Re-Introducing Yeshua

 

Yeshua, who was a mystic and Master of Wisdom, becomes a paradigmatic figure who shows us by example how to walk this path and live this life.

 Lesson 5: The Paradigm Shift

As we understand and seek to integrate these new understandings concerning the original Yeshua, it is clear that we are experiencing a paradigm shift in Christianity. We have grown up with “belief systems” about him (believing the right doctrines and creeds of Christianity as the main feature of the Christian religion). Now we can see that Yeshua was not teaching creeds or theology or even a religion. Instead, he was giving us wisdom about life that puts each of us on a spiritual path where we can learn and practice wisdom for ourselves as we go along. This changes the whole picture (or the paradigm) almost completely. It moves it away from things we must believe (as orthodoxy) to a way in which we can live and learn through practice (as orthopraxis).

Paradigmatic figure

Yeshua, who was a mystic and Master of Wisdom, becomes a paradigmatic figure who shows us by example how to walk this path and live this life. His dedication to that path (and to the divine Presence that he loved and that loved him) took him to his death, which was an act of loving self-sacrifice. He willingly gave up his life to help others. This changes everything. Religion is no longer about obeying the rules or believing the right things. Now, it was about becoming fully human, that is, a person who is full of light and love serving God and others. This is “one’s true self.” It is a radical shift away from conventional religious beliefs to taking a journey that puts us on a path of loving enlightenment in oneself, for others, and eventually the whole creation.

We might imagine these to be a paradigmatic shift not unlike the Copernican revolution that occurred in the early centuries of the modern era. Copernicus discovered that the universe did not revolve around the earth as its center, but the opposite, the earth revolved around the Sun. It was a radical shift in perspective, creating a new paradigm that led away from a geo-centric astronomy to one that was heliocentric. That same shift is now occurring in western religion and theology. We are moving away from a religion about Jesus, to the religion of Yeshua.

Yeshua Divine DNA

Beginning this journey toward spiritual maturity helps us to “complete” the restoration of our being and consciousness directs us toward a second important part of his work: metamorphosis or transformation. As humans, we are not meant to stay as we are, but to evolve into a different kind of human who shares the same image and likeness of God. We each carry divine DNA within us, but it must be released so we can grow up into full maturity with a structure or form different from what we are now. Currently, we are creatures in transition. As an example, we are moving from a caterpillar-like stage to that of a butterfly. The early tradition described this process as theosis—which surprisingly meant to become god-like, divinized and deified. Many, perhaps most followers of Yeshua today do not know about this extraordinary vision. It was, however, at the heart of his mission. He was not only revealing the truth of God’s intention for humanity, but was providing a Way forward into this new, divine life-form.

Clearly the metamorphic process will involve a more mature relationship with God for each of us—one which Yeshua himself experienced. He wanted his own students to become united with the Father in a direct relationship of oneness that he shared in which the two minds and hearts became One. Traditionally, this has been called mystical union. It is clearly an experience not about believing the right things, but about experiencing a new way of being human that brings our reality and the divine together, uniting them from the inside.

Yeshua Reality of the Heart

He would not be satisfied until these same processes were catalyzed deeply within his students at the level of the heart. The reality of the heart, then, was also a key teaching, for it lies at the deep core of our being where we can enter and experience the divine Presence in just this way. It is also the place from which we might learn to do our own work helping him repair and restore the world (called Tikkun Olam in the Jewish tradition). Yeshua not only shared these understandings but also his same mission itself with us. We are invited to become fellow practitioners, using new tools and talents that grow from our own use and learnings in the heart. These are just a few examples of the many teachings which are now available to us from across many of the Oriental and Occidental streams flowing from his wisdom.

Questions for Reflection

Salvation and atonement

The original mission of Yeshua has been complicated in the West by the doctrine of salvation. According to that teaching, the work of the Messiah was to come to earth in order to die and save us from our sins. To be saved from sin and hell was his whole goal. From the viewpoint of the Christian Orient, however, this is a very serious distortion. Even the original word “save” is really about healing or being restored us back to life and full health. The term sin, used to describe a fault or flaw that we each inherit from our ancient ancestors (and to which we add as long as we live). is misunderstood. Can Yeshua’s death on the cross save us from our sins? In the East his willing self-sacrifice is not about saving us, but a revelation of complete love. Only love can heal and restore us. This is basic to the teaching of Yeshua (There is no greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13). Which approach works best with you: for someone to point out your faults and flaws and then try to change you, or for someone to love you unconditionally?

Atonement theology is a long and complicated dogma. It is impossible to untangle here all of its many problems (and how it began and was promoted as orthodoxy in the West) where it is a called “orthodoxy.” In other streams of the Christian tradition (for example the ones that unfolded into the East and South of Palestine), this understanding had no role at all. If this understanding of Christian orthodoxy is problematic for you, it would be good to journal your questions and concerns about it, and then to talk to folk who have a very different perspective as we do in the OOOW. Also it might be helpful to read the book by Richard Rohr, Jesus’ Plan for a New World (1996), that can be purchased or read for free online.

Important Greek words

Various important Greek words were used in this lesson to describe Yeshua’s mission: metanoia and metamorphosis, also theosis. These are often misunderstood or mistranslated in the western tradition. There are other ways for them to understood, however, much closer to the early teaching of Jewish Christianity (and the Oriental streams of Aramaic tradition).

You might want to do an online search for these Greek terms, and also for the Hebrew Tikkun Olam. See what you find there. The various definitions will come from different streams of thought and tradition and may, of course, contradict themselves. That is often the case when doing research online. Journal your findings.

Yeshua crucifixion

You might benefit from reading this description of the role of the Apostle Paul in the creation of the doctrine of original sin and Atonement Theology.

The following videos are valuable teachings from a modern interpreter, Michael J. Meade, that are congruent with the positions taken in this lesson. He is not strictly teaching Christian doctrine, but Perennial Wisdom which informed Yeshua and informs us today. Watch to get another contemporary view of the mission of the soul’s restoration. Journal what you find important and congruent with this lesson.

 

Below are iconic images that suggest the transformation that took place in Yeshua’s life. These may help us understand the evolution of Spirit in ourselves as a part of his same journey. Explore these by gazing at the images and journaling your responses, learnings and insights.