art said:

I disliked Christianity because I felt like it tried to make everyone conform to the same set of beliefs, many of which I did not agree with.

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Paradigm said:

I would say that enlightenment can take different forms. I think Christ consciousness and buddhahood are two different forms of enlightenment.

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exclusive58 said:

Paradigm said:

I would say that enlightenment can take different forms. I think Christ consciousness and buddhahood are two different forms of enlightenment.

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Would this define the christ consciousness you are talking about?:

"The sense of unity causes a person to stop feeling so alienated from the world of nature and the world of other people. When a person senses unity he or she feels connected to other objects and to other persons... "

If not, then in what way would christ consciousness differ from this?

If so, then what exactly made you label your experience as chist consciousness?

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exclusive58 said:

What's the difference between transcendance of selfhood and universal selfhood?

Transcendance of selfhood means the end of alienation, the end of duality, the end of conflict between illusionary differences.
When this happens, a peaceful feeling of unity emerges, a feeling of being one with the universe, in other words, universal selfhood.

Where am I not getting it?

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And if you are able to compare christ consciousness and bouddhahood, does that mean you have also experienced bouddhahood?

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Paradigm said:

I had a religious experience last night. I was at a rave, and a friend of mine said she would dose me if I bought an E pill off of her. She ended up leaving the job of dosing in my hands, and what was meant to be a drop turned out to be a squirt, and needless to say I had a rather intense trip.

Let me say that Christ is not completely alien to my former worldview. My cosmology had always allowed for what I call "Christ consciousness." But after last night, Christ changed from being a part of my faith to being the center of it. I saw the face of Jesus in everything. I felt Christ consciousness running through me.

For those who haven't read about it yet, I'm writing a book on how to end world poverty. During my trip last night, that idea took on spiritual significance. I prayed to Christ to let me be the vessel through which he can end the injustice of poverty. I then began to wonder if being the vessel through which Christ works successfully could lead to a fate similar to his. I panicked at the thought of suffering for the greater good of mankind. But then I had a moment of calm, where I took refuge in Christ, and answered affirmatively "Yes Jesus, I take you as my Lord and Savior. Thy Will be done."

I want to clarify some things about my newfound Christian faith. For one, the fact that I take refuge in Christ does not mean that others cannot legitimately take refuge in other things. And when I say that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, I am basically referring to the fact that he is my refuge in life. It would be too complicated to try to explain what I mean by "refuge," so I'll leave it at that. Also, I am still firmly opposed to Biblical literalism. I believe that taking the word of the Scriptures over the spirit with which they were writen has been the cause of far too much bloodshed to justify it. I still see other faiths as containing many of the same transcendent truths, and I believe that for some people, another faith might be a more fitting spiritual path to achieve one's greatest potential. I have simply found my path through Christ. I still incorporate the insights of other faiths into my worldview, but I now see Christ as the center of my faith.

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3eyeswise said:

I think they are one and the same,I just bought this book entitled; Jesus & Buddha the parallel sayings, and the teachings of both are so close that it is basically the same form of consciousness in my opinion.Both teachers drew from the same well of knowledge.I do believe the two religions are different,but the main message is close,and reaching a Christ consciousness and reaching Buddhahood is pretty much the same concept.Dying,letting go,liberation,and rebirth as a new and improved you.

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Man's consciousness is conditioned and therefore fragmented through upbringing, society, religion, culture and so on. There can only be freedom when there is no conditioning.
- Krishnamurti

All who have actually attained any real religious experience never wrangle over the form in which the different religions are expressed. They know that the soul of all religions is the same and so they have no quarrel with anybody just because he or she does not speak in the same tongue.
- Swami Vivekananda

Paradigm said:

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And if you are able to compare christ consciousness and bouddhahood, does that mean you have also experienced bouddhahood?

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I have not experienced either in full, but I have had partial experiences of both, yes.  Or rather, I would say that I have had temporary glimpses of both(i.e. satori enlightenment), but was not able to maintain either state of mind permanently.

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I suppose that these temporary glimpses have been attained with the help of psychedelics.  Couldn't it be that you feel that these state of minds are of different nature simply because you were on different psychedelics when you experienced them?

exclusive58 said:

I suppose that these temporary glimpses have been attained with the help of psychedelics.  Couldn't it be that you feel that these state of minds are of different nature simply because you were on different psychedelics when you experienced them?

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