The Third Jesus posted by Deepak Chopra Jan 5, 2008 11:45 pm

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The Third Jesus

posted by Deepak Chopra Jan 5, 2008 11:45 pm

 

Adapted from The Third Jesus, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).

 

No matter where you look, a cloud of confusion hangs over the message

of Jesus. To cut through it we have to be specific about who we mean

when we refer to Jesus. One Jesus is historical, and we know next to

nothing about him. Another Jesus is the one appropriated by

Christianity. He was created by the church to fulfill its agenda. The

third Jesus, the one this book is about, is as yet so unknown that

even the most devout Christians don't suspect that he exists. Yet he

is the Christ we cannot—and must not—ignore.

 

The first Jesus was a rabbi who wandered the shores of northern

Galilee many centuries ago. This Jesus still feels close enough to

touch. He appears in our mind's eye dressed in homespun but haloed in

glory. He was kind, serene, peaceful, loving, and yet he was the

keeper of deep mysteries.

 

The first Jesus is less than consistent, as a closer reading of the

gospels will show. If Jesus was perfectly peaceful, why did he

declare, " Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the

earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword " ? (Matthew 10:34)

If he was perfectly loving, why did he say, " Throw out the

unprofitable servant into the

outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth " ?

(Matthew 25:30)

 

If Jesus was humble, why did he claim to rule the earth beyond the

power of any king? At the very least, the living Jesus was a man of

baffling contradictions.

 

Millions of people worship another Jesus, however, who never existed,

who doesn't even lay claim to the fleeting substance of the first

Jesus. This is the Jesus built up over thousands of years by

theologians and other scholars. He is the Holy Ghost, the Three-in-

One Christ, the source of sacraments and prayers that were unknown to

the rabbi Jesus when he walked the earth. He is also the Prince of

Peace over whom bloody wars have been fought. This second Jesus

cannot be embraced without embracing theology first.

 

The second Jesus leads us into the wilderness without a clear path

out. He became the foundation of a religion that has proliferated

into some twenty thousand sects. They argue endlessly over every

thread in the garments of a ghost. But can any authority, however

exalted, really inform us about what Jesus would have thought?

 

These two versions of Jesus—the sketchy historical figure and the

abstract theological creation—hold a tragic aspect for me, because I

blame them for stealing something precious: The Jesus who taught his

followers how to reach God-consciousness.

 

I want to offer the possibility that Jesus was truly, as he

proclaimed, a savior. Not the savior, not the one and only Son of

God. Rather, Jesus embodied the highest level of enlightenment. He

spent his brief adult life describing it, teaching it, and passing it

on to future generations.

 

Jesus intended to save the world by showing others the path to God-

consciousness.

 

The idea of the Second Coming has been especially destructive to

Jesus's intentions, because it postpones what needs to happen now.

The Third Coming—finding God-consciousness through your own efforts—

happens in the present. I'm using the term as a metaphor for a shift

in consciousness that makes Jesus's teachings totally real and vital.

 

When Jesus Comes Again

Imagine for a moment that you are at the top of the hill where Jesus

is and he delivers a sermon, and you are deeply struck, to the heart,

in fact. He promises that God loves you, a statement he makes

directly, without asking you to follow the duties of your sect or to

respect the ancient, complex laws of the prophets. Further, he says

that God loves you best. In the world to come, you and your kind will

get the richest rewards, everything you have been denied in this

world.

 

As the son of Adam, your sins have brought you a wretched existence,

full of misery and endless toil. But Jesus doesn't mention sin. He

expands God's love to unbelievable lengths. Did you really hear him

right?

 

You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before all men.

He compares you to a city set upon a hill that can't be hidden

because its lights are so bright. You've never been told anything

remotely like this or ever seen yourself this way.

 

Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,

and the door will open.

 

Consider the lilies, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin, but I

tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one

of these. Consider the crows, for they neither sow nor reap, they

have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more

valuable are you than the birds!

 

When he preached, " If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer him the

other also " (Luke 6:29), Jesus wasn't preaching masochism or

martyrdom. He was speaking of a quality of consciousness that is

known in Sanskrit as Ahimsa. The word is usually translated

as " harmlessness " or " non-violence, " and in modern times it became

the watchword of Gandhi's movement of peaceful resistance. Gandhi

himself was often seen as Christ-like, but Ahimsa has roots in India

going back thousands of years.

 

In the Indian tradition several things are understood about non-

violence, and all of them apply to Jesus's version of turning the

other cheek. First, the aim of non-violence is ultimately to bring

peace to yourself, to quell your own violence; the enemy outside

serves only to mirror the enemy within. Second, your ability to be

non-violent depends on a shift in consciousness. Last, if you are

successful in changing yourself, reality will mirror the change back

to you.

 

Without these conditions, Ahimsa isn't spiritual or even effective.

If someone full of desire for retaliation turns the other cheek to

someone equally enraged, the only thing that will occur is more

violence. Playing the part of a saint won't make a difference. But if

a person in God-consciousness turns the other cheek, his enemy will

be disarmed.

 

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