About Jesus & the Storytelling Trope of Transfiguration?

 

This post continues the theme of this 2026 series, on understanding the historical purpose of the Jesus' story, and our speaking-species love of storytelling. And after the post: Jesus' Spiritual Rebirth Method? Within the Lord's Prayer? This post returns to the promise I made about understanding the "experiential-knowledge" purpose of subconscious storytelling tropes in: Jesus' Experiential Knowledge Methods & Teachings? Wherein I wrote:

In the context of the historical purpose of Jesus' story, please consider this historical philosophy of mind comment: "There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance," ― Socrates. Compared to Jesus' words about our Father and evil, in his world famous Sermon on the Mount?

What are you feeling & thinking? About Socrates definition of good & evil? And the possibility that Jesus was a natural philosopher who taught people the experiential knowledge practices of an ancient wisdom tradition? A tradition that was already millennia old by the time of his birth? 

And what do you think of the idea, that the sworn to secrecy command of ancient mystery schools, explains the cryptic nature of biblical sayings and storytelling? While in the context of the previous post about the historical purpose of Jesus' story? 

Is it possible that the whole story is meant to be read and practiced, to gain experiential knowledge? Not just believed within the mind, but felt within the whole body? By physically experiencing the cryptically disguised method, within the storytelling tropes of transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension? So, in the context of "how" we can physically experience the "life-changing" subconscious intentions of historically famous storytelling tropes, like Jesus' transfiguration? First of all, please consider:

(Storytelling tropes serve profound subconscious intentions, functioning primarily as psychological coping mechanisms, cultural stabilization tools, and emotional shortcuts. They provide psychological safety, process collective anxieties, and satisfy a deep human need for order. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Psychological Safety and Order

Predictability: Familiar patterns calm the nervous system, allowing audiences to explore scary or chaotic ideas inside a safe container. [1]
Cosmic Justice: Tropes like the "hero's journey" or "good versus evil" reassure us that actions have meaning and effort leads to fair results. [1, 2]
Cognitive Ease: They act as mental shortcuts, freeing the brain from processing basic setup so it can focus on deeper emotional truths. [1, 2, 3]

Processing Collective Anxieties

Cultural Mirrors: Monsters, dark lords, and apocalyptic settings externalize shared societal fears regarding disease, war, or political corruption. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The Shadow Self: Antagonist tropes represent repressed human traits, allowing societies to safely examine greed, rage, or grief without real-world harm. [1]

Relatability and Connection

Shared Language: Tropes create an instant bridge between minds, making individual feelings universally understood.
Empathy Practice: Romance and betrayal tropes let people rehearse vulnerability, love, and loss from a secure emotional distance.) A Google AI Overview

What are you feeling & thinking? "What does this artificial intelligence explanation have to do with the historical Jesus' "supernatural" experience of transfiguration?" "Everything written about Jesus in the biblical New Testament, is based on true historical facts, not storytelling fiction?" Which would have been my "conscious" reaction to explanations of the "subconscious" purpose of storytelling, years ago. 

Before I experienced my training in the emotional art of counseling, beginning in 2003 and started reading neuroscience for better self-regulation in 2007. And spending three years in Thailand, where I used Buddhist self-meditation practices, to help me learn how to transform intellectual knowledge about my body's nervous entire system, into visceral-awareness. And again, before delving into the subconscious purpose of the storytelling trope of Jesus' transfiguration, please consider these words:

(Visceral awareness is the conscious perception of physiological signals originating from the body's internal soft organs, primarily tied to interoception, emotional processing, and gut-brain communication. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Core Concepts

Interoception: The brain's continuous tracking of signals from cardiac, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems. [1, 2]
The Insular Cortex: The primary brain region responsible for mapping and generating conscious awareness of these internal bodily states. [1, 2]
Emotional Regulation: High visceral sensitivity helps individuals recognize emotional shifts earlier and manage responses more adaptively. [1, 2]

Clinical and Practical Relevance

Gut-Brain Axis: Amplified or miscommunicated internal signals can lead to conditions like visceral hypersensitivity or functional gastrointestinal disorders. [1]
Somatic Practices: Modalities like mindfulness, body scans, and somatic experiencing help train attention toward internal sensations to foster emotional and physical healing.) A Google AI Overview

What are you feeling & thinking? About this explanation of the meaning of words; "visceral-awareness?" And what they may have to do with Jesus' own experience of transfiguration? Or at least the storytelling trope about Jesus' transfiguration, and the possibility that your experiencing a subconscious transfiguration, as you read these words? 

And that you can learn how to develop a visceral-awareness of what transfiguration actually is, and how it works? If you are interested in what Jesus' spiritual-diagnosis of humanity was, and what spiritual self-diagnosis & realized-being actually is?

What are you feeling & thinking? Does this notion of learning to practice spiritual self-diagnosis, in order to develop a "felt-sense" of realized-being? Feel more like my personal Ego than your reality? 

Especially if you have a religiously minded faith, in Jesus' historical teachings & promise of personal salvation? And a firm belief in the historical purpose of the words: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come," (Matthew 24:14)? 

As this post starts a series of articulating my personal understanding of the four storytelling tropes, that climax, so to speak, the historical prophecy purpose of the Jesus' story? So let's explore what is officially understood today, about Jesus' experience of transfiguration. And the possibility that your actually experiencing a subconscious transfiguration, as you read these words:

(The Transfiguration of Jesus is a pivotal event in the New Testament where Jesus is glorified and shines with divine light upon a mountain. The core elements of this occurrence involve: [1, 2]

• Three primary disciples as witnesses
Two major Old Testament figures
One divine voice from a cloud

Biblical Account

The Ascent: Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a high, unnamed mountain to pray. [1, 2]
The Transformation: While praying, Jesus is transfigured; his face shines like the sun and his clothes become dazzling, bright white. [1, 2]
The Visitors: Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets) appear and converse with Jesus about his upcoming departure (exodus) in Jerusalem. [1, 2]
The Reaction: Peter offers to build three tents or shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. [1, 2]
The Voice: A bright cloud overshadows them, and a voice from the cloud declares, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him". [1]

        Theological Significance

Divine Identity: It reveals the inner divine nature and glory of Jesus hidden behind his human form.
Fulfillment of Scripture: The presence of Moses and Elijah shows that Jesus fulfills both the Law and the Prophets.
Foretaste of Glory: It provides the disciples with a preview of Christ's future kingdom and resurrection glory before he faces suffering and death on the cross.) A Google AI Overview

How Do You Transfigure Your Biology Into Your Psychology?

This subheading is about the subconscious-phenomenology of our human experience of mind. And how this relates to the "experiential-wisdom-knowledge," expressed in ancient storytelling tropes about the reality of being human. And in this case, the implicit―suggested, but not directly stated―meaning of the story of Jesus' transfiguration. 

When we consider the possibility that the ascent wording in the biblical account, is about a spiritual mountain within us, and not really about an actual mountain? So that when you read the words: "Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a high, unnamed mountain to pray."

You might imagine that ancient storytelling about the human condition, is based on a "visceral-awareness" of the simultaneously "describing & disguising" reality of all human languages? And an equally visceral awareness of the biological reality of our human eyes? 

Those biological organs of consciousness, residing in the "place of a skull," to paraphrase the New Testament story of Jesus? If you familiar are with the words: "And they brought Him unto the place called Golgotha (which is, being interpreted, The Place of a Skull), (Mark 15:22).

While the whole point of this subheading section is subconsciously orchestrated & functionally automatic nature of adult human behavior, we all quite naturally, take for granted. Unless you've had the kind of life experiences, that force you to consider the reality of your mind?

Through spiritual self-diagnosis questions like; "how is my mind energized?" Or "do my eyes receive surface-level impressions of reality, that my mind mysteriously transforms into psychology?" Or in the context of making lived-experience sense of the storytelling trope of Jesus' transfiguration, and the historical purpose of the whole Jesus' story. "Am I a biologically conceived creature, with biological organs of receptive consciousness, and a biologically conceived mind, that is psychologically projective?"

What are you feeling & thinking? About these kind of questions? Could they be categorized as a form of spiritual self-diagnosis? Even the perfectly natural form of self-diagnosis, practiced by our wisest ancestors? And what are you feeling & thinking about this suggestion of our biologically "receptive" and psychologically "projective" form of human consciousness?

Or the idea that the "ascent-description," within Jesus' story of transfiguration, is actually about the experience of climbing a spiritual mountain within, so to speak? And about the conscious experience of realization, that also known as Enlightenment? 

Or the possibility of increasing our natural "higher-self-consciousness" capacity for understanding, by using the latest tool, developed to aid our human need of survival? Like asking your favorite AI aided and abated search engine , this question: "Is the "ascent" story of Jesus' transfiguration about climbing a spiritual mountain within?" Please consider with your natural intellect & body-wise contemplation:

(The "ascent" in the story of Jesus' Transfiguration carries deep spiritual and metaphorical meaning, but its interpretation depends on the perspective you look through. 

Historically and textually, it describes a physical climb up a real mountain (traditionally identified as Mount Tabor or Mount Hermon). However, Christian mystics, theologians, and scholars have long interpreted this physical journey as a symbol for an internal spiritual ascent. [1, 2] 

Here is how the story connects to the idea of climbing a spiritual mountain within: 

The Mystical Interpretation 

For centuries, Christian mystics and contemplation traditions have viewed the mountain climb as a metaphor for the soul’s journey toward God.

• Leaving the Crowd: Jesus takes only Peter, James, and John away from the crowds. Mystically, this represents pulling away from external distractions and the noise of the world to enter a state of interior silence. [1, 2]
• The Effort of the Climb: Climbing a mountain requires physical exertion. Spiritually, this symbolizes the discipline, purification, and effort needed to overcome personal ego and earthly attachments. [1]
• The Summit as Higher Consciousness: Reaching the top represents arriving at a higher state of spiritual awareness or prayer, where a person is capable of receiving divine revelation.
• The Transformation Within:
• The word used for "transfigured" in the original Greek text is metamorphothe (from which we get metamorphosis).

• Internal Light: The change happens from the inside out. Jesus’ clothes and face shine with a light that comes from his divine nature within, rather than an external spotlight. [1]
• The Human Potential: Early Church Fathers taught that what happened to Jesus on the mountain reveals what is possible for all humans. They called this theosis or "divinisation"—the idea that through deep spiritual practice, a person can be internally transformed and filled with divine light.

        The Theological Context

        While the spiritual metaphor is rich, mainstream Christian theology balances the "internal                       mountain" idea with external, historical, and communal meanings.

• A Communal Experience: Jesus does not climb alone; he brings a small community with him. This suggests that the spiritual journey, while internal, is not meant to be entirely isolated. [1]
• The Return to Earth: Peter famously wants to build tents and stay on the mountain peak forever. Jesus refuses, leading them back down the mountain to heal a sick boy. This serves as a reminder that internal spiritual highs must always lead back to serving others in ordinary life.) A Google AI Overview

What are you feeling & thinking? About this sections suggestion that the now ancient storytelling trope of transfiguration, is all about you? About the age-old mystery of our human mind, and how our human biology is mysteriously transformed into our human psychology? Like when feeling the warmth of the sun with your body & thinking of the simultaneously describing & disguising word; Sun? 

I mean we all know that the Reality of the Sun and the World, is not a Word? Don't we? All adult human beings, are fully aware of the habituated nature of our everyday behaviors? Aren't we? We know all there is know about our biological & psychological reality? Don't we? We all know how our wisest ancestors created sayings and stories about the experiential nature of wisdom? Like: "While praying, Jesus is transfigured; his face shines like the sun and his clothes become dazzling, bright white?"

And whenever you experience the reality of that giant ball of nuclear-fusion, 93 million mile away from the biological reality of your eye-balls? Will contemplating the reality of this experience, lead towards a personal realization and a firm desire to better understand the actual nature of your own reality? Would that be a practical way to interpret and understand, what is arguably the most famous story about being human, in the history of humanity?

And as I finish this post, continuing this series theme of good news that can be preached to the whole world. About the cryptically wise meaning of the words "and then the end will come?" Through a conscious realization about our personal experience of perceptual confusion? Enabling an increasingly urgent need to balance humanity's biologically receptive & psychologically projective, experience of consciousness. So that the prophecies of the end of our species perceptual-confusion, may come to world-wide fruition.

I can only hope that I've provided some useful food for thought and body-wise contemplation about the historical purpose of the Jesus' story. The possibility of experiencing a second coming of your mind, by learning to embody the simple ruth of Jesus' resurrection philosophy? Please let me know what you feel and think about this blog post, in the historical context of truth, goodness, & beauty.

Best wishes,

David Bates.