Somewhere in the mix of religious ideology, western religion tended to adhere to religious hierarchy, while eastern religion tended to focus on spiritualism. As such, the modern understanding of Christianity and Pauline teachings seem to be less understood and dogmatized into programmatic teachings rather than an understanding of intentionality, which is at the root of Jesus Christ’s teachings. This section is intended to delve into some of these deeper spiritual understandings that will make more sense to those have pursued a more spiritualized path, than those who were brought up in the hierarchy of Western churches.
One of the greatest misunderstandings in religious ideologies is that of the Holy Spirit. Given the position in the Trinity, one would expect a more dogmatic and thorough understanding of the pneuma in modern theological thought. Having been through seminary, I was quite disappointed in the breadth on the topic, so I began to look into what could be implied in Eastern religions. While I understand the Buddhist teachings, I really think the value of the stages isn’t in five degrees of perceptive reality, but rather only three. These are mind, soul, and spirit.
Mind, which can be the same as body, is the purely physical understanding of reality. It is both the internal and external perceptive form that we view today. Mind, in and of itself, is merely of observation, interpreting the signals that come its way. Mindfulness is really just being aware of yourself and the physical reality around you. Everyone has a mind, not everyone learns how to control their own mind. From the onset of birth, our minds observe, bringing about miraculous levels of growth. Look at how a baby develops from a static being, into a crawling being, into a walking being, and how it becomes social and experimental over time. A baby tends to have greater mind than an adult. They don’t observe the world in a manner of constraints, but rather through the process of mimicry and experimentation, begin to create and process their reality and goals. It isn’t until their brain progresses from the mindfulness stage into the assimilation stage to group consciousness where regressive traits and mindfulness seems to be lost. Somehow in the process of being placed into boxes, adults believe they are more mature than that of children, but it seems to be quite the opposite. Babies and infants are curious, observant, and brutally honest; it’s adults who are fixated, blind, and lie to preserve some sort of societal status.
Soul, is quite different than mind. While the mind perceives, the soul is the driver. Think about the process of moving your hand. Your mind contemplates the action, while your drive (or soul) puts the action into process. Each person has a soul, which drives their behavior and conduct. Soul is what turns the mind into actions and results in the actual process of moving an idea into a shared reality. Nothing within the physical world could be changed or manipulated without it. A mind without soul is an idea generator, a mind and a soul without capacity is a cripple, a soul without mind is a robot, and we are minds with soul. It’s the combination of mind and soul that generate experience, emotion, tastes, preferences, and the like. Many times we confuse these two items, but they are distinctly different. The mind is like computer hardware, the programs and operating software are often the constraints of the soul.
Spirits are the often challenging aspect of reality and consciousness. When Jesus referred to the Spirit of Elijah being John the Baptist, and he being greater than that, I had to ponder if my understanding of soul and spirit was misguided (which it was). After spending time reading through the Old Testament and New Testament references, spirits are the pursuits of actions. Unlike what we are taught, it appears that spirits are actually external to us. While a portion of spiritual activity is experienced within us, the spirit by nature appears to operate more like a magnet. The Holy Spirit is one that anchors in truth, is guided by the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:36-40 (love God with all your heart and others as yourself), and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is guided in Galatians 5. Other spirits seem to guide in other pathways or though tangents, whether it be a religious system, a political or national identity, a pursuit of pleasure, or anything outside of the Holy Spirit. Other spirits likely do operate in an ouroboros of sorts (cycling within the realm of the God ordained understanding of everything), but the Holy Spirit really is unique and attained by one pathway, humility and reliance on one greater than you. Christ relied on the Father, and through his lead, we are granted access to the Holy Spirit to find our way out of the mess. Unfortunately, most confuse this in making dogmatic religion, when Jesus taught a way of life, not a Sunday ritual or congregation of worship. He constantly chastised the Pharisees for worshipping laws and ignoring intent, he advised the apostles on their narrow views and ideologies, he did the right thing regardless of opposition. He taught through story and did nothing of/for his own accord, which is truly in opposition to the world.
People guided into different pathways try to go beyond spirit, into the perception of negation, which is an interesting practice, but if you anchor in nothing, that’s exactly what you will get (meaninglessness, lack of love/emotion/etc.). I believe God and the Holy Spirit allowed me to get to that point so I could reorient my understanding of reality and unbox from the constraints of human programming. Romans 12:2 tells us to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Jesus told us to be like the children. These will all get you back to what I just wrote about. When you get to that point, you can start peeling back reality and programming for what it is and start focusing on things that matter.
Most Christians accept Christ’s gift and that is all that’s needed. However, if you truly want to understand Christ’s teachings, you usually need to go one step further. It’s somewhat hidden in the eastern mystic teachings, but you have to have the wisdom to accept some portions, while tossing aside others. Here’s a more simple, pragmatic method I learned from working with people in recovery. The largest shortfall of modern Christianity is the lack of spiritual progress. People go to church, accept salvation, then continue back into the world as they did before expecting things to be different. For some it does, for many it does not, as insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. What helped me is working through a 12 step program, which allowed me to turn my life over to God, work through resentments (which were actually holding me back, not the people whom I disliked or their conduct), and pursuing spiritual growth through honest prayer and meditation. If your spiritual growth is blocked, chances are your are stuck in a dogmatic form of thinking (past resentments, unrealistic goals, bad constraints and teachings).
In the next section, I will address how the spirit of God operates independently of the world systems, and how you might be following a pathway of Lucifer’s light rather than the method taught by Jesus. There are too many resentful Christians, too many horrible doctrines of thought, and we provide such a contradictory example that it’s no wonder that we have become no better over the ages. These sections are intended to help Christians advance their walk with God. If they are confusing, please leave comments and I will respond as time allots.
