Re: Fire and Sunlight
Submitted by Nathan on December 22 2000 13:56:56
In reply to Fire and Sunlight submitted by GCFboi on December 19 2000 22:32:03
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Thank you for this terrific image-- as you can see, it's something I've thought about as well, hence my email address. I'm a Buddhist Christian, and in the branch of Buddhism that I practice, we believe that all sinful urges are just confusions of natural and noble ones. Instead of repressing our desires into extinction we are encouraged to open ourselves to them, slowly and carefully, getting to know where they come from and restraining ourselves from acting rashly until we realize that what we think we desire is not what we really want at all. Then there is no danger of temptation. On that note it is interesting that the Tibetan teaching is that lust is only the confused form of compassion-- purify your mind and you will have nothing left but unconditional love. And the patron saint of compassion, Avalokiteshvara (a Christlike being who died and was resurrected to save the world) is believed to be a lower-level representative of Amitabha, the angel of Infinite Light. Here's another one for you. In Greek mythology there was a Titan named Prometheus ("Foresight") who was set the job of creating humanity. When he had finished he came to love Man so much that he stole the Fire from Heaven and brought it into the world, to keep Man warm and illuminate his darkness. For this he was crucified against a rock (some say a tree) and had an eagle (some say raven) eat at his flesh in the same place, if I'm not mistaken, as Christ was pierced by the Roman's lance when on the Cross. In the Revelation to St. John, Jesus called himself the Morning Star- there were a few references to that in the Scriptures. Now in the ancient world, the Morning Star had two meanings-- on the one hand it meant vanity and narcissistic self-obsession. But it also meant hope. And the Latin name for the Morning Star was Lucifer-- "The Light-Bringer." (Gives a whole new meaning to the story, doesn't it?) Jesus constantly made reference to being a "Light in the World" or a bringer of Fire. Finally, I might add that on the morning that I had my awakening to the Christ, I had a vision of my body/soul bursting into flames because my passion for the world was so great that I could not contain it. In that moment I remembered that the words "flamboyant" and "flaming" are common adjectives for homosexual men, and that the word "faggot" is a throwback to the witch-burning times, when it meant a bundle of sticks to be used as kindling. I am not saying that Jesus was gay or a BL (as we understand those terms) or anything else of that nature. But I realized that my passion for boys and youth was my connection to Christ's passion for Humanity, and from that moment on, I resolved never to hate myself for this wonderful gift of yearning which He had given me, enabling me to know just how deeply He yearns for me. |
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