How do you see Jesus and his teaching?

[Beeman]

His philosophy, his attitude, and his life purpose. 

[Joseph Maynor]

A way to break people out of an unenlightened Ego by use of an exemplar or model.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Joseph Maynor

[Michael569]

Imagine that Leo's video (for example) "rant against morality" would be taken to mainstream media and broadcasted to general public. Telling you to : "Be at peace with the most vicious and evil things because that's how it should have been and it could not be any other way". And now imagine the backlash from Orange/Blue/Green/ Red unconscious communities who live their dogmatic lives "according to rules". They would storm his house, throw stones at him and openly demonstrate against this ungodly video. Same they did to Jesus just 2000 years later with slightly less drastic consequences. 

Different times, different teachings and smaller scale of population but similar context. 

[Sempiternity]

Most likely a made up character in a book. Someone traveled to Egypt and other parts of the world, and saw how religion was used to control populations. Using fear to stop people from raping, murdering and stealing from each other. So they adopted the same system for their region, wrote a book, clamed it came from 'God' and it took off as a beliefs system that lasts till today. Tada! 

 

[hyruga]

His teachings are similar to other God's teaching.

I am Chinese and I grow up in a family practising Buddhism. However, later on I have been exposed to many other religions: Christianity, Islam or Hinduism.

But to me, all God's teachings are similar. And all can be referred to as the Supreme Being.

[pointessa]

4 hours ago, Jed Vassallo said:

Most likely a made up character in a book. Someone traveled to Egypt and other parts of the world, and saw how religion was used to control populations. Using fear to stop people from raping, murdering and stealing from each other. So they adopted the same system for their region, wrote a book, clamed it came from 'God' and it took off as a beliefs system that lasts till today. Tada! 

 

The claim Horus was believed to have been born on December 25 is simply wrong to begin with. Horus' birth was celebrated in the so-called "Epagomenal Days", a four day festival period in the ancient Egyptian calendar which fall between August 24 and 28. Not December.

[RichardY]

The son of God(Arianism), the embodiment of God(Trinitarianism); or nothing. Although given the influence of Christianity for the last 2000 years, worth accepting in lieu of alternatives or at least reading about for the primary source material to which much culture has been influenced.

Also despite not being particularly religious, a few my ancestors seemed to believe, and were done relatively well by. One who survived a plane crash, another who was a regent. So perhaps not quite nothing, kind of have an obsession with metaphysics which might be missing the point. Tradition has gone by the wayside. Should spend less time on the forum.

[bejapuskas]

There are many good metaphors for life in the Bible  

[Salvijus]

If you read the bible with a nondual understanding. You'll see it's all about enlightenment

There's one priest in my town where I live, he was a former buddhist and now he's a Christian priest. I like how he is teaching the bible and combines east phylosophy with christianity. All the audiance goes mad many times but I like him

[Shadowraix]

Just another path to enlightenment. Leo mentioned in his yoga video pure devotion and worship is one route to it. And I think Christianity was very much about this route. But it doesn't seem to be effective because we'll you need an insane amount of devotion and that can lead to ideology. 

[Nagma]

@Jed Vassallo You stink the mixture of confidence and ignorance . 

[Nahm]

@Jed Vassallo Nice. Also, before it was the son dying and coming back three days later, it was the sun slipping out of sight for 3 days in the winter solace...both of which serve only to point us to nonduality. 

@Nagma And now you do too.....oh...wait....now I do too. ?

[Nahm]

@Jed Vassallo Nice. Also, allegedly, before it was the son dying and coming back three days later, it was the sun slipping out of sight for 3 days in the winter solace...both of which serve only to shake our perspective and point us to nonduality. 

@Nagma And now you do too.....oh...wait....now I do too. ?

@Belay kelemework Whatcha think of this one...

“I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

and this one...

”I’m a man without convictions, I’m a man who doesn’t know how to sell a contradiction - you come and go, you come and go.”

They pair well imo, in terms of Beauty. 

[Zigzag Idiot]

On 2/11/2019 at 1:48 AM, Michael569 said:

Imagine that Leo's video (for example) "rant against morality" would be taken to mainstream media and broadcasted to general public. Telling you to : "Be at peace with the most vicious and evil things because that's how it should have been and it could not be any other way". And now imagine the backlash from Orange/Blue/Green/ Red unconscious communities who live their dogmatic lives "according to rules". They would storm his house, throw stones at him and openly demonstrate against this ungodly video. Same they did to Jesus just 2000 years later with slightly less drastic consequences. 

Different times, different teachings and smaller scale of population but similar context. 

I agree. Scapegoating is still alive and well today in those who think dualisticly. 

Jesus is pointing at the truth and the fundamentalist are trying to suck on his finger. Does Jesus want to be worshipped? I think not.

Jesus is friend and brother. A big part of his message is - just let go,,,

 

[Beeman]

If we accept Jesus was true in his message, teachings, and words then wouldn't it contradict what you're saying here. 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

@Belay kelemework That's kinda throwing a wide net. Could you be more specific? 

Respectfully, I obviously don't see a contradiction or I wouldn't have posted it.

 

[Nahm]

Ever contemplate the profundity of the obscurity of say, Jesus, or The Buddha? Almost as if the their message is so ‘close’, so clear, that it’s not even close, but nondual in actuality. Not one of us has a shred of evidence or proof they walked the earth, while at the same time, every One of us is the evidence. 

[Zigzag Idiot]

How Different Teachings Posit an Absolute Ground of Being

Each teaching posits a final or absolute ground of Being that forms the irreducible simplicity of true nature. We refer to this ground as the absolute dimension of Being. The understanding of this ultimate true nature of the self and everything differs in subtle ways from one teaching or philosophy to another. In Christianity, it is the father who is the inscrutable darkness; in Kabala, it is the ain (nothing) or ain sof (infinite); in Sufism, it is the divine Essence; in Buddhism, it is emptiness (sunyata) or Buddha nature (tathagatagarbha); in Taoism, it is the Tao or the nothing; in Vedanta, it is the Brahman or absolute self; in Kashmir Shaivism, it is Shiva; and so on. The spiritual quest becomes that of the soul integrating this ultimate nature as its inner nature, source, and sometimes its identity.

The Point of Existence, pg. 439

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

One influence on how I see Jesus:

 

 

Jesus as Wisdom Teacher by Cynthia Bourgeault

When I talk about Jesus as a wisdom master, I need to mention that in the Near East “wisdom teacher” is a recognized spiritual occupation. In seminary I was taught that there were only two categories of religious authority: one could be a priest or a prophet. That may be how the tradition filtered down to us in the West. But within the wider Near East (including Judaism itself), there was also a third, albeit unofficial, category: a moshel moshelim, or teacher of wisdom, one who taught the ancient traditions of the transformation of the human being.

These teachers of transformation—among whom I would place the authors of the Hebrew wisdom literature such as Ecclesiastes, Job, and Proverbs—may be the early precursors to the rabbi whose task it was to interpret the law and lore of Judaism (often creating their own innovations of each). The hallmark of these wisdom teachers was their use of pithy sayings, puzzles, and parables rather than prophetic pronouncements or divine decree. They spoke to people in the language that people spoke, the language of story rather than law.

Parables, such as the stories Jesus told, are a wisdom genre belonging to mashal, the Jewish branch of universal wisdom tradition. As we shall see shortly, Jesus not only taught within this tradition, he turned it end for end. But before we can appreciate the extraordinary nuances he brought to understanding human transformation, we need first to know something about the context in which he was working.

There has been a strong tendency among Christians to turn Jesus into a priest—“our great high priest” (see Letter to the Hebrews). The image of Christos Pantokrator (“Lord of All Creation”) dressed in splendid sacramental robes has dominated the iconography of both Eastern and Western Christendom. But Jesus was not a priest. He had nothing to do with the temple hierarchy in Jerusalem, and he kept a respectful distance from most ritual observances. Nor was he a prophet in the usual sense of the term: a messenger sent to the people of Israel to warn them of impending political catastrophe in an attempt to redirect their hearts to God. Jesus was not that interested in the political fate of Israel, nor would he accept the role of Messiah continuously being thrust upon him.

His message was not one of repentance (at least in the usual way we understand it; more on that later this week) and return to the covenant. Rather, he stayed close to the ground of wisdom: the transformation of human consciousness. He asked those timeless and deeply personal questions: What does it mean to die before you die? How do you go about losing your little life to find the bigger one? Is it possible to live on this planet with a generosity, abundance, fearlessness, and beauty that mirror Divine Being itself?

These are the wisdom questions, and they are the entire field of Jesus’ concern.

Reference:
Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—A New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambhala: 2008), 23-24.

 

 

[GafaRassaDaba]

There's a lot of really good stuff in the Bible. There's a lot of bad stuff too.