Riffin’ on Proper Shepherding

John 8

21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.

26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

27 They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.

28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.

This is…pure sass. It is also as bad as it gets when you truly are enlightened (…jk, the Garden of Gethesmane and the passion still occur later…at times the world comes to inflection points that from the peace times seem…insane). Jesus is essentially, with a somewhat spurned tone here, saying “Oh let your sins do their work then!”

He’s literally saying that their sin will kill them…in the most positive sense of it. In the sense that suffering is to kill the ego on the spot…the fallacies it has begun to use as cornerstone. What gets whittled away is the notion that identity is predicated on anything but a meaningful oneness with Source that is fleshed out in all things manifest, lovingly, so as to ensure our blissful development, as well as to sanctify the larger institution of life, Itself. Hence, those who have come to “believe” that “I am he” both in the most general sense of it, as well as in the sense of Jesus Christ being God the Father made flesh, are those who need not “die” “in their sins”. They are, in fact, fundamentally, above sin at that juncture, even if in need of some contextualized guidance. They are as the saints…to be trusted even in their unwitting states…as the grace magnanimously follows them, specifically, and the blessings are clearly evident at all moments in the air which is in their midst.

Jesus sought to do that with all individuals by way of service, in the little things such as washing their feet and the such…it’s meant to be a contagious sort of framework, transmissible effectively through simple acts of kindness…even if we need to eventually master these philosophical nuances as we have. We know that not all acts are equal, and that much of this life is mysterious…that the early years of life are formative and the quality of time surrounding them very… odd. It’s in the vicinity of that culture that I still see a robust awareness that simple acts of love are messianic by way of the butterfly effect. Once you’re old enough for like a gaming tablet though that stuff is right out the window and history becomes a dark mandala of indentured servitude to the apocalypse.

The teaching here is that when you drop the excessively conceptual mind to rest in truth, a sort of thin psychological state of “I am”-ness which itself betrays a system of cosmic resonance that you're consciously disciplining yourself to achieve, you are one with God by way of universal stimuli, and have a great capacity for love in being able to tune into as much. In such a state, mistakes are possible, but sin isn’t. It’s eclipsed, but the tonality of life remains what it has always been. We’ve been seeing this- it’s real life.

The “chosen” people are above reproach…but they are human and make mistakes. It’s the template for society, not just the tribe of Israel…it’s the template for any tribe. Israel’s story resembles the story of the human tribe, as presented in the Bible…coming in from the wild…learning to live socially… creating a brave new world order capable of such much more… when we excessively police each other, when we create social “others” at the expense of the lives of individuals…when we do anything unjustly… we live as savages, at war with the very promised land gifted, whatever it amounts to.

To run a society of winner and losers instead of one of a positive mutuality…is a sign of spiritual savagery. In this day and age, it is inflicted strategically. Political science has tried to take the territory conceptually, only the sputter some pathetic half-musings when asked about Infinity… the systems used to not be so aligned with universal truth. The rascals are figureheads bucking ineffectively against historical trends while the fundamentally blind spectate, sowing the seeds of fear and loathing. We need a love politician again man, and we need it soon.

I sold foundational Oriental wisdom traditions to countries like America and, by God, it put them on the map!