Paul said, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Jesus put it a little differently. In Matthew 9:16-17 it is recorded that he said, ”And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
New wine requires fresh wineskins. What does this mean for us? Most of us have had the experience of taking old consciousness, old patterns and beliefs, into a new relationship, a new job, a new geographical location, and having it fall apart or end the way it did before.
We must step into a new consciousness in order to accept the new wine, the new love, the new life, the new job, the new prosperity, or the new ideas.
New wine symbolizes Spirit and putting it into a new wineskin means that as we discard the old and embrace the new, we have a much better ability to contain the power of Spirit and to live and love in healthy ways.
“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, the renewing of your heart.” To create a new wineskin, or a new consciousness, means changing our minds, seeing with new eyes. It helps if we take more time imagining and seeing a bright future. We sometimes resist change because there is also a huge paradigm shift happening in the world at present. We are creating a global culture, and it is no small task for each one of us alive in the world today.
Technology and a critical mass in consciousness are forcing us to create new relevant systems wherever we turn—Medicine, Religion, Politics, Education, Business, Science—which must all be redefined to stay relevant in the world.
We can help the paradigm shifts personally and collectively by staying positive and focusing on an uplifting vision; by performing ritual to release the past, then manifesting the new vision through our positive thoughts and words and actions. Let us refuse to engage in negative prophecy about our own life or about our species and planet.
For example, when we are in the midst of breakdown in our own lives, let us see it as preparation for breakthrough. Let us hold the higher vision and trust that God has a plan. We can see the problem but affirm and act toward the highest good.
Jean Houston says, “These are the times, we are the people; It is up to us to usher in the new collective paradigm.”
Love and blessings,
Rev. Kathy