Encountering the Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault
Session 4: The Path of Metanoia
What does repentance mean? Bourgeault posits that it means “to move beyond the mind” to see the world from a perspective of wholeness, instead of the conventional “reality” of separation, difference, and selfishness (AKA the binary operating system). In fact, the heart of the message of Jesus concerns getting into the larger, unitive mind. How do we do it? What is it all about? What does it look like? In this session, we experience the familiar teachings of Jesus through the lens of Wisdom teachings about inner transformation.
The Beatitudes. These are the most densely packed teachings of Jesus. They are nine little sayings that summarize his teaching in a nutshell. Bourgeault presents a Wisdom interpretation of the first seven Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. From a Wisdom perspective, this means, “blessed are those with an inner attitude of receptivity to the spirit, for they are capable of receiving wisdom.” This point is illustrated by a Zen story about the student who wants to be accepted by a master teacher. As the student describes all his learning and accomplishment, the master pours tea into a cup. He continues pouring even as the cup overflows. Eventually the student notices, giving the master the opportunity to make the point that the student’s cup is overflowing, how can I possibly teach you?
Remember that teaching of Thomas Merton—“at the center of our being is a point of pure nothingness.” Only through the gate of emptiness can we enter the higher non-egoic mind.
Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Here Jesus is talking about vulnerability and flow. Mourning is a state of open heartedness to the deeper meanings in life. When we are in that state, something can comfort us. Again, a state of inner emptiness must exist before transformation of consciousness can happen.
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. According to Bourgeault, a better translation for “meek” is “gentle,” or even better, “gentled, domesticated.” In other words, only when we have tamed the aggressiveness of our human nature (that is the binary operating system), can we inherit the earth and live abundantly.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. A Wisdom interpretation of this beatitude turns on the meaning of righteousness: not virtue but a state of being in the presence of God. It refers to a hunger for being centered in and connected to God. And as you yearn, you will be filled. When you can feel the hunger, it shall be filled. The most valuable thing we have is our yearning for God; the yearning itself connects us to God.
Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. As we step into the flow of compassion, we enter transformed consciousness. Indeed, unitive consciousness thinks thru compassion (mercy).
Blessed are those whose heart is pure for they shall see God. Again, purity of heart is not necessarily virtuousness in a moral sense. In wisdom teaching, purity means singleness. The pure heart is not divided. It wants one thing only. When the heart becomes whole, you see God—that is, you see with the eyes of the unitive consciousness. (How we make the heart whole is the subject of next teaching session.)
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the Children of God. When our hearts are gentled we become peacemakers. We no longer separate people into “us” and “them.” We see with singleness and compassion.
The Beatitudes, then, call us to a radical transformation of consciousness: openness to a poverty of experience and willingness to domesticate the violence in our hearts. They are akin to the Dalai Lama’s teaching of making lovingkindness the heart and soul of your being.
Parables as Wisdom teachings. Parables are like Zen koans, stories that intend to turn the mind upside down and push us into new ways of thinking about things. John Dominic Crossen and Brandon Scott are two contemporary Biblical scholars who realized that the parables are subversive stories.
The Good Samaritan sounds like the story of a do-gooder. The subversive nature of this story may be missed because of the loss of the cultural context. The beaten man was a Jew, one of the chosen people; the helper was a Samaritan, one of a despised group of people. Jesus is upsetting the apple cart: do you really know who is righteous and who is not righteous? The story is a challenge to the part of us that is quick to judge; to see ourselves are meritorious.
The Prodigal Son story is even more radical. The older son is upset by his father’s compassion for the prodigal son; he has been “righteous” all along. The point of the parable is that the binary operation system is always stuck in judgment; insists on keeping score. The story challenges the basic structures and assumptions about ourselves that keeps the binary operating system in place. Sit with the story to see yourself in all three persons in the story—use it as a tool for self-transformation.
Nicodemus, (John 2:23-3:15). The Pharisee Nicodemus is split: he sees something in Jesus that intrigues him but he doesn’t want to risk his position in society, so he goes to see Jesus by night. When he asks about the signs that Jesus performs, Jesus tells him he must be born again. It seems like a crazy response to his questions! This common thread in the parables—the element of subversiveness—is meant to destabilize the mind. To Bourgeault, Jesus’ teachings are meant to lead one around the linear brain and its egoic programs to enter the new consciousness.
The Hard Sayings of Jesus. These are found in the later chapters of Matthew and Luke. They are the teachings that can’t be shoe horned into our conventional understanding of who Jesus was.
In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus tells the story of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, or bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom. Five have remembered oil for their lamps but the other five have forgotten it. Those with the oil refuse to share with the others. What does it mean? Doesn’t Jesus teach us to share? From a wisdom perspective, Jesus is teaching about inner transformation. The five with the oil cannot give it away; oil is symbolic of something that has to be forged in a person. It cannot be given; it cannot be taken. You cannot become conscious unconsciously. You have to do it for yourself.
In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus tells his followers that they cannot be disciples without turning their backs on their family. We have to be wise and calculating. You cannot be sentimentally identified with any conventional value, including family values. Otherwise, you will not be free to accept the new consciousness. Bourgeault calls these sophiological teachings in a soteriological gospel—they stand out like a sore thumb.
The Gospel of Thomas (found at Nag Hammadi) supports the wisdom understanding of Jesus. Initially scholars threw it out as inauthentic and decided it was gnostic. But it was discovered to be quite old, as older than those in the canon. It is profoundly in the sophiological tradition. It is without narrative, a collection of Jesus’ sayings only.
There are 114 Sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, some of which overlap with what is in the canon. These teachings are in the wisdom tradition calling for personal transformation of consciousness. Bourgeault likes Lynn Bauman’s version of the Gospel of Thomas which includes commentary on the sayings.
#69: Blessed are all those persecuted right into the depths of the heart, for in the heart will they come to know their true father and source. Blessed are the hungry ones, their inner longings will be satisfied.
#70: When you give birth to that which is within yourself, what you bring forth will save you. If you possess nothing within, that absence will kill you.
#97: The father’s realm is like a woman carrying a jarful of meal. While she is walking on a path some distance from her home, the handle of her jar breaks and the meal spills out behind her on the road. She is unaware of the problem for she has noticed nothing. When she reaches her home and opens the door, she puts the jar down and suddenly she discovers it is empty.
These may be unsettling, troubling teachings but also are profoundly hopeful in the sense that our heart does know them on its deepest level. The path of transformation is considered more in the next teaching session, “Kenosis, the Path of Self-Emptying Love.”