DR. STE​VE M​CSWAIN

The Secret of Contentment: Christ Consciousness

The Secret of Contentment: Christ Consciousness

August 13, 2016 Consciousness

What is the secret of contentment?
Christ consciousness.

Contentment

But what does this mean?

The following is my attempt to explain these words and how they connected to the secret of contentment.

When I use the words “Christ consciousness” I am referring to an inner awareness of one’s origin and identity as a temporary human expression of God. We are spiritual beings seeking to live fully into our humanity. Our origin is in that whom we call God.

We come from God. We will return from God.

Interestingly, some of the world’s most renowned physicists are studying quantum mechanics and its relationship to “life after death” – a consciousness that survives the death of the body.

In other words…

We are not on a journey TO God, but a journey WITH God.
With God, we are one. All of us. We long for God and that feeling is itself God.

That was the message, ironically, Jesus was communicating in John 17.

The Secret of Contentment

Coincidentally, I think the man, Jesus, lived with this kind of consciousness…awareness. He left a body of teachings for us to follow. Consequently, he promised, if we followed a similar “way, truth and life” we, too, would know…would possess…would live fully as humans who are aware of God…the Eternal Father (and, Mother).

I practice knowing this. For me, this is what spirituality means. It has nothing to do with what you believe or where you may or may not go to church. It does not mean I think of myself as more perfect, which I am not, or more special, which I am not, or more deserving than anyone else. Again, which I am not.

It just means that, for me, and I think this would be true for anyone, the joy of life is living more and more connected with this Eternal Source. I make it my ambition to live fully into my human experience while being conscious of a transcendent, eternal presence I call “God.”

Though at one time I thought so, I now know there is no effort in knowing God…in being conscious of her Presence. Instead, it is more like just waking up to the realization that Presence is there and being aware of it…conscious of it. This is what Christ consciousness means to me.

Contentment and Christ Consciousness

Now, to heighten this sense of awareness, I engage in the spiritual practice of meditation. Meditation has made my life more conscious of God which, in turn, has brought to me more joy, less anxiety and fear – two of my almost continual companions – and a feeling of being connected to the Eternal and inexhaustible life resources. All of this is important to me.

If it is to you, then I suspect you will have to find or develop for yourself a spiritual practice.

Now, one of the things I do is take advantage of the myriad of tools to enhance my meditative experience. One of these is a little App on my iPhone called CALM. Until today, however, I would open the App, choose the meditation from among many choices and then I would meditate. If, however, during my meditation, I wanted to memorize sacred texts or poems (which I often do as a matter of focus during meditation), I would have to switch from the App to the text I wanted to memorize. This meant, the music would end.

The Secret of Contentment: Christ Consciousness

I made a wonderful discovery today, however. The discovery not only assists me in meditation but it illustrates what I mean by “Christ consciousness.”

There is a little button inside the CALM app that, once I turned it on, I discovered it enabled the meditation music to continue to play quietly in the background and through my headphones even while I opened other programs or Apps on my iPhone.

In fact, I have discovered I could do many things – exercise, workout, surf the web from my iPhone, work on docs, send emails, or just quietly sit, focus, and memorize verse or text and the meditation music (which for me is mostly Gregorian Chant Music) still plays in the background. I’m conscious of music at all times, even though I am busily doing something else.

This is what I mean by Christ consciousness.

Christ Consciousness – Awareness

To be conscious is simply to practice of developing that inner awareness capacity that is like the background music of the Eternal Presence at all times.

BTW, this is what Saint Paul meant when he counseled the Thessalonians “to pray at all times” (1 Thess. 5:17). He wasn’t encouraging people to become monks and all live inside a monastery, praying daily in the chapel. Instead, he was counseling them to do what the 13th century Carmelite Monk Brother Lawrence called, “Practicing the Presence of God.”

This is the secret of contentment.

Or, so, I have discovered.

1 thought on “The Secret of Contentment: Christ Consciousness”

  1. I think my first musical encounter with this brilliant Other Presence was in listening intently to the “Firebird Suite” by Igor Stravinsky. I remember writing in a diary that it was my first encounter with the Christ Spirit. I was very young at the time but it was an outstanding experience.

    Since then I have had bouts of serious illness but there has always been that JOY.

    What you say is very exciting. It is a connection I have been hoping for, for a long, long time. Earlier this evening ( It is 10:30pm in Stockton-on-Tees, England) I have been imploring “God” for some humane assurance and now I think it is coming.
    Thankyou very much.

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