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What Is Christ Consciousness?

by Paul Smith
I want to reflect on the phrase, Christ consciousness with some
theological and biblical context. I hope it will be useful
background not only my presentation but for the rich diversity of
presenters who will expand us beyond the typical into the
transforming.
Christ Consciousness is an often used and variously defined
term in spiritual discourse. Here are several shades of meaning
by ten writers who are well-known to their various audiences.
Hindu Sri Swami Krishnananda says that Christ
Consciousness is not the personality of Jesus but rather
the God realization of Jesus.1
American mystic and psychic Edgar Cayce saw Christ
Consciousness as the pattern set by the example of Jesus
life.2
Author and counselor, Robert Burney says, Christ
Consciousness is cosmic conscious, a direct channel to the
higher vibrational frequency range within the Illusion. That
highest range involves consciousness of the Glory of
Oneness.3
Conservative Christian author John Piper says ChristConsciousness is God-consciousness.4
Mystic and author Joel S. Goldsmith says that Christ
Consciousness is our true identity as a child of God.5
Famous Indian yogi and guru Paramahansa Yogananda
says, In his little human body called Jesus was born the
vast Christ Consciousness, the omniscient Intelligence of
God omnipresent in every part and particle of creation.6

Deepak Chopra says, The hallmark of Cosmic


Consciousness is the permanence of the experience of
ones core self, pure awareness beyond any changing state
of consciousness such as waking, dreaming or sleeping.
This would obviously include any experience of the senses.
. . . It is that divine essence that is one with Christ
Consciousness, the same essence that we all share . . .7
Matthew Fox says, The Cosmic Christ is the I am in every
creature.8
Eckhart Tolle says, Mystics of Jesus' time believed that
Christ was a way to describe union with God, or
consciousness, within the man Jesus. Many Christian
theologians have spoken of Christ Consciousness as the
awareness of true essence.9
Christian mystic and author of the groundbreaking book
Putting on the Mind of Christ Jim Marion says, Christ
Consciousness is the Christian term for causal
consciousness. At this level the Christian is identified with
his true Christ self, which is seen as in a spiritual union with
God the Creator.10
Each of these offers wonderful facets of a larger reality portrayed
in the New Testament and the Gospel of Thomas. Christ
Consciousness is all of these and more in biblical and theological
reflection.
Who is Christ?
The origin and meaning of Christ Consciousness hangs on the
meaning of Christ. In ancient Greek Christos simply meant
anointed. In Judaism it came to mean the Messiah, the Spirit
anointed one for whom the people of Israel were waiting to bring
liberation. It then became a title which was applied to Jesus in

the Gospels. After the resurrection the word Christ left the
understanding as Messiah and evolved to a more cosmic
dimension seen in the following magnificent New Testament
passages:
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and was God. All things came into being through the
Word. What came into being was life - the light of all
people. And the Word became flesh. (John 1:1-4, calling
Christ the Word.)
Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over
all creation. For in Christ all things in heaven and earth
were created: things visible and invisible, whether thrones
or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by
Christ and for Christ. Christ is before all things, and in
Christ all things hold together . . . For in Christ all the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell. (Colossians 1: 1619)
. . . in Christ to gather up all things, whether things in
heaven and things on earth. Christ accomplishes all
things and is the one who fills all in all and descended
and ascended from heaven in order to fill all things.
(Ephesian 1:10, 23, 4:10)
The phrase all things ( ) in these passages is an
almost technical phrase in the Greek language of antiquity
meaning all of reality.
Jesus, speaking as the Christ in the Gospel of Thomas, says, I
am the light that is over all things. I am all. From me all come
forth, and to me all attained. Split a piece of wood, I am there.
Lift up the stone and you will find me there. (Gospel of Thomas,
Saying 77)
Christ is the Christian symbol for the whole of reality.

We can summarize the larger meaning of Christ from these and


other texts by saying that Christ is the Christian symbol for the
whole of reality. I am indebted to Raimon Panikkar not only for
this integrally oriented definition but for much of the following
way of framing the word Christ.11
Here are six observations about Christ as the Christian symbol
for the whole of reality:
1. All of reality is composed of the polarities of (a) spiritual or
divine reality, (b) human reality or consciousness), and (c)
material or cosmic reality.
2. Furthermore, as the Christian symbol for the whole of
reality, Christ is all of reality in complete oneness. The
realms of divine reality, human consciousness, and the
material universe exist without separation within and
between one another. Christ is God, consciousness, and
the cosmos meeting in mystic union, joined together with
no separation.
3. The Christian recognizes Christ in and through Jesus.
Jesus was a living, audio visual demonstration of this
oneness of all of reality in history. In Jesus the human and
divine, the finite and the infinite meet. The material and the
spiritual, time and eternity are not separated. Jesus
reduces to zero the distance between heaven and earth,
God and humankind, the material and the spiritual. He
does all of this without losing the polarity of any of these
which is the essence of nonduality.
4. Christ, while connected to the historical Jesus for
Christians, transcends Jesus. There is a tendency among
both Christians and others to use the words Jesus and
Christ interchangeably. Recognizing the polarity between
Christ and Jesus allows us to recognize Jesus as fully and

personally present with us now as he was to the early


Christians when he walked the earth in a physical body and
after his death when he returned to them in a spiritual body.
This also allows the symbol of Christ to fully expand to its
mystical union of transcendence and immanence in divine,
human, and material realities.
5. Every understanding of Christ is shaped by culture. Christ
is always a co-creation of reality and our interpretation of it.
This means that in the midst of similarities there will be
unique and important differences expressed in various
cultures, times, and individual experience. Christians do not
have a monopoly on Jesus even as, according to John 1,
he enlightens every person. And progressive Christians do
not insist that everyone use their terminology or
understanding.
6. This understanding of Christ has been hinted at by mystics
of both the Christian and other traditions. St Bonaventure,
believing that Christ has something in common with all
creatures writes, With the stone he shares existence; with
plants he shares life; with animals he shares sensation;
and with angels he shares intelligence. Thus all things are
transformed in Christ since in his human nature he
embraces something of every creature in himself when he
is transfigured.12
The mystic and Sufi, Ibn al Arabi said, God sleeps in the
rock, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal, and awakens
in man.
Christ viewed from Integrals Big Three
Defining Christ as the Christian symbol for whole of reality
transcends tribal, warrior, traditional, modern, and postmodern
worldviews. At the integral stage Christ can be viewed from each
of integrals primary three perspectives: the 3rd-person objective

perspective, 2nd-peron relational standpoint, and the 1st-person


subjective viewpoint.
In the objective IT space, Christ is the Christian symbol for
the whole of reality. This vast map invites us to reflect about
science,mathematics, astronomy, physics, history, philosophy,
literature, the arts, theology, psychology and all other fields of
human exploration.
In the relational WE space, the personal, relational face of
Christ for Christians is Jesus. It was for the first followers of
Jesus and continues to be for Christians today. Jesus was and is
for Christians the icon, holon, istadevata, or fractal of God,
consciousness, and the physical - all together without separation
but maintaining the polarities of transcendent reality, human
awareness, and the material cosmos. Jesus was this nonduality
in first-century sandals. He continues now as our Beloved in his
subtle energy body realm of resurrection reality. He is our
transforming companion with whom we can sit, face, talk to, walk
with, and know intimately as only deep and devoted friendship
can. Christians also find other personal icons of Christ such as
Beloved Father and Mother as well as the expanded awareness
that we can find Jesus in the face of every human being.
In the subjective I space Christ is Christ Consciousness. This
is the experience of the whole of reality viewed from a radical
nondual awareness. With this understanding of Christ, Christ
Consciousness can be thought of and experienced in this way:
Christ Consciousness is the experienced awareness of the
whole of reality existing without separation.
While the term Christ Consciousness is not found in the Bible it
can be both a meaningful description and transforming
experience. Christ Consciousness does not mean we as
humans, including the historical Jesus, can be objectively aware
of all of reality at any one time. However, we can have an

understanding, a passion, and an experience of Christ


Consciousness that reflects the whole of reality with no
boundaries. You can see our tendency to spiritualize Christ
Consciousness in that nine of the ten definitions I quoted at the
beginning left out the physical and material world. Christ
Consciousness is very earthy and cosmic as well as including
the infinite divine and our own inner God realization.
Christ Consciousness exits in at least three areas of our
awareness.
1. With the eye of the mind we can embrace the concept or
truth of Christ Consciousness in an integral framework. We
can be firmly convinced that there is no separation in and
between the divine, human, and material poles of
reality. In thinking of people, equations, art, cars, ideas,
atoms, or history we understand that they are not separate
from God, human consciousness, or the material cosmos.
Scientists are beginning to explore some of this in the
realm of quantum physics. Quantum theory physicist Erwin
Schrodinger famously said, Quantum physics thus reveals
a basic oneness of the universe. 13
Seeing this gives us a mental map to embrace, explore,
and reflect upon. Thinking is a sacred activity. The heart
cannot embrace what the mind rejects.
2. With the eye of the heart we can embrace the passion of
Christ Consciousness. We begin to feel this oneness as
love for God, others, and the universe. It means God as
Infinite Being, Intimate Beloved, and Inner Beholder is
lovingly creating something in every event of my life.14 Spirit
is at work in everything in the world around us. It means
that God is in not only in the ecology of forests and oceans
but also in every quark, quotient, quorum, quake and
question. It means not only that creation has an evolving
direction, but my life has a purpose and meaning, too.

3. With the eye of the spirit we can experience a direct


awakening of Christ Consciousness within our deepest self.
This is the removal of all boundaries in our consciousness.
This is the vast, infinite, limitless experience of formless
Being Itself in union with the finite realm of form. This is the
nondual opening of no separation in and between the
divine, human, and material poles of reality. This
awakening itself can begin as a peak experience, become
a repeated opening, and even evolve into continual
awareness. Jesus demonstrated this continual awakened
consciousness as the basis for his life, and teaching.
Ultimately it cannot be described but only experienced and
lived.
As we grow up in stages of development and wake up in states
of awareness we begin to manifest more and more dimensions
of Christ Consciousness. We become a living influence against
the oppression of any part of humankind or the world of
creatures and nature. We live in deeper communion and union
with God which raises the unity consciousness of the universe.
We serve others as Jesus did through our spiritual giftings with a
growing commitment to be co-creators with God in the further
evolution of the spiritual, human, and physical dimensions of
reality. We literally see all of reality infused with God. Every
breath is spirit. God, humankind, and universe are one without
separation.
Another name for Christ Consciousness
Christ Consciousness is another way of talking about the central
theme of Jesus teaching - the Realm (Kingdom) of God.15 We
can personally experience the truth of the astonishing claims that
Jesus made about the Kingdom of God with the eye of the mind,
the eye of the heart, and the eye of the spirit. The Realm of God,
according to Jesus, is the nondual vision and experience of no
separation in and between the divine, human, and material poles

of reality. The universal name for this is love.


NOTES
1

http://www.dlshq.org/religions/christconscious.htm

http://edgarcayce.org/are/spiritualGrowth.aspx?id=3253

Adapted from http://www.newagedawned.com/New-AgeDawned/christ-consciousness


3

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/god-consciousness-ischrist-consciousness
4

http://www.circleofchristhood.webs.com/christconsciousness.htm
6

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda

https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/view/722/christ_consciousn
ess
8

Matthew Fox, Coming of the Cosmic Christ, p. 65.

http://mysticson.blogspot.com/2008/07/eckart-tolle-and-christconsciousness.html
9

10

Putting on the Mind of Christ, p. 183.

Adapted from his brilliant book Christophany. Panikkar is


famous for his statement, I left Europe [for India] as a Christian,
I discovered I was a Hindu and returned as a Buddhist without
ever having ceased to be Christian."
11

12

http://ncronline.org/news/creation-care-return-love-love

13

http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Quantum_physics_thus_
reveals_a_bas...
Infinite Being, Intimate Beloved, and Inner Beholder (The
Witness) are my less clinical names for the 3rd-person objective
face of God, 2nd-person relational face of God, and 1st-person
subjective witnessing face of God.
14

This is Panikkars definition of Christ in Christophany framed


along with Jim Marions definition of the Kingdom of God in
Putting on the Mind of Christ. I use both the more familiar term
Kingdom and the less patriarchal translation Realm for the
ancient Greek word .
15

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