faces of spirit
The entire story of Jesus' life built toward the crucifixion and what happened in those final moments. All the miracles, healing, messages and teachings were examples of a fully realized human being.
At the crucifixion, Jesus looked at the people driving nails into his skin and bones with pure compassion. No resentment, no attachment. He saw through the masks to what was actually there—himself, looking back. He saw no separation, so he was completely free from worldly attachments while fully living in the world.
The Upanishads call this Tat Tvam Asi—Thou art That. You are already what you're seeking. You always were. Jesus wasn't performing holiness. He was simply awareness awake to itself, seeing reality as it actually is—one consciousness experiencing itself through every form.
But here's where we have to be honest. This can become just another spiritual story to hide behind, another way to feel enlightened without actually doing the work. The sacred isn't hiding in dramatic moments of suffering. It's here in the ordinary. Washing dishes. Sitting in traffic. The difficult email. Your small crucifixions, moment by moment.
When Jesus died, he was placed in a tomb for three days in darkness. When the tomb opened, he ascended. We experience the same thing. When we truly meet our shadows—really sit with them instead of running—they lose their power over us. They become sources of light.
But the Upanishads point to something deeper: there's nothing to fix. Brahman is already whole. The shadow and the light are both just appearances in consciousness. We're not broken. Liberation isn't something to achieve. It's recognizing what's already here.
When we open ourselves to life's teachings without needing things to be different, we experience the sacred union of it all. That's the invitation—to meet each moment with presence and compassion.
Even this has to be released eventually. Neti Neti—not this, not that. Even beautiful spiritual concepts become barriers when we cling to them. Jesus showed us how to live as a human being fully awake to reality. But the stories we tell about him, the ideas we build around his life—those can become obstacles. The practice points beyond itself, then gets out of the way.
What remains is presence, openheartedness, just this. That's yoga. Recognizing you were never separate from life itself.
