How
religion and science must change in the Golden Age
Jesus: It has been said that the only constant on planet Earth
is constant change. Both common sense and scientific investigation should
have proven beyond doubt that there is a process of change which is
constantly taking place on this planet. Both science, if interpreted
correctly, and common sense reveal that this change, this evolutionary
process, is not simply random or unguided. It has a clear sense of direction,
and direction demonstrates an underlying purpose.
When you transfer this to the world of religion, it should be easy to
see that religion is affected by this constant process of change. Religions
that cannot adapt to change will eventually fail to meet the needs of
their members, and therefore they will fade away. This has already happened
to numerous religions that were once powerful and had millions of followers.
If you are concerned about the future of your religion or church, then
you need to gain an understanding of the underlying mechanism that demands
change. In this discourse, I will briefly describe this mechanism and
then relate it to what needs to happen to religion in this day and age.
I am aware that many Christians look at science with great suspicion.
I must tell you that from my viewpoint the hostility between science
and religion is completely unnecessary. Furthermore, I will prophesy
that within the next few decades the hostility between science and religion
will gradually fade away until people can scarcely understand how the
current state of hostility could ever have developed.
Science has correctly demonstrated that there is a gradual process of
change, a gradual process of evolution, which is constantly occurring
on planet earth. However, the current scientific understanding of evolution
is incomplete, because it is based on certain incorrect assumptions.
I will not go into further details here, because I desire to focus on
one of the problems with current evolutionary theory.
Current evolutionary theory cannot correctly explain the observed fact
that evolution is not a smooth process. Any unbiased observer will note
that evolution occurs in two ways.
Normally, evolution is a gradual process, but at certain times evolution
takes a giant leap into a new phase or stage. The correct interpretation
of this fact is that the process of life, the process of growth, is
driven by two complementary forces. One force is a gradual, evolutionary
force that creates smooth and steady progress. Another force is a sudden,
revolutionary force which causes growth to temporarily speed up and
take a giant leap forward.
Growth happens in cycles
Another way to explain this phenomenon is to say that growth and progress
happen in cycles. At certain times, the revolutionary force comes into
play and brings life to a new level, a new phase. After a revolutionary
leap has occurred, the evolutionary force takes over and for a certain
time or cycle progress happens at a steady pace.
When you transfer this fact to the world of religion, you will see that
there are cycles in the religious life of planet Earth. These cycles
last approximately 2,000 years. During a 2,000 year cycle, the evolutionary
force brings a gradual progress in people’s understanding of the
spiritual side of life. This gradual process is based on and evolves
from the pattern that was set when the cycle was initiated.
When a spiritual cycle comes to a close, we of the Ascended Host release
a very concentrated stream of spiritual energy. This stream of energy
is the revolutionary force which brings planet Earth, and the consciousness
of humankind, to a new level. Some people are able to immediately sense
the shift in spiritual energy. They embrace the new energy and begin
to express it through their individualized consciousness. These people
become the forerunners of a new age, a new spiritual cycle. They run
with the revolutionary force.
Other people are unable to sense the shift in spiritual energy, and
the evolutionary force will, over the next 2,000 years, gradually bring
these people to at deeper understanding of the spiritual energies that
govern that spiritual cycle. Unfortunately, some souls resist both the
revolutionary and the evolutionary force, and they end up calcifying
in a lower state of consciousness.
Spiritual cycles, an overview
Let me give you a brief overview of the spiritual cycles that have been
occurring for some time. Let us begin at the lowest level, as represented
by the stage of the caveman. Primitive humans were in a state of consciousness
in which they had very little understanding of themselves or the world
around them. They were passively reacting to changes in their environment
without understanding what caused such changes. In other words, they
had no way to see any connection between themselves, between their own
state of consciousness, and their outer situation.
After the caveman stage, people moved into a stage that was dominated
by what one might call a magic consciousness. At this stage, people
had begun to understand that there were certain forces working in their
environment. These forces caused the phenomena that people observed
and experienced. Because people had no way to explain or understand
what they observed, they saw natural phenomena as a result of some kind
of magic force. People were in such a low state of consciousness that
they had no way to clearly understand this force. Therefore, they could
not see a pattern in the operation of the force and thought it was completely
random and unexplainable. It had to be magic.
After the magic state of consciousness, people progressed in their ability
to think in abstract terms. They realized, correctly, that the forces
behind natural phenomena were not random. There seemed to be some kind
of intelligence or purpose behind it. During this stage, people began
to see this intelligence in the form of non-material beings. People
began to develop the concept of God.
People then started believing that the forces in their environment were
the results of the actions of one or numerous gods. Yet, at this stage
people still had no clear understanding of the connection between God
and human beings. In other words, they did not clearly understand that
their own actions had an impact upon their outer situation.
During the next phase, which roughly began around the time of Abraham,
people developed the concept of a God who interacts with human beings.
In other words, instead of simply being the passive victims of the actions
of the gods, people now began to understand that there is a connection
between their own actions and the actions of God.
Because people were still in a relatively low state of consciousness,
they gradually developed the concept of an angry and punishing God.
However, contrary to previous ages, the anger and punishment of God
was not random and unintelligible. The major progress that happened,
for the Israelites it happened as a result of the exodus and the law
of Moses, was that people began to understand that God’s actions
are determined by certain laws. In other words, God only punishes people
if they violate his laws. The concept is that if you understand and
follow certain laws, you will improve your situation, whereas if you
violate or ignore those laws, your situation will get worse.
When I appeared on this planet 2,000 years ago, I brought a new concept
of God. Instead of portraying God as an angry and judgmental God, I
portrayed God as a loving father figure. The purpose was to make people
see a more direct connection between themselves and God. My mission
was to preach and, through my own union with the Christ consciousness,
demonstrate that all people have the potential to develop a new sense
of identity. By developing this new sense of identity, people can attain
a correct understanding of their relationship to God, namely that all
people are sons and daughters of God.
However, developing the identity that you are a son or daughter of God
is not the end of spiritual growth. There is a higher stage and, during
the next 2,000 years, humankind must begin to fully understand that
higher stage.
Planet Earth is now moving into a new spiritual cycle, and we of the
Ascended hosts are releasing certain energies that will produce a revolutionary
leap in the spiritual evolution of humankind.
People must now come to the realization that they are not meant to passively
follow God’s laws. Instead, they are meant to internalize those
creative principles so that they can become co-creators with God.
Necessary changes in religion
To fully embrace the spiritual changes that are occurring, spiritually
interested people must develop an understanding of what is happening.
They must understand what was supposed to happen during the last 2,000
year cycle and what is supposed to happen during the next 2,000 year
cycle.
If you consider the explanation given above, you will see that what
has been happening for thousands of years is that humankind has gradually
been brought to a deeper and clearer understanding of their relationship
to God. Humankind has been lifted from a very primitive state of consciousness,
in which they had no clear understanding of the concept of God, into
a state of consciousness in which they are ready to fully understand,
accept and embrace a correct relationship to God.
To further describe the evolutionary process of religion, let us talk
about the two previous ages and the coming age. As a matter of practicality,
let us name these ages by using the precession of the equinoxes, as
demonstrated by modern astronomy. The 2,000 year cycle that was dominated
by the law Moses is the Age of Aries.
During the Age of Aries, people were meant to come to an understanding
of the law of God. Therefore, the main role of religion was to give
people an understanding of this law. Every age has a positive and a
negative potential. The positive potential for the Age of Aries was
that by getting to know the law of God, people would develop the intuitive
understanding that it was in their own best interest, it was enlightened
self-interest, to follow the law of God. The negative potential was
that religion would set itself up as being the source of that law and
the police force that was supposed to enforce that law.
In other words, while knowledge of the law of God was meant to free
people from a primitive state of consciousness, religion could abort
this goal by taking on the role as the source of the law and the enforcer
of the law.
During the last 2,000 years, namely the Age of Pisces, the purpose of
religion can be illustrated in my concept of the good shepherd. Religion
was meant to go after the lost sheep and raise them into a new understanding
of their own identity and their relationship to God. The positive potential
of Pisces was that the church would be a shepherd that gently herded
the sheep to a protected pasture, where they could develop a sense of
identity as God’s children. The negative potential was that the
church would start acting as a prison guard seeking to force the sheep
into a fold defined by human beings.
Unfortunately, the Catholic Church turned away from the role as shepherd
and instead took on the role as prison guard. During the Age of Pisces,
people were meant to develop an understanding of their relationship
to God and of God’s law. Therefore, people would gain a still
deeper understanding of how their own actions, through the impersonal
laws of God, have created their current situation.
Understanding how God creates
I earlier said that what has happened over thousands of years is that
people have been raised to a higher understanding of their relationship
to God. Part of this understanding is the recognition of how God creates.
We of the Ascended Host have gradually been raising humankind to a clearer
understanding of the fact that God has created the world by using certain
principles or laws.
When people understand these principles, and use their free will to
align themselves with the law of God, then people can stop the self-destructive
spirals that humankind has created and reinforced for thousands of years.
However, the true goal is not to simply raise people to a state of consciousness
in which they will stop destroying themselves. The true goal is to raise
humankind to a state of consciousness in which people see themselves
as co-creators with God. People must come to an understanding of the
very principles that God uses to create the world, and then they must
realize that they too have the potential to use these principles and
thereby help create the kingdom of God. Only by acting as co-creators
with God can people become the instruments for bringing God’s
Kingdom to Earth.
What I am saying here is that the true goal of the Ascended Host is
to bring the kingdom of God, which truly is a state of consciousness,
into the material universe . We want the inhabitants of this universe
to see this world as being one pocket in God’s creation. We desire
people to understand that my Father’s house has many mansions
and that this world, including planet Earth, is one mansion in the House
of God.
One might say that in previous ages, people did not see any connection
between their own actions and their outer situation. They thought they
were victims of forces beyond their control. People have gradually been
raised to a higher understanding that the world is guided by certain
laws and that violating those laws leads to undesirable consequences.
Today, humankind needs to take another leap and realize that human beings
have always been co-creators with God. People create through the the
power of their attention. Therefore, people must realize that the current
limitations on planet Earth were not created by God, but by human beings.
The only way to improve the conditions on this planet is that people
decide to create God’s perfection instead of human imperfection.
A rational understanding of God’s laws
To fully understand the laws and principles used by God, people must
rise to a more rational state of consciousness. Over these past 2,000
years, humankind has indeed risen to a more rational state of consciousness,
and the best proof is the evolution of science. Unfortunately, the split
between science and religion prevents people from reaching the full
benefits of the rational state of consciousness.
When God created the world of form, God used two different sets of laws.
There is a higher law, a spiritual law, which guides the creation of
the entire world of form, including the spiritual world. There is also
a lower or material law which guides the creation of the material universe.
To fully understand their relationship to God, people must understand
both the spiritual law and the material law. Likewise, only by understanding
both sets of laws can people fulfill their roles as co-creators with
God.
During the past 2,000 years, religion was meant to bring forth a clear
understanding of the spiritual law. Because religion, specifically the
orthodox Christian Church, turned away from the original intention,
humankind does not currently have a clear understanding of the spiritual
law of God. Virtually all of the spiritual laws have been made known
to humankind, but currently no single religion embraces and describes
all of these laws.
The vehicle for giving humankind a deeper understanding of the material
law is science. We of the Ascended Host sponsored the origin of science,
and we have continued to inspire scientists even though science has
turned away from our original goal and intention. It was our original
intention that science would describe the material law and that religion
would describe the spiritual law.
We want people to realize that science and religion are not mutually
exclusive. In fact, they are not even in competition. They are simply
two sides of the same coin.
Religion describes the spiritual law, but without science there is no
way to put that spiritual law into practice in people’s everyday
lives. Science describes the material law, but without an understanding
of the spiritual law people have no vision of how to use material law
without destroying themselves. Furthermore, when people sink into materialism
they have no sense of purpose or meaning to life.
Unifying science and religion
What would I like to see happen to both religion and science in the
coming 2,000 year cycle, namely the Age of Aquarius? I would like to
see both religion and science fulfill their proper roles.
Let us begin with religion. In the Age of Pisces, religion was meant
to be the good shepherd and bring people to a level of consciousness
where they could fully accept their true identity as sons and daughters
of God. In the age of Aquarius, people must go beyond that sense of
identity. People must realize that by rising above the carnal mind and
putting on personal Christhood, they can serve as the instruments for
bringing God’s kingdom to Earth. They can serve as co-creators
with God.
Therefore, the true role of religion in the new age will be to bring
people to a sense of identity as being individualizations of God who
have chosen to come into this universe for the specific purpose of helping
to bring God’s kingdom to Earth. When people have attained this
understanding, religion must assist them in building their new sense
of identity. When people accomplish this goal, religion must give them
an opportunity to express their personal Christhood and their God-given
individuality.
In other words, in the Age of Pisces religion was meant to be the shepherd
that gently guided the sheep to greener pastures. In the Age of Aquarius,
religion must become the vehicle for the expression of people’s
new-found identity as co-creators with God.
Now let us look at science. The true role of science in the Age of Pisces
was to free people from many of the limitations of the material world.
When I walked the Earth, most people spent all of their time and energy
on mere survival. During the past 2,000 years, technological progress
has allowed a large number of people to gain free time and energy.
Unfortunately, most people are not using their free time according to
the original purpose. Because of the split between science and religion,
so many people have fallen victims to a materialistic state of consciousness.
In this state of consciousness, people think that their lives have no
higher purpose. Therefore, they spend their free time in a meaningless
pursuit of pleasure and entertainment.
In reality, we of the Ascended Host gave humankind the gift of science
and technology in the hope that when people attained free time, they
would use that free time to pursue spiritual growth. Indeed, millions
of people in the Western world have used their free time to focus their
attention on the spiritual side of life, whether it be through religion,
spirituality or the self-help movement. Unfortunately, millions more
have not yet realized the incredible opportunity they have been given
by having free time.
The true purpose of giving people free time is to give them the opportunity
to direct their attention away from the mechanics of making a living
and towards spiritual growth. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot
serve God, meaning spiritual growth, and mammon, meaning the pursuit
of pleasure and entertainment. Therefore, the call to “choose
this day whom you will serve” is as relevant today as it was 2,000
years ago.
In the Age of Aquarius,
the true role of science is to give people ways to express the perfection
of God in the material world. Science must also continue to raise the
quality of life, so that people can gain greater freedom to pursue spiritual
and personal growth. Furthermore, science must serve as a balancing
force for religion by removing the subjectivity and superstition that
has dominated religion for thousands of years. However, science must
do this without destroying people's faith in God (as it has done for
centuries).
The necessary paradigm shift
The ideas described above demonstrate the need for a major paradigm
shift in the fields of both science and religion. When I appeared 2,000
years ago, I came to bring a similar paradigm shift into the religious
life of ancient Israel. As you know from history, I was rejected by
the orthodox religion of the time. I do not expect that the orthodox
forces of today, be they in the field of science or in the field of
religion, will voluntarily embrace the paradigm shift that I have outlined
above. Therefore, how could this paradigm shift possibly happen?
It can only happen from the grassroots level, which is exactly the way
Christianity spread through the ancient world. It can only happen if
individual people begin to embrace and embody the paradigm shift and
a higher state of consciousness. A higher understanding is the only
key to bringing about that paradigm shift. The shift can only happen
if millions of people will consciously recognize their potential to
rise above the relativity of the carnal mind and to put on their personal
Christhood.
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© 2008 by Kim Michaels |
