MYSTICAL CHRISTIANITY

MASTER OF MYSTICAL CHRISTIANITY FINAL ESSAY REV. CHARLES CALLAHAN, D.D. When I became ordained I realized there was a lot of mysticism in the bible and religion in general for me.  I had already been speaking with the sick and troubled prior to this and figured this was my calling but needed to find out about some of these mysteries myself.  Plus having two near death experiences pushed me even farther into these mysteries.     As I began this lesson I was very intrigued by the description of the "Creation" and how it has had its impact on society.  From what it termed the "Original Sin" (OS) when Eve had bitten into the apple when coerced by the Serpent.  Women still, in my opinion have not been forgiven by society for this.  I can understand why, as a child, my own mother was not-more than a housewife and all of the other women in our family the same.  Their purpose was less than that of the men folk in the family.  I do believe with our growing up very Roman Catholic how this would be so.  It never really clicked until taking a second look and having this interpretation of this chapter.  Still today I see women as being seen as the subordinate in society.  From Business to the household some are still toting around that ball and chain of the OS.   I myself, in the contrary have broken out of this subordination ritual and have learned to treat and have taught the gentlemen in our family from my son to grandchildren the opposite.  They give the utmost respect and equal treatment of the women in our family.  If they are downed I step in and correct this issue immediately.     As far as the "Genetic Code" is concerned I had never really considered this until reading this section and watching the movies that are currently out.  I do believe that we have some sort of coding in our genetics that does link us all together.  I believe in my own way we have swayed due to some unknown reason from the usage of this code and the understanding of this code and become a society of differences.  We teach and preach the fact that we are all of one God and beings of one Father, but it does not quite sink in and unfortunately I do not foresee it in my lifetime to change.  If people would realize this and strip themselves of color, the language we speak, the country we are from and see each other, I am sure there would be a greater understanding of this code.  To put it into modern terms, as I interpret it, if we all had a "bar code" and you swiped us all across the scanner at your local store you would see that everyone of us would have the same ending number or numbers.  There would be some different numbers, which would make up our skin color, language, origin and etc.    But there would be a set of numbers that would all be the same, much like our genetic structure.     Mary Magdalene was a very interesting and unforgotten subject for me.  It led to hours of discussion with my wife and I, who were brought up very religious but in different manners.  I had not heard much of Mary and was found to be profoundly illiterate when I read of her.  This section not only opened my eyes to how much like us Jesus really was.  I have spoken with some that had inquired about Mary Magdalene and how Jesus had relations with a supposed Prostitute and this is one of the reasons they have so many questions of their beliefs.  I question them on their perfection and the fact that Jesus once walked with us and is a part of our world just as they are, so why should he not be allowed to have some questionable relations as many of us do.  And if it were not for Mary who would have known some of Jesus' inner thoughts and feelings as she continued his education as one of his followers.  We all have some type of incident or relationship in our lives that many do not know of, nor do we speak of, but it is still there to supposedly haunt us through life. But as Jesus did, in my opinion, he did not dwell on this relationship for he had many other tasks at hand, just as we do.       As I dug further into the sections of this lesson learning of the "888," numerical relationship to Jesus in opposition with the "666," as we have all been educated as being of numerals of evil and the Devil or Satan.  Having to have second thoughts about the actual meaning of Jesus' death on the cross, or was it death?  The questions still exists in my mind as to the true nature of whether he did die or just pass on to his meaningful place next to God the Father.  Progressing on to Reincarnation which is another issue which I thought I truly believed in, but am not quite sure of if there is a life after death then why would we be re-incarnated back on to the plane or existence which we just left only to face a new life to be ended in the same manner.  Would our life cycle not be like a "broken record" running over and over again?  I do also believe that bad things do happen to good people.  I believe the reasoning behind this is to make us stronger and perhaps is God telling us, or directing us to another path that he has set for us, thus placing us back on track, as a train that has derailed.  I do believe I am experiencing this myself at this point in my life.  I also see Karma and the prior statement of bad things happening to good people are quite possibly one in the same.   As my final thought on this lesson I believe that God allows or scripts bad things to happen to us in our lives not to punish us but to help us learn of how special each of us are and how meaningful it is for our existence.  It is as someone taught me as a child "I am being punished for the bad thing I did and I still love you and will always love you, and that love will never change.  Your punishment is my way of letting you know you need to think twice of your actions before you proceed, not proceed and then think of your actions."      Overall, I felt this lesson to be very educational and led me into paths and parts of religious belief I had never known of or really thought of.  I Thank Mother Maryesah and Reverend Amy for allowing me the educational opportunity, by sharing this course.  Some may not realize, as Reverend Amy, how meaningful parts of it have been in my life with recent events.  Which is a story which I will have to share some day. Rev. Charles Callahan.    ******************** The Universal Life Church offers handfasting ceremonies, funeral ceremonies and free minister training. As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary. Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar