Numerology is one part of the bible which flows through the whole narrative. The Book of Revelation is no exception; the number 7 appears many times in this book, along with 3.5, 9, 10,12 and 24.
The clock-face above shows the numbers 1 to 12, each divided into 30º to make 360º. The horizontal and vertical bars have been drawn to show them aligning with 10 and 2, subtended by 11 and 1 for the horizontal bar; and 12 and 6, aligning with 8 and 4, plus 11 and 1 for the top of the vertical bar. This looks like the physical size of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. The vertical line encompasses the numbers 12 and 6, which added = 18; 1+8 = 9
There is a tenuous link between the lengths of the horizontal and vertical bars, namely that their lengths add up to 6, 7, 9 or 10, measuring in millimeters, when varying the diameter of the circle. This can probably be discounted as having any esoteric meaning in this instance.
The number 12 in the Bible relates to the 12-signs of the Zodiac, 12-Disciples, 12-tribes of Israel and, indirectly, to the 12 pairs of cranial nerves in the brain. The 12 pairs of cranial nerves in the brain represent the 12-tribes of Israel, the 24-elders who bow down in front of the throne and the 12-Disciples. The 24-elders are numbered 4 and 20; the 4 refers to the 4 aspects of the mind and the 20 relates to the connection to the cosmos.
Each disciple represents a facet of human personality; James represents the higher mind and Peter displays tendencies associated with the lower or carnal mind – hence Jesus says to him in the New Testament, “Get from me, Satan,” around the time of the Last Supper.
There are also 12 gates to the city as mentioned in the Book of Revelation; again, referring to the cranial nerves above and the tribes, 3 on each cardinal point of the compass – north, south, east and west. These also represent the 4-aspects of the mind.
The compass points refer to the 4- horses of the Apocalypse, which is a direct inference to the aspects of mind. The horse points out understanding of the lower or upper consciousness.
West – tribe of Ephraim – black horse – signifying the intellectual and carnal/lower mind, represented by the man (Aquarius);
North – tribe of Dan – red horse – signifying the emotions, represented by the eagle (Scorpio);
South – tribe of Reuben – pale horse – signifying the physical/body, represented by the bull (Taurus);
East – tribe of Judah – white horse – signifying purity and spirit, represented by the lion (Leo)
The number 12 also refers to 12-months in the year; 12 days to Christmas, etc., also 24-hours in a day (1440-minutes, adding together = 9!)
The Zodiac moves through 30º for each month of the year. Jesus was 30-years old when he began his ministry.
The clock-face shows that all the opposite numbers (e.g. 9 and 3) add up to 12. The vertical bar adds 12 and 6 to make 18; 1 + 8 = 9, the number of higher consciousness.
The number of degrees in the circle add up to 360; again, 3 + 6 + 0 = 9.
Adding the digits of the cardinal points of the compass always adds up to 9, e.g. 292.5º (WNW), or 180º (S).
The number 7 relates to the 7-chakras or seals along the spine which are opened during meditation by kundalini/serpent or Holy Spirit stored in 3.5-coils at the base of the spine. The Book of Revelation states 3.5 years, 1260-days or 42-months in relation to the opening of this. This is also the basis of Pentecost when the apostles receive the Holy Spirit.
7 also appears in the building of King Solomon’s Temple (built without hands in 7-years – a direct reference to the 7-chakras or seals), Jericho’s walls, Joseph’s multi-coloured coat and in many other narratives within the Bible.
This kundalini or Holy Spirit is stored in 3.5-coils at the base of the spine, as mentioned above; using the circle as a formula, 3.5 x 360º = 1260 (basically, 3.5 years). This, again, adds up to 9, the number of higher consciousness.
The lower, carnal mind is depicted by the number 666 in the Book of Revelation; again, this adds up to 9 (6+6+6 = 18; 1+8=9).
Interestingly, if 1260 is doubled, the result is always 9; e.g. 2,520, 5,040, 10,080, 20,160, 40,320, 80,640, 161,280, 322,560, 645,120 and 1,290,240. The number continues ad-infinitum into the billions and always adds up to 9 via 18 or 36!
The number 10 appears in the Book of Revelation when the writer states that a tenth of the city was destroyed. This refers to the left-hemisphere of the brain being purged (the carnal, lower mind/intellectual side) during meditation when the kundalini hits the pineal gland and transfers over via the Red Sea of emotions, to the right-hemisphere also known as the Promised Land, or the land of milk and honey.
The milk and honey refer to the galactose which is secreted during meditation by the pineal and pituitary gland. It is a milky, sugary liquid – now we know where galaxies and milky ways come from. As above, so below, which has been mentioned in the Blog before!
The milk and honey are also referred to in Exodus as the Manna from Heaven, which fell from Heaven during the Israelites’ wanderings through the desert. Wandering in the desert means being in a state of confusion, which is helped by using meditation, when the Manna flows. The Egyptian name for Manna is Manus.
The right hemisphere of the brain is where the tribe of Judah camped (in the east), represented by Leo, the lion, as the tribe of light. there were 186,400 people in this tribe – a familiar number for the speed of light! In Greek mythology, the white horse represents Zeus; in Revelation, this is shown as Jesus Christ.
Numerology is everywhere in the Bible, and names in the Bible represent numbers, which again, have mystical meanings.
For more information on the Zodiac and its relationship to Jesus, please refer to Joshua’s blogs:
“The Bible, Jesus and Zodiac” from 08.29.2012 and “Jesus as the Sun” from 09.03.2012.
As light relief from the above, for the pilots out there, there is a correlation between runway designators. My local airport, Bournemouth in the south of England has a runway designation, west and east of 262º/082º. Again, 2+6+2 = 10; 0+8+2 = 10. This is a simple method of finding out if you have correctly identified the opposite runway (obviously 180º difference). Not many pilots realise this. The power of numbers!
We have the Phoenicians and Babylonians to thank for the number of 60 seconds, 60-minutes and 24-hours, which correlate and are divisible by 12!
Steve…
There is so much meat here. You have effectively shown that the Bible is indeed, a manual of psychology and physiology through its esoteric understanding. I really enjoyed your breakdown of the four horsemen. I learned a lot here, things I had not considered in the past, and you have given me fuel to dig deeper into other ares of scripture corroborating what you have stated. You have also given me the inspiration to doing a detailed post on the meanings of each disciple as they relate to the 12 faculties of mind (those near to Christ ) that are developed as we evolve the ego.
As a side note, isn’t is interesting that Santa Claus also wears red and comes into the building through an opening in the chimney (upper portion of the house) bringing presents (gifts of grace) to everyone? I would also assume that the name Santa Claus, if we traced the word roots to Latin and Greek and Hebrew would reveal a similar story to Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the bringing of the higher emotions, which would ultimately lead us to the cerebral-spinal fluid flowing to specialized areas of the brain.
I find it interesting that much of what Christianity today calls pagan is actually the symbolized truth, and these stories, including Revelation, are retellings of more ancient paganized truths, which you also bring up with your Zeus connection! Poor institutionalized religion doesn’t even recognize its roots!
In your article you state…
“The number 10 appears in the Book of Revelation when the writer states that a tenth of the city was destroyed. This refers to the left-hemisphere of the brain being purged (the carnal, lower mind/intellectual side) during meditation when the kundalini hits the pineal gland and transfers over via the Red Sea of emotions, to the right-hemisphere also known as the Promised Land, or the land of milk and honey.”
I would love to learn more about this specific number and process. Hope you will do more articles in the future and elaborate even further. Really enjoyed this entire article as a good foundation to start building many spiritual truths off of. Awesome read!
Thanks for the contribution to SOS!
Josh
Hi Josh and Steve,
As always you post an interesting comment to Steve’s article here, Josh, but as far as Santa Claus is concerned I am afraid that your imagination is runnig away with you. It has nothing to do with spirituality.The origin of Santa Claus is to be found in Turkey where he was a bishop sometime during the second century AD. His name was (a form of) Nicholas, which is derived from the Greek words Nike, meaning victory, and laos, meaning the people. So maybe victor or victory of the people? Whatever he did to leave such a mark in the memory / history of the church / people I do not know but there must have been something that made them remember him.
Here in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the part of Germany that borders on the east of our two countries his socalled birthday is celebrated in the beginning of December by visiting our countries and presenting our children with presents, that is to say, if they have been good during the year that by then is almost over. It is not St. Nicholas who is climbing on the roofs of the houses these days (if he ever did) but his helpers and companions and even they do not have to descend through the chimneys but only to throw the presents down. However, since children are much less gullible these days the presents are now mostly being delivered to the door by the helpers, who then ring the bell and of course are gone before you have a chance to encounter them. Over here it all stayed much more in the natural realm than obviously in the USA although there are of course differences between the cultures of our three countries as well.
Steve, I do not know if or how you celebrate this in England. I did live in London for a couple of months as an Au Pair girl in the sixties but only arrived there in January when all the festivities were over.
I like your article very much as I am also involved in numerology, as you maybe know when you have been following the blog for some time already. However, your way of interpreting is very unfamiliar to me, just as mine is to you. They are differet types of interpretation but each probably just as valuable as the other. In the Hebrew language the interpretation is based both on numbers as such and on words as the Hebrew characters are both letters and numbers. And the Hebrew language does not have vowels, so many words can be read in different ways, which opens up a whole range of possibilities sometimes. And you are right, you definitely have to know some Hebrew in order to be able to use this system, but you do not need any knowledge of Hebrew in order to understand the explanations given by people who do.
I hope to see more of your articles in the future and to learn to understand more about your way of interpreting as well. It is nice to see another contributor who lives in Europe. You, Raymond and I are almost neighbours, seen from a world wide view.
Hi Anny.
I am glad you liked Steve’s article. Some really solid info there.
And lol, yes, as you say, my imagination is always running wild. But I want to show you that the “tradition” of Santa Claus is very much rooted esoteric in wisdom teachings, and there is more to the imagination than meets the history 🙂
You have provided the “historical” narrative of St. Nicholas, who comes from a man who rescued three girls from prostitution by a dowry of gold, and frequently gave presents to sailors traveling the known world. But the saying that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction applies here as the myth of Santa Claus that quickly ensued shows more truth of what really happens in the upper realities, in the same way that the “myths” of the Bible do.
The house is you, the temple, and more specifically your lower personalities (the children in the house). The Chimney is the spine, and the fire that burned at the base of chimneys the world over is symbolic of kundalini that resides dormant at the base of the spine. Santa Claus is dressed in red because he is symbolic of the higher emotions (the Holy Spirit) which descends down from the Buddhic plane and brings the gifts of grace (truth) to the three lower vehicles of consciousness that make up our personality, or lower self. The “three” presents of grace is also based in the tradition of the three wise men that brought presents to the baby Christ (us, as Christ’s in the making). Your lower vehicles for the expression of consciousness are, the physical-etheric body, the emotional body, and the mental body. The Holy Spirit / Santa Claus comes from the North Pole (symbolic from above) and sends the energy of intuition in the form of three presents to the physical, emotional, and mental body that make up your personality. Santa Claus (and the Holy Spirit) only bring presents to the “good” children, meaning that when the aspects of your personality (the higher spiritual ego’s children) sacrifice itself to the higher nature, “by being good all year, (the solar year according to the Zodiac),” they are rewarded from power on high and become fit habitations for this power that comes from on high. This is the “victory” of the people that you reference in your comment. In a broader sense, this is the “victory” of the expression of consciousness making headway in the spiritual evolution of the soul through it’s lower vehicles, bodies, or sheaths. For the lower self that does not follow this victory because of selfishness, they are burned up (annihilated) after physical death (which the Biblical St. Paul talks about), but as there is always another solar year, there is always a rebirth and the ego produces other personalities with the chance of evolving them through the power on high.
This is only a very limited and partial explanation, that doesn’t even include why he is called “Claus” which Steve told us a little about. But notice that the “myth” of Santa Claus is the same as the “myth” of the Gospels. Just as there is good evidence that the Jesus of the Gospels is based on a real character who lived around 100 BC., the myth of Santa Claus was born out of the person of St. Nicholas of Patara in Turkey.
Truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction, especially in the workings of the higher spiritual realms and how consciousness desires to express itself through the personality (the physical, emotional, and thinking) person.
Of course, Anny, as you know, there are many variations to the story of Santa Claus, just as there are some variations within the Gospels themselves. But the endeavor of myth is to teach us about the higher spiritual realities that the lower nature has a hard time grasping until the spiritual path begins and it learns to sacrifice itself on the altar of life so to speak.
Blessings, and I look forward to your next article as well, Anny!
Hi Josh,
Thanks for explaining the mystical explanation of Santa Claus to me. I never knew that there might be any deeper meaning to stories and festivals like this one.
The story varies for each country where the festival of Santa Claus, or Sinterklaas as he is called in the Dutch speaking countries, is celebrated and so does the explanation as well, I imagine. Just like the different doctrines in the different churches. For instance you explain Santa Claus as coming from the north and what that means; but in the Netherlands and Belgium he does not come from the north, and also not through the sky, but by boat and from Spain in the south (don’t ask me why). I must say though that a boat, especially a large boat, is much more practical when you have to transport a lot of presents!
But to be honest, I do not see how it is of any use at all as all the truths that can be learned from this particular interpretation of this feast, we have already learned from one Bible text or other, so I prefer to let this merry children’s festival be just that.
***
In your reply to Charles you write about the messiah: “Messiah is a symbol for the incoming truth and love into the soul, even the lower mind. What do we make of this?”
I do not quite agree with you here. A messiah is not a symbol but a person and the Hebrew term for messiah, mashiach means ‘the anointed one”. He or she is anointed to a specific task and as such David was the first mashiach as he was anointed by Samuel to be the next king; he was anointed to be the kind of king who would rule in righteousness and love. Indeed the qualities you mentioned above. They were his task, and they were the qualities a messiah would have to learn to embody themselves in the first place.
The anointing liquid is shemen, oil, olive oil, and that of course also points to Gethsemane, Gath shemen, the oil press – the process of pressing the olives in order to become oil – the process which the Son of David, Jesus, literally had to go through in the Gospels, but in a figurative sense it applies to every messiah who is called and anointed to their special task; and they may have to face equally heavy consequences of their anointment.
The word shemen has the same numerical value as the word shamayim, 390. Shamayim means heaven and is a dualis. It means it is shem, name; it is both this one and that one at the same time. It is also sham, there; it is both here and there at the same time. It is also esh-mayim; it is fire and water at the same time. It means that what we call heaven exceeds everything we can even think of and with the same numerical value some of this applies to the word shemen as well. And as such also to the anointed one, the mashiach.
Hi Anny…
Just a quick sidenote, a ship is another symbol for how the Christ works in the lower mental body, just as we see Jesus calming the turbulence of the mind through calming the stormy seas in a ship. The version of Santa Claus mentioned above probably portrays the same idea. Lovely how different traditions somehow all point to a similar spiritual concept!
About messiah: I see it as a symbol for a process, but as you mention, it is a person too because it is a process that happens within the individual, as you so wonderfully explain. So I can agree with you completely. As I have stated before, my belief is that God is impersonal at the highest level, but then becomes “personal” through us, because we are personal. Transforming the ego into a spiritual man is the process known in the ancient eastern texts that states:
“Let the Self raise the Self by the Self.”
I think this means, that the lower self is regenerated into the True Self through the discipline of becoming more and more “selfless.” And this is a long process. The process of the lower self becoming selfless of course is supplied by the truth, love, and wisdom of the true Self, and therefore when the lower personality turns to those ideals, the lower vehicles of consciousness are on their way to becoming perfected. This is why I speak so much on this blog about mental and emotional development. By changing the way we think. This is not an easy process to do. The lower vehicles of consciousness, yes, must be raised up, by there is the “choice” and the required personal effort, works and faith, that we can undertake or not. As the lower vehicles of consciousness become more refined, more of the spirit can flow through them. We are the “cause” and the spiritual influx from above is the “effect.” But this works both ways, and the Higher Self is also the “cause,” and the development of our lower vehicles is the “effect.” It’s a two-way street, one where the spirit is constantly descending, and the other where it is constantly ascending (Jacob’s Ladder), the process of involution and evolution.
The outward manifestation of institutionalized religion often (not always – it depends on how balanced and developed the leaders of that religion may be) focuses on the idea of the outward Jesus being our savior, and all we have to do is trust and believe and obey. But the obedience part is the work of disciplining the lower qualities, or the vehicles that consciousness has chosen to develop so that the spiritual man can more shine forth on earth, as it is in heaven. This is the inward process, and I believe what the manifestation of the “messiah” is. This is the part where the gnostics believed in “saving one’s self.” In a Gnostic text we have Jesus as stating something to the effect that if a man does not attain salvation in this life, when he dies he receives nothing. More specifically, this means that the man who has not worked on himself, and has only used the lower vehicles of consciousness for personal gain, has little to offer the higher self at the process of the first, second and third death (physical, emotional, and mental death).
But in the beginning of our development of the lower vehicles of consciousness, developing a strong selfish ego was also necessary. I know this sounds contradictory, but I am speaking to the long chain of incarnations that were necessary to even allow the intellect and emotions to develop over many past lives. It’s much like a baby who has no ego at first, but develops one as he or she grows into adulthood. Somewhere along that path hopefully that individual has had the experiences that allow him or her to see the greater path is in sacrifice to humanity, and life isn’t just about him or herself. There is a constant conflict of struggle going on. If that individual chooses the selfish path all through life, the karma created forces this individual to deal with them either much later in life or in a future incarnation. In the greater plan, ALL is really the spiritual path.
Thank you for the great discussion Anny, and for providing further meat to chew on.
Hi Josh,
Thanks for your comment.
I like your first paragraph already: “Just a quick side note, a ship is another symbol for how the Christ works in the lower mental body, just as we see Jesus calming the turbulence of the mind through calming the stormy seas in a ship. The version of Santa Claus mentioned above probably portrays the same idea. Lovely how different traditions somehow all point to a similar spiritual concept!”
So the different versions of the Santa Claus story do have a deeper meaning after all. Who would have thought it. I’ll think about it when the boat arrives again later this year. If it does at all. You never know these days.
Yes, you are right. The way you write it now the word messiah can be seen as a process as well, and now I think of it, I myself have addressed it this way in articles or comments sometimes. Oh my memory. Where has it gone?
‘ “Let the Self raise the Self by the Self.” I think this means, that the lower self is regenerated into the True Self through the discipline of becoming more and more “selfless.” And this is a long process.’
I agree with you here and I think that everyone is looking for the right way to accomplish this, the way that is best for him or her. Meditation definitely is in the front row here, even though we each may have different ways to enter into it. But this should show results in the way we actually live our life as well. I agree that the Jacob’s ladder is the right symbol to describe this way.
“The outward manifestation of institutionalized religion often (not always – it depends on how balanced and developed the leaders of that religion may be) focuses on the idea of the outward Jesus being our saviour, and all we have to do is trust and believe and obey. But the obedience part is the work of disciplining the lower qualities, or the vehicles that consciousness has chosen to develop so that the spiritual man can more shine forth on earth, as it is in heaven. This is the inward process, and I believe what the manifestation of the “messiah” is.”
I completely agree with you here. The way of thinking in many churches more or less takes our own responsibility away from us – and our right and duty to think for ourselves – and it also causes us to judge everyone who believes in a different way, or even not at all. It takes away our independence. Fortunately not all people who are members of these churches think that way.
Yes indeed the selfish ego is necessary in the beginning. We have to descend first in order to become aware of how things work out in order to be able to make conscious choices later on, on the upward path. It all belongs to the cycle of spiritual development.
Thanks for the great conversation, Anny. I enjoyed it 🙂
Hi Anny,
Nice to hear from you again, and I’m glad you enjoyed my article. Yes, we have local neighbours; Raymond in Ireland, you in Holland and Me in England! Over the Pond, Josh and Paul.
Santa Claus seems to get mixed up with the whole Christmas idea here in the UK. He has his reindeer and his red uniform and he comes from the North Pole/Lapland, from the air, and he gives children presents. he also comes down the chimney and leaves presents under the tree, late on Christmas Eve. That’s what Josh alluded to, metaphorically, in his piece about Santa Claus.
Am I also right in thinking that the word “Christ” or “Christos” also means oil/shemen. Is it the Greek translation of oil/shemen? Also the word “Chrism” is connected?
The word Christ comes from Sanskrit, where he is known as Krishna. In Bengali, it is Christo. As much as Christians don’t like it, our religion has its roots in the East!
All the best.
Blessings,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for getting back to me. The way you celebrate the Santa Claus festivities seem to be much the same as in the USA, so British settlers probably took it there. Ours on the continent seems to be completely different, if celebrated at all; I really only have some knowledge about our immediate surroundings. I live near the German border and used to go to Germany frequently.
Different festivals do seem to travel along with people who travel to and / or settle in other countries. For instance I vividly remember my arrival in Belfast on October 31st 1966 and then immediately being dragged to a Halloween party; a festival I had never even heard of before but which later reached us in the Netherlands too by the time my son and his family from Vietnam visited us around the end of October 2017 and my then four-year-old grandson experienced this phenomenon for the first time. Since then he has been celebrating it in Vietnam, including wearing a skeleton suit himself. He also met the Sinterklaas (Santa) phenomenon that year for the first time as the impending arrival of Sinterklaas is already a big event on TV long before the man himself even gets here. And in the last two years the Sint (saint) visited Vietnam as well and was celebrated by the Dutch and Belgian families there.
When we as a family were living in a Christian village in Israel in the early eighties, Sinterklaas came there also and the Israeli children of the kindergarten our kids went to were of course invited to the festival and enjoyed the feast, just like our kids celebrated all the Jewish festivals in their school. When celebrating Christmas as a village people from the neighbouring Jewish and Arab villages attended as well. I like this mutual sharing a lot.
But now to your questions. No, Christ or Christos does not mean oil. This term means the anointed one, just like mashiach. Christos is a Greek word and comes from the verb chrio (I anoint). I must admit that my Greek has gotten a bit rusty to say the least. It has been far over half a century since I left school and have not interacted with it much since that time and lost my Greek New Testament somewhere in the process. Fortunately these days we can look things up on the internet, or check them if we are not sure. So I do not believe that the word Christos comes directly from Sanskrit but it is possible that certain Greek terms, or maybe even the whole language, has derived from Sanskrit, which is a root language after all, just like Hebrew.
Somehow I have never had any problems with other religions. To begin with I lived for a year with an orthodox Jewish family in Belfast / London as an Au Pair girl, and later in Israel for 11 years, in between Jews, Muslims and Druse. I got married there (on mount Carmel) and three of our children were born there. After our return to the Netherlands in 1986 we as a Protestants, financially adopted Muslim foster children in Egypt, and from the late nineties also two Roman Catholic ones in Nicaragua, whom I visited, and went to Mass with, in 2003. And to top it all off two of our sons married Vietnamese, Buddhist women in 2008 and 2009. The wedding ceremony of the first one in a Buddhist convent was the most moving wedding ceremony I ever attended, where the officiating nun advised the couple how to deal with two religions in one family in a very touching way. My son seems to have made some very funny promises though, which made one of the nuns leave the ceremony in a hurry because she burst out laughing. Yes, eastern (tonal) languages are tricky.
Because of all this I have long since lost the urge to convert other people to what I think is true and prefer to have open-minded conversations if people are so inclined as we can learn so much from each other. And if they are not, then not to address the matter of religions at all. God loves all of us anyway, regardless of whether we belong to a church or a religion or not.
I got acquainted with the Hebrew numerology in the early nineties by reading some books by prof. Friedrich Weinreb and became very interested in the fact that the Hebrew characters are both letters and numbers. It took another ten years though to tumble to the fact that I could do something with this knowledge but it has been enlightening me. If you are interested in hearing a rabbi explaining it, I put a link to a video that was made during a Science and Nonduality conference last year in my latest article earlier in June which shows the principle very clearly.
Hi Anny,
Thank-you for explaining Christos meaning the anointed one. I knew it had something to do with oil or anointing; I just couldn’t make the connection. That it means anointing (with oil) makes sense. The Greek word for oil is similar to the English meaning (Oel in German).
Yes, Halloween is a strange one; it’s not so strong as it was here in the UK and has Pagan and early Christian influences. It came about from Martin Luther in 1517 nailing his thesis on the church door on 31st October, allegedly. I think the origin is All Saints’ Evening.
As Mike Pinder, the former keyboard player with the Moody Blues said, we’d better off celebrating the moon landings than Halloween!
Your family does sound truly international, that you have lived in Israel makes for interesting reading, and you were there in 1973 and witnessed the second war is amazing.
Yes, I watched the video with Rabbi Zvi – very interesting. Thank-you for posting that.
I am all in favour of inclusiveness for all religions; I hope one day it comes about.
Yes, God loves us whether we are a part of religion or not.
REgards,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your reply. You point to the similarity of the English word oil and the German term for the same thing, Öl. Our Dutch word for oil is olie, so it is also related. There are many similarities between the three languages but sometimes they are also deceptive.
This similarity of words is a very interesting thing as in this case these three words all mean the same thing. But in other instances they may in the end have totally different meanings, like for instance the English word town, the German word Zaun (which sounds like tsown in English) and the Dutch word tuin in which the ui sound does not exist in either English or German as far as I know. It might in any of both of your local dialects though.
The meaning of town is of course obvious to English speaking people. The German word Zaun however means something like fence or wall, and of course towns used to be protected by a surrounding wall in previous centuries. So the English word points to what is protected and the German one to that which protects. The Dutch word tuin however means garden because many houses were also surrounded by gardens. Until the 19th century an alternative Dutch word for tuin was gaard, which now is still used in the term boomgaard = orchard / Baumgarten, a garden of trees. So with this word gaard we find the relation with English and German again in the words garden and Garten.
I learned about all this during my one semester at the university in which I had to study etymology where you learn to see how languages develop. Another eye-opener I learned there was that the Gothic (yes, we had to learn Gothic too) word for body is lic hamo, which the Dutch kept as lichaam. Literally it means coat of flesh, which means that we are not our body but we have a body; something which seems to have become totally unknown or nonsense to non-religious and non-spiritual people these days. To me however this knowledge is essential and therefore also the knowledge of etymology which may show us the way back to truths which otherwise may be forgotten altogether.
Halloween never appealed to me; I’m not into horror movies either but some people seem to love them. I prefer what I have heard about the Mexican people (if I remember correctly) that they take candles and baskets of food to the graves of their loved ones and sort of celebrate a party together with them on the night of October 31st. That seems to me more positive even though I would never do something like that myself because I do not believe that our loved ones themselves are in these graves after they left their bodies.
I did not know that Halloween has anything to do with Martin Luther though; I do not see any connection there other than the date on which he nailed his thesis on the door of a church in Wittenberg. That was 500 years ago in 2017 and this town made a huge circus out of it and many pilgrims came to celebrate. I could follow that on German television. Anyway, Luther is not one of my favourite persons because he turned very ugly towards the Jews later on because they did not want to convert to his new version of Christianity. There was not much love there, which to me is the essence of everything.
Hi Anny,
Thank-you for explaining town and Zaun. Yes, Zaun is German for fence. I lived and worked in Berlin for many years, so am very familiar with their language and had no choice but to speak and write it, which I enjoyed.
You mention the sound “ui”. I come from a town in north west London called South Ruislip (pronounced ricelip). It is actually Boris Johnson’s constituency! the word comes from the fact that rushes were very prevalent there years ago. It looks like a Dutch word!
We also have the word “ruin?” I think huis is Dutch for house?
Thank-you for explaining lichaam; I believe you have explained this before on SOS and it makes sense about being a coat of flesh, as you describe.
I find languages fascinating and amazed how words travel from country to country. I also speak basic French and Italian.
I agree with your comments about Martin Luther and Halloween. Mohammed also turned against the Jewish people because they wouldn’t follow him.
Yes, love and understanding are the things we want, but there isn’t much of that in the world at the moment. Unless people seek within themselves and practice meditation and centering prayer, things will carry on as they are. Doing the above has made me a much more tolerant and enlightened person, and much more accepting of others.
Best wishes,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your quick and very interesting reply. So you lived in Germany for many years and did not really need my explanations but fortunately you are not the only one who reads this information and who might find it interesting. Although we have been addressing quite some stuff that is not really relevant for this blog lately, and I will be doing so again now, there have been complaints about this in the past, so I would suggest to ask Joshua to provide us both with our mutual e-mail addresses so we can communicate about the non-spiritual stuff in private.
I myself learned German at school, reading only, just like English, French, Latin, Greek and a little bit of Hebrew (for the future theologians). I only started to really learn German after we returned from Israel, when we settled very near the German border and we went shopping in Germany and also spent most of our holidays there. Then we started watching German television at home, at first hardly understanding anything with e.g. series from Baden Württemberg and Bayern (indeed many Germans from the north do not understand them either!) and slowly, slowly started to understand everything, from whatever Bundesland. Right now I feel completely at home in Germany and it was very strange when suddenly all borders were closed because of the corona virus. Recently they were reopened though and the only thing different is that now you have to give your data, telephone number etc. so they can reach you in case an infected person proves to have been there at that particular time as well. They now have some sort of electronic warning system for that there.
Ruislip indeed sounds like a Dutch word although the ui is not pronounced as any sound you have in English. The sound that rushes make is indeed called ruisen in Dutch so that connection is there. I do not know what the word lip has to do with it but your lip is our lip as well.
Your word ruin is our ruine, both words two syllables, but both the u and the i are pronounced differently. This u-sound you do not have but the i is pronounced like your ea in hear, meat, etc. Huis is indeed Dutch for house, as is luis for louse, and muis for mouse. The plural forms go a different way for the last two in English though: houses, lice and mice but not in Dutch: huizen, luizen en muizen. Who is responsible for all these grammatical mix-ups?
I also did speak basic French once after a conversation course because I was responsible for the export of the products of a small company before I went to Israel in 1971. But as I had no opportunity to keep up the practice I quickly lost the language again. Also my English is not as perfect as it used to be when I graduated my one-year study at the College of Commerce in Belfast. I was very proud when someone asked me once what part of England I was from. And I did a course in Spanish in order to be able to communicate with my foster-kids (and the one of my son as well) in Nicaragua and during those two weeks I really progressed very quickly. But after that I did not have any possibilities to speak it anymore and I lost it almost as quickly as I had learned it. Which is why I keep watching German and British TV in order to keep my German and English up-to-date. With as a result that I hardly get to hear what happens in my own country.
Well, back to the spirituality. I am not so sure that there is not so much love and unity in the world these days. It does not come in the news so much but on the other hand I have seen so many loving initiatives of people to help each other out during these difficult times, or to keep up the morale, that I am more positive about that. Somehow the news always seem to focus on that which is negative as that seems to be what people are supposed to be interested in. I really do not understand why if that is true. But if so, that is why I am concentrating so much on love and unity in diversity these days, especially since these two terms are the definition of what God represents.
I have heard the term centering prayer used before but I am not sure what it is exactly. Could you maybe explain this to me? I do not think Raymond mentioned it but he might have. My memory definitely is not what it has been.
Enough for now and blessings to you to.
Numbers are not real and refer solely to the intellect which created numbering. It has little connection to the reality of spirit. All this speculation is just an intellectual game. OK 2+2=4, but what does that tell us? The Bible contains much that is of little validity for our lives (and for our thought) and this line of approach is least fruitful. I am surprised to find such futile ruminations on what is otherwise an intelligent and helpful website. Sorry if I sound aggressive but such things as this bring out the worst in me. Not even the great Carl Jung himself was immune to the dreams of number so the writer is in good company!
Hi Charles…
As you probably already know, each Hebrew letter has a number value. When the numbers are correctly summed, it can bring enormous clarity into the endeavor of Biblical interpretation. By meditating upon the words and their numerical equivalents, greater depth of understanding can be achieved. For example, the Hebrew words for serpent and messiah both add up to 358. This fact gives us an additional clue as to what the serpent is, and how it means more (according to the context and association with other Hebrew words) than just just one concept. In Genesis the serpent, who was more “subtle” than any “beast” of the field (desire mind) caused Eve (emotion nature untied to the mental nature in the lower mind) to break away from unity in the mind as one.
But Moses later “raises” the serpent (same Hebrew word) up high on a pole (the spine) and the Israelites (little developed mind faculties) are “healed.” This serpent is no longer the one that is “more subtle than any beast of the field,” and here the serpent has been risen and therefore it’s influence on man has changed. The Hebrew word for messiah, which is the numerical equivalent of serpent (the higher serpent) offers so much additional insight. Messiah is a symbol for the incoming truth and love into the soul, even the lower mind. What do we make of this?
We can see what the bigger picture of what the serpent truly is: the serpent, in the bigger picture, is simply the force (kundaini) that can draw the expression of consciousness downward through the desire nature in man, or upward through the spiritual nature in man. Understanding that the numerical value of the serpent and the messiah helped to provide this insight for me, and answered the question of why God told Moses to make a fiery brass serpent (after he commanded them not to make any idol) and put it on a pole and all who looked upon it were healed. Healed of what? Their mental afflictions that the original bites from the serpents in the dessert had placed upon them.
I hope this helps to understanding just one way numbers can be helpful.
Blessings.
Yes with that sort of knowledge I do find the subject interesting and meaningful. Unfortunately without a Hebrew knowledge it would be a closed book to me, hence my earlier impatience. But to assign certain values to certain numbers does seem slightly arbitrary. Number 13 being the most obvious. My father died on Friday the 13th which for me reinforced the myth but since that time (some years ago) I have seen many Friday the 13ths come and go without mishap. But thanks for your elucidation. Regards, Charles.
Hello Steve,
Thank you for this interesting article on Numerology and the Zodiac. Obviously, this method of explaining the abstract realms of the spiritual life has indeed been well though out by earlier generations. And while it does appear to be of little practical value, it has, I’m sure, served ancient cultures well. But it’s fascinating to observe how numerology merges in value with its opposite — ‘worded’ scriptures, which you’ve explained well in your article.
In Ireland, the Angelus still rings out daily from many churches countrywide at 12 noon and 6pm. The Angelus bells consists of 3+3+3+9 =18 bells=1+8=9= entering into higher consciousness? Or, as biblically phrased — regards the Crucifixion –: ‘on and around the ninth hour, Jesus hung his head and died’ (to ego) meaning, entered into higher consciousness.
On the issue of Pilots and runways, Steve. When I was around fourteens years of age, I used to cycle on my 3-speed gear bike out to Dublin Airport a few days a week with my Air frequency Radio and listen in to all the air traffic chat. At that young age I was very familiar with all the runway compass headings. Unless I’m misreading your point, I would find it impossible for any commercial airline pilot not to be aware of runway configurations at any given airport. I mean, they can bring up visual graphs of runway layouts at most airports prior to landing or take-off. Runways are a single strip layout, which strip can be used either end. In Dublin Airport we have runway 280 degree (on the compass heading) facilitating east landing or take-off traffic. This same runway strip then becomes runway 100 degrees at the opposite end which facilitates west landings or take-offs– the 180 degree difference, as you say, is correct. But, familiarization in compass runway headings for pilots, whatever standard of airport, is surely compulsory knowledge? But, then, we remember the Pilot who landed the giant Airbus 380 at the wrong airport: Two airports close to each other seemingly had the same runway compass headings!
Anyway, Steve, wheels on the ground and back to the Scriptures. It’s always good I feel to broaden our understanding in anything which relates to ancient compositions and formulations etc of scriptures. While seemingly of no practical value in the marketplace, numerology adds greatly to esoteric knowledge. It provides a double-check means of corroborating biblical texts.
So, thank you, Steve, for this useful and informative article on Numerology and the Zodiac.
Blessings.
Hello Raymond,
Thank-you for your kind comments. Yes, your mentioning the 9th hour makes perfect sense when Jesus was crucified and hung his head and entered into higher consciousness – thank-you for explaining that.
I was interested in the Angelus bells; the numbers stack up with higher consciousness – the number 9 again. Being rung at 12:00pm and 6:00pm makes sense.
I have also heard that Tibetan monks tune their musical drums to 432-Hertz. Standard concert pitch is 440-Hertz (the note “A”), although I note that some orchestras tune to 441-Hertz.
The runway article I found in a pilot’s magazine; I don’t think I explained it very well. The writer just pointed out that the sum of each runway designator is the same, e.g. 270/090; hence you know if you have done the arithmetic correctly. Not many people realise this (they look, but they don’t see!). Of course, all pilots are capable of adding and subtracting 180! Mental arithmetic is requisite when flying – you can’t use a calculator up there – I know this from when I completed my Private Pilot’s Licence many years ago – all I had was pen and paper!
I also remember the Airbus landing at the wrong airport (in Northern Ireland, I think). It’s easy to make mistakes and get maxxed out when flying!
Blessings,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thank-you for this reply. Delighted to read that you’re an Airline pilot as well, my second passion after scriptures and meditation. Your article clarity, Steve, has stirred my latent curiosity greatly in numerology. Particularly regards the ten commandments, and the number 10 and its digital composition. My understanding is — and maybe you might clarify — that the number ten here is not really referring to the number ten as we would normally count from one to ten. Rather than ten being ten ‘must dos’ or commandments, as presented in religion terms, ten or 10 commandments actually refer to cosmic or divine impulses of insightful intelligence into the brain during meditation.
That, 10=1+0 is actually referring to 1 as ‘I’ becoming 0 or whole in meditation? In other words, 1+0= Unity consciousness?
I would concur with Paul in welcoming you as a guest writer to SOS.
Blessings.
Greetings Steve,
Excellent article. I love numbers and my brain is definitely on overload which is greatly appreciated.
There’s much to learn regarding the Kundalini meditation practice.
Josh, I believe that the tenth of the city was destroyed. This refers to the left-hemisphere of the brain being purged…… is also symbolic of tithing by giving 10 percent to the Lord.
Steve, hope to read more articles in the future.
Ken
Ken, yes, but I wanted to know more specifically why ten here is important. For example why a tenth should be associated with the left brain. I know there must be a great reason I have just never studied it before in depth. Perhaps Steve, or someone else here will give us concrete connections that make the association stronger. And I agree that meditation is a huge part of this. I like how you say “purged” to better portray destroyed as well. Since the processes that happens in the left brain can act as the rudder that steers the ship of the mind so to speak it would be interesting to know if this purge is specifically related to input correct thinking into the right brain in order that the right brain can more readily give up it’s secrets and access to higher dimensions of conscious expression. But as many know, it’s no so much that one hemisphere is acting with greater strength than the other. The key is to vibrationally sync them, and this is what meditation helps to do.
Many in the New Age camp talk about the importance of shutting down the intellect for greater revelation of intuition, but the details in this process are unsatisfactory for the ways it is explained. For example, how does the intellect (which constantly asserts the I AM me) get united with the higher self and retain it’s inherent function with the aided intuition. It is easy to understand that the intellect, without intuition, is still dead in the lower nature. With the aid of intuition, it is expressed by a more accurate assessment of judgement. But then what do we call the intellect when it is aided by intuition and is no longer discriminating solely based on lower nature thoughts and emotional vibrations? What is it that the renewed personality “gives up” to the higher self that remains permanent, slowly but surely allowing consciousness to free itself of from the process of reincarnation? Its easy to say higher thoughts and emotions, which replace coarser matter because they vibrate at higher rates, and therefore naturally replace emotion-thought that vibrates at lower rates in a dense physical reality. This concept is easy to understand, but what’s not easy to understand for me (at least currently) is exactly the role the intellect plays in this process. In other words, what we modern thinkers term as the intellect (left analytical brain thinking) is not the entire picture, and the intellect is so much more than an analytical tool.
This notion that concentration and single mindedness as a prerequisite to actual meditation and contemplation appeals to me, and I do not fully understand why. Yes, I can regurgitate what great thinkers of the past have said, but I also need to understand the specifics about the mind to see exactly how and why this is true. I am still on that mission, but I do believe I am getting somewhere. It would seem that this idea of “shutting down the intellect” is not accurate. We must first use the intellect (through concentrative effort and redirection), and then when we reach the point right before single mindedness, the brain hemispheres are synced and intuition merges with the intellect. So in a sense, yes, we have laid the intellect down on the altar of sacrifice to the higher self, but only THROUGH it’s intense use first.
For those who would argue the intellect is not used in the process, I would have to disagree. Redirecting the mind in concentration utilizes the discrimination factor because the I AM ME feeling is based on subject / object relationship. To even realize the mind is wandering takes the discrimination factor into account.
Other forms of meditation do not use concentration as a prerequisite. And I understand the great benefits for health that they can employ to the lower nature. So yes, they are great. For example a mantra can be used to bring a harmonious flow of energy and vitalize bodily functions so that mental and emotional blockages are cleared in the nervous system. But what is the proper way to meditate to most directly bring realization of the TRUE SELF? I coming to the conclusion that this method is a 3-stage process:
First concentration (a focused mind) which then leads to meditation (merging in the mind) and then leads to what is contemplation, which can, I think, best be explained as the process of completely transcending linear left brain thinking.
Lol, sorry for the rambling if that is what it seemed like.
Hi Josh, Raymond and Ken,
Yes, it’s great to be here – thank-you for the huge welcome.
Regarding the 10% and 90%, my interpretation as follows:-
It is often said that we only use 10% of our brains and the other 90% is dormant. It is awakened during meditation.
As Josh suggests, the 10% is important on reaching the 90%; so the 10% is laid down to access the 90%. As Jesus says, we need to be still and take no thought during the meditation process – this enables us to access the 90% – the right hemisphere of the brain.
In mysticism, the number 1 means God and the number 10 means perfection and completion. The number 9 relates to intelligence, wisdom and consciousness.
As Raymond mentioned in his reply, 1 + 9 = 10; 1 + 0 = 1, so this would mean a unity of consciousness and balance.
I find it amazing that the eastern mystics knew all about this thousands of years ago and modern civilisation doesn’t even know about it, apart from a small number of people.
I also believe that the 10% is referred to as the”Abomination of Desolation” in the Bible.
Kind regards,
Steve
Thanks for this additional info Steve! Great comment!
Hi Josh..
If I may clarify or elaborate on the following points mentioned in the comment to Ken. There is a hint here that mantra meditation is somehow less than proper?
You state: For example a mantra can be used to bring a harmonious flow of energy and vitalize bodily functions so that mental and emotional blockages are cleared in the nervous system. But what is the proper way to meditate to most directly bring realization of the TRUE SELF?”
.As you know, josh, I use a mantra in meditation. Now, first off, the mantra is NOT used for the reasons outlined here. Second, meditation in itself does NOT reveal our higher or true Self. Rather, Self reveals Itself by Itself to Itself. Meditation only helps calm the activity of the mind, clears the clouds, for the sun is always there — it’s eternal, as the Self.
The words concentration and contemplation, regards meditation, are often misused, or used in the wrong context. In meditation, there is no concentration, for this only defeats the very purpose of ‘be still and know’. In other words, concentration equals mental effort whereas there should be no effort, no personal agenda to get something or achieving some outcome by mentally ‘trying’ — rather, it’s a surrendering of ‘doing’. There is no conditionality that we must gain a particular fruit for our efforts. Therefore, use of mantra in meditation is not premised on gaining something. Ideally, a meditation practitioner should be trained in the use of a mantra.
Thus, coming upon the higher Self requires no contemplation, no concentration. Use of a mantra actually eliminates the need of both concentration and contemplation. The mantra, in a natural way, becomes the focal point — we wait, it comes, it drifts, we wait, it comes back, no effort other than ‘waiting’ awareness. At a certain point in meditation — which may involve many restarts — the mind transcends relativity, transcends time, space and causation. At this level, there is no capacity for thinking or reflecting on progress or non progress. In numerology, this might be referred to as the merging or fusion of being and non-being 1+0 or, transcendence.
But, transcendental ‘fusion’ happens at the level of Being. We’re not aware of the dynamics of ‘what’ is happening. Sometimes the mind slips out of meditation on a thought and we can find ourselves evaluating the process or procedure. This is when we simply pause…. and restart.
The better term, Josh, regards concentration is the term ‘con-centrate’: meaning, (con) to join with our certer or (centrate). Thus con-centrate or fusion happens — we don’t do it. Likewise, contemplation, meaning, join (con) with the template of inner silence.
The mantra, being a sound, creates vibrational stillness. It is by this neutral peace-laden vibrational stillness, that the mind merges into silence in preparation for transcendence. This ‘happens’ at the point when the mind — naturally and effortlessly — has unwittingly let go of ‘world’ or personal agendas, without resistance. Thus, after a period of regular practice, we stop holding on to the river bank in an effort to swim and flow freely. We stop controlling the natural flow process of stillness and harmony by not bringing new equipment into the mind in a subliminal effort to somehow speed-up the process. There is no short-cut to Self-realization. So, we forget about time and how long will it take us etc — it’s a process which reverberates totally in proportion to practice, and where belief systems have nothing to do with it.
Blessings, Josh.
Raymond…
Thanks for thoughtful reply. I am always eager to learn, and especially enjoy your thoughts because I know you to be a longtime practitioner in the art of meditation, and because of your experience, you have so much to offer.
I have used mantra meditation in the past and will continue to use it in the future, and did not mean to imply it isn’t a proper way to meditate. But for certain people in different circumstance,I will clarify some questions, and look forward to any more insight you can give.
I am currently delving more into the process and the science behind it. My question is, it would seem that some are incarnating to develop different aspects and strengths in the personality, so that it becomes more readily available for spirit to flow through. As I think we would both agree, before a merger of the lower and higher self is ready, the physical-etheric, emotional, and lower mental body has to be evolved enough and prepared. I believe this is implied in Hebrews 10:5, in which Jesus certainly was (who achieved great discipline and mastery over himself). Of course for all humanity the physical-etheric body is already perpared, but for many, the astral / mental body needs expansion and development which can only be accomplished through discipline. This is not a judgment, for all of us have to go through the same process and all of us are on our own path (myself included). This is why some achieve something specific for each life. For example, some people may already have well defined emotional / astral bodies, and so their purpose may be to incarnate in this round to work on the mental body by gaining the proper mental matter buildup (not the matter scientist today refer to as they recognize no other matter than the physical plane) for the furthering of conscious expression. For further example, say one has troubling concentrating thought. Maybe they have a highly developed emotional awareness, but they are incarnating to work on the ability to work with higher mental matter. So then, is there one particular type of meditation that would be more conducive in fitting their particular personality needs?
The lower self has much to offer in the self awareness of the higher self, for the higher self takes on the “coloring and flavor of life” from the lofty and high ideals and aspirations of a lower self that has sought to discipline itself towards spiritual endeavors, i.e., positive thoughts and emotions and self sacrifice towards others. Yes, the higher self is already perfect, but it’s purpose for incarnating is to gain the addition of greater self-awareness of it’s potential. (Please bear in mind that I am not speaking of all aspects of the higher self, but specifically the ego in man, the immortal aspect of the higher manas, or “the thinker, which is what manifests as dual in each incarnation).
You state…”The words concentration and contemplation, regards meditation, are often misused, or used in the wrong context. In meditation, there is no concentration, for this only defeats the very purpose of ‘be still and know’.”
Yes…but couldn’t concentration be a prerequisite for some to meditate because some may have very unfocused minds and even find it difficult to engage a mantra? And therefore, concentration, as the first step, helps one gain control of the wandering mind directly? Which would also benefit them in life in general enormously? The effort of paying attention to even the little things one does in life brings is the beginning of allowing a certain awareness of in the now to develop. And I only bring this up because some of our oldest traditions and mystery schools emphasize the importance developing concentration early in ones stage of development, for the greater part of the whole.
Besides this, Hatha-Yoga seems to mortify the lower body through certain meditation techniques such as mantra or breathing, as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita: “Some devotees sacrifice the sense of hearing and the other senses in the fires of restraint; some offer objects of sense, such as sound, in the fires of the senses.” But some literature states how important it is to have a teacher or guide so that one doesn’t bring injury to one of the lower bodies. Yes, it enables someone to develop great powers, etc., but one must tread carefully as to not also open oneself up to influences that would cause harm if done improperly. Hatha Yoga seems to me the path of awakening kundalini. But this process must be practiced, and then stopped, allowing energies to settle and be properly incorporated, and then practicing again the proper time.
Then there is the other path, such as Raj-Yoga, which works with disciplining the lower bodies (especially the mental) to experience transcendent states of consciousness. Raj-Yoga, in other words, prepares the bodies. These practices work with the lower bodies in a way that actively expands and evolves them in permanent ways as the sacrifices they make is incorporated into the causal body, which is the center of the immortal aspect of man, of “the thinker” itself.
Blavatsky, who was a great supporter of mantras under guidance, also stated, as an addition, that ideas generated in the mind by association of ideas with the meaning of certain words used for mantra meditation as significant. In other words, there is an aspect of the thinker involved.
I admit, I am still learning and don’t have the answers to many questions. But my general feeling as of now is that yes, there are certain types of meditation practices that are more conducive to some at different stages of development. And I can’t get past the fact that many great thinkers like Blavatsky have a big problem with beginners trying to jump into meditation the “wrong way,” or her thoughts that some meditation practices are only beneficial in this life, for the mortal body, but not for the ultimate purpose of consciousness in the bigger picture. I am still trying to understand exactly why she would say such a thing. Again, I am not saying I accept what they say, but only that I need to investigate it more deeply.
You also state…
“The better term, Josh, regards concentration is the term ‘con-centrate’: meaning, (con) to join with our certer or (centrate). Thus con-centrate or fusion happens — we don’t do it. Likewise, contemplation, meaning, join (con) with the template of inner silence.”
Thank you for this statement. I like this very much.
Anyway, I am open to learning more through any additional insight. You may provide me with something (as you already have above) that I will have to ponder a bit to let it sink in.
But some part of me is screaming that there’s something that is still missing, that will be grasped in due time.
Blessings.
Josh…
Thank you for this extended comment. We’re getting there …
You write:
“For further example, say one has troubling concentrating thought. Maybe they have a highly developed emotional awareness, but they are incarnating to work on the ability to work with higher mental matter. So then, is there one particular type of meditation that would be more conducive in fitting their particular personality needs?”
My answer, Josh, is, no there isn’t. If I may develop this ‘no’ further.
In truth, we don’t need to bring concentration to meditation. Concentration rather is the OUTCOME of regular meditation. In that, by using a mantra, in a trained manor, the act of drifting from the mantra and coming back to it — the awareness involved in noticing that we have drifted — is what develops focus, develops concentration. I mean, a depressed person will not initially have the ability of sharp concentration in meditation, BUT, will develop such quality quickly as their well-being increases. The process thus is, that, meditation first develops awareness leading to contentment, from which, concentration is an off-shoot. Our ability of contraction thus stems from contentment — as in: con-tent-ment, meaning, (con) to join with ‘tent’ (of David) or, tent of divine unconditional love-nature.
By way of understanding deep meditation, the following I would suggest may be helpful.
The art of diving in to deep water necessitates entering the water at the correct angle: That we reach the bottom and retrieve the pearls. Here, in the depths of the ocean, we develop under-water skills which make surface water activity feel easy. Thus, in meditation, the correct use of our mantra is equivalent to correct entry into deep water, in to the mind, thereby carryout our chosen surface ‘world’ activity with spiritual ease..
The root cause of poor concentration is connected to the non-developed intellect — that part of intellect which is making decisions through the memory-bank details of lower-self ego. Thus, Josh, your earlier points on the intellect to Ken, is highly relevant here regards concentration. That part of your comment, alongside what I’ve mentioned here regards contentment, actually addresses the aspect of poor concentration. It also resolves the question you pose, of which is the best meditation tool to use. The best tool, I would suggest, therefore, is our angle of entry in to the mind, thereby developing ability of concentrated awareness.
you write:
“But some part of me is screaming that there’s something that is still missing, that will be grasped in due time.”
what is missing, Josh, I feel, is direct experience of our true Self. Direct awareness will replace the ‘missing’ as you put it. I would suggest staying with one type of mantra meditation and develop it along the lines of ‘diving within’ at the correct angle.
I know that your are a highly learned school teacher, Josh, and that research is part of your brief. But I would suggest easing back on the deep deep spiritual research — which can splatter the mind’s ability at times in coming upon contentment — until we’ve mastered the simplistic’s of coming upon direct bliss or contentment experiencing in our own twice daily meditation sessions.
Blessings, as always, Josh.
Great reply, Raymond. I will digest this. Thanks!
First Thanks Steve.
Numbers made me wonder and wonderfull it became.
To Raymond and Josh
In presence of so much wisdom I must be acting like a fool. I do not meditate, I do a kind of guided meditiation. To me that is sort of priming into a dream to receive something new, yet unknown. And thus renewed I start a new section of the day or next day. If something really bothers me I go to sleep without showering, I take the whole day’s load with me into the night. Next morning i come down from the mountain onto Earth and a new day begins with a shower :).
Meditation
I do not meditate because the 2 times I did it were very disappointing. No, not beginner’s problems. In my first meditation I got several insisting warnings that someone was breaching my car. I, as told, ignored all worldly. Coming back to my car. It was broken in and some equipment was stolen. The second time : a serene light blue sky develops itself and on the foreground on the left side a small white cloud appears. A hand comes out of the cloud, and invites me to enter into that white cloud (point finger beckoning). I ask ‘who are you ?’, no answer comes. So I decline, i break away from that state and come back to reality. And that was the end of it. It is simply not my way. Actually, i believe the higher spheres are hi-jacked and yes, some call me paranoia.
LOL, i just checked what to do with a person that displays paranoia behaviour.
quote :
How do you deal with a paranoid person?
Schizophrenia: Helping Someone Who Is Paranoid
Don’t argue. …
Use simple directions, if needed. …
Give the person enough personal space so that he or she does not feel trapped or surrounded. …
Call for help if you think anyone is in danger.
Move the person away from the cause of the fear or from noise and activity, if possible. …
Focus the person on what is real.
More items… )
unquote — the whole worldwideweb has become distorted and full of misinformation/misguidance, although . . . . 🙂
Kundalini : not my way. For me it is a result and not a cause. Activating it to cause something is to put my development in reverse. Nor will I accept guidance (shaktipat), that is imo a way into slavery (all hail to my teacher, almighty). And I have seen a whole community (Subud) become sterile because of it (but this is off course my own personal evaluation).
Stop thinking : not my way. It just creates a blank mind, so what ?
I, for me, have to actively pursue union by running energy exercises. Like a smith i am hammering the different me’s into union, on the anvil in the fire. My granddad was a blacksmith 🙂 Yes, i will try to be more soft, hahaha.
Steve, thanks, numbers are great. I remember the first time someone told me 1 + 1 = 10, and then 1 + 1 = 3, and so on. 0 and 1, 0-1, the infinite numbers inbetween. e-square = -1
It cracked my mental framework, opened some fissures where soon after I started to discover the mother lodes of gold.
Kind regards,
Leo.
Steve:
First, on behalf of Josh and the readership of this blog, I want to welcome you as a writer to SOS. Thanks so much for your offering of this article here, and for your explanation of numbers as symbols, and not actually numbers. I have been seeking and searching (and will continue to do so) the meaning of numbers in the Bible. I do think the book by that name (“Numbers”) in the Bible actually holds great keys to the dilemma, but I have yet to even come close to understanding all (or any) of it. Perhaps this information will help me.
Thanks again.
Hi Paul,
Thank-you for the welcome.
It is actually because of you that I am here!
Several years ago, I read Dan Brown’s “The Symbol”, it features some of the ideas that we speak about, that the Bible is a road-map to the human mind. This got me thinking and I scoured the Internet for more information.
I recommend this book to people who have a nascent interest in the esoteric meanings in the Holy books. You only have to read the last 20% to understand what he is talking about, should you not wish to read the whole book.
I could never understand why a shepherd boy called David killed a giant called Goliath (variation on the word, skull!) with 1-stone from his sling of 5-stones! That was quite an horrendous story for a boy attending Sunday school!
Anyway, I finally found your website and the many fabulous articles that are on it and the the link to SOS – so here I am!
I’ve also enjoyed your videos that you have made with Josh – I look forward to more.
I look forward to writing more articles, too.
Take care.
Blessings,
Steve
Steve, I am humbled to know that you’re here because of me. Thank you so much for your interest in my work. It’s actually been a few years since I’ve done a video or an article on any of my sites. Josh and I have been a little more active (although it’s been almost a year since our last video as well). We’re in constant communication about getting back to it and I think we’ll get something done soon.
I will keep “The Symbol” in mind as we move forward. In the meantime, looking forward to hearing more from you. Glad you made it to SOS.
Thank you for a great article. I particularly like the way it offers just enough information to stimulate the mind but not too much as to fully engage and go into hyper drive. I find as I read this that my mind wants to simply sit with it and allow it to foment without action (meditate). I also love the ensuing discussion it has stimulated and thank each contributor for their part. Great site Josh, thanks so much to every author. It all helps.
Gabriella, that you put how Steve’s post made one feel is exactly how I felt. He gives us just enough thoughtful meat to chew on to allow some great mental digestion, but didn’t give us too much to eat to make the mental process too much for one sitting 🙂
Hi Gabriella,
Thank-you for your message.
I’m glad you enjoyed the article. With the replies from Josh, Anny, Raymond, Charles and Ken, there’s plenty to read and consider, as you say.
I look forward to providing more articles on SOS.
Best wishes,
Steve
Hi Josh,
I am sending you this comment for the second time as I did not see it appear the first time I posted it.
Thanks for your comment.
I like your first paragraph already: “Just a quick side note, a ship is another symbol for how the Christ works in the lower mental body, just as we see Jesus calming the turbulence of the mind through calming the stormy seas in a ship. The version of Santa Claus mentioned above probably portrays the same idea. Lovely how different traditions somehow all point to a similar spiritual concept!”
So the different versions of the Santa Claus story do have a deeper meaning after all. Who would have thought it. I’ll think about it when the boat arrives again later this year. If it does at all. You never know these days.
Yes, you are right. The way you write it now the word messiah can be seen as a process as well, and now I think of it, I myself have addressed it this way in articles or comments sometimes. Oh my memory. Where has it gone?
‘ “Let the Self raise the Self by the Self.” I think this means, that the lower self is regenerated into the True Self through the discipline of becoming more and more “selfless.” And this is a long process.’
I agree with you here and I think that everyone is looking for the right way to accomplish this, the way that is best for him or her. Meditation definitely is in the front row here, even though we each may have different ways to enter into it. But this should show results in the way we actually live our life as well. I agree that the Jacob’s ladder is the right symbol to describe this way.
“The outward manifestation of institutionalized religion often (not always – it depends on how balanced and developed the leaders of that religion may be) focuses on the idea of the outward Jesus being our saviour, and all we have to do is trust and believe and obey. But the obedience part is the work of disciplining the lower qualities, or the vehicles that consciousness has chosen to develop so that the spiritual man can more shine forth on earth, as it is in heaven. This is the inward process, and I believe what the manifestation of the “messiah” is.”
I completely agree with you here. The way of thinking in many churches more or less takes our own responsibility away from us – and our right and duty to think for ourselves – and it also causes us to judge everyone who believes in a different way, or even not at all. It takes away our independence. Fortunately not all people who are members of these churches think that way.
Yes indeed the selfish ego is necessary in the beginning. We have to descend first in order to become aware of how things work out in order to be able to make conscious choices later on, on the upward path. It all belongs to the cycle of spiritual development.