When I first began my
conscious spiritual quest, I believed that if I meditated and engaged in other
spiritual practices every day I would eventually become enlightened, transcend
the cares of the world, and live thereafter in a perpetual state of bliss. In fact, if I am totally honest, I held on to
that dream until fairly recently. I hoped
that when I “awakened” I would no longer have to deal with the concerns of
everyday life. I have since discovered
that awakening is not about escaping the world, but about living more fully
present while in it and responding to it accordingly from a consciousness
centered in divine nature. This is
evidenced beautifully in the story of Jesus’ life.
My current series of talks is
entitled, “Wake up with Jesus” and I am exploring the Jesus story as a metaphor
for our awakening. In Unity, we view
Jesus as our Way Shower, one who exampled the potential we all possess to
awaken to divine nature and respond from that divinity while continuing to live
in the “nitty gritty” of life. In other
words, Jesus showed us what it means to be in the world, but not of the
world. His life experiences, albeit
dramatic portrayals, are metaphorical representations of what we may encounter
as we awaken and choose to live in the world centered in divine nature.
In the fourth chapter of
Matthew’s gospel we are told that after Jesus received baptism, he was carried
away into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit where he faced the temptations of
Satan. Satan first tells Jesus, who is
fasting, to turn stones into bread to ease his hunger. Jesus responds stating that man does not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Satan then suggests to Jesus that he leap
from the pinnacle of the temple to prove that God will save him. Jesus chooses not to test God. Finally, Satan encourages Jesus to worship
him in order that he might be ruler over the entire world. Jesus rebukes Satan. He tells him that only God is worthy of
worship and then tells Satan to leave.
Satan goes away and leaves Jesus alone.
From a metaphorical
perspective, Satan is the personification of Jesus’ conditioned mind. He is not an entity external to Jesus; he is
the limiting thoughts that arise. Jesus
experienced this confrontation and so do we.
When we experience a shift in how we see ourselves, and awaken to a
deeper understanding of our true nature; we are inevitably confronted with the myths,
messages and beliefs of the conditioned mind that tell us we are something less
than the awakened Christ. We may even
question the validity of our newly awakened state. Unlike Satan in this story, the thoughts of
the conditioned mind are not there to threaten us, or to possess us. They arise
as opportunities for us to meet them, question them and release them.
Only by our willingness to
enter the wilderness of our own minds and encounter the temptations to discount
our awakening experience will we truly be able to claim our truth and stand
firmly in our conviction. We can take
solace in knowing that while it may seem daunting, it does not have to be a
scary, painful struggle. We can follow
Jesus’ example. He did not argue with
Satan or attempt to do battle with him.
Instead, Jesus stood in his truth and chose not to give power to his
conditioned mind. He responded from a
consciousness grounded in divine nature, and eventually Satan left him. We must be willing to come face-to-face with
our limiting thoughts and allow the truth to be revealed. Then we can respond to them just as Jesus
responded to “Satan” from his Christ awareness, from a level of understanding
gained as the result of a newly awakened state.
As we “Wake up with Jesus”
let us remain mindful that the world around us does not change as we awaken; our
perspective of the world changes. No
matter how scary it may first appear, we are free to respond to whatever life
brings our way from a consciousness centered in divine nature. We are in the world, but not of the world.
