Adapting a line from Monty Python's "The Life of Brian" yields: "so then, are you going to the resurrection?" As the time of year approaches which for some features one of the more well known stories which centers around this theme, it must be acknowledged there are innumerable additional stories and traditions (some preceding significantly the "Christian" epic) that are superimposed upon this time of year. The pagan goddess of Spring - Eostre (aka: Ostre, Austra & Eastre) is celebrate this time of year. "Ostara" signifies the spirit of renewal. The celebration of the Spring equinox on March 21st Ostara marks the point when daylight equals the darkness of night and will continue to increase. As the bringer of light the goddess was often depicted with a hare which represented the arrival of spring and the fertility of the season.
Whether you embrace the Christian theology or not: birth, death and rebirth can be seen occurring through out many facets of life.
So then my play on words at the opening as well as being tongue and cheek, also can be seen to pose a direct question; the resurrection in question being your own. Alternatively, are you just going to keep orchestrating and attending your own crucifixion? My observation of cycles of healing, growth and evolution - most certainly my own, as well as those of others, is that often times there is some "stickiness" in the "crucifixion" phase. I acknowledge that even if we hold true the existence of these "phases," that they don't necessarily operate on a strictly black and white linear path; however for the sake of discussion I will present them as though they are distinct.
If we were then to use the biblical crucifixion story as a model, what I'm referring to would look like this, the suffering that Jesus underwent before hand, the continued torture and anguish he was said to experience while hung on the cross to die and then once "dead," he would be taken down and nailed to a different cross, of course with new nails.
Depending on your belief system, you might think the whole Easter story preposterous anyway, let alone the way I just spun it. The thing of it is, that I did so to illustrate a point, in order for "rebirth" or renewal there is some sort of death that proceeds it. However, if one were to just nail themselves back on the cross of the "old belief system" or behaviour pattern; even if the cross is in a "better part of town," I think it's quite clear, what one might expect.
To utilize another biblical reference the infamous "valley of death" from Psalm 23 is daunting enough if one considers even being there. The line reads: "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death......" (my emphasis) the point is, it doesn't say, upon arrival at said valley, pitch a tent and plan on taking up residence there - it implies the way out is "through." I believe that further suggests that one would acknowledge where they are and what is currently true - for the purpose of preparing for a transition (which necessitates a letting go of what was - including "identifying with it" in order for the rebirth to occur. In nature the old growth of the previous summer is discarded entirely to make way for the new growth of spring. Apparently nothing of the former larvae that enters the cocoon emerges as the butterfly - it has been completely transformed!
I remember an old song sung on the even older T.V. show "Hee-Haw" it went something like this:
"Doom, despair and agony on me,
Deep dark depression, excessive misery,
If it weren't for bad luck - I'd have no luck at all
Doom, despair and agony on me!"
Week after week (that same skit came on in the mix of other comedic and musical offerings.
Can you imagine the effect on a life if one repeated and reinforced such thinking - indefinitely?
Think about it - how could it possibly ever be anything differernt?
This is not to suggest that most everyone (maybe everyone) hasn't experienced event/s in their life that have been painful. I personally don't believe in "degrees" of pain - just as comparisons based on any other aspect of humanness are constructs of the mind, so I believe it is with the various storylines that are the source of different people's pain. If one person is led to believe that their pain doesn't merit the same consideration because of arbitrary measures of intensity - it dishonours what they have been through and how that effected them. I believe closer to the truth is, the magnitude of suffering is conceived (by the mind) as a conjunct to the story and becomes the alibi for why only a measured amount of healing is possible, if at all - "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen......." ah, yes there is somebody who has and does, and now they might well be doing TED talks or some such thing. I'm not saying talk show circuits etc. is the holy grail - however I am suggesting that in the history of humankind, what form of human suffering hasn't been experienced? Subsequent to this some went on to thrive and others perished.
Once again if the "Easter" story is taken at face value - Jesus was supposed to have known his fate ahead of time so he had to be willing to die, in order for the resurrection to occur - alternatively he could have just buggered off!
Francis of Assisi - wrote (or was quoted) as having said "it is in dying that we are born to eternal life." We cannot begin to know our "eternal" unlimited spiritual nature, which is at the core of our very being, without incrementally allowing to "die," a vast array of many limiting ideas.
Trust me when I say - I have utilized no "spiritual by-pass" in order to talk in such a seemingly detached manner from my pain - it comes as result of knowing the fury of my own pain that I have the deepest compassion for the pain of others. It is why I lovingly suggest, that each take themselves from the cross they both constructed and keep nailing themselves to, and allow the love that is available to them, through them and for them, to prepare for a glorious rebirth.
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