Christ Consciousness

By Kurt Johnson

Christ at the Grass Roots: An immense global shift has occurred in recent decades regarding these words: “Christ” and “Christ Consciousness.” In so many places in the world right now, many would proclaim -- “Hey, it’s not just about one man; it’s about all of us!”

Indeed I just heard this proclaimed at a United Nations meeting this month. The speaker there took for granted that “the idea that is was about one man was a misunderstanding.” “It’s about all of us, the full potential of all humanity,” he exclaimed.

That same day, as I was walking back to my Bronx home from the subway, I passed a window with a bright-lit Christmas tree. But next to it, as viewed from behind, was a round, close-cropped curly-haired, stone statue in a sitting position. “Could it be?” I thought. Yes, crossing to the window, so I could look in and see, a large Buddha statue, in meditative position, sat right at the base of the tree. I was surprised but not surprised. The important thing is that I’m not making this up, as a “writer’s gimmick.” Both these things actually occurred on the same day.

Ten months ago I attended a meeting of progressive Christians in Atlanta, Georgia. The view was prevalent there as well, but not from the roots from which I was accustomed to hear it. Ten years ago, the understanding of the “Oneness” in this whole matter of Christ Consciousness was coming mostly from deep contemplatives across the world’s spiritual traditions. At this conference, most (and especially Millennials!) saw it all quite pragmatically. In our globalizing and multicultural world no one tradition was going to be able to hold up their “our way only” standard without some big trouble. Further, delegates at this conference said, maybe it’s about all the religions finally “gathering at the table”, all in their Christhood, Buddhahood, Krishnahood and so on.

Christ at a Crossroads: Obviously, the fulcrum of this conversation arises from the historic and traditional view of “Christ”-- the one originating in the history of Christianity itself. The term (from the Greek Christos) means “Anointed’” or “Chosen One.” “Christmas” (Christ Mass) combines Greek and ancient European words to mean the “mass” (or festival) of Christ. Interestingly, the celebration of Christmas was not a part of early Christianity. The first records of it come around 200 AD. The holiday itself originated when Roman Emperor Constantine, about 324 AD, made it legal for Christians to celebrate their faith as a part of the traditional Roman Solstice Celebration.

Similarly, little is really known about the birth of the historical Jesus, on or about December 25. It is another matter of debate. Certainly, the weather around Dec. 25 would not have allowed the Biblical cast -- with shepherds and cattle in the fields -- to be true. The season for that was early spring. Comments in Luke’s Gospel suggest the birth was more likely before the winter season. Whatever the context, by 380 AD Christmas was solidly in place around Dec. 25, again because it was the traditional day for god celebrations in Rome. Then, when Christianity spread across Europe, Christ and Christmas further complexified. We got everything from Santa Claus, or “St. Nick”, to “Yule” and the Yule Log or Tree -- all ancient European in origin, and long stories in themselves!

This is all worth telling because it parallels the long and winding road followed also by “Christ Consciousness” -- from the exclusivity of the “Jesus-only” view to the notion of the collective Christ-, Buddha-, or Krishna-Nature (and so many others rooted across our world’s traditions!) now common today.

Certainly there is nothing new about the Collective (or Cosmic) Christ. The famous psychic Edgar Cayce was outspoken about it. Many of the early Christian “heretics” were of this view -- the renowned 13th Century German mystic Meister Eckhart being perhaps the most prominent. You can roll in as well much of Indigenous shamanism, as well illustrated by the Cosmic Christ view of the celebrated Oglala medicine man Black Elk. You can also roll in the nature-mystic writers, like from Thoreau to Whitman, and also naturalist John Muir (grandfather of America’s National Parks). Also, leave room for a whole sector of psychologists from Otto Rank, Rollo May, James Hillman, and Eugene Monick, to Carl Jung (who equated “Christ” with the “archetype of the Self”). What is amazing is that, as stated in a recent article about all this, the “new paradigm” of Christ Consciousness is more “old hat” than we thought.

The Long Road Home: Within religion itself, this trend toward the Cosmic Christ has not come easily. We have to remember that the last Pope, Pope Benedict, had previously been Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Vatican’s “Department of Doctrine.” In 1993 he expelled the most vocal advocate of cosmic Christ Consciousness, then Dominican father Matthew Fox. Fox was one of any number of prominent Christian spokespersons grappling with this issue. The French Jesuit priest Henri Le Saux, who was also a Hindu guru under a rather unpronounceable name, grappled with the problem of Jesus-only versus the Cosmic Christ in theological discourses widely studied by the short-lived Pope John Paul I. In fact, conspiracy theories about the death of that Pope sometimes mention this as part of their largely unfounded scenarios.

However, today’s modern “Interspiritual Movement” which holds out the collective Cosmic Christ as the shared vision of Self, Buddhahood, Krishnahood, and so on, to the world’s religions as a point of their inherent unity owes its origin precisely to these roots. It was Christian Benedictine Father Bede Griffiths, a renowned English scholar also known by his Hindu guru name, Dayananda, who followed on Fr. Le Saux’s “universal Christ” views with even more convincing discourses. And from his following came the “namer” of Interspirituality, a Catholic monk, Br. Wayne Teasdale, in his now classic book subtitled “Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions.” Teasdale and His Holiness The Dalai Lama often walked hand in hand when Teasdale was still alive. And, Teasdale took his Hindu vows of service (“sannyas”) in the presence of his own mentor, Cardinal George of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

As we enter the Christmas season, perhaps globally now as the season of the “Festival of the Cosmic Christ,” for many of us the Buddha at the foot of the Christmas Tree does not seem strange at all, but rings very true. So do the very words of Jesus of Nazareth himself “You are all Sons of God” (John 10:34; Psalm 82: 6). And… further… let’s not forget about the Daughters!

Kurt Johnson is one of the founders of the modern Interspiritual Movement (www.interspirituality.com) and co-author of The Coming Interspiritual Age. Also a PhD in evolutionary science, he writes widely on the interface of spirituality, science and global issues.