A Bright, Vibrant Blue Diamond
A Bright, Vibrant Blue Diamond
John Æonid, Reflections in a Personal Web Site
John Æonid, Reflections in a Personal Web Site

Jesus Revisited

Apr. 10, 2021, John Æonid Draft

Again, I'm forcing myself to draft a piece online to avoid my procrastination.  You can expect this to be a grammatical hot mess.  Try not to judge.

I've had some recent thinking about Jesus that's beginning to gel, and I'm writing this as that process is occurring.

For the past decade or so, I've been focusing on a kind of new age perspective, which is what I've been writing about here.  I've also been a practitioner of Zen, which includes a particular appreciation of the core Buddhist principal—that cravings are the root of all suffering.  But, in my early spiritual pursuits, I was a born-again Christian.  However, I should clarify that my Jesus is the hippie Jesus, so I was more of a Jesus Freak than a bible thumper.  And, I don't do religious obedience.  Either your heart is in the right place, or you need to do some meditation to come into alignment—to go beyond simply being the obedient automaton.  Faith is not the greatest thing.  Love is the greatest thing.  I won't even bother to provide a Bible quote for that one.  Everyone should already know it.  Of course, I worry about those that don't get this.

The reason I moved on to other spiritual perspectives was because I found the rhetoric around faith to be far too empty.  I needed a deeper understanding, and I realized I wouldn't get it from Bible thumpers and Jesus freaks.  Keep in mind however, this was not leaving Jesus behind.  I never had a reason to kick him out of my heart.  That's why I still connect so well to those who have that shining light in their heart.  Yeah, I can tell who you are.  When you live it, it shines like a beacon, and anyone with Jesus in their heart will see it and recognize it for what it is.

But, that last point is kind of what brought me here.  I can't tell you how often I find myself revelling in the beauty I see in others and how bright and wonderful I see those that that embrace that kind of beauty.

Jeesh, I thought this was going to be hard to explain, but this is practically writing itself. 

I've written about how we can come to see the beauty in our own heart, and I've written about how that can lead us to know, nay experience, a love of that beauty, thus loving ourselves.  Of course, I was only able to do that for myself because I had so often revelled in the beauty that I see in the hearts of others.  That ability to see the beauty in others became the thing I came to love in myself.  This is the engine that continuously cycles this heart energy to do that thing people call raising your vibration.

So, today's realization is the way that we can take this beyond a local level.  This doesn't actually require Jesus.  I'm now a Univeralist.  I'm confident that Buddhists, Sikhs, and others will be able to do this too with the teacher they best identify.  In fact, I want everyone who reads this to know that as I write this my heart is welling up with the anticipation that you will connect with this too.

So, what do I mean by "take this beyond a local level?"  Well, the seed, as I've said, is being able to see the beauty in another person.  All you need is one.  That's very local.  Then you see your own ability to see the beauty in others—within yourself—and you love that as well.  So, now the beauty spans between you and someone else.  That's a very important connection.  Actually, it's two connections.  It's both the connection between you and someone else, as well as a realization and resulting connection with your ability to connect.

I'm going to take a little aside before I get to the big punch line here.  Be patient; a little suspense won't hurt. 

I've written about how we can use a kind of virtual reality that we all have within us to tap into very powerful aspects of our consciousness (Inner Voices).  This is the holodeck we have within in us.  It's the place that we work out the scenarios that we expect we'll face.  With this we can be better prepared when we actually encounter those anticipated situations.  It's where we practice.  And, in this place we engage with models of the people that we know in our lives.  We interact with them; we have converstations with them.  And, I've explained how this virtual reality can aide in connecting with knowledge we have that would otherwise be difficult to access.

It's this ability to model others that is key here.  Sympathy and empathy are so important that we actually have special mental faculties specifically for that purpose.  (O.K. I'm not actually aware of any specific research on this, but I take it as a given from an evolutionary perspective.  Besides, I think there probably is research on this and probably involves FMRI and the like.  Also, note that I've taken it upon myself use these definitions.  Sympahty: putting our self in the shoes of another—as our self.  Empathy: putting our self in the shoes of another—as if we are them.)

Ultimately, this is why figure heads in society are so important.  Yes, that has a downside, so we do have to keep that in perspective.  However, it is important that we actually make sure that we recognize the positive role models in our lives.  They embody the humanity that we strive to be.  That's why Jesus and those like him are so important to us.  They embody the ultimate in what it means to be human.  And, we get to engage those regions in our brains that are responsible for empathy and sympathy to better understand what these things mean.

So, here's the punch line that came to mind today.  Because Jesus and those like him can be embraced around the World, he becomes a vehicle to connect with the beauty in all—all at once.  Sure, I've engaged in meditation and ritual in which I focus on expanding a sense of love out and into the World.  It's really quite wonderful to imagine heart energy that can be propagated outward throughout the entire Universe.  I've also borrowed from the Zen concept of Universal Mind to say that there is also a Universal Heart.  And, we might as well throw in the terms Sacred Heart and Divine Heart.  But, let's also allow that there can be another human that embodies this.  Let that imagery tap into our special neurological faculties to experience being a person that embodies that beauty.

And, then see that it in all people everywhere, all around the globe, all throughout the Universe. 

See that beauty as trillions of brilliant, beautiful lights permeating the entire Universe.

Pause.

Take a breath.

Feel it.

Pause.

Take another deep breath.

Experience it.

Breathe again.

I hope you feel emotionally invigorated and your vibration has risen. 

I write this in Love.

I hope you feel it.

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