Very literally, metanoia means “to change your mind.” That could seem like an offhand thing. Very simply, we are changed as a human being. Something happens when we turn and return. The invitation is to go home now in life, to return to that invisible place and allow it to be real to us in the visible. If we wanted to put it off, we could add “when you die.” And if we had a broken view of our life, we might even seek to end our life to come home now. And so, what we hear from Source is the invitation to return to that home. We were born out of that heavenly reality into the world, to become a human being. We came from an invisible heavenly home, not an earthly one. And so, we might call that invisible realm home.
We were born out of an invisible realm, and then became visible. But we did come from the Source of All Life, however we conceive that to be. Where are we returning to? We were each born into this world. There is a word that includes that word turn-return. You can feel it drawing you into wholeness. You turn, and you can feel the surge of it coming to you when you face it directly. Turning to face the Source of Life is like that. You know you are facing the wind when you can feel it equally on both sides of your face and ears. It is a simple little trick but effective. If your head is facing directly into the wind, the sound of the wind and the feel of it blowing past both ears is the same. Without resorting to that, I found something else that is effective. The side that gets cool faces the direction from which the wind is coming. It is not a very nautical thing to do, and probably frowned on by sailors, but it is very effective to lick your finger and hold it in the wind. There is no place you can look to find the origin of the wind. With the wind, you do not have the advantage that you have with the sun. When sailing, it is crucial to know where the wind is coming from. If you turn to it-you open your thoughts to it, your heart, and your spirit-you feel the warmth of it coming into you, do you not? It is not something physical that you are turning to face. But if you stand there facing the sun for a few moments, you will feel its warmth on your face. You might look up to see where the sun is. Maybe you can feel the sun on your back, but you would like to feel the sun on your face. If we are entangled in the problems of the social structure of our world, our culture, our immediate family, and the issues of our life, we are not turning, and we don’t receive. As long as we are totally involved in the issues of the world in which we live, we are not open to receive from Source. If there is no turning, nothing else is on, spiritually speaking. We have to turn to the Source of Life to receive its uplifting, enlightening power. What is the nature of spiritual awakening and transformation? Doesn’t it begin with what is represented by the word turn? If we do not turn, nothing else happens. So I invite you to be with me on this journey, to open to your highest knowing and let it come through.
Perhaps I will write about it at another time. I am not going to take you through all that here. So, I looked back at the earliest Greek translations, later Latin translations, and then our English translations. Greek was also a common language throughout the Roman Empire, and some suppose that he may have taught in Greek. Scholars think that Jesus likely taught in Aramaic, the most common language in Israel at the time. I looked back to an original Hebrew word and the Aramaic version of it.
And I looked back as far as I could to the earliest translations, and then at how those same words were used in an earlier context. I researched how people have translated Jesus’ teachings over the centuries and how those translations morphed over time, with certain meanings creeping in that religious institutions have used as a club. I have done some research, which was illuminating for me. So, I will simply share what I know to be true for myself related to the record that has come down to us of his words. And I don’t want to fall into the common trap of taking sacred scripture and using it as a stick to hit people over the head for being flawed. I don’t want to represent this as what he was really saying. During this Christmas Season, I want to share my own experience and understanding of what Jesus taught.
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