Pending Ponderings....

I’ve had this series in mind for a while. It is a logical place to go…considering the people I’ve been hanging out with and the stuff I’ve been reading (not the least of which is the New Testament) Eckhart Tolle, Preston Eby, Gary Sigler. I’ve listened to a lot of Gary Sigler’s stuff lately. His message is so balanced. I don’t find much to disagree with when I listen to Gary Sigler.

So….what is this series that has been steeping in my head, heart and spirit for a while. It is the mystery of the Christ in you…in me…in us. And if our true identity is the Christ then who, pray tell, is this other guy…the adamic/carnal man, the flesh, the egoic mind that we cling to thinking he is us? Is any part of our egoic mind us? Is trying to totally rid ourselves of ego a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Is there anything of our essence that remains when we awaken, reach enlightenment? Why did God make us each unique if his purpose was to mold/meld/form us into one essence without any difference or variation? That could not have been his purpose…that we end up back as one big God blob.

Yet, there are clear verses in scripture that declare we are to cast off the old man and put on the new. How exactly does one do that? I’ve read some stuff that declares if we simply realize we are not the old guy, we will begin to live out of that nature. Sounds good to me in theory…but even though I know it, I’m not really living it.

I’ve also read some stuff that declares the road to the new man…to becoming like Christ….is fraught with pain and suffering. I came across a website the other day that listed all the verses to support that. Preston Eby declares the same thing (along with quite a few other kingdom teachers) At one point in my Christian walk that really got me fired up....and not in a good way. Eckhart says that suffering is only necessary until we realize it is not necessary. Sort of like the writing by Khalil Gibran

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses
your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

So could pain and suffering be optional? Could we lessen its severity by not struggling so much against it? Buddhism teaches that a big part of suffering is because we cling to this world of form. I don’t know…at least at this point. Hopefully when this series is done (which could be 5 posts or it could be many more….or it could fizzle at one or two) I will have a clearer understanding.

Just know that I am musing here. This does not all have to fit together into a neat pattern. There are going to be some "what if’s" and some "yes, but’s."

You are cordially invited to join me.