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In this so-called modern world of ours, it is really no surprise that folks who think things through would have trouble digesting many of the stories and statements found in both the New and Old Testaments. The Wine is old, perhaps eternal, and is much in need of a new Vessel to bring forth its meanings into the digital age of the 21st century. To help the process along, this article will explore some of the statements attributed to Jesus, offering an esoteric perspective appropriate to a more mature humanity.
A brief stop at the beginning, in the Book of Genesis, provides a clear sense of the nature of a human being, our relationship with Source, and where the evolutionary magnet is drawing us. We read that “God breathed the breath of Life into man and he became a living soul.” Life is synonymous with Spirit. When spirit manifests through a body, or human form, we see the manifestation as a living soul. Spirit is the Father, the body is the Mother, and the Son (or Daughter!) is birthed by the incarnation of spirit into matter, so that we may become a living soul—depending upon how we live. So, we have Spirit, soul, and body—a microcosmic reflection of a macrocosmic trinity. (See chart below.)
The words of Jesus in the New Testament provide guidance about how our living soul can become manifest in the world and fulfill its purpose.
"I and the Father are one."
Jesus represents the soul, or Son, in the divine trinity of Father, Mother, and Son. His statement that he was heading towards the Father’s house symbolized the evolutionary journey of the soul to higher levels of consciousness. When he said “I and the Father are one,” he meant that he had attuned with the next higher level of consciousness for him, not that he is the Father, as so many millions have believed. He was humble, referring to himself as the Son of Man.
“Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.”
Here we are told what is possible: that eventually we can perfect ourselves so that our true nature—the divine spark within—can fully manifest without any of the myriad impediments that our personalities present. In a sense, this is what it’s all about: Becoming. Through many eons of repeated incarnation, through all the trials and tribulations, the light of our soul shines ever brighter until even that flame gives way to a greater Light, one that originates in the Father’s house. We call people of this level of attainment Masters—not because they rule over us, but because they have mastered life itself. These great Beings are in conformity with the will of God, their nature is love, and they live to serve.
“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
This proverb refers to the awakening of the soul to conscious existence right here on the physical plane. Many millions think, feel, and have some direction over their body, but this does not mean that they necessarily have any true spiritual awareness, as the soul may remain awake only on its own plane. Of course, as Gurdjieff said, we are the ones who are asleep, even though we like to believe that we are fully awake. It is the emergence of the living, loving, serving soul that indicates an awakened spiritual presence on this physical plane. Lacking that, we are more like automatons than we may want to believe. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of souls, born into conscious awareness of the spiritual realities of life. It was written that ‘Jesus was a high priest in the order of Melchizekek,’ which infers that he is part of a Group, often referred to in the Ageless Wisdom teachings as the planetary Spiritual Hierarchy or the Kingdom of God. All of us can become part of this Group if we aspire, strive, and succeed on the ultimate spiritual journey—the one that takes us Home.
“No man cometh unto the Father but by me.”
Here, Jesus is speaking symbolically of himself as the Soul, which so much of his life represented to us. He is saying that as our soul evolves, and as we become more spiritually conscious and learn to live as he taught, and as he lived, we can eventually reach those higher levels of Spirit—higher even than the Kingdom of Souls. “My Father’s house has many mansions” refers to the various realms of consciousness that exist in exalted levels of planetary and cosmic awareness. So, the take-home message here is be able to live as the soul, which involves much more than occasional feelings of inspiration that fire up our aspiration.
“Seek Ye first the Kingdom.”
This is so simple yet perhaps the most important of all. The message is that the primary activity, the one thing to do above all others, is to seek out that place where all awakened souls are already together, our true home. It is both our destiny and our duty to not get lost along the way, despite the overwhelming number of temptations that we, unwittingly, have perfectly designed for ourselves. Whatever obstacles we must overcome to enter that Kingdom have been created by us and can therefore be surmounted by us. This injunction is profoundly difficult to follow, given how much we focus on everything else that seems so important in our lives—so important that most of us are unable to maintain this ‘seeking of the kingdom’ as our main priority. Thank goodness for all the Teachings out there!
This injunction is related to the first of the Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord Thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” On an exoteric level, the meaning is about monotheism, yet from an esoteric perspective, ‘I am’ refers to the Self (our inner spark of Divinity) and having ‘no other Gods before me’ essentially means the same as ‘seek ye first the Kingdom.’
“The Kingdom of Heaven is within.”
What a hint we have here! For many of us, within is the last place we might look to discover divinity. Sure, it’s nice to think that we can find it in nature, in the eyes of the one we love, in music, or in a building called church. Luckily, the path Home begins right within our own consciousness, deep within our hearts, and in the rarified realms of our own creative minds. Yet, in this busy and overwhelmingly stimulating civilization, one must have an exceptional motivation to avoid the distractions that call our attention to a million matters outside of ourselves.
A related hint, of profound proportions, was given even earlier—in the Old(er) Testament: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Spend a few minutes, or perhaps a few decades, attempting to be still enough within so that all outward focus ceases, and become aware of your true nature and its connection to, and part of, All.
The Kingdom of Heaven will arrive on earth not when it descends to our level, but when there are enough of us living as souls that we may, en masse, rise to and merge with the level above us, where the Masters of Wisdom can be found. Then, those of us who have become ‘just men made perfect’ can externalize on that higher level and there will be a merging of the human kingdom and the kingdom of souls, referred to in Christian terms as Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is comprised of those many living souls who have completed the journey Home and who have their real residence on those higher levels of consciousness towards which we are moving.
“Let your light shine…”
In certain esoteric traditions it is said that the nature of the soul is light. When we are seeking the kingdom within, when we have established a growing connection with our soul and the nature and quality of our soul has infused our life, then truly, our light will shine. The task here is to fan that flame, so that our light gets brighter, illumines our way, and even shines brightly enough to help illumine the way for others. We can rework the words of this injunction to say: let your soul shine.
“Love one another.”
Life on earth would be utterly transformed if we all could abide by this simple injunction. Until that time, we can make the effort to let go of our petty and self-centered tendencies which get in the way of being able to feel and radiate this love. This is an unconditional love that is not dependent upon sentiment or the actions of another. It stems from a recognition that we are already one. Each time we can love one another we manifest the natural way for one soul to relate to another, as it is the loving nature of the soul that provides the attractive energy that connects us. It is said that the divine quality that pervades this solar system is itself love, which is why we read in the New Testament that “God is Love.” No matter how cerebral we may be, no matter what the astrological influences are, we all have a heart and it is our human duty to open it, and share it with others.
“I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Nope, he didn’t mean until the end of the world. This is a reference to the age of Pisces—the approximately 2,150 years that it takes the sun to move through one of the twelve zodiacal constellations. Now that this age is passing and the sun has entered Aquarius, many are looking for him to reappear, whether as the Christ, the Messiah, Maitreya Buddha, the Imam Mahdi, or the Kalki Avatar. By whatever name this Coming One is called, a planetary climate of hope and expectancy is building and provides a growing invocative appeal. While this could happen even sooner than an upcoming article on the subject is written, I’ll leave you with the closing words of Alice Bailey’s book, The Reappearance of the Christ: “In such a time as you think not, he will come.”
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