One Christ

Only one Christ, THE Christ, has appeared throughout all time. Each incarnation, each manifestation brings the same essential core message, even though it is stated in different ways appropriate to the times and cultures. Jesus was no greater than any of the others because of some act performed, and to believe otherwise is ignorance.

Very few theologians would say Jesus is God. A common iteration of official belief is this: God reveals Self in Jesus. To this we can add the insight of Eastern sages and the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart.

"When the Father begets his Son in me, I am that Son and no other.... Thus, we are all in the Son and are the Son.
The Father gives birth to his Son without cease, and I say more: he gives birth to me his Son and the same Son.” - Meister Eckhart

Other Divine personalities who actually lived in the past are not simply imaginary human forms. Many have appeared to point the way for us to experience the Godhead within us, not merely to know about our divineness intellectually, but to actually experience it. Lord Buddha, Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Jesus.........many have come and gone to point us in the direction of Truth, the Christ within.

Peace

"I WANT PEACE!"

What's the importance of these words? First, let's look at the word, "I". Ego is attached with I. The word "want" is an expression of desire.

If you remove these two words, "I" and "want", you have only one thing left: peace

All of creation is One; an Eternal Oneness. Animals, trees, and flowers know this beingness, this oneness, not with an intellectual knowing, but a knowing which comes from stillness and just being, a beingness that comes only in the moment of Now.

The great spiritual master, Jesus, said, "Look at the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin."

Those who really want peace in their lives will let go of all ego and desire. Drop all negativity as if you're holding a hot coal in your hand.

The Light is Dazzling!

Christianity is one of many religions that casts a light that is purely dazzling! However, a 'shadow' has been following this brilliant jewel of a light for centuries now. I'll let the comments from another blog explain what I mean.

From the website of "Eternal Awareness": http://eternalawareness.ning.com/

Mark Walter:
Religions tend to have a ‘shadow’ which is the opposite of their strongest principles, or qualities. For Christianity, this seems to be intolerance – there is no other religion that has such resistance to embracing the beliefs of others (including, and perhaps especially, other Christian denominations), and such a need to ‘convert’ others. Islam, the religion of submission, seems to manifest its shadow in an inability to accept; Taoism, the religion of the formless, in an obsession with rituals and customs. And so forth.

Michael Larkin:
I so very much agree with this. It's one of the shadows of Christianity that somehow Jesus shouldered the responsibility for all our sins - just an extension of the old scapegoat idea. The doctrine of the redemption has long seemed to me to be total poppycock, and when you can get past it, the light it casts is dazzling. Christ didn't die so that we can live, but lived so that we can live. Study and imitate his life, don't be preoccupied with his death.

Mark Walter, creator of the "Eternal Awareness" web blog commented:
One day someone asked if I knew Jesus had died for my sins. "Yes, I do," I replied. "I think it is so awful that no one would take responsibility for their own sins... that everyone let him take all the blame. So, I have decided to take responsibility for my own sins, and am prepared to die for them at any time."

God is Within

LOOK WITHIN

Rama,Sri Ramakrishna -- Do you know what I see? I see Him as all. Men and other creatures appear to me only as hollow forms, moving their heads and hands and feet, but within is the Lord Himself.

Holy Mother -- When one realizes God, He grants knowledge and illumination from within; one knows it oneself. In the fullness of one’s spiritual realization one will find that He who resides in one’s heart, resides in the hearts of others as well - the oppressed, the persecuted, the untouchable, and the outcast.

Swami Vivekananda -- It is impossible to find God outside of ourselves. Our own souls contribute all of the divinity that is outside of us. We are the greatest temple. The objectification is only a faint imitation of what we see within ourselves.

Buddha -- The subject on which I meditate is truth. The practice to which I devote myself is the truth. The topic of my conversation is truth. My thoughts are always in truth. For lo! my self has become the truth.

Guru Nanak -- As fragrance abides in the flower,
As the reflection is within the mirror,
So doth thy Lord abide within thee,
Why search Him without?

Jesus Christ -- Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

Judaism -- Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the holy Spirit from me.

Krishna -- I am the Self, O Gudekesa, seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings.

Mohammed -- He who knows his own self, knows God.

Native American -- The first peace, which is most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its Powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real Peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.

Rama -- Think that you are Parabrahman, you have no attachment, you are all-knowing and you are pure. Always feel like this and establish your oneness with the Paramatman and derive bliss within yourself without caring to know what is outside of you.

Sankara -- Cherish your Guru’s lotus feet and free yourself without delay from the enslavement to this world. Curb your senses and your mind and see the Lord within your heart.

Vedas -- There is one Supreme Ruler, the inmost Self of all beings, who makes His one form manifold. Eternal happiness belongs to the wise, who perceive Him within themselves - not to others.

Zoroaster -- One need not scale the heights of the heavens nor travel along the highways of the world to find Ahura Mazda. With purity of mind and holiness of heart one can find Him in one’s own heart.