Quantum Mysticism: Introduction

It is my belief that all human efforts at creating religion and developing spiritual belief systems is an attempt to make sense out of existence, and provide a sense of connection and belonging, to something greater than our individual selves. It is a natural drive, because I believe at the very core of the universe, is conscious energy. Conscious energy is the creative force. Conscious energy, while it defies explanation, is the source of all conscious thought. 

Conscious creative energy is also cyclical. When one observes the material world there are cycles to be observed everywhere. Whether it be the tree leaves giving off oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide and animals breathing in oxygen and giving off carbon dioxide, or the cycle of water with evaporation and condensation, or the life and death of things being born and returning to the soil, cycles are everywhere. There are also cycles of the sunlight and moonlight. Most everything in the material universe is cyclical.

I have developed a diagram that shows how I view the quantum world at its most basic level. At the creative center is pure energy and thought. It is invisible to the material world, and yet all matter is formed by the thoughts of this this creative source. All material things are a part of this source. The centermost circle depicts this conscious creative source.  I have used the colors of spiral dynamic stages in portraying the idea. The center is the engine of the conscious creative source. It is invisible light and matter that is the conscious source of everything in the material world. This includes us and everything in the world we occupy. This may sound arrogant in view of how vast the universe is, but I do not look at it that way. The mere fact that our planet exists as a material world, and that we exist with consciousness on this planet, in this solar system, and in this galaxy makes us uniquely important in our locality. The fact that there is so much more out there in the universe merely emphasizes the absolute grandeur of the conscious creative source.

It seems to me that consciousness as we observe and experience it is synonymous with what we have labeled spirituality. I choose to interchange the terms conscious creativity with spirit and spirituality. Of course, the term mystical and mysticism is synonymous with spirit and spirituality. Therefore, I am comfortable with the term quantum mysticism.

I am not a physicist and I do not have but a basic understanding of quantum mechanics. That is ok. There are those who caution the likes of me making too much out of the connection between spirituality and quantum physics. To them, I simply say chill. I am not certain that science and spirituality will ever be completely compatible. However, there are enough clues throughout the history of religious spiritual thought that shows a similarity between what many sages over the ages have taught and what scientists observe about the material world. 

The mere fact that it is now believed that the universe is constantly and forever expanding is of great interest in the connection I make between the quantum world and the mystical world. As I understand it from a limited if not primitive position, the source of this continual creation and expansion is dark energy combined with dark matter. It is called dark because it is invisible within our material universe. 

Add to this the fact that a group of researchers recently were able to create matter out of light only bolsters my thesis. I don’t understand how they did it but I believe they did it, and it seems that many educated physicist believe it also. They wrote a paper announcing their findings and accomplishment and there was an article published documenting it. So for me it is indeed plausible that conscious energy and the spiritual world are synonymous. It is likewise plausible to me that God, the conscious creative force created all we observe out of the invisible.

This is an introductory post to a series that I plan to write about quantum mysticism that will include Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, and the interconnected aspects of spirituality and the spiritual world.

Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water

 

John 7:38  "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

The metaphor of living water is found other places in the bible as well. Jeremiah the prophet tells Israel that they have rejected their God who is an eternal well of living water, and in the book of Revelation there is mentioned the river of life. I find it interesting that in Taoism as well, the Tao which is "the way" is often likened to a river that is moving with a constant current. The idea of the river metaphor emphasizes that one must go with the flow. It is taught that the Tao is the source of all that is. Further, it is taught that we humans are in the Tao and are a part of it. So, it would be like swimming in the river. Instead of trying to swim against the flow, it is encouraged to simply go with the flow. In this instance, the idea of the river is an example of living water.

Let's take a look at what the prophet Jeremiah said about living water. Jer 2:13  "for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water." Here Jeremiah's mystical encounter reveals that God is a fountain of living water. It is no doubt that this is the metaphor that Jesus was referring to when he mentioned living water.

The King James Version says "out of your belly" and the NKJV and the NRSV say "out of your heart" shall flow rivers of living water. The Greek Word is "koilia" and it means the abdominal cavity. This is interesting when one thinks about the idea of chakras. Whether it be the heart or the stomach there are chakras in either case. There is the heart chakra and the solar plexus chakra right next to each other in the general area of the stomach and chest. The chakras are important power/energy openings in our body. They are thought to be shaped like wheels. They function in the area of absorbing and releasing energy. The heart chakra is synonymous with our inner being. This is interesting in view of the fact that the biblical record speaks about attitudes and beliefs of the heart. When someone says they believe something in their heart they are saying that they believe it deeply in their inner being.  

The promise from Jesus in the above passage from John's gospel is that one who trusts in, clings too, and relies on Jesus will have a river of living water flowing out of their heart and solar plexus chakras. It is a spiritual thing but an important one. Jeremiah defines "living water" as the source, God. So Jesus is actually saying that out of our solar plexus and heart chakras will flow divinity. This is especially true with one who is in tune spiritually with their chakras. It is the reason that we should keep our chakras healthy and clear. One of the best ways to do this is through meditation and affirmations. I used binaural beats meditation help that is specifically designed with healing chakras in mind. As I meditate while listening to binaural beats I am reciting my affirmations that are geared toward me becoming more and more loving.

So then, since God is love, one who has tuned the chakras through loving affirmations is actually causing rivers of "God Love" to flow out into the atmosphere around them. This is a point where understanding various religious beliefs and practices can be combined to bring about the highest possible vibration as we live our lives. I for one believe that Jesus really meant it when he said "if you trust in, cling too, and rely on me, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water!"

Manifestation and Affirmations

What would you say if I told you that we all are continually manifesting the world we experience? It is my opinion that this is true both spiritually and materially. We are co-creators with the Word. Jesus came to show us who we really are and what powers we really possess. John's gospel and first epistle add clarity to this. In John's first epistle one can read this: 1Jn 4:17  "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." And, in John's gospel this is written: Joh 14:12  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." This is why I believe that one of the purposes of Jesus ministry was to demonstrate what powers are readily available to us. 

The first question to ask is how was Jesus in the world? What did he do? The answer was that he was able to manipulate the material world through his faith by the aid of the Holy Spirit. He was a supernatural instrument of the Holy Spirit while he lived on this earth. He did this through performing miraculous works. All of the gospel records are replete with miracles he performed. In many places in the New Testament writings we are told that we are actually in Christ and the Father and that they are likewise in us. Paul states that we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ, and Peter writes that we are partakers of the divine nature. The preponderance of the evidence is overwhelming. We are indeed co-creators with the Logos. 

Here is a fact in my view. We ARE continually manifesting our world and circumstances. The question becomes are we being intentional and are we doing things to cause us to vibrate at the same level as the universe? Well, the above passages from John tell us that the universe is vibrating love. Love is the highest vibration. The proverb states that as a man thinks in his heart so is he. I realize that it is speaking of a miser not really willing to share his bread, but I also think it can be taken as an overall principle. What we think about with intention is what the universe uses in our manifesting. The goal then should be to raise our thought vibration. This is important to help us align with the universe and the divine nature.

I have learned that I cannot properly love others without loving myself. To this end, I have developed a practice of affirmations that will cause me to love and become love. But most importantly, it will help me take the first critical step of loving myself. If I do not love myself, how can I possibly obey Jesus in loving my neighbor as myself. Unfortunately, orthodox evangelical dogma has caused us to loathe ourselves rather than love ourselves. So, developing healthy realistic self love is the first step in manifesting in concert with the universe.

My Affirmations:

• I am uniquely created in the image of the creator. I bear the image of God
• I am greatly loved and highly favored by my creator. I am of great worth to the creator. My creator seeks and desires my highest and best life.
• I am prosperous because I deserve to be prosperous.
• I am continually and effortlessly attracting health, happiness, and wealth.
• The creative energy source of the universe is love and I was created in love for love’s sake
• I am imaginative and creative in all that I do. I am manifesting the highest possible vibration of the material world at all times
• My main substance is light which is energy
• I am the light of the world
• I am the bread of life
• I am the mind, vision, hands, feet, mouth of the creative source which is love
• I am loved as I learn to love myself and the more I love myself the more I will realize I am loved.
• Health, happiness, wealth, kindness, love, patience are mine in abundance
• I resolve this day and every day to consciously manifest the highest vibrations
• This is the key to my success!

Notice that the affirmations all begin with I am or I, my or mine. It is important to state them in the first person and in the positive sense. Also, I need to daily remind myself of what the characteristics of the creator is. Since the New Testament declares that God is LOVE, then I need to read those characteristics putting me in the first person. I want these traits to be mine in an ever increasing way.

Co 13:4-8a I am patient, I am kind, I rejoice in the success of others, I am humble, I am gracious, I am giving, I am happy go lucky, I forgive continuously, I rejoice in justice, I rejoice in truth, I bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things. I never end. 

This is a way to align yourself with the universe and a starting point for manifesting your highest vibration with intention.

Paul the mystic and the strong delusion; Moving toward an informed unified theology

2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

This post is for all to consider. That would be those within a more evangelical stance, and those who are finished with organized church, and every place in between. Because of that, I want to address 2 Thessalonians for those who no longer believe Paul was the author. To those individuals, for me it is similar enough in doctrine to be a result of the teaching of Paul. This would mean that even if Paul is not the author this verse was part of the revelation Paul shared. I always make a distinction between Paul the mystic and Paul the rabbi. This particular verse in my view is from Paul the mystic, and is no doubt a mystical revelation he received from the spirit of Jesus. It is similar in nature to the word Paul shared with the Ephesian Elders in Acts chapter twenty. It speaks of a time when the message of the gospel and the church would be tainted and changed. Everything I write here is predicated on the fact that I view Jesus of Nazareth as the unique incarnation of the Logos.

So then, what would be the implications, if in fact, what we have come to accept and celebrate as church is but a strong delusion? What if orthodoxy is a lie? Here is my short view. If it is not a lie, we should all be either Roman Catholics or affiliated with some branch of Eastern Orthodoxy because they indeed have apostolic succession. I personally do not believe this is the case because I believe that the dogma they have offered us is the strong delusion. This would mean that from the second century forward, after the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem the church was off the rails. Further, by the time of the famous councils, it was a complete train wreck. That would require that we reverse engineer the gospel of Jesus and the kingdom and also the mystical revelation of Paul et. al.

Act 2:42  "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." What needs to be recovered and rediscovered is the apostles' doctrine or teaching. The starting point for this would be the synoptic gospels as they present the teachings of Jesus and the gospel of the kingdom of God. It was in a nut shell, "change your mind, the kingdom of God is here!" While it was first expressed to first century Judaism it was to be a universal message. The main contribution of Judaism was that it presented "ONE GOD." According to Jewish teaching there is not a pantheon of God's but in reality one true creator God. This idea is not completely unique because others have had revelation of the same concept. Two that come to mind readily is Heraclitus, a Greek Stoic philosopher from 500BC, and Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher from the same period. Heraclitus saw the creator God as the Logos and Lao Tzu saw the creative source of the universe the Tao. 

It is not altogether a surprise that the first century church saw the teachings of Christ as somewhat exclusionary. They did not have the benefit of hindsight afforded us in the 21st century. We now have the capability to explore and understand a plethora of beliefs about creation, its purpose, and the creative source. We have the ability to explore the beliefs and views of many religions and philosophies. We also have the input from quantum physicists. From this exploration of various ideas one can begin to see a unified theological view emerge. For example one can see a common thread between the Sermon on the Mount and the Four Nobel Truths and the Eightfold Path. Likewise, one can see a common thread between the mystical revelation of the Logos in John's Gospel and the Tao.

Further, if one observes the teachings of Jesus in the synoptic gospels, and the mystical revelation found in the epistles, one can see a lot of clarity added to universal theological truth from the New Testament teaching. This is true when one focuses on Jesus' "redemptive purpose" view of the scripture, and the ability to separate the mystical universal revelation from the Judaic legal material.  It requires one to discern between Paul the Mystic and Paul the Rabbi. It also requires one to be aware that some of the writings such as James, and the epistle's of Peter were written with a Jewish audience in mind. 

Let me reiterate what I stated in the very first paragraph. I see, Jesus of Nazareth as the UNIQUE INCARNATION OF THE LOGOS. Thus, I see him as the mediator between humanity and the source. Therefore, I do not intend to state that Jesus is merely one ascended master of many. However, I believe that it is a huge mistake to exclude any of the ascended masters throughout human history. Likewise, I believe that they play an important role in a unified theology. For full disclosure, I have not explored all of them. I am not really familiar with Hinduism or Islam. I am more familiar with Buddhism and Taoism, and I feel that I am very familiar with Christianity and all of its iterations.

In my view, the "strong delusion" is the exclusionary aspect that Christianity has adopted. It comes from a flat literal reading of Christian scripture that does not take into consideration cultural and historical nuance in context. A unified theology of necessity is inclusionary. If there is but one creative source, and if we are a product of it, then all humanity is included. I will end on this final thought. The Christian scripture teaches that God is Love. Therefore, it is naturally reasonable that the creation was created in love and intended to participate in love.

If there is a reformation needed, it would be to bring together otherwise disparate beliefs into a universal theological whole.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

God is love: What are the implications of this phrase? Could it be universalism?

1Jn 4:7-8  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  (8)  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1Co 13:4-8a  Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant,  (5)  is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.  (6)  Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.  (7)  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  (8)  Love never ends.... 

When the apostle John penned the words God is love, and the apostle Paul defined love, the word translated love is the Greek word agape (ag-ah-pay.) It means love, affection, and benevolence. According to Jesus, God can be compared to a loving father, in fact he called him papa. So then, when one considers the fact that God is love, and further considers the biblical definition of love, one must come to terms with these figures. There are 7.8 billion people on planet earth. Only 2.55 billion are Christian. However, evangelical Christians that believe in the "born again" experience number only 500 million. That is but 6% of the world population. There are 500 million Buddhists, 1.2 billion Hindu, 1.9 billion Muslims, and 1.4 billion that are non religious. These figures are staggering. When you think about the people who die every year and those born it comes out to be a lot of people. One cannot possibly justify the idea that 94% of all the people that are alive will spend eternity in conscious torture. Yet, most of the 500 million evangelicals believe just that.

What needs to be stressed is that if one believes that God is love, and if one believes the definition of love revealed to the apostle Paul, then 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a describes God's nature. Notice it says that God, "keeps no records of wrongs." Jesus said that the Father has given all judgment to the Son and the Son replies that He judges no one. Jesus said on the cross, Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing. Jeremiah said that under the new covenant, God would forgive sin and remember it no more. Jesus said this is my blood of the New Covenant for the remission of sin. 

Ok, so I know that technically, many of the manuscripts leave out "new," which is true of the Wescott-Hort that many of the newer translations rely on heavily. It is generally thought to be more correct, and is from an earlier manuscript. However, in this case, I think there is a plausible, more reasonable view for the Textus Receptus being correct in this instance. The original manuscript that Westcott-Holt depends on is the Codex Vaticanus, dated somewhere in the fifth century or in the early to mid six-hundreds. By that time, the church would be greatly under the Gentile influence and would have forgotten much of its Hebrew roots. Therefore, the concept of Jeremiah's prophecy of a New Covenant would be less important to the Gentile believe and could have likely just referred to it as covenant, when in reality the New Covenant of Jeremiah was the intended covenant. 

Further substantiation of this is found in the epistle to the Hebrews. There, Jeremiah's prophecy is referenced verbatim and New Covenant is used in the Greek (kainos diatheke.) In my view, it is highly likely that Jesus addressing his Jewish companions would have said, this is my blood of the "New" covenant that was shed for the many for the remission of sins. Much more likely than he would have said this is my blood of the covenant. It is indeed safe to assume that Matthew 26:28 was in fact referring to the New Covenant.

With this in mind, then the above description of God being love and the definition of what the characteristics of that love is, overwhelmingly suggests that eternal tortuous punishment does not fit in that understanding of God. That concept of hell and punishment must be set aside based on that alone, but there are further proofs that God's love, forgiveness, and acceptance are universal. One of the greatest proponents is Paul himself. In his mystical revelations, that he shared with the various churches, his universalist tone was widespread indeed. Statements like in Adam all die, and in Christ all are made alive; in Adam all are condemned, and in Christ all are justified (Romans 5,) lead one to believe in the universal nature of God's mercy.

There is more from Paul. Statements like God was in Christ reconciling the cosmos/world to himself not counting their trespasses, and that God had placed all in unbelief that he might have mercy on all. Paul also tells us in the first chapter of Ephesians that God's purpose in creation was redemption. The language "before the foundation of the world" is really before creation. If God's purpose in creation was redemption, what sense does it make that all would not ultimately be redeemed? None!

The most amazing thing to me is that evangelical orthodox dogma twists what they believe to be literal. They make Jesus statements about hell/Gehenna literal and they will not accept the word ALL as literal. For them, all does not really mean all, go figure! There is a way in which the statements about hell and judgment make sense. It of course requires a nuanced understanding and that does not fit well with literal dogma. Yet, go back to the staggering numbers presented in the first paragraph. Find a literal plausible way, that a God who would eternally torture 94% of all living people because they did not accept a correct way of believing, is a God who's nature is love. Of course it cannot be done. It can only be accepted when one closes their minds to logical thought of the implications.

There are other more realistic ways to understand the concept of hell/Gehenna, and there are other more reasonable ways to understand the judgment seat of Christ. So much of the scripture that is taken literally is not literal at all. It is metaphor, hyperbole and simile. Apocalyptic writing is hyperbolic and metaphorical in nature. As literal as evangelical's take the scripture, I am surprised that most do not run around with their eyes poked out and their hands cut off. Ah, but alas, there is only interest in a set of beliefs that one can mentally assent to while avoiding things one might actually do. I am quite sure that when we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that our understanding will be crystal clear, and some of us, perhaps even me might just hear, you are going to be held back and will have to stay another cycle in third grade.

Paul the Mystic, Paul the Rabbi: A confusing dichotomy that is detrimental to the mystical message.

 2Co 12:2-4  "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.  (3)  And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—  (4)  how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

What we know about Paul the Mystic began on his journey to Damascus to persecute the church. That was his first mystical experience. Prior to that from all we know, Paul was simply a trained rabbi that sat at the feet of Gamaliel, a student of the venerated Hillel. It is important however to realize that Paul had two influences throughout his ministry. It is difficult to separate the mystical Paul from the rabbinical Paul. This is the source of most of the confusion surrounding Paul's teaching. Let me give a clear example of what I am writing about. Here are two passages that show both Paul's. The first is the mystical, and the second is the rabbinical. Rom 5:20  "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more," and Rom 6:1-2  "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  (2)  Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" The confusion comes into play when we let the voice of the rabbinical Paul over-ride the mystical Paul. In effect, Romans 6:1-2 nullifies Romans 5:20. At least, in my time in evangelical Christianity most pastors and teachers have had the rabbinical Paul quash the mystic.

This is only important insofar as it either establishes or negates, the love, mercy, and grace of God. My view is that it is ONLY unconditional grace, which produces the love within an individual that will lead to genuine supernatural transformation. In this way, Paul the rabbi negates the important revelation received by Paul the mystic. In reality, it is Paul the mystic that adds clarity to the message of Jesus. Jesus ministered in two ways. He taught what it means to love, and what love actually looks like. He also demonstrated the ethereal supernatural nature of the world by suspending physical laws. In my view, it is very likely that Jesus did preform these supernatural feats because there are many reported in Mark's gospel which is considered to be the first gospel written. I am not of the number that doubts the miracles. The truth of the matter is this. Jesus as the incarnate Logos, creative Word, was able to spiritually take advantage of the fact that the world we occupy is basically composed of energy without corporeal substance. In other words, the one who sustains the world with his powerful word, can change it by his word. 

My point is this. Paul the mystic is important in our understanding and Paul the rabbi is not. As Jesus taught us how to love and act loving, Paul the mystic gave us the supernatural formula for being transformed into love itself. His formula was simply to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Renewing the mind to what? The mercy and grace of God! See, that is what drives the love train. It is the unconditional, unwavering, unimaginable, and inexhaustible love of God that is the catalyst. New covenant people, new creations, have no business concerning themselves with Paul the rabbi. If it had a positive purpose at all, it was limited to the conditions of the first century and the melding of Jews and Gentiles. I really do not believe it had a purpose beyond Paul's compulsion to hang on to his Judaic beginnings. 

Paul the mystic, the one who was taken up into the third heaven, received revelation that is crucial to progressing as a follower of Jesus. He discovered that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. The heavenly places are synonymous with the quantum/ethereal level where all of the material world is created and sustained. He was told that Christ followers were the body of Jesus. That means that Christ followers are the hands, feet, voice, and mind of Jesus here on earth. This is revelation of the mystical union that all disciples should have. He was made aware that the first purpose in creation was redemption. It was to the praise of God's glorious grace and it was not to praise God per se but to be so convinced of God's mercy, love and grace that we could not help but love God! Not just a little bit but really, really, really, love God with ALL our heart, ALL our soul, and ALL our strength! It was to love God so much that it would transform us into love itself. Paul the rabbi was still concerned with rules. Paul the mystic saw a glimpse of the freedom of the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God!

My prayer is that we will all be able to begin to discern the difference between Paul the mystic and Paul the rabbi, and appreciate the revelation he received without the constraint of his rabbinical fears.

The Mystical Paul: Ephesians and Colossians, and the authorship question and why it is important.

For me, Paul the mystic is the important ingredient in all of his writings. In many ways, Ephesians and Colossians are by far the most mystical. It is not my intent to discuss whether or not he was mysogonystic, and for that matter, all the other problems that Paul presents to many people these days. My approach to Jesus and the gospel is quite metaphysical in nature so the mystical aspects are what I focus on to a great degree. To make sure that I present a balanced view, equal to that in my view are the actual teachings of Jesus about loving and what that means and looks like, but that is not the topic of this. The focus here is on two of my favorite epistles that have been attributed to the Apostle Paul. I acknowledge that all the early church fathers without exception attributed both letters to Paul. It is only in recent times that theologians have questioned Paul's authorship, and from what I have discovered in exploring this, they have some convincing arguments. It is not conclusive, and the split is about half and half with scholars today. The point of this article is that based on the content of the two epistles, it does not really matter to me, because they both contain, mystical revelation about "The Word" that is spiritually, metaphysically sound, and very consistent with the rest of the mystical revelation of Paul. Further to the point, they were both so largely influenced by the mystical Paul that they were no doubt a product of his teaching and revelation knowledge even if not authored by him. To a lesser degree, the same can be said of the pastoral epistles but they are more problematic as well. This article focuses on Ephesians and Colossians.

By mystical and metaphysical I mean that they explain directly and by innuendo, the mystical ethereal nature of the source of the universe. They act as explanations of the more mystical and esoteric sayings in the gospel of John. They illuminate the ongoing creative work of the Logos/Word. An example of a writing that is definitely Pauline in theological nature but now almost universally not attributed to Paul directly is the letter to the Hebrews. As early as 255 AD the authorship of Hebrews was considered unknown, and while the Roman Catholic Church insisted it was written by Paul, that was dogmatic rather than based on linguistic reality. In my view authorship is not important as long as the majority of leaders and followers considered it to be important to the overall narrative of what they believed.

So the point of this is that mystical understanding and revelation about the nature of spiritual reality was the one of the most important aspects of the message of Jesus and his followers. Paul states that Jesus did not think it robbery to be equal with God in Philippians and in Colossians he states the significance of the Word, and Jesus being the Word Incarnate. Col 1:15-17  "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:  (16)  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  (17)  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Jesus is the Word as reported by John in his gospel, and is the divine creative seed as reported by the Stoic Heraclitus in 500 BC, and is the "Tao" as reported by Lao Tzu in roughly the same time frame as Heraclitus.

There is a lot of metaphysical significance in the above passage because it is even more plausible given the recent advancements in quantum mechanics. It also expresses the idea that Jesus, a prototype human, is the image of the invisible God. The invisible God being the creative source at the basic quantum level. In other words, the invisible God used the body of Jesus to communicate to us. While I also believe that the invisible God communicated to us through many individuals across history, among them being Heraclitus, Lao Tzu, Gautama etc., I believe that the incarnation of the Logos was unique. I believe that Jesus came to universally unite humanity with the understanding that God is a loving Father, to set aside the concern over our being acceptable to our papa. I think that this message was co-opted and hijacked by orthodoxy and instead of uniting became more divisive than the rest. Further it added fuel to the opposition making the division more entrenched. Instead of embracing the seers of other cultures and times, the choice was made by orthodoxy to exclude them.

In my view, Christianity's biggest contribution should be the teachings of Jesus respecting loving and what that means, and the metaphysical spiritual foundation of corporeal, material universe and that the source of all that exists is love at its most basic quantum level. In addition Paul's message should be stressed and the world should know that God was in Christ reconciling the entire cosmos to himself, that he has indeed poured out his spirit on all flesh, and that he is not counting sin against anyone, ever. The main scripture for substantiating that claim is found in Paul's writings and it is found in the first chapter of Ephesians. Paul the mystic plays a critical role in this. Ephesians 1:4 says this: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love." John then tells us that God IS love and Paul gives us God's character and characteristics. 1Co 13:4-8  "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  (5)  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  (6)  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  (7)  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  (8)  Love never fails." 

In view of the above passages, it is apparent that current orthodox/evangelical doctrine has it twisted.