Say the Reason for Rwanda

You say there's a reason
For everything
What is the reason to fight?
For sure as the seasons
The suffering
Will come back to their
Doorstep at night

Seems thou shall not kill
Is plowed under the hill
To justify glory and might
The still and small voice
Is drowned out in the noise
To prove that they're wrong
And you're right

Say the reason for Rwanda
Say the means that pulled it under
Say without the propaganda
Say why reason was abandoned
Say the reason why
Our brothers fight
Brothers in vain
The spoils of war
Bloodshed and pain

18 Principles for an Economy that is of, by and for the People

1. As a general rule, the highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free enterprise economy with a minimum of government regulations. All principles should be informed by this maxim.

2. The people, in the form of elected officials, and not the financial elite must be in charge of the monitory policy and the supply of money.

3. The economic systems and policies should always be a benefit to the people and not only the elite; its policies should encourage the primary economic producers of laborers, inventors and investors whose products are a benefit to the people.

4. The Federal Reserve, as an instrument of the elite, should be abolished and replaced with accountable agencies within the government that are directly elected and accountable to the people.

5. All economic laws and regulations should be written clearly, concisely and easily understandable by all educated people.

6. Money issued must have the backing of something of value (like gold).

7. The government should not spend more than it receives in revenue – that is it must balance its budget on an annual basis.

8. The people should not be subject to excessive and unjust levels of taxation. Tax rates higher than 10% need to be approved by a two thirds majority of the people, decided by referendum.

9. The amount of money in circulation in the economy must be equal in value to amount of available goods and services.

10. The amount of money should not exceed the amount of good and services as this is always inflationary.

11. Inflation is never an acceptable means of taxation. All taxes need to be transparent and explicit.

12. Money should never be created out of nothing. But be backed by something of value as indicated above.

13. The amount of money in circulation and the amount of good and services in the economy should be able to grow without a rise in prices. In fact, this is the only legitimate way an economy can grow.

14. Laborers should be fairly compensated and fairly protected against misuse and exploitation of large corporations.

15. Markets are not free when single corporations control the majority of the market share. Therefore, the government has a right to enact and enforce laws that encourage competition and discourage monopolies.

16. Government has a right to enact and enforce laws that assess financial products as their risk to the economy and prohibit those from reaching the market that are deemed too risky.

17. Housing Loans should only be given to those who have demonstrated an ability to pay them back.

18. All deferred or hidden fees, change of interest rates, and payment schedules must be clearly presented to buyers before they make home purchased.

Take a Walk Inside to Happy

You can check out the song here: Walk Inside to Happy on MySpace

Have you ever raised your head
Above the sea of faces where
They've put their souls to bed
And of joy there's only traces there

But if you think about it
You got what you need to sprout it
Thoughts are things with wings
To take you where

You can laugh
You can sing
You don't have to be 
A puppet on a string
So do what makes you happy
You can dance
You can smile
You can throw away
Your woulda, shoulda, pile
And see what makes you happy
Take a walk inside to happy

So you're orbiting around
Your mistakes as large as Jupiter
Part penitent, part clown
Have you done anything stupider?

But if you think about it
You can do without it
Mistakes are stepping stones
To take you where

You can laugh
You can sing
You can be a part
Of every living thing
And do what makes you happy
You can dance
You can smile
You can ask the questions
Like a little child
And see what makes you happy
Take a walk inside to happy

Feeling alone
I got God on the phone
And I asked him
O where have you been?
I've been here all the time
In your heart and your mind
In each breathe that you take
Out and in
Because everybody's got a gift inside
When you share it there I AM in sight

You can laugh
You can sing
You don't have to be a
A puppet on a string
To do what makes you happy
You can dance
You can smile
You don’t have to move along
In single file
To be what makes you happy
Take a walk inside to happy

Time to Fly

When you open up your heart
The universe returns
To you glad tidings
The clouds begin to part
Revealing other worlds
Your soul can reach

Now’s the time to start
There really isn’t
Any other moment
As Life comes to impart
The inner joy
That's now awakening

O can't you see it’s time to fly
To pain and sorrow
Say goodbye
There’s nothing more
To hold or hide
And even though you thought
Your wings were broken
The voice within has spoken
It’s time to fly

You are always More
Then everyone believes
And what they’ve told you
But if you want to soar
Don’t be afraid
To shine for all to see

So step right through those doors
You always thought
You weren’t supposed to open
Where the love inside implores
To let it out
And help all to be free

O listen now it’s time to fly
To pain and sorrow
Say goodbye
There’s nothing more
To hold or hide
And even though you thought
Your wings were broken
The voice within has spoken
It’s time to fly

Footprints in the Snow

Like the leaves that fall in autumn
Seasons turn by letting go
And for all the battles and fought and won
What remains can’t be controlled

Now as the chapter’s closing
Hear the bells of freedom ring
For the soil this garden’s grown in
Can no longer hold me in

So farewell to ways I’ve left behind me
Still I love you more than you can know
But if in yesterdays you try to find me
They’re like footprints in the snow

Within the shell of my cocoon
Grew the seeds of wings to soar
But our home had only room
For the me that was no more

And as the lantern’s glowing
In the flame your eyes met mine
As they see I must be going
So the sun can truly shine

So farewell to ways I’ve left behind me
Still I love you more than you can know
But if in yesterdays you try to find me
They’re like footprints in the snow

Only as Distant as You Think

Leanne
Sits by the window
Beneath the stairs
Upon them her diary
Torn pages where
She asks is anybody there?

Ben-tan
Alone in his cube
Works till late at night
He whispers a prayer
Then turns out the light
Where is God now to make it right?

(chorus)
God is only as distant as you think he is
Not even a heartbeat away
God is only as distant as you think he is
For in a blink he is inside to stay
In truth he never went away

In every land
There's millions of souls
Who are reaching out
Yet in their hearts and their minds
There's a world of doubt
Is this what life is all about?

Every woman and man
Who knows in their hearts
That there’s something more
Can find in their minds there’s
An open door
To fulfill what they’ve come here for

(chorus)

I know the Spirit is inside
Where the one in all abides
Waiting for us to decide
To be bearers of the light
To be shining through the night
Until we open up and
Find it the kingdom within us
Rise above all our divisions
Life need not be a riddle
Until we realize

World of Sin

When I was young
I asked my Mom
Why is there such pain?
Why’s there such sorrow?
Why all the wars
Where powerful reign?
From the beginning
Is this the way the world was made?
She said it’s fulfilling the promise
The price was paid

But how can we stay
In this world of sin?
Where reason, desire
Are both on fire
When we can have a new day
When we go within
Let the ego expire
Let the light take us higher
Higher and higher to mend
This world of sin

So why all this violence
Kids on kids they’re downed in the street?
With hands that are empty
So many people with nothing to eat
I’ve searched all these years
To the find the answers
Nobody gave
I spoke to the preachers
They said son
Just kneel and be saved

But how can we stay
In this world of sin?
Where reason, desire
Are both on fire
When we can have a new day
When we go within
Let the ego expire
Let the light take us higher
Higher and higher to mend
This world of sin

It’s not a dream, I know they’ll be
A world of peace and plenty all are free
We raise our hearts
Our consciousness
And send love out to heal and bless
The universe is like a mirror
Reflecting love the pain will disappear
In it’s place, come joy and grace
The more to life we all embrace

So Long to the Dark Night

Good afternoon I greet the sun
A million rays from heaven
Upon the stream each will become
More beautiful today
Since I discovered how to be
A sailing on the river
Wind in my sails will set me free
Don’t swim against the waves
By letting go I let in me

So long to the dark night
The via dolorosa is done
I feel so strong in the sweet light
Like a new day’s begun
I don’t hold on to whose wrong or right
Or what’s supposed to be done
Because you can’t see in the dark night
That you’re shining like the sun

So I become his hands and feet
We’re building it together
To make it as it’s meant to be
More beautiful each day
I never put down anyone
Cause vision is a leaven
To be all that they can become
When traveling on the inner way
Where letting go you've really won

So long to the dark night
The via dolorosa is done
I feel so strong in the sweet light
Like a new day’s begun
I don’t hold on to whose wrong or right
Or what’s supposed to be done
Because you can’t see in the dark night
That you’re shining like the sun

I love you - yes I do
I’m renewed in every atom, cell is you
Then other worlds are born
When you come into the flame
Within my heart
O like a cool summer rain
Removing every thorn
Co-creating a master work of art
O imagine if you will
Exalted on the top of the hill
Ever higher mountains still
Filled with light

The Eve of Being

Tonight, on the Eve of Being

I approach the light

Like none I've ever seen

Hid behind the tide

Its surfaces, its sheen

I gave up the fight

And let it enter me

I used to think the world

Was my truest friend

The glamor that beguiles

The pleasures without end

I savored every pearl

Save one without a price

And when they all were gone

I opened up my eyes - to find

That its all a disguise

See beyond the dream

When the Real is reprised

On the Eve of Being

The Five Sacred Cows You'll Never Meet in Heaven

The Five Sacred Cows You Will Never Meet in Heaven (excerpt from KOG Within You Book)

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 Friday, September 25, 2009 at 7:12am 

As a child I remember sitting in the pews of my Lutheran church with my emotions vacillating somewhere between boredom and fear. I was bored because very little of what the minister said interested me. Even at a young age it didn’t seem to resonate with what I knew was true on the inside but was not yet able to articulate. The congregation seemed to be going through the motions of the church rituals but no one seemed very happy or excited about it. It was all rather rote and mechanical. It was in a word, dead. I felt fear for a couple of reasons: First, because our minister’s sermons were typically angry in their tone and also contained a lot of references to what would happen if we didn’t accept Jesus – namely be sent to hell. Secondly, because at the center of the altar stood a large stained glass image of Jesus on the cross. In this image, Jesus was bleeding profusely and obviously in great agony. You might imagine how such a scene could well be something less than comforting or inspiring.

I’m in no way saying that my experience speaks for all Christians, but I’m sure many readers have had similar experiences and I’m sure many have had far worse experiences. A survey of recent headlines regarding the abuses of power in a number of Christian churches should tell you that something has gone terribly awry with the Christian religion. This notion is reinforced by the fact that many people are leaving the churches today to find their own brand of spirituality or have rejected religion or God altogether. The problem is that Christianity simply is not meeting the spiritual needs of many people. And if Christianity is not meeting the needs of the people then I believe it’s important to ask ourselves why.

One the main reasons that Christianity is not meeting people’s spiritual needs are that the times have moved on and Christianity has not kept up. In the modern world, most people have embraced a rational world view, where events and phenomenon are seen to have natural causes. Christianity, however, still contains myths or magical type of ideas – such as the virgin birth - that simply are not believable to the modern mind. We have to remember that the Bible was written in another era where the consciousness of the people was not at the level it is now. Therefore it’s content and style reflects the times in which it was written.

So if Christianity is not keeping up with the times, we should ask why. Here’s where the sacred cows come home so to speak. Unfortunately, the unwillingness to change is one of the hallmarks of Christianity and of course other religions as well. For this and for reasons that we will discuss shortly, it’s clear that Christianity has been influenced by the ego and the duality consciousness. One of the main characteristics of the ego is that it resists growth. And the one of main means by which is does so is to cling to fixed ideas – graven images – about life and God and then actively put down any challenges to those images.

So if Christianity contains fixed ideas that prevent growth, what are they? Many if not all of these I have already discussed, but I believe it’s helpful to summarize and analyze them in one chapter so readers more easily see the dynamics operating in Christianity today.

Let us turn then to the sacred cows. By sacred cows I mean the seemingly unassailable assumptions of Christianity - usually left unspoken – which deter our spiritual growth. A sacred cow is sacred because it can’t be touched or examined. Yet if something can’t be examined, then how can you change it when problems arise? As stated earlier, you can’t solve a problem in the same state of consciousness that produced the problem. You have to rise higher than the consciousness the produce it. The reason these sacred cows are never found in heaven is that that they prevent growth. And in God’s River of Life, all beings need to grow and transcend their present level of consciousness to move everything forward. In fact, part of God’s essential nature is growth and change. Therefore, anything that prevents growth does not come from God and never be a part of heaven.

The purpose of the chapter is to take a close look at certain assumptions in Christian theology which because they have left largely unexamined, have become significant roadblocks to the growth. In each section, I will describe each sacred cow and the reasoning behind each of these and list the antidote to the assumption – which in most cases trace back to the central theme of this book that the kingdom of God is with you.

1. Mankind is sinful by nature
The reason most often put forth by Christians for Jesus coming to earth is to save us from our sins. From this viewpoint, the reason we need to be saved from our sins is that since at least the time of Adam, mankind had fallen into sin. This state of sin, moreover, is not viewed as something that can we rise above or overcome because it has been indelibly stamped into our individual and collective character. It’s almost as if it’s been woven into the fabric of our beings or hard coded into our genes.

On the surface, this position is certainly understandable. For since the fall in the Garden, there have been relatively few individuals who have demonstrated the example of overcoming sin and the consciousness behind it. But because few have done this does not necessarily mean that it cannot be done. In fact, just the opposite is true – what one has done all can do.

I believe its helpful to clarify what we mean by sin. Christian theology and tradition has associated sin acts that we do that are morally wrong. Such breaches of morality are also accompanied by guilt and shame for committing the acts. An interesting twist here, however, is that it is a usually a given that mankind is inherently sinful. Yet at the same time we are still supposed to feel guilt and shame when we commit acts that our supposedly consistent with our nature. It seems then that sin, guilt and shame come in one package and are defining elements of our existence on earth.

Missing the Mark
I believe it is time to take a fresh look at sin. Accordingly, it’s important to note here that literal translation of the term “sin” in Hebrew is not guilt or immorality but rather “missing the mark.” One of the first things we notice about “missing the mark” is that it doesn’t come with the value judgments that sin normally does. Something either hits a target or it doesn’t and normally there is no guilt, blame or shame attached to it.

Sin, then, according to the Hebrew definition, can be seen as any act thought or deed that misses the mark – its target destination. But what is the mark or target to be hit? Well earlier in this book in our discussions on the Word we saw that something is either of from the Word or the Logos or it is not. It is either in harmony with God’s laws and principles or out of harmony with them. Something is either of the vibrations of God or it below the vibration of God. Given this, we can conclude that sin from this perspective is anything that falls beneath the vibration of God, or anything that falls beneath the plum line of the gold standard of the Christ consciousness.

Again, something that misses the mark does not come with the emotional baggage sin does. Of course, it’s not the desired outcome that we miss the mark. Yet in many cases the only way that we learn is to experience the effects of our choices that miss the mark and fall below the level of the Christ. From this perspective, there is no need to pile on the guilt for acts that committed out of alignment with the mind of Christ. Rather, we can simply say that our experiments in the use of our free will missed the intended target. We can therefore try again with the hope that next time will produce a better result. This means we don’t have to approach sin by through the all too human filter of guilt, blame and shame. When we do so, this gives us the space to examine the causes of the sin more dispassionately and objectively.

Sin and Responsibility
And when we look at sin more objectively, we can see that God did not create us as sinners – just the opposite. We were created in the image and likeness of God with inherent sense of self worth. From this point, however, we stepped outside of the protection of oneness into the sense of separation where the human ego and the duality consciousness were born. This is the point where all so called sin began. Since we could not longer see the truth, it follows that we failed to act according to its precepts.

The missing link in the discussion on sin was that it was our own free will decisions that led us into the state of mind where sin is possible. However, if sin is seen as something that we are born with or something that’s an inherent part of our nature then we are not responsible for it. And if we are not responsible for it, we can’t correct it. Therefore, the idea was born that we needed some external savior – namely Jesus - to rescue us from sin. Yet even after he somehow saves us, it seems that we are not through with sinning as Jesus supposedly carries our sins for us until the day he takes us to the heaven this is outside of ourselves.

Yet what we need to understand is that if we take responsibility for the fall that led to sin, then we are also responsible for making the decisions that lead us out of sin. This is very good news indeed. It means that we can control our own destiny. It means that we truly can go and sin no more (John 8:11) because we can make the decisions to transcend the duality consciousness of that is the cause of sin. Why do you think that Jesus told us that simply refraining from adultery was not good enough but we needed to overcome the lusts in our heart as well (Mathew 5:28)?

It is because that he knew that behind every act are thoughts and feelings, and behind those lie a state of consciousness and behind this lies our sense of identity. Therefore we need to change our identity and our consciousness to overcome sin – to go and sin no more.

To change our identity we need to understand that the kingdom of God is within us. We need to understand that this kingdom includes our I AM Presence, our Christ Self and that we have the potential to become one with this higher identity within. We change our consciousness by walking the inner path to oneness with our higher identity which includes taking the beam of duality and separation out of our own eye. And when we do raise our consciousness we will no longer miss the mark. Our target practice will be infinitely more effectively because we are one with the target.

Remember, you can’t be in heaven and be in the consciousness of duality or sin at the same time. You are either one with God or separate from God. When you overcome the fixed ideas – the sacred cow of sin – then you are on the true road to heaven – which as Jesus said, is actually within you.

2. Jesus is the Only Son of God
While there is possibly some debate over the concept of sin, historically and to the present, the assumption that Jesus is the only son of God remains almost entirely unchallenged in the Christian community. This idea is reinforced in the Nicene Creed which has been recited by millions of Christians each week since the time it was brought forth. It’s reinforced from the pulpits. It’s reinforced throughout Christian traditions, literature and music. The concept that Jesus is the only son of God is an inescapable part of Christian culture and theology. But there remains a question that few Christians have dared or cared to ask: Is it true? Is Jesus in fact the only son of God?

If you look at passages in the scripture, it is remarkable how little support there is for the idea that Jesus considered himself the only son of God. Indeed, with the exception of John 3:16, there are few scriptural passages where Jesus refers to himself in this manner. And in the case of that particular passage, readers could only infer that it might refer to Jesus, but as we have seen earlier that a much broader interpretation is possible.

Far from declaring any type of superiority or distance from us, it is interesting to note that in most cases Jesus took pains to emphasize his oneness with humanity. In a number case Jesus refers to himself as the son of man (Luke 9:22). Also, he strikingly emphasizes his oneness with us when he says Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Mathew 25:40).

Did he not also say pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you (John 17:20-21)? Again we can return to Jesus statement that the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12). As I’ve stated earlier, how could we do the works with that Jesus does if we are somehow fundamentally different from Jesus?

If you need more biblical support for this idea, once again we note that in the book of Genesis it states that the God created us in his image and likeness, male and female created he them (Genesis 1:27). I cannot see who we can be created in the likeness of God and not be a part of God. And if we are all created by God, don’t we all deserve to called his sons?

The answer is - not quite yet. You see, while all of us have the potential to be sons of God, many of us have not lived up to that potential. Instead we accepted a lower identity of the human ego born from the consciousness of separation from God. Therefore, as was explained in the chapters on the fall of man, in reality, the sons of God are those who have transcended or never descended into the duality consciousness. The sons of God are those whose have become the Christ, meaning their hearts and minds are totally attuned with the Living Word, the Logos, the same mind that created the heavens and the earth, worlds without end.

So in one sense it may have been true that Jesus was the only son of God walking the earth at the time of his Palestinian embodiment. But Jesus was not the exception to the rule but rather its proof that what one has done all can do. Otherwise, he would not have commanded us to do likewise. Otherwise he would not have told us to be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Mathew 5:38). So you can see that the fact that there may have been only one Son of God walking the earth two thousand years ago in no way precludes people from claiming that title today. In fact, I believe it is Jesus’ true desire that thousands if not millions of people today leave their nets of the human consciousness and follow him into the full realization of their Christhood.

Lets look at this from one final perspective. If God created us as miserable sinners as many believe, would he really want to send his only Son down to us to demonstrate who truly miserable and low we are in comparison to his Jesus who is so special? Is that the type of God who is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34)? If so, would that be the kind of God you would want to love and worship?
Once again when we realize that the Kingdom of God is within us, we understand that is indeed God’s good pleasure to give us that kingdom. All we have to do is give up everything that is unreal about us – including the graven image that we can never be Gods sons or daughters - and accept all that is real about us and continue to multiply our understanding of God as we grow on the path.

Excluding yourself from God’s sonship will keep you out of heaven. Meaning if you cannot accept that you can be the Christ you will not enter the kingdom of God within you. It’s really that simple. We must begin to see the Christ in ourselves and not just in Jesus. So, my hope is that for all who have ears to hear that you surrender this illusion move as high as the Spirit takes you. And where will that lead? Well, it not only leads to your Christhood where you can without hesitation call yourself a Son of God, but more importantly it leads to the state of being where all who embrace this consciousness can truly Be S-u-ns of God walking the earth. You become messengers for the light and love of God. And when you are in this state you are perpetually shining the your light to your fellow man and woman, blazing a trail that all might find a way back home – back to the kingdom of God within.

3. Jesus Saves
There’s a rather cynical joke that goes: “Jesus is coming – look busy.” Although some might take offense at this, the joke is funny because it contains an element of truth. Namely the belief that it’s what we do and what we believe that saves us, not who we are. It really points out how ludicrous it is to believe that looking busy could somehow fool God or Jesus into saving us when he comes. Although it’s made in jest, it’s not too far from reality. For as we have seen when we discussed doing versus being, most Christians assume they can believe or do there way into heaven.

But let’s think about that for a minute. If the kingdom of God is within us like Jesus said it is, doesn’t that mean that we have to seek it out and find it for ourselves? Does it not also mean that we actually have to experience that kingdom to be in it? And if experience is necessary, in what way does it make sense that doing or believing outer things can somehow catapult us into the kingdom?

It would seem that Christians prefer to passively be taken into heaven rather then entering it by their own free will choices. But I think we need to take a firm stance on the whole kingdom of God is within us concept. Either the idea that
the kingdom is inside of us is and waiting for us to enter is true or the kingdom of God is outside of us and we need to an outer savior to get us there is true. Both concepts cannot be true as they represent completely different approaches to God. Let us compare and contrast some of the essential elements of each position.

Please take a minute to examine the chart above. If we look at this objectively, if we zoom out at look at the various characteristics of the traditional Christian versus the inner path approach to God, it should become very clear the traditional approach is decidedly at odds with Jesus message about the inner kingdom. If this is correct, I think we need to ask ourselves, am I following the true path of Jesus? Is it possible that I may be following a path that may have nothing to do with Jesus’ true teaching? And if I’m not following the true teachings, why is that?

The answer goes back to the tendency for Christians not to look at themselves objectively and take the beam of the ego out of their own eyes. For if you look at the characteristics shown in the second column, it becomes clear that these are all approaches of the ego. The ego thinks it’s separate from God. The ego will wants to raise its separate sense of self and have that self be saved. The ego is all about control so it will never ask the essential questions that necessary to see beyond duality. The ego believes it can be automatically saved by doing ever thing right. And of course, the ego will never take the beam out of its eye because the ego is the essence of the beam. If the beam goes, so does the ego. And, if you remember what we said earlier, that is not going to happen on its own because the ego has a survival instinct that will resist this until the bitter end.

But even beyond this, getting back then to our discussion about the ego in earlier chapters, we can see that ironically the approach taken by Christians and that of the Scribes and Pharisees are really identical in the end! Both groups believe they can be automatically saved. The Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus day believed with absolute certainty that they would be saved by the following the outer rules and rituals of Judaic law. Christians, on the other hand, believe they are saved by believing in Jesus as their savior and the only Son of God. They too are absolutely certain of their salvation by this belief.
But what drives this need for certainty?

It is always the ego. Why? Because as we discussed earlier, the ego has a fundamental need for security as it was created from our sense of separation from God and therefore has no inherent self worth. Unlike ourselves, it was not created by God and therefore can never be saved by God. In truth, the ego days were numbered the minute it was born. It can never ultimately survive as it was created from the death consciousness itself – the best it can do is prolong its existence but not indefinitely. For it will either die when a person rises above the ego and the dualistic consciousness or it will die in what we referred to earlier as the second death.

Thus, in an attempt to offset this destiny and the insecurity that goes with it, the ego drives certain individuals to invent religious doctrine that allow people to feel there is absolute security where their salvation is “in the bag” - either through following some outer rules or by declaring that someone outside of themselves can save them.

Am I then saying that the traditional approach to Christianity is a false teaching? Well, let’s look at this logically. The chart above strongly indicates that ego is what underlies the characteristics in the second column - the traditional approach where Jesus presumably guarantees our salvation by our belief in him. And since the ego was born out of the duality consciousness where truth cannot be known and everything is relative, and since we have since traditional Christian doctrine is heavily if not entirely influenced by the ego, how can we say there is any truth in it?

And if there is no truth in it, do we really believe that these doctrines came from Jesus? We know that above anything else, Jesus spoke truth, even very unpopular truth that upset a number of powerful religious leaders to the point that they went so far as to kill him in attempt to silence him. We know that by and large Jesus was above the ego as his tests in the desert (Luke 4:1-13) as well the statement that the prince of this world cometh and have nothing in me (John 14:29) attest.

In fact, Jesus went out of his way to challenge the mindset that Christians take regarding salvation in his interactions with the Scribes and Pharisees. The religions leaders were waiting for a Messiah to come – but they had a very fixed idea about what their version of the Messiah should say and do. They wanted a Messiah who upheld and affirmed their rigid rules and doctrines and reinforced their belief that they could be automatically saved by adhering to them. In truth they wanted a Messiah who was created in the image and likeness of their egos. Yet Jesus rebuked them saying: Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. (Luke 11:52).

The approach of the Scribes and Pharisees effectively killed the desire for people to look within and find truth for themselves which is the key of knowledge that Jesus is referring. Again, in their minds there was no need to find the inner kingdom because the way to heaven was to follow all their outer rules and rituals. Take note here that Christian approach is nearly identical to the Scribes and Pharisees. Both look for something outside of themselves to be saved without having to enter into the spirit of truth and also without having to remove the beam in their own eye which prevents them from seeing the truth.

So it is truly ironic that Christians have criticized Jews for rejecting the Messiah sent to them when they have effectively rejected the same Messiah’s true message. And I probably don’t have to tell you what that is but I’ll say it again anyway: the kingdom of God is within you. All beings who truly are in heaven have internalized this truth. Salvation is achieved not by looking for any type of automatic salvation but rather by raising our consciousness. Salvation is a state of being in the here and now, not a future guarantee in the hereafter.

Yes we are indeed redeemed by the only begotten Son of God – which is the Word of God, the Living Word that we internalize when we become one with Christ Consciousness. But this only Son is universally available to all where each of us can become one with the Son. In the process, we can truly BE the Suns of God shining the light of truth that will draw all people unto their own divine reality.

4. You have to die to get to heaven
We have already seen how the notion of automatically salvation has been subtlety woven into the fabric of Christian thought and doctrine. There’s little point in rehashing this except to say that I hope that my thoughts on the subject have been clear. Namely, that there is no such thing as automatic salvation as salvation is always an inner state of being, not an outer achievement or the result of a set of beliefs.
If this is true then, it follows then that the notion that if we’re good Christians that when we die we go to heaven is really just as an illusory notion as the idea that our salvation is guaranteed. If heaven is a state of consciousness, and if we haven’t achieved that state of consciousness prior to death, there is no reason to believe that when we die we somehow will.

As written in the Old Testament, he who is filthy, let him be filthy still (Revelation 22:11). I believe this means that if someone is in a low state of consciousness when their physical body dies, they will still be in a low state of consciousness after that. God does not magically strip away all our faults and raise into full Christ awareness simply because our spirits have left our physical bodes in the change called death. In fact, God cannot do this as this would be a violation of our free will. Free will is one of the foundational laws of the universe and God does not violate his own laws.

Think about it. What would we possibly learn if God were to magically transform us into a being worthy of heaven after we die? The answer of course is that we wouldn’t learn a thing. Therefore, nothing would be achieved as all of life is about learning and growing. Remember, God always wants us to multiply our talents and be More. But we can’t be More if we somehow bypass the very process by which becoming More is possible – namely, by transcending our current state of consciousness for a higher state of consciousness. This perpetual process is what keeps the River of Life flowing in what is called eternal life.

Death is no more a condition to enter heaven than so is so-called life. This does not mean to say there isn’t a place where souls travel after the physical body dies. There are indeed dimensions to the spiritual universe where souls go after death. However, we will not permanently reside in the higher realms until we have found the kingdom of God with us. Instead, the higher realms we journey to between embodiments serve as places of learning, where we can review our mistakes and strengths from previous lifetimes to prepare ourselves for the next.

What I’m saying here is that there certainly are numberless numbers of beings who permanently reside in higher dimensions that most would call heaven. Yet without exception, each of these beings has realized the kingdom of God within themselves. Likewise, not one of them was automatically saved by Jesus or by any other spiritual being. All of them earned their place in heaven – which is not a fixed place mind you – by the direct experience of God within themselves. All have manifested the Christ consciousness. All have overcome the ego and dualistic illusions if in fact they ever fell into it. All are capable of doing the works that Jesus did and greater works, not because they are somehow artificially elevated to a status beyond their attainment, but rather because like Jesus they have become one with God and therefore manifest the natural fruits of that oneness.

We have seen that death does not guarantee our permanent ascension to spiritual realms. Yet is it true that we have to die to get there? The answer, of course, is an unequivocal no. As we said before, the kingdom of heaven really is a metaphor for a state of consciousness. That state of consciousness, moreover we have referred to as the Christ consciousness. The Christ consciousness is characterized by a state of inner wholeness, oneness, peace and bliss wherein we have the capacity to discern the truth of God. This means that if we can achieve this state of consciousness like Jesus did in his Galilean embodiment, then we are already in heaven. This also means that we can be in what is called heaven right in the here and now and we don’t have to die to get there.

However, what does have to die is our ego, our false sense of identity that we have built out of our sense of separation from God. You can’t drag the ego into heaven with you. You have to remove the beam in your own eye that is the ego. Remember that the ego represents the death consciousness of separation from God – the duality consciousness – as there is no real life outside of God. Therefore, for us to obtain the inner kingdom, what has to die is the death consciousness itself! Only when we let death go can we truly embrace life. Therefore, it behooves us all with all our getting, to get understanding of the ego and how to let it go, how to let it die. We can only have the victory over death when we are willing to face the cause of death and surrender it. We will never find the ego when we look for salvation outside of ourselves. The ego can only survive if it goes undetected. The reason the ego drive us to seek the outer path is that when we do so we never look within ourselves to see it hiding behind all our false beliefs and desires. The solution is for us to walk the inner path where both the ego and the Christ are discerned because we are willing to forsake the one and embrace the other.

So in the end, if we choose the life of Christ, meaning raise our consciousness and put on the mind of Christ while at the same time we shuffle off the mortal coil of the ego, we will then find eternal life. And the best part is we don’t have to die to get there. In fact, the only way to get to heaven is through life not death.

Spiritual Procrastination
The sacred cow that death is our ticket to heaven is a particularly pernicious one because it has the effect that it causes us to postpone our spiritual path. Quite naturally, if you believe that only death will bring you eternal life and happiness, then there is little reason to search for kingdom of God in the present. Why work to transform yourself in the here and now if you have to wait until you die to find the peace you want, the peace you’ve been promised. In this model, there really is no reason to pursue the spiritual path because it’s all done for us anyway and nothing happens until after we die - so what’s the point?

Well the point is that we need to overcome this illusion because when we do so we will find that our divine reality is waiting for us to be who we are today! It’s not waiting for us in some forever after that never comes. Thus, we can begin the process of putting on our Christhood right now and the key is to actually be in the now.

You see, in our divine reality there is no time or space – only Being. This is referred to as the Eternal Now. We connect with our Christ Self and I AM Presence by being in the eternal now. Yet we understand that one of the tricks of the ego is to keep us either forever in the past or forever in the future. You can’t be perpetually in the future or the past and be in the now. And if you’re not in the now, you’re not in your true Being. So the way to Being is being in the now where you effortlessly and spontaneously commune with your Higher Self

Know this. Spiritual procrastination is death. Physical death is not the ticket to eternal life. The belief that our death is our passport to eternity is just another game of the ego. Eternal life is attained within you in the eternal now of oneness with your higher being. So don’t put off your Christhood. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Today is the day to begin the inner path back to oneness, for the tomorrow of vicarious or automatic salvation truly never comes.

5. The Bible is the Infallible Word of God
I recently visited a Christian church and I was intrigued by a couple of the rituals. First, the congregation still recited the Nicene Creed – which is essentially a hold over from the Middle Ages. Second, before the scriptural reading, there was an elaborate ritual which culminated with one of the church elders raising the Bible up in their hands for all to see, then leans over and kisses it. I had to say that it was eerily similar to depictions of ancient rites of human sacrifice.

I think these two rituals are not unrelated. The Nicene Creed was established by an early church council designed to rid all of its doctrines of “heretical teachings” – reincarnation being one of them. Even though Jesus never wrote down his teachings, it seemed imperative to the early church fathers that all doctrine be codified and that any thing that dared challenge establish this new orthodoxy – which really was the old Roman empire reborn in clerical clothing – be crushed.

The Nicene Creed is a fairly obvious and overt attempt at defining very tight parameters around acceptable Christian beliefs. It clearly establishes both the supremacy of Jesus and our sense of separation from God. For the most part it has worked. Yet I don’t think reciting this creed has been nearly as effective in achieving the same goal of keeping God outside of ourselves as the idea that the Bible is the infallible, unalterable and final word of God. Let’s examine this further through the lens of the second commandment.

Graven Images
The second commandment states that thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image (Exodus 20:4). Many Christians and Jews alike have interpreted this to mean that statues and artistic renderings of religious themes should not include a direct image of God. Another interpretation says that while such depictions are in fact allowed, even encouraged, yet one should not in any way profane or ridicule God’s image.

But if you think about if, if God is the Infinite God of the universe, why would he care so much about artistic renderings of his image? Why would God make this the second commandment and not the tenth – why is it so important? Is it really logical to assume that the Infinite God of universe would say something like “above nearly everything else, don’t create images of me, and if you must do so, don’t create disrespectful images of me?”
From this perspective, this interpretation seems ludicrous. The interpretation implies that God could somehow be offended by what humans do – that God has such a big ego that he would angered at artistic renderings that are not up to snuff. The focus here is on God and not us. But do we really think that God created the Ten Commandments for himself or for us? Of course the answer is that the commandments were created for our edification, not God’s. What then is God trying to tell us by stating in no uncertain terms that we should not create any graven images of him?

This goes back to earlier discussions on the inner versus outer approaches to God. The outer approach to God states that we are separate from God. It tries to bridge this separation by creating mental images that supposedly describe God. So instead of directly experiencing God in our being through our sense of oneness, the outer approach provides only a mental idea – an image – of God. Since this image is not derived from a direct experience of God within, it can only come from one place – the ego. And what is one of the central characteristics of the ego? It is that it designed to prevent growth. And what better way to prevent growth than to create concepts that are fixed – that cannot be alternated, challenged or transcended as the supposed only means to reach God.

This is precisely what has been done with Christian doctrine. First, fixed doctrines like the Nicene Creed and other rituals were given to the masses creating a very dogmatic and inflexible description of our relationship to Jesus and God. On top of that, for a thousand years or so, Catholics were not even allowed to read the Bible so they would never have a chance to challenge the fixed doctrines, if in fact discrepancies did exist. Around the time of the renaissance when the King James Bible was written, the common people finally were allowed to read the Bible for themselves. However, the powers that be saw to it that the Bible was interpreted through a very narrow lens – namely through the perspective of separation from God and the establishment of the authority of an outer church.

Progressive Revelation
But these practices really had nothing to do with purposes of God. God gave us the Ten Commandments and all true spiritual teachings with one purpose in mind – to help us raise our consciousness. As discussed earlier, the idea is that we receive one level of teaching in order that we might raise our consciousness and where the next level of teaching can be given. Yet if we have in our minds fixed or graven images about the nature of God and ourselves – like God is an angry being in the sky and we are miserable sinners – then these images become a substitute for the direct experience of God and inhibit our spiritual growth. The reason then that God was so adamant about us not entertaining fixed ideas about religion and God is precisely because it will stop our spiritual growth. Once again, growth and self transcendence are the essence of true spirituality and you can’t really be spiritual if you are in a mindset that prevents growth.

Again, God never intended spiritual teachings to be infallible. Spiritual teachings are a tool designed to get us to the next level on the path, not to be a millstone around our necks. We can see that the nature of spiritual teachings is progressive. Revelation from God never stops as long as there are people on earth who have raised their consciousness to the point where they can receive it. Therefore while the Bible may be our starting point – and it is a good place to start – it was never intended to be the ending point. It was written to be transcended. Just as you wouldn’t expect a college math student to still be studying arithmetic, so too should we not expect spiritually advanced students to limit themselves to this one spiritual text to the exclusion of all others.

And it should be noted that God – and the spiritual beings who are mankind’s true teachers – never give a revelation that it too far beyond our current ability to understand. The spiritual teachers who guide the earth are wise teachers. They are pragmatic teachers and deal in the realistic terms of what is possible. Therefore they always give us a level of teaching that reaches just beyond our current understanding but not too far beyond it. This makes it possible to reach and assimilate the teachings given to us by raising our consciousness to that level. As we progress - that is assimilate and transcend the teachings -
progressively more advanced teachings are given to the point where we are ultimately able to get our answers directly from inside ourselves.

This is the entire goal of providing spiritual teachings. Namely, to use what Jesus called the key of knowledge to obtain the answers we are looking for inside ourselves. It is to help us have a direct experience of God from when all true knowledge is derived. God doesn’t want us to be co-dependent on the Bible or any other spiritual tool. God wants to give us higher teachings that will assist us on the path of oneness. However, this can’t be done until people are ready to raise their consciousness. So, if they are stuck in the mindset of a fixed outer idea about God, then a higher teaching cannot be released.
It’s a catch-22 which can only be resolved when people tire of what the mirror of life continues to mirror back them – that is the fruits of their graven images that mankind has been sending out for thousands of years. It can only be resolved when we desire to reach beyond the graven images given to us by established religions – be it Christianity or otherwise.

Entropy
Another problem with graven images is that they produce a closed system – meaning they create systems that are impervious to change, whether from within or without. Science has told us that when systems become closed, they inevitably break down. This is the concept called Entropy described in the second law of thermodynamics.

Thus we see this dynamic played out in the rise and fall of civilizations and religions throughout history. Whenever a system becomes closed – as Christianity has become, it will begin to break down. Certainly we have seen it in the breakdown of Catholic Church and some fundamentalist churches as well, for example, with many sex, drug and financial scandals that have rocked the foundations of these organizations. We have also seen it in recent surveys of religion that suggest that many people are moving away from the rigid dogmas tradition Christian churches and looking for their own brand of spirituality or rejecting God altogether.

The problem is that in closed systems there is no room for God. There is no room for the Holy Spirit as the true spirit of God within each of is rejected in favor of the graven image of the outer God. There is an element of pride here is well that says that all we need are the descriptions – graven images of God – and nothing else so don’t bother us with whatever you may have to say as we already have the truth. And so, whenever the descriptions of God are preferred to the experience of God it is inevitable that things will eventually break down as it is not revitalized by light of God. Remember, true life is flowing and transcendent – like a mighty rushing river. Graven images are static, unchanging.- like stagnant pool of water. Therefore they defy the verify foundations of the reality of God. They are the hallmark of those who kick against the pricks of life as some do to the bitter end.

In fact, many Christians are unfortunately completely attached to the idea that the Bible is the unchanging, infallible word of God and will become highly indignant if you suggest otherwise. This is because the entire basis for their spiritual life is the outer approach where you don’t have to use your discernment. The infallibility approach has the seeming advantage where you don’t have to think and make decisions based on your discernment – you can as it were coast along in the black and white consciousness where everything is decided for you. The infallible approach also engenders a sense of superiority over other beliefs. For after all, if the Bible is absolutely right than any other spiritual teaching that is not from the Bible must be absolutely wrong. So you can see from the perspective of the ego, there is much to be lost. Many people are either unready or unwilling to take responsibility for their spiritual path. Thus if you tell them that you need to make your own spiritual decisions they will quite naturally balk at this.

Having said all this, I don’t mean to take a black and white posture on the black and white consciousness itself. As I said earlier, many Christians are black and white about religion, but less so about other aspects of life. Also, it is true that God has in past ages brought forth relatively black and white teachings – like the Ten Commandments themselves – to help people come back into alignment with an outer teaching until they are ready to accept an inner teaching. Yet in this day and age, I believe there are many Christians who are ready to move on to the inner path which is why I’m writing this book. No doubt that many are not yet ready for this step.

Yet many are ready. And so I hope they can come to the understanding that whether the Bible is absolutely true or not has nothing to do with who they are at inner levels.

This is because the Bible is consists of a series of descriptions of God – some more accurate than others, depending on the consciousness of the people who were the instruments for the teaching. Descriptions of God are just that – descriptions, mental images which may or may not have any basis in reality. They cannot define our being. Our being is a formed by our direct experience of the kingdom of God within – not by mere descriptions of an outer God in a text written anywhere between two and five thousand years ago. Words on a page does not being make. We can only manifest true spirituality when we experience God for and in ourselves. An ounce of being is worth a thousand pounds of dogma. A million words in the Bible cannot save you or make you whole. Yet a single insight that you are actually one with God might be the catalyst that will lead you to your Christhood.

So I would ask all open minded Christians to be willing to reexamine the sacred cow of infallibility. My hope is that people can see this concept for what it really is – just another trick of the ego. And when I mentioned the ritual of the Bible being likened unto a human sacrifice, what I meant to imply is that what is sacrificed on the altar of infallibility is our true being, our true identity in God. This has been sacrificed for far too long and at a great price. Isn’t it time to lay down all our nets of attachments to outer doctrines and dogmas for the pearl of great price of the Christ consciousness - the pearl of our real identity? Ask yourself what is more important, the sacred cow or the Living Word? For truly you cannot have both.

Naked Cows
Hopefully this chapter has helped you to see that a sacred cow exposed is a naked cow. And a naked cow should have no power of you. This does not mean that life itself is not sacred because as it comes from God and most decidedly is, but it does mean that sacredness has nothing to do with ignorance. You can’t make a truly informed choice when you don’t know all the facts. That’s because the deck will always be stacked against you and for the ego. The ego wants you to have sacred cows that it can hide behind. If you think about it, all sacred cows contain an element of fear. It is something that we fear to examine for it might upset God or more importantly overturn the entire applecart of the outer path.

We know there is no fear in love. As God is love, there can be no room for sacred cows that keep us in fear. You are on the road to enlightenment when you are willing to examine any and all sacred cows you have and discard them as your inner direction suggests. There are no sacred cows in God’s world, only sacred beings. You are a sacred being. And when you walk the sacred adventure of the inner path, you can then realize just how sacred life truly is as you progressively experience the transcendent love of God.

Some Do's and a Couple of Don'ts for the Spiritual Path

The following is a response to an email to "StevetheSeeker" from a dear friend who is getting very interested in the spiritual path and the teachings on the ego.  He remarked that my initial response to him was long on "BE-ing" but short on "Do-ing" types of recommendations, which he thought would be helpful for a beginner on the path.  So I gave the Do's some thought and this was I've done:
 
Your analysis is right on.  Yet if I was half the sage you think I am I would have thought of this myself, namely, to be a little more concrete with some DO's in the beginning:)

Even so, when we connect to our inner God selves, we are all sages in the making, all on a journey to re-remember what we already know inside of us, and then make that More.

Now, there is a reason I'm somewhat resistant to DO's, and that is the ego will always attempt to turn even the most casual of recommendations into some infallible rules or doctrines that will supposedly save you - but I trust a word to the wise is sufficient in this regard. 

Having said that, here are some general DO's that have worked for me - meaning they have helped me grow.  You can, if you decide, experiment with one or more of these recommendations and see if they work for you. 

You already understand that BE-ness is the goal, opening yourself up to the spontaneous creative flow of the Spirit by walking an inner path, so hopefully these DO's will help you enter and grow on this path.

So without further ado, here's some of my DOs.  I'm putting numbers on them for future reference, but they are not necessarily in order of importance.

1. Observe yourself objectively, dispassionately, as if you were watching yourself on a movie screen.

2. Take note of what your reactions to things others or circumstances in your life

3. Don't be obsessive about 1 & 2:)

4. Watch for the ego.  How do you know when there's ego?  Here are some hints or symptoms:

defensiveness 
feeling like a victim
rationalizations
desire to control others
always needing to be "right"
desire to hide things from others or from God
critically judging others or yourself
dishonesty
fear
anxiety
anger
depression
addictions
"sacred cows" where you offended if someone challenges it
unwillingness to hear other points of view
automatically rejecting new ideas
needing to "save" others
fearing anything outside your mental box
contentiousness
intellectual or spiritual pride
stubbornness
desire to run away from your problems
looking for the past, the "gold old" days
longing for the future
wanting others to change
black and white thinking
gray thinking

5. If you a see a "mistake" don't condemn yourself, simply note it, look at what might be behind it, and let it go.  See your so-called mistakes as stepping stones to growth.  Better yet, see your mistakes as an experiment in life that gave you a learning result.

6. Be willing to consider the validity of an idea even if you don't initially agree with it.  Be willing to put ideas that you don't understand "on the shelf" without automatically rejecting them until you have time to process them at a later point.

7. Meditate (or pray) daily on your God Self and oneness with that self.  If you like I can make some suggestions.  Commune in such a way that you start getting answers to your questions about life and the Spirit.  Seek an understanding of what currently keeps you believing you are unwhole and the next things to work on. 

8. Seek to have direct experiences of God within you via 7. above or any other means.  As one example, there is a fire of God that burns in all our (spiritual) heart centers.  Most people do not experience this because, for want of attention, the flame has not been expanded to point that it breaks through to conscious awareness.  I know by personal experience however, that this beautiful transcendent fire can be experienced perpetually day in and day out.  Once you have experiences like that, the need for intellectual proof of God becomes totally irrelevant.

8. Keep a journal for a time of the types of things I've been discussing.

9.  If you find yourself in a struggle with one thing or another, take the time to step back and see what got you to that point.

10. Study spiritual books and articles.  I have some recommendations if interested.

11. Always be willing to take the next step.  Don't get too comfortable with any point on the path.  Question your current perception of things.

12.  Be of good cheer.  Be good to yourself even though you are looking at yourself with an eye to letting go of some things.  Don't take yourself too seriously - as Jesus said "my way is easy and my burden is light."

Finally and perhaps most importantly (even if it is a little bit Be-like) the key to your victory is surrender.  Keep surrendering the unreal as you discover more of the real.

I think that's enough for now. 

Hope this helps.  Thanks for showing me how to make this a bit more useful to you.

All my love,

Steve

Be One With Me

Always I’m knocking
At the door of your heart
Even when you are flocking
To the world’s wares and marts
Always I’m calling
To find me within
And when your have found me
Our journey begins

O be one with me
I’m in your heart
There’s no need to run and hide
When you run with me
We’ll co-create
A new world where love abides
O be one on the inside
You’re not unworthy or small
Be one with Infinite
And be one with all

Always be searching
And open your mind
My words they are living
Leave the doctrines behind
I’ll help you surrender
The beam in your eye
So there’s no fear and no doubt
With new wings to fly

O be one with me
I’m in your heart
There’s no need to run and hide
When you run with me
We’ll co-create
A new world where love abides
O be one on the inside
You’re not unworthy or small
Be one with Infinite
And be one with all

No you’re not separate you’re part of the River Is
From the ocean the waves were sent forth
You think I am far away in heaven above the fray
I’m closer then ever before

For two thousand years and more
The Pharisees have locked the door
And thrown away the key
In hopes you’d never find me
But seasons come and seasons go
Now the Spirit wants to flow
The doors blown open wide
So my love can’t be denied

O be one with me
I’m in your heart
There’s no need to run and hide
When you run with me
We’ll co-create
A new world where love abides
O be one on the inside
You’re not unworthy or small
Be one with Infinite
And be one with all

Standing in the Sun

I heard in the wind that you’re running scared
Though you try, the past won’t get behind
Your head’s in a spin cause you wouldn’t dare
To feel the deeper longings you deny

But I love you more than yesterday
No matter what you’ve done
And even if you turn away
You’re always standing in the sun

The pavement you pound no it wouldn’t bend
The more you fight against it the more you fall
Then down on the ground you might look again
And see the cracks of light break through the wall

Cause I love you more than yesterday
No matter what you’ve done
And even if you turn away
You’re always standing in the sun

I know in your mind
You think you’re abandoned
Please understand I’ve been right here
All the time
And life isn’t random
Just open the door to your heart
And let it shine

So you wake with the thought is this all there is?
As you struggle to make everything seem right
Then you let down your armor that shields you in
When the morning comes to get you past the night

Cause I love you more than yesterday
No matter what you’ve done
And even if you turn away
You’re always standing in the sun

All About Eve - The Role of Women in Christianity

The fall of man supposedly began when Eve was tempted by the serpent and took a bite out of the forbidden fruit from the tree of life. There is truth to the idea that the feminine aspect was related to the fall as we see. However, if taken literally – as it has been for thousands of years – this idea essentially says that fall of mankind was due to Eve in particular and by association all women in general.

It is simply a fact that historically most societies, nations and religions have been dominated by males while women have played a subservient role to men. Why has this been so? Well, I submit that is largely due to the notion that women are to blame for the fall so many eons ago. Thus the idea was born that women are inherently inferior to men. After all, if woman are to blame for the fall, how can they be entrusted to lead others in spiritual, political, family or societal matters? There is also a hidden anger and contempt for women that further reinforces the idea of male superiority where men are somehow seen as the victims of the weaknesses of women who could not resist the temptations of the serpent in the garden. And of course women have historically not only seen as spiritual seductresses but sexual as well. It seems that the concept of original sin is an admixture of both of these concepts.

Due in no small measure to this supposed original sin; women have historically been viewed as unworthy of leadership or equal standing with men. Unfortunately, Christianity like the Jewish and others religions, has done much to cement women in this subservient role. The Catholic Church, for example, has never allowed women to hold ecclesiastical positions of authority in the church, be it priest, bishop, cardinal or pope. They claim this is because they say they can trace their lineage back to Peter as Jesus’ first disciple. And because Peter was a male, this somehow confers God’s exclusive preference for men as spiritual leaders.


Peter as the Foundation for Christianity
In some ways the Catholic Church is correct in saying the Peter was their foundational spiritual leader. Not necessarily because he was Jesus’ closest disciple – as he most likely was not as we will see shortly – but rather because Peter represents a state of consciousness that lies at the heart of institutionalized Christianity.

On the positive side, Jesus recognized Peter’s spiritual potential and that was one of the reasons he picked him to be one of his disciples. Peter had the discernment to recognize the Christ in Jesus and this is why he accepted Jesus offer to follow him. And as we know, Jesus once said to him Simon, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build this church (Mathew 16:18). But what kind of rock was Jesus talking about here? Of course, it is not the rock of the ego, the rigid, solidified stone that is the beam in one’s own eye. Rather, Jesus was talking about the rock of the Christ consciousness, which does not turn this way with the shifting sands of the duality consciousness. Yet of course Jesus knew that the same potential to connect with the inner Christ that was in Peter is in all of humanity. Therefore, Jesus was not elevating Peter above the rest and saying that he was the sole torch bearer for Jesus teachings for all time. Instead, Jesus was saying that his teachings rest upon the foundation of the Christ that is in all people, not just in Peter. So the Christ within is the rock that Jesus would build on and not Peter’s outer person.

Though the statement about Peter being the rock of the church is often quoted to establish the authority of Catholic Church as well as the justification for the exclusively male clergy, less often quoted is Jesus stern rebukes of Peter. Did you ever wonder why Jesus said the Peter get thee behind me Satan! (Mathew 16:23) and then later prophesied to him: Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice (Mathew 26:75)?

The reason is that while Peter could recognize the Christ in others or least in Jesus, he wanted that Christ to conform to the expectations of his ego. He thought he knew better than Jesus and sought to control him. So, for example, when Jesus told his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem and in the three days would be crucified, Peter objected essentially telling Jesus he should not do this. When Jesus was washing the feet of his disciples, Peter initially objected though ultimately relented. In both these examples Jesus was not conforming to Peter’s expectations of the Christ should do in this world. You can see that he Peter wanted Jesus to conform to his own expectations which were typically on the side of displaying power and not acts of humility or surrender.

When the Romans came to arrest Jesus, Peter cut off the ear of one guards, essentially violating Jesus teachings of with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you (Mathew 1:11) Again, we see that Peter could not accept the fact that Jesus would surrender himself in humility and was willing to use violence to stop this from happening. In a final act of betrayal, Peter actually denied that he knew Jesus three times when questions by authorities during Jesus crucifixion.

Now, it is probably true that Peter denied Jesus in part to protect his own life, but I believe he also did this because he felt betrayed by Jesus. Peter denied he knew Jesus because he truly did not know the Jesus that failed to conform to his expectations. He was angry at Jesus because he couldn’t control him. And the reason that Peter could accept Jesus decisions is that he internalized the Christ in himself. He rejected the Christ within in favor of the false image of an outer savior who would crush his adversaries rather than surrender to them.

So you can see that if the Catholic Church began with Peter, then you can understand that the denial of Christ lies at the very heart of institutionalized Christianity. And this denial of Christ has continued for two thousand years where even today there is hardly a single Christian church, Catholic or Protestant that teaches that Christ is to be found within you. For Christ not internalized is Christ denied. You cannot truly know God if you deny God within yourself as you will always accept a false image of an outer God as a substitute. Yet it could have been different. There was a higher potential for the followers of Jesus than what eventually became institutionalized Christianity. Christianity could have followed the example of someone who did internalize the Christ consciousness to a far higher degree than Peter. And that would have been the example of Jesus closest disciple – Mary Magdalene.


Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ View of Women
Mary Magdalene is usually depicted as the penitent prostitute or the woman out of who was cast seven demons. Whether these stories are true or not misses the point. The point being that Jesus knew that God was no respecter of persons (Jude 1:11) and thus understood that women had the same spiritual potential as men to become the Christ. He also knew that women had been suppressed for thousands of years and therefore a part of God was being suppressed.

Earlier we discussed how God has two essential aspects, the Father, Alpha or masculine aspect and the Mother, Omega or the feminine aspect. Both aspects are essential for divine balance and wholeness and you really can’t have one without the other. So what you had in Jesus day as well as contemporary society is a religion that is out of balance in that it elevates the masculine aspect of God – although a highly distorted view at that – while almost completely denying the feminine aspect of God. This has had the effect that the perversions of the masculine qualities, such as fanaticism, intolerance and the abuse of power, have dominated religious life while the balancing effects of the feminine, such as nurturance, compassion and wisdom, have been actively suppressed.

Part of Jesus’ mission, therefore, was to help restore this balance in the Jewish religion so that women could play their rightful role in helping to raise the consciousness of humanity. Doing so, moreover, would ultimately help all souls obtain the necessary balance between the masculine and feminine aspects of their own beings. Jesus was never bashful about bucking societal norms so that the Christ in himself and in all might be expressed. In fact, Jesus went out of his way to encourage women to fulfill their spiritual potential. It’s clear from certain passages in the canonical gospels and the so called Gnostic writings that women played a major role in Jesus life and teachings. Consider the following passage from Luke:

And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom was cast seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuzra Herod’s steward, and Suzanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance (Luke 8:1-2)

Here we get the picture of Jesus, his twelve disciples and a number of women all traveling together from city to city throughout the holy land preaching the gospel that the kingdom of God was at hand and within them. Think about how radical of approach that was. It must have been a great shock to see women teaching and preaching along side of Jesus and other men in a society where women were treated as second class citizens.

Yet Jesus was not concerned about shocking people who are stuck in their egos. In fact, it probably served to his advantage that people were forced to deal with their rigid mental boxes about women when confronted with this scene. He was more concerned with raising up the divine feminine in both women and in men then he was for respecting the established social mores of the day. And as a part of Jesus plan to assist women in realizing their spiritual potential one woman in particular played a unique role in this drama. That of course being Mary Magdalene.

Even in the canonical gospels there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Mary Magdalene played a special role in Jesus life and mission as the following examples suggest:

• Mary witnessed the procession of Christ as he was carrying the cross and collapsed under its weight (Mark 15:40)
• Mary Magdalene was present at the foot of the cross with Jesus' mother Mary and the apostle John. Mary was mentioned first among women at the crucifixion in the gospels. (Matthew 27:56, Mark 15:40, John 19:25)
• Mary was present at Jesus burial at the tomb, and witnessed the stone being rolled to seal its entrance. (Matthew 27:61)
• Mary was first to appear at the tomb the next morning to witness the stone had rolled away. (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:10, John 20:1)
• Mary Magdalene was the first to witness the risen Christ, in fact, the first to preach the resurrection, to the apostles themselves. (Mark 16:9, Luke 24:10, John 20:18) – citations courtesy of marymagdalene.net

I believe the fact that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection is especially telling regarding the importance of her role. Why didn’t he appear to Peter first or to one of the other disciples? To me, it says that Jesus appeared to the one he was closest to just as most of us would tell our closest friends – our spouses or otherwise – when something wonderful has happened.

There is no doubt that Jesus and Mary had a very special relationship. Many believed they were married and even had children. In fact this was the central premise for enormously popular novel The Da Vinci Code. So the idea resonates with people, especially today when many Christians are beginning to awaken to higher truths and are searching for something more than what they have been given through institutionalized Christianity. Personally, because of the intensity and condensed nature of Jesus mission, I doubt that they were married during his Galilean embodiment, though I would not rule out the possibility that they were married sometime after his resurrection as some scholars have suggested.

I do believe, however, that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were soul mates or twin flames as some have called it. The concept here is that when God created our souls, we were always created in pairs – one primarily holding the masculine polarity of God and the other the feminine polarity. Note that both have masculine and feminine aspects, but each has slightly more of the quality that there are destined to manifest. The idea is that each of has a twin flame out there somewhere and when working in harmony whether in or out of embodiment then accomplish more together than apart.

So this is the type of relationship that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had. And it was the love of the twin flame relationship that helped sustain and uplift each other through the trying times of Jesus’ final incarnation. Though they have great love for each other born from this eternal tie, I think they both used that love in a working relationship with the goal of bringing the teachings of the inner kingdom to the people.

The following passage taken from the fragments remaining to what is referred to as the Gospel of Mary suggests just such a post resurrection role for Mary and she describes a vision she received from Jesus:

When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas. Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things. He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us? Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior? Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said. And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.

Take note that the very same apostle who Catholic Church uses to justify their discrimination against women turns about to be the most vocal critic of Mary’s proposed leadership role. Again we see here the denial of Christ but this time it is the denial of the Christ within Mary Magdalene as there was definite opposition to her leadership almost exclusively based upon the fact that she was a woman. I don’t want to be too hard on Peter here as he and the other disciples were definitely products of their cultures which placed women in a subservient role. Nevertheless the opposition to women even at that time was not inevitable as Levi’s comments suggests. Levi recognized that Jesus had picked Mary for a very good reason. He understood that Jesus was no respecter of outer personalities, even when it came to his twin flame. Therefore it must have been Mary’s spiritual attainment – her own connection with her higher self – that earned her the right to lead the apostles.

In the end, however, history tells us that the leadership role of Mary Magdalene in particular and women in general did not last as it was actively resisted and suppressed by the male dominated culture. And it was this same male dominated and ego based culture that ultimately destroyed the early Christian movements with its more Gnostic, Being based approach advocated by Jesus.
In its place, through the efforts of Emperor Constantine and others, Christianity became institutionalized with much of it derived from the traditions and customs of the Roman Empire. The idea, for example, that the Roman emperor was the only divine being on earth was replaced by the idea that Jesus is the only Son of God elevated above the rest of us.

The Role of Mary, the Mother of Jesus
Jesus’ mother Mary – referred to here as Mother Mary – is somewhat of an exception in how women have been regarded in the Christian church. Clearly a special role and honor is afforded her for having given birth to and raising Jesus. She has also been venerated for centuries by Catholics, and in more recent history she has been said to appear to certain of the faithful providing special messages and dispensations. The upside of this is that at least there has been some veneration of and raising up of the Mother energy through dedication to her heart.

Despite this special status, there are certain ideas about her that are problematic from a spiritual perspective. First, as everyone knows, it is said that Mary conceived Jesus in the womb by the agency of the Holy Spirit without having any marital relations with her husband Joseph. This is the so called virgin birth story. One of the unfortunate side effects of this story is that it sends the message that the Christ cannot be conceived by the normal reproductive process. In essence, this means that normal human sexuality is not pure enough to produce the likes of Jesus, and more importantly we are not good enough, we are not worthy to bring forth the Christ. It is another way to separate us from Jesus - another way of putting Jesus on a pedestal and making an idol out of him. The story also separates us from Mother Mary, as she too is put on a pedestal. It essentially says to other women that unless they are specially singled out by God they cannot be like her and give birth to the Christ.

In short, the story is just another way of keeping the Christ out of this world – which truth be told, has been the desire of the forces of antichrist since the time of the fall and beyond. I would like to go on record here stating that the virgin birth is a myth and that Jesus was conceived in the normal way like any one of us. Therefore you don’t have to born in a special way to reach your spiritual potential. And in the end, it’s not so much how our body was born but that the Christ is born in each of us through the decisions we make on a daily basis.

Although the story does elevate Mary above most of us, it doesn’t elevate her as high as Jesus. You can see that in accounts of Jesus and Mary assent into heaven. Both presumably made it to heaven. Yet when we look at the scriptures we see that while Jesus was said to have ascended Luke (1:11) into heaven, Mary was merely assumed (Luke 1:11) into heaven. To me, the term “ascended” sounds active and superior, while the term “assumed” sounds passive and inferior, somehow less deserving. At any rate “assumed” is not the same as “ascended” and since Jesus is the highest being in the Christian hierarchy, one can only assume that “ascended” is better. The concept sends a dual message that Jesus is higher than even the best of us and that a woman could not be treated by God the same way as a man.

As stated above, the Catholic Church has maintained some connection to the Divine Feminine by keeping a tie to Mother Mary, since the Reformation, the Protestant church has severed this tie altogether as they rejected the Catholic tradition of the veneration of the saints. It’s understandable that the Protestants sought to remove themselves from all ecclesiastical roadblocks to their relationship with Jesus – as they may have seen the saints as just another extension of the oppressive Catholic hierarchy. However, their decision to reject Mother Mary is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. In the process of rejecting unwanted spiritual authority, they also discarded whatever tenuous tie to the Feminine aspect of God that remained in the Catholic Church. Even today, my own experience growing up Lutheran is that many Protestants are almost suspicious of Mary as one who somehow competes with the special status of Jesus. Many see the Catholic Church as cult like due in no small measure to their veneration of Mary.

This is most unfortunate as she is a being who could render them tremendous assistance on the path of personal Christhood. You see, Mother Mary ascended into heaven just like Jesus did because she united with God in the own being as Jesus did. Today, Mother Mary is an ascended being like Jesus and like him remains with the earth to assist all in reaching their spiritual potential. She is not Catholic, she is not Protestant, and she is not even Christian. Like Jesus and all ascended beings, she cannot be fit into the narrow box defined by any of the world’s religions as she is constantly transcending herself while flowing with the River of Life. She has on occasion delivered messages through certain Catholic visionaries because they were the only traditional Christians open to her message. However, she cannot deliver an unedited message regarding the inner kingdom to these emissaries because it is outside their understanding of God so they would therefore reject it.

Understand that Mother Mary can help all who are seeking God to find that God within themselves. She is very involved with helping raise the light of the Divine Mother in each of us and the planet as a whole. In fact, she represents the Divine Mother to the people of earth. If you meditate on her immaculate heart she will show you how raise the light up in yourself and manifest the abundant life which as the scriptures say is the Father’s good pleasure to give us. She should not, however, be idolized because when you idolize someone you can never internalize and become what they have become. Therefore, I highly suggest you avail yourself of her assistance and see how she can help you surrender every beam in your eye that is preventing you from being here below all that you are above.

The Feminine and the Fall
Returning to our discussion of Eve, was it really Eve or women that caused the fall? Well, we have discussed earlier in the book that the fall was not the fall of only one or two people, but it was really was an event or perhaps we should say process that happened to untold number of souls throughout history. So it cannot be said that one person caused the fall, be it a woman or a man. What did happen however, and the reason the story persists that Eve caused the fall, is that feminine aspect of our beings that fell into the duality consciousness – which is what we really mean by the term “the fall of man.”

So how did the feminine cause the fall? This can be seen from different perspectives. From one perspective, our relationship with God can be viewed a polarity between ourselves and Spirit. God or the I AM Presence can be seen as the masculine or directing aspect of our beings while our Conscious Self or souls can be seen as the receiving or feminine aspect of our beings. From this perspective, it is undoubtedly the feminine side of us that fell. The masculine aspect, the I AM Presence could never fall into duality as it beyond the dimensions of form and time and space where duality can exist.

From another perspective, even in the lower aspect of our beings below there is both a masculine and feminine side to each of us. Ideally these aspects of our being need to be in balance to maintain proper spiritual growth and awareness. The masculine aspect is more active side of beings multiplying our talents and energy in the world of form while the feminine side is more passive receiving side open to the suggestions of higher self. What happened during the fall is that the feminine aspects of our natures became open to suggestions outside of our spiritual teachers and our higher identity. The feminine part of our beings became open to the suggestions of the Serpent – which, as explained before, is the conglomerate consciousness of those beings who embodied the mind of antichrist. The Serpent projected thoughts and feelings of doubt into our minds which our feminine side, normally open to receiving the vibrations of the mind of Christ – internalized. This caused our consciousness to gradually fall into the consciousness of duality – a condition from which few on this planet have escaped since that time.

So we see here that is the feminine aspect of our beings in both women and men that fell and not women in particular. Therefore there is no need to blame Eve or all women for the condition that we found ourselves in after the fall as we are all responsible for allowing this to happen. I don’t say this to condemn or blame anyone but is simply a fact that each of us lowered our consciousness to the point where we lost direct contact with our higher selves. Therefore it is up to each us individually and to some extent collectively to once again rise above the ego and duality consciousness and reconnect with the higher aspect of ourselves.


Restoring the Divine Feminine
So how do get back to the garden, as it were? Of course, we have already discussed a number of ways which we make our way back to the Infinite by walking the inner path of oneness. Yet, when we realize that we fell by lowering the feminine in ourselves, it’s logical that the way back to oneness is in part the path of restoring the feminine – both individually and in society as a whole. We need to both resurrect that feminine and bring it into balance with the masculine aspects of our beings. Only when doing so can we really be whole.

Therefore, we need to take the beam out of our eye of those conditions that suppress the feminine qualities, such as purity, abundance, nurturance, wisdom, compassion, understanding and intuition. These conditions can be both cultural and psychological but ultimately they can be traced back to the ego. Therefore, we need to actively seek to heal the parts of ourselves, such as pride and anger that prevent the divine feminine from manifesting in ourselves and in society.

From a societal level, one thing that would help provide perspective is the fact that all have reincarnated in both feminine and masculine embodiments. So to say that the same soul is somehow superior to women when embodied as a man but inferior to men when embodied as women just doesn’t make any sense. We need to recognize that both genders are equal in value but have different roles to play. We also need to recognize the all us have both masculine and feminine characteristics so it is not meaningful to place a higher value on one gender than the other.

For humanity to reach its God given potential, the divine feminine must be raised up in all aspects of life but especially in religion. As discussed, Christianity has historically suppressed the divine feminine, both theologically and organizationally as it has not allowed women to be placed in leadership roles. Even today, when the women’s movement has permeated almost every aspect of Western society, Christian churches have been relatively slow to allow women equal opportunities to lead. It’s unfortunate fact that even the churches that make it a point to reach out to young people and try to be culturally relevant and trendy often are dominated by male clergy.

This needs to change. But it probably won’t change until Christians understand that the very nature of God is both masculine and feminine. Remember, we were all created in the image and likeness of God and that both male and female created he them (Gen. 1:26-27). Thus, God must be both masculine and feminine if we are created in God’s image and likeness. Sometimes the problem is in the language is most of our terms describing God are male oriented. It becomes somewhat difficult to overcome this male bias with these limitations but not impossible. It is possible, however, as our God language evolves, so too will our image and understanding of God.

But until that day there’s much room for improvement and growth in how women are treated in Christianity. In fact, I submit that women should be allowed into any and all leadership roles available in our churches today. Not just in Christian churches, however, but I would advocate for this change in all religions, especially the Muslim religion where we see the most severe repression of women of any organized religion.

So I would hurl this challenge to all of Christendom: Raise up the Divine Feminine in within all and raise it up in all the organizational hierarchies and structures. Tear down the wall of separation that lies between women and their true spiritual destiny and potential! After all, if Jesus treated women as equals, can modern day Christians do any less? Jesus had great reverence for the Divine Feminine, which he also referred to as the Mother of the world. Meditate on these words attributed to Jesus (respectfully referred to as St. Issa) as was reportedly told to travelers in India some years after his crucifixion:

At this time, an old woman approached the crowd, but was pushed back. Then Issa said, "Reverence Woman, mother of the universe,' in her lies the truth of creation. She is the foundation of all that is good and beautiful. She is the source of life and death. Upon her depends the existence of man, because she is the sustenance of his labors. She gives birth to you in travail, she watches over your growth. Bless her. Honor her. Defend her. Love your wives and honor them, because tomorrow they shall be mothers, and later-progenitors of a whole race. Their love ennobles man, soothes the embittered heart and tames the beast. Wife and mother-they are the adornments of the universe."

It this is accomplished, if we revere and upraise the Divine Mother in each us and in Christianity as well, I believe we could experience a veritable renaissance in spirituality in all Christian churches. When we unleash the power the Divine Mother balanced by the Divine Father, there is literally no end to the growth and rejuvenation that can take place. All it takes is a few enlightened souls to get this movement started. When you elevate the Divine Feminine in yourself, perhaps you will be one of them.