“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. “And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.” Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.  In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!  Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:1-33)

There are many ways that people throughout history have engaged with the Text and had personal revelations offered to them, personal in the sense that it speaks to their own experiences. But the Text presents things either in the form of a historical narrative involving people and events in the past, or in a prophetical form speaking about what is to come in the future. Therefore, it appears like a recollection of someone else’s experiences and memories, or of someone else’s vision of a series of unfolding events yet to come. These structural forms of the literal sense of the Word easily capture the mind so that the focus is on other people in far off lands and distant times, rather than seeing it as something that might be applicable to the present… to the here and now… to our own states of mind and its regeneration.

It is easy to forget that what is before us is a spiritual text that carries information related to spiritual realities which speak to the life of our spirit. The surface meaning appears to deal with bodily and worldly matters, but this is just that, an appearance. And when this appearance of the Text is seen through, it allows us to see descriptions of experiences relating to the life of our mind instead. For the deeper meaning of the Word deals with nothing other than what relates to the will and understanding with their states of thought and affection. However, the movement from apprehending the Text naturally to apprehending it spiritually does involve something of a tipping point at which we come to see that to hold to a literal reading of it puts us in front of things that just don’t make sense.

This realisation often dawns when the literal interpretations, grounded in the world of our senses – bound by person, space, time, and matter – lead to absurdities. We suddenly awaken, shaking our heads and recognising that the Text must be speaking to something beyond the literal. This shift in perspective is akin to interpreting dreams, where logic and reason, as defined by the material world, often dissolve, revealing the dream’s symbolic meaning and application to the inner life. Similarly, mythological elements, prophetic visions, and accounts of miracles within the Word can serve as powerful catalysts, prompting us to transcend the surface narrative and seek the underlying spiritual reality they speak to.

Furthermore, a strictly literal reading of the Text often reveals inherent contradictions, leading to confusion and obscuring the very spiritual truths it intends to convey. On the surface, it may present a God who is simultaneously loving and forgiving yet vengeful and punishing. It may espouse moral ideals while seemingly condoning their direct antithesis. In one passage, it might advocate for a specific course of action, while elsewhere hinting at a completely contradictory path. These apparent inconsistencies serve to highlight the limitations of a purely literal interpretation and further encourage a deeper exploration of the underlying spiritual meaning.

Faced with these contradictions, we have several possible responses. We might stubbornly persist in a literal interpretation, contorting ourselves to reconcile seemingly opposing commands, a path that inevitably leads to spiritual dissonance. Alternatively, we could acknowledge the limitations of the literal while retreating into the realm of “inexplicable mysteries of faith.” This approach allows us to set aside challenging questions and inconsistencies, focusing instead on the emotional resonance of the Text. However, these unresolved questions will continue to linger, resulting in an emotionally based faith that lacks an understanding of how the Text can support one’s spiritual life, the inner life of our feelings and thougths.

If we can remember that the Word’s ultimate purpose is to nurture the life of the spirit, we can begin to approach it as a psycho-spiritual text, one that describes the developmental processes necessary to open our perception to these deeper, interior realities. Framed in this way, the Text ceases to be a source of confusion and instead becomes a living guide, offering fresh and transformative insights.

From this perspective, the Word starts to resemble an allegory, a fairytale, or a myth, in that it can be read symbolically to uncover a deeper, spiritual meaning. However, it differs from these literary forms in a crucial way. Everything within the Word originates directly from the Lord and, therefore, embodies Him as the Divine proceeding, Holy Spirit. This imbues the Text with a structure in which every level perfectly corresponds to heavenly realities. It provides representative vessels in the form of concepts and imagery which, when absorbed into the mind, offer a space into which the Holy Spirit can be received and the Lord made known.

Consequently, the Word’s inner meaning speaks directly to our spiritual lives, illuminating the psychological processes that occur as our minds transform through receiving new ideas and perspectives about ourselves and the Divine, and more crucially as we seek to adjust our lives in the light of all this. This transformation entails changes within the very structures of our thinking: the foundational beliefs that guide our lives, our definitions of truth and falsehood, our judgements of good and evil, our understanding of love, and the direction of our affections. All of these elements together comprise the states of consciousness that constitute the spiritual dimensions of our being. The Word is Divine revelation and as such is the carrier of this deeper understanding of things. And while every sentence and word contains spiritual realities, these aren’t accessable without Divine help, that help being the Holy Spirit or Spirit of Truth.

In the Gospel of John the Lord or the Word explains this as follows:

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. (15:26)

It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. (16:7)

When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (16:13-15)

The Lord as the Word is the Divine Truth and this comes forth from the Father or the Divine Good, the source of all that is good and true. He is born into the world system or cosmos to bring light to the prevailing spiritual darkness that the human mind is steeped in. Without the light of truths from the Word the human mind has no ability to see the extent of the darkness it is in, however when truths enter this world a contrast is provided that opens up the possibility for spiritual enlightenment. Such enlightenment is only possible by progressing through many contrasting states. An essential aspect of this process is the loosening of our idea of the Lord from sense based finite concepts involving person, place, space and time. While the Lord is born into this world of space and time He also tells us that He is not of this world, and must return to the Father from which He came forth.

I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. (16:28)

This theme of coming and going is one found throughout the whole of the Gospel of John, and Jesus constantly reminds the disciples that He will need to leave eventually but that in doing will open the way for the Helper or Holy Spirit to be given. This highlights the principle of not becoming too attached to our concept of the Lord, who accommodates Himself to every state of mind. To grow in our sense of the Lord our vision of Him has to be constantly expanded which requires the navigation of difficult states as He appears to go away that He might come again as a deepening experience of the Spirit of Truth. This dynamic can be seen in the following statement where the Lord says:

“A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” (16:16)

He can see that this confuses the disciples. He then goes on to acknowledge their difficulty in letting Him go. The Lord meets their state using the illustration of how a woman forgets the pain and anguish of childbirth when caught up in the delight of the new born child’s arrival. The presence of this new life redefines and gives meaning to the states of the struggle so that they seem to fall away to the periphery of the whole experience.

Can you see, then, that the events of the person of Jesus serves as an illustration of everything we’ve been discussing? The initial understanding of the Logos, the Word, emerges in tangible forms when we read the Text as a narrative of individuals within specific spaces and times, interacting with objects and matter. Jesus being born into the world, made living in the flesh, embodies the Word being understood within time, space, person, and matter. His eventual departure from the world, followed by his resurrection and ascension into heaven, acts as a guiding example of how our mind, as we engage with the Text, must elevate its thinking – moving beyond the limitations of the senses and into the realm of the spirit.

When we consider the Text as a vessel illustrating psychological processes, the things of the spirit, that is, of our thoughts and affections, are communicated to us. The Spirit of Truth, or Helper, arrives once our literal interpretation of the Text is set aside and our understanding is elevated to a deeper meaning. Can you see that the Text, in this sense then, is resurrected as an old way of viewing it dies, making way for the birth of a new relationship with it and, consequently, a new and deeper relationship with the Lord as our Father in the heavens?

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father, in My name He will give you.

Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. (16:15-25)

So when engaging with the Text we must read what us of time, space, person and matter as figurative language that communicates mental and psychological states of mind. Reading the Text in this way brings the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (the Helper) into a single dynamic process; the Logos as the Son (truth), communicating what is of the Father (good), if we have ears to hear and eyes to see the Holy Spirit (that is, to see and hear spiritual insights specific to our life).

Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. (16:32)

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus his name, a chief of the Jews.” This one came to Him by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we are aware that Thou art a Teacher come from God, for no one can be doing these signs which Thou art doing, if God should not be with Him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I am saying to you, If anyone should not be begotten anew, he can not perceive the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus is saying to him, “How can a man, being a veteran, be begotten? He can not be entering into the womb of his mother a second time and be begotten!” Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I am saying to you, If anyone should not be begotten of water and of spirit, he can not be entering into the kingdom of God.” That which is begotten by the flesh is flesh, and that which is begotten by the spirit is spirit.” You should not be marvelling that I said to you, ‘You must be begotten anew.'” The blast is blowing where it wills, and the sound of it you are hearing, but you are not aware whence it is coming and where it is going. Thus is everyone who is begotten by the water and the spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, “You are a teacher of Israel, and these things you do not know? Verily, verily, I am saying to you that of that which we have perceived are we speaking, and to that which we have seen are we testifying, and our testimony you are not getting.” If I told you of the terrestrial and you are not believing, how shall you be believing if I should be telling you of the celestial? And no one has ascended into heaven except He Who descends out of heaven, the Son of Mankind Who is in heaven.”And, according as Moses exalts the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of Mankind be exalted, that everyone believing on Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian.” For thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten Son, that everyone who is believing in Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian.” For God does not dispatch His Son into the world that He should be judging the world, but that the world may be saved through Him.” He who is believing in Him is not being judged; yet he who is not believing has been judged already, for he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” Now this is the judging: that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their acts were wicked.” For everyone who is committing bad things is hating the light and is not coming to the light, lest his acts may be exposed.” Now he who is doing the truth is coming to the light that his acts may be made manifest, for they have been wrought in God.” (John Chapter 3:1-21 Concordant Literal New Testament)

When the Lord has implanted a heavenly life’s love in place of the infernal one then there are implanted affections of good and truth in place of the lusts of evil and falsity; and in place of the delights of the lusts of evil and falsity there are implanted the delights of the affections of good; and in place of the evils of infernal love there are implanted the goods of heavenly love. Then instead of cunning there is implanted thoughts of wisdom. Thus man is born again and becomes a new man. (Divine Providence 126)

We know that there is an impermanence of the self and that it comes under the spiritual law that states that, “creation is constant coming into being“. The implications of this law for our sense of self is that it is continually being re-created from moment to moment. We are constantly being brought into, and held in being. It is this dynamic nature of the self that makes change or spiritual transformation possible. If the self was something fixed then, by that very fact, change or transformation would not be possible.

So in this talk I would like us to explore the means provided by the Lord to bring about our rebirth. And to do that we are going to look at an exchange recorded in John’s Gospel between the Lord and a man named Nicodemus.

In John 3:3 Jesus says to Nicodemus…

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

The first thing to acknowledge is that to be born again means you actually have to be re-born. Now that may be stating the obvious, but have you really given thought to what this might mean for you? For Nicodemus this was a perplexing statement. His response to being put in front of this requirement was to ask, How can a man, being old, reenter his mothers womb to be reborn? And there’s the issue. Jesus was speaking of a spiritual birth, Nicodemus was hearing what He was saying in terms of physical rebirth. He was unable to raise his understanding up and out of natural concepts born of the senses.

And interestingly, further on in this exchange, we find Jesus pointing to this very fact when He says the following in verse 14…

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

The serpent is a universal symbol of the lowest psychological plane of consciousness, this being born or generated from the objects of the senses. In the Bible it is that which is said to feed on the “dust of the ground”. In this verse the Lord connects the idea of “the serpent” with what’s called “the Son of Man”. The term “Son of Man” spiritually has a very specific meaning and refers to a person’s understanding of the Word. What this is saying is that unless our understanding of the Word is elevated above the senses, or the literal meaning of the Text, which is what it means to, “believe in Him”, we remain in that form of life that is perishing. That life that is called “eternal life” is only available when the “Son of Man” is “lifted up” or when the Word is read, understood, and applied spiritually.

Of course, we are all familiar with the idea that the Sacred Scripture deals with psychological states or spiritual realities belonging to the human mind. In keeping with this idea both Jesus and Nicodemus can be seen to represent two levels or faculties of consciousness. As such their exchange provides a window into the dynamic interchange that exists between a higher or, more interior, and a lower or, more exterior, psychological mode of being and thinking.

The lower mode of being and thinking, can be said to be born of the earth or, from the “dust of the ground”. This is what is meant by a natural birth spiritually speaking. It is who we have become, or that sense of self as defined by our attachment to things belonging to exterior life and the appearances of the senses. So, while the words of Nicodemus, from a purely literal understanding, seem to be focused on the idea of rebirth understood in terms of a physical birth, this is not what his words mean from a spiritual developmental perspective. It is not the physical body that needs to be reborn but rather, it is our sense of self that is psychologically tied to physicality. This is often referred to as the natural “man” or mind.

Nicodemus universally represents that natural level of mind in all who seek a spiritual awakening. All spiritual progression is experienced as a movement from an more natural state of mind toward a more spiritual state of mind. In reality of course, it is always the Lord as the Logos incarnated in what is of the earth or flesh, or the higher present in the lower, that draws the seeker to itself. In relation to the Lord, all are passive, He being the only life or active agent at work in His creation.

Nicodemus represents the highest state of development in spiritual knowledges possible for the natural man/mind. This state of mind being one that precedes any awakening to spiritual realities in any genuine sense. In verse one it states that he “was a man from out of the Pharisees”. The Pharisees were a Jewish religious sect whose handling of the Scriptures was rigidly literal with interpretations coloured so as to justify their religious traditions.

Nicodemus represents the best of what is born of an inherited or historical faith. As a natural psychological state in pursuit of what is spiritual he is able to recognise that the Lord is “…a Teacher having come from God..” and that God is with Him, for he confesses that… “no one is able to be constantly doing these signs which you are constantly doing unless God would continue being with him.” (John 3:2 Jonathan Mitchell’s New Testament)

Here we see that this mode of mind while, able to perceive that the Word/Logos is of a Divine origin, cannot be taken further so as to perceive that the Word is not just from God as a teaching but, is God Himself, the Divine Truth incarnate (John 1:1). This is why it is said that Nicodemus “… comes to Him by night…”. The term “night” refers to the obscurity with which natural reasoning based solely on what’s available through the physical senses views spiritual realities.

From a Logopraxis perspective this has interesting parallels. Every time we first approach the Text it can be said that we approach it in this state of mind called “Nicodemus“. The exchange between Nicodemus and the Lord mirrors the exchange that takes place when we come to be Word seeking to hear what the Spirit within it has to say to us. Unless we are born again or, unless our perceptive faculties are being generated from above in each and every contact so that our understanding is elevated above the literal meaning of the Word we will struggle to perceive what is of “the Kingdom of God” or “eternal life” within it.

To perceive what is of the Kingdom of God is to perceive the Word’s application to our interior life. We are not so much born again, but are in a process that involves continual renewal and rebirth. So, in coming to the Text we are to bring a mode of thinking that is process orientated and inwardly focused. The Word is only concerned with our psychological and spiritual states of mind and how it can bring about the regeneration of the human mind. If this idea is held firmly in mind as we approach the Text, its interior applications to our psychological life are more likely to present themselves.

What Nicodemus shows us is the limitation of the natural mind so far as its inability to grasp spiritual realities. This level of consciousness is born of earthly things or in the language of John’s Gospel here, it is born of the flesh and, of that, it states that

“The thing being birthed, having been born forth from out of the flesh, is flesh…” (3:3 Jonathan Mitchell’s New Testament)

The Lord declares in verse 13,

“Furthermore, no one has stepped up into heaven except the One stepping down from out of the midst of heaven: the Son of Man – Who is continuously existing within the midst of heaven.”

This is saying that only that which has come down from heaven can step back up into heaven and, even when this, having stepped down so as to be found within that lower plane of mind called “flesh”, it still continues to “exist within the midst of heaven.” For being in the world or, cosmos, it is not, nor has it ever been, of the world.

The natural mind that is born or generated from the reasoning function tied to the appearances of the senses is born of flesh and therefore cannot enter the kingdom of God. Nor can it even perceive what is of the Spirit. For that, there is needed a new mind that is born of the Spirit for “…the thing being birthed, having been born forth from out of the Spirit, is spirit.”

What’s meant by “flesh” and “spirit” are two completely different orders of existence. Nothing born of the flesh or of the external senses can penetrate into what is spiritual, “can step up into heaven”, let alone bring about the birth of a new sense of self.

That which has come down from heaven is the Logos, the Word which, when it enters into the natural level of the human mind, what is called “flesh“, becomes or gives rise to what is termed “the Son of Man”. This is what is meant by, “the Logos becoming flesh and tabernacling within us” (John 1:14). As truths are integrated into the life of the mind through their practice so a new understanding is created that can support a new will. The Word comes to be understood in terms of its psychological or spiritual applications so that new affections are born that lift the mind from out of a state of “earth” into a state of “heaven“. This is what it means to be reborn or born from above.

To access what is born of the kingdom of God within the Text we must think from a higher level. Through evoking spiritual principles to govern our thinking in response to the Text we are able to enter into the processes involved in the regeneration of the human mind. Without attention to what is higher, we too, will struggle to have thinking extracted from the kind of low level thinking represented by the character of Nicodemus in this story.

Nicodemus represents the peak to which sensual reasoning in spiritual matters can reach, if, and only if, there is a openness or willingness to engage with the texts of Divine Revelation with a view to inner transformation. The Logos or the Word is represented by the Lord in this exchange and this representation can be clearly seen from the opening chapter of John’s Gospel. So the story describes the processes that are continually unfolding within the human mind when truths from the Word are active, working to bring forth to view the true nature of the Word, this being the Lord Himself.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is being generated from above, he cannot be perceiving the Kingdom of God.” (3:3)

The Logos or the Word alone is that which re-generates the human mind so that it can be perceiving the Kingdom of God…

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (3:14)

The person with whom good is present is undergoing rebirth every moment, from earliest childhood to the final stage of his life in the world, and after that for ever. This is happening to him not only interiorly but also exteriorly; and this rebirth involves processes that are amazing. They are processes which for the most part constitute angelic wisdom, and that wisdom, as is well known, is indescribable, embracing such things as ear has not heard, nor eye seen, and such as have never entered man’s thought (1Corinthians 2:9). The internal sense (of the Word) deals with such matters and so is suited to angelic wisdom; and when this sense passes into the sense of the letter it becomes suited to human wisdom, and in an unseen way it stirs the affections of those who, motivated by good, have the desire to know truths received from the Word. (Arcana Coelestia 5202{4})

The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the Lord will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended. Also your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. (Isaiah 60:19-22)

And after six days Jesus takes Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart, and was transformed before them; and His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light. And, behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. And Peter answering said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here; if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles: one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was yet speaking, behold, an illuminated cloud overshadowed them; and, behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him. And the disciples hearing, fell on their face, and were very afraid. And Jesus coming touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one, until the Son of Man be risen from the dead. (Matthew 17:1-9)

The Lord took Peter, James, and John, because by them the church in respect to faith, charity, and the works of charity was represented; He took them “into a high mountain,” because “mountain” signifies heaven; “His face did shine as the sun,” because “face” signifies the interiors, and it did shine as the sun because His interiors were Divine, for the “sun” is Divine love; “His garments became white as the light,” because “garments” signify Divine truth proceeding from Him; the like is signified by “light.” “Moses and Elijah” appeared, because the two signify the Word, “Moses” the historical Word, and “Elijah” the prophetical Word; “a bright cloud overshadowed them,” because “a bright cloud” signifies the Word in the letter within which is the internal sense; “a voice out of the cloud said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him,” because “a voice out of the cloud” signifies Divine truth out of the Word, and “beloved Son,” the Lord’s Divine Human. And because Divine truth is from Him, and thence all truth of the church, it was said out of the cloud, “in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. (Apocalypse Explained 64.2)

The Lord’s life in the world, as depicted in the Gospels, was a representative life or a life dedicated to representing higher celestial and spiritual realities on the sensual and corporeal level of consciousness. This must be grasped if the Word is to be understood in a way whereby it can be practically applied to the inner life of the mind. Restated in a slightly different way, this means that the Lord came into the world as a person so that the processes governing the regeneration of the human mind by the Word might be re-presented on the physical plane and so be accommodated to the lowest levels of human perception. When we read the Word and we find our thought regarding the Lord resting in the idea of His historical person, the situations, circumstances and relationships associated with His natural life, we are then thinking naturally but if when reading the Word our thought revolves around ideas concerning the activity of truths and goods and the processes that govern the regeneration of the human mind, our thought then rests in what is spiritual. The function of the natural is to house the spiritual, to represent it on a lower plane so that we might have something from which to step up from the natural to the spiritual level of life. So to see the Lord in terms of a physical person is to see from the natural man, to see the Lord as the Word is to see from the spiritual man and it is only when life is viewed from the spiritual man that the natural can be seen in its proper perspective. All persons in the Word represent Divine things and the person and life of the Lord in the world represents those things most perfectly of all.

If the relationship of the disciples to the Lord as depicted in the literal sense of the Word teach us anything about the spiritual life, they teach us that our perceptions regarding the Lord are inevitably in a constant state of flux despite our efforts to fix them into something static. This tendency of the human mind to capture and fix what is dynamic into a rigid form is poignantly illustrated for us in our reading for today, where we see Peter, having witnessed the transfiguration and seen the Lord speaking with Moses and Elijah, suggests building three tabernacles, one for each of them.

Peter represents our intellectual relationship to spiritual matters or what is called faith.The intellectual faculty of the human mind is orientated towards building mental structures that capture and explain what we experience. This provides a way whereby a living experience can have a level of permanence that we can access in our thinking over and over again, either to relive the experience or communicate it to others. But the intellectual functions can only really offer descriptions or images of experience and are never the experience as it is in itself. So while we may be able to describe our personal experience to another we can’t actually give them our first-hand experience as we experienced it. And while descriptions of an experience can never be a satisfying substitute for having the actual experience itself, this ability of the intellectual faculty to structure experience so that it can be stored in the memory is, of course, an important one. But it also can create problems should we begin to value memories over the actual experience in spiritual matters.

Everything in the Word describes first-hand experiences that are living realities continually being played out within every human mind. These have little to do with the actual historical figures and settings of the stories found in its literal sense. These elements merely serve as a covering that can both conceal and reveal the living processes connected with peoples’ regeneration by means of the Word. Such realities are concealed from us when we are not looking to work with truths in relation to the life of the mind and they are revealed when the focus of our life is towards working with truths with a view to self-examination and repentance. Peter, James, and John, in connection with the Lord in this story, represent all those elements within us that have to come together and be elevated if we are to see and experience the Lord as the spiritual sense of the Word. So it is that we read…

And after six days Jesus is taking aside Peter and James and John, his brother, and is bringing them up into a high mountain, privately.

The six days represent in general the successive states a person must pass through if they are to be regenerated and have their perceptions opened to the deeper things of the Word. We note that the representative name used for the Lord here is the name, Jesus. This is because by this name is meant the Divine Good and more specifically its operation within the natural mind as the Lord’s desire for the salvation of the human race. That desire is embodied or made flesh as the Word and so, it is Jesus or the Word that takes hold of what has been established in those who, through the practice of the Word, have had truths established as governing principles in their life, this being represented by Peter, James, and John. These three (remembering that the number three corresponds to what is complete) taken together represent the essentials of spiritual life into which the Lord can be received whereby the true nature of the Word can be brought to conscious awareness.

The ability to perceive the Lord is directly related to the degree to which the mind has been purified of those evils and falsities that close it off from the higher things of the spirit. Each of the disciples represents one of three essential elements that are required if this process of purification is to take place and the Lord, or what is good and true is to be more clearly perceived. Peter represents our understanding of the Word, our faith, or doctrine, and he is mentioned first because we must first be led into an understanding of truths from the Word if we are to be able to recognise our evils. Truths are given that we might be instructed as to how to live. Clearly, without such knowledge, there can be no, or at most minimal progress in the development of a genuine spiritual life. Peter then is the light of the understanding that arises from truths residing in the mind when there is a desire to apply them to life. Without this desire, which is what is meant spiritually by the term charity, there can be no light. So what might this desire look like? Simply, it is being in the effort to examine our inner states of life in the light of our understanding of the Word. This is what Peter represents practically, for he is described in the doctrines for Spiritual Christianity as truth from good.

The function of light is to reveal things and it is a spiritual law that we only perceive those things that are in keeping with our state, or if you like in keeping with what we truly desire. If there is no desire to examine our mental life from what truths teach then nothing will be seen, there will be no light. But if, in response to truths, we begin to look within with a view to assessing the quality of our thoughts and affections then something related to changes in our inner states of life becomes possible. To gather truths from the Word with a view to getting an understanding of what’s required of us so far as living a spiritual life is concerned, is a state of life called Peter. Whereas to actually take truths and use them to examine the quality of our thoughts and affections is a state called James, hence in the Word, we find that James represents or is called, “charity“. We are taught that from charity, or love of the neighbour comes conscience. Inwardly, this is the affection for truth for the sake of life or what is good. Once having worked from the Word to identify our evils the next step is to repent of them. The life of repentance brings into being the good of charity which is a state called John. Therefore in the small work called Charity 27, we read that…

Evil is first to be removed, because it is against charity (which is done by repentance), before the good that a man does is the good of charity. Since evil must first be known in order that it may be removed, therefore the Decalogue was the first of the Word, and in the whole Christian world it is also the first of the doctrine of the church. All are initiated into the church by knowing evil and not doing it, because it is against God.

That truths must be applied to life if the spiritual mind is to be opened and the true nature of the Word perceived is taught throughout the doctrines for Spiritual Christianity. The question is what does it mean to apply truths to life? We have two lives, an outer life and an inner life. If our focus is an inner focus then the life to which truths are to be applied is our mental life. The Word’s outer sense is for the outer life or natural man but its inner sense is for the inner life or spiritual man. The natural sense of the Word instructs us concerning external life but it is its spiritual sense that instructs us as to how we are to live internally and it is the latter that constitutes a saving faith. Insights into the inner application of the Word can only arise when there is a conscious effort to apply the Word inwardly for it is through such efforts that Peter, James and John are able to be taken by Jesus up a high mountain or that our faith, charity and the works of charity, are able to be drawn more inwardly. For these things to be drawn inward is the same as saying that our interests undergo a shift from a focus on external life to a focus on our internal life. We actually experience such a shift as a willingness to make the effort to examine the quality of our mental life from truths from the Word.

That they only [Peter, James & John] were present signifies that no others can see the glory of the Lord, which is in His Word than those who are in faith, in its charity, and in the good of charity. Others are indeed able to see, but still do not see, because they do not believe.  (Arcana Coelestia 2135{2})

For it is when truths are applied to life, that a transformation occurs in how the Word is perceived, represented in the Word by the Lord’s transfiguration…

…and (He) was transformed in front of them. And His face shines as the sun, yet His garments became white as the light.

Of this in the work, Doctrine of Sacred Scripture 48 we read that,

The Word in its glory was represented by the Lord when He was transfigured… (see also True Christian Religion 222{6})

There can be no doubt that what is described here is seeking to direct our attention to consider the nature of the very Texts of Divine revelation from their inmost to outermost coverings. That these constitute the fullness of God and as such are the Word accommodated to every level of human and angelic consciousness. The Lord ,we are told, re-presented the Word while in the world and through the transfiguration representatively demonstrated that the Word is the fullness of Divine Love and Wisdom present with people. The testimony it gives concerning itself is that which is heard in the voice from a cloud,

…lo a luminous cloud overshadows them, and lo! A voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I delight. Hear Him!”

That cloud is the letter of the Word and the voice or doctrine that comes forth through it declares that the very texts of Divine revelation is the “Son” or the Divine Truth, the Beloved, in Whom the Divine Good delights or finds its fulfilment. For it is through the Son and the Son alone that people have the possibility to come into the life of heaven…

For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Where by “Son” is understood not a person in time but what that person in time represented, which is the Word present with us as the texts of Divine Revelation.

Nothing else constitutes spiritual life with man but the knowledges of truth and good from the Word applied to life; and they are applied to life when man holds them as the laws of his life, for he then looks to the Lord in everything, and with such the Lord is present, and gives intelligence and wisdom and an affection for them and delight in them. For the Lord is in His truths with man, since every truth proceeds from the Lord, and what proceeds from the Lord that is His, even so that it is He…The Lord is called “the Word” because the Word signifies Divine truth; He is also called “the Light” because Divine truth is the light in the heavens; He is also called “the Life,” because everything that lives, lives from that life; (Apocalypse Explained 196)

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:14-21)

When a man is being elevated toward interior things, he comes out of the gross sensuous light into a milder light, and at the same time is withdrawn from the influx of scandalous and filthy things, and is brought nearer to the things that belong to what is just and fair, because nearer to the angels who are with him, thus nearer to the light of heaven. This elevation from sensuous things was known to the ancients, even to the Gentiles, and therefore when the lower mind is withdrawn from sensuous things, their wise men said that it comes into interior light, and at the same time into a tranquil state, and into a kind of heavenly bliss; and from this they also concluded that the mind is immortal. Man is capable of being elevated still more interiorly, and the more interiorly he is elevated, the clearer is the light into which he comes; and at last he comes into the light of heaven, which light is nothing else than wisdom and intelligence from the Lord. The three heavens are distinguished in no other way than according to elevations toward interior things, thus also according to degrees of light; the third heaven, being in inmost things, is in the greatest light, thus in a wisdom which far surpasses the wisdom of the lower heavens. (Arcana Coelestia 6313)

Our focus today is on a transformation of person’s understanding of the Lord from something purely natural into something of a higher spiritual quality. From the Text, we see that this transformation, this lifting up of the serpent, is somehow necessary if the human mind is to be regenerated and salvation effected. So whatever this is about, we begin with the acknowledgement that it is of supreme practical importance so far as our spiritual life is concerned. But before we look to unpack the deeper aspects of the teaching here we need to first lay down a foundation for thinking about this spiritually.

To do that we must lay aside, to the degree that we are able, all the references and associations in the letter of the Text that draws our focus onto historical persons and associations of time and space. There is nothing of time, space, or persons in a spiritual understanding of what’s found in the Word, despite how things may appear in the letter. What the Word deals with, and the only thing the Lord is concerned with, are matters to do with the salvation of the human race, or to put it another way, Divine revelation is solely concerned with providing the means by which the regeneration of the human mind can be supported. To access this level of meaning and application within the Text we need to learn how to read it apart from persons, places and times. We find teaching to this effect in the work, The Apocalypse Explained 175…

Peoples and nations are often mentioned in the Word, and it is believed by those who know nothing of the spiritual or internal sense of the Word that peoples and nations are thereby meant; whereas by peoples are meant those who are in truths, or, in the opposite sense, those who are in falsities, and by nations, those who are in goods, or, in the opposite sense, those who are in evils. And when such are meant by peoples and nations, then also, in the abstract, by peoples are meant truths or falsities, and by nations goods or evils, for the true spiritual sense is not concerned with persons, spaces, times and similar things, that are proper to nature.

Sensual or natural thinking is embedded in ideas of persons, places, and times. In the Word, we find that those who reason about spiritual realities from the appearances of the senses are in fact called serpents. From this, it can be seen that any mention of a serpent in the Word is a reference to the sensual level of life and thought. And because we find such references in the Word to serpents, its teaching regarding this serpent-like mode of life, is primarily directed toward those within the Church, those who follow Him, and not so much toward those outside of it. Spiritually, this means that it is a teaching that is directed primarily toward those who are actively seeking to be regenerated so that they might become aware of how this serpent mode of life operates within themselves, and what’s needed if it is to become a means of supporting rather than hindering their spiritual development. The Word states in the work Arcana Coelestia number 3923 that…

…’a serpent’ means one who reasons from sensory evidence and from factual knowledge about Divine arcana…

and again in the same work in number 6398(2)…

That a “serpent” denotes reasoning from what is sensuous, is because the interiors of man are represented in heaven by animals of various kinds, and hence in the Word the like are signified by the same animals. The sensuous things of man were represented by serpents because sensuous things are the lowest things in man, and are relatively earthly, and as it were creeping; as may also be seen from the forms through which sensuous things flow, … Hence these sensuous things were represented by serpents…

So sensuous things are natural things, or the lowest things, and in regard to the Word are those things belonging to the sense of the letter that captivates the thought, holding it in ideas of persons, places, and times. Interestingly the Hebrew root from which the word for serpent is derived is linked to the idea of enchantment or magic or the casting of a spell. Such is the nature of sense based reasoning which takes the false appearances of the senses and casts them as truths in an effort to hold the mind spellbound. Anyone who has wrestled with the sense of the letter of the Word and struggled to get beyond its natural meaning knows the power of the serpent to keep them from seeing the Word’s spiritual applications. The feeling of being stuck in a wilderness due to an apparent lack of goods and truths is not lost on them. The Word can be such a wilderness when all we can see is the literal meaning, while we yearn for it to give up its promise of something deeper.

Something is needed if we are to be healed of the bite of sense based reasoning and so enter into an understanding of the Word that can truly transform our life. If we are to experience the transforming power of the Word then the Son of Man must be elevated in our life as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness. Moses represents the internal sense of the Word which, when engaged with consciously, is able to elevate the letter of the Word, and with that our understanding of it, out of the grip of the senses so that it can serve as a container and foundation for conveying spiritual concepts which can bring healing and spiritual wholeness to our life. The imperative is that the Son of Man be lifted up. Now the term “Son of Man” means the Lord as to Divine Truth or the Word. And to elevate the Word in relation to the regeneration of the human mind means to live from its truths or to apply them to life.

A first step to having “Moses lift the serpent in the wilderness…” in our own life is to look to the Word as the basis for an active spiritual life, or to be in the effort to understand its spiritual applications, which means looking to apply its truths to the life of our spirit. Where by our “spirit” is meant those things belonging to the human mind; these being nothing other than states of affection and thought. Mental states are the only thing the spiritual sense of the Word is concerned with, and until we are really interested in applying the Word to the life of our mind so that it can be reformed and regenerated, this level of application will remain hidden from us. Everything in the Word, so far as its deeper meaning is concerned, is about the Word and its operations within the human mind. Once we get hold of this the Word then becomes an intensely practical support for self-examination and repentance as it relates to the inner life of the mind. Why? Because the Word then begins to provide us with light or insights into the destructive patterns of thinking and feeling that our sense of self is attached to and which stand opposed to the life of heaven. But not only does the Word provide these insights, it also provides with what’s needed for us to overcome self-centred proprial states of life.

Returning to the statement; “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness…” If the name “Moses” and “the serpent” refers to spiritual or mental phenomena, then the terms, “lifted“, and “wilderness“, must also refer to states of mind. Which of course they do. The term wilderness refers to an uncultivated, or unregenerate state of mind, or a mind that lacks rational or spiritual principles through which the Lord is able to govern sensual thinking and bodily desires that are tied to the loves of self and the world. It is into this disordered state of mind that the Lord seeks to bring order but He cannot do that unless there is a recognition on our part that we are in a state of mental or spiritual disorder. This acknowledgement must come first if there is to be a turning towards Lord as the Word in search of a better understanding of spiritual principles, so that we might examine the quality of our thoughts and affections in an effort to identify evils that need to be shunned as sins against the Word.

In the work, The Apocalypse Revealed number 841 it states that…

All people, indeed, who do not turn directly to the Lord think sensually about matters having to do with the church, and cannot think spiritually, for the Lord is the true light (nos. 796, 797). Consequently people who do not turn to the Lord directly cannot think in the light of spiritual light, which is the light of heaven, but do so in the light of natural light divorced from spiritual light, which is to think sensually. They are for that reason called that serpent of old. People who do not turn to the Lord directly and refrain from evils as being sins, remain in their sins…

Further to this in the work, Divine Providence number 20 it says…

To look [or turn] to God in the life means nothing else than thinking this or that evil to be a sin against Him, and for that reason not doing it.

And in the work, Divine Love and Wisdom, number 138 we have this…

This turning to the Lord is an actual turning, a kind of elevation; for there is an uplifting into the heat and light of heaven, which takes place by the opening of the interiors; when these are opened, love and wisdom flow into the interiors of the mind, and the heat and light of heaven into the interiors of the body. From this comes the uplifting, like a rising out of a cloud into clear air, or out of air into ether. Moreover, love and wisdom, with their heat and light, are the Lord with man; and He, as was said before, turns man to Himself. It is the reverse with those who are not in love and wisdom, and still more with those who are opposed to love and wisdom. Their interiors, both of mind and body, are closed; and when closed, the exteriors re-act against the Lord, for such is their inherent nature. Consequently, such persons turn themselves backward from the Lord; and turning oneself backward is turning to hell.

Now for those of the Church, for those who are seeking to live a spiritual life, turning to the Lord means turning to the Word or to be clear, it means engaging with the Texts of Divine revelation. For this is where the Lord is and it is through the Texts of Divine revelation alone that He enlightens and elevates the minds of those who are becoming a Church inwardly. It is also where the truths or spiritual principles are found by which the natural mind, along with its sense based reasonings, can be governed and brought into order. It is not enough that we simply know this, we actually have to be prepared to engage with the Word by applying it to the life of our mind in an effort to examine the quality of our thoughts and affections in its light. If this is not done, the evils and falsities that exist within us will remain unseen, and if unseen they will remain integrated into our sense of self, for they can be carefully concealed within an externally ordered “moral” life, which is so often mistaken for the spiritual life.

When the Word is understood in purely moral terms it falls into the domain of natural religion, or what is termed in the Word a historical or natural faith. The mindset that underpins this may acknowledge that there is a deeper meaning within the Word but it doesn’t know what this actually looks like. It fails to grasp that the spiritual sense of the Word concerns itself with the human spirit or mind. That the spiritual level of meaning is specifically focused on the application of the Word to the life of the mind and its regeneration. A historical or natural faith is limited to the realm of moral behaviour and external religious practices because it believes that these are what salvation consists of. But we know from the Word that a historical faith, while it precedes a saving faith, is not actually a saving faith, for it is a faith separated from charity, this being “faith alone“, or what is referred to in the book of Revelation as “the dragon or serpent of old.” (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) So what is a saving faith? Well, a saving faith is a faith grounded in charity, or love towards the neighbour which, contrary to popular belief, is not the person next door. By the neighbour is spiritually understood the Divine truth and by loving the Divine truth is meant the activity of applying truths from the Word to one’s inner life as the basis for self-examination and repentance. This is what it means to live a spiritual life.

When we choose to live a spiritual life defined in this way, we find that the Word begins to open up and directs our attention onto the spiritual realities which belong to the inner life that is our mental world. As this occurs, we will find that the Text Itself undergoes a transformation in meaning as its letter is elevated out of sensuous things revealing its deeper applications. It is only as we make a conscious effort to respond to the challenges which truths place upon our life that the Word works to bring order out of disorder, life out of death. It works to bring us into the salvation which the Word has secured for all who are willing to embrace it as the Lord. In the reading for today, Moses represents that very same Word, the Divine truth that is constantly seeking to lift our understanding out of the sensuous and towards what is of heaven. If the Son of Man is to be lifted up then we must make the Word a priority in our life which means we must learn how to engage with it as the very basis for our life.

…the bronze serpent represented the Lord… the fact that it also meant protection is self-evident for the healing effected by looking at the serpent on the standard meant healing from evils arising from falsity, effected by looking to faith in the Lord. For the Lord says in John, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. (Arcana Coelestia 8624)

And there are gathered unto Him the Pharisees, and some of the scribes, who came from Jerusalem. And having seen some of His disciples eating bread with defiled, that is to say with unwashed, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands up to the wrists, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market, unless they wash, they eat not; and many other things there are which they have received to hold, as the rinsing of cups, and pots, and bronze vessels, and beds. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, Why walk not Thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? And He answering said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching teachings which are the precepts of men. For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pots and cups; and many other such like things you do. And He said to them, Well you spurn the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, It is sufficient if a man shall say to father or mother, Corban , that is to say, it is an offering, by whatever thou mightest be profited by me, and you let him no more do anything for his father or his mother, making the Word of God of no effect by your tradition which you have delivered up; and many such like things you do. And when He had called all the crowd to Him, He said to them, Hearken to Me all of you, and understand: There is nothing from outside a man which entering into him can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are they which defile the man. If anyone have ears to hear, let him hear. And when He was entered into a house from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. And He says to them, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not consider that every thing from outside which enters into a man, cannot defile him; because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly, and goes out into the latrine, cleansing all the foods? And He said, That which comes out of a man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil reasonings, adulteries, whoredoms, murders, thefts, avarice , wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, a wicked eye, blasphemy, pride, senselessness; all these wicked things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:1-23)

Whatsoever from without goeth into the man cannot render him unclean, because it goeth not into his heart but into the belly; and is cast out into the draught purging all foods. But that which goeth forth out of the man, that rendereth the man unclean; for from within out of the heart of men it goeth forth (Mark 7:18-21; Matthew15:17-20).

These words must be thus understood, that all things, whether falsities or evils, that from things seen or things heard flow into the thought of the understanding and not into the affection of its will, do not affect or infect the man, since the thought of a man’s understanding, so far as it does not proceed from the affection of his will, is not in the man but outside of him, therefore it is not appropriated to him; it is similar with truth and good. This the Lord teaches by correspondences when He says that “that which enters through the mouth into the belly does not render a man unclean, because it does not enter into the heart, for that which enters into the belly is cast out into the draught;” which means that whatever enters into the thought of man’s understanding from without or from the outside, whether from objects of sight or from objects of speech or from objects of the memory, does not render him unclean, but so far as it is not of his affection or will it is separated and cast out, as what is taken into the belly is cast out into the draught. These spiritual things the Lord explained by natural things, since the foods that are taken into the mouth and thus pass into the belly signify such things as man takes in spiritually and with which he nourishes his soul; this is why the “belly” corresponds to the thought of the understanding and signifies it. That the “heart” signifies the affection of man’s will has been shown above; also that only that which is made a part of a man’s affection or will is appropriated to him. Evidently spiritual, not natural, things are here meant, for the Lord says that “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, whoredoms, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.” Since the falsities and evils that enter from without into the thoughts enter from the hells, and if not received by man with the will’s affection are cast back into the hells, it is said that “they are cast out into the draught,” for the “draught” signifies hell; and for the reason that in the hells all things are unclean, and those who are there have been cast out of heaven, which is like a man in form, and is therefore called the Greatest Man and also corresponds to all things of man, while the hells correspond to what is cast out of the belly of the Greatest Man or heaven; this is why hell is meant in the spiritual sense by the “draught.” The “belly” is said “to purge all foods,” because the “belly” signifies the thought of the understanding, as has been said above, and “foods” signify all spiritual nourishments, and the thought of the understanding is what separates unclean things from what are clean, and thus purges. (Apocalypse Explained 622 {5})

So it’s not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of the heart. This is such an important teaching to hold in mind when engaged with the work of self-examination and repentance. When we begin to examine our life through the practise of truths from the Word, we begin to bring who and what we are into the light. And this can be a disconcerting thing. We begin to see we are not who we thought ourselves to be, we find that we hold to attitudes that are contrary to the life of charity and express views and opinions that are filled with self-righteous judgments. Of course prior to making an effort to examine our life these things were present in us without us giving them a second thought. The reason we are oblivious to what’s taking our attention most of the time is because we have invested in a self-image that only attends to those things that affirm it, and disregards those things that tend to contradict it.

The Word is the Lord and what’s within it describes how truths impact on human states of consciousness. Everything in it relates to the human mind, that is, to every human mind in particular and to the human condition in general. If we accept this then we know that everything in the Text, every event, every person, describes mental or spiritual phenomena that is active within us, right now. This idea is something we need to make a conscious effort to keep to the forefront of our mind as we come to the Word to engage with it. If we are able to do that then we will find we open ourselves up to receiving things from the Word in a different way. Take our reading from Scripture for today. Everything in this reading describes things related to our own states of consciousness and the processes involved when truth shines its light into our mental or spiritual life. The historical context is simply given as a means by which we can access things that relate to our own states of mind. The Lord isn’t interested in giving us a history lesson in how the religious leaders of the day treated Him. What he is interested in though is revealing, to those who are willing to work with Him as the Word, how certain attitudes belonging to the human proprium in us responds to the light of truth.

We all carry an understanding of what the Word teaches, we all have a preferred image of our self that rests in that. We have aspects of our self that is disciple like, that eats with unwashed hands but we also have a critical fault finding self that we are much less aware of called the proprium which is represented here by the Pharisees and the scribes. Now we need to understand that there are powerful forces at work that keeps those aspects of ourselves which are contrary to the life of heaven hidden from our awareness, because they are contrary to the image we like to project of ourselves. No one wants to be seen as a hypocrite. So when the proprium is active in this regard these forces work to hide its hypocritical attitudes through self-justifications which blind us to seeing them. These self-justifications are what are described in the reading as, washing the hands, for to “wash our hands” of something is to deny our responsibility in the matter.

Perhaps the most powerful image of this state found in the Word is in Matthew 27 where Pilate, despite finding no fault in the Lord, handed him over to be crucified…

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds, that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. And the governor answering said to them, Which of the two will ye that I release to you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate says to them, What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all say to him, Let Him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil has He done? But they cried out exceedingly, saying, Let Him be crucified! And Pilate seeing that he profits nothing, but that rather an uproar comes to pass, taking water he washed off his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just Man, you shall see.

This is a very graphic picture of how the proprium responds to the light of truth. In Pilate, we have represented the understanding aspect of our minds while in the Jews we have a picture of the unregenerate will steeped in the loves of self and the world. One lesson here is that if truth from the Word is seen yet not acknowledged through practise, so that the affections are purified, then the understanding bends to the desires of the will. What’s released is “Barabbas” while that which is destroyed is, “Jesus who is called the Christ” or the power of truth to bring about our salvation. The name Barabbas means, “son of abba” or “son of the father” and given the context must represent the acceptance of the falsity of evil in the place of the truth of good which is the true “Son of the Father.”

The “washing of the hands” as a response to what truth reveals is something we are all party to when we are identified with the interests of our proprium. The whole point in the Lord presenting this to us through the Word is to provide us with what we need if we are to escape the hold that the “traditions of the elders” has over our minds. These subtle unconscious self-justifications work constantly to make the Word of no effect. We have to come to see that what the Word teaches concerning our proprium is true. The Word is given so that we can make a conscious effort to examine the life of our mind in the light of its truths and through this, identify those things that prevent the life of heaven being more fully present within us and so have them removed.

One of the challenges we all have to face in the work of self-examination is getting beyond our attachment to what flows into our minds as something coming from us. We tend to think that because the thoughts and feelings we experience are in our mind, that they are in us, or a part of us, or come from us. Like the Pharisees and scribes, we can become obsessed with what is flowing in from what is external to our self and in this way we are distracted from attending to the more deeply set evils of the heart. The Word teaches us that all things flow in but the issue lies with what we have taken into our life as our own. This is clearly seen in this well-known passage from Heaven and Hell 302…

If man believed, as is really true, that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, he would not make the good in him a matter of merit nor would evil be imputed to him; for he would then look to the Lord in all the good he thinks and does, and all the evil that inflows would be cast down to hell whence it comes. But because man does not believe that there is any influx into him either from heaven or from hell, and so supposes that all the things that he thinks and wills are in himself, and therefore from himself, he appropriates the evil to himself, and the inflowing good he defiles with merit.

What this means is that we can view all that enters our minds as mere objects that are falling within the field of our mental sight and not necessarily something intrinsic to ourselves. If we can do this then the power of the hells in our life can begin to be weakened and broken. Our true self is found in the vision the Lord has for our life, which is that of a loving, joyful, angelic being. But if we are to enter into this heavenly sense of self then we have to work with the Word to free ourselves from that sense of self which is rooted in identifying with both good and evil influences that flow into us.

We all have a proprium or sense of self that has appropriated both evil and good to itself so some of the objects appearing in our mental landscape as we commit to a life of self examination and repentance are going to look pretty ugly. The Pharisees and scribes in us will find fault and try to say that the very presence of these things shows us that we are unworthy of heaven. They will tell us that “we eat bread with unwashed hands” implying that the good that we ingest through working with the Word is obviously contaminated due to the heightened visibility of evils and falsities which the work of self-examination and repentance produces. This is simply not the case. The Pharisees and scribes represent those forces in the proprium that work against what the Word teaches is necessary for our salvation. They either say we are fine just as we are, or that we are so far gone, why bother. Both points of view need to be rejected. The truth is that so long as we avoid the work of self-examination and repentance we will remain bound to a sense of self which is rooted in the unregenerate loves of the proprium. And that until we compel ourselves to actively engage with the Word, we have not yet acknowledged the Lord as our saviour.

The Word is provided so that we can have an objective standard against which we can examine the life of our mind. Everyone entering into the spiritual path of self examination and repentance from the Word begins from the belief that they are the source of all that passes through their minds. This false understanding can only be corrected if we are willing to do what the Word asks of us and so begin to examine the quality of our mental life in the light of truths from the Word. The teaching from the Apocalypse Explained that we read earlier is something we can draw on to support us in doing this while holding onto a proper perspective in it all.

And when He had called all the crowd to Him, He said to them, Hearken to Me all of you, and understand: There is nothing from outside a man which entering into him can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are they which defile the man.