The following is excerpted from: Do You Like Jesus—Not the Church? Jesus: His True Message Not the Lie of Christianity.
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein
“I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not. I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there. I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not. With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only ‘anqa’s habitation.
Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even. Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina but found Him not within his range. I fared then to the scene of the Prophet’s experience of a great divine manifestation only a ‘two bow-lengths’ distance from him’ but God was not there even in that exalted court. Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.” – Rumi
The Creed and Worldview of Christianity and Islam—Dualism
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.— Desmond Tutu
Religion in its purest form (lacking a sacred text/dogma and doctrine) unites people. At the other extreme is institutionalized sacred text religions, which through their dogmatic textual beliefs separate people into the believers (I’m right) and the nonbelievers (you’re wrong). Christians believe in a divine Jesus. Muslims believe in a human Jesus who was a prophet. Unity would come from acknowledging that conceivably he was divine as well as human and was a prophet who brought a radical message that was contrary to the message of the established Jewish religious authorities.
The I’m-right-you’re-wrong mentality is not quite the worst case of dualism. With little effort it can morph into a dualism of “us” versus “them.” Wherever there is a consciousness of dualism, there is a mind-set of separation. Where there is separation, there is always the potentiality for fear and conflict.
When we individually separate our hearts from our minds, there is conflict within our souls. When we feel separate from nature, our minds want to either conquer or control. The worst case of “us” versus “them,” is the type that can erupt into forms of conflict ranging from murder and lynching’s rooted in racial issues to the violence of secular and religious wars and atrocities as exhibited by ISIS downing the Russian commercial aircraft killing 224 innocents and the slaughters in Lebanon and the carnage in Paris. Undoubtedly, over the past thousands of years, religion has been an underlying factor in many conflicts that have erupted on this earth. In fact, the dogmatic issue of “my god versus your god” has caused an unknown amount of suffering and bloodshed over the millennia.
Divine Humanity and Radical Nondualism
The oneness of interpenetrative radical nonduality sees a reality where there is no separation between mind and body, dark and light, or spirit and matter. There is no “us” versus “them” or “my god versus your god.”
Continuing on, the most profound and essential nature of things is not distinct from the things recognizable by our senses. In other words, our sacred self and our profane self are nondual and interpenetrate; likewise, all other sentient beings’ (things’) sacred identities and profane identities are nondual and interpenetrate. This is true oneness.
Additionally, interpenetrative radical nonduality as a principle means that the kingdom of God is here and now. It is outside us and within us in our body and mind; even as imperfect and impure as they are, they are still perfect and pure. It makes sense then that we may be deluded and awakened at the same time. Furthermore, the seen and unseen universe, the absolute and the relative, interpenetrate and are nondual. In other words, the world of spirit and the physical world are in instantaneous union. This is the reason that Jesus said the kingdom was spread throughout the earth, but no one knows it or sees it. The reason: they were attempting to view the kingdom through minds that saw reality only as dualistic or nondualistic. The same is true today of the religious scholars, writers, seminary teachers, and preachers who have never experienced firsthand the realities that Jesus and I know.
Jesus taught his disciples the concept of interpenetrative radical nonduality as the foundation of the kingdom. Since this and other philosophical, spiritual concepts are difficult to understand and comprehend, Jesus utilized paradox and language with symbolic meaning. Furthermore, in this way he knew that his pearls of wisdom would be lost to the swine.[i] A person with one eye does not see or understand.
Symbolism is the preferred vehicle for esoteric knowledge. The lotus flower is a prime example. If I say that the kingdom of God is within us and outside us, which means that matter and spirit interpenetrate, and, furthermore, we are able to achieve enlightenment in this very same body, corruptible and deluded as it is, these are just written words. However, if we use the lotus to symbolize this concept, we will bypass the filters of our linear minds to understand and intuitively know, within our hearts, this knowledge. The lotus grows in the mud but opens its petals to the light of the sun. It remains undefiled even in the mud. This symbolizes the radical nonduality of delusion and awakening. It is still pure (awakened) while in defilement (deluded).
In chapter 22 of the Gospel of Thomas, we discover the following:
Jesus saw some infants[ii] who were being suckled. He said to his disciples: These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom. They said to him: If we then become children, shall we enter the kingdom? Jesus said to them: When you make the two one, and when you make the inside as the outside, and the outside as the inside, and the upper as the lower, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male is not male and the female not female, and when you make eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then shall you enter [the kingdom].[iii]
This passage utilizes paradox and symbolic language in teaching about interpenetrative radical nonduality and oneness. Why would babies trigger this teaching? At birth we experience the oneness of self, not the exclusiveness of self (unhealthy ego) or the duality of self being separate from others. Our mother is not an object separate from us but a part of us, baby and mother. Breastfeeding is a vital part of this unity. An interesting question—how long does this last? I do not know and would not even attempt to conjecture the time period. However, at birth and for a time, short as it may be, each of us has experienced oneness with our mother and ourselves. Being one and not separate does open a window into our initial life experiences—the beginning of our earth walk and a knowing of oneness. It also reveals our innate but hidden connection to nature—the Great Mother.
Continuing on in the Gospel of Thomas, “when you make the two one, and when you make the inside as the outside, and the outside as the inside, and the upper as the lower, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male is not male and the female not female.” This obviously alludes to interpenetrative radical nonduality—oneness. The next part, “when you make eyes in place of an eye,” refers back to the suckling infants. When we have baby eyes (no separation) in the place of the one ego eye (total separation), we enter the kingdom. In our awakening we need to have baby eyes, which are nonjudgmental and tolerant, view the world with awe and excitement, and recognize the oneness of the light and the dark of existence. Baby Eyes is one pillar of the Three Pillars of Light of Divine Humanity.
Divine Humanity (“Humanity” represents not only the human race but all things of creation, all things of Mother Nature—terrestrial and celestial) is a living, spiritual philosophy and new consciousness. It is also a pure religion of the people, by the people, and for all the people. Divine Humanity is a religion of philosophy and a living, personal (not institutionalized) religion that “has less to do with religion and more to do with direct, open, ecstatic free experience of wonderment of creator through creation.”[iv]
As a world philosophy of awe and a religion of equality and simplicity, it conveys a love for all forms of life and acknowledges everything in creation as divine as well as honoring its own unique intrinsic expression. Therefore, not only is every human being a divine human with an intrinsic human expression and the light, holy spark, of God (the Great Mystery) within, but all trees are divine as well as being trees that in their intrinsic expression may provide food and shelter for us and for other creatures of the earth.
Divine Humanity is a personal religion and spiritual philosophy that is based on one’s truth found within one’s heart and mind. It is not based on faith, dogma, or doctrine. It is a green, ecological, and egalitarian philosophy and religion. Divine Humanity recognizes the divine in nature and the sacredness of all living things. Nature in partnership is one of the hallmarks of Divine Humanity. It acknowledges the equality and divinity of nature and the realization that humanity is not above nature, as a steward, or below nature, at the mercy of it, but is one with nature and in partnership with the earth in cocreating a paradisiacal state of life for all life—the kingdom of God.
Original Divinity or Original Sin
Jesus never spoke of original sin, only the evil of the world, which is completely different.[v]
Jesus did not believe in original sin. He believed in original divinity, in purity, as each of us has the spark, the starlight of God, within us. We are born pure and “born in love and not in sin. There is no love greater or holier than that of mother and child. There is nothing more sinless—baptized or not—than the child in the mother’s arms. Woe unto him who dare offend one of these little ones, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”[vi]
Judaism does not believe in original sin. Thus there is no need for a savior in Judaism as there is in Christianity. God’s natural, altruistic law, stated in Jeremiah 31:33 that “it will be written on their hearts,” means that as soon as the soul, the breath and light of God, enters the body at birth, God’s divine mandate of love and compassion is written on the heart. The logical conclusion would be that the little one is thus born in divinity and not in sin.
At this point let me interject my response to a typical question of disbelief concerning original divinity:
The immediate response that may pass through a person’s mind to the religious philosophical principle of original divinity that we are born with a divine, indestructible seed of light instead of original sin takes the form of a question: “Why then do humans make war, kill, rape, and fly planes into buildings?”
The short answer is that the divine spark or seed has not been awakened. Therefore, natural law has not been awakened within the person. Natural law is based on a belief in the inherent, natural, altruistic law of God that is found within the heart of each person. This natural law flows from the divinity within each individual but lies dormant until awakened by each person.
Furthermore, even though we are divine and human, our divine “spark” or “starlight” within us is not automatically awakened when we are born or, furthermore, awakened solely through outside influences.
Become a flower and you shall enter the kingdom...[vii]
Our divine spark is like a seed. A seed in nature does not automatically vibrate into a flower—it struggles to reach the light. It needs water, nurturance, and “feeding” to break through the earth and to develop into a beautiful flower, blooming perhaps for only a short period of time. Just like nature, awakening is not automatic. Awakening is not a quick fix; awakening is a way of being—a life journey of healing, love, and oneness. Awakening is a new consciousness, a new way of thinking, living, and being that requires self-responsibility and walking our talk. To awaken is to seek through direct personal experience the mysteries of heaven and earth—the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
The Law of the Kingdom
I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.[viii]
This is God’s natural, altruistic law—the law of the kingdom.[ix] This natural law is based on a belief in the inherent, natural, altruistic law of God that is found within each person. This natural law flows from the divinity within each individual but lies dormant until awakened by each person. This is the true holy law of Moses, the basis for the teachings and the message of Jesus and a foundational belief of Divine Humanity.
This natural law discovered within each of us may be awakened by what I call participation mystique. This is a knowing of life and its inherent mysteries through the experience of the mundane as well as the spiritual.
Does natural law make null and void human-made laws? Not at all; human-made laws are as necessary as natural law. Just as the divine interpenetrates the human or the absolute interpenetrates the relative, natural law interpenetrates human law.
Natural law is an essential segment of an enlightened society and is based on doing what is best for the well-being of others and all things of the earth. It is not generated by a society but is derived and flows from each person’s natural, if awakened, altruistic spirit.
Human-made laws, on the other hand, are society based and are focused on the probations of societal life in an attempt to control behavior. Many times they are a necessary part of life. But they are not necessarily based on what is most beneficial for the well-being of life—the environment, the whole of humanity, and the earth and its creatures.
While human laws are drawn up to protect the environment, they are not necessarily what are best for the environment. They do, however, tend to serve capitalist thugs, whether they are corporate elites or their paid-off political flunkies. Capitalist law is the law of the bottom line—profit by any means possible. In the capitalist world of market-based medicine, cures for diseases go unresearched and unrealized if there is no profit or not enough profit to be made. Natural law is the antithesis of this entire paradigm.
Natural laws have their foundation in compassionate action (love your neighbor as yourself). Thus, natural law is the law of our hearts—divine, universal love.
Both human secular law and natural law are inadequate as stand-alone systems. For an enlightened society and a Golden Age to flourish, we need the integration of both.
[i] Swine is a person concerned only with materialism and wealth; today the swine would include the capitalist elite.
[ii] Jesus recognized the divine purity in children and their beauty and limitless potential, whereas “in the biblical view, a child is not a being that is born with amazing capabilities that will emerge with the right conditions like a beautiful flower in a well-attended garden. Rather, a child is born in sin, weak, ignorant, and rebellious, needing discipline to learn obedience. Independent thinking is dangerous pride” (Marlene Winell and Valerie Tarico, AlterNet http://www.salon.com/2014/11/01/the_sad_twisted_truth_about_conservative_christianitys_effect_on_the_mind_partner/).
[iii] Peter Kirby, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas/.
[iv] This is from a foreword by Gabriel Cousens from Rabbi Gershon Winkler, Magic of the Ordinary, xv.
[v] Jacques Duquesne, Jesus, An Unconventional Biography, 86.
[vi] Ignatius Singer, The Rival Philosophies of Jesus and of Paul, 313–314.
[vii] Flower Heart—always expressing love from the heart and letting others, as well as ourselves, view the beauty and the divine perfection that is the true essence of our hearts. Smell is a powerful sense. With a Flower Heart, our fragrance is pure, sweet, and soothing to ourselves and others. The Flower Heart is also the Lily or Lotus Heart. Flower Heart is one of the Three Pillars of Divine Humanity.
[viii] Jeremiah 31:33.
[ix] Sharia law is Not God’s natural, altruistic law—the law of the kingdom.