The way to a radical inner transformation

For as far back as we know, humankind has tried to solve its problems by looking outwards. We have achieved much in this direction and the great advances of science testify to this. However, from time to time an intrepid few have tried to solve problems by looking in the opposite direction, by turning inwards and have found there the key to all the world's problems.

What follows is a brief reflection on the subject of this inward journey.

Let me start with a parable. There was this man who walked into a cinema hall one evening, straight from the pub where he had consumed one too many and still carrying a bottle under his arm. Except that he was given to drinking too much, he was, as the world reckoned, a good man. He had a strong social conscience, went on protest marches, stood up for justice, righteousness, and all that, and invariably championed the poor and the downtrodden. As the film unfolded on the screen and as the bad guys in the story started getting the upper hand, our man became very agitated. At one point, when the heroine in the film was about to be ravaged, he jumped up from his seat screaming expletives and hurled the half-drunk bottle on to the screen.

Our efforts at changing our personal circumstances and the world around us are not very different from the antics of our inebriated friend at the cinema. He obviously did not like the story that was unfolding before him but failed to realise that the problem was not on the screen in front but in the projector at the back. Rather than change the reel in the projector, he chose to attack his problem up front. For most of the time that is exactly how we also try to alter our personal circumstances and the problems of society.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind

In one of the greatest documents ever written concerning inner transformation, Apostle Paul said, "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). At the heart of this profound command is the truth that consciousness, or soul or Spirit, is primary. Before we experience lack and limitation on the outside, before we encounter conflict and discord, illness and disease, hate and bitterness in our outer experience, they already exist in our minds, in our fallen souls, and the outer is merely the outworking of the inner. If we accept this, it seems rational to conclude that the best way to change the outer appearance is first to change the inner reality; to exchange the corrupted soul for a new Spirit.

This, however, runs completely contrary to worldly wisdom. According to the world, the outer life comes first and if we somehow meet its needs the inner life will look after itself. This means that if we provide ourselves with material wherewithal, if we change poor people into materially satisfied people, eventually we will have contented human beings and a wholesome society.

The big lie

This is the big lie and the evidence is all around us, in this country as well as abroad. Those of us who are now well past middle age recall the times when we did not have even a modicum of the material goods we have now. We did not have refrigerators or fans, telephones or motor cars, antibiotics or vitamins, opportunities for foreign travel or access to information and knowledge, on a scale anywhere comparable to what we have now. Yet, having all these things now, are we better human beings today? Are we more caring and sharing, more gentle and kind, more courteous and loving towards others? Is the society we live in a more contented place and more at peace than it was then? The answers are self-evident.

I am not suggesting that material things are in and of themselves bad. To the contrary, it is essential that we ensure the widest possible distribution of the material necessities of life. All the great religious leaders have made that abundantly clear. Making sure that people have enough bread must therefore take precedence over preaching sermons to them.

A famous dinner

The question, however, is whence do we provide that bread? Let me try to throw some light by recalling a famous dinner party. When Jesus of Nazareth was confronted with the problem of having to feed some five thousand people who had gathered around him eager to listen to what He had to say, He asked His disciples to feed them first. His disciples were completely confounded because there was no food at hand and they told the Master so. Then He inquired what they had with them and learnt that their resources amounted to no more than a few fishes and two loaves of bread – hardly what the world would have considered adequate. Ordinary intelligence would have prompted Jesus immediately to send his disciples foraging among the neighbouring hamlets for food. Instead, He simply asked the disciples to get the people to sit in rows and ordered them to distribute the two loaves and the fishes amongst them, which they did. We are told that the people not only had their fill but there were twelve baskets full left over. Only after they had had their fill did Jesus preach to them.

Two profound lessons

There are two profound lessons for us here. The first is that before we serve people with the deeper truths of life we must meet their material needs. That is pretty straightforward and accords with worldly wisdom. The other lesson is less obvious, contradicts worldly wisdom and is difficult to grasp. The lesson is this. The loaves and the fishes to feed the five thousand did not come through an efficient collection campaign or by increasing the output of the local bakeries. In other words, as the scientific world would say, they were not the effects of any empirical process. Rather, they were the outworking of the Christ's consciousness.

They came out of nothing, like the first dawn.

Therefore, the second lesson is simply this. If we want to transform our outer world, whether that world be our physical bodies, or our homes or our community or our country, a prior transformation of consciousness is necessary. Before there is harmony in our homes and peace out there in the world there must be peace and contentment within us. It is out of the infinity of our inner being that the things that comprise our world come forth. Or, to put it differently, the only way to draw a perfect circle is to locate the centre first.

Extraordinary consciousness

Acquiring the consciousness of Christ Jesus – that is the secret of inner transformation. That is the heart and goal of the true Christian faith. In Chapter 2 verse 5 of his Letter to the Philippians, Apostle Paul returns again to this theme when he commands, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus".

What was this extraordinary consciousness that Jesus had, which Paul commands us to seek and which manifested on the outside as a stream of spectacular miracles – giving sight to the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, unbinding the tongues of the dumb, making cripples walk, casting out demons, feeding the hungry, commanding the seas and the winds to subside, raising the dead and finally, demonstrating at the Resurrection that He Himself was not subject to the laws of the world? These were all manifestations on the outside but they flowed out from within His infinite consciousness.

What was this consciousness? In three famous passages Jesus reveals to us the secret of his consciousness.

In John 5:19 He says, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing” (NIV). Then again in John 10:30, He says, "I and my Father are One." Finally in John 16:15 He draws the logical conclusion, "All things that the Father has are mine". There, in Jesus' own words, in three brief and awesome pronouncements we have the secret of the Christ consciousness.

The first element in this triad is the recognition that the outer man or the outer shell has no substance. The Jesus of flesh and blood, Jesus the son of Joseph the carpenter, Jesus the human being, could of Himself do nothing. But then, the human Jesus was only the outer shell that concealed the infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Christ within, the Christ who was the Word of God, the Christ who was before Abraham, the Christ who was before the foundation of the world and from whom all things were made. That was the Christ, the Messiah, whom Peter alone among the disciples recognised. That was the source of Jesus' power, “the Father within”, His infinite Christ identity.

The Father within

The secret of Jesus' power was, therefore, His ability constantly to abide in the Father within, the ability always to live at the level of His inner Christ identity. It was from the depths of this inner Christhood that Jesus' power streamed forth, not only healing the sick, feeding the hungry and raising the dead, but much more, transforming the lives of untold millions down the ages, bringing them a Joy and a Peace and filling their hearts with a Love such as the world could never give.

The question then is how do finite mortals such as we, who inherit lack and limitation, conflict and suffering, decay and death, at our very birth, access this Christ consciousness? The answer is again quite straightforward and unambiguous. It is only as this outer shell that constitutes our earthly identity is crucified with Jesus, it is only as our mortal self, our bogus and illusory ego, accompanies Jesus to the cross and is then raised with Him to a new life at His resurrection, that we may break out of our own finitude and access the infinity of Christ. Jesus Himself conveys this truth through a beautiful metaphor. He said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone it" (John 12:24). In order that the seed may bring forth a two or three hundredfold harvest its outer shell had to perish. This is the lesson of Good Friday and the story of Easter – the possibility of a New Life by dying spiritually in Jesus.

The inheriting of a new life through the Spirit of the indwelling Christ is what Christians refer to as being "born again". To be a Christian one must be, “born again". There is no option there. Jesus was quite explicit about this: "no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again" (John 3:3, NIV). To be "born again" is essentially to acquire a new consciousness through the Cross of Jesus, by dying with Him and by being raised to a new life with Him. It is this Christ consciousness, the consciousness of the indwelling Spirit of the Risen Christ, which is the true transforming power.

Radical inner transformation

Radical inner transformation – that is the essence and substance of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It is not sufficient merely to follow rituals or to observe holy days, it is not sufficient to get emotional and jump up and down hysterically shouting the name of Jesus, it is not sufficient to do good works or to work for the upliftment of the poor or even to observe the Ten Commandments and lead a decent and good life. Not even all of these together will qualify a person to be a follower of Jesus. No, not at all! Only through the crucifixion of the outer self or ego in Christ, and thereafter by admitting the Spirit of the Crucified and Risen Christ into one's life, and through the ensuing radical inner transformation, does one qualify.

The Spirit of the Risen Christ dwelling in us – that is the only way of inner transformation leading to outer transformation. This inner transformation is not just a subjective experience or a passing emotional high induced at an evangelistic crusade. The proof of Christ's indwelling is fruitage on the outside, manifesting as transformed lives, as transformed circumstances; not just our personal circumstances but the circumstances of those around us and the circumstances of our world as well. This was what happened when Jesus fed the five thousand seemingly out of nowhere. That seeming "nowhere" was actually His infinite consciousness. It was out of the depths of His Christhood that Jesus worked all those spectacular miracles. It was from the depths of the Spirit within Jesus that power streamed forth that changed the course of human history and still continues to flow, transforming untold millions of lives.

Furthermore, the awesome truth is that this same power is still available to whoever believes in Him and opens their life to His indwelling.

New Age Cults

A word of caution, however! There are a multitude of cults in fashion today, mostly a mishmash of eastern mysticism and Christianity, called the New Age cults, that seek to access this Christ consciousness simply by turning within, but while ignoring the Cross of Jesus. That is a travesty and a monstrous deception. There is no Christ consciousness available to anyone except through the experience of spiritual death, i.e. through death of our false ego. That is why Apostle Paul says, "I die daily" (1 Cor 15:31). There is no way of inheriting the New Life except by yielding our old life to be crucified with Jesus. We can no more access Christ consciousness by ignoring the Cross, than we can lift ourselves up by our own boot straps.

The way to Easter is through Good Friday. There is no other way.