Consciousness and Christianity: One and The Same?
Spiritual Consciousness: Simply Awareness of Mind, Body, and Soul?
Remember, I perceived the words spiritual and consciousness as representing dimensional realms, rather than simply levels. Therefore, the term realm became the best way to define the concepts of spiritual consciousness over any other defined spatial description. The realms of spiritual consciousness are based on the concept that when we concentrate our intention (focused prayer) and attention (scriptural meditation) on the transcendental reality of our spiritual beingness, we move closer and closer to reaching God-consciousness.
Over the last three decades of my life, I have been especially drawn to the idea of spiritual consciousness. I deemed both these words, spiritual and consciousness, to represent a concept of higher than, or outside of the norm, larger than just simply the mind, the body, or the soul. My interpretation of spiritual consciousness meant that man had the capacity to transcend above his or her physical or mental limitations and attain a higher level of conscious thought which related to the spiritual man.
During my journey to higher consciousness and spiritual enlightenment, I sought to better understand both the differences and the similarities between the specific theories regarding consciousness and travelling through consciousness. My intense desire to better understand the different theories surrounding consciousness or levels of consciousness finally solidified as I began to apply a greater degree of focus on not just consciousness teaching (under the constructs of mind, body, and soul alone), but also to expand the concepts of spiritual consciousness to the spiritual teachings of Christianity.
This expansion was truly an ‘aha moment’ for me.
Specifically, I began to better understand how the Word of God (the Bible) and the gospel according to Christ Jesus, consistently relayed the message that a focus on higher consciousness was required to achieve spiritual enlightenment.
How so, you ask?
Does Christianity Explain Spiritual Consciousness?
Jesus taught us that we were not of this Earth, we are not from this Earth, nor are we in this Earth. Instead, He taught that we are of God, we are from God, and we are in God. And when our earthly existence has ended, we will return to God.
There exists within the Christian religion a standard teaching regarding the relationship between the mind, the body, and the soul, in terms of spirituality. Simply stated, the teaching says that “we live in a body, we have a soul, but we are mindfully a spiritual being.”
These and other explanations of mind, body, and soul, answered some of my questions, but I was left with the distinct notion there was so much more to comprehend. I was longing for a more in depth understanding of the specific connection between spiritual consciousness (now in terms of Christianity) and higher consciousness.
For instance, how did man as a spiritual being relate to consciousness? How specifically does man’s mind, body and soul relate to God and God consciousness? Do the words of the Bible (The Word of God) reveal the secret to consciousness? And once again, what is consciousness?
As I pondered the mind, body, and soul concept of consciousness and the teachings of the Bible, I began to see how the spirit of man related to the inerrant Word of God. I had to travel back to my religious upbringing, my spiritual roots in the Catholic faith. I had to return to where I had begun.
I had to reexamine my understanding of the gospel of Christ Jesus, particularly through the teachings of the apostle Paul. The gospels of Paul opened my understanding and awareness of the concept of grace in a way which I had never understood before. The word grace seemed to embody a consciousness concept- literally as the body of Christ. And suddenly, a newfound awareness emerged.
A greater cognizance of these teachings offered me new insight and passage, or grace, “through Christ Jesus…” to appreciate that if I desired spiritual enlightenment, then I would have to come to it through the consciousness of The Spirit, not just spirituality or spiritual-ness. I would have to embrace the totality of The Spirit to comprehend spiritual consciousness. In other words, I would have to learn to “live in the Spirit…” of Christianity, not just religion.
A Spiritual Shift in Consciousness
Was the answer to consciousness right in front of me the whole time? Was higher consciousness shrouded in plain sight in the words of the Bible? By recalling the teachings of the Gospel, had I already been given the secret? I acknowledged that in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment, I would have to return to my Christian roots. I would have to embrace my childhood teachings in Christianity which I already knew to be true.
The truth being that through the grace of God and from the salvation of Christ Jesus, I would have to be reborn. I would have to denounce my physical being and embrace my spiritual being. Then and only then, could I receive the internal dwelling of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (The Trinity) living within me, and I within them.
I ascertained that the Bible, and its’ inerrant words and scriptures, was the obvious bridge between the universal concepts of man’s perception of higher consciousness and Gods’ definition of higher spiritual consciousness. Through my gift of pattern recognition, I discovered that the words of the Bible delineate a secret path to higher spiritual consciousness, and subsequently, the path to spiritual enlightenment. And thus began my illuminating childbirth into spiritual discernment.
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