A mystic reading the Bible would, because of a deeper awareness as to the nature of reality, derive a more profound meaning from it than conventional religious interpretations. Whereas, institutional religion is primarily driven by the energy of fear, a mystic understands the mythology, metaphors and symbolism of the Bible as an expression of an energy flowing from a friendly universe, an energy expressing compassion and grace.
For example, let’s take the current unsustainable narrative that is the story of humanity as a whole. To avoid continuing and increased suffering, a new story must be created because our story, or worldview, is the major driving force behind our human behavior. What we believe to be the nature of reality determines our reaction to that environment and how best to succeed within it. How do we know this is true? We have a built-in human wisdom that enables us to distinguish truth from illusion. Few people today could fail to sense that something is terribly wrong with how the story of humanity is unfolding. However, because we are so mesmerized by the illusion, our inner wisdom seldom sees the light of day—we seldom hear the “still small voice.” When we do hear it there is a call for a shift in our narrative from P-B, the story of an unconscious humanity, to P-A, the story of an awakening humanity.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying; ‘Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.’” (Revelation 21:1-4)
Remember, the foundation for P-A is Oneness and life is lived in the present moment in the Now. Time and space from this perspective belongs to the illusion of P-B. The Bible teaches that “heaven” (the present moment) is “here” and “now” not in some far-off place in the future. If we could experience “heaven on earth” we would become mindful of the power and perfection of the life we have been given by a source of Creation that is lawful (omniscient), here and now (omnipresent), and unopposed, that is to say, no Satan (omnipotent). Compassion is a defining characteristic of Creation. The illusion of suffering, sin and evil exists only in the imaginary, false-self controlled, dualistic world of the old story (P-B).
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” To awaken to Reality is to leave the world of illusion behind and to enter “a new heaven and a new earth.” Everything about the old beliefs, attitudes and values is transformed. Water, in this case the “sea,” is a symbol of human consciousness. Normal consciousness is transcended into undifferentiated energy beyond the illusion of “form,” “and the sea was [is] no more.” In P-A, we do not have a separate consciousness from the whole of Creation—the illusion of ego is unmasked—the fraud exposed.
Human suffering is caused with our identification with the world of form; with craving and aversion; with seeking security, power and pleasure; and with having, doing and knowing. When we attain Self-realization, we no longer identify with the world of form and our false self loses control of the melodrama that was our former life. Transcending the “struggle” inherent in the old narrative we are free from that illusion because “the former things have passed away.”
Only a few people can comprehend the deepest level of the teachings of Jesus because they can only be understood from the perspective of P-A. He knew that a paradigm shift was required and spoke of it in a language understood by many of those contained in the culture of the Middle East. He referred to the intuitional inner wisdom as “The Holy Spirit” or “Counselor.” “I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
We must shift our identification from thinking of ourselves as being separate from other human beings, as if we are the “chosen people” and separate from the rest of creation, to being inter-related and inter-dependent with it. Being separate and “special” is an obvious need of the ego. We not only are a product of the Oneness of Creation, we participate in the Creation itself—which gives us an active role in the process of creation. Jesus in one of his critically important insights said, “Do not the Scriptures say, ‘You are gods?” Here he is referring to Psalm 82:7, “You are Gods, sons of the Most High, all of you.” We cannot be separate in any way from Creation.
Of course, a paradigm shift would be of little value if it did not pass the acid test, that of changing human behavior. Two examples will show how those who experience living in the present moment differ from those still contained in the old narrative. The first behavior that demonstrates a change in consciousness is that an awakened person is able to distinguish between intuition and intellect. We have already explored that distinction above and reiterate that a person living in the Now will subordinate the “head” to the “heart.” A compassionate person has transcended fear and uses the intellect in service to all sentient beings and to all of Creation. An awakened human being will live a joy-filled life addressing human suffering in a way that is unique to them.
The second distinction that an awakened person will be seen to make is that between response and reaction. As Jesus said: “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” (Matthew 15:11) When paranoid ego-centered persons are “triggered,” they react with afflictive energy to the illusion before them or in their mind. These conditioned reactions are a major cause of suffering in the world. The awakened person “responds” with the energy of compassion. Seeing the reality of the situation, such a person can remain “present” and thereby reduce human suffering, both her own and that of others.
I conclude this essay with one of the prayers of Jesus. “Father, glorify thou me with thine own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5) We can always attain the consciousness of Oneness and shift from being enthralled by the world of form to that consciousness of Now—“before the world [form] was.”
For some reason, unknown to most of us, we experienced “The Fall” from that transcendent awareness that we had in the Garden of Eden – from being awake to “falling” asleep. We remain asleep in Eden but we can attain Self-realization at any time and experience heaven once again by simply waking up. Nothing supports that insightful change of consciousness more than changing the paradigm in which we receive our identity and make our choices.
Even though much of the mystery of our experience in the earth plane of existence remains, we at least have the gift of our own inner wisdom and free-will to change the direction of the human story.
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References and notes are available for this essay.
Find a much more in-depth discussion in books by Roy Charles Henry:
Who Am I? The Second Great Question Concerning the Nature of Reality
Where Am I? The First Great Question Concerning the Nature of Reality
Simple Reality: The Key to Serenity and Survival
