Inner Alchemy & Transubstantiation

In "Death & Resurrection: Enlightenment & the Body of Light," John White offers a fascinating exploration of the transubstantiation or alchemical transmutation of the human body. From his synopsis he writes:

Enlightenment or God-realization is not purely a psychological event. Bodily changes also occur, most dramatically in the higher phases of enlightenment. In the final phase, according to esoteric teachings in various sacred traditions and hermetic schools, the body is alchemically changed from flesh into light, becoming immortal.

Though he mentions various mystical traditions, the article is focused primarily on the example of Jesus, whose resurrection is our most well-known case of transubstantiation. According to this line of reasoning, the so-called "second coming of Christ" will be:

... an evolutionary event marking the disappearance of egocentric Man and the ascension of God-centered Man. A new race, a new species will inhabit the Earth - people who collectively have the stature in consciousness which Jesus had. And in that process, the kingdom of God will truly be established on Earth through the governance of the Christ in the hearts, minds and souls of all people.

The mystical meaning of Holy Communion is that it symbolizes the potential within each of us to undergo this same alchemical process - a point often missed entirely by a fundamentalist interpretation:

They [literalist/fundamentalist Christians] believe that the bread and wine of Holy Communion are actually transubstantiated into the flesh and blood of Jesus, but that is childish magical thinking, and the symbolic significance of the sacrament is missed. Holy Communion is not magical but mystical, and points to the possibility of the true imitation of Christ, even to the point of whole-body enlightenment.

The creation of the Immortal Body - described here by Mantak Chia - is Taoism's version of transubstantiation. I'm working now on an essay which looks at Inner Alchemy in relation to the Christian idea of transubstantiation. So stay tuned ...

See also this video report of a Russian Lama whose physical body remains basically intact, eighty years after his "death."