The non-dual Christ <http://www.nonduality.com/pieter.htm>

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The Non-Dual Christ

Could the Teachings of Christ really centered in Non-Dualism? Is

Christ in reality the all pervasive timeless unconditioned Self,

abiding as the Heart of everyone, as Consciousness Itself? If Christ

IS the Truth, shouldn't His Teachings be examined to discover Who and

What That Truth is and abide as That, rather than to seek out for

remedies in this world? - as in

"Go first to God ("I AM") and all things will be added unto you." Luke 12:31

There are many passages in the New (and Old) Testament, where, when

the notion we are all separate beings, centered in our identities as

thinking bodies, is put aside, one is surprised to find that most

passages are apparently referring to Christ as being the Self, and

likewise He speaks from the non-dual perspective.

While in the Old Testament God states the Truth as "I AM THAT I AM",

the West has diverted Christianity around Descartes' dictum: "I think

therefore I am." From, the non-dual point of view, the first two of

the Ten Commandments (Ex 20: 1-7) are extremely powerful non-dual

statements, i.e., neither permitting images before the "I" sense, nor

allowing the use of the subject "I" together with an identity to

images. So, it is no wonder that in reading the words of Christ as

non-dual, the statements come out as being also very powerful.

The following are several quotes about Christ as the Self (the subject

"I" Consciousness) of all

"All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made

that was made." John I: 3

'In him was life, and the life was the light of men." John I: 4

"And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not." John I: 5

"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that is born into

this world." John I: 9

Here the creation is not only created by Christ, but also all creation

throughout all time is a projection of the Conscious Principle "I", as

"without him was not anything made that was made". Who Christ is said

to be is Life, and that Life was the Light (Consciousness) of "every

man that is born into this world." The darkness described is the

mind, which cannot know the True and imageless Self, the All Knower,

and cannot see the seer, which lights it.

>From these quotes and the quotes to follow, we will see that Christ is

defined clearly as the Self of all, and that His Teachings are to

redirect each listener that can "hear" Him, to purify the mind, or

directly to enquire into and abide as the Self, or to admonish them

to take their stand in the Truth and "abide in me", the Self. Quoting

a few passages, it will become clear that these are statements from

someone, who, having realized their Self, no longer has a sense of

"I" in relation to the body or mind, but abides as and is

"Consciousness Itself".

"No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,

even the Son of man which is in heaven."John 3: 13

Here Christ states that this Self is always realized. In John 3: 14-21

Christ elaborates on this theme of the "Light" further, as do many

other of his passages. When seen from the non-dual perspective, His

passages are intensely strong, giving no ground for alternate ideas

that there may be some reality to the world or some basis to the

world or some alternate "Ways" or approaches. For example:

"I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in

darkness, but shall have the Light of Life." John 8: 12

By comparison with the ancient sages and magi from the East, one might

think from reading these passages that Christ always speaks as the

Atman and of the Father as Brahman, or as the Self realized being One

in relation to the All pervasive and timeless Self (the "I AM THAT I

AM"). Christ states:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8: 58

One can see from the way Christ always refers to the Father, as the

doer of the miracles and all that He says, that regardless of His

apparent actions, that He has no sense of being a doer, that all He

says and does just happens, because He abides in the Father. Consider

the following passage, where Jesus is speaking to the Apostles in John

Ch 14:

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: No man cometh to the Father but by Me. (verse 6)

If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from

hence forth you know him and have seen him. (verse 7)

"Philip said to Jesus, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.' (verse 8)

"To which Jesus replied:

"Have I been so long with you, yet you have still not known me,

Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; therefore, how do

you say, 'Show us the Father'? (verse 9)

"Believe you not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The

words I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that

dwells in me he does the works. (verse 11)

"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else

believe me for the very works' sake." (verse 12)

Again:

"I and my Father are one." John 10: 30

Explaining how his Truth is in fact the Truth of all, Christ states in John Ch 15:

"Abide in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself,

except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me.

(verse 4)

"I am the vine, you are the branches...apart from me you can do nothing." (verse 5)

In John Chapter 17, Christ prays to the Father on behalf of the

Apostles, that He sanctify them by His Truth, and that they might be

one with the Father ("I AM THAT I AM"). Here, one can see that His

state is always one with the Father. One is quite clear that

Christ’s permanent abiding state, when He says "where I am", is

unrelated to the world. He asks:

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me

where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me:

For you have loved me from before the foundation of the world."

(verse 24)

The notion of Spirit, that He (Christ) and God (the Father) are one in

Spirit also conveys the sense of the formlessness of Brahman (the

Father), as well as our own Truth as spirit versus body:

"God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

(John 4: 24)

Apart from all Christ's teachings of practices and parables about

non-judgment (Mat Ch 7: 1-2; Luke 6: 37-42; John 8: 6-11),

non-attachment (Mat 6: 40), non-anxiety (Mat 6: 25-34; Luke 12:

22-32), perpetual forgiveness (Luke 17: 4; Mat 19: 21-22; Mark

11:25), compassion (Mat 25: 34-40), humility (Mat 18: 4), and so on,

which all relate to a discarding of attention to the world ("Take no

thought for your life." Mat 6: 25), probably the most profoundly

direct instruction Christ gave concerning the teaching of is non-dual

Truth is from Luke 11:

"The light of the body is the eye: Therefore, when thine eye is

single, your whole body will be filled with light...." (verse 34)

>From the non-dual perspective, this is easily paraphrased as follows:

The part of you that sees (the seer, one's Self) is your true light.

Therefore, if you hold the seer (subject-"I") singly or exclusively

(versus giving attention to thoughts and images) you will have

illumination - or what some call the "enlightenment of the whole

body". (This is similar to God’s First and Second Commandments

weren’t clear enough in terms of having no images before the "I

AM.")

And as to the Heart, which is the seat of the all-pervasive Self ("I

AM"): "The wise man's heart is at his right hand, but the fool's

heart at his left." Ecclesiastes 10: 2. And: "The pure in heart shall

see God ("I AM")." Matt 3: 8.

Anyone in the east, coming to a similar conclusion about Christ, might

call the approach of Christ the path of "sudden realization", because

his teachings are often in the form of commandments or statements

giving no ground (room to maneuver). His approach permits no delays,

no second chance, no outs, no remedy, no alternatives to the

tribulations of the world. His way to God (the "I AM" of the Old

Testament) is full of beatitudes and purity (Mat 5: 2-11),

blessedness and love (Mat 6: 38-48). But those that oppose the Spirit

"will never be forgiven" (Luke 12: 10, Mat 12: 32; Mark 3: 29) and

"will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there is great

suffering and gnashing of teeth." (Mat 8: 12;14: 50; 22: 13; 24: 51)

The reading of the New Testament requires a constant coming to terms

with Christ's life: His all knowingness of each person close or far

away, now and in the future, how they will act, what will happen,

when, and why; the constant ceaseless flow of power, where miracles

fall from him, undirected. In the non-dualist texts, these are the

powers described as God's, to be all knowing, all powerful, and so

forth. In Revelations, Ch I: 8, Christ tells John:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending" sayeth

the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the

Almighty."

But what was special about Christ was the sense of awe-inspiring

fierceness, the intensity of rock hard Reality that packed each

moment, demanding ... commanding perfection of everyone, now. For

example:

"Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

"I give you a commandment: Love one another." John 15: 12, 17

"For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he

gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

And I know his commandment is life everlasting." John 12: 49

As Christ repeatedly stated "If any man have ears to hear, let him

hear." Mark Ch 4: 23, again Mark 7: 16, etc.. This "hearing" is

central to the entire non-dual teaching process, until the mind

becomes still*, free of its focus on identity with images and the

Conscious principal, the subject "I", one's True imageless and

timeless Self flashes forth. *"Stillness of mind" means "Be still and

know that I am God (‘I AM’ Ex 3: 14)." (David, Ps).

Probably the best summation of the possibility, potential, or promise

that Christ represents to the Western world is in his following

statement from John 16: 33.

"These things I have spoken to you that in me you might have peace. In

the world you shall have tribulations: But be of good cheer; I have

overcome (conquered) the world."

Actually, not to see Christ as the personification of the non-dual

Truth is to turn all He says into demagoguery, to make him into

another "zealot" of the time, the founder of a bizarre cult, of

strange rituals based in fanatical superstition and myth, a revamping

of paganism in monistic form. It seems quite obvious though that if we

can "hear" Him, Christ, ever abiding in and as the Father, may be one

of the most profound Teachers of the non-dual nature of Reality and

proof of its philosophy in terms of realizing the Truth of our own

Reality as all pervasive Self!

Blessed am I

In freedom am I

I am the infinite

in my soul

I can find no beginning

no end

All is my Self