Putting the messenger above the message dishonors both.
Starting with the premise that we are all expressions of God makes the whole idol worship thing seem a little ridiculous yet therein lies the crux of a good percentage of the world’s misery. The message is, “We are all expressions of God encompassing all the qualities of God.” How did it ever get twisted around to be, “I am the one and only messenger of God and woe to anyone who doubts my word or the authority bestowed upon me by the one and only God almighty who, by the way, is totally off the rails sometimes and might pull the cork on this whole life on Earth experiment on a whim if you don’t tow the line?”
God does not play favorites. The idea that any one person rises above all others is not a God thought. God is an equal opportunity employer and each of us equal in our ability to use our spiritual qualities. None of us has the power to pull down the entire human race all alone and the power of Spirit is such that all of us working together could not destroy what is in essence a creation of Love.
Human history is alive with examples of those who have tried to force their will on the world and alive with examples of Love bringing us back long before we even neared the edge of our humanity. God is found within, ignore those professing special anointment; they are confused.
There is a reason why meditation is a solitary endeavor. The most ardent practitioners of meditation, the prototypical monk alone on a mountain somewhere in the outer hinterlands is under no one’s influence but his own. Alone with God, the monk recognizes he is God, and in his isolation can believe so without the intrusion of external disturbances to the seamless connection he enjoys. Introduce a single new player and the balance shifts dramatically.
In any pairing of earth beings there develops a co-dependent relationship. A healthy co-dependency keeps both parties fairly equal with one’s strengths complementing the other’s. It worked out pretty well in the early evolutions of humankind that the male could do the “guy” stuff while the females raised the children and attended to developing our “feminine” qualities. Those feminine qualities are that part of us that pushed our evolutionary envelope with the eventual result of making the division of “guy” stuff and “girl” stuff less vital for our survival as a race. Development of our feminine nature is our awakening Spirit within.
If we could stop at the development of healthy co-dependencies our ascension back into pure Spirit would most likely have occurred a long time ago. If the God power had an intention, it must have been that we demonstrate what freedom looks like.
One of our constant demonstrations has been to delegate power. We choose less healthy co-dependencies allowing some to control while most others do the heavy lifting. When the Bible says “The meek shall inherit the Earth,” it is these heavy lifters it refers to. These are the people who are content to live in service caring for their families and communities from a point of giving. These are the people in closer connection to their Spiritual Truth.
The “controllers” do not by nature take control. It is given freely, often because they are able to provide answers to life’s mysteries. “Why did my child die?” “It is God’s will!” “Oh, okay then, I trust you to know that, so I accept you are the authority on all things God. So tell me, what else does God want from me?” A dramatic and over simplistic example but boiled down, all too true.
We give authority to those who fill the gaps in our knowledge. Being human, it is comforting to have someone to call upon. Being human, it feels good to be put upon a pedestal and being human some among us begin to think we deserve to be there. Our history is an endless story of one after another who came to think they had a duty to educate anyone who did not put them on a pedestal.
A handful have perhaps earned their place on high. They never raised armies to impose their will, but armies have followed their example. Others have raised armies to impose their will and often used misguided worship of the true examples as a controlling device. Who in their right mind would leave home and hearth to trudge off to war so someone else could get rich? But say it is for God (our version, not those other guy’s version) and well, all righty then, kiss the wives and babies good bye and off to slaughter we go.
The message is “We are all expressions of God encompassing all the qualities of God.” God is a builder. God is love expressing. We demonstrate our Godliness, our Christ nature by embracing and acting through love. Any other choice is a diversion from our natural state. The only Spiritual messenger is the silence through which Spiritual Truth reveals itself.
It is said that if we meet along the road anyone claiming to be the Buddha we are to kill him. This is not a call to commit murder. It is a recognition that our Spiritual self is not our human form, not of this world. It is an illumination of the Truth that an idea that is not reflective of our Spiritual Truth must be rejected fully, killed, to allow our Christ nature to shine. It is saying any interpretation of the message is contaminated, in the same way the message in the “telephone” game becomes garbled passing from one player to the next.
Giving ourselves permission to listen to the silence, trusting ourselves to recognize our Truth, empowering ourselves to act from our heart requires only loving ourselves. We are all One, who else is there to love?
Our messengers often come in the form of conflict. Narrow minded people, mean people, ignorant people and our own confusions are messengers. Each brings an opportunity to learn a new facet of ourselves, to examine it and make a choice.
We are not tempted to worship the people who bring strife into our lives. Does it make any more sense to worship the bringers of Truth? They are one in the same. As our understanding grows our Truth becomes more evident. We choose from love more often and more readily. Self-destructive choices are less and less attractive as the benefits of healthy choices become more apparent.
Our habits evolve. The comfort of fatty sugary foods is replaced by the energy of fruits and vegetables; fidelity in relationships becomes more important that racking up a score or “looking for love in all the wrong places.” The new habits become ingrained in our processes and one day we look back and wonder how the old ways ever held sway over us.
The messenger becomes irrelevant as we embody the message. Spirit ask nothing of us. It has no ego or need for recognition. It is not “out there” wanting. It is us, all we see, think or imagine. Worship? No! Honor It by recognizing It in all of creation starting with ourselves.
Learn more about our relationship with Spirit at CSL.org or CSLFTL.org