Men have always wanted to understand life and Nature, so far as they could. In Biblical times, this was so despite the cautionary tale of Adam & Eve, which many people then must have believed literally. In modern times this is still so, despite the fact that Man’s inquisitiveness has led to the awful discovery of the atomic bomb, and the power to destroy all life on the earth.
In Biblical times, many people expected an apocalyptic end of the world quite soon; and when the Second Coming of Christ did not take place as soon as he said it would, it was inevitable that the early leaders of the Church should ask themselves “Why not?” And looking around them, and seeing that none of them even approached the grace and majesty of Jesus, it was inevitable that they should conclude that he was unique. Constantine calling the Council of Nicaea, and demanding unanimity, made it urgent to provide an answer; so they opted for saying Jesus was God come into this world. This was essentially a fudge. They simply said that Jesus was both God and Man, without attempting to explain how or why; hence the doctrine of the Trinity. But they did recognise that the Spirit of God had been in the Prophets, thousands of years before Jesus was born; so Jesus can hardly be said to have sent it into the world. Indeed they had before them the opening verses of John’s Gospel, in which the author with astonishing prescience conceived the Spirit as being the light in the soul of everyman born into the world. Nowadays we are familiar with the reality of the subconscious; John knew nothing of this, but with astonishingly shrewd instinct or intuition he got near to the truth of modern psychology. In modern times, we simply regard Jesus’ promise to come back soon as an understandable mistake, and the idea that his return will be in ‘Clouds and glory’ as moonshine. The Universe will continue to evolve as hitherto; the Creator could, of course, bring it to an apocalyptic end, but the likelihood is that He will not.
With the complete triumph of science and technology, and the abject humiliation of the clergy, who have almost always turned their backs on modern knowledge in every age, the problem now is to find the proper boundary, or the proper relationship, between the spiritual world in the broadest sense and the religious world. But in the nature of things, after their humiliation, the clergy are incapable of doing this. It is practical men in the world of affairs, who have the best chance. Perhaps soldiers, who have always rated Morale as supreme? Or perhaps business men, who need to be familiar with the skill of managing men, if society is not to end up with a winter of discontent? Or even a lawyer!
If Jesus was a Man, and not a god walking around in human clothes, then I firmly believe that his access to God was limited to the access that ordinary men and women enjoy; and that is through prayer to respond to the archetypes in the subconscious. These can come alive; but there is never any proof that they are telling you the truth. Yet you have in the end to act in the belief that the images in your mind or consciousness are true, and not wild fantasy. When Jesus found he could heal sickness (as I am sure he could), that would have given him confirmation that his mental intimations were true; but not proof that they were. I can understand his hesitation at the wedding in Cana-in-Galilee.