Quotes from The Bible

My father is a Christian, I quite enjoy discussing my views with him, perhaps because it slightly irritates him. I attended church and Sunday school for many years. I never questioned it, in fact I quite enjoyed it. I am pleased that I have a partial knowledge of the bible.

Since I started my path to real healing, my eyes have really been opened in regards to some of the messages and parables of this great book.

I’m certain there are similar messages in other great religious texts, but I have never dipped into the Quran, the Tipitaka or the Dao de Jing. I might still, but an amazing side effect of this healing journey that I am on is that I find wisdom and correct action is more natural to me these days. It is part of the reason that I dumped all of my self help books. I mentioned this in “My Spiritual Picnic”. They were more like spiritual props and I found that I couldn’t put the wisdom into practice.

Of course, once someone has found a spiritual discipline that they feel works for them, it is easy to adjust focus to see all things through the lens of their particular teachings. However, as I will reiterate time and time again in this blog, these disciplines I have learnt are all about fixing the flow and balance of energy throughout the body, and as everyone's energy system works in the same manner, this method of healing will work for everyone.

That aside for a minute, I wanted to use these bible quotes below to frame real healing. Not in a conceptual way but just as a way of introducing the work to you and what some of the disciplines are.

Matthew 7:13

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

I would say this quote refers to doing the necessary spiritual work.

Looking inside is a tough journey though, make no mistake. I’ve hated quite a lot of it. It involves becoming very vulnerable and dealing with old shit head on. I believe that’s what stops a lot of people on their path. The monster HATES to be vulnerable and it is the conscience that will stop most people from embarking on the path to real healing, to finding their true selves.

Finding a working path to healing is also difficult. I believe this is the narrow gate, hard to spot and get through. Indeed I would say that the majority of people aren’t even looking. That’s why most people won’t enter this gate. It’s easy to blunder on and live under the control of the monster, especially if your life seems to be working OK. Ultimately though, being shackled to this conscience and acting on what it says will lead us away from a balanced and empowered life, a life of spiritual health. It’s also likely to cause distress to us and those around us. This is what I’d say the destruction is. I mean, imagine for a second a world where everyone tackles their issues and finds healing and starts to heal others. That would be my idea of heaven!

Luke 6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged.

This is a major one. It has been one of the key part of my disciplines. Others are no labels and no predictions, we’ll come on to that. By doing this we start to disempower the monster. The first thing we need to do before we can start real healing.

You see, when we make judgments, we are giving that monster conscience power. We give it a stronger hold over us. And that voice will be just as quick to judge you, in whatever way it wants too, usually feeding off a stuck emotion… “You’re too fat/stupid/ugly” etc. The judgments will go on and on until we stop judging others and therefore ourselves.

Easier said than done! And this is part of the spiritual practice, the importance of keeping disciplined.

Luke 6:41 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Most of us look outwards. I haven’t observed many of my friends or family doing much introspection. And hey, we’re encouraged to look outwards. Our senses are always distracted with something or other. We are quick to point out mistakes in others but slow to attend to our own shortcomings. I would say this is what this quote refers to. The reference to the different sizes of object in the eye may suggest that before we attend to others, our need to heal may be greater.

Indeed I feel that removing our planks might refer to the distorted manner in which we see things, i.e. through a lens of our own subjective beliefs, pains and experiences. When we remove the blockage we return to a state of being objective and are far more able to be in that space where we can assist others with their healing.

James 4:7

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Interesting quote. I say this for two reasons. The direct reference to the devil firstly. I would say that this “Monster” I have been discussing IS the devil. I certainly don’t see him as a real entity with hooves, horns and a pitchfork waiting for us in some fiery netherworld. I’d say he exists within us and the work that he does is very real and very damaging.

The second reason is the insinuation that resisting him will cause him to flee from us. Well I can say that I’ve experienced that directly. One of the disciplines I practice is witnessing my thoughts, and when it’s the monster, I just calmly say “stop” to it. The general noise it creates for me has certainly subsided. He can and does still nab me when I’m not witnessing and gets me on some key areas of my life that I have still yet to work through. Probably worth another post sometime.

The point is here that when we don't listen to the devil (monster/ego) we will after time, diminish it’s hold over us. Believe me when I say it’s a welcome change!

Matthew 7:24–27

Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.

I was not a wise man. I did not hear those words and yes my metaphorical house was built on a foundation of sand. When the bad weather came (the really bad weather), my house collapsed, great was its fall indeed, and boy it was an unpleasant experience.

I truly feel now like I am rebuilding on a more solid foundation. I am more objective now and I live in a world less wrought with emotional ups and downs. My house is built on a foundation of rock now, so I need worry less when the bad weather (or challenges) come.

The Christian faith would liken the rock to the holy spirit of god. But how in practical terms do we become united with this energy. I would say that we must do the work that is very much laid out within the good book.

In these few quotes I have already covered at least two of the major disciplines that I have been practising as part of my real healing. I’m reasonably certain there is a connection here, maybe putting some of that advice into practice would be helpful to us all.

Let me know what you think.