Secrets of God

by Slawek Wojtowicz

  (5) Who else but you and God know when you lie—especially if you get really good at lying? Why do we lie? We lie when we are afraid. When we accept our true nature, we realize that there is no need to be afraid and to lie. Who are we lying to, besides ourselves? Who are we trying to hide things from? Nobody knows, besides you, what things you hate. When you hate the things you do, it may be a signal that you are not on the right path and that the time has come for a course correction. When you do things you hate, you hurt yourself and others, contributing to your own unhappiness and moving further away from God. Hating what you do is a signal that something is seriously wrong. Is what you are doing unethical? Are you abusive to others or are being abused by others?

  Your feelings are an important source of information. You can function much better in the world if you are able to feel your emotions and discern between different types of them. Negative emotions often serve as a warning—fear may tells us about impending danger, anger may alert us to the need to stand up for ourselves, boredom may imply that it is time to change what we are doing. Many of us try to avoid painful or unpleasant emotions and as a result we suppress our ability to feel emotions altogether, turning into emotional cripples. A person that is unable to fully experience negative emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, or anxiety won’t be able to feel compassion or love either. Please see also Saying 5.

  (6) Our history tells us that sooner or later all secrets come out into the light. Our goal is to live in a way that we won’t have to ever be ashamed of things that we do—whether in open or in secret. Since all of our minds are connected at the deepest level, even the most obscure secrets eventually are discovered and become common knowledge. A day is near when we won’t have any secrets—when the whole of humanity awakens, it will be impossible (and totally unnecessary) to do anything in secret.

  7. (1) Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; (2) and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man.”

  (1) The lion, a powerful and ferocious animal, is a symbol for an archetype and for powerful human passions. Archetypes, as described by Carl Jung, represent universal aspects of human experience. From beyond time and consciousness they express themselves everywhere—in dreams, myths, and fairy tales; in architecture, in proportions of plants and animals, and even in movements of stars and galaxies. In the above saying, archetypes signify powerful behavioral patterns that people are drawn to.

  Such behavioral patterns often entrap people taken in and influenced by them, when reinforced by repeated, semi-automatic actions. People who reach freedom are flexible in the various roles they play every day; they change their “hats” as circumstances dictate instead of being controlled by inflexible programming. Certain behavioral patterns may be perfectly appropriate in one situation, but not in others. For example, a woman who is a wonderful mother at home wouldn’t do very well in her workplace if she tried to mother all of her co-workers. Likewise, a general who orders his soldiers around would not do well at home if he tried to treat his wife like he treats his subordinates. A forty-year-old man who doesn’t want to grow up and only wants to play is likely trapped by an archetype of “an eternal boy” and will have problems with relationships. A soldier who returns home from the battlefield may be so profoundly changed by his experiences that it will be virtually impossible for him to live a normal family life. He may end up on the street or in the criminal underworld, totally possessed by the warrior archetype.

  A person who is flexible can use various archetypes to his/her advantage: He or she may switch easily from being a son/daughter of his/her parents to playing a role of a parent to their own children, and then turn into a devoted spouse; or switch from being a corporate executive during the week to a jazz musician or a gardener on weekends. When we identify excessively with a particular archetype, we stumble in our relationships and suffer as a result. Flexibility and openness are virtues and blessings in this context. Mystics believe that archetypes are sources of powerful energies: If we learn how to tap into them consciously, we will be able to participate in the game of life with little if any effort, energized by whatever we do instead of getting tired and worn out.

  (2) Similarly, a person who frequently allows powerful emotions to take over usually ends up being consumed by them. As a result, such a person loses his or her humanity. Instead of being kind and compassionate, he or she is increasingly driven by righteous anger, jealous rage, or other powerful, negative emotions. These emotions can serve as warnings that something is not right—if we remain in charge and don’t let ourselves react to them blindly, without thinking. However, some people become enslaved by their own emotions and find over time that it is virtually impossible to control these powerful feelings. They react like robots when a specific button is pushed. Thus, cursed is the man who becomes consumed by roaring emotions.

  The lion can also be interpreted as the sick ego, or the evil shadow within each of us. If we don’t tame it and replace egocentric behavioral patterns with selfless ones, it will overcome us, depriving us of our humanity and robbing us of the chance for salvation.

  8. (1) And he said, “The human being is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. (2) Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. (3) He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. (4) Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

  Synoptic gospels contain a version of this parable that appears similar on the surface: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13: 47–50).

  The meaning of this saying as recorded here is closer to the parables describing a treasure concealed in the field (Saying 109) and the pearl of great price (Saying 76 and Matthew 13: 44–46) rather than to the parable cited above. Life is an ocean full of fish, large and small. It is up to us whether we focus on a big goal—which like a big fish will provide us with enough food to last forever—or keep chasing the small fish over and over again, never satisfying our hunger. The big fish is the Kingdom of Heaven; the small fish are distractions in the world—money, power, status, fame, and other trappings of our civilization. When a man joyfully discovers the Kingdom within, everything else becomes valueless compared with this amazing find.

  If you know what you are looking for, it is easier to find it. A wise person is able to discern easily the true value and then will focus single-mindedly on the most important goal: the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus told us that everything else will be added once we reach the Kingdom (Matthew 6: 33). This is an extremely important message, as emphasized by the last statement: “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.” If we want to shorten our suffering, we need to take this message to our hearts. Striving for the Kingdom of Heaven should become our utmost priority.

  Another interesting interpretation resonates with the invitation that Jesus made to some of his disciples: “I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1: 17). Only the mature people (“large fish” in this parable) are ready to understand the secret, mystical teachings. Smaller fish need more time to mature and to become receptive to the message. When they are ready to accept the truth, they will meet the wise fisherman. The fisherman is wise and knows with whom to share the message.

  9. (1) Jesus said, “Now the sower went out, took a handful of seeds, and scattered them. (2) Some fell on the road; the birds came and gathered them up. (3) Others fell on the rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not send ears up to heaven. (4) And others fell on thorns; they choked the seeds and worms ate them. (5) And others fell on the good soil and it produced good fruit: it bore si
xty per measure and a hundred and twenty per measure.”

  (1–4) This parable is also known from canonical gospels (Mark 4:1–20, Matthew 13:1–23, and Luke 8:1–15). The seeds are the words of wisdom. The road, the rock, and the thorns, in addition to the worms and birds, prevent spiritual Realization, each in its own unique way. When one is ready to hear the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven, the message produces results and one grows in his/her understanding until he/she finally awakens. The hardened and well-worn road is a metaphor for our habits and unexamined, habitual thought patterns engrained in our brains. Our unexamined thoughts tend to follow automatically along well-established pathways in our brains like an ox-drawn cart on a well-worn road. It takes a lot of work to change these patterns and to shed unexamined assumptions about the world and other people.

  The rock is a metaphor for a close-minded person, whose mind is hardened to the point that no new ideas can take root. The interesting statement about seeds that “did not take root in the soil, and did not send ears up to heaven” points towards the mechanics of awakening. To awaken, we first have to be fully grounded in this world, fully present in our bodies; our roots have to be well established in the soil. Only then we can reach towards Heaven, bringing the Divine to Earth (see the kundalini awakening process described in the introductory section of the book). Thorns are conflicting desires that prevent us from hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. The birds and the worms that ate seeds are worldly distractions that prevent us from focusing on the Kingdom of Heaven.

  In the process of maturing, as we get closer and closer to God, we become a living example to everyone around us. When we awaken, we can help others to do the same. The good fruits that we produce as a result of our spiritual work are other people whom we help to awaken.

  10. Jesus said, “I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it is ablaze.”

  Compare this saying with Luke 12: 49, where Jesus says, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” The fire that Jesus brought to Earth is the fire of God’s Love. It burns and destroys everything that is not compatible with Divine Love: greed, selfishness, pride, anger, impatience, envy, jealousy, fear, sadness, cruelty, judgment, and dishonesty. That fire is present as a divine spark inside of each of us; we can fan the spark into the full-fledged fire by becoming more and more selfless and by giving ourselves in service to others. We can also squelch it by burying ourselves under the heavy armor of our ego and by choosing fulfillment of our selfish desires as our main priority. As a result of the latter, we separate ourselves from Love and Life, becoming more and more miserable and desperate.

  Jesus wasn’t the first human being to awaken, but he chose to make his message loud enough to reach everyone on the planet. His life, his miracles, his apparent death on the cross[2] and resurrection shook up Western world and gave inspiration to countless generations. Even though his message of love was distorted after he left us, it carries so much power that those who choose to enter the path to awakening can still use it as a guiding light and inspiration to this day.

  11. (1) Jesus said, “This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. (2) The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. (3) During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do? (4) On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?”

  (1) Mystics teach that this world is a world of flux and transition. Nothing here is permanent, and thus nothing is real. The two heavens will pass away, but the third one, the realm of God, will not (compare with 2 Corinthians 12: 2–4). Yet we fail to see the transitory nature of all things in our world, and we try to grasp and to latch on to the transitory images that we perceive as real. This is one of the major causes of suffering in our world, according to Buddha. People we love get older, lose their health and beauty, or betray us; power that we have gained fizzles away; fortunes we accumulate evaporate; cars and other toys we buy break down; and so on and so forth. The lesson that we are meant to learn is to not cling to impermanent things, but to look for the treasure that is permanent and that “won’t be eaten by rust or moths.” That treasure is love, and it is inside of each of us—we have to discover it within and learn to share it with others instead of searching for its substitutes in the outside world.

  (2) The dead are those of us who did not yet awaken to the love within. Those are the people who are so selfish that they can only take and are not willing to give to others. They operate like robots, blindly following the patterns imprinted in their youth by their parents, society, or religion, and thus cannot be considered truly alive. For example, both a “Christian” father who disowns his gay son or a “Muslim” father who beats his daughter because she doesn’t cover her hair has drifted very far away from God.

  God is both Love and Life. If you don’t see God in others and treat them with love and respect, you don’t have life inside of you either. You are dead, since you act like a zombie or a robot. Those who cultivate the love within are on the path towards awakening—and if they persist in spite of challenges and difficulties, they will awaken and gain freedom, including freedom from death. Only then they will become truly alive.

  (3) People who eat meat of animals eat what is dead. By eating dead animals we convert their dead flesh into our own, thus making it alive again. There is a significant downside to eating dead flesh. Along with proteins and other nutrients from the meat that we digest in our bowels, we also absorb stress and fear hormones released during animal slaughter. Since many of these hormones are almost identical to the hormones that induce stress and fear in human bodies, we increase the wear and tear of our own bodies, making them more prone to disease. According to Essene Gospel of Peace, “living food” is what sustains and heals people and makes them more alive. Thus, people who awaken and come to dwell in the light become vegetarian. God’s commandment “do not murder” was meant to extend to all animals. This is in line with Buddhist teachings, which say that killing other beings is not a caring thing to do.

  (4) Oneness is our original condition. God became two (or rather many) so that He can both give and experience love, learn about Himself, and have someone else to admire his creations. Once we are many, our goal is to re-discover and to return to our essential Oneness—it is the main purpose of our lives. In an eternal dance we join and separate, over and over again—dissolving into the bliss and ecstasy of Oneness and then separating again to experience the awesome glory of God from yet another vantage point.

  12. (1) The disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?” (2) Jesus said to them, “Wherever you are, you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.”

  James the Just was the half-brother of Jesus, who took over the leadership of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem after Jesus’ departure. Jesus had four brothers and two sisters born from Mary and Joseph. James was the closest in age to Jesus—likely only a year or two younger than him. He was one of the closest friends and disciples of Jesus—and thus was Jesus’ natural successor. James Tabor in his book Jesus Dynasty investigates the fates of Jesus’ family members and proposes that other brothers succeeded James after his martyrdom in the year 62 A.D. The next one was Simon, son of Mary and Clopas (a brother of Joseph, who under the Levirate Law married Mary after Joseph’s death), and finally his brother Jude. It appears that the family members of Jesus were in charge of the Christian community in Jerusalem well into the 2nd century A.D.

  So what about Peter, who according to the Roman Catholic Church was selected by Jesus as his successor? In the gospel of Matthew, Peter is told by Jesus that he is a rock on which he will build his church and will be given the “keys of the kingdom” (Matthew 16: 19). Yet it appears that he never really was in charge.

  What were the keys of the kingdom? Dr. Tabor quotes the book of Isaiah to shed light on thi
s question. This quotation concerns a certain Eliakim, son of Hilkiah: “I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open and no one shall shut; he shall shut and no one shall open” (Isaiah 22: 21–22). Eliakim was not a king, but an official in the household of King Hezekiah (of the lineage of David), who ruled in the 8th century B.C. (2 Kings 18: 18). To have the “key of the house of David” meant to be King’s chief of staff. Thus, what Jesus promised Peter was the “right hand” position of responsibility in service of James, who was of the house of David, like Jesus. According to Paul, James assigned Simon Peter the function of a teacher responsible for taking Jesus’ message to Jewish diaspora scattered throughout the Roman Empire (Galatians 2:7). There is no scriptural evidence that Peter was ever in charge of the whole Christian movement.