May/June 2009

You Cannot Be Betrayed,

Persecuted or Crucified

                                               by Jon Mundy

You have probably reacted

for years as if you were being crucified.

This is a marked tendency of the separated,

who always refuse to consider

what they have done to themselves.

T-6.I.3-1

We can all think of individuals who find trouble in their interpersonal relationships – ourselves included. Seeing ourselves as persecuted is an easy projection and a convenient way of not looking at ourselves. If we are persecuted, then someone else must be responsible. It must be you! If I see myself as persecuted then I say that someone else is being unloving, while I am the good person. All the while there is an underlying guilt in knowing that we are projecting a false image.

My brothers and yours are constantly engaged

in justifying the unjustifiable.

T-6.I.11:4

According to the Course, it is not "will for life'' but "wish for death'' that motivates the world. The purpose of the world then is to prove that guilt is real. We think we can be hurt, betrayed, persecuted, and even crucified. The wish for death is the desire to go unconscious, to sleep, to knock ourselves out by dissociating with a drink, a drug, television, and/or sleep.

The message the crucifixion was intended to teach was that it is not necessary to perceive any form of assault in persecution,

because you cannot [be] persecuted.

If you respond with anger, you must be equating yourself with the destructible, and are therefore regarding yourself insanely.

T-6.IV.4:1-7

If I see myself as persecuted, I place a burden of guilt upon my brothers as we do not crucify ourselves alone. If we make the other guilty, we imprison ourselves along with them. One of the silliest things any of us could say is “Look what you made me do now.” No one is responsible for how we act or how we feel. When we consent to experience pain, we accuse our brother of attack upon ourselves (T-27 I. 3:1). Though Jesus was whipped, beaten and placed on a cross to die, he never condemned his accusers nor saw himself as crucified.

Christ left us an example that we should follow in his steps.

He did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.

Who when he was reviled, reviled not again,

When he was tortured, he retaliated not

but committed himself to Him that judges righteously.

1 Peter 2: 21

When Pontius Pilate asked him if he had anything to say in his defense, he said nothing. If he had responded with "I really am the Son of God and you are making a big mistake here.” We might have doubted that he was the Christ. Only the ego is on the defensive. Christ is the antithesis of the ego. As Jesus never saw himself as betrayed, neither can we be betrayed. If a brother chooses to misperceive who we are and project against us, it has nothing to do with who we are in truth. Jesus did not condemn the disciples for their misperceptions.

My brothers slept during the so-called agony in the garden,

 but I could not be angry with them because I knew

I could not be abandoned.

T-6. I. 7:6

No one can be abandoned. The Holy Spirit never abandons us, no matter how severe the persecution that comes our way. We are never alone. When someone acts out of ignorance, they simply do not know who they are. As my old teacher of transpersonal psychology, Dr. Thomas Hora used to say: "Ignorance is not a person.''

The Church and the Crucifixion

For the early Christians, the fish was the symbol for Christianity.  The fish lives in water, as the Christian was to live by his baptism. The fish in the story of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 made it a symbol of the Christ who was able to feed everyone. Over the course of history, the cross -- a reminder of torture and death -- replaced the fish as the primary symbol. In the Catholic Church, it is not just the cross but the crucifix with the bleeding, dying Jesus upon it. The crucifixion looks like a horrible event. It seems clear that Jesus suffered, bled, and died -- "for our sins.'' This is called vicarious salvation. God deliberately made one of his sons to suffer so the rest of us could be saved. The Church places emphasis on the suffering of Jesus. It appears as though he was the victim of the ego's cruelty. Many Christians on Sunday morning must say the Nicene Creed. It begins. 

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Maker of all things, Judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed,

Against Thy divine Majesty provoking most justly

 Thy wrath and indignation against us.

Are we so wicked? Is the burden of our sin so intolerable? Do we justly call down God's wrath upon us? A church in a town near our home proudly displays a sign which reads: "We preach Christ crucified.'' Once at a Lenten workshop for Christian ministers, the group leader gave us each spike nails to hold while we were to contemplate the agony of Christ. We then listened to him tell about the horrible suffering of Jesus. The crucifixion was the "witness'' to the reality of suffering, sacrifice, and death. 

Punishment

Feeling guilty, the ego paradoxically seeks punishment in order to atone for sins. Jesus knew he was guiltless, so there was no need for a perception of punishment. The disciples did not understand what was happening. Those who sought to kill him were clearly frightened by him. The crucifixion is an extreme example which teaches that our Identity as Love can never be destroyed. Death has no power over life. Who we are, the Sons of God, cannot be persecuted. As the line from Martin Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress, expresses it: "The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.''

Assault can ultimately be made only on the body.

There is little doubt that one body can assault another,

and can even destroy it. Yet if destruction itself is impossible,

anything that is destructible cannot be real.

T-6 I. 4:1-3

Spirit is indestructible. Plato said that the “Ideal Forms” are the only things that are real and imperishable. The body can be assaulted. Bodies are destructible. Spirit is indestructible. The message of the crucifixion was that it is not necessary to perceive any form of assault as persecution. If we respond with anger, we are not being reasonable and responsible T-6.I.4:6-7. To see ourselves as bodies only is to see ourselves as destructible. We should not abuse our bodies, allow others to take advantage of our bodies, or put our bodies in risky situations. We are not called upon to be martyrs -- rather teachers of peace. The crucifixion was the last useless journey the Sonship needed to take T-6.I.2:6. We are not asked to repeat Jesus’ experience. That is unnecessary. When we know who we are, when we are clear about our identity, we know that we cannot be assaulted. The ego is fragile, easily hurt, and frequently feels abused. One word improperly placed, the wrong intonation or emphasis, and off we go.

I could not have said, 'Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?' unless I believed in betrayal.

The whole message of the crucifixion was simply that I did not.

The punishment' I was said to have called forth upon Judas was a similar mistake,

Judas was my brother and a Son of God as much a part of the Sonship as myself.

Was it likely that I would condemn him when I was ready to demonstrate that condemnation is impossible.

T-6.I.15:5-8

I watched a "bang, bang, shoot’em up, get in the cars and chase each other scene on television. All the good guys or the bad guys had to do to get a fight started was to say something about the other guy's mother. Do we not know who our mother is? Why take personally something which is not true? Why attack? Should we hit back or sit back? Only the truth matters. Isn't the truth what we are after? A lie does not change the truth.

You are free to perceive yourself as persecuted if you choose.

When you do choose to react that way, however,

you might remember that I was persecuted as the world judges,

and did not share this evaluation for myself.

T-6 I. 5:2&3

As we teach, so do we learn. If we react as if we are persecuted, we teach persecution. Only the ego can be persecuted and you are not an ego. We are to teach from our own immunity which is the truth within us. Don’t try to protect the ego. Don’t build a case for its defenses. If something is said against us falsely, this does not mean that we should not say what is true. To respond out of anger, is to respond in attack and it is always a mistake.

If the body is assaulted, protect it. Not only do we wish not to create error, neither are we to facilitate error. What matters is what happens on the level of the mind. How do we respond to what appears to happen to us? Jesus was hanging on a cross -- his body bleeding and dying, a jeering crowd yelling at him. Yet, he did not see himself as persecuted; can we not “see differently” in much less extreme situations?

All we are asked to do is to follow his example in much less extreme cases. All we are asked to do is to teach only love in each and every situation, including the times when the world, defined as other people, seems to be attacking us. If the other is coming out of fear instead of love, we do not have to get caught in fear ourselves. This is the meaning of "turn the other cheek." Have the courage to see it differently and experience a miracle.

Resurrection is an awakening from the nightmarish thought that we can be crucified. The crucifixion cannot be shared. It is a form of projection. Only the resurrection, the symbol of reawakening, can be shared. The atonement, by definition, must be shared. This is good news. There is no victory in death. The message of the crucifixion is that it is not necessary to perceive any form of assault as persecution. We cannot be hurt and we do not want to show our brothers and sisters anything other than wholeness T. 5 IV 4:4.

You are beyond persecution and crucifixion, much bigger than that which can be crucified. The resurrection gives life, crucifixion brings death. Show your brother that his supposed sin has no cause, and thus, no effect.

In the movie, Dead Man Walking, the character, played by Susan Sarandon, did not deny what the criminal, played by Sean Penn, had done. Still she loved him and looked past the error to the truth that lay within. As we remove the block of projecting guilt onto our brother, it is possible to remember Heaven and return home again.

As I have said before, "As you teach so shall you learn."

If you react as if you are persecuted, you are teaching persecution.

This is not a lesson a Son of God should want to teach if he is to realize his own salvation.

Rather, teach your own perfect immunity,

which is the truth in you, and realize that it cannot [be] assailed.

T-6.I.6:1-4

Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated.

T-26: 4:1

Peace,