Site Web Get a free search engine for your site

All that is going on in the world, today, has the potential of being pretty scary. The important thing to realize is that none of it really matters. What matters is that we are going through a difficult time, and that how we handle it—individually and as a world—has the potential to move ourselves and our entire planet into the Light, into a place where these kinds of threats will no longer exist.

We know that Love Is the Answer. But when we're actually feeling anger and fear, instead of Love, what good does it do to know that our feelings are somehow wrong? How can we make them right again?

We offer what follows not as truth, these thoughts are simply the ones that have enabled us to make sense out of all of this seeming chaos, and it is our prayer that they may be of help to you, as well. (For first two treasures, see: http://www.spiritofmaat.com/messages /oct21/journey.htm)

The Unprodigal Son • 3rd Treasure

We are indebted to Robert Fritz, best-selling author of The Path of Least Resistance, for this amazing re-interpretation of the biblical story of the prodigal son. It contains a treasure of truly great price.

We all know the Parable of the Prodigal Son. A man has two sons. Upon coming of age, one stays home and the other one leaves. The one who stays home is the "good son" — he works hard and is obedient to his father. The one who leaves home is the "bad son" (prodigal meaning reckless, extravagant, wasteful)—he takes his inheritance with him and spends it all in riotous living.

One day, the prodigal son, poor and lonely, with no place else to turn, comes home. And the father is overjoyed. He prepares a great banquet and celebration. The son he thought lost, has been found. The child he thought dead, is alive!

But here's where the story takes its strange turn. For now, the "good son," who was previously aligned with his father, is enraged. He has stayed home, "paid his dues," helped his father on the farm, been obedient.

How dare his father show more rejoicing for this profligate offspring than he ever showed for the one who stayed home?

Robert Fritz's stunning insight involves the meaning of this parable where a father and his "bad son" are reunited, and it is the "good son" who goes out of alignment with his Source.

Most people assume that it is their prodigal side—their indiscretions, failings, compromises, lies, dishonesty, opportunistic behavior, selfishness, hatreds, prejudices, jealousies, pettiness, greed, egotism, laziness, destructiveness, negativity, and rebelliousness—that keeps them from reuniting with what is highest in them, their source.

On the contrary, the immediate natural tendency of the prodigal part of yourself is to want to return "home" to your source and be realigned with it.

It is not your prodigal side that prevents you from forgiving yourself, but the "good," responsive part of you that rejects your innately strong longing to be one with yourself.[1]

Wow! This is an earth-shaking revelation. It explains everything. It explains fundamentalism. It explains religious persecution. It explains all self-righteousness. It shows us exactly why most wars have been fought in God's name.

Once we see this, and most of us can see it right away, we must ask, "Why?" Realizing that the father and the two sons are all parts of our Self, why is it that the "bad" part is the one that comes home and the "good" part goes out of alignment with Source?

It is, Fritz tells us, because the good son "assumed that if he did all of the 'right things' and adhered to the 'right standards' and followed the 'right precepts,' he would be rewarded by his father. He was shocked to see his brother, who had not followed the 'right path,' being welcomed, honored, and celebrated."

And now we come to the secret center of this amazing parable, the truth we must acknowledge. If we have been following our path of joy, then life itself will have been our reward. Then we, too, will rejoice at the return of a brother who was lost and now is found, a brother we thought dead, who is alive!

As Jesus said, "Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Our Source asks nothing of us. Our Father clothes and feeds us, because He loves us.

We have made bargains with the universe, Fritz tells us. We have said, "I will do this, and I expect that in return." But the Universe has made no such agreement with us. The Universe has said to us, “Follow your joy, and all will be well.”

"If the good son had been righteous because he wanted to be, rather than for the reward he expected from his father," Fritz says, "his actions would have been their own reward. The parable implies, however, that the good son was good for an ulterior motive...[The] good son did what he thought he had to do, not what he truly wanted to do."

We may release ourselves from all of our vows, all of our decisions, all of our agreements, all of our missions and jobs and everything we think God wants of us. At any moment we choose, the past is over and we are truly free.

"Your life source strives for expression through you," Fritz says. "This is analogous to the great power of the unconditional love that the father had for both the prodigal son and the good son. The natural tendency of this power is to be fully expressed, so the longing of the father in the parable is the longing of unconditional love for its fullest expression. Since this love is unconditional, it demands nothing in return."

And if that's true, then when we look out upon a world where terrorists seek to slaughter innocent people, where secret governments seek to enslave civilization itself, we are simply out-picturing the prison that exists within our own mind. When we remove ourselves from the prison of all of our vows, all of our agreements, all of our beliefs in what we have to do to be "good" and what others have to do to be "good" —when we simply follow our path of joy and trust where it will lead us, then the prisons we see outside of ourselves will disappear. For outside of our own minds, they never existed. The deepest truth of evil is that outside of our own minds, it does not exist.

In an exercise much like the one where you basically fired the part of yourself that had the job of Trying to Change People's Minds, you might think about staging an inner drama where you realign with your source in the story of the prodigal son.
Let there be a sumptuous banquet, with all good things to eat and drink. Let there be much merriment, with dancing and rejoicing and song.

Be glad. Be like unto your Father. Know that the beloved child of your youth who went astray has now returned. The Sacred Journey now is ended.

Welcome your brother home.

Please feel free to use excerpts, but mention our website: http://www.spiritofmaat.com.
Footnote:
[1.] All of Robert Fritz's quotes in this article are from his book The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life (May 1989) Fawcett Books. Fritz gives lectures and workshops worldwide. For more information visit his website at RobertFritz.com.