"No one could have had such a consistent presence on the historical scene for two millennia without having an extraordinarily compelling message. But what was this message? There may be as many Jesuses as there are people who encounter him, but for the sake of brevity the many can be reduced to two: the Savior and the Teacher.
Humans often feel helpless about their own nature, especially its compulsive self-interest. A Savior can "magically" absolve them of sin by dying for them in a way that, while it is indeed magical, is very real to millions of people. It's a kind of Alcoholics Anonymous model. I am powerless, even if I do not suffer from one of the common addictions. I am addicted to my self and its needs and impulses in a way that feels sinful and beyond my own powers to change. Only the Son of God giving his life for me can atone for my helpless but destructive assumption that I am the center of the universe.
It is not nature in her inmost self, but the human ego, which divides and chooses this side over that, me and the "other," us and them, pro-Israeli/pro-Palestinian; pro-Christian/pro-Muslim, Shia and Sunni, pro-capitalism/pro-socialism. If we can instead look within ourselves with complete honesty and accept all that we see, the light and the dark, then we can begin to accept others and ourselves together as part of a larger oneness-a teaching that saves."
Winslow Myers, the author of "Living Beyond War A Citizen's Guide," lives in Boston and serves on the Board of Beyond War (www.beyondwar.org).
to read Winslow Myers' article published on www.buzzflash.com 12/25/2010, click on
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12138
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"The freedom of the observer lies in it's absence." Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 2nd century B.C.E.