Christianity and Loving Presence--Part IV
If the insight that Yeshua is bringing forward is truly a profound teaching of non-duality (oneness) expressed in a Semitic way in the first-century world, then Yeshua, is truly (as Cynthia Bourgeault has recently said), one of the first non-dual teachers in the Abrahamic tradition. The Gospel of Thomas, of course, expresses these truths directly and openly in a manner that the other canonical Gospels do not.
Yeshua’s understanding is powerful and broad. It includes transcendence, immanence, Presence, and direct access to the I AM consciousness that fills and floods all things. We as human beings can know this conscious Presence that is ultimately transcendent to all things, directly, personally, intimately and immanently. As he says in John’s Gospel, “I pray, Abba, that they (my students) may be one, just as you exist in me and I exist in you, that they may also be one in us… I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in oneness, so that the world may know that you have not only sent me, but have loved them, as you have loved me.” (John 17:20, 23)
It is a profound statement of prayer, expressing everything that matters to Yeshua. So, then, we reach another step in our understanding. Oneness is not just some private affair that is secretly known by the knower, but also becomes available in some way to the world around us. The world too begins to know. But know what? Here, in this prayer, the outer knowing is cast in the language of love, and love is a divine quality that this prayer says flows through the beings who begin to have such direct perception and access to it. Love is the side-effect of having an experience of union with the Divine Reality (the Source). But perhaps we could say that love does not “happen” (nor is it truly perceived in the world around us) if that active energy is not infused in us through direct experience.
The I AM Presence is not some abstraction. Like all presences that we know in one another, it is filled with qualities, aspects of being that are unique, gifts that are perceived and received by each of us (in this realm) from one another. All qualities are said to reside in that Presence, and these become available to the “lovers.” As we receive direct access, we also receive direct transmission of that which is always “more than ourselves”—those divine qualities that we “channel” through our own being into the world, and Love leads the list. This is a deep insight in the revelation made available to us through Yeshua. He spoke of it powerfully as being able to “overcome” in a world like ours where hatred and violence are often at the head of our list of human behaviors. The I AM Presence has impact through love and compassion as it comes to reside in us.
Yeshua’s understanding is powerful and broad. It includes transcendence, immanence, Presence, and direct access to the I AM consciousness that fills and floods all things. We as human beings can know this conscious Presence that is ultimately transcendent to all things, directly, personally, intimately and immanently. As he says in John’s Gospel, “I pray, Abba, that they (my students) may be one, just as you exist in me and I exist in you, that they may also be one in us… I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in oneness, so that the world may know that you have not only sent me, but have loved them, as you have loved me.” (John 17:20, 23)
It is a profound statement of prayer, expressing everything that matters to Yeshua. So, then, we reach another step in our understanding. Oneness is not just some private affair that is secretly known by the knower, but also becomes available in some way to the world around us. The world too begins to know. But know what? Here, in this prayer, the outer knowing is cast in the language of love, and love is a divine quality that this prayer says flows through the beings who begin to have such direct perception and access to it. Love is the side-effect of having an experience of union with the Divine Reality (the Source). But perhaps we could say that love does not “happen” (nor is it truly perceived in the world around us) if that active energy is not infused in us through direct experience.
The I AM Presence is not some abstraction. Like all presences that we know in one another, it is filled with qualities, aspects of being that are unique, gifts that are perceived and received by each of us (in this realm) from one another. All qualities are said to reside in that Presence, and these become available to the “lovers.” As we receive direct access, we also receive direct transmission of that which is always “more than ourselves”—those divine qualities that we “channel” through our own being into the world, and Love leads the list. This is a deep insight in the revelation made available to us through Yeshua. He spoke of it powerfully as being able to “overcome” in a world like ours where hatred and violence are often at the head of our list of human behaviors. The I AM Presence has impact through love and compassion as it comes to reside in us.
posted by Lynn Bauman at 7:39 AM
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