If we look at these developments from the standpoint of collective consciousness, then we see that the ego is one thought of separation, whose nature is that it appears as "many," quite like the herd of swine, whose name was "legion" in Mark 5:1-21. And so collectively, the ego or the world, must get rid of Jesus somehow, since he's teaching, like his Course would do two thousand years later, that there is no world, and this is not acceptable to the world, and the ego, who is its lord and master. Here is how he puts it in the Course:
But
it is pride that argues you have come into a world quite separate from
yourself, impervious to what you think, and quite apart from what you
chance to think it is. There is no world! This is the central thought
the course attempts to teach. Not everyone is ready to accept it, and
each one must go as far as he can let himself be led along the road to
truth. He will return and go still farther, or perhaps step back a while
and then return again. (ACIM:W-132.6)
The same thought is expressed in a myriad of ways in the Thomas Gospel, (e.g. Logion 1 - if you understand these sayings you will not know death, Logion 2
- once you find the answer you will be "disturbed," "marvel" and reign
over all [because you will then understand that the manifest universe is
but the product of thought], Logion 13
- the world would have to "stone" you if it heard what Jesus really
thought... etc., etc.,) and it is also expressed in the notion that was
generally preserved in the canonical literature, that the apostles
should take up their cross and follow him. He was not speaking of going
on a trip to Disney world with him. He was speaking of "following" him
in the figurative sense of "understanding him" to his "Kingdom" that is
NOT of this world. So this was always a teaching of what goes on in the
mind. He was speaking to giving our minds over to his leadership in lieu
of the ego, which is the central choice we need to make, and indeed the
only meaningful decision we could ever make in this world. But the
world is made as an attack on God (ACIM:W-pII.3.2:1), because it is only
the expression, or the manifestation of the ego thought that we should
be separate from God. The resurrection is really the guarantee that Jesus and his teaching would survive not only the crucifixion, but also the hi-jacking of his teachings by Christendom in its myriad of forms. Jesus is awakened at the outset of his ministry not because of a resurrection that happened later, after the crucifixion. In the Gospels we find this reflected in the symbolic passage of the baptism by John in Mark, and the breaking of the sky, and hearing you are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Once that awareness even begins to dawn on us, the rest will follow. As he teaches in the Course, the crucifixion was merely an extreme example of the "last useless journey," for as and when we finally fully realize that spirit is what we are, then our reliance on form in this world where everything is perishable, is gone, and our experiences will merely confirm this growing realization. In the crucifixion story the point merely is the demonstration that the destruction of his physical body was irrelevant, because Jesus is not his body, but he is spirit. And what Christianity calls the resurrection in that sense is his appearance in the body, after what the world considers "death," because - being spirit - he is now able to manifest in a body at will, which also explains the docetic literature, such as the Acts of John, where we find the apostles comparing notes on how Jesus appears so different to them at different times, yet somehow they know it is him.
By the same token then it really does not matter how the literature about him was distorted, he lives on in the hearts and minds of those who sincerely dedicate themselves to follow him, and the example that he lived for us -- that it is possible to make the choice for peace in this world, regardless of anything that seems to "happen" to us. In the Course he reassures us that his crucifixion was just an extreme example (ACIM:T-6.I.2:1), and then he reassures us further down in the text that we are asked to follow his example "in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive." Which alludes to all the thousands of ways in which we can feel attacked, because we identify with so many different forms in the world, and think that our life depends on them, be it your car, your career, your significant other, etc., we all have been through crises in those areas and many others, and felt "crucified." So much so, that we go through extensive mourning over the form that was lost, before it even dawns on us that we are still alive. Here is how Jesus puts it in the Course:
You
are not asked to be crucified, which was part of my own teaching
contribution. You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of
much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and not to accept them as
false justifications for anger. There can be no justification for the
unjustifiable. Do not believe there is, and do not teach that there is.
Remember always that what you believe you will teach. Believe with
me, and we will become equal as teachers. (ACIM:T-6:I.6:6-11)
So
in spite of the massive distortions by churches and various other
teachers and teachings, the teachings of Jesus survived because they can
be verified through experience, by actually following him. And outside
the church tradition there are untold examples of those who knew him
through inner experience, as well as through various myths and legends,
some of which were recorded by Selma Lagerlöf, in her book Christ Legends. There
are countless other examples in art and literature which we may come to
recognize as and when we find ourselves joining with the artist in
recognition of the content of their expressions as we are having the
same experiences ourselves. At that point it does not matter if we get
our information from the canonical gospels, from the Thomas gospel, or
from any other sources, such as some of these legends, or a piece of
art, but suddenly our soul feels connected, maybe with an artist, who
may be long since dead, but in that moment of recognition and joining
with the artist, nothing less happens than a joining with Jesus as well,
for "where two or three are together in my name, there I am in their
midst." That has nothing to do with physical togetherness, but
togetherness in spirit. For the same reason, we can also forgive someone
long after they are deceased, and experience that togetherness, which
can be more intense than anything we ever knew while they were in the
body. This level of experience is hard to express, because it always
loses in translation to whatever medium the artist used, but again, when
we are having a comparable experience ourselves, we will suddenly
recognize what the artist was talking about. Eckhart Tolle has talked at
times in his presentations and his books, about this inner experience
of understanding some of Jesus's sayings, even from the Bible, on an
entirely different level, driven by our own inner experience, and
through joining with him in the mind, when the meaning of his words
suddenly is "revealed to us" and becomes crystal clear, only because we
did follow him by doing another step in the direction of his Kingdom,
our Kingdom, not of this earth.
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