And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it.
-- Matthew 28:2 (NASB)
First of all, welcome back! It seemed right to take last week off after several months of writing regular blog posts. I needed the break.
I hope you had a good Easter, Pesach (Passover) and/or are having a good Ramadan fast.
Or for many, Happy Orthodox Easter, which is today.
For the past 10 weeks we have been meandering in and around the shadow that seems to accompany us all as we journey on this planet, on this physical plane, striving to make sense of a world that (as A Course in Miracles reminds us) is insane and makes no sense.
Only when we see things through the light of the spiritual lens do the seemingly random events of the wheel of fortune have any meaning.
If you believe (as I do) that there is a Force in the Universe, that drives the grass to grow and the leaves to unfold; the galaxies to turn and the blood in our veins to flow; that keeps the seasons turning and the quantum stream of particles whirling in space….
I believe that this Force is Good and has nothing but Love for us – that we are created out of Love. Unity Church includes this Truth in its Five Basic Principles:
1. There is only one Presence and one Power active as the universe and as my life, God the Good.
2. Our essence is of God; therefore, we are inherently good. This God essence, called the Christ, was fully expressed in Jesus and it is within us. This spark of Divinity is within everyone.
3. We are co-creators with God, creating our reality through thoughts held in mind.
4. Through prayer and meditation, we align our heart-mind with God. Denials and affirmations are tools we use.
5. Through thoughts, words and actions, we live the Truth we know.
If we believe all of this, then the “shadow work” that we have been doing is foundational! This is the place where the human and the divine meet and mix.
In the predominate Western Judeo-Christian paradigm, Jesus is said to have been the one and only “Son of God” – the Divine Presence of God on earth, God “made flesh”.
And if we are to believe Christian religious thought, he is the only Way, and we have no choice but to rely on him (and him alone) for our salvation.
Salvation, in this model, means being saved from “sin” and the wages of sin, which are “death.”
To me, this is a pretty bleak state of affairs, for the standards are impossibly good and if I cannot toe the line one hundred percent, and do it one hundred percent of the time, I am doomed, damned, and lost for all eternity.
Yikes!!
Yet this misinterpretation of Biblical scripture can be revisited in the light of common sense. An inspired review leads us to see that even the darkest shadow we encounter – in ourselves or in the world – is nothing. It is illusion. It is an insubstantial state where darkness and shadow are merely the absence of Light.
In a dark room, when you flick the light on, where does the darkness go?
Clearly the darkness doesn’t “go” anywhere because darkness isn’t a thing. Darkness isn’t an entity with substance in reality. Light is the Reality "that drives out the darkness."
Similarly, “sin” – the darkness of our shadow side is as well just an absence of Light – in our lives, in the world, and in our hearts and minds.
We can (and should) read the Bible and other great spiritual texts – whether it’s A Course in Miracles or Moby Dick – with a metaphysical focus.
Reading something metaphysically means diving into the text, past the surface (literal) meanings and getting down into the depths of the Truth – the messages, the significance, the reality that lies between the lines.
In Unity Church, we learn to look at things in this way, at the beautiful symbolism that jumps out from the pages for those “who have eyes to see and ears to hear.”
So, in our Biblical Easter story: On the morning of the third day, the women go to the tomb where the “dead” Christ has been lain.
On their way, they have a practical concern: who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the cave so they can care for Jesus’s physical body? They know they aren't going to be able to, and they don’t have a practical answer, but they keep going anyway.
Then, when they arrive at the tomb, they see a startling sight: the stone has already been rolled away and an angel is sitting on top of the stone.
Not immediately recognizing the angel as an angel, and confused, they ask, “What have you done with our friend?”
The angel replies, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
They look and see the tomb is empty. They all run back to tell the others the Good News.
The simple and beautiful metaphysical reading of this story gives me chills just recounting it.
The women represent our feminine side; that part of our humanity that is receptive, open nurturing, mothering, unassuming and humble. They are going where (to their human eyes and experience has told them) their Lord has been “killed”. To their minds, he is lost to them.
The stone is the darkness; our shadow; our “sin”. It keeps the Light out of the tomb where the “dead” Christ has been entombed. The stone is impossibly heavy. It is unfathomable that human strength can move it. Just the way the darkness of our shadow-side seems hopelessly unyielding.
The angel is a God-idea. It is the Power that we all have; the creative energy that enlivens our minds and brings us all the Good that the Universe has in store for us. It inspires and brings Joy.
The insubstantial darkness – that supposedly impossibly heavy stone – is no match for the Light. When we flick the switch, where does the darkness go?
The Christ is the Light of God that is in everyone. “Christ” (Christos) is a Greek word, a title that means “The Anointed One”.
The Light of God in us. It is not dead – cannot die. It can appear to be shrouded in darkness, but in Reality, it shines brightly. Only the clouds before our eyes, in the form of grievances, resentments, fears, greed, anger, lust, etc. obscure its Light from our sight.
The Spirit is eternal. Our human eyes see in darkness, but once the Light has filled our minds, the memory of darkness fades.
Finally, the earthquake is the shocking events that we’ve talked about in past blog posts – those life-events that shake us up, that cause us to see that the path we are on is a “dead” end (pun intended).
In the I Ching, the 51st hexagram is Thunder doubled and is entitled, “Shock”. The text of the I Ching says:
Shock, creating success. Shock comes, fear and terror. Laughing words, shrieking and yelling. Shock spreads fear for a hundred miles.
Life will not be ignored. Shock brings success! The earthquake signals a significant movement of heaven and earth and a loud call to change, to move, to shift our lives.
When we stand at the doorway of the tomb and the earthquake shakes the very foundations of our life – our beliefs, our habits, our dysfunctional behaviors, our insanity – then we have a choice:
Go back, go deeper into the darkness of the tomb, or greet the angel – the Light of a God-idea – that is offering us a way out – into the Light of a new Day.
Happy Sunday!
John
I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group. Please contact me at prosperitynowlifeofdreams@yahoo.com or sign up on my website: http://www.johnafrederick.com
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