Curiosity

Curiosity

With a veil of doubt we will see again /when it all goes down we will be full again/ just like we’re all supposed to be in the end. ---Astra Kelly, from Battling the Sun

Exploring a new depth. That is the curiosity of John. This John hails from Acts, a brother Christian to Paul. John the Gravedigger has a lesson in his life, as does everyone Jesus discusses here. I'll leave aside my puns about being "over your head" and let Betsy Otter Thompson introduce you to Christ’s memories of an early apostle whose curiosity actually made the best of him.

First, it gets the best of him; feeling overlooked, John begins helping himself to valuables left with the dead. When he begins involving his mind with the stories of the ones he buries, John gravitates to the families and becomes a true part of the proceedings. Then Jesus is asked, did John participate in the baptisms? Jesus says he did, and suggests the baptisms had different personal meanings. Here baptism ties with forgiveness, which requires humility to the one who gives as well as the one who asks.

These are good lessons, and perhaps their unconventional presentation here---the strangeness of this chapter stitching together honor and forgiveness and curiosity---makes them harder to ignore. Nothing was predictable here, that's for sure!

I asked for a strange parable, I suppose, Now curiosity's explored in a walk into the water, while the wearer bears a hat of all the knowledge he'd ever need. The hat, when Jesus walks deeply enough, floats off his head. Others try to join him in his curious exploration of the bed of the waters, but they clumsily back pedal so as not to lose their hats. John shares this problem and must abandon his hunt sometimes to keep touch.

Jesus has faith his hat will be there again when he surfaces, and so he never loses it. So, how curious are you to explore the unseen levels within the waters? Are you aware of where floats your hat? You see what I mean by strange parable---but read it yourself and see. The knowledge provides a oneness that makes nothing more within the water call to his curiosity.

Finally, she closes the chapter, as always, with questions made for the reader to pursue and genuinely answer.

"How do you honor the lesser positions around you?

How do you honor the greater positions around you?

How do you honor your position?

If all the lesser positions suddenly became the greater positions, would you alter your answers?

How can you honor both in appropriate ways?"

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Inspired by Betty Otter Thompson's Walking Through Illusion: Anything that makes you laugh or cry

“When drama unfolded in my life, I sometimes blamed others for the way the play was progressing.
I played the role the same way my friends played a role---same as the actors in theater played their roles, and all of us had chosen the parts we played. Our roles were no more real than those we saw in the theater. They were illusory experiments, to expand our hearts, so that when we left these dramas, we had the needed emotion for the next performance, taking our hearts even deeper.”

---Betsy Otter Thompson, Walking Through Illusion

Betty Thompson, through this premise, visits the Biblical life of Christ, and the legendary apostles and opponents, to generate a mirror from those experiences to reveal the true natures of our own.

The first point to make aboutWalking is the intention. It’s not to “challenge historical facts in other worthy books; it was written to challenge me to become accountable.” Guilt, hate, and resentment, she writes, are exchanged for growth, compassion, and autonomy.

The true experience of Christ opens up your heart, and the most practical reason to imagine Jesus is as a Friend Within. The highest self you imagine can aid you in integrating the complete person you are into creation.

As she notes, “Walking Through Illusion is not the usual format for historical reenactments, but like any novel, it is the author’s interpretation of possible emotions that might have been experienced. The gift is in the message, whether the history is taken literally or not. (Preface, pg. 3)”

From the Christ’s viewpoint of infinite forgiveness and knowing, “(e)arly in the writing Jesus reassured me that these people had their lives to the best of their ability, and wasn’t I doing the same.”

Over time, as she wrote this, she took questions from people that shaped the rest, through exploring their relationships and finding truth in the witness to whom she chose to listen.

Here’s a sample of the questions, few and helpful, postulated at the end of each of the 23 chapters. From the first chapter, titled “Reform”:

How many useless goals can you think up?

How often did you laugh while making that list?

List as many meaningful goals as you can imagine.

How often did you cry while making that list?

If you actually participate, you get the full play of your mind.

Then, we’re asked to take away the significance of “all the little things you relish are all the big things that matter.” We’re advised:

“Anything that makes you laugh or cry is neither useless or trivial, but a vital part of your path. Find the benefits from both.”

The chapters include: Why are we living in time? Are memories controllable? What qualifies as a gift?

How do complaints effect us? (That one was directly relevant to we here at Integr8d, so there I turned! I started with the one on death and found Pontius Pilate.)

I was curious why one of the more famous of the twelve disciple did not first appear,as Bartholomew, outside of Matthew 10, eludes me. The logic of the book is centered around its themes. Their presentation, from Reform to Time, is given the primary focus, though each chapter consists of Bible times scholarship as well.

In the writing of this book, the author progressed from seeing a world of rights and wrongs to actually understanding its participants. “When the picture was awful,” she writes, “I was helpless to change it.”

As she notes, “I learned that taking responsibility for the love, or the lack of love in my life, was the tool through which to create a new, difference experience.”

And that is a Christ you can know.

Walking Through Illusion is published by O Books.

Mondays with Jesus

Ahh...now I am truly back! I've been preparing notes in spare corners of my time. I have my vacation and this book, Walking Through Illusion, on the docket, along with another writing assignment...for Betsy, I'm going to do pt. 1 of her book, first.

For my friends who suspected something hilarious might be on the way...hang in there! I'm just not Trying really hard at funny today :-D
http://ceaseill.blogspot.com/2010/10/anything-that-makes-you-laugh-or-cry.html Here's one entry on Betsy's book; there's another, under Walking Through Illusion from last week.

While laughter may be the best medicine, I'm actually going to intrigue you a bit.
http://photobucket.com/images/Jesus%20meditating%20on%20the%20Cosmic-Om-Christ%20Within/

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Back with Betsy

Just got back from vacation/ tour, and I look forward to sharing the Cave, the shows and candid pics. My next item will be blogging about Betsy Thompson's new book, Walking Through Illusion. My copy just came in! I'm a huge fan of Wayne Dyer and Hay House type material, so I look forward to sharing my impressions in multiple parts as the new month begins.






The book is subtitled, Jesus Speaks of the People who Shared his Journey.
Various Biblical figures are referenced here. Opinions, Approval, Reform, Complaints, Advice, and a score of other topics are covered in short essays, hinged upon various questions addressed to Jesus. A worksheet is included with each chapter. It's a creative yet Biblically-based approach to self-help, and I will discuss it at length very soon!