Religion #5 Sample

Wash Your Dogma: Esoteric Christianity

A weekly practical lectionary study based on the book Religion #5, is ongoing each Sunday from 7-8:30pm (location varies). Each week includes Q&A on two New Testament texts and practical exercises to create understanding based on personal experience (results are reported the following week). This is not a thinking class, it is real spiritual development; if you are tired of hearing people talk the talk, then you must walk the walk! Email for more information (or to particpate via email).

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 13:15:46 -0600
To: Commentaries on the Gospel:;
From: philmore <philmore@somaZen.com>
Subject: getting behind (romans 4:13-25; mark 8:31-38)

on looking at this week's text (march 19), i am brought to pondering if the lectionary writers had any idea of scale at all. the ideas included in both texts cover several scales and become most difficult to receive without first putting them in scale.

the sermon at my church included the idea that peter was politically motivated, that he wanted jesus to make people feel good about themselves (in order to be popular). the preacher said jesus stood firmly against this. afterwards i asked the preacher if he had considered in what ways the church has made jesus into this very thing, a feel good god. he turned into a pillar of salt . . .

paul's letter to the romans is one of my favorites; it is not colored by sentimentality, but outlines paul's idea of the church is very clear theoretical lines. here he works to reconcile the jewish codes with other beliefs; the answer lies in something he calls 'faith.' if it is the faith of jesus, and not the 'little faith' of the disciples, it is based on verification. paul is on to something here for if we verified things we would find ourselves in agreement, not at odds.

here we see the faith of abraham made him great; he verified many things. what is lost on most everyone is the 'seed' of abraham, that is, the seed of his teaching. we need not be physical relatives of abraham, but psychic. we are not supposed to lock these laws/commandments away but develop them, verify them. as is said, we are not punished for sin, but by it. abraham's contribution was a practical basis for verification; we no longer need to reinvent the wheel.

there is also mention of abraham's physical body dying in exactly the same way as jesus. however abraham bears a child after his death. paul again says, like jesus, that the power (to do this) comes from faith/verification. righteousness, for abraham as well as us, comes from this verification, from what g calls 'super-efforts.'

paul's whole argument here is that jesus did not bring something new, he merely updated the ideas for his contemporaries, just like abraham (and g)! thus those of us who nurture the seed (and produce fruit) become heirs, or is jesus says, children of god.

well unfortunately, for the sake of the season, we have again destroyed our context in our travel through mark. this is ironic, since the gospels are so difficult in the first place; one would think there would be an effort to facilitate the approach to the ideas instead of this seemingly deliberate distraction from the context.

one thing we may notice when looking for context here is whether things are 'spoken freely' or said to 'not be shared.' just prior to our text, jesus has told the disciples not to say who he is, not to tell people his state (of consciousness/reason). [notice here that he never tells the disciples that they are right.] then he teaches then that 'it behooves the Son of man many things to suffer' and that this thing (Son of man) will be rejected by the authorities (FP). this jesus speaks openly; he is not selling people a bill of goods, he warns them beforehand that preparation for the Way is not comfortable. [there is no mention of he himself being killed.]

taken as an allegorical teaching it conforms exactly to the teaching of the fourth way.

the next section, or scale, includes peter 'rebuking' his teacher. here we see the 'turning' - jesus turns away from his aim and toward the disciples - and tells peter to get back in the proper scale. peter has, in a certain way, performed magic and has jumped out in front of jesus; he is attempting to lead/teach. [disciple means follower or imitator.] jesus will not follow him and to show this immediately turns away. once the right order/scale has been re-established jesus begins to teach again on the scale of the multitudes.

this teaching (vs 34-38) explains his 'rebuking' of peter as well as peter's mistake. [notice how peter is still favored in the following text (ch9); he is not punished for his mistake.] it is a lesson in scale, much like the zen parable of the teacher pouring the tea all over the table because the student is full. we must empty our cup, which is filled with ordinary life, in order to receive the teaching. this happens in students who successfully change their level of being by preparatory work; they give up claim to all their previous 'knowledge' in order to receive impartially (to the best of their ability and with the assistance of their teacher) the new wine. the old skins will not contain the new.

jesus finishes off his teaching (to the multitudes' scale) with a 'logical argument' that will satisfy (or defeat) formatory thought. if you are ashamed on this scale you will be ashamed on the next. this idea is developed in verse 36 as he compares the value of different scales. people will quickly say they will do what it takes to gain their soul, but will argue when asked to leave behind all their possessions (things they are possessed by/identified with).

once verified, this teaching is astonishingly complete. yet it is also understandable how it was distorted into a 'feel good' thing. jesus' change in state/scale was only after an inner death, for the sake of the multiplicity within him. after a fullness of time, called three days, real i rises out of this death 'in the glory of the father of him with the angels holy.' we cannot kill off false personality, we must die for it!