A Gnostic Looks at Jesus

Prior to the time of Constantine the Gnostic Christian Church lived side by side with the Literal Christian Church. When accused of heresy, the Gnostics responded that they believed in the same Jesus that the Literal Church did. The difference between the Gnostic and the Literal Christian, was in the scope of that belief. The Literal Christian looks to Jesus for salvation. There is no reason to believe that both Jesus (along with the Holy Spirit) means to make good on that belief. In short, it is not wrong to be a Literal Christian. The mistake, from a Gnostic point of view, is that it does not go far enough. The Gnostic believes that God, in the long view, means to save everyone, not just a chosen few. Those who do not believe as the Literal Christians do are not left out; as Jesus said, God has many mansions in His eternal home. The pathway to God includes not only salvation but "gnosis" or knowledge of God within oneself. Had the Gnostics been left alone in the time of Constantine, the Gnostic Church could easily live side by side with all of the Christian Churches which today are diverse, far flung and numerous; there are,among others, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, St. Thomas, Coptic, Ethiopian, Russian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and the many Protestant Churches, not forgetting the Mormons and other branches that have arisen from time to time. The Christian Church is a very big tent and today is far more diverse than in the time of Constantine. The one thing that unites all of these numerous off shoots of the Early Church of Jerusalem is a belief in Jesus Christ, although these beliefs vary greatly. Everything goes back to the Pentecost and the foundation of the Church by Paul, Peter and James the Just. The Gnostics were there at that time, and are still around today; many of them living within the framework of the Literal Church. No one has to deny their current beliefs to be a Gnostic. All you have to bring to the Gnostic Way is a desire to find God within yourself. This is the same message that Jesus brought when he said that the Kingdom of God is within us all, although most of us are unaware of this fact. It was Jesus' message then, and it is the Gnostic message today.

Atlantis

What has Atlantis to do with the Gnostic Way? On the surface, nothing, however, the story of Atlantis is a powerful metaphor for the aspirations of human beings; so too are Camelot and the Garden of Eden. It is an open question whether any of these places existed in real time, or if they did, whether they were the places that we think that they were. In our reveries these places were all magical. Great powers or great actions took place here, and the people who inhabited these places were leading charmed lives. You might say that Heaven is also such a place, and in a negative sense, Hell. In comparison, our own lives appear to be drab and common place. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are magical and don't seem to recognize it. Just look at the context of our lives. The universe has been around billions of years. The earth has been around a few billion years as well. Both the universe and the earth are likely to be around some billions of years more. On the earth at this moment, there are many more billions of human beings. This is not counting the countless other forms of life that share the planet with us. Yet here we are, watching television, reading books, sharing our lives with our loved ones, and living in one of the most advanced countries in the world. Simply by existing, you have won a lottery bigger than any that could be produced on earth by men, and against odds too great to calculate. Why is this so? I submit, it is so because the game is rigged. You are here as you are, because your parentage is not confined to your mother and father. Your ultimate parent is God and you are here, privileged as you are, because of that parentage. Just as you carry the DNA of your two parents, so you also carry the DNA of your ultimate parent. To my knowledge, there is no biological form of life that does not have DNA, or some portion of it. And what is DNA? Like the musical score that Beethoven wrote for the Ninth Symphony, DNA is the composers score, only in this case the composer is God; the ultimate composer. It is an open question whether we have a soul. Science has never identified the substance or existence of the soul. For this reason, many of the scientific community hold that the physical brain is all there is or ever will be of us. No evidence exists for the presence of a soul in a human body. There is a reason, I believe that one will never be found. This reason is that God has no substance, hence the soul which reflects God within us, has no substance as well. Both God and the soul are ideas. An idea is powerful in and of itself, but is the framework rather than the reality. It is the combination of an idea coupled with energy that makes up all reality. If you could reduce yourself to the size of a quark, what would you find? You would discover that in the quantum world, energy in the form of atoms is all that exists. In addition, you would also discover that the energy is not without direction. Direction from whom and from where? It is all random and chaotic, or is it under an active control of laws that cannot be broken. If they could be broken and if they were chaotic, would we be here at this precise moment, living our lives? I will let you answer that question for yourselves, but I know that the answer creates itself. The mere fact that we can propose the question is enough to point out the logic behind the answer. Everything including ourselves is encompassed in the idea we call God and everything including ourselves owe our very existence to it. This is why the search for God is so important. It is the search for the heart of our very existence. This is the Gnostic Way.

Three Easy Steps

There are three easy steps to becoming a Gnostic. If you take them in order, and follow them consistently, you will be a Gnostic without breaking a sweat. The steps are as follows:

1. Pay no attention to what the Gnostics were in the time of the Roman Empire. The Gnostic Christian Church had a set of beliefs. These beliefs were finished when the Literal Church took over in the Fourth Century. After that time Gnosticism changed. The Mystics in the Catholic Church, the non-Christian Gnostics, and the many, many searchers that came into being with the Renaissance and have continued writing since have changed the Gnostic Way completely.

2. Keep in mind that all ideas about God and His Kingdom are metaphoric. This means that you are not required to have a fixed set of beliefs to be a Gnostic. The name implies knowledge, but the reality is that you are a searcher for knowledge. Reality is constantly changing. At the beginning of the 19th century many of the ideas that are now current did not exist; evolution, atomic energy, flight, quantum physics, and the Nag Hammadi Gospels were unheard of. Unlike our literalistic brothers and sisters, we believe that much more is yet to be learned. The Bible is a guide, not an encyclopedia. The entire body of knowledge, both east and west, is open to us for our review.

3. Commit yourself to the search. What does this commitment look like? It is the process of watching, learning, and changing. This process has another name. It is called growth. Where will we end up? This is the exciting part. Right now, I am examining the ideas of Emmanuel Swedenborg. I have always thought of him as a quaint and out of date character from the past. Upon a second look, I realize that he was far ahead of his time. The people who are attracted to his ideas are some of the most progressive and intelligent people currently working in the religious field. Their numbers are small, but their characters are large.

If you follow those three steps, you will undertake an adventure that is both wonderful and productive. How to get started? That too is simple. Go to your local library or book store and browse. You will be surprised at what is out there. When you stumble on an interesting subject, google it. Never has the process of learning been easier than it is today. The fundamentalists are plotting a return to the Dark Ages. The best defense against this horrendous event is the acquisition of knowledge. That is the Gnostic Way.

The Book of Enoch

Today, I opened a new blog. It is www.enochthegnostic.blogspot.com. The purpose of this new blog is not to substitute for this one, but to enhance its range. The Book of Enoch is a long one and deserves its own treatment. Therefore, I plan to manage two blogs at the same time. I hope that you will review both blogs on a regular basis. I feel that the Book of Enoch is a very important book that was left out of the canon for some reason. It deserves your time and attention. For those of you who do not know who Enoch is, I suggest that you review Genesis 5:18-24. These verses say: "When Jared had lived one hundred sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch. Jared lived after the birth of Enoch eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah three hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him." The Book of Enoch fills in the many spaces left by these very limited verses. It tells you much more about his relationship with God and with the Angels of God. I look forward to filling in my own Gnostic view as to this Book and its startling conclusions.

The Nature of Life

The great metaphors of our society are found in the movie theaters. Years ago, a friend of mine called them "Daydreams from Hollywood." Not a bad description. Most movies have an incredible ending that is designed to make things right. When the protagonists in the movie, "Jurassic Park," were surrounded by Velociraptors ready to dine on them, suddenly a T Rex entered the scene and killed all of the raptors. Hollywood does this because they want to sell their product. We all want to believe that the ending is going to come out okay, and when we pay to see the story we want that result. Reality has a way of bringing this sort of thinking to a close; things don't always turn out right. The Great King who built the Taj Mahal was jailed in the last decade of his reign by his own son who wasn't willing to wait to replace him after death. King David of the Bible was challenged by his own son, Absalom, but beat the challenge back; same problem, two different results. There is a happy ending sometimes but not as often as the movies portray; an unhappy ending is more likely. However, in the great theater of life, God promises us a happy ending. If you are willing to allow yourself to grow into the maturity that God plans for you, you will end up in paradise with God. This process is not going to take place in a short period of time or even in one lifetime. Look around you at the state of the world currently, and you can see what a daunting task lies before us. Things may likely get worse before they get better. What can we do about it? There are three rules that God has placed before us and if we follow them, we will ultimately succeed. The first rule is the Golden Rule. To make this rule work we must adopt the second rule which is to love ourselves and our fellow human beings equally. If we don't love ourselves and each other, the Golden Rule will not work. The last rule is that we have to stop preying on each other and taking advantage of each other for our own gain. To abolish selfishness may be the hardest task that we face. If you are optimistic about this one, a short hop on the freeway will teach you the lesson you need to learn; this one will be tough. To recap the three: (1) follow the Golden Rule; (2) Learn to love yourself and your neighbor; and (3) live unselfishly. To do this by yourself means that others will take advantage of you. However, I have good news for you. Most of what we want is like fast food, tasty but non-nutritious. If you learn to live within your means, financially, emotionally, and with due regard for the others in your life, you will be healthier and happier in the long run. I recently saw a biography of Michael J. Fox. His life may not be perfect, few people live perfect lives, but it is full of good examples of how a person can deal with fame, adversity, and the challenges of life. He has a book out, and I would suggest that you read it. Here is a role model that we all could profit from studying.

Remdies for Evil

Can we eliminate evil? No, because there are too many sources for it. However, there are things that we can do about evil. Evil is to some degree subject to interpretation. Before you decide that something is evil, it might help to examine that so-called evil first. Politics is a good example of this. When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, one half of the country used this fact to leave the Union. To the South, Lincoln was a "Black Republican." Today, the South is virtually all Republican. Go figure! When you find the subject of evil being discussed there is a good chance that somebody's death is involved. Around the United States men who favor sex with children are being ousted from neighborhoods due to the large number of children who are kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Not all of them are killers, but enough of them are to make it tough on the remainder. This is not helped by the fact that the killers are people who appear to be ordinary and trustworthy so long as you do not know their sexual proclivities. In short, people who blend into society and seem, on the surface, to be harmless. The problem with choosing a group for exile from society is well known. It is a short step to exile people for religious, political, and societal reasons. The more short steps that we take, the more likely we are to fire up the instruments of death for entire groups. We overlook sometimes that in addition to the Jews, the Nazi's also attempted to eliminate the mentally disabled, the gypsies, and the liberal Christians. While they were doing this, Stalin was wiping out millions of Russians who were of German extraction. Lest we pat ourselves on the back, we were putting thousands of Japanese-Americans into concentration camps at the same time. Does all of this mean that I favor allowing sex offenders to wander around our neighborhoods? Some form of monitoring is called for, but is making them camp out in the woods, as they do in Georgia, an answer? We need to think through what we do and make our actions as reasonable as we can. Evil is a problem to be sure, but it is not the end problem of the world. Nothing does more harm to society than our unwillingness to adopt the Golden Rule in a manner to make it effective. I have written previously about the children who die needlessly because society has not figured out how to take care of them. Many more of our children die this way than are killed by sex offenders. So what should we do about evil? The Gnostic believes that the ultimate end of evil is our union with God. Once we have attained a full partnership with God, we will have a far more mature and well developed response to all of the evils of society, not just some of them. Once we have all attained the ability to truly love God, we will also attain the ability to love one another fully. How much evil will simply dissipate when that day arrives? Let us pray for that day to come, and let us work to achieve it in ourselves. That is the Gnostic Way.

Signposts

When we drive on the freeway or highway, we look for signposts. How far is the next city? When can I expect to see my off ramp? Sometimes our signposts are natural things like mountains, rivers, parks, and the like. It would be nice to have signposts that tell us when we are getting closer to God. Something that says, "God is just around the corner." We go to church hoping that our minister or priest can tell us something useful. We read books like the Bible and religious tracts for the same reason. Many people don't look for signposts because they either don't believe that God is there in the first place, or simply because they think that the task is too difficult. Some of us would rather not look in the first place because we are satisfied that life is okay the way it is. To the Gnostic the signposts are there and are capable of being read and followed. Its just a question of knowing where to look. The life of Saint John of the Cross is a good place to begin your search. He was a Jew who belonged to a family that converted to Christianity. He was ordained as priest in 1567 and planned to join the Carthusian order. Before doing this he traveled to Medina Del Campo where met Saint Teresa de Jesus. Attracted to her work, he stayed to help her until 1577, founding monasteries in the Carmelite order. Some of the Carmelite friars disliked his work and they had him imprisoned in a tiny stifling cell barely large enough for his body. Instead of giving in to despair, he wrote poetry in his captivity, becoming one of the foremost poets in the Spanish language. Ultimately, he was declared to be one of the Doctors of the Catholic Church. Many of his poems were written on the theme of finding a union with God. One of them called the Dark Night of the Soul is especially poinant given his experiences as a prisoner who was roughly treated by his captors. His works have deeply influenced writers such as T.S. Eliot, Edith Stein, and pacifists such as Daniel and Philip Berrigan. Pope John Paul II wrote his theological dissertation on the mystical theology of Saint John of the Cross. If you are interested in searching for God inside yourself, where can you find a better place to start than the poems of Saint John of the Cross? Was he a Gnostic? Of course not, but when we start to search for God, we are all Gnostics. There is no rule that I am aware of that says that you cannot be a Catholic and a Gnostic at the same time. Searching for God is neither a heresy or a sin. It is a way of life and a good one at that.

The Short Life

Martin Luther King called death, "The Great Democracy." Nobody escapes death and even the high born and privileged must ultimately die. However, the discrepancy between the quality and length of lives can be just as great as the discrepancy between wealth and poverty. Today in the LA Times they had an article about two children who lived short and unhappy lives. One was a suicide and the other a victim of a brutal murder. Both children died at an excessively young age; one 14 and the other 12 years of age. The boy, 14, was missing an arm and had no family to speak of; the girl, 12, was too much to handle and was abandoned both by her birth mother and her adopted mother. Both lived on the streets and were unhappy with their lives. Neither got much support from the community. What do these lives mean? To a Gnostic it means that we have only begun our search for the Kingdom of Heaven. This search began before the birth of Jesus, who was its most powerful proponent. During the ensuing 2000 years since the death of Jesus, we have spent most of our time defending our liturgy at the expense of finding our souls. It has always been the liturgy that saved us, we have been told. In truth, it is the perfection of our souls that will save not only ourselves, but these children who have been ignored and left behind. Of only one thing, I am certain. When these two children died, it was Jesus himself who led them into the light. Will Jesus meet you as well? If you're not certain, perhaps its time to look inside yourself and see if the light is shining from your soul. If it is not, the Gnostic Way is there for you to find it.

Reality is an Idea.

When you fall the process can hurt; at best it is embarrassing. If I were to come along at such a time and tell you that reality is not what it seems, you would respond with a word requiring an asterisk. However, reality is not what it seems. I talked recently about the nonexistence of death. On reflection, I realize that this concept is not technically accurate. When we die, an idea dies, and there is no reason to suppose that an idea is incapable of death. What is the idea that suffers such a fate? Upon death, all of the atoms in our body remain. The atoms making up the liver remain as a liver, and so on, as to all the organs of the body; yet, the fundamental organism has changed. The body commences a process of decomposition which carries on until only the skeleton remains. The natural defenses against this process that worked for us during life have now shut down. What has changed to make this possible? It is often called the spark of life, but I think that it is nothing more than an idea. The two cells that combine at conception are both alive. Both are capable of commencing the process of creating a human being and that plan is found in the DNA of the cells. So long as the entity remains alive, the DNA continues its task right up to the time of death. When a vital organ shuts down for any reason, the process I described above takes hold. The same principle applies to the earth, the sun, and to the entire universe. When all of the suns shut down and there are no more being created, with no more heat and light the universe will decompose in some manner and cease to exist. I suspect that the black holes have the task of eliminating the debris. I believe that the entire gamut of life, both animate and inanimate, is based on an idea. When you buy a car at the dealers, you expect that when you put gas in it and start it up, you will be able to drive it home. The same can be said for the body you are given at birth. Someday, both car and human will be no more. If you are the product of an idea, is that idea exclusive or general? In other words, do you go on as before, or are you dependent on something somewhere retaining interest in your survival? The discussion between the Gnostic and the Literalist is based on this distinction. The Gnostic believes that God is the basis of all things. As part of God, we are the outgrowth of his thinking. The Literalist believes that we are a one-time thing. They are joined in this thought by the Atheist, who concludes the same thing but leaves out God. The Gnostic believes that both are wrong. Underlying all things is an idea. We are part of that idea and share in it. If you doubt this, look in the mirror and see your face stare back at you. That face is made up of atoms no different than the atoms that make up the mirror itself. The light that allows you to see yourself can be found throughout the entire universe. You are part of a whole and that whole is eternal. Judgement day is not a special day that comes when you pass over to the other side. Judgement day is every day and every minute of every day. You have a life that God took great care to think up. Enjoy it, use it, and respect it. If you are not succeeding to live up to the high standards set by the universe don't despair. Your job is to grow. That is the Gnostic Way.

More on Keeping it Simple

In a previous post, I suggested the aphorism, "Don't make simple things complicated." I want to talk about this idea some more. Theologians write and act as if religion were complicated. What makes it complicated is the fact that so much fairy dust is attached to it. It's not enough to say that Jesus was a great man who took the wisdom of his time, both Jewish and Gentile, and taught us this wisdom in a understandable and effective manner. He used metaphor to establish his point. We call them parables, but by any name they are all metaphoric. The Shepherd who leaves his flock to find the one lost sheep. The prodigal son who is welcomed home by his father. The Samaritan who helps the wounded traveler when the high born Jews pass him by. My favorite is the bridegroom who goes to the slums to find his guests when the high born of the city refuse to attend his wedding; the picture of the prostitutes who enter the celebration first is telling. The subject matter of all of these metaphors was the coming Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was clear that the Kingdom was at hand. He was also clear that it was for Jews only. Finally, he believed that the Kingdom had already arrived in the hearts and minds of the Jews if they would only acknowledge that fact and repent of their sins. This was the same message brought by John the Baptist. The Apostle Paul was the one who took the message outside Jerusalem to the Gentiles. It was his intent that they become Jews, but without having to be circumcised. It was on this foundation that the Church was formed. By the time of Constantine, around 315 CE, the liturgy of the church had been fully formed and was en grafted in the Nicene Creed. The Jewish nature of the message of Jesus had been removed nearly in its entirety by this time. The Jews, by now in exile from their homeland, remained committed to the old religion as it existed prior to Jesus time. I admit that this history is simplistic, but it is nonetheless true. The original message of Jesus had long since been lost by the time of Constantine. I believe that the time has come to accept Jesus as he originally was. A great man with a great message that should help us all cope with the rigors of being a human being. Because his message was metaphoric it retains its original power. We do not need to deify him to accomplish this. As I have stated before, his deification was done because that was common in the Roman Empire; it happened to the emperors when they died. Had he not been deified, no one would have taken Christianity seriously. In modern times we have progressed past that point. In Paul's metaphor, first we look through the glass darkly, and then clearly after that. It is time to look for Jesus through clear glass. Taken as it originally was, his message is simple but powerful. Taken as the Church makes him, a God rather than a man, his message is lost. The simple truth is that God has given us all that we need to save ourselves. This was the original message of Jesus, and it is still good today.

A Most Complicated Entity

The other day in Chicago a 16 year old honor student was beaten to death in a street fight. The ensuing uproar over his death led to two members of the Obama administration being sent to Chicago to deal with the fall out. The young man's death was one of many that plague the City of Chicago. Children are being killed in record numbers; mostly by other children. I doubt that this plague is confined to the City of Chicago. I know that Los Angeles has a similar problem. Lest we think that the problem is confined to our country, look again. Recently in Rwanda, members of a tribe were murdered in the thousands. This problem is not confined to people of color. In Bosnia there was a similar attempt to wipe out thousands of Bosnians in a civil war. Let's not forget the millions who were killed in World War II simply because of their religion, nationality, or for no other reason than they were in the way of the war machines. Our species has a terrible record in this regard. One of the most important challenges we face as human beings is to simply learn to live with each other in peace. If we spent one half of the money we spend on arms, weapons of war, and methods of killing each other, we could solve most, if not all, of the problems of economic inequality, famine, and disease. In addition to the cost of murder and warfare, we are, as we did in the case of the honor student, killing the best and brightest of our species. How many Shakespeare's and Beethoven's have we murdered? The young man in Chicago who was murdered might have been the one to finally solve the scourge of cancer. We like to think of ourselves as enlightened. In doing so, we shy away from looking at the dark side of our nature. The Gnostic believes that God resides within each of us. When you examine the carnage that follows behind us, it is difficult to believe this to be true. There is a place in the Pacific Ocean where our trash has collected and it is killing the creatures that inhabit the ocean. Our murderous ways are not confined to our own species. The Supreme Court is at this moment wrestling with the question of whether films of people torturing small and helpless animals are entitled to the protection of free speech. Go figure! I stress all of this human garbage in our world for a reason. Nothing that I can cite illustrates the need for us to get past our current political, social, religious, and ethical boundaries more than the above litany. We have a lot of work to do. I submit that going to church for the sole reason of saving yourselves from sin is insufficient to get the job done. We need to make great strides in finding and cultivating our better natures. If we don't, how many more bright young men and women will have to die? How much carnage will occur in the future? It's a nice idea to think that God will send us salvation for nothing but our beliefs. I do not think God is that stupid. There is no free lunch. I believe that God favors our growth. At one time, we lived in caves; today we live in modern homes and apartments. At one time, we thought that disease could be cured by bleeding; today we have antibiotics. We have demonstrated that we are capable of growth. In no area do we resist growth more than in the area of religion. Because the Bible says that God told Joshua to kill every living thing that breathes in a village he conquered, that must be true about God. The Gnostic denies this forcefully. God does not believe in killing human beings for political or economic reasons. We came up with that by ourselves. If its not true about Genghis Khan, it is not true about Joshua. The heart and soul of the Gnostic Way is that the human race is capable of continuous growth. The Gnostic Way stresses metaphor over literalism. The best metaphor for life is to hold a baby in your arms and contemplate that baby's future. What kind of world do we want for our children? Do we want a world where they are beaten to death on their way home from school, or do we want them to grow up and match their full potential? This question should be easy to answer, however, our desires and our deeds have yet to match each other. When I suggest that the search for God within ourselves is important, think on this. Is there anything more important?

Why I chose to be a Gnostic

Imagine a religion that has no God. I understand that the Buddhist Religion is not based on a belief in God. The secular world has Atheism. Richard Dawkins book does an admirable job of outlining why so many scientists and philosophers have chosen to reject the idea of a God. Most religions require that you not only believe in God, but that you must accept their concept of what God is like. I was attracted to the Gnostic Way because the Gnostics do not pretend to know what God is like. God is a mystery beyond our understanding. Perhaps someday we will know God intimately, but that day is still very far away. The Gnostic searches for God inside ourselves. I have pointed out many times the words of Meister Eckhart that to know God we must empty ourselves fully; only then can God enter into us. All anyone can do realistically if asked to prove the existence of God is to shrug one's shoulders and pass on the question; anything else is speculative at best. I prefer to be honest and say that I am searching for God, and since I believe fully in reincarnation, I expect that at some point in the future that search will succeed. If someone chooses to believe that God can be known I have no trouble with that if the knowledge is metaphoric rather than literal. When you tell me that because of writings that occurred back when people believed that the world was flat and that the sun revolved around it rather than the other way around, I cannot go there with you. I am willing to accept anything as metaphor, and the Gnostics were masters at metaphor. In the world of metaphor, we are all brothers and sisters no matter what we believe. As literalists we are divided and shall always remain so. As a Gnostic I can listen to all points of view and need not adopt any single one of them. Hence, the Gnostic Way.

Death versus Life

If I could print just one aphorism and have it prominently displayed around the world it would be this: "Don't make simple things complicated." We all worry about death. Movies are often based on some form of death since it is always an interesting subject. Nothing is quicker in bringing tears to our eyes than the prospect or realization of the death of a loved one. However, I submit that the subject of death is unnecessary. Death does not exist. Nobody looks at the period at the end of a sentence as portentous; another sentence will surely follow. It is merely a marker that says one sentence has been completed and the next one will be a entity unto itself. That's what a book is; a long series of sentences that combined together make up a story. The same thing can be said for us. Like a sentence, our life is just one panel in a large tapestry. For the ultimate meaning, you must be able to see the entire tapestry. One panel like one sentence cannot express the whole. Last night I saw a program that discussed the life and death of the Milky Way Galaxy; our galaxy. It appears that the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way Galaxy are on a collision course. Apparently, our solar system may be cast out of the mix into the outer void. Don't fret, however, we are talking about several billion years from now. Our entire universe will die, I am told. Will other universes take its place? I submit that the answer is yes; everything dies and everything lives. Getting back to the aphorism I proposed. We need to stop looking at death as important. By dying, we simply make certain that life goes on. If you were to live forever in your present form, there are several bad things awaiting you. Sooner or later a super volcano will erupt (perhaps in Yellowstone Park). If not that, an asteroid will strike the earth. If that isn't enough, the sun will ultimately die and turn the earth into a burnt cinder in the process. By dying, we are able to adjust to all of this. We can come back after the dust settles and this or some other earth is now able to accommodate us. It may take a few million years, but I have good news about that as well; like death, time does not exist either. Just as you sleep at night, so you can take a nap while things sort themselves out. Someday, I would like to sit down and ask God why things have to be this way. I suspect that I already know the answer. Which would you rather do? Sit in an eternal chair staring at an eternal scene, or would you rather wake up eternally in a different place each time, leading a different life. Since it is an eternal tapestry sooner or later you will get to be everything from the simplest to the most complex form of life. I call that an adventure worth taking, what do you call it?

Frontal Lobotomy

I've never met a person who wants to have a frontal lobotomy. This procedure turns you into a zombie and robs you of the essential elements of being a human being. However, many of us, if not all of us at one time or another, give the procedure to ourselves. We do it with an emotion that we call "anger." Think back to the time that you were really angry. It doesn't matter whether your anger was justified or not. Think about your state of mind while your anger ran through your system. During my years as a criminal defense attorney, I could not help but notice how often my clients charged with murder had a problem with anger. Like a car with no brakes, these folks seemed to be unable to control the extent that anger overcame judgement. In many cases this condition was facilitated by alcohol or drugs, but not in every case; some people had this problem when they were sober. While you were angry did you say something that you later regretted? While you were angry did you do something physical that you later regretted? If honest with ourselves, most of us will answer in the affirmative. Those that answer in the negative should apply to the Pope for sainthood. Can our religious point of view help with anger? Can it allow us to control anger much better than we do at present? The Gnostic answers those questions with a resounding, "Yes." I am not suggesting that anger does not have its place. After a Pearl Harbor or a 9/11, anger is clearly justified. There is an old saying that revenge is best eaten cold. I believe that to be good advice. However justified anger might be, it is best to apply your answer to the provocation after you have had sufficient time to cool down. There are only a few cases where actions need to be taken immediately. Most situations allow for a cool down period. We are foolish if we do not take them. Road rage is a good example of what I am talking about. That fool that cut you off and almost caused an accident needs to be immediately admonished. Not! If that fool did not cause an accident let it go; he or she might very well have an accident in their future by the manner in which they drive, but there is nothing you can do about it except be thankful that you were not a participant in that accident. If you want to help out, pray for the individual; God has far more authority over that person's driving than you do. And if you do give in to your anger, what can you do that does not make the situation worse. If you call out the person to pull over, you are committing a crime. There's a good chance that you will commit another one when the person does not show you the proper respect for your outrage. It may come as a surprise, but the Judge and the Prosecutor will not be sympathetic to your plight. Many otherwise good people have found themselves in prison for just this sort of activity. Many others have found themselves as victims of this crime, some even dead as a result. I use this example but there are many others. I urge all of you to put two words into your vocabulary while you are driving. They are simple and easy to follow if you allow them into your consciousness. "CHILL OUT!" The Gnostic says that they are good advice no matter what you are mad at. It could be your spouse; your child; your boss; the person who cuts into the line; the fool who roots for the wrong team; or any other common complaint. They are all the same. Keep those two words in mind, drunk or sober, and your life will far more fruitful and pleasant.

Primary Connections

The Gnostic does not pretend to know what the nature of reality might be. It is not within the human being's understanding to know the exact nature of reality. By reality, I mean the ultimate truth about the nature of the universe we live in; a reality that includes ourselves as human beings. We can conjecture, and by so doing reach conclusions that must await proof before they become a description of reality. Neither our scientists nor our priests and ministers can tell us how reality is constituted. Everything that we know is limited by what we do not know. The difference between the Gnostic and the rest of the community, both religious and secular, is that the Gnostic utilizes metaphor to reach an understanding of reality; by so doing, he or she does not pretend to espouse the literal truth. The best metaphor that I know to describe reality is the number "one." Three Dog Night had a beautiful number called "One." They claimed that one is the loneliest number in the world. I suggest otherwise. One, in the Gnostic's world encompasses everything. No matter what form of matter you can describe, either plant, animal, or inanimate, it is all composed of atoms. Atoms combining with each other make up all matter, both alive and inanimate. A star and an angle worm, however different they may be, are all composed of atoms. In quantum physics, atoms are able to adjust to one another, and this adjustment can take place between atoms light years apart. If it were not for this adjustment, we as human beings would not exist. Thus, our ultimate component, the atom, is not alone in the universe. We, in turn, being composed of atoms are not alone either. We are all connected. While we live, the atoms in our body are constantly changing. We are not composed of the same atoms that made us up at the time of our birth, or for that matter, the ones that we were composed of during the Clinton administration; yet we are the same persons. What does this all mean metaphorically? Since our atoms are interchangeable with each other, it means that we are all connected in a fundamental way. We are all one, just as our atoms are all one. As a Gnostic it is a short step to say that the One is also the entity that we call God. That said, we are one with God as surely as we are one with each other. The implications are staggering. When you find yourself angry or upset at your neighbor, you are being angry and upset with yourself as well; notwithstanding that you are also being angry and upset with God. We are all one.

Humility

Leo Durocher was famous for his line, "nice guys finish last." Hitler fed on nice people the same way that a lion feeds on a gazelle. When I was young Hollywood made westerns. The usual western involved a hero who set aside his gun to live a nicer life. At the end when the bad guys were winning, he would put his gun back on and shoot his way to a decent conclusion. So goes humility. To be humble is the same thing as advertising that you want to be a victim. However, Jesus said that the meek would inherit the earth. How can this be? The truth is that being humble is not weak, but strong. A good example is the tree that bends in a strong wind; few such trees are uprooted. Meister Eckhart said that in order to find God it was necessary for one to empty himself completely. By this means, God is able to enter in and fill the empty space. The missing element is courage. Courage and humility can and should go hand in hand. It takes courage to let go and allow the still, small voice of God guide you when life is hard and the solutions to your problems appear to be nonexistent. It takes courage to avoid the easy but illicit solutions that tempt you at such times. If you are willing to pursue humility with courage, you will discover a great truth; this combination is powerful. Humility, properly used, allows you to not only let God guide you, but to guide you with courage and perseverance. When you study natural history, you will discover that there were many times when the earth faced extinction events. In one all but 5% of the biota died. Our ancestors survived them all, or we would not be here. Did they survive by being brash and aggressive, or by being humble and taking what God gave them for survival. I am betting that the latter is true.

Just Who is Jesus?

I have often pointed out that all religion has to be viewed as metaphor. The search for God is a search for a mystery fully enclosed by an enigma. To look at any religion as literal is a trap from which escape becomes impossible; literal resists change, but metaphor invites it. In addition, it is not necessary for us to know the exact nature of God. If we acknowledge God, we will have done all that we are capable of doing. The remainder is up to God, Himself. If we can't explain God, how can we ascribe the nature of God to a human being? The people of the time of Jesus had no difficulty doing so. The Pharaoh was a god. The emperor of Rome was a god. Every mountain had a god living on its summit. For them, ascribing Jesus with divinity made sense; indeed failure to do so would have doomed Christianity at its outset. Nobody would have taken Jesus seriously if he did not have an intimate relationship with God. Another reason for ascribing deity to Jesus lay in the doctrine of salvation. The Christian believes that he or she is born in sin. To be saved, it is necessary that Jesus intervene. Jesus had to be more than a priest to do this; he had to be the Son of God. The Gnostic does not view God in the same manner. In the gnostic view, God and His creation are one and the same thing. Science with its study of quantum mechanics is headed in the same direction, even if the scientists do not admit to it. There are many savants today who see God Himself in the quantum field. The ancient seers reached that point years before the birth of Jesus. Since the Gnostic deals in metaphor, he or she does not need to take a stand and say, "this is it." The "it" is a constantly changing concept and we will not reach full understanding until we are in the presence of God. So where does that leave Jesus. There is no better answer to this question than a book written by Deepak Chopra, "The Third Jesus." There is no need to reject the teachings of Jesus. There is much to learn from him, and his theology. No one sets it out better than Deepak Chopra. In answer to the question in the title, read his book. The important point is that you not expect Jesus to drop from the sky and save you from the rigors of being a human being. Jesus in his teachings clearly spelled out a pathway to reaching salvation through your relationship with God. The salvation comes from knowing God and thereby helping to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. Its the same pathway the Gnostic is traveling, and its a good pathway for all of us to take. The Gnostic says that its time for you to get started.