Logion 17: Jesus said: I will give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never arisen in the heart of man.
Noa: Surely at this point in time at least one person had seen singleness and at least one had heard about it and for sure there had been people who had fully activated their heart thus having it arise in their heart by the time Jesus said this on Earth. Right? Maybe he is talking about something other than helping to bring singleness to us…
______________________
Doug: It’s hard to figure out what Jesus is saying here. Taking his words at face value, he definitely seems to be saying that he is bringing something new into the world with his incarnation. Yes, I think you are right, surely at this point in history, people have reached singleness… of course they have.
What could these new things be, then? It is my speculation that the Logos through Jesus was showing all of humanity a pathway of the heart that was new. This new pathway would not be the only pathway, not in the least. But, I believe that the path of Jesus is a shortcut, of sorts, to heart activation through an emphasis on a new spirituality that had not, indeed, been seen. What was this new pathway? In short, kenosis or self-emptying. This teaching is the foundation of Cynthia Bourgeault’s take on Christianity.
Up until the Jesus Event, the spiritual pathway that all major belief systems held in common was an emphasis on spiritual climbing through asceticism. The dictionary defines asceticism as: “severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.”
The reason why spiritual belief systems emphasized this was because it works. People can become enlightened via this method and it is efficacious. But the danger is that it can move into head-trips, mental activity over heart activation, and it does little to bring justice to the world because people are focused upon their own growth rather than leaning into helping our other-selves who are hurting and oppressed.
Instead, the Jesus Event, reveals to humanity that 1) the Infinite Creator is All Vulnerable (instead of all of the emphasis on Almighty); 2) that the Logos is “not up there” but hidden within, and as, all of creation, including you and me; 3) that the Logos is in radical (radical means roots in Latin) solidarity with creation and one can access the fullness of the Logos through encountering creation as the Logos (ie the Logos in manifested form); 4) and rather than moving “up” to gain spiritual enlightenment, Jesus shows us that the movement is “down,” through giving ourselves away with a generosity not our own, but Christ (Logos) living within us. It is in giving of ourselves (self-emptying) that we receive ourselves, says the Prayer of St. Francis.
Jesus was likely taught by various esoteric groups including teachers in India, Jewish Kabbalists, and the Essenes. He was a master teacher at a young age and could do feats of white magic of the highest quality. Yet, his whole life, including the death and resurrection, was a living Archetype of this self-kenotic pathway. It is in dying that we rise; it is in losing that we gain; that the path of transformation is to surrender our Floating Selves and fall into our Anchored Selves.
The Ankh is the symbol of this kenosis. Prior to Jesus, the wisdom of the Ankh was present but never so fully revealed. Jesus’ life was that of the Living Ankh. Thus, we live lives of living ankhs when we follow Jesus’ great pattern of living. This lifestyle was new, especially in his historical-social context. This way of living is called “Christian.” It is not a religion to join but a lifestyle to live out. Right belief (orthodoxy) is not nearly as important as right practice (orthopraxy).
See here what Ra says about the ankh and how it represents kenosis.
________________
93.24 “… the cross indicating that nature of manifestation which may only be valued by the losing. Thus the crux ansata is intended to be seen as an image of the eternal in and through manifestation and beyond manifestation through the sacrifice and transformation of that which is manifest.”
94.26: “There is no experience which is not purchased by effort of some kind, no act of service to self or others which does not bear a price, to the entity manifesting, commensurate with its purity. All things in manifestation may be seen in one way or another to be offering themselves in order that transformations may take place upon the level appropriate to the action.”
_________________
If interested, I wrote an article that speaks to living our lives as living ankhs.
Building 4th Cosmic Christ 