The Tao of Christ

In the previous episode I interpreted the Cross as an expression of nonduality. I argued that the meaning of the Cross is the death of the physical and psychological self, not the theories of sacrifice and substitutionary atonement that came to dominate later Christianity. In this episode I talk about the other half of the story, which is the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection also points to nondual reality. I uncover the three layers of the biblical Easter tradition – visions of the risen Lord, the empty tomb, and bodily resurrection appearances - and show how each communicates nondual awareness.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I interpret the Cross and the crucifixion of Jesus as an expression of nonduality. Next time I will deal with the empty tomb and resurrection appearances as expressions of nondual reality. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

This episode is in response to an email I received a few weeks ago from a listener in Western Australia asking if I would address the topic of spiritual bypassing. I responded that I had never heard the term. So this listener replied with a definition from Wikipedia: Spiritual bypassing is a "tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks."The email went on to explain “It occurs when one is unconscious of the ego having "shapeshifted" itself to take on a spiritual identity of sorts. For e.g. "I am not addicted to gambling because there is no self who is addicted. I am not the doer, I am not the gambler. Gambling is happening!" Of course, there are much subtler examples of this type of bypassing where people use spirituality to live in denial of mental, emotional or physical issues. Using God as a crutch or a scapegoat so to speak.”I came across the term again recently. I was reading a 2020 book by Matthew Fox about the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich. In the Preface Mirabai Starr describes spiritual bypass as a term from contemporary Buddhist psychology and says it is “the impulse to check out of painful experiences by means of religious platitudes and practices.” In this episode I explore this topic and how Christian nonduality addresses it. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I explore the topic of free will. I look at the traditional Christian theistic perspective, the scientific evidence, and then view free will as an expression of nonduality. I look at what it means to ask if the human self has free will versus saying that nonduality is perfect freedom.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I explore what we are if we are not the physical body or the individual self. I use Jesus’ parable of the empty house and the Zen koan of the burglar entering an empty house as aids to explore the Reality behind human nature.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

This episode is a response to questions I receive every once in a while about pain and suffering and how they are addressed in Christian nonduality. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I explore how the figure of Santa Claus can teach us about the illusory nature of the self and point us to nondual reality. It was inspired by an article by Paul Jordaans, entitled “The Santa-Clausness of Life.” Here are the links to his site and two articles:http://www.parkinsjordaans.nl/downloads/16_The_Santa-Clausness_of_Life.pdfhttp://www.parkinsjordaans.nl/https://cysticfibrosisnewstoday.com/forums/forums/topic/sunday-morning-37/View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

The title for this episode may at first sound like a self-help guide ... or in a nondual context a no-self help guide. I assure you that is not what this is. This is not a step-by-step guide to experiencing no-self. It is a description of two times in life that I saw that I was not a self, culminating in a third time which was an abiding realization of this reality. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

The topic of this episode comes from a Zoom talk that I did recently. The leader of a nondual group in a nearby town here in New Hampshire asked me to do a 90 minute satsang with his folks and others from the nondual community. When I got the Zoom link it had the title “Jesus as Nondual Teacher.” So that got me thinking about this topic. I thought I would give some thoughts on the subject in this 15 minute episode. I have mentioned most of these points before, but they are here in one place.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

There is a spiritual revolution underway similar to the Copernican Revolution in astronomy. Just as Copernicus and Galileo moved science beyond the geocentric view to the heliocentric view, so now there is a movement moving spirituality from an egocentric to a noncentric awareness of reality.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU