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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Elizabeth Fry
return to main-page of the "Jesus" article
I very much like Elizabeth Fry's viewpoint of Jesus (via Leslie Flint) ...
I would say to you, above all things, if you want to discover truth, avoid men of power and position
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...There is, in a sense, organization here [on the Other Side] -- there is a feeling that everything is in its place, but there is no conscious organization here… there is always the realization of greater possibilities… because nothing is static here, everything has the opportunity for change; and when a person begins to seek, begins to change in themselves, begins to desire things of a better order, so, automatically, gradually, they will find those things – it’s all a state of being, a state of mind. Every existence in which one might find himself is a state of mind, a state of awareness, a consciousness…
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There are no actual leaders [here] as such – we have an organization which is so subtle and yet so natural – because, a person here, for instance, does not, in a sense, ‘give orders’; we have groups of souls who do special work – but we all realize, automatically, within ourselves, what our part is, what work we have to do; and we realize that we are all interwoven, one with another – I think it is [that] we are all very conscious of this oneness of spirit. Here, no one glories in being a leader – whereas in your world [in various organizations] you do get this sort of glorification of the individual [leader]; the first thing a person must learn here, if they are to progress, is to lose this idea of self-importance .
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Those who are really progressed on this side never, never, give that impression -- because it is not even in their nature to appear, or want to appear, important. Everything that we talk about, everything that we do, is done in a complete love, in a complete harmony, one with another. No one wants to override another person; all of our influences for good are [done] in love; and therefore we don’t have, on this side, organization, as such. We don’t recognize leaders, in the sense that you do…
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Christ himself had no intention, no desire, to found any religious organization. This is completely, absolutely, a man-made thing - which over the centuries has misled mankind; and, indeed, I think it is pretty obvious, that if you analyze the whole of Christ’s teaching, you will find that he was the most humble of souls; that he had no desire to form any kind of an organization; he chose his disciples among the most ordinary of men; he did not try to dictate; he did not suggest, in the sense that some people assume that he dictated that they should do this or do that – he gave them, completely and absolutely, free will -- free will to choose the path that they should follow.
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I think that people will only recognize … what Christ really was, when they begin to discount a lot of untoward creeds and dogmas, tacked on over the centuries by men who desired power and position – I would say to you, above all things, if you want to discover truth, avoid men of power and position, because … [they desire] power and position because of their material perception of things - you cannot, surely, build a truly spiritual realization of God on something which is of a material conception – God is not found, in a sense, in buildings or places … God is found within one’s soul, within one’s inner consciousness”
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"There are no actual leaders [here] as such."
In the "real world," in the better neighborhoods, there is no ruling elite, strutting with ostentation on a cosmic stage before a merchandized citizenry; all such vainglorious display of Small Ego will be gone with this world.
People in Summerland are taught - if they're of a mind to want to be taught - that all might rise to the highest heights of development; no one is second-class; there are no holier-than-thou bureaucratic functionaries, lording it over the plebs.
Nevertheless, there is de facto leadership; there are august ones, exceedingly wise, highly revered, and everyone knows who they are. These are they who perceive the inner-workings of natural law; have entered the depths of sacred consciousness; are learned, via personal experience, in the hidden ways of God.
These servants-of-all are at our disposal, "at the calling of our hearts." If there's a special project, or a special question, and we need to know; if an expert is required who possesses rare knowledge; such advanced person, equal to the task - possibly, thousands of years old - will be summoned, even from higher dimensions normally unavailable to us; and he or she will visit Summerland to personally instruct one requesting knowledge.
"There are no actual leaders [here] as such" - because each person in the afterlife must direct his or her own destiny; but when we need specialized advice, and are willing to ask for it, we will call on authentic leadership, ones who have gone before, servant-authorities who understand perfectly what to do. These are the real elites of the astral realms.
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Father Robert Benson, channeled information from the afterlife:
The most magnificent service ever conducted in the largest and most ornate cathedral with the maximum of solemnity, pomp, and ritualistic display, and in the presence of a whole hierarchy, will not, in the smallest, minutest degree remove from a single ‘sinner’ one fraction of the burden which a mis-spent life has loaded upon the shoulders of the breaker of spiritual laws. No pleading, however eloquently delivered or prolonged, will achieve that object.
Those peculiar religious devices, known to the orthodox world as the sacraments, through which, it is held, the grace of God will descend upon man, are just man-made institutions whereby the people can be kept in proper subjugation. Mysteries are necessary in maintaining the Church’s power and authority. It would never do for the people to know as much as their ministers of the Church.
By withholding as much as possible, their fear of God is increased, and with that well inculcated, the people will do just as they are told. The authority of the Church will be maintained and all will be well—so authority itself may think. All is not well. All is very ill, indeed, with the countless thousands who have been misled, misguided, and befooled by their supposed religious mentors. The Church has built up an elaborate system of observances and doctrines, most of which, it will be claimed, have their foundation in the New Testament because they were actually instituted by Jesus himself.
Dishonest or ignorant scribes have put into the mouth of Jesus sayings which we, in the spirit world, know positively he could never have uttered. Jesus is supposed to have spoken about his ‘Church.’ That is a falsity of the worst kind. On no occasion was Jesus interested in establishing any Church. He dealt solely with spiritual truths; he was at no time concerned with the creation and establishment of peculiar sacramental devices upon which man’s salvation would have to depend.
He knew that no one, either on earth or in the spirit world, can take upon himself the character or functions of a ‘redeemer’ or a ‘saviour’ in the sense in which those two terms are known ... Jesus dealt only with spiritual truths, not with religious fancies and their ritualistic trimmings. He stated the truth, bare and unadorned; he made no claims for himself beyond the fact that he knew and spoke the truth upon all matters appertaining to man’s spiritual purpose and destiny...
There was so little to be made out of the truth as Jesus proclaimed it. There were no mysteries with which to hold folk in spiritual subjection, to bring them to heel with fear of terrible punishments to come if they disobeyed authority.
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