Seeking 101
Began as a talk to the Spiritualist Society
Art in the button is from Pixabay Winter by DeeDee51
Button is from pixabay, user: geralt
Also see:
The Hermes Concepts
Metaphysical View of John 14
The Razor’s Edge – Katha Upanishad
The One Thing
Christmas is for Compassion
Merry Christmas
As a Spiritualist, I feel awkward saying Merry Christmas. But I have always liked Christmas. As a kid, I wished the Nativity scene was real. My favorite Christmas music is Little Drummer Boy.
The sense I have of Christmas is that it represents the best of Humankind; the compassion of which we are capable.
Christmas literally means “Christ Mass.” It is the Christian’s celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth who is their Christ or Messiah. Christos in Greek means Anointed. Messiah is Hebrew for Anointed. In this context, Anointed means chosen by God.
The theme of my talk is that the time around the Winter Solstice has been imbued with a sense of wonder for the mystery of death and rebirth we see in Mother Nature. It is encoded in our human’s instincts. The thoughtform representing this season has evolved to be part reverence for the mystery of nature and reverence for what Jesus represents to Christianity.
For this talk, I want to focus on what Jesus taught and why many Spiritualists think of him as an important wayshower?
Jesus the Wayshower
The first understanding is that Jesus represented himself as the three aspects of a teacher.
For me, John 14 of the Bible includes the most important teaching attributed to Jesus.
Line 14.6 (Aramaic version)
Thomas said to him, “Master, we don’t know where you’re going, so how could we know the way there?”
Line 14.6
Jesus explained, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No one comes next to the Father except through faith in me. To know me is to know my Father too.”
From the perspective of contemporary Spiritualism, “The way” in John 14.6 represents the spiritual principles Jesus taught. “The truth” is shown by how Jesus lived those principles as a role model. “The life” is the way understanding and living in accordance with those principles can manifest as a well-lived lifetime.
Teaching the principles, showing how it is to live under the guidance of those principles and showing that how doing so can lead to a meaningful life are the three aspects of a teacher.
In John 14.6, Jesus was not telling his students that they must worship him to attain their place in heaven. He was showing that their way to spiritual maturity and access to the even greater understanding was by understanding what he taught and learning to live in accordance with those principles.
So, what were the principles Jesus taught? From the Spiritualist perspective:
Progression never ends
The many ways Jesus talked about redemption and salvation can be thought of in the same sense that NSAC Declaration of Principle 8 can be understood: We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any soul, here or hereafter.
Brotherhood
John 4:20
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
John 13:34-35
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Respect others no matter a person’s station in life.
Mark 2:17
Jesus said: “It is the sick who need a physician, so I don’t seek the righteous but the sinners.”
Luke 6.31
Jesus taught Do to others as you would have them do to you.
This is thought to be the source or the NSAC Principle 5: We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The Way of Progression
The way of progression is through understanding and not through deeds. From NSAC Principle 7 – We affirm the moral responsibility of individuals and that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature’s physical and spiritual laws.
Support for this comes from the collected teaching of Jesus as described in the Bible.
Our natural habitat is the greater reality (Kingdom of God) to which we will return after transition.
John 14.1
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
John 14.2
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
John 14.3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 14.4
You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Personal responsibility – Natural Law
Progression is based on increasing understanding derived from personal experience. As is stated in NSAC Principle 7 (above), our purpose (the will of God) is to gain understanding about the principles governing the operation of this world through experience.
The implication of Jesus as “the way” is that we will study the principles he taught and learn to follow the way they indicated. Doing so requires personal initiative, for no one will force a person to become a seeker.
God will send a Comforter
John 14.16
And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Savior, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be to you a friend just like me—and he will never leave you.
John 14.17
The world won’t receive him because they can’t see him or know him. But you will know him intimately, because he will make his home in you and will live inside you.
Jesus taught that the spirit of his teaching is with all who have the eyes to see, understand and follow what he taught. Many of the translations of that John 14.16 substitute “comforter” in place of “Savior.”
Based on my study, the first dispensation or revelation of spiritual knowledge about our spiritual nature came with the Hermetic teachings 6,000 years ago. The next major dispensation was with the Katha Upanishad some 4,000 years ago. The teaching of Jesus 2,000 years ago represents the third.
I feel we are in the midst of the fourth dispensation by way of Instrumental TransCommunication and the phenomena of Spiritualism. Each of these dispensations represent a Comforter in the sense I think intended by Jesus.
While humankind has been told many times, it remains up to the individual to explore the lessons and find way to turn them into understanding that informs their daily living.
Born Again
Amongst Christians, being born again signifies having accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.
John 3.3
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
As we come into this lifetime, we are mostly guided by our human’s instincts. Enlightenment is not a state of being. It is a moment in which we transition from being unthinkingly guided by human instincts to consciously seeking better understanding of our spiritual nature. It is that moment a seeker consciously decides to step on the path. As Jesus taught, the path is his teaching. Stepping onto the path is being born again. It is the awakening of our spiritual nature. What remains is the work we must do to follow the path.
Jesus was a Humanitarian
Jesus did teach an individual path to spiritual maturity. Terms like redemption and savior are all about personal improvement. But the example he set showed that personal improvement is for service to humanity.
Jesus taught lessons about personal progression that contradicted the established church. Even today, a person teaching lessons that contradict the establishment risks imprisonment, even death in some countries.
The one word I find to describe a wayshower is humanitarian. The collected works of Jesus make it clear that he was a humanitarian.
The Christmas Spirit has come to be all about love, hope and peace. Altruism and compassion are terms that come to mind. Jesus taught those values, so as a Spiritualist, I am okay with taking a moment to send a thought of respect to Jesus as wayshower.
Ignorance Vortex: Disbelief > Ignored Evidence > Resulting Lack of Research > Only Encounter Antidotal Evidence > Disbelief.
