Understanding Paul Non-Dually
The Misunderstood Mystic
Thursday, April 16, 2015
I’m sure it’s obvious that Paul is a major hero of mine. I’ve spent a good deal of time and effort trying to help people fall in love with Paul as I have. Many people don’t like Paul, and I’m convinced it’s because they don’t understand him. I watch people’s eyes glaze over at Sunday Mass when the second reading is introduced as a letter from Paul to one of his communities.
Many people think Paul is a moralist, when he’s really a mystic. In fact, he is a living example of how religion is not a moral matter, as most of us have thought; it’s a mystical matter. As a mystic, Paul is a non-dual thinker. He loves to teach in a dialectical way, which is a major stumbling block to dualistic thinkers who only know how to affirm or deny. Paul eventually reconciles the two polarities that he often presents (such as weakness and strength), but most people do not stay with him long enough to see that. (This is one of the major problems of short second readings on Sunday!)
I believe Paul creates the mystical foundations for Christianity. Don’t let the word “mysticism” scare you. All I mean by mysticism is experience-based religion whereby you come to really know something for yourself. It’s not just believing something; it’s knowing something. That’s why Paul is able to speak with such authority. He’s constantly saying, “I know, and I know that I know. I’m telling you what the Spirit has taught me.” I think that’s why many people who are at a more mature level of Christianity just devour Paul. They want to chew on and relish his words because they know Paul’s teaching comes from a high level of consciousness, inner awareness, and inner experience. He sees in wholes, not in parts, but those of us who see in parts just stay at the dualistic level and argue about the pieces.
Dualistic thinking gives false comfort, whereas freedom is always scary. Some passages, like 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, have clearly been inserted into Paul’s writing, which can be proved by internal textual analysis. Such passages reflect the black and white, either/or thinking with which the biblical transcribers and editors were more comfortable. Later scribes, obviously offended by what they observed to be haughty women, added passages about how women should not speak in meetings (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). This clearly contradicts what Paul assumes elsewhere (1 Corinthians 11:5). Paul does reflect his patriarchal religion and time in history, but the die has been cast. Paul’s revolutionary and much resisted teaching is that “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
The best advice I can give you in regard to understanding Paul is to just stay with him. He’ll eventually reach a resolution to most of the dialectics he himself creates. And stay on your own journey. You will find that Paul makes a lot more sense in the second half of life than he did when you were in the first half of life looking for proof in the texts! Paul is indeed a teacher of adult Christianity. Keep experiencing your experiences and depending on divine guidance as he did; watch how the scales begin to fall from your eyes as they did from Paul’s (Acts 9:18).
Gateway to Silence:
“When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
References:
Adapted from Jesus as Liberator/Paul as Liberator (MP3 download)
and St. Paul: The Misunderstood Mystic (CD, MP3 download)
