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There are numerous laws discussed in Deuteronomy and, though the surface meaning is material, an esoteric meaning may be ascertained through meditation. According to the Chaldean tradition, when the Lord created the universe He poured out His own blood that it might have life. From this comes the Chaldean saying that "in the clay of man is kneaded the blood of God." It is apparent to the eye of meditation that if God's life (spirit) is everywhere present, then every activity in the physical world, however insignificant, has its spiritual meaning. Upon this immanence of God as the indwelling principle of Nature the Chaldeans based their numerous methods of divination. Modern esotericists are not interested in divination in the form of fortunetelling, but are interested in learning to perceive spiritual principles which underlie all the phenomena of the material world. The sundry laws recorded for an ancient, primitive people (esoterically considered) may, therefore, be a basis for esoteric meditation.
Among numerous matters detailed in the twenty-first and the twenty-second chapters of Deuteronomy are severe punishments prescribed for certain offenses. It is required, for instance, that the son who persists in disobedience to his parents and the wife who is unfaithful to her husband be taken without the gates of the city and stoned. The spiritual fact with which we are here concerned is that disobedient and unfaithful attributes in the character of an aspirant must be treated in a relentless manner. The evils and impurities in his nature must be eradicated completely. It is this which Deuteronomy sets forth in concrete, understandable symbols.
In the twenty-first chapter the far-reaching influence of mass thought is emphasized in the instance of a city being required to do penance for a crime committed by a person whose identity is unknown. The city represents a state of consciousness. The marked consciousness of the community in which a crime occurred was rightly held to account for the violence committed. Where the aggregate thought is charged with violence, it will sooner or later become manifest in some outward act of a corresponding nature. Similarly, where the mass thought is uniformly directed toward noble, constructive enterprises, it becomes a spiritual shield that wards off evil-doers and the crimes they might be prompted to commit. Thought is a power. It is creative. Creators of thoughts, individually and collectively, reap as they sow. This is one of the many metaphysical laws taught in Deuteronomy.
Among these general laws there are many that encourage the virtues of fellowship and humanity. "Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them, shall enter into the congregation of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 23:7,8). These commandments, interpreted in terms of modern civilization, and in the life of the candidate for Initiation, have reference to world-fellowship and brotherhood of all men as children of the one Father-Mother God.
Here also we find the commandments upon which the Quakers based their humane action in helping African-American slaves to liberation, by means of the "underground railroad," in the era of our history preceding the Civil War: "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him" (Deuteronomy 23:15,16).
In a modern application many of these laws would do away with strife between labor and capital. "Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners that are in thy land within thy gates: . . . thou shalt give him hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it . . . lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee" (Deuteronomy 24:14,15).
"Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." The all-encompassing compassion and oneness of spirit which develop within the life and consciousness of a "prepared one," extend not to his fellow man alone, but embrace also the kingdom of the "little brothers" of the animal world. An aspirant soon learns to cherish and protect his younger neighbors. The forces and powers of one life-wave react upon those in juxtaposition to it. Man's inhumanity to man has found a reflex in the cruelty common to the animal kingdom. When a man's consciousness is universally centered in love and helpfulness, a like condition will come to prevail in the animal world. The prophecy of Isaiah will be fulfilled: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb," and no one shall "hurt or destroy in all my holy mountains: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." (Isaiah 11: 6,9)
— Corinne Heline
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Contemporary Mystic Christianity |
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