A
new approach for a new age
An increasing number
of people are beginning to realize that today’s religious organizations
are facing new challenges. For example, some of the larger churches
are losing members, and it is important to investigate why this is happening.
The people who leave can roughly be divided into three groups:
- Some have become
discouraged with all religion, and they don’t want to have anything
to do with organized religion.
- Some have had
enough of their current church, but are willing to look for another
church that promises to give them what the old church is no longer
providing.
- Some have had
enough of a rigid or doctrinal approach to religion, and they look
for a different approach. Some of these people are attracted to more
charismatic churches or they take a non-traditional approach and look
at the New Age movement.
Based on these observations,
one obvious conclusion is that religion on planet Earth is in a phase
of transition. What causes this transition? If you look at history,
you will see that there seems to be certain cycles or intervals. Obviously,
a major shift in religion took place 2,000 years ago with the birth
of Christ. Is a similar shift occurring today?
Many people are aware that the planet is undergoing the transition from
the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. From a purely scientific perspective,
this phenomenon is caused by the fact that the Earth wobbles on its
axis. After roughly 2,000 years, the polar axis will begin to point
to a different constellation in the sky. Beyond this scientific fact,
many spiritually interested people believe there are spiritual effects
associated with the transition from one age to the next. For example,
many people believe that a new age releases a different type of spiritual
energies. This opens new avenues for spiritual growth, but it also closes
the avenues that worked in the previous age.
If you are somewhat open to this idea, you must reason that as the earth
moves into a new age, religious organizations must embrace the opportunities
of that age. If they do not, they cannot continue to meet the needs
of their members, who will then look for an organization that is more
in tune with the times.
The problem is that to fully enter the new age, you must leave behind
the culture and mind-set of the old age. For a church with a rigid and
dogmatic culture, this can be an almost insurmountable challenge.
The fear of change
When an organization and a planet is in a phase of transition, it is
necessary to acknowledge that change is the order of the day and that
change must be embraced by everyone in the organization.
In this respect, it is necessary to recognize that the carnal mind will,
by its very nature, resist change. Therefore, you can only change your
personal life if you recognize and overcome the forces in your psychology
that resist change. Likewise, an organization can only successfully
embrace change if the leaders and members recognize and overcome the
forces in the organization that resist change.
To successfully undergo a transition, an organization must do two things:
- Make a clean
break with the past and with the organizational resistance to change.
- Embrace the state
of consciousness of the new phase or age into which the organization
is moving.
An organization
is basically a compilation of the consciousness of the individual members.
Therefore, the transition of an organization must begin as a transition
in the consciousness of the individual members. Only when the change
on the individual level reaches a critical mass, can you expect to see
visible changes in the organization itself. A change in the organizational
structure must begin as a change in the organizational culture.
Is centralized control and leadership outdated?
In the past 2,000 years, many churches have had a centralized form of
leadership based on centralized power and control. Is this governance
model still relevant in the new age?
Let us go back to the story of Moses who goes to the mount and receives
the Ten Commandments from God. When he comes back down, the people have
made merry, and Moses destroys the tablets. Moses then goes back up
the mount and comes down with a new set of tablets. Most people assume
that the second set of tablets was the same as the first set, but what
if that is incorrect?
For centuries, the Israelites had been in a very oppressive situation
in Egypt. When they were set free from slavery, they suddenly had freedom
to embrace their relationship with God. Moses went to the mount to receive
a divine law that would allow the people to grow in their new freedom.
When he came down, it became apparent that the people had not adjusted
well to their new sense of freedom. We see this in the Soviet Union
today. People who have been oppressed for a long time, find it difficult
to use their new-found freedom in a responsible manner. Therefore, Moses
destroyed the first law, and when he came down the second time, he might
have brought a law that was more adapted to the people’s state
of consciousness.
This law was centered around the idea of punishment. It set forth a
set of very direct rules, and through the law of “an eye for an
eye and a tooth for tooth,” Mosaic law promised that anyone disobeying
the law would be punished.
When Jesus came, he brought forth a new and higher law. The consciousness
of the people, and the planetary cycles, had now progressed to a point
where God could give a higher law. The teachings of Jesus were centered
around the promise of a reward. If you keep these commandments, you
will be saved and go to heaven.
The winds of Aquarius
We are now entering the Age of Aquarius and an even higher law is needed.
As explained in the Teachings section,
the challenge in the Aquarian age is that people must realize that the
key to salvation is to attain a higher state of consciousness. People
must rise above the carnal mind and unite with the Christ mind.
The Piscean age was a time when people needed to rise above the idea
that they can only be saved by something or someone outside themselves.
This is what Jesus came to demonstrate; it was his inner message.
People must realize that there is no automatic salvation, but that their
salvation depends on the choices they make. It is simply not enough
to be a member of a particular organization or to follow a set of outer
rules. You must attain the higher consciousness, the Christ consciousness,
that is the only key to entering the Kingdom of God. You must put on
the wedding garment of Christ consciousness before you can enter the
wedding feast.
In this age, people are not meant to obey the law because they fear
punishment or because they hope for a reward. They are meant to recognize
their true spiritual origin which among other things means that God
has written his law in their inward parts. Therefore, people are meant
to follow the Law of God because doing so has become as natural to them
as breathing. They no longer fear punishment of hope for a reward; they
simply act the way it is natural for spiritual beings to act.
However, this can only happen when people have a direct contact to the
higher self and are well on their way to becoming one with that Christ
self. That is why, in the Age of Aquarius, the most important thing
to keep in mind for the individual is the saying: “Let no man
take thy Crown,” meaning that nothing comes between you and your
higher self.
When you understand this, it is easy to see that a spiritual organization
in the Age of Aquarius must take a different approach than the spiritual
organizations we have seen in the Age of Pisces and in previous ages.
If an organization attempts to set itself up between the people and
their higher selves, the organization will fail to serve people's spiritual
needs.
In the early days of Christianity, there were two movements, namely
the Gnostics and the organized church. The Gnostics believed in an individual
salvation that was a matter between the individual and his or her God.
The organized church believed that the key to salvation was the sacraments
that were controlled by the church. In other words, the organized Christian
church set itself up as the only doorway between man and God. In reality,
the only doorway between man and God is the Christ consciousness.
In the Age of Aquarius, any church that attempts to set itself up as
a doorway between the individual and his or her higher self will fail
to attract followers. That is why the big Orthodox churches, such as
the Catholic Church, are losing members at an accelerated rate.
If a church is to successfully make the transition into the Aquarian
age, both leaders and members must embrace this principle, and they
must be constantly on guard for anything, any aspect of the organization,
that might come between the individual and his or her higher self.
The essence of the Aquarian age is that people are no longer blind followers
of the laws of God, because they have now internalized the law. There
is a huge difference between following a set of outer rules and truly
internalizing the teachings of God. When people are in a lower state
of consciousness, such as the Israelites after the exodus from Egypt,
it can be necessary for God to give them a set of outer rules to follow.
The same might apply to people who are new to the spiritual path. However,
as soon as people rise to a higher level of consciousness, they can
no longer follow a set of rigid outer rules.
Individual Christhood
In the Age of Aquarius, the most important thing for any spiritual organization
must be to help people attain the internalization of the Christ consciousness.
If an organization attempts to set up rules for everything, then the
organization will simply miss the boat. Again, the religious organizations
that dominated the Age of Pisces created elaborate sets of rules and
doctrines. This approach will not work in the Age of Aquarius because
people will demand their freedom to be under their own wine and fig
tree.
The true spiritual goal of the Age of Aquarius is that people attain
their individual Christhood. Jesus came to set forth an example, showing
that it was possible to overcome the carnal mind and unite with the
higher consciousness of the universal Christ mind. The most important
words about Jesus’ mission are the words: “Let that mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” What is meant to happen
in the Age of Aquarius is that large numbers of people begin to follow
the example set by Jesus.
A unique opportunity for churches
How can a church assist its members as they attempt to attain individual
Christhood? It is essential to realize that building Christhood is an
individual process between you and God. The very idea of Christhood
is that you have a direct connection, through your Christ Self, to your
Spiritual Self and therefore to the mind of God. It should be obvious,
that the direct connection between you and your Christ self can never
depend on anything outside yourself, including an organization. An organization
can help you build that individual Christhood, but in the end, you will
only attain your Christhood by going beyond any outer teaching and embracing
your Christ Self in a personal, inner process.
Attaining Christhood is a two-fold process, and it has an inner and
an outer side. You must go within and build the oneness with your Christ
self, and you must go without to express that Christhood in the world.
Jesus demonstrated both aspects of this process.
Therefore, the most important consideration for any spiritual organization
must be: “How can we help people build their Christhood, and how
can we allow them express that Christhood within the framework of the
organization?” In the Aquarian age, a successful spiritual organization
must never prevent people from expressing their Christhood.
Expressing Christhood
The question now becomes: “Are the members of a church in the
process of building their Christhood (attaining a higher state of consciousness)
or are they still in a state of consciousness in which they need to
have a set of strict outer rules to follow?”
If you believe that most church members are truly engaged in the process
of attaining a higher state of consciousness, the church must be constantly
on guard for anything that might impede this process or prevent people
from expressing their Christhood within the framework of the organization.
In the Aquarian age, a church must never put anyone in a situation where
they perceive a conflict between their individual spiritual growth and
their involvement with the organization. If such a conflict is allowed
to arise, then those who are farthest along in their Christhood will
inevitably leave the organization. You can only truly build Christhood
if you do not allow anything in this world to stand between you and
God. So, if an organization prevents you from expressing your Christhood,
you must leave it behind.
Obviously, it would be a great loss for an organization to lose those
of its members who have attained the greatest degree of Christhood.
Therefore, it should be a goal of any spiritual organization to look
at how the organization can help people build their Christhood without
restricting the expression of that Christhood. If the leaders and members
of an organization would embrace this idea, an organization could enter
an entirely new phase that would be fulfilling to existing members and
attract numerous new members.
If this transition is not made, the membership of the organization is
likely to dwindle. It should be easy to see why this can occur. In the
new age, people will intuitively (even if they do not consciously recognize
this) look for a church that will help them attain a higher state of
consciousness.
People subconsciously know that salvation is not an outer process, but
an inner process. The key to salvation is not the blind following of
rules and doctrines, but the attainment of a higher state of consciousness.
Most religious teachings promise some form of salvation, but if the
organization does not live up to that promise by helping people attain
higher consciousness, then people will realize that something is missing
(even if they don’t know what it is). When you realize that the
greatest calling of the Age of Aquarius is to let no man come between
you and God, then it follows that interfering with this process is the
most severe mistake that any church can make in this age.
Back to religious change main page.
Back
to top
Copyright
© 2003 by Kim Michaels |
