christian mysticism

This episode is about the Holy Spirit and how this important Christian belief and experience fits into nondual Christianity. 

In this episode I talk about how to approach American politics - and especially the 2024 election - from a nondual perceptive as nondual awareness. 

I have talked about repentance before in a nondual context, but I have not dedicated an entire episode to it. So today I am. The call to repent is normally talked about in moral and ethical terms, but that is just the surface of it. When followed to its end repentance is a path to spiritual awakening. It is the door to what Jesus called the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” 

This episode has a discussion of the difference between awareness and consciousness, including a discussion of this topic by Nisargadatta Maharaj.

In this episode I explain how to interpret the apocalyptic passages of the New Testament from a nondual perspective.

In this episode I explain how the traditional Christian teaching on the forgiveness of sins is insufficient and how complete forgiveness is an expression of Christian nonduality.

In Jesus’ teaching children represented the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Becoming like children is a metaphor that used for what in other spiritual traditions is called enlightenment, awakening, nirvana, liberation, self-realization or any number of other terms. Children know naturally what adults have forgotten.  He need to remember what we have forgotten.

In this episode I show how we can move from the Western cult of the self to Jesus’ teaching of Self-Realization.

Today I am going to get back to basics. I am going to describe how to abide in nondual awareness, as much as that can be described. If I were to use Christian language I would call this dwelling in the Kingdom of God or living in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is the term Jesus used and is probably best translated “the Spiritual Realm.” This is also called “living in the Spirit” or “walking in the Spirit” or “abiding in Christ” or simply being “in Christ.” 

The phrase “Word of God” is used a lot by Christians. I hear it in church every Sunday. When Christians talk about the Word of God, they are usually referring to the Christian scriptures. In this episode today I am proposing another way of understanding the term – a more inclusive use of the term, which also happens to be the Biblical way of understanding the phrase. 

Biblically speaking the Word of God is not limited to a book. We can say the Bible is the Word of God, but it does not exhaust the Word of God. Also it is important to note that the Christian Scriptures – the New Testament - is not called the Word of God in the Bible. 

So what exactly is the Word of God? In the Bible the phrase refers to God speaking. It is the living Presence and Power of the Divine speaking to us from the depths of the Spirit. It is otherwise known as Nondual Reality, which can be known directly but expressed only imperfectly in words.

In this episode I interpret the biblical Christmas stories in a nondual manner.

Humans are a story-telling species. You could say that story-telling is what distinguishes us from all other creatures on this planet. Families tell family stories to strengthen their family bonds. Nations and political parties tell stories that distinguish from others. Religions tell stories of their origin, nature and identity. 

As individuals we tell stories about ourselves. In that way we develop a personal identity. At some point we may notice that many of the stories that we tell ourselves do not ring true to our experience, and we begin the process of deconstruction. That is what I did with my evangelical Christianity. 

If we go deep enough in this process we see that all stories about ourselves are false. They are fictions that we have adopted to help us navigate a confusing world. In this episode I explore how we can go beyond our stories to discover our true unformed nature behind the stories we tell ourselves. 

There is a common misunderstanding about nondual awareness, spiritual awakening, liberation, self-realization, enlightenment or whatever you want to call it.  The misunderstanding is that it is cure-all for everything that ails us. That the culmination of the spiritual search is a cessation of all psychological pain.  It is not. This episode explores the brokenness of the human condition, even after spiritual awakening, and how brokenness can lead to realization of our True Nature.

For many people the news is stressful. I read a TIME magazine article the other day entitled “Where to Seek Help if the Israel-Hamas War is Impacting Your Mental Health.” There are regular senseless mass shootings.  A big issue is political discord in American politics. 

Political opinions affect churches and divide churches. They divide families. It is only going to get worse in the coming year until the 2024 general election. Then we will see what happens between Election Day and inauguration day. 

How does nondual spirituality address this? How does Christian nonduality deal with this? In this episode I address the “us versus them” mentality of the world from a nondual perspective. 

When I look at Christianity I see lots of fear. It seems to have become a religion based on fear. Preachers tell us to be afraid, be very afraid. Fear God and fear punishment for sin and fear Judgment Day and most of all fear going to hell. Fire and brimstone preachers have learned that fear keeps people in the pews and in their particular form of Christianity. At least it used to. People are wising up to the scare tactics. They do not work the way they used to. But still many preachers try to keep people under control by making them afraid to step outside of the parameters of their particular type of Christianity. 

Remnants of this fear continue in people’s hearts and minds long after they have left fear-based religion behind. This is especially true if we were trained to fear when we were young. It is difficult to let it go. I run up against this all the time in people I talk to about Christian nonduality. People who have left fundamentalism are still afraid that they might be wrong, that they have fallen away from the true faith, that they have backslidden, that they have committed apostasy, that they are going to hell for leaving their church. They can feel the fires of hell licking at their heels long after they have left the idea of hell behind.  

Christians are hesitant to think outside the box of Christianity. It feels dangerous to them. They are hesitant to read the scriptures of other faiths. They are hesitant to explore beyond the Bible. That voice in their head makes them afraid that if they start to question some doctrines of Christianity, then they are falling away from the faith, and Satan is deceiving them to believe in doctrines of demons. They are afraid that if they start to explore other philosophies, then they are starting on a slippery slope to hell. 

The worst part of this fear is that it robs us of the spiritual joy that is our birthright. In response to all that fear, I say, “Fear not.” That is the message of God in the Bible, and it can be our experience in the spiritual life. 

In this enlightening episode of "God: An Autobiography, The Podcast," host Scott Langdon and Dr. Jerry L. Martin explore love- from a spiritual perspective- and an inspiring email from Jenny. Jenny shares her profound experience with God and the transformative journey of discovering an intimate connection with the divine.

Join Scott and Jerry as they discuss Jenny's exploration of her relationship with God, the evolving understanding of Jesus as a personal presence, and the liberating realization that we need not earn God's love-it is a pure and unconditional gift.

Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that explores the depths of spirituality, the beauty of love, and the divine embrace that transcends human understanding. Open your heart to the wonders of an authentic spiritual connection and the joy of being truly loved by God.

Keywords: spirituality, intimate connection, divine love, spiritual journey, understanding God, Christian mysticism, faith, hope, love, religious experience, Shekinah cloud, talking with God

Other Series:

• Life Wisdom Project- How to live a wiser, happier, and more meaningful life with special guests.
• From God To Jerry To You- a brand-new series calling for the attention of spiritual seekers everywhere, featuring breakthroughs, pathways, and illuminations.
• Two Philosophers Wrestle With God- sit in on a dialogue between philosophers about God and the questions we all have.
• What's On Our Mind- Connect the dots with Jerry and Scott over the most recent series episodes.
• What's On Your Mind- What are readers and listeners saying? What is God saying?

Resources:

• READ: "Everything Is A Manifestation, Not Just An Effect, Of Me."
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I have been receiving quite a few questions recently asking me how I would interpret certain passages in the Christian scriptures. People quote verses that seem to contradict what I am saying, and they want me to explain them. 

For example I recently said in an episode that heaven is not a place. It is the spiritual reality not in the hereafter but here and now. Someone asked me how I would explain Jesus saying, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus uses the word “place” three times in three verses, and that seems to contradict my assertion that heaven is not a place. This is just one example. I have received several other comments that quote a verse and say, “What about this verse?” So I thought I would do an episode on how to interpret scripture from a nondual perspective. You could call this a nondual hermeneutic.

I read Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha back in the 60’s when I was in college. It was a rite of passage back then. But I did not really know experientially what it was all about until I was in my sixties. Later in this episode I am going to take a look the closing vision in Hermann Hesse’s book Siddhartha and show how it informs Christian nonduality, and in particular how it informs the nondual understanding of what happens after the death of the body. 

During the summer when the weather is good, we attend an outdoor worship service held by a Congregational church in a neighboring town. In her sermon last Sunday the pastor talked about her ordination exam five years ago. In preparation for the ordination council she invited some clergy friends to send her the most challenging questions that might be asked during the oral examination. One asked, “Is Gandhi in heaven?” He followed up with the question, “Is Hitler in Heaven?” Finally he asked a third one: “How about child abusers? How about a person who abused your child?” 

The questions were designed to test the limits of salvation, grace and justice. The scripture text for her message was John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” The pastor did a very good job addressing the questions, coming down strongly on the grace of God and coming close to universalism. Throughout the sermon I kept thinking about how I would preach that sermon and approach those questions. This episode is how I would answer those questions.

A homily based on the following lectionary reading for the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin:

Luke 1:46-55

 Mary said:
 “My soul proclaims your greatness, O God, and my spirit rejoices in you, my Savior. For you have looked with favor
upon your lowly servant,
and from this day forward
all generations will call me blessed. 
For you, the Almighty, have done great things for
 me,
and holy is your Name.
Your mercy reaches from age to age
for those who fear you. 
You have shown strength with your arm;
you have scattered the proud in their conceit;
 you have deposed the mighty from their thrones
and raised the lowly to high places. 
You have filled the hungry with good things,
while you have sent the rich away empty. 
You have come to the aid of Israel your servant,
mindful of your mercy— 
the promise you made to our ancestors—
to Sarah and Abraham
and their descendants

Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible (pp. 2220-2221). Sheed & Ward. Kindle Edition. 

Recently I have been thinking about Jesus and his relationship to Christianity. I came across a quote that stated that Jesus was not a Christian. Here is the whole statement: “Buddha was not a Buddhist. Jesus was not a Christian. Muhammad was not a Muslim. They were teachers who taught love. Love was their religion.” Is that true? In this episode I explore that statement, focusing on the idea that Jesus was not a Christian, and why that matters today.