Fasten your seatbelts! We thought we’d devote this blogcast to the first fourteen verses in the Gospel of John, with particular emphasis on a metaphysical interpretation of ‘the Word.’ We believe that ‘getting real’ with the Word is one of the chief keys for our enlightenment and salvation.
We’ve got to say that we don’t use the terms enlightenment and salvation lightly. They are central for understanding the ‘Word’ and can be realized in an instant, in your present life, depending on your willingness to move beyond the embedded theology of your childhood.
Enlightenment is recognizing, and then, expressing the eternal oneness and unity which underwrites all that is. And salvation is simply filling your consciousness with spiritual thoughts, inclinations, and proclivities instead of material thoughts, inclinations, and proclivities.
Every time you have a spiritual thought you are saved. Saved from what – you may ask? Saved from the illusion that you are merely a human being. Saved from the incredibly deceptive belief that you are not the human expression of the Eternal Presence. Saved from the illusion that you have to die to go to heaven—or hell.
In a more expanded spiritual perspective, both heaven and hell are states of consciousness. That implies they’re not places you go to, they’re states of awareness you grow into. We’ll talk more about that in another blogcast. We’re getting real with the ‘Word’ in this blogcast, so here’s the word on the Word!
The Word, in its usual interpretation is based on an external deity and is translated in Greek as Λόγος (from the root λεγ, appearing in λεγω). The traditional meanings are: to lay, to pick out, gather, pick up – hence to gather or put words together, and so, to speak. Therefore, λόγος is, first of all, a collecting or collection both of things in the mind, and of words by which they are expressed. It therefore signifies both the outward form by which the inward thought is expressed, and the inward thought itself.
From a more expanded esoteric perspective the Word, logos (Greek) and dabhar (Aramaic), does not only mean ‘word’ as understood linguistically, but rather an irresistible creative energy exploding into voluptuous creativity (Matthew Fox, 1984). In other words (excuse our pun) the Eternal Presence expresses Itself as the cosmos.
Eastern mystics tend to identify sound as the primal energy of life. Sound is considered to be the original life force out of which all else unfolds. Hence, the Christian and Jewish idea: in the beginning was the Word (dabhar) refers to the energy of sound (O’Murchu, 2004).
The ‘Word’—as sound—more appropriately means ‘expression’ or vibration’ or a ‘conversation’ between worlds (the unseen and the seen, the manifest and unmanifest). God, the Eternal Presence in material form.
Logos can also mean the logic or the rational principle underlying the fundamental reality of the universe (Alex Wong-Kee Mok, 2006). This Fundamental Reality is, of course, the eternal Presence we call God.
So, it is not too far a stretch to suggest that the Eternal Presence (God), speaking (expressing Itself into manifested form) as the Christ Principle, underwrites what is seen and not seen. That, we believe, is what
John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 14 is talking about.
We’ll start with one of the traditional interpretations of John 1:1-14 taken from the New International Version, and then follow that up with a metaphysical interpretation taken from the Gospel of John: New Metaphysical Version to give you a more expanded perspective.
New International Version
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . 2. He was with God in the beginning.
3.Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
6. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
10. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13. children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
New Metaphysical Version
1. Before there was a physical universe [In the beginninga] there was the Cosmic Christb [the Word] which is the ideational power [was with] of the One Reality [God, (Eternal Isness, the Absolute, the Infinite Invisibleness)]; and the Cosmic Christ [the Word] is God expressing Its Godness as the Cosmic Christ [the Word]. 2. The Cosmic Christ was indivisibly one with the One Reality (Eternal Isness, [God]) before matter itself came into existence.
3. Through the quantum filter of the Cosmic Christ, physicality [all things] is possible. It is only through the instrumentality of the Christ Presence that potential morphs into form. This is possible because consciousness is the ground of all being. 4. As a result of the Christ Presence, there is eternality [life], and that eternality [life] is the ubiety [light] of the Christ in all things including humankind [man]. 5. This omnipresent Christ Presence [the light] underwrites [shines] all beingness, including human beingness which is generally unaware [darknessc] of its innate divinity.
6. Eventually we come to a place of expanded awareness where we receive a highly transformative insight [man from God] which springs from a well-developed intellectual perception of Truth [our John quality]. 7. Intuitively we realize this insight [witness] comes from Something [the Omnipresent Light] deep inside us. So touched are we by its purity and transcendentalness that we ready ourselves to transform all of our thoughts and inclinations [all men] into their higher spiritual essences. 8. Our illumined intellect [our John quality] is not the Christ [the Omnipresent Light], it is only a Christed capacity [a witness] which springs from the Inner Light (the Christ Light). 9. The Cosmic Christ [the True Light] becomes enfleshed [came into the world].
10. Although the transcendent Cosmic Christ descends into sense consciousness [the world, the material universe], It is repressed by sense consciousness [the world] which fixates itself onto physical form [does not recognize its divine origin]. 11. Because of the highly spiritualized quantum nature of the Cosmic Christ, Its indivisibleness with physical forms goes unnoticed by a sense-veneered human consciousness. Essentially, It (the Cosmic Christ) is veiled divinity. 12. However, a consciousness which is attuned to its divine nature [receives Him] becomes consciously one with the nature of its divine origin [believes in His name] and is able to produce divinely inspired ideas [children]. 13. It is important to know that divine ideas [children] do not come from the human personality [blood, flesh, (natural descent)] but from the Kingdom of God (Christ Consciousness) within us.
14. The Cosmic Christ [the Word] descends into matter [becomes enfleshed] and enfolds Itself into physicality [dwells among us]. The more enlightened we become, the more we realize our indivisibleness [glory] with the Christ expressing at the point of us. The enlightened us knows that the Cosmic Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God [the Father] which has become manifest as us to underwrite our return home [unification with the Eternal Isness]. This conscious unification will help us move beyond our attachments to the material universe [redeem us through grace] so we can live, move, and have our being in at-one-ment with the Absolute, the Eternal Presence [Truth].
Footnotes to metaphysical interpretation:
a From a monistic metaphysical perspective it is more aptly interpreted ‘In a beginning’ or ‘In another beginning.’ Quantum physics also suggests this cosmological viewpoint.
b The Cosmic Christ and Christ are synonymous and will be considered as such throughout this manuscript.
c Darkness represents our unawareness of, or the abject denial of, our innate divinity as spiritual beings in human form.
We’d like to close by striking a couple of comparisons.
One is between classical physics and quantum physics; and the other is between traditional Bible interpretations and metaphysical Bible interpretations.
Metaphysical interpretations of scripture are to literal interpretations of scripture like quantum physics is to classical physics: both literal interpretations of scripture and classical physics are perspectives limited by reductionist, dogmatic thinking. Metaphysical interpretations of scripture and quantum physics answer more questions and offer more expanded perspectives of our place in the cosmos because they offer broader interpretations and are not bound by the myopia of tradition and convention.
The utility of all four of these perspectives (metaphysical, literal, quantum, and classical) is based on your level of consciousness. On how open you are to an expanded perspective. Whether you like ‘growing edges’ or staleness. If you’re satisfied with where you are or want to deepen your appreciation for who and what you really are.
The choice is yours, of course.
We can tell you this: getting real with the Word means getting real with yourself, and getting real with yourself demands getting real with the Word!
Research Support:
- Alex Wong-Kee Mok, The Antropic Principle and The Logos in Modern Cosmology, The Australian eJournal of Theology 6 (February) 2006).
- Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, Bear and Co., Santa Fe, 1984, pg. 40.
- O’Murchu, Diarmuid, Quantum Theology, Crossword Publishing, N.Y. 2004, pg. 170.
Global Center for Spiritual Practices 