Happy Birthday, Dr. King
Today is Dr. King's birthday. The Dow-Jones Average pauses for breath and the world reflects on the power of one man to change history for the better.
I want to thank Dr. King for reaffirming the irreducible and irreplaceable Power of One. It's a power you meet when, as my teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen said, you face, fight and defeat the final sin: "the belief in an outside" where we are all contained as discretes, as disparate selfs. In that world, there are Jews, Christians and Muslims battling each other. In that world, God has promised his children a Zion that is nothing more than real estate, and they have forgetten their real estate as his children bound by covenant to cherish and protect all life.
THE INSIDE STORY
When you realize there is only INSIDE, and that it is comprised of a consciousness in which we are joined as one flesh, family and faith, then the unconditional love and forgiveness Rev. King both embodied and taught are as native as breath and as instinctive as hunger.
Friends, you owe it yourself to read Leo Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God is Within You," the book that helped solidify Gandhi's belief in non-violence while in South Africa. The book so moved Gandhi that he named his ashram there, Tolstoy Farm. The reason I say this is that I have found many of the best Christians I know to be Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims who follow Christ's teachings and not some church creed and preposterous mythos. I also find that the true lineage of Christ and most active membership in his assembly is global and non-denominational.
THE MYTHOS-CHRIST VS. THE LOGOS-CHRIST
Thankfully, the mythos-Christ is under heavy attack, as I think it should be. Creed has covered his body in more barnacles than Job was covered with boils and maggots. Remember the recent headlines about a 2nd century gospel that posits Judas as Christ's main disciple, ordered by Jesus to betray him? What does that say? Hmmmm. Such a gospel makes perfect sense when you see Christ through Tolstoy's and King's eyes.
Tolstoy writes that Christians long ago chose to follow the Mythos-Christ rather than the Logos-Christ and have turned their backs on his central teaching: "Resist not evil." In context of that injunction, turning the other cheek is all you can do because you are affirming the inclusiveness of God's Love, which is the very sinew of his Creation.
Some of my friends are upset about the spate of popular books by atheists debunking the Mythos-Christ. Personally, I think these 'attacks' are healthy because they are concerned with honoring Christ as a mentor, as supreme ethicist, as one who unlocks the deepest possibilities within the human being. This Christ is to be emulated and embraced not smothered and 'othered' by worship. This Christ isn't the Second Adam; he's the First Adam redeemed, as we are all Adams struggling for redemption. To be the Way and Means that Christ proclaims himself, he must be role model. Hindus call such a man an Avatar, an incarnation of God. And they say such divinity-drenched people are frequently encountered throughout history. The idea of God having only one son is as ludicrous to them as it is to me.
In his autobiography, King's guru Gandhi, writes of an exchange he had while studying law in England with a group of Anglicans intent on converting him to Christianity. Gandhi said, "Why should I convert to your religion when Hinduism recognizes thousands of incarnations of God? Your religion recognizes only one. That makes it a baby religion." Baby religion, indeed. The Quran says each time and place is blessed with a prophet. That prophet is often an avatar, a mentor.
THE CHRIST THAT DOES NOT NEED TO RESURRECT
I studied with a Sufi master who was once asked by a born-again Christian if he accepted the Second Coming. My teacher then asked, "Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?" "Most decidedly," the Christian answered. "Have you accepted Jesus with your whole heart and soul and mind?" he continued. "Absolutely," he was answered. "Then where could Jesus have gone that he need to come back again?" my teacher said. "If you have accepted Christ, then he could never have left this world and would have no need to return. There can be no separation between teacher and disciple. They are one forever and ever."
The Christ my teacher was talking about is the Christ Dr. King knew, the Christ that Quakers believe in, one who did not need to die on a cross and return after a long quiescent weekend in a cave just to validify himself. Even if he did resurrect, that's not what makes Christ the Christ since Crhist had already raised the dead. Besides, what Christ is is imperishable to begin with. That's what myth-obsessed Christians have forgot. And that's why you have millions of them believing in Rapture rubbish.
If accepting Christ means to accept the myth of a man who died for my sins--as some sort of super scapegoat--then I, too, am an atheist. But if accepting Christ means that the Jesus in me, like the Jesus of Nazareth, accepts the Christ within (also known as Buddha-Nature, Nur-Muhammed, Inner Light, Atman, and lots of other designations), then I'm a full-fledged believer. To me, Jesus was the first student of the Christ, and the rest of us are his subsequent students. The assignment given at birth remains the same for all of us: UNLOCK THE CHRIST WITHIN. I think Martin Luther King was a believer in the Christ within all of Mankind, practising, not just preaching, the common love and justice born of this realization. Therefore today is a celebration for all of humanity. God bless Dr. King! May his love continue in us. May his mission be fulfulled by us.
I want to thank Dr. King for reaffirming the irreducible and irreplaceable Power of One. It's a power you meet when, as my teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen said, you face, fight and defeat the final sin: "the belief in an outside" where we are all contained as discretes, as disparate selfs. In that world, there are Jews, Christians and Muslims battling each other. In that world, God has promised his children a Zion that is nothing more than real estate, and they have forgetten their real estate as his children bound by covenant to cherish and protect all life.
THE INSIDE STORY
When you realize there is only INSIDE, and that it is comprised of a consciousness in which we are joined as one flesh, family and faith, then the unconditional love and forgiveness Rev. King both embodied and taught are as native as breath and as instinctive as hunger.
Friends, you owe it yourself to read Leo Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God is Within You," the book that helped solidify Gandhi's belief in non-violence while in South Africa. The book so moved Gandhi that he named his ashram there, Tolstoy Farm. The reason I say this is that I have found many of the best Christians I know to be Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims who follow Christ's teachings and not some church creed and preposterous mythos. I also find that the true lineage of Christ and most active membership in his assembly is global and non-denominational.
THE MYTHOS-CHRIST VS. THE LOGOS-CHRIST
Thankfully, the mythos-Christ is under heavy attack, as I think it should be. Creed has covered his body in more barnacles than Job was covered with boils and maggots. Remember the recent headlines about a 2nd century gospel that posits Judas as Christ's main disciple, ordered by Jesus to betray him? What does that say? Hmmmm. Such a gospel makes perfect sense when you see Christ through Tolstoy's and King's eyes.
Tolstoy writes that Christians long ago chose to follow the Mythos-Christ rather than the Logos-Christ and have turned their backs on his central teaching: "Resist not evil." In context of that injunction, turning the other cheek is all you can do because you are affirming the inclusiveness of God's Love, which is the very sinew of his Creation.
Some of my friends are upset about the spate of popular books by atheists debunking the Mythos-Christ. Personally, I think these 'attacks' are healthy because they are concerned with honoring Christ as a mentor, as supreme ethicist, as one who unlocks the deepest possibilities within the human being. This Christ is to be emulated and embraced not smothered and 'othered' by worship. This Christ isn't the Second Adam; he's the First Adam redeemed, as we are all Adams struggling for redemption. To be the Way and Means that Christ proclaims himself, he must be role model. Hindus call such a man an Avatar, an incarnation of God. And they say such divinity-drenched people are frequently encountered throughout history. The idea of God having only one son is as ludicrous to them as it is to me.
In his autobiography, King's guru Gandhi, writes of an exchange he had while studying law in England with a group of Anglicans intent on converting him to Christianity. Gandhi said, "Why should I convert to your religion when Hinduism recognizes thousands of incarnations of God? Your religion recognizes only one. That makes it a baby religion." Baby religion, indeed. The Quran says each time and place is blessed with a prophet. That prophet is often an avatar, a mentor.
THE CHRIST THAT DOES NOT NEED TO RESURRECT
I studied with a Sufi master who was once asked by a born-again Christian if he accepted the Second Coming. My teacher then asked, "Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?" "Most decidedly," the Christian answered. "Have you accepted Jesus with your whole heart and soul and mind?" he continued. "Absolutely," he was answered. "Then where could Jesus have gone that he need to come back again?" my teacher said. "If you have accepted Christ, then he could never have left this world and would have no need to return. There can be no separation between teacher and disciple. They are one forever and ever."
The Christ my teacher was talking about is the Christ Dr. King knew, the Christ that Quakers believe in, one who did not need to die on a cross and return after a long quiescent weekend in a cave just to validify himself. Even if he did resurrect, that's not what makes Christ the Christ since Crhist had already raised the dead. Besides, what Christ is is imperishable to begin with. That's what myth-obsessed Christians have forgot. And that's why you have millions of them believing in Rapture rubbish.
If accepting Christ means to accept the myth of a man who died for my sins--as some sort of super scapegoat--then I, too, am an atheist. But if accepting Christ means that the Jesus in me, like the Jesus of Nazareth, accepts the Christ within (also known as Buddha-Nature, Nur-Muhammed, Inner Light, Atman, and lots of other designations), then I'm a full-fledged believer. To me, Jesus was the first student of the Christ, and the rest of us are his subsequent students. The assignment given at birth remains the same for all of us: UNLOCK THE CHRIST WITHIN. I think Martin Luther King was a believer in the Christ within all of Mankind, practising, not just preaching, the common love and justice born of this realization. Therefore today is a celebration for all of humanity. God bless Dr. King! May his love continue in us. May his mission be fulfulled by us.
posted by David Federman @ 6:40 AM
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