Bijdragers

22 april 2017

My brother is my savior

Johan Willem Kaiser had a unique vocabulary that at times seems very idiosyncratic, and takes a while to understand. One of the expressions he uses is in Dutch "Paas-gedachte," which we would have to render in English as "Easter-thought," not because it's a word we know, but because it is equally neologistic as was his "Paasgedachte" when he wrote it.

Recently, during the Easter-time of 2017, I was thinking about this word again, and I felt inspired to write about it, finally. For the first time in about 45 years of contemplating this specific usage, I am finally read to do it. I should add that it is one of the many examples of interplay with the Course that I fnd in his work. Here is what Kaiser writes in the glossary to his book De mysteriën van Jezus in ons leven (The Mysteries of Jesus in our Life). (Note that his wording suggests that the term itself was channeled, I would assume via Ms. Hofmans):
Not Thought of, or about, Easter. Rather, a condition of the soul. Being dedicated to, being Sacrificial Lamb of.
A few examples can clarify this term that was not coined by people. Nobody is ever attacked unless his is Easter-thought of being-attacked.
In this truth, recognition of which requires a certain self-conquest, rests and Insight that wipes out the illusion of "being duped," or duping. A person is never "duped," by anything or anyone. The acceptance of this, as belief, as spontaneous trust, promptly lifts us up above much bitterness, many feelings of having been short-changed.
We seeming drunks constantly feel duped by other people, by circumstance and accident. But we "believe" in God's Guidance, His Wisdom and His Love!
Well now, that Guidance, Wisdom and Love, continually place us in situations where we encounter salvation. But we see "evil" and "animosity" and we violate, based on so-called self-defense, which finds justification only in the insanity of "self-preservation." What are we to "preserve?" Our lives?" Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, because he continuously evades life. Our body? Not even a sparrow falls from the roof... Here our split-mind manifests: "Help yourself, so help you God." Surely, and the helping we do for ourselves, is nothing but: yielding to the three temptations in the desert.
To realize that nothing happens to us except that of which we are "Easter-thought," means to stop with pseudo-helping, is to become Easter-sensitive. It means to fully experience the Easter-power of what God has ordained, willing like a Lamb.
As a student of A Course in Miracles, I am used to a different vernacular these days, and I would probably use the term 'miracle potential,' for "Easter-power," but the thinking is the same as what the Course teaches, i.e. that my brother is my savior, IF (and only if) I enter my relationship under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. With our ego, we will always feel like a victim, but with the guidance of the Holy Spirit the emphasis will shift towards the miracle potential in every situation. When forgiveness can replace blame, salvation is born, and that is truly the essence of Easter.

The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They have come to dwell within the temple offered Them, to be Their resting place as well as yours. What hatred has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven's radiance. And all the lights in Heaven brighter grow, in gratitude for what has been restored. (ACIM:T-26.IX.6)
and: 
I. Holy Week
This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth. Let us not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain. A slain Christ has no meaning. But a risen Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of God's forgiveness on himself; the sign he looks upon himself as healed and whole.
This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy sign the Son of God is innocent. Let no dark sign of crucifixion intervene between the journey and its purpose; between the acceptance of the truth and its expression. This week we celebrate life, not death. And we honor the perfect purity of the Son of God, and not his sins. Offer your brother the gift of lilies, not the crown of thorns; the gift of love and not the "gift" of fear. You stand beside your brother, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give. Join now with me and throw away the thorns, offering the lilies to replace them. This Easter I would have the gift of your forgiveness offered by you to me, and returned by me to you. We cannot be united in crucifixion and in death. Nor can the resurrection be complete till your forgiveness rests on Christ, along with mine.
A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey the Son of God has undertaken. He started with the sign of victory, the promise of the resurrection, already given him. Let him not wander into the temptation of crucifixion, and delay him there. Help him to go in peace beyond it, with the light of his own innocence lighting his way to his redemption and release. Hold him not back with thorns and nails when his redemption is so near. But let the whiteness of your shining gift of lilies speed him on his way to resurrection.
Easter is not the celebration of the cost of sin, but of its end. If you see glimpses of the face of Christ behind the veil, looking between the snow-white petals of the lilies you have received and given as your gift, you will behold your brother's face and recognize it. I was a stranger and you took me in, not knowing who I was. Yet for your gift of lilies you will know. In your forgiveness of this stranger, alien to you and yet your ancient Friend, lies his release and your redemption with him. The time of Easter is a time of joy, and not of mourning. Look on your risen Friend, and celebrate his holiness along with me. For Easter is the time of your salvation, along with mine. (ACIM:T-20.I)
Thus, if we truly "place the future in the hands of God," as the Course calls it, i.e. resign our commitment to the split mind which the ego fosters, and take our guidance from the Holy Spirit instead, every situation is a classroom for forgiveness, and thus is salvation born.