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Word Gems
Personal Statement #37 Love In The AfterLife
March 19, 2010
The mystery of romantic love speaks to those of every culture, every time period, every level of sophistication... possibly, to those of every galaxy. One of my favorite Star Trek (NG) episodes (#121, The Perfect Mate, 1992) features a most poignant encounter between Picard and his unexpected guest, the exquisitely attractive Kamala. It's a story that will haunt you for a long time.
Beauty that would stop a galaxy-class starship
Dutch actress Famke Janssen, age 27 here, brilliantly portrays Kamala.
The Perfect Mate, summary plot: Alrik, the self-important Chancellor of Valt Minor, had agreed to end warfare with the Kriosians. He had been promised a gift from Ambassador Briam - a bride, an empathic metamorph, Kamala, with an ability to sense her mate's desires and to become his particular satisfaction; even so, Alrik is not overly interested in her, but only with commercial matters. Picard, serving as escort to the marriage ceremony, receives Kamala, stunningly beautiful in her wedding gown. But he is soon shocked as Kamala reveals that her Metamorphic Self has permanently bonded with him! and that she will never love Alrik; her empathic powers, in any case, will enable her to please the Chancellor. The Captain, concerned for her, suggests that she not marry Alrik. Kamala - now, Picard's mirror-opposite! his opposite-sameness! - replies that she suddenly perceives the meaning of duty, and must fulfill her's, to end the bloodshed between her warring peoples; but, with subtle dark humor, Kamala softly injects... I only hope that Alrik likes Shakespeare.
Kamala: Do you find me
unattractive?
Picard:
Chancellor, you will be pleased to meet your new
bride. Picard: On behalf of
the planet Krios, I present you with your bride.
Wedding bell blues In previous articles, we have discussed how the Ego's cravings can distort one's view of romance, resulting in the many inadequate reasons for marriage. Alrik admitted to being more interested in "the trade agreements" than his excessively attractive bride. This is a common story. Many grooms might not consciously enter marriage thinking Alrik thoughts; but, it later becomes clear, they did not know their own minds well enough to realize that Alrik-sentiments lurked just below the surface - and would soon manifest. Why is that? The Ego, with its own priorities (P.S. #36), until defused, will have its way, absolutely! despite speeches to the contrary made to each other, and to oneself, before the ceremony; despite effusive, intoxicated, and giddy smiles adorning the faces of those on their wedding day! Marrying a pretty girl, but without a deep bonding with her, while focusing upon one's career and ego-needs, is all too common... in any quadrant of the galaxy. I have offered anecdotal evidence of this universal anomaly and discord. My friend, retired minister Mark, asserts that, over many decades, his counseling of married couples leaves him with a sense that "only 2%" might have known a genuine love-bond; and this paltry figure, he quickly concedes, is probably inflated. And 90 year-old Della (P.S. #9) offered her testimony regarding having known only two couples in her entire lifetime who might qualify as being truly in love. Norma (P.S. #25), an exception to the general rule, when referring to her departed Richard, speaks in tones that can be described only as erotic panting, a hint of breathless sensuality, suggesting controlled passionate energy! But I do not meet many like Norma; neither do you. In my travels, as I occasionally chat with elderly widows, I cannot help but notice, so often, that even among those who miss their mates, they speak of their husbands' virtues in terms of mere utility: he was a steady provider, a good man, took care of his family, we always had enough; a good worker, never missed a day on the job; a dependable man, could always count on him. Such evaluation, while commendable, might be more expected from a corporate supervisor than a putative lover. Let's just say, I do not hear them panting at the mention of his name. And, most tellingly, when, as it is appropriate, I tell them of the wonders of Summerland (P.S. #7), and that, one day, they might enjoy reunion with that lost lover, I am frequently met with lukewarm response - and a desire to change the subject! No, I do not hear them panting.
John as EveryMan, Mary as EveryWoman You know John - of course, you do, everyone knows John, a nice guy. He's getting married today. Let's listen in on his conscious and subliminal thoughts.
John's soliloquy Mary is a great girl. I'm lucky to have her. I know she will make a great wife and mother. And I do love her. I mean... of course, I do... funny, why did I need to say that? That's strange because Mary is really nice... I mean, I used to go out with some other girls who were fun, if you know what I mean... but, anyway, life is more than fun. My time for sowing wild oats is over now, time to settle down... and anyway, Mary is fun, too - she likes to laugh and she's smart and competent and she's very pretty, even Mom admitted that... it's just that, I don't know, the picture seems perfect in many ways, but, even so, there's something about it... well, as I said, Mary will make a great wife, I know she will, and we'll be fine, and we'll have a nice big house filled with nice things, and we'll have the perfect family. And, it's time for me, as Dad always says, to get serious about life, no more fooling around. Marriage is more than splendor in the grass, isn't it? Dad's right, I guess, and I do have plans for my career, and I need to make that front-and-center now. I mean, Mary is important to me, too - of course, she is... and the kids we plan on having, they're important. But, hey, as Dad always says, life is rough out there, and I have to get real and make sure that the family has the money we'll need. I have to think about that very seriously, don't I?... of course, I do, who could argue with that... and I know that Mary, with her competence, will keep the home-front running smoothly, with the kids and all, and I'll be able to concentrate on my career. I know that Mary wants to work, too, which is good, we can use the extra money, but it's my job as head of the house to make sure that my work is the priority. I mean, men are supposed to be the breadwinners, right? That's my job, isn't it? I think Mary will understand my insistence on making my career important... anyway, I'm sooo tired of Dad asking me when I'm going to buckle down, find a good wife, and get my life in order so that I can make my mark in the world. There's nothing wrong with all this is there?
What is the reason for falling in
love, what is the reason for falling in love, is it a
place to go, when you are feeling low, is it the thing to do,
when you are feeling blue... no, it's you, it's only you...
tell me, what is the reason for falling in love, what is the reason for falling
in love, is it because they say things should be that
way, is it the magic key that opens ecstasy...no, it's you, it's only
you...
Mary's soliloquy John is a good man. I'm lucky to have him. I remember those other guys who wasted my time and I couldn't depend on them. But John is serious-minded and hard-working. And I know he'll be a good partner in building our family. And I can see those little kids, and I love them already. I hope for a girl and a boy, but I have especially dreamed of having a little girl since I was a teen. I know we'll all be happy in our nice home, and those babies will make us happy. I mean, it's not just the babies alone, of course... I mean, I do love John, sure I do, and he'll make me happy, too... well, why am I telling myself that? Anyway, it's time to put away pink-cloud dreams about life. I'm not sure why I'm bringing all this up - as I said, John is a good man, and I do love him, and I'm lucky to have him... I think I just said that... Ok, alright, maybe John wasn't my number one alltime prince charming, but he's a dependable man. I mean, how long was I supposed to wait, anyway, with the clock ticking and all that. It's unrealistic to think that I would ever have Mr. Right, that's just kids-stuff. Yeah, I know, when I was a girl, I thought I might have had more, but it's time to face the music. Maybe John isn't that glass of spiced red wine in a crystal goblet at a nightclub that I really wanted... maybe he's just a plastic cup of warm milk while watching reruns at home alone... but he's a cup of warm milk in a cold world, and I've decided to settle for that... so, what's wrong with that? Is that really so bad? John can be counted on as we make our way in this difficult world. Isn't that enough? I mean, marriage is more than flowers-and-candy and a roll in the hay, isn't it? Get over it, girl, of course, it is! It's about babies, and kids growing up, and watching them take their first steps, and Christmas mornings, and birthday parties for five-year-olds, and sharing all those happy things that families do. I mean, isn't that what a woman is supposed to do here? Isn't life really about kids and family? ... anyway, one good thing... my mother will finally stop asking me when I'm getting married. I am sooo tired of hearing her ask me every week if I've found a good man yet, and she reminding me that I'm a week older. Thank God that's over! Well, anyway... there's nothing wrong with all this is there? John and Mary are quite correct. There's nothing wrong with any of this... but, as they will come to see... increasingly, come to see, as the years pass... there's nothing particularly right with it, either. Mary seems to have forgotten... when she was a young girl, a cup of warm milk would make her nauseous... and, if they made her swallow enough of it... she would vomit.
Love In The AfterLife
I reported to you 18 months ago that I began thinking about the words of The Wedding Song while walking the familiar dirt roads and ancient cowpaths on my grandfather's farm.
I later learned that the songwriter, Noel Paul Stookey, as he tells it, was "given" the lyrics after he "prayed" - an example of psychic channeling and automatic writing! I have no reason to doubt Stookey's claim; indeed, I myself sense something quite magical about this song, not only regarding the exquisite melody, but the enchanting words, which strike me as concealing multiple layers of deep meaning. I think certain AfterLife Entities, the Troubadours, have attempted to communicate important principles via this wondrous art form, The Wedding Song.
Petula Clark, The Wedding Song
The lyrics of The Wedding Song are sometimes pressed into service at marriage ceremonies, even as part of the vows. This, you will find to be quite ironic.
Hey... look around you, it's a program that's worked so well in history, hasn't it?
As we will discover, vows are only for those who marry for insubstantial reasons, all of those John-and-Mary traditional, but inadequate, reasons.
Romantic attraction, of the John-and-Mary sort, is nothing more than a short-lived chemical feast in the brain - but the real stuff is based on eternal, never-diminishing, soul energies!
The Wedding Song, in its ultimate fulfillment, does not speak to John and Mary. Rather, it offers an outline-glimpse of eternal Twin Soul love; and, my friends, no vows are needed for those so engaged, and soul-fused, to love each other... just as no vows are needed to keep the proton and neutron in mad-love embrace within the atom's core. Allow me, once more, to offer the reminder: The words of The Wedding Song are no mere songwriter's private and fanciful subjective musings. These lyrics are straight from the AfterLife! from your Guides and Advisors on the Other Side ... it's a message for you! ... heavy stuff!
you cannot convert people, they can only convert themselves; the purpose of life is the unfoldment of the spirit...
Well, there must have been a reason for becoming man and wife ... Do you believe in something that you've never seen before? What are the AfterLife Guides trying to tell us here? What is this "something that you've never seen before"? It's clear that it has to do with "the reason for becoming man and wife." Yes, let's remind ourselves, what are those reasons for falling in love?
rest assured this Troubadour is acting on his part "Rest assured" - doesn't it strike you as odd that this little phrase should be added? Do we need assurance? Maybe we do. We live in a world of inconstant love and, often, we cannot fathom another who would unreservedly devote him or herself to our highest good! In P.S. #36, I reported that David instructed me regarding the deep commitment of our Guides who work for the Enlightenment of all: "You should understand that these on the Other Side who are working with you are just as excited, or even more excited, regarding this writing project. These are highly motivated Spirit Entities who have a mission to teach and help the world, and all of this is very important to them!" Yes, of course, it would be that way. The
phrase "rest assured" is meant to emphasize the fact that the
Troubadours, our Guides and Advisors, are fully engaged in,
committed to, the Cosmic Process that a Spiritual Marriage is
meant to promote. In our world, a gray and cold world of
unlove, people inartfully employ vows as an attempt to create an
enduring commitment. But the Troubadours need no external vows to do what
they are inwardly directed to do; neither do
those with whom they "remain." A Troubadour "acting on his part,"
means, he or she is self-motivated,
dedicated, and consecrated to the task at hand. And, "rest
assured," this Cosmic Entrepreneur of Love is no mere hireling, one
who needs not to be told when to show up for work!
Troubadour Why do the Guides and Advisors refer to themselves as Troubadours? It took me some time to understand this, but I think I have an answer now. Recall that the troubadours of old were more than travelling minstrels. They were entertainers and artists, but with a purpose; often, a didactic one, as they would frequently serve as teachers. Ask yourself this. Why do our Guides and Advisors employ indirect means of effecting good in the world? They have access to all power in the universe. Why not just swoop down here in a blaze of glory, wave the flag, fire some shots across the bow, and demand unilateral and unconditional surrender? Why not? That's what most of us would do, now wouldn't we? In fact, the battleplan just described is how most fundamentalists envision Jesus returning to the earth. (I will not address this theological error now, but, allow me to simply say... it won't happen that way.) These Troubadours do not carry a big stick. There's that little matter of free will; of the sacred dignity of the Soul; of individual responsibility - which means they never treat anyone as a victim! it means that the individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own growth! As General Curtis LeMay, in another context, once recommended, the Troubadours could "bomb them into the Stone Age." But, if they did that, the malevolent Ego - what Carl Jung (P.S. #35) called the source of all evil in the world - would continue, unabated; indeed, would be strengthened, now fortified with a spirit of vengeance and self-pity. And, while a world ruled in such strong-arm and draconian style, on the surface, would appear to be more tidy and efficient - as worlds ruled by dictators often do - below the surface, in the dark realm of the Ego, all manner of brooding self-seeking would reign, plotting for that day... to strike back!
Any dramatic display of brute force would become counterproductive and retard our spiritual growth; so, instead, they wisely and skillfully interact with us as Troubadours, ones employing manifold artful device to encourage us, to subtly direct us, that we, of our own volition, might make right choices. It's the long way home, but the only true way.
Editor's note: The following direct testimony from the Other Side, well describes the work and nature of the Troubadours:
It recently occurred to me that Jung's synchronicities, the mysterious and unexplained coincidental happenings of life, are likely to be examples of the Troubadours attempting to get our attention... those manifold artful devices, those many ingenious ways.
now Something has changed. Why does the Troubadour suddenly become actively present in one's life?
caused him to remain Most people in society are spiritually blinded, led by the Ego, and have little idea of what the purpose of life might be - that's why the world is in such a mess. Even so, such immature ones are carefully monitored by their Guides; however, for such ones living in spiritual stupor the Guides cannot do too much to help right now, but, instead, wait for the inner stirrings of the Soul to effect an awakening. And when the warm embers of the Inner Person finally burst into small flame of beginning spiritual consciousness, "rest assured" these Guides will be ready - they will "remain" and begin to directly assist. Stated another way, no one is ever forced to do anything... not now, nor in the unending future. Ya gotta wanna! and until ya wanna, the Guides will maintain a respectful and professional distance. They never invade one's privacy, never treat anyone as helpless. We all can begin the process of change any time we want to - and if we are not moving forward on that Path of Life, it's because we are not yet ready to. These Troubadours will always respect our decision, even when it's the wrong one, even if we are hell-bent on causing trouble for ourselves. They're not too worried about it, though. They take the long view and know that, eventually, most everyone, like the Prodigal Son - probably, through suffering the results of one's own choices - will finally start that long trek toward Home.
The union of your spirits here has caused him to remain, for whenever two or more of you are gathered in his name This song focuses upon a wedding, the heights of romance, and the purpose for marriage. But, even so, the above phrase, I think, is not speaking of marital love! Remember, in P.S. #13 I explained that this song teaches of two kinds of love - romantic love and agape-love (selfless servant-love) - the first sort was meant to lead us to the second. I think we can know that the love spoken of here is agape-love because of the little word "for"! This connector word leads us into a fuller description of the particular kind of love flowing from "the union of your spirits." Love, we are informed, is found "whenever two or more of you" come together. Obviously, the author speaks not of marital love, as that love was made only for Two. We are offered the reason why the Troubadours remain. They remain because of the "union of your spirits." In other words, when people come together for the purpose of selflessly serving the world, the Troubadours will most definitely make themselves party to this effort! "Rest assured," they will do so! While romantic attraction may be the most privately intense form of love, it is not to be considered the greatest. In fact, strictly speaking...
But, here we can easily trouble ourselves with definitions of words. Romantic love, even in its Twin-Soul expression, is more properly construed, I think, as a natural force of the universe. Two souls, sharing harmonic inner-being energy, a mutually-answering soul-music, will find themselves unalterably, inexorably, immutably drawn to each other... just as the neutron finds itself drawn to the proton... just as the iron filings "love" the magnet... it's all part of natural forces... just the way things work. Editor's note: It is interesting that William Gilbert, pioneer researcher of magnetism, spoke of "the love of the iron for the loadstone."
Romantic Twin love is transcendentally important in its own right - more than we know - but it is not selfless agape-love, which is the hallmark of every Advanced Soul. Romantic love is not meant to enjoy first billing, as we shall see.
there is no particular virtue in falling in love...
Twin Souls, of course, will express agape-love toward each other, will seek each other's highest good. If, presently, they are not yet mature enough to become servant, one to the other, they, without a little more ripening, will not be able to come together, find each other; and, even if they happen to stumble across each other, without agape-love, despite the intoxicating attraction, they, at least in any meaningful sense, will not be able to remain together. Why? How could Two Destined Ones refuse each other? Well, how could we forget... it's our friend the Ego... Jung's "origin of all evil in the world," which, if untamed, will drive them apart! "hurting each other" - as Karen Carpenter once sang - until each learns the meaning of forgiveness. But the point is this: Our Troubadours do not "remain" simply because someone falls in love or signs a marriage certificate. Should we really be surprised at this? Who will deny that it's so easy - for John and Mary - to fall in (and out of) love; so easy to get married; so easy to succumb to maternal instincts; so easy to settle for domestic support; so easy to be swept along by the heady illusion of apparent, but quite unreal, oneness, a thin mask for the voracious Ego seeking need-fulfillment... do not expect to earn a merit badge for activity of this sort. Do we really think that the Troubadours will be impressed by Alrik, disdaining beautiful Kamala, while obsessing about trade agreements? or John, intent upon making his little mark upon the sand of the world, with his petty ego-needs of career advancement and home-support? or even sweet Mary, driven by innate maternal instincts, panicked by the deafening chimes of the unforgiving biological-clock, and viscerally distressed by one more Friday-evening call from an overbearing mother? ... no, none of this will unduly impress the Troubadours. It takes a little more than Egoic reasons for marriage to convince the Troubadours to remain. Yes, John and Mary might not like to hear any of this. And, it's true, as the priest gave his blessing, the music of The Wedding Song so sweetly adorned their ceremony and served as background to their giddy and slightly-intoxicated just-married smiles, the broadest smiles of their entire lives. Will they be smiling so next month? or next year? The John-and-Mary union will likely represent just one more unstable structure in an unstable world... everything created by the Ego is passing away, doomed to suffer decay and dissolution. Most marriages, those we see all about us, are of this sort and are woefully inadequate in terms of picturing that lofty Cosmic Twin-Soul Love. Most of these unions, in reality, are not True Marital Unions at all, but merely carefully negotiated domestic business partnerships; commercial contracts; quid pro quo agreements between parties mutually promising to serve each other's objectives; something for something; giving in exchange for receiving; just common contract law, a promise for a promise - all executed for limited and private purposes, self-interested efforts on parade, designed to satisfy the demanding needs of the fearful and needy Ego.
the same at 59, as when she was that delicate flower of 17...
in the lonely hours the tears devour you...
Editor's note: The poetry here expresses the universal plea of the Absent Lover; a plea to that "Highest Power"; a plea for that "deeper meaning, a reason for living"; a plea "made to Heaven that will make you want to cry"; a plea, that unremitting soul-craving, to be immersed and bathed in, enveloped and swallowed-up by, the utterly sweet and mystical presence of his Only One... I'll love you more with every breath, truly, madly, deeply...
And these tenuous domestic mergers, by newlyweds with over-sized smiles, are presented to the world as true romantic love. I don't think so. These oil-and-water unions will not survive the demise of their partners as they pass into the Next Realm; a great many of them will not survive five or ten years... and none of this, by any means, will cause the Troubadours to remain... not at all.
they are drawn to the beauty of the body as if it would not perish...
'It felt so good to be wanted and needed. I went insane!'
the blonde, blue-eyed, Baby Doll...
the End of the Beauty of The Body, and the Beginning of True Romance...
The words of The Wedding Song might apply to one's marriage only if each partner is quite spiritually mature - and, if these lyrics do apply, they will apply not simply because you might be getting married! but only because you will have consecrated yourself to the service of the world... that's what "gathering in His Name" means... yes, now we're finally talking, and it is only such refined, and pure, sentiment that will cause the Great Spiritual Troubadours to remain!!
Well, a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home, They shall travel on to where the Two shall be as One, As it was in the beginning is now and till the end, Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again Recently, I was driving, listening to The Wedding Song on my iPod, and I suddenly understood what this passage means. What a thrill to understand! I had to pull over, jot down a few notes! I hope I can make plain what I saw.
a man shall leave his mother ... Woman draws her life from man It occurred to me that there is purpose in the close positioning of the words "mother" and "draws her life," a contrast meant to offer a synthesis of new thought. We should not have been surprised to read the words, "woman draws her life from mother and father" - we would all understand that. But what is the meaning of Two Lovers drawing life from each other? moreover, giving "it back again"? In fact, this life is distinctly not of mother and father because these Two are specifically instructed to depart from parental home and hearth! The author of these lyrics, it seems, is asking us to think about two different kinds of life! in fact, two different kinds of life sources!
keeping me holding out for You... might as well have been dying...
Editor's note: See the discussion below, "The Death Of Adam," regarding, I might as well have been dying when we were apart. Once the Absent Twin-Lover grows sufficiently aware to see that "death" is just another word for "losing you," then he will have no choice but to wait for her, to keep on holding out for You, no matter how long that is.
a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home, They shall travel on to where the Two shall be as One There is much meaning packed into these words! Notice how these Two leave the primal and elemental life source - biological parents - in favor of a new life source! What is the new life source? It is the One-Person union of these Two!
Now you might ask, where does it explicitly say that they leave mother and father in order to find a new life source? Remember, The Wedding Song is multi-faceted poetry, not one-dimensional prose. The answer is to be found in this: The very structure, the suggestive symmetry, of this passage is meant to lead us to an implied meaning. I once spent a few years studying the Hebrew
document, Proverbs. I wrote a book on
my findings. So many of the proverbs are structured just like this
passage from The Wedding Song: A
statement is made; effectively, a question is asked. Then, another
statement is made; but the second clause is vague and
is designed to make you think. The answer to the subtle
question of the first part is to be found in contemplation of
the second. The structure, itself, of the proverb becomes a
kind of teaching device employed to develop understanding, as
opposed to mere knowledge. The two statements, when fitted
together, are designed to encourage meditation, inviting the
student to fill-in-the-blank of the intended meaning! In other
words, the author becomes a coach in a
process of guided discovery, leading one to a natural
understanding!
the Two shall be as One The Two leave father and mother for a new life source - what is that new life source? again, it is the mystical status of One Person! The status of One Person is meant to become not just the Home of their sweet romantic love but, even more, a Life Source to them! What does this mean? The answer is related to the phrase, "travel on."
I'm not losing you...
Editor's note: This is a sweet and perky little song that didn't receive enough attention in the '60s. The trumpets offer a wonderfully upbeat sense of regality to the thrill of finding One's Love - and, having found her, he pledges, with utmost fervor, that he will forever cherish her, and never allow them to separate... take my hand and hold on tightly, I'm not losing you!
They shall travel on The act of leaving one's parental home represents spacial and geographic dislocation. But there's a second kind of "travelling" going on here, one without three-dimensional displacement or changing coordinate points on the Cartesian plane. This new travelling of which the author speaks is that journey toward the status of One Person!
Yes... all Ego-structures are unstable... especially, if they're made of Jello! [smile] I hate to admit it, but my angry friend (P.S. #25), who spoke of "not about all that lovey-dovey stuff," seems to be proved more and more correct as we proceed here. The spiritually-awakening Soul will find herself or himself desirous of personal change and growth; but, for most, such transformation, while necessarily beginning in solitude, cannot reach the heights of development without the dialectic forces to be supplied only from one's Soul Twin! You need that Other Half to teach you certain things about yourself, things that you cannot come to know on your own!
Editor's note: Picard, like Kamala, was genetically inclined toward certain activity; but, he, unlike Kamala, possessed a well-defined sense of Self, whose decisions might override the fevered impulses of nature; even though, "part of you wants me to."
The author of The Wedding Song teaches of a most profound spiritual journey for these Two. It will take them to a destination, one to which only they, together, might attain! that most private of all places in the universe... that level of existence, and status, as One Person! Their journey will lead them away from temporary, and unstable, relationship-structures of this world. These Two will no longer think like a John or Mary, and they will travel on to an Awareness of their Grand Destiny, and Permanent Home, as Souls; a perpetual journey, never ending... because growth is eternal... and all this - this never-ending growth and development - is something that neither has ever "seen before"!
Fiddler On The Roof
Tevye: Siberia! And he asks you to leave your father and mother, and join him in that frozen wasteland and marry him there? Hodel: No, Papa. He did not ask me to go. I want to go. I don't want him to be alone. How can I hope to make you understand, why I do what I do? Why I must travel to a distant land, far from the home I love. Once I was happily content to be, as I was, where I was. Close to the people who are close to me, here in the home I love. Who could see that a man would come, who would change the shape of my dreams? There where my heart settled long ago, I must go, I must go... there, with my love, I am home. Tevye: [at the wedding of his daughter] Now they must teach each other...
These Two, as we've seen, intrinsically and fundamentally, at least in terms of potential, have enjoyed the status of One Person since the "soul nursery." This means - despite earlier temporary and ego-based relationships - they, in a sense, have been "married" to each other since birth! Even so, in their immaturity, for much of their history, even if they had been around each other, or grew up together...
... they likely will not have clearly recognized each other as Destined Lovers. But, as each matured, first one, then the other, each would come to realize the secret identity of the other. Such ephiphany would prompt an inner stirring, a most deep desire - the deepest of all soul desires - to begin that spiritual journey toward Conscious Oneness. And when that familiar melody of the other's soul begins to be heard, each will possess only a driving compulsion to be with that Other... yes, that Other... that One who is no Other, but Transcendent Sameness... that Other who, in truth, is Oneself in another form!
Each day, forever amen, they shall discover, and thrill to, this ever-expanding vista of increasing consciousness... this status of, this Life-Source as, One Person... something they've "never seen before"!
I need you, Darling, come go with me...
Editor's note: The title Come Go With Me - appropriately, words from Romeo and Juliet - strikes me as the perfect "travelling" music - the Troubadours' admonition for Twins to "travel on together" is the ultimate Come Go With Me... As I've said before, what a great time this song is! it defies disinterest, will beat you up, force you into engagement, so suggestive is it of carefree, on-the-wild-side, summer love and fun... yes, she is such a pleasant travelling companion... I need you, Darling, come, go with me...
a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home, They shall travel on to where the Two shall be as One, As it was in the beginning is now and till the end, Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again... Well, there must have been a reason for becoming man and wife Notice now how these thoughts of "travelling," of "leaving" all prior relationships, of moving toward that New Life Source of One Person... notice how all this takes us to the epicenter of the song's primary question, Well, there must have been a reason for becoming man and wife. John and Mary, in their present states of mind, might not be pleased to know that the grand cosmic reason for marrying - fundamentally, in its most basic essence - has nothing to do with popular concepts of "family values"; nothing to do with mere companionship; or domestic comfort; or financial security; or sexual fulfillment; or finding solace in a hostile world. As we move forward in our understanding of these issues, we will find that the purpose of marriage focuses upon a grand universal theme and shares a common basis with that of Life, itself. This much, probably, should not surprise us.
as One The song's author, as we've seen, speaks of the mystical status of Soul Twins as One Person. Let's think a little more about this.
When I'm with you, I don't feel alone...
Beautiful, smart, and perfect! Well, I think he sorta likes her. Henry has fallen in love with Clare, the "perfect resume" (P.S. #26). But, we must quickly notice that his heart does not choose her on that basis. No, nothing so insubstantial as mere perfection will turn his head. He will not be fooled by an appeal to "debits and credits" (P.S. #26), as there are other "perfect girls" in the world; instead, his Soul informs him that, in her presence, he not only receives but becomes something more; a new Status of Being in the making, hinted at by... he no longer feels alone! There is only one girl who can perform this kind of alchemy of the heart! Clare, for Henry, is the Dazzling Darkness (P.S. #26); the Utter Familiarity; the True Home; the Soulmate Myself; the Other Half of One's Being; the Complement to the status of One Person - and now, caught in the force-field of her harmonic soul-energy (P.S. #13), an energy with his name on it, an energy as mirror-image frequency to his own, he discovers that for which all lovers ever seek... the intoxicating thrill of Oneness, and... he no longer feels alone! We have discussed how each of us, each Soul, has been created whole and complete; but that we, in our lack of awareness, do not know and cannot feel our own wholeness and completeness. But, she, that mirror-image Twin, is God's gift that you might come to know the mystery of your own Self! (P.S. #32)... and, with her, you will no longer feel alone!
I cannot Be, until you're resting here, with me...
Editor's note: What a great song! and a great message. I could listen to it for hours... I can't breathe, I cannot Be, until you're resting here, with me...
Allow me restate this somewhat differently.
True Romance, unaffected, undissolved, even by Death... 'you can run, you can die, but you can't escape my love'
Editor's note: The great poets and novelists have understood some of the mystery concerning life-long love. See P.S. #13 on Charles Dickens. David Copperfield, returning after a long absence, suddenly clearly perceives who Agnes truly is to him; has always been to him. He finds his former childhood playmate weeping uncontrollably, eyes averted to him, unable, refusing, to speak - she, since early youth, has always been privy to the mystery, their secret. But Agnes, now, after so long a time, is finally definitively revealed to David's spirit - Dickens soars here - as his veritable "child-wife"! a most intimate and tender descriptor, one issuing from David's Awakening Soul, whispering to him, louder now, that this once-pesky little girl with freckles, standing before him as a grown woman - this particular one, awash in tears, her heart "so overcharged"; she, to whom his Soul - yes, he sees it clearly now - has always been... married...
Editor's note: I'm not sure which is worse... knowing, sensing, as many women do, from an early age, who her young friend really is to her, and enduring the conscious aloneness, the unconsummated affection, the wound that will not heal, associated with such private knowledge; and seeing her David, that One with her name on his soul, that One who belongs to her, leave... or, is this worse... living the comatose-neanderthal life, only to awaken, years later, awaken - the ever smoldering-embers of his feelings for her finally fanned into a roaring blaze - awaken to the realization, the Terror, of finding - unlike David's good fortune - her to be otherwise occupied; as Picard said, "I find you unavailable"... such Hobson's choice for these Two reminds me of the comic who stated, in this life, you have to learn to take the bitter with the sour. Little wonder that we find songs, in fitful lamentation, chanting the dirge, I won't sleep, I can't breathe, I cannot Be, until you're resting here, with me...
her name was Ann, and I'll be damned...
Editor's note: Gordon sings of that carefree highway on which to slip away. This is no pleasure jaunt but a fitful and tearful trek upon the Highway of Escape; that sought-for release from ever-present burdening memories... of her... That's how it is in life - either we begin, or prepare for, that Spiritual Journey with a Twin, or we, in confusion, despair, and dream-shattered sleep, will trudge, as Ed does for Kerrie, Gordon's terrible highway, daily lamenting, "her name was Ann, and I'll be damned, she left me not knowin' what to do, got to see you my old friend."
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again Think of the movie, Rocky, how Adrianne and Rocky bring out the best in each other, each "drawing life from the other and giving it back again"!
Twins will help each other to wake up, to grow into greater awareness of Love. Yet, despite this romantic egalitarianism, the author of The Wedding Song particularly emphasizes Woman's role in all this. I think the specific mention of Woman here is done with purpose. She is emphasized. And with this phrase, I think, we are subtly introduced to one of the most important concepts of Life and spiritual development!
Well, there she is, that cute petite self. Don’t try to say you didn’t notice her, we know better. She looks harmless enough, wouldn’t you say? well, just don’t rile her up, if you know what I mean... but, yes, I guess she does look harmless... those fine features, those intelligent eyes that beckon, that inherent grace... however, despite this exquisite poetry-in-motion, there is that quiet sense about her of hidden strength - as we've stated elsewhere, read my lipstick, don't cross her. "Would you save my soul?" Enrique worshipfully sings these words of that latent female power and efficacy, before which the male wisely gives pause. Poetic hyperbole? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Somehow, it seems to fit - but what might prompt Enrique's question?
Why is it that men often speak of "worshipping" and "adoring" the women they love, while these terms of adulation seem out of place the other way around? That's strange, wouldn't you say? And there are so many thousands of love songs praising the beauty and wonder of women, even in specific detail - but, can we think of even one such as this directed toward men?
The Divine Feminine Principle Tolle reminds us that there have been many cultures, many religions, especially anciently, which revered The Divine Feminine Principle as pathway to heaven. Why did this recognition of female spirituality disappear?
Tolle explains the dark psychology. If you’ve done your homework in The Power Of Now, you will understand, generally speaking, that women have an advantage over men in terms of potentially accessing the spiritual realm. It happens through the body. She is more in touch, in tune, with her own somatic energy-flows than her favorite neanderthal-in-farmboots.
The body, as we are sternly lectured by some religions, is, they say, intrinsically evil, the workshop of the Devil. Never mind that its creation caused God to exclaim that it was “very good” (see below). Granted, the physical body is part of this unstable world, and, as such, will suffer loss - weak, yes, but not evil. All things of this world are in process of decay and dissolution, are passing away; nevertheless, as Tolle reminds us, the body, despite inherent impermanence, far from a spiritual hindrance, was meant to be a bridge to the Divine - the Divine within. As we access, and come to know, our internal corporal energy, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, we will find that we have stumbled upon a hidden mystical doorway, but, in our case, one leading to nothing less than True Timeless Being – by which we not only find ourselves, and others, but a sense of God, as well.
Most of us have not been introduced to these concepts. But the process of which Tolle speaks, a very natural one to negotiate, is an experience that can easily be yours (P.S. #36); and Woman was meant to facilitate the process!
the Divine Feminine Principle...
Editor's note: Notice this ancient icon of the Isis cult: Woman with wings, on the ascendency, spiritually soaring, leading us to heaven. No, I am not advocating reinstating an old religion. I am advocating what the apostle Paul advised (P.S. #34), that of abandoning all temporary constructs, all external forms and formulas, that purport to access God. I am advocating what Jesus himself hinted at in his Artesian-Spring conversation with the woman at the well (John 4) - that a time would come, "and now is," when all peoples would no longer worship in a particular place or building, "neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem" (vs. 21), employing ritualistic forms; but, because "God is Spirit," would worship Deity "in spirit and in truth" (vs. 24). Do you know what this means, Marty? It means that Jesus, along with Paul, heralds the end of religion - not spirituality - but religion. In addition to the end of legalism, it is the welcomed, and long-awaited, end of male-dominated hierarchies that proclaim the drivel that women are unfit to approach God. I want to point out, once more, that Jesus, in merely speaking to this woman at the well, violated cultural taboo - you don't talk to women in public! This is why the surprised woman demanded of Jesus, "Why are you talking to me?" (vs. 9); and why his neanderthal men were shocked that "he was speaking to a woman!" (vs. 27). The end of religion is not only the end of mindless and empty ritualism, but the end of male Ego-directed attempts to suppress The Divine Feminine Principle!
the sassy and wild provocative energy...
Dr. John Welwood: Love And Awakening: Discovering The Sacred Path of Intimate Relationship, pg. 186f, Woman As Activator: "The traditional model of male/female relations in our society portrays man as active or dynamic and woman as passive or receptive. This one-dimensional perspective has some truth [but only] on the physical plane... According to many sacred texts, however, the polarities reverse when we move from the outer to the inner plane... [there] we find the queen of wisdom - Sophia, Isis, Inanna, Ishtar, the Shekinah - holding sway... a deeper life force governs the inner, 'subtle body' and its flows of energy. The Western esoteric traditions regard this vital force that animates the body, the living soul - anima - as feminine. Likewise, the Hindus know this dynamic activator as Shakti... A woman who is in touch with her shakti energy radiates heat, emanating from the transformational fire of her vital force. And she often has access to a special kind of wisdom that can guide a man on the inner plane. Since she is often more attuned than he is to the subtle energy currents flowing within, one of her greatest functions in his life is to stir him to feel... a woman often leads and teaches a man to come into his body, rouse his vitality, listen to his heart-consciousness, and dance with life's energies... In the Tibetian tradition a dikini is a playful sky goddess who embodies a wild provocative energy ...
Editor's note: Bobby Vee, the great romantic crooner from Fargo, offers hypnotic seduction set to music. The magic still works - his style seems as fresh and engaging today as it did in the 1960s. Will you ever be mine? is an unforgettable lyric, but only as he does it... will you ever be mine? will you ever be mine?
... that enters people's lives and shakes them loose from complacency and superficiality. The dikini's nature is to rouse, inspire, and challenge people to go deeper - to face their fears and take a leap, to give up false beliefs about themselves and discover their true nature... The Indian Tantrics had known [this] a thousand years before: Women are the supreme fire of transformation. A woman often plays this role of agent provocateur in a man’s life by asking for more than he is willing or able to give - more intimacy, more feeling, more honest communication, more expressions of warmth and connectedness. She may also see what he needs for his emotional and spiritual development more clearly than he does himself... Yet a man may have a hard time responding when a woman challenges him to be more available or more personally expressive… Not knowing what to do, not having the answers, he feels put on the spot, anxious, instantly defensive… The woman may … want more direct, soulful contact, she doesn’t feel the man’s heart fully open to her… he has a hard time matching her emotional intensity… he may react to her concerns defensively and shut down… instead of responding to each other’s truth, both partners become lost in reacting to each other’s distortions... When a woman expects a man to follow her pace in this regard, she triggers one of his greatest fears – feeling inadequate. And this causes him to recoil… When a man sees himself as inadequate, he feels one-down and at risk. The woman looms large and he fears that she is starting to unman him. While she becomes more and more frustrated about not being met, he grows more and more withdrawn. Romantic love poses a challenge because it impels a man, in Rilke’s words, to ripen, to become world for himself for another’s sake; it is a great exacting claim upon him, something that chooses him out and calls him to vast things. This is what happens when a woman’s influence starts to work on us."
We begin to see, generally speaking, that women, so constituted within their very natures, have an easier time with all this than men. Women, in terms of potential, more naturally than men, enter the world of spirituality! And entire cultures and religions of the past intuitively knew this and honored women as spiritual leaders. It was generally acknowledged, especially anciently, that they had been chosen by God to lead lesser mortals, neanderthals-in-farmboots, to a higher plane of consciousness. Yes, she looks harmless enough, but do not be deceived. What happened? What went wrong? How did she suffer demotion and become spiritual pariah, unfit for the higher levels of ecclesiastical leadership, one who must, according to the [fraudulent and counterfeit (P.S. #22)] biblical injunction, “keep silent in the church and learn from her husband at home”? She woke up one day to find that dark-spirited males had moved in and taken over.
he said He ... she said She Some years ago, in conversation with a friend, I made some banal reference about God, that “He” would do such-and-such.
She, via my ill-advised gender-specific pronoun, accessing a collective reservoir of pain resulting from the historical disparagement of women, responded to my comment, but, in so doing, provocatively changed the pronoun to “She,” a subtle attempt to redress an ancient injustice. At the time, a true credit to my gender, I did not like this - rather, my Ego did not. And this seemingly innocuous editing broke my stride… well, you know, it’s hard to stride in farmboots, anyway… and I would think about this comment from time to time during the ensuing years. It would roll around in my head, prompt research, introspection, and change my thinking - a small example of that "sassy and wild provocative energy," Woman As Transforming Fire. Tolle, in his analysis of the pathological Ego, explains that, in times past, even anciently, as the general level of human consciousness expanded, the male Ego suddenly understood the power of The Divine Female Principle - and it viewed it as a very great threat! It came to clearly see that if male Egos were to hold dominion in the world, Woman as Queen of Heaven, like a political adversary, would need to be dethroned. And this is the reason why Woman was put down, why certain “infallible true doctrines,” formulated by male “infallible Dear Leaders,” were forced upon society. Men couldn't handle it and were afraid of the competition! Pure power politics. Learn more from Tolle.
all across the universe the stars are fading...
In searching for the way to go I listen to the words they say I think the sky is falling But wisdom isn't underground All across the universe the stars are fading Editor's
note: John sings this with such conviction that one is
tempted to think he offers here a kind of spiritual
autobiography; a mystical journey of love, of love lost. Notice these lyrics: We
find someone who began to have questions, sought out
teachers, tried to be the dutiful son, the obedient good little
boy, attempted to "follow the rules," study what he should
study, be what he "should be." But... what a strange concept... to
look to another regarding what one "should be"! Can one determine
the cosmic purpose for someone else? pontificate what another
"should be"? He would learn that the ripest wisdom is not to
be reduced to any formula, approved method, or
prescribed ritual; that the "way between wise men and fools" is
not as clearly delineated as they said; that truth will not, of
necessity, be found in the duly sanctioned places [John 4:21].
And, in this gnosis, he would come to see, not certainty, but that
"the sky is falling," that he'd lost
his way; moreover, not only his way,
but a way that included her, someone
he'd lost along that way. And now that
old well-defined world of the good little boy would begin
to collapse, with nothing sure, nothing meaningful, nothing
sacred... without her... "All
across the universe the stars are fading"... a
nightmare-realization of Life's fading meaning... without her! respite from which terror would not
be quickly forthcoming: "There's no place to hide, Where can I
hide?" He would come to see, too late, that his life, that
which he called life, had, all along, been tightly
bound with her's. And he would express this in terms of enigma
and riddle: that if he were yet to find himself, find his own
missing Life, he must find it in union with her... Come
and let me look in your eyes, Come and
let me look in your eyes.
One Many of the world's great religions, along with the faiths of various primitive peoples, speak of a universal principle - that we, all individuals, in some sense, are united, linked together... they say that we are all One! Mystics, saints, and near-death experiencers have attempted to explain to the rest of us something of the nature of this Oneness. I think a full realization must await a future time in another world; but, nevertheless, we can know that Oneness has much to do with sharing a common Life-Source; that we all derive from God, which means that we are all related, and, therefore, need to care for each other. This much we can know. And, when we wake up, even in a beginning way, to this sense of Oneness, and begin to commit ourselves to it, the Troubadours will remain! Our Guides and Advisors breathe, as Life itself, this spirit of Oneness, and they are always very excited to welcome anyone to the "family business" of promoting Cosmic Unity. The Wedding Song, in very few words, poetically introduces the concept of Universal Oneness. Awakening Twin Soul lovers begin a spiritual journey which leads them into ever deeper levels of the Mystery of this Sacred Oneness, a desire to serve all, help all, to also reach spiritual maturity.
The doctrines of many religious groups explicitly tell us that a life of service, along with asceticism, deprivation, and extremity - a life devoid of marriage and romantic love - is the higher road, the better spiritual path. This, within certain circles, has been a traditional message for many hundreds of years, with those choosing a life of erotic love shunted away to second-tier status in the Divine economy. Is this the way the Universe really works?
history is written by the victors...
Well... many of us, in the future, indeed, will find ourselves employed in all manner of charitable works... let Elizabeth Fry and her service team tell you about it (P.S. #19)... but, in so doing, we will not set aside our personal lives, an expression of Being that will include utmost romantic love. There are different ways to respond to the questions concerning service and self-denial; and, as we discuss many things in these articles, I think the answers will become clear to you. But, for now, allow me to focus on the message of The Wedding Song and simply say that our Guides and Advisors do not support the traditional view of ascetic religious altruism. They are on record to say - have said it quite often - that most traditional, well-known doctrinal positions are man-made, misguided, even, harmful to one's spirit, and will find no support when one passes to the Next Life. There are many recovering religious people, including clergy, especially clergy, on the Other Side who, upon arriving on that Far Shore, are more than a little dismayed to find that they have been woefully misinformed; moreover, many of them, as duped agents of The Lying Teacher (P.S. #21), are mortified to realize that they have misled the masses, which repentant attitude prompts some of them to do what they can to mitigate the effects of the deception once fostered! We will speak of this again.
What part of the word One don't you understand? Well, actually, there is some room for confusion.
As I learn about Twin Soul love and spirituality, I am amazed to discover a beautiful symmetry of Oneness presented to us... Oneness on all levels.
Three kinds of Oneness (1) Personal: Oneness begins with an integration of the Inner Person. This is necessary because the Ego-dominated individual, victim of The Great False Self, is disconnected from the Authentic Self - a spiritual malady to which Jesus referred when he spoke of the inner artesian spring of life (P.S. #23).
(2) Twin Soul: Oneness on this level is introduced to us in the concept of the romantic status of One Person (P.S. #32). The Wedding Song, of course, alludes to this in the words, "they shall travel on to where the Two shall be as One [Person]."
(3) Universal: Oneness here relates to that mystical connectedness among all; a precept found in many world religions, and even in many songs, such as, All This Is That.
I find it very interesting to see how these forms of Oneness mutually relate. Twins will not be able to enter into that high-level romantic bliss without first growing and changing - embracing a full-bodied Oneness, in its three forms.
As it was in the beginning is now and till the end This phrase "the beginning" is telling us that clues to the purpose of marriage are to be found in the Genesis account. Notice how the lyrics emphasize this: (1) as it was in the beginning (2) is now (3) and till the end We are left no wriggle room. The great purpose of marriage, we are informed by this AfterLife author, represents the all-inclusive, and original, Divine legislative intent. It was how things were meant to be, even from the start! are now! and will always be! Notice, too, that this purpose of marriage will continue "till the end." This does not mean to teach us that there will be an end - eternity, by definition, has no end - but merely, poetically stated, that this is the eternal Divine process at work here, and that it will always be this way.
Heaven knows how much I love you...
Editor's note: For a dramatic and true example of Heaven knows how much I love you see P.S. #32, The Glowing Deep Purple.
This distant view, this grand eternal perspective of marriage, also tells us that whatever its purpose, it cannot relate to all of those John-and-Mary insubstantial reasons for marriage - because they tend to be a function of this world alone. And when this world passes away, or we do, those inadequate reasons will also be gone. Therefore, in The Wedding Song, none of those lightweight reasons for marriage are in view. Let's look at the Genesis account for more information.
The Genesis story of Adam and Eve Genesis 1:25-28, 31, New American Standard Bible 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 2:7, 15-24 7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." 18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become One [Person]. Genesis 3:1-11, 20-24 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. 8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 20 Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
the Troubadours warn you about legalistic religion...
If I'm so special, why am I a still a slave? Elaine Pagels informs us that the early Church, a vast and disparate group of dissenting opinions, for its first nearly 400 years, found primary inspiration from Gen. 1: 26, 27. Mankind, male and female, given dominion over the earth, made in the image of God, enjoyed a unique dignity among all of God's creation; which, as the first Christians saw it, and rightly so, implied that they deserved respect and freedom. This was the spirit of the Church for 400 years!
from the people who brought you The Dark Ages... The Jesus Mysteries, Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, pg. 244f. When the Church, after the time of Constantine (the fourth century CE), found itself in possession of vast political power, it embarked upon a reign of terror, much like that of Mao's Cultural Revolution, to stamp out those in philosophical disagreement. "The great works of Pagan spirituality were thrown onto enormous bonfires and lost for all time. One witness records: 'Innumerable books were piled together, many heaps of volumes, drawn from various houses, to be burnt... entire libraries [burnt]. So great was the terror that seized everyone.' ... By 386 bands of mad monks [like Nazi Brownshirts on Kristallnacht], frenzied with fundamentalist religion, were [terrorizing] throughout the Empire, completely beyond the control of the law... On June 16, 391 Emperor Theodosius issued an edict... 'Burn all books hostile to Christianity lest they cause God anger and scandalize the pious,' and in response illiterate monks destroyed thousands of years of accumulated wisdom and scientific knowledge... The Pagan writer Eunapius, who describes 'monks who resemble men but live like pigs [Animal Farm],' writes despairingly that 'Anyone who had a black robe had despotic power.' In 415 Cyril of Alexandria had his monks incite a Christian mob to murder the last Pagan scientist of the Alexandrian Library, a woman called Hypatia (see below). She was torn limb from limb, and Cyril was made a saint... [Rome] the center of the greatest empire of the ancient world, had flourished for a millennium under its own gods. Within a few decades of turning to Christianity, it had destroyed all the wonders and achievements of antiquity and then perished itself... The ancients had built the pyramids and the Parthenon, but within a few hundred years of Christianity people in many areas of Europe had forgotten how to make brick houses. In the first century BCE Posidonus had created a revolving model of the solar system ... By the end of the fourth century CE it was sacrilegious not to believe that God placed the stars in the heavens each night. In the third century BCE, the Alexandrian scholar Eratosthenes had calculated the circumference of the earth ... but now it had become a heresy not to believe that the Earth was flat. We found ourselves asking, if Paganism was so primitive and Literalist Christianity is the one true religion, why was Pagan civilization replaced by the 1,000 years we appropriately call The Dark Ages?"
The Great Hypatia of Alexandria and the Coming Dark Ages The destruction of the contents of the Library of Alexandria by Christians during the reign of Christian Emperor Theodosius in 391 CE is only a small part of the suppression and elimination of scientific and historical truth. During these years the writings and works of many remarkable women were destroyed; only hints remain, a verse here, a few sentences there. Most of the works of Hypatia were ravaged, but her story lives on. How it must have pained her, 21 years old, watching the destruction of the Great Library, a half million tomes representing the finest minds in the ancient world. Hand written, these documents were irreplaceable; the knowledge lost, the history destroyed and eliminated, a devastating setback. It was also precursor to the Dark Ages. Theon, Hypatia's father, was a professor of mathematics at the University of Alexandria. Hypatia was immersed in an atmosphere of scholarship at the greatest seat of knowledge in the world. Concerning religion, her father is reported to have said, "All formal dogmatic religions ... must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final. Reserve your right to think, for even to think and be wrong is better than not to think at all." Daughter Hypatia wrote: "Fable should be taught as fable, myth as myth... To teach superstitions as truth is horrifying. The mind of a child accepts them and only through great pain, perhaps tragedy, can the child be relieved of them. Men will fight for superstition as quickly as for the living truth - even more so, since a superstition is intangible, you can't get at it to refute it." Hypatia was the single most brilliant mind of her time and none other would ascend to her level until the works of Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz many centuries later. Nicephorus and Philostorgius, church historians of a persuasion at odds with that of Hypatia, nevertheless, praised her scholarship. In 415 CE, his political avarice driving him, Bishop Cyril became convinced that Hypatia's death would serve his interests and inflamed the passions of a band of Egyptian monks, entreating them to kill her. Hypatia was torn from her chariot by a mob of screaming Christians. Stripping her naked, dragging her to their church, she was butchered, the still quivering limbs then delivered to the flames. (from psychicinvestigator.com) - and then they made Cyril a saint! Special note: I am reminded just now of something from my boyhood. A leading Catholic family, a good family, named their son Cyril. It was an uncommon name in our culture, and, no doubt, they did so to honor St. Cyril of Alexandria. If only they had known of the worse-than mafia practices of these early "Church Fathers"! Cyril, the direct cause of the torture and brutal death of the Great Hypatia!
Jesus and Paul's symbol of warning to us (P.S. #31)
Editor's note: The brutal death of Hypatia, the brilliant young female scientist, was one of the proximate causes of the setting back of Western Civilization a thousand years! You must grant me momentary leave of my usual professorial persona as I rant about the oxymoronic "mob of Christians who butchered her." Well... what the hell. Carl Jung once said that so-called modern man, psychologically speaking, is no more advanced than his primitive brethren... an eagle soars over the village, a two-headed calf is born, the sun darkens at noonday - by this we know that someone is soon to die and that drought will afflict us next year... a baby's head is sprinkled with water, magic words and magic hand-signs are solemnly offered - by this we know that a stern father-god offers grudging approval and will call this one "Christian"... Yes, I'm sure that each one that bloodied the young body of Hypatia had been duly sprinkled and christened a "Christian" [notice the original sense of christened - to be sent, but as a babe, into the world as a newly minted Christian!] Such august nomenclature! but, a mere sinecure, without a shred of inner change, of any personal consecration to God and to agape-love! Do you really think that the God of the Omniverse is such a humorless bureaucrat as to be impressed by any of this? But this view is justified by millions with the hollow phrase, "this is my faith" - as if mere empty assent could breath life into the most fantastic of propositions, could make pigs fly simply by wishing - such childish definition of "faith" and "believe" (P.S. #34) constitutes an intellectual and moral travesty, something utterly foreign to the teachings of Jesus and Paul! And allow me to tie all of this to the larger discussion of this article: Mere baptism, mere sprinkling of water upon one's forehead, will not make one a soul-enlightened Christian; likewise, a wedding ceremony of magic words and magic hand-signs will not create for John and Mary a soul-fused marriage. My ranting is over, until the next time.
the Kuhn in me (P.S. #31) Editor's note: So often, over the years, I have suffered the barren argument, "There are some bad apples in any group. You're just focusing on the negative and forgetting all the good that religion has done." sigh! you don't get it, do you? And I don't really want to try to convince you otherwise, because, as we learned, until "the soul is receptive," nothing will get through. People need their freedom, even to suffer, to grow, into greater awareness. But, for those who desire a quick summary answer to the sophism of "a few bad apples in every bunch," consider, once again, the warnings against legalistic religion (referenced in earlier Personal Statements): (1) from the apostle Paul; (2) from the words of Jesus; (3) from thousands of testimonies from the AfterLife. All of these are more than noteworthy - but, the greatest warning, if you are open to receive it, issues from your own Soul, made in the image of God. St. Paul called religion living in prison; or the nursery, under the care of nannies (P.S. #34). The wise question here is not are there no "good apples" in religion? of course, there are, the majority of clergy are good people. I understand this better than most, having known my Uncle John! but, all of the so-called "good that religion has done" was not accomplished by religion, per se, at all, but by spiritually-minded good people who, temporarily, because of lack of knowledge, lived a religious lifestyle. They, some of them now in the AfterLife, are deeply distressed at the confusion they once caused by their misguided religious example! Empty arguments in the defense of religion miss the main point, which is... Are you willing to learn from the apostle Paul (P.S. #34)? Do you want to leave prison? Do you want to leave the nursery? Do you want live your life without nannies? Do you want to grow up? ... if not, and until you do, as my dear mother and grandmother, those Lioness-Kuhns, would have said, said so often, to me... well, then, I can't help you! ... [smile]
It was a message, many hundreds of years later, that would influence another freedom-loving person, Jefferson, who wrote of those "created equal" and "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." It's an idea that would be warmly received - but not among those who stood to lose power in the process. The radical concept of Gen. 1: 26, 27 that Adam and Eve possessed an intrinsic worth, simply by being alive, simply by having been created by God, enjoyed deep internal resonance among the downtrodden of the Roman Empire, slaves and the poor, the early Believers of Christianity.
All did not sing from the same page Today, if you were to ask someone-on-the-street about the message of the Genesis story, you might hear phrases like:
We get the idea. And most of us would assume that this pretty much says it all regarding Adam and Eve. Not so - in fact, the early Church sported dozens and dozens of interpretations of the Adam and Eve story. Essentially, there were two camps. One group, a minority view, The Literalists, as you might suspect, read the Genesis story as factual history. But, most of the early Church, The Gnostics, scorned the literalist approach as gross shallowness and read Genesis as symbolism and allegory. It's a reasonable position. The Apostle Paul, himself, said as much, when he spoke of Genesis in these very terms (Galatians 4: 24).
Genesis is like an onion, with multiple layers of meaning The Gnostics would have insisted that there are many meanings to the Adam and Eve story - and they made good on that threat, as they conjured up all sorts of interpretations. You can read about them in the books mentioned above.
Why is it so bad to want to be like you? I thought you'd be pleased! and now you're mad at me! We usually don't punish our children when they say they want to be like us. So, why are Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden when they try to be like God? to "know good and evil," which would allow them to "live forever," just as God does? Gen. 3: 22 Is that really so bad? Is it wrong to think as God thinks? Shouldn't we all come to know the difference between good and evil? I knew a kid once who tried worse things. And why did Adam and Eve not die when they ate the fruit? Gen. 2: 17 - but, instead, lived on for many hundreds of years? And why, in Gen. 3: 22, when God is discussing the behavior of Adam and Eve, does He act surprised, miffed, at what happened! If God is omniscient, why is he surprised? But, anyway, even I understand that if you put two immature kids in a room and tell them not to touch the shiny apple, I can know, with near certainty, that they will touch it, and little else. We're asked to believe that God is shocked by what Adam and Eve did - that these archetypal-ingenue Two, lacking any experience in the world, are now to be severely punished! for the rest of their lives, punished, cut-off! their entire destiny altered, for an apple! and it doesn't stop there - all of us, too, are to be punished for what they did! Let's get this straight now... they are to be punished for not knowing the difference between good and evil, as they attempted to gain a knowledge of the difference between good and evil. This becomes more and more bizzare, the closer we look - no wonder The Gnostics guffawed at The Literalist view!
Should we not give these Two immature ones a small break here? If a parent were to treat an inexperienced child in such harsh manner, we would be tempted to call that father or mother by certain juicy names. Well, The Gnostics were famous for asking impertinent questions like these, all of which drove The Literalists crazy - because these impolite questions eviscerated The Literalist's position, and prompted The Gnostics to assert, "Obviously, we're dealing with symbolism and allegory here. To read any of this in a literal sense is just nuts!"
Possible meanings of the Genesis story As I said, the early Church presented us with many dozens of interpretations of the Genesis account. But allow me to offer a synthesis of what I consider to be the most meaningful versions of that ancient story. I have chosen the following because it conforms to what I sense to be true based upon other research, including the AfterLife testimonies.
There was a branch of Gnostic thought which saw Adam and Eve as representing the process of soul Enlightenment. What is "enlightenment"? It is waking up. It is knowing the reality of Jesus' Artesian Spring of the Inner Person. It is coming into an awareness of one's dignity and honor as a Soul, one having been created in the image of God. This awakening sense of one's Inner Being, one's True Self, is a subject, as revealed by newly-discovered (1947) documents, that occupied the attention of many early Gnostics, the first Christians. I am deeply moved by many of their writings. You will find excerpts in the Jesus Mysteries series by British historians, Freke and Gandy. And Elaine Pagels, too, has written extensively on this subject.
Eve... the Epicenter of Enlightenment and The Divine Feminine Principle And you thought she was just a pretty face. Some of the Gnostic teachings regarding Adam and Eve are wonderful and most profound. The best of it, in my opinion, goes something like this: Why do we find Adam in a deep sleep, a virtual death-trance? Gen. 2: 21 Adam here represents the immature Soul, one without consciousness and spiritual awareness. It is a kind of death for him. This state of spiritual unlife is linked to something absent, something missing, from him. That "something" would become his Twin Soul, Woman. Notice here, we have macrocosm and microcosm. On the "micro" level, a particular woman is made for a particular man. Eve is his spiritual life. But she is also representative of all women... she is the "mother of Life" - which is what "Eve" means! Gen. 3: 20 Can you feel the heavy symbolism begin to envelop us, demanding that we understand? On the "micro" level, Adam is in a great spiritual funk because he, something like the android Data, is missing his "Life Chip"! missing his Center of Enlightenment! And that which is true for this man, is true for all men. Various ancient Gnostics and Rabbis saw the coming together of Adam and Eve not as a wedding ceremony, but as symbolic of Eve, the Divine Female Principle of Enlightenment, united with the spiritually unaware Adam! She is the missing element that will help Adam to awaken, to come alive spiritually! This is all quite beautiful.
Men have long spoken poetically of the women they love in terms of "She is my life!" or, very frequently, "She is my better half!" - and only an obtuse Alrik would speak otherwise. Notice that, somehow, these words do not work as well the other way around! You have rarely heard her say, "He is my better half!" - and you have never heard any man say, "I am her better half!" if you do, I submit to you, there's something untoward going on. There is a sentiment among men - but only men in love - that makes them want to worship and adore the women they love; and the absence of this effusiveness should be a troubling warning sign to women! And here, in this ancient Genesis text, we see such concept given flesh. We see Adam's irrational exuberance at the sight of Eve; and we see Eve as Life personified! Eve as Adam's Life... Eve, the Divine Feminine Principle! On the "macro" level, Eve represents God's gift to all men as an aid to Enlightenment. On the "micro" level, Eve is Adam's one-and-only Twin Soul! She is one man's particular gift from God - she, alone, because she is Adam's "mirror-image," can teach him, because only she can reach him!
the only girl I've ever loved...
Editor's note: I am noticing that most love songs express sadness. This makes sense, I guess, as for every couple finding true happiness there are 50 or 100 or more who do not. We are informed by AfterLife Entities that we do not come to this world to experience perfection... life, in this world, was not meant to work... and if you are granted license to spend even a short time, in this world, with that Only One, consider yourself most blessed. Among the many love songs of lament, these "soliloquies of sadness," Floyd Cramer's piano instrumentals deserve special note. His Rhythm Of The Rain is mesmerizingly sad with the reference to the only girl I've ever loved; but his Last Date, I think, wins all prizes. If Romantic Sadness were personified, and taught to sing, its song would be Last Date. The beautiful, but heavy, dulcet tones suggest impending tragedy, the musical-disaster equivalent of Splendor In The Grass; as such, Last Date is not so much music to be enjoyed, but respected, as its melody allows the listener to "feel a feeling" regarding an important and difficult life lesson. The very concept of a Last Date, for those who love each other, is a strange one; and yet, so common in this world. Why did these Two need to part? Why would there be a Last Date? Why would so many years pass before a reunion? How is any of this possible? The story of each Destined Couple's love will express itself differently; but, of this we can be sure - somewhere in the plot, for one or both, lurks an element of immaturity and spiritual unconsciousness, the remedy for which lies hidden, unspoken, within the terrible term, Last Date... there are those who are so unconscious as to be yet even unaware of their loss... life, for them, will require the passage of some years to just get back to zero; before they even realize that a certain long-ago event had been, in fact, a Last Date... the only girl I’ve ever loved has gone away...
All this subsumes Adam's gushing excitement in Gen. 2 23 The man said, 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become One [Person].
Eve: the Life of Adam Eve's name, in the Hebrew, means "life" (3: 20). And Adam finally came alive, in the truest sense, when he met her!
Editor's note: "You gave my life to me!" Yes, of course, he would give any "thing," because what is any "thing" worth if one is Dead, if one is without one's Life?... Eve, Adam's Goddess-Twin, created Man, soul-animated him, breathed life into him, brought him out of the death-trance! ... created him (compare, below, "How Adam Created Woman"), not in the flesh-and-blood sense, but in terms of Perspective. In her presence, he began to understand his own Significance - and men sense this to be true. Is it not amazing to witness the extreme, the almost-too-much, words of praise that men - not the Alriks, who claim to be her better half, but only men in love - wish to bestow upon their lovers?! this kind of spendthrift and prodigious kind of love! this abject surrendering of the Self, this worship and adoration! Rod Stewart continues: "Is there someone you're taking for granted? You may lose them one day, someone takes them away, and they don't hear the words you long to say, and I would give everything I own." I am reminded just now of the words of the poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay, who spoke of desperate men, men in desperate love, who would trade their "meat and drink," their "slumber," their "roof against the rain" - not only trade the basic comforts of life, but Life itself - as they "make friends with Death, for lack of love alone" ...why?... Stewart tells us: "that part of me that can't let go [yearns] just to touch you once again." Clearly, we are dealing here with transcendent forces of the Soul, which, when fully enlivened, are stronger than the bonds of Death, stronger than primal survival instincts; and these soul-forces, until consummated, shall haunt a man, hunt him down, direct his life, even into the Next World. Yes, didn't you read her warning label: Defy the Goddess, that Twin of yours, at your own risk! read my lipstick, don't cross her!
Notice why Adam is so excited. Yes, of course, she is a beautiful girl standing before him - but that's not really the reason - there's something else, much more, that prompts him to be so overcome with wide-eyed effusiveness. He means to say this:
She was not just another entity in God's creation. She was not even simply another of his own kind. She was he, himself, in another form! and there was only one who could fill that role! No matter how many would come later, she would ever be his Only One, that Part of His Own Self. He never wanted to forget that moment of shocking realization of who she was to him - and this is why he called her Woman, a word that incorporates all of that shocking realization and excitement upon perceiving who she really was to him! Yes, at the end, Adam would name one more Creature - and this time he would finally find that for which his soul was searching!
Adam and Eve do not represent mere generic beginning of the human race. This is not the story of any man meeting any woman, any John and Mary, entering into domestic partnership for mutual comfort. These specific Two, these Twin Souls, were not simply created - but, were created for each other - physically, spiritually, cosmically; as Gibran states, You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore; [your souls] quiver with the same music ...
from the deepest part of me... I remember what it did to me...
Editor's note: The subject of so many love songs, the mutually-answering soul energies enjoyed by Twins, essentially, are musical in nature: Sinatra's own version of The Dazzling Darkness, Fly Me To The Moon, "fill my heart with song, and let me sing forever more, you are all I long for, all I worship and adore"; and Petula Clark's Happy Heart soars to her own highest heaven with "it's the song that lovers finally will discover when they learn there is no other... music fills my soul now, I'm not half I'm whole now, and it's all because you're near." Yes, merely by her presence the soul begins to sing. The confluence and blending of the soul-forces of these Two produce an intoxicating harmony, a happy-heart symphony, an overriding sense of profound joy... something "never seen before"... when it happens for you, whether in this world or the next, you shall not forget it - far into the unending future, you shall never forget it... "from the deepest part of me, I remember what it did to me!"
"For this reason (2: 24)" - because of who She is to Him; because of the overwhelming sense of "you are just like me" - they are to travel together on a spiritual journey, with Eve as Spiritual Activator, the Source of his Life. The ancients viewed Eve in such capacity; even though, while she, too, was to grow in awareness, his blindness is presented as the more profound and problematic; therefore, Woman was seen as leading this process of awakening! Immediately after Adam's awakening from the death-trance, these Two are brought together. Traditional religion has viewed this initial meeting as the "marriage" of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2: 22-24). But the great Gnostic philosophers saw much more here. This scene is not so much a "wedding" as it is Adam finding personal wholeness in reference to the coming of - Eve, that missing "better half"; that Source of his Life; the Divine Feminine Principle; Woman as Spiritual Activator.
Why did God, before creating Eve, ask Adam to name everything? In this guided-discovery activity, God would help Adam understand, receive a heightened sense, that all creation, for him, is divided into two camps: (1) entities "not like me"; and (2) one creature, Eve, "just like me"! Just two camps: Eve, and everything else... a grand perspective, but only for Adam, her Soul Twin.
Adam had surveyed all of creation, had named everything (Gen. 2: 19, 20). And, in this process of naming each one, each time he did this, he discovered, within himself, the disquieting evaluation, "This one is not like me!" At the end, he was met with a deep sense of isolation and aloneness - there was none, in all of God's creation, "suitable" for him! not one thing was like him!
Adam would name one more - and, this time, there would be no sense of aloneness! At the arrival of his Soul Twin, Isha-Woman, and reeling from his new-found sense of completeness, Adam gushes with overflowing boyish joy and wonder... You are Woman! meaning, You are just like me! Her mere presence delivers to him heavenly gifts, a mystical and profound realization and knowing! Instead of Dark Aloneness as experienced within the death-trance, Adam now is plunged into the Utter Familiarity, his True Home; the Soulmate Myself; and, under the spell of her radiant spirit, he discovers the meaning of becoming One Person with another! No wonder he gushed! In the meeting of these Two, we are introduced to a capsule summary of "the reason for falling in love" - we see Sacred Romance linked to the very purpose of Life - and, even, of the Universe, itself!
The Death of Adam We've already seen the sub-title, Eve: The Life Of Adam - but we will now find that she is also the cause of The Death Of Adam. When we read of Adam naming the animals we might envision an activity of arbitrarily choosing one name as opposed to another; as John and Mary might just as easily have been labeled Jim and Martha. In the Lakota culture we find surnames rich in suggestive meaning: Taken Alive, His Horse Is Thunder, Kills Pretty Enemy, Two Bears, Iron Eyes, Many Horses, White Bull, Defender, Black Moon. The Hebrew mind worked similarly. For them, a name represented one's essential character, outstanding trait, or life-purpose. In all of Adam's denominating, the Hebrew author means to say that Adam is offering his sense regarding the meaning, significance, and purpose of each entity!
But there's more here. Adam is no biologist, attempting his own version of zoological classification. We know this because, at the end of his naming activity, the final evaluation is this: for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. All of the naming, in reality, was Adam's personal quest to find meaning for his life via something or someone else! He, in effect, was asking the question, "What does each creature, and the Universe, mean to me, and for me, in a very personal way?" However... he found no answer! The allegory of Adam's death-trance teaches us that he had looked at each element of creation and had found nothing of significance... for himself! And his sense of abject purposelessness became an existential crisis, as he entered a kind of nihilistic death-like state of meaninglessness!
And this, I think, is the symbolic significance of God placing Adam in a death-trance just before Eve's arrival! Her creation is linked to his immature, unformed condition, his personal sense of Unlife! This word-picture of Adam's symbolic death speaks, "Life has no meaning, without her! without my Soul Twin! without my Half!"
and God said, you shall die, you shall surely die... without her!
Yes, it was the Death of Adam! a virtual death, during that time in the Forest of Good and Evil; that seemingly never-ending period of aloneness and isolation, far from his Soul Twin... and God said, you shall die, you shall surely die, a thousand deaths you shall die; and you shall feel yourself to be lost, lost without a trace, apart from her, your Life ... But, take heart, the Universe, ultimately, is not designed to deliver Death to you. Adam was not created for the primary purpose of entering a death-trance. Death is meant only to be temporary; that dark background against which the Diamond - that Twin who is your Life - shall sparkle most brightly. You must first enter Death that you might appreciate, and truly know, Life; that you might eat only of the Tree of Life; that you might gladly receive Life, that particular Eve of yours, whose very name means Life... She is your Life... not Life in a general sense, but Life particularly so... Life, just for you...
I'm gonna change, just mark my words...
Editor's note: I hope you have noticed that, oftentimes, featured song-lyrics in these articles well express a message I attempt to convey - but, none, I think, as poignantly relevant as Mick Jagger's Brand New Set Of Rules. But, dear friends, unless you are a fan of this music - quite a good melody, actually - you will not know just how relevant. The title of Jagger's album is Goddess In The Doorway! How amazing! The words here somewhat perfectly represent the sense of The Divine Feminine Principle. We find here a story of a man who is forced to change from his selfish and inward ways to a "brand new set of rules." And what is the catalyst precipitating such caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation? It is she, of course, that "Goddess in the doorway." He cannot rest until he perfects himself, as he intuitively realizes that his own waywardness is keeping him from her. Such perspicacity invites a profound intensity of purpose - a dedication and consecration of heart and soul to make her "proud, so proud of me." He is no joking mood: "I'm gonna change, just mark my words, I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna learn." And if he is required to wait to be with her, he will, in her absence, continue his progression. He endures this for himself, because "I'm no one's fool"; and yet, freedom, only in this case, he covets not, as he readily acknowledges that he is her "brand new fool." In all of this we see the power of the Goddess at work, that Goddess-Twin, Woman as Transforming Fire - "because of you, a brand new start, because of you, a change of heart" - and we see one man, set ablaze, his heart afire, shouting, to the Universe, his steel-eyed commitment to spiritual change, all prompted by a beatific vision of one day resting... with her! ... yes, defy this Goddess-In-The-Doorway at your own risk. Editor's note: Some of you are wondering... all of this focus on men with love-talk such as Goddess, worship, adore, she is My Life, My Better Half... isn't this, some will say, a little overdone... well, it depends on what you want from life. We've already identified John as the "good man," one who "never missed a day on the job," and retired with an unblemished work record. The Alriks who claim to be your better half we can easily dismiss as frauds to the sacred process of romance - but, setting them aside, there are many very honorable men with the name of "John." But let us not confuse ourselves. We know that you admire such a hard-working man, we all do... but, we also understand something else... we do not hear you panting for him! nor he, for you! I submit to you that unless that "good man" in your life lives and breathes the love-talk words above - or, at least, you readily find such sentiment reflected in his voice, his eyes, his heart... well, I hate to be the one to break the news to you, Dear, but... what you two have together is not Twin Soul love; probably, not even soulmate love...
What if Eve had been created first? For nearly 2000 years, Despotic Ecclesia has taught that Adam's appearance, without Eve, suggests an innate superiority for him relative to his petite partner. I don't think so. Such sentiment is pure male propaganda and power-politics: When you can't win on the merits of the case, you go for character assassination. If Eve, the more spiritually-attuned one, had been created first, or at the same time as Adam, his gushing little speech might have been delayed even longer! I think the story of Ed and Kerrie (P.S. #38) might serve as useful metaphor here. At age 13, Kerri came to Ed; essentially, risked her dignity as she bared her heart to a young neanderthal, told him that she loved him. But Ed was still only half-baked, still very immature, and glassy-eyed. Though she was the love of his life - though she was his Life! - he was too dull to receive her; still into macho-guy things; still insensitive, and out of touch with his inner self; still too young to know what was good for him - but he would learn, though not the easy way; and he would have many ensuing years to contemplate and grieve his madness and her absence.
If Adam hadn't endured his time in the Forest of Good and Evil, he likely would have delayed, even more, the realization of Eve's true identity! She, with erotic giggling and cooing, exuding that shimmering-glistening-sparkling soul-energy, now activated in his presence, would have come to him, wanting to be with him - but he, in his dullness, would not have been able to receive her! Adam, as Ed, needed to live alone, far from her, for a long time, to finally see who She truly was to him. In other words...
Since you've gone, I've been lost without a trace...
Every
night you stay
Since you've gone I've been lost without a trace Sting, in
concert
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... yes, God gave me everything I want... when you experience, from her, that sense of rejoicing, just to be with you, then, you will have everything... the perfect gift, holiday or otherwise, for the man who has ... nothing.
how Adam created Woman...
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He took a hundred pounds of clay ... He created a Woman and lots of lovin' for a Man... Now can't you just see Him walkin' 'round and 'round, Pickin' the clay up off the ground ... To make a livin' dream like you... original recording |
Editor's note: Just now I see myself at age 17. My buddy Ken and I find ourselves in Bismarck, the Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. We pass a restroom area, I see one marked, “Women,” and, immediately, dissecting the word, in a mocking country drawl, shoot out with, “whoah! men!”… well… Ken thought it was funny, anyway. Gene’s old song, A Hundred Pounds Of Clay, is wonderful; but, as his technical advisor, I just gotta say, while the phrase, “He created a Woman,” will satisfy most, it’s more accurate to say God created Female – and Adam created Woman. I don't mean in a flesh-and-blood sense, but the concept of Woman! The term Woman refers to Adam's perspective of Eve! It is Adam who identified and labeled this strange species that males, with trepidation, offer servitude! We’ve already discussed that Adam, in his exuberance at the sight of Eve, is overwhelmed to exclaim, “You are just like me! You are just like me! You are my Twin!" All this is packed into the meaning of the word Woman! But let's look even closer. The term Woman is, of course, a very common word. We might hear it many times a day. But I submit to you that it is virtually never used correctly; at least, in terms of its origin. The term Woman, as we see in the Genesis account, means much more than Female - yet, it is primarily and commonly used only in this sense. Adam, after naming all of the creatures, used the word Woman to express, "that Particular One, that One and Only, that Goddess made just for me, and just like me. There is no one like her in the whole universe... for me!" All this is Woman! You could say that Woman is a narrow, technical term, essentially meaning, Twin Soul! Most men have never seen, never met, Woman! but only Female. It is only Eve who could have precipitated Adam’s coinage of Woman. If Yvonne, instead of Eve, had presented herself to Adam, the bio-animal part of him would have been attracted to her naked body, but there would have been no heady outburst of You are just like me! Just like me! You are me! No sense of Utter Familiarity; no SoulMate Myself, no feeling of finally Coming Home. Without Eve, Ish!-Man would never have known Isha!-Woman. Yvonne could have introduced Adam to the concept of Female - but nothing more, as only Eve, his Twin, could help Adam create Woman! I had long thought it strange that the words of Adam, as he meets Eve, seem to be so excessively effusive - I have used the term gushing - more than would be expected at the sight of even the prettiest girl. But I understand now. There is more going on here than mere physical attraction. Adam has been transported to The Dazzling Darkness (P.S. #26)... and he will never be the same again. The message for us becomes this: only when you find that Twin, the one who can offer this kind of transportation, are you allowed to use the term Woman!
I have already overstepped the bounds of reasonable redundancy, but, due to the mystery attached to the term Woman, I must seek your indulgence of one more attempt at clarity. John cannot know Mary as Woman! but only as Female. Mary cannot, can never, find her own sacred sense of Womanhood with John! Look at Genesis 2: 23 once more. It is Adam's gushing realization of "you are just like me" that precipitates the coinage of the term Woman! - this is what Woman means! John has no perception of Mary as "you are just like me," and, therefore, Mary cannot become Woman to him! Mary, in her deepest self, knows that John is not her Twin, and, therefore, she cannot become Woman until she finds her True Cosmic Lover! And what of this term Man? We can know that it, the mirror-opposite of Woman, speaks of Male finding itself, its deepest self, but only in the presence of, in union with, that one who is "just like me," the one called Woman! John will never find his Manhood, in the sacred sense of this term, with Mary! Coming into one's Manhood is not primarily a physical, sexual event, but, such activity, as living metaphor, merely points to something more grand! Manhood, and becoming a Man, in the sacred and cosmic sense, is to find Oneness with one's Romantic Soul-Twin. It is only she, that one created with him, who can help him to become Man!
They need each other, these Twins. Yes, this is stating the obvious, as they need each other for so many reasons; but, most fundamentally, he cannot become Man without her... she cannot become Woman without him! ... not ever, only with each other, and not until!
"she is my better half"
As I said, men make jokes about this; again, it's strange that women do not usually use similar terms for their men. But now we begin to perceive, behind the jesting, a hint of the reality of such things.
The Jewish authors explain that the meaning of "gluing," in the Hebrew, does not primarily speak of the bonding found in physical union - which nexus merely points to something more profound - but, "a yearning for reunification of the Two parts that broke from the One. It is a concept asserting that the two parts of the whole, the 'Halves' that broke during the creation, the Heaven and the Earth, the Man and the Woman, and even the Masculine and Feminine aspects of the Divine, desire to return to their pristine condition to become whole again."
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Petula Clark, Happy Heart: "it's my happy heart you hear, singing loud and singing clear ... music fills my soul now, I've lost all control now, I'm not Half, I'm Whole now, can't you hear my happy heart!"
What is the nature of this "gluing"?
"All created things are 'Halves,' and all created things realize by their nature that they came from the One and broke to the Two and the many. Since the consciousness of all 'Halves' urges them to recognize that they are incomplete, and since completeness is the end that all things yearn for, all things depend on the One, wish to imitate the One, and yearn to return to the One.
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Editor's note: Another way of stating this is that the very purpose of the dualistic universe, that cosmic matrix of Halves, is that of leading humankind to a sense of Wholeness, Oneness, Spiritual Awareness, which is Love! This Oneness begins with a personal integration, resulting in finding one's Twin, then progressing to a universal love - for all people and all creation!
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The search for the other half:neither peace nor tranquility until found"In other words, all things seek gluing by their nature... Man and Woman seek to cleave to one another, seek gluing, not because they are ordered to do so, nor because it is an accepted custom of society, not even because of procreation (Gen. 1: 28), but because gluing is inherent within their own nature. The two parts known as Man and Woman seek their authenticity that can be found only in their return to wholeness.
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"The conception of the two separated parts evolves from a consciousness that recognizes its inner voice crying I am half. I will have neither peace nor tranquility until I find my second half; and then I will cleave to it, and commune with it, and we shall be [whole and complete] again."
The Kiss, oil on canvas, Francesco Hayez (1859)
These are heavy statements... Man and Woman can find their authenticity, a sense of wholeness and completeness, only in mutual relation to a specific other... yes, "you can run, you can die, but you can't escape my love."
And look at this... "neither peace nor tranquility"... sounds like a serious condition, better get that checked soon, but I think we've heard this before... "I won't sleep, I can't breathe, I cannot Be, until you're resting here, with me"... seems to be a lot of that going around.
Meanwhile, back at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil...
I hope you agree with me that these issues concerning Cosmic Duality are most profound and wonderful. One could spend a lifetime contemplating them; and, maybe, in our Next One, we shall do some of that. But, for now, before I leave this section, allow me to restate that many of the Gnostics saw the story of The Tree, similar to the parable of the Little Soul, as Humankind's attempt to know the Universe via a system of opposites, the dualism of Good and Evil - which would cause "the eyes," that is, the understanding, of Man and Woman "to be opened." Gen. 3: 7
And is it not interesting that the Hebrew scripture refers to their sexual union as "knowing" each other? Gen. 4: 1 - which seems to indicate that by such contact they are meant to realize something! discover something! through this process of Grand Dialectic, this Cosmic Dualism - these Destined Two, the Male and Female, broken from The One, but now seeking wholeness, "knowing" each other, as they interact as Opposite-Sameness! (P.S. #32). We shall again discuss this issue of "knowing."
What Jesus said about Adam and Eve
We must not leave our discussion of Genesis without considering the testimony of Jesus.
Matthew 19: 3-12, New International Version
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” Jesus replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one [person]?
6 So they are no longer Two, but One. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.
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For some are eunuchs because they were born
that way; others were made that way by men; and others have
renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The
one who can accept this should accept
it.”
Stunning... shocking... radical...
This pericope from the New Testament should sport a warning label. Again, John and Mary might not like to hear any of this.
Before closely examining the text, we should understand that Jesus, here, is like a Zen Master. His purpose is to jolt his audience into awareness, and out of complacency. He purposefully chooses words for their shock-value. He is not concerned if his listeners' first reaction is astonishment, or even confusion.
You are about to hear some things that you might not have known are part of Jesus' teaching.
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The Gospel Of Thomas: "When Thomas came back, his friends asked him, What did Jesus tell you? Thomas said to them, If I tell you even one of the things he told me, you will pick up rocks and stone me. Then fire will come forth from the rocks and devour you."
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Family values and the words of Jesus:Did he really say that?
Jesus was asked a question about divorce and remarriage:
3 “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
Jesus' answer pleased no one! He offended everyone - those on the right and the left; even his own men chafed at his response.
Jewish law was well-settled: a man could divorce his wife for any reason!
The various Rabbinic schools of thought differed, somewhat, on this issue, but ended at the same point.
Some said that a man could divorce his wife for any reason - "even if she burns the soup!" or, even if he finds a younger woman!
Other Rabbis took a more conservative view and said that divorce was permitted only if the wife were guilty of immorality or unfaithfulness.
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Editor's note: Do you see a problem with this latter view? Who is to define "immorality" or "unfaithfulness"? and how shall her "guilt" be determined? Then, as now, questions such as these were settled by clever lawyers who might make a case, for or against. While the conservative view might seem a little more just on paper, the practical effect proclaimed that a man could still divorce his wife, essentially, for any reason, if he found a lawyer who could trump-up the charges and make her look bad!
Jesus answers, not by quoting a Rabbi, but by speaking of Adam and Eve!
4 “Haven’t you read,” Jesus replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one [person]’?
6 So they are no longer Two, but One. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
We cannot appreciate Jesus' teaching in Matthew 19 without first understanding the story of the Man and Woman in the Garden. Let's recall now, in summary form, the Genesis story.
It is a message of...
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Twin Soul love, the Opposite-Sameness
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the Divine Feminine Principle
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why She is the better half
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awakening and enlightenment
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how all things came from The One
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the cosmic reason for marriage
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why Adam needed Death to teach him about Life
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the quest for gluing, the desire of the Two to find wholeness
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travelling on to the status of One Person
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a universe of Duality, leading to gnosis, experiential knowing
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the sacred dignity and vast infinite potential of the human-divine Soul
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all that you have is your Soul
Precepts, such as these, and likely others, would have been on Jesus' mind as he addressed the question concerning divorce.
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EmmyLou Harris,All That You Have Is Your Soul
Oh, my mama told me
'cause she say she learned the hard way
She say she wanna spare the children
She say, don't give or sell your soul away
'cause all that
you have is your soul
Well I was a pretty young girl
once
I had dreams I had high hopes
I
married a man, he stole my heart away
He gave his love but what a high price I
paid
All that
you have is your soul
Why was I such a young fool
Thought I'd make history
Making babies was the best I could do
Thought I'd made something that could be
mine forever
Found out the hard way one can't possess another
And all that you
have is your soul
So don't be tempted by the shiny apple
Don't you eat of the bitter fruit
Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth...
And wake in a world with a clear conscience and
clean hands
'cause all that you have is your
soul
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Editor's note: It is often stated by AfterLife Entities that some of the works of art of our world have been directly inspired by Troubadours on the Other Side. The Wedding Song, as we have seen, is an example of this heavenly gift, and All That You Have Is Your Soul might be another one. I am somewhat taken aback by the wisdom expressed here. It is not a love song. The songwriter comes very close to expressing Jesus' message of Matthew 19! Jesus, of course, is not anti-family, anti-children, nor anti-marriage, but only wishes to emphasize, all that you have is your soul! "Making babies," of and by itself, can easily become the sole attempt to make life meaningful - a misguided effort to "possess another"; and anyone who tries this will "find out the hard way" that abiding satisfaction and peace is to be found elsewhere; because, all that you have is your soul! Notice, too, the songwriter's reference to Genesis: "don't be tempted by the shiny apple, don't you eat of the bitter fruit."
The key issue:
Can you separate something that God has joined together?
6 So they are no longer Two, but One. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
Some of you may be thinking, "I don't see anything in Matthew 19 that seems so radical to me."
I understand that. Most, without more information, will not see the problem here. May I respectfully suggest that the reason you do not view Jesus' words as radical is due to:
(1) you have not allowed the full implications of the Adam and Eve story to affect your thinking; and,
(2) you have not understood the meaning of "what God has joined together"!
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John and Mary have been taught by their local church that any couple, who stand before a minister, priest, rabbi, ship captain, or a Las Vegas justice-of-the-peace in an elvis-suit, as they breathlessly intone, "I do," and as one of these officials pronounces magic words over them, will find that the God of the Omniverse and All Dimensions has joined them together!
Well... that's downright accommodating of God, isn't it? with her busy schedule and all...
Is this the way the Universe works?
Some of you are beginning to feel uncomfortable, maybe angry, as you sense where this is going. And this is why there were muted rumblings in the crowd that long-ago day, as Jesus offended every one of them, even his own students!
This is not the answer they wanted to hear.
We began this discussion with a review of all of those insubstantial reasons for marriage, ones that will not persuade the Troubadours to remain. And we reminded ourselves, according to the evidence, that most marriages of this world fail to picture eternal Twin Soul love. But, here's what you need to know...
God "joins two together" by giving them harmonizing, equally-calibrated, soul-energies!
God "joins two together" as a process of natural law, a natural force of the universe, just as the proton and neutron are "joined together" in the atom's core.
God "joins two together" when they were created! as Twins, in the "soul nursery"!
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Editor's note: Is there a more compelling romantic notion than that of having been created together with your Destined Cosmic Lover? like a cell replicating and dividing; like the red mud, Adam, forming Eve... the One would become Two! Some might envision that the status of One Person requires concerted effort, will need to be tended to, just as a John-and-Mary union must be "worked on" - it's not like that. While agape-love, service-mindedness, courtesy, and thoughtfulness, even between Twins, will never go out of style, your cosmic marriage will not require "work," as such - it will work on you. You will not need to support and carry it - those soul-energies will carry you. No weekend marriage retreats, no seminars, no promise-keepers rallies, no renewing of vows, no dutiful and willfully-appointed marked-in-daytimer Friday-night dates, will be necessary to maintain this kind of love... no... it will hunt you down, beat you up good, smack you upside the head, bring you to bear, force its own schedule, will not ask your permission - and you won't forget her during the day, either. She is very part of you, your own soul; as you are, of her! you cannot forget her, as you cannot forget yourself! Both of you, in a potential sense, were created as One Person in the "soul-nursery," and such status' unfolding, enflowering, and manifestation requires not effort, but relaxing! The One Person status, unlike the John-and-Mary union, is not something ever-sagging, needing to be propped up - it's already solidly in place, something God gave to both of you long ago. You just have to clear away the fog, the clouds of the Ego, allowing you to see who you truly are... who she truly is... who both of you are to each other.
It is gross myth, a terrible deception, that God "joins two together" through a ceremony in one's church! It is just one more propaganda-teaching, one of so many, one more "true doctrine," by "infallible Dear Leaders," anciently designed to gather power - to hierarchies - over people!
The implications are radical, shocking, stunning... are you ready to go there?
There's a reason why Jesus said, Most of you will not be able to accept this!
If God "joins two together," then there is no way, in God's good earth, or any quadrant of the galaxy, that anyone - even themselves! - shall ever separate them.
The force that binds their souls together is unrelenting, unremitting, unforgiving... it does not, cannot, and will not, ever stop!
It is as eternal as soul-life itself! It is soul-life itself! Yes, of course, this would be true. Their romantic love is not merely an attribute, but the essence, of their Souls... not merely what the Soul has, but what the Soul is!
Consider, once again, the beautiful testimony of AfterLife Entity, Silver Birch, who often speaks of his Teacher, the Nazarene ...
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"That love is deathless"
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"There is never any separation. Those whom the natural law has joined by love can never be sundered in your world or in mine"
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"Real love is so magnetic, so overwhelming, in its attraction, that it must find itself and claim itself"
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"If there is love, there is nothing that will ever separate them"
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"Those who love one another will not be separated from one another once they have passed through the incident that is called death"
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Recall, too, the confirming message I received, via David (P.S. #32), from Spirit Guides who did not like any hint of a reference to Twins "separated" from each other.
All of this is pure Matthew 19 philosophy!
Jesus was asked a question about divorce from the Alriks, ones who were "more interested in trade agreements." These men-of-the-world spoke of marriage as they might speak of their cattle or crops, another asset on the balance sheet.
Jesus, by referencing the Genesis account, ignores the Alriks' limited and materialistic view of marriage and takes the opportunity to speak of it in its grandest scope - the eternal union of Twin Souls!
It was not this way from the beginning
Jesus wants them to know that, yes, it's true, even Moses allowed divorce - but, this was a mere temporary and grudging concession to those animalistic Alriks with "hard hearts"; however... "it was not this way from the beginning" (verse 8).
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John 4:14: "Jesus said... Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst, not ever. The water I give will be an Artesian Spring within, gushing fountains of endless life." (The Message)
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Editor's note: Some of the Matthew 19 principle, All That You Have Is Your Soul, is also found in Jesus' analogy of the Artesian Well of the Inner Person. My Uncle John helped me to understand the importance of this (P.S. #23). But, I suddenly recall, as Jesus spoke of these things to the Samaritan woman at the communal well, his psychic powers allowed him to comment that she had been living with several men (4:18). In other words, she, as EmmyLou sang, had been "tempted by the shiny apple" of seeking inner peace by giving her body in exchange for a sense of self-worth and acceptance; by "making babies" as "the best she could do." And, it is in this context of sex and marriage, that Jesus, The Master Troubadour, offers his paradigm-shattering teaching of the Artesian Spring of the Soul! She, "having found out the hard way" that Eros, by itself, has no power to heal and integrate the Inner Person, would desperately plead, "Sir, give me of that water (4:15)!" The words of Jesus resonate deeply with her as, effectively, he advises, "don't give or sell your soul away" - and she, excitedly and intuitively, responds to his teaching of the Perpetual Inner Refreshment, All That You Have Is Your Soul.
Jesus drops a bomb
9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
After allowing the beady-eyed Alriks the point that Moses had permitted divorce, Jesus regains the floor with, but "I tell you" that divorce is not allowed under any circumstances!
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"except for marital unfaithfulness"...this is an unwarranted insertion, an interpolation, a fraudulent doctoring, of the original text by religious spinmeisters
Elaine Pagels states that the phrase, "except for marital unfaithfulness," was added much later to the text, an attempt by manipulating churchmen to water down the impact of something they didn't understand, of what was considered to be Jesus' too-harsh teaching!
This means that Jesus is actually saying that there is no exception clause - there is no basis for divorce at all!
What does he mean? surely he cannot be condoning even the abusive marriages? What is he really saying?
The very flow of Jesus' argument strongly suggests that the charge of subsequent textual interpolation is not unfounded. The rabbis allowed all sorts of exceptions that would end a marriage, and if Jesus had spoken in that vein, no one would have raised an eyebrow - the fact that the crowd objected indicates that Jesus spoke of something new! something they hadn't expected and didn't want to hear! No one had ever asserted that divorce is not allowed at all - and this is why the tempers flared!
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Editor's note: Regarding interpolations and unwarranted additions to the biblical text, there are a great many of them. Here is attorney Victor Zammit's (P.S. #3) recent comment as he responds to a reader's question about biblical authority: "The critical thing about this is to do with 'authority'. I obtained my authority DIRECTLY from the afterlife - which is regarded as 'empirically' derived and objective. The Cardinal got his authority by way of 'hearsay' (what somebody else said, belief without proof) - which is inadmissible - because it was obtained allegedly from writings [and] not by direct communication. Secondly, the alleged authority is 'subjective' - which is absolutely meaningless because anything subjective has NO AUTHORITY at all and is subject to complete invalidation. Biblical experts, such as Arthur Findlay, state that a lot of the writings allegedly attributed to St. Paul were NOT written by St. Paul at all. Because there are so many interpolations in the Bible, its authority is very questionable - especially when there are claims that there were many unauthorised changes in the Bible made by ecclesiastics who had NO AUTHORITY at all to change anything. A good source of unauthorised Bible changes can be found in Peter de Rosa's (a former Monsignor priest) book, THE VICARS OF CHRIST."
Is it really true that there is never a basis for divorce?
This is a frightening assertion to many people. And the Alriks in the crowd hated Jesus for saying this.
Did Jesus really mean to lay down an absolute rule, for all, in every circumstance?
Yes... and no.
The apostle Paul, who claimed to have been personally taught by Jesus, writing many years before the gospel of Matthew, in his letter to the Corinthians, discussed why some marriages might, and should, end; and, in such cases, as he used the phrase, "she is not bound" to the marriage (I Corinthians 7: 15).
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Paul is addressing marriage in its limited sense, in a John-and-Mary sense, as an imperfect element of this world; as such, there are good reasons why some marriages should end. Jesus would have heartily agreed with Paul's assessment.
Much of the letter to the Corinthians is that of Paul, the pastor, addressing various social problems in the Church. The Greek city Corinth was famous in the ancient world as a place of gross sexual license. It is, therefore, not surprising to find in Paul's letter a discussion of marriage and divorce. Increasingly, it became a common situation in the church to find one marital partner as a "believer" while the other as one who "believes not" (7: 13). The church wanted to know, what happens to marriage in such cases? Today, some frame this question more narrowly, in terms of "What happens if I'm Catholic and she's Protestant?" Such provincial reductionism misses the point of Paul's teaching who addressed this concern by contrasting - not members of different religions, but - the Enlightened and those Not Enlightened.
Paul acknowledged that a marriage might easily end if one party is growing spiritually while the other remains an Alrik. If an unbelieving mate becomes hostile, abusive, or emotionally withdraws; that is, as Paul uses the phrase, if he is not "pleased to dwell with her" (7: 12, 13); then the believing mate "is not under bondage" (7: 15); that is, she is not bound to the marriage!
he don't love you like I love you...
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Notice Paul's euphemistic phrase, not pleased to dwell with her. The latitude she enjoys in determining whether to stay, or not stay, is very broad and quite subjective! Paul is saying to her, "How do you really feel about this? Is this a positive place for your spirit to develop and express itself? or are you the caged bird who no longer sings? If so, my dear, you do not have to stay; nor should you!" The last words of verse 15 give us the reason for Paul's marital exclusion clause: God has called us to peace!
Allow me to restate all this. There are many churches that will try to construe Paul's words to mean, "As long as you go to our church, then you are both believers, and therefore, Paul's teaching here doesn't apply to you!" This is rubbish, a patent distortion of the Apostle's meaning - one's particular religion does not affect the answer, as the anti-legalist Paul took great pains to explain in Galatians (P.S. #34). The key here relates to a proper definition of "believer" (P.S. #34). The issue before us does not focus upon whether one is, or is not, a member of a particular church, but, rather, whether one lives in the Spirit, that is, the Purified Consciousness!
This means that if one marital partner becomes Enlightened - irrespective of one's brand-name religion, or lack thereof - and the other does not mature in similar manner, the marriage might not, or should not, survive. The Ego (P.S. #36) of the unbeliever will likely feel very threatened by the advancing maturity of the Enlightened mate.
The classic case of such defensiveness (in a general sense), as reported in the Gospels, is that of Jesus' own mother and brothers calling him crazy and coming to take him home! this kind of thing will happen to you, too, if you begin to refuse the family kool-aid! And this is why Jesus said that he came not to bring peace to the world but conflict! Unbelieving family members will not be "pleased to dwell with you."
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Paul, applying this principle to marriage, well understands this dark dynamic and says to the spiritually maturing one, if your partner becomes hostile, abusive, or uncivil, you don't have to accept this unpleasantness. If you, effectively, become isolated in your own home due to a mate, who, by his actions, tells you that he is "not pleased to dwell with you," then, as Paul says, "she is not bound," and is quite free to leave the marriage. Paul says that she doesn't have to put up with any of it. Why? Because you were called to peace.
God, and your Troubadours, want you to live in a peaceful environment - and, if you do not, then you have every right to seek peace in a new environment... even, with a new mate... someone, as Jim Croce sings, who will truly love you, as opposed to that one who is "not pleased to dwell with you" - that obtuse Alrik who claims to be your better half... Dear, he don't love you like I love you ...
Oh! Darling, please believe me...
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Oh! Darling, please believe me... |
Editor's note: The great apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, speaks not only as a pastor but as a rabbinic attorney, well schooled in the nuances of the Jewish law. Some say that Paul’s comments in chapter seven indicate that he is anti-marriage – this is error. The apparent reluctance of Paul to fully endorse marriage is due to the fact that he believed society was heading for catastrophe, possibly, the end of the world! Well, maybe he wasn't wrong, just early - the storm clouds still gather - we see Paul's grave concern expressed in his phrase, “for the present distress” (verse 26). Given his dire evaluation of world events, Paul advised his followers to keep life as uncomplicated as possible; maybe, even remain single – even so, he had no problem with individuals making their own decisions. Ironically, amidst this context of Paul, the Lawyer, offering his carefully studied positions regarding the advisability of marriage, of who is bound and who is not, we find one of the most romantic, most erotically suggestive, most sensual, directives in the entire New Testament!
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Paul speaks to those hopelessly suffocating in mad-love and says, if you can’t breathe, if you can't Be, if you can't rest, without each other; if living your life, apart from her, is too hard to bear; if you die, every day, apart from him; then, please, feel free, the two of you “should marry, for it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion, and tortured continually, with ungratified desire” (Amplified Bible, verse 9)... as Elvis sang, some things were meant to be.
Look at what we’ve learned so far from the good apostle. Contrary to the politically-motivated doctrines of some churches, we find a surprising amount of leniency here regarding entering and exiting marital relationships! To end a marriage, says Paul, all the aggrieved Enlightened Party has to do is honestly determine that the other mate is "not pleased to dwell with her" – there’s a lot of room for choice there! And look at Paul’s general rule for those who are up to their eye-sockets in crazy-love – never mind the trivial detail that the world is about to end, let it happen while we are deeply submerged, far under, loving each other [smile]!
"Oh! you nawty-nawty boy!"
Do you not see? Both of these precepts, of entering and exiting marriage, relate to living life "in peace," that sanctified state to which we've been called by God! Paul is no prudish Victorian but one closely in touch with the richest energy-flows of life! and to those utterly romantically smitten, he says, with an avuncular wink and unsuccessfully-suppressed grin, “it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion, and tortured continually, with ungratified desire.” All of this, for me, brought to mind John Lennon and the ultra-passionate, almost orgasmic, Oh! Darling. While McCartney, in fact, was lead vocal here, this immediately-engaging 4th track of Abbey Road, one with no intro, fits John's way much more. John, himself, agreed: "Oh! Darling was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better - it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he's going to sing it." We notice that McCartney, most suggestively, places an exclamation mark after "Oh!" and not the second word - a very subtle marker indicating a universal, breathless, grief-passion for that Absent One; she, who remains not only a whisper on his lips, but whose mystical name cannot even be mentioned without appending such appellation but with... Oh! ... Oh! Darling, please believe me...
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Editor's note: The apostle Paul's teaching will shock some, but only because we've been inculcated with strange notions of marriage. Literalist-religion will tend to say that marital vows are unbreakable - this is untrue. First of all, the very concept of a marital vow is a man-made contrivance - just as wishing that pigs might fly, vows cannot make permanent that which was never meant to be. It is only the Twin union that is unbreakable; by its very nature it is unbreakable - these Two cannot be separated! This is what Jesus meant by his in-your-face-Alrik statement that the seeming Two are, in fact, One; that God has joined them together; that divorce is not even on the table for discussion! Why? not because of some Dear Leader's rule but because it is all quite impossible! it would be like trying to separate from oneself! The typical John-and-Mary union, by contrast, is just an unstable partnership of This World, often expires before we do and, most surely, in any case, will not survive our entry into the Next. What John and Mary created was not so special and - in an ultimate sense - God was never part of it; the Troubadours did not remain! This means that if one of these quid pro quo marital partnerships becomes counterproductive and unpleasant, such union, even in the eyes of Heaven, can be set aside far more easily than you have been led to believe! Egoically-based marriages, like all things of the Ego, were never meant to be permanent, but, at best, only point to, and prepare one for, something else! The Alrik-marriages, by the suffering and dissatisfaction they produce, serve to awaken us regarding what we lack; take us a little closer to Enlightenment, that state of Purified Consciousness - and prepare us, as Adam was prepared during his time of death-trance, for that Destined Twin.
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Editor's note: I will speak more on this later, but the ancient Gnostic documents claim the Apostle Paul as one of their own Gnostic Teachers, their "Great Apostle"!! Paul's fame was so grand and extensive within the early Church that The Literalists, when they came to power in the 300s CE, could not directly attack the teachings of his well-extant writings; instead, The Literalists' dirty-tricks department created false letters attributed to Paul to dilute his impact; new writings in which he appears to deny his earlier teachings! ... an old propaganda ploy.
what my dreams were all about...
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Got to find me
someone whose heart is free, Someone to look for my dream with
me, And when I find
her, I may find out, just what my dreams were all about...
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Editor's note: This spunky little song should win an award for most punch per square verse. It's about someone who is "restless," searching - for what, he's not quite sure, but "a dream is calling" him. And he follows that dream, to far corners, to "wherever it leads." One with whom he might have considered as companion in quest of that dream was once set aside, relegated to secondary importance, subservient to that which was calling him... "you gotta follow that dream," he told himself... but dreams, by their nature, are unreal... things from which one finally awakens; and, when he does wake up, he discovers, that she, herself, that might-have-been companion, in fact, was "what my dreams were all about." And when that restlessness in his spirit finally spends itself, like Adam awakening from his death-trance, she will be revealed as that which he'd been craving all along... that hole in his heart, when travelling is done, will have assumed a certain form, the form of a certain girl, a particular girl... Both of these Two - a sometimes John, a sometimes Mary - in their travels, had tried to love others; but this they found to be quite impossible... as she, all of her life, could love no one but him; and he, all of his life, could love no one but her...
Jesus in Matthew 19 is not speaking of a John-and-Mary union but wishes to make a statement about that grand cosmic reason for marriage; about Twin Soul love; about Man and Woman's eternal destiny; he wants to explain, "all that you have is your soul"!
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When Jesus, referencing Genesis, says that there is no basis for divorce at all, he means to assert what Silver Birch explained... If two lovers share the same music in their souls, well then, there's no getting over you! If Twins are thus conjoined, they belong to each other, and no one else, and nothing in God's vast Universe, now, or in the future, will ever change that! ... because... what God has joined together cannot ever be separated!
This means that divorce, according to the nature of the case, for these Two, cannot even be an option; indeed, divorce, for Twins, really has no meaning! as, again, you are just as likely to be able to separate from yourself... and good luck to you with that.
When Jesus, in his provocative zen-way, asserts that divorce is not allowed at all, he refers not to some doctrinaire, hard-fisted, arbitrary church-rule from some Infallible Dear Leader, but to that world of Twin love based upon natural law; of flowing and harmonizing soul-energies... which, as we've said, means that it's not so much that divorce is impermissible, but that... it's impossible!
We will explore why this is so.
We have two different views of marriage discussed here:
(1) the Alrik view, marriage as an element of this world - Paul spoke to this; and
(2) the Twin view, marriage as Eternal Cosmic Union - Jesus addressed this
Jesus does not go out of his way to remedy the confusion, to make himself totally clear. The Zen-Master seems more interested in shocking his audience into a measure of wakefulness than merely imparting information!
And he doesn't quit!
Even his men, somewhat cynically, it seems, desire to press what they feel is the absurdity of Jesus' comment and say,
10 Well, “if this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
Jesus, knowing that they've understood not a word that he's said, will not relent, and plays along, throws it back at them, effectively responding with, "Yes, that's right, maybe you shouldn't!"
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Please, quick, tell me he didn't say that!Jesus plays the E-card!
Well, we can imagine that tempers were seriously about to flare at this point. Even so, Jesus continues by further inflaming them with a very high-incendiary word... eunuch!
Many rabbis had focused on the Genesis command to "be fruitful and multiply" as the most important reason for marriage. This is why they were somewhat lenient regarding permission to divorce: A man needs his procreative freedom that he might fulfill Gen. 1:28!
In a society that revered the procreation principle, and male rights to it, the lowest of the low became the despised barren woman - how does she even justify breathing! - but, wait! there's another poor schmuck who is even worse... the eunuch! what a supreme no-good! can't even get it on!
Jesus, of course, understood their prejudices and purposefully chose one of the most inflammatory and offensive words he could think of to illustrate his point. Clearly, he is into waking them up!
Just what you always dreamed of being since you were a kid, right after nurse or fireman... a eunuch for the kingdom's sake
11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.
12 For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
The Alriks in the crowd are just hopping-mad now... what is he talking about? so, we're supposed to be schmuck eunuchs now, is that it?!
those to whom it has been given
Jesus, I think, does not bother to fully explain himself, because he knows, even if he did, they, deeply in debt to the Ego, could not accept his words. He has a history of speaking in impenetrable parables, the purpose for which, as stated elsewhere, is to protect the immature from self-incriminating understanding, the kind that might constitute sinning against the Purified Consciousness (P.S. #36) - and we're seeing this same teaching style unfolding here.
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The Book Of Thomas: Jesus said, "Blessed is the wise person who seeks truth ... and is not afraid of those who want to disturb one." Yes, blessed, spiritually prosperous, is the one who is not threatened, who has sufficiently defused the Ego, to be able to accept Reality. It is not so much that Jesus' teachings are radical, but that many are so deeply blinded by the Ego to what is Real!
We have discussed, on previous occasions, that merely to be aware of one's Twin, is a mark of advancing spirituality; it means that the death of The Great False Self is in process. These Awakening Ones are they to whom the Troubadours begin to draw near. The Alriks in the crowd weren't there yet - Jesus knew this, so he didn't trouble himself with making clear his message.
But, in any case, what is Jesus' point regarding the "eunuch"?
the sleepless night, wanting you near...
Anne Murray, Me, Too
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do you ever stop and think of me as more than a friend... I was wondering...
when you met me did your knees get weak, did your feelings cave in, just like mine did,
did you find it hard to speak, were you stumbling over simple words, did it do that to you... me, too...did you ever have a sleepless night, wanting me near... I was wondering...
do you ever have regrets that you might have passed up what was best, for you... me, too
if there ever was a moment, would you tell me now, that you were sure I was the one...
would you take a chance and finally say what's in your heart, would help me tear this wall apart...
Why does Jesus use the eunuch-metaphor?
The word eunuch, a castrated man, derives from the Greek and literally means "bed guard." While, in the ancient world, eunuchs were called upon to serve royalty in various capacities, their primary function, as etymology indicates, was to guard the bed, that is, the harem, of the king.
Jesus' eunuch-metaphor has been called upon to support a variety of philosophical positions; e.g., celibacy, homosexuality, the evil of sexuality, and the like. Tertullian even said that Matthew 19 offered evidence that St. Paul had been castrated!
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Editor's note: I am 17, I can see it now. I am sitting in the village coffee shop, the Wentz Cafe, with my good friend, Grover Diemert (P.S. #11), a young priest. He has brought a book for me, and, as I quickly scan it, I notice an unknown word, exegesis - literally, to "draw out" from the text the author's intended meaning; as opposed to eisegesis, to "insert into" the text one's own prejudices. I can still feel my excited and fevered reaction to this briefest of introductions to objective scholarly research, and the trajectory of my interest shoots off the chart. No one had opened this door for me before, and I am in a mild state of shock as I contemplate, intuitively sense, the power of unfiltered ideas, ones immediately available, without the censorship services of any "Infallible Dear Leader." (I use immediate in its literal sense, "without a mediator"; that is, without any intervening third party.)
All of this so-called biblical interpretation, this eisegesis in the first degree, constitutes little more than a kind of rorschach test reflecting the prejudices of the reviewer. There is no way to understand the message of Matthew 19 without first understanding Jesus' antecedent reference, his allusion to the Genesis account - which is why we've spent some substantial time there.
The eunuch not only does not marry, but cannot marry!
The eunuch, the castrated man, is a radical, politically-incorrect metaphor employed by Jesus to teach an utterly beautiful cosmic truth about the nature of Eternal Twin Love. John and Mary might not like what he has to say - but, Jesus is not necessarily speaking to them, asserting that this information is only for a select Enlightened few!
The best analogies, as teaching devices, are simple. And the truth, when we find it, as embedded in the Matthew 19 teaching, or in any context, as Einstein said, will be beautiful in its simplicity.
And I think the simple teaching of Jesus' metaphor is this:
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The eunuch, the castrated man, cannot marry because he lacks the apparatus to do so; in other words, it is impossible for him to consider marriage.
Jesus' metaphor requires us to search for correspondence between this obvious characteristic of the eunuch and the nature of Eternal Twin Love.
I see two major concepts that Jesus' eunuch-metaphor is meant to convey:
(1) a solitary time for personal growth; and
(2) the impossibility of True Marital Union outside of Twin love.
Regarding the first concept...
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Like Adam during his time of death-trance solitude in the Forest of Good and Evil, the eunuch is a Twin (male or female), one enduring final-phase preparation before romantic union, who lives alone! that is, without intimate relationship.
In our studies of Twin love, we have seen this principle many times.
We've seen it in Steve Gunn's (P.S. #28) writings: "There is a process to go through until you can unite with your [Twin]. It's complex and doesn't make much sense on a conventional level, but it has to happen this way because destiny is at work here... this journey is a deep, internal, solitary one."
This time of aloneness is a time of "making one's music pure" (P.S. #28); a time of introspection, resulting, to use Jung's term, in greater individuation.
This solitude is a time of the "long dark night of the soul" (P.S. #36); a time of defusing the Ego, a time of intense, private, personal struggle, like a butterfly changing, the painful emergence from its cocoon ... into the Light.
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The Gospel Of Thomas: "Jesus said, Blessed are those who are alone and chosen: you will find the Kingdom." Notice also the following ironical and cloaked reference, one of eunuch-aloneness and marriage: "Jesus said, Many are standing by the door, but those who are alone will enter the wedding chamber."
Jesus, as he focuses upon the message of Genesis, that archetypal story of Twin Love, teaches that the road to Grand Cosmic Romance is by way of a temporary period of aloneness... it is Adam's death-trance, that terrible time of darkness, during which a Twin will "surely die," apart from her! ... a time of preparation to be with that Destined One... a time of living as - we gasp as we contemplate Jesus' utterly radical choice of analogies - a eunuch!
It is a time when one's own Soul will insist that living life as the hapless Ego-driven John or Mary is no longer appropriate; and that, despite the emotional hardship, it is better not even to attempt intimate relationship, if one cannot yet be with one's Twin.
He cannot love another now, even if he were to try; her image, indelibly imprinted upon his spirit, as expressed in Elvis' song, "cannot be erased by just another woman with a pretty face."
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It's not that simple anymore... he now understands that... it never was.
Editor's note: Yes, during the time of romantic isolation and quarantine, of which Jesus speaks, that time of "pain, anguish, and confusion," despite visions of future heroic altruism, one will often experience dark moments of "what's the use of helping everyone," what's the use of anything, if I cannot be... with her!
Like two islands connected at the deep, like two trees with roots intermingled below, these Two discover that they share a mystical bond, a spiritual nexus, hidden to the rest of the world; earlier, hidden even to themselves, but finally revealed when each, suddenly, caught in the other's soul-energy field, experiences a most commanding force; a transcendent familiarity, something utterly unique and previously unknown to them, but now, demanding their attention, and resonating with the deepest part of their persons.
An ancient AfterLife entity stated it this way: "Some of you will discover that you are affinities. Although you are two people, you are Two Halves of one individuality."
And, therefore, in her absence, he will choose to live alone, without intimate relationship... he will choose to live as - we recoil at the mere mentioning of Jesus' unpleasant term - a eunuch! a damn eunuch! of all things!!
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Editor's note: Our friendly neighborhood Alriks will object to this with, "John and Mary might not be perfect, but they keep the world turning. If everyone lived as you suggest, how could life even keep going? You disdain the 'procreation verse' but where would the human race be without John and Mary?" Well, I think I know how Jesus would answer this charge. There was a man who once approached Jesus, asking to become his student - but, first, he needed to "bury his father." Bible scholars explain that this phrase implies much more than attending a funeral, but included waiting until a father had passed plus settling the estate - which might take many years. Jesus responded with, "Let the dead bury their dead" (Luke 9: 60); in other words, "Let the unenlightened continue in their unenlightened ways; until they wake up, let them concern themselves with materialistic efforts - but you follow me!" Likewise, Jesus in Matthew 19 offers a similar sentiment. At the present time, there is no world shortage of spiritually unconscious Johns and Marys who might continue to turn the world - no need, at all, to worry about this. They, until awakened, will do what Johns and Marys have always done and will not be dissuaded otherwise. Therefore, Jesus dedicates his message to the spiritually awakened, those to whom it has "been given," those who "can accept" his word. To these, in effect, he says, Let the dead bury their dead... let John and Mary turn the world and do what they will do; but, you, if you understand, "should" do something else.
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"Everything's Alright," Jesus Christ Superstar: "sleep and I shall soothe you, calm you and anoint you, close your eyes, close your eyes and relax, let the world turn without you tonight"
Regarding the second concept...
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The eunuch is a man for whom marriage is impossible - not inadvisable, nor impermissible, but impossible - because he does not possess the necessary apparatus.
All analogies lack perfect one-to-one correspondence between shadow and reality. And we must not press Jesus' teaching-device too far; but, there is an element in this process of Twin love, and preparation for it, that speaks to this second point.
Consider this:
We have learned that Twins enjoy their uniquely intimate status because they share identical soul-energies. And it is these harmonizing, perfectly echoing, musical energies that allow these Two to experience the Utter Familiarity; the Soulmate Myself; the True Home; the Dazzling Darkness.
The wisdom literature of the Jewish Haggadah teaches that, before Eve's coming, God presented to Adam another female, Lilith. She, like Adam and the animals, but unlike Eve, "had been created out of the dust of the ground"; that is, as a separate creation, unrelated to Adam.
But Eve was unique - she...
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"the woman destined to become the true companion, was taken from Adam's body, for only when like is joined to like, the union is indissoluble." (the Jewish Haggadah)
This is an incredible substantiating quotation from an ancient source!!
We see here in the ancient Haggadah the same message expressed in Jesus' eunuch-metaphor! Only Twins, only those Particular Two, sharing a common life and origin, only those created together, only those Cosmic-Halves accessing the mutual sense of "you, and only you, are just like me," enjoy a "union that is indissoluble," one that is impossible to sever!
Only Twins can marry!
It is only Twins whom God has joined together! and it is only Twins for whom divorce is impossible! Again, this is an amazing quote from the Haggadah, one fully substantiating a major premise of the topic under review!
Allow me to restate:
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God has joined together only Twin-Soul lovers! This means that only Twin Lovers can marry!!
All of this mystical wonder cannot be experienced by just any two willing bodies... not by John and Mary... not by Adam and Yvonne... but only by Two with matching soul-energies!
And, for these Two - and only these Two - it will be as Elvis sang, "I can't help falling in love with you, some things were meant to be."
Do not try this at home
Please allow me a measure of redundancy as I restate the essence of this vital, and generally unknown, information. One cannot understand the mystery of romantic love without first understanding the following:
A Twin cannot marry anyone but his or her Cosmic Mirror-Opposite! It is impossible to marry another - in the real and meaningful sense of the word marriage - because the soul energies will not match! This is "the missing apparatus," this is the reason why Jesus used the metaphor of the eunuch!
There is only One Person in the universe whom you can marry! and, if you try this with another, you will quickly discover the Great Emptiness, the Great Disconnect, the Great Void, the Hollow Heaven, the Kiss of Death (P.S. #26)... the impossibility of it all!
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We have been told, from long ago, that you cannot separate something God has joined together! but, its corollary is equally true... you cannot join together that which God meant to be separate! ... and this is the hidden reason why John and Mary, the oil-and-water couple, cannot sustain those oversized wedding-day smiles!
Notice Silver Birch's important comments on this: "Those whom the natural law has joined by love can never be sundered in your world or mine."
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Please notice and consider this: He is saying that the ancient phrase regarding "God joining Two together" really means that God uses natural law, natural forces, those natural complementing soul-energies of Twins - not vows, not magic words, not ceremonies, not the Nice Young Man - to bind these Sacred Two!
Twins, necessarily conjoined since the "soul nursery," as Silver Birch says, can never be "sundered," cannot be separated! nor can either of them be joined to anyone else!
As Karen Carpenter once sang, with truth: all my life I could love only you; all your life you could love only me! ... it is exactly like that! yes, "you can run, you can die, but you can't escape my love."
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See the final note in P.S. #32: AfterLife Entities made a special effort to inform me regarding the impossiblity of Twins being separated! They did not like even the hint of such an idea! Just because these Two might not live together right now, I was told with some emphasis, doesn't mean they're separated - yes, their three-dimensional displacement, for the moment, is an inconvenient detail, especially to them, to be sure... but, do not confuse yourself, they are not separated!
Then my heart
began to sing
There were many miles between
us,
But they didn't mean a
thing...
Could keep me
away from you,
What is the reason for falling in love?
We have asked this question many times and have answered it from different perspectives. Let's add one more facet to our understanding...
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What is the reason for falling in love, what is the reason for falling in love, is it a place to go when you are feeling low, is it the thing to do, when you are feeling blue... no, it's you, it's only you... tell me, what is the reason for falling in love, what is the reason for falling in love , is it because they say things should be that way, is it the magic key that opens ecstasy...no, it's you, it's only you! |
Marriage, even by admission of the egoic John and Mary, is more than a roll in the hay. I do not mean to minimize rollings in the hay - we need more of them [smile] - but, part of the message of Jesus' eunuch-metaphor is that, once you become Enlightened, you are cosmically restricted to rolling in the hay with only One Person... but, not because of some infallible Dear Leader's arbitrary rule... it is a self-restriction! you will not want to - you, yourself, will come to the realization that it can be no other way, because, to do otherwise is to damage yourself!
Rolling in the hay, and the ensuing accompaning activity, is supposed to mean something. It's supposed to represent and picture something... something even more wonderful.
I have referenced the advice, regarding love and marriage, of the great Apostle Paul - allow me to do so once more.
"more lost and lonely than ever"
In I Corinthians 6, Paul says that sexual union, between two who are not meant to be together, quickly becomes a dysfunctional, harmful, and self-defeating recreation; that it will leave you "more lost and lonely than ever"!
Why?
He answers this by quoting the Genesis account - that section about the first time Adam laid eyes on Woman... that time when Adam made a complete fool out of himself by gushing like an idiot, stammering, repeating himself, as he could not believe how close he felt to that strange and mystical creature, Eve!
... it's called entering the Dazzling Darkness (P.S. #26).
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"Darling, you send me, Darling, you send me, Darling, you send me, honest you do, honest you do, honest you do, oh-h-h-h, you thrill me, Darling, you thrill me, Baby, you thrill me... at first I thought it was infatuation, who thought it would last so long, so long, now I find myself wanting you, I want to marry you... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... you send me, you send me, Baby you send, you move me, you thrill me, I just, I just, I just beg you to send me, I, I, I, I, I just can't stand it, thrill me, kill me, send me, send me, Baby..."
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Editor's note: This is one of the greatest love songs ever. My iPod informs me I have listened to You Send Me 1800 times, my #1 among 2000 songs. I still can't get over that special way Aretha sings ... thrill me, kill me, I, I, I, I, I just can't stand it, I just, I just, I just beg you to send me... via one-way ticket to the Dazzling Darkness, to that farthest quadrant of the galaxy... but, don't worry, it's a one-way ticket for two... I just beg you to send me...
Paul quotes those Genesis verses about how Two should leave father and mother to become One Person. But the Apostle uses this reference to come down hard on the cavalier sexual nexus, which, for those with "ears to hear," would include the ill-advised John-and-Mary union.
And he makes a strange comment.
He speaks of Unenlightened Sex in terms not addressed elsewhere in scripture. Paul asserts, while all impropriety is harmful, sexual sin will damage one's Deepest Self in a way that other missteps cannot approach:
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"There is more to sex than mere skin-on-skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Genesis, The two shall become One... We must not pursue the kind of sex that ... leaves us lost and more lonely than ever; the kind of sex that can never become One. There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for ... God-modeled love, for becoming One with another... Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God [gave to you as Divine gift!]" I Cor. 6: 15 - 19, The Message
Consider carefully Paul's argument.
He is saying that your body was meant to "model" the most important principle in the whole universe - that of "becoming One"! a oneness which is TRUE LOVE. Ill-advised sexual union cannot represent True Romance! All forms of non-Twin sexuality, including that of John and Mary, cannot model "becoming One"! Non-Twin sexuality is harmful to one's Deepest Self as it "leaves us more lost and lonely than ever"! more isolated, more cut-off, more disconnected, than before erotic intimacy!
- Editor's note: Eugene Peterson's The Message brilliantly captures the essence of Paul's instruction regarding the spiritual portent of erotic love. But if you were to read the above passage in an older translation, such as the King James Version (KJV), you would likely be left with a different impression. Peterson understands that the tortured rendering, "Holy Ghost," refers, in fact, to the Purified Consciousness, that enlightened sense of wholeness and completeness derived from union with God. Notice the parallelism. I have stated that love from a Twin might be the best avenue of access to the Divine - and we see this concept suggested by the close positioning of two verses: one is "joined [glued!] to the Lord," as "one spirit" with God (vs. 17); which statement, by way of contrast, comes right after a reference to illicit sex by non-Twins, those who can never become "One" (vs. 16). Peterson really gets the main idea of Paul's argument: Being joined, or glued, to the Lord, in one spirit, is another way of saying that we shall find our wholeness and completeness only in God! but that integration might come via tantric delivery, by contact with one's Twin lover - the Only One to whom one can be joined and, from whom, cannot be separated! The KJV uses the old word "fornication" (vss. 13, 18), which has come down to us, narrowly construed as sexual activity before marriage. But the original Greek, "pornea," casts a much wider net and includes all forms of illegal sexual encounter. Paul is not raging here simply against young unmarrieds on a romp, but all forms of sexual license outside of Twin love. Yes, it's true, Paul the Pastor gently spoke to the Johns and Marys in his congregation, and he did not trouble them, those who were not yet awakened to better insights. But spiritual truth is like that onion with many layers - and if you are enlightened enough, if you have "eyes to see" and "ears to hear," then the message of Jesus and Paul is - as they said - something that you "should accept."
Paul is saying, for those coming into Enlightenment, that this kind of rolling-in-the-hay is all wrong - not because there's anything intrinsically wrong with rolling-in-the-hay, but - because this sort doesn't represent what you really want; it doesn't picture anything good and lasting; it doesn't "model" your Grand Destiny, that of becoming One Person; it doesn't help you to go to where you want to go... or, as Aristotle would have said, to where you ought to want to go!
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Editor's note: You might be experiencing a certain degree of shock as you come to understand some of these principles; ones, hidden in scripture, all along. However, I would like to suggest something to you. Do not accept any of this merely because it is "in the Bible" (P.S. #22). The Bible is not a perfect book; nor are the Gnostic gospels. Do not make the mistake of trading one "infallible Dear Leader" for another. You must learn to commune with your own Inner Person, that hidden part of you linked to God, as it will teach you all necessary things (I John 2: 27). As a Soul made in the Divine Image, you must not surrender, to any external authority, your sacred right of decision-making. When the apostle Paul offers his best sense of things, he generally does not do so by quoting scripture, an external authority; instead, to support his position, he will say things like, "I think I have the Spirit of God" - meaning, the Purified Consciousness of God. You must learn to do the same. The inspiration that Paul received is not unique. Any spiritually-aware person will arrive at similar conclusions. This is the message of Jesus' Artesian Spring of the Inner True Person. Read more about this, study these things, in Tolle's The Power Of Now and The New Earth.
Stated another way...
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Physical sexual union is meant to represent the Ultimate Spiritual Destiny of Twins; body-on-body hot-chemistry is Divinely ordained to "model," to serve as Living Metaphor of, the cosmic process of Twins growing ever closer as One Person; it is meant to symbolize "gluing"! ... but John and Mary cannot represent this!
Editor's note: If you've done your homework in Tolle's The Power Of Now you will more readily understand what I am about to explain about the Ego. Try to study Tolle's book at your earliest opportunity.
When the non-Twins, John and Mary, make love, they actually hurt themselves. It's like this. Think of Adam again, that first time his jaw dropped at the contemplation of what his Soul-Twin, Eve, meant to him... you are just like me! you are just like me! ... he couldn't get over it!
that cold November day... I know that you still care, for me
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I know it's been some time, but... You see, I haven't been the same, since that cold November day... the only thing I learned is that I need you desperately... no matter how I try, you're always on my mind... I know that you still care for me... |
Editor's note: The epic-tragedy of Love Lost stirs the public sentiment perhaps more than any other genre of literature. So many of the memorable novels and movies speak to the great lamentation of lovers failing to consummate; lovers suffering the loss of each other; lovers enduring long periods of mutual absence - Allie and Noah, The Notebook; Agnes and David, David Copperfield; Wilma and Bud, Splendor In The Grass; Anne and Captain Wentworth, Persuasion ... such list might extend indefinitely and will include our own Kerrie and Ed, Personal Statement #38. And, of course, there are tens of thousands of love songs, soliloquies of sadness, which address the same. What is this systemic madness producing such loss? a cosmic joke? a game that no one can best? Whitney, in her brilliant way, offers her own version of all this as she passionately intones of that cold November day - what happened on that inauspicious evening? did a young girl approach him, as Kerri to Ed, as she revealed her love? was the winter chill made more severe by his callowness? were they together at the coldest of the day, with the sun expiring over a distant lake...
- Diamond Rio, One More Day: "I simply wished for one more day with you - one more day, one more time, one more sunset, Baby... I'd hold you every second, say a million I-love-you's... one more day, one more time, one more sunset, Baby"
But all of this natural Paradise-beauty, made just for Twin-lovers, would have been for naught, wasted, as she, in utter frustration, found him too unformed, too internally chaotic, quite unable, to respond. That dying sun signaled the end of something more than the day. Unknown to them - especially him - on that long-ago November day was that a time of Darkness, a period of death-trance Separation, would be required before they - especially he - could feel the reality of their love.
During the coming long years, far from him, she would often wonder if he ever remembered that day; he, far from her, would often wish to tell her that, of his boyhood, he could remember little else...
- Jim Croce, Alabama Rain: "We were just kids, but then, I never heard it said that kids can't fall in love and feel the same, I can still remember the first time you told me I love you"
She would often wonder if he ever thought of her; he, in feigned politeness and studied nonchalance, would find occasion to seemingly-mention that he thought of her every year on her birthday - well, now, such a polite gentleman - but what he could not admit to her, a closely-held secret of his heart, was that he thought of her every other day, as well; and had done so, for most of his life.
Her name, now, ever a whisper on his lips; her image, a constant anguish; would preside over his ascendency into incomplete manhood, and beyond. He would live long enough to perceive the soul-numbing words: the only thing I learned is that I need you desperately... this Coming To Awareness, this Great Awakening, this Unfoldment of his Spirit, facilitated by the Life-Defining Event, the Terror, of Losing Her, would be the only lesson he needed to learn in this world. He would learn it well; learn it each day, of his pained existence; so many years... without her...
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The Beatles, I'll Follow The Sun: "One day you'll look to see I've gone... you'll know that I was The One"
But, how fortunate; yes, for this blue-ribbon and legendary Insentient, how very fortunate, that, despite her once-disappointment, she, after a time, would have no choice but to reserve a place, for him... yes, how lucky, how so very lucky, for him, that her own "you are just like me" soul-energies would require her affections, once more, to turn toward that Wayward Half... a free-will offering of grace to that favorite Romantic Golem. His heart, now, finally, fully conscious of her True Identity, has plans to make amends; in the future, he will sometimes want to thank her, simply thank her, just for being alive... for him...
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Peter Parker, Spiderman II: "thank you! Mary Jane Watson!"
... his deep soul-longing for her, far more than ordinary eroticism, also becomes a form of repentance, a hymn of praise, a desire to worship and adore... her... for what she, without compensation, once offered; for that long-ago cold November day, that time before he was awake enough to realize I need you desperately; that time when she, risking her dignity, and better judgment, unilaterally reached out to her immature friend, revealing her own deepest secret; that dark time when he, spiritually comatose, could not respond in kind...
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Anne Murray, What Would It Take: "still waters they run deep, I want to wake you from your deepest sleep, what can I do to stir your soul, what can I do to make you love me, you're just a mystery to me, deeper than the deep blue sea... just the thought of you keeps me lying awake"
But those suffering coma, on another level, are often quite aware of what is happening. In later years, he would often mentally retrace the events of that ancient and epochal evening; how the white-magenta flame of her Radioactive Affection scorched the encrusted shell (P.S. #33) of his slumbering soul; how he experienced first stirrings, the Dawning of Enlivenment, the Joy, simply to be with her. Like standing at the threshhold of a mystical doorway, he, even in coma, but especially later, would sense that her gift - her Sparkling Essence, her Undivided Joy, just to be with him - could not be found, could not be duplicated, could not be accessed - again, elsewhere, apart from her. And her Uniqueness, a status confirmed by his soul's gnosis, would precipitate the many years of The Endless Grief... the only thing I learned is that I need you desperately...
However, however... he shall yet be granted audience to worship and adore this Goddess, this Sassy and Wild Provocative Energy, for her blessing, her gift of grace, for that long-ago coming to, and belief in, him. This, all this, courses through his troubled and grieving heart; but now bursts into exultation, the undeserved and unmerited exultation; yet, the bold and joyful exultation. Yes, he now savors and contemplates, with steady eye, his utmost good fortune, as his soul, in the darkness, whispers to him... and to her... I know that you still care for me... I know that you still care for me... for me...
the heavens open every time she smiles...
I can hear her heartbeat
for a thousand miles, and the heavens open every time she
smiles... yes, I need I her in the daytime, yes, I need
her in the night, kiss and hug her, kiss and hug her, hug her
tight... and when I'm returning from so far away, she takes
away my grief, she takes away my heartache, in the night, like
a thief... yes, it makes me righteous, yes, it makes me
feel whole, yes, it makes me
matter, down to my soul...
so overwhelming...
Editor's note: Only a Goddess could effect such wonder! such revelation! such evolvement! Worship and adoration naturally flow to such an One from men - not from the Alriks, but only men in love - those subservients, who, having forever surrendered their arms, willingly pay love's homage and fealty... to her. Yes, the Heavens open every time this Goddess smiles... and in her Mystical and Sweet Presence, in her shimmering-glistening-sparkling Presence, "he lives and moves and finds his Being." I am quite aware that these last words, from the apostle Paul, as he quoted an ancient Greek philosopher, were meant to reference one's personal access to God, to Highest Divinity; but, I also know that such avenue of access, for many, will be offered only via that Goddess-Twin! This poetic allusion from the New Testament speaks to every anguished lover's gasping plea... I won't sleep, I can't breathe, I cannot Be, until you're resting here, with me... there is a reason why AfterLife Entities tell us that True Romantic Love is "so magnetic, so overwhelming." Notice the emphasis: The word "overwhelming," by itself, is quite powerful, but the Guides feel compelled to add... "so overwhelming"! Yes, defy this Goddess-Twin at your own risk.
They shall travel on to ... huh? what's that? ... the One shall be as Two?
But Adam's gushing little speech is not the way it is for John and Mary! not at all. They set Genesis on its head and do the opposite of Adam and Eve!! for them, "the One becomes the Two"; that is, their attempt at intimacy results in more separateness and isolation, more aloneness!
Each time John and Mary sexually interact, despite, if at all, the momentary chemical-based thrill - like Noah, with Allie in his eyes, as he touches Martha - they find themselves subliminally chanting... you are not like me! you are not like me!
And all of this is spiritually damaging.
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Editor's note: Some will say, "I know a John and Mary who do very well together and enjoy each other's company. They're not perfect, but they have a good relationship, a good family, and a good life. So, what's so wrong with that? They don't appear to be damaging each other!" Yes, I understand this. But, eventually, you will see something else. A Twin-Lover, in her uniqueness, is able to reflect her Spiritual Half's soul-energy most perfectly; but there are others who might do a decent and credible job at this - we would call them soulmates. A relationship such as this, for a time, maybe a long time, can be profitable and pleasant for both parties. But here's what will happen. As these two develop spiritually, and enter Enlightenment, whether in this world or the next, their own souls, at some point, will bring to their attention... you are not like me! you are not like me! Eventually, it won't work for them anymore; eventually, they will "hit a brick wall" in terms of what they can learn from each other. And, when that happens, their own souls will prompt them to move on, either to that Ultimate Destined Partner, or to final-phase "eunuch-isolation," as preparation for the coming Cosmic Union with a Twin.
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Editor's note: Allow me to offer another tempering word regarding this issue of John and Mary "damaging" each other. Is this a harsh judgment? It is true, the Apostle Paul stated that "sexual sins are different from all others [and in these] we violate the sacredness of our own bodies." And this "violation" is another word for "damage." We do not like to hear such things. We want to believe that after the signed documents, the catered meal and the flowers, the suits-and-gowns-and-photographs, the state-sanctioned ceremony officiated by The Nice Young Man, John and Mary, with their oversized smiles, might now have their way with each other, without any further burdening notion of "sin"; after all, for many couples, a primary reason for entering marriage was to legitimize physical intimacy - "and now you tell me that we damage each other!?" The answer here, as we've already explored, lies in a proper definition of marriage. The Nice Young Man has no power at all to join that which God meant to be separated. If Two were not created together in the "soul nursery," then they cannot marry, not in any meaningful sense. And if John and Mary attempt to do so, they will "damage" each other. But, let's talk about this "damage." It is a treatable injury. We shall all recover from this impairment; in fact, a major reason for coming to this world was to enter just this sort of discomfiture. There is Divine purpose in this "clash of opposites." Let us not forget the lesson of Adam's "death-trance" - as we see in Genesis, this was something that God arranged! We, like the Little Soul (see above), were meant to learn by that grand system of dualistic opposition, that time in the Forest of Good and Evil, that dialectic interaction of counter-balancing forces. Adam, eventually, appreciated Life - his Eve - because he had spent time with Death; likewise, John and Mary, intrinsically unsuitable for each other on the soul level, cause a measure of suffering for each other; but, in this process, also prepare each other for their respective Destined Twin Lovers! This is a required course. It must be so. John and Mary represent a necessary, but temporary, evolutionary/developmental phase for each other, an early preparatory relationship, like that of father-and-mother, from which, as we learn from The Wedding Song, each must "leave," in order to forever "travel on," together, as they perfect their sense of One Person - a spiritual gift, but only to be delivered by one's Cosmic Twin!
We have already discussed that the Hebrew scripture refers to Adam and Eve's sexual union as "knowing" each other - Gen. 4: 1 - which seems to indicate that by such contact they were meant to realize something! discover<