The Astrological and Mystical Emblems of the Last Supper 4 ~ hhteam

The da Vince Perspective

The Last Supper, as portrayed by Leonardo da Vince, specifically describes the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus states that one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. The painting contains several references to the number three, which represents the Christian belief in the Holy Trinity. The Apostles are seated in groupings of three; there are three windows behind Jesus; and the shape of Jesus’ figure resembles a triangle. There may have been other references that have since been lost as the painting deteriorated. The Last Supper has also been the target of much speculation by writers and historical revisionists alike, usually centered around supposed purported hidden messages or hints found within the painting.

In his analysis, Da Vince invites us to examine the disciples and their position, from the right to the left.

On the head of the table is St. Simon, who represents the sign of Aries, the zodiac sign of fire and action. Simon’s hands indicate the direction to take. Aries astrologically governs the anatomy of the head and Simon’s forehead is well highlighted in the painting. Its readiness is also shown by the creative Aryan[1] hands, to act according to the will and courage of the Aryans.

On the left is St. Jude, representing Taurus. His countenance is angry while listening to Simon as if slowly digesting his impressions. His hands are in the posture of one who receives something, characterizing the possessiveness of Taurus, which is the sign that accumulates. In the human body, Taurus rules the neck and throat, and that of Jude is well highlighted.

St. Matthew comes next, as the representative of Gemini, the Twins, the double sign which governs the interaction with people and ability to gather information. Matthew has the willing hands and face on opposite sides of each other, revealing the Gemini habit of talking and listening at the same time. Matthew was a scribe and the historian of the life of Jesus: he wrote one of four books accepted as genuine by the Catholic Church. Gemini rules the 3rd House of the Zodiac, the House of communication and knowledge.

To the left is St. Philip, representing the sign of Cancer. His hands are towards the chest showing the Cancerian tendency to accommodate, protect and take care of things. Ruled by the Moon, Cancer works with feelings. Philip is angled forward, portrayed as if offering himself to perform some type of task.

At his side is St. James the Lesser, the Leonine, arms open, revealing with sweeping gesture the power to radiate love. Leo governs the heart and the heart chakra. The expansive gesture shows his confident nature and the centering attention.

Behind him, almost hidden, it is St. Thomas, representing Virgo, the famous “seeing is believing” disciple. Thomas does not fail to express the critical and inquisitive side of Virgo: with raised finger he disputes before Christ.

To the left of Jesus, Libra is symbolized by Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ supposed wife. With hands clasped, she weighs and considers all opinions before taking positions. Libra rules the 7th House, which is the sector of marriage and partnerships. There is conjecture that this figure was left as evidence that the Templars supposedly had knowledge about the marriage of Jesus and the destination of his descendants. Others state that this is not Mary Magdalene, but Saint John, the apostle referred to as the one which Jesus loved.

Beside him is Judas Iscariot, Jesus’ bodyguard, representing Scorpio. With one hand he holds a bag of money and with the other hand he knocks on the table in protest. Scorpio rules the 8th House, which deals with goods, death, money, debts and the property ??of others.

Next is Peter, the Fisherman of Souls, representing the joyful Sagittarius. It was he who created the original dogma and church law. Sagittarius rules the 9th House: industry, law, religions and philosophy. His finger points to Jesus as the goal of Sagittarius is spiritual. He also stands between Mary and Judas, bringing clarification and light to the discussion. Sagittarius is the “uplifting” sign of the zodiac.

At his side is St. Andrew, the Capricorn. The most responsible sign of the zodiac, he imposes limits with his restrictive gestures. His thin face and protuberant bones reveal the Capricorn biotype. His hair and beard are white and his face shows the serious relationship that Capricorn obtains with time and wisdom.

Beside St Andrew, we find St. James Major, the Aquarian, who addresses the other apostle with one of his hands on the shoulder of James in a friendly gesture, while the other extends to the yet another. He sees all, encompassing the discipleship led by Jesus. Aquarius rules the 11th House, which encompasses the industry groups, friends, social communications and hope.

Finally, sitting on the left, we have St. Bartholomew, the traveler, representing Pisces. His feet, which are governed by Pisces astrological anatomy, are in focus. He seems absorbed by what happens at the table and, leaning on his hands, makes a devotional statement that reveals the climate of this meeting.

[1] According to Theosphy, the Aryan race refers to the race of humans that came after the Atlantians

The Astrological and Mystical Emblems of the Last Supper 3 ~ hhteam

The Lamb of God

The period between 4300 BCE to 2150 BCE was called the “Age of Taurus”, from 2150 BCE to 0 CE was called the “Age of Aries”, and 0 CE to 2150 CE is the “Age of Pisces” and from 2150 will be the famous “Aquarian Age”[1].

In the Bible, with the symbolic episode of the Ten Commandments, when Moses came down with the commandments and saw the people venerating the Golden Calf, he became furious. Moses represents the beginning of new Age of Aries and therefore, in his vision, the “old gods” of the Age of Taurus should have been left behind.

In ancient Greece, gods and monsters and their linking with Taurus were extremely common, including the oxen of Poseidon, the legend of the Minotaur, the archetypical works of Hercules with respect to the capture of the Cretan Bull and the cattle of the monster Geryon. We can also mention the sacred cows in India, and bulls in Egypt and Rome. All of them represented the energies of the age or eon.

The next age is that of Aries, which is represented by the Ram in Greek mythology, especially with the Golden Fleece in the classic story of Jason and the Argonauts. Note the coincidence between the Golden Calf of Moses and the Golden Fleece in these two legends: they both show at the transition between the Ages.

The Loaf of Bread and Fish

The Christ appeared in another period of transition for humanity, delineating the passage from the Age of Aries to the Piscean era. That is why the symbols of Christ would be both at the same time the Fish (the Fisherman of Souls) and the sacrificial Lamb of God. Esoterically, this would be the expression of the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of a cycle of creation or of the manifestation of that wave of consciousness. Since he symbolized the constellation of Aries and the constellation of Pisces, fulfilling the entire 360 degrees of the elliptical, the circle of constellations.

The Christic mission was to bring nurturing for the souls of humanity. Many times in the Biblical texts, the Christ mentions that he is the Bread of Life and he even proves it by performing the miracle of the bread and fish for the multitude waiting for his teachings. The bread itself could be understood as the essence of his ethical instructions. This concept is played out again during the last ceremonial ritual of purification and preparation that he partakes with his disciple before his crucifixion.

In this ceremonial event, Christ washes the feet of his disciples, not only as a gesture of goodwill, but also as a ritualistic purification , preparing his “priests” for the next phase in their mission. It is not surprising that the feet are one of the Piscean symbols.

The Workers in the Vineyard

I will sing for the one I love,
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard,
on a fertile hillside.
~ Isaiah 5

The Vineyard and the wine are constant and powerful symbols that are present in both scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. The “workers in the vineyard” are a recurrent theme first mentioned in Isaiah, then in Matthew 21:33-46 and again in many of the works of the Apostle Paul, especially in:

“As we labor in the vineyard, we must prove our own work“
~Gal. 6:4

As the vineyard functions as a metaphor for the entire Creation, the wine represents the energy of Christ-consciousness and its power to transform and alter realities. Symbolically, it is the energetic Blood that feed, nurtures and incites creatures to evolve and expand the plans of creation.

As matter of record, the ministry of the Christ during Mater Jesus incarnation started with an act of thaumaturgy, or miracle, by transforming the water into wine, recounted in the episode of the Wedding Feast of Cana. Ironically, the Master also closes the period of his ministry during the Last Supper through another thaumaturgical process: the Transubstantiation: transforming wine into his “spiritual” blood.

The wine is also a symbol that represents the Sacred Blood, and it was and is still used in many rituals and celebrations to this day. The Sacrificial Blood is not physical blood that we refer to, not in nature or content; but as the sanctified energy that permeates all living things and levels of consciousness.

[1] These dates from the old Julian calendar are calculated on the Precession of the Equinoxes

The Astrological and Mystical Emblems of the Last Supper 2 ~ Humanity Healing

The Sacred Elements of the Circle

“Make a circle around a Man or a Woman; design outside of it a square and outside of the square a triangle. Again draw another circle around it and you have the Philosopher stone of the alchemists.”
~Rosarium Philosophorum

Perhaps the circle is the most ancient symbol designed by the human race. It is a simple configuration that resembles some of the shapes and cycles encountered in nature; such as the sun disk, the moon, some of animal forms and even in natural geological structures. It represents, for those who know aspects of the different mystical and esoteric schools of thoughts, the completion and the totality of the original Universe and its fulfillments. All the circular structures express these characteristics and attributes that are pertinent to the absolute ALL, the perfection, the infinite, the unlimited, the extra-temporal un-spatial, the completion and the integral.

The circle also is a symbol of the repetitive cycles of nature: the renewal of energy and elements; birth, growth and death; the process of evolution of consciousness and its consequent expansion through the spiraling point in the center of the circle.

As a geometric matrix form, from this round form many other geometrical patterns can be easily created: the philosopher stone is the synthesis of everything that came into existence and it is a key for the higher knowledge of creation. We can see this pattern through the famous design of Leonardo Da Vince.

The Twelve Chosen Disciples

“The Creation is a mirror where God contemplates eternally his own image”~ Kabbalah

In Da Vince’s famous painting The Last Supper, one may observe the twelve disciples as the main representative of a celestial order of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The Twelve Tribes of Israel follow the same basic teaching. In Revelations, the Apostle John speaks of the twelve gates of Heaven, as the gateways to the Temple of the Almighty God.

“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.”
~ Luke 6:12-16

The 72 Apostles, the 72 Directions

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-twoothers and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
~ Luke 10:1-4

It should be at note that Christ Jesus had twelve disciples, but he taught and also trained a total of 72 apostles and, even according to the Bible, Christ had sent them many times on different missions. The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples (known in the Eastern Christian tradition as the seventy apostles) were early followers of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 10:1–24. According to Luke, the only Gospel in which they appear, Jesus appointed them and sent them out in pairs on a specific mission which is detailed in the text.

There is an undeniable parallel with the angles of the circumference, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the 72 apostles to cover the seventy two directions of the circle (5 degrees x 72=360 degrees – a complete circle); with a Christ center as a reference point. In addition, with the same Christ center as a reference point, there are 72 different categories of the angels sent forth by the Divine to assist humanity on its path of self-realization. Each degree corresponds to one day on our regular Gregorian calendar, so each of these angels rules over five days.

It is also very curious how the act of choosing 72 apostles also coincides with the intention to re-integrate what was created again within the heart of Creation, or the Creator. When the Tower of Babel fell, it is said that Men stopped understanding each other and divided themselves in 72 different languages and they were dispersed over the surface of the earth in 72 different directions, each watched over by an angel.

Perhaps the intention to bring back the vibrational signature of the 72 broken parts of humanity was part of an effort for the reintegration of the Divinity inside the hearts of men.

Christ, Buddha and the Saviors of Mankind

Christ, Buddha and the Saviors of Mankind, Part 1

There are many comparative studies of the lives of the masters Gautama Buddha and Jesus, as there are many revisions about the lives of Krishna and others historically relevant spiritual masters. There are in many of them thematic parallels among the lives of these Saviors of Humanity. In cautiously observing this, it is almost awkward to declare that these facts are more than just coincidences, or just the result of random curse of events.

H.P Blavatsky, in her book “Isis Unveiled”, points out that Gautama was the son of a king; Jesus was also a rightful descendent of King David. Buddha was known to be one of the incarnations of Vishnu, and Jesus known to be an incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Both were pure expressions of the Divine. Both their mothers conceived their sons in a very special way; both of them, Mary (Jesus’ Mother) and Maya (Buddha’s mother) were known to have had immaculate conceptions. Even their names, Mary and Maya were proven to have come from the same root, from a distant registry that the human mind can no longer reach.

Both of these initiates were able to perform miracles, exceptional healings and transformational teachings. In the dark ages of mankind those parallels were dismissed to be only the work of the Devil, the great liar that wanted to confuse the rightful and the faithful.

Some other scholars, investigating the different religious backgrounds of the ancient world, could prove the existence of at least sixteen different traditions where the savior dies to save Humanity. This comes to prove that characteristics that are common to their stories are more than mere coincidences.

More than what it is publicized by the religious traditions of today, where the stories of the masters are nothing more than the sterilized version of their teachings, the spiritual path should be seen as a trail to the followed by advanced disciples, that inevitably one day will also save humanity. The difference now is the element of Sacrifice; not necessarily seen as it was a couple of thousand years ago.

The Tearing of the Veils

“Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.”
~ Mathew Matthew 27:51

Gautama abolishes idolatry and creates huge conflict with the Brahmas’ that had the monopoly of the traditional teachings of the Hindu society. He promotes and teaches the mysteries of the unity, oneness and nirvana, and offers safe practices accessible to all castes in methods to reach liberation from the wheels of suffering and pain.

Jesus the Christ shows himself against the religious tyranny of the Pharisees and scribes of the Temple, and openly teaches the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. As we can observe, the convergence of facts and similarities are overwhelming. Esoterically, it is nonetheless said that Chris Jesus was a being originated from the Seventh Ray of Creation, while Buddha is said to be the master of the Fifth Ray. The fact is that these enlighten beings are rays and frequencies of the Christ-consciousness vibration, emissaries of the Light to bring about the opening of consciousness in their lifetimes.

From another angle, both of their traditional teachings speak about three different levels of realization, or there are three grades of human spirits. The upper level are called the elected, even though there is no elitism implied under the term that would derive any sense of exclusion. Among the Gnostics of ancient times, the elected were called Pneumatics, which in their language meant “guided by spirit”, among the Buddhist they were known as “Arias”, or advanced beings, the sacred ones.

The Second group, an intermediary one, were known among the Gnostics as the Psychics ,or religious ones. These, among the Buddhists, were known as Aniata.

The last group, for both doctrines, was comprised by the common men. The Gnostics called them the Somatics or Hylics, the “worldly” people: pure emotion and “living in the now” for pleasure. The Buddhist called them silly people, because of their permanent desire to dedicate their lives only for the immediate pleasures of life and are still immerse in Maya (illusion).

All the structural body of their teachings was designed to attend to the needs of these three grades of Human spirits. To the common men, or Somatics, the instructions were directed to practices of daily life and ethics.

For the second level of Souls, the psychics for the Gnostics and Aniatas for the Buddhists, the teachings were directed to a more ample vision in dealing with challenges of the daily life and spiritual practices. Most of these lessons can be found in the sutras and also in the Christian scriptures. Their perspective of this particular group was directed to the close care of these Souls, because both doctrines believed that this group of Souls could fall back into the broader group, if they did not have the proper instructions and spiritual practice. Also, their specialty resides in that they at the same time could be the group of Souls that could transcend and enter the realms of the “elected”, or the saved ones.

Finally, for the last level of human souls, the so-called Pneumatics[1] for the Gnostics or Arias for the Buddhists, both Masters offer what we call the “Accelerated Path”, or inner teachings. They are comprised by a more elaborated set of teaching since the accelerated path has its own privileged requirements and requires constant purifications and tenacious dedication. This is not a path for many. Among the Buddhists, the monks have a period of study to develop the foundation of the future teachings. Just a few of these monks are invited to continue their studies, as they will be involving more than sutras and Tantra to reach their goals. For the Gnostics, the advanced techniques involved the practices of the Sacraments; for them the sacraments were five, as they were taught by Christ and later, his disciples. They were originally only five instead of the seven actually practiced by the Church today. Originally, the Sacraments were transformational rites of passage: our equivalent of modern initiations.

[1] From “pneuma” meaning “air” or coming from Spirit. These souls preserve a living connection with pleroma therefore considering the human spirit as a spark of God’s light and in effect a part of Body of God himself. They can be sometimes minimalists and ascetics individuals.

Source: http://humanityhealing.net (http://s.tt/16ljf)

The Astrological and Mystical Emblems of the Last Supper, Part I

The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with His Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. Its symbols and the archetypical drama that it precedes, emulates the journey of the Sun through the celestial arch, guiding the light throughout the earth, and ending its journey through the passage into the underworld, and to be again resurrected and victorious in a next cycle.

What we commonly call a Solar Sign is actually the position of the sun in one of the constellations of the sky at the time a person was born. With this record, we can easily determine the category and vibrational quality of the energies present at the birth which would delineate a soul theme to be developed and utilized by the soul in their lifetime. This information, nonetheless, is not complete. Determining and associating the interaction between the Sun and the other planets, the astrological houses, the moon and, sometimes, for a deeper interpretation, the use of the Fixed Stars; are needed for a greater understanding. The basic standard that pins everything together is the Principle of Synchronicity.

If we believe that all the planets and stars are bonded by measurable and perfect orbits, with mathematical precision, and that they belong to and are one of the more refined expressions of the Music of the Spheres, part of an intelligent and conscious orchestration of frequencies; we can determine, by affinity, their influence in areas on the globe in accordance to their position in the heavens.

Accepting that Reincarnation is part of the great Law of Evolution and Balance, we can see this invisible harmonic structure. By affinity, groups of people will be attracted to elaborate together their essences, in accord with these energies. Esoterically, the types of beings that are responsible to engineer these serendipitous events are called Karmic Engineers. Their meticulousness is impeccable, because there is nothing created by the Divine Mind that is out of balance and precision. The way we try to understand the movement and the logic of these great Consciousnesses is through a deeper understanding of logic behind the mechanism of Astrology.

The last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples is described in all four Canonical Gospels, namely in Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-39 and John 13:1-17:26. This meal later became known as The Last Supper. The Gospel of John does not include the episode of the breaking of the bread among the disciples, but tells of Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles, and has a detailed farewell discourse by Jesus, calling the Twelve Apostles who followed his teachings “friends and not servants”, as he prepared them for his departure.

Jesus’ actions in sharing the bread and wine have been linked with Isaiah 53:12, which refers to a blood sacrifice that, as recounted in Exodus 24:8, Moses offered in order to seal a covenant with God. Scholars often interpret the description of Jesus’ action as asking his disciples to consider themselves part of a sacrifice, whereas Jesus is the one due to physically undergo it.

Although the Gospel of John does not include a description of the bread and wine ritual during the Last Supper, most scholars agree that John 6:58-59 (the Bread of Life Discourse) has a Eucharistic nature and resonates with the “words of institution” used in the Synoptic Gospels and the Pauline writings on the Last Supper.

Source: http://humanityhealing.net (http://s.tt/1bqDA)

The Quest for the Historical Jesus By Richard Hooper, M.DIV.

The Problem of the Historical Jesus

When I entered seminary as a young man back in the 1960s, neither I nor my classmates would have ever thought to ask a question like,

“Who was the historical Jesus?”

We had been brought up in the Church to believe that the Gospels of the New Testament made it very clear who Jesus was:He was the Messiah and the Son of God.But my classmates and I were soon to discover that those two articles of faith were just that – faith, not history.

What we, as young college graduates, didn’t know yet was what New Testament scholars did know:

that there was a world of difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.

Not long after the “age of enlightenment” dawned, and questioning the historical validity of the Bible was no longer a crime punishable by death, scholars began asking hard questions about the “history” of Jesus as reported by the four canonical Gospels.

In searching for the Historical Jesus, there are important questions:

Why, for instance, does the Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel seem different from the Jesus of John’s Gospel?

Why is the length of Jesus’ ministry just one year in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, but three years in The Gospel of John?

Why does Jesus’ demonstration in the Temple at Jerusalem take place during the last week of Jesus’ life in Matthew, Mark and Luke, while it happens toward the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in John’s Gospel?

Why does Matthew’s story about Jesus’ birth—and his genealogy—contradict the birth story and genealogy in Luke’s Gospel? And,

Why are there no nativity stories, and no genealogies at all in either The Gospel of Mark or The Gospel of John?

                                 The First Quest for the Historical Jesus

New Testament Scholars Ask Questions

The questions in the article, The Quest for the Historical Jesus, are the kinds of simple questions New Testament scholars started asking themselves and each other during the nineteenth century. They realized that if one reads the Gospels objectively, without religious bias, it is more than a little

           evident that the four Gospels contradict each other again and again.

They realized that unless one is committed to Biblical literalism, one has no choice but to conclude that all of the stories about Jesus in the Gospels can’t be true, if for no other reason than the fact that they are contradictory.

Giants in the field of New Testament Scholarship for the Historical Jesus

Two of the giants in the field of New Testament scholarship during the nineteenth century were David Friedrich Strauss and Albert Schweitzer.Schweitzer, building on the scholarship done before him, published his seminal book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, in 1906.

His ultimate conclusion was that the historical person of Jesus was buried under so many layers of Christian myth, that he could never be recovered.

Schweitzer was so disheartened by his own conclusions that he gave up his career as a scholar and became a medical missionary, for which he was well known.

Schweitzer also concluded that Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher who believed that the end of the world was at hand.Part of Schweitzer’s depression was probably based on his belief that Jesus was simply wrong about the end times.

                                           Was Jesus an Apocalyptic Preacher?

More than a century later, there is still debate on this issue among scholars. However, more than half of today’s scholars now believe that Jesus did not believe in a coming apocalypse.

The emphasis on eschatological preaching in the Gospels, these scholars suggest, was not the result of Jesus’ preaching, but later Christian belief.My own belief is that apocalyptic thinking entered Christianity through the apostle, Paul, and also through followers of John the Baptist, who entered the Jesus movement sometime after the Baptist was killed.

The argument for rejecting Jesus as an apocalyptic preacher

Perhaps the strongest argument for rejecting Jesus as an apocalyptic preacher is the lack of evidence for this belief in the earliest source Gospels, which were collections of Jesus’ teachings and rendered into written form around 50 C.E.These sources include parts of:

A “world bible” for all those interested in the teachings of mystics of all ages and religions.

*The Gospel of Thomas, and
*The Gospel that scholars originally called “Q”, now more commonly referred to as the
Synoptic Sayings Source.

Both of the Gospels are “source” Gospels.This means that they are collections of Jesus’ teachings, not narratives like the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.They tell us nothing about the life or ministry of Jesus; they tell us only what Jesus’ disciples believed about Jesus and what the most important teachings were.

No evidence to support apocalypticism

I discuss both of these source Gospels elsewhere, but here I simply want to mention that neither Thomas, nor the first “layer” (the original collection before it was added to) of Q, or Q1, show any evidence that the earliest followers of Jesus (or Jesus himself) believed that the world was about to end.This is especially significant because apocalypticism was a common belief of the times.

The Historical Jesus and eschatological thinking

Unfortunately, the eschatological thinking that entered Christianity at some point completely twisted Jesus’ teachings about the of God

The historical Jesus believed that the Kingdom was not something coming at the end of time, but was already present—within us and all around us.

But only people with spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear would be able to recognize its presence.This is a mystical understanding which Christianity completely overturned.

So ended the “first quest for the historical Jesus,” and it ended in failure.

Most New Testament scholars during the early part of the twentieth simply gave up looking for the man from.But the story was far from over.

The Second Quest for the Historical Jesus

A new generation of scholars developed new research tool.

As happens regularly in most academic fields of study, a new generation of scholars comes along and questions the conclusions of its predecessors.They take the same basic evidence, but look at it in another way.Such was and is the case with Jesus scholars.After the first quest ended, a new generation of scholars developed new tools for doing research.As a consequence, they had entirely new insights.But this quest also ended in failure, and came to a close during the 1950s.

Conventional wisdom about finding the historical Jesus

When I entered seminary during the 60s, conventional wisdom among scholars and “liberal” seminary professors was that we should forget about finding the historical Jesus and just accept the Christ of faith; that is, Jesus as the mythical savior of the world which two thousand years of Christianity had affirmed.

The “second” quest for the historical Jesus, led by Rudolf Bultmann

The leading scholar of the “second” quest was Rudolf Bultmann, a German (as most leading scholars had been for the past century) and a Lutheran like myself.But that made no difference to me, and I rejected many of Bultmann’s conclusions. It especially rankled me that Bultmann was so arrogant in his certainty that Jesus the man could not be found.

Even though I accepted most of the conclusions of New Testament scholarship, I believed that the historical Jesus was still recognizable in the Gospels, and that Bultmann was wrong.

As it turned out, a “third” quest proved me correct.

                                    The Third Quest for the Historical Jesus

Another generation of scholars during the late 1970’s and 80’s

During the late 1970’s and 80s, yet another generation of scholars arrived on the scene and began to search for Jesus all over again.They brought many significant changes with them.

Not only had they devised more sophisticated research tools but, for the first time, German scholars no longer controlled this academic field, as they had for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

But that was not the only significant change: women were now seminary professors and scholars, and their approach to the evidence was altogether different..

Women’s approaches to the historical Jesus quest

The practical effects of those falling dominoes can readily be seen in the seminal work done by women like Elaine Pagels of Princeton and Karen King of Harvard.Their numerous books on Gnostic Gospels such as The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene), and Gnostic-Christianity in general, have helped to change how many male scholars now view the origins of Christianity.

                                                     A new mix of information –

new archaeological evidence,
research being done on formerly “lost” Gospels, and
a far greater grasp and understanding of the history of Judeo-Palestine during the first century, C.E.

These opened new areas for scholars to search for the historical Jesus.If some scholars today have given up looking for the historical Jesus, it is only because they believe they have, at last, found him!

Moreover, groups of scholars such as the Jesus Seminar have spent decades examining virtually every word attributed to Jesus, and feel that they have been successful in separating the authentic words of the historical Jesus from later Christian words put into his mouth by the authors of the canonical Gospels.

So the question remains, who was the historical Jesus, and how did he differ from the Christ of Christian faith?

What every believer and nonbeliever should know about the historical Jesus and the true origins of Christian faith.

                                             Who Was the Historical Jesus?

Differing theories about who the historical Jesus was

For all of the scholarship over the past three centuries, no one is ever going to answer this question definitively.Many scholars agree about many things, but there are still many issues that are hotly debated.And it is also only fair to admit that there is no single answer to this question.

Certainly, not all scholars agree about who the historical Jesus was.There may be wide agreement in several areas, while other theories and hypotheses are still being hotly debated.And as the public often points out, scholars are sometimes wrong, and often change their minds. We might say, then, that the jury is still out.Still there is more agreement on more issues than ever before.

I remain convinced that the historical Jesus was not unlike the Jesus I first met as a child.

Whatever else he was—healer, exorcist, wisdom teacher (three attributes most scholars agree on)—I have to agree with Dr. Marcus Borg’s conclusions about Jesus.Borg is a professor of religion at Oregon State University, and has written many books on the historical Jesus.

Borg argues that:

Jesus’ wisdom came from a profound inner understanding of the way the universe works, he experienced ultimate reality directly,and that he lived his life accordingly.

The “authority” others saw in Jesus when he spoke came from a place of inner knowing, not from religious doctrine, or from intellectual reasoning.

Plainly, Jesus was a mystic and a holy man.He was filled with spirit and wisdom, and his charisma drew others to him.

                                                    Jesus as an enlightened being

I like to believe that Jesus was an enlightened being like the Buddha.I also think of him as an avatar—or incarnation of God, like Krishna—at least in the metaphorical sense.And Jesus certainly lived his life in harmony with the Tao, like Lao Tzu.

But Jesus had another quality that—as a mystic—set him apart from every other mystic in history: he was a social and religious reformer.

He stood up to hypocrisy among his religious peers, and was not afraid to challenge the religious establishment of the day.

His demonstration in the Temple against the priest-cult practice of sacrificing animals to God angered the high priest, Caiaphas, so much that he convinced the Romans that Jesus was an insurrectionist and should be crucified.

For his honesty, for his outspokenness, for his humanity, the historical Jesus paid the ultimate price. It is easy to see why early Christians thought of Jesus as more than just a man.

The Mysteries of Christianity Part V

Another interesting and important ritual performed by Jesus is described in the canonical gospels indirectly, as it was referred to as a miracle: the resurrection of Lazarus. In this passage, the behavior of Jesus is unusual and very peculiar, especially when it refers to the illness and death of a very close friend. Even stating that Bethany was only two miles away from the place where Lazarus was, and despite the fond request of his sisters, the Master waited more than three days to go and see the “one that he loved”.

“So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
~John11:3-4

“After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.” ~ John 11:11-13

“On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. ”
~ John 11:1-43

For those familiar with the esoteric rites from many schools of wisdom, the apparent miracle is the exterior and allegoric face to an elevated and specialized ritual in which it was required of the initiate to enter in a state of trance for three days. This is not a novelty for the Israel of that time: the origins of this ancient ritual seem to be Egyptian.

The entire ritualistic procedure was supposed to last for three days and at the end, the seeker should be awakened from the trance by the words of powers of a real master. Jesus Himself refers to the same process when he declares according to the Gospel of John (2:19) ”Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. “No wonder the disciple named as Thomas was so curious of the impact of this ritual initiation afterwards, when Jesus awaken from his “death”.

The clearest evidences of Jesus’ mysteries and miracles are referenced in the Gnostic Gospels. But this should not infer that the early fathers of the church were ignorant of the mysteries and their rituals, neither that they had not received these initiations themselves.

There are numerous references concealed in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, when he used the technical language proper of the schools of mystery:

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care”
~ 1 Corinthians 3:10

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.”
~ 1 Corinthians 2:6-7

Some disciples of the Gnostic Valentinus in the second half of the second century declared they received the teachings of the Mystery of the Christ through the Apostle Paul, which were given secretly to a handful of disciples.

Among the many topics of the Divine and mysterious wisdom of God which Paul speaks about, we find the topic of reincarnation. This was a concept accepted by the majority of the people of the ancient world at the time of Jesus, especially by the Essenes and other Gnostics.

In Kabbalah, the esoteric teaching of the Jewish people, there is a concept that supposes the transformation and movement of the soul from one vehicle to another. The Pharisees accepted this concept in an interesting way, where only the just soul had the permission to return to earth to perfect itself, while the “not so good” would not have the same opportunity. Reincarnation was as an accepted concept until a council from the early church declared it a heresy.

Source: http://humanityhealing.net (http://s.tt/1aAQe)

The Mysteries of Christianity Part IV ~ Humanity Healing

The Hymn of Jesus and the Esoteric Tradition

Christ, as a hierophant of ancient mysteries, constituted some secret rituals, the strict focus of which was in the training and expansion of consciousness of his disciples. These went beyond the ritual of Baptism and Eucharist:

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
~ Matthew 26:26-28

“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you; I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
~ Mark 14:22-25

“When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God. After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
~ Luke 22:14-20

The registering of these rituals is very much veiled in the Bible. An example of which is the rite of the hymn sang by Jesus Christ and his disciples after the Last Supper. It was recorded in a brief and enigmatic manner and itemized in the same fashion in Mark (14:26) and Matthew

“When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
~ Matthew 26:30

Nevertheless, this ritual was preserved through an apocryphal document known as the Acts of John and it was later published as the Hymn of Jesus Christ. In the ceremonial of the hymn, the disciples are said to be in a circle, holding hands. Jesus gave the tone and frequency of the hymn in the center of the circle. The disciples would respond Amen and move themselves in circles. Does the description of this ritual seem familiar to what the whirling dervishes do in their Rituals of Ecstasy?

The power of the hymn could be expressed by some of its sayings:

“Glory to you, Father!

Glory to you, The Word!

Glory to you, Grace!

Glory to you, Spirit!

Glory to you, Sacred!”

The rite continued with an encompassing rhythm, which progressively induced the participants to a higher level of consciousness. In the same canticle, we find declarations of an esoteric nature, such as:

“Now respond to my dancing!

See yourself in me when I speak!

And seeing what I do, keep silence about the Mysteries!”

It ends with an interesting phrase that announces something that was also espoused by the modern psychology Carl Jung: “If you have known how to suffer, you would have the power to avoid suffering. Know the suffering, and you will conquer the power to do not suffer”

Jesus In the Lotus: The Mystical Christianity and Yogic Spirituality – Russill Paul

Drawing on a deep knowledge of Christian scripture as well as Hindu philosophy, musician and teacher Russill Paul reveals that the mystical core of religion offers us much more than the simple solace of unthinking dogma. By demonstrating that these two seemingly separate and irreconcilable religions can actually unite in one person’s spiritual practice at the center of his life — as they did in his — he offers an alternative to religious intolerance and strife, as well as hope for personal liberation.

Russill Paul, a musician, teacher, Yogi and author of “The Yoga of Sound” and “Jesus in the Lotus: The Mystical Doorway between Christianity and Yogic Spirituality“, speaks with Miriam Knight about his views on the role of spirituality and mysticism in everyday life.

The Transcendent Spirituality of Russill Paul

The Mysteries of Christianity Part III

The Narrow Door

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.”
~Matthew 7: 13-14

No student of the Ageless Wisdom doctrines can forget the familiar sound of the passage mentioned above. The Narrow Road or Door illustrates an initiatic path that may be so difficult to trail that for some it may seem as a sharp blade. The Kathopanishad, a scripture that unveils the mystery of death and the meaning of life, talks about the phenomenon of death: in the manifested and phenomenal Universe everything is born, grows, develops and dies, in a permanent state of becoming. For those that follow the path of desire and know not of the Divine Source, they will not be able to grasp the mysteries of Life and beyond.

Every initiation is a process of death and rebirth into a new stage of consciousness, a death for mundane elements that are not aligned with the new vibrational scope and a rebirth into higher realms of perception and reality.

The Narrow Door is an initiatic portal. It is only through it that the candidate of the mysteries can enter the kingdom. The seeker should be prepared for rebirth into a “new life” and feel as pure as children, with a restored innocence and pure faith. This was the real sense of the expression “born again”.

Few are the real initiates in each of the generations, they are the top crop of mankind, even knowing that many will strive each live to better themselves. There is no weight of recrimination, or of doom on it, just the intention to reach self-realization.

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack? Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
~Matthew 19:16-22

Eternal life, in the Jewish tradition, would be received by those that conquered the liberation from the wheels of rebirth, because traditionally they believed that imperfected souls needed to come back to Earth in order to perfect themselves. Only when all the impulses generated by the desires in this world are shed one can truly pass through the Narrow Door.

The Second Birth

Only the knowing of the ultimate reality, the Divine Source of All, can give the seeker the glimpse of what eternal life could really mean. This is stated in the Christian scriptures:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
~John 17:3

The Second Birth is another term utilized to represent mystical initiation. Even in India inside of the cast system, we see the higher casts call themselves as the twice-birthed ones. Nowadays these rituals are mere performatic rites, but they follow the wisdom and traditions of the ageless world of spirit.

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
~Matthew 5, 48

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?”
~John 3:3-10

In this initiation, the seeker would liberate himself from all the bonds and ties with the material world of imperfection and enter the path to become a perfect master, awakening the Christ within. The Second Birth can even be a technical term for a symbolic rite of passage getting out of the “cycle of generation” or the cycle of birth and death. Following the same line of thought, we can even infer that the term “resurrection of the dead” refers to the concept of initiation, not the common Christian idea promoted by the modern Christian churches.

Source: http://humanityhealing.net (http://s.tt/182wf)