Healing and counseling sessions
The way we pray
July 2008, updated Sept 2011
Photo courtesy of Sandra Hutter
"And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn."
~ Khalil Gibran, "The Prophet"
O servant, where dost thou seek Me?
Lo! I am beside thee.
I am neither in temple nor in mosque:
I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash:
Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and
renunciation.
If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time.
Kabir says, "O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath."~ Kabir
Contents:
- Power elite misusing God's Word
- Buddhism for Westerners
- Buddha taught about right and wrong
- Peace that passes all understanding
- False way to peace: escaping matter
- Another false way to peace: pure awareness
- Catholics and Protestants
- Distorted Christian doctrines
- Position of women
- Divine Mother in the Church
- Native spirituality
- Attitude to Christ and Mother
1. Power elite misusing God's Word
As one priest said, each time has its prophets, including this present time, the problem is only to discern true from false ones. God has been sending true prophets, and soon thereafter there would come those who distort God's Word in order to manipulate people. God gave the Jews the Ten Commandments, through Moses, but over time it turned into numerous rules and rituals that focus on outer "purity" while neglecting what really matters - the inner man, the purity of the heart.
Then came Jesus and cancelled those rituals. He talked about love, forgiveness and loving your neighbour as yourself. He claimed to be the Son of God and offered forgivenes for sins. It didn't sit well with the Jewish priesthood - how dare he set new rules and make their priesthood obsolete? How dare he empower people by granting them direct access to God? He was a great threat to the religious elite and that's why he had to be killed.
A few centuries later arose another power elite, again seeking to use religion as the way to control the people. During the rule of emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD, Christianity was proclaimed the official religion of the Roman Empire and its main tenets were adopted by the Nicene Creed. The second tenet is about Jesus Christ as the only son of God, which makes Jesus fundamentally different from the rest of us.
This was disputed by a popular Christian sect called Arians, who claimed that we too are sons and daughters of God. They said we shouldn't worship Jesus as an unreachable idol but emulate him. After the adoption of the Nicene Creed, Arians were proclaimed heretics and prosecuted, because Constantine saw this schism as a threat to the unity of the Empire.
Catholic teachings changed in the meanwhile and we are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps, however the idea of a fundamental difference - a schism between "mere mortals" and Jesus - is still present and engraved in people's minds.
In the Middle Ages, the "heretics" (all who dared to oppose the official Church doctrine) were prosecuted as well and burned at stake. Again, God's Word - which is meant to liberate us and bring us to God reality - was used for oppression and control. It is true that some of the heretical doctrines - like that of Cathars who taught that the material world is evil and created by a demiurge - were false, however the way the Church dealt with it was contrary to Jesus' teachings.
Because of all that, and the corruption of clergy which was widespread in the Middle Ages, Christianity got a bad reputation and people lost interest to go to church. In the Western Europe, in predominantly Protestant nations, people lost interest in religion altogether and the society became increasingly secular. Many are abandoning organized religion and looking for other forms of spirituality.
Spiritual people in the West have had enough of the doctrines telling them they are sinners and will go to hell unless they accept everything the Church says. And so they started searching for something else, something more open, more inclusive, less judgmental, something that doesn't suppress the feminine aspect of God and women in general, as is the case in the male-dominated religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Some seekers turned to Buddhism because it is very open and inclusive, it doesn't even use the term God but talks about something transcendent, something beyond material reality. That something is vague and mysterious, and unlike the God of the Old Testament, it is impersonal and unconditionally loving. It doesn't expect anything from them, it doesn't judge them for their mistakes and it accepts them as they are - both light and darkness.
That is equivalent to a perfect parent - in child's eyes - who loves you and accepts you no matter what you do, and never makes a single comment about your life. True, this parent might be a bit distant - because you don't feel great love and affection from him/her either - but at least they leave you alone. That's what many people need in their lives, at least in a certain phase, both from their physical parents and from God, so they opt for it.
3. Buddha taught about right and wrong
In reality, Buddha didn't promote "anything goes" philosophy. He taught the four noble truths and the noble eightfold path. This path includes right understanding, right intention, right speech, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation. In other words, right and wrong are very much present in Buddha's teachings. He didn't say God will punish us if we don't follow those guidelines, but it was clear that we would suffer if we don't.
However, Buddhist teachings got distorted into anything goes and unconditional love philosophy, where absolutely everything we do is seen as right, as our "truth at the moment" and a necessary part of our experience. Sometimes this is true, but sometimes we could avoid a lot of suffering by making better choices, in line with the Buddha's guidelines.
4. Peace that passes all understanding
Buddha saught enlightenment about the causes of suffering, so that he can help people. By God's grace, he received enlightenment and understood that the cause of suffering are inordinate desires of the ego and the carnal mind, and that in order to be free from suffering, we need to liberate ourselves from those desires.
Buddha also taught about impermanence of worldly happiness – which is always tinged with sadness, because we know that happiness will go away, that the moment of ecstasy we might have experienced will inevitably be lost. And so we are always slightly sad. The cure is to pursue permanent happiness, and that is happiness which stems from knowing that all attachments and cravings of the ego are ultimately unreal – that they are a product of our illusion.
But that's still the intellectual approach – we might be aware that cravings are bad but we might still have them, since our soul craves to unite with something beyond itself. What then is the way to permanent happiness and fulfillment? It is to find fulfillment and wholeness in our relationship with God. It is to love God more than anything in the world.
This is the ultimate fulfillment that our soul craves for and the ultimate happiness that doesn't depend on anything in the world. It gives us "peace which passeth all understanding" – our soul being cradled in the arms of the Father, trusting him and knowing that everything will be alright. This peace is beyond understanding because it is based on trust. It cannot be explained rationally, but our soul knows.
This I feel is a missing link in Buddhism, because Buddhism bases salvation mostly on understanding. While in Christianity, the most important is faith. I believe we need both, because neither blind faith nor pure intellect can save us.1 "Peace that passeth all understanding" is the only real peace, because it stems from both understanding and trust, both mind and heart.
Similar goes for stilling the mind. One of the main goals in Buddhism is to still the mind and stop the uncontrolled mind chatter. There are many techniques for that, some of which include hour-long chanting in order to suppress the chattering mind. It might work in part, but eventually, the mind can only be stilled through complete surrender to God. That's when we stop worrying, stop asking questions, and just Be, cradled in God's presence. Ultimately, only the heart can still the mind.
5. False way to peace: escaping matter
One of the key reasons why spiritual seekers are drawn to Buddhism is because they look for peace and cessation of struggle. Buddha gives a cure for that - get rid of inordinate desires and live the right way. A distortion of Buddhist teachings is that all desires are wrong and that material realm is unreal, so there is no point in wanting to achieve anything. These people glorify Spirit but neglect matter and Being in the Mother. We can see such attitude in India, where the level of hygiene is low and people doing their toilette in the street. Matter isn't important but only Spirit is.
This leads to passivity, escapism and lack of will to Be and fulfill our purpose in life. We are here to express and share our God-given talents, to grow in Christhood, to serve God in all life. We are here to express the Spirit of I AM in Matter, unite Father with Mother. That's the role of the Christ Son. Neglecting either Spirit or Matter will lead to imbalances and prevent our God-realization.
6. Another false way to peace: pure awareness
There is another false way to peace, and that is through "pure awareness". It is the doctrine of no right and wrong, with God unconditionally loving both good and evil (in fact, good and evil are considered dualistic concepts, so the doctrine denies the existence of evil). It is called pure because one is encouraged to abandon all preconceptions and restrictions, even moral and ethical ones. Even God's laws are seen as restrictions and subject to questioning.
The false peace comes from seeing the earth as a place of outplaying of free will of its inhabitants, for better or for worse. This doctrine doesn't set any expectations or a higher standard for how the world should be. It abandons the Christ standard, i.e. the Christ image of perfection, for both the people and the planet.
Promoters of pure awareness are undisturbed by injustice, claiming that there is no injustice, no right and wrong. Things are "as they are", simply outpicturing the mass consciousness. Their peace is a result of heartlessness and rejecting the Christ as our true identity.
Christ is the identity God gave us. We were created in the image and likeness of God, and if we are attuned to our heart, we will know what is right and wrong. These false teachers deny the indwelling Christ and set up a false identity, called the Conscious You. They set up a false reality, with a false God and alternative rules of salvation, where you can be antichrist and yet enter the kingdom of God. It is a teaching that appeals to fallen angels who don't want to bend the knee to the Christ.
They often use Buddhism as a starting philosophy because it emphasizes the mind and understanding as tools for salvation. But then they removed the right and wrong from Buddhism and came up with "anything goes". That's how they actually removed the inherent Christ principles from Buddhism and created a false doctrine.
Unfortunately, this doctrine is very widespread in the New Age circles. It is damaging for both those who practice it and the planet, because it leaves the evil unchallenged. It tolerates things that are outright wrong and should never be tolerated. It denies our inherent Christhood and the right to Be I AM here on earth.
In the West there is an opposite tendency to that in the Buddhist and Hindu countries. It is putting too much emphasis on the material life, specially in Protestant countries, where work is considered one of the pillars of religion. In Protestantism, a good believer is one who excels at work. As a result of this, in the Western and Norther Europe – in places with Protestant religion in majority - there is more organization, order, cleanliness, efficiency and material wealth.
As one goes south towards Spain and Italy, the standards loosen and the approach is more relaxed – which has its positive and negative sides. But people are said to be more friendly, open and relaxed, at least in terms of work. Maybe that's because Catholicism - the main religion there - doesn’t put too much stress on work and material achievements, but rather on attaining the treasures of the soul - living a virtuous life and loving our neighbor as ourselves. That's a good part of it.
However, Catholicism also promotes martyrdom and suffering as a way to salvation. It is the so-called Via Dolorosa, as exemplified by many Catholic saints in the past, and Mother Teresa in more recent times. The idea is that we should endure the hardships of life - bear our cross as Jesus did - because we will have our just reward in heaven, in the afterlife. This pacifies people and makes them unwilling to improve their personal lives, and even insecure about their right to do so. But it also pacifies people towards the manipulation and abuse of the power elite. It tells them they should accept things as they are - and not stand up for their rights.2
It doesn't mean that suffering and martyrdom is always wrong, because sometimes we will be martyred for speaking out and Being the Christ. But that's different than martyrdom which stems from thinking you deserve to suffer or that God wants you to suffer.
Christian doctrine on suffering has been a way to pacify people since the Middle Ages, when they were exploited both by their feudal lords and the clergy. And this is still happening today to some extent. A stark example of such manipulation can be seen in Catholic nations of South America, where people are very religious, very loving and kind, but completely incapable to stand up to the abuse of the narco mafia and the military junta, who control even the government. In Columbia, for example, a country abundant in natural resources, people are barely surviving because all of the land and natural resources are held in the hands of the mafia, which came into position of the land illegally - often through killings and death threats to the original owners.
The root of the problem is that people believe they are powerless and they are supposed to suffer, as Jesus suffered. And so they think they cannot do anything to stop the molestation of the drug barons. Clearly, if they refuse to claim their basic human rights, which are also their God-given rights to peace and freedom, then of course there will be someone to abuse it. And so we see extreme examples of power abuse in those countries. Until people stand in their own (Christ) power, they won't be able to help themselves.
8. Protestantism denies the indwelling Christ
The Catholic doctrine is closer to the original Jesus' teachings than the Protestant, because it says that we all can follow Jesus' example and grow in our sainthood, which would be equivalent to Christhood. Protestantism on the other hand has abolished the institution of saints, claiming that no one can ever be good enough to be a saint, that Jesus is an unreachable idol, far far above us, and we are sinners and shall remain sinners, who will be saved only because God is merciful.
This is the Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith only, which says that no matter of your good works, you are worthless. Therefore, you only have to proclaim Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and he will save you because he is merciful, not because you deserve it. This false doctrine is effectively killing the Christ in us and preventing us to value ourselves as God's beloved children.
A good thing about Protestantism is that it did away with the importance of the clergy and the institution of Church in our salvation. In the 16th century and earlier the Church was very corrupt, you could pay indulgences for your sins or even buy credit for future sins - it was all about the money and the Church became its antithesis.
Luther broke free from this farce, however he threw out the baby together with the dirty bath water. He denied the Christ potential in us, which created an unbridgeable gap between Jesus and us, which Jesus never wanted to happen.
Another damaging doctrine of Christianity is that women are responsible for the Fall of Man, since Eve was the first who took the apple from the Serpent and gave it to Adam. Paul's epistels to Corinthians don't help either, since the woman is required to be silent and let the man have the main word. Although women's rights initiatives in the 20th century did a lot to improve the position of women in the society, the Catholic Church still resolutely rejects the idea of women holding positions of authority in the Church.
The idea is still present that a woman is unfit to discern truth from error, and that her intuition is unreliable, as it was in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, she can't be allowed to make important decisions in the family or the community (and certainly not in the Church).
Another frequently used argument is that Jesus had only male apostles, so electing a woman would be a defense to Jesus. But Gnostic gospels reveal that Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' prominent disciples, and there exists even a Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which was discovered in the late 19th century in Egypt. But as many gnostic gospels, it never became a part of the Christian canon.
Jesus never said anything which would degrade women or make them inferior. But the world around him was male-dominated, and it obviously affected how even his apostles viewed women.
10. Divine Mother in the Church
Protestantism, specially Calvinism, stopped the adoration of Virgin Mary and removed her statues from churches. Divine Mother shows the way to Jesus because she embodies the purity of heart, soul and mind, and complete surrender to God's Will. Hers is the way to Christhood. She also represents a soul offering the gifts of her heart (such as beautiful devotional singing or other forms of art) to the Lord.
In Protestantism those gifts are not important, because nothing the soul offers can ever be good enough. Instead of heart-felt devotional singing, a lot of modern Protestant churches embraced rock and roll, which is unsuitable for expressing devotion and tenderness of heart. Moreover, it drains the energy from the heart into the lower chakras, giving rise to aggression and sexual agitation of the base chakra. Apart from music, the lack of Mother is visible in the austerity of the Protestant churches, which lack art and beauty and often have no decorations but only bare walls.
All three monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) have a more or less distorted view of women, femininity and Divine Mother. As a reaction to that, many Westerners embraced native spirituality which values the feminine principle.
Native spirituality revolves around worshipping Mother Earth, Sun and Moon, and natural cycles and phenomena related to them. Native people have a deep respect for nature and see interconnectedness of all life.
But there is a problem with native spirituality – it sees the Earth and the natural environment as more important than human beings, although God issued a command: multiply and have dominion! God created the Earth for us, his children, to multiply our God-given talents and grow in Christhood. But native people, and not just them, consider man rather a curse than a blessing. This is due to the legacy of white man and civilization, where the aim was profit without environmental considerations.
Such industrial and technological growth disregards the Mother, it actually reflects the hatred of the Mother and what some are capable of doing in their greed for money and resources. Esoteric teachings tell about technologically advanced civilizations in the past ages, such as Atlantis which was much more developed than our civilization today, and yet it sunk beneath the sea because of the abuses of science and music (creating human-animal hybrids, which is happening today, is very similar to what the Atlantean scientists practiced). Among the worst abuses of the Divine Mother are meddling with the genetic code and DNA of the living beings, as well as destroying the fabric of our soul through sound and music.
The greatest drawback of native spirituality is that it doesn't recognize the Christ within and the threefold flame of Love, Wisdom and Power that God endowed us with. It seeks power and inspiration from animal spirits instead of the Holy Spirit. But we don't need inspiration from ravens, wolves or cobras (frequent power animals), first because they are prey animals and not of the light, and second, because we have access to the power of God.
Native spirituality often dabbles in lower spirits and the astral realm, and encourages the use of drugs for spiritual experiences and vision quests. It promotes a sensual feminine, susceptable to emotional highs and lows, disconnected from her I AM Presence. The same as Buddhism can be unbalanced in the masculine aspect, with too much control of emotions and the feminine side, so native spirituality is unbalanced in the feminine aspect, lacking connection with the masculine side, i.e. God I AM.
12. Attitude to Christ and Mother
We can judge a religion or spiritual teaching by its attitude to the indwelling Christ and the Divine Mother. We are created in the image and likeness of God. Christ is this image, this blueprint of perfection which we are meant to grow towards to, and which Jesus Christ embodied fully.
There are religions that deny the inner Christ and our potential for Christhood. In Catholicism you won't hear openly about the inner Christ but it will be encouraged, by encouraging believers to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and Mother Mary. In Buddhism it will be encouraged by practicing right livelihood, i.e. the noble eightfold path.3
Devotion to Divine Mother is very important, since she represents the polarity of the Spirit in matter, i.e. God in manifestation. Purity and love for God's Will are the key features of the Mother. Each of us should embody the Mother, becoming the perfect complement and vessel for the Spirit of the Father.
Spiritual teachings which deny the importance of the Mother are false. Teachings that see Mother (and planet earth) as merely a platform to outplay various states of consciousnes - even to the point of becoming a home to the worse atrocities - are false teachings by those who hate the Mother. In those teachings, Christ is removed from our identity and the Conscious You inaugurated. This cancels out all moral and ethical principles for people and the planet, and "anything goes" attitude applies. In such a distorted setup, the fallen ones are given free reign to misuse the Mother and her children.
By restoring the Christ and the Mother, both the inner blueprint and the outer representatives in Jesus and Mother Mary, we are returning to the original purity that we were created with. We are returning to our God Being.
________________
1 The problem with Catholicism is that they are afraid of the Eastern wisdom, e.g. the teachings about the chakras and the subtle energy bodies, claiming that such teachings and practices like yoga are unsuitable for Westerners (sometimes even that they are of the devil). This deprives people of the wisdom and understanding of how they can help themselves, raise their energy and purify their chakras.
The prophet Ezekiel in his vision of heaven talks about four living creatures with wheels, whose spirit was in those wheels (Ezekiel 1:15-21). I believe the wheels represent the chakras. Both Ezekiel and the Revelation are full with visions difficult to understand, which belong to a more sophisticated, esoteric wisdom. The Ascended Masters with their progressive revelation are giving us explanation of that wisdom, since it is God's Will that we understand it in this day and age.
2 People in the Protestant nations are also prone to manipulation by the power elite, but it is done through glorification of the material side of life and consumerism, which makes people run after material success and material pleasures, neglecting the spiritual side of life.
3 These guidelines can be misused by putting too much stress on the outwardly "righteous" behavior, while forgetting about the quality of the heart, making the path mechanical. This can happen in any religion, when the letter of the Law becomes more important than the Spirit of the Law - which is love and trust in God.
