What is Being a Christian All About?
According to Jesus, it is rising in consciousness
I frequently use the words “rising in consciousness” in my articles because I believe that these words summarize our purpose as Christians. The other tasks we have been told about derive from and are secondary to this primary purpose of Christian life.
Rising in consciousness
Rising in consciousness can be expressed as follows:
1. A transition in consciousness from materialistic to spiritual consciousness.
2. A transition from selfish to selfless consciousness.
3. As the Bible describes, a transition from “sowing to the flesh” to “sowing to the spirit.” The understanding is that “flesh” is an attraction to the material and physical.
As one rises in consciousness, one becomes less self-centered and less focused on the material world.
It becomes more natural to be kind to others.
What did Paul mean?
I remember my confusion when I first read Paul’s statement, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).
How can anyone “get the mind” of another?
At first, I could only think that Paul wanted us to achieve Jesus’ “state of mind.” Later, I understood this to be too limiting and opted for Jesus’ “state of consciousness.”
People frequently use the expression “state of mind,” which is the same concept as “state of consciousness,” but the latter is a much broader idea that includes not only thoughts but also beliefs and emotions.
An incomplete interpretation of Paul’s statement
Nowadays, Google offers an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Overview of ideas and statements when you search. Here is what came up when I googled Paul’s statement:
“Have the mind that was in Christ Jesus” is a phrase from the Bible… which encourages people to have the same mindset as Jesus Christ in their relationships with others. The apostle Paul wrote this verse to urge his followers to reflect Jesus’ humility, compassion, and self-sacrifice.”
In my opinion, this AI Overview is misleading on two fronts:
1. Having “the same mindset” is acceptable, but not if it is restricted simply to how we relate to others.
2. Urging followers “to reflect Jesus’ humility, compassion, and self-sacrifice” is again limiting the scope of Paul’s intent.
In short, the AI Overview misses the essential task that Jesus gave us. That is to work on and achieve an inner transformation that results in our rising in consciousness.
I would like to offer my reasons for this interpretation of Paul’s intent.
From the Law of Moses to the God of Love
The word consciousness didn’t exist in Aramaic, so we will not find it in the Bible. But Jesus found other ways and words to express his intent:
1. First, Jesus added a new and significant requirement concerning the Ten Commandments.
2. Then, throughout his ministry, Jesus emphasized the need to love others for the spiritual being that they truly are.
3. His teaching of God supported this Love as unconditional, which he dramatically expressed when on the Cross.
The law of Moses
After escaping from Egypt and being in the desert during the Biblical period known as the Exodus, Moses issued a large number of laws claimed to have been pronounced by God.
Besides the well-known Ten Commandments, the Law consisted of several hundred other laws with numerous rites and rituals.
In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were known to be the tribe of the Mosaic Law’s most faithful practitioners. Jesus clashed with them, whom he accused of being hypocrites and a brood of vipers (Matthew 23).
In turn, the Pharisees were furious at Jesus for daring to introduce modifications to the Law. They also accused Jesus and his disciples of not complying with the requirements of the Mosaic Law, one of which was healing on the day of the Sabbath incongruously.
The Sermon on The Mount
The Sermon on the Mount was Jesus’ first major public sermon. He knew that what he was about to deliver was so different from what his contemporaries were used to hearing that he had to reassure them at the outset.
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” These words must have been reassuring to the crowd.
The fulfillment of the Law came in part when Jesus added a new requirement to the list of sins in the Ten Commandments. In his sermon, Jesus explained that sin consists of not only the act but also the intent to commit and the thinking about the act, even in the absence of the sinful act.
For example, killing is a sin, but so is anger at another, or the thought of committing violence.
These ideas put forth by Jesus were revolutionary.
A new level of self-awareness
Jesus initiated a fundamentally different dimension to sinning by going beyond the act to include the mental and emotional elements of a sinful act.
Why did Jesus introduce such a change in defining sin?
Jesus wanted his followers to be mindful of their intents, thoughts, and emotions. Such mindfulness requires introspection and a new level of self-awareness.
The psychology of Jesus
Jesus intuitively knew what modern psychology has revealed: that all human beings are conditioned by their environment during the first seven years of life.
At that early age, we absorb unaware the way people around us act and react. That information forms our personal conditioning that functions at a subconscious level throughout adulthood.
Our actions and reactions as adults, including thoughts and feelings, are unconsciously affected if not determined by the nature of our conditioning, of which we are generally unaware.
These constituent and specific parts of our conditioning can be challenged only when we become aware and ready to challenge them.
This requires a level of self-awareness that Jesus wants us to acquire as part of our evolution in consciousness.
States of consciousness
From an early age, our conditioning orients us toward a state of consciousness that either tends toward negative or positive states.
Negative states are defined by negative emotions such as fear and anger, which frequently surface and affect our behavior. These emotions easily promote corresponding actions such as aggression, non-cooperation, and even violence. These modes of behavior define a negative and unhappy self-image. It is a state of psychological imbalance.
Positive states of consciousness are defined by positive emotions such as happiness and confidence that tend toward kindness, cooperation, and, ideally, love. These modes of behavior define a positive disposition and happier self-image, a more balanced psychological state.
States of consciousness are not static and can change from moment to moment, but, in the aggregate, they cluster either in the negative spectrum or the positive one.
A work in consciousness
The highest state of consciousness achievable by a human being is unconditional love for all humans and the environment. It is the highest of positive states. Jesus of Nazareth and a limited number of other mystics throughout the ages achieved this state.
The most difficult states keep us in frequent and extended periods of deep negativity about ourselves, others, and our circumstances.
It takes courage to exit deep negativity, and it can happen only when we realize we are leaning toward negative emotions and our desire to reject them. Then, we must face these emotions and try to understand their source in our conditioning. Sometimes, this requires help from someone who may be qualified to offer this kind of assistance.
Jesus’ purpose
It is difficult to have an active spiritual life when we spend most of our time in negative and unhappy states of consciousness. However, this unhappiness might create the motivation and courage to grow out of and rise above negative states of consciousness.
Progress can be made only when, as a first step, we have developed self-awareness and become conscious of our state of consciousness and our swings from one state to another.
The work of introspection and self-awareness correlates with our degree of spiritual awareness and of the knowledge of our true spiritual identity — namely, that we are all unconditionally children of God (1 John: 12–13). This is the meaning of true Self-awareness with a capital “S.”
Our intended progress goes from improving our humanly defined self-awareness to discovering our spiritual Self-awareness.
Jesus knows that the more people understand their true spiritual nature and live in positive states of consciousness, the less likely they are to do bad things and even consider such things.
Jesus wants us to go beyond a simple avoidance of sins. He wants us to behave with others based on our recognition that we are all God’s children.
It’s all about loving
In several passages, Jesus encouraged his disciples to express respect and kindness toward others. He went further to urge his disciples to love each other as they loved him. He was telling them that such love among them would define them as followers of Christ and more aware children of God.
When asked about the Mosaic Law, Jesus summarized it by saying that it is “loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves” (Matthew 22:34–40 and Mark 12:28–34).
Unconditional love for others, regardless of their words and actions, can only emanate from a high level of consciousness. This is Jesus’ expectation for his followers.
It is the life purpose of all would-be Christians.
The hardships we encounter daily are opportunities to stand fast in our belief and awareness that we live, move, and have our being in God’s Reality — i.e., My Kingdom — instead of this world. We must avoid being trapped in negative reactions that keep us in negative states of consciousness.
Instead, we must find the courage and the wisdom to rise into positive states of consciousness where we can function from the knowledge that all of us are unconditionally children of God, already and forever, regardless of our circumstances.
The higher we rise in consciousness, the more natural it becomes to “reflect Jesus’ humility, compassion, and self-sacrifice,” as listed in the “AI Overview.” But it also makes it more natural and authentic to love and help others unconditionally, based on their being spiritual brothers and sisters.
Jon Canas
Debunking false creeds. Reclaiming the Soul of Christianity.
Site: https://bio.site/ChristicSoul
Email me
My book: Religion, Politics, and Reclaiming the Soul of Christianity: A Spiritual Imperative for Our Time and Our Nation
