Life in Christ

The goal of the Christian religion is not the idolizing of Christ, not christo-idolartry, but that we all             ”are in Christ” as the mystical expression goes, that we have a part in the life of Christ.

This savior is a wounded healer, and he heals so that we can become as he is. Be as he is, laugh as he laughs, weep as he weeps. Heal the sick, even those who, without knowing, who have contracted the great neuroses of our society, we know no mercy within themselves, and their children when they consent to the nuclear state and technologies inimical to life. To feed the hungry means to do away with militarism. To bless the children means to leave the trees standing for them. 

Dorothy Soell                    

Cited in Christian Mystics

Matthew Fox adds these observations:

“She warns us about “christo-idolatry” a certain form of idolatry. She argues instead for a mystical understanding of Christ, namely to be “in Christ” to share in the life of Christ and to heal, laugh, and weep as he did. We bless the children by having “the trees standing for them.” Mysticism heals religion when religion goes off target and becomes unbalanced and idolatrous.”

The larger question that Ms.Soelle raises for me the quandary I find when I try to comprehend just how religion becomes an idol, and how it becomes manipulated to serve political, financial, and other immoral ends. Yes, this tendency has been around a long time-Moses and the golden calf comes to mind- but I have little doubt that religion was manipulated and skewed to meet the needs of the Pharaohs and ancient tribal chieftains!

Other than the abuses of leadership, there is a quality of awareness or a level of consciousness that has to be considered here… It stems from an almost universal human tendency to identify a god or the God as being primarily a parental figure, who becomes our judge and jury, and who is aloof from the concerns of human personhood. 

In fact, the mystical outlook or the metaphysical approach to “living in Christ” is an anathema for the status quo church; because that sense of the indwelling sacred dimension to the human being cannot be controlled or taught to obey church rules and dogmas. 

The mystical truth that we all can participate in Christ, or as Luke in Acts put it, “We live and move and have our being” in Christ. Such a gracious and powerfully transformative and compassionate force would radically change the religious landscape; It would find its greatest expression in justice, ecology, and directly address any human needs as a way to express that Christ lives in us…   

A last thought here… When we consider the genuine embodiment of Christian and spiritual teachers, and could admire how they can live or demonstrate these ideals for us through their words, and deeds, we often balk or turn away. We can readily see that one of the most effective strategies for our egos, and for our secular culture, is how to best disregard them, or cancel them out, is by putting them on a pedestal!

IF we make an idol out of someone, we need not feel compelled to follow their examples, or live up to their actions and ideals. It is far easier to look up to Jesus, than to follow him…