Entries Tagged 'Bible' ↓

One of my favorite comedians is Jim Gaffigan who has a funny routine about the virgin birth saying it would be great to overhear the conversation where Mary explained to Joseph that she was pregnant and Joseph wasn’t the father:

Mary: Joseph.
Joseph: Yeah?
Mary: Yeah, um, ya know how we’ve never made love?
Joseph: YEAH?
Mary: Yeah, um, anyway, last night an angel visited me…and now I’m pregnant.
Joseph: Jesus Christ!
Mary: Oh, you already know about it.

Of course it’s on YouTube and the full video of Jim Gaffigan doing this routine about the virgin birth and Mary, Joseph and Jesus during his Beyond the Pale Tour is below.

But I want to use this as a starting point for a discussion about what exactly the virgin birth is and what it really means. Most people are extremely confused about this and just accept on faith that Jesus was literally conceived without Mary and Joseph having sex. But how can that be? For a human being to be born there needs to be a coming together of a man and woman, right?

Of course! As I’ve written about in Bible: Literal or Figurative, much of the Bible should be understood figuratively. The virgin birth has has nothing to do with Jesus’ literal physical conception. It has to do with His spiritual birth. The spirit, or soul, is “born” into this lifetime, not of a man and woman, but of the One, God. When One brings forth another One then in a sense it’s a virgin birth. God gave birth to the soul and the soul gave birth to the human being.

The allegory of a virgin birth is not unique to Jesus. It is found in many traditions, most relevantly in Mithras, Romulus and Remus, as outlined in this list of virgin births. I think that is it another of the many things that were carried over from the former beliefs of the pagans and gentiles to incorporate them into the growing Christian fold

As promised, here’s the YouTube video of Jim Gaffigan on the virgin birth during his Beyond the Pale comedy tour:

Todays Catholic Gospel reading is the Three Temptations of Jesus from Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus is tempted by the Tempter, or Devil, with three temptations; first to satisfy a hunger, second to satisfy a desire for protection, comfort and security and third to satisfy a desire for control, power and domination. These temptations are offered after He is baptized by John and after He fasted for 40 days which are symbolic of Jesus being centered in the divinity of who He is.

The three temptations represent the physical, emotional and mental temptations that all of us face everyday. Physically we want to satisfy our “hunger” for pleasure, sex, greed, gluttony and laziness. Emotionally we want to satisfy our desire for security, comfort, pride, excitement and attention and the stimulation that comes from envy, anger, self-pity and depression. Mentally we want to satisfy our desire for power, superiority, criticism and possessiveness.

So Jesus’ three temptations symbolize the desires we face, which we’re well aware of, but how do we overcome them? I mean Jesus was Jesus…he had the power but we don’t, right? Well I think that the Jesus’ responses to the Tempter give us all the information we need to overcome our own temptations.

How to Overcome Temptations

Jesus’ responses to each of the temptations gives us a step-by-step guide to how we can overcome the temptations that we face everyday.

1. “One does not live on bread alone,but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” - What is the “word” from God? The word from God is the divinity with which He created and sustains us and what that means in real world, applicable terms is that He gave us beauty, love, joy, wisdom, peace, compassion, harmony, grace, nobility, goodwill and strength with which we always have readily available to us. The first step to overcoming your temptations is to realize that these divine qualities are real and will satisfy you just as bread will satisfy your physical hunger. The higher, more noble part of you, the soul - your real self, is a wellspring of this divinity.

2. “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test” - The reason we have these temptations is that, in addition to our divine selves, we have, obviously, a human self or personality. This personality is literally made of the physical, emotional and mental substance that is also what’s causing the temptations. This is why the temptations appear so immediate and strong. This baseness of which we’re made thinks it’s separate from the divine. Therefore the second step to overcoming your temptations is to integrate the divine into your life by developing the wisdom to view all of life from the higher divine perspective rather than the petty, limited perspective of the personality. When you do this you’ll start to see the pettiness of the temptations and, figuratively, you’ll stop testing and questioning God.

These ideas are discussed in the free report Enlightenment and the Meaning of Life which you can directly download by Clicking Here…

3. “The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve” - So you’re realizing that there is such a thing as a divinity that’s real and available to you and that you should integrate it into your life. The third step to overcoming your temptation is to then actually express and serve the divinity which represents the antidote to the temptation. So if you’re tempted by lust you overcome it by expressing the strength and nobility that you’ve recognized and integrated. If you’re tempted by greed you can overcome it by serving the peace and compassion you’ve developed. If you’re tempted by pride you can overcome it by shining the humility you’ve built up. If your tempted by anger or fear you can overcome them with the peace and courage you’ve established. In this way you’re bringing heaven to earth.

So overcome your temptations by realizing the existence of the divine, integrating it into you life and applying it to your daily self-expression.

Please let me know if this makes sense to you and if you have any questions by commenting below.

Cheers,

Brendan

Yesterday’s Catholic Gospel reading was the Beatitudes, or True Happiness, from the first part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I think that these beatitudes are a source of great confusion to many. The overall misunderstanding is that they are directed at the poor, downtrodden and underprivileged (i.e. the “have nots”) and they give them the impression that says, ‘don’t worry about your pathetic lot in life, you’ll get yours in heaven after you die. Also, the people who are rich, comfortable and priviledged (i.e. the “haves”) will not get theirs in heaven’. Of course this impression is entirely wrong. The beatitudes are a guide to true happiness for everyone.

Two items to understand about the beatitudes are; what a beatitude is and what the rewards for following them are. Beatitude is Latin for happiness or blessedness and it indicates a certain inner contentedness or joy no matter what your life circumstances are. The beatitudes then are a list of the qualities and conditions needed to be truly happy and aligned with the divine plan. Your reward for striving to express each divine quality is, therefore, true happiness and a deep sense of joy. The second half of each beatitude, which state that you’ll get the kingdom of heaven or land, that you’ll be comforted or satisfied, or that you’ll see God, are all different ways of saying this.

The following are each of the beatitudes followed by the keynote struck by each and a brief commentary. Each commentary will attempt to address some of the confusion and then illustrate how the beatitude should be used as a guide to true happiness.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Authority. This shouldn’t be interpreted to mean that we’re supposed stay ignorant and confused about spirit. It indicates that while we are building our relationship with God, we’re to always remember His authority. This means that we don’t become attached to our desires for the things of this world, money, power, fame, etc. (although it’s OK to have these things) but that we always strive for what He thinks is important.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. - Wisdom. How could this be about wisdom when it seems clear that this is about those who are grieving over the loss of a loved one? Well mourning is to remember and this beatitude tells us to develop the wisdom to remember that God is all. We need to always look for the deeper spiritual meaning and broader divine perspective of everything that occurs in this world. For example, when someone dies it’s just their physical body that’s gone…their true self lives on.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. - Humility. This is easily misinterpreted to mean that we’re supposed to be wimpy and weak in the face of bullies and problems. This is entirely wrong. This beatitude is a continuation of the first two in that we are always to remain humble in terms of the personality’s (the human self) relationship to the soul (i.e. the spiritual self). Our spiritual growth begins with an understanding of who we are and once you know, you have to keep the human self humble so that it doesn’t take over the daily self-expression with greed, anger, bitterness and materialism.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. - Obedience. Righteousness is often misunderstood to mean a moral superiority associated with people who think that they’re “better than us”. However it simply means a dedication to following God’s will or plan. When understood this way, this beatitude reminds us to obey God’s will and plan. What is God’s will?

For more on this point see the free report Enlightenment and the Meaning of Life which you can get by Clicking Here…

It’s for us to express His love, compassion, peace, beauty, wisdom, joy, nobility, and productivity as much as possible everyday.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. - Compassion. This major confusion with this beatitude is to what degree we’re suppose to show compassion and forgive, particularly as related to the death penalty. Is it compassionate and merciful to execute a convicted murderer? Yes, it’s merciful to protect our society and allow that lifetime to move on rather than wallow unproductively in a prison for the remainder of his life. For all everyday life situations we are suppose to look to infuse our major and minor dealings with compassion, mercy and forgiveness.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. - Integrity. To be clean of heart is to be free of the things that pollute our heart - pettiness, jealousy, bitterness, depression and dishonesty. When we act with integrity in all we de we are whole (i.e. holy)…(remember your third-grade math class where you learned that an integer was a whole number?).

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. - Peace. This is also a big area of confusion. What is peace? Can we be peaceful and still go to war? Yes, being peaceful does not preclude going to war to protect yourself. It also doesn’t mean that you can’t be forceful or assertive in everyday life if the situation required it. However we are meant to express a certain peace and patience in our life which naturally follows as a result of the inner contentedness that comes from knowing our true nature.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. - Courage. This is a combined beatitude that echoes the earlier one about righteousness. However these beatitudes remind us, when following the divine plan, to sustain our strength and courage lest our petty selves and others drag us down into the morass of materialism.

Together the beatitudes are a guide to filling our lives with authority, wisdom, humility, obedience, compassion, integrity, peace and courage. Following them will make us truly happy and joyful!

Today’s (9/29/07) Gospel reading is from Luke 16:19-31 and is Jesus’ story of the rich man and poor man who both die at the same time and the rich man goes to hell while the poor man goes to heaven. This parable reveals a great spiritual truth, however, because it’s usually interpreted superficially, it is terribly misunderstood and a source of great confusion.

In summary, the story is about a rich man who has a poor man named Lazarus living just outside his house but never gives him any food or help. They both die and Lazarus goes to heaven and sits besides Abraham and the rich man goes to the netherworld or hell. The rich man is able to see Lazarus and Abraham in heaven and asks for a drop of water but Abraham denies and tells him that during their lifetime he received what was good while Lazarus received what was bad. He then says that Lazarus is now comforted while the rich man is now tormented and that there is a great gap between them that can’t be crossed. The rich man then asks to send Lazarus to warn his family but this request is also denied.

The following are three incorrect assumptions that are often drawn from this parable and which lead to a lot misunderstanding:

1. God hates the rich. Of course this is incorrect and the idea of God hating anybody is ridiculous. The lesson here is that when you are emotionally and mentally “attached” to your possessions, you don’t understand what’s important. You’re suppose to be detached from all things of the material world, not only physical possessions but also base emotional and mental possessions such as superiority, depression, bigotry, anger, immaturity, pessimism, close-mindedness, lustfulness and fear. Ideally you align yourself with the “things” of spirit and when you do you can have all the material possessions you want but you won’t be attached to them and if you lost them you would be centered in your connection with spirit.
2. God loves the poor. Again the idea of God loving or hating a person and their financial status is ridiculous. There is no virtue in being poor. The issue is not what you have or don’t have but how you’re aligned with spirit. A poor man who is attached to a sense of self-rightousness or self-importance because he thinks it’s “spiritual” to be poor is as separate from spirit and will be as tormented as the rich man in Jesus’ parable. Further, to the extent that a person is poor due to being slothful, indifferent and lazy, he will also be separate and in torment because we’re intended to be productive and contribute to the growth of God’s humanity even if in a small way.
3. God won’t grant your requests if you get on His “bad side”. God doesn’t give Lazarus the two things he asks because, figuratively, Lazarus is distant from the divine due to his attachment to the material world and his lack of compassion toward Lazarus during their lifetimes. The gap is not closed by simply a direct giving of the requests rather Lazarus must make an effort to understand how to be generous, compassionate and aligned with spirit and thereby close the gap on his own. In this way the divine find a stronger vehicle with which to work with and express itself. This is a true act of love by God, Who does not have a “bad side”, and is in no way a punishment.

Cheers,
Brendan

P.S. Get an immediate download of your FREE copy of Enlightenment and the Meaning of Life by clicking here.

Today’s (4/9/07) Sunday Reading are just the following four short but powerful lines from John, Chapter 10, verses 27-30:

Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

Now there’s a lot to discuss in these short lines but I just want to focus on the key line that is the main issue through the whole chapter; “The Father and I are one.” These words literally prompt his critics to attempt to stone him for blasphemy.

Was Jesus into self-aggrandizement when he said “the Father and I are one” and later in the same Chapter, “the Father is in me and I am in the Father”? In other words did Jesus literally mean himself, the man, Jesus of Nazareth when he uses the personal pronouns “I” and “me” or did he mean something more? I suggest that he meant something more than his temporary, human self when he says these truths. He is referring to his divine self. His eternal, immortal soul which is the true child of God. Jesus is holy, a word derived from whole (which implies two selves), meaning He fully united his spiritual self and human self. He perfectly expressed his divinity through his human self while on this earth.

Why didn’t Jesus use more precise language to explain this idea? He did. He was using the language of his faith. His use of the personal pronouns I and me is related to the language used by God at the burning bush in response to Moses’ question of who should I say you are and God replies “I am who am” and “tell them I AM sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). The use of personal pronouns corresponds to the idea of individual divinity.

The important point of this is that you also have a divine self and in fact you are the divine self who is expressing itself in this world. In this Chapter of John when accused of making himself a God Jesus answered “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”?”. In other words Jesus was teaching us that we are also divine.

Critics and unthinking people will incorrectly assume that I am suggesting that we are God. We are not the One, transcendent God who created and sustains heaven and earth. We are the immanent god, a figurative child of God, who is simply seeking to express divinity on this earth. We are similar in kind but not in degree to God. Just as a thimble full of the ocean is similar in kind to the entire ocean but in no way can it sustain the whole planet as the ocean does.

Our divine self is but a spark of the eternal flame. And, although the spark leaves the flame, it is forever “of it” and it can never be otherwise. In this sense the spark and flame are one just as you and the Father are one.

For further exploration of this idea please see the next article; “When Two Become One“

Today’s (3/25/07) Catholic Gospel reading are the familiar lines from John 8: 1 - 11 where the Pharisees bring a women who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and say that the law of Moses commands them to stone her and Jesus says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then the Pharisees leave without condemning her and Jesus says to the women “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” These two quotes from Jesus seem simple enough however I think that they raise a lot of questions that often confuse people rather than clarify…so let’s try to get clear.

Most people think of “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone” as a comment that since you’re not perfect, you cannot judge another person. However this is not true. Even though you make mistakes, you can judge the actions of another person and determine whether or not they are part of the Divine plan. You should not however pre-judge (i.e. prejudice) a person (based on the color of their skin for example) before you know their actions.

Since adultery was “against the law”, does Jesus believe a person who breaks the law should not be punished? I don’t think that could be concluded from this incident because adultery is not a mistake that harms society at large and therefore the “sinner” should not be jailed or killed to protect the individuals of a society.

The story’s sin is adultery and most of us can read this and think that the lesson of this story doesn’t apply to us since we are not committing heavy-duty “sins” like adultery, murder, rape, burglary, etc. However it is much more appropriate to redefine what we mean by sin. This word has always carried a much too ominous tone. We should consider our “sins” as the mistakes against the Divine plan that we are making. This will cause an increase in the number of our “sins” however, as Jesus taught in this incident, we are not condemned.

So what are the types of mistakes against the Divine plan most of us are making? See if you recognize yourself in any of the following:

• Our Higher Self is trying to express joy through your lower self so we are making a mistake when we go through the day being depressed, gloomy and filled with self-pity.
• Divinity is trying to be loving and kind so we are “sinning” when we are being rude, bitter or spiteful.
• The Soul is looking to shine Its peace and patience so we are doing the wrong thing when we are being angry, belligerent and impatient.
• Our True Self wants to be productive and competent in all activities so we are making mistakes what we slack-off in work, slothfully sit in front of the TV or computer and neglect our duties to our children.
• Our Spirit want to express wisdom through our personality and we are going against that when we make no attempt to consider the meaning and bigger ideas behind life and simply wallow in the world of our desires and emotions.

If you are committing these mistakes, and we all are, first recognize them, then repeatedly work to stop them. Of course that’s easier said than done but remember that your Higher Self does not condemn you for your mistakes. They are all part of your growth.

All of this talk of your mistakes and spiritual growth may not seem to exciting as most of us look at life from the perspective of “what’s in it for me?”, however the growth that occurs when you learn to express love, joy, peace, wisdom, courage, etc. is the greatest pleasure you can have because it’s what life is all about. This growth is the only thing that survives death!

This idea is summarized in a quote from the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950):

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

Yesterday’s (3/6/07) Catholic Gospel reading is just eight lines from Luke (9:28-36) where Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah and a voice from a cloud says to the disciples, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” It seems like this is supposed to be a “passing of the baton” from the early prophets to Jesus. I think the voice from the cloud is an affirmation and reminder that we are suppose to listen too and follow our Divine self.

I found the passages immediately before and after the reading more interesting as they echo teachings of the Taoist monk Lao Tsu some 500 years before Jesus. They are those seemingly
paradoxical statements that usually confuse people rather that enlighten. From Luke 9:24 and from Luke 9:48 we get:

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

“For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.”

From the Tao te Ching Chapters 22 and 7, respectively:

If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn, let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything, give everything up.

The Master stays behind; that is why she is ahead.
She is detached from all things; that is why she is one with them.
Because she has let go of herself, she is perfectly fulfilled.

The parallel nature of these passages indicates that these are timeless spiritual truths that are not the exclusive domain of any specific religion. What does “whoever loses his life will save it” mean? It means that you have to let go of the dominance the lower self (i.e. the ego) and allow the Divine self within you to lead. The lower self is self-centered and attached to social status, appearances, power, prestige, emotions and money. The Divine self is other-centered and may have these things but is not attached to them.

Similarly the passage “the one who is least is the greatest” means that when you “let go” of the ego it seems like you’re lessening your influence (i.e. being least) however you are actually increasing it if you allow the Higher Self to control.

The following are the full passages from Luke Chapter 9:

18 Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Messiah of God.”
21 He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
22 He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
23 Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
25 What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?
26 Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
27 Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

28 About eight days after he said this, he took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray.
29 While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.
30 And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
32 Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
33 As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying.
34 While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.
35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
36 After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.

37 On the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.
38 There was a man in the crowd who cried out, “Teacher, I beg you, look at my son; he is my only child.
39 For a spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams and it convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it releases him only with difficulty, wearing him out.
40 I begged your disciples to cast it out but they could not.”
41 Jesus said in reply, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you and endure you? Bring your son here.”
42 As he was coming forward, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion; but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and returned him to his father.
43 And all were astonished by the majesty of God. While they were all amazed at his every deed, he said to his disciples,
44 “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”
45 But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

46 An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest.
47 Jesus realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed it by his side
48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.”
49 Then John said in reply, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Cheers,
Brendan

P.S. Get an immediate download of your FREE copy of Enlightenment and the Meaning of Life by clicking here.

This post is part of the January 16th God or Not blog carnival based on the topic of scriptural literalism to be held at Back of the Envelope:

I’m a theist who asserts that the stories of the Bible, that some say literally happened, did not. They are allegories intended to convey a deeper spiritual meaning. In this article I’ll interpret three examples of popular stories that are assumed to literal by many and I’ll conclude with a thought on why my “opposition”, atheists and theist who interpret the Bible literally, will presume, incorrectly, that I’m wrong.

Bible Stories

1. Noah’s Ark and the story of the flood are not literally true despite the claims by some who found a splinter on a mountaintop and say it’s the Ark. Let’s review the story. God creates the world but doesn’t like how wicked and evil everyone, except Noah who lives in fellowship with God, is. God tells Noah to build an Ark and put two of every animal onboard. God floods the earth and destroys everything except Noah’s Ark. As the flood ends Noah makes a sacrifice to God and God makes a covenant to never again destroy the earth. So what does this mean? When we don’t live in fellowship with God we will figuratively be destroyed in the sense that we’ll be confused, suffer and live in fear of death. When we are in fellowship with God, but more specifically our immanent divinity (i.e. the soul), we can never be destroyed, as we know that our true nature is wise, loving, eternal and immortal. The duality that we are, as symbolized by two of every animal, becomes One. We let our redemptive divinity rise above our wicked humanity like a rainbow after a storm.
2. Adam and Eve did not literally exist. Their story is an allegory for the creation of our divinity (i.e. the soul) and our human self (i.e. the personality). God created Adam, who symbolizes the soul, and Adam, since it was his rib, figuratively created Eve, who symbolizes the personality. This order, and the fact that Eve’s is intended as a companion for Adam, implies that Adam is suppose to be in charge. This has nothing to do with the relationships between men and women. It teaches us that we are to identify with our divinity and follow its intentions. What are the soul’s intentions? To become one with the personality so together they can grow in wisdom, express divinity and fulfill God’s plan. This intention was so strong that they were willing to eat the apple and figuratively die, which leads us to…
3. Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross but did not literally rise again after three days. This death and resurrection story predates Jesus. Osiris, Adonis, Mythra and others were said to have died and rose again. So what does this mean? It symbolizes the death of the personality and the rise of the soul. We have a dual nature. We’re both human and divine. We are meant to grow in our spiritual understanding and awareness to realize that we are the soul who uses the personality to express itself in this world. We are not born with a conscious awareness of our spiritual self. The human self thinks that it’s suppose to be in charge of life and of course the result is suffering and confusion. Eventually we realize that there’s something more and that ideally this spiritual side should be in charge. Figuratively the personality dies and the soul rises. It’s important to stress however that the personality has to be strong. After all it is the agent of the soul in this world. The soul needs a healthy personality to bring its divinity into this world.

Why might these seem wrong to the “opposition” namely atheists or theists who take the Bible literally? Because, with all due respect, their ability to intuit (i.e. use their intuition to “think” abstractly) is not well developed. Both groups, but particularly the atheists, have a strong ability to think concretely. They approach all of this God stuff with a sharp mind and they try to “figure it out” with reason. This does not work! You use your body to act, your emotions to emote, your mind to think and your soul to intuit. The difference I’m making between thinking and intuiting is that thinking is reasoning and making sense of the things of this world while intuiting is abstract thinking and making sense of the divine world, namely the divine qualities of love, joy, wisdom, peace, beauty, harmony and goodwill. To be able to approach an understanding of God and the meaning of life you need to develop an ability to intuit abstract ideas. Without it it’s easy and reasonable to conclude that there is no God. With it you know that there is a God and that you are His child!

Cheers,
Brendan

P.S. Get an immediate download of your FREE copy of Enlightenment and the Meaning of Life by clicking here.