In 2003 I had the privilege of leading a group of about 65 pilgrims to the Holy Land, a journey I had made three other times on my own. In both Israel and Palestine I discovered a phenomenon that probably doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.
On one hand, the ground seems to vibrate with the spiritual energy which the great prophets, from Abraham to Jesus and Muhammad, left in their wake. Jerusalem itself is the most sacred city in the world to both Jews and Christians, and the second most sacred city to Muslims. It is like Disney World to devout seekers, whether they be ‘religious’ or simply ‘spiritual’. On the other hand, the Holy Land is one of the most troubled areas in the world, as it has been for over two thousand years. It is a wonder, then, that Jerusalem, a city whose name translates to ‘City of Peace’, is viewed by many as ground zero for the New World where cooperation and inclusion finally prevail. Perhaps the thinking is, ‘If they can get it right there, the rest will be easy’. These are the main reasons I believe modern Spiritual Peacemakers need to come here, because in many ways it is a profound contradiction, but one that is essential for anyone focused on peace and reconciliation.
After ten days of visiting many holy sites around the Holy Land and sitting with spiritual leaders from many traditions, most of the group returned to their homes. Five others, including myself, stayed behind for three days to relax and visit several of our favourite spots without the constraints of a large group. One of those sites was the Dead Sea, particularly a resort and hot spring where the saline-rich water flows directly from the earth’s core. The spring had been filled with tourists when we visited a few days earlier, but upon our return I was happy to find it nearly deserted. Of the five people in my group, only two of us decided to enter the pool, and I was excited to have it so clear.
To back up a bit, a month earlier I had announced to my international e-mail list that I would soon be offering a web-based class called ‘The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking’. The fact that I had absolutely no idea what this class would include did not dissuade me from sending the announcement to over fifty thousand people. Weeks went by and excitement for the lessons began to build. Hundreds of people sent letters asking when the class would begin, a question I was still asking myself since I still had not received the inspiration required to write word one. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever receive clear direction, and worry was starting to build.
I believe I was thinking about this when I was soaking in the spring. Whether I was or not is of little consequence, though. I do know for sure what happened next.
The water and the minerals seemed to inspire a deep contemplation, and I was unaware of anything other than the waves of deep relaxation washing through my whole being. Nothing else existed, and my spirit seemed to shake free from my body, my friends and the motionless sea. I was at peace, vast and unfathomable peace, and I felt as if nothing would penetrate the stillness I felt.
Then I felt a presence, as if someone was standing next to me. I instantly realized, however, that it was not a body I felt beside me, but the spirit of a person I felt I recognized. In my mind I saw this spirit as a man who seemed to have walked straight out of the desert, his hair matted and his dark skin covered with sweat. But there was something else that caught my attention: his eyes. I had never seen eyes like this before, radiant and dazzling like the sun. He looked at me as if he saw more than the person floating there in the spring. He saw me, the me I rarely if ever saw myself. The love that shot from his eyes wrapped around me and filled me with Divine radiance. I knew, without his saying a word, that this was he: Jeshua, the real man who walked these same paths and roads two thousand years earlier.
I use the Aramaic name rather than the more common ‘Jesus’ for a good reason. This was not the character from a book I met, nor was it the man that had been painted by the great masters or whose image had been immortalized in statues on altars around the world. This was the real guy, the authentic man who walked and talked and ate with his friends two thousand years ago. The man I sensed next to me wasn’t the cookie-cutter Jesus but, rather, the mystical and passionate master who inspired or inflamed the land we now call holy. In an instant I knew why he inspired them so, for my own heart began to race.
All of this occurred without anyone around me even knowing. In other words, what I saw was within me, not without, and yet it was more real than anything I had ever known before. Jeshua was there, and a conversation began that has shaped my life ever since.
‘Would you like me to help you?’ Those were the words I felt extending from him, and they startled me. What did he mean? What could he help me with? It was as if he immediately knew what I was thinking. As he smiled I realized that he meant The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking course. ‘Would you like me to help you with it?’ he asked again.
The way I was raised, you don’t question such an extraordinary offer of support, especially when it comes from him. Still, I felt myself hesitate, as if I wasn’t sure what it meant, or what I would be agreeing to. Luckily, the hesitation passed and I was convinced. ‘Yes, I do need you to help me’.
Instantly, I felt something happen, as if information was being downloaded into my heart and my mind, information that I would have to access at a later date, regardless of how anxious I was to know what it was. He smiled when it was complete, then said to me, ‘When I was with my friends, I told them secrets that I couldn’t reveal to the masses. They weren’t ready… but now they are. I told them stories, but now is the time for everything to be revealed. That will be the course we will write together. I say together because it would be impossible for me to do it alone. We need each other in this. And so, the lessons will be 33 in number, and each one of them will have exactly 999 words. Within them will be a code, and it is this more than anything that will teach them.’
‘What do you mean by code?’ I asked.
‘It is simple,’ Jeshua continued. ‘The information we will write will have great significance, but there will be hidden information that the conscious mind cannot comprehend. This information will be encoded in the words. The soul will then hear what the mind cannot. In this way the secrets of the Kingdom will be revealed. They will be revealed in a way that each person may know and live them, for that is what is so needed today.’
He smiled and I felt the vision begin to disappear, and whatever had been placed inside me seemed to glow and radiate. I immediately jumped from the spring and ran to find my friends. I needed a pen and paper so I could write down everything I had just learned. When they saw me running toward them, they could see by the look in my eyes that I wasn’t the same. They asked what had happened to me, and I told them I couldn’t talk then. I found what I needed and disappeared to a secluded table where I wrote everything I had heard from Jeshua.
From The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking, © James F Twyman 2003, 2006, published in book form by Findhorn Press in 2006.
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