The Tao of Christ

I am presently in the process of writing a book, which I am calling “The Gospel According to Jesus.” It is the gospel story told from the perspective of Jesus, as a teacher of nonduality. In involves me very slowly studying the Gospel of Mark, both in English translation and the Greek text. Then comparing the passages to parallel accounts in the other gospels and the Gospel of Thomas. This process enables me to see things that I might not ordinarily see, and ponder things that I would not normally ponder.Recently one passage caught my attention. It is the story that takes place early in Jesus’ ministry where Jesus’ family comes Capernaum to find Jesus and take him home because they thought he had “lost his senses,” as one translation puts it. Today we would say he was mentally ill. A parallel passage in John’s gospel says that “he has a demon and is insane.” People were saying that Jesus was demon-possessed, which was the explanation in the first century for all sorts of mental and physical illnesses, from schizophrenia to epilepsy. According to the story scribes from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”It got me thinking, “Was Jesus mentally ill?” View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

What if we had a gospel written by Jesus himself? Unfortunately there is no evidence that Jesus wrote anything. If we can’t have a gospel written by Jesus, wouldn’t it be wonderful to at least have a gospel written from the perspective of Jesus? Lots of celebrities today use “ghost writers” to tell their autobiographies. Would it be great to have a ghost writer or should I say “Spirit writer,” write an autobiography of Jesus? A gospel from the perspective of Jesus! That is the project that I am undertaking next: “The Gospel according to Jesus.” More specifically the Nondual Gospel of Jesus or the Gospel of the Nondual Jesus, since I am convinced that Jesus was a teacher of what is called nonduality. In this episode i describe the rationale and the method of this project. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Money messes up everything, especially religion. That includes the type of spirituality that goes under the name of nonduality these days. As soon as a spiritual teacher starts to accept money from people for their teaching it has the potential to distort the message, the relationship, and the spirituality itself. I am not saying it is inevitable or that this always happens. But it can. Take it from one who made a living as a professional religious leader. In this episode I explore the ways that money can complicate nondual spiritual. I also look at what Jesus has to say about the topic on the Sermon on the Mount.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In the Sermon on the Mount we have the most complete biblical exposition of Christian nonduality. It is not the type of description of nonduality that one would hear today. It does not talk about consciousness. It does not present a monistic or panentheistic understanding of reality. Jesus speaks of how oneness with God and all things is expressed in behavior. Among other things he says it is expressed by loving our enemies. Nonduality is most clearly represented in the Old Testament with the biblical word shalom. The word is normally translated “peace” but shalom is not the absence of conflict. It is present no matter the circumstances. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I start with Alan Watts, “The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are,” and go from there exploring how we can see and know who we truly are. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I share my personal journey to pacifism and from pacifism. I explore the teaching of nonviolent resistance and how it differs from nonresistance. I look specifically at Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and how it is an expression of nondual nonresistance to evil.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Today’s topic comes from a listener in Alabama. He happens to be a retired United Methodist minister with a doctoral degree, so you know these questions are well thought out. He emailed me a response to my talk entitled "Living in the Mind of God." He has five basic questions. Here are the questions he asks:--  What happens to "me" after physical death? --  What about the resurrection of the physical body, or even a spiritual body? --  Is there no afterlife, no spiritual "me" to re-unite with my love ones and friends, and living for eternity in heavenly bliss?  --  Within the Mind of God, do we as individual personalities just disappear?  Are we no more than just a memory in the Mind of God, if even that?--   What is the point of awakening"" or "realization" or "salvation" if this is all a dream taking place in the Mind of God?  Does it change anything?  Isn't the "person" still just a thought form in the Mind of God?  Is it like one of my dream characters saying, "this isn't real, it's just a dream", but it doesn't matter and nothing changes?  And then I wake up from my dream and that "character" is gone and all there is is just a memory in my mind, if even that.Well that is a lot to deal with! I will do my best to answer them. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Nonduality is transparency. The physical world is seen as transparent to the Unitive Reality that lays beneath, like looking through a clear lake’s water to the lake’s bottom. Furthermore we see ourselves as part of the world as transparent to Reality. Apparent differences are seen as expressions of an underlying Unity. Using theistic terms we could say that the creation is a reflection and expression of its Creator. Transparency also applies to ethics. One of the most frequent downfalls of spiritual teachers – both Eastern teachers and Western preachers – is the lack of ethical transparency. Teachers and preachers often are not what they appear to be. Moral failings come to light and a leader falls from power. Often these moral failures have to do with money, sex and power. It is not surprising that Jesus deals with these topics on his Sermon on the Mount.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

I woke up early recently and lay in bed for a while resting in, knowing and enjoying this Reality that we call nondual awareness or unitive awareness. I was wishing there was some way to communicate this reality. At the time I seemed to know the exact words to express this. But when I tried to write down the words later that morning, it was impossible to do. Words seemed empty, flat and trite and could not express the richness of this reality. Yet in this episode I will try to express the impossible, for as the Bible says, nothing is impossible with God. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

The Sermon on the Mount is about how to live the nondual life. In this episode I explore Jesus' teaching found in the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Matthew about spiritual transparency - making the two one, the outer like the inner, the upper like the lower, and male and female into a single one. Jesus taught nonduality and how to live the nondual life. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU