Walking With Jesus

I believe in fairy tales, mythology and magic. I do not believe in literal demons or a literal devil. The only demons you will ever know are the self-destructive and self- defeating egotistical fear and disturbed emotions you will find in yourself and others if you honestly examine life. The only devil you will ever see is the one looking back at you from the mirror. You are the enemy. But you can be your best friend. Learning to follow Jesus teaching, you can become a spiritual wizard.

And just for the record, I don’t believe in the church’s version of a literal Hell. The Christian Church created this using about a dozen of sayings from Matthew. And they are Matthew’s words which he placed on the lips of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was warning us of wasting our lives for that which is not real and winding up on a garbage heap. But even there, there can yet be redemption. Matthew was so interested in Hell because of his Jewish brethren who rejected Jesus as the Christ. So he consigned all such to eternal torment. And what a terrible legacy this has been for the Church. To believe in such a Hell is to devalue your fellow human beings. Despite what some evangelists say,  there is more to us than sin.

But if we seek to understand and follow Jesus’ way, we learn the magic of spiritual wizardry, much to our well being. A spiritual “wizard can turn fear to joy.” (Deepak Chopra). A wizard can do this in every moment and day. We all live with fears every day. If we don’t control these, they destroy us. When our oldest child started to kindergarten, the we experienced separation anxiety. We lived close to school so she walked to and from. I walked her in the mornings and being self employed I took time to meet her on the way home.

At my wife’s suggestion, I let her walk a little ways home by herself, and then I would meet her and visit with her until home. This was to let her feel a little independence, confidence and trust. Still for a little while,  I had fantasies of someone kidnapping her. My heart would freeze for a moment at these thoughts and then I would burn with rage that their could be such people.

Our fears of such loss are good as a warning system, for such happenings are possible for any of us. So once we have been alerted our fears serve no further useful purpose. They are imaginings and are not real. If they were real they would have already happened. And since they are unreal they can be removed. The wizard realizes that the only thing we can ever lose is that which unreal. The real, our loved ones and our love, are eternal and can never be lost. The wizard in this case turns the fear of possibly losing his child into the joy of having the child in this moment. He stays alert to possible danger but lives fully in the present moment enjoying the one he has to love and care for. This is real magic.

Darkness is unreal. Light is real. The smallest light destroys darkness, removes it. But the heaviest darkness cannot destroy any light. The wizard knows this and trusts the light of the Universe, of God, and reflects it to all others. Follow Jesus teaching and you will be the light of the world as he was and as a wizard of light to all others you will constantly turn fear into joy. Harry Potter ain’t go nothing on us!