Reimagining the Christian Impulse

There is the incognoscible presence of God. It cannot be reasoned into, it cannot be reasoned out of, it can only be as it is and you within it. A center among centers encompassed by no circumference.

Howdy, this is Coyote Witness, where I’ll be exploring the esoteric aspects of Christianity. 

I hope that we can explore the teachings of the Bible, together in good faith, along with non-canonical scripture. Coyote Witness is a no-holds-barred examination of divinity; there is nothing off-limits in how we contrast, compare, and grok the ineffable nature of God through the lens of alchemy, archetype, and allegory.  

The aim of this aspiring mystic is to create a space where those of us who, like me, have been burned, traumatized, or marginalized by the church, because that is not the church I wish to leave behind. Currently, I am discerning a vocation with the church for this reason. 

I want to be a priest. This means I will be a guide and an example for a congregation. 

I have to do this work, too, the work of discipleship and I am dedicating my life to it. Coyote Witness is my ministry.

Ministry is participatory and Spirit works through us creating a mosaic rather than uniformity so as much as I hope this place will allow me to grow spiritually it would be nothing without the variety of perspectives engaging with it, so we might all grow. The cross we each bear is ours, alone, however that does not mean we are marooned. No one can do this work for you and no one can carry your cross, but hopefully this can be a place of respite.

Christianity is not some religious dogma that one accepts and goes about their life as if they had a get-out-of-hell free card nor is it a moniker to wear to feel superior to another person. God is a lived experience and one is not going to understand divinity sitting in their armchair reading the Gospels as their only vehicle for self-transformation–reading the Bible is important, but how this works is understanding that the Bible is true on many different levels: there is the exoteric agreement that everything in the Bible happened just the way it is written and then there is the esoteric where one reads the Bible with the mind of Christ, that everything in the Bible involves every aspect of the Self, each character in the Bible are pathways to the center of the individual.

Metanoia, the transformative change of heart and expansion of mind, erupted once I realized not only can I not fathom the ineffable nature of God; I am not supposed to be able to fathom the ineffable nature of God. 

It is a feature, not a bug. 

The mind cannot comprehend what is literally incomprehensible. It is why there are saints and there are madmen who seem to be onto the same level of understanding. “The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.” We must create ways that to grok divinity without going insane. We must find ways of talking about divinity without going insane. We must cleave to God without losing our ability to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

I cannot tell you what it will take or what it will look like when you are following The Way of the Khristós. The Khristós unites us and the Spirit diversifies, so our personal relationship to the consciousness of the Khristós and the kingdom will look differently. Coyote Witness’ mission is to walk The Way while recognizing the crosses of those walking alongside this pilgrim look different as do the cavalry’s that await each of us following in the footsteps of the Logos.  

“The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs. Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

The goal is to help extend the kingdom beyond myself, because as St. Teresa of Avila said, “Christ has no body but yours.” This sentiment echoes the mantra of this writer, “I must decrease, but He must increase.” Christianity has been a cultural monolith for so long that the people within and without the holy body of Christ have lost the meaning of this profound religion. In my own experience I have found even the word itself, “Christian,” is a stumbling block for people; I called myself a disciple of the Way long before I could muster the strength to refer to myself as Christian which is how this ministry began–what else is a stumbling block? What else is dross in need of a baptism by fire? The working theory is that all stumbling blocks are manifestations of our own conditioning, fear, and denial of God’s grace.

The Path meets us where we are and God grants us fortitude to keep going, no matter how we begin–and how one begins is how they arrive, so as much as there are pitfalls, the danger of confusing the forest for the trees, and goalposts for finish lines what will keep us on that narrow path is the aspiration to love God as He loves us, to be with God as He is with us, to be as Christ as He is within us.

Verily, verily I say unto you, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” A king seeks the kingdom, and being a king means being the master of your destiny unplagued by stumbling blocks and unconscious agendas. The king is a shepherd and a cultivator, protecting and guarding his flock with “winnowing fork in his hand, he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 

This expression of Christianity is our spiritual heritage; it is a mystical tradition of self-transformation passed down from the teachings of the Khristós through the earliest forms of the one, holy, katholikos, and apostolic church.

That is the anchor of Coyote Witness: Christianity is alchemical, full stop.

Si comprehendis, non est Deus