Christianity

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Christianity is the religion stemming from the teachings of Jesus in the 1st century AD. Its sacred scripture is the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Its principal tenets are that Jesus is the Son of God (the second person of the Holy Trinity), that God's love for the world is the essential component of his being, and that Jesus died to redeem humankind. Christianity was originally a movement of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah, but the movement quickly became predominantly Gentile. The early church was shaped by St. Paul and other Christian missionaries and theologians; it was persecuted under the Roman Empire but supported by Constantine I, the first Christian emperor. In medieval and early modern Europe, Christian thinkers such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther contributed to the growth of Christian theology, and beginning in the 15th century missionaries spread the faith throughout much of the world. The major divisions of Christianity are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Nearly all Christian churches have an ordained clergy, members of which are typically though not universally male. Members of the clergy lead group worship services and are viewed as intermediaries between the laity and the divine in some churches. Most Christian churches administer two sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist. In the early 21st century there were more than two billion adherents of Christianity throughout the world, found on all continents.[1]

Esoteric Christianity

Philip Jenkins, the distinguished Professor of Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion wrote:

Theosophy sparked, inspired, directed, and mobilized the esoteric quest for Jesus that still flourishes today. Theosophists furnished all the essential maps and guides to anyone interested in following that path. Without acknowledging Theosophy, we can never understand the history of the popular interest in the gospels, in Gnosticism, or in alternative Christianities.[2]

Merriam-Webster defines the word esoteric as something “designed for or understood by” only the specially initiated; that is, esoteric knowledge is limited to only a few people because it is difficult to understand, and/or it is simply “of special, rare or unusual interest.” The word comes from roots meaning “within” or “into.”[3] Every religion has an esoteric side, which contains the more hidden --- and truer --- meaning behind the mainstream teachings. All of these esoteric teachings mirror each other; they contain the same themes. These are not easy to understand for many of us, especially in the 21st century, when we have largely abandoned such spiritual practices. Still, there are those of us who find these studies meaningful.

Annie Besant, the second International President of the Theosophical Society, said that esoteric Christianity is “the way of the Divine Wisdom, the true Theosophy. … It is Esoteric Christianity as truly as it is Esoteric Buddhism, and belongs equally to all religions, exclusively to none. … It does not bring the Light. It only says: ‘Behold the Light!’ ” [4]

Although scientific materialism denies it, Mrs. Besant observes “that inner impulse which exists in humanity … this yearning of the human Spirit for that which is akin to it in the universe, of the part for the whole ….” Sometimes this search seems to disappear, or it is repressed by governments or by individuals who are disconnected from their own deepest selves, but it always reappears in one form or another. Those who deny it “find the wildest superstitions succeed its denial. … [humanity] will have some answer to our questionings;” we will “take religious error rather than no religion.”[5]

It is worth noting here that --- despite centuries-old arguments, wars, and wholesale martyrdom --- there are a few ideas that all the major religions agree on. These ideas were outlined by TS President Henry Steel Olcott in an 1882 talk:[6]

1) There is a part of each human that is non-physical, often called the soul.
2) This non-physical part of us, the soul, survives the death of the physical body.
3) There is a matrix or Ground of Being, often called God, that underlies everything in the manifested world.
4) The soul is related to this Ground of Being and returns to it when the body dies.

The English philosopher Herbert Spencer (whom Colonel Olcott also cites) promoted the theory of evolution before Charles Darwin and the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace published their views --- although Spencer (1820-1903) initially attributed evolution to inheritance rather than natural selection.[7] Spencer “achieved an influential synthesis of knowledge, advocating the preeminence of the individual over society and of science over religion.”[8] Nevertheless, he believed that religion was an inherent and indestructible element of human nature. (This, of course, led to some spirited quarreling in the public sphere.)[9]

The accretions that various religions have added to these basic themes are the stuff of all the arguments, wars, etc. However, the fact of a basic agreement regarding the existence of non-physical reality suggests an underlying truth. As Olcott notes, "The accessory superstitions which have overgrown and perverted the religious sentiment must not be confounded with the religious sentiment itself."[10]

The Perennial Philosophy

The term “theosophy,” which means divine wisdom or wisdom of the gods, has been in use since the early centuries of the Common Era.[11] It is also known as the Perennial Philosophy (which is also the title of a well-known book by Aldous Huxley that was first published in 1945), the Ageless Wisdom, the Secret Doctrine, and by the Sanskrit phrase Sanatana Dharma, which means “Eternal Teachings.” Note that this is not an exhaustive list --- the point is that these ideas apparently have been around for at least as long as humans have. They underlie the teachings of all the major religions, including Christianity, and are often found in a mystical offshoot of the primary religious doctrines.

Basically, this perennial philosophy describes Reality --- the true Reality, as opposed to our everyday experience of reality --- as a deep and profound Unity that is based on unconditional love. This description, of course, also brings to mind the mystical experience. As Richard Smoley points out in his book Inner Christianity, the path of the esotericist and that of the mystic differ only slightly: “The mystic wants to reach his destination as quickly as possible; the esotericist wants to learn something about the landscape on the way. Moreover, mysticism tends more toward passivity: a quiet ‘waiting on God’ rather than active investigation.”[12] Most people, however, use the words “esoteric” and “mystical” interchangeably.

Another word often found in the literature on esoteric Christianity is “gnosis,” a Greek word meaning “knowledge.” Gnosis, however, is not something we get from a book. It is a spiritual reality that we sense intuitively, based on our own inner experience. The Gnostics --- one of the original groups considered heretics --- were mostly persecuted into oblivion by the early Roman church, but the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls and Nag Hammadi library have once more brought their teachings to light, and Gnosticism has been enjoying something of a renaissance in the early 21st century.

Esoteric Symbolism

All of these expressions point to the esoteric side of the Christian religion, which requires us to view Bible stories in terms of their deeper symbolism rather than taking them literally. Although exoteric (mainstream) Christianity tends to view the serpent in Genesis as the evil genius who corrupted the first humans,[13] in other traditions serpents symbolize wisdom, prudence, creativity, and transformation.[14] Jesus himself advised his disciples to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16), and many other teachings recognize the apparently paradoxical powers of these reptiles.[15]

So “The Fall” described in Genesis is seen by some Christians as symbolic of human arrogance; God was disobeyed because of an apparently sinful wish to know about things that we may not be capable of understanding and that are best left alone. In esoteric terms, however, the Fall represents humanity’s descent into the physical world from a higher level of being, a higher level of consciousness. This is further described in Genesis 3:21 as “Unto [Adam and Eve] did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” The literal interpretation is that God gave them clothing because they were now embarrassed by their nakedness; from the esoteric point of view, this is simply a description of our becoming fully physical beings. (For a more complete discussion of this concept, see “The Meaning of the Fall” in Richard Smoley’s book on Inner Christianity.[16])

“Eternal life” is, of course, another theme that is found repeatedly in the New Testament. Some Christians believe that being “saved” --- accepting Jesus as one’s personal savior --- means that our personal ego, the personality we know as ourselves in this lifetime, will be immortal. This, unfortunately, is quite certainly just so much wishful thinking. What is immortal in us is far deeper --- or higher (paradoxical as this may seem) --- than our surface personality.

As Mr. Smoley notes, “this ‘something eternal’ is the true ‘I,’ the spirit,” that entity within each of us that is a spark of the Universal Consciousness. In Matthew 13:3-8, Jesus compares this eternal spark to a seed. The “sower went forth to sow,” and the fate of the many seeds varied greatly: some were eaten up by birds; some fell on stony places and, without deep roots, soon withered in the sun; some fell among thorns and were choked out by them; but others “fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit” --- that is, the spark of consciousness became aware of its true identity. Mr. Smoley continues: “Gnosis is the complete liberation of this ‘I’ from its immersion in the physical and psychological worlds; it is the reversal of the Fall. … This is what it means to be ‘born again.’ ”[17]

So gnosis is the true understanding of who and what we really are: not a body that may have a soul, but a soul that currently inhabits a body. It means our consciousness returns to a much more refined state than the one we ordinarily recognize as “real.”

Additional resources for Esoteric Christianity

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Notes

  1. ↑ Christianity at the Merriam-Webster Online
  2. ↑ Alternative Scriptures: Theosophy and the Esoteric Tradition
  3. ↑ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/esoteric
  4. ↑ Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries. Annie Besant. Notes & Introduction by Richard Smoley. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books, 2006, p. xxv. (First edition: Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras, India, 1901)
  5. ↑ ibid., p. 4
  6. ↑ The Common Foundation of All Religions. H. S. Olcott. Adyar, Madras, India: Adyar Pamphlets No. 95, November 1918, p. 2
  7. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herbert-Spencer
  8. ↑ ibid.
  9. ↑ See, for example, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_26/January_1885/Editor%27s_Table
  10. ↑ op. cit.
  11. ↑ https://theosophy.wiki/en/Theosophy
  12. ↑ Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition. Richard Smoley. Boulder, Colorado: Shambala Publications, 2002, p. 3
  13. ↑ Genesis 3:1-13; also see https://www.truthunity.net/rw/serpent
  14. ↑ See, for example, https://asklepiosgarden.com/blogs/asklepios-garden-wellness/unraveling-the-mystical-symbolism-of-the-snake-from-ancient-mythology-to-modern-culture, https://theosophy.wiki/en/Naga, and https://www.aboutmybrain.com/cards/spirit-animals-oracle-deck/snake
  15. ↑ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11003127/
  16. ↑ op.cit., pp. 54-63
  17. ↑ op. cit., p. 83
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