We are only half-creating our “own” evolution; someone else is tending us as their garden. Sometimes the gardener really rips things up. But we’re more than plants to these gardeners; we’re also their children, carrying some of their DNA. (Just like Jesus said, calling us his children. He also called himself our shepherd and us his sheep, like it or not – another religious metaphor that fits the theory perfectly.)
In my life, I’ve had a few experiences of Jesus, more real than anything I know today. And now I know he’s my tribal leader in the cosmos, my chief, my spiritual help and guide, my teacher. His teachings include the wisdom that heaven should be sought within.
His American name though! I war with it all the time. Jesus is the Americanized version of the Greek translation of Yeshua. The translation would be okay, but it is also made a mockery of by TV evangelists, it’s used as curse, and, more to the heart of things, I was abused under that name.
I’ve tried a few times to go to church, but pews, even the semblance of pews with folding chairs, make me sick. And the name rings in my head with bad memories.
But the man who warned us away from sexism, violence, materialism, racism, and doctrine – he’s my Chief, brother, comrade, friend, compatriot, and fellow-warrior.