Odds and ends

Reading back over some of my recent posts, I wanted to tie up some loose ends.

Remember what Idries Shah said in a few of his books, particularly Learning How To Learn, "Truth has no form." He goes on to say that it is sometimes useful to give things form so we can describe parts or portions of Truth, but really by definition these are all approximations, and inaccurate ones at that. So, when you want to take up a position on something, or even talk about it matter of factly, you need to define which what level you are speaking on. Another way of saying this is, how close to Truth are you discussing the matter? On the level of formless Truth, there are no discussions. Everything just is, and isn't simultaneously. Below that, so to speak, you can break out pieces of the whole and talk about them separately.

Discussions can be completely different depending on which level of God or Consciousness you are trying to talk about. (See the previous two posts on the seven different levels of perceiving God.)

Here's an example. If an Evangelical Christian came to me and asked, "Do you accept Jesus as the Messiah?" I would say "NO".

However, if Eckhart Tolle came to me and asked, "Do you accept Jesus as the Messiah?" I would say, "That's the dumbest question I ever heard. Of course I do."

What's the difference? The Evangelical is operating on a literal level. The questioner is literally asking me if I believe some man-made entity is the sole holder of some made-up position on the planet, which is not in my belief structure at all. The question relies on a Level 1 or Level 2 version of God, and on those levels, I do not believe that.

However, if the question came from Mr. Tolle, it would mean something totally different. Tolle defines Jesus as a synonym for Consciousness. In his definition, Jesus is a name for the Oneness behind all things. Not only that, but "messiah" has a totally different definition as well. When you are in the Present moment, without ties to past or future, and you accept the Now as it is, with all its perfection, THAT is a definition of the messiah. In that moment, the messiah comes, so to speak. The messiah, in this definition, is not a person or living being at all, but rather a state of conscious alertness and presence.

So the question "Do you accept Jesus as the Messiah?" really translates to "Do you accept that Consciousness comes into awareness when you focus and pay attention to the Present moment?"

Well, duh! That question is almost redundant, and would probably never be asked.

A good piece of advice when answering questions is to think beyond yourself and try to understand the level of the questioner. You cannot relate to people by talking down to them. Rather, you must go to where they are and relate to them on whatever level they happen to be at, and then slowly and gradually see if you can up the level a bit.