Thoughts From A Mystic

. In Christianity the cross represents death (not specifically physical), offering an 'entrance' into the sacred. Many people want to force 'meaning' (rational understanding) onto 'the cross', bypassing personal involvement and possible transformation. 'Death into resurrection' is the process of transformation, and Jesus is important as an example of this process. In institutionalized churches we see a holding onto tradition (stories) at the expense of personal transformation, which is why Jesus was such an iconoclast. Perhaps it's fear, weakness, or stubborn willfulness that keeps people from entering into the process of personal transformation. The detour of story- making is never-ending, and creates life paths that 'miss the mark', and create suffering. The challenge is always to recognize stories as STORIES, not truth. It's the reason Buddhists comment about statements, speaking about them as if they were, '...

. "Only contemplative prayer touches the deep unconscious, where all of our real hurts, motivations, and deepest visions lie. Without it, we have what is even worse—religious egoic consciousness, which is even more defensive and offensive than usual! Now it has God on its side and is surely what Jesus means by the unforgivable “sin against the Holy Spirit.” It cannot be forgiven because this small self would never imagine it needs forgiveness. It is smug and self-satisfied." Richard Rohr