TAKING THINGS LITERALLY

Every day that goes by we say things in a literal way, but don't really mean them to be interpreted in a literal sense. Yet, when it comes to the Bible and other ancient Wisdom and scriptures that were written as allegory and metaphor, they are still taken to be literal and historical events, locations, people, and names.

For example, "I told you a thousands times." I didn't really tell anyone one thousands times. It's an expression and exaggeration. I was using the statement to infer something of a deeper meaning. That being that I have told you multiple times, is there a need to constantly remind you?

Another example, "It's hotter than an inferno today, and I'm sweating my butt off." First of all, it obviously NOT hotter than an inferno. Even if it were 100 degrees this is far from a blast furnace. Also, you can't sweat your butt off because it's attached to your body. One more ... "moving this sofa is gonna kill me, it's heavy as crap." It's probably NOT going to kill you, unless you have a heart attack and even then it's heart failure that kills you, not the couch. Secondly, have you weighed "crap" lately? I'm really not too sure how heavy crap is and what amount would be needed to determine that it's heavy. Heavy to one person may be light to another, etc.

Anyway, I've spent enough time on the examples. I'm sure you got my point. So now let's return to my earlier statement concerning scripture and the dangerous literal and historical interpretations of mythological and allegorical teachings. These metaphors and celestial astrotheologies have been handed down by one civilization to another since long before biblical times. Even professors at Tel Aviv University in Israel have said the Bible is not meant to be an historical document. Many of the places that are named in Israel were named AFTER the myths had been written.

Just take a moment to think about all of the impossible events spoken about in the bible. Donkeys and snakes talking, making a human being out of a rib, shouting to knock down the walls of a city, parting the ocean with a cane and command, raising the dead, supernatural healings, demons being cast out of people and into pigs, men dying on a cross, being dead for three days, and then raised from being dead, walking through walls, bodily flying up into heaven, walking on water, stilling the winds and the oceans, multiplying loaves of bread, turning water into wine, etc. I could go on for paragraphs.

These things were never meant to have been LITERAL and historical. They are myth and fables with a deeper inner meaning and Truth meant to be discerned through our spiritual journey here in Earth. All of these events happen within us ... where the Kingdom of God/Heaven is located. In our consciousness ... in our Higher-Self ... our Christ Self. The Bible and so many other sacred texts are not meant as history, the are our-story. It is the path of the Eternal Soul as it grows and expands knowledge and awareness of the Divine within each of us. We are ALL the Christ and the Begotten Son. Why did Jesus say "you will do greater things than I" if he didn't mean it and if he was the only Christ?

If Jesus was God, then we are ALL God - collectively. Didn't Paul say that we are the "body of Christ?" Paul never knew of an earthly Jesus, his was a Gnostic and Mystical Christ/Karest dating from stories 10,000 years before any man from Galilee walked the hillside and hung upon a tree. Only 7 of the 13 Epistles credited to this man named Paul were actually written by the same person. The others are anti-Gnostic forgeries inserted by the Roman Church.

Once you grasp the Inner Mysteries of original Christianity (which was Paganism), you will be exposed to the Truth of the amazing and powerful transformational parables and metaphors contained in scripture. Jesus was quoted as saying "you shall know the Truth ... and the Truth shall make you free!" I have never been more free in my life, and have never had a better understanding of the Oneness of God/Source Energy and the oneness of all things in the universe. Question everything, and you will find the answers.

Just a thought ...

~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.

REVELATION OF THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES

Religious and philosophical teachings have long been divided into two main categories - the esoteric (inner), and the exoteric (outer). Historically, the esoteric teachings have been kept in secret, given only to those who were deemed ready by Teachers who held the “keys to the kingdom of God.” This could take years, even decades in the Mystery Schools of old. Many years before the Truth was to be revealed to those deemed worthy enough to understand and protect it.

Whereas a spiritually mature person recognizes that these “keys” are symbolic of revealed Truths (unveiled/apocalyptic), someone less spiritually mature would picture in his or her mind, actual keys made to fit an actual lock, albeit ... one not of this world. This is the difference between esoteric and exoteric students of religion and philosophy. 

The "esoteric" student understands that religious icons and symbols represent principles and laws of nature, including both the seen and unseen worlds ... Metaphysically, allegorically, metaphorically, and mythically. On the other hand, the "exoteric" student takes the symbols literally - as in Moses actually parted the Red Sea; Jesus, the man, actually sits at the right hand of the Father, etc.

While helpful to an undeveloped, uneducated, or non-inquisitive mind, such exoteric literal interpretations are surface stories used to conceal or veil the more sophisticated and abstract principles they were designed to portray in their parable, myth, allegory, and metaphors ... the deeper revelatory Truths.

But, in this Internet age of rapidly shared content, when all knowledge is freely available to nearly everyone, the time has come to speak more openly of the deeper Truths of this Ancient Wisdom, thus preventing the possibility ... through misunderstanding, that the ideas themselves become merely symbols, hiding the very Truths of which they have always stood for.

Add to this the need to integrate the astounding growth in scientific knowledge into the body of thought called “The Ancient Mysteries.” Scientists and intuitive thinkers of all disciplines have brought new meaning to the old maxim, “Man, know thyself.”

Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, along with the science of Linguistics and also quantum physics, have revealed much about how the human organism works, especially the brain. And while this new knowledge (doubling itself nearly every few years) has enabled us to understand the concept of consciousness more than ever before, the sciences have yet to acknowledge the existence of the Universal Creative Mind of what is called God/Source. And I stress ... yet.

Mystics and sages throughout the millennia have understood more about the nature of mind than present-day scientists, but they have not, for the most part, been able to articulate their knowledge using the limitations of today’s language.

Combined with science’s inbred prejudice against mysticism in general, which is the gap between science and religion that widens everyday, is bringing us closer and closer to an evolutionary catastrophe - the materialist view that human beings are machines whose software developed on its own through random, selective processes and not downloaded from a superior intelligence.

As long as scientists believe that consciousness is a product of the brain and not the other way around, they will continue to seek ways to enhance this flawed mechanism by external means. Mystics, on the other hand, want to develop what is already there. The universal unconsciousness is the Matrix that is the glue of the universe. Tying everything together as One.

The Ancient Mysteries have always taught that the human organism is a vehicle for consciousness, and that the notion of a separate self is nothing more than an illusion. They did not preach against individuality, as is commonly believed today, but rather understood that it is through individual choice that spiritual progress can be made.

Every time we make one choice over another, whether based upon logic or intuition, we rewire our brain in a way that supports further choices along the same lines. In this way, humanity evolves. If through technology, that fundamental process is preempted and people begin to rely on artificial, implanted devices to enhance awareness, spiritual consciousness will devolve into greater and greater materialism, the belief that the physical world and its senses ... are all there is to the human experience.

The Ancient Mystery Teachings were given to the world as tools with which humanity can realize its own potential. These tools lie within the individual heart and mind. But, while scientists tend to lean towards the material understanding of life, spiritually minded people tend to lean toward the opposite pole, regarding science with as much suspicion, as scientists regard mysticism.

Science, by the very nature of the word ... is "proof knowledge." These bilateral grievous suspicions are a dangerous error. It is only by marrying these two paths ... in an enlightened awareness ... that humanity can make the next leap in evolution and involution, bringing the best of the rational mind and the intuition together into a collaborative whole (holy).

The greatest of the mystics from the dawn of human history up to our present day have achieved this marriage of the inner and the outer within themselves. Hence, the mantra "as above, so below." Such enlightened people have brought humanity its greatest discoveries in science, philosophy, art, and social justice.

It was the Egyptian principle of the One God (monotheism), brought forth and articulated by Moses (and/as Akhenaten), that enabled science to envision a world governed by universal immutable law and thus open the door to unprecedented technological advancement.

It was Paracelsus who intuitively unlocked the secrets of pharmacology, extending the lifespan of human beings by decades. And it was Pythagoras who, through his Wisdom and depth of vision, gave us the profound understanding of numbers and geometry that enabled us to achieve countless advances. In fact, Math has proven to be the one constant Truth.

These people were mystics who, along with countless others, acted as the mediators between heaven and earth, providing humanity with priceless knowledge of the cosmos and the meaning of human life. The discoveries of the ancient teachings of Thoth, Hermes, Enoch, and a myriad of Avatars, Hierophants, and Sages, have brought us out of the Dark Ages ... and into the Age of Aquarius. A new era of information, based on profound ancient knowledge (Gnosis). Question everything ... it is the time of reason my friends.

Just a thought ...

~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.

WHY MARY MUST BE THE MOTHER OF THE CHRIST

It is no coincidence that the Biblical author(S) chose the name “Mary” to be the mother of "God." There is a subtle connection between matter, mater, and Mary that unveils much more about consciousness and the reality than just a literal interpretation of the Bible could ever reveal (or science for that matter).

The Etymology Dictionary tells us that “mater” means “origin,” “source,” or “mother” from Latin. When you graduate from a school, it is called your "alma mater" ... meaning "nurturing Mother." In Genesis, Eve is called the “mother of all living.” In Mary the concept is taken further in that she becomes the mother of everything, because in every “thing” (ALL matter that is) there resides within, the divine spark capable of evolving to become more.

Mary equates to matter, the Divine mother who incubates and births the potential of that Divine spark within us - the Christ. This divine spark is ... consciousness. This is the infinite potential aspect of what is commonly referred to as GodSource. This infinite potential aspect of God is incubated and evolved in matter. Matter, the Divine Mother, births advanced consciousness. That advanced consciousness is the Son ... The offspring ... That which is created. And the Son ... is And must also be God. And you are a sondaughter of God/Source.

A more shallow exploration of the meaning of the name Mary reveals it to also mean “bitterness.” This is also appropriate, because as consciousness incarnates through matter it is a sort of bittersweet experience, comprised of both joy and pain, life and death, love and negativity. This is the bittersweet experience of our lives. The ancient Greeks called it "Soma/Sema" ... meaning the body is a tomb.

So why exactly was Jesus born of the Virgin Mary? All matter is virgin potential. The Son, advanced Christ/consciousness, is not born THROUGH procreation like a physical child. Consciousness just IS. No insemination is required. The Birth of consciousness is as automatic and involuntary as change. Always it just is. And so are you ... spiritually eternal energy, and consciousness.

You were born of the Virgin Mary. You may be a young soul not quite as advanced as the Son yet, but you are well on your way. Your virgin birth is eternal ... and unstoppable. The higher worlds are still filled with matter. Matter is eternal, just as the Virgin Mary is claimed by some to be a perpetual virgin.

The Divine Masculine (God), and the Divine Feminine (Goddess) are what bring forth creation ... and all that follows has an essence of the parenthood within them. You have a spark of God/Source within you, as does everyone else. We are ALL of the same Source, and the same essence as that Source. 

Just a thought ...

`Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.