This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man,
seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had,
and bought it.
— Matt 13:45-46
Processes, not events…
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A central tenet of this series of essays is that:
- The problems of the world arise from fundamental human flaws that have afflicted all of us (ref. “Command That These Stones Be Made Bread“);
- These faults impede our free will (ref. “Fall Down and Worship Me“, “Turn The Other Cheek. Why? How?“);
- The Word was brought, as a gift, to help us recover our free will and thus our true humanity (ref. “The Free Will To Be Born Anew“, “Ye Must Be Born Again, Part 2“);
If The Word was brought to reveal fundamental truths about the human condition, it would be sensible to interpret Christ’s parables through that lens.
For example: interpreting passages like “sold all that he had” as getting rid of material possessions may be ethically useful but fails to unveil anything truly fundamental.
Christ invariably spoke “from Above to below” with full cognisance of Creation and the human condition, and not from an earthly perspective (ref. “Blessed Are The Meek“, “Arise, and Walk: Did Christ Forgive Sin?“).
Seeking Goodly Pearls
Seek, and ye shall find
— Matt 7:7; Luke 11:9
If we appreciate the nature of Truth and compare what should be with what currently is, it becomes clear that every aspect of human life is distorted.
So we are all “born in sin”, irrespective of our religious, cultural, or social circumstances. This includes those born into Christianity (ref. “Christ Is Not The Founder of Christianity”).
This means that every human being who truly wishes to be free must independently seek Truth at some point in his life. Truth can be discovered and experienced irrespective of one’s background (ref. “Lessons From The Centurion“).
Every human being must personally embark on the journey to discover Truth as it actually is, because Truth cannot be “learned”: it must be experienced through action and reaction (ref. “Act To Experience To Know“).
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Finding The Pearl of Great Price
He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them,
he it is that loveth me:
and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father,
and I will love him,
and will manifest myself to him.
— John 14:21
Being aware of the existence of the pearl is not the same as possessing the pearl. Reading Christ’s Word is not “possessing” Truth; it is living It that reveals It’s essence.
Self-identification with a particular religion is not relevant to Truth, any more than wearing an “I love Einstein” T-shirt makes one a physicist.
A genuine seeker will express this seeking in his actions, and he will gradually experience elements of Truth in his daily life, irrespective of his religious, cultural, or social background.
In this way he will begin to become conscious of the fact that Creation works in a particular way; that there are Laws of Creation and that they transmit the Love of the Almighty. And then the inner urge to change everything about himself accordingly may arise.
Born Anew: Divesting All That We Have Know
We fail to make the personal changes that Truth demands because the effort involved is significant and because the “alternatives” offered appear more convenient (ref. “The Age of False Prophets“).
But there are also good insights that we have discovered; insights that were of value to us at a certain stage of our spiritual development.
We must not be afraid or too spiritually lazy to continually re-evaluate things that we know to be good and helpful. Spiritual development is a road, not a destination (ref. “One Man’s Faith Is Another Man’s Knowledge“).
The good must not become the enemy of the better. That a child now realises that an “empty” glass is not truly empty because it contains air does not degrade the value of its previous understanding.
The “selling of all that we have” must become a perpetually ongoing process. A mindset.
Today’s Resolution
- May we always possess the true seeker’s humble mindset. Amen.
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