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"You
are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its
salt-ness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be
thrown out and trodden under foot by men. - Mathew 5:13
Sometimes the
circumstances and the people in our lives can dishearten us or make us
weary. I believe this is what the Master Mind Jesus is teaching in
the statement above. He teaches that we are "the salt of the
earth" but along with this statement is a "caution" that
the world can take away our good feelings about Life, our enthusiasm,
our positive-ness, and even our self-esteem. Even the ones we love
can turn on us when we do things that they do not understand or can
comprehend. This is especially true when we choose to live a life
that breaks traditions. Many people in metaphysical teachings find
that their new-found religion or philosophy is not so well received by
their family and friends in traditional religious affiliations.
The same resistance or conflicts can arise when we go into relationships
or marriages outside of our race, culture, religion or choose to live in
a manner that others do not find "acceptable" or moral.
But, Jesus, the Jewish Mystic and Master Teacher, taught that we were to
ignore these criticisms and continue to seek a fuller expression of
freedom, joy and peace with ourselves and our choices.
The Radical Rabbi goes on to teach, "You are
the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do
men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives
light to all in the house."
He is telling
us here to "rise above" the petty criticisms and the judgments
that are against us. If we raise our consciousness to a higher
level of understanding and love, we can bless those who criticize us and
attempt to hurt us with their judgments ...... but, if we do not
"rise above" we will end up "hiding our light under a
bushel," in other words, living our life in fear of what people are
saying about us or that somehow their approval is necessary for us to
enjoy a harmonious, peaceful and prosperous life. So many of us
walk around in fear. Fear that we don't meet with someone else's
approval or that we don't "measure up" to the standards that
the world has set for success or even character. Traditional
church people use the word "sinner" but even some people in
metaphysical teachings will use the statement "they just don't have
the consciousness." Too many people are so quick to judge
others as failures or inferiors that they forget that the
"failure" or the "inferiority" is in their own
consciousness .... and many do not even have the spiritual awareness to
even consider this truth.
All of this
is judgment and misunderstanding of our purpose on this planet.
But the Master Teacher Jesus tells us what we are to do in no uncertain
terms ..... "Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who
is in heaven." We are to live in
the understanding that as we seek a Good Life, that God, Infinite Good,
will demonstrate through us, as us and for us, a Good Life .... and then
our critics can observe how happy and gloriously enthusiastic we are
about this Life we are living. This
is a Masterful Teaching from Jesus who understood that "faith
without works .... is no faith at all." We will know our
faith by our works; our enthusiasm, our joy, our love, and our
understanding that we "are the salt of the earth!"
And
So It Is!
Letting
Love Use Me In Its Own Good Way,
Henry
Lee Bates
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