Egyptian scene of the Weigthing of the Heart
in the After Death Judgement of Truth
Forgive our debts in so far as forgive our debtors, who offend us
Do not let us fall in temptation
[to avoid attachment and severity]
[to avoid attachment and severity]
And deliver us from pride, envy, resentment...
In the original Nazarene/Christian teaching the idea of debt (jub), was central. One must pay for everything one has been given in this world:
True love implies helping God repair all the damage caused by our ancestors, which we perpetuate in the world behaving like them, generating more debts (jubim). And nobody can do it for us.
Jesus/Yeshua stressed a view reminiscent of the Indian Karma Yoga: conscious love service can mitigate the consequences of our mistakes and even wash away our moral debts, that is, it burns negative karma (action) away.
For
you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit, which are God's –1 Corinthians 6:20
True love implies helping God repair all the damage caused by our ancestors, which we perpetuate in the world behaving like them, generating more debts (jubim). And nobody can do it for us.
Jesus/Yeshua stressed a view reminiscent of the Indian Karma Yoga: conscious love service can mitigate the consequences of our mistakes and even wash away our moral debts, that is, it burns negative karma (action) away.
We see this in the forgiveness of the sinful woman who washes Yeshua´s feet with her tears and dries them up with the hair, anointing him afterwards –all clear signs of conscious work (Luke 7:40 )
But Yeshua´s view on paying moral debt did not stop there. He also stressed the teachings on conscious forgiveness, salaj, which in Hebrew also means to let go, to release.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you...For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return –Luke 6:37
To illustrate this, in Matthew 18:21-27, Yeshua tells an amazing story of a servant who owed ten thousand talents to a King, and when he was brought in front of him, the King demanded him to be sold together with his wife and sons to pay the debt. Yet the servant fell to his knees, promising to pay the debt in worshipping attitude. The King, moved by compassion, forgave him the debt.
However, the first thing the miserable servant did after being released was to grab by the neck one of his own servants, who owed him a little money. And of course, when the news reached the King, the wicked servant was delivered to the tormentors till he paid.
However, the first thing the miserable servant did after being released was to grab by the neck one of his own servants, who owed him a little money. And of course, when the news reached the King, the wicked servant was delivered to the tormentors till he paid.
In other words, the debt had not disappeared with the "forgiveness" issued by the King, but it was meant to be paid with the forgiveness and conscious love of the servant.
Paul stressed the the gospel idea according to which says Jesus the Christ paid all debt after becoming the sacrificed Lamb that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). However, he added an incredibly confusing thought that can only be understood in context:
Unfortunately, in later times such idea of "belief in redeeming Christ" was misinterpreted by indolent minds and hearts that saw in it a pretext to do and eat whatever they wanted.
Yet the genuine and obvious teaching was that in the Light of Christ, everyone is safe and redeemed –spiritually speaking–, always provided one finds such Light inside first, and gives the first step to truly live from it.
Something impossible when saying barbarities such as: "outside this church there is no salvation".
Blind belief cannot wash away "moral faults". We receive at least as much as we give.
The Teaching of the Way handed down by the prophets makes clear that when the spiritual soul-mind called neshemah does not attain full birth before the body dies, it goes back to Light (Ecclesiastes 12) and then returns in another body-soul complex to finish the process and aspire to receive a glorified body of resurrection.
This type of reincarnation was called Gilgal, wheel within wheel, constantly mentioned in the Scripture for those who can see.
This idea was clearly known by Jesus and the Aspostles, as seen in passages like John 9:
Why would they ask such a thing if the notion of pre-existent sin was not implied?
Origens, the Doctor of the Church, wrote about the idea of pre-existence and reincarnation of the soul as well. Although his view was forbidden at request of Theodora, wife of Justinian, since it undermined Rome´s power.
Yet they forgot Paul´s words:
Do not deceive yourselves; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7)
Paul stressed the the gospel idea according to which says Jesus the Christ paid all debt after becoming the sacrificed Lamb that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). However, he added an incredibly confusing thought that can only be understood in context:
That
if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall
believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you
shall be saved–Romans 10:9
Paul was addressing people who were persecuted and thrown into the lions in Rome, just for confessing their Christian faith. In other words, to live as a Christian, one had to have a pair of attributes, or two.
Unfortunately, in later times such idea of "belief in redeeming Christ" was misinterpreted by indolent minds and hearts that saw in it a pretext to do and eat whatever they wanted.
Yet the genuine and obvious teaching was that in the Light of Christ, everyone is safe and redeemed –spiritually speaking–, always provided one finds such Light inside first, and gives the first step to truly live from it.
Something impossible when saying barbarities such as: "outside this church there is no salvation".
Blind belief cannot wash away "moral faults". We receive at least as much as we give.
The Teaching of the Way handed down by the prophets makes clear that when the spiritual soul-mind called neshemah does not attain full birth before the body dies, it goes back to Light (Ecclesiastes 12) and then returns in another body-soul complex to finish the process and aspire to receive a glorified body of resurrection.
This type of reincarnation was called Gilgal, wheel within wheel, constantly mentioned in the Scripture for those who can see.
This idea was clearly known by Jesus and the Aspostles, as seen in passages like John 9:
As
he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked
him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?”
Why would they ask such a thing if the notion of pre-existent sin was not implied?
Origens, the Doctor of the Church, wrote about the idea of pre-existence and reincarnation of the soul as well. Although his view was forbidden at request of Theodora, wife of Justinian, since it undermined Rome´s power.
Yet they forgot Paul´s words:
Do not deceive yourselves; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7)
Therefore, spiritual work is not just a matter of belief, but conscious purification to pay debt, and starts with the resistance and impeccability before any painful or annoying test.
The Greek word translated as temptation in the prayer is peirasmon, which also means test or trial, and was surely used to translate the Hebrew term masah.
And he called the name of the place Masah (temptation), and Meribah (strife), because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? (Exodus 17:7)
Blind habit fragments the light of consciousness, which gets trapped in shells (qlipoths in Hebrew), and thus, these come to acquire certain annoying autonomy. Otherwise they die of starvation or dissolve.
Jakob ha Tzadik, aka. James the Just, wrote the following in the Chapter 1:13 of his Epistle:
When
tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot
be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but
each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil
desire and enticed.
This seems to be in plain contradiction with the Greek translation in Matthew 6:13: mê esenenkês hêmas eis peirasmon, which literally means do not lead us into temptation. In Latin it was actually translated as such: ne nos inducas in tentationem.
Some scholars translated it as do not let us fall into temptation, which is better, although given the information we have concerning this point, the original Hebrew phrase must have meant do not let us fall in the trials and strivings, in reference to Exodus 17:7.
It´s a demand for Light and strength to avoid creating attachment and celestial severity. Every time someone falls into temptation, a negative reaction is triggered in invisible spheres. One receives from above what one gives below. Not as punishment, but as a natural law:
Truly
I tell you,
whatever you
bind on earth
will
be bound in heaven,
and whatever you
loose on earth
will
be loosed in heaven
–Matthew 18:18
As above, so below (Hermetic saying)
On the contrary, to transform lower impulses leads to a beneficial response from our our divine nature, I am (Ahaya), what opens the door to a higher guidance.
Moreover, as we saw in the last month article, spiritual traditions also refer to intelligent energies whose function is to oppose the inner work. They were always known as "adversary", satan in Hebrew, shaitan in Arabic, or even diabolos, which in Greek means accuser, defamer, since every victory is for it as an accusation before the Angels: "You see?, I told you these humans are just a bunch of monkeys."
The highest the spiritual level of a soul, the hardest the tests, although the spiritual power is also greater. Cosmic law prevents a soul from being tested beyond her capabilities.
If the attitude is correct, there can never be temptation, only trials to increase the force, as someone working with the muscles. The wise man gets his strength from the weaknesses of his animal.
As for the phrase: deliver as from evil, it is even more explicit, yet a bit ambiguous, what generates debate about what "evil" means. The Greek word that appears is ponerou, which can mean either hardship/trouble or the Satan and impure spirits.
Now, trouble is intrinsic to life on earth, and no spiritual warrior should be afraid of it. Therefore, it must refer to the latter, and since the Satan and impure spirits can only govern through the negative heart impulses, starting with pride, this is the key.
Now, trouble is intrinsic to life on earth, and no spiritual warrior should be afraid of it. Therefore, it must refer to the latter, and since the Satan and impure spirits can only govern through the negative heart impulses, starting with pride, this is the key.
The teaching concerning the heart already appears in Genesis 2, when Adam is formed. The word "to form" is yetzer, which in that passage appears as yyetzer, with two Yods, referring to the two impulses that appeared on Adam´s heart when he was formed: the Yetzer ha Ra or negative impulse and the Yetzer ha Tov or positive impulse.
This polarization is inevitable as long as Adam remains in an animal hominid body. Precisely, feeding negative impulses makes the internal Satan stronger especially pride.
Only oneself is the enemy of oneself (Bagavad Gita).
Only oneself is the enemy of oneself (Bagavad Gita).
It is thus irresponsible and childish to blame an external entity for the falls of humanity. The only cause is to be found inside and depends entirely on what is the object of proud love.
So deliver us from pride and all negative impulses of the heart.
So deliver us from pride and all negative impulses of the heart.
In the next part we will deal with the famous ending of the prayer, which points again to the Tree of Life, as other passages of the gospels, being a perfect continuation of the Hebrew tradition.
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