(Readers - you have to see the new comment made about Fake Mary in the entry below this one. It's spectacularly crazy)
In the non-productive elements of the academic world, obscurity is the best armor and weapon. Since no rockets are going to explode or bridges are going to fall if what one writes is gibberish, the point is often to make one look smart. Like, really, really smart – so smart that no one can understand you. I know – I learned how to do it myself, and I must say that I was getting pretty good at it when, thanks to nothing more or less than divine intervention, I realized just what we were doing.
Trouble is, and little did I know, that some people began to notice such gibberish and have now added much of it to a current political philosophy, but that’s another issue. For our purpose here, I must say that I didn’t really know the extent of such foolishness until I started to study the New Testament. It was here that I not only saw the convoluted, and wrong, reasoning of the Pharisees, but, better still, the stark responses of Jesus to their academic/theocratic foolishness. He could not be trapped, whether it was talking about divorce or the resurrection of the dead. He was spot-on, exposing the “brilliance” of these sages as the empty knowledge that much of it was, as they understood it.
Since then, I have sought and found gems of simplicity that state the inscrutable in surprisingly understandable ways. I found it in Mirjana, one of the six visionaries at Medjugorje, who answered questions from everyone with surprisingly simple but perfect logic. I have also recently found it in a book that I have mentioned once before, Peace Pilgrim, by the author of the same name. Yes, the weird name tells us a lot; she seems an eccentric who will not tell us her name, her birthplace or date or much else about her past except that she was raised poor and has no advanced degrees. She does this, she says, because who she was is no longer important (I speak in the present, but she died in 1981), not since she gave her will entirely to God. To do so, she said, had taken some sacrifice, but not much because of the benefits, which included a life on the road, walking everywhere, and depending entirely on the good will of others.
Eventually she became somewhat famous, asked to give lectures at both churches and universities, but never would she accept a penny for her services. She counseled the mentally and spiritually ill and starred down the cynics in the news and the academies. She was successful in all her endeavors because, she would say, she was doing the will of God. I would also add that she was successful because she was crystal clear about what she wanted to say, and crystal clear in how she said it. And the amazing thing is, what she said made as much sense in every way as the great, head-scratching geniuses of philosophy and theology.
What she says is probably not entirely compatible with anyone’s religion or personal philosophy. She quotes from the Bible but claims to be neither Jew nor Christian. She walks for peace, not only for the outside world, but for the inside world in all of us, because that it where God is found. It is because of this that she claims to love all humans. Those who others find despicable she only sees as immature, too afraid or too damaged to realize the piece of God that is within them.
She is (was) literally a walking testament to Jesus and any other truly holy person, living the life more than preaching it because she has given herself completely to the will of God, rather than to any religion. On religion, for instance, she was asked the question, “Why do people believe in dogmatic religion?” A: “Immature people believe in immature religion because they are afraid not to. As they mature enough to know it is immature they tend to depart from it.” Q: “Would you describe dogma?” A: “Take out the kernel of spiritual truth within any faith, and what is left is dogma.” Many religious people would disagree with her, but her answers are not only clear and concise, but meaningful. At the very least, in the above, she forces us to think about the basic values of our religion.
In the question and answer section of her book, I underlined some of the back and forth because they seemed the most appropriate for me at that moment. I might underline different ones now, but since I cannot reproduce all of them, I will show those I selected to the reader below. I think you might agree that much of what she says exhibits her frank clarity as well as her wisdom.
Before I begin, I believe she would want us to know one thing above all else: that we are all a part of God, and can (and should) become a part of His plan, just as she has. She claims that there are no exceptions. All we have to do is give up our will to God. In the end, says Peace, you cannot make a finer decision.
On to the Q and A:
Q: What is mysticism?
A: One who takes the mystic approach receives direct perceptions from within. This is the source from which all truth came in the first place.
Q: If we can go on the presumption that everyone has a spiritual nature, why do so few people realize it? Are they being punished for misdeeds in a past life, or are they just unenlightened in this life?
A: Because they have free will. They punish themselves by making wrong choices. Constantly enlightenment is being offered to them, but they refuse to accept it. Therefore, they are being taught by problems that are set before them, since they refuse to make right choices voluntarily.
Q: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the savior of mankind or do you believe that he was not different from anyone else but was only more spiritually evolved?
A: Jesus was a very evolved being, way ahead of his time. Christ is the divine nature, which can rule your life as it ruled his life. The indwelling Christ is the ‘savior’ of mankind. Only when it governs your life will you be happy.
Q: What is the nature of the universe?
A: The nature of the universe is an evolvement towards betterment or perfection.
Q: Do you believe that there is both a heaven and a hell?
A: Heaven and hell are states of being. Heaven is being in harmony with God’s will; hell is being out of harmony with God’s will. You can be in either state on either side of life. There is no permanent hell.
Q: Some problems seem inherited or chronic. Are these things karmic?
A: …Some problems that are brought over with you are karmic – subject to the law of cause and effect. You might say you came to solve them. It is important that they be solved…
Q: Hatred and racism?
A: You can overcome hatred with love. Hate injures the hater, not the hated. Those who practice racism are hurt. Those that are discriminated against have a choice: They can be hurt by a wrong reaction of bitterness or anger, or they can rise above the situation and be spiritually strengthened.
Q: What is the theory behind ‘not buying spiritual truth’?
A: …: One who has it would not be selling it, so one who is selling it does not have it. These are the ‘pearls without price.’ As soon as you are ready for the spiritual truth, it will be given….
Q: How can one’s life be improved?
A: Look within for your answers. You divine nature – your inner light – knows all the answers….
And much more; for instance, “Remember that a few in harmony with God’s will are more powerful than a multitude out of harmony.” While she has stood her own against the most probing of critics, the greatest proof she has for her beliefs is in her being, which is very powerful indeed. Quite the woman.
.
In the non-productive elements of the academic world, obscurity is the best armor and weapon. Since no rockets are going to explode or bridges are going to fall if what one writes is gibberish, the point is often to make one look smart. Like, really, really smart – so smart that no one can understand you. I know – I learned how to do it myself, and I must say that I was getting pretty good at it when, thanks to nothing more or less than divine intervention, I realized just what we were doing.
Trouble is, and little did I know, that some people began to notice such gibberish and have now added much of it to a current political philosophy, but that’s another issue. For our purpose here, I must say that I didn’t really know the extent of such foolishness until I started to study the New Testament. It was here that I not only saw the convoluted, and wrong, reasoning of the Pharisees, but, better still, the stark responses of Jesus to their academic/theocratic foolishness. He could not be trapped, whether it was talking about divorce or the resurrection of the dead. He was spot-on, exposing the “brilliance” of these sages as the empty knowledge that much of it was, as they understood it.
Since then, I have sought and found gems of simplicity that state the inscrutable in surprisingly understandable ways. I found it in Mirjana, one of the six visionaries at Medjugorje, who answered questions from everyone with surprisingly simple but perfect logic. I have also recently found it in a book that I have mentioned once before, Peace Pilgrim, by the author of the same name. Yes, the weird name tells us a lot; she seems an eccentric who will not tell us her name, her birthplace or date or much else about her past except that she was raised poor and has no advanced degrees. She does this, she says, because who she was is no longer important (I speak in the present, but she died in 1981), not since she gave her will entirely to God. To do so, she said, had taken some sacrifice, but not much because of the benefits, which included a life on the road, walking everywhere, and depending entirely on the good will of others.
Eventually she became somewhat famous, asked to give lectures at both churches and universities, but never would she accept a penny for her services. She counseled the mentally and spiritually ill and starred down the cynics in the news and the academies. She was successful in all her endeavors because, she would say, she was doing the will of God. I would also add that she was successful because she was crystal clear about what she wanted to say, and crystal clear in how she said it. And the amazing thing is, what she said made as much sense in every way as the great, head-scratching geniuses of philosophy and theology.
What she says is probably not entirely compatible with anyone’s religion or personal philosophy. She quotes from the Bible but claims to be neither Jew nor Christian. She walks for peace, not only for the outside world, but for the inside world in all of us, because that it where God is found. It is because of this that she claims to love all humans. Those who others find despicable she only sees as immature, too afraid or too damaged to realize the piece of God that is within them.
She is (was) literally a walking testament to Jesus and any other truly holy person, living the life more than preaching it because she has given herself completely to the will of God, rather than to any religion. On religion, for instance, she was asked the question, “Why do people believe in dogmatic religion?” A: “Immature people believe in immature religion because they are afraid not to. As they mature enough to know it is immature they tend to depart from it.” Q: “Would you describe dogma?” A: “Take out the kernel of spiritual truth within any faith, and what is left is dogma.” Many religious people would disagree with her, but her answers are not only clear and concise, but meaningful. At the very least, in the above, she forces us to think about the basic values of our religion.
In the question and answer section of her book, I underlined some of the back and forth because they seemed the most appropriate for me at that moment. I might underline different ones now, but since I cannot reproduce all of them, I will show those I selected to the reader below. I think you might agree that much of what she says exhibits her frank clarity as well as her wisdom.
Before I begin, I believe she would want us to know one thing above all else: that we are all a part of God, and can (and should) become a part of His plan, just as she has. She claims that there are no exceptions. All we have to do is give up our will to God. In the end, says Peace, you cannot make a finer decision.
On to the Q and A:
Q: What is mysticism?
A: One who takes the mystic approach receives direct perceptions from within. This is the source from which all truth came in the first place.
Q: If we can go on the presumption that everyone has a spiritual nature, why do so few people realize it? Are they being punished for misdeeds in a past life, or are they just unenlightened in this life?
A: Because they have free will. They punish themselves by making wrong choices. Constantly enlightenment is being offered to them, but they refuse to accept it. Therefore, they are being taught by problems that are set before them, since they refuse to make right choices voluntarily.
Q: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the savior of mankind or do you believe that he was not different from anyone else but was only more spiritually evolved?
A: Jesus was a very evolved being, way ahead of his time. Christ is the divine nature, which can rule your life as it ruled his life. The indwelling Christ is the ‘savior’ of mankind. Only when it governs your life will you be happy.
Q: What is the nature of the universe?
A: The nature of the universe is an evolvement towards betterment or perfection.
Q: Do you believe that there is both a heaven and a hell?
A: Heaven and hell are states of being. Heaven is being in harmony with God’s will; hell is being out of harmony with God’s will. You can be in either state on either side of life. There is no permanent hell.
Q: Some problems seem inherited or chronic. Are these things karmic?
A: …Some problems that are brought over with you are karmic – subject to the law of cause and effect. You might say you came to solve them. It is important that they be solved…
Q: Hatred and racism?
A: You can overcome hatred with love. Hate injures the hater, not the hated. Those who practice racism are hurt. Those that are discriminated against have a choice: They can be hurt by a wrong reaction of bitterness or anger, or they can rise above the situation and be spiritually strengthened.
Q: What is the theory behind ‘not buying spiritual truth’?
A: …: One who has it would not be selling it, so one who is selling it does not have it. These are the ‘pearls without price.’ As soon as you are ready for the spiritual truth, it will be given….
Q: How can one’s life be improved?
A: Look within for your answers. You divine nature – your inner light – knows all the answers….
And much more; for instance, “Remember that a few in harmony with God’s will are more powerful than a multitude out of harmony.” While she has stood her own against the most probing of critics, the greatest proof she has for her beliefs is in her being, which is very powerful indeed. Quite the woman.
.
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