Seeing our divinity with unveiled eyes

Someone said:  

"The word "evil" means "to veil"... All destructive behavior is born of our failure to see our divinity and to accept our divinity... I'm not a Christian and neither was Jesus, but the whole point behind forgiveness of sins is to remove this veil... this obstacle keeping us from loving our self... Most Christians completely miss the whole point of the Gospel entirely... they go on hating who they are and creating destruction as a result... The word Gospel means good news and yet most Christians have found a way to turn it into bad news."

It is interesting to see the word evil meaning "to veil", which hinders a person from seeing one's own divinity. It may explain why Jesus described the Jewish generation as evil because they failed to see their own divine nature. Jesus may have tried to unveil their eyes by telling them that their true identity is the light of the world. Perhaps the law had blinded their eyes to see the truth of who they are because they had thought they had to do something in order to become righteous. 

I am thinking that in Luke 11 when Jesus described whether their eye is single or evil, he could be referring to whether their inner eye/vision is veiled to see their own divinity. 

34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also isfull of darkness.

35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 

36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

(Luke 11:34-36)

To me, darkness simply means ignorance of one's own divinity. Jesus came to bring light to dispel people's ignorance of their divine identity, hence darkness is overcome by light. Sin in the Jewish context also refers to ignorance or amnesia of one's true identity and forgiveness of sin means unveiling of one's true identity, as pointed out by the post. Back then, the Jews and Pharisees failed to see their own divinity and hated themselves and became destructive, to the point they tried to kill Jesus too. Similarly, as noted in the post, many people in Christian circles fail to see the gospel or good news of their own divinity and so they hate themselves and others, seeing themselves as sinful and unworthy. Even though they may be taught to see Jesus as their covering with the robe of righteousness, and know they are crowned with glory, the underlying message they get from institutional church is that there is nothing good in them and only Jesus is their righteousness. But that is the old covenant mindset because the Jews put themselves under the law. The law is the one that condemns, not Jesus/God. God has all the while seen everyone as innocent and perfect/complete because he/she/it made us in divine image and declared us very good. The gospel of inclusion therefore unveils our mind to see the truth of who we are and see our original glory in the face of Christ our true identity. We will have single eye that sees our body as being full of light, knowing we are the light of the world.

Embracing our divinity and humanity

"Salvation thus resides in transforming how we position ourselves in relation to this state. We can outline these various positions in this way,

We are broken and don’t acknowledge it (through repression, disavowal etc.)

We are broken and do realize it

We are broken and affirm it

This doesn’t mean that we simply accept difficult things in our lives and resign ourselves to them. Rather it means freeing ourselves from the idea that something will bring some final inner harmony and learning to work for small, incremental changes. In concrete terms this means that, if we are ill, we don’t wait for a sudden change, but take concrete medical action and attempt to face the illness. Or that we don’t hide away from the world in some compound (whether that is a real compound or our bedroom), imagining that it will be remade in a perfect way, but work up the courage to try and change how we live now.

The idea that there is some way of bringing wholeness and harmony into our lives is actually an ideology which acts against making real change here and now, thus rendering us more susceptible to those who promise that they have the diet, drug or divinity that would make everything perfect again."
~ From "Happiness is Not a Three-Step Dance" by Peter Rollins

My understanding of the above message is that we can embrace not only our divinity but also our humanity including all our brokenness and sorrows and pains. It is about accepting reality and being responsible for creating our own reality and working through our own struggles instead of waiting for some god in the sky to make everything alright. In doing so, we are working out our own salvation as we are our own saviours (or physicians).

Prayer, metaphysics and love

What is prayer actually?

I have come to realise that prayer is actually all about us making things happen with our thoughts, according to the power of intention. Prayer isn't what organised religion teaches about some god in the sky answering our prayers. I'm learning to see that we have the power to create our own reality with our thinking. Staying away from negativity in religion, politics, etc also goes in some ways to allow our mind to be filled with beautiful and empowering thoughts. I am learning to guard my thoughts when I read newspapers on Sundays, for example.

How is metaphysics applicable to everyone?

Having come out from the christian religion, I am now into metaphysics, which I find rational and scientifically explainable (in terms of quantum physics). I suppose the christian religion tends to demonise or stigmatise those who are into new age philosophy or metaphysics because the religious institutions want to monopolise their idea of divinity, thinking that only their version of god is the "true" god.

Secondly, the institutions want to have control over people with their fear-based doctrines about an angry and jealous god (which is only a mirror reflection of the shadow self), and so they would not like to see people being empowered to create their own reality instead of being co-dependent on them for guidance and support.

I have also checked out Carlton Pearson's latest status update on his Facebook wall, and I agree with his observations that religions tend to be divisive and controlling - "as long as we allow religion to divide and conquer us as a human race, any positive effect it can or is presumed to have on humanity is sabotaged."

I have come to see that the divine or the source is in every one of us, and no religion can ever claim a stake or ownership on our shared divinity, and say "Hey, that is my god, and he is called Yahweh/Allah/Jesus/etc, and you'd better bow down and worship and submit to him, and call upon his name and be saved/pardoned/accepted." The divine in us is too expansive and infinite to be ever confined within a particular belief system or religion or name.

How has love been religionised?

People who talk a lot about love doesn't necessarily show love to oneself and/or others. I think it's partly due to indoctrination in the religious circles, in which people think that the more they talk about "holiness", love, pleasing "god", living a "moral" life, the more they are seen by others as being "holy", loving, "god-fearing" and "moral" (or so they thought).

Unfortunately, by doing so, love becomes religionised, and love becomes a law and a burden for people to try to live up to their self-imposed standards. Love becomes a "have to" and "must do" instead of "want to". It also causes those who preach a lot about love to judge and feel condemned whenever they think they fall short of their standards, and they also end up judging and condemning others.

I am learning to "be" love, and recognise that no one can ever meet the kind of unrealistic standard that religion demands, because everyone is human and messes up in some way or other. It's better for people to focus on living loved and loving others and accepting ourselves and one another the way we are, than to talk a lot about love (which religion and society unfortunately like to do).

The mystery of the gospel is all about us

I believe the mystery that ancient texts speak of is that what is written is about YOU. Not literal but an allegory.. You are the living word. You are love spoken.. The fall of who you think you are and the rise of Christ is a story that happens within all of us. Not something out there. Heaven (enlightenment) isn't a place somewhere it is within and so is hell. All the tribulations everything. One is taken and one is left... Separating the wheat from the chaff... ONE is always remaining!! TRUTH everything else must go! ♥ at least this is what I feel" Star Love

Yes, that's true - the mystery of the gospel is all about us - our fall in Adam and our rise in Christ. One is taken and one remains. The false identity based on the illusion of ego and identity is the chaff that was gathered and burnt, and only the wheat remains, which is our true identity based on the truth of unconditional love and divine oneness with God or higher self and with one another. 

I also learnt that the word "apocalypse" is derived from the Greek word "apokalypsis", which can mean cataclysm or revelation. Both meanings are metaphorical or symbolical. The cataclysm is about the destruction of the illusion of separation and ego, and the revelation is about the unveiling of our true identity of divinity and unity.

Occupy Self with Christ

"I don't care if you are a liberalist or conservative nationalist/republican. No political transformation has ever produced any sustainable profit to society. Neither has any form of religious movement brought any profound changes. It has only caused a deep rooted division between groups. An intrinsic change of heart is therefore necessary; a spiritual awareness, knowing that we are all connected to the Cosmic Christ, called in the ancients world as YEHESHUA, the Logos, manifested in flesh and enlightening every human being that comes into this world. John 1:4, 9.

I don't believe for a moment that the world, especially the Arab world, is now a better place without Khadafi. This world will only become a better place when a corporate Christ consciousness will be awakened within the soul of every individual."
- Jath van der Westhuizen 

Yes, when people awaken to the divinity within them, knowing they are Christ manifested, there would be no problem of greed or injustice in the long run because wherever the awakening happens - whether in a system of capitalism or communism or fascism or anarchism - the awakening would have caused people to remember who they really are and relate to one another as fellow human beings sharing a common divinity, knowing that we are one.

So in a sense, while there is a global revolution for outward changes, I believe there is a greater revolution taking place within the people. Both are necessary and both should take place concurrently. The inner reality will manifest in the outer reality.

Someone wrote: "Popes, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Preachers, Pontificators, these things aren't so necessary in a world where We have realized who We are. A world, where we all live, where we know Gnosis and then actualize this realization."

Yes, popes, prime ministers, presidents, preachers and so on are merely roles, which if not established on the truth of our original identity in Christ, will only result in discrimination. Perhaps the best  solution to create a world of equality and freedom is to occupy these worldly minds with the gnosis of our true identity as new creations. I think occupying self with Christ is the best and most life-transforming occupation we all can ever have.  May we continue to occupy America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East with Christ consciousness even as we share the gospel of grace and peace in our own ways.