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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
This post is part of the January 30th God or Not blog carnival based on the topic of the Definition of God to be held at the Uncredible Hallq.
In his Miracle Year of 1905, Albert Einstein proved the existence of God and thereby defined God. We’re all familiar with Einstein’s e=mc2 (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared) equation. However what most people don’t know is that originally Einstein wasn’t solving for “e”, he was solving for “m” so his original equation was m=e/c2 (mass equals energy divided by the speed of light squared). So what, what’s the difference? With the first equation we learn how to get energy out of mass which has led, for example, to the fission of atoms and getting energy (the atomic bomb and nuclear energy). But in the second equation we learn how mass is created by energy and that, for example, the energy generated by the blastoff of the space shuttle adds mass the weight of a flee to the shuttle. (For more authority on this idea listen to Frank Wilczek, Theoretical Physicist and Nobel Laureate at MIT, Sheldon Glashow, Theoretical Physicist and Nobel Laureate at Boston University and Albert himself!). It takes a tremendous amount of energy to create mass. So what would we call the energy that would be large enough, powerful enough and pervasive enough to create the solar system, the planets, the stars, the sun, you, me and everything on earth…come on…that’s right…say it with me…GOD! God is Energy.
This Energy has a certain quality that humanity has sort of been familiar with. Energy is abstract and we’ve been able to identify and work with this abstraction. For example Beethoven worked with joy when he composed Ode to Joy and when we listen to it we’re able to sense it. We can sense, or better yet, “intuit”, other divine energies such as the serenity in nature, the beauty in a rose, the freedom in the spirit of America, the compassion of a good teacher or the strength in a mountain range. So what would we call the quality of the Energy that put Itself forth and invested the effort to create and sustain every part of world, that developed a Divine Plan and that has the deep patience to allow the Plan to unfold over countless millennia and that, as Paul said, always protects, always hopes, always perseveres and never fails…come on…that’s right…say it with me…LOVE! God is Love.
As hinted at above God’s Energy has been fragmented into smaller bits of energy that we call joy, love, beauty, peace, compassion, wisdom, harmony, goodwill and strength. But is has also been fragmented into an energy that created you and me. This is a special energy because unlike all the other creations in the world this energy has allowed us to develop to the point of becoming self-aware. So what de we call the energy that’s “behind us”, that created and sustains us, that allows us to identify, contemplate and work with abstract concepts and that connects us to all…come on…that’s right…say it with me…the SOUL! We are divine selves that were made in God’s image.
Einstein proved that energy and matter are interchangeable, in other words they are one or whole. God and all things of this universe are interchangeable, in other words they are one or whole. Our divine self and our human self are interchangeable, in other words they are one or whole (a person who has learned to act as this integrated self is called “holy”). God and the soul are creative, loving, abstract energies that invested themselves into creating and sustaining you, me and the world.
Einstein is famous for saying, “I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details.” God is Energy. God is Love. My hope is that you, in your attempt to define and understand God, have a revelation and reaction like Einstein when he solved his theory of special relativity and the next day went to is friend Michele Besso’s home and, without even saying hello, blurted out, “Thank you, I’ve completely solved the problem.”
Cheers,
Brendan
P.S. Get an immediate download of your FREE copy of Enlightenment and the Meaning of Life by clicking here.
