The Tao of Christ

About a month ago I got an email from a listener in British Columbia, Canada. He gave me permission to quote it, so I will and then address the issue he raises. He writes in part:I have a question about the nondual conception of God. I find this view compelling, but wonder if a nondual conception of God leaves us with this sort of ineffable God about which we can say nothing. Concepts like loving and caring are dualistic concepts, and yet it seems that even Christians in the mystical / contemplative / nondual traditions want to refer to God as loving, or as love itself. Are those compatible views, to see God as a kind of nondual Oneness, and to view God as loving? Or does a person who takes the nondual view need to jettison the idea of love being applicable to God?In this episode I will answer this question and address the topic of love seen from a nondual perspective. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode I explore one of the most famous sayings of Jesus, and one of his clearest teachings on the self and nonduality. It is found in all four gospels, which is an extremely rare occurrence. Here it is in four slightly different forms: Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will find it.Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life will keep it for eternal life.Here is the longest form of it:“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?In all of these sayings Jesus is talking about moving from identifying with one’s temporary human self and finding one’s identity in the eternal or true Self. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

The Kingdom of God, also called unitive awareness or nondual awareness, is like a treasure that is discovered. That is the way that Jesus described it in two stories, known as the parable of the Treasure in the Field and the parable of the Pearl of Great Price. Some people search for the treasure. For them life is a treasure hunt. Others simply stumble across it. Some spiritual teachers downplay or disparage searching. It is often said that there is nothing that one can do to be awakened or enlightened. In Christian circles it is likewise said that there is nothing you can do to be saved. That it is all a matter of grace. This is true. Yet people search. We can’t help it. And it seems that many of those who find went through a period of searching. Jesus encouraged spiritual seeking. He said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Some people are spiritual seekers. The search consumes their lives. Either way – seeking or not – the truth is the same. In the end we see that the searching is not what did it. There is nothing we can do to become what we already are or to get what we already have. Searching is the process that many people go through to realize that searching is unnecessary.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

According to the earliest account of Jesus’ ministry, he engaged in two major activities. One was the preaching of the Kingdom of God. The other activity that dominates Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Mark is casting out evil spirits. That also is a communication of nondual awareness, although a much more dramatic communication of it than simple teaching. It is analogous to the physical and sometimes violent techniques used by Zen masters to shock a person into waking up to Reality. In this episode I explore what demons and evil spirits really represent in the gospel narratives. They are not little spiritual entities wandering the spiritual realm seeking for someone to possess. I show that many of the biblical stories of exorcism are actually examples of people waking up to the Kingdom of God, what I call unitive awareness, the Presence of God, or Christian nonduality.View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

One of the most famous stories that Jesus told was the parable of the prodigal son. It is also the most misinterpreted. In this episode today I show how through this story Jesus was talking about what he called the kingdom of God, and which I call unitive awareness or Christian nonduality. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Jesus was a teacher of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.  I call it the Presence of God, Unitive Awareness or Christian nonduality. The primary way he communicated this reality was in stories called parables. In this episode I am look at two of his stories commonly known as the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. They are about people who lost something, searched for it, and found it. From most pulpits these are interpreted in a simplistic manner – that they are about us being lost and consequently saved by God. That is a misinterpretation of the story, which began very early in the history of the church. As Jesus intended them these stories are about men and women looking for the Kingdom of God, Enlightenment, or Nondual Awareness. This is what Jesus calls the secret of the Kingdom.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

The greatest obstacle to experiencing God is the idea of God. There is a difference between God and an idea about God. That ought to be obvious, but we rarely pay attention to the difference. Consequently many Christians mistake the theological idea in their heads for God. That idea in your head is not God. It is just an idea, just a word with some feelings connected to it.In this episode I go beyond “God talk” and point the listener to a direct experience of “God beyond God.” A lot of times nonduality talks about self-inquiry. I am coming at this from the other direction, which is usually easier for those of us coming from a Christian heritage. This is God inquiry. Be aware of God and we become aware of our true self, made in the image of God. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Did Jesus preach salvation or spiritual awakening? Was his message about how to be forgiven by a Divine Judge for one’s sins through a human sacrifice offered to a holy God? Or did he speak of awakening to the awareness of the Kingdom of God which is present here now? What is it that we need? Redemption or Enlightenment? Or both, or some combination of them? In this episode I compare these two understandings at the core of these two approaches to the spiritual life.  View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Jesus of Nazareth was enlightened, in the same sense that the word is used in spiritual circles today. Jesus was awake to the truth of his own nature and the nature of the universe, and he lived out of that awareness. His awakening experience is told in all three canonical gospels in the story known as his baptism. It is much more than the story of Jesus going through a religious rite. It describes his spiritual awakening in symbolic language, analogous to Siddhartha Gautama’s (the Buddha’s) awakening under the Bodhi Tree. In this episode I explore the biblical story, draw parallels to nondual awareness and explore the implications for Christians today. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

One of the most difficult things for a Christian to overcome when experiencing and communicating the reality of nondual awareness is the vocabulary. It is a stumbling block to use the biblical term. Christians are used to the religious vocabulary of the gospels and the apostle Paul and the other biblical writers. But Nonduality is usually expressed in words and concepts drawn from Eastern religious traditions – from Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and similar faiths. When Christians first get a glimpse of the One Reality that is our True Nature, we don’t know how to talk about it using the language of Christianity. Often when we try to express it, we are greeted with puzzled expressions or criticized by fellow Christians, especially in the more conservative churches. . Our Christian sisters and brothers think we have strayed from the faith and drifted into heresy and possibly even losing our salvation. For those reasons many Christians who have experienced this Reality of who and what we are often jettison their religious heritage. This is not necessary. Unitive Awareness is an integral part of historic Christianity. We can use traditional biblical and Christian terminology to express Unitive Awareness. It is not distorting biblical language or Christianity to do so. In this episode I look at several examples from the gospels but focus mostly on one of the teaching of the apostle Paul about the two selves. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU