Sermon 5-- Philip 4

Sermon 5-- Philip 4—Verse 23-29

Last week we finished on a climax concerning the immortality of the flesh with these words:

“In Antonov’s commentary he says, referring to the soul development that takes place on the Earth plane, by way of carnal experience: 

“It is thanks to this that the process of qualitative and quantitative growth of the consciousness can take place.” 

He doesn’t say why or how this energy transformation takes place, and he doesn’t say how the physical food is transformed into spiritual food, and this is a problem for those of us who would like a straight rational answer to doctrinal questions. Nevertheless, if we go deeper into his logic, we might eventually stumble onto an essentially truthful answer, if only an answer that raises new questions. Meanwhile, at this point, the ability of Faith to accept irrational premises must be our fallback position.

Recently, in meditation, I was given a metaphor that helped me get closer to an understanding of why “the development of man can take place only in the incarnate state.” I have always thought of carnal life and the afterlife as separate things—first one then the other; but if we think of the carnal life as an appendage of the spiritual life, a permanent imprint on the face of the Cosmic host, then a transcendental relationship between death and life may be perceived. As such, we can see that the experiences in the body do not simply disappear when we pass on to the higher planes, but they continue to resonate in the Mind and Memory of God. 

It was explained to me the activities of Earthly life are kind of like the slow repetitious process of practicing on a musical instrument—a mechanical process which is tedious and essentially meaningless for its own sake, but which is necessary to prepare us for the performance onstage. Without the physicalization of technical practice, spirit would have no channel to express itself through the physical; that is to say, without this physicalization, the body would have no channel through which it could access the ecstasy of musical expression which is purely spiritual. Hence, Terrestrial Life=Practice, Heavenly Life=Performance. These are comfortable thoughts, which work to validate Earthly existence, and which affirm the spiritual resonance of everything we DO on this plane.”

The next section of Philip develops the idea of flesh vs spirit; here we encounter more subtle word play, a pun in fact, where the word “naked” is given both a material and a spiritual meaning:

“23. There are people who are afraid of rising naked.

This is because they want to rise in the flesh. Yet they do

not understand that those who wear the flesh are naked

(in front of spirits and God). But those who undress themselves (of the flesh) in order to become naked (i.e. “naked” souls) — they are not naked anymore.

Neither flesh nor blood can enter the Abode of God.

So, what is that which will not enter? It is that which

is on us. And what is that which will enter? It is that which belongs to Jesus and to His Blood.

Therefore, He said, “They who will not eat My Flesh

and drink My Blood will not have the (true) life in them”.

“What is His Flesh? — Logos. And His Blood is the Holy Spirit. The one who has received These has true food, drink, and clothing. And I cannot agree if someone says that This Flesh will not rise.

So, people got confused. If you say that the Flesh will not rise, then tell me, so that I may honor you as a reasonable person, what will rise?”

This guy’s sarcasm kills me: “then tell me, so that I may honor you as a reasonable person”!? It’s like, “I dare you to justify your position about what will rise and what will remain.” The author intensifies his dare with this threat:

“You better say that the Spirit is this Flesh and the

Light is this Flesh. And Logos is also this Flesh. So, all

what you mentioned is this Flesh. And one must rise in

this very Flesh, since everything is in It.”

Commentary:

“In this fragment, Philip uses a “play on words”, which is typical of this Gospel, as a means for stimulating the reader’s thinking.

Philip begins this fragment with scoffing at the fear of rising naked: the shame of nakedness of the body is not an objectively significant ethical law, but just a moral norm of certain groups of people embodied on the Earth. There are no such “norms of behavior” in the highest eons.”

Here, Antonov again departs from the text and inserts new age concepts which are not properly included in the gospel itself, but which might possibly be inferred from any number of external new age sources. As we have mentioned previously, if there is anything to be learned from the Gospel of Philip it is that there are many levels of consciousness in existence. 

[Sidebar: I just mentioned above that:

“I have always thought of the carnal life and the afterlife as separate things—first one then the other; but if we think of the carnal life as an appendage of the spiritual life, a permanent imprint on the face of the Cosmic host, then a transcendental relationship between death and life may be perceived. As such, we can see that the experiences in the body do not simply disappear when we pass on to the higher planes, but they continue to resonate in the Mind and Memory of God.”

Hence, this idea of resonance in the Mind and Memory of God, necessarily references the outside-time quality of predestination. Obviously the Mind and Memory of God are timeless, and yet there is a sequential parameter to both mind and memory that implies a multi-layered structure, i.e. an outside-Time and an inside-Time quality, some kind of physical/non-physical dimension that flows back and forth between Time and Eternity. Predestination must exist, in essence, outside time, and, in expression, inside Time. Moreover, the notion that, “all what you mentioned is this Flesh. And one must rise in this very Flesh, since everything is in It,” refers to the idea that “Pleroma”, the Fullness of God, includes the Flesh.

Now, one of the conventional Christian objections to the idea of reincarnation is that Jesus never told us we get to try again—to Jesus the time to enter the abode of the Father is NOW, in this life, and no other time; perhaps the reason for this is that carnal identity is included in the Fullness of God—the Grace given by the Mediator cancels all Karmic debts which might require another incarnation to get things right.]

The next section of the Antonov commentary explores the character of the so-called “Pleroma”, the state of all-being in its fullness. It suggests that all consciousness is fluid and expresses itself in both individual identities and corporate identities. Again, this is not unlike the C.S. Lewis idea that we have referred to many times, that becoming more absorbed by God means becoming more ourselves.

Here is the Antonov commentary:

“Individual Consciousnesses in the Abode of the Creator abide in the mutually dissolved, merged state, forming a Whole. However, they can separate again as Individualities with the purpose of performing a specific task in the Creation. Spirits retain their separateness, as well as the appearance and tendencies, habitual for them in the last incarnation. But they also can transform into lumps of energy or assume for a time someone else’s appearance when they converse with incarnate people.

God and spirits hear not only the words which we say but also our thoughts, even the most “secret” ones.

They also see everything existing in the world of matter, in all detail. Not only clothes, under which we hide our bodies, but even the intestines of our bodies are absolutely open to the sight of any non-incarnate being.”

Here Antonov mentions again the idea of “secret”, or you might possibly say, “forgotten” knowledge—knowledge that is apprehended by spiritual intelligence, but which is invisible to the carnal consciousness.

“But embodied people usually do not know about this, do not notice, and even if they knew and noticed, they would not have a chance to hide their nakedness. We are naked before the whole Ocean of non-incarnate universal Consciousness and before many individual consciousnesses. We are visible to all. They examine us, admiring or compassionating, respecting or making fun, loving or hating, despising, foretasting our future suffering… But we do not know this, and even if we knew — anyway we do not have any place where to go, where to hide…

… Then Philip proceeds with discussing that which Jesus allegorically called His Flesh and Blood.

Jesus-“Vine”, for incarnating in a body, “stretched” a part of Himself--Consciousness from the eon of God-the-Father — to the world of matter. And He explained to the disciples that the Path to God-the-Father consists for them in transformation of

themselves into similar “Vines”, but they have to grow in the direction opposite as compared to Jesus: not from God-the-Father — to the matter, but from the matter — to God-the-Father.”

The source for this reference is John 15:1-9:

“15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

² Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

³ Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

⁵ I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

⁶ If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

⁷ If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

⁸ Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

⁹ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”

It gets to be slightly irritating how Antonov keeps interpolating material from other sources into his so-called commentary on the Gospel of Philip, in this case the Gospel of John; however, the metaphor of the “vine” totally works for me as an aid to imagining how Jesus’ consciousness can connect all of us to Him and to each other. Thus, in considering the many forms and, you might say, CONCENTRATIONS of consciousness, (I have sometimes said RESOLUTIONS of consciousness), included in the all-encompassing Pleroma, the “vine” as an aspect of the Christ Consciousness, may once again be observed to be an instrument of MEDIATION.

Back to Antonov:

“The one who grows by the “roots” to the Abode of God-the-Father and merges there with Him in the embrace of Love— becomes a Christ with time.

In order to traverse this Path, one has to “eat” that “food” which is provided to people from the eons of the Holy Spirit and God-the-Father. This is the “food” of the Divine knowledge. And “Logos” (i.e. “Speaking One”) is the One Who brings this knowledge.

The one who gets born in the highest eons during the life in a material body and who grows one’s own Divine “Flesh” in these eons is a true follower of Christ, a true Christian to become a Christ. After the death of the body, such a person truly rises, attains immortality, and for sure will not die even at the end of the world.”

In verse 24, Philip develops the metaphor of the clothed and the naked:

“24. In this world, people mark themselves in the society by their garments. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, the garments of the chosen are on Those Who robed themselves in the Flow and Fire, on Those Who purified Themselves.”

I was happy to read the statement, “In this world, people mark themselves in the society by their garments.” True then as now. As Frank Zappa said, “Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don’t kid yourself.” I have often wondered how could we dress and NOT wear a uniform? Then, NOT wearing a uniform becomes wearing a uniform. I guess going naked is the only way.

Antonov’s Commentary pursues the idea of layers of consciousness, meaning physical clothing as opposed to heavenly clothing. He talks about the multidimensional creation, and the refinement of consciousness, which takes place in the Bridal Chamber, through these multi-dimensional layers,:

“The Flow is motion of the Consciousness of the Holy Spirit. One’s entering in it is similar to submersion in a cosmic river of Living Divine Consciousness. Different variations of this meditation are called Latihan and Pranava. This represents the real baptism in the Holy Spirit. As we see, it is not similar at all to what is understood as baptism in various sects.

The Holy Spirit pervades all layers of the multidimensional Creation. A Manifestation of the Holy Spirit above the Earth’s surface can be associated with a Flow. His Manifestation inside the planet is designated by Philip as Light. Another Manifestation of Him is Fire. And the Perfect Light is God-the-Father in

His Abode — in the Bridal Chamber.

Baptism, performed sequentially in each of these layers, provides the next stages of purification and refinement of the consciousness of a spiritual warrior.”

Back to Philip:

“25. Usually obvious things are cognized through the obvious, and secret things — through the secret. But in some cases, the secret is symbolized through images of the obvious. Thus come the image of water in the Flow and the image of fire at the blessing (of God-the-Father).”

As you know, the subject of language and its role in conveying the truth and veiling the truth, is a constant preoccupation with me, so it will be no surprise that I cherish this last paragraph. It begins with this precious statement, “Usually obvious things are cognized through the obvious.” We often hear that “less is more”; this is certainly true sometimes, but it is a lot more often true that, “less is less and more is more. The author(s) of Philip certainly agree with me. However, the operative word in this paragraph, for me, is “SYMBOLIZED”—

“the secret is symbolized through images of the obvious”.

Can you guess the next word to come out of my mouth? PARABLE. Parables are always images of the obvious symbolized through verbal structures capable of inspiring the imagination to enter the Cloud of Unknowing. If only we could remember in our arguments over doctrinal details that all these words we vomit out of our mouths are SYMBOLS for realities which cannot be verbalized!

Without committing to any one verbal “TRUTH”, Jesus, guides our minds along wholesome paths and makes our words romp over a joyous playground of pictures of the invisible.

Isenburg translates the foregoing in this way:

“It is necessary to rise in this flesh, since everything exists in it. In this world, those who put on garments are better than the garments. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the garments are better than those that put them on. It is through water and fire that the whole place is purified - the visible by the visible, the hidden by the hidden. There are some things hidden through those visible. There is water in water, there is fire in chrism.”  

Again, the clever logical maneuver that Antonov and Wisenburg agree on: “There are some things hidden through those visible.” Okay then. Still, one section in this verse that is significantly different from the Antonov translation. To remind you, the Antonov translation went like this:

“But in the Kingdom of Heaven, the garments of the chosen are on Those Who robed themselves in the Flow and Fire, on Those Who purified Themselves.”

 The Wisenburg translation went like this:

“In this world, those who put on garments are better than the garments. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the garments are better than those that put them on.” 

The Antonov version is more colorful, more mystical, but the Wisenburg version is somehow more LITERAL. Either way, we have here another of the paradoxical expressions in which the author(s) of Philip take delight; it once again refers to the hierarchy that exists in the cosmographic structure, and suggests that it is the Heavenly context that elevates the proselyte to the level of a Son. In Heaven the garments are better than those who put them on because THEY ARE IN HEAVEN! Those who put them on are proselytes until they become Sons. At THAT point they become superior to their garments, because all are naked in spirit.

Another term (used here for the first time) is the “chrism”. A brief dictionary definition is:

“A mixture of oil and balsam, consecrated and used for anointing at baptism and in other rites of Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican Churches.”

A Wikipedia article begins thus:

“The English chrism derives from Koine Greek via Latin and Old French. In Greek, khrîsma (χρῖσμα) was originally the verbal noun ("(the act of) anointing," "unction") of χρίειν ("anoint").”

It is not crystal clear what is meant by, “There is water in water, there is fire in chrism,” but I think we can safely say that the sense in which the “chrism” is used here refers to the “ACT of anointing”, not the actual mixture of oil and balsam; thus, “there is fire in the ACT of anointing.” This sentence clearly attributes a transcendental quality to the interaction of spirit and flesh—the ACT of anointing gives the ointment itself supernatural power. This is not unrelated to the Catholic idea that, in the Rite of Communion, the wafer and the wine are magically transmuted into the actual body and blood of Jesus. When we began our survey of The Gospel of Philip we were told that one of the main themes of the book was to be the Holy ritual. This is surely an example of that.

Another expression attributing divine resonance to a ritual is hinted at in the following comment:

"Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Colossians 15:50). What is this which will not inherit? This which is on us. But what is this, too, which will inherit? It is that which belongs to Jesus and his blood. Because of this he said "He who shall not eat my flesh and drink my blood has not life in him." (John 6:53). What is it? His flesh is the word, and his blood is the Holy Spirit. He who has received these has food and he has drink and clothing.”

Once again we encounter paradox: in one place the spirit is said to reside in the flesh, and here it quotes Paul as saying, "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Then it turns around and says it is JESUS’ flesh and blood that provides spiritual food. The only thing that is clear about this catechism is that there exists a transcendental relationship between the flesh and spirit—in the “pleroma”, the fullness of God, there is spirit everywhere.

The next section of The Gospel of Philip dwells on the divine authority of Jesus. On the subject of varying levels of spiritual consciousness, the first sentence talks about the varying degrees to which the divinity of Jesus may be appreciated by the people. Remember that in previous Philip messages we have distinguished between proselyte and Son, perishable and imperishable, winter and summer, parable and Truth, etc.; this section begins by pointing out that not everybody is able to appreciate the ESSENCE of Jesus, but that He is still able to reach everybody’s heart to some degree or other. 

“26. Jesus conquered the hearts of people without revealing His Essence. To everyone He revealed Himself as much as they could comprehend. He did this so: to the great He appeared as great, to the small He appeared as small, to angels — as an angel, and to people — as a man. At the same time, His Divinity was hidden from all. Some, seeing Him, thought that they saw a person equal to them.

But when He revealed Himself to His disciples in the

whole glory on the mountain — at that moment He was not small but truly Great. But before this, He made His disciples great, so that they could see His Greatness. On that day, thanking the Father, He said: “O He, Who united His Perfection and Light with the Holy Spirit, unite us also with the images of angels!”

[Sidebar: It is interesting how Jesus appears in different degrees of reality to those of differing degrees of perceptive capacity, all at the same time. This is, of course, the essence of the parable concept: the parable reveals to its audience the quality of Truth which they are capable of apprehending; thus, a lower level audience can appreciate just so much, while a more highly evolved audience can penetrate to the core of His essence—but first that audience must be elevated to a level capable of comprehending His essence. Thus, 

“He made His disciples great, so that they could see His Greatness.”

This has been a recurrent theme so far in Philip, and it is very gratifying to me, because I have pondered the question of different consciousness levels repeatedly not only in my meditations on spiritual issues, but also on aesthetic issues. The question of writing music that can be appreciated by audiences of varying levels of education and sensitivity has been a constant consideration for me as a creative artist.

Also, the concept of democracy—the idea that all men are created equal-- bears on this question, because, as we know, all men are NOT created equal; the equality of Man is an idealized expression with no basis in practical reality; but, at the same time, all men need to be treated as equals, as they are all derived from the same creative impulse of God the Father. Thus, although the ESSENCE of Jesus may not be visible to the spiritually blind, still, the ESSENCE of the human being is somehow submerged in the core of humanity, hidden but active and alive; and it is this essential core that ultimately binds all humanity together by a single etheric blood relationship.]

The Antonov commentary follows; notice it makes reference to the idea of the AGE of souls, declaring first: that the age of the soul may be very different from the age of the body, thus making different levels of understanding accessible to souls of different ages; secondly, there is an implicit understanding that this idea of different soul ages is based on the principle of reincarnation—in other words, a soul ages through the process of multiple rebirths onto the terrestrial plane. 

I have not completely made up my mind vis a vis the question of reincarnation—I have an intuitive feeling that reincarnation must be a reality, but I also admit the true nature of the spirit, as it appears wedded to the flesh, is much too complicated for me to adequately defend the idea--there are just too many other ways that many psychic phenomena could be explained. Reincarnation is one of these ideas that makes perfect sense to the mind, but which may wind up being a total illusion—like a magic trick that looks like one thing and turns out to be something else entirely. This is one of those things that requires me to keep an open mind, while accepting the fact that many people of Jesus’ day firmly believed in it—the author(s) of The Gospel of Philip certainly did, and Antonov certainly does. Antonov’s commentary begins with an explication of the forgoing quotation of Jesus: 

“O He, Who united His Perfection and Light with the Holy Spirit, unite us also with the images of angels!”

Antonov’s comment:

“In this saying of Jesus, there is a “play on words”. Its meaning is: “Do so that the disciples, at last, become looking like angels!” Behind these words of Jesus there is a regret that even some of His closest disciples could not comprehend Him.

One of the peculiarities of people’s development is that souls, incarnated by God in human bodies, have a very different age, which does not correlate with the age of the body. This determines, first of all, the ability to comprehend information of different levels of complexity (and to a much lesser degree it depends on the age of the body, the nature of upbringing, education, and so on). Souls become mature during many incarnations, about this Jesus, as well as His Apostles, told.

A wise teacher provides help to people taking into account the peculiarities of their age and their abilities to comprehend. A teacher should not give to the students information which is too complex and beyond their comprehending abilities.

The spiritual Path is like a stairway consisting of many steps. And it is necessary to help disciples to get on the step which is next for them, and not to suggest to them to jump through a flight of steps.”

[Sidebar: I vastly appreciate this thought: 

“A wise teacher provides help to people taking into account the peculiarities of their age and their abilities to comprehend. A teacher should not give to the students information which is too complex and beyond their comprehending abilities.” 

This not only applies to the formal relationship of teacher to student, but must equally apply to any form of communication between people on any subject whatever, but especially subjects of a spiritual nature. As we have said many times, many inhuman atrocities have been performed by people convinced that the words they speak are the ultimate truth, and anybody who disagrees is, at best, mistaken, and, at worst, the Anti-Christ. People, who claim a copyright on the TRUTH, tend to be passionately committed to the TRUTH as it is expressed on their own personal level of understanding; the quality of someone else’s TRUTH may sound very different to them, merely by virtue of its elevation relative to their personal TRUTH. The implication is that, “If your TRUTH is expressed in different terms from MY TRUTH, you must be wrong.” This dangerous conclusion has sent many innocent people to the torch; countless millions have been executed because of the idea that, “MY TRUTH is better than YOUR TRUTH.” Therefore, we must never assume that whatever conclusions we may have arrived at about ANYTHING, are written in cosmic stone—the tablet of TRUTH is a constantly evolving document that speaks to all levels of understanding at once, without excluding anybody’s claim to it no matter how partial or even irrational.

Going on with Philip:

“27. Do not neglect the Lamb, for without Him one

cannot see the Gate. And no one will be able to come to the King remaining “naked”. The sacrificial Lamb is Jesus Who went to His cross death in order that the knowledge, left by Him, save people from hell.”

Antonov’s comment:

“The second phrase of this fragment is a continuation of the idea from fragment 23. The “naked” ones are those who show off on the surface of the Earth in material bodies identifying themselves with the bodies and thinking that what they do in secret from other embodied people will be a secret for all. But in fact, they are in full view of all spirits and God. In fact, they are laughable as if they stay naked among other embodied   people and do not notice their nudity.

But one cannot visit the King in a body, thinking about oneself as of the body. One can go to the King only by not identifying oneself with the body, only by having achieved the real freedom from it through meditative training. Indeed, the stages of meditative practices (meditation is work on the development of the consciousness) allow one to receive the true baptism and not the “toylike” one, allow one to be born and become mature in new eons.”

Isenburg’s comment on this passage elaborates on its metaphoric implications:

“The terms ‘angel’ and ‘lamb’ are used to refer to the higher self.  We, the earthly ‘images’ should unite with our higher selves as our true expression if we want to go on farther “into the king”.  We cannot do it if we are “naked” of our soul or ‘wedding garment’ in Roman Christian terminology.”

Going on with Philip:

“28. The Man of Heaven has many more Sons than an

earthly man. If the sons of Adam are many, although they die, how much more are the Sons of the Perfect Man, Those Who do not die and are begotten again and again!”

[Sidebar: This is a very interesting passage, as it reprises several concepts that have previously been presented; included in this short paragraph is the idea of different spiritual levels, the idea that Sons beget Sons, and there is another sideways reference to reincarnation (“Those Who do not die . . . are begotten again and again.”).]

Antonov’s comment:

“The Perfect Man is Christ. His Teachings — at the cost of His cross death and the work of His Apostles — remained on the Earth and continue to beget new and new spiritual Children, Who achieve Immortality in the Abode of God-the-Father.”

The next sections goes back to the very first verse of the book:

“A Hebrew makes another Hebrew, and such a person is called "proselyte". But a proselyte does not make another proselyte.” 

The way spiritual knowledge is transferred from one person to another seems to be of primary importance to the author(s) of Philip; this is a dogmatic principle appropriate to a catechesis, and, as such, depends very much on the LANGUAGE in which the dogmatic principle is expressed. The following paragraph makes a clever distinction between SON and BROTHER.

“29. The Father created a Son, but a Son cannot create

a son. Because the One Who was born in that way (by the Father) cannot beget. A Son makes brothers for Himself, not sons.”

I find this section confusing in the same way I find the opening of the book confusing. The Father creates Sons, but the Son who is now one with the Father cannot make Sons? And if he can make brothers, are they not then also Sons? Perhaps the Son is a Son of Earth and therefore the Brother is a creature of Earth, but still connected by spiritual sympathy? Something like this is implied in the Antonov comment:

“The earthly reproduction is not attractive to a Son of God. Therefore, He begets not earthly children, but spiritual ones — brothers and sisters.”

The passage goes on to reflect on certain community rituals, namely the KISS. The KISS is represented as a means by which Perfection may be bestowed on a man; the Earthly kiss is therefore a symbolic re-enactment of the spiritual baptism that came through feeding on the Word of God. As a Christian ritual, then, it is no surprise that Judas chose to identify Jesus to the Romans by means of A KISS:

“31. There are those who feed from a mouth if the

word of God comes from it. If one feeds like this — one

can become Perfect.

The Perfect can be conceived by a kiss and be born

thus. For this reason, we also kiss one another to become

conceived from the grace which is in each one of us.”

Antonov’s comment expands on the KISS as a symbol of divine love:

“A Perfect Teacher feeds disciples with the word of God from the mouth. And this can bring them to the Perfection. Having been prepared by previous incarnations, psychogenetically mature disciples can be awaked to further advancement by Love of the Teacher. And then they can be born in the

highest eons.

The emotions of tender love help disciples in their spiritual work, supporting, inspiring, and imbuing them with power.”

So, the list of Divine Sacraments mentioned in this section of Philip include, Communion, Chrism, and the Kiss. All this is to direct our attention the idea that physicality becomes imbued with spiritual power not by virtue of the physical components of the rituals themselves, but by virtue of the spiritual power of the intention to merge in transcendental union with the Father. All this takes place in the “Bridal Chamber”.

Next week we begin our discussion with the subject of Jesus’ relationship to Mary Magdalene.

Let us pray: Jesus, the layers of reality, out of which the totality of the universe is composed, constitute a puzzle we will never understand. But we know that the wonder which these contemplations inspire in us must eventually lead to an understanding totally apprehended by the Divine Intelligence made available to us through You. Amen.