Topsy-turvy, upside-down, inside-out. This is the quasipsychedelic world of mysticism. Volume 1 (Parts I and II) of Luminous Jewels captured much of the strange essence of Mindmysticism. It was a lightning "nickel tour" through history, religion, psychology, and philosophy. Volume 2 here presents selections from three illuminated, illuminating classics.
The mystic sees all three as sacred guides. (This speaks well of the universality of mysticism.) She recognizes common themes in Jesus and Lao Tzu and the Upanishadic mystics, knowing that they are spiritual brothers under the skin.
Part III of Luminous Jewels, the first of three classics presented here, is a specimen of the most excellent in mystical literature. It is a fresh version of the Gospel of John. (It is not technically a "translation," but a rendition and commentary. "The Gospel of Universal Love" was originally published as a separate smaller book, in 1987.) It is a sentence by sentence commentary on every word of Jesus in this Gospel.
Early Christians followed the supreme Way, the Way of Love. They practiced Love as tolerance, openheartedness, and kindness. They were never nitpicking fanatics or extremists. They did not have any dogmas. They cared nothing for doctrines. They were committed to loving each other, and all. This—not doctrinal conformity—gave the great gift of unity without uniformity. All that was required to be a "Christian" was to embrace the Way of everyday Love, and to adopt the inner Christnature (Lovenature) to "save" you from the lower nature. This Love was manifested as compassion, kindness, goodness, service, etc. "Christians" were not just members of a separate religion. All people—including Hindus, Taoists, and Buddhists—who had embraced fully, and identified with, this Lovenature were seen as sisters/brothers in the larger, most generic "Christian" community. Everyone who loved, and saw the Essence of Love as the Center of the Mind, was welcome in this communion. For "Christ," also in its larger and generic sense, did not refer specifically only to the historical man Jesus. It referred to the deepest level of the unconscious Mind, called the "Lovenature" or "lovemind." (See "Chart of Mind.") This deepest level of the Unconscious was Spirit or God. For John says in his first epistle, "You have all received a Christing from Him." (1Jn. 2:20) What, then, did this generic "Christ" mean? It meant a permanent state of enlightenment. It meant that one had awakened to the true nature of reality, and turned her entire life over to the direction of the Lovemind deep within the psyche. So, "Christ" was a rough synonym with "Tao," "Brahman," or "Buddha," as those terms were used in other cultures.
Early Christians, who often called themselves "gnostics" (A Greek word for "mystics"), were by no means xenophobic. They were friendly and open to prechristian or nonchristian faiths. The ancient texts of the Nag Hammadi Library prove that they were completely open towards, and very tolerant of, traditions other than their own. In this, they stand in bold and daring contrast to their fearfilled and suspicious, often unkind, counterpart "Christians" in the modern world. There were no foolish "tests of fellowship," to determine whether you were the "right kind" of Christian.
Christians spoke with a polyphony that celebrated their diversity. They had multiple cosmologies within the one faith. They did not brand fellow Christians who believed differently as "heretics," worthy of damnation and murder. They did not burn each other at the stake, or drive swords into one another. They did not yet suffer from the disease of hateful divisionism.
"Gnostic" is from the Greek gnosis, now an English word too. What is gnosis? It is a spectacular, moving, electrifying Mindexplosion of Lovelight that changes your life forever. But what, exactly, is known during gnosis?
You are exposed to bottomless Mind. The Mind is no longer "your" Mind. Instead, it is a shared Mind. It is vast, oceanic, a bottomless and immeasurable "sea" of Light and Love.
People call this illimitable Source of Lovelight Supermind, Superconscious, Superlove, Ultramind, Ultralove, Brahman, Tao, great Spirit, holy Spirit, God, and by other names through the millennia.
This inner God is not a "person." Only in undeveloped, unsophisticated, or backwards cultures is It personified (presented as an inflated human being, in a process called "anthropomorphism"). By contrast, the most enlightened luminaries from every tradition have not presented this ultimate Reality as separate from the rest of Mind or creation. And, because you also have a mind, if this Reality is unified with all Mind, It is also united with you. In fact, It dreams up the entire world through your mindnervousystem.1
The Gospel of John is a superlative mystical revelation. What is revealed is a God of continuous interaction with people. This God is not in the sky, but "in" the person. It is a God of purest Love and forgiveness. So, It is astonishingly different from the traditional Jehovah of the ancient Hebrew culture. Jesus is startling in his description of a God who has nothing in common with the wargod already ancient in his time. In so redefining God, he implicitly denies Jehovah. That is, in fact, one of the reasons that the religious leaders despised and feared him.2
John presents a gnostic God. What is a "gnostic God"? It is a God known not through the temple, through laws and Scriptures, ceremonies or joining the "chosen people." It is a God known within, a God touched within the sanctuary of the heartmind.
This gnostic Christian Gospel splendidly and unquestionably elucidates the mysticism of Jesus. Only a mystic could speak of God "in" the Self, or "in" other people. Only the Spirit of the eternal, nonphysical Christ could speak of being "in" his disciples. (If a physical man said this, it would be total nonsense.) Jesus’ repeated references to unity also highlight lucid mysticism. In John, chapter fourteen, it is this deep, eternal, nonphysical Lovenature that says, through Jesus, "I am the Way, the truth, and the life."
1. For a fuller discussion of this cosmic view see my Journey to the Center of the Soul: Mysticism Made Simple (Liberty Township, Ohio; Love Ministries, Inc., 2002)
2. For more information on many of Jesus’ possible nontraditional teachings, see my The Mystic Gospels of Jesus the Christ (Liberty Township, Ohio; Love Ministries, Inc., 2002)
