Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Higher Consciousness Won’t Save Us

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Matt Stone

2010-12-18

Jesus once said, “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” I think spiritual seekers often miss the import of this.

It means nobodies are welcome. It means neither education nor intelligence nor status are barriers. It means, far from higher consciousness being a pre-requisite for spiritual transcendance, even a person with down’s syndrone can enter the kingdom of God.

Conversely, being a sage or guru is no guarantee of God access. Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” This is echoed elsewhere by the apostle Paul: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Sometimes kids get what adults miss.

Tags Meditation, Mystery, Psychology, Salvation

3 responses to “Higher Consciousness Won’t Save Us”

Lucy J

2010-12-20

Seems to tie in with my recent meditations on Romans Chapter 9 in the sense that an acceptance of God’s “promise” overrides genetic selection (which suggests to me such things as capabilities, aptitudes, capacities in areas including consciousness).
The last few verses in The Message version express some salient points in a very interesting way:
“I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved.
In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!”
they’re calling you “God’s living children.”
Isaiah maintained this same emphasis:
If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered
and the sum labeled “chosen of God,”
They’d be numbers still, not names;
salvation comes by personal selection.
God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name.
Arithmetic is not his focus
All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.”
This suggests to me that journey WITH God is very important… Christmas time celebrates the incarnation… fully embodied divinity… not just consciousness (a more “out of body” kind of experience). It appears that we need to appreciate the “flesh and blood” nature of our existence and seek God’s help to harmonise that with the parts of our being that are not physical.

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John

2010-12-20

The Five Reality Teachings:
You are NOT the one who wakes, or dreams, or sleeps.
You ARE the actionless and formless mere Witness of the three common states of waking, dreaming, and sleeping. And of all the apparent contents and experiences associated with the three common states of waking, and of dreaming, and of sleeping.
You are NOT the body, or the doer of action, or the doer of even ANY of the body’s actions or functions.
You are NOT the mind, or the thinker, or the doer of even ANY of the actions or functions of mind or of body-mind.
No matter what arises, whether as or in the state of waking, or of dreaming, or of sleeping, you ARE the actionless and formless mere Witness of any and every state of experience, and of the entirety of whatever and ALL that arises.
—————————————————
Therefore, Consciousness Itself is the Principle of all of your experiencing. Consciousness Itself stands Prior to your experience. No matter what arises, you are Conscious of it, you are the Witness of it. You experience everything as a mode of Consciousness.
You ARE Consciousness – and That Is That.

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Kalessin

2010-12-21

John, do you see [cC]onsciousness as individual or universal? Are we all the same Consciousness, in your view, or different consciousnesses?

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