The Tao of Christ

Spiritual Transparency

July 03, 2021 Marshall Davis
The Tao of Christ
Spiritual Transparency
Show Notes Transcript

Nonduality is transparency. The physical world is seen as transparent to the Unitive Reality that lays beneath, like looking through a clear lake’s water to the lake’s bottom. Furthermore we see ourselves as part of the world as transparent to Reality. Apparent differences are seen as expressions of an underlying Unity. Using theistic terms we could say that the creation is a reflection and expression of its Creator. 

Transparency also applies to ethics. One of the most frequent downfalls of spiritual teachers – both Eastern teachers and Western preachers – is the lack of ethical transparency. Teachers and preachers often are not what they appear to be. Moral failings come to light and a leader falls from power. Often these moral failures have to do with money, sex and power. It is not surprising that Jesus deals with these topics on his Sermon on the Mount.

Spiritual Transparency

Nonduality is transparency. The physical world is seen as transparent to the Unitive Reality that lays beneath, like looking through a clear lake’s water to the lake’s bottom. Furthermore we see ourselves as part of the world as transparent to Reality. Apparent differences are seen as expressions of an underlying Unity. Using theistic terms we could say that the creation is a reflection and expression of its Creator. 

Transparency also applies to ethics. One of the most frequent downfalls of spiritual teachers – both Eastern teachers and Western preachers – is the lack of ethical transparency. Teachers and preachers often are not what they appear to be. Moral failings come to light and a leader falls from power. Often these moral failures have to do with money, sex and power. It is not surprising that Jesus deals with these topics on his Sermon on the Mount.

The Southern Baptist Convention recently held its annual convention in Nashville. I have mentioned before I have had connections to Southern Baptists in the past. My two graduate theological degrees are from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. I have pastored two Southern Baptist churches during my ministry, most recently ending in 2009. For that reason I still keep my eye on what Southern Baptists are doing.

At the moment they are going through crises related to racism, sexism and sexual abuse. They are struggling to be transparent on these issues, especially sexual abuse by Baptist pastors and cover-up by churches and denominational leaders. The approach of denial and cover-up did not work for the Roman Catholics and it will not work for the Southern Baptists. There needs to be complete transparency, and a new denominational task force is promising that. 

Jesus talks about spiritual transparency in his famous Sermon on the Mount. I used that term a couple of episodes back in a talk entitled “Making the Outer like the Inner.” In that episode I looked at what Jesus said about murder and anger. Today I look at how transparency applies to matters of sexual integrity. Jesus talks about adultery and divorce, and not surprisingly he is against them. He sees the cause of adultery as rooted in lust. He sees divorce as a symptom of this same problem. 

In this context he talks about vows. He is thinking of marriage vows but also a broader sense all vows and oaths. He says, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

Jesus is calling for such complete honesty in speech that oaths become completely unnecessary. The reason people take oaths is to ensure they will tell the truth and follow through. When people testify before congress or a court of law they take an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Why would that be necessary except for the tendency for people not to tell the truth? Jesus is saying that a spiritually transparent person is completely honest in what they say. Therefore an oath becomes unnecessary.

This is the reason for Jesus’ incessant criticism of the Pharisees for being hypocrites. That is the number one criticism that people have of Christians today. There was a study done in 2007 by the Barna Group. A book came out of it entitled “Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why It Matters.” It explores how young people (late teens to thirty-somethings) viewed church people. The top two perceptions that young people have of the church are that Christians are judgmental (87%) and hypocritical (85%)

This is not just a problem for the church. The biggest complaint against Eastern spiritual gurus and teachers is the same. These leaders present an aura of spirituality and holiness while too often engaging in illicit sexual affairs and financial misconduct. So this is a problem in non-Christian spirituality as well as in Christianity. As evangelicals love to quote, “None are righteous, no not one.”

Nondual awareness – when it transforms our lives – will produce transparency between our inner lives and our outer behavior. Authentic spirituality expresses itself in moral living without pretense or hypocrisy. That is why the Buddha followed up his four noble truths with the Eightfold path. 

This is where Christian nonduality can contribute something important to the current expression of nonduality. Christian nonduality with its emphasis on transparency between the inner life and the outer life can restore this sense of integrity that is so often missing from both Christianity and other spiritual traditions.

Nonduality means that the inner and the outer are in harmony; they are one. There is no distinction between the two. What you see is what you get. It also means that those who know nondual awareness are to be completely honest in what we say and teach. We are to be upfront about our failings. The myth that awakened people are somehow morally superior or even perfect needs to be discarded. We should not assume such a thing of teachers or claim it for ourselves. 

To put it in Christian language, none of us are without sin. Once again, as evangelicals are so fond of quoting, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Jesus said to the crowd that was literally about to cast stones of judgment at the woman caught in adultery, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” It is worth noting that not even Jesus cast a stone. 

Jesus did not claim sinlessness or infallibility for himself! He admitted there were things that he did not know and that only God knew. Concerning the end of the age, Jesus said, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  Jesus admitted he did not know everything.

He also admitted he was not morally perfect. He would not even accept the label of being a good person! One time a person came to him and addressed him as “good teacher” and Jesus scolded him saying, “Why do you call me good? None is good but God alone!” Somehow the church keeps forgetting that teaching by Christ. 

Later on the Christian church claimed for Jesus the perfection he would not claim for himself, calling him sinless. This is mentioned most famously in the Letter to the Hebrews. Hebrews is anonymous, by the way, and certainly not written by an apostle or anyone who knew Jesus. Yet it famously asserts that Jesus was tempted in all ways like we are but without sin. 

Jesus would have never claimed such a thing! That claim about Jesus - as well as the claim that everything he said and everything the Bible says is inerrant and infallible - has caused much harm in Christian theology and practice, especially when religious leaders – whether popes or fundamentalists - claim to speak in the name of that inerrancy and infallibility. 

The image of saintliness and holiness and godliness is impossible for spiritual teachers to live up to. It invites hypocrisy. That is why so many spiritual teachers are tempted to put up a front of holiness. When the curtain is pulled back and it is revealed that the idol has feet of clay and the teacher is only human, then the whole organization that was built on that image collapses and the teaching is discredited. The heads of spiritual communities need to be honest about their flaws and imperfections and temptations. They need to be morally accountable to others in the organization. 

I am no saint, as my wife can readily attest. I do not know it all, and I am far from perfect. I am fallible. I make mistakes. I get it wrong. I am glad of that because it gives me the right to change. I don’t feel like I have to live up to anyone’s image of me. 

No one is perfect, and that includes all spiritual teachers who sit on their dais and are looked upon adoringly by disciples as if they were gods on earth. That is eventually what happened to Jesus, but thankfully not in his lifetime. Gods on earth are idols. The first and second of the Ten Commandment – two out of God’s top ten - forbid idols. 

Spiritual transparency is to see ourselves as we are, human incarnations with flaws, but are also one with the divine essence which is God. As one with the Divine we are perfect. As humans we are imperfect expressions of the divine. Yet even that imperfection is part of the greater divine whole. Perfectly imperfect. It is a paradox. We are to live lives that embrace both dimensions – yin and yang. That is what it means to live transparently. Then as Jesus said, people will look at us give glory to God.