Saturday, October 24, 2020
Mary Magdalene's CHILD OF HUMANITY
10/24/2020
Hello, Everyone!
How about a bit of a distraction from our ongoing politics during this Presidential Election?
If you do not want such a distraction, then ignore that which is below.
What is it? It's the 5th chapter of my work I called THE CHILD HUMANITY SERIES
which I included in my book on the soul and Jesus that I call
EXPLORING THE SOUL - AND BROTHER JESUS that I published in 2015.
Earlier, I featured a chapter I called Brother Jesus,
but now I would like to feature a chapter that is really what my
CHILD OF HUMANITY SERIES is all about.
As always, read it if you wish - and ignore it if you choose too.
OK?
By the way, I add as a blog to my writings website (una-bella-vita.com) many of
the email letters I share with my email list. You can find the ones I have written
this month as blogs in the Blog section of my website.
I have loved the "child of humanity" idea I discovered in late 2004 since it came into my life.
In December of 2004, I was browsing in a book store here in Laramie and came upon
a book called THE GOSPELS OF MARY by a fellow named Marvin Meyer.
I won't go into details, but one of the chapters of that book featured one called
The Gospel of Mary - presumably by Mary Magdalene of ancient Jesus fame.
That gospel has about 5 chapters but many of an original have been lost.
Only the first verse of that gospel features Jesus speaking during his life
and the other verses feature others speculating about Jesus after "Jesus left."
No detail is offered as to where Jesus went, but that does not matter much to me
I only care for what Jesus supposedly said,
not so much what others thought about him after he "left them."
I feature my CHILD OF HUMANITY SERIES I wrote in 2005 in my book about the soul
and Jesus I call EXPLORING THE SOUL- AND BROTHER JESUS.
If you wish to read the entire book, go to my website and scroll to the bottom of the page
and you will find a link to it there. OK?
For now, for those interested, below I will feature my chapter I call Child of Humanity.
On the final day of this month, Halloween, I will feature the final chapter
of my book I call EXPLORING THE SOUL - AND BROTHER JESUS -
and that will end my October Surprise. This month, I have featured a number of
chapters from a few of my books - and I will end this spree on October 31st.
Standby only if you wish. Alright? I will keep the title of my final chapter a secret
until I end my October Surprise. LOL!
Gotta Go! Hope you have voted in early voting in your state.
Nancy and I did at our first opportunity here in Laramie, Wyoming.
For what it's worth, we voted for Joe & Jill - and Kamala.-
simply because we see them as the more compassionate of our choices.
Be in touch as you wish - and enjoy my Child of Humanity chapter below
as you can and will. Hope you are well. Stay Safe from the virus
that is spreading about now. So far, we have, but even in rural Wyoming
COVID-19 is spreading. This morning's paper said we have now passed
the 1,000 active case load for our rather small Albany County. Ouch!
I doubt there are more than 30,000 of us here.
So 1,000 active cases in a small county in a sparse state (about 600,000) - says a lot.
Doesn't it?
Bye for now!
Gently,
Francis William Bessler
and supportive wife, Nancy Shaw
5.
Child of Humanity
5/4/2005
“Peace be with you. Receive my peace. Be careful that no one leads you astray by saying, ‘Look here’ or ‘Look there.’ The child of humanity is within you. Follow that. Those who seek it will find it. Go and preach the good news of the kingdom.”
Does the quote above make sense to you? It makes a lot of sense to me; and it is for that reason that I take it to heart. It comes from the 1st verse (of 5) of THE GOSPEL OF MARY. It is guessed that the Mary of authorship is Mary Magdalene – a lady who walked with Jesus; however, I do not want to discuss the legitimacy of authorship of the verse – rather just the verse itself. Mary attributes the quote above to Jesus. I tend to believe that Jesus may have said it, but as I look at life now, I look for ideas that may help me appreciate life. In the end, it should not matter if Jesus said it or if George said it or if Harriet said it or if Wilma said it. The question is, regardless of its source, does it make sense?
Let us just say that I think the one who offered the above verse was a sage – a very wise person. In this world of widespread folly, it is always nice to bump into wisdom; and, for me, excellent wisdom just oozes from the above verse.
First of all, the author of the statement claims to be a person of peace. Receive my peace, he says. Then before offering us a definition of his peace – or how he may have attained his peace, he offered a warning that we should be careful that no one leads us astray by saying, ‘Look here’ or ‘Look there.’ That is really the same as telling us that we should watch that others do not tell us that we can find Peace or Salvation over here or over there – in terms of a place. Assuming that the author of this quote is Jesus, and I do believe that is a fair assumption, Jesus is warning us about trying to find Peace in a place – here or there – in the sky or in a forest – or wherever. It – Peace or Paradise - is not in a place. It is in a mysterious image he calls the child of humanity within us.
I do not know about you, but - Wow! That is really good news! Jesus offers that we should find the child of humanity within us; and that is the key to finding the peace he offered at the beginning of the verse. Receive my peace, he said, and then after warning us that his peace could not be found here or there as in a place or person, it can be found by chasing the child of humanity within us.
It becomes, then, as a riddle. Know what the child of humanity within us is, then appraise it and praise it – and presto – Peace. Can it really be as simple as that? Jesus – or the Jesus of Mary – seemed to think it is. So, let us go stalking the child of humanity within us. What could it mean? Jesus did not tell us what it is. So that means if we are to find it, we have to first discover its meaning.
Assuming then, that we are looking for a really simple idea, might we find the meaning of child of humanity by transfixing the term to say humanity as a child. In other words, we are looking for a child that is humanity. That would certainly be simple. Right? Again, we should ask, could it be as simple as that?
What is a child? It is only an offspring. Right? So, let us rephrase our child of humanity into offspring of humanity. But if humanity is an offspring, of what is it an offspring? In general, I think, we could say NATURE. Right? So now we have proceeded to see humanity itself – or the species of humanity – as an offspring of Nature. Now, go find yourself in that – and you have found peace.
In other words, to find peace, stop looking at yourself as only an individual, and start looking at yourself as an image of an entire species. When you do, you become lost in your own humanity. Humanity itself, then, becomes your prime focus – and not just yourself within humanity. Look for the child of Nature that is Humanity within you. This, I think, is what Jesus may have meant when he urged us to find the child of humanity within us. It is to find the child of Nature & God that is humanity within us.
Now, test that notion for peace. Does it make you peaceful? Does it dress you with a sense of awe? Does it urge a feeling within you that you belong? Of course, you have to answer that question for yourself. It may not lure you into a sense of peace; but it does me. Whenever I think of myself as only one of a wonderful species that we just happen to call humanity, I become totally lost within a sense of security. No longer am I merely an individual. I am now all of humanity. When I look at myself now, I see first and foremost, a species. After finding the species that is me, then I can identify the me within that species; but the real key for finding peace is to first locate humanity within you – and then the individual human.
It takes all the guesswork out of having to deal with life, doesn’t it? No longer do you have to measure up to some civilized regimen in order to know your meaning. You can find your meaning simply by looking at your humanity. Never mind all the divisive competition among humans that we humans seem to think belies our meaning. To hell with having to compete with my fellow man. I am now man in general; and what man, in general, has a need to compete with himself – or herself? When I look at me now, I do not see Francis William Bessler at first. I see all of humanity as reflected in me. Francis William Bessler can be reduced to FWB and then to fwb and then to fw and then to f and then – oops – gone! But not only gone – but gone in peace.
Am I really gone? Of course not! I am very much alive – in fact, far more alive than I have ever been before. I do not lose my personality by finding my meaning in belonging to humanity. I merely find my meaning by losing my identity within humanity – and beyond that –within the animal kingdom – and beyond that – within Nature in General – and beyond that – Within God. I do not stop with my humanity. I only start there; but what a wonderful place to start?
The good news of the kingdom, then, seems to be something entirely different than salvation from Evil. The regular gospels would have us believe that Jesus was all about saving us from some mysterious thing or force called Evil. From the concept of child of humanity, I get a very different message. Evil goes away. Evil becomes impertinent. I never have to fear this thing called Evil if I pursue the child of humanity within me because I become immune to Evil, if it exists at all. I become immune to Evil because I no longer focus on it. If it exists, I could care less. My focus is now on loving the humanity that is me; and with my new focus, any former obsession disappears. Like Jesus allegedly said elsewhere, Get behind me, Satan! In other words, be gone from my focus and my sight. Get the hell out of my life – and get hell out of my life!
Now, go look at yourself in the mirror. Look for humanity and no longer yourself. Look at your husband beside you. He is no longer your husband, but humanity. Look at your wife beside you. She is no longer your wife, but humanity. Look at your child standing there between you. She or he is no longer just a child – but far more importantly – a child of humanity. Look at your neighbor. He or she does not exist. Humanity exists in his or her place. By looking at the humanity child that is in you and in your neighbor and in every single person on this earth, individuals, though extremely important, go away and humanity itself takes their place.
How can you lose by seeing it that way? How can you not be at peace? Of course, it takes doing it – and not just speculating about it. Nothing is ever ours unless we do it, unless we practice it, unless we live it.
Does God go away with this perspective? It can if you wish I suppose. I don’t wish, however; and so God will not go away with this new perspective for me. Humanity itself has to come from something. Doesn’t it. Nature itself has to come from something. Doesn’t it? Well, for me, that something is God. I don’t lose God by asserting my humanity. In fact, I find God in a much more peaceful manner than ever before by declaring to myself that my humanity itself is from and in God. The mystery that is humanity does not become solved with my equation of myself to it. That wonderful mystery still lingers; but I become lost in the mystery without ever needing to resolve it.
So, there it is, my idea of really what the good news of the kingdom that Jesus offered is all about. Kingdom in this sense becomes the Kingdom of Humanity. The Kingdom of Nature and the Kingdom of Humanity itself is the good news. Any government or “kingdom” within humanity becomes mostly unimportant – and any kingdom or government outside of humanity becomes mostly unimportant. Who should care what there is outside of humanity – in terms of assumed greater importance? It is humanity itself that becomes important – and peace is only recognizing that for any of us who are human, humanity itself is the crown jewel. Despise your humanity; and you will never find peace.
Does that mean that each human should somehow sacrifice him or herself for the good of some greater humanity? Absolutely not! Humanity is not a god. Humanity is only a species child of God. No one need sacrifice anything for it. Humanity cannot grow because someone thinks he or she owes something to it. Humanity does not depend upon my adoring it. It just is. Humanity is just as much one as it is a billion. It does not depend on numbers. To know one human is to know all of humanity. I do not have to explain it to love it. Peace – the Peace of Jesus – can be attained by respecting humanity as a mysterious Child of God – or even merely a Child of Nature. I become at peace by recognizing that little bitty me is part of that wonderful mystery we call humanity.
Gratefully belonging to humanity and not finding fault with it, I think, is to find and love that mysterious child of humanity Jesus talked about in regard to peace. Pretty simple, huh? And yet many of us have grown up accepting that Jesus taught that he wanted to save us from our humanity – our lovely humanity - because Satan made it evil. How utterly and absurdly Anti-Christ that turns out to be. Jesus could not have considered humanity Satanic or evil – or he would have never suggested that we pursue it to find peace. Could he have?
If we are souls that are visiting humanity and then leave to possess some other kingdom somewhere, then, fine, then that new kingdom becomes the important kingdom – but for the same reason that humanity itself was a kingdom for us. In it, we can lose ourselves; and in it, we can find God – for no matter what the kingdom of which we may be part – human, animal, or maybe, angelic – being the ultimate source of all things, God always remains the Grandfather or Grandmother of all that is. In loving the kingdom in which we reside, how can we not be loving God – the ultimate source of that kingdom?
And if we do not love the kingdom in which we reside, peace will always be absent; for how can anyone attain peace if he or she considers war with a kingdom of residence proper? Again, Jesus would not recommend being at war with our membership within humanity because he urged us to love our humanity. Look for the child of humanity within you, he said, and follow that. Those who seek it will find it. Go and preach the good news of the kingdom – The Kingdom of Humanity.
Are we listening?
The Key
For Finding Peace
Recitation with Refrain
by
Francis William Bessler
May, 2005
REFRAIN:
What is the key for finding peace –
if you’re human like me?
Well, Jesus told us long ago –
if peace we should like to know,
we can find it if we seek
within us – the child of humanity.
A long time ago, Jesus said –
please receive my peace;
but don’t be led astray
by those who know it not.
If someone says it’s here or there –
or beyond where you can see,
do not be fooled.
I’ll tell you how it should be sought.
Refrain.
Then Jesus said, listen to me –
I’ll share with you my ways.
It is not near as hard
as you may think it is.
You cannot find peace
by looking in that which rusts or decays.
Look within your image –
to find that which has no sin.
Refrain.
Jesus then continued to tell –
look for the child of humanity,
but do not look for it
only in someone else.
The child of humanity is within you
and can make you free
if you’ll just look at it –
and find an image of yourself.
Refrain.
Then Jesus said, listen here –
I’ll tell you of my good news,
but the idea
doesn’t just belong to me.
For anyone who is human,
humanity itself is the truth
For everything is from God –
in your image, find Divinity.
Refrain.
So, let us, one and all –
preach the good news of the kingdom,
realizing it has always
been within our reach.
The good news of the kingdom
is that we are ALL equally human.
If peace is what we want –
only that can we teach.
Refrain.