Section XI: THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
17, 18) Essential Elements of Christianity, #5 and #10

#5

Some object to Christ being called divine, but if divinity is not saught in man, then in what shall we seek God? ...One who is conscious of his earthly origin is an earthly man; one who is conscious of his heavenly origin is the son of God" (Message in Our Time, p.15)

For Hazrat Inayat Khan, Christ had the right to be called the son of God for he recognized and realized his divine inheritance. In reflecting upon your being, how do you distinguish your divine inheritance?

The difference between Christ and most people is his consciousness of his 'heavenly origin' and his identification with it. How does one awaken to the divine inheritance and shift one's primary identification from an earthly origin to a heavenly one?

#10

"Buddha, in the wake of his mightly predecessors, the Rishis, points to the way of disincarnation by systematically unraveling the knots that, by individuating consciousness, have involved us into the limiting circumstances that spell suffering." - (Pir Vilayat Khan, Toward the One, p.60)

"Christ sets the perfect example for incarnation, stressing the works of the Father in vouchsafing the kingdom of the heavens on earth." (Pir Vilayat Khan, Toward the One, p.61)

Pir Vilayat Khan envisions the teachings of Christ and Buddha as completing one another. Please explain their relationship from the perspective of incarnation and disincarnation, resurrection and returning to the origin, and their view of suffering.