|
NOTE: This
answer was given on December 30, 2007, during the Shangra-la New Years
conference in Los Angeles, California.
Answer from Jesus:
Sufism is comparable to the
mystical aspects of most other religions. Where in any religion on Earth
that gains a certain amount of followers, you see sort of a crystallization
into two basic movements. One that is more attached to the outer path –
the outer words, the outer scriptures, the outer rules and regulations
– and one that follows the inner path, which is often based on
some source of direct revelation from above.
When a soul is at the lower levels of awareness, spiritual awareness,
it is not able to have a direct experience of God. So it needs an outer
path to follow until – often after many lifetimes – it attains
more inner discernment, more belief in its own ability to know what
is real and unreal. And thus it becomes open to the inner path, where
it now has to follow its own inner promptings, its own inner direction,
without blindly trusting or following an outer teaching or teacher.
So there is a certain validity in the outer path for those who are not
ready for the inner path, which is why I myself taught at two different
levels—gave my parables to the multitudes and expounded all things
to my disciples. So you will see this pattern in many religions, including
Judaism, where you have the teachings on the Kabbalah forming the mystical
path. Sufism therefore is a viable path for those who are further along
on the path and yet come from a Muslim background.
Yet, as with any mystical movement, you cannot simply look at such a
movement and say that everything that goes on within that movement is
necessarily of the light. For the nature of a mystical movement is that
it has greater freedom, and thus there will usually be many people who
will have, or claim to have, some contact with the spirit. And thus,
they will claim to be receiving some form of revelation from a higher
realm. And there will usually be some who have genuine revelation and
some who do not, which is why, in a mystical movement, discernment is
the essential element. And that is precisely why the people who are
not yet mature enough to have discernment often shun the mystical movement,
somehow subconsciously knowing that they are not ready for this.
The trouble is, of course, that in many cases souls become attached
to an outer religion, and they might begin to believe in the fear-based
teachings of an outer religion. So they do not even dare to exercise
their discernment. And thus, as you see with many Christians today –
even though at inner levels they are mature enough to embrace the mystical
aspects of Christianity – their outer minds do not dare to let
go of the belief that by blindly following the outer religion they are
guaranteed to be saved. And thus, they do not dare to let go of that
outer sense of security, and go through the period of turmoil that most
beings go through as they leave behind the outer path and start on the
inner path.
Question: About Ali, did he give the inner teaching of the Koran?
Because some people in Shia Islam believe that he was supposed to
get the prophethood, and he gave inner teaching and the outer teaching
was given through Mohammad.
Jesus: The
answer is yes and no, in the sense that I have no desire whatsoever
to make a particular branch of Islam feel that they are superior to
other branches. Ali did have some inner revelation but this does not
mean that his teachings were entirely accurate. Since he was also somewhat
colored by his own personal beliefs and cultural beliefs—as was
Mohammad.
So the unfortunate reality is that there is not a mainstream branch
of Islam that is entirely pure. There are some Sufi sects that have
a greater degree of purity. But to be quite honest with you, Islam as
a religion is far from living up to its highest potential. And it is
difficult for us of the Ascended Host to see how that religion can be
renewed, given the state of consciousness you find in the various main
branches of Islam.
For you see, my beloved, Islam was given in an attempt to unify
the various tribes in the Middle East—who have been fighting
for thousands of years. Yet do you not see exactly how they have used
Islam to create divisions amongst themselves? For I can tell you that
it would have been better if there was no such division and there was
a more unified movement in the Islamic world.
So Shia or Sunni are really artificial, man-made divisions that have
no reality in God. And therefore, I do not want to give the impression
that one particular branch is somehow purer or superior to another.
For if they truly want to understand the true teachings behind the Koran,
then all branches of Islam, all Muslims, would have to reach far beyond,
even far beyond the original teachings given by Mohammad. And then,
my beloved, you would have to question whether there would be any point
in continuing the old religion, or whether an entirely new religion
would emerge, based on the old foundation.
This, of course, is a question that applies also to Christianity and
other major world religions—of whether they have become so rigid
due to people's beliefs, held over many centuries, that they can actually
be renewed. Or whether they must be replaced by an entirely new religion.
My hope and one of my purposes with the AskRealJesus website is that,
eventually, many who call themselves Christians will begin to heed my
living word, and will therefore use it to transform Christianity.
But I can tell you that at this point it is an open question whether
Christianity can be renewed—or whether it will simply become a
shrinking religion that will eventually shrink into insignificance and
be replaced by a new, more Aquarian-age form of spirituality.
Back to topic
main page.
Back to Answers
main page.
Back
to top
Copyright
© 2007 by Kim Michaels |
