With the “May 21, 2011 Rapture” having come and gone, and presumably all of us still here, I figured it is a good time to re-address the idea of salvation.
The Bible has been translated, edited, and revised countless times throughout history. As such, I believe it should not be taken literally, but figuratively. Almost a third of Christ’s teachings consisted of parables—short fictitious stories meant to portray religious ideals and/or moral and ethical attitudes.
Noah’s Ark and The Tower of Babel are metaphors. When Jesus turned water into wine, is it not possible those are metaphors, too? I have often spoken of the idea that spiritual knowledge must be turned into understanding, and understanding into being. There are many who believe that in the Bible, “water” stood for knowledge, and “wine” stood for understanding. Interpreted this way, when Jesus turned water into wine he was facilitating in the spiritual growth of his followers by helping them turn spiritual truth into spiritual understanding.
I will now venture out on a limb, so to speak, and some of you may not agree with me, but this I know to be true…
Your spiritual salvation is occurring every second of your life. Heaven is not a place or destination, it is a higher state of consciousness that you can access at any time. If you want to be in heaven, be present.
Every moment of your life, you are either spiritually awake— living in the present, the eternal Now, or you are spiritually asleep—in imagination and daydreaming of the future or consumed with memories of the past.
Jesus showed us how to live; he showed us the path to salvation. He taught that we should put the needs and concerns of others before our own. He taught love and compassion for all. This is easy to do when you are living in the Now, when your soul is guiding your actions, and next to impossible when you aren’t, for the ego, by its very nature, is selfish and consumed with its own needs and desires.
So, right now, in this moment, as you are reading these very words, where are you?…awake or asleep?
Peace and Blessings,
Just for fun I decided to Google “water into wine”, knowledge and understanding.
As I expected many of the sites took the “literal” approach to discussing this concept. The I clicked on you website and read what you wrote.
I was amazed that what you wrote is exactly how I have understood it. I also liked what you said about being awake or asleep.
I checked out the “Recommended Reading” like and just as I suspected, you listed many of the authors that in my opinion have seen the idea of living in the “Now” consciously.
I got turned onto these ideas by reading the authors Ouspensky, Nicoll, Collins, Gurdjieff and Bennett.
I have been a long time away from reading the concepts these authors presented and have still kept these concepts in myself even though I have lived a very destructive lifestyle.
Just the fact that you have stated things I have come to believe gives me hope and lessens the “isolation” I have felt.
Thanks for reading this. I plan to take a closer look at your website.
— Brian