I’m personally convinced that the Bible is largely a collection of allegories, symbols, archetypes and metaphorical teachings rather than something that was ever meant to be read as literal history. That also changes the way I see Jesus. To me, Jesus represents what is often called Christ Consciousness, a state of consciousness that exists as a possibility within every human being. So when Jesus says that no one comes to the Father except through him, I don’t understand that as, “You have to believe in me as a person or you are excluded from God.” I see it more as: you reach the Father through Christ Consciousness. You have to discover that state within yourself. The temple is within you. I see God more as the consciousness behind everything, the consciousness that runs through existence itself. Enlightenment, union with God, returning to the Father, whatever words you want to use for it, is ultimately about becoming aware of that reality. And this is also where I struggle with the idea that simply believing in Jesus somehow makes someone a good person. It doesn’t. You can read the Bible every day, call yourself Christian, worship Jesus, talk constantly about how religious you are and still treat people like shit. You can judge people, hurt them, look down on them and behave in ways that have very little to do with what Jesus supposedly stood for. Belief alone doesn’t change your character. But if you actually awaken that Christ Consciousness within yourself, if you genuinely discover that unconditional love toward life and toward other beings, then something changes on a completely different level. At that point, you don’t constantly have to ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?” You naturally start embodying those qualities. You become less capable of deliberately hurting people. You stop needing to place yourself above others. Hatred, cruelty, resentment and that constant urge to judge other people start losing their grip on you. And in that sense, you’re not just believing in Jesus anymore. You’re embodying what Jesus represents. To me, that is much closer to what “following Jesus” actually means than simply declaring that you believe in him.