Katie's Jesus

I hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws by doing this, but this is one of the most incredible things I have ever read. I present to you chapter 72 in its entirety. It's so clear and so true! It's from Byron Katie's newest book, "A Thousand Names for Joy". Any errors in this text are mine only.

When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion.-- Tao Te Ching

A Christian asked me if I had ever met Jesus. I'm a lover of God-- in other words, a lover of reality. I like to meet you there, which is here, now.

I don't know much about Jesus, except that he loved God. He was a man with a wonderful way that worked for him-- someone who truly lived it. I know what that is. I found a wonderful way, too, and I live it. And, of course, that's not true. "I" didn't find the way, it found me, when there wasn't even a me to find. The way is simply what it is. It doesn't bend to what anyone thinks it should be, it is its own integrity, it is infinitely intelligent and kind. To my mind, if Jesus is the way, I meet him in everyone, because the way is nothing more than a mirror image of my own thinking.

Christians say they love Jesus, but that's easy to believe when things are going your way. If Jesus walked into this room, everyone would love him, some whould even fall at his feet and worship him, until he said something that threatened their religion, which is the concept they're attached to in the moment. Then he'd become an enemy. "He's a radical. He's not what I thought he'd be. He hangs out with the wrong people. A spiritual teacher shouldn't be political. He's contradicting the scriptures. His head's in the clouds. He doesn't understand." People will write off even the clearest, most loving person in the world when he opposes their belief system. They will invalidate him, negate him, obliterate him, prove that he's wrong, he's a fraud, he's dangerous to society, so that they can protect what they really believe is important. They'd rather be right than free.

When you revere a spiritual teacher, it's yourself that you're revering, because you can't project anything but yourself. And as long as there is something unhealed in you, you have to attach that to the teacher when you don't get your way or when your belief system is threatened. He says something, you put your meaning onto it, you think he's wrong or lacking, and you move out of reverence. What you're reacting to is not what he said, but what you heard. It's a fine thing to love Jesus, but until you can love the monster, the terrorist, the child molester, until you can meet your worst enemy without defense or justification, your reverence for Jesus isn't real, because each of these is just another of his forms. That's how you know when you are truly revering your spiritual teacher: when your reverence goes across the board.

If you think you're devoted to a spiritual teacher, that's a wonderful beginning; you get to see how your devotion could look when it's directed to all of us. Whatever disrespect, invalidation, or fear you project onto an enemy-- sooner or later, you'll project it onto your spiritual teacher. Everyone is your teacher, and the most powerful spiritual practice is to hang out with the people who criticize you. You don't even have to do that physically, since they live right here in your head. And when you think that you've grown beyond all your defensiveness and justifications, then hang out with your enemies physically, and see how lighthearted you are when they trash you. That's the real test.

To become aware without any spiritual teacher, without any scripture or tradition or authority, is to meet the teacher where you are. For me, the truth was right under my nose. Most amazing. It was sweet and simple, with nothing complicated about it. If it hadn't been so simple, I would have never found it.