Today’s topic, the serpent and the messiah, has been addressed on this blog before by Anny, but today I am going to look at it from a few additional angles. I recently had a great discussion about it with a friend. This friend doesn’t agree with esoteric teaching because she is a mainstream Christian, but we greatly respect each other’s views and enjoy a healthy debate from time to time. [Read more…] about The Paradox of the Serpent and the Messiah
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He Ate a Date
This may sound like a strange title but during the early hours of August 21st, 2017, the day of the great Solar Eclipse, which in some channellings is connected with (a phase of) enlightenment, I suddenly realized that that these two words (‘achal tamar’ in Hebrew) lead to exactly that conclusion. They lead to a phase of enlightenment. I realized that these words form the core understanding of the whole biblical message. They are the beginning and the end, and also the totality of the process in between.
For those who have read my previous articles these two words should be familiar words by now. ‘He ate’ is the translation of the Hebrew word ‘achal’, which is also used to show the root of the verb. ‘Achal ’, 1-20-30, means to eat. When we look at it from the point of gematria, Hebrew numerology, it can be read as ‘1–kol’. ‘Kol’ means everything. This word ‘achal’ was once my introduction to gematria. The meaning of this ‘eating’ is to reconnect everything with the one of the Oneness it came from. However, this is only the final phase. When we look at the concept of eating as such, it comprises all of the process. When we eat something, we put it into our mouth, chew it and experience the taste of the food, then we swallow it and the digestion process starts and finally we absorb the nutrients of the food and let go of what does not serve us.
A date is ‘tamar’ in Hebrew, which we can also read as ‘400–mar’. ‘Mar’ means bitter and 400 stands for both slavery/addiction (the 400 years of slavery in Egypt) and the cross as the letter ‘Tav’, which is also the number 400, used to be written as a cross in ancient times. So ‘400-mar’ stands for the bitterness of slavery and addiction and also for the suffering of the cross. It stands for the most intense suffering that is imaginable. When we ‘eat’ this suffering however, when we do not spit it out but experience it consciously and digest it to the full, then we will discover to our surprise that this ‘tamar’ is in fact a date. A fruit that is sweet and nutritious. And by ‘eating’ it we will gain a lot of conscious awareness.
So when we take these two words together and look at what they really mean, we realize that in these two words the whole cycle of our descent into this world of matter, our stay there, and our ascension out of it – the whole process – can be recognized.
We can also apply this image of eating the date to the story of Jesus in the New Testament, which showed us how to follow the procedure. Once we know what it is all about, it is easier to recognize what all the other elements in the biblical stories mean, many of which I have described in my other articles.
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We may also be reminded of another story, a story, which proves to be closely connected to this one and with which it all began. It is the story of Genesis 3, in which Man is warned not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but does it anyway. In verse 6 it says: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
The Future of SOS
If you are reading this then hopefully on you’re on the new Spirit of the Scripture site. If so, you’re seeing that it finally got its new look and feel. I am sorry it took so long. I severed my right ankle bones early in August and recently had surgery. The entire experience held up a lot of my late summer plans. I was actually trying to keep up with my daughter at the trampoline park. She’s a gymnast. I am 39, but at the trampoline park I felt like I was 18 again. I attempted a front flip off the side wall trampoline. I landed on a padded board when I came down and the rest is history. No fracture, but a complete break. Ouch! [Read more…] about The Future of SOS
The New Spirit of the Scripture Site
So I believe it’s time to update the site to a new theme. This site currently uses an older child Thesis Theme that is outdated. I am going to upgrade to the Genesis framework and one of the Genesis child themes. Not sure which one yet, but over the next few days / weeks your going to see a lot of changes when it comes to the look of the site. [Read more…] about The New Spirit of the Scripture Site
Christine Hoeflich’s New Book
I just wanted to take some time out of my morning to give you a review on Christine’s new book, The Spiritual Awakening Process: Coming Out of the Darkness and Into the Light. She’s been a good friend of mine over the years. In fact, we sort of connected when I first started this site, and as you all know, her comments have been a source of inspiration for many people who visit the site regularly. [Read more…] about Christine Hoeflich’s New Book
The Crucifixion of the Ego
The crucifixion of the ego has often been mentioned in articles and comments on this blog, also in the previous article, The Harvest is large, but the workers are few: Matthew 9:35-38 by Raymond Phelan, where it gave rise to a very interesting discussion in the comments. These showed that there are indeed many ways to look at this concept and in my view none of them is necessarily more (or less) true than another. Much depends on our personal feelings in this matter. If our personal experience has been negative, for instance because of the way we were taught about the crucifixion of Jesus in church, then it is very difficult to feel positive about the concept of crucifixion as such. [Read more…] about The Crucifixion of the Ego
The Harvest is large, but the workers are few: Matthew 9:35-38
Consider the Bible’s creation: written over a period of 1,500 years and consisting of 66 books, the Bible was written in 3 languages on 3 continents and authored by 40 writers of many different cultures and systems of philosophy. The Bible’s contributors, from all professions in life, were all agreed on one thing: there is a unified field which holds everything together in this universe. The field to which they refer is called the Unified field of consciousness. I believe all these biblical authors were disciplined and committed mediators who knew the secret of transcendence, of coming upon the Unified field of consciousness within, the source of Pure Bliss. [Read more…] about The Harvest is large, but the workers are few: Matthew 9:35-38
Timelessness
What is the purpose of time? Psalm 90 attributed to Moses gives us a hint in verse 12. “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom”. This reminds me of the 2012 movie “A Thousand Words” where a shady character “Jack” played by Eddie Murphy is cursed to die as soon as he mutters 1000 words. He begins to pick his words very thoughtfully and sparingly to no avail until he learns from a guru that to remove the curse he must make peace with all relationships. One broken relationship stood out from all the rest – Jack was angry at his father for leaving his mother when he was born. With only three words left, Jack’s life is redeemed when he finds his father and tells him, “I forgive you”. [Read more…] about Timelessness
The Book Is Not to Blame
My Grandmother had a large illustrated Bible sitting on a table in the center of the living room in her very modest four-room mill house. It was too heavy to lift. As a child, I was at once enchanted and disturbed by the artwork depicting tales of a man-eating whale, people drowning in a flood, and a gentle man named Jesus who was murdered for trying to change the world with love, not violence.
She was a quiet, godly woman who loved her church, her children and her grandchildren. When I stayed overnight, I would watch bull fighting and wrestling with her on a 19-inch black and white TV with rabbit ear antennas and three channels. I was always adjusting the antennas to get a picture we could see. [Read more…] about The Book Is Not to Blame
What is Truth? What Do the Scriptures say about Truth?
There is an old Zen saying that states: “In order to get to the truth, have no opinions.”
There is immense wisdom in that saying. It tells us, first of all, that our opinions cloud our judgment. We certainly can’t trust them. Historically, it has been the opinions of some that have caused much injustice in the world. On just a religious level, consider the Inquisition. But even in our day-to-day lives, can all say that we have unjustly condemned someone because of our opinions. And this is why Jesus tells us, “Judge not, least we be judged. And in the same measure that we judge, it comes back to us.” [Read more…] about What is Truth? What Do the Scriptures say about Truth?
Why God is Consciousness and the Mind, and How it Relates to Your Brain
“For ye are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
Many people ask today, “Who is God?” Well, God is in you! And the Old and New Testaments declare it. We only have to make the leap from cultural assumption and literalism to true scriptural interpretation, which is all spiritual. Religion is far removed from this truth, but the spiritual person can easily see it. And it will easily resonate with you if you are one. [Read more…] about Why God is Consciousness and the Mind, and How it Relates to Your Brain
“Bring them to Him” the Five Loaves and Two Fish
Matthew 14:15-20 informs us that the Apostles went to Jesus and told Him the large crowd which followed Him were hungry: they had no food with them to eat. The Apostles wanted to send them to the towns and villages to buy food (Luke 9:12). The Apostles informed Jesus that a boy there had five barley loaves and two Fish but which was not enough. Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the grass and to bring the loaves and fishes to Him. After blessing them He told the Apostles to distribute the food to the crowd. After all had eaten the Apostles collected the left-over’s which filled twelve baskets. This basically, as we know, is the gist of what is one the Bible’s greatest but least understood allegorical content. [Read more…] about “Bring them to Him” the Five Loaves and Two Fish
Who is Jesus? And who is Christ? Could there be a Difference?
The questions in the title to this article must be asked separately, and then collaborated, for a true answer. Do that, and with time, all of the New Testament will be unveiled.
That’s a bold statement. I know. But perhaps we can make some headway to the above statements with a few simple explanations that need not ever be deep nor hard to understand. We only have to think like the writers who wrote both the New and Old Testaments. And that means going nonliteral. Only then will all the locked doors of contradictions be opened. [Read more…] about Who is Jesus? And who is Christ? Could there be a Difference?
The Birth of the Christ
Again we live in the time of Advent, during which we are in expectation of the birth of Christ. What does this mean to us? Are we remembering the birth of Jesus Christ who was born 2000 years ago, or are we expecting the birth of the Christ, the awakening of the Christ Consciousness in ourselves? Traditional Christians are totally committed to the first, and many people who left their church and turned to spirituality are convinced of the second. But do we really have to choose? [Read more…] about The Birth of the Christ
Prophecy, what is it?
Prophecy is a subject that I have never written an article about yet, neither on this blog nor anywhere else. Nor have I thought about it much. At most I addressed it in a few lines in a comment, as a reaction on someone else’s views. It somehow did not speak to me but recently I read a comment on this blog that gave some information about a prophecy of Ezekiel which really gave me food for thought. It also made me realize that there are different kinds of prophecy and wonder what it is all about. Some of these I will address in this article but not all of them as that would go beyond the scope of this article. [Read more…] about Prophecy, what is it?