Over the past several weeks we have explored the nature of Jesus with a view to separating historical fact from the narratives which have collected around his person.  In the process, I have drawn a sharp distinction between the narratives I was raised with and the narratives which have been developed over the last 50 years through intensive biblical research and scholarship.

I was raised with the understanding that Christianity was special, unique, and beyond rational understanding.  This meant that the very real questions I had could not be addressed.  I remember badgering my ninth grade Sunday School teacher – a sweet but rather simple elderly lady – with a myriad of questions.  Her stock answer – “Just have faith” – was not very satisfying.  For a while it led to taking an agnostic stance towards matters having to do with God.

What I didn’t realize at the time was my many questions were simply variations on a very deep and important issue: What gives life meaning and purpose?  What’s the point of all of this?

As a philosophy undergraduate, these questions and the underlying issue began to clarify.  I realized that the first question that I had to address was the issue of God’s existence.  If God exists, then we are all accountable for our actions.  On the other hand, if God doesn’t exist, then we can do as we please without any ultimate consequences.  Being thoroughly imbued with the scientific method by that point (LOL), I hit upon an experiment that would provide the answer I sought.

In my sophomoric wisdom (?) I had a pretty clear sense of what human beings were capable of.  Having lived in both Alaska and Panama, I thought I understood what nature was capable of.  I figured that most of my experiences could be explained either by an appeal to our human capabilities or to the capabilities of the natural world in which we live.  I decided to look for phenomena that I could not explain by appealing to these two sources of data.

Of note, I was very skeptical that I would find anything beyond these two.  In retrospect, I realize I was looking for some sort of “miracle,” no matter how minor or insignificant.  As I look back at the naïveté of my 19-year-old self, I was both hoping to find something I couldn’t explain, and hoping just as strongly that I wouldn’t find anything because that meant I could do whatever I pleased without fear of adverse consequences.

To my surprise, I kept finding synchronicities that I could not explain.  I would be pondering some difficult philosophical question and then I would overhear a comment from someone else’s conversation that made the entire matter crystal-clear.  This didn’t just happen once; it seemed to occur over and over again – literally a cascade of data that I couldn’t explain.

About this time, I fell head–over–heels in love, feeling the awesome power of that first overwhelming connection!  Suddenly needing to take into account not just my own needs but those of another.  Learning to put someone else first and all that that entails.  These were transformative events.  While I recognized that falling in love was a natural human experience, for me it opened up a relational vista that seemed far beyond anything that I had known before.  Swamped in this sea of new data, it became very clear that there was Something Beyond.

This Something certainly did not fit very well into the God category, but I knew that it was somehow related to the Divine.  The pursuit of that Something led me to seminary and serving as a parish priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, and then onward into clinical psychology.  As a clinician, I was privileged as my clients shared their deepest struggles and let me see deeply into their worlds.  Their struggles pushed me deeper and deeper into this vast mystery that we share together.

The mystery has pushed me relentlessly.  I still struggle with the questions of meaning and purpose, but now I have much more data, and more solid data at that.  It has forced me to admit the limits of my knowing.  It has pushed me to extend my knowing by using the tools of logic and rational discourse.  Which brings me, once again, to the question before us.  Who was Jesus and what is his significance in our lives at present?

*  *  *

I think we can all agree that Jesus was the son of Mary, meaning that he was an ordinary human being like we are.  Once you subtract the retrospectively added birth narratives, it seems likely that his father was unknown.  This meant that Jesus grew up as a bastard in a small town.  Given the patriarchal nature of Judaism, the religion in which he was raised, it seems highly likely that he was ridiculed, scorned, and demeaned throughout his childhood.  This likely explains his propensity for marginalized people like tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and so on.

This leaves us with the central issue, as yet unexplained.  How did this ordinary human being become so transformed that he recognized himself (and was recognized by others) as the son of God?

At this point we have to acknowledge that we don’t know.  We know a massive transformation took place.  The village bastard, the stepson of a carpenter, the product of an otherwise unremarkable settlement in Israel, disrupted not only the Jewish population around him, but also the strength of his person and the power of his actions rippled throughout the entire Roman empire and beyond.  Those ripples are still active today.  So, what happened to Jesus?  How did this transformation occur?

While we have very little contemporaneous data, there are numerous parallel data sets found in the lives of the great spiritual avatars that have permeated our common history.  These beings – Zoroaster, Krishna, Gautama the Buddha, Lao Tsu – have inscribed a similar historical arc.  An insignificant birth, and unknown early life, and then an apparently sudden and massive spiritual awakening that has reverberated through the ages until our own time.  In addition, there are numerous saints and holy people that grew up in each of the religions founded by these great avatars.  They too allow us to peer into the great transformation that resulted in Jesus, the Christ.

These individuals have a number of things in common:

• They are all human beings, who lived and walked on the earth like you and I.

• They all appeared to have stepped out of the expected maturational cycle of their peers.  For example, there is no real mention of Jesus until he bursts on the scene after his baptism by John.  As far as we know, he never married or had children.

• Each of these avatars appear to have left populated areas and entered into some kind of seclusion, away from others for relatively long periods of time.

• They all developed a perception of reality during their seclusion that was at odds with the conventional understanding of their time.

• They all stepped back into the historical record as teachers, and each sought to explain his understanding of reality to those willing to listen and practice.

• Each avatar appears to have expected his disciples to change their behavior in specific ways, ways that led to an interior transformation similar to their own.

• Their teachings disrupted people’s expectations, often radically so.

• For many of these avatars, there teachings were too disruptive to tolerate and they were either executed or driven into exile.

• Each avatar left a body of teaching and a committed band of disciples.

What I find most compelling are the similarities between the teachings of these avatars and saints.  These included:

• A system of thorough self-examination.

• These systems focused, as nearly as we can tell, on the individual’s awareness.  Thus, they required an inward-looking awareness rather than the more common outward-looking process that rules most of our lives.

• They each taught a systematic method that was accessible to anyone who wished to pursue it.

• Each method typically took years (or lifetimes) to accomplish.

• Each involved relinquishing what others considered significant (money, fame, family, etc.)

• Each promised something far more fulfilling than the usual round of chasing pleasure and avoiding pain.

• The common thread through every avatar’s system appears to have been a non-dual perception that was permanent and maintained with no effort. 

• Instead of living in the dualistic world of ‘this’ and ‘that,’ they perceived a deep unity that ties everything in the phenomenal world into one.  This new perception transformed their sense of self and radically altered their perceptions of the world around them.

• Many avatars and saints attributed their transformation to a divine being, but many did not.

• The non-dual experiences of these avatars appear to have developed step by step as a result of altered states of consciousness.  These altered states do not appear to have been induced by drugs or other external means.  Some avatars appeared to use active means such as dance and singing, while others utilized contemplative disciplines.

As I look at these data, what stands out is that the methods of the great avatars can be replicated by individuals who are willing to employ similar means.  The methods they used go beyond mere manipulative techniques and involved radical lifestyle changes and perceptual shifts.  According to the avatars, this means that you and I can achieve the same or very similar transformations.  

Of interest, the avatars we are exploring have clearly stated that we are already Enlightened/saved/children of God.  We simply have not recognized our true nature.  Knowing this, the question before each of us is simple:  Do we want to open to the fullness of our spiritual capabilities?  Are we willing to change to achieve this transformation?   The price is steep.  As Jesus indicated, we need to die to our too-limited egoic selves before we can be reborn again.  

That said, I’m not sure that I’m ready to pay that price just yet.  I’m too attached to the taste of peaches and the glories of really good vanilla ice cream.  I am, however, willing to take some further steps on the path that leads to this marvelous transformation.

I have committed myself this coming month to telling the truth.  This is not the ordinary “being an honest person” stuff.  It involves the radical dropping of my need to present myself in a favorable light.  In practice, this means not embellishing stories that make me look good and not telling the “little white lies” that would hide my true feelings and experience.  It means catching myself when I distort the truth and even more difficult, going back and telling the real story.

Perhaps you’d like to join me…

In any case, do remember to set aside time every day for five or ten minutes for meditation and quiet reflection.  It is here that we begin our journey into Truth.  It is here where we learn to listen to the “still quiet voice” that lives in each of us, and whispers guidance and encouragement.  Ultimately, our willingness to travel into our own depths will determine how close we come to the everlasting Truth.

May you rest in God’s love every moment of this week!

P.S.  These newsletters were written in a particular order, but due to the limitations of our email delivery system, we cannot send them in the order in which they were written.  We can send out the first five in order, but then the system sends out the next one, whatever that happens to be.

So, if you are suddenly moving from issue #5 to issue #whatever, it might be a little jarring.  If this sounds like you, I would encourage you to go back into our archives and do your best to read them in order. 

Humility as a Tool  → Letting go → Fear → Openness →  Acceptance & Growth

If you are finding this newsletter course helpful, you may want to consider Dr. Kaisch's latest book, Inside the Invisible:  The Universal Path to Spiritual Transcendence.👇

To access the other newsletter editions of the “Inside The Invisible Newsletter,” or if you’d like to read ahead or go back.

Please Note: These newsletters are meant to be read in order.