Biblical Mistranslations, Spiritual Unity, and Our Modern Understanding of Healing

Biblical Mistranslations, Unity Among Ancient Spiritual Texts, and Our Modern Understanding of Consciousness and Nervous System Regulation

If this doesn’t resonate, THAT’S OK!

But if you’re struggling to make sense of things, this is for you.

For context, I am deeply spiritual but don’t practice a religion.

I experience a Creator as a universally available, benevolent and abundant source.

I believe that the more we are in our EGO, the more we “Edge God Out”...

And the more we can learn to HEAL, to SHIFT, to pursue WHOLENESS…

Sink into our AUTHENTIC SELVES…

The more any of us can tap into this universal source.

The spiritual gurus around whom modern religions were formed were probably the most tapped into this source...

The MOST free of ego.

The Map of Consciousness (see image) depicts the entire emotional experience of humans.

On the bottom half, we feel contracted and experience the world through our EGOIC selves.

On the top half, we feel abundant, optimistic, and experience the world through our HIGHER SELVES.

(further reading)

Sin, Dukkha, and Maya: Interpreting Ancient Wisdom

A common thread is found in the original language and context of many religions...

That our default state as humans, the EGO, is a state of madness.

But it can be transcended.

“Sin” is often understood as moral wrongdoing, but originally comes from the Greek word "hamartia," which means “to live blindly", “to miss the mark" or “to miss the point of life”.

This broader interpretation suggests that sin is NOT a moral failing, but a fundamental misalignment with our true nature

“Dukkha” (Buddhism) is commonly translated as "suffering," but its deeper meaning encompasses the inherent unsatisfactoriness of life.

The Buddha taught that dukkha arises from our attachment and DESIRE, leading to a perpetual state of unease.

See the Map of Consciousness again for context - DESIRE is on the lower half of the scale, an EGOIC state.

"Maya" (Hinduism) refers to the illusion that veils our perception of reality.

Maya causes us to see the world through the lens of separation and ego, rather than recognizing the underlying unity of all existence.

These terms converge on a similar insight: humans are trapped in a cycle of misunderstanding and illusion, driven by the ego.

Other Common Biblical Mistranslations:

“Hell” is translated from sheol, hades, tartarus and Gehenna.

Sheol: a Hebrew word meaning “grave”

Hades: a Greek word meaning “the underground abode of the dead”, borrowed from Greek mythology

Tartarus: a Greek word referring to a “dark holding place” where angels were sent, not humans

Gehenna: transliterated from the Hebrew name of a physical place, the Valley of Hinnom, that existed just outside of Jerusalem at the time.

Gehenna is the ONLY one Jesus is recorded as having used, and it was a place his audience would have known.

NOT an afterlife.

Universal Reconciliation was the predominant afterlife view for hundreds of years.

Hell as an afterlife got its start when Rome co-opted the religion and used hell as a fear tactic to keep people in line.

“Repent” is translated from “metanoia”, a Greek word that means:

TO CHANGE THE MIND

or

A TRANSFORMATION OF THOUGHT.

This sounds a LOT like the teachings of Dr. David Hawkins, who created this map.

How we can transcend the ego (hell on earth) and experience expansive, even enlightened states.

And as ONE person raises their consciousness...

Does their healing work...

Evaluates their egoic patterns and transcends them...

THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS BENEFITS.

I believe we are experiencing a tipping point.

A hopeful insight from Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth (written by ChatGPT):

Humanity is currently undergoing a profound shift in consciousness. This shift is characterized by an intensification of egoic patterns, including fear, greed, aggression, and the incessant need for more.

As the intensity of egoic patterns reaches a peak, it also creates the conditions for their dissolution.

This dissolution occurs as individuals awaken to the deeper truth of their being, transcending the limitations of egoic identification and connecting with the essence of who they truly are.

As we navigate the challenges of our current world, Tolle's teachings remind us of the inherent potential within each of us to contribute to the emergence of a more conscious and compassionate humanity.

Final thoughts on what happens when we die:

The University of Virginia’s Department of Perceptual Studies has spent the past 50 years researching 2,500 years of recorded information about NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES.

The conclusion is that there are phenomena we cannot explain, and we do seem to continue in some form.

The experiences are fairly UNIVERSAL regardless of whether or not a person has spiritual beliefs and what those beliefs happen to be.

Most near death experiences are POSITIVE, a few are NEGATIVE, but they do not align with the belief in “hell”.

They also do not happen to people who have “done bad things.”

We know from trauma-informed modern psychology that addiction, chronic health issues, and behaviors that are destructive to oneself and others are typically rooted in the DYSREGULATION that arises from stressful and traumatic experiences, a lack of authentic connection to caregivers, etc.

HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE.

I believe in a Creator that is RESTORATIVE, not RETRIBUTIVE.

Perhaps these negative near death experiences are part of the healing process we go through.

I have no idea...

And I have a feeling that attachment to ‘needing to know’ would keep me rooted in ego.

But when we look at the teachings of ancient religious texts in their original language and context, I can’t unsee this meaning...

TRANSCENDING THE EGO

And by transforming our inner selves...

Creating, as Eckhart Tolle calls it,

“A NEW EARTH”.

Written by me.