I am a Nothing. I am not a Christian. I am not a non-Christian. I am not a Buddhist or a non-Buddhist. Yet I am all of them. But even “Nothing” is a label, so I’m not even that! People want me to join their churches. People want me to join this or that, believe this or that. Over the years, some folks have even told me to start an organization or even a new church! Get me pegged down, labeled! “Join,” the World keeps saying.
Only ego can say, “I am Orthodox” or “I am Catholic”, or “I am Christian”. Truth cannot utter these phrases. Anybody who is truly Orthodox or Catholic, truly Christian, would not have to say it. They could not say it! It would be self-evident.
If I am Nothing, then I am Everything. The only way anybody could say "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" is if they were Everybody, Everything, All of Us, "All, and in All." [Colossians 3:11] Otherwise, they could not be anything but egotistical lie. You know this. Yes, you.
You don't have to be around 2000 years ago. All proof is Right Here. You know because the True Scriptures are written in your heart. They require no historical proof, no textual evaluations, no debate, no literacy, no IQ! They are the Living Word come in the flesh, called Present Experience. They are the inspritation of the written scriptures (which are decaying and passing away with all heaven and earth).
I like to attend Quaker meetings, because Quakers make the Holy Spirit within the Final Authority, not any written creed or scripture, not anything corruptible. I like how Quakers wait, and watch. And, paradoxically, in so doing I see that they confirm your written creeds & scriptures!
Yet, I am not a Quaker, and I refuse to become a Quaker “member”. Yes, Quakerism is still an “ism”. The only thing that rubs me wrong about Quaker meetings is the talk about “We Quakers” or “ We Friends”. Labels are ego, and we love to roll labels around on our tongues for their addictive high. We love to distinguish ourselves above other humans. Pride is Label is Ego. “I am this”, “I am that”, we say until we bow to the dust at our death and discover we are really nothing. We bow at our death, as every creature must bow, to the Name un-nameable.
“…there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:12-13)
When we tack labels on ourselves, we do not know “the Name above every name” that the Bible refers to, and we do not know “The Name which cannot be spoken” which both the Tao Te Ching and the Guru Granth Sahib speak of.
So wouldn’t our church institutions, as we know them, collapse if we dropped all labels, all creeds, all possessions? Yes! Hallelujah!
They would surely dissolve if we practiced Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which is why no church organization dares pracice it! Who would not lose everything if they “give to everyone who asks.” Then our blindness ends and we see the Real Church of No Spoken Name that has Always Existed.
Yes, what would happen if humans just congregated automatically, in instinctual communion, as Buffalo and Geese and Mayflies and Ants do, “with no overseer or ruler” [Proverbs 6:11], without possession of creeds or labels, symbols, and of course no money incentive? What if every bite we ate and every drink we drank were Holy Communion, literally the Divine Body, freely given and freely received, as was always intended?
Erase all possession and money, all label-attachment, and watch it happen. You can see vestiges of this miracle at random gatherings – like in the streets, in neighborhoods, in the country. I see it a lot at Rainbow Gatherings. It’s called pure Love. Love is motivated by nothing but Itself, in the Present Moment. It’s about being Open to All.
Hey Suelo!
ReplyDeleteI checked out John’s blog and saw your response. Not a problem. I figured it was unintentional, so of course, I accept your apology. But I want to apology as well. I’ve read this and your last post on Jesus and Buddha, and I have a few thoughts I’d like you to consider. So I’m apologizing in advance in case I misrepresent or misinterpret what you are saying.
First, I believe the way you are looking at “labels” could be different. Say for instance, when a man goes into a store to purchase can goods, he looks for the item he needs, say baked beans. Now if all the cans of aluminum were unlabeled, he would have a hard time finding those baked beans. But with the label he can go directly to the source and purchase what he needs. It is the same with labels concerning religion or philosophy or whatever you want to call it. A label tells us what should be or is generally contained in that type of person. I can explain further if needed.
Next, in response to you claims of, ”I am a Nothing. I am not a Christian. I am not a non-Christian. I am not a Buddhist or a non-Buddhist. Yet I am all of them. But even “Nothing” is a label, so I’m not even that!”, I want to put forth a very truthful question, at least true from the Christian’s perspective. Please do not mistake this as mean-spirited or condemning. But saying that you are nothing, yet everything, in regards to belief, would that mean that you are a possible “Beastian” (coining a new word), meaning, a possible follower of the beast of Revelation (Rev. 13)?
I also at one time did not like using the word “Christian”. But when I looked back through history, I realized how much we miss, living in America, the hatred associated with that name. Millions have sacrificed theirs lives, becoming martyrs because they labeled, or better, laid claim to that title. They would not turn to the gods and idols their persecutors were forcing on them. Even the Nicolaitans of Revelation, though they claimed Christainhood, wanted their brethren to give in to worshipping the Imperial Roman Emporer-gods for the sake of peace. But what were Christ’s words to those who would not give in? “You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (Rev. 2:6).
For a Christian there is no other way. Christians are now slaves of Christ (1 Cor. 7:22). If one is not a Christian, well, then they can follow what they desire. The world cannot be forced to live by Christian principles, which is sadly what happens many times. But if one does not make a choice for Christ by the start of Daniel's 70th Seven (Dan. 9:20-27), then during that last Seven there will be only TWO choices,and one WILL have to make one of them.
Yes, there is a difference between the Word that became flesh and the written word. But the two never contradict themselves. The Scriptures as well as the Holy Spirit, point a person to the Living Word. The Spirit of Truth speaks only what He has been given (John 16:13), and it always is for glorification of the Son, the Word. Just as the Son spoke what the Father told Him (John 5:19, John 12:49-50), so the Spirit speaks what the Son and Father give Him.
Just some thoughts from a Christian.
If you celebrate Easter or Pascha, have a blessed celebration, Suelo.
Thanks for taking the thoughtful time to make this challenging comment, Pilgrim.
ReplyDeleteAnswering these questions at first seemed too much for this blog. But I opened this can of worms - so I gotta deal. Then I took a deep breath and let it flow out, easily:
Yes, you’re right about labels. All words are labels. And all labels,like money, are illusions. Think about it – can any spoken word represent itself? Is the word “dog” a dog? But, you’re right, in our human language world, we have to use labels, like I’m doing right now. All words are parables. Parables are for those of us removed from Reality, to bring us back to Reality.
In the beginning, the Word was with Reality and the Word was Reality, and the Word became Symbol (Parable) and dwelt among us symbols. Reality cannot be spoken with words. Symbol can.
A symbol is an icon. To say a symbol is the thing it represents is called superstition - like somebody thinking a person's portrait is that person. To say a symbol of God is God is called idolatry. Idolatry is lifting one symbol up above all others as The Way, The Truth, and The Life. The only way a symbol should be lifted up is for it to be destroyed, crucified, humiliated, so we are left with nothing but Reality – God.
When a label misrepresents (when a label is on the wrong can) it is called a lie.
“Christian” means “Of Christ” or “Christ One”. At first, believers didn't call themselves "Christian." You can call beans beans or grass grass, but scripture denounces us saying “I am of Christ?”. Why? If one person calls himself “of Christ” as distinguished from another, isn’t he proclaiming that Christ is not One? And if Christ is not One, then Christ is not Christ. He is mislabeling. He is lying. Hence, the question, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor 1:12-13)
This is why I state above, ‘The only way anybody could say "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" is if they were Everybody, Everything, All of Us, "All, and in All." [Colossians 3:11] Otherwise, they could not be anything but egotistical lie.’
So I will call myself Christian if that word will exclude no one. No one.
It’s ironic that the word “Catholic” means Universalist. How can one particle in the Universe be Universalist unless all particles are Universalist? When people forgot what “Catholic” meant, some invented “Universalist Unitarian” churches. I once attended one of these “Universalist” churches, and 80% of the sermon denounced Calvinism. Makes me chuckle.
Your question: "But saying that you are nothing, yet everything, in regards to belief, would that mean that you are a possible “Beastian” (coining a new word), meaning, a possible follower of the beast of Revelation (Rev. 13)?"
My response:
Ah, the hard question I’ve been waiting for!
Yes, I am a Beastian!!
I once read this passage in Revelation and it troubled me to the core:
But the angel said to me [John], "Why did you marvel [thaumazo]? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
"The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel [thaumazo], whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:7-8)
John marveled. What? Those who marvel, who dwell on earth, are not written in the Book of Life?! Everybody who is flesh and blood marvels at the beast, everybody is a beastian, and everybody is doomed! Everbody who is sin is a beastian. "For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor 5:21). I hope this troubles you to the core. This is why we dare not look in the mirror.
This is the mystery of Christianity. We can't be Christian unless we can admit we are not only sinners, but Sin itself! We are masters of admitting everybody else's sin (Muslims, Atheists, Leftists), but we can't admit our own. Sin is the Beast, and Sin can't recognize itself! We don't dare look into the Mirror, because we will see this Terror. If we want to see The One who knows no sin in the Mirror, then we must first see the one who has become Sin! We glance in the Mirror, now darkly, because it would be too overwhelming to see it clearly.
Yet, the Beast is Lie. Lie is Symbol, which does not represent itself. It is illusion, made "real" by our belief that symbol is reality. Symbol (words, money) represents past and future, but never Present. The Beast was, and is not, and yet is. We fear the Beast because we think Symbol is real. We fear other gods, because we think they're real - we think there is existence apart from YHWH. We think we are real, but we're fakes, with our labels, our name brands, our commerce. Hypocrite, in Greek, means Actor. Fake. Everyone who worships idols that can’t hear or see are themselves idols who cannot hear or see, as the Psalms & Isaiah state.
Strange how the Pharisees had no apparent graven images, no gods of other religions. And the Pharisees were scripturally correct, believing their eternal life was in scripture, yet they were idolators of idolators, unable to see or hear. And Jesus never breathed a word about other religions or "gods", though Israel was boiling in a "New Age" melting pot of Greek, Roman, & Pagan gods! Something to ponder deeply.
“Evil has no being, so why bother?” Thomas Aquinas asked.
Lie that says, “I am lie”, is no longer lie. It has died and resurrected as Truth. The Beast who says "I am The Beast" is no longer the Beast. The Cretians played with this paradox, saying, “All Cretians are liars”, which Paul had fun with (Titus 1:12).
The Word who was God became Not-God, Not-Real, to bring us who are not-real, lost in thought, back into Unspoken Reality. “Be still and know that I am Reality”.
About having the courage to lay hold to the title of "Christian." I agree with you in one sense. However, people are not persecuted because of their labels, but because of who they are, and for their actions of truth. If you dare practice the teachings of Jesus, whatever you call yourself, you will be persecuted. Gandhi, who practiced Jesus, yet never called himself Christian, was persecuted by people who called themselves Christian, and then eventually killed by people who called themselves Hindu. People in America today are not persecuted for calling themselves Christian. We who call ourselves "Christian" are often denounced for being materialistic, prudish, busy-bodies, rightly so, which we call "persectution." Since we don't have the courage to follow our own Jesus, we have to create our own pseudo-persecution.
But people are unjustly, truly persecuted for practicing Jesus’ teachings now as ever,whatever they call themselves. People are persectuted for practicing any truth. A whistle-blower on a job or in government, for example, regardless of creed, is persectuted, because she stands for truth above her own financial security & reputation. "Everyone who practices righteousness is born of God," 1 John says. No ifs, ands, or buts.
If we use labels to raise ourselves above others, then we deserve harassment. But if we use labels in truth, in humility, then our labels are good. When the Nazis invaded Sweden, they ordered all Jews to wear a label – a Yellow Star. So the King of Sweden, and many Swedes, started wearing a yellow star. This is when it is not simply a label, but an action of truth.
I am a Christian, and will call myself Christian, if we are all Christians. I am a Jew if we are all Jews.
On the other hand, I used to like to denounce the hypocrisy of “Those Evangelical Christians”, refusing to call myself Christian. But that also does no good. If I cannot denounce OUR hypocrisy as WE Evangelical Christians then I should keep my mouth shut. WE Christians are hypocrites. All of us are experts at confessing others' evils, but who of us has the Divine Power to admit our OWN? If I speak against our own hypocrisy, I am called anti-Christian, unpatriotic. The Biblical Jewish prophets would be called anti-semitic today, because they denounced Israeli greed, violence, and hypocrisy, just as they would denounce the greed, violence, and hypocrisy of today’s Israel.
You say: "For a Christian there is no other way. Christians are now slaves of Christ (1 Cor. 7:22)...."
My response: Yes, this is my hope, that we who call ourselves Christians would make a choice for Christ. Those who do not practice Christ’s teachings do not believe in Christ, no matter how many times they repeat “Jesus is Lord”, or how many creeds or scriptures they repeat, or how many times they say “I am a Christian”. You can either be a slave to Christ or a slave to Mammon. To do both is impossible. Yet we are all both. We all marvel at the Beast. Ponder this.
You say: "Yes, there is a difference between the Word that became flesh and the written word. But the two never contradict themselves...."
My response: True, but we have rendered the scriptures useless, because they are not backed by action, by reality. We've made them decaying clothes on a dummy, not on a living being. Our label is on the wrong can. And the label itself, whether on the right can or the wrong, is imperfect. The physical (flesh) is imperfect, corruptible, as is everything that is seen with the eye, even though we agree that it was inspired, created, by God. But the paradoxical mystery is that it is perfect in its imperfection, but becomes corrupt (imperfect) when we try to make it "perfect"! Try to make what is passing away permanent, try to face-lift our wrinkles, try to possess things, and we create corruption, idolatry.
Just some thoughts from the Christian within every created thing, the One and Only Born Again.
Blessed Pascha on the calendar, and Blessed Pashcha on every day and in every particle, ever dying and resurrecting!
Correction:
ReplyDeleteI had a hunch that the King wearing the Yellow Star story was Danish, not Swedish, so I looked it up. Sure enough. But it turns out even that never happened - it was just another legend.
http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/denmark.htm
Thanks for the response, Suelo. I confess that I am not as smart as you...so it was kind of hard to follow some things you said...you seem to have alot of knowledge on alot of things. But I did want to get your opinion or thoughts on one more thing, which is from something you said in the response.
ReplyDeleteI quote: "I am a Christian, and will call myself Christian, if we are all Christians. I am a Jew if we are all Jews."
The part I have a question on is this: First, isn't being a Jew (in the true Biblical sense) just like being Native American, or Chinese? Biblical Jewishness is simply one who is a descendent of Jacob, through Issac and Abraham. So saying you will be a Jew, or if one says that only others can be Jews if all are Jews is like saying that only the Native Americans can be Native Americans if all people can be Native Americans. Jewishness is not something one can apply to themselves or become through conversion or rites. You must be born a Jew, and just as one who is Chinese cannot undo what he or she is, racially, so a Jew cannot say he or she is not one also. And you Suelo cannot even say that you will be Jewish, unless of course, you have Jewish descendents.
What I'm getting at is this? Is Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. the same as one being born Arab, Indian, German, etc.? No...so one who is Jewish is not one who practices Rabbinic Judaism, because we know that some in Israel currently are atheist or agnostic, but being a Jew is one who is one ethnically. It seems many mix these terms up alot.
If a person was to say that a Jew cannot be Jewish, that's just like saying an African-American cannot be African-American? And we know that in our society, that is considered racism. Now don't mistake me! I'm NOT saying you ARE saying that, I just want to point out the difference between ethnicity and belief.
What are your thoughts?
Part of me doesn't like to be considered "smart". Maybe some day I can learn to be simple & concise & clear. But I'm still learning to unlearn.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the past couple of days I've been thinking about just what you bring up, Pilgrim, and I agree with you. In the earthly sense, there is ethnic Jew and ethnic Roman Catholic and ethnic Baptist. I love ethnicity and don't want to see rich traditions melt together or fade, which seems to be happening in America. But all of us tend to mistake our earthly (ethnic) with the spiritual. Scripture discusses the difference between the two:
"For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God." (Rom 2:28-29)
I see the entire point of the "New Testament" is to expand Israel to include the whole world, so that "there is neither Jew nor Greek... neither male nor female, for you are all are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). This making Israel, not a physical nation, but a Spiritual People including all nations, is the very message of the Jewish prophets. And take most any random New Testament passage, like Hebrew 8:7-13, for example, and you see this idea. My true self (Spirit) is neither male nor female, but happens to be riding in a male body. But the point made by both the Bible and other scriptures, like the Baghavad Gita, is that we realize we are not our bodies, that we don't identify with them, but only realize they are just tents we live in for now. This is the point of giving up all possessions that all the religions speak of. Our bodies are not our own. Our bodies are not us!
I don't want to see Jewish or Eastern Orthodox or Baptist religion (ethnicity) dissolve, or for one to try to be the other. I just want us to see that they are simply different costumes on One Person, and for each to recognize this Same Person in the other. This is called the Golden Rule. Some costumes are fancy, some aren't. Some formal, some casual -but all are necessary! Whether we denounce another tradition(costume) as bad or try to be another tradition(costume), we are mistaking the costume for the Person, the flesh for the Spirit.
A Christian realizes she is truly Hindu when she reaches the depths of her Christianity, not when she tries to be Hindu. And a woman realizes her true self is no different than a man's true self when she reaches the depths of her woman-hood, not when she tries to be a man!
I don't believe in & too much about
ReplyDeletemanipulation, so I don't know, if I
can fail to tell you that I'm myself a much too contradicted man,
however, if this situation of mine has any solution, you're welcome to
take it up with me, pls., so that I
can at least & long last more easi-
ly than up till now of course be- come & believe in & as much as pos-
sible about, what my fate is.
Greetings, a.respect-
life70@gmail.com,
Stgo., Cl.
How do I become a Saiyan?
ReplyDelete