Colossians

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe,* and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,* by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God* made you* alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed* the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. (Ch.2)

This passage contains so much one could cover entire books on just sentences in this paragraph.

"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have come to fullness in him who is the head of every ruler and authority."

A theme I find fascinating and one I stress repeatedly in my writings and preaching is the relation between Eastern and Western Enlightenment. Both traditions have the word Enlightenment though they mean vastly different things.

In this one sentence you have the merger of these two enlightenments.

For in him dwells the fullness of deity. The awakening to the Nondual is to Rest profoundly in whatever state one is. It is to realize the one Nature of all Reality. The one Condition of all manifestation. So therefore there is no need to change. "If I climb the highest mountain you are (always already) there." Same with the depths of the sea, the wideness of the earth, the expanse of space.

The fullness of deity dwells bodily. Fullness is Freedom expressed in joy in all forms. The Radiant Bliss of the One, Blessed be God. Fullness is the Form side of the spiritual equation that reads Form is Emptiness; Emptiness is Form.

In the tradition of the energies of Ascent and Descent (Descending and Ascending Christologies), awakening, liberation is to rest in the unemcumbered circle passing in and through all beings. In Christ the fullness of deity (the Circle) dwelt bodily. Relaxed into all Form as Free.

But this one in whom the deity dwelt bodily is not other than the one who is the ruler of every authority. In fact he has "shamed them", i.e. the rulers of this world. He disarmed their weapons of hate and destruction by dying on their instrument of torture. All those who forever are crushed under the wheels of imperial madness, can always call to Christ, to God for God has been murdered by the cogs of our own imperial industries of death.

They have no power for they could not eradicate Christ. Believing that he disarmed the rulers of the world---read Caesar--is to believe in the power of God who raised Jesus from the dead as he will raise us.

It is not some bourgeoisie pie-in-the-sky sappy vision of pain-free existence after death. It is the rulers of this age are powerless. They are disarmed. The Emperor has no clothes on. Not just politically, though this may be the case, but in all Truth.

This is a radically revolutionary political text. Caesar, in all his pomp and circumstance is the actually shamed one. Shamed by a naked man charged under sedition, murdered, his body a horrific sight, his body pitched like so much refuse or feed to the birds.

He is the head. Not Caesar. Everything we think the Colossians' author is telling us is backwards. Weakness is power. Glory is humility. An executed criminal is King.

Cross posted here.