When you walk out into the forest what do you see?
If you’re like most people, nothing.
You don’t see anything at all. Just, “trees.” A mass undifferentiated sea of brown and green.
To those of us uninitiated into the lore of botany, the forest is just a glob. We are surrounded by all kinds of different things, oaks and holly and elm and ash. There are mosses and lichens, various fungi, spruce, poplar, juniper bushes, and all manner of other such things. And yet you don’t really notice any of them if you haven’t been trained to see them. You just see trees. You’re standing on dirt, surrounded by trees. That’s all the info you’re getting out of the experience. All the detail and fine resolution of the world around you is lost because you do not possess the correct mental apparatus to see it. Think heavily on this.
In the same way, when people go fishing, and they catch something, how many people know what they have caught? Avid fishermen do of course but your average tourist on a deep sea fishing boat? Amberjack? Cobia? Grouper or Snapper? Tarpon!? They have no idea. To them, they just caught “a fish.” They have eyes, sure, but they don’t have eyes to see. They’re blinded not by the physical ability of their eyes but by the ignorance of their minds. They’ve not been initiated into the world of ichthyology just as the average hiker in the forest has no special knowledge of botany. They see, but they do not see.
So therefore if you met Jesus you’d be disappointed.
We know this because it’s in the story.
Here’s this guy, right, son of God, born of a virgin, capable of miraculous power…
And yet everyday on the street people pass by him and take no notice.
Hey, you too.
You do the same. All the time.
Jesus just looked like a dude. A normal guy. The Bible even goes to the lengths of saying that explicitly. We’re told plainly that he wasn’t overly handsome or anything just, a guy. A dude. Probably middle eastern in complexion, dark hair, wearing a wrap of cloth around his body and some sandals like everybody else was back in the day. If he’d been born in 1992 and was today beginning his ministry at 30 years old, he might well be walking around in cargo pants and a graphic t-shirt. Maybe he’d be wearing crocs. Or maybe, being a carpenter, he’d be dressed sort of like those guys are now. Carhartt maybe. Timberland boots. Just a dude. You wouldn’t see a halo around his head nor perceive any sort of magic emanating from him like sun rays. You’d walk by him on the street and probably not look twice. God inches away from you and you didn’t notice. Just like you didn’t notice you were standing beside a poplar. Just like you didn’t know you caught a bluefish. God was there and you couldn’t see.
This is true literally all the time.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
Jesus
There’s more to the Hindu idea that “God is in everyone” than many Christians are comfortable with. Especially Western Christians. “Only one Jesus Christ!” they will shout, for fear of committing blasphemy or idolatry. Fair enough. And yet has Christ himself not said, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
Personally I have seen Jesus in others. In a very literal way. Not all the time and not for very long but in brief shining moments I have seen others appear to almost transfigure into something else. I don’t mean they turn into shining light or anything but a certain, it’s hard to describe, presence maybe, comes over them and in those moments they are perfect. I have yet to see someone glow with a halo but I will not be overly surprised if I ever do. There are probably some such people I encounter from time to time but I don’t have the eyes to notice them yet. Just like I would’ve done with Jesus in first century Palestine, I walk right by, unawares that I’ve just passed a bit of heaven. My understanding of Heaven and its inhabitants is not complete enough to notice such people. I have not been initiated far enough into the spiritual mysteries to spot them, just as an amateur fisherman might not yet be able to tell the difference between a haddock and a cod or an amateur botanist the difference between golden bamboo and switch cane.
See, having visions of heaven is your responsibility. It’s not God’s. Heaven is always here. It’s always right here. At your fingertips. Literally. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” You can step into Eden at any moment if only you had eyes to see. If only the ignorance of your mind regarding heavenly things were stripped away.
“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Jesus
Nothing needs to change except you.
The Buddhists say this by saying that the Gate is Gateless. The Hindu by saying that God is in everything. These are various ways of saying that the mystical state of consciousness is not different than the ordinary state of consciousness. And yet, also, it’s also worlds apart. Just as the hiker in the woods and the trained botanist behold all the same visual stimuli with the organs of their eyes, the one sees and the other doesn’t. You’re already touching heaven. You just have to learn to see.
The entire purpose of Church, in my estimation, is to teach this skill. Seeing. Very unfortunate that most of them have forgotten this. They’ve come to believe the goal is to make you understand and confess certain dogmas or to have certain feelings or make certain commitments to behave in certain ways. Fine and all, I suppose. But that sort of thing will always be secondary, perhaps tertiary. Church is supposed to teach you to see.
Remember always, the command over and over again, “Behold.”
Very good insight. I agree 100% The reason I'm not attracted to religion is for the very reason you describe. People totally focused on meaningless ritual, while the point of worship is entirely lost.
Thank you for a wonderful article.I needed this reminder.