Curious Christian

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

As Above So Below

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Matt Stone

2012-02-05

as above so below The closest Christianity comes to a doctrine of correspondences is the teaching that Jesus is the incarnation of God – that as Jesus is, God is – and that as we come to imitate Christ we come to imitate God. The crucial difference though is in what we say about the will. In esoteric teaching the goal is mastery of the will. In Christian teaching the goal is surrender of the will, alignment of the will with God’s will.

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2 responses to “As Above So Below”

Michael

2012-02-05

The will cannot be surrendered unless it is mastered upon.

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peregrin

2012-02-06

Hi Matt,
thanks for this post. From most Christian esoteric perspectives the dichotomy you propose of mastery and surrender does not exist. The will is seen as disparate, cohesive and without central direction, comprised of several sometime competing parts. Ask any addict, soft or hard, and they’ll know exactly what I mean. Also, in everyday life we are pulled in several directions at once.
Esoteric practice helps us to unify our wills (an ongoing process), so our daily surrender to Christ or the One is more whole and more complete, more authentic.
Now of course, you are right that some esoteric traditions that jettison the Christian bases, the development of will is a goal and end it itself. These normally end in tears. But in most healthy traditions, Christian or Universalist, the development of will is always seen as subservient to deeper surrender.
Of course, there are other ways of deep and full surrender besides esotericism and the development of will, but it is, I think, an authentic and deep tradition. Thanks 🙂

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