We Will Rise

Or we won't.

Just as there are exoteric forms of religion - from institutional realities to dogma and doctrine - there are the esoteric, more mystical layers of it as well. On Easter, whether we think in terms of the external or the internal Jesus determines how we experience the day.

To the mystic, Jesus was not just someone who lived two thousand years ago; rather, he lives in people’s hearts today. The meaning of Easter is not just what happened historically, or what happens only one day of the year, but what happens in any moment when love and forgiveness overcome the fear-laden powers of the world.

Sean Gallup - Sorbian eggs from Schleife, Germany

The question of how to break the chain of darkness could not be more relevant than it is today. Environmental degradation, rising authoritarianism and endless war are the stuff of our collective crucifixion. Humanity can’t stop it because humanity is doing it; our own minds are weaponized against us. What is needed on the planet now is a collective resurrection, a divine intercession from a thought system beyond our own.

There’s an obvious intensification on the planet of both the darkness and the light, both forces of planetary destruction and planetary enlightenment. The air is so saturated with toxicity now that our minds, our bodies, our entire social system is feeling the dis-ease. Even those of faith, of serious and committed spiritual practice, are having to work overtime to keep a creeping despair at bay.

So what will happen now? Will darkness and fear, or light and love, win the struggle for the future? If we just give up and surrender, darkness most certainly will win. But if we stand up and fight back, then darkness might also win. Yet is there any other option?

Interestingly enough, yes. The other option is Easter.

Easter isn’t so much a joyful holiday today - there’s too much going on in the world for that - as it is an instructive one. The point is not that God defeats darkness, but that He overcomes darkness. The light becomes so bright that the darkness disappears.

That isn’t theory; it’s a law of consciousness. The only thing to be saved from is the insane thinking that dominates this world, but we can’t save the world from its insanity when we’re holding onto it ourselves.

Whether it be our attachment to the past, or to our addictions, or to our judgements, or to our victimization, or to our violent behavior - we can have those, or we can have a sustainable future. Only if we work to rid the darkness in our own hearts can we become the conduits of miraculous change.

This isn’t just about Jesus, it’s about us. His resurrection was the overcoming by one man; today’s resurrection is the overcoming by an entire species. We ourselves must become the change, and that is the resurrection. God can’t do for us what he can’t do through us. We must be willing to be reborn into another, higher version of ourselves, in order to pull off the miracle of planetary transformation. The world as it now exists is a reflection of who we have been; the world of the future will reflect who we choose to become. We can have the overcoming, but not if we hang on to the cross.

The Messiah is a state of mind, the unconditional love that is a conduit for our own enlightenment. The question isn’t simply what we need to do; the question is what quality of personhood we must embody in order to do what it is we are asked to do. It seems to me all of us are being asked right now. In each of our lives there is some circumstance challenging us to give up a weaker part of ourselves and emerge into a stronger place. All of us are wounded by this world, but it’s a choice we make whether or not to act from the wound. In acting from the wound, we perpetuate a wounded world. In choosing to transcend the wound, we’ll create a world reborn.

Jesus wasn’t putting on some macabre show for the world to witness; he was changing the molecular structure of the universe. He was opening up possibilities for change not only for himself but for all the world. Even those of us who do not relate to his story as Christians, can relate to the metaphysical power of the resurrection and to its transformative effect upon our lives. Any one person breaking the hold of darkness paves the way for everyone to break the hold of darkness.

Hallelujah. Praise God. May it be so.

A look from inside out: Photo by Pisit Heng on Unsplash