Monday, December 25, 2006

The Birth of Jesus Part IV

There is much, much more to be said about the birth of Jesus, and I do admit, some of the symbology I still do not understand. A reckoning of all the accounts is somewhat in order here though, and for those who are strictly I Ching lovers, I will finish it off with a short discussion of hexagram twenty four, later that is.

Who knows why there were four specific gospels picked out of all the extant material? There is method in the madness, however. While there is no doubt the church edited the texts to make sure no one found the true deeper doctrine in it, nevertheless, planned or not planned, and I do think someone was watching out for us, there is a wealth of information in the gospels that survived the purges of the Church.

As it is we can look at the four gospels and get four viewpoints, or snapshots of Jesus as the Christ. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus is presented as royalty. As such the birth of a future or present king must be recorded with his royal lineage. In Matthew the royal lineage is recorded, and the birth of Jesus is delineated as that of a king. Notice in this gospel the ones who come are termed as Wise Men, or Magi, for it is only fitting that a king be visited by the Magi, rather than mere (the term mere here being used only for the sake of the argument, it is not intended to take anyone or any group of people lightly, only to make the point) shepherds. Notice also in Matthew there is an emphasis on the rule of Herod, the contemporary king of the Jews. More could be said on this, but lets move on. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus the Christ is portrayed as a servant. It was considered that a servant’s birth is of no accord, so there is no record in Mark of the birth of Jesus. The gospel of Luke portrays the manhood of Jesus. Jesus here is the Son of Man. A man has a birth and a birth is recorded here. In this gospel is recorded a lineage reflecting that of a mere man, not a king. In Luke’s gospel there is a great emphasis on the wonderfulness of the coming of the savior and there is an emphasis on the joy that his birth brings to man. “…To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of oru God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace…” Little if anything is mentioned of Herod. Once again, more could be said of this, but let’s move on. John emphasizes the Godhood of Jesus. Not that he wasn’t man, not that he was the only true God, but “I and my Father are one,” and, “The Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” Since John is describing the Godhood of Jesus, there is no record of a physical birth, for God does not have a beginning. John does however describe a beginning. Not the beginning of a physical birth, but the beginning of the cosmos. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” We can think of this beginning as the beginning of the cosmos, the word being spoken, in other words a thought that creates a vibration that brings materiality into existence. The ultimate element of matter is not an atom, or an electron, or even a photon, not a quark, nor any other fundamental element, but is simply, a thought in the mind of God. Read up on the latest in quantum physics. Einstein had real problems with what quantum physics was relating. Regardless, though I am not a physicist, I can tell you from the testimony of those that are, that a wave does not become a physical element until someone or something observes it. At that point it is said that the wave collapse into reality. (See the recent book called, “The Visionary Window,” By Amit Goswami, PHD, for an excellent discussion on this.) John, in describing that original cosmic birth, goes on to say, “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” That light is the effect of the original thought of the original cosmic vibration through which everything and every human was created. (For a deep and very interesting discussion on this, see the two volume, sixty dollar set by Paramahansa Yogananda called, “The second coming of Christ.”)

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become Sons of God, even to them that believeth on his name.” (John, 1:16) He does not say “Sons of Men,” as we might see in other gospels, but Sons of God. In the gospel of John we see Jesus as having the ability and the power to enrich people by making them “Sons of God” This is “putting on the mind of Christ,” and has much in common as that which is in the Eastern doctrines of “developing the spiritual embryo.” The entire Gospel structure is created specifically to let people know how they may become “Christs,” and Joint heirs with Christ, not in the way the church teaches, but in reality, creating the “cosmic marriage between Jesus (as Christ) and Mary, (the term Mary comes from the same root as the English word, marine, or cosmic sea, ocean; in other words the “universal subconscious mind,) or between conscious and subconscious so that one becomes truly creator and co-creator with God. A fully aware and fully integrated human being, as described in the I Ching as the “Chuang Tzu.” Let’s finish this discussion for now. I hope in the future to put much more thought into my dialogues before I blog them so that they may be useful for more than just intellectual knowledge for the reader.

1 comment:

Michelle Wood said...

Hi Gene,

I find your posts very interesting and thought provoking...certainly they are about ideas *I* never pondered before.

Perhaps food for thought is exactly what we need now. It is the time of year to be thoughtful and introspective. :-)