Michael Amaladoss

Jesus said to him (Thomas): “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”… Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. (Jn 14:6-7, 9, 11-12)

I shall offer here some reflections on the theme “Jesus, the Way.” Jesus did tell his disciples: “I am the way”. It is helpful, however, to set this declaration in its immediate context because that will determine how we understand it, even when we choose to go beyond it. Let me start with the basic declaration: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Exegetes suggest broadly two ways of understanding this. Some think that the ‘way’ leads to the ‘truth’ and the ‘life’. St. Thomas Aquinas even said that Christ is the way according to his humanity, but the truth and the life according to his divinity. The way is really the way to something or someone. Others think that the ‘way’ is the primary predicate, and the ‘truth’ and the ‘life’ are the explanations of the way. Jesus is the way because he is the truth and the life. As a matter of fact, the question (of St. Thomas, the Apostle) before the declaration and the explanation (of Jesus) after the declaration deal only with the theme of the way.

Raymond Brown comments:
He (Jesus) is the way to the Father. He is the way because he is the truth or revelation of the Father, so that when men know him they know the Father (Jn 14:7) and when men see him they see the Father (Jn 14:8). He is the way because he is the life-since he lives in the Father and the Father lives in him (Jn 14:10-11), he is the channel through which the Father’s life comes to men.

Jesus is not saying “I am showing you a way that you have to follow”. He is not presenting himself as a moral guide who prescribes the way that they ought to behave. He is not a law-giver. He is not offering himself as a model that they have to imitate. He is rather the mediation. People who see him see the Father. Though Jesus does not say “I am the only way”, it seems to be implied, precisely because of his special relationship to the Father. This is not said in a comparative setting where he is the only true way among many other ways that people may talk about. Rather wherever there is a way to the Father (God) Jesus would be there in some known or unknown manner, because he is the Word that enlightens every human coming into the world. (cf. Jn 1:9) Here I am already entering into the area of speculation. I shall come back to it later.

The Way and the Goal
Jesus is the way to the Father. But the way is also the goal, because to see Jesus is to see the Father. Jesus had said earlier: “The Father and I are one”. (Jn 10:30) He is in the Father and the Father is in him. This communion of life is shown in the fact that he does the works of his Father. (Jn 14:11) He had made a similar affirmation earlier also. “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me.” (Jn 10:25) Focusing only on the works, the unity between the Father and Jesus may seem to be merely al. But it is deeper than that. “No one has ever seen God. It is God’s only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” (Jn 1:18) We hear an echo in St. Mathew: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Mt 11:27; cf. Lk 10:22) God’s self-communication through Jesus is more than mere knowledge. “Just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” (Jn 5:26) But this life is not something that he will keep to himself. It is to be given to others. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10) In this context Jesus evokes another image that is similar to the ‘way’, namely the ‘gate’. “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved.” (Jn 10:9) However the image of the ‘gate’ does not have the same depth as the ‘way’. One passes through the gate. But one walks along the way, that itself becomes the goal. To reach the goal is to share the life that Jesus gives, which is shown in doing the works that Jesus does. “The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these… If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” (Jn 14:12,14)

1. See Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John, xiii-xxi. (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1971), p. 621.
2. Ibid., p. 628.

The picture we have here is one of mutual indwelling of the Father in the Son, of the Son in the Father, and of the Father and the Son in us manifested in what we do. John refashions this picture in other terms in the next chapter.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. (Jn 15:7-10)

This same vision of communion in life continues in his prayer to the Father on the last day of his life. This is the goal towards which the way is leading us.

All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them… I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (Jn 17:10, 20-21)

The Way and the Works
The communion in life is not something merely ontological. It is expressed and lived in the ‘works’ of which Jesus speaks. God works. Once again we need not enter into abstract speculation to know the works of God because they are seen in the works of Jesus. These are the various ways in which he shows God’s love and concern for us: he forgives and heals both mental and physical illness; he feeds the hungry and promises food that will give eternal life (cf. Jn 6); he frees people from evil forces of every kind; he teaches and enlightens them about themselves, the world and God; he assures them of the future fulfillment that is to come and promises the help of the Spirit; he illustrates the new Kingdom community that he is inaugurating through various parables. His ‘works’ on the last day of his life on earth take on a particular significance. He gives the disciples a new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you”. (Jn 15:12) By not speaking of loving God and the other, as he had done earlier (cf. Mt. 22:37-40), he seems to indicate that they have to love God in the other. He also illustrates what this loving means. It is humble service: he washes the feet of his disciples; it is sharing of life through the symbol of food shared at the last supper; it is self-gift, offering his own life for his friends. (cf. Jn 15:13) He concretizes all this in the Eucharist. By making the shared bread and wine into his own body and blood, the sharing community is knit into the body of Christ, inserted into the very life of God. (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-31; Eph 4:1-16) The Church as the body of Christ is not a mere metaphor, precisely because the body of Christ becomes our food and his life becomes ours. (cf. Jn 6:51) Theologians would distinguish between the physical body of Christ and his mystical body. But both are his true bodies. (cf. Jn 6:54-57) He is not merely saving souls, but integrating into himself the humans with their bodies and, through these bodies, the entire cosmos. Jesus thus becomes the ‘way’ for humanity through the Eucharist. The Eucharist can be concretely lived every time we help a needy neighbor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, comforting the afflicted, etc. (cf. Mt 25:31-40) Christ becomes our way, which is also our goal, because we not only follow Christ, doing what he did, but become Christ. This is what the Eastern Fathers called divinization.

Given the possibility of the human abuse of freedom, illustrated so often in the Bible, the way of love becomes the way of forgiveness. He heals people, both physically and spiritually, by forgiving people their sins. He tells a paralytic to take his bed and walk because his sins have been forgiven. (cf. Mt 9:2-8). He forgives sinful women. (cf. 7:36-50; Jn 8:1-10) He teaches his disciples to pray: “Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” (Mt 6:12) He presents to his disciples an image of a loving Father-God through the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. (cf. Lk 15) He forgives the people who crucified him. (cf. Lk 23:34) Appearing to his disciples, men and women, after the resurrection and breathing the Spirit on them, he commissions them to forgive each other. (cf. Jn 20:23) In a conflictual world, mercy becomes a manifestation of love. It is the authentic way of reconciling all things among themselves and all things with God. (cf. Col 1:20) It is in this way that the community of God’s kingdom is built up.

The Way of Jesus
Jesus, the way, shows us the way to live by the manner of his own life in the world. A quick look at the Gospels gives us a good picture. The way of Jesus is one of interiority. His teachings, especially his sermon on the mount is a good example of this. (cf. Mt 5-7) He starts with the beatitudes. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be poor in spirit, meek and merciful, hunger and thirst for justice, seek to make peace, keep the heart one-pointed and pure, ready to suffer persecution in his/her quest for justice. His own life illustrates all these qualities. Anyone who lives like this will be a light that illumines the paths of others and add savour to their lives like salt. (cf. Mt 5:14-16)

Jesus the goes on to point out that what is required is not merely good behaviour but goodness of heart and inner conviction. It is important to keep the law. But it must come out of inner conviction, not a spirit of conformity. Jesus then goes on to illustrate this interiority. We must not only avoid killing, but even verbal abuse of the other and if we do quarrel with someone we must seek reconciliation. It is not enough to avoid adulterous acts, but even thoughts and glances. It is better to endure suffering, than do anything wrong. We must be true to our word. Avoiding the spirit of revenge, we must even love our enemies, being and doing good to all, following the example of Godself. Our prayers and our acts of charity must be sincere and from our hearts and avoid being demonstrative. We must be committed to God and trust providence. We cannot serve God and money. We must treat others as we would like them to treat us. (cf. Mt 5-6)

He witnesses in his actions and miracles to the compassion and mercy of God. He gives a quick summary of his own action to the disciples of John. “The blind recover their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are clean, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the poor are hearing the good news.” (Mt 11:4-6) He makes a similar list in his address at the synagogue of Nazareth. (cf. Lk 4:18) He feeds the hungry. He heals people, both physically and spiritually, by forgiving their sins. He exhorts his disciples: “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36) God’s ‘perfection’ consists in God being merciful. (cf. Mt 5:48)

Jesus is a free person and frees people from the various forces that oppress them. He is not so much worried about political freedom and does not lead a revolution against the Roman power. He is more concerned about what touches the daily life of the people. He protests against the many legal burdens that the Pharisees impose on the people. He affirms more than once that the Sabbath is for the humans, not humans for the Sabbath. (cf. Mt 12:1-8) By driving the sellers and buyers from the temple courts he revolts against the exploitation of the Sacred for material benefits. He frees people from the various psycho-physical forces that enslave people by his exorcisms. When he sends his disciples to proclaim the good news he exhorts them to keep to what is strictly necessary for life and to be free of unnecessary encumbrances. (cf. Mt 10:1-10) He is committed to the work of his Father and does not worry about what the people think about him, whether they are ordinary people or their leaders. (cf. Jn 6:66; Mt 15:12) He is free finally to offer his own life in defense of the values he stood for.

Jesus remains a humble person. He tells his disciples: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble hearted.” (Mt 11:29) That humility is shown when he runs away seeing that the people want to proclaim him king (cf. Jn 6:15); when he refuses to display any cosmic signs that would impress people (cf. Mt 12:28); when he washes the feet of his disciples (cf.Jn 13:3-20) and finally when he surrenders himself to his passion and death on the cross. (cf. Mt 26:36-46)

Jesus was a man of hope. He does not promise them an instant solution for all their problems. But he announces presence of the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 1:14-15) and foretells its fullness to come (cf. Mt 13) when he will rise again to new life from death. (cf. Mt 16:22; 25:31-46; Jn 14)

Jesus as Word and Wisdom
The vision of John 14 is further confirmed by three other passages in the Bible. Let us look at them briefly. In the prologue to his Gospel, John speaks about the Word, who was in the beginning with God and was God.

All things came into being through him… What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people… He was the true light that enlightens everyone coming into the world… The Word became flesh and lived among us… From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace… No one has even seen God. It is God the only Son who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (Jn 1:3-4, 9, 14, 16,18)

Without entering into an elaborate exegesis, I invite you to re-read the text, mentally substituting the term ‘way’ to the term ‘word’. Let me indicate in passing, assuring you that we will come back to this later more elaborately, that some Chinese scholars have translated the term ‘Word’ here by the term ‘Tao’, which means the way. Let me point out here, in passing, that precisely as the “the true light that enlightens every one” (cf. Jn 1:9) Jesus is reaching out to every human person, even if s/he may not know or acknowledge him as his/her savior, in ways known to God alone. So we could avoid useless discussions trying to compare him with other ‘ways’ and to prove that he is the only way.

Exegetes also relate the ‘Word’ to Wisdom in the Old Testament.
Wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets… She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well. (Wis 7:24-27; 8:1)

The status of Wisdom is not quite certain. Sirach says: “All wisdom is from the Lord, and with him it remains forever.” (Sir 1:1) Wisdom itself says: “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist. I dwelt in the highest heaven.” (Sir 24:3-4) Proverbs, however, says: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.” (Prov 8:22-23) The close association of Wisdom with God is obvious, though, given the strong monotheism of the Jewish tradition, the relation between them is not too clear.

3. Cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22.
4. Cf. Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John (i-xii). (New York: Doubleday, 1966), pp.521-523.

What I would like to point out here is that the terms Wisdom, Word and Way are realities associated with God and symbols that could be used to speak about Jesus. Their creative, dynamic and cosmic character is significant. They manifest themselves and God in what they do.

From John to Paul
Let us now move from John to Paul. Paul also sings about Christ:
He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (Col 1 :15-17, 19-20)

Here again we see the same cosmic dynamism leading to fullness. To our terms Way, Wisdom and Word, we can add one more: Image. This is not a static entity. It is something, or someone, who evolves and grows into fullness through history. This fullness is in the future and will embrace or integrate, not only the humans, but the whole of creation. Paul, particularly, indicates this by speaking of ‘all things’. To the Ephesians, he speaks of God’s “plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph 1:10) Writing to the Romans, Paul tells them that “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Rom 8:21)

After talking to the Corinthians about the various gifts of the Spirit meant to build up the community as the body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 12), Paul speaks of a more excellent way – that is the way of love. (cf. 1 Cor 13) It is the basis of all the other gifts. It is focused on inter-personal relationships. There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance. (cf. 1 Cor 13:7) It is the way of Jesus (cf. Jn 15:12-13) and it will never end, when the other gifts are no longer needed. The first community of the disciples of Jesus realized this and lived it by sharing all that they had. (cf. Acts 2:42-47) The people were so struck by it that they called it “the Way.” (Acts 9:2) It upset the people and provoked persecution, led for a time by Saul/Paul. (cf. Acts 9:1-2)

Being on Pilgrimage
Going on a pilgrimage is one way of being on the way. Pilgrimages are often made to places where God has manifested Godself in a special way. Pilgrims go there to relive and to participate in that experience. Pilgrimage is a lived experience in all the religions. Hindus have pilgrim centres all over India. Muslims are expected to go to Mecca at least once in their life time. The Jews went to the temple periodically. Pilgrims normally go in groups. They prepare themselves ascetically. Walking all the way in one such exercise. They also pray along the way. There is a sense of hope looking forward to an experience of encountering God’s presence. The Bible is full of examples of pilgrimages. Abraham is asked to leave everything and go in search of the promised land. The Jews are told to leave Egypt and march towards their promised land. God goes with them, leading and guiding them. There are a number of pilgrim psalms. (cf. Ps 23, 83, 119-121)

Jesus himself can be said to be a pilgrim. The gospel of Luke and the Acts give us this perspective. Jesus goes from Galilee to Jerusalem (cf. Lk 9:51), experiencing rejection and suffering, but finally recreating the universe through his resurrection. The Apostles, commissioned by Jesus, continue the pilgrimage going from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth carrying the good news of Jesus. (cf. Lk 24:47) The goal of this pilgrimage is no longer sacred spaces, but communities gathered together in love and service (cf. Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35), which in that manner become the body of Christ. The whole world becomes a place of pilgrimage because the pilgrims are focused on transforming the world into the Kingdom of God. In the process of building up the Kingdom the Christians discover the members of other religions as co-pilgrims marching towards the same Kingdom, conscious that the Spirit of God is present in them and animating them. The whole of history then becomes a pilgrimage. The universe is on its way to its accomplishment. Mystics like Teilhard de Chardin saw this as Christ himself making the universe his body. The whole cosmos is on its way and Christ-God is leading it. We shall come back to this when we reflect on Teilhard de Chardin.

A Holistic View
We can now look back on the whole scene. We should be careful not to place it in the Greco-Scholastic rational framework, which will ask how we can say that the way is the goal. For philosophical thought the goal must be something or someone – a being or an object. But here we are speaking of a process, a way, something in movement. The goal then is not something, but a dynamic reality in movement. It embraces God, Jesus, ourselves and the cosmos. It is a mutual indwelling – a perichoresis. It is life in abundance – a continuing creation. God is active. Jesus does God’s work. And in Jesus, we too do the works of God, sharing, serving, self-giving, forgiving and loving. This is what the Greek Fathers meant by divinization, participating in the life of God, doing God’s work. An important element in this vision is the unity-in-pluralism that underlies it. If the way is the goal, then God and Jesus are not really two. They are not one either. In the same way, God and the humans are neither two nor one. God and God’s works, which are also the works of Jesus and of the humans, are neither one nor two. We could use the word ‘communion’ to understand it. But it supposes pluralism, not only in space, but also in time. The works of God which the humans are supposed to do are works of love and justice. The non-dual language – advaita – of the Indian/Chinese traditions will be more helpful to understand this as compared to Greek metaphysics with its discreet substances ally related in terms of a cause-effect scheme.

It is traditional in the West to think of God and the world as two realities – the Creator and the creature. The Creator is outside (transcendent) creation. In India we assert that the Creator and creation are no ‘two’ realities of the same order. The Creator is the Real. The creation if totally dependent on it. God is not only transcendent, but also immanent. Saints like Ignatius Loyola sought to find God in all things. God and the world are not ‘two’ realities; they are not ‘one’ either. So reality is ‘not-two’ – ‘a-dvaita’. Such an experience of communion is not foreign to Christianity, though popular experience is characterised by dualistic and devotional ritualism. The traditional texts, often referred to, are Jesus saying “I and the Father are one!” (Jn 10:30) and Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20) Paul tells the Athenians: “In him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) Jesus himself tells the apostles: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.” (Jn 17:21) As a matter of fact, many exegetes and theologians use the term alism to indicate the relationship between the Father, Jesus, the humans and their works that we read about in the Gospels. But this is not the language that Jesus and John speak. This is the moment to look at the Eastern traditions, Indian and Chinese, to help us to see our own Christian tradition with fresh eyes. The ‘way’ is a symbol that is widely used in the Indian and Chinese traditions. An understanding of those will help us to perceive our own scriptural tradition in new ways that can enrich our praxis. It can also enable us to get away from a sort of rationalism and alism that may afflict our present reflection and praxis.

The Four Margas or Ways in India: Jnana and Bhakti
Indian spirituality speaks of four ways (margas) of attaining God-experience: the ways of insight or wisdom (jnana marga), of love and devotion (bhakti marga), of ritual and ordinary action (karma marga) and of psycho-physical discipline (yoga marga). The Jnanamarga focuses on having an experiential awareness of the divine. It is not merely rational, conceptual knowledge, having clear ideas about God. One feels God’s presence in the universe around us, in creation, in other beings and humans, in the events of one’s own life and of history. It is similar to the Ignatian ‘finding God in all things’. The reading of the scriptures can introduce us to the saving acts of God, not merely reported, but experienced by others. Meditation on these events and the experience of others can lead us to enter into them, so to speak, and make them our own. Contemplation and concentration can help us to identify ourselves with them. The contemplations and the applications of the senses of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius can give us some idea of what is desired. God is not seen as the other, out there. God is in us, with us, just as we are in God. God is not someone, but the Reality in whom we live and move and have our being: the light that guides our vision, the air that we breath and that enlivens our being, the food that nourishes us bodies, the Spirit that energizes and empowers us. We are like fishes in the ocean or birds in the air: God is the Life in which we live. For Greek thought anything to be real has to be something, a substance, a being, even if it is thought to be infinite. But God is beyond this. Reason cannot reach God. But our symbolic imagination can embrace, feel, experience God. This is what the mystics seek to describe, often unsuccessfully. The term ‘jnana’, though it is sometimes translated as knowledge, is more than that. It is more an insight, an intuition, an experience. It is wisdom. We do not dominate it. We are caught up in it. We may not always be conscious of it. But it emerges into consciousness now and then. But it is present subconsciously and envelops our being. It is our way of life. But it is also our goal. When we transcend space and time at the moment of death, it may become a state of life that is dynamic and permanent. It is something ongoing, ever ancient and ever new.

M. Amaladoss, “Theosis and Advaita: An Indian Approach to Salvation”, Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection. 75 (2011) 887-901; reprinted in M. Amaladoss, Quest for God. Doing Theology in India. Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 2013), pp. 186-201.
See ref. in note 5 above and also “Is there an Indian way of thinking”, Quest for God, pp. 110-135.

The Bhaktimarga concerns love and devotion. Love involves, not merely the intelligence, but also the emotions. We experience God’s love and concern for us in our lives, but also in the cosmos and in the love that others – our family, friends and others linked to us in some way. It is not merely a presence, but a relationship that is experienced as a personal encounter. In the Indian tradition, God is sought to be experienced imaginatively, not merely as Father, but also as Mother, as the Bridegroom and the Bride, as friend, child and servant, even a poor beggar. Various divine manifestations are described in the Puranas or sacred stories. One can call them myths, but they are really more than that. These stories are narrated, represented, sung, and danced so that the devotees are able to experience and live their love of God in every possible imaginative, emotional and human way. The very multiplicity of names and forms makes sure that they are taken, not literally, but symbolically, yet really, because God is beyond name and form. The emotions involve the whole person, especially the body. One dreams, sings, cries, dances, serves (the images of God), even faints. There are volumes of devotional poems in the various Indian languages that address God in various forms and enables people to relive their experiences of relationships. Musical instruments are used. Group experiences are also possible. There are stories of saints who lived their identity as the other. It experiences and celebrates, not only the presence of God, but also, and even more, God’s absence. This is what the mystics call the dark night. Absence is even more deeply expressive than presence. Real love is not a momentary emotion. It endures when faith and hope fade away. Once again it is a way, but also the goal. It is a living and dynamic experience.

Karma and Yoga
The Karmamarga is the way of action. It was originally understood as ritual action that replicates cosmic processes. But it came to include all action. God has not only a plan for the world, but acts to keep the world going. We are all but secondary causes that collaborate with God. This can be done willingly or unwillingly. Collaborating unwillingly would mean that we do not recognize God’s action in and through us. We attribute the action to our own desire and power. We are egoist and proud. We imagine that we are doing our own thing. The ideal liberative action is Nishkamakarma – action without desire for its fruits. We act because it is our duty. In a Christian context we can say that we are doing God’s will, implementing God’s plan for us and the world. We may enjoy what we are doing or we may not. We may see the fruits of our actions or we may not. But we act. Being without desire is similar to Ignatian indifference. It does not mean that we are not interested in what we are doing. We are fully involved and committed. But we are not attached to the fruits of the action. We are aware that we are part of a wider operation which includes the actions of many others, our own action being a response to a situation. But we know that we are participating in an ongoing cosmic and creative movement that is God’s plan for the world. To be detached from the fruits of action means that, sometimes, we are not quite aware of what the fruits are or would be. We are caught up in a network that is beyond us, our capacity and motivation. The divine is in us and working through us when we freely permit it to do so. The divine can also work in spite of us, if we choose to wander far away from the ‘way’ of God.

The Yogamarga is something special. The term ‘yoga’ is sometimes used as an equivalent to ‘marga’ or way, like Bhaktiyoga. But it is also a way or marga in itself. As such it is a way of psycho-physical self-discipline. It consists of eight parts: 1. The five “abstentions”: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, chastity, non-avarice; 2. The five “observances”: purity, contentment, austerity, study, contemplation of the Lord; 3. Postures; 4. Breathing exercises; 5. Withdrawal of the senses; 6. Concentration; 7. Meditation; 8. Liberation or Peace. As a preparation for and practice of meditation it can be part of any of the three ways mentioned above as a support. It can also be practiced by itself as a way of communing with an Absolute or deeper self without name and form. These elements, especially the first two, are not just practices but a way of life. Unlike the other ways it takes the body and community seriously and integrates them. Through the body, especially through the breathing, it reaches out to the energy fields of the others and of the cosmos. Avoiding every kind of distraction, it focuses concentration on any chosen image or even emptiness as, for example, in Buddhism. The postures and the breathing are used today as ways of promoting a healthy body. Beyond that, its focus can be a non-theistic or theistic Absolute.

The four ways or margas described above are ways of living the goal in a dynamic way. The four ways are seen, not as autonomous and totally different, but four dimensions of life and so complementary. Every person, depending on his personality and preference can choose one way as dominant in his/her life and group the others round it. In the West, tradition speaks about three ways: the purgative, the illuminative and the unitive. They are placed in a hierarchy: one ascends from the purgative through the illuminative to the unitive. But the four margas of India are seen as equal and complementary. Of course, different group may consider their own chosen way the better one. But the way one chooses depends on one’s qualities and circumstances. Some may also seek to integrate the different dimensions of the way. Everyone needs some basic psycho-physical discipline. We have to be faithful to our duties in life. As the Bhagavad Gita says, God works and we too must do our duty. We have to relate to the Lord whom we worship with love and devotion and we have to seek union with him. There is no progression here. We can integrate the different ways. Whatever be the way one chooses, the way is also the goal.

God is seen, not as the ‘Other’, but as the deeper ‘Self’. God and the self/world are not one in a monistic or pantheistic sense, to use a western terminology. The world does not emanate from the Absolute. They are not two either in a dualistic sense, following rationalistic Greek metaphysics. The world is not distinct from God as the creature from a creator. They are “NOT-TWO” – A-DVAITA. Though there are a few dualistic schools, much of Indian religious philosophy is advaitic or non-dual. Today, some Christians seek to live a Christian advaita. The world is totally dependent on God. This dependence can be understood as so radical that the world is seen as non-being or illusion. A less radical view will look on the world as the body of God. The implication is that God is not outside me to whom I have to go. God is not the goal whom I have to reach at the end of the way. God is in me or I am in God so all that I have to do is to become aware of God or experience God. The experience of the Infinite is of course unending. So I keep on going along the way which is also my goal. The way and the goal are one or not-two. Art or the experience of beauty offers us such an experience.

Art as a Way to God
Music and dance integrate the first three margas in a way. In Indian tradition art experience is said to be the twin of God-experience. God experience is realizing our advaitic or non-dual oneness with God. Art experience helps us to integrate the self and to realize the divine in that oneness. The height of such onenesss is experienced in music. The sound is the first evolute of being and the last step to merge with being. This is the mystery of ‘OM’. When I sing a bhajan, for example, the words provoke my imagination, the raga (melody) animates my emotions and the tala (rhythm) involves my body. The song therefore integrates the whole person making her/him one-pointed. We can say that the perfect expression of this experience is the dance which involves the whole person. The bhajan and the dance are also communitarian. They unite the community as one body. All the arts lead to this way of music, moving from architecture to sculpture and painting.

I have explained this above.
Raimon Panikkar, The Rhythm of Being. Maryknoll: Orbis, 2010; Swami Abhshiktananda, Ascent to the Depth of the Heart. Delhi: ISPCK, 1998.

The way to God-experience therefore starts with architecture which creates a sacred space. The towers of a gothic church or of a south Indian temple raise up our eyes and minds to the divine, since God is often imagined to be in heaven above. This is already symbolic imagination that points to transcendence.

As we enter the church or temple the various images and paintings recall to us events in sacred history, in which God has revealed Godself through God’s interventions. These have a catechetical or illustrative role and help our concentration on the sacred mysteries. The mediation of the mysteries becomes corporal when God becomes man so that we can experience the divine in him. Therefore the images of the life of Christ have a special significance in raising our minds to the divine. They nourish our contemplation.

The iconoclastic controversy did help the Church to clarify that the images in our churches are not idols, but symbols. So it is surprising how easily we accuse the other religions of being idolatrous. Of course we can make idols of anything: goods, money, power, prestige. But everything can also become a mediation to God.

A further step along the way would be when an image becomes an object, not only of contemplation, but of concentration. Both the Hindus and the Buddhists have used images for concentration. To indicate that ultimately God is beyond name and form they may skip images altogether and focus on geometrical shapes.

In Indian tradition there was also the idea that an image can inspire contemplation only in so for as it is itself a fruit of contemplation. The contemplative power of the image maker invests the image with energy that is communicated to the person who contemplates it. There are elaborate rituals for it. The Tibetans have specialized particularly in the painting of such images for contemplation.

The final stage would be the reduction of all these images to sound. Of course there are a lot of esoteric traditions in the design of geometric shapes and sounds. I think that these can be largely ignored. What is important is the way through which we empty ourselves of our senses, imagination and reason itself to be totally empty before God – an emptiness that is filled by God and this is the mystery of union – communion. We can see a succession of reductions or emptying or concentration, depending on the perspective: from architecture to sculptures to paintings; from representational paintings (Sr. Claire) to more conceptual (Jyoti Sahi) and abstract ones; from songs to bhajans (repetitive refrains) to the chanting of Om to silence. This can be a historical process. It can also be a personal process. In this way, art becomes a sadhana – a way to realization.

St. Paul recognizes Christ as the image of the invisible God. (cf. Col 1:15) Through art, we not only contemplate but experience, through God’s image, Godself.

Buddhism
Another Indian religion that gives importance to the way is Buddhism. The Buddha summarized his teaching in four principles: 1. There is intense suffering, especially as impermanence and mutual inter-dependence, in the world; 2. The cause of it is desire; 3. Therefore we should get rid of desire; 4. This can be done through the eight-fold path: (1) Right View; (2) Right Intention; (3) Right Speech; (4) Right Action; (5) Right Livelihood; (6) Right Effort; (7) Right Mindfulness; (8) Right Concentration. Path, obviously, means the way. If we follow the eightfold way we will reach Nirvana or emptiness. This emptiness does not mean “nothingness”, but the absence of anything limited or in any way determined. Emptiness is really fullness beyond our ordinary comprehension based on dichotomous reason that operates on the principle of contradiction: either-or. In Buddhism, again, the way is the goal. A person who has attained Buddhahood continues to live a world characterized by suffering and desire. The eightfold path is a way of living in the world, but not of the world.

The Buddha refused to get involved in any kind of metaphysical speculation. According to a well-known story, a disciple asked the Buddha why he did not speak about the ultimate Reality as other spiritual masters did. The Buddha answered that, while walking along the forest, if a person is struck by an arrow, he would immediately pull out the arrow and attend to the wound, instead of spending time on questions like who shot the arrow, from which direction, of what material is the arrow made, what was its speed, etc. In the same way, if we are experiencing suffering we have to see how we can get rid of it, instead of speculating about origins and ends. What is important is to live fully the present moment rather than worry about the past and the future. If we live as we ought to, the past is irrelevant and the future will look after itself. The future, in a way, is immanent in the present. It is what we make of ourselves. Making – walking, the way – is the important thing. If we live rightly, we do not have to worry about our goal.

Confucianism
Let us now move from India to China. The two great, inter-related, quasi-religious systems of China are Confucianism and Taoism. Confucianism is said to be more a moral than a religious system. The problem is that we apply the term ‘religion’ as it is understood in the West consisting of a conception of God and a system of beliefs, practices, rituals and organizational structures involving mediators or priests. Confucianism speaks vaguely of ‘Heaven’. But there is no clear idea of God or a creed. The important thing is the way you behave in the community. The community itself is described in terms of five relationships: the ruler and the ruled, father and son, husband and wife, brother and brother, and friends. There is a sense of mutuality. The way one relates to the other is almost formal and ritualized (Li). Confucianism therefore teaches us the way we live together in community in spite of our different and multiple status. One person can be, at the same time, someone ruled, a father/mother, a husband/wife, a brother/sister and a friend. The way to happiness and fulfillment is precisely the way one lives these relationships. The sense of community is so strong that the only sanction seems to be the shame one feels if one does not behave as one should. To live is to relate. If everyone relates properly there is harmony in society. Harmony is the goal one reaches by living harmoniously. The way is the goal. Confucianism does not speculate about realities that we cannot directly know.

Taoism
Taoism is the other great quasi-religious system in China. A commentator describes the Tao as “the all-pervading, self-existent, eternal cosmic unity, the source from which all created things emanate and to which they all return.” In the Western tradition we are accustomed to think of God as creator who stands outside creation as a transcendent Being, though a sense of immanence is not absent, for example, when we speak of the Spirit of God. In the East the immanence is more predominant. But the immanence is not pantheistic. Reality is manifestation. The term ‘Tao’ means the way. It is the way of Reality, of the cosmos, of nature. Everyone and everything is called to live according to its nature. It will correspond to what we saw as Word and Wisdom in the Bible. Tao is not a static reality, but a dynamic process, marked by the complementary movements of the Yin and the Yang. These are imagined/symbolized as male and female, active and passive. The movement of the Tao is smooth, but strong. Its great symbol is the water, which seems supple and pliant, but powerful. “In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong (like a rock) nothing can surpass it.” Aggression normally provokes counter aggression and leads to destructive conflict. Non-violence is the way to victory. Taoism calls it non-action (wu-wei).

9. Victor H. Mair, Tao Te Ching. New York: Bantam Books, 1990, pp. 132-133. See also Arthur Walley, The Way and Its Power. London: George Allen Unwin, 1934.
10. Tao Te Ching, 78. See translation by D.C. Lau. Penguin Books, 1963, p.85.
11. Tao Te Ching, 2. Cf. D.C.Lau, p. 6.
12. Ibid., 49 (p.47)

Therefore the sage keeps to the deed that consists in taking no action and practices the teaching that uses no words. The myriad creatures rise from it yet it claims no authority; it gives them life yet claims no possession; It benefits them yet exacts no gratitude; it accomplishes its task yet lays claims to no merit. It is because it lays claims to no merit that its merit never deserts it.
The way of the Tao is a way of humility. “Turning back is how the way moves; Weakness is the means the way employs.” Taoism is dominated by the feminine. The ideal of ‘no action’ seems to correspond to the nishkamakarma of the Indian tradition. One lives according to one’s nature. In human terms we can say that one lives according to one’s conscience – the law written in one’s heart. One can call it the law of nature. We may consider it the divine law.

Jesus as the Tao
Eastern Christians have found the ‘Tao’ a good image for Jesus. John Kakichi Kadowaki, a Japanese Jesuit, wrote a book on the ‘Theology of the Way’. In an article, he summarizes his approach in the following way: “Jesus Christ as the way is seen to be both creator of all things, and a fundamental force setting history in motion as well as an inner moving power and ultimate goal leading “all human beings as wayfarers” to salvation.” He says further:
The Way is the moving force within us. In the Christian sense of the word, the Way is the moving force of the Incarnate Son of God. He ‘has come to live within us’ who are traveling with him essentially… The Christian way, Jesus Christ, likewise taught us to be poor, to renounce ourselves, to take up the cross and follow him, to be as genuine as little children… It teaches us the irreplaceable value of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air created by our Heavenly Father. Its ultimate goal is to guide the whole of humanity to a world of divine and human communion.

Kadowaki summarizes the thought of Chuang-tzu as follows:
1. All things between Heaven and Earth are the dynamic embodiments of the truth of being called the Way. Therefore if we act in conformity to our heavenly natures, we are content with our lot and are able to live happily. (This is called self-sufficiency)
2. We must see that all things are originally one in order to realize the way.
3. And in order to see all things as one from such a standpoint, we must transcend all worldly things and all earthly events.
4. What we must abandon above all is our impertinent sense of discrimination that makes us distinguish between beautiful and ugly, good and bad and so on.
5. When we deny even ourselves, our true selves are revealed and we become absolutely free and non-abiding true persons.
6. It is only then that we will know for sure that we are one with all things, that everything is an embodiment of the way, and all things exist in joy and peace in the way.

What we see here is a contrast to a vertical universe where God is transcendent, up above, and the world is there on its own. The Absolute is immanent to the universe, directing and guiding it from within. It is possible to focus so much on one’s little self and ignore the cosmic dynamism within. To recognize the Cosmic force within and walk along in conformity with it is to attain joy and fulfillment. Doing this one is not denying one’s true self. Rather one discovers one’s true nature and allows it to flower forth. We can see how such a vision is in syntony with the advaitic vision of India and the cosmic vision of Teilhard de Chardin, which I shall evoke below.

13. Heup Young Kim, Christ and the Tao. Hong Kong: Christian Conference of Asia, 2003; Joseph A. Loya, Wan-Li Ho and Chang-Shin Jih, The Tao of Jesus. New York: Paulist Press, 1998.
14. Michi no keijijogokaku. Iwanami Shoten. Tokyo, 1995.
15. J.K.Kadowaki, “From Chuang tsu’s Way to Jesus Christ as the Way”, Interreligio 15 (1989) 3.
16. Ibid., 15-16. Kadowaki is referring to a Japanese thinker Basho.
17. Ibid., pp. 3-4.

Kadowaki quotes Chuang-tzu himself to underline the playful and eternal dynamism of the way.
The Way is the current of the dynamic force without beginning and without end. In this original current of the Way all things come and go realizing themselves. With all its creations and evolutions, the Way will never boast having reached fulfilment. Now empty and now full, the way never retains its form for so much as a single moment.

This is not the static world of some scientists but a dynamic, evolving world which guarantees freedom and creativity leading to continuing newness. From this point of view the fullness of the future need not be a static one, but a dynamic fullness that is ever new. The Way never ends, but continues. Rather than say that the Way is the Goal, we can say that the Goal is the continuing and dynamic Way. In this vision, non-action does not mean doing nothing, but not engaging in a goal-oriented action that comes to an end once the goal is reached. Non-action is eternal, never ending action, free of expectation and anxiety. It is continuing, creative play.

Kadowaki compares the Greek to the Biblical mind. The Greeks, using reason and analogy rise to contemplate an unchanging Absolute. The People of God, on the contrary, experience God as the ‘wayfarer’ who walks along with and leads the People to a promised land that will always remain at the horizon. Kadowaki expresses the contrast well: “Instead of trying to deduce God’s existence and essence by appealing to a law of cause-and-effect, they resort to ‘meta-ethical leaps’ into nothingness and self-liberation in order to live in the midst of the workings of the Source, in order to know the Way and God.” Getting back to the Source one discovers one’s fellowship with the whole of creation, the flowers and the birds, as St. Francis of Assisi did.

The Sacred and the Secular
Some readers may be surprised to see me talking about Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism which do not speak explicitly about God at all. In this sense, they are ‘secular’ religions. Why am I bringing them here when I am speaking about Christianity. How do they fit in? This may also be the moment to explain a little more what I have been repeating, ‘the way is the goal’. I have already explained above the idea of a-dvaita or ‘not-two’, neither one nor two. Now it is time to address the question of separating the sacred from the secular. God, as creator, is in the ‘sacred’ space. The world, as creature, is in the secular sphere. We are now in the secular sphere. To access the sacred we normally go to special sacred spaces like the churches and engage in ritual. The rituals connect us to the sacred sphere. This is quite an unchristian perspective. The creation is not outside, separate from God. In any case God has become human in Jesus and, therefore, is with us. The sacraments are not sacred rituals that relate us to a God who is outside the world. They make God present to us. The best example is the Eucharist. Jesus gave us a new commandment to love one another as he himself loved us. He also showed us that to love the other(s) is to serve and to share. In the Eucharist we share food in memory of Christ. When we celebrate our fellowship in this way, that food becomes Christ, uniting the sharers as his own body. The ‘secular’ action of sharing food, done in memory of Christ in faith, becomes the ‘sacred’ action of sharing the life of God. The ‘sacred’ becomes the ‘secular’. The sacrament is not a ‘way’ to reach out to the divine ritually. The sacrament is the encounter with the divine. The way is the goal. Jesus made this very clear when he told us the story of the final judgment. He speaks about the people feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting those in prison, etc. Then he continues: “Just as you did to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40) Love, serving and sharing are more important than the ritual sharing of food in the Eucharist. If we really share in life then the Eucharistic sharing become meaningful and real as a continuation. The ‘secular’ becomes the ‘sacred’. If we are not sharing in life, then the Eucharistic sharing is not merely an empty gesture, but may even become a sacrilege. (cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34)

18. Ibid., p. 4.
19. Ibid., p. 8.

Now what may happen is that we emphasize very much the ritual sharing, while neglecting the real sharing. What happened in Corinth may continue to happen today. Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism speak about our sharing in life, while keeping silent about ritualizing it. After all, the real sharing is more important than the ritual. The ‘secular’ is more real than the ‘sacred’, if it is separated from the ‘secular’. The way – sharing our life – is the goal – sharing the life of God. From the perspective of our Christian faith, this transformation is mediated by Christ. But John reminds us that this is the cosmic mystery of the Word. (cf. Jn 1:1-4,9,14,16)

This perspective is seen especially when Jesus is seen as their liberator by the poor and the oppressed people. Asian liberation theologies like Minjung theology of Korea and Dalit theology of India see in Jesus, not merely a liberator from the outside, but someone who becomes one of them. Thus Jesus is acclaimed as the ‘Minjung’ (the people) and the ‘Dalit’ (oppressed) respectively.

Teilhard de Chardian
Teilhard de Chardin’s vision of the Cosmic Christ as the Omega point which will bring to a unity the whole of reality as the culmination of evolution recalls the Taoist vision. Reality is evolving from the Bing Bang to the world in which we are. Evolution leads to the emergence of complex things from simple ones. Teilhard believes that Christic energy has been animating and guiding this process of evolution. At a given time the Word/Christ directly enters this process by becoming human and taking on a body. He becomes part of this evolutionary process and leads it to his own fullness so that universe becomes the body of Christ. Christ is thus the way that leads the evolving reality to it ultimate goal. Since the evolutionary process is still on we do not know what riches the universe still has in store for us. Christ is the beginning, he is the way and he is also the goal.

In his hymn to matter, he says: “I acclaim you as the divine milieu, charged with creative power, as the ocean stirred by the Spirit, as the clay moulded and infused with life by the incarnate Word.” Here is a prayer addressed to Christ: “I love you as the source, the activating and life-giving ambience, the term and consummation, of the world, even of the natural world, and its process of becoming.” For Teilhard, Christ is not merely the way for the universe in evolution, but is also a way for himself.

It is you who quicken for me by your omnipresence – far more effectively than my spirit quickens the matter it animates – the myriad influences which at every moment bear down upon me. In the life springing up within me, in the material elements that sustain me, it is not just by your gifts that I discern: it is you yourself that I encounter, you who cause me to share in your own being, and whose hands mould me.

20. See Ahn Byung-mu, “Jesus and the Minjung in the Gospel of Mark” in Minjung Theology: People as Subjects of History. (Maryknoll: Orbis Press, 1983), pp. 138-154.
21. Cf. M.E. Prabhakar, Towards a Dalit Theology. (Delhi: ISPCK, 1989)final
22. Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe. (London: Collins, 1965), p. 70.
23. Ibid., p. 76.
24. Ibid., pp. 84-85.
24. Ibid., pp. 17-37.

Teilhard has a well-known meditation on “The Mass on the World”, in which, alone in a desert without bread and wine, he offers the whole world to become the body of Christ. Here is a similar passage linking God, Christ, the world and the Eucharist.

It is God himself who rises up in the heart of this simplified world. And the organic form of the universe thus divinized in Christ Jesus, who through the magnetism of his love and effective power of the Eucharist, gradually gathers into himself all the unitive energy scattered through his creation.

A superficial reading of texts like this may make us suspect Teilhard of pantheism. While in pantheism the various objects (and persons) get lost in the divine, for him the communion is always through love, as he affirms in this passage. In describing the process of evolution he evokes precisely the emergence of the person with an identity. While traditional religion focused on the Transcendent ‘above’, Teilhard focus on the Christ-Omega ‘ahead’. This brings an immanent dynamism into the process of evolution leading to an open future.

Adolfo Nicolas
I would like to conclude this section on Asia with a quote from Adolfo Nicolas, which summarizes well the Asian perspective.
I have the feeling (intuition?) that most of the assertions of different Scriptures (including ours) are done in “movement” because they were indicating “A Way”, not teaching a truth, or a principle, or a norm of behavior… Parables and miracles are indicators for a journey of trust, of emptiness, of discovery, of change… They were and are part of the way. To a number of questions to the Master (Jesus, for instance) the likely answer is a parable, that is, a way of being, or of acting and reacting, or of feeling, or of trusting, or of growing through the Way of the Kingdom. Therefore, to call Jesus “The Way” is a wonderful way of saying not so much that “since He is God he is the Mediator and believing in Him or in his truth is salvation” – but rather, that he is THE MAN par excellence because he managed to embody “the Way of the Kingdom”, that following Him, listening to Him, embodying his words and his images and his horizons… is the Way of being and of becoming. Ecce Homo, is a good summary of this Image of the Way. Ecce iter… Ecce via… Do you want to reach enlightenment, freedom, joy without end?… here is the way, He is the Way… No wonder that the Orientals spoke of Christian Life as “Divinization”: How does it happen? “Well, listen to him!”

The Way of the Cross
God’s plan is to share God’s life with us, bringing the whole of creation together so that God will be “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). It is a vision and experience of cosmic communion. The way of achieving this is love. That is what Jesus told us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Love has to be lived in service (washing of feet), sharing (food, life) and self-gift (even unto death). This we have to live in day to day life and celebrate in the Eucharist, in which we live and experience the cosmic communion. We cannot speak of the way of Jesus without mentioning the way of the cross. But it is a sign of a loving self-gift rather than a punishment or expiation. We too should be ready to die for the other. Love involves sacrifice (as self-gift). But a loving God does not need to be propitiated. Jesus was killed by a group who felt threatened and He offers his life in defense of the values that he lives and preached. He may have chosen a symbol that his community could understand. But we should look at the meaning of the act and not extrapolate the symbol. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself translated it into the symbol of a common meal – a sign that he gives to the disciples at Emmaus.

26. Ibid., p. 119.
27. Cf. also Augustine Udias, S.J., “Christogenesis: the Development of Teilhard’s Cosmic Christology”, pp. 3 and 5.
28. Ibid., p.11.
29. Private communication. (The emphases are his.)

God freely and generously shares God’s life with us. We can say ‘No’ of course. But the gift is all God’s. God’s gift of love and life reaches out to the others and even to the cosmos through us. Jesus not merely shows us the way. He is the way. It is in and with him that we reach out to God, the others and the cosmos. It is life without end. Jesus prayed: “As you Father are in me and I in you, may they also be in us.” (Jn 17:21) Such communion is not static, but dynamic. Jesus is the way. God is the way.

Conclusion
Western theology is dualistic. It cannot understand easily that Jesus is at once the way and the goal. God is the Other, the transcendent creator. Indian (Asian) thought shows us that the alternative to this need not be pantheistic monism. It can be non-duality and immanent transcendence. We keep saying that God is one. But we hold up the Trinity as a model of community. If Jesus is the way and the goal then God is the way and the goal. We cannot hierarchize the Trinity and subordinate the Son to the Father. On the other hand, Jesus is divine and human. So St. Thomas says that Jesus is the way in so far as he is human, but is the truth and the life in so far as he is divine. But if, not only Jesus, but God is also seen as the Way, then the distinction between the human and the divine in Jesus must be handled more carefully. We can, however, leave these finer distinctions to the theologians. But the insistence of the Asian traditions on non-duality can help us to go beyond dualistic metaphysics.

Another way in which the Asian traditions can enrich us is to spell out the way in secular terms. Jesus does speak about ‘works’. But the four margas of India and Confucianism and Taoism of China and the Eightfold path of the Buddha spell it out in secular terms. The way of Jesus, our way, is the way of our deeper selves, of the cosmos. Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis is telling us that the way of God is also the way of the cosmos and calls us to live in harmony with nature. “The Spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us to enter into relationship with him.” This will link us back to the ‘Wisdom’ of the Old Testament.

30. Laudato si’, No. 88.

The ways of Asia are not a set of rituals. This is how we ought to live as humans in the world. God is not above us supervising us. He is in us, walking with us. We discover more deeply the immanent God. I would like to end with a quote from an Indian biblical scholar, George Soares-Prabhu, who writes about the Kingdom of God.

One cannot fully actualize the vision of Jesus: one can merely approach it asymptotically! Ultimately, then, the vision of Jesus indicates not the goal but the way. It does not present us with a static pre-fabricated model to be imitated, but invites us to a continual refashioning of societal structures in an attempt to realize as completely as possible in our times the values of the Kingdom. The vision of Jesus summons us, then, to a ceaseless struggle against the demonic structures of unfreedom (psychological and sociological) erected by mammon; and to a ceaseless creativity that will produce in every age new blueprints for a society ever more consonant with the Gospel vision of man. Lying on the horizon of human history and yet part of it, offered to us as a gift yet confronting us as a challenge, Jesus’ vision of a new society stand before us as an unfinished task, summoning us to a permanent revolution.

This quote deepens the social dimension of the way and evokes the obstacles placed on it by the power of money. The permanent revolution will make sure that we will always be on the way in Jesus Christ. “Love never ends… Faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13:8,13)

Michael Amaladoss, S.J
Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions,
Loyola College, Chennai, India.