When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.

Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions. Afterward Jesus himself sent them out from east to west with the sacred and unfailing message of salvation that gives eternal life. Amen.

After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened. But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.

Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country. They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.

Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. Mark 16

Mark Episode 42 Transcript

[00:00:00] And so we come to the last chapter of the Gospel of Mark. It is the story of Easter - discovering the empty tomb, and then Jesus appearing to them at some time. His admonishing them as to what to do to preach the good news, and then his ascension into heaven. Part of the story I want to focus on is the fact that they went from believing one thing, that Jesus was dead, to believing another, that he was not.

What is the process required for me to change my belief? It’s an ongoing, current conversation for people. According to this text, it took a number of reports and personal experience before even his most intimate followers would accept that he was alive.

I can only imagine the trauma his closest followers [00:01:00] experienced at his death, right? That would’ve settled them in a certain belief. I do know that their physiology would react with foggy thinking and fear-based actions, paralyzing sadness, and a generally negative outlook on life. However, we know how the story ends. Their beliefs changed radically in just a few days, such that they became so thoroughly convinced, according to the story, that they all eventually gave their lives to the cause and the advance of this new way.

I find this amazing and affirming of the process of change of belief that I now experience, 2000 years later. A modern review of this text, with hindsight improved by spiritual understanding of what happened 2000 years ago, coupled with our current understanding of how people become emotionally and spiritually connected - [00:02:00] attachment theory, allows us to see how this divine love works in us to bring us from merely natural limited faith to a deeply satisfying and life changing spiritual worldview. Our faith becomes integrated and part of our way of being. Jesus in his life and his work had opened up and made available a new spirituality to humans by means of the reformation he performed and the glorification of himself.

And then he used the devotion of those followers, and his promise of a new world, to that new spirituality, integrating it into their lives, leading them to be able to see this new world, which was in fact not a physical or political world, but the already existing spiritual [00:03:00] world now available for them to see and to use in their lives to connect their spirit with their action.

So we now can distinguish two parts: the inner silent, invisible change, wrought by Jesus, and then the followers’ experience of the world and nature that they now saw and lived in light of their new spirituality.

Now I’m convinced that miracles such as those that Jesus did are not happening anymore. That’s how I look at life. However, there are many spiritual experiences people have had that are miraculous and life changing. Near death experiences, and messages through mediums, being a couple of examples. But they don’t rise to the level of universally changing the condition of the human spirit.

There have been thus many teachers in [00:04:00] the last 2000 years that have lived and taught what Jesus modelled without having to do those miracles, and so effectively supported our becoming spiritual people, living a spiritual way. The Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Swedenborg, Thick NhatHanh, even modern times, Fr. Richard Rohr.

These are the people who are some of my teachers, and I’ve experienced that integration of faith into living through what they’ve said. My experience is that they all reveal truths, and ways of seeing life, that affirm what Jesus has modeled for them and us. I now see that the spiritual development of my life happened after many messengers affirmed the core truth about love that Jesus modeled.

I continue to strive to believe and live that way, [00:05:00] and then as I strive to do that, the divine love flowing into natural life awakens in me this new desire, a new way of reacting to the world and a new way of relating to people. It’s not that I’m becoming good or perfect, it’s that I am now following the model that Jesus taught and that others have echoed. And I must rush to insert here that I am a work in progress, as the saying goes! I’m regularly cognizant of missed opportunities, some painfully so. I can experience a secure attachment with God, myself, and others, and the planet. Which gives me an effective hope, a healthy sense of self, and of my place.

In the spiritual and natural universe, I experience an acceptance of others that is framed in healthy [00:06:00] boundaries, and I have a sense of being connected to all life as a unique expression of natural and spiritual life. So I encourage all people to observe the model of secure attachment that Jesus has given us.

As you practice it, your life becomes more and more authentically Christian in the deepest and broadest sense, because you’ll be expressing the divine love incarnated by Jesus. I believe manifesting spiritual, unconditional, unbounded, divine love will change you and your world, bringing heaven to earth.

And we now come to this assurance that there will come a day when we experience the power of love and wisdom unconsciously, acting from deep within our minds, driving our thoughts, forming our reactions to emotions, creating our speech and our actions. Our hearts can be at ease and our minds [00:07:00] in light with clarity.

It is a lifelong journey. At times, there will be an ordeal. At times, there will be a joy. We have felt buoyed by new enthusiasm at times and but then at other times stopped by fear or grief. We have felt empowered by love, but then also downcast by doubt, wondering how can I ever find love or joy again?

The energy to continue on the journey has been a gift, while not always felt as a blessing, for through it all, there has been a consistent, relentless reach by God, by divine, by the life force, for connection and for relationship. The creator seeks to be one with [00:08:00] the creation. And so every moment we remember ourselves, we will feel blessed by that divine drive for connection.

Every moment we are thoughtless, as distinguished from mindful, we feel shame and despair at the impossibility of the task, of life, and of connecting to the divine.

And then we read the Gospel of Mark, right? And we understand we actually get that Jesus did all this already. He has completed the journey. He has revealed a pathway for us to follow. Every word he speaks in the story and every action he takes, models how he reaches for a connection with us, and how we can copy his model for connection with him, our source, our higher power, and with other people. He tells us sometimes explicitly what precisely will impede our journey, [00:09:00] or that will frustrate our reach for connection, so that we can then repent, as he calls it, that is, turn back to the path, the way that is always right at our feet.

This model that Jesus has offered and that so many people have testified to, has been tested by billions of people now for over 2000 years, and has been found a most effective guide for achieving a secure attachment with the source and with our fellow beings.

And now we have language to describe secure attachment within our multi-part consciousness. While this conjoining with the source is called by many names, Nirvana, enlightenment, individuation, regeneration, and many more, they all guarantee the result if the guide is followed and the journey accomplished.

The Gospel of Mark, similarly to other scriptures, is a [00:10:00] divinely ordained guide that faultlessly leads us to what Jesus calls the kingdom of heaven here in the world and now in our lives.

The story before us, this last chapter of the Gospel of Mark, describes in powerful, symbolic language what secure attachment looks like. It’s not the end of the journey, but a description of what our becoming human then looks and feels like within, and what others experience of us. And so it’s said that we “cast out demons in the name of the Lord,” which describes how our behavior forms our mind to spontaneously let go of false ideas and evil desires.

We will “speak with new tongues,” which is a description of how our speech will flawlessly manifest love and wisdom. [00:11:00] We will “safely take up serpents” describing our experience of complete safety from what is poisonous to our spirituality. In fact, we will not be hurt by “drinking a deadly thing.” So complete is our immunity from the influence of evil.

The ease of heart and mind, thus acquired because of our connection to life, will restore our spiritual health, a seemingly miraculous healing of our spirit, just as the sick should be restored by the “laying on of hands,” which brings us into communication and connection with the divine in such a way that we can bring peace to those around us as if we were laying on hands.

These are images of all the characteristics of a person with secure attachment that we’ve been describing through all these episodes. [00:12:00] One wise psychologist, Dr. Sue Johnson, the author of “Love Sense” and the originator of the therapeutic Emotionally Focused Therapy, (which is one of the foundational views for this whole series), she wrote, ““The more securely connected we are to those we love, the more we tune in and respond to the needs of others as if they were our own. Moral decisions and altruistic actions spring naturally from our emotional connection with others.”[1] “Secure people see themselves as generally competent and worthy of love, and they see others as trustworthy and reliable. They tend to view their relationships as workable and are open to learning about love and loving.”

[1] Johnson, S, Love Sense. Little, Brown & Co. 2013. p 24, 45

[00:13:00] What a beautiful description she gives us of what Jesus is modeling. We experience secure attachment when we believe we have spiritual value as a human being and believe that value is a gift from God.

The psychological state is when we feel confident in our beliefs and opinions, so that we are not afraid of others’ beliefs and opinions. We don’t need to be defensive. We are able to rise above any hurts or insults and act without defensiveness or argument or anger. When I am securely attached to another person I can be vulnerable with them and authentic because I know I am loved. I am not dependent on that other’s opinions and judgments of me, and I want to show them who and what I am. I don’t become defensive when they express their hurts or needs, [00:14:00] even if, coming from their hurts and needs, they attack me. Instead, I tune into the others’ emotions and I want to be supportive.

I feel connected to the world and to others and to God and the planet. Living in the current of divine providence that I know is carrying me along to happiness, I’m convinced that the feelings that I occasionally have, are signals from my spirit and my body that I am at that moment in a state of conscious, secure attachment as I am able to fully embrace the holiness and magnitude of what I am experiencing.

There’s no cynicism, no critique, no doubt. The secure person’s ego does not interfere with any need of affirmation of its place and power. The secure person is enjoying the present [00:15:00] moment, and because the present moment is the only condition in which joy and satisfaction can exist, the person is transformed by that experience. And this unconscious spiritual experience is brought to the person’s awareness through the electrical and chemical stimulation of the brain as the brainstem feels safe and open to experience. And the cognitive functions welcome the present thoughts and emotions with acceptance and joy.

An example for me was many years ago watching a sunset from the western slope of the mountains above the Colorado town of Telluride. All the external conditions were amenable to this spiritual experience. The gentle cooling air, the scent of the pine trees, the sound of the wind in those trees, the big sky vista, the distant mountains that [00:16:00] framed the setting sun, all conspired to open my heart and stop my thought. And the inner spiritual state entered, and filled me and all the information held in my cerebrum faded into insignificance while my cerebellum, that ancient, more reptilian part of my brain, closest to the brainstem, opened fully to the love that automatically flows in whenever the circumstances are right.

Surely you have had moments of this spiritual experience. Perhaps it felt like an altered state of consciousness. In fact, I believe you were remembering your authentic self. Perhaps it’s difficult to believe or even be frightening to contemplate this strange new inner world. It can, it’s an alternate view. It upsets our current way of being. We rightly fear that the [00:17:00] world will not be right anymore.And we can fear that those around us will doubt the reality of our peace, our ease, our joy. Those first days for the followers of Jesus after they saw him die and then rise up into heaven, they must have been very frightening and confusing. Indeed as that example, that story, how this occurs for us is miraculous.

For instance, you see someone who has hurt you in the past. You meet up with them, and of course a negative thought comes to your mind. You pick that thought up, you see the poison in it, and you dismiss that thought. It is not going bite you. In fact, if you pay attention, you’ll experience a universal, unconditional love casting that thought out of your mind. And it is quickly [00:18:00] followed by a healing thought of the goodness that you see in the person when you looked beyond whatever produces hurt. You feel empowered to choose to stay, or walk away and not engage. The poison can no longer get to you.

Or you may have a negative thought about yourself. Perhaps you have thought that you are no good or you are a failure. The moment you pay attention to the hurtfulness of that thought and you observe it, nonjudgmentally, a small voice begins to speak in your heart, a new tongue, as it were. The source, love itself, the divine, speaks the affirmation that you are a child of God, that you have divine life flowing through you, out into the world, successfully making the world a better place [00:19:00] for everyone.

These are miracles. This is the promise that is given to us all as we actually experience the journey, the ordeal, and a new life.

The Gospel has been completely on point and accurate up to this point in describing our experience of the journey. I have confidence that what it says is helpful and accurate. On a spiritual level, we can relate to the model that Jesus is providing. It makes sense to us. And it has worked so it makes sense to me that we can be inclined to believe this outcome, that this is what is going to happen. This new life, after the death of our ego, even though it is as yet unreal to us, and [00:20:00] at times scary.

We have knowledge of the goal. We trust the process. We’ve seen it work in the past, and we have a view of the continuing resolution of whatever’s going on. We’ve been told again and again, so that our transformation, when it comes, will be encouraging and empowering, hopeful and satisfying and joyful. So many worries and considerations we have now will be let go as this novel way of being becomes ordinary.

God invites you on this journey with him. He’s there whenever you look for him. His consistent unfailing reach for connection with you all along the way will become a secure attachment, a safe relationship [00:21:00] in which to thrive as a human being. You’ll share the healing you experience in all your relationships, fulfilling God’s intention for creating you in the first place, and you’ll fulfill the promise Jesus made with the very first words he spoke in the Gospel of Mark: “The time promised by God has come at last. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.”

I hope you have received some benefit from this series. If you would like to support its continuing presence on the internet, you can certainly support it with a donation through the PayPal link. And if you would like to be kept apprised of any further work or community building that may arise from [00:22:00] this effort, feel free to use the contact link of the platform you’re on and let me know that you are interested in continuing the conversation.

God bless and may you be well.

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

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RESOURCES USED IN THE SERIES

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Rumi: Hidden Music, Translated by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi, Thorsons, Hammersmith, London.

Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters: With Screwtape Proposes a Toast. New York: HarperOne, 2001.

Person To Person: The Gospel of Mark, Paul V, Vickers. Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, PA 1998

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2011

Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Janet English, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, NY 1972

Helen Keller, The World I Live In, Hodder And Stoughton, London, Copyright 1904, 1908, By The Century Co.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF A SECURELY ATTACHED PERSON

Has an active experience of self-worth

Has unconditional regard for others’ worth

Is silent when typically one is verbal (not defensive, explaining, or justifying)

Looks for and affirms others’ goodness

Is affirming and optimistic (non-complaining)

Is conscious of, can identify and express the emotion being felt

Has a mindfulness practice

Remains in the present during conflict with another person

Rests in the non-duality of mercy and justice

Has clarity regarding selfishness and selfcare

Considers oneself on a journey, in process, unfinished, on the way

Has a sense of being part of, and connected to, all living beings

Lives from a sense of abundance (rather than fear of scarcity)

Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes, and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?” But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.

Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner—anyone the people requested. One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising. The crowd went to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.

“Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked. (For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.) But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

“Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”

But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.

Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there.

This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.) Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid. Mark 15:1-47

Central to the [true] Christian faith as it applies to us is that we believe in the Lord, since believing in him is the union with him that gives us salvation. Believing in him is trusting that he saves people; and since we can have this trust only if we live good lives, believing in him also means leading a good life.  Swedenborg, Doctrine of Faith §36

Anyone who has been reborn can see from experience that this is how the matter stands. That is to say, when bodily and worldly considerations absorb us, we are absent and distant from internal ones. Not only do we fail to think at all about them but we also sense a kind of chill inside us. When bodily and worldly demands quiet down, on the other hand, we come under the influence of faith and charity.

Such an individual can also see from experience that these two phases alternate. So when bodily and worldly concerns start to overflow and try to dominate, we enter a period of distress and trial. The crisis lasts until we have been reduced to a state in which our outer self obeys our inner self — an obedience that is utterly impossible except when the outer self grows still and almost vanishes. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §933

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.

Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there among you teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me.”

Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.

They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered. Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.

Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But they couldn’t find any. Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. Finally, some men stood up and gave this false testimony: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.’” But even then they didn’t get their stories straight!

Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!”

Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. “Prophesy to us,” they jeered. And the guards slapped him as they took him away.

Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.”

But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.

When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!” But Peter denied it again.

A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”

Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” And immediately the rooster crowed the second time.

Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept. Mark 14:43-72

Mark Episode 40 Transcript

[00:00:00] At the end of Mark chapter 14, Jesus is arrested in the middle of the night by armed men from the temple. He does not resist. He exerts no power, human or divine. Human beings normally use power to fulfill the divinely implanted drive to survive and procreate. It seems to me that most scenarios in which people protect themselves so that they will physically and psychologically survive, are exercises of power, and so they stand tall and make loud noises, or they shoot back or even shoot first. Sometimes people defend their standing in community with accusations and defamations and will likely bend the facts to fit their needs.

Now I’ve never had to protect myself physically with an exercise of violent power. However, I admit to saying harsh words, that is, lies, [00:01:00] in the most powerfully convincing way I can in order to defend my sense of myself and my standing in my community.

While I want to stop this kind of thinking and speaking, I recognize it is an automatic reaction that originates from a deep, spiritual and vital feature that God has given to human beings: to protect ourselves in order to procreate and populate heaven. The source of this inclination is purely good, but in the process of its manifestation into my lower self, along the way, somehow it is bent, bent by a fear of loss, a fear of abandonment, a fear of death, if only of my ego

The resolution is to cultivate an attitude of abundance and to develop a trust that all will be well in the end, regardless of the present [00:02:00] circumstances, and to develop a memory of being loved. I do this by remembering that I and everyone else is a child of God. God loves me unconditionally and everyone else, and is making every effort within the bounds of divine providence to create a relationship between himself and I so that I experience joy and satisfaction now, and so I will be spiritually and eternally blessed.

By practicing thinking and speaking and acting from this faith, my mind is formed into a channel for the divine love, for the flow of life, for the source to come into and through me. And my brain is trained to healthfully, non reactively, manage the fear of loss that arises when my existence is threatened.

Jesus models this security by acting from his [00:03:00] trust that the divine plan will achieve his mission, which I know that his mission is not my mission, with his mission was the redemption for everyone on the planet. But the model he’s showing me is that he is convinced to his very bones that physical power will not achieve the end in view.

He does not resist the people who are arresting him. He intervenes, in fact, in the violent attack in the Gospel of John. The story includes him healing the man whose ear was cut off. So this story is encouraging and daunting at the same time. My 11-year-old grandson once observed while preparing to go to school, that he felt both excitement and dread, a common experience.

Jesus modeled how a securely attached person manages this dichotomy, this yin and yang, this both/and. Jesus had spent 30 years practicing this [00:04:00] non-dual way of being. He trusted in his father, which was the divine in his own soul. He lived in the present moment, seeing and feeling his own pain and fear, and seeing and hearing the distress and fear of those around him, including those in this case who were out to murder him.

He had found a way to hold both his excitement for the accomplishment of the divine plan and his dread arising from knowing the physical and spiritual pain he was about to experience. His lifelong practice of praying was a mindfulness practice of remembering his place in creation, remembering the role he was fulfilling and remembering the joyful connections he felt in the moment and the eternal joy he would experience not only for himself, but for all people.

He had cultivated a sensitivity for other people’s spiritual plight, which produced an automatic impulse to be [00:05:00] compassionate and a non-anxious presence. He had discovered that exerting power was ineffective and could even be hurtful. He no longer needed a sword to defend his life and his mission. We’re invited to develop through practice this equanimity in the face of life’s circumstances.

We are called to practice non-violence in reaction to threats and attacks. We can follow Jesus’ model of loving all people and so restraining our use of power mindfully, prayerfully, seeking an effective path to protecting ourselves and trusting that the Lord will make it work for good - including that unbelievable, miraculous healing of perpetrators who we may find it impossible to forgive.

Next Jesus is confronted by the church leaders and he’s able to remain silent when false [00:06:00] accusations are made, speaking up only to correct the wrong ideas they had of his mission. He kept drawing their attention to the fact that he was here for this spiritual work of redemption, not for the removal of the Romans or the undoing of the church’s hierarchy.

It is difficult to explain not being disturbed by threats to my physical or spiritual life. I have learned to distinguish existential threats from other kinds. I give existential threats, more weight and attention. I want to see clearly what in me is being disturbed so that I can discover a new relationship with that part of me.

I want to be present to the grip that that part has on me and on my way of being and how it can be agitated, and [00:07:00] begin to lead me away from peace and security. I want to know all that about myself. I want to cultivate a practice here modeled by Jesus. Remain quiet and listen. And in fact, also listen for that consistent message of love from God and cultivate the ability to listen to the distress of the people around me, no matter what their current relationship is with me or what they are saying or doing.

I’ve been involved in a number of conversations which explore the meaning of being silent. Many wise people have said that staying silent is an abdication of one’s responsibility. Others have said that silence ought not be considered a sign of agreement or acquiescence, and so I conclude, it depends, right? It’s complicated. For the purposes of our exploration of how Jesus models his secure attachment, his silence here [00:08:00] must be a model of a good response to a verbal trap. It is not legitimate to ask somebody, when did you stop beating your wife? That’s an illegitimate question. It’s an effort to trap an otherwise innocent person into self recrimination. Only a person with malicious intent would frame a question such a way. We don’t ask people we love such illegitimate questions. So I suggest that Jesus’ silence here is a demonstration of power and strength of security in his way of being, and the acceptance of whatever the outcome would be in recognition that we cannot control outcomes.

Jesus is manifesting a trust in his higher power, which in his unique circumstances, his core divinity. Remember, he’s fresh from [00:09:00] an ordeal in the garden in which he prayed until he sweated blood, and during which he reconnected to his divine spiritual source and was recommitted to the plan for his life on earth.

So again, there are these moments we can prepare for when we choose silence as a demonstration of power and strength. Our task is to recognize the moments of trial in which we can practice remembering who we are so that we are not manipulated by circumstances. Rather, we remember that we are loved and that our power is sourced in life itself and the universe.

We can remember that we are on the way, in the flow of life. There are innumerable small moments that we can take the opportunity to practice being mindful of our fear of being contrary, or our fear of not being liked or accepted, or our fear of death, of being [00:10:00] cast out of our tribe.

Examples of such moments are the small slights of rude people that we don’t respond to. The thoughtless response of a friend in hurry, that we just let go, or some news of injustice that we recognize we’re helpless to fix. We can be intentional in our silence as an authentic response from our spirit.

In those more or less important moments, we will feel like our journey to authenticity and integrity is being put on trial. It is an opportunity to follow Jesus by rising above the malicious taunt of some evil spirit who uses that moment to entrap us. Instead of engaging the false accusation, we can remain silent until there’s a question we can actually answer truthfully. I would note that this is a [00:11:00] deep application of the commonly known rule to count to 10 before speaking, or the rule to wait 24 hours before responding to a challenging email.

We can practice mindfully observing who we really are at heart, remembering that we are loved by God and that we can love our accuser while not being manipulated by them. Part of our experience of being securely attached will be the same as Jesus. He actually did break a fundamental law of his society, of his culture, of his tribe.

For thousands of years, the religion had depended on this law. Part of it is that there is one God of heaven and earth and Him alone shall you worship, and Jesus, Christians believe, rightly claimed to be the promised Messiah, who again, by Jesus’ interpretation, had to be the son of God. [00:12:00] And this idea was in direct contrast to what the leaders were saying at the time.

And so there are times when our beliefs are attacked and we are then given a chance to not wither or succumb to the pressure to fit in the culture around us. And the way to do that is to find silence.

And then the priest is given to take this obvious tack of asking Jesus straight out if he was the son of God, rather than trying to trap him in some nefarious way. And of course Jesus’ answer is yes. That’s what this whole story’s about. Now he could do this, I am observing, because he was at that time secure in his relationship with his father, he felt protected from any harm to his divine mission. He wasn’t worried about the outcome. [00:13:00] He wasn’t trying to be in control, and he could speak truth to power because he had already become accepting of any outcome.

He wasn’t cognitively disturbed so much. He had let go of his ego or the need to be right. He had let go of the need to make others wrong.

And there is promise here for us. We will survive and thrive whenever we experience a secure attachment. When our sense of self is founded on a trust in our love, both received and given, with practice, especially in those small moments, we will be ready for the harder tests that are transformative.

We will have a visceral experience of God being with us, loving us, and being in us. The chapter concludes with this side story of the Apostle Peter, positively denying that he knew Jesus. In the story, he is said to have made the denial [00:14:00] three separate times, and the story is made more poignant by the fact that Jesus had predicted Peter would do this before a rooster crowed twice in the morning.

I have complete sympathy with Peter. I know exactly what is happening in his brain and his heart. I too have lied because I fear being seen as who I really am. Believing I would then be outcast. Scripture and science describe the God-given need of a human being to be part of a tribe, a clan, a family for the sake of survival.

Being alone is such a threat that we make unhealthy alliances, or we lose ourselves, or we even lash out at those not like us, simply to be seen by others as belonging and remain connected to our group. Remember, Peter had spent [00:15:00] three years with this small group of men and women who had become their family. They’d shared Jesus’ mission. They were well organized by Jesus’ spirit. Each person was being made into a servant of the mission and an expression of the spirit of that mission. The process had been long and included failures to stay on mission and terrible spiritual and physical ordeals - shocks to their system.

We’re told that most of the thousands of people who heard Jesus’ message did not stick around. Even the 5,000 he fed. Only a few of them ended up actually following him through the ordeal. And the few followers who stayed through it, all the apostles, were murdered by people whose materialism and earthly power were being diminished.

Perhaps we missed the pressure Peter was under in this moment. Of course, [00:16:00] Peter standing among the people who were not family, maybe enemies, felt vulnerable. He was a member of this other tribe than those around the fire, and they may be angry at Peter and his tribe. Jesus’ mission was threatening their livelihood as servants and the priests and businessmen.

The spirit that Jesus evoked questioned thousands of years of tradition and a worldview that was not to be challenged. I can imagine the conversation around that fire was not on unlike ones we’ve all had sitting at the break room table, at the dining room table or at the bar. It makes no sense for one person to disrupt the camaraderie or interject a contrary view and so be cast out.

And clearly in the story, Peter is not yet ready to manifest any deeper, [00:17:00] other-minded self. In the high priest’s courtyard on a cold night, as he watched his beloved teacher being condemned to death, he did not feel safe. So when accused of being one of those others, his brainstem took over, his amygdala fired up and he had to fight or flee.

He did a little of both. As don’t we all. First, he swore a denial and then moved to a darker spot where you could still hear and see the proceedings inside. His fear was manifested as thoughtlessness and irritation. A second and third challenge made him even more defensive. He resorted to hyperbole to make himself look scary and less of a target.

The lesson I’m getting here is that a more developed, secure attachment would give Peter a greater capacity to tolerate the fear, to see the context. [00:18:00] Whether he remains a member of that little group that he’s standing among would not be important to him. The present moment, what Jesus was doing, what was happening at that moment, would’ve kept his attention. He would not have felt threatened, and his prefrontal cortex would’ve remained engaged and he would’ve thought out how to respond to these accusations effectively. Remember, Jesus was standing still and remaining silent as he was accused.

This incident reveals that it is typical that each of us is on a journey, within a group of others who are like us. Actual loners are rare and often troubled, and yet we all inevitably fail to live up to our group’s mission. We might lose its spirit for moments. It will take us multiple experiences in [00:19:00] more and less serious circumstances to train our brains to recognize the circumstances, like an argument with a friend, which are not threats to our belonging, and so not become reactive to that threat.

We come to realize that our brain will always believe the threat is real, while our spirit, now dwelling with God’s spirit in the flow of life, we’ll know that is not a meaningful threat. It’s only a physical one, which is not important.

And I have cried along with Peter when I realized that I had been self-centered and unheeded and uncaring of another’s pain. Peter’s brain needed to unload the chemicals produced in the process of the threat and his reaction now that he understands what just happened. God has designed this process of developing secure attachment to include such meaningful signs as crying. [00:20:00] Peter was far enough along in the journey to have his attention caught by the signal of the rooster crowing. He remembered. His brain reengaged with the present moment. While I certainly wish all God’s signs to me were that loud and obvious, the point is that God has designed it so that we can respond to the message. We cry, resetting our brain’s equilibrium, and we thus set ourselves up to respond next time a little more quickly, a bit less reactively.

When we are afraid of losing our connection to our tribe, to ourselves, or to our God, God loves us, unceasingly, we belong to him, to the universe, to the source. It is really sad when we forget that and when we miss the target and lash out [00:21:00] defensively. God is still there walking with us on the journey. The path is still under our feet. And we are along the way. We remember we have loved, remember that we are loved securely. We are encouraged to continue by this moment of safety and connection as we experience God abiding in us.

“‘Power’ means salvation because all Divine power looks to salvation as an end. A person is reformed by Divine power, and afterwards introduced into heaven, and there withheld from evil and falsity and held in good and truth. Only the Lord can accomplish this. Those who claim for themselves the power to achieve salvation are completely ignorant of what salvation is, for they do not know what reformation is, nor what heaven with a person is. To claim to oneself the Lord’s power is to claim power over the Lord Himself, which power is called ‘the power of darkness’ (Luke 22:53). Apocalypse Explained §293

“Since in its proper sense morning symbolizes the Lord, his Coming, and so the arrival of his kingdom, it also symbolizes the dawn of a new religion (the church being the Lord’s kingdom on earth). This dawn occurs both in general and in particular, and even in specific detail: in general when some church is being revived on earth; in particular when an individual is reborn and becomes a new person; in such people the Lord’s kingdom then dawns, and each of them becomes a church; in specific detail whenever love and faith have a good effect on this individual, because that is what the Lord’s Coming consists in. As a result, the Lord’s resurrection on the third day in the morning involves all these meanings. It even involves the particular and specific ones, since he rises again in the minds of regenerate people daily and in fact from moment to moment.” Secrets of Heaven §2405

[Jesus’ miracles would not have much] effect at this day, because it is not acknowledged that there is anything from the spiritual world. Everything of the kind which does take place, which is not attributed to nature, is denied. Denial against Divine influx and its government in the earth reigns universally. So if a person of faith were at this day to see the actual Divine miracles, they would first bring them down into nature, and there defile them, and afterward would reject them as delusions, and finally would laugh at all who attributed them to the Divine, and not to nature. That miracles are of no effect is also evident from the Lord’s words in Luke: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:31). AC 7290

“Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. ‘ Jesus said, ‘You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah. I say to you, on this rock I will build my church’” (Matthew 16:13, 16-18). The Lord said, then, that he would build his church on this rock, that is, on the truth and the confession that he is the Son of God. In fact, a “rock” means a truth, and also the Lord’s divine truth. The church does not exist in someone who does not confess the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. That is why I said just above that this is the first step into faith in Jesus Christ - this is faith at its very outset. True Christianity §342

It is very well known from the Lord’s Word that he was conceived by Jehovah. That is why he is called Son of the Highest One, Son of God, and the Only-Born of the Father....In addition, there are many other places where the Lord calls Jehovah his Father. It is also known that he was born to the Virgin Mary, but this was a birth like that of any other person. When he was born again, or in other words, was made divine, it was from Jehovah, who was in him and who was the very essence of his life. The uniting of his divine and human natures was a mutual, reciprocal process, so that he united his divine nature with his human nature and his human nature with his divine. This fact stands as evidence that, using his own power, the Lord made the humanity in himself divine and in the process became righteousness. A deserving righteousness was what the Lord attached to his divine rationality when he was undergoing his deepest trials. It was the weapon he then fought with, and against which evil demons fought, until it too was finally glorified by him. Secrets of Heaven §2798

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.

Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.

But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”

So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve. As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”

Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”

He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”

And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,

‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

“No!” Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.

They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.

When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!” Mark 14:1-42

Mark Episode 39 Transcript

[00:00:00] We come to the beginning of the last night of Jesus’ life, which is most of Mark chapter 14. He spends it first with all his apostles in their last supper together, and then by himself practicing being in the present moment and remembering himself managing the inner disruption in the challenge to his equanimity.

Our first observation is this, what you believe only makes a difference in your life when you actually live it. Now, ordinary people, such as you and I, know this, and yet it has been taught by many wise people, including Jesus for millennia. Therefore, something’s going on in this teaching.

It bears repeating because there is a part of every single human being that twists this truth to be self-serving and materialistic. It is the part of us that needs to be right, for instance, needs to be superior, or in control, [00:01:00] managing the fear of things not going our way. This self-protective part of us results in the actuality that every time I act on my belief that I’m right and someone else is wrong, I do harm.

In the story, the people at the table who watch the woman use expensive oil to anoint Jesus’ feet are immediately called out for missing the point. And Jesus asserts that she will be remembered for her devotion to spiritual values over merely material ones. We, just like those observers, are wired with the normal, ordinary human capacity to come to believe a truth, and then to be driven to act on it, to live from it. It becomes how we view the world.

And because our development into spiritual beings takes a process over time, every human [00:02:00] being will abuse that gift. Every time I act on my belief that I’m right and someone else is wrong, I do harm. Every time I justify my action by believing I am correct, my life is impoverished. Every time I choose a physical pleasure to the exclusion of a spiritual delight, it robs me of an experience of joy in that pleasure. So the difficulty we all face is that our transformation into securely attached people who do not need to be correct or right, or understood, or needed, in order to have joy and satisfaction, begins by letting go of our desires and our beliefs.

Not that they’re wrong, but that our grip on them causes us to use them selfishly, materialistically. For before our transformation or salvation in biblical language, those [00:03:00] desires and beliefs can only reflect our selfish, worldly mechanical fearfulness. And because we don’t control the flow of life and we cannot see the future, we cannot manage this transformation.

And if we knew what God was doing, how the divine was designing the process, we would feel manipulated and we would resist because it is a denial of our sense of our ownership of life. So you see how complex and difficult this is to describe.

So I see the story of Jesus telling the apostles how to find the room for their Passover celebration yet another demonstration that it is trust in the divine, trusting the process, trusting the universe that will allow us to discover God’s plan for us and our way, our path, and we will [00:04:00] learn repeatedly that God is trustworthy and when we trust God, we will be led on the way of our journey.

In the story, I’m impressed by the amount of detail that Jesus gives to the men predicting how, just how they will find the upper room, exactly how it’s going to work out. We want to believe it is miraculous, although it might be that Jesus had simply prearranged it.

There are people in my life who would not be satisfied with that amount of detail in the instructions that Jesus gave his disciples. They would want more in order to reduce their anxiety. So Mark tells the story without anxiety or anticipation.

I could read this and not have any sense of a miracle. It feels like someone giving me instructions to a specific store. Go down two blocks, turn left. I fully expect to come to the store [00:05:00] I got directions for. I may be anxious about seeing the road signs or being in the wrong lane, but I have no doubt that I will end up where I expected to.

We all know that our spiritual growth, our way on the journey, is not so clearly seen. There are not these road signs. There’s no one out there telling us exactly how it’s going to work out. So I would like to have the disciples’ trust in Jesus that they manifest there. They simply went out and did what he told them to do. They simply went where he said, and they did what he said. I would like to go where the Lord says, I would like to do what he says. I would like to see what he says. I will see and not need any expectation to be met. To be calm while not knowing all the details or how it could possibly work. Perhaps you also know people who require a lot of detail in their [00:06:00] planning.

I really value those people because I’m not a planner. And by contrast, there is a part of me that is accustomed to avoiding failure by not ever having a specific plan that could fail. So I see that this is, again, a complex issue. It’s not what a securely attached person experiences as trust. Too often all we notice is the anxiety of the unknown, or the pain of the ordeal, or the threat to my ego, or the current circumstances, we got caught up in that.

And so the apostles were again, confused and disturbed when Jesus announced at supper that one of them would betray him. I imagine their amygdalas at that moment are so fired up, taking all the blood and oxygen and energy from their cortex that they can’t think. They do not hear Jesus explicitly telling them that he will drink wine with them again even though he’s going to die.

All [00:07:00] the limitations of an insecure person show up their anxiety because they don’t know the outcome.

Fear of being abandoned by their caregiver, loss of reputation, and standing in the community and even suspicion of their colleagues, this is what happens to us when we feel threatened by people not liking us or when they are not telling us the truth or they’re not doing what we want.

We do not comprehend the full picture because we are conscious only that we’re going to lose. We’re going to die. We’re not in control in the story. We are told that Jesus is using all his mindfulness and active practices to manage the distress, and it can contrast that with what the apostles were doing, which highlights what we can pay attention to in order to advance our secure attachment.

But my sense of safety and assurance in my life [00:08:00] are often buoyed up by this affirmation of a future delight in living. Jesus here makes this promise of our future joy, even though we do not actually consciously know what that life of joy feels like. Rather like Peter, we all begin following Jesus as we are using our own thinking, our own power, our own sense of ownership, of the choice of what to do. We make proclamations of our steadfastness and bold assertions of our courage like Peter does. He would not betray him. He would not deny knowing Jesus. However, the longer we live the more opportunities we will have to experience the inevitable failure of our planning, of our expectations. This is predictable.

As Jesus said, it is not [00:09:00] spiritually fatal. It is not a sign of the lack of faith, only its immaturity. It is acting perhaps from a woundedness and from fear. And we can develop, we can be transformed, we can be saved. And so not be run by that lack of security. And here Jesus models how to manage the suffering that comes along with this.

Many wise people and traditions throughout the ages recognize the necessity of suffering in order to be transformed and become authentically human. Many have described how to live through it.

In general, we begin by normalizing the fear that we feel. Jesus had a practice, I can imagine daily, of going off by himself to pray to his father. He made this humbling of himself, this moment, to [00:10:00] observe what is going on, ordinary and routine. It became his standard go-to whenever suffering came upon him.

Humans are created with a physiological and mental, cognitive, emotional system of experiencing and responding to fear. We have automatic reactions that indeed are faster than we can think and that can save our physical lives. So of course, all people, no matter how spiritually advanced, will experience fear. It’s normal. Again, it’s not fatal. It’s not a lack of faith. Jesus modeled for us a way of life which prepares us for a spiritual response to fear, and next, Jesus teaches us to be present to and accepting of the reality that we are going to die and further to be present to and [00:11:00] accepting of the resistance to death, and accepting and present to our fear that we will not have a good life, that we will not accomplish what we want to accomplish. Likely you have missed the mark in the past or have not done what you now know you should have in work and relationships and self-care. At moments of reflection, a fear of dying before fixing hurt relationships or accomplishing life’s goals will arise.

If we have lived any lies, the divine truth is prodding our conscience in that moment. As we feel that discomfort that can be a moment of acceptance of our mistakes and our frailty, acceptance from a foundation of trust in God’s unconditional and consistent love for us, even in that moment, [00:12:00] a secure attachment with life, with the universe, knowing that the path is headed towards our joy. So Jesus teaches us to pay attention to what is important as we develop this spiritual resiliency. The Gospel here reports that Jesus, in the hours before his arrest, alone through the night, was deeply troubled and distressed, and that his soul is crushed with grief.

I am sure that Jesus was not brooding about the time he lost his temper or how he could have been more eloquent or what he could have done differently when someone rejected him. He wasn’t even ruminating about the losses that he experienced in his life. He wasn’t fighting off evil desires. He was suffering.

He was suffering an existential doubt [00:13:00] that he could ever accept the ordeal that was ahead of him on his path. Our journey is not advanced by agonizing about the time we lied to our coworkers to hide a mistake, or the time we kept the extra change, or how badly we messed up that relationship by being selfish and self-absorbed, or the time we didn’t give money to the beggar.

We prepare by discovering what we actually love and what we want to love, who we really are, and who we want to be. And we do that by paying attention to whether what we are doing and saying jives with the truth we know and that manifests our love. That is your basic, mindful, non-judgmental self-observation.

And in that moment we are telling the truth because it is the good thing to do. And we [00:14:00] ask ourselves, are we loving other people because they are children of God and already worthy of our love? Are we like Jesus, humbling ourselves to the truth and love, to the Father, seeking to let go of our wishes and explicitly acknowledging that God’s will is to be accepted? That life has goodness in it, that it’s working for our good, that our higher power can be trusted? Is that what we’re doing? We can observe ourselves.

Jesus models secure attachment when he points out what is happening without ranker, without whining, without deflecting responsibility. He’s transparent about his feelings, acknowledging and honoring his fear and his sadness. Jesus is modeling spiritually waking up. And paying attention to the source and impact of [00:15:00] some love that we are holding onto so dearly.

When I begin sharing my truth with someone, which I know is good for them, might I be seeking to exert power in that moment? Might I be acting out my need to be right? Do I feel superior because I know a truth that they don’t? As we spend time reflecting on these questions and feel humble, if not remorseful, for doing it poorly, we might begin to sweat in fear for the loss of relationship and its joy and satisfaction. And also Jesus is here modeling being in the present moment.

When you focus on the future and see a number of different possibilities, you probably begin to worry. Which one is the best one? If I choose one, I cannot go back and choose another if I make the wrong choice. [00:16:00] Disaster will follow. The securely attached person will certainly ask these questions, but without the fear, because of a deep knowing that all is well.

The fact that it just might not be well in the future, does not diminish how well it is right now. And so we are invited to figure out how we can learn how to attend to the moment, doing what seems right in our spiritual sight of a loving God, your neighbor, your loved ones, and yourself. You’ll be encouraged by the realization that no specific future is set and that there is no mistake that can take you permanently off the path, off the way on your journey.

So the invitation is for this story of Jesus seeing his apostles in their current condition of [00:17:00] sleepiness, and then simply caring for them, this both reassures us that the Lord is always loving us, and he’s a model for us. How we can wake up to our spiritual joy, even though we must go through a trial to come to feel it.

As Jesus said, keep watch and pray.

“It is a law of the divine design that the closer and closer we come to God, which is something we have to do as if we were completely on our own, the closer and closer God comes to us. When we meet, God forms a partnership with us. The Lord followed this design even to the point of union with his Father.” Swedenborg, True Christianity §89

The divine design is that we arrange ourselves for receiving God and prepare ourselves as a vessel and a dwelling place where God can enter and live as if we were his own temple. We have to do this preparation by ourselves, yet we have to acknowledge that the preparation comes from God. This acknowledgment is needed because we do not feel the presence or the actions of God, even though God is in fact intimately present and brings about every good love and every true belief we have. This is the divine design we follow, and have to follow, to go from being earthly to being spiritual.” Swedenborg, True Christianity §104, 105

People who have not been regenerated are dreaming; people who have been regenerated are awake. In fact, in the Word our earthly life is compared to a sleep and our spiritual life to wakefulness.” True Christianity §606

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.”

Jesus replied, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives across the valley from the Temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him privately and asked him, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to be fulfilled?”.... “I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch!” Mark 12:41-13:37

Mark Episode 38 Transcript

[00:00:00] What gives you a sense of security? Physically it may be a locked door. Spiritually, it may be trust in God. How about emotional safety? Do you lock the door of your heart to certain people? Perhaps there are circumstances when you carefully guard your inner resources and people you even withhold affection from.

Do you get an inner tingle when a certain someone interacts with you? A spidey feeling - a part of you has learned to be wary. It picks up a vibe, and it’s important to pay attention to that feeling. And sometimes you are wrong. And then it’ll take a while, but eventually you learn. You can open up to that person and give them a view of your beliefs and desires.

Such is the development [00:01:00] of a relationship. We can go from withholding to giving. That’s the human process of relationship. Hopefully there are people you trust with your love, and then likely you are generous. Hopefully there are people you would give or are giving your life to. So what determines the difference between these two experiences of withholding and giving?

Our survey of the gospel of Mark seeks to observe the healthy psychological development of life and relationships that Jesus is modeling. We see him acting from a secure attachment with God, with people, and amongst his inner parts.

I’m suggesting that when we met him in the Gospel, when he’s about 30, he already knows who he is and he does not depend on others’ [00:02:00] opinion For his sense of self, he regularly reaches out nonjudgmentally with love without any expectation of return and withstands resistance and rejection with little obvious disturbance. He’s immune to threats and doubts. And he has a practice that integrates those feelings. He always returns to balance. And in the end, he actually does give his life because, we learned from him, his actual life that he knew is something other than his body.

How does he do that? Jesus knows that his life is not his own. He regularly takes time away from everyone to either bask in the warmth of that divine love within him, or to process his fear so that he reconnects with it This is modeling what we need to do to remain steadfast when our feeling of security on any level [00:03:00] of our life is challenged.

So following Jesus model, we need a regular spiritual practice that keeps our body and mind in sync with our trust in God, our higher power, our sense of life. And whenever we are challenged and begin to feel insecure, we will already have a practice in place to regain our perspective and balance and our sense of connection with the universe and with other people.

Wise people through the ages have demonstrated that we are not the source of our life, and we can all learn that we find joy and satisfaction here and now when we live from the belief that life flows into us as a free continuous gift. And this means that we have to figure out how to manage the existential realization that on our own. of ourselves, we are not of much value. [00:04:00] We can actually watch ourselves be egotistical and full of ourselves, and then lose that sense of joy and presence. So here the invitation is to watch your mental processing while you assess the risk to your abundance before being generous. And compare when you have experienced complete security in those moments, how we overcome huge barriers, giving our lives to the task.

Whenever we are generous and of goodwill, in that moment it does not matter how much we have. That is not the measure of our generosity. By giving it all, we have all the joy and satisfaction. If we live as though our life by itself is of little value, but what our real value is, spiritual and a gift from God, the creator, the source, [00:05:00] what we give away in this life will always seem to us a small part of our spiritual abundance.

It is a common storyline that someone says that that giver is being foolish. Then the giver readily admits their poverty and exhibits how they are actually relying on God’s infinite abundance to supply them what they really need. Their security is in their trust, in the real value of their lives as given by God, by life.

And now a disclaimer. I am currently blessed with an abundance of resources: an income, family and friends, good health for my age, access to medical and psychological care. So it’s easy for me to be generous. So I need to be humble in the face of asking others to be generous. There have been moments, [00:06:00] however. I have a vivid memory of arriving home and opening the mail and seeing the not-unexpected bills. But still my world was rocked because I had no money to pay them. This was back in the day when I was mailed a check, which I then had to take to the bank and deposit. So there would be a couple of days before the check came and before it went through the bank, and I wondered if the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would be good enough nutrition for my children. I remember standing there looking out the front window, berating myself for worrying about such early earthly things, and being upset about not having money. I had none of the trust in God that I preached about in that moment. And I had at least one legitimate cause of self-loathing for causing this circumstance because I was smoking cigarettes at the time! I remember when it [00:07:00] reached $1.25 a pack that it finally hit me and I was able to use that as part of my quitting strategy.

This and a thousand more experiences over the decades are the lessons that my current practice uses for self remembering, for perspective, for insight. Compassionate on myself, and selfcompulsion and energy to let go of the worry and to remember that the actual life I can profitably care about is my spiritual life here, how generous I am with my physical, emotional, and spiritual resources.

One significant result of this way of living is that our sense of self does not rely on comparison with others. We know our value is intrinsic and abundant because we see our life as a manifestation of love in the [00:08:00] world. We can give our all and we will never be diminished. Our worry for the future can be a positive caretaking for ourselves and others rather than a burden that interferes with our goodwill.

This is what Jesus saw and remarked upon at this point in the gospel of Mark when he was sitting at the door of the temple and a bedraggled stooped old woman quietly passed by the large trumpet shaped offering bowl in the gate to the temple and dropped her only two tiny coins.

Our protestations of her foolishness miss the point. Our smug judgment of the rich also misses the point. Rather, we can be asking exactly what scale of [00:09:00] measure was Jesus using. What did he mean when he said that she gave more? More of what? Our whole lives can be gifts from a source of indefinite abundance.

If we do as Jesus models, our focus will be on how we can give away yet another bit more of our love and our life. And as we all know, if we look at our lives carefully, the necessary resources always appear as needed. The story I used to tell from the negative view of this life’s unfairness, I now delight in! At least twice back in the day, we saved $600 only to have a car repair cost exactly that much. I used to be cynical about that, but I now get that I can take [00:10:00] care and be provident without the worry. I care for the future without caring about it.

Do we hold back for fear of lacking what we need? Focusing on the thought of not having very much to give will surely blind us to the great gift of love and caring we all already have in abundance, which never are exhausted.

Do we judge others for having too much? The process of judgment closes our minds to our own selfishness and worldliness, to the burdens we are carrying around of not having enough. Perhaps you share my yearning to sit on the bench in the gate with Jesus and observe life going on without any need to judge or fix or finish.

Like [00:11:00] you, I am ready to weep for those people represented by the widow and cry out against the injustice that leaves people physically poor and sick and unable to take care of themselves or be productive.

We don’t know the end of this story, tucked in the end of Mark chapter 12. And a side note here, Jesus models this same attitude in his story in chapter 14 when a woman anoints his feet with an expensive oil, and some people around Jesus see it as wasteful, and he tells them, no, she’s doing a good deed. We do not know what will happen to us when we give of ourselves without thought of scarcity.

The task is to let go of the need to know the end of the story, and learn to live in the present moment, which is always filled with love and joy and satisfaction. [00:12:00] This is what Jesus is promising. When we feel secure in God’s love for us and secure in our own value established by God’s love for us, that is what prepares us to give it all.

And the gospel then immediately gives us an application of this attitude. Chapter 13 is entirely Jesus’ prophecy about the future. And what is interesting to me in the whole chapter are the attitudes, fears, hopes, and mental processes that Jesus calls out of people as he is making this prophecy, giving the reader an opportunity to let go and give our all.

As we begin our practice of mindful attention to our inner life, we will be disturbed. That is a prophecy. That’s a prediction. It happens to everyone. Our usual ways of being, acting, speaking, [00:13:00] taking care of things, our usual ways, will begin to crumble. This will bring on inner trials. As parts of us begin to wrangle for supremacy, wondering how we’re going to take care of ourselves and our life, and so forth, and that’s what we are observing.

When we stop in a practice of mindful attention, our first assessment will be that these different parts of us are in conflict, and that such conflicts must be resolved. One belief must win over another. One attitude must become the right attitude. This will lead to an ordeal and emotional agony and even despair.

Eventually we will learn, hopefully, that the competition amongst the parts is the problem. Just like our competing with other people to establish our rightness or our value That’s problematic all the time. It’s not a resolution. [00:14:00] As we do the practice, hope will then awaken. And it will feel like a new revelation when actually it’s been there all along - that God life, our higher power is the one sure foundation for the relationships among all those inner parts. Trusting the flow of that life into all our parts and into all other lives on the planet removes the need to fix ourselves or to fix others, or to put people down or to demean parts of ourselves, or to erase or to exile parts of ourselves or diminish other people. We don’t need to do that anymore. The transformation is in fact a miracle.

We are changed through the work we do in our practice, and yes, it’s a paradox. Language has trouble expressing this. At least I do. There is [00:15:00] a resurrection of what actually was dead. The best I can do from my own understanding is to keep my mind open to the both/and, the dual reality. The opportunity before me is to be on the watch, spiritually awake, not in an anxious, paranoid way, but in a persistent expectant way.

So I’ll watch for these symptoms, and I’m taking these from chapter 13 of the Gospel of Mark. I will watch for worrying about the future that takes me away from the present moment with my loved ones. I will observe interpersonal conflicts when they arise and notice what is going on within me. When that happens, I will look for tendencies to fear mongering.

I will look for my reactions of angry [00:16:00] defensiveness. I will ask myself, am I retreating from life in fear or escaping in altered states of mind through drugs, food, sex, television, games on my computer or phone? I will discern those vain efforts to control people and circumstances and outcomes. I will work perhaps with my therapist to notice any regrets or shame that seem irresolvable. A symptom I especially tend to is the feeling of unremitting despair. These are psychological realities that manifest in my brain and my body as chemical imbalances, as chronic pain or panic, or rumination, [00:17:00] uncontrollable thoughts.

Jesus’ prediction in chapter 13 of what will happen is dire to say the least. He predicts that we all go through such ordeals to experience what happens when we are egotistical or managed by our wounded parts or inattentive to our attachment needs, or are materialistic, and he describes the cure. And he promises it will work.

It is the blessing we acquire when we have a secure attachment with God, with others, and our inner parts. When we experience God abiding in our hearts, feeling worthy and powerful, and living in community, loving others more than ourselves.

Goodwill is not essentially measured by the excellence of one’s role or of the gift itself, but by the fullness of feeling that led to it. Therefore a manual laborer who gives a single coin can be making a donation with more abundant goodwill than a ranking official who gives or wills an extensive collection of valuables. This fits the following statement: ‘Jesus saw rich people placing their donations in the treasury. He also saw a poor widow throwing in two mites. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow threw in more than all the others”’ (Luke 21:1-3). Swedenborg, True Christianity §459

When people are [overly worried] about the morrow and are not content with their lot, they do not trust in God but in themselves, and have solely worldly and earthly matters in view, not heavenly ones. These people are ruled completely by anxiety over the future, and even by the desire to possess all things and exercise control over all other people. That desire is kindled, and then inevitably grows greater and greater, till at length it is beyond all measure. They grieve if they do not realize the objects of their desires, and they are distressed at the loss of them. Nor can they find consolation, for in times of loss they are angry with the Divine. They reject Him together with all belief, and curse themselves. This is what those concerned for the morrow are like.

Those who trust in the Divine are altogether different. Though concerned about the morrow, yet are they unconcerned, in that they are not anxious when they give thought to the morrow. They remain even-tempered whether or not they realize their desired outcomes, and they do not grieve over loss. They are content with their lot. If they become wealthy they do not become infatuated with wealth; if they are promoted to important positions they do not consider themselves worthier than others. If they become poor they are not made miserable either; if lowly in status they do not feel downcast. They know that all things are moving towards an everlasting state of happiness, and that no matter what happens at any time to them, it contributes to that state. All because they trust in the Divine. From Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8478

Everyone has a typical series of constantly recurring emotional states which vary from the greatest excitement and enthusiasms to the most depressed and morbid [suggesting an unhealthy mental state or attitude; unwholesomely gloomy, sensitive, extreme, etc.: a morbid interest in death.] feelings. But because the force of the emotions is so blinding people remain fixed on the turning wheel of their emotions. In other words, people do not distrust their emotions but take them as if they were genuine and quite real states. They accept their emotions as right at any particular moment. And because emotions are so difficult to observe, owing to our tendency to identify with them, they do not observe them as something to observe and not go with. The starting-point always lies in self-observation and in this case observation of the emotional state. Now can any of you do this yet? Can you observe your emotional state without taking it for granted as being your real state? Nicoll, Commentary III, pg. 811

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?

‘The stone that the builders rejected

has now become the cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing,

and it is wonderful to see.’”

The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?” Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” His reply completely amazed them.

Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.

“But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David? For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

Sit in the place of honor at my right hand

until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’

Since David himself called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with great delight. Jesus also taught: “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces and they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet they cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.”

Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” Mark 12:1-40

Mark Episode 37 Transcript

[00:00:00] Our premise continues that Jesus’ words and actions are manifesting his psychological development of a secure attachment with his father, his apostles, with other people. He models how we can achieve a view of ourselves that is healthy and interdependent, loving and secure in our relationship with God and other people.

We now come to the last week of Jesus’ time on Earth, and he is daily teaching in the temple in Jerusalem. He is actively preparing for his own death and resurrection. There are no healing miracles or uplifting stories really left, at least that illustrate secure attachment. We come to chapter twelve, which is entirely stories that challenge the religious leaders.

Every argument against Jesus and his teaching that one of them puts forward becomes an opportunity for Jesus to reveal [00:01:00] the spiritual reality hidden underneath their superficial religiosity. He challenges the status quo by revealing an authentic spirituality. Jesus even demonstrates that there is deep spirituality in the ancient text of the Hebrew scriptures that they are relying upon.

How does Jesus’ model of an authentic, secure life appear in these stories? Are we to be proactive in addressing societal ills? Are we supposed to call out our leaders for their ineptitude, hypocrisy or corruption? Backing up a bit, it may be key to notice that Jesus is never making theological arguments.

He is true to his mission that he’s not here [00:02:00] to change the political, civil structure that is reigning on the Earth. Rather, he is calling out fear-based or defensive or superficial living. He is calling out that shallow life that grasps for control that then ends up being selfish and power-hungry and manipulative.

One can even do evil coming from that fear-based life, all in the name of preserving the status quo, which is held to be religiously pure and the standard of goodness. That’s what Jesus is challenging. He’s introducing a worldview, a spiritual attitude, and he’s actually, we believe, changing people’s minds so that they can understand and grasp and adopt [00:03:00] this way of being that is founded in spiritual, inner, interdependent, trusting, securely attached source of living.

Not just the law. Jesus is telling us not so much that we have to be morally or civilly proactive, although he certainly is, but that we have to first discover and adopt an attitude of internally generated trust in and love for our creator, our power, the source, and so our fellow human beings. And marvelously, we are not blind or merely instinctual participants in this life.

God has given us this human ability to observe ourselves and to see all of our life and be engaged in our own life so that we have a sense of owning [00:04:00] it, so that we see it in the context of all existence. We can experience the greatest degree of freedom, joy and satisfaction. We can live with and in and from an attitude of abundance and grace and peace and joy, satisfaction, all because God created this life and because we are participating in the fruitfulness of that garden.

So that’s the first incident in Mark chapter 12 when the religious leaders get a story that Jesus tells about some evil tenant farmers who first kill the rent collectors and then finally are killed by the owner. That story is about them. The lesson is for us that we are blessed with abundance and joy and satisfaction whenever we reap the [00:05:00] benefits of this life, not natural life, but spiritual life, without trying to own it or to be in control of that life.

To be secure in our relationship with God and other people means that we do not need to be in control of the process. We do not need to be in charge of the productivity. We do not need to be in control of the results. We are not overwhelmed by fear when all our efforts go rather into cultivating a trust that God is caring for our spiritual eternal lives, regardless of what’s happening to us in this time and space.

We all have experienced, indeed we are experiencing real challenges to this attitude, to this way of being. It seems to be perennial. It was happening two thousand years ago, and it’s still happening today. The [00:06:00] shadow of the blessing of being given a role in God’s life is the possibility of taking it on as our own.

For instance, I often worry about the welfare of my children. All good parents do. All attentive parents do. So I might seek to extend my control of their actions and choices even into their adulthood because I think that’s going to keep them safe. I’m right. I can keep them safe, right? However, that harms, may even kill their own ownership of their part in God’s life.

My child will eventually get that. Feel that I’m trying to control their lives, and they will reject this anxiously insecure reach I am making and in so doing, reject me. So our task is to continue the work that Jesus has been [00:07:00] modeling. I welcome his care for me, offering the bounty of my life, the work, the creative work I’ve done to God, to other people with joy and freedom because I know, I’m convinced, I’m living as if God is the actual owner of that life.

I live as though I’m going to live forever and have abundance and thrive in interdependence with God and other people, and I can do this because I’ve cultivated a secure attachment with God and other people, that the work of my whole life, that, that life within, that which infills my passion for creativity and productivity will endure season to season as I welcome the messengers of God reminding me of His ownership of life.

I remember myself while doing my mindfulness practice. I [00:08:00] raise my view expecting to see goodness in others. I find resolution when I discover again the non-duality of mercy and justice. This is God living in my life, whom I welcome every time I realize a new harvest. Next, the gospel reports that two other factions of the leadership team up to discredit him.

The Herodians want Jesus to refuse to pay taxes so that he could be arrested and executed by the Romans, right? The Pharisees want Jesus to agree to pay the occupier’s taxes so that he would then lose all his followers, and they could have him arrested and executed. This may be familiar to us even today, two opposing factions working together to silence a mutually annoying voice.

Jesus was [00:09:00] indeed upsetting the status quo, and leaders of every faction wanted him gone. Once again, though, my focus is not so much explaining Jesus’ teaching about our civil and sacred duties. I see Jesus demonstrating the practice of cultivating an open mind and heart, of considering a new view. This has been expressed by many wise people from ancient times till now.

I’m reminded that Albert Einstein is reported to have said, we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we use to create them. Our task is to notice the trap of a mind divided by dualistic either-or thinking. We can practice noticing when we feel caught in a dilemma or agonizing over a choice which feels like between two evils.

Such a moment is an opportunity, Jesus shows us [00:10:00] here, to remember that we are on the way and that trust brings resolution and peace and that God is looking only for our success and loving us and rescuing us and giving us all that we possibly need to live eternally fulfilled and happy lives. I want to discover practices that will teach my mind and my body to live this way.

So when Jesus is asked whether he’s going to pay taxes or not, he rises above the circumstance and he says, give me the coin. He sees Jesus, Caesar’s face on the coin, and he says, this then belongs to Caesar. The human mind makes meaning. The human mind is curious. The human mind resolves or works to resolve any circumstance that threatens our existence.

We’re created to be able to do that. I imagine very early human [00:11:00] beings resolving the threat, say, of a saber-toothed tiger by devising a lethal trap. We can do that. And that’s what these people were trying to do to Jesus. Today, we have used our creative gifts to devise cameras that we carry around, that also can instantly share those images with people around the planet.

That camera, that ability, is used many times to be helpful and to connect. It can even resolve threats. Yes, and many times it is used to harm people. Or it can be used to Resolve what we perceive to be a threat. In any case, we can live Jesus’ model of noticing the trap by rising up above it, by remembering our spiritual [00:12:00] principles, by going within, and so discovering a new spiritual view of our life regardless of the technology.

We can use technology to kill people’s spirit, not to mention physically, as is also happening. So we can use it to express God’s love for every human being and our love for each other. It’s not the technology, it is how we rise above it or go within to use the technology. We have to remember that God is protecting our eternal welfare, freeing us to rise above the world and notice that our perception of a threat could be a, of the false flag of our ego using that anxiety, that perception of a pre- of a threat simply to protect itself.

Now this feels dangerous, right? To trust the unseen divine love [00:13:00] rather than what we can buy with the coin of our ego, right? That’s we hold in our hands. Let us be strengthened and given courage by the memory of the blessing that comes when we open our minds and hearts to secure relationship with each other and with God.

I love words and wordplay. For instance, I’ve spent a goodly amount of time analyzing the problems with the sentence, “This statement is false.” It’s a paradox. I confess also that a good barb that exposes a person’s foolishness gives me great satisfaction. I am jealous of those who are able to make the quick sarcastic retort, right?

And I envy those whose reason is incisive, cutting to the clear sense of a convoluted argument. However, [00:14:00] every time I catch myself in such merely naturally-minded delights, I’m reminded of the deeper spiritual principle that my actual task on, in this life is to discern the evil or the threat or the illegitimate motivations of my thoughts and feelings.

Is the person, for instance, I wish to verbally crush trying to advance themselves by lying? Or are they ignorant and can be, as it were, charitably informed? Or am I justifying some unhealthy pleasure? I haven’t had a donut for a couple of weeks. Am I making myself look smart or better than others with my words?[00:15:00]

Now, we need to note here that using humor and/or sarcasm to cut someone down can never be a charitable act. It is not looking for the good in the person. It does not seek their amendment. Also, seeking to verbally harm a person, even when acting from evil and selfish motives, is always wrong. Now, I’ve been an advocate for the prevention of violence in multiple aspects of life for a long time, so the desire to harm someone with an excellently formed retort always catches my attention.

I think I’m developed such a sensitivity to humor or sarcasm that is violent, that it is easy for me to hold my tongue, and that took practice, attention and effort. All this to say that I really [00:16:00] appreciate Jesus’ response to the completely illegitimate question posed to him about the ancient laws dealing with the care of widows.

He does not take the bait. He is not hooked, and he’s able to do this because he has, I’m proposing, a secure attachment with his father and with his commitment to his mission. At this moment, he is experiencing a powerful and healthy sense of self. He’s not troubled by the implicit accusation by the Sadducees that he is a false prophet who does not obey the commandments of God as given through God’s servant Moses thousands of years before.

Rather, Jesus remains clear-thinking, pointing out the errors of their application of that ancient law. Jesus is manifesting a way of being that begins in one’s heart and has a clear path [00:17:00] to verbal expression. So his heart actually aches for the woundedness of the Sadducees standing before him, that woundedness that would make them be rigid and closed-minded.

I imagine they were young men, and there were no female Sadducees. Young men still in the need to get it right phase of life. This way of being, as described by Swedenborg and others, closes the mind to spiritual principles that would open our hearts to the flow of divine love and wisdom. Their hearts are stone and their lips can only lie.

Yet Jesus does not castigate them as he’s done in to others in different circumstances. He charitably and gently surmises that they are simply ignorant of the scriptures. Jesus’ clear sight and warm heart [00:18:00] identifies the underlying truth. In this case, marriage is not a contract to produce physical offspring.

It is a spiritual covenant. It is not achieved at some future time, nor is it forced upon the woman as they would understand how a woman would be given in marriage. It is a present state of joy and satisfaction in a covenantal relationship. If there’s any craft in Jesus’ response, it is that he cites the authority of Moses so that all know that he’s not challenging the scriptures, only the misuse of them to gain and hold power over people.

So I continue to seek practices that develop my curiosity about people, about the meaning of their words, especially the condition of their heart, and to notice any [00:19:00] wounds that are behind the meaning of those words. And I want to cultivate a practice of observing myself with an objective, critical, but non-judgmental eye.

The task before us is to recognize our doubts and discern when they are motivated by fear, anxiety, dysfunctional thinking, disruptive feelings. We can then practice the spiritual discipline of letting go and letting God hold us safely in His arms, even as Jesus held the spiritually wounded men in His loving care while speaking the truth.

That takes practice. That’s a craft that develops over time with a lot of practice. So let us all look for this path to manifesting this kind of reception of love and wisdom so that we too will have God dwelling in our hearts and minds, and so speak the truth in [00:20:00] love. Humans are created to want this relationship.

They’re-- We want others to be connected to us, to align with us. Another way of saying it is that humans are created to want others to believe what they believe. We want others to love what we love. This drive for connection, for secure attachment, is implanted in humans so that by experiencing connection with other people, we feel whole and complete and safe.

And will also then wish to be connected to God and the flow of life of the universe, of which we are all a part. And when a person achieves that connection itself, their life and the life of all humans fulfills the divine plan for creation itself. [00:21:00] This urge to be one with God and with others is so deep and pervasive a part of our constitution.

It’s like the air we breathe. This explains why, if we are wounded, especially by harm or abandonment as a child, we do not automatically notice the pollution that’s poisoning our thoughts and feelings. And so our fallen nature and the wounds of childhood more or less take over our mind, dividing it, so that when we seek connection, we regularly act from fear of being harmed or being left out.

The gospel next tells of a good man who wanted assurance that he was on the right path of life. He wanted to join and belong. Jesus affirms this psychological need when he tells this man that he is not far from heaven. [00:22:00] The man acknowledges that connecting with people and God through love is more fundamental, more important than any outward acts of faith.

And Jesus recognizes this as being spiritually advanced. This is a beautiful, powerful image that this heaven that Jesus is talking about is not after death. It is a state of peace and mutual love and connection with all life and a shared experience of community, everything we all desire to have.

And Jesus is saying we can experience this heaven here and now. Thus, I’m saying this is experiencing secure attachment. That is heaven, right? I note here that an unhealthy dependence seeks external affirmation that you and I are the same in superficial categories. Jesus is using this man’s search for an inner experience of belonging [00:23:00] and being on the right path to affirm that we do, in fact, support each other when we affirm each other’s value and support each other’s inner search for peace by being present with each other, as distinct from telling each other what to believe or simply being agreeable.

And this leads to the observation I want to make about this last challenge Jesus has with people around him. In referring to ancient teachings and traditions that developed out of them, Jesus is warning those of us who wish to live a model of a spiritual secure attachment to beware the normal yet merely natural inclination to survive by acting like all other people are a threat to our life, which then impels us to seek control over other people and to put them under our authority so that they are no longer a threat.[00:24:00]

This is what happens to every single human institution that’s ever been created by humans. And so it happened over the many generations as now the scribes, perhaps naively at first, thought that such power and supremacy was the way to maintain God’s order and to restore God’s kingdom. And so that the Messiah would come and assert a political power and battle their enemies.

They came by that belief naturally. And we can observe that it came from a lack of secure attachment and a wish to be in control. Jesus is assert-- is asserting rather that God, whatever language you use for the source, the divine life, that it is purely spiritual love and does never itself exercises [00:25:00] earthly political power.

Spiritual love does not put anyone in second place. To expect the Messiah to make one nation supreme over all others is a diminution of God’s universal love, making merely power, im the most important, and so subverting God’s mission. For the scribes then listening to Jesus, this is a radical change of mind from thinking naturally to thinking spiritually.

Jesus is modeling this transformation, and he’s inviting us all into it. He asks us to do a systematic and ongoing observation of both the source and the outcome of our words and actions in order to notice when we are thinking naturally rather than spiritually. [00:26:00] If we are serious about being human beings, acquiring all the benefits of being securely attached, if we choose to model ourselves after Jesus, if we wish to have a trusting, loving relationship with God and with other people, then we need to vigorously call ourselves out when we use our knowledge, our craft, our reason to gain supremacy in any way.

“It is of Divine order that a person act in freedom in accordance with his reason, since to act in freedom in accordance with one’s reason is to act of oneself. However, these two faculties of freedom and reason are not properly a person’s own, but are the Lord’s in them….The Lord loves people and wills to dwell with them, but he cannot love them and dwell with them unless he is received and loved in return. This and nothing else brings about a bond with him. It was for this reason that the Lord gave humans freedom and reason – the freedom to think and will as though of oneself, and the reason to do so rationally. It is impossible to love someone and be conjoined with them without any reciprocity on their part, and neither is it possible to enter into someone and dwell with them without any receptivity in them. Since the receptivity and reciprocity in a person come from the Lord, therefore the Lord says, ‘Abide in Me, and I in you.’ (John 15:4)…..Thus the Lord dwells in what is from him in a person, and the person dwells in what they have from the Lord, thus dwelling in the Lord.” Swedenborg, Doctrine of Life §101-102

To the extent that we are focused on loving the Lord and loving our neighbor, our inner nature is spiritual. We are thinking and intending from that nature and are speaking and acting from it as well. To the extent that we are focused on loving ourselves and loving the world, though, our inner nature is earthly. We are thinking and intending from that nature and are speaking and acting from it as well. Swedenborg, New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings §42

You will remember that it was previously said that arguing is useless. One either sees the truth of something or does not see it. The point has been emphasized so many times in the Work that arguing is useless. To argue is not to understand. It is necessary to avoid a person who wants always to argue about the ideas. They do not see their meaning. They will never be convinced. They are not ready. They do not wish to cook a dish of the Work but to smash up everything in the kitchen. Literally, to argue means to turn things into argentums, which is the Latin for silver. Silver in parable represents truth. But mechanical arguing turns things into lead, into dirt. If you have no inner perception of the truth of any idea of the Work, if you do not see it is so, then it is in the wrong part of center and has become sown in the wrong place – by the wayside [Matthew 13:1-23]. On the other hand, to argue in order to make things clearer, more silver, and more shining, is different, but this is not the ordinary mode of arguing. The ordinary mode is not positive but negative – to negate what you hear, to pick holes, to use words and not meaning as a weapon – in fact, to argue. Now, if you know by experience that China exists, you will not argue. It is so. Nicoll, Commentary II, pgs. 501-02

Dao De Ching #8

The highest good is like water.

Water gives life to 10,000 things and does not strive.

It flows in places men reject and so is like the Way.

In dwelling, be close to the land.

In meditation, go deep in the heart.

In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.

In speech, be true.

In ruling, be just.

In business, be competent. I

In action, watch the timing.

No fight: No blame.

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Janet English, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, NY 1972

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door. As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it.

Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,

“Praise God!

Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!

Praise God in highest heaven!”

So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard him say it.

When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.

That evening Jesus and the disciples left the city.

The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

Again they entered Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking through the Temple area, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right to do them?”

“I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human? Answer me!”

They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. But do we dare say it was merely human?” For they were afraid of what the people would do, because everyone believed that John was a prophet. So they finally replied, “We don’t know.”

And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.” Mark 11:1-33

Mark Episode 36 Transcript

[00:00:00] We are here going to look at the entirety of Mark chapter 11. We’re going to see that Jesus’ actions and teaching display the challenge that securely attached people can present to the rest of us. In this chapter, Jesus appears harsh and angry, aggressive, contentious.

It reminds me of people I’ve known who’ve demanded that I allow them to respond to the Holy Spirit rather than to my need for scheduling and how they’re going to volunteer. I want to believe that they’re finding joy and satisfaction through an authentic life based on effective prayer, and hope in and trust of a loving, communicative God. And it still remains a challenge to live with them. They can appear quixotic and undisciplined and not committed. [00:01:00] However, I have come at this point to be filled with a deeply satisfying resolution by framing chapter 11, between first Jesus’ humility of riding on a donkey in the opening story, and second, Jesus’ observation in the last sentence of the chapter that absolutely no one ever has to live according to other people’s standards or expectations, no matter how high a rank the person has or how wise they are.

The journey to this resolution has included observing a part of me that is judgmental and critical and feels that I justifiably have expectations of other people whom I know to be righteous people, godly people, and expectations that should be met by them. The ordeal for me to go [00:02:00] through is embracing that judgmental, that complaining, that expectant part. And allow it to do its part in my inner life, play its role, hearing its message, and then placing it in balance with all the other parts of my inner family and not let it take control.

The chapter opens with Jesus entering Jerusalem amongst a large and boisterous crowd of supporters. Jesus was riding on a lowly donkey with just ordinary pieces of cloth for adornment, for a saddle. This is in significant contrast to the large war horses of the Romans decked out in gold and silver and fine cloth.

So Jesus is being humble clearly. However, it was a practice well known to all the people watching it happen, that upon returning home from victory, a king would ride [00:03:00] into a city on a donkey, which explains the crowd’s loud cries of hallelujah and their transformation of the dirt road into a royal avenue by laying down clothing and palm branches and calling Jesus there the returning David. The people’s expectations were that the king was coming to war against the Romans, and perhaps the corrupt religious leadership too.

They were mistaken. They believed the appearance, which did not actually match Jesus’ intention. So I struggle to figure out how to put this: Is it legitimate to ask why Jesus lied? Allowing everyone to treat him as a king, not correcting them.

And then in the middle of this chapter [00:04:00] is a story of Jesus cursing a fig tree, killing it because it had no figs. Why does it make sense that a loving, peaceful, spiritually minded, securely attached person would curse anything? And it’s made worse by Biblical experts pointing out that it was not the season that the tree should have had figs anyway.

And then the chapter closes with Jesus turning the tables on yet another attempt to trap him by those who question his authority, by trapping them. It seems like he’s being cynical and not lovingly correcting them as he had in the past.

So this leads me to ask, on the road to my healing and transformation, what do I expect? Typically, I expect a struggle, even a fight, and I must [00:05:00] deal with fear. My ego resists being influenced by others. When I feel that external pressure, that push to be a certain way to act a certain way, I automatically react. I feel a threat to my validity, my worth, even my life. And so I fight against it. It is true that life here will include suffering, but what if Jesus is modeling a different way to address the threat and the suffering?

So I would like to propose that there is a being displayed here a tension between a person’s inner virtue, their sense of power, goodness, authenticity, and their outward appearance, which can be quixotic, undisciplined, inconsistent. This tension has been noticed in human beings for centuries. Indeed, the Daoist scripture from [00:06:00] hundreds of years before Jesus, The  Dao De Ching teaches this of the spiritually advanced person. It says, “I am good to people who are good. I am also good to people who are not good. Because virtue is goodness. I have faith in people who are faithful. I also have faith in people who are not faithful. Because virtue is faithfulness.”

So I’m seeking to be curious about my inner power, my independence, and the meaning I create in my life, while acknowledging my helplessness to be in charge of anything, my interdependence with other people, and the very possibility of an absolute truth. So I continue to look at Jesus as a model for what I am seeking, this inner virtue that is good and faithful. [00:07:00] So maybe then I notice this part of me that is automatically critical. That is automatically judgmental.

So I’m looking at my criticism and judgment that Jesus is lying or doing it wrong - which has been, and will continue to be a recurring theme in the gospel, that Jesus is wrong - and instead craft a response to the invitation to look at my own expectations, to open my heart and mind to what can be the real king of my life, what is really running my life, which is not winning, but loving. Might it be that I can experience a gift of the peaceful influence of thoughts and emotions originating in the divine love.

Jesus, maybe, is saying try the humility of riding the donkey rather than the battle horse.[00:08:00]

Modeling a securely attached person, then Jesus does not need to impose his will or his way of thinking upon us. We can consider his influence as an invitation for us to have an experience of his love and wisdom. The next time someone does not react the way I expect them to, and I may even say mean words and even lose a friendship, I want that painful experience to train my sensual mind, my lower, outer mind, to notice the expectation that I had, and let it go by letting go of my royal attitude, as if my way was the only way. I am transformed a little bit into a whole human being. Jesus here models the humility that a well-developed human [00:09:00] being will manifest along the road to transformation.

Like Jesus, we know that suffering is ahead of us, that our ego will fight against its impending death. Developing a secure attachment style, based on trust of our deeper, higher natures, and so ultimately on our trust in God, on the higher power, the universe, will serve to carry us through even to the ultimate transformation into having a full connection with God.

I am learning that I will not experience joy and satisfaction when I rely on my expectations of others for me. And it doesn’t fix it, to complain to them that they gave me the wrong message. Jesus is not lying. He’s living into his mission.

And I can go around and around to try to justify [00:10:00] Jesus lying to the people, like perhaps he went along because he wanted more people to follow him so he could correct their view. But at that moment, I’m realizing, I am noticing my judgmental expectations that are coming up.And then I observe them and I’m able to mindfully manage them, and that is actually transforming my life, saving me.

Similarly, I’m caught by Jesus cursing the fig tree and killing it. I am making my complaint that he’s not following the rules of good behavior as I understand them as an excuse to not listen to the spiritual saving message: that every time I realize I have all I need, everything I ask for I will receive.

Every time I realize I have all I need, everything I ask for I will receive. [00:11:00] And then equally important, when I ask for forgiveness, the healing divine love flows in through me to heal the broken relationship. These are difficult lessons. I will not receive love if I do not have any love in my heart already. I will not restore a relationship harmed, by the other person even, if I do not forgive them first. This is what I learned from Jesus’ model of a person who lives in a sense of abundance. And who bases their life on the duality of mercy and justice.

The person who’s securely attached to God will not be demanding in their prayers. They will be humbly accepting what the conversation reveals they need. The back and forth of speaking and listening, that mindful attitude, quiets our lower mind, which left to itself is filled with merely naturally minded, limiting, [00:12:00] wants and fears. As we come to realize what our spiritual needs are, we begin to want them. No matter how large that spiritual need appears to be, to our merely worldly mind, our spiritual mind experiences God giving it to us.

Remember the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. It’s in Matthew, the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father.” It prescribed a variety of actions in a number of different realms of our lives that would create the circumstance of our being born again, of our finding heaven. Well, here in Mark, Jesus, Jesus summarizes it in the admonition that forgiving others is the main action that brings all the blessings that we pray for in our lives. Our task thus is to [00:13:00] develop such a trusting relationship with God, with a higher power, with the universe, which process is founded on a regular practice of forgiving others, that we will then exude an irresistible, unconditional love for the other person.

The divine love will flow through and the relationship will be healed, and we will be healed.

Finally at the end of the chapter, Jesus again models not being dragged into an argument that is set up to make him look bad. Now I can develop a sense of my worth, my value, and a trust that what actually matters in life is always protected so that I do not need to respond to such a test. No more tit for tat. No more having to justify myself or be defensive. And I am also challenged to let go of my need to make people justify [00:14:00] to me their decisions. I am watching when I begin to ask someone “On what authority do you say that?” I want to cultivate the attitude that just as I do not have to justify my decisions to anyone else, so I need not seek to make others justify theirs.

Again, this is a hard path. Jesus models this way of being by having unconditional regard for others’, worth by looking for and affirming their goodness. By continually acknowledging that we are all on the journey and are not yet finished. And so remembering that we are all living beings from the one life and so interconnected.

And here’s another potential takeaway from these challenging stories. We are listening rather than resisting. We’re able [00:15:00] to reframe our reaction to Jesus’ anger and the cursing and death of the fig tree, the appearance of cynicism, and emotionally adjust from fear to a dispassionate observation. As we live, as though God is blessing us, the reaction of fear is replaced by curiosity, by awe, by wonder, by an observation of what is.

Which we can now do because we are then in the flow of the universe, connected to the source, safe in God’s caring, unceasing love. Securely attached.

Human beings have been so formed from creation that they can be joined more and more closely with the Lord….From creation and so from birth every person has in them three discrete degrees or degrees of height. A person comes into the first degree, called the natural degree, when they are born. This degree grows in them through a continuous progression until they become rational. They come into the second degree, called the spiritual degree, if they live according to spiritual laws of order, which are Divine truths. And they come into the third degree, called the celestial degree, if they live according to celestial laws of order, which are Divine goods. These degrees are opened actually in a person by the Lord according to their life in the world, but not perceptibly or sensibly until after their departure from the world. As they are opened and then perfected, the person is joined more and more closely with the Lord. The human condition and the manner of a person’s elevation and approach to the Lord cannot be understood without a knowledge of these degrees. Swedenborg, Divine Providence §32

“It is one thing to know the truths of faith, another thing to believe them. Those who merely know the truths of faith consign them to their memory in the way they do anything else that is an item of knowledge. A person can acquire those truths without any such inflow into themselves. But they do not possess any life, as is evident from the fact that a wicked person, even a very wicked one, can know the truths of faith just as well as an upright and God-fearing person….Consequently, when such a person brings forth those truths they do so from their memory, not from their heart. But someone who has a belief in the truths of faith is bringing them forth from their heart when they pass through their lips; for in his case the truths of faith have so taken root in them that they strike root in the external memory and then, like fruitful trees grow up into interior or higher levels of the mind, where, tree-like, they adorn themselves with leaves and at length blossom, to the end that they may bear fruit.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §5664

Understanding good and truth and willing them is the function of the rational, and perceptions of good and truth resulting from this are like seeds; but knowing them and doing them is the function of the natural. Facts and deeds are like the soil. When a person has an affection for the facts that corroborate what is good and true, the more so when they experience joy in acting them out, those facts are seeds that are present and growing in the natural as their own proper soil; and there they grow. As a consequence good is made fruitful and truth is multiplied, and they are constantly springing up out of that soil into the rational and perfecting it. The situation is different when a person understands what is good and true, and also interiorly perceives that they will something, and yet do not desire to know these things, let alone do them. In that case good cannot be made fruitful nor truth be multiplied within the rational. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §3672

Forty Nine

The sage has no mind of his own.

He is aware of the needs of others.

I am good to people who are good.

I am also good to people who are not good.

Because virtue is goodness.

I have faith in people who are faithful.

I also have faith in people who are not faithful.

Because virtue is faithfulness.

The sage is shy and humble.

To the world he seems confusing.

People look to him and listen.

He behaves like a little child

- Lao Tsu

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Janet English, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, NY 1972

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” “What is your request?” he asked. They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. Those places are for those for whom they are prepared.”

When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My Rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. Mark 10:32-52

Mark Episode 35 Transcript

[00:00:00] There are moments in our lives when we just get it. We have a visceral, physiological reaction. To some, a realization, a thought, comes to us like a light bulb switching on. And an emotion follows. Often gladness and a smile appears spontaneously on our face. Many wise teachers suggest that this experience can become normal for us.

Swedenborg calls it perception. Buddha, Gurdjieff, Jung, describe similar states. It is a mental and spiritual condition marked by clarity and ease, one that even relaxes the body. Perhaps an early example of it applied to our lives is “Inner Tennis,” when the encouragement was to get into the zone. Our study of the gospel of Mark arises from the conviction that a human being is designed by [00:01:00] God to have this perception based on a connection with God, a relationship of mutual love, a relationship that produces a consistent, although not likely constant, state of perception.

The journey into this way of being is lifelong. This ability to perceive emerges first in adulthood and requires ongoing effort and development. Along the way, we are called to keep listening and to keep learning from the lessons that life offers us that come to us because we have this perception.

To get there takes some effort. It’s noticed that we really need to hear something a number of times before it contributes to a new state of perception. Sometimes seven times, right? Sometimes it takes [00:02:00] a third person saying what we’ve already said. We’ve all experienced that moment when a loved one finally hears something we’ve been saying for years, only because someone else said it.

This is the third time that Jesus tells the people around him that he’s going to die. And that’s so shocking that they don’t hear the final phrase in his predictions: that he’s going to rise from the dead. And so for the third time, the apostles deflect. They do not hear that last line. So what will it take for me to hear that God is love, that I am loved, that I am loving, that I can live securely in a trust that all will be well. What does it take for me to get there?

Our premise is that Jesus is reaching for connection. He’s not trying to stir up fear. But the [00:03:00] disciples are ordinary people undergoing unprecedented spiritual awakening. And Jesus meets them at the level of that new awareness that he is instilling in them. So let us also react differently and listen beyond the bad, frightening prediction of an ordeal, and instead look for encouragement to perceive the joy and satisfaction in the present moment.

This scripture, like so many others, is describing our own personal spiritual growth as we intentionally, consciously travel through life. And along the way, through lesson after lesson, we are transformed into spiritual beings rather than merely materialistic. So the presumption is Jesus is reaching for a connection.

Here, the people are already afraid. He does not need to rely on scare tactics to get [00:04:00] them to listen. That’s something insecure people do to be heard and seen, not securely attached to people. So in the story, word has spread amongst the people that they are headed toward Jerusalem and a confrontation. Whether consciously or not, they sense an impending doom, and now for the third time, Jesus tells them he will be killed and will rise again.

For me, my experience, the moment of fear comes when, for instance, I become convinced that I’m right and that it is my duty to make others see it. And if they don’t, something bad is going to happen. That conviction can justify me cutting someone else off and dismissing their beliefs and not listening to their pain or their complaints.

The joy of being right can harden my heart to another’s [00:05:00] joy or their pain, and instead I’ll hear only a challenge to my ego if there’s any pushback. The pleasure, the neurological reward of that self affirmation can dull my sensitivity to someone else’s pain. The fear of the death of this joy will appear again and again and again in my life. So it is vital that I hear Jesus say that this death leads to life. What is dying?

It catches me when I actually hear him say that there’s going to be a resurrection and fully realizing this is what allows me to turn away from the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations that feel like a threat that actually would derail [00:06:00] my journey if I went with them.

So by practicing, observing this fear of the death of my ego, and so creating emotional distance, I become open to what is called perception, being in the zone, in the flow of light and warmth that’s coming from within. When we are in a state of perception, the thoughts, the feelings, the sensations arise from the world, that would destroy that perception if we embrace them.

In that moment of ordeal, we feel a fundamentally different kind of fear. A fear that signals a critical moment on our spiritual path. We can cultivate a sensitivity to this fear that urges us to avoid the loss of perception. Jesus reveals this moment to us so that we can recognize it and not allow it to halt our journey.

This moment is a positive opportunity to [00:07:00] avert or turn away from what would take away perception, from what would grab our attention towards worldly selfish defense tactics that we’ve all learned that protect our ego. Jesus is modeling, distinguishing the fear of the loss of ego from the fear of the loss of perception.

Jesus felt this aversion. This positive fear of losing perception. So he addressed it. Straightforward, right on, talking about it. I feel a deep connection with Jesus, precisely because he also felt fear and had to sit with it repeatedly. I am in awe of his sense of trust and security that he could just talk openly about it.

His foreknowledge of what awaited him - something my finite mind can’t do, and so I’m spared this - but that did not [00:08:00] eliminate his aversion. The certainty of suffering still produced fear, but Jesus does not accept suffering blindly or passively. This suffering is not random victim hood. It is the suffering that comes from living one’s mission according to your higher power, your inner voice of conscience. And then experiencing opposition for taking that principled stand. That challenges an egotistical, materialistic definition of righteousness. So like Jesus, we must intentionally choose to go to Jerusalem. Only then can we experience perception, that ease of heart, the clarity of mind, the confidence in our way. We will continue toward the death of ego. We will feel fear, resisting. Whatever would destroy this new state of awareness is an ongoing work. [00:09:00]

So Jesus models secure attachment with God. When I see him taking the next step and the next toward Jerusalem and the completion of his divine plan, his success for our salvation, my heart is strengthened. He is modeling what a person who has a secure connection with his father, and with me, will do. I continue on my journey because I want that connection too.

Well in the story, this perceptive mood is immediately lost when we read that James and John ask to be given seats of power in Jesus’ new kingdom. That is their way of deflecting from the agony, the pressure of their fear, how Jesus responds, and again, models for us. His self-assurance and his secure attachment with his followers and with the divine within his soul [00:10:00] is amazing.

And such a wonderful moment for us to learn. These men have been with Jesus for nearly three years. They were just told for a third time that he was going to die as part of his mission to establish the kingdom, and yet they continue to think that it is a material civil government. They continue to think that their glory will be achieved by having political or earthly power.

Well, my first thought is to criticize the disciples for being so immature, for missing the point. What have you been doing for three years? Why don’t you get it yet? Jesus’ response to his followers instead, affirms their deeper, primary emotion from which these men were operating. James and John fear the imminent loss of their beloved rabbi. They’re [00:11:00] deeply convinced that he is the promised Messiah, the anointed one, the new king. The brothers simply share their agony with their trusted leader. They impulsively reach out to Jesus for comfort that they would not be abandoned, which is one of the deepest fears humans can experience. So that’s what Jesus saw them doing.

The ten others overhear this plea for intercession and they don’t go along with it. They react angrily. Obviously, there are only two closest positions to the Messiah on the left and the right. In their upset - I’’m sure their amygdalas were firing up and interfering with their ability to think - they assume James and John are reaching for power over them so they can be in charge. Or perhaps the ten think that the brothers believe they’re better than the rest and deserve the [00:12:00] honor, so they verbally object. James, John, and the rest, do not yet feel safe in the face of what they see to be the impending doom that’s going to come down upon them and the loss of their beloved Messiah when they would be left adrift without a leader.

Their reaction makes sense given their insecure attachment. Jesus corrects their notions while at the same time reducing their upset. He does not confront them. He doesn’t point out their immaturity. Jesus acknowledges their underlying human need for connection that the men are fearful of losing, and we note that he includes all of them in that corrected view. He doesn’t single out James and John for some extra rebuke.

All of us have a [00:13:00] more or less conscious desire for inclusion, security, love, and joy. We need repeated assurance that Someone - capital S - is taking care, that we have a chance for having those needs met. We can tolerate not knowing how our needs will be met, if we experience our loved one caring about us, and caring about our needs.

Humans are created with a need for connection. We must achieve it on our own or it won’t be truly ours. So there’s a part of us, a lower part of our being that feels a heavy responsibility for arranging that care, for arranging an intercession to take care of us. And there is also a part of us, a deeper part of our being, that wants to assure our loved one that all will be well, and that [00:14:00] we will intervene to protect our loved one and to give assurance that all will be well. So Jesus reminds us that fulfilling these deep attachment needs for connection is met not by ourselves, nor by external forces, nor by someone else interceding. They are met by my going on a journey, with my power, my God, the Source, which journey lasts my whole life. I can expect that there will be difficult times, like when someone we care about gets angry at us. What do we do then? Or when we fail to adequately care for another, by mistake or on purpose, and that feeling of guilt, knowing that our God is walking with us, staying with us, through it all, forgiving us all along the way, keeps us putting [00:15:00] one foot in front of the other for one more day. It’s the love that heals and energizes us.

And here Jesus reminds us that there will be death. At the end of every segment of our journey our ego will die, or a deeply held selfish or worldly desire will die, or a long sought dream of honor and power will die.

We suffer the fear of that death. We go through that suffering, but we will keep moving when we avert from all of those materialistic, earthly solutions that would take us off the path. We keep moving because we have the thought that we are loved, that there is hope and healing on the path, on the journey we are on. We keep on because we experience the presence of unconditional [00:16:00] love that has no condemnation or criticism.

Even while the experience transforms our understanding of the very nature of life - that it’s not about power or role or position - it’s about caring and connection and abundance and relationship. Our daily task then is to stop and notice our wish for intercession. That someone else would take care of us and fix it. And let that go in favor of an assurance that we will continue to love and be loved and so safe and securely connected. With practice, we can ever more quickly and ever more easily go through the ordeal and experience the resurrection that will always come.

Now, chapter 10 ends with the miraculous healing of a blind [00:17:00] man. I note that this is the last miracle of healing that Jesus does in the Gospel of Mark. So perhaps there’s an important message there, right? The particulars of this story are another example of Jesus modeling, how we can come to recognize blindness in ourselves and others, and then how to react from a heart of compassion and offer healing love.

2000 years ago, blindness suggested a lack of righteousness. The shunned person was left dependent on others, likely reduced to begging. And judgmental people would see such people as nuisances at best. And so that is why in the story, as a beloved rabbi and now famous healer, was walking along with the people he was teaching, those people would be pushing to get closer and shuffling around trying to hear what Jesus was saying.

And so they [00:18:00] would easily be bothered by a beggar being in the way, making noise as this man was, because he’d caught on that Jesus was passing by. And he began to yell, crying out for help. I want to notice when I’m complaining about something, I want to know if my initial reaction to interference that’s happening to me is the product of my being judgmental, egotistical, merely natural.

Because the human brain is wired from creation to react to barriers to information that may be critical to my survival. The impulse to end the interference is key to our survival as a species. However, control of such impulses is a fundamental feature of someone who’s being a human being, who’s spiritually awake.[00:19:00]

Jesus is here modeling how I can advance my spiritual development by learning how to respond to being annoyed from a place of spiritual awareness and acceptance. Because upon hearing the man’s cries over the din of the crowd, Jesus stops what he’s doing so that he might recognize the man’s plight.

We could imagine that if Jesus discovered that if the yelling was coming from some privileged religious leader, accusing him, Jesus’ reaction would’ve been different. He would’ve reacted from love, but maintaining his mission as we’ve seen in the past. But it seems to me that Jesus has now developed a trained ear, sensitive to the cries of someone in emotional pain. That’s what he hears.

Jesus’ first reaction is to listen for the voice of the inner wound that is crying out for healing. Now, that’s probably an advanced stage of humanness, but we can [00:20:00] all aspire to it. When we read the story today, we know that blindness is a metaphor for ignorance. I want to be clear here. This isn’t evilness or stupidity. It’s when we don’t know something. We are blind. As Helen Keller wrote, there are worse things than being blind. She wrote “it is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.” Certainly ignorance can hold me back in my material and in my spiritual development. Yet the deeper task is to develop a vision of goodness in myself and in others.

I am to seek the God of love that is the source of all wisdom and love by acknowledging that there is a flow of God’s divine love into and through me. Into and through everyone else, and it’s manifested in all humans doing good. [00:21:00]

What stops us in this journey from ignorance to wisdom is fearful judgment rather than compassion. It is to be critical of ignorance, thinking that it is something that I would use to disparage someone else. Why do we hide our ignorance or deflect from our own ignorance by pointing it out in others? It’s pretty common. Why are we so afraid of ignorance? That we get angry when confronted by others’ ignorance or our own ignorance. Why do we get mad at ourselves? Why do we get so defensive?

It’s because we are not “on the way.” We are not perceptive. We are not listening instead for the pain of the wound that is underneath that.

Jesus models two ways of being that illustrate this reach for connection with [00:22:00] ignorance from a healthy sense of self-worth and power. First, he had become sensitive to the spiritual and emotional pain of others often hidden within complaint and anger. He became sensitive to the emotional pain of others, which is underneath the noise of their complaining and underneath it all we now know, and he learned is fear, the fear of loss of connection, of being abandoned and so forth.

Then secondly, after he was sensitive to that, he gave the person what he already had, which was a sight of the healing love and truth that a person’s faith would lead them to the good life. When I [00:23:00] experienced that, when I experienced living this good life based on my faith, my trust, my God, then when others see that their ignorance is not an issue anymore, it’s not a denigration, it’s not a handicap, it’s healed.

For me to develop that sensitivity to others’ pains, I have to let go of the need to judge them. And this is scary, right? How do I protect myself if I’m not constantly assessing what’s going on in my environment? Well, Jesus and modern brain studies tell us that we have to risk being human. We have to try reaching for connection rather than judging. God’s design is for our success and our eternal wellbeing. That’s the default. And to achieve that, we have to reach [00:24:00] for connection on our own. Experiencing it as our own, we own it and we are freely choosing to do that. We can’t establish a relationship with someone else by proxy, right? No one else can establish a relationship for me. No one else can intercede and create a relationship. I have to take the risk, so I have to risk my very real, but transient, emotional, perhaps even physical safety for the goal of a spiritual, eternal, healing connection, which I value more, which I may be ignorant of. I know that ignorance is not evil and bad, and it’s not going to stop me from seeking that connection. Modern brain research has confirmed what Jesus is actually teaching, that the brain, activated by desire for loving connection, very well manages [00:25:00] fear and disappointment, past negative experiences, and the biological impulse for safety, do not stop a person who is secure in their sense of self and worth, and see the value of a spiritual connection, a person who’s experienced giving and receiving love, who can be trusted and trusts such a living faith that accepts the mystery of life, the flow of divine love from within. That faith will be a foundation for the letting go of selfishness and judgmentalism and materialism.

We all can have such a faith that, as Jesus says repeatedly, will heal us and save us, allowing us to proceed on the way, on the journey of life. So our practice is to listen for the pain underneath complaints - my [00:26:00] complaints and others’ complaints - and so respond with love and compassion that accepts the person as they are and accepts ourselves as we are.

And God’s love will then flow through our souls and we will be bringers of peace and joy. Modeling the peace and assurance of a secure attachment with our God. And so with other people.

We are deaf, dumb and blind to ourselves, to those higher centers in us that are continually telling us what to do, only we cannot understand their language. So please realize that you have the Work in yourselves already, all of you, and that the external form of the Work and the teaching and study of it and the practicing of it is to open you to what is already in you, to something that we have all lost contact with owing to falling asleep But there are many other ways of getting oneself out of a bad inner state. You must understand that no work is possible unless you get into these bad states because they are tests or, if you like, temptations, which are absolutely necessary in order to make us skillful in dealing with them. You will not learn to swim well unless you are often dropped into the water. And it is always surprising that some of you think that if you pass into a bad state it is because you cannot do the Work. It is just in these bad states that one can work and learn what it is about. Nicoll, Commentary I, pg. 354, 368

As with every emotion, being afraid or fear includes many things within it, even though it looks to be simple and without parts. That is to say, this fear includes loss of life, or reputation, or position, or gain in worldly things, but also loss of good and truth, and so of life, in heavenly things. And because it includes these, it also includes aversion to those things which strive to destroy them; and this is all the more the case when an affection itself for what is good and true exists with a person. Such aversion is the opposite of the affection and therefore ‘being afraid’ here means feeling aversion. The greatness of the Lord’s aversion is clear from the strong feeling that doctrine should not be debased by anything of a rational or factual kind. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §2543

Anyone who has love or who has mercy is interceding constantly, as the following examples demonstrate: The husband who loves his wife wishes her to be well-received and well-treated by others. He does not express his wish in actual words, but it is constantly in his thinking, so that he is silently requesting it and interceding for her. Parents do the same thing for their children whom they love. It is likewise what a person governed by charity does for their neighbor, and what one moved by friendship does for a friend. These examples show that intercession is present unceasingly in all love. The same is true of the Lord’s intercession for the human race, especially for those with whom the goodness and truth of faith are present. The Lord shows Divine - that is, infinite - love, and Divine - that is, infinite - mercy. The Lord does not pray to the Father for people and intercede in that way; for then he would be acting in a merely human manner. Rather he is constantly excusing and constantly forgiving, because he is constantly showing mercy. from Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8573

A “blind” person is someone with wrong ideas. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §9086

Acknowledgment of the Lord is the first thing of all spiritual life and is the most essential feature of the Church. No one can receive any truth of faith or good of love at all from heaven unless they acknowledge the Lord. The Lord often says that whoever believes in the Lord has eternal life, and whoever does not believe in the Lord does not have it. But at the same time the Lord also teaches that only those who live according to the Lord’s Commandments have faith, because it is the life which results from living the Commandments that comprises their faith. This acknowledgment of the Lord and that all salvation comes from the Lord constitute the origin of the life from God with a person. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §10083:5

The keenness of our vision depends not on how much we can see, but on how much we feel.

Inward Visions. Keller, The World I Live In

Blindness has no limiting effect upon mental vision. My intellectual horizon is infinitely wide. Keller, The World I Live In

A Chant of Darkness II

The blind that stumbled in darkness without light

Behold a new day!

In the obscurity gleams the star of Thought;

Imagination hath a luminous eye,

And the mind hath a glorious vision.

Keller, The World I Live In

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Helen Keller, The World I Live In, Hodder And Stoughton, London, Copyright 1904, 1908, By The Century Co.

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

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I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.” Mark 10:17-31

Mark Episode 34 Transcript

[00:00:00] The next two stories of Mark chapter 10 include Jesus’ unbelievable promise that we will have continuous joy and satisfaction if we make ourselves poor. I am going to watch carefully here to learn how Jesus does this, especially since it begins with him confronting a young, rich man who in the end went away sad when Jesus told him to give it all up.

And I want to watch carefully the transformation of the apostles as they realized the hidden spiritual import of their leaving all to follow Jesus, including their livelihood and their families, a new concept which they previously could not comprehend.

The apostles believed that being righteous, obeying all the rules, set them up to be blessed by God, including being rich. [00:01:00] The fact that they did not have material blessings before following Jesus is not their fault, they might have thought, but the result of the greed and corruption of their leaders and the Romans.

They thought riches were a sign of being a good person, blessed by God. And now Jesus is saying that riches condemn them. This breaks open their hearts and minds to the underlying reality. By striving to gain and hold riches, people were being selfish and materialistic. Such riches, so-called, keeps them from the kingdom. Jesus says it is as difficult as a camel fitting through the eye of a needle, which I take to mean impossible, for rich people to get to the kingdom.

But here’s their dilemma. Not knowing any other way of achieving righteousness, Peter speaks for them all [00:02:00] saying, if that is true, we are doomed.

Now, it has been said that gratitude is being content with what I have and rejoicing in the way things are. Honestly, I sometimes despair of ever achieving that kind of peace and joy. What I long for is not mere contentment. I yearn for a life that feels like being loved by God, held in a safe, steady connection. I want a joy that flows from that security, a sense of being in the zone, carried along by the current of life itself. Like the rich man in the gospel story, I’m not seeking some distant heaven or some future nirvana. I’m not pining for more possessions or better circumstances. I have it all. My question is more immediate and more urgent. What [00:03:00] must I do to experience the peace and security and ease of heaven here and now?

The young man in the story is privileged. He has the means to obtain whatever he wants. He seems naive or childlike because he has not been shaped by deprivation or injustice. And yet he is humble. He senses that something is missing and that’s why he’s coming to Jesus to ask this question.

His life lacks depth, or meaning, or substance. At that time, before the reformation wrought by Jesus, no one had a clear spiritual sight of this unseen depth of human meaning and purpose. Christians believe that one of Jesus’ central tasks was to bring a new spiritual light, and to transform the human mind so that they could perceive and use that light. In [00:04:00] their own traditions many sages across history are said to have done the same.

When I read the story of the rich man who walks away sad, I notice something in myself. Now, like many biblical scholars, I want to soften the ending somehow. I want to reason my way into a happier conclusion. You know, perhaps the man later used his wealth to help the poor, or perhaps he supported Jesus’ ministry, or perhaps being young, he simply was not yet able to give everything away. I want to affirm the lesson and still rescue the man from his sorrow. But when I read the story through the lens of secure attachment, I see something different and it is far more satisfying.

Jesus saw an earnest young man willing to humble himself and admit his ignorance, and Jesus [00:05:00] saw him, therefore, with compassion. It says that Jesus loved him. In fact, this is the only place in Christian Scriptures where Jesus is explicitly said to love a particular individual. For this young man stands in sharp contrast to those who resisted Jesus out of arrogance or fear of losing power. Many people were being driven by selfishness and materialism, and they wanted Jesus gone. But this man had everything he needed to take the next step towards heaven.

And then Jesus showed him his faithfulness to the commandments is the path to spiritual riches, the kind that leads to peace and joy. And along that path is the further work of letting go of all that attaches us to ego and worldliness and selfishness. And here’s where the spiritual meaning of this story comes home [00:06:00] to me.

I find it painfully difficult to give up my point of view, to give up my beliefs or my desires, even when I see how tightly they grip me and begin to impact my relationships. They feel like family, right? Like mother, father, sibling, like blood relatives. I cannot imagine separating myself from them. I’d be bereft. I’d be lost. And so being alone and thrown out of my tribe, so my existence is threatened now.

My smartphone has such power over me. And my need to be right exerts such an influence. My fear of not being liked manipulates me. Even my wish to convert others to my way of thinking can operate quietly in the background of my mind and I don’t notice.

I fear that if I [00:07:00] lose these attachments, I will suffer. I worry that I will die. I cannot imagine living without my core beliefs and the habits of many years and behaviors and expectations. It seems impossible. Parts of me crave control. I want to control the flow of life so that joy will be permanent and satisfaction guaranteed - I will have arrived. I want anxiety about future outcomes to dissolve into a calm, steady happiness.

Yet repeatedly over many years, the joy I experience is only fleeting. It comes and goes. In fact, one of my mantras, “it’s all good,” disappeared for some time in my life. And very often outcomes fail to satisfy me. I remember being cynical about the possibility of lasting [00:08:00] joy existing at all.

To give up all I have is thus not a single act. It’s not a final thing to give up all that I have. It is a transformation. A transformation that, of course, as usual, requires an ordeal. The ordeal is not a punishment from God, or the universe, or life. It’s not karma, though, in the midst of it, it may feel that way, like I’m being punished for something. We experience an ordeal because our rigid, closed hearts and minds bring us into it. And then going through it, our hearts and minds are challenged by the darkness and the confusion and the despair so that we begin to consider another path.

And because the universe is designed this way, a path then appears, bringing us out of the ordeal. [00:09:00] And this all brings us back to the premise of this review of Jesus’ life, that he models secure attachment to God and to others. And that secure attachment produces peace and joy and love and satisfaction coming through the ordeal, being confronted, as Jesus did the young rich man.

Coming through the ordeal, we begin to release those false beliefs and distorted loves that block the flow of divine love, and the love that is flowing between me and other people. Those beliefs are actually barriers. They’re objects that block the light, creating the shadows that frighten us, that we want to walk away from, or ignore, or turn away from.

This is how we challenge long held beliefs and desires, and it’s an experience of assaults and temptation battles brought on by the powers of darkness. As we challenge long held [00:10:00] assumptions, as we endure those inner battles and face temptations, we slowly become freer and more enlightened.

I learn to remember myself again and again. That is, I observe without judgment what is happening in my mind, in my heart, even in my body. I lean into the discomfort instead of fleeing it, I stay with the sadness rather than walking away. I acknowledge the confusion and the darkness. To inherit the kingdom, as Jesus describes, the result, is to experience the presence of divine love, the source of life that produces peace and joy in our consciousness. We inherit it, it becomes ours. God’s love is experienced as being constant and unconditional.

Through much practice, I finally acquire the skill to [00:11:00] remain spiritually awake during the ordeal. I begin to trust that love precisely because it does not withdraw when I am in darkness, and it does not accuse me, it doesn’t shame me. It accepts me as I am right there in the struggle, right there in the darkness, even when I am in disorder.

Gradually I integrate the truth that God is unconditional love, infinitely powerful, the very Source, the Way, the Universe. I am no longer the source. I don’t rely simply on myself, and so continually disappoint myself. I am a recipient, or a traveler, or a spark. I now have something greater than myself to trust. My highest power.

This is what it means to be in a relationship with one who is securely attached [00:12:00] like Jesus, and the transformation the apostles experienced is possible to me. Each step on the journey deepens my trust in that unceasing and unearned love. Each act of letting go strengthens my connection to divine love and wisdom.

What was before impossible actually happens. The lesson of the wealthy man, thus, is about remembering ourselves and placing ourselves within the perspective of eternal life and practicing it again and again. And when sadness returns, as it surely will, because no joy or satisfaction is permanent here, when sadness returns, when I feel the cost of what is being asked of me, I will, every time, more [00:13:00] quickly each time, remember that nothing of true spiritual value is lost when I let go of my ego, of my desires, of my beliefs, especially for the sake of a relationship with a beloved.

And so I continue on the journey ever southward. Into deeper work, deeper surrender, deeper attachment to God to others, and attachment even among the divided parts of my own self. I become more spiritually wealthy than I could ever have imagined.

We are told that Jesus loved him because he said that he had kept those commandments from his youth. But he lacked three things, namely, that he had not withdrawn his heart from his riches, that he had not fought against his urges, and that he had not yet acknowledged the Lord as God. For that reason the Lord told him to sell whatever he had, meaning that he should withdraw his heart from his riches; to take up the cross, meaning to fight against his lusts; and to follow Him, meaning to acknowledge the Lord as God. The Lord said all this, as He did everything else, using terms that correspond [to spiritual principles]. No one can refrain from evils as being sins unless he acknowledges the Lord and turns to Him, and unless he fights against evils and so puts away his urges to do them. [For otherwise, he does these things for selfish or materialistic reasons]. Swedenborg, Life §66

People who believe only in what they can grasp [with their senses, inevitably fall] into error, human nature being what it is. Our thinking is purely earthbound, body-centered, and matter-based, because it is formed out of earthly, bodily, and materialistic notions, which cling tenaciously to it. Those notions form the foundation and resting place of the concepts that make up our thinking. So to think and reason about the Lord on the basis of such concepts is to lead ourselves into error and perversion. It is as impossible for us to construct a faith for ourselves out of these things as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle….It is easy to tell [when one] has adopted the faith produced by neighborly love. They do not debate religious truth but affirm it and also confirm it by the evidence of the senses, of organized knowledge, and of rational analysis, so far as they can. As soon as any obscurity interferes, they reject whatever they cannot perceive and refuse to let it bring them into doubt. What they are capable of grasping, they assert, is extremely limited, so that it would be insane to view something as untrue simply because they do not comprehend it. These are the people under the influence of charity. Secrets of Heaven §1072

Sometimes when one is in a bad state and attempts to get out of it and fails to do so, one can be consciously passive to it, without being negative and without identifying with it fully, having the inner certainty that it will pass provided one does not let negative imagination work and does not consent to its presence. This is a form of Self-Remembering and is just as if one has to wait, and knows that one has to, because it is raining too heavily and one cannot go out just at present and yet remains certain it will clear. Nicoll, Commentary I, pg. 368

So we blunder along in life with this wretched instrument, not realizing that our apparatus is in a hopeless condition for any fulfillment of what we really want, and the result is that we become engulfed in a continual mass of perplexed half-thoughts, half-feelings, halfimaginations and disappointments, and so on, that make up our own inner psychic life. Now the Work says that we must lift ourselves out of this dark state by acts of Self-Remembering and this, as was said above, requires force. It requires some power of concentration, of attention, and you will never

have this power if you let your force run into this inner chaos, this continual procession of mechanical associations, this stream of images, this formless vagueness, that is really our inner state. Nicoll, Commentary II, pg. 513

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

⁠www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again. He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.”

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Do not stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Mark 10:1-16

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Mark Episode 33 Transcript

[00:00:00] The first two stories of Mark chapter 10 are loosely connected as the first is an example of how Jesus was so focused on connecting heaven on earth and spirit and body, and goodness and truth as the higher consciousness of life, that he was able to avoid the traps that were being set for him by those who were afraid of losing their power, their place.

And the second story is about how, instead, being interdependent with God and other people, connecting heaven and earth and goodness and truth will resolve our angst about losing our ego.

Have you ever found yourself in a lose/lose situation? An example would be when someone is trying to make you look wrong and they ask a trick question like “When did you stop lying to me?” Or “how can I trust you anymore?” Or “when is it okay to steal?” Any answer can be held against you, and [00:01:00] especially so if they demand a yes/no, or simple, answer.

Well, here’s the resolution. A person who cares about you does not ask such questions. A loved one does not try to trap you, unless their hearts have been wounded by some traumatic experience and they don’t know any other way to communicate with you, and need healing. A person seeking understanding does not ask questions which complicate the answer.

We’re investigating how Jesus is modeling a secure attachment with the Father and with people. He certainly asks challenging questions, as in response to the trick one. What did Moses say in the law? He was clearly being a rabbi here and challenging the current understanding with an equally valid understanding of this ancient law.

But he never tries to trick anyone. He never sets [00:02:00] up a lose/lose scenario. When he comes upon a person and asks them a question, he regards every single person as a child of God, a human being worthy of his love, and available for his healing. He never disparages or dismisses those who fear him or those who are acting from evil intent even. I’ve tried to live this model, recognized the many failures, and I’ve realized after the fact sometimes that I indeed had a hidden agenda to win an argument or to force the person to agree with me.

And I have made authentic attempts, which failed not because of my ego, but because the other person just did not want a relationship and did not accept my gift of unconditional love. So life is complicated.

Now we know how it ended for Jesus. [00:03:00] He was murdered for loving unconditionally. So we rightly fear, if not for our lives, certainly for our ego, and our reputation, or our life’s mission. Our task is thus to practice connecting to others through truth and love, through connecting heaven and earth, so that when we are challenged, we will not be trapped by a trick question. Instead, we will, like Jesus, be able to go to the heart of the matter and focus on foundational principles upon which we live.

So Jesus makes no attempt to answer the “when is it allowable to divorce” trick question. Instead, he challenges them to look to the reason for marriage and the principles underlying it. He has let go of any need to answer the attack and speaks instead to the hearts of those who would listen to him for physical and spiritual healing.[00:04:00]

He is saying that people who love each other are those who experience a secure attachment, a mutual desire to be connected, an unconditional regard for their partner, an affirmative attitude and has integrated mercy and justice, and so expects eternal happiness and the fulfillment of the creator’s intention for them in that relationship.

If one of them walks away from that relationship it is because the love and truth in their hearts and minds have become detached from each other, they’ve become separated. Heaven and earth are no longer working together. And what they love and what they believe are no longer synced. They’re no longer united in the effort to be a good person.

So they not only are not securely attached, any woundedness they have is, in fact, managing their feelings, their words, and their behaviors, and they are hurting people as well as [00:05:00] themselves. Because I’m proposing here that from our creation, we are wired to connect to and even unite with other human beings. It begins with the experience of a mother and her child. And that’s been demonstrated by all sorts of different scientific, psychological tests. And then the experience of the relationships between the child and his siblings, and even of a child and their pet or toy. All these show how we are wired to seek connection.

So as we develop as human beings, we experience a relationship in deeper and more mature ways, indeed, spiritual ways. Now, if a child is emotionally wounded by trauma in their childhood, then healing will be necessary before they can feel safe and secure in their adult [00:06:00] relationships because their truth and good are, as it were, divorced.

Jesus wants us to be spiritual people engaged in secure connections, and so he models stepping back from sad and disordered circumstances and looking for the principles of life that maintain the marriage, the unity of goodness and truth in our hearts and minds. God’s care for His creation always maintains the possibility for our growth, for our spiritual development. And this is symbolized by Jesus teaching here the principles underneath how we are to live our lives.

And then interestingly, it says that Jesus then heads south to Jerusalem. Which clearly symbolizes a deepening of the exploration, a coming closer to the core of human experience, going from merely external concerns, what shall I eat, and so forth, [00:07:00] to an inner focus on what are healthy relationships and what is the special unity expressed between spouses.

Now as I reflect on my reach for secure connection with other people and with God, I inevitably confront my desire for independence, for my own sovereignty, and I notice my resistance to being told what to do and being told what to believe. I want to make it up on my own mind. I am among the many, many people who have experienced being harmfully manipulated, and so I have a sensitivity to becoming dependent on another person.

My relationship with my wife taught me how to be lovingly moved to action and moved to adopt a new attitude, because I was in a secure [00:08:00] relationship. I have a deeply set belief that she loves me, and so I feel safe in being interdependent with her, where I can feel I am making choices. I am my own person, and my relationship to my spouse gives me joy and satisfaction. It is a part of my being whole and being connected to my inner self, to heaven, to other people, and to my God.

Now, it’s hard to imagine how insecure life must have been for people 2000 years ago under Roman rule in Palestine. And then there was the more or less unconscious helplessness felt by most of the people because they had no chance of obeying all 600 plus laws of the church that said a good person had to obey [00:09:00] in order to be righteous, to be part of the tribe, that couldn’t live up to. It must have been so frustrating and again, insecure. And then Jesus appears on the scene offering people a courageous stance, right? On their own. And freedom from manipulation, while learning how to connect with each other.

While many people resisted his call and even wanted to stop him, many more responded to his reach for a secure connection with them. They would beg him to be with them and to heal them. And in this story, the parents bring their children to him for a blessing. My heart aches for that kind of relationship of trust and caring like that of a parent who would let a stranger hold and touch their baby.

So I let go for a moment my need for [00:10:00] independence and consider what Jesus means about being like a child. A child is actually completely dependent on their caregivers. The child has no resistance to receiving all they need. They’ll take whatever you hand them and often put it right in their mouths.

So everything that little baby has is a gift, a blessing that brings them joy and satisfaction for at least as long as their attention lasts, right? The child does not have any sense of needing to earn this gift of love and sustenance. The child does not have any thought of being in control. And so they let go and they move on so easily and so quickly from one moment to the next, even if it’s from upset. They find joy very quickly. It takes us adults continued effort and [00:11:00] attention to be like a child in our relationships. Of course, we have to be discerning, of course we have to take care of ourselves. We have to assess what’s being handed to us. And then when we are giving our love to another and when we are receiving it from them, there is a willingness to give and receive unhindered by considerations of need or of merit judgment.

That ease is indeed innocence, and it is the innocence, the willingness, to be dependent, to follow, that is symbolized by the child Jesus took in his arms and blessed. So our task is to look for this safe connection with others, whether the connection is only superficial or very deep. Our search for connection, sharing safely with others, prepares us to experience a relationship with [00:12:00] our God like that of a child with a loving parent. We receive the gift of life without resistance and with joy. And we use that life by flowing with it, unhindered by fear of loss or scarcity. I imagine the apostles were humbled and delighted in the same moment by these experiences, their hearts and minds, were becoming open in a new way by the presence of the divine love speaking to them, looking at them with love, even though moments, like when there was perhaps fire in his eyes, when he was angry at them for keeping the children away. But what they saw was him urging them to stop, and listen, and look.

When Jesus blessed the child, I imagine the men’s hearts exploding the joy as they also received the blessing. Perhaps it was only a moment the men would soon forget. [00:13:00] However, it is a model for us all to do the inner work of contemplation and relationship building. And while this work requires dependence and includes repeated failure, we will experience the joy of innocence and all the blessings that come with it. We will have the kingdom of heaven connected to our life here and now. And so in conclusion, as we prepare for this journey south as Jesus was, that is towards this unity of heart and mind and the joy of interdependence, by mindfully considering how we are joining goodness and truth in our minds and hearts. Are we believing in love? Are we loving the truth? How do I cultivate a trust in the divine and in the stability and reliability and dependability of the flow of love through my soul, [00:14:00] that I become conscious of in my mind, and that then I can express in my body?

Dependence on the reception of divine love and wisdom will create an experience of safety so that I can rise above the traps and tricks and the illusions that are part of living in this world. Instead, I will feel the strength of love holding me, and I’ll see the caring acceptance in the face of my creator.

Let us all consider how to model our lives after Jesus’ example of secure attachment.

The union of the good and the true finds its origin in the Lord’s divine love for everyone in the heavens and on earth. Divine good emanates from this divine love, and divine good is accepted by angels and by us in divine truths, truth being the only vessel for the good….To the extent that true elements are united to what is good within us, then, we are united to the Lord and heaven. This is the actual source of marriage love, which means that it is the actual matrix for the inflow of the Divine…. When one partner wants or loves what the other does, then there is a freedom for both, because all freedom stems from love. However, there is freedom for neither one when [the reach for] control comes in the door, [and their] minds are not united but severed. Control subjugates, and a subjugated mind either has no purpose or is of opposite purpose. If it has no purpose it has no love, and if it is of opposite purpose there is hatred in the place of love. Heaven and Hell §§371, 380

Let little children come to Me, do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Mark 10:14) Here, “little children” means those who are in innocence. Good is good to the extent that it has innocence in it, because all good is from the Lord, and to be led by the Lord is innocence…. Innocence is the essence of all good…[And] wisdom is wisdom in the measure of the character it derives from innocence. The same is true of love, charity, and faith…No one can enter heaven unless they possess innocence. Marriage Love §414

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”

Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It is better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’* For everyone will be tested with fire. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.” Mark 9:14-50 *9:48 Isa 66:24.

Mark Episode 32 Transcript

[00:00:00] So we come now to the rest of chapter nine of the Gospel of Mark. The group is walking through Galilee from town to town, and their experiences continue to show us an increasing ability to understand new spiritual concepts because of what Jesus is doing to open their minds. And we read of a number of opportunities for Jesus to integrate these experiences into a new way of being, which I’m suggesting is being securely attached, characterized by an increasing self-worth, trust in their truth, a connection with others’ goodness, regardless of the other person’s status, whether they’re Jewish or not.

For instance, confronting the discomfort of the tension between their old beliefs, the Mosaic law, and a new way of being. And acceptance of being on the way, as distinct from having arrived, as [00:01:00] being amongst fellow human beings rather than being a special people. And here in chapter nine, we come upon yet another challenge to my hypothesis that Jesus was fully spiritually evolved, securely attached to his God, and among the parts of his mind, and with other people, particularly his apostles.

They come down off the mountain and a crowd has gathered, and one of them complains that Jesus’ apostles were not able to heal a boy who had seizures because he was possessed by an evil spirit. Jesus, seemingly frustrated with them all, asserts that their faith is inadequate.

Now, Christians hold that Jesus cast this evil spirit out. And my observation is that it is a certain condition of faith that gives one the power to do that. Faith in this instance, meaning truth lived by, [00:02:00] that kind of faith brings power. Whenever I feel powerless, I can ask myself, what beliefs am I living right now? For instance, when my partner challenges my idea of the right action to take, and I begin to argue, in that moment, I have the opportunity to stop and observe what belief I am at that moment living.

I often notice I’m being compelled to argue by, say, a fear of being wrong, or of not being in control of the narrative. My brain and my body remember being hurt when I was not in control of determining what was the right thing, the right action. And so I argue when someone challenges my truth, my faith.

I completely get how the apostles were stumped by their inability to heal the epileptic boy. They had a certain belief system and somehow it interfered with their power over the evil spirit [00:03:00] that racked the boy. Emanuel Swedenborg and other careful observers point out that while Jesus’ power was not transferable, others could wield the power if their faith supported it, and that faith is a real trust that takes over a person’s belief system so that all their truth is now dependent, or trusting in, the divine truth, such as that Christians believe was embodied by Jesus Christ, and as other religious and spiritual people believe is embodied in people or in a leader. It’s normal for me, like the apostles, to lose that trust, to lose sight of it, to get caught up in worldly affairs, in living by a fear, for instance, as I mentioned one of those fears, and so not be in the [00:04:00] flow of that divine power, which heals me and heals others. Daoism makes this same observation. When I am on the way, the Dao, all power of the universe is available. But every time I get caught up by the discomfort of the tension between yin and yang, as Daoism called it, which tension is a fundamental part of life, we don’t escape it, we don’t get rid of it. When I’m distracted by the distinction, I wander off the path, and lose power to live a useful, helpful, securely attached life. And a sign of this is that I begin, for instance, to ruminate about life. I’m analyzing it. I’m trying to get it right. At the worst, I begin arguing with people, telling them they’re wrong. [00:05:00]

An adequate faith, living my truth, is illustrated in the following thought experiment. Imagine Jesus is walking on a tightrope, stretched across a deep chasm. I have faith that he can walk back and forth effortlessly, perfectly. He could do cartwheels on that wire right and have no problem. And I have the kind of faith in Jesus that he could walk flawlessly on that tight rope with a wheelbarrow. Now, imagine Jesus on the tightrope pushing a wheelbarrow, and you are in the wheelbarrow. Well, that requires trust. So I have faith in my partner to do the right thing, but I trust my partner when I put my desires and beliefs and wellbeing into their heart and into their hands.

Every time I [00:06:00] expose my heart and mind to someone, they could harm me. They could steal the joy I have. They could defeat my desires. They could effectively lie to me and so forth. So when I share my whole self, I am modeling secure attachment. A trust in the loving care of the other person, and love between us then flows freely.

Now, physical, mental, and emotional circumstances often draw my attention away from my inner empowered self. And I, as it were, forget that I have power. I lose track of the process of trust, of opening myself up in relationships and accepting the vagaries of life without resistance because I trust in the divine providence.

So our task is to remember ourselves. And this gospel story of the possessed boy helps us. We are given an image to grip our attention, a story we can relate to. [00:07:00] We’re offered a model to emulate. We will confront the harsh reality that when we do not live the truth, when we lack trust, we will be powerless. We will feel condemned. We will be wracked by pain and shame. What we love and aspire to taunts us just out of reach. The suffering can break our hearts. The lack of control will terrify us like the threat of being thrown into a fire. Jesus’ experience of the divine within was a full, complete trust that he would be cared for, which allowed him to unreservedly and unconditionally share his love, his power, and so heal the boy.

This is the only way I can understand, not only the stories of the gospels, and the stories of people being healed by God even today, but it’s the only way I can understand my own story [00:08:00] of healing by faith when truths are lived through the ordeal, through the discomfort of the yin and the yang of life, because I put my life into the hands of the divine of the universe, and this has been confirmed for me by the experience of peace and joy that then follows for a time.

So they continue to walk along. Backing up here a moment, theologians and scientists alike recognize that there is a primal fear of death that became part of the human condition, either at the fall of mankind or as part of evolution. It has been part of the human condition apparently for hundreds of thousands of years.

Whenever we meet something new, be it a person, a circumstance, a noise right, or an idea deep within our brain and our [00:09:00] mind, we flinch. We have a fearful reaction, and that is to alert us to the fact that there’s something “other” out there, which might be life threatening and I need to pay attention to it.

That’s all it’s saying. I need to pay attention. And we recognize that as fear. When we become accustomed to a new experience, it becomes the usual thing. Oh, we know what that sound is. We know what that idea is. Then we are able to return to our familiar patterns of feeling and thought and physiology. Our bodies settle down. It is thus helpful to realize and integrate acceptance that we are supposed to react at some level from fear. We are not in charge of our initial reaction to stimuli. God ordained this pattern was necessary for our survival as a species and for the sake of our salvation.[00:10:00]

This means that we are only in charge of our reaction to that stimuli, and that is really important. Our task is to learn from God, from reason, from experience, the human spiritual and wise acceptance and use of the information that is coming in through our senses. And we need to be in charge of our reactions to those stimuli in order to do that human work.

Now we recognize that humans are initially, when they’re born, have a merely earthly, egotistical view of themselves, and that’s where their reactions are from. If we are aspiring to be a decent human being, as we mature, we will notice when we harm others and harm ourselves, we will learn from that.

And our motivation to change from that is both [00:11:00] self-interest - we are seeking our joy - and it’s altruistic, seeking others joy. And so we respond to the stimuli, to the lessons that we learn, that reveal our materialism, our egotism, sometimes most effectively when we feel shame for what we have done.

All this is revealed in Jesus’ relationship with, and his reaction to, his closest followers. These are the men and women, and even children who have been inspired by Jesus to be part of a better world. However, they were developmentally immature. They were being introduced to what we now know as spirituality, which they didn’t have before.

So the group is walking to the next town when Jesus reiterates the startling and new view of his mission that he would die and [00:12:00] rise again. This idea of death is startling and disturbing, and all, apparently his followers heard was the death part, and their hearts and minds felt failure because they did not hear any message of the flourishing of their movement, which they were leading, right? That’s the egos speaking up. This makes sense because we all react with fear to such predictions of death, and our brains actually partly shut down at that moment of threat and turn to seeking only survival.

They didn’t actually hear the most important part of the new idea that there is life after death. That what has to die is not our physical body, but those old beliefs that are making us materialistic and egotistical and harmful and unaccepting of others and so forth. [00:13:00] A part of us will always fear death.

And we will do, therefore all we can to avoid it for all of our lives. The actual lesson for us then is in Jesus’ reaction to that message, to that stimuli we’ve all experienced. Not being understood, not being heard. It’s frustrating. I’m well acquainted with the passion that rises in me when people are not getting my point, when that happens I need to remember myself. Remember that being in relationship is more important than being right. I’m getting better and better at that. So I noticed that Jesus did not get frustrated with him and get louder or more insistent. He does not call them out for being afraid. He knew this was the normal reaction.

In fact, he kept walking. And we note here that they were headed [00:14:00] south towards Jerusalem in the final confrontation that Jesus was predicting. So he allowed this initial reaction to stew and to run through their minds and bodies, giving them a chance to process this new information, this new thought, this new idea.

And by the way, here’s a thought the next time you have a reaction to how people are responding to you. When you realize you’re feeling frustration or fear that you’re not being heard, take a 30 minute walk and your mind and body will be ready hopefully to react more healthfully.

So they’re walking along and I think sparked by Jesus talking about the future, the apostles, Mark reports in his gospel, begin debating which one of them is the most important among them, and who would be the leader. And then when they stop for the night and they’re all sitting around after dinner, Jesus challenges their [00:15:00] attitude in a way that, for me, again, models, the way a securely attached person would work to raise a person’s consciousness or to alter their awareness, to introduce a new idea.

As the scene is set Jesus is in the role of a teacher, a rabbi, who typically would ask his students to sit around him. And so then the students would then be alerted that this was a time for listening and learning a new truth. Such was the secure attachment, the safe relationship, between Jesus and his closest followers, that he could set up the circumstances in which he could ask them tough questions and then give effective answers.

So his question, “What were you all talking about?” sets the apostles up for an experience of this new process of spiritual growth that Jesus is offering them. Everyone knows Jesus already knows exactly what they were talking about. [00:16:00] He’s giving them an opportunity to feel uncomfortable, to really acknowledge and accept the negative materialistic, egotistical stage they’re in. They must have felt that safety with him so that when their shame is out in the open, they’re then freed up to let it go, to put it aside, to be able to hear what Jesus has to say. And that’s the perfect setup for the experience.

Then he gives them what we now call a somatic experience. A visceral experience. They see, hear, smell, and even taste the way Jesus is offering this new idea, this new way of being. He brings a small child onto his lap. Imagine the sphere of innocence that spreads from that small child. I imagine the expression of love for the child that Jesus had on his [00:17:00] face, and likely the returning childish love that the little child had for Jesus, and I imagine that was seen and felt and heard by everyone, softening their hearts, opening their minds to a new truth.

They could care for this truth gently, even as one would care for a child. One can hold the truth simply seeing it for what it is without judgment. I imagine this was a powerful experience that transformed their hearts and minds and very beings, even though unconsciously, or especially because it was below their conscious thought, on the level of affection or emotion as Jesus teaches them. No, don’t seek being a leader, being the most important. Seek being a child.

These experiences give [00:18:00] us a certain relationship with Jesus or with the truths that we are learning about ourselves through our Scriptures. And we mindfully observe our reactions to life and death and to those teachings, the ordeal Jesus is facing.

The process that he is modeling for us all is understood just a little bit more. Our hearts are opened a little bit more. We are humbled and so vulnerable. We feel a bit safer with the divine truth, with the providence the universe has for us, that it is seeking our joy and our wellbeing.

We’re a bit more aware and looking for the goodness that we are seeing in ourselves and in others, a bit more securely attached. So the invitation is to create a daily practice, a prayer life, if you will. Spend some time every day [00:19:00] intentionally remembering the walk, and the desire for greatness, and the child, and reconnecting to our inner spiritual trust that is a gift of the divine love and truth.

And so remember the power that we have, and that is healing. That is, we are healed by hope, by knowing the peace and joy and power that we will gain experiencing the connection of love with God - a secure attachment.

The disciples did not have any other conception of the heavenly kingdom than that of greatness and position over others, like that on earth. The Lord therefore replied according to their mental grasp and also inclination of mind when an argument arose among them about which one of them was to be greatest. For at that time they did not know that happiness in heaven is not being great and having position over others. Happiness in heaven is found in being humble enjoying serving others. It does not consist in wishing to be the greatest, but to be the least. The reason why the Lord adapted what He had to say to their imperfect outlook was so that they could be stirred up and led on to good, to learn it, to teach it, and to do it. Such ideas are thus appearances of truth of a lower degree, because angels do become relatively great, preeminent, powerful, and of authority, seeing that a single angel has greater power than myriads of infernal spirits. Yet it is not from themselves, but from the Lord. And they have it from the Lord in the proportion that they believe that they have no power from themselves, thus that they are the least. And this they can believe so far as they are humble and feel a desire to be of service to others, that is, so far as they have goodness of love to the Lord, and have goodwill toward the neighbor. From Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §3417

Jesus said: “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” and he was healed (Mark 9:23-25). There were three reasons why faith in the Lord healed people. First, because there was an acknowledgment of His Divine omnipotence, and that He was God. Second, because faith consists of an acknowledgment and the intuition that then comes to mind. All such intuition, from acknowledgment [of another person], causes them to be present [in one’s heart and mind] …. It was this intuition, from an acknowledgment of the Lord’s power to heal, which was their faith. The third reason [the Lord healed people] is that all the diseases healed by the Lord represented and thus symbolized the spiritual diseases that correspond to these natural diseases. And spiritual diseases can be healed only by the Lord, and in fact by looking to His Divine power, and by repentance of life. This is why He sometimes said, “Your sins are forgiven; go and sin no more” …. The faith by which [our] spiritual diseases are healed by the Lord can be given only through truths from the Word and a life according to them. Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained 815:5

“If your foot causes you to stumble cut it off….A foot which has to be cut off if it causes stumbling symbolizes the natural [level of being] which constantly sets itself against the spiritual [level of being] and has to be destroyed if it is trying to crush truths. Therefore, because of the disagreement and contrary-mindedness of the natural of a person, it is preferable to be governed by simple goodness, even though truth is denied.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §4302

“Those in heaven who are preeminently in intelligence and wisdom … are in such humility that they ascribe all their power to the Lord and none whatever to themselves. Because their only desire is to serve, they find no glory or joy in ruling over others.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §9039:3

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

As they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by “rising from the dead.” Then they asked him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?” Jesus responded, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be treated with utter contempt? But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.” Mark 9:2-13

Mark Episode 31 Transcript

[00:00:00] We come to the next story in Mark chapter nine, which is a critical key miracle for Christians in their understanding of Jesus. Jesus singles out three apostles and he takes them up on a mountain and he gives them a spiritual experience. They have a vision and it is powerfully affecting to them. They are completely in awe, falling down on their knees as they see Jesus, as it said, transformed into a bright white light, and seeing Moses and Elijah, the two greatest prophets of their tradition. For our purposes here, we are not going to examine the Christianity of this miracle, but rather we’re going to look at how it describes an important milestone on our journey [00:01:00] of developing a more secure attachment style.

I am thinking of several mountaintop moments I’ve had. I invite you to pause and recollect a moment, an experience that led to some revelation about yourself. A moment when you noticed something about yourself that you hadn’t noticed before. I’ve had several of these that each revealed the same thing about myself, which is in line with the gospel stories of the Apostles requiring also so many experiences before they integrated what they learned.

For me, each began with an ordeal that separated me from my ordinary life. When I was shocked, as it were, into seeing what I believed, but did not recognize that I believed - that I was unconscious of believing, seeing and adopting different beliefs. And the emotional [00:02:00] turmoil of the entire experience was transformative.

As I grew up, I learned that my world was safer, less fearful if I insisted that I was right. Now to be sure I was smart and generally correct, yet, as I became an adult, in my rational mind this worldview had created a network of beliefs about being right, that became bound up with the feeling of being safe. And so I needed to be right. Of course, as we all can predict, this led me to being arrogant and afraid, although I didn’t notice those feelings, those ways of being. And it took years well into my adulthood and a number of shocks to actually develop [00:03:00] a new set of beliefs that also maintained my sense of safety.

And they all involved someone I felt loved me becoming angry with me. That was the ordeal. Because my worldview was that feeling anger was to not love. And so it was only weeks into my marriage when my wife got mad at me for something, as typically happens, and I actually believed that she didn’t love me and that the marriage was over.

Of course she did still love me, but it took many experiences of this process over years for my view of reality to be changed. And this included the experience of others who I wanted to love me becoming angry with me, and then returning to not being angry. Finally it came together: a mountaintop experience, of [00:04:00] seeing a different way of being.

The details of the story in Mark 9 of the Transfiguration of Jesus symbolically describes this process, and I recommend Swedenborg’s interpretation of it for those of you who want to dig deeper into it. And then there’s also George Gurdjieff’s description of what he calls the fourth way. That has helped me understand what’s going on.

They all make the point that this is a personal experience we each can have. As much as I can describe my experience, as powerful as the gospel story is, they only point to the experience. I have to have the experience, I have to be on the way. The lesson Jesus is offering is that our minds really do have power in their very structure of our minds, so that every idea we have and even the unconscious [00:05:00] drives, prop up that strength, that reality, that view, that way of being.

So we collect ideas, we are meaning making machines. And those beliefs, those meanings begin to stand for our reality. They’re what we see to be real. To challenge a belief is thus to challenge my very being, my survival, and even my ego. It requires transformative experiences for us to hear the message.

We are not to hold on to those so-called truths because they are not the reality and indeed, some of those beliefs cause us or others to suffer. Now we need not avoid or bury emotions to protect ourselves. For instance, we need not be hardhearted to be strong or when we [00:06:00] feel our lives are threatened.

There is the transformative way, the fourth way. So for instance, one way is to strive to do everything right, thinking that if we just do it right every time, our world will be safe. Of course, that doesn’t happen. Another way, a second way, is to avoid or deny all sensual earthly attractions, thinking that this will make us holy or special or separated. Of course, that doesn’t work. And a third way is to learn all the truth, thinking that if we know enough, we will be enlightened. And again, that doesn’t happen. The fourth way is simply to be human. This is the hardest way. It is to let go of all our judgments, our rightness, our assurance, because those are simply things we [00:07:00] have. They are not who we are. And instead, cultivate curiosity, be observant and be present.

So watching for those moments when the glory shows up puts us on our knees and raises us up into strength and balance and insight given by our higher power, the divine, the source life flowing in as the voice instructed the apostles in the story.

Whether for you that voice is Jesus, or the divine, or the universe, the source, in that moment, our opportunity is to listen to that voice rather than the usual typical voice of fear or arrogance, or your defensive reactions to what appears to be an attack on your worldview. Indeed, that’s what we’re facing [00:08:00] the death of a worldview.

We are being asked to loosen our grip on what we hold as true, as if having that truth is the foundation of our life, when in fact it is love That is the foundation of our life. We are being offered a covenant, a relationship, that, in my personal experience, means that I must give at least equal weight to the truths of others, to the voice of others. It means that I am connected to all living things and I can cultivate by curiosity, observation, a real experience of that connection. And it is to see that we each will give to others from our abundance what they need. And that flow happens all the [00:09:00] time if I will observe it and let go of my sense of scarcity.

And we will be able to then realize that the frame of our worldview and the predictions that we make based on that frame are not sufficient to save us or to bring us into heavenly joy, or to connect us to those we love, to give us peace, satisfaction, joy.

Now, it’s no wonder that the three apostles, when they saw this vision, were very afraid. They must have felt very vulnerable. But also in awe. The trust they had developed over the years, the safety they must have felt being in Jesus’ presence, must have been a necessary preparation for them to see this vision and get the message. I know that I was not so trusting or safe in the beginning, and it took me years and [00:10:00] many experiences for me to learn the lesson.

I get why those three men tried to control the situation as you read in the story. There’s a part of us that experiences an existential threat when a bright light of love and goodness shines in our minds and reveals another reality, asking us to let go of our truth of a solipsistic worldview that only sees ourselves in what we need and is very individualistic.

And again, I was seeking that because I connected that with feeling safe and moderating fear. And it required a transformation for me to let go of that view. I know now that our world is actually made safe when we have this secure connection with our God, who is for us the real and the symbolic source of [00:11:00] love and wisdom and life.

Our world is authentic when all of our parts are in balance and harmony. And our world is joyful when we experience secure attachments in all our relationships. For then we will have an active experience of our self-worth. We will have unconditional regard for others’ worth, and so have healthy, strong relationships with more and more people.

We will know when to speak up and when to remain quiet. We will be looking for the goodness. We will have an affirmative view of the world and affirming of all people’s experiences. That is the promise of having gone through the ordeal and come to a mountaintop experience.

“We are not following the First Way – the Way of the Fakir [In the Muslim and Hindu traditions a fakir is one who purposefully lives a life of extreme materialistic self-denial with the belief that enduring long and terrible suffering perfects the will.] Those who enter a Fakir School are ignorant natives. In the Fourth Way, along which this Work begins to lead us, people are supposed, at the start, to be reasonably educated, reasonably responsible, and capable of dealing reasonably with life. It is not for “tramps” – such as those who will not work – or “lunatics” such as enthusiasts who wish to reform the world. It is not for silly people seeking the elixir of perpetual youth, nor is it for psychopaths. The Fourth Way starts from the level of Good Householder. That is, it starts from some degree of good – from some gold. This was emphasized strongly in the early days and needs to be repeated. Moreover when the Work says, that understanding is the most powerful thing you can develop, it means that, beginning with the level of Good Householder, this is the case. It is not the case with the uneducated native, who following the Fakir-Way, seeks to develop will over their body by maintaining one posture for years. To develop will without developing understanding is not the aim of the Fourth Way. As I said, of what use is will without understanding? How are you going to use it? It does not take much insight to see that the results might be evil. Do you think that activity based on a powerful will without a corresponding development of the understanding is something desirable? I have no sympathy with those who believe it is and practice methods to achieve this mindless result.” Nicoll, Commentary V, pgs. 1719-20

“When a person undergoes regeneration, which is accomplished by the implantation of spiritual truth and good, and at the same time by the removal of falsity and evil, the regeneration is not hurried but takes place slowly. The reason for this is that all the things the person has thought, intended, or done since early childhood have entered into the composition of their life. They have also formed themselves into a network which is such that one cannot be moved without all of them together being moved….From this it is evident that the evils and falsities with a wicked person cannot be removed suddenly from where they are. They can be removed only in the measure that forms of good and truths in their proper order have been implanted more deeply within the person. Heaven within a person removes hell. If the removal were done suddenly the person would pass out, for the whole network of things, every single one, would be thrown into confusion and deprive him of his life.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §9334.

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

⁠www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ” But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!” Mark 8:22-9:1

Mark Episode 30 Transcript

[00:00:00] We continue in Mark chapter eight and we are going to cover three stories, a healing, a moment of integration, and then a teaching about perspective. So Jesus has just recently modeled not engaging with argumentative people who simply want to prove me wrong. He then helps the apostles integrate the miracle of feeding thousands of people so that they see that they’re supposed to be seeking spiritual food, which is understanding and using what one learns, and so feeling nurtured by goodness and living the truth.

Now, Jesus up till now had healed a paralyzed man, he’d fixed a deformed hand, he’d cast out a demon twice, he fed thousands, he healed a woman’s chronic bleeding, and he brought that girl back to life. And then twice in it all we were told he healed many people, whatever [00:01:00] that means. And now we come to when he gives a man his sight. This is the first of only two times in Mark that we are told specifically about healing blindness.

And so the story leads us along from Jesus refusing to play games with cynical people, right to transformative experiences for the apostles, the fish, and the bread of the healing. To an experiential lesson in the process of awakening to spiritual realities, which is going to be the healing of the blind man, finally to the capacity to see and acknowledge the source, the flow of love, which is going to be this conversation along the path. This is the pattern of our way to a secure attachment with God, with the divine, with the universe, with ourselves, and with other people.

So the crowd comes to town and Jesus takes a blind [00:02:00] man who comes to him and takes the blind man out of his familiar space amongst his friends. And so I can imagine this blind man being led by this stranger might have felt some anxiety about depending upon Jesus, to be alone with Jesus. Is he safe? Is he going to be well guided? And right there, likewise, our transformation begins with this uncomfortable recognition that our notions that we’ve collected over the years, especially our religious knowledge, that describe God and human life and good and evil, et cetera, that our body of beliefs might be inadequate to carry us through the journey of our spiritual development.

You know, we might even be wrong. We might be blind. What’s amazing about this process is that we really feel uncomfortable, even though we are [00:03:00] being led by Jesus. We are allowing ourselves to be led into a divinely ordained process of spiritual development.

The human spirit is designed to operate this way. It’s an innate response, this worry about an inner urge from the divine. Which in fact is love itself. We’re not typically conscious of this pressure, although it must always be there to get out of this blindness to go trust the divine. Why else would we ever choose to question the worldview that has brought us to where we currently are? It has to be the ever present draw of love flowing out of God.

So he takes the blind man aside. The blind man is now paying attention to what is happening to him, and he experiences a gentle opening of his understanding to a new reality with that first touch of Jesus’ hand.

I am [00:04:00] powerfully touched by the man’s first sensation of the visible world. He calls it moving shadowy figures like trees moving, which he nonetheless identifies as people. God does not wrench us into any new vision or way of being. Even though such an advance could be instigated by a traumatic experience, God’s love opens our eyes in a healing manner, allowing us to gradually come to know the truth.

The man gets his full sight and Jesus tells the man to go home, but not through the village. I guess his home would be somewhere on the outskirts. But now he can see how to get there on his own. He doesn’t have to beg for guidance from other people. So I’d like to believe that the man had been dependent on [00:05:00] others to find his way home. But from where? From where he is now. Even the most direct and easiest path home is not through the village. He need not depend on others for his experience of this new visible world.

Perhaps you’ve already had such an experience of discovering independence upon developing a new spiritual state of life. My earliest memory of this is the morning I woke up and tied my own shoe laces without any help. I remember hardly having to think about how to do it. It was an astonishing experience. I was living in a new, different world from then on - my own world. The miracle of spiritual development is acquiring the gift of understanding or making sense, or making meaning of something we have learned, something we have seen.[00:06:00]

And it is a powerful gift, and it is an awesome responsibility to be fully developed, to be able to establish a secure connection with other people and with our God, we have to own the meaning and the purpose that we give to our lives, which is such a delightful prospect. And it can be experienced as a heavy responsibility. Indeed, it is both at once.

In the story, the healing of the blind man is a message to the apostles whose worldview is still preventing them from seeing and understanding all of Jesus’ teaching and all the point of his work.

We are invited to consider our spiritual blindness and what it takes to be healed and given sight. And so we are to ask ourselves, take ourselves away from our normal life for a moment as Jesus took the blind man, and ask ourselves: are we [00:07:00] biased? Yeah. I think we are shortsighted. Might I have a jaded perception? Yes. The resolution, the healing, is not to get rid of our point of view because we cannot - it’s simply the view of the world that is seen from our spot in it. But we can acquire, seemingly as a gift, a perception. An awareness of both the limitations of our view and the hurtful meanings we create, such as racism and how to walk home on our own to be freed up, to see the world anew in a brighter light. And so we see how to travel on our way to connect with other people. With this new gift of understanding and sight - that is to be securely [00:08:00] attached.

The group then leaves Bethsaida, which is on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, and heads up about 10 miles. And along the way, as we’re told, Jesus asked them, “Who do people say I am?” Now, is Jesus being codependent? Well, no, because he then asks them, “Well, who do you say that I am?” The story reports that Peter speaks up for the whole group: “You are the Christ” (the Messiah in Hebrew). Well, first, we all have a “Peter” part ready to speak up, to act first and then seek forgiveness, if necessary. That bold part of us. If that is not part of you that is ever in charge of your life, that’s okay. But it seems that all human beings have such a part. And what that part does for [00:09:00] all of us is bringing to consciousness what has been previously unconsciously thought, or felt, or believed, and until it is spoken out loud, we don’t realize that it’s true for us. I would note the shadow side of this is when an unhelpful belief drives our actions and words, and we don’t see the connection.

But the point is that I’m sure that you have also had more than one experience of consciously realizing something that has merely been running in the background. That was the water you’re swimming in, right? The air you’re breathing. And it gives me, when I get that realization, it gives me a new confidence, a new freedom, a new understanding to have made it conscious.

And this is part of becoming securely attached, to know what I think and like and want. [00:10:00] To be able to name it and to be able to say it to others and to stand there - this is who I am. Well this is what I get from this little small incident of Jesus, as they’re walking along, modeling not dependence on what other people think, but encouraging us to confirm what we believe and love, by sharing it out loud in public, if necessary.

Then we come to the third story. Jesus makes an amazing speech and it is bad news. It’s interesting in the gospel of Mark, the gospel does not quote Jesus as other gospels do at this point, but simply reports what Jesus said. Jesus predicts that he will be murdered. He also notes that he will rise from the dead, but as we know from the rest of the story, the people don’t hear that part of the [00:11:00] message. It takes them till the resurrection itself for them fully to get it.

Well, I also resist bad news. I am, as it were, realistic, right? Events could happen in any number of ways, and the worst is only one of many on my list, right? And I purposefully resist focusing on the worst possible outcome to lead my list of possibilities, right?

In my youth, maybe the same age as Peter, I would get vocal about this way of managing my fear. I would downplay any negative assessment in order to remove its weight. Now I can tell the story where that comes from. One manifestation of it was that I was always lighthearted, always making a joke.

Now, in my elderhood, I aspire to no longer dismiss a person’s negative [00:12:00] view or make light of it, and that’s because I have some ability at least to manage my fear, and so when someone presents a negative view, I align with them in their worry. I want to acknowledge its reality. I know that the terror will pass as I walk along with them, and then we can have a conversation about positive steps to take.

Now in this story from the gospel of Mark, Peter is not there yet. He was immature, eager for what he judged was the best outcome. But he is being managed by his fear, being a young activist and idealist. However, he reacts, he steps up and he speaks probably for the whole group.

Peter, believing he was the [00:13:00] people’s protector, takes Jesus aside to reprimand him for saying such things - don’t be so negative. And in the story, Jesus speaks harshly to Peter and accuses him of being Satan because Peter was being arrogant and superficial and egotistic.

And then in the story, Jesus immediately turns and addresses the crowd. Giving them this serious lecture about what it takes to live the life he is preaching.

Well, before we consider Jesus’ advice, I have to ask, how do I fit this angry outburst by Jesus into my hypothesis that Jesus is securely attached, that he does not need to shout or become angry or to be catastrophic in order to be seen or heard or valued?

Or do I suppose that this was an example of Jesus being merely human, disconnected from his divine [00:14:00] soul, which won’t be the only time that’s happened to him. He’s portrayed as feeling afraid and alone. The prime example is when on the cross, he’s said to cry out, “My God, why have you abandoned me?”

Well, as I engage in my Daoist practice, I notice the yin and the yang here. I take a moment and I mentally back away. I do nothing. I seek balance. I create space for harmony. In the gospel of Mark, we are told that Jesus is both finite and divine, the yin and the yang.

Our practice of our faith can be less about figuring this out and more about being along the way with Jesus, being in awe of the mystery and the gloriousness of it all. And so at this moment, I cultivate an [00:15:00] attitude of not doing, of allowing the universe and God the divine, the source to flow in with presence. And so with peace, I do not need to figure this out. Instead, I want to expand my ability to be in the presence of the divine, to be in the presence of the mystery of not knowing. Even to be in the presence of the discomfort that not knowing brings to me. I want to cultivate a wider, deeper perspective about life. I’m powerfully humbled and encouraged by the gospel story of the Son of Man, as Jesus here calls himself, going through the exact same ordeal.

And so to return to the lesson that I get from this story, the truth about our [00:16:00] safe connection with God and the universe, with life that Jesus models in this story is about managing our fear at the prospect of losing the long held beliefs and desires that, it turns out, are negative, unhelpful, originating in our woundedness, in our ego, or that are merely materialistic that hold us back from authentic spiritual life.

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a life threatening terror. This is what Jesus is describing in his little speech. So maybe I don’t really get it when Jesus tells his followers that they will have to die to follow him. But what I do notice is that after this speech, somehow they continue to listen to him and to follow him.

My takeaway is [00:17:00] that there was an antidote to fear at work in them. As they listened to what Jesus said because they had experienced being healed, even being brought back to life, they had experienced being loved and respected and encouraged by this amazing man, they’d experienced the power that they could bring into the world when they were sent off to their trek to heal people and to teach. They’d experienced being loved and respected. They felt a secure attachment with Jesus.

Now, perhaps it was not their first reaction as Peter demonstrated, but they remember that they trust him. They feel safe to stay and listen. Their capacity to tolerate their discomfort was increasing and then they were able to hear [00:18:00] his message of life and it was made powerful by the contrast to their initial fear.

Jesus was promising real life, soul life. What we now know is spiritual life, and they were able to manage their fear and believe him. So Jesus is showing us how we can actually manage that worst existential fear of natural death or of spiritual death. We can manage the loss of something we love by being securely attached, by having a trusting relationship with our God, with other people, with ourselves, cultivating this wider, deeper perspective, staying open and receptive to the blessings of life.

And we learn to tolerate this discomfort [00:19:00] little by little along the way. Every time we put aside the voice of ego or our materialism, or our wounded self, or our need to get back at someone or to tell them the truth, and instead listen for the Lord’s loving voice through our true self, through our soul.

I am convinced it’s always there. It is our task to quiet the mind and listen. Our task is to practice letting go of our worldview and look for the divine, for the universe’s, design. The challenge is to stop avoiding the experience of the fear of loss by accepting the message that our life is spiritual, eternal, loving.

The glory of this new spiritual loving life will survive the death of any of my self-centered myopic, merely natural [00:20:00] worldviews that propose alternate endings, that feel happier to my natural self, that propose an easier way through life, but are actually spiritual death.

Rather, the promise is that love will always be present and connecting us to life, to our God, to ourselves, to others. Every time we stop our thoughts and open our minds and listen to this message in our hearts where God lives.

“’Seeing’ symbolizes understanding, and being in possession of faith as a result of one’s religious knowledge. The word in the original language means one who is open - whose eyes are open, to be precise - and so the word means a person who sees as a result of religious knowledge, for these serve to open the mind. And ‘the blind’ symbolizes the absence of faith as a result of a lack of religious knowledge, since a blind person is not one of ‘the seeing’. In the Word those who are ‘blind’ also mean people who have no knowledge of the truth of faith because they live outside the Church. When they have been taught, they accept faith. Those same people are also meant by the blind whom the Lord healed.” Secrets of Heaven §6990

“‘And they loved not their soul, even unto death,’ (Revelation 12:11) are faithful people who have prevailed in temptations for the sake of these truths [concerning the divinity of Jesus], and who have regarded the life of the world as of no account in comparison with the life of heaven. Those who are in the combats of temptation regard the life of the world as of no account in comparison with the life of heaven, and consequently regard the death of their body as of no account in comparison with the life of the soul, as is evident from those who suffered martyrdom. The reason is, that they know that life in the world, which is only for some years, is as nothing compared with the life in heaven, which is eternal life; yea, there is no ratio between the time of one’s life in the world and the life in heaven that will continue to eternity. These and many other thoughts flow in from heaven with those who prevail in spiritual temptations, therefore ‘they love not their soul (meaning, as use here, their life in the world), even unto death.’” Apocalypse Explained §750.

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

⁠www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?” Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” “Seven loaves,” they replied.

So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd. A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them. They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten. Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake.

But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?” “Twelve,” they said. “And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?” “Seven,” they said. “Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them. Mark 8:1-21

Mark Episode 29

[00:00:00] And we come to Mark chapter eight. The first three stories form an arc that is another example of how our secure attachment style develops, starting with an experience through a conflict and its resolution through the integration of the lesson. So it starts out, Jesus is walking along the west shore of the Sea of Galilee and a crowd forms, and once again, they’re out of food.

This time Jesus tells the apostles how sad he is for the people’s plight. The apostles, again, object. It’s not their fault. They cannot do anything. It’s the circumstances. But when you read this chapter, it’s really very moving and very challenging at the same time.

The gospel writer is telling the story of the one who is the savior, right? The divine human in formation. The [00:01:00] Promised Messiah come to save the world, and who is continuously fighting against spiritual and civil powers in his body, in his life, and in his mind and in his soul. Here’s a fellow who is shown he’s able to control the weather, to bring life to dead people, and here he is walking along and he’s noticing the people’s hunger. He realizes the long walk home confronting them, and he feels sick to his stomach.

Now, every one of us has noticed a person in distress whom we could not help. Every one of us has walked by a person stuck in a terrible situation beyond our control. Every one of us has walked past a beggar and not given them anything.

In every case, we felt badly, maybe we could feel it in our stomachs, and we [00:02:00] had actual thoughts of helping, but took no action for very good reasons, including the safety of our family or our commitment to some overriding mission or just judgment about the circumstances. So the beginning of this lesson for us is that Jesus has had an experience and it’s the exact same experience we have all had.

There is a feeling of anxiety for another person’s condition, a feeling of gut wrenching helplessness, and there is anger at the causes of the distress, the individual’s and the system’s.

Now pause for a moment and practice observing what is happening in your mind. What is happening in your body. As you heard this story, slow down, quiet down. Look around, look within. I imagine Jesus is trudging along, perhaps along beaches of the west side of the Sea of [00:03:00] Galilee, and he suddenly stops and straightens up and looks around, not out to the magnificent vista of the sea, but at the faces of the people around him, and he sees their hunger.

He is sensitive to the complexity of the circumstance that their devotion to follow him has brought them to this strait. He’s been encouraging literally, and through a new way of thinking, their hunger for loving and for living. He sees their natural and spiritual hunger and then the gospel writer uses a euphemism for feeling sad.

Jesus feels an upset in his bowels, in his stomach. And there is our inner and physiological reaction to this and the resolution is not that we are to save everybody. It’s not that we must fix every person’s dilemma. It’s not that we must give money [00:04:00] to every beggar. The resolution is to be in the present moment, noticing others’ needs and wants and feeling them.

Jesus did not heal everyone. Surely there were thousands of sick and injured gentiles who, for instance, heard about the deaf man being healed, but just could not leave their children, leave their jobs, and go find Jesus. So, Jesus did not heal everyone. He did not save everyone.

Jesus is the paragon, the model of secure attachment, of being in the present moment of having unconditional regard for others’ worth.vBeing conscious of his own emotions and willing to show them. A man who’s clear about both self care and the care for others. Noticing other living beings as actually the other, and recognizing their needs and wants, and then feeling something inside [00:05:00] generated by connection to them by being hungry.

Now such a way of being is certainly challenging, and yet we can learn it by training our brains, and so our egos. When we practice, we experience a moment when the universe speaks to us. When love is awakened in us, we are focusing on love and truth, which we have as gifts from God, from our higher power. We are noticing, however briefly and perhaps superficially, our spiritual connection to God, to other people.

Now achieving this new way of being is a lifelong effort. Consider that the apostles had spent months at least in the influence of Jesus, who they considered to be the Messiah. And yet in this [00:06:00] story, their first thoughts were challenges to Jesus. The men who later gave their lives to express their commitment to the Christian ideal of unconditional love for their neighbor here, at this point in their spiritual development, do not have that mental or spiritual state of being.

The gospel writer notes that the apostles have had this experience and now inserts a story which is part of this arc, which you might say, an experience that is generated by this experience of being with the hungry people and being hungry.

They’re walking along and the Pharisees ask Jesus to show them a miracle. And everyone knows that that won’t make any difference to the Pharisees. In this case the Pharisees are simply trying to call Jesus out and Jesus doesn’t do it. His refusal to [00:07:00] play that game calls attention to the message he’s actually trying to give his followers then - that spiritual healing is not accomplished by some external miracle, but by an inner effort which has miraculous results thanks to the Lord.

Jesus’ rejection of this invitation to prove his worth makes sense in the context that we are here exploring. A secure attachment is created when two people are authentic and transparent with each other. When two people feel safe to expose their underlying core emotions and beliefs. And they do not rely on external signs of love and commitment. They do not require tests of trustworthiness. There is an inner perception, an inner knowing that love brings to their consciousness. That is how we are wired - to be in relationship, to be [00:08:00] connected.

Jesus knows that the Pharisees are not trying to create a spiritual connection with him based on love and trust. We know the backstory, and that is that they are afraid of losing their power. Their ego is threatened. Now, I can imagine that the noblest of these men are simply trying to protect what is good in their religion and their community. They are convinced that the chosen people will be blessed by God if they remain obedient to all the rules.

But after thousands of years, their practices have become merely traditions and the leaders are not promoting the mission, but defending their role. Jesus is a threat to that role, and so he must be attacked. Jesus’s actions and words I propose, in this case, model what we can do in the face of threats to our noble principles, to our sense of our proper roles.

[00:09:00] He rightly protects himself and those who follow him. By establishing a healthy boundary, he moves away. He does not allow, as he says, the poison leaven, of selfishness and worldliness, to pollute his message. He sees their yeast is noxious and will only produce a feted dough. And importantly, he does not engage in any argument.

I’m reminded of a phrase I’ve heard from good friends: Your opinion of me is none of my business. Jesus is secure in the fact of his value and the power of his message, and does not need to prove it to anyone. He does not need to be distracted by other people liking him or their critical opinion of him.

This description of a way of being, I’m thinking, leads to the next story when the apostles’ [00:10:00] fears are again triggered and they actually forget that Jesus can miraculously heal, feed them. Jesus loves these 12 men dearly, and he’s committed to forming them into devoted followers. He is patient and encouraging. And then there are moments like this.

They get in a boat and they begin to cross the sea, and the apostles realize there’s only one loaf of bread for them all. And they begin to argue about it. Jesus’ frustration comes through so clearly. I wonder if this is an example of Jesus’ human part, his merely human part momentarily taking over his consciousness, and these words come out.

Have we not all experienced this failure of control? We are so good, and so good, and then something triggers us and we lose it. The [00:11:00] divine part of Jesus always remembered that people develop spiritually through a lifelong process of failures and successes, that it’s a cycle.

We have an experience, we hear wise words, we have a transformation, and then we forget, and then we remember. We’re inspired for a time, and then we revert to an earlier, perhaps more immature or mechanical way of being. For the apostles to become the devoted men they did become will require repeated such experiences and cycles. The miracle, the redemption, and the recovery from traumatic loss after he dies.

These are all part of the process of their formation into securely attached people. And this observation gives me hope that I can continue to acquire a secure attachment style. I’m wondering if the apostles’ hearts were hijacked again by the fear of scarcity, as happens to all of us.[00:12:00]

They wonder out loud what they’re going to do for food since they’ve only one loaf of bread. And then maybe one of them voices a complaint about not staying in Dalmanutha long enough to purchase some bread since Jesus left so quickly seemingly avoiding conflict with the local authorities, right? Running away apparently in a fit of peak.

And maybe others in the boat were chastising them to have such judgment of their beloved teacher. And then in the midst of the argument, Jesus makes a comment. He says, “Watch out. Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” And the apostles then openly accuse each other of making a mistake.

And so, what has happened is an inner door has been opened to the underlying feelings and the perspective that Jesus wants them to see and feel. [00:13:00] I definitely identify with the apostles needing to chastise those who got it wrong and demonstrate my better subservience to the rabbi. Again, arguing about who is right about merely external practices misses an opportunity to do real work.

So our task is to practice paying attention to our thoughts and feelings, allowing the deeper goodness and wisdom, and the warmth and the light that it brings, to give us context. To recognize once again, that life is flowing into us, that there is an abundance, and it is a miraculous experience of life if we open ourselves to seeing it.

Of course, we feel fear in life. Of course, we all believe wrong ideas. We share with Jesus and the apostles a [00:14:00] flawed consciousness on that natural level. And Jesus models for us, how to rise above our merely worldly and self-centered part. Do not let thoughts of scarcity produce a feted fear, and do not let the egotistical need to be right infect the flour of the bread of our mind, the thoughts we use to make the bread of life, which is love.

Jesus’ advice is still true today. Beware of the materialistic and selfish thoughts that would draw us down into fear and the need to be right. That is, be aware of them. Find a mindfulness practice which opens your mind and heart to the love that’s constantly flowing in and from within, knowing that the universe is on our side.

The divine is seeking our [00:15:00] joy and our eternal happiness, and we are never condemned for our failures. Rather, they are an experience that allows us, again, to go through this transformation that then will lead us to a place of truly being securely attached to God, to ourselves, and to other people.

Tao Te ChingChapter 22

Yield and overcome;Bend and be straight;Empty and be full;Wear out and be new;Have little and gain;Have much and be confused.Therefore wise men embrace the oneAnd set an example to all.Not putting on a display,They shine forth.Not justifying themselves,They are distinguished.Not boastingThey receive recognition.Not bragging,They never falter.They do not quarrel,So no one quarrels with them.Therefore the ancients say, “Yield and overcome.”Is that an empty saying?Be really whole,And all things will come to you.

From these and the passages cited above it is evident that a “wilderness” symbolizes an uncultivated and uninhabited state of being, thus a state not yet made alive by what is spiritual, a state not enlivened by truths. It means such a religious principle as the Gentiles had, which was almost empty and void, because they did not have the Word where truths are, and so did not know the Lord who teaches truths. Because they did not have truths, their goodwill was also lifeless, because goodwill is like its truth. From this it can be seen what “wilderness” symbolizes a state of not having truth when yet there is a desire for it so that their goodwill may be enlivened. Apocalypse Explained §730

Blessing the bread and the fish that he gave to the disciples and to the people symbolizes communication of his Divine, and thus joining with the people by means of love and truth. The “bread” means love and truth on the level of the spiritual person, and “fish” love and truth on the natural level of the person. Apocalypse Explained §340

The expression ‘God opens the eyes’ describes how God opens interior sight, or a person’s understanding, which opening is accomplished by means of an influx into the spiritual part of their rational. The route taken by this influx is through the soul, that is, the internal route, of which the person is unaware. This influx is their state of enlightenment in which the truths they hear or read about are confirmed for them by a kind of perception existing within, in the understanding part of their mind. The person believes that this enlightenment is innate within themselves and that it springs from their own power of understanding. But they are very wrong. This enlightenment consists of an influx from the Lord by way of heaven into that person’s dim, mistaken, and specious sight of things, and by means of the goodness there causes the things which they believe to become imitations of truth. People who are spiritual are blessed with enlightenment in spiritual matters of faith. And this is the meaning of the expression ‘God opens the eyes’. from Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §2701

Change of being begins with changing the reactions to actual incidents of the day. This is the beginning of taking your life in a real and practical sense in a new way… To get to know yourself, begin with observing your behavior towards the events of a single day in your life. Notice how you react, that is, notice your mechanical reactions to all the little events that happen and to other people and notice what you say, feel, think and such. Then try to see how you can change these reactions....A single moment in which one is conscious enough not to behave mechanically, if it is done willingly, can change many future results.” Nicoll, Commentaries I pp. 26,27

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠

Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Janet English, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, NY 1972

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”

“Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

Jesus left Tyre and went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Ten Towns. A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him.

Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!

Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news. They were completely amazed and said again and again, “Everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak.” Mark 7:24-37

Mark Episode 28

[00:00:00] In Mark chapter seven, the chapter finishes with two miracles modeling three characteristics of a securely attached person. First is unconditional regard for another person who is an “other,” - not like me, a person not in my tribe, or social milieu in my neighborhood, or race or class, or so forth. Second, Jesus models the way to fully attend to another person. And finally, he promotes a life of self-observation rather than self-promotion to become that emotionally transparent, securely attached person that we want to be for our loved ones.

In the first story, a Syrian woman not from Israel shows up to ask for healing for her daughter. Now at first reading, it sounds like Jesus labels her a dog, but not so. I am presuming that as a securely [00:01:00] attached person, as he is, he never needs to put another person down to assert his value or rightness or privilege.

So that leads me to realize that maybe he is looking around and acknowledging that the people around him, unified by their nation and religion, consider this outsider as an “other,” less than they, not worthy to be treated equally, and willing to only share the scraps of their privilege with her. He’s calling them out for not caring for someone because they’re not in their clan.

Her response to Jesus’ acknowledgement of the reality is spot on and displays her own sense of intrinsic self-worth and dignity. By acknowledging that while not being among her tribe, she welcomes and is grateful for whatever she does receive. So I see Jesus here modeling how to be in a relationship with someone not like me.[00:02:00]

Now, pause here for a moment. Remember a beloved pet you had as a child or a best friend who shared adventures and secrets; or perhaps you are blessed with a friend or relative or spouse with whom you have a deep bond of friendship. Perhaps you are in a homeowner’s association that conditions you to wave at your neighbors even though you have no idea who they are, simply because you are in the same association.

You may not make any judgment about them based on what they look like or their first language because they’re in your neighborhood. They’re part of the group. In those circumstances, there is already a foundation for a connection based on some external shared circumstance, you have an expectation that your feelings, your ideas, your values, your needs, your wants, will be shared and felt and seen and heard and accommodated to by this person that you otherwise [00:03:00] don’t know. You presume that other person will be with you in joy and in fear, and ordeal and sorrow, even in upset, maybe shared anger at the association’s management, right? So it is easy to look at a person in my tribe or culture with love.

And there are some circumstances in which that culture or that tribe can be based on merely external circumstances. I imagine that when Jesus came to town, the locals who believed he could heal them, and their loved ones, when they met him, felt safe in his presence. They felt welcomed, even if they had come acknowledging their sinfulness, which was their sickness, right?

And then there shows up a woman from another country and she asks for healing for her daughter. He immediately welcomes her, acknowledging the stretch she’s making to seek a cure for her daughter that allows Jesus to immediately bond with her in the fear and anguish at a [00:04:00] child being possessed by a devil.

In this case, he was acknowledging the reality that he in this moment shared with a woman who is very conscious of her lack of standing in his world, this distress.

Much of our work in the world for most of us is not inside our family, right? It’s outside our family. And there’s this wonderful book by the Reverend Paul Vickers, “Person to Person, the Gospel of Mark,” and he points out that much of the way our life affects others is actually decided in those areas outside of our home where there may be very little shared of deeper beliefs and attitudes. And we could characterize that as being a dog’s life, right? I’m out there working and there’s people around, and as Reverend Vickers points out, you [00:05:00] cannot take the children’s bread as Jesus called it, and apply it directly to those folks in those other areas of life.

And yet, like the woman, we must recognize that our outward life needs the crumbs of acceptance, of welcome and goodwill, that fall from this table of a shared faith. That’s the role we want to play when we go out into the surrounding worldly rat race and wrestle with its problems. We seem to be in an area that can hardly feed on those high principles. Although the structure of society and economics and business practice may seem to be driven solely by self-interest or greed or materialism, maybe it’s lacking any thought of loving service. Our behavior in those circumstances can still be caring, valuing, honoring others that might not be seen [00:06:00] in those circumstances.

Those circumstances can hardly feed, be nurtured by our high principles, but when we concentrate on the service we can give rather than the money we can make, or the status we can gain, we can maintain truly human relationships with our colleagues, and with the customers, and so forth.

Now we come to this way of being by observing why we judge others different from us as somehow less than us. As we observe that from this place of security, of being loved by God, being lovable, we are able to love. As we observe what we’re doing, we can discover if there is a fear of that other person, precisely because they are different and so unknown, which is how we are wired to be wary of the unknown, right?

So that’s always going to be there. But the resolution is to follow Jesus’ model and cultivate an inner view of [00:07:00] oneself as worthy because that worth is inherent in us, and so we do not need to be defensive to maintain it, or aggressive to establish it, when someone who is other than us comes into our world.

The wise people through the ages have taught us that there’s this wonderful benefit that comes from trusting that our life, our power, our value, our goodness, our identity, all come from God, from the divine, from the source, from the universe, and not from ourselves or from the world. Because by practicing that, we can, like Jesus and others, turn towards that stranger, see them as human, and as human as I am. And serve them from a love and compassion for them. That’s the lesson of this miracle of the healing of the Syrian woman’s daughter.

The second miracle of Mark 7 illustrates two characteristics of being a securely attached person. [00:08:00]

In the story, it’s notable that Jesus decided to go from Tyre to Sidon to Decapolis, which takes him around the sea of Galilee. That is his circuitous route from Tyre to Decapolis. It’s a long journey for Jesus and his retinue. We can imagine many days and nights of walking, seeking shelter, seeking food, and so some ordeal that they take together and then along the way, talking together.

Probably seeing miracles done and bonding over the hardships of travel and the sharing of life stories, managing the crowds of people, petitioning Jesus for healing, we can imagine that amongst Jesus and his immediate followers, those 12, and then the people that were along with them, we can imagine those relationships were getting stronger and stronger.

We now call that becoming securely attached, right? Because they become connected. Their [00:09:00] anxiety is diminishing. Their knowing of each other is increasing. They’re experiencing safe connections with each other. They’re seeing each other going through the same ordeals, so their minds and hearts are becoming calmer and feeling more tuned into each other and to Jesus.

What we know from psychology happens then, is that we are able to accept new ideas and we’re able to be humble when challenged. The story we read here teaches us two lessons on how to establish secure attachments in our relationships. First, Jesus models the way to fully attend to another person, and secondly, he promotes a life of self-observation rather than self-promotion.

And the way the apostles receive these lessons is a wonderful illustration of how our trusting relationships [00:10:00] will indeed lead to our accepting of the transformative experience that we’re being offered. So first, a deaf and mute man is brought to Jesus by a group of people, and he takes that man aside, showing him individual attention and consideration for the man’s feelings, not in the crowd, but on his own.

The man likely had a life’s experience of being rejected because of his condition. Now, previously, Jesus fed thousands of people in one miracle. And then a crowd watched as he brought Lazarus back to life. But there are many instances like this in which a miracle happens in relative privacy. So I see Jesus here modeling giving full attention to the person I’m with, including seeing their disabilities that is, in this case, the inability to hear other [00:11:00] people’s love for them because of their own woundedness, being deaf, and their inability to manifest to say how they feel because their woundedness blocks their consciousness of their emotions, they are mute.

So perhaps you know people that are like that, or that are wounded like that. A secure attachment with that person, which will result in the healing of your relationship, can be created only by attending to the whole person - disabilities and all, accepting them as they are.

While I model transparency and respect and compassion and presence, that’s what Jesus was doing, and as tall an order as that may sound, it is a model we need to aspire to. Deafness symbolizes what our life is like when we do not know the truth, and that is not uncommon. Perhaps [00:12:00] we misunderstood a principle our teachers were trying to instill in us in our childhood, right? So we don’t know it. Perhaps we were lied to as we grew from infancy to childhood, or perhaps childhood trauma created a false narrative that protected our spirit, but now needs to be heard and seen for what it is, which is merely a defense mechanism. But we don’t know that. So that is not knowing the truth for one reason or another, that’s being deaf.

An example might be a person becoming arrogant because they were encouraged to believe their creed was the one true faith, right? What starts as a positive assertion of a tribe’s identity eventually becomes an arrogant exclusivity that demeans other people’s beliefs. That person’s not living the truth. They don’t know the truth, they’re deaf.

Another example would be a person who thinks poorly of themselves because they were repeatedly lied to, for instance, being told they were stupid or unworthy of love. So they are ignorant [00:13:00] of the inherent value of their own spirit. They’re deaf to it.

Perhaps the worst case is when a child is abused and then the brain and the mind actually create barriers that protect the spirit of that human being. But at the same time, unfortunately, it blocks any consciousness of emotions or a healthy sense of self. That’s being deaf.

And perhaps you know someone who is like one of these ways, right? We know from modern psychology, I happen to know from professional and personal experience, that a safe, secure, emotionally transparent relationship miraculously heals all these diseases of the heart and the mind and the body.

Such a relationship can be established perhaps in a few weeks. Perhaps it takes years. But what’s required is my giving attention to that person as they [00:14:00] are here and now. So when we adopt Jesus’ model in our individual relationships, healing happens for ourselves and for our loved one, for the other person.

And it’s not because we have some superpower or are tremendously wise, it is that, just like Jesus, all we have is love. Which is, we know, actually God’s love, the divine love, the unconditional flow of life. And we simply become a means for the flow of that love through us out into the world where hearts and minds open by giving attention and caring and compassion - those open hearts and minds will be touched and healed.

There’s a second, perhaps less obvious lesson we get from this story symbolized by Jesus’ plea that everyone keeps this miracle to themselves. I’ve long wondered why Jesus repeatedly makes this plea in the Gospels, and I’ve heard [00:15:00] plenty of answers, but now here’s one that really makes the most complete sense to me, which is evident from looking at Jesus as this securely attached person.

It describes how one part of our own spiritual journey following Jesus’ model, is to be able to become that emotionally transparent and securely attached person that we want to be for our loved ones. Jesus knows the fallen, frail, fallible, human condition that we are all in, because he was living it. And he was illustrating what an intimate relationship with the creator, his father, the source of life, what that does for us when that unconditional, unlimited love calls us to transformation and we therefore implicitly know, however conscious we are of it or not, that there is no end to the possibilities of healing and spiritual growth for us. We then [00:16:00] gain a strong sense of self worth, which is actually selfless.

Now, this inner perception brought about by this transformation cannot actually be shared with others. Everyone needs to go through the ordeal to discover it on their own. We certainly can describe it to others. We can encourage others to seek it. But each individual has their own transformation.

So back to the story. All the people saw that all Jesus did was good. All that he did was good. And of course they were excited about it and happy about it. The phrase they used is reported in the gospel of Mark hearkens back to the Garden of Eden before evil and disabilities had been introduced into the world.

They felt it in their hearts and their bodies. So of course they would want to tell their relatives and friends the Messiah has come at last, they felt they were on the verge of freedom from the occupying Romans, right, [00:17:00] and on the verge of full membership in the church that had become elitist, that had become impossible to be part of.

I imagine many of them would shout, “Look at me, look at what Jesus has done for me. You can have it too!” That would be the natural urge, and Jesus is telling them: don’t do it. Jesus must have experienced that urge, because we all do. The problem is that inevitably our fallen and wounded natures will drift from promoting the message of this healing, to promoting the messenger: “Look at me.”

I believe Jesus noticed this happening within himself. He could have called attention to himself. And yet, again and again, he was stopping people from doing that. Yet, based on his assurance of being loved, and based on his trust in the divine plan for his life, he [00:18:00] stopped the thought. He acknowledged the urge. He observed the process. He went through the temptation ordeal and then felt free to let go, even though he still wanted to promote himself. He saw that was not transformation, that was not regeneration. It was merely proclaiming a message, an idea, not living it.

We were told in the rest of the story that he felt this urge every moment of his life, deep in his spirit because the last thing he says as he dies, he says, “Into your hands, I commend (or release) my spirit.” He had to let it go of that need to promote himself. And it was an urge of his to the very end.

So too, we will always have the urge to promote ourselves and our spiritual advancement. It feels [00:19:00] so good to our egos. Especially when we have made advances, right? And we know some things that we could tell people, right? The urge is there simply because we are living in the world.

The task of transformation is to be able, with love and transparency, and a sense of safety, to rise above those urges and see ourselves as beloved of God, beloved by others, and so able to love others. This is the universal experience of the path of spiritual growth. And the key is to be like Jesus - aware of it so that we are not unconsciously driven into that mere self-promotion.

You know, we all have our system of thinking. We have our emotional processing that’s always running in the background of our unconscious life. That’s the human condition. And that thought process and that emotional processing condition us to then behave in a certain way. [00:20:00] We all learn to obey the rules of these systems, and we do obey them, even if that internal system is broken or corrupted by trauma or by evil doers.

So the task is to become conscious. Jesus said “Be awake.” Emanuel Swedenborg calls it self-examination. George Gurdjieff calls it self remembering. Many wise sages call it mindfulness. In any case, whatever it’s called, whatever is your experience, in the story we read it is about this internal awareness of what just happened, and how it impacts us and what we can do with it, and how we can live from that lesson of now being able to hear and speak, as it were.

Jesus models an attitude of continuing self-observation practice by people who feel secure in their relationship with their creator, with themselves and with others. Of course, we want to share our insights with our loved ones, and we do. However, we must be [00:21:00] aware that our merely naturally minded human condition leads us ever so gradually, inevitably to become arrogant spokespeople for our truth, or fixated merely on the story and not on the obedience to the lesson of the story.

So let us be awake and conscious and self-aware. Remembering mindfully that secure attachment to God through living the model Jesus gives us in the gospels, will transform us, will regenerate us, so that we will not only hear the voice of love and wisdom of the universe, we will be able to helpfully and effectively share it with others.

There were three reasons why faith in the Lord healed people [such as the possessed child]. First, because there was an acknowledgment of His Divine omnipotence, and that He was God. Second, because faith consists of an acknowledgment, and the intuition that then comes to mind. All such intuition, from acknowledgment [of another person], causes them to be present [in one’s heart and mind]….It was this intuition, from an acknowledgment of the Lord’s power to heal, which was their faith. The third reason [the Lord healed people] is that all the diseases healed by the Lord represented and thus symbolized the spiritual diseases that correspond to these natural diseases. And spiritual diseases can be healed only by the Lord, and in fact by looking to His Divine power, and by repentance of life. This is why He sometimes said, “Thy sins are forgiven; go and sin no more.” This faith also was represented and symbolized by their miraculous faith. The faith by which [our] spiritual diseases are healed by the Lord can be given only through truths from the Word, and a life according to them. Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §815:5

The “deaf man” symbolizes those who do not obey because they have no understanding of truth. A “speech impediment” symbolizes their difficulty in confessing the Lord and the truth of the church. The “ears” opened by the Lord symbolize the perception of truth and obedience; and the “tongue” whose bond was loosed by the Lord symbolizes the confession of the Lord and of the truths of the church. From Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §455:21

Much of our work is done in the economic structure and work practices that surround us.

follow the social customs used by them. Yet much of the way our life affects others is decided in these areas, where there may be very little shared of deeper beliefs and attitudes characterized as being “a dog’s life.” You cannot take “the children’s bread” and apply it directly to such areas of life. Yet, like the woman, we must recognize that our outward life needs the crumbs of acceptance, welcome and goodwill that fall from the table of a shared faith. When we go out into the surrounding worldly rat race and wrestle with its problems, we seem to be in an area that can hardly feed on such high principles. Although the structure of society, economics, and business practice may seem to be driven solely by self-interest, lacking any thought of loving service, our behavior in it can still be caring, valuing, honoring others. We can concentrate on the service we give, rather than the money we make; we can maintain truly human relationships with colleagues and customers. Vickers, p 110

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Person To Person: The Gospel of Mark, Paul V, Vickers. Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, PA 1998

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, adultery, murder, theft, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Mark 7:8-23

Mark Episode 27 Transcript

[00:00:00] So we continue with Mark chapter seven and Jesus models how to confront tradition and the status quo. And the lesson we learn is that a person who’s securely attached does so from love, from love of the people and the traditions and the world in which they live. We need to back up a little bit to see how this works.

Here we’re asserting that we are created for relationships, beginning with our inner spiritual mental lives. That is a challenge we too often forget. People like Gurdjieff tell us to “remember ourselves,” which is a mindful observation of the process of our thoughts and emotions. This is how we will discover how we can love people, love ourselves, love [00:01:00] God, and manifest that even in confronting traditions and ways of being.

Now, I find it’s helpful to imagine our inner life made up of parts. Our attachment style originates in how our different parts react internally to each other and to what happens around us. And the same pattern and process exists in human relationships amongst people.

There is an indefinite variety of people and we easily see our differences. What’s harder is to remember that we are all created for relationships, that there is more that connects us than separates us. That is the urge of creation. The urge of life is to connect.

Now the Hebrew Scriptures’ 10 Commandments give us a remarkably rich framework for understanding this process within ourselves. They provide benchmarks for [00:02:00] seeing how our inner life then produces our outward behavior, how our inner life and our outer life are distinct and yet related. They’re different, and yet they connect.

Jesus confronts people who know the distinction between their inner belief in the Commandments, say, and the outer application, but they use the external rules for their own selfish gain, for power, for control, for honor to mitigate their fear of the loss of power, for instance, and to hold onto the status quo.

Jesus calls us instead to develop a way of being that is conscious of our need for secure attachment, as distinct from mere obedience to rules to commandments. He challenges us to face our tendencies to become defensive, and stingy, merely materialistic, when we are focused only on external [00:03:00] and material appearance of the obedience to God’s laws.

Genuine and authentic emotions rooted in a relationship with God or your higher power organize our thoughts and actions to align with the love we acknowledge flowing into us and through us. When we live this way, we experience ourselves as worthy, lovable, competent, all because we experience being connected to God, to the world, and to other living beings. This is what it means to be secure in ourselves with God, with others.

Jesus often is simply stating what should be obvious, and yet you and I know people who cannot see how their behavior is selfish or harmful. Perhaps they’re coming from a place of ignorance, of having very poor models growing up, or from being wounded.

A small but telling example comes from my own life. When I [00:04:00] bought a slightly damaged floor model office chair, the salesman encouraged me to buy the $30 insurance plan and then file a claim later and get all my money back while keeping the chair. Now the rules allowed it. He was right about that. It surprised me, but I had to tell him three times that I was not interested in playing that game. I wasn’t that kind of person. I wasn’t going to do that. Like many in Jesus’ day, this man had lost a sense of the connection between the spirit of the law and its purpose in organizing people so that they can love each other and trust each other, and be in a relationship that is healthy and wholesome and mutually supportive.

Jesus makes something clear. Rules are never meant to replace love or to prevent its expression. At the same time, he teaches [00:05:00] that genuine love requires an inner work, what he calls being reborn. Without that transformation we live from merely physical or natural desires rather than from love itself flowing in and through us.

Now again, we are considering how Jesus consistently models secure attachment. He knows he’s loved. He’s mindful about that, and in his prayers, he recognizes it. He reminds himself of it all the time. And because he knows he’s loved, he can therefore love others unconditionally before or even without making any assessment about them and especially about their obedience to the law. Everything he says and does shows us what this looks like and how it can be lived. That’s why I want to look at this in detail.

A securely attached person does not rely on rules to create relationships, though healthy relationships [00:06:00] often share a respect for the same rules. Human beings are designed to give and receive love, to exchange this energy, and so to establish safe, meaningful, wholesome, transformative connections.

We forget this when belief systems replace lived truths, when rules become more important than love. We then disconnect from the flow of divine love that moves through our souls, into our minds and bodies and into the world infilling our behavior with love.

It’s this separation of inner and outer, especially of the inner principles we live by in the outer rules or commands, the separation is what Jesus identifies as spiritual harm. Jesus highlights this when he challenges the misuse of the rule known as Corban. Originally, it meant to support the temple through the generosity of the wealthy. [00:07:00] Over time, it became a loophole. Children who had benefited from their parents’ labor, gave their wealth to the temple, and so gained status and influence, but then neglected their parents’ needs, claiming that the rule justified this behavior.

The deeper commandment to honor father and mother was lost. Perhaps not intentionally, but unconsciously over time as the rules became dominant over loving each other. It seems to be pretty continuous natural development in all institutions across all cultures.

As we seek to feel safe and secure, we demand that other people follow the same rules in order for us to have our own anxiety reduced or to have a sense of connection. When in fact that sense of connection, we’re saying in Jesus’s modeling, comes from within. [00:08:00]

Jesus then turns from the 10 Commandments to the rules about food and purity, and we see a pattern emerging. He says, “If you love me, then …” A securely attached person does not seek approval. Their actions flow from a genuine desire to do good for the neighbor.

Rules serve as models, but what is truly being demonstrated is love. Love for God, for oneself, for others, it is this connection that produces the peace, the security, the wellbeing and joy that we are seeking. Modern developmental psychology confirms this insight. Rules and consequences are necessary early in a child’s development. They protect and they guide immature minds. They give them a sense of grounding and reality of [00:09:00] consequences. As one author puts it, rules “enshrine our spiritual needs.” Then once we mature, rules alone are not enough for our human life and our human growth because eventually such rules will be used as weapons by those seeking power.

It is this abuse of rules that Jesus exposes, not the fact that they exist, but that they are no longer manifesting our love for each other. And I can do that manifestation only when I’m secure in that love, and I’m not relying on the rules to establish the relationship. But it is my experience of the love flowing into and through me to the other person that establishes the relationship.

Our challenge today is to [00:10:00] discern how rules can genuinely express spiritual goodness. This becomes especially difficult in groups and institutions. Rules may begin as expressions of shared values, right? But over time they can be distorted by the pursuit of safety, the pursuit of maintaining organizational boundaries, if not the more nefarious seeking of power or wealth or honor.

The conflicts we face today about public policy, social boundaries, and shared resources are all opportunities for spiritual growth. When we ask how rules can express mutual trust and compassion, and humility, and care for one another, then something remarkable happens. As Jesus showed us, the rules fade into the background and a real connection - the secure attachment is formed - and then runs [00:11:00] our world, runs our relationship.

To develop this secure attachment, especially in groups and organizations, is a slow, demanding, considerate work. It requires intentional, conscious attention over a period of time.

Just consider what Jesus was asking of his disciples. They were raised to believe that certain foods and certain food handling, and washing your hands, and how you did worship, determined their standing with God. Breaking those external rules threaten not only the individual’s wellbeing and inclusion in God’s people. But they believed it threatened the entire community.

We face similar struggles today, even if the external subjects are [00:12:00] different. So Jesus and many wise teachers since have made this clear: peace and joy cannot be established through rules. Secure attachment is an inner state that each person gets to choose, gets to live into, as we’ve said, going through ordeals, being conscious and intentional about what’s going on in one’s inner life, being able to observe it because of a mindfulness practice.

Jesus invites us to loosen our automatic reliance on rules and open our hearts to our neighbors. Trusting that in so doing, we will not be harmed because the universe is looking for our good and our neighbor’s good in those relationships. This trust in God and the universe in creation is in fact the deepest and most secure attachment we can know.

It’s our living connection to God, to the earth, and to all of [00:13:00] life. And here’s one more example of how Jesus is modeling how we can achieve that peace and that joy.

Goodness and truth are said to be lost when they are lacking inside us. Outwardly visible goodness and truth draw their existence and life from what lies inside. So the quality of the inner depths determines the quality of the outer surface, no matter what the surface looks like to the human eye. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §4314

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net

Person To Person: The Gospel of Mark, Paul V, Vickers. Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, PA 1998

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed some of his disciples eating with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)

So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

 Their worship is a farce,

for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’

For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”  Mark 6:53-7:8

The reason why 'touching' means an imparting, conveying, and being received is that a person's inner feelings are expressed by outward means, in particular by touch, and are thereby imparted and conveyed to another. And insofar as the will of the other is in tune and at one with theirs’s, the feelings are received. Whether you say the will or the love, it amounts to the same thing. Whatever a person loves they likewise will. From this it also follows that the inner feelings a person has as a result of what they love and therefore think are expressed through touch, and by means of it are imparted and conveyed to another. And insofar as the other loves the person expressing those feelings, or loves the things which that person says and does, those feelings are received. Secrets of Heaven §10130

In the ancient laws of Moses, “Washing of the body and the garments represented the purification of the heart and mind. Everyone who thinks from any enlightenment can see that the evils of the heart and mind were not wiped away by the washing, but only the uncleanness of the body and the garments; and that after this was wiped away the evils still remained; and that evils cannot possibly be washed away by water, but by repentance….[External actions represented] internal ones, and these internal things were the real holy things of the church among them, and not the external things apart from the internal things. But eventually the people nevertheless made all holiness to consist in the external things, and nothing of it in the internal things.” Secrets of Heaven §10235

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!”  Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.

Mark 6:45-52

Those who [have become what is called] heavenly, are moved by love for goodness. Those who [have become what is called] spiritual [are moved] by love for truth. Heavenly people possess perception, whereas spiritual people possess [merely] the dictate of conscience. The [inner] light which heavenly people have enables them to see goodness and truth from the Lord with their eyes as well as to perceive it. It is like the light of the sun in the daytime. The light which spiritual people have from the Lord is like the light of the moon at night, and so, compared with heavenly people, spiritual people dwell in obscurity. This is why heavenly people never reason about faith or the truths of faith. Because of their perception of truth from goodness, they simply say, ‘That is so.’ Spiritual people talk and reason about the truths of faith because they have a conscience for what is good based on truth. Also, heavenly people have goodness implanted in the will part of their minds, where is a person’s primary life. Spiritual people [have goodness] implanted in the understanding part of their minds, where is a person’s secondary life. from Secrets of Heaven §2708

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed. Mark 6:30-44

Mark Episode 24

[00:00:00] So we continue in our survey of Mark chapter six, and the apostles return from their trek across the country and they report to Jesus all that they had done and taught and seen and so Jesus realizes they have to go off by themselves and have a quiet time and rest because the people were just coming and going all the time.

So they get into a boat in the sea of Galilee and row away. But in the story we’re told people saw them leaving and so they just ran along the shore, following along. Perhaps they could see the boat out in the sea, I don’t know. But they ran ahead and so they were waiting for Jesus and the apostles when they arrived in this wilderness place where there was nothing else going on.

And Jesus sees this and we’re told in the story, his first thought is [00:01:00] compassion. His first feeling, his first reaction is to have compassion on these poor folks. They must have been really needy, right? Well, sometimes people are really needy, right? Perhaps you have been needy. Isn’t it a wonderful experience when a loved one gives you what you need? A hug, an uplifting word, a look in the eye. But then there are times perhaps too often that we don’t know what we need. I may have some inner undefined, insatiable requirement, that actually creates anxiety, which then I project onto all those around me and I appear to them as, in a negative sense, needy.

Everyone has experienced such times of wilderness. It is being dependent on someone or some [00:02:00] circumstance outside of myself to feel peace or security or joy or satisfaction. That wilderness state is a threat to my life, to my happiness, to my wanting to pursue life at all, and it can be running along - unconsciously - my life.

And so I might act in a negative way to other people because that action actually reduces my discomfort. But I’m not noticing what I’m doing to my relationships. I may be confused about what is the right thing to do or say, and so then I end up just saying what will satisfy that moment and too often that may be arising from some part of me that’s defensive or egotistical or even shameful, something I want to cover over or hide. And that behavior will likely harm my [00:03:00] self-esteem or will certainly distance me from someone else. This is a hunger, right? It’s something I crave and I will seek it consciously or unconsciously.

When I’m thirsty, I seek drink, right? When I’m lonely, I seek friendship. When I’m in despair, I seek emotional uplift, hope. Sometimes I satisfy those needs in merely temporarily satisfying ways. Sometimes I will drink a sugary, artificially colored water, right, and that will satisfy in the short term, but it’s poor nutrition.

Or I may reach out in that vulnerable state to just anybody who’s standing there, a person I don’t know, and that’ll end up harming me. And sometimes I will simply bury my sadness or anger or fear, and so hobble myself in my journey. [00:04:00] It is being emotionally lost, cognitively unsure.

I don’t know where I am. I don’t know where I want to go. I don’t know what direction to choose. I wish I was one of a hundred sheep, following the herd, listening to the familiar whistle of the shepherd, right? Then I would know where I am and where I’m going. I might be exhausted or confused or skittish, but when I hear that shepherd’s call, I find energy to move.

And so that’s what happened to these people when they heard Jesus’ voice, when they saw what he did. My experience is that I will go seek safety from harm, shelter from this storm. Good food that will nurture my soul. Imagining this metaphor in my life, promises to connect me to the ancient human condition that is pictured in this [00:05:00] 2000 year old story, which is continuing to today. Likely there are even older versions of this same story about the human condition in other literature from around the world.

The people now across Galilee have been visited by the apostles of Jesus, who taught them truths, who awakened a hope of health, of safety, of happiness that was actually possible. He healed their bodies and their spirits. In the process they had become true apostles, the bringers of wisdom and healing.

And so the people followed them to the master and there manifested all their neediness, driven by hope and trust. Their despair, their hunger, their wish for a better life or freedom or joy was encouraged to find and follow Jesus. [00:06:00] So when they saw Jesus and his apostles take off in a boat into the sea of Galilee, they jumped up and it renewed their energy to go have their needs satisfied.

They followed along the coast because they needed to hear his words, to touch the hem of his garment, to get food for their souls. This pictures our inner spiritual experience when we are energized by the hope of a connection, of a secure attachment to a loved one, we do both healthy and sadly at times, unhealthy things, in order to follow this powerful draw of our need for connection to that safe, nurturing experience.

As I read this story, I was amazed, right? That is when we read this story, our poorly developed, ego filled, judgmental self is amazed that Jesus is not annoyed at [00:07:00] being followed. We were told that as he stepped off the boat, he saw what turned out to be more than 5,000 people there waiting for him, he was not going to get the rest that he said they all needed.

He did not get time alone with the closest of his followers to encourage them. What he saw, now from his secure attachment way of being, was a crowd of people who were like lost sheep, needing love, needing wisdom, needing connection. They did not know where they were spiritually. They did not know how to find the food for their souls.

In this powerful moment, as small as it may seem, stepping off the boat, what Jesus does is a confirmation of my premise that Jesus had grown spiritually to become an integrated person, that he is secure in his sense of self, his worth in his [00:08:00] connection.

I suggest that Jesus knows the human spirit because he’s also been in this emotional and spiritual wilderness, and he knows how to get out of it. He knows that we are all driven to find sufficient healthy food for our spirit so that we may feel joy and satisfaction because that is what he has found and he knows that when needy enough, we will accept almost whatever we find poisonous as it may be. And so he looks and he sees these people and he has compassion.

Now, perhaps when you’re needy, you eat right. Perhaps you sleep, perhaps you yell, perhaps you fight. When we are not being led by truth and wisdom, we inevitably get lost in an undefined, unintelligible morass of emotions and [00:09:00] unregulated thoughts. That’s the 5,000 and more people. Jesus knows that all these poor choices are cries for connection, to be seen, to be heard, to be accepted as we are.

And so when he looks over the crowd that has chased him down, all he feels is compassion.

So taken as a story for us, our opportunity is to remember that authentic spiritual wisdom and love that will guide us to healthy relationships is being modeled here by Jesus’ behavior of this way of being. The task is to look carefully at what Jesus is doing and expect to see a way to find relief and safety, a way to come to expect good results, by, how offering compassion from a secure [00:10:00] attachment to people and ourselves and our God in our lives.

As Jesus stepped off the boat, any irritation he must have felt would’ve been very fleeting. He stopped projecting his neediness on the people. He didn’t need their affirmation for his own sense of safety and worth and value, and so quickly compassion is stirred up in his heart. The miracle that is about to happen is proof that his model works.

Because we’re told then it’s late in the afternoon, the apostles see these crowds and they say it’s getting late. These people need to be sent away to find food and places to stay. And Jesus says to them you feed them. And the apostles say, with what? We would have to work for months to earn enough money to [00:11:00] buy food for all these people. We haven’t done that. How much could we possibly do for these people? That’s their normal response, right? I mean that would be an expected response. That we don’t have the economic ability, we don’t have the infrastructure to do it.

And that’s when Jesus said, well, how much bread do you have? Go find out. And they came back that amongst the 12 of them and their other followers, I guess, they had five loaves of bread and two fish. Not much, even just for them. So then Jesus says, we’re gonna organize this, have everybody sit down in groups and bring me the bread and the pieces of fish.

And so then we’re told that Jesus does a miracle. It says he blesses the food, and then he breaks the loaves into pieces and the fish into pieces, and [00:12:00] he just kept getting more and more and more to the disciples and they went and spread it out amongst all 5,000 people and brought back extra that was left over.

An amazing miracle.

I want to read a long quote from a book called “Person to Person, the Gospel of Mark” by the Reverend Paul Vickers, but follow along here with me because he makes this really important point about how we make the mistake of relying on ourselves or the world. To our circumstances to give us an internal experience of satisfaction and joy.

He writes, “We have to realize we are dealing with human things in all these day-to-day problems and emotional stresses. Today, [00:13:00] every problem is often summarized in economic and scientific terms, and these are assumed to define, therefore, the action that is to be taken. The human element, the humanity of it all, if it is admitted, must be bribed or coerced into the solution offered.

“But the real question is that of human intention. The will to do anything helpful remains the decision of those involved. They must use the bread and fish of the love and wisdom they have from God to decide what must be done for others, even where we cannot explain all the factors involved. The motivation for loving service must feed our life.

“Each of us has very real decisions to make on how we use our abilities and our time, how we react to other [00:14:00] people and their needs, what purposes we use to direct our daily life. The crowd of problems may seem vast, but the only way to satisfy them is by personal action. From love, wherever we see the opportunity to help others.”

Whenever we take a moment to stop and notice, we will see that there is a huge crowd of ideas in our minds. Each one begging to be fed, each one wanting to be attended to, to become healthy and strong, and stand out amongst the 5,000 ideas in our mind. It can be a disorganized mass, and we may have experienced poor management in the past, right? Hurting a friendship, covering up a mistake, telling a lie to get a desired result.

Jesus entices us into an experience of the power and effectiveness of love. To [00:15:00] organize and serve all those ideas producing good results. He’s telling us that if we depend on the spiritual love and wisdom that we are given from within, from above our thought, our minds will be well organized and will get the emotional and spiritual food each needs.

Well, how do we do that? The apostles are symbols for the actually good and actually true feelings and thoughts that we have acquired. Yet we are merely natural minded people and when confronted by a large and difficult problem, we can easily default to the economic and scientific solution. Most often the ideas we have made up and they’ve seemed to work for us in the past, you know, they were effective.

We default to the feeling that is most comfortable, avoiding feeling [00:16:00] disrupted or discovering that we’re being selfish or egotistical or materialistic. That in those solutions, an example might be that my partner and I see differently how to discipline our child who has misbehaved. We agree that the bad behavior needs to change, and that will feel to the child like being punished. But we each have a different set of ideas about how to affect it. In order to show my partner the right way to do it, I might resort to dire predictions. “Our child will die!” Or I might assert my rightness, “Look I know how this works. This is the right way to do it.” Or I might even call out my partner’s past failures “When you’ve been treating our kid that way the behavior’s continuing.”

These ways of acting, of responding will just feed my ideas and make them strong and satisfied. [00:17:00] But the food that I’ve been giving myself is merely materialistic and selfish. It’s sourced in my own ego. And so my behavior will wound my relationship with my partner, leading my partner to not feel secure in our relationship, and it will not model for our child any secure attachment.

So Jesus is modeling what a person who has a secure attachment style does with challenges that need to be solved. He responds to the Apostle’s proposed solution of sending the people off by engaging them in the work of an authentic ministry, which relies completely on the power of divine love. So going back to my parenting story, I can stop and realize that no one person, including me, has ownership of all the good and true ideas about parenting.[00:18:00] But I do have something, and I might misjudge that as not being enough. And what I have is that I love my children and I love my partner. I do not need to go to another village for these resources. When I bring that love out and put my actions, my thoughts and feelings into the flow of the divine love and wisdom, remember Jesus blessing the bread and fish, then my mind and the thousands of ideas that my partner and I share will be organized and fed.

By a divine love flowing from within, coming into my consciousness, precisely because I’m acting from a love for my children and my partner, and specifically not from my own ego or my need to be right, or even my experience and expertise, which is so great, right? And the impact will be [00:19:00] miraculous. Our parenting will be strengthened and deepened by the shared effort that tapped into God’s love.

Of course there’s still the issue of our parenting effectively, but we will be together in the struggle - yet another result of being securely attached with each other. So I want to remember to catch myself when I think to look elsewhere for inspiration to solve problems. I want to hear the inner voice of the divine asking me “What do you have?”

And Jesus is showing us a way to be in healthy relationships with others that resolves our worries and wounds by encouraging us to discover how good desires and true ideas are available to us when we go within, to the spiritual sources for our ideas and our reasoning.

So to prepare, I invite you to ask yourself [00:20:00] “With what?” That’s the question the apostles put to Jesus. “With what am I going to solve this?” When you reflect on it, you’ll likely remember a time you caught yourself wondering, perhaps even out loud, I don’t know how I’m going to do this, cope with this, overcome this. This is when it feels like the world is giving us a burden or pushback or barriers.

It feels like we’re in a wilderness. And our faith may start to tremble and may wonder why is the universe doing this to me? And our trust in the source and the flow of goodness and wisdom might be challenged, at least with confusion, if not with doubt. So our practice of letting go of our ego, letting go of being judgmental.

It sets us up to respond to these challenges by [00:21:00] first going to compassion for yourself and for others, and we will hear in our mind and in our heart, go find out what you have. Explore your inner resources. Be curious about what’s going on for those people, and hope and insight will then follow. If we marshal our love and wisdom, it will be multiplied, surely enough to do what needs to be done.

The state of ignorance of truth, in which [Christian] Gentiles have been, is meant by a “wilderness,” and the desire for truth by “hunger,” and instruction by the Lord by “feeding.” [We learn this from the story] that the Lord withdrew into the wilderness, and there taught the multitude that sought Him, and afterwards fed them. For all things that the Lord did and all things connected with Him represented [spiritual things] because they corresponded [to spiritual realities]. Based on many scriptural passages, it is clear that a “wilderness” means an uncultivated and uninhabited state with a person, thus a state not yet made vital from what is spiritual, and, when applied to the church, a state not enlivened by means of truths. So [a “wilderness”] means a religious principle [held by them] which is almost empty and void, because they did not have the Word where truths are, and therefore did not know the Lord who teaches truths. And because they did not have truths, their goodness also could be no otherwise than such as the truth that was with them, for good is like its truth, because [truth is the form of good]. from Apocalypse Revealed §730:30

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson

Emanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. She had been his brother Philip’s wife, but Herod had married her. John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.” So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless, for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.

Herodias’s chance finally came on Herod’s birthday. He gave a party for his high government officials, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee. Then his daughter, also named Herodias, came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you.” He even vowed, “I will give you whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom!”

She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!” So the girl hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist, right now, on a tray!”

Then the king deeply regretted what he had said; but because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn’t refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier beheaded John in the prison, brought his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl, who took it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came to get his body and buried it in a tomb. Mark 6:14-29

Mark Episode 23 Transcript

[00:00:00] We continue in Mark chapter six. The 12 apostles have been sent out and we will hear their report later, but the gospel writer inserts here a powerful story that we today would say displays how wounded people wound people.

Herod is vain. The King of Judea, he relies on the appreciation of others for his own sense of self-worth, the epitome of not being securely attached. He’s especially dependent on the manipulative Herodias who probably schemed to divorce Herod’s loser brother to become queen, wife of Herod. Of course, no one would say anything bad about them right in the court, except John the Baptist. The implication is that Herod [00:01:00] liked John’s boldness, perhaps even envying John’s secure attachment style, and so we’re told that Herod protected John, but imprisoned him nonetheless.

Eventually Herodias gets tired of John’s criticism and she schemes to get rid of the irritating John by arranging for her daughter to seduce Herod by means of a lascivious dance. At least that’s my interpretation of Herod’s reaction to the dance. And many artists agree with that interpretation. So Herod in a fit of aroused stupidity - Herodias knew him very well and knew that this is what was going to happen - promised the dancing girl anything she wanted. Prompted by her mother, she asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Herod fooled no one when he [00:02:00] fulfilled her wish. They all knew that he was a tool for his wife Herodias.

Now when Jesus sent the 12 out, he became a public figure attracting Herod’s attention. Herod knows full well who Jesus is, but he announces that the official story is that Jesus is, in fact, John the Baptist, reincarnated. Why did he do this? Why did he remind people of the stupid mistake he had made?

Well, as the saying goes, it’s complicated. I presume he sees an opportunity to justify his past actions. Somehow the gospel writer is putting Herod’s weakness and Herodias’ evil on full display. We all know what is happening here. I suggest that Herod and Herodias are metaphors for how we [00:03:00] are when a wounded part of us is in charge of our lives and prevents achieving any secure attachments.

One part of us, a part of our mind tied to our body and sensations, is driven by ideas and desires that look and feel good and true for us. Another part of us, a part of our mind not dependent on sensation for its ideas and feelings, sees those merely sensual ideas and desires and knows they’re being used to manipulate and harm ourselves and others. And that part of us feels disgust.

Shame could be said to be the experience of believing we are such an evil person, which belief can manipulate us into doing and saying harmful things. So that’s Herod and Herodias. Herod is [00:04:00] the thinking part of us that can hold both good noble ideas and bad vile ideas. At the same time, we’ve all experienced strategizing how to keep bad ideas that are pleasurable or serving intact, while also appearing to espouse the good ideas by keeping them alive in the back of our minds.

So, actually imprisoned like John the Baptist, our lower mind reacts to our reflection on our life by creating explanations for thinking and feeling the way we do so we can continue to defer to those selfish and materialistic ideas and desires. After all, contesting those lower thoughts and desires feels uncomfortable, like something is wrong.

And we want to avoid that discomfort, and we do this even though those bad ideas and desires continue to create problems in our lives. In [00:05:00] fact, we repeatedly experience heartache at our missteps because we merely try to think our way out of this morass, this conundrum, which is futile. Like Herod, we are trying to control the narrative.

Everybody around him knew the truth, but by maintaining the semblance of power and control, everybody can avoid distress. Don’t want to upset Herodias. Now note that this application to our lives looks this way. I don’t have to have done heinous things or have had malicious intention towards others to have experienced this mental and spiritual process.

It can happen, for instance, when my poor planning leads to my feeling rushed, and so I take that last fast step into the checkout line [00:06:00] rather than letting the elderly lady go first. Or I can be letting someone’s misunderstanding of a problematic situation stand rather than let them know that I made a mistake. Or it can be my saying, “oh, I didn’t see that message.”

To cover my mistake, justifying myself by believing I’m avoiding a side conversation that would start up, that ends up criticizing me. No one needs to waste time doing that. Right? Those are a couple of examples of this process. Herod’s story is an extreme public example of this process. Most of us only need to stop the rush of thoughts and calm our emotions and take time to reflect in order to catch this process happening, even if it’s hidden away in our inner lives.

This does not require [00:07:00] deep reflection. The task the Gospel writer is offering us is to observe this process. Jesus, we’re saying, is a model of healthy mental development. An example of someone who’s securely attached, while Herod reveals a pretty common state of affairs for most of us: we will follow the process Jesus outlines, which leads to serenity and joy and satisfaction. Or will we go the route of justifying like Herod and so never actually doing the work of healing our hearts or repairing rifts in our relationships. Of course, we fear the opinion of the crowd. There really are people in our lives whose opinions matter to us, and we are wired to need to be in the tribe for our survival.

But even more [00:08:00] vitally, given that we are human and spiritual, we need to authentically and honestly accept that we have many ideas and desires that would do whatever it takes to maintain our natural comfort and apparent security. There is a part of all of us that fears abandonment. And when it takes over, we’ll lie even to loved ones, to stay connected.

That’s the shadow, you might say, of true secure attachment. And of course, we want power and control in our lives. We want to be in charge, even as Herod sought to be king in Galilee. Ironically, Herod was removed from leadership by the Romans precisely because of his poor leadership abilities. Meanwhile, selfish desires triggered by woundedness that’s been poked somehow are actually the power behind it all.

Even as Herodias [00:09:00] was the power behind Herod’s throne, no good can ever actually be accomplished so long as selfishness rules. And the only resolution begins with observing the woundedness that can get triggered to have us act out in some way that harms ourselves or others or our relationships with others or our relationship with God, because in fact, we are all created with a sacred dance already in our spirit.

Love and wisdom sourced from the divine interacts with the world and our body and its five senses, creating joy and beauty in the world through our words and actions. And so creating an experience of joy and satisfaction in the goodness and truth of our inner world, the dance can certainly be profaned by selfishness and worldliness that seeks to have mere [00:10:00] pleasure at the cost of authentic delight. A wounded part of us can seek to be in control because it fears the loss of power or the loss of belonging. And so when so directed as the daughter was by the mother Herods, all hell breaks loose. There’s terrible upset. We begin to lie to ourselves and others, or we at least seek to avoid the discomfort.

I think it’s important to notice that all of this happens when Jesus became a public figure. So as applied to us, when Jesus’ model of love and connection comes to our attention, when we realize that we can love and be loved, that we can connect with other people, that that is a real attractive way of being; when we notice that, we then are encouraged [00:11:00] to face our fears, to bring light into the shadowed places of our hearts and minds, to speak the truth, to confront when we are being manipulated by even our lower self.

So perhaps we could begin every day with the thought that God is in fact equipping us with everything we need, and that would be aopying this model of loving our lives and doing what is good for others, perhaps we can intentionally bring to mind this cautionary tale of Herod and be reminded of the trouble we bring upon ourselves if we listen to the crowd of voices in our heads warning us of unpleasantness.

In obeying the laws of love and faith by observing it, it robs it of its power, when light shines on it, it is no longer in the darkness. It no [00:12:00] longer manipulates us. Whatever we take on as a spiritual discipline, God will be securing our connection through those higher, deeper thoughts that are inspired from within.

Eventually, as we are about to hear from Mark, we will be able to return from our journey, which task is perhaps only a moment long as we use a true thought or a good desire to guide us in the present moment. We return from our journey enriched and empowered, having practiced this model that Jesus has given us.

We feel safer and more secure in God’s love for us. And our brains, that part of our outer level or natural level of life, will then be more subject to the beliefs and desires of the inner spiritual part of our life, and so fully integrated into our internal family, and so less likely to make our [00:13:00] circumstance worse.

This is the experience of a secure attachment, a mutual regard with our creator, with others, and within ourselves, that will give us the strength and courage to love others without conditions, and so successfully avoid falling into being manipulated or defensive or parading ourselves as whole and healthy and powerful and in control, which is a false front.

That’s what I’m suggesting Herod was doing coming from his woundedness. And the resolution is for us to see that woundedness, accept it, and welcome it into our lives. Thus removing it from a place of control and manipulation. Jesus and his apostles and what they’re modeling will then [00:14:00] come back into our lives.

“All the evils that we have a tendency toward from the day we are born are a lasting part of the will of our earthly self. When we allow ourselves to be influenced by these evils they flow into our thinking. Good things along with truths flow down into our thinking from above, from the Lord. In our thoughts the two are weighed against each other, like weights on a pair of scales. If we choose evil things, they are received by our old will and become part of it. If we choose good things along with truths, a new will and a new intellect are formed by the Lord above our old will and our old intellect. Gradually over time, the Lord uses the truths that are in our new intellect to implant new forms of good on that higher level. Through these truths he also gains control over the evils that are below, moves them out of the way, and sets everything in order. This also makes it clear that our thought process purifies and excretes, so to speak, the evils that are resident in us from our heredity.” True Christianity §659

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

Emanuel Swedenborg,

http://www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols,

http://www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth”

http://www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Anyone can see here that a shoe would not detract from the holiness in any way, provided the individual were intrinsically holy. The order is given because the shoe was representing the earthly, bodily periphery, which needs to be shed…. Something similar is involved in the command to the disciples: If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, coming out of that house or city shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5) The dust of the feet symbolizes the same thing as a shoe—namely, something made unclean by evil and falsity—because the bottom of the foot means the outer limit of the earthly level. In those days people were engrossed in representation and believed that representation alone, rather than the naked truth, held secrets of heaven within it. That is why they were commanded to shake the dust off. Secrets of Heaven §1748

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFe70zDc6Y&list=PLPNhYKu9Qzf9P2OxARlBFOj_OuUTeh2in

Emanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Mark Episode 21

[00:00:00] And so now we come to Mark chapter six. Jesus has done those amazing miracles and he leaves that part of the country, goes to his hometown. He’s now fully into his ministry, and he goes into the Sabbath and he teaches in the synagogue and many who heard him were amazed, but they scoffed at him because he’s just a carpenter, right?

He’s got brothers and sisters. They were offended by his coming across somehow as being special. They refused to believe in him. And we’re told, Jesus quotes this ancient saying that a prophet is not honored in his hometown. He couldn’t do any miracles except just to heal a few sick people. And it says he was amazed at their unbelief.

So again, Jesus is, we are presuming, [00:01:00] fully securely attached. And as we’re watching his reaction here, when he returns to his hometown, and I expect him to not be defensive, not attacking, and accepting what is, and I guess his amazement is that he would’ve hoped that people who loved him and cared for him would have accepted him as he was.

Don’t we expect that? Don’t we expect that those who are closest to us, who love us to be the most supportive of us, we consider such people as friends, right? Allies. Isn’t it true that blood is thicker than water, as they say? Well, Jesus is asking us in this story to discern when such attitudes, such ideas are actually merely natural and materialistic and so cannot reflect spiritual realities [00:02:00] in us.

Jesus wants to see when it happens that our dependence on circumstances, or our own will, or other people, or our belief in our own wishes, actually prevents the development of our faith in God, our connection to God, and our acceptance of goodness and the spread of that goodness.

Perhaps it’s been true for you too, it’s sad to me to read this story of a family breakup. Of course, his mother remained devoted to him for the rest of her life, but all the other family and friends, as far as we know, rejected him. They scoffed at him. I can imagine they could have thought he was just a big brother, grown out of his proper station in life. He could have for some reason come across as arrogant? And that says something about those people in the town because other people meeting [00:03:00] Jesus are charmed by him. They are connected to him. They feel his welcome and his support.

So a relationship possible now with Jesus for these people, it’s a matter of choice of will, of love, of desire, was blocked somehow because they held on to those old ideas of him from his childhood. The kid that played in the street or so forth, right? So they missed a chance, therefore to be healed and saved because they allowed those old stories, those old views of him, to stop them from having a relationship with Jesus Christ, right? In the story, he’s the son of God.

So we are looking for how Jesus is modeling the impact of a healthy, securely attached relationship to this circumstance. When he says that we are to love people, not simply because they’re brothers and [00:04:00] sisters or mother and father, it looks like, on the one level, that he’s breaking the command to honor the father and the mother. It looks like a rejection of the ancient, traditional family structure. But Jesus’ lament that a prophet is not honored by his own people was a well-known saying in those days, and it tells the truth cleanly and clearly that Jesus was bringing to the people.

I don’t think Jesus is being passive aggressive here. I don’t think he’s being cynical. He is working to connect inside of himself, his understanding, his will, his thoughts and desires, the divine and the finite so that they are congruent. And so that he is reflecting a spiritual heavenly life in his actions, not separating from the spiritual source or creating a distinction.

As Jesus makes clear, this is not an either/or proposition. He’s [00:05:00] showing that one’s spiritual desires and spiritual faith are to have primacy over materialistic things, even allegiance to merely worldly things such as blood or family relationships. Jesus had been preparing the people, and us the readers, by his actions and words and these stories, even as he was going through his own development for this realization, for this knowing of what authentic spiritual connections actually consist.

When my intellect, when my thinking, when my understanding, depends on the idea that God is imminent, that he’s present in my life, that God the divine, the Source, Life is present in other people’s lives and is present in the world, then that divine love, that [00:06:00] energy is going to be present in my soul, in my heart, and my mind. It’s going to direct my thinking, and then I’m able to experience the peace and the serenity that comes with it. The wholeness, the integrity, the authenticity, the emotional intelligence that we see made evident in people who are what we’re calling securely attached.

And all those qualities of peace and so forth are available to me then in my rational, my conscious mind, because I’m depending on this prior spiritual concept to guide me, to influence me. It’s the spirit that is coming down into my thinking and my acting, and that lived concept welcomes the influence and the organizing force of divine love.

This story reveals that good and true ideas lift us up into spiritual warmth, and spiritual light, raises us out of this [00:07:00] illusory and limited life of our senses. The good news is that this does not require some superhuman effort. It is, however, a hero’s journey. Remember, Jesus started as a common man according to what we could see. We are told he was a son of God from conception, but he was raised in this little town of Nazareth, which is later disparaged as just being a worthless town, amongst normal people, in a normal family.

So now liken that to some of your ideas and your life, your common life, your ordinary ideas that can be, according to how Jesus models it for us, an introduction to spiritual goodness and wisdom, a reflection of inner life, those good and true ideas that could lift us up into the warmth and light of heaven.

However, they are always mixed [00:08:00] with all the other notions and experiences that we have had - good and bad, right? Therefore, by the way, we are created by God and then how we are nurtured or not by our caregivers, we come to adulthood with this mix of heavenly and earthly ideas of spiritually good and unhelpful false trauma responses, right? And some selfishly evil desires which have become by habitual use or by acceptance by the community, the way we see the world ourselves and how we live.

When we reach adulthood, we notice that there are some ideas that we just can’t let go of. This is a common observation in psychology. There are some desires that just keep coming back with enough strength to drive our ideas, drive our concept of the world to drive our behaviors. And we’ve been using those ideas [00:09:00] and those desires to, for instance, relieve our fear of being alone. Or our fear of being unloved. Yet some of those ideas like using alcohol or other distractions really do not resolve those fears or unmet needs. They can even harm us and harm our relationships.

For instance, the idea that if I’m right, I’ll let you know I’m correct and that is going to make me feel better, right? And so it becomes an unconscious habit. I just speak up and say, oh no, that’s the right way to do it. And I do this, even though that might harm the relationship I’m having with someone because I’m telling them they’re wrong. I hold onto that practice. I hold onto that idea because it feels good to me.

So that’s what’s happening to the people in Nazareth. They have this old story about Jesus and they can’t let go of it, and that gets them stuck, and [00:10:00] so this is an interesting observation here, that then Jesus can’t perform very many miracles, which means that there’s something going on in the people that prevents Jesus from reaching them. So that’s a possibility that we could have something going on in our mind, in our bodies even, that interferes with this flow of energy, this flow of life. And that’s a topic that we need to pay attention to on our way to becoming securely attached. Do we have ideas that we’ve collected over the years that are not helpful, that are not accepting of God’s love, of his healing. We have to have a sense of owning those things and a sense of being able to turn and look at them, right? That’s to repent and to then let them go.

But sometimes, sometimes it’s really [00:11:00] hard. And in this story, Jesus leaves Nazareth and he never goes back. And that’s sad. That there was so much missed opportunity on the people’s part. But that illustrates the reality that we actually have the freedom to interfere with our own healing and maybe you’ve run into people like that, I certainly did in my practice, that just couldn’t quite get the message and never opened their hearts and minds to this higher power, to this energy of the divine love.

Now the good news that Jesus tells us is that amongst all of these emotions and thoughts are ones that do connect us to heaven and to God. Our task then is to find them to see them as such and to acknowledge them as being the ones that will help us and then clinging to them through all trial and tribulation, [00:12:00] and therefore, to live according to those spiritual truths, those spiritual loves.

And that brings the love of God, the divine love, present into our intellect where we experience it in our minds. In the example of the need to be right, we become aware of the fact that our insistence on being right actually has a negative impact on a relationship we have with someone. We notice that, and we discover how to catch ourselves by some mindfulness practice or some accountability partner you might say, or by giving up whatever it was we were doing that was distracting us -food, alcohol, sex, so forth. My phone continues to be a distraction for me that relieves any pain I might have of being alone or a fear of being abandoned.

But when we notice we’re doing that and we catch ourselves, we [00:13:00] eventually stop doing it. Why has that happened? It’s because God’s love is always there prodding us, as it were. It’s being present so that we have that opportunity to cling to this flow of love through all the struggles that we have to stop doing whatever it was that was distracting us.

Our task is to observe the thoughts and feelings that come into this small village of our minds where we are so comfortable, where we grew up. With practice, every human being can notice when an idea or desire has taken on meaning and power in their life, they can see it happening. Every human being, every one of us, with more or less practice, can then observe the impact those thoughts and feelings have on ourselves and on others, and on our relationships. And that is [00:14:00] why we need to have contemplative times in our life when we pause to consider those thoughts and ideas that we’re holding onto, or a small group that we can talk to in a safe place, or a partner that we can talk to who will not criticize or try to correct or fix us. That allows us then to observe, to back off a little bit from the stories we’ve made up, from our trauma responses, and give God an opportunity to flow in with his healing love.

We then can discern which thoughts and emotions to honor as providing access to the power of spiritual love and truth, and we can begin to observe the model that Jesus provides for us here, and we then will learn to be securely attached to those [00:15:00] ideas that are helpful. We will trust them, we won’t have to argue with them, we don’t have to defend them. They’re there for us all the time. We can trust them to work and we can hold on to those loves and express those loves unconditionally and healthfully that have borne this result of feeling confident and worthy, of value.

And then love stays with us through the valleys. Perhaps shame, or despair or regret that we have to go through as we go through the ordeal of letting go. Of those thoughts and emotions that are not helpful of letting go of those stories even that were so important to us. If we feel like we might die as we give them up, we have to leave them behind, never to be seen again, even as Jesus left his hometown and his [00:16:00] brothers and sisters, perhaps never to see them again.

That is the love that carries us through those dark times, and we experience that love, we feel it. We see it working in our lives, and as we watch Jesus in this gospel, we see that modeled - we learn how we are loved. How the universe is for us. That it gives us this opportunity to connect with our spirituality, such that we can share the love and feel whole and independent and, even while we are reliant on God and that love then stays with us so that we then can share it with others. Thus living out the life of someone who is securely attached.

A person who [has not yet become a] spiritual person can still think rationally and so speak rationally. This is because a person’s intellect can be raised into the light of heaven, which is truth, and see in that light, even though their will cannot in the same way be raised into the warmth of heaven, which is love, and be impelled to act by heavenly love….The fact that their intellect can be raised into heaven and not yet their will is what makes it possible for a person to be reformed and become spiritual; only when their will is raised as well are they then for the first time reformed and become spiritual. It is because of the ability of the intellect, above and beyond that of the will that even an evil person, can think rationally and so speak rationally, like a spiritual one. But they are still not a rational person, because the intellect does not lead the will, but the will leads the intellect. The intellect only informs and shows the way….When they are left to their own will or their own love, they throw aside the rational considerations of their intellect regarding God, heaven, and eternal life, and instead adopt views in harmony with their will’s love, calling those ideas rational. from Life §15

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”

Emanuel Swedenborg,

http://www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols,

http://www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth”

http://www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

[In the spiritual world] those who touch each other communicate the state of their life to each other. If this is done by the hands, everything of the life is communicated, because the hands [communicate] power, which is the active of life which affects others. From Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets §10023

The Lord holds people in the Freedom of thinking. And when unhindered by outward bonds, which are the fear of the law and for life, and the fear of the loss of reputation, of honor, and of gain, He keeps them in the Freedom of doing. And through Freedom He bends them away from evil. And through Freedom He bends them to good, leading them so gently and silently that the person knows no otherwise than that everything proceeds from themselves. Thus the Lord, in Freedom, instills and cultivates goodness in the very life of the person, which goodness remains to eternity. From Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets §9587

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFe70zDc6Y&list=PLPNhYKu9Qzf9P2OxARlBFOj_OuUTeh2in

Emanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.com

John Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.com

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.net

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

The herdsmen fled and spread the news. People came and saw the man clothed and sane, and they were afraid. They begged Jesus to leave. The man wanted to follow, but Jesus said, “Go home and tell your family what the Lord has done.” He went to the Ten Towns proclaiming, and all were amazed.

Returning across the lake, Jesus was met by crowds. A woman who had bled for twelve years touched his robe, thinking, “If I touch him, I’ll be healed.” Immediately she was cured. Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Trembling, she admitted it. Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace” (Mark 5:1–21, 24–34).

Mark Episode 19 Transcript

[00:00:00] So chapter five of the Gospel of Mark begins with a story of Jesus again crossing the sea. This time away from Capernaum to the less populated eastern side of the sea. And when they come to shore, they’re confronted by this insane man and he is, in the story, said to be possessed. He’s out of his mind. He’s been running amongst the rocks and cutting himself. And when he and Jesus meet, the man’s voice then speaks out and says, “We are legion.” So it’s this story of these demons within, possessing him, and they recognize Jesus to be this presence of love and a divine presence of love, a powerful presence of love.

[00:01:00] And they say, look, don’t destroy us, send us away. And Jesus sends them the way and they go into a herd of pigs and the pigs go crazy and run off the cliff and all die. Here again, I see illustrated the human condition and how becoming securely attached, finding a bond with love, being able to trust love, and its presence, is healing.

Surely you have experienced tension in your life between two competing ideas? Do I want chocolate or vanilla? Well, I guess I’ll have both! And then a part of you says, well, you ate too much - that was too much sugar - and condemns you for breaking the rule. And then you feel like you’ve lost again, you’re a failure, [00:02:00]

So that’s a common thing. It can be deeper: where you are in a job that you hate, but the money’s good. And, you don’t want to love money, but it’s security for you and your family and so forth. Or even deeper: the clients that came to me and said, I love my spouse, but they’re toxic, they’re anxious, or they’re negative, or they’re complaining all the time, or they can’t be faithful to me, and I see their woundedness and I really care for them, but I’ve got to divorce them. I can’t be with them.

That’s a terrible situation to be in. It drives us crazy and we want to excise it out. We want to get rid of some part of us and it doesn’t work.

And then we notice at times some good idea comes along and a good encouragement to let go or be silent in that circumstance. You cannot be [00:03:00] sarcastic in that circumstance because those were the practices you used to resolve the pain to get out of that situation. And it even can be substances. That’s maybe why some people drink to excess or do drugs.

So what’s going on there, we now know, is that the brain becomes used to a certain chemical and electrical balance. And sometimes that balance is maintained by a behavior that dislocates us from our creator, from God, from the universe, from other people, and causes this tension inside of us that’s not resolvable.

What happens is that love comes along and says, you can trust me. You can love yourself, you can be in relationship. [00:04:00] And when that idea appears, there is an aggravation. There is a rising up of these inner demons where we can see them. The evil becomes manifest, right? The disruption, the pain, the suffering becomes manifest. And we recognize that both of those parts that are in tension are in fact part of us and we cannot drive them away.

Rather, they need to be welcomed into the family that is in our inner life, recognized as playing a role, and then finding their place so that they don’t overwhelm us so that they’re not activated and we feel gripped by them. And that letting go is in fact recognizing and trusting yourself, and God, and the universe, and other people [00:05:00] to be in relationship that you will be cared for.

It’s interesting that in the story, the demons, legion, say cast us away. And we don’t talk about it that way anymore. But there is, on a deeper level, I believe, the reality that there are powers of darkness. That there are evil spirits that have glommed onto these parts of us and they are pricking us, that they’re exciting that one little thing.

C.S. Lewis describes this so well in The Screwtape Letters. And so it looks like we are driving them away and they’re no longer part of us. When in fact there’s that part of us, perhaps wounded, or perhaps neglected, or worried or anxious, that is now seen and heard and accepted. And what happened to the man is he has peace. Now [00:06:00] he’s sane again! He’s not tormented by this tension. And what’s wonderful is he turns to Jesus and he says, “Let me follow you. Let me come with you as you get back in the boat to cross the sea.” And Jesus says, “No, you go home and be with your family and show them what a securely attached person looks like.” And we’re told in the story that the man indeed does that.

I am encouraged by this, that when I do what’s necessary to resolve this point of tension and accept that I am loved and that I am loving, and that I can trust the universe to be good and to do me good, that affects all of my life. There is a peace that overcomes my whole life that I’m able now to resolve other issues that are going on [00:07:00] inside of me. I see clearly the resolution to some other relatively small point. So again, I am seeing that this power of the divine love, which is this good idea that we see modeled somewhere. Or that comes to us as all ideas do, and simply appears on the shore of our life and invites us in. And if we can through, as Jesus modeled, a practice, a mindfulness practice, and a remembering myself, that I am in the flow of the divine providence, that I am loved, if I have that practice, that when this gets aggravated and excited in me, this tension, that I’m able to rise above it and stay present with it and see myself as being along the way, that this is the process of life.

That little [00:08:00] glimmer of hope is what will bring me back to the ground, back to the earth, back into sanity. And a presence that then is joyful and can experience life. Why? Because I now feel connected to my God, to other people, and the parts inside of me are connected and working.

And now to the very next story in the gospel of Mark chapter five. Here again, Jesus is being confronted by someone who’s suffering. He crosses the sea again, and now he comes to the populated side near Capernaum and he’s walking through this great crowd and it turns out that there’s this woman who has been bleeding for many years, and she has not been able to get any better for 12 years, but she hears about Jesus.

And so here’s one of the key things. She has a faith or a belief that Jesus can heal her. [00:09:00] She doesn’t feel worthy. She doesn’t feel good enough, so she sneaks up on him. And unlike everybody else in the crowd who might be brushing up against Jesus, she reaches out and touches him on his robe with the intention of being healed.

Jesus being, in the story, the divine love present on earth, the son of God, realizes that healing power has gone out of him. And so he turns around and he says, who touched my robe? Of course, everybody around says, what do you mean, the crowds around you? Who has touched me? But he kept looking around, we’re told.

And then we’re told that the frightened woman, she’s still frightened, healed but still frightened, trembling at the realization of what happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she’d done, and he said to her “Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace. Your [00:10:00] suffering is over.”

Well, first off, the practicing Buddhists and Catholics amongst us will say that suffering isn’t ever actually over. It’s something that’s ongoing. There’s things we need to do to manage it, or to be in charge of our lives, such that we are not run by suffering. But that suffering is there. And the idea that I am at some point in my life, going to wake up and have peace for the rest of my life, is just not believable. And finally, this idea that our faith makes us well when there’s plenty of true believers who are suffering.

So this is an encouragement for me to listen, if I’m taking this view that Jesus is modeling a person who’s securely attached, and the impact that they have, and a description of the inner process of my [00:11:00] healing, of coming to a place of being securely attached. If that’s the case, then what’s happening here is an inner process.

Okay, so back up for a minute here. I have not experienced the degree of suffering that bleeding woman did. Except I had what’s called cluster headaches. And they’re painful. They’re not migraines, but they are a headache and they are chronic. And they’ve been resolved. They’ve gone away. Now, I think that it was because of the things I did in my life, including mindfulness practice. So I have a sense of having been healed because I practiced a certain belief, a certain faith, and so I want to be an advocate for that, right? I want to tell people, look, there are medicines out there. There are behaviors, there’s ways of being that will actually end that [00:12:00] physical suffering.

But like many of you, I’ve also experienced that deeper anguish that I don’t believe I’m good enough. And that doesn’t go away. There’s plenty of us who have that chronic thought that I’m just not good enough. And it shows up in so many different ways. It bleeds us of our life, of our value, of our worth, of our energy. And we can get moments of despair that we will never be good enough. In fact, I think the modern observation is that clinically depressed people’s brains are so dysfunctional that it takes an outside influence to resolve it. There’s some medicine, and then some practice, that restores the functioning of [00:13:00] the brain so that a person can finally address this issue of not being good enough, the belief that I’m not good enough. And those who become addicted, are maybe trying to escape the pain of this conviction that I’m just not good enough, and that belief has matured. There’s lots of evidence that that is created as I live that way. Surely people who complete suicide are experiencing this spiritual bleeding.

The process of our healing, regardless of the depth of the suffering, is the same. There is an, at times mysterious, event that awakens the addicted, the dysfunctional brain, to the idea that this suffering is not necessary. That there is in fact [00:14:00] a love and a real connection that brings relief. And somehow that glimmer of hope comes.

This is Jesus walking through a crowd. There’s this one idea and all the crowd of ideas that just attracts me and I want to go touch it. I just want to go touch it. Like I see someone who is self-confident and a good person, right? Who’s self-confident and kind.

I’ve had a couple of those in my life, where I really admired how they could do their work. They could lead people, and yet they were not obnoxious. They weren’t demanding. And I said, how did they do that? And that glimmer of hope gave me the message that maybe I do have goodness in me. Maybe I can be a conduit of love. Maybe I can [00:15:00] connect to my spouse, to my friends, to my God, right? Maybe there is an end to that tension inside, which is actually causing the suffering.

Do you remember a time that you met someone who was grieving? And you gave them a hug, right? There was nothing you could say. There was nothing that would resolve their grief. You couldn’t fix it. So you just gave them a hug, and then the person reported that they felt better. Something was restorative - the hug.

In fact, science is telling us that a 30 second tight hug actually changes the chemistry of the brain. We are wired to experience this connection. And that connection happens not cognitively, and not by our own power. [00:16:00] But by our being in the flow of love, being on the path, on the way, not being gripped, addicted to some practice, some behavior, some belief that we think is necessary, that we become dependent on.

Remember a time that you felt strong in your life or that you had an insight that you had that you know you didn’t generate yourself? It came from somewhere, but made a difference in you or in some other person’s life. Can you imagine that was the spirit giving you this? A gift that encouraged you to be in action to do that good thing? Or that idea, that feeling that came over you, that withheld you from making a mistake, right?

Or maybe there was the time that through your mind passed an idea that enlightened you to have some confidence [00:17:00] in some truth. And so in God and in other people. Oftentimes it’s an ordeal. An example in my life was when someone got angry at me and that led me to believe that I’m worthless, that I’m no good. And it happened enough, and I’m matured enough in it, and I’d seen enough examples, and I had a mindfulness practice, and I was able to say, oh, that person is angry at me. I don’t have to believe that I’m worthless just because they’re angry at me. I had to learn early in my marriage that just because my wife was angry at me didn’t mean she didn’t love me, which is what I thought at first. She had to teach me. I would think it was true, I looked back on that and I think it was my commitment to marriage that kept me there and kept me in her presence so that she could finally teach me by modeling [00:18:00] that being angry at someone doesn’t mean you don’t love them. And notice what Jesus does in this story and how he’s, again, modeling a person who’s securely attached.

I have had the experience of coming up with a good idea, but others were haranguing and harassing me about how bad and wrong my idea is. Jesus doesn’t do that. His attention isn’t caught. Just like that, an idea pops up in our mind and that idea, if it’s a good one, if it’s a healing one, doesn’t accuse us of being worthless, doesn’t harangue and harass us for sneaking up, or for being 12 years in this malady. And doesn’t do any of that. And so Jesus was able to see this sick woman and not blame her like the priests and the doctors had done. But instead offer her the healing power of his love [00:19:00] and his encouragement, and giving her that good message that, yeah, you’re healed. It’s all good. Go in peace.

That is a sign of a good idea that is actually healing us. And the kind of person that brings that idea to us, if it comes from another person, is not going to be because they argued with us or pointed out what was wrong with us, or lorded over us, or told us how much better we are than they are and that they should do what we do.

So learn from the suffering woman. Remind yourself that you are wired to be connected, that there is a power in the universe. There is a flow of love that you can be a conduit of. Not the divine love that actually heals people’s broken bones or heals their mental distress. But it is a participation in the flow of [00:20:00] life that brings that healing to the person.

And I don’t know if you’ve experienced this, but I certainly have. When I’ve had that experience of healing, it just brings me to my knees. I am grateful. I am perhaps surprised, but I feel better. It’s like after the headache is gone, when you feel so good, and that is because we acted on this vague, perhaps, or nascent, belief that we’re wired for connection, that God loves us, that we’re lovable, and that we can love others, and that we can love ourselves. Indeed, we become securely attached.

Swedenborg and Commentary The Holy Spirit’s actions are reforming, regenerating, renewing, sanctifying, purifying, forgiving, and saving. These steps are always at work in us; when we open ourselves, the Lord carries them out (True Christianity §142, 150).

Goodwill and faith, empowered by God, unite inner intentions with outer actions; God acts through us when we act from Him (True Christianity §340). Believing in Him means trusting that He saves—and only those who live good lives can have this confidence (True Christianity §2).

Trials strip away self-centered autonomy so we may be reborn as spiritual beings. Our sense of self is loosened by truth and goodness, like black and white transformed into beautiful colors by light (Secrets of Heaven §730–731).

The life of evil spirits is bound to self-love and materialism—hatred, revenge, and cruelty. They cling to it as joy, like the demons who begged to enter pigs. Such life corresponds to greed, making them at home among pigs (Secrets of Heaven §1742).

Maurice Nicoll: Great knowledge cannot be taken casually; it requires sacrifice and inner struggle.

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters: With Screwtape Proposes a Toast. New York: HarperOne, 2001.

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Mark Episode 18 Transcript

[00:00:00] So we come to the final story of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, and Jesus is going to provide his apostles with a living lesson. Perhaps, you know what I’m talking about. Something happens and it’s a lesson, right? And I know this has happened to me a lot. And my goal is to catch the lesson even after the fact. And then see if it can buoy up or support my future ability to live in the lesson as it’s happening. This would help awaken me to the reality that life is absolutely seeking my present joy and that I can trust the process. But the lesson’s going to have to be repeated again and again. Especially if I’m catching it after the fact.

And so Jesus [00:01:00] takes his apostles on the boat across the Sea of Galilee, which is notorious for becoming a dangerous place in a hurry. And that’s what happens. It’s the middle of the night, the high waves are coming into the boat. Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the front. The disciples wake him up and they tell him we were going to drown! And Jesus says, “Silence be still.” And the wind stops and there’s a great calm. And then Jesus asks the rhetorical question, I guess you might say, “Why are you afraid? Do you not have any faith?”

Our presumption is that Jesus is modeling his ability to be secure in himself, in his relationship with his creator, the Father, and with the apostles. And he wants to model that for his apostles. But he also, in the same moment, is actually opening their minds [00:02:00] to this new spiritual reality that he is bringing to the world.

This living experience, the experience of a parable, will bring these men into a new stage of bonding with him. So the storm blows up and it’s so bad that even these experienced sailors are terrified, and it makes sense that in their fear they react even with sarcasm, waking Jesus, who’s asleep on the ship captain’s cushion seat. They’re yelling, “You got us into this. Don’t you care?”

Jesus flattens the waves and calms the winds. And, as must have been startlingly obvious, it gets really quiet. I imagine Jesus is able to speak in a calm, even low voice, and they would all hear his [00:03:00] observation in the form of this rhetorical question. “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” This is new. The parables and miracles encountered in Mark so far have all ended very well. People walked away, healed, and it was a good story, and there was even praise for the good work that Jesus is doing.

And now this. It makes absolute sense that this novel invitation into a deeper relationship will feel scary. The experience that brought them to this realization was a threat to their existence. The menace of death revealed the underlying emotion that drove them, as it does for all of us, which is fear.

The opposite of faith is fear. This lack of faith has nothing to do with the doubts we have. Think [00:04:00] rather of the trust you have in a person you love, the person who’s most trustworthy in your life. And then perhaps you’ve had an experience, maybe just a moment, when that trust was threatened by some circumstance, some event, something they said. And it triggered a reaction in you. Perhaps you got angry, but that would be on the surface, of course, because below the anger, if you practice looking for it, by calming the storm of emotions, you’ll find fear, the fear of the loss of relationship for the apostles. This enacted parable was the first time they realized that following Jesus may cost them their lives. And there’s no clean resolution to this story. They are left with this open question still influenced by their fear. At the end, they ask themselves, who is this man we [00:05:00] are following? What is our relationship to him? Can we trust him?

So when we are securely attached, when we are spiritually awake, when we have found this mindful way of living, there are still going to be those opportunities, those living parables when we feel threatened, and that is when we have an opportunity to see the fear that’s driving us and the source of that fear.

So this enacted parable is in the gospel of Mark. It has the same use of metaphor and has the hidden meaning that all of Jesus’ spoken parables have, but now it includes an experience of the existential fear all human beings have regardless of the state of their faith. There is an important lesson here. An agitated fear of [00:06:00] death, physical death, or the death of our ego, is a barrier to connecting with God and others. The agitation from that fear is a barrier to our connecting, our feeling secure and trustworthy of God and other people.

We have these desires that are connected intimately to our selves and our stuff in the world. So we do have this love of ourself, which we need to have, and we desire to protect that. And we have this place in the world and our reputation and looking good, and we have a desire to protect that when something happens to threaten those.

Yeah, there’s an agitation of our [00:07:00] mind, sometimes even of our bodies when we can get shaky or we feel like we can’t breathe, or there’s a pressure, and that’s when it looks to us as if God is absent, that love is not flowing right, that the universe has turned against us. Jesus is asleep in the boat.

Now our premise here is that this is not the case. That love is always flowing, that God’s always reaching for connection. That the universe is designed to bring us joy and satisfaction in the present moment.

So what is going on? We have these natural desires as part of our person, our humanity. They’re supposed to be there. And that’s okay. But when they’re threatened, they become agitated. And we know from modern science of the brain that [00:08:00] when we become agitated like that, and our amygdala fires up, and our brain stem fires up, it takes away oxygen and energy and blood from the prefrontal cortex, and it befuddles our thinking and confuses our emotions.

And that’s why we have to learn to relax our bodies, calm our thinking. Pay attention to our breath until our amygdala and brainstem calm down.

The response of people who are able to do this to these threats, people who have practiced this skill, is that they acquire more and more of a secure attachment with God, with other people, and amongst the parts within themselves. This is new, right? This is a development, spiritual development. The fear of death and loss is always going to be there. [00:09:00] It’s always going to trigger things in our minds and our bodies, but our reaction, with practice, can make such events an opportunity for new spiritual development. So the lesson of spiritual growth told in this story can be integrated when we go through it, when it is parabolically played out in our thoughts and feelings.

The very idea of course, of experiencing such a parable is frightening. That we would be put into a place where our physical, or ego’s existence is threatened, and Jesus is teaching us that. When we remember that love is always present, that the universe is urging [00:10:00] us to find peace and satisfaction when love is pressing us to live spiritual lives of interconnection, of living in the flow along the path of reaching out to other people, seeking connection, we are learning again and again that the peace that passes all understanding comes from establishing this relationship within us, rather than trying to fix all the external circumstances. For that flow overcomes the agitating thoughts that our fear generates. And again, I want to emphasize this, that the flow of love from within this establishment of secure attachment that we have within does not cause the agitation. It looks that way, but that’s our view. That’s [00:11:00] not the view of the infinite, the eternal, the universe. It makes no sense to think that God would have, as his operating principle, to cause us pain and suffering. God is love and it flows in unconditionally and unceasingly.

That is the only premise that makes any sense in my view. So my experience in my relationships is the same thing that I’m the one whose concerns and fears and worries and stories interfere with my relationship with other people. It’s not simply what they say or do that may cause a disruption.

It is my reaction to what they say or do that causes the disruption. That’s my observation. And I take that as being a confirmation of this principle that love is [00:12:00] always flowing. The universe is always on our side. There’s never any disruption in that flow, but where the disruption happens is on my end, as it were.

And it makes sense. Of course this is going to happen because I care about my physical self. I care about how I appear to people in the world. I do want to look wise. I do want to be a leader. I want to stand up for myself. So the lesson is that when those are threatened, when the storm arises and the waves start coming over the bow of the boat and I feel like I’m about to lose something, I want to go find and awaken myself, my remembering, that the flow is happening, that love is available to me.

Let’s return for a moment [00:13:00] to what Jesus does in this story, because I think it’s an example of what I’m trying to say. That is Jesus acting from this secure bond, from having worked through whatever attachment wounds he had experienced. His father Joseph, his earthly father, is gone from the story, and I presume that he’s passed away. And maybe Jesus was young when that happened, and that would’ve been a wounding to him to lose his father. So those things are a part of Jesus’ earthly personality. And in this moment, he goes on the boat, he is a securely attached person. He knows he’s on a journey. And he has a mission and he’s living from that purpose. And that’s what’s motivating him. That’s what’s giving him his sense of being in the present. He’s expecting there to be a storm.

He might say that he knows that’s going to [00:14:00] happen in his life, that there are going to be these very troubling times, or even existential threats. His going to sleep is, to my mind, a recognition that these natural desires that we all have, that arise from our bodies, from the evolutionary force to survive, as well as from the desires, are from the world of needing to have things and to protect things, and not just our stuff, but our families.

All of that is asleep, as it were. And Jesus, when he stands up and he says, peace be still, he’s coming from that place, from that assurance of his place in the world, in the mission, in the grand scheme of things, and it is an active experience of self-worth, of valuing who he is and what he has to offer.

And he knows about the [00:15:00] journey and he sees his colleagues and friends being on the journey. He’s connected to them. He’s not abandoning them. He is actually coming from a sense of abundance and he is not distinguishing this trial and tribulation from the rest of life. It is part of the journey.

And so I think that’s instructive to us to see that this is what it looks like when we are living from our secure place of secure attachment. Again, this is what Jesus is trying to model, that we are invited to sail through life, to live our lives. And then notice that in times of trouble and turmoil, we can rely on the higher power to steer our little boat through those stormy seas.

God wants us to know that we are loved unconditionally and constantly, [00:16:00] and we can experience that in our relationship with God, with our higher power with other people. And so the invitation is to respond to this invitation to let go of fear by having a faith in the unconditional love and wisdom that is in the universe that will give us an experience. And that experience is one of secure attachment and indeed an eternal connection with God, with our savior, with the universe, with our higher power.

This describes the inner state of people of the church when they are in what is natural and not yet in what is spiritual, in which state the natural affections, which are various desires springing from the loves of self and the world, rise up and agitate the mind. In this state the Lord appears to be absent; this apparent absence is meant by His being asleep. But when the person comes out of a natural into a spiritual state, these agitations cease, and there comes tranquility of mind. The Lord calms the stormy commotions of the natural mind of the person when the spiritual mind is opened, and through it the Lord flows into the natural.” Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §514

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand. In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them. Mark 4:26-34

Mark Episode 17 Transcript

[00:00:00] I want to highlight the last story Jesus tells in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. He says, the kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground, night and day while he’s asleep or awake. The seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.

The point being that there’s things we need to do in life. When it comes down to it, there is this flow of love, which is life, which is actually causing things to happen in our minds and our hearts and in the world. And the people at the time didn’t know that. Jesus had to teach them that. That’s why these stories again and again are portraying this new idea of the providence of God, in our more spiritually developed era we have a sense of that. [00:01:00] But taking advantage of it is what is key to becoming securely attached. Jesus wants to teach and model a new way of having this secure connection with God and other people.

We notice that he is doing his own work. We see it in his going off by himself to pray. And what he says, and what he projects, right, when he gets angry, he’s projecting about what’s going on in his own heart and mind. And through it all, there is this constant and regular effort for connection, for wholeness, for sacredness, that is hidden from our view. Jesus repeatedly points out that God is establishing and maintaining what is called His kingdom, the kingdom of [00:02:00] heaven - that experience of joy and satisfaction that God has designed into the system for us to experience. And it’s the same effort and the same processes that we see in nature. Much of the process is hidden from our view, and it happens without our effort.

It’s easy for me to accept the fact that I’m not in control of the process of a plant’s germination and growth. What is difficult to accept is that we are not in control of the process of our own salvation, our own transformation. We do see clearly our efforts to improve ourselves, even if they are halting at the irregular, and there’s repeated failures when we act out again, or when we fail to act again. When we act from fear or anxiety. We catch ourselves being petulant or fretful, irritable, [00:03:00] impatient living not from abundance, but from scarcity. And when we read in the Christian scriptures, we don’t immediately see the inner success that Jesus was having in his own work. That’s hidden as well. We do see, more often, his pain and his tiredness and his despair. And he is telling us that he feels that way when he experiences a disconnection from his father, from God, teaching us that we are all on this path and when we are in discomfort, when we are in fear or pain, it is because we have become disconnected from the source that is leading us along. We’ve gotten off the path as it were, or we’re fighting against the flow of the path. This is why [00:04:00] we despair, for instance, at ever being good enough, right? It’s sometimes called our fallen nature. It is our woundedness. It is our anxiety. It’s the longing to establish a healthy, secure connection with other people. And so with God and within ourselves. And the Buddhists recognize that striving as suffering that has to happen because we are in an effort to come into a place of safety and security where our value is recognized, where we are loved, where we can love, where we are accepted.

And that inner drive leads to ordeals when we are confronted with our failures to connect to someone, when we’re confronted with our false ideas about ourselves, when we recognize that negative self-talk is dragging us down. [00:05:00] And so we strive hard to change our ways. We do things and we can even become conscious and speak about the terrible state that we are in, the state of the world that’s in us and the world around us. We can find ourselves wishing that life were easier, that life was less stressful, that it was less traumatic, that there was less sadness in the world.

We do that, this teaching is saying, and it’s a radical and sometimes hard to hear, that all this worry comes from a fear of being kicked out of our tribe, of being abandoned, a fear of not being liked. It’s, it’s a reliance on other people’s opinions for our sense of worth and value, and that is what is causing this disruption in our life. But we are supposed to remember, we are wired for connection. Now, [00:06:00] Jesus is trying to say, the process whereby we find joy and satisfaction is the effort of the flow of life, the flow of love. That is what it is working for. That’s what it’s endeavoring to give us.

How do we resolve this? Jesus and Buddha and Thich Nhat Hanh and Richard Rohr and AA all are saying that to resolve this dilemma, this hardship, we have to find a reliable source, a sense of life, that is the creative sustaining power, energy, endeavor, that you can sure is in charge of how things are going. It’s a trust in God.

So when we listen to Jesus in this case, we watch how he’s doing the work, how he’s [00:07:00] walking in the way. The gospel of Mark is a simple model for our work. Jesus describes first how we can prepare our minds to receive his love in the parable of the sower, he describes how our listening, our curiosity is good, fertile soil for these new ideas. He describes how when we do that, when we’re in that flow, there’s a light, there’s an understanding that shines throughout all our minds. And we see this physiologically when we relax, and the cortisol isn’t being sent out and all the different parts of our brain are working together and we see clearly we have a perception and we have energy to do all of that because we are living in the path. We are having this trust in the love that is flowing.

And Jesus goes into some detail describing how [00:08:00] behind or underneath, or within all our efforts is the actual power, the substantial changes that constitutes our life and our healing. And so that’s why Jesus keeps saying that we need not fret over the operation of the process or try to add energy to it. God’s love, the energy of the universe is the energy of love that’s always accomplishing what is its goal, its mission, including the healing of our spirits. And this is what I’m proposing Jesus is modeling for us. He’s walking from town to town, relying on the hospitality of those who are buoyed by his optimism, calmed by his assurance. He has a relationship with them. He doesn’t feel beholden. He doesn’t have to go beg. It is happening because they see his secure attachment, his [00:09:00] ability to know his own worth, and to speak the truth and not be defensive, and so forth.

And Jesus says again and again that this is the kingdom that we are seeking that grows as ordinarily as a grain grows out of the soil. We have to prepare the soil. We have to find and protect the good seed. We have to plant it, right? Those are simple tasks, even though at times they’re arduous. So Jesus is saying there is life hidden in those seeds.

We need to attend to the fact that there’s a distinction between our efforts and the power of love to accomplish the growth of our spirit to wholeness and fruitfulness. There’s a distinction between what we are doing and the power that is the life within what we’re [00:10:00] doing. Relying on our own selves, our own power, our own abilities always leads to frustration and despair.

However, knowing and then integrating the belief that it is God’s love, that it is this inner love, this inner energy, the universe, that is constantly at work in the hidden processes of our natural and spiritual life, is the seed of hope that sustains us, that empowers us. We’re supposed to gather and protect the knowledge that we have, that God is in charge. Then we are to use our human ability to pay attention and accept this love flowing through as distinct from our ego and our efforts, which are real and important to do, but there’s a distinction. Perhaps an apt parable for our times is seeing the lowly dandelion breaking [00:11:00] through concrete. Nothing humans can make will ever stop life expressing the power of love. No expression of any power by any person or organization, can stop love expressing itself in this world.

The progress of our healing and the healing of the world and the creation of relationships always begins small and it’s never sudden or cataclysmic. Love is an unceasing endeavor to find joy and satisfaction - the kingdom of heaven. Love is urging us to see and accept love as our motivation for living. Helen Keller said, life is an adventure or nothing at all, right? That’s what we should expect. [00:12:00] Now faith or belief, or hope and trust, encourage that adventure. Faith is not the answer or the end of life. Effective hope and trust are always a part of the process and even if they do appear fully mature at the end of the process, it’s hidden in the seed, right? So yeah, there can be the superficial hope or the foolish trust that is actually dependence. As we go along in this process effective hope and real trust are revealed in our capacity for instance, of accepting the current state of affairs. Even though we’re in the dark, cold ground, hope and trust are that smallest crack in the shell and the sprout is knowing how to find the light and it will out. For [00:13:00] we are created seeking this connection, seeking the connection of goodness and truth within our hearts and minds within us, seeking the connection between us and others who give love and from whom we receive love and a connection. Then with the creator, the source of our value.

God certainly wants us to be in charge of our lives. At the same time, we need to experience the acceptance of his grace, and have hope and trust in that process, in that flow of love. And it is the special capacity of human beings that at the same moment we can let go of any need for control and let go of the anxiety that we are prone to feel when we do let go and trusting then in the [00:14:00] power of love.

So to follow the model that Jesus has given us, to know that the kingdom is growing in us and around us right now, Jesus says, you don’t wait for some future kingdom. You plant the seed and then you recognize that the life and the power in the endeavor, in that seed, is not yours.

That’s to accept that there is this powerful, active love that is currently at work in your spirit, that is the source of abundance and gratefulness and hope and trust, and a sense of anticipating what is joyful and good in the future. This love is healing the rifts between people as secure [00:15:00] connections develop, and so that becomes the purpose that we live by our mission, our creation, to find from the hidden depths of our souls, that good fruit, that is a secure connection with ourselves, with other people, and with God.

“There are secret features of regeneration which, although innumerable, a person knows scarcely anything about. From their early infancy to the last of their life in the world, and thereafter to eternity, the person who is in goodness is being born again every moment, not only as to their inner life, but also as to their outer, and this by amazing processes.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §5202

“Good and truth are like seeds and the soil. Inner good is like seed that is productive, though not unless it is sown in good soil. Exterior good and truth are like the soil in which it is made productive….Facts and deeds are like the soil. When a person loves the facts that confirm what is good and true, and when he experiences joy in acting them out, those facts are seeds that are present and growing in the natural as the soil; and there they grow. As a result good is made fruitful and truth is multiplied, and they are constantly springing up out of that soil into the person’s rational mind and perfecting it.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §3671

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

“A farmer scattered seed. Some fell on a path, eaten by birds. Some on rocky soil sprouted quickly, but withered under the sun. Some among thorns were choked. Some on good soil produced a crop—thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. Anyone with ears should listen.”

Later he explained: the seed is the Word. The path is those who hear but Satan takes it away. The rocky soil are those who receive joyfully but fall away in trouble. The thorns are those overcome by worry, wealth, or desire. The good soil are those who hear, accept, and bear fruit abundantly (Mark 4:1–20).

He added: “Would anyone hide a lamp? No, it shines on a stand. All that is hidden will be revealed. Pay attention: those who listen gain more; those who ignore lose even what they have” (Mark 4:21–25).

Mark Episode 16 Transcript

[00:00:00] And we come to Mark chapter four and there are four stories that Jesus tells. There are different settings he’s telling them to large groups of people or just to his apostles. And a couple of things I’m noting here based on this premise that Jesus is modeling someone who’s securely attached.

He’s walking from town to town. He’s relying on the goodwill of the people and they apparently are feeding the apostles and Jesus and giving them places to stay. And yet he’s not really worried about what people are thinking about him. And at the same time, he knows he’ll get what he needs physically and spiritually. There’s a confidence, there is a living from abundance, there’s an assurance that the process of life is gonna go on as it’s [00:01:00] supposed to.

And of course it starts the same as, we’ve experienced that there are many failures in life, but there can be one really good experience that then produces a large effect. So all that Jesus has been through, nonetheless, these people are coming out by the thousands and that’s surely giving him the message that he is offering something of value, that is helping people. And that must have been very encouraging.

And then the next thing I noticed is he’s being a teacher here and I stepped back and I ask myself, well, what’s the optimal circumstance for me to learn from a teacher? What is the optimal setting in which to hear what the speaker has to say. What are the [00:02:00] conditions that have to be in place for me to be inspired, to see the light, to gain the benefit of what the teacher is offering. And Jesus is going to speak to this in a minute. But the first thing I notice is that I’m curious and that I am listening, and that listening is indicative of an open mind and an open heart to someone who is offering me this model of being secure in themselves, aware of their inner value, and being in the present moment offering something that is actually transformative. Right? This means I can’t judge the speaker and I can be critical of what they’re saying along the way or trying to catch them out in some error that they might be making or, quibbling with [00:03:00] what they say. I’m humbly listening as I believe they know what they’re talking about and have something to offer and that they are on the way with me. It’s not like they are superior to me. I’m hearing what they have to say because I’m listening to their heart and to their ideas because I feel connected to the speaker. I feel connected to the teacher.

So having all said that amongst the first things that Jesus says to his apostles is he’s going to teach them the secret of the kingdom of heaven. But then he never actually tells them any secrets. He tells them stories. And those stories actually do offer new information, but also a new way of looking at life. And that would’ve caught their attention, and would’ve perhaps stopped them to wonder what is going on here. And so [00:04:00] I believe that’s one of the reasons Jesus uses these simple stories based on nature that the listener can actually connect to. The Gospel of Mark is simple, it’s plain, it’s a straightforward spoken story of Jesus Christ.

Along the way there is this invitation for us to listen, to look both within the stories that are being told and look for the model that Jesus is giving to us in these stories of how to live and so to look within ourselves and our relationship with our God, with the source, with the universe.

So as Jesus went through this very first process of his ministry that began with those temptation battles in the wilderness, and then the rift of the disruption of his life when he walked away from the synagogue and he chose never to go back, he is introducing people to this new and often [00:05:00] difficult good news, which is what the gospel is.

In chapter four, we see this style that he proposes a challenging question. He asks, is a lamp supposed to be put under a bushel or under a bed, right? And then he tells the story. a parable. And he regularly leaves the reader to answer the question for themselves. Now he does take his apostles aside and explains things. But by and large we’re told that whenever he’s speaking, he’s telling a parable and he’s leaving people to get the message. There’s no further instruction about what the point of the apostle was to the general public. So he’s forcing us to think in a new way. He’s introducing people to think in a different and a new way, and he’s doing it masterfully using these images and experiences that we’re quite familiar to them and that we have [00:06:00] some relationship to. We know about how plants grow and how seeds grow and so forth.

This is humbling to watch a teacher do this. At the same time he’s asking a lot of us. The premise is he reaches out to us spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and he’s modeling for us this mystery of connection, of seeking love for another and from another, with the capacity with which we are created to do it.

I stop and I think I want to feel joy. Don’t we all want to feel joy? Right? And what’s being displayed here is that joy is generated only by delighting in another’s joy. That sense of completeness of relationship brings that joy, that sense of completeness is only achieved by being part of the flow of life into us from God, from the source, from the universe, [00:07:00] and through us out into another person. We do not experience the joy without being in that flow, and so in the completion of our reach for connection. And of course God is flowing into the other person, right? And the universe is working through them and manifesting love through them, and so out to us. And that’s why we’re told that true joy is to feel another’s joy as one’s own.

So this is the original give and take, the original win-win, that I think Jesus is proposing here. And it is inherent in our beings as human beings to have the capacity to be in that relationship. And so, as we find in Mark chapter four, Jesus teaches us that the listener determines how much we get from the speaker. To feel and others joy is joy in oneself - that’s my work, my task, [00:08:00] my opportunity. And this is a hard saying, this is something that’s challenging.

And then at the end of a couple of these stories, Jesus says to those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given but for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. This is a new way of looking at things. And it just stands out as a spiritual principle, not a merely natural one, like was given, for instance, in the 10 Commandments, where do unto others, or excuse me, the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do to you. There’s a spiritual principle behind that. One of his stories about going to the marketplace and you go with your money and you go to the table of the person selling grain and you, would say to them, look, I need this much money’s worth of grain and the merchant would bring [00:09:00] out a vessel and would measure the wheat into it. And you would get that much wheat for that much money. It wasn’t the case that you came with your bowl and the deal was that however large your bowl, that’s how much you got for that amount of money. You didn’t provide the measure. The measure was provided by the seller.

But Jesus is teaching something new, a spiritual principle. You bring the measure (and in this perfect world in which you’re loved, and you feel loved and love others, right?) that measure is filled. So this is a new model. It’s a challenge to us to play our part in that model. Can we be the person that fills our loved ones’ measure to the brim, with no regard for what that measure was, for what that capacity was.

When you learn this new spiritual principle in your relationship with others, [00:10:00] you then realize that this is a relationship with this loving God, who loves unconditionally, who fills your measure,, who is abundant, right? And this is what he said. If you listening to my teaching, more understanding will be given. If you bring your measure, it will be filled, it will be completed. But Jesus goes on to say, if you’re not listening, even what little understanding you have will be taken away. And that seems harsh. This is the other side of the coin, right? This is the hard lesson. It might be the original of hard lessons.

My heart cries out for the person. I don’t want to take anything away from them. I want to show mercy. I want to show grace. Now, again, stepping back for a moment here. The premise is that if I am securely attached, if I know my worth, if I know my value, if I don’t need to argue, if I know how to express my love, what my [00:11:00] emotions are and so forth, what is it like then to recognize that it’s the listener that determines what they’re going to take, what they’re gonna get.

I want to be merciful. I want to be kind. I want to give people a chance to succeed, right? I really want to give my neighbor the means to rise up out of any distress they’re in. Maybe it’s information that’s all they need. I just need to tell them something. I don’t have to do anything for them. Just pass it on. And if they listen to me then they get the information. Or maybe it’s kindness. Maybe I want to be kind to this person and have no regard for whether they’ve earned it or not. Or maybe it’s resources. Can I give of my resources to someone else without regard for any judgment about how they’re not getting their own resources, right? We often band together, don’t we, so that we [00:12:00] can share resources to lift people into a higher standard of living or into more knowledge that will be helpful to them, or giving them a greater skill so that they can use it to lift themselves up. And we talk about teaching someone to fish so that they can always have food. That’s really what we want to do.

And again, if Jesus is this famous teacher and miracle worker and the embodiment of unconditional love, I expect an answer. The way to do that, the way to be kind, to be giving, to come from abundance so that people aren’t left with nothing.

Okay, so we have to pause for a moment here and step back because that’s not what Jesus just said. He said, those who don’t listen, whatever little they have will be taken away from them. And that’s a hard saying. So we pause and put aside for a moment this quest for finding a solution. Maybe that’s just me being a male, [00:13:00] right? But putting aside the need to process this to reason it through, and take a moment to observe what’s going on inside my mind, what’s going on inside my heart, when I feel that confusion or that agony or that wish for some result.

So I take a breath, I open my heart and mind, right? Jesus said, listen. So in that moment I notice that my plea for an answer to this question for resolution to the problem, this wish for a revelation of the secret of it all, the understanding of the meaning of the parable. And I notice that my observation, that Jesus has left us hanging, that he doesn’t give an answer. He’s given us no instructions. He’s left us to our own devices. I recognize, to be honest with myself, that really I am making a [00:14:00] complaint, aren’t I? I want Jesus to have done it differently and I’m complaining about it, and I’m not grateful. And I’m upset. It’s disturbing.

So now stop the complaint for a moment. And consider instead that Jesus is actually offering an opportunity for unlimited spiritual growth, for transformation, for salvation, for regeneration. This is our premise that this wonderful teacher and miracle worker, for some of us the son of God, is going to be offering this opportunity of eternal joy and happiness that will be completed by God according to his love and wisdom. That we will find ourselves in a place of joy and satisfaction. That is the [00:15:00] whole effort of all the life and love that is in creation. So I invite you to feel the joy of that prospect that it gives you, that when you bring your vessel, your measure, it will be completed, your creator has made you a vessel. We are wired for this joy and satisfaction. We’re wired for connection with God and with other people. He’s made us that vessel ready to receive this infinite life, even to eternity.

So what Jesus is doing here, as I see it, is recognizing that when we are offered that joy and satisfaction, because we have to change what we believe or change what we’re doing, that becomes a challenge, and we resist. That’s the first thing. In this instance, Jesus says, [00:16:00] would anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket? Do we continue to do what’s crazy sounding right? We can pause and say why do I do that? Why do I always get angry? Oh, why do I always yell? Why do I always lash out? Why always do I have to be sarcastic? There’s some sort of challenge that we are being given from the world, from circumstances, from our own observation of what we’re doing inside ourselves. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Again, that’s the challenge: to do it differently, to listen, to recognize our resistance to listening.

So our reach for connection, our reach for love that we are created with, that we’re wired to do as part of our original form is undeveloped at first. That’s why there is this resistance, this [00:17:00] complaining. Sadly too often the development of this reach for connection is marred by poor modeling or bad treatment even in the early stages of our life. Jesus went through an ordeal and he overcame it. He then invites us into that same process. To notice the resistance and to respond by listening.

Yes, the universe, our God of love and mercy, is going to give us everything we need to succeed in this transformation and this process. Regeneration, spiritual growth, and connecting in love. God does indeed rescue us. The universe is working in our favor. Why? Because that love is flowing unconditionally. Unceasingly. It’s right there in the parable. The light is seen when it’s put on a [00:18:00] stand. The secret is revealed when it is believed and lived. The measure is filled when it’s brought to the table. In the Gospel of Luke as an aside, this same story Jesus has given to say, give and you’ll receive. Your gift will be returned to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more running over and pour it into your lap. The measure you give will be the measure you get back. That is the promise of coming from a secure attachment bond, when you recognize your value and your worth, you don’t have to be right. You don’t have to jump up and be seen. You recognize the worth and value of the other person, and you love that about them. And that experience then emphasizes or manifests your relationship with God, your relationship with the [00:19:00] universe, with your creator, and that gives us an increasing sense of security.

So the encouragement is to seek that secure connection with your fellow human beings in all the ways that you can. And then you’ll find it with your God and you’ll find it within yourself. You’ll live the spiritual meaning of these stories that Jesus is telling.

The task that you can take on to listen. Listen for the goodness and truth in the teaching of your scripture. Listen for the goodness and truth in that other person in what they’re saying from a heart of love for them. And listen to the universe, to God, to love speaking inside of you. That indeed will give you an experience of that full, large completed measure of a secure attachment bond with your God.

Swedenborg: The Lord is the sower; the seed is truth. On the path are people who reject truth; on rocky soil, those who accept outwardly but not inwardly; among thorns, those caught in lusts for evil. In good soil, truth takes root in those who love and practice it, bearing fruit (Life §90).

Each person has a “measure” made complete in the next life—evil for those who loved evil, good for those who loved good (Secrets of Heaven §7984). The Lord’s providence seeks to unite good and truth, removing the divided state of being part good/part evil, which destroys humanity’s image of the Lord (Divine Providence §16).

Nicoll: Great knowledge is difficult, as Christ said, “If you can bear it” (Mark 4:33; John 16:12). True knowledge requires sacrifice and inner struggle (Commentary I, p. 209).

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.” He told them this because they were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.”

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:20-30

Mark Episode 15 Transcript

[00:00:00] So we continue in the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark, and we find Jesus is inside of a house with his closest followers, but there’s a crowd gathered outside. And his family were told, know he’s there and they try to take him away saying he’s out of his mind. What a sad circumstance to arise. This conflict within the family

And then at the same time, teachers of the religious law had arrived from Jerusalem and these were people that were trying to maintain the purity of the doctrine so that they could be seen as the teachers. And they say that Jesus is possessed by Satan, the prince of demons.

And Jesus responds with these perfect stories that show the error of those teachers’ ways. He really puts [00:01:00] them down and accuses those teachers of actually being evil. And he says then to the people in the house that my mother and brothers and sisters are not those people out there. He says, anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.

We need to back up for a little minute here and remind ourselves that this story’s about connecting human beings together and connecting human beings with God. And we are wired to be connected to other human beings, and we are supposed to do that from our heart, from a sense of self choosing to be connected. And that’s what makes an actual connection not a robotic one, or a mechanical one, or a merely blood connection. To be able to do that implies that we have the freedom and the ability [00:02:00] to reject that connection. And that there is therefore the possibility of that connection being wounded or even destroyed.

This is sad and it’s scary that we could lose that contact. Because, remember, the ages ago, if you weren’t part of the tribe, you might die. So resolving that sadness and being available for relationship, despite that fear, is going to be the experience of a full, whole transformed human life.

So I’m saying here that Jesus models this reframing and this resolve. He makes an effort to distinguish the source and the motives of the challenges to relationships with people, and we’ll see in other stories. It’s also the challenges in his relationship with his father. He wants to maintain his safety, [00:03:00] his sense of his own value and sanctity and the identity of his self, while at the same time promoting a path to the establishment of relationships, or the recovery of harm to relationships.

Now you and I know that family squabbles are normal, right? There is a contention for limited resources sometimes, like seconds of dessert, right? Or who gets grandma’s bureau? Or when we compare life achievements, who’s making more than the others? And then there are emotional wounds that can be caused by flawed parenting when they make mistakes. And that can play out in arguments amongst the adult children of those parents. It must be common for one sibling to report to someone that their brother is crazy, right? And my experience is that it’s more common for family ties, for bonds of love [00:04:00] to be able to see and feel and work through such woundings and failings. I think it’s more often that there are no larger, long-term problems among family members.

So I think it’s common for families, blood relatives, to actually have these bonds that are effective and helpful. Going back to the story, we know that Jesus loved and respected his mother to the very end of his life, so he cannot here be dismissing her or his siblings. He’s modeling for us a new way of being in relationship with others; to experience secure attachments, to heal our wounds. And to do that, we have to find a way to rise above the limited view that blood establishes connections - to follow God’s will, to love others, to [00:05:00] accept being loved to do authentic, good for your brother and sister and mother to love the truth.

These are the bonds that bring us together because they are chosen and they are spiritual and they are developed in the course of our living. So, of course family is more important and to be valued. And of course we care for our families, even when they are in distress, even when we have a story about them, that impacts our relationship. Jesus is saying that the source of real bonds between people is our secure attachment bond with ourself, with our God, our creator, the source, which establishes our relationships with each other.

And the family comes and says, you’re crazy. [00:06:00] And Jesus doesn’t avoid it or dismiss it. He knows that this is a model for how he could be in relationship with these people, and he’s not simply going to dismiss them or avoid it. Even though it feels like a rejection of love or destruction of bonds, it must be what we call evil, right? To deny another person’s spirit or their goodness, to deny their value, to reject them as human beings, to make one’s self more right or more good than another. That’s what destroys bonds. That’s what is so hurtful and so scary and so sad.

The Gospel’s author is here recounting a story that is fearmongering right, of using our justifiable fear of the ultimate monster of evil of abandonment, of being rejected, to illustrate [00:07:00] what defenders of dogma had become - very afraid and defensive of losing their power.

And so Jesus is here modeling transparency and vulnerability. He’s acknowledging the wounds in his family while courageously standing for human value.

We all want to be able to stand in the face of these negative emotions, these false beliefs, driving another’s behaviors and words that might be directed at us. We want to be able to effectively subdue them so that there may be peace and love in the home and in the community. This is a quest that we’re, again, we’re wired to go on. To acquire this discernment and use it in love and so fulfilling our attachment needs.

Now, here’s a wonderful circumstance that arises out of the literal [00:08:00] story. Being in a house is a symbol for its representative of being in one’s right mind, being rational, being emotionally intelligent, knowing one’s boundaries and remembering them right and staying in one’s boundaries, and not being triggered, not being reactive to what is going on outside the house.

So Jesus is modeling this balance of care for our spiritual life and our physical life by teaching and healing indoors and out, by caring for our family, while maintaining that the bond is established by these spiritual, chosen, ways of being in relationship. And the story has this delightful irony that Jesus’ radical sanity, his self-care, his care for others, [00:09:00] attracts the resistance of those in power - of the rigid dogmatists, and even his family. He can challenge the current conditions and practices and beliefs, but he’s always intentional and mindful, seeking to repair and restore relationships. That’s what we want to find out how to do and it’s a process.

The experience of ownership of our self, of our ideas and our feelings is part of the core of our humanity. As we experience that ownership as a shared experience, it becomes a bonding experience with another person. We feel at peace. We feel fulfilled and blessed. And we all have this wellbeing potentially from our creation, and yet for it to develop requires a process because we all know we begin with a selfishness, selfish ownership. We see that in children when they [00:10:00] believe that a toy cannot be shared, right. This is not sinful. It’s a developmental stage. It does not condemn us to a lonely, narcissistic, sinful life. Rather, we are set up from creation to experience this process in which we achieve this fullness of humanity, a bonding with another human being by sharing an experience of ownership of thoughts and feelings because we choose it and because it is a spiritual reality, not merely a physical one.

So Jesus is here modeling a radical change that happens as we develop this secure attachment style of living. Because first we learn through mindfulness and therapy and being in a loving relationship, we learn how not to react when someone or something reminds us of a story that we have written in our minds or [00:11:00] hearts that might come from childhood or from some other wounding. This might be a Satan, as it were, that is part of us that is making up stories to protect us or to advance our sense of self or to avoid harm or avoid pain from harm we’ve experienced.

But when we begin to doubt that story, because of our good experiences in life, we eventually no longer believe that story. Our mother and our brothers are not the stories and parts that are merely manufactured in our experience of the world or in our blood relations, right? The things we have no choice over, who we grow up with, right? The mothers and brothers and sisters are the beloved people who share our heart’s [00:12:00] desires and our worldview.

And so at the completion of any particular cycle of healing that we are going through, we recognize that we are no longer gripped by that story. We’re no longer dependent on that old distortion, which had been all powerful, which had determined the dogma of what was true and false. But instead, we learned that we can choose what we want to believe, what we want to love.

And in those moments is when we have that perfect comeback, right? The spot-on retort that comes to mind. And it comes to mind because we are then connected to the source, to God and life is flowing freely in a way that gives us clarity and freedom and security in ourselves.

This may be a [00:13:00] daunting task that is our lifelong task, but I’m hopeful for my experiences that have shown that it’s possible - for it is the developmental process that we are wired to go through, even though it is at times sad and scary. It is as Jesus is modeling here, the way to live this life in a transformed way in which we are securely attached.

Good and evil cannot coexist within us in our deeper levels. Neither can malicious distortion and beneficent truth. The Lord can bring into our deeper levels what is good, and the truth that comes from it, when evil and its distortions are discarded by us (otherwise, we would simply keep acting from that evil and falsity). While, a lot of truth can be understood and stored in our memory before we actually love it or do it, coming to accept and will it require we first stop acting from evil and speaking falsity. When we continue to be run by evil and falsity, we will use the truth selfishly and maliciously. This spiritual process is thus designed so that we gain inner access to the truths that wisdom discloses and the good that love reveals only when it becomes beneficial to our whole lives and relationships. Swedenborg, paraphrase of Divine Providence §233

You know that according to the teaching of this Work, Humanity has two distinct sides – the side of knowledge and the side of being: and that in order to change or evolve a person must nowadays receive first of all new knowledge and then apply it to their own being through self-observation. Nicoll, Commentary V, pg. 1747

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Mark Episode 14 Transcript

[00:00:00] And so we continue in the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark, beginning at verse 13, where Jesus finally gets away from the crowds by going up onto a mountain. And he calls some to go with him, and then he calls out of that smaller crowd twelve men, and he tells them that they have to go out and preach.

And then, Mark says, he gives them the authority to cast out demons. We’ll see how that works out later on. And then these twelve apostles now are named, and they’re given descriptions. Some of them are even renamed, like Simon is renamed as Peter. So we’re continuing to explore Jesus’ modeling secure attachment.

And we see here that Jesus thinks it’s important to create community, to establish connection amongst people becoming spiritually [00:01:00] connected to each other, to be in relationship with each other as a foundation for their spiritual and natural lives, and for the sake of the greater mission that Jesus is on.

This is a new way of relating for these. People, before, it used to be you were Jewish, you were in the church, or you were not, and that’s what brought you together or not. So Jesus, again, we’re trying to see how he models becoming securely attached to people, so that those people then, can actually love each other. This particular story is about the qualities of a person who is able to connect to other people and the benefits of having and expressing those qualities.

So early in this very concise gospel of Mark, Jesus is preaching and healing and casting out demons in the synagogues. And then there’s this death threat against him because the leaders of the synagogue see his power as a threat to their power, [00:02:00] even though Jesus isn’t trying to get their kind of power.

So Jesus leaves the synagogue and never returns to preach in synagogues in the Gospel of Mark, and yet, we are told, crowds continued to follow him even from outside the country, now his fame is spreading.

In calling out a group and naming them, Mark is asserting that Jesus is saying that “Christianity” is following him as a group, in community. Jesus is building a network of people, that is the core work. He says, I am starting with you twelve. Your job is to go out with this message, and do these things, and build community. The message is that people can love each other. Period. No considerations, internal or external, are to interfere with loving another person. And 2000 years later, this is still a [00:03:00] radical way of being and often difficult to live.

And the really difficult expectation Jesus lays on these twelve men is that they should preach the good news, which he’s teaching them, and then cast out demons. I look at this as the apostles symbolizing, representing, all the different ideas and desires we can have in our minds and hearts concerning loving each other, and God, and our ourselves.

The first readers of Mark’s gospel back in the day would notice, it would stand out to them, that Jesus chose twelve. It is a symbol of holiness and wholeness and completeness. So what set these men apart is that they had two qualities that fulfilled this symbolic image of holiness and completeness.

First, [00:04:00] they were all attracted to Jesus, like we noticed before. They liked what he had to say. They enjoyed being with him, each in their own particular way. They were getting something out of it, and in that state, he was able to draw them to him.

Secondly, they were brave enough to stay with him, as they did for three more years, through lots of threats and persecution. We know that a number of people in the story, we are told about people, that come and they don’t stay. They lack one or both of these qualities. I would note that later on a number of women will stand out in the story for these very same qualities.

Now, I cannot imagine living a day as these itinerant teachers and healers did, maybe it was easier for them than I can imagine. But what is outstanding are these two [00:05:00] qualities of following Jesus, and being brave. These people modeled how to be with Jesus, how to stay with him, and to do what he said to do, to believe what he said to believe. And he gave them a message to share and a power to share it, and that brought them together.

Yet, because they loved each other, they experienced loving each, other because of this context that Jesus was creating. This whole new culture we see modeled here, the requirements for being in a community and the benefits of being in community.

All the truth we can know and believe, and all the love we can share, describe the community we now call religion. “Religio” which is Latin, means to be connected. It exists first inside of us, consisting of truths we believe and the goodness that we love. When a group have a religion [00:06:00] together and they gather, it’s called a church. This basic community called a church is what Jesus is talking about, it is that religion that exists inside of us, which Jesus calls the church when a number of us gathered together.

Notice that this is far different from what the apostles knew the church to be. And I want to be clear here that this religion and church might not be what these words generally mean today.

These ideas, these truths, this religion, are the message. And the love, which the truth reveals and manifests in action, is the power behind, or within, or under the message. So there is the message, and the point of the message is to show, to manifest, love. Jesus gathered his apostles to spread the divine love that he was manifesting in the world.

Now, if [00:07:00] Jesus’ goal was to be right, to be correct, to merely teach a code of behavior, then he would’ve stayed in the synagogue and continued to argue with the intelligentsia and convince them how he was right and they were wrong. But he stopped doing that early in his ministry, as if he had found a new way to be, and to do.

He didn’t need to argue anymore, he didn’t need to try to convince anybody of anything anymore. He discovered this spiritual goodness that he was embodying and manifesting, and that is what I’m suggesting is the model for us. Can we find that divine goodness within us that is from the Source, from God, from the Creator, that we can then manifest through the ideas, the cognitions, the notions, the truths, that we speak, and through our actions. Jesus was creating a new paradigm called the church that exists for the purpose of developing our [00:08:00] humanity, for the purpose of loving the neighbor. And so coming to know how to love our Creator and then experience that Oneness that is a relationship with God and with other people.

Now, the next significant thing in this little story is that Jesus renames three of the men. He gives them new names. I read a story by a man who was talking about this experience. He begins by saying that when his mother and father announced that his name would be John, all his relatives were delighted because it was a familiar family name, and so they were continuing a tradition. However, his story goes on. His great-grandfather lived in Ireland and when his parents named him John two generations before, everybody was upset. They were astounded because they expected him to be named [00:09:00] Sean, which in fact is the Irish equivalent of John. But the parents did not follow the tradition and all the relatives said there was something wrong. But, this story goes, the parents were obviously introducing a new idea, a new culture. They were looking forward to their son being part of this new culture. Perhaps they were anticipating him going to the United States, as he did. And then the author goes on to say, and you know, if I have a son, I’m going to name him Juan, which is the Spanish equivalent of John. He says, people around me will be very upset. They will wonder, what are you doing? Why would you do that? If the name was changed, it would be because he wanted to introduce this new culture. He wanted to change things for a specific reason on purpose. So the story of Jesus [00:10:00] renaming some of the men models, how we can create new circumstances in our life.

Begin a new story. That opens us up to new or healthier relationships. Perhaps we can use the more modern language of reframing. We need to reframe our perceptions of life. There are wonderful applications of this idea of reframing or renaming. When someone gets angry at me, I can rename that. I could reframe it as that person is afraid of something. Which is really very likely to be true because we know that underneath anger is some drive, some emotion, like fear. Or when I look at someone and immediately come to some judgment about them, maybe I’m thinking from a past experience I had that might have been bad or an assumption or a bias that I just normally hold.

I can rename [00:11:00] that and I can say, wait a minute, that person actually enhances my life. That person has something to offer me. See, I’ve reframed it. I’ve changed the inner circumstances. I’ve renamed it. Jesus is modeling a way of being that is a spiritual, secure relationship with myself, and my creator.

That allows me to see all other people as related to me as in a relational way. I’m not simply seeing myself individually. But I’m seeing myself as interdependent, not codependent, but in relationship with others. That’s the new way of living that I would discover by practicing this renaming, or reframing. The community that Jesus was creating could not have happened in the social, political, and cultural environment and the structure that existed at the time.

That is why he called out, literally, [00:12:00] called out from the crowd these men who were the twelve. This models for us how we are to go to the effort to come to a complete picture of ourselves, to identify all of our emotions, all of our desires, all our needs, all the wants that we have that describe our humanness. All are welcome there, and we take the time to reflect and notice them. And cultivate those that we want to manifest in the world that we judge to be good qualities for all then to see, to bring us into relationship with other people. That’s the task of Christianity, or our religion, whatever. Its roots and tradition. It is both an inner examination, and reflection and observation, and then an outer action.

It is our life’s work. And it cannot be done as an isolated [00:13:00] practice, because at the same time, Jesus is saying, this is a community effort. That’s why there are twelve of you. And of course then that multiplies greatly very quickly. This effort could not have happened in the synagogue.

This can’t happen in the structures that have produced the woundedness, and the stories, and the presumptions, and assumptions, and biases that we have. Jesus encourages us, therefore, to take, as it were, an outsider’s view of our life. To go out of that comfortable, safe place to look honestly and objectively at ourselves. And it will be scary to discover and to name our perceptions, to put aside our assumptions, to rename or reframe some of them, and to recognize that perhaps we are projecting these stories and these attitudes. We’re making stuff up!

At the same time as [00:14:00] Jesus is describing it here in the story, we are under a certain pressure to find others to create a community based on this model of love for yourself, and for others, and for God. That is why I believe we are wired with this desire to be connected, to have a secure attachment, to be bonded with others because it creates a healthier world in me and around me, that reflects this ability we have to connect and to love other people as the foundational reason for our living.

So as I’m sure you’ve all experienced, we try. We try to be nice, we try to connect, we try to be honest, we try to be transparent. We try to be vulnerable, and often we fail.

Sometimes we get wounded by the effort. Sometimes we wound others in our efforts. So there is [00:15:00] pain, there is suffering in this effort to reconnect to others, not because we’re evil, not because the other person is evil, but because there exists for all of us this self-centered, self-absorbed and fearful ego, which causes disruption, it interferes, it gets in the way. It’s not the right structure, culture, to support this new way of living. So Jesus is modeling, trying again and again, to build community by loving others.

When we do this, because we are human, because we are engaged in the work that our Creator, our humanity, the energy of life has set before us, even as the apostles did the work that Jesus gave them to do, we are then on the Way. And through it, I note, we learn how to connect with others. While we are frail and [00:16:00] fragile, prone to error, we have a message which we didn’t make up, which has been given to us, which is true gold, which is the healthy spiritual connection of love for each other. And we have a power which we didn’t originate, which we didn’t make up, which is there for us to use, which is the very goodness of the divine love.

So our task is to keep looking for how truth and goodness, message and power, are connected. We need to look for those names, those qualities, and sometimes we have to be willing to change the quality, rename it. But by means of that ongoing effort over time, we will pass through suffering. We will go through ordeal. We will experience the deep connection that the Gospel of Mark has described as having to happen - a transformation into a person with an ever greater capacity to love.

Peter was the first of the apostles because truth from goodness is the first thing of the church…. But it must be truth from goodness, for truth without goodness is mere knowledge that a thing is so. And mere learning does nothing except to make one capable of becoming a church. It is not accomplished until a person lives according to knowledge. Then truth is bonded to goodness, and a person is introduced into the church. And what is more, truth teaches how a person ought to live so that when one is affected by truth for the sake of truth, which is done when they love to live according to them, they are led by the Lord, and a connection with heaven is achieved, and they become spiritual, and after death an angel of heaven. Still, the case is that it is not truth that produce these effects, but goodness by means of truth. And goodness is from the Lord. Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §820:2

Scientists ascribe every discovery to themselves, not understanding that they are studying a Universe already given them which existed long before they were born. They even call stars by their own names. It is absurd. But False Personality ascribes everything to itself. (Nicoll, Commentary III, pg. 915).

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

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Mark Episode 13

[00:00:00] As we continue in Mark chapter three, Jesus gets out of town. It’s too intense perhaps, and he goes out in the country, goes to the shore of Galilee nearby. But people are crowding around him still. The idea is that we’re supposed to imagine thousands of people trying to get to him and he’s healing people. Sick people are pushing forward to touch him. The image of a crowd where people could get crushed is very frightening, because it happens, right? People die in such crushes. People who are psychotic, who are possessed, are being tortured, and cry out in pain as they convulse. And the evil spirits, Mark reports, cry out. You are the son of God, but Jesus sternly commands them not to reveal who he was. [00:01:00]

Our premise that Jesus is modeling a secure attachment style appears to be challenged by his repeated escapes and detaching from the crowd, in this case, going a small distance from the shore in a boat. I suggest that he is modeling the grace we need to have, with ourselves, when, upon feeling the pressure to change when being confronted by a securely attached person, which is what I’m thinking following Jesus entails - that we at first resist and complain.

There will be, in that moment, a crowd of negative thoughts pressing upon us. Feelings of fear of change arise as our brains, alerted to something unknown and possibly dangerous. More inwardly, in our spirit, a fear of the loss of self arises because of [00:02:00] the challenge of this new style of love and acceptance that Jesus is modeling.

Our usual way of being has made sense for many years. We have our defense mechanisms, our stories, our agendas, our interpretations, and in that state we don’t see anything as being wrong. So when this powerful presence, and an offer of a new way of connection and attachment, confronts us, is presented to us, it reveals to us the evil, or the harm, of our materialistic, selfish, fearful way of being that actually has infected what would’ve been a healthy attachment with ourselves, with others, and with God.

The first sense of this is feeling resistance to the love and wisdom that is doing the miracles in our and other people’s lives. Perhaps you remember your [00:03:00] first defiance of your parents, right? Even in small ways, I’ve been told what to do, but I’m going to do it my own way, even if it’s less efficient than the way your mother taught you.

That was a necessary phase in the development of your sense of self. But now, as perhaps in your adult life, you’re wondering if this sense of self is harmful to your relationships with your friends and your loved ones. You’re getting a message, more or less subtly, that you’re being selfish, or worldly, or arrogant, stuck up.

Jesus is modeling a mindfulness that we also learn from Buddhists and other practices, at the moment of discovery of this harmful way of being, which is felt as an emotional or cognitive discomfort. It is key to distance myself from the judgment I’m making about it, [00:04:00] and this takes practice. I don’t want to avoid or deny the pain, or the worry, about my relationships, or my negative self-assessment. But I want to mindfully observe them because that frees me up to choose what to do and to say, and not simply continue that mechanical way of being hooked by it.

And so being reactive and defensive and going back to our same old stories and so forth, the ideas we’ve cultivated and owned, and held onto for our sense of self, come from all parts of our mind, our body, and experience. Even as the people came from everywhere in and around Palestine, to see Jesus according to Mark. Coming from one direction, we fear we are not good enough when we think of comparing ourselves to others.

From another place, muscles hold tense, in tension, in anticipation of a threat, [00:05:00] and so uses up a lot of energy and attention. This is a signal that our brains are producing hormones that will cause inflammation, and if chronic, become painful. And yet in a mindful moment, we can, from some distance away from our present life, remember times when we were taken advantage of, and we created attitudes and behaviors to protect ourselves, that now are not helpful. Remember staying home alone, right? Or turning off social media, stopping texting, maybe even stopping a relationship with a person, and yet that harmed those relationships. It doesn’t feel healthy, it doesn’t feel well. And we begin to cry out for healing. [00:06:00] Why is this happening to me? What is going on?

Because of the size and agitation of the crowd, we’re told Jesus had to create a little bit of distance to be seen and heard. He is modeling for us the experience of the mindful process of standing back and noticing the many thoughts and feelings that naturally and automatically arise in our minds. We get a more or less distant and fleeting feeling of the power of love to heal our pain and resolve our fears when we have this distance.

We cannot maintain this new realization of the power in our love. We’re not ready to name it right away. But if we see and feel it again, and again, and again, as it were, returning to the experience that Jesus is modeling, our unhealthy thoughts and painful feelings will be reduced.

So [00:07:00] Jesus is assuring us of the good results of this mindful work. The more we’re able to experience him as loving us fully and securely, we gain trust in him, and we can soften our reliance on our own self. We begin to understand the difference between secure attachment and unhealthy dependence on our self.

We begin to see that I can be a strong, competent, capable, sovereign self, and be in relationship with other people. It’s a complicated thing. I can imagine it’s as complicated as an infant learning to walk. We have to do it again, and again, to understand and feel that secure attachment that Jesus is here modeling.

And that is to follow him. That is to give up this arrogant sense of self [00:08:00] and see ourselves in the context of a relationship. And that will heal our spirit and we’ll know that because it will reduce or even remove the cognitive and emotional discomfort we feel when we come into relationships with other people.

“Clearly, ‘to go after the Lord and to follow Him’ is to deny self. To deny self is to be led not by self but by the Lord. A person denies self when they shun and turn away from evil behaviors because they are sins. And when one turns away from evil they are led by the Lord, because they do the Lord's commandments, not from self but from the Lord. ‘To follow the Lord’ has the same symbolism.” Revelation Examined §864

It is these quiet emotions and insights and perceptions of truth that have the greatest healing power and help us against the tyranny of the machine – which all this time we have assumed is oneself. Nicoll, Commentary III, pg. 1013

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Mark Episode 12 Transcript

And we come to the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark. The gospel writer sets us up for seeing another example of how Jesus lives from his own self-assurance and is not driven by ego.

It’s a Sabbath, he goes into the synagogue and it has been set up that there is a man there with a deformed hand. And of course that means that man is somehow evil. He’s somehow not justified. He’s not a good person. And Jesus participates in this whole setup. He says to the guy, come and stand in front of everyone. And he turns to his critics and he says, okay, this is the Sabbath. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath? Because, you know, you’re not allowed to work, but is it okay if I do a good deed or, Jesus says, is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save a life or destroy it? Of course, you can’t answer that question, right? It would make them look bad if they said, yeah, you can do evil, but not good, right.

And so the Gospel writer says, very specifically, Jesus looked around, was angry and sad because of their hard hearts and he turns to the man and says, hold out your hand. The man puts out his hand and it was restored to health. It was no longer deformed. Of course, the reaction of the Pharisees is that they go away to meet with the supporters of Herod, who is the leader of all of the Jews and all of Palestine, on how to plot to kill Jesus.

Now there are a number of stories in the Christian scriptures, and in probably all the scriptures like this one that carry me through a number of emotions. I go from a positive excitement that Jesus is going to show me something here, to justifiable anger - how could they set him up that way - to sadness at the state of affairs of the circumstances that these people who were against Jesus, who wouldn’t have had their hearts melted or softened.

Perhaps you, like me, feel perplexed that Jesus had to confront the leaders, the opinion leaders, the ritual leaders, the governmental leaders who were opposing him so irrationally. Or perhaps you feel an agony of heart, that Jesus had to go through all of this ordeal, including torture and death, simply to make the point that goodness is always acceptable.

It is normal that in the course of a day we would experience a variety of emotions. We regularly cycle through them, and that is part of living, we are wired that way to not be set in one emotion, one set of thoughts, we can change our emotions, we can change our thoughts, and that gives us a sense of ownership and agency about who and what we are. We get to decide what our value is, even though it is intrinsic in us, we get to choose it.

So therefore, my view is that we are created to come to a place where we feel loved by God, by the Source, by the Creator. We feel loved, and that gives us the capacity to love others and to love the earth, and to love what is going on. We are love receivers. We’re also meaning making machines, as people have pointed out.

But the basic foundation of our living is love, and that is what gives the quality to the meaning that we create, that we then are responsible for. So the point is that love cannot be thought into experience, we can’t decide what is the right love. Rather love leads us to believe the way we believe.

That’s the premise here and the possibilities available to us because of the variety of emotions that are available frees us up to intentionally and independently choose to be loving people, to receive the divine love, to receive love that is its source. And therefore we will come into times, into circumstances in days where we lose something and we grieve, there’s a loss of joy.

We can recognize that and it’s also very clear that loss of joy has with it a fear of the loss of life. And that fear then becomes anger when it is manifested. So in fact, this story and what Jesus does is modeling this process of our individuation, our regeneration, our salvation, our spiritual growth.

The model that provides that our reception of love can be full, and that our giving of love may be complete, such that we feel joy and satisfaction in that moment, in any moment, in that Sabbath moment when we notice it going on. And this is what I am here calling secure attachment with our God, with the parts of us, within ourselves, with others, with the earth.

So our suffering results not from external circumstances impinging on us, but rather our suffering results from a loss of connection with that source of life, of love. In the Gospel that separation is called evil and any ideas that support that evil are called falsities. Part of the allure of this evil and falsity, these ego states, and these rationalizations is that they are very effective at diminishing or even removing emotional turmoil or discomfort that is going on inside of us.

Many wise people have seen that it is the nature of our ego, of our merely material mind, to seek resolution to this discomfort in any way possible and the automatic first attempt at that is to raise ourselves out of the circumstances and to seek to [00:07:00] be in charge or even in control of what’s going on.

So when I’m feeling that superiority over people and circumstances, I no longer have to be bothered by feelings of sadness or fear, right? I can simply suppress them. I don’t notice them and so then what happens? Predictably, we’ve all seen it in ourselves and others that then anger is manifested and that anger feels justified.

But that good feeling, our current joy in that moment, is actually very superficial and temporary. But it allows us to avoid those pesky negative feelings, as they might be called. So to mature as a human being. to be saved, to be regenerated, to come into this secure attachment bond it is critical that we practice skills that [00:08:00] increase our tolerance for the discomfort of what we commonly label negative feelings. And the flow of life, in my opinion, I’m observing, is supporting that work. All the time, every moment. Not just those special moments, but every moment. As Jesus pointed out in the synagogue here, every moment, even this time that they perceived was somehow different, called the Sabbath, was a time and a place to do good. How can anyone ever oppose doing good deeds, right? When is it the right moment to do evil, right? And yet we justify that, don’t we all the time, or maybe not all the time, but often.

So the reaction of the leadership to Jesus’ good deed in the synagogue when he healed the man’s deformed hand was clearly an immediate [00:09:00] response to what they perceived as a threat. They were afraid of losing control, of not being perceived as the people in charge. And so they resisted giving Jesus any standing in their hearts. Not because the apostles didn’t understand what was going on, but because these men felt that if they lost their superior sense of self they would lose their very religion because they identified their religion as themselves. They felt called and ordained by God to uphold the rules of the synagogue. And those rules were good, right? They supported righteousness and honesty, and fairness and so forth. But when they took that on, they identified with it as being the rules, as being the order, as being the righteous that blinded them. [00:10:00] And so they couldn’t even see that they felt this need to be in control and need to be righteous, which was then threatened when Jesus comes along and shows that no, this is doing good, is ordinary stuff, they actually could not see the goodness done by Jesus they were so caught up, but what they saw as their righteousness and their place. They were blinded to dismiss even the goodness of what Jesus was doing.

This illustrates a spiritual principle that if I am not putting my prime attention on caring for people, on developing relationships, on living in a relationship of love with my God and myself and others, then I will lose all understanding. I’ll lose my faith.[00:11:00] I will not see the goodness.

This is what faith shows us. We’re created as loving beings, and we want to be connected by bonds of caring and compassion and a wish for another’s joy. What we know about love, what we understand about how to live, is that understanding is secondary because understanding and faith cannot play their role if there’s no love supporting it, receiving it, being expressed by it, and that divine love that is flowing through all of creation has to be expressed by a faith.

So what do we do? Well, our task is to be mindful of the emotions we are experiencing, for instance. Prayer, the Sabbath, is a moment that can happen at any moment when we stop and put God’s [00:12:00] purpose, our mission, our passion in the front, leading us, above our ego, above our own plans, above our need to be in control.

We practice recognizing that we are receiving love, that our role is to pass that love on and that we are dependent on that love for our life. And because we then have this opportunity to experience this love as being infinite and unconditional and unending, we then experience the protection that gives us of our freedom to love others. That gives us this sense of security that we are living in the flow of the divine providence. We are going on the way, we are connected. And it is possible for us to learn how to discern when this [00:13:00] spiritual connecting is happening, as Jesus, and the Buddha, and Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Dalai Lama and so many other people have been modeling for us how to do that.

Jesus, in this story explicitly asks the men in the synagogue to let go of their need to be in control when he challenges them. Does the law permit good deeds on this Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save a life or destroy it? Of course, there’s no answer that does not feel to them like losing the argument. And that illustrates the position they’ve put themselves in. The question reveals that these men are grasping for power to be the rule, to be the enforcers of the rule. Now, of course, there’s got to be rules, right? Gravity is a rule, [00:14:00] right? And of course they will be enforced. However, these men are illustrating how I can make my “self” the rule, the ruler, the enforcer. And as so many wise people like CS Lewis have pointed out, the powers of darkness, our own ego, feeds the fear of the loss of that status. So it’s not that we’re not supposed to have rules and enforce them, it is that when we begin to own that we are in charge of those rules, that then the hells can take over that those evil desires we have, those merely materialistic drives we have, will take over and we will then come into place of fearing the loss of that status when they’re challenged.

And then note in the story it says that Jesus, then looked around at them [00:15:00] angrily, and then was saddened, by their hard hearts. So again, here’s a model that we’ve seen throughout much of literature and scriptures from every culture, a complete acceptance of the process of emotional reaction to circumstances.

Then a complete acceptance of these two emotions we often characterize as negative anger and sadness. They’re not really, but that’s a convenient way to describe them and because of their role, what they do to us, how they discombobulate us, they feel wrong somehow. Jesus can tolerate these emotions without being reactive, without being manipulated by the powers of darkness, by the hells, by evil spirits, by the culture that he also wants to be part of.

He’s not being manipulated because he’s absolutely secure [00:16:00] in his bond with his God. That’s what we can do, we can develop our mindful tolerance of discomfort in the same way, so that we do not buy into the life destroying, negative, self-defeating, egotistical reactivity.

So, you come upon a moment in your life, you can make it a Sabbath moment, a moment of rest, you stop and you notice: Am I justifying my correctness here? Am I needing to be right? Am I asserting my ownership of something? Even the stuff that we have. Am I enjoying someone’s pain or failure?

We can stop at that moment. Just stop thinking for a moment. Take a breath, right? Notice your [00:17:00] breath. Notice your chest. Notice the heart in your chest. Notice the emotions that are coming along. In that moment, I can remember that I am loved unconditionally and completely. I am being held in that love, in that moment.

I may also be angry at the circumstances, at the evil people, I may also be sad for their disconnection from the flow of life and from what it’s doing to me, drawing me down into their fear or their anxiety. And in that moment I still experience being loved and this opportunity to love someone else and to love myself.

So, we have been evolving spiritually for the [00:18:00] last millions of years, right? And Jesus Christ, and so many of these other wise people and traditions around the world, have made it possible to see what is spiritual inside of what is natural. I don’t think people could do that 2000 years ago. We can see our deeper emotions through what is our natural reactivity to things. We can actually perceive within the very form of goodness, as Swedenborg calls it. This is a great blessing, even as it is an awesome responsibility. And it is a gift acquired by an ordeal, by life experience, and by doing the work, going along the way, in every moment. So every time I stop to consider the nature of the desire that I [00:19:00] am feeling at that moment, that is showing up in my emotions, in my words, in my actions, my behaviors, in that moment, I stop. And I notice what’s suffering. I notice what is joyful. I notice what is content, and grateful, and sad and angry, so that I acquire the skill to notice, to observe, to experience this gift of being loved, and of loving others, and so feeling connected.

I invite you to go along on that way. In that moment, hold out your hand to receive that love and feel that bond of love. Hold out your hand no matter how deformed you see it to be. By that work, it will be [00:20:00] restored.

My dear heart never think you are better than others.

Listen to their sorrows with compassion. If you want peace, don’t harbor bad thoughts do not gossip and don’t teach what you do not know.

-Rumi

[There is] no acknowledgement of the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. People who lead a life of evil deny these at heart, they despise others in comparison with themselves, they hate all those who do not treat them with respect, they take delight in getting their revenge on those people, and indeed delight in being cruel to them, and they think that acts of adultery do not matter. [All people have] evil spirits and at the same time angels present with them. Through the evil spirits they communicate with hell, and through the angels with heaven. As their life moves towards evil, hell flows in; but as their life moves towards good, heaven and so the Lord flows in. From this it is clear that people who lead lives of evil are incapable of acknowledging the Lord. Instead they invent countless arguments against Him, for the delusions of hell flow in and are believed by them. And those who lead lives of good do acknowledge the Lord, for they have heaven flowing into them, where love and charity reign supreme since heaven is the Lord's, who is the source of all love and charity. From Secrets of Heaven

It is sufficient to work on the evil of today [Matthew 6:34]. If a person begins to work on the irritations and troubles of daily life, they begin to work on themselves. To change, one must observe their ordinary day, noticing recurring events and their own mechanical reactions—what they say, think, and feel. Real change starts with altering these automatic responses. But if one believes they always act consciously and rationally, they will never see their mechanical nature and therefore never change.

And certainly do not excuse oneself by saying that “I have no chance yet to apply to myself, because I am so busy with the day’s work”... Our daily life, our profession, our trade, our occupation, et al, are nothing but a dream with which we identify. (Commentary I, pgs. 26-27).

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” Mark 2:18-28

Mark Episode 11 Transcript

We continue our review of the second chapter Gospel of Mark, and we come upon some practices, behaviors, beliefs that are 2000 years old and literally have no equivalent in our world today but are not to be skipped over. I am continuing to look for how Jesus’ behavior and teaching is showing us a model of how to live a securely attached life.

And we refer back to the premise that love is the energy in life and that Jesus is tapped into that energy and is an example of that. So based on that, we have these four things that happened in this section of Mark chapter two.

First of all, a group of people come up to Jesus and point out that all the Pharisees were fasting, but Jesus was not. And they’re asking, “Why don’t you fast?” Like a criticism. But maybe they were wondering “Hey, this fasting is, you know, difficult.” Well, fasting at the time was required in order to be a righteous person. So we’re gonna run into this again in the future where you’ve got the 1% of people who had the time and energy and resources to do all these behaviors perfectly.

And fasting would’ve been one of them. I mean, can you imagine, the fishermen that are following Jesus now, taking a day off to fast when they needed to be fishing? So we’re gonna run into that here in a minute.

So Jesus’ response is “Well look, when you go to a wedding party, do they fast when the groom is there? Of course not. They don’t fast during the party. And so he’s likening himself to being the groom, this special person that they are supposed to be having this wonderful party with. And he told them that “Someday I’ll be gone, and then you can fast.”

And then he goes on to say, would you patch old clothing with new cloth? Well, no, because the new piece would shrink and that would rip away from the old cloth. Right? And finally he says, “No one puts new wine into old wine skins.” Wine was carried around in leather wine skins, and you poured the new wine, which is not completely fermented, into a new wine skin, and it stretches and it’s fine. But once the wine skin has stretched, if you put new wine into it, when it ferments, it will burst the wine skin.

And then finally, a great challenge to the cultural norms. Jesus and the apostles are walking along and they’re in a wheat field. At the edge of the field there’s unharvested wheat and they just put their hand out and pull heads from the wheat and pop them in their mouth and chew. It’s kind of interesting experience of eating that way, but they did it on the Sabbath, and that was called evil.

So we have these behaviors that are defining people as being in the tribe or out, good or evil. And there were these metaphors that Jesus was using to illustrate that there is an inner life, an inner experience, that should be driving us, not cultural norms, or our old habits even, or our cognitive process we’re so used to.

When we are an adolescent, we experience puppy love. But then we’ve all experienced that becoming romantic love and then hopefully you’ve experienced the development of that romantic love into actual relationship, a deeper relationship, a spiritual tie, a secure attachment. So that’s the normal growth. Jesus is pointing out here that we can become stuck in the mere behaviors.

We might think that is the achievement we’re trying to get to, and we become relying on those behaviors, but of course they don’t hold up. A previous stage, or way of managing life, is not appropriate for a later stage. It just doesn’t work, it could tear things apart.

Like when you, again, in your youth, maybe you were dramatic and insistent. I remember telling my father that we were going start this commune and it was going to be great, and it was going change the world. Right? And that insistence, that dogmatism, that know-it-all is not appropriate in a later stage when you’re trying to create a relationship with someone.

And we come into new stages of life and they bring with it their wisdom. Our merely experiencing life gives us a deeper understanding of what life is about, that is appropriate to that new stage of life. And if we are seeking to change that and the culture is against us, or somebody is challenging us, what dowe do? What do we do with this new wisdom? Do we let it blow up our life? So Jesus is modeling this rising above the usual concerns we have, our normal cognitive processes, our normal emotional reactivity, and seeing them all from above, from within, from a deeper place based on our normal living.

Now, Jesus didn’t have the language that we have these days for brain science, but he nonetheless was observing that what is driving us in our life, or what ought to be driving us in our life, is this seeking relationship and expecting there to be joy in that connection. And so many wise teachers are pointing out that this is what is real. This experience of joy, of connection is what is real, not these exterior expectations, or achievements, or definitions, created by the world. And certainly not the message from our own false self or our wounded self that imposes suffering on us.

That first example, of fasting, is suffering. And of course there’s going to be suffering in life. Suffering does not cause joy. It is going through the suffering that brings us to a place of joy. But you know, the culture could only get to this point - I remember learning this more or less explicitly - that suffering was it. If you’re suffering, then you’re a good person! Well, no, not really. An example that comes to mind is someone who complains a lot. I had a coworker, I would come to them with an idea, and the first thing out of their mouth was, no, it’s not going work and then the second and third things out of their mouth was, “And so let’s do it this way.” But there had to be that initial complaint. Let’s say that complaining is coming from a deeper wound that gives them anxiety about the future, and they’ve got to manage that anxiety, and they do it by complaining or pushback right from the get go. But they have this anxiety about the future and how it’s going to work out. So when someone comes to them and suggests that they would be happier people in life if they would stop complaining, even if the complaint might be legitimate, when they’re told that they would be happier if they stopped complaining, the initial reaction, is going to feel, they’re going to say, “Now wait you can’t impose upon me your expectations or your way of life, you can’t demand that of me. It’s not appropriate to dismiss my concerns, my anxiety for the future.”

By the way, that’s not how God treats us, right? That’s not how love flows. Love is unconditional and provides for all the love that is possible among all the people and we feel separated from this love. And here it’s called evil when we complain, when we first blame the circumstances for our woes, or when we first blame God for our woes.

When we say that the rules are supposed to carry us through this and blah, blah, blah. And that’s not how God operates. He does not step in to change us by adding new cloth or new wine. Rather, we go through this process whereby we accept the reality. Jesus is saying, listen to this metaphor here, look what’s going on here, and accept that reality in a way that gives us just a little bit of capacity to change, to let go of an old idea, to challenge an emotional reaction that we have to something, to increase a little bit more safety to acknowledge what’s going on here and perhaps an opportunity to let it go.

So that is one way of seeing how Jesus is coming from this place of secure attachment. And how does he teach people this? Well, he uses these now 2000 year old metaphors. How do we learn from the source, from the flow of love that there is this new way of being? The next example in the gospel of Mark and this seemingly random story that is a very powerful message about self-care versus selfishness versus the world’s expectations of us.

They’re walking along and it’s on the Sabbath, which is an important point. And they do this odd thing where they grab off the heads of the wheat grains. You know you can rub the grains between your hands and you get down to the wheat seed. You put it in your mouth and would eat it, and would get the benefit of it, and it would become a gummy like substance, and you’d spit it out. And the Pharisees see this and they say they’re breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath. They were just trying to get some food. Again, this is such an old thing that, what in the world does that mean?

So I am looking at it and saying, well, Jesus is recognizing that our self-care comes from a recognition that we make what is important in our life run our lives. So the Sabbath is a symbol for, not just rest, but teaching. It’s a metaphor for the perfect conditions in which we experience connecting to God or to another person, the perfect conditions to experience joy. And the benefit of the experience is received at any moment that the Sabbath rules are applied. When we take from our own initiative, from within ourselves, following the rules of self-care. Now, that’s not rules imposed upon you by someone else. So again, Jesus saying, look, these rules, these Sabbath rules are a spiritual experience, they are not an imposition upon you that by obeying them, you become a good person.

In modern times, people have expectations that we are going to perform a certain way, and if we don’t perform that way, they look down on us. And that’s a cultural trope that’s very common. The securely attached person, when they experience this deep appreciation of their own value, when they feel connected to their source, when they are able to love others because they feel lovable and love themselves, they come into that circumstance which is perfect for becoming securely attached to God, to other people, experiencing joy. It’s very difficult for people who are afraid of looking bad or coming from an emotional wound or an attachment wound, which demands that they be a certain way in order to be liked. That’s mine! It is very difficult then to take care of yourself and remember this connection and being lovable and being able to love.

Now, we’re all afraid some of the time, right? We’ve all got some attachment wounds of some sort. So it is our task to pay attention to when we notice that people’s expectations and the norms of the world begin driving us, rather than being on our path. We do what is necessary to take care of ourselves.

Now this is difficult to pull off, just as it was difficult for the Pharisees and others to believe Jesus. They felt like Jesus was just throwing off all these rules that were so important to holding people together, making them a tribe, and showing themselves as being righteous. It’s hard to turn our minds to a new way of being.

Most of us have realized that we cannot force other people to do things. We can’t force people to love God, right? And many of us will have considerable anxiety about being loved. And yet we know we can’t demand it of other people. It’s blatant coercion or something, there’s a lot of passive aggressive people out there. There’s, you know, a lot of borderline mental health issues that are connected, I believe, to these deeper wounds coming even from our childhood.

And this is the evil that is being referred to here, eating on the Sabbath, working or harvesting on the Sabbath. We can be that way without observing it and the prospect of noticing and labeling our ways of being as being insufficient, as being self-defeating, as being dysfunctional, is frightening.

It’s giving up this comfortable way of being. And often I avoid going to the effort of making that observation and that assessment and that lightening of the weight of the rule. And Jesus is modeling for us, in such a helpful way, and he’s recognizing that there is this spiritual environment that we all live in that continues to provide the perfect circumstances for us to experience God’s love, others’ love, and our ability to love others.

He’s modeling for us how we think about this, how we speak about it, and even how we approach some of our behaviors so that we can imagine what it is to be in that peace, in that assurance, in that sense of worth. Through the process, we discover how to honestly and deeply look at ourselves without shaming ourselves, without condemning ourselves.

Even though we’re letting go of some rule that has been important to us our whole lives, and worked well in the past. But now we need to take on for ourselves, rather than having it being imposed upon us. Which means we’re going to tweak it to fit our wisdom and our love. We experienced then a freedom to let go of thoughts and feelings that are so self-limiting and dependent on culture and addictive, that separate us from God.

And we are left with this sense of peace and rest, right? Which is the origin of Sabbath and a sense of the flow on the path on the way, and being led, at the same time as we are following the rules because it is love from within that is motivating us.

So I want to begin every day with a practice that for more or less amount of time brings to mind the abundance and constant presence of God’s love, that it is appropriate for this moment, that it is feeding this new stage of life, that it is not regulated from without, but that the rules are coming from within.

And they’re the rules of love. It reminds me that I am loved and that I’m capable of loving, and it sets in my mind the intention to live for this connection to God and to others. The promise is that I will experience this secure attachment and will in that perfect circumstance, feel joyful and satisfaction.

“As for the new will, it is above the old will, on the spiritual level. So is the new intellect. The intellect is with the will and the will is with the intellect. They come together on that level, and together they examine the old, earthly self and arrange all the things in it so that they obey what is higher.

“Surely everyone can see what would happen if there were only one level to the human mind - evil traits and good traits would be brought together and mixed up with each other there, as well as false impressions and true impressions, and conflict would erupt. It would be like putting wolves and sheep, or tigers and calves, or hawks and doves together in the same cage. The inevitable outcome would be a cruel slaughter, in which the savage animals tore the gentle ones to pieces.

“Therefore it has been provided that good things along with their truths are gathered on a higher level so that they can remain safe and ward off an attack, and can use chains and other means to bring evils under control and finally disperse them along with their falsities.

“The Lord rules the things of this world that are present in a regenerated person through heaven. The higher or spiritual level of the human mind is in fact a heaven in miniature form, and the lower or earthly level is the world in miniature form. This is why the ancients referred to the human being as a microcosm. We could also be called a microheaven.” True Christianity §604

“Sabbath” in the literal meaning, indicates that there are six days that belong to us and our labors, and a seventh day that belongs to the Lord and to the peaceful rest that he gives us. In the original language "Sabbath" means rest. The Sabbath was the holiest thing among the children of Israel because it represented the Lord. The six days represented his labors and battles with the hells. The seventh day represented his victory over the hells and the resulting rest. That day was holiness itself because it represented the completion of the Lord's entire redemption.

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Mark Episode 10 Transcript

We continue our survey of Mark chapter two, and we find Jesus beginning a regular practice of violating cultural norms. He sits down with a group of men that included people who did not as strictly adhere to the religious law, and so we’re labeled sinners, a derogatory term that now includes a moral and spiritual judgment.

But in that culture “sin” simply meant that they were not permitted in the synagogue. They were not to be had dinner with. It’s interesting, at the very end of his ministry, Jesus again sat at a table with a group of men, and it included a man who would later betray him. Another man who would later deny knowing him, and a man who would not believe in him without physical proof of his reality.

And yet we know that moment, the last supper, to be one of the most precious and holy times in all of Jesus’ ministry when he sat down with his apostles then. Well, these stories from Christian scriptures, similarly to other traditions’ stories, illustrate not simply Jesus’ tolerance, but his complete acceptance of anyone who came to him seeking to follow him, as he said, to learn the truth and love.

Jesus is modeling what we now acknowledge to be an emotional and spiritual bond, a secure attachment with God, that in fact, we are all created to experience. He seems to have had a connection with God, within himself, and with other people, by 30 years old, which is young for us to be able to do. He had developed such a clear sense of himself and his value and his worth and his role in God’s creation, a sense that he experienced as a gift from his creator. He was never swayed by other people’s opinions. He was not afraid of their rejection. He was never deterred from caring for his children, indeed, because he saw everyone as God’s children.

The judgmental people around Jesus called attention to the pasts of these people, the reputation of the people sitting with Jesus, and they labeled them sinners. And by so doing, they separated those people from us “human beings,” relegating those people into a lower cast. These opinion makers, the teachers of the law among the people, were in fact afraid of losing their power, which depended on this separation from sinners. They were afraid of losing their status of being able to eat, and be in the good seats in the synagogue, and afraid of not being seen as the most right, and the most righteous, if those people, those sinners are allowed to sit at their table.

So Jesus was directly challenging them in their opinion of themselves, and pointing out their fear, and pointing out their place in the theocracy where they ruled. Jesus never says that he’s all right with a person continuing to separate themselves from God, to not follow God, to become what we still call a sinner.

Jesus offers a new view, however, and that is that such people are spiritually sick. When we are feeling separated from God, when we are following unhealthy, unhelpful, self-serving emotions. When we are believing falsities, Jesus is saying that we are in need of a physician, a spiritual physician right here, the very beginning of his public ministry and only the second chapter of the gospel of Mark.

He engages with a man, Levi, who would later be called Matthew. And Levi was a man who had been given approval, been given the right by the Roman overseers to act out what might have been his greed in collecting tribute money for the Romans from the Jews and his job was to collect as much money as he could and then sending on to the Romans only what the Romans required, what they actually asked for.

And so therefore, if Levi could get more money from the people he was collecting from than he had to pass on, he could become wealthy. And that is how he’s portrayed, having his own house and servants and so forth. But in the story, Levi is sitting there at his table collecting their tribute and Jesus approaches him and invites him to stop what he’s doing and instead follow a different path.

Remember him doing that with the fishermen? And so Levi says, “Oh, well, let me explore this,” and invites Jesus and his followers to dinner. And it’s at dinner that Jesus proclaims himself as a doctor of sinology, curing the ill effects of evil and even preventing spiritual disease.

When Jesus sits at Levi’s table, he’s not condoning evil. He’s practicing his trade of spiritual medicine, of healing people. Do we tell a medical doctor he’s being a bad person when he’s being with sick people? No. But you understand that at the time this was a radically different view of how good people, about righteous people, were supposed to act. So here, as in so many places in the Christian scriptures, we’re confronted with civil and political outrage.

On this literal level, we are indeed encouraged to seek justice. That’s a good reaction that we have to what Jesus is doing. However, as Jesus shows us, it’s not sufficient for the healing of the world or our own healing. If it were. Jesus would’ve done it. We’d all been healed and the world would’ve been good, right?

Jesus was here to cure spiritual diseases and to set up the context in which all spiritual illness could be healed. And so he reaches out to us through the pages of these stories showing us the way of transformation of our hearts and minds to cure us of our spiritual disease, our separation from the creator, from the source.

What I take from Jesus and from the interpretations of people like Swedenborg and others, is that the healing of our spirit is achieved by being joined with, connected to, bonded with our loving and healing God. In terms of attachment theory, it is to be fully engaged in the flow of love because there are no barriers.

There’s no fears, selfish desires, false notions of superiority, stories from the past, models of behavior that we’ve picked up from other sick people that would block the flow of love. Because I feel safe and loved and lovable. I can receive and pass on that love freely, that is to be healed. And so Jesus is manifesting the reality that all physical ailments, all the things that are wrong in this world, all that separates us from each other and from God, have a spiritual cause.

Now, I want to be careful here and not imply that if you’re physically sick, that you’re somehow evil. It means simply that there is a power of darkness and it infects and attacks us spiritually, mentally, and yes, even physically when we are separated from this flow of divine love because of our woundedness, because of our mere materiality, that we are dependent on physiology rather than spirituality for our wellbeing for our value.

So many people take their value from what they do, their productivity, when in fact our value is intrinsic. But if I rely on simply productivity to define me, then I could get sick, right? This is the message that comes from many scriptures for many eras.

We see it in the Hebrew scriptures, in the story of Genesis, the idea of the couple sinning, of breaking the bond with their creator. That concept has become confused with inherent evilness. The point is that the scripture is describing the human condition that we begin this life not fully connected to our God and Creator, and so we ail spiritually.

So we all can say to ourselves that the sins of our past, that is the wounds of attachment that we have, the cognitive processes that are messed up, the emotional reactivity that we have, those are the sins. They can be allowed to determine our presence and our future. We can let them affect us.

But you know, these sins of the past, Jesus is saying, do not affect God’s creation, God’s connection with us, God’s flow into us, even though it does affect our experience of being connected with the source, with God, with that flow.

Relationships are complicated, right? We all know this, but we strive to be in a relationship with other people. And sometimes we have a reactivity that’s not helpful. A person living the model that Jesus is here giving us, he promises, will experience in the end, unconditional love with healthy boundaries. And yes, that is complicated. Jesus is saying that we get there by sitting at the supper table, being present with those evils, those wounds, those dysfunctional ways of thinking and being, and our false notions of ourselves, sitting with them, acknowledging them, and then turning. It’s called repentance, seeking transformation, seeking how to change our minds and lives, and that is following this model that Jesus is offering us rather than following our own ideas, our own thoughts.

It’s been important to me to figure out how it is that God doesn’t let the poison of critical people’s thoughts and words adulterate his view of me or of the world. How do I not let the poison of other people’s criticism of me infect my view of myself, and the world, and of other people? And that’s what Jesus had to go through. And so I think what’s happening here is he experienced God’s love. He experienced feeling blessed when he loved others, when he was a non-judgmental, loving presence with them.

We know from the story anyway that he experienced times of separation, of feeling separated from the Father, from God. It’s described how he was able, when he acknowledged God’s unconditional love for him, that then he felt one with the Father. He felt that bond as he let go of the fear of death, of the fear of abandonment, the fear of being disliked and attacked, as he let go believing what is false, or loving what is evil. Letting go of what is selfish or separating him, he became more and more connected with the Father, with God, until, the story says, he eventually became God. Every religion has its version of this process, and in psychology it’s the process that leads to integration of the different parts, of transformation, of individuation.

This is the experience of regeneration, of salvation, of enlightenment, of transformation. Whenever we feel that we’ve lost our bond with God, with the source, with life, with the flow, because we have been valuing the ideas of the world or our own notions, when we followed the world’s culture, where we become dependent on the things of the world, and its lusts, when we’re caught in the grip of merely natural desires.

When we become dependent on them, that creates this separation from God. That’s what this message is, and the resolution he’s saying is to develop relationships that are non-judgmental, that do not depend on some notion we have, but always include the promise of a healthy relationship of unconditional love, with healthy boundaries - that that is the cure.

So the challenge I am recognizing to be that I have to go through this process that I recognize when I’m being selfish, when I’m being materialistic. And I recognize that that is being harmful to me and to my relationships, and I observe it, as it were, gathered around the table, and then I go seeking for a change in that spiritual health.

I do that by practicing what it is to love other people, to be in their presence. To be consistently thinking that there is a way for me to be loved, for me to love others unconditionally. For me to recognize my value coming from within, it is intrinsic in me, and for me to look for that value, that goodness, in other people.

So no longer am I needing to separate myself from other people to protect myself from them. Rather, I want to sit with them to love them as fellow human beings. And the promise is that I will then have an experience of what it is to have secure attachment, which I will experience as a healing and a lifting of my spirit, a secure attachment with my God, with all the parts of myself, and with other people.

In the Word ‘physician’ means forms of preservation from evils and falsities because in the spiritual world ‘sicknesses’ are evils and falsities. Spiritual diseases are nothing else, for evils and falsities rob the internal of a person of good health. Spiritual diseases introduce mental disorders, and at length states of depression. Nothing else is meant in the Word by ‘sicknesses’. from Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §6502

“‘For I, Jehovah, am your Healer’ means that the Lord alone preserves them from evils. This is clear from the meaning of ‘healing’ as curing of and also preserving from evils; for when evils are meant by ‘sicknesses’, curing people of them, and preserving them from them, is meant by ‘healing.’” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8365

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!” Mark 2:1-12

Episode 9 Transcript

We arrive at the beginning of Mark Chapter 2. Jesus has become well known and people are looking him up all the time. He returns to his home base in the city of Capernaum, which is on the Sea of Galilee. And we’re told that people are crowding around the house; they want to be healed; they want to hear what he’s preaching.

And pushing through the crowd comes four men carrying a cot with a man on it who turns out is paralyzed . They can’t get anywhere near Jesus who’s inside the house. And so they climb up the stairs on the outside of the house and they break open the roof of the house (probably some boards or grasses or mud), and lower him down with ropes so that the man is lying right in front of Jesus. And the amazing thing is that Jesus says “Oh, your sins are forgiven.”And the Pharisees standing around are going “Oh no, no, no, no, wait a minute you can’t forgive sins, that’s blasphemy.” And Jesus says out loud “Well, is it any easier to say - your sins are forgiven, than it is to tell this man to stand up and walk.?” So Jesus says “In order to show you that these are connected,” he says to the paralyzed man, “stand up, pick up your mat and go home. And the man jumps up grabs this mat, walks out through the stunned on lookers. They were all amazed. And of course they end up praising God.

This story is about another piece of how we experience being securely attached with our God, with our Creator, with the Lord. And it’s important to notice that we can argue with the Lord, we can argue with God, about our circumstances. We can complain and challenge him and begin to even have doubts about God’s presence in our life, and his role in our life. That’s a normal thing. So many of us have to confront Him. And God understands this. God understands that before we can actually get the benefit of a secure relationship with God we have to first experience the power of God’s love and wisdom in our life.

Our proprium, our ego will react to the constant reach of God offering his love and wisdom. That’s normal and ordinary being merely natural people. We first experienced this as children right when we began arguing with our parents and teachers during the early stages of our life. We could not conceive of having any life if it wasn’t our own. Or when we are afraid of losing our value, our sense of the ownership of all that we believe and all that we feel to be our own is quite important to us. And to put our life into God’s hands under his control is far away from us. People like Richard Rohr point out that in the first half of life that’s what we’re doing - we are gathering resources, we are creating a life, we are owning it. So in this story we begin like one of those teachers of the law, the Pharisees and the Scribes, by arguing with God about what’s going on in our life. And then that is resolved.

First I want to notice that what we’re dealing with here is now discoverable by science. What we know about the human mind, and the processes of its reformation, regeneration as revealed in Holy Scriptures, has now found a description, with a new language you might say, that describes mind and spirit and physiology. The language we get from the Bible, for instance, is being complimented by modern science as we discover how the brain and physiology work. How there is this initial resistance that then, through experience, can give way to acceptance and resolution and transformation. We can actually measure the effects of God’s healing power on our brains and bodies. We can now describe the state of conjunction, or transformation, or secure attachment, that close connection, the bond, between God and ourselves that is the heart of this story.

Let’s make this personal. What parts of your life do you feel are paralyzed, stuck, unable to move? What parts of your life are symbolized by that paralyzed man. What parts of your life are symbolized by the four people who care so much about that man that they brought him across the city on a stretcher, and found a way to bring him to Jesus.Imagine that scene. So there’s these four people, presumably men, who love this paralyzed man. Maybe they’re related or connected somehow, that they’re going to go to this tremendous effort. And they must have believed that Jesus could heal him right because that’s what they were doing. They were willing to give up some good part of their day, or week, to help this man, which means away from their work, away from their families. I’m sure it impacted their daily bread in order to help this man. So we must know that there is some effort to bring this paralyzed man to Jesus. They wend their way through the streets of Capernaum. And when the crowd interfered with their process, it didn’t stop them.

In fact they’re motivation, their desire led them to think outside the box, to be creative. Something shifted so that they were able to do something different. They were outrageous in their behavior! They climbed the outside stairs that typically would be on the house, up to the flat roof. Likely there’s just boards or plant materials or mud daubing, creating a roof. They tore it apart, damaging the roof. Then somewhere they found some ropes and they tied, I imagine, each of the corners of the mat and lowered the man down through the hole in the roof, onto what must have been a very small space immediately in front of Jesus. I think it’s kind of neat that the story does not include any outcry from the people waiting in line, or from the owner of the house. I imagine that this amazing show of commitment and this opportunity to see a miracle mollified all those observers, and awakened in them now a new sense of awe and wonder about what was going on. I can even imagine the cheer coming from the crowd outside as they saw the miracle accomplished. They hadn’t thought of doing this! This is a new thing. We’re going to come back to that feature of this when we’re talking about our inner experience of this.

So the spiritual meaning of the story, the personal meaning. Consider for a minute what would drive us to seek healing. I’m seeing four parts of the process that leads to a discovery of a secure attachment with God that is the bond that we’re created with, but that through life - through experiences, woundedness, how well life is modeled for us, what we’re taught, what we’re not - becomes some spiritual paralysis in our spiritual growth. So first there’s a recognition that we are sick and that we are suffering. That sometimes doesn’t happen until the second half of life, where we learn mindfully to observe what’s going on. And we recognize that there is this discomfort, there’s this dysfunction, in our life. So that’s the first thing. Second is the acceptance of that condition in such a way that we let go of shame or self condemnation or limiting thoughts. We recognize the paralysis, the spiritual unwellness. But it doesn’t stop us. Something clicks that gets us to not just recognize that we are suffering, but that doesn’t stop us. Third there is then the ongoing regular work that we do in our lives that takes us through the normal pathways of our life. We perhaps avoid that paralysis, or we suppress it, we ignore it, we don’t recognize it, it becomes part of our unconscious life. But it’s still impacting us, but we keep at it. We try to be creative in our life. We have a sense that we’re moving towards some better life, or transformation. And then, fourth, finally there is created a new relationship with the Lord that is experienced as healing - as an experience of it, not just an understanding of it, not just a hope for it. But there is a physiological reaction that is included in this healing. And, by the way, we go through this process again and again and again. This doesn’t happen once in our life, but every time we come upon one of these wounded places, this paralysis we go through this cycle to be healed.

So how do we get there? Imagine you woke up this morning, and perhaps like me, you often remember to thank the Lord for another chance to do your part in the process of your healing, your salvation. If you have a practice, it’s walking, or working out, meditating, journaling in which you thank God for another opportunity to be useful, to be charitable, to be faithful. It might be that you feel encouraged to talk to someone about a negative feeling or about an idea that’s disturbing you, and this has been there for days, weeks, months, that has been stewing there.

But one morning we wake up and the thought “I could take care of that today” comes up. That doesn’t happen without work - the men carrying the paralyzed man to the city - and that’s the ongoing work that we do. That is just the normal everyday taking care of business. And then also having some sort of mindfulness practice, or some attention to the fact that I’m suffering, and I don’t know what to do. I’m just accepting that it’s there. I get that it’s stopping me, but it doesn’t have to somehow. So maybe there’s a loved one who’s upmost in your mind for some reason, maybe they are ill, or their life is in bad shape. Or maybe it’s about yourself, more personal, individua.l Maybe you realize you lied about something or you’re withholding something or you’re not doing something that would be a good thing to do. And maybe this idea has been stewing there for weeks or months, about how to do this task at work, or how to resolve this relationship problem, or some detail of your own spiritual journey. And today you have the thought “Oh I can attend to that today.” Scriptures from all sorts of cultures around the world, and Swedenborg talks about this in his writings, that there are these awakening experiences. And we can wonder where these thoughts come from, where these emotions arise from.

The premise of my work is that God loves us and God is constantly flowing in with that love, and a wisdom that goes along with it. And that is being realized in the spirits with us and connecting us even though it might be unconscious. So indeed, God’s love and wisdom is constantly influencing our minds more or less consciously. And modern psychology and brain science allow us to actually see the effects that these thoughts and emotions have, as they can flow continuously through our minds whenever we’re awake.We can see that activity in the brain. We can measure when different parts of our brains are becoming activated, and we can connect that by correlation to either happy, joyful feelings and thoughts, or disturbing, paralyzing thoughts.

Those thoughts and emotions have an impact on our bodies. We feel it in our stomach. We can measure the cortisol giving us pain in our joints from those disturbing thoughts. And we can see what happens when there’s thoughts of beauty and joy. There’s a response in our bodies - there’s relaxation, there is good digestion going on. Then our body is working well. So it’s this experience of having this insight, of having this moment of waking up, that is the product of the work we’ve been doing, that actually has a physiological reaction. And that happens to everybody. That’s going on all the time in our bodies. And it is to my mind a manifestation of God’s love flowing in all the time, giving us this opportunity to feel a connection to him, which then is going to make a difference in how we manifest ourselves in the world.

So we have many thoughts and feelings and judgments about the conditions of our life that are with us all the time. And sometimes they just stop us. We can’t do anything with it. We’re paralyzed. And maybe it’s shame, or maybe we don’t see clearly what to think. We can’t figure out what to say. We’re stopped and we don’t know what is the right thing to do. This is so confusing. We may worry about the impact of our decision we have to make on others, especially loved ones. It may be that we were told as a child not to interfere in other people’s lives, so that stops us from reaching out to be helpful. We may have been told we’re not good enough, or we’re stupid, and we bought into those ideas and more or less unconsciously been run by them. Those thoughts and those emotions paralyze us in the moment we’re unable to act on the insight that we just had that we know ultimately came from God and his love and his wisdom.

So what can we do? One thing we can do is to remember all those things we’ve learned from childhood about God - that he’s always with us, that he’s urging and pressing to be received, and that he’s seeking to have a secure attachment with us, that he wants to be in our hearts and minds, that he wants to abide in us. If we can continue to hold that, even if we’re not feeling it, that will come up in some moment of our lives. Then God will feel present even in moments when we feel paralyzed and we’ve taken on some paralyzing belief or reacting to some false idea, or fear, or feel compelled by some selfishness or materialism. Those moments will show up for us as being unacceptable. We don’t want to stay there. They’re paralyzing us. So it’s a regular practice that will take us on this journey through the city, carrying that paralyzed part of us. And it can be work. It can be a burden, that negative thought or experience. However every time that we have that good thought, that insight, that positive emotion, perhaps we see it in a movie, or hear it in a piece of music, or we awaken with the thought. We can step back, as it were, with our mindfulness practice, and rise above that negative thought and circumstance. Rise above that thought or emotion and observe it.

This is simple and it’s hard, though. Even if we say it is simple, that’s what the effort of the four people took each step. They took some steps more difficult than others, got them closer to Jesus and the fulfillment of their belief in his healing. When they felt stopped, absolutely blocked, they looked around and they saw another way, the Third Way perhaps, according to Gurdjieff. They climbed up seeking higher ground, some perspective.

And so too, God encourages us to use the Scriptures we know, the wisdom and love of all our ancestors, all our experience, to be creative, to rest in the moment of acceptance as an opportunity to discover what to do. And to be energized by love. That is what it is to rise above it. And this is when people report miracles happening. How do you come to see that new idea that is so helpful and compelling? Where did you get that energy to continue on? Was there some outside force pushing you or drawing you in? People of faith talk that way.

And then a modern psychology can posit from the science that when you distinguish your thoughts and emotions merely as pieces of you, you don’t identify with them, you can then watch them. And then you can identify those rules of thought, the patterns of your thoughts, the patterns of your emotions, which are your normal, typical way of being. You can identify them as not you, as not the way it has to be.

And so you can put aside, put down, the weight of those usual thoughts and usual ways of thinking. They just don’t have the weight that they used to have. They’re not as compelling anymore, at least for a moment. You might even say that you don’t care - I don’t care about that anymore. On a deeper level of course I really do, but what happens is that you begin to tear apart that which would be a barrier between you and what we know is this healing power of God - of God’s love and wisdom. And begin feeling that higher power being the source of your life, and the source of your joy, and source of your well-being.

Non acceptance of others’, or worldly possessions, or knowing everything, or being in control of everything, is a plank. Everything - the planks, the weeds, the mud daubbing, the roof - that you now see are actually barring you from transformation, from regeneration, from spiritual growth. That was comfortable, that was the way it worked, that was all normal. It worked for you just like that roof worked.And yet it’s now become a barrier.

So you have these new skills. There are, as it were, ropes given to you. These abilities to let go of what is paralyzing you and put yourself into the hands of God. Amazingly, that’s all there is to it. You know at that point Jesus just says “get up and walk,” and he does! As difficult as this work is, God is then immediately present with his love and wisdom, and the paralysis then is gone because there’s a new way of being that is possible to you.

Of course now you begin the work of this new life. This isn’t the end; this is the beginning of some new work. You no longer participate in the complaints, the doubts, the arguments, that the Pharisees were putting out there. They’re there, but your perspective is different. You can rise above them, you can describe them, you can see what’s going on there.

This is, by some, called a non-dual view of life. It’s no longer sin versus paralysis, earth versus heaven, law versus grace, body versus mind and heart. We let go of that either/or view of life because it’s comparing, it is conflicting, it is merely contrasting, instead of acceptance and openness to what God is offering. The experience of this secure attachment bond with God is what we call transformation, conjunction, salvation, individuation. It is the result of a spiritual, and psychological, and physiological process. As Jesus points out we are all integrated, we overcome the inclinations that were born with that are hereditary. The wounds that give us a view of life and our view of ourselves that is limiting. We are able to put aside what was modeled for us that was an unhealthy way of being. And we discover that those are actually what were keeping us from connecting with our higher power, with that energy. Which then gives us a confidence of ourself. And we’re relying on that higher power, not on whether other people like us, or whether we’re doing it right, or what the rules of the culture are. We are living from ourselves in this secure connection.

And that is indeed the state in which we are created. We rediscover the innocence of childhood, now filled with wisdom. The Lord offers us this promise of amazement, of that “aha” moment in order to get us up in the morning, to go ahead and go through the effort of the day, to continue to use that insight, to find a new connection to our creator, our higher power, our God. And so recognize how God abides in us and we abide in God in this secure connection.

Our own close connection with the Lord also comes about through times of trial, and through the grafting of faith onto love. Unless faith is implanted in love, or in other words, unless the tenets of faith lead us to live a life of faith—which is charity—the bond will never develop. This alone is following him, or forming as close a bond with the Lord as the Lord’s human part formed with Jehovah. A life of faith is also what causes all who live it to be called God’s children (after the Lord, who is the only child of God) and to become images of him. (References: Genesis 14:20) Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §1737

"The task of the first half of life is to create a proper container for one’s life, and the task of the second half is to find the contents that the container was meant to hold." Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957

Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2011

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

So we come to the end of the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, ending in verse 40. A leper appears before Jesus and asks for healing, and Jesus reaches out and touches him and heals him. As I reflect on the entirety of the Bible, the Hebrew scripture never tells the story of Jehovah reaching out a hand to touch anyone. Jehovah is invisible. He appears as a fire in a bush, and we hear his voice and so forth. But my conclusion is that people before the incarnation of God in Jesus, were not capable of a secure attachment bond with God. This is another reason why the incarnation amplifies my awe of God and makes my relationship with God fulfilling. Not only do I have a sense of the mystery of this - that his creative force of love reaches all creation and my own soul in a manner I can’t fathom.

But yet I have a sense of God touching me, of healing my fallen nature and so saving me from my sin. He even touches my leprosy in order to heal me as we’ll see in a minute. Leprosy, now known as Hansen’s Disease, Wikipedia tells me, is a long-term bacterial infection that may result in the lack of ability to feel pain, and so loss of parts of extremities due to repeated injuries or infection due to unnoticed wounds, weakness, and poor eyesight, come along with Hanson’s disease. Now, contrary to the belief at the time, leprosy is not highly contagious, and it is in fact curable. Most of the leprosy colonies that we’ve heard about have closed since leprosy is not very contagious. Now, again, in the New Testament, not only was it thought to be very contagious, it had a stigma about it, and that social stigma has been associated with leprosy for much of history, as we know it, and that continues to be a barrier to self-reporting in early treatment, which would result in no harm.

Some consider the word leper offensive. Certainly if untreated leprosy will progress and cause permanent damage and secondary infections, then in turn will result in tissue loss, loss of fingers and toes or deformation as cartilage is absorbed. So it is a really serious illness and its sores and the deformity, of course, in Jesus day would have warned people to stay away and there would’ve been complete separation of the leper. So it was a desperate, devastating disease to get, and it comes from lack of cleanliness that this bacteria could multiply.

Now, I want to believe that Jesus actually knew all of that. Even if he didn’t have the scientific details and because he continually touched lepers people, it didn’t slow him down a bit and it made him look very brave and perhaps foolhardy, but completely unconditionally compassionate. And so Jesus becomes this model of unconditional love and fearless compassion. We know that his effort was not to physically heal everyone on the planet because he didn’t do that, but to do a spiritual work that would spiritually heal everyone on the planet, which he did do because that healing continues to this day. So there must be a way in which touching and healing a leper would advance Jesus’ attachment bond to the world, and to me, and would have reflected his confidence in his relationship with the Father, with the divine within.

So here is this complex situation. I could be sick with an ailment. I don’t know how I got it, but everybody can see it and it looks repulsive and dangerous, and so people move away from me. In fact, it’s easily preventable by cleanliness. It’s not contagious, and if people stay close and assist me, I could avoid getting worse off and be healed. But that was not going to happen. We would hope that, based on Jesus’ model, that Christians would not let that scenario play out, that it would be more common in Christian circles, that we would have compassion that would reach out and would touch people. But Jesus doesn’t make it simple for the leper, or for us. In the story in these verses, in the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, Jesus tells the man to follow all the rules set up in the Hebrew scriptures to demonstrate his cleanliness once he was healed by Jesus, and the Gospel writer includes all the details repeating the Levitical law. The man is not to give short shrift to the law or to the priesthood set up to enforce that law. My conclusion is that Jesus does not want people to ascribe their healing to some magical use of someone else’s power, but to continue to see it as the expression of God’s grace and mercy and healing power.

But we’re told in the gospel that the man went and spread the word he told everybody. Now, that seems to me the more likely behavior. It seems to be a positive evolutionary behavior to make sure that everybody knows that I’m okay, that I’m good, that I will not be cast out of the tribe, that I will not be abandoned, and therefore have better chances of survival. But this story has become, over the ages, externalized to assign responsibility elsewhere. Rather than expose my shame or fear, I am going to blame somebody else for this disease, and I am going to say that it’s up to God to heal it. II thereby hide my shame or my fear at what I’m going through, if leprosy is a symbol for some spiritual ailment that I have.

There’s another story in the gospels that as a man getting in trouble with the priests when he was healed and didn’t follow the rules - he didn’t show himself to the priestly judges, and he gets in trouble for that. In this case, we’re not told what happens. There’s no follow-up as to whether the man did it or not. The message I get is that when someone reaches out and touches me, they want to have a relationship with me. They certainly want me to experience healing and complete recovery by their effort. And I may have more work to do to change my thoughts and behavior, but I can take that act of compassion as an effort to be in community and relationship and support for my healing. And then my first impulse is going to be to share the joy of being healed. I’m going to say, “this was a wonderful thing that happened to me, and I will give credit where credit is due as much as I can.” So I get what the healed man did. And that makes this whole thing very complex. And because we’re not told that Jesus was angry at the man for going out and spreading the news, I mean, - how could Jesus ever get angry at something like that? - I learned that Jesus and his immediate followers knew that the rules now didn’t apply. Something had changed.

In fact, those rules had been removed. I do not need to rely on some authority to tell me whether I am healed spiritually or not. Now, Jesus is saying, we are to seek to touch each other spiritually, emotionally, physically. The new order is for love to direct our actions, not some assessment of the other person’s disease or unworthiness or failure or disorder. Compassion for each other coupled with a gratitude for what one has, which protects us, attracts us to each other. This is the only way to overcome what I think and see about my leper-self and what you think and see about my leper-self. Remember, it’s some bacteria hidden in my body for a long time. It’s not really contagious. It can be healed. Whatever spiritual disease I’ve got, we can touch each other. It’s not your responsibility to separate me from my tribe, and I don’t need to hide away even if I am ashamed of my behavior or my condition.

So that’s what is coming from what Jesus does from his being securely attached to God, to himself, to people. This new understanding of how humans are attracted to each other, how we seek that attachment all the time, and this understanding of how that effort can be skewed by our wounded sense of self, our hidden wounds, that live and fester for years and years. This understanding gives us new rules to live by - that it’s not my job to go in and tell you how diseased you are. It’s not my expectation that I need to separate myself from you, and it’s not called upon me to push you away.

I instead am supposed to go out to you and reach out to you and touch you, especially when you cry out to me for help as this leper did. Now, it’s still scary to break these old rules for my professional career. I was a teacher, I was a preacher, and I don’t have that role anymore. I don’t see it the same way anymore, but back in the day, I saw my role as my telling you what the truth was, and that you would then be listening to me, and that’s what my role was, - how I could help you, what I was supposed to do for you. And that was my living up to what God was calling me to do. Now I see that my role is to be a model of loving you, of loving myself and of loving God, and I have to let go of the role of telling you whether you’re good or bad, because that was in effect what it became.

So we don’t know what will happen, right? We don’t know how healing happens. It’s a wonderful, miraculous process that happens again and again, right? We’re not in charge of it, and I’m going to continue to be caught by the thought that the world’s going to go to hell in a handbasket if I don’t step up and tell people what’s right and wrong, if I don’t be in charge, if I don’t make sure that all the ancient rules continue in place. That’s going to still come up for me. And Jesus’ model is such a wonderful release, and a relief, I am free to love you and have compassion for you without condition.

So Jesus is challenging us with this really radical behavior. He touches lepers. And he doesn’t shame them. He doesn’t shame anyone. Even when they don’t do what they’re told - in this story, he sternly tells the leper to go follow the rules and don’t tell anybody. I suggest he is modeling a secure attachment behavior, which does not rely on other people doing what he says, but instead seeks to be in a relationship with other people, knowing that in that relationship, I am healed and the other person is healed. And I’m encouraged that I can safely model my life after what Jesus is showing me here because I won’t even get leprosy.

‘He laid His hand on me’ (from Revelation 1:17), symbolizes life then infused from the Lord. The Lord laid His hand on him because a communication is achieved through the touch of the hands. That is because the life of the mind and so of the body projects itself into the arms and through them into the hands. It is on this account that the Lord touched with His hand the people He brought back to life and healed….The fundamental reason for this is that the Lord’s presence in a person is an attachment, thus a joining by contiguity, and this touching becomes closer and fuller in the measure that the person loves the Lord, which is to say, as they keep His commandments. From Apocalypse Revealed §55

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

It makes a difference in our relationship to God to know that Jesus – the embodiment of God – had a regular routine to keep is brain – indeed his entire body – in sync with the divine soul within him. While this nexus of divine and human is ultimately a mystery to us, we experience a secure attachment with our God by internalizing the notion, through this circumstance, knowing that his unconditionally loving, divine nature, is authentically and intentionally expressing that love for us. It is a necessary anchor for my knowing that God loves me, that I am lovable, one of the foundations for being securely attached. It makes a difference to us to know what he does with his time and his body, including his self-care for his brain! Attending to this detail sends a message that is deeply imprinted on our psyche that God cares for us.

It is my experience, and the experience of many careful observers over the ages and around the world, that people whose daily routine includes devotional, meditative engagement with Scripture and inspirational literature feel empowered and safe in their sense of self, and then do their purposeful work in life with assurance. They report that later in the day, when a thought of doing wrong or breaking their sobriety in some way, comes to them, they are able to remember what they had read that morning, replacing that negative thought with one of positive encouragement.

So, back to the story. We are told a number of times that Jesus made the practice of going off by himself to pray a regular part of his life. We are told that his practice can be described as self talk – acknowledging the present circumstance, reflection on his reactivity, and letting go of judgment about himself or the source, which we called the Father. I am concluding that he needed a regular practice of what Gurdjieff calls self-remembering: attending to his connection to his own divine soul in order for him to be able to continue the work of redemption and glorification. My observation, the core of this podcast, is that we would do well simply to copy Jesus, even if we do not understand the physiological and spiritual mechanism of the benefits of the practice.

Some conclude that Jesus was advocating secrecy. A more helpful conclusion is based on the common understanding that the practice of contemplation Jesus is modeling is, first, a focus on one’s body, followed by, second, an inward looking at one’s current thoughts and feelings. This practice is most effective when our brain is not doing any other work, such as processing movements, listening to sounds, analyzing scents, etc. Of course, there are many ways to be contemplative, but this quiet and still way is fundamental.

The Gospel of Mark is so delightful in the way it describes the impact this good self-care has. Imagine Simon leading the small group of now clingy devotees up the hill in a frantic search for their guru, getting more sweaty and upset the longer it takes them to find him. When they find him, Jesus responds to the annoyed Apostle with equanimity from a now renewed sense of purpose, and a clarity about the next action! Would that we all could be so present to what is important in the moment! Jesus does not need to be reactive to Simon’s suggestion that Jesus had done something wrong by going off by himself, causing them all to have to go look for him. I imagine them finding Jesus sitting under a tree with his face tilted to the sky, hands on his knees, with his arms open to the morning sun. Perhaps Simon breaks his meditative state – or more likely, Jesus senses his coming. In a fluid motion, the young man with a strong, wiry body, rises and gazes with open welcoming eyes upon the face of his most verbal, inquisitive, challenging Apostle. Simon complains, perhaps because his anxious attachment style was activated by a fear of being abandoned by Jesus, whom, Simon thinks in his panic, had left them without notice.

Jesus, modeling a secure attachment style, intentionally acknowledges Simon’s panic, but is not caught up by it. Jesus doesn’t act from a worry about Simon’s anxiety. Jesus is able to embrace his brother, and, in the same moment, direct Simon to the work at hand – the teaching of people for their reformation, and the performance of the miracles that would cleanse their souls. (The translation here says “But Jesus replied.” I wonder if it would be more accurate of his non-dualist nature to say: “And Jesus replied.”) Unbeknownst to Simon and the rest, Jesus is doing intense inner work. glorifying himself, becoming more and more secure in his bond with the divine, with the Father. What we all clearly see in the story is a man who is becoming ever more secure in his own Self, in his case, his divinity. And we are inexorably drawn to Jesus. We want that assurance, that peace, that security in one’s self.

Our lives are human (in the highest sense) because we actively create meaning; we come to feel we own our lives. Our lives are human because we create purpose, or mission; we come to identify with the use in life. And, it is human to take the time, and make the effort, to connect with the inner source of our humanity: in my tradition the language is that we open our selves to the reception of divine love in our finite soul. It is key that we find our own practice for this part of being human.

Reading one’s Scripture has proven to be the best for billions of people. Perhaps it is for you. A man I judge to be wise recently said that it is his daily conscious, intentional expression of gratitude that has brought him peace and blessing. Others report sitting in front of their small altar saying a mantra for ten minutes before going to bed keeps them clear minded and open-eyed about their lives.

The Gospel of Mark tells us that such a time of reflection, meditation, contemplation, was a regular part of Jesus’ life, even to the consternation of his followers. This tells me that a securely attached person requires the benefit of that regular practice. Our bodies need physical food regularly. Our spirit needs spiritual food. Your practice will teach your brain what it is to be in this present moment, in this particular spot, connected to your inner self, to all other people, to creation, and to God. You will become so comfortable, that your words and actions will reflect not the disturbances arising from the world – of which there a many, and which are constant – but your choice of words and actions will be a manifestation of your inner self, and indeed of God’s love abiding in you. That is the manifestation of a secure attachment to God.

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons. Mark 1:35-39

The more closely a person is joined with the Lord, the wiser they become. Since a person has in them from creation and so from birth three degrees of life, they have especially three degrees of wisdom. These are the degrees that are opened in a person in the measure of the conjunction. They are opened in accordance with their love, for love is the essence of the joining. But a person perceives only dimly the ascent of love by degrees, whereas those who know and see what wisdom is perceive clearly the ascent of wisdom in them. The reason degrees of wisdom are perceived is that love enters through its affections into one's perceptions and thoughts, and these display themselves to the mind's inner sight, which corresponds to the body's outward sight. So it is that wisdom is seen, and not so much the love's desire which produces it. The case here is the same as with all the other things that a person actively does. They are aware of how the body accomplishes them, but not how the soul accomplishes them. Thus a person perceives also how they deliberate, perceive and think, but not how the soul of these activities - which is their affection for goodness and truth - produces them. Swedenborg, Divine Providence §34

But there are many other ways of getting oneself out of a bad inner state. You must understand that no work is possible unless you get into these bad states because they are tests or, if you like, temptations, which are absolutely necessary in order to make us skillful in dealing with them. You will not learn to swim well unless you are often dropped into the water. And it is always surprising that some of you think that if you pass into a bad state it is because you cannot do the Work. It is just in these bad states that one can work and learn what it is about. It is quite an interesting view, that was once given a long time ago, to regard bad states as something about which you must be clever and use, as it were, every possible intelligence and technique to get out of them. There are many different forms of Self-Remembering, and Sly Person was once defined as “they who know how to remember themselves in different ways at different moments.” Sometimes when one is in a bad state and attempts to get out of it and fails to do so, one can be consciously passive to it, without being negative and without identifying with it fully, having the inner certainty that it will pass provided one does not let negative imagination work and does not consent to its presence. This is a form of Self-Remembering and is just as if one has to wait, and knows that one has to, because it is raining too heavily and one cannot go out just at present and yet remains certain it will clear. Nicoll, Commentary I, pg. 368

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Mark Episode 6 Transcript

We continue in the gospel of Mark and come to verse 29. Jesus has left the synagogue and he comes to Simon and Andrew's home. They discover that Simon's mother-in-law is sick in bed with a high fever, and so she can't serve them. They tell Jesus right away. This is a glitch in the program. So what does he do? He goes to her bedside, takes her by the hand and helps her sit up. We're told then the fever left her and she prepared the meal for them as was expected.

The gospel of Mark is characterized by its immediacy. Within very few verses of the first chapter, Jesus is engaged in his life's work. He is teaching and healing. And right after that first miracle, the very public exorcism in the synagogue, the group goes together to lunch at a house, and they discover that the lady of the house is too ill to serve them as was to be expected of her.

So we are told Jesus went to her bedside, took her by the hand, helped her up. And I see that as being a model of how a securely attached person behaves in such circumstances. What they do, their first thing they think of, and the first actions they take are to be present, to attend to the other person and their needs, and then finding a way to give support. In fact, that is the basic model upon which all healing is based. Now, you and I don't have divine power to heal instantly like Jesus did. We are instead created to become conduits of that same power. It's not that our hands heal. The Lord heals through our hands. Our presence doesn't heal anyone, but our presence brings the divine love that does heal. Our arms do not support each other. It's the Lord's arms carrying us all together.

So what we see here is Jesus in his ordinary life. He gets hungry. They have to go eat. And they walk to somebody's house and they expect to be served and fed, as was the custom in those days of welcoming strangers in and being courteous and giving as was the custom of being hospitable. And yet at the same time, this gives us a wide view and really a deep understanding of his life in this small description. And it gives us a deeper understanding of what it is to be securely attached. It happens in normal life; what we all experience day to day. It doesn't require extraordinary circumstances to live this way. Jesus didn't float through life. He ate; he slept. He had all the bodily functions that we all experience. And note that it's not the case that everyone is well, that there's no obstructions in life, that there's no conflicts in life.

So we're not being set up for failure here and we're not being asked to be superhuman or to remove ourselves from ordinary life, or to expect life to go well, if we become securely attached. Experiencing a secure attachment with God, with ourselves, with others, as I propose Jesus had accomplished, does not give us some special life. It doesn't create special circumstances in our life. And yet it gives us, like I say, a wide and deep feeling, experience, understanding, and ability to be present, to be attentive to others and supportive of others. And modern psychology shows that that is actually what heals people. That was my experience as a mental health counselor. A person resolved whatever was their issue, they even got better, by their own measure, they were healed, not because I told them what to do or I had some special wisdom or led them through some particular exercise, but because whatever I did, I was present with them. I was attentive and caring about them and supportive of them as they were.

So we can all go about our normal lives without any extra effort, without any superhuman exertion and be healers because of the way we are being, not because of the things we are doing.

So of course, in order to go on this way of life, I'm going to be observing my projections of my woundedness, of my fears. I'm going to be observing my arrogance whenever that comes up, and I'm going to get quicker and quicker at stopping and letting go and not making myself higher or better or being right. I'm going to be observing my privilege, when I think I am better than someone else that I know better. I'm going to keep doing all that. But it is my practice of presence, attention and caring that actually creates the circumstances of my healing, of my becoming securely attached to my God, to myself, and to others.

And it's miraculous! It's not instantaneous. My theology describes that as the divine in action through Jesus, that this would happen instantaneously. When I am not trying to be right, when I'm not being the expert or the manager, when I'm not thinking I need to be in charge, when I'm simply present to those current circumstances, I'm curious about what's going on, I put myself in their shoes, I go sit with them. That will open me to the flow that is this healing love. Now, if someone has made bad choices, they've gotten sick emotionally, psychologically, even physically, and I see that, and I notice their bad choices, that simply informs me about how I can better care for them, rather than using all that as a litany to tell them how bad they are right now. This is a radical and hard thing to do. It's usual that we would step up and tell someone, give them advice, tell them what they're doing wrong, tell 'em how to do it right. That's the typical thing that goes on in this world. And to stop doing that is really hard because it feels like I'm not doing my job or they're going to continue to hurt or whatever. But this is what Jesus is modeling. This is the practice that he's showing us.

So we return to the story here where there's this expectation of this group, coming to this home, and the expectation is the woman in the home would serve them. That is the typical hospitality that would happen during the day. The underlying reality is that women in the home were servants. They were the caregivers. And of course, that's become a familiar trope to us all, where you have the male tribal leader and when something goes awry, like the servant gets sick, the leader gets angry and demands that they serve despite their illness, or at least dismisses that servant and then replaces, her probably with a younger woman.

Jesus doesn't do that. He doesn't buy into, or be simply mechanical in response to, the normal expectations of the world. And why can he do that? Because he is in the flow of God's love. He is staying attentive to the present moment, and so he sees someone else's distress and he's able to be with them in that distress rather than being caught up by his own discomfort or interference with what is a normal daily life. So Jesus is there modeling the benefit of being able to stay present and attentive to other people, caring, therefore quickly overcoming any upset that happens to me when circumstances go awry.

Of course, again, Jesus' way of being attracts attention. We're told later in this section of Mark chapter one, that after sunset, many sick, demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town is gathering to watch this amazing thing. This is new to them. It's attracting attention. It is Jesus being effective. He heals many people with various diseases, and he casts out demons, we’re told.

And then a very interesting thing is said. Because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak. Illness in the story and possession are obvious, right? We can see it going on. It impacts one's daily living. In this case, it would ruin people's lives, right? They wouldn't be able to function. They might die of starvation because they couldn't care for themselves, or they would be living in desperate poverty, dependent on other people handing them their crumbs and so forth. So it was a big deal to be ill or injured.

Like you, I am reading this and wondering, what's that got to do with me? And I would invite you to consider that these illnesses, and this possession, are symbolic of our spiritual life, of our mental and emotional life, and that they represent those inner dysfunctions that are part of our personality - from the way we were raised, from the traumas we've experienced, from the stories that we've started to live and tell ourselves; or they could represent our dependence upon, or attachment to, other external sources of satisfaction that we would come to depend on. Even addiction is that way. If I begin to believe that other people need to take care of me or that I can't do things myself, and I listen to those voices, then I am going to become ill. So this story to me is demonstrating or manifesting what happens when those inner voices are stilled.

The voices from all the different parts of us, all the “I”s. “I'm a bad person.” “I'm a good person.” “I'm an expert.” “I'm a failure.” “I'm not needy.” “I'm wounded.” All those voices are quieted. When we practice as Jesus is modeling, being present with another, listening authentically and then actually caring. This is a radical thing that Jesus is modeling. And it continues to be radical today. We keep thinking we need to step up and do something to cure people, that people need to change in order to be able to take care of themselves, that we need to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps and so forth. When in fact, it is this basic behavior of a community in which we listen to each other, we're present with each other, and we care for each other. It is then that as Jesus predicts again and again and again, that God is abiding in us and so works through us to heal us and the world.

By “disease” is meant evil, and the reason is, because “diseases,” in the internal sense, mean such things as affect one’s spiritual life, which things are evils, and are called lusts and cravings. Faith and charity constitute [an authentic] spiritual life, which life sickens when what is false takes place of the truth which is of faith, and when evil takes place of the good which is of charity; for what is false and evil brings that life to death, which is called spiritual death, and is damnation, as diseases bring natural life to its death; hence it is, that by “disease,” in the internal sense, is meant evil. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8364.

The Lord is present with each and every human being. He exerts insistent pressure on us to receive him. When we do receive him, which occurs when we acknowledge him as our own God, Creator, Redeemer, and Savior, his First Coming occurs [in us], which is the twilight before dawn. From then on, we begin to be enlightened intellectually in spiritual matters and to grow into deeper and deeper wisdom. As we receive this wisdom from the Lord, we move through the morning into midday. The day continues into our old age until we die. Then we come to the Lord himself in heaven. There, although we died old, we are brought back into the morning of our lives, and the rudiments of wisdom that were planted in us while we were in the physical world grow and thrive to eternity. Swedenborg, True Christianity §766

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

So we continue with Mark chapter one. We've come to verse 21 and following, Jesus has collected his companions and now they go off to do their work. Jesus has come out of this ordeal he went through with a sense of mission and purpose, and that was felt by these first apostles and disciples so that they were able to pick up and follow him. And so they go to a large town, Capernaum, and on the Sabbath day they go to the synagogue like good Jewish men did. And somehow Jesus gets to preach. Maybe the practice was that if someone stepped up and said, “look, I have something to say” that would happen. And we're immediately told that he taught with real authority. So he was having an impact on people.

And then suddenly a man who was there worshiping jumps up and he cries out loudly, “Why are you interfering with us? Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one of God!” Clearly, the man is possessed. It's an evil spirit we're told that is crying out, that is taken over the man. And Jesus then reprimanded him. He simply says, “Be quiet. Come out of the man.” And with that, the evil spirit we're told screams, the man convulses and then goes back to being normal.

This amazed the people seeing it and they started talking amongst themselves, what sort of new teaching is this? He has such authority that it looks like even evil spirits obey his orders. And then we're told news about this began to spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee. So Jesus is now committed. He's out there publicly, he is impacting people, and he's actually now doing healing miracles it seems.

Now perhaps you've had this experience as I have had, when I've said something very helpful to someone coming from my expertise and my experience, and they get really angry at me. Why did that happen? But what's even worse, and I can remember specific occasions this happening, that someone says something helpful to me coming from their expertise, from their experience, and I get really angry at them. Why is that happening? What's going on there? Now, perhaps I am spiritually advanced enough to have remained calm and quiet and polite, right? But inside there's this passive aggressive way of reacting to them that is totally unnecessary. I don't know why that's going on at the moment.

Now, when I say something intended to be helpful, what's actually happening is I'm manifesting an inner desire to be connected to that person. That's what this whole issue is about, that human beings are wired to be connected to each other. However, my expression of that desire in many cases will become annoying because actually it's coming from my ego. I am projecting from my woundedness. Perhaps I have experienced abandonment in the past, and so I'm afraid that that's going to happen. So I come from a fear of being abandoned or rejected. And the other person will then miss the helpfulness of my comment and rather be caught up by some word I say or the tone of my voice or my body language that is actually manifesting my fear, that is actually expressing my fear. The comment comes across to them and strikes them as being dismissive or judgmental or somehow superior to them, some other negative reaction they have, which is likely coming from their woundedness or from their story, from how they've been treated in the past when words or expressions that I've just said trigger in them these past experiences of being judged or dismissed.

So of course, when they speak up, they will be in defense of their core being or their value or their ego, or it might be coming from this woundedness and they just get angry. So we see that that's what's going on here. This is noticed in psychology a lot. This dance of action and reaction is so common that it's hiding in plain sight, and it's only with practice that we can become able to easily spot it, that we can gain the skill to actually see what's going on. And when we do, it's actually easy to resolve it once it has been seen. The hard part is being able to step back in the moment and to see what's going on, that I am coming from woundedness, that I'm imposing myself on someone else, or that I am reacting from my fear of being rejected or dismissed or judged.

When both people stop and observe what just happened and recognize their role in the interaction and where they're coming from, it's then possible for them to make amends and a new dance can be choreographed between them.

But going back to the story, when Jesus spoke up, he was being helpful. He wanted to connect with the listeners there in the synagogue, and he had a new voice, a new attitude. He had a different style. Remember what he's come out of and this mission that he has now, this was not like anything that they had heard before. They were not used to it. It was unusual. It was foreign at the same time. It had a power, it had an authority to it. Jesus was, we know, coming from this secure attachment, he knew what his mission was and he was living it.

Of course, I stop and ask myself, how would I have reacted if I'd been in that room? Would I have listened intently and welcomed this new fresh voice? Or would I have turned to my neighbor, and in a stage whisper, said something about the arrogance of this youngster .Where is he coming from? How can he be this way? I mean, I feel challenged. Or might I have suppressed my anger at the challenge that I felt coming from him. Would I have swallowed it or would I have been patient? Would I have been able to open my heart to a new idea, a new way of being that Jesus was presenting? I could have done that if I had been in the flow of God's love as Jesus was; if I had been ready, willing, and able to turn, to repent, to turn my mind in a new way.

Mark tells this amazing story, and it powerfully represents the process of how a wounded soul like myself reacts to a helpful comment, to an observation that actually will help me let go of the pain of the woundedness.

And in the Christian tradition, we talk about this, of responding to the good news of the coming of the Messiah. That should be good news, that healing is on the way, restoration is on the way. However, those of us, including me, that have impulsivity and reactivity to what's going on around us, we can be overwhelmed by a fear that comes up in us - that we will be dismissed or thrown out or abandoned or ignored, or be told we're wrong. This is likely due to emotional or physical abuse in our childhood, or neglect, and it's really there. It's really there. The wound is really there. The challenge for us is to notice when that pain creates in us a reactivity to some external circumstance. In the story of Mark and in the spiritual view of this, there are these powers of darkness who, as CS Lewis points out, really glom onto that pain and encourage us to identify with it - that is who I am. I am that pain and therefore I am that fear. This in the story led the man to defend himself from this perceived threat to his existence, to his ego, to his way of being, his sense of self. Why are you messing with me? He screams, “Why can't I go about my business in peace? We are all reasonable men. Here we do the commandments. Who are you to tell us that we are not as good as you or that we're not good enough?” We hear it as criticism.

That man was there in the synagogue with the rest of the worshipers. He didn't come across as being insane until this moment, right? Something triggered it in him. Many of us who become annoyed with someone and get angry, and later look back at it objectively, we realize that we made up a whole lot of what we thought we heard. We have these presumptions, these assumptions, this way of listening. We have this story running in the background again in the gospel and in the Christian tradition. We call this an evil spirit, possessing the man and that evil spirit reacts to the underlying message within Jesus' words. Remember, Jesus is coming across from this secure attachment. He's got authority as it says, he is channeling God's love. And even though this man was not noticeably insane, he was like all the other authentically, righteous and observant worships in the synagogue.

But there was this reaction. The message I get from this is that I am seeking connection just like everyone else is. However, I can be connected and own and identify with those negative, painful experiences that seem to me to define me, that are my ego, that are these evil spirits. And every time someone makes a suggestion that challenges that way of being in me, I have a reaction. Every time the good news was brought to people who didn't want to hear it in the story, they rose up and complained, even ultimately killing Jesus. So every time some piece of good news, some encouragement is brought to my attention with any power, with any authority, part of me will rise up in fear of the loss of my ego, of myself, of my existence, because I'm not that way. I identify with this pain, this resentment, this fear.

So pause for a moment and imagine yourself in the synagogue. You're listening to this powerful speaker. Part of you was responding to it, and if you dwell for a minute on what you would've seen and heard in that moment, you might get moved to tears. Jesus is so advanced in his spiritual development that he completely avoids the hook that you and I would've been caught by. He maintains his sense of self. He remains true to his mission. He's coming out of this ordeal that has brought it very much alive in him, about his woundedness, about what he fears, and what he needs to do to turn his mind and love other people. And so he in fact, remains connected to that man during his screaming and yelling and his challenge. He remains connected to that man at the same time as he is connected to his own developing divinity. That is how he does not dance with the devil, right? He remains clear sighted and pure heartedly connected, on point, on mission. Instead of arguing with the man, he looks and sees within him that woundedness, and he heals him by welcoming him, by accepting him, by talking to that other part of him and saying, “get out of the way. Let it go, be gone.” And the man then is returned to sanity.

This story encourages us to seek for a connection to other people, to myself, and ultimately to God by listening to what other people say, as if it's good news, turning away from the reactivity to the pain that gets touched, to the resentment, to the fear. And we're told in Swedenborg and in spirituality that that feeling is actually spurred in us by those evil spirits who again connect to our materialism, our selfishness, our worldliness, our fear of loss, because we're not coming from abundance. We're coming from scarcity and it triggers in us this reactivity that then rejects the other person's reach for connection. And they feel our defensiveness and our dismissiveness. Instead, we can cultivate, by modeling what Jesus did, the ability to stop and listen and hear what the advice was, what truly the person was trying to do in connecting to us. And then the words they say become helpful and they become a manifestation of the love the other person has for us, and we can return that love. We experience secure attachment.

Jesus went to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath He taught in the synagogue. The people were amazed, for He taught with authority unlike the teachers of the law. A man possessed by an evil spirit cried out, but Jesus commanded the spirit to be silent and come out. The spirit left after a convulsion, and the crowd marvelled, saying even evil spirits obey Him. News about Jesus spread quickly throughout Galilee. Mark 1:21-28

‘Demons’ mean evil lusts produced by the love of the world. And people with the same lusts are connected with spirits emotionally, even so that they are a unit. Such is a person who does not search out any evil in themselves which they call a sin, and consequently is not desirous of removing it by repentance. And as every evil is composed of lusts, being nothing but a bundle of lusts, it follows, that the person who does not search out any evil in themselves, and shun it as a sin against God, which can only be done by repentance, becomes a demon after death. From Swedenborg, Apocalypse Revealed §458

Someone asked: “Is it bad, the dark side?” You must understand that everything you do not acknowledge appears at first sight bad. It is the devil because the devil is always what is unknown, unacknowledged or not understood. If someone had invented the radio a few centuries ago they would have been burned as an agent of the devil. The dark side does not mean anything evil in itself. It means simply that it is evil to you, with your present estimation of yourself. It is evil to you, because when you admit it into your consciousness your present estimation of yourself will change. The result will be that you will be much better than you were before. You will be much better because your present estimation of yourself kept up by imagination, and by buffers, and by pictures, and by continual lying, has been weakened, and you have entered a larger world of consciousness. You should not think of the dark side as evil except to your Imaginary “I” which is one’s worst evil. If your Imaginary “I” is full of imagination about what you are, and if this imagination becomes destroyed by admitting what is antagonistic to you, you will begin to lose this wrong, sensitive Imaginary “I”, and your consciousness will broaden out and you will cease to be what you imagine yourself to be and move a step towards Real “I”. All the Work is against Imaginary “I” with which each one of us faces life so inadequately. The teaching of the Work sets out to destroy the power of Imaginary “I” but at first everything that threatens Imaginary “I” seems to be very evil – in fact, the devil. That is why I think it was once said in the Work: “The devil is also necessary.” So many people identify themselves with God without any justification and even imagine that they have intercourse with God continually. All this belongs to Imaginary “I” and in such cases God has indeed to take the aspect of the devil and destroy this imagination, these pictures, these fantasies, this self-merit, and all this nonsense that the Work attacks so strongly in each of us. Nicoll, Commentary III, pgs. 835-36

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

We pick up the story still in Mark chapter one, verse 16. Jesus has been baptized. He's gone through the ordeal in the desert and he has come to the area called Galilee and he's preaching repentance. He's begun his public ministry and they were told that he calls his first four apostles, and he does that by walking up to them where they are and says, “Follow me,” and they do.

Now, following someone is a complicated concept in action. What it means to me in a particular instance, to follow someone depends on my relationship with them. It depends on the health of my sense of self. It depends on where I'm starting and where I anticipate going, the changes that have to be made, the choices I have to make.

As I say, it's complicated, right? It's very complex. When I feel safe, I'm likely to positively respond to an invitation to follow someone and enjoy the experience. When I'm securely attached to the person I willingly follow. That security is developed as my spiritual and psychological and physical needs are being met more and more fully and more and more deeply. And it happens only in a relationship that I have with a person. Over time, my choice to follow someone is mine. However, the impetus to do so is always coming from the person who invited me to follow them. So there is an interplay there between my willingness and their invitation.

At that moment I really feel as if I am doing it all on my own, when in fact there is someone else's will also involved. This is the complexity. This is the interaction that is necessary. This is why it requires a relationship. And if that relationship achieves what we're calling secure attachment, then I feel free and I feel good and I enjoy the experience. And there is no sense of manipulation. Even though when we look at it on a psychological level, there is someone else's invitation, their influence to have me follow them.

My work, what I'm doing for fulfillment and for making money, and my avocation is an expression of who I think I am or who I think I ought to be. So fishing is symbolic of this work. And these four men were fully invested in this craft, in this vocation, in this work that they relied upon for their life. So it was a big deal. It was important to them. It's not like getting up and deciding you're going to quit some office job. This was if they quit fishing, they might starve.

When I am changing, when I am willing to put some work aside, it is having a healthy sense of self that allows me to put it aside if I want to become, for instance, related to another person and to have my attachment needs for security and connection met by them. So I notice that before I make such a decision, I'll spend a lot of time and energy collecting ideas and analyzing them. I will pay attention to how I'm feeling and the quality and nature of those feelings before I make that change. That's all symbolized by fishing and by cleaning nets in this story.

So when someone comes into my life and their presence is more or less attractive to me, I begin to pay attention to how I can follow them, how I can freely enter into a relationship because they draw me to them. There is a more or less conscious meeting of intention and intellect of what I know and believe that is true, and what I desire, what I wish, what is good. A powerful experience for me is when the person is calling me to a higher purpose in life that really draws me, catches my attention, and gives me a moment to put aside my old life, my old beliefs, my old desires to consider this invitation. And then when responding to that invitation lifts me emotionally and satisfies me intellectually, I feel like I've made a good choice, right? I don't feel compelled. I feel like perhaps God has given me, or karma, or the world has given me an opportunity to do something that is delightful and satisfying.

I've never experienced this happening in a moment like these four men did when Jesus called them to follow him. My presumption is that Jesus is manifesting the divine love that was his soul. Now, that's because I'm a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he is my Redeemer and Savior. However, you don't have to believe that to see that Jesus is manifesting this secure attachment that he has, that comes from his soul. And one of the indicators of this is that what Jesus said and how he said it, according to Mark, connected with some higher aspirations of these men. We can presume that those higher aspirations were awakened by the preaching of John the Baptizer. And I'm not going to assume that they didn't like their work or that something was going wrong or that it was wounding somehow, and that they've been hankering to get out of it forever. No, I think attachment theory helps us out here to understand how such a choice could be made to make such a large change.

Many people believe that life is a journey. It's going a long way. And to turn - to repent - requires certain conditions. An authentic actual change that lasts, that has even eternal impact has to happen in a state of freedom. Because if someone's holding a gun to my head and I say I'll be different, that's not going to actually cause any change in my spirit, in my heart, or on the way. If I am running away from something, if I'm trying to hide from something and I make a change that's not going to last, it's going to run out of energy. I'm not going to own it. I'm not going to feel connected to it. If I make a choice for a lesser evil, it may be very pragmatic at the moment and it may actually do some good, but inside of me, choosing a lesser evil is not going to satisfy me. It's not going to feel free. Again, there's not going to be any sense of having any ownership about that choice. So it's a key observation about living a life securely attached that our choices feel like our own.

Now, I'm at the point in my life where it is actually true that I'm only doing what I want to do. I've experienced a time when I was doing things that I didn't really want to do. It was part of my job. And that prepared me to accept the invitation that came along to do something different. And I was able to let go. Not just of those things I didn't like, notice, but I let go of the whole job and I grieved that loss. And yet I was able to make that change because the very complex, complicated circumstances were in place where I felt like I was free to respond to an invitation.

Jesus' words and actions, that his sense of self-worth was full. And he believed he had a divine mission and a divine love for everyone, and that's what he was trying to teach going forward.So Jesus is asking us to follow him. That is to act from the love that God instills in us from our creation. And we do that when we live a certain way, because we believe in the model that Jesus is showing us. On one level, we do this scary thing of letting go of what's been important to us perhaps for years and years. And we do that because we are open to hearing. For some reason, we are open to hearing that there is a more vital belief or a higher purpose in our way of being that's being presented to us on a deeper level.

To follow Jesus is to accept God's love for us as being unconditional and flowing in, allowing us to be influenced by God's love and God's wisdom, such that our thinking and our motivation feel as our own. We are choosing to follow him. That is a manifestation, it's evidence for a secure attachment that we don't feel manipulated. We're not coming from fear. We really feel that we are choosing what we are doing, at the same time knowing full well that we are responding to God's call. And so living out his will for us. That is the most secure attachment available to us as human beings. And indeed it fulfills all our attachment needs and is the introduction to how Jesus is modeling secure attachment.

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men. Mark 1:16-20

No one follows the Lord from their own self, but only from the Lord Himself. For the Lord draws after Him those who from freedom will to follow. He can draw no one who does not will to follow Him. For the Lord provides that the person may follow Him as if of themselves, flowing into their freedom, for the sake of the person’s reception and installing of truth and good, and resulting reformation and regeneration. If it did not appear that they followed the Lord as if of themselves, that is, acknowledged His Divine and did His commandments as if of themselves, there would be no attachment and joining, and thus no reformation and regeneration. For everything enters into the person and becomes as if it were their own that they receive in freedom, that is, as if of themselves, whether it be what they think and speak or what they will and do as if of themselves. And yet one ought to believe, as the matter really is in itself, that they do these things not from themselves but from the Lord. This is why it is said that they must act not of themselves but as if of themselves….A person cannot know otherwise than that this is done by themselves, when yet all good flows in, and so also that which they think, that which they will, and that which they consequently do….All this makes clear that to "follow the Lord" is to be led by Him and not by self. Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §864

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

God leads us through the wilderness that we've talked about, God's design creation to lead us to a trust in him, a completely safe and secure relationship with God and his love, and a confidence in our ability to love ourselves and love all of the people and that is heaven.

It's likely that you've learned from teachers and revelation and other loved ones that there are times when your ideas and your desires interfere with your obedience to God and your love for other people. I invite you to think of one or two right now. Perhaps there's something you make more important in life than God's love - food, your job, having respect. So maybe that interferes with your relationship with love, love with God. Perhaps you obey God from a fear rather than love - you fear disappointing God or going to Hell and look within yourself. Perhaps you do things to look good and so you are putting away some parts of you labeling them bad and wrong and you're emphasizing other parts of you. And yet inside of you there are beliefs and desires that can be intending looking good or feeling good about yourself. And then perhaps you actually lie to people. You damage relationships. Why? To protect yourself, to defend your ego. And you don't want to, right? You recognize you don't want to be lying to people, but it's like you're compelled to. It's a drive to protect yourself. So that's the wilderness we all live in at all times. Just think of a couple and we'll return to them at the end here that you struggle with.

Not all the truth we know has been connected to actually good desires to goodness. And so neither is really able to fend off false ideas and evil desires that take over our minds all too regularly. We fail, and yet there's good news that that pain, that suffering of being in that wilderness is not because you are not salvable, or not lovable. It's simply that the faith you have is not effective enough yet. And so that lights up a pain that is built into your mind, your heart, and that informs you that there's an opportunity for salvation. Same with physical pain. That's a signal. It's not a curse, right? It's not a punishment. Physical pain is a signal that tells you something is wrong and you can then take care of it. Healing is often painful, isn't it? So that's an indication that there is a process designed in the system to bring us through this wilderness state because that will give us a sense of satisfaction and joy in the present moment, in a secure relationship with God.

So imagine knowing the truth and desiring what is good and seeing beauty and joy and the power of faith and not having it. Your life is still marred somehow it's just not fulfilling some way or some relationship is not working or there is even pain.

The point here is to recognize that God is continuing to love you and his providence, his care, is leading you through and out of the wilderness, because God loves you. There is a trial, there is an ordeal that you question yourself. Am I going to let go of that belief I've held onto for so long that now I recognize is causing me pain, like the idea that I need to be right? And you'll notice that you still desire that harmful way of being and you don't like it. An example for me is smoking. I really enjoyed smoking until I quit and I would wake up on day three of my quitting and still want a cigarette, and then I would say, oh heck with it. Obviously I'm destined to always smoke. It wasn't until I let go of that falsity, recognizing that desire as simply being there that I was able to actually go through the ordeal by not smoking for day after day that I came through that.

So by design, God's love will continue to minister to me. God's love continues to be with you and care for you. And that is why every once in a while, if you stop and reflect, you will feel at least a faint hope that you can be better, that you can do better. You are not somehow handicapped or flawed, such that you are not lovable. You can't be brought out of the wilderness, and it's not the case that you need some superhuman ability. Some people can do it, so I can't. No, those feelings are part of the ordeal. But the feeling of hope and gratitude are the angels that keep us alive in the wilderness.

So this experience of our physical and spiritual development is a winding and complex journey. It is an often confusing passage through stages of life. We're told that these steps are common to all, even predetermined and necessary because God has made the goal of all of his creation a loving connection with you, with me, with all people. But our experience is still one of fear, anticipation, anxiety before we are in that secure attachment with God. One of the principles that I find very helpful I find in Swedenborg’s “True Christianity.” He says, love and wisdom flow in from God. And when they flow in and we become conscious of them, we receive them as if they were ours. In fact, because we feel them as our own, then they go out from us as if they're really our own. God grants us this feeling so that what flows in will have an impact upon us. We will accept it and then it stays with us. Now, it's true that there are dark powers, there is evil, there's a hell, and that also influences us. That's the source of our pleasure and our delight in selfishness and materialism. And how our ego can go out of check is because we were born in that condition and we receive those ideas and we accept them and make them our own and they stay with us.

So the principle is that our connection with God and our feeling safe with a God whom we trust can develop only to the degree that we let go of those false ideas, those selfish, evil, materialistic desires, and we know that they are removed as part of the process that God has created to work even though it feels like we're doing it on our own. As we said, repentance and our faith in God is what actually causes us to change and to turn.

Now, we're going to discover that Jesus provides a model for us in this work. So at this point in the story, Jesus has left Nazareth. He's in his late twenties, his father has likely died. He knows very well at that point that he has a mission but likely feels overwhelmed by it. I imagine he feels compelled to go on this journey, on the way, on this Dao, and exploration, all in the hope that his path will become clear if he lives into the mission and is in action.

So he ends up at the Jordan River with his cousin, John the Baptizer, and he has a spiritual experience in that moment of baptism. Perhaps this experience confirmed Jesus in his greater mission of being the promised anointed one. Perhaps it illuminated his path for him. Perhaps it responded to that more or less unconscious inner call that had been driving him - the divine within - the Father. Perhaps it awakened in Jesus an overwhelming need to be in action and perhaps that spiritual experience actually frightened him to his core because now he had a sense of what was going to happen.

So in the fullness of that spiritual experience, he felt compelled to escape into the desert. I imagine he felt led there. It says the Spirit led him there and he felt at the same time his own desire to go. He needed to be alone. He needed to process this. He needed to wrestle with these demons. This is going to be repeated throughout the rest of his life.

Now, I believe there actually were demons and there's plenty of evidence in scripture that demons, evil spirits, the powers of darkness, had gained control of all people's minds and hearts. The scriptures report that the devil taking over people's minds and hearts is the key issue confronting humanity at that time. And so confronting those demons, confronting that evil is the very core and the heart of Jesus' inner work, which then produces all his teaching and the miracles that he did.

No one can know what a spiritual crisis is like except the person who has lived through one. So the trial mentioned here, the ordeal in the desert, actually is an image of all Jesus' ordeals, which consists in his battling this love of self, his ego, his materialism, that was filling all people's minds, but Jesus was confronting them not to rescue himself. We know he doesn't do that in the end. But because he loves everyone in the human race.

So it's to be noted that these ordeals always target the love we fee. CS Lewis has his devil Screwtape make the point that that the devils could argue with people and get them confused, bring 'em into doubt. But the real battle is to destroy their love, their love of God, their love of other people. And further, the severity of any ordeal, any battle against our love, will match the nobility of the love that's being attacked. So your love of donuts is a pretty superficial love and the battle goes on again and again, and sometimes we lose. Sometimes we win, but it's not life shattering.

But Jesus, his love from the divine was for the whole human race. A love so great and good that it was pure unalloyed love. He allowed this life, this love, to be attacked continuously from the dawn of his youth until his final moments in the world while he was continually routing, subduing and vanquishing them. This he did purely out of love for the entire human race. And since his love was not human but divine and because the greater the love, the harder the struggle, you can see how fierce his battles were and how savage on the part of the hells and it went on almost continuously. Jesus says that sometimes he must go off and be by himself. And sometimes he rejoices with the people that are healed and that are him. But a lot of the time he's having this internal struggle with the savage of the hells in the gospel.

Here we're told that the arrest of John the Baptizer brings Jesus' inner work now into the light of day and people can now see it and hear it. And more and more people are going to seek Jesus out to be spiritually blessed, to be encouraged in righteousness, to be given a sense of justice, to be physically healed and even to be brought back from the dead. There is being awakened in people's hearts and minds a new view, a new hope that they can be spiritually neighbors, that they can care for each other's spiritual welfare. They don't have to be driven by the fear of not having enough. Instead, they can adopt an attitude of abundance. They don't have to come from a fear of doing it wrong, like the Pharisees and Sadducees were continually telling them, but instead from a delight in participating with God in the life of each other in a community.

The law that was being misused by people in power that was regulating their lives was actually separating truth from goodness. And that made the law of no good use, of no effect, and that harmed people's souls that crushed their spirits. One example in my life was to be sarcastic, which is separating the goodness from the truth. So if somebody does something stupid and I say, well, that was a stupid thing to do, that is accurate, but it's not loving and it harms the person's spirit. I was sarcastic to one of my children one time and I thought I was discipling them and I saw their face and how I crushed their spirit, and that was a terrible moment for me when I realized that my sarcasm could actually hurt my children. That was a wilderness state, but that recognition for that moment was an angel coming to say, look at this. You can walk out of this wilderness and follow the way and the path, by repentance, to the good news, and that's when our spirits are lifted.

When we recognize, I don't have to be that way, it lifts our spirit to hear that there is good news in our journey toward a safe and secure relationship with God. We will hear that voice whenever we are in the wilderness and we stop to listen. Every time we notice, we are reacting to some false notion like I need to be right or accepting a bad behavior like, well, that lie wasn't going to be terrible. Every time we stop and notice that that's what's going on, God's love is immediately there to minister to us, to give us wisdom. We're able to see a little bit of light. We have a little bit of hope that there is something we can do, actions we can, take that will support that repentance, that walk to being in a relationship with the Lord, with God, with Jesus Christ, with other people, with ourselves, to become enlightened, regenerated, saved.

I invite you to go back to your thoughts of any issues you've discovered that are interfering with your connection to God or to others or which are disturbing you internally. And notice that there is good news, right? God has revealed his love for you, and that love gives you an opportunity to trust him. And so find the peace and security that His power in his unfettered, pure love has to offer you. And if you quiet down, you quiet your mind, quiet your body, you can come to know it and you can come to feel it. You can relish it as an insight and as a desire that you own because you are using them.

The time promised by God has come at last. Jesus said The kingdom is near, and that is so encouraging.

The process then continues as Jesus' life does. We're going to learn more and more about how to achieve this secure attachment. There are going to be many times of peace and comfort, and each time we will experience a little bit more of secure attachment with God. That is the goal of all his love and providence, and we will be prepared for those ordeals knowing that there is good news to help us through. I encourage you when you look at those things you're going through that are difficult, when you experience that tension inside of you, when yopu don't know what is the good thing to do, or you feel drawn to do something that is selfish or materialistic and you don't like that, or when in your relationship you wonder how you could make it better, think of the announcement. That first thing that Jesus says in the gospel of Mark: “The kingdom of God is actually near repent and believe the good news.”

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him. Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News of the kingdom of God. “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the Good News!” Mark 1:12-15

[People], by Divine guidance, are led by means of temptations to a firm acceptance of the truths and the forms of the good that constitute faith. [In Exodus 13, “God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.”] 'God led' is Divine guidance; and 'by the way of the wilderness' is the process that leads people to be tested and so to reach a firm acceptance of the truths and the forms of the good that constitute faith. Temptations are the means by which they become firmly accepted. 'The wilderness' in the spiritual sense, is a situation in which truth has not yet been bonded to good in the person’s spirit, as well as the state of those with whom the two are to be bonded together. This bonding is not accomplished except by means of these tests. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8098

“[Love and wisdom] flow in from God. We receive them as if they were ours. In fact, because we feel them that way, they emanate from us as if they really were our own. The Lord grants us this feeling so that what flows in will have an effect on us, and be accepted and stay with us. All that is evil also flows in, not from God but from hell. We feel pleasure as we take evil in, because we were born that way. Therefore we receive no greater amount of goodness from the Lord than the amount of evil we have removed as if we were removing it on our own. It is our repentance and our faith in the Lord that does this removing.” Swedenborg, True Christianity §461) “No one can know what a spiritual crisis is like except the person who has lived through one. The trial mentioned in Mark 1:12, 13 sums up all the Lord’s trials, which consisted in his battling the self-love and materialism that filled the hells, out of love for the entire human race. All trials target the love we feel. The severity of the trial matches the nobility of the love. If love is not the target, there is no trial. To destroy a person’s love is to destroy the core of that person’s life, since love is life. The Lord’s life was love for the whole human race, a love so great and good that it was pure, unalloyed love. He allowed this life of his to be attacked continuously, from the dawn of his youth until his final moments in the world, while he was continually routing, subduing, and vanquishing them. This he did purely out of love for the entire human race. Since his love was not human but divine, and the greater the love the harder the struggle, you can see how fierce his battles were and how savage on the part of the hells.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §1690

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

But as adults, we find ourselves in this place of not knowing what is the right thing to do, of not feeling loved deeply for ourselves or for God or for other people. And the spiritual principle is that we have to go through an ordeal. We have to go through temptations in order for us to reject what is bad and wrong and evil, and so become ready to accept the goodness and truth that flows in from God. So that's why the story begins in the wilderness in the beginning of Mark.

The story of your life begins eons ago when God created the universe. This is echoed in the opening of the Gospel of Mark which connects Jesus Christ with prophecies from a thousand years earlier. And he thus directs our thought to our story as a process, corresponding to the road, not an achievement of a final goal. The Divine is too far off, too unimaginable, to imagine being connected to him as we are with people. Our connection with our creator, Mark is suggesting, is rather an ongoing relationship in this present moment. We are participating in a grand process as individual parts of the entirety of creation.

When we are told to “prepare the road” for God, it means that God knows we begin the journey unprepared. There is chaos, or ignorance, or undeveloped potential, easily imagined as a wilderness. Thus, while we each begin life here with a tendency to be worldly and selfish, we are in fact endowed with joy – the personal experience of divine love and wisdom, which is a relationship, a connection, with the source of our life from within, and with all others living outside us. Our task is to welcome our Savior by cleaning up the path for him in our minds and hearts, so that we realize joy first as a concept that we think about and accept, and eventually have as a perception of life itself.

Humans have been created with the capacity to be in a relationship with God and others in order to experience joy. And being human, our lot is to begin each cycle of growth in pain, for we do not then have those relationships. This is the “wilderness” that the prophets described, which Mark says exists at the beginning of the story of Jesus Christ. Note this: if we did not already have the desire for connection, we would not miss it and would not yearn for it; we all experience this yearning for something we don’t yet have. This is our humanity.

Let us pause in this moment and observe. We will be back in the action of our living very soon. But it is necessary first to see, by listening to Mark, the current state of affairs. Surely you remember a time you experienced life as dry, barren, rocky, unfruitful – a wilderness. Here is the invitation of Jesus Christ: you can also observe that there is work you can do to prepare a road, indeed a highway (which I picture allowing us to go really fast because it is smooth and straight!). And, finally, for the purposes of this heart experiment, observe that what I am labeling joy is the foundational, original emotion upon which authentic, fulfilling, spiritually satisfying life depends; and that we experience growth or development when we discover the experience of this joy.

Make a short list of some of your joys. In a second column, list what you observe obstructs your path to that joy; write a word or two to signify the valleys, the rocks, the twists and turns of your life that can be on your path to experiencing that joy. And in a third column, write a word or two to symbolize an action you can take, be it in thought, word or deed, that will work to level the hills, clear the path, or straighten the journey.

Whenever you are in a “wilderness” state of life, remember that your yearning for joy is implanted in your heart by your Creator who desires to connect with you in your joy. Look for the smoothest, straightest path to that secure attachment to your God.

Repentance is not the painful feeling of guilt for the past. It is the joyful feeling of restoration in the present, when I turn my attention to my hope for the future.

The Lord is seeking to have a relationship with us, and connection to us. The Gospel of Mark is an account of the Lord reaching out to us to establish a secure attachment. And so God has established a process, called regeneration, by which we can come into that relationship. He has established healthy boundaries so that he may reach out to us, and never withdraw, even as he maintains our freedom to respond. He thus fulfills his inmost desire to love, and allows us to achieve our greatest innermost purpose in completely loving him and others.

As this is the purpose of the Gospel, and as this is how we are to listen to it, the Gospel is therefore not a prescriptive guidebook telling us what to do, but rather it is descriptive, inviting us to see the possibility of a loving relationship with our God, and teaching us how to achieve it.

The Gospel describes repentance as the part of the process of our regeneration when we turn toward the Lord. Now, it is significant how often it is the case that when we begin to turn towards acceptance of the Lord it is as a protest against contemporary life; when we experience the harshness and emptiness of our lives, and connect those feelings of dissatisfaction to the influence of the materialism and hedonism that the culture around us is promoting.

One way to describe this condition is symbolized by John’s life, living alone in the desert, with few resources, and no comforts. If we notice our lives are missing relationship, or beauty, or joy, or serenity, we get that our external life is a wilderness. And we realize that the attractions of the world around us are obscuring the Gospel – the very voice of God – and his invitation into a secure attachment and its peace and joy. In a first effort to change that, we may choose to refuse fine clothing – what we see to be luxuries that kill the soul of spiritual life. And we may begin a “diet” that we believe is nourishing, although not delicious. We experience merely sustenance rather than pleasure in taste. This is the first experience of turning to the Lord: denying ourselves what the culture is offering that we now see is not spiritually fulfilling. We come to the rive, the entrance into the land, and we are noticing what we have to give up to cross it.

And then something happens to bring a new possibility into our awareness. A voice in that wilderness speaks to us of a higher, deeper purpose and meaning in life. What happens next is key to our advancing through repentance into a new stage of regeneration.

To illustrate this, consider for a moment some relationship you are in – perhaps with a partner, or a co-worker, or a friend. He or she has reached out to you to connect, but maybe it hasn’t worked. You are not satisfied, perhaps even resist, even though you are committed to being a good person. The invitation is to pause and consider the inner response you had, as well as the outer. Likely there was a variety of thoughts and emotions you can identify. And you might notice that when you feel invited to do so, when you feel it is safe to do so (you won’t have your feelings hurt), you turn towards the person.

This is an image of the process of repentance. You hear a call to “repent,” to turn to the Lord and spirituality. And you make some changes which feel harsh. Then you noticed your reaction, and perhaps the initial criticism, judgment and resistance, which was followed by a new wish and hope for something better. You altered your view, your expectation, because you heard a voice, as it were, that invited you into a relationship. Even as you have experienced connecting with someone because you share the same thoughts and feelings, so now you see how you are connected to God in sharing thoughts or feelings of truth and goodness.

This process changes your relationship with the Lord. The Gospel describes it so powerfully. You hear in “John the Baptist” a voice of support for your complaint about your life. His message rings true, even if it is only a hopeful wish for a better life. As you listen to that vice (which is the spirit of the Word), you gain a clarity about what is good and true, and you begin to believe it – that is, you begin to live it.

The voice of the Lord has touched the goodness and wisdom you already know because you have been trying it on – as rough and basic as your experiences may have been. The Word becomes an authority to you. You experience a healthy humility as you listen to the message it brings about your current spiritual condition.

The Gospel is describing these first steps at discovering a secure attachment with God. Your practice of listening to the Lord, coming to believe what is taught, and so live it, emboldens you, and strengthens you to take the next step of regeneration.

The Lord loves his creation. He called it good from the very beginning. It is difficult to keep this view in our consciousness. There are always personal and global natural cataclysms and humanly produced tragedies that touch our hearts with sadness and terror, and challenge our belief in the goodness of God and creation. That is why it is imperative that we daily take time to rise above that lower level of consciousness for a few moments, and rest in an awareness of God’s goodness and the goodness of his creation, which includes me, and you.

When in this higher awareness, which Swedenborg calls a state of reflection, we can experience the process of God loving us. His love is, first, the creation of humans as receivers of his life. We can only gaze in awe at the mystery of the human spirit. All that we can see convinces us of the existence of a creator who is divine, our God. And then second, his love is personal for he reaches for each of us to connect to us, to be in relationship with us. This happens because God’s wisdom and goodness that creates can be received and held in our finite minds. By holding these truths as principles of living, and by desiring this goodness, we experience God’s reach for us and the most intimate connection with our creator. And third, God thereby gives us an experience of happiness not otherwise possible.

So our baptism, our regeneration, is the process whereby we come into spirituality, the full experience of our connection to the source of our life, the Lord, our Creator. And so we acquire spiritual faith. On the lowest level of our experience, we have a kind of faith in the laws of nature. Earthquakes are particularly unsettling, I am told, precisely because the earth is no long solid. Disturbs our experience of reality, even though it is merely a matter of sensation.

A deeper level of faith is in another person. They tell us something and we believe it. Of course, a person can become so wounded that they believe nothing. This is a common image in literature, but it is a rare in our experience. In fact, my experience is that I can fool anyone at any time. When we are lied to, it upsets our sense of reality. Instead of a disturbing physical sensation, we have a cognitive or emotional disturbance. We react with an emotion: anger or fear or sadness. And we develop a new belief: this person is not trustworthy. We may say our faith in them has been destroyed.

The deepest level of faith, here called spiritual, is of two sides of one coin, or the yin/yang symbol. The one side to live in accordance with truths, which are now ideas or cognitions, that we have accepted as our own. The other side of the coin is to delight in goodness, to love it, and we experience it as our own. So the cognitive and emotional operations in our spirit are aligned with God’s truth and goodness, and they are aligned with each other. There is a Spirit that has alighted upon us, like beautiful, quiet, and calm dove. This is the Holy Spirit which is another name for the presence of the Lord in our own awareness, which them constitutes spiritual faith.

The Gospel of Mark has no prelude to the appearance of Jesus in the story other than the opening phrase telling us that this letter is about Jesus the Messiah. Even our introduction to John the Baptist is brief. No birth stories; no childhood experiences. We are thus given the essentials without adornment. We are required to use our imaginations, and whatever knowledge of the culture of the day we can discover, to fully appreciate the message of the internal sense of this story. We already approach the Christian scripture as describing the reach of God to connect with us. So every word, and the larger pictures it forms in our active imaginations, is full of God’s spirit

And so we advance in our regeneration when we enter the water, go under, and come out, of our own free will, all with the sure knowledge that the Lord created us to be joined with him. Specifically, that our desires, and our intellect, will be in agreement with his divine will and wisdom. For that process to proceed, we have to be both washed, or cleansed, and die, or believe the threat of death.

Not only does the Bible teach this, but so does all ancient wisdom. Current experiences and science also confirm it. Talk to a couple of people who have had near death experiences for examples of the change of perspective about life! And science is becoming esoteric – that is, scientists are trying to describe what they are discovering, only to begin using the language of Theologians, philosophers and Shamans.

You are invited to consider developing a daily practice of this reflection that affords you an opportunity to become suspended in wonder, as it has been described. Perhaps imagine you are walking into the water that marks the border of your spiritual world. Feel the molecules of water attracting the dirt, the ideas and feelings that sully your appreciation of others and this world. Immersed, allow the lack of air to reveal to you the origin of truth that exists above you. Allow the fear of death, at odds with your experience of cleansing and the revelation, to drive you towards the origin of life above you.

The view that works for me, that I have gleaned from the writings for the New Church, is that Jesus Christ was a unique individual who went through this experience such that the divine origin of life that was his soul was united (and not simply connected), and became one such that we can now know our God as the Lord God Jesus Christ. So the Christian scriptures are for me the best source of symbolism and metaphor for my experience of a path to joy.

And that is the conclusion. That the energy of creation is an effort toward joy, an experience of connection with the source of life that we experience as our own. This is the secure attachment with God that is designed into creation. For each and every human on the planet.

This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written:

“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”

This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.

John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” Mark 1:1-11

“A wilderness is a symbol for something dim, but only relatively so. “Relatively dim” refers to the condition of spiritual people compared to that of heavenly people. Heavenly people are drawn to goodness; spiritual people, to truth….Those who are heavenly never debate about religion or religious truth. Goodness gives them an intuition for truth, so they simply say “Yes.” The spiritual, though, talk and argue about religious truth, because truth gives them a conscience for goodness. Another reason is that heavenly people have a loving goodness planted in the voluntary part of their mind, where a person’s main life resides. Spiritual people have it planted in the intellectual part of their mind, where a person’s secondary life resides. This explains why that loving goodness is relatively dim in spiritual people.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §2708:9

[It is said of the Children of Israel as they traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land:] ‘And God led the people around by the way of the wilderness’ means that under Divine guidance they were led by means of temptations to a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘God led’ as providence, or Divine guidance; and from the meaning of ‘by the way of the wilderness’ as a way that leads people to undergo temptations and so to reach a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith since temptations are the means by which they become firmly accepted. ‘The wilderness’ means a place which is uninhabited and uncultivated, and spiritually, a situation in which there is no good or truth, and also a situation in which truth has not yet been bonded to good. That being so, ‘the wilderness’ means the state of people with whom the two are to be bonded together and the temptations that accomplish that bonding.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8098

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Hello, this is Clark Echols and welcome to the podcast “Abide In Me: How Jesus Models Secure Attachment.” When Jesus said, “Abide in me and I in you,” it wasn't simply a metaphor or a parable for way things could be, but he was describing a real connection with God in which love and life flows into and through us and transforms us and gives us that joy and happiness that we all are seeking. In modern language, it is to have a secure attachment bond with God, which extends to the parts within you and attachment bond with others.

A person who's securely attached has an active experience of self-worth. They have an unconditional regard for other people's worth. They're silent when typically one would be verbal, being defensive or explaining or justifying. The securely attached person looks for and affirms others' goodness and is affirming and optimistic, so not complaining. They're conscious of and can identify and express the emotions they're feeling. They typically have a mindfulness practice. They remain in the present moment even during conflicts. And their joy, their satisfaction in life rests in the non-duality that they experience in their life. It extends to their public experience of life, the non-duality of mercy and justice, for instance. A person who is securely attached has clarity regarding what it is to be selfish versus self-care. They consider themselves on a journey, in process, unfinished, on the way. In ancient literature, the Chinese called that the dao, the way. The securely attached person has a sense of being a part of and connected to all living beings, and so lives from a sense of abundance rather than the fear of scarcity. So that is what Jesus was describing.

Now, how I've come to this view is kind of a long story. I was a pastor in a Christian denomination that drew its inspiration from the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, who was an 18th century philosopher, theologian and mystic. And I was ordained in that tradition and was a pastor, and I loved preaching and teaching, but I didn't have the gift of administration. So my ability to lead a congregation was really limited. And along the way also, I discovered that I had a great passion for facilitating small groups. A couple of wise people had been studying people like George Gurdjieff and Jung, and especially Maurice Nicole, who wrote Commentaries on what Gurdjieff taught, and created a model for a spiritual growth group, in which people experienced spiritual transformation. It is just amazing and it's been wonderful, and I've been doing that for many years.

And then eventually it came to the point where I needed to leave being a pastor. And so I got licensed as a mental health counselor, and I started doing that many years ago and was licensed in 2010. And as a mental health therapist, I was so excited about learning about how the brain works. The science of psychology. And I was introduced to Attachment Theory and Internal Family Systems. And so that when I retired and I again looked to the gospel, and as I read, in this case the gospel at Mark, I saw Jesus modeling secure attachment. And that's the inspiration for this podcast.

The other inspiration is that life went on during all those years. I got married, we had children, and that's such an incredible blessing. And then I experienced a number of significant losses along the way, and I began to suffer from the grief. And it took me a while, but I recognized how the five noble truths of Buddhist teaching are an actual practice that took my theology, that taught me about God and spiritual life, and gave me a practice. I actually took on a significant dharma practice and meditation.

And during that time, I developed a relationship with suffering. I had a new perspective about grief. And again, that really contributed to my appreciation for what spiritual growth groups do and how these theories of Attachment Theory and Internal Family Systems and others are so helpful in people's wellbeing.

So now I am at a place where I have actually begun studying Laozi’s Dao De Jing, and seeing how being along the way is available to me. And it was going through all that I went through that, it seems to me, to have brought me to this place where I have something to offer.

And so it begins with this observation of how Jesus models being securely attached. That to me looks at the gospel and looks at it with spiritual eyes. It universalizes all that Jesus Christ has to offer. It makes it available to everybody. I do believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He's my Savior. AND - that's not enough! I have a practice that brings the life of Christ, the divine love into my life in a new way.

That's what's motivating me to share with you in this podcast. I hope it is helpful to you in discovering your way to achieve secure attachments and a new sense of joy and satisfaction in this present moment, along the way.

EFFECTS OF BEING SECURELY ATTACHED

* Has an active experience of self-worth

* Has unconditional regard for others’ worth

* Is silent when typically one is verbal (not defensive, explaining, or justifying)

* Looks for and affirms others’ goodness

* Is affirming and optimistic (non-complaining)

* Is conscious of, can identify and express the emotion being felt

* Has a mindfulness practice

* Remains in the present during conflict with another person

* Rests in the non-duality of mercy and justice

* Has clarity regarding selfishness and self-care

* Considers oneself on a journey, in process, unfinished, on the way

* Has a sense of being part of, and connected to, all living beings

* Lives from a sense of abundance (rather than fear of scarcity)

CREDITS

Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠

Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠

John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠

Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠ I pray this has supported your transformative life, whatever practice you have in your life.

Podcast Host: John Clark Echols

Music Credit: Solomon Keal

Show Your Support: ⁠PayPal⁠

YouTube: ⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠

Substack: ⁠@clarkechols⁠

I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.