17. The non-violence of the 
Living Christ

Ascended Master Jesus through Kim Michaels.

It is time to step back and take a look at what we have achieved so far. If you have performed the exercises, you have gone through a period of purification. This is always the first stage when a student comes to a spiritual teacher. The teacher must require new students to cut the ties to the energies, beings and beliefs that will prevent the students from following the teacher’s instructions. Thus, the students must learn to protect themselves from influences from the world, and they must learn how to expose and let go of the impulses that have already entered their beings. The students must move toward the point where the prince of this world will come and have nothing in them that can pull them away from the teacher.

Each teacher has a right to define his or her own process for allowing students to enter the teacher’s Circle of Oneness. Each teacher has a right to set his or her own barrier of entry for those who want to be students of that teacher. Students who are not willing to go through the process of purification defined by the teacher, are simply not a match for that teacher and should thus seek out a different one. You see, a true spiritual teacher has no judgments. True teachers do not say that those students who will not follow their instructions are bad or will go to hell. They simply say that such students are not a fit for the teacher, because their consciousness does not resonate with the consciousness of the teacher—as that consciousness is expressed through a specific vessel. Thus, the teacher cannot help that student.

I am the Ascended Jesus Christ, and I cannot be restricted by any expression on Earth, whether the Bible, this course or anything else. I can and do express myself in many different ways. This course is a true expression of my Being, but it is not the only one. Thus, if you do not resonate with this course, you should seek out another expression of the one true teacher.

Why am I telling you this at this late stage in the course? Well, perhaps you haven’t noticed, but I have been telling you this indirectly in every key. Why have I done this? Because as a spiritual teacher I have learned that it is impossible to bring forth any manifestation that will help everyone. Thus, my overall goal is to show you that behind this and any other true expression is an inner path. Your primary concern should be to lock yourself on that inner path and to seek out a teacher that can help you take the next step on your personal path—continuing to seek out the teacher who can take you to the next level.

However, I also have a more subtle reason, which is to test my students—as it is my right and my commitment to do. What am I doing by telling you to abandon this course if you do not resonate with it? I am offering your ego an easy way out! You see, the ego is constantly looking for a way to pull you away from the true path and back onto the outer path. And by offering you a way out I am – now that you have purified your being from the more obvious spiritual poisons – giving you an opportunity to unmask the ego. If you will look honestly at your reactions to this course, you might indeed spot the ego’s attempts to pull you back into the fold. And this can then assist you in separating the real you even more from the ego. Certainly, I hope you can avoid the trap of “guru-hopping,” where people jump from guru to guru – thinking the next one will be the right one who will do all the work for them – instead of looking at the beam in their own eyes. Or they find a guru who tells them exactly what their egos want to hear.

I do, however, have another reason for talking about whether you should continue with this course. The reason is that we have reached a turning point. Beginning with this key, the course will take a different direction. It is possible you are not yet ready to go in this direction and that you need more time to integrate the lessons learned so far. There is not necessarily anything wrong with this, as each person has an individual path to walk and should not try to take growth by force. Some people will have such deep psychological wounds that they need time to heal and are not yet ready to engage in the next stage of this course. In fact, many people could benefit immensely from seeking the help of a professional in the field of psychological healing before they continue with the course or as they continue with the course. I hope you will be sensitive to your personal situation and follow your inner direction in seeking out the healing that can help you heal your personal wounds and see through the blocks in your psyche. A professional can be the personal extension of the teacher in the sense that such a practitioner will not be inside your personal mental box.

I have no illusions of creating a course that fits everyone. It simply is not possible to take people through a 10-11 month period and have them all be at the same level at the end. So if you feel you are not yet ready, then do not seek to force yourself. On the other hand, recognize that your ego can also use this to get you to procrastinate making the decision to be ready—and to do so indefinitely. For in the end, “being ready” is all about making the decision to be ready—it is not something that happens as a result of external conditions.

Take note of how you respond to these statements. Do you sense a frustration or anger over me saying that the course cannot guarantee results? If so, recognize that it comes from the ego, which is still desperately seeking to use this course to build a sense of outer security—to reinforce its sense of equilibrium, its sense of having control over you and the world. “Surely, if this course is a real course, following it diligently for so many months should entitle me to some kind of status! And if I am not getting it, then there must be something wrong with the course or the teacher.”

But what did I show you in the last key? I showed you that the path to Christhood is not a mechanical process. It is a creative process! Thus, there is no way to guarantee results—for how do you even define what the results of a creative process should be? Everything is a matter of how well you integrate the lessons I offer and how willing you are to express what you have internalized. I can only offer the lessons, I can only lead you to water—I cannot make you drink.

Furthermore, there is no standard outcome, as you see in many schools on Earth. Contrary to popular belief – even among ascended master students – there is no standard for what it means to be the Christ. Thus, a true course in Christhood cannot take you to a final exam in which every student gives the same answers to a set of standardized questions. As I said, Christhood is a creative process, and how can you standardize creativity? It is not my goal to make you a clone of me. It is my goal to help you be the unique individual that you were created to be and to express your unique gift to this world—for this is Christhood.

What is the new direction we will take in this and coming keys? Well, we will finally get started on giving you the keys to walking the path to Christhood. What is that? You thought I have been giving you the keys to the path to Christhood all along? Not exactly! So far I have been giving you the keys to the path of personal growth, the path of raising your consciousness. For a time, the path of raising your consciousness overlaps the path to Christhood in the sense that you do need to raise your consciousness to a certain level before you can even begin the path to Christhood. Yet it is now time for you to acknowledge that the path to Christhood is not the same as the path to personal growth. There will come a point on the path of personal growth where you must make a choice. You can continue on the path of personal growth or you can enter the path to Christhood. In this key, we will explore the differences, so you can make an informed choice.

If you want the difference in a nutshell, here it is: The path of personal growth is the path of raising your consciousness. The path of Christhood is the path of raising consciousness.

***

So far we have talked about the first two challenges of Christ. The first one is that you recognize the Living Christ and recognize that it is possible for you to attain a higher state of consciousness, a higher form of life. The second challenge is that you allow the Living Christ to help you attain that higher state of consciousness by taking you beyond your mental boxes, your mortal sense of identity. Can you see that until you are willing to let the Living Christ take you beyond your mental box, you cannot actually start the path of Christhood? Instead, you will be seeking to use the Living Christ to elevate the separate self, which is the path of personal growth.

It is now time to talk about the third challenge of Christ, which is that you recognize that you can go beyond simply following an external teacher. You can actually become one with the teacher, whereby you become the Living Christ.

Do you see the progression here? We can also describe it in terms of the separate self. Most people are trapped in a state of consciousness that is spiritual death, meaning that they are entirely blinded by the dualistic illusions of the separate self. They are completely convinced that they are the separate self, that they are mortal, human beings—however they define that based on their religious or materialistic world view. The first challenge of Christ is to recognize that there is a reality beyond the world created by the separate self, that it is possible to escape the mortal identity of the separate self and attain a higher sense of identity.

The second challenge of Christ is to go through the process of systematically exposing, consciously recognizing and then letting go of the illusions that make up your personal separate self. As you do this, you will gradually attain a higher understanding, a higher sense of freedom and a higher sense of self—yet you still have not necessarily challenged the basic illusion of the separate self, namely that it is real and separate. In other words, it is possible to go through the process of raising your consciousness – making genuine progress – but still maintaining the sense that you are raising your consciousness. You can come to see through many of the illusions created by the dualistic mind while still not seeing the basic illusion of separateness—and this truly is the hardest illusion to overcome. Which is why death is called the last enemy:

 

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (1Corinthians, Chapter 15)

 

My point is that if you take an honest look at spiritual seekers, you will see that one of the primary motivations that drives people is the desire to attain a higher state of consciousness, but to do so in a way that is still focused on the self—the separate self. This is not necessarily done in a prideful or comparative way, as we have talked about in the last few keys. It is done in a very subtle way that gives people the impression that raising your consciousness is a personal goal. You are seeking to attain a state of enlightenment in which you understand everything, you are seeking to attain a state of bliss, you are seeking to attain mastery over matter, you are seeking to attain oneness with God—or however the ultimate goal might be defined.

Now, here comes the subtle distinction. There is not necessarily anything wrong with seeking enlightenment, bliss or union with God, but the crucial question is why you are seeking this? Are you seeking this with a sense that you – meaning the separate self – can attain this and that this is desirable for the separate self? Or are you able and willing to raise your motivation to a higher level?

Do you see the subtlety? As you start the path, you need to have a motivation. Yet what motivates you at the level where you start the path must of necessity be a reflection of your state of consciousness at that point. And what is that state of consciousness? It is that you are still very much identified with and as a separate self. So to get started on the path, you need a motivation that makes it seem like the path offers something that is valuable to the separate self—otherwise why go through the trouble of seeking spiritual growth, why not simply eat, drink and be merry? So people formulate their own individual motives in order to start the path. As they climb the path, they attain a greater understanding, which forces them to face a choice.

The question is whether people can raise their motives based on their new understanding? You see, as you acquire a higher understanding, you will come to a “moment of truth” that makes you see that the path will not actually give you what you were seeking when you started. In other words, you started with a motivation centered around the separate self, but as you grow in understanding, you begin to see that this motivation was a house built on sand. Some people go through a period of experiencing a sense of disappointment or even anger, perhaps by feeling they were lied to by an outer teacher or religion. That is why you see many people in the modern age who become disgruntled with religion in general or with a specific religion or teacher. Some go into a blind alley of blaming a religion or teacher, whereas others raise their motivation and formulate a new goal. This new motivation will be higher than the previous one, but it will still be a reflection of your state of consciousness at the time. So the process of refining your motives will be ongoing.

For some people this becomes a source of stress, where they feel each cycle like a traumatic event that causes them a sense of grief or loss. What I am hoping to help you see here is that you can shift your perspective and overcome this pain.

You simply need to realize that as your understanding grows, it is only natural that your motivation will shift. On top of that, you can now begin to realize that you must of necessity start out with a motivation centered around the separate self. The separate self thinks it can gain something from walking the spiritual path. Yet when you walk the true path, the separate self actually will not gain anything, as the path is all about the real you overcoming identification with the separate self, whereby the separate self dies. So what you realize is that every motive that is influenced by the separate self is bound to lead to disappointment (unless you switch to the false path that does offer the separate self the illusion that it is superior to others).

So when you realize the mechanics of this, your conscious self can now step back and look at the process from an overall perspective. Thus, you can decide not to identify with the disappointment of the separate self, whereby you will avoid feeling its pain and loss. You can then begin to look for a higher motivation by contemplating the third challenge of Christ. Let us take a closer look.

NOTE: The rest of this dictation is available in the book: Master Keys to Personal Christhoood.

Copyright © 2008 Kim Michaels