Christ Consciousness

The oldest Christian message is Christ Consciousness. One of the oldest sayings in the New Testament is found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, but Paul did not write it. It is much older. It is from an early Christian hymns which Paul was quoting in Philippians 2. It reads: 

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
But emptied Himself, and took the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also highly exalted him, and gave him the name which is above every name. 

In another of his letters Paul comes right out and says that we already have the mind of Christ. It is just a matter of recognizing it. He writes: “The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

We have the mind of Christ, and Christian spiritual practice is recognizing this mind and allowing it to come to the forefront. Getting out of the way and allowing the Mind of Christ reign. To do this Jesus emptied himself of himself to be full of God, which was his true self. This awareness is what Jesus called the Kingdom of God. 

This is the heart of Jesus’ gospel and the earliest Christian message. It is Christ consciousness or God Consciousness. It could be called Kingdom Consciousness. It is unitive awareness or nondual awareness. It is abiding in the mind of Christ, which is the mind of God.