sacredness

the deepest part

of the mind

In my 30’s I came to a point where I thought I wanted to be a Christian. I suppose it was because I went through a particularly rough patch in my life and Christianity was all I knew about religion. So I studied the Bible from the point of view of wanting to know if it was God’s word. Many people read the Bible already believing that it’s God’s word and therefore interpret everything they read through that lens. I feel that that is a mistake because if there are things that don’t sound right, or that you can’t understand, then you tell yourself that it’s God’s word and you just don’t understand it, but there must be a good reason for that being said, or that thing happening. The problem is that you never question it if it’s God’s word. What I found in the Bible turned me away from Christianity and yet I didn’t lose my yearning for a more spiritual life.

So I studied other religions, other faiths, other ways. One of them was Buddhism, another was the books of Don Miguel Ruis. The Four Agreements by Ruis really opened my eyes to a sacred way of life that didn’t involve church based, bible-based religion. Ever since, I have been studying the works of writers who have found sacredness in other ways. My beliefs, if you want to call them that, have changed over the years with new information. Mostly, I have come to believe what I do because of discovering things by my own experience, with the ideas of many of these writers. It didn’t take casual reading however; it took deep study and understanding.

Recently I found something that helped open my eyes even further. In the Bible, in Matthew 4:17, Jesus said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” According to Christianity, the word repent usually means to be sorry for your sins, to know they were wrong, against God, and to promise not to do them again. However, a deeper look into the Greek word that was interpreted to mean “repent” shows a different meaning. That word, “Metanoia” in Greek means, to change one’s mind. It means, beyond the mind. It is a deep and profound shift in perception, seeing things in a new way. It doesn’t have to do with “sin” as the Bible and Christianity would have you think. It means thinking and seeing in a new way, waking up, and realizing “The Kingdom of God”, the sacredness you seek, is within you. Many people look for God in the church or the temple, in holy books, in people, but they don’t look within themselves. Today I have different beliefs than I had last year, and probably my beliefs will change again, with new information. When Jesus said, the Kingdom of God is within, he was absolutely right. The sacredness I have been seeking is in me, it is a part of me.

One of the things I do is woodworking. So let’s say I make a birdhouse. As I make it, I touch the wood, the nails or screws, I touch the tools. My DNA becomes a part of the things I make. The created has a part of the creator within it. Now I’m still unsure if there is a “God” as the common idea goes, if there was a creator, as such. But even if everything naturally happened, there is still creation going on. And if the thought that there must be a creator if there is a creation, then that tells me that everything was created, and we as humans, and everything else in the phenomenal world has the essence of the creator within it. I think this is what Jesus meant by, “The Kingdom of God is within.”

The sacredness I seek is within me and all around me. All I have to do to touch that sacredness is to change my perspective, or “repent” as Jesus said. To profoundly change the way I think and see things. Everything has the essence of God within it and therefore I am surrounded by “The Kingdom of God” at all times. Everything is sacred and thinking that way will definitely change the way I think and feel about the world and my fellow humans. There can be no room for hate when you see others and yourself as sacred. There can only be kindness, empathy and compassion.

I usually don’t try to promote myself or the things I believe but I think we sure do need to see things in a new way. Seeing all things as sacred would help.