When the apostle John wrote, "The true Light that enlightens all who come into the world," he was describing the Son who, as he believed, dwelt bodily in Jesus Christ. The Light, the Son, is also known as The Word (the Logos) and the Universal Christ. The Universal Christ is personified for each of us as our own Higher Self, or Holy Christ-Self. You can think of your Higher Self as your inner Christ; your Higher Self represents your potential to realize God and become one with Him.
Purpose of the mystics
The apostle Paul wrote of Jesus that in him bodily dwelt the fullness of God. But there is not just an incarnation of Christ. Having the Christ incarnate is essentially the goal of mystics in every religion whether or not they express it according to these terms, for all mystics pursue the direct experience of and union with their own Higher Self. Most cannot yet say that they are the Son of God (with a capital Z) but we can say that we are sons and daughters of God (with lower case) who are in the process of developing our divine potential.
Jesus Christ; Who is He? the Meaning of His Mission (this article was compiled from parts of the book Kabbalah, (copyright C.U.T. - with permission).
Therefore, the term "Son of God" is a title that anyone can earn. No one can claim this title by virtue of being born a Jew or a born-again Christian. Son-ship is not automatic because it is written that God makes no distinctions regarding persons but that those who fear Him and are righteous are accepted by Him regardless of what nationality they are.
Jesus, Avatar of the Age of Pisces
Although there are other sons of God in heaven, we can claim a special relationship to Jesus Christ because He was and still is the archetype of the Christ, or the Avatar of the 2,150-year period known as the Age of Pisces. The earth goes through an era approximately every 2,150 years which corresponds to one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The duration of an epoch is determined by a phenomenon called the "precession of the equinoxes" which results from the slow backward rotation of the earth on its axis. Because of this retrograde rotation, the vernal equinox moves backward through the twelve signs of the zodiac. A new era begins when the vernal equinox of one sign of the zodiac enters another.
During each epoch, a civilization or a continent or the entire planet is meant to assimilate a particular attribute of God. In the year 2000 B.C. or four thousand years ago, we entered the Age of Aries. This was the age of patriarchs and prophets. The Age of Aries brought with it the consciousness of God as Father and as Law Giver. About 2150 years ago we entered the Age of Pisces. This age brought with it the consciousness of God as the Son and was defined by the coming of Jesus Christ as the representative of the Son.
Aquarius Age
Today we are entering a new era namely the Aquarian Age. This will be defined by a universal awareness of the Holy Spirit and Divine Mother. As we absorb these initiations of the Holy Spirit and the teachings of the Divine Mother, our mind, soul and heart are prepared to become the dwelling place of both the Holy Spirit and the Divine Mother, just as we had the opportunity to embody the Law of the Father and the Son in the previous two eras.
Out of all the heavenly sons, God chose Jesus to incarnate on earth and thus become the Avatar of the Piscean Age. In this role, Jesus has carried the weight of the sins, or negative karma of the planet for the past 2150 years, both before and after His birth. He shielded us from the full consequences of our wrong actions. Nevertheless, we are still responsible to atone for those sins, or that negative karma.
Time of installment
By ourselves bearing the burdens of our sins (karma) on Himself, Jesus bore the sins of the world so that humanity would mature spiritually and then bear its own burdens. In essence, he granted us forgiveness for our sins for the duration of the past Piscean Age. But forgiveness did not erase sins or karma: it only postponed them.
Christianity offers a wonderful anchoring in Jesus Christ. However, traditional church teaching has a fallacy that everyone's sins were paid off by Jesus Christ on the cross. The reality is that this cannot be in line with the Great Law of justice and mercy. That misconception caused, through incarnations, disregard for the laws of reincarnation and karma; the ancient wisdom from the East and very well known among Christian mystics and gnostics, including Jesus himself, who in his unknown years went to the East to be taught in the mystery schools. This neglect prevents the acquisition of wisdom to understand the true purpose in life.
When he began his mission as the Christ, he showed everyone how those who follow him can find their way back to the Father. When Jesus Christ spoke, everyone listened intently. But in reality, it was their Holy Christ-Self or Higher Self that they heard speaking through Jesus Christ to their souls. Jesus was the full embodiment of the Higher Self, our Higher Self or Christ-Self. When Jesus as the Universal Embodiment of Christ spoke, "No one comes to the Father but through me," it meant that everyone's Holy Christ-Self is the way to the Father. Jesus bore the full effect of all sins (karma) on Himself which was manifested as the crucifixion. This is a supreme act of love and grace but also that of the Great Law. But the Great Law also has a justice aspect. The redemption of sins was suspended so that people during the incarnations can joyfully do good works, pay off debts, and achieve their own ascension as Jesus Christ illustrated. At a deep soul level, we are aware of this - the Great Law of justice and mercy.
Today, the humanity of planet earth is going through the transition from the Piscean Age to the Aquarian Age, and Jesus returns to each one of us the responsibility of bearing our own burdens with dignity and honor, by following His path, the path of Christhood and reunion with each one's own Sacred Christ-Self. So Paul taught that ultimately each person will have to bear his own burden. He warned that we should not fool ourselves because Great Law is also just: whatever a person has sown, that he will also reap.
Jesus, the example of Christhood
As the representative of the Son of the Piscean Age, Jesus is the absolute example and signpost of the Path of Christhood. He came to show us how to unite with the Higher Self so that we would also know how to become one with the Christ and realize our own Christhood according to His example. In the book of John, Jesus promised at the Last Supper that "he who believes in me (the Christ) will also do the works that I have done, and even greater works than these, because I go to my Father.
Perfect
Although this is not directly the image of Jesus that Orthodox Christians want to emphasize, there is much evidence to support it. The book of Matthew describes Jesus exhorting us to strive for perfection. "Therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. Paul taught the Galatians that he toiled hard for the Christ to be born in men and that he also said, not only he himself lived but the Christ lived in him. Paul also wrote to the Corinthians that we have the spirit of Christ in us and to the Philippians, " Let this spirit be in you which was also in Jesus Christ."
Further evidence that Jesus taught that you, like him, are destined to realize your own Christhood was found in the Gnostic Gospels and Christian texts found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. Gnosticism is a term used to describe various groups or sects within Christianity that flourished in the 2nd century.
Gnostic writings under ban
The gnostics claimed to possess an advanced teaching that had been secretly handed down to them by Jesus and his intimate group of disciples. Some Gnostics gave a very different view of Jesus' role and mission than the church scholars of the time did. Because the teachings of the Gnostics threatened the unity of the growing Orthodox Church, church leaders banned and suppressed the Gnostic writings and almost completely destroyed them.
The few Gnostic texts that have been preserved teach that a true disciple imitates his teacher in order to become equal to him or even surpass him. An ancient collection of wise sayings found in Nag Hammadi called the sayings of Sextus teaches: one who is good is the good work of God. One who is worthy of God is God among men and also the Son of God.'
In the Apocrypha, the secret book of James, Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that no man shall enter into the kingdom of heaven at my request, but only because ye yourselves are full. Become better than me; become yourself like the son of the Holy Spirit.' The Gnostic gospel of Philip describes that the follower of Jesus must no longer be a Christian but must become a Christ. It says, "you saw the spirit and you became spirit, you saw the Christ and you became Christ, you saw the Father and you will become the Father.
In the Gospel of Thomas said to contain the secret sayings of Jesus, the Master tells his followers, "Because you have drunk, you have come under the influence of the bubbling fountain that I have caused to go forth. The one who drinks the words from my mouth will become as I am. I myself will become him and that which is hidden will be revealed to him.'
The Universal Christ
The bubbling fountain Jesus speaks of is the source of the Universal Christ. Jesus promises that if you have drunk from that water of eternal life with love and gratitude and have assimilated it, "you will become like me, like the Christ and myself, like the incarnation of the Christ.
The mystical paths of the world's religions will bear witness to the universal truth that the one who drinks from the fountain of the One Source will become one with that Source, no matter what religion we now adhere to, whether we hear that we can become one with Brahman, with the Tao, with the Buddha, or Ein Sof and the Sefirot or with the Son of God.
In the ancient Hindu epic 'Mahabharata,' the sage teaches Sanat Kumara That Brahman the Absolute, lives in every creature. Those who know Him know that universal Father who lives in the heart of every creature. The one who knows Brahman is equal to Brahman. The Chinese philosopher Chu Hsi says, "if we know the reality of Tao, we must seek it in our own nature. Everyone has within himself the principle of righteousness. This we call the Tao or the Way.'
A Buddhist text teaches, "The seed of Buddhahood exists in every living being. Therefore, for now and forever, everything living is endowed with the essence of the Buddha'. The Buddhist teacher Saicho says, 'When I worship thee, O Buddha, this is a Buddha worshipping another Buddha. And it is you who made this fact known to me, O Buddha.'
We believe that the New Testament and Christian Gnostic texts describe Jesus as an elder brother who teaches all that all the great teachers of the mystical paths of the world religions teach, namely, that you can achieve your own personal and transformative relationship with God and realize your potential in order to become a son of God and become one with the Christ.
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