God and Religion 06/08/2010
 
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(From the Aquarian Project Inner Potential Study Series, Lesson 9)

Introduction

The subject of God is almost impossible to talk about from a subjective point of view.  There are so many views of God that, even within the same religion, there are differences.  Another huge challenge is that people’s ideas of God tend to be fervent.  It’s difficult to bring up the subject without appearing to be adversarial.  And because people’s view of God is largely based on faith they are not used to thinking about it subjectively.

There are not many “new” religions.  The western world has been dominated by patriarchal monotheism for the last several thousand years.  While the sacred books of these religions clearly have divinely inspired content, the Perception Problem discussed in lesson three suggests that the recipients of the messages would have been limited in what they were able to understand.  Also, there are the challenges of cultural, language, and dispensation context that must be considered.

Even the most devout religionist will acknowledge that God is beyond our understanding.  So any issues that might not sit well with reason tend to take a back seat to God’s sovereignty. 

In the case of Christianity the penalty for not embracing the Bible is eternal and severe.  In the dark ages the penalty was torture and death by fire.  Until recently the Church and the government were one.  The leaders of those governments were said to have been appointed by God, and as such enjoyed a divine sovereignty over the people they ruled.  So, if you disagreed with the King you disagreed with God, and vice-versa.  The fears that have been implanted into our mentality in this regard are formidable barriers to thinking critically about God.


The Son of God

The Son of God message has existed thousands of years before Jesus in the form of what are today called pagan religions. 
HORUS:  The Egyptian Sun God Horus, worshipped around 3000 BC, was born of a virgin on December 25th.  Three kings baring gifts followed an eastern star to the place of his birth.  At 12 years old he became a teacher, and was baptized into ministry at the age of 30.  He had 12 disciples who followed him as he went about healing the sick and performing miracles such as walking on water.  Horus was called God’s anointed Son (Christ), The Truth, The Lamb of God, The Great Shepherd and many other familiar names.  After being betrayed by his friend he was crucified, buried for 3 days, then rose from the dead.

MITHRA:  The Persian God Mithra appeared about 1200 BC and was still embraced by the Roman Empire as late as 300 AD when Christianity replaced it.  Mithra incarnated into human form being born of a virgin on December 25th.  He had 12 disciples and he went about healing the sick, and performing other miracles.  He was executed and buried, and after 3 days he was resurrected.  The sacred day of worship for Mithra was Sunday.

ATTIS:  The Greek God Attis, worshipped around 1200 BC was born of a virgin on December 25th, crucified, buried for 3 days, and then resurrected.

KRISHNA:  This East Indian God, worshipped heavily around 900 BC, was born of a virgin on December 25th heralded by a star in the east.  He performed miracles, was crucified, and then resurrected.

DIONYSUS:  This Greek God was worshipped around 200 AD.  He was born of a virgin on December 25th.  He was a traveling teacher who performed miracles such as turning water into wine.  He was referred to as the King of Kings, God’s Only Begotten Son, the Alpha and Omega, and other familiar names.  He was crucified, buried, and then resurrected.

Some historians claim that there were more than 60 such stories of the Son of God in ancient history, each with themes of 12 disciples, death, burial and resurrection.  What can this mean?
 

God and Religion

Whatever message God is trying to relay to mankind seems to center around the themes of the Son of God, twelve disciples, crucifixion of the Son of God, his burial for three days, and his subsequent resurrection from the dead. 

Is it possible that religion has taken these stories too literally?  Is there actually a secret or hidden message that lies at the foundation of our religions dogma?  And if so, who has hidden the message, and why have they hidden it?  And why doesn’t our modern religion teach the hidden message rather than its symbolism?  Do our religious leaders today even know what that hidden message may be?

In 325 AD when the Roman Emperor Constantine convened the Nicean Council his entire kingdom was in an uproar.  On top of global political, economic, and social upheaval, Constantine had to contend with high ranking members within his own religious infrastructure who had begun to reveal to his fellows and to the common folk ancient esoteric information about the origins of the religion they all followed.  The goal of the Nicean council was to create a standard by which heresy could be defined, thus providing a legal means of punishing anyone who disagreed with the emperor, and therefore God.  Constantine’s Christianity literally became the law of the land.  Paganism was suddenly a crime punishable by death, and those within his ranks who had been exposing secret truths were silenced or killed as heretics.

What was this so-called heresy that was so effectively squashed by the Church during the inquisition and the “dark ages”?  What information was Constantine trying to keep secret?  What was it that the pagans and Constantine’s own people knew that might have been so damaging to the Church and, therefore, the empire?  Could this information, if unchecked, have resulted in the kind of freedom and individual creative and imaginative thought that makes it difficult for a dictator to keep his subjects under control?  Was the fear of punishment (both temporal and eternal) used as a tool to reinforce compliance with the Emperor’s divine authority?

With the ratification and implementation of the Nicean Council’s doctrine Constantine, in one fell swoop, secured his empire’s global political, social, economic, and religious sovereignty and the supremacy and longevity of the Church for himself and his posterity.  Even today one third of the population of earth claims to be followers of the Constantinian doctrine (Christianity).


The Bottom Line

Religion is not the enemy.  God is not our antagonist, neither are we God’s.  Religion can’t stop us from walking in love, nor can it force us to do so.  There is nothing more beautiful than a supple heart that wants to know and follow God, and expresses that desire through altruism rather than mere words, doctrine, or dogma.  This is what the Bible calls “True Religion”.

The legacy of suppression of hidden information through fear of punishment for the purpose of controlling the masses remains with us today like an old useless habit that it ‘s time to abandon.
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(From the Aquarian Project Inner Potential Study Series, Lesson 8)


Introduction

When we look in the mirror we see an image of what we suppose is ourselves.  But what are we really seeing?  In lessons two and three we discovered that 1) what we observe is strictly a product of perception, and 2) the reality we perceive is literally made of almost nothing.  This applies not only to what we assume is outside of us, but to our own bodies as well, since the only evidence we have that our bodies exist is our senses.

The sensations of observation, feeling/touching, hearing, tasting and smelling do not reflect something that is happening outside of our body, but is rather our minds’ perception of electrical and chemical brain data.  Only frustration can result from trying to prove that our perceptions are real, as the only tools we have are our senses which are very limited in scope and efficacy.

The misnomer of a physical self actually refers only to waves of subatomic energy that only seem to have substance based on our perception.  So then, the man in the mirror is not real at all but only a trick of the mind.  So, who are we really?  


The Avatar

Let us now conjecture about an alternative explanation of who we really are.  The American Heritage dictionary defines Avatar as “A temporary manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity”.  If matter is not real but a sort of hologram, and everything we perceive in this world is the result of electro/chemical reactions in our brains, then perhaps we have been looking in the wrong places for answers to our important questions.  What if, rather than physical beings walking around in a physical world, the real us is a “continuing entity” that has no physical form who is using this world – a holographic matrix – as a means of expressing its consciousness within a context of subjectivity and relativity?  What if the realm of pure consciousness and objectivity from which this “source entity” comes is unsuitable for it to experience such a stimulating scenario?  What if, over time, separation has inaccurately preempted relativity in our perception experience?


Individual Manifestations of Source

What is the origin of this sensation of existence that we all have and share together?  If what we suppose is the real us is not the real us – and in fact is not real at all – then who is the real us, where does the real us really live, and what is really real?    

Could our “physical” existence be some sort of experiment orchestrated by the true Source of all things? Could we as humans have forgotten the true nature of this experiment somewhere along the line because the illusion seems so real?

So, then, is the human experience in this world simply a temporary manifestation of the real us… an opportunity for the perfect infinite objective Source to experience “imperfection”, finite-ness, and subjectivity?  For this “experiment” to work it would require that the singular Source divide itself up into myriad manifestations, and then that each of those individual manifestations forget who they really are once the Avatar is in place.  It would be like a sort of cosmic video game wherein the Avatar in the game thinks it’s the real entity when all the time the true entity is the one in control of the joystick, incarnated only to participate in the experiment.  But has someone else taken control instead? It would seem that the forgetfulness required to make this experiment meaningful has been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous element – let’s call it oligarchy for lack of a better word – for the purpose of harvesting the potential of the Avatar to fulfill its own selfish ends.  Perhaps this oligarchy has insidiously modified our forgetfulness, directing it toward self-defeating sentiments and behaviors, consequently keeping the Avatar from experiencing the freedom creativity and joy that this holographic matrix was designed to host.  This way the oligarchy could become vicarious creators of what they wanted, rather than each individual creating their own reality to their own liking.

Think about it.  How easy would it be for someone with ulterior motives who was fully aware of the true nature of our existence to first hide that information from us, and then to convince us that their version of reality was true instead?  I submit that it would be very simple.  And it would also explain allot of things.  Maybe the truth is that we are not enemies of God trying to get back into favor with him, or hapless products of a random accident of evolution.  Maybe the true enemy is we ourselves – people who have bought into the greatest con ever known and have given someone else our creative potential without even realizing it.  Free will has its disadvantages!  If there is any truth to the above scenario then the root enemy is ignorance alone.


What’s The Purpose?

If we as a species are not living the life we were meant to live, but have been enslaved through our own ignorance, then what really is our purpose on earth?  What’s the ultimate purpose of this illusion into which the Avatar has been immersed? 

What if the purpose is creativity, individuality, experimentation, discovery, and FUN!  Are we all experiencing these things to the degree that we might if the suggested scenario were accurate? 


The Bottom Line

In offering any theory the evidence must fit the model for the theory to be considered viable.  Let us then examine a common model of human existence for this purpose.

This course has thus far revealed that the model of our existence as humans comprises the following elements: 1) That which appears to be real is not real. 2) That which we perceive is 100% subjective.  3) The majority of people in the world don’t have what they want or what they need.  4) There is more than enough for everyone. 5) A very small oligarchy owns the majority of the world’s wealth based on the efforts of the majority.  6) Traditional answers about our world don’t make any sense and/or only dig us deeper into a hole.  7) We are aware that we exist but we don’t know where that awareness comes from.  8) We don’t know why we are here, where we came from, or where we are going.  9) Our decisions in life are unavoidably guided by subjective predisposition arising from conditioning instilled by other things and people.  10)  Those who believe they have the answers can’t prove it, and won’t really know if they’re right until they die.  In the mean time they are obedient.

If in our heart we feel there is some truth to what this lesson suggests then we owe it to ourselves to do some real research on the issue.  We may be surprised by what we discover.
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