Why I think Jesus should neither be feared nor worshiped

Jesus, as a person, was asking us just to walk with him a while and see the world as he does, through his filter. I do believe Jesus was a real person, every bit as real as the Buddha or Krishna ( speaker in the Bhagavad-gita). His teachings are full of inspiration and something that humans should all strive for and what could be wrong with that. I do not know if he is the son of God but if he is, that's great too.

I believe you can still study and love the teachings of someone who got sucked into a religious dogma with out being religious. It does not have to be one or the other although some make you think you have to choose but notice, they usually do it with fear or guilt as a motivator. For me, this thought provided me with freedom to study and learn teachings from many sources, keeping the good and useful bits but not getting caught up in the religious scaffolding.

I do personally believe Jesus and maybe others in conjunction wrote the Course in Miracles, a book that I frequent. It was written to set the record straight about his time here and what we perceived wrong. When I read the ACIM, I really try hard to imagine anyone else writing it. I think that it's still possible that someone else did write it but list would be really short. Its concepts are far beyond things that most people have available to them. I'm not all that into Christian symbolism as a mantra to live by but I find the ideas put forth in ACIM difficult to ignore.

In ACIM, Jesus tells us why we should not worship him. ACIM p. 7 Revelation, Time and Miracles :

"Awe should be reserved for revelation, to which it is perfectly and correctly applicable. It is not appropriate for miracles because a state of awe is worshipful, implying that one of a lesser order stands before his Creator. You are a perfect creation, and should experience awe only in the Presence of the Creator of perfection. The miracle is therefore a sign of love among equals. Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to me. An elder brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience, and obedience for his greater wisdom. He is also entitled to love because he is a brother, and to devotion if he is devoted. It is only my devotion that entitles me to yours. There is nothing about me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing else. This leaves me in a state which is only potential in you."

Does this sound like a guy (or person) who is beating you over the head with eternity or damnation or a guy that came here so that we would worship him? It sounds like to me that he is trying to lift us up out of the slums of where we sometimes exist with each other to a higher place, where we can see more clearly our relationship with and to all things. He is letting you know that if you worship him you set yourself apart but if you strive to be like him in action then he has nothing that you can not achieve or that does not belong to you.

It is a beautiful message of encouragement that everyone can live in a better world based on their actions. You get back what you put in and at some level it is a closed system. Being worthy is not something that should be granted through a ceremony or a Hail Mary but something that is only earned, through a devotion to doing right by others.

I have also studied a lot about Edgar Cayce, deemed "The Sleeping Prophet". One of his statements that always sticks with me as good advice to live by is, "Know Thy Ideal". It is akin to the notion that if you think good things, good things will come. Cayce encouraged everyone to explore their life and know their ideal and when your ideal is set, your life becomes automatically pulled towards what you have set as that ideal. I am constantly reminded that if you don't know your ideal then you will just aimlessly wander, which can be educational too for a while I suppose. However I do think it takes some mental searching and effort to discover your ideal and then set your life on that course so that you can act. Mostly people probably don't know that they don't know what their ideal is.

I am thankful that the teaching of Jesus are available as are many others to help us form our ideals. I see him simply as an "older brother" that has gone before to help bring light to the world and all the other if's and's or but's were added later by people seeking to control people in some respect or other. I promise I will post other things on this blog than my thoughts about Jesus but I thought this needed to be said.