Based upon your profile, I can convey this to you using lingo you may be most comfortable or familiar with.

Sarcophagi are the origin of the practice of "baptism". They were used as sensory deprivation chambers to catalyze what you might have heard referred to as "the fiery baptism of the Holy Spirit".

Other traditions would have other names for this.

Hermetic Alchemists would call this "salvation".

Hindus and Nagas would call this "Kundalini awakening".

Kabbalah students (Egyptian and Hebrew alike) might call refer to it using terms like "da'ath" which clearly connects to "born again", amongst other similar concepts (Phoenix rising from it's own ashes, metanoia, the dark night of the soul, djinn "possession", etc.)

It is supported by science in half a dozen capacities. It boils down to a certain "brain oscillation" that triggers the process.

As another connection for you, the word Christ utilizes the Greek letters Chi and Rho...Chi Rho...Cairo. That is not a coincidence.

Christianity contains within it what some might refer to as "the perennial philosophy". If viewed from a very specific perspective, every religious tradition is essentially pointing at the same cosmological truths. They each leverage different lingo and each tradition tends to be subject to varying degrees of distortion over time but based on what I've seen, they're all consistent in specific ways.

Dogmatists tend to dislike me but I prefer to take the whole "love your neighbor" thing seriously and explore the ways that all of my human neighbors express reverence for the Creator even if their terms and customs are different from what I was raised with.

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Ah, I see. I'm familiar with what's referred to as the 'perennial philosophy' and -- as you may have guessed -- reject the idea that Christianity is compatible with it (let alone that Christianity contains it). Christianity is actually a rejection of it. No need to get into that here, but I do thank you for your thorough and thoughtful reply. 🤙

For whatever it’s worth to you, what other people call “the perennial philosophy” is most likely not precisely what I am referring to.

If I am being honest, I have never studied any “notable perennialist thinkers”. I would have to Google that to find out who they even are.

Perhaps I should say “my perennialist philosophy” as what I am referring to is a distillation of my own research across many traditions. I applied the label of perennialism to it when I heard it and looked it up. Definitionally that is what my philosophy is in essence but I have no idea how closely it resembles the ideas of “known perennialist thinkers”.

🍻

Appreciate the follow-up. When I use the term, it's loosely associated with monist gnosticism, theosophy, and the like--which are all variations on the general theme of pantheism (I would think). Most of what I learned of it comes from theologians Peter Jones and Michael Horton.

But I'm fascinated by these concepts and histories in general--even if I've 'decided the question' by being a Christian. I also appreciate what can be 'uncovered' by tracing - I guess you could call it 'linguistic ancestry.' Words as we know and use them often only contain a 'tip of the iceberg' compared to where they came from, what "lives they've lived" before today, etc. So chalk me up as a curious observer, even if not in a particularly 'persuadable' section of the audience. Cheers right back.

Likewise, I appreciate your follow up.

In general, my philosophy aligns well with every tradition I have found. I simply have to be willing to interpret symbols and concepts in certain ways and it all seems to fit. I will have to dig into some of the perennialist thinkers and see what they're saying. It might be super in line with the cosmology I've been distilling independently.

Haven't heard of Jones or Horton but I'll say that elements of Gnosticism and Theosophy are in alignment with what I see connecting everything.

If you are fascinated by these things and linguistic ancestry or etymology in general, you would probably find my work interesting. There's a video in my NOSTR profile. It's about 3 hours but I cover a lot of subjects and offer a lot of evidence for stuff.

If you're into Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse stuff, you'd probably find the theories I offer interesting.

Perennial philosophy you say? ;)