Resurrection is an awakening from mortal consciousness to an infinite consciousness. But what does this mean for our physical body?
Consciousness arises within physical material, within matter. It takes matter to have mind. Without matter there is no mind. Resurrecting to infinite consciousness means for a person to come to a full and direct realization and perception of the eternal union (At-one-ment) of ALL mind and matter, of ALL “spirit” and “body.” We are not only this local mind-self in this particular mortal brain and physical body, but One in the universal consciousness that arises in ALL matter of sufficient complexity. That is what we really are. Just as a wave is not a separate thing from the ocean but is just the ocean manifesting, we are not separate from the ocean of Life, but we are Life manifesting.
This is why Jesus was able to say things like, “when ye do it unto the least of these people, ye do it unto me.” He knew himself not to be localized to his own particular mind and physical body, but that he was One in ALL minds and bodies wherever Life is found, and this continues eternally in infinite forms. This was his resurrection to “Christ,” and is the same resurrection/awakening which we may rise to in our own consciousness, which we are called to rise to.
This is what it means to take upon ourselves the name of Christ and that identity. It is taking upon ourselves the mind/consciousness of Christ, a transformation and transfiguration of our consciousness to that “Anointed” perception and being, even as Jesus did. And this is eternal life: even though this mortal body will die and return to the dust of the ground, we realize ourselves to be much MUCH greater than this, that we are even Life itself, and this eternally arises in the union of mind and matter, spirit and body, in ALL beings.
It is a big leap to make, however, because our egos are so extremely attached to this particular body and this particular mind, we can’t imagine that we are anything other than these most of the time. This is why many spiritual practices focus on the transformation of consciousness itself, which cause us to lose that sense of ego, that small sense of self or “will,” so that we may perceive this greater and Infinite identity with all things. And this identity has been called many different things throughout time and place, but in Christianity it was known as the “Christ,” or realizing Chrism, becoming Christed, being Anointed, etc.
Super interesting Bryce. Love you’re take on things, very mystic and new age-ish. How does one enlighten their contagiousness to the level of christ’s? Is it just by keeping the commandments and trying to fallow his example? Or is there more to the story? Maybe seeking to understand these mysteries through meditation, fasting and prayer? Would love to know what you think, maybe I’ll find answers as I explore more of your posts.
Hi Spencer! Thank you for reading and for commenting and adding your voice to the conversation. I’m glad you are enjoying these thoughts.
I think you mean “consciousness” not “contagiousness.” Gotta love auto-correct! 🙂 I think there is a general misperception that we can become like Christ by trying to be more perfect, being more obedient to the commandments, by doing more, and becoming morally superior. But I think this may be quite mistaken, and leads us in the wrong direction, even to a piousness and self-righteousness and moralism that is anything but Christ. No human in a million years would be able to perfect themselves in this way (see, for example, Hebrews 10:1). I don’t think Jesus became the Christ by trying to be more and more perfect until he was so.
I think it is very much more a relinquishing of what we are not than trying to become something perfect. It is a letting go, a surrender, a submission of self that allows us to realize that we are already perfect underneath all of the defilements of ego. When we let go of everything that is not our true nature, all that is left is that true nature in God, which is Christ. Our most basic, fundamental, ground of being, our created being, is Christ, and we can come to perceive this directly through spiritual practices such as meditation, contemplation, fasting, and prayer. I believe that is what these practices are for; they are essentially subduing ego, our psychological “self,” until it falls away and we see God, in us and all things. When we let go of our selfish consciousness (in the sense that we are a separate, independent, isolated being), then God consciousness shines through brightly, and we finally see what we really are, our true Self. I believe this is what Jesus did, and is what he taught others to do as well.
I believe we already are Christ, we are already the pure and perfect and innocent Incarnation of God, but our egoic perception and consciousness blinds us to this reality, it obscures our vision, it darkens our minds, it leads us astray, and causes us to “sin.” It makes us believe that we are something we are not. It is the father of lies. The task then is to put off that “natural man,” to become less not more, to wipe away from our self all that is not truly our natural being, to clear the stage of the errors and delusions of ego, to purify ourselves of all that is not what we really and basically are, all of our egoic sense of a separate self. In the purity of consciousness is the Christ.
I hope that helps. I write much more about this elsewhere on the site, and am happy to continue discussing it here. Thanks again for stopping by! I hope you’ll continue to participate in the conversation.
Hey Bryce, love your reply. I think at the beginning of the year I’d totally be lost and have no idea what your talking about. But after doing a lot of reading (Books like the Power of Now) and exploring your blog, the ideas in your above post make perfect sense. Can’t wait to learn more!
Thanks for being one who brings fresh perspectives to our gospel understanding. You have a great gift. Would you elaborate on how a physical body expands consciousness? It rings true, but would love to hear more. Mark E. Peterson called the tree of knowledge of good and evil the tree of consciousness. When we partook of our version of the tree we came to this earth, received a physical body and grew in consciousness. But how?
Hi Chris. Thank you for your kind words. That’s very nice of you to say.
I believe that a physical body is required to have consciousness. I don’t think consciousness can exist without one. All the consciousness that we know of exists within very specific patterns and constructions of matter, within living things. A rock does not seem to have consciousness. But consciousness has arisen within life, within us, because we have these living bodies, with nervous systems and brains full of neurons that have formed complex patterns of electrochemical activity that somehow turns the lights on in consciousness. We don’t know exactly how consciousness arises from this activity, but it seems we can be quite confident that without that physical matter, and patterns, and activity, there would not be consciousness. So in order to have consciousness, we have this physical body, with a physical brain. This was a gift to us, it was Grace. We didn’t go get it, but it was given to us at birth.
I think the entire story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, and even the rest of the gospel, is really this story of consciousness, specifically human consciousness. I plan to write a blog post at some point talking more in depth about this, the symbolism of Genesis. I think we’ve taken the stories of Genesis far too literally, and have misunderstood. I think these are great allegories that are fantastic symbols about the human condition, the human experience, and particularly our consciousness and the evolution of human consciousness, even within our own selves. These are stories about us, and the process of our lived experience as humans. I wrote some about this in a previous blog post here: https://thymindoman.com/2017/11/11/original-sin-and-nonduality/