I have been conflicted for a long time!
I was raised In the 90’s and early 200’s. There wasn’t social media overloading you with everyone else’s ideals. I was 12 when the internet became a thing in our homes – it wasn’t even really in school’s yet! When it came to a spiritual upbringing, all one really had was the resources their parents offered them.

As I became an adult, I began to feel drawn to my Christian roots. I grew up learning about Jesus and the biblical teachings of the Catholic and later Christian churches. But I was later reminded of why I never embraced that path, as I also felt drawn to deeper spiritual ideals that couldn’t be talked about amongst church culture.

At 15 years old, I had an aunty introduce me to Paganism, which she would later deepen to state that I come from a long line of powerful witches – ok, whatever you say aunty! 20 years later, there is so many unexplained “God-equences” showing up in my life! Intuitive knowings that I’ve always had. While Hollywood paints an inflated idea of what these different intuitive abilities could look like, I can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like if I’d embraced them more than suppressing them all these years!

Fully contested later into my adulthood, I decided to start challenging the church narrative in 2019. I have seen many religions and teachings sharing similar ideas just wrapped in different stories and I decided I would start by looking into the one I grew up with – Christianity!

In this article

• Introduction to what Jesus actually taught
• Introduction to Duality VS Non-Duality
• Transcending The Ego-Self
• Manifestation Through Prayer

True christianity – What Jesus Actually Taught

As human beings we love to put labels on things – this helps with our developing understanding. 

As an infant learns everything about its new existence, we point and label everything in the physical realm – “Mom”, “Dad”, “Chair”, etc. We are no different when it comes to that of the spiritual realm. Just as there can be many ways of identifying the same physical items – even under the same language label – for example, “the bathroom”, “the washroom”, “the toilet”, “the loo”, same goes for our spiritual identifications.

On earth we have many different avenues of spirituality and many different ways of referring to God. Let’s look at some of these: God, Lord, Aba, Father, Alla, Spirit, The Divine, Source, Consciousness, The Universe, Higher Self… I think you get the idea!

Duality of Religion Vs Non Duality of Spirituality

Despite popular opinion of Christianity and the duality within the church culture, Jesus was in fact a Non – Dualist.

What does this mean?

In Dualism, there is a belief that God is divinity separate from humanity. The classic Christian interpretation and vision of someone being up in the sky space paying attention to our every thought and action and judging or rewarding us. 

– This is what Church Culture teaches.

In Non Dualism we acknowledge that we are one with God and the universe including all of humanity.

– This is what Jesus taught.

But what about The Bible?

What if we were to truly look at Jesus as a teacher who was not just preaching in parables and religion, but instead, modeling for us on how we ought to live in the healthiest most intended way. If we were to become like Christ (as is the goal), what did he actually say?

In the Bible:

John 10:30 Jesus says: “I and the father are one.” 

John 10:38 Jesus says: “…you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

Throughout Jesus’ time on earth, he exemplified oneness with “Our Father in Heaven” via the profound experience of enlightenment – through the transcendants of our egos (more on that as we go).

Throughout The Old Testament, God is referred to as the divine essence, “I AM”. Jesus also has been noted in The New Testament to use this divine name “I AM” (John 8:58), which indicated his equality with God.

Experiencing unity and oneness with our Father does not mean he was claiming he was a God himself, just that he was one with God. This statement can be confused to mean the same thing. The claim of being one with God can invite claims of blasphemy, but once enlightenment is reached, you experience and feel unity with our father, just as Jesus did. Achieving oneness with our Father does not make anyone a God, it just means transcendence was achieved.

Quickly for Duality VS Non-Duality arguments sake;

The church teaches us, once we accept Him (Jesus Christ) into our hearts (our being), “God is in us” – or we are one with God. This version of God is referred to in the “Holy Trinity” (Father-son (Jesus)-Spirit) as “The Holy Spirit”. 

What if we were to use non-dualistic language?

In non-duality we would speak of transcendence as reaching or becoming “our higher self”, or being one with the divine. When this happens we have reached the quantum field of “divine consciousness”.

Replace “divine consciousness” with “holy spirit” and “the divine” with “God” and you have yourself the basis of Christianity.

Transcending The Ego Self

Jesus calls us to embrace our oneness with all humanity and the greater universe through the teachings of benevolence, altruism, selflessness and tapping into the holy spirit that binds all of us together – above our ego consciousness.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus is simply indicating that he has fully realized this enlightenment. He was seeking to teach as many others to have that same realization – that they are one with our father – as he knew this was not exclusive to him, but to all his brothers and sisters in the world to realize too.

In order to accomplish this for ourselves, what you are doing is shifting gears with your human consciousness.

You are explicitly declaring in your mind that you want to shift from your lower ego consciousness to the holy spirit consciousness that we all have access to. Declare it in your mind, the exact wording does not matter as much as you doing it with true intent, belief and sincerity.

It’s time to shift into higher gear!

But what about The Bible?

Jesus encouraged his followers to ask for the Holy Spirit.

In Luke 11:13, He said, “If you then… know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

This verse in context suggests that one way to receive the Holy Spirit is simply by asking God through prayer. This suggests the Spirit is granted to those who ask sincerely. 

As we would notice, Jesus was poetic in nature, he used symbolism often and using a word like ‘father’ was always being used to symbolize the greater universe or consciousness.

In duality we say “ask God”.

In non-duality we say things like, “ask your higher self/consciousness”, or depending on the context, we would refer to “the universe”.

Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the “Counselor” or “Advocate” who would teach and remind His followers of all He said (John 14:26). 

Christianity says we must die and be born again  – meaning, we must die to the flesh and be born again as the spirit. 

Jesus said…

John 3:3 “…no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.“

John 3:5-6 “…unless one is born of… the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’.

Non Dual spirituality says, we must transcend the ego self and enter into greater consciousness or become our higher self.

In the Bible:

Ephesians 4 speaks of this shift as a surrender of “the old self” to make way for “the new self” of being like God. Verses 22-24 “…put off your old self… to be made new in the spirit of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God…”

In either perception, we are to die or cease to exist as a separate individual, and thereby rise again as the pure spirit, the infinite consciousness  – “I Am”.

Manifestation Through Prayer

Jesus often took time to meditate. This was his way of taking time with “The Father”. Meditation and manifestation are controversial in church culture. We are to pray to God and leave it up to Him, without another thought. Even with an extended prayer session, you won’t often hear this time referred to as meditation. 

What is meditation?

At its most basic level, meditation is a practice that involves focusing or clearing your mind. There are many types and ways to meditate, but that’s not important now. 

What is prayer?

Prayer is the beginning of manifestation. It is every thought ever had. It is the inner consciousness that becomes our outer reality.

In the non-dual construct of thoughts manifesting our reality, I say this too is taught to us by Jesus.

Non-dual spirituality says, think and believe – truly – and you will have all that you desire.

Religion says ask God and if it is His will, you may receive it.

Jesus said…

In Mark 11:24 “…whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Among other very important teachings, Jesus was trying to teach us that we are the co-creators of our reality through our thoughts and prayers – our manifestations and projections. 

But what about The Bible?

The Bible mentions meditation in some form of language, over 20 times; most of which  appear in Psalms. 20 refer specifically to meditating on the Lord in some way – so clearing your mind and focusing it on The Father or The Word – a verse / teaching. 

Jesus taught us about manifestation in the Gospels, where true unwavering belief will bring fruitily. But how does it really work?

In the Bible:

In John 15:7 Jesus says: “…ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”.

Proverbs 23:7 says “As a man thinks, so he is”.

Jesus modled a life led by the Spirit. After His baptism, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness (Luke 4:1), indicating that a relationship with the Spirit involves following its lead in all aspects of life.

Jesus taught about the role of “The Holy Spirit” – this “supernatural” guide, helper, and source of empowerment for anyone willing to leverage it. Unlike some religious practices that lead us to believe otherwise, Jesus taught us that there was no specific incantation or ritual required to invoke this spirit. James 1:6 says, “When you ask, you must believe and not doubt…”. Only a sincere request with your thoughts is required to accept it for its influence and guidance. He emphasized being in harmony with the greater universe (our father) encouraging believers to live in alignment by way of this quantum guide.

In John 14:26, Jesus implies that believers should seek the Spirit’s guidance for understanding and applying his teachings. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”

When teaching us to pray through “The Lord’s Prayer”, When declaring “thy will be done”, you are also asking to be guided by the holy spirit in a form of surrender. It is essential to actually mean this as you declare it, it is not a casual surrender.

Ultimately, Jesus’ teachings encourage believers to transcend our current state of consciousness and join into the “heaven” state of enlightenment to create this world and live in unity with all.

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..”