Walking in the Steps of the Prophets
In my blog dated June 22, I wrote about how difficult it is to be an American, and how it is even harder to walk in the steps of the prophets. Who do I mean by the prophets?
In this country, Jesus the Christ is the prophet most would claim to follow, in addition to Buddha and Muhammad – just to mention those best known in this country. If we study the words of these three great teachers, one sees the foundation of their preaching is the same, even though they used different languages and examples because of their cultures and their time in history.
The foundation of Christianity is love, brotherhood and compassion for the other person, and Muhammad and Buddha encouraged the same. All these teachers preached that we are all one with God (or the Universe), and that we are all the same children of Creation. They all preached that we should assist those in need with food, shelter, compassion and healing.
These are the fundamentals of all major religions today.
The principles laid down by the prophets do not come naturally for most. They are principles which must be practiced in order to experience the liberating beauty that can permeate one’s entire being. They are the foundations of inner freedom. In practicing these basic principles, we liberate ourselves from hatred and from inner ugliness. We liberate ourselves from selfishness, blindness and so many other negative attributes that we seem to practice as a way of life.
Today, we are utilizing religion to justify greater divisions between our brothers and sisters. More and more, angry ministers, along with our politicians, are utilizing perverse interpretations of the Old Testament to override the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ.
How is it that one who calls himself a Christian would deny a school meal for a child, a hungry brother a loaf of bread, shelter to the forsaken, or healing to those in need? That is not what Christ asked of us.
It is hard to walk in the steps of the prophets.
When you are angry it is easy to lose your way, and lose track of the teachings of the Christ. It is easy to embrace the darkness within oneself, and let your heart beat with the rhythm of another until all you feel within is anger, hatred and division. You become vulnerable to the lust of angry ministers who preach with bitterness and damnation, walking you further and further into ignorance and away from the teachings of the prophets.
It is hard to walk in the steps of the prophets.
To do so, one must do as Christ did: forsake all teachings of hatred and division, and all teachings of selfishness and cruelty.
In this day and age, there are many Christian ministers referring to the ancient rabbis of the Old Testament as prophets, but they were not prophets. They were no different than the angry ministers of today who preach with the lust of hatred and division in the name of God. People forget that Jesus the Christ was tortured, nailed onto a cross and left to die in the desert sun because he preached against the hateful and violent interpretations of the Old Testament.
Jesus said that the peasant was equal to the king, and that the most wretched of our brothers and sisters was just as deserving as the king. He said a woman is no less than a man. He said that all the tribes were the children of God, and that no matter who you were, what caste system you were born into or your place of birth, you were equal in the eyes of the Father. Jesus said that the love of God was unconditional.
The real reason Jesus was nailed to a cross is because he had the courage to walk the path that he preached, and asked us all to walk this path. He did not demand it of us; instead, he asked it of us.
Jesus said you have a choice: you can walk in the light or you can walk in the darkness.
Walking in the light does not mean walking in a beam of light coming from Heaven, and darkness doesn’t mean demonic. This was not what these phrases meant 2,000 years ago. In ancient days, the word "humbleness” was perceived as opening your heart and mind to the ways of another tribe, the word “light” referred to knowledge, and “darkness” referred to ignorance.
Therefore, walking in the light simply meant that you should always walk with knowledge if you want to understand something. Darkness simply meant to remain ignorant and allow others to interpret the world around you for you, thereby living your life without confidence in self or in the Creation.
It is your choice: walk in the darkness with hate and ugliness, or walk with the light in joy and beauty.
Be at peace.
