Tag Archives: Christmas

What Jesus Means

Here are some thoughts that may make Christmas more meaningful.

by Mohandas K. Gandhi:

My Christian friends have told me on a few occasions that because I do not accept Christ as the only son of God, it is impossible for me to understand the profound significance of his teachings.  I believe that this is an erroneous point of view, and that such an estimate is incompatible with the message that Jesus gave to the world.  For he was certainly the highest example of one who wished to give everything, asking nothing in return, and not caring what creed might happen to be professed by the recipient.  I am sure that if he were living here now among men, he would bless the lives of many who perhaps have never even heard his name, if only their lives embodied the virtues of which he was a living example on earth: the virtues of loving one’s neighbor as oneself and of doing good and charitable works among one’s fellow men.

What then does Jesus mean to me?  To me  he was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had.  To his believers he was God’s only-begotten Son. Could the fact that I do or do not accept this belief make Jesus have any more or less influence in my life?   Is all the grandeur of his teaching and of his doctrine to be forbidden to me?  I cannot believe so.

To me it implies a spiritual birth. My interpretation, in other words, is that in Jesus’ own life is the key to his nearness to God; that he expressed, as no other could, the spirit and will of God.  It is in this sense that I see him and recognize him as the son of God.   

Christmas

 

Christmas marks the postulated birthday of Jesus Christ.  While some say the holiday can be traced back to a day of worship of the Sun at the outset of its return from its shortest day of the year, the Christ birth narrative is the story that has stood the test of time and garnered the most widespread acceptance.  You can choose whatever story you like best, and so it will be with God according to a wonderful movie now in theaters, Life of Pi.  Incidentally, I highly recommend you go out and see Pi if you haven’t already.  A perfect holiday entertainment.

Another movie I watched recently inspired this post.  That is The Quantum Activist featuring quantum theorist Amit Goswami.  In the film, Goswami explains how quantum theory relates to consciousness.  In doing so he touches on the advice of Christ to love one’s enemies.  While I have heard the advice so many times before, including in L. Ron Hubbard’s What Is Greatness?, I have generally found it difficult to apply.  I suppose it was a combination of other recent reading, particularly Ken Wilber’s work on integral spirituality and others on quantum mechanics and its relationship to consciousness, combined with life experiences that set the stage for Goswami to reach home to me.

Per the King James Bible, book of Matthew, Jesus Christ is reported as saying:

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

Goswami put Christ’s love advice in the context of recognizing the non-duality of reality, something quantum theory is tending to corroborate as the truest description of existence.  He did so by also noting the tangible, unprecedented 20th Century accomplishments of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King in following Christ’s words.

I think in Scientology we are all educated in a way to justify and even accept the destructive emotions in the anger band, including ‘hate.’   I think to indulge in anger and hate might have an effect similar to that covered by Rene Brown in her interesting lecture earlier posted on this blog.  Brown noted that when one desensitizes oneself to any emotion one numbs oneself to emotion generally.   And so it might be with such things as anger and hate.  If you let them into your heart and nourish them you lose the capacity or ability to love or experience higher toned emotions.

Since recognizing and accepting the wisdom above imputed to Christ, I haven’t harbored any animosity toward anyone in a few days in spite of the fact certain folks are concurrently doing all they can to fracture and upset our family during the holidays.  While I cannot attest to it making one lick of difference in those who have declared me to be their enemy, I can say I am feeling a great degree of equanimity and peace.