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resolving the clash of Eastern religions and Christianity

East West United

by Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer

The goal of people who believe in and practice the Eastern religion (Hinduism) is self-realization...to look deeply within where they discover the "true self" and declare the "true self" to be God. And people who practice the other Eastern religion (Buddhism) also look deeply within where they discover the "true self". These eastern religions are essentially the same; and - as stated by David Hunt, the author of a best selling book - "for the first time in history they are being widely practiced throughout the Western world as Transcendental Meditation and other forms of Hinduism that are now taught in nearly every YWCA or YMCA, in public and private schools from kindergarten to graduate level, and in many churches."

A modern day term for these Eastern religions when blended into a single religion is the "New Age" religion. Christian authors of contemporary best-selling books often refer to the "New Age" religion as the "great delusion" that the Bible warns will sweep the world in the "last days".

The many Eastern gurus who have come to the West are converting millions to this religion with a missionary zeal and success that is a new phenomenon for Eastern religions."

We are also warned in the Bible that many people who practice Christianity will succumb to this deception, and by doing so, a great apostasy will occur - and then come to an end - prior to the return of Jesus Christ; the delusion will sweep through the church as well as secular society. So it should be no surprise to find, for a short period of time, an increasing clash of Eastern religions and the Western religion.

In my mission to resolve this clash, I discovered - by refracting Christianity through the Hindu facet of the prism of human civilization - a new "aspect" or new "fulfillment" of Christianity. And I believe that when this new "aspect" or new "fulfillment" of Christianity is widely accepted and incorporated into Christianity the clash of Eastern religions and the Western religion will come to an end.

In the book The Salvation Of The Nations Cardinal Jean Danielou wrote: "Are India, China and Africa lands where in the designs of providence Christianity will find new categories, new forms of thought, new fulfillments? There may well be many aspects of Christianity that we shall not discover until Christianity has been refracted through every facet of the prism of human civilization. It has been refracted only through the Greek and Roman worlds, but it will have to be refracted through the Chinese facet and the Hindu facet in order to attain its fulfillment; and this total fulfillment will not come through the conversion of individual men, but through the Christianization of all the civilizations of the earth. All of these civilizations must be permeated by Christianity, and Christianity must bring to blossom whatever in them has been in the nature of providential preparation."

In the book of Genesis, the word of God says that the knowledge of good and evil was promised to Eve by the serpent. The knowledge of good and evil promised Eve by the serpent refers to the dualistic and oppositional experiences that Adam and Eve would experience if they were to sin by changing their perception of good and evil from being virtually the same, to being dualistic and oppositional experiences known as "good and evil". When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by "eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" they divided and separated a single concept and experience into dualistic and oppositional experiences. And this grave sin of theirs created for themselves, and all humans born into the world after them (with the exception of the Virgin Mary), the dualistic and oppositional experiences known as "good and evil".

The Catholic Church teaches that Christians do not have to feel guilt or ashamed for occasionally committing some very minor sins. And that the reason why, is because even though a very holy Christian might occasional commit some very minor sins, never-the-less God would always and everywhere be pleased with such a saintly person. This person would experience good-evil as a single experience, an experience of always being pleasing to God.

When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" they committed a major or grave sin. And when they committed that grave sin they lost awareness of who they truly were. And did so, by losing their awareness of being an "eternal divine being" with non-separate selfhood identities within creation. Their non-separate selfhood identities would have lived forever in their perpetually youthful and healthy bodies located in the Garden of Eden if they would not have "eaten the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil". And after losing their true identity they came to believe that they were only individuals living solely within creation.

In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 the word of God says: "..., as he (God the Father) chose us in him (Jesus Christ), before the foundation of the world..." If God the Father chose us in His son Jesus Christ before the foundations of the world, we therefore had to exist before our conception and birth into this world.

And in the book of Proverbs, "wisdom" is described as a being who existed before the world began: "When He (God) established the heavens I was there" - Proverbs 8:27. "When He set the sea its limit, so that the water should not transgress his command; then was I beside Him as his craftsman and I was his delight day by day,..." - Proverbs 8:29-30. I believe that our "true self", or our "higher self", as it is sometimes called, is the being, who is proclaimed to exists in Proverbs 8:27, and who is described in Proverbs as "concurring with God when He planned and executed the creation of the universe".

In the New American Bible (a Catholic study bible) a footnote about Proverb 8, 22-31 reads: "It (wisdom) is here represented as a being which existed before all things, and concurred with God when he planned and executed the creation of the universe, adorned it with beauty and variety, and established its wonderful order." I believe that this "being which existed before all things" is our higher self; and that we (all human beings) are therefore subordinate divine gods, or individual expressions of an eternal god. When we become filled with the fullness of wisdom, we will realize that we are the personification of wisdom and therefore one with our divine mother a "subordinate divine being".

In John 10, 34...it is stated that Jesus told some Jewish religious leaders: "Is it not written that in your law, 'I said, "you are gods"? And in reference to this verse in scripture, a footnote in the New American Bible reads: (Psalms 82, 6) I declare: "Gods though you be": in Jn 10, 34 Jesus uses the verse to prove that those to whom the word of God is addressed can fittingly be called "gods". And another New American Bible footnote that sheds light on what Jesus meant by His words "you are gods" reads: "As in Ps 58, the pagan gods are seen as subordinate divine beings to whom Israel's God had delegated oversight of the foreign countries in the beginning. In Jn 10, 34...Jesus tells the Jewish leaders, people who are human beings, just like the rest of us, that they are "gods". And by doing so, He declared that all human beings are "subordinate divine beings", or different expressions of a subordinate divine being who "concurred with God when He planned and executed the creation of the universe."

In the tenth chapter of John, the Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy, and did so, because they believed that He was a man who was making himself God. And in response, Jesus told them that they were "gods", or "lesser divine beings". He was saying to the Jews, if I (Jesus) was only referring to myself as being "divine" or a "god", by saying "before Abraham was I am" even that should not be considered blasphemy. He was telling them this because they didn't even know that they were "gods". Everyone who knows who they truly are can say: "Before Abraham was I am". But Jesus' highest realm of divinity transcends human divinity. Therefore, when Jesus said: "Before Abraham was I am", He was referring not only to his human divinity, which is from everlasting, but also to His God divinity, which is also from everlasting.

God transcends the highest realm of divinity, or the realm of our Father in Heaven and extends down to the earth and fills the lowest realm of divinity, or the realm of our Mother. Therefore, God our Father and "god" our divine Mother our the same Being, a Being who is compartmentalized into virtually two separate B/beings who compliment each other. When Hindus are in dialog with Christians and they say they meditate and pray to become one with God the Father they are confusing God the Father with the divine mother. They are actually meditating and praying to become one with the divine mother. And some Hindus, as well as some Buddhist, have already become one with her.

People who practice Hinduism believe that who we think we are is only a minuet partial awareness of who we really are. Therefore, in order to become aware of the more significant part of who we are they temporarily pretend to have two selves. The first "self" is the observer self. This "self" is the more significant part of who we are. And the second self is the doer self. This other "self" is the less significant part of who we are. If you say to yourself, while walking, I am now walking...or, while sitting, I am now sitting, etc., your observing yourself. The goal for Hindus is to become continually aware that they are, for the most part, their observer "self" observing. After this occurs their doer "self" is no longer experienced as a separate selfhood individual and neither do they perceive or experience good and evil as being different concepts and experiences. They view and experience them as being virtually the same. In addition, all other false dualistic and oppositional experiences no longer exist for them. They therefore find themselves in a Garden of Eden state of consciousness. A state of consciousness wherein they experience themselves as being both an un-created eternal divine being experiencing everlasting life beyond creation as well as non-separate selfhood individual expressions of this eternal divine being living in creation. They experience having become one with "god" our Mother, or our higher self.

And when they are in that state of consciousness and they look at other people they no longer see them as other people, they see them as other expressions of their higher self. Jesus said "love your neighbor as yourself" and that is what enlightened Hindus literally do.

But if you are not a Hindus, but a Christian, you do not only want to get your mind back into a Garden of Eden state of consciousness you also want to ultimately get your body back into the Garden of Eden. And only Jesus can lead our bodies back into the Garden of Eden. When Jesus leads our bodies back into the Garden of Eden our bodies will be restored to a youthful state of existence and then ultimately glorified as well.

Jesus not only leads our minds and bodies back into the Garden of Eden He also has brought about - by His dead, resurrection and ascension into Heaven - the reconciliation between God and humanity. And by doing so, He enabled people who become Christians to receive a share of God’s own nature as well.

God created the universe from, in respect to physical matter, nothing. And He created us humans from a permeated by Himself eternal divine being. And I believe that God wants us to become aware of and experience ourselves as both a God permeated divine being living beyond creation as well as non-separate selfhood entities living in creation; and upon doing so, experience the state of consciousness that Adam and Eve were in before they committed a grave sin.

In that state of consciousness there is eternal bliss and good and evil do not exist as dualistic and oppositional experiences. If there were no eternal Hell there could not be an eternal Heaven. Good and evil are necessary for the creation to exist and that is why there has to be an eternal Hell that goes along with an eternal Heaven.

Only an insignificant part of us will go to either Heaven or Hell. Therefore it does not make much difference where we will go in created existence. Or, in other words, it will not make very much difference if we go to either Heaven or Hell because once we are in a non-separate selfhood state of consciousness and experiencing eternal bliss in uncreated existence it will not matter very much where we are in created existence.

But it will make some difference. And that is why "I" want to go to Heaven. And besides, we have to be good to experience eternal bliss beyond creation, so why not also be good to help us get that less significant part of ourselves, by the grace of God, into eternal happiness in Heaven as well. It would be an additional blessing from God to also receive eternal happiness in created existence or Heaven. Once Christians understand this they will also be able to understand how God, who is love, can send people to eternal Hell.

In the New Testament the word of God says: "Look up for your redemption draws near." And in the New Testament the word of God also says: "When your eye is single your whole body will be full of light." And in the Old Testament the word of God says: "Be still and know that I am God." The Hindus sit still for hours at a time. And while sitting still they stop thinking so that their minds are also still. And while they are sitting still they "look up" at their "single eye". This is what Christians should also be doing. And while we Christians are sitting still we should be listening for God to speak to us.

"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." - Gen. 2:8. "Therefore the Lord God sent him from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." - Gen. 3: 23. In an exposition on these two passages, Sri Yukteswar, a famous Hindu guru, is quoted as saying in an international best-selling book titled Autobiography Of A Yogi, that: "The first humans had their consciousness centered on their 'single eye' in their foreheads (eastward). The all-creative power of their will, focused at that spot, were lost when they began to "till the ground" of their physical nature." I believe that his exposition on these two bible passages is accurate.

Just recently the Catholic Church did away with the concept and belief of an after death place, or state of consciousness, called "limbo", a supposed place where it was thought un-baptized babies went when they died, a place of eternal bliss, but lacking the joy that people experience in Heaven. This, therefore, indicates that the Church can change its mind and theology about what happens to people after they die, with the exception of dogma already established. Therefore, I believe that the Church could and will develop new and advanced theology about what happens to people after they die. Therefore, I believe that the Church will except and be pleased with my theology that states that even though a dead person might be in Hell, an undesirable place in creation, that person might also be in a virtual state of eternal bliss beyond creation.

People in Heaven, a glorious place in creation, also experience eternal bliss beyond creation. And eventually all people who go to Hell, an undesirable place in creation, will also be able to experience eternal bliss beyond creation. We do not need to die in order to enter into our future experience of eternal bliss beyond creation. But we will have to wait to see where we will go to experience eternity in creation.

When referring to what we should be looking for to determine when Jesus Christ's end-time ministry will have become manifest in the end-time prophet - that prophet being the prophet who will come in the spirit and power of Elijah to restore all things (Malachi 4, 5-6) - the word of God says in Luke 17: 23..."There will be those who will say to you, 'Look, there he is,' [or] 'Look, here he is.' Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be [in his day]. And in Matthew 24:27 the word of God says: "For just as lighting comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. The word of God indicates that the end-time prophet will be like lightning that brings the aluminous wisdom of the East to the West; and that the light of Christ in the end-time prophet will illuminate both the East - bringing Christ to the people of the Eastern religions - as well as the West - bringing the wisdom of the Eastern religions to Christianity - thus binging them together into a single religion, or into a radically transform expression of Christianity, wherein all of humanity will be quickly united in anticipation of Jesus Christ's final coming.

Since I entered the 1960s' counter-cultural revolution, I have been trying to unite all of humanity within a single religion, a goal of the counter-cultural revolution. Therefore I am in the process of uniting all good willed religions into a single religion. And I believe that the Catholic religion, after it has been greatly transformed, will be the "single religion" wherein all of humanity will be united.

An introduction to this booklet can be found at: http://www.towahkon.org/EastWestPlus.html *****************************************************************************************************************************************************
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I am a member of Wahkon, Minnesota's Sacred Heart Church, a Roman Catholic Church, and in a recent Sacred Heart Church liturgy pamphlet there are the words: In these days, God speaks to us through the Son, whose name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father forever, Prince of Peace. Eternal God, who through the coming of the Lord has revealed yourself as our Father and Mother.