Discerning Spiritual Texts
People rarely question the words in the Torah or the New Testament because they don't realize they have within themselves the ability to know God and hear God. They make a text, transcribed or written by “prophets” or “saints”, the truth, without questioning its veracity or whether it feels true for them. I believe there are glimpses of truth in much spiritual text, but it is also muddied by ego projection. Even channeled texts, while no doubt extraordinary at times, come through or are filtered in some way by the person's mind who channels them.
When our minds are clear, what we hear, especially in contrast to the typical egoic thoughts, can be divine, but because it is so rare of an occurrence it may cause one to believe that what is heard is unadulterated by the ego. Authors with this conviction may allure readers who seek to know God themselves but believe they are incapable of hearing God’s words. And so these followers create a new “prophet” and may accept blindly what is taught.
This topic of discerning spiritual texts was inspired as I was reading Romans, in The New Testament. The words of Paul, who was named Saul, reflect much spiritual truth, but also illusion. It is plainly visible in his thoughts and words, in his judgments of others, in his notion of “wickedness” and “wicked people.” Whatever “wicked” meant back then is probably not what it means today. So first and foremost, let us question the words and whether they mean what was intended, and realize that any word that evokes fear or shame is not a word of God. Perhaps “wicked” really meant “sinful”, however “sinful” is not much better, as it connotes shameful wrongdoing. A more accurate interpretation of “sinful” is to act in ways that are disconnected from one’s truth and from God. From here we can begin to look upon such texts in a different light. But the problem is that many people throughout history have taken what is written literally, so that the judgements the authors make are believed to be reflections of the truth, when they are in fact illusion.
As much as Paul encourages new thought and a new law, he speaks and upholds the old law. He is a man inspired by a spiritual awakening, but not yet the Light he speaks of. So let us be open to hearing the inspired words of our brother and recognize our own human limitations as he does, and seek a closer relationship to truth as he does, but also not assume that everything he speaks is truth. When we know the truth is within us and when we know God is within us we are better able to discern truth from illusion. It does not matter who the author is and whether they are called a “saint” or “prophet”, as we all have within us the potential for sainthood and prophesying. What matters is that we trust the feeling we have when we read what is written. Does it open our hearts and inspire us to treat ourselves and others with love? Or does it provoke fear or shame, anger or judgement? That is all we really need to know to discern spiritual texts.
