by David Campbell. www.SoHA.center
Article Written for the Albany Democrat-Herald Interfaith Column
December 2024
One of the central invitations of Christ Consciousness is to experience the world through a perspective rooted in unconditional love, free from fear, judgment, and shame. To embody a Christ centered viewpoint is to engage life not as a series of events happening TO you, but to experience life as a divine journey, filled with lessons and opportunities for wonderment and growth happening FOR you. Embodying Christ Consciousness is to transcend our reactive thought patterns and embrace a heart centered compassionate way of being present in the world.
The 1984 hit movie The Karate Kid tells the fictional story of Daniel LaRusso, a young karate student who spends long hours waxing cars and painting the fence of his teacher while repeating the mantra, “wax on, wax off.” Daniel is frustrated, unable to see the connection between these mundane tasks and the karate he wants to learn. Through a period of transformation, Daniel comes to realize these mundane tasks repeated with mindfulness were foundational to his success as a karate champion.
Being open to shifting perspective is essential for heart centered living. How often do we face challenges or conflicts and wish we could skip over them? What if we learned to see these moments as part of a larger training montage bringing us closer to our more enlightened self? We can choose to see struggles not as setbacks, but as essential elements of our spiritual development.
When we experience a difficult person, it has been culturally normative to respond as if we have been a victim of their actions. But Christ Consciousness asks: How can I be grateful for this difficult person who is serving as my teacher right now? How can I concurrently advocate for behavior and boundaries that honor me, while seeking to learn from this difficult situation how I may grow more wise, more loving, and more compassionate?
Unconditional love encourages us to see beyond surface behavior with wisdom and empathy; to listen compassionately not only to someone’s words and actions but to the fears and traumas and context behind their words and actions. Wisdom when paired with compassion doesn’t mean we are complicit with behavior that harms us; it means someone else’s triggered state doesn’t trigger an automatic, unconscious response inside of us that is rooted in judgement, fear or shame. Unconditional love does not mean being a doormat; it is a form of empowerment rooted in clarity.
Similarly, when we encounter suffering within ourselves—whether emotional, mental, or physical—Christ Consciousness calls us to love ourselves unconditionally with compassion and tenderness without judgement. Eliminating conflict or discomfort from our lives is not possible, but it is possible to engage every challenge as an opportunity to deepen our clarity and connection to the divine love that underpins all of existence.
When we are in reaction to our world using unconscious, unquestioned, culturally learned thought patterns, we are probably engaged in the fear, judgement and shame that are the roots of all suffering. When we look at every experience through a lens of compassion supported with wisdom, we soften our inner state and subsequently we transform our outer world. Inner and outer freedom comes from perpetually training ourselves to have consistent capacity to (1) receive an experience, (2) pause for inner reflection, and (3) respond from our compassionate heart supported by wisdom and discernment. In doing so, even the most difficult experiences become opportunities for greater wisdom, understanding, peace, empathic connection and being present in the beauty of the divine flow.
David Campbell
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