A Jesus Story for Every Level of Consciousness?
The specific Jesus story we choose can help us understand our own current level of consciousness. And our current level of consciousness helps inform our understanding of Jesus.
Note: This substack is ever evolving as my curiosity evolves. While we talk about Jesus sometimes, the goal is to do so outside of the traditional Christian framework. We believe in a Divine story that includes all humanity, a Universal Christ. So if traditional Christianity is threatening or foreign, I’d ask you to please bear with us and proceed with an open mind as we work to reimagine what the Jesus story might be all about.
The Power of Stories
The current belief is that throughout most of human existence our tribal structures couldn’t sustain a membership beyond about 150 people before the group would split. These theories tell us that on one hand this created massive diversity as humans spread rapidly across the globe; and on the other hand it prevented any real large scale cooperation or innovation.
That is until humans learned to leverage the power of stories to organize and motivate. Suddenly the belief in a single story could unite multiple tribes under a common cause or purpose.
And what are the most powerful stories in all of history?
Money.
Nations.
And religion.
You’re of course familiar with what followed this development:
The rapid rise of economies, governments, and state religion; along with socioeconomic classes, large scale war, and complex religious mythologies, some of which still survive to this day.
And everything I’ve just shared is another one of our stories that could one day be revised, although that might seem unlikely to our mostly rational minds.
We humans love stories.
Trapped Inside a Story
It’s no surprise then that whoever masters our stories wields tremendous power within (and over) society.
And while we may think we’re experiencing reality, most of us are really just trapped within these various stories.
Therefore when we begin to see through these stories it can be an important part of our spiritual journey and progress.
Unwind the story and we unwind the illusion.
And do you know who saw through all of these cultural stories?
Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus Rejected the Big Three Stories
When I say Jesus here I’m not even talking about the Divine figure.
I’m just talking about the individual whose life is partially documented in the pages of the New Testament, regardless of whoever he was, man and/or Divine being and/or something else we can’t quite pin down.
Jesus wasn’t awestruck by the power of Herod or the Romans. He wasn’t lured by the riches of the wealthy. And he wasn’t impressed by the guys who knew all the ins and outs of his local religion.
And this last group I’m referring to, the local religious leaders, they weren’t just wealthy; even better than that, they were also what we’d now call famous.
And Jesus’s rejection wasn’t out of piety or weakness. It’s perhaps quite easy for the weak to renounce the world.
It’s easy to reject the game when we lack the skills to win it.
We might admire many spiritual teachers, but how many of them throughout history passed up the First Century equivalent of Goldman Sachs or the White House to get there?
Not many.
Jesus the Talented, Jesus the Mystic
Jesus had a powerful talent stack: charisma, persuasion, storytelling, wisdom, and a deep understanding of human psychology.1
As smart and as shrewd as he was, Jesus could’ve dominated any of society’s stories. Or all of them.
Can you see Jesus as smart and disciplined enough to become a wealthy merchant? Or clever enough to achieve a place of power? Did Jesus know the scriptures well enough to secure a role as an expert on religious law?
Of course. He could do all of the above, and all with relative ease.
But Jesus demonstrated more than earthly, material talent.
Jesus of Nazareth is also one of history’s greatest recorded mystics.
As we saw recently mystics are those rare individuals whose personal consciousness level is so high that they have insights and abilities that are beyond what seem humanly possible; yet history records these individuals and their powers time and again, across nearly every religion and culture we have record of going back thousands of years, with the reports being astonishingly consistent from mystic to mystic.
So Jesus had not only charisma, wisdom, and influence, but he was also able to do things our rational minds would consider impossible.
Imagine the temptation all this power brings?
And so of course that’s what Jesus’s time in the wilderness was all about. Who was Satan but none other than the human ego of Jesus himself—or perhaps what Jungians would call the shadow side of Jesus—tempting him towards the things it would be easy for a man of his skills and powers to acquire.2
And so if Jesus was able to set aside the big power stories of humanity, what was the bigger story that guided him?
Which Jesus Story?
According to many of the “Christian” interpretations we have, especially in the West, Jesus’s big story starred him as the “one and only” main character who would help usher in a new reign of God.
Much of history and Christianity™ have preferred this reductionist story where Jesus’s entire existence revolves around getting himself killed because it was the only way to keep our angry Old Testament Dad—I mean GOD—from burning us alive forever and ever.3
And anyone believing in this story can say the right prayer and one day live in a beautiful mansion with a solid gold driveway once they die, even if they were mostly intolerable while they were alive.
(This is the Christianity I grew up with.)
In this Jesus story he does almost all of the work and returns at the last moment to save the true believers from life on earth. Unless we die first, and then he also does all the work while we cheer him on from Heaven.
This story allows us to be passive. Jesus is doing all the work so we don’t have to.
But what if that’s just another man-made story, created in the decades following Jesus’s death by people who never actually met him?
As
says, “The lower can’t see the higher.”This phrase can be applied to explain that the early-consciousness Christians of the second and third centuries had no way to understand or interpret such a high consciousness being like Jesus.
But why did these lower consciousness streams of Christianity ultimately prevail through history while other higher consciousness streams eventually died out (or at least went underground?)
Because some Christian streams had more attractive stories than others.4
Being passive is easy. Work is hard.
Remember, just because a story is popular doesn’t mean it’s accurate, especially when it comes to God.
And what if there are many stories?
The story of Jesus can be difficult to make sense of, even after two millenia of trying.
I believe once again this is because his story, based upon the Gospel accounts we have, can be interpreted in many different ways depending upon the lens of consciousness through which we view it.
Before we hop into this I always try to remind myself and others that the stages of consciousness are more of a progression than a hierarchy.
If we use an education analogy, Tenth Grade isn’t necessarily better than Third Grade, as both are necessary. At the same time progression through the levels5 does seem like one of the primary purposes of our earth school, and older souls are likely further along in the progression.
The person at the Dominance level sees Jesus as a sort of tribal leader or mascot, and they’ll use their version of the Jesus story to justify their self-serving power and dominance. They may even use violence in the name of this Jesus story, and we have large-scale, societal-wide examples like the Crusades. But even today these folks are around, both in Christianity and in all faith traditions. Eventually some individuals at the Dominance stage wake-up to the pain and suffering inflicted by this kind of life and they may shift into seeing a new Jesus story at the Obedience level as a way to be “saved” from the consequences of their life choices.
The person at the Obedience level sees Jesus as their only hope to keep them from eternal damnation. They’ve been taught to believe that they (and everyone else) have been spoiled from birth by “original sin” and are therefore grateful that Jesus allowed himself to be sacrificed on their behalf. Rules such as the Ten Commandments have an outsized importance to this group mostly because they need/like the reminder. While this stage provides comfort for many it can eventually feel a bit oppressive, and after years of this sort of life some individuals may eventually see this early interpretation of the Jesus story as untenable, and they therefore break free into the Ambition level.
The person at the Ambition level is often tired of the repressive and hypocritical nature of the Obedience-level church and may begin a journey of deconstructing the beliefs and tradition they grew up with. They might read a few books that dismantle the “inerrancy” of the Bible or realize how contradictory the Gospel accounts are if we take them as historical records. They may choose to disregard their previous beliefs altogether, becoming an atheist or agnostic. All of these choices are still reflective of spiritual growth, even if they appear to be regressions.
Why?
Because the individual has rejected the stories of the previous level of consciousness and is preparing themself (subconsciously) for a new revelation of the Divine. In the meantime they’ll do other things like build a business or expand their education or just have fun. And of course some of these individuals will eventually grow tired of focusing primarily on themselves and their own tribe and they may eventually search for meaning beyond these things, often opening themselves up to the plight of others and the world at large, and thus entering the Sharing stage.
The individual at the Sharing level may or may not have further interest in applying some form of Jesus story to their new way of seeing the world. If they do, they often now reinterpret Jesus as someone striving for social justice and equality, and they might deemphasize his connection to the Divine along with dismissing any miracles or powers recorded in the Gospels. There are a few churches out there at the Sharing level and most of them treat Jesus as a good man who was probably heavily mythologized, viewing much of the activity of his life as metaphor.
Individuals at this level have big hearts. I believe it’s at this level that the soul first awakens a bit and allows the individual to see the world anew with childlike compassion. Jesus himself sometimes encouraged his followers to become like little children again. The negative or shadow side of this stage however is a certain naivety that views much of the world through the lens of victimhood. Ever see a group of four year olds try to enact justice? It isn’t pretty.
Fortunately the next stage up is the Responsibility level where the individual can see the hurt and harm in the world while also demanding that everyone, themself and others, take full responsibility for their lives. There are currently very few leaders within society at this level, although they certainly exist if you look hard enough. When it comes to Jesus, the person at the Responsibility level can begin to integrate all of the Jesus story, seeing him as a mystic who laid out a beautiful Way for us all to live, taking care of one another while also having the wisdom to properly guide society. This understanding guides the individual on their own quest to live the Way, or the path to ever increasing consciousness.
The person at the Love level (and above) now fully understands their own Divine nature and their Divine destiny, and begins to experience some of the same mystical insights and abilities Jesus himself had. This process continues into the higher stages (Bliss and Enlightenment) until the individual reaches what is sometimes called Christ consciousness.
(To my knowledge I’ve only met one person who is potentially at the Love level, and if so it’s pretty mind blowing to witness such a merger of power and love within an individual.)
It’s also worth considering that the ultimate story of Jesus may not even be accessible to us at our current levels of consciousness. As much as I’ve tried, my dog still doesn’t comprehend why it’s necessary for me to leave the house to earn a living so I can pay his mortgage.
Helpful, but not Essential
I’ll also mention briefly that while this post is specifically about Jesus and how each level of consciousness relates to him and his story, there are no requirements to believe in Jesus or to even know anything about Jesus.
It might be helpful, but it’s not essential.
Jesus of Nazareth, at a minimum, seems to have been the greatest mystic the world has record of. And based on some of the most advanced mystics I’ve studied it seems likely that Jesus was the human personality of a superior Divine manifestation that emerged on the earth 2000 years ago.
Many mystics believe that this Christ or Logos is literally in charge of much of reality, just not in the way that traditional Christians have historically believed.
While Jesus seems to be historically important in the context of the material world and likewise the Christ is important throughout the material and spiritual realms, the Divine has no ego in any of this.
There are many mystics and other highly conscious humans who don’t relate to Jesus, the Christ, or Christianity in any way.
And yet these same mystics are wonderful humans who perform Divine miracles.
Why?
The Ultimate Story
Because as we grow in consciousness we begin to understand what seems to be the ultimate story.
We all, each of us, are eternal beings, emanating from the Divine, who are on a journey to (eventually) become Divine ourselves.
We, our current personalities, do not have souls; we are souls, with current personalities and names like Mike or Sarah. We’ve been here in the Earth School before, and we’ll likely be here again, for even once we’ve attain self-realization and remember our Divine identity it will be our joy to return and help others do the same.
And above all, remember this: no matter where you’re at right now, you’re exactly where you need to be.
The Divine takes pleasure in our advancement, but the Divine isn’t in a hurry.
And Love is ultimately what this whole thing is about. Growing in our capacity to love ourselves and others. In the end we’ll each attain theosis, and we will each and all, every soul within the earth school, one day become pure Love. It will be at that point that our true missions, the work we’ve been preparing for, begins.
That’s the story I’m choosing.
The truth is a many-sided diamond. Is each side of the diamond giving the same color? No, but it gives the light. What concerns us is the Light, the Truth. All enlightened ones in past centuries have revealed Truth in their own color, in their own time.
-Daskalos
Thank you for reading and have a great week!! If you enjoyed this post please be sure to ❤️ it so others can find it too.
And what questions do you have this topic? Let me know in the comment section so I can reply…and so we can cover them in future posts!
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Some might argue that we can’t know what the human personality of Jesus of Nazareth was truly like. I’d argue that while we can never know any historical figure perfectly, we do have plenty of evidence that the personality of Jesus was a very powerful individual. We have no accounts showing him to be weak, dull, or hesitant. He is consistently shown as wise, intuitive, and in-charge across all of our surviving accounts, both in the canonical gospels as well as the non-canonical records.
I once heard an interview with the contemporary mystic David R Hawkins where he described this same “period of tempting” in his own life as one of the later initiations of mysticism. I recall Hawkins saying something along the lines of the whole world is laid out before you and you get to choose…and while you’re there you can see all who’ve chosen poorly.
The Divine isn’t angry. Not at you or anyone. The Divine has set-up material creation to serve each of us as we develop and grow in greater awareness and love. This doesn’t mean things aren’t difficult or tough; but it has nothing to do with God being angry. The Divine loves you more than you could ever know.
Junk food can be tastier than healthy food, at least until you expand your awareness beyond what flavors tastes good at the moment of ingestion. As our awareness expands we also consider what is this junk food doing to my overall health? How will this junk food make me feel tomorrow? And so while this might be a silly analogy I think it applies to many areas of our lives, including our spiritual life. As our awareness (consciousness) expands we take more factors into consideration when making decisions.
This progression seems to take many lifetimes.
Thank you! This is one of the better pieces I've read on Substack.
Very enlightening and interesting perspective. I feel you can write a book out of this information, thank you for sharing!!