Sermon 9 – Philip 7
The next section of Philip begins with a charming parable which, at face value, has nothing to do with what follows. Remember that as a catechesis, it would not be unusual to have items in a list, the progression of which is not necessarily organic. However, in previous sections of Philip we have seen seemingly disparate elements result in a surprisingly homogeneous whole. Whether they are connected or not, they are beautifully simplified illustrations of spiritual truths.
The first parable of the donkey warns us that spinning your wheels, spiritually, is something that it is easy to do.
“52. A donkey, walking around a millstone, has walked
a hundred miles. When it was untethered, it remained at the same place.
There are men who walk much, but advance nowhere.
And when evening comes for them, they have seen neither
the city nor the village to which they were going, they have cognized neither the nature of the Creation nor the Power (i.e. God-the-Father), nor even angels. Futile was the work of these miserable.”
The point here is that: all our efforts on this material plane are fruitless if there is no enlightened intention behind the work. Note, again, the author’s use of the word “cognized”; we have previously defined the word “cognize” as: “to understand on a fundamental level”. Philip is reminding us that worldly activity does not contribute to spiritual development unless the Divine knowledge of the Son plays a part. Thus, all our worldly occupations are filled with sound and fury signifying nothing; they travel as far down the spiritual path as a donkey tethered to a millstone.
Antonov’s Commentary:
“The efforts can yield good fruits only if the Goal and the methods of its cognition are clear. Or it is necessary to take the hand of the Teacher and hold tight to it. (The Teacher is the One Who knows the Goal well and is capable of leading another
person to It).”
The next verse of Philip glorifies Jesus, albeit somewhat out of context:
“53. Our thanksgiving — to Jesus! In Syriac, He is called
Pharisatha, i.e. the One Who exists everywhere.
Jesus came to show the crucifixion of that which belongs
to this world.”
If there is any connection to be seen between this sentence and the donkey parable, it is simply that Jesus frees us from the pointless terrestrial millwheel by revealing the emptiness of this world and the glory of the next.
Antonov’s Commentary:
“We have spoken already about the possibility and necessity not only of qualitative but also of quantitative growth of individual consciousnesses. The consciousness of an ordinary man is not larger in size than the man’s body. But thanks to special meditative training, it can be grown up to sizes comparable to the size of the planet and even larger. Only having fulfilled this (together with many other things), one becomes worthy of entering the eon of God-the-Father.”
[Sidebar: Note the idea of an individual consciousness expanding to the size of a planet. This is a restatement of “I am the vine.” Through a spiritual endowment, Jesus is able to encompass the entire consciousness of Earth, including each one of us. Furthermore, this paragraph suggests that we too, through meditative training, may expand our consciousnesses to so encompass the globe. Hoo-yah.
Back to Antonov’s commentary:]
“Jesus traversed this Path long before His incarnation,
which is well known to modern people, and He indeed became the One Who exists everywhere. For example, He, being on the Earth, was at the same time in the Abode of the Father.
He also proved with His death on the cross and with His following appearances to His incarnate disciples that the consciousness does not die together with the body and that one can sacrifice one’s body for the sake of realization of the highest goals.”
Isenburg’s translation, once again has a little more meat on its bones:
“53The eucharist is Jesus. For he is called in Syriac "Pharisatha," which is "the one who is spread out," for Jesus came to crucify the world.”
"Pharisatha," which is "the one who is spread out,"—I am the Vine! This is of some comfort to me because when I look in the mirror and see how fat I am, I can say I am spread out. Hoo-yah.
Notice that Antonov translates it as, “Jesus came to show the crucifixion of that which belongs to this world,” while Isenburg translates it as. “Jesus came to crucify the world.” This is certainly a disagreement in nuance, if nothing more, but both sentences seem to say that the world is a crucifixion. “Jesus came to show the crucifixion of that which belongs to this world,” says that all terrestrial occupations are crucifixions, and Jesus came to show us this. “Jesus came to crucify the world,” makes Jesus a somewhat more active subject—the implication is that folly is inherent in all worldly activity, and that spiritual knowledge, which the presence of Jesus brings, causes these follies to crucify themselves. Jesus crucifying the world is an image that suggests that Jesus deflates all our self-styled destinies, and replaces them with divine objectives. We should try to remember this when the currents of our earthly projects turn awry, and we wonder what we have done wrong. Perhaps, “The Lord works in mysterious ways,” is a way of saying, “Don’t put your hopes in material things, because these hopes are doomed to disappointment—and rightly so.”
Going on with Philip, we have another parable dealing, symbolically, with the difference between earthly and heavenly food. This is the second reference in Philip to human food coming from agricultural activity. Remember in Philip Verse 15 we read:
“15. Before Christ came, there was no bread of Heaven. It was like in paradise at the time of Adam: there were many trees — food for animals, but no wheat — food for man. Man used to feed like animals.
But when a Christ — Perfect Man — comes, He brings the bread from Heaven so that people may eat human food.”
There is undoubtedly a symbolic aspect to this concept, but there is also a direct practical application. Human food can be interpreted to mean spiritual food for spiritual beings, but there is also the definite implication that it is the growing of food, (specifically wheat), in a civilized manner that distinguishes man from the brutes who feed off the bush and the vine. Thus, Jesus may be seen as the bringer of civilization, a Kingdom on Earth, born out of its primal origins. Now, in Verse 58 we read practically the same words:
“58. The superiority of man is secret: man has mastery
over animals, which are stronger than man is, which are
greater by appearance and power. However, it is man who
provides them with food. But if man moves away from
them, they begin to bite, slay each other. And they will
eat each other if they do not find any food. But now they will have food because man has tilled the soil.”
Antonov comments:
“In this parable, mankind on the Earth (mankind which consists mostly of psychogenetically young and immature people) is likened to domestic animals in the “Estate” of God. Despite the fact that animals obey the Master, nevertheless they remain beasts in relations with each other if they are given the freedom of actions, and particularly, if there is a lack of food for
them.
The Author of this parable hoped that now when Man-God Christ gave people the true and eternal spiritual food — all people-beasts will be satisfied and will stop being beasts…”
From this parable it is tempting to extract the suggestion that human food ought to be vegetarian. But man’s tilling of the soil implies not only growing food from the ground, it implies a ceremonial process of obtaining spiritual nourishment from the bosom of the Mother God. Thus, the Spirit of God, Sophia, the feminine principle, gives us food for our spiritual growth as well as bread for our bellies. The word “wheat” is not as significant as the idea of food coming through Man to the animals, and, of course, from God to Man. I believe the expression, “tilling the soil” can refer both to a practical physical act, and a symbolic act of abstract character. Again, we are encouraged to “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow”, blessings of both a carnal and a spiritual nature.
Philip goes on to review the proselyte/Son dichotomy, which, in this case, is not unlike the difference between being saved and being sanctified. The author(s) state that it is possible to deceive ourselves with labels, with designations of ourselves as “Christians”, designations which we do not deserve:
“59. If those who were immersed in the Flow [those who were baptized] and having received nothing in It say nevertheless “I am a Christian!”, then they take this name on credit. But if one has really received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, then such a person has the name ‘Christian’ as a gift.
The one who received a gift does not have to give it
back, but from the one who received a credit, this credit
may be taken back.”
Isenburg’s translation is a little clearer:
“59 If one goes down into the water and comes up without having received anything, and says "I am a Christian," he has borrowed the name at interest. But if he receives the Holy Spirit, he has the name as a gift. He who has received a gift does not have to give it back, but of him who has borrowed it at interest, payment is demanded. This is the way it happens to one when he experiences a mystery.”
Antonov comments:
“John the Baptist performed the rite of the water baptism of repentant sinners. Jesus and the Apostles baptized by the Holy Spirit, asking Him to manifest Himself by influencing the consciousnesses of
the baptized people. (Let us notice that it is not equal to the birth in the Holy Spirit).
The esoteric meaning of such a baptism is to give beginners the first experience of what the Holy Spirit is. In the future, the memory about this experience can inspire the baptized to dedicate the life to changing oneself according to this Standard, to strive for attainment of Mergence with the Holy Spirit.
But other people, who just stood during the baptism and got nothing, nevertheless, assume the title of Christians for themselves. If they in addition will not work on self-improvement in order to become worthy of this title, then they will be considered debtors who did not repay their debts to God. By this, they will burden significantly their destinies.”
Thus, in the Christian community, there is exacted a punishment for making false claims. The sentence “but of him who has borrowed it at interest, payment is demanded,” is pretty clear. Once again, as we have mentioned before concerning the “Unforgiveable Sin”, we have to deal with the fact that we live in a universe not only of a loving, forgiving God, but of a Just God. Unfortunately, it is never up to us to decide what is fair and what is not, but these scriptures definitely point to the idea that, with Divine Justice, as with any other kind of justice, you get what you pay for. I love the sentence: “This is the way it happens to one when he experiences a mystery.” This is the way things are in the arena of cosmic economics: you get what you pay for.
The question of what is fair and honorable is developed in the next section, as we approach the subject of the Bridal Chamber:
“60. The mystery of marriage is similar to this.
Those who are in a pure marriage are honorable. For
without this, one cannot find peace.”
Isenburg’s translation makes the case a little stronger:
“60 Great is the mystery of marriage! For without it, the world would not exist. Now the existence of the world [...], and the existence of [...] marriage. Think of the [...] relationship, for it possesses [...] power. Its image consists of a defilement.”
Notice the expression, “Its image consists of a defilement.” This means, a false marriage, one not consecrated by and dedicated to heavenly purposes, is not only not a true marriage, but is actually an abomination whose penalty is the same as any other sin.
Antonov’s Comment:
“Man is the main essence of everything on the Earth.
And the main (earthly) function of man is marriage.
Cognize the pure marriage, for it has great power!
As for its impure form, it exists only as an outer appearance. We have said already that a marriage is a remarkable opportunity for self-development of people longing for the Truth.
We have also discussed what adultery is. It happens:
a) when people are obsessed with seeking pleasure — to the detriment of their duties before God and other people, and
b) when partners, engaged in sexual relations, are too different from each other from the standpoint of their spiritual advancement, i.e. partners that need to study in the School of God in different programs, not in the same one.
And now we have to consider what the marriage is.
There is a state registration of matrimonial relations. It
fixes de jure spouses’ relations concerning their property and the rights of children. Such social regulation of marriage is absolutely correct for most people who follow only self-interest and discharge their obligations to other people only under the compulsion of law.
There are also Church marriages. Some Churches assume the right to give or not to give the permission for sexual relations between people, allegedly on behalf of God. Why? — Because Church leaders want to keep the “flock” in awe and obedience.
But God calls by husband and wife those two who form a firm spiritual union, the sexual relations are a component of this union. God wishes to manage these affairs of people Himself: whom to unite and when, and whom to split. He does this very easily, for example, by regulating the emotions of the partners towards each other.
Defiled forms of matrimonial relations can exist not only in the two forms of adultery mentioned above but also in the disgusting qualities of one or both spouses: such as egoism, harshness, arrogance, violence towards the partner in sexual and other relations, desire to offend and insult the partner.”
Back to Philip; here the discussion of male/female relations is extended into the spirit realm:
“61. Among evil spirits there are both male and female
ones. Male ones long for uniting with the souls which inhabit female bodies, and the female spirits — with souls in male bodies, with those who live alone. And no one can run away from such spirits when they seize an embodied soul, unless they combine in themselves the power of man and woman, i.e. in a marriage.”
You may recall the episode in The Gospel of Thomas about the demon who possessed the body of an unmarried woman, ravishing her sexually every night; remember this was an independent woman who had refused marriage to continue living alone. According to this verse from Philip, the unmarried woman was a prime target for demon possession. This story is not unlike the story of the woman with “the flow of blood” who was healed by Jesus (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48); this woman was undoubtedly unmarried, and her affliction was certainly of a sexual nature.
Back to Philip:
“Thus, one receives this power in a marriage, which is a symbolic prototype of uniting in the Bridal Chamber.
When primitive women see a man, sitting alone, they
come to him, flirt with him, and defile him. In the same way primitive men, when they see a beautiful woman sitting alone, molest, rape, and defile her.
But if they see a husband and a wife sitting nearby,
they do not approach them.
In the same way, it can be when one unites by the
consciousness with an angel — then no evil spirit dares to come to such a man or a woman.
Those who have come out of the world cannot be
seized by evil spirits, as it can happen when one is in the world. Now they are above passion… and fear. They become masters of their own nature; they are above earthly desires.
… Sometimes it happens that evil spirits see a single
man and seize him, torture him… And how can he escape
them, being subjugated by his own desires and fear?
Where can he hide from them?
It happens often that some people come and say, “We
want to become believers in order to get rid of evil spirits
and demons”… But if the Holy Spirit had been with them,
then no evil spirit would have cleaved to them!”
Antonov’s comment:
“In this long fragment, Philip, in a parable-allegory manner peculiar also to Jesus, brings the reader to the idea of Union in the Bridal Chamber between a person, as a consciousness, and God-the-Father, as it happens between people in a harmonious marriage. Such a Union provides full protection from evil spirits.
On the early stages of the Path to God-the-Father, spiritual warriors can receive such protection through the real union of the consciousness with the Holy Spirit or just with a pure spirit-angel.”
Philip goes on to draw a more general conclusion from all this:
“62. Do not fear the flesh, nor love it.
If you fear it, it will become your master.
If you love it, it will devour and subjugate you.”
Thus, as Antonov summarizes:
“One can solve this problem radically only by switching the attention to the Highest Goal — God-the-Father.”
Here Philip elaborates:
“63. Either to live in the material world — or to rise in
the highest eons! But not to be found outside!
In this world, there is good and bad. However, that
which is considered good in fact is not good. And that
which is considered bad in fact is not bad. Verily the bad exists outside of this world of matter! It is that which is outside. It is perdition there.
While we live in this world, it is necessary for us to
acquire the Resurrection, so that when we strip off the
flesh, we may be found in Calm, but not walk outside.
Yet many go astray from the Path. It is good to leave this world having not committed sins!”
Isenburg’s translation of this passage runs thus:
“63 He who comes out of the world, and so can no longer be detained on the grounds that he was in the world, evidently is above the desire of the [...world] and fear. He is master over [it]. He is superior to envy. If [powers] come, they seize him and throttle him. And how will this one be able to escape the great powers? How will he be able to [vanquish them]? There are some who say, "We are faithful" in order that [they may avoid] the unclean spirits and the demons. For if they had the Holy Spirit, no unclean spirit would cleave to them. Fear not the flesh nor love it. If you fear it, it will gain mastery over you. If you love it, it will swallow and paralyze you.
And so he dwells either in this world or in the resurrection or in the middle place. God forbid that I be found in there! In this world, there is good and evil. Its good things are not good, and its evil things not evil. But there is evil after this world which is truly evil - what is called "the middle". It is death. While we are in this world, it is fitting for us to acquire the resurrection, so that when we strip off the flesh, we may be found in rest and not walk in the middle. For many go astray on the way. For it is good to come forth from the world before one has sinned. There are some who neither will nor have the power to; and others who, if they will, do not profit; for they did not act since [...] makes them sinners. And if they do not will, justice will elude them in both cases: and it is always a matter of the will, not the act.”
This translation omits the difficult expression, “But not to be found outside! It is that which is outside. It is perdition there.” This translation also expands the idea that, “In this world, there is good and bad”, by developing the obscure expression, “the middle place”. The section focusses on “He who comes out of the world, and so can no longer be detained on the grounds that he was in the world, evidently is above the desire of the [...world] and fear.” Rising above worldly concerns is the central concept of both translations. The good and bad quandary is to be understood as a distinction of perception—what appears good or bad in Earthly terms is a deception, which is clarified by coming out of the World.
All this talk of the “middle place” reminded me of concepts of death I picked up from The Tibetan book of the Dead, a book that was considered required reading by all hippies in the 60’s (that would be ME), when Eastern religious thought was becoming popular as an alternative to the worn out fundamentalist, right-wing Christian doctrines. From Wikipedia we read:
“The Bardo Thodol (Tibetan: བར་དོ་ཐོས་གྲོལ, Wylie: bar do thos grol),
Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State, is a text
from a larger corpus of teachings, the Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones, revealed by Karma Lingpa (1326–1386). It is the best-known work of Nyingma literature, and is known in the West as the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
The Tibetan text describes, and is intended to guide one through, the experiences that the consciousness has after death, in the bardo, the interval between death and the next rebirth.
Any state of consciousness can form a type of "intermediate state", intermediate between other states of consciousness. Indeed, one can consider any momentary state of consciousness a bardo, since it lies between our past and future existences; it provides us with the opportunity to experience reality, which is always present but obscured by the projections and confusions that are due to our previous unskillful actions.
The Bardo Thodol differentiates the intermediate state between lives into three bardos:
- The chikhai bardo or "bardo of the moment of death", which features the experience of the "clear light of reality", or at least the nearest approximation of which one is spiritually capable;
- The chonyid bardo or "bardo of the experiencing of reality", which features the experience of visions of various Buddha forms, or the nearest approximations of which one is capable;
- The sidpa bardo or "bardo of rebirth", which features karmically impelled hallucinations which eventually result in rebirth, typically yab-yum imagery of men and women passionately entwined.
The Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State also mentions three other bardos:
- "Life", or ordinary waking consciousness;
- "Dhyana" (meditation);
- "Dream", the dream state during normal sleep.
Together these "six bardos" form a classification of states of consciousness into six broad types.”
From the Bardo Thodol itself we read:
“Bardo (the intermediate state after death).
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When the expiration hath ceased, the vital-force will have sunk into the nerve-centre of Wisdom (1) and the Knower (2) will be experiencing the Clear Light of the natural condition (3). Then the vital force, being thrown backwards and flying downwards through the right and left nerves (4) the Intermediate State (Bardo) momentarily dawns.
At this moment, the first glimpsing of the Bardo of the Clear Light of Reality, which is the Infallible Mind of the Dharma-Kaya, is experienced by all sentient beings.
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0 nobly-born, thou wilt experience three Bardos,
the Bardo of the moment of death,
the Bardo [during the experiencing] of Reality, and
the Bardo while seeking rebirth.
Of these three, up to yesterday, thou hadst experienced the Bardo of the moment of death. Although the Clear Light of Reality dawned upon thee, thou wert unable to hold on, and so thou hast to wander here. Now henceforth thou art going to experience the [other] two, the Chonyid Bardo and the Sidpa Bardo.
From the midst of that radiance, the natural sound of Reality, reverberating like a thousand thunders simultaneously sounding, will come. That is the natural sound of thine own real self. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed.
The body, which thou hast now is called the thought-body of propensities. Since thou hast not a material body of flesh and blood, whatever may come,-sounds, lights, or rays,-are, all three, unable to harm thee: thou art incapable of dying. It is quite sufficient for thee to know that these apparitions are thine own thought-forms. Recognize this to be the Bardo.”
I include this material because it is important to me to affirm the sympathetic connections between the various world religions, and to point out the degree to which all our doctrines may be synthesized into an harmonious whole.
Going on:
In the next paragraph Philip reminds the weak-willed Christians that you get what you pay for:
“64. There are people who neither want nor can work
(on themselves). Others want and can, but do not do this. Therefore, they do not benefit from such a desire. This only makes them sinners.
As for those who can, but do not want, they will get
their deserts: both for the lack of desire and for the lack
of deeds.”
The next section of the original manuscript is truncated by the ravages of age, but still contains a vivid meaningful image. The story of the burning house is another parable, which the author explicates directly in the following paragraph. Here is the Isenburg translation:
“64 An apostolic man in a vision saw some people shut up in a house of fire and bound with fiery [chains]. And he said to them, "[Are ye] able to be saved?" They did not desire it. They received [their just] punishment, what is called 'the [...] darkness'.
It is from water and fire that the soul and the spirit came into being. It is from water and fire and light that the son of the bridal chamber (came into being). The fire is the chrism, the light is the fire. I am not referring to that fire which has no form, but to the other fire whose form is white, which is bright and beautiful, and which gives beauty.”
About this parable Antonov remarks:
“It is about a manifestation of God in the form of Divine Fire. It is quite real. But one can see It only with the eyes of the developed Consciousness, and not with the eyes of the body.
We will close today’s presentation with this meditation on the power of language to express the truth in symbols. We have spoken of this many times, and it is some comfort to me that the ancient writers also pondered this question.
“67. The Truth is not given to this world in clear form,
but in symbols and images. It is not possible to give It in
other forms. So, there are a birth (in the highest eons) and its symbolic image (an earthly birth). One has to reconstruct the Truth through this image. Or: what is the Resurrection in reality? In that way, image after image, man rises.
The same is with the Bridal Chamber: image after image,
comes the Truth, which is Mergence. I say this to those who are not just interested in the words “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, but who gain Them truly for themselves. But those who do not gain Them thus — then even these words will be taken from them.
Verily, one can gain Them by the blessing of God in
the realization of all the fullness of the power of the
Cross, which was called by the Apostles the Right-and-
Left. The One Who has cognized this is no longer a Christian but a Christ.
68. The Lord has everything important in the form
hidden from this world: the baptism, the blessing, the
transfiguration, the purification, and the Bridal Chamber.”
Antonov’s comment:
“As we already saw from the written above, the outer ritual
forms and outer descriptions have nothing in common with the true realization of the things mentioned in this fragment. Sometimes it is difficult to find appropriate words peculiar to the material world, when we speak about the phenomena of the highest eons. Therefore, there is no other way but to use symbols and images. They become quite clear to those spiritual warriors who have matured to realize them in meditation.
In the last paragraph, Philip describes — again in symbols
and images — one of the highest meditations, which is performed in the highest eons. The One Who masters it in the eon of the Father — soon becomes a Christ.”
The sentence, “The Truth is not given to this world in clear form, but in symbols and images,” reprises a point made way back in verse 25:
“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!
Thus, “The same is with the Bridal Chamber: image after image, comes the Truth, which is Mergence.” Moreover, 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.
Let us pray: Jesus we thank you every Sunday for something. The list of our petty human desires grows like a 7-year-old’s letter to Santa Claus, and we do not apologize for leaning on your everlasting arms. But please have patience with us as we weed through the dross of our desires to the central burning fire of your everlasting Truth. Amen.
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