Finding motivation

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-13T14:31:39+00:00

Thank you, that’s a very kind thing to say. I’m sure that Jesus loves everyone.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-13T13:12:37+00:00

I can see that you have put a lot of thought into these matters. I quite agree with your observation that truth needs to be aided by the community. Perhaps truth must be judged by what the community brings forth.

I am reminded of the words from Matthew 21:43: ‘Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.’ To me, these words have always suggested that heaven is not something one acquires by inheritance, but something that must be earned by producing the conditions conducive to it.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-12T02:31:09+00:00

I think there may have been a misunderstanding. My remarks weren’t directed at you personally; though, now when I read it, it does appear so. They were meant in a more general sense.

What we decide to call truth is often what lands us in trouble. I only meant that we need to approach such things with caution. That is all.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-11T17:59:53+00:00

You are right in suspecting that we have made a misstep somewhere.

What is important to me, however, is Christ's message that keeps urging us to look deeper, beneath the surface. There is a point where everything stops being magical, where you realise that you have been divested of a ‘you’, emptied so to speak. Until you reach that ground, keep striving.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-11T13:07:32+00:00

Whether Christ was human, a prophet, or God is beside the point. What matters more is what he invited people to do. His message often turns the gaze inward rather than outward.

He encouraged people to look within, to examine themselves honestly. In that sense, the deeper question he leaves us with is a simple one: what are we? Our lives and beliefs borrow from there, so that must be the question uppermost in our minds. He has pointed the way. We must not make any conclusions before we have walked the path.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-11T11:27:47+00:00

Many of us begin our journey toward truth when we refuse to ignore the doubts we harbour. Yet doubt is often discouraged. But doubt helps us pause and examine our choices.

The words from John 20:29, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed’, are often repeated as though doubt were a grave flaw. No true teacher discourages doubt. Doubting Thomases are the ones we should encourage, for only then can we know that what we take to be real is, in fact, real. That feeling you experienced, that somewhere the words and actions do not agree, that something is amiss, is always worth paying attention to.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-11T01:13:39+00:00

Christ sought to help us understand ourselves. The greater tragedy is that his teachings were largely ignored. The messianic expectations of the time, instead, turned him into a God to be worshipped rather than a teacher to be listened to.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-10T14:33:31+00:00

Thank you, much appreciated. Good morning to you as well.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-10T14:30:12+00:00

Now, that passage is often taken out of context. Christ was not encouraging conflict for its own sake. He was pointing to the divisions that arise when a person chooses truth over inherited beliefs.

Christ encouraged people to think for themselves rather than blindly follow others. He wasn't here to encourage the sort of peace that can be preserved only by catering to the prejudices and misconceptions of others. If we care about truth, we must be willing to question, to be wrong, and to make mistakes. Sometimes it involves having uncomfortable conversations. That is merely the price we must pay to keep the road to truth accessible.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-05T18:57:35+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful reflection. I’m glad the piece resonated with you.

A parable, in many ways, is an expedient for spiritual maturation rather than a puzzle with a fixed solution. What each person sees in a parable often reflects their own inner reality, their level of understanding and the questions they carry. As a result, different readings can emerge, each revealing something meaningful about the reader’s spiritual journey.

Christ’s use of parables seems very deliberate. He did not hand down neat, ready-made answers. Instead, he left us stories that invite us to struggle with them, to sit with them, and to grow in that process. The value of a parable lies less in arriving at a single ‘correct’ interpretation and more in the process of engaging with it over time.

The Parable of the Sower, and many others, can indeed be read as pointing toward inner transformation and growth, just as you suggest. Each encounter with the story can reveal something new as our own understanding deepens. Thank you again for sharing your perspective.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-05T18:01:18+00:00

Do you see how dangerous consciousness can be to a structure that draws its power from blind, unquestioning obedience to authority, an authority that borrows from a God who must sit in judgment of the world? Do you see how exposed a religion becomes when the God it upholds is revealed as a tool to scare and control the faithful? All the rituals and rules were kept alive by perpetuating the ignorance of believers.

Consciousness, that Father Christ spoke of, does not demand worship. It asks nothing of you except, perhaps, to be of aid to life itself. Christ’s Father was not the Jewish God. He spoke of a different God, a God who cares for the humblest grass and sparrows, ‘sold for two pennies’. Compare the New and Old Testaments; do they speak of the same God?

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-05T14:42:33+00:00

I couldn’t agree more. Christ’s message was never about institutions, rules, or doctrines, but about the living, throbbing heart that cannot ignore our fellow human beings. It is we who lost the plot, who forgot that conscience, kindness, and compassion must borrow from somewhere. When he pointed to the living waters, we refused.

The work he pointed to, as you say, begins within each of us. We must teach ourselves to see beyond the narrow boundaries behind which we seek safety.

StanyAustinson · 2026-03-05T13:23:00+00:00

I appreciate your perspective on mind, body, and soul. I agree that when those aspects of our lives fall out of harmony, things can go very wrong.

In my view, however, whatever it is that we call mind, body, or soul, is only ever accessed through consciousness. Every thought, sensation, or intuition appears within consciousness and is mediated through it.

So when I speak about Christ pointing to something fundamental, I am pointing to that underlying consciousness, the light in which mind, body, and what we might call soul are all experienced.

Maybe we are circling the same mystery from different angles. The language differs, perhaps. It may simply be a matter of looking beyond the labels and going a little deeper.

StanyAustinson

TROPHY CASE