The Map Is Not The Territory

YouTube: The Map is Not the Territory

Think of a religious symbol as part of a map used to help you navigate through life.

A few weeks ago, I told of how Myrtle Fillmore imagined Jesus in an empty chair offering her guidance through her healing journey. It did not matter that this Jesus was imaginary. To her, he represented a focal point for healing energy that proved to be helpful to her.

Any critical thinker would recognize this Jesus as a figment of her imagination. To simply pass it off as an irrelevant fantasy, however, would be to ignore the millions of people who found inspiration and guidance in Myrtle’s visualizing technique and healing.

Google Maps has opened a new understanding of this realization by providing us with a two-dimensional map and an accompanying three-dimensional street view. We can zoom in and instantly see the difference between the map and the territory.  

What has become clear to me is that it was not my study of the teachings of Jesus that led to a mystical experience. Like most people, I began with the map of Christian doctrine that I was taught was synonymous with the territory. It was an actual mystical experience that led to my understanding of Jesus as a mystic. The experience, not the symbolism, is the territory.

In my own spiritual quest, I have utilized five different maps. The first is 1) mainstream Christianity, the second is 2) metaphysical Christianity, the third is 3) Christian mysticism, the fourth is 4) critical scholarship, the fifth is 5) near-death research. I put them in present tense because they all continue to play a role in my study.

I have drawn important insights from each of these “maps” knowing that beneath each one is the “territory” of experience that is most meaningful. In our continued quest for spiritual understanding, we’ll each have our different maps, but we should always keep in mind, the map is not the territory.