Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again? Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” (John 11: 1-10)
So today we just continue with our look at the story of the raising of Lazarus which is found in chapter 11 of John’s Gospel. And last time if you remember we dealt with verse 8 and in particular we dealt with the idea of resistance in the spiritual life. So today we will consider verses 9 and 10 as they deal with Jesus’s response to the disciples.
8 The disciples are then saying to Him, “Rabbi, at the present time the Jews (= leaders of the Jewish religion) have been seeking to stone You – and You are proceeding to go there again?” 9 Jesus decidedly replied, “Are there not twelve hours [in] the day (= of daylight)? If anyone may habitually walk around (= live his life) within the Day, he does not constantly stumble (cut toward or strike against [something]), because he continually sees (looks at; observes) the Light of this world (of this cosmos; this system’s light; or: = because he progressively perceives the light and understanding that guides this System and secular society). 10 “Yet, if anyone should habitually walk around within the Night, he constantly stumbles (strikes against [things]), because the Light is not (does not exist) within him.” (Jonathan Mitchell New Testament)
So the first thing we need to take note of is the response of the Word or Logos to that within our natural mind that can both receive and resist the influx of its life. This dual dynamic, represented by the disciples, speaks to the process of spiritual transformation for resistance is needed if a new will is to come into being. We see in the Scripture that the Logos directs the mind towards considering the nature of the regenerative process and in doing so highlights a number of key principles that govern that process.
It shows that in order for resistance to be overcome, knowledge of a higher order must be delivered into the perceptive faculties of the human mind. All progression in spiritual matters requires that a person acts freely from their understanding of spiritual realities. The ideas of rationality and freedom are central to understanding the nature of what it means to be human and the Lord can never violate either of those. So the intellectual faculty’s key function is to acquire knowledge which then can be converted into a form that informs the recipient mind as to what it is it needs to do. So at that point, knowledge has become information. When a recipient mind is in possession of information as to what to do and then moves to do it, that is, wills it, then that information is transformed into understanding. It is in the act of doing, of applying truths to life, that understanding becomes integrated into that very life. That is, it becomes that which stands under or supports the formation of a new will or a new heavenly mode of being from which wisdom then becomes possible.
So in Logopraxis, there are two dimensions of work associated with the understanding. There is the need to acquire a more formal kind of knowledge that’s provided through the Text of Divine revelation, on a level that just holds what the Texts have to say about various spiritual topics. To work at this level means reading and studying and thinking about things for oneself. So we can get the general ideas provided through the Word organised in our thinking and hopefully that will provide a basis for understanding the lived experience that arises from the practice or the practical application of spiritual principles to life. However, while the acquisition of a esoteric framework of ideas is an important work, it is only a first step to the more important practical study of our inner life. The first kind of study gives us something to frame our practice, like a kind of map, but as the old adage states, the map is not the territory. Knowing that there is a spiritual world and thinking about what the Bible and the doctrines for Spiritual Christianity have to say about it, is not the same thing as having a direct experience of it. Knowledge of something doesn’t equate to knowing that thing. It’s like the difference between knowing everything there is to know about someone I’ve never met, and then knowing them deeply through sharing in their life.
Logopraxis, so far as our relationship to the Word is concerned, is designed to take us from a knowledge about the Word and give us a direct knowing of the Word working in the life of our mind. This dimension of study is the study of one’s self in the light of what truths teach. The method is self-examination or the examination of what we take for our self, that is, the patterns of thinking, feeling and acting that we identify with as our self. And that practice is done in an effort to discern the quality of that self so that we can know what kind of response is required on our part.
So we looked at the psychic structure of the self in a previous article in this series which address questions around why inner change can be so challenging. Without resistance or temptation a new will or sense of self or heavenly proprium cannot be established. So for resistance to be worked with so that it can be overcome or transformed or be transformative or be an element that can transform things – there is a need for light that brings an awareness of what to do and that light is contained in Jesus’s response to the disciples. Therefore in response to that resistance in us represented in the disciples concern for Jesus traveling to Judea, the Logos or Word offers insights, offers teaching, offers to provide something of an understanding into those principles that govern the inner life. So with that in mind let’s just unpack what the Word has to offer us in Jesus’s response to the disciples.
Jesus decidedly replied, “Are there not twelve hours [in] the day (= of daylight)?
Spiritually, light is consciousness and this reference to there being twelve hours in the day points to the need to work spiritually while it is possible to do so, while there is light available. For while we have light as to what’s required of us then we need to be in the effort to apply truths to life, that is, to the life of our mind. So we see that there are twelve hours in the day. In dealing with this idea of hours and days we are dealing with the idea of time in general in contrast to space. So in the Word what relates to time represents states of mind with an emphasis on truths or what is known or can be known or received. The progression of time represents the progression or development of the understanding with regard to spiritual realities. In this case, we see in the idea of a day being partitioned into twelve that there is an ordered unfolding to this development so that the next phase represented by the actual journey to where Lazarus is can be initiated.
Resistance in the spiritual life is only overcome when we are willing to take what the Word offers us and engage with it with a view to practical spiritual or inner work and we have to do that in the face of what resists it. Light provides what’s needed to see what’s required. In another place in the Gospel the Lord says,
I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day night comes when no one can work. While I am in the world I am the light of the world. (John 9:4-5)
The Logos or Word is the light being spoken of here. Its truths when applied enlighten the mind so that we can see the real quality of our inner mental world. This inner world is a cosmos or a psychological system in which our sense of self, developed from the loves of self in the world, sits as a kind of sun around which everything revolves. It is literally a state of self-centredness whose light is darkness, speaking from a spiritual perspective. Into this system a new light the heavenly light of consciousness is needed if the journey toward a resurrected self represented by Lazarus is to be ultimately realised. This light enters the system only while we are willing to apply the truths of the word to the life of our minds. When we are receptive to truths, the Word works, providing the light by which we can navigate this inner cosmos. When the Lord as the Word is the light of our life, progress is assured for we then are not in a state of constantly stumbling and even when we do feel we are stumbling, from the Lord’s perspective this is merely an appearance serving as a sure means to the end He desires. With the Psalmist we too can acknowledge that
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119: 105)
Through being willing to examine what we take for our self we are given the vital self knowledge needed to identify and shun what is opposed to and destructive of our spiritual life. So if we are to play our part in the regeneration of the human mind then we have to be willing to engage with truths with a view to being placed in front of seeing the nature of that self that is invested in the infernal proprium. Without such knowledge we remain at the mercy of unconscious forces that drive the habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that our sense of self is mistakenly identified with as ‘our self’.
So all this is captured in the Jonathan Mitchell translation of the New Testament quoted earlier. Of particular note is what it draws out as an alternate reading so it states
If anyone may habitually walk around (= live his life) within the Day, he does not constantly stumble (cut toward or strike against [something]), because he continually sees (looks at; observes) the Light of this world (of this cosmos; this system’s light; or: = because he progressively perceives the light and understanding that guides this System and secular society). 1
To be in the light of the Word through the practice of its truths opens our understanding to see the true nature and arrangement of things within the inner psychological cosmos that is our mind. These insights provided by the Word strengthens what’s needed so far as our understanding is concerned so that we will move forward into the inner Judea of our minds where Lazarus lies entombed. The Lord or Word is the day or state of thought and affection which we need to dwell in to gain light, to be in the light which is something that occurs progressively as we choose to live in the little light that we have. While we invite the Word into our life through practicing it He is truly the light of the world the light of the cosmos or that inner system.
So let me just summarise to finish off today. This exchange between Jesus and the disciples represents the ongoing exchange that occurs within the minds of those undergoing the processes of regeneration and it manifests as an inner dialogue often between the Logos as represented by Jesus and the belief structures being developed by the Logos represented by the disciples. The disciples are in development as is our understanding of the Word or Logos, in particular where it relates to its application. So all movement forward toward a resurrected self represented by Lazarus requires adjustments in our thinking and this produces resistance so instruction or light is required if the process is to be moved forward and it is this light that provides what’s needed like this light being instruction from the word. It provides what’s needed so that we can not only know what to do but know why we need to do what is asked of us. So when we apply truths to life, to the life of the mind, they become integrated into new affections that form a new will or willingness to follow where truths lead. And in our case, so far as the story is concerned, it is the movement back into Judea and what represents the proprial loves that need to be seen or worked with for a new mode of being – a heavenly mode of being – can come into existence.