SYNCHRONICITY WITH GOD

As the accumulated experiences bombard my heart with knowledge, love, and service (energy), more and more, I find topics pop out from my Lectio Divina encounter with the Holy Spirit, ones that were latent and dormant in the synaptic recesses of my brain. Synchronicity is the latest remarkable and unexpected idea from one of my Lectio Divina encounters.

Synchronicity, as defined by Merriam-Webster:

“SYNCHRONICITY

Definition of synchronicity

1: the quality or fact of being synchronous 2: the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (such as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung.”

You might also find the Wikipedia article offers a bit more meat on the bone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

Using the concept of being synchronous as applied to God, the following thoughts came through the Holy Spirit this morning at 2:30 a.m. As per all my blogs or books, I supply you with some ideas that I have been romancing and trust that you make your own conclusions.

THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE USES SYNCHRONICITY TO HELP US UNDERSTAND WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW WITHOUT SOME KIND OF LITERARY REPRESENTATION TO RELATE WHAT CANNOT WE COULD NEVER KNOW WITH THOSE HUMAN EXPERIENCES ALL OF US SHARE.

The primary way God communicates is through Jesus Christ, Son of Mary and Son of God. God became human so we could relate to what one of us said. Because of Original Sin, we don’t all agree about the meaning of words (The Tower of Babel). Each of us has a reason and the ability to choose what we reason. While walking through the minefield of good and bad choices, Jesus tells us, I have been there before you, and I will show you the way, the truth, and the life.

In the Old Testament, God spoke through the Prophets and Laws of Israel. His presence was manifest in the victories Israel had over its enemies (David over Goliath). At least ten of the original Twelve Tribes were assimilated into the surrounding culture and lost their Jewish identity over time. The remnant remained to carry on the covenant relationship with God. Because much of the Jewish collective consciousness was bound up in warfare and being liberated from all types of conquerors, a Messiah to come would be couched in terms of a military victory of the enemies. The people of God had drifted away from God, as warned by all the Prophets.

God intervenes in human history with the birth of Christ, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly for the Gentiles (even today). How will God relate to humans with divine concepts consistent with this nature but never give us the capability or capacity to know God as God is? This is the brilliance of the Christ Principle. God becomes human to tell us and show us how to relate what is around us to Heaven. The problem comes because to be adopted sons and daughters of the Father, each of us has to die to our worldly self and accept Jesus as Savior, one who saves us from being merely human and shows us the purpose of life, i.e., Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:36.

The Apostles never did completely comprehend what Jesus came to teach us, even though synchronicity was one of the main ways he related the Kingdom of Heaven in your heart to the Kingdom of Heaven in His heart. Jesus was The Master, Rabonni, the teacher, and He used synchronicity to like what his audience knew to what they did not know (as applied to the Kingdom of Heaven). He taught us how to live that was at odds with what the world says is important, even though both use words like “peace,” “love,” “fulfillment.” They are not the same. To emphasize the difference, Jesus gave us comparisons or “similies” to go from what we know to deeper and more everlasting.

The Christ Principle is a teaching one, one that uses human experiences and literary devices such as Similies, Parables, and Stories to connect us with what is essentially beyond our human abilities to know. The Christ Principle is the great translator between divine nature and human nature. My reflections on the synchronicity with God are on three literary forms:

1. The Simili — We can’t fathom what the Kingdom of Heaven is, but Christ gives us a hint when he uses a simili to link something completely unrelated with the mystery of Faith. Similis do not come with an explanation but relies on the hearer to use their experiences to make the comparison.
2. The Parable– Jesus used parables to teach us about how to love others as he loved us. This is the chief way Jesus explained what it means to be an adopted son or daughter of the Father and what we must become on earth to inherit what is in heaven. A famous parable is that of the sower. These usually come with an explanation of how to translate it into today’s metaphors.
3. Sayings about the Rules of Life— In the Old Testament, God made a covenant with the 12 tribes of Israel and gave them prescriptions to follow. Following these prescriptions meant fidelity to God. In the New Testament God becomes one of us to tell us about how to live our lives in a deeper way, one guided by the Spirit of Truth. Those who follow these rules of life are ones who are adopted sons and daughters of the Father. Ultimately, there is only one rule, one that encapsulates the reason we have prescriptions in both the Old and New Testament. “To love others as Christ loved us.”

The New Commandment.31^* When he had left, Jesus said,^* “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.32[If God is glorified in him,] God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once.^r33My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.^s34I give you a new commandment:^* love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.^t35This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I. THE SIMILI –Good examples of synchronicity are the “similies” of the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/13

The Workers in the Vineyard.^*1“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.2After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.3Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,4^* and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’5So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise.6Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’7They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’8^*a When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’9When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage.10So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.11And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner,12saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’13He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you.^* Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?14^* Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?15[Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’16^* Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Notice the use of simile here. In trying to give us some idea of heaven, Jesus doesn’t tell us about a definition of heaven that cannot be comprehended by human experience or intelligence. Rather, he describes what the on-lookers know from their experiences and moves it to a higher level. Jesus tells us that no one has seen the Father, only the Son.

REFLECTIVE POINTS

A “simili” is a literary device that is not the thing you describe but rather, something else entirely, whose properties or characteristics closely parallel the object you seek to know.

A “simili” goes to a deeper aspect of the comparison.

A “simili” does not define an object, such as direct observation of what our senses see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. It describes one aspect of its essence, a part that may be invisible to the senses. The problem with invisibility is you can’t see it, yet it is part of reality.

A “simili” does not try to identify what that object is because it might be invisible or unknowable, and it does try to make a comparison with what you know and what you don’t know.

Jesus used the “simili” because humans are incapable of knowing God as He is. Jesus came to tell us what we can assimilate based on our human capabilities and capacities.

II. THE PARABLE

The Parable of the Sower.1^* On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.^a2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.3^* And he spoke to them at length in parables,^* saying: “A sower went out to sow.4And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.5Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,6and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.7Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.8But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.9Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The Purpose of Parables.10The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”11^* He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.12b To anyone who has, more will be given*, and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.13^*c This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’14^d Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

‘You shall indeed hear but not understand,

you shall indeed look but never see.

15Gross is the heart of this people,

they will hardly hear with their ears; they have closed their eyes,

lest they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart and be converted,

and I heal them.’

REFLECTIVE POINTS

I offer you some of the wonderful websites on parables that I found online. I hope that you take this prayerful time to delve deeply into the meaning of the parable.

http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/pcs/parables.htm

https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/parables

https://www.acatholic.org/the-parable-of-the-sower-and-the-seed/#:~:text=The%20parables%20were%20a%20seed%20of%20thought%20that,timeless%20and%20continue%20to%20endure%20to%20this%20day.

III. SAYINGS ABOUT THE RULE OF LIFE —

The Rich Young Man.^*16^h Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”^*17He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.^* If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”18^*i He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness;19honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”20^* The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”21^j Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect,^* go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”22When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.23^* Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.24^k Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”25^* When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”26^l Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”27^m Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?”28^*n Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.29And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.30^*o But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/19

As a teacher, Jesus relates to us what we need to move to the next stage of our evolution, Spiritual Apes. If the Old Testament prepares us to move from a covenant with Israel to that of a being offered adoption as sons and daughters of the Father, the New Testament is what we must do to be saved. Jesus left the task of presenting and sustaining Himself to each age through the Church. When you think of it, Jesus trusted humans to fumble their way along the path of righteousness down through each age, just so you could have the opportunity to choose to be an adopted son or daughter of the Father and heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven.

REFLECTIVE POINTS

Quidquid recepitur ad modum recepientis recipitur. Whatever we receive through our senses as life experiences and the choices we make, we do so based on the accumulated choices and their consequences we have assimilated. We see God through the totality of who we are.

Scriptures are there to help us come to believe that Jesus is Messiah, Son of God and that we might have everlasting life by believing in Him. (John 20:3031)

FOUR LEVELS OF AWARENESS

• The Old Testament is the period where humanity prepares to receive a Messiah that is the opposite of what the world expects. God does not just drop in our humanity and say, “Surprise!” nor does He tell us about Himself in words that we cannot understand.

• The New Testament is the time of the Christ Principle where we take the good news and apply it to the whole world, all the while conscious that we must live in a spiritual universe with the opposite values and purpose.

• The period of Pentecost begins the journey of the Church Universal trying to love God with all their minds, their hearts, and their strength, and to love others as Christ loved us. The Church is the gathering of those who seek the kingdom of heaven first in a communion of the Holy Spirit. It exists as one in each age. Outside the Church, there is no salvation.

• This period is my life of seventy or eighty years. It is a process of assimilation of love that I have discovered by trying to love others as Christ has loved me. I have the opportunity to be accepted by God as His adopted son (daughter) and prepare to live in Heaven forever. It is lifetime struggle to fight against the magnetic pull of the world to just be merely human.

From the moment of Baptism, I live in a foreign world. I live in it but do not take my purpose of meaning from what it teaches. I try to have “the mind of Christ Jesus” in me each day as I struggle to move from my false self to my true destiny with Christ.

Daily, I must try to reflect on how The Christ Principle shines in the lives of those who seek to “have in them the mind of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5)

I offer it to you because I wish you to see what I see and know what I know. It is one of the top ten websites I use to reflect on all things spiritual. The Holy Spirit speaks to me through the good works of these people. Their light shines for all in the house to see and give glory to the Father in Heaven. Reflect on this passage from Matthew and try to read it until you can feel that “your light” is you, right now, today. After this, read the website from Aleteia and grow deeper into what it means to be a light in the world. It is the martyrdom of everyday living that is at the heart of the Gospel. Each person approaches the Christ Principle differently but there is only One Christ Principle. You are one of those persons.

14You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.^j15Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.^k16Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.^l

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5

https://aleteia.org/category/inspiring-stories/