The Tao of Christ

In this episode I talk about the Apostle Paul and how he and his teachings fit into Christian Nonduality.  I explore this Damascus Road experience of Christ and his later experience of nonduality. I show how and why there are both dualistic and nondualistic elements in his writings. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

I got an email a while ago from a listener who asked about integrating unitive awareness into everyday life. Let me read you part of what he wrote:“The act of remembering to let go and live out of one's True Self seems to be part of integrating unitive awareness into everyday life. But could you speak about your process of integration? Is it more or less a process of remembering - to be more aware of when one experiences separation/suffering, and creating positive feedback loops for returning to a state of unitive awareness? Or, is it based on having faith? If so, is faith the deep knowing of this nondual reality, like a pool that exists within us and we can always return to? I'd love to hear your thoughts.”So that is what I  address in this episode. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I talk about the value of reading the scriptures of faiths other than our own. I also explore the concepts of the inspiration and authority of scripture from a nondual perspective.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Recently I have been reading a chapter from the Indian spiritual classic the Bhagavad Gita as part of my daily devotions.  As a Christian with a nondual approach, it is natural to me to read from scriptures of other religions that also connect with nonduality. In this episode I share insights about Christian nonduality from reading the Bhagavad Gita.I deal with three overarching themes that make up the framework of the Gita. Each of them can be described in terms of a picture in the mind’s eye. The first picture is the chariot. The second is the battlefield. The third is Arjuna and Krishna in the chariot having the discussion on the subject of war.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

The children’s nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty is a good metaphor for how the illusion of the self is shattered and one wakes up to nondual awareness. One might call it the parable of Humpty Dumpty. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.” That in a nutshell – or more accurately an eggshell - is the story of spiritual awakening. It is the story of the end of the self.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

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