Why Are Visionaries Such A Threat?



     For generations societies often reflect the values that they have inherited.  Most of our values are second-hand and we simply conform to them because it is easier, more secure and avoids our having to take risks we believe are unnecessary.

     When people began to abuse our society’s value structure, we mounted security cameras to catch everyone from criminals to speeders.  When aircraft were flown into the World Trade Towers, sweeping changes occurred to airport security. Most people in the United States view such changes as essential for the well being of our citizens. Visionaries, however, often represent a threat, particularly when the change they bring is counter to centuries of practical, social or theological dogma.

     Consider what causes some industries to thrive in one generation only to vanish in the next because of a visionary’s idea.  There is nothing more destructive to the status quo than an idea whose time has come.  For example, the medical community has asserted that high levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream can be a major factor in coronary heart disease.  The evidence to support this thesis at first appeared overwhelming.

     The pharmaceutical industry has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to lower cholesterol by developing a family of products called Statins of which Lipitor and Crestor are examples.  A visionary in the medical community, however, discovered that the real culprit is not cholesterol in the bloodstream but the scaring of the arterial walls that allows LD and HD lipids to cling to them, a condition found in bodies that are prone to various forms of inflammation.

     What is worse news for the pharmaceutical industry is that their financial investment had been addressing a symptom rather than the cause.  The temptation is strong to suppress or denounce the new findings.  Think of the massive losses in revenue if the public decided to abandon their use of this new family of Statin products.

     Change can be greeted with hostility as we have witnessed when visionary Sam Walton developed Wal-Mart.   Sam discovered a way to bring one-stop shopping to the public where the widest possible array of products could be sold at prices lower than other stores could afford.  Small businesses could no longer compete.  Communities began to petition local governments to prevent Wal-Mart stores from being built in their neighborhoods.

     When we turn our attention to Spirituality, the same ideas apply – change can become a threat.  For example, Socrates was sentenced to death because of his teachings.  Jesus was crucified because he was seen as a threat to Judaism’s beliefs and practices that spanned centuries.  William Tyndale was strangled to death and his body burned because he dared to translate the Scriptures so that the masses could read them.

     Jesus was a product of the Jewish society.  He had a vision that the Laws of Moses were addressing symptoms and not a cure for human frailty.  Obedience to tedious laws addressed symptoms when the culprit was within human consciousness, a component of humanity’s nature that no one could see.  Jesus began to teach that when our thoughts and emotions enable us to perceive with love, we are saved from our fascination with and our reverencing of the symbols found in the material world.

     For hundreds of years after Jesus’ death people came and went from the earth with only a handful of people knowing what he taught.  The seed that would bear fruit from a loving consciousness would take thousands of years before humankind would understand its power.  To date, many people still do not understand what Jesus brought.   Theologians and religious minded people have systematized his thoughts into a new religion, Christianity.

     Suppose all religions were ready for a faith lift? What would the new system of beliefs look like and how would believers greet such change?  No doubt, beliefs would be far more universal in their appeal.  They would address the spiritual needs of a diverse population as people lived together in peace.  Salvation would not be the property of any particular religion.

     It may be determined that Jesus is only one face of The Christ Consciousness that encourages people to perceive with love.  Sin from a new visionary might be redefined not as a flaw in human nature, but the result of the mind and heart living in ignorance of the invisible world of consciousness that their senses cannot perceive.  Our orientation toward life determines the quality of what we understand and experience.

     Think of how a single prayer could transform us, “God, you know who I am, where I have been and what I have done.  If you can use that in any fashion to heal our world, please do so.”  When we feel totally forgiven by God and we have forgiven ourselves, we can forgive others almost effortlessly.

     Our sins are the same mistakes that everyone makes.  Our thoughts and actions reveal who we are.  We are the cause of our pain because our judgments reflect only the content of our inner world that may not be aligned with the skill of perceiving with love.

     Sin is a powerful teacher.  For example, when the Prodigal Son returned to his father, he came home with a power and an awareness that he did not possess when he left to experience the world.  None of us is lost eternally.   God’s love is incapable of allowing humanity’s free will to block permanently our Creator’s ability to guide all souls to return to their innocence.  Those who believe otherwise have only a limited view of God’s creative abilities.

     All religions lack an accurate understanding of God.  Equally, their understanding of the purpose and meaning of the physical world is extremely primitive.  Religions try to systematize reality.  When we define God’s love and creative ability we have ventured into a reality that is unknowable in human terms.  We cannot discuss intelligently what we have not yet learned.

     What we can do is experience God’s energy, enter its flow and enjoy the ride.  The mind of Christ that can be found in each of us, knows the importance of leaving the care of Creation with God.  When we do that, we can celebrate every experience and greet the Christ in each other.  Think about this: Why would these ideas threaten anyone?  The sad truth is that they do.