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DIVINE SOURCE WITHIN
Sharing one's own spiritual journey is fraught with obstacles and misunderstandings. I do so here not as a suggestion or "the path" for anyone else, but merely as an indication that it is worth taking, and that answers are available to those who seek them.
When I became a "conscious" Christian at age 32, I remember taking the advice of a spiritual mentor and friend. Who suggested that I open the Bible to a page at random and to try to discern the message it was to give me. With considerable skepticism, I took his advice. I have never forgotten that moment. My index finger fell on these words from Jesus: "Ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened unto you." (Matt 7:7) For the past twenty years, these golden words have never failed me on my path.
My spiritual journey was greatly boosted when I began to understand the different between esoteric and exoteric traditions, not only with respect to Christendom but among all the major spiritual traditions. The great thinkers and avatars throughout the ages, regardless of their traditions, seem to "meet in the middle." One of the most inspiring writers on this subject I discovered through a series of synchronicities. His name is Maurice Nicoll, a man whose writings have now gone largely out of print. Nicoll, a British psychotherapist and advocate of what is called the WORK, studied with both Gurdjieff and with Jung, and in fact forms the important link in the thinking of those two. But much of Nicoll's writings, most notably THE NEW MAN (published in 1950, the year of my birth) and THE MARK (published in 1952) in Great Britain demonstrate his mastery of the Christian Gospels esoterically. He deciphers the code language, the metaphors and symbols used by the gospel writers, that make them understandable in a vital and astonishingly refreshing way. Likewise, John A. Sanford, in his THE KINGDOM WITHIN, describes the language contained within the original gospels from a symbolic point of view, instead of the familiarly literal perspective.
Finally, I am deeply indebted to the writing of Theodore Nottingham, whose WRITTEN IN OUR HEARTS makes a compelling case, based upon his own life journey, for an esoteric understanding of scripture, drawing heavily upon the works of Nicoll, Gurdjieff and Karlfried Graf Durckheim. This work is a treasure for those seeking an understanding of spirituality beyond rigidified dogma and institutional constraints.
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