Po and Jesus seem to share more than one might initially assume...
In the movie "Kung Fu Panda," Po undergoes a deep personal journey to discover his true identity and potential strength.
At the beginning, he is unaware of his inner potential, reflecting auniversal longingfor more and a belief and hope that there is a greater purpose to discover.
Po's sense of being disconnected from himself mirrors the dilemma of humanity.
We need to talk a little aboutsinand the longing forinner peace.
Po is disconnected from himself. Absent. Something is missing.
Where does Jesus come into this?
Jesus' teachings on sin are based on something different from the concept we know from the Bible as "sin."
Sin comes from the Aramaic word "Khteetha". Aramaic was the language Jesus spoke.
Correctly translated, Khteetha means TO MISS THE MARK, TO FAIL.
If one cannot hit the target, for example, on a bullseye, what should one do?
Get closer. Until you can hit.
What do you become when you get closer? PRESENT.
That was Jesus' message - that we should be present.
Our greatest sin is, therefore, to be ABSENT. Absent from ourselves and absent in our lives.
Unfortunately, we are absent a large part of our lives. Researchers from Harvard have shown that 47% of the time, we are somewhere else than where we actually are.
We have 60,000-70,000 thoughts every day. They lead us away from the present moment in a nanosecond, making us absent.
If there is no sin as we know it from the Bible, then what about Hell?
It is worth noting that there is no Hell in the sense we know from the same book.
"Gehenna", which in an early version of the Bible has been translated to Hell, is actually a valley outside Jerusalem where lepers dwelled.
The term is a metaphor for the human condition, to be beside oneself, to be in the valley, to be an outcast.
The connection with the concept of sin is obvious: When you are not present, you are not yourself and therefore cannot succeed in life. That is our Hell.
For more on this, read "The Light Within a Human Heart" by Lars Muhl.
Lars Muhl has been studying the Aramaic language since the 1980s and is globally recognized for this.
Back to Po and inner peace
Po's journey towards presence and inner peace is marked bystressandchallenges. This reflects the challenges of modern society, where stress costs 16.4 billion annually in Denmark.
Jesus emphasized the importance of finding inner peace. For those of us who have seen Kung Fu Panda, the words inner peace can bring a smile to our faces.
Jesus encouraged, just as Po tries to live up to it, prayer and meditative silence as ways to strengthen our minds and find peace amidst life's challenges.
Today, we can integrate similar practices, such as mindfulness and meditation, into our lives to create a balance that both body and mind can sustain in the long run.
I have been studying with Lars Muhl for three years now. Because I am curious. Jesus had it right. It is what happened afterward that went wrong. I want to be part of trying to find the way back.
Our nervous systems have not changed since we lived on the savanna. If the approach of inner peace was necessary 2000 years ago, what is it now, with the society and the world we live in?
We are not coded to live as we do. We need to grasp the essence of ourselves. Again.
Po also had to find his way back to himself. He could not really feel himself and his own strength. It helped when he realized that he was “a little adopted”, as his adoptive father puts it.
We are also a little adopted. Adopted by a society we are not designed to live in. As a global society, for many ways, we have missed the mark, failed. And like Po, who must rise again and again and continue the fight, we must also rise and continue, believing that we will succeed.
Inner peace seems to be the best way through this on an individual level. And the time of miracles is not over; if Po can, so can we.
Mindfulness is a good place to start.
Inhale on the count of 4.
Exhale on the count of 4.
It doesn’t take more to get started. Do it right now as you read this.
4-4.
Written October 29th 2023
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