end of days
Prophets: The Oracles of Conscience
Faith in the Holy One as revealed in Judaism affords us a particular view of a people's evolution in their awareness of God. One could regard the entire arch of the Bible's narrative as one great prophecy. Following the period of matriarchs and patriarchs, as Jewish people became a nation, the Holy One raised prophets as oracles of conscience, calling the people out of their fragmentation, to return in oneness.
Despite how religion often flattens the words of prophets—as though some moody demigod above favors or damns people below—the subtlety of inwardness from which prophets reveal the divine will then and now demands our closer attention to hear: Elohim is what is happening. The Holy One isn’t only above but everywhere below, displaying the state of every human heart. Reality outside is generated from interior lives inside. From a historical perspective of conscience embodied by the prophets, the darkest cycles in Jewish history of collapse and exile were the result of God's people turning outward. Serving human precepts—idols—hardens the heart, exposing souls to the Other Side, which escalates social and ecological trauma.
Facing Exile
It doesn’t take a prophet to see the same, spiraling cycles continuing to our very day. What has happened? While the polar caps are melting, our hearts seem to be freezing. As more species lose their habitats and perish, so shall we. And unlike every prophetic cycle before us, we face global exile, with no where to go. As numbers of climate refugees rise, desperation and violence will escalate. But founded on the crucifixion and resurrection, non dual Christian faith offers the most sublime opportunity to know and embody Messiah more directly than ever before. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints (Revelation 13:10, 14:12). Our hope is not in heaven, but in God With Us, even to the end of the age (Matt 28:20).
Who, in the name of Messiah, would abandon suffering people? Instead of evacuating to heaven while his time and place collapsed, what did Yeshua desire? To serve to his last breath, even in the worst case scenario. See, we honor the cross of Messiah not at all as vicarious, but imitating Yeshua’s way of salvation: Break out of yourself, take up the cross, and follow me (Mark 8:34). He inverted every idea of salvation in heaven by offering himself on earth. Salvation is to serve. The heart that sees, loves, and serves Messiah in all beings can know the resurrection in this life.
For This Hour We Have Come
What religion binds to the past, our tradition finds in the present. The time and place of the crucifixion was a prophecy of the end of the age. Nothing now can contradict Yeshua's context of the gospel. Despite the worst nightmare of torture that the Roman Empire could imagine, Yeshua remained lucid throughout to offer himself. This reframes the entire gospel. Rather than evacuation, we're called to serve in all circumstances. In simplest terms, the cross reveals that nothing is separate. If one’s knows this in their heart, then they may recognize the oneness of God. If we can recognize God in all that is happening, they we may realize and embody the absolute oneness of God. Oneness makes no ultimate difference between this life and the afterlife. This is the essence of the gnostic gospel: non dual awareness of ourselves with God, in all circumstances.
Applying the crucifixion of Yeshua to the crucifixion of the world, it’s easy to assume or hope that John describes events of the Apocalypse from two settings: the sinners wailing on earth below and the saints rejoicing in heaven above. But consider his opening statement: I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos (1:9). He received his revelation while in a prison labor camp! This proof text inclines us to collapse these settings: Saints and sinners are both on earth, but while all is falling apart outside, the saints gathering for prayer and worship ascend inside through their souls into visions and direct knowledge of the Lamb of God and New Jerusalem. In our community, this is actually happening. Not only in ours, but in any community founded on enlightenment and active compassion. This is the revelation, the very hour in which our lineage holders long ago longed to incarnate. They knew its darkness and violence also would hold the greatest opportunity for generating merit in spiritual progress. Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour (John 12:27). For this hour we have come.
Learn More
https://sophian.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4549&p=20627#p20627
https://sophian.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4737&p=21622#p21622
https://sophian.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4216&p=19938#p19938