From Belief to Transformation: How We View the Christian Walk

Olaf Tryggvason was known for playing a key role in the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries CE. When he was in his twenties, a met a seer who prophesied that Tryggvason would become a renowned king with many successes to his name, but first he was going to be wounded in battle and near death. According to the seer's prophecy, he would survive the injury and subsequently convert to Christianity. Shortly after the prophecy, Tryggvason was injured in battle and near death. Just like the seer's prophecy, he recovered and immediately converted to Christianity. Years later he became king of Norway. Under his rule, he founded the city of Trondheim and built the first Norwegian church. He desired to conquer all the smaller towns and unite all Norway under Christianity. He went about this in a pretty brutal way: those who were conquered were given the option to accept Christianity or die. One Norse priest and warrior, Raud the Strong, was one of these individuals who, when given the option to accept Christianity, refused. As a result, Tryggvason decided to punish him. Using a hot poker, Tryggvason goaded a poisionous snake and entered the snake into Raud's throat, leading to a painful death. Tryggvason believed he was doing his Christian duty, winning souls for the kingdom of God. I'm sure most of us would agree that this wasn't the best method of making other Christians. 

Stagnant Water Christianity vs. Living Water Christianity

The Christian walk is like two wanderers in search of places to settle. 

Both wanderers know that in order to settle in one place, they must find a source of fresh water. The first wanderer comes across a small pond with a magnificant view. As he looks at the pond water he notices it's odd color and insects swimming around. Weary of traveling, the first wanderer decides to settle at the pond. Though he has a wonderful view, for the rest of his life the pond gave him little nutrition. As other travelers occasionally passed by the pond, the first wanderer tried to convince them to stay with him at the pond. Some stayed, but most traveled on, much to the first wanderer's surprise. 

The second wanderer travels on for many more days until he comes to a spring. He notices that the spring is steadily flowing and clear. He also notices a great deal of fertile silt around the spring, left behind by the spring's previous courses. The second wanderer decides to settle next to the stream. For the rest of his life he was well-nourished, having a constant supply of fresh water and land to grow food. As other travelers occasionally passed by the spring, the second wanderer welcomed all. Some decided to stay while most others traveled on. 

The parable above describes two very different Christian walks after salvation. I call these walks Stagnant Water Christianity and Living Water Christianity.

Stagnant Water Christianity is the Christian walk dominated by beliefs. After salvation, the Stagnant Water Christian discovers, adopts, maintains, and defends a fixed set of beliefs, usually influenced and encouraged by a church. These beliefs are mostly abiding. The Stagnant Water Christian remains by their pond of beliefs and receive nourishment from this pond day in and day out without much of a glance to the much bigger environment around. The Stagnant Water Christian perceives the Great Commission as a call to bring others to their pond. Some stay, but most don't. The Stagnant Water Christian has a difficult time understanding why all spiritual seekers don't stay by the pond they have found. Because of their inability to connect with others outside of their own pond, the Stagnant Water Christian finds loving they neighbor extremely difficult, especially if their neighbor is not a Christian or deemed a "sinner."

Living Water Christianity is the Christian walk of transformation. After salvation, the Living Water Christian may adopt a certain set of beliefs, but they remain open for new revelation and the potential for these beliefs to change. Like a spring, the Living Water Christian's spiritual life is flowing and dynamic. They are in a continual process of evolution. As they remain open for new revelation, new pathways are continously carved into the self. Like the fertile silt next to the stream, on the former grounds of the old self is an opportunity for growth, enabling the Living Water Christian to produce spiritual fruits such as love, joy, and peace. The more spiritual work done to the soil of the self, the greater the inner transformation and the production of spiritual fruits. 

Let's take a closer look at these two Christian walks.

Stagnant Water Christianity: The Limited Spiritual Benefits of Belief

I grew up a pronounced Stagnant Water Christian. I took my religion very seriously. I stood by what I believed and called out that which I stood against. To me, this was virtuous. In life there were two primary objectives, I believed: to become a Christian and to convert others to Christianity. 

\To become a Christian, all one had to do was utter a simple prayer:

"Jesus, I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive me for my sins."

After becoming a Christian, the new convert's next duty was to make other Christians by leading them in that same prayer. The more Christians you made, the greater the reward in Heaven there was for you. Personal salvation and winning souls dominate the actions of the Stagnant Water Christian.

Identifying oneself with any belief system has more mental, emotional and social supports than spiritual ones. It gives the mind and emotions a sense of peace knowing you're saved from the fires of Hell. It meets a person's social well-being, knowing they are part of a group of likeminded individuals and sharing the same beliefs. It could give the individual the identity they long for. Being a Christian definitely has its benefits. Nonetheless, belief-driven Christianity asks very little from you spiritually. It doesn't require you to "take up your cross daily" and follow Him. It doesn't ask you to be transformed in Christlikeness. It doesn't ask you to love. It simply asks you to believe mentally and to win people to your side. This is the Christianity that's widely encouraged and propagated in the mainstream church.

There are many Christians like me, however, who find Stagnant Water Christianity very unfulfilling. Their spiritual fervor goes beyond belief, doctrine, and tradition. For those Christians, there is an alternative Christian walk that's more spiritually fulfilling. 

Living Water Christianity: The Spiritual Flow of Ongoing Transformation

When I was a teenager, I joined my church's youth group. I was super excited about this. For five years I grew spiritually under an amazing youth pastor. I came to experience the never-ending movement of the Holy Spirit. I learned how to deal with my rapidly-changing teenage emotions by building my foundation on Christ. I learned how to fully engage in music as a form of worshipping God, incorporating body, mind, and emotion. I value those progressive years.

When I entered my senior year in high school, I plateaued spiritually. The same old methods of worshipping, the same old ways of reading the Bible, and the same themes of sermons didn't have the appeal it once had on me. I still experienced the same highs during emotional services, and I continued to learn about the Bible and Christian challenges, but my spirit was longing for something more real, more direct and I wasn't receiving it. The waters that once rushed in my childhood Christianity became stagnant. 

While I still held strongly to my Christian beliefs and practices, I started to search for ways to enliven my spiritual life again. It wasn't until college when I was introduced to a much larger Christian tradition that I discovered the spiritually satisfying, mystically humbling, transformative Christian walk based on the teachings of Jesus.

So what did Jesus teach us about the transformative walk? Let's take a look at three different passages from the Gospels:

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?" 

Luke 9:23-25

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

John 12:24-26

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.

Mark 2:21-22

Do you see what Jesus is teaching here? 

To follow Jesus, one must first die to their old self, completely. This death entails a letting go of all attachments to this self, including all thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Jesus told his followers that their old wineskins must be thrown out in order to hold the new wine of the Christ he was. Jesus teaches us that the death of the old self is essential for the new self to be born in this same Christ. This is what it means to be "born-again." This is salvation.

For many Christians, transformation stops here. Countless Christians I've encountered along life’s road recount their salvation as their lone spiritual shift, after which they hadn't experienced much change in their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. The church is responsible for educating and growing these newly-saved souls in Christlikeness. Yet, from my own experiences within the church, post-salvation transformations were infrequent and not emphasized.

Over time our new wineskin adopted at salvation ages, making it extremely challenging to hold the living wine of Christ. Christians can choose to replace this wineskin again or they can choose to maintain the wineskin. For many Christians, there’s an avoidance of going through another wineskin replacement. The first death was most likely uncomfortable. It probably entailed a bit of suffering and pain as the old self fought to remain in control. The first death may have brought up buried past hurts. It might have created intense anxiety, as any change requires an individual to enter the great unknown. Replacing old wine skins with new wine skins is not a smooth and easy process. "Taking up your cross daily" and following Christ doesn't imply a cakewalk; it requires constant sacrifice of self.

There's a reason why Jesus said to take up our crosses daily. The wine of Christ is alive and flowing. The wine of Christ is dynamic. In order to hold the wine of Christ, we must evolve with it. It requires continual ego-replacements in order to maintain this flow. As Jesus said, "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soul, not the manure pile; it is thrown out," (Luke 14:34-35). Upon your willingness to replace your aged wineskins, you begin to operate from a deeper level of consciousness, enabling you to better detach from the old wineskins. From this state of inner awareness, you start to see a distinction between the wineskins and the wine, between your beliefs and the living Christ. You can see that the wineskins are perishable but the wine itself is eternal. Your concentration moves from focusing  on the wineskins to the receiving of the wine itself. You begin to see your wineskin objectively, making it a whole lot easier to to undergo continuous transformation in this living Christ. As you continue to open yourself to receive, you will notice the evidence of Christ through the fruits that have grown within you: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The appearance of these fruits in your life is clear and real. There is no law, no rules and no religion that can convince you otherwise. Jesus adds more details of the fruit you can bear by having a transformative relationship with Christ:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:1-17

Your old branches that don't bear fruit are trimmed away by the internal Christ. The branches that do bear fruit are pruned and cared for by the internal Christ, enabling the branch to produce even more fruit. 

Let's take another verse, this time from the Gospel of Matthew:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 7:15-20

If the fruits of your transformation produce good fruit, things like love, joy, and peace, you are not going down a false road. In fact, you'll discover that this road, though rarely taken, leads you to a greater relationship with God and with others, fulfilling the greatest commandments. Ask yourself these questions:

Does love come out of your words and actions? 

Is joy evident in the midst of your suffering? 

Are you at peace with the continuously changing unknown? 

Do you have faith (trust) in God that "all things work together for the good?"

I heard people say that Buddhism isn't really a religion but a way of life. I can confidently say that the same is for Christianity. Jesus didn't present us with a new religion; he presented us with a new way of living. Your relationship with God is meant to transform you into Christlikeness.

Living Water Christianity focuses less on belief and more on transformation. You cannot believe transformation to happen, nor can you force the transformation of others. You can only be willing to let go of the attachments to your old self and embrace the unfolding of your new in Christ. May you be willing to do so. 

You can be a Christian and be a renowned Theologian. You can be a Christian and get ordained into the priesthood. You can be a Christian and read your Bible daily, attend weekly church services, raise your hands in worship, fall on bended knee, pray faithfully, and believe and follow all your church's doctrines. Nonetheless, if you are not being transformed in Christ after your supposed "salvation," you must ask yourself if you have a genuine relationship with the living Christ.

Reflection Questions: 

1.  How would you describe your initial salvation experience? How were you transformed? What new fruits showed up in your life?

2.  Which beliefs do you have the most difficulty letting go of? What doctrines are preventing you from going beyond them?

3.  What fruits are evident in your life? What comments have people made to you about the evidence of these fruits in your life?

Quotes:

Yes, your transformation will be hard. Yes, you will feel frightened, messed up and knocked down. Yes, you’ll want to stop. Yes, it’s the best work you’ll ever do. 

Robin Sharma

You’re transforming old patterns of your mind and letting go of thoughts you don’t need to have around any longer.

Anonymous

Nothing happens until the pain of remaining the same outweighs the pain of change. 

Arthur Burt

Don’t fear failure. Fear being in the exact same place next year as you are today. 

Michael Hyatt

Transformation literally means going beyond your form.

Wayne Dyer

Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It’s a journey of discovery – there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair. 

Rick Warren

Allow the fires of transformation to burn away all that doesn't serve you.

Heather Ash Amara

Transformation is a journey without a final destination.

Marilyn Ferguson

The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.

Dwight L. Moody

I hate how hard spiritual transformation is and how long it takes. I hate thinking about how many people have gone to church for decades and remain joyless or judgmental or bitter or superior.

John Ortherg

Know that transformation sometimes begins with a fall. So never curse the fall. The ground is where humility lives. Take it. Learn it. Breathe it in. And then come back stronger, humbler and more aware of your need for Him. Come back having seen your own nothingness and His greatness.

Yasmin Mogahed

Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress. The contented soul is the stagnant soul.

Aiden Wilson Tozer

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

Soren Kierkegaard

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

Laozi

You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.

Charles Spurgeon

We all come to this planet as spiritual beings destined to experience a variety of challenges and situation in order to grow and evolve spiritually.

James Van Praagh

From Segregation to Tolerance: How We View Christianity and the Great Commission

When I was a young teenager I carried with me a strong sense of spiritual superiority. It wasn't because I was more spiritual; it was because I considered my religion to be superior than others, especially my particular doctrines. Those who held different beliefs than me were not as close to God as I was, I truly believed. As I would discover in later years, what I considered spiritual superiority was actually primitive spirituality.

When my older brother went to college his mind began to expand beyond our childhood spiritual understandings. I remember when he came home one weekend he started to describe certain Eastern philosophies to me, concepts I never heard of before, and he came to the conclusion that all religions were connected at the mystical level. Hearing this I had an immediate negative reaction. My first instinct was fear, fearing my brother was falling away from the faith of our childhood, and as a result was falling away from God. This caused me a great deal of stress, because I didn't want him to be left behind for the horrible tribulation that I believed was about to take place (I was a premillennialist). Little did I expect that years later I would come to a similar internal awareness where I likewise could see that same mystical connection.

When I went to college I learned that Christianity was a much more diverse and inclusionary faith than I assumed growing up. This gave me immense security to move beyond the restricted faith of my childhood and embrace a wide range of Christian beliefs. In the process, I became more tolerant of other pathways to God. In 2008 I did my first study-abroad trip to Spain. Our focus during our whole trip was studying the lives of the great Spanish mystics, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. I discovered in these two giants of inner spirituality a connection to God I always knew existed but a connection that doctrine was unable to represent. When I came home I told my brother about my fascination with St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. He surprised me when he told me he already knew who they were and studied them himself! From that point forward I realized there was something real about the experiences of the mystics, and I longed to dig further into that truth. This began my mystical journey.

In 2010 I experienced my great spiritual breakthrough, what I today consider my official salvation. After going through a period of extensive suffering, I came to a place where I had to let go of all attachments to my suffering ego. This release caused me to die to my former self, leading me into the "Dark Night of the Soul," where I would come to experience a cosmic shift of my consciousness centered on God alone. Religion was no longer sufficient for me, as I saw it was created and directed by man. With this realization I began to open myself to the studies of the mystics of other religious traditions, learning how to separate the mystic from their tradition. I studied the likes of Rumi and the Buddha and found that these mystics were talking about the same Divine Mystery that St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross were in the 16th century. The realization my brother had years earlier I now understood.

As Christian mystic Meister Eckhart accurately described this awareness, "Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language." 

The Ancient Drive of Segregation

Throughout most of its history, Christianity has promoted a fear-based perspective of other people and other religions. This fear of others has created very intolerant, egoic people and resulted in neverending war and genocide. The origins of this perspective go back to the ancient Hebrews, who intended to keep the purity of their Jewish bloodline within the ever-changing mixture of cultures and spiritualities of the Near East. The Jewish Scriptures promote this intentional segregation, with many recorded anti-miscegenation laws that would have long-term effects on future societies. With Judaism as its ancestor, Christianity adopted this drive of separation, and it still persists to this day. As I hope to communicate in this post, neither Judaism nor Christianity have been truly pure and have a long history of adoption of other cultures.

The Continuous Evolution of Christianity

Christianity has never been a stagnant religion; it has continously evolved with the changing times. God never changes, but cultures, people, and people's views do. Many of the understandings Judeo-Christians once deemed absolute are debated or have been discarded altogether (such as the taboo of uttering Yahweh's name). Likewise, many of the understandings we hold absolutely true today will become obsolete in the future. This reality shouldn't freak us out; it should make us more tolerable people.

Looking back at Jewish and Christian history, we see a story of the constant movement of people and cultures adding their contributions to the Judeo-Christian religious identity. As we will see, we've been blending with and pulling from other cultural and religious views all along. I think its essential for the Christian to study the roots of his or her religion, becoming aware of its evolution over time. By doing so, perhaps the Christian will become more open-minded and see that they indeed are connected to all people.

Let me present to you a brief history of the evolution of Judaism and Christianity, starting from their early Canaanite roots in polytheism and ending in the postmodern perennialism. All the information below was discovered through my own studies. Do your own research to verify the information below (and don't just read from Christian sources!).

Canaanite Polytheism (1200-930 BCE)

Archaeological evidence suggests that the Israelites didn't conquer Canaan by force, as portrayed in the book of Joshua, but instead emerged out of the various indigenous Canaanite peoples that were already inhabiting the area. The Canaanites were polytheistic, worshiping many gods such as El, Baal, Asherah, Dagon, Chemosh, Moloch, and Mot. El was the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon. El (or El Shaddai, El Elyon, Eloah, or Elohim) appears 217 times in the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament, primarily in the books of Psalms and Job. El was in all likelihood the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The very name Israel comes from the root El (El contended or wrestling with El). The Islamic name for God, Allah, is also descended from the name El. What may be surprising is El in his earliest form had a consort named Asherah (the Mother Goddess). 

The origins of Yahweh are a little more vague. Although historians believe the Hebrews were Canaanites, Yahweh is not a Canaanite god. Sadly, the original meaning of Yahweh has been lost in time. The oldest record of Yahweh's name was discovered in an Egyptian inscription from the time of Amenhotep III describing the land of the Shasu people. The Shasu were cattle nomads who worshipped the god Yahu (Yhw), what many scholars believe to be the beginnings of Yahweh. Another interesting fact was that the Shasu lived in Midian, the same place Moses encountered God in the burning bush. Some historians believe that through the caravans of the Shasu between Egypt and Canaan, Yahweh eventually found himself in the land of Canaan. Groups of displaced Canaanites clung to the new god Yahweh and made him their patron god, differentiating themselves as Hebrews from the surrounding Canaanite tribes. The Hebrews continued to worship the other Canaanite gods. 

In the period of the Judges and the first part of the monarchy, El merged with Yahweh. El became the generic name for god, while Yahweh became the head god of the Hebrews. Yahweh headed the Hebrew pantheon of lesser gods along with his consort, Asherah. Other Canaanite gods were similarly absorbed into Yahweh, such as Baal and his identification as a storm god (Exodus 15:1-18). Yahweh began to be worshipped solely, forming a unique feature in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Monarchic Yahwism (930-586 BCE)
The elites in the kingdom of Israel endorsed a monolatristic religion, the belief in many gods but the worship of only one. This ancient religion is called Yahwism. Other neighboring kingdoms had their own national gods, such as Chemosh of Moab, Moloch of the Ammonites, and Qaus of the Edomites. While the elites in Israel adopted Yahwism, the general population was still fairly polytheistic.

In 722 BCE the Kingdom of Israel rebelled against the Assyrian Empire and was subsequently destroyed. Refugees from Israel fled to Judah, where Yahweh was much revered. With them they brought with them the tradition of Yahwism. The landowning elites in Judah soon adopted this view. In the 7th century BCE, the elites placed eight-year -old Josiah on the throne. During his reign, the Assyrian empire collapsed and an independence movement took place within Judah. King Josiah launched a full-scale reform of Yahweh-alone worship and banned the worship of any other god. The Hebrews were on the path from a transition from monolatristicism to monotheism. 

In 586 BCE, Judah was overthrown by the Neo-Babylonian empire, ruled by Nebuchadnezzar II.

Babylonian Exile (605-538 BCE)

While archaeological evidence suggests that the majority of the population remained in Judah and kept their customs, the Judean elites were taken as captives to Babylon. The trauma of the exile experience led to the development of a strong sense of Hebrew identity within the elites and the eventual developement of a strict monotheistic theology. This theology would become the source of significant portions of the Hebrew Bible and laid the foundation of Second Temple Judaism. By the end of the Babylonian exile, the existence of any other gods was denied and Yahweh became the only true God of the world.

Second Temple Judaism (538 BCE-70 CE)

In 539 BCE, the Persian army conquered Babylon under the leadership of Cyrus the Great. A year later, Cyrus made a public declaration that allowed the exiled Jews to return to their homeland. When the exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem, they once again became the ruling elite, this time implementing monotheism. This was the beginnings of Second Temple Judaism. Much of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) was assembled during this time, including the Torah, the histories, and the prophetic and wisdom literature. The new scriptures were revised and edited from previous polytheistic and monolatristic sources to advocate for a stricter monotheism. New concepts of priesthood, a new emphasis on the sacredness of the written law, the prohibition of uttering Yahweh's sacred name (instead translated to Adonai or Lord), and the banning of intermarriage with non-Jews was established. Various schools developed within Second Temple Judaism, including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Samaritanism, and smaller messianic movements. 

It has been hypothesized that the Hebrew transition from monolatristicism to monotheism was strongly influenced by the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism is arguably the world's first monotheistic religion. Several concepts in Second Temple Judaism are identical in Zoroastrianism that weren't evident before the Babylonian exile. One of these was the eschatology of the last judgment. Zoroastrians believed in the final renovation of the universe, where Angra Mainyu will be destroyed by Ahura Mazda (God), an event Zoroastrians called Frashokereti. The story of Satan's defeat by God in the last days and the restoration of the world is an obvious adoption from the Zoroastrian story. In so doing, Satan gained an expanded role in the Jewish narrative. The genre of apocalyptic literature became extremely popular afterwards, setting the stage for the expectation of the future Messiah that would become King of the renovated world and reclaim Israel's dominance. Jesus was the Messiah many Jews were hoping for.

Apostolic Age (30-100 CE)

After Jesus death, the claims that he was the Messiah spread amongst the Jewish population thanks to the work of his apostles. The earliest converts were apocalyptic Jewish Christians who had strong ties to Second Temple Judaism. Saul of Tarsus, a Roman and a Jew, didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah, and he persecuted these Jewish Christians quite harshly. After his mystical Christian conversion on the road to Damascus, however, he came to know the Spirit of Jesus, who was the Christ. He stopped persecuting the Jewish Christians and began his own ministry to the Gentiles (non-Jews), becoming the first major Judeo-Christian inclusionist. This presented a major problem for the Jewish-Christian leaders, because the Gentiles weren't Jews and didn't observe the Jewish law. Paul argued that a Christian didn't have to be a Jew to be a Christian, and that faith in Christ alone is enough. Paul's view spread like wildfire, while the propagation of law-driven Christianity was minuscule. Pauline Christianity broke away from their Jewish roots and became the recognizable Christian identity.

Ante-Nicene Period and Late Antiquity (100-476 CE) 

The Ante-Nicene Period covered the period between the Apostolic Age and the First Council of Nicea. It was a time of great diversity within Christianity. There were a vast number of Christian sects spread throughout the world, each emphasizing different theologies and practices. Church leaders struggled to find unifying features within these sects, and this soon got the attention of the Roman Emperor who intended to keep a unified empire. 

In 313 CE, Roman Emperor Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan, which officially legalized Christian worship after the intense persecutions of Christians by the Roman emperors in the first few centuries. He knew that Christians made up a good portion of his empire and their numbers were growing. To gain their support and keep a unified empire, he himself converted to Christianity and began to support the church financially, built churches and basillicas, granted special priviledges to clergymen, and promoted Christians to high political offices. His next goal was to bring together the top church leaders of the world and come up with a unified theology. In the First Council of Nicaea in 325, Constantine helped formulate the first unified doctrines of the Church, specifically the doctrine that Jesus was both 100% human and 100% God. 55 years later, Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which made Christianity the state religion of Rome. Subsequent Church Councils established further unifying doctrines and declared any other doctrines as heresy.

In 476, Rome fell to the Germanic tribes.

The Middle Ages (5th-16th centuries)

Despite the breakup of the Christianized Roman Empire, Christianity continued to expand globally, evolving into new forms with every culture it encountered. In the 5th century, leaders of all the churches came together to canonize the Bible, centered on the letters of Paul. The majority of Christians were illiterate, however, and they relied heavily on learned church leaders to guide them in Christian living.

In the 8th and 9th centuries, Charles Charlemagne established schools to address the problems of illiteracy amongst his clergy. The Carolingian Renaissance brought an intellectual and cultural revival in literature and the arts to the West. About four centuries later, the Italian Renaissance reintroduced the classical literature of Ancient Greece and Rome and saw it merge with Christianity. Medieval culture continued to change, and in the 16th century the Protestant Reformation led to a vast reformation in Christianity. Accompanied by Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press and the rising literacy rates, the Protestant Reformation led many Christians to distance themselves from the 1500 year-old Church and rely solely on the Bible as the ultimate authority for Christian living.

Modern Christianity (16th Century- 20th Century)

Modern Christianity saw a similar diversity of theologies as that of early Christian sects. With the rise of new reformist groups evolved new denominations, each with their own doctrines and interpretations of the Bible. At the same time, new breakthroughs in science, such as Galileo's reintroduction of Copernicus' theory of a heliocentric universe, caused quite a stir within Christianity. In response to the changing perspectives, the Catholic Church initiated major reforms aimed at expanding their influence and being more relevant in the modern era. These included anti-corruption measures and the establishment of seminaries and new religious orders. Catholic nations soon got ahead and led the charge in the Age of Exploration in the 15th to 17th centuries, bringing with them a mission to spread their version of Christianity to the native populations throughout the world. Protestants also joined in the Age of Exploration. Colonialism made Christianity a global religion. 

From the 17th century onward, capitalism and science dominated the Western mind. With these newfound values, Christianity started to grow stale. In response to the receding faith, men like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield led what would become a new religious revival called the Great Awakening. Concepts such as all people are born sinners and without salvation one will go to Hell led many people back to pious living, albeit being fear-driven. A new emphasis on personal connection with God became a lead message, with obvious implementation of modern individualism. Demoninations such as Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist arose. Subsequent Great Awakenings and revivals inspired new denominations and new movements, including the Holiness Movement and the Restoration Movement.

The 19th century saw the publication of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the ending of slavery, and the introduction of Eastern religions and philosophies. In the 20th century the Civil Rights Movement dominated cultural reform, and Christianity evolved along with it. New liberal denominations also emerged. In the 19th and 20th centuries, mainstream Christianity's influence waned in the West due to its inability to adapt to and evolve with the changing cultures of America and Europe leading into the 21st century.

Post-Modern Christianity (21st Century)

Today, we live in an era of globalization. The sharing of ideas has expanded significantly thanks to the invention of the Internet. It's now much easier to share ideas and connect to a variety of people from a variety of cultures. New spiritual conversations are happening between the various religious traditions, and Christianity is at a crossroads. 

The Calling of the Great Commission

Most Christians will agree that Jesus called us to spread his message:

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" 

Matthew 28:18-20

What exactly did Jesus command his followers to do? Jesus summed it up for us in an earlier passage:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. 

Matthew 22:36-40

All the law hangs on love. Thus, the Great Commission is to make disciples of love.

Unlike the perspectives of many authors in the Bible, Jesus was inclusionary in his teachings. He understood diversity. He was tolerant of people not like himself, people such as the Samaritans, the Greeks, the taxcollectors, the prostitutes, the disabled, the Romans, and women. He refused to curse nonbelievers when asked by his religious followers (Luke 9:52-56), declaring that whoever was not against him was for him. He believed his message applied to all humans, no matter their religion or culture. Jesus introduced us to the Christ be became, a Christ who was before all time and within all of creation, including us.

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body- whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 

Now if the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body." 

1 Corinthians 12

God has placed the parts of the body just as he wanted them to be. The body of Christ is not just the Christian body; it's the body of humanity. How beautiful it would be for a Christian to gather at the table in love with a Buddhist, a Hindu, or a Muslim! How awesome it would be to explore the different human expressions of God together, putting our egos aside. How awesome it would be to delve into the Christ consciousness of love that is within each of us and make others aware of this same Christ consciousness that's within themselves. This is the Great Commission. Some will choose Christianity. Great! Some will choose Islam. Ok! Others will choose the Eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. No problemo. Some of these religious traditions are older than Christianity, yet Christ is eternal. Our responsibility as Christians is to lead the way to Christ through love. 

13th and 14th century theologian and mystic philosopher Meister Eckhart once said, "Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language." That language is within all of us.

We are a Human Ecosystem

We are all part of the human ecosystem. In the human ecosystem are various trees, shrubs, and grasses, each planted into the Ground of Being. From the Ground of Being comes life (Christ). When a plant is separated from the Ground, it loses its lifeforce and dies. The plants that remain rooted in the Ground remain alive and grow. Few of us are trees, whose roots grow deep into the Ground. We can consider trees as the teachers and the founders of the major world religions with massive followings. Just as there are various trees, there are various teachers. When a tree is uprooted and placed on a pedestal to only be worshipped, it loses its life force. The same happens if a tree is cut down to be used for selfish ambition. The tree is meant to be rooted into the Ground, being constantly provided by it. Under each tree grows an ecosystem of smaller trees, shrubs and grasses. The smaller trees are the mystics who have understood the messages of the great founders and rooted themselves deeply in the Ground surrounding that tree. Most of us are shrubs and grasses. We have narrow roots and can easily be uprooted by storms or invaders. It takes many storms to grow our roots deeper into the Ground.

The beauty and health of the entire human ecosystem lies in the diversity of its plants. As Christians, we live in an ecosystem under the tree of Jesus. Some of us understand his teaching and live his teaching, establishing ourselves as smaller trees in the system of Christianity. The vast majority of us are shrubs and grasses, relying on the shade of Jesus to protect us from the struggles of life. Yet, the tree of Jesus lives amongst other great trees, each with their own ecosystem, each benefitting one another. Each tree arises from the same Ground. 

It's time for Christians to once again evolve their consciousness and begin to accept other religions and philosophies as potential ways for people to connect to the Divine.

Converting others isn't the Great Commission of Jesus. Jesus left us with the instruction to simply love and spread that love. As former president John F. Kennedy once said, "Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather, it condemns the oppression or persecution of others."

Tolerance doesn't mean you have to lose your Christian faith. Embrace your faith! Embrace the tree you're under. Tolerance is being able to see all people in their unique expressions as part of the human story to understand God. If we adapt as Christians and transcend our egoic theologies, the outside world will be more open to listen to our version of the Divine.

From its origins in Canaanite polytheism to its continuous evolution in the postmodern world, Christianity is a melting pot of a vast number of cultures and spiritualities. We are part of this same story, and we now get to add to it. May we choose to evolve and grow in the ever-manifesting Christ.

Quotes:

"We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand thta all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color."

Maya Angelou

"We can learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others are bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live together in the same box."

Robert Fulghum

"Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."

Voltaire

"All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment."

Dalai Lama

"All religions must be tolerated...for every man must get to heaven in his own way."

Epictetus

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree."

Albert Einstein

"All churches and all religions contain aspects of the truth, but only God is truth."

Pat Buckley

"The highest result of education is tolerance."

Helen Keller

"Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather, it condemns the oppression or persecution of others."

John F. Kennedy

"Unity is strength, division is weakness."

Swahili Proverb

"There is more power in unity than division."

Emanuel Cleaver

"Every individual is a unique manifestation of the Whole, as every branch is a particular outreaching of the tree."

Alan Watts

"Oneness is the absolute truth; duality is an illusion."

Shradha Shukla

"Consider your own place in the universal oneness of which we are all a part, from which we all arise, and to which we all return."

David Fontana

"The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground of all being is God."

Paul Tillich

From Judgment to Love: How We View Others

My grandpa Cam Iverson was a pastor for nearly thirty years between the 1960s and the 1980s. As a young man, he dropped out of the eighth grade due to alcoholism. He was a mean alcoholic, picking fights with people on the street, stealing, cursing, and gaining the nickname "Half-Pint Cam." He suffered through many years of anguish, but one day in his twenties he gave his full heart to God and saw a total transformation of his life. He completely gave up alcohol and stopped fighting, stealing and cursing. He fell in love with God, and as a result, he changed from a cynical man to a lover of all people. 

When my grandpa was in his 50s he was asked to share his testimony with a small congregation in McKenna, Washington. After he gave his testimony, the ladies aide asked him to be their lead pastor. At first he was reluctant, feeling unworthy of such a position as he was an 8th grade dropout and was never ordained. God gave him peace of heart, however, to take the position, telling him, "I ordained you." Under my grandpa's leadership, the church grew and grew and eventually moved to a bigger building that could house his growing congregration. 

Cam Iverson was a unique pastor in the community in that he cared less for theology and finances and cared more for people. If I were to give a defining characteristic of his ministry it would be restorative love. He believed that no matter who the person was or how far they had fallen, they could always be restored in God. He knew that there was no sinless person, including himself. If God could ordain him to be the leader of that church, God could use anybody. Cam had a heart for the broken, and he gave many the opportunity to use their talents for the kingdom of God no matter their past or their present circumstance. When Cam did this, however, several board members freaked out, telling Cam that certain people were "sinners" and were bad examples for his ministry. He ignored the criticism, and in the mid-1980s, he was voted out as pastor by the church board.

The Pierced Lens of Judgment

The church in America and Europe continues to see a decrease in attendance rates. People inside the church reason that this decrease is due to the corruption of its congregation by the "Evil One," resulting in the "great falling away" as portrayed in end-times theology. When listening to the people who left the church, however, a different reason emerges of why people are leaving: church people are too judgmental. The former understanding gives people inside the church an excuse to never change; the latter requires extensive and potentially difficult self-reflection in order to change. I believe it's time to address this major issue.

 But don't take my word for it. Jesus' words make clear his view towards judging others: 

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Matthew 7:1-5

Throughout the Gospels Jesus' persistently accused the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees, for judging others. The Pharisees especially targeted those they deemed sinners. Jesus called them out for this, asking any Pharisee who was without sin to cast the first stone (John 8:7). No Pharisee could step forward with integrity, their hidden hypocrisy being exposed. This really set them off. They plotted their revenge on Jesus, which they ultimately got when they influenced his crucifixion. Today, the same judgmental mindset persists in religious-dominated churches.

If we claim to be Christians, it would be wise to ask ourselves the same questions Jesus asked before we decide to judge anyone:

Is there anybody in the church today who is without sin? 

and

Is there anybody who has the right to judge others' beliefs and lifestyles if they are harming nobody?

When Jesus asked these similar questions 2000 years ago, none of the Pharisees could hide the fact that they too were sinners. I don't think any of us can, either.

Judgment is the result of an individual's superiority complex. The superiority complex is the attitude of superiority that actually conceals feelings of inferiority due to failure (sin). Judging others is the result of this complex. People with a strong superiority complex want to portray themselves as holier than the "sinners" over there, so they conceal their own sin and magnify the sins of others to be seen. The sin we all carry within ourselves is the plank that Jesus is referring to. This plank gives us a pierced lens, disabling our ability to look past sin and love one another fully.

I think it's very important to be reminded what "sin" actually is. The Greek word for sin, hamartia, translates to "miss the mark." The same word was used in archery, when describing the action of aiming at a target and missing. Sin can therefore be understood as an act of imperfection, failing, or making a mistake. What exactly is this target we're aiming for? Complete union with our Creator, who is love. Thus, sin is missing the mark of love. 

Let's take this a step further. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus described the only necessary act of judgment, which many Christians have used to justify their own egoic acts of judging the sins of others. 

"If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over." 

Matthew 18:15

Notice what Jesus was trying to teach here. Jesus didn't say if your brother and sister sins, correct him; Jesus said if your brother and sister sins against you then go point out their fault. This isn't a call to judge your brother or sister by their imperfection; it's a call for correcting the love that was broken between two people. 

You cannot love God and justly break up the love of your neighbor (1 John 4:7-8). The two go together simultaneously and are of the same love essence. If you judge another and that relationship is damaged, you are responsible for destroying that love and putting your own beliefs above God.

Christians are supposed to be the light of the world revealing themselves through love (John 13:35), not by being pious converts. Jesus attempted to do-away with the old religious paradigm that taught following the rules was your only access point to God. In fact, Jesus was the prime example of the ultimate religious rule-breaker! Yet, as Christians, we still judge others by those same rules we ourselves can't follow. Judgment is not a commandment from God. Judgment is sin, as one will quickly discover its ability to destroy love. Judgment does not radiate God; judgment radiates pride. As Mother Teresa said, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

From Judgment to Love

What is our prime responsibility as Christian people? Let's turn to our leader to find out. When asked by his disciples, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Matthew 22:36-40

Love is our primary responsibility as Christians. If there is any practice that a Christian ought to adopt, if there's any commandment that ought to center their theology, it's love. If Jesus' words are not enough, let's take another Scripture. John the Evangelist echoed the words of Jesus:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7-8

This is one of my favorite Scriptures because it gives us a definition of love, which tends to be vague. What is love according to John? God is love. If you break the love of your neighbor, then you break your bond with God. You can't have one and ignore the other. If a gay man and his partner have a genuine loving relationship, this is more radiant of God's Presence than the judgmental Christian who aims to destroy that bond. But let's take another passage of Scripture, this time from Paul.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can  move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

Love is the greatest spiritual act. Love is greater than prophesying. Love is greater than speaking in tongues. Love is greater than being an expert of the Scriptures. Love is greater than faith, which most Protestant circles deem as the ultimate Christian act. Love is greater than following all the rules, which is impossible anyway. Let's add one more verse, though, this time going back to the words of Jesus as told in the Gospel of John.

A new commandment I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.

John 13:34-35

The true witness of Jesus is someone who loves others unconditionally like he did. Jesus loved the broken. Jesus loved the sinners. Jesus loved those his religion and society deemed unworthy. This love is extremely hard to do, as many of us have experienced, but it's a love that's extremely necessary. Unfortunately, the world sees Christians not as lovers but as closed-minded, judgmental people. We've done a poor job collectively at living like Jesus. Nevertheless, I believe we have a grand opportunity to change this perception, one person at a time, and we do this by the very act of love itself. Love isn't just one Christian thing to do; love IS the way of Christ. 

When two or more are gathered in love, God is present. Everytime you genuinely love somebody as they presently are without the need to change them, you not only show you're a Christ-follower; you display God's very Presence. 

How to Love Others

So how does one love another? Let me give you a strategy that I've found helpful both in the classroom and in my conversations that has led to numerous growth moments and a deepening of my relationships.

1. Listen. Become an intentional listener. Be fully present in their expression. This doesn't mean just hearing somebody talk, eagerly awaiting to give your two-sense. It means intentionally listening to what the person has to say. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason; listen twice as often as you talk!

2. Understand. Swiss mystic Adrienne von Speyr once said, "The first step in learning to love others is the attempt to understand them." Your entire goal when listening to another is to fully understand what the person is trying to say. Ask questions. Repeat back to them the main points they shared with you and wait to be corrected if needed (notice they're correcting you, not you correcting them!). 

3. Accept. You heard and understood their story. Now fully accept their story and have compassion. No matter how much you may disagree or want to give your advice, keep your thoughts to yourself. Remember that you're not the expert of their story. Accept the person's struggle without trying to solve the struggle for them. 

4. Share. If the timing feel's right, share your own story. Share how you dealt with your circumstances. Your story alone will give them enough content to digest and compare. They may follow a totally different path than you took. Be okay with that. To each his own. 

You always have a choice: you can choose to judge or you can choose to love. Err on the side of love. You won't be judged by God for loving another as you would should you judge another. When you shift from judging others to loving others,  your relationships will grow and your connection to God will deepen.

Let's end on a quote from American monk Thomas Merton:

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.

Quotes

"Judging a person does not define who they are. It defines who you are."

Wayne Dyer

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy."

Thomas Merton

"If you judge people you have no time to love them."

Mother Teresa

"Love is the absence of judgment."

Dalai Lama

Judgment is a negative frequency."

Stephen Richard

"Be curious, not judgmental."

Walt Whitman

"What you must do is love your neighbor as yourself. There is no one who knows your many faults better than you! But you love yourself notwithstanding. And so you must love your neighbor, no matter how many faults you see in him."

Martin Buber

"It is easy to love those who are far, but it's not easy to love your neighbor."

Mahatma Gandhi

"We do not judge the people we love."

Jean Paul Sarte

"The first step in learning to love others is the attempt to understand them."

Adrienne von Speyr

"Happiness is in your ability to love others."

Leo Tolstoy

"In the end, nothing we do or say in this lifetime will matter as much as the way we have loved one another."

Daphne Rose Kingma

From Concept to Mystery: How We View God

 Story

When I attended college I fell in love with learning. I loved expanding my mind and learning about a variety of topics.I became a teacher because I wanted to expand the minds of others so that they too would experience the same joy of learning. 

After I graduated from college I had further academic aspirations. I intended to get my Masters Degree and later my Ph.D. I believed by doing this I would know the world better, and as a result, know God better. I believed rigorous intellectual study would deepen my relationship with God. As I began to learn more, however, I realized that learning itself didn't deepen my relationship with God. I could study the Scriptures and know Christian history and theology and not truly know God in the end. I began to question whether God could even be understood. My will to understand God grew and grew. I would come to realize that my mind was not the access point to the Divine. In order to find this access point, I had to dis-identify with my mind and embrace God in the Mystery. 

The Mind: The False Access Point

17th century French philosopher René Descartes, widely regarded as the father of modern philosophy, once famously said, "I think, therefore I am." This proclamation brought to the Western world left-brain rationalism and the merging of mind with spirit.

Rationalism was a much-needed development in the West, ending the Dark Ages which were dominated by absolute monarchs and the fixed dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. Through rationalism, an individual was able to reason for themselves what truth is, known as individualism, instead of blindly trusting political and church institutions to dictate truth to them. This intellectual revolution opened the door to new political, economic, and religious drives that began to dominant the world. The primary drive became colonialism, motivated by gold, glory and God, or the desire for individuals to get rich off land and resources, achieve worldwide fame, and to convert native populations to Christianity. Genocide was widely accepted as indigenous peoples were seen as primitive and less than human, allowing dominant groups to force their objectives without much guilt. Rationalism and individualism became the official gods of the West.

Rationalism and individualism still dominate Western culture today. The school system is a prime example, placing the greatest value on the left-brain functions of language development and mathematics and comparing one student to another. We are taught very early in school that success is determined by high academic performance and getting ahead of others. College for their children is the prime goal for many parents. College isn't a bad goal to strive for, but going farther down the path of the educational system one discovers that academic learning doesn't guarantee future success. I discovered this myself after graduation. I was knowledgable and academically prepared for my teaching career with all the latest teaching jargon, philosophies and strategies. I wasn't prepared, however, for real life.

Perhaps the greatest misunderstanding I had was believing I was my mind. Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle said it best:

The philosopher Descartes believed he had found the most fundamental truth when he made his famous statement: "I think, therefore I am." He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identify with thinking. The compulsive thinker, which means almost everyone, lives in a state of apparent separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind.”

By equating thinking with being, as Descartes had done, the individual experiences themselves as separate from others, separate from the world, and sadly for the spiritual seeker, separate from God. If it wasn't for my depression and gaining the ability to detach from my mind, I would've been isolated from God and the love that He is. Before we know the depths of God, we have to reexamine our preconceived notions of who God is. To do this, we must identify our egoic triad.

The Egoic Triad: Our Human Vessel

The mind, the body, and emotions drive our experience of the world. Our mind enables us to make distinctions and form different neural connections to a vast array of information. Our body allows us to experience the fullness of those various distinctions through our five senses. Our emotions enable us to feel the depths of these distinctions and their interconnectedness. All three aspects form our individual human make-up, a unique combination that gives us a sense of identity. This mind-body-emotion triangle is called the egoic triad, our specific spirit vehicle used to navigate this world. 

While the egoic triad is necessary to be human, it creates a major problem for us. The problem isn't the triad itself, which is necessary for a fulfilled life; the problem is attachment to the triad. As soon as you attach to any element of the triad, be it your thoughts, feelings or sensations, you set blind yourself from God and open yourself to immense suffering.

I remember having a very strong attachment to my mind. I believed our thoughts and memories were the element of ourselves that carried on with us to the afterlife. I came to discover quite the contrary watching my grandmother die. My grandma was diagnosed with dementia, and over a period of five years I watched as her mind was eaten away. Nearing the end of her life, most of the memories she once possessed had disappeared. It was absolutely heartbreaking for me and my family to watch. Nevertheless, although her mind was dying, she showcased her eternal spirit through growth in love like I’d never seen before.

The spirit cannot suffer, but our egoic triad can. Suffering can be physical; it can cause great pain. Suffering can be mental; we’ve all been victims of our own negative thinking. Suffering can be emotional; our feelings are perhaps the most difficult to handle. The Buddha teaches that the cause of all suffering is attachment. Said another way:

Suffering is identification with and attachment to your egoic triad that’s beginning to lose itself.

If you want to end your suffering, you must cease to identify yourself as your thoughts, sensations, and emotions. You must let go of all attachments to your egoic triad. This isn't an easy task. The more you try to detach from your egoic triad, the more it fights to remain your identity. Your old patterns will suddenly become more attractive during a potential transformative experience. In order to break through, however, the old self must die. The old wine skin must be thrown away. It’s only by losing yourself that you fully enter the mystery of God, wherein lies your true essence. As one famous saying goes:

You are not a human being having a spiritual experience; you are a spiritual being having a human experience.

Once this internal shift happens, you'll begin to see your thoughts, sensations, and emotions objectively, creating space between you as the eternal observer and the human vessel you inhabit. Perhaps a rephrasing of Descartes famous saying is necessary:

I am; therefore I think.

God as Stillness

In the beginning was God and only God. Nothing else existed. If there was no-thing, then God has to likewise be no-thing. God is, was, and always will be God alone. When God created out of nothing, God could only radiate what He was in his essence: Love (1 John 4:8).

A Christian mystic living in the 14th century who penned The Cloud of Unknowing said: 

For He can well be loved, but he cannot be thought. By love He can be grasped and held, but by thought, neither grasped nor held. And therefore, though it may be good at times to think specifically of the kindness and excellence of God, and though this may be a light and a part of contemplation, all the same, in the work of contemplation itself, it must be cast down and covered with a cloud of forgetting. And you must step above it stoutly but deftly, with a devout and delightful stirring of love, and struggle to pierce that darkness above you; and beat on that thick cloud of unknowing with a sharp dart of longing love, and do not give up, whatever happens.

God cannot be conceptualized. As soon as we attempt to conceptualize God, we reduce God to the level of our own egoic triad. Our very concepts about God become the idols we worship. We officially make God into our own image. People have tried to conceptualize God through the use of various words and symbols, but neither words nor symbols can reveal God's essence. This is why Scripture alone fails to describe God, because God can't be described! Every word or symbol is but a human expression of their own limited understanding of God. God cannot be put in a box or located in one place. As soon as you declare God as a single concept, location, or personality, you belittle God as an object in an even greater universe that contains both God and what God is not. God cannot be the Creator of something larger than Himself.

To see God, we must allow ourselves to be molded by the mysterious presence that only He is. 

Be still and know I Am God. 

Psalm 46:10

To know God's essence, you need to move beyond your personal thoughts, feelings, and sensations and experience God in the stillness of the night. In the stillness between all things created, God can be found alone. If God can be found here, God can be found everywhere. He can be found in a tree or a rock. He can be found in the most repulsive human being. He can be found in great chaos. He can even be found in suffering. As 14th century Christian mystic Julian of Norwich said, "The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything." This is the discovery of the mystics. You cannot know the light of God until you experience the darkness of yourself first. Stillness only requires the willingness to surrender completely to the Divine Mystery. Once you have successfully shifted away from conceptual self-centered consciousness and laid your foundation on the consciousness arising from the Mystery, you will be led in the healing and the transformation of your egoic triad to better house the Spirit of God. 

How we view God determines how we view others, how we view the world, and how we view ourselves. How we view God determines every action we take and every reaction we have. May you free yourself from a fixed mindset and embrace the eternal growth in the Mystery.

Practice: Be Still and Know I Am God Meditation

The practice of inner silence can be initiated by the meditation Be Still and Know I Am God. 

Find a comfortable place where you're free from distraction. Close your eyes and begin by observing your breath. You don't need to alter it in any way. Just observe it with no judgment. Then begin to recognize your egoic triad when it arises. As the various thoughts, emotions, and sensations show themselves, observe them too without judgment and let them go. Don't attach to them. If you receive a certain image of God, thank the image and release it. When you get to a place of inner calmness, repeat the following words in your heart:

Be Still and Know I Am God.

Make this a daily meditation. Once this practice becomes habit, your inner and outer worlds will see a radical transformation, and you will clear room within yourself for God to speak directly to you and through you. 

Quotes:

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." 

Albert Einstein

"Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being reborn again." 

John 3:3

"If you have understood, then what you have understood is not God."

St. Augustine

"Father, Son, and Holy Spirit mean that the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us, and the mystery within us are all the same mystery." 

Frederick Buechner

"Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." 

Neil Armstrong

"The parts of the Christian story that had drawn me into the Church were not the believing parts but the beholding parts. While I understood both why and how the early church had decided to wrap those mysteries in protective layers of orthodox belief, the beliefs never seized my heart the way the mysteries did." 

Barbara Brown Taylor

"The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything." 

Julian of Norwich

"In the faces of men and women I see God." 

Walt Whitman

"If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow." 

Chinese Proverb

"When feeling is lost, I find meaning in the inner silence of my soul that was unfelt before."

Saumya

"Knowledge is learning something everyday. Wisdom is letting go of something everyday." 

Zen proverb

"Only the inner silence is yours. No-one gave it to you. You were born with it and you will die with it. Thoughts have been given to you. You have been conditioned to them."

Osho

"Inner silence is the event horizon to a vast ocean of wisdom and wonder." 

Amy Larson

"Inner silence is for our race a difficult achievement. There is a chattering part of the mind which continues, until it is corrected, to chatter on even in the holiest places."

C.S. Lewis

"Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother's womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things." 

Ecclesiastes 11:5

"God is a question without an answer; God is a mystery without a solution."

Unknown

"No eye has ever seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him."

1 Corinthians 2:9

"The mystery of God's love would not be a mystery if we knew all the answers."

Billy Graham

"You are encircled by the arms of the mystery of God."

Hildegard of Bingen

"Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing whether or not to say it." 

Unknown

"Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life." 

Eleanor Roosevelt

"Knowledge is power but only wisdom is liberty."

Will Durant

"To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe."

Marilyn vas Savant

"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen." 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

"Wisdom is the daughter of experience." 

Leonardo da Vinci

"Knowledge talks; wisdom listens."

Jimi Hendrix

"The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then come the new life and all that is needed." 

Joseph Campbell

"Only those willing to walk through the dark night will be able to see the beauty of the moon and and the brilliance of the stars." 

Archbishop Socrates Vilegas

"In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God."

St. John of the Cross

"Silence is God's first language."

St. John of the Cross