Preparing for Divine Union

A message for Christian Consideration

by John "Eric" Hutchins

To a man thirsty to know the Lord, which is more valuable: Faith that Almighty God can be known, or the direct experience of knowing Him? What about those who seek "a better life", or "life everlasting?" Is faith that the Lord will provide these more valuable than actually having a progressively better life and directly experiencing the immortality that awaits us after this life? If, in each case, direct experience is preferable, then why has so much emphasis been placed on faith, or "the choice to fervently believe", as the means of our spiritual redemption?

These questions are not intended to suggest that faith is unimportant. Quite the opposite is true. Faith is the all-important bridge of hope that carries us from our initial state of desire to the dawning of direct experience. As such, it is a critical first link in a chain of events that leads, ultimately, to our spiritual fulfillment. However, sooner or later, faith in anything relies on direct experience to strengthen, sustain, and qualitatively transform it. Only the dawning of the honest and uncontrived experience of God can turn even the most ardent faith into a profound and qualitatively deeper "certainty".

We live in an age when faith has been asked to do too much (perhaps because our institutions have done too little). And, owing to our suggestibility, many now fervently believe that, in and of itself, faith driven by shear force of will is capable of transforming our religious experience in Christ. This may be possible for a very few. However, for most, intensifying faith by shear will power alone in pursuit of religious fulfillment is problematic.

First, the "fervent-faith-and-will-power experience" is itself often confused with the deeper, and entirely different, Divine experience we seek. If one person says to another, "The sky is green and, if you believe it strong enough, you will experience this truth," almost no one would be persuaded to even try. Why? Because the sky is something with which we are all familiar, and we are absolutely certain our eyes (and those who first told us, "that’s blue") wouldn’t lie to us. However, when it comes to something that, by its very nature is beyond the realm of our physical senses, the "fervent-faith-and-will-power" experience is a little harder for many to differentiate from something much deeper and irreversible. Discerning the difference between these two experiences becomes even more difficult in highly charged situations involving fervent praise, worship, and healing. Without meaning any disrespect to any individual or religious situation, it is reasonable to suspect that one experience does get a little confused with the other by at least some Christians.

Another problem with the idea that faith and will power alone can transform our experience of God in Christ is that shear force of will has a tough time standing up to the continuous onslaught of desire spontaneously arising in our minds. The inconvenient truth is that desires that grow ever stronger and more persistent in the conscious mind will eventually defeat the will power of most people, most of the time. One of the signs of genuine Spirit-filled transformation is that desires known to, or even suspected of, being "wrong" cease to even arise in the mind. Effort to resist sinful action ceases because the desires to do such things ceases.

Many are skeptical that such a transformation is possible while we remain "in the flesh," or that the transformation that does occur can result in a complete "falling away" of sinful thoughts or desires. However, clearly Jesus was in such a state, and many Christians believe that it is possible to be, or become, Christ-like. It is also demonstrably true in our daily lives. We may occasionally say something like, "I’ll kill you If you change the TV channel!" yet very few actually grapple with an over-powering desire to kill anyone. The reason is simply that our transformation is already far enough along that the genuine desire to commit such an act (or any number of equally sinful acts) doesn’t even arise in our minds. Even though there is neither a logical nor practical end point to the process of spiritual transformation, faith that it is possible, and the exertion of will power to make it so can not, by themselves, advance it very far.

One last problem with the over-use of faith and will power bears mentioning. When someone reports a lack of real progress towards direct Union with God, too often the response will be either that "God has His reasons", or the plaintiff’s faith and faith-inspired behavior (tithing, etc.) has been insufficient to garner Divine favor. Both explanations disappoint and undercut the morale of the plaintiff without so much as a shred of corroborating evidence. Additionally, the first explanation calls into question the idea that the individual can do anything to achieve what is most dear, while the second implies that the only thing that can be done is to redouble one’s faith-driven efforts. In essence, the individual is asked to renew (deepen, redouble) their faith, and faith-based sacrifice even as the efficacy of any such effort is, by implication, being called into serious question.

Re-establishing Balance of Religious Practice

Let’s begin by imperfectly describing what we seek. At the end of this life, as we separate from our senses, are gathered into our soul, and slough off our body, we seek a state of Union with God. Between now and that day, we seek a state of Union with God. We seek to be filled with, and immersed in, His Spirit. Now and forever, we seek a transformed state in which our every desire is clearly His desire; our every action, clearly an expression of His Will. Whether we express it in these terms or not; whether we recognize this as the goal of all our seeking, this is indeed what we are all moving towards. Beneath layer upon layer of distraction and petty illusion, THIS is all there really is.
The question is, How to get there.

To understand the appropriate role of faith, it is worth examining how faith develops in every day affairs. How does it happen, for example, that so many people get on airplanes, or behind the wheels of cars? Desire is primary, but faith that the goal can be safely achieved is critically important. Initially, our faith is based on reports of the experience of others. They speak of how easy and safe it is to travel by plane or car. Faith supports desire, and purposeful action is undertaken to achieve the anticipated benefit. But once the plane or car ride has been taken and the benefits realized, faith that it can be done safely, is qualitatively transformed from "choice to fervently believe" into "irreversible certainty".

This process (with some variations) is how faith helps us transform desire into fulfillment in everyday life. And, as a by-product, faith itself is transformed into certainty. It begins sometime around the time of our birth and never leaves us. When this process is interrupted or fails, it is because either desire or faith or both are weakened BEFORE the direct experience is achieved. Even goals that are deeply desired, and faith that is strong, are challenged when the direct experience does not arrive in a manner judged as timely. This is the nature of man’s self-directed efforts for satisfaction in everyday life. Because the process of "desire+faith=action=achievement=fulfillment" is part of our nature, it is automatic, effortless, and largely transparent. We submit ourselves to it as easily and completely as breathing.

When our teachers insist on a process for fulfillment that deviates substantially from the one we use in our everyday lives, we lose much of our natural advantage. Everything requires more effort and produces less result. The intensification of desire and faith by shear will power alone cannot provide either the satisfaction and fulfillment of direct experience, or the transformation of faith into certainty. If we want the "faith" of Jesus and the early Christian martyrs, we must find a way to transform our innocent experience as theirs was transformed. Their courage and willingness to give up the life they knew in the flesh came, not from faith, but from a "certainty" that sprung from directly experiencing themselves as immortal beings. We are capable of their transformation, however, something more than faith and will power are required.

What path can best move us in this direction? At the outset, a modest amount of faith based on the experiences of others is both useful and appropriate. Our traditional forms of worship, including prayer, are aids to this important element of faith. The inspiration, energy, and beauty we absorb from scriptural study and praise worship further support our faith that what we yearn for can, and will, be achieved.

While the swiftest and most direct path to what we seek includes faith, scripture, worship, and prayer, it also requires that these things be balanced by something now all but lost in our Christian heritage. This second, balancing element is the regular, direct movement away from the outer, material world to which we are bound by our senses, and towards another world that lies deep within ourselves. In truth, our minds contain a consciousness that is not derived from the interaction of our senses with the material world around us. Our minds spring from a source that lies beyond our physical bodies; a source that God breaths into us as we grow within our mothers’ wombs; a source that even hidden, illuminates us from within and, unseen, watches our minds and senses at play.
The swiftest and most direct path of preparation for the Divine Union we seek balances our Christian forms of worship by following this river of consciousness to its source and discovering within our own, innocent experience what Christ and the early Christian Martyrs themselves discovered; the immortal Kingdom of God does indeed lie deep within, at the very source of our own minds.

How do we follow this river of consciousness to its innermost source and beyond? We declare our whole-hearted desire to know God directly with faith, scriptural study, praise worship, and prayer. We pray that we may be guided to what the Lord wants and we truly seek. And, we use an age-old technique to free our attention and awareness from the surface of our minds, our senses, and the outer, material world. Once set free by an effortless form of "meditation" that has stood the thorough test of time, our attention naturally and automatically moves towards the peace and silence at the source of our conscious being. Little by little, this daily practice cultivates our ability to go deeper, and see more clearly with the "eyes of our heart".

Finally, regularly "gathered" in the silence and peace of our own souls, we directly sense God’s Kingdom lying beyond. This is the dawning of our direct Union with God. This is the experience that transforms even the strongest faith to something far deeper and more profound. Soon after this balancing of Christian forms with meditative technique begins, our greatest fears are quietly lifted from our shoulders once and for all. We see directly that ever-lasting existence awaits us just beyond the threshold of this life, and the suffocating fear of death is dissolved by the certainty of this experience.

This is the wisdom offered to us by Christ and the early Church, and the wisdom that was considered ancient even then. The goal of praise worship, study, and prayer is accelerated and ultimately fulfilled by going deep within and experiencing the unchanging nature of both our soul and the Kingdom that lies beyond. Praise God in the name of Jesus and discover the inner source of everlasting joy for yourself: The Kingdom of God truly lies within each of us. The ancient and effortless techniques of Meditation are the means by which direct experience is able to transform faith into certainty.
"Act in spontaneous Christian worship of the Lord, avoid wrong action whenever possible, and continue to meditate regularly morning and evening." This simple creed beautifully expresses how balancing our Christian worship with meditation accelerates our progress towards becoming Christ-like at the deepest level. Only from the deepest level are desires purified and shaped BEFORE they reach the surface of the mind. In time, only those desires pleasing to the Lord arise to inspire actions that simultaneously fulfill both our lives and His Will.

Author’s Post Script

For those wishing to regularly practice a technique of meditation with absolute confidence that it is both safe and highly effective, this author recommends the one he was fortunate to learn 35 years ago: The Transcendental Meditation Program. "TM," as it is often called, is an effortless practice that has been in continuous use for at least 4,000 years. From that time to the present, it has been taught in the same systematic and effective way. For those interested in better understanding the Christian roots of meditation as a means of spiritual development, please visit www.ChristianMeditation.net.