What I Tend to Believe So Far

 


1. Unfortunately, I have to judge religious material for myself. I can’t believe something, or follow some creed, simply because someone, or some book, tells me that I should.


2. It is easy to suspect that Jesus was just a very charismatic, religious fanatic, liberally embellished by his biographers. The claims made for him in the New Testament are simply not credible...
3. It turns out, however, that there is some very interesting evidence that he really was pretty incredible. There is significant evidence that he was, in fact, the prophesied Jewish Messiah – and that he was (at least pretty much) who the New Testament said he was.


4. In truth, nothing actually “makes sense.”
5. But, that’s probably because our reasoning is analytic, while the world is holistic -- and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
6. This seems to me the likely explanation for such things as free will, and nothing apparently making sense -- and the magic of Jesus…


7. We are immortal. (We may simply be the consciousness basic to reality.)
8. We are transcendent.
9. We have free will and responsibility.
10. Ultimate meaning is real – life has meaning.
11. And “love” is the bottom line.
12. There probably is a G-d (or at the very least, a very reasonable facsimile thereof…)
13. One way or another, we humans do sense – or imagine – G-d.
14. The world is magical. It is not the deterministic machine that our analytic reasoning would have it. It is
a. “Alive”
b. Free
c. “Personal”
d. Conscious
e. Meaningful
f. …

15. Reflecting on #1, each of us has to judge the New Testament for himself. There is no way around such a requirement.
16. While life is not fair, G-d -- ultimately -- has to be.
17. If Heaven and Hell exist, they must be ultimate.
18. G-d's Will = The Good; The Good = G-d's Will.
19. Effort to do The Good is the only dimension of a person's behavior that should be taken into account if rewards are to be meeted out fairly.
20. Therefore, our entrance into Heaven or Hell has to be based solely upon our effort to do The Good…

21. Consequently, when Jesus speaks of "salvation," He is not really referring to our "after-life" -- rather, He is referring to the "here and now," and our ability to enter G-d's Kingdom here and now. He's telling us what we need to do in order to get in touch with our own transcendence, and to rise above life's various pains.
22. This was Jesus’ Good News, His (individualized) peace on earth, His good will towards men and His joy to the world.
23. We can enter G-d's Kingdom right now -- in this lifetime.
24. Jesus was simply telling us how to do it.
25. He needed to "allude" to the after-life, to Heaven and to Hell, but these were things that we couldn't begin to understand...
26. But then, if we really followed His instructions, we needn't begin to worry about Heaven and Hell...

27. So anyway, if this G-d does exist, He (It) probably does help those who help themselves. Effort has to count. G-d has to reward us for working hard.
28. (It is probably useful to “metaphorize” G-d as a Father rather than a Mother.)

29. Life is analogous to a dream, and we do have potential to control it – through prayer and our own efforts to do the right.
30. And, we are supposed to work hard at being good – at being unselfish.
31. That is how we do the right.
32. We need to work hard at determining what is right -- then work hard at doing it.
33. And then -- we’re all in this together. We are meant to help each other out – we are meant to help each other to do the right.
34. You can take me with you.
35. That’s an unselfish (and good) reason for posting this stuff on line. Hopefully, I will have something useful to offer.
36. (Unfortunately, inevitably, I have selfish reasons also…)

37. The reason "G-d" doesn't make sense to so many of us (even those who believe in 'Him') is that there is an aspect of reality that most of us simply take for granted without ever recognizing...
38. We look right through this aspect of reality without ever realizing that it IS an aspect of reality. We look right at it, but are oblivious to it -- probably like a fish is oblivious to the water in which it swims. We take it for granted. We are aware of it, we just don't notice it. We don't recognize its implications. We don't realize that it is "magical."
39. This is where G-d comes from. This is why 'He' does actually make sense, and why we don't realize it.
40. There is a magical (alive, conscious, free, timeless, meaningful, irrational) dimension to reality. We have another -- magical -- world right along side of us. Think of this as analogous to the rabbit hole, or looking glass -- or, the square root of 2.

41. The reason that Jesus doesn't make sense to so many of us is that we're not expecting the nature of our connection to G-d to be dictated by human nature -- but as it turns out, we should. The Jesus idea seems so foolish to us intellectual types because the characteristics of a "Savior" for us humans would naturally have to fit with our needs -- but we never thought of it that way...
42. We seem to need a Savior -- and Jesus seems to fit the bill.
43. For at least most of us, in order to rise above the 2 “banes” of human existence (guilt, and the fear of death), and experience real peace on earth, a Savior IS necessary. At least most of us can't do this by ourselves.
44. And, the Jesus concept/story comes through. Jesus can take us into that other, magical, world -- up the rabbit hole if you will. Where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And where the fear of death, and the pain of guilt, are left behind.
45. It is a whole other way of looking at the world.
46. As you will see, it is a right hemisphere (RH), or “holistic,” way of looking at the world.

47. Most important is the being “Saved” aspect of this other world.

48. To be “Saved,” to be “born again,” to “take Jesus as one’s Savior,” to “die in Christ,” to “receive,” “accept,” or “find” Jesus, all refer to the same concept.
49. They refer to a real neurological, life-changing event.
50. Christians didn’t make it up.
51. It seems to be related to the “enlightenment” of Buddhism.
52. Through either Buddhism or Christianity, we can experience a sense of transcendence and “salvation.”
53. (When Jesus said that the only way to the Father is through him (Jesus), he might have meant this just for his particular audience, or just that “the Father” is not a concept used by Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies. And/or Buddhism and the others might be missing something despite their similarities in religious experience. And then, there is "New Age" kind of thinking (to which I'm not so averse) that suggests that Jesus embodied the "Christ Consciousness" to which other religions (like Buddhism) indirectly refer.)

54. The left hemispheres (LH) of our brain is analytic; our right hemisphere (RH) is holistic.
55. Our LH cannot deal with transcendence; our RH can.
56. Either the LH is transcendence blind, or the RH is hallucinating.
57. My money is on the former.
58. The RH learns through a kind of “osmosis.”
59. Stories teach through this kind of osmosis.

60. There is such a thing as “supernatural” (SN) – or at least, “paranormal.”
61. There is such a thing as “prophecy” – in scientific terms, this is called “precognition.”
62. The “Old Testament,” or “Hebrew Bible,” is substantially prophetic.
63. Jesus can be G-d, and G-d’s Son, at the same time.
64. He can be wholly G-d, and wholly man, at the same time.
65. The Trinity does not defy the unity of G-d.
66. “Heaven” is a metaphor for something real.
67. So is “Hell.”
68. Having free will, we may be able to go to Hell (though, I hate to think so).
69. Human nature is very complicated.
70. Our “salvation” has to take our nature into account.

71. Unfortunately, we humans are naturally selfish.
72. This is what they call “original sin.”
73. But then also, somewhere down deep (in our “racial-memory,” or “collective-unconscious”), we know that love is the bottom line…
74. Somewhere down deep, we know that there is good and bad, right and wrong -- things we are supposed to do and things we are supposed not to do -- and these things have to do with “thy neighbor.”

75. We feel guilty for being selfish and/or lazy – for not doing the right.
76. Our guilt piles up -- and confirms our mortality.
77. And -- the banes of human existence are these senses of mortality and guilt. (Without them, life would be an exciting game – a bowl of cherries.)
78. But, we can rise above this pain, and “enter G-d’s Kingdom” by shedding these impediments.
79. Without these impediments, life is beautiful. After all, life is transcendent and meaningful -- and love is the bottom line.

80. But we need help in order to shed these banes.
81. That’s where the Jesus concept/story enters the picture.
82. Jesus brought
a. “Good news,”
b. Individual peace on earth,
c. Good will towards men, and
d. The keys to G-d’s Kingdom.
83. Jesus told us what we needed to do, and offered us a hand up.
84. We just need to take it.

85. When dogs turn on their backs, exposing their bellies, they surrender. This is a real neurological phenomenon, resulting in a drastic change in attitude between the previous contestants (whether dog/dog or dog/human). The victor dominates; the loser submits; suddenly, they love each other, and all is right with the world.

86. We humans need to quit fighting with the G-d we sense (or imagine).
87. The only way to “win” our fight with G-d is to give up. By giving up we are “Saved.”
88. That’s how we shed our guilt -- and the bane of our existence.
89. Surrendering to G-d makes all the difference. If we surrender, He won’t hurt us.
90. (“Islam” means “surrendered to G-d.”)
91. But G-d, Himself, is too abstract for (at least) most of us.
92. Most of us need a more tangible, or personal, conqueror to which to surrender.
93. The concept/story of Jesus fills that need for us.
94. Jesus makes it personal. Whether Jesus is real or not, we can form a relationship with him. We can sense him as a real person.
95. And, it works.
96. By believing that Jesus was G-d -- or the son of G-d, and that he allowed himself to be tortured and crucified so as to pay for our sins, we can surrender to him – or, to G-d, through him.
97. And by surrendering, we are cleansed.
98. By enslaving ourselves to him, we are cleansed.
99. We can suddenly sense our own transcendence and immortality.
100. And, our lives can suddenly turn around for the better.
101. If Jesus wasn’t the Messiah, he was the best -- and most selfless -- Psychologist ever.


102. So, it turns out that we need a lot of help in climbing out of our pit -- in shedding the guilt.
103. Shedding our guilt takes a lot more than being remorseful, changing our ways and working hard to be unselfish. The sense of guilt becomes deeply embedded and highly irrational, and hangs on for dear life.
104. That’s where animal sacrifice came in for the Jews.
105. Shedding their guilt required serious punishment -- and magic.
106. The most serious punishment was death.
107. And clearly, that’s what was required for all that sin…
108. But then -- that didn’t allow for the person atoned to do better…
109. But then, blood in general being magical to them, the Jews figured that the death of a prized and pure young animal might substitute for their own deaths.
110. So, once a year, the Jews would send a prized and pure young male goat to its death -- in a magical ceremony -- as a substitute for themselves.
111. But this was really only a partial solution in that it had to be repeated each year and was not to be done minus the Temple.
112. And besides -- it left something to be desired in the way of believers feeling saved.
113. But, religions evolve.
114. And, Jesus came along.

115. So when Jesus came along, he told the Jews that they should repent, work hard at being unselfish, and “take him as their Savior” -- take him as their substitute in death.
116. He would do the rest – he would replace the “scapegoat” and substitute his own life for theirs. He would lift their sense of guilt and insure their immortality.
117. But, to take Jesus as their Savior meant that they were to surrender to him.
118. They needed to enslave themselves to him.
119. But then, to enslave themselves to Jesus was, in effect, to enslave themselves to G-d, or to the good, or to love…
120. And, what’s not to like about that kind of “slavery”?

121. There is a ‘face’ in the Old Testament cloud.
122. That face could easily be Jesus.

123. Jesus spoke about the “after-life” because his audience needed to be assured of it.
124. But, while we humans can – to some extent -- understand the goings on in our current lives, we can’t begin to understand the “goings on” in G-d’s mind.
125. And Jesus was often forced to speak cryptically, metaphorically and/or hyperbolically.
126. But, for the most part, when Jesus spoke of “salvation,” he was referring to entering G-d’s Kingdom here and now – rising above the fear of death and the pain of guilt.

127. If there is such a thing as supernatural, Jesus probably was the Messiah.
128. If there was anything divine about ancient Judaism, Jesus probably was the Messiah.
129. We didn’t need a “warrior king” -- we needed help with our love.
130. The Sanhedrin was more political than spiritual and had Jesus crucified because he was a threat to their power.

131. If Jesus wasn’t the Messiah, he should have been.