Living Wisdom by David G. Benner is a 2019 revised and expanded edition from an earlier version. The earlier version has 10 ISBN numbers, which means the first edition was published […]
As the book progresses, it only becomes more troubling. Benner writes that we “are called to be human beings” and “to be fully human.” (87) But we are created as human beings; we really cannot be anything other than human. It is what Benner means by “human” that makes the difference.
Benner claims we are to
“recognize Christ as the deepest truth of our being. It is not just becoming like Christ but actualizing the Christ who is in us. It is a journey toward union with God.” (99)
“Actualizing the Christ” is a concept foreign to the Bible. But if one is a Panentheist and a Jungian, it makes sense because Christ is contained everywhere in creation according to Panentheism. This is a major teaching of Richard Rohr which Benner shares. “Actualizing” the Christ who is already part of our unconscious as an archetype is to awaken the true Self. This is what Benner means by being human.