I have felt absolutely driven to write this. For years I had attempted to come to grips with the Bible. While I gained inspiration and insight from reading it, it was not until I found the key to the inner meaning that I began to grasp the wisdom contained there. Once certain key words were understood, I found them to be used in the same way consistently throughout the books of the Bible. Thus, the interpretation for one story provided a backlog of understanding for others.
Those who study other mystical writings of the East, such as Buddhist or Hindu scripture, soon discover that they share the same secret code used in the Bible. Once a person understands the code, all sacred writings reveal their secrets to him. What was formerly a blurred picture suddenly comes into focus. The writers of the Bible and other sacred scripture use the same words to reveal ageless Truth. Our excitement mounts as the answer comes with brilliant clarity-there is only one Writer, 'the Spirit of Truth.'
This is not the story of a God of vengeance, but an explanation of the activity of the divine Law as It relentlessly uproots and casts out every thought opposed to Truth. God could not destroy His own creation.
Every battle described in the Old Testament has a counterpart in us. In order to fully avail ourselves of the inspiring lessons that these stories bring us, we must forget for awhile the historical significance and keep in mind that they have an allegorical meaning, a timely meaning for us today. We are speaking of battles in consciousness, battles between our own thought people. Our own confused state of mind is the battleground.
The mystics of the ages have rather sensed than interpreted the deep esoteric meanings hidden within certain words of the Bible. Never before has a usable, workable key been presented. I humbly offer it here that the Bible may become a more understandable book, not just a book for the religious but a guidebook for every man, It may ultimately become man's greatest possession, the answer book for every problem that can ever come into his experience.
In trying to understand the seemingly meaningless portions of the Bible, it became apparent to me that certain words, about one hundred to be exact, had been used over and over in identically the same way, often making no sense in or out of context, as one would use a secret code to hide a meaning that he did not wish exposed to the public. I tested this again and again and found it to be true. I found that once these code words were translated a door was opened to a whole new area of understanding.
The Bible is really an anthology, a collection of choice literary extracts from different authors, some relating to the spiritual side of life; some seeming to be written on the mental and physical. There is something of value for everyone at every level.
Having opened the door, it was surprising how fast the three keys led us into an organized code. The words seemed to come in families or series and each new category led us on to the next.
We looked at each other, communicating as husbands and wives do. Words could not describe our excitement. We didn't need words to describe it for the air was full of the thrill of discovery. Here we had been working for years without realizing this vast treasure that had been right where we were, unnoticed. It was buried treasure right in our own backyard!
We had always known that such books as Ezekiel and Revelations were written in symbols. We had commented that there must be some significance in the fact that these symbols tallied so closely, but to see that there was a hidden, yet discernable, meaning running throughout the Bible behind such simple words as 'land', such commonplace names as 'Bethel', opened a new world of discovery.
I would not disturb anyone's thinking about the Bible, only open up new avenues for fresh discovery of the great Truths that lie therein. The Bible basically is a book of spiritual Truth. The things of the spirit are discerned by the spirit. There is something within each one that responds to the inner meaning, even though he may not know just what it is.
That which I have to offer began with the discovery that modern-day readers were completely overlooking the meanings behind certain proper names of people and places, continually featured in Biblical writing , meanings that the ancient writers had taken for granted and assumed would always be understood. I found that certain numbers and common words had a repetitious use and that when their symbolic or esoteric meaning was understood, thay opened up entirely new avenues of wisdom and understanding, Herein lies the key to the hidden mysteries that have been concealed in the Bible for so many years.
This page is not an attempt to interpret the entire bible, but to show through examples how a secret code unlocks the hidden meaning throughout the writings of the Bible.
Since the outer, or obvious interpretation, is all that most people know, they miss the inner meaning of the Bible. So far, most people have read the Bible as if it had only an exoteric, or outer, meaning. In so many instances in Bible writing there seems to be an obvious meaning, but within it is the inner one, carefully hidden down through the ages from the unenlightened ones who might have destroyed it to be preserved for us.
The thing that we have to be careful about is that we do not get caught up in the outer meaning. In every book of sacred writing there is an exoteric meaning and a hidden, or esoteric meaning It is the only way that one can write spiritual truths and preserve them them for all time.
For the sake of a better understanding, let us stop and define these terms. Exoteric is taken from the Latin esotericus and the Greek exoterikos meaning outside. Webster defines it: "External; exterior. Suitable to be imparted to the public..."
Esoteric is from the Greek esoterikos meaning inner. And Webster defines it: "Designed for, and understood by, the specially initiated alone..."This is the concealed or hidden meaning. Down through the ages, this knowledge has been restricted to a select few because it would have been wasted on most people who were only interested in the exoteric, obvious interpretation.
Although one has to dig deep to find the esoteric meaning, it is there. It is not hidden from you in the sense that you cannot find it; it is just hidden from the 'casual' view.
There are many esoteric writings. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran is one, the Bhagavad Gita is another. The Vedas, the Upanishads and all of the writings that go to make up the Eastern scripture are esoteric writings.
The material contained in the Bible is but a fraction of the original writings for which it was selected. The Biblical writings are revealed Truth which was preserved by the word of mouth and gradually became written literature, the work of many spiritually minded authors. Later, groups of theologians made the selections which we think of as Bible, deciding, according to their individual prejudices, what they judged worthy of keeping, what they would discard. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls also gives evidence that much material was omitted from the Bible as we know it.
The Secret code was revealed to me as a gradual unfoldment during twenty years of Bible teaching. I am particularly indebted to the Unity School of Christianity at Lee's Summit, Missouri, for the excellent Metaphysical Bible Dictionary.
This had to be written. The need compelled it. In each generation there have been those who felt that the language of the Bible was archaic, that it should be modernized. Modernizing the language helped some to better understand the Bible in a literal, or historic, way, but left large areas completely misunderstood, especially those areas where an understanding of symbols, parables, allegories and such are required.
The Bible is a compilation of treatises on nearly every facet of man's life. Within its covers modern psychology will find all that it has to teach. It is the ultimate philosophy. It shows us how to commune with the unseen Power within each one of us. It shows us how to take dominion in our lives through the use of the Power. It is the story of every man in his journey through life, his mental and spiritual growth. The obstacles and problems he meets are presented in an understandable way.
The Bible is presented on three levels, There is something for everyone. On the obvious level there is history, rules of conduct, and beautiful literature; on the mental level there is enough philosophy to challenge the student forever; but on the spiritual level there is a whole new world of discovery awaiting the reader. Once the key to the deeper meaning is understood, one is able to enjoy the Bible without frustration. The stories of Job and Jehoshaphat interpreted in this book are found to be great psychologiclal dramas.
Another fallacy is that the Bible is contradictory. It is only contradictory on the exoteric side. To those who go beyond the physical and even the mental meaning into the hidden or esoteric meaning, there will be no contradiction. On the contrary, it will all be drawn together, interrelated as basic Truth always is.
There are those who say it is dull and bewildering. So would we if we were to read a letter written in a secret code. It would not make very much sense to us, would it? Once we are given the secret code, the clues that open to us the hidden meanings in the Bible, it becomes fascinating, an exciting adventure in self-discovery.
Some dispose of the Bible in one fell swoop. It couldn't have been written by God, they think, so there's nothing of Truth there at all.
The Bible has been written by God, through man. The men who brought us the inspiration contained in the Bible were men who were to let themselves be used by the Spirit within for this purpose. Thus, there were many scribes but only one Author-one Author writing about Himself as Creator, Creative Medium and Creation. As one understands this, the Bible turns out to be an autobiography, the Life of God in each one of us.
There are those, brought up in religions not acceptable to their intelligence, who became completely prejudiced. These people might even feel guilty about studying the Bible, in the light of discovering new meaning beyond that given by the parents, lest they somehow damage the image of the parents.
Let us put aside all of these prejudices. Take the Bible as if it were completely new to us. Pretend that we have never heard of it before and start from there.
This is the Christ, God in us, Spirit individualized in and through man. In the Old Testament, God in man is called Jehovah God; in the New Testament, the Christ.
The three keys which I will give you provide a secret code such as would be used by an underground movement to protect these valuable teachings from the crude touch of those who would not know or care that they be preserved. Through the use of figurative language another goal is accomplished. The Bible speaks to each one at his own level of awareness, so that, year after year as his understanding increases, he discovers richer and richer meanings, personal to him at that very moment of awareness. ARE YOU READY FOR THE KEYS?
The Bible is a guidebook to individual spiritual discovery. Priceless treasure, hidden from the harsh gaze of the unbelieving who might otherwise have destroyed it, awaits you discovery. Only those who have been given the secret code are allowed to belong to the spiritual underground. The possession of the code starts one out on a thrilling adventure, an adventure that is so personal that he feels that each new discovery is made by him for the first time. It is almost a shock to find that the enlightened of all ages have used the same code.
Thus translation of names becomes the first KEY in unlocking the mystery of the Bible. Reread the Bible in the light of the meaning of proper names alone and a vast new import will be apparent.
Thus every time we speak of 'the name of God,' we are speaking of 'the nature of God.' Look up some of the references to 'name' with the aid of your concordance and you will feel almost as if you had discovered a secret code giving you access to buried treasure. Take Exodus 3:15 where we find the Lord saying to Moses, "this is my name forever..." and read it 'this is my nature forever; take Psalms 9:10, "they that know thy name [nature]...trust in thee,,,"; and Psalms 111:9, "holy and reverend is his name [nature]", and Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord [law]: that is my name [nature] of ... our God..." This is only a beginning, but it will give you an idea of how to use the second Key.
Take any of the Bible genealogies and trace them back, taking each name and looking up its Hebrew meaning. By putting in the meaning rather than the names, you will find that the genealogies are an unfoldment of ideas.
In semantics, the study of words, we learn that different words call up different feelings and prejudices in each person according to his past experience and conditioning. One word suggests volumes of thoughts and feelings relating to that word.
Looking to the east, west, north, and south, would be bringing every facet of the mind into harmonious balance. 'Wilderness, desert, waste places' are 'kinds of land', states of consciousness within the individual. They are dry, arid, places in our mind which have not yet been watered by the 'river of Life', the 'flow of Truth'. These are the undisciplined or uncultivated thoughts in the mind of man. We move out of these wastelands of the mind through meditation and prayer. Through treatment and affirmation, we cultivate and enrich the soil of the mind, digging out the weeds of negative thinking and watering the land with the living water of Truth.
The Land of Judah is the consciousness of praise, for Judah means 'praise'. It is that place in consciousness where we recognize and praise God. This explains why there are so many references in the Bible to the Land of Judah which are out of context to the rest of the story that is being told.
The Land of Israel is the consciousness of Sonship, children of the Most High, the chosen 'thought people' within all of us.
All of the peoples of the Bible are ;thought people'. The various places are states of consciousness. the experiences that the 'people' encounter along the way are the experiences that we encounter as we find spiritual unfoldment in our daily lives.
Every form of light, stars, moon, sun, candles are used to indicate spiritual illumination in one form or another.
You will find these words and other key words to understanding the Bible, the meanings of still other words will be revealed to you. I find it is a never-ending process. I am continually experiencing the thrill of new discovery.
Those who think that the Bible is dull and bewildering have not discovered the keys, words that reveal the hidden meaning.
We are told to forgive-not seven times, but seventy times seven-that is, unlimited, complete forgiveness. We are to perfectly forgive, be 'finished' with our resentment, leaving no loose ends. What an interesting study it would be, just to follow up and analyze the uses of seven and the multiples of seven in the Bible and other mystical writings where seven is so often employed!
There are twelve pillars, twelve years of service, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden spoons, twelve kids for an offering, twelve fountains, twelve tribes, and twelve disciples.
There were twelve tribes of Israel and twelve disciples. If you investigate the meanings of their names, you will soon see for yourself that they represent the different spiritual qualities or faculties in man.
There are a few examples of the use of the number 'forty' in the Bible. It is clearly seen that these are not necessarily actual periods of time, but a symbol of completion.
Three indicates wholeness of life or the threefold nature of being which is the trinity-Spirit, Mind and Body. Spirit expressing through Mind manifests as body (outward form). All of Life is a Trinity, three aspects of the One. Some of the trinities of Life are: man, woman, child: masculine, feminine, offspring; idea, creative medium, effect; and many more. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity."
I will not attempt to give you all of the words here, but a sampling of each group will illustrate how the code fits together and becomes the esoteric vocabulary of the Bible.
Since man has the power of choice, he has the right to choose which thoughts he will entertain in mind. Since he can choose the kind of thoughts that will produce undesirable effects in his life,he is then free to part company with his Creator and the perfect plan provided for him. Even God cannot assure him that he will have desirable effects, free agent that he is. Even God cannot compel man to enjoy the bliss he could enjoy were he to keep his thoughts God-centered.
The Bible speaks of the law of cause and effect as sowing and reaping and tells us again and again that 'everything reproduces after its kind'. The way the law works remains a mystery. Jesus in speaking of this mystery, said, "I can of mine own self do nothing"...and "the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."
First Cause is Absolute, the eternal verity. God's perfect plan for man is brought out in two of the creation stories. The third shows how man, being endowed with the power of choice, chooses his own problems.
We said that 'light' means divine illumination (wisdom and understanding). So we have the first step in the divine creation, 'Let there be wisdom and understanding'.
Firmament means to make firm, to make solid, a foundation. The literal Bible reader who looks only to the obvious meaning considers it the arch in the sky. We find a much richer meaning, a deeper meaning. It is a firm unwavering place in consciousness. It is faith in Mind Power. The establishing of the firmament is the establishing of faith. Dividing the waters from the waters brings in selectivity, selection the specific idea from the midst of the multiplicity of ideas (waters).
The fish of the sea are ideas deep in Mind, the fowl of the air are conscious thoughts of Mind, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth is the movement or outpicturing of these ideas, the world that man makes for himself. Since he has dominion within, he has dominion without. The dominion comes x through understanding.
"To eat of the tree of life" is to 'partake of the fruit of the Absolute.' Absolute means complete, entire, unconditional. It is First Cause. There is no opposite to the Absolute because the Absolute is all in all. Absolute is pure Spirit and the fruit of the Absolute is the fruit of Spirit.
The theory of psychodynamics presented postulates that man's propensity for moral judgements-his naive assumption that he has the capacity for determining such judgements-is the basis of all his human trouble. His judgmental attitudes alienate him from his fellow man as well as from his true self; they make him incognizant of reality, and deprive him of mental health or the good life.
Even though the truth of this postulate may be seen by anyone who cares to look at himself or at human ills, it is difficult for people to accept it because they are convinced (they assume or believe) that all good and desirable behavior is the product of a moral value system essentially comparable to their own. It would be almost inconceivable for most people to look at their moral judgements as the real factor which keeps them out of Paradise. Yet we have seen that it is these which produce the fears, the half lives, the cruelties, the symptoms, and the unhappiness of human beings.
The feminine or feeling side of Adam (generic man) is symbolized by Eve. The masculine, Adam, is the conscious mind. The feminine, Eve, is the subconscious mind. Eve was taken out of Adam in a deep sleep because that is the domain of subconscious mind. The subconscious never sleeps. She is made out of the very substance of Adam because she is part of his very being.
There is a masculine and feminine side to every person. This is the marriage within, the perfect union of the conscious and subconscious mind-"and they shall be one flesh."
The Serpent represents that subtle thought of temptation that comes to all of us, thinking not from high ideas but from the very lowest level of appearance, sensual thinking that promises great satisfaction but ends in pain. It is looking to outer effects for fulfillment. Their eyes were opened to outer appearances. This is the beginning of the shifting of the attention from the real value of spiritual understanding to the face value of material gain. It is be beginning of judging by the world's standards instead of inner Guidance which comes through understanding. It is judging by appearances. It is moral judgment. "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
Judging righteous judgment is eating from the 'tree of life." Judging by appearances is eating from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
The Lord God is the Spirit of Truth within each one of us that will reveal to us the Truth about ourselves for our own growth if we will but hear it.
A good example of this is whether one's work is a chore or a fulfillment. When one really loves his work and feels that he is being creative and expressing his true nature through it, then he is 'eating' from the 'tree of life.' Each one is given a gift of expression and when he is using that gift, looking to the divine Law for the ways and means of expression, he lives in the garden of bliss. Work need not be labor or struggle. It can be done so effortlessly that it is pure joy and seems hardly to be work at all. But if one resists his work and in his heart considers it evil, then "...Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee' and 'in sorrow shalt thou eat of it.' Man is given a choice. The result depends on his own attitude.
The Christ is Spirit individualized in each one of us. As we behold the Christ made visible in each other, we are beholding the glory of the only begotten of the Father, which Meister Eckhart said is constantly being begotten, full of grace (love) and truth (understanding). Through the Christ within us, we have the essence of Life Itself-love and wisdom. It creates out of Itself the manifest world. God acting through man is manifested as creation, by means of the creative process of life.
Faith is the beginning of everything. Faith is the beginning of every gain, every step of unfoldment, every bit of spiritual growth that we make in this life. in order to put our trust in the divine Law, we must believe that It is and that It is all powerful in our lives.
The story of Abraham is the story of the growth of faith in our lives and the tests that we draw to ourselves to make us grow. As we move through the life of Abraham, step by step, we see the unfolding of faith, we see the importance of complete and total surrender to the direction and guidance of God from within. Faith is trusting in infinite Wisdom, the perfect Power, the abiding Love of God within us.
Which things are an allegory;Galatians 4:23-26
'The Jerusalem which now is' and is in bondage (to the Romans) and 'the Jerusalem which is above which is free and is the mother of us all? The obvious Jerusalem, the city in bondage to the Romans, is all that most people see. The Jerusalem which is above is the consciousness of Peace that comes from the complete reliance on God. This consciousness is always free and is the mother of us all, the faith that is the beginning of everything.
We must continually remember that each story relates in some marvelous way to a guide for our everyday living. The Bible is a textbook of practical Truth, an encyclopedia of spiritual wisdom. It may appear to be talking about material things, but always there is a hidden message of profound spiritual significance.
Since 'name' in the Bible always refers to 'nature', we see at once that 'the nature has changed'. Abram and Sarai have, you might say, won their spurs, passed the test, graduated to a new level of awareness. They are now entitled to be called 'Abraham' which means'father of the multitude', and 'Sarah' which means 'princess', and the Lord tells them that kings shall come out of their union. Their nature, both conscious and subconscious, has now been raised, and they portray the faith that is the beginning of a multitude of powerful thoughts. 'Kings' denote 'ruling thoughts or thoughts of dominion',as do 'princesses.
You know, when we start thinking about these seemingly impossible challenges, about things being insurmountable, we get so deadly serious. If we could just laugh about them. If we could just take this attitude-all right, they say it can't be done and to all appearances it can't be done, but divine Intelligence knows it can be done. The bumble bee, scientifically, is judged not able to fly, but it does.
We see the impossible today all around us, that which would have seemed impossible just a few years ago.
Once one starts out to trust God completely, he has to be willing to follow where God leads and to know that God will provide the right answer. The great temptation is to feel that you have to know the end before you start out on the journey, the result being that the journey in faith is never even begun.
This story may seem to you to be just another one of those gory Bible stories. If so, you have missed its inner meaning. The key is that it shows a radical, total trust in the infinite Intelligence and Power within us. Too often we say, "I will believe 'if', I will trust 'if', I will accept 'if.' But if we can reverse that and say, "All right, I know that there is That within me which knows, That within me which is able to do all things and is everywhere present. I trust It implicitly to do the right thing in the right way for my highest good and that of everyone else," we have the faith that taps the great Power.
Looking beneath the surface meaning at the esoteric meaning of the story reveals an understanding of the deep significance of the much misunderstood Trinity of Life. The story of Jacob is the unfolding in consciousness of man's mental growth whereby he is able to take dominion over the material world through the use of his mind,evolving finally after a struggle between the two sides of his dual nature into the spiritual being he was meant to be.
While the soul within us sleeps to its divine potential, we live on the animal plane and resent the mental which seeks to displace the physical. There is within each one of us the conflict between the mental and the physical that vie with one another and often hate and fear each other.
It is only when man becomes aware of his true nature as a son of God that he is able to embrace the material side and make peace with it, putting things in their rightful place.
This is what Jesus meant when he taught:
Through the imaginative faculty in each one, we are given dominion over the past thinking and the bondage that it has produced in our lives. 'The imaginative faculty' that is undefeated, refuses to accept bondage, feeds all of its brother thoughts and even its father thought. The thought of affirmative imagination springing from the mental that has been lifted up into a new spiritual dimension (Israel), is the thought that takes dominion and provides for the whole family of thoughts.
Imagination is an attribute of God. All that we can conceive of, believe in, and accept for ourselves, must become our experience. Through imagination, we are liberated, cleansed of old negative patterns, and provided for richly.
Is evil necessary? to suppose that evil is a reality is to deny that God is omnipresent. To believe in good 'and' evil is to believe in two powers and we are clearly told by the illumined of the ages that God is the only Power.
"There is nothing either good or evil, but thinking makes it so" is attributed to Shakespeare. It was Epictetus who said, "There is nothing good or evil save in the will." Evil, so-called, is relative. It depends upon man's judgment. What man judges evil at one time may become great good to him at another time in his experience. The experiences that he labels evil are evil solely because of the way he relates to them at the moment.
Everything must remain in harmony with God Life.The only thing that is not in harmony with perfect Life is our own reaction to it, our own imperfect judgment. .
When people do things to us which inconvenience, hurt, or take from us something which seems to belong to us, it is easy to blame them and to condemn life in general. "This also is for good." "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
The only evil there can ever be is our interpretation of what we see and hear and the way we feel about it.When we see, hear, and speak only good, we are then in tune with the Infinite, the infinite Goodness of God.
It is so important that we not go back into old negative thoughts and situations of the past. To do so is to go "down to Egypt..." where we may experience seven years of famine.
Moses stands for the Christ Consciousness in the Old Testament, just as Jesus stands for the Christ Consciousness in the New Testament.
Moses is the Truth, in each one of us, that eventually leads us out of bondage, the Truth that leads us into that land flowing with 'milk and honey.' The Promised Land, which, being interpreted, is the consciousness of divine fulfillment, We are constantly being drawn out of bondage by the Moses in us.
So we have man in his journey from bondage to ultimate freedom. We all start out in Egypt, the (HOME)