July 19, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

Describe your “spiritual awakening,” as you call it.

It was a Sunday afternoon. I had not gone to church that day. In fact, I had not gone to church with any regularity for years.  I was reclining on the living room couch, watching with the left hemisphere of my brain a PBS television special, and daydreaming with the other.  I don’t recall being in any particular frame of mind, but I certainly wasn’t anticipating what happened next either.

Out-of-the-blue and instantaneously, something happened to me or, more accurately, in me that literally transformed the way I felt about life, including that of my own and the way I viewed the world and everyone in it.  It changed my view of and experience of the Transcendent, too.

The event was simple and ordinary. I don’t recall having a vision of anything. In fact, I saw nothing at all. Yet, in an instant, I saw everything, too.  I did not see God, but there is a sense in which I did, too. Deep joy was so unmistakably real and near to me.  Instantly I felt in the presence of God and that feeling has been with me ever since.

Today, no matter how out-of-control things may be around me, there is in me a sense of calm, peace, and a feeling that everything is just as it should be.  Peace, contentment, and tranquility are my normal states of consciousness. Joy, too. I know this all sounds like a huge enigma and, in many ways, it is. I cannot explain it otherwise.

Easterners often speak of something they call “the law of least effort.”  What they mean by this is, “Do less and accomplish more.”  Now, such a notion is strange to westerners who are taught from the cradle that they must do more and more and still more and then, and only then, should they expect to be duly rewarded for it.

What I’ve learned, however, is that this is not the behavior of grace at all.  When Grace is understood and experienced, and it isn’t understood and hasn’t been experienced by many religious people, grace is really about doing nothing and enjoying everything. I like to tell the story of the poor beggar who was rummaging through a garbage heap looking for his next meal when, suddenly, he finds a discarded lottery ticket. To his chagrin, he discovers it bears the winning numbers to a multi-million dollar jackpot.  Grace. It occurs when you least expect it, and often to those you believe to be the least deserving.

Since that day of awakening, my life has not been some fairytale but I would be dishonest to say anything else but that it has been pretty close.  I once heard a highly regarded spiritual teacher from the east say, “In my world nothing ever goes wrong.”  Everything in me revolted against such an absurd statement prior to my spiritual experience.  Today, however, I cannot say that about my own life, but I understand it much more now.

The best I can say is that, for me, life is no longer the struggle or the burden it used to be. Instead of swimming upstream, one of many metaphors that would aptly describe my life prior to the awakening, I now flow with life.  How could I not be at peace when, instead of resisting what is, I now accept, often forgive, but always flow with life itself?

I’ve called this my “spiritual awakening” because, in many ways, it was as if I woke up and started living.  In eastern religions, it could be called a “satori.”  Satori is a Sanskrit word meaning “sudden insight,” “awareness,” and “consciousness.”  It is often the word used to describe a transformative experience.  What happened to me on that couch may not be filled with a lot of drama, fireworks, lights and sounds, but, whatever it was it changed my life forever.  And, for the better.

Posted in Awakening, Religion, Spiritual Enlightenment, Spirituality, The Awakened Life, The Enoch Factor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
July 19, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

Why have millions left organized religion, but are still interested in spirituality?

There is in everyone the longing to know intimacy with the Divine. The only difference between people—all people—is that a few are aware of this longing, while most are not.  For those who are not, life is a constant challenge, even a frustration, as they search for God everywhere but the one and only place where God could ever be found – which is, inside of you.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” In spite of this rather clear clue as to where to look to find God, many mistake their inner feelings of discontent, restlessness, or desire for happiness and fulfillment as an indicator they need to do something.  Our culture’s answer to this inner dilemma is to find the right career. Or, to find and fall in love with the right partner.  But even these events – as meaningful as they may be – fail to grant anything more than a temporary, impermanent peace.

Now, what happens in most religions, Christianity notwithstanding, is that people go to church looking for God, thinking she might be found there.  And, the church perpetrates, as well as perpetuates, the illusion that God can be.  How so?  By suggesting to people, “We have the answer. We alone have the answer. What we believe is right or, at the least, a little more right than anyone else believes.  So, attend our church, believe as we believe, think as we think, do as we do, live as we live and, of course, give us your money, and all will be well with your soul.”

But it isn’t so. Over time, this nonsense has created in people the expectation that, if they’ll do all these things, they’ll find God.  Instead of helping to know God, however, these expectations, rules, dogmas, doctrines, and beliefs have sucked the spiritual life right out of their souls.  The church too frequently confuses beliefs for faith and, in fundamentalist churches, the beliefs are then imposed on believing and unbelieving people alike. In fact, that would be a pretty accurate definition of religious fundamentalism – the confusion of beliefs for faith and imposing those beliefs on others.  That’s what’s happening today in both Islam and in Christianity – the difference is only the degree with which the imposition occurs.

The American Religious Survey tells us that as many as 34 million Americans today have left organized reIigion.  For the majority of these, it is the Christian religion they’re leaving or, more accurately, the church’s dysfunctional version of Christianity that they are leaving.

And, that’s the point.  People can leave the church—they have, they are, and more will, as long as the dysfunction and insanity I’m describing goes on. What people cannot leave, however, is their inner feeling of discontent, emptiness, or the longing to cultivate a deep spiritual union with the Divine.  So, in recent years, as westerners have had greater exposure to eastern religions, many have turned to other religions. What many of these seekers do not know is this:  the dysfunction they met and left in the western church is the same sort of madness they will likely find in many other religions as well.

So, it is important to understand, I did not write this book as a disgruntled former minister looking to attack either Christianity or the church. I wrote this book to tell people what took me half a lifetime to figure out.  There has only ever been one place you will go to find the deepest desires of your heart fulfilled – and that is within yourself.  That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “The kingdom is within you.”   The Buddha said this, too.  Even the Jewish rabbis have a saying that goes, “God has but one synagogue – the human heart.”  I wrote this book, The Enoch Factor to show people where to look—the human heart—to find what they’re looking for.

Posted in How to Know God, Kingdom of God, Spirituality, The Church is Declining | Tagged , , , , , , , ,
July 13, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

Questions I’m frequently asked: What is your experience with other faith practices?

I was introduced to many other religions, not intentionally, but more by accident.  My father was a minister, but my mother was a travel agent and tour leader.  When I was just a child, she began leading tours and taking groups to Europe and the Middle East, the Scandinavian countries, even to the Far East, including Russia and China.  My two brothers and I were the lucky beneficiaries of being raised by parents who took us on vacations to exotic, sometimes strange, but always faraway places.  By the time I was just a teenager, for example, I had been to Europe two or three times and to the Middle East and Far East at least twice.  To say the least, I have a privileged and remarkable childhood and adolescence.

I don’t think it ever occurred to my parents what impact these experiences would have on me or my brothers.  I visited countries and witnessed cultures where the Christian faith is anything but the primary religious tradition.  For instance, I met scores of people who were devoted practitioners of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.  While most of their spiritual practices were foreign to me, even weird at times, the one question that haunted me on many occasions was this:  If my religion is right—Christianity—and their religion is false or, at best, incomplete or misguided—which is precisely what most Christians still believe today—why has it taken them thousands of years to discover their error?  Furthermore, if their religious practices were not rewarding them with a life-changing experience of the Divine, why would they keep doing them for centuries?  Are they just slow to learn?  What’s the problem here?

So, I made it my practice, not only to know the efficacy of my own faith tradition, but to study and know what other religions teach, too.

Here are a couple of conclusions to which I’ve come.  There has only ever been one spiritual truth.  It is known, experienced, and expressed in multiple languages and through a variety of cultures and traditions.

The other is this:  There is far more that all religions share in common than there has ever been that distinguishes or separates them.  The future of humanity is at stake and the Dalai lama is so correct in saying, “Until there is peace among the religions, there will be no peace in the world.”  We are at a crucial time in human history.  Many thinkers and visionaries do not believe humanity will survive if the religions of this world do not share together their similar commitments and work together to bring harmony between people and nations.

What many Christians do not realize is that the world views much of their message as a conflagration of contradiction.  For example, Christians say the gospel they preach is powerful enough to change the world. Yet, in recent years, there’s been an enormous interest among Christians in what they call the Rapture or Return of Jesus Christ.  Many of them are even praying for it.  One of the most popular and money-making fictional series in the history of Christian publishing has been the “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.  Their entire storyline is based on this hugely complex system of the Rapture—of how the world will come to an end.  What many Christians seem to have forgotten is the one caveat Jesus gave as to when he would NOT return—that’s when everyone was expecting it. Jesus said that his return would be as a thief in the night, when everyone was least expecting it.  Since the majority of Christians are looking for his imminent return, they would do well to recognize they’re just as likely responsible for his delay.

Of course, I say all of this with tongue-in-cheek.  I no longer subscribe to any of these apocalyptic views of the culmination of human history.  Had God wanted us to understand how the world would end, he’d have sobered up Saint John long enough to write something a little more intelligible than the Revelation he gave us.  What Jesus did give us, around which there is no confusion, is the clear admonition, “Take no thought of tomorrow.”  Words do not get much clearer than this. Yet, most Christians seem interested in talking more about tomorrow than in how they’re living today.

Posted in Rapture, Religion, Second Coming, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , ,
July 13, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

Questions I’m frequently asked: Are you still a Christian?

Interesting you would ask me this, as others have asked me this question, too, and I suppose it is because I no longer pretend to believe that Christianity is the only way to know God.  Yet, as far as my own faith journey is concerned, I regard myself as more Christian today than I’ve ever been.

Admittedly, there are some dramatic differences.

For the most part, my spiritual life is a whole lot less about beliefs and a whole lot more about faith. There is a canyon of difference between the two.  Like most religious people, I had confused belief for faith for decades. For example, there are many people who believe in Jesus but, in terms of living by the way of Jesus—that is, living by the example and teachings of Jesus—they do not.

Take this one example, although there are really many examples I could give you.  Jesus said, “Love your enemies.”  What that really means is “Have no enemies.”  Yet, many churchgoing people—perhaps even the majority of them—who would vigorously defend the US war in Afghanistan and in Iraq.  There was a time when I could have, too.  Now, however, I find it very difficult to live by Jesus’ teaching and try to justify war, any war, at the same time.  I suspect that’s why most Christians throughout history have looked to St. Augustine and his “Just War Theory” as a way to circumvent the rather clear teaching of Jesus.  For me, now that I regard myself as more Christian than ever before, feel, if I am going to say I’m a follower of Christ, then I must truly follow Christ and his teachings, instead of looking for some clever way to explain away his hard teachings.

For most of my adult life, I thought that being a Christian was about believing certain things about God, Jesus, and the Bible.  That being a Christian was about living a certain way – which usually meant ordering your life around some arbitrary but cultural standards somebody concocted as a definition as to what it meant to be Christian.  For Baptists in the south, where I grew up and with whom I attended church, being a Christian meant you walked a church aisle – hopefully soon after reaching the “age of accountability”—whatever that is, said you believed in Jesus and renounced your terrible sins (which were many at the age of seven when this “salvation” event occurred for me), and then promising you wouldn’t “drink, cuss, smoke, or chew or run with girls who do.”

There were a few other things that defined the “right” or “good” Christian—attend church regularly – the really, really good Christians came on Sunday night, too, and again on Wednesday—be patriotic, salute the flag and don’t cheat Uncle Sam, and, of course, pay your tithes and offerings.  If you did not do that…well…you might not go to hell but you’d smell like you’d been there.

Now, however, I know, as Deepak Chopra once put it, your “beliefs are a cover-up for insecurity. You only ever believe in the things you’re not certain about.”

Faith, on the other hand, is the capacity to live in ambiguity; or, to step confidently in the face of uncertainty.  It is to live with an inner sense of security, knowing that, since nothing could ever surprise the Divine, you can live without fear, without stress, worry, or anxiety.  You can live without religion, too.  That being a person of faith has very little to do with what you believe and a whole lot to do with how you live.  To be a person of faith is to not just to believe in God or Jesus, or even to know a lot about God.  It is, instead, to actually know God for yourself, as yourself, and to walk in the joy of her ineffable Presence.

As an educated scholar, theologian, and religious leader, I knew much about God. I could argue and debate with anybody about what I believed. But, in terms of those beliefs making any real difference in my life…well…I cannot say that those beliefs made any difference.  You can’t argue God’s presence into your life.  Clinging to a set of beliefs, no matter how correct they may be, won’t change the human heart.  Jesus said as much to the religious leaders of his day who, like many today, believed that they had to believe the right beliefs to be right with God.  It was insanity then and it is insane today. You only argue and debate about the things you do not know.  When you really know God, what is there to debate?  Or, to put it another way, when people set out to prove that God exists, it could only ever mean that they do so because they secretly fear she doesn’t.

You don’t believe in the sun, do you?  You don’t argue and debate whether it really exists.  The notion would be absurd.  What’s there to believe in or to debate about the sun?  You know the sun. You see it hanging in the heavens, feel its warmth by day, and observe its effects on earth.  Similarly, when you know the reality of the Eternal Presence—and that inner knowing could only ever occur when you exchange beliefs about God for faith in God—then you cannot but see God everywhere, in everyone, as well as in everything.  All of life becomes to you the sacred sanctuary of God’s eternal presence.

Posted in Christian, Christians, Faith, Spiritual life, Spirituality |
July 12, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain 1 Comment

What inspired your book, The Enoch Factor?

I was with my father in the ICU the moment he died.  When he did, something died in me, too. Although I had been a minister all my adult life and had counseled others in times of overwhelming sadness and grief, when it occurred in me, I was completely unprepared for it.  The pain was incredible, so overwhelming in fact, it’s really hard to put into words. But here’s the remarkable part. For a brief moment, right in the middle of the most intense sadness and suffering I had ever known, I felt a peace come over me, as well as a presence with me.  It lasted only a few minutes but, during those moments of peace, I felt the presence of someone with me, someone who purportedly lived thousands of years ago.  His name is Enoch.

I realize how absurd this must sound, like something out of the Twilight Zone. And, I suppose, for that very reason, I said nothing about it for years.  But, the presence was so unmistakable that I care no longer what others may think of me when they hear me talk about it.  I must tell this story.  Maya Angelou has this saying, “There’s no greater agony that bearing an untold story inside of you.”  Well, I bore mine for many years.  But, the day finally came when I decided I had to share it.

I first heard of Enoch – this ancient spiritual teacher out of Jewish folklore and mythology – when I was in seminary doing graduate work. I describe all of this in the book so it isn’t necessary to go into the details here.  But, one of my professors, a Jewish scholar himself, spent an entire class period introducing us to Enoch.

Jewish historians remember Enoch in much the same way Easterners remember their spiritual avatars – as one of those rare human souls who attained a spiritual consciousness, or awareness, that seems to escape virtually everyone else.  For example, Enoch is said to have “walked with God.”  Although I cannot be certain of this, I suspect that must mean the same thing as “enlightenment” in Buddhism, what New Agers might describe as the “God-realized life,” or Christians would describe as a person who had experienced an “epiphany.”

I was fascinated by Enoch but, as life does to all of us, I soon laid aside my interest in him and moved on to more pressing matters.  That is, until the day my father died.  Not only did the story of Enoch come back to me, but I felt his presence in the ICU room with me. During that undeniable sensation, all of the pain and sadness I was feeling about my father dying of a stroke lifted.  There, in the presence of death, was this beautiful feeling of stillness…a kind of OK-ness…of peace both in me and around me.

I knew right then and there that one day I would write about this experience.  I did not know when that would be, or what I would say, or even why I would say it.  I only knew I would someday tell the story.  Ten years or so later, I did.  I began writing and, within a span of twenty months, I had given birth to The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God.

Posted in Enoch, God-realized life, Spiritual Enlightenment, Spirituality, The Enoch Factor, enoch walked with god | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
July 12, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

Questions I’m Frequently Asked: Why do you think the church is in a state of crisis?

The church today appears to be more lost than the world it’s trying to save. One reason is that the church has so wedded itself to western culture that Christians today look and live more like the culture around them than the Christ before them. The irony is, while the church almost continually rants against the culture, it has in fact embraced it, as well as its values.

For example, what difference do you see between the values on Wall Street and those on Church Street?  There is no difference.  In both, there’s an obsession with money, wealth, and the symbols of power and success – they go by different names, but it’s the same obsessions.

There is a surplus of preachers today defending and preaching a gospel of prosperity. While they live in palaces themselves, their subjects, known as church members and television audiences, make personal sacrifices to enable them to do so.  It is madness but it’s happening in spite of the fact that their spiritual leader said, “Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Explain that anomaly to me. Further, in the last decade alone, churches in America have spent billions and billions on buildings even as 400 million people have starved to death.

And, what of the sex scandals?  Almost daily now, you’ll read or hear about the church condemning gays and lesbians and doing everything within their legal power to drive them back into a closet. And this while hiding clergy pedophiles in their own closets.

But, there’s more. In the last several decades, the church has become insanely obsessed with what I call the “We’re right, you’re wrong” syndrome.  Listen to almost any Christian or church leader and about all you hear anymore is that “We’re different,” by which, they really mean, “We’re right, everyone else is wrong.”   “We’re in, they’re out!”  “We’re God’s chosen ones, they’re not!”

The consequence of this madness has been disagreement, debate, and eventual division. Wouldn’t that describe much of Christian history? Today, for instance, there are more than 20,000 different Christian groups, each obsessed with its version of truth, believing that its beliefs are just a little more “right” than the beliefs of 19,999 others. Tell me this is not madness!

What the church has forgotten is that its purpose is not unlike the purpose in any religion – and, that purpose is to make God known.  That’s it. Nothing more; nothing less. But, instead of staying with this purpose, the history of the church has been to argue, debate, defend, and, until recently when laws were enacted to limit the powers of the church, it was not uncommon for the church to persecute and kill anyone who disagreed with its doctrines, dogmas, and declarations.  In this regard, the history of Christianity is not entirely unlike the radical fundamentalism we encounter in some Islamic groups today.

So, the bottom line is this: Until the church and indeed all religions, return to their central purpose—to make God known, the church will continue to be marginalized and eventually disregarded and ignored altogether.  Many churches have achieved that status already.  And, strangely, the only people who don’t seem to know this are Christians themselves. They think they’re still a vital voice across the cultural landscape. What they do not know is that today, the church is little more than a faint whimper in an urban forest.

Posted in Church in crisis, Clergy Pedophiles, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
July 4, 2010 by admin 1 Comment

Secrets to Happiness and Inner Peace – Part One

There’s a line in A Course in Miracles that goes, “Your passage through space and time is not random. You cannot but be in the right place at the right time.”

Potent words and knowing deep within you the truth behind them will yield to the most extraordinary human existence imaginable.  It is one of several secrets to happiness and inner peace.  I’ll call this one, Part One.  I’ll write about others as I’m inspired to do so.  But, for now, here’s a few ways this truth, when known and applied, will play out…

First, to ponder that your life is no accident, no random mutation of atoms, but a Divinely-appointed happening in space and time is as incredible as it is incomprehensible. But, guess what? You are. So, how could you ever think of yourself as anything but a most remarkable creation of God? When you know that you are, then you will move beyond self-recrimination, self-judgment, self-doubt, guilt, shame and so forth. You will know that you are a piece of God herself.

Further, since your life is no accident, your life experiences are no accident either. This is harder to ponder, harder still to apply. Our tendency is to quickly jump to labeling things good, bad, positive, negative, helpful, hurtful, and so on. But, if we could begin train ourselves to “Judge Not,” (Matt. 7:1), as Jesus put it, we would free ourselves to see that all of life’s experiences are really portals into greater awareness – or, portals into Presence itself. It was the late Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, author of the insightful stages of grief, who reminded us, “There are no mistakes. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.” If that is true, then your spiritual practice is to find a way to pause in the chaos of everything and look for the portal.

There is much more I might explore when plumbing the meaning in this statement from A Course in Miracles. But, here’s one more thought. If it is true, “You cannot but be in the right place at the right time,” then try to imagine how wonderfully freeing it would be to actually live from this place of surrender and stillness? To know that you don’t have to resist, fight, struggle against (or, struggle for something), or live one moment longer under any stress whatsoever. You are free to let life unfold, knowing that Universal Intelligence is orchestrating the “dance of life,” as Chopra calls it. You flow with it, instead of fighting against it. “The wind blows where it wills,” said Jesus. You cannot control the Spirit of this universe. You can only align yourself to it and flow with it. Any stress you feel, therefore, should be a signal to you to pause and watch where the wind is blowing, then adjust your sails.

I’m writing these words while flying from Chicago to Louisville. It’s one of those rare and breathtaking days when the sky is as rich and blue as the deepest oceans of the Pacific rim. From this vantage point, it seems as if I can see forever. Scattered about and above the green landscape are white mounds of cumulus clouds. They’re in as many different shapes and sizes as there are snowflakes in winter. What occurs to me, as I observe this magnificent beauty, is that none of it is imperfect, accidental, or random. There’s an intelligence at work in all of this that is as comforting to observe as it is beautiful to observe. Each cloud floats effortlessly with the unseen Wind, wrestles not with what direction it is taken and, instead, freely flows with Life itself–in what appears to be complete silence, surrender, and peace.

My advice? Let images like this teach you about life itself and the way to live it in peace. Isn’t that what Jesus was doing when he said, “Look at the birds of the air…at the lilies of the field,” (Matt. 6).  Well, you know the rest of what he said. Now, make it your spiritual practice and see what happens.

Posted in Happiness, Inner Peace, Secrets to Happiness and Inner Peace | Tagged , , , , , , ,
June 1, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

Is Jesus the Only Way to God?

The Enoch Factor

"An inspiring masterpiece," writes Janet Pfeiffer, author of The Secret Side of Anger

For centuries, Christians have not only believed but vigorously defended the view that Jesus is the one and only way to God. As a Christian myself, I was one of these who not only believed this but was ready to argue and debate with anyone who questioned what I thought was an unquestionable claim made by none other than Jesus himself. That claim is recorded in John 14:6. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me.” To me, for someone to question this bold assertion was tantamount to heresy. In fact, I mistakenly thought that, if a person did not believe that Jesus was the one and only the way to God, he or she could not be a Christian at all.

Admittedly, I no longer believe any of this. In fact, now that I know myself a little better, I realize I only vigorously argued this erroneous belief regarding Jesus because I secretly feared Jesus might not be only way to God. Further, I quietly reasoned, and feared, if Jesus wasn’t what he claimed to be then that made him nothing less than a raving lunatic. This still is the primary argument many Christian apologists make for arguing that Jesus is the only way to God (see the writings of Josh McDowell, as an example). The real truth, however, is this: “You only believe the things you’re not certain about,” as a wise spiritual teacher once put it. For example, you do not believe in the sun, do you? Of course not! What is there to believe in? That it exists? But, you know that it does because you can see it, feel its warmth, as well as observe its effects. It makes no sense to say, therefore,, “I believe in the sun.” Or, “I believe, as scientists tell us, that the sun is very, very, hot place and that it provides us light.” We know all of these things to be true without having to believe they are. So, there’s nothing to believe in. It is only ever what you believe in, but cannot know for certain, that typically morphs into a “belief” and so needs defending. What you really know never needs defending. To put it in a more familiar way, “Truth needs no defense.”

Deepak Chopra once said, “Beliefs are a cover-up for insecurity.” This means that the louder and more definitive a person argues his or her point of view is often an indicator of the depth of insecurity he or she feels with those arguments. You have likely heard preachers shout as they were preaching. They do this because many of them are not only insecure with who they are but they are equally insecure about what they’re saying. I know this because I was one of them for more than two decades. It took me a long time to realize this very simple truth: We often get our little egos wrapped around even smaller belief systems and then feel, whenever someone questions those beliefs, that we are being personally attacked. So, after all these years, here’s what I can say with certainty. Here is what I know and so is more than a belief.

First, I know that no one knows if there is a God, much less if there is just one way to know God, whether that’s by Jesus or some other means. For myself, the most I can say with certainty is that I have had some kind of inexplicable spiritual experience that continues to transform how I look at myself, how I feel about the world, how I view others, and the way I live my life. This experience of inner transformation has been so profoundly life-altering that I know of no other way to explain it but to point to the possibility that what I’ve experienced is God, or Transcendence, or Universal Intelligence, or Consciousness itself. The name for God, as well as her or his identity, matters not to me. Further, I feel no need to argue and defend whether what is happening to me is God or that the effects are transformational. I can see the results in my own life. So can others.

Second, I also know that, the more I give my attention (and for me that’s through stillness and meditation – what worship really is) to this “Holy Other,” as Rudolph Otto called it, the more at peace I am, the happier I feel, and the more completely satisfied I am with everything, including my own life. I find all of this amazing indeed. When people press me for proof or wish to argue with me about my beliefs, I find myself saying only what the blind man said when Jesus healed him. His accusers demanded an explanation. His was, “I was blind, now I see.” I have learned, for those who really see, that explanation is enough. For those who don’t, it’s never enough.

What does any of this have to do with Jesus and whether he’s the only way to know God? Everything indeed. Although I grew up in a Christian home, followed in my father’s footsteps and became a minister, went to college, then through eight years of theological training, even earning a doctoral degree, I cannot say that I really knew this Transcendence. I knew about God, but I cannot say I knew God. I believed many things about God but, in terms of knowing an inner, Eternal and transformational Presence, I did not. Although I said I believed in Jesus and so vigorously preached that he was the only way to salvation and eternal life, I cannot say it made much difference in how I felt about myself, treated others, or viewed the world. Salvation was little more than a ticket to some make believe world in the future after death. As far as Jesus’ teaching as a way to live my life here and now…as a way to know and enjoy spiritual enlightenment in the present moment was inconceivable. Someone has said, “Even belief in God is only a poor substitute for the living reality of God manifesting every moment of your life.”

There are scores of “Christian” people today who maintain that Jesus is the Savior of the world but, for most of them, Jesus is a Savior from this world instead of a Savior for this world. That is to say, they mistakenly think, just as I did, that Jesus came to save them from this world instead of show them how to live in this world and so be at peace with themselves and with others. Therefore, I now know that when Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth…no one comes to the Father but by me,” he was not saying, as many throughout Christian history have mistakenly thought, “There is no other way to God but by me.” He was simply saying instead, “The way I live is the way to know God–it’s also the way to live happily in this world. If you want to know God, follow my way…emulate how I live, how I think, the way I treat myself, others, and the world.”

This truth, this knowing, has radically altered how I read and interpret all the words attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. For example, throughout most of my life, I read Jesus’ words, “Have no enemies,” as something humanly impossible, except for someone Divine like Jesus. I dismissed Jesus’ words, as most Christians still do today, as an ideal that was lofty to entertain but too lofty to attain. I now realize Jesus meant exactly what he said. Furthermore, we’re just playing games with ourselves to say we believe in Jesus but dismiss his way of life and teachings as something for him but not for us. Only real followers of Jesus, spiritually-minded persons serious about living the transformed, enlightened human existence Jesus appeared to show the way toward, will take serious his words and so live by them.

The Christian church today is full of believers but few followers of Jesus; or, the God he knew so well that he called him Father; or, the eternal, transformative Presence of Christ in themselves. If they did, for example, they could no longer view people like the Iraqis’ and the Iranians as enemies. They would, just as their Savior-leader, have no enemies. Isn’t this what it really means to be a follower of Jesus? Isn’t this what Jesus really meant by “I am the way…to God.” Wasn’t he just saying, “Unless you live as I live, you cannot know the God I know?”

So, today this I can say that I know with certainty: I am coming to know this kind Christ-spirit within myself. It is enlightening. It is inexplicable. It is full of joy, peace, and tranquility. It’s not something to believe in, but Someone worth knowing. It is an inner experience of the Divine that is, in-and-of-itself, divine. I need nothing more. But, I want nothing less.

If you’d like to explore how to know God and a host of other questions related to the spiritual life, I’d like to invite you to read the book, The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God. In it, I share many of the things I’ve learned about this and other important matters pertaining to spirituality. In fact, I’d be happy to send you a complimentary chapter of the book in PDF format, for free. Just send me an email and I’ll shoot you a chapter from The Enoch Factor. Email: steve@stevemcswain.com.

Posted in Is Jesus the Only Way to God, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 27, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

Enoch Walked with God: If He Did, So May We

You were born to walk with God, so why would you walk alone?

Enoch is the human archetype of the sacred art of knowing God. History records the myths and legends of persons who lived at a level of God-consciousness never realized by the majority of their contemporaries. A few of them are

Buddha, Abraham, Lao Tzu, Moses, Confucius, Mary the mother of Jesus, Saint Paul, Muhammad, St. Francis of Assisi, and, more recently,Mohandas Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama. There are many, many others, of course. Jesus lived at this level, too. In fact, most Christians believe Jesus embodied the Divine presence in his earthly life more completely than any other person who has ever lived.

Throughout history, the people who seemed to have arrived at an advanced level of spiritual awareness were known by specific names. Jews called them tzadikim, Hindus called them avatars, and Christians called them saints.

Labels are unimportant, however. What is more important is that they were rare souls indeed. Enoch was one of these rare souls, too, although not as widely known. Of him, it was said, “Enoch walked with God” (Gen 5:22). Only one other person in the sacred record of Jewish history was said to have reached this level of Divine consciousness. That was Noah (Gen 6:9). The words “walk with God” are an anthropomorphic way of describing closeness, awareness, knowing-ness, and intimacy. Most likely, the words “walking with God” and “knowing God” mean the same thing.

So, what does walking with God, or knowing God, really mean? And, how is this possible?

To know God, or walk with her, means to live your life in the awareness of an indescribable and eternal presence that is within you and all around you, beneath you but also beyond you. It is personal and yet mysterious, real but also surreal. You can know this presence but also not know it. You can experience God, but you will never explain God. When you live your life in union with God, however, you will be at peace with yourself and with the world. You will know joy, too, as well as security and a kind of fearlessness in life. There will be an inner sense that everything is as it’s supposed to be. Anxiety, stress, discontent, and even boredom all but disappear from your life. It is truly remarkable, what the Russian novelist Romain Rolland called, “the oceanic feeling.”

How can one know God? Walk with a consciousness of the Eternal Presence?

1. First, to enjoy an extraordinary life of intimacy with God, you must know that it does not happen by accident. It takes practice to live a God-realized life. “God is not difficult to find,” said Deepak Chopra in Why is God Laughing, “God is impossible to ignore.” And, he is right. But, the more complete picture is, most people go through much of their lives missing God almost all the time. Why? They do not make it their practice to know God. This is why the Carmelite monk, Brother Lawrence, as long ago as the seventeeth century, called the spiritual life “Practicing the presence of God.”

2. Second, don’t misunderstand me. Knowing God takes practice but not practice in the same sense as one would practice improving his or her golf swing by hitting a bucket full of balls at a driving range. There is no effort associated with the kind of practice I’m describing. It’s more like an awareness. When you become aware of your desire to know God, to feel her presence, and so forth, the practice is in giving your attention to that awareness. The more you do–and that’s the meaning of “practice”–the more aware you’ll become of God’s ineffable Presence. I love the way Thomas Merton put it. He was the Trappist Monk who spent much of his adult life at the Abbey of Gethsemane, not more than a few miles from where this article is being written. He said, “As soon as a man is disposed to being alone with God, he is alone with God, no matter where he is: in the country, the monastery, in the woods, in the city…At that moment he sees that though it seems he is in the middle of his journey, he has arrived at his destination already.” Words do not get more beautiful than that.

3. Third, along these same lines, remember that there’s a chasm of difference between intimacy and interaction. With the widespread phenomenon associated with text messaging, e-mail, and cell phones, a visitor from another planet might get the idea that, since humans are always connecting and interacting with each other, they must be friendly toward one another, even intimate and caring. It would not take him long however, to realize that his first impression was an illusion.

Although virtually everyone is endlessly talking and texting, the irony is that we may be the most disconnected, discontented, and dysfunctional generation on record. There is division in almost every family-yours, mine, and the families we know-as well as conflict in relationships both at school and at work. Furthermore, there is division between races, religions, cultures, and nations. People are more divided than perhaps at any other time in the history of the human race.

Conversation is no more communication than sex is intimacy. Communication and intimacy require attention–your attention. In other words, just to boast of praying much doesn’t mean you’re enjoying intimacy with God.  A genuine connectedness to Source goes much deeper than words.  In its purest sense, the Law of Attraction teaches–that to which you give your attention will expand. In other words, if you’ll simply give more of your attention to your spiritual life, your spiritual connectedness to the Presence of God will expand. And, it will so naturally. That is to say, with no effort on your part. That’s all it takes.

A. Your intention to be in union and intimacy with God.

B. And, your attention to those moments when you are aware of God or just have a thought about God.

Make this your spiritual practice and see what happens. This is how “Enoch walked with God.” It’s how we walk with God, too.  So, enjoy the journey.

If you’d like to explore how to walk with God and a host of other questions related to the spiritual life, I’d like to invite you to read the book, The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God. In it, I share many of the things I’ve learned about this and other important matters pertaining to spirituality. In fact, I’d be happy to send you a complimentary chapter of the book in pdf format, for free. Just send me an email and I’ll shoot you a chapter from The Enoch Factor. Email: steve@stevemcswain.com.

Posted in How to Know God, enoch walked with god | Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
May 26, 2010 by Dr. Steve McSwain Leave a comment

The Myth of Your “Calling” in Life: How to Know What You Really Showed Up to Do

Our culture has confused people, and continues to do so, in this regard. For example, what young person does not grow up expecting that there is something special they are here to do and that their greatest life challenge, or test, is to figure out what that “something” is and pursue it? In most instances, this cultural conditioning only serves to set up the young person for what will likely be a life of confusion and disappointment.

It is this kind of erroneous conditioning that leads virtually everyone to spend an inordinate amount of time looking for the “right” job, or career, or calling. While most people will eventually choose a career that rewards them with some measure of satisfaction, the fact is, no one ever finds a job or a calling that meets their deepest longing for fulfillment, joy, and happiness.

Why? It is because your deepest desires for happiness could only ever be the consequence of something altogether different.

So, what is that “something that is altogether different?” What will reward me with the deepest satisfaction, happiness, fulfillment, and joy in life?

In the book, The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God, I ask a question that both opens and closes the book. In that one question is the answer to this question regarding our deepest desires. “You were born to walk with God, so why would you walk alone?” In between this question are 250-plus pages of a cornucopia of sacred insights into the mysteries of life’s purpose or meaning. Although I am a Christian by faith, I make no apology when I draw on the spiritual teachings from a variety of religious traditions, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so forth. In all of these religions, you find the central, overriding truth that your primary purpose in life–that is, the real meaning of human existence–is to both know and to enjoy intimacy with the Creator, no matter how you may understand or conceptualize this Transcendence. As it was with Enoch, the mythic mystic out of Jewish folklore, “You are born to walk with God; so why would you walk alone?”

“All religions,” said the Hindu yogi, Parmahansa Yogananda, “serve the purpose of reuniting the soul with God.” Saint Augustine shared something of the same essential truth: “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in God.” What most religious people forget, especially Christians in the western world, and what our culture does not know and so fails to teach, is that there could only ever be one real purpose to human existence–one real meaning for your presence on planet earth–and that is to “know thyself,” as Socrates put it. When you know yourself, you’ve met your Source, which is why the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart said, “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.”

How is this so? Since you were created in the imago dei, the image of God, you are part of God. That means, the Source out of which you emerge is the same Source to which you will return. What made Jesus, and other spiritual avatars like him so unusual–people like the Buddha, Muhammad, Enoch, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and so on, is not that they were more divine than anyone else but that they lived at a level of God-realization few people ever experience. And yet, all of these enlightened souls invite their followers to live as they lived. Why would they invite people live as they lived if it was not possible to do so? That’s precisely the point. They would not have. However, because they lived so remarkably in touch with self and Source, so may we.

I grew up being taught by well-meaning, but misguided parents and other Christian people, that there was a “calling” I was to both discern and then pursue in life and, if I did, I would be rewarded with a happy, fulfilling life. In the end, however, that promise never materialized. What I now know is that there is no special vocation you’re supposed to find and pursue, as in a career or calling; but, instead, your real vocation is simply, to know God. When you do, there is joy unspeakable and there is inexplicable satisfaction throughout life.

The philosopher Teilhard de Chardin once said that we are spiritual beings having a temporary human experience. If that is true, when you reconnect with your spiritual self (or, Source), you make the remarkable discovery that what you do professionally is secondary to who you are. Your real identity could never be what you do but only ever who you are. And, therein lies the difference. Whether you wash windows, drive a cab, work on a farmer, serve tables in a restaurant, or act as the President and CEO of a Fortune 500 company, in the final analysis, none of these professions are either all that important or significant. They’re just roles we temporarily fill and are distinguished by their similar transitory nature. None of them, no what significance our culture may give to them, could ever reward you with what you either want or need in life, except in some relative, temporary sense.

So then, your real purpose is to walk with God. And, because this is so, then the second part of that question becomes all the more significant. Since our purpose is to walk with God, “Why would anyone walk alone?”

Well, the fact is, no one chooses to walk alone, yet most people do. They do precisely because they don’t know how to walk with God. But, that’ll have to be the subject of another blog.

Posted in Calling, How to Know God, The Enoch Factor | Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Page 1 of 3123