Myths, Lies & Half-Truths

In what may be termed one of the universal truths of Scripture, Jesus said, 'The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!' There has been a tendency, in times past & even in the present time, to view this amazing statement as speaking of this biology, as if what we place before our physical eyes dims our light, allowing the darkness to overtake, or overcome us. 'If we can just stay away temptation, maybe then our light will shine true!' There is some truth to this statement, but unfortunately, it is not the whole truth ( 'so help me God' )!

'As long as we abide in partial darkness, we will continue to be conquered.'

So long as there are those who refuse to shine the Light, there will be Darkness! Thomas Aquinas made the statement above at a time in history when, it may be argued, the darkness was more prevalent than in our day. Born into what some have called 'The Dark Age' of history, he seems to have understood that as long as we accept the darkness & allow it to exist alongside our Light, we will never truly overcome it, but rather, will be overcome by it. The notion that Jesus Himself, personally & biologically speaking, will someday ( in the future ) make His appearance to rescue us from the mess we have made of things is one aspect of this kind of thinking. Like the majority of Jews in Jesus' day, most Christians seem to have adopted a political Messiah, One who will lead us to true liberty, not realizing that true liberty is not political at all. True liberty is the spiritual understanding that we are, by our very nature, free & by nature, free to choose. However, when we choose to subjugate others in darkness, our liberty manifests as political rather than true!

Merely political liberty, such as many think to enjoy today, is a false liberty in which the elite enjoy a kind of freedom that denies freedom & liberty to others. Personal freedom, whether applied to a single or collective entity, unless it extends to the whole, is a false freedom, for it offers certain 'rights' to one group, while denying those same rights to another. The nature of those rights, like our own nature, is spiritual & granted by the Universal Laws of Nature & Nature's God! To deny those rights to some, while 'granting' them to others is to exercise political ( false ) liberty, one in which conquest will always be the name of the game. In order for us to enjoy true freedom, or liberty, the same rights must be extended to all, in accordance with Universal Law.

Universal Law is defined in part by statements such as quoted earlier, that universal truth of Scripture given by Jesus, who was Israel's Messiah. While not all abide in that Truth, those who do ( abide in Truth ) enjoy True Liberty, not the false liberty that comes from political coercion, the false liberty that extends only to those who embrace a certain political belief, or dogma. Therefore, politically speaking, we will always, as Thomas Aquinas prophesied, experience conquest: we will never be truly free, or experience True Liberty, until we all embrace the Light that we are, as well as following that Universal Law!

The notion that Jesus, as the Son of God, will one day return to restore Order is a political one! Most, if not all Christians will readily acknowledge that, spiritually speaking, the Creator of all is currently on the throne, while still looking for a physical manifestation of this glorious truth. It is true enough that any spiritual truth will find its manifestation in this physicality, but partial darkness hinders these from realizing that we ( collectively ) ARE that Manifestation! Humanity, as a whole, is the vehicle through which the Creator God has chosen to shine the Light of True Freedom. but we were also given the free will to choose for ourselves whether we would selfishly ( politically ) confine some to prison, while allowing others merely a shadow of true freedom, or whether we would so shine our Light that ALL might enjoy the True Freedom that comes only from Above!

In conclusion, then, we must understand that no contract, political or otherwise, will bring about True Freedom! The half-truths of politics, especially those practiced in this day & age, will never allow the Light to truly shine, because while some may enjoy a glimpse of the Light, a mere shadow, so to speak, others must remain in the darkness of ignorance. Because of this ignorance, willful or otherwise, the Darkness is made manifest, but when, through the Spirit, one realizes their true nature, then the Light becomes manifest & through the manifestation of that Light ( which IS ), the Darkness will become null & void; indeed, it will cease to exist!

Charles Haddon Shank