God Beyond Religion: My Current Presuppositions

I see the Word/Logos and “the Christ” as synonymous. When I speak of “the Christ” I am not equating that with Jesus of Nazareth, yet I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a human incarnation of both. However, while Jesus was the incarnation of the Logos and the Christ, I believe that he taught that all of humanity is as well. He was simply more advanced in his understanding of it and was chosen to be so to annunciate it as fact. When I speak of “the Christ” I mean something more than the Jewish Messiah. I see the Logos and “the Christ” as God Consciousness which are a combination of spirit and energy.

I likewise believe that “the Logos” and “the Christ” are the source of all mystical revelation of many varied traditions across many millennia. This is evidenced by ancient Egyptian spirituality in Thoth, the Hermetica that was taken to Greece, the Tao Te Ching, and the mystical revelation of Christianity given through Jesus and Paul. I limit it to the four because those are the belief systems that I am most familiar with. I intuitively believe that the concepts of “the Logos” and “The Christ” are also foundational in other mystical traditions but cannot definitively say one way or the other.

Further, I believe that “the Logos” and “the Christ” are the prime foundational substance of corporeal and material reality. I believe that cognitive science, quantum mechanics, and the biological fields of morphic resonance are indicative of this fact. This causes me to believe that the material world is a mental construct of the Logos and the Christ. I see the logical and sensible understanding provided by the Hermetica. Yet, it is merely one way of communicating the underlying reality of the material. The Tao Te Ching uses different language to communicate essentially the same message.

Greek philosophy culminating in Philo of Alexandria, brought the concepts into Christianity. While Philo was not Christian, his ideas and the mystical philosophical revelation he received were instrumental in the development of Christian thinking. For me, the importance of Christianity is focused on the teachings of Jesus about love, the concept of the Logos and the Christ, the connection between heavenly places and the unified field of consciousness, and the new humanity that will result from awakening to Christ Consciousness and the Cosmic Christ. These are the important offerings that Christian Mysticism has for the world in general. Not in the exclusive orthodox way but in a universal expression of Christ awareness.

I assume that the Hermetic concept of correspondence is accurate. It simply states that as above so below and as below so above meaning that the conscious creative realm can be best understood by observing the behavior of the material and corporeal world. This would mean that since cycles are everywhere in material reality, the spiritual realm also has cycles, and this would suggest that reincarnation is a reality. But, just as humans are autonomous and have the ability to choose in the corporeal plane, so can the spiritual underlying aspect of the person, the soul for lack of a better understood description has choices in the spiritual realm. Also, assuming that the cycle can result in a spiral in corporeal reality, the same is true in the advancement of conscious awakening.

I think that each of us are conscious agents of the one supreme divine, and as such are fully human and fully divine. That is what distinguishes us as being connected to Christ Consciousness. For reasons that we choose in realm of the divine. I also believe that it is folly to try to ascend above the human and just be divine, and likewise, it is unwise to just focus on the human aspect, and that the ideal is an integration of the two. This is the best way to achieve self-actualization. It is by embracing the divinity in all humanity that one can truly begin to love the other as they love themselves. I believe that this was the essence of Jesus teaching. We should celebrate our humanity and our divinity equally.

I list these presuppositions because while I may use terms and language that are familiar, the meaning varies greatly from the norm.

God Beyond Religion: Spiritual Discernment and Scripture

This is probably one of the most important things I have ever written with respect to freeing oneself from the toxic influence of orthodox dogma, especially evangelical orthodoxy. What I mean by evangelical orthodoxy is the dogma that most evangelicals agree on. An example would be the inerrancy of scripture, and that it is a rule book for all faith and practice. This idea is summed up nicely in a bumper sticker of a few years back when bumpers were chrome and not part of the body of the car. The bumper sticker I am referring to is “God said it! I believe it! That settles it!”

So, let me share with you something God allegedly said based on this view:

Exo 21:7-11  “When a man sells his daughter as a concubine, she is not to leave as the male slaves do.  (8)  If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.  (9)  Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters.  (10)  If he takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.  (11)  And if he does not do these three things for her, she may leave free of charge, without any payment.”

The above passage is the instructions to sell one’s daughter as a sex slave. Did God say that? I doubt it very much. Today if a man would sell his daughter as a sex slave and got caught, he would simply go to jail and rightly so. You may say well, that was old covenant. I would say yes, I agree, but how do you know what to accept of the old covenant and what to reject? If you are alone, and if you look into your mirror, and IF YOU ARE HONEST, you will admit that it is all of the things you have been taught at church. In other words, it is based on doctrine and dogma. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF! What I am saying here is true.

If our cultural and societal norms can progress to the place where we know that having concubines is not an acceptable thing, certainly selling one’s daughter as a concubine is not acceptable, then how could anyone ever think that God would sanction such a practice. Of course, if you’re honest you cannot. There are many more examples in both the Old and New Testaments but this one is so glaring that it was the one I chose for an example. I think that we can all rest assured that God did not say what is found in Exodus 21:7-11 ever.

The legitimate question becomes how can one discern what is revelation from source and what are cultural ideas based on cultural norms? I would not even rule out that Exodus 21:7-11 is not progressive for the cultural norms of the times. It probably would have been. My point is that it was not an edict from the creative source of the universe. To answer the question above, the first thing one must do is use the discernment of the indwelling Logos. If we are created in God’s image, and I believe we are, then we are creative consciousness and that is via the indwelling divine logos. Since the logos is the offspring of God, by virtue of being conscious agents we are the offspring of consciousness.

Quite frankly, the only thing we have in common with God is consciousness. It is by virtue of us being conscious agents that we are in the image of God. What is God’s consciousness? It is the Logos, the Tao, it is God’s Word. God’s Word is God’s offspring. The message of Jesus among other things was that he was God’s consciousness in human flesh. However, he taught that we too are just like him. We also are God’s consciousness in human flesh. It is through our consciousness that we receive mystical understanding and revelation. God consciousness is our discernment. Peter claimed in the Acts of the Apostles, that God’s consciousness, which is also God’s Spirit was poured out on all flesh. So, the answer to the question above, about understanding what mystical revelation from the source is and what is human cultural input is by using God consciousness.

Interestingly enough, God Consciousness is likewise Christ Consciousness. Christ Consciousness is the source of all mystical revelation and illumination. Perhaps I can give you some illumination of a verse in Revelation.

Rev 19:10  “Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Yes indeed, it is the testimony of Jesus that explains the Word became flesh and dwelt in humanity. Subsequently, Jesus said that the Word indwells the rest of humanity as well. “As he is in the world so are we!” John tells us that the Word was in the world but was not recognized. He says the Word came to his own kind but was not received. However, John also states that there was those who received him. Those who were given the power to become the offspring of God. Who were they? They were all of the mystics and seers over the millennia. Each of us now has access to the indwelling Christ. That is true whether or not one has heard of or believed in Jesus of Nazareth. That indwelling Word is the source of our discernment.

 

 

God Beyond Religion: The real history of the Greek word Logos

 "en arche en ho logos" "In the beginning was the word." John 1:1a

The above sentence was penned by the apostle John between 69CE and 100CE. I give that range because there are plausible reasons for the dates given by scholars. This is not about the dating of the Gospel According to John, This is about the origin and use of the Greek word logos as it relates to creation., and orthodoxy has done a great disservice to the concept. However, if you ever read anything I write that should not be surprising because orthodoxy has done a great disservice to Christ and Jesus of Nazareth.

I was taught in seminary, and in all approved books for those with the evangelical focus, John’s gospel, and first century Christianity in general was the source for the spiritual understanding of Logos (the Word.) Absolutely nothing could be farther from the truth. With that statement let’s begin to look at the history and development of the Greek word logos.

First of all, one should not limit the concept to just Greek thought. So, let’s look at the definition from Strong’s Greek dictionary to get the Greek definition. “From G3004; something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ): - account, cause, communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say (-ing), shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.” It can be seen that the meaning and use is broad, but at the base focus of it all is consciousness. Thayer defines it this way. 2) its use as respect to the MIND alone “2a) reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating 2b) account, i.e. regard, consideration 2c) account, i.e. reckoning, score 2d) account, i.e. answer or explanation in reference to judgment 2e) relation, i.e. with whom as judge we stand in relation 2e1) reason would 2f) reason, cause, ground” This is Thayer’s second definition but it is basic to the meaning and use of the term over the millennia.

It is fair to say that the definition of Logos is consciousness, conscious thought, and action initiated by consciousness. Thus, the Logos of God is god consciousness. So was the apostle John the originator of the doctrine of the Logos? Absolutely not. The doctrine of the Logos was developed by a Jewish Philosopher named Philo of Alexandria. He lived between 20 BCE and 40 CE. He was therefore a contemporary of Jesus, John, and Paul. He had studied Greek Philosophy and discovered the Logos there and set out in his writings to amalgamate the Greek Logos with the Hebrew concept of God and the Hebrew scriptures. He originated the idea that Logos was the creative aspect of God a mediator between God and humanity, and that it was the son of God for his time. I say for his time as it was actually much more ancient a concept, but he brought the idea to the first century Judeo-Christian world. I realize that evangelical theologians will get their back up on this claim, but without valid reason because the facts are inescapable. Philo wrote, lived, and died before John wrote John 1:1, and his elaboration on the Logos is extensive.

However, as I stated earlier the concept is ancient. It goes all the way back to the Egyptians and the Babylonians. Of course Logos is a Greek word so it goes back to the ancient Greek philosophers, but the concept of God, the source, having a word that was the creator, and his son goes all the way back to Thoth in Egypt. Here’s where it gets a little tangled. Pythagoras the Greek Philosopher, metaphysicist, and mathematician traveled to Egypt, studied their teachings and brought them back to Greece. The teachings of Thoth got turned into the teachings of the Greek God Hermes, and became known as Hermes Trismegistus, which means the thrice great Hermes. It was recorded in the Corpus Hermeticus. However, with the translation of the hieroglyphics it was discovered that the teaching was found on the pyramids in Saqqara Egypt and date back to 3,000 BCE.

Here is an excerpt from the Hermetica. “Who are you?' I asked. 'I am the Way-Guide, the Supreme Mind, the thoughts of Atum the One-God. I am with you — always and everywhere. I know your desires. Make your questions conscious, and they will be answered.' 'Show me the nature of Reality. Bless me with Knowledge of Atum,' I begged. Suddenly everything changed before me. Reality was opened out in a moment. I saw the boundless view. All became dissolved in Light — united within one joyous Love. Yet the Light cast a shadow, grim and terrible, which, passing downwards, became like restless water, chaotically tossing forth spume like smoke. And I heard an unspeakable lament — an inarticulate cry of separation. The Light then uttered a Word, which calmed the chaotic waters. My Guide asked: 'Do you understand the secrets of this vision? I am that Light — the Mind of God, which exists before the chaotic dark waters of potentiality. My calming Word is the Son of God — the idea of beautiful order; the harmony of all things with all things. Primal Mind is parent of the Word, just as, in your own experience, your human mind gives birth to speech. They cannot be divided, one from the other, for life is the union of Mind and Word”. ~ Freke, Tim. The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs (pp. 32-34). Tim Freke Publications. Kindle Edition.  

It is not surprising that all of the ancient Greek Philosophers wrote about the Word, Logos being the divine seed and the creative source of God. It was written about by Heraclitus, Plato, the Stoics and from them was picked up by Philo of Alexandria.

However, it was also a concept that was explored and explained in eastern thought as well. For example, here is an excerpt from the Tao Te Ching (pronounced dao de ching.) “The Tao that can be understood is not the eternal, cosmic Tao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words  is not the infinite idea.  And yet this ineffable Tao is the source of all spirit and matter;  expressing itself, it is the mother of all created things.”  ~Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching . Ancient Renewal. Kindle Edition. You can see two things here. First, the Tao is the creative source of all things, and second, when Lao Tzu writes expressing itself he is speaking of the word which is equal to the Logos in Greek. The Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that the idea of the Logos/word is also found in Hindu and Buddhist religions.

I hope I am making it clear that the concept of the Logos is indeed ancient, ubiquitous, and syncretistic. It fits nicely within my view of eclectic spirituality. It for certain is not exclusive and original within Christianity. It is far more broad in scope than that.