Author: Jay Forrest

Dr. Jay N. Forrest is an Ordained Interfaith Minister and Certified Meditation Teacher who guides others on the Mystic Way through contemplative teaching and interspiritual insight.Since becoming a Christian in 1983 and earning his Doctorate in Ministry, Jay has served within a rich range of Christian traditions—including Pentecostal, Charismatic, Baptist, Methodist, and Liberal Catholic churches—and provided compassionate care as a Hospice Chaplain.His journey has also led him through catechism studies with the Orthodox Church in America, minor orders in the Liberal Catholic Church, and over two decades of Buddhist study and practice. His path is one of depth, integration, and a lifelong dedication to the transformative power of spiritual practice.

A Simple Epistemology

How do you know that what you believe is true? That is the question known as epistemology or the “theory of knowledge.”

I don’t think we can know very much for certain. We have to give up that search. But I do think we can discover how probable a claim to truth is.

I will make a complex issue simple. You can tell whether a claim is probably true by applying the three C’s: correspondence, consistency, and consequences.

Truth is the correspondence of a claim with reality. If what you claim matches reality then what you claim is true. If your claim doesn’t match reality then it is false.

The important question is how do you tell whether or not your belief matches reality? By the objective and verifiable evidence for or against the belief. So the correspondence is mostly about a belief matching the available evidence.

The next test of truth is the consistency of the belief with one’s whole worldview. Contraction is a sign that something is wrong, either the belief is false or part of one’s worldview is false.

The final test of truth is the consequences of accepting the claim as true. If you can live it, it may be false. You will know a claim by its fruits. You don’t get bad results from a good belief, nor do you get good results from a bad belief.

This is a very simple epistemology. It is merely the outline for a larger exploration.

Defining Wisdom

I am in pursuit of wisdom, because wisdom leads to flourishing, and flourishing leads to serenity.

But what is wisdom? I don’t think we really know for sure. I have tried a number of times to define it, so here goes another attempt.

Wisdom is the overall perspective from which one sees the true nature of reality and thus correctly interprets humanity’s relation to it.

Many people mistake a set of virtues for wisdom. Prudence, for example, seems like a part of wisdom. But so does justice, courage, moderation, and humility.

I think wisdom is the garden, while the virtues are the fruits.

The virtues, like fruits, show evidence of the health of the garden, that is wisdom. But the fruits are not the garden, and the virtues are not wisdom. You cannot separate them, but you can distinguish them.

So the question is, if you take away the virtues, what is wisdom? It is the overall perspective from which one sees the true nature of reality and thus correctly interprets humanity’s relation to it. From this perspective and insight arise the virtues.

After I originally wrote this post, I had another thought. Maybe I am being too analytical about wisdom. Maybe a simpler definition of wisdom would be better.

I think it is too easy to over define a word. So let me give you my simple definition of wisdom. It is only seven words:

Wisdom is practical insight into living skillfully.

I think this comes the closest to the essence of wisdom in the shortest of time. I think I will use this definition for now.

Marrying Church and State

Gnostic Christianity began as one of many kinds of Christianity. It followed the teachings of the apostles Paul, Thomas, and John.

Unfortunately, the organized institutional Church joined up with the imperial Roman Empire and decided that only one form of Christianity would be tolerated. Therefore, gnostic Christianity became a persecuted group, and eventually died out or merged with the Catholic Church.

But Christians are beginning to stir. They’re beginning to wonder if a great mistake was made by marrying church and state. And the resulting Christianity has tried to control the hearts and minds of the entire world.

It’s in the midst of this inner questioning, that gng Gnostic Christianity is beginning to have a revival. That is not a bad thing, that’s a good thing. Is not a heresy, it is a better way of being Christian.

Did Jesus Teach Reincarnation?

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “Unless you are reborn, you can’t experience God’s kingdom.” – Jesus Christ (John 3:3 FBV)

In Buddhism, people are reborn into five realms. There is the earthly realm, the animal realm, the ghost realm, the hell realm, or the heavenly realm. Each transition is a rebirth. When you die, you are reborn into another bodily manifestation.

So Jesus makes perfect sense to a Buddhist. In order to go to heaven, you have to be reborn into a heavenly body. Even the Apostle Paul realized that our body “ is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:44). That is, in order to go to heaven you have to have the right kind of body. Physical bodies don’t go to heaven, only spiritual bodies do. As Paul Said, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50).

The problem is that even a heavenly existence is temporary. It is still part of an existence that is impermanent, defective, and without an independent entity. After a long time in heaven, people die and are born again into other realms. Nothing lasts in the conditioned world. Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Even heavenly existence. This is why, at the end of time, “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

Jesus taught that John the Baptist was “Elijah” reincarnated (Matthew 11:13-14; 17:10-13). This means that Jesus believed in reincarnation. And since Elijah was a prophet of God that live centuries ago, it seems clear that Elijah must have been in heaven before being reborn as John the Baptist.

It appears that reincarnation was a common belief during Jesus’ time. For when Jesus asked his disciples who people said he was, they answered, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matt. 16:14). All of these men were dead, some a very long time ago. So they must have meant that they thought Jesus was the reincarnation of John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

Jesus seemed to believe in reincarnation, but not all the church followed him in this. The Gnostics were the branch of Christianity that kept this belief alive. The proto-orthodox branch ended up rejecting reincarnation. Origen, an early church father, is our most famous Christian proponent of the idea of reincarnation. Origen stated, “The soul has neither beginning nor end. [They] come into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of their previous lives.”

I am a Christian Mystic

I am a student of Gnosticism because I am a specialist in Christian mysticism. The Gnostics were among the first mystics.

This is important to remember, because later mystics had to distance themselves from the Gnostics in order to survive. And even now, telling you their secret, could cast the heresy label on them.

But the Gnostics were not heretics, they were lovers of God and seekers of union with God. It was the institutional church that went astray seeking power and control through their union with the Roman government. They rendered to Caesar what was God’s.

Or you can see it as a repeat of Israel’s reject of God as their King and the election of a human King (1 Sam. 8:7-8). The Roman Church replaced Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church with a human Pope as the Head of the Church (Eph 5:23).

But there are a bunch of different groups calling themselves Gnostic, and many varied beliefs. And modern scholarship is still confused about the whole subject of Gnostics and Gnosticism. It is just easier to call myself a Christian mystic.

I am a Christian mystic who follows the lead of the Apostles Paul, John, Thomas, Valentinus, and the Desert Fathers and Mothers. You can include all the Christian mystics, both East and West, since that time.

However, claiming that I am a Christian mystic sounds kind of like claiming I am a saint. It smacks of a lack of humility. But I have experienced the presence of God and seek union with God, so that makes me a mystic. I will say no more than that.