The Way of the Heart Part 4: Heartfulness Practice Transcends & Includes Orthodoxy

Cynthia Bourgeault recites the creeds perfectly happily each Sunday; she’s not denying Christ’s divinity, his personhood in the Trinity, or any core idea of Christian orthodoxy. “It’s true; it’s numinous poetry – I love it.”

Seeing Jesus as Wisdom Master is not a demotion. It isn’t making Jesus less than fully human and fully divine; it’s about how Jesus invites us toward the same realization for ourselves!

Seeing Jesus’ program of participatory divinity is crucial for the survival of the planet. We’re running out of our margins; if we don’t get this in the 21st century, there won’t be a 22nd.

Jim Marion noticed that one of Jesus’ most frequently-used sayings is “The Kingdom of Heaven.” Whatever this Kingdom is, everything else hinges on this. Marion suggests that Jesus’ Kingdom of Heaven is Jesus’ way of languaging nondual consciousness or unitive seeing. It exists Several rungs above rational consciousness. Jesus sees no separation between God & self, which you can see in “I and the Father are one.” This statement is meant to be inclusive and invitational – read John 15 through 17 in one sitting and see if you can come to any other conclusion! (Go ahead – http://bit.ly/JesusPath) Christology as the early church saw it wasn’t a confession about Christ alone; it is an invitation to participatory divinity.

This is the ‘dangerous’ truth that Jesus revealed and was (in part at least) executed for revealing: “Not only am I not separate from God – you’re not separate from God either.

Jesus sees no separation between self and neighbor. What part of “Love your neighbor as yourself don’t we understand? Our mind inserts the phrase “as much as” – Jesus doesn’t say this!

Jesus’ habit of non-separation (seen in the Great Commandment) is characteristic of nondual consciousness, whereas our average egoic mind draws every distinction.

To be continued…to see where Cynthia’s going with this, I highly recommend her books The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and MindCentering Prayer and Inner Awakening,  The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, and The Wisdom Way of Knowing.

In this series:
The Way of the Heart – Cynthia Bourgeault Part 1: What IS the Path of Jesus?
The Way of the Heart – Cynthia Bourgeault Part 2: See What Jesus Sees; Do What Jesus Does
The Way of the Heart Part 3: Cynthia Bourgealt’s Four Proposals – Beyond ‘The Imitation of Christ’
The Way of the Heart Part 4: Heartfulness Practice Transcends & Includes Orthodoxy
The Way of the Heart Part 5: Upgrading Our Operating System
The Way of the Heart Part 6: A Rorschach Blot for the Mind
The Way of the Heart Part 7: When 20/20 Hindsight Becomes Blindsight
The Way of the Heart Interlude: Kenosis Hymn
The Way of the Heart Part 8: Heart Surgery 

8 Responses to The Way of the Heart Part 4: Heartfulness Practice Transcends & Includes Orthodoxy

  1. Tana November 29, 2011 at 6:46 pm #

    Um, yeah. Also? This was too short a post. 😉

  2. Kevin November 29, 2011 at 6:58 pm #

    > What part of “Love your neighbor as yourself” don’t we understand?

    The part where He said, “Love your enemy even as the Father loves His enemies?” There’s a big difference between loving an enemy and not having one.

    > Marion suggests that Jesus’ Kingdom of Heaven is Jesus’ way of languaging nondual consciousness or unitive seeing.

    I will happily parse Jn 15-17 with ya’ll. I don’t see any of the above in it anywhere.

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