Secrets of God

by Slawek Wojtowicz

  38. (1) Jesus said, “Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. (2) There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me.”

  Awakened people are still difficult to find, even though more of them inhabit this planet right now than ever before in the history of humanity. Most of us live in a haze of delusional dreams, in a collective madness that prevents us from seeing the oneness of all life. This collective insanity is what causes widespread unhappiness, what drives us into wars and other conflicts. It is what causes religious persecution; it is what has been causing indescribable suffering on our planet in the last two millennia since Jesus left us.

  Once you find an awakened person, use the opportunity to grow towards awakening yourself as quickly as you can. You may not get a second chance in this lifetime, and for the rest of your life you will be left wondering what would have happened if you chose to walk the road leading to salvation.

  39. (1) Jesus said, “The Pharisees and the scribes have received the keys of knowledge but they have hidden them. (2) Neither have they entered, nor have they permitted entry to those who wished to enter. (3) You, however, be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

  The keys of knowledge have been given to humanity repeatedly, and we have managed to destroy or lose them over and over again. Let’s be thankful that God loves us so much and that He is infinitely patient with us! People who are not ready to receive the knowledge and thus do not understand it often attempt to destroy it or hide it from others, since they feel threatened by it. They sense that such knowledge is a source of power, and because they can’t use it themselves, they prefer to keep it from others who might utilize the knowledge and thus become more powerful. Our history is replete with religious persecution, suppression of unorthodox views, burning of heretics, and wholesale destruction of mystical texts. Yet, ironically, one has to become a heretic to be saved. One has to question all assumptions and beliefs—and such questioning has never been welcome by organized religions. Remember, Jesus was a heretic, too!

  Seeking God has been a dangerous hobby on this planet in the last few thousand years. In most cultures mystics had to pursue the knowledge in secret to avoid brutal persecution and death, and even today it is still a dangerous business in many parts of the world. One has to be shrewd enough to follow the rules of those who are in power (at least on the surface) and not to advertise his/her subversive beliefs. It is also important to remain pure and innocent at the same time. It is clearly a complex balancing act.

  As we progress on our spiritual path, we become more sensitive to the injustice and insanity surrounding us. Often the first impulse is to correct the wrongs and to confront the confused evildoers, who hurt themselves and others. Yet we have to be very careful how we do that. For example, someone working in the corporate environment may see very clearly the greed, power plays, corruption, and fear-driven politics in his/her workplace. Yet confronting those in power directly is likely to result in retribution instead of any substantial change in the company culture. Those driven by the ego respond from their ego. They lash out at any perceived threats to their power and authority. Thus, one needs to be wise. It may not be a good idea to attack directly those who are still in the stupor. We are better off working on being more kind, caring, and compassionate towards other co-workers. As you change yourself, others around you may start changing too. And if your corrupt bosses are not willing to change, perhaps it is time to look for another job.

  40. (1) Jesus said, “A grapevine has been planted outside of the Father. (2) And since it is not supported, it will be pulled up by its roots and will perish.”

  Our world is an experiment of sorts. The question that it is meant to answer is whether it is possible to live apart from God. Is life possible without Love? Is life possible without Life? Indeed, life without God is a contradiction in terms. Without the support of love, nothing can survive. A life without Love is a life in hell, a life full of fear and suffering. Fortunately, our experiment is coming to an end. More and more of us are finally realizing that we can’t live without Love, awakening to that truth and making our first steps on the way back home.

  Many people feel that there is a lot of suffering ahead of us before we can awaken and transform ourselves as a species. Do we have to suffer to awaken? Unfortunately, it often takes suffering to shake us up enough to break the trance in which we have been immersed. Ironically, each of us is responsible for all of the suffering that we experience. The world that is built without love has to perish, dissolving into the nothingness from which it came. The same principle applies to individuals who choose to live without love—they are simply failed experiments, and their fate is to disappear without a trace, like a bad dream.

  41. Jesus said, “Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has.”

  The “something” that Jesus talks about in this saying is love. Love grows exponentially; when we give it to others, we receive more than we gave. That in turn encourages us to be even more loving. When we don’t share love with others, but instead keep taking and taking from them, we burn out any reserves of good karma (or grace) from our prior lives, and our experience of the world turns into a nightmare. We build an armor to protect ourselves from blows that seem to come unexpectedly from all directions. That armor in turn prevents us from sharing love with others and from discovering God within. Selfish people become progressively more and more unhappy as they get older. Their health fails, they lose friends, they don’t trust anyone, and they sink deeper and deeper into the hell of their own making. It takes a lot of faith, courage, and patience to dig out from a hole we have dug up for ourselves. But once we change our mind and start being kind and loving towards others, the world gradually starts changing into a friendlier place as well.

  42. Jesus said, “Become passers-by.”

  There is a similar version of this saying known from the Upanishads: “Life is a bridge; enjoy while crossing, but don’t build a castle upon it.”

  We become easily entangled by the games of this world: power, money, fame, status, sex, or material things such cars, electronic gadgets, or other toys. Our attachments to these things prevent us from awakening to our true nature and deprive us of the realization that we are already perfect human beings that don’t need anything to feel perfectly joyful, whole, and peaceful. When we let go of grasping, of chasing after things that cannot provide us with true fulfillment and satisfaction, we discover the spacious freedom and abundance within that allows us to give freely without expecting anything in return.

  43. (1) His disciples said to him, “Who are you, that you should say these things to us?” (2) Jesus said to them, “You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, (3) but you have become like the Jews, for they either love the tree and hate its fruit or love the fruit and hate the tree.”

  It was very confusing and sometimes upsetting for Jesus’ disciples to be with him. One can hear indignation in their question, as if there were saying, “How do you dare to speak such blasphemous, disturbing, or offensive things to us?” He pushes their buttons, shocks them with Zen-like koans, and stretches their minds in all possible directions. They are attracted to him and his teachings, but are upset when lessons become too personal, when Jesus exposes their own distorted ways of thinking. They feel the pull of his personality, they admire him, but they are also afraid of the changes that are required of them to follow his example. They are eager to listen to his stories and parables, but reluctant to do what he asks of them. Yet it is not sufficient to just listen to his parables, since their purpose is to open our eyes and to change our everyday behavior instead of just providing entertainment.

  When we make a decision to enter the path leading towards God, we have to accept the consequences of that decision and consistently apply the message of love to our own lives. When we claim that we are Christians, we
must follow Jesus’ example. He demonstrated very clearly with his life that it is possible for a human being to be unconditionally loving, compassionate, and forgiving. Yet many so-called Christians claim that it is not realistic to expect mere humans to be like Jesus. A commonly used excuse is that he was the Son of God and we are not. Yet he was teaching very clearly that we all are children of God, like in the Lord’s Prayer, when he taught us to call God “Our Father.” Jesus taught that he is not exceptional or different from anyone else on this planet. He also told us explicitly that we will be able to do what he did and more. It is time for all of us to accept this message and to apply it in our daily affairs, always remembering to see the Christ in everyone else and treat them accordingly.

  44. (1) Jesus said, “Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, (2) and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven, (3) but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either on Earth or in Heaven.”

  God loves us unconditionally, even if we blaspheme against Him. We are His lost children and He rejoices when we re-discover our true identity and reclaim our inheritance. The voice of the Holy Spirit is our only consistent link to God—a gentle voice that we hear inside of us when we calm down our minds. It provides guidance in times of trial and teaches us to be compassionate towards ourselves and others. This is the voice of love, which urges us to forgive others their trespasses against us and allows us to forgive ourselves for the mistakes we have made. In truth, we are the ones who need to do all the forgiving. If we blaspheme—that is, if we deny or ignore our internal voice, we gradually lose our ability to hear it, thus forsaking the lifeline leading to salvation. We can’t be saved if we don’t forgive ourselves, and we can’t do it without forgiving others. In the canonical gospels Jesus stressed the importance of forgiveness, and a modern gospel known as A Course in Miracles is devoted almost entirely to teaching how to truly forgive everyone, and thus how to forgive ourselves.

  45. (1) Jesus said, “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. (2) A good man brings forth good from his treasury; (3) an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil treasury which is in his heart, and speaks evil things. (4) For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things.”

  Our actions reflect our intentions—when our hearts are kind, compassionate, and caring, our actions bring good fruit. When we don’t love ourselves, it is easy and natural to hate others, and our actions reflect our thoughts. We have to change the way we think about ourselves before we can genuinely love others. That includes recognition and acceptance of our shadow—all of our negative traits. We should also learn to see the world in a different way—to perceive everything “outside of us” as a reflection of our inner world. As long as we don’t see ourselves in everyone we meet, we remain confused, unhappy, afraid, and distrustful of the “other.” The only way to escape the cycle of reincarnation is to transcend yourself, to grow into something bigger than your ego, to become a selfless person in service of others. That is the essence of enlightenment and the ONLY way out of this world.

  46. (1) Jesus said, “From Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women, no one is so much greater than John the Baptist that his eyes should not be averted. (2) Yet I have said, whichever one of you comes to be a child will be acquainted with the Kingdom and will surpass John.”

  John the Baptist was a very famous figure in his day. However, he started his ministry before awakening himself. By focusing on the external world and trying to awaken others instead of doing more work on himself, he lost his opportunity to awaken during that lifetime. Those who follow Jesus’ teachings and apply them to themselves will reach the goal of awakening and will surpass all the prophets from the past who did not gain immortality. Each of us can be compared to a projector that generates all of perceptible reality around us. Thus, when we are unhappy with what we see in the world around us, it doesn’t make sense to try to fix the images on the screen instead of changing the movie played in the projector. The only reliable way to permanently change the world around us is to change ourselves first.

  47. (1) Jesus said, “It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows. (2) And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously. (3) No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. (4) And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. (5) An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear would result.”

  When we make decisions regarding how to behave from one moment to the next, we can’t be simultaneously selfish and loving towards others. We have to make a choice for God or for the ego—whether to serve other selves or our own self. On our level of reality it is one or the other, but not both. When we see Christ in others, we treat them with love and kindness, just like we would want ourselves to be treated. When we see others as separate from ourselves, we tend to treat them as enemies or competitors. The change in the way we see the world doesn’t come immediately; it takes time to shift our perception and to always recognize the true nature of reality and underlying connectedness of all things. We have to become a totally new person to serve God with all of our heart and mind and soul, instead of serving the ego.

  48. Jesus said, “If two make peace with each other in one house, they will say to the mountain, ‘Move away,’ and it will move away.”

  New research presented in November 2007 at an annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America suggests that people tend to drift further and further apart the longer they are married. The vast majority of partners in long-term relationships perceive one another as getting progressively more irritating and demanding over the course of the marriage. The researchers from the University of Michigan analyzed responses from over 800 individuals of different ages, collected in 1992 and 2005 as part of the “Social relations and health over the life course” study conducted in the Midwest. In all age groups, individuals reported viewing their spouse as the most negative compared with children and friends. The negative view of spouses tended to increase over time. Researchers speculated that the study results could be a consequence of accumulated contact with a spouse, such that the nitpicking or frequent demands that once triggered just a mild annoyance develop into a major pain.

  For instance, the longer partners stay together, the more they have to deal with the other’s idiosyncrasies. They noted that it’s possible that negativity is a “normal aspect” of close relationships that include a great deal of daily contact. While relationships with spouses became more negative, relationships with friends seemed to become less demanding and irritating over time—perhaps because people can continuously choose and discard their friends, disassociating from those who they don’t get along with.

  The person who becomes your spouse or life companion is exactly who you need to help you to awaken. A Course in Miracles states explicitly that nobody can awaken alone. Living in the world, amidst other people, and inside our family gives us more opportunities to see ourselves clearly and to reach higher levels of consciousness. Escaping from the world into solitude may decrease our suffering, but it slows us down on the path towards salvation. When we pick our mates, we subconsciously chose just the right person to help us to grow, “to deny ourselves” by overcoming our programming, and by transcending our limitations. Since our purpose in this world is to become more and more loving, we need to become more focused on others’ needs instead of our own desires and to be more giving instead of always asking for more.

  For example, a man who was abused by his father or mother as a child often finds a wife who also grew up in an abusive family and was victimized by her parents. When the “honeymoon period” is over, his ready-made response to marital conflict is what observation of his parents taught him: physical or verbal abuse of his wife. He does it automatically and with
out thinking—even though he certainly hated being abused as a child. His part in this game is first to admit that he has become an abuser just like his father, and to remember how he felt when he was the victim of abuse. The next step is to empathize with his wife and to undo the programming that makes him behave like his father. He has to break the chain of abusive behavior that goes back many generations. His wife, on the other hand, needs to realize that she doesn’t have to be a victim anymore. She has to take her power back and stand up to her abusive husband, protecting herself and her children. If her husband is unable to change, she should leave him.

  Some may point out here that Jesus taught us that a man should never divorce his wife: “Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ ‘What did Moses command you?’ he replied. They said, ‘Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’ ‘It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,’ Jesus replied. ‘But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate’” (Mark 10: 2–9).