Paul's transcendant experience

I had an interesting "aha" moment earlier this year after a Sunday School lesson on Paul that made the connection for me between Paul's emphasis on sacrifice, resurrection, etc. to the exclusion of what Jeshua actually taught with a comment Ken Wilber made in one of his interviews. Wilber's comment was that people can experience high or intense spiritual states (usually temporary such as Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus) regardless of the stage (permanent) of spiritual consciousness they have achieved, and that they will interpret the "state" experience from the perspective of their "stage". Thus folks at a mythic or at a rule/role bound level or stage of consciousness interpret a spiritual state or experience as confirmation that their belief system is correct.

I think Paul was "primed" by his background and the myths of his time to focus on the sacrifice and "resurrection" of Jeshua as the primary components of the message. And so that became his emphasis in all of his teachings. That this also worked well politically at that time and during the ensuing centuries allowed the western church to consolidate control around that perspective to the exclusion of most of the esoteric teachings of Jeshua.