For two thousand years Christianity has been preaching a God who said to Jesus, and only to Jesus, ‘You are my beloved son,’ thus creating a spiritual apartheid between God and creatures, between Christ and Christians.
One natural Son of God and millions of people as adopted sons and daughters of God, second-grade children. But in the third millennium Christianity will proclaim a God who says to every human being in the depths of his or her heart, ‘You are my beloved son’, or ‘You are my beloved daughter’, and to every created being, ‘You are my beloved manifestation’. In this way the spiritual apartheid that exists between Christ and Christians and between God and creation will be abolished and the whole of creation will be freed from its slavery, realizing itself as the manifestation of God.
Children of God
For two thousand years Christianity, in the name of Good News, has been unwittingly proclaiming Jesus the oppressor who says, ‘I have discovered that I am the only beloved Son of God and no human being in the world can have that experience. All are condemned to be my disciples and to worship me. They can only become the adopted sons and daughters of God.’ But in the third millennium Christianity will proclaim Jesus the liberator who says, ‘In the depths of my heart I have discovered that I am the beloved Son of God and in that experience I have also realized that every human being in the depths of his or her heart is a beloved son or a beloved daughter of God, and I want everyone to discover this.’
The self that discovers itself as the son or daughter of God is not the phenomenal self, the ego, but the eternal self in each one of us that is created in the image and likeness of God. When the phenomenal ‘I’ is renounced one discovers the ‘I’ of the son of God or the daughter of God. If one is bold enough to renounce even the ‘I' of being the son of God or the daughter of God, one discovers the ‘I’ of God and can say, ‘My real I is God – I am God’.
For two thousand years Christianity has been proclaiming Jesus as the light of the world and has neglected what Jesus also said to humanity, ‘You are the light of the world'. In the third millennium Christianity will proclaim that not only is Jesus the light of the world but also that your deepest self, who is God, ‘is the light of the world; discover it'.
No one is excluded
For two thousand years Christianity has been preaching that there is no salvation outside Christ and outside the Church, although this attitude has changed now amongst some Christians. In the third millennium Christianity will proclaim that there is no one outside Christ and there is no one outside the Church. Christ and the Church are like a tree in which the whole of humanity is present. Every person from the beginning of creation to the end of time is in Christ and in the Church and all one has to do is to realize it. The consciousness of each person has to grow from its identification as a leaf of the tree to being part of the branch of the tree, then to being the stem and ultimately to being one with the roots of the tree. It is at that point that one realizes that every person and everything is in Christ and in the church.
Christianity is not a theological system separated from other systems. A system is like a tomb, and only dead bodies go into tombs. Put Christianity into the tomb of a structure and you have a dead body. The body of Christ cannot be put into a tomb; it will rise and become universal, passing through walls in which the doors are closed. Christianity has no walls and no roof, for its roof is the infinite sky in which all systems are present.
For two thousand years Christianity has been teaching that Jesus came into the world to save, and that the mission of the church is to save souls. In the third millennium Christianity will proclaim that Jesus discovered the truth that God has saved every person for all eternity and proclaimed the unconditional love of God, inviting all men and women and all creation to discover this love for themselves. All God's actions are salvific. God has already saved what he has created. Creating and saving are not two different actions of God. Humanity has created its own bondage through ignorance and sin and now has to free itself and see that God has already saved it through unconditional love. Salvation is a free gift of God, the infinite treasure hidden in the heart of each person by the unconditional love of God. Salvation does not depend on human will, it is already there, buried in the human heart, although each person has the responsibility of finding it.
The real Good News
For two thousand years Christianity has been divided into denominations even to the extent of Christians killing each other. But in the third millennium all Christians will be united under the banner of one message, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand, repent,' which means simply that the kingdom of God is everywhere, discover it for yourself; you are a manifestation of God, realize it. This is the Good News that Christians will discover and proclaim to all humanity. The only message that a Christian is asked to believe is ‘seek and find’.
For two thousand years Christianity has been confined to the cages of creeds, beliefs and systems in which Christians are given nourishment, protection and security and from which they were forbidden to fly into the freedom of infinite space. But in the third millennium the cages of creed and belief will be transformed into nests in which Christians will be nourished and protected and given security until their wings are grown and they can fly into the infinite space of freedom, coming back to the nest from time to time for the celebration of the sabbatical rest and repose.
For two thousand years the keys of the kingdom of God that Jesus gave to Peter have been seen as the keys of power and authority to loosen and to bind, to close and to open the gates of heaven. But in the third millennium the keys that Jesus gave to Peter will no longer be seen as the keys that open and close the doors of heaven (for heaven has no doors), but they will be seen as the keys that liberate people from the prison of religion based on the law. During the time of Jesus, the law and the temple were made into absolutes that imprisoned people, but Jesus opened the gates of the prison with the keys of wisdom, and invited people to enter the new life of the kingdom of God. Only a mind that longs for power uses keys to imprison people and the keys of the kingdom of heaven can only be used to open gates and liberate people. This means making religion, the law and the temple into relative values and not absolute truths.
For two thousand years Christianity has been producing thousands of saints, martyrs, doctors, confessors and mystics, but has failed to produce one awakened person who has been able to stand on his or her own feet and proclaim, ‘I am free’. In the third millennium Christianity will no longer produce saints, martyrs, doctors, confessors and mystics but will produce millions of awakened men and women who will discover their true being, and help millions of their sisters and brothers to discover their own true being, and, standing on their own feet, declare, ‘We are free’.
For two thousand years Christianity has been preaching that people cannot walk on their own feet and that we are all psychologically condemned to use crutches until we die. People who have tried to walk on their own two feet have been called unorthodox and condemned. But in the third millennium Christianity will proclaim that every man and woman has the potential to walk on his or her own feet during their own lifetime and that there is no need to wait until death to do away with the crutches of the law and religion. Crutches will be transformed into supports of the sort children use until they learn to walk. There will be great joy in the community whenever someone learns to walk by herself or himself, and it will be those who refuse to walk on their own feet who will be called unorthodox.
For two thousand years Christianity has been teaching the way of ‘becoming perfect’, without realizing that it is the desire to ‘become’ that was the cause of the fall of humanity from its original state of the life of unfolding. This life of becoming perfect has been a tremendous burden to people. In the third millennium Christianity will instead teach the way of ‘unfolding' the life of God within us, the way of ‘repentance', which is nothing other than silencing the movement of the ego, the desire to become. In the third millennium spirituality will concentrate on the negative way, the way of silencing the desire to become, as opposed to the positive way of striving for an ideal of perfection. This life of unfolding cannot be the goal or the aim of spiritual life, because it is something that happens spontaneously and naturally when one silences the movement of desire to become. Just as the fish in the ocean in its ignorance is searching for the ocean, so humanity will find help to stop its searching for God and find that it is already in God, and will find rest.
For two thousand years Christianity has been teaching that only the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ and that only the priest has the power to change the bread and the wine into the body and blood of Christ. In the third millennium Christianity will proclaim that the whole of the universe is the body and blood of Christ and that the whole universe is Christ and the Eucharist. Every human action is a eucharistic celebration in which men and women transform the spirit of God into his or her own flesh and give to his or her neighbour as a gift of grace and love. Just as a radio receives electromagnetic waves and transforms them into sound waves, so the human being receives the grace and love of God and transforms it, as a eucharistic act, into the action of love. Just as creating is the continuous eucharistic celebration of God in which the spirit of God is made into the material universe, so human action is also a eucharistic celebration.
Walk on water
For two thousand years Christianity has been following Jesus both on the road and in the boat, which separates it from direct contact with the ocean of God, and it has forgotten the call of Jesus to Peter to leave the boat and walk on the water and enter into direct contact with God. In the third millennium Christianity will appreciate the value of the road as a practical moral code, and the value of the boat as a belief structure, and will encourage its members to leave these and follow Jesus who walked on the water, and to imitate Peter, the first to follow the call of his master and walk on the water.
Following Jesus on the road and in the boat is the action of the ego. Following Jesus on the water is following through our being as the image and likeness of God. The ego cannot walk on the water; it is heavy and needs a vehicle. Only the image and likeness of God is as light as a feather and can walk on water. The image and likeness of God does not need a vehicle. To leave the boat and to walk on the water is to leave one's ego and discover in one's self the image and likeness of God in which there is a direct communion with God.
From You Are the Light, text copyright by John Martin Sahajananda 2003, published in the UK by O Books.
|
Inspirational features 
