by Matthias Indra

After many years of seeking the answer to the end of suffering but remaining unfulfilled Siddhartha sat in meditation beneath a Bodhi tree with the intent of remaining there until he found his answer. In much the same way as Jesus was tempted in his desert experience so was Siddhartha tempted by the demon lord Mara. After unsuccessfully tempting Siddhartha Mara finally said that he, Mara, rather than a human should be the one sitting under the tree. He backed up his claim by pointing to his attendant legion of demons and said that they would bear witness in support of this claim and asked Siddhartha who would bear witness for him. Mara figured he had played his trump card since there was no one present to witness for Siddhartha.

Siddhartha reached down with his right hand and touched the ground and called upon the earth itself to bear witness. In an instant, Siddhartha received enlightenment and was freed from the “endless cycle of suffering and rebirth.”

Most of us are familiar with this story but bear with me as I shift gears.

A crystal set radio is a radio that does not require any batteries or conventional electrical source to work. It only needs to have a long wire stretched horizontally, one end of which is fed into the radio circuit. The wire is energized electrically by the very carrier wave signal that is transmitted from a radio tower. If all the very simple electronic pieces are in place the radio is ready to tune into a particular station and listening enjoyment begins.

But wait a minute, we have the long antenna wire connected to our radio circuit and all the electronic components are properly installed and we can, with the proper equipment, test and see that there is electricity present in the radio, but there is no sound! What gives!

The one piece we forgot was to attach the radio circuit to a metal rod stuck in the dirt. This establishes a pathway for the electricity to follow, a path of completion. All the power in the world is useless, even if it is connected to the most advanced machine, if there isn’t a path to ground. Only then does electricity flow. Electricity that doesn’t flow is measured as voltage. Electricity that moves, that does flow, is called ‘current’ and is measured in amperes. It is the difference of having water in a garden hose and water running through a hose when you open the nozzle on the end. It is the difference between potential and kinetic energy.

When we meditate we develop a contact with Presence. This is a transcendent experience as we transcend the limitations associated with identifying as a separate body on a planet inhabited by many separate bodies. We get a sense of our potential apart from our physical-ness. We find a growing awareness of life as a continuum that flows from form to form, lifetime to lifetime. And we are fed and nurtured by this experience of transcendence.

But we often find that the experience just doesn’t stick! Some time after we stop our meditation we are once again beset by all the necessities of daily life and we lose our awareness of Presence. We become a body once more, a body that is growing older and that will “die.” This backsliding into corporal consciousness and the illusion of separation has caused much distress to seekers from the beginning of time! How do we have transcendent experiences of Self that stick with us?

The answer, of course, is to “touch ground,” to call on “earth as witness,” or to attach our antenna and radio circuit to the grounding rod. We do this by fully inhabiting our bodies and (this is where it gets real) our finite, flawed, psychologically damaged, egocentric selves into the transcendent experience. Many seekers try to leap-frog over their problematic selves, the selves that they wish would go away or at least would behave better. This leap-frogging is the opposite of grounding and prevents the fullness of the transcendent experience of all that is Potential to become Kinetic or in other words become part of our everyday experience.

This Aquarian Age is the age of ‘Christ Consciousness in Form.’ It is no longer enough to have two selves, a spiritual and physical self. It is no longer enough for us to be “carnally minded” and “spiritually minded.” This has nothing to do with morals as such. It has everything to do with so fully inhabiting and owning our complete expressions as souls incarnate, warts and all, that that which had been separate is fused together as a new body and a new mind. That there is a New Heaven and New Earth.

This business of connecting with our finite bodies and minds and fully owning and inhabiting them as we discover our transcendent Selves is what the Crucifixion is all about. It is the “affixing of Spirit to the Cross of Matter” and is the central message of Esoteric/Mystical Christianity.

May we all be blessed in our journey toward the One.

In Christ ~ Matthias