The Prodigal Son

This is one of the most compelling stories I have ever heard when it comes to how we relate to our Creator.

The history of this story is commonly believed that Jesus made this story up. If one does historical research however, we will see that this story was created and told 500 years prior, in the time of the first Buddha. This parable of a lost son and his relationship with his father is in the Buddhist Lotus Sutra. There are some differences between this original parable and Jesus’ version, but the meaning is the same. This is one of the telling viewpoints that Jesus was a Buddhist. Please do not stop reading this based on what I just said because this is a side note. This is not blasphemy, but a tangible concept since there is no history of Jesus in the Bible between the ages of 15 and 29. It is theorized that Jesus was taken by the 3 Wise Men/Astrologers/Astronomers that found him back to the North where they came from via the Silk Road. Obviously, there were traders on this road that could have told this tale and that parable could have evolved to change into Jesus’ version. To keep it real though … how is the Dalai Lama found? … as a child deemed to be the next great spiritual leader just like Jesus was. Maybe this was a pact made by Mary and Joseph with the 3 Wise Men that this new Spiritual Leader of the World would go back to the North with them when Jesus was old enough to understand Eternal Wisdom. Jesus obviously believed in Eastern concepts like reincarnation by saying we must be born again. The early church after Christ’s death wrote of their beliefs in physical reincarnation in the non-canonical books of the Bible. This is all interesting even as a theory since almost everything Jesus said was said previously in Eastern Philosophy like turning the other cheek and the kingdom of heaven is within. As interesting a rabbit hole as this is, it is beside the point of what I am trying to say.

The prodigal son is the greatest story about our relationship to God. God does not love one child more than another. No matter what our choices are in life that we make, we are welcomed with Love and Understanding. We are always God’s child no matter what we have done in life. In the version that Jesus tells, it is so powerful that the child decides to demand his inheritance and go off and “live”. That child blows everything and is living with pigs … eating pig food and sleeping with them. He figures he could possibly beg his father to be a servant and upgrade his living conditions. When he does so, his father throws a blowout party killing the special fatted calf and gave him the finest clothes and jewelry. His brother is pissed that he went and blew his money on prostitutes and such while he stayed put, followed direction and did what he was told. He was jealous and hurt that his father didn’t give him more credit for doing what he was supposed to. We can relate to that, right? Well, it doesn’t mean that the son who was found like a lost sheep was given his inheritance back. The Father loves them both and cherishes them both. There is always Karma. The story of the lost coin told prior to this story says what the dad feels … who doesn’t celebrate finding a lost coin even though you had 9 others in your hand prior.

The story told before this story of 10 coins was when Jesus was being chastised and humiliated for eating and hanging out with people with bad reputations. Jesus then told the story of a shepherd who has 100 sheep, but loses 1 and leaves the 99 to find the 1. When he finds the sheep, he calls all his friends to celebrate.

When I say Mick Jagger or Snoop Dogg is a child of God, they have an Eternal Soul which is Christ … which is our Creator .. which is the same spark of Creation as what is in you and I. They have created art and lived and grown in ways that have inspired millions. They are my brothers and your brothers. We all have room for growth and enlightenment. When we get pissed off that we jumped through the hoops and others didn’t and we should be treated better, we do not understand Love at all. We are all One. We are all in Unity with our Creator. God loves everyone and we are all on our own Path to explore and choose and essentially we are still a child of God because the Holy Spirit is inside of everyone. Our bodies may be temporary, but our Soul is Eternal and we will be born again.

Maybe Jesus believed in reincarnation which I believe. It truly doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you are an Atheist or an Evangelical Christian or a Pagan or a Catholic or a Muslim or what. Dogma is always rooted in fear and God is only Love. God loves us know matter what we believe and we are all on a Spiritual Path whether we know it or not. We have a unique fingerprint and we are all special and can choose our own unique Path based on our unique experiences and our unique ways of thinking with our unique hearts and brains. We can choose anything we want to. Certainly, there is Karma and when we fall down, we will scrape our knee. We then learn that tripping over an obstacle will have an end result that hurts and eventually we don’t want to do that again. We can make any choice we see fit. We have to. What can we learn by being a robot and not feeling or thinking or trying something out? What do we learn by just living based on what we are told? If we choose to do as we are told, we are choosing that because we are in fear of what we are told will happen. Others may judge us, but we learn by making choices and discerning if it was a wise choice by the outcome and how we feel. Thing is, my outcomes may be good for me and not for you and vice versa.

No matter where this story came from, I am thankful for it because it helps me understand how our Creator Loves us and in turn, how I am to Love others. I am to remember how every single person has God as their soul and is allowed to make any choice whether I see their choices as favorable or not. I know that many people won’t find many of my choices as favorable. You may not agree with my view that Jesus was a Buddhist. It doesn’t matter. I am still your brother whether you damn me or not.

I vow to Love everyone and everything and every situation even though I am going to trip and fall and then come back and remember this. I may learn the epiphany, but I vow to practice and practice and practice so I can get better and it gets easier.