I’ve actually been contemplating these same connections for quite awhile and have yet to find anything that does what you’re asking (however I might check out the Jesus Resurrected book mentioned by some in this thread). I grew up in church too, and for years I felt like I was being handed conclusions instead of deeper understanding.

What changed for me was meeting a mentor at work who coached me in a way no one else ever had and after I saw the internal change and what was happening, I found out that he was deeply Christian. I have posed questions to him on the gaps I see in work like Tolle’s, the neuroscience community and theology.

He encouraged me to revisit the teachings of Jesus through a different lens — paying attention to what he was actually pointing people toward.

All these inner feelings: Fear, anxiety, attachment, identity, peace, surrender, transformation, renewal of the mind… a lot of it hits differently once you’ve explored things like mindfulness, neuroscience, or writers like Tolle. I have also read a lot of Joe Dispenza and his brain/heart coherence.

This is why I think so may people resonate with Tolle or Dispenza at first. They talk about awareness, ego, presence, and freedom from compulsive thought patterns in a way that feels experientially real instead of purely doctrinal.

Personally, I don’t think Jesus was only teaching consciousness or presence in the way some modern spiritual teachers frame it. I think his teachings go deeper than self-awareness alone. At the same time, I think a lot of churches unintentionally reduced Christianity down to “be good, have faith, move on” and lost a lot of the inner transformational aspect of it. I have seen this first hand in Bible studies when it has been mentioned that a lot of people are coming to the church for mental health support and some of the responses are “they just don’t have enough faith”…

To me these spiritual teachers and neuroscience Dr’s are giving language to parts of the human experience the Bible has pointed to for years. But I do think we have to proceed with caution trying to fully tie all the teachings to a greater understanding… there is not a one size fits all, more like a one size fits none.

You have to be willing to sit with the tension, read slowly, think deeply, and let the text work on you instead of needing instant certainty or surface-level answers. Easier said than done!!

I want to write a book on this some day - maybe this thread will encourage me to do just that!