photo credit: Andres Rueda

Everywhere I look I see signs of, and preparation for, new life! The bluebirds in our yard are busy nesting, and new growth is popping up all over – from the fiddle-heads of new fern to over-eager garden greens sprouting in our veggie patch. Spring is indeed a glorious time of year! What more fitting time than now to celebrate the resurrection – both historically, as well as within our own hearts, of our Christ?!

Of course, in the midst of all this birthing and newness, we must not forget that for the process of resurrection to occur there must be something sacrificed – so in our spring jubilance, let’s pause a moment and reflect on this most essential part of rebirth and resurrection – the crucifixion.

For death is as much an intrinsic part of the cycle of life, as is birth …  we see on every level of life that the old must die to make way for the new. For us personally, this death/birth cycle means that we cannot birth a new consciousness, or shift our old way of thinking and come into a new being, without the sacrifice of the old self. To experience resurrection the old self must be crucified on the cross of life – of Reality.

But who exactly IS this “old self” we must die to?

In my opinion, the old self is the mind-made definition of who we think we are based on a litany of unverified, and very unhappy-making, stories that we adopt before we know any better and then live out without ever questioning them. In other words, the old self is that part of ourselves that I call victim-consciousness. Victim consciousness creates a false self that, sooner or later, must be crucified through the piercing light of Reality to make way for the flow of Christ consciousness through us. It is the victim/false self that we relinquish to make way for the burgeoning self-in-union-with-Source.

The victim-self that must die in us is that part of us that is most identified with what, for Easter purposes, I will call the “horizontal life,” the plane of reality symbolized by the horizontal beam on the Cross of Calvary. The horizontal plane of reality is ruled by a mind-set that says the external world is the cause of our state of emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing. When we live on the horizontal plane, we see ourselves at the mercy of a ruthless, unkind, conniving, and unhappy world, and we live defensively (if not, offensively) to protect ourselves from being hurt by the world. On the horizontal plane we live in a victim state of consciousness that requires we be in constant reaction to the outside world, ever attempting to take care of ourselves by trying to control its effect upon us.

But there is another way to relate to life; it is the Way symbolized by the vertical beam on the cross: I call it the “Vertical Path of Alignment with Source.”

To access this Vertical Path is to live in accord with Reality. On the Vertical Path we see life clearly, rather than through the distorted filter of our mind-made, limiting stories about life. We initiate the vertical journey of alignment with Source simply by recognizing our desire for a more harmonious life, and then by committing our lives to follow our longing for Source into a greater alignment and harmony with Reality. We learn to say “yes” to surrendering our will to the Will of Source, and that single act of willingness aligns us with a flow of blessings that pours into our lives as soon as we give our consent.

The more we open to and experience the Vertical Path of Alignment with Source, the more willing we are to die to life on the horizontal path of the old self. This dying to the victim/false self is necessary; its decrease allows space within our hearts to create the birthing stable of the Christ Energy within us. As that new Self grows in our hearts, our life increasingly becomes a wonderful collaboration of dance, dialog, and intimate sharing with Source. Such intimate relations with Source is always available for us and creates a burning desire within us to only, and always be in Its Presence.

The two arms of the Cross of Calvary, representing the vertical and horizontal planes of life, intersect at the heart of Christ. It was through the love of a Father for his child, and the heartbreak of the sacrificed son, that the world was saved. In the same way, within each of us, through the relentless “fathering” of a Reality that both loves us, and crucifies the old self in us, we are resurrected to a new and eternal life of acceptance, bounty, and peace. Here at this intersection where the horizontal and vertical planes meet, the heart is pierced by the hardships of life, and we are opened, through the very piercing itself, to the Outpouring of Love from Source, who then enters into our hearts, transforms our minds, and heals us into a whole new way of being.

May you be crucified and resurrected during this special season of surrender and rebirth.

Have a Blessed Easter Season,

Lynne