The plague of boils is centered in the desire nature; it is the means by which nature eliminates bodily poisons. Impurities are burned to ashes in the furnace of affliction. The process is perfectly expressed in this ancient mystic chant: "O divine waters, receive ye these ashes, and put them in a soft and fragrant place . . . Matter has run its course!"
Thus the mind is turned toward truth and the physical temple cleansed. To become transformed by the renewing of the mind, as Paul says, is seldom accomplished without experiencing the sorrow and suffering that attend a life lived after the dictates of an unillumined mind. Pharaoh's resistance is typical, not exceptional. He was not yet humbled to the point where he was willing to relinquish his proud, personal will, inadequate as it was, for the impersonal direction of the I AM with its ability to yield joy, harmony and fullness of life. So the painful experiences continued and increased.
And it was 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." The hail smote man and beast, tree and herb. "Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail."
In this plague the reaction of misdirected emotion is severe. Water is turned into hail stones. They fall, accompanied by fire, out of heaven. The destructive reactions of the fiery desire nature also become operative.
Jehovah declared that every man and beast that was not brought home should die. The home referred to is that "inmost center in us all where truth abides in fullness." There no ill can befall. Storms may rage without but there is calm within. "None of these things move me," says Paul who knew the calm of this inmost center. In a developed soul desire and emotion are controlled, balanced and trans muted. Water and Fire are blended. Such live in Goshen, the place of rest, where there was no hail.
The successive trials and tribulations have finally made so deep an impression on Pharaoh that he is conceding his shortcomings and beginning to recognize the Law as righteous. "The gates of attain ment swing wide through pain."
Awakening of the spirit to the realities of life is the purpose of earthly incarnation, but it comes gradually. Again and again the spirit attempts in vain to make its will known to mortal mind. Repeatedly Pharaoh promised to let Israel go and repeatedly did he break that promise. This time Moses questioned the sincerity of Pharaoh. He said, "But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God." And so the flax and the barley were smitten; for "the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. But the wheat and the rye were not smitten for they were not yet grown up."
The barley and the flax represent causation ripe for reaping. They stand for mass consciousness which produces fruits not of the Father's planting. The wheat and rye were untouched. They were, moreover, not grown up. They symbolize a higher state of consciousness which has not come to the full, but continues unfolding toward its destined high estate.
Pharaoh sinned yet again, the seventh plague having failed to accomplish his awakening.
— Corinne Heline
