We often hear about this or that savior, Buddha or saint and how holy they were, or are. Most people look up to these people as though they are so far beyond them that they can never hope to be so good, enlightened or holy. What really is a saint or savior and what makes them seem holy? If you come to realize this directly, you will realize your own divinity; although, that divinity is just being what is.
If you really want to understand who you are and what reality is, then it becomes important to drop all belief in anyone you may have heard is a saint, savior, etc. If we see these people as special and beyond us, we will stay blind to what really is. It can also be a cop out for most people to place these "HOLY ONES" so far above themselves. "How can I make it to their level when they are so clearly beyond me? I am just this insignificant little person." By thinking this way, you keep your dream of ego alive and well.
Saints all too often live by ideals. They have set ideas as to what is spiritual and what is not. Most of the saints I have heard about all my life have been religious in one form or other. If by living what they feel is the best way to live according to the beliefs they have based in religion then they are not really good. They are fakes.
Goodness is an inherent reality in all humans but it is covered over by the ego dream. When you go beyond the dream it is perfectly natural to do good. You don't think of it as good or bad, it is just action from a clear mind/heart. You are not better or worse than anyone else. You are just a human doing what humans do when they are not dreaming.
Then we have the Buddha and Jesus, whom we also totally misunderstand and place them so far above us. They were both just humans. As long as we don't realize that fact, we will misunderstand who and what they, and we, are.
If you really see what it means to be enlightened, and if the words written about Jesus are even close to true, then it becomes clear that Jesus was not enlightened. Saying that will most likely bring many angry emails, but it is true. No enlightened person would say many of the things Jesus was supposed to have said. However, if you look at the real history of how the Christian religion came about you will realize it has nothing to do with truth or fact. It is the history of countless egos building a massive dream world of ideas, ideals, concepts, fear and insecurity with the dream of having the ego saved by acting as though they really believe their story. It has survived because of insecurity and the promise of life ever after for the dreamer. It has been a way for those who want power to control people.
Among people who think of themselves as free thinkers, which is a joke, they still speak of Jesus as though he was somehow way beyond everyone. Look at the facts! Don't just accept as real what someone has said hundreds to thousands of years ago. Get informed about it and you will see the game being played. Don't go to religion for the truth because they don't know it.
Please keep in mind I am not trying to put down anyone in saying this. I am just trying to keep things in perspective and to point in a different direction than religion does.
There are no saviors, period. There is also no one to be saved. We have our heads full of ideas, beliefs, concepts, and dreams about who and what we are, most of which has nothing to do with reality. If you can see what the problem facing humankind is, then you will see for yourself what it means to be awake. Saviors can do nothing to help you. All anyone can do to arouse a dreaming person is to shake them in someway out of their dream. That is not to save you. It is just to show the fact that you are not who you think you are.
Although some Buddhist know that the Buddha was trying to bring them to see that they in fact are dreaming, there are millions who look to the Buddha to save them. They pray to the Buddha as though he is the god of Christianity. There is little difference; only the names and history are different.
He was just a man. He did not fall out of his mother's side at birth landing on his feet and starting to teach, as some in the tradition believe. It always amazes me at the nonsense the mind can come up with about those they hold special.
The Buddhist's who do understand better can still be blinded by their belief that the Buddha was more than a man. There have never been, nor will there ever be, people that are not just the same as you and me. The Buddha was a human. He saw the same madness in the life around him that we see today and it caused him to deeply question the cause of these problems. After trying many other approaches, he realized the answer had to be within him, not in any religion or practice. He realized someone else could not give it to him. It was up to his own mind to find out what is real. When he faced himself clearly, he awakened. He realized the mind as ego had no reality and that freedom had always been his nature. He realized that all the images in the mind that controlled us were not real. He stopped living an imaginary life and was open as Life Itself. It was not him that was special, he just got out of the way so what is Real could be seen directly for the first time.
Even the Buddha should be questioned. Don't just believe what he said because others have before you while building the tradition. Don't believe anyone. Find out for yourselves.
Like one of the most talked about subjects in Buddhism is the cause of suffering. By most accounts, the Buddha said that desire was the cause of suffering. If you go into this more deeply, you will see that desire is another expression of the ego mind trying to find security. However, desire itself is needed and useful for all living beings. Not the desire brought about by the dreamer, but the need we all have for food, sex, shelter, etc. To deny our natural drives is as wrong as it is to follow every desire the mind comes up with.
The core problem causing suffering is not desire but the misidentification brought about by the evolution of the human mind and the subconscious understanding that we are not real. This process creates insecurity that we cannot be free of until we awaken. Desire comes into play in our trying to identify with anything that makes us feel real. We will identify with our mates, our children, our religion, our family, with history, with things and with beliefs, to try to fill that void within. This causes suffering. Not only for ourselves but also for nature and other beings who get in the way of our need for security for the dreamer.
To look at the cause of suffering as desire is to miss the real source. If a person doesn't get what they want, they feel a certain suffering. That is so superficial compared to the real cause.
