In this article, I want to discuss the meaning of the birth of Jesus from post-rational, mystical perspective, along with how this perspective both includes and transcends the typical interpretations of this all-important Christian icon.
This is part of my series of articles on Christmas, in which I’m attempting to convey the joyous, buoyant, non-Mythic, post-rational view of this Christian festival. To that end, I’m covering various essential Christian symbols and how they look from this view.
The birth of Jesus is yet another quintessential Christian symbol that wonderfully conveys profound spiritual truths found in all the contemplative traditions.
Before you read on, I suggest you check out my article on the spiritual meaning of Christmas. This will help you to understand the concept of Mythic and Rational faith and how it relates to Christianity, and to see how my post-rational view compares to them.
A Spiritual Disclaimer
Before we start, I want to be very clear that I am not a Christian, at least not in the traditional sense. I’m a yogi, a practitioner who primarily practices Buddhist meditation. But I connect deeply with symbology of Christianity, and I believe it could and should be rationalised, mysticised and made into a conveyor built of transformation, in the same way that Buddhism is.
Unfortunately Christianity is inundated with Mythic baggage, and we’re in a Modern-Postmodern age that doesn’t accept myths as providing objective truth. I’m one of the few that don’t want to lose Christianity: I want to update it.
My goal is to help you see all the Christian myths as symbols, as pointers, as metaphors. I want you to look beyond the paraphernalia to the core. Admittedly, sometimes the paraphernalia is elaborate, dense and formidably confusing, especially if you’re addicted or allergic to Mythic Christianity.
I don’t have a monopoly on spiritual life, and I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but these ideas are what the birth of Jesus evoke in me, and I believe that they roughly outline a post-rational view of this Christian symbol.
I don’t believe that the Christian myths describe real events. I don’t believe that Jesus was literally born to a virgin mother, and I don’t believe it’s necessary to believe any of the Christian myths in a literal sense. In fact, I doubt that Christ was a real person, and even if he was, he still remains a symbol – a powerful one at that.
I think he is the great Christian archetype, just like the Buddha is the great Buddhist archetype. Whether they ever existed is somewhat irrelevant and doesn’t limit the depth of our spiritual lives.
That said, let’s now look at the general meaning of the birth of Jesus, or its general function as a symbol, before going in to specifics.
The Meaning of the Birth of Jesus: General
It’s crucial you understand that the birth of Jesus is merely a symbol for something else. Its only purpose is to point you towards or remind you of that which it symbolises.
The general meaning of the birth of Jesus is that it’s both a celebration of our true, transpersonal being and a pointer to it, just like the Christian cross. All the paraphernalia surrounding the symbol is mere apparatus for supporting the core vessel for truth, which is the young Christ.
See my video on the symbolism of the Christian cross.
It’s not that Christ was literally born to a virgin mother. In my opinion, there was no historical Christ, and the birth of Christ doesn’t refer to a biological birth. Christ is just a placeholder, as is his birth, as is his virgin mother. We’ll look more closely at what each of these mean.
The Meaning of the Birth of Christ: Our Christ Nature
In ultimate instance, the birth of Jesus symbolises Christ consciousness, which is our own – your own – true nature.
The baby Christ signifies the unelaborated, untarnished, lucidity of our Buddha-Christ mind. It is ever-present, lucid mind, fresh, vivid, pure, clear, holy.
There is no “thing” that “births” it. Christ awareness is never really born or unborn, which is why Mary is a virgin mother. It spontaneously manifests.
What’s more, Christ isn’t really a “thing” that is “born”. It’s everpresent, originless reality.
When you are present with body, mind and senses, everything is new, fresh, “like a baby”, moment to moment. You realise that awareness is identityless, pristine, untarnished, baby-like! It is a condition of “innocence”, of not-knowing, of silent inner knowing.
Let me back up a little. There is a birthing in the sense that everything in our being arises and falls, our awareness renews, and our sense of self is transient and translucent. But there is no solid, lasting, substantial thing that is birthed, unlike in biological birth.
The Meaning of the Birth of Jesus: Spiritual Rebirth
Another, not-so-hidden meaning of the birth of Jesus is that it can symbolise our personal spiritual birth, the kindling of our spiritual life.
This is our birth from ignorance and delusion to Gnosis, in which we come to realise that in essence we are Jesus Christ.
In my case, my spiritual rebirth came after an overly scientific (sometimes aggressively scientific) worldview and a condemning of all things God.
That was until I got into Buddhist meditation and started having life-transforming experiences. Soon my rigid scientific worldview was shattered. Slowly, maths, physics and chemistry crumbled from the foundation of my worldview, superseded by God.
Christians hold the arrival of Christ to signify the end of delusion, devilry and heathens. This is true, certainly in a metaphorical sense.
The arrival of Christ consciousness in your own life is a revolution. As my Dzogchen teacher, Lama Surya Das, says: “One moment of total Nowness awareness dispels the darkness of ages.”
The Birth of Jesus as Our Own Birth
Another, more rudimentary meaning of the birth of Jesus is simply our own biological birth. Buddhists say “We are all Buddhas by nature”, and mystical Christianity has its own version of this: Christ consciousness is our true essence.
In this way, our biological birth is the birth of a new vehicle for Christ, through which it can know and express itself.
Let’s use the analogy of the acorn and the oak tree. All acorns have the innate potential of becoming oaks. That doesn’t mean all will do so, but each acorn conceals the possibility of a new oak.
Every human has the Christ potential within them: it’s a universal human trait. It’s true that few actualise it, but the potential or possibility is always there. As such, each human birth is a divine possibility, worthy of celebration. It’s Jesus being born in a new form, one which may or may not come to realise its true essence.
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