God Beyond Religion: Panpsychism, and the Christ of the Logos

 How do we define and label our beliefs? I have had many but for at least the last thirty-five years my spiritual beliefs have been eclectic and syncretistic. At least for now, and since I am in the final quarter of my life, I can be best described as a panpsychist that is indwelt by the Christ of the Logos. This most accurately sums up my belief system as far as spirituality and the nature of reality is concerned.

So, let me define what I mean by this. A panpsychist is a person who believes that panpsychism best explains the nature of reality. Panpsychism merely is the belief that there is consciousness in all of material reality. So to a degree, and there are of course varying degrees, all matter is conscious down to the smallest known particle or division.

This leaves Christ and Logos to be defined to round out my belief system concerning the nature of reality. These next two terms are Greek and became important to me as a result of my being in and studying Christianity. However, I think that the connotation that orthodoxy has placed on the terms actually cloud their relatively simple meaning.  So let’s look at them one at a time. First, Logos is word, and as such is the expression of consciousness. For my purposes I use Logos and Consciousness interchangeably. Both for me are the creative source of material and corporeal reality. I therefore see the Logos and consciousness as energetic thought. Consciousness or the Logos is the inseparable combination of energy and thought.

Now for the word Christ which again is Greek and means to anoint as with oil. In this respect it becomes a metaphor. When one is anointed with oil it soaks in and becomes a part of the skin of the person and in this way, Christ is a metaphor for the indwelling anointing of the Logos or in other words creative conscious energy. It is our divine nature and our higher self.

It is my belief that this Christ of the Logos has always been in the world. How so you ask? In conscious agents, in humanity. In John’s gospel the writer says something very interesting. In John 1:10-13, it is stated that the Christ of the Logos was in the world but not recognized by the world. Though the Logos was the creator and came to the creation in the form of the Christ of the Logos it was not received but by a few. All of those that did receive the Christ of the Logos realized that they were the offspring of the divine. Those who did receive the Christ of the Logos were the mystics and prophets that realized they part of the divine nature. Now even more interesting, it is not until verse fourteen, after it was explained that it was in the world and not recognized by the world, that John writes that the Christ of the Logos became flesh and dwelt among humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus would then tell his followers according to John, that this same Christ of the Logos indwells all of us. That was one of the most important messages that Jesus brought. Coupled with his message about love and loving one another this is the good news. The good news is that Jesus was the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. That is simply a metaphor for him being the first one to acknowledge the Christ of the Logos in himself and then to share the idea that it was in everyone. This is a universal message of glad tidings. The Christ of the Logos indwells the Buddhist, the Taoist, the Hindu, the Muslim, the Shinto, the Shaman, and ALL of humanity.