Fearing or Worshipping the Lord is Knowing Ourselves
I think the above quote makes more sense than the usual interpretation of the proverb “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” in the bible from fundamentalist Christian circles. I was thinking maybe what Jesus meant when he told the devil (the alter ego of his subconscious) “you shall worship the lord and him you shall serve only” is to know and worship his true highest self only. Hence, to fear or worship the lord is to know ourselves, our highest self, our authentic self, which is the beginning of wisdom. It is not about being afraid of some invisible man in the sky or fearing a so-called mean, judgmental god. To me, I have come to see that it is about knowing ourselves. Like what Jesus said, “Physician, heal thyself”. We are the physician. We are our own saviour. Only we can save ourselves. We are also gods and goddesses. “Be still and know I am god (or goddess).” Indeed, knowing ourselves is the beginning of wisdom.
On a simiar note, I was reading Silas Rodriguez’s recent posts in Gnostic Christ group in facebook last night, and the following posts resonate with me, as I have come to see the gospel from a gnostic perspective (gnosis – knowing ourselves/god).
“I am convinced that the Jesus and Satan characters are just archetypes of the subconscious.”
“A. Satanism emerged as part of The Occult Revival that began in the 1960′s — However, many do not believe in a literal devil.
1.Freud wrote that demons are merely “the products of the Psychic Activity of man,”
2.Bertrand Russell states: “God and Satan alike are essentially human figures, the one a projection of ourselves, the other of our enemies.”
3. Arthur Lyons says: “Satan is an archetype, a force embedded in man’s unconscious, a remnant of his psychological revolution. Satan is the child of fear, and fear is innate of all men.”
So this morning, when I read Aristotle’s quote “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”, it resonated with me too, and it occurred to me that knowing ourselves is knowing god/the lord because we are one with god. “He who is joined to the lord is one spirit with him.” and “Be still and know I am god.” are some verses that confirm this truth/viewpoint/observation. On my way to office, I was reflecting that to know ourselves is to not only embrace the totality of ourselves (both light and dark, good and evil, yin and yang), but also know and worship and honour our true self that transcends duality – that which is unconditional love, grace, compassion, peace, joy, wisdom, strength and beauty. So yes, to know ourselves is the beginning of all wisdom – wisdom that is from above (our higher consciousness), peaceable and bearing fruit of righteousness and innocence, healing and restoration to our heart, mind, soul, body, emotions, spirit and consciousness.
I have also checked out the blog “The quest for light”, and I think the posts are quite progressive in nature, spiritually speaking. I like especially what is written in this post “No need to fear, NO ONE will burn forever”:
“Literalness is a cancer and does not do the Bible justice. The layered meanings are what matters the most. I for one get tired of seeing people who think they know scriptures and try to slap people around with passages as if they are holier than thou. The problem is they use bits and pieces and take the passages out of context. Worse yet, they take it literally and in the process completely miss the underlying and hidden meanings within.”
Yes, I have come to a place where I would approach the bible from a gnostic or mystical point of view. While I agree with Silas Rodriguez’s view that Jesus and Satan are merely archetypes of the unconscious, I have also been contemplating recently that all the characters in the bible are also in some ways a lesser archetype of ourselves, at different points of time in our life. For example, there may be times we are like Nicodemus the Pharisee, and at other times we are like Peter. Similarly, there may be times we are like Martha, yet at other times we are like Mary. So all the characters may be a mirror image of the different multi-dimensional aspects of our entire human personality, at different points of time (and perhaps over many different lifetimes as well, if reincarnation were true).
4 Comments on “Fearing or Worshipping the Lord is Knowing Ourselves”
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Great post! Thanks for the plug too
You are welcome, Nelson. You are doing great sharing words of refreshment and liberation in your blog.
Peace and blessings.
People say that they feel “slapped around” by scriptures and those who portray themselves as holier than thou. But the bible says Jesus is a stumbling block. I think people just don’t want to hear the truth. Also, how come you believe the Gnostics, and , it seems, most other philosophers, and take them at their word, but don’t take God at His word?
I think Jesus is a stumbling block to the religious mind that tries to define, conceptualise and package God in neat theological boxes. This is especially so in mainstream christianity. The Gnostics and philosophers are willing to question man-made concepts of God, and generally embrace the mystery of God. I have come to see the bible as a collection of man’s writings that record people’s views of God, which are often a mental projection of their own imagination.