Book Two Chapter Six

SIX

More toward the Spirit

Man, whether he likes it or not, is a hybrid. God took man from the dust, a wholly corporeal being, and made an angel/man hybrid (a living soul). Why? I believe that it is through this hybrid that a spiritual God will realize Himself into a corporeal plane. This section will explore that which is more toward the spirit, for we have to ask the greater question: what, exactly, is being reworked? I will consider all of corporeality as the context.

Within those boundaries, I seek the elements to be altered. I seek the building blocks of the new, improved habitat. I’ve said, ‘you can’t just throw a fish in a bowl’. Let us say that God is the big fish. If He must realize Himself into a new habitat by way of reverse-engineering the present element, that prerequisite, for example, becomes the realization of earth into water. As He gouges out a new ocean, all earth must become the element most acquiescent to that transition.

Think of all the symbolism involved in this concept. For one, a fish was the symbol of the apostle’s office. It was water that was used to represent cleansing of the earthly man and his elevation into ‘something more’. Also, ‘ocean’ and ‘sea’ are symbols for the inhabitants of earth. To consider the transition presupposes the transitional. In other words, there is a mechanism by which transition occurs, and therefore a common ground and point of comparison. For instance, can spiritual be compared to corporeal? Can man be compared to God?

See Genesis 6:3, “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

Does this verse only say that man is a physical/spiritual hybrid, or does it say more? Does it suggest that God, Who is a spirit, has some kind of a body? I have suggested that a spiritual God will make for Himself a real presence in the reality we already know and understand. For the purposes of this study, we will set the common ground for transition and realization as a ‘proper mix of ingredients’. Not just the one or the other, but a combination of both by a particular recipe. I say ‘recipe’ because too many eggs turn a custard into an omelet.

See the recipe at work in Matthew 10:20, “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”

See the transitional recipe in Mark 4:41, “And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

We assume that God, and therefore spirit, is in a state of ‘arriving’. Spirit, a recorded constituent element in the overall make-up of man, is in a state of ‘becoming’. From that, we have the sure assumption that the spirit in man is in a state of flux; that the spirit in man alternates between growth and attrition, between, let us say, a category five and a category four.

That the spirit in man is not always the same: see Luke 9:55, “But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”

In the overall scheme of things, what shall befall the man or the woman of spiritual inclination? While it may not be unequivocally asserted that the ‘seeker’ always ‘finds’, I dare say that in the final analysis the ‘seeker’ will be ‘found’. I base that on one of man’s corporeal constants: that both sides of an equation will be equal.

I confirm that with Matthew 10:32, “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven.”

Lest we forget the focus of this present study, allow me the small luxury of reminding you about the ‘spiritual/corporeal handshake’. Something is happening in Heaven, and it bears directly on what is happening here.

We saw that in the above-cited verse, and we see it again, and more plainly I think, in Matthew 18:18, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

See also Matthew 16:19, “I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

Please note the word “keys” in the verse above. The word of God is filled to the brim with keys. It only takes common sense to know that physical keys open physical doors and that spiritual keys open spiritual doors. Mental keys open doors of the mind. What kind of keys open the doors of possibility? When you look closely at the Bible, you see more than authority telling you what to do - you see that you are being told how things work. You are being given a glimpse into Universal Spiritual Mechanics: USMs.

Consider Mark 11:25, “When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Note that the word “also” speaks of similarities. Something is happening in Heaven that is similar

to something happening in your mental endeavors. See, too, that the word “may” strongly indicates

cause and effect, in other words, the process won’t work unless you make it work. Matthew 10:32 has already been cited. The main message of the verse was Christ’s confession of believers before the Father. We have previously considered the notion of a body for God.

We consider that again, here, in Luke 12:8 & 9, “Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.”

We see that the main message of this verse is Christ’s confession of believers before, not the Father so much as the angels of the Father. Can this be more than a simple difference of the writer’s choice in wording? Can this be more than a mere discrepancy? I want to ask you to consider this - that the two verses are identical; that “the angels of God” and “My Father” are one and the same. God works through many vehicles. The seeker looks at a car but knows that man is the driver. A seeker looks at the body but knows that the brain is the pilot.

We look at the corporeal brain and determine that the mind steers it; we look at man and determine that the angelic other leads the dance. Why not consider, then, that each angel’s mind is an intrusion of God into a vehicle - that through all, and all down the line, God works all in all? Yes, God works through many vehicles, and angels can be hands: or, in other words, A rose by any other name.

See Psalms 37:24, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.”

Compare to Psalms 91:11 & 12, “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”

It stands to reason that if we may be attached to an angelic counterpart, we may sometimes be found in their office, for if God may call on angels to be His hands, He may most certainly draft a man into service.

See 2 Corinthians 7:6, “Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.”

It might be that while God is working through our angelic others, those angels are working through us. Since both sides of the coin are spun at once, we know that our own works travel a reverse path. How much, then, and how real an effect do our actions have on our counterparts?

Proverbs 6:32, may give a frightening indication, “But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.”

Are we killing our Heavenly counterparts?

Read Luke 16:23, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

I want to ask at this point are “in hell” and “in torments” poetic equalities? In other words, are they the same thing? Here, I return to the fulcrum theory. Had the rich man’s angelic other been well off at one point? Did the actions of the rich man, on this plane, cause attrition on the other? Are the actions we take for granted in our lives the tools by which a great gulf is formed and made impassable? One thing stands out in this story: that is that the final state of both men is the opposite of their worldly state. Since we know that the crossbar on a scale can tilt in only two orientations, it becomes easy to trace a direct line from the corporeal state of the rich man to the spiritual state of the rich man.

Likewise, with Lazarus, there is a straight line from humility to glory. This parable suggests a spiritual hell rather than a physical hell. Our general concept of hell involves a physical body, with a soul in tow, tormented by flame. Indeed, the rich man’s lament is of flames - but, what if we have misunderstood; what if the ‘flame’ is the torment of separation? The rich man had strangled his angelic other, and so had nothing to carry into the spiritual realm but his corporeality, the structures, and foundations of which were all left on the previous plane. Is there an indication that corporeal man is, or at least should be, aware of the direct line touched upon in the last paragraph? I think so.

Read Luke 18:13, “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Book Two Chapter Five

FIVE

Ups and Downs

We are familiar with dualities in our physical realm; indeed, we are familiar with the duality that each of us is, in ourselves. For we know that the condition of the body affects the condition of the mind, and in no less degree or fashion, the condition of the mind affects the condition of the body. Similarly, the mind and body taken as a whole are affected by the soul, and vice versa. I have often thought of the mind as a two-way street. The physical/emotional traffic passes from the brain to the mind. The spiritual/creative traffic passes from the mind to the brain. There is an interaction between our brains and our minds that we would be hard-pressed to do without.

In all of our physical world, we find ‘sets of three’. Such a set consists of two equalities, and the interaction, or unanimity, that connects them. Examples: legs, arms, feet, hands, eyes, seeds, directions, the brain itself. If we are appended to a spiritual counterpart, then the mind may be the brain within our angelic other.

The investigation of spirituality must necessarily examine the nature of things mental. The question must be asked: does mentality rightfully fall within the corporeal or the spiritual realm? My investigations into the word of God have shown a marked affinity between spiritual and mental

mechanisms.

See, for example, Joel 2:28, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”

The saturation of the corporeal with the spiritual, as mentioned in Joel, may well speak of a better connection between the brain and the mind, for all the activities listed above employ some degree of conscious or unconscious mentality. In such activities, the mind leads and the brain follows suit. Furthermore, these activities are not the result of our natural state but are the result of augmentation.

See John 20:22, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”

Presently, corporeal proof of spiritual connections is, at best, a mixed bag. People identify themselves with solid flesh; the workings of both thought and emotion seem a real extension of a real body. Evidence that does not fall within the boundaries of preconception does not always count for proof. We notice, for instance, that even when looking directly at a spiritual event, the Hebrews still had to be ‘sold’ on the experience. Much of the Old Testament is like having to explain the punch line of a joke.

The Hebrews just didn’t get it. Evidence being explained is seen in Deuteronomy 11:2, “And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His stretched out arm.”

Now notice the things that people will notice, and this may explain God’s salesmanship, in Isaiah 26:11, “Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them.”

In personal relations between two individuals, spiritual events are often a cause for misunderstanding. A person will do or say something totally off the wall; he or she will take our sense of the natural order of things and just toss it out the window. We will ask ourselves: “Where’d that come from?”

Spirit is invisible; proofs of it are meager. It takes a trained eye to discern it.

Jesus gave this explanation in John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

It is much like hearing a foreign language: you hear the man speak, but you don’t know where he’s coming from, and you certainly don’t know where he’s going with all his jabber. To you, it is only a noise; and while the net result is irritability, a connection of a mental order has been made. You recognized the noise as a language, an attempt at communication.

I have set forth a model of the fulcrum theory, but I have done so mainly from the mechanical point of view. I have added the extra dimension of the ‘fulcrum effect’ in that the gain in one is a loss in the other. I have reiterated that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The representation is of the crossbar of a scale: a line that can be either even, or up on one end and down

on the other. In the image of a scale, the plates, or weight trays are opposing. The connection between them is a simple pivot, or fulcrum, that allows mobility. There is a mobility of the scale upon which ‘mind’ and ‘brain’ are weighted trays.

Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “he’s got a lot on his plate.” Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “heavy traffic.” In our total make-up, the brain (our corporeal identity) is a plate hanging on one end of a scale. On the opposing end hangs the plate of the mind (our spiritual identity). The crossbar is the two-way traffic.

See Psalms 147:6, “The Lord lifteth up the meek: He casteth the wicked down to the ground.”

When I look at this verse, I see the mind of the meek and the brain of the wicked. I take note of the heavy traffic on either end. When the brain of the proud man is exalted, the mind of the meek man is low over on the spiritual side. When this occurs, God makes a correction that exalts the mind of the meek. The result is that the proud and the lofty on this plane come crashing down. It is an adjustment; it is an action initiated on the spiritual plane that has an effect on corporeality.

See Isaiah 2:12, “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.”

The application of the brain in corporeal man is never without the concomitant issuance of mentality in the spiritual counterpart. But corporeal man may aggressively acquire and manipulate the spiritual mind, without understanding, and call it his own. He may use spirituality blindly, calling it a function of the brain. In doing so the man says, “By the chemical reactions and the firing of synapses in my brain, I and I alone have done such and such.” The spiritual/corporeal handshake becomes a thing out of balance wherein the mind is held captive to the will of corporeal man, who, in his richly exalted state, has cast his higher self into the dust of a Lazarus.

See Ezekiel 28:5, “By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart (will) is lifted up because of thy riches.”

In the above-cited verse, we see the corporeal identity (the ‘heart’) exalted through limited, though lucrative, application. It is like the man who learns Kung Fu only for violence, wholly disregarding the deeper disciplines. He may call himself a master, but he has only usurped the title. Likewise in corporeal man, there are states of exaltation that attempt to usurp God’s place. Corporeal man, even when not directly making the claim, nonetheless claims indirectly that he is ‘equal to or greater than’. I am of course contrasting the corporeal ‘brain’ with the spiritual ‘mind’, the use of either term being equal to the use of the older term ‘heart’.

In the next verse, one initially sees the use of two separate and distinct terms. That was something we just had to accept and deal with when our tools were more primitive. But now we know that in the old usage, heart and mind were interchangeable. Replace ‘heart’ with ‘mind’ in the next reference, and it becomes clear that the writing style simply followed the poetic style of repetition as found in Psalms.

Daniel 5:20, “But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.”

It is the same identity, but the second phrase simply further explains the first phrase. When God created man, it is said that a “living soul” was created. That may well reference the connection between corporeal and spiritual. Man started with a body and a brain, then spirituality was added.

See back to John 20:22 for the receiving of spirituality by breath. If it may be asserted that man’s body houses his brain, what then may we assert to be the spiritual counterpart housing the mind? Might not that spiritual body be the soul? Our corporeal identity, you may be sure, is much more than the brain; that identity includes the body into a more or less whole sense of self. However, any sense of spiritual self (as being whole) must necessarily come through the sense of a higher corporeal self: the corporeal identity plus. In the next reference, the sense of a spiritual wholeness is viewed as more the ‘blade’ than the ‘full corn in the ear’. Even so, we may see that a wrongness on our plane incurs a concomitant wrongness on the other plane.

Habakkuk 2:4, “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”

By that, we more easily understand our spiritual condition.

See James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”

I have put forth that the fall of man is an adjustment whereby God exalts our spiritual identity. However, when we, as corporeal beings, have been taken behind the woodshed to be punished for our grandiose usurpations, seeing our lowered state, we may only be aware of the smarting of our newly boxed ears. At that point, a reciprocal adjustment may be indicated. For, if a wrongness on our plane incurs a concomitant wrongness on the other plane, then also, a righting or a correction on that other plane should incur a righting on our plane.

See Job 22:29, “When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and He shall save the humble person.”

The spiritual/corporeal handshake may then be seen as the reciprocal adjustments that are made when the corporeal brain follows suit with the spiritual mind. If, when looking into the mirror, you frown, you get a frown back; but when you smile, you get a smile back.

Note reciprocity in Zechariah 1:3, “Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.”

Of mental states and spiritual states, there is a definite connection. When I think of connections, I think of transit terminals that provide ‘connections to’. I can think of the mezzanine in a department store with escalator connections to the first and second floors. But a clearer image for me is of two lava lamps. One is on the corporeal plane and one is on the spiritual plane. The connection is a linear orientation of the one to the other: on at least one level, our rising is their settling. However, it may well be that we could not be raised up at all but for the power within the opposing exalted state. If you place a large resting pillar between two upright pillars, the reclining pillar may then be winched upright.

For an indication of such, see James 5:15, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

Of course, we are looking at the opposing sides of the interface: the spiritual and corporeal.

For that, see John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the

Spirit is spirit.”

But, we are also looking at a real link between the physical and the spiritual.

For that, see James 2:20, “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”

No verse states more clearly spirituality’s need for corporeality, or corporeality’s need for spirituality than James 2:20. The handshake is a union; it is a marriage. We may imagine ‘mind’ as the groom, and ‘brain’ as the bride. The fruit of that union will draw from the best of both. If the handshake should turn into a kiss; if the connection between spirit and flesh be toward a relational union, then the mind must be up and the brain must be submissive.

Book Two, Chapter Four

FOUR

Does the Spiritual require the Corporeal?

In a previous section, we saw man lift a staff toward heaven with a similar stretching forth of the staff in God’s hand. We also saw man stretching forth his staff, and God performing. See as a further example Joshua 8:18, “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.”

Of all the mechanics and concepts that have been put forth; of all that we are attempting to juggle competently, we need to keep the fulcrum theory at the forefront of our thinking. And, what exactly are we thinking? We are thinking that the high in the spiritual realm is the low in the corporeal. We are thinking of the shortest distance between two points. Our primitive bronze tool is not that much advanced over the old stone tool, but it does make a better cut. We don’t just compare, we imagine. Our thoughts turn spiritual eyes to spiritual possibilities. When, on earth, things are at their worst, we expect the most from God; but, that is simply more of the fulcrum theory. See Psalms 94:2 “Lift up Thyself, Thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.”

Imagine for a moment that you are trapped in a cage. You have been there for days, and you ache with thirst. To make matters worse, just outside your cage, on the other side of the iron mesh and out of reach, is a small pool of water. Your head hangs in despair, then you are thrown a straw. You struggle to get the straw to the pool and you prevail; you sip the water and are refreshed. Leaning back in your cage, you lift your face to heaven. Here is another: you follow a path that should lead you to the mountains. Beyond the mountains is a river overflowing with cool clean water. However, you have had to go through the desert to reach the mountains. Your journey has wearied you and the heat of the day has drained you. But, that is past and you are glad as you cross over the mountain into the valley. You put your faith in the river; all your hope and expectation, but the path you follow seems to go on forever. Then you stumble across a small brook and gladly drink the icy waters that issue from the river’s source. Or: you labor six days and are allowed to rest on the seventh.

The three illustrations of the previous paragraph are meant to highlight the shortest distance between two points. Have you kept the fulcrum theory at the forefront of your thoughts? See Psalms 110:7, “He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.”

The Sabbath was meant as a brook of sorts, as a place to be refreshed and so lift the head. As a type, the Sabbath represents the relationship between the corporeal and the spiritual. We may understand the ‘brook’ to be something that is right and good on our side; the lifting of the ‘head’ is a spiritual response. We have previously noted that when something on the spiritual side is high or lifted up, something on the corporeal plane is low, or lowly. Note, now, that ‘brook’ as opposed to ‘river’ is, in a representative sense, more humble.

Christ, Himself, illustrated the fulcrum theory when He said in Matthew 11:29, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart (mind): and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

He spoke of the humility of Jesus the man, but He said that the ‘learning of’ by being guided along the same corporeal path would produce an exalted spiritual response. That is the shortest distance between two points. That is the fulcrum effect. Impoverishment here is exaltation there; exaltation here is lowliness there.

I began this section by posing the question: ‘Does the spiritual require the corporeal?’. Does God require man? I think the very nature of the relationship answers that. Yes. A father requires a child to be a father. A wife requires a husband to be a wife. The actual state of any relationship, I think, defines the parameters of its requirements. A mirror only reflects because there is something there to be reflected. Perhaps, every success in the realization of a spiritual God in a corporeal existence may be viewed as a burst of spiritual energy that fuels the process. Who is to say that God does not draw from His successes on this plane? Who is to say that His successes do not increase His ability to make even more successes next time?

If we take a moment to examine intent, we may see that the remaking of our plane into a suitable habitat is a thing accomplished by the exaltation and magnification of everything spiritual; or, in other words, the humbling of all things corporeal. The spiritual plate is up when the corporeal plate is down; the spiritual plate is down when the corporeal plate is up. So why do we keep getting smacked?

See Daniel 5:23, “But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven.”

As to the extent of the plan, see Isaiah 14:26, “This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.”

As to the cause for all the temptations, signs, wonders, terrors, and war, see Jeremiah 15:6, “Thou hast forsaken Me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.”

As to the ongoing process of remaking the corporeal plane; the urgency to remake it; the reason why it must be remade, see Isaiah 9:17, Isaiah 5:25, and Isaiah 9:12, “The Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.”

I have no doubt that it is a spiritual cause and a corporeal effect. But these interminable wars and terrors! They are a remedy to exaltation on the corporeal plane; the process of fueling the realization

of God on the corporeal plane; a throwing down and a lifting up.

See Amos 9:5, “And the Lord God of hosts is He that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood (water is a symbol of the people; the masses, for each individual is a corporeality in which the spirit, to some degree, is at work); and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.”

This reference says, basically, that the one thing will rise up and overwhelm itself. If the verse spoke of one thing flooding some other thing, that would be easy enough to see. But, water is always a symbol for people: coursing rivers, raging seas, even the brook in the way. The verse cited above says pretty much the same thing as Zechariah 2:9, “For, behold, I (the second angel) will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye (the first angel or Zechariah) shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.”

Perhaps the cause and the effect are one and the same: a process of serial realization; a cyclic event that builds upon itself by the removal of impediments; or the hammering away at a large mass of stone to reveal the Michelangelo within. The cause is responsive. For the up to be up, all else must be put down. But, is down so bad? If our lowliness facilitates the magnification of God, can God’s exaltation be without effect in our reality? Aren’t we exalted by the exaltation of God? Does not the fulcrum effect lift us up?

See Mark 9:27, “But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.”

Book Two Chapter Three

THREE

Actions initiated from the Other Side

We’ve pretty much traded in our stone implements for implements of bronze. Now instead of using stone, we are using our more highly evolved tools to make little marks in stone – something formerly accomplished with finger paint. At this point in the study, the concept of acts being initiated from ‘the other side’ is pretty much etched in stone. But, we want to ask, “How?” The concept of a spiritual/corporeal handshake has been painted in the simple ochers of a dance in which one partner leads and the other follows. Since the partner that leads is invisible, we must assume that when the visible partner spins it is because the invisible partner spun her.

Still, though, we are left with only our guessing. It is like radar that may or may not return a ‘ping’. In the illustration of the dance above, the spinning partner, while following suit, is not precisely mirroring the spinner’s movements, but is more like an extension of them. What we want to know, then, is how does this play out between the spiritual and the corporeal.

Consider Deuteronomy 4:34, “Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of

another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”

In all these terrors, temptations, and wonders that we may fully understand, being things that occur on this plane, what exactly is going on over there? Are there nations in turmoil on the other side? Or, is something else going on? Are the things that happen here merely ‘spin-offs’ of very different actions that take place on the other plane? I think perhaps there is a little of each going on: exact mirroring and spin-offs.

A movement and a rest. Look at Deuteronomy 5:15, “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.”

Are there slaves in Heaven? We have broached the concept of realization, whereby the medium that receives the intrusion must be continuously reworked. For God to be realized on this corporeal plane, it must be reverse-engineered until it is spiritual. You can’t just throw a fish into a bowl: you have to first add the proper medium for it to exist in. So, then, this constant reworking may be viewed either mechanically (as in a two-stroke engine), or else biologically.

If we view the human body as a living machine, we may say that the lungs are a sort of two-stroke engine. The act of breathing in is work; exhaling, on the other hand, is a state of rest. Let’s call it the ‘in/out handshake’. The cycle repeats over a broad expanse of time only to facilitate a larger process of becoming. We know that there is a spiritually repeating cycle; we assume it is intended to facilitate a

larger process of realization.

See Deuteronomy 7:19, “The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.”

Two contending scenarios present themselves to our attention. They must be worked through to determine the various degrees of exactitude and spin-off that we may understand. Heaven is a place; spiritual beings called angels are its inhabitants. Yet, it is our Christian assumption that we will be like the angels. Are there angel slaves in a spiritual Egypt? Are we their exact counterpart? Are they the roots, and we the fruit-bearing branches? Is the bearing of fruit the end result of a process of realization? If the actions on this plane are more spin-off than exactitude, then our turbulent history may easily be seen as the process of the realization of God on the corporeal plane by means of reverse-engineering the corporeal into the spiritual.

Of course, this suggests that the garden over in Eden was a spiritual intrusion. A grand new thing had been introduced: an angel with a corporeal body, able to exist on this plane. Certain elements rebelled, causing the prototypes to fall completely into corporeality. That great experiment did not fail, for the power that had originally sustained it could salvage it. Now, this may only be more of my imaginative ranting, but has anyone else noticed the application of ‘power’? Can anyone else see that for God to walk again among us as our God, Eden must be realized? Not only that but for men to become angels we must be thoroughly convinced to move forward.

Check out that motivating power in Deuteronomy 9:29 & Deuteronomy 26:8, “Yet they are Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou broughtest out by Thy mighty power and by Thy stretched out arm. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.”

Book Two Chapter Two

TWO

Following Suit

I think there are already actions and states of being in which the corporeal follows suit with the spiritual. We walk a fine line, we seekers; on the one hand, we are instructed that to know spiritual issues, we must understand them spiritually; but, on the other hand, for the sake of our limitations, we must look to the corporeal or natural world and make comparisons. In the natural world, in a multitude of instances, we see the process of ‘following suit’. A child grows up to look like one or both parents (sometimes that is unfortunate for the child), a nation will answer aggression with aggression, a preacher will sound like the preacher he learned from. Dominos will fall one after the other upon receiving the impetus of a similar action. When we reason in reverse, we can see that a son looking like a father on this plane is but an action in accord with a spiritual impetus.

Genesis 5:3 says that man looks like God (A very cool similarity), “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.”

How, you ask, do you get ‘man looking like God’ from Seth looking like Adam? By adding this next

verse, I reply.

Genesis 5:1, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him.”

Like father like son.

What does Psalms 17:15 say about following suit? “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.”

In any instance involving similarities, is it ever the case that they simply sprang up together? No. The more likely scenario is that one follows the other: as son follows father; as reaction follows action; as effect follows cause.

In Exodus 25:9, all corporeal similarities are ‘mirror images’ of things preexistent, “According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.”

Things were made like things that already existed.

See also Exodus 26:30, “And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.”

And, we are not the first to see this. Man of old knew that the tabernacle was a replica.

The writer in Hebrews 8:2, knew it, “A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”

He knew that the things we do here simply follow suit. He asserted that the corporeal follows the spiritual.

See Hebrews 8:5, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.”

Whether through dreams, or visions, or the powerful tool of imagination, the spiritual original has been recognized. More than similarity has been understood. Witness the two revelations.

Revelation 15:5, “And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.” And again, Revelation 21:1-3, “And I saw a new heaven and

a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down (to a new earth) from God out of (a new) heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of (the new) heaven saying, Behold, the (original) tabernacle of God is (finally) with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

This last introduces a meatier concept of realization. Imagine for a moment that you are a time traveler. You have no whirling time machine to make your travels easy. You must get to your destination by a more laborious mode. You must mentally project a simulacrum across the void to sort of ‘hold your place’. Then must follow the process of realization. Let us say that you projected to an older version of your existence: your simulacrum stood upon an older earth, beneath an older sky. To make the transfer complete; to solidify and actually exist at your destination, you would have to make the older reality new.

But now, you really stand on a new earth, beneath a new sky - and you are no simulacrum: you are real.

We notice similarities, but we understand that one must lead and the other follow. We have transported ourselves to yet a higher zenith, and we realize that the lead similarity communicated to the other an instruction. In a dance, the lead is constantly communicating to the partner, and they appear to be in sync - they are similar. But how does that communication occur, and by what medium?

In the illustration of the dance, subtle pressures are exerted in anticipation of the required steps. There is nothing communicated so grossly as verbal instructions or counting aloud. Yet, merely by the pressures, instructions are passed mentally. We may say that the spirit of the dance is realized by communication through that partner with greater knowledge and experience. In like fashion, there is communication, or an avenue of instruction, between spirituality and corporeality.

See 1 Chronicles 28:12, “And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things.”

Returning to the process of realization, upon looking around, we now see it everywhere and in everything. It is a march from the lesser to the greater. It is the tumbling of a snowball down a hill.

The snowball gains mass and velocity. That we seekers are snowballs: we have our gains as well.

We realize. We see the process within the snowball. In schooling, the completion of grade one is the

realization, or attainment, of grade two. In life, learning to walk is a process whereby learning to run

is realized. I think all the things in our corporeal existence are a realization of something spiritual.

Hebrews 9:23 points to the spiritual by way of its corporeal simulacrum, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

And now it sometimes seems that the ‘becoming’ is not the driving force behind realization, but rather that the thing that ‘will be’ is the force that coordinates the process. Moses was not the impetus, merely the conduit of becoming. Moses’ dreams, visions, imaginations were real communications from the spiritual to the corporeal that were a part of an ongoing realization; a realization that later generations understood they were a part of still.

See Acts 7:44, “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.”

The process of realization. Some call it perfection. The concept, as part of the process, found its way into the very language of the people. Like the realization it spoke of, the concept, too, underwent change, refinement, growth. That language is hope. It is the language of choice between ‘arriving’ and ‘arrived’. One does not, after all, go to the trouble and expense of legal training, not to mention the anxiety over the bar, unless one hopes to be an attorney. One does not go to all the effort and expense of learning to drive unless one hopes to operate a vehicle.

What is the hope in spiritual realization? To what end is man prepared to bend his efforts? All in all, what we do is a similarity. All in all, we are only following suit.

Read 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting (realizing) holiness in the fear of God.”

There are similarities. Our concrete corporeality mirrors spiritual reality. Still, we are sometimes confused. Still, we ask, ‘why?’.

We read a verse like Exodus 4:17, “Thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs,” and we ask, 'Why does God need some man with a stick to do signs?' Doesn’t that fly in the face of omnipotence? It was because of such issues that my mind was drawn far enough in to see that something more was going on.

God can, and has, performed great things with no seeming worldly parallels. Corporeal man has a limited view; all he ever sees is the man with a stick in his hand. To most, when Moses stretches out his hand over the Red Sea, it is only an action of Moses.

But take note of concomitance found in Exodus 6:6, “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments.”

We have looked at a verse that indicates a corporeal action. We have looked at a separate

verse that indicates a spiritual action. Now, let us view a scripture reference that indicates the

interaction of the two.

View Exodus 7:5, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, 19 & 20, “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.”

So, now we’ve seen the similarity. We’ve seen the ‘spiritual/corporeal handshake’. Spiritual actions and corporeal actions work in unison. Some people will still only see the stick. They will see the action of the man but will argue that God was away off in heaven, clicking His fingers or twitching His nose. They will contend that if He was doing the doing of it, He could have done it without the stick-wielding human. Two conclusions come to the corporeal mind. One: God did not need man to be all powerful. Two: if God had to use man, He is not omnipotent.

Yet, that is not implied in the wording. The gist of the matter is that a spiritual action is causing something to occur in heaven while the concomitant corporeal action is causing something to occur on earth.

Examine Exodus 8:5, 6, 16 & 17, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, AND CAUSE frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, THAT it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”

In a sense, it may be seen as a straight line between two points. Man lifts his hand toward heaven while God stretches His hand toward earth. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. We may view this as a real connection whereby man is able to accomplish corporeality-affecting spiritual feats. It comes from God, but man performs it.

See Exodus 9:8, 9 & 22-24, “And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, THAT there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.”

See that connection again in Exodus 10:12, 13 & 21-23, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, THAT they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

We have examined spiritual power in man; that a man may affect things corporeal with the very might of God. Then again, that’s just what we say. That might convince no one, but, what if God expressed the same sentiment?

I think God does just that in Exodus 14:15-16, 21-22 & 26-27, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, (use My power that is in you) and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.”

The next reference shows us two things. One: that while it was God that showed him where the tree was, it was Moses that threw it in the water. Could God have sweetened the water without Moses? To answer that, let’s recall that man is the mirror image of God; that the corporeal is the mirror image of the spiritual. Let’s recall that the reflection reenacts every posture of reality. Having said that, we better realize that the ‘spiritual/corporeal handshake’ is a trans-interfacial equality of action. When it is said that the corporeal follows suit, it is meant that an interfacial communication has imparted the spiritual ability to reflect the spiritual within the corporeal. Two: the process of realization, or ‘becoming’, is indicated. As in the illustration of the time traveler, God is injecting His real presence into ours; a process that requires the continual remaking of our reality.

See Exodus 15:25-26, “And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

We are studying the ‘spiritual/corporeal handshake’. Our reality, like a mirror, reflects those things that are real in heaven. Not only in our thoughts do we reflect the spiritual reality, but, in our words, in our actions, even in our fleshly presence, we reflect both actions and power that are spiritually extant. Our reality is a simulacrum of spiritual reality. Power exhibited on the corporeal plane is a simulacrum of real power extant on the spiritual plane. When Moses used the power of God on this plane, it was but a reflection, a shadow of something more substantial.

In consideration of the ‘rod of God’ that Moses wielded, how may it be viewed? In the next reference, we will see something more. For openers, we recognize that Moses did not hold the rod vertically as in the Hollywood movies. He lifted it toward heaven using both hands. In that regard, it is rather like the line of the horizon; a dividing line between heaven and earth. It is, also, emblematic of the interface: it may well have been the actual point of spiritual intrusion. Using our simple stone implement of comparative thought, what comes to mind is a door - a way for the interfacial communication of power to enter. But is that enough?

When the shuttle docks with the space station, two doors must be simultaneously opened to permit traffic. If Moses is holding up a rod, what is God holding toward the earth?

Here is Moses holding up the stick in Exodus 17:8-13, “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”

In closing, I wish to call to mind my wild rants about trees being like mirrors. In doing so, I had embellished on the argument of ‘equal but opposite’. I had put forth, actually, that the ground was representative of the interface, and that the opposite ‘limbs’ and ‘roots’ were like the opposites of spiritual and corporeal. I had likened the trees of ‘life’ and ‘knowledge of good and evil’ to spiritual intrusions whereby God and Satan entered this plane. I hazarded that for the fruit to be on this plane, the roots must be on the other. Mentally, I pictured the trees as sort of hanging upside down from the sky. That image presented the limbs as skyward, and the roots invisible beyond the interface. Now my mind is making connections to Moses’ rod held horizontally aloft, or skyward. Just another wild thought, but, if Moses held what grew above the ground, did God hold a root? Did God’s reality, which was mirrored by Moses' reality, include something that grew above the sky?