Jesus was a man, yes, but he is also a spirit as alive today as he was two thousand years ago. He does not appear now as a man but as a state of consciousness, which does not make him any less real. ~Marianne Williamson
In her new book The Mystic Jesus, Marianne Williamson sees Jesus as a living presence, as alive as you and me. Forget the dusty Jesus of the Bible. This Jesus is more a state of mind, with the power to shape and influence our lives today.
Unless you follow politics, Williamson is probably best known for her writings on A Course in Miracles. A mysterious 1,300-page text that appeared in the 1960s, Williamson calls it “a self-study program based on universal spiritual themes, employing traditional Christian concepts.” It is one tough read.
I first read parts of A Course in Miracles decades ago and could not get past its ornate prose. So, you might think of Williamson as sort of a Course whisperer, a valuable guide that can pull out some of the essential messages from the texts. While The Mystic Jesus is informed by the Course, it stands on its own. It paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to live with the consciousness of Christ.
What is “Christ Consciousness”? I first saw the phrase coined by the author and spiritual sage Richard Rohr who says simply that when see the world with Christ Consciousness, we see God in all things. Rohr explains, you are “enlivened by a force larger than yourself … you are never separate from God, nor can you be, except in your mind.” Like Jesus, God permeates every fiber of your being.
Jesus can serve as a conduit to God.
Williamson does not believe in the stuffy religion of the church who wants to “oversee and guide our relationship to God.” Her beliefs are more akin to the religion of Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich and the Gnostic Gospels. It’s about finding God through direct experience, without the need for a middleman.
The secret: the secret can be found within. The mystic Jesus is an aspect of ourselves that lives within us. “He was present as a man on the earth two thousand years ago, and he is present as a spirit within our psyches even now. He is a name for the unalterable love that all of us share.” Through him, we can forge an intimate relationship with God.
One of Williams core teachings in The Mystic Christ is that there’s a profound disconnect between the love in our hearts and how we live on earth. We feel one way internally—but when we are out in the world, we act another way. Williams’ message: “Move toward love and thrive. Move toward fear and slowly, or at least metaphorically, perish.” Jesus moves us toward love.
Five key themes from The Mystic Jesus
I have rearranged and lightly edited some of the key points in The Mystic Jesus in a loose narrative. I’ll write more on this book in the future, as it’s crammed with thought-provoking ideas.
We Forget Our Relationship with God
We are like children of the wealthiest, most powerful father who have forgotten our identity and the inheritance that comes with it. We wander endlessly in search of something that cannot be found but only realized.
The world as we know it perpetuates our forgetfulness, constantly disrupting our relationship to God by disrupting our relationship to each other. The only thing that separates us is an illusion of the mind … the misperception that we are separate.
Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be a better way. The mystic Jesus is exactly that. Think of him as a better way. He is like someone who helps us cross the river when we’re too tired to go on.
We Are All One
The Mind of God is an infinite ocean of loving thought, and when we think with love we are thinking with God. The purpose of our lives is to learn to think as God thinks.
We’re like waves in the ocean thinking we are separate from other waves. There is no place where one wave stops another wave starts. If I think of myself as one with other waves, how could I not feel safe and powerful?
We Must Rise Above the Ego
When, we align our minds with the Mind of God, we rise above the ego. The thinking of the world is no longer like quicksand that sucks us into it. We are invulnerable to the chaos that dominates the world.
The ego’s kingdom is the low road of negativity and anger, limitation and fear. But there is a high road, a path of peace and positivity, abundance and love. We don’t need to create the high road; we need merely to follow it.
The mystic Jesus has the power to override the ego’s dictates, to save us from our chronic temptation to withhold our love. Choosing to align with him, we cocreate with God a different kind of world.
What We Seek is Already Here
The world blinds us to who we are and why we’re here. The world as we know it is not home to the true self, and we cannot find ourselves within its walls.
The light we seek is not something to be found but something to be chosen. It is already there waiting to be realized.
The mystic Messiah won’t be coming down from outside but from the inside. He’s not coming from the sky; he’s coming from our higher mind.
We Must Bring Our Own Light to the World
Even the tiniest candle casts out the darkness. Even the tiniest thought of forgiveness, of mercy, of love, can change the trajectory of our lives.
Without our willingness, the miracle cannot occur. When we are willing to forgive, be merciful, be gentle, be kind, we are allowing our lives to be channels for his appearance. The light Jesus brings to the world is the light he brings to your world.
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