Godimages

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There is a great negative, antispiritual force at work in the human mind. This has been personified, among ancient and primitive peoples, as the "devil." In an enlightened life, the only "devil" is fear, Love's opposite.

Originally, says the legend, "satan" was one of the faithful followers and servants of God (Love). But pride, or egotism, created a being of insecurity and evil within the Mind. Negativity and antispirituality are very strong among primitive, undeveloped species with tiny brains, such as human beings. Although we are capable of reaching for the spiritual condition of the Christ, we also contain the negative anti-pole of an interior Hitlermind. Life is largely the conflict between the interior Mind of God (Love) and the mind of "demons," "devil," or fear.

Fear continues to fight with Love within all human beings. Fear has generated the monstrosity of a god of terror, vengeance, and related fearbased qualities. Many worship this monstergod, who behaves in a way that we would and could never accept from any sane human being: What would we think of an angry old man who took his beautiful daughters in the back yard and burned them alive on a barbecue? Or, what if he just slaughtered them?

We would recognize instantly, and sickeningly, that this old guy was psychotic. Any responsible religious or community leader would insist that he be locked up, for the safety of all.

The modern godimage was created four thousand years ago, by very bloody, violent, evil men-- soldiers, kings, generals, and backwards "prophets." None of these men was a tower of softness or compassion. These men actually "solved problems" by killing people, including the stoning of their own disobedient children. Naturally, being sick with ego, they assumed that god was exactly like them. So, they formulated the ghastly Jehovah-myth-- a false god of horror, nightmarish injustice, and monstrous cruelty.

Jesus came with a very different vision of God, God as pure Love. But the people were ready for neither Him nor for His beautiful vision of God. The lower nature of ignorance preferred, and still prefers, the barbaric god of war, blood, and vengeance.

It was only because Jesus was born in Palestine that people assume that this Jehovah was the God of Jesus. If Jesus had been born in Greece, people would be worshipping Zeus, the godking of Greek religion. That it was not is proved by the fact that the "ancient witnesses of Jehovah" were behind his murder.

Men and women controlled by fear are barely affected by Love. They actually prefer a god that is more like themselves. In the Middle Ages, when people "solved problems" within the Church by torturing others to death, it seemed that their god was like these vicious and obscene inquisitors, for torture was quite "acceptable" to them. So, they distorted the universal Mind so that It contained all their ugliness. For violent, ignorant, and stupid people prefer a god that is just like them.
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"Get Behind Me, Satan!"

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Jesus once used the phrase, "Get behind me, Satan!" when his disciple suggested that he would not suffer as he prophesied that he would.

There is no evidence that he directed this remark to any of his disciples. That would have been a terribly rude and crude insult to any of them, and there is evidence that Jesus was a more courteous and polite person than that.

Instead, odds are very good that he was muttering to himself. He was part human, and part Spirit, like we all are, deep down in the mind. And, among the writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment Tradition, "Satan" is the name given to the fear-nature. [Fear is the conceptual opposite of Love, but Love has no real opposite. This is recognized by early Christian writers. (1 Jn. 4:18, for example.] So, fear, or the interior fear-nature, is the "devil" for mystics and enlightened people generally.

So, Jesus Christ, or at least, his human side [called "Jesus," while "Christ" was the "name" or title of his spiritual (divine) side] was rebuking the lower side of his human nature. This was the fear-nature, called, "Satan."

The human part of a person, plus her lower animal-nature, and, lowest of all, her fear-nature, altogether are collectively called the "lower nature."

Since Jesus was both "true God and true man," his human side did indeed have a fear-nature, and it was his job-- the same assignment we all possess-- to get it into subjection by, and under the control of, his higher nature (spiritual nature or Love-nature). And he had, at times, to wrestle with this fear-nature-- especially when contemplating his manner of voluntary death by the nightmarish, ghastly, horribly painful crucifixion.
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