December 20, 1995 Christmas Stories

December 20th, 1995  Wednesday Night Group    Ann Arbor, Michigan

Aaron:  Good evening, and my love to you all.  I am Aaron.  

Some years ago in our gathering before the date which you celebrate as birthday of  the one known as Jesus, I talked about a lifetime of my own which coincided with the life of this being, and of my experience of him.  I did not then expect it would become a tradition to tell these stories, but it gives me much delight to do so.  I am deeply grateful that this man was one of my teachers.  

I emphasize that in that lifetime, I was not known as one of his disciples.  I was a poor shepherd, wise in my own way, but unlearned.  I had responsibilities to my family, to my sheep, which did not permit me to travel with this dear Master in the way that my heart would have prompted.  But wherever his travels brought him near to me, and I heard of his presence, I would leave my sheep in the care of my eldest son or a neighbor, and travel to spend as many days as were permitted to me,with this one who I came to love.

In the stories I have told you in past years, I have emphasized different aspects of my experience with this being, especially that he lived his humanness.  He did not want us to put him up on a pedestal and worship him as a god.  For one who is not human to teach as he taught, do as he did, even die as he died, people could shrug and say, "It's fine for you, you are not human,.  But we can't do that."  This Master's entire message was you CAN do this.  

The world at that time would on the surface seem not so different from your present world, where there is considerable violence, hatred and greed.  The prevailing religious teachings at the time that Jesus was born gave lip service to not killing, but also there was the concurrent philosophy an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.  If someone attacked you, it was both legally and morally acceptable to attack him back.  

Here and there around the globe there were pockets of teachings which contradicted this belief.  For example, the Buddha was born some 500 years earlier and in a somewhat different part of the world.  He said, "Love can only grow from love.  Love can never grow from hatred."  But this teaching was not popular around the globe.  Very few thought very much about love in that way.  Peace was mandated by a, let us call it, a militaristic stance, a stance of strength.  Then Jesus came with the teaching, "Love one another."  Learn forgiveness.  Essential to his teachings are the words, "Blessed is the peacemaker."  It is this aspect of him that I wish to address tonight.  

What does it mean to be a peacemaker?  The argument has been lived out in your lifetimes with the extended cold war in which your nation was engaged with the prior Soviet Union.  Each side armed itself to the hilt, in a policy of deterrence.  Certainly one thinks twice about attacking one who has a sword.  But it does not lay the groundwork for peace.  It only means that you must always carry your sword.  There is nothing wrong with carrying a sword.  I personally carried swords  in many lifetimes with no desire to use them.  But the sword does no good unless there is intention to use it if one feels such use to be necessary.

I'm not going to get into the debate tonight of whether one should or should not defend oneself if one is attacked.  This is not my decision, this is your decision, and each of you must arrive at the most honest answer for yourself.  If your answer is that you need to carry the sword with the intention to use it, to not do so is dishonest.  It is not where you are.  

Ultimately, though, the answer is that very simple, "Love one another."  The way that love is interpreted is what varies.  We've talked here many times about not being a doormat for others, that it is a kindness to say “no” to someone who is abusing, and not just suffer their abuse, which is in essence a way of hurting them, allowing them to misuse you in that way.

We have talked about how that “no” needs to come from a place of love for both of you, and not a place of fear.  It's the same 2-letter word, no, but it must come from a place of love.  And therein is the core of your work, understanding how to come to that place of love, even when fear is present.  How do you allow that inherent loving voice its say?

This one whom you call Jesus was such a great Master at this skill, that to simply watch him in action with others was a profound lesson in love, and in skillful human relationship.  I've been asked, did he ever get angry?  Of course he got angry.  He was human.  And yes, there were times when I heard that anger reflected in his voice in response to a situation.  He was not afraid of his anger.  He did not use it from an ego place, to be powerful, to be in control, even to be safe.  He used it as energy, when he felt it was appropriate, out of concern for the harm that was being done.

Let me give you some specific example.  Two stories come to mind.  One.  I was with him and many others in a village.  We were resting in the shade during a hot part of the day when we heard a sound of pain and terror, a small squeal, repeated.  He immediately picked himself up and moved toward the sound, and several of us came with him.  His gesture asked others who were still sitting to stay back so I feel fortunate that I had been sitting close to him and was able to witness this.  

Young boys were tormenting a small animal, a small cat type of creature, literally torturing it.  I will never forget the expression on his face.  I saw a mix of rage, grief, and compassion, al at the same time.  There was this powerful rage that shouted, "NO!"  I was staggered.  I had never heard him shout.  "NO!!"

And at the same time, tears were streaming down his face.  The children heard his anger.  If that was all he gave them, it would have only taught them that one bigger and more powerful than they were could take command.  It was the combination of his anger and his tears that moved them.  He went to this small creature which was partially mutilated, and picked it up with such tenderness, held it to him, his hands filling with its blood.  Yes,  he could perform miracles, although he seldom did.  But I believe he could have saved that creature.   I think that he spoke to it and asked if it agreed to die,  to teach others.  I am sure that at his touch, much of its pain left it and it died in peace.  

Remember this was a society where life, even human life, was treated lightly, where people did not think much about cruelty to animals.  The sight of this powerful man holding this small, bleeding creature, and crying over it, touched those children's hearts.  If he had just walked out to them without the anger and said, "Please don't do that,"  they would have scorned him.  He was not afraid of his anger.  He was not afraid of his power.  And his “No” literally reverberated from the hills.  It certainly caught their attention.

There were 3 children.  By the time this creature died, one was weeping with Jesus.  One had his head hanging in shame and I could not see his face, but I presume he also wept.  And the third seemed to hold himself aside, in defiance.  It was to this one that he handed the body and said, "Let us go together and bury it."  

The one who was defiant took the small creature, and you could see a change come over him as he now held this lifeless form.  He looked up at Jesus and said, "Please forgive me."  Jesus said to him, - and I have heard him repeat these words at other times, in other stories and will also tell you -  "It is not my forgiveness that you need. "   

"What do I do?" the boy said.  "I don't know yet," said Jesus.  "We will see."

So they buried this little creature.  And meanwhile, Jesus asked quietly, is there any sick animal in the village that needs nursing.  A  baby goat was brought to him.  The mother was unable to nurse this baby and it was so weak that it could not be put with a foster mother, it could not compete with the foster mother's own offspring.  So it needed to be bottle fed.  He took these boys and said, “you took life, now give life.  Learn how it feels to nurture another.”  

Rarely have I seen children take a task so seriously.  During our remaining days near this village, we watched them pass that little goat around, saw how one would sleep with it at night, and awaken to feed it.  

You do not teach love through hatred, but through love.  But love has many voices.  He said, "Blessed are the meek."  I think that your understanding of this phrase translated into English is a bit distorted.  Meek does not mean the shy one who creeps out and says, Oh, please don't hurt that cat.  Meek means one who is humble, who is not obsessed with is power..  In my experience of Jesus, meekness is not to be confused with lack of strength.  He did not use his power to show off, but he was not afraid of his power when its use was necessary.

There was a time a few years after this first story when I was again blessed to join him for several weeks.  He was traveling with a group of followers like myself walking with him.  At different villages he would talk and sometimes people would join the walkers, others drop off,  as the days passed and we moved around the countryside.  Many who joined us were not known to him, or to others of the group.  Most people drawn to him were so drawn because they wanted to learn lovingkindness, forgiveness and peace.  That they wanted to learn did not mean that they had yet mastered the greed and anger in themselves.  

We sat by a fire, several small fires actually.  I was not at the same fire as the one who was known as Jesus.  A man who had a rather rough, brusque manner had joined us a few days earlier.  He talked very little.  Some of us felt uncomfortable with him.  The evening was cold.  A man who was my friend had a blanket that he wrapped around him.  

Suddenly this newcomer said to my friend, "I want that."  

"What?  What?"  

"Your blanket.  I want that.  Give it to me now."  And he pulled a knife out of his belt.  

"But this is my blanket," my friend said. Most of us had blankets  or robes with which we wrapped ourselves to sleep.  "This is my blanket”. he continued.  “Let us see if we can find a spare blanket for you, f you have need."  As his words finished,  this man came up with his knife, stabbed him, not fatally, but painfully and grabbed the blanket.  He was apparently accustomed to getting away with such behavior, because he didn't flee, he just wrapped himself and sat down.

Again I saw that same look on Jesus face.  I have never seen such anger, or such grief.  And to see them on such a face, and to see them both together, was almost overwhelming.  The one who had taken the blanket and knifed the other was clearly not discomforted by Jesus' anger.  He just looked at him and said, "Well, now it's mine."

How do you teach love to one whose heart is not yet ready to love?  How do you say no to such a one?  “No you may not harm me or these dear ones gathered around me, and you may not go off to the next village and harm them.”  How do you figuratively disarm such a person?  

This is one of the few times that I ever saw Jesus use his power.  I do not know what image he conveyed into this man's mind.  I know what I saw, and it was terrifying to me, who was a loving person already.  I saw death, desolation.  I saw the end result of hatred on the earth.  It was enough to make me quake and shudder.  As we compared notes afterward, my companions had much the same experience.  

But the one who had taken the blanket  stood abruptly. He screamed, his eyes seemed to bulge out of his head.  He dropped the blanket, and he fled.  

Jesus had us attend to the wounded one, saw for himself that this one was safe, and then used his touch helped to heal those wounds, although not in any startling way. Wounds were still left there.  We simply sat back down and an hour passed..  And then the one called Jesus said, I will need to go now and find him.  He did not want anyone to come with him.  It was dark and the ground was somewhat rocky and barren.  He knew he could not have gone far.  I suppose some inner sense led him there.

I do not know what transpired, only that several hours later he came back, the man following him.  He would not approach us, would not approach our fire.  But he did lay down.  A blanket was found for him.  And he slept.  

A few days went by and I heard that he had asked forgiveness of the one he stabbed, and that one had said yes, I forgive you.  Later that day, when we were again gathered by our fire, he came to Jesus and said, "Will you forgive me?"   Again, those words, "It is not my forgiveness that you need."   

"Then whose?"  The man looked as though he would begin to weep, his face contorted with pain.  He said, "If you cannot forgive me, how can I ask God to forgive me?"  

Jesus replied, "You must begin by forgiving yourself."  

Somehow he directed each person past the uprisings of greed and anger in themselves, past the eruptions of fear, and into the depth of their own loving heart.  

This was a profound lesson for me.  The two stories I tell you here are chosen from many with similar pattern.  You must forgive yourself.  Only that way can you come into connection with the Divine in yourself and begin to live from that Divinity.  As long as you seek forgiveness from others, without forgiving yourself, you're refusing to look at knowledge of that inner perfection.  Yes, you must also ask forgiveness from others, but first you must forgive yourself.

I began to understand how this was the prerequisite for peace.  Those words, "Love one another,"  are meaningless unless you can connect with that within the heart which is capable of love.  The children mutilating the cat were out of touch with that loving place in their hearts.  By giving them a small animal to save, literally, to nurture, to feed, he connected them with that loving place.  

When he said to the man, "You must learn to forgive yourself," this one bent and began to gather his things as if to leave.  I saw my friend, the one who had been stabbed by him some days earlier,   look at Jesus and Jesus nodded to him.  He was one who had long been a follower of Jesus.  He went to this man and he said, "Please stay."

"How can you ask me to stay when I have hurt you?"  

This friend was wise.  He said, "Your healing and my healing are part of each other.  As my wound heals, your heart heals.  Let us heal together."  

Jesus came up at that point and said, "Will you take care of this man?  He cannot walk quickly.  He needs someone to lean on, someone to help him prepare his food,"  and so forth.  Much the same story.  Nurturing another, we connect with the loving place within ourselves.

One more story.  This a bit different.  

The Peacemaker.

We were in a town.  A short distance from where we sat, loud voices were heard, and then two men whom we did not know began to fight with one another, first with fists and then one pulled out a knife and then the other pulled out a knife.  An angry crowd had gathered around them.  

No shout of "No!" this time.  He simply walked in between them.  If we had not been worried about him, it would have almost been funny.  He moved with them.  They were trying to jab at each other around him.  He just stood there.  They begun to push him, not using their knives but pushing at him.  "Get out of our way!"  

He said to them, "Is your anger toward each other so non-specific that you so easily redirect it to me?"  Very quiet.  His words further angered one of them, and stopped the other cold in his tracks.  Two different responses.  The one who stopped just put his knife back and said, "It doesn't matter."  The other one continued to push at his former opponent, and at Jesus.  

"Why do you push me?"  Jesus said.  

"Because you're in my way."  

"And if I get out of your way, what are you going to do?"  

Angry words.  "Get back at this ..." I will not repeat his language.  

"At what were you angry?"  Jesus said.  

“He did this and that to me, spoke wrongly about me in front of others.”  

Still very quiet.  "And for this you would kill him?  And what after you kill him?"  

"Then nobody will wrong me in front of others again."  

"What did he say about you?"  

"He... " and here the man faltered.  "He said I am violent."  

Just a sigh from Jesus.  "Brother," he said, "may we sit down and have some food together?  You and me, and this one you feel has slandered you."  His way was to open people's hearts.  He was not unwilling to use angry energy if it was useful, but that anger came from a place of such deep love, such sadness, at our inhumanity to one another. hearing Him, each being began to believe, a deeper truth of himself.  

You know I tell you that Divine place within yourself is always there.  There is nothing which arises in you which cuts you off absolutely from that place.  But sometimes when there is much confusion, it's very hard to access that place.  He was a master at guiding others into that access.  I believe because He saw that Divine light shine brilliantly even from the angriest and most confused of beings, that he went straight for that light.  

As you celebrate this one's birthday this year, my request to you is this.  Whoever may be around you, however they may aggravate you, please try to see this light in them and ask yourself, not, "How do I get rid of his aggravating words or acts," but "How do I help to connect him and me to this light?"   When you do that, then instead of acting from a place of fear and anger yourself, you begin to act and speak from a place of your own deepest light.  What had seemed impossible becomes possible.  Heart to heart.  Light to light. This is the way of love, and of peace.  

I have been speaking for a long time.   It is always a great joy to share my memories of this being for whom I have such deep love.  If your time permits, I would be happy to hear your questions.  I have gathered from this instrument that the intent of the evening is to offer you a longer amount of social time than is your usual, so that you may have some of the various food and drink that are offered, and enjoy each other's company.  I pause here.

Q:  What other incarnations did Jesus have that we might know?

Aaron:  I am Aaron. One such as myself who is in a position to simply read the Akashic records, must be very careful not to  invade another being's privacy.  Like you, like all of you, he lived through many human incarnations.  The time of his full realization and his move past this cycle of birth and death preceded your recorded history.  I think that is all you need to know, that he, like yourselves, moved from dwelling on the shadow within himself into a deep awareness of the innate perfection of everything as expression of the Divine.  

This instrument finds much inspiration in the life of Buddha, the life of the Buddha who did this in his final incarnation as the Buddha.  In a sense it is sad that you cannot know the story of Jesus' many incarnative experiences, and be thus inspired by his progression.  At the time that he came into incarnation as Jesus, his past lives were very far behind him.  That is all.

D:  Was the birth of Jesus actually a virgin birth, and if so, why?  

Aaron:  I am Aaron.  Each religion establishes its own mythology, which is at times is helpful in fostering the faith of those who find nurturance in that religion.  I will not confirm or deny the myths of any religion.  It doesn't matter.  How could it possibly matter how he was born, or whether the virgin birth is actuality or metaphor?  As metaphor, it's a powerful statement.  This one was indeed a fully realized being, an avatar.  He was far beyond the need to incarnate; he came into incarnation to serve.  One who would move into such an incarnation in this way must move into incarnation through a pure source.  It is not necessary in my way of thinking that that source be virgin to be pure, because there is nothing sinful about sexuality.  Her heart was pure.  She was capable of teaching the child what it needed to know so that it could fully develop the potential that it brought to the incarnation.  For that we thank and bless her.  

I know that your question is, did this being have a human father?  Was he the product of a sperm and egg as other humans are.  Simply, you do not need to know.  If he was or if he wasn't, does it change the statement made by his life and his death?  I pause.

Barbara: Aaron is laughing.  He says every year he is asked that.  

K:  Should we worship Jesus as the Son of God?  or just as an enlightened teacher?

Aaron:  I am Aaron.  I can tell you how I relate to him.  I cannot tell you how you "should" relate to him.  Each of you is unique.  Each is in a different place on the spiritual path.  For some, at certain places on the path, the worship of another as literally Divine, especially when that one is worthy of that worship, can be a very powerful thing.  God is very abstract; sometimes you need a personification of God. It's much easier to trust, to let go of control, to say "Thy will be done" when you have a loving personification into whose will you release your own.  For a such a being, in such a place on their path, worship of the Divine in any form is helpful.  

On another level though, we're all sparks of God, we're all children of God.  Every being is an expression of God, not just human beings but every ant, every blade of grass, and every redwood tree.  Everything.  It is fine to relate to Jesus as the Son of God, literally, if that is of help to you, but do not limit yourself and assume that this is the ONLY Son of God.  Allow yourself reverence for life in all its multitude of forms, as he did.  Even more,  if you see God in Jesus, must you see God in everything.  I do not want to repeat material that has been recorded and transcribed in prior years.  The one who asked this question might like to read the very first transcript in the book of Christmas stories,  in which I spoke of the gift which was given.  God offered his Son to the world.  I do not want to personify God here, let us just say that the Infinite and Eternal offered this  specific expression of Itself back to the expanded expression of itself we call “world”  with the full willingness of this specific expression of Itself, in order to speak to the suffering in that world.  Whatever other way you may relate to him, be aware of the love that prompted his decision to incarnate.

I am leery of the term, "Should we worship him?"  especially as regards Jesus, because this one did not want to be worshipped as a God.  His strongest voice was in his humanness.  A God can take any pain and say, “Forgive them.” It was the human voice, fear and agony on a cross, which said, “Forgive them, Father,” which  taught so many the true meaning of forgiveness.  

Do not hold him up on a pedestal as something other than human.  In his incarnation he was fully human.  While he is no longer alive,  he is still very available to you as the Spirit that he now is.  Relate to that spirit in the way your own heart prompts.  I cannot tell you what is right or wrong for you.  That is all.

pause

Aaron:  I am Aaron.  I would like to say one more thing here.  You have heard me talk about the various densities and what they mean.  At the farthest edge of 6th density, there is only the purest spirit body and the mental held lightly as tool, simply the link that enables that energy to have mental processes.  At that point, that energy is ready to let go of the mental body, and return to the light, to its Source.  Many beings through time have done so.  This one that you know as Jesus continues to give his gift of love.  He is fully ready to move off into 7th density but he holds back from doing so to continue to keep his energy available to those who would find it useful.  The same is true of the one known as the Buddha, and no, they are not the same being.  They have different histories.  There are other beings, high masters,  still available to you.  This is such a gift of profound love.  You could liken it to this in your incarnative experience:  If you were hard at work in the city where there was poverty, starvation, sickness, at work helping beings who were suffering in these many ways, and if your beloved human father got on a ship and said, “it's time for me to leave, you may come.”  The father is leaving this place of suffering and going home to a place of great peace and beauty. Can you imagine the deep love and faith it would take to say “No, I want to come so badly but I must stay here.”  Now multiply that trip home by a million in its power.  Yes, when all suffering is done on earth, I believe he will go home.  But meanwhile he remains present and available.  This is his ongoing gift.  That is all.

Barbara:  Aaron is emphasizing that there are other great masters as well who make this same gift, and requests that we be aware of all of them, that we each have an affinity to certain ones through many past lives, and that's fine.  We don't have to have affinity to all of them.

Aaron:  I am Aaron.  I am not going to invite any more questions.  I do not wish to invade what I think is a important and valued social time.  I thank each of you for hearing me tonight, for the hard work each of you is doing in an ongoing way in your lives, to bring these lessons into your heart, and learn to live them.  It is hard work.  Each of you experiences the shadow within yourself.  So many beings have fled from that shadow or lived in denial of it.  You are learning instead to embrace that shadow and draw it in with you into the light.  This is a beautiful and powerful path.  As I speak to you tonight I simply want you to know that your efforts are noted and honored and that each of you is deeply loved.  I wish you a Christmas, or whatever else you may be celebrating, of much joy, love, and peace.  

I am asked by one if I can tell stories of some of the other holidays such as Hanukkah.  Not tonight.  Perhaps next year we will expand our Christmas stories a bit.  There are so many religions that are barely known to you that each have their own stories of beauty and inspiration.  I speak of these stories of Jesus not to separate him out as better than other great masters but only because so many of you relate deeply, and vibrate deeply, with the energy of this being, and feel much love for him.  And thus, the stories of his life become especially powerful teaching tools for you.  My love to you all.  That is all.

1995 Christmas Stories, p.8