Part 1 of the series titled,Truth will set you free: Time does not exist, closed with … What went wrong and which are the consequences? … so let’s consider the answer … and continue the exploration ….
The catastrophe of not knowing the timeless, the absolute
It goes wrong with the passing on of spiritual knowledge, when ‘the student wants to be the master’.
In ancient India the sages tried to prevent ‘spiritual pollution’ by sharing their knowledge only with initiates. In our Christian tradition something very amazing (‘catastrophic’) happened in about the year 300. The Christian way of life became ‘institutionalized’. This means that people were supposed to no longer try to understand and to follow Jesus in their own way, but a church organization was established which controls the Christian doctrines even today.
This means that the interpretation of the message of Jesus was left in the hands of people (always men) of who Christians had to accept had a better understanding of what Jesus wanted them to understand than they themselves and that they (the church) laid down conscientiously what they should believe and what not.
Impulses from people to deepen or to renew the official Christian doctrine were (are) not appreciated and for hundreds of years people even ended up at the stake when they deviated from the official doctrine (remember for instance the Cathars, who were exterminated to the last man).
In this way the teaching of Jesus was transformed into a belief and the incentive for people to obtain wisdom themselves was put out. Even worse: actually ‘believing’ became another word for ‘hoping’ …
Thus Christianity gives hope in exchange for loyalty to the doctrine.
What is this? A crime against humanity or a blessing for humanity?
The consequences of the omitting of the incentive for people to realize the timeless themselves are of an importance beyond our comprehension. Where religion should touch a man in the very depth of his being (in the euphoria of experiencing unity with the radiant and inexhaustible source of life) a superficial notion of profound teachings remains.
Not only can this lead to doubt and rejection, but also our deeply hidden ethical consciousness (which wants us to act and to be in harmony with the timeless which has become us) is not or insufficiently touched.
Thus superficiality instead of spirituality became the foundation of our Christian society.
The disasters which this superficiality has brought mankind are easy to define. To name just a few: from crusades, religious persecution, slavery, imperialism and world wars (including the Holocaust), we come to the scourges of our time such as unbridled capitalism (‘culture of greed’) and the exploitation of our beautiful earth (resulting in climate change and energy shortage).
At the individual level, the lack of depth of our Christian culture leads to selfishness (insufficient empathy for our neighbors), stress (focus on the result rather than the correctness of an action), blurring of moral values (anything should be possible) and confusion (‘what is the meaning of my life’).
As western civilization based on Christianity has been dominant for centuries in many parts of the world (with misplaced arrogance versus a misunderstood eastern depth) the spiritual superficiality has spread widely.
Today the Christianity initiated estrangement from our source (started by eliminating the search for the transcendental, the eternal now) seems not to reverse anymore. Even more, in recent years, by the ever developing communication technology, a new dimension has been added. Uncritically we let the younger generation believe that they need to be ‘connected anytime and anywhere with anybody’. It is clear that in particular commercial motives are behind this. No doubt the strategy of ‘consumer control’ will be continued (via the Google-glasses, cell phones and chip), creating a kind of robotic human being. No free will and a little pill at each sign of displeasing behavior.
How to go on
The lack of the knowledge of the transcendental reality (the timeless that has become us and the entire world) is not felt by humans as such. We blame our ‘feelings of unease’ on various visible reasons such as our job, our relationships, society, etc. If it stays like this, our fate will stay in the hands of the dominating powers in the world (politics, economics). Will thus improve our situation? If in doubt, consider the following:
Wouldn’t it be great if the entire world should understand that what we call ‘time’ actually is our own process of change? A huge cosmic process happening in the eternal now!
Wouldn’t this awaken us and make us realize that all together and inspired by the eternal now, we can take the next step in our spiritual evolution?
This really would make a difference. People should strive to adapt to life as it should be, which means taking responsibility for the earth and its inhabitants.
The insight into the illusion of time focuses us on the NOW. With this we stand at the door of mystical knowledge about our origin and destiny. Remember what Jesus said? ‘Knock and thou shalt be opened’.
Elaborate a little?
If you really understand that time does not exist and that your life takes place in the eternal now, then focus on this eternal now daily and try to hold to that for a while (‘knocking on the door’). One day the door will open and you will see: ‘It’ is the same on both sides. God is immanent as well as transcendent (non-duality!) …
The realization of the timeless (the absolute, reality) widely, could be the axis that sets a global spiritual awakening in motion. This will bring forth the best in people and give the so badly needed ‘wisdom’ a chance to transform the world.
Thus, my advice: don’t throw your watch away, but try to live from the eternal NOW …
We are honored to share this guest post series authored by (& copyright of) Hans Meijer, author of the book Initiation into Reality – available for purchase on Amazon. For more on Hans’ work, please visit his website Initiation into Reality.
The text content of this series (without all the images here) was previously published (as a single post) in Science and Nonduality and Awaken.
Post Images: 1: An Eastern Christian icon depicting Emperor Constantine and the Fathers of the First Council of Nicaea (325) as holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. Nicaea Icon, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons. 2: Fibre Optic Vertigo / Internet Mad Men, by Surian Soosay , CC BY 2.0. 3: Faith, by geralt, CC0 Public Domain. 4: Crop edit of Now, by new 1lluminati, CC BY 2.0.
Featured: Now, by new 1lluminati , CC BY 2.0.
Maybe just a tad hysterical? A bit of over reaching? A house of cards?
James,
Thanks for stopping by.
Could you please elaborate.
Thanks.