temple of Serapis in Alexandria, housed tens of thousands of documents that recorded the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of mankind since before the Biblical flood. Gnosticism (direct knowledge of God) was deemed a heresy by the Christian Church and an aggressive program followed to rid the world of heretical documents. The final conflict between Rome and Alexandria came to a head in 391 AD, when Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria, under Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led an angry mob of Christians across the city to the Temple of Serapis, destroying the statues, tapestries, artwork and icons in the temple and then focusing their rage on the library in the main wing of the temple. In a day’s time the collected knowledge and wisdom of thousands of years was destroyed. This act of violence was purely political and had nothing to do with spirituality.

Even today, the Vatican remains a political entity while claiming to be a religion. Nothing has changed. The Christian religion was, and remains, a political organization. Keep in mind that words can be lies, but physical action is the real determining factor in evaluating the nature of a person or an organization. The violence and destruction during the Crusades and the 600 years of torture and violence of the Holy Inquisition are the defining physical acts of Christianity.

For several hundred years the Christian Church has reassured people that their documents, painstakingly copied by hand, were faithful reproductions of much older documents. The problem is that we have now recovered approximately 100,000 ancient documents in the form of clay tablets written in cuneiform. These are contemporary historical documents, not copies of copies held within the church, with the written history of the same world and timeframe covered by the Bible. We now know that the Biblical story is a contrived tale, both New and Old Testaments. The Bible is not historical, it is a collection of made-up stories based on much older stories. None of it is historical fact.

The Torah, the five books of Moses, were written after the Israelites came out of captivity in Babylon in approximately 850 BC. The story in Genesis was taken, with significant modifications, from the Enuma Elish. This is the original story of creation written on clay tablets in cuneiform, which was read aloud, one tablet per day, during the celebration of the new year in Babylon. The seven tablets were transformed into the seven days of creation. The Israelite scholars were there. They witnessed the whole celebration. They then created the Torah as a document intended to unite the Israelite tribes into a coherent political organization. That effort succeeded. Violence, war against neighboring nations, murder, rape, and slavery were incorporated into the document to give the new Israelites permission from god to attack their neighbors. That document is still being used for the same purpose today. The Torah is a political document; it is not spiritual. The god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was Enlil, an Anunnaki extraterrestrial.

The story of Noah and the flood is a contrived version of a much older story, the Epic of Ziasudra (the Babylonian version) and its predecessor, the Epic of Utnapishtim from Mesopotamia (Sumer). In the biblical version, god decides to wipe out mankind because of wickedness, then repents allowing Noah to build an ark to save a remnant of people and animals. In both of the older versions god is not present, but a conflict between the Anunnaki Enlil and his half-brother Enki is portrayed. Enlil, the commander of all Anunnaki on planet Earth, doesn’t decide to destroy mankind but becomes aware of a natural cataclysm and decrees that the humans shall not be notified of the coming disaster. Enki, as the protector of mankind, technically adheres to Enlil’s order but lets Ziasudra (Utnapistim) know of the disaster by talking to Ziasudra’s hut in the middle of the night (knowing full well that Ziasudra is inside listening). Thus, a portion of mankind is saved.

The Quran was written with the intention of uniting the various Arab tribes in the Middle East. That, too, was a success. The god of Islam, now called Allah, was also an Anunnaki extraterrestrial.

These are all savior-based religions. Based on what is done in the name of these religions, they are all political movements touting political documents as religious scripture.

I’ll give you another example. The Anunnaki created the form of civilization that we have today. While the Anunnaki were here, they extracted a 10% tax on the production of the people. That tax also included taking the first animal born in the spring of each specie, 10% of each crop that was grown, and 10% of items that were manufactured. This provided the Anunnaki with enough food and other items for them to live comfortably. The tithe of modern religious organizations and the taxes of political organizations today all come from this tradition.

While it may sound as if I am denouncing religious doctrine and scripture there is something more important at work here. What I am saying is that a literal interpretation of religious scripture is not to be trusted. Religious scripture (as in the story of Noah and the flood above) have come, at least in part, from actual spiritual teachings. Those spiritual teachings have always been symbolic in nature. Some of the teachings have been corrupted beyond recognition, but many have retained their spiritual roots. The teachings of Jesus from the New Testament are a prime example. Many of the parables are ignored by the modern Christian church because they don’t understand them. The modern church takes a literal interpretation of the New Testament and the parables are clearly symbolic in nature. Once we understand what the symbols are we can reconstruct the original spiritual teachings. This is the subject matter in Esoteric Teachings Explained.

Religious scriptures contain both lies and older spiritual truths. We can learn a great deal by going through religious scriptures and sorting out and discarding the lies and retaining the spiritual truths contained therein. That sorting out is the underlying purpose of this blog.

The Origin of God

There was a time when extraterrestrials ruled our world. There have been many different extraterrestrial races that have been here. Many of our indigenous people around the globe have oral traditions regarding their origins, and almost all of them credit the beginning of their races to “sky people” who came down from the heavens above, started their race of people, and gave them their culture and way of life. In academic circles these stories are considered to be myths, there are, after all, no extraterrestrials in their belief system.

In all cases, the people, once given a decent start by their extraterrestrial progenitors, have been left on their own. Some extraterrestrials have stayed for extended periods of time. The Anunnaki are a prime example of that. They came to the Middle East, established a number of different civilizations, and due to the mismanagement of their own culture and members, ended up in a conflict that destroyed most of the Middle East at the time and eventually forced the Anunnaki to move their base of operations to Central and South America. As the number of humans expanded beyond the Anunnaki’s ability to control, they eventually abandoned their controlling presence on our planet.

The extraterrestrials that founded civilizations were technologically advanced. That technology appeared to be supernatural to the humans. These extraterrestrials were thus considered gods. The main characters of the Anunnaki had personalities; some gentle and understanding (such as Enki) and some angry and vengeful (such as Enlil). In any case, the humans that dealt directly with the extraterrestrial “gods” came to understand that “god” had a personality. The nature of that personality became the foundation of a religion and guided the worship of that particular god. Many times that god enforced a set of rules for the humans under their control and those rules became the rules or tenets of what is now a religion.

There were in excess of two hundred Anunnaki that interacted with humans. Different individual Anunnaki had different agendas. They created human armies to compete for limited territory and natural resources. This is why Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have a history of god wanting war. Violence, war, and invasion were worked into the religious scriptures so the humans could continue the practices of aggression and destruction. While each of those religions publicly pronounce that god is loving, each one privately condones the practice of war and aggression. This is why I consider those religions to be political and not spiritual. It’s not about what they say, it’s about what they do in practice.

There are some forms of religion that do not condone or participate in war. There are also religions in the New Thought movement that redefine god as being universal mind, or universal consciousness and without personality. To me, these are all steps in the right direction.

The only “God’s word” that I am familiar with is written on clay tablets in cuneiform writing from more than 3,500 years ago. To my knowledge that is not the basis of a religion. All other claims that religious scripture is the word of god is a lie. It’s the word of humans that want power and control over others and as many natural resources and money as they can get their hands on. That’s political, not spiritual.

One of the prevailing ideas is that we are children of god. Most of this concept comes from the Anunnaki who claimed that they “created” modern mankind. Created is an overly used term. The correct term is genetically modified. Many different extraterrestrial races used genetic manipulation to start human enclaves on this planet. Scientists steeped in the theory of evolution have tried a number of different ideas to account for the how the different races came into existence. Because these scientists either don’t believe in extraterrestrial visitation, or assume that the Earth alone has intelligent life on it, the obvious process of multiple genetic experiments by different extraterrestrial races is steadfastly ignored.

If we take the time to look at the creation stories of many of the different races on our planet, we discover that the root of almost every race is spawned by extraterrestrial intervention. The evidence is everywhere. It’s the assumptions of academics and scientists that preclude serious consideration of the evidence. The most damaging assumption is that we are alone in the universe. That has never been the case. We have never been alone. We have had extraterrestrial visitations and interventions for millions of years.

Scientists and academics try to argue that the vastness and extreme distances of space preclude interstellar travel. This position is based on our general lack of understanding of the universe. Primary among the lack of understanding is a fixed concept of time. Time is considered to be a universal constant. It isn’t. The passage of time is a function of the square root of the gravitational field divided by the energy field. The vast distances of space don’t work the way we think they do. Interstellar travel happens all of the time. The very highest levels of our military know how it all works. They just aren’t inclined to let regular people like you and me know the details.

Every concept of god that involves any form of a personality is based on an extraterrestrial. Don’t get me wrong, people can believe in whatever they want. I’m not saying they can’t. They can worship all the extraterrestrials as god that they want. It’s just that if we want to grow and mature spiritually, we need to come to understand the truth. There’s a lot of value in the saying that we will come to know the truth, and that truth will set us free.

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