It has been said, start with the goal in mind.
Jesus goal is the Kingdom of heaven within you. This was Jesus's goal. To lead us each and all to return to and live from within The Kingdom of heaven that is within us by birth, from birth, until culture and religion and maybe hormones, rip us away from that Kingdom at such an early age.
The purpose of Jesus life and example, the purpose of Jesianity, his teachings and example, it's not the teachings and example.
The purpose is to return us to residency in our home, the Kingdom of heaven within us.
The teachings and example are pointers, encouragements, guides, stepping Stones on a path.
Fo even the most advanced most advanced and mature practitioner of Jesianity, keeping the end in mind for oneself and for those one can influence requires constant vigilance, for the joyful collective life of it. And there is no separation between the goal of Jesianity, returning to residence, maintaining residence, in the Kingdom of heaven within us, and devotion to the joyful collective life. They are the same thing.
I speak these words that my joy might be fulfilled within you. I came that you would have life and have life more abundantly. Jesus.
In every realm of any given endeavor one can argue that only those of unique potential can rise to the top, can rise to mastery, to full goal attainment. I James believe that is a open question.
But I do not live as though it is an open question and it's unlikely that ever will. I believe and I live as though any and all of us have the potential to rise to the highest goal attainment in any endeavor to which we devote our lives. Why? It is destructively limiting of self and others to live as though it is aptitude, as opposed to application. It it too easily allows for oneself to make excuses for oneself and for one's responsibility to others.
Now, the opposite can also be true. If there is a brick wall, of infinite thickness, and I deny the reality that probably I am never going to be able to bang my head through that wall, that is also destructive. And even worse If I try to lead someone else to bang their head through it not noticing that their head is particularly soft, without skull.
But keeping that in mind, without gross irresponsibility, I will continue to err on the side of possibility; that application not aptitude is the determining factor.
But it is also true for me, and probably more so, that at such time as I recognize that my determination so far based on 72 years of life the jesus provides the answer, the solution that everyone wants, life in the Kingdom of heaven, in this life I am way more than open to discovering that he and his teachings, or my understanding of it, are in error. I'm certain of that. My life has been a continual test whether I prefer ideas that are to my preference or ideas that align with Demonstrable reality and never have I chosen the former, always the latter.
Way more than most people I have been a greedy serious scholarly student of the great souls and minds throughout history and remain so. And my conviction that Jesus singularly gave us the keys to the heaven within us, comes largely from that lifelong study.
And less than a year ago it was a shock to come to that realization that I found the answer only one place, but my conviction in that comes from seeing pieces of the truth that Jesus provided to us Emerging from these dozens and hundreds of great souls that I have been studying.
If to the idea that I asserted above, that only severe disabilities which are very rare preclude one from the highest level of achievement in virtually any domain, if you are of deep conviction that this is incorrect then what I have to share with you can be of nothing but time waste for you. Go on with my warmest wishes.
But your conviction would stand against the words of almost all the great souls and their behavior. I can't think of one that has said that talent is the predictor of great attainment. And many of them have gone to the trouble to express from deep within them that their experience is quite to the contrary as is mine.
And if you're still to the contrary, you would be quite contrary to the explicit teachings of Jesus. 'If you who are evil know how to give good things to your children how can your heavenly father not know how to give you the spirit that is holy If you ask for it? And the spirit that is wholly is the objective of Jesus teachings.
Now careful, that's certainly an editorial comment from James after months and months and months of studying every teaching of Jesus from the canonical Gospels that he can find.
And in which of the children that you've ever seen, when they're very very young, except those that have been horribly abused, in which of those do you not see at least on occasion a Spirit that can reasonably described as holy? If your answer is there is, well, few if any, then you have mercifully found another exit ramp from what I am trying to share and I believe from what Jesus is trying to share. But if your answer is in the affirmative, well, at some point almost with every child that's very young, then that's further Testament that Jesus teachings are appropriate for everyone.
But it doesn't come cheap. Especially in this culture that has been refining itself for thousands and thousands of years to feed the spirits in us that are not holy, and to atrophy and kill and torture and torment and corral and imprison the spirit in us that could be described as holy.
And that feature is pretty specific to the attempt to master Jesus teachings for the fruit of returning to live in the Kingdom of heaven within us to which we were born. That's an additional gigantic hurdle.
But in every pursuit when one attempts to gain mastery, it is a long hard demanding road of discipleship to whatever expert coach one might hope to Secure for instruction. Jesus is alluded to this I think in saying, knock in it shall be open to you, seek and you shall find.
Also Jesus indirectly alluded to The challenge, the work ahead, the discipline, the discipleship, in avoiding use of simple clear lessons. And why? What is the simple clear lesson that will make you a champion weight lifter? There isn't one. The path is the answer, the constant practice, the self honesty, the self-discipline, the repentence of errors aggressively because on the other side of them rise correct behavior and goal achievement.
It might be thought that constant study of Einstein would be an easy road to understanding his theories. And in a way that's true. It would be infinitely simpler and easier than starting from scratch. But what a long arduous road to understand Einstein's theories.
Well, if Jesus is worth understanding then what he offers to us is as great a leap for our spirit and intellect and nervous system as is the leap that Einstein provides to us. If it is not that great a leap then by definition it does not offer a substantial departure from how we have been from the life we have had and if you're yearning for a substantial departure it couldn't possibly be that answer you're looking for.
But as mentioned elsewhere in this writing if one thinks that the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Walter Raushenbusch, Dorothy Day, Dietrich Bonhoeffer are substantial departures, and of that Kingdom of heaven within us to some degree then that speaks to Jesus being the doorway because he was for them.
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What is the role of stories in mastery of Jesianity? That question is within the realm of, what is the path to mastering any discipline? Which is to say it's a similar question to what is the role of stories in mastering gymnastics as Simone Biles has? What is the role of stories in becoming a serious physicist?
And the answer I think is a very important role. Inspiring. Inspiration. Showing what's possible. And thereby inviting entry into the long long long long long path of arduous disciplined Inspired study.
The life examples in any such discipline provide continual oxygen for the work but they are not the work. Providing them is the work in a way. Being the example is the way. Without that we don't learn, except by Standing on the shoulders of others. And in doing so we have the chance of going a bit beyond.
But show me the discipline where stories are the path themselves? Now examples may be something different, but in Jesus realm there is a multi trillion dollar industry billion plus person industry currently committed to the idea that stories are the path. And that of course is Christianity. It has turned Jesus teachings, the discipline that he offered, into a Santa Claus like, tooth fairy like fantasy world that is all these nice stories, and thereby asserts that the path is to be on the sidelines not on the field of play that takes a lifelong dedication to be on.
It is a deadly illusion and Christianity was and is an extremely lucrative, materially, very powerful, materially, beneficiary of that illusion.
Work in progress
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