I really enjoyed reading your post. In the 1990’s I did a lot of inner work through “the Artist Way” by Julia Cameron. When I took a leap of faith of starting a decorative painting business (feeling it was the right path) the opportunities completely stopped. I was devastated thinking did I get it wrong. But I persevered. It slowly grew and evolved. Just wasn’t immediate. I always try to listen to my inner path. I thank you for writing this. Look forward to your book.
Thank you so much for your kind words. It's funny you mentioned "The Artist's Way." The ideas that brought me out of inner darkness and back into the light are the ideas that eventually became the book I am working on. But I've since read The Artist's Way and I kinda/sorta independently "recreated" what was in that book as an intuitive way of reawakening creativity in my self, and thus reconnecting with my soul and ultimately it brought me back to a completely felt experience of God.
Here's an excerpt from the Intro of my book, The Sovereign Artist, where I pay homage to The Artist's Way (and The War of Art):
After I had established myself as “someone who writes,” and had built a decent sized following, I happened to read two books that I’ve always heard about, but had never read previously: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield (I highly recommend both).
While reading those two books, I realized that the way in which I had saved myself, and recovered the color and joy of life, had been my own independent re-invention of what those two books recommend! My version is different, of course, but the path of this book and those two venerable volumes tread through the same magic forest.
How much I needed to read this! It’s odd stumbling across this post now — I don’t ever have time or headspace or solid footing to read much beyond brief blurbs in posts. What allowed me to be on this page today? I am in great turmoil and am experiencing things that are shaking my very existence. I have prayed more and more, I have started feeling, seeing, hearing, sensing God’s presence at times when I need it the most — when I am spinning around in a sometimes daily vortex and drowning in it. I went from hearing a calling once or twice a year to every few months to every Sunday and now to almost every day. Something is happening, and I read this and finally fully appreciate the meaning of the parable of the talents.
I am saying a prayer for you now Robert. I believe the world is on the verge of a great spiritual awakening. I know I have awakened to the fire within in the past few years, and many I know are feeling God in a new way. The world needs people to awaken. It sounds like that might be happening to you. I am sorry to hear you are in great turmoil. The world is calamitous of late, and the only solution I have found (my life is chaotic as well currently) is to find the calm beyond all calmness that can only be found in the deafening silence of God, which can only be found within.
Thank you for your prayer. The silence is absolutely deafening — and is surprisingly not silent at all as I allow myself to fall into it more and more.
I’m painting… and painting… every day. I have to. It makes me happy and fills a need. Is it “practical?” In an economical sense, I guess not. But I’d be impoverished without it.
I just like painting, I paint consistently every day and it makes me happy , so I appreciate hearing from others who feel that same sense of inspiration.
Even though I am not a Christian, it was promising and assuring to follow ourselves without caring for others judgey eyes. It felt relieving to hear the words of God and have faith in God.
I read this finally after postponing it for 3 days. And I have given up mostly on being smth I am not. I have realised I should be what I wish to be rather than what world forces me to be. Your post helped me to make my ideology more stronger.
It matters not what you call yourself or even if you believe anything at all. We all hear and feel the creative calling inside. The Christ consciousness I speak of (which I referred to as other names) is available to all of us at any time. You don't have to consider it "Christ" though. Hindus call it Kutastha Chaitanya. It is a universal, pure, and unchanging consciousness that is immanent in all creation. It is often described as a state of oneness with God. You don't even have to believe in God. If you meditate, sit quietly, go deep inside, feel the call of wonder, beauty and goodness, and don't turn away from the things you feel you truly are, you will find it and the Kingdom. If it helps, you can think of these things simply as forces that pervade the universe. Even science knows the whole universe is an illusion of sorts made of vibrations in quantum fields that pervade everything and that there is undeniably a force of transformation that is evolving things to ever more order and complexity. They have theories as to why that is happening. That divine drive/intelligence/song is the Logos which some call the Christ Consciousness and others call other names. Organized religion we have to be careful of or it can lead us down dogmatic explanations that don't want to be questioned. True spirituality consists of being completely open minded to any truth, even if it disagrees with our previously help beliefs. These truths we can learn to discern for ourselves. I agree with you, don't let the world force you into a box that isn't a box you want to be in.
I find may self on the end og journey. It was funny I ecspected trumpet sign of God. Do you know have I was shooked when I hear voice in english. Terrible. You notice that I writh english like he come and bay felling.
Voice say: You dont need to learn nothing
you dont need to go nowhere
you are Home.
That was so gentle.
Magical.
From that time Im leaded bay heart. I stop learning I prefer teory we know everything but we forget. That is closer to may acsepting.
Your words strike to the core. Having been raised in an evangelical environment listening to the sermons of the talents, you bring it to life for me as at a time when I’m ready to listen with spiritual ears. Having gone left instead of right when I was starting out adulthood, I took the practical path and here I find myself at a crossroads at the age of 54 with time running out. Stay the course and become debt free in a couple of years to fully do the work God has entrusted me to lift people through my art or what if I don’t reach a couple of years? I’m trying to shift my thought process out of corporate America to follow the talent gradually. Thank you for this gift. God Bless.
"Midway upon the journey of my life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost" - Dante, The Divine comedy.
The purpose, I have come to believe, of a mid-life crisis, is to wake us up. A spiritual awakening. We should use the wake up call not to chase power, second marriages to a younger spouse, or sports cars, but to find what we are being called to do. To some degree, it makes sense to pursue material things first and have a level of security when we later turn to spiritual things. Don't give up, plenty of people, especially creatives, have accomplished much in the autumn and winter years of their lives. I am in the same boat and am excited to see where writing goes, after having been a software developer for most of my career.
I’m a solution architect with a 20 billion dollar private company and so I know you know what I’m talking about. Yes, we have a calling just need to get off the hamster wheel and time it right. Upgrading my subscription to support your writing journey, its giving me much value to strengthen my thoughts. Thanks
Yes. We have a dearth of courageous men. Very few people truly know who they are and so just kind of blow around in the winds of propaganda adopting beliefs they have been spoon fed. The first step is always to “know thyself.”
I normally brush past your Bold Brush emails but this morning I found the topic interesting as I am at a major crossroad in my life. Starting over at 72 after my 21 year marriage ended due to a cheating spouse. It destroyed everything I thought I knew about myself and my life. It rocked me to my core and I have not painted since discovering the betrayal nearly a year ago. The divorce is final. The house has finally sold and I am now free to embark on a new life alone. Your words have encouraged me in that I know all this was part of the Lord’s plan and He is wanting so much more for me. Your article has given me so much to think on as I do know that I have been given many talents to spend, grow and use as God intended. Looking back, I can now see that I wasn’t fully being myself and was keeping myself small to keep someone else happy who was clearly unhappy with the life I thought we were building together. I hope and pray that I will have the courage to be my weird and bold self so that I can truly increase the talents I have been blessed with. Thank you for your lovely writing. So glad it called to me this morning.
Linda, I am so sorry to hear what you've been through these past few years. Thank you for having the courage to share your story and for letting me know that you found encouragement in my writing. My heart soars to know that it may have brought you even a small amount of hope. That is why I write. That is why we all create Art. To help and express ourselves, yes, but also to send inspiration and energy to others across space and time. I am glad you have realized you weren't being fully yourself since the quest to become our true and full self is the mission that we are on. Thank you again.
Clint, you are such a talented writer, a great friend, and a grand advocate of us artists. However, I must agree to disagree. As a Bible-believing Christian, I believe that our purpose is to glorify God in all we say, think, and do. But we fall short. However, we get to gain a relationship with our Creator and enjoy His presence forever through Jesus Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Then we can enter His Kingdom - not BE a kingdom. He gives us talents so we can glorify Him, not to glorify ourselves. I believe this parable of talents is about His Lordship and our stewardship of what He has given us. We get to surrender to His will, not ours. No matter how well we use our talents, we don't get to be little gods. And with the talents He created in us (and with His help), we have a duty to do, say, write, paint, create, etc., what is good that glorifies Him and helps others, not ourselves. Outer darkness doesn't sound like a great place to be. After all, Jesus mentioned hell more often than He mentioned heaven. Hell to those who thought they were good enough, and heaven to those who knew they were not.
Thank you so much for your comment, I do appreciate it very much! I'm not sure what part you are disagreeing with specifically, I don't disagree with what you've expressed in your comment. Absolutely we must surrender our egoistic will to raise our consciousness level to the same level as The Divine Intelligence that pervades all. There we find God, our ego falls way, we see true reality (The Kingdom), are pervaded with peace, love, creativity and joy and we do his will. We learn there that we are a part of God, he is the vine and we are the branches and as long as we don't fall back into our lower nature, our ego, we then follow his will. I'm putting all this in Christian terms. In that ascended state, we are one with God. Being one with God may sound new-agey, but it's also biblical, In John 17:21, Jesus prays, "that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me". Saying everything in the universe, including each of us, and our souls, is God also sounds new-agey but again as Paul says in Ephesians, "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all". I am not saying we can BE the Kingdom. But the Kingdom is within us, as Christ said. Going within us by following God's call for us is how we find it and enter it. The Kingdom is at hand, look not for it here, or there Jesus said. You can't find it "here or there" because it's INSIDE. I agree with you that outer darkness is a terrible place. It is being in hell. If my piece made it sound like a good place to be, I need to clarify that. When we turn away from the call of God and what he wants us to do, what he wants us to create, we build a shell around our soul. We feel sorrow. We feel like something is missing. The shell encapsulates the divine light of the kingdom within us. And, in that state, we feel the outer world, the earthly material realm is all that exists. We are in the OUTER world without the pure divine light to quicken us. The OUTER (material) world without divine light is OUTER DARKNESS. It is a terrible place to be. It is a hell and many people are in it much of the time. No wonder Jesus spoke of it often, he stood there having discovered the path out of such a state trying to wake people up to follow him out of the outer darkness and back into the inner kingdom where the pure divine light and the transcendent christ consciousness can bring us all that is good. I agree that my interpretation of the bible might be somewhat different than mainstream modern Christianity (though it is in line with how many early Christian's understood the scriptures), but it is the insights I am given from Christ during meditation. They are not my own beliefs or something I am just making up. Just this past weekend, doubt entered my mind, and the Christ Intelligence clearly said, "Do not stop writing about these subjects. This is my will for you. This is what you are supposed to be doing." That was not my thought, it came from some larger connection. We might not get to be little Gods, but when we are completely joined with God, we are a part of God ,we become "Sons of God" and as long as we do only his will, we have that power. But in that state, our ego would be completely gone. That is the state Christ spoke of in which we could move mountains. We aren't little Gods, we are cells in the body of the one God. So though we might have some disagreement about some interpretations, I don't think anything I wrote in this piece contradicts what you said in your comment. I feel like, though I might be misunderstanding something you wrote, that we are actually in complete agreement!
I'm not in complete agreement with what you're saying. That's a lot of words to say what Satan told Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 when he twisted what God said. He told them they could be like God. They couldn't. And like what he tried to tell Jesus in Matthew 4 and Mark 4. Adam and Eve fell for it. Jesus did not. The thing that bothers me is that you have a lot of influence on a lot of folks. Still friends, Clint, but on different pages spiritually. I do hope you'll read Pilgrim's Progress.
They were ALREADY like God, they were in union with him. They needed nothing else. They were made in his image. Satan convinced them to eat from the fruit of their ego (as he had) and try to be like god SEPARATE from him. The delusion Satan sold was that they needed to become separate from him. That they needed to fall out of unity and into duality (the good and evil, dark and light, etc duality). Duality is an illusion of the material realm, of the ego, of satan or what Hindus call Maya. Buddha didn't fall for it either. Jesus didn't fall for it because he remained in that ascended state of Christ consciousness where he was transfigured from being Jesus the man (the son of man as he refers to the body/ego) into Christ the God (the son of God as he refers to the Christ Consciousness of which he was the perfect embodiment). Even after forty days of fasting and meditation he did not allow himself to fall into his ego and succumb to the temptation of the ego and the flesh. He kept his consciousness in union with God constantly, even when not in meditation. What I am saying is nothing like what Satan said in the garden. What I am saying is what a huge percentage, if not the majority of early Christians including many famous church fathers and saints said and believed. The modern interpretation has been warped via the council of Nicea, Justinian's edicts, and the rise of of dispensationalism invented by John Nelson Darby in the 18th century. The way I understand and many others understand these things is rising again because God wants us to wake up to truth. The world needs these true and hopeful messages which are far more hopeful and harmonious. Satan, diabolos, is the master of separation the greek word for devil, diabolos comes from "diabolic" which literally means "to separate." Christ, the ultimate symbol for god is symbolic - which literally means to unify, to come together. The things I have written could not be further from any inkling of a Satanic message. In fact, I feel, preaching a doctrine of eternal damnation in hell fire -- one that engenders terror in people, a fear of "am I doing this right?" and a contradiction of the will of a God who is light and love moves closer to a diabolic message than one of universal unity and love. I grew up terrified that I'd burn in hell forever. Now I understand that doctrine has been created and is not the message of Christ. We create hell for ourselves through the universal law of reaping and sowing. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
What is missing in modern Christianity is the teaching of true meditation and how to truly commune and pray with God. I had fallen away from Christianity completely. I began meditating just to be more creative. Imagine my surprise when God showed up and started providing insights into the true nature of things, and then the true nature of scripture. Without receiving direct intuition and Truth from God, well, we have only our different arguments about scripture to work from. Without a connection to God, we can interpret scripture a hundred different ways. With a connection to God, we don't need scripture because the law is written on our hearts, but we then can understand scripture deeply as something that applies to the interior life of a human being and how to bring our awareness to God, to keep our internal eyes on God at all times. To be born again of spirit and truth.
I can't possibly see how any of this is the same message that Satan preaches when it completely overlaps with the words of Christ. If a particular doctrine finds a message of complete unity and love threatening, I would humbly suggest meditation and prayer, communion with God in seeking truth for no true doctrine of the living god would be counter to love and unity.
I am saying we are "like god" only when we are in complete union with him, not when we are separated from him, which is exactly what Jesus said, in the scripture so I'm not sure how it can be denied:
John 17:21, Jesus prays, "that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me"
He is praying to the father that "they" his followers will see through the delusion of separation and ascend into their true nature of unity with him and the father and each other.
And Paul "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all".
How can we not be part of God when both Paul, Christ and the feeling all meditators get is a message of "all is one, all is god?" How can an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God not be everywhere, including in us? There is nothing in existence except God, God is everything, including us.
If our positions seem separate (barring a few doctrinal differences) that is an illusion of separation, of diabolical separation, which is the force of the devil, the one who separates. We are already unified in love, peace, joy and creativity. To stay in the lord is to not allow ourselves to fall into separation.
Thanks for your rich assortment of words, but you didn't convince me that we don't still have judgment and hell. But I'll duck out of the discussion. Much love back at you, Carol
We do have judgement, and we do pay the price of our sins, and we do/can create a hell in proportion to our sins. We do it to ourselves both here and now and afterward. I just don't believe it's a forever thing. Modern conceptions of heaven and hell were created hundreds of years after the death of Christ. It seems inconceivable, and contradictory to some uncanonized scriptures as well as the conceptions of other religions and the messages of enlightened masters, that we live one life and if you screw up you burn in hell for infinity. That doesn't sound like "good news."
That sounds like, "get with our program or else." Eventually all will be reconciled and return to the source, God. It can't be any other way because God is all there is and the god nature in everything will eventually shine through over billions of years. But absolutely every action brings about its consequences and those actions that are out of unity with God bring about consequences that we would consider punishments. The bible is clear that a man reaps what he sows. That a man who lives by the sword will die by the sword. These are the Bible's way of introducing the concept of Karma. But I don't think I'm ready to get into the weeds on that discussion publicly. With much love, Clint.
I really enjoyed reading your post. In the 1990’s I did a lot of inner work through “the Artist Way” by Julia Cameron. When I took a leap of faith of starting a decorative painting business (feeling it was the right path) the opportunities completely stopped. I was devastated thinking did I get it wrong. But I persevered. It slowly grew and evolved. Just wasn’t immediate. I always try to listen to my inner path. I thank you for writing this. Look forward to your book.
Thank you so much for your kind words. It's funny you mentioned "The Artist's Way." The ideas that brought me out of inner darkness and back into the light are the ideas that eventually became the book I am working on. But I've since read The Artist's Way and I kinda/sorta independently "recreated" what was in that book as an intuitive way of reawakening creativity in my self, and thus reconnecting with my soul and ultimately it brought me back to a completely felt experience of God.
Here's an excerpt from the Intro of my book, The Sovereign Artist, where I pay homage to The Artist's Way (and The War of Art):
After I had established myself as “someone who writes,” and had built a decent sized following, I happened to read two books that I’ve always heard about, but had never read previously: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield (I highly recommend both).
While reading those two books, I realized that the way in which I had saved myself, and recovered the color and joy of life, had been my own independent re-invention of what those two books recommend! My version is different, of course, but the path of this book and those two venerable volumes tread through the same magic forest.
How much I needed to read this! It’s odd stumbling across this post now — I don’t ever have time or headspace or solid footing to read much beyond brief blurbs in posts. What allowed me to be on this page today? I am in great turmoil and am experiencing things that are shaking my very existence. I have prayed more and more, I have started feeling, seeing, hearing, sensing God’s presence at times when I need it the most — when I am spinning around in a sometimes daily vortex and drowning in it. I went from hearing a calling once or twice a year to every few months to every Sunday and now to almost every day. Something is happening, and I read this and finally fully appreciate the meaning of the parable of the talents.
I am saying a prayer for you now Robert. I believe the world is on the verge of a great spiritual awakening. I know I have awakened to the fire within in the past few years, and many I know are feeling God in a new way. The world needs people to awaken. It sounds like that might be happening to you. I am sorry to hear you are in great turmoil. The world is calamitous of late, and the only solution I have found (my life is chaotic as well currently) is to find the calm beyond all calmness that can only be found in the deafening silence of God, which can only be found within.
Thank you for your prayer. The silence is absolutely deafening — and is surprisingly not silent at all as I allow myself to fall into it more and more.
Blessings and Peace. +
I’m painting… and painting… every day. I have to. It makes me happy and fills a need. Is it “practical?” In an economical sense, I guess not. But I’d be impoverished without it.
Exactly.
I just like painting, I paint consistently every day and it makes me happy , so I appreciate hearing from others who feel that same sense of inspiration.
Even though I am not a Christian, it was promising and assuring to follow ourselves without caring for others judgey eyes. It felt relieving to hear the words of God and have faith in God.
I read this finally after postponing it for 3 days. And I have given up mostly on being smth I am not. I have realised I should be what I wish to be rather than what world forces me to be. Your post helped me to make my ideology more stronger.
Thank you so much. 🙌
It matters not what you call yourself or even if you believe anything at all. We all hear and feel the creative calling inside. The Christ consciousness I speak of (which I referred to as other names) is available to all of us at any time. You don't have to consider it "Christ" though. Hindus call it Kutastha Chaitanya. It is a universal, pure, and unchanging consciousness that is immanent in all creation. It is often described as a state of oneness with God. You don't even have to believe in God. If you meditate, sit quietly, go deep inside, feel the call of wonder, beauty and goodness, and don't turn away from the things you feel you truly are, you will find it and the Kingdom. If it helps, you can think of these things simply as forces that pervade the universe. Even science knows the whole universe is an illusion of sorts made of vibrations in quantum fields that pervade everything and that there is undeniably a force of transformation that is evolving things to ever more order and complexity. They have theories as to why that is happening. That divine drive/intelligence/song is the Logos which some call the Christ Consciousness and others call other names. Organized religion we have to be careful of or it can lead us down dogmatic explanations that don't want to be questioned. True spirituality consists of being completely open minded to any truth, even if it disagrees with our previously help beliefs. These truths we can learn to discern for ourselves. I agree with you, don't let the world force you into a box that isn't a box you want to be in.
I find may self on the end og journey. It was funny I ecspected trumpet sign of God. Do you know have I was shooked when I hear voice in english. Terrible. You notice that I writh english like he come and bay felling.
Voice say: You dont need to learn nothing
you dont need to go nowhere
you are Home.
That was so gentle.
Magical.
From that time Im leaded bay heart. I stop learning I prefer teory we know everything but we forget. That is closer to may acsepting.
Have a nice evning
everything is truth
I dont have time to lie
and olways to remember what I say last time
weist of time
bay
Thank you Rajko for your comment.
Welcome olways
you are olways welcome. I have one rule if I like I comment If I dont like I dont say nothing.
On the ather I work mostly afternoon so I cant comment
my rule. Most of you are Amezing and I fell that is place to say THANK YOU ALL.
And one thing you wont here from me arguing about writh or wrong. That is not me any more. That Person is gone I fell forever. good night frends
Love this post. Thank you. Very inspiring.
Thank you so much!
Your words strike to the core. Having been raised in an evangelical environment listening to the sermons of the talents, you bring it to life for me as at a time when I’m ready to listen with spiritual ears. Having gone left instead of right when I was starting out adulthood, I took the practical path and here I find myself at a crossroads at the age of 54 with time running out. Stay the course and become debt free in a couple of years to fully do the work God has entrusted me to lift people through my art or what if I don’t reach a couple of years? I’m trying to shift my thought process out of corporate America to follow the talent gradually. Thank you for this gift. God Bless.
"Midway upon the journey of my life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost" - Dante, The Divine comedy.
The purpose, I have come to believe, of a mid-life crisis, is to wake us up. A spiritual awakening. We should use the wake up call not to chase power, second marriages to a younger spouse, or sports cars, but to find what we are being called to do. To some degree, it makes sense to pursue material things first and have a level of security when we later turn to spiritual things. Don't give up, plenty of people, especially creatives, have accomplished much in the autumn and winter years of their lives. I am in the same boat and am excited to see where writing goes, after having been a software developer for most of my career.
I’m a solution architect with a 20 billion dollar private company and so I know you know what I’m talking about. Yes, we have a calling just need to get off the hamster wheel and time it right. Upgrading my subscription to support your writing journey, its giving me much value to strengthen my thoughts. Thanks
🙏 Thank you
This is probably one of the best articles I read about creativity in a long time.
Thank you. I truly appreciate it.
Wow, how interesting is that!!! Thanks for letting me know. Hope you have great success.
Thanks again Clint for your writing
Thank you!
Yes yes yes. Synchronicity here, finding this after asking about the kinds of wealth Sahil Bloom missed. Love this. Thank you
Thank you for sharing this.
A good friend of mine told me well over twenty years ago that America lacked men of courage. He was right then, and he's still right.
Bill Alexander, the famous TV artist from the 1970s and 1980s, used to talk about "creative power."
Yes. We have a dearth of courageous men. Very few people truly know who they are and so just kind of blow around in the winds of propaganda adopting beliefs they have been spoon fed. The first step is always to “know thyself.”
I normally brush past your Bold Brush emails but this morning I found the topic interesting as I am at a major crossroad in my life. Starting over at 72 after my 21 year marriage ended due to a cheating spouse. It destroyed everything I thought I knew about myself and my life. It rocked me to my core and I have not painted since discovering the betrayal nearly a year ago. The divorce is final. The house has finally sold and I am now free to embark on a new life alone. Your words have encouraged me in that I know all this was part of the Lord’s plan and He is wanting so much more for me. Your article has given me so much to think on as I do know that I have been given many talents to spend, grow and use as God intended. Looking back, I can now see that I wasn’t fully being myself and was keeping myself small to keep someone else happy who was clearly unhappy with the life I thought we were building together. I hope and pray that I will have the courage to be my weird and bold self so that I can truly increase the talents I have been blessed with. Thank you for your lovely writing. So glad it called to me this morning.
Linda, I am so sorry to hear what you've been through these past few years. Thank you for having the courage to share your story and for letting me know that you found encouragement in my writing. My heart soars to know that it may have brought you even a small amount of hope. That is why I write. That is why we all create Art. To help and express ourselves, yes, but also to send inspiration and energy to others across space and time. I am glad you have realized you weren't being fully yourself since the quest to become our true and full self is the mission that we are on. Thank you again.
I love this writing! It's so true.
Clint, you are such a talented writer, a great friend, and a grand advocate of us artists. However, I must agree to disagree. As a Bible-believing Christian, I believe that our purpose is to glorify God in all we say, think, and do. But we fall short. However, we get to gain a relationship with our Creator and enjoy His presence forever through Jesus Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Then we can enter His Kingdom - not BE a kingdom. He gives us talents so we can glorify Him, not to glorify ourselves. I believe this parable of talents is about His Lordship and our stewardship of what He has given us. We get to surrender to His will, not ours. No matter how well we use our talents, we don't get to be little gods. And with the talents He created in us (and with His help), we have a duty to do, say, write, paint, create, etc., what is good that glorifies Him and helps others, not ourselves. Outer darkness doesn't sound like a great place to be. After all, Jesus mentioned hell more often than He mentioned heaven. Hell to those who thought they were good enough, and heaven to those who knew they were not.
Thank you so much for your comment, I do appreciate it very much! I'm not sure what part you are disagreeing with specifically, I don't disagree with what you've expressed in your comment. Absolutely we must surrender our egoistic will to raise our consciousness level to the same level as The Divine Intelligence that pervades all. There we find God, our ego falls way, we see true reality (The Kingdom), are pervaded with peace, love, creativity and joy and we do his will. We learn there that we are a part of God, he is the vine and we are the branches and as long as we don't fall back into our lower nature, our ego, we then follow his will. I'm putting all this in Christian terms. In that ascended state, we are one with God. Being one with God may sound new-agey, but it's also biblical, In John 17:21, Jesus prays, "that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me". Saying everything in the universe, including each of us, and our souls, is God also sounds new-agey but again as Paul says in Ephesians, "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all". I am not saying we can BE the Kingdom. But the Kingdom is within us, as Christ said. Going within us by following God's call for us is how we find it and enter it. The Kingdom is at hand, look not for it here, or there Jesus said. You can't find it "here or there" because it's INSIDE. I agree with you that outer darkness is a terrible place. It is being in hell. If my piece made it sound like a good place to be, I need to clarify that. When we turn away from the call of God and what he wants us to do, what he wants us to create, we build a shell around our soul. We feel sorrow. We feel like something is missing. The shell encapsulates the divine light of the kingdom within us. And, in that state, we feel the outer world, the earthly material realm is all that exists. We are in the OUTER world without the pure divine light to quicken us. The OUTER (material) world without divine light is OUTER DARKNESS. It is a terrible place to be. It is a hell and many people are in it much of the time. No wonder Jesus spoke of it often, he stood there having discovered the path out of such a state trying to wake people up to follow him out of the outer darkness and back into the inner kingdom where the pure divine light and the transcendent christ consciousness can bring us all that is good. I agree that my interpretation of the bible might be somewhat different than mainstream modern Christianity (though it is in line with how many early Christian's understood the scriptures), but it is the insights I am given from Christ during meditation. They are not my own beliefs or something I am just making up. Just this past weekend, doubt entered my mind, and the Christ Intelligence clearly said, "Do not stop writing about these subjects. This is my will for you. This is what you are supposed to be doing." That was not my thought, it came from some larger connection. We might not get to be little Gods, but when we are completely joined with God, we are a part of God ,we become "Sons of God" and as long as we do only his will, we have that power. But in that state, our ego would be completely gone. That is the state Christ spoke of in which we could move mountains. We aren't little Gods, we are cells in the body of the one God. So though we might have some disagreement about some interpretations, I don't think anything I wrote in this piece contradicts what you said in your comment. I feel like, though I might be misunderstanding something you wrote, that we are actually in complete agreement!
I'm not in complete agreement with what you're saying. That's a lot of words to say what Satan told Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 when he twisted what God said. He told them they could be like God. They couldn't. And like what he tried to tell Jesus in Matthew 4 and Mark 4. Adam and Eve fell for it. Jesus did not. The thing that bothers me is that you have a lot of influence on a lot of folks. Still friends, Clint, but on different pages spiritually. I do hope you'll read Pilgrim's Progress.
They were ALREADY like God, they were in union with him. They needed nothing else. They were made in his image. Satan convinced them to eat from the fruit of their ego (as he had) and try to be like god SEPARATE from him. The delusion Satan sold was that they needed to become separate from him. That they needed to fall out of unity and into duality (the good and evil, dark and light, etc duality). Duality is an illusion of the material realm, of the ego, of satan or what Hindus call Maya. Buddha didn't fall for it either. Jesus didn't fall for it because he remained in that ascended state of Christ consciousness where he was transfigured from being Jesus the man (the son of man as he refers to the body/ego) into Christ the God (the son of God as he refers to the Christ Consciousness of which he was the perfect embodiment). Even after forty days of fasting and meditation he did not allow himself to fall into his ego and succumb to the temptation of the ego and the flesh. He kept his consciousness in union with God constantly, even when not in meditation. What I am saying is nothing like what Satan said in the garden. What I am saying is what a huge percentage, if not the majority of early Christians including many famous church fathers and saints said and believed. The modern interpretation has been warped via the council of Nicea, Justinian's edicts, and the rise of of dispensationalism invented by John Nelson Darby in the 18th century. The way I understand and many others understand these things is rising again because God wants us to wake up to truth. The world needs these true and hopeful messages which are far more hopeful and harmonious. Satan, diabolos, is the master of separation the greek word for devil, diabolos comes from "diabolic" which literally means "to separate." Christ, the ultimate symbol for god is symbolic - which literally means to unify, to come together. The things I have written could not be further from any inkling of a Satanic message. In fact, I feel, preaching a doctrine of eternal damnation in hell fire -- one that engenders terror in people, a fear of "am I doing this right?" and a contradiction of the will of a God who is light and love moves closer to a diabolic message than one of universal unity and love. I grew up terrified that I'd burn in hell forever. Now I understand that doctrine has been created and is not the message of Christ. We create hell for ourselves through the universal law of reaping and sowing. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
What is missing in modern Christianity is the teaching of true meditation and how to truly commune and pray with God. I had fallen away from Christianity completely. I began meditating just to be more creative. Imagine my surprise when God showed up and started providing insights into the true nature of things, and then the true nature of scripture. Without receiving direct intuition and Truth from God, well, we have only our different arguments about scripture to work from. Without a connection to God, we can interpret scripture a hundred different ways. With a connection to God, we don't need scripture because the law is written on our hearts, but we then can understand scripture deeply as something that applies to the interior life of a human being and how to bring our awareness to God, to keep our internal eyes on God at all times. To be born again of spirit and truth.
I can't possibly see how any of this is the same message that Satan preaches when it completely overlaps with the words of Christ. If a particular doctrine finds a message of complete unity and love threatening, I would humbly suggest meditation and prayer, communion with God in seeking truth for no true doctrine of the living god would be counter to love and unity.
I am saying we are "like god" only when we are in complete union with him, not when we are separated from him, which is exactly what Jesus said, in the scripture so I'm not sure how it can be denied:
John 17:21, Jesus prays, "that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me"
He is praying to the father that "they" his followers will see through the delusion of separation and ascend into their true nature of unity with him and the father and each other.
And Paul "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all".
How can we not be part of God when both Paul, Christ and the feeling all meditators get is a message of "all is one, all is god?" How can an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God not be everywhere, including in us? There is nothing in existence except God, God is everything, including us.
If our positions seem separate (barring a few doctrinal differences) that is an illusion of separation, of diabolical separation, which is the force of the devil, the one who separates. We are already unified in love, peace, joy and creativity. To stay in the lord is to not allow ourselves to fall into separation.
With much love,
Clint
Thanks for your rich assortment of words, but you didn't convince me that we don't still have judgment and hell. But I'll duck out of the discussion. Much love back at you, Carol
We do have judgement, and we do pay the price of our sins, and we do/can create a hell in proportion to our sins. We do it to ourselves both here and now and afterward. I just don't believe it's a forever thing. Modern conceptions of heaven and hell were created hundreds of years after the death of Christ. It seems inconceivable, and contradictory to some uncanonized scriptures as well as the conceptions of other religions and the messages of enlightened masters, that we live one life and if you screw up you burn in hell for infinity. That doesn't sound like "good news."
That sounds like, "get with our program or else." Eventually all will be reconciled and return to the source, God. It can't be any other way because God is all there is and the god nature in everything will eventually shine through over billions of years. But absolutely every action brings about its consequences and those actions that are out of unity with God bring about consequences that we would consider punishments. The bible is clear that a man reaps what he sows. That a man who lives by the sword will die by the sword. These are the Bible's way of introducing the concept of Karma. But I don't think I'm ready to get into the weeds on that discussion publicly. With much love, Clint.
Thanks for the discussion, Clint. Over and out. Love, Carol