Analogue 48

Analogue 48 

Spiritual Work within the Inner Temple

At the temple in Jerusalem there are three chambers to which one can bring an offering. One opens to the West called the Holy Place. The second opens to the South and is called the Holy of Holies, and the third opens to the East, which is the Holiest of all where only the High Priest may enter. Immersion or baptism brings one into the Holy Place. Restoration to fullness of being is the Holy of Holies, and the Holiest Place is the Bridal Chamber.

Immersion leads to resurrection, resurrection leads to the great restoration, and restoration leads to union in the Bridal Chamber, which transcends everything else, for nothing can be compared to it. Those who pray over Jerusalem, loving her because they already dwell within her, behold her as she now is. These are called the holiest of the Holy Ones.

The veil in the Temple was torn in two to reveal the Bridal Chamber, which is nothing other than the image of the heavenly Temple. The curtain of the Temple on earth was torn from top to bottom, but it is entirely fitting for that which is below to move upward to that which is above.

SYNOPSIS

• The metaphor of temple structure itself using Philip’s nomenclature and template.
• Question: is this the 1st or 2nd Temple? There is a side entrance to the Holy Place in Solomon’s. If one is inside that first inner chamber then from that vantage point all the points of entry and exit make some architectural sense. If one is standing outside, however, they seem confused. 
• There are also three spiritual entryways to the temple within: baptism to an inner court, restoration to a sacred room, and the union within the Bridal Chamber as the Holiest of the Holies. 
• An entire spiritual progression is spelled out: immersion leads to (Anointing) resurrection. Resurrection leads to communion (Eucharist-feeding/drinking—Seder) Restoration. Restoration leads to the experience of union. 
• The Bridal Chamber is the transcendent center of everything. One is preparing to enter this ultimate place of divine-human residence. 
• All of this is a mystical seeing made by the Holy Ones, as she now is, after its physical destruction. 
• This suggests that all of this visionary takes place after the death and resurrection of Yeshua.
• The story of the tearing of the veil is recounted which is a significant metaphor to an understanding and interpretation of the Temple and its many meanings.
• This teaching is a Jewish-Messianic understanding and interpretation at the core of these analogues. 
• The earthly structure of the Temple is, of course, an icon of the heavenly structure, as is the human body.
• The veil is torn so that those outside might move upward describing ascent mysticism. Resurrection is being seen as a form of ascent in the chariot-throne to the court of heaven. There are two forms of ascent: from immersion to the Bridal Chamber and then from the Bridal Chamber to the heavenly Temple itself. 

                                                      You Tube recording link

COMMENTARY

Mirroring Temples

Using the template of the original temple, the first temple of Solomon, this teaching is placed paradigmatically in the context of an external and historical reality—the earthly site of the Temple in Jerusalem even in its destroyed form at that historical moment. The original blueprint, template or plan (the source of all temple forms) is meant to be read and made real inside the sacred precinct of each sacred being. Every human replicates the celestial (and terrestrial) temple. What was Above is imaged and created below, reflecting personally on our own interior space. In this analogue the paradigmatic image is made explicit. There are three main features in the Temple of heavenly and earthly being. The first is an outer domain followed by two inner rooms. In each of these there are specific instruments or pieces of furniture. The map or paradigm of the first temple sees them all with entry points in different places, perhaps signaling a form of sacred geography. This outline of the contours of the Temple and the sacred objects which they contain are used for the theurgic rites—where the divine energies are constellated, affecting the consciousness and being of human beings.

Using this design and topography, even for the template of a sacred human form, we can see a whole  ancient, sacred anthropology concerning the body, soul and spirit of a human being in relationship to transcendence itself. The body is the outer physical domain where certain sacred rituals are initiated and enacted. The soul is understood as an inner sanctum connected to the body. The spirit, however, is the deepest chamber where the most sacred instruments are kept and the hidden rites performed but hidden behind a veil of separation.

It should be noted that this description of the Temple in Jerusalem conforms better perhaps to the first temple built by Solomon than to the one built after the exile and enlarged by Herod. Both, however, possess an outer court, the inner structure of the holy place, and the most holy sanctum of all, the Holiest inner room. West, South and East are mentioned as the points of entry where there is ingress and egress—exchanges between the realms and movement between them. 

Temple Ritual

When these regions and the various rites and actions  described, we see perhaps unknown and mysterious relationships between them. In the outer court, washing or immersion is the first action with all of its consequences unfolding in forms of human experience. In the second space, the holy place of the inner temple, the emphasis appears to be upon a healing process that brings fullness of being—restoring all that had been lost and healing humankind from its wounds. In the third and holiest region of all, the Bridal Chamber, something almost unspeakable is achieved—ultimate union with the divine Presence and Reality. All of the steps between them are outlined here. There were those through the centuries who were dedicated to this sacred topography (the geography of ancient Jerusalem). Now, however, following its physical destruction they are making the discovery of this sacred precinct within themselves. In this Gospel humanity is being invited into a sacred vocation dedicated to actions and transformations which are theurgic, divine energies working alchemically within the intimate and interior spaces of the human human temple itself. 

The veil is lifted allowing for a further ascent 

from the place below into the transcendence above.

The Veil and the Merkavah

Based on what is known historically (and described in a number of scriptural texts detailing the events at the time of the crucifixion), the veil between the two rooms in the temple was said to have been dramatically rent in two from top to bottom. This is a legendary (and perhaps even mythological) event playing a major role in this mystical vision and teaching, having to do with major changes taking place inwardly in the human soul itself. Something that was keeping the soul and spirit separate from one another (from deep communion) is torn asunder. The veil is lifted allowing for a further ascent from the place below into the transcendence above. Human beings experience and practice can practice ascent (merkavah) now, which according to ancient terminology was called chariot mysticism, known of course to the prophets. The Spirit creates a vehicle or means for resurrection and ascension. 

The journey that began in the waters of baptism through immersion in the outer court, ends in  mystical union within the Bridal Chamber. This is a first temple mystical progression of the soul transformation into Spirit that is seen to be the activity of the Sacred Spirit herself transforming and transfiguring human beings as they move through each passageway chamber by chamber. This imagery was certainly more explicable to first century Jewish followers of Yeshua who had had access to the Temple itself and knew its long history in a way that feels distant to us centuries later. These archetypes and metaphors may have faded for us but we are being given access to their teachings. The Gospel of Philip helps us to taste something of the first-century experience and know the force and meaning behind Yeshua’s own mystical experience. This progression, however we name it now, is the same for all time and in all centuries. It is universal no matter the religious context, shared by many religious traditions across the ages through the streams of Sophia Perennis. What we need as we read this Gospel is to understand and see the signs of this same progression in ourselves and translate that understanding into this time and place so that we might more fully participate in these energies within the inner Temple of our own being. 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. In order to fully understand this text, it is important that you know something of the history of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Do an online study of its origins in the tabernacle made during the Exodus passage through the Sinai desert, and then the solid first construction made in Jerusalem, into the second Temple. 
2. Draw a diagram for yourself of the Temple and the elements and furniture inside it using this map as your template for understanding and interpreting this text. Place the directional coordinates in this new diagram.
3. Probably the most important aspect of this exercise is to relate the outer map to your own sense of yourself (your inner world as a sacred precinct or temple). Reflect on that relationship and add notes to this map as a kind of blueprint of your own spiritual evolution. 
4. If you have an opportunity, read any of the writings of the British scholar Margaret Barker who has done deep research on the subject of First Temple Mysticism and how it affected and influenced early Christianity. You might want to read one of her important books on this topic. A good place to start is the website dedicated to her work (www.margaretbarker.com) where there are many downloadable PDF articles on this topic. Read at least one salient article and journal your findings. 

 

Dear friends, we meet this Thursday August 15th at 7pm ET, 6pm CT to explore analogue 48. I have posted the commentary below along with the zoom link. Hope to see you soon, Alison

NOTES FOR FURTHER STUDY 

AND REFERENCE

1. In an article “The Temple Roots of the Liturgy,” Margaret Barker writes in a way that is relevant to this Gospel, providing a basis for understanding the rituals that are discussed in this and others analogues: “Christian custom, then, perpetuated practices which had their ancient roots in temple practice that had not perhaps been brought into the second temple. Presumably the Christian community also perpetuated certain understandings that accompanied these practices: the belief that the gift of knowledge and wisdom was a good, for example, and that it made humans divine (i.e. giving them eternal life), just as the serpent in Eden had said though it had been denied them there. We are seeing here another kind of continuity, not with the actual temple practices of the first century CE (nor with its scriptures), but with a remembered, perhaps idealized systems that are much older. We are looking at the construction and practices of the temple destroyed in the time of Josiah, rather than the second temple which was condemned in the Enoch tradition as impure and polluted (1 En.89.73). These early Jewish disciples of Yeshua appear to be following his teaching and practices concerning that first Temple with its mystical meaning found in earlier traditions. Margaret Barker’s research and work seems entirely pertinent to this Gospel, providing a key that unlocks much of its symbolism and purpose—which was to bring a follower of Yeshua into the mystical experience of the Bridal Chamber using the template of the early Temple as its guide into these mysteries. 
2. According to research done by Margaret Barker, the veil inside the temple between the most holy place and the rest of the temple was woven with four colors representing both heaven and earth. The legend of the veil is that it represented the entire cosmos, both revealing but also concealing the world beyond it. That veil must be removed entirely so that the soul and spirit, transcendence and immanence can exist together. 
3. Here is a further explanation of the relationship between the Creation story (expressed in the five books of the Mosaic vision) and the Temple itself. This is expressed by Margaret Barker in her article “Belonging in the Temple” (2007): The most well known of the wise men was Moses, and he received this vision of the cosmos on Sinai. After being given the ten commandments, Moses was on the mountain for six days, and then entered into the cloud of the divine glory for a further 40 days and nights (Exodus 24:15-18). Moses was entrusted with detailed instructions for building a place of worship. Initially it was to be the tabernacle, but later the temple. What Moses saw on the mountain top during this period he replicated (Exodus 25: 9, 40). He was shown a six day vision of the account and process of creation, which is why the Books of Moses begin with the creation stories. Genesis 1 is Moses’ vision. The creation itself was the first real temple of the Creator, and proper worship in that temple maintained the creation itself. According to the sanctuary of the temple, the holy of holies corresponded to Day One (the source and origin of all things—the presence of God). The second day was the firmament that screened the presence of God from human eyes which was the veil of the temple, and the outer halls and rooms of the temple represented the material creation, the third to sixth days.

 

Notes ON the Translation 

• Reference to the various parts of the Temple in Jerusalem is not perfectly clear in Coptic. It may be that it is referring to gateways. On the other hand it may be to chambers within the Temple.
• In the second paragraph implies the progression from one spiritual state to another.
• The final paragraph refers to a higher Temple beyond our space-time coordinates in the heavens.