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The Mystery of Gethsemane: Grasping the Importance of Meditation

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In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 St. Paul teaches, “Pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus” (Jerusalem Bible). A simpler translation renders this verse as “Pray without ceasing.” Tertullian of Carthage instructs, “Of prayer, nothing at all has been prescribed, except clearly ‘to pray at every time and every place…’ why should we not understand that, with absolutely perfect indifference, we must pray?” This admonition — that we must work to achieve an omnipresent state of “perfectly indifferent” prayer,  or in simpler words meditation — might come as a shock to contemporary Christians who, unfortunately, are increasingly distant from the original meditation tradition. Many Christians now associate meditation with non-Christian eastern traditions, but really,  the prolonged  “indifferent” Christian prayer that we ought to pray is not much different than oriental meditation. For the sake of ease, I will now be referring to this specific style of prayer as “meditation.” 

When we are taught to “Pray without ceasing” St. Paul doesn’t mean you should spend all of your waking hours prostrated in prayer! Rather, he is talking about being in a constant state of thanksgiving, echoing the Psalmist in Psalm 105: “Give thanks to Yahweh, call his name aloud/proclaim his deeds to the peoples!/Sing to him, play to him/tell over all his marvels!/Glory in his holy name/let the hearts that seek Yahweh rejoice!” (Psalm 105:1-3). The easiest way to maintain this state of mind is to train the mind to be able to reach prolonged states of intense contemplation. Sitting down to devote an hour or even 30 minutes to God can help you to feel the Holy Spirit at that moment, but more importantly, you are cultivating your mind and attaining insights that you continue to carry with you. Spontaneous prayer arises out of having insight into the all-encompassing significance of prayer, an insight that is best taught experientially through cultivating various states of contemplation. 

The key to meditation practice is found in an esoteric reading of the Bible and careful study of ancient wisdom traditions which, east or west, all testify to the power of deep contemplation. People sometimes oversimplify meditation to be just about “clearing your mind” or sitting down for a long time focusing on your breath. That is fine, but decontextualizing your meditation practice from religious teaching is unlikely to have as lasting an impression. Jesus said, “I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved” (Matthew 5:18). Esoterically, this verse means that awakening the Christ nature within requires the mastery of not just the higher mind, but also the lower mind. To awaken Christ mystically, you must first awaken Christ intellectually. In the spirit of “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little” (Isaiah 28:13) let us proceed to look at the Bible in an esoteric way to uncover the teachings of attaining the Christ nature within. 

Phillippians 2:6-8 reads “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and become as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.” Here we can see that death does not just mean physical death, but a deeper rift between Jesus’s godly nature and His descended condition, which is echoed in His cry of abandonment on the cross (“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”). This is not unique in the Bible; death usually signifies something deeper than just the end of mortal life. This is shown when Yahweh God tells Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree. Genesis 2:17 says, “The day you eat of it you shall most surely die.” Obviously, this didn’t refer to physical death, because when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree they did not physically die. Like with Jesus’s Passion, death here signifies being abandoned by God. Jesus, being fully man as well as fully God, echoes our anguish in being separated from God, but through the mystery of His Incarnation, the hope of reconciliation manifests. Jesus’s prayer to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane is a divine mystery through which Jesus’s Ascension back to His Father is foreshadowed even as He experiences the bitter pain of abandonment. And as we too have the hope of reconciliation with God, we too must follow His example and pray. Jesus told St. Margaret Mary Alacoque “I will make you partake of that sorrow unto death which it was My will to suffer in the Garden of Olives. United with Me in the humble prayer which I then offered to My Father.” Understanding the profound significance of this event, not only as part of Jesus’s redemptive passion which would provide for the remission of sins but also as a mystery in which we are called to partake in, let us examine the account of the garden of Gethsemane esoterically. 

“After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:30) First, we must establish what the Mount of Olives signifies. The Mount of Olives, or the Garden of Gethsemane, like other gardens in the Bible, signifies purity and fruition. In Genesis we read, “Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). The garden represents the plane of the mind that is fertile (“From the soil, Yahweh God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of Heaven” — Genesis 2:19) where virtues of the soul are brought forth. Singing psalms implicates the elevation of the self; through psalms, one acquires the spirit of thanksgiving proper to ascend to the Garden of Gethsemane. 

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Stay here while I pray.’ Then he took Peter and James and John with him” (Mark 14:32-33). Peter, James, and John are generally considered Jesus’s most favored of the disciples; this exact trio shows up several times throughout the Bible. They signify faith (Peter), the intellect (James), and love (John). Notably, these are the only disciples, and therefore the only qualities of the self, that are permitted to ascend to the Garden. 

“When they reached the place he said to them, ‘Pray not to be put to the test’” (Luke 22:40). As Peter, James, and John represent faith, the intellect, and love, here Jesus is saying to treasure the virtues of faith, the intellect, and love, and to pray that they do not waver. As we will read, even these virtues are not infallible; however, preemptively rejecting them prevents us from transcending them. To the contrary of rejecting the virtues, Jesus tells the disciples, “My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here and keep awake with me” (Matthew 26:38).

“Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, and knelt” (Luke 22:41). Here, the soul is still very near to the three virtues, only a stone’s throw away, but it has “withdrawn” from them, prepared to transcend. 

“He threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass him by. ‘Abba (Father)!’ he said. ‘Everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it’” (Mark 14:35-36). The “cup” in esoteric literature is traditionally understood to be a receptacle of wisdom; so the Pistis Sophia says “A higher power bringeth a Cup full of intuition and wisdom.” This verse is demonstrating the disconcerting quality of wisdom; our primal instinct flees wisdom, but the Christ nature turns over the instinctive self to God. The human aversion towards wisdom is well documented throughout theology, psychology, and history. The primordial human problem can be seen to be the human preference of illusions over reality; indeed, the comical lengths that each one of us will go to in order to maintain the illusion is inexplicable. The triumph over the instinct of delusion is fulfilled only in the elusive Garden. 

“Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength” (Luke 22:43). This verse demonstrates that despite the utter isolation experienced by Christ in the Garden, it is impossible for Him (or for us) to ever be completely severed from the Heavens above, and always the Father is with us sending His heavenly messengers to embolden us for the coming battle. 

“He came back and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Had you not the strength to keep awake one hour? You should be awake, and praying not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’” (Mark 14:37-38). Here we see the failure of the three virtues. Sleep signifies oblivion; this passage shows that the three virtues do not together contain all wisdom, but that the Christ nature transcends them. “Flesh” represents the lower nature of the self; spirit, as Gaskell put it, is the “formative aspect of the Divine outpouring.” In other words, the spirit is the receptacle in which God resides in us. When we are “put to the test,” for the Christ nature to rise within us the spirit must ultimately transcend the weaker virtues of the flesh. 

“Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words…He came back a third time and said to them, ‘You can sleep on now and take your rest. It is all over. The hour has come’” (Mark 14:39;41). The number “three” represents completeness, as in the Holy Trinity and the Resurrection (Jesus arose from the dead on the third day). The number denotes that something transformative has transpired here. By saying “It is all over,” Jesus is foreshadowing His final victory on the Cross — “It is consummated” (John 19:30). The spirit has finally triumphed over the weaker aspects of the self, and the weaker self can “rest.” This calls back to Genesis 2:3; “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on that day he had rested after all his work of creating.” Of course, the word “day” does not refer to a 24 hour period but to the final stage that follows the creative period. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus has finished His anguished mystery, and His disciples, not destroyed but in a state of repose, are justly restored to the rest that has no end. 

An esoteric reading of the Garden of Gethsemane provides us with a template wherein the Christ nature in us triumphs over the weaker flesh. Through understanding the significance of the Garden, may you feel driven to start a practice of contemplation so that you may experience this elusive mystery yourself. 

Prometheus, Hercules, Christ, Lucifer, and the Serpent: A Comparative Analysis Part One

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In today’s post I am going to begin discussing the symbolic meaning between the mythological story of Prometheus and some of our Biblical characters and events. While they seem quite different, I hope to show you this is only because they have been misunderstood in their exoteric, or outward interpretations. However, esoterically they reveal the same divine truth about the nature of the human experience. Of course religious doctrine refuses such an interpretation, but this reveals the very limited thought of religious doctrine itself. I’ll let you be the judge after the article, and I hope to hear your opinions in the comment section when this series is finished.

This series will be long and quite in depth in esoteric concepts. I will have to do this in order to lay the proper foundation. So we will begin by discussing many Biblical concepts before we get to our story of Prometheus later on in the series, but if you are patient with me I believe the work of reading and carefully dissecting will be worth it for you. This post will focus specifically on the idea of the logos, with the following post more focused on the story of Prometheus alongside some of the Biblical characters. Ultimately, we are going to end up unveiling the correlation between Christ and Prometheus as the logos, or the personification of God’s wisdom through emenation (creation) as divine thought. We will explore many other themes, such as reincarnation in both the Prometheus story (where it is clearly indicated) and the Bible (where it is hinted). 

As a side note, I want to propose a little riddle for you before I begin this post. The answer will be revealed at the end of this series, where I hope you will experience an “aha” moment that will connect with all of the information below. Here’s the riddle:

Can an omnipotent being (God) create a rock that would be too heavy for even him to lift? 

Have fun with the riddle. That’s what it’s meant for. It’s an old riddle, but don’t look it up if you aren’t familiar with it. Just let your mind contemplate it. Feel free to comment below before I reveal the answer that is connected to the information presented below and throughout the series 🙂

What is the Logos?

In Greek, the word logos carries the idea of reason and speech, and while this is true, it is only its lower meaning. It’s higher meaning is the divine outpouring of life (spirit) in form (matter) through man’s (and the universe’s) spiritual evolutionary journey. In its lower sense, it manifests in man as desire, intellect, and action upon impulse. In it’s higher sense, it expresses true free will, wisdom, and action through love. 

The first chapter of the John’s Gospel poetically states:

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).

The logos, or this “life / light,” is the creative energy and expression of motion and life throughout all the cosmos. The writer of Acts, in quoting a poem written by an Athenian to Zeus, has Paul state about this about Christ:

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28). 

This reflects Paul’s assertion that the logos is not limited to one being, but that all humans have their life, their movement, and their very being itself because we are all the offspring of the logos. 

Although the history of the word logos from its first use by Heraclitus around 500 B.C. is confused by much scholarly opinion, it can be simplified by quoting Blavatsky:

[The logos is] “The manifested deity with every nation and people; the outward expression, or the cause of the effect which is ever concealed.” 

Now we can understand why the Apostle Paul chose to quote a pagan Greek poet who dedicated an idea of the logos to Zues to explain his concept of Jesus Christ to the Athenians; he was giving them a philosophical concept they would already be familiar with. We can imagine this scene where Paul speaks from Mars Hill to the Athenians to introduce them to his idea of Christ Jesus, the personification of the logos in man in its fullness of potential, as something they themselves could express, not just build statues to as an ideal to worship. They, too, had the ability to express a higher principle within them. Paul further reflects this in Colossians 1:26-27:

“Even the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of this mystery among the gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, you’re hope of glory.”

I purposely capitalize the important part of that sentence. The Athenians sought God outwardly, but Paul sends them inwardly, where Jesus stated the Kingdom of God is (Luke 17:21). 

And what is this mystery, this hidden knowledge? It is that Christ Jesus, the potential expression of the logos, can be made manifest through man from the inside out, rather than worship God from the outside in. It has been hidden from the intellect, but has been the very source (unknown to most) that it is the very source of the intellect and mind itself, as well as the body, soul, and every part and parcel of the cosmos, whether the physical and visible plane of materiality, or the invisible aspects of reality.

Returning to Blavatsky’s statement, when she states that the logos is the manifested deity with every nation and people, she is hinting at the fact that this is true in it’s exoteric expression, as when she states, “the outward expression” through mythology and religious culture. But like Paul, she tells us its true meaning, and even expands upon it as in her concept of the three logoi (as in the trinity) as being:

“…the personified symbols of three stages of spiritual evolution.”

Now let’s expound upon this idea of the logos a little more. Let’s get to the real heart and soul of it, it’s all encompassing ONE feature. Although the writer of the Gospel of John, and many other Greek philosophers chose to write about the logos in its positive aspects as identified through deity such as the philosophical concept of Christ, we have to understand that it is the life animating principle which can also reveal itself to what we as humans might consider as negative, or evil. Consider Isaiah’s statement: 

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). 

The hebrew word for “evil” might better be interpreted as calamity, or adversity. What the author is telling us is that the one animating principle unfolds in manifestation through polar opposites of spirit and matter. This doesn’t mean that a conscious being created evil. It means that the animating principle of all life, depending on the vessel of its expression, can be the cause of adversity, calamity, or even that which we humans consider to be “evil.” In the greater picture, the logos expresses itself in different stages of spiritual evolution as shown in the Hebrew scriptures. Does not even the child, being raised by parents, go through stages after birth from selfishness and expressing desire where everything is only about them before they can expand their world view of themselves vs. others? Of course. The development of humanity as a whole does this as well on a much grander scale. And the different characters of the Bible symbolize this spiritual evolution of conscious expression, which will also be shown in the story of Prometheus. For a man or woman who lives by his or her impulses and desires only, such as presented to us by Cain in the Bible, this expression is selfish, separated from God, and is completely personal, egoic, and all about “me.” But it is still the logos which gives the power of expression even to this, although we intellectualize this idea as “evil.” But even Job, who knew God only by the hearing of him, did not come into a personal relationship of KNOWING until he had gone through the calamity and adversity presented to him in the form of an adversary. In the grander scale, pain and suffering is part of this process. This is also why the Apostle James is stated as saying:

“…count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work…” (James 1:1-3). 

Evil and peace can be expressed through man, as man has two natures. Perhaps we can simplify it in this way: In the first Adam, the one that is earthy, or of the flesh, it (logos) is expressed through desire, intelligence (reason and intellect), and reactive impulse. But through Jesus Christ, the second Adam, it is expressed through will as opposed to desire, wisdom as opposed to lower intellect, and action as opposed to action from reaction. Thus the expression of the logos can be shown as thus:

Higher nature: will, wisdom, action (the second Adam or Jesus Christ, the higher self manifested ). 

Lower nature: desire, intellect, reaction (the first Adam or humankind in the lower nature).

Thus the logos is the source of all life. It is a philosophical concept or principle, not a person or personality in and of itself. As such, when it is expressed through the lower desire nature, this expression is limited, and we can echo this in Paul’s statement as the “natural man.” When it is expressed through the higher nature, such as the man presented to us in the Gospels as Jesus Christ, (the purified man in body and soul), it begins and finishes as the expression of absolute wisdom / love.

This is taught in the Gospel of John when the writer states:

“And the Word (logos) was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14). The Jesus of the Gospels becomes the one who personifies the logos as manifested through the higher self in the body of flesh. 

For those who are having trouble with the fact that the logos itself is a power, and not a person, we can easily rectify it with a few other scriptural ideas. 

Before the logos became flesh, it was God and was with God. What does this mean? Traditional Christian doctrine teaches that this was the second person of the trinity, who came down spiritually in the body of a man born from a virgin. This idea evolved over time in the early church through many councils of debate and intellectual discourse, and has been explained in a myriad of ways. But besides the very obvious fact that any person or being would be limited in nature by being that “person” or that “being” in the first place (a human attribute that is limited simply because it is a definition of something, and the act of defining something is a limitation in itself), and excludes the idea that the logos is a personal being. The logos is beyond both Being and non-Being, and is neither, something the human intellect cannot truly cognize. Remember, the scripture tells us that no-thing was made that was not made through the logos. That means every “thing” that was made, or created, was done so through the power and emanation of the logos, even man’s lower nature which commits sin, or the act of living in separation from God. 

Now we also have to consider the very important scripture that Christ was crucified since the foundation of the world. Again, exoteric religion has taught us that God the Father had the idea in his mind since he created the world that he would send his son at the appointed time in history to die for our sins. But is this idea based on a wrong interpretation of scripture? If everything that was made is only possible through the expression of the logos, then wouldn’t this indicate, quite literally, that the logos was crucified on the physical plane of matter since the first unfoldment of that which is beyond being and non-being came into manifested existence? Even the tiniest fundamental particle of anything that we could call some “thing,” whether at atom or a quark or a vibrating vortex of energy? As it states in the book of Revelation, “…the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.” 

What does slain from the world’s foundation really mean? 

It more accurately means that the logos, pure spirit, inhabited a limited body at the commencement of creation (not just 2,000 years ago), but from spirit’s first emenation into the realm of being. This is the mystery that Paul spoke hidden for ages from everyone but the saints. The true meaning of the saint is one who is in accordance with the divine law of nature, and works in knowledge accordance with it. 

I will end this first part here. In the next post we will get into the good stuff, which will show you the uncanny relationships between Prometheus’ story and that of many of the Biblical characters, which is a little mind-blowing if it’s something you haven’t been exposed to, or never thought about before. But in conclusion I would like to mention that the scholar’s translation into English of the Greek term logos is quite a poor translation. It came about from Greek to the Latin translation with the term, “Verbum,” and then from Verbum in the Latin to “Word” in English. This translation process has caused much confusion. The latin word “Verbum” indicates something entirely removed from the original Greek meaning. When the Greeks used the term logos thousands of years ago, they were referring to a principle intelligence (not human intellect) that was the underlying structure and order to the entire cosmos, both unspoken and spoken. Unspoken in the sense that it transcends even human thought, and by spoken that it became manifested, much like a thought in the human mind becomes the word when it is manifested through spoken language from potential to actual. We will discuss more in the next post. 

Blessings. 

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Why Jesus said He Came to Bring Division

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In Luke chapter twelve, it is recorded that Jesus said he came, not to bring peace on earth, but division; even in one’s own household, two against three and three against two. In this post we will unveil the esoteric meaning. We will also dismantle the misconceptions of its exoteric interpretation that has promulgated in religious circles from this portion of Luke, which, ironically, has led to actual division of families and humanity at large. I have actually dealt with this subject before many years ago on the blog, but this post will offer some more depth and some other corroborating scriptures as well.

Let’s look at the specific verse in detail. Jesus states:

“Suppose ye that I have come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three” (Luke 12:51-52).

Some religious leaders and commentators of the past have believed this verse means that Jesus is foretelling the split that will come from individual families over believers (Christians) and non-believers (non-Christians). While this sometimes is the natural outcome of individuals who delve into the spiritual journey, it has nothing to do with what Jesus is referring to. The danger in this kind of thinking is that when this happens, certain individuals believe they are justified in the divisive outcome because “Jesus said it,” so everything is happening as it should. It can reinforce the “me” vs “other” mentality. This is sad, because anyone embarking on the inward spiritual journey to Christ should never use Jesus’ words as a justification for any kind of division or strife between human beings. Rather, we should love others as ourselves.

So what did Jesus really mean? To answer that, we must unveil the symbols, for the truth of all scripture is veiled beneath the literal / outward interpretation. 

The “one house” of Jesus’ statement is not a building. House refers to one of your vehicles (bodies) of consciousness. In this specific instance, Jesus was referring to the house which is the vehicle of thought itself. I will explain this in more in detail shortly. But first I want to direct you to another scripture by the Apostle Paul which will set the correct foundation for a proper, enriched understanding.  

Hebrews 4:12 states:

“For the WORD of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the DIVIDING asunder of SOUL and SPIRIT, and of the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of THOUGHTS and INTENTS of the HEART.”

Paul speaks of the word, or LOGOS, that divides the soul and spirit of man. The Greek word used for “dividing asunder” portrays the idea of a partition. This partition illustrates the dual nature of the man’s mind. Try to think of the mind as the center, or partition between two natures. These two natures are your soul and spirit. The thoughts of man can gravitate toward desire, through the soul, or, by will, our thoughts can be carefully guarded and chosen to reflect the spirit.

In our scripture from Hebrews 4:12, it must be emphasized that the “word” is not the Bible itself, but simply the LOGOS. The Logos is the creative energy of spirit, or Christ, which manifests will (as opposed to desire), Wisdom (as opposed to error), and action (as opposed to unconscious action). These positive influences on the mind is what exposes the division, or partition, of the spirit from the soul. The soul of man, or carnal mind, is at enmity with God, until it is perfected. The coming of the man Jesus symbolizes the awakening of the soul to these positive influences, and therefore, there is for a time a great division and strife that is stirred up between soul and spirit. Paul explains this sort of war that is not against flesh and blood, but it is a war of the rulers within in our mind.

Now back to Jesus’ statement in Luke. The “house” he is referring to contains the mind, which includes the potential of the LOGOS personified through you. Notice how the author of Hebrews states that this division between soul (the lower mind containing your intellect, emotions, and senses) and spirit (or higher mind combined with the Holy Spirit) is caused by discerning of “thoughts” and “intents” of the heart. “Heart” here is another word for the greater mind, both its intellectual and spiritual or intuitional-wisdom-love nature. It is not until the spiritual ego, or “the thinker” that you are, turns its focus inwards to the still small voice that the division between soul and spirit begins its maturity towards unity in the divine marriage of soul and spirit. But at first there is always division, just as Jesus had to clean house in the temple when he had to flog away all the money changers that defiled the temple (or mind) itself.

Another scripture which brings clarity here is Jesus’ statement on the original condition of the mind, BEFORE it’s division between soul and spirit:

“But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this cause a man (mind) shall leave his father and mother (the parents of the desire mind which seeks external world knowledge) and cleave to his wife (the emotion-nature of intuition/Holy Spirit), and shall become one flesh” (Mark 10:6).

Now we must go back a few verses before Jesus talks about division in Luke chapter 12. Let’s read 12:49, which states:

“I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?”

This fire is symbolic of spirit and love and truth. It is the fire (Holy Spirit) that “divides” because its essential wisdom dispels the ignorance of the lower mind which derives its truth from external sense reality instead of the higher spiritual realities. The process of destroying ignorance can seem very divisive within ourselves as we have to let go of certain false narratives and reclaim the truth. The arrival of Jesus signifies this beginning in the mind, and at first it is divisive, because the individual thinker, the spiritual ego, or mind, begins to identify not with the soul, but with spirit, and thereby realizes the soul needs to be disciplined with the love and wisdom nature, so that it can be raised into the higher mind. 

Remember, the first man (Adam after the fall) is earthy. Earth being a symbol for the soul (intellect, emotion, and physical sensation). The second Adam is a spiritual being, the potential Christ now fully manifested in the higher mind, who has united his lower nature with his spiritual nature.  

What is Christ? What is Man?

When one reads the New Testament, one has to understand what he or she is reading. If he or she believes they are reading history, then he or she will only learn about Christ. If he or she understands they are reading about themselves, as the expression of the living WORD, then he or she is on the path to KNOW Christ. The Apostle Paul makes it clear: “…Christ in you, your hope of glory.” All scripture points us to the inner Christ we all have the potential to express. Within that journey is the “mystery” that Paul is instructing us to partake of. 

One who wishes to understand the mystery should not ask what is Christ without first asking, what is man.

And what is man?

Man is MIND. Man is mind, and mind is man. In other words, man is “a thinker.” The Psalmist gives us this revelation when he states:

“Whatsoever a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). That which a man thinks, he is, and becomes.

The man of higher thought is of a spiritual nature, and the man who thinks lower thought is of a soul nature. But everything that a man is stems from the “thinker” and is expressed through the QUALITY of his or her thought. This quality of thought is not produced just by the intellect, but rather the combination or union of intellect with intuition (the Holy Spirit).

Paul provides further clarification:

And be ye renewed in the spirit of your MIND; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24).

Renew the mind how? Renew it from that of the lower nature (soul) to your higher nature (spiritual mind), all within the realm of thought and the QUALITY of it’s expression. The quality an accuracy of our thoughts become especially acute when the intellect is in union with the intuition of love and wisdom provided by the Holy Spirit. Then the ignorance of the external world will be revealed, and the truth of the higher realities revealed.

Some further scriptural thought on man, mind, and the true individuality, the THINKER

For what reason does Genesis state that God sent the flood on the earth? And for what reason did God spare Noah and his family? You guessed it! It had to do with wrong thought!

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the THOUGHTS OF HIS HEART was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Esoterically, this means that God allegorically baptized the earth (lower nature / soul). It is an allegory of God baptizing the lower mind, to cleanse it. This is what the ritual of baptism symbolizes: the washing of the mind in the WORD, even Christ (the perfected ideal mind), within man. The concept infers the cleansing of the flesh, flesh being the carnal mind (soul) of man which thinks such thoughts which stem from envy, lust, greed, pride, selfishness, arrogance, etc. These are all products of one culprit: the desire mind, the serpent which caused the so called “fall of man.” A better expression would be, “fall of mind!” The larger symbolism in the story of Noah is spirit cleansing the earth (soul) of evil thought. 

Noah escaped the flood because he didn’t “think” like his fellow evil doers. Noah is the true individuality, the thinker, that raised his thoughts above the highest mountain top into heaven, the upper firmament the mind, which contains the waters above (Gen. 1:7), which are of truth (Christ addressed himself as this water of truth which enables one to never thirst again to the woman at the well).

Noah, the individuality, or I AM nature (the spiritual mind), then planted a vineyard (remember Christ is the vine, and we are the branches). From Noah and his family, mankind came forth upon the earth. In other words, the branches of the earth (soul) came forth. The branches are of the lower nature, but if they abide in Christ, they will produce fruit. Those do not abide in Christ, will be burned up (extinguished). 

This is why Ezekiel 14:14 states that Noah was righteous enough to save himself, along with Job and Daniel who also could do so Why? If we think of them as literal people, it would make now sense. But because they are symbolic of the true individuality, the thinker, we understand we have the choice through will (the opposite of desire) to raise the soul by the spirit.

Conclusion

We started with Jesus’ statement about bringing division between the soul and spirit within the “house.” We discussed the importance of where our “thoughts” are directed, or drawn to within the house. Do they cater to the whims of desire, through the soul and external world, or earth? Or do we use will to go within and let the Holy Spirit do its work?

I want to explain this concept one more way in case any confusion still resides. I used the term “individuality” throughout the article. This can be confusing. The individuality I am speaking of is the same “I AM” aspect of being that God says will deliver Israel from Egypt (the lower mind).

The difference between the individuality and the soul is this: the soul is the “I AM me” feeling you have. Noticed how I (originally explained by Blavatsky) attached the “me” to the I AM. This “me” is your lower nature, or soul, that is attached to the individuality which consciousness has produced through it’s dual manifestation. The soul is… (insert your name and social conditioning and heredity, etc). Remember from earlier articles that when consciousness manifests, through any body or vehicle, its expression is dual. That is why we have a higher mind and a lower mind. This “me” aspect, the lower, is all the sensations, emotions, and thoughts one can have expressed through the lower mind (which encompasses expression in your physical brain and body). When the individuality, or the thinker, uses will to uplift his or her thoughts, such as compassion, joy, contentment, selflessness, etc., the individuality begins to associate itself with the higher mind, and the strong feeling of “me” that you have begins to drop away. This is why John the Baptist (the purified moral nature) stated, “I must decrease so that He can increase.” Instead of “me” vs “other” you develop an attitude of unity with others, and express that thought and emotion through acts of virtue. This doesn’t mean the “me” vanishes, but it becomes less important, and your attitude begins to shift towards a sort of unity with everything. Judgments and strong egoic opinions or dogmatic beliefs begin to become less and less important as intuition unites with your intellect and you truly begin to understand the cause and effect behind the external world with all it’s ills. It doesn’t mean you forget or ignore it, but you becomes less identified with it, personally, and more identified with the part of you that is truly immortal and is the real, greater aspect of the self. This allows you see the true problems behind the insanity of the world and can give you true solutions and insight into how to deal with problems or ills that plague our world or even your own life.

Why must we go within? Because the total mind (not just the intellect) is there, and the more inward we go, the more we can explore the true mind. Many today think the mind is created in the physical brain. This is a great problem. Consciousness only expresses a very limited portion of itself through the organ we call the physical brain and body. It does not originate there, and therefore what the physical senses interpret for us through the brain, we cannot trust. It is but a tiny fraction of mind, or man. In order to gain wisdom, we must allow access to portions of the mind that draw spiritual knowledge into the soul. Through this process the Christ is also raised in the soul.

I will discuss this more in future articles with more scripture. For now, blessings!

Who, or what, is your God? And how do you Worship?

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Defining God… at some point, most of us are guilty. What begins as a seemingly noble attempt to answer one of life’s greatest mysteries, usually leads to prejudice, judgement, separation, condemnation, war, and even death. At least, history bears that record. Perhaps this is why so many sages–spanning all the great spiritual traditions of the world–tell us that defining God is an attempt at futility. Their wisdom proclaims that attempting to do so, even by name, places boundaries and limitations to an ineffable source. Thus, any attempt to define God is an act of self-deception. Why? Because defining God with our thoughts and feelings creates God in OUR image. The Old Testament calls this idolatry, which is transgression of the first commandment.  [Read more…] about Who, or what, is your God? And how do you Worship?

Original Sin: It is not what your Forefathers Taught

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What’s the real meaning behind of the concept of original sin? And why is it assumed that Adam and Eve are the first human beings to blame for bringing sin into the world?

This is a rather silly notion that many have blindly swallowed because they do not think deeply enough about the book they are reading.

The true meaning of sin is to miss the mark. And it has nothing to do with the physical actions. Original sin is a beautiful concept explaining the reason that you seem alienated from God as you dwell in a physical body.

When Paul stated that the wages of sin are death, he was speaking spiritually. We can see this is true from the story of Adam and Eve. God told them that they would die upon partaking of the tree of knowledge. But the author of Genesis was speaking spiritually, not physically. They died spiritually, but were given physical life.

All physical things eventually die, and physical things died for millions of years before man came onto the scene. The actions of man did not originally bring death into the world. Death of the physical body is part of the cyclical state of nature.

In fact, it would be more correct to say that in the case of the story of Adam and Eve, partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil gave them physical life. They were removed from paradise (consciously) and placed into the physical world we know today. It is a world full of thorns and thistles and physical suffering, even though it is also a place of physical beauty. The symbolism and metaphor is strikingly obvious when we stop to think about it.

The Adam and Eve story was a brilliant attempt by the authors of Genesis to explain why we are separated from what we term “God.” Spirit, or Ruach, is simply an ancient term somewhat analogous to consciousness today. It is likened unto wind, which cannot be seen but has force. Consciousness is the spark of life, but it must have a body to experience through, to learn through, and to grow through. Adam and Even are metaphorical representations of mankind’s beginnings into a physical experience. Even the term Adam means humanity, and it is not the name of one man.

Eden is not a physical location either, but a state of consciousness. Consciousness allows the creation of the lower self and ego (the “I”) when it is active in a physical body. It becomes more complex and diversifies as it evolves through the physical bodies it operates through. The story of Adam and Eve explains this process through the language and culture of ancient times. Mankind’s fall from paradise is really the story of consciousness playing in a physical world.

Where Original Sin Comes In

 Original sin is simply the state of ignorance man now finds himself in. It is his ignorance of spiritual things. And this is what the Apostle Paul was speaking of. The wages of sin leads to death because as man is ignorant of his true nature, he is spiritually dead. Paul taught that faith in Jesus Christ (even without works) was the answer to this dilemma. Have you ever wondered why some argue whether Paul really believed in faith without works? They are arguing over something that isn’t even an issue. Since Paul is speaking completely spiritually, physical acts aren’t even in the equation. They are therefore wasting their time and debating about a religious idea that was born from Paul’s hard-to-understand writings.

So what is it that Paul means exactly when he states that Jesus Christ is the answer to our spiritual death problem? Is he stating that belief in one man’s act on the cross who was really God makes us become spiritually alive?

Well, yes and no. If it were possible to have a conversation with Paul today about his meaning, he would probably chuckle at how the ideas in religion have evolved over these past thousand years. For Paul, Jesus Christ was the symbol for spiritual truth and life. For Paul, Jesus Christ was the escape from spiritual ignorance. But not just because you believed in the actions of a man that was really God, but because you believed that Jesus Christ was the symbol for the truth of your true spiritual nature. The act of Jesus Christ and the cross is the grand metaphorical theme of your redemption.

You see, when Paul was penning his letters, the Gospels hadn’t even been written yet. When he spoke to Timothy about scriptures being the only inspired word of God, he was speaking of the Old Testament. And Paul made it crystal clear that the symbol of Jesus Christ, as a type and metaphor, was prevalent throughout the inspired writings of the Old Testament. Paul never mentions the virgin birth or lineage of Jesus because he wasn’t concerned with such things. He was concerned with the Jesus Christ nature that is birthed within man as his spiritual ignorance is overcome with the knowledge and understanding of God, that is within man’s true spiritual nature.

If you want to retain the idea that you must believe that a literal human who was God died on a cross for your sin, there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you understand the deeper meaning of the Gospel’s Jesus as well. You see, a belief in something is simply an idea you hold with conviction, and a belief can never open the eyes of your spiritual ignorance to you. That can only happen if what Jesus Christ represents is actually birthed inside of you, as Paul advocates. Even Jesus himself stated that you must go within yourself, to your true spiritual nature, to see the Kingdom of God. Religious people look to religion and belief systems to save them, but they retain their ignorance of spiritual things unless they go within themselves, to an aspect of you that is much greater than the limited physical body and personality that you operate through now. Your physical body is fearfully and wonderfully made, but the spiritual aspect of you is so much more wonderful that when Paul went within himself (to the third heaven), he stated that he could not even talk about what he experienced, because it would not make sense to our conscious “I” operating in this limiting physical world.

It would seem today that many religious people cannot understand even the basics of Paul’s writings, which was also true with the church back then. This is not to speak badly of anyone, because we are all immersed in a religiously minded culture that is responsible for us reading Paul’s text, and the entire Bible, with blinders on. Our religious biases (most of us have them to a certain extent), cloud every verse and line we read until we learn to read the Bible with spiritual eyes instead of physical ones.

But you can detour all this religious thinking by just taking Jesus’ advice. Go within yourself and learn what the kingdom of God is truly about. That’s where the real knowledge of Jesus resides. The entire Bible explains this process perfectly, if only we could see what the spirituality of it, or the metaphor and symbolism of it, is all about. Even the scientist and hard skeptic could then appreciate the Bible for what it really is, instead of what religion tries to make it be.

Blessings!

 

Esoterically Understanding the Holy Trinity through Jesus the Man, and Jesus the God

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The Trinity CandleIn this post we are going to demystify the Trinity through the man Jesus, and Jesus Christ the God.

The person of Jesus Christ, as presented through mainstream Christian doctrine, gives to us the greatest paradox of all religions. How can a being be both fully man and fully God at the same time? A God who created the universe is not limited by physical parameters, but man certainly is. How then could Jesus be both limited and not limited, both God and man? Of course this is an impossibility that mainstream Christian doctrine chooses to ignore by simply having faith that it is just true. But does such a blind faith rob the believer of a deep spiritual truth about themselves? I believe it does. This will be a longer post, but when digested in its entirety it should give you some “aha!” moments if you have trouble understanding the nature of the Trinity. [Read more…] about Esoterically Understanding the Holy Trinity through Jesus the Man, and Jesus the God

Abraham’s Vision of Great Darkness: Kundalini, Meditation and Ego

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Meditating in DarknessIn Genesis chapter fifteen we read about a strange event that occurs between God and Abraham. The mythological imagery stirs the imagination: God appears in great darkness, followed by a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passes between Abraham’s sacrifice. The true meaning of the symbolism will never be preached from a traditional church pulpit because it deals with the divine physiology of man, and the implications of deep meditation, the ego, and spiritual initiation. So let’s break down this mystical mystery. [Read more…] about Abraham’s Vision of Great Darkness: Kundalini, Meditation and Ego

Who is Jesus? And who is Christ? Could there be a Difference?

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Jesus ChristThe 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?

Valentinus, the Bridal Chamber, and Meditation: Part 5 of the Development of the Orthodox Church

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Gnostic EnlightenmentTo finish our study and truly begin to understand how the Orthodox Church developed, we need to take a close look at Valentinus, who will play a large part of in verbal war of doctrine with Irenaeus and Orthodoxy. I will discuss the life and beliefs of Valentinus first, followed by Irenaeus, and then the exchange between the two as documented by later church fathers such as Tertullian. [Read more…] about Valentinus, the Bridal Chamber, and Meditation: Part 5 of the Development of the Orthodox Church

The Development of Christianity: Part 3

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gospel of markIn the first two posts of this series we laid some important groundwork about Paul and Gnosticism. Today I’m going to lay a little more groundwork about the synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas. This is all necessary before we get into the meat of how Orthodox Christianity and the Early Church formed.

Let’s do a brief recap. [Read more…] about The Development of Christianity: Part 3

How Modern Christianity Developed Part 2

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mythical christIn part one of this series, I spoke about the Jesus that Paul preached. I gave five or six reasons and presented more than a few scriptures to justify that Paul’s Jesus was in fact a mythical Christ that served as a model for deeper revelation. Today’s post will continue unveiling some of Paul’s sayings that point to Gnostic principles. This is important ground work and hopefully it will open many doors of understanding for us when we get into how and why the institutionalized church developed (It’s not all about Constantine). [Read more…] about How Modern Christianity Developed Part 2

What is the Symbolic Nature of Paul and His Christ: Part 3

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Religious symbolsWas Paul’s Christ really the Christ of Orthodoxy? Most likely not.

In parts 1 and 2 of this series we concluded that Paul’s own words from Galatians do not agree with the historical timeline of Acts. We also examined Massey’s reasoning for stating that Paul’s gospel had nothing to do with the literal, historical Christ of orthodoxy, but was rather the gospel of the mythical Christ birthed within through direct experience. We analyzed internal evidence from Galatians that seems to support this theory.

In part 2 of this series I also hinted [Read more…] about What is the Symbolic Nature of Paul and His Christ: Part 3

What is the True Symbolic Nature of Paul and His Christ: Part 2

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Christ withinIn part one of this series we learned that according to the timeline of Acts and Paul’s own words from Galatians, and the historic famine of 44 A.D., Paul’s conversion happened 27 A.D. Since most modern Biblical scholars place Jesus’ crucifixion between 30 and 33 A.D., Paul’s conversion happened before Christ was crucified. How then could Paul have been converted to the Christ of Orthodoxy if it wasn’t this Christ that appeared to him? [Read more…] about What is the True Symbolic Nature of Paul and His Christ: Part 2