December 21, 2011 Wednesday Night, Aaron's Christmas Stories

Aaron: My blessings and love to you all. I am Aaron. Welcome to you all. (there are numerous pauses for people to be seated).Here we are, sitting around the campfire (a Hanukah menorah is lit) and I'm going to tell some stories as I do each year at this time. We celebrate the birth of the one who was the Teacher of the Way, the way of love. (pause) There is both a literal truth to this story and also a metaphor. His birth was real, his life and mastery were real, but he was not different than any of you. You are all masters of love. (pause)

You are all masters. You are all awakening beings of light. It's not that you do not yet hold that awakened nature; it's that you do not yet realize that awakening and do not yet have the full capacity to enact it in the world. But this is who you are and it is time to know it. Each time you slip into a lower vibration, enacting fear and negativity, you lose an opportunity to know the truth of yourself. So as you celebrate his birth, celebrate also your own birth into ever greater light, and knowing of that light.

Each year I try to choose a different theme in telling these stories. Is there anybody here who has not heard me speak any of these stories before, or read any book about them? (yes)  Okay, a brief review, then.

The being I was, was named Aaron, and he lived 500 years before Jesus' birth and lived for 500 years. A transcript just went out today to our email list, telling more of this story. I'm not going to go into my story here, but I left that incarnation as Aaron and came into a new incarnation to support the life and teachings of Jeshua.

I was both a shepherd and was a student in the Essene school in Mount Carmel. As a boy I spent time in the fields and classroom and gradually I remembered my prior mastery of many of these teachings, in the life as Aaron,. I had the great blessing in that lifetime to be just 6 years older than Jeshua and to have him as a friend.

Of course, Jeshua did not stay at Mount Carmel all the time, but when he stayed there we were friends. And I've told stories about some of our boyhood experiences together. Some of them are in the book, Forty Seven Stories of Jesus, and are in the transcripts on the Deep Spring archives.

Tonight I want to focus more on the mature Jeshua and what he did and taught. There is a statement in the Bible, in Hebrews 13:2, I believe-- I'm not a biblical expert, here, much more of a Buddhist scholar than a Bible scholar. “When you invite in another, you invite in me. Never turn anyone away.” The Bible goes on to say, “Some people have invited in angels, unaware.”

BB note ; added to transcript after researching  Bible, King James Version

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares

And New International Version:

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

When you turn somebody away, you never know who you're turning away, so Jeshua was saying, each person you invite in, this is me. This is a holy, divine, radiant being. He did not just speak this truth but lived it. I want to tell you some stories that illustrate how he lived this.

We were traveling and came to a village where people offered him food. People recognized him and were grateful for his presence, and welcomed those of us who walked with him. There were some children around the edge of the circle, gaunt-looking, hungry-looking. We sat on the floor and the elders brought us bowls of steaming hot fragrant-smelling food, and these children were watching, hungry.

The man who served Jeshua said, “Don't pay any attention to them. They are the children of some who abhor you.” Jeshua nodded. We said the prayers over the food, and then he got up with his bowl-- no words, he just got up with his bowl-- and carried it out to the boy who seemed the bravest, who was coming the closest. As he held it out to him, the boy backed away. Jeshua said, “Eat. Sit up here with me.” He took the lad's hand. He didn't drag him reluctantly; the boy came, a little fearful but he came, and he sat him down. He took another plate and poured half his food onto the plate and gave it to the boy. He did not lecture the one who said, “He is the son of one who abhors you.” He just was very certain: everybody will be included or no one will eat. I will not exclude.

The other children who were in the background, who were less brave than their comrade, began to inch forward, and Jeshua waved them forward until all around us at the front of the circle were perhaps a dozen ragged looking boys. No girls, interestingly. I don't know why there were no girls. But a group of boys, perhaps ages 6 to 14.

That's all there was to the story. They ate. They offered thanks. They got up. They left. The man who had offered the food, a wealthy man, was a bit disgruntled at first, but I think he got the message as we sat there and ate. We didn't focus the conversation on these young people; we simply ate with them, enjoyed their presence, and they very respectfully finished their meal, said thank you, and left.

He never shamed anyone. He did not teach through shame but through loving example, inviting all kinds of people into his presence, and enjoying their company. And simply ignoring those who said, “Oh no, not him, not her.”

He was deeply openhearted but not afraid to say no. As we were traveling, at another time-- I don't want you to misunderstand me and think that I always traveled with him. When my life permitted, I was happy to be able to travel with him, but it was only occasionally.

A quite disheveled looking man was following us, and when we camped he stopped a little distance away. We started to eat. We lit a fire, it was a cold night. So Jeshua got up, walked over to him and said, “Please join us.” The man had a hangdog expression. He couldn't look anyone in the eyes. He came up and sat by the fire, was offered food, and there was a spare blanket found for him so he could settle there on the ground by the fire with the rest of us.

It was the Sabbath, and Jeshua's habit was to light the Sabbath candles (as tonight we lit the Hanukkah candles) and to say the prayers of the candles. Then, when we were leaving, the candle sticks were packed back into a sack over the back of the donkey that carried various goods. That night the candles were left there burning when we went to sleep. When we awakened in the morning, the man was gone and the candlesticks were gone.

Several of us were quite angry that he had thus abused our hospitality. Jeshua said, “He had need or he would not have done it. He is confused and unaware of how to act without negativity. Have compassion for him.” So we went on our way.

Perhaps two nights later we came upon this man. When he saw us coming, he made to flee, and Jeshua said, “No, wait!” The man was shaking. He thought he was going to be beaten. Jeshua said to him, “Have you eaten, brother? You joined us two nights ago. Why don't you come sit by our fire again?” The man looked at him very ashamed. He was obviously hungry and he came and sat with us.

He asked Jeshua, not specifically about the candlesticks but, how do you feel if somebody takes your possessions? And Jeshua said, “I try to forgive them and understand that it came out of their own misunderstanding. But I also want to be very clear that it's not acceptable to me.” The meal concluded. We sang a bit by the fire. We gathered blankets. Again a blanket was found for this man.

When we woke up in the morning, he was gone again. When we went to load the donkey with the blankets and food, the candlesticks were there, returned to the side pack of the donkey. Again we walked all day, and again that night we caught up to the man. He was a bit ahead of us but we found him at a stopping place and we stopped there with him. Jeshua merely smiled at him, put his arm around his shoulder, and said, “Thank you for being here and joining us again. Sit by the fire. Have dinner with us. Sleep with us.”

Before we went to sleep, he said to the man, “Why don't you walk with us tomorrow instead of rushing off ahead of us?” The man still could not meet his eyes, but he said, “May I?” “Yes, by all means.”

For about a week he walked with us every day, doing his best to be helpful. There was a man amongst us who was injured and could not walk well so he helped him, put his arm under the man's arm, helped support him; brought him food. He began to feel himself a welcomed member of the group and gradually he began to smile at people and to make eye contact with people.

I had to leave at that point but I'm told that he stayed with Jeshua for quite a long time, following him, teaching others. Never again was he untrustworthy. Gradually as his heart opened and he came to know his own human worth, and to trust his own human radiance, he began to shine out into the darkness. And in this way, Jeshua invited a soul to rekindle itself and reawaken to its own truth.

There are so many stories. Some of you have heard these first two before. I'm looking for a new one...

Here's one, one I rather like. Here we were again traveling, just a few of us, on a high mountain pass where it was cold and snowy. We had stopped for the night in a lightly sheltered place when robbers came by. We did not have a beast of burden on this trip, just our own feet. They took everything. They took our food, they took our cloaks. They did not leave us even with a blanket to protect ourselves from the frigid night. We had a warm fire and kept it burning through the night but the next day we had to walk in cold winter weather, and with no protection. We came to a village and people generously gave us cloaks and some food.

A week or so went by and again we were in a mountainous area. The same brigands came. They said, rubbing their hands, “Ah! More cloaks! More food! Come on, give it to me!” I think if it had just been me, I would have resisted. Probably they had knives. Possibly somebody would have been killed. But I would not so freely have given it away a second time. Jeshua simply smiled at them and said, “If you have need of it, it is yours.” And he indicated by his actions that we were to follow suit. So we gave them our food, we gave them our cloaks, our blankets. They dashed off.

Again we spent the night sitting by the fire. Again we had a cold morning, walking without any protection. Again we were restocked by generous folks.

And then it happened a third time, another week later. When they approached us the third time, Jeshua stood up and looked at them and said, “You know, enough is enough. You've left us cold and hungry. If you had personal need for this, I would gladly give it, but you can't possibly need our blankets; you've taken our blankets twice. You're welcome to share the food we have. Instead of stealing from us and running away, why don't you just sit here and talk with us?”

We talked. It took them awhile to open up. There were four of them. He said to each one, “Who are you? What is your story? Why do you have this need? Where do you come from? How does it feel to constantly take from other people?” They expressed feelings of discomfort about it but said, “We don't have no other lifestyle. We don't know any other way.” It turned out that they had been farmers and during a drought, had lost their farms. They could not pay the tithes that were required to the landowner. They did not own their farms, they simply worked the farms-- sharecroppers, let's call them. So they were cast out with their families, and they did not know how else to feed and clothe their children.

Jeshua said, “There's got to be a better solution than robbing people, and if somebody opposes you, there could be violence. We've got enough blankets for everybody. Why don't you sleep here tonight? We'll have breakfast tomorrow, and let us walk together and see if we can't figure out something else.”

In the morning, one of them turned out to be a wonderful cook. Making use of the meager supplies we had, he prepared an outstanding feast. Another one had knowledge of herbal healing. One of our group was sick and this man, as we walked along in the morning, saw the herbs that were needed, brewed them, and offered them to the sick man. Each one, it turned out, had a talent, one that nobody had yet identified, even the person himself, who took it for granted.

We reached the first village and there was somebody sick in the village. Jeshua said to the wife of the man who was sick, “We have a good healer here. May he work with your husband?” And he did. We stayed there for two or three days and the husband began to recover. While we stayed there, the one who was a good cook prepared meals, and people from the village came to eat of the meals. They asked, “Why don't you stay here?” The man said, “Well, I have a family.” “Bring your family. Come here and stay here. Teach us how to cook the way you cook. Teach us your healing arts.” One of them knew a lot about planting and harvesting food. They all were sharecroppers, they all knew how to plant and harvest food, but one was especially skilled. And one knew a great deal about the care of sheep and other small animals. As the four or five days passed while this sick man recovered, the town folk grew to know these men and to welcome them, and said, “Come back with your families. Come settle here.”

It would have been so easy for us, Jeshua and any of us, to say, “No, these men are brigands, they're robbers. You don't want them in your midst.”

Is there any amongst you who is not a robber? Is there anyone in this circle who has never stolen something? Is there anyone here who has never told a lie? Is there anyone here who has never acted in a self-centered way?

What he taught, without giving a long verbal lesson, was how to open one's heart to the radiance and divinity in oneself and not hold one to the self-labeling of “brigand,” “outlaw,” “bad“. As long as you hold on to such self-identity, the good is hidden. For example, in each of you, at times, anger will arise, and so many of you have a sense of unworthiness because of that anger and say, “Well I'm the angry one. I'm bad because I'm angry. But someday I'm going to take a stick and beat that anger to death and then I won't be angry anymore.” But that doesn't work. It's just more anger.

But when you note, “Here is anger arisen. Here is the impulse to steal arisen. Here is the impulse for greed arisen. And I can watch it, and I don't have to enact it because right there with the anger is that which is not angry; right there with greed is that which is free of greed.” This radiance is like a small flame that you kindle and it grows into a vast bonfire, radiant and light. Your radiance, your goodness, your capacity for love.

This is the core of what he taught. Love one another. Love each of these beings, because each of them is you, in a sense.

We are all one, and there is no bad or good person. There are people with more or less skill, people who have more or less capacity to enact that love, or who have not yet learned to enact love. But there are no bad people. Find that spark of light, that spark of the divine in each person, and see what will kindle it and bring it forth to burn brightly.

So I never saw him turn anyone away, even those who came thieving at his door. However, he did know how to say no.

We were walking down the road and came upon a man beating a donkey. The donkey had fallen to its knees and it had a heavy burden on its back. The man was beating it. It could not stand up.

Jeshua walked up to him and literally took his hand, stopped him from beating, and the man said, “It's my donkey. I can beat him if I want.” Jeshua said, “If you beat him to death, what will happen to him? He won't be able to carry your load then. He is exhausted.”

There were five of us and Jeshua said, “We're strong men. Let us all take parts of the parcels from the donkey so that he has no more burden.” At first the man resisted, fearing we would steal his goods, as he might have in our shoes. He relented and we each carried something. The donkey, lightened of its load, was able to stand. The man grabbed him by his rope to pull him, and then Jeshua stopped him and said, “Kindness will get you much further,” and he took the donkey's rope and, “Come on, a few steps...” He handed him some grass; he patted him. The donkey saw that without the load, he could walk.

So we walked on to the next village where the man was delivering his harvest that he was going to sell in the market. We got to the town, handed the man his goods, and he left without even looking back at the donkey. So we found lodging for the donkey. When I say lodging, a shelter of sorts and some hay. Left him comfortable.

The man came back the next day, irate. “You stole my donkey!” Jeshua said, “Oh no, I actually paid for his lodging. He's in the stable down there.” He took the man and went down to the stable where the donkey was contentedly munching his hay, and he said, “Why don't you leave him here for a few days? We're going to be here in town. We would love to have your fellowship. Now that you've sold your goods, why don't you sit here with us and take a break?”

So he talked to the man, we all talked to him. Jeshua was very clear, “You may not abuse this animal,” but he did not condemn the man. He simply showed him a better way. After three days, the donkey was recovered and he really had no big burden to carry home. The man was still acting from self-centeredness and not generosity, but he began to see how much more he could get from the donkey if he treated him kindly, so it was a step in the right direction.

I can't tell you what happened to that particular man and donkey; I never saw him again. But he certainly left a more relaxed man, and a happier donkey. Every little bit of kindness helps.

When we were boys-- this goes back to our youth. I was 6 years older than Jeshua so he was perhaps only 10 at this time and I was 16. Several other boys more my age were with us including one boy who was retarded. The boy stuttered. He did not have a high intelligence. But he had a good heart, and we loved him as a friend.

Some rough boys stopped us and started making fun of our friend, mimicking his kind of open-mouthed expression and drool and stutter. We said, “No, you can't do that,” trying to protect our friend.

“What are you gonna do about it?” these tough guys said. We were about equal in number, four of us and four of them, but one of us was not fully present and one of us was only a 10 year old. “What are you gonna do about it?”

They did not consider the power that Jeshua carried, and which he rarely showed. They were about to attack us when Jeshua walked up between us and them. This little boy, 10 years old, them that tall (hand held up) . He looked at them and said, “YOU MAY NOT HURT MY FRIENDS.”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

“Our Father will stop you. You may not hurt my friends.”

Huge energy started to pour out of him. I don't think he knew yet that he had that much power. This energy came forth, pouring out of him, and they fell back, astonished. He didn't touch them. He didn't say anything. He simply stood his ground, looked them in the eye, and said, “NO”. And they fled. We were angry. He was not angry, he was chuckling! “I guess they finally understood they couldn't be abusive.”

A few days later, one of the four came to us in the village where we lived. He asked if he could speak to Jeshua. When I say village, this was the Essene community at Mount Carmel. For this boy to approach the Essene community took a lot of courage. He did not know Jeshua's name; he just said, “Can I speak to the young one?” We were a bit afraid. Is he going to attack? What's he going to do? He came up and took Jeshua's hand and said, “Thank you. You taught me a major lesson. Thank you.”

This resonates with me with the Buddhist story of Angulamala. Do you know that story? Some of you do. Angulamala was a thief and a murderer, who wore a gory necklace. When he killed people he cut off a finger and strung it on the necklace. People were terrified of him.

The Buddha came to town. Somebody opened a door and said, “Come inside, quick! Angulamala is out in the streets. He's in the village. You're not safe.” And the Buddha nodded and kept walking. In a few minutes he heard a voice behind him that said, “Stop!” The Buddha kept walking. The voice again said, “I told you to stop!” but the Buddha kept walking.

Finally Angulamala, for of course that's who it was, ran around in front of the Buddha and said, “Don't you know who I am? I could kill you in a moment. I told you to stop.” And the Buddha simply said to him, “I have stopped. It's you who have not stopped.”

This hit Angulamala in such a deep place. He immediately understood that he had perpetuated this negativity and hatred in himself and had not stopped. He fell down on his knees and asked the Buddha, “May I become a monk, a follower?” And the Buddha accepted him. He became one of the most enlightened of the Buddha's followers. Not immediately, of course; he had hard work to do. And he had the karma where when he went into villages and he was recognized, people threw rotten food at him and stones and other things. He understood why he had this karma, that he was purifying and balancing the karma for the great harm he had done. But he had learned deep love.

It's the same story. This boy came and took Jeshua's hand and said, “Thank you. I understand.” And then he turned to the elders in the community and he asked, “May I come here? May I come and live here? Please will you teach me?” They accepted him. He grew into a beautiful, strong, loving, generous, kind man, all because somebody, a young 10 year old, had the courage to say no to his negativity, and to not be afraid of his power but not to use his power in a way that did harm. Simply to hold the power and say, “No.”

I'm keeping an eye on the clock. I don't really run by linear time, so clocks are an oddity to me. One more story and then perhaps some questions from you.

Here is one I have never told. A few of us were camped, as was our way when we walked from one village to another. No fancy camping equipment, just a campfire and a blanket. We were not far from the road. A man came, a leper. We could see his shuffling gait as he walked, cloak over his head, his head bowed, and as was the law in those days, he had a bell that he was ringing. He went past us on the road, and Jeshua immediately got up and walked out to him, said, “Brother, have you eaten? We have spare food. You're welcome by the fire.”

The man said, “No, I'm a leper.” He pulled back because if a leper approached people who were not lepers, he could be beaten, even to death. Jeshua said, “We are not afraid of you. Please join us.”

Quite reluctantly the man came up to the fire, was handed food, sat and ate. You could see he was in a hurry to get away, and yet he was very grateful for the warmth and the food. His leprosy did not look, by his appearance, to be far advanced. Some signs of it but not far advanced. Jeshua said, “Why don't you sleep here by the warmth of our fire? We have some extra blankets and in the morning you can go your way.”

When morning came, he said to the man, “Why don't you walk with us?” Again, the man was afraid, not afraid that we would beat him, at this point, but afraid that others would see him as a leper walking with others and would beat him. And Jeshua said, “It's okay. We're not going to pass other people, and we're not afraid of you. We enjoy your company. Do us the favor to walk with us.”

For five days this man walked with us, and for five nights he sat by our fire. Jeshua did not lecture him, he simply pointed out that we all have many different character traits and body traits, and that we can be self-identified with those and enhance them, make them worse, or we can focus on a different aspect of ourselves. He said, “Yes, you're a leper, but only part of you is a leper. All of you is not a leper. Your body has this disease but your feet look whole to me, your shoulders look whole, even your face looks whole. There is a bit of disease in the fingers. Instead of thinking of yourself as a leper, think of that which is whole in you.”

Now we know this master could do miracles, and he also did not come out and say, “I can do miracles. I will heal you.” so much as really tried to empower each person to find the healing power in themselves. So at night by the fire, he would take the man's hands and say, “They look painful. Are they?” And the man would say yes. He would say, “Let me wrap them some with my cloth and with some water.” He would hold them.

Five days. The man's hands were completely healed. Did Jeshua do this? I would say not. Jeshua co-created the healing with the man. The man began to trust his own capacity to heal, to know that which was already whole within himself along with that which had leprosy. No denial of the leprosy but also to know and choose to bring forth that which was whole. And with Jeshua's energetic help, at the end of five days there was healing.

It happened gradually. The man hardly noticed it at first. But on the sixth morning, Jeshua said, “Why don't you just leave those bells behind. I don't think you need them anymore. Why don't you leave that ragged cloak that covers you.” And the man looked at himself and he began to weep. He wanted to hug Jeshua and say, “You healed me.” But Jeshua said, “No, God healed you; your love healed you, and your capacity to know your wholeness healed you. And I helped, yes. But I could not do it unless you chose it and participated.”

This man became a devoted follower of Jeshua. He was actually from a wealthy family and contributed support and money, not that Jeshua needed a lot of money, but he provided transportation and things that were handy. His family was overjoyed to have him back and cured.

This is a little off the track of our, “Don't turn a stranger from your door.” But just because a leper knocks on your door doesn't mean you have to turn him away. Just because a thief knocks on your door doesn't mean you have to turn him away. Find that which is whole and radiant and beautiful in each person and see it in that person. Let them see themselves in your eyes, not their brokenness, but their wholeness. This is the gift each of you can give to every other human being. It truly is the message that he came to teach, that each of you is the Christ, the awakened one. Each of you is the Buddha. Each of you is whole.

So as you celebrate his birth, celebrate also the birth of your-- let me not even say the birth, since it's long-since been born, but the expanding expression of your own divinity. Don't lose touch with it. Watch the expanding expression of each person's divinity. Love one another, even the nagging aunt or bossy uncle that come to Christmas dinner. Whoever knocks at your door may be an angel, or even the Christ. Welcome them in. Love them.

For those who have not seen Barbara's book Cosmic Healing, it carries much this message. It's her story, finding her own wholeness despite the deafness and seeming brokenness. It's an inspiring story. I pass that on to those of you who have not seen the book simply because it fits in with what we've talked about tonight.

I welcome your questions...

Q: With all the teachings of Jesus at the time of love and compassion, and miracles he did not claim were his but God's, where did the masses go wrong?

Aaron: As always, the masses were lost in fear. It's not much different from your world now. There is always a choice between love and fear. When there is a lower vibrational level, lower consciousness, fear can attach itself deeply. One cannot hear the truth because one is caught up in fear.

Let me use a very simple example. Barbara has a big dog, a very gentle and sweet dog but a big dog. Sometimes a little child will come when the dog is being walked, a parent with the child, and the parent will say, “Do you want to pat the dog?” The child has been looking at the dog, but when offered the chance, the child shrinks back. “No, no.” Because there's that moment for the child, the dog is almost as big as she is. “I can't pat that big dog.” Fear.

If the parent says, “Oh go on, pat the dog,” the child will pull back even more. But if the parent just says, “Okay. He looks big to you, doesn't he?” and walks up herself and gets on her knees and pats him, usually as the fear recedes the child is able to come forth and will begin to stroke the dog. “Nice doggy.” Love the dog, hug the dog.

For the masses, there is often the equivalent of that pressing parent within the self, a voice in the self that says, “Do it right. Do it now. Be the strong one. Be the brave one. Show everyone how good you are. Be powerful.” So people walk around with contraction and negative polarity, very focused on the self and the needs of the separate self, rather than knowing connection and non-contraction.

He came to teach people that there is no separation. The Buddha spoke more deeply in some ways to the detail of skills needed to work with fear and negativity. By the time Jeshua came, he knew that those teachings were available because he had learned them as a boy, and he felt it was more important simply to be a model of love and show people it can be done. The “simply” is important; this is accessible to anyone. So he did not go into detail of meditation practices and so forth. He knew these practices but he didn't elaborate on them verbally.

Basically, most people are like over-wound rubber bands. If you bump them they unwind too fast (sound effect), and probably wind up going the other way. Jeshua was the most uncontracted person I ever met. So these masses, they were simply living deep in fear, in separation, with the teaching of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, me against you, and they were unable to hear him.

Many did hear him. This is why my father invited me as Aaron to leave-- this becomes a longer story, but to allow that 500 year old Aaron to gradually decease and to come into new incarnation in a lifetime as Nathaniel, the man that I was as I knew Jeshua, and live in the Essene community and in the hills as a shepherd. My father felt that the people in town who lived with so much greed and fear would find it much harder to release their fear and really hear Jeshua, but the shepherds who lived simply and in nature, and with love for their flocks, could hear him with more ease. This was the place where his teachings touched, the simply people, not the high up authorities and townspeople, who could not hear him. Yes, a few merchants and such people could hear him, but many more simple folks. When I say “simple,” I don't mean mentally simple. Those simple in lifestyle could hear him.

Q: Did you live with Jeshua and Mary (Magdalene) after his resurrection?

Aaron: I did not live with them but had the blessing to be able to visit them. I have said that I danced at their wedding. And I know this goes against some of the ingrained beliefs that some of you have. Please do not take me as an authority. If anything I say is not resonant with your own truth, simply lay it aside. This was simply my experience of the crucifixion and resurrection, and perhaps at Easter we'll talk more about this.

Q: There is question even today whether Jesus had any brothers or sisters. Can you address that.

Aaron: He certainly did. He had a lovely family of siblings.

Q: Can you explain that a little bit more?

Aaron: Only a little. Some of this has a privacy screen around it to protect those individuals. But he had a number of siblings who were all deeply loving people, reflecting many of the qualities that Jeshua reflected. And of course they were all raised in an Essene community and had the advantage of those trainings. Like Jeshua, a number of them traveled; Jeshua spent time in a Druid community in England and in other such places, and so did some of his siblings. They supported his work in various ways, as did his ectended family of aunts and uncles, and his further extended family of spiritual community.

Q: How many children did Jeshua have, and did they continue to live in the Essene community?

Aaron: I'm not sure I can answer that correctly because he lived a long time, and I did not live there with him. So, they came, they grew up. Another one came, he or she grew up; there were a number of children. They lived in England, more or less part of a Druid community there, which followed many of the same precepts as the Essene community.

Q: The Bible was written many years after. The writers have different opinions or beliefs as to what transpired. How much of the Bible, the New Testament, is fact?

Aaron: If we were to enact a little play, here, in the middle of the room with a cast of a dozen characters, and 20 of you sitting around watching the play for an hour, and then I gave each of you a pencil and paper and asked each of you to write down the story that you had just witnessed, we would have 20 different stories. Each one would have a strand of the truth.

This is like the blind men and the elephant, do you know that story? “Oh, an elephant is like a tree,” says the blind man holding the leg. “No, it's like a long snake, ”says the one holding the trunk. “No, it's skinny,” says the person holding the tail. “No, it's like a wall.” Each story in the Bible has elements of truth. Read through the Bible and take out what your heart tells you is resonant with your own deepest truth, and leave the rest. Don't worry about what doesn't resonate for you. But some of it is quite beautiful and will resonate. Many of you were there, in those days, and have a sense of what really happened. So trust that sense.

Q: At one point you were Aaron. Five hundred years later you came back as Nathaniel. Please explain.

Aaron: Aaron lived for 500 years. He lived within an Essene community. He learned skills from Lemurian tradition. He learned skills from the Druids. He learned skills from India. He studied Buddhism and studied in that part of the world for many decades. So, he lived a long life; he learned and practiced these skills of cellular regeneration. Read the transcript that was just mailed out today for more on that. But basically these skills were handed down from Lemuria; how to regenerate the essence within each cell through harmonics and other means so that there was no reason for the body to age.

Then, when I was about 450 years old, my future father came to me in meditation and said, “Are you willing to allow this body of Aaron to decease and come into birth as my son, to help me bring these teachings and skills into this world where the Master of the Way of Love will take birth?” And of course, 500 years is really long enough for anybody! I was very happy to be of assistance in that way.

I did have the skills of cellular regeneration, and have shared a little of them. Some of you have heard Barbara's story of her broken toe. About three summers ago she badly broke the big toe on this foot, a straight break across the toe. The doctor said 6 or 8 weeks to heal. It was summer and she was angry. She went back to her cabin. She couldn't walk down to the lake to swim. She could do nothing but lie in bed with her foot propped up, and with pain.

She was muttering about 6 to 8 weeks, and I said, “Why should it take 6 to 8 weeks if you don't want it to?” We talked basically about cellular regeneration, and about visualizing the perfect toe. Then I asked her to sing to it. It wasn't just me but some of the, when I say Casa entities, I think most of you know what I'm talking about, the entities from Casa de Dom Inacio in Brazil, all talking to her and saying, “No, we're not going to fix this for you, it's up to you. But you have the capacity to heal it. Sing to it, whatever it wants to hear.”

For three days she mostly lay in bed with her foot elevated, with ice on it, and throughout the days for a number of hours she chanted, just OM, OM, different tones, as the toe seemed to ask. She woke up on the fourth morning with no pain and became aware that the toe had healed. The x-ray did not show a healed break but it showed no break at all. There was no sign that there had been a break.

You all have this capacity. Four days is actually a long time. I lived in an aborigine lifetime in Australia where we had the capacity, if a member of our group fell into a hole and broke his leg, we would lie him on the ground. If it was not a clean fracture, we would have to pull the bone back into alignment. That had to be done physically. And then we would sing to it. And truly within an hour he could have gotten up and walked on it again. We would usually stay where we were overnight to give him a chance to rest, because the whole body had experienced trauma. But it was healed; the cells were reunited.

You have this capacity. This is so much what Joao and the entities are doing down in Brazil. They're working on the body's natural capacity for healing and its innate wholeness, and helping you learn how to invite that wholeness. First you have to trust that the wholeness is there. Why are you blocking it?

Barbara spent several years looking at the question, “what would hearing protect me from?” She describes this in Cosmic Healing, looking at the things she didn't want to hear-- the anguish of the world, the cries of the world, and how her lack of hearing protected her.

So for each of you I would ask that question: whatever distortion you see in yourself, acknowledge, “I choose not to have this distortion, and yet at some level I'm holding it, and for some reason. It may just be habit, or more;  what does it protect me from? If I did not have this distortion, what might I be experiencing that's even more frightening and uncomfortable than the distortion itself?” This is where healing starts.

Then, if you go to a place like the Casa de Dom Inacio where the vibration is so high, the energy is so high, and you're supported by that high energy, and 1) your intention for healing, 2) your acknowledgement that there is some fear that has held the distortion in place and 3) a readiness to release both the fear and the distortion, then they can support the healing-- physical, emotional, whatever level.

But it has to come from you. You have to do your work. You don't just drop in and say, “Here I am. Heal me.” You have work to do. This is the beauty of this co-creation.

Let's take one last question.

Q: So many questions... Ego tends to get in the way. So, must we heal ourselves first in order to be able to help heal others?...

Aaron: ...Not necessarily. It can happen simultaneously. It can even happen that you help others without healing yourself. But one would have to ask, why should you do that? Why should you not participate in this circle of healing?

You began with a statement, “Ego gets in the way.” Ego is not a four-letter word! Ego is a natural attribute of the human experience. This is why we teach vipassana meditation at Deep Spring Center,  because it's a very powerful tool for watching the arising of the ego self and its stories without getting so caught up in self-identity with what has arisen. Through this mindfulness, we watch certain predominant stories arise again and again, such as, “I'm great,” or “I'm horrible.” I'm unworthy. I'm not lovable. I'm the least... or I'm the best that there is. I'm better than anybody else.” Whatever the story is. Each of you has your own soundtrack.

We learn instead of getting on that habit-horse and riding it to simply watch, “Ah, here's that story again.” Breathe with it. That which is aware of the story is not caught up in the story but just watching it pass by. It takes commitment and practice, but it's a learnable skill.

Then, ego, yes, will still arise but it no longer gets in the way. We just nod to it and say, “Ah, you again. Sit down, have a seat. But shh! No talking.” So we cease to be afraid of ego and all its stories.

I understand that you have many questions. I am told you flown in from far away for tonight, yes? Perhaps as they go in for their desserts, you and I could talk for just a few minutes, if you would like.

Is there anybody else? Let's end here, let's send you all away for your social time and dessert. I wish you all a very merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, whatever else you celebrate.

My prayer for 2012, as we truly move deeper into this time of transition in the Earth, is for peace and love for all beings. That each being begins to know their capacity for non-dual consciousness and their responsibility to live more and more in non-dual consciousness, because only through this personal commitment will the whole world be facilitated in this shift into higher consciousness.

May you be well and have a wonderful new year.

There are a number of you here going to the Casa with Barbara in January. I'm not going to bring Barbara out to say this, but simply to request of you, please to focus this coming week on your intentions and in clarifying your intentions, and then after Christmas, send them in to Barbara. I think there are a few of you who have already sent them and perhaps she has not responded. It's been a busy week or two for her. But continue to clarify your intentions.

Thank you. I'm going to stay in the body for a bit so I can talk to Q, if the signer will sit here with us. Enjoy your social time.

(social time in background while Q and Aaron continue)

Q: I feel like I have a connection with the Christ energy and it is getting stronger. I want to understand more what it means to me and how I can teach (background noise, the same way or my own way) to find the divine self. Any suggestions?

Aaron: Don't teach it, be it. Don't talk about it, be it. Look in each person's eyes and see the Christ in them. And then look in your own eyes and begin to see where you fail to see the divinity (inaudible). (Aaron recommends mirror gazing exercise)

It does not mean you have no flaws, but right there, with whatever anger or impatience or greed may arise, is your radiant divinity. Where will you choose to focus your attention? If you are constantly trying to fix that which you see as flawed in yourself, you don't give yourself time to acknowledge your radiance. I'm not suggesting that you stop attending to that which comes up and is unwholesome-- take care of it, yes, attend to it, but don't fixate on it. It's impermanent. It has arisen out of conditions and it will pass. What's left is the divinity.

As you sit and look into your eyes in this way (with the mirror exercise) , some feelings of shame or sadness or confusion or fear may arise. Just note them. Ask yourself, in what ways am I self-identified with these? If I don't think of myself as the fearful one, the confused one, the unworthy one, what will I find? And why am I afraid to find that?

I think the fear is that you understand the level of responsibility that comes with this, and you're afraid you're not going to be able to do it perfectly. Son, nobody expects you to do it perfectly. If you were ready to do it perfectly, you would not be here in human form. The human form is the form of trial and error learning. Allow yourself the human experience. Okay?

(remainder not transcribed)

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