Christ Consciousness

Book excerpt: We live in a world characterized by intolerance, war, environmental degradation, and economic collapse. By contrast, is it possible to build a society in which tolerance, love, and peace are the abiding principles? In this positive and inspiring book, van Dijk shows how, beginning with our personal development, we can contribute to such a new and transformed world. She describes how we can develop a universal spiritual consciousness--what she calls "Christ Consciousness." The author emphasizes that the Christian mysteries took place on the physical plane, distinguishing with great clarity between Jesus as a human being, the incarnation of Christ on Earth, and the Cosmic Christ. She builds bridges between the spiritual research of Rudolf Steiner, the Nag Hammadi writings, and the gospels of Mary Magdalene and Judas, culminating in a comprehensive and wide-ranging picture of the Christ. By gaining insight into the nature of Christ's being and undertaking practical exercises described here, each of us can achieve the new Christ Consciousness. In ancient times, selected individuals underwent rites of initiation in secret mystery schools. Any student who made public the knowledge obtained there was put to death. In our time, however, the spiritual mysteries have become open and available to all. Initiation, van Dijk tells us, involves "walking the inner path to all-embracing love, which is known in Gnostic and esoteric lore as Christ, the highest divine Being," leading to sublime, cosmic-orientated consciousness that comes into existence when the higher self exists wholly within the individual human being.