Free Will :: 04-11-2020

Steve Robinson:

"Full time father of four and husband of one. School teacher, teaching kids Physics in various sunny locations. Former fishing guide and captain of a sinking ship, literally.

Currently enjoying everyday life free from psychological suffering."


"I, of myself, can do nothing" is very profound.

The core of many issues is the submission to that one point.


There isn't really even a submission once its seen that there are not two wills (my will and Gods Will) there is only, was only ever,  can only ever be Gods will.

But until that is realised, its a very powerful technique to surrender the individual will to Gods Will.


Its subtle, but even when we realise there is only Gods Will we still continue to do and feel exactly what we want to do! Experientially its as if we have free will, but insight shows our very thoughts and feelings are not our own.


Hence, in one sense nothing changes, one still experiences being free, but on the other hand one realises that there is only Gods Will, and that is good!

That is real freedom, even though the intellect views it as slavery.


Peace.


"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

Holger: 

In John 5:30 the following words are assigned to the character Jesus:

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Reading scripture can feel dark and heavy:
Oh no! What does all of this mean?

In John 10:30 Jesus tells you:

"I and the Father are one.”
At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him.


*) stone is the symbol of literal facts.
... including our habitual "ya, but..." 
which is much easier to throw at someone than to go the extra mile of embracing what is being shared.


Who is the Father, who am I?

The living "Jesus", relevant for us today, in practical terms, is not "another" who lived and died  maybe 2,000 years ago. Jesus, being introduced as a character in scripture, is our own enlightened reasoning on its journey from being misunderstood and rejected, to returning to the glory of God even in our mundane lives, here and now.

In Philippians 2:5 we are encouraged to be brave and playful: 

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus".  

This makes Jesus a pattern of salvation for all of mankind, including you and me. Can you glimpse that? It took me a while to allow this understanding to sink in, with its implications.

Jesus' saying 

"I and my Father are one" 

becomes now very intimately your own reality: it means that you -- seemingly little, insignificant itsy, bitsy you -- is one with the Father. Wow? Can this be?


It is nothing to hope, believe or wait for, but to examine, to test, to proof and to confirm. You don't want to make a fool of yourself and play Jesus in la la land, but you commit yourself to figuring this out, intellectually and experientially. Even if it would turn out that the Bible got it all wrong, you have strengthened your spiritual muscle through the exploration.

In this exploration our old person, the separate psychological self, we believe ourself to be -- the one we think we are -- is being seen as fictional. This feeling/seeing reveals the one Self we naturally and effortlessly always are. 

Since we are told not to fill new wine into old skins, we have to first empty our old skin, by examining our former psychological believes of who and what we are. We cannot be hypocrites in claiming to love and follow Jesus, without being radically open in letting go of our nets (old concepts and ideas about ourself). 

It is neither difficult nor easy, but it requires Love and vigilance. The friction, the resistance, the difficulty is only in our clinging, for life, to the false self image our thinking mind entertains.

Could it be that simple? Can I deserve such Love?

All of this may sound strange and far fetched.

It is not about right or wrong in an absolute sense, but our increasing ability and sensitivity to shine the Light of exploration and knowing into all the hidden corners of our thinking and feeling. 

It is about discovering what is Truth (that which never changes) and to be loyal to our discovery, in daily living.