Essenes

THE ESSENES

 

Most of the “religious” factions that I have studied, well actually all, have made it quite clear. That in order to make our way back to God we must forsake this world and everything that goes along with it. I know you’re thinking that is impossible. Well it’s not. Now, if you are thinking, it means giving up all you own and living in the wild as a hermit then I would have to agree with you. But that is not what they intended when they spoke those words. Jesus conveyed this best when He said, “We are to be in this world but not of this world.”

What He is saying, what they are all saying is, we are not to allow our “egos” run our lives. We cannot let it control us and dictate every aspect of our lives. When you find yourself desiring something new, ask yourself, “Why do I desire this?” If the answer is anything other than, “…to become closer to God.” Then it is your ego dictating for you your “needs”.

There are many ways to go about this. One way in particular was demonstrated by the Essenes. This was one of those religious groups I alluded to earlier. They were a group of people whose practices were very much in line with the Hassidic Jews and the Kabbalists of their time. Their time being, the BC and AD eras. That was of course till the romans decided to eliminate them.

The Essenes had communities out in the desert and followed very strict religious beliefs and practices. They adhered to a lifestyle of virtues. The first virtue being one of Simplicity:

There must be more spiritual abundance in life.

·         Embrace the wilderness; hold to your bosom the desert experiences of your life keep them close to you. Learn from them. It is a deep and recondite irony; for only in the experience of lack do we learn the secret of abundance.

Here of course, I believe they are expressing this as a spiritual lack. Jesus had spoken of something similar, but instead of lack and abundance, he utilized light and darkness. Jesus said, “You cannot find the light until you have first experienced the darkness.”

On a spiritual level, when one experiences periods of darkness, or descents, is when “we” withdraw from God. And what they are saying here, is how can you know what spirituality is until you figure out what the ego is and its true nature. We must first come to realize that the ego is there to prod us into getting everything we can for ourselves and to hell with everyone else.

That may sound somewhat drastic, that lust part but if it came down to you getting something that you really wanted, you would do anything to get it and wouldn’t really care about the repercussions on anyone else’s lives. It is the way we are, it is human nature, if you will. Well I, personally, refer to it as the nature of the beast. This is because when people act like this, that is all they are, beasts.

Next time you find yourself in that situation, try to stop and think, why we need all this “STUFF”. We go through this life with the mistaken belief that we need to get as much as we can before we die, and to what end? Scripture states that we are not to store up things in places where they can be destroyed, but store them up in heaven. Matthew 6:19.

That is the all-important question to continually ask yourself, and eventually you will arrive at the big question of, why we are here. What is our purpose of being here on this planet?

Once you have arrived at this question, you are now able to see the light, because you have realized just how dark the world you have been living in really is.

Desert experiences we often used to describe spiritual dry spells. When one has decided to walk the spiritual path and has decided to forsake all one’s egoistic desires, it can seem like a vast wasteland or a desert when one is seeking to find God or struggling to stay on the path. The longer one spends in a desert, the stronger the temptations from worldly goods and pleasures become. We are not to shrink from our desert experiences in our lives. Ask what you can (suppose) to learn from them and then seek to apply every lesson with relentless consistency.

The only way to survive the desert is to discover the lessons it teaches – “to find the fountain of living waters.” Those who fail to find it, perhaps because they fail to look, are doomed to melt in the grip of the searing heat. (Essenes)

Everyone lives in the desert of their own choosing. Everyone is in an exile of sorts, whether it be imposed upon them or self-imposed. The only question is, whether you govern the nature of your wilderness, your exile or whether it governs you, once again alluding to the battle between good (spiritual) and evil (ego). (Essenes)

The simplicity one seeks is not escape from life or its responsibilities; it’s liberation, a progression to a better way. For whatever you have given up in the form of material possessions you have gained back in peace, tranquility, order and camaraderie.  I would like to add here, that you will also continue in your movement down the path towards God. This is truly the ultimate goal of everyone. (Essenes)