I have just finished reading Roberta Grimes’ book “Liberating Jesus” and the similarity of the paths we have been on has caused me to have some interesting insights into the nature of reality and how we go about discovering what that is. I have always been a seeker of Truth- probably more than your average bear. When you lose someone as near to you as Shayna is to Ty, Kayla and I, you question everything including the very reality in which we live. Where do people go when they die? Do they go anywhere or do they just disappear? Will we see them again? Can they see us now? All of those things most people tuck in the back of their minds as they go about their daily routines are now more important than “What am I going to have for lunch?” or “Where are we going on vacation this year?”
From since I can remember, I have been a believer. And I was taught that faith. was the most important thing to God. More important than what you did, was what you believed. If you could believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, did miracles, died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected and ascended into the sky, you would be saved and get a free pass to Heaven. There was nothing else required. “Heaven? Well, we don’t know so much about Heaven. But, it’s gonna be good. Really good. Trust me. You want to go. So, stop questioning and just keep believing.”
That was good enough for a while. Then, the faith started to slip. That is a scary moment, but not a total surprise. During the indoctrination they tell you this could happen and it’s called backsliding. “Hold on. You can’t let it go. Just keep telling yourself it’s all true and all will be well.” That only works so long, then it’s gone.
For me, I started to look for evidence. The Bible was no longer enough. I started looking at science. What could science tell me about the nature of reality? This is a scary quest, but I determined the Truth was more important than security. If there was no God, no afterlife, no Heaven. Well, so be it. But, if there was I had to know based on more than something someone wrote down over 2,000 years ago. I set off on this quest, having faith that would I found would not destroy my faith. Quantum physics, a relatively recent discovery, has opened a whole new view of our universe and our ideas of what is possible and impossible. Even the most rigid scientist are now very careful about telling us what is supposedly impossible.
Back to the Bible. If God spoke to those people, why did God stop speaking? That made no sense to me. I began studying church history. i began studying the original languages of key passages in the Bible. I found out how the Bible was put together and some of the political agendas that shaped it. I began reading other scriptures- the dhammapada (Buddhism), the Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism), the Tao Te Ching (Daoism). Wow. Such wisdom and beauty there. Frankly some are superior to the Bible in some ways (oops blasphemy I know). God hadn’t spoken JUST to the Hebrews. He also spoke to others. Hmmm… I reasoned if He spoke to others then, maybe he’s speaking to others now. Then I found out. Yes. He is. God is inspiring people today just as much as He inspired Moses (or whoever wrote the Pentateuch) and Paul and James and the rest. God hasn’t stopped speaking, it’s just that many of us have stopped listening. You can find some people with amazing revelations today if you just open your mind and your ears.
The conclusion I have come to is this. The nature of reality, the Truth is revealed to us in many ways. It is discoverable by various means. Science is catching up with what philosophy, religion and faith has told us for millennia. Ancient texts and ancient wisdom are being proven to be true. Near Death Experiences are becoming more common telling us about the afterlife. Hypnotic exploration of past lives and the world between lives is telling us more about how this world relates to the afterworld and we’re even gathering enough information to begin to map out what that looks like. Ancient texts/revelations are one source or set of data, Current revelations/intuition/inspiration is another source. Experiences like Near Death Experiences are another source. Scientific exploration and experimentation, including studying things like quantum physics and now starting to study the nature of consciousness (which many scientists are now saying is the foundation of the universe- not matter) is another source. And science is even beginning to study things like remote viewing, extrasensory perception and even mediumship. When Roberta wrote her book liberating Jesus, she looked at where Jesus’s words lined up with the evidence we are now finding from beyond life data that has been flooding in over the last hundred years or so and found amazing correlations.
So, I look at all of the data ignoring none of. And in particular, I look for the intersections of these sets of data. Where science and ancient texts and experiences and intuition all line up is most likely where the truth is. In this way I have become more confident than ever in what I believe even as I continue to refine it as new revelations take me in new directions and I believe closer and closer to Truth.
