Growing up, I was taught that “God” is infinite (without limit), omnipresent (present everywhere, at all times), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), and unconditionally loving. One teaching went to far as to define “God” simply and profoundly as love (1 Jn 4:16).
And yet, everywhere I look, even (especially) within the Church that taught me about God, I find human beings limiting “God.”
“Sure God is unconditionally loving…..unless or except when…”
“God loves you without condition, but if you disobey God, you will be condemned to eternal damnation.”
“God is infinite, except when it comes to those things “not explicitly handed down by the magisterium.”
“God is everywhere at all times, except in those who don’t believe in Christ.”
“God is all-powerful, except when it comes to “Satan” or “Lucifer.”
I am continually amazed at all the ways in which human beings limit their “God.” It seems instead of coming to know the Divine, they are creating “God” in their own image: jealous, fickle, wrathful, vengeful, judgmental, hateful, prejudice, racist, etc.
How can one preach a God of love while simultaneously preaching a God of vengeance? How can one preach a God of welcome while preaching of a God who excludes? If I wasn’t a woman of reason, I might find myself confused. Instead, I find the answer to this quandary quite simple…an answer that has been given to us by the very guy who called God LOVE:
He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. (1 Jn 4:8)
As John points out, those who find themselves limiting God don’t really know God, and I find that very sad.
Today’s blog explores Jesus and his teachings as a model of psychological and spiritual development through which we are empowered to become self-actualized and through which we are able to be freed of the obstacles which prevent us from reaching our full potential as human beings.
Has Jesus Become Irrelevant?
It saddens me that in our quest for intellectualism and individuation, Jesus and his teachings seem to have become irrelevant. When we pierce through the veil of dogma, however, what we can see is that Jesus provides a model for psychological and spiritual development which supports the self-actualization of those following his example. What Jesus taught rivals the currently popular paths toward enlightenment and might even be more befitting those who were raised in the Christian tradition. While I acknowledge all these paths as holy and sacred and as valid means through which we can develop and grow as human beings, I contend that we are missing a HUGE opportunity by ignoring or worse yet, demonizing, Jesus and the gifts that he brings to the journey of self-actualization.
Jesus as the model
When we read scripture without the threads of dogma obscuring our view, what we see in Jesus is a man who came to understand the fullness of his human potential and who lived that out as freely as was possible. Examining Jesus’ life through the lens of psychological and spiritual development, we see:
A man committed to his spiritual practice.
Who came to develop a deeply intimate and personal relationship with that which he called “Abwoon” (God).
Who found healing, comfort, restoration, inspiration and guidance through this connection with his higher self.
Who, through a process of formation and discernment came to understand his unique giftedness and how he was called to live that out.
Who overcame the inner obstacles, temptations and fears which might prevent him from living this path with humility
Who learned and practiced the gift of spiritual obedience.
Who learned to surrender to and trust the Source that was guiding him.
Who was able to stand freely and without compromise in his truth, even to the point of death.
Who was a force for change and a voice for justice – ministering to and speaking out on behalf of those who had been ostracized by society.
Who challenged the laws that provided privilege to some while infringing on the rights of others.
From the perspective of psychology, Jesus was a man who became self-actualized, who reached the fullness of his human potential and who left behind a collection of stories and teachings which show us how to do the same.
Jesus as the teacher
Jesus did not go up on a mountain, become self- actualized, and then stay there. Instead, Jesus lived his self-actualization in the midst of the human race and taught others how to reach the fullness of their own potential. Jesus accomplished this through his example, and through his teachings. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to those writers who attempted to capture Jesus’ model and message in the scriptures that have been handed down to us, as well as those that did not quite make the cut (many for obvious political reasons!). Again, looking past the Institution’s attempt to doctrinize Jesus’ model of psychological and spiritual formation, these are some of the tools Jesus left behind to help us in our own journey toward self-actualization:
practices of meditation and prayer which help us to quiet our minds so that we can be open to the higher intelligence that speaks to us in the silence, that guides us, moves us, inspires us, comforts us, heals us.
stories which teach us about the call to justice, that speak to us of the importance of compassion and forgiveness, that heal us from our own fears and woundedness, that remind us of our own unique giftedness and the call to share those gifts in the world.
The beatitudes – pithy statements that demonstrate for us the natural results of our potential – as we grow toward our human potential, we are naturally poor in spirit, merciful, working for justice, etc.
Stories that remind us that first and foremost….we are loved….more than that….we ARE love and that the purpose of the human journey is to remember that love.
Reclaiming Jesus’ path to self-actualization
I am inviting us to set aside the wounds we may have experienced at the hands of religious institutions, to look beyond the veil of dogma and to restore Jesus to his rightful place as psychologist, spiritual director, healer, teacher, and guru. Let us give ourselves permission to know Jesus anew and to look at his example and teachings through new eyes. And my prayer is that through this willingness to be open that we might see the truth beyond the words and in Jesus find our own path to self-actualization.
Please enjoy these video excerpts from the Soul School Weekly Spiritual Service (part of our virtual community membership). In this video we explore this solstice gateway and the invitation to hone in on our missions to be bearers of and heralds of the light of truth. Truths are increasingly being revealed and with the revelation of these truths, the world is getting closer and more open to seeing us and to finally receiving the gifts we’ve so generously shared.
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This week, I was reminded of the price of waking up and why most of the population works really hard at defending their right to stay asleep. The answer in short is because if we wake up….we are obligated to do something about the pain, hardship, disorder, violence, fear and hatred in our world. In waking up we become personally responsible for making different choices in our lives. modeling these choices for others and if we are so-called, being a force for positive change.
If we stay asleep, however, we don’t have to do a thing. Instead, we get to remain in the mindless patterns of familiarity that define our lives. We get to remain in the status quo that gives us the illusion of safety and security….only because it is known, not necessarily because it is safe or secure. We don’t have to rock the boat, risk rejection or condemnation, or even respond to another person’s pain. We get to avoid responsibility, falsely believing that it is someone else’s job, or hoping that if we ignore it long enough, it will simply go away. The problem is it doesn’t go away. As the Buddhists know:
What you resist will persist.
The more we resist it, the harder the problem works to be known, usually by coming out sideways in horrible acts with devastating effects.
This is what happened in the Church (and continues to happen). This is why the sex abuse scandal erupted the way it did. For centuries, the Church looked away as their priests were sexually abusing children and taking advantage of other vulnerable populations, silently hoping it would go away (or worse, priding themselves in their power and their right to have control over others). In this, they have never had to take responsibility for what CAUSED the sex abuse scandal in the first place – the demonization of the body, sexuality, and the Holy Feminine, an institution built of fear, power and control, guided by the Unholy Masculine. And finally…..systems that continue to attract and keep underdeveloped men in the priesthood. The Church needs to wake up…..but they are highly invested in status quo, in their power and wealth and if they actually took responsibility for all that needs to be changed….they risk losing all of this. What they don’t know is that there is so much more to be gained, if they could only risk being Christ-like – putting the authentic teachings of Jesus to work and being the force of change Jesus calls us to be.
What is true of the Church is also true of every other institution that has its roots in a patriarchal, hierarchical model, based in fear, power and control. Government. Education. Healthcare. Psychology. Academia. Banking. Corporations. Commerce. Etc. Etc. Etc. The longer they avoid their own disease, their own shadow, the more it will be coming out sideways. Pretend it’s not there, and then we don’t have to do anything about it. Change is hard. We don’t know how to support change. Change scares us. So, we keep our heads in the sand hoping it will go away on its own or that someone else will clean up the mess.
The longer we look away, however, the larger the pile of debris becomes, and the harder the truth works at being known, being seen and being addressed. As we look away hoping things will go away on their own – our planet is being destroyed, millions of people are living under the constant threat of war, millions are now homeless refugees, people are getting sicker. Joblessness and underemployment are at an all-time high. Corruption rules our government and corporations, and our children are dying. None of this will change. In fact, it will only continue to get worse the more we choose to stay asleep. And for the 99%, this is what they will continue to choose.
The good news is that it only takes a pebble to start an avalanche. As the power of the 1% has ruled our world, it is THE OTHER 1% who have the power to change it.
You know who you are. Thank you for being awake and thank you for being willing to listen to the voice of your soul – a voice crying out in the wilderness speaking to sand, perhaps….but you are listening. We are listening. The OTHER 1% are awake. We are listening. We are taking personal responsibility and we are working for change.
Below is an excerpt from my book Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy. Visit my Amazon bookstore to learn more.
If we look carefully at the life and teachings of Jesus, we see that he is inviting us to embrace an image of God that is a departure from the traditional image of the Hebrew religious authorities of his time. Jesus was constantly being challenged by the religious authorities who believed in a God whose approval needed to be earned. God’s love was thought to be conditional, at best, and only attainable through strict adherence to the law. If you were disobedient to the law, you were known to have lost favor with God and were considered to be a “sinner.”
Jesus invited those “who had ears to hear,” to consider another possibility. He set forth not only a new image of God, but an entirely new paradigm – a paradigm based on personal relationship and compassion. Having grown in the knowledge of God’s love and his Oneness with God, Jesus was able to lead us to his understanding as the truth which sets us free. The God that Jesus knew was a God of unconditional love, compassion and forgiveness. This is the God that Jesus invites us to embrace. When we know God in this way, sin is no longer “that which separates us from God,” but merely a symptom of our own false perception of separation. Jesus explains it this way in the noncanonical gospel of Mary Magdalene:
Peter said to Jesus: “Since you have become the interpreter of the elements and the events of the world, tell us: What is the sin of the world?”
The Teacher (Jesus) answered, “There is no sin. It is you who make sin exist, when you act according to the habits of your corrupted nature; this is where sin lies.”
Gospel of Mary Magdalene 7: 11-19
Sin, when viewed in this way, is no longer subject to judgment, but instead invites us into the greater depths of compassion. “Love the sinner and not the sin,” becomes our mantra. When sin is looked upon as a symptom of the fears that come about as a result of an unhealed core wound, then all sin becomes an invitation to healing.
From this perspective, we can now look upon even the Jeffrey Daumers and Charles Mansons of our society with compassion. This compassion does not excuse their behavior, but it allows us to see the deeper fears within them that drove them to such heinous acts of violence. In our own journeys, it allows us to let go of the blame, shame and guilt that so often plague our lives. Our compulsive behaviors (sins) are no longer something to look upon in anguish, but something to treat as a wake-up call to a deeper healing being called forth. The compulsive behavior becomes the trigger that alerts us to our false sense of separation, to the need for healing, and invites us to name the fear and allow God to heal us of these fears so that we may once again live in the knowledge that we are loved. In this knowledge of God’s love, we know peace, we know joy and we are able to openly and freely share our gifts in the world. It is to this place of Oneness that Jesus invites us when he proclaims, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
Authentic Freedom is a protocol and practice developed by Lauri Ann Lumby which supports you in identifying and then healing the fears that have kept you imprisoned by your past wounding and cultural conditioning.
Through recorded lessons, reading, discussion, mindfulness and creativity practices, you will be given the tools to identify, heal and transform the fears that:
There is not enough. You are insignificant and have nothing of value to offer the world. You cannot live as our most authentic selves. You are not loved (or that love has to be earned or can be taken away). You are not free to express our truth. You do not know the truth. You are alone.
At the end of this course, you will have the tools to support you in the continued liberation from your fears and the conditioning that has placed them there.
This article explores a critically important part of our journey toward self-actualization – the searching stage of spiritual development and how for many Westerners, Jesus has gotten lost along the way and why we don’t need to set him aside in our quest for spiritual fulfillment.
The searching stage of spiritual development is absolutely critical to becoming spiritually and emotionally mature adults. The searching stage of spiritual development is when we start asking questions: challenging dogma, doctrine, rules; wanting to find reason in mystery; and wanting to claim our own beliefs over those imposed on us by an outside perceived authority. The searching stage is when we start looking both within and outside the religions of our youth for that which speaks to our heart, that which nourishes and feeds us, and that which might have a bit of reason added to it. Searching is healthy, necessary and exciting – eventually leading us to spiritual fulfillment and ultimately to our life purpose and mission. If we don’t search, we are doomed to being a pew potato, doing what we are told and believing what we believe because someone told us to.
Ripe with Opportunity, Ripe with Dangers
As the symbol of the ouroboros suggests, this time of searching is ripe with opportunities and ripe with dangers. The opportunities are there to learn and to grow, to mature and evolve. The dangers, however, require a stout and courageous heart. Sometimes in the searching, we find that the religion of our youth no longer fits who we truly are. This is only a danger, however, if we are unduly attached to our childhood religion or to the approval of our tribe (parents, clergy, members of the community, etc.). The greatest danger in this searching phase of spiritual growth, however, is really the danger to the religious institutions to which we had been affiliated. It is for this reason that most religious institutions DO NOT provide the tools, the permission, or the processes by which members can effectively searched. Religious institutions are afraid that if their members search, they will no longer be obedient, and that they might leave. And people have and continue to leave……in droves. For men and women raised in Christian traditions, however, there is an even more catastrophic danger of not being supported during this searching stage of spiritual development.
How Jesus Got Dumped
The catastrophic danger and resulting casualty that I am referring to is the loss of Jesus. During the searching stage of spiritual development many raised in Christian traditions find fulfillment and meaning in practices from the East (yoga, zen meditation, tai chi, etc.) or in the rituals of Wicca or Native American spirituality, and decide that Jesus is no longer relevant and might even be ridiculous. Even though the religion of their youth may no longer speak to them or they have found fulfillment in other traditions and practices, that doesn’t mean that Jesus wasn’t a profound teacher, healer and spiritual leader. Just because our religions have often twisted Jesus’ teachings to further their power agendas doesn’t mean his teachings are not relevant to our spiritual growth and development. We do not need to throw Jesus out with the bathwater.
Reconsidering Jesus
It may be time to reconsider Jesus as a powerful teacher, healer, prophet, spiritual leader, way-shower. Reconsidering Jesus’ relevance does not mean we have to believe he’s the messiah, was raised from the dead, or even the Son of God…..it just means that we can look beyond the constructs of doctrine and institutional manipulations and see the man for who he really was – a man of purpose who tried to teach us how to love.
The journey toward self-actualization is in fact, one spiritual initiation after another. Spiritual initiation takes place every time we are faced with an opportunity to remain in the perceived safety and security of what we have known or take another step toward the fulfillment of our life purpose. The spiritual initiation is successful when we move through the fears and ego attachments that seek to keep us imprisoned within our small selves and away from the expansion we are driven toward by our Soul. Some of these initiations are small and some are so significantly huge that we soon become aware that we are facing a major crossroad in our life. It is at these crossroad moments that our spiritual practice becomes even more critical, as does our diligent attention to these practices.
A crossroads occurs when the life we have known has come to an end and the new life has not yet revealed itself. It is a time ripe with opportunity and danger. At the crossroads, possibilities seem endless and many opportunities (or twinklings of opportunities) may present themselves. At this stage, none of these possibilities are yet fully formed, so a decision (or even a discernment) cannot yet be made. Some of these possibilities will die on the vine. Some are not in our highest good or reflective of our soul’s purpose and therefore should not be pursued. And some are just beginning to grow roots so are not yet strong enough to support our unfolding. For these reasons, pursuing or chasing after possible opportunities prematurely will only end badly. We will know that the opportunity is not yet ripe if in its pursuit we find it either drawing away, or find ourselves coming up against a brick wall. Instead of requiring effort, opportunities that are ripe and good for the soul will fall into our laps in a miraculous and effortless kind of way.
While the crossroads is ripe with possibility, it is also rife with danger. This is true for it is at the crossroads where we make our deals with the devil. At the end of what has been, we are vulnerable and afraid. We have left behind (or are being asked to leave behind) what has been so as to replace it with something that is not yet known. It is in our human nature to crave surety and to long for “the same.” When we have neither of these creature comforts, we grow anxious, worried, and fretful. Often, our first response is to bargain for the old life to be returned. “Please let me go back to…….(insert relationship, job, home, etc. here)….at least I knew what to expect there.” But our Soul desires nothing if not growth. As such, as much as we might want to, we cannot return to that which has already died…or which no longer supports our growth. (Well….actually we can…..we just end up with a zombie like life along with the constant shame of knowing we are living an unlived life…mind numbing substances and behaviors come in handy here as we try to escape our true feelings about the unlived life we have chosen).
After bargaining, we must now face the possibilities that lay before us. Some will be known. Some will only be twinkles. And MANY will be the paths which lead us only into the “devil’s trap.” These are the paths which are ruled by fear and/or which tempt us through our ego attachments. Those paths ruled by fear are the possibilities that are based in our unhealed and unresolved fears: fears over money, time, acceptance by others, belonging, etc. etc. etc. When we choose a path that is ruled by fear (I’m afraid that the path of my Soul won’t make me any money, so I’m going to find a path that insures at least a regular paycheck…..whether or not it has anything to do with my gifts, my mission or my purpose in this life…..), this is the devil’s trap. The result of choosing this path will only be more fear and a deepening sense of imprisonment. Those paths ruled by the ego are those which tempt us through our desire for fame, power, control and material wealth…..in other words, “the lifestyles of the rich and famous” – another of the devil’s games. While fame may be an outcome of pursuing our Soul’s path, this will not be true for all, and the path of our Soul is never driven by our desire for fame. In the quest for the Soul, we must always check our ego at the door.
When we find ourselves at the crossroads we are vulnerable. We feel insecure and afraid. The possibilities might seem overwhelming and our fears are running rampant. The crossroads is the devil’s playground, but it is also the domain of our Soul. At the crossroads, the Soul is seeking after and longing for its natural movement toward growth and it will not rest until the appropriate path for its growth reveals itself. Until that happens, the Soul is restless….making us even more vulnerable to the “devil’s trap.”
At the crossroads, our spiritual practices become even more critical, along with our resilience in the face of temptation and our diligence in tending to these practices. While at the crossroads we must not act, pursue, chase after or be tempted to make something happen. Neither should we make any decision based in fear or arising out of the ego. Instead, there is only ONE THING we can do when standing at the crossroads….and that is WAIT. Wait and watch. Observe and discern. And when the waiting and inaction become excruciating (which they will)….we wait some more. For it is at the crossroad where we endure the greatest of all tests in our spiritual initiation …the test of whether we can wait long enough for the path of our Soul to arrive and the next stage of our life to begin.
What are the dreams and passions that inspire you?
What gives you a sense of meaning and purpose?
What leaves you feeling content and deeply fulfilled?
What sets your heart aflame and fills you with joy?
What is your unique gift to the world?
What is standing in the way of you living the meaningful, fulfilling, joyful, inspired life of your dreams?
Soul School helps you answer these questions and then supports you in overcoming the fears, unhealed wounds, vulnerabilities, past traumas, and conditioning that are keeping you from living a meaningful, joyful, fulfilling, and inspired life!
The second lesson from my online course “Overcoming Obstacles with Authentic Freedom.” In this sample lesson from my course, you will learn the ultimate Truth of the human experience, why we are here, and what we are invited to know/remember. Authentic Freedom provides the resources, tools, protocol and platform from healing ourselves of the core wound of separation so that we can remember our true origin in wholeness and love.
As a course participant recently shared:
“Dear Lauri, I have just listened to the 8mins and 44 seconds of your Core Wound lecture. In my view that is the most powerful, succinct, inspiring and clear description of what I have been trying to learn for the last 6 years (and maybe the 30 years before then 😊). Each sentence is a powerful quote on its own, the combination is mind blowing. It is just brilliant and the world needs to hear those 8 minutes. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to experience what I have just experienced. Love and Blessings to you.”
To learn more about Authentic Freedom and our return to wholeness, check out my website at http://www.lauriannlumby.com.
All of my adult life I’d had to endure the platitudes of both the capitalistic and new age/new thought/prosperity gospel/life-coach agendas that base their philosophies on the foundation of the perception of deservedness. Mantras like:
You deserve to get paid what you’re worth.
You deserve the things you want.
You deserve to enjoy luxuries.
You deserve what makes you feel good.
You deserve to be recognized for your work and your contributions.
You deserve the house and car of your dreams.
You deserve that Chanel suit or Vuitton bag.
You deserve to be rewarded for how hard you work.
Except for the rights beautifully outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which many would argue we don’t deserve), we don’t deserve shit!
Deservedness, by its definition, is a system of reward (or punishment). For our purposes here, deservedness implies reward proportionate to contribution or work. In and of itself, the idea of deservedness looks benign enough. Work=reward.
In practice, however, the reward is determined by the presiding power system.
The Church, as one such power system, for example has created elaborate formulas for determining reward (or punishment) based on someone’s virtuous acts, or lack thereof. Employers determine wage equal to time put in, further based on supply of workers vs. demand, the perceived value (determined by the power system) of the service provided, and increasingly based on how much of their annual revenue has to go to stockholders and CEO’s.
It could be argued that every single one of these formulas is arbitrary based on the whims of a greedy and power-driven culture. A perfect example of the arbitrariness of the system is a retail clerk at Walgreens making $8.50 per hour with zero benefits while their CEO makes $28million a year plus full benefits. How is it that the person on the ground selling the products Walgreens profits from deserves less than the CEO whose primary job is to wine and dine stockholders? In my mind, NO ONE deserves $28mil a year, or perhaps it’s the retail clerk who deserves that salary and not the CEO! No one said, however, that I comprehend or even subscribe to the rules of capitalism.
Neither do I ascribe to the ego-based, white privilege inspired philosophies of the New Age/New Thought/Prosperity Gospel/Life Coach communities. To suggest that people are paid proportionate to their work or their perceived gifts betrays ignorance based in privilege. To further suggest that our thoughts dictate the circumstances of our lives reveals the arrogance of one who believes they alone have the power to determine the movement of their lives, including (especially) how much money they have and how they DESERVE to use it. When I look at the success (as defined by capitalism) of those in these communities, what I mostly see is pure, dumb luck – or straight up privilege. It’s easier to become successful in a white, male, dominant capitalistic system when you look the part, obey the rules of that system, and have had the privilege of that system paving your path. Some among these communities bypass accusations of privilege by claiming that what they have is a blessing given to them by God. “God loves them so much that God gave them…..”
God has absolutely NOTHING to do with what one does or does not have. To claim otherwise is a direct insult to every single person struggling in our world just to survive.
What we have or do not have are simply functions of the human experiment. Whether what we have (as defined by the power system) is more or less has absolutely nothing to do with deservedness. When we have more than what we need for basic survival, what we choose to do with that excess is wholly and completely up to us. If we decide to spend that excess on a Chanel suit, it’s because we wanted it, not because we deserve it. Arguing deservedness over the choices we make in regard to our excess resources, is just another way human beings justify their unconscious shame in doing for themselves while others are going without. When we are at peace with the choices we make around the use of our resources, there is no reason to protest or justify our deservedness because we know that at the end of the day, we don’t deserve shit!
Lauri Ann Lumby 