Christ to Cronkite: Call for Unconditional Love

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Without an evolutionary worldview, Christianity does not really understand, much less foster, growth or change. Nor does it know how to respect and support where history is heading.

By Eileen Fleming

American author and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr writes prolifically about the need to unite contemplation/deep thought to direct actions to help heal people and our planet.

In “The Universal Christ” Rohr writes that “God loves things by becoming them,” and that Jesus’ life was meant to demonstrate and declare that humanity has never been separate from God—except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us and in everyone we meet...Without an evolutionary worldview, Christianity does not really understand, much less foster, growth or change. Nor does it know how to respect and support where history is heading.”

A few decades ago Walter Cronkite noted:

Never before probably has the need for interfaith commitment been nearly as great as it is at this very moment. It seems to rise again when the crisis times come, and this is a time of most severe crisis, as we all know, not just for the history of the United States and the survival indeed of our democracy, but for the future peace of the world. And never before probably has the need for interfaith commitment been nearly as great as it is at this very moment.

Whether we believe in the Divine spark is within all people or just honor the equality of all beings, we will at least try to live by The Golden Rule.

Jesus explained it in Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

JUDAISM teaches: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. – The Torah

ISLAM teaches: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. – Hadith

Two millennia ago Jesus embodied Christ Consciousness… In the 20^thcentury Paramahansa Yogananda, taught about the universal Christ Consciousness and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920 to bring the true teachings of yoga to the West and underscore the truth underlying all true religions.

In titling The Second Coming of Christ, Paramahansa Yogananda explained:

I am not referring to a literal return of Jesus to earth. He came two thousand years ago and, after imparting a universal path to God’s kingdom, was crucified and resurrected; his reappearance to the masses now is not necessary for the fulfillment of his teachings.

What is necessary is for the cosmic wisdom and divine perception of Jesus to speak again through each one’s own experience and understanding of the infinite Christ Consciousness that was incarnate in Jesus. That will be his true Second Coming.

Many are the churches and temples founded in his name, often prosperous and powerful, but where is the communion that he stressed—actual contact with God?

Jesus wants temples to be established in human souls, first and foremost; then established outwardly in physical places of worship.

Instead, there are countless huge edifices with vast congregations being indoctrinated in churchianity, but few souls who are really in touch with Christ through deep prayer and meditation.

A thousand Christs sent to earth would not redeem its people unless they themselves become Christ-like by purifying and expanding their individual consciousness to receive therein the second coming of the Christ Consciousness, as was manifested in Jesus.

Contact with this Consciousness, experienced in the ever new joy of meditation, will be the real second coming of Christ—and it will take place right in the devotee’s own consciousness.

In her best seller, “On Death and Dying” Dr. Elizabeth Kugler-Ross explained:

There are only two emotions: love and fear. All positive emotions come from love, all negative emotions from fear. From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy. From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt. It’s true that there are only two primary emotions, love and fear. But it’s more accurate to say that there is only love or fear, for we cannot feel these two emotions together, at exactly the same time. They’re opposites. If we’re in fear, we are not in a place of love. When we’re in a place of love, we cannot be in a place of fear.

Jesus explained:

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.– 1 John 4:8

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. -1 John 4:18

In KEEP HOPE ALIVE, I explained:

For every misunderstanding, every condemning thought, every negative vibration, every tear torn from a heart, every time one grabbed and wouldn’t let go, and they only did it because they did not know. The Divine is within all creation and within all women and men.

And every tiny kindness you have ever done, every gentle word spoken, every time you held your tongue, every positive thought, every smile freely given, every helping hand that opens, helps bring in the kingdom. And the kingdom comes from above, and it comes from within. Imagine a kingdom of sisterhood of all creatures and all men.

Dr. Kubler-Ross also wrote:

There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from. I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime. The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours. The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well. Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose…

Read part one in this series HERE