Christ in Islamic Culture
I was born in Islamic culture. In Islam, Christ is highly, highly regarded.
He is the Spirit of God blown into Mary's womb. He is the Logos of God. He is the Word itself. This is the definition of Christ in the Quran.
He was given so many miracles. He is a very special being — the Spirit of God, the point of God manifesting.
It says all of this, except it doesn't say that he is God or the Son of God. Maybe it says it, but they don't see it. There is some debate now. They differ with Christianity about this point.
But that's political and religious and I am so far away from that. I am beyond all of these limitations and boundaries. I am just with the real, the beauty of what is here.
It's fascinating that we have a being like that. And to see so much of us rushing to other cultures, other things — and Christ is set aside. It's considered obsolete to go to Christ and the church.
I understand Christianity is different from Christ and all of this humdrum. But I want to talk about Christ from a very different perspective — what it personally meant to me.
William Blake's Declaration
I was reading two or three days ago a quote by William Blake:
"Jesus Christ is the only God. So am I. And so are you."
This is to me what the significance of the story and the journey of the Christ.
He pointed to me the path and the way to individuated Godhood.
He filled in the hole that Buddhism negated and other systems negated — that there is no self and there is no point and it's all an illusion.
He said: No. I am the Alpha and I am the Omega. I am the Way and I am the Truth.
He is the ultimate narcissist. He didn't leave anything. But he wasn't a narcissist in the way we know. He wasn't selfish. He was telling us what we are.
The Journey of the [[Point of Light]]
His story signifies the journey of the point of light.
This magnificent being coming from the realm of light, from the Absolute, entering the house of flesh.
Bayt Laham — in Arabic, it means "house of flesh." He was born in Bethlehem. The Logos became the flesh. The divine point of light came in a form.
In the Quran it says that humanity was created through Adam — God blew his spirit into Adam and the mud became flesh. This is not created from mud the way we think. It's a whole different teaching.
But the Logos became the flesh.
Humanity Forgot
Humanity forgot since Adam's time. Forgot the nature of what we are.
They thought we are just flesh, just material, just body, just this realm. They forgot that we are also spirit. That we come from a greater kingdom — from the Absolute luminosity, from the realm of the Essential Domain and magnificence.
So when humanity forgot, God manifested again as Christ, trying to remind them.
Christ was exactly who we are — points of light.
All what he says is not just applicable to him. The church tried to say it's only him, he is the Son of God.
Well — I am the son of God. You are the daughter of God. I am the son of man. You are the daughter of man.
We are all children of the Absolute and we are all children of the flesh.
This is nothing bizarre. It's very obvious, very normal.
The [[Cross]] of Personality
He journeyed and tried to bring goodness. Then he was nailed on the cross. Then he resurrected.
But that happens to every point of light.
Every child is a point of light, a shining star within — who went through the fall, through the conflict with the parent, through the development of the personality.
Now we are walking around with our crosses. Each one of us is nailed on our personality cross.
There was an old movie [...]. Every night before he goes to sleep, he goes and hangs himself on the cross. It's symbolic of what we do. We're always going back to our ego, to our woundedness, being nailed on the Personality.
Christ said this can be transcended. This can be released. That's what the work is.
The work is to liberate us — poetically speaking, from the Forest plane, from the poet — we can drop our crosses and be in our body of resurrection.
We can come from our ego, from our personality, from our armoring — to our point of light, to our essential state, our stupor chandeliers.
What Christ Represents
Christ represents to me the journey of the point of light that's been ignored by the absolutists.
The absolutists negate the Individuality of what we are. They negate the journey, the fall, the suffering, the resurrection.
But the resurrection is accessible to us. The kingdom is ours. It's here forever. We are here forever. The kingdom is at hand.
There's a whole glorious story in the journey of Christ that reminds us, pointing to what we are and how we are.
That's why I love this being.
Encountering the Christ
Through my inner journey, encountering this being — you want to call him the Christ, wonderful. The Messiah, wonderful. I call him Lord Divine. He's really Lord Divine.
I encountered the most sublime, the most sophisticated, the most enlightened entity I have ever encountered.
When I encountered him and checked the other entities — Dalai Lama, Karmapa, other prophets — they were like teenagers in the neighborhood and he was the adult.
He was the pinnacle of maturation and evolution.
So he sets the example for me to walk the walk.
[[Buddhism]] vs. [[Christ]]
Buddhists give me the example of letting go — the freedom to go to my mind and be free from concepts.
But I don't know how to walk the walk.
Christ said: No, there is a kingdom. There are rules and regulations and they are to be honored. Whoever lived by the sword shall die by the sword. So there is the law of Karma.
He honored the Ten Commandments that Moses brought
[...]
We have a magical kingdom.
The more I awaken, the more my soul matures, I bow to this kingdom.
Once I thought it was a jail. I wanted to come out of it. A cage. I wanted to come out and be in the Absolute.
Now I am willingly, happily going to my golden cage — we call marriage in the Middle East "going to the golden cage" — my wedding time, my wedding days.
Seeing the glory of the point of light. And that there is a Maha point of light, a Maha Star
Somebody like you and me went through these processes and learned and evolved and cultivated the highest — not only of wisdom, not only of knowledge, not only of illumination — but of Love.
The Emanation of Divine Love
No one that I encountered in any level has reached the level of the emanation of the Christ love.
It is Divine Love. It is the most gentle, the most sublime.
When you are in its presence, you cannot just bow. You cannot just be on your knees like in the church — I thought it was just a gesture. Turned out to be no, it's a reality.
When you are in that emanation, everything in you becomes receptive.
So he exemplified to my soul, to my ego, to my quest — an aspiration to reach. How to walk the walk. How to have an ideal, an idol.
It's in human nature that we seek an idol. All of us need a shepherd. He is like the shepherd. If I get lost, he sends some of his dogs to bark at me — come back!
And sometimes I am one of those dogs. I bark at some of them: Come on! Where are you going, getting lost in your ego activity?
Set Aside Your Hang-Ups
I wish that those who have hang-ups about Christ would set them aside.
Your hang-ups were about the church, not about that.
If you are a Jew, get over this. He came as Jesus. He is the Messiah.
Probably he'll come a million times. He came in many reincarnations. Two major ones — the first coming and the second coming. But he also came as Mozart, as many other reincarnations.
Padmasambhava?
Padmasambhava
He promised to come to the Tibetans when he went to Tibet. They asked, would you come and teach us? He said, I'll come back in 600 years.
And 600 years later, Padmasambhava came.
What is Padmasambhava? It's nothing but the Christ.
He brought us the diamond path — Vajrayana, the vehicle. And what we are receiving now through the Diamond Logos is receiving some of this teaching, some of this emanation.
The Mature Enlightenment
To me, it gives joy in my heart. There is an elder. It's not just Absolute and free.
That's wonderful. But at a certain level, it's kiddish. It's enlightenment 101.
Let's mature. Let's get a little bit more advanced in enlightenment.
Laying the wisdom and the bow and the glory of this kingdom. How to walk a walk of Grace, of love, of beauty.
I haven't found anything as beautiful.
Whatever years is left for me now, I just want to walk the walk and say Hallelujah
Abiding in the Awakened Heart
The dweller of the awakened heart. The one who built the temple. This is the temple of King Solomon. He is the lord of the King Solomon temple. He's the lord of the whole lineage.
It can't be tied with Christianity, Judaism, Islam. It's all one beautiful story that gets fragmented — the Jews in one camp, the Muslims in another.
It's parallel myths. Such a ridiculous thing. Such a loss of perspective. The glory of what we are.
The Ultimate Narcissism
I love it when Blake says: "Jesus Christ is the only God. So am I."
And that's how the point of light feels. I am the only God.
Once you accept this feeling that you are the only God — you are really the pinnacle — this is the ultimate narcissism.
Once you accept it, altruism opens.
Altruism will not open as long as you are defended against this Grandiosity, against this feeling.
Once you feel what the ego wants — that I really want to be the only God — and feel it, it turns into a drop of sweetness.
And you say: I want everybody to be their own gods and goddesses. It's more fun that way. More enjoyable that way.
That's why it happened.
The Messiah, the Lord of love and peace.
Summary
Core Teaching: Christ is not a religious figure to be debated between camps — he is the exemplar of the point of light's journey. His story IS our story: descent from the Absolute into flesh, crucifixion on the cross of personality, and the resurrection that is available to every soul.
What Christ Represents: - The journey of the point of light from realm of light into the house of flesh (Bayt Laham = Bethlehem = "house of flesh") - The reminder to humanity of what we forgot — that we are spirit, not just flesh - The path to individuated Godhood that Buddhism and absolutist teachings negated - The pinnacle of maturation and evolution among all beings Faisal has encountered
Key Insight — The Ultimate Narcissism: - Christ declared: "I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the Way and the Truth." - William Blake: "Jesus Christ is the only God. So am I. And so are you." - This is the ultimate narcissism — but once you fully accept it, altruism opens - You cannot reach altruism while defended against your own divine grandiosity - Once you feel "I want to be the only God" — it turns into sweetness: "I want everyone to be their own gods and goddesses"
The Cross of Personality: - Every child is a point of light who went through the fall - Now we walk around nailed to our personality cross - Christ showed this can be transcended — that's what the Work is - We can drop our crosses and be in our body of resurrection
Christ's Love: - No entity Faisal has encountered matches the emanation of Christ love - When you are in its presence, everything in you becomes receptive - The gesture of bowing in church is not symbolic — it's a reality response to that presence
Padmasambhava = Christ: - Christ promised to return to Tibet in 600 years - Padmasambhava came - The Diamond Path (Vajrayana) is Christ's teaching - What Diamond Logos receives is this emanation
Mature Enlightenment: - "Absolute and free" is kiddish — enlightenment 101 - The mature path: walking in grace, love, beauty, bowing to the kingdom - Not escape from the golden cage — willing, joyful entry into it