BOOK CLUB: WEEK ONE
Delving into The Mystic Jesus
Welcome to the Book Club!
Here are the beginning pages of Chapter One of THE MYSTIC JESUS: The Mind of Love.
On these pages I discusss the spirit of Jesus; not only who he was as a man two thousand years ago but who he is within the human heart today. You might reflect on any thoughts of Jesus brought over from your past, as well as new reflections as you see him within a mystical light.
What is his relevance in your own life? And what is his relevance to the world today? Let’s ask ourselves those questions and share with each other the answers that unfold….
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Enjoy!
CHAPTER ONE: THE MYSTIC JESUS, pages 1-22
An event occurred two thousand years ago that changed the world, ultimately bringing to an end one era of human civilization and beginning another. The birth, teachings, crucifixion, and resurrection of one man, a Jew named Jesus, have overshadowed the march of history. In his name some of the greatest elements of civilization have emerged, and in his name some of the worst elements of civilization have emerged. He did not set out to found an institutional church, yet one arose that has claimed for millennia a monopoly on who he is.
Now, at a time of historic change, in order to pave a sustainable way forward, humanity needs to question everything that went before. Interpretations, philosophies, laws, concepts, assumptions, entire ways of being left over from the past are being reviewed, transformed, and renewed. And they must be. Humanity has reached a point in the road where the path of least resistance is a path toward global destruction. For we are stuck in ways of thinking and behaving that are rooted in war—war against ourselves, against each other, even against the earth itself.
These ways are not working. New ways are being born. Since Jesus is fundamental to the worldview of billions of people on the planet, an inquiry into his identity and power plays a significant role in rethinking the world. The Jesus of traditional Christianity has a musty smell for many, while the mystic Jesus has a raw, transformational, and very modern power. The mystic path is the path of the psyche, and it is there that we are most shackled. We are shackled not by external chains but by spiritual ignorance, by a misunderstanding of who we are and why we are here. Jesus is a key to the unlocking of our internal imprisonment. Rather than lacking practical relevance, the mystic Jesus has a shattering effect on the illusions of meaninglessness that plague us. When looked at freed from the filter of centuries of predetermined interpretation, he does not fall away into insignificance but rather shines forth in an almost startling modern light. Jesus is as meaningful today as he was when he was born. In the words of St. Augustine, he is “ever ancient, ever new.” He was born two thousand years ago, but in very real ways we’re only beginning to understand.
As the twenty-first century lurches ahead with full force, collective despair increases every day. From climate change to war to authoritarian uprisings, the era before us feels less like the promise of a bright future and more a demand that we pay for past mistakes. From environmental recklessness to military and economic imperialism to authoritarianism run amok, our past sins seem to be pressing down on us like IOUs that have all come suddenly due. Humanity is overwhelmed by its karmic debts, as though there are simply too many to pay back and retribution is now inevitable.
That’s certainly one way to look at it, of course.
In truth, however, humanity is very much at choice as to what will happen next. Two starkly different futures stand before us: either the immeasurable suffering of human civilization in continuous decline, or the advent of a new world now struggling to be