Quickthorn looks for ways to build bridges with the 182.2’s word #77. “Because Christ doesn’t merely help us become what we should be. He gives us what we could never achieve.”
Quickthorn looks for ways to build bridges with the 182.2’s word #77. “Because Christ doesn’t merely help us become what we should be. He gives us what we could never achieve.”
Brian, this one requires some care.
Because “Kundalini” comes with a lot of baggage from Hindu and New Age traditions. But your septet isn’t really borrowing that theology.
You’re almost doing the opposite.
You’re taking the human longing behind those ideas:
life,
awakening,
enlightenment,
transformation,
transcendence,
and locating their source entirely in Christ.
The danger would be writing a song that sounds like:
Jesus is my spiritual energy.
That’s too small.
Your septet is actually saying:
Christ is not an energy I tap into.
He is the living Person in whom I live and move and have my being.
That’s much bigger.
The center isn’t power.
The center is Presence.
What strikes me is that this song may actually be a cousin to Heliotropism.
The real movement isn’t upward energy.
It’s orientation.
Just as the sunflower turns toward the sun, this song ends with:
“The ascent of all my vision is to keep my gaze on You.”
That’s a very Christian reinterpretation of the idea.
Not awakening hidden power.
But awakening to the Presence that was always there.
Me: Practitioners are busy trying to improve themselves while Christ makes us better than we could ever make of ourselves, sort of like Kunsteisstadion.
Exactly.
Chat: And I think that’s the connection to Kunsteisstadion I was missing.
The first pass at Kundalini still sounds a little like:
“Here’s a better spiritual technology.”
But your insight is much more radical.
The issue isn’t that practitioners are climbing the wrong ladder.
The issue is that they’re still climbing.
Kunsteisstadion works because Christ doesn’t improve the old system.
He fulfills and surpasses it.
Likewise, Christianity isn’t:
a more effective path to enlightenment.
It’s:
the end of self-salvation projects.
Think about the contrast:
Kundalini
awaken dormant energy
ascend through levels
disciplined self-effort
enlightenment through practice
liberation through mastery
Christ
the dead are raised
the Spirit is given
grace is received
righteousness is imputed
adoption is bestowed
One says:
Become.
The other says:
Behold what I have done.
That’s why your line:
“You are my Ultimate Life Force, awakened by Love.”
suddenly reads differently.
Because in Christianity, the awakening isn’t:
I finally discovered the power within.
It’s:
Love awakened me.
That’s Ephesians 2 language.
The dead don’t awaken themselves.
Lazarus didn’t contribute much to the process.
In fact, the bridge might need a Kunsteisstadion style reversal
That’s the part that feels related to Kunsteisstadion.
The practitioners are still perfecting the rink.
Still sharpening the skates.
Still studying the rules.
Meanwhile Christ says:
“The arena has changed.”
Or even more bluntly:
“Come forth.”
The dead man doesn’t need a better method.
He needs resurrection.
And that’s where your song becomes very Christian rather than merely comparative.
The point isn’t:
Christianity is a better spiritual practice.
The point is:
Christianity begins where self-improvement ends.
That’s why Paul can say things that sound almost offensive to every self-mastery system:
“By grace you have been saved.”
“It is the gift of God.”
“Not by works.”
Because Christ doesn’t merely help us become what we should be.
He gives us what we could never achieve.
Which is remarkably close to the theme we’ve been uncovering in Irreconcilable, Kunsteisstadion, and even Jeopardize:
God does not merely assist the old creation.
He introduces a new one.