The Christ Archetype
Can you imagine being a leper? Skin rotting? Shunned at every moment? Imagine it.
Can you imagine being cured of leprosy? Can you imagine hearing that there is someone who can cure you?
Imagine it.
What is not so important is whether or not there ever was a Jesus Christ who could cure leprosy. What matters is the archetype. Have you ever been helpless? Not known which way to turn for assistance? Heartburn? A chastening rash? Disease is the most archetypal of all. Had a friend who asks too much of you? Been lured by a big payoff via a small deceit? Or a not so small one?
The important thing to bear in mind is that these kind of issues are at the heart of a truly human awareness. They can pick us up by the tail and thrash us about, if we're not careful. Deep down - deep, deep, down - we all know that.
And the answer to (what seems to be) all our problems can come from outside. Sometimes problems fix themselves, sometimes we fix our own problems, or at least somehow adjust to them, but often it's through the assistance of a wise person that we are cured of our ills. Deep, deep, down we know this. Out there in the world there could be someone who knows exactly how to help us. And that will mean the difference between agony and ecstacy.
Here is what I hope will strike you as a profound truth: It does not matter at all that the man we some of us think of as Jesus never walked this earth. We each carry what Jesus (our saviour) means to us within us. We can't help but hope for a cure to our ills - it is a necessary part of our structure. They spoke of the coming of the messiah for hundreds of years before year dot, and we should now know why.
Can you imagine being cured of leprosy? Can you imagine hearing that there is someone who can cure you?
Imagine it.
What is not so important is whether or not there ever was a Jesus Christ who could cure leprosy. What matters is the archetype. Have you ever been helpless? Not known which way to turn for assistance? Heartburn? A chastening rash? Disease is the most archetypal of all. Had a friend who asks too much of you? Been lured by a big payoff via a small deceit? Or a not so small one?
The important thing to bear in mind is that these kind of issues are at the heart of a truly human awareness. They can pick us up by the tail and thrash us about, if we're not careful. Deep down - deep, deep, down - we all know that.
And the answer to (what seems to be) all our problems can come from outside. Sometimes problems fix themselves, sometimes we fix our own problems, or at least somehow adjust to them, but often it's through the assistance of a wise person that we are cured of our ills. Deep, deep, down we know this. Out there in the world there could be someone who knows exactly how to help us. And that will mean the difference between agony and ecstacy.
Here is what I hope will strike you as a profound truth: It does not matter at all that the man we some of us think of as Jesus never walked this earth. We each carry what Jesus (our saviour) means to us within us. We can't help but hope for a cure to our ills - it is a necessary part of our structure. They spoke of the coming of the messiah for hundreds of years before year dot, and we should now know why.
posted by Erosoplier at 9:49 PM
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