WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HUMILITY?

‘See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and
riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ Zechariah 9:9.

These days everyone is a star—or so they think.

One of the negative things about social media is that every nonentity around can have their moment of glory—their 15 minutes (usually 15 seconds or less) of fame—many times a day. Here’s a photo of the meal I’m about to eat. Yummy. (Really? It looks disgusting.) This is the view from my kitchen. Magnificent, isn’t it? (Hmm. It's so-so.) Here’s my latest hat. (Does she really think that’s nice? It's awful!) Here’s a photo of me on the airplane, about to head off on my trip to London—first class, no less. Aren’t I doing well? Hashtag this, hashtag that. (Sure, you're a legend in your own lunchbox, as we Aussies like to say.) And, yes, I am also guilty of this.

One of my favourite Bible verses is this: ‘For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted’ (Mt 23:12). That’s one of the Zen-like sayings of Jesus. The multi-talented musician, bandleader, singer, actor, producer, director, writer and university lecturer Desi Arnaz, pictured above, once said that it was his favourite Bible verse. The verse, he said, was ‘one of the greatest quotes from the Bible as applied to show business’.

In a few days time, namely, on Sunday, April 9, it will be Palm Sunday, a day on which Christians recall the triumphal entry of Jesus into the walled city of Jerusalem. The people laid down their cloaks and small branches of trees in front of him. The image of Jesus riding on a donkey is an object lesson in humility—and much, much more. The donkey may be an image of proverbial stubbornness but it is also one of peace as opposed to war, Jesus being the Prince of Peace (cf Is 9:6). The donkey is also an image of meekness, persistency and endurance. There is the intellect, the emotions and the will—plus the physical body. When all of four of those things are ‘tamed’ – the image of Jesus riding on the donkey – they become obedient to the spiritual impulse within, the ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Col 1:27).

There is more to life than so-called fame and worldly success. There is an exalted state of consciousness and inner spiritual richness that those who seek the things of this material world will never know—that is, unless and until they humble themselves. Let go of willfulness and personal exertion of the selfish and superficial kind.

Whether Christian or not, Easter is a time to reflect upon what is truly important in life.

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TRUE LIVING IS A PERPETUAL RESURRECTION

What is life, other than a perpetual resurrection?

Easter is about endings and beginnings. It is about love overcoming hate, hope prevailing over despair, and life triumphing over death. Easter celebrates the fact that the spirit of life is indestructible. As I have said more than once before, we are forever part of life’s self-expression, that is, livingness, so we can never cease to be. Yes, we will change form and vanish from view, but we---that is, the spirit of life in us, as us---can never cease to be. We cannot be separated from life. We cannot be less than life.

The end of every day is a ‘death’ of sorts. It is gone forever. Now, that is a very good thing, for if it were not to happen there could be no tomorrow. Every new day is a rising of sorts. But it’s even deeper than that. Every new moment is a new beginning---a resurrection of life. We must constantly ‘die’ and ‘rise again’ into newness of life.  Most importantly, we must die to self each moment of the day if we wish to be free from the bondage of self.

Here are some wonderful words from Dr Harry Gaze, minister, lecturer and world traveller, who was a pioneer in the field of applied psychology ('constructive psychology', in his words):

True living is a perpetual resurrection, a constant awakening and arising to the increased livingness of today. Every day is Easter to the one who is initiated into the teachings of the new life. The more that we include within the area of our attention, of the good, the true and the beautiful, the more we extend our consciousness. This extension of consciousness is a richer, fuller livingness.

Happy Easter!

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First, let me tell you what I can’t and don’t believe about Easter. I don’t believe that Jesus literally and bodily rose from dead. I like what the now retired but ever-iconoclastic and controversial Anglican bishop Dr David Jenkins [pictured left] said about that idea. He called the notion ‘a conjuring trick with bones.’ How wickedly funny! 

I do, however, know this---Jesus rose spiritually from the tomb. Punishment and death could not destroy the power of his personality and his spirit and his message. Jesus lives today, not so much in the lives of those who purport to follow him (most of whom show little or no resemblance in their daily lives to Jesus at all), but in the lives of those persons, the bulk of whom would not want to label themselves as Christians, who give constantly of themselves to others in practical service and self-sacrifice so that the troubles of suffering humanity might be relieved.

I now want to say a few words about what I refer to as the ‘macro and micro’ of the Easter story.

In a previous post I have written about the ‘macro’ of Easter, namely, that the Crucifixion is an 'object lesson' and acted parable or dramatization of the ongoing cosmic sacrifice---the self-limitation (crucifixion) of life itself---in which the spirit of life, the one absolute reality which antecedes all manifested things, ever descends into matter, ever offers itself, and ever gives of itself to itself in manifestation, so that life, in all of its multiplicity of forms, may be perpetuated. It is a mystery. It is a wonder. It is divine. What a tragic and terrible thing it is that conventional, mainstream Christianity has so totally literalized and carnalized this truly sublime myth, distorting---even destroying---its true meaning.

Now, the ‘micro’ of Easter. Easter, as we all know, is about dying and rising again. The end of every day is a ‘death’ of sorts. It is gone forever. Now, that is a very good thing, for if it were not to happen there could be no tomorrow. Every new day is a rising of sorts. But it’s even deeper than that. Every new moment is a new beginning---a resurrection of life. We must constantly ‘die’ and ‘rise again’ into newness of life.  Most importantly, we must die to self each moment of the day if we wish to be free from the bondage of self. I have often said that we are in bondage to self. All our problems result from that. Freedom lies in constantly dying to self and being resurrected into newness of life. No, not even Jesus can do that for you, despite what some misguided people may have told you. You, and you alone, must do ‘it’ for yourself. You, the person among persons that you are, can and must break the bondage of self---the prison-house of self you have made for yourself---if you want to really become the real person you were destined to be.

May you be resurrected into newness of life this Easter.

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DYING FROM ONE MOMENT TO THE NEXT---MINDFULLY

'Because God is full of life, I imagine each morning Almighty God says to the sun, "Do it again"; and every evening to the moon and the stars, "Do it again"; and every springtime to the daisies, "Do it again"; and every time a child is born into the world asking for curtain call, that the heart of the God might once more ring out in the heart of the babe.'

 

So wrote one of my favourite prelates, Fulton J. Sheen (pictured left), in Life is Worth Living. He often said those words in his sermons and public addresses. They are beautiful words, speaking as they do about the renewal---or renewing---of life each day.

Yes, life is all about death and renewal, and as we approach Easter it is appropriate to consider the matter.

Living is all about dying. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. We all must die, death is the gateway to life---all that sort of thing. No, it’s much deeper than that. In order to live fully we must learn how to ‘die’ from moment to moment, that is, to die, not just each day, but each minute and each moment of each minute. Jiddu Krishnamurti (pictured below) wrote:

'How necessary it is to die each day, to die each minute to everything, to the many yesterdays and to the moment that has just gone by! Without death there is no renewing, without death there is no creation.'

We cling to our likes and dislikes, our memories and beliefs, our predilections and prejudices, all of which is---the past, as well as the ‘self.’ The tragedy is not so much that we hold on to these things---although that is bad in itself---but we try to experience life through these things whilst clinging to them. The result? Everything becomes blurred and distorted.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, which marks the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. As Jesus entered the city, riding on a donkey---how rich in symbolism that is----the crowds shouted ‘Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The word ‘hosanna’ means----save now. It refers to a calm surrender and submission, a letting go, a ‘not my will but thine be done’ mindset. Yes, it’s a bit similar to the Arabic word ‘Islam,’ which has the same idea of letting go, calm acceptance of what is, submission, and surrender.

The ‘secret’ is to practise dying---psychologically, that is---from one moment to the next. Dying to all our psychological images (our likes, dislikes, beliefs, predilections, prejudices, etc) and conditioning, in order that we might see things-as-they-really-are, not as we might want them to be. Unless we die to the past on a moment-to-moment basis, not only do we fail to see things-as-they-really-are, but those psychological images will simply be reborn again and again, further distorting our vision and experience of life as it unfolds from one moment to the next.

So, practise dying---psychologically, that is---until it becomes habitual. How? Don’t ask ‘how’---when you ask ‘how,’ you are seeking a method, a technique. Methods and techniques are conditioning---the past. Just do it. Look, choicelessly, at each image as it arises. Don’t identify with it. Don’t judge, evaluate or analyze it. Don’t try to drive it away. There must be no desire to change anything. Just look and observe. Stay with it---the feeling or whatever---until it is fully explored and understood. Then it will be discarded---finished. It dies by attrition, so to speak.

This is the only way to live. All religions teach this important truth---the need to die to self in order to be resurrected into newness of life. The wonderful thing is this---we can all be resurrected into newness of life whenever we start practising the gentle but noble art of dying from moment to moment.

Try it---today. Do it. Now!

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THE PAGAN ROOTS AND ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS

This morning I spoke on Sydney's Radio Skid Row 88.9 FM on the pagan roots and origins of Christmas, so I thought I would share with you some of what I said on the radio.

Now, don’t get me wrong---I love Christmas, and I have often written about its spiritual and esoteric (or ‘inner’) meaning. However, this much needs to be made unambiguously clear. The only thing foreign, external and even extraneous to Christmas is---Jesus. Bible-believing Christians keep saying, ‘Put Christ back into Christmas,’ but they fail to realize that, insofar as Christmas is concerned, Jesus---whose historicity hasn't been established beyond all doubt---was and remains an interpolation, that is, something extraneous that was added to, or interjected into, an already existent pagan feast and festival. Indeed, every element and aspect of the Christmas festival predates Christianity.

Apart from the gift-giving associated with the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus, the New Testament makes no mention of Jesus, his disciples or the New Testament Church celebrating Christmas Day. Amazing. It is not until around 354 CE that we get the earliest recorded reference to a December 25 Christmas actually celebrating the birth of Jesus, although it is highly likely that it had been celebrated for at least two or three decades before then.

The roots and origins of Christmas lie in, among other things, various pagan (that is, non-Christian) fertility rites and practices which predate Jesus by many centuries. In 350 CE Pope Julius I proclaimed December 25 as Christmas Day---for a very good reason. You see, it was the day on which the ancient Romans celebrated the winter solstice, being the last day of the Roman festival of Saturnalia (the cult of Saturn [pictured left], the Roman god of agriculture). Now, why did the pope of the day choose that day? Well, at the risk of being very cynical but not a bit dishonest, the reason is fairly simple and obvious---it made it easier for people to convert to Christianity, for they would not lose their feasts.

During Saturnalia, people exchanged gifts (especially dolls, candles, caged birds and fruit) decorated trees with candles, and decked their halls with garlands of laurel. There was much partying (both private and public), and masquerades took place in the streets. Masters and slaves swapped clothes, which could have been a lot of fun if you were into cross-dressing. (I should also mention that this swapping of roles between masters and slaves also took place among the ancient Babylonians and Persians in a five-day festival called Sacaea.) The wealthy paid the month’s rent for the less-well-to-do. (I can’t see the 'big end of town' doing that today. What a pity!) Executions were cancelled and---listen to this---no wars were declared during the festival. We could all learn something from that. Anyway, for at least 60 or 70 years after the 350 CE papal proclamation of Christmas the pagan festival of Saturnalia continued to be celebrated. Old customs die hard.

There is another pagan contender in the ancient Roman world for the origination of Christmas---the official monotheistic Sun god cult of Sol invictus (‘Invincible [or 'Unconquered'] Sun’) [pictured right] with its distinctive festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti ('Birthday of Sol Invictus') which was celebrated on, yes, December 25. This cult, it seems, had its origins in Syria. One would light a candle to encourage the Sun---as well as Mithras (see below)---to reappear next year. In many ways, Christmas owes more to the cult of Sol invictus than it does to the festival of Saturnalia. Even the present pope---Pope Benedict XVI---has stated that Christmas acquired its definitive form in the 4th century CE when it replaced the feast of Sol invictus.

Closely associated with the Sol invictus cult was the cult of Mithras (also known as Mithraism and the Mysteries of Mithra[s]) which, it seems, was founded in the 6th century BCE---well before the supposed advent of Jesus. Mithras [pictured below] was another Eastern solar deity (in the form of, among other things, the equinoctial Sun which revivifies and fertilizes the earth) whose feast day was also celebrated on---guess when---December 25. 

Now, it is written that the mythical god Mithras---in whose honour the religion of Mithraism was founded---went around the countryside, teaching, healing the sick, and casting out devils. This Mithras supposedly had twelve disciples, held a last supper, was killed, was buried in a rock tomb, and then rose from the dead three days later, before finally ascending into heaven. Sound familiar?  Anyway, according to Persian tradition Mithras was said to have been incarnated into the human form of the saviour expected by Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra). Mithra's ascension to heaven was said to have occurred in 208 BCE, some 64 years after his purportedly miraculous virgin birth in---wait for it---a cave where he was adored by shepherds. Again, does that sound familiar? (Although Mithraism and Christianity stole from each other, never forget this---all of the main features of Mithraism were in place before the birth of Jesus.)

The cult of Sol invictus and that of Mithras were, for all intents and purposes, the same [see opposite]---at least as respects their practice in the Roman Empire. When Mithraism became the chief (and de facto State) religion in the late Roman Empire, Mithras was called Sol invictus.

Let's now jump ahead. In the Middle Ages, in the festival of Yule ([‘wheel’]; a pagan symbol for the Sun), the birth of the pagan Sun God/Mithras was celebrated on the shortest day of the year, the idea being that as the Sun God grew and matured, the days would become longer and warmer. I could go on.

Christianity has always had an annoyingly bad habit of stealing from pagan religions and then running those religions out-of-business---often with much violence and bloodshed---and declaring their practices heretical. (Etymologically, a heretic is 'one who chooses' [to be different]. I am proud to be one.)

At the risk of stating the obvious, you don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy and celebrate Christmas. Indeed, I won't even say that it helps. (Ha!) So, my friends, don’t let those Bible-believing Christians tell you that we must put Christ back into Christmas. Historically---and also for millions and millions of people throughout the world today---Jesus is not the reason for the season, even though the legends surrounding the birth of Jesus (around whom a whole mass of pagan legends have otherwise been collected) constitute a wonderful object lesson of the 'inner' meaning and significance of the festival, namely, the need for each of us to awaken to our innate 'divinity'---that is, the primal power of be-ing itself---and our true potential as human beings.

Christmas---like Easter---is about renewal and revivification. It’s about the livingness and givingness of life itself. Life forever gives of itself to itself---and as itself---so that life can continue and be renewed. Each one of us is a unique individualization of the livingness and self-givingness of life.

May you rejoice in that fact---and celebrate it at this time … and always.

Bless you all.

 

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A number of Buddhist writers have expressed considerable disquiet with the Christian doctrine of the Crucifixion. It is so unBuddhist-like, they say. Something so violent could never have been the cornerstone of Buddhism. Like so many Christians, these Buddhists fail to understand the true, ‘inner’ meaning of Easter.

The Crucifixion is an acted parable or dramatization of the ongoing cosmic sacrifice---the self-limitation (crucifixion) of life itself---in which the spirit of life, the one absolute reality which antecedes all manifested things, ever descends into matter, ever offers itself, and ever gives of itself to itself in manifestation, with the result that life, in all of its multiplicity of forms, is perpetuated. It is a mystery. It is a wonder. It is Divine.

In this sacrificial outgiving---the putting forth of the eternal principle of life as the Logos which freely offers Itself as the ensouling life of matter---the one life manifests itself in all things as all things but ever remains. Said the great avatar, Sri Krishna: ‘I established this universe with a portion of myself; and I remain.’ This is the 'eternal oblation,' the 'enduring sacrifice by which the world is nourished and sustained' (Holy Eucharist, Liberal Catholic Liturgy). This is the sublimest 'myth' known to humanity---the ‘man crucified in space’ of Hindu mythology, the ‘lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ of Christianity---the very self-givingness of life.

In this cosmic sacrifice or crucifixion, the mythic ‘life-giver’---the eternal and immutable principle and spirit of life itself---is, as it were, crucified upon the cross of matter and imprisoned in form. This is a continuing and never-ending process in which each of us has a part. This is the true meaning of Easter. What a tragic thing it is that conventional, mainstream Christianity has so totally literalized and carnalized this truly sublime myth, distorting its true meaning. Then, to make matters worse, there’s all the ‘butcher shop theology’---the ‘Jesus died for your sins’ stuff---which, at least in the form in which it is ordinarily presented, formed no part of Jesus’ original teachings but has its origin for the most part in the mystery religions. Forgive us, Jesus, for what we have done to you and to your teachings! The famed Baptist minister Dr Harry Emerson Fosdick expressed it well when, in an iconoclastic sermon entitled ‘The Peril of Worshipping Jesus’ (in the collection The Hope of the World), he said:

The world has tried in two ways to get rid of Jesus: first, by crucifying him, and second, by worshipping him. The first did not succeed. …

The world, therefore, foiled in its first attempt to be rid of Jesus by crucifying him, turned to the second, far more subtle and fatal way of disposing of great spiritual leadership---it worshipped him. … [T]hat has always been the most successful way of getting rid of Jesus.

Back to my theme. We must never forget the one, common life in ourselves as well as in all that is. Yes, we are all one. All life is one and indivisible. Every form that exists is a symbol of the one, supreme, eternal, never-ending oblation---the spirit of life forever giving itself to its world that it might have life. Yes, the spirit of life, which breathes into existence all that is, is both transcendent and immanent in our universe, forever suffering, dying, rising again, evolving, acting with and through all life. Alfred, Lord Tennyson put it beautifully when he wrote:

That God, which ever lives and loves; One God, one Law, one element: And one far off divine event to which the whole of creation moves.

This is the ‘ancient wisdom, the truth behind all true religion---the doctrine of the One Life. As Theosophist and Liberal Catholic bishop Dr George S Arundale (pictured left) often pointed out, ‘The One becomes the many, that the many might know themselves as One.’ 

Easter is about endings and beginnings. It is about love overcoming hate, hope prevailing over despair, and life triumphing over death. Easter celebrates the fact that the spirit of life is indestructible. As I have said more than once before, we are forever part of life’s self-expression, so we can never cease to be. Yes, we will change form and vanish from view, but we---that is, the spirit of life in us, as us---can never cease to be. Never. Never! We cannot be separated from life. We cannot be less than life. Never!

We read in the Rigveda:

One sun lights up the whole world,

One dawn reveals all this,

One reality has become all that exists.

May you all have a happy and, more importantly, holy Easter.



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