Like a huge, clear, flawless diamond hidden in a clay pot, there is a fabulous treasure within us all which Jesus knew about and wanted everyone to discover. He knew that while the fragile clay pot would only last a relatively short time, the treasure within would never cease to be and that this was our real Self.

Jesus said that this treasure within us all (and actually that contains us all) was like a great and perfect pearl. Of course, this treasure is not really an object or a thing, but rather pure beingness or Spirit. In Jesus this treasure shone with dazzling brightness and was referred to as the Christ.

We can uncover the shining of this treasure within ourselves and live with new freedom in its light by attending to the deeper teachings of Jesus about our essential and eternal Christ nature.

To understand correctly the teachings of Jesus, as reported in the biblical and other gospels, we have to distinguish between the finite form or person of Jesus and the infinite formless Christ. These are not separate entities but two dimensions, as it were, of the one human-being.

In the case of the human-being known as 'Jesus Christ', it could be said that the man, Jesus, represents the human dimension and that the Spirit or Christ within him, represents the being dimension.

Of course, what was true in the case of the human-being, Jesus Christ, is true for all human-beings, whether they are aware of it or not. We all have humanness AND beingness, so to speak, though most people are preoccupied all their lives with the human dimension alone.

It has become common over the centuries since the New Testament emerged for secular commentators and even devout Christians to use the names Jesus and Christ interchangeably, as if they both refer to the same thing -- they don't.

In the reported statements of Jesus in the gospels, he obviously used words such as "I", "me" and "my", but these words did not always refer to the finite form that made up his humanity -- sometimes those same words referred to his infinite formless beingness or Christ nature.

Also, when Jesus used the words, "you", "your" and "yours", he was sometimes addressng the human dimension of his hearers and at other times to their being dimension ... with the very same words.

Jesus was very much aware of 'his' essential Christ nature, the all pervasive timeless unconditioned Self or Christ in everyone, as Consciousness Itself. The following are several quotes about the Christ as the Self (the subject "I" Consciousness) of all.

"All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." John I: 3

Here the creation is not only created (manifested) by the Christ, but also all creation throughout all time is acknowledged to be a projection of the Christ, the Conscious Principle "I", as "without him was not anything made that was made".

'In him was life, and the life was the light of men." John I: 4

"And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness (the mind) comprehendeth it not." John I: 5

'The darkness' spoken of here is the finite human mind, which cannot know the true and imageless Self, the All Knower, and cannot see the Seer, which lights it.

"That was the true Light, which lighteth every person that is born into this world." John I: 9

Who the Christ is said to be is Life, and that Life was the Light (Consciousness) of "every man (and woman) that is born into this world."

In the following words of Jesus, it will become clear that these are statements from someone, who, having realized their essential nature or true Self, no longer has a sense of "I" in relation to the body/mind/personality, but abides as and is "Consciousness Itself".

"I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life." John 8: 12

"No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."John 3: 13

From these quotes and the quotes to follow, we will see that the Christ is defined clearly as the Self of all, and that Jesus' teachings are to redirect each listener that can hear him, to go beyond the mind, or to recognize and abide as the Self, or to take their stand in the truth and abide in what I Am, the Self.

By comparison with the ancient sages and magi from the East, one might think from reading these passages that Jesus always speaks as the Atman and of the Father as Brahman, or as the Self realized being One in relation to the All pervasive and timeless Self (the "I AM THAT I AM"). Jesus states:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8: 58

One can see from the way Jesus always refers to the Father (the Christ), as the doer of the miracles and all that he says, that regardless of his apparent actions, that he has no sense of being a doer, that all he says and does just happens, because he abides in the Father (the Christ).

Consider the following passage, where Jesus is speaking to the apostles in John Ch 14:

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: No man cometh to the Father but by Me." (verse 6)

"If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from hence forth you know him and have seen him." (verse 7)

"Philip said to Jesus, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.'" (verse 8)

To which Jesus replied:

"Have I been so long with you, yet you have still not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; therefore, how do you say, 'Show us the Father'?". (verse 9)

"Believe you not that I am in the Father (the Christ) and the Father in me? The words I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me -- he (or, It) does the works." (verse 11)

"Believe me that I am in the Father (the Christ), and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake." (verse 12)

Again:

"I and my Father are one." John 10: 30

Explaining how his truth is in fact the truth of all, Jesus states in John Ch 15:

"Abide in me (the Christ), and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me." (verse 4)

"I am the vine, you are the branches ... apart from me (Source) you can do nothing." (verse 5)

In John Chapter 17, Jesus prays to the Father (the Christ) on behalf of the apostles, that He sanctify them by His Truth, and that they might be (consciously) one with the Father and know as He knew always, "I AM THAT I AM".

Here, we can see that Jesus' state is always one with the Father. It's quite clear that Jesus' permanent abiding state (when He says "where I am") is unrelated to the world. He asks:

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: For you have loved me from before the foundation of the world." (verse 24)

Jesus' unwavering recognition that He (the form) and God (the Formless) are one in Spirit gives validity to our own sense of truth as spirit and body etc (being a particular manifestation of Spirit):

"God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4: 24)

Throughout scripture, the attributes ascribed to God are also those of Christ Consciousness or Pure Awareness -- to be all knowing (omniscient), all powerful (omnipotent), and everywhere or exclusively present (omnipresence).

In Revelations, Ch I: 8, the Christ tells John:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending" sayeth the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

Probably the best summation of the possibility, potential, or promise that the Christ offers to the Western world is in the following statement of Jesus from John 16: 33.

"These things I (Jesus) have spoken to you that in me (your 'Christ' nature) you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulations: But be of good cheer; I (the Christ) have overcome (conquered) the world."

Actually, not to see Jesus as the personification of the non-dual Christ is to turn all he says into demagoguery, to make him into another zealot of the time, the founder of a bizarre cult, of strange rituals based in fanatical superstition and myth, a revamping of paganism in monistic form.

It seems quite obvious though that if we can hear him, Jesus, ever abiding in and as the Father (the Christ), may be one of the most profound teachers of the non-dual nature of Reality and proof of its philosophy in terms of realizing the truth of our own Reality as all pervasive Self!

Those who have discovered, understood and lived by the deeper non-dual teachings of Jesus and his closest followers are sometimes known as Christian mystics.

To read more about the non-dual teachings of Jesus, >Click Here.

If you would like to hear Mark West giving some short (mp3) talks on Jesus' deeper non-dual teachings, >Click Here

An imagined hasidic master, Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael writes to his student who has moved from the old country to America:

"It rained heavily during the night, and our village is thick with mud. I walked to the Beit Midrash (House of Learning) this morning and stopped to watch a group of little children playing in a puddle of mud.

They sat in the puddle, oblivious to the damp, and made dozens of mud figures: houses, animals, and towers. From their talk it was clear that they imagined an identity for each: a story that told the figure's past and foretold its future.

For a while the mud figures took on independence, a life separate and unique. But they are still just mud. Mud is their source, and mud is their substance.

From the perspective of the children wrapped up in the play of separate figures their mud creations had separate selves. From the point of view of a casual observer it is clear that the separate self is an illusion, that in fact they are all just mud.

It is the same with us and God: "Adonai (the Lord) alone is God in heaven above and on earth below, there is none else" (Deuteronomy 4:39). Ayn od -- there is none else -- meaning that there is nothing else in heaven or on earth but God.

Can this be? When I look at the world I do not see God. I see trees of varying kinds, people of all types, houses, fields, lakes, cows, horses, chickens, and on and on. In this I am like the children at play seeing real figures and not simply mud. Where in all this is God?

Some would argue that God is a divine spark inside each being, some would say only within human beings. Others would argue that God is above and outside creation. But I teach neither position.

God is not inside or outside, God is the very thing itself! And when there is no thing, but only empty space? God is that as well."

Also, from, the non-dual point of view, the first two of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20: 1-7) are extremely powerful non-dual statements, i.e., neither permitting images before the "I" sense, nor allowing the use of the subject "I" together with an identity to images.

From, Open Secrets: The Letters of Reb Yerachniel ben Yisrael, by Rami M. Shapiro

To download a free eBook by Rabbi Rami Shapiro, entitled: Gefilte Fishing: A Guide to Spiritual Awakening, Click Here.

The Islamic Call to Prayer, referred to as Adhan (Azaan), is an important part of Islamic devotional life. Ahan is recited by a professional muezzin who is chosen to serve at the mosque for his good character, voice and skills.

Adhan is called out from a minaret of a mosque five times a day (Sunni Islam) or three times a day (Shi'a Islam) summoning Muslims for mandatory prayers. When calling to prayer, the muezzin faces each of the four compass directions in turn.

There is a very beautiful phrase in the Call to Prayer that is well worth the attention of all spiritually aware people. In Arabic, the phrase is: "La 'illaha il' Allahu."

Since the root of the name for God, Allah, is the same as the word for What Is, the phrase can be translated any number of ways, all of them correct.

Great stuff, but do the faithful really understand?

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