This thread does not only apply to Gnostic Christianity but also
to all mystics throughout Christianity whether gnostic or
non-gnostic alike. Just that I have posted here as I am not aware
of any more appropriate places in sgForums. Those of mainstream
Christianity might also find something valuable in here if one is
receptive of the higher reality..
Christ: The Reality Of Your Divine
Presence
Don't get attached to any one word. You can substitute "Christ" for
presence, if that is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God
essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The
only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers
to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious
of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or
God-essence.
Many misunderstandings and false beliefs about Christ will clear if
you realize that there is no past or future in Christ. To say that
Christ was or will be is a contradiction in terms.
Jesus was. He was a man who lived two thousand years ago and
realized divine presence, his true nature. And so he said: "Before
Abraham was, I am." He did not say: "I already existed before
Abraham was born." That would have meant that he was still within
the dimension of time and form identity. The words I am used in a sentence that starts in
the past tense indicate a radical shift, a discontinuity in the
temporal dimension. It is a Zen-like statement of great profundity.
Jesus attempted to convey directly, not through discursive thought,
the meaning of presence, of self realization. He had gone beyond
the consciousness dimension governed by time, into the realm of the
timeless. The dimension of eternity had come into this world.
Eternity, of course, does not mean endless time, but no time. Thus,
the man Jesus became Christ, a vehicle for pure consciousness. And
what is God's self-definition in the Bible? Did God say "I have
always been, and I always will be?" Of course not. That would have
given reality to past and future. God said: "I AM THAT I AM." No
time here, just presence.
The "second coming" of Christ is a transformation of human
consciousness, a shift from time to presence, from thinking to pure
consciousness, not the arrival of some man or woman. If "Christ"
were to return tomorrow in some externalized form, what could he or
she possibly say to you other than this: "I am the Truth. I am
divine presence. I am eternal life. I am within you. I am here. I
am Now."
Never personalize Christ. Don't make Christ into a form identity.
Avatars, divine mothers, enlightened masters, the very few that are
real, are not special as persons. Without a false self to uphold,
defend, and feed, they are more simple, more ordinary than the
ordinary man or woman. Anyone with a strong ego would regard them
as insignificant or, more likely, not see them at all.
If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is
already enough presence in you to recognize presence in another.
There were many people who did not recognize Jesus or the Buddha,
as there are and always have been many people who are drawn to
false teachers. Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot
recognize light. Only light can recognize light. So don't believe
that the light is outside you or that it can only come through one
particular form. If only your master is an incarnation of God, then
who are you? Any kind of exclusivity is identification with form,
and identification with form means ego, no matter how well
disguised.
Use the master's presence to reflect your own identity beyond name
and form back to you and to become more intensely present yourself.
You will soon realize that there is no "mine" or "yours" in
presence. Presence is one.
Group work can also be helpful for intensifying the light of your
presence. A group of people coming together in a state of presence
generates a collective energy field of great intensity. It not only
raises the degree of presence of each member of the group but also
helps to free the collective human consciousness from its current
state of mind dominance. This will make the state of presence
increasingly more accessible to individuals. However, unless at
least one member of the group is already firmly established in it
and thus can hold the energy frequency of that state, the egoic
mind can easily reassert itself and sabotage the group's endeavors.
Although group work is invaluable, it is not enough, and you must
not come to depend on it. Nor must you come to depend on a teacher
or a master, except during the transitional period, when you are
learning the meaning and practice of presence.
~ The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle