| Answer
from Jesus:
Compare the statement you
are quoting to the official Gospels. I did actually say:
Not that which
goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of
the mouth, this defileth a man. (Matthew 15:11)
This statement alone demonstrates
that I was not primarily concerned with people’s physical diet
but with their spiritual diet. That is still my primary concern.
You will also see from the Gospels that I did eat the Passover meal,
which contains lamb. You will see that I multiplied the loaves and the
fishes, and that I helped my disciples catch fish. So you can see that
I was not a strict vegetarian, and I did not encourage my disciples
to never eat meat of any kind.
However, 2,000 years ago most people did not eat very much meat. Their
diet was primarily vegetarian because they simply could not afford to
eat large amounts of meat. This has changed, and in today's Western
society people can afford to eat large amounts of meat. As a result,
most modern people eat far more meat than is advisable from a spiritual
standpoint or even healthy from a physical standpoint. So I do encourage
everyone to eat less meat.
However, I do not encourage any kind of extremism in diet. A person's
diet is a very individual matter. Therefore, you should always follow
the directions from your Christ self and the signals from your body.
One of the themes on this website is that people have descended into
a lower state of consciousness in which they are trapped by the relativity
of the carnal mind. This relativity often causes people to go from one
relative extreme into the opposite extreme. In other words, a person
might be awakened to the need for a healthy diet, but then take it too
far into the extreme and use the outer will to follow a diet that is
unbalanced or even unhealthy.
For example, I consider a raw food diet to be unsuited for most people
because it is difficult to get sufficient variety in such a diet. To
get variety, you need to include foods that can be eaten only when cooked.
I am not saying that no one should be on a raw food or vegan diet. I
am saying that people should not be on such a diet for what I would
call philosophical or outer reasons. In other words, the legitimate
concern for minimizing the suffering of animals should not be the deciding
factor in terms of selecting a vegetarian or raw food diet. What should
be the primary concern is an intuitive insight that comes from the person’s
Christ self. What I am saying here is that Christhood should be a greater
concern than diet.
If you get an insight to
be on a raw food or vegan diet, then by all means follow it. However,
please recognize that not everyone will get the same insight. In other
words, if you get the insight that it is right for you to be on a certain
diet, please do not begin to believe that it is right for everyone.
And please do not decide that you have to be on such a diet forever.
Be sensitive to the signals from your body and your Christ self. Many
people have forced themselves to be on a certain diet much longer than
necessary, and in some cases they have damaged their bodies in the process.
I do agree that it would be better, both spiritually and for health
reasons, to eat food that is as natural as possible. However, once again
there is a balance to be found. There are many countries in the world
where people eat food that is quite natural but nevertheless, because
of a lower hygienic standard, filled with bacteria that make it unhealthy.
However, the amount of chemicals used in many industrialized nations
is clearly not right, and it jeopardizes both the spiritual and physical
health of many people.
I predict that in the coming decades scientists will begin to realize
that the amount of chemicals in the food poses an immense danger to
public health. Therefore, I foresee that there will be major changes
in the way industrialized nations grow, transport, preserve and prepare
food.
Let me also say that I was never formally an Essene, and I held no official
position in the Essene community. I was affiliated with the Essenes,
and I did hope that they would serve as a base for spreading my teachings.
Unfortunately, the Essene community was not quite able to transcend
its tendency to take things to the extremes. One such tendency was the
insistence on a diet and lifestyle that was simply too unbalanced for
most people. Another example was their dream that the Messiah would
lead the Jews in a militant uprising against the Romans. Because I did
not live up to their expectations of how the Messiah should be, they
largely rejected me and did not fulfill my hopes. Therefore, I do not
consider myself an Essene.
You see, my primary mission was to help people discover the universal
path that leads to Christ consciousness. This is an inner path, and
I attempted to describe it in universal terms, within the constraints
of the culture in which I appeared. I did not set up any outer requirements
that would make it more difficult for people to accept this path. I
did not require people to follow a certain diet, become Jews before
they could become Christians or become circumcised. These are outer
factors, and although diet certainly can affect the speed of your spiritual
growth, it is more important to follow the inner path to Christhood
than to follow any outer rules or rituals.
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© 2003 by Kim Michaels |
