In this talk Joyce Smandra will be sharing with us Jesus as teacher and mystic. Jesus knew his days were numbered, and he realized that his disciples did not understand that it was not him personally, but his teachings and way of life that that they needed.  While moving about to avoid the authorities, Jesus gave the I AM lessons to his disciples in order to help them understand.  He wanted them to grasp that when he was gone, they were to trust in sacred unity, and they were to treat themselves and others with compassion and forgiveness

Jesus understood the world through Hebrew eyes, so he comprehended the creation story not as a one time-happening, but a continuous process for both the universe and for humanity.

If a scientific perspective is more to your liking, you can view Jesus’ teachings through the cosmology of special relativity which allows for a world in which the universe is evolving and each of us is an ever-changing manifestation of that universe.

Joyce Smandra lived the first half of her life looking for answers to the big questions of why we are here and where we are going. During this phase of her life she is “living the questions,” as suggested by the mystic poet Rainer Maria Rilke. For her, this means living in simple presence in the mystery.  She feels that since we will never know how we got here or why, we might as well live peacefully in this interdependent web of life and find the next right thing that is ours to do. Mystic teachers like Brian Swimme and Neil Douglas-Klotz help illuminate her path. The Aramaic Jesus has been a part of this process.

Topics: UUCP Member