Introduction
In this paper we will be exploring our bodies as the primary source of union and what it means to live in reconciliation with the self. The tradition we will be exploring this union through is Tantra Yoga. Yoga is often misunderstood as either just a physical form of exercise or a Hindu practice. However, it is a universal system of philosophy and practices designed to unite the physical to the spiritual self. The Indian Prime Minister Modi in the 2014 UN Conference clarified yoga as a practice for everyone, not just for people who are Indian or Hindu, encouraging anyone to the holistic practice.[1] The Indian author and practitioner Yogananda goes further and encourages Christians to use the practice of yoga in order to understand our scriptures better and, particularly, to understand the life of Jesus better.[2] Tantra Yoga, like other Indian wisdom traditions, came out of the Aryan culture in about 400 CE, was influenced by the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and is understood as a practical science of union within the body.[3] Tantra literally mean to weave and James Reho, the author of Tantric Jesus, further defines Tantra as an instrument of expansion.[4] It is therefore a praxis that both weaves interdependent systems of our body together, known as chakras, and expands our minds, bodies and souls into our truest state. Anodea Judith, a doctor in Psychology and Yoga Teacher, describes Chakras as cerebrospinal centres that keep balance within our body, uniting spirit to matter, mind to body, and masculine to feminine for example.[5] In our physiology, chakras line up one on top of each other following the pathway of the spine. Each chakra is located near the seven major nerve ganglia and endocrine systems that stem from the spinal column. The chakras work with the nerve ganglia and the endocrine system as organizing centres for the reception, assimilation and transmission of energy. It is in these organizing centres where all our choices, beliefs, practices, perspectives and actions stem from and where we can live in balance within ourselves. When we are in disunity in our bodies, this affects not only our physical, mental and spiritual well-being, but ultimately the well-being of our world and the church. We start to hear our chakras, so to speak, not just by right ways of thinking but by moving our bodies in coordination with breathing and meditation. The practice of balancing is often subtle and rarely yields a-ha moments every time you focus on the breath or attend a yoga class, but, like everything, the work of listening to body in union with the spirit builds gradually. When Jesus speaks about cleaning the inside of our bodies before we clean the outside, Tantra can help us tune into the subtle intricacies of our bodies so that we can understand our connection to creation and cosmos.[6] If we are in imbalance and in disunity within ourselves, how are we meant to participate in the unity and reconciliation of the world? St Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 that our body is made of many parts that work in union to be in Christ. When we understand how our bodies work, how each part needs one another and how suffering in the toe can impact the whole, we can start to explore the reality and work of unity outside our bodies as it connects to the world.[7] We can further understand how systems of oppression like colonization, capitalism, consumerism and patriarchy have resulted due to the subtle imbalances in ourselves that have, overtime, manifested in the world.
Throughout this paper I will be defining the chakras as representing particular elements of our being and will invite you to listen to your own bodies and how you might find the chakras feeding into one another, supporting or hindering each other and where Christ is calling you to attention. Christ, as will be used and defined in this paper, is the name for the divine within all things. Through learning about the energy systems of our body, we will begin to understand how living in Christ reconciles us to Christ in everyone and everything.[8] If you are joining today from a different tradition or no tradition at all, I invite you to substitute Christ for a word that describes your own divine experience. Mary Oliver, the renowned American poet, says the soul is birthed and, “…built entirely out of attentiveness.”[9] To ignore our bodies is to be living a lie and in sin.[10] Sin, as defined in this paper and by the renowned author and activist, Parker Palmer, is being in imbalance.[11] Sin results not because our bodies are bad but because our bodies are out of balance from their truest state of being. Dr. John Philip Newell, a Scholar in Celtic Spirituality, identifies sin as living in imbalance within ourselves and, like Christ in tomb, is waiting for resurrection.[12] In the same way, to live in union and complete balance within our bodies is to experience resurrection.[13]
Chakra One
The first chakra is found at the base of the spine and is responsible for groundedness, connection to earth, gratitude and awe. When we live in discord with the first chakra, we are fundamentally at odds with some of the core practices of the church. This has been reflected through a colonizing history that still continues to this day. Through colonization, we have refused to see the wonder of First Peoples and Land herself. Matthew Fox, the spiritual theologian and founder of the University of Creation Spirituality, reminds us that we not only robbed people from Land and a lived-cosmology but have also robbed ourselves from being rooted in our first chakra.[14] We have insisted on a fix it mentality instead of moving towards something deeper: what Cynthia Bourgeault, an Episcopal priest and author, describes as a coming together in oneness with awe and openness in order to work together towards a just and reconciled society.[15]
When our first chakra is left idle, we start to believe in the superiority of humans over Land, the acquisition of Land and begin to disconnect ourselves from the life-giving practice of awe.[16] Mirabai Starr, an award-winning author and professor of philosophy and world religions, reminds us when we only see the world through an anthropocentric lens instead of a panentheistic lens, we lose our connection to creation, to community and our place in the cosmos. As we become disconnected from home, we disengage with practices of gratitude and awe, become lonely and ultimately detach from our foundation in the first chakra.[17] The solution is a coming back to the child within us in order to receive the kingdom. Children, or the inner child within us, can teach us presence, awe, wonder, and gratitude like none other.
The Bible reveals the importance of our connection to earth in Genesis 1:26. We are given the unique and humbling task of listening to and taking care of the earth and all that grows in her. In Luke 12:24, we are told to look to the ravens of the sky for faith; in Jeremiah 8:7 to seek the stork and the dove for purpose; in Job 12:7-10 to listen to the animals, birds, earth and fish for wisdom; in Psalm 96:11-12, to join with land, sea and trees for joy; and in Isaiah 43:20 to learn from the wild animals, jackals and owls how to worship. We are very much not alone, but surrounded by the love and diversity of God in creation. To be dedicated to this way of listening and relating to creation is to be dedicated to the flourishing of our first chakra. From here we can build the capacity of awe by realizing our dependency, our need and gratitude for mother earth herself. This oneness with creation is the cure to the sin of the first chakra: loneliness.[18]
Chakra Two
Chakra 2 is found in our lower abdomen, near the sexual organs. When masculine traits are honored in our body over top of feminine traits, our second chakra becomes distorted. We see this through a culture of body shame, bodies needing to conform to an arbitrary mold, and through sexual abuse by those with power, privilege and an unhealthy relationship with sexuality through repression, overindulgence, and rape. We see this reflected in societies and cultures across the world and across history when some bodies are given the majority of power, privilege and wealth overtop of bodies and sexualities that do not identify as straight, able, male, white, and cisgender. We also see this in the church when sexuality is repressed and oppressed and the body is told it is bad.[19] The control and oppression of sexuality and the imbalance between masculinity and femininity has resulted in a patriarchal society and a patriarchal church. Patriarchy is predicated towards a belief of separateness which automatically produces a feeling of scarcity and it doesn’t just show up in men: Bourgeault defines patriarchy as the indwelling, imbalance of gender characteristics that can show up in any person regardless of gender or sexuality.[20] Yogananda says this overindulgence in masculinity has shifted our focus on doing rather than being, in action rather than awareness.[21] On the contrary, balancing our second chakra with femininity enables a deeper knowing that there is always abundance when we celebrate the sacred presence of all things.[22] A focus towards our femininity will help us Be still and know… God.[23] However, appealing to our femininity also means being present to our pain and vulnerability which, in Western society, is often suppressed. In fact, Starr reveals it is the vulnerability and its perceived weakness that we are often trying to avoid when we deny our femininity.[24] When we have a healthy balance between masculine and feminine, between productivity and presence, we can start to give birth to a third thing: wholeness. This does not mean we are perfect, rather, it means we are embracing our whole selves, the pain, the brokenness, the vulnerability as all part of the sacredness of life.[25] Reho reminds us that God creates both masculine and feminine traits in us and the coming together of the two is reflective in the life-giving nature of all creation and of God her, him and themselves.[26]
Jesus continually balances his femininity with his masculinity in various ways. Most importantly he interacts with women against the prevailing patriarchal norm in his society. He continually gives himself over to presence, beauty and a belief in abundance for all. We see this in his miracles and the undertone in his words. Matthew 26:6-13 reveals Jesus’ femininity when he takes delight in the abundance of perfume poured on his head, acknowledging the intention of the woman just as much (if not more) had the money been given to the poor. Jesus literally reclines into this beauty and gives in fully to its seeming waste, participating fully in his second chakra. We see this again in John 11:1-44 when Jesus is told about Lazarus’ death. Instead of rushing to resurrect him, he weeps, he does not deny his pain but allows himself to be fully present to his sadness, despite knowing he will resurrect Lazarus soon. In fact, the central core of our Christian faith is predicated on the unproductivity and presence of Jesus on the cross and in the tomb. This, I believe, is Jesus living fully into his second chakra, giving himself to his humanity, his emotions, his femininity and the beauty and abundance of the moment, freeing us from the idea that everything needs to be measured. When Jesus reveals that he is the way in John 14:6 perhaps this means we should focus on the way Jesus lived into both his femininity and masculinity, or rather, the way he lived into Christ.
Chakra Three
The third chakra is found between the naval and the solar plexus and is the root of our power and passion for justice. Capitalism seen both in society and the church reveals how power can be misused in the pursuit of more for the few instead of sharing resources for the whole. Power is endlessly hungry, corrupts absolutely and results in greed. Fox reveals misused power can also manifest in those who are trapped inside a narrative of victimization, allowing the power of others to control them and drain the individual or group of people from the power that can never be taken from them. The emotion that often arises from the third chakra is anger. When the energy of anger is centred on a thirst for life, the work of justice can manifest healthily in the body and continue sustainably.[27] If it is not, anger can become so overwhelming that not only will the work of justice be hindered, but the emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of a person can become crippling. Shame, a secondary emotion in the third chakra, can start to fester, affecting our ability to be disciplined in the practice of gentleness towards ourselves and the world.
We see Jesus’ power balanced across his ministry. He violates the Sabbath in pursuit of the well-being of others in Matthew 12:1-13 or Luke 6:6-11; he overturns the tables of money changers because of the disparity between rich and poor in Mark 11:15-18; and he shares stories of people violating social norms as we see in the forgiving father in the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. Reho reveals that these acts of power, or rather, power reversal, show us Jesus’ deep connection to Eros, passionate love, motivated toward justice and social transformation. All these subversive stories start to shift our consciousness towards a new way of seeing and reveal a passion for justice for all people.[28] However, where Jesus gets the energy and passion for this work is often overlooked. We see this when he falls asleep in the middle of a storm in Mark 4:35-40; when he attends synagogue on the Sabbath in Luke 4:16; when he takes time to pray on a mountainside alone in Mathew 14:23-24 and Luke 6:12-13; when he separates himself from people without letting them know in Mark 7:24; and when he takes time to pray in the face of big decisions in Luke 6:12-13 and 22:41. The balance of rest without shame was critical for his ability to sustain the work of social justice, harbor anger as well as stay grounded in the bigger picture: unity in Christ.
Chakra Four
It is here, in the fourth chakra, at the heart, where all the energies converge. The first three chakras are more introverted in nature, taking in and building up habits of living deeply and profoundly in the world. The last three chakras are more extroverted in nature and take the heart’s energy of love and beauty into the world. As Matthew Fox describes it, the 4th chakra is the control centre where the lower chakras bank grace and where the higher chakras bestow grace into the world.[29]
When this chakra is unbalanced, not only does it affect all the in-going and out-going energies, but it also starts to hinder our ability to forgive and to have compassion.[30] Fox reveals that it is at the heart where forgiveness is born from and the place where we can find freedom from broken relationships.[31] In practicing forgiveness, one is able to participate in the grace that is always being given to us and enter into our true identity as beloved and beautiful.[32] Fear and anxiety arise out of the fourth chakra when we are unable to see ourselves or others in this truth.[33] When we choose to see the world and ourselves as ugly and unloved, we enter into the greatest lie of our existence. But when we participate in the beauty within and around us, we come face to face with what Newell terms the Eden of our being.[34]
Jesus on the cross ultimately represents the fullness of his heart chakra by participating in both forgiveness and beauty. His death speaks of the crucifixion of beauty that the world insists on. But his resurrection reveals the hope that even when we participate in ugliness, in the distortions of the world, we can always return to the truth of our beauty.[35] Ultimately the cross reveals what happens when we let the heart enter into its true state of being: we are brought to new life as beloved and beautiful and, consequently, free others into their true identities as well.[36]
Chakra Five
The fifth chakra is located in the throat and is associated with communication and the act of connection. The beginning of the Gospel of John reveals how this act of connection is rooted in creation: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”[37] The fifth chakra is a call to participate in this universal vibration. The world is made out of vibration and we see this through elements like thermal, magnetic and electric rays and within the atoms of vapor, liquids and solids.[38] Yogananda says this chakra is about listening to and participating in the vibratory nature of creation, what theoretical physicists call superstring theory. This theory states that there is only one fundamental ingredient in the universe: the string. And it is through the vibration of this string that creates everything. In other words it is as if God is not so much a man in the clouds but a symphony orchestra, vibrating matter into existence.[39] In this way, we can understand the Trinity more as the interaction or the communication between its parts, birthing matter, Jesus, you and I into the world. When we read John 1 through this light, the Word manifests in all creation as vibration and as sound. Praying, meditating or reciting mantra is a way to participate in this vibratory force and, when we explore these sacred sounds together in community, something happens in ourselves and between each other: the rumination of divisive thought patterns start to shift and, instead, enter into our shared manifestation as vibration. Judith states that mantra, in particular, serves as a device to keep our mind focused and one-pointed in order to wake us up from the habitual sleep of ignorance and of duality.[40] Prayer, understood in this way, can become transformative. The question of whether prayer ‘works or not’ starts to become irrelevant when we allow the vibration of our words to resonate with the vibration of the world. Of course our prayer is being answered, but perhaps not in the way we traditionally understood. When we turn away from this vibration we become numb and cut off from the eternal sound. Fox understands that this tends to manifest particularly in consumerism. The desire to fill up instead of share in vibration, hinders us from participating in the Word. Fox warns, without a yearning or a slowing down to the fifth chakra to behold the wonder of creation’s vibration, we will find ourselves consuming earth and one another as if it were all a marketplace.[41]
Chakra Six
Our sixth chakra is the point just above and between our eyebrows and is responsible for perception and intuition. Judith states that more than any other organ in our body, it is our eyes that take in the most information, nearly 90%, through the form of light.[42] Life is made out of light and it is here, in the sixth chakra, where light influences our perspective and can stir our imaginations to life. Jesus speaks about the eye as the lamp of the body and if our seeing is healthy, we will be full of light, or rather, we will be full of Christ.[43] When we start to see all things in this light, we can begin to tap into an imagination that has the power to awaken and transform ourselves, society and the church.
Prophets are such people. They are tuned into this way of seeing, allowing their imaginations to turn into intuitions about what is true.[44] In Ezekiel 1:25-28, the prophet awakens to the glory of the Lord emanated in a human form through the brilliance of light. He, in other words, starts to see the true reality, the true substance of our being. Rohr states, when we allow the light to spark our imaginations, we begin to see the story of Christ play out right before our eyes and open to the source of wisdom.[45] Wisdom, unlike intellect, includes the energies of the heart and connects us to cosmos. Wisdom is never anthropocentric or proud but is rooted in compassion and humility.[46] Newell states that this wisdom enables us to see hope in the midst of a pessimistic world, new life for a dying world, love for a hateful world and creativity in a bored world.[47] However, systems of oppression and distraction have often stopped us from seeing the way of wisdom. We see Jesus both rebuking these systems that withhold wisdom from others as seen in Luke 11:52 and sharing parables, stories that invite wisdom, truth and imagination towards a new world. Stories like the Prodigal son which encompass almost unwarranted humility and forgiveness; the Good Samaritan that reveals the kingdom of God in the most unlikely of people; and the parable of the sower that turns our understanding and order of the world on its head.
Chakra Seven
Chakra 7 is located at the very top of the head and is the culminating point where all the lower chakras have worked towards. Here is the place where consciousness is fully awake and what it means to embody Christ. The lower chakras find balance within the physical world but it is at the seventh chakra that we open to cosmos. It is here where a state of liberation can be experienced as we come face to face with our identity, our place and our purpose in life. Judith reminds us that this sense of meaning is the driving force of consciousness and links the individual to the whole.[48] Here is where we transform our ego, our tribalism and become liberated into both immanence and transcendence, the divine within and beyond.[49] It is in this state we are transformed into our true essence, and come face to face with the mystery of our own being as it connects to cosmos herself.[50]
However, just like the disciples disputing who among them was the greatest, we can choose to remain trapped to our egos, forfeit our true identity and withhold Christ from ourselves. We can choose to fall asleep like the disciples did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Or we can keep watch and pray so that we will not succumb to the temptation of falling and keeping asleep.[51]
We witness this waking up to divinity when Jesus becomes transfigured. It was a revelation of cosmic significance not just for Jesus but for us. Moses and Elijah appeared as Jesus became illumined by the divine, entering his true identity as Son of God and beloved. This is not just a story of Jesus’ identity, but one in which we can, as St Paul says, be transformed into Christ’s likeness as well,[52] embodying the spirit of truth, justice and the Law as Moses did and, like Elijah, speak truth to power while we wait to hear the still, small voice of God.[53]
Chakras and the Church
In summary, the chakras are about waking up power within and bringing union within the self and the world. Only through the discipline of listening, can we participate in the vibration of oneness, the light of wisdom, and dispel the lie of division.[54] When we do this, Palmer states that we live into Christ in us, Christ around us and naturally wake to Christ in the world.[55] Practicing the spiritual science of yoga in its truest state can bring awareness to the whole self and can start to subtly shift our awareness as we interact within ourselves and within the world. Again, living the spiritual life is about living, feeling, moving through and being guided by Christ not just with our minds but with our whole bodies.
However, the spiritual life through the practice of yoga cannot be lived or journeyed alone. We need community, we need people to breathe and move our bodies with through space and time. We need an embodied church that can facilitate a spirituality of union of both the individual and community. What we learn and practice in community can inform our inward spiritual journey and vice versa. Practicing yoga with a church community can break down the mental divides that often separate us, from the young to the aged, the liberals from the conservatives, and white from people of color. We can participate in the divine mystery that cannot be uttered, cannot be theorized and cannot be divided when we practice spirituality as movement, sound and vibration. We will, instead, participate in the divine that lives between the spaces of our bodies, our breath and each other. We need not learn how to balance on our heads to participate in this practice; very simple movements of lifting arms, hands or neck paired with breath in unison with community is yoga. This is not to say that no words are necessary. Words paired with movement will give rise to our experience of Christ and what it means to be Christ’s hands and feet. Experiencing church in this way can also inform and give new life to our Christian traditions. Our ancient practices of washing feet, praying with rosaries, laying hands, singing, chanting, pilgrimaging, walking labyrinths, baptizing bodies and sharing in Eucharist can start to come to life when we do not just simply go through the actions anymore. All of a sudden, a practice of body awareness can birth new sensation and understanding to our collective singing, walking and eating together. This type of church is needed more than ever in a world that has become lonelier than ever. Simply practicing spirituality alone is not sufficient for the work and practice of reconciliation. We must learn simple things in the microcosm of community like when to give, when to take, when to listen, when to speak, when to act, when to sit in silence, when to inhale and when to exhale. Dr. Joseph Driskill, an author and professor in Christian spirituality and practice, insists that the journey of incarnation, of becoming Christ’s hands and feet is too difficult to do alone without the web of community that can hold us, cry with us, work with us and challenge us.[56] This Capstone project of bringing yoga to church has proved to be a sign of hope and connection in a time where more and more people are becoming disconnected from their own bodies and the bodies of others. We learned, as a group, how to move into incarnation and welcome the presence of the divine in new ways that resonated deeply as a spiritual practice.
Conclusion
By incorporating the spiritual science of uniting body to soul into our church gatherings, we can return to the core of our incarnational faith and bring to life our Christian practices. When we are disconnected from our own bodies, from the wisdom that is shouting from our bones, lungs and hearts, we come to community only half awake, only partly able to listen and only somewhat present. When we do this, like we have seen through imbalanced chakras, oppression, apathy, and laziness can block us from truly living into Christ. This makes it easier for systems of colonization, capitalism, consumerism and patriarchy to elevate or use some bodies over top of others. The church needs to wake from the ways it has been contributing to these systems of oppression and repression and respond to a world that is in desperate need of union and reconciliation. The church needs to respond to pleas of relevancy, particularly for our younger generation as the divide between church and society only seems to be growing greater. However, the yearning for divine connection amongst young people cannot be more apparent than it is today. They are finding new ways to respond to irrelevant and oppressive communities by creating or finding new ones that respond to the eternal truth: that the divine is within us and around us. We already have too many churches that monopolize on a bodily expression of worship without a theology that accepts the whole body, ironically, reinforcing the message that is fed to us through Western media and the news: a belief in fear, scarcity and division. But we are a resurrected people. A people who believe in new life, even for the church. So perhaps now, especially in the face of a pandemic, the church has an opportunity to respond, to re-evaluate its’ theology and its’ practice as it is forced to dig deep, be creative, adapt and open to new (or rather ancient) ways of experiencing God in our bodies and our physically distant communities. My hope is that the church, along with the world, will begin to awake to the systems of power that have suppressed the body for far too long and start to listen deeply to the reconciling vibration of Christ within and all around us.
Bibliography
Bourgeault, Cynthia. Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God. Lanham: Cowley Publications. 2001.
Brown, Barrett C. “An Overview of Developmental Stages of Consciousness.” Integral Without Borders (April 3, 2006): https://integralwithoutborders.net/sites/default/files/resources/Overview%20of%20Developmental%20Levels.pdf.
Driskill, Joseph D. Protestant Spiritual Exercises: Theology, History and Practice. New York: Morehouse Publishing. 1999.
Eberhart, Christian A. The Sacrifice of Jesus: Understanding Atonement Biblically. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers. 2011.
Fox, Matthew. Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books. 2016.
Hart, David Bentley. The Story of Christianity. London: Quercus. 2007.
Iyengar, B.K.S. Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. London: Thorsons. 2002.
Judith, Anodea. Wheels of Life: The Classic Guide to the Chakra System. Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications. 2018.
Modi, H.E. Narendra. Statement by H.E. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India: General Debate of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. United Nations, (September 27th, 014):https://www.un.org/en/ga/69/meetings/gadebate/pdf/IN_en.pdf.
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Palmer, Parker J. A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2004.
Reho, James Hughes, Ph.D. Tantric Jesus: The Erotic Heart of Early Christianity. Rochester: Destiny Books. 2017.
Rohr, Richard. The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation. New Kensington: Whitaker House. 2016.
Rohr, Richard. The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, And Believe. New York: Convergent Books. 2019.
Starr, Mirabai. Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics. Boulder: Sounds True. 2019.
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Footnotes
[1] “Statement by H.E. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India: General Debate of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.” United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/ga/69/meetings/gadebate/pdf/IN_en.pdf.
[2] Yogananda, The Yoga of Jesus.
[3] Reho, Tantric Jesus.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Judith, Wheels of Life.
[6] Matthew 23:26
[7] 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
[8] Rohr, The Universal Christ.
[9] Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Rohr, The Universal Christ.
[13] Newell, Echo of the Soul.
[14] Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh.
[15] Bourgeault, Mystical Hope.
[16] Starr, Wild Mercy.
[17] Newell, Echo of the Soul.
[18] Rohr, The Universal Christ.
[19] Newell, Echo of the Soul.
[20] Bourgeault, Mystical Hope.
[21] Yogananda, The Yoga of Jesus.
[22] Starr, Wild Mercy.
[23] Psalm 46:10
[24] Starr, Wild Mercy.
[25] Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness.
[26] Reho, Tantric Jesus.
[27] Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh.
[28] Reho, Tantric Jesus; John 2: 13-22; Matthew 23:1-4; Luke 17:2
[29] Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Ibid.
[32] Ibid.
[33] 1 John 4:18
[34] Newell, Echo of the Soul.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Starr, Wild Mercy.
[37] Judith, Wheels of Life.
[38] Yogananda, The Yoga of Jesus.
[39] Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2004
[40] Judith, Wheels of Life.
[41] Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh.
[42] Judith, Wheels of Life.
[43] Matthew 6:22
[44] Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh.
[45] Rohr, The Universal Christ.
[46] Proverbs 4:6-7; Matthew 18:2-6
[47] Newell, Echo of the Soul.
[48] Judith, Wheels of Life.
[49] Ibid.
[50] Newell, Echo of the Soul.
[51] Mark 14:32-42
[52] 2 Corinthians 3:18
[53] https://www.pulpitfiction.com/notes/transfigurationa?rq=transfiguration
[54] Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh.
[55] Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness.
[56] Driskill, Protestant Spiritual Exercises.
by Rev Alisha 