How Redefining Jesus Can Cause You to Feel the Enlightenment Intended in Scripture and Accept Other Religions as Equals

Jesus, in my opinion, is the most important figure to ever occur in Western History. The mistake that religion has made is that Christianity lays claim to Christ as being the "one and only son of God." This is a mistake. Buddha, Muhammed, and several others have made the path to God a process in which anyone seeking a relationship with God has a possibility. In my spiritual journey, I was privy to have met someone who presented Christ in a different light and explained that he was a Jew who found enlightenment. This would explain what he meant when he stated: "the Father and I are one." The religious leaders at the time when hearing this caused enough anger that led to Jesus being crucified. He had achieved God-consciousness and wherever he roamed he imparted this to others seeking higher truth. In my studies, I became convinced that self-realization was the only way for someone to experience what the bible says "on earth let it be as it is in heaven."

However millions have waited for Jesus to return the last 2000 years and yet it still lies ahead. Chopra says that the second coming is not a literal event but a shift in consciousness which I believe to be more aligned with what Jesus was trying to convey to the masses. Recently I came across an article where it is debated that Christ from birth and to the age of 26 had traveled to India and was celebrated as if he were the Dalai Lama. He was the living exemplar of the teachings practiced in the East. We have no account of the life of Jesus after birth and being visited by the wise men with gifts to witness the newborn baby Christ which was prophesied in their spiritual journey. In the New Testament Christ is baptized by John at the age of 30 and his brief life is detailed with his works, actions, and words that sprouted a religion that is still practiced by multitude all over the world.

There are many theories as to where Jesus was from the age of 13 to 29. Based on my studies the one that resonates the most is that Christ had been exposed to Buddhist teachings and lived out his 30s preaching what he had concluded through self-realization and fulfilled his purpose of being the light of the word and had no individuality. His will and that of God were both one and the same. In my experience religion tends to portray Christ as being superhuman and capable of impossible feats. This version of Christ, in my opinion, is not the real Christ but a theological creation to promote popularity to those who had an aching need to believe turning Jesus into a myth akin to that of Zeus and put him into the category of being otherworldly.

On my spiritual journey, I came across a book that Deepak Chopra wrote called "The third Christ, the Christ we cannot ignore." I listened to it every day for a few years and it did bring back my desire to know Christ again and get reinvolved with Theology. The book allowed me to reinvent my vision of Jesus and created the path for me to develop a spiritual practice based on things that were familiar in my catholic upbringing. This was a very pivotal moment for me. I grew spiritually and produced a stronger faith in the word of the bible and also gave me the ability to perceive other non-christian religions as equals. I believe that the inability to see other religions as being as relevant to those instilled in us in the West is the biggest obstacle to promote peace instead of war based on religious fantasies.

Since the beginning of time wars have been fought in the name of God by parties claiming exclusivity to his favor and has resulted in millions of deaths throughout thousands of years. It was not until my mid-thirties that I began to discover that we all pray to the same thing however each person's interpretation is based on their level of consciousness. Having the awareness to know that our relationship with God is deep and highly personal and no two people will ever be in agreement with all our individual beliefs just like no two people have identical fingerprints. We as people have the right to believe in whatever resonates with us. The key is having respect for others' visions and not believing that what we hold is true is the ultimate truth. The day we learn to live a life grounded in spirituality and not being inclined to force our perceptions on others due to the fact that reality is subjective and always has removed the capacity to kill in the name of love.

In 2020 all of us are living in the age of information with the ability to simply type our queries into google and receive answers instantaneously with a few clicks. It is astounding that even with the capability to find anything we are looking for on the internet we still have not learned what was being conveyed with the teachings in the world's wisdom traditions. It's my contention that what we are looking for has already come but lacks the awareness to recognize it. Every self-help book is written based on the blueprint or road map provided by the world's holy books. The problem lies in the inability to comprehend the message that is being presented to release us from the problems that life challenges us with that throughout the course of time have remained the same despite all our advancements made in the name of higher evolution. Theology is not inherently evil but has been the foundation of several who pervert the message and created an atmosphere of distrust in its ability to free us from the bondage of self by simply putting spirit first and works of the flesh last. As Jesus stated in John 10:15 “abide in me, as I in you” was a simple way to identify with a source that always provides and never denies or divides which may be an interpretation of Buddha's declaration “whoever sees me sees the teaching.”