Trusting Your Inner Mystic

An important thesis of the book The Gospel According to Jesus by Stephen Mitchell is that the New Testament, far from being a faithful retelling of the life and words of Jesus, has been compromised by the agiprop of the early church and that the actual sayings of Christ, this great light unto the world, need to be separated from the smoke-and-mirror-speak of the ancient theocratic hustlers that weasled its way into the text.

Mitchell wasn't the first to "cherry pick" The Bible. Thomas Jefferson also attempted to de-churchify The New Testament. The result was a slim volume that some call "The Jefferson Bible". He sent a copy to every member of Congress. Then there was "The Jesus Seminars" in which numerous scholars and historians tried to separate the historically accurate sayings and doings of Jesus from the frequent inventions. Mitchell's efforts rendered about thirty-two pages that reasonable people could actually be expected to believe.

Think about it. there's no way the New Testament hangs together without some serious editing. How could the same spiritual master say, "Relax. God's gonna take care of you just like He/She does the lilies in the field because God cares for you with a love that is absolute in its purity." and then cackle menacingly, "but if you don't take Yours Truly as your personal savior My Dad and I are going to make sure you writhe in agony for eternity! Ha ha ha ha ha!" This kind of inconsistent character development always happens when you give the publishers too much creative control.

Of course the fundamentalists fume that you can't mess with the Holy Writ of God!" It's all Divine Revelation, after all!" they'd assert. "Therefore to edit is to second guess the word of God. How do we know the Bible is holy? Because, dim wit, it says right there on the cover... 'Holy Bible'. God said it was holy and that's all I need to know. How do we know God said it was holy? Cause the Bible said God said it was holy and the Bible doesn't lie. God said it doesn't lie. It says it right there in the Holy Bible."

Circular arguments should be consigned to the circular file.

It's just hard for me to believe without question in a book that says if a family member ever suggests it might be relaxing to play finger cymbals and sing "Hari Krishna" once in a while that you should immediately "...kill him [or her]...strike the first blow in putting him to death...since he has tried to divert you from Yahweh your God..." Does this sound like the insight of a divine being interested in promoting compassion and tolerance in the world? Or does it sound more like the pronouncement of a jealous prayer cloth vendor worried about the fickle nature of market forces? Read Deuteronomy 13:7-11 and judge for yourself. Is the oldest profession really that of the sex worker? Or the sect worker?

It would be so much easier to have somebody with a real certificate from God Herself just tell us what to do. Unfortunately God didn't award anyone with such all-seeing authority. Look carefully. That Yahweh signiture on the bishop's certification? Too frilly. Nothing but an excellent forgery.

Some people feel utterly incapable of discerning what's true from what's false. In fact we all feel this way from time to time. But that doesn't mean we're doomed to such a fate. Most insanity is temporary. There's no such thing as original sin. In lieu of Divinely Approved Mediaries, we are not forever alienated from the heart and mind of God.

Jesus said we are God's children which means he believes the blood of the divine is flowing through our veins already. We are more holy than any collection of pages bound by the hand of man. So since we are God's children, we show trust in Our Father by trusting in the gifts he gave us, By knowing we have the power to discern what is true for ourselves at any given moment.

The results, of course, will vary depending on how connected we are with the clear light of unsullied perception at that moment. This is why we must practice open-mindedness. Work to understand the foibles of our old thought habits. Watch it all intently without attachment to "self". It's a big responsibility but nothing the child of a divine being can't handle. So...don't shift your responsibility to others no matter how lofty they may appear.

Sometimes the truth will be, we need council, and sometimes it may even be we should simply do as we're told for awhile. But it will never be that we should abandon our God-given inner knowing to do things that are clearly wrong. We don't slaughter innocents because a war has been deemed holy. We don't hide behind the flag because our victims accidently wander into our free fire zone.

When the Bible preaches cruelty, remember that that adjective "Holy" that appears on the cover is really just a four letter word. It's not legally binding. God gave us the power to discern, to "cherry pick" that which we know in our gut to be true from that which we sense instinctively to be misguided. To deny this power is to deny God's genius. What messages from life, from any and all books resinate with your inner mystic? Which ones don't? Claim your divinity by honoring your inate wisdom. Open your heart as much as you can while opening your eyes as much as you can. You may not possess perfect prescience at every moment. But we must still practice and trust in the brilliance of our own attentiveness. That attentiveness will always be more omniscient than blind obedience.


a couple of footnotes: 1. The beautiful painting of Christ meditating is by Swami Tadatmananda. They're for sale on the internet. 2. When I use the term "God" I am speaking in the most general terms about the transphysical intelligence of which all is formed. I am not talking about some Omnipotent white alpha male with long whiskers and a penchant for robes and vindictive pestilences.