스크랩 [펌] 0811 Deepak Chopra on Jesus

[Sejin]

현제 내가 이해하는 에미서리의 신/하나님에 대한 이해와 가까운 해설을 디팍 초프라의 책에서 볼수 있다. 그의 최근(2008)의 책 두권 (아직 한역 번역판은 없음), "제삼의 예수", "예수, 깨우침의 이야기"에서는 내가 생각하는 예수와 거의 같은 예수의 이야기를 볼수 있다. 보통의 개념의 신/하나님을 믿지 못하는 나에게 예수가 신의 아들이라고 해야 별로 의미가 없다. 그러나 그가 부다처럼 깨우친 사람이라 하면 수긍이 간다. 예수나 부다가 중요한것이 아니라 그 깨다름이 중요 한것이다. 우리는 학도로서 그들의 깨다름과 그 깨다름에 이르는 과정에서 배울수 있다. 그런 의미에서 예수는 부다와 동격의 인물이다. 결국은 우리 모두도. 왜냐하면 우리 모두가  적어도 가능성으로는 예수나 부다처럼 깨어 날수 있고, 또 깨어나야 겠다는 것이기 때문이다. 그들은 선배이고 스승일뿐이다. 그리고 우리는 그들이 얻은 결과를 믿는게 아니고, 그와 비슷한 과정을 거처 우리가 스스로 깨우처야 하는 것이다. 예수에 대한 이러한 인식은 모든 종교가 서로에게서 배울 수 있다는 종교간의 화해와 대화로 향해가는 자세를 의미하기도 한다. 우리 모두가 진리탐구의, 또 깨달음의 동료학도들이다. 그래서 에미서리에서는 다른종교의 배경의 학도들이 모여 같이 수련를 할수있다.

현제 나의 이해로는 이것이 에미서리사상이라고 생각하여, 바로 우리모두가 깨어남의 사명을 가지고 지구(이세상)에 왔다는 이야기에 내가 감명을 받았다. 만약에 에미서리사상이 이면에서 이것과 다르다면, 나로선 에미서리쪽보다 이쪽 (초프라의 해석쪽)으로 기우러질 것 같으다.  에미서리글들을 읽어보면 기독교적인 용어들을 많이 쓰이는 것이 보인다. 아직까지 나는 이점을 에미서리사상이 기독교배경의 사회에서 나왔기 때문에 그런 개념들을 계속쓰고 있을 것이라는 해석을 하고 있다. 같은 단어-개념을 쓴다고 해서 실제로 기독교적인 의미를 가지고 있다고 생각하지 않는다. 이점은 내가 앞으로 계속 에미서리글들을 읽어가면 나에게도 밝혀질 것이다.

밑의 서평에서 볼수 있는것처럼 저명한 신학자들을 포함한 많은 기독교인들도 "인간예수의 깨우침"이라는 시각에서 배울것이 있다고 말한다. "신앙생활"중심에서 "깨우침의 생활"중심으로 시각을 바꾸는 것이 한 기독교인으로서도 그의 영적성장을 위해 더 중요하다고 생각하게 될수 있다는 것이다. 에미서리정신도 기독교인들에게 바로 이런 역활을 해왔고, 앞으로도 계속하리라고 본다. 한편, 근본주의 기독교에서는 예수를 인간화 한다는 데에 대하여 "천벌은 받을 짓"이라고 규탄하리라 생각된다. 그러나 그들의 눈치를 살필 필요는 없다고 본다. 진보기독교인들 중에서도 인간예수를 닫아드리기는 어려운 사람들도 있겠지만  시간이 지나면서 쇽크효과가 사라지고 그 시각을 음미하게 되지 않을까 생각된다.

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Deepak Chopra on Jesus

By David Van Biema Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008

Yuri Cortez / AFP / Getty

This week, Deepak Chopra, medical expert, ayurvedic entrepreneur and New Age savant picks up another title: New Testament author. Chopra's book, Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment, speculates a story of the Messiah-to-be during what might be called his early Wanderjahr. And wander he does. We meet Jesus consulting with a guru on an icy mountaintop in what seems like Tibet. He gets caught up with armed Jewish zealots, dallies with the Essenes (who collected the Dead Sea Scrolls) and eventually achieves a oneness with God. Chopra spoke with TIME about his novel.

Your Jesus story is tremendous fun to read, but where is it in the Bible?

It's not in the Bible. In the Bible, you have Jesus as a child in the nativity scenes, then at age 12 at the Temple in Jerusalem, and then you don't see him until he's 30. Where was he for those 18 years?

O.K. Where?

There's a lot of mythology, some of it involving the East. There was a German scholar who claimed in the 1940s that Jesus traveled the Silk Road, lived in India and may have visited a monastery in Lhasa where there were Buddhist texts. The church of St. Thomas in India's Kerala state is the only place where Christ is not pictured on a cross but in a meditative samadhi posture. I also researched that period in history for Jesus's religious context, political and cultural contexts, the Jewish sects at the time, the occupation by Rome. Then I went into incubation, meditation, and I allowed this story to unfold. It fits into the category of "religious fiction."

Your version of Jesus' "missing years" is heavy on his search for enlightenment, on both external and internal journeying. Is that an area in which you felt the Gospels needed supplementing?

When I was growing up, I went to an Irish-Christian missionary school. I was totally fascinated by the New Testament. I must have read it a few thousand times. One day I was reading the Gospel of John 10: 30, where Jesus says, "I and God are one." The crowd immediately wants to stone him for blasphemy. But he quotes a psalm that says "You are Gods, sons of the most high," which he tells them was addressed to "those to whom the word of God came." He clearly sees himself as equivalent to that group.

I interpreted this as "those who have knowledge of God are God." In Eastern philosophical systems there's an established idea of a path through personal consciousness to a collective conscience to a universal conscience, which people call the divine. I concluded that Jesus must have experienced this consciousness, and that he must have followed a path. The story is about that evolution.

In fact, you write "making [Jesus] the one and only son of God leaves the rest of humankind stranded."

Because we end up worshipping the messenger instead of the message and excluding all the theologies that existed before Jesus was born.

But it's also the one thing that inspires Christ's most fervent followers: that Jesus was God's only son, who died for them and so took away sin. Isn't your premise of an acquired godhood heretical to orthodox Christians?

It may be. Fundamentalist Christians always quote Jesus in the Gospel of John saying "I am the way. I am the life. Nobody comes into the kingdom of heaven except through me." But what does Jesus mean by "I"?" In his language, Aramaic, the word is translated as "the I within the I." So he may be speaking about himself as a universal spirit. In that case he can't be squeezed into a body or the span of a lifetime.

But God's crucifixion and resurrection as Jesus are all normative in Christianity.

All religions develop, become exclusive, become divisive and quarrelsome.

In your book there is a crucifixion, but only reported secondhand by Jesus as something like a dream.

The symbolic language of the crucifixion is the death of the old paradigm; resurrection is a leap into a whole new way of thinking. The language of the Sermon on the Mount ? if someone hits you, turn the other cheek ? he's making a creative leap, and that's the death of an old way of thinking and the birth of a completely new way. Every spiritual tradition has this idea of death and resurrection. It's not unique to Christianity.

…

Do you have any advice for Americans in the face of recession? What would Jesus say?

Jesus would say, Recognize the difference between wealth and money. Wealth is the progressive realization of worthy goals, the ability to love and have compassion, meaningful and caring relationships. There's $2.9 trillion circulating in the world's markets every day, less than 2% of which goes to provide goods and services to humanity. The rest is one big casino, making money off money or losing money off money. We have a culture where we spend what we haven't earned to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like, and now the situation is such that we are being drawn to find the real meaning in our lives. When we shift from consumption to relationship, then we will be doing what Jesus would do.  

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1858571,00.html

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The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore (Hardcover)

by Deepak Chopra (Author)

Hardcover: 256 pages, Publisher: Harmony (February 19, 2008)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Named One of the Best Spiritual Books of 2008 by Spirituality & Practice

"[Promotes] an interspirituality for the twenty-first century that tears down the walls between East and West and reveals how all the world's religions encourage the practice of transformation."

?Spirituality & Practice

"In this book, Deepak Chopra proposes a Copernican revolution in our understanding of Christianity by replacing the theological version of the holy trinity with the triptych of Jesus as possessing a human, an institutional and a mystical dimension. By emphasizing the mystical dimension and identifying Jesus as a spiritual revolutionary, he invites Christianity to perform yet another miracle in his name- that of transforming the world once again."

?Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University

"The hardest thing to see is what is hidden in plain sight. After 20 centuries of doctrine and dogma we have nearly lost sight of the Jesus who was a wandering teacher of mystical truths. In his imaginative reconstruction of the inner meaning of the gospels, Deepak Chopra reminds us of The Third Jesus, the enlightened master of God-consciousness. It will disturb the minds of the orthodox, and delight the spirits of mystics and progressive Christians."

?Sam Keen, Philosopher and Author, Sightings: Extraordinary Encounters with Ordinary Birds

"An insightful and clarifying glimpse into the life of one of the most radical spiritual teachers the world has known. Chopra gives us the gift of knowing that we may walk in the enlightened footsteps of our brother, Jesus the Christ."

?Michael Bernard Beckwith, founder Agape International Spiritual Center and author of Inspirations of the Heart, 40 Day Mind Fast Soul Feast, A Manifesto of Peace

"In The Third Jesus Deepak Chopra unfolds for us the spirit of Jesus and with a reverence that is at once simple and profound makes his spirit accessible to us in our everyday lives."

?Father Paul Keenan, Host, "As You Think," The Catholic Channel/Sirius 159

“Distinguishing between the historical Jesus and the Christ of Theology and Philosophy developed over 17 centuries Dr. Chopra captures an intriguing vision of a “Third Jesus,” who, while living on Earth, developed a deep relationship with God. Deepak calls this “God-consciousness.” Dr. Chopra brilliantly uses the sayings of Jesus to demonstrate how his basic mission and ethic of love grew out of his God-consciousness. Through Jesus’ own words and spiritual exercises Deepak beautifully elucidates a beginning, middle and unity pathway for growing in deep God-consciousness to anchor our life on earth and our life after death.”

?Rev. Edward J. Ruetz, retired Catholic priest of the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend in Indiana

"Dr. Deepak Chopra's analyses and interpretations of the sayings of Jesus, in the form of "Comment," breathe renewed life into those sayings. Chopra's work brings the teachings of Jesus into sharp focus with a marvelous, modern touch of insight from the vantage of both Eastern and Western thought. With the thought of Jesus's model in hand, Chopra provides the reader with a spiritual path of exercises -- a remarkably renewed practice in search of a higher reality, helping to cause a connection between reader and God. The views Chopra imparts are definitely worth the effort to undertake this enlightening journey of reading and practice."

?Ben Christensen, Ph.D., Prof. Emeritus Dean of the San Diego School of Christian Studies First United Methodist Church of San Diego, CA

"Jesus has now long since escaped the confines of church, Christianity and even 'religions.' Chopra's book thoughtfully presents a Jesus who is paradoxically both closer to the original and more available to post-modern people than the stained glass version. The book is bound to provoke both admiration and condemnation which, come to think of it, the maverick Galilean rabbi also did."

?Harvey Cox, author, When Jesus Came to Harvard, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard

"Chopra’s book The Third Jesus reminds me of the theological work of one of history’s greatest humanitarians and the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr. Albert Schweitzer.   Schweitzer wrote extensively about Jesus and challenged much of the prevailing theology regarding Jesus’ life and ideas.  Chopra is Schweitzer’s equal in bringing to light a fresh and profound way to experience the teachings of Jesus."

?David T. Ives, Executive Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac University

"In this book a man shaped by the religions of the East introduces the West to a Jesus we have either lost or have never known.  That is itself a stunning concept, but Deepak Chopra is a stunning man.  He explores what he calls the 'Christ Consciousness,' which can be identified neither with the Jesus of history nor with the Jesus of the creeds, the doctrines and the dogmas of the ecclesiastical institution.  This 'Third Jesus' can be seen only when we move into a new human awareness that will carry us beyond tribe, prejudice and even beyond our religious systems.  As a Christian, I welcome his insights into my Jesus and his provocative call to me to enter the 'Christ Consciousness' and thus to become more deeply and completely human."

?John Shelby Spong, Retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Author, Jesus for the Non-Religious

"In this intriguing study of the sayings of Jesus, Deepak Chopra gently releases this highly evolved spiritual teacher, light of the world and son of God from the limitations of dogmatic theology. With profound wisdom and clarity Deepak offers the amazing suggestion that the same God-consciousness embodied in the human Jesus is present in all of us individually and collectively. In a spirit of humble knowingness Deepak encourages us to look deep into the mirror of our collective souls and ponder the question Jesus continues to ask “Who do YOU say that I AM ?"

?Sister Judian Breitenbach, Catholic order of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, Founder of the Sari Asher Namaste’ Center in LaPorte, Indiana

"The book makes God accessible to those who find God distant, troublesome, or both. Chopra rescues Jesus from the confusion of the ever multiplying schools of Biblical criticism. The book shows us how to investigate, in a new way, Jesus--the mysterious man with divine awareness. Chopra resolves contradictions in Jesus' sayings, sharpens our understanding of Jesus' teachings, and guides us in the application of Jesus' teachings. Jesus comes into focus. We gain new expectations of what the spiritual life looks like. The book calls even to those who have lost any sense of God. By following the book's practical applications, they, too, may find the universe meaningful instead of indifferent. This is a book to read, re-read, and incorporate into one's life."

?Bonnie Bobzien, MD, Member of board of directors of San Diego School of Christian Studies

"Literate, mainstream Christians will welcome Chopra’s championing before the world, the meaning of their commitment to action, practice, 'ortho-praxis,' following the only absolutely unambiguous demands of Jesus on his followers recorded in the New Testament: serving the poor, loving neighbor and even enemies. It is the most effective response to the Dawkins’ crowd who never even mention the Bishop Robinsons, Martin King, Dietrich Bonhoeffers, Mother Teresas who by their actions, have shown their faith in this Jesus Christ."

?Rustum Roy, Evan Pugh Professor of the Solid State Emeritus, Professor of Science Technology and Society Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University

“'God created man and woman in His image,'a biblical poet reminds us. Deepak Chopra has returned the compliment. He joins other incisive minds who have reflected on Jesus as 'the true light who enlightens every person' (John 1:9). Jefferson, for example, revered Jesus as 'the first of human Sages.'He looked like Jefferson?dignified, brainy and humorless. Assertive, rabble-rousing Malcolm X told Playboy magazine in 1963 'Christ was a black man.' Was it coincidental that his ebony Jesus bristled at the status quo as he flashed revolutionary rhetoric? Chopra engagingly describes Jesus as looking much like Deepak. Jesus enlightens us, creating a helpful 'path to God-consciousness.' Jesus can’t be contained within stultifying Christian creeds and arid Church traditions that deify him. Yes, he is divine, for Chopra in the sense that he divines a way to Cosmic Consciousness. Here’s energy within that settles us down, excites our passions we look up to capture them and points us back to Jesus, the savant who makes us conscious of the good, the true and the beautiful."

?The Reverend Dr. Jack R. Van Ens, Creative Growth Ministries, Christian dramatist and commentator for the Vail Daily

"The message of Jesus was clear, simple and direct. But within a generation of his passion it was compromised in order to accommodate the widely conflicting views among those who claimed to follow him. In Deepak Chopra’s new book you will find much thought- provoking material related to this compromise which will elucidate many sensitive issues that have perplexed believers for centuries. In contrast to a message originally intended to inspire people to the wonders of a world reborn in God, the emphasis nowadays makes it almost impossible to think of Jesus or even Christianity itself except in terms of the suffering savior who died to appease God’s anger against us. The terrible toll this em...

Product Description

Who is Jesus Christ?

In The Third Jesus, bestselling author and spiritual leader Deepak Chopra provides an answer to this question that is both a challenge to current systems of belief and a fresh perspective on what Jesus can teach us all, regardless of our religious background. There is not one Jesus, Chopra writes, but three.

First, there is the historical Jesus, the man who lived more than two thousand years ago and whose teachings are the foundation of Christian theology and thought. Next there is Jesus the Son of God, who has come to embody an institutional religion with specific dogma, a priesthood, and devout believers. And finally, there is the third Jesus, the cosmic Christ, the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity, not just the church built in his name. He speaks to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment.

When we take Jesus literally, we are faced with the impossible. How can we truly “love thy neighbor as thyself”? But when we see the exhortations of Jesus as invitations to join him on a higher spiritual plane, his words suddenly make sense.

Ultimately, Chopra argues, Christianity needs to overcome its tendency to be exclusionary and refocus on being a religion of personal insight and spiritual growth. In this way Jesus can be seen for the universal teacher he truly is?someone whose teachings of compassion, tolerance, and understanding can embrace and be embraced by all of us.

About the Author

DEEPAK CHOPRA is the author of more than fifty books translated into over thirty-five languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers in both the fiction and non-fiction categories. Chopra’s Wellness Radio

airs weekly on Sirius Satellite Stars, Channel 102, which focuses on the areas of success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being, and spirituality. He is founder and president of the Alliance for a New Humanity. Time magazine heralds Deepak Chopra as one of the top one hundred heroes and icons of the century and credits him as “the poet-prophet of alternative medicine.”

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Redeeming the Redeemer

by Deepak Chopra

Excerpt. ? Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

www.deepakchopra.com

Jesus is in trouble. When people worship him today--or even speak his name--the object of their devotion is unlikely to be who they think he is. A mythical Jesus has grown up over time. He has served to divide peoples and nations. He has led to destructive wars in the name of religious fantasies. The legacy of love found in the New Testament has been tainted with the worst sort of intolerance and prejudice that would have appalled Jesus in life. Most troubling of all, his teachings have been hijacked by people who hate in the name of love.

"Sometimes I feel this social pressure to return to my faith," a lapsed Catholic told me recently, "but I'm too bitter. Can I love a religion that calls gays sinners but hides pedophiles in its clergy? Yesterday while I was driving to work, I heard a rock song that went, 'Jesus walked on water when he should have surfed,' and you know what? I burst out laughing. I would never have done that when I was younger. Now I feel only the smallest twinge of guilt."

No matter where you look, a cloud of confusion hangs over the message of Jesus. To cut through it we have to be specific about who we mean when we refer to Jesus. One Jesus is historical, and we know next to nothing about him. Another Jesus is the one appropriated by Christianity. He was created by the Church to fulfill its agenda. The third Jesus, the one this book is about, is as yet so unknown that even the most devout Christians don't suspect that he exists. Yet he is the Christ we cannot--and must not--ignore.

The first Jesus was a rabbi who wandered the shores of northern Galilee many centuries ago. This Jesus still feels close enough to touch. He appears in our mind's eye dressed in homespun but haloed in glory. He was kind, serene, peaceful, loving, and yet he was the keeper of deep mysteries.

This historical Jesus has been lost, however, swept away by history. He still lingers like a ghost, a projection of all the ideal qualities we wish for in ourselves but so painfully lack. Why couldn't there be one person who was perfectly loving, perfectly compassionate, and perfectly humble? There can be if we call him Jesus and remove him to a time thousands of years in the past. (If you live in the East, his name might be Buddha, but the man is equally mythical and equally a projection of our own lack.)

The first Jesus is less than consistent, as a closer reading of the gospels will show. If Jesus was perfectly peaceful, why did he declare, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword"? (Matthew 10:34) If he was perfectly loving, why did he say, "Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"? (Matthew 25:30) (Sometimes the translation is even harsher, and Jesus commands "the worthless slave" to be consigned to hell.) If Jesus was humble, why did he claim to rule the earth beyond the power of any king? At the very least, the living Jesus was a man of baffling contradictions.

And yet the more contradictions we unearth, the less mythical this Jesus becomes. The flesh-and-blood man who is lost to history must have been extraordinarily human. To be divine, one must be rich in every human quality first. As one famous Indian spiritual teacher once said, "The measure of enlightenment is how comfortable you feel with your own contradictions."

Millions of people worship another Jesus, however, who never existed, who doesn't even lay claim to the fleeting substance of the first Jesus. This is the Jesus built up over thousands of years by theologians and other scholars. He is the Holy Ghost, the Three-in-One Christ, the source of sacraments and prayers that were unknown to the rabbi Jesus when he walked the earth. He is also the Prince of Peace over whom bloody wars have been fought. This second Jesus cannot be embraced without embracing theology first. Theology shifts with the tide of human affairs. Metaphysics itself is so complex that it contradicts the simplicity of Jesus's words. Would he have argued with learned divines over the meaning of the Eucharist? Would he have espoused a doctrine declaring that babies are damned until they are baptized?

The second Jesus leads us into the wilderness without a clear path out. He became the foundation of a religion that has proliferated into some twenty thousand sects. They argue endlessly over every thread in the garments of a ghost. But can any authority, however exalted, really inform us about what Jesus would have thought? Isn't it a direct contradiction to hold that Jesus was a unique creation--the one and only incarnation of God--while at the same time claiming to be able to read his mind on current events? Yet in his name Christianity pronounces on homosexuality, birth control, and abortion.

These two versions of Jesus--the sketchy historical figure and the abstract theological creation--hold a tragic aspect for me, because I blame them for stealing something precious: the Jesus who taught his followers how to reach God-consciousness. I want to offer the possibility that Jesus was truly, as he proclaimed, a savior. Not the savior, not the one and only Son of God. Rather, Jesus embodied the highest level of enlightenment. He spent his brief adult life describing it, teaching it, and passing it on to future generations.

Jesus intended to save the world by showing others the path to God-consciousness.

Such a reading of the New Testament doesn't diminish the first two Jesuses. Rather, they are brought into sharper focus. In place of lost history and complex theology, the third Jesus offers a direct relationship that is personal and present. Our task is to delve into scripture and prove that a map to enlightenment exists there. I think it does, undeniably; indeed, it's the living aspect of the gospels. We aren't talking about faith. Conventional faith is the same as belief in the impossible (such as Jesus walking on water), but there is another faith that gives us the ability to reach into the unknown and achieve transformation.

Jesus spoke of the necessity to believe in him as the road to salvation, but those words were put into his mouth by followers writing decades later. The New Testament is an interpretation of Jesus by people who felt reborn but also left behind. In orthodox Christianity they won't be left behind forever; at the Second Coming Jesus will return to reclaim the faithful. But the Second Coming has had twenty centuries to unfold, with the devout expecting it any day, and still it lies ahead. The idea of the Second Coming has been especially destructive to Jesus's intentions, because it postpones what needs to happen now. The Third Coming--finding God-consciousness through your own efforts--happens in the present. I'm using the term as a metaphor for a shift in consciousness that makes Jesus's teachings totally real and vital.

When Jesus Comes Again

Imagine for a moment that you are one of the poor Jewish farmers, fishermen, or other heavy laborers who have heard about a wandering rabbi who promises Heaven, not to the rich and powerful, but to your kind, society's humblest. On this day--we can surmise that it was hot and dry, with the desert sun beating down from overhead--you climb a hill north of the blue inland lake known as the Sea of Galilee.

At the top of the hill Jesus sits with his closest followers, waiting to preach until enough people have gathered. You wait, too, seeking the shade of the crooked olive trees that dot the parched landscape. Jesus (known to you in Hebrew as Yeshua, a fairly common name) delivers a sermon, and you are deeply struck, to the heart, in fact. He promises that God loves you, a statement he makes directly, without asking you to follow the duties of your sect or to respect the ancient, complex laws of the prophets. Further, he says that God loves you best. In the world to come, you and your kind will get the richest rewards, everything you have been denied in this world.

The words sound idealistic to the point of lunacy--if God loved you so much, why did he saddle you with cruel Roman conquerors? Why did he allow you to be enslaved and forced to toil until the day you die? The priests in Jerusalem have explained this many times: As the son of Adam, your sins have brought you a wretched existence, full of misery and endless toil. But Jesus doesn't mention sin. He expands God's love to unbelievable lengths. Did you really hear him right?

You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before all men.

He compares you to a city set upon a hill that can't be hidden because its lights are so bright. You've never been told anything remotely like this or ever seen yourself this way.

Don't judge others, so that you may not be judged. Before you try to take a mote out of your brother's eye, first remove the log from your own.

Do to others what you would have them do to you. This one rule sums up what the law and the prophets taught.

Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and the door will open.

How can you explain your reaction to this preacher--jumbled feelings of disbelief and hope, suspicion and an aching need to believe? You wanted to run away before he was finished, denying everything you heard. No sane man could walk the streets and judge not the thieves, pickpockets, and whores on every corner. It was absurd to claim that all you had to do, if you needed bread and clothes, was to ask God for them. And yet how beautifully Jesus wove the spell:

Consider the lilies, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. Consider the crows, for they neither sow nor reap, they have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

Despite years of hard experience that made a lie of Jesus's promises, you believed them while you were listening. You kept believ...

From AudioFile

Spiritual leader Deepak Chopra writes that there are three versions of Jesus: the historical Jesus, the man who lived more than 2,000 years ago; the religious Jesus, represented by institutional religion; and the cosmic Jesus, the spiritual guide whose teaching offers us spiritual enlightenment. If this sounds a bit like Buddhism, that's because there are parallels between the religious movements. Chopra's voice has a gravity that matches the depth of his thoughts, but it takes a while for listeners who have not heard him before to get used to his accent. Also, his relatively flat reading combined with the complexity of his ideas requires a great deal of concentration. This is not a work for casual listeners. R.C.G. ? AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright ? AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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"제삼의 예수"에 대한 아마존 북리뷰중 하나: from Amazon.com

Third Jesus: WWDD?, February 24, 2008

By  Luigi Guadagnino "ilouie" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

153 of 160 people found the following review helpful:

I could not possibly recommend this book enough. Firstly, it was easy and enjoyable to read which considering the subject and the potential political fallout (see scathing reviews), I'm sure was no simple task. Lesser authors could of easily fallen prey to the temptations of self-defense with pages of endless details or by reverting to emotionalism but to his credit, Dr. Chopra does neither. Instead, he keeps a steady hand as he navigates us through unexplored waters. And just in time I might add. The `one size fits all' Jesus, fed to us by right wing extremists, has been stretched beyond recognition, being used to justify all sorts of atrocities these days. Jesus needs to be extracted from those who have quite wittingly and intentionally kidnapped him for their own motives. - Lest history look back and find that Jesus' poor and sufferable death was the least of his troubles.

The Third Jesus enlightens its readers in several ways. It helps bring our feet back to the earth by reminding us of historical fact - "Historically, 390 AD is early for a surviving scripture, which allows the Nag Hammadi scrolls to lay claim to as much authenticity as various versions of the four gospels; the scrolls are an esoteric jumble." Dr. Chopra's point here not being that the world should unquestionably accept the Nag Hammadi or other Gnostic Gospels but that their historical legitimacy sheds light on how much evidence or lack thereof exists for the traditionally accepted four gospels. It's not a matter of discrediting them; it's a matter of putting them into perspective.

The book of Revelation, perhaps the single most often referenced book, to justify exclusionary interpretations of Jesus' words and world model, has never been historically connected to John. - "We do not know who wrote this book; it is traditionally credited to the same John who wrote the Gospel of John, supposedly when exiled for his beliefs to the Greek island of Patmos. But no real proof of that exists." Again Chopra's point is not intended to be inflammatory but to shed light on the actual historical relevancy of ideas that have been handed down as dogma for centuries.

While examining the concept of heaven in a Jewish culture, which is where Jesus came from and lived, history and an understanding of the Jewish faith prove revealing - "Let's ask the most basic question first. Where is the Kingdom of God located? Jesus's listeners were Jewish, and traditionally an afterlife wasn't part of their religion, much less Heaven where rewards are meted out to the righteous." Personally, I was particularly happy to read this section since a number of Jewish friends have politely pointed out the same to me during conversation. I found it odd as a young adult that Christianity high jacked Judaism while at the same time declaring it proof of it's own relevancy - not very good manners. Of course, Deepak Chopra's intention here is to show there is very good reason found in the New Testament for the view that Heaven is found within ourselves just as Christ told us.

This is the point where The Third Jesus begins to take shape. If Dr. Chopra's book simply stopped at being another critical analysis of the gospels his contribution would be limited but thankfully he knows his forte. He attempts to show his readers that Jesus is perfectly accessible to anyone, no matter their background, religion, ethnicity, worldview or politics and then expands on both the experiential and philosophical possibilities of such an assumption and the methods and insights that would assist in the process. It's hard to imagine that Jesus would want to be seen in any other light but he has many followers dedicated to just such a proposition.

One of Dr. Chopra's premises is found in his quote, "Reality changes in different states of consciousness, and the same holds true of love." This idea didn't originate with Deepak of course but it can be found in his heritage in the form of Vedic literature, a thousand years prior to Christianity. In many ways this is the kernel of his message and the key to connecting with The Third Jesus. We perceive reality, including God, according to the level of our own consciousness - "For those who have ears to hear let them hear," as Jesus put it. The idea that consciousness is paramount, primary and evolves is not some kind of New Age thing but dates back to the first writings of humankind. I would like to add here that this is exactly why Dr. Chopra is one of the only authors that could've written this book. He has three unique qualifications: Personal and cultural integrity, education and personal experience.

Personal and cultural integrity is particularly important to a book like The Third Jesus because it helps move the cause and scope of the book out of the New Age and Consciousness categories and squarely places it where it belongs, in the religious section. Dr. Chopra comes from a culture where religion was the epicenter of every facet of life and where as I stated earlier, the oldest scriptures in the world originate. We can see this in his life, which has been dedicated to exploring, understanding, and living a sacred existence. Education is also important to a task such as this, because after all, Dr. Chopra is an accomplished physician, who is educated and experienced in both Western models and Ayurveda. That makes him more familiar with researching facts and understanding history. He has also been a student of meditation and a disciple, so he has gained personal experience and is not just shouting from the halls of academia.

This is a fantastic book, and if you're anything like me, you'll probably read it numerous times because it's a tool for renewal and contemplation. Of course there are many people who won't get it. That's one of the reasons it had to be written.

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디팍 쵸프라와의 인터뷰 

Deepak Chopra on his new book -Jesus: Story of Enlightenment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBkfCT8Hibo&feature=related

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한 뉴질란드 신학자(Lloyd Geering)의 예수관 

part03: Jesus was not a divine figure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vz12EwccDA&feature=channel

[Sejin]

앞의 ""예수...부다..."글의 계속입니다. 이번에는 독자들에게, 특히 기독교인 독자들에게, "예수이고 부다이다"라는 말의 의미를 밝히기 위해 썼읍니다. 같이 깨다름 공부를 하고 싶다는 이야기인데 그 뜻이 전달이 되었는지요~~.

[도원]

세진님 감사합니다!!! 정성껏 세진님께서 만나신, 디펙 초프라를 통해 만나신 예수님에 대해 안내해 주시고 계신 점에 깊이 감사드립니다...아직 다 읽지 못한 체 식사시간이라 제가 경험했던 예수님의 서브스턴스(실체)를 몇줄 적어보려 합니다. 저는 선라이즈렌치에서 2004년 초에 리빙 더 워드 클래스 도중에 멜깁슨의 영화 페션 어브 지저스 크라이스트 영화를 보았습니다. 영화를 보고난 후 이틀간을 아무것도 할 수가 없었습니다. 그리고 제 양쪽 손바닥에 처음에는 강한 아픔이 그리고 이내 지속적인 열감에 얼얼한 체... 이유도 모른체 그냥 그분의 어떤 서브스턴스의 일부를 내가 경험하고 하나됨을 느꼈을 뿐입니다. 또 다른 기회...

[코스모스]

세진님의 글을 열심히 읽고 기다리고 있습니다. 자주 글 남겨주세요