But I try to remember to focus on Christ. and why he chose to come to earth. And I believe that the aspect I am going to write about in this post applies to all religions.

I believe that his primary purpose was to teach us about unconditional love and as such, the message is an important one for transpersonal psychology. Not love in a romantic sense, although most relationships would benefit from applying the lessons in the full. And certainly not lustful love. Rather, it points us away from lust for material posessions and sex and focuses on internal qualities, qualities that only we can develop in ourselves. I find the checklist in the new testament to be awe inspiring – just take a look:

Love is patient
Love is kind.
It does not envy,
It does not boast,
It is not proud.
It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

My challenge to myself for 2010 is to develop and demonstrate this kind of love in myself.

“To make wrong is to teach guilt and perpetuaute the belief that punishment is necessary. To make right is to teach love and demonstrate forgiveness. To put it simply, you are never right to make wrong, or wrong to make right.

You cannot love in an unloving way. You can’t be right and attack what’s wrong.”

The Way of Peace 1999

Mohammed built a simple religion based on acknowledging God and 5 prayers a day, but Islamic Law is highly codified and requires years of study.

Moses was given, and passed on to the Jews, 10 commandments , and again a very complicated religion sprang up.

Jesus reduced the commandments to two, and again Christianity has become very complex.

Diana Cooper wrote that:”Human Intelligence takes the simple and makes it complicated. If it’s complicated, it’s from ego; Spirit is simple.”

At the root of all religions are the same principles: unconditional love for God, self and others, and gratitude and awe for our existence. All else is commentary, often added by the religious leaders to promote and secure the existence of their religion. And the irony is that in adding layer upon layer, they have forgotten those simple core truths.

How many wars have been waged in the name of religion, having forgotten the core requirement to love? It’s an oxymoron to write or speak about a religious war; at least, it should be!

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless”. Mother Theresa
Many people with a spiritual background put other people first, often neglecting themselves. But if we want to love others, we first have to learn to love ourselves; the deeper your self-love and self-acceptance, the deeper you can accept and love others.