New Article on it's way

www.aeonbytegnosticradio.com/2013/04/in-world-but-not-of-it.html


I have written once or twice on the Gospel of John before. It holds a special place in my heart. It was a text I used to hate. I saw it as the source of all of Christianity’s problems and in a way I was right. It is a source of the problems, though its problems are more related to user error. One of the misused and misunderstood passages in John is verses 17:13-19:

13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Most will use this passage to support a group narcissism and persecution complex. “I’m hated coz I’m preachin’ the wurd of Gawd. It’s got nuthin’ to do with me being a prick.” If you find yourself thinking that you are superior to others because you are some special snow flake, understand this: you are that special little snowflake, just like everyone else.
Being in the world and not of it is recognizing that you are in body, that your body, your “image” does not define you are. There is more to a person than what one’s looks like, what one’s social status is, what nationality one is, what sexual orientation one is… the list goes on. These are just roles and position we are in. They do not define us at our core, our spark.
So what does define us? The passage hints at what it is that answer is. Notice that Jesus asks for us to be protected from evil and to sanctify us in truth. Evil, as defined within the Christian context, is indifference, it is being devoid of compassion and empathy toward others. The next part, sanctify us in truth, what does that mean? To me it is being present in truth. It is making oneself holy by being honest with one’s self and others. So this hints at what defines us is our actions based on our circumstances. It is what we do in a given situation based on our conditions and ability that define the person that we are. This is what makes us in the world and not of it.
We are not of the world if we resist evil, either internal or external, and remain true to ourselves despite our circumstances. The illusion of the world is that all we are is the labels associated with us. But the illusion is either reinforced or destroyed by the actions we choose. Despite our circumstances and trials we must not lose sight of being empathetic and compassionate to our fellow people. We must also remain true to who know ourselves to be. This is how we make the invisible visible, by showing the outward signs of the transformation within.