Saying 19
Jesus said, Blessed is one who existed before coming into being.
If you become my disciples and listen to me, these stones will serve you. In paradise, there are five trees that do not change between summer and winter, and their leaves never fall. Anyone who comes to know them will not die.
Outer space is studied relentlessly. We explore, uncover visible and invisible structures, order, cycles, forces, radical phenomena of all kinds.
What about inner space?
I join my hands together in front of my heart in prayer position and slowly separate them to feel the energy. The palms are each made of five bones, called metacarpals. One hand alone can not feel the energy. Energetically unified, the corresponding pairs of metacarpals make one set of five trees. Jesus's hands were nailed through the palms, power centers.
These "trees that do not change between summer and winter" have leaves that do not fall, the fingers. With our fingers and hands, we feed one another, caress, embrace, paint, dance, play music, hold hands, connect, heal. The same inner space is revealed when two people hold one hand against that of another, again as if making a set of praying hands. This too, does not change seasonally. Thomas puts his finger in Jesus's wounds to come to believe. He enters into that vortex and I imagine gets an energy jolt, an indisputable signal of aliveness.
So our "Oneness" can be experienced. The bones house the Spirit temporarily; and it is often through our hands that we are touched and "touch" the Spirit. As I come to know my inner space, I'm approaching the not-new-agey-at-all reality that I never die because I'm pure energy; the first law of thermodynamics states that energy can't be created or destroyed. It can only change forms. Will my energy stay coherent as the "me" identified by my consciousness? Jesus says we become angels and I believe him.
When I am surrendered and dwelling "in the shelter of the Most High," everything serves the purposes of the Most High, including the "stones."
Jesus said, Blessed is one who existed before coming into being.
If you become my disciples and listen to me, these stones will serve you. In paradise, there are five trees that do not change between summer and winter, and their leaves never fall. Anyone who comes to know them will not die.
Outer space is studied relentlessly. We explore, uncover visible and invisible structures, order, cycles, forces, radical phenomena of all kinds.
What about inner space?
I join my hands together in front of my heart in prayer position and slowly separate them to feel the energy. The palms are each made of five bones, called metacarpals. One hand alone can not feel the energy. Energetically unified, the corresponding pairs of metacarpals make one set of five trees. Jesus's hands were nailed through the palms, power centers.
These "trees that do not change between summer and winter" have leaves that do not fall, the fingers. With our fingers and hands, we feed one another, caress, embrace, paint, dance, play music, hold hands, connect, heal. The same inner space is revealed when two people hold one hand against that of another, again as if making a set of praying hands. This too, does not change seasonally. Thomas puts his finger in Jesus's wounds to come to believe. He enters into that vortex and I imagine gets an energy jolt, an indisputable signal of aliveness.
So our "Oneness" can be experienced. The bones house the Spirit temporarily; and it is often through our hands that we are touched and "touch" the Spirit. As I come to know my inner space, I'm approaching the not-new-agey-at-all reality that I never die because I'm pure energy; the first law of thermodynamics states that energy can't be created or destroyed. It can only change forms. Will my energy stay coherent as the "me" identified by my consciousness? Jesus says we become angels and I believe him.
When I am surrendered and dwelling "in the shelter of the Most High," everything serves the purposes of the Most High, including the "stones."
Saying 20
The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. He replied: It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all. However, when it falls into worked ground it sends out a large stem, and it becomes a shelter for the birds of heaven.
A newcomer or a sober sufferer with the Gift of Desperation (G.O.D., or "worked ground" ) encounters someone with a very different experience; instead of using the spiritual power of booze or running on empty sober, that person has found a way, a design, for running on the spiritual Power of God, (the God of the Universe, Elohim, Allah, the One, Good Orderly Direction). The sponsor in AA (or any other 12-Step program) has the desire to share the replicable process that has saved his or her life, to pass it on, give it away, to not hoard it.
This tiny "mustard seed" (the message within one awakened individual), grows and grows, just as Jesus' did in that he passed the message forward through 12 disciples (the large stem) to shelter the birds of heaven (those who stay close to the message, to the truth, to the Spirit) and travel about, sharing the good news. Freddy passed the message to Hymie. When both men passed away, these hopeless alcoholics turned out to have become "shelters for the birds of heaven." Their services were PACKED with people, with stories of how each man had been a channel for salvation in different lives.
The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. He replied: It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all. However, when it falls into worked ground it sends out a large stem, and it becomes a shelter for the birds of heaven.
A newcomer or a sober sufferer with the Gift of Desperation (G.O.D., or "worked ground" ) encounters someone with a very different experience; instead of using the spiritual power of booze or running on empty sober, that person has found a way, a design, for running on the spiritual Power of God, (the God of the Universe, Elohim, Allah, the One, Good Orderly Direction). The sponsor in AA (or any other 12-Step program) has the desire to share the replicable process that has saved his or her life, to pass it on, give it away, to not hoard it.
This tiny "mustard seed" (the message within one awakened individual), grows and grows, just as Jesus' did in that he passed the message forward through 12 disciples (the large stem) to shelter the birds of heaven (those who stay close to the message, to the truth, to the Spirit) and travel about, sharing the good news. Freddy passed the message to Hymie. When both men passed away, these hopeless alcoholics turned out to have become "shelters for the birds of heaven." Their services were PACKED with people, with stories of how each man had been a channel for salvation in different lives.
Saying 21
Mary asked Jesus: Who are your disciples like? He replied: they are like little children in a field that does not belong to them. When the field's owners come they will say: "Give our field back." They will strip naked in the owners' presence and give it back, returning their field to them.
Therefore I say: If a householder knows a thief is coming, he will keep watch and not let him break into his house (of his kingdom) and steal his goods.
You must keep watch against the world, preparing yourselves with power so that thieves will not find any way to come upon you.
The situation you are expecting will come. Let a person who understands be with you.
After the grain had ripened, he quickly came, carrying his sickle, and he harvested it.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Mary wants to know what the disciples are like; Jesus tells her they are little little children, unattached and free, ready to take off any clothes (the world, their bodies) and give all back to God, since they always knew it wasn't theirs anyway. God's money, God's house, God's car, God's sexuality, God's children, God's body: it ALL belongs to God.
Jesus goes on. Since that is true, I (the "householder") has to pay attention and prepare spiritually for the inevitable slippery slimy "thieves" that enter in order to invalidate faith, undermine goodness, hoard, separate, make me less than or better than, forget to pray, blame, grab, complain... "Let a person who understands be with you." I can NOT survive without fellowship, connection with others who understand.
God is going to harvest once my experience is ripe and ready to be "eaten" by others, so that they too can live sober and free and have a relationship with God, wake up each day without the remorse of drinking, with a "design for living" that works well.
If you can understand, then listen and live in this truth. How free do I want to be?
Mary asked Jesus: Who are your disciples like? He replied: they are like little children in a field that does not belong to them. When the field's owners come they will say: "Give our field back." They will strip naked in the owners' presence and give it back, returning their field to them.
Therefore I say: If a householder knows a thief is coming, he will keep watch and not let him break into his house (of his kingdom) and steal his goods.
You must keep watch against the world, preparing yourselves with power so that thieves will not find any way to come upon you.
The situation you are expecting will come. Let a person who understands be with you.
After the grain had ripened, he quickly came, carrying his sickle, and he harvested it.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Mary wants to know what the disciples are like; Jesus tells her they are little little children, unattached and free, ready to take off any clothes (the world, their bodies) and give all back to God, since they always knew it wasn't theirs anyway. God's money, God's house, God's car, God's sexuality, God's children, God's body: it ALL belongs to God.
Jesus goes on. Since that is true, I (the "householder") has to pay attention and prepare spiritually for the inevitable slippery slimy "thieves" that enter in order to invalidate faith, undermine goodness, hoard, separate, make me less than or better than, forget to pray, blame, grab, complain... "Let a person who understands be with you." I can NOT survive without fellowship, connection with others who understand.
God is going to harvest once my experience is ripe and ready to be "eaten" by others, so that they too can live sober and free and have a relationship with God, wake up each day without the remorse of drinking, with a "design for living" that works well.
If you can understand, then listen and live in this truth. How free do I want to be?
Praying Outside Sri Sathya Sai Baba Mobile Outreach Hospital, Andhra Pradesh, India