The Tao of Christ
The Tao of Christ is a podcast which explores the mystical roots of Christianity, which Jesus called the Kingdom of God, which church historian Evelyn Underhill called the Unitive Life, which Richard Rohr calls the Universal Christ, and which I refer to as Christian nonduality, unitive awareness, or union with God. This is the Tao of Christ.
Episodes
Today I am recording on another topic, one that has been coming up recently in correspondence and conversations. I think it may be helpful if it were addressed. The topic is Spiritual FOMO. FOMO is, of course, the acronym meaning Fear Of Missing Out. I notice Spiritual FOMO both in Christian circles and among people interested in nondual spirituality.
In nonduality it comes in the form of Enlightenment FOMO. Quite a few people who ...
In this episode I am exploring sayings 38 and 39 in the Gospel of Thomas. Both have parallels in the canonical gospels, but not exactly. Once again context – or more exactly lack of context – is an important factor in the interpretation of these sayings of Jesus. I will read the sayings in Thomas for you.
Jesus said, "Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to h...
In this episode I am looking at two sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, sayings 36 and 37. Both have to do with clothing. Here they are:
Jesus said, "Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear." His disciples said, "When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?" Jesus said, "When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garm...
Today I am covering two sayings in the Gospel of Thomas. Sayings 34 and 35. I am doing this because they are short, and they are making the same point. They are also very similar to sayings that we find in the New Testament gospels. For that reason, the difference in interpretation of these sayings really is a matter of context.
Here are the two sayings as found in the Gospel of Thomas: Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a b...
Today I am going to cover two sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, sayings 32 and 33. There are actually three sayings in these two verses. One about being built on a mountaintop, one about shouting from a housetop, and one about shining from a tabletop. I am grouping them together because they have the same theme and in the canonical gospels they are found together. And they are all about how the nondual Reality of the Kingdom of God ...
Today we look at the 31st saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village. No physician heals those who know him.” There are slightly different translations. "No prophet is welcome on his home turf; doctors don't cure those who know them." “A prophet is not accepted in the hometown. A doctor does not heal those who know the doctor.” “No prophet is accepted in his own vi...
In the 30th saying in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus deals with the topic of the Trinity. At least it seems like he is referring to the Trinity. He may be talking about tritheism or even polytheism. He is certainly talking about duality and nonduality.
See also the episode entitled “Trinity and Nonduality.” at this link:
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This episode explores the 29th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "If the body came into being because of spirit, that is a marvel, but if spirit came into being because of the body, that is a marvel of marvels. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty."
In this saying Jesus is leading people beyond metaphysical and philosophical questions in order to point them to Reality...
This episode explores the twenty-eighth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty. But meanwh...
This edition of the Tao of Christ is a little different. For one thing it is shorter than usual. Also I am taking a break from the Gospel of Thomas. I will get back to it in a week or so. Today I am reading my blog post for today. I have a blog that I publish once or twice a week called Spiritual Reflections by Marshall Davis. Normally it is just in a written format, but today I thought I would record it in an audio format as well....
This episode is on the 27th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. It is actually two sayings. One is about finding the Kingdom of God. The other is about seeing the Father. These are both ways of talking about spiritual awakening. He talks about this in the context of the spiritual disciplines of fasting and Sabbath. The first is about true fasting. The second is about true Sabbath-keeping.
It reads: "If you do not fast from...
This episode is on saying 26 in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "You see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye."
This saying in the Gospel of Thomas has a famous parallel in the Gospel of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “Why do...
This episode examines the 25th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "Love others like your own soul, protect them like the pupil of your eye.”
Among other aspects, it explores how love of others guides social and national morality from a nondual perspective.
View Marshall's books here:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU
This episode explores the 24th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. His disciples said, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it." He said to them, "Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark."
This saying is about the spiritual search for the Eternal Christ. Jesus disciples say to him, &...
This episode covers the twenty-third saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus says: "I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one." Here is a slightly different translation: "I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand, and you shall stand as a single one."
This verse deals with the rarity of spiritual awakening and the na...
The twenty-second saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is the clearest example of Christian nonduality that we have in any gospel. Some of these metaphors in this passage are familiar to us from other sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, as well as similar sayings in the canonical gospels. Others we have not come across before.
Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who ent...
This episode is on the 21st saying in the Gospel of Thomas. I will read it for you:
Mary said to Jesus, "Whom are your disciples like?" He said, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let us have back our field.' They (will) undress in their presence in order to let them have back their field and to give it back to them. Th...
The twentieth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is one that is familiar to Christians who have read the canonical gospels. It is known as the parable of the Mustard Seed. Thomas’ version goes like this:
The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what the kingdom of Heaven is like." He said to them, "It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant...
Today I am looking at the nineteenth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees in paradise for you. Summer or winter they do not change and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death."
This saying naturally breaks dow...
In this episode we look at the 18th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. “The disciples said to Jesus, ‘Tell us how our end will be.’ Jesus said, ‘Have you discovered the beginning, that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death.’"
View Marshall's books here:
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