Overcoming Temptation on the Journey to Consciousness

photo credit: ideacrea­manue­laPps

As I’ve said before I think of the Bible as an alchem­i­cal text. What that means is that I see the sto­ries of the Bible, and espe­cially the Christ story, as pro­vid­ing us with key con­cepts for trans­form­ing our own metal­lic like ego con­scious­ness to the gold of higher consciousness.

Here’s an example:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilder­ness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hun­gry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, com­mand that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is writ­ten, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pin­na­cle of the tem­ple, and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Your­self down; for it is writ­ten, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is writ­ten, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’” Again, the devil *took Him to a very high moun­tain and *showed Him all the king­doms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and wor­ship me.” Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is writ­ten, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to min­is­ter to him.

(Mat 4:1 – 11)

Just as Christ was tempted in the wilder­ness, we, too, must face temp­ta­tions in life. Our abil­ity to over­come temp­ta­tion demon­strates our spir­i­tual progress on the path of con­scious­ness. Since Christ exem­pli­fies the path of indi­vid­u­a­tion for all mankind, we do well to study the sym­bol­ism of his move­ment from the River Jor­dan, where he was bap­tized by John the Bap­tist, and received the dove of holy spirit, directly to the wilder­ness where he was might­ily tempted by Satan.

Like Christ, we too must face sim­i­lar temp­ta­tions on our jour­ney to con­scious­ness. Once we turn away from a life of con­stantly react­ing to the outer world and, instead, turn inward for truth and under­stand­ing, we too, just as Christ, must face the same sort of temp­ta­tions he faced. Such a turn­ing, and re-turning, expe­ri­ence is what Chris­tian­ity calls “con­ver­sion,” and it is just such a turn around that is sym­bol­ized by the bap­tism of Christ at the Jor­dan River. Once we are rightly aligned with Source, we no longer see things the way we did before. The dove of peace and higher con­scious­ness descends upon us and we are for­ever changed.

The shift we expe­ri­ence is one that involves mov­ing our focus from the exter­nal world to the inter­nal realm. And just like Christ, we too, must endure the temp­ta­tions that test us on the fol­low­ing three levels:

1. the phys­i­cal or mate­r­ial: it is a temp­ta­tion we face so we can clar­ify the ques­tion, “Am I liv­ing on ‘bread’ alone?” Do I wor­ship mate­r­ial suc­cess? Things? My career? Mate­r­ial Wealth? Or do I know that I am more than flesh?” Or am I see­ing life from a strictly phys­i­cal orientation?

2. the emo­tional level; “If you are the son of God … “Our faith is tested through a temp­ta­tion designed to bring our doubt to the sur­face. “Do i really believe I am a spir­i­tual being? Am I really a son/daughter of a Divine Source that is lim­it­less? Or do I doubt and under­mine my true nature? Do I waver and need con­stant evi­dence of who/what I serve?

3. the men­tal level; the temp­ta­tion that con­firms an illu­sion of per­sonal power over Divine Power. This temp­ta­tion comes to those who are more advanced stu­dents on the path. It asks us, “Do I get car­ried away with who I am? Do I mis­take the power cours­ing through me as com­ing from me, rather than com­ing through me! Do I think I am the cause of my suc­cesses and glory? Do I fall for the temp­ta­tion to be a some­body? For fame, for wide-spread promi­nence? For the temp­ta­tion to believe that I am the source of the wis­dom and heal­ing I expe­ri­ence ? Or am I able to stay firmly grounded in remem­ber­ing, “Not I, but thou art strong, wise, and pow­er­ful. Source is my source of strength and power, with­out it I am nothing.”

To over­come these temp­ta­tions, as Christ did, is essen­tial to the process of our self real­iza­tion. Fac­ing these temp­ta­tions, with­out giv­ing in, is a nec­es­sary ini­ti­a­tion on our path of merger with Source.

May we each find the for­ti­tude to pro­claim, “Get behind me, temp­ta­tion! Noth­ing can dis­tract me from serv­ing the One Source!”

Bless­ings, Lynne