The Bridal Chamber - Becoming One

The Dream: The Quest of the Natural Man

The other night I had a disturbing dream. It was a reminder of the frustration experienced when operating out of the duality of an unrenewed mind.

An unknown companion and I, after being upstairs, found ourselves in a dark basement, beside a double bed. Over the bed was a "ceiling," a barrier with an extremely well hidden trap door. I was sure off it. Several times I had seen a caretaker climb up onto the bed and somehow go up through this trap door. I tried to follow, but every time I climbed up onto the bed, reaching up to the trap door to pull it open, filthy grime and dirt would fall on the bed. And the dark passage way eluded me.

Frustrated, I apologized to my companion for dirtying the bed. Politely, she told me not to worry. She had already made plans to get new pillow covers. And she headed off another way. This seemed odd for I had no intension of sleeping in such a filthy bed. I became obsessed with this hidden passage way back upstairs. I even thought of moving the bed, and tearing down and ripping open the ceiling, but if I moved the bed how would I reach the ceiling? Was I trapped in the basement?

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Unenlightened, man lies in what seems like a dark place, a body of death. Like a dark basement, hell and the grave are hidden underground in this dark watery earth. Like an outer darkness, with the appearance of an inner death, this body can sometimes seem like a “whitewashed tomb” full of dead men's bones, Matthew 8:12, Matthew 23:27, Romans 7:24.

But there is a way of escape. Liberation is not the coming out of one realm into another, but a realization that the middle wall of partition has been torn asunder. If we ask the rhetorical question, "Is Christ divided?" We may realize that he is not the divider. Rather, He is the all, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 1 Corinthians 1:13, Colossians 3:11, Thomas 72.

When there is no division and separation between the above and below, the inner and the outer,the male and the female, and the right and the left then liberation is an amalgamation of the two, and a re-creation. It is not a choice between two dichotomies. This is not the replacing of the old with the new. But rather it is the consummation of the old by the new. The old passes away, is destroyed, and is consumed and transformed into a new creation. All things are made new, Thomas 7.

Some spiritual mysteries can be seen mirrored in the natural realm. However, when the secret and hidden realities are seen only by comparing, and combining and joining together spiritual with spiritual, they are not readily discerned by the natural man, 1 Corinthians 2:13.

Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 1 Corinthians 15:51.

The life of Christ is our story. “The sun was darkened, but the veil of the temple was rent in the midst,” Again, “The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,” Luke 23:45, Matthew 27:51-52.

The Vision:

When knowledge (gnosis) is pleasant unto your soul, you will experience a death, the sun will be darkened, and you will behold only a corpse, and the veil of the temple will be rent in twain, and the earth will quake, and the rocks will be rent, and the grave will open, and there will be a bright light, and the body of a saint, a holy one which slept shall arise and shine, a reunited Perfect Man, clothed in an armor of light, conquering all with the love of a bridegroom, Luke 23:45, Matthew 27:51-52, Thomas 2, 56, 77, 24.

The bridal chamber is the holy of holies hidden within the veil, where two become one, Hebrews 6:19,9:3, Philip, Hebrew 10:20.

Love conquers all, and it never fails. There is a marriage in the hidden place that expands through all creation. This is a great mystery hidden with Christ in God. In Paul’s message this marriage happens in every level of reality.

Though not explicitly explained in Paul’s letters, the mythology of Christ and Sophia seems to have formed the underlying foundation for much of his thought. In the mythology, Christ is the Bridegroom and Sophia (or Wisdom) is the Bride. Recognizing Sophia as the personification of Wisdom clarifies much of Paul’s mystery teaching. Christ gives us light revealing the hidden things of darkness. Arising with enlightened eyes we behold instead a joining together within the bridal chamber. The dichotomies and divisions are reunited. There is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest.

God commands the light to shine out of darkness, and enlightened we behold two become One, creating the ONE new man, who is become a living spirit. This is the new and a living way. This is our liberation.

When we make the two into one, when the male and the female, and the inner and the outer are joined together you enter the kingdom. This bridal chamber is where two become one. Through marriage, we are made complete.

What is this marriage in the secret place? “Behold, thou desirest Truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know Wisdom. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly with all Sophia (Wisdom),” Colossians 3:16 NASB, Psalms 51:6, Hebrews 6:19, 9:3, Philip, Hebrew 10:20.

“Behold I show you a great mystery.”
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The Bridal Chamber

Proclaiming The Perfect Man

Asleep in the Light
The other night I had a dream. There was a house in the sky, and another on the earth. A friend of mine, using a square, was struggling to build a corridor or a partition to connect the two, to bring them together. Unsuccessful, he was requesting my assistance, but strangely enough, I was using a bowl of fruit to explain that we did not need to build a bridge.

This dream inspired an article about the ignorance that blinds the old humanity and about the perspective of the new and perfect man, Ephesians 4:18.

For we all come into the… "the knowledge of the Son of God, to a Perfect Man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", Ephesians 4:13.

The article considers what it might mean to wake up with a new "fulfilled" perspective.

Knowing that hope does not disappoint, we move from faith to knowledge to perfect love, being filled with all the fullness of God proclaiming the Perfect Man.

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Christ is Everything: The "Door" That No One Can Close

Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. This is often understood very exclusively.

The message of “Christ is all” reconciling Jews, and Gentiles, and all things, into the one body of Christ back to the Father transforms the seemingly “exclusive” words, “I am the way”, into an absolutely inclusive and liberating message. [Colossians 3:11]. Through this One Body, through the Christ who is all, we all [Jews, Gentiles and all things] have access to the Father by one Spirit. [Ephesians 2:14,18].

“I am the way” is no longer seen as a narrow door excluding entrance to the Father now that we have the Pauline revelation that “Christ is all, and in all”. If Christ is everything, then everything is the Door. [John 10:9] Everything leads to God. Truth and Life are in everything. All things work together for the good bringing us to God.

Since there are no exceptions, this is absolutely inclusive.

Christ is all in all. All things are united in this one body, bringing us to God.

Yes, this Christ is revealed as the only way to God.

However, everything is included in Christ, who returns to the Father.

All is reconciled in this one body, bringing all back to God in Christ?

Given this revelation of the “Christ as all”, as the body who is filled with all things, who fills all things, and who is all things,… Given this revelation of Christ who is the only way,… now everything and anything is the path to God.

This is the one body [Ephesians 4:6].

Christ is all, and in all, and God is all in all, that we may be all… one.

Magnifying the Christ,
URfriend,
Dean Johnson

A Comparative Anthology Of Sacred Texts

World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology Of Sacred Texts is an interesting site compiling scriptures from the world religions on a variety of subjects. It is already a 914 pages text, but I would love to see a work like this expanded. Check out the anthologies limited compilation of texts on the subject of
Universal Salvation

I am grateful for salvation in every sense of the word. It seems that the desire of the universe is to see all reunited. As we agree on earth surely it shall be done.

How Christ Unites Christians and Universalists

Christ is the light that lightens everyone that comes into the world (John 1:9)

How Christ the Inward Light Unites Universalism and Christianity?
An insight from Samuel D. Caldwell.

Though written by a Quaker to The Religious Society of Friends, I thought some of the insights might be helpful for the larger Christian Universalist Community. We may not agree with every detail, but it is interesting food for thought.

Where are we going?
URfriend, Dean Johnson

The Resurrection of All in All in The Spiritual Body of Christ

The Eternal Vantage Point
Click your cursor on the above link for some thoughts on
"The Resurrection of All in All within the Spiritual Body of Christ."

An old Quaker confession of faith by Robert Barclay got me thinking about the Coming of Christ, the Resurrection, and the Consummation and how waiting for these events in time differs from the eternal realities.

Does God, Outside of Time, existing in an Eternal Present, allow chronological time-lines for the benefit of our human minds?

In the twinkling of an eye, the Resurrection of Everything. Changing the way we see reality. How do you see it? What do you think?

This article is a springboard for a very practical discussion about the extent of Christ’s indwelling spirit, and our Father’s view of his creation. Join the discussion if you have insights to share. Together we are sure to discover the truth. The Danger and Potential of An Eternal Perspective: An Email Discussion

URfriend, Dean Johnson

A Letter From a Friend about Meditation

Recently, my friend sent me an interesting email with some of his lecture notes. He has started a new faith endeavour since his retirement that I found quite interesting. Faith endeavours in retirement: What a great idea! I hope this catches on.

He has created a camp called Camp Everest: Beyond Achievement to teach Seraphim Meditation, and to promote harmony and Oneness. What makes his lecture notes so interesting is that we see a Western Canadian Christ-centered Outlook merging with the “Eastern” experience of Oneness and Infinity.

I found his writing and story very intriguing,
and thought it was timely given my most recent posting:
Oneness Within Christianity and Eastern Religion.
The condensed version of this article is Enlightenment and Oneness.