I use the phrase “inner anarchy” to identify the core message of Jesus, which involves a transformational shift in source. Most people operate out of the source of false beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies that have been programmed in our heads through religion and society. The shift involves turning away from that source, and instead turning toward what lies deeper within us, namely a higher awareness or spiritual dimension that we access in and through what is real in our deep feelings. There are many ways people identify this – spirit, consciousness, higher awareness; Jesus referred to it as the kingdom of heaven within us. In and through that source we know that what is real and true is not separation, fear, scarcity, division, bondage and suffering, but love, liberation, harmony, peace, oneness, belonging, and the interrelated nature of all things.
Turning toward that spirit dimension involves speaking from, acting from and living from that source. As we do our own inner work of turning away from the false beliefs, mindsets, narrative and ideologies that rule our lives from within and become more in-tune with that higher awareness or spirit source within us, it impacts who we are in the world. We step out the door and we discover that a lot of our current world is being held hostage by those same false beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies, and that there are all kinds of societal systems and structures that are perpetuating those falsehoods, which are causing human suffering, oppression, injustice, fear, hatred, division, violence and destruction.
The current order of the world is largely a violation of our higher awareness and what we know is real and true in our deepest feelings. We cannot turn a blind eye toward this dynamic and incongruity in the world. Jesus’ life was a demonstration of working this out. On the one hand, Jesus opposed, challenged, attacked, confronted, subverted, and undermined the religious and societal systems and structures of his day that operated upon these false religious and worldly ideologies that oppressed his human brothers and sisters, and divided them against each other and against their own spirit. Jesus’ opposition to these false ideologies and systems was not merely some sort of flash-in-the-pan political or activist endeavor, but was being generated from the power and authority of what was within him… and is within us all. It has real teeth to it, a staying power. It’s not just being against the current order but it’s lifting up out of ourselves what is real… a whole new world and way of being and living as a family in harmony with one another and all living things.
If you’re a woman who has given birth, you know that the birthing and labor process can be quite vigorous, difficult, intense and distressing. And yet, it is infused with love, affection, devotion and beauty. Birthing a new world from the inside out is no different. We do our own inner anarchy. When we give expression to this in the world we confront, challenge, subvert and undermine the current order and empire of lies with our left hand, and we lift up a new way in it’s place. There are many different ways we do this but whatever way that may be, it isn’t for the faint of heart. The old order is not going to go quietly into the night. We are going to have to push it over. As the older is passing away and a new world is lifted up, things will feel destabilized. It’s the labor pains.
The spirituality that Jesus exhibited was centered in love and aligned with that “kingdom of heaven” within him, but it there was a vigorous, scrappy, gritty, courageous and actively engaged quality to it. This was the part that inevitably led to his execution. Jesus would not back down or go away. He confronted the old order and was a stand for the new one.
You don’t have to be a Christian or believe in the God of religion to take up the challenge of inner anarchy. It involves doing your own personal work of turning away from the false beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies that are within you, and turning toward that higher awareness, life, spirit, and consciousness that runs through every one of us. It’s listening, trusting, speaking, following and acting from the power and authority that is within each of us. There’s a inner/contemplative/centered/spiritual side to this, and a outer/anarchist/engaged side to it. A new world and order is not going to just magically appear, but we can create it together. Like childbirth, it will be vigorous, difficult, intense and distressing. And yet, it is infused with love, affection, devotion and beauty.
