Monarch Photo by Krista Moore
Nothing can disturb my peace today. Yes, it is sunny, and gorgeous, and we are outside most of the time. Yes, we have a new pool, and a beautiful stone path being born, and help to do everything we need. But not the sun, not the pool, not the friends, nothing can bring me the peace I have when I read words of Truth sent to me through A Course in Miracles (Foundation for Inner Peace).
I am also reading, The Gnostic Gospels, as interpreted/translated from the Nag Hammadi Library texts discovered outside a cave in Egypt in 1945. I find they are sometimes beautiful and strikingly familiar, especially the Valentinian texts (The Gospel of Truth), but when it comes to Jesus’ sayings (eg. The Secret Gospel of James), written over a century or more after Jesus supposedly spoke them) I find them highly inconsistent with his message of Love, at once condemning and then blessing we humans for our folly or faith.
Based on my reading of the Course, some of the New Testament, and the Gnostic Gospels, the original message of Jesus seems to be purely:
God is Love, and nothing else is. Fear cannot destroy you if you believe in Love. You don’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to follow man’s rules, you don’t have to prove your worth to God or follow a set of complex tasks or rituals, or what one author calls the Conventional Wisdom of the day) to win God’s favor. Jesus was a revolutionary. He was hardly conventional. His message, if you listen deeply is:
Forgive, love, and then forgive again. Because we all make mistakes, and will continue to do so, until they day we die – and even then! Perhaps for eternity.
God is Love, and nothing else is, no other words that speak of condemnation or lack or destruction, mean anything at all. In my opinion, these false declarations (even if they do appear in the Bible) come from the ego, which sees only the opposite of Love, and condemns everything it does not understand. Like a child afraid of the dark, it lashes out, makes demands, attacks. It is either frantic and afraid of monsters, or becomes one. It does not know truth or wisdom, and so it conceals (like pulling the covers over your head). It cannot see reality as it is.
Institutionalized religion has done its best, but has often become distorted and fearful, restrictive, making people equally afraid or indifferent. Thank God for those seeking comfort who find it. But there is more to find. I believe we are coming to a time where people are seeking a greater Truth that defies all description, boundaries and limitations of this world. We are coming to a time of understanding and peace, but it will not come easily.
I can’t proclaim to be an enlightened being, though I have my moments of lucidity and clarity. I believe Life channels through me. And the truth truly sets me free, and those in its wake. I love it. It feels so generous, so alive, so full of love. It lifts. It is not bound by any one interpretation, or doctrine, or belief, or institution.
Truth is free like a butterfly, it visits beauty and teases us with its purity and freedom. It makes us want to ascend to reach it and become like it. And know that it exists.
Someday this level of knowledge and liberation will seem normal. To want it, expect it, declare it, live it. Right now, it’s still a little uncomfortable, especially in the West. Though it’s getting better. I’m getting better.
This is my Sabbath statement, without a synagogue or church over my head. This is what came through, with my hand on A Course in Miracles and my heart full of truth.
I hope Truth visits you today, in all its beautiful colours, alighting and teasing you forward and beyond. Reach up, listen for it, see it and laugh. It is there. A miracle alights on you as you are recognized for what you are.
Amen!
