The Esoteric Bible - 001
Hi. Thanks again for allowing me to share the Gospel of Thomas thread. I think I am ready to share the hidden Bible. If you Google 'sensus plenior' you will find about five different ways that Christian theologians deal with the topic of God's intended purpose which was hidden even from the human author. Some deny it exists, and at the other end of the spectrum you find some who say that if it exists, we are not allowed to read it because we are not apostles. When a person admits that he doesn't know how to read it, or doesn't even believe it exists, why would anyone believe he is an expert on the subject?
The difficult part in sharing what is hidden, is sharing it in such a way that it is understood to be an objective thing, not a system imposed in a subjective way. Many have already dirtied the waters of Biblical esotericism with subjective interpretations, that an appeal to a clean slate must be made for this presentation.
Though this presentation is original, it is not new. This should be considered an observation of what has been there from the beginning, rather than imposed upon it at a late date:
- Eph 3:9 And to make all [men] see what [is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Another difficulty in sharing the esoteric Bible, is that to appreciate it's unity, one must see the forest and the trees, and even the leaves, and specks of dust. It has a grand unity, like a fractal, from the highest view to the closest. Naturally it will look like an imposed system while it is being explained, particularly if the details of the foreign language are not explained in great detail. I will attempt to keep tedious details limited to times when they are needed.
The methods used to discern the esoteric Bible are ancient. They are used by Gnostics, Cabbalists, Rabbis, and even unwittingly by some main line Christians. Because they are not unified in the use of the methods, and because they are predisposed to color their interpretations, the results are conflicting and contradictory. This does not mean that the methods are useless, but that control s must be placed upon their use such that human imposition of meaning is minimized. It is by overlaying the results of the methods with the biases that produced them, that the pure methods can be filtered out.
For instance from the same scriptures the Christian says that Jesus is God and man, and his purpose is to reveal God to man. The Rabbi says that God and Israel (man) reveal God to man. The Cabbalist says that Adam-Kadmon is God and man and his purpose is to reveal God to man (but he doesn't recognize Jesus). The Gnostic says that through the Gnosis (revelation of God to man) man merges with God (becomes the God-man). I apologize for the simplistic explanations and recognize that such simplicity mis-characterizes many aspects of each belief system, just by the nature of simplicity. I am sure that is a bad example because of my characterizations and someone will call me on it.
However, such simplicity allows us to see that there is a common tool set to arrive at the common elements, and that the difference may be attributed to some degree to the biases of the readers. I cannot deny that I am biased toward the Christian perspective, but because of that, I will attempt to show that the results are based in the consistency and unity of the subject, rather than my bias.
What the Rabbi, the Cabbalist, and the Gnostic share with many in this group is a bias against Christ. I understand it. And this is the greatest barrier to sharing the esoteric Bible, particularly here. All of the systems which have biases against Christ have other similarities, but are strongly unified in this one bias. That's fine. I appeal to your generous sense of fair play, that you evaluate the unity which will be displayed against itself, rather than against other systems.
To do this, I would ask that the topic of "What is true" not be a part of this conversation, but that the esoteric Bible be appreciated first as itself. When you are able to see the esoteric Bible for yourself, if it calls to you, then it is appropriate to ask if it is true.
In the Gospel of Thomas thread, there were small teasers concerning the sensus plenior and some rules for sensus plenior. The rules are worth a look.
The layers
At the fundamental or atomic level of the esoteric Bible are the strokes which construct the individual letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These strokes are each metaphor which build the metaphor of the letters.
Then we have the letters themselves which are pregnant with metaphoric meaning.
The next level is called the 'gates' by the Sephir Yetzirah. Two-letter sub roots derive their meaning from the combined metaphor of the letters, and have a meaning reversal when the letters are reversed. The reversal is not an opposite as we think in the west. For instance one gate represents a slave's obligation to a master, and the reversal is the master's one-sided covenant with his slave. In the west we might be tempted to think the opposite or reversal of the slave's obligation to be some sort of disobedience.
The roots have multiple meanings which contribute to double entendre and riddle.
Sentences are written in two layers, literal and spiritual, and the spiritual has three scopes. These have been known as the Quadriga by Catholics, and Pardes by Jews. I refer to them as the four voices of God (Prophet, Priest, King, Judge) which are how they self-identify.
Patterns emerge which use motif, and form the warp of the great tapestry of scripture mystery. The story of Christ is the woof.
