Excerpt of Truth: 2011

Excerpt from the Book

A Metaphysical Interpretation of the Bible

Mark

If we were to read Mark’s entire dissertation, we would realize there are many differences in the way the Master’s words are phrased, as compared to Matthew. Each of the four Gospels offers us a different interpretation, fitting the varied parts of life and human interactions. These variations clearly depict the aspects of human experience, each showing us how to reach a higher level of life and, with Mark, it is the mind. When we set our goals toward higher levels of enlightenment, we must expect to be faced inwardly through the variety of experiences that take place. Even if we are not aware of this divine journey that we are all traveling, it helps us to know that reaching for a better state of mind, a better being, is the purpose of our presence on this earth. We will now discuss the creative usefulness of our greatest physical tool, our steering mechanism of life, mind and thought. This is the guiding energy which not only controls, but also influences all that we do, directly or indirectly. It is up to us to determine how we use this little known and misunderstood tool, through its proper use we may lift our lives into self-mastery. It is the courier of thought and the field of magnetic impulses we produce. If we are focused on our divine nature then it shall surely arrive.

As do the other gospels, Mark covers very little on the childhood of Jesus. It relates His life only after the completion of His education and His return to Israel. Mark 1:1 opens with, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” something that is not commonly stated in other religious works. In the third verse, he goes directly to a prophetic quote from the Book of Isaiah. In Mark 1:3 we read, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness….” We have accepted or have been conditioned to believe this biblical quote is a reference to John the Baptist, but not necessarily. From a metaphysical perspective, it is the voice of consciousness that is crying out, begging to be heard in the wilderness of mind. In some faiths, the advice is, “Be still and know that I am God;” yet, very few pay heed to that still small voice. In this case, being still is to empty one’s mind of the prodigious quantity of thoughts because this is the best way to hear the voice of higher thought. Let us continue with Mark 1:12-13, “And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. (13) And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.” Pondering over the first verse, we see that Spirit drove the Master, impelled Him, to go into this hinterland of mind and thought. In truth, we learn that Spirit, soul, will always impel a person through spiritual pressure; life, the external side, will compel a person. We define these actions as being impulsive or compulsive if both are carried to extremes. Yet the Master suggested that nothing should be carried to the extreme because it is simply always about the balance of energies. And going to extremes in either direction creates imbalance.

If we follow only the whims of the body, soul’s vehicle, life is in control of us rather than our soul. To be impelled is a message from our higher self; whereas, to be compelled stems from our physical urges. Truthfully speaking no one should ignore the experiences generated by our outer environment as well as the inner. The inner is the true teacher while the outer are the lessons. It was inevitable that Jesus was meant to experience the powerful mental tribulations of life so He could understand the human condition. By absorbing this experience, it became simpler for Him to teach us how to overcome the mental stumbling blocks of physical life, and how to be responsive to life itself. The metaphorical wilderness is the mental nature of self and Satan’s taunting is the egoistic aspect, whispering at us to go on with our thought or action, without considering the consequences. In addition to His exceptional abilities, His excellent education in the Far East in the higher aspects, the Master still had to apply His accumulated knowledge to our earthly external environment. Considering the level of power to be bestowed upon Him as a human, this makes a great deal of sense. Perhaps we should remember that we also have the very same potentials as did Jesus. Would this not reveal that, with the temptation by Satan, God was tempting Itself again as in the Garden of Eden? Why would God do this? We shall attempt to enlighten the reader on the value of this.

Let us examine first the myth of Satan that conditioning has us believe. According to the churches this fiend is lurking in the shadows of our lives. This is simply not true. Why would our Creator fashion Its own nemesis as one whose defeat was not certain? Why would It then use us as a bouncing ball between two distinctly different realms? The early church founders did nothing other than replace existing superstitions with another. Their man-made design was simply to intimidate the masses, to compel people into a man-made doctrine that would, in turn, save them from this creature of illusion. To fear the thought of a red archfiend waiting to welcome us in his subterranean inferno is futile by its very nature. This is nothing more than the ancient traditions of worshipping a volcano god or the great water god and paying homage to them. Without realizing this means God Itself has a very evil side by the mere conception of and association with Satan. If we are to comprehend that only the temptations of the physical side actually attract us. This is how much our ego caters to this external idea and if we become fully aware of this we would undoubtedly learn a valuable lesson. Herein rests the idea of Satan, a teacher. The misguided side of mind and desires it creates may overpower the individual; God did not create this malaise. We each are the culprits as a benevolent Creator would not.

Have we not all been taught that absolute power corrupts absolutely? This had to be inwardly clarified for the Master during His sojourn in the wilderness. Mark tells us Jesus was with the wild beasts during His time in there. Why would He be stalked by dangerous creatures? In a metaphysical context, wild beasts were not the animals we may picture; instead, they were the thoughts all of us may have at times based in ego. These beasts are produced by the physical mind, more as thoughts of the lower temptations which we are to overcome. We must remember the Master was flesh and blood, so imagine which temptations could be offered to a being with His ability, especially if the temptations were to change life to match Him forcefully.

Thursday, November 3, 2011