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What if ... the work we think we're *supposed* to do isn't as important as the "interruptions" that annoy us, and keep us from doing that "supposed" work...? What if they're both important...?
What if ... whenever we feel that whatever we might choose would be wrong, it's not an accident? What if there's an important lesson in the situation...?
What if ... a miracle is not something that happens outside of us, but inside of us ... a shift in perception...?
What if ... "I don't know what to do - I need Your help!" is the best prayer we could pray at times ...?
What if ... Jesus wasn't really angry in the Temple (while turning over tables), but others only interpreted it as anger? What if angry words were "put into Jesus' mouth" by those in the early Church who wanted to justify their own anger ...? What if Jesus really meant it when He said, "You have read though shalt not kill, but I say unto you that though shalt not even get angry"...? What if Jesus was making a point, demonstrating a living-parable, and we merely misinterpreted Him (again)...?
What if ... most psychotherapy is nothing more than a celebration of the ego...? What if most psychotherapy has made the ego into an idol..? What if both pendulum swings (either repressing anger, or unleashing anger) are harmful to us ...?
What if ... the only emotion given to us by God (in Whose image we are created) is love? What if the ego-created substitute for love is fear...? What if we could notice what a lousy substitute it is, and quit projecting it onto God..?
What if ... depression were nothing more than the psychological hangover we experience from not dealing with our guilt ...?
What if ... in the process of overcoming our guilt, we do need to experience the expression of anger .. to see that no one dies ... to see that God doesn't strike us dead ... in order to finally see that the anger is really directed at ourselves, for our imagined guilt ...? What if lots of folks get "stuck" at this expression-of-anger stage, rather than seeing it as something to go *through*, something to be freed *from*...?
What if ... the Last Judgement is just the collective undoing of the collective ego...? What if the Atonement is the realization of the at-one-ment we have with God and each other ...?
What if ... we could see that every institution and system of this world is motivated by fear and guilt...?
What if ... a miracle is nothing more than the undoing of a false perception, the truth replacing a lie, a shift in perception... the ego's perception replaced with the Spirit's perception ..?
What if ... "the holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love"...?
What if ... we stopped trying to change other people, and instead changed how we SEE that other person ...?
What if ... we could know that we are really immortal and invulnerable ...? What if we could know that nothing can really harm us ..?
What if ... we realize that we cannot change a thought system while we're IN that thought system ..?
What if ... we've utterly misunderstood the meaning of forgiveness, as Jesus taught it ...?
What if ... the whole purpose of the Atonement is for the Holy Spirit to undo the perception and domain of the ego..?
What if ... Jesus and the Holy Spirit do not care what anyone calls them, so long as we recognize that Someone of God is with us, within us, leading us...?
What if ... we could know that when things seem to be getting worse, they are really getting better ...?
What if ... to the ego, the guiltless are guilty ...?
What if ... awakening is the most devastatingly powerful and painful thing that we will ever experience..?
What if ... we knew that it was *worth* it...?
What if ... there is no way in which to "mess up" ... that we can utterly trust the Spirit to take us through this, to lead us into all truth ...?
What if ... the Spirit will make Himself known to each of us, in a way in which we can accept...? What if the form is not important, except to the ego...?
What if ... it's a GOOD sign when our ego starts to panic..?
What if ... in the middle of a "battle" we could rise above it, and look down at it (from the Spirit's perspective) and notice that it's just our ego pitching a hissy-fit ... jumping up and down in a frenzy, screaming in a pip-squeak voice..?
What if ... when we hear our ego chattering away, overwhelming us with thoughts of fear, guilt, pain ... what if we could recognize it for what it is, and stop fighting against it ... what if fighting it makes it appear more "real" (what we resist, persists) ..? what if we could laugh at it instead ...? what if this is holy laughter ...?
What if ... our ego has organized itself into Religion, and caused us to utterly miss the point ...?
(if the image isn't clear, Go HERE)
Shalom, Dena
4 comments:
Some mighty big 'What If's there, Dena, and enough to keep the Heresy Police busy for a while;)
When you ask, was Jesus really angry when he threw out the moneychangers, etc., that is a biggie, and the more I think about it the more I tend to think you're right. Our almost infinite ability to misinterpret a reaction as 'anger' is a strong pointer.
I'm coming to see that so much of what we've called the Old Testament is humanity misreading the simple God-given law of cause and effect as anger. What hideous things we inflict on ourselves and on humanity because we just don't move beyond that. Time to wake up and grow up, methinks, and smell the Coffee of Life.:)
Oh, and I love that cartoon. Says it all!
It was a startling realization for me too, Harry ... for I'd long been taught that we can justify our anger, since Jesus showed anger in the Temple.
I'm seeing now that it was a living-parable ... a demonstration of how the ego doesn't belong in the temple (of us). Cleaning house ... not with anger, but with passion, with the same ruthlessness in which a surgeon goes after cancer ... anger clouds the vision, obscures the view, and gets in the way ... putting the focus back on the ego, which is confusion about who we are.
Jesus had no such confusion ... he'd already battled the ego in the wilderness (ego = satan -- that which is adversarial to God's purpose in and through us).
Jesus knew exactly what he was doing -- it's us, interpreting through the self-justifying ego, that WANTS to see that scene as rife with anger.
(& yeah - the cartoon is a keeper!)
I'd never connected those dots, Dena. Thanks again.
Boy, is that Huge, or What?
God's passion for us, to rid us of all the faulty thinking that separates us from him. He longs for us to wake up to the Oneness with him that's allways been ours. What Divine Drama!
My spirit dances for joy!
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