Universal Christ — elliot freeman

This book blew my mind when I read it in 2020.

I never considered myself a Christian.

To be honest, I thought the ideas were archaic.

This book presented a radical revision of Christianity, presenting Christ as a universal energy (’consciousness’) that aligns more with modern views on spirituality.

My Christian friend gave this to me and I’m forever thankful.

It allowed me to revisit my relationship with the word ‘God’, letting go of the false beliefs I’d had around it, and accept it into my own lexicon.

Here were my key takeaways:

What if Christ is another name for everything in fullness - the transcendent within
“Your religion is not the church you belong to but the cosmos you live inside of” (GK Chesteron)
Religion’s essential function is to connect us with everything (re-ligio means re-alignment, reconnect)
God loves things by becoming them. We love God by continuing the same pattern
God’s love is infinite and unconditional, even if we don’t reciprocate
The divine DNA of God is in all creatures. ‘Soul’ is the self-knowledge of God.
Salvation is restauration. It is having the mind of Christ. It is knowing and enjoying that everything finally belongs and you are part of it. It is not self-development. It is unlearning, letting go, serving others.
Faith is accepting that I am accepted. God radically accepts every part of us. This is expressed in the perfect unity of human Jesus with divine Christ
Jesus focused our attention on God being everywhere and not in a far-off realm. In Jesus Christ, God’s own broad, deep, and all-inclusive worldview is made available to us. Jesus was essential because you have to trust the messenger before you trust the message. He was the guarantee that divinity can and does exist within humanity.
The three key elements to life are: faith (trust), hope, and love
Light is something by which you see all other things. Christ is the light that allows people to see things in their fullness. A mature Christian see Christ in everything and everyone
The complete and happy inclusion of the Jewish scriptures inside of Christian canon ought to have served as a structural and definitive statement about Christianity’s movement towards radical inclusivity
Christ is larger than any era, culture, or religion. But radical inclusivity is a threat to any power structure
The holy Yiddish name for God, YHWH, is more appropriately breathed than spoken. And we all breath the same way
I have never been separate from God, nor can I be, except in my mind
Only great love and great suffering are strong enough to take away our ego’s protections and open us to authentic experiences of transcendence.
The proof that you are Christian is that you see Christ everywhere
Anything that draws you out of yourself in a positive way is operating as God for you in that moment (think of goodness, truth, beauty)
You cannot think your way into radiant, expansive seeing. You must be caught in a relationship of love and awe. Return presence with your presence. Divine seeing cannot be done alone but as consciousness interfaces with another (this could be a smile, a simple meal shared…)
Earth is crammed with heaven
To work up to loving God, start by loving the very humblest and simplest things, and then move up from there
We are more attracted to problems and negativity than solutions and positivity (like Velcro and Teflon). To increase authentic spirituality we must deliberately practice enjoying a positive response and a grateful heart to rewire the brain (hold for 15 seconds in the mind)
The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better. Oppositional force only creates more of the same
Love is the attraction of all things to all things. It is the physical structure of the universe (from gravity, to photosynthesis, to relationships)
Love requires trust, letting go, and surrendering
Love flows downwards. It is why forgiveness is its most powerful display
All of us need someone or something to connect our head with our hearts
Divine/human love is a reciprocal dance. Sometimes in order for us to step forwards the partner must step away
To live is to change, and to be perfect is to change often
Since the Renaissance, as we became more rational and literate, we have stopped thinking symbolically, allegorically, typologically. We have lost our spiritual, intuitive, non-rational understanding of ourselves and God
Almost all people are carrying a great and secret hurt, even if they don’t realise it. Knowing this makes it hard to be cruel to anyone
The only way out of deep sadness is to go with it and through it
Suffering is all the same and it is the suffering of God. We can all help God carry some of it. We can all find shared meaning in it, rather than suffering alone. When we try to suffer alone, we slip into distractions, denials, pretending and we do not learn suffering’s lessons. Instead, we should have a shared experience in suffering with God.
If I recognise that all suffering and crucifixion (divine, planetary, human, animal” is ‘one body’ and will one day be transmuted into the ‘one body’ of cosmic resurrection, I can at least live without going crazy or being permanently depressed
Privatised (i.e. individual) salvation never accumulates into corporate (i.e. societal) change because it attracts and legitimise individualists to begin with
God is reality with personality (Michael David)
Resurrection is another word for change, but particularly positive change, which we tend to see in the long run. In the short run it looks like death. Life is not ended, it is merely changed. This is the symbolism of human Jesus being crucified and turning into Christ life.
Science says nothing is the same forever. 98% of our atoms are replaced every year. Water, fog, steam, and ice are all the same thing but at different stages
If death is not possible for Christ, then it is not possible for anything that shares in the divine nature
People are punished by their sins, not for them. Goodness is its own reward, evil is its own punishment
Evil is corporate bondage and illusion, often in the form of idolatry. Evil is not just individual nastiness but systems (e.g. corporations, institutions, nation states) that are unaccountable to reason or law. Only corporate goodness can stand up to corporate evil, hence the requirement for the Church.
Non-idolatry is to withdraw your enthralment from all kingdoms except the kingdom of God. There is nothing to be against; just be for God.
If we all listened to our conscience, there would be no need for laws
A nonbinary / non-dual mind requires integration, reconciliation and forgiveness. Only through this can we avoid seeing the world in black and white.
Love and suffering are God’s primary tools for transformation
Christianity is about the intersection between personal enlightenment and social connection, hence the symbol of the cross
“Unless the single grain of wheat falls into the ground, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit”. The pattern of life is not the avoidance of death but death transformed.
When you surrender and trust the dying, your faith is led to a deeper level (e.g. you let go of the need to control your partner and the relationship blossoms).