I hope all of you had an excellent Christmas and New Years. May 2010 bring an abundance of unity into your life.As I have been considering Christmas and the celebration of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and the subsequent celebration of the New Year, I have pondered its significance from an internal millennial perspective. This time of year has fascinating symbolism. The winter solstice. The birth of Joseph Smith. The celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. In Hanukah, the festival of lights. The new year. All these things point to greater light and truth coming into the world or the dawning of a new millennial day.
However, carnal man will continue to look for the external in these symbols rather than recognizing the great internal truths that are being presented right in front of them. Carnal man will worship these symbols and expand them in increasing layers of complexity that become burdensome and heavy. For instance, Christmas is often condemned for being too materialistic and in many cases it is. It can become the most stressful time of year. This is a great example of how carnal man's worship of signs, symbols, and tokens becomes a burden. As the burden becomes too heavy, in desperation, carnal man then will become sufficiently teachable and perhaps will learn the true meaning behind the symbols. The meaning is about you!
The prophet Nephi spoke well when he said that as he read from the books of Moses and that which was written by Isaiah, he "did liken all scripture unto" him and his people that it might be for their "profit and learning" (1 Nephi 19:23). Most members of the church interpret this scripture to mean that Nephi applied the scriptures to the external circumstances of the children of Lehi and their journey to the promised land as well as their encounters with Gentiles. This is a true interpretation of that scripture. However, there are deeper and more profound levels of understanding. Ultimately, the whole (holy) point of the scriptures is about you! It is the journey you are taking to come unto Christ and become perfected in him. Jesus clearly asked the Nephites: "What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." (3 Nephi 27:27). The whole (holy) point of scriptures and prophets, symbols, tokens and signs is to point the way to this meaning. However, the carnal and literalist man will only see and apply scriptures and the words of living prophets to their external environment. What will escape carnal man is that all these things will bring him experience to understand who he is. Once the meaning of scriptures and all things external to us is comprehended, a new INTERNAL millennial day will dawn and there will be a new heaven (spirit) and a new earth (body). The carnal man will have been allowed to perish and the illusion that comes from partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil will dissipate. Your spirit and body will cease their enmity and unite. Men and women will remember once again who they really are and will begin to create that which brings unity and peace first within and then without.
It would be helpful to liken the life and mission of Jesus Christ to our own lives. There are few who apply this to themselves. As you may recall, according to the teachings of the church, our Heavenly Father had a plan for his children to come to earth and gain a physical body and experience. The pre-mortal Jesus (Jehovah) volunteered to be our Savior and redeem us from the Fall where man would partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He would provide an infinite AT-ONE-MENT to reconcile us with God due to man becoming lost in the illusion of a harsh Telestial world filled with sin, death and decay. In desperation, man would need to rely on strict commandments given by messengers because fallen man will categorize all things as either good or evil in order to have illusory safety and survival. As a result, God would give more and more laws and commandments to burden man so they would wake up and see that they are partaking of an illusion. But man in his carnal state would then begin to worship the law and the prophets and miss the mark. Therefore, a Savior would be needed to show lost and fallen man the way back to unity (Tree of Life). They would need to pass the cherubim (angels/messengers) which stand as sentinels to guard the way of the tree of life. God is love (1 John 4:8). He would never want us to live eternally in hell, misery and illusion. Therefore we must consecrate all things to the Lord, including and especially giving up the illusion that comes from partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, before we can partake of the tree of life.
Jesus Christ would clearly show us the way and the path to do this. The difficulty will be in actually seeing that His life can be likened to our own. Many will take up stones and cry blasphemy. Some have attempted to illustrate these principles in word and/or deed. Joseph Smith said: "Brethren, if I were to tell you all I know of the kingdom of God, I do know that you would rise up and kill me." (As recalled by Parley P. Pratt in MS 55 (September 4, 1893): 585.). He also said: "Would to God, brethren, I could tell you WHO I am! Would to God I could tell you WHAT I know! But you would call it blasphemy and want to take my life!" (Life of Heber C. Kimball, p.333).
Jesus Christ is our perfect exemplar who shows the way clearly. Thus Jehovah came to earth, born in a miraculous manner into humble circumstances. He passes through a veil of forgetfulness. The prophet John said: "And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first." (D&C 93:12-14).
Each of us decided to come to earth and have a physical experience. Each birth is miraculous in some way. Each of us passes through a veil of forgetfulness. As a result we forget who we are and begin to become lost and fallen in the physical world. It is a humbling experience to lose your memory and have to put the pieces back together. But God is merciful. We have an opportunity to go from grace to grace until we become a joint-heir with Christ and receive of the Father's fullness. Each birth is a miraculous event and journey. Christ's virgin birth is more than a literal miracle but is an important symbol of each one of us. It teaches us who we are and what we have the power to create in the physical world when we become aware and understand the symbolism of all things. The virgin birth of Christ symbolizes purity or creating that which is pure and unifying and can be seen in this way:
God ---> Mary ---> Jesus
Even so, when we begin to understand who we are, we will recognize that we have a trinity within ourselves. Our triune nature can be described as:
Intelligence ---> Spirit ---> Body
It can also be seen this way:
Spirit ---> Body ---> physical manifestation or creation
The fruits of this inspired physical creation unifies and generates peace on earth and goodwill towards men.
When we allow divine intelligence to flow into our lives through our spirit, our body will become servant to that revelation and that which is created brings peace on earth and goodwill towards men. A new heaven and a new earth are created (or discovered) when we become perfected in Christ and live our lives in this way. What we create becomes unifying to the world rather than generating more fragmentation, warfare and tribalism. We too will truly participate in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Our role that we play in this process is co-created with God before the foundation of the world. We can embrace it and take the truly straight and narrow path or we can continue to worship signs, symbols and tokens as most do. Though our role will obviously not involve suffering in Gethsemane or on the cross, still we will have an opportunity to play a unifying role that brings AT-ONE-MENT.
However, when we take the broad well travelled road and fall into the illusion of the Telestial world by partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil moment to moment each day, the body becomes the first rather than the last. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. Often the body is so centric that it has no awareness of spirit or intelligence. This physically dominant state leads to anything but peace on earth or goodwill. Even when our body is aware of its triune nature of intelligence and spirit, it often leads to internal tribalism, fragmentation and internal warfare which then become externalized. This is the source of all hatred and external war.
It is of interest to note that Muslims of the Sufi tradition made a distinction with the concept of Jihad or Holy War. They describe a greater jihad which is the war within oneself rather than the lesser jihad which is an external war against the infidel neighbor.
We could say that the wars between the Nephites (spirit) and Lamanites (body) were of a similar vein. They appear to be external wars but they can also symbolize the war within ourselves. This internal symbolism supersedes literal or carnal interpretations. As we draw closer to God, the internal will become a higher truth than the external. The final great war of Armageddon can be symbolized as the final struggle within men and women to give up the illusion of the Telestial world and allow Christ to come and become King. Or in other words for your spirit to become a righteous king over the body.
When you live a life of conscious awareness of who you are, you will see things clearer and in a different way. A millennial day will dawn inside of you and you will witness a new heaven and earth. May this be a truly NEW YEAR that begins the birth of a millennial day within you.
Peace and blessings to you in your journey.
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