Another Way to See the Way

A member of our YouTube audience, Tomi, asks this question: “How do you interpret this verse? John 14:6: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.’”

The first thing we observe is that this passage makes the man Jesus the only way to the Father. This tells us that if the saying originated with Jesus, it has been Christianized. A mystic would not call attention to himself as the way to the Father. How do we know? Because the recur-ring foundational principle, a perennial truth embodied in the mystical tradition is that the Father (God, the Absolute) is within every person.

In all likelihood, Jesus was not calling attention to himself but to the Way he taught. The Way was the name given to his body of teachings. Because he put none of his teachings in writing, he truly was the embodiment of the Way. Had he written everything down, he could have held up the manuscript and said, “This is the Way, the truth that I have taught. If you follow these teachings, you will see they lead you to life, to the very Father within.”

This, of course, is pure speculation on my part. But the alternative is to assume that Jesus, the man, is the one and only way to God. A careful study of the sayings attributed to Jesus reveals the Way is built on the understanding of God as omnipresent, centered in every individual, in a relationship of eternal oneness that can never be broken.

The Chinese Tao is also referred to as the Way. It is described as the natural order of the universe. If a person is in tune with it, their life works. If they are out of tune with it, things don’t go so well. Jesus was not a Taoist, but all spiritual systems of truth rest upon the exact same principles. Jesus pointed out that the truth he taught, the Way, would set one free. He told Pilate that his single purpose in life was to teach this truth to others. Those who had already gained an understanding of it would resonate with what he was teaching (John 18:37).

I part company with the mainstream Christian dogma that considers Jesus as the only way to God. This tradition teaches God is afar, man (humankind) is born in sin, and God and man are separated by sin, with Jesus as the only way to oneness with God. But Jesus says, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18). I am absolutely convinced that Jesus taught there is only one way to God and that is not through him, but through his teachings. The kingdom of God is within you. The Way involves the omnipresence and accessibility of God to all, the divine nature of each person, and the relationship of ab-solute oneness between God and the individual.