Jesus, the Ego-less Archetype

Continued from yesterday…

The story of the Garden of Eden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil sets the tone for the rest of the Bible. Every person who interacts with God in this sacred text views materiality through the prism of the tree of illusion – knowledge of good and evil – until Jesus comes on the scene with a radically different view of reality.

Contrary to every instinct of the ego, Jesus speaks of love for our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, serving one another, and laying down our lives for others. The ultimate expression of Jesus’ egoless archetype was his death on a tree, signifying the self-less nature of divine love, followed by his resurrection, representing the power of divine love over death.

We have not discussed the tree of life, which was mentioned in the story of trees in the Garden of Eden. For now, I’ll say this: the cross is symbolic of the tree of life.

The deeper meaning of Jesus’ death on a tree speaks to the death of the ego, where our ego (guilt, shame, fear) or I is crucified with Christ. The resurrection is then the awakened life where identifying with form has come to an end, and where again we identify with spirit and our eternal formless love-union with all things.

So yes, by now you may understand why I was so captivated by trees as a child. As symbols in the Bible, they are filled with deep meaning, both in the form of the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As playgrounds for the imagination, they offer infinite possibilities. But take my word for it: don’t let your ego turn a tree into a vehicle for arrogance—such as, I don’t know, an airplane. I should know. I have the childhood scars to prove it.

Adapted from Section 2 of Awakening To I Am Love by David Youngren