God Beyond Religion: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the New Humanity

Ephesians 2:13-15 NRSV  "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  (14)  For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.  (15)  He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace," 

Can we pause for a minute and rid ourselves of religiosity? I realize that the above passage has religious connotation, especially for recovering evangelicals. Can we pause from the toxic idea that Christianity and the Christian message is exclusive/? Can we pause for a moment and accept the idea that eclectic spirituality is the reality, and that there is within the Christian message mystical revelation that is beneficial to all people? Can we pause from evangelizing to gain adherents for our group, and our correct way of thinking and believing? Can we pause, take a deep breath, change our minds about the necessity of division and right beliefs? Can we pause and see that "the Christ" is for all people? Can we pause, and contemplate what it means to say and think God is love? Can we pause and see the logical truth that we are all a part of one singular sisterhood and brotherhood of humanity? Yes, ALL means ALL!!! The claim made by many evangelicals that one is not a child of God unless converted to Christianity is absolutely, patently absurd!

Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” is integral in the development of the new humanity. Below is a chart that shows the five levels that Maslow identified.

Self-Actualization	Morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts
Esteem	Self-esteem, confidence, respect of others, respect from others, achievement
Love/belonging	Friendship, family, sexual intimacy
Safety	Security of body, of employment, of resources, of family, of health, of health, of property, of morality
Physiological	Breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion

While the hierarchy of needs  While Maslow's hierarchy of needs is usually shown graphically as a pyramid, this table serves the purpose as well. The connection with the “new humanity” is self-actualization. I think one could add to the self-actualization category, spiritual enlightenment which would include many things. The chief concept would be to self-actualize our divine nature.

When one looks at the upward spiral of humanity over the millennia, it is obvious to me, that in spite of the fact that there is a lot of evil in the world, and that humanity has moved forward in enlightenment and also lost ground and moved backward, that the trajectory is an upward spiral. It takes all of the needs below self-actualization to be met for the final step to happen. However, when a large amount of the human population reaches that point, it will be possible for a leap in enlightenment.

This should result in a kinder and gentler humanity that looks out for the other and the material world around about including plants, animals, the environment, and the societal structure. Being on the cusp of the new age, the age of Aquarius provides the perfect timing and impetus for this leap to come to fruition. This will allow the further development of the second tier in spiral dynamics. The future can be very bright based on this analysis.

Second tier spiral dynamics is shown by two different color levels. There is the yellow level and the turquois level. In the yellow tier, there is the ability to leave the model of concern over scarcity in the material world and begin to see the potential as abundance. It begins to look at the world and all in it as integral. It stresses flexibility, knowledge, and intuition. The turquoise tier focuses on the holistic aspect of the world. It combines the material with the spiritual and sees the universe as a singular conscious entity. I find it interesting that cognitive science and physics is reaching similar conclusions.

God Beyond Religion: Eclectic Spirituality, Theodicy, and Cognitive Science

One of the benefits of social media is that one can easily get a glimpse of how people think about certain things. I participate in several Facebook groups that draw people who are deconstructing their Christianity. A topic that often comes up is theodicy, the problem with evil. In embracing eclectic spirituality, and exploring cognitive science and consciousness, I find that the problem of evil and vindication of the creative source, proposes challenges. What I mean is there is a variety of things that need to be taken into consideration when thinking about the existence of evil. My point of departure for entering into the discussion is that there is a collective consciousness, or a mind at large at work in what we call material reality. I have come to view it as the universal field of divine consciousness. I believe it to be the source of all matter and substance in the material plane which of course includes we humans. Some call it the Akashic Field, the quantum field but what ever the name it is but one primal source of the universe.

I have come to this idea based upon study of several scientific and philosophical works by several different people. I also base it on the explanations of spirit and matter in all of the ancient religions and philosophies. In that, I see a common thread that has energy and thought as central. To be more specific I have included in my conclusions the work of Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, Dr. Donald Hoffman, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, and Dr. Carl Jung.  Information about each of these individuals and their contribution to cognitive science and the field of consciousness is readily available on the internet, and one can find out all one needs to know about them on YouTube. I see a common thread in all of their studies and theories. 

Adding to the above paragraph of cognitive scientists, I also include the premises of the ancient religions and philosophies. Egyptian Hermeticism, Greek Hermeticism, Greek Philosophy, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Kabbalah Judaism, and Christianity. All either suggest or insist that material reality is a mental construct. My point here is that there is a mounting preponderance of evidence that the universe is indeed mental, and consciousness is the creative source. The question becomes, how does one view God, and what is the spiritual realm? This is where eclectic spirituality comes into play. In Christianity and Judaism you have a heavenly realm that is spiritual. Certainly, Taosim, Buddhism, and Hinduism speak of a spiritual realm.

Yet, the reality of evil is ever apparent in our world. It is constantly in the news. This is true of the evil that is caused by humanity against itself, and the suffering that is caused by natural events. These natural events include pandemics, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, predatory animals. While our planet is a wondrously beautiful place it is likewise extremely dangerous for some. So, the problem of evil and suffering is very real. Juxtaposed against the overriding view of most religions which in some way insist that God, the creative source, is “love” it creates the problem of suffering and evil for sure.

Christianity blames it on the fall of humanity when humans chose to have the knowledge of good and evil over innocence. But atheists and agnostics claim, and I believe rightly so, that even if humanity chose to fall, the ultimate responsibility lies with the creator and creation. While I believe that Paul received a ton of mystical revelation from Source, he missed the boat with his question does the clay have the right to question the potter? Comparing pottery to an individual soul is a lousy comparison. Especially when this same Paul received the mystical revelation that defines love and therefore defines God and insisted that one of God’s attributes was to not keep records of wrongs.

So how can we vindicate God? How can one relieve the Source from the responsibility of evil? The only way that I can see is if one begins to accept a view closer to what some of the cognitive scientists mentioned above are beginning to find in their psychological studies. Likewise, what Dr. Hoffman is discovering with his experiments with the mathematical model results of evolution as it relates to consciousness and conscious agents. When you add to this the understanding of Rupert Sheldrake in morphic resonance and the existence of morphic fields. This is piling on but necessary. Add to this the concept of Carl Jung and the collective unconsciousness, and the quantum fields of quantum mechanics and a picture emerges that the source is in fact a divine field of creative consciousness. This is the description of the spiritual world. This is what Christianity calls heavenly places. It is the realm of the Logos and the Tao.

One of the key teachings of Jesus was that we are an integral part of the divine matrix. As he was the word incarnate so are we. What else could John have meant by saying that as he is in the world so are we? What else could inspire Peter to claim that we are partakers of the divine nature? What else could Jesus mean when he stated that he was in the father and the father was in him, and subsequently we humans were in the father and in him and he and the father were in us? The point of this is that we are co-creators in this cosmic dance where the spiritual realm births the material.

Imagine if you will a field of conscious energy that is likely two dimensional and we are all points of individual expressions of divine consciousness. Dr. Bernardo Kastrup has theorized that we are dissociative personalities (split personalities) of the grand divine consciousness. Also imagine that without material reality it is a field of thought only. Imagine that with geometry the source can create more dimensions. Imagine that in creating dimensions there are interesting problems. Imagine that entropy and atrophy are an example of the many problems created. Imagine if you will the freedom that is felt from choosing to participate in this divine creative dance. However, also imagine that the nature of the divine field of consciousness is love and peace. Finally, imagine that every soul that has lived, every animal, every tree, flower, and rock is an integral part of this divine field of creative consciousness.

Each soul in the creative act realizes and knows that it is eternal and cannot be destroyed. Each soul at the basic level has no concept of time and is only and always in the present now. To that soul, the real us, there is no actual harm or pain that can affect us. After all, we are indeed eternal. However, the challenges of material reality are exciting and invigorating. The problems of this existence, no matter how difficult, are the driving force of our existential happiness and satisfaction. While it is true that solving these problems can be exhausting, we have the ability to choose when to dance, and when to rest in the dance of life. Does this resonate with your soul at all?

I am suggesting that one of the problems that we have chosen to solve is the problem with evil. However, we are all in it. We are all Hitler, and we are all Mother Theresa. This dance is not unlike a drama. The poets among us have told us that all the world is a stage. Our goal in the drama is to solve the problem of evil with love and peace. All of the mystical revelation points toward this end. This drama includes reincarnation and karma and on and on. People often ask or say, this life is so tough, why would anyone choose to do it again? The answer should be obvious. Why do we not get tired of playing games to win, and if we do get tired why do we get the urge to take the game up another day, hoping for a better result?

If this is the case, and intuitively I believe it is, then it is not incompatible with the best parts of all the great world religions. Jesus, the father, the holy spirit are all compatible with this idea. The only thing that is not compatible with it is orthodoxy in the form of unchangeable dogma. In this view, God, the source is completely vindicated!

 

God Beyond Religion: The Cattle on a Thousand Hills; Abundance Not Lack

Psalm 50:7-15 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.  (8)  Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.  (9)  I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.  (10)  For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.  (11)  I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.  (12)  "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.  (13)  Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?  (14)  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High.  (15)  Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

I want to begin this with the idea of thought forms or egregores. As I have written about them before they are real and have actual spiritual power. In fact, all religions are thought forms, and have a life of their own. I also want to mention the fact that in my eclectic spirituality view, I see that there is mystical revelation from Source in most religious and philosophical texts. The Judeo-Christian bible is no different. If by chance you think this is simply cherry-picking scripture passages, I have written about the absurdity of that claim in other posts and will not deal with it here. 

The above Psalm passage falls into that category in my view, because it is consistent with a loving God, and a God who sees justice and people being “just” as important. Please do not confuse this with the name it and claim it gospel, the prosperity gospel, or the "Think and Grow Rich" crowd. All of those ideas and many I have not mentioned cater to the individual. That is not the case here. I am writing this to all of us who make up the collective consciousness. Consider that there is but one creative source, and that as science is beginning to suggest, it is a field of consciousness. Within this field is unlimited creative potential. Within this field there is no lack. The possibility of lack comes with mortal material existence and the fear of not having enough to survive. Likewise, I believe that the root of greed is the survival instinct. However, if the reality is we are eternal souls and spirits within the divine universal field of consciousness, then we can safely change our thinking and thought processes. This in turn can create a thought form, egregore, that is not founded in a zero-sum game. As more and more conscious agents embrace this thought form the ability to realize and experience more abundance for all will begin to manifest in material reality.

This is different than the law of attraction, or the prosperity gospel, or think and grow rich mentality because they are basically geared toward individual accomplishment and achievement.  What I am proposing is collective. It is a way to begin to generate abundance in a much more fair and just way that will increasingly eliminate lack for more and more individuals. It has the potential to radically change humanity and I think it could be an instrumental way for people to help move the age of Aquarius forward. The way it would work is to find people committed to meditating on universal abundance and justice. Once formed and allowed to grow stronger it would change the dynamic from greed to sustainable improvement globally, and who knows, it could catch on and glide past the tipping point bringing about real change.

This concept fits nicely with some of the great religious and philosophical teachings over the centuries. It was Jesus that said, Matt 6:31-33 “So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  (32)  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  (33)  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I believe he was trying to get them to change their thought construct and for a time they did. I think it is important to point out that verse thirty-three could as easily be translated but seek first his kingdom and his justice.

The Tao resembles the stretching of a bow:  it humbles the mighty, and exalts the lowly; it takes from those who have much and gives to those in need.  This is the Tao— it diminishes those who have abundance, and nourishes those who lack.  The human way is just the opposite—  creditors take from those who lack and lavishes those who already abound!  Where are the wealthy who will use their riches to serve the world?  The wise earn much, but claim it not for themselves. They accomplish much, but are not attached to their accomplishments.  They succeed abundantly,  yet make no show of their success. Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching . Ancient Renewal. Kindle Edition. Here Lao Tzu is suggesting that if humans meditate on abundance for all without extravagant opulence that the Tao will provide. It is my belief that what we call the divine unified field of consciousness, he called the Tao.

So, from several traditions you have the same concept though stated different. There is no lack in the divine unified field of consciousness, and creating that thought form will indeed help bring it into fruition. Not so that one can have opulence, but so that one can avoid lack.

 

God Beyond Religion: A New Humanity and a New Earth Where Justice Dwells

 2Pe 3:13  “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”

The Greek word dikaiosune, translated as righteousness could be equally translated justice. The biblical use is justification or righteousness, but I think that being righteous is first and foremost being just. If one looks at the definition of just it is actions and treatment of others based on behaving according to what is morally right and fair. It is acting according to the golden rule. It is doing to others what one would want done to themselves.

One of the main characteristics of the “new humanity” is justice, kindness, and love. It is my belief that one of the main focus points in Jesus’ mission was justice, kindness, and love. Especially for the downtrodden and less fortunate. He told many parables and one can be found in Matthew chapter twenty-five, verses, thirty-one through forty-six. He tells a parable about a future judgment. He says that the judge, a king will tell people that they have done justice. He goes on to say, that when he was hungry, they fed him, when he was naked, they gave him clothes, when he was homeless, they gave him shelter, and when he was sick or in prison, they came to visit him and see about him. The just were confused and they asked him when they did those things? They had no awareness that they had done such for him. The judge king told them that when they did it for the least of his brothers and sisters, they did it to him.

This parable was a reaction to Isaiah chapter fifty-eight. The prophet told Israel that the fast that God desired was to feed the hungry, clothe those in need of clothing, and give shelter to the homeless. He went on to tell them that when they did such things that their light would shine abroad. Jesus went on to teach that when one does these good deeds to others that they are in reality doing it to God. That makes sense in view of the fact that all of us humans are God’s image bearers. We are all divine and participate in the divine nature.

Well above is a description of just one of the aspects of humanity in the age of Aquarius and likewise, it is a description of the traits of the new humanity that the apostle Paul spoke of. Paul did this by way of mystical revelation that he received from the source and passed it on to humanity. In view of eclectic spirituality Jesus is not the only one who emphasized these humanitarian traits as important. Here is what the Tao says about it: FALSE AND TRUE RELIGION Abandon the pretense of saintliness and asceticism, and the people will pursue virtue. Abandon ostentatious benevolence and conspicuous righteousness; then the people will return to the core virtues of love and respect. Abandon cleverness and greed; then thieves and robbers will disappear.  Here are the four fundamentals of true spirituality: recognize simplicity, cherish purity, reduce your possessions, diminish your desires. Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching . Ancient Renewal. Kindle Edition.

So many are erroneously looking for the new heaven and earth to be a future reconstruction after a fiery cataclysmic end of the world. That could not be farther from truth. Again, the apostle Paul mentions the ages to come, that is many ages (Ephesians 2:7.) It included the new age that was approaching in Paul’s day, the age of Pisces, but it likewise also includes the ages to come, and now that we are approaching or have entered the age of Aquarius, it will come to greater fruition.

The new heavens, new earth and new humanity is not something to happen after a great cataclysm but, the progressive improvement of humanity as the ages progress. The same is true of the New Jerusalem. Another of Paul’s mystical revelations in an understanding of what the New Jerusalem was. For Paul in Galatians chapter four it was the heavenly Jerusalem. That means it was the ideal Jerusalem that existed in heavenly places or in other words, in the divine field of consciousness. Gal 4:22-26  “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman.  (23)  One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.  (24)  Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery.  (25)  Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.  (26)  But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.” What Paul is expressing here is that the New Jerusalem is the Jerusalem made up of the new humanity that he wrote about.

So, the point of this is that the new heaven and earth, the new Jerusalem, the new humanity was Paul’s way of expressing the idea that the gospel of God’s favor and compassion, would move humanity to be more loving. This would be the result of embracing and believing that God’s favor and compassion was expressed by the mission of Jesus that proved we are all eternal and partakers of the divinity that was ours from the very beginning.

Once we embrace the idea that the source, God, is a loving, compassionate parent, who is not keeping a record of wrongs, has reconciled the entire world to him and herself, and the truth of it was proven by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. We as children of the new humanity can begin to love with all our being. We can love one another knowing that we are all a part and parcel of divinity. This produces a love and peace that supernaturally transforms humanity from one level to another on an ever upward spiral.

God Beyond Religion: The Divine Unified Field of Consciousness.

The All is Mind, the Universe is Mental ~ The Kybalion

Quantum mechanics speaks of the unified field in field theory. There is classical field theory and there is a field theory in psychology and sociology. Referring to the Kybalion, there is the law of correspondence that reads as above so below, as below so above, as within so without and as without so within. My point in this is that if we see fields in the material world, then it follows by the law of correspondence that there are spiritual fields, and my view is that spirit and consciousness are one in the same, and so, the mind at large, or the-all is at its basic foundational level a field as well. I would like to call it the divine universal conscious field. It is the creative source of all that is. And, we are all points of consciousness, or conscious agents within the field. In fact, all things in the material world to one degree or another are conscious agents participating in and sustaining ongoing creation.

This blog post took a serendipitous and synchronistic turn as I am writing it. I often post some of my ideas in Facebook groups that I am a member of, and I did for this one on a group called Messy Conversations. It was designed to be a safe place for conversations with people in the process of deconstructing their Christian beliefs. One of the members, a Facebook friend of mine named Dr. Paul Fitzgerald, asked me if I was familiar with Rupert Sheldrake and morphic resonance? I was familiar with Sheldrake but not morphic resonance. In looking it up on the internet, I found that he was speaking of morphic fields in biology. I wasn’t aware of the existence of these fields, but it seems that they connect all kinds of species of both plants and animals including humans. The point was made that because of these connective fields, teaching a trick to a rat in the USA, say at Harvard, would make it much easier to teach the same trick to rats in Europe because of the connection of the fields, and the memories they store. These fields reach everywhere within the species so the memory in the field is picked up by rats in Europe simultaneously. The article went on to explain that these fields exist in a variety of areas including the mind of humans, or in other words, point toward a unified field of human consciousness, and it is easy for me to add to the name, the “divine” unified field of consciousness. This is what I believe to be the creative source of the universe which includes humans such as you and I.

I am no scientist, so I do not have a scientific description of the divine field of consciousness, but I believe I have an intuitive description. It radically changes my view of heaven and what the Apostle Paul called the heavenlies or heavenly places. It is quite likely a two-dimensional field of consciousness. So, when Paul says we are seated in heavenly places in Christ, he is referring to this two-dimensional field of consciousness in which everything that exists, exists. Furthermore, when Paul says that the Colossians were dead, and their life was hidden in God, he meant hidden in the divine field of consciousness or heavenly places. Collective consciousness, another name for the divine unified field of consciousness, is the place where collective memory and information is stored. Our brains are like television receivers of this information and the source of all telepathic ability is stored in this field of consciousness. It continually grows by the life experiences of all of the conscious agents that are connected within this field.

This also radically changes my view of God. This divine unified field of consciousness is not personified. It is all encompassing. The individual conscious agents within the field are the creative source. Jesus was the firstborn of many siblings. He was designated to be the word, of the field of consciousness before creation but, then went on to explain that we all are a part of the divine creative word. This should lead us to new vistas of potentiality. We can indeed change, morph reality through consciousness. With our thoughts we can create reality afresh.

God Beyond Religion: Jesus and The Christ, Re-imagining Salvation

1Ti 4:9-10 “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance.  (10)  For to this end we toil and struggle because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

I have had a relationship with Jesus for much of my life. It began as a small child, continued for about 20 years, there was a 25-year hiatus, and then a re-establishment for an additional 30 years but within that period there was an ongoing growth and change. This is especially true of the last 10 years. I now believe that I am settling in on a viable understanding of Jesus roles. I use the plural roles because I see that Jesus had essentially two main roles or purposes. One was to the first century Jews that is narrated in the synoptic gospels, and the other was to all of humanity in a spiritual sense as explained by the mystical revelation of the apostle Paul. The Acts of the Apostles and John’s gospel were written to bridge the two roles into one grand spiritual one.

 

Don’t confuse what I am presenting as the same as orthodoxy or evangelical orthodoxy. It is very different. It has none of the toxicity associated with evangelical orthodoxy. It does not emphasize hell as I believe the orthodox teaching concerning hell is erroneous and does not properly reflect what is taught in the scripture. I believe it is far more accurately representative of the eternal purpose of his roles. The first departure from orthodoxy or evangelical orthodoxy is that I believe that “the Christ” gave mystical revelation to several groups over the course of human history. This is the eclectic part of this understanding. When I refer to “the Christ” I am speaking of the Spirit of the creative source. It is identified by several names over the centuries. It is referred to as the Logos, the Tao, the Christ, the Spirit of God, It is not exclusively Christian nor Jewish. The fact is that many of the religions that are called poly-theistic really believe in one ultimate, supreme, creative source. Jesus on the other hand was a human born into a specific time and culture with a universal timeless message from “the Christ.”

 

So, what is the overarching message to humanity from Jesus’ time on earth? How is Jesus the savior of all people and what is meant by especially those who believe? Well, I am confident that it is not salvation from sins. That was the mission of the first role of Jesus as the savior of the Jews. They had the most evolved concept of sin and sinfulness. Their Hebrew word for sin, chata simply meant missing the way. They had developed an elaborate structure to define what missing the way meant, and I think that Jesus came to correct that notion by amplifying their concept of the Law. He came to show that it was a guideline that would make for a more humane humanity, but they had developed it into a code that would make them righteous. In this role he showed them that they would always perpetually miss the way.

 

For the more universal role revealed to Paul the mystic, I think it is constructive to look at what savior meant in the first century. The answer is found in the Pax Romana. Pax Romana is the golden age of Rome. It spans from Caesar Augustus to Marcus Aurelius. In terms of years and time it is from 27 BCE to about 180 CE. It is roughly a 200-year span. It is descriptive of a period of peace. The emperor was considered a savior, sotor Greek, because he brought peace to the people.

 

Jesus came to declare peace for humanity with God. He came to a time and a culture that was fearful of God and the afterlife. By the time of Jesus earthly mission, the Jews had developed an elaborate view of the afterlife that included Gehenna and Gan Eden. Gehenna was a time of fiery judgment, the Pharisees reasoned that it would last for three years. Gan Eden was similar to the Christian idea of heaven. The Roman world was influenced by the various Greek views of the afterlife including many levels of the underworld. Paul wrote this in the letter to the Romans. Rom 5:1  “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Jesus taught that he was the incarnation of the logos or God consciousness, and went on to teach that we are also the incarnation of the Logos. This is the importance of Jesus of Nazareth. He also exemplified the love of God, and his sermon on the mount described a way to be more human, and it was not intended to be a legal code, understood in a legal constitutional way.

The “Christ” or “Christ Consciousness” as it is sometime called is the most effective once peace with God is established as fact. While some may not need it, those who were taught toxic Christianity need it for sure. Especially if they are to participate in their birth right which is the divine nature. If we put the toxicity behind us, we can advance into our natural spiritual inheritance. This is not the same as saying Jesus is the only way. There are for sure others, and some of the religions are far less toxic than Christianity has become, but, to understand the real message of Jesus and the definition of God and love by Paul and John adds a richness to any spirituality and affords new insight to those of other beliefs that may become eclectic as well. This is what is meant by saying “and especially to those who believe.” There are mystical revelatory truths in Christianity found in no other place.

God Beyond Religion: Faith, Mental Alchemy, Positive Thinking and Prayer

"What ever the mind can conceive, and believe it can achieve" ~ Napoleon Hill.

There are many different groups who dogmatically teach that one can change circumstances by thinking. The word of faith movement, the secular motivation movement, the law of attraction advocates, mental alchemy groups, and metaphysical groups immediately come to mind. Further, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it works. However, one also needs to consider the many that have been strewn along the way that have not experienced the axiom of Napoleon Hill. This is true of each of the movements mentioned above and many more that I have not mentioned. In the word of faith movement, people are told that they just don't have enough faith, in the law of attraction movement they are told that they are not properly believing and that they have just not cleared away the mental roadblocks and on and on. Sometimes they are told they have not done enough shadow work or self work. In all of these cases, those who do not achieve the desired results are blamed. Is that legitimate? I do not believe it is!

Two different examples from the bible:

Acts 3:6-7  "But Peter said, "I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk."  (7)  And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong."

And...

Luke 8:48  "He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

In the two verses posted above there is a difference. In the Acts passage, it was Peter's faith that healed the man, and in the passage from Luke it was the woman's faith. In the Acts passage it is not mentioned that the man even had heard of Jesus. Further, he was not asking to be healed; he was asking for money. One thing that needs to be highlighted is that all of the above methods of positive mentalism can cause psychological trauma for people and quite often it does. In this way all of the above can be toxic and abusive. So often it ends with blaming the victim.

So, what is missing? Does positive mentalism work? To answer the second question first, yes indeed positive mentalism works. New findings and studies in cognitive science points toward the fact that the universe is as the Kybalion says, mental. This is also being substantiated by quantum theory. Science is moving closer and closer to the understanding that the material world is a virtual reality construction. Back to the first question, what is missing?

My answer is as follows: The possible answer can be found in many if not all of the religious traditions of the world. For example, in Christianity it is taught that the word of God, is the creative source. This means that God’s consciousness, spoken is the creative force and is the source of word of faith teaching and believing. This is based on the fact that Jesus claimed to be the word or God consciousness incarnate. It did not stop there however, he went on to teach that we too are the word incarnate, and that the works that he did we too would be able to do. By works he meant the miraculous. This concept is backed up by the teachings of Hermetica, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. All of those beliefs make room for our individual soul and consciousness to be instrumental in creation of the world circumstances.

In recent cognitive studies conducted by Dr. Donald Hoffman and his students, he has hypothesized that we are all conscious agents that act together to create the reality around us. This would certainly seem to back up Napoleon Hills axiom. Yet and still, so many are unsuccessful in creating the reality they desire. So, what could cause that?

Perhaps it is not distinguishing between the temporal and the eternal. Our material existence is temporal and finite. Our eternal existence is infinite and not temporal at all. But, if we are each conscious points within the universal consciousness, then each of us are divine. If we are divine, then it seems logical that we have divine free will. What if it is our divinity that chooses our life path, experiences, lessons etc.? What if we indeed choose our goals in incarnating? What if we sometimes limit our mental alchemy abilities for reasons that we cannot comprehend on the temporal plane but are none the less very important in our eternal goals and process? This would eliminate the self-blame as we are completely in charge of our entire eternal destiny. It puts it outside of the realm of God choosing something for our good and puts it directly in the realm of us choosing something for our good.

In this way it all comes down to our free will and free choices within the framework of an eternal mental reality that periodically experiences the temporal material world for specific pre-determined purposes? This is the idea that I have settled on and makes the most sense to me.