 31. Christianity vs Jesus |
The fundamental teaching of Jesus of Galilee is about how to enter, in every present moment, into the Spiritual Condition of the Divine Reality, Which Is the Source-Condition (or Matrix) of conditional “self” and conditional Nature—and such that there is the inherent transcending of all “sin” (or all separation from the Divine Spiritual Condition of Reality Itself, or all bondage to mere “causes” and “effects”). Thus, the esoteric “method” (or the Way of “right life”, rather than the corporate social and altogether exoteric “religion”) that is the underlying practice recommended in the “New Testament” Gospels—and in all true scripture—is the release of all clinging to separate “self” and “world”, and the relinquishment of all seeking for results of any kind, by means of a total bodily and lifetime submission to the “Spirit” (or “Pneuma”, or “Breath”)4 That Is the Divine Reality. Jesus taught that, on the basis of always present “self”-surrender into “Spirit-Breathing” Spiritual Communion with the Divine Itself (or the Spiritual Reality-Condition That Is Inherently Divine), you should live as if you have been completely forgiven, and as if there are no binding necessities or unhappy obligations, and as if no “sin” is effective in your life.
Thus, the fundamental principle underlying the “New Testament” tradition is an esoteric principle. That principle is the always-present transcending of conditional “self” and conditional “world” via ego-surrendering Spiritual Communion with the Divine Self-Nature, Self-Condition, and Self-State of Reality Itself. Most of the insti-tutional overlay of communication in the “New Testament” is exoteric—socially oriented toward the “world” of public laws, the “world” of ordinary purposive action, and the “world” of commonplace relations.
Yet, if you examine the gospel stories, you will find evidence, here and there, of the underlying esotericism that is the “root”-teaching of Jesus of Galilee.
Perhaps the primary example (or demonstration) of the esoteric activity of Jesus of Galilee is the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus (in chapter three of the “Gospel of John”). I will quote this passage to you, from the translation in The Jerusalem Bible:
There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, who came to Jesus by night.
In other words, Nicodemus came secretly. He did not want to be observed—because the “official religion”, like the State, is interested in exoteric matters, which do not “stimulate” the populace, and which do not (by any “distracting” means) deter ordinary people from being merely socially positive personalities. Nicodemus could have gotten in trouble for coming to Jesus, who was associated with a message other than the established dogma, for coming to hear a mysterious message from a man who was doing mysterious things.
Nicodemus . . . came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi,”—which is another word for “teacher”, or “Guru”, in that setting—”we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.” Jesus answered:
“I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said, “How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied:
“I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.”
This quotation is one of the principal summaries of Jesus’ fundamental “point of view”. Jesus of Galilee tells Nicodemus the “secret teaching”, the teaching one could hear from Jesus only in secret, the esoteric teaching—not merely the public message that encourages everyone to be a more positive social character. Nicodemus is receiving the “secret teaching” from Jesus, the teaching for the “inner circle”.
What is the secret teaching about? It is about the Mystery of the “Kingdom of God” (or the “Divine domain”)—and the “Kingdom of God” is esoterically interpreted to mean a transformation of the individual from existence in the “flesh” (or as an ego possessed by the conventional purposes of this “world”) to existence in and as the Living, Eternal, and Free Transcendental Divine Spirit.
