One of the aspects of inter-religious dialog and understanding which makes communication between religions difficult, is that the teachings of religion or philosophy can seem to say that reality is dualistic (i.e. God is God, and you are not), while spiritual experiences, especially the deepest ones, are experiences of the formless non-dual reality underlying the distinctions of day to day life and conceptual mind.
And so, Advaitic schools within Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism (Kabbalah), Islam (Sufism), or any other "ism" can seem to be teaching something inherently and radically different than "mainstream Christianity" (or even the "mainstreams" of those religions, as well) teaches -- which, in the minds of many Christians, would therefore mean that these systems, at best, have nothing to offer Christians -- and at worst, could be harmful to Christian faith.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Literally.
Paying serious attention to this could be useful, because ... well .... knowing the truth *is* what makes you free.
Are you free?
If so, you're knowing you're free, right now.
If there's any doubt ... this post may be very, very important for you, in terms of ... well, everything that can possibly matter in your life.
No kidding.
And, yes, of course --- I could hypothetically be: lying, delusional, influenced by dark forces, messing with you, simply yet actually wrong, etc. etc. etc.
How to know whether I am (any of those things listed above) or not?
Find out.
Know the truth; be free.
Drop all ideas -- especially all Christian ideas (and before you respond, please just read/listen ... I'm here to help enhance faith/relationship/knowing truth .... not to diminish or challenge or debate).
And I'm most certainly not "picking on" or singling out Christianity in any way -- the reason for the focus in the rather amazing, revolutionary article, linked at the bottom of this post.
I'm not saying to discard all ideas or beliefs -- I'm just saying to drop preconceptions, for now. It's not ideas that will save you -- it's knowing.
And - cutting to the chase, so to speak - there's a parish priest in Australia, by the name of Rev. Dr. John R. Dupuche who has noticed some beautifully deep, and deeply beautiful correspondences between the teachings of the philosophy of non-dual Kashmir Shaivism, and Christianity - correspondences which he finds so meaningful, that he says he is hoping to facilitate the start of a Christian Shaivism (Shiva is not actually different from Christ; Shiva is simply a different term for Christ).
How deeply has Father Dupuche gone, in order to develop his views?
He's been a parish priest for quite some time, he has written several books on related matters -- and, he has his Ph.D. ... in Sanskrit.
He has written a brief (10 page) paper outlining his views on Christian Shaivism // Christian Advaita; I highly recommend it.
NOTE: The link below opens the PDF article by Rev. Dr. John R. Dupuche, directly.
Renewing Christian Anthropology In Terms of Kashmir Shaivism
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_4/dupuche.pdf
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