Applicability

 

The myth and/or mystery of Christ’s atoning death, burial and resurrection purposefully directs our attention to the skull. If I allow myself to excuse the literal story while I consider the same text in a mythical way, the story of the crucifixion becomes applicable. As Tolkien said, “Applicability resides in the freedom of the reader.”

Whether written allegorically or literally, I still have a right to consider ancient writings in an applicable way. I can even alternate back and forth at will. I can consider what we know about the man, Jesus, in a historical way; and I can consider what I believe about Christ-Consciousness as it pertains to my own consciousness.

I have limited understanding when it comes to doing serious research regarding a young man who lived over 2,000 years ago, but when we discover the applicability of that man’s story, He lives.

When I consider the story of Jesus, I am going beyond his messages and looking for his meaning. There are sermons to consider, but there is as much to read when I consider the entire story, as removed as I may be, and how it could somehow pertain to me.

Applicably speaking, Christ’s story begins with his conception. Unlike a baby, Christ was said to have been conceived by God’s seed. Using Reader’s Freedom, I can easily find the matched concept within myself. There seems to be a spiritual version of myself, living with myself and not of myself; having no natural birth I can point to. I believe that most people would probably think of me as the labeled and named individual who is the protagonist of my soon-to-be historical tale. However, I sometimes think of myself as someone who has been observing the same protagonist from a higher vantage point. I feel I have been here all the time, even though the named, physical version of myself has changed dramatically since his beginning.

Christ’s story also tells of experiences. Some of those experiences deal with an entirely natural landscape, as well as the usual encounters. Yet, with Christ, there is a backstory, where the protagonist is on a more private, spiritual journey. I can find applicability in both, the story and the backstory.

Jesus = flesh and bone, historical and literal

Christ = Spiritual, infinite and mythical (Remember here that myth is also true).

In its most original definition, a myth would have been regarded as a story about a divine being. Myths are told as coherent so as to allow a reader to consider what the indescribable would be like if it were describable.

The true story of Christ is indescribable.

I am not saying anything new; Paul said the same thing:

“You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3 MCV

“Yellow is the way warm sunshine feels on your face,” Said my wife, “Mossy grass is green, white is fluffy cotton balls, orange is the smell of an orange, red is a hot, baked potato and blue is ice.”

What a poetic way to tell of color in an applicable way. If you cannot see color, it can still be experienced if you’ll consider what it is like.

Christ was born of God, bound to a story, crucified in the skull (Literally Calvary) and buried in a borrowed (temporary) grave, and seen alive again in a garden.

There are three ways to read the entire story:

1.      Literally

2.      Allegorically

3.      Applicably

A literal version would demand a certain, historical landscape, where all of it happened to a particular person; and it did.

An allegorical version would demand some suspension of validity in order to believe the writers meant to convey a double meaning; and they did.

An applicable version would demand nothing more than how it could be applied to your own life’s story; and it can.