THREE
Ingestion
When speaking of intrusions, one may think of Yin and Yang, or Ouroboros, the snake that consumes itself beginning at the tail. I put forth the concept of ‘ingestion’. Unlike the snake and his tail, this may prove a bit much for the contemporary Christian to swallow. I recall the old adage: 'you are what you eat.' A bulb receives or ingests electricity in order that it might produce light. The electricity, in effect, becomes part of the bulb’s overall makeup, that is why men call a lamp an electrical appliance. It is no less true that the bulb becomes part of the electricity by way of extension.
We can say that a merger has occurred, that two separate entities have joined for the purpose that the union suggests. It is no longer a bulb and electricity: it is a light bulb. The electricity does not make light without the bulb, and the bulb cannot make light without the electricity.
You are what you ingest. If you are a cup, and you ingest water, you are no longer just a cup. You are a cup of water. If a man ingests knowledge, he is a man of learning. A man of learning will display his nature in his choice of wording. Now imagine: if you had ingested the elements of both past and future into your present being, would you not sometimes sound like an anomaly of time?
Examine the choice of words in John 3:13, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven (future), but He that came down from heaven (past), even the Son of man which is in heaven (present).”
Like the illustrations of the light bulb and the cup of water, John 3:13 is a model of the concept of
ingestion. In any model of ingestion, there is both a host to take elements into itself and elements that enter into the host.
Notice both a host and intrusive elements in John 14:20, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.”
If a light bulb said that a bigger light bulb was inside of him, we might pause to scratch our heads and raise our eyebrows. On the other hand, if a light bulb told us he had electricity inside of him, we might respond, 'Yeah, that I can understand.' When Christ states that the Father is inside of Him, He is speaking of an ingested element of the Father, or in other words: something spiritual. To ingest a thing is roughly equal to having a thing communicated. A ballot box may either ingest a ballot or, it may be otherwise stated that a ballot was placed inside of it.
I speak of spiritual communications. And here, I will repeat the assertion: our cognitive abilities are spiritual, spiritual and communication go hand in hand, there is no action without communication.
This must be kept in mind when one reads John 14:10, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.”
I used to wonder at the underlying purpose of eating the flesh of Jesus, and of drinking His blood. The concept of ingestion offers a higher level of insight into this mystery. Do we, or can we, actually eat flesh and blood? No. Do crackers and grape juice, as a ceremonial reminder, fit the bill? No.
If you have ever met an older married couple and noted how alike they are, you have seen the
outcome of ingestion. What is it that they have ingested? It is the communicated nature of the partner
that has been ingested. That is why they seem to be on the same page. Sometimes, and this seems
spooky, one will finish a sentence the other began. Now, they may have kissed daily throughout the
length of their union, but they have not ingested corporeality: they do not look alike. But they act
alike.
Spiritual elements are communicated; spiritual elements are ingested. Remembering that our language has evolved into a ‘symbol generating machine’, let us read of the bread of life as a communicated spiritual quality that upon ingestion imparts that spiritual quality to the host.
See John 6:48-51, “I am that bread of life (a spiritual quality). Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness (a corporeal quality), and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven (a spiritual realm), that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread (you are what you eat), he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Yes! Eat life and live.
The mind does not always absorb what the eye reads. Sometimes we must go back and read a thing often - until it makes sense. When we read a thing that is not easily or readily understandable, the eyes glaze momentarily, and we move on. Read this next verse; let your eyes glaze over; then go back and read it again.
Colossians 1:27, “which is Christ in you.”
No, not the physical person. A spiritual quality has been communicated. You have ingested the spirit of Christ: a thing that is imparted mentally through thought and reason. What is inside you? The nature of Christ, the character of Christ, Christ-likeness as an adopted quality. You are a bulb ingesting the power to make light.
Ingestion is a bona fide theme within scripture. It is a concept that New Testament authors often took up.
See 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you?”
The theme of ingestion is brought up time after time and is presented as central to the goal of spiritual attainment. It is put forth in no uncertain terms in John 6:53, “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.”
‘Sons of man’ may here be referenced inclusively. That is, to take upon oneself the very corporeal entity of a son of man: to be a Jesus, to have the very blood of a Christ flowing through your veins. In earlier paragraphs, I spoke of returning to face the mirror. Is that not a condition of open receptiveness? It never hurts to repeat scripture, and although this has been given to other applications, read it now, not with the interface in mind, but rather with ingestion in mind.
Read 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The water of baptism and the wine of redemption. The miracle of turning water into the blood of the vine that we are grafted into. Read 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
Having the spirit in our middle puts us in the middle of the spirit. One must imbibe the spiritual liquor. To drink the physical blood puts us in the physical. Likewise, to partake of a physical Eucharist places us, again, in the corporeal. In other words, it takes spirit to make spirit.
Take Romans 8:9-10, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you (the spirit), the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit (inside of you) is life because of righteousness.”
A spiritual indwelling - and, by spiritual I mean a ‘new mind’. We ingest spiritual communications. If godliness is communicated, we ingest and incorporate godliness. If Christ-likeness is communicated, we incorporate Christ into our nature. It is an upgrade. Spiritual communications pass from the mind to the brain; therefore, they are embodied in thoughts and words. Words are leaves that rustle from an invisible wind. Yet, for all intents and purposes, they are a means of incorporating the wind.
Incorporate John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep (incorporate) My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with (inside of) him.”
A spiritual indwelling: a new mind; a new nature. See 1 John 4:13, “Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.”
To have a thought or to make a choice is equal to having the spirit of it communicated into our nature. No man can think the thought or make the choice to turn to Jesus unless we have turned, open and receptive, to the interface. There, the communication is sent.
Receive John 6:44, 45, & 65, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw (a communication to) him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught (communication; learning; mentality) of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned (ingested) of the Father, cometh unto Me. And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto (into) him of my Father.”
The spirit is communicated via the mind. Thoughts and words are internalized. John 8:51, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death.”
The bar of mentality is raised through spiritual communication. The mind of Christ is communicated. It is a Holy mind. The will of God is communicated. It is a Holy will. The spirit itself is Holy for it is the spirit of God.
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