posted October 20, 2004 08:33 PM         

Transparency

When you have nothing to hide, the light of your conscious attention is no longer compromised by secret shame. Lies no longer need to be upheld. Your relationships are not cluttered with hidden agendas. Simplicity and clarity rule in your life, for there is no deception.

Each one of you has this clarity available to you right now if you have the courage to communicate all that you think and feel without hesitation. That is your gesture of trust toward your brother and sister. That is your willingness to be visible and vulnerable.

If you have a fear and share it, that fear and the guilt beneath it no longer remain hidden. If you think a thought that condemns another, you can deny it, disguise it or project it onto someone else. Or you can bring it up for attention and healing. You can hide your attack thoughts or you can confess them.

The ritual of confession, like most rituals, has ceased to embody the purpose behind it. It has nothing to do with receiving absolution from another. It has everything to do with rejecting the density of deceit and bringing fear and guilt into conscious awareness. The one who hears the confession is not a judge, but a witness. He or she does not have to wear robes or be in a position of authority. Any witness will do, so long as the witness understands that her role is not to judge or condemn, but merely to listen with compassion.

There is no one who does not make mistakes. Trespass one against another, with or without intention, is commonplace. To expect to end all trespass is foolishness. Only one who is not in touch with his human vulnerability would aspire to such a lofty and ungrounded goal. And how can one who cannot embrace his humanity come to accept his divinity?

Mistakes will be made and I urge you to be thankful for each mistake you make. Each error is a gift because it brings you to correction. Celebrate the opportunity to bring all manipulation and deceit to the surface. Be thankful for the invitation to reach into the dark places of your mind and bring the contents to the light of conscious inspection.

When you justify your mistakes, you hang onto them, forcing yourself to defend them over and over again. This takes a great deal of time and energy. Indeed, if you are not careful, it can become the dominant theme of your life.

Why not confess your errors so that you don’t have to spend all your time defending them. Own your deceit so that it doesn’t chain you to the limitations of the past. Let each trespass be openly acknowledged. If you think poorly of your brother, tell him so and ask him to forgive you. Do this not to raise him on a pedestal, but to keep yourself from falling into the bottomless pit of self-hatred and despair. It is the medicine you need to live without fear, dishonesty and guilt. Take this medicine, my friend. I have offered it to you before, and I offer it to you once again.

The density of this world is a result of your lack of courage to admit your mistakes. It is a result of the game of pretense you play with your sister. Do you really think it possible that you could be more moral or more correct than she is?

The best that you can do is to be more skillful at hiding your mistakes. This is a sad and self-defeating game. I ask you to stop playing it.

I ask you to trust your sister and know that she does not stand above you in judgment, but side by side, as your equal. She cannot condemn you without condemning herself.

Confess to yourself. Confess to your mate, your boss, even to the stranger on the street. Do not be concerned about what people think. You are transmitting a revolutionary teaching. Your confession gives others permission to look at their own mistakes with compassion.

A woman who admits her mistakes is a beacon of light to others. She has shed her cloak of darkness. Light shines through her, for her mind is transparent, a clear channel through which truth flows without effort.

Her brother and sister know immediately that she can be trusted and they reach out to take her hand. Such a woman is a true priest. Having forgiven her own sins, she can extend that forgiveness to others. Her authority does not come from outside, but from within. She has been ordained by no authority of the world. Yet each person who comes to her recognizes her, trusts her, and confides in her.

This is the truth about confession. And any man or woman can be a priest. Do not believe in the lies that are offered up to you in my name. Use your common sense.

And do not be ashamed if you have turned away from religion because you could not accept these lies. I too would have turned away from a church that offers nothing but deception, exclusiveness, and guilt.

You are right to reject false teachings. But do not allow your anger at the hypocrisy of worldly men in priestly robes take you away from your direct relationship with me. Forget everything you have been taught by others and consider the truth now in your own heart. That is where we must meet, not in some pretentious building that mocks my teaching and my life.

Now consider the truth, my friend. You cannot have secrets from me or from your brother and leave your suffering behind. To end suffering, you must end all forms of deceit in your life. And that can only be done by telling the truth, to yourself, to me, and to your brother.

What do you have to lose, except the density and confusion of the world? Would you keep your secrets and remain in the labyrinth or would you confess them and be free of the dark, twisting streets? The choice is yours.

But do not fool yourself. There is no salvation in secrecy or darkness. Salvation is offered openly to everyone in the light of truth. And in that light no shadows of shame or sin can remain.

Have the courage to admit your mistakes so that you can forgive them and release yourself from pain, struggle, and deceit. Confide in your brother that he may one day confide in you. Do not deny the truth or pretend that you have not heard it. For I have told it to you here in simple words that you can understand. The rest is up to you, for Truth is not embraced until it is put into practice in your life. Each of you is one facet in the many faceted jewel of God’s love and grace. Each one of you has in your own way a simple dignity of expression. The beauty of one facet does not interfere with the splendor of another, but adds to it in both breadth and intensity.

What makes one facet shine is available to all. The light that is in me is also in you. And I am no more beloved by God than you are. This, brother and sister, you must come to know in your own heart. No amount of teaching or preaching will cause you to believe it.

That is why I ask you to practice. Remove the impurities of judgment that block the clarity of your perception. Remove the obstacles of competition, envy, and greed which block the flow of love through your heart. Confess your fears, your feelings of inadequacy, your trespasses and your grievances. Bring the darkness of your secret thoughts and feelings into the light of conscious attention.

There is no mistake that cannot be corrected. There is no trespass that cannot be forgiven. That is my teaching. It is not just through my words that you can understand it. Everything I taught I also demonstrated in my life. How then can I ask less of you, my friend?

posted October 20, 2004 09:59 PM         

Paul only appears to be a wise/loving guy. I don't know. But thats my opinion, in the 15 minutes I spend researching on him.

posted October 20, 2004 10:50 PM         

I am not clear on your note.

quote:

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Note: For those not familiar with this book, it may be helpful to know that these words are written in Jesus' voice; that is to say, as though he were the one saying them.

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Written in Jesus`s voice? Is the author channeling Jesus or interpreting what s/he "thinks" he ment?

Your clarity will be most appreciated.

posted October 20, 2004 11:36 PM         

Here are some excerpts from the Preface:

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With all of the fanfare about channeling, it seems important to be clear that this is not a channeled book. The information in this book does not come from some "entity" or personality apart from the mind of the listener. Indeed, this book is the result of one listener's joining with the Christ Mind, of which he and you are essential parts.

To think of Jesus as being outside of and independent of your mind is to miss the point. For it is in your mind that Jesus addresses you. He is your most intimate friend speaking to you, sometimes in words, often beyond words. Your communication and communion with him is essential to your practice of his teaching.

Let us be clear that Jesus has no exclusive place or position in the Christ Mind. Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Rumi, Lao Tzu, and many others are consciously joined with him there, or perhaps I should more accurately say "here". If you feel more comfortable addressing yourself to Buddha or Krishna, please do so. Jesus will not be offended. Indeed, he will be pleased, because you are following the teaching of non-separation.

...

When I began to work on this project, I brought to it the same degree of surrender which I had brought to previous books. That, however, was not enough. In quiet recognition I set aside approximately 150 pages of good material. It simply wasn't the book that needed to be birthed at this time in my life. Something new was being asked of me. And I was asking something new of my teacher.

I wanted a simple, lucid book that would help clarify our relationship with Jesus and with his teaching. And as I asked, it became clear that, to write such a book, something of Paul needed to be moved aside. Paul's identity needed to be challenged. His belief systems, his vocabulary, needed to be loosened up. Ideas that made him feel separate from others needed to be dynamited away. Unless these things happened, the book could not come through.

During the process, I learned to rely more on my relationship with Jesus than on anything I had read by or about him. I also saw Jesus working diligently in the lives of many people who seemed to hold beliefs that differed from my own.

...

I assure you that I have been anything but perfect in this practice. But I feel profoundly grateful for the practice and for this book, because both have helped me to take a very difficult step forward in my spiritual growth.

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posted October 21, 2004 12:01 AM         

I do differ with he author.

quote:

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For it is in your mind that Jesus addresses you. He is your most intimate friend speaking to you

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My mind is of a diferent home/nature of where Jesus resides in me. It is my Heart that feels the Truth of his message.Can Jesus be intellectualized by the mind or stir the Heart to Truth.

Another opinion along the path