“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)