What does Christ on the Cross represent? Is it a collective shadow?

[Thought Art]

Today I was at a funeral and I was reminded by some Christians symbology:

1. Christ is on the cross, christians pray to the death and immense suffering of their prophet, why? 

To me that seems related to the idea that Christian's egos are ultimately resisting their true identity. 

2. Why do christians symbolically eat the body of christ? Drink his Blood? 

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Thought Art

[OctagonOctopus]

But if Jesus didn't die for our sins then I wouldn't get to be a Devil! 

[Flowerfaeiry]

@Thought Art

Are you asking, what does it mean to Christians or what is a different/deeper interpretation of it? 

 

[Leo Gura]

Ignorance and Love.

[Esoteric]

I've thought about this quite a bit the last month. And of course there is many layers to the symbolism of Christ and the crucifiction. But for me it represents the people and environment around "you". You let the environment and the people in your presence kill you. You interract with the world and it will destroy your sense of self. This can come of as so incredibly vicious and cruel at times that you start questioning how God can do this to you. You feel abandoned and violated but you still in your last ounce of faith trust the process and reality. Then you die. Then the resurrection happens.

[Leo Gura]

54 minutes ago, Esoteric said:

I've thought about this quite a bit the last month. And of course there is many layers to the symbolism of Christ and the crucifiction. But for me it represents the people and environment around "you". You let the environment and the people in your presence kill you. You interract with the world and it will destroy your sense of self. This can come of as so incredibly vicious and cruel at times that you start questioning how God can do this to you. You feel abandoned and violated but you still in your last ounce of faith trust the process and reality. Then you die. Then the resurrection happens.

So, ignorance and Love?

[Esoteric]

@Leo Gura Yes

[mandyjw]

The cross represents transcendence through/of suffering. It also represents the intersection between horizontal and vertical dimensions. Jesus was God made man (or man made God, rather). It's about duality merging and becoming one with nonduality. 

11 hours ago, Thought Art said:

2. Why do christians symbolically eat the body of christ? Drink his Blood? 

It's a strange loop. As Ramana Maharshi describes the world as being projected and consumed all at once, as all river and streams flow to the sea and the cycle begins and repeats infinity, Christ was telling his disciples that he must be consumed, accepted as part of themselves as the One. 

John 6:53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves."

[Aaron p]

Your literally jesus. 

John 14:20 "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

Edited February 9, 2020 by Aaron p

[Visionary]

I think Christ symbolizes lotsa things. Its very possible for people to be incredibly connected to something that symbolizes a holy feeling that resides in them. Especially as a child one is exceptionally open to a variety of frequencies. So it can represent holiness. 

And of course: rebirth, humanness and transcendence integrated in a person, discernment, compassion etc.

[silene]

Crosses occur in several religions, one meaning is + represents the I crossed out, ego death. But in Christianity it started off as a pagan Roman method of torture and execution, onto which we project our wisdom and spiritual meanings. I like the fact that we can start with some random image like a crucifix, wheel or whatever and attach meanings to it like this.

[Apparition of Jack]

@silene IMO the Cross is one of the world's most successful cases of marketing ever. It's such a straightforward symbol (literally just two lines) that can be applied anywhere, and yet when you see it you know instantly what it means. I would even go so far as to say that our modern understanding of brand logos was at least in part heavily influenced by the Western mind's attempt to attach so much meaning to geometrically basic symbols.

Christianity would never have had the staying power that it did if it didn't co-opt the image of the Cross as it's main symbol.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Apparition of Jack

[tsuki]

On the symbolic level, Christ is the self.

He is the embodiment of Logos, a man that subjects himself to the will of the Father without detachment from his humanity.

The nature of Christ is dual. He is fully God and fully man. He is one with God, but he is also human through his purpose, which is to be the pathway to God for others. Through Christ, God embraces and elevates humanity.

I think that viewing Christ through the lens of his death on the cross as a martyr should not be the main focus of worship. It is merely the testimony that she walked the talk and fulfilled the prophecies. It makes him legitimate as a Christian Messiah, but not necessarily a role model to follow.

The crucifixion is also a symbol for ego transcendence. The five wounds relate to rejection of personal will (limbs), and acceptance of self-harm of others through defiance to God (heart). Crown of thorns symbolizes the double function of the mind: understanding and egotism.

Edited February 9, 2020 by tsuki

[Nahm]

23 hours ago, Thought Art said:

Today I was at a funeral and I was reminded by some Christians symbology:

1. Christ is on the cross, christians pray to the death and immense suffering of their prophet, why? 

To me that seems related to the idea that Christian's egos are ultimately resisting their true identity. 

God said don’t eat of the tree of good & evil (judgement) and of course we did, and created suffering (duality; good & evil). So we would never miss this again, he put a flaming sword pointing to the tree of life. We still judged each other anyway. It got so bad he cleared the whole earth with a flood for a do over, and created the covenant; he won’t wipe us out again, & we remember who we really are (don’t judge each other). He even created rainbows as a reminder, just in case we forget. They’re so beautiful, the whole spectrum, such a blatant indicator. But we kept judging each other anyways. Then he gave his ‘only son’ to the ‘children of God’. Then we judged him too and nailed him to a cross.

So one interpretation is the two lines are duality, and his death reminds us not to judge each together via adding good & evil to perception...that it is pointless & ”untenable”. In remembering his death, and His (God’s) message, he ‘died for our sins’ already, so, there’s no need to look for sins in each other, no need to judge each other - just focus on your own life, ‘eat of the tree of life’ instead. Feel the burn of the sword, and go in the direction it points. 

Yet we keep judging each other. Judgement is such that God’s heavy hand of the flood, the unmissable sword (the “burn” of the Truth / suffering), and his selfless sacrifice of ‘his only son’ (God “Himself”), could not prevent it. The cross could be said to serve as the reminder to you, that Judgement or Love, is always - “in your hands”...which are not nailed to that cross, nor does another’s need to be again. 

Or more simply, as some wiseman once said... “Ignorance and love”.  

“Know thy self.” Socrates

Judgement, like creating, is so profoundly simple that the difficulty seems to lie in the willingness to become aware that we already are, rather than things to be learned or begun.

The “tricky” or “sneaky” thing is that there’s no such thing as a “Christian symbol”. When seen that way, the message from you, to you, is in risk of being missed entirely, via doing the very thing the symbol warns against. The “problem” could be said to be that all meaning for any word or symbol, you yourself are creating right now. The symbol could be said to address this very issue, but then again, that’d be up to you. Imo, just like thought loops are broken by feeling, judgement can never withstand love. 

 

"In generosity and helping others, be like a river

In compassion and grace, be like the sun

In concealing other's faults, be like the night...

...Don't treat me as a stranger, I am your neighbor. My house is close to yours. I may look different, by my heart is good. My inside is shining even if my sayings are obscure." - Rumi

 

23 hours ago, Thought Art said:

2. Why do christians symbolically eat the body of christ? Drink his Blood? 

Precisely because it is not symbolic. 

 

[mandyjw]

@Nahm

[Nahm]

@mandyjw I know, right?! 

Dream board, let resistant thought go, life unfolds in kind. 

“Buuutttt I gotta think about other people, and of what other people think about me though!!!”

(God sized face palm....aka....sensation)

 

[RichardY]

The Bourne Ultimatum.

[mandyjw]

18 hours ago, Nahm said:

Judgement, like creating, is so profoundly simple that the difficulty seems to lie in the willingness to become aware that we already are, rather than things to be learned or begun.

No time, no others.

4 hours ago, Nahm said:

“Buuutttt I gotta think about other people, and of what other people think about me though!!!”

(God sized face palm....aka....sensation)

 You/I know myself so well. Oh wait, you already quoted that above! "Know thy self." I see how that fits in now. 

[Nahm]

@mandyjw I gotta be more mindful   It’s written like I’m saying that about you, but I meant it like, about the subject and meant to be sharing the thought with you. Lol. And now I’m laughing because THAT is how sneaky it is! ??? No wonder we just say “Oh my God!”. ? Nothin else will do!

[mandyjw]

@Nahm

Just wondering if you have any insights into the meaning of Jesus' referring to himself as the "Son of Man". Does it refer to spiritual evolution or the One?