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.
