Moses, Jesus, and Me
Dr. James Mellon
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TALK TRANSCRIPT
The last lyric she sings is, "Take me to the world where I can feel alive." You know, there's a metaphor going on in that song too. And of course, Stephen Sondheim is the prince of metaphors. And when you look at it, and just the way they sang it... so here's your mind out here saying, I want all of this. And then here's your mind back here saying, Yeah, but it's never worked out before. You're safe here playing small. This chasm between these two states of consciousness, to me is what this whole song is about. That there is so much for us to achieve. So much for us to live. So much for us to explore and experience. And sometimes we need to make sense out of this, not try to block it out. Because the more we try to block out Mark Arthur Miller, it keeps taking over. But if you stay the truth, the way Donna did in the song, this can't help but remember who it is, and say, Okay, I'm ready. Let's go to it.
Which brings me to the title of my talk today, which is "Moses, Jesus and Me." You laugh, but I have a history with them. So I'm going to start with Passover. Now, Tiffani already talked to you about it, Reverend Tiffani, the Jews exodus of freedom, breaking the bonds of slavery, those bonds of slavery that keep us held back. I mean, isn't that what it was all about? The Jews were finally done. They needed to break free from this voice this pushing voice, this very depressing voice and move out and go out. And there they are.
And they hit this sea. And it's like, "Take Me To The World." But how, how? How am I getting past this sea? I'm sure they said it just like that. Moses, how are we getting past the sea? So my first version of that, of course, is Cecille B. DeMille's version. And we get it by some really handsome version of Moses. That's a gorgeous picture, just putting his arms out and the sea parted. But that's not what happened. That is not what happened. I doubt Moses looked like that. To be honest. And the sea did not part because Moses raised his hands. And I know this because -- are you even here today, Josh? No, he's not here today.
One of my friends told me this story, a story that I had never heard before. Of Nachshon ben Aminadav. How many of you know that story? Oh, good. You're gonna explore it with me. So Nachshon ben Aminadav is in the Talmud. And since I read that every day, I know that, because I sent it to Kevin, I said, it's in the Talmud. He goes, How would you know it's in the Talmud? I said, because Google said it was. "Godgle." So.
So here's what really happened at the Red Sea. Moses actually was lifting his arms up probably like that, and a staff up to God, saying, Why? Why did you free us from Egypt to make us go all the way to a sea? And he's asking God, what were you thinking? My colloquial version. And because they have a choice, now, we're either going to go into the sea and die. Or we're going to turn around and go back to Mark Arthur Miller. And listen to the voice and the persecution of the consciousness that holds us in place. The Egyptians.
So Nachshon ben Aminadav was a prince of the tribe of Judah, brother in law of Aaron, the high priest. Seven days after leaving Egypt, they encountered a violent Red Sea. While Moses was busy praying for answers, and he hears the people of Israel shall move forward. Now imagine you're praying to God, what are we supposed to do here and you hear, "You shall move forward." How are we moving forward? There's this sea. So they all hear it. We need to move forward, but no one's moving, including, by the way, Charlton Heston. It was not in his contract to get wet.
So he's not moving. Nobody's moving in. There's 3 million or so Jews waiting to see what will happen. So, what happens? Well, I will tell you, Nachshon ben Aminadav stepped forward and walked into the sea. And the water came up to his shins. And then he walked further into the sea. When the water came up to his waist, I would imagine he looked back. And they're all like, "Ahhh," and he walked further, and it came up to his neck. And he walked a little bit further, and it came right up to his nostrils. And he was so absolutely certain that his faith would save him that he just kept walking into the sea, at which time so did the rest of the Jews, at which time the sea parted.
And as we all know, they made it through. We don't know that story. That's what happened. That's what's related in the Talmud that it started with one person, one young man named, I have to keep looking, Nachshon ben Aminadav. I practice that "Nach..." all day yesterday, because I kept saying to Marcy and Al, who are at my house right now, "Hi," getting ready for tonight's Seder. I kept saying Nachshon ben, and they're like. no, it's Nachshon (emphasizes sound). Nachshon. So Nachshon had the faith, the faith of God, not in God, the faith of God, to keep walking.
As the character in that song, have the faith to say, I don't care if it's ugly out there. I don't care what's out there. Because you can choose, your subjective mind can choose, what are you going to look at? She wants to look at the flowers and the trees. She wants to hear a bird sing. That's a real bird, not Macy's bird in a fake cage. She wants to feel what it's like to live for real. And sometimes in order to do that, we must take a lesson from history. So yes, Passover, a powerful celebration each year to remind ourselves that we must have the faith of God and walk and trust and know and nothing no matter what, nothing stops me from my journey, from my freedom.
So that brings me to Jesus of Nazareth. My other best friend. He also looks like Charlton Heston. Do you have it, Thor? Oh, that by the way, go back for a second. So this is a Michelangelo painting of Nachshon. Isn't that cool? So I taught, it's like a sweet little blonde boy with curls, who led an entire 3 million people to their freedom. I mean, Moses had something to do with it, because he was in conversation with God at the time. But think about that.
Okay, next. So, "The Resurrection," also by Michelangelo. So Easter is man's freedom over the physical body and into the resurrected body of Christ. That's what we celebrate. And this is a great example of that, Michelangelo's version, because he's basically just moving out, you know, coming out from the rock, and proving that he's alive. That's the story. I don't know exactly how it works. But like Moses, Jesus went to the garden, at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, known as Gethsemane, if you can give me that next slide, and begged God-- oh, no, go back. Apparently, I didn't give you Gethsemane, I could sing it for you. No I couldn't. Jesus was praying to God in Gethsemane to take it away from him. To take away what was about to happen.
So there's that moment in all of our lives, when we have something in us. And it seems like it may be daunting. And so we celebrate every Easter, the resurrection, rising above the relative world. Rising above anything in our lives that seems to be holding us back. Like Moses, Jesus, also in conversation, in communication, in oneness, as this very presence was able to -- when he was arrested -- he was able to surrender. So, at Easter time, we're reminded that we can move beyond this relative world that we live in. We can move beyond the department store where we maybe had been living in. The relative world, the limited world that we may have bought into somehow. And move out of it and say, there is more for me to have. And not having a "give me" sense. But more for me to have of myself. More creativity, more love, more prosperity more. Because there always is.
And you know, if you want proof that Jesus' consciousness was a powerful, powerful, powerful consciousness? It is thousands of years later, and he is the most famous person on the planet. Don't you think? Who doesn't know Jesus? I mean, Jesus, who does not know who that man is? His consciousness has been pervasive. And I am not talking about any religion that sprung up after him. I am talking about the consciousness of whoever that was that walked the planet. And that taught love.
So both of these things, the resurrection and Passover, both celebrate moving through obstacles. Yes? So now we move to that was Moses, Jesus. Now back to me.
You can give me the next slide. The rock. No, that's not who I am. But I realized how that just came out. Back to me the rock. No, I have a story to tell you. Eric, would you hand me that little black bag down there? Thank you. I'm going to hand it right back to you. Because I have something to show everyone. Thank you.
So first of all, 33 years ago, was the last time that Passover, Easter and Ramadan happened on the same day. It only happens every 33 years. So this is the 33rd year after what happened in this little box here. And I only knew this yesterday, because Al walked in while I was working on my talk and said, "Do you know that "Ramadan, Easter and Passover only happened every 33 years?"d and I went Oh, wow. And I went back to 33 years ago, and it was the year I met Kevin.
And at the time, we had gone through the Christmas holidays. And it was very tough. It was rough. We had some obstacles to handle at that time. And right around this time of year we took a trip right around Easter. We took a trip to Southampton for the weekend. And we were talking about the difficulties of being an actor. What did we want to do with our lives. And you know, even back then, when I was really just a Eric Butterworth student, I think I already knew that I was going to be a teacher of some sort.
So I found this rock, very similar to that rock. And I asked Kevin to-- I found the rock and then I called him from up in the-- we were staying in the attic of this gorgeous farmhouse. I said come out back. I want to show you something. And the rock was sitting on this tree stump. And I had a hammer. And he said, What are you doing? I said, I want you to see something. And I took the hammer and I smashed the rock and it went into a bunch of pieces.
And then I took the pieces and I put it back together. And I said to him, we are going to live our lives together. And there are going to be times when we may break into a million pieces. But this rock, this is going to stay with us for the rest of our lives together. It's broken in pieces, but it's together. And this has been on our mantel in our house for 33 years. This happened the last time that Ramadan, Easter and Passover came together on one day and here we are 33 years later. And when I look at this rock -- I was taking it off the mantle this morning and Kevin's like what are you doing? I said just watch. So this is what I was doing. Because this has always been our primary residence.
You and I -- we are not broken pieces. We are not small specks of dust. We are not a part of something. We are the entire rock. And it doesn't matter how many pieces you come as. Or how many lessons you've learned, or how many times your heart is broken into a million particles. The truth is, you're always one thing. And you can always be put back together, no matter what.
There's an energy that holds us all together. It's a quantum field of pure consciousness that holds us together. We are one thing. If you'd give me the next quote, in Matthew, it says, "Truly I tell you, and as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me."
We are living in a world right now where there's a lot being done to our brother. And we need to know that it's being done unto us. Each one of us, we need to know, we need to remember who we are. And who we are, is this rock. We may be a piece in Ukraine and a piece here, but they are connected. They came from the same thing, from the oneness. One thing going on at all times. And that's who we are. And that's who we get to celebrate. The Jews knew who they were, and they knew they needed their freedom. So they went. Jesus knew what was in the cards for him. So after a beleaguered time of trying to make sense out of "love your neighbor," he allowed himself to be the great message of the universe.
And I, and you, each one of us, we are that message. And it's up to us to remember that no matter what, there is this thread, this beautiful, divine thread that moves through everything. And when we get that, when we remember that when we live from that everything is possible. It's possible for you to be the one person that walks into the sea, it's possible for you to let go of all the suffering that has gone on in the world and see only good. It's possible for you to step out from the confines of a life you thought you had. And be willing to live life to the fullest by seeing the world-- if you give me the next slide.
"Take Me To The World." That's my lesson on this beautiful Passover, Easter, Ramadan day. Take me to the world. And I will choose to see good and from choosing to see good, I will prove that this rock never ever turns into separate pieces, that it is always one, because I will have this with me for the remainder of my days. And then I'll give it to my son, to remember who we are. Namaste.