We often see Easter described in terms of its historical and religious expressions but not within a more enlightened context. That is, the sense of rebirth, renewal and the born again resurrection, whether of a pagan nature-description or of religious belief, tends to point outward and not inward to a deeper individual process of rebirth and growth of consciousness.

The religious and historical Jesus, for example, largely remains on a cultural and personal surface within a history combined with ancient pagan symbol and religious belief, now made into holidays and such.

But Jesus said the kingdom is within. Here, “within” means at greater depth of being, and while the outer may symbolize and has a place within a cultural framework, the inner is to realize directly, individually, not as belief, but as gnosis, a higher consciousness of being. Around the world, past and present, this is known as enlightenment.

Unfortunately, within the religious context, not much cultural attention is given to Jesus (or enlightenment in general) regarding this inner transformation, or shift in consciousness. This is understandable from several points of view, one of which is how historically Biblical writings have been politically designed to create religion and belief systems corresponding to the times, past and present.

However, the true realization and nature of the Biblical “kingdom” (enlightenment), as the message of Jesus, is obscured and lost within the corresponding dogma of belief, however well meaning.

In more modern terms, for example, the Biblical Jesus in three years of ministry, outwardly dogmatized and fragmented in religious terms, can describe an inner process leading to enlightenment. This process is about the realization of a higher state of being, toward spiritual realization now. Baptism (cleansing of outer disturbances based upon a self-system that obscures inner (and outer) realities, inaugurates one into deeper inner fires that further purify (Holy Ghost – kundalini) giving birth to a new being (level of consciousness).

Today, some may recognize enlightenment as what Jesus was really attempting to communicate, or that which he symbolizes as such today. A new level of consciousness brings forth, inherently, the “things of the kingdom” and the realization of spirit, now.

This is the true death and rebirth or resurrection, which is then knowing the kingdom (enlightenment) directly. It is available to most anyone willing to do the methods (they are simple but not easy) of which Jesus attempted to communicate, methods, however, which have been replaced by making them into moral prescriptions instead.

A simple statement such as “turn the other cheek” (one of many methods) has a different quality when seen in the context of a method to become more aware rather than as a moral injunction. “The pure in heart shall see God” (or the kingdom), but who can be pure in heart with such egos strutting about seeking power as individual or nation? No, the attempt to be “pure in heart” the consciousness of that in daily life, is a method to dissolve the oppressive ego-life orientation to become more aware, moving toward the deeper realization of the kingdom, now, within.

If religious belief does not lead beyond something free from bigotry, violence and political manipulation (which it historically has not) then I suggest there is something seriously wrong with religious “belief.”

Jesus did not purpose a new belief system or a religion, but a new consciousness hidden within, waiting to emerge. Both message and method remain largely hidden within religion.

Maurice Taylor lives in Clearlake.