They slammed me up beside the head with the Bible and its underlined bookmarked step-by-step guide to salvation and I thought, "No, this is not it. They don't know what 'believing in Jesus' means." Or if they did, it certainly wasn't coming across in their hard drive to put this sinner over the salvation goal line for yet another Jesus touchdown.
For me, “believing in Jesus” means opening to that portal between the dualistic world and the realm of the nondual. Within that portal, that antechamber, that “upper room,” or more accurately, through that portal move the energies of Christ. A confluence of energies occurs, his and mine, so that there is no mine and his. No theological hair splitting. No affirmation of creed. No denominational diatribes. Confluence. Flow. To the horror of some, I also meet Buddha, Lao Tzu, and others there. We converse, commune, share.
Sounds like the "upper room" is the setting of a Divine Banquet where wine freely flows and all are welcome:
ReplyDeleteAnd lately, by the Tavern Door agape,
Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape
Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and
He bid me taste of it; and 'twas--the Grape!
(Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward FitzGerald, 4th Ed., Stanza 58)
--Gary
I love it, Gary! Thanks for the smiles.
ReplyDeleteWords -- and belief is a great example -- often fall short of what we are seeking. They are great for building models, but only if we are willing to realize the models will eventually fail as our experience surpasses them. That's okay. Let them fall...
In that upper room, we communicate beyond words. That is the forum where distance and time lose their meaning. Opening to the Christ, or Buddha or Lao Tzu or Krisna, happens beyond words.
At such times words become tinkertoys. We pass beyond them. Perhaps we will one day become less dependant upon words for sharing such experiences. When we are together in the antechamber, words do not even exist any more, do they? When that happens, we do not have to worry about someone confusing a word like "believe" with the experience of opening to being. See you t[H}ere!
Beautiful, Patrick!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
--Gary