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Why Jesus said He Came to Bring Division

July 2, 2020 by Joshua Tilghman 21 Comments

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!

Genesis 1 Unveiled

January 11, 2020 by Joshua Tilghman 33 Comments

Warning: heavy metaphysical content. Not sure how this will be taken, but my geeky metaphysical side had to come out:)

The purpose of this very lengthy post is to sequentially unveil Genesis chapter one, verse by verse. It is the foundation for the rest of the Bible, and therefore, critical to understanding any of it. It’s a major undertaking because a prerequisite knowledge of ancient metaphysical symbols and concepts are needed. I will arm you with the most important ones below.

Make no mistake: these symbols and concepts reveal the creation of the human soul. The focus of Genesis chapter one is not the literal universe, sky, or Earth, although they are indirectly included because the physical universe is contained in the human soul, and vice versa. Furthermore, the concepts found in Genesis chapter one explains the ancient axiom, “As above, so below.”

To clear up some possible confusion with regards to the metaphysical nature of Genesis, it is important to realize that almost every symbol in all of the verses is speaking to the blueprint of man’s HIGHER and Lower nature. The higher nature meaning, that aspect of the soul which is real, permanent, and true. The lower nature, meaning, that aspect of the soul which proceeds from the higher nature, but is subject to change, and therefore is impermanent. It is illusory because it is always changing. It is also that aspect of the soul which is subject to death. In the words of St. Paul, your lower nature is “corruptible,” while the higher nature is “incorruptible.”

Why am I calling Genesis chapter one a “blueprint” for the soul? Before a man builds a house, he has in his mind what it will look like. He has a blueprint. Genesis chapter one is that blueprint for the perfected human being, the archetypal man. Every chapter of the Bible after Genesis one explains the actual detail in the construction process where the potential (blueprint) becomes the actual (completed house / temple / church). And the construction of that house is YOU. A fundamental understanding of Genesis chapter one will unlock so much of the Bible that may have previously been confusing to you, as well as to help you to interpret the universal symbols throughout its other books, which were heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, which in turn was heavily influenced by far older and ancient metaphysical systems of knowledge.

Before delving into this ancient treasure-trove of metaphysical knowledge, we must view the blueprint of man’s soul from a bigger picture. There is an underlying universality in the symbols and allegories of most all sacred scriptures and myth. These symbols often exemplify individual aspects of the five planes of existence (or dimensions if you prefer). They are discussed in Gaskell’s great work, Dictionary of Scripture and Myth. You would do well to commit them to memory before proceeding with the content in this post. These five planes are, from top to bottom:

Celestial plane – light (symbolized in ancient myth as the Sun)
Spiritual plane – fire (symbolized in ancient myth as the sky)
Mental plane – air (symbolized in ancient myth as the air between sky and water)
Astral plane – water (symbolized in ancient myth as seas)
Physical plane – earth (symbolized in ancient myth as earth, ground, dust, dry land)

In early Christian thought (such as St. Paul), the above philosophical groundwork would translate as :

Son of God
Holy Spirit
Individuality (upper mental plane) and Personality (lower mental plane)
The “natural man” containing the desire nature and lower emotions
They physical temple which houses all of it

Understanding the creation of the human soul in Genesis chapter one (and the rest of the Bible) is dependent upon the metaphysical groundwork laid above. You should have noticed that the 3rd or middle plane is dual, consisting of the individuality (upper aspect) and the personality (lower aspect). We will address this when God creates the firmament, which divides the waters above and below. But you should understand at the onset that this demarcation is what separates the higher and lower self. This is also crucial to understanding the blueprint for man’s soul. To those who have an open mind, this philosophical blueprint will unveil some important truths; depending on what aspect of creation we are talking about in Genesis chapter one, one can look to five planes of existence above and immediately discover which aspect of the soul is being symbolized. For example, and as we’ll see, fowl of the air symbolize thoughts on the mental plane that soar upward towards spiritual enlightenment. Creeping crawling things symbolize the base desire-mind (in the lower nature), and correlate with the likes of greed and lust which keep consciousness grounded in the lower nature. I will use scriptures in other books of the Bible to corroborate these most basic truths of ancient metaphysical understanding.

The upper mental plane, the spiritual plane and the celestial plane contain the higher self, whereas the lower mental plane, astral plane, and physical plane contain the lower self, or personality. What does this mean? Let’s start at the bottom and work our way back up: our physical bodies are the earth and lower nature. However, our lower nature is comprised of the physical, astral, and lower mental bodies all operating on their respective planes / dimensions. To put it more succinctly, the physical body-temple houses the astral (emotional) nature, and the mental (thought) nature. The personality of man is a physical/sensation-emotional-thought experience. The higher nature of man’s soul consist of the upper mental plane (the “I am” you experience, individuality), the spiritual plane (higher emotions / love and intuition / wisdom), and the celestial plane (the permanent light / ray of the indwelling divine Christ). The “I am-ness” that you feel proceeding from the upper mental plane allows you to experience thoughts, emotions, and sensations through the lower nature and wisdom and love through the higher nature. The lower nature is contained within the higher nature, but the lower nature comprehends it not, at first.

Finally, it is vital to note that as the creation unfolds in Genesis chapter one, the lower and higher natures of the soul are latent with potential for self-realization of the divine within man’s soul. Christ is in every aspect of your being on every plane. Philosophically, you could say through your lower nature Christ is crucified, and through your higher nature Christ is resurrected. But the important thing to note is that Christ is at work on every plane of your existence. Many Christians get the mistaken notion that heaven is a place to look forward to when we die physically if we hold the right doctrines or beliefs. But the truth of the matter is that heaven is already within you. It is your job to go within and seek it. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is within you. It is a state of consciousness that is experienced in the NOW.

The truth of the matter is, the Bible doesn’t much deal with an afterlife. This isn’t to say there isn’t an afterlife. There most certainly is. But your state of consciousness now determines what the afterlife will be like, and whether or not you must return. And the Bible deals with life NOW. I will explain this more as we begin verse by verse in this foundational chapter of the Bible, corroborated by scriptures found in other Biblical books. Genesis one verses one through three will be the hardest to explain, and will take the most detail. So let’s jump in!

Genesis 1:1:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

The first mistake people often make in reading this verse is to consider the words “heaven” and “earth” as literally the globe we live on and the idea that heaven is a physical location out there somewhere. Divorce your mind of that idea. The kingdom of heaven is within you, and you are the earth. But what does this mean? Heaven and earth universally symbolize spirit and matter. The true you is a spirit having a material existence. “Heaven” and “earth” are simply terms to help the intellect grasp the unfoldment of the ONE abiding reality, which is neither spirit nor matter. In ancient philosophical terms, spirit is active while matter is receptive. Think of spirit as energy, and matter as lifeless form that is receptive to this energy. Matter is simply the vehicle of form, which is ultimately illusory because it is subject to change.The spirit side of God is masculine / male, while the feminine aspect of God is female / receptive. They are both eternal. Matter receives spirit, and life commences through a spirit-matter interaction, the first Logos (consciousness). Spirit must have a body / mother / matter / earth to experience through.

The symbol of the Christian cross conveys another way the intellect can grasp what is being taught through the spirit-matter dichotomy. Spirit, the vertical ray, is, in a philosophical sense, crucified on the horizontal ray of matter.

On a more personal note, you can think of spirit and matter as subject and object. Spirit is the subjective life living within the objective material. But it is the subjective which is reality, because the objective world of matter is always changing form. It is the Self dreaming, and that thing that we do every night is but a reflection of a higher spiritual truth. First the natural, then the spiritual.

In plain modern English, Genesis 1:1 means: God produced a reality for self-aware consciousness to manifest itself, which is fully explained in Genesis 1:3.

Genesis 1:2:

“And the earth (matter) was without form, and void: and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Again, the phrase “without form” and “void” symbolizes inert, lifeless matter. You may picture matter as the body, or vehicle through which spirit energizes to life. That’s why the verse ends with the spirit of God moving upon the waters. Waters is simply representative of this lifeless matter, through which spirit has not yet intervened to give it life. In ancient philosophical terms, water is associated with the concept of chaos. Chaos being that which has no form yet, so it is chaotic. Chaos is simply an unorganized, formless, lifeless potential to become. That unorganized mass of potential becomes actual (the right hand of God / Christ), as God’s spirit begins to move over the waters, or chaos. The next verse will bring this to light!

Genesis 1:3:

“And God said, let there be light: and there was light.”

See, told ya! In verses one and two, the unmanifest, unconscious, and impersonal Absolute (God) has begun the process of it’s own self-realization. How does this self-realization of its potential become actual? Through his right hand (symbolizing power and potential becoming actual), which is also the New Testament concept of Christ. Light, God’s light, symbolizes the dawn of self awareness or individual human consciousness. This was in the philosophical mind of the writer of the Gospel of John when he states, “In him was life, and that life (individual consciousness) was the light of men.” It is the spark of individuality, which must be built up through the experiences on each plane of existence (expanding its sphere of realization), through the physical (senses, sensations), the emotional (feelings), the mental (thoughts), the spiritual (intellect allied with intuition, wisdom and love), and finally, the fullness of Christ where he becomes all in all, in us. And this act of light symbolizes the impersonal God becoming personal as a self-aware, conscious soul through mankind.

One of the secrets to understanding the ancient mystical realization of these symbols is that when spirit descends into matter, the ONE (that which is neither spirit nor matter / the absolute Father) becomes dual in nature, through the commencement of spirit and matter, and self-aware consciousness becomes possible. This self-aware individuality is the potential Christ within you, that must proceed through each aspect of your soul on all the planes of manifestation who becomes self-realized, or actualized. He makes known the Father, which is why he sits at the right hand of God, symbolizing power and actualizing the potentials of the soul. The combination of spirit / matter “allows” individual consciousness. In the beginning, the fullness of this consciousness is not yet realized, which is why the darkness (or unconscious) in the Gospel of John “knew it not.” In other words, mankind realizes not the indwelling Christ until Christ, the self aware spark, raises the lower nature to the higher through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is but a specific manifestation of the Christ. This is why Christ has to lift the lower nature first, and then from above (your higher nature) he symbolically sends the Holy Spirit down. It’s a two-way street. The Holy Spirit is not a separate being which the church has unknowingly promulgated through doctrine. The Holy Spirit is simply a function of that power which we deem Christ. Hopefully that will clear up many New Testament scriptures for you!

The fact that Christ was crucified since the foundation of the world is a philosophical way of stating that this conscious power involves itself (involution) in matter and commences all the way up (evolution) through each aspect of your soul, or plane of existence, from the lower nature to the higher. The marriage of your two natures is the divine marriage of the New Testament. Paul’s statement in Colossians 1:15-18 will help establish a vital truth in scripture about the divine sacrifice of Christ: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible…And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Christ signifies the divine sacrifice of spirit which robes itself in matter. Not just that which we call the material, physical world, but also the worlds of the astral and mental nature which are a reality we currently experience. He is the firstborn of it all. This limitation of spirit is the divine sacrifice crucified since of the foundation of the world, or soul of man. Paul directly tells you, as does the author of the Gospel of John, everything that I stated above: namely, Christ is in everything! That means every creature! You cannot say a prayer and accept Jesus into your heart to be saved. Christ was in you from the beginning, although many of us don’t comprehend Christ in us yet. As Paul states, Christ must be birthed within, through this idea of labor pains, meaning that it is a process of realization through experience. That experience is deeply personal, which makes the impersonal God personal. Impersonal and personal are but ideas, but the highest reality is that God is both, and neither. And thus consciousness is one big paradox.
Christ signifies the divine sacrifice of spirit which robes itself in matter. Not just that which we call the material, physical world, but also the worlds of the astral and mental nature which are a reality we currently experience. He is the firstborn of it all. This limitation of spirit is the divine sacrifice crucified since of the foundation of the world, or soul of man. Paul directly tells you, as does the author of the Gospel of John, everything that I stated above: namely, Christ is in everything! That means every creature! You cannot say a prayer and accept Jesus into your heart to be saved. Christ was in you from the beginning, although many of us don’t comprehend Christ in us yet. As Paul states, Christ must be birthed within, through this idea of labor pains, meaning that it is a process of realization through experience. That experience is deeply personal, which makes the impersonal God personal. Impersonal and personal are but ideas, but the highest reality is that God is both, and neither. And thus consciousness is one big paradox.

Summarizing Genesis 1:1-3 in Plain English

Let’s restate Genesis 1:1-3 into a more modern interpretation:

God began the process of creating man’s soul by spirit involving itself in matter, which resulted in the dawn of individuated consciousness. Notice how I say “dawn of,” because only the potential is there. Remember, in Genesis chapter one we are speaking about the blueprint of man’s soul in the mind of God. Yes, sort of like an idea. As we will see in a moment, this idea extends to the archetypal man, Adam (humankind), not one man.

Genesis 1:4:

“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

And God saw the light (became conscious), and differentiated it from the unconscious state, darkness, which is symbolic of unmanifested consciousness as potential. Darkness in this sense is still chaos, which is simply the unmanifested potential of the Absolute father. The Psalmist states that God made darkness his secret place. Secret, in the sense that it is unconscious, unmanifested, unknown. However, the light makes itself known.

Genesis 1:5:

“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

The “first day” philosophically unveils the great mystery of life. Life is consciousness. Consciousness is life. When I say consciousness, I am not speaking of thought. Consciousness is what allows thought to be attached to it. Raw, undefiled consciousness is the “I AM” presence God unveils to Moses, which in turn delivers Israel (the soul ripe for deliverance) from Egytpian bondage, which is a type of emotional-thought bondage to the senses and desires of this illusory nature, our lower nature.

Returning to Genesis 1:5, the listeralist makes the grave error of assuming these words actually mean a twenty-four hour period. The patristic father Origen once stated, “What intelligent person can imagine that there was a first day, then a second and third day, evening and morning, without the sun, the moon, and the stars, and a sky to put them in.” Obviously these spiritual symbols are not to be taken literally. Day and night are simply symbols for activity and non-activity, consciousness and unconsciousness. It is the process that mankind must endure until that light, being the life of man, is fully realized within the soul. Think of “day” and “night” as long periods of time through which the soul is incarnate and then it rests in between incarnations (reincarnation). This is the natural cycle which consciousness must go through to evolve. This natural process is seen even in our everyday lives. We wake and sleep each night. Nature hibernates and wakes. The tide ebbs and flows. These natural processes reflect a higher reality. “As above, so below!” The New Testament author clears this up for us when he states that a day is as a thousand years to the Lord. It just means that the process of developing the individuality is exactly that, a process, where consciousness goes through different stages of development, all the while building awareness and more deeply comprehending itself and its untapped potential. The first day is the blueprint for unveiling the mystery of consciousness and the life that abides therein.

Genesis 1:6:

“And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

If you can grasp the symbolism of the firmament, you’ll begin to understand how consciousness works through the soul (according to ancient scripture). There are the waters above the firmament and the waters below the firmament. In one sense the firmament is a demarcation line: it divides the upper planes of reality from the lower planes of illusion, as reflected in the waters above and below. Water is one of those few scriptural symbols which is dual in nature. The higher waters symbolize that true reality, while the lower waters symbolize illusion and separateness from God. Remember my earlier assertion that when spirit descends into matter it becomes dual in consciousness, through spirit / matter? This duality is reflected through God’s creation of the firmament. Remember the mental plane in our universal symbols at the beginning of the post? How it is dual? The upper and lower mental plane? The firmament is this division, specifically the higher mental plane, i.e., heaven, or God’s holy sanctuary, the centre of the mind of God.

Don’t let this be confusing. Our consciousness is dual in the way that it acts through our higher and lower natures. The denser the matter, the more restricted consciousness becomes. Through the lower nature, it manifests on the lower mental, astral, and physical planes in the form of intellect, emotion, desire, passion, and the senses. Our consciousness, when trained and developed, has the ability to expand and operate heavenly, where intuition, which is the wisdom and love of God, begins to function. This is what Paul meant when he stated we must be transformed by the renewing of the mind. In the New Testament this gift is received through the holy spirit, where the natural mind (man) becomes the heavenly man, Christ. Remember, Genesis chapter one is the blueprint of man’s soul. This blueprint is in all the sacred scriptures in some form or another, from the Upanashiads of India to the ancient mystery religions of Egypt. Consider Job 37:18, which states, “Canst thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong as a molten mirror.” This idea of a mirror in the sky shows the reflective nature of the truth above and the illusory nature of that truth as a reflection in the earth below (our lower nature). Again, “as above, so below.” Job uses the term “sky” because it symbolizes the 3rd plane (mental plane) I showed at the beginning of this post. Specifically, the demarcation between the upper and lower planes of conscious reality. In 1 Cor. 13:12 Paul states, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as I am known.” He is speaking to true wisdom, which is to know the depths of the Self. Reflecting this line of thought, William Kingsland once stated: “Real knowledge is identity, not external cognition.” What did he mean? External cognition discriminates, analyzes, and draws its conclusions through acceptance or rejection of certain ideas. Real knowledge transcends this process through intuition, which, when combined with the intellect, sees reality wholly different. It’s like the eagle that soars high above and gets the best view of it all. It sees the truth beyond the limitations of form in a physical world.

Speaking further on the firmament, Daniel 12:3 states, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.” The wisdom of God is found on the upper planes, within the firmament.

One more point which may clear up some potential confusion. Why all this talk of mental-emotional and astral bodies? The ancient mystics did not consider the physical organ we call the human brain as the origin of consciousness or even thoughts. The physical organ is simply a receiver and interpreter. For example, a thought abides on the mental plane, which is made up of a higher vibratory matter then what we term physical matter (atoms, etc). The physical brain receives and interprets the thought as it is stepped down to a denser vibration in the physical organ. However, as it is received in the denser matter of the physical organ, it is colored by the effect of denser matter, through sensations and electro-chemical processes. This is one reason why the physical organ cannot perceive reality as it is on the upper planes, unless one trains the conscious experience of the physical organ by going within and shutting out the senses. In a sense, one is using the pure light of consciousness to side-step the physical organ.

Let’s continue:

Genesis 1:8:

“And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

We have already commented on this. The firmament is the demarcation line (symbolically of course) between the true reality of heaven and the illusory nature of reality below it, on all the planes below the upper mental plane.

Genesis 1:9:

“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.”

Here is the blueprint for man’s physical, emotional, and mental nature. This is the Dry Land. The dry land is named earth because earth is man’s lower nature, that which is under the firmament, or heaven. Dry Land does not just reference the physical aspect of man. It symbolizes his emotional-thought self on all the lower planes of existence. The waters are his astral nature containing desire. I am repeating concepts so that the reader may integrate the information.

Genesis 1:10:

“And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters (under the firmament) called he seas: and God saw that it was good.”

Seas, which symbolizes the lower emotional (astral) nature, is where our desires lie. You may have heard the term “sea of desires, or the “stormy sea of desires.” Isaiah 57:20 states, “The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.” Isaiah is speaking to the astral or emotional desires and passions of man, which is often symbolized by the stormy sea in scripture. The astral nature is illusory and changing like a roaring sea because it is only a reflection of what is above. Jesus calms the stormy sea, because it is the light (higher consciousness) which illuminates the soul to man’s higher nature, whereby he gains control over the passions and desires of his wicked (or lower) self. God calls the creation of seas “good” because remember, it is the blueprint for man, meaning that our emotional natures are a reality which we must live with and have to develop to fully birth the Christ within. Mankind’s goal is to transform himself into a higher emotional state, but we must begin at the lower emotional nature. The Christ within us first awakes from his dormancy there. God calls this good here because the blueprint itself is not stormy, yet. But as man experiences life, it will certainly become stormy. It is not the emotional nature or sea itself that is wicked or negative. It is only negative when our higher natures are not in control and ruling the lower nature, which produces pain, confusion, and suffering. When the lower nature is ruled by the personality, the sea is stormy indeed. When the storm is calmed by the indwelling Christ, it becomes smooth and reflects the higher reality more accurately. Then we can say that the mind and thoughts have become captive to the higher nature.

Genesis 1:11:

“And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, after his kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Grass represents the first growth from the earth, the lower nature of man, which begins to break free of the soil (within his lower nature) and ascend upwards toward heaven. This is the primitive aspirations in the lower nature of man (the earth) seeking that which is the potential of his higher nature. Herb is another symbol for the primitive aspirations in the soul beginning through the senses, or lower conscious experience. After his kind just means through the natural law of development, i.e., how man progresses as the Christ light begins to shine brighter in him. Fruit Trees yielding their kind symbolizes the law of karma. Trees are symbolic of man himself, and the fruit that we can potentially yield in the lower and higher nature depending on how the soul grows and develops. This idea that everything on the earth yields its own kind after its kind as karma might seem strange to you, but as Gaskell states, the fruit tree bearing fruit and seed is a “symbol of the law of karma linking life with form, and the potencies within, which are ready to unfold.” This simply explains the potential within the blueprint of the soul. As experience in the earth happens, karma is active. As man begins to operate from his higher nature, karma can be altered through conscious activity.

Genesis 1:12-13:

Not much else needs to be said here, as it was summarized in the paragraph before. It is just a reiteration and the completion of the third day.

Genesis 1:14:

“And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night: and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and days, and for years.”

Here are more symbols that are universal in all ancient scriptures, and a brilliant way of explaining creation symbolically, and reflecting philosophically the axiom again, “As above, so below.” People have argued over the literal meaning of this verse for millenia. How can grass and trees grow without the sunlight that is finally created here? Obviously the sun and moon and stars are symbolic.

Let’s deal with the symbol of the sun first. Many people of today’s religious faith find it strange that an ancient culture like the Egyptians or Aztecs or ancient Hebrews and even Christians could have viewed the sun as a symbol for God, the higher self, or Christ, or the outpouring of the second Logos. First of all, using the sun as a symbol for something extraordinary is not worshipping the object itself. While all ancient scripture and myth eventually gets corrupted by the masses who begin to interpret such stories as literal, the original meaning and intent was only a symbol for the divine in man. The sun makes perfect sense as this symbol for divinity. Why? Because the sun is responsible for all life on earth. Without the sun’s light, physical life simply couldn’t exist. It is quite literally, the giver of all life as we know it. Its rays of light direct the growth in the earth. Sunlight literally stirs all growth within the earth as it shines upon it. The sun is the perfect symbol depicting how man’s lower nature (the earth) is directed and raised up by Christ, the sun / son. Malachi 4:2 literally states, “But for you who fear my name shall the sun (yes I spelled “sun” right) of righteousness rise with healing in its wings…”

Joshua commanded the sun to stand still at its zenith in the sky, symbolizing the higher self ruling over the lower nature, the moon (or personality), which also stood still. This story symbolizes the cessation of day and night, light and darkness, which are periods of activity and inactivity within the soul. The scripture states, be still and know that I am God. The same conclusion can be drawn from the Book of Revelation, where Revelation 21:23 states, “The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The lamb is its light.” In the stillness or cessation of our activity can be found within the soul that divine principle, fully realized in all the potential of Genesis 1:3, that light which has the potential to shine in the fullness of individuality of higher consciousness of the self. This is the light of Christ.

If the sun stands for Christ, the higher self in all of us, then the moon, “the lesser light,” is the personality of the natural man. The moon is also a perfect symbol, because it only shines because it reflects the light of the sun. Your personality has no light in and of itself. It is only a reflection of your permanent individuality, which is the great light. And since it is only a reflection of our higher nature, it is fleeting and it changes constantly, just as the moon waxes and wanes through different cycles. Ancient myth brilliantly describes how the personality is connected to the permanent individuality through each incarnation. But at death, the personality, who you think you are today, is gone. Solomon speaks to the death of the personality when he states, “The dead know nothing.” Here he means the death of the impermanent personality, not the permanent individuality, symbolized as the sun. This scripture alluding to the sun and moon as greater and lesser lights is a brilliant way to describe the dual nature of man: his true individuality, and his impermanent personality.

Genesis 1:15-19:

“And let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”

The greater light, or the higher self, is to rule the day. This means that period of activity where we are growing consciously, or consciousness rooted in the higher self. The lesser light (moon) rules the night, that aspect of us where our lower nature and personality rules. This means that period of activity where consciousness from the lower self is in ignorance. It is a cyclic period of growth and retraction, both of which are necessary. We exercise a muscle, and the next day it is sore and hurts, and we rest it. The mind works the same way, and in the same way we slowly but progressively birth the Christ mind within the soul.

Genesis 1:20:

“And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

The fowl that fly in the open firmament in heaven are aspirations towards the higher self. They fly in the heavens, God’s sanctuary, which is really another way of saying those aspirations within us that seek the higher self. Birds also fly in the air, i.e., thoughts which are in the mind (air). We are not talking about heaven as a literal sky, nor literal birds.

Genesis 1:21-23:

“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and morning were the fifth day.”

The whale and the sea are one in the same. The lower nature experiencing life, which brings sorrow, pain, and suffering when it identifies itself with the lower desires and passions of our desire-mind rooted in the senses. Job 7:12 states, “Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?” Ezekiel 32:2 states, “Son of man…Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas…” Again, this is part of man’s soul blueprint. The winged fowl of the air are already what we explained: those thoughts which aspire towards the higher nature in man, as they fly heavenward. The great Greek philosopher Philo once stated, all the powers of God are winged…” He meant that any thought which was noble and rooted in wisdom or love comes from above.

Genesis 1:24-25:

“And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, and cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: And God saw that it was good.

The creeping things which crawls upon the earth are symbolic of our lower instincts, like greed or mischief, which the higher nature must have dominion over. Leviticus 11:44 states, “For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify thyselves, and ye shall be holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Again, the law is spiritual, not literal. God states we are not to defile ourselves with creeping things because they are the base instincts of the lower nature. Keep in mind that fish with scales and cattle do not defile, and are clean to eat. Meaning, gaining knowledge through the intellect is okay, as well as having certain emotions (cattle). In fact, Jesus states to cast the net on the right side, which catches a full load of fish. This symbolizes the knowledge we gain through experience.

Genesis 1:26:

“And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Again, this act of dominion is emphasized. Nothing more needs to be said here, as we will deal with man being made in the image of God in verse twenty-seven below.

Genesis 1:27:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

What does it mean to be created in the image of God, both male and female? We are not speaking of literal sexes. Rather, the male-female principle which is found in nature of the lower planes is a reflection of the higher nature found on the upper planes in a spiritual sense. Male / female signifies spirit-matter, love-wisdom, mind-emotion, and intellect-intuition. Being created male / female in the image of God is the higher nature ruling completely over the lower nature. This ONENESS becomes dual when Adam and Eve partake of the tree of knowledge and become physical beings outside of the Garden. The mind becomes split, dual, and the mind and emotions, even intellect and intuition, are separate.

God tells man to have dominion over all creatures of the earth. Remember, the earth is us, and all the living things in the earth are within us. We must have dominion over the lower nature where all these creatures are symbolic of thought, emotion, sensation, desire, etc. Many Christians have taken this verse to mean we are to literally rule over all animals. Try to tell a polar bear, lion, great white shark, or whale what to do. You can’t. The only power you have over them is your intellect, which can make or build things to contain animals or kill them. But even animals are a part of the human soul, and your physical evolution upon this earth was dependent on them. American Indians understood this truth, and they called animals their brothers, for which they had great respect.

Genesis 1:28:

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

We have already gone over these symbols, except for fish in the sea. Fish relate to thoughts about opinions, knowledge, etc. But the key word here is subdue and dominion over. In other words, we will naturally become great whales, fish of the sea, creeping crawling things, cattle, and even birds of the sea, as all these things we will experience over the course of our lives. But, man, the higher nature of man, must subdue and rule over them. As we will see in a moment, that is how we are made in the image of God. When the higher nature is ruling over the lower nature, the male and female aspect of the soul become one, and the divine marriage talked about in the New Testament is complete.

Genesis 1:29-30:

“And God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

This is an interesting verse. God states that all things are given the herb and fruit of the tree to eat, to be for meat, or food. Literalists have supposed this meant that all animals were once vegetarians. Don’t think so. Sharks never ate vegetables and fruit, neither of which can grow in the ocean. This verse is speaking to the process of how the soul grows. Eating and drinking in scripture are never literal eating and drinking. The process signifies what matures the soul, or evolves it by the higher nature. Food in the Bible means sustenance for the soul, not just the physical body. Think eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his blood. Green herbs are a symbol of the growth process within. Psalm 104:14 states, “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth…” Food is the knowledge and experience gained through the experience of life. It comes out of the earth because the lower nature of mankind is the earth. Our physical experience causes adversity, which God uses to cause aspirations of mankind to yearn for something higher, something better.

Genesis 1:31:

“And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

In other words, the blueprint for man’s soul was finished. And in the beginning of Genesis chapter 2, we see that God rests. He symbolically rests because the blueprint for the temple (YOU) is complete. The creation story which comes next in Genesis 2 is not contradictory as many scholars have supposed. It is revealed differently because it is speaking to that which comes after the blueprint is complete. The construction of the actual temple is now in progress. It is no longer an idea in the mind of God, but rather that idea being actualized. This is why the order of the creation is changed, and man is created first. Because we are dealing with what happened in order to create the backdrop for what it erroneously termed “the fall of man.” It’s not so much a fall as it is a new experience for consciousness.

I hope you enjoyed this long post. I realize many will not because it is a little long and cumbersome. But hopefully it speaks to some, and hopefully it shed some new light on the most foundational chapter in the Bible which can unlock other parts of it.

From a more practical aspect, some of you may be wondering how does one live through the higher nature. As is a big theme in the blog, which even Raymond’s last contribution pointed out, meditation is such a way to begin the process. I won’t say more on that here as it can be found throughout the blog.

Blessings!

‘Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Self’ and ‘The Good Samaritan’

January 9, 2020 by Raymond Phelan 18 Comments

This parable told by Jesus in Luke 10:25-37 seems straight forward in its literal content, until, of course, we drill down and study its deeper ramifications. Cursory reading of this vital scripture is not sufficient for its intended outcome. For manifestation of this scripture into consciousness, there is much more inner involvement required. The reality is, this message has profound implications on how we interpret heaven and eternal life in our daily life and beyond. This article, using some pivotal scriptures in the second half, may help bring clarity in these matters in more practical ways.

As we can gather from the article’s title, it has two main themes: ‘love thy neighbor’ AND ‘the Good Samaritan’. Esoterically speaking, Luke 10:25-37 is presenting a wide range of codified life-growth ingredients for our journey unto finding Christ within, or, eternal life. On the surface level, yes, Luke 10:25-37 offers the very obvious lessons, of loving our neighbor, of being kind, moral and generous, but particularly with our love. No one would disagree with this in the slightest. But did we really need two vital commandments to remind us of what should be the natural expression for us humans? Surly deep down, as intelligent beings, the highest known of God’s creation, we would figure this to be obligatory human behavior? But Luke is not referring to the obvious obligatory standard of human behavior, but to something much more profound.

Something not Working

When we look at the state of global consciousness today, and the many conflicts raging throughout the world, from the aspect of peace and ‘love they neighbor,’ it becomes clear that something within the human species’ consciousness is not working. Some basic scriptural translations and understandings have not been grasped, not presented in cognizable detail. It further becomes obvious, that, preaching and generally talking to others about certain scriptures, without having first demonstrated such ourselves, is not compatible with the Bible’s Risen Christ within. In other words, ‘thinking about’ and ‘talking about’ — of sermonizing on love and peace, though well-intentioned — would seem not to be working in the greater global and societal consciousness.

In this context — notwithstanding the massive family of spirit-empowered souls generating peace-consciousness into the world, for which we’re all grateful — passive participation of literal scriptures generally can amount to merely storing popular scriptures for intellectual regurgitation, thereby, to ignore the undeniable imperative of direct Christ experiencing inherent within all of scripture’s deeper message.

According to Luke, in order to be living the above scripture in an automatic way, away from just memory referencing its content, activation of direct Christ-nature into consciousness should be a now-happening-priority. This is when vital scriptures really take form, begin crystallizing as ‘alive within’ for each of us, both in the material world and as eternity experiencing within consciousness.

Moving Beyond Belief Systems

In the beginning of our spiritual journey — while spiritual ignorance prevails — we adept and adhere to a set of common sense values based on moral standards, and this is fine. It’s how most of us, more or less, start out on our spiritual journey. But, when spiritual awakening actually begins — when all the inner mechanisms responsible for development of alive soul-based consciousness, are functioning as a Whole — then progress beyond literal conditioning, even our own, beyond religious dogma, commences. A broader range of insightful understanding begins surfacing into conscious awareness previously blocked due to subconscious programming. Spring-like activity begins clarifying perceptions of the relative and eternal realms. Newer insights sprout signifying the inner Teacher, the Holy spirit, has begun initiating consciousness in authentic spiritual-eternal matters. A state of unbounded awareness gradually replaces the previous soul-limiting belief systems, leading to an unshackled capacity of universal divine love.

This soul-freeing experience is consequent of the mind’s release from the clutches of generational subconscious conditioning. The inherited institutional, corporate, societal and early peer-pressure programming, incurred over many life-times (more on this further down). This conditioning-dynamic, maintained unwittingly by personal stress and by the mountain of imposed fear-ridden misunderstandings, are directly responsible for holding the soul in bondage, in spiritual hibernation.

Bringing conscious awareness to this soul-stifling condition is our number one job in life. The truth is, direct revelation of inner Christ awareness requires no outsider or institutional doctrine. Repetition of any message into the mind, from wherever or from whomever, can result in programmed patterns of belief behavior. This is how the advertising industry operates and survives. They’re masters at planting a subliminal message for their direct benefit in our brain. Beware! The truth is, divine nature is available to every soul freely and directly — when that soul ‘presents’ consciously within mind — without referencing previously installed programmed systems. In this way, Self-revelation, or, Holy Spirit in-tuition, ensues, and is the way of gaining direct Christ-nature without outsider interference. This inward approach reveals the how-why of our particular life situation or personal struggle. The practice disarms the automated subconscious response programming responsible for all personal and global suffering. This periodic release from mental tension and physical stress, caused by inner conflict, confusion, by contradicting belief systems, provides the clarity of mind from which we can develop inwardly, spiritually, on our journey of integration unto Resurrection and Redemption in Christ consciousness and eternal life.

Against this background, of the need of inner awakening as priority…

Let us now examine the importance of Jesus’ two commandments in Luke

Luke 10:25 puts it: A teacher of the law asked Jesus: “What must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus answered him: “what do the scriptures say? How do you interpret them? The man answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind”; and love your neighbor as you love yourself”. Jesus replied, Luke 10:28, “You are right, do this and you will live”. Then the teacher of the law asked Jesus, Luke 10:29, “who is my neighbor?”

Now, this truly is a most pivotal and poignant question.

I provide the scripture and embodied my paraphrasing.

Jesus answered with this Parable: Luke 10:30–35:

30, “A certain man (Adam, asleep soul in divine nature, living through spiritual ignorance) was going down (fall of man) from Jerusalem (higher self) to Jericho (lower-self: spiritual fall of man) when robbers (inner demons, wrong thinking, conditioning, addictions) attacked him, striped him, (a soul functioning without conscious Christ awareness and inner Truth) and beat him up, leaving him half dead (alive only to his lower carnal mind, and dead to his higher spiritual nature, similar to Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the spiritually dead state).

31, “It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by, on the other side” (the priest was still functioning out of left brain and lower ego).

32, “In the same way a Levite also came along, went over and looked at the man, and then walked on by, on the other side” (the Levite had not attained a capacity of true compassionate love).

33, “But a Samaritan (Christ within) who was travelling that way, (Christ remains always with us, either consciously or unconsciously) came upon the man (soul in need of healing), and when he saw him his heart was filled with pity.” (direct experiencing through compassionate love).

34, “He went over to him (inner Christ is always available to each of us at our time of need, or, in response to intuitive seeking), poured oil (unconditional love) and wine on his wounds (that which separated soul from direct inner Christ) and bandaged them; then he put the man on his own animal (aligning the soul with Higher Self) and took him to an inn, (place of peace / love within leading to further spiritual advancement through inner awakening) where he took care of him” (commencement of journey unto Christ).

35, “The next day, (period of spiritual growth) he took out two silver coins (silver symbolizing medium of redemption, in this case the mediums being mind and body, our means of gaining conscious contact with Higher Self) and gave them to the innkeeper (instructed the conscious mind spiritually). ‘Take care of him’ he told the innkeeper, ‘and when I come back this way, (symbolizing second coming of Christ; Christ Realized within consciousness). I will pay you whatever else you spent on him” (soul gaining eternal life through Christ within).

Tangible Consciousness Transformation

“Love thy neighbor as thy self” is here referencing the requirement of ‘loving thy inner neighbor’, meaning, the integratory process of merging lower-self neighbor into becoming One neighbor in higher self – or, Jerusalem — without the ignorance nature of Jericho.

Esoterically, Luke 10:25-37 is proclaiming a need of tangible consciousness transformation out of the Adam / lower ego Jericho state into direct awareness experience of our own inner Christ, depicted here as the Good Samaritan – they are one and the same. When Christ / Good Samaritan consciousness is Mature within, then this will automatically be loving our lower neighbor, Jericho, UNCONDITIONALLY on a Higher level within.

Unconditional love is the big one. It’s not based on belief systems, religious dogma or creeds. Rather, Unconditional love is the pure ingredient of Good Samaritan status. Unconditional love is the awakened soul’s out-flowing of true compassionate love, not just for selected ones such as family members, but a universal state of Heart. Unconditional love is when the dominant lower ego is absent naturally, which was not the case with the Levi and the Priest.

Life’s Purpose

In qualifying the previous section, let us remind ourselves of Isaiah. When Isaiah 11:6 stated ‘the Lion (lower self / lower ego) shall lay down with the Lamb’ (higher self or indwelling Christ), this is referring to inner merging, this inner unifying process. ‘The Lion’ would be seen as King (of the jungle), hence the title, King Herod, representing the lower human ego. This unifying of higher and lower self, mentioned in scripture, is our individual life-purpose on earth. In this context, according to Luke 10:25—37 no matter what status in material or religious /spiritual life we’ve achieved, without the healing presence of compassionate Christ-Love, then the Good Samaritan connection within mind, body, soul, remains at ‘fall of man’ level.

The term ‘Good’, of course, does not mean the opposite of bad. Rather, Good is similar to the ‘Good’ News Bible, meaning, Off God, off Good nature, or, teachings of awakening Christ within.

Steps of Contacting Good Samaritan and Pure Silence

The question arises: how do we carry-out the integratory steps necessary for coming upon conscious Presence, conscious Wholeness, conscious Higher Self, conscious Christ, conscious Eternity? How do we love lower neighbor AS our higher-self neighbor?

Well, thankfully, WE don’t do it. Rather, the integratory process is carried on Transcendentally.But, there is a practicality involvement on our part.
Mental stillness, or, meditation, creates a ‘contact point’ of Now in the brain, which Now contact, over time, expands into conscious infinity, into Mature Christ or eternity consciousness — the Promised Land. The first step in this process of integration, is, establishing this ‘contact point’ in mind, this is brought about initially by mental stillness. This ‘contact point’ — say, a point between the eyebrows — then merges and expands the awareness into Pure Now Silence. Repeated practice establishes this ‘contact point’ in the brain, which, over time, expands into infinity, into Mature Christ consciousness. In this way, ‘contact point’ acts as a trigger for the asleep soul’s alarm clock to vibrate, thereby awakening the individual soul out of spiritual slumber – think Lazarus again — unto our core nature of eternal life. Without conscious contact with Pure Now Silence, expanded awareness, the conscious mind remains individual, without the cosmic, all-encompassing dimension, remains intellectual only, thereby, prisoner of the lower-self.

“You cannot go where I am going” John: 8-21

The reason why ‘contact’ with Now Silence is so vital, is that, the love emanating from lower self is not one and the same standard as divine love, which, as we said, is Unconditional Christ love. Therefore, in setting out towards gaining Unconditional love, it’s necessary that we enter fully into its actual experience. And, as said, we cannot give ourselves, or express Unconditional Divine love through a lower state, such as the carnal mind, we must learn — acclimatize the brain — then to transcend this lower nature by an inner-crucifying process, as related in John 8-21: “You (lower ego) cannot go, (in ego’s present state) where I (transcendental Christ nature) am going”.

The place where Jesus is going, as mentioned here in John 8:21, is in regard to the Higher Self — Jesus is transcending into the eternity of Christ within. The “you”, referred to by Jesus, represents the lower ego, which in its entirety comprises the 12 cranial nerves or, the 12 non spiritually awakened apostles. These 12 apostles or 12 tribes of Israel, are within each of us. They represent the lower personality, the aspects of our natural-man soul which are in need of integration into a spiritually functioning realm. In other words, the son of man, or, the lower-self, before becoming the Sod of God, Higher Self, must undergo inner crucifixion, leading to healing and renewal of vital nerve channel mechanisms. This in turn opens the links unto the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Teacher, or Revelatory dynamic into our mind, which in turn brings about direct Christ awareness, or Divine Presence.

This integratory, transcendence imperative is mentioned also in Matthew 17:1-13 “Transfiguration on the Mount (transformation of lower nature into higher consciousness)”; meaning, Transfiguration of Peter, (ego) James, (mental mechanisms), and John, (human love)”.

Silence meditation is pivotal regards these last two scriptures. For, it’s during the mediational Now silence practice that our individual identity (the lower ego and all its associated false persona activity) ceases, become crucified. Our consciousness gradually becoming transformed, infused of Pure Silence, Joy, Rapture, which equates to Divine Good Samaritan nature. It’s this inner ‘contact’ with Pure Silence which establishes to reflect the Immutable Presence of God within consciousness; Eternity, which now permeates every muscle, nerve and cell of the body.

Many Births – what is this?

Each meditational encounter connects with Pure Silence, Higher Self, and, on coming out of meditation, the mind returns to its individuality, which is lost during the practice period. Such returning – after dying to lower-self — signifies a new birth. New birth, spiritually speaking, means, a New or Spiritually changed person within consciousness. Transcendental Silence transforms lower ego mind – son of man — into Christ Standard functioning. Thus, on our individual journey, of consciously finding our Higher Self, we must lose, or die to, the lower-self nature by means of inner Silence.‘Many births’ therefore, means, many meditational journeys into eternal Now silence, via mental stillness – where lower ego false personality dies — then re-emerging with a new spiritual personality, in the process thus rooting the consciousness in eternal Christ-nature.

Post Meditation Activity

Finally, in making Eternity Presence the permanent state of consciousness, then, post meditation engagement in some gentle mental or physical activity, is necessary. Post meditation activity is essential, in that, it establishes capacity for intuitive-based feelings to become ‘set-up’ on the nervous system. It cultures, not only the nervous system into withstanding the on-flow of blissful happiness and deep peace, the Rapture, but also awakens the five ordinary senses of perception into Heightened functionality; becoming re-orientated away from their habitual patterns of unconscious behavior and attraction. Also, post meditation activity helps bring about that vital resolute intellect, the unwavering mind rooting itself in one-pointedness – Matthew 6:22 “if thine eye be single”. Thereby, stability of thought, stability of thinking, stability of spirit- hearing, spirit-seeing, resulting in right thinking and spirit-based decision making. Thus bringing into action a spontaneity of Good Samaritan expression in our daily life.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=%22The+Absolute+Secret+by+raymond+phelan&ref=nb_sb_noss

Defining the Spiritual Nature of the Law/Torah According to Christ and Paul

December 24, 2019 by Joshua Tilghman 21 Comments

Paul stated that the Law is spiritual. But what does that mean? Hopefully, this post will shed some light for those who have been confused about the veil that the natural mind often places between the Law and Christ, and how we can reconcile the two spiritually.

In 2 Cor. 3:15, Paul mentions this veil. He states it was upon the hearts and minds of the Jews of his time. Paul’s main reasoning for this veil was that they lacked Christ, which could take the veil away. By this, Paul did not mean the literal-historical Christ religion has painted, but the Christ within, which consists of an inner revelation of truth revealed by the spirit.

Esoteric literature teaches us that Moses and the Law are symbolic of the rational and ethical nature of man. But this can still be quite confusing. The confusion comes from our modern day understanding of ethics and morals, and what the original authors of the Biblical stories considered ethics and morals. Today, morals are standards of behavior that the individual or a society finds acceptable and not acceptable so that the social well-being of a community can be established. But the spiritual nature of the Torah deals with ethics and morals in quite a different light. The esoteric understanding of ethics and morals are those characteristics which either take us closer to our innate divine nature, or continue to veil that divine nature. So rather than see the Torah as a set of commands for the unique community of Yaweh first, we have to see the Torah as a spiritual law for the unique individual. When the inner man is sanctified, it will always benefit the outer community. But it is the inner man which is dealt with first, and the Torah first and foremost teaches us about our relationship with the divine – or lack thereof.

Moses is the giver of the law. This law, Torah, from an outer perspective was the set of standards for the Israelites of what was acceptable and not acceptable before Yaweh. It seems like a stringent application of “do this” and “don’t do this” commandments. The problem is, St. Paul tells us the letter of the law (a literal reading) kills the spiritual intent. What he is truly saying is that the surface understanding alone brings no profit to the individual. The Law has a spiritual meaning to it that transcends the literal understanding of the commandments, and is the first step to reconciling the individual with God and man.

It’s clear from Paul’s context that the law of Moses, from a spiritual perspective, is more about the conscience of the inner man rather than his experience with the outer world. In other words, his relationship to the Law is not about a set of rules, but rather a set of inner revelations about the workings of the body and soul, it’s true nature, the limitations of the personal ego, and its separateness from the Divine nature that the Law can reveal to us. The Torah can be, if we let it, our metaphysical teacher which reveals the deeper mysteries of our minds and hearts, just as Jesus did as the ultimate fulfillment and fullness of the Torah.

The Esoteric Revelation of the Law

Let’s consider an Old Testament commandment from Leviticus which states the Israelite could not eat swine nor touch its carcass. What is the spiritual intent beneath the outer, literal command? I will suggest that it is more about what is filthy to the mind than to the body. Pigs naturally wallow in the mud, and therefore they symbolize the desire-mind which seeks its nourishment and gratification from the passions and desires of our lower animal nature. The outer command is do not eat swine. But the inner command means do not gratify the desire-mind, which is at enmity with God, or the divine nature within.

Interestingly, Paul tells us to eat whatever is put before us on the dinner table, unless it is offered to idols. But even then, this is for the conscience sake of the other person, meaning don’t do it if it reaffirms their belief in a superstition. (1 Cor 10:27-29)

So when Paul states that a veil is upon those that are reading the Torah, he means they read the law carnally, or strictly literal, and therefore miss its inner revelation. The spiritual intent here is not that the pig or pork itself is off limits, but rather points to the discipline the mind needs to develop to prepare itself for the birth of the Christ within.

Furthermore, Jesus stated that the law was made for man, not man for the law. In other words, the spiritual intent of the Torah isn’t so much about what man cannot and can do, but rather what helps us reconnect with the divine nature within us.

It is stated that Christ came to fulfill the law, not to end it. Again, what does this mean? We have a clear example which lines up with the explanation above about not eating pork. Jesus states it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that makes him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth because it is from the heart (and mind). Since Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, and that the entire Old Testament testifies of him as Paul states (the Christ nature within), then we can conclude that the laws are themselves symbolic of deeper inner revelations about the nature of the human conscious experience. This human conscious experience includes free will, which can choose the divine, or the natural.

Here is the esoteric reason for the Law: man has two natures: the animal, or instinctual nature, and the Divine nature. Man first learns to control his animal nature through that which the Law (spiritually) represents, if he or she so chooses. Nevertheless, while everything is permissible to the human experience, not everything is profitable to the soul.

So what do I mean when I say Moses symbolizes the moral nature of man? I do not mean moral as what is acceptable and not acceptable according to today’s societal standards (although there is certainly some correlation on a spiritual level). But I mean the nature within man which refuses to accept the mental and emotional bondage of Egypt. Again, Egypt is a Biblical symbol of mental bondage to the things of desire. So Moses and the Law is the revealer of that which is within man that comes to understand through experience that there is a higher spiritual principle to this thing we call life than simply the physical world we experience through the senses and the gratification thereof.

Sidenote: In the deepest level of spiritual understanding, there is a law which even transcends what we reap and sow (the Biblical definition of karma), but it will not be found within the confines of natural understanding nor action. And in the deepest respect for such a trandenscental experience, I am in no position to teach or advise in it. That is a journey you must travel for yourself 🙂

We must journey through the wilderness, the arena of life, and learn to control the lower nature. Every story about the Israelite journeying through the desert is about this constant battle and struggle between the higher and lower nature. The story of the Israelites is timeless, because it is our story, the story of every human being in all walks of life.

Moses

The author/s of the Torah skillfully illustrate Moses’s symbolic nature. While in Egypt, the land of desire, Moses killed an Egyptian. Are we to focus on the literal act, or is there a deeper spiritual message? Did Moses murder a person, or is the act symbolic of murdering the lust and gratification of carnality? In the literal story, Moses would be a murderer, an affront to our divine nature and the community of humanity at large. But in its deeper esoteric sense, I tell you that Moses would not have been worthy to lead God’s people (in the myth) had he not first killed an Egyptian. I hope you get my drift. The Torah has a deep sense of irony. Through a surface-literal reading only, God uses and favors most the murderers, harlots, and idolterors. (Moses, King David, Rahab, and Solomon, and if you count the New Testament, Paul). But this makes no sense to the natural man who sees things black and white, literal-only. The Torah is like a dark, empty cave to the natural mind. But to a spiritually-minded person, one who goes deeper within the text, it is like a land of treasure, revealing the secrets to man’s soul and psychological workings. It reveals not only the sacredness of the body-temple, but the divine construction of it through the physical, emotional, and mental network that embodies consciousness and self-awareness.

More on the Significance of Moses

While it is true that Moses is symbolic of something we would refer to as ethical, we must always go deeper. The natural mind can develop ethics. Throughout human history the ethical nature has evolved through the use of the intellect. Different societies have evolved through conquest, revolutions, etc. The intellect can rationalize that certain actions can develop social well-being by looking at its past failures and successes. And this is why societies have laws, and some nations develop laws with more freedom than others. But the Law of Moses transcends even this in its mystical application. And since the law is the forerunner to the more perfect law of love, which to the Jews is the indwelling messiah where the law is written on the heart according to Jeremiah, and to the Christians the Christ within according to Paul, the idea is one in the same. Which is why Christ could tell the Pharisee, in the Torah you think you have eternal life, but they are that which speak of ME (the eternal outpouring of the 2nd Logos made flesh). Jesus of the New Testament is the embodiment of the Old Testament messiah, and the early church fathers simply got bogged down in semantics, like arguing over Christ’s nature because of a literal reading.

Moses as the lawgiver then represents this: when the law is read spiritually, through the intellectual study of metaphysics and allegorical interpretation according to spiritual wisdom, it leads one to an intuitive understanding that there is a great spiritual realm above the physical world which we have the opportunity of discovering through the Christ within. And that is the reason why the law and Moses had to come first. It is a motif of the natural spiritual development of man. First comes animal nature, then the slow development of the moral nature, and then the greater spiritual nature of the divine.

Why Couldn’t Moses Enter the Promised Land

Which brings us to an important question: what’s up with Moses not being allowed to enter the Promised Land? What does it mean that he struck the rock instead of speaking to it, and why did God give out such a harsh punishment because of it?

Just as the Torah must have this Moses figure kill the Egyptian symbolically, so must the Torah show us that Moses could not enter the Promised Land. Moses does not enter because it would violate the deeper spiritual interpretation and symbolism of the text! He is that ethical and rational nature which seeks to discipline the soul so that it can begin to aspire to the higher spiritual nature within man. But symbolically, it is Joshua and Caleb only which can enter. Moses symbolizes the necessity of obedience to a higher standard, but Joshua and Caleb represent that standard in the form of faith.

In a sense, Moses represents not the outward appearance of certain laws and regulations, but a spiritual obedience, the kind of obedience which disciplines the mind and emotions, and refuses to let the desire-mind be the ruler of the soul. When one reaches this stage, it doesn’t mean that he or she can automatically enter what the Promised Land symbolizes. It just means that he or she is the scriptural and spiritual definition of an Israelite, which is one who is on the way, chosen and set apart, but still has much adversity (giants) to overcome.

Moses had already struck the rock previously to get water (truth). But the second time God commanded him to speak to the rock to get water, and he strikes it again, and a second time! In this act of disobedience Moses fails to symbolize access to the higher self, which can never be attained by the intellect. This act is the epitome of how far the intellect takes us. The symbolism of striking the rock again to get truth (water from the rock) represents the limitations of the intellect to receive the truth within, which only the Christ nature can provide. This provision comes in the form of the intellect being aided by the higher emotions in form of intuition and love. This is a process which must be developed.

In the overall arching theme of the Exodus and subsequent journey, we have to remember that it is the struggle of consciousness manifested in the flesh / physical body / personal ego. The metaphysical wisdom of the story relates more with psychology than religion teaches.

But there is one finality I am remembered of, especially after a conversation with my friend Paul (the natural Paul who lives near me and is interested in the same spiritual subjects). It is really about the union of the lower and higher nature, the divine union. But this is another subject for another time, and how this ties together. Blessings.

A Link Shared by Anny

November 3, 2019 by Joshua Tilghman 14 Comments

I thought I’d post the link that Anny shared with me recently in an e-mail which I found very beneficial to those trying to further understand this idea of consciousness as the foundation of reality.

If you’re interested, pay attention to very pertinent and certain statements he makes about consciousness that can be missed if you’re not focused. I’m not saying he has the truth, because no man does. Truth is an experience, and you can only realize truth through personal experience. But some of his statements give great intellectual food for thought.

Anyone who has followed the blog since it’s inception, or at least for a few years, knows that meditation is one of the central themes on this blog. Why? Is it because I studied Eastern religions and assume they have truth? No! It is because in the Bible itself I see this central theme. Many have asked me how and why I see this? Every story from Adam and Eve to Christ and Paul in the New Testament is an allegory for how the soul exist in the physical body temple through the limited aspect of the brain. The original esoteric explanations in all Eastern scriptures collaborate this view. Meditation, centered prayer, deep contemplation or concentration, etc., is a tool to break down egoic structures that have formed in the lower personality during one’s life. It is a way of “renting the veil,” so to speak, and having a self-realization experience of what reality is. The ultimate experience of meditation goes far beyond health benefits, calmness, increased mental acuity, etc. These are worldly benefits, and while good and beneficial, one must persist to reap true spiritual benefits which go beyond the advertised or commercialized exercise of meditation. There are many different types of meditation, and no one can tell you the direct and one true way, because all of them deal with piercing the veil in some aspect, and certain individuals are ready for certain meditation exercises. That being said, I will add that there are advanced forms one can experience when one is ready, and it is a three-fold process, first and foremost developing the art of concentration. I leave my explanation there and those willing to dig deeper may benefit from exploring the specific types of Zen application.

Ideas such as reincarnation and Karma, though not directly stated in the Bible, are certainly details within this central theme. I chuckle to myself every time I mention Karma in a personal e-mail to someone discussing the Bible, or in direct discussion, and they say, but that’s not in the Bible. But the Bible says you reap what you sow. This is a plain Western definition of the Eastern concept of Karma. It doesn’t get any more plain.

Even the idea of the Christian devil has been so misconstrued from it’s original Biblical idea. Consider the fact that what Christians consider the Devil, IS THE VERY CATALYSIS or vehicle God used to allow Job to realize a blessing 100 fold. It’s the same in the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. The serpent is the catalysis for the next phase of the conscious experience.

All religious ideas will forever leave you with mental constructs within the lower ego that reinforce sin, or missing the mark. The mark of what? Sin is not an evil that needs punishment by an overlord, but rather a symbol of ignorance of the mystery of the conscious experience and spirit.

Here is the link. I hope you enjoy should you choose to watch it.

Resurrection: It’s not What Your Local Church Teaches

September 23, 2019 by Joshua Tilghman 31 Comments

What is the Biblical resurrection? Sadly, there is much misinformation on the subject leading to wild claims. To get a glimpse of what the true resurrection is, I am going to use the Old Testament concepts from the story of Cain and Abel, and then link it back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This chapter is greatly misunderstood by mainstream religion, so we’ll correct the fallacies and try to get a grip on what Paul meant.

Understanding the Biblical resurrection must come from a greater understanding of ourselves. The story of Cain and Abel fills in some important concepts for us.

The Symbolic Nature of Cain and Abel

Much of the esoteric nature of of the Bible is hard to interpret, but the story of Cain and Abel is relatively simple. The clues aren’t even hidden. They’re blatant! Let’s break it down.

The straightforward version: Adam and Eve conceive twin brothers. Cain comes first, then Abel. Cain is a tiller of the ground. Abel tends sheep. When the time comes, they both bring an offering to the Lord. For no apparent reason (at least not one revealed directly in the text), the Lord rejects Cain’s offering. But God accepts Abel’s offering of sheep. Is the Lord discriminatory against vegetables? Or maybe he just hates brussel sprouts and broccoli?

All joking aside, the key to understanding the deeper spiritual significance of the story is actually in their vocations. Cain was doomed from the beginning. Let’s see why…

Ancient adepts wrote this story to explain the very early stages of the One consciousness expressing itself through human kind. Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden symbolizes spirit expressing itself in duality on the lowest (physical) plane. Cain and Abel are two different paths the soul can take. One path aspires back towards unity with God (Abel), and the other (Cain), being unaware of this path back to unity, or even that there is unity, remains rooted in separateness, illusion, and the “I” feeling that consciousness experiences in duality on the physical plane. In many ways, the story of Cain and Abel represents the first metaphysical struggle between our lower and higher self.

Abel is that beginning aspiration which seeks to establish consciousness in the higher self through love and unity, while Cain is that which is rooted in the lower ego, and is only concerned with “I,” or “me.” As this very early stage of human consciousness, Cain always prevails over Abel.

Cain and the Ground

Cain is a tiller of the ground. The ground is a symbol of the lower nature within the soul. Think of the ground as the lowest point of involution of spirit, or the one consciousness, in physical matter. Cain is the personality and lower mind that fully functions at the beginning of incarnating into physicality.

God could never accept Cain’s offering, because his labor as a tiller of the ground symbolizes humans operating through the lower mind only. Paul tells us the carnal mind is at enmity with God. The carnal mind is not just sensations (physical), it is the entire personality comprised of mental, emotional, and physical consciousness at its lowest point of involution with the human (i.e., the ground).

Sidenote: For someone wanting to see the bigger picture, the line of Cain, metaphorically speaking, represents those living and staying in the lower ego. Adam and Eve’s next line, with Seth, represents mankind who aspires, through stages of consciousness, to transcend the lower ego experience and expands his or her awareness as symbolized in Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Christ.

The First Murder was Metaphysical

Of course in the narrative Cain gets very upset. God tells him sin (separation and illusion) is always before him, but if he does well (seeks the higher self through through virtues and love like Abel), he will be accepted. And of course Cain cannot do this. Remember what the Apostle Paul also states:

“Because the mind set on flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be” (Romans 8:1).

“The mind set on flesh” is the carnal or lower nature. Again, Cain signifies one whose mind is set on flesh because he is a tiller of the ground.

You see! Poor Cain never had a chance! In fact, just understanding all this could make us predict would Cain would do next even if we hadn’t read the story. He kills Abel! The lower ego rejects love, always. Anytime we act from the lower aspect of ourselves, we act out of fear and survival. Keep in mind this isn’t literal. Cain never actually murdered a person. This whole fiasco is symbolic of the lower nature killing that aspect which seeks the higher nature / self. Why? Because it must in the early stages of consciousness evolution. It is always at enmity with God.

What about Abel? The sheep that Abel tends are symbolic of virtues. Christ said his sheep hear his voice. These are ever the virtues that the soul can become rooted in around the Christ nature, drawing the soul closer and closer back to unity with God. But in Cain, the lower nature kills that aspect of our soul which chooses to tend to the (sheep) virtues.

One more important point about Cain as a tiller of the ground: As Gaskell states, the lower nature must be sown and tilled to truly reap fruit. This long process of sowing, tilling, and reaping in the soul is what the soul’s sojourn on earth is all about. The soul that lives in ignorance, will need to be sown, tilled, and reaped over and over (karma and reincarnation) until that ego realizes it’s wretchedness and aspires towards something greater than it’s limited self.

Next, God banished Cain from his presence. Cain is banished to the Land of Nod. Nod represents the land where the personality is in total control of the soul, and is at the mercy of the desire-nature, rooted in total separateness of the true self. The personality is expressed through the physical, mental, and emotional consciousness rooted in this illusory separation. These aspects of us, thoughts, emotions and sensations (all three manifested in the physical temple) always begin the journey away from God’s presence in the land of Nod. At first, no man knows God, and the illusion of separateness through the ego is our Nod experience.

Cain’s Wife a Blatant Clue

Cain even gets a wife in Nod. Again, not a literal woman. The term “wife” is always symbolic of the emotion nature allied with the mind (man). This is what the personality is! This shows the template for the lower nature made up of thought and emotion exhibited through the physical body.

He is sent to the land of “Nod,” which is symbolic of being driven (or separate in illusion) from the presence of the Lord (higher self). Remember, the lower nature is at enmity with God and can never bring an offering (from the flesh) that would ever please God.

When Paul speaks of the carnal mind, or the mind of flesh, he is speaking of the lower nature in its entirety, which again, comprises the personality manifested through thoughts, emotions, and sensations within the physical temple. This is why Cain is allowed to get away with murder and begin a new journey with a mark to protect him. No matter how corrupt the lower nature is, it always has the chance (through many lives), to evolve through the experiences of adversity and suffering. Early humanity spent many incarnations doing this.

Abel doesn’t do much. But his symbolic meaning is the important part. Even in the beginning, the soul has aspirations towards something that is higher and greater than the limited ego rooted in the personality. For much of early humanity, it was just killed by our twin (within us) before it accomplished anything except the faintest of beginnings of a new consciousness experience.

The Template has been Set

Now we can begin to talk about Paul’s concept of resurrection. We understand from earlier Biblical stories (and not just Cain and Abel), that the lower nature, or the “I” feeling we all have, is comprised of a tri-part nature, or temple. Mind = thoughts, emotions, physical temple. All three make up the lower self. This is the grand illusion, and it is a very small and limited manifestation of who you really are.

The Apostle Paul understood this lower nature of man quite well. In fact, at times he seems completely annoyed by it. He states, that which I would do, I don’t. And that which I would not do, I do! It’s like the Abel in him is killed over and over and he admits it in frustration. But no worries. Paul also understands the power of the Christ within us, our hope of Glory, who is able to resurrect this lower self and cause a union of it with the higher self. And it is only the power of Christ manifested in our complete temple that can affect this transformation of the mind.

Yes! Christ is resurrected in a physical body, but it’s your physical body. One that is still alive. Not a body that’s already been literally put in the ground. He’s resurrected in your body! Most humans are past the Nod stage, but you still have to manifest an Abraham within you first that cuts covenant, or an agreement with God the higher self through faith. This is where the real journey begins. Abraham is the father of faith because he is symbolic of the divine nature becoming active in the soul by leaving his former land of the ego and traveling to a land that God will give to his seed. This is the Promised Land, and it is nothing like Nod. In fact, it is not a State of consciousness rooted only in the personality and lower ego, but a State of consciousness that receives the blessings of milk and honey (higher emotions – wisdom). Wisdom of what? Wisdom that comes from the intuition, the true reality, that is not separate from God. It is the spiritual food from above which transcends the human mind and intellect, and it is a remembering of where you came from before your descent (incarnation in matter).

Paul’s Resurrection is Purely Metaphysical

By this point in the article, you’ve already guessed it. Paul’s Resurrection is only metaphysical. The physical body will die. Your personality is fleeting. The labels and memories that make up who you are as the personality in this life, in the earthly vessel, will pass away. But the “who” you think you are now through labels and memory is really but a very tiny and limited aspect of your higher self. Paul knew this fact. He never ever spoke about a resurrection where literal physical bodies (along with all the thoughts and emotions and memories) would be put all back together from the grave. All his writings are spiritual in nature. Paul states flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Paul also taught that Christ must be fully resurrected within the individual which is this great process and the completion of the renewing of the mind of man. Not just a transformation of the lower mind, but a union of lower mind with the spiritual mind and higher self. When Christ is all in all within the individual, the higher spiritual mind and emotions are in unity, being ruled by the higher self or Christ within. This is why Jesus also taught seek ye first the kingdom of God, which is within you. Paul’s vision of Christ on the road to Damascus indicates this realization. Paul speaks of this in Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 15: 3-8

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received; how that Christ died for us according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures; And that he was seen of cephas, then of the twelve.”

Let’s break down some more symbols here. Cephas, or Peter, signifies the natural man, or the ego. The natural man must first perceive that there is a spiritual truth higher than himself. This is the first step, and it is why Paul writes esoterically, mentioning Cephas first. Cephas is the little rock that God’s kingdom is first built upon.

The twelve are the disciples, which are symbolic of the soul qualities which have completed an initiation into the Christ-soul. Even Jesus went up to Jerusalem at twelve years of age for the feast (Luke 2:42). There are twelve signs of the Zodiac, twelves tribes, twelve disciples, and twelve apostles. All indicate the same. Now let’s continue quoting 1 Corinthians:

“After that he was seen of five hundred brethern at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then all the Apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also.”

What 500 signifies is too complicated to go into here, and would take another post about the book of Ezekiel to explain (maybe another day). But James is a symbol for the mind and enlightenment.

According to Gaskell: James is “…the mental edifice of the human being, that is, the mentality or instrument of the mind, which is built up by the soul-qualities through aspiration and enlightenment.”

Are we beginning to see a pattern here? Paul’s revelation of the Christ begins with the natural man, progresses through the soul qualities, goes through the state of James, and then to himself.

Notice how Paul then states Christ was seen of him also. Paul’s statement here indicates that Christ appeared to everyone in the same way. How did Christ appear to Paul? Again, read the road to Damascus. It wasn’t Jesus in a physical body that appeared to him. It was a bright light on the road to Damascus, indicating an experience within consciousness. Paul’s risen Christ is always metaphysical in nature. Paul never speaks of a virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus, his early life, etc. Why? This was not important to Paul. Only the resurrected Christ is, which is the power within you. When Paul mentions Jesus as the son of David, he is still speaking allegorically.

Finally, Paul follows James as the last (and in many ways the greatest) apostle to see the resurrected Christ because Paul is symbolic of the mind being transformed by the Christ. His boasting in the New Testament has nothing to do with being the greatest Apostle. He’s simply the mind which has realized the Christ, and still has to correct the natural man (Peter) through life. Paul gives a sharp rebuke to Peter in Galatians. This rebuke is not between two people. The rebuke is about the natural man (Peter) still wanting to be in charge of the soul rather than the Christ, and getting mixed up from time to time!

Final Thoughts on the Resurrection and what it is that is resurrected

I am going to quote Gaskell on the resurrection:

“A symbol of the rising of the Higher Self from the potential to the actual in the minds of humanity: also the rising of the indwelling or incarnate Self from the lower nature ot the higher at the end of the cycle. In relation to the egos, the resurrection signifies the rising of the cosnciousess from the lower mind to the higher in the causal-body at the cycle’s end…”

For beginners, don’t let the language confuse you. The Christ seed is sown by the word. In the beginning, it is only a potential and has not been actualized yet. But the word is not actually the Bible. The word is Christ itself, this power within you that must germinate to bear fruit. I have a great respect of my Christian heritage, even my first church, because it gave me an appreciation for the allegories meant to awaken something already within me. But I realized after many years that my church leaders were more interested in doctrine and doing “good deeds” to follow Christ. But this is not his message. Good deeds are great, but often have very little to do with the transforming of the mind that Paul spoke of. Doctrine and religion still seek Christ through the personality and lower mind, which although can do much good, it is still not the direct realization of Christ within you. The causal body that Gaskell speaks of is a the body of the spiritual ego (not to be confused with the lower mind and ego). The aspects of the personality are attached to it, and come forth from it, but the higher mind, the Christ mind, is established in the causal body, and is not dissolved with death like the personality. The resurrection symbolizes the raising of this lower mind to come into union with the higher mind at some point in human consciousness. Every human life has the potential to express Christ consciousness through the physical body. Those who actualize it are those sheep that hear and follow Christ’s voice – the wisdom gleaned from above by seeking the inner kingdom within each individual, and the higher virtues received through the wisdom-love nature that the higher self contains. More of this to come in future posts.

So what is the resurrection? Let’s simplify it like this: the infinite, limitless POTENTIAL of the self cannot express itself (become actualized) in the physical temple, unless…

The self transcends the mind, beyond the physical, emotional, and thinking machine that it is, while still in the physical temple. When this Transcendence takes place, this awakening, this enlightenment, this realization of itself, then the “I-ness” of the self is retained within the physical temple, while on earth, and the self is thus resurrected. And the union, the Divine marriage, of the lower and higher self is consummated. This is the immortality spoken about in the Bible. This immortality does not mean of the physical body, but of bringing awareness of the self, through direct realization, into death, where the individual remains aware and does not fall alseep (go into complete unconsciousness until the next birth).

Blessings.

Do Miracles Exist? Is a Literal Interpretation Possible Sometimes?

May 2, 2018 by Anny Vos 43 Comments

Blog owner insert: Please see the comment after the post, from me, Joshua, for what I hope generates a great discussion on this topic Anny has brought to light! Thanks Anny!

This article is related to Joshua’s article Psalm 78 Speaks: The Law is a Parable of November 11^th, 2017 and to one of his comments that I only found recently. In this article he again confirms his strong belief that all miracles should be taken symbolically only. As everyone who has read my previous articles probably knows, I generally agree with Joshua on the subject of symbolic interpretation and also that not all miracles in the Bible are meant to be taken literally but to me that does not necessarily mean that there are no miracles at all. So I feel I have to play devil’s advocate here. [Read more…] about Do Miracles Exist? Is a Literal Interpretation Possible Sometimes?

The Future of SOS

September 1, 2017 by Joshua Tilghman 9 Comments

If you are reading this then hopefully on you’re on the new Spirit of the Scripture site. If so, you’re seeing that it finally got its new look and feel. I am sorry it took so long. I severed my right ankle bones early in August and recently had surgery. The entire experience held up a lot of my late summer plans. I was actually trying to keep up with my daughter at the trampoline park. She’s a gymnast. I am 39, but at the trampoline park I felt like I was 18 again. I attempted a front flip off the side wall trampoline. I landed on a padded board when I came down and the rest is history. No fracture, but a complete break. Ouch! [Read more…] about The Future of SOS

The New Spirit of the Scripture Site

July 5, 2017 by Joshua Tilghman 11 Comments

So I believe it’s time to update the site to a new theme. This site currently uses an older child Thesis Theme that is outdated. I am going to upgrade to the Genesis framework and one of the Genesis child themes. Not sure which one yet, but over the next few days / weeks your going to see a lot of changes when it comes to the look of the site. [Read more…] about The New Spirit of the Scripture Site

Christine Hoeflich’s New Book

June 23, 2017 by Joshua Tilghman 2 Comments

Hey SOS members…

I just wanted to take some time out of my morning to give you a review on Christine’s new book, The Spiritual Awakening Process: Coming Out of the Darkness and Into the Light. She’s been a good friend of mine over the years. In fact, we sort of connected when I first started this site, and as you all know, her comments have been a source of inspiration for many people who visit the site regularly. [Read more…] about Christine Hoeflich’s New Book

RIP Sparks (Fran)

April 22, 2016 by Joshua Tilghman 7 Comments

Today I wanted to honor someone who was a very special commenter / contributor to this blog who has recently passed away. She wasn’t active on SOS for the past year, but for two years before that she commented regularly and became a supporter to my efforts here in a way that few could understand unless you regularly read her comments and correspondences through e-mail. She went by the name Sparks, and she passed on the night of the 18^th of April. [Read more…] about RIP Sparks (Fran)

The Bible Does Not Condemn Homosexuality: Romans 1:21-23 Proves It

March 8, 2016 by Joshua Tilghman 76 Comments

I have had many requests for a post on the topic of homosexuality and the Bible. Most have been from people asking for an esoteric perspective. I got the impression that these requests were from straight persons trying to understand how this lifestyle fits in from a spiritual standpoint. Since I am a straight married man myself, I’ve never had a real interest to go into the subject. But I am finally giving in to a recent e-mail asking me to specifically address the topic. [Read more…] about The Bible Does Not Condemn Homosexuality: Romans 1:21-23 Proves It

SOS Update

July 16, 2015 by Joshua Tilghman 5 Comments

I have finally relocated. I’m in my new home with my own office space and I’m excited to get down to some new writing. It may be a little bit before I really get settled in, so I may not start writing seriously again for another few weeks or maybe even a month. I want to settle in first. I have also been working on a book, so I will be in between the two. That means I may go periods where I write articles frequently for SOS, or I might go periods where I’m mostly working on the book.

[Read more…] about SOS Update

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