I was penning some thoughts on Colossians 3:3 – “for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” – and reflecting on Saint Paul’s mystical imagery and language. It makes Paul sound like a guru, yet I just couldn’t see Paul sitting cross-legged, deep in Transcendental Meditation.
This led me to get into a conversation with AI, comparing the writings and teaching of Saint Paul with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – the man who brought TM to the West. I asked AI to create an imaginary dialogue between the two men. I thought it was pretty good. Let me know what you think.
Dave
Spiritual Dialogues: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi meets Saint Paul
Paul: Peace to you, Maharishi. I see a stillness about you that is not unfamiliar, yet it draws from a different source.
Maharishi: And I see in you a fire—a devotion that burns even through suffering. Tell me, Paul, why do you embrace pain so willingly?
Paul: I do not seek pain, but I do not flee from it. “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,” I once wrote. In suffering, I enter into Christ’s crucified body, that I might also share in His resurrection.
Maharishi: A beautiful devotion, though one I do not echo. Pain, like thought, is something to transcend. Through Transcendental Meditation, we release from suffering and merge with the field of bliss consciousness.
Paul: Yet does not bliss risk becoming self-enclosed? My joy is not solitary—it is bound up in the body of Christ, in the redemption of others. In my weakness, I find strength not in escape, but in communion.
Maharishi: Communion may come in silence too. When the boundaries of self dissolve, we discover our unity with all that is. No need for crucifixion—only awakening.
Paul: But I am not seeking to dissolve—I am seeking transformation. The resurrection affirms the body, even glorifies it. I could never call suffering meaningless, for even Christ entered into it for love’s sake.
Maharishi: Love I understand. Bliss is love fulfilled. Yet your love is clothed in burden; mine, in release. You seek salvation through a man nailed to a cross. I seek it through the eternal self untouched by death.
Paul: And I through the eternal Christ who passed through death, conquering it not by avoidance, but by sacrifice. In Him, all things are made new—not by meditation, but by incarnation.
Maharishi: Then we walk different paths, friend. But perhaps in the stillness between words, and the silence beneath suffering, we touch the same mystery.
Paul: Perhaps. For now, I preach Christ crucified. And I pray even your silence might one day echo His name.
To see the text and video of my reflection on Colossians 2:3, see my blog post – “Set your mind on the things that are above“
