Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Deepak Chopra's Third Jesus...

I just watched the first in a series of six podcasts by Deepak Chopra on Unity. The series is based on his latest book, The Third Jesus.  I like what he's had to say so far.  Below are a few of the points he's made in this podcast "Who is Jesus and Why Does It Matter?"

  • The first Jesus he refers to is the historical Jesus. The son of man who walked the dusty trails and vales of the middle east. 
  • The first Jesus is mentioned in the writings of Josephus.  Not only that he existed and was crucified, but Josephus also alluded to the resurrection.  I didn't know that. 
  • The second Jesus was the Jesus invented by the church...from ancient times to the present. The Nicene Creed Jesus...the pomp and circumstance Jesus...the Jesus whose teachings have been distorted and misinterpreted down through the ages until many bear little resemblance to what he was trying to say.
  • The third Jesus is the indwelling Christ...one of the mysteries the Bible speaks of...the Christ in you, the hope of glory. 
  • Jesus was not a Christian.  And the people to whom he said things like...."don't you know you are gods" were not Christians.  When Jesus spoke of being born again...he was referring to coming into "God Consciousness"...as in "I and the Father are one"
  • References in the scripture to the experience of God Consciousness are largely ignored in Christianity (Jesus said, "You search the scriptures for eternal life but you will not come to me"  Paul said, "The Spirit gives life, the letter kills." John said, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth"  All these are paraphrased) 
  • Churchianity has set itself up as the authority on how to "get to God" discrediting the experience of the quickening of the Spirit. Instead of the experience, we have dogma. We have ideology. 
  • Then, to defend the ideology, wars are fought.  He said there are 35 wars going on right now..all fought in the name of God. 
  • Deepok's view is that the more insecure one is, the tighter they hold onto their beliefs.  He credited fundamentalists as being among the most insecure.
  • It is easy to mistake knowing ABOUT Jesus....to knowing ABOUT God...for actually KNOWING Jesus.  For actually KNOWING God. 
  • When our consciousness shifts/mutates/is born again, EVERYTHING changes.  Our social interactions, our thoughts, our physical state, our relationships...everything. 

There was more said...perhaps I will comment in future meanderings. 

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