Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.
“Two Christianities — The Known and the Unknown”
For more than 2,000 years, there have been two Christianities: the exoteric, or generally accepted one that most people who identify themselves as Christians believe in; and the other one, the one that the Christ Mind in Jesus taught only to the disciples. The teaching that was taught to the disciples, or the esoteric teaching, was the mystical teaching.
In the Infinite Wisdom of the Christ Mind or Universal Consciousness was the recognition that the broad masses of people who incarnate onto this physical earth plane are young souls with a limited capacity of spiritual awareness. Such souls can only assimilate what is said or experienced up to a certain level of spiritual awareness. As everyone lives in Eternity, these souls will, through many incarnations, grow in awareness until they awaken to a higher Universal Consciousness of Reality and Universal Selfhood. Until that time, they have the exoteric or outer Christianity to give them a belief in God and the continuance of life beyond the physical.
Until our awareness has awakened to the Universal, we live in a more personal, ego-centered awareness. Any other spiritual belief is a challenge to the ego identity, which has accepted the exoteric as being the “final word” or authority on religion, and thus on the fragile support system that maintains the personal ego identity. It is not therefore surprising that when the mass of exoteric Christians encounter anything of the esoteric or mystical teachings of Christ, they cannot identify it as being Christian. Through the ages, exoteric Christians have oftentimes labeled mystics as heretics. Their judgment is both understandable and forgivable, as they were without higher Universal Awareness.
It is also worth noting that even those souls whose awareness has reawakened beyond fundamentalist, exoteric Christianity to more of a Metaphysical, New Thought awareness may not possess esoteric or mystical awareness, except perhaps on a philosophic or intellectual level. Just as one would think one is now at a higher spiritual plateau of understanding through Metaphysical, New Thought Christianity—so much higher than the fundamentalist—there will one day come the revelation that there is far more awakening, and far more to realize about Universal Spiritual Reality and the esoteric, mystical teachings of Christ. You see, with few exceptions, the fundamentalist and the Metaphysical New Thought person are both functioning basically on a personal ego-centered level of awareness. Both the fundamentalist and the Metaphysical New Thought souls may come from a common position, be it concerning physical substance or an afterlife: What can I get from God?
By comparison, the esoteric or mystically aware souls are concentrated on “What can I give to God?” God is the center around which one’s life is built by giving up the false sense of personal ego identity and its will, to be replaced by seeking to do God’s Will as intuitively guided to do so.
The esoteric, mystical, or other Christianity that the Christ Mind taught to the disciples is based on direct, firsthand experience of Higher Consciousness. There is a very direct reference to this inner, esoteric, mystical experience that He taught the disciples in the following words in the New Testament:
“For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.” (Matt 13:17; King James Version)
The Christ Mind that was in Jesus had taught the Christ Mind, Universal Consciousness that was within the disciples how to open to the direct, firsthand experience of Higher Spiritual Realities—to actually see and sometimes hear Reality beyond the five senses.
Actually, before the incarnation of Jesus and the disciples, they had all been chosen to live the life they did and be part of the Christ story that was to unfold on the physical earth plane. Far more so than ever realized, certain pacts or agreements are made between souls before physical incarnation. Such agreements or what might be called “soul contracts” are not confined only to highly spiritual souls, but exist at all levels. Just as Jesus was supposed to meet up with his disciples, so, too, have you been drawn to souls that you had a common spiritual destiny with before this incarnation.
In the world of the two Christianities, there is neither one that is right nor one that is wrong. Each has its place, because both have been created by God to fulfill the souls of different levels of awareness. The truly wise and mystically aware are aware of this co-existent expression.
The Christ Mind that was in Jesus incarnated to bring two teachings—one that could be understood by the masses and one that could be understood by the few, until those that are the masses today become the few of the future.
Whatever level of Christianity or any other faith that one may be in, ultimately all souls are blessed by having been given life by the One—that is, Life Itself, Universal God Consciousness.
Peace and Good Will to the Wide Variance of Souls Everywhere,
Dr. Paul Leon Masters
Reference:
Text for “Two Christianities — The Known and the Unknown” taken from Dr. Paul Leon Masters’ Book, “Mystical Insights: Knowing the Unknown,” Pgs. 14–16.
Copyright © 2016 by the International Metaphysical Ministry.
If you would like to purchase Dr. Paul Leon Masters’ Book, Click Here.
Intro and ending music © “Night Radiance” by Maxim Kornyshev
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