The inner world of a human being is a wonder of depth and spiritual demonstration, with a capacity for profound holiness and strength. The pattern for this created wonder was prophetically revealed in The Old Testament writings of Moses, when he taught the newly liberated Israelite nation how to erect the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Then later this same pattern was applied to the architectural layout of The Great Temple in Jerusalem. The purpose of both of these edifices was to house the Shekinah Glory of God - that is to say, the active living presence of God's Spirit. But the pattern itself was meant to be a spiritual teaching, given to enlighten us about our own inner makeup.
In the deepest recesses of every human being's inner world there is a holy place that we call our soul. This corresponds to the Holy of Holies in the pattern given to Moses. This holiest of places was to be kept pure and undefiled at all times. To this end, in our pattern the Holy of Holies was to be surrounded by several other rooms and courtyards. In each of these outer buffer zones there were legal regulations to be adhered to in order to sanctify the worshiper as he approached the innermost holy area. These legal regulations varied in degrees of strictness, with those in the outer courts being less stringent that those in the inner rooms nearest to the Holy of Holies. In these inner rooms only consecrated priests could enter, while in the Holy of Holies itself only the High Priest could enter and even he was restricted from doing so three hundred and sixty-four days out of the calendar year. Only on one day out of the year could he enter (the Day of Atonement), in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.
The Holy of Holies in a human being's inner world is our eternal soul, and it too is meant to be the dwelling place for the living presence of God. Also in keeping with the pattern, our soul is surrounded by rooms and courtyards of a less holy ambience, meant to act as buffer zones of sanctification and purification to shield our soul from defilement. From these outer areas, watchmen in the form of conscious awareness can position themselves in such a way so as to warn the soul about any impending threat of desecration or danger. But, just like the High Priest in the Old Testament pattern, only the high priest of our inner world - our spiritual consciousness - can actually enter the soul without causing defilement. This high priest of spiritual consciousness is the eternal essence of our being that constitutes our true identity and is our connecting thread of continuity with past life experience. Thus our spiritual consciousness and our soul have the potential to not only interact but also to unite. In fact, it is precisely this union between our spiritual consciousness and our soul that brings about the full consummation of human spiritual endeavor. After this union takes place, the two become one and any sense of fractured ness and dis integration in our inner world dissolves, thereby resulting in what The New Testament calls the peace that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
Conversely, it is separation between spiritual consciousness and soul that is the root cause of most of our spiritual floundering, not to mention emotional pain and suffering. And unfortunately, prior to the unification of these two spiritual dynamos this condition of separateness tends to be predominant. Hence the reason that the life of a human being on the earthly plane can be such a sore trial.
Another symbolic aspect that The Bible alludes to concerning this dynamic is the ascribing of male and female properties to these spiritual functions, with spiritual consciousness taking on the properties of the male gender and soul the female. Thus when spiritual consciousness and soul unite, it is very much like the conjugal union between a man and a woman. It even produces an offspring that Jesus called the Son of Man. And since this union results in the conception of a holy offspring, it is looked upon as the consummation of many diverse spiritual energies. The book of Revelation refers to this cosmic play as the wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) - a feast that signals the passing away of the old order of human existence on the earthly plane and the end of the age.
Until the end of the age, however, there are other valuable truths that can be gleaned from the ascribing of male and female properties to our spiritual consciousness and soul. One of these is the understanding that soul, as the female aspect, is naturally weaker and more vulnerable than spiritual consciousness. It is important to recognize this, because it explains how the separation that tends to happen between these male and female aspects on the earthly plane, while not terrifically difficult for spiritual consciousness, can be utterly devastating for soul. As the weaker, more vulnerable aspect, soul is dependent upon spiritual consciousness for her protection and purity. When consciousness is absent, soul is left unguarded and open to attack. And as if playing on her worst fears, attacks are indeed forthcoming, as are swarming infestations and defiling infiltrations. With consciousness not there to protect her, soul is soon overpowered and overrun. This assault on the unguarded human soul happens naturally as the outworking of environmental elemental activity on the earthly plane. In other words, it is not an evil plot perpetrated by a snake in the grass. Rather it is a scientific dynamic based on the earthly plane's laws of attraction and infestation, much like when a colony of ants discovers crumbs on your kitchen counter and the next thing you know there are thousands of them swarming about. Nonetheless, even though the assault on soul is natural, scientific and even predictable, it is still a devastating predicament for her to be in. Helpless and forlorn, she quickly takes on all the attributes of the quintessential damsel in distress.
When spiritual consciousness receives word that his bride has been overrun and defiled, he does all he can to get back to her, in the hope of setting her free and restoring her purity. But he soon finds that this is no easy task. Often he must battle and fight his way through many barriers and over many hurdles. He must banish unconsciousness in its many guises and renounce his own attachment to the deceptive human cultural conditioning he has been taught to believe in since birth. In short, he must work his way back to soul and became a man of true spiritual authority. Only then will he be able to stand up to soul's oppressors and set her free. In this way he becomes an overcomer and brings a happy ending to our story.
This cosmic play in which spiritual consciousness must fight his way through many obstacles to rescue soul - his damsel in distress - from her devastating plight may seem like a far-fetched use of fairytale imagery. But the fact is that it is all grounded in spiritual truth. We all have these two aspects to our spiritual makeup; we all suffer whenever they are forced to separate, and we all have the capability of overcoming our soul's enslavement and defilement by becoming men and women of spiritual authority. This is actually the thematic thread that runs through The Bible from start to finish - forced separation, earthly plane infestation, enslavement, liberation, overcoming, restoration and finally, consummation. The two - spiritual consciousness and soul - were created to be united and become one in order to produce the godly offspring in the line of David - the line of kings destined to bring God-governance to the furthest shore of our microcosmic universe. But birth into the human plane invariably gives rise to unconsciousness, and unconsciousness causes a separation between consciousness and soul, which, in turn, leads to soul's captivity. This is what Jesus came to teach us. As long as we persist in unconsciousness we will all be hopelessly fractured and dis integrated in our inner world. Our soul will be overrun and oppressed, to the point that only the power of God's redemptive principle can free her. This is the tool God has provided, so that spiritual consciousness can become the overcomer he was intended to be, set our soul free and bring a happy ending to the story.
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