flowperson said:
wil:
Thank you so much for your priceless thoughts.
Ruby:
Take care of your self and return soon. You are always able to make us think positively.
Flow....
Thank you, Flow. I'm glad you feel that way.
originally posted by Dondi:
I've been thinking about the words of Jesus in John 14:6:
"...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
What if we have a choice between these three? And what if they each represent Christ in a different aspect of salvation?
Your thoughts?
My thoughts have always been that these three go together. I don't know if I can explain. I feel these three are basic to the condition of the human spirit.
"No one comes to the father but through me."
"The father"=life eternal, new life, surrendered to being who/what we were born to be no matter how unpopular or what the price. Incidentally, I think other terms mean the same, such as kingdom of God/heaven. Can't think of any others right now.
who/what we were born to be=not vocation or career or profession. It means our true personality. It means our true personality in the most positive way this personality can be expressed.
I don't know how to get into this without referring to Myers-Briggs personality theory hereafter referred to as "MB" or "MB theory."
MB theory gave me language for what I had observed all my life--that there are categories of personalities. Some people are "soft" but not necessarily with a value judgment attached to "soft." Others were "hard" but not necessarily with a value judgment attached to the term. It was a way of thinking or talking or viewing the world. It wasn't bad and it wasn't good. There could be good and bad people in both the "hard" and "soft" types.
MB gave me terms for this. The "soft" people are MB Feelers (F; these letters have official meaning for later) who see the world and all that is in it in terms of how it feels to them. The "hard" people are MB Thinkers (T) who see the world and all that is in it in terms of objective descriptions such as number and name of items.
F people are naturally best suited for work that nourishes humans in some way, while T people are naturally more drawn to work that keeps the world and its systems and machines and societies working properly. That is very overly simplistic but it may give the idea for those of you who are not familiar with the theory.
We run into serious trouble when an F is expected to measure up to T standards. More men are T and more women are F. But only about two thirds of each. The other third of men and women are the other type than 66% of their gender. That means we get women who are hard-nosed thinkers and men who are soft and nurturing.
It seems to me that a female T or a male F can be true to their natural in-born way of being and also be true to their gender. I believe that first and foremost a person must have permission of self, parents, society, etc. to be true to their real inner self no matter how that fits the gender stereotype. After that need is met, ideally it is simultaneously, the person also learns how to fit the gender role for which they were born. I believe there are both T and F ways to be female and T and F ways to be male.
Now to take that one step further, if a male F strives to think and feel like his T father, he is not being true to himself. In order for him to lead a full and happy life he will sometime along the way have to acknowledge his F-ness and embrace it and be it. He will then, and only then, be able to really be himself. I believe the same applies for T women and all other types.
I observe that the person who is most fully his or her real self also has the highest levels of self-esteem and has the most healthy ways of relating to self and others and conducting life in general. Such a person naturally believes in others, helps where possible, maintains healthy boundaries between self and others, is honest, keeps the Golden Rule, etc.
I believe that what Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount, esp. in the "blessed are" is what happens when people stop trying to please others and just are what they were born to be. They become meek and lowly, they give up personal comfort when needed, etc. In other words, they live the moral life by nature.
I believe this can be applied to all of Jesus' teachings and also to the rest of the New Testament. So much of our Christian traditions, such as hell (in terms of a literal lake of fire) and the manger of the nativity scene, come not from the Bible but from the folk culture of Medieval Europe.
I have problems with the concept of Christ but I will try to apply it as I have seen others do. I think when Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father but by me," he is explaining the literal meaning of being the Christ. He personifies how to be fully oneself and how to live such a life in meekness, in submission to life situations without compromise through prosperity and adversity, and not to flinch when the ultimate sacrifice is required.
I am not convinced that the New Testament gives us a clear picture of the life situation. But it gives us a clear picture of a person who was seen as being the perfect man in life and in death as he understood it.
Based on my personal life experience I could say the resurrection typifies that one must surrender all, be resigned to come what may. After one has "passed through the fire," so to speak, that person will be transformed in ways not imaginable before.
In my personal life I had to literally surrender my life-long identity to become what I had always viewed as an evil person. By allowing himself to be crucified, Jesus also took on the identity of an evil person. Only the lowest of criminals were ever crucified.
Like Dondi said, the religion we are raised with seems like the one and only right religion. I was taught by daily example and conversation that anyone who leaves this specific church did so for selfish and evil reasons. I had to choose between being viewed as such a selfish and evil person, or living the rest of my life in absolute agony.
It did not appear so black and white and clear at the time. But I did eventually choose to go through the "death" part or crucifixion. I have not once regretted it. I feel like I have been transformed into a totally different person. Going back even one tiny step feels like sophocation. So I trust that I am where God wants me to be. I think that is total surrender. If I had my way, I would have been very happy and content inside the community where I was born. There is nothing I would desire more on the level of carnal selfishness.
I feel this is all muddled up so feel free to ask questions for clarification. There may be topics that I feel are too personal but feel free to ask so long as it is okay if I say I don't want to go there. I just think that being who we were created to be is "the truth, the way, and the life," and that it is the only way to "the father." We cannot be happy or enter the kingdom of heaven any other way.
Ruby
