The Tao of Christ

In this episode I interpret Lewis Carroll’s enigmatic 1876 poem “The Hunting of the Snark” as an allegory of the spiritual life. In particular I see it as portraying the spiritual practice known as self-inquiry.If you are interested in reading the poem, here is an online version of it from the Poetry Foundation:https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43909/the-hunting-of-the-snarkView Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

This is an experiential episode where I take the listener through the process of seeing God – experiencing the true nondual of ourselves and the universe – as seen in our own backyards.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

This episode explores how aging is related to the spiritual life. In fact aging helps us in spirituality. It is an aid to what we call spiritual awakening or enlightenment, what Christians call salvation, the Kingdom of God or eternal life. We can see the value of aging in the four classical Indian stages of life known as ashramas. The aging process is about shedding the small self with all its attachments and identifying with the Divine Self. It is about dying to self, dying before we die so physical death does not catch us unprepared.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Today I am going to talk about Revelation and its relation to Nonduality. By the word Revelation, I mean the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian bible. But it is also related to the theological concept of Revelation, meaning that God reveals God’s self to us. The Greek word for revelation, found in the first sentence of the Book of Revelation literally unveiling or uncovering, which is exactly what spiritual awakening is.Spiritual awakening is an unveiling of what is and has always been. It is simply waking up, having our eyes open to the Reality that has been before our eyes all the time. As Jesus was so fond of saying, “Those who have eyes to see let them see. Those with ears to hear, let them hear.” A veil is taken off our eyes. Reality is uncovered so that we can see what has always been true.That is what the theological doctrine called revelation, and the New Testament book of Revelation, is about. It is not bestowing some new and secret knowledge to a spiritual elite. It is about uncovering what has always been apparent and visible for all those with eyes to see since the beginning of creation. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Recently I received two comments from listeners about my episode on Nondual Meditation. One was from a listener from Canada by email. The other was in an online interview with Corey Farr who has a podcast entitled, “A Christian Reads the Tao te Ching,” which is an excellent podcast by the way. I will post a link to it. In addition to talking about my Christian version of the Tao Te Ching, Corey wanted to talk about meditation and referred that episode about nondual Meditation.So I went back and listened to what I said, which is something I never do after I post an episode. Listening to it reminded me how uncomfortable I was doing that episode. I looked uncomfortable on video and sounded uncomfortable.  I was having a difficult time explaining my experience and practice of meditation in words. Nevertheless the episode seems to have resonated with some people.So today I want to continue that discussion. Today I want to describe, as well as I can, nondual awareness.  I am calling it Christian nondual awareness, because I am a Christian. I experience Reality as nondual and I express this in Christian language. I want to not just talk about it but point you to it. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Many Christians are attracted to the truth of nonduality. It resonates as true at a deep spiritual level. Deep speaks to deep, as the psalmist says. But they are wary because it does not seem to fit with what the Bible says. Scripture has a powerful hold on Christians, and we hesitate to stray too far from its authority for fear of drifting away from the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” as the Letter of Jude puts it.What most Christians do not realize is that the books that we have in our Bibles are just a fraction of the many gospels, letters, apocalypses and other Christian writings that were written in the first and second centuries, all claiming to be of apostolic origin. First and second century Christianity was very diverse and used writings that we would today call nondualistic. The earliest of these is the Gospel of Thomas. The Gospel of Thomas is as old as any of the gospels in our New Testament. Many scholars believe it is earlier than Matthew, Luke or John, and possibly older than Mark’s gospel. It is collection of 114 sayings of Jesus, reportedly remembered and recorded by the apostle Thomas, called the Twin. It is likely that the Gospel of Thomas includes authentic sayings of Jesus that are not found in our traditional four gospels. This episode explores many of those “lost sayings.”View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode podcaster Corey Farr interviews Marshall Davis on his podcast “A Christian Reads the Tao Te Ching.” Corey interviews me about my book The Tao of Christ: A Christian Version of the Tao Te Ching. He also asks questions about nonduality and specifically my podcast episode on Nondual Meditation. So we get into nonduality quite a bit.  So here it is. I hope you enjoy it. You can find the original recording at Corey’s website at CoreyFarr.comhttps://www.coreyfarr.com/View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I explore an alternative to the typical self-inquiry that is standard fare in nondualism. Meditation upon Nature - the natural envoronment and our connection to it - can be a more direct path to spiritual awakening.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

When it comes to Christian nonduality, one of the issues that is often raised by both inquirers and critics is its approach to the Bible. The nondual attitude toward Scripture is different than the traditional reverence that Christians have for the Bible. In traditional Christianity, Scripture serves as the foundation for everything that a Christian believes and does. When Christians want to know what is true and what is not, they look to the Bible. Christians use words like authoritative and inspired to describe the Bible. Evangelicals and fundamentalists prefer stronger words like inerrant and infallible.Nonduality is not about scripture. It is not about submitting to any religious authority – be it a book or clergy or a church or a creed. It is not about doctrine or ecclesiastical structure, and that is a problem for many Christians. Nonduality is about direct awareness. Nothing is taken on faith. Truth is discovered by direct investigation. Nondual Reality is not mediated through a book or words or ideas. It is apprehended directly. In this episode I explore the differences between the two approaches. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

It would be tempting to answer this question using concepts, but of course nonduality is not about concepts or ideas. It is about direct experience. So I will refer the question back to you my listeners and ask you to see for yourself.One of the standard tecniques in nonduality is direct inquiry into who or what we are. We look for a separate personal self with a name and a history, and discover to our surprise that such a being does not exist. The self or ego is just an idea tacked onto experience. It does not exist outside of our imagination. We discover that we are not the personal self that we thought we were. There is no experiencer, only experiencing. In this episode I use the same type of inquiry to look at who or what God is. We examine the traditional places that God is said to dwell. Then we look at the relationship between the personal self and the Personal God. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU