The father in the Buddhist story is also loving and compassionate. He longs to be reunited with his son just as the Biblical father. I find it inspiring to see the Buddhist father realizes that his son's mindset will not allow him to accept his true identity and to live an abundant life. The son's consciousness is limited and restrictive.
Therefore the wise father knows not to force himself and his wealth onto his son. It is a gradual process of raising the son's consciousness. The father meets him where he is, he dresses down as not to instill fear and/or discomfort. The father patiently offers the son more and more responsibility allowing the son time to grow into the realm of higher consciousness.
It is only when the son's consciousness has expanded to that equal to the father that the son is willing and able to receive the inheritance of the father.
This is a great analogy for many people. I have seen many times when a family has a business and they turn it over to the children. The children are emotionally not prepared and have not worked diligently to develop the skills and discipline needed to maintain the business. Therefore, in many cases, they loose the business within a few years which took decades to build .
This is another analogy of our spiritual lives. God meets us where we are in our consciousness. God is present in the depths of our misery, struggles, and unworthiness constantly providing for our needs and protecting us from harm. God gently guides us and expands our minds into a higher consciousness until we are willing to take our rightful place in the Kingdom.
In both prodigal son stories, the father-God longs for and awaits the son's return, loves and accepts the son where he is, and celebrates the son's awakening to their rightful place in the Kingdom of God.
We are all wayward prodigal children of God, it is important to know, that God is anxiously awaiting our return or our awakening to our truth that we are the heirs to the Kingdom. God is waiting with baited breath to bless us abundantly. The question is, "What are we waiting for? How long do we what to suffer and stay apart from our Creator? It is our choice.
This interfaith version is so loving - especially the very different twist from the Biblical version. I appreciate knowing it now and also your interpretation to connect it to the here and now.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog! Thank you, Becky!!