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I cannot dedicate this edition of the book to anything other than its correct keeper, the Church that the Messiah set into motion when He selected Mary Magdalene as the prototype of it. His plan of redeeming matter is far-reaching and though Mary Magdalene is often thought of in terms of women alone---matter is something we are all made of and we still require wombs to grow within should we have flesh at all. Therefore, the Church is not, inherently, a feminine matter although understanding how it works requires one to understand Eve and so is a feminine mystery.
It happens, over the course of life, that one never knows what one is actually doing and what sort of impact will be made until much later. Self-assigned jobs that may feel as though they are but hobbies may come to represent the cumulative lifework of an individual. Indeed, in moments of play we may find inspiration that is far-reaching and transforms our lives into something other than we had anticipated.
When I first penned the words to *How To Do Nothing Well: A Guide To Meditating Actively* well over ten years ago, I did it mostly as a kind of field manual for a form of meditation I had developed so people could purchase it as a follow-up to a guided meditation after a Tarot reading or Astrology consult. I had other works I had written that I hoped might be publishable with the promise of future sales to help bolster my spiritual pursuits which were mostly of a charitable nature. The great desire was for something like an Ashram or library where these branches of knowledge could exist and others could study them or encounter them. As this guide developed, the small metaphysical store that I was consulting within was well on its way to providing a natural solution to this desire. The store itself was a unique blend of for-profit consulting mixed with alms-giving for those who might otherwise not be able to afford services. This "accounting" existed largely by means of a "karma jar" that we kept on the bar where the cash register resided that people could put change in for others who might need incense, or a stone, or a reading. This jar mostly kept the balance of services rendered "for free" versus those services which people "paid for".
Unfortunately, there were those who did not understand personal balance or universal balance in any shape, form, or fashion, and our little store which was well on its way to yielding some impressive fruits where those who wished to follow "The Way" would have a place to pursue their paths without judgment was attacked. This unilateral karmic action resulted in the destruction of the store and our way of life up to that point.
It was clear, however, that a larger Great Awakening was afoot. Perhaps the meditation had hastened it, perhaps not. Nonetheless, when you are defending your right to be alive at a very basic level, it is somewhat more challenging to refine your meditation techniques or develop any additional works. Instead, a type of spiritual retardation of the whole develops. People begin, for instance, to wear masks in public that do not protect against tiny microorganisms for fear of a disease that they believe travels in the air. A fear mindset invades the mass mind, and people die, quite literally, of fear.
It is therefore wholly appropriate that this book now adds the part which acts as cohesion for the other pieces which may, at first glance, seem disparate. To understand that, one must first understand the first two parts.
The first field manual version was written with an eye toward India, Astrology, and Zen Buddhism techniques. The second more complete version was written due to the large changes in technique that had become apparent in the intervening years with the stellar upheaval of the Solar Eclipse of 2017 and the Sign of the Woman of Revelation and how that related to the esoteric principle of the Adam Kadmon or universal man with a decidedly more Kabbalistic emphasis which naturally invited discussion of Judeo-Christian values and how the concept and personage of the Messiah featured against the backdrop of what is clearly presaged in *The Book of Revelation*. What then does this next part feature as it would appear that both East and West are balanced in the above materials?
The question has an answer--only one of the most overlooked and perhaps misunderstand books of the Bible which, nowadays, is not even considered to be cannon--The Lost Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is unique in the regard that it is not complete---rather it has literally had people remove contents from its bindings. Pages have been removed and torn out by people or institutions that have a motive to keep people from understanding its contents. Put differently, the goal appears to be to keep people dependent upon the institution of the Church as opposed to finding their own divine natures and deciding what, if any Church, they think fits themselves. It follows then that the contents in that book did something that scared early Church fathers into believing that if the contents were known that people would naturally not want to be in the Church. Why else would they have removed those pages?
Of course, removing the pages was not sufficient. The book was alarming enough that it had to be excised from the Bible itself, as though there were not other existing chapters in the Bible which were picked and mixed to suit certain dogmas. The same forces--which are quick to condemn the basic practices of Buddhists or Hindus as quintessentially pagan without understanding anything about ancient Israel and the overlap with these beliefs---decreed those who followed the teachings outlined in the book of Mary Magdalene as a treasonable sort of heretic.
We see the same scenario actually unfold within the Lost Gospel of Mary Magdalene. The disciples are quite skeptical that a woman could receive explanation of the mysteries that she articulates. The problem comes down to her authority and gender. Women, according to the disciples, ought not be teaching in such a way as Magdalene is. Only one or two say otherwise.
In modern academics, most of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is distilled down to whether Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus/YHSVH and whether they had children. This has spawned an entire industry of sacred chanting, sex, twerking, and otherwise strange less-than-penitent kinds of teachings.
For the purposes of this book, it is really rather irrelevant if Mary Magdalene was married and had children actually or whether she did not. What is evident is that Mary Magdalene is a type or archetype of the Church, and her relationship with the Messiah is much akin to the marriage which is described in the Bible with regard to God/YHVH and His people. Put simply, Mary Magdalene is the redeemed Church, but not just that---she is the redeemed matter itself which is prepared to occupy the heavenly kingdom. It therefore would make sense that the Messiah would then especially love the person that would typify the Church. As far as kissing her on the mouth goes, as the disciples are wont to question, well, what does a husband do to a wife he loves?
In terms of a hidden bloodline or lineage of Jesus YHSVH and Mary Magdalene, for this book, the question is moot. In the sense that we come into the spirit of these personages, then we are all their children. To the extent we do not, whether or not we are blood related to any of them is of no consequence. We know from the Bible that "sons of Abraham" can be raised from "stones". Blood then, is not the solid relation we think it to be. Why then do we spend so much time worrying about it and what purpose does such concern serve?
I intend then, to destroy nearly most all modern literature about the Gospel of Mary Magdalene for the subject matter here. What will remain, when I am done, is, I think, a much greater, more interesting, magnificent testimony to the Messiah and Mary Magdalene, and the interrelations and subtlety of Their spiritual teachings. It is, I believe, a taste of the Heavenly Kingdom, and buddy, that taste is quite different and a whole lot better than the dishes served here on the ground after two-thousand years of questionable cooks.
Joe Bill Schirtzinger
Jacksonville, Illinois 2022
The last time I wrote this book, I described the contents in a press release as "revolutionary". It was just slightly before the COVID outbreak caused a general pandemonium. Strangely enough, our little store that was attacked that I discussed in the intro had a sub-mission of warning the general population about general global catastrophe and we had a special interest and outreach to people who worshiped (usually subconsciously) the sun concerning what role that was to play. Corona is, as far as I know, a part of the sun. Therefore, I suppose I should first thank the industrial military complex for being so predictably corrupt. You truly are a cabal of evil, Satan-worshiping, human-sacrificing elites. The plus side to that is that you have picked a clear side and there is a rule book written all ready for how that turns out for you. The downside is, of course, all the human suffering you inflict in the interim. This shines a new, necessary light on meditation. So thanks, I guess.
The book cover illustration is a modified form of an asset in the Library of Congress and can be found here:
https://www.loc.gov/item/2019702080/
To the entities and people who started the Q movement, I also will issue a thanks. It has, if nothing else, been very interesting to watch what people do when their awareness is raised--especially when the object of raising that awareness reveals a hellish type of suffering and some very inconvenient truths about those who otherwise appear to be esteemed.
All images, unless otherwise noted, are from Wikimedia Commons. Some light editing might have been done to them to make them display better or convey the proper message.
I would like to thank all the people who have preserved knowledge that was, at one time or another deemed "forbidden". To be sure, I have little need for forbidden knowledge that produces evil, but that type of knowledge I find is seldom forbidden. Truly forbidden knowledge is the kind that produces good in this day and age, and it is clear to me during the passage of time such as we now inhabit what kind of price one must pay in order to preserve a dusty parchment with some sacred words inscribed on its yellowed leaves that yields the "fruit of the good" when planted.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the inspiration of my wife who was an early follower of the Messiah via the "Door of Hope". One must, if called, always return, no matter the time or place.
But are we not already united with YHVH or God? No. All the noise that you hear in your mind is not exclusively a high-yoking with Him. In other words, even though everything may be God, there is a whole lot of junk food that we eat with our minds and bodies in part because of a lack of awareness. The physical analog is yoga, which literally means a "yoking". Some exceptionally conservative Christians view yoga as a "bad thing" because the stretches are done to certain deities or aspects to try to achieve a greater unity with them and then therefore Brahma. Indeed, this could be an issue, but it is probably less of an issue than the support of oil companies by many of the same conservatives or the consumption of the many brands of pretty much anything owned by multinational corporations with less-than-Godly intentions. We might say then that the attitudes that exist about yoga in these instances are a case of an "awareness bias". A foreign deity is bad news, but a foreign wealthy company does not trigger the same warnings. Perhaps we might call this spiritual profiling instead. If a person wanted to solve the problem, just use the name of the Messiah instead of the foreign deity.
Regardless, the point stands that all yogic practices were aimed ultimately at attaining a higher awareness and relationship with a deity or deities. Modern yoga, however many stretches it does, to the extent that it does not seek to achieve an awareness of anything cosmic, is missing a crucial piece of the experience. Indeed, most yogic practices were originally physical movements combined with a meditation and a certain breathing technique.
Each school of yoga had different techniques or meditations to accompany its movements. Each of these, in turn, were used to integrate the mind and the body into cohesion. The structure of the meditation was important because one wanted to be sure that the master of the technique could teach it to bring about the results of that specific technique for the practitioner. Sometimes new schools were born. The mystical realms have rules, but those rules can change as the understanding changes and as we evolve. The more of God we can handle, the more we can be granted access.
From a Buddhist standpoint, the cultivation is about awareness and realization of the Buddha-mind. Again we find techniques and meditations designed to produce certain results. Not surprisingly, there exist many different schools of thought.
From a Messianic standpoint, the cultivation is about understanding and being able to better embody the Shekinah or Holy Spirit. All the above are pretty much the same--they just have slightly different manifestations. God gives us the freedom to pick a path, but the landmarks along the paths are different. So too are the fruits. The technique can be somewhat abstracted from the path, but this is typically unwise. The technique, the tradition, the movement, the breath, the mind, and the realization of God are all One.
The energy systems of the body are an old art. It is hard to say when they were first traced out, or by whom. The only thing that can be said is that many cultures across time separated by distance seem to arrive at their own version of the energy systems which share certain commonalities. They all map out the currents and areas that energy flows, or does not flow, and encourage it to move by various methods.
Yet, just what are these energy systems? Most mysticism falters with the language to describe them, much as it is difficult to describe any fundamental concept. If one tries to explain what an atom is to a non-scientist, one quickly discovers how concepts one takes for granted to build upon prove problematic to explain to others.
The easiest way to describe these systems is by analogy. There are "circuits" in the body, that conduct energy, much like electricity. The human body acts like a crystal and conducts these currents in various ways. The ability for the body to conduct this electricity says something for the health of it, for where this circuitry jams is where disease or dysfunction is likely to manifest.
Where does this energy come from? God. The universe. What matters is that it is there, and needs to be maintained. What mediates it is consciousness, although often the consciousness has fallen into the subconscious which is where meditation arrives to raise awareness of this situation and facilitate release.
Just how did these cultures map out these paths? Well, evidently at one point, people were able to see them visually. However, even if one cannot see them, one can feel them. The easiest way to conceive of this is to think of how it feels when someone steps into the room when you are otherwise occupied. The feeling that someone is in the room is similar to sensing energy flows. You might not be able to describe exactly how you know what you know, but you know it nonetheless because you feel it.
A more immediate experiment concerns rubbing your hands together palms facing one another roughly an inch or so apart. Naturally, you will feel heat, but you will also feel a sort of tingling or "heat above the hotness" on the palms of both hands. This is chi, or energy. If you do not feel much of this in your hands, it is likely that you are blocked. Most people are blocked in one way or another, but some people because of the natural resilience of their energy systems, might still feel more energy here anyway.
I will now issue a blanket statement that should be the centerpiece of anyone doing healing work--all healing takes place within this energy system--whether it be through some method like meditation, Reiki, or surgery. How might surgery achieve this? By the time one has reached the necessity of surgery, the energy system has been stagnant for awhile to the point it has manifested as physical disease. By intervening at the physical level, the solution sought is to "bust stagnation" at the spiritual level. It is simply a "level down" from the origin of the problem--like remedying an issue with a blueprint of a home by first building it in physical reality and then altering the blueprint retroactively as rooms are added or knocked down. It makes more sense to make such changes at the blueprint as opposed to wasting time at the "slower level" of physical reality.
So, we can see and understand that the body is energy. A big distributor of the energy through the various meridians are the chakras. Chakras are major points along the spine that spin in a wheel- like fashion. They behave like cogs inside a machine. Their job is to take in energy from the outside, and distribute it inside, as much as possible, through the meridians. (The Indian word for the energy channels is "nadis".) The problem is that these meridians can become blocked from our consciousness. However, it is not always the case that our consciousness remembers why such blockages are there, because some blockages do not originate from the current life, but from some other life, somewhere else.
For some, the notion of reincarnation is a problem. How is it that we keep coming back if certain spiritual traditions say we do not? For those objectors, I have a different explanation. One can imagine that the "sins of the father" are passed on. Hence, the energy systems in our physical body reflect the inheritance of these "sins". So, for instance, if we have had several fathers that did heartless acts, we might expect that the heart area is blocked within ourselves. It is important to point out though, whether you choose the notion of past lives or ancestral inheritance, it does not change the fact that the energetic body responds to these issues in a manner that is parallel to if not identical to the explanation of a past life. At the level of oneness, matters become odd because it is not relevant if your father or mother or member of your tribe did something inappropriate. It only matters that someone did and because your identity is bound up within those constraints, you will inherit some portion of the good and bad of the performed actions.
It is unfortunate that many times the science of the meridians and other spiritual areas are blocked on scriptural grounds from a certain misunderstood interpretation. As I have shown above, it is possible to abstract the core of these teachings away from the spiritual aspects, but this should not be done. It is also possible to abstract the length of one road to another, but the only understanding generated when that is done is some generic concept of "duration" or "length". It says nothing for the path traveled. Five miles on a gravel road is different than five miles of paved road.
Energy Meridian Systems --Image Courtesy Of Wikimedia Commons [IMG]
{#fig-ensystems}
By now, you are probably thinking something along the lines of, "Great. Now I not only have to worry about this life, BUT ALSO those other lives too AND possibly my family?" I am afraid the answer to that question is "yes". This is why all those spiritual texts emphasize the importance of conduct that does not interfere with the energy body. This includes emotions to avoid, actions not to take, and so on. However, if you choose to indulge them, then the consequence always shows up within the energy body. There is no escaping it. The consequent blocks are there not because the universe wants them there inherently but because of decisions we made with our consciousness.
Furthermore, in some cases those blocks are there because of choices OTHER people have made in relation to us with their consciousness. In other words, if I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how much I cannot stand Sally, at some point, Sally will "literally" feel it. This can create some odd karmic connections between people where negative energy states that have not resolved continue to be traded off despite neither party being near the other one. So-called "energetic traumas" are of this kind. The energy of the trauma is awoken in one way or another, and then the energy seeks out the "cast" to play the "parts". In other words, the same kinds of people will continue to appear until the trauma has been resolved. This neatly explains the psychological fact that many people who are abused often continue to be abused even once they are removed from the abusive situation. Why would they seek another abusive situation? Because, the first one never truly healed. What does healing entail? With consciousness, it entails responsibility and forgiveness on the parties involved. Too often, however, such spiritual resolution is stunted because people choose denial or blame. Is it not odd to think how much damage we are doing to one another by simply not having the awareness to fully interact with each other?
Chakra Points --Image Courtesy Of Wikimedia Commons [IMG]
{#fig-chakrapoints}
While it is possible to meditate on any part of the body, a very good place to start are on the main chakras because they are such large energy distribution centers. It follows if we can step through a meditation that uses these chakra points and unblock them that we will have gone a long way toward balancing ourselves spiritually. It may well be that by meditating on a certain chakra we feel a corresponding pressure or pain down a particular meridian, and we can refine our healing work to that area as our practice deepens to alleviate or remedy the problem. Likewise, as we continue, we will likely remember our past lives, or flashes of them, and begin to integrate those experiences into ourselves so that they are no longer functioning subconsciously in a way that interferes with our current lives.
Because it is very difficult to practice anything spiritual in the world as it is with all the demands modern civilization is placing its people under, a good path for healing trauma concerns the mercy of accepting the Messiah. Sometimes you will receive healing from spirit as a kindness or because you have done "well enough". To be sure, YHVH does this as well, but if you accept the mercy of the sacrifice He offered, there is more movement on that front because you are working within the blueprints of spirit as it was intended. I am quite certain there are many mercies afforded to those who have never confessed to having accepted the sacrifice of YHSVH ---but that also does not mean that is not where they are ultimately coming from either. YHVH tries to pull us back and put us in touch with His design for His people and the ways of spirit are often inscrutable. Put bluntly, just because a person has not confessed that they believe in YHSVH as a Messiah is not enough to mean that they are not being assisted by that spirit in some meaningful way. I suspect at a sufficient level, any cultivator will be able to agree on the presence of some spirit that holds mercy whether it be in the form of a dove or otherwise. The relevant theme is that where trauma begins, one should hope to find mercy and having a Messiah on speed dial is like having an ascended master on your support staff.
To begin meditation requires a shift from normal thinking processes. To actively meditate requires a radical shift. What one must become proficient at doing is receiving data in all of its forms. Sometimes this data is emotional. Sometimes tactile. Sometimes visual. What one must not do is get distracted by trying to discover the meaning of the data as it comes. So, for instance, if someone were to see themselves drowning in a river, a bad way to actively meditate would be to start analyzing that scene. A better way to meditate in that situation would be to let that vision pass, then gently keep your focus and see if the area you are concentrating on offers any extra commentary. Perhaps it provides an emotional input. Perhaps it provides a number, or unusual letter. Perhaps it will only be a sound. Regardless of what is presented, we need to stay receptive to whatever the area is trying to tell us without judgment and without tearing down what we see in an overly scientific manner. We may think we see something else that is completely unrelated only to discover a little later that it actually was related, we just did not think it was at the time. Sometimes the connections can only be made after various disparate experiences because we only have part of the picture. By allowing our minds to constellate a full picture, we suddenly gain the needed insight.
Similarly, it is important we do not judge what we see, or for that matter, do not see. If we are greeted by some disturbing imagery, it does not mean meditation is to blame. Likewise, it does not necessarily mean we are to blame either. Our psyches and past incarnations have lived through all manner of occurrences--situations and scenarios that would now be considered taboo or disturbing. The predominant culture in which we now live gives us rules and regulations for how we are expected to live, but the soul and its components do not care for such laws. What is there will be there regardless, and it is our job to become aware of what is there, whether it is pleasant or terrifying. After all, it is only through knowledge of the entirety of our states, light, dark, and all permutations in between, that we can hope to find any measure of liberation. Anything incomplete we will be more inclined to live out, and certainly it is far better to greet a disturbing thought internally than externally.
It is critical to maintain a disposition of accepting that which comes without judgment and without much thought. A gentle mental note is often enough for later more conscious reflection.
I was in Princeton, Kentucky. On August 21^st^, 2017 there was a total solar eclipse in America. It just so happened that Princeton, Kentucky was where the longest totality for that eclipse occurred. My wife and I were there for this event and observed the absolute blackening of the sun. It was quite a sight.
A solar eclipse is usually a "bad occurrence." This is so because ancient cultures associated an eclipse with judgment. Typically, the appearance of night in the day betokened divine displeasure with the King or Queen or possibly the land and all of its people.
When we observed the eclipse in Princeton, it was with this understanding in mind.
True to form, the eclipse did not disappoint in the sense of being associated with topsy-turvy fortune. We experienced what was a subtle change in the people around us at first. Later, these subtle differences manifested in often large discrepancies. Those who had espoused one set of beliefs before the eclipse appeared to act on a different set of beliefs after. In between, however, there was an additional sign that appeared in the heavens.
The sign that appeared in the subsequent September is consistent with the heavenly symbol of the Woman of Revelation. Since the heavens were darkened first and then this alignment appeared, it would fulfill the requirements of the scriptures. COVID outbreaks and world turmoil politically and otherwise would also suggest this to be so.
Woman of Revelation Sign --Image From Cartes du Ciel [IMG]
The Revelation quote referred to by this sign reads thusly:
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the
sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
Most of this is self-explanatory when you consider the above image. However, where are the 12 stars above her head? Leo, the constellation, only has nine stars. Some people believe the planets count as stars in this case. Hence, Venus, Mars and Mercury would be seen as stars. Indeed, there is some precedent for stars being a swappable word for planets (i.e. wandering stars). Another way to think of it, though, might be that the 12 objects within Leo refer to the 12 tribes which, being Israel, are naturally associated with stars--the Star of David to be exact.
Those with sharp memories will remember that the woman travails as if in childbirth, and indeed, there was a retrograde movement of Jupiter combined with a comet that took about 42 weeks to travel through the constellation of Virgo during this time. So again, it appears that this sign fulfills the stipulations of Revelation. While it is impossible to ever say if something is THE sign due to all the configurations the heavens could assume, it is certainly possible to say THIS sign does not require much stretching in interpretation to be adapted to the heavenly dialog. At a minimum, one can say that it is a heavenly announcement of harvest consistent with Revelation.
As you might expect, our own methodologies and internal realizations changed after the eclipse and this sign--even before them. One of the paramount realizations concerns the order of the planets in relation to the sign given. The Woman of Revelation "reveals" the template of the "next age" or that which is about to be or already is.
In Greek Philosophical thought, we are told that Plato envisaged a World of Forms from which all other content we find on Earth inherits characteristics in amalgamations of what usually is some impure or imperfect state. Therefore, there is a Form of a Triangle, by which we mean there is some perfect triangle, but if we go to draw the triangle we find that our representation is somehow lacking. The level of the Form then exists at the point of the ideal or the imagined which are "real objects". The things which exist down on Earth, on the other hand, are facsimiles or copies. This is generally a good approximation of what happens on Earth, although this would be more indicative of an Earth in a so-called "fallen state". Sin, we learn through a religious perspective, is what causes the apparent imperfections in both ourselves and the world. The Greek is perhaps more accessible in our current civilization, but is certainly nothing new. Indeed, if one partakes of Passover in certain formats, there are mysteries that are indicated concerning the process that we are to learn at the point when the Messiah returns to teach them. These mysteries concern the "copies of the things that are in heaven" which passover is meant to embody. In Kabbalah, however, there is some confusion concerning the concept of what the Adam Kadmon is. We are going to go with a shortcut here which demands an axiom: The Adam Kadmon is the pre-existent perfect blueprint of Adam, which is man/woman. This blueprint existed prior to Adam from the Adam and Eve saga, and was disrupted or distorted when Adam chose to accept the "forbidden fruit" from Eve. This blueprint is usually understood in Kabbalah as being "pure potential" and some consider it to be the "giving spirit" of man. Here, we consider it to be the "True man" that we will see alluded to in other scripture. It is not a "giving spirit" in the sense that Adam, the human being made of clay, was not originally intended to be made of "earth dirt" but rather fell and so was then made of dirt or clay. The inference is that Adam's desire caused this fall, which caused the Garden to also fall, which everyone tends to agree was unfortunate. Therefore, if one wishes to think of the Adam Kadmon as a "giving spirit" they are doing so from a fallen state of desire and seeing Adam--the original cosmic template--more like a Christmas Tree than the condition/existence that humanity should naturally seek to attain.
We shall now take a short jaunt to the academic halls of Wikipedia as a source to understand the Apostle Paul and how he relates to the Adam Kadmon according to that source:
"...for the understanding of the Pauline Christology, as affording the
key to Paul's doctrine of the first and second Adam. The main passage in Pauline Christology is 1 Corinthians 15:45--50. According to this >there is a double form of man's existence; for God created a heavenly Adam in the spiritual world and an earthly one of clay for the >material world. The first Adam was of flesh and blood and therefore subject to death---merely "a living soul"; the second Adam was "a life->giving spirit"---a spirit whose body, like the heavenly beings in general, is immaterial.
As a pupil of Gamaliel, Paul simply operates with conceptions familiar
to the Palestinian theologians. Messiah, as the Midrash remarks, is, on the one hand, the first Adam, the original man who existed before >Creation, his spirit being already present. On the other hand, he is also the second Adam in so far as his bodily appearance followed the >Creation, and inasmuch as, according to the flesh, he is of the posterity of Adam.
With Philo the original man is an idea; with Paul He is the pre-existent
Logos, and Wisdom of God, incarnate as the man Jesus Christ. With Philo the first man is the original man; Paul identifies the original >man with the second Adam. The Christian Apostle evidently drew upon the Judean theology of his day; but it can not be denied that in >ancient times this theology was indebted to the Alexandrians for many of its ideas, and probably among them for that of pre-existence. The >Midrash thus considered affords a suitable transition to the Gnostic theories of the original man. (Cf. "Original Man" (NÄĹĄÄ Qaá¸mÄyÄ in >Aramaic) under Manichaeism Cosmogony.) "
Sounds confusing right? So the spoken word of YHVH is the First Adam to Paul, and the second Adam appears to be the "life giving spirit" which has an immaterial "ghost body" which is the original Adam.
That all sounds fine, except we are also told that Adam was fashioned out of clay, and therefore he did not have merely a "ghost body" after all. To be sure, his clay body was due to being in a "fallen state". To fix this, the Messiah had to come and overcome death itself to animate a new kind of flesh that is apparently something like the "clay redeemed" or the body Adam would have had had he not disobeyed. Apparently, this body looks different to our usual bodies, and for those that saw the Messiah afterward it appeared to be ghostly but it could eat and could be touched. Therefore, there is some manner of "living flesh" that was the original intention. Paul, it would seem, would do away with this "living flesh" state in preference to the "ghost state" which is not in keeping with what occurred. What the Messiah did was and still is confusing to all of us Earth dwelling creatures since we only understand flesh from the standpoint of dirt after all this time. In that regard, it is possible that Paul was confused or unclear as to what had happened since his vision of the Messiah was not a "Touchy-Feely" version but a "stop murdering" version that blinded him.
This realization leaves us with some conclusions that the First Adam was the Blueprint in pure form and the Second Adam was the Adam that sinned. The Messiah was the first Adam and the repairer of the Second Adam that came to Earth and obeyed the Father which opened the way for the Fallen Second Adam to repair the problems created when "we" as Adam moved in disobedience. We should note here we are only considering Adam creations for humanity as it now stands and so we do not count other blueprints for things that are not human beings as we understand the term. Having dealt with Paul, let us move on to the Kabbalists.[^2]
[^2]: One may wonder why one would use Wikipedia as an authoritative source. Wikipedia reflects mass consciousness more than academia. Therefore, for the purpose of a working "mass conscious" definition, it works perfectly well.
"Kabbalah, before creation began, all that existed was God's Infinite
Light. The first stage of creation began when God contracted His Infinite Light to create the vacuum. Then a ray of divine light >penetrated the vacuum and the persona of Adam Kadmon was projected into the vacuum. The first stage of Adam Kadmon was in the form of ten concentric circles (*igulim*), which emanated from the ray. The ray of light was then enclothed by the anthropomorphic form of Adam Kadmon (*yosher*), which is a realm of infinite divine light without vessels, constrained by its potential to create future Existence. Adam Kadmon is sometimes referred to as *Adam Ila'a* (Aramaic:"upper man") or *Adam Elyon* (Hebrew:"upper man").
The soul of Adam HaRishon ("the first man") was the supreme essence of
mankind. It contained within it all subsequent souls. In the midrash, he is sometimes referred to as *Adam HaKadmoni* ("the ancient man"), *Adam Tata'a* (Aramaic: "lower man") or *Adam Tachton* (Hebrew: "lower man").
The anthropomorphic name of Adam Kadmon denotes that it contains both
the ultimate divine purpose for creation, i.e., mankind, as well as an embodiment of the Sefirot (divine attributes). Adam Kadmon is >paradoxically both "Adam" and divine ("Kadmon-Primary").
Adam Kadmon preceded the manifestation of the Four Worlds, Atzilut
("emanation"), Beriah ("creation"), Yetzirah ("formation") and Asiyah ("action"). Whereas each of the Four Worlds is represented by one >letter of the divine four-lettered name of God, Adam Kadmon is represented by the transcendental cusp of the first letter Yud.
In the system of the sefirot, Adam Kadmon corresponds to Keter
("crown"), the divine will that motivated creation.
The two versions of Kabbalistic theosophy, the
"medieval/classic/Zoharic" (systemised by Moshe Cordovero) and the more comprehensive Lurianic, describe the process of descending worlds >differently. For Cordovero, the sefirot, Adam Kadmon and the Four Worlds evolve sequentially from the Ein Sof (divine infinity). For >Luria, creation is a dynamic process of divine exile-rectification enclothement, where Adam Kadmon is preceded by the Tzimtzum (Divine "contraction") and followed by Shevira (the "shattering" of the sefirot).
Closely related to the Philonic doctrine of the heavenly Adam is the
Adam Ḳadmon (called also Adam 'Ilaya, the "high man," the "heavenly man") of the Zohar, whose conception of the original man can be >deduced from the following passages: "The form of man is the image of everything that is above [in heaven] and below [upon earth]; >therefore did the Holy Ancient [God] select it for His own form."
As with Philo the Logos is the original image of man, or the original
man, so in the Zohar the heavenly man is the embodiment of all divine manifestations: the ten Sefirot, the original image of man. The heavenly Adam, stepping forth out of the highest original darkness, created the earthly Adam. In other words, the activity of the original essence manifested itself in the creation of man, who at the same time is the image of the heavenly man and of the universe, just as with Plato and Philo the idea of man, as microcosm, embraces the idea of the universe or macrocosm.
The conception of Adam Ḳadmon becomes an important factor in the later
Kabbalah of Isaac Luria. Adam Ḳadmon is with him no longer the concentrated manifestation of the Sefirot, but a mediator between the En-Sof ("infinite") and the Sefirot. The En-Sof, according to Luria, is so utterly incomprehensible that the older Kabbalistic doctrine of the manifestation of the En-Sof in the Sefirot must be abandoned. Hence he teaches that only the Adam Ḳadmon, who arose in the way of self-limitation by the En-Sof, can be said to manifest himself in the Sefirot. This theory of Luria is treated by Ḥayyim Vital in "'EẠḤayyim; Derush 'Agulim we-Yosher" (Treatise on Circles and the Straight Line)"
Again, we have to take Wikipedia as representative, and for the purposes of this book we are going to call it on average "good enough" as a representation. (see the second foot note for why) All the above discusses the creation of the Adam Kadmon which is interesting, and yet everything concludes via the Luriac version describing precisely what the Messiah did---that is to say an original version of Adam Kadmon fulfilled all the spheres of the Sefirot as a manifestation of the En-Sof.
When we view the Adam Kadmon as the reason why the material world sprang into existence, it becomes possible then to start to view the world of Formation, or in Hebrew Yetzirah, as being the constituent parts of Adam. Hence, the main planetary bodies and orbits become commensurate with chakra points in this solar system's version of the Adam Kadmon. After the planetary configuration of September 2017 during which the Virgin gave birth in the heavens, a new "heavenly man" was born in the sense that a new form of meditation was revealed. The next section outlines this new man from the standpoint of the planets.
The planets tend to stay more or less the same through major transitions. Sometimes, as in the case of Venus, new planetary bodies show up over the passage of time. The best any technique can hope to do is leave enough room to accommodate those who may find themselves in different conditions compared to those that were experienced and understood in a different time. With a field such as meditation, this is especially true, since this process will continue to occur for the foreseeable future or until the boundary between man and God is such that there is no question as to the connection shared therewith.
If we keep in mind the alignment that happened in 2017, we will learn something about the construction of the "New Adam Kadmon" in the age to be. There are modifications to this technique that do not correlate directly to the sky, as shall be shown. However, the basics are such that the connection should be clear.
To begin this meditation, become aware of the bottoms of your feet, specifically where the arches are. Feel your feet flat on the ground. If you do not have arches, then put your focus where arches would be if you had them. Once you have settled into that, imagine that you can take the moon out of the sky and put it under your feet. Connect deeply to this feeling, and allow a string, or cord, or energy ray to emit from the bottoms of your feet to the moon and then beyond it to the center of the Earth. Notice anything about the placement of this first planet? It is the moon which occurs under the feet of Virgo in the above image.
Next, bring your focus up to the root of your spine---at the perineum. Imagine the energy from your feet easily running up your legs and to this spot. Typically, there should be a sensation of warmth here. This, widely classed, is "Earthy Energy" or the root that allows the physical body to stay grounded while you are here. Imagine taking the planet Jupiter, and dropping it here. Allow this energy to take hold as you breathe with intention. Jupiter, once again, is in the spot it is in the above astrological alignment.
Now bring your focus up to two inches below your navel. This is a spot that in some Eastern traditions is called the Hara---or the seat of life. This is so because it is a major epicenter of the life force within the body. Allow the energy from the previous two chakras to pool here. A healthy sensation in this region is a basic feeling of identity and security---much like what earlier childhood should ideally provide. Likewise, a feeling of optimism and the ability to create should feature here as well. If for some reason this energy system does not feel this way, do not overly fret concerning these qualities. Instead, imagine that you can take the planet Mars and drop it here instead. In this case, Mars should have a more "watery" component than "firey". Allow this sensation to stay here until it feels basically even.
Continue to bring the focus to the middle of the body where the lungs form a Y shape. This region is the Solar Plexus. Bring all the energy hitherto accumulated to this spot and allow your breath to center here. From this point is where the personal will issues. This area should feel not overly large, or overly small, but balanced with the assurance that you can take the proper steps to tend to the matters that need attention. Now imagine that the planet Venus drops out of the sky and gently lands in this area. How does this sensation feel? Venus is a drastically different energy than what was here before. The will now moves out of the motivation love and harmony.
Does this feel natural, or do you feel tension from this? Allow yourself to experience the feeling, and let it move until a balance point feels apparent. Prepare to move on to the next juncture.
Now, bring your focus up between the breasts, to where the heart exists. Allow your mind to focus here. This is the area where unconditional love lives. Breathe. Now imagine you can take the sun out of the sky, and put it here. How does this feel? Look back up at the picture of the sign of the Woman of Revelation. Notice where the sun is? It is approximately at heart level. In fact, we can go no further on the basis of the template of the woman. This is just as well, because the energy from the heart down is really our only "personal energy" in the sense that the chakras beyond this point are made such that they access higher realms just by their construction alone.
Nonetheless, we must prepare to go forward to visit the next spot.
Bringing the focus now to the throat, specifically just above the point where the clavicle or collar bones meet, place your focus here. As before, bring up all the energy from all the previous locations. Allow the mind to settle here at the throat. What do you feel here? Is it open? Closed?
Does it feel tight? Natural? Now imagine you can take the planet Mercury and place it here.
Allow the throat to become adjusted to this new feeling. Look again at the illustration before. Where is Mercury? He appears near the foot of Leo, or the King. You can think of the King as YHSVH or Jesus, or simply God. You can also think of yourself as the King, but that treads in dangerous waters. It is always better to allow spirit to wear the crown. Allow this area to expand naturally. How does it feel? When it feels even, prepare to move to the next point.
The next point is at the center of the forehead. Old mystery schools call this the "Third Eye". Is this area tense? Is it smooth? Allow these sensations to come to your awareness. Bring all the previous energy points up to this area. Imagine a solar eclipse in this area. What does this feel like? What is it stripping away? Is this area easier to see within than it was before you started? Are you being shown something? Is it something you want to see, or something you would rather not see? Focus. Breathe. Allow whatever scene is present to complete. Do not judge it before it is done unfolding. When all the activity is finished here, prepare to move to the final point.
The final point is the tip top of the head. Put all of your focus here. What do you sense? Bring all the previous energy junctures to this area like an electric circuit allowing the current to flow and accumulate here. Does this feel odd? Do you hear sounds that you normally do not? Relax. You are not losing your mind. Not yet anyway. You may just be beginning to regain it. Allow this area to show you what it wishes. There is no specific planet associated with this region, but if you feel that you want one here, you can try Neptune or Uranus. Pluto is ill-advised, unless you know exactly what you are doing. Allow this area to open up fully. Now then, imagine that your head is open to the current that the angels/God/spirit guides wish to send you. Allow this to enter at this area, and bring it all the way down into the feet through the previous centers. Allow these energy systems to balance against one another---one from the Earth---and one from the Heavens.
How does this feel? Congratulations, you have just completed your first full meditation in the "New Adam Kadmon!"
The new technique is a tentative offering of the colors that will LIKELY be. Just like when you roll out new software you never know precisely how it will be used or where it needs to be improved for at least two or three years, this color meditation is tentatively put forth until more time to evaluate it has elapsed.
Adam Kadmon Depiction --Image From Wikimedia Commons [IMG]
As before, you want to put your focus on your feet and allow your attention to move where the arches of your feet are specifically. Here, you will likely want to imagine the color black or red---whichever one makes you feel more connected to the Earth. Allow your mind to really sink into the meditation here. In many ways, this area will feel more familiar than the next one. This is because, as we will discover later on, the universe tends to work on a "slide frame" where whatever was in a place before will slide down a notch. So, we know that the color red is historically at the first chakra, or root. Now, it is at the feet. The color silver works here as well.
Next, you will bring your awareness up your legs and place your focus at the root or the base of the spine. Allow the mind to rest here. This area is the first energy system that we come to. Before it was red. For the purposes of this meditation, it is best thought of as silver. If, while meditating, you happen to discover the color orange here in moderation, that is likely okay as well. Bring your awareness into focus with this meditation. How does this feel? Do your feet feel firmly planted? Does it feel odd or strange? Take some time to get used to it. Think of it like getting your land legs after being on a boat.
Now the awareness comes up two inches below the navel which is the Hara or the center of the life force. Previously, we associated the color orange with this spot. Now, however, a better association is blue. If you have hints of red, that is likely okay as well. Just be certain that this area is not "too red". Too much red tends to indicate inflammation or anger. Blue, on the contrary, tends to be more watery as the association would support.
Now allow your mind to sense the middle of your body where the lungs form a Y. This region is known as the solar plexus. Allow your mind to rest here for a moment. What do you see? Make a note. The color you want here now is a green color. If it is gold, that it okay as well. How do the two colors feel here? One? The other? Pay attention to how these colors make you respond.
Continue on now to the heart which is located between the breasts. What do you sense in this area? Does it feel open or hardened? At ease, or tense? At this location you will want to use the color gold. It is okay if there are elements of green here as well. How does this new color make you feel? More open? Less tense? Is it the other-way-around? Keep your focus and calmly breathe. Do not "force" the color to change, but rather allow it to morph into the desired hue in its own sequence.
Move now to the throat. The throat is located where the collar bones meet in the middle at the base of the throat. Place your focus here, what do you sense? Is it open and flowing smoothly, or does it feel stymied in some way? How do you express what is here? The desired color here is a bluish color. How does this area feel to you now?
Move now to the third eye region. This area should utilize the colors black and white. Use white at the front of the head, and black at the back, or vice versa. The white ideally should be a soft ethereal white. Do not worry if you begin to see or notice something you had hitherto not been aware concerning. It is a common occurrence here.
Finally, move to the crown which is located at the tip-top of the head. Here it is easiest to simply visualize a bright, vibrant purple. If possible, it is best to try to attain an ultraviolet hue. Now you want to bring that energy from the crown area down into the body and finally to the feet from whence you began. You can also bring that which is below your feet to the top of your head if you wish. Congratulations, you have just stepped through the new color method!
The new color technique allows mutability. This is because variability has to be allowed since it contains some unknowns. You may need to "play with it" to ascertain what the experience is for you and the mechanics involved. This is meant to be a starting outline. When we get to the planets later, however, it will be much stricter. That is because the colors may still well vibrate differently depending on what happens between now and future meditations, but the planets will remain the same for the foreseeable future. As we shall see in other meditations, sometimes multiple colors are in an area.
Our former meditations are a VERY simple starting point. The energy body is a complex unit of structures and experiences that change depending on the nature of the soul. In Biblical terms, these bodies were referred to as a "glory body" and the Messiah had a body that was a "tangible glory body" which apparently was sufficiently like flesh to be touched, but different enough that it was not familiar flesh or immediately recognized to those who knew Him before. It is difficult to imagine this kind of existence for most people, however in sleep at people often catch glimpses of other forms of being and so the world of dreams allows one to more accurately envision what these "glory bodies" are like.
It is possible for any one chakra, or all of them to embody something that looks a like a soap bubble catching the light of the sun. A soap bubble is iridescent and the colors change depending on how the light strikes it. A Biblical analogy is Joseph's Coat of Many Colors. In that example, we are to infer he had a literal coat that came in many colors, but then the "glory body" can do exactly the same thing and so his coat on some level must be meant as a symbol or replacement for this knowledge as a nod and wink to those who might know something more about it.
Therefore, certain "advanced souls" often have different colors to the standard rainbow body technique used above. This is going to be crucial for understanding the Lost Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the technique outlined in it to follow. Mary Magdalene was advanced at the Heart Chakra and we will be shown a meditation encoded in her gospel to show that this is so. Without further delay, let us begin to dig into this rich technique.
If one is going to make a book about meditation based upon the purported writer of a gospel, then it makes sense that one should be aware of the life of the person who is allegedly the writer of said gospel.
When it comes to Apostles, there are many legends that abound. These legends abound sometimes based on truth, and sometimes they are created to serve a particular purpose. Whether they are real, or whether they are invented, in either scenario we should be aware of them as issues of their authenticity or lack thereof shall certainly come into view as a meditation technique will inevitably, if genuine, make the awareness of the matter rise. Here is one rendition of the legend of Mary Magdalene and her life and times:
Tradition has it that, after the execution of St. James in Jerusalem
(son of Zebedee and Mary Salome), Mary Magdalene, her sister Martha and brother Lazarus were persecuted by the Jews of Jerusalem and imprisoned. The Jews were afraid of the crowd if they were to execute the prisoners so they towed them off the shores of Palestine in a boat without sails or oars or supplies and abandoned them to the open sea. Others in the boat included Mary Jacobe, mother of [the apostle] James [the Less] and the sister of the Virgin Mary, Mary Salome, mother of the apostles James and John, Maximin, one of the seventy disciples of Christ, Cedonius, the blind man who was miraculously healed by Jesus, Marcelle, Martha's servant, and Sara, maid of the two Marys.
After narrowly escaping death during a storm at sea the boat finally
came to shore on the coast of Gaul in a town now called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in Camargue [coast of southern France].
Mary Jacobe, Mary Salome and Sara remained in Camargue. Martha traveled
towards Avignon and ended up in Tarascon. Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, Maximin and Cedonius traveled on to Marseille where Mary Magdalene began to preach. They ended up converting the whole of Provence. Lazarus became the first bishop of Marseille. Mary Magdalene then went on to Aix where Maximin had already gone, some twenty miles north of Marseille.
Maximin became the first bishop of Aix and Mary Magdalene retreated to a
mountain cave on the plain of the Plan d'Aups known as La Sainte Baume...
Here it is seen how strong and old these traditions appear to be. The modern cities of Marseille (Marcelle) and Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (Saint Marys of the Sea) are even named for them.
To fill in a little more of the traditional history, the boat also carried the Virgin Mary and her uncle, Joseph of Arimathea. According to the Eastern Orthodox Church he was the younger brother of Joachim, who with his wife Anne, were the parents of the Virgin Mary. Mary's husband Joseph had died before the Crucifixion and apparently also Joachim, so Joseph of Arimathea was one of her closest relatives. According to Roman law, only near kin could beg for the body of an executed criminal, which would otherwise be thrown into a group grave. Hence, Joseph of Arimathea was allowed the privilege of recovering and entombing the body of the Savior.
The boat first landed on the shores of Africa where they got sails and oars and supplies. Then they were equipped to sail to Marseille. Joseph of Arimathea was very familiar with the way there because it was en route to the tin mines in the British Isles. He was a wealthy tin trader and man of great influence. After they arrived in Gaul (France) he and the Virgin Mary continued on to the British Isles. He had been commissioned by the Apostle Philip to take other men to teach the gospel and start a Church there, which he did at Avalon. It was there that the Virgin Mary died.
Most tradition states that Magdalene died in France and some Catholic traditions go so far as to state they have her skull.
As mentioned previously, however, we noted the Catholic Church has some reasons to want to try to assert control over Magdalene and her legacy since it would, by virtue of putting women in a role of equality, threaten the nature of the Catholic Church and its authority which is derived, they say, from Peter via the Pope. It is a curious fact that even this authority comes from, in part, where Peter was allegedly crucified upside down which just happens to be where the Circus was that was the site where many Christian believers were mauled by Nero.
In reality, we are not sure where Peter was crucified from a scriptural perspective, nor are we sure that he was crucified upside down as is commonly purported. All we know is that he was going to have to stretch out his hands and go where he did not want to go. Since Peter was given the keys to the kingdom, and Magdalene was in essence the bride of the kingdom, we must look askance at any tradition that goes beyond scripture. What purpose does it serve? If it is the will of the Vatican alone, then surely we must be a bit suspicious of that claim. Perhaps it is true, perhaps it is not. Where money and control of people through religion is an issue, we are likely to find some form of propaganda. The Truth, we are told, shall set us free.
An alternative idea concerning Magdalene is perhaps she did not die in France at all, but instead went on to Cornwall with Joseph of Arimathea and the Virgin Mary and a group of the people from the Church of Provence. The reality is that even if she did not, spiritually speaking, she certainly did. Which reality is the true one then? The one of the spirit, or the one of her physical journey? Both? Neither? It is best to leave this question right alone, and let spirit show a person who is meditating what it will.
Having covered the appropriate content concerning the legends of Mary Magdalene's life, we can now begin commenting or offering commentary on her Lost Gospel. If this is not of interest to you, feel free to skip to the part of the book that deals with the technique as refined after the 2017 alignment otherwise here referred to as "That second time I re-wrote the book" or for future-proof edition purposes---the part where the Messiah is plugged into the equation and the Western system of belief is balanced against the Eastern system as a result. The Gospel of Magdalene is a deeper commentary on the first two techniques, and will, I think, show the writer of the book to be quite adept when it comes to the techniques contained in this book in their understanding and application.
It is worth noting that the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is often considered to be a Gnostic text. Gnostic is usually defined as "a set of people who do not believe in the Messiah in an overcoming death sense but value knowledge" though this is often a Greek sect in specific. Is it not odd that the book which is named after the chief penitent of penitents is most often thought of as a book that lacks the inclusion of the Messiah? It would be a little like calling a commentary on the Torah "The Hitler Wisdom Manual". Clearly, the book is quite misunderstood. Let us see if we can not figure out the cause of the snarl.
We begin the Gospel of Mary Magdalene with six pages missing as translated by the
website. That would seem to put us at a disadvantage---rather like being thrust into a river from a comfortable bed with no ability to prepare in between. Let us see if this is so.
**An Eternal Perspective**
**7**Â "Then will [matter] be [destroyed], or not?"
The Savior said, "Every nature, every form, every creature exists in
and with each other, but they'll dissolve again into their own roots, because the nature of matter dissolves into its nature alone. Anyone who has ears to hear should hear!"
We are immediately placed within a discussion that features the fate of all matter. The word "matter" is derived from the word for mother, and so it makes sense that Magdalene would be concerned about this issue since she is serving as a Mother to the Church.
We learn that matter is not destroyed as such, but that it is dissolved into its essence where the root is the definition of its essence. The explanation continues:
Peter said to him,"Since you've explained everything to us, tell us
one more thing. What's the sin of the world?"
The Savior said, "Sin doesn't exist, but you're the ones who make sin
when you act in accordance with the nature of adultery, which is called 'sin.' That's why the Good came among you, up to the things of every nature in order to restore it within its root."
Peter has a question which has an unexpected answer. There is no sin but there is adultery which produces a thing called "sin". "The Good" coming among them must be the Messiah or the True Image of Man, and the goal of this interaction is to return all nature to the root, which we learn above is to restore that which will not be destroyed---namely that which when restored to its own root is an essence that is not destroyed. How do we know "the Good" restoring the root restores the essence that will not be destroyed? Because we know sin, which is adultery, is the destroyer of the essence. It follows then that that without sin or adultery matter is restored. A very similar process can be observed when one makes tinctures from herbs. The herb's essence is "dissolved" into a tincture, which is then used for the effects which are most often concentrated in this form. The herb has been "dissolved" into its essence. A succinct explanation follows:
Then he continued and said, "That's why you get sick and die, because
[you love  what tricks you. Anyone who] can understand should understand!
"Matter [gave birth to] a passion that has no image because it comes
from what's contrary to nature. Then confusion arises in the whole body. That's why I told you to be content at heart. If you're discontented, find contentment in the presence of the various images of nature. Anyone who has ears to hear should hear!"
So people die because they are tricked into doing so by an adultery nature which is sin, which causes them to be inconsistent with their root or essence.
Furthermore, Matter, in this case, going back to Eve, gave birth to passion or desire that has no image. An image, in this case, means something that has a duplicate or a "type" in heaven. It is easiest to think of this as a blueprint. Passion has no blueprint, because it is contrary to nature. In other words, one does not see in Nature creatures pursuing ends out of passion. Rather, nature goes on about the business of propagating life. Confusion occurs in the body because the passion has no analog. The body begins to desire things that it does not require or need. The cure, it is said, is to be content at heart. If you are discontented, one should go for a nature walk. This sounds not entirely different than Buddhism in the sense that all suffering comes from desire. The goal, then, is to find relief from desire.
At this point, we move from the subject into a bit of a different angle:
**The Gospel**
When the Blessed One said these things, he greeted them all and said,
"Peace be with you! Acquire my peace. Be careful not to let anyone mislead you by saying, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!' Because the Son of Humanity exists within you. Follow him! Those who seek him will find him.
We are supposed to find peace which is undisturbed by wrong desire by extinguishing it through the Son of Humanity.
This Son can be found within. Therefore, one could say that the goal of meditation then becomes to find the Son of Humanity within. It is not, by this advice, inherently an external process and in fact people will try to point to others as having this presence when in reality it is an inwards matter.
Those that look inwards correctly will find Him. We continue:
"Go then and preach the gospel about the kingdom. Don't  lay down any
rules beyond what I've given you, nor make a law like the lawgiver, lest you be bound by it." When he said these things, he left.
The lawgiver of all lawgivers is Moses. Here the disciples are being given the charge to teach the message the Messiah has given, but not to make further laws that might bind them. In other words, in a contract one wishes to cover enough clauses to try to keep everyone safe but not so many that the contract is injurious to the parties within the contract. This implies that Moses all ready provided enough rules. These words of advice prove not to be a consolation:
But they grieved and wept bitterly. They said, "How can we go up to the
Gentiles to preach the gospel about the kingdom of the Son of Humanity? If they didn't spare him, why would they spare us?"
The Gentiles, it seems, are not fans of meditation or the Son of Humanity as evidenced by how they treated the Son of Humanity. This is cause for alarm among the disciples, as they are not in a hurry to be crucified for the message they are now charged with teaching. Mary Magdalene intervenes:
**Mary and Jesus**
Then Mary arose and greeted them all. She said to her brothers (and
sisters), "Don't weep and grieve or let your hearts be divided, because his grace will be with you all and will protect you. Rather we should praise his greatness because he's prepared us and made us Humans."
When Mary said these things, she turned their hearts [toward] the Good
and they [started] to debate the words of [the Savior].
Previous to the Messiah, Mary Magdalene points out, the people were something other than "Human beings". This implies that if one does not look within to find the true Son of Humanity, they are never really human beings! If that is not a reason to meditate, I am not sure one will find one. Magdalene comforts them by reminding them of YHVH's grace, and that their proper expenditure of energy should be towards praising YHVH for doing this miracle with which to begin. Evidently, this is "good enough" for everyone as they begin to debate what the Messiah means. Quickly the conversation turns to Magdalene:
Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know the Savior loved you more than all
other women. Tell us the words of the Savior that you remember -- the things which you know that we don't, and which we haven't heard."
The Messiah loved Magdalene more than all other women because, as we mentioned, she is acting as a sort of Bride which is a type of the Church. Peter knows she knows something nobody else does which implies she was taught something rather secret as compared to everyone else. Magdalene obliges:
In response Mary said, "I'll tell you what's hidden from you." So
she started to tell them these words: "I," she said, "I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, 'Lord, I saw you in a vision today.'
"In response he said to me, 'You're blessed because you didn't waver
at the sight of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure.'
So Magdalene had spiritual courage and stamina such that she did not shy away when she saw the vision of the Messiah before her. The Messiah tells her that this is a good thing, because she is treasuring in her mind that which ought to be treasured which is a blessing. We begin to get into some very deep metaphysical waters:
"I said to him, 'Lord, now does the one who sees the vision see it in
the soul or in the spirit?'
"In response the Savior said, 'They don't see in the soul or in the
spirit, but the mind which [exists] between the two is [what] sees the vision [and] it [that ...]
And just like a bad Monty Python sketch, we have more missing pages and words. This is quite disappointing because the answer is going to give us an integrated picture of how the mind works between the soul and the spirit. For those that meditate and understand the Eastern philosophies, this sounds a lot like what many Hindu gurus have stated, and also what Zen practitioners describe. We do not then get the benefit of having a Western/Messianic/Christian treatise on soul/spirit duality which calls to memory the mind/body duality of Descartes and his radical position of doubt later devised. We can only guess what is here said and so indulge me in some speculation for the purposes of this book. We can imagine that what was said might be:
*"The mind exists between the soul and spirit and is what perceives a
vision, which is the meaning of the phrase "let your eye be single". For when your spirit and soul and mind are in harmony, all lenses act as one and all work in harmony with one another. When one lens is out of focus, so too is the vision muddied. Therefore, receive my spirit, acquire my peace, and still your mind. Only by so doing will you receive "True Vision" neither distorted by desire, nor the longings of the soul, nor the vexations of spirit. Remember also that my people perish for lack of vision."*
This sounds convincing as to what His answer might have been to me. Perhaps in some Vatican archive someone will "accidentally find" an intact copy and we can all later see how close or far my approximation is. If such an event were to happen and it was verbatim, boy, that would be something!
Since we have so many pages missing, there is a predictable jump in the text and we are "dropped" in the middle of the next part of the Gospel which appears to be describing something called "powers". We appear to enter the text at the "Second Power".
If we think of these powers as Chakras, then the first four Chakras are here related with the Fourth spreading out in a way we might say is "horizontal". This would make the Second Power cognate with the "Sacral Chakra". We get no mention of the First, which is a pity. In order for the Gospel to make sense, though, it seems to me we are going to need a "base" and so I am, again, going to have to ask you to indulge me on what the Gospel "might" have said:
*"And the Soul settled into the First Power, which is called Sloth, and
it was asked why do you strive for anything beyond what you see before you? Do you not have everything you need?*
*The soul replied and said 'If a person has a house, why do they ever
leave it? The house is a habitation of the person, but it is not sufficient in and of itself to be alive.'*
*With this, the soul overcame the First Power."*
We can see here that the "First Power" attempts to convince the soul that there is no need to seek anything else beyond the "Physical needs" of the body. This, the soul rightly recognizes, is a "soul trap" that discourages the type of onenesss realization that the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is trying to achieve. Therefore, the soul must answer back in the formula of the rest of the Gospel in a manner that subdues the Power with a Truth. As I indicated, this is an extrapolation of what I imagine the Gospel might have said and is done so that the further information makes sense in a framework and we have less of a feeling of having been dropped into a cold river midstream. If you feel strongly that I am wrong, then discard it and invent your own scenario, but be sure you do it with wisdom. First principles are of the same importance as tree roots.
With that, we move on to the second power:
"And desire said, I did not see you descending, but now I see you
ascending. Why do you lie since you belong to me?
The soul answered and said, I saw you. You did not see me nor recognize
me. I served you as a garment and you did not know me.
When it said this, it (the soul) went away rejoicing greatly."
The good news concerning these verses is that we must extrapolate less. We know that the Power here at the Sacral Chakra must concern desire, and indeed we can all understand that the Second Chakra, is, in no small way, a Chakra that concerns desires where pleasure is involved. Desire is not happy to see the soul moving beyond it, and so it questions. Desire believes that the soul is its possession. This obliges the soul to answer in return to say that the soul could see Desire, but desire was blind to the soul. Indeed, we can understand passion to be a blind element of existence. The soul served passion as a garment---something that covers usually---and it---that being desire, did not know me. The soul, then, covers desire which is itself ignorant of the soul. Normally, we think of garments as something that are easy to remove, and the body that remains as the more "solid" entity. Here, however, the "garment" is being treated as the more "permanent thing" and reminds us of the story in the Bible about having the right "clothes" for the wedding feast. Let's take a look at that quote:
**"Mat 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a
man which had not on a wedding garment: Mat 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Mat 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen."**
Put differently, without the "Soul" as a garment, one does not get to enjoy the wedding feast and so is thrown "into Hell". Again, this is treating the garment as being "more important" than the body it would seem, or at least as "a requirement for the body to exist" in any eternally pleasant manner.
We can imagine that the soul rejoices greatly because Desire, both in meditation and Biblically, causes us all manner of trouble since when we are acting out of our desire nature we are not acting from our soul nature necessarily. Magdalene, ever the renunciant, overcomes her own desire here at the Second Chakra, that place where for women, children are conceived and carried. Desire, it would seem, does not especially like us to have an "upward momentum" when it appertains to soul growth.
With the Second Power overcome, the Third Power emerges:
"Again it came to the third power, which is called ignorance.
The power questioned the soul, saying, Where are you going? In
wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!
And the soul said, Why do you judge me, although I have not judged?
I was bound, though I have not bound.
I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the All is being
dissolved, both the earthly things and the heavenly."
The Third Power or Third Chakra point, is referred to as Ignorance and so it would seem reflects some intellectual process. It is on the ground of presumed understanding that the conversation with it commences when it asks its question "Where are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!"
What a fundamentally different world this would present if everyone understood its import. We often hear phrases like "Judge not lest ye be judged," but this is usually applied to some context that quite specifically needs some kind of judgment or discernment. What is here being said is that the soul was "bound" to the body because of wickedness. Because of this wicked binding, judgment should be suspended since how is a wicked person to know what is good or right? The soul, however, replies "Why do you judge since I have not?" In other words, the soul has not judged itself to be wicked. How is it intelligence based upon the will, or the Third Chakra, should know better? The admission follows that yes, the soul was bound, but there has been no binding performed by the soul. This calls to mind the Authority of Peter, who is given the charge as follows:
**Matthew 16:9 **"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
The soul, in the Magdalene Gospel, sidesteps all this by suggesting that though it was bound, it had no need of binding since it never made the distinction that it was adjudged wicked. Sin, therefore, it seems binds, and innocence it would therefore it seems, loosen.
Perhaps the fact that Peter was crucified whereas Magdalene was not has something to do with the story. She simply "Arose to heaven" whereas Peter may or may not have been turned upside down and crucified. Certainly he was crucified. Whether or not it was upside down is a matter of some debate, but if it is so, it could only be that he was somehow "upside down" to the kingdom and as the story goes, considered himself "unworthy" on that count.
The Gospel continues that the "Soul was not recognized". On the other hand, the soul recognized that everything is dissolving in both the heavenly and the earthly which as we earlier learn when it comes to matter is its ultimate destination---to dissolve into essence. Again, these words sound more than a little familiar:
**Matthew 24:35** "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will
never pass away."
Words and things dissolved into their root, remain.
With the Third Power overcome, the Gospel progresses to the Fourth:
"When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the
fourth power, which took seven forms.
The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the
fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath.
They asked the soul, Whence do you come slayer of men, or where are you
going, conqueror of space?
The soul answered and said, What binds me has been slain, and what turns
me about has been overcome, and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died."
So the Fourth, or the Heart, would appear to replicate the entirety of the Light Body/Chakra System of the standard Middle Path. Darkness would be the Root, desire the Sacral, the third the Solar Plexus where ignorance resides, the fourth the Heart, which is excited by death, the fifth or Throat the kingdom of flesh, the sixth or Third Eye the foolish wisdom of flesh and the seventh the Crown or wrathful wisdom. All of these powers reside in the heart, which is where this meditation ends.
All of these forces "team up" and ask where one comes or goes using the title slayer of men, which we would take to be sin or adultery from the text, and then, perhaps a little more mysteriously the title "conqueror of space."
Apparently, in Moscow, there exists an entire monument to the "Conqueror's of Space",
but probably the term means something more akin to "inheritor of the land". Both of these things seem to point more than a little at Biblical Cain, who did a fair amount of man slaying and land taking. Perhaps it simply refers to Israel which came in and killed all the inhabitants of the land of Israel and then "took it"? Either way, the soul replies that "what was binding it is dead" firstly. What would have been binding it? Sin. So sin or adultery is dead and faith remains. The second part is "What turns me about has been overcome." This would seem to mean that when people "inherit land" they start to concern themselves about matters concerning the land instead of what serves the soul. This turns them "upside down" or "about" relative to the kingdom of heaven. If we combine the two then, we would arrive at something like the heart suggesting, through the host of its dark powers, the adultery of the inheritor of the Earth---namely Eve, where do you think you are off to?
With regards to that which comes from the Gospel that that which was the slayer has been slain, and what turns her about much more could be said. In a roundabout way, we might be able to see these things as "sin and death" meaning that the "light body" is now "fully on" where the soul is concerned. If there is any doubt, the last line of "And my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died" clenches it, as the meaning from our walkthrough is that the Sacral chakra desires are overcome and ignorance from the Solar Plexus---read "solar ego" is dead. The result, as mentioned before, is probably the "rainbow body" or the spiritual soul without the "dross".
The Gospel continues:
"In a aeon I was released from a world, and in a Type from a type, and
from the fetter of oblivion which is transient.
From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season,
of the aeon, in silence."
This is a heavy statement. Let us see if we can unpack it.
The final statement is that from this time forward to the end of the season of the Aeon, she will be silent. Remember, however, it might not be just her that is silent, but perhaps the nature of the soul of the Church for this whole discourse began when Peter asked her this:'
'Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know the Savior loved you more than
all other women. Tell us the words of the Savior that you remember -- the things which you know that we don't, and which we haven't heard."'
We know that the discussion in the text continues, because there is more:
"When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point
that the Savior had spoken with her.
But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say
about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas."
Andrew whose name meaning is man, is skeptical on account of the judgment that the ideas are "strange". Another disciple intervenes:
"Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things.
He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with
a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?
Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think?
Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?"
Peter is not a "hoped for intervention" but rather casts the entire event into something like a "Who did the Messiah love best?" contest.
Mary answers the accusation, but unhappily since Peter is "not believing her". She gives Peter one of two choices---either she has invented a fiction, or she is a liar. This account is, so far, not anything the two disciples mentioned so wish to hear. Finally, Levi steps in:
"Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot
tempered.
Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries.
But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her?
Surely the Savior knows her very well.
That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put
on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said."
Levi contends that the Savior knew Magdalene very well, and it is therefore why he loved her more than the disciples. Knowledge, is, of course, a Biblical word that often means "conceived through sexual relations" and the gospel leaves this point open. Whatever the case, Levi says that because the Messiah knows Magdalene very well, he loved her more than them. Whether or not the Messiah loved her more or not seems to be a moot point, but the Gospel seems to be pointing at something here---the other disciples were jealous concerning something to do with how the Messiah loved Mary Magdalene.
Levi counsels them---stop messing around, and step into the spiritually perfect man---the chakra-aligned Adam Kadmon and go preach the gospel taking care, which is unusual for Levi, to not lay down any other rule or law beyond what the Savior indicated. There the account ends, and there the gospel ends.
It is more than coincidence, it seems to me, that the woman in the Garden of Eden is lied to and perhaps has some strange ideas, and then has to cover her shame as does her husband. In this account, the exact opposite appears to be the case. The woman, Mary Magdalene, tells the truth and is accused of being deceitful or at least not truthful by one disciple whose name means "man" and the other whose name means "stone". Perhaps there is another connection through scripture that we might miss otherwise:
**Revelation 2:17Â He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the Churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.**
Since Adamah, or Adam means red, and Peter is accused of being hot-tempered by Levi, and Andrew is a name which translates as "man", could it be that since when one is "hot-tempered" they are often red-in-the-face that the giving of the stone which is white relates to a purified Adam? Perhaps putting on the perfect man and becoming "perfect" and conquering as Magdalene relates to the "Conqueror of Space" and cleansing the "Church" of which she surely is a type, results in membership to the "white stone"? If so, it would seem then that being "hot-tempered" is a state that the original Adam must have had some issue concerning.
There is another parallel to this process from Alchemy:
In an interview conducted by Mircea Eliade at the 1952 Eranos
Conference, Jung spoke of the final stage of the alchemical opus as well as the mystery of the coniunctio. He saw the integration of the opposites, and especially of evil and blackness, as one of the greatest problems of psychology:
"For, as long as Satan is not integrated, the world is not healed and
man is not saved. ...
...In the language of the alchemists, matter suffers until the nigredo
disappears, when the "dawn" {aurora) will be announced by the "peacock's tail" {cauda pavonis) and a new day will break, the leukosis or albedo. But in this state of "whiteness" one does not live in the true sense of the word, it is a sort of abstract, ideal state. In order to make it come alive it must have "blood," it must have what the alchemists call the rubedo, the "redness" of life. Only the total experience of being can transform this ideal state of the albedo into a fully human mode of existence. Blood alone can reanimate a glorious state of consciousness in which the last trace of blackness is dissolved, in which the devil no longer has an autonomous existence but rejoins the profound unity of the psyche. Then the opus magnum is finished: the human soul is completely integrated."
How on Earth can "Satan" be integrated? The entire process of putting on the perfect man and clearing out the chakras involves "casting Satan out". Perhaps a better idea of what Jung SHOULD have said here is that the work is not complete until the Shadow is integrated which makes one susceptible to temptation from Satan when the Shadow *is yet to be integrated.*
Likewise, it would seem Jung is also mistaken in his view that the whiteness must "have blood", unless he means the Blood from the Crucifiction which seems unlikely. What good would it do for someone to put on the perfect man, change from a red Adam to a white one, and then go right back to red after receiving his new name? No, instead, we learn that Jung was still stuck in some of the old ancient mystery schools of Egypt--a kind of perpetual crucifiction loop--but he does hit upon the right point at the very end which we would say from our above analysis arrives at the point that the white stone does: the opus magnum is finished and the human soul is completely integrated. More importantly, however, the human soul is restored to its former place: the Garden of Eden or Jerusalem.
As to the Secret Manna, could this not be similar to the honey locusts that John ate while in the wilderness? Indeed, we know that the Book of John is linked to Revelation since it is called "The Apocalypse of John". Whether it is food that one literally eats like the manna from the ground, or whether it is something else that creatures in an elevated spiritual state eat/ingest/are nurtured by, it sounds like a good thing to have access to.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene appears to, through the lens we have used, confirm the Chakra system. However, there is another much quicker, less abstract version of this system with which practicing Jewish people ought to be most familiar. That system is the Menorah.
First let us define the Menorah:
The menorah symbolizes light, growth, unity, and the Tree of Life
(i.e.,* unity of Torah).* All its parts were formed from a single piece of pure gold (×Ö¸×Ö¸× ×Ö¸××֚ר) that was "beaten" or "hammered" into shape >(Exod. 25:36). This is a symbol of the divine substance (gold has a hint of the color of blood combined with the pure white).
Zachariah Beholds the Menorah -- Image Courtesy Look and Learn Archive [IMG]
The picture proves the Menorah to be quite complex. For the moment, it is sufficient to note that the lamps listed total a number of seven. The number of flowers is listed as nine. In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, we step through ten distinct chakra centers, with the final corresponding chakra apparently being in the Heart Chakra which are comprised of seven smaller chakras. The word "Lev" in Hebrew, we are told means "heart". The book of Leviticus, it turns out, starts with nine words, and we note above there are nine flowers. In more advanced meditations, it is not uncommon to find sources which use higher chakras which occur usually above the head or below the feet. So, it would seem the Nine Flowers or chakras in this system symbolize an unfolding that eventually yields seven lights which can be found as all contained within the heart, or else in classic "hindi-style meditation" in the center of the body systems in a straight line from above the head to the tailbone.
Without a doubt then, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is showing how people return to the "Tree of Life". However, there is still another overlap which Jewish observers might know:
A Replica Menorah--Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons [IMG]
This is a Hanukkah Menorah which features Nine lights for the celebration of Hanukkah which happens during the time of year in the Northern Hemisphere where daylight is the shortest. The import of Nine lights becomes apparent against our above Menorah study. The Nine flowers have instead become Nine lights symbolizing again the "Lev" or the "heart" which happens close to Christmas symbolizing the rebirth of "the light".
There is a long debate about the shape of the Menorah. Historically it seems that it was depicted as more of a "V" shape as opposed to an "Arch" shape. The priestly blessing is given by making a V shape between the middle and ring fingers on both hands. This splits the "ten fingers" into sets of four and six. Certainly, we remember that the Gospel of Mary Magdalene had us step through ten distinct chakras (possibly 11 depending on how and whether you count the seven in the heart) which terminated at the fourth chakra. Perhaps the beauty of such a system is that the relation of the six fingers then becomes analogous to that of the sixth chakra in that once the heart is right, the vision opens. This is, of course, speculation, but it is without doubt that the number six in Hebrew study correlates to the "number of man" and since Magdalene is the penitent of penitents, then the implication is that a "penitent man/woman has his or her eyes open". Naturally, the heart of such a person would be balanced.
A relevant point concerns the middle candle in the Hanukkah Menorah which is called the Shamash. In Hebrew, this candle means "the servant/the helper". There is a scripture about the Servant of YHVH which is quite famous:
**Isaiah 53:11** He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
It must be then that the servant candle relights all wicks by virtue of the suffering he or she had to bear on account of all the other lights. The scripture appears to be a Messianic one, and so we see a scenario where the servant, YHSVH, came to the woman, Mary Magdalene, and cast "Demons out of her" such that all of her "light body" was restored and she had then therefore eaten from the "Tree of Life".
Finally, the idea concerning the construction of the Menorah sounds reminiscent of the kind of torture the Messiah underwent both on His way to the cross and upon it. Hence, one could infer that either He A) Redeemed the Menorah or B) He also became it C) or both. The "rubedo" state might be what Jung meant when he said "redness of life", however, the only path to that state is clear when one understands the Menorah, the color gold, and the fact that the blood of the Messiah is the only "perfected blood".
There is another parallel here consistent with some of the deeper mysteries of the crucifixion. The type of cross that the Messiah/YHSVH was crucified upon has been debated. Some believe it was like an X. Others believe it was more like a âTâ. Still others imagine it looking a little like an Ankh. When we consider the guidance that the Gospel of Mary Magdalene provides, it becomes obvious which of these shapes is being energetically described. If it is not obvious, allow me to put it in ASCII form so that it is:
Each # is a chakra like the lamp stand with seven coming from the heart or "Lev":
####### # # #
Hopefully it is obvious that this is a letter T or in Hebrew what is called a Tav. In ancient Hebrew, a Tav looked like this:
{width=100}
What is interesting about this depiction is that it is âleaningâ. Tav was the last letter of the alphabet and one wonders that because the energetic depiction that the Gospel of Mary Magdalene describes is upright whether or not the original âleanedâ because it was going to be put back âuprightâ. Since it is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it brings new clarity to the statement of âIt is finished.â as quite literally the symbol of the cross would be the end of the alphabet as well as the work of rectification of the Tav.
The most likely word uttered, in my opinion, for âIt is finished,â was MâShalam. This Hebrew Aramic word has some connotations of a door being closed to strife and has the same roots as the word Shalom meaning peace. Therefore we begin to understand how it is that when one is sealed with the energetic Tav that they are âclosed to strifeâ and obtain some peace. There is also, according to some, a connotation of âhaving been paidâ as in âa debtâ. We understand this in terms of the Lordâs Prayer where in some instances the words âdebt and debtorsâ are used when asking for forgiveness as opposed to trespass and trespasses.
There is also indication that a form of this mark was used for Cain for protection, and possibly those who repented before the Flood. The color was probably different, as the mark Cain received was likely red. Black is the color derived from ashes, and so there is a sense of having âBurned through impurityâ whereas with a red mark there indicates a need for a kind of burning or purging. Indeed, a burning cross is still a symbol of hatred in the collective psyche.
The Greek word used in translation is interesting as well for âIt is finished.â The word most often used for this is âTetelestaiâ. If we âHebrewizeâ the word and get rid of all the vowels (TTLST), we discover that the word begins on a T or Tav, and ends on a T or a Tav. Therefore in that language, both the beginning and the end are represented by the consonants of the word which translates to the word spoken by YHSVH on the cross at the end.
As Magdalene is chief penitent, it is little wonder her description of the energy body describes a Tav. This increases the odds that the Gospel of Mary Magdalene was not some âmade up bookâ by some Gospel writer other than her. While it does not rule out the possibility that some other scribe could have written such a document, it is unlikely that another scribe would have known to impart the energetic Tav as a unique imprint. Indeed, the standard would be the seven chakra system that rises upwards in a line.
So, by understanding all of these pieces, we are able to find a bridge between the Western value system which usually eschews introspection and meditation as an âEasternâ preoccupation. Buddhism and Hinduism both understand the sciences of the âLight Bodyâ as well as various meditation techniques and disciplines that involve it. These religions differ in the regard, of course, as to the Nature of divinity and which God or Gods to serve. I see no reason to make a distinction for the purposes of this book other than to outline a few salient points:
1. The first essential observation is that this type of meditation technique is like a road that has many exits. It is not useful to conceive of the road as being evil and then not travel upon it because of the exits that exist that others have taken. No, a road is simply thatâa potential route to travel and the exits are places where a person can âleaveâ and explore other networks of roads.
2. The objective of the travel on this road ought to be âonenessâ. It is possible to experience different forms of oneness until one arrives at something they consider to be quintessential oneness. Everything else anyone maintains about the road is likely to be a distraction or worse, a trap.
3. It is apparent that the exit to the new Adam Kadmon template is only through means of YHSVH. It is not to say the other previous versions of the Adam Kadmon are not available, but it is to say that traversing those roads is a little like taking a spiral exit that goes downward and leads to âDarker paths and exitsâ. On these roads it is possible to drive through a âBad Neighborhoodâ with alarming ease.
Most impressions in the world of spiritual things are idols to the extent they become distractions on the road. The old adage--if you see Buddha by the road, kill him--puts this more viscerally.
4. There are connections between the old Eastern Systems and Western Systems. It is best to think of the teachers/prophets/Gods/Angel/God as pointing a very specific way. The way pointed to will necessarily reflect the conviction and devotion of the adherent. In other words, you get the directions that on some level you have faith for or in.
5. It is best to make no judgment about anyone elseâs road but your own in most scenarios. This specifically applies to their ultimate exits and destinations. Of course, if someone is acting as a highwayman or robber on the road, then naturally this restriction does not apply since it will be you, ultimately, who will be robbed.
When a written body of work evolves such as this one, it can be difficult to decide what to keep and what to toss. As the work becomes what it is, certain parts are cut, others are added. Much of it concerns the time the work is written in relation to. I have decided then, to keep the spiritual roots of this work intact but with the proviso that the techniques that follow are a bit like entering the basement of an historical home. It is ironic since I literally developed this technique in the basement of a house that I was then living within, and so I suppose the roots are not metaphorical in that regard. The technique used is derivative of India, and the relevant disciple and work for that is most often regarded as Thomas. Before we journey down the stairs, we must take a jaunt through the Lost Gospel of Thomas and do our best to interpret its meaning. Consider yourself, then, on the stairs.
The Lost Gospel of Thomas Verse and Commentary in Turn (The Winding Staircase Down) The Gospel of Thomas is part of what is usually considered the âDead Sea Scrollsâ. We are going to interpret to the best of our ability line by line. Consider this as the ginger to the Wasabi in our sushi roll basement adventure.
Gospel of Thomas
(Translated by Thomas O. Lambdin)
These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas
Thomas wrote down.
(1) And he said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience
death."
Thomas, or Didymous Judas, means Twin of Judas. Judas does not imply âIscariotâ but it does imply the tribe of Judah. Therefore, we are here discussing the Twin of Judah from the Lion of Judah, that is YHSVH. Right off the bat, we are told that if you understand what is about to be said, you will not experience death. This does not say whether the âfirst deathâ or âsecond deathâ is involved, or the âGlory Bodyâ. Perhaps as we read on we will understand more.
(2) Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will
become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.â
So the seeker, upon finding, is going to discover trouble and become troubled. When we think of a Biblical âtroubledâ we think of Jacobâs Trouble, which is usually akin to some tribulation-level type of trouble. Since we are dealing with Judah and rulership, we understand that the ârod of Judahâ is implied, and this troubling leads to being astonished. At the point he is astonished, he will rule over the All. In other words, in one way or another, he is either going to be appointed physically, spiritually, or both to do something about the trouble he feels as a consequence of seeking.
(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the
birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."
Here we have the summation of many mystery schools in one sentence. If you only see the kingdom outside of yourself, then everything else that you believe is âoutside of youâ will be in the kingdom before you, because you have judged in a nearsighted way. When you look within and you understand the nature of yourself, (probably recognize the image of YHVH/the energy body within you) you will realize who the Creator is. If you do not know yourself, then you fail to recognize that image, and so you are lost in a world of outward appearances which makes you spiritually poor. The implication here is that no riches are worth having without understanding the internal kingdom first.
(4) Jesus said, "The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.â
A baby seven days old would, presumably, remember the place of life more readily than an old man since it would have just come from there. A young child would then be the natural inheritor of the Kingdom who remembers where it came from instead of an old man who does not. Hence, the child born last would be first, and the old man born first would be last.
5. Jesus said, "Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."
Learn to see the things in front of you in the light of the Kingdom, and nothing will remain hidden.
(6) His disciples questioned him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How shall we
pray? Shall we give alms? What diet shall we observe?" Jesus said, "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered."
Apparently, diet is less important than not telling lies, and not doing what is hatedâor else diet is resolved by following these rules. Nothing will be hidden forever.
(7) Jesus said, "Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and
cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man."
Satan is often likened to a âravaging lionâ in scripture. Therefore, a person who consumes the lion, that is, a Satanic nature, and becomes a man by âdevouringâ it with the âperfect manâ is blessed. On the other hand, if the man becomes a beast, he is cursed.
(8) And he said, "The man is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew
it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
Some context appears to be missing from this scripture, but it can be discerned that a fisherman catches more than the fish he keeps. He decides what to keep on the basis of how it will provide.
(9) Jesus said, "Now the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered them.
Some fell on the road; the birds came and gathered them up. Others fell on the rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not produce ears. And others fell on thorns; they choked the seed(s) and worms ate them. And others fell on the good soil and it produced good fruit: it bore sixty per measure and a hundred and twenty per measure."
This is a familiar paraphrase of the Bible version of the sower concerning spreading the gospel where the Kingdom of Heaven was concerned. Not all sowings yield good crops.
10. Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes."
This alludes to the Baptism of the world via fire, or put differently mass purification of the world through fire. Guarding it until it blazes can mean the faith, or it can mean the eventual flames through which the Earth periodically purifies itself.
(11) Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The
dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"
This verse is more complex, and lends credence to the idea that the Messiah spoke it because it reflects a deep understanding of the beliefs of Hebrew people during this time. The analysis is uncommonly insightful. Let us try to pick it apart. The first part about heaven passing away and the one above it probably means something like âastrological agesâ which occupy the 12th house in addition to whatever heavenly corollaries that entails. Since YHSVH was there at the age of Pisces, we are probably supposed to understand this as the age of Pisces and Aquarius. The dead not being alive means those not saved or baptized. They are like zombies. The living will not die means those who have been saved will not die in reference likely to the second death, but possibly even a first death somewhat like Enoch. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do, refers to coming back into the Kingdom it seems. On the day you were one you became two probably means going all the way back to YHVH with Adam in the Garden of Eden where the unity was broken due to disobedience. When you become two probably then refers to the resulting duality that was caused by this decision. A likely rejoinder ought to be âbecome one once moreâ which is the entirety of the mission with which YHSVH was charged.
(12) The disciples said to Jesus, "We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our
leader?" Jesus said to them, "Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."
Quite interesting since this was the intended Messianic Church of James. James has the job of moderating between âheaven and earthâ such that is on account of his righteousness that heaven and earth came into being.
(13) Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like."
Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel." Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher." Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like." Jesus said, "I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out." And he took him and withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the things which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."
Interestingly, YHSVH casts off the title of Master to Thomas and tells him that he (Thomas) is basically drunk on life. He pulls Thomas to the side, and when he gets back everyone wants to know what he was told. His answer suggests if he tells them even one thing that was said, they will want to stone him as a sinner. This judgment will be wrong, since we know the people without sin must throw the first stone and Thomas tells them the stones they throw would burn them up since a fire would come out of them. Hence, it must be a teaching for Thomas, and it must concern or overlap the three denials of Peter. Perhaps he tells Thomas that Peter will deny Him, and this is why they might want to stone him (Thomas) not believing such a thing is possible. Indeed, we know that Thomas is characterized later for his "doubt".
(14) Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you
pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."
Here we have some opposite advice to what we usually consider to be a more âasceticâ life. It seems as though what passes for the usual acts of piety are more likely to produce turmoil and discord. Praying, for instance, might get you condemned by people who are not praying. Fasting makes sin try to assert itself more strongly, and giving alms does harm to the spirits. The test here is whether or not people will receive you. If they do, eat what they offer, and heal people who are unwell which in this case probably refers to sin. There is a rejoinder here to not worry so much what goes in oneâs mouth but rather to worry about what comes out of it, which is a familiar Bible verse.
(15) Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him. That one is your father."
This is a challenging piece to interpret since YHSVH was born of a woman. The conclusion, is, I suppose, that only YHVH is something that is not born of a woman.
(16) Jesus said, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the
world. They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against three, the father against the son, and the son against the father. And they will stand solitary."
A variation on a classic line that the Messiah did not come here to generate peaceâat least not initially.
(17) Jesus said, "I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and
what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind."
This might mean rectified flesh, or eternal life, or both.
(18) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us how our end will be."
Jesus said, "Have you discovered, then, the beginning, that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death."
YHSVH points out that there are two directions to go. One can go and try to see the end, or else one can consider the beginning. If one considers the beginning, he puts himself in the place of the original heavenly blueprint, and so knows the end but will not taste death.
(19) Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you
become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and winter and whose leaves do not fall. Whoever becomes acquainted with them will not experience death."
Blessed is the original Adam. (kadmon) Stones serve as a ministry if you become a disciple. The five trees must somehow be related to âtrees of lifeâ. Probably, these five trees have some relationship or correlation to Venus
(20) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like."
He said to them, "It is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil, it produces a great plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky."
The Mustard Seed Parable is well known, I think, and so requires little commentary other than to mention the âShelter for birds of the skyâ which implies something a little like angels.
(21) Mary said to Jesus, "Whom are your disciples like?"
He said, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let >us have back our field.' They (will) undress in their presence in order to let them have back their field and to give it back to them. Therefore I say, if the owner of a house knows that the thief is coming, he will begin his vigil before he comes and will not let him dig through into his house of his domain to carry away his goods. You, then, be on your guard against the world. Arm yourselves with great strength lest the robbers find a way to come to you, for the difficulty which you expect will (surely) materialize. Let there be among you a man of understanding. When the grain ripened, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand and reaped it. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
A novel passage. The disciples lay claim to a field which does not belong to them and when people who own the field come along, they demand the field back. The owners or the disciples, and in this case, probably the disciples undress in the field such that their field is returned which likely means they strip off the garments of the ego so that the fieldâthat is to say the vineyard of the kingdom--is put back in their possession. The rest of this quote concerns the âthief in the nightâ, which I believe is well known. The implication is, when the crop is close to being ready, somebody will come to take the fruit quite quickly. This is the âtroubleâ of âspiritual harvestâ which is not unlike âJacobâs Troubleâ.
22. Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, "These infants being
suckled are like those who enter the kingdom." They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom."
The Holy Family --Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons [IMG]
This verse is familiar except it has some additional commentary where the âenter as childrenâ standard verse is involved. A good assumption is that the children being suckled are being likened to a baby that drinks the milk of the mother. The mother here would be the blessings of heaven. The answer is more complicated than âenter as childrenâ but rather YHSVH describes the conditions by which one can be nurtured by the heavens to receive the maximum blessing of entering the kingdom and the recommendations he makes concern how to take the energy body such that it describes the aforementioned image of YHVH. This is not, as many contend, something to do with the âExternal appearance of the bodyâ. The idea of "drinking from his mouth" allows us, like children, to enter a processing of "becoming" such that we are fashioned after YHVH like parents and children naturally are.
(23) Jesus said, "I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand,and they shall stand as a single one."
Not much to be added here, other than to note that the âChosenâ of YHSVH are not many where proportions are concerned. It does not matter, however, in the sense that they stand as âoneâ.
(24) His disciples said to him, "Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for
us to seek it." He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness."
This is an answer without being a direct answer. The light to find this kingdom is inside a person and when kindled, it lights up the whole world. The kingdom then is light, and the way by which one can âsee itâ or âSeek itâ is by turning the light on within the self. When this is done, it is enough to light up the âentire worldâ.
(25) Jesus said, "Love your brother like your soul, guard him like the pupil of your eye."
A modified version of the âapple of YHVHâsâ eye is this saying. The implication here is that oneâs brother is literally the same as oneâs eye. There is more that could be said on this point, concerning gateways which the pupil is a form of, but for this book the easy application is the meditation at the Third Eye or sixth chakra.
The Human Eye --Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons [IMG]
(26) Jesus said, "You see the mote in your brother's eye, but you do not see the beam in
your own eye. When you cast the beam out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to cast the mote from your brother's eye."
A familiar version again of the âmake sure your own vision is clearâ before going after someone elseâs.
(27) (Jesus said,) "If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the kingdom.
If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not see the father."
This is a version of âBe in the world but not of itâ although observing the Sabbath as Sabbath has implications in the sense of when that should occur and level of observance. Since this book makes it clear in several places that the Sign of YHVH is to be defined as movement and repose. Sabbath is repose and so the observance of that repose becomes quite significant.
(28) Jesus said, "I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in
flesh. I found all of them intoxicated; I found none of them thirsty. And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight; for empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave the world. But for the moment they are intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent."
Out of all the sayings that might be modified or not somehow original, this could be one because here YHSVH speaks in the past tense concerning His ministry. While not impossible, one would think that if these sayings were recorded as He spoke them, they would be present tense since His work had not yet been complete. We would expect something like âMy place is in the midst of the world, where I appeared to them, and found them all intoxicated.â Tense issues notwithstanding, the implication of the statement is that everyone was drunk in a way that the Bible appears to refer to when it mentions the wine of Babel.
(29) Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty.
Here we have an inversion of which came first, spirit or flesh. If flesh came into existence due to spirit, it is a wonder since flesh is far removed from spirit. If on the other hand, spirit came into being because of the bodyâthat is to say fleshâthen it is a wonder of wonders since in the vision of YHSVH spirit is rich in comparison to the flesh. The wealth then is the spirit, which is worth much, and the body is the poverty.
(30) Jesus said, "Where there are three gods, they are gods. Where there are two or one, I am with him."
This one requires knowing some older meanings of the lower case word âgodâ or âgodsâ. In a modern sense, it is better thought of as the word âprinceâ or âprincesâ. Moses first broke the idea of needing more than one person to form a kind of âSuper Princeâ since he was only one and stood up to many. Here, YHSVH says that where there are two or one, He is there with him. This differs from some modern understandings such as where two or more are gathered, I am there. Here, even if one is there, He, YHSVH, is with him.
(31) Jesus said, "No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him."
A different way of saying the above is âfamiliarity breeds contemptâ or people have a tendency not to listen to or respect people they know or think they know.
(32) Jesus said, "A city being built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.â
Lacking context, it is assumed that YHSVH is referring to the Heavenly Kingdom here. The Kingdom cannot fall, and one cannot âhide itâ since it is fortified and visible by definition. This presupposes the âinward lightâ of man is all ready lit, however.
(33) Jesus said, "Preach from your housetops that which you will hear in your ear. For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, >nor does he put it in a hidden place, but rather he sets it on a lamp stand so that everyone who enters and leaves will see its light."
Another variation on a well-known Bible verse. Whatever it is you are capable of hearing, you might as well preach it from the housetop since the light it does generate in this case cannot be hidden. Of course, the inverse is implied by previous verses that the darkness will not be hidden and so you might as well also shout that from the rooftops.
(34) Jesus said, "If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit.
This is a self-evident statement. Two blind people are going to fall into a pit since both lack vision.
(35) Jesus said, "It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds his hands; then >he will (be able to) ransack his house."
This verse is another one known from the Bible. A strong man will keep robbers away, unless he is otherwise bound as he will use his hands in specific to prevent the robbery from occurring.
(36) Jesus said, "Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear."
The Hebrew day is typically from sunset to sunset. This saying divides the day in halves relative to morning. In other words, from light to darkness, and darkness to light, do not concern yourselves with your clothing. This has connotations to good and evil and perhaps might have significance for the Great Wedding Feasts where the soul is a garment.
(37) His disciples said, "When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see
you?" Jesus said, "When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.â
This is another fairly obvious quote which concerns nudity, vulnerability, innocence, and sexual desire. When desire ends, innocence begins and shame stops and then YHSVH can reveal himself fully as in the fullness of His being.
(38) Jesus said, "Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me."
Another self-evident statement, but worth examining. Sometimes people want to be re-assured. Sometimes there is no one to offer that. The next statement is Prophetic in that there will be times that people will want to be reassured, but there will be no one there to do so.
(39) Jesus said, "The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis) and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."
The Pharisees and scribes are acting as âgatekeepersâ. They know the way in, but are not going to enter and they have locked everyone else out. The charge given because of this is to be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.
(40) Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted outside of the father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed."
This phrase goes with the previous in that the Pharisees and scribes had planted a belief system that did not include YHVH within it. Therefore, it was slated for destruction.
(41) Jesus said, "Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has."
This is probably part of a parable similar to the one about the âtalentsâ or coins. The meaning is usually something along the lines of the one who does something with the thing given will receive a bounty, whereas the one that does not gets his or hers taken.
(42) Jesus said, "Become passers-by."
This phrase is a more uniquely gnostic phraseology. The meaning of it is usually move on past the things you might normally get in entanglements over. Therefore, one becomes a passerby of the world and its ways.
43. His disciples said to him, "Who are you, that you should say these things to us?"
(Jesus said to them,) "You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews, for they (either) love the tree and hate its fruit (or) love the fruit and hate the tree.
YHSVH points out to whomever these disciples are that they either love the structure and not the fruits of the faith, or else love the faith and not the structure. Because they do not understand who He is, he compares them to the Jews who also do not know who he is, or rather probably more accurately would rather not know.
(44) Jesus said, "Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven."
This is another verse that is well-known in the Bible. Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, which would be akin to following the Anti-Christ/Messiah, is not forgivable. What rises to the level of blasphemy is not discussed here but in context doing something like changing the DNA would make sense.
(46) Jesus said, "Among those born of women, from Adam until John the Baptist, there is no one so superior to John the Baptist that his eyes should not be lowered (before him).
Yet I have said, whichever one of you comes to be a child will be acquainted with the kingdom and will become superior to John."
Becoming a âchildâ in the kingdom has a formula which we saw earlier. By applying that formula and making the energy-body as described, then one puts on the âglory bodyâ and becomes âgreaterâ than John.
(47) Jesus said, "It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows.
And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously. No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear would result."
These are all familiar turns of phrases for a man not having two masters, and not using old stuff with new stuff since the older stuff is likely to break.
(48) Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."
Making peace between believers in Messiah in the one house, presumably of Pisces/faith, can allow one to surmount seemingly impossible obstacles.
(49) Jesus said, "Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. For you are from it, and to it you will return."
This is interesting since it implies those who are more âby themselvesâ AND elect will find the kingdom and they will return to it even despite themselves.
(50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came
from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"
This is the charge disciples are supposed to speak when asked where they came from as opposed to saying a specific hometown or family. Movement and repose is directly concerning the Sabbath as it is the âreposeâ and movement is, of course, âanything elseâ.
(51) His disciples said to him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?"
He said to them, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it."
Consistent with the majority of the ministry of YHSVH, the disciples want to know when something specific is going to come. Here the statement that it is all ready present is made, and this is probably puzzling to them since they cannot see the literal reality of what they are asking. At the arrival of YHSVH, all of these matters are set into motion, and so therefore it is now and if one could see the Kingdom one would know it. The repose of the dead could mean dead spirits, or people who have not received baptismâwhich meaning is unclear from the context but in many ways amounts to the same intimation. The dead entering into the "rest" of the Kingdom is indicated either way. Repose here is not simply rest in the normal sense, but a totality of rest.
Mary Magdalene --Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons [IMG]
(52) His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke in you."
He said to them, "You have omitted the one living in your presence and have spoken (only) of the dead."
What is considered alive is radically different at the point the Messiah occupies the Earth. Therefore all the Prophets that came before were dead, and anyway, they omitted YHSVH as a Prophet which was a direct slight in the sense that Moses had commanded them to find another Prophet âlike himâ. YHSVH was not a Prophet âlike himâ, but he was the one Moses was speaking of as the age changed. Perhaps the phrase âsimilar to meâ would have been a better translation of Mosesâs dying words.
(53) His disciples said to him, "Is circumcision beneficial or not?"
He said to them, "If it were beneficial, their father would beget them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become completely profitable."
If circumcision were worth something in and of itself, then children would be born that way. Instead, circumcision is meant as a symbol of spiritual circumcision, which is true circumcision and is, without question, profitable.
(54) Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven."
The poor people are often mentioned since they are not controlled by wealth and having no wealth they are more likely not to get caught up in the world and so therefore can experience and/or inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
(55) Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a
disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way will not be worthy of me."
Another way of saying this is that one must shake off the connections to oneâs family and upbringing to follow YHSVH in the way He is desirous of us pursuing. Usually, when one is attached to their family they start to do things that please their family instead of the things that please YHVH.
(56) Jesus said, "Whoever has come to understand the world has found (only) a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world."
The world and its ways are âdeadâ compared to the Kingdom of Heaven. This is so since it is part of a fallen world that fell due to sin. Therefore there is nothing to find other than a corpse since sin is what causes corpses in the first place.
(57) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a man who had good seed. His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds; he said to them, 'I am afraid that you will go intending to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.' For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned."
This is somewhat similar to the familiar wheat and tares Bible verse that many know. The idea is that those who repent and accept the Messiah will be mixed in with those who do not, and those who do not and are evil people will be separated out from those who follow the Messiah as weeds. It will then be obvious what is a weed, and what is wheat and on the day of harvest, where the crops are examined, those that are weeds will be pulled up and burned.
(58) Jesus said, "Blessed is the man who has suffered and found life."
If one suffers and therefore finds salvation, then that person is blessed since they found salvation.
(59) Jesus said, "Take heed of the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him and be unable to do so."
Fairly self-evident, but clearly the meaning here is not to waste time because you might die, and then you will not be able to find the one who could give you life, and your condition will be dire.
(60) (They saw) a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea. He said to his
disciples, "That man is round about the lamb." They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, "While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse." They said to him, "He cannot do so otherwise." He said to them, "You too, look for a place for yourself within repose, lest you become a corpse and be eaten."
The warning here is to the Disciples to make sure they âstay aliveâ and are therefore ânot eatenâ by making sure that Shabbat is observed. Not observing Shabbat is a way, it follows, to become a corpse.
(61) Jesus said, "Two will rest on a bed: the one will die, and the other will live."
Salome said, "Who are you, man, that you ... have come up on my couch and eaten from my table?" Jesus said to her, "I am he who exists from the undivided. I was given some of the things of my father." <...> "I am your disciple." <...> "Therefore I say, if he is destroyed, he will be filled with light, but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness.
Several fragments here make this harder to interpret. However, it appears that the Day of YHVH is being discussed at first, and then it switches to the identity of what one supposes is Mary Salome who asks YHSVH who He is that is eating at her table. He replies that he comes from a place that is not divided, and He has some things of His fathers. It would appear to suggest Salome says âI am your discipleâ later after He perhaps inquires who she is. Finally, there is a commentary on the nature of those that are divided and therefore filled with darkness, versus those who are destroyed which would imply that they are no longer divided, and so are filled with light due to the destruction.
(62) Jesus said, "It is to those who are worthy of my mysteries that I tell my mysteries.
Do not let your left (hand) know what your right (hand) is doing.
YHSVH is teaching based upon who He believes is worthy of the mysteries he can reveal. He advises on this basis to not let the left hand know what the right is doing because of the natural division that exists inside people. If the left were to know what the right is doing, it tries to get in the way to cause issues. If it does not know what the right hand is doing, then it cannot interfere.
(63) Jesus said, "There was a rich man who had much money. He said, 'I shall put my
money to use so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouse with produce, with the result that I shall lack nothing.' Such were his intentions, but that same night he died. Let him who has ears hear."
The rich man spends his time getting riches and believing that those riches can gain him security. The problem with this thinking is that worldly riches cannot prevent death.
(64) Jesus said, "A man had received visitors. And when he had prepared the dinner, he
sent his servant to invite the guests. He went to the first one and said to him, 'My master invites you.' He said, 'I have claims against some merchants. They are coming to me this evening. I must go and give them my orders. I ask to be excused from the dinner.' He went to another and said to him, 'My master has invited you.' He said to him, 'I have just bought a house and am required for the day. I shall not have any spare time.' He went to another and said to him, 'My master invites you.' He said to him, 'My friend is going to get married, and I am to prepare the banquet. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused from the dinner.' He went to another and said to him, 'My master invites you.' He said to him, 'I have just bought a farm, and I am on my way to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused.' The servant returned and said to his master, 'Those whom you invited to the dinner have asked to be excused.' The master said to his servant, 'Go outside to the streets and bring back those whom you happen to meet, so that they may dine.' Businessmen and merchants will not enter the places of my father."
This is the longest example we have yet. What we are being told is that businessmen and merchants are âtoo busyâ to come to spend time with YHVH. This continues to a point where the invitations are retracted, and only people that one meets on the streets are invited. People that identify only as businessmen and merchants and as nothing else will not enter the Heavenly Kingdom because they are incapable of receiving the invitation.
(65) He said, "There was a good man who owned a vineyard. He leased it to tenant
farmers so that they might work it and he might collect the produce from them. He sent his servant so that the tenants might give him the produce of the vineyard. They seized his servant and beat him, all but killing him. The servant went back and told his master. The master said, 'Perhaps he did not recognize them.' He sent another servant. The tenants beat this one as well. Then the owner sent his son and said, 'Perhaps they will show respect to my son.' Because the tenants knew that it was he who was the heir to the vineyard, they seized him and killed him. Let him who has ears hear."
This is an obvious allegory about the lineage of Prophets that Israel will not listen to and whom they typically kill. Eventually, the master sends his own son, and they kill him because they realize he stands to inherit the vineyard whereas they do not merit such an inheritance. They seize him and kill him too, because they want to continue to assert claim falsely to the vineyard which does not belong to them.
(66) Jesus said, "Show me the stone which the builders have rejected. That one is the cornerstone."
Here we find what is clearly an allusion to the ministry of YHSVH since He will be the stone the builders are going to reject. The cornerstone then will become His entire ministry and life.
(67) Jesus said, "If one who knows the all still feels a personal deficiency, he is completely deficient."
If you know YHVH and you somehow still feel deficient, then your nature is such that you are completely deficient since there is no other state to inhabit if you know the all and still feel so.
(68) Jesus said, "Blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted. Wherever you have been persecuted they will find no place."
When people persecute the disciples of YHSVH, it leads to a condition where those that did the persecuting shall find no place to be. Therefore there is a blessing on those who are being hated and persecuted such that their enemies will, sooner or later, fall because of those very same hatreds.
(69) Jesus said, "Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves. It is they who have truly come to know the father. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled."
To be persecuted within yourself probably means suffering which happens in the self either due to outside conditions or internal conditions that are psychological. The blessing here is that when one undergoes such a trial, they come to truly know YHVH. Likewise, the hungry will, sooner or later, have full bellies if they desire it to be filled. This might mean a spiritual condition as well as a physical one as we learn when YHSVH says that man does not live by bread alone. At the last supper, however, we are told that the bread is, in fact, His body.
(70) Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves.
That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you."
This saying seems to be directly referring to the image of YHVH or the âglorified bodyâ inside of each person which will save them if they bring it forth but otherwise will kill a person if they lack it.
(71) Jesus said, "I shall destroy this house, and no one will be able to build it [...]."
Most likely this phrase is uttered with regard to the Second Temple.
(72) A man said to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions with me."
He said to him, "O man, who has made me a divider?" He turned to his disciples and said to them, "I am not a divider, am I?"
YHSVH is not interested in material possessions. Rather, if anything, He is seeking to unite those who believe in His ministry into the One Kingdom of the father. Therefore, when the man asks Him to divide the possessions up, He replies that is not what He is. That possessions will be divided up due to His ministry, however, is a certainty. The sifting He brings creates unity ultimately and that unity is back with heaven.
(73) Jesus said, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest."
Again, a familiar quote. The harvest refers to the crops of YHVH and the laborers would be the believers or Prophets.
(74) He said, "O Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the cistern."
It is not clear who said this phrase, but if we infer that the sayer is YHSVH, then we know that this is referring most likely to the life giving waters of the kingdom. He had to come in order to allow the water to run freely again so that others could âDrinkâ of His ministry.
(75) Jesus said, "Many are standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber."
The idea here appertains to the many who say they gain access to the Kingdom, but who are âstuckâ at the door. Groups of people will not make it to the âBridal chamberâ but rather a solitary one-by-one single-file types will.
(76) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a merchant who had a consignment of merchandise and who discovered a pearl. That merchant was shrewd. He sold the merchandise and bought the pearl alone for himself. You too, seek his unfailing and enduring treasure where no moth comes near to devour and no worm destroys."
This is a variation on the âPearl of Great Priceâ which is another way of saying one should give up all material occupations in order to obtain the eternal, heavenly Kingdom.
(77) Jesus said, "It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all.
From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
This sounds a little like the concept of âPleromaâ which most take to be a word for the âHoly Spiritâ. Therefore, if we take it to be equivalent to the Holy Spirit, then the âallâ would be the spirit, which is the same in sounding as âI am the light, and the way.â The rest of these concepts allude to the presence of that light whether it be in a split piece of wood or under a stone.
78. Jesus said, "Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the
wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine garments, and they are unable to discern the truth.
Here a question is asked about why people are coming into the desert to see either YHSVH, John, or both of them. Specifically, YHSVH asks them if they were hoping to see someone shaken like a reed in the wind, which would seem to mean someone who is stirred up and deeply affected since reeds, when shaken by the wind, tend to move wildly about. The follow-up question, however, concerns seeing men clothed in fine garments like kings and âgreat menâ. He points out to the crowd that these finely clothed people despite being attired so richly still cannot discern the truth. Therefore, it would seem YHSVH is directly coming after the impressions of what people are expecting out in the desert and by so doing reminding them they are not going to see what they maybe desire to see.
(79) A woman from the crowd said to him, "Blessed are the womb which bore you and
the breasts which nourished you." He said to her, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'
A quick correction occurs here, where the honor of the mother is quickly turned to those who have instead kept the Word of the Father. This is why the womb bore YHSVH with which to start. There are days, He adds, that are coming that will make people wish children had not been born because they did not keep the word of the Father, or else, because the Father is keeping His Word about what would happen if His Word was not truly kept.
(80) Jesus said, "He who has recognized the world has found the body, but he who has found the body is superior to the world.
This appears to be a similar saying to the person who finds only a corpse when they come to the world. Since they understand there is only a body here, then they are superior to the world which believes there is some other life to be had when in fact all there is is a dead body.
(81) Jesus said, "Let him who has grown rich be king, and let him who possesses power renounce it."
The statement here is not exactly what one might be led to believe. Rich, we know, has not been defined in terms of the world. Spiritual kingdoms have been defined as riches, and so the person who has grown spiritually rich ought to be king and then the one who possesses power ought to turn that over to YHVH and therefore renounce it.
(82) Jesus said, "He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom."
Elsewhere in the Bible, YHVH says He is a consuming fire. Hence, a person near YHSVH is near the fire, which we would conclude is YHVH, and the one who is far from Him is far from the kingdom since they are not near YHVH.
(83) Jesus said, "The images are manifest to man, but the light in them remains concealed in the image of the light of the father. He >will become manifest, but his image will remain concealed by his light."
We begin to learn about the types of things that are in the Heavenly Kingdom. We see the images of them, but the light in them remains hidden by the light of the Father. The Father then will become manifest, but His image is concealed in the same way by His light. If this is difficult to understand, think about a drawn triangle as mentioned elsewhere in this book. If you draw a triangle it will always be an imperfect version compared to what you see in your mindâs eye. In this sense, the âlight of the triangleâ is concealed. There is, as far as we know, no way to make a perfect triangle that embodies the actual essence of the light of "triangleness". Hence, maybe the image of a perfect triangle is actually fundamentally different than what we think of when we visualize a triangle, and this is why we cannot draw a perfect one. That âhidden imageâ is not something known to us.
(84) Jesus said, "When you see your likeness, you rejoice. But when you see your images which came into being before you, and which >neither die not become manifest, how much you will have to bear!"
A very deep saying is this one. What is being indicated is the âform of man/womanâ that existed before the physical versions of man or woman. These images neither die nor become manifest since they are something like eternal blueprints. The remark, âhow much you will have to bear!â concerns the weight one feels as one understands that they were created from that sort of perfection, but are far from it in many ways and what it will take to try to restore that perfection.
(85) Jesus said, "Adam came into being from a great power and a great wealth, but he did not become worthy of you. For had he been >worthy, he would not have experienced death."
Another deep statement that implies whomever wrote this gospel was either inspired by YHSVH directly, or else understood many mysteries about His ministry that not very many appear to have been able to pierce. Here it is being indicated that Adam came from great power and wealth, that being YHVH and the Garden of Eden. He was not worthy of what we are assuming are the disciples, because if he HAD been worthy, he would not have experienced death. In other words, Adam died due to sin, which we learn from the Gospel of Mary Magdalene comes from an adulterous nature. Then after he âdiedâ from the garden and âfellâ, he died again later. There are two deaths indicated at least here, and the implication is that in either case if Adam had been worthy he would not have died since he would have obeyed YHVH in the beginning and not eaten the forbidden fruit, and then secondly would not have died in the flesh as a consequence of the first disobedience. This has serious implications for the ministry of YHSVH, since it means he is offering something unique that allows his followers to not experience death.
(86) Jesus said, "The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head and rest."
This is another classic Biblical quote which is familiar in the sense that animals have places they can go to relax and rest. The son of man, however, has no such place either because there is nowhere to put his head, or there is no rest, or a combination of both. Satan delights in stirring up drama.
(87) Jesus said, "Wretched is the body that is dependant upon a body, and wretched is the soul that is dependent on these two."
There are several possible meanings here. It could be that we are talking about a physical body depending on another physical body, or it could be that we are understanding the word or concept of body as applied to groups of people. Regardless, it is a disagreeable state, but more disagreeable still is a soul that is having to depend on these bodies. A body, by nature, is not a lasting construct.
(88) Jesus said, "The angels and the prophets will come to you and give to you those things you (already) have. And you too, give them >those things which you have, and say to yourselves, 'When will they come and take what is theirs?'"
Things you already have might have to do with agreements made with YHVH in the past. So they come to enforce that agreement, and in turn the people bound by that agreement give these messengers obedience to that end. The interesting part is the bit about "when they will come to take what is theirs", which implies that if there is anything that belongs to the angels and Prophets, it is probably the kingdom--which they will then take.
(89) Jesus said, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the inside is the same one who made the outside?"
This appears to be an admonishment to clean the âinside as well as the outsideâ of our existences. It is great to wash the body, for instance, but one must also wash the soul.
(90) Jesus said, "Come unto me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is mild, and you will find repose for yourselves."
Another variation on the familiar quote of being a disciple and how that is a âmilder burdenâ than other kinds of discipleship.
(91) They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you."
He said to them, "You read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you have not recognized the one who is before you, and you do not know how to read this moment."
Israel looks for signs everywhere, but they cannot clearly see who or what YHSVH is--the sign in front of them.
(92) Jesus said, "Seek and you will find. Yet, what you asked me about in former times
and which I did not tell you then, now I do desire to tell, but you do not inquire after it."
Israel has some timing issues. We do not know here fully if what is being mentioned refers to âEarlier in the ministryâ or if it concerns asking YHVH Himself something that they were, by extension then, asking YHSVH to reveal. What is evident is the time to reveal it has come, and nobody is asking about it such that it can be revealed.
(93) (Jesus said,) "Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw them on the dung-heap. Do not throw the pearls to swine, lest they [...] it [...]."
The verse we know uses the word âTrampleâ for the missing word. We do not know if this is the word here for sure, but it seems like it would fit the meaning. An addition here is âdogsâ which we know YHSVH also uses as a kind of analogy to the Samaritan woman that asks for help. He says it is not right to feed to the dogs what is meant for the children, and the Samaritan woman replies even the dogs deserve some crumbs.
(94) Jesus said, "He who seeks will find, and he who knocks will be let in.
This alludes to the Kingdom of the Father and to those who are seeking it and desiring of it such that they knock.
(95) Jesus said, "If you have money, do not lend it at interest, but give it to one from whom you will not get it back."
This is a radical position concerning money that likely few if any current Christians follow. We are not here speaking in an allegory, but with regard to physical cash. In essence, YHSVH is saying to simply give the money to someone to whom you know you are not going to receive it back from. Why would He say this? Probably to prevent the love of money from ruling the passions and desires of humanity.
(96) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain woman. She took a little leaven, concealed it in some dough, and made it into large loaves. Let him who has ears hear."
This saying is different than what we are used to hearing because typically the emphasis on bread and holiness concerns it being unleavened. We are told the Kingdom is like a certain woman who used a little leaven and concealed it in dough and made large loaves, so then perhaps the implication of the statement is that the Kingdom is within people who have unpurified egos which correlates to the leaven, and the large loaves correlate to the people who compose the kingdom with those egos. Or, maybe it is that in the Kingdom the ego naturally serves, and so leavening is not a problem there as a symbol. The mustard seed analogy applies as well. A very tiny amount of yeast makes large loaves.
(97) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain woman who was carrying a
jar full of meal. While she was walking on the road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her on the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty."
Perhaps the hardest one of these phrases to decipher is this one. Some supposition is necessary. The meal in the jar, we will say, is the substance of the Kingdom of the Father. The handle breaking we must suppose concerns our hands, since typically handles are two on certain ancient jars and they are meant for both our hands at once. Therefore, meal in the jar represents physical security, and so because of this physical security of having food in the jar, one forgets about the heavenly kingdom and so the âleft hand of unawarenessâ breaks the handle on the jar by inattention which causes a hole to form and then the meal spills out leaving a trail that points the way home. No accident is noticed due to this breakage, because quite literally the woman does not know what her left hand has âdoneâ through her lack of awareness. She gets her jar home, sets it down somewhere, then noticed it is empty because her security was in her earthly home and so she forgot about the heavenly one and lost both the âspiritual kingdomâ and the âearthly securityâ by so doing and only became aware of it when she got to her âhomeâ. Likewise, the inverse of this is true of the heavenly home because those who belong to the Kingdom pour out the meal without necessarily always knowing it throughout their lives. They do not belong to this world, but they may forget that and so pour out the offerings of that kingdom that leave them feeling âemptyâ on the Earth. This is another statement that could only come from someone with the awareness that is YHVH-like, and again gives us some evidence that at least some of these sayings are authentic.
(98) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain man who wanted to kill a
powerful man. In his own house he drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. Then he slew the powerful man."
Another difficult statement. We must assume again that the âpure Adamâ that is to say YHSVH, wishes to kill the âimpure Adamâ or the Adam of Adam and Eve. In order to do so, He is incarnated into this existence as the Hand of YHVH. The testimony of YHSVH is then established in the house of the âimpure Adamâ and so the âsword is stuck into the wallâ as testimony is known as the âSword of Torahâ. This time of testimony was to discover if the âhand could carry throughâ and we know that YHSVH did in fact carry through. After His crucifixion, the sword established brought down many nations, but most specifically the Temple was destroyed as He said it would be. Hence, he slew the powerful man.
(99) The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside."
He said to them, "Those here who do the will of my father are my brothers and my mother. It is they who will enter the kingdom of my father."
This is quite well known. Blood family means nothing in the Kingdom, only those who are doing the Will of the Father.
(100) They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "Caesar's men demand taxes from us." He said to them, "Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."
Another well-known quote can be found here. If Caesar wants material wealth, let him have it but give to YHVH what belongs to Him, and to YHSVH also what is His. In other words, pretty much everything else with the image of YHVH.
(101) (Jesus said,) "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother as I do cannot
become a disciple to me. And whoever does not love his father and his mother as I do cannot become a disciple to me. For my mother [...], but my true mother gave me life."
This is also a variation on another quote in this text. The missing words concerning YHSVHâs mother are probably âbore meâ but my true mother gave me life which refers to the heavenly mother which in Hebrew is usually thought of as YHVHâs wife, otherwise known as Ashera.
(102) Jesus said, "Woe to the pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen, for neither does he eat nor does he let the oxen eat.
Quite an illustrative phrase. Dogs and oxens make for poor company because the dogs are hunters and herders who feel compelled to herd the oxen. While the dogs are working at herding, they do not eat, and they do not let the oxen eat, since they are keeping them herded.
(103) Jesus said, "Fortunate is the man who knows where the brigands will enter, so that he may get up, muster his domain, and arm himself before they invade."
A Prophetic utterance, no doubt, concerning knowing where the thieves of the Kingdom will try to steal it away. The implication is that YHSVH will be at all these entry points since he can muster His domain and arm himself.
(104) They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today and let us fast."
Jesus said, "What is the sin that I have committed, or wherein have I been defeated? But when the bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber, then let them fast and pray."
Traditionally fasting and praying is for atoning for sin or dealing with some kind of loss. The loss, YHSVH makes clear, will be when He leaves the bridal chamber at the completion of His ministry.
(105) Jesus said, "He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot."
This could well be a prophecy with regard to YHSVH. Since He knows the Father and the Mother and there are those who say he was the son of a harlot, the description fits.
(106) Jesus said, "When you make the two one, you will become the sons of man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move away,' it will move away."
Usually this turn-of-phrase concerns Shabbat and the concept of peace, or Shalom. Therefore, it is likely making the two as one means something concerning Heaven and Earth being brought together or else two believers believing in One body/ministry of YHSVH. When this is done, there is no obstacle that can stop those who have done so.
(107) Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of
them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine sheep and looked for that one until he found it. When he had gone to such trouble, he said to the sheep, 'I care for you more than the ninety-nine.'"
A parable about the Kingdom. When the largest out of a 100 sheep went astray, it had to be found. Therefore, the 99 sheep had to be left in order to seek the largest one. On account of the trouble, the love is greater for the missing sheep. What could this mean? It could mean there is a sheepfold somewhere in the heavenly kingdom, and one sheep, the largest, had gone astray and the problem with it could be found here on the Earth, and so therefore the shepherd had to be dispatched to go retrieve it and correct its sheep-thinking.
(108) Jesus said, "He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.
Drinking from the mouth of YHSVH implies accepting His testimony and also a kind of hydration which concerns âliving watersâ which is said elsewhere He is renewing. This process is intensive in the sense that YHSVH also becomes that person, and all the hidden things are revealed to that person as this process occurs. This has a correlation in understanding the unity of the âWordâ of YHVH.
(109) Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a man who had a hidden treasure in his field
without knowing it. And after he died, he left it to his son. The son did not know (about the treasure). He inherited the field and sold it. And the one who bought it went plowing and found the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished."
This analogy can be likened to Israel and the forefathers who had been given the keys to the Kingdom and so hid them in this case, in a field. As time goes on, because the inheritance is forgotten about, the field is only valued as a field. Finally, the field is sold for money, and somebody else comes along and works the field and discovers the hidden treasure. The lending money at interest here implies something again of the Ministry of YHSVH in the sense that the Kingdom is open to anyone, but there is âchargeâ or âinterestâ on the charge which is only really paid by following the example YHSVH sets.
(110) Jesus said, "Whoever finds the world and becomes rich, let him renounce the world."
Richness here means spiritual richness, and once you find that, you should renounce the world and its riches as a main desire.
(111) Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will be rolled up in your presence. And the
one who lives from the living one will not see death." Does not Jesus say, "Whoever finds himself is superior to the world?"
This quote concerns Revelation and those who shall not taste death concerning that time. The extra little bit at the end, though, about âDoes not Jesus sayâ sounds like it was probably added to. I doubt there was a need for YHSVH to talk about himself in the third person.
(112) Jesus said, "Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul; woe to the soul that depends on the flesh."
We have seen this quote in modified form elsewhere. The basic truth is that the flesh that depends on the soul will suffer in some way or another, and the soul that depends on the flesh will certainly suffer.
(113) His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"
(Jesus said,) "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is.' Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth and men do not see it.â
Men do not see the Kingdom because they are blind to the workings of the Kingdom. YHSVH came to restore their sight and here answers quite matter-of-factly where the Kingdom is.
114. Simon Peter said to him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life."
Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."
Finally, we end the book of Thomas in a similar place to where we left the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Peter is saying that women are not worthy of everlasting life probably because of the episode with Eve. YHSVH says that he will lead her to make her male so she might become a living spirit. This does not mean the outward form of gender, but the inner image of YHVH. Something about her spirit shall become more âman-likeâ due to the influence of YHSVH leading her. Because of this, the women or woman who does this, will enter the kingdom of heaven which should end the objections of Peter once and for all.
It was only 114, but some of those stairs were larger than others. Anyway, you made it down all of them and here we are in the basement of the technique. We took the Gospel of Thomas as a way to get down the stairs because the beginning of the way this technique developed was, in no small way, brought about by the study and understanding of Astrology. As mentioned elsewhere, Thomas was the disciple who was sent off to India according to common belief, so it makes sense if we are going to study the roots of this specific technique that we would have to pass through his alleged work to get here. Backwards to Magdalene, though, we did not study the person whose work we read. Rather, we studied the work of the person and we did not learn much about Thomas. We have to remedy that first and we shall turn to Wikipedia to do so:
According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of India, the Apostle Thomas landed in Muziris (Cranganore) on the Kerala coast in AD 52 and was martyred in Mylapore, near Madras in AD 72. The port was destroyed in 1341 by a massive flood that realigned the coasts. He is believed by the Saint Thomas Christian tradition to have established seven churches (communities) in Kerala. These churches are at Kodungallur, Palayoor, Kottakkavu (Paravur), Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Nilackal (Chayal), Kollam, and Thiruvithamcode. Thomas baptized several families, namely Pakalomattom, Sankarapuri, Kalli, Kaliyankal etc. Other families claim to have origins almost as far back as these, and the religious historian Robert Eric Frykenberg notes that: "Whatever dubious historicity may be attached to such local traditions, there can be little doubt as to their great antiquity or to their great appeal in the popular imagination."
It was to a land of dark people he was sent, to clothe them by Baptism in white robes. His grateful dawn dispelled India's painful darkness. It was his mission to espouse India to the One-Begotten. The merchant is blessed for having so great a treasure. Edessa thus became the blessed city by possessing the greatest pearl India could yield. Thomas works miracles in India, and at Edessa Thomas is destined to baptize peoples perverse and steeped in darkness, and that in the land of India.
ââHymns of Saint Ephrem, edited by Lamy (Ephr. Hymni et Sermones, IV).
... Into what land shall I fly from the just?
I stirred up Death the Apostles to slay, that by their death I might escape their blows.
But harder still am I now stricken: the Apostle I slew in India has overtaken me in Edessa; here and there he is all himself. There went I, and there was he: here and there to my grief I find him. ââquoted in Medlycott 1905, Ch II
Ephrem the Syrian, a doctor of Syriac Christianity, writes in the forty-second of his "Carmina Nisibina" that the Apostle was put to death in India, and that his remains were subsequently buried in Edessa, brought there by an unnamed merchant.
According to Eusebius' record, Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to Parthia and northwest India. The Didascalia (dating from the end of the 3rd century) states, "India and all countries condering it, even to the farthest seas... received the apostolic ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in the church which he built."
According to traditional accounts, Thomas is believed to have left northwest India when an attack threatened and traveled by vessel to the Malabar Coast, possibly visiting southeast Arabia and Socotra en route, and landing at the former flourishing port of Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor) (c. AD 50) in the company of a Jewish merchant Abbanes/Habban (Schonfield, 1984,125).From there he is said to have preached the gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various churches he founded were located mainly on the Periyar River and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. In accordance with apostolic custom, Thomas ordained teachers and leaders or elders, who were reported to be the earliest ministry of the Malankara Church.
According to Syrian Christian tradition, Thomas was killed with a spear at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai on 3 July in AD 72, and his body was interred in Mylapore. Ephrem the Syrian states that the Apostle was killed in India, and that his relics were taken then to Edessa. This is the earliest known record of his death.
The records of Barbosa from the early 16th century record that the tomb was then maintained by a Muslim who kept a lamp burning there. The St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India presently located at the tomb was first built in the 16th century by the Portuguese, and rebuilt in the 19th century by the British. St. Thomas Mount has been a revered site by Muslims and Christians since at least the 16th century.
Of interest is the allusion to Thomas being sent to a âland of dark peopleâ as Biblically speaking we usually think of âdarkened skin peopleâ as being the sons of Ham, and indeed, there is evidence to suggest that the people of India are descendants of Ham. Ham, it will be recalled, was the one Noah âcursedâ for looking at his (Noahâs) nakedness.
So, we now better understand that Thomas whose name meant twin was speared in a way reminiscent of the Messiah while in India. Some 1800 years later, a Swami by the name of Yukteswar lives and writes about his meditation technique. Some 140 years later, I would find and read about that technique which forms the basis of this entire meditation book. Let us first study the âold techniqueâ as I developed it.
This part of meditation can be done a million times, and will still never reach the point of "perfection". There is always more to learn, new things that develop, more to integrate. In these integrations, there are always new blockages that can arise, as awareness attempts to grasp and comprehend. The sum total of all spiritual traditions that ever have been or will be amounts to refinement of the following procedure. First, put your focus on the bottoms of your feet. If you have shoes on, it can be helpful to remove them. If you can be outside in the grass, this is especially helpful, but if you cannot, contact with the floor in the environment you find yourself is sufficient.
Move your awareness to the bottom of your feet, specifically where the arch of the foot either is, or should be. Imagine a spiral on the bottom of both feet in this area. Imagine it extruding into three dimensions, and drilling down into the Earth like the roots of a tree. Feel this energy at the bottom of your feet for as long as it takes for you to begin to feel either cold on the bottom of your feet, hot on the bottom of your feet, or tingly. Perhaps some combination of all three may occur. The feeling that should be predominate in your mind, however, should be one of stability and heaviness--not so heavy that you feel like someone has squashed you with a boulder--but heaviness in the sense that you might have felt as a child when your shoes were off and you ran in the grass.
Once you establish this feeling, it is time to bring it up to the very base of your spine, or the first chakra. Many old texts will tell you to focus on the perineum, and there is value in keeping your focus here as it has a tendency to get hot or vibrate quicker than any other area. Let your mind settle here. Begin to take in information. What is here? Is it emotional? Do you have an early memory of your family? Is it happy or sad? Do you feel pain elsewhere when you focus here? Accept whatever you see or feel. Then, take note of the color present here. If it is any color other than rainbow or red, it likely needs to be drained. Imagine the connection that you established at your feet as a pipeline, and let this area drain down it into the Earth. Note the color. Pay attention to any memories or sensations you get in your body. Is anything different? Once you get this area red, your job is complete. However, it may be that you have to do this technique several times before this happens. If you have trouble seeing anything, or otherwise are not sure, do not feel discouraged but do the best you can and move on with the rest of the meditation. It may well be some other area is off-- above this area--and by doing this meditation, you eventually reach a place where you can see with ease.
The next place you want to move the energy up in your body that you started moving at your feet will be the second chakra, located approximately two inches below the navel. Let your mind rest here. What do you see? Is it emotional in nature? Creative? Sexual? Something you vaguely remember, but cannot put your finger on? Relax, let whatever needs to come arrive. Be accepting of what this area would like to show you. Examine the color. Is it something other than rainbow colored or orange? Better drain it as you did before if so. Try to go for the color orange, but again, if it does not take immediately do not become frustrated but continue on with the process.
Bring the energy up again. By now, it should seem a little like Christmas tree bulbs in that the electrical wire is drawing from the feet but runs to each bulb. Bring your energy up to the third chakra--located about where the lungs Y where the diaphragm rests. Let your mind sit here. What do you see? Does it feel comfortable? Does it seem tight? Are you able to see yourself easily accomplishing those things you want to do here? Does it feel like a struggle? Is there pain anywhere else in your body? Take note. What color is here? If it is not yellow or rainbow, it is time to drain this area. As much as is possible, go for a bright yellow. Pay attention to the shape, as you should for the previous areas as well. Is it round? Is it dented up? Make it as round as you can, and if some other color occurs to you to put here to get it eventually to yellow, then do that. The next area to bring the energy to sits between the breasts at the sternum. This area is the heart chakra. Put your focus here. What emotions do you have here? Does it seem like you have plenty of self-love here, or are you feeling a quart low? Can you be compassionate here, or are you exhausted? Is there some past relationship issue here, or are you currently content? Examine the color. If it is not rainbow colored or green, allow it to drain. Go as much as you can for the color green. As with the other areas, examine the shape, and take note of any pain or out-of-place sensation.
Now we bring the energy to the throat, which sits at the little divot where the clavicle meets. If you are not sure where that is, think about all those medical shows on TV where you see them inserting a breathing tube. Put your focus on this spot. Breathe. Can you breathe easy? Is it constricted here? Does it feel tight here compared to your chest? Are you able to express yourself how you most need to? If there are colors here other than blue or rainbow, drain it. Try to go for as much blue as you can.
Next, bring your focus either to between your eyebrows or the center of your forehead. This is the third eye area. When you focus here, what do you perceive? Is it clear, or hazy? Are you having concerns about bills and money, or is it relatively tranquil? Some of you may have interesting experiences at this area, as it is one of the areas that governs psychic sensitivity. If you see something here, do not pay much attention to it other than to take note it is here. What color is here? If it is not rainbow or indigo, it is time to drain it. Go for a deep purple/blue here as much as possible. If this area was weaker or black, and you could see nothing before, re-examine some of your previous chakras and see if your ability to perceive color is any better. Sometimes this area will be blocked and make perception harder until it is addressed.
Finally, bring your focus to the tip-top of your head at the very center. What do you see here? Is it black? Clear? Do you see angel-like things or past family members? Do you see nothing at all? Acknowledge everything. Bring in the colors purple and white here, and imagine them funneling through all the previous areas all the way down to your feet. Let go of anything and everything when you do this, as this is a purging energy. How do you feel? Put your focus at the top of your head once again. What do you see here? Spiritually advanced people may experience a traveling sensation, or a conversation with a guide. Often, people simply fall asleep, and this is fine too, although one should strive toward staying more awake during semi-lucid states. Hold your focus here, and see if anything occurs to you that seems out of the ordinary. Pay attention to it. Once you are done exploring the crown of your head, put your focus back down on your feet. Re-connect with that feeling of heaviness earlier. We certainly do not want you floating off or attempting to drive after such lofty heights as the crown chakra have been reached. You may need to stomp your feet on the floor, or let your toes dig into the soil if outdoors. Feel yourself return to your body in fullness. If you experience a lighter feeling, this is extremely positive. If you do not, but you feel slightly more energized, this is also good. If you feel neither of those, but you feel unsettled, this is also a good thing, but it means there is work to be done, and more things to be purged. You should take heart that you have opted to do something proactive on your journey instead of simply reacting.
This is the basic technique which uses color. There are other ways to meditate which I will discuss briefly further on.
You made it through the old color basement technique, and that is excellent. You will remember, however, that there is also a planetary technique. The advantage of the above color technique is that when it was written, this technique did not vary all that much. The rainbow had been âsittingâ in the color arrangement it was in for over 2,000 years. At the point the Woman of Revelation showed up, however, it began a new kind of color coding which has not, as of this time, fully settled. So, in order for completeness to be met, we should now visit the planetary technique of meditation here in the basement.
The gateways to interaction with the chakras are many. One might use animals, sounds, or any number of things. At certain points, one may become advanced enough to meet a guide who helps or assists. A slightly more advanced version of meditation utilizes the following method: At the first chakra, imagine you can take the planet Saturn out of the sky and drop it at that first area. Why Saturn? Because of what it represents, which would take books to cover. For the purposes of this meditation, simply know the planets have certain meanings all of their own in the inner world. At the second chakra, imagine you can take the planet Jupiter out of the sky and drop it here. At the third, Mars. At the fourth, Venus. At the fifth, Mercury. At the sixth, combine the sun in the front at the forehead to the moon in the back of the head in some fashion. At the seventh, probably nothing, but sometimes Uranus or Neptune work here. Now, you might ask yourself why these particular planets at these areas. Since we are in the basement I will tell you when I finish explaining the technique.
Ideally, the meditation methods I have outlined here would be practiced for 21 days consecutively for 15 to 20 minutes a day. At the end of that period, it would be highly surprising to find that someone undertaking the exercise seriously and openly would feel no change inside themselves. After you get good at this, combine traditional breath work, and see where you go!
The planets are placed in the order they are due to the construction of the Adam Kadmon or the perfect man. The solar system we inhabit is, in a roundabout way, a fractal of the Perfect human being in the sense that the planetary bodies in addition to being visual solid things we can see are actually kinds of resonators of sympathetic energy which happens to operate in their wavelength.
Traditionally, science called this sympathetic fluid a kind of aether, and went on to disprove that such a thing exists but also shows that such a thing does exist when it comes to magnetic fields and how they operate and the bending of spacetime due to the presence of planetary bodies. To be sure, the definitions we use in a modern sense in science no longer reflect or understand these things to be aether, but it seems to be a negligible point if you call the sheet that bends âspacetimeâ or âbendy aetherâ to anyone who might understand something about auras. Only scientists get angry when these terms are asserted, in part because it removes the material bias which has become endemic among the field. Aether then can be thought of either as the fluid in which lines of force move such as in magnetics, or as magnetics itself.
Personally, I tend to think of it more like a rarefied version of a vat of Mercuryâthe kind which seem to have been made by Aztecs under certain pyramids for reasons that do not have practical scientific explanations. They do, however, provide very specific âaetherâ explanations. Therefore, since the body is composed of light vibrating at different rates of speed and timing which correlates to the location of certain vital organs, one will then note that the planets do much the same in the sense that they are reported, by those in deeper states of meditation, to sound rather like a ringing of a bell. This sound is probably the harmonic state of the planet being picked up on by the consciousness of the experiencer and so it is that certain planets vibrate at lower and higher pitches relative to the octave at which their existence âringsâ within the aether. Since the body has correlating parts to these frequencies, then the color associated with the area changes in relation to the spiritual movement of the magnetics of the body. Each planet then has a certain mathematical kind of musical description, and as the orbit varies in the heavens the concert and ringing is either closer or more distant and the Earth as well as the inhabitants on it experience these shifts. The body experiences these shifts as well, and health is the ability to be able to endure these changes while a homeostasis is kept within the body such that no specific part begins to go âtoo far out of rangeâ compared to what the whole can withstand.
It follows then that all the planets are congruent with frequencies in the Human body in one way or another, and so the Solar system vibrates in ways consistent with that fundamental truth and one can then, with a little know-how, understand the Adam Kadmon to be applicable to this specific little section of the universe.
To quote another famous phrase, I can now say âPromises made, promises keptâ as in previous editions I said that one day in a more complete work I would begin to explore the mechanisms behind this planetary assignment to chakras. To understand the implication of this overview, however, could take a lifetime in only understanding a single chakra.
In order then to understand the above techniques, it helps us to understand something about Sri Yukteswar who was the writer of the book âThe Holy Scienceâ where I first found the rudiments of this technique:
Sri Yukteswar was born to a wealthy business man and his wife on May 10, 1855, in Serampore, India. He was given the name Priya Nath Karar.
Upon leaving college, he married and had a daughter, and in 1884 he became a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya. After the death of his wife, Priya Nath Karar became a Swami and received the name Sri Yukteswar Giri.
He met Babaji, the guru of Lahiri Mahasaya, in 1894. Â Babaji told him that one day he would send Sri Yukteswar a disciple who would share the teachings of yoga in the West. This disciple turned out to be Paramhansa Yogananda, who is best known for his book, Autobiography of a Yogi. Babaji also asked Sri Yukteswar to write a book on the essential unity of the Bible and Bhagavad Gita, the most well-known scripture in India. Sri Yukteswar titled this book The Holy Science.
Sri Yukteswar founded two hermitages, one of which was his family home given to him by his father as his inheritance. In the last year of his life, Sri Yukteswar turned over all his properties to Paramhansa Yogananda, asking him to find someone to maintain them.
Sri Yukteswar left his body on March 9, 1936. Soon after, he appeared to Yogananda and described to him the nature of the afterlife.
Thus reads the description of Yukteswar's life.
Sri Yukteswarâs work, *The Holy Science*, is brilliant and it is also deeply flawed. It is best experienced on its own merits and so, should you wish to understand more about the method, one ought to purchase the book and read it in their leisure. Yukteswar wrote in such a way that he hoped to be able to reconcile all the worldâs religions. I, personally, have found that this is impossible. If, on the other hand, one wishes to say that all the worldâs religions have wisdom, then I would agree with that assertion. So, I would say Yukteswar did manage to achieve his end, although perhaps not the way he imagined, with this specific kind of meditation that he was instrumental in discovering in the sense that any faith can employ this technique. Where Yukteswar was mistaken, in my experience, is that not all roads lead to the same experiential horizons of oneness as not all Gods are one with other Gods in terms of their thought-forms and spiritual domains. There is only one God I know which asserts that His existence is One and emphasizes it. Brahma is a similar understanding, but does not assert such Oneness in the same manner. Indeed, sometimes it seems Brahma is more like an âimpersonal forceâ as opposed to an essence.
My aim with this book is more to point at a direction. Perhaps you will have a different experience and arrive at a differing conclusion. As long as you take responsibility for whatever road it is you wish to travel and do it with a spirit of Truth, I doubt we will arrive in any serious disagreement. However, in order to try to do what Yukteswar was trying to do we are going to need another piece. Time to visit the Messianic section of the basement...
To be Messianic means one accepts Yahshuah(YHSVH) as the savior of mankind. (Pronunciation is Ya--short a--shoe a wah) You will notice the above technique makes no mention of YHSVH as the savior which is fine in the sense the technique can still work but the conclusions might not totally apply. This is why this book exists. Very often in the Messianic world, there is an overlap of what I would term "Classical Paul Conditioningâ otherwise known as some version of Roman Christianity. The irony, of course, is that the Messianic Church began well before Paul and had beliefs independent of Rome such that Rome was none-too-pleased with those who followed YHSVH. The reason everyone in Rome was miffed was because it made an entire class of people willing to defy the Emperor of Rome should the Emperorâs decree differ from what the Messiah taught. It proves difficult to govern people who will disregard laws a King or Emperor will impose. It makes that group of people, more often than not, a potentially large liability.
Paul was a Roman citizen who was especially interested in witnessing to the Gentiles. His branches of Christianity became what most of us know as Christianity today. The problem, however, was that Paul was a Roman citizen who was specifically preaching to the Gentiles. Before this point, his name was Saul, and he was a Jew. He was overly zealous in his persecution of the fledgling Messianic groups that he was killing them or helping to destroy them. Hence, Paul had a direct intervention from the Messiah that caused a trauma to him that made him change his beliefs, but his mission was specifically and foremost to the Gentiles. Combined with several Roman Catholic councils later, what we have is mostly a Romanized Christianity that Rome allowed to proliferate since it did not pose any inherent threat to the Empire in the form it attained afterwards.
Roman Christianity has an interest in trying to either manipulate or control the Holy Spirit or the Shekinah. That is not to say that all Christians do this. It is to say, however, that they believe that once they read something by Paul and it appears in the Bible that they âunderstandâ what that verse means. More often than not, these verses are misapplied and so frequently people who are spiritually gifted with certain fruits of the spirit are ostracized by congregations because they default to explanations such as witchcraft and satanism.
An important point, however, is that the early Messianics would NOT have done this. Why? Well, think about it. They saw the Savior do wondrous miracles that He then invested authority in others to perform. What would happen if say a modern day James came into a typical congregation and called down thunder? A normative Christian response would probably be fear and then to kill him or at the very least give him a very hard time. Hence, modern Christians often wind-up persecuting Messianics, and Messianics who once were believers in Paul find it harder to shake that conditioning than they reckoned for and so simply become âmore Jewishâ in their Shabbat services.
The reason I have outlined all of the above history in this section is so that if you are Messianic, and you think to yourself, âHey, Iâd like to try this out buttttâŚ.â well now you happen to have a little more perspective by which to make your decision. It is the case that all of the Church founders and elders wished the churches to cohere especially during challenging times. This is the heart of the Messianic message. All of these fractured frameworks and specific interpretations interfere with spirit simply revealing what it wishes to be revealed. What I have articulated above is a way that allows spirit to specifically speak in the way it wishes to in a way that is comprehensible to the individual. Whereas often times people have dreams or visions and are uncertain as to the meaning, if you practice the above technique, the meaning will become apparent. As it is said in Psalms 104:34--âMy meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord.â
Originally, I was going to end this section right here. My wife, though, she recommended I include a specific way to access a salvation state. It was a good idea. She also suggested that I include some brief overview of the tenets of faith that accompany such a salvation state.
The basics to be Messianic are really to realize the truth of the following verse:
Matthew 7-7: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.âŚ
Interpreted loosely, our light bodies are bound with transgressions against holiness and eventually one is going to want to seek a way to undo those binds. The old way is to try to meditate for a thousand lives. The way YHSVH opened is instant. One simply has to admit that a) they have taken actions against holiness in some way or another and b) the mediator or forgiveness of these transgressions comes through the atonement of YHSVH, the Messiah. One then allows themselves to be "led" by YHSVH which allows a clean spirit to reside in the body. Much easier than meditating for a thousand lives, right?
Q: All that Eastern stuff is pagan and demonic!
A: This is not phrased as a question.
Q: Why are you learning about all those Eastern Traditions, which are pagan and demonic?
A: This is a question. The interesting thing about pagan and demonic is that quite often these matters rely on the discernment of an individual. If you think the above technique is pagan or demonic, then by all means, do not do it. I really would prefer you stay entirely away from the technique.
Q: Arenât you opening yourself up to demons?
A: Some Talmudic perspective might be helpful: âIt has been taught: Abba Benjamin says, If the eye had the power to see them, no creature could endure the demons. Abaye says: They are more numerous than we are and they surround us like the ridge around a field. R. Huna says: Every one among us has a thousand on his left hand and ten thousand on his right hand. Raba says: The crushing of the crowd in the Kallah [yearly public] lectures comes from them. Fatigue in the knees comes from them. The wearing out of the clothes of the scholars is due to their rubbing against them. The bruising of the feet comes from them.â So then, the answer is you are already surrounded by a bajillion million demons that you are more likely to open up to by taking a trip to Taco Bell.
Q: This meditation stuff scares me.
A: Also not a question.
Q: Why does this meditation stuff scare me?
A: I dunno. Why donât you try meditating and find out?
Q: When I meditated weird thing X happened?
A: Yes, weird things can happen. Sometimes you need to talk to someone else well-versed in meditation. Find someone who is more experienced at it than you are.
Q: But I donât know anyone! How am I supposed to find help?
A: The World Wide Web is a convenient place. You can email me at jbschirtzinger@theroyalrainbow.com. You can also visit my site at jbschirtzinger.com.
Q: I want to ask you specifically a question though?
A: See my contact information above.
We have covered an immense amount of territory, material, and time in over 100 pages. It almost feels like what should be said here is some version of the standard âOur Incredible Journey Togetherâ. However, a writer does not get to necessarily always know who is reading the work he or she wrote, and so one writes for those future companions as though they are just undertaking the journey for the first time. It is a kind of âloopâ that we understand to be similar to a season, or perhaps we understand to be karma. This âloopâ usually is our job to break and to build upon or retain the pieces that do not need to be broken or discarded. This can be a very difficult task.
The first editions of this book were written from a more practical âin the fieldâ Eastern awareness stance. While meditating about the future of such a technique one day, I was told understanding the Bible was a little akin to getting a PHD in understanding awareness. I was somewhat taken aback by this, as at the time the only exposure to the Bible I had was a more Southern Christian perspective, and it did not appear to me to be leading to a PHD understanding of awareness. However, I also knew there were Jewish people who did all manner of things with Kabbalah that certainly sounded similar to these techniques and I could see where the Bible had inclusion of these matters although most often in a recondite way. In actuality, I was all ready looking for the âlost fragmentsâ of what was termed âThe Wayâ which has echoes in beliefs like the Tao in China.
âThe Wayâ is really the great unifier of all these traditions and it culminated in the personage of YHSVH who literally lived The Way at a level so high we are all still scratching our heads and figuring pieces of it out. The Way is deep. The Way is counterintuitive. The Way is like drinking from a cup that has no bottom but which you arrive at your personal limit in terms of what you can swallow. The Way is limitless and limited. If it were not limitless, how could you drink and fill your thirst and never exhaust it? If it were not limited, how could you drink anything in the first place? The Way leads to the Kingdom which men do not see, and whose rules may be similar to but differ from the rules of the World who, we are told, is populated chiefly by a dead carcass.
The Way is the Mysticism, and the Way leads to life--IS the life force. In some sense, there is nothing but the Way and the One who made it. Perhaps made is not even the right word. Perhaps there is the Way and the One who emanates it. This is the stream, and it is maybe what Yukteswar was hoping to unite where all World Religions were concerned.
However, there is also a path. In this book we covered the beginning of the announcement of a New Adam as per the Celestial Messenger of the Woman of Revelation which demanded a new technique. This, in turn, required understanding the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and showed a specific kind of meditation for women as per her example. This makes some sense if it is the case that a new Cosmic Man reveals something about the Exemplar of Women who will be lead to be a spirit âlike menâ.
We found that the original disciples had some issues with Mary Magdalene on account of her being a woman, and on account of the fact that they felt she was âmore loved than themâ by YHSVH.
We covered all that to then go to the roots of the technique in a basement, and to do that we had to descend down a winding staircase that just so happened to be the sayings of Thomas from the Gospel of Thomas. We learned that Thomas has some sayings that are perhaps authentic and some that we might be able to âdoubtâ. How âThomasâ like! The sayings that are probably authentic are very deep, and are indeed uttered by someone very masterful in the Way. The ones that are questionable are perhaps edited. Who can say? Only the spirit assisting the seeker on the journey. We arrive in the basement, and find ourselves dealing with the old technique and immersed with a Swami from the 1800âs who first wrote it down as a way to try to reconcile all the worldâs religions which was an assignment he reported as given to him for reasons he did not understand by âBabajiâ which is a transcendent âObi-wanâ ghost-like Yogi. He received this request as he was meditating and his main student he entrusts his teachings to goes to the west and becomes quite influential in a state that has a similar namesake to an old Hindu GoddessâCali-fornia. From there, we discover or else find that his assignment is impossible, and perhaps that is what Babaji was hoping he would find, but that is not the basis of Yukteswarâs book. The Holy Science does not say, âBabaji, I am sorry bro, but I cannot make this happen.â. No, instead it tries to do the task asked of it and succeeds in the sense that it explains a portion of âThe Wayâ or shows what I would call the road or path. This path, however, does not reconcile world religions, as different beliefs concern different destinations, but perhaps Yukteswar knew this and decided this was âthe best that could be doneâ given the task.
It is clear then that Yukteswar is missing a Grand Unifying Piece, and so we eventually go into the Messianic Corner of the basement, and learn about how that applies to Messianic belief and then therefore âThe Wayâ. Suddenly, with that piece slotted in, we can understand how Yukteswarâs technique can reconcile world religions, although it does so through the testimony of the Avatar that embodied âthe Wayâ, which is quite an Indian kind of belief in the sense that Krishna is always thought to come back at certain ages to embody an Avatar state to kick off the age in question. The difference here, of course, is that Krishna is embodied in YHSVH which many Indian people would likely contest.
How do I reconcile that contesting? Well, for me it is quite simple. My problem is the road. My problem is not converting others or convincing them of the truth. That problem falls to the Messiah. Now, it may happen that in my travels on the road someone is convinced of something the Messiah said or did not say and so their belief may change based upon my travels. Fine. All I can say is that the planning committee and zoning and all those kinds of decisions are above my pay-scale and so if you want to send Vedic hate mail, you will have to address it to the deity that is far above my pay scale. If your religion is somehow subsumed by YHSVH, well, I would say that is a problem between you and YHSVH to work out. The quality of the Way is Truth, and the quality of Truth is that you will either ultimately believe it or reject it. While people are led to Truth by differing waysâsome by the mind, some by the heart, some by the spirit, and some by some other inscrutable way, they all ultimately arrive at a spot where the Truth stands and they have to decide whether they will follow it or not.
This Way I have outlined, then, is somewhat akin to servicing your vehicle, or if you are from some other timeline feeding your horse and making sure your chariot wheels stay on the chariot. You can perform the maintenance of your vehicle with a belief in God or you can change the oil being an atheist. The type of car you have and the experience of the ride may change on that basis quite drastically, but the fact that you must change the oil is a constant if you wish to have a car. If you have a horse, you will have to find some hay or grass or you will soon have a skinny horse incapable of getting you anywhere.
This Way is transcendent, and it does not require you to believe in it in order to work. Indeed, I would rather someone try it that does not believe it and have a genuine experience in order to sort out their beliefs than I would someone who all ready believes something using it and finding a simple confirmation of what they all ready believe. In the first case, growth will happen, and in the second, perhaps stagnation. In addition to all the spiritual texts this book has covered, it also has logged with me countless hours of guided meditation. It helped found a small metaphysical store that I think in no small way helped to change the world. It came with me when I was on vacations, and stuck around with me when things fell apart. The beauty of the âroadâ meditation is that it can be used in many settings while the technique remains the same. The technique has proven to be malleable enough to be adapted when things change, but rigid enough to have some fundamental structure. The unknowns can eventually be known, and having to re-learn the technique does not entail having to re-learn everything previously learned. If this technique is not a manifestation of wisdom, it surely drinks from its cup and I am glad to have been able to develop it to the extent that it has been. It is rather like having a flower in oneâs garden than one wishes to see grow but one is not sure of what conditions are necessary to ensure its outcome. It grows in unanticipated, novel, ways. That growth requires a kind of awareness to notice, and so the circle completes. Where better to leave off on concluding remarks than the circle enclosing itself?
During the 90's a popular mantra was from a book Hillary Clinton used as a model of her political aspirations. The book was called *It Takes a Village* which received as much comedic attention as one would expect.
To make a book like this, though, it does take a village. The village is populated with web authors, authors of antique books and tomes, and the efforts of countless people who make an effort to preserve the context in which these works exist.
One of the modern problems we face concerns copyright. At the heart of that debate is "When is something collectively owned?". This question is only pressed when the financial incentive is large. Nobody cares if someone uses something that only earned them fifty cents.
The issue then is when do you credit "The Village?" and how do you do it, and where do you leave off? Meditation teaches us if nothing else that everything is connected.
In this book the only images used were ones that said outright "We give away all rights to the public domain" and anything else was something that was made by the author, or his wife.
In developing these meditation techniques for this edition of the book, I found something interesting that had not shown up in my research before and so I will quote it here:
Jesus is at the center of our altar because he appeared to the yoga master Babaji and asked him to send someone to the West to spread the teachings of original Christianity. Jesus told Babaji that his followers needed to learn how to receive him through deep meditation, as beautifully described in the verse, âAs many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of Godâ (John 1:12). He said that although his followers still do good works, they have lost the ability to commune inwardly with God. Because of Jesusâs request, Paramhansa Yogananda came to the West. Thus, Jesus Christ is honored with a place on our altars and in our daily prayers.
Yogananda shares further in Chapter 33 of Autobiography of a Yogi, âThe Mahavatar is in constant communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age. The work of these two fully-illumined mastersâone with the body, and one without itâis to inspire the nations to forsake suicidal wars, race hatreds, religious sectarianism, and the boomerang-evils of materialism.â A purpose of Anandaâs worldwide work is to carry out Babaji and Christâs plan to aid the evolution of consciousness in this ascending age.
This is from a connected website concerning Yuktewswar, Babaji, and Yogananda. Yukteswar, Babaji in tandem with Lahiri Mahasaya Yoganada maintained were reincarnated wise men present at the birth of YHSVH.
Yogananda described in his book *The Second Coming of Christ* his interaction with Jesus thusly:
His face was divine. His appearance was of a young man in his twenties, with sparse beard and moustache; his long black hair, parted in the middle, had a golden light about it. His feet were not touching the floor. His eyes were the most beautiful, the most loving eyes I have ever seen. The whole universe I saw glistening in those eyes. They were infinitely changing, and with each transition of expression I intuitively understood the wisdom conveyed. In his glorious eyes I felt the power that upholds and commands the myriad worlds.
As he gazed down at me, a HOLY GRAIL appeared at his mouth. It descended to my lips and touched them; then went up again to Jesus. After a few moments of rapt silent communion, he said to me: âTHOU DOST DRINK OF THE SAME CUP OF WHICH I DRINK.â
At that I bowed down. I was joyous beyond dreams to receive the testimony of his blessings, of his presenceâŚHis words meant that I was drinking of his wisdom through the Holy Grail of his perceptions which he has dropped in my consciousness, and he was pleased. He approved very dearly and blessed me for writing these interpretations. This I can say without pride, because the interpretation of Christâs words herein is not mine. It has been given to me. I am happy this book is coming through me: but I am not the author. It is Christ. I am only the vehicle through which it is explained.
It would seem then that what motivated these swamis was a need for "communion" with Jesus. Does that mean then that the only copyright here belongs to Jesus Christ?
It seems like a flippant question, but becomes very important. I have taken extra care to be sure to credit those who inspired my work or helped shape it. On the other hand, much of my work has been stolen or adapted. When I have approached people who have done this, they simply deny having done so. Is the copyright that Jesus holds the same as the one YHSVH holds? Were these above swamis reincarnated wise men?
All of these questions seem a trifle ridiculous, because they are. We live in a clown society that still does not know how to commune with the Messiah. Who cares if the above three saw Jesus, or were wise men? What ultimately matters is the fruit that is produced in the course of their experiences.
Yukteswar speaks rather bleakly in a quote attributed to him:
Forget the past. The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.
No, Yukteswar. That is the "wrong way" and possibly a ticket to Alzheimer's. You cannot anchor into "The Divine" and also forget the past unless you happen to be a permanent resident in heaven, and if you are, would you mind renting a house out to me in the meantime? It is true the lives of men are often pock-marked with shame. Eventually, though, shame has to transform into something else, unless the only thing we wish to say about our village is "What a shame it is!"
We really do not know how to be in a village--let alone a global one. We still do not well understand how to commune with YHSVH but the way was all ready established. He chose his disciples, and so, if Thomas went to India, that is the disciple one needs to understand. It took a village--of disciples.
I cannot say that this work I here offer remedies the original mission of these Yogis or Swamis. All I can say is that I took my best shot, and found some rewarding material within the pages of the material that discuss their studies, regardless of whatever foibles they might have personally suffered. I can safely say, however, that I understand what YHSVH was asking Babaji. The problem is as present today as it was then. The ego offers a thousand traps.
In 2020, there was another stellar configuration that many described as the "Star of Bethlehem" which overlaps the birth of the Messiah at least in name. The US was busy being engaged in election turmoil riding on the heels of a movement that proclaimed "Where we go one, we go all". Tell me a civilization has trouble being a village, without telling me it has trouble being a village? Maybe everyone would have done better to meditate. Maybe everyone would have done better to "Do Nothing Well." Maybe the problem is the resistance to such a process. Maybe that's why they felt like they were reincarnated wise men.
Everything else I quoted here falls under what is termed "Fair use" in the sense that I offer commentary on the quoted sections. Indeed, it would be an odd world to try to have Bible commentary while also having the Bible under copyright. "But this is my translation of the Word of God," might sound like something you can copyright, but really, does it not simply belong to God? Even your perceived translation is His, is it not? I would hate to think the royalties everyone would have to pay if God decided to sue.
We all borrow stuff that belongs to the Creator of all, for a time. While we should not steal and take credit for someone else's work, the reality is that everyone does on a daily basis to the extent they do not return the credit to the Creator. If this book does anything, I hope to say it returns that which belongs to the Creator back to Him.
Probably my least favorite part about the book is about the author. A good book, I think, should make the author disappear. The reader should be so engrossed in whatever the author has written that the identity of the author should matter little to none. Of course, that is an ideal world, where people do not want to make connections on projected images of identity. Usually, these parts of the book are supposed to tell you all about the author and what they do in their spare time, and what their life is like when they are not authoring. I suppose it humanizes them and gives you a window into their life that makes you feel like you understand something about them, although I am not sure how knowing where I live and what my hobbies are really helps anyone have any context as to who I am. For the sake of honoring the form of book publishing in the modern era, I will observe the ritual.
Most of my spare time I spend reading or tinkering with the boundaries of free information and my current computer. My college degree was in IT because they did not, surprisingly, supply a degree for Metaphysicals with a Masters in Meditation technique. So, I had to find something to do that people could then label me with, and IT was interesting in no small way because it allowed publishing and interaction with information which, in times past, would have required a library visit.
I therefore became decent at small network /medium network/large network care and maintenance, and learned to hate Microsoft Windows which put me on a decidedly Linux path. In a perfect world, I would probably be making my entire living from authoring various works as I have published poetry and have a novel length work I have written, but I am not really what you would call a âGreat Marketerâ in the sense that I do not enjoy pushing my work before people. I suppose many others lack that skill because being an author usually means you are rather solitary and not especially good or desirous of going out in crowds and being extroverted. Furthermore, if you have written some metaphysical work the market is usually smaller for that and unless it is something like âThe Seven Secrets To Getting Everything You Ever Wantedâ is probably not going to be widely read. What is an author to do that lacks a large, clear, audience? Find a publisher I hear you say! Yes, yes. Then there are the contracts, and losing rights over what you have written, and, and andâŚ..
Put rather tersely, partly to do what you might want to do in the world first you need a million dollars. If you do not have that, you are probably going to need that. Lacking either of those, you had better prepare for a fairly hard road of trying to have other people understand why what you do should be valued and supported. Usually, this proves to be a difficult if not an impossible job, and so becoming a cantankerous, hermit-author is the best recourse. Fortunately, I am married, and I imagine my wife is one of the few things that keeps me from buying a wooden shack in Montana with my faithful sidekick dog, Striker.
Ironically, when I first developed this meditation, I was concerned with how best to try to help humanity not suffer. In hindsight, I realize more humanity, in keeping with the plot line to the movie The Matrix, KIND OF LIKES TO SUFFER as an addiction. It is somewhat like an aversion to having a soul or something. Call it a sign of the times, or the end of days, but I suspect you cannot reach that special status without having some other serious problems as a civilization. Nonetheless, there are likely some people out there somewhere that I do not usually meet that also do not like suffering and want to understand these mystical techniques. As opposed for the masses it is more for them that I write this book. Having said all of that, I have a cat named Holly who my wife and I retrieved from a tree as a kitten. I am not sure how she got up there, but she did, and she screamed. Good thing, because otherwise she would probably still be up within its branches. She is mostly a good girl, although she likes to meow loudly at inopportune times.
Finally, when I am ânot taking the vaxâ and ânot arguing about not taking the vax on Facebookâ since I do not have a Facebook, I help maintain a small Church of believers in a more Messianic tradition. Now, before you say, âHey, Iâm interested in joining thatâ I am gonna tell you something unusual. I am not looking for anyone else to join it. It is a TON of work having a Church in this format, and I suspect all the people that are supposed to be in it are all ready here. If you want to donate to it or read some literature produced in part by it like this book, for instance, you can either purchase this book or contact me at jbschirtzinger@theroyalrainbow.com and say something pressing like âI would really like to give you moneyâ which, I will swear to you, has never earnestly been said to me by anyone. If you speak crypto, I speak crypto. If you speak fiat, I speak fiat. If you speak gift certificates, yep, fork it over! If none of that, well, perhaps you bought the book. Thanks!
As to my future plans, I would say my biggest short term plan is to âsurvive the apocalypseâ that everyone appears content on creating. I preferably would like to do that from a lake of water, or in a swimming pool where I can get some exercise in as 1/3rd of the world population explodes, implodes, or does whatever it has in mind. If there is one thing I have learned, you surely cannot stop humanity from destroying itself, and so I say, âGet on with itâ so we can all move on to doing something else that is less uh, traumatic.
So there you have it. Now you know the author. Doesnât that feel all warm and fuzzy and like you know me better and understand my work now? No? Well, thatâs just one more illusion I guess. Better meditate on why you expected anything else.
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