Analogue 50

Analogue 50 

Mystical Union

At the river Jordan, Yeshua revealed the great fullness that is the Kingdom of the Heavens, which existed before all things. There he was begotten as the son. There he was anointed. There he was restored to fullness of being. And from there he began the great Restoration.

So let us speak then of this great mystery in this way: The Father of All came down and united with “the virgin,” and on that day made light shine forth from the fire—revealing to us the power of the Bridal Chamber. Because of this, also on that day Yeshua came into fullness of being, coming forth from the Bridal Chamber as a bridegroom with his bride. It was also in this way that the balance of All was established in Yeshua’s heart so that by means of this each of his students might have access to enter into his Rest.

SYNOPSIS

• The Great Messianic Initiation and Enlightenment — Yeshua’s coming into fullness of being
• All the conditions for that possibility were present in the moment of baptism and subsequent experience. Everything had come together and began to unfold so that he was ready to be brought into the fulness of Abrahamic Enlightenment as Sage, Mystic, and Healer. 
• Though he was young, yet he was already ripe for initiation into the Great Age in the Realm of the Heavens—the original state of humankind. 
• He was entering into the experience of the Adman Kadmon (the original Adam) or from another perspective, he was being birthed as a manifestation of Adam Kadmon into this world. 
• That which had been fragmented in him was now united and he was able to make his way through the steps and stages necessary to receive the enlightenment of full union. 
• He realized and recognized the authority of his origination (sonship) in God. Saturated with Spirit, everything was restored back into alignment, integrating inside his secret core. 
• He could begin, then, the Great Project of Universal Restoration. 
• This was also the moment of the “alchemy of consummation”—the uniting of Father and Mother in order to birth the child but strangely not as an infant, but a fully mature and united being. 
• Yeshua, the paradigmatic figure, thus became in his own soul “a married being” through hieros gamos, Sacred Marriage —
• He was no longer a single individual egoic soul (a bachelor). Now he was a married soul whose bride was Spirit. This balance was restored in his Heart. 
• It is in this equilibrium that one finally knows “rest” (is at peace). 

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COMMENTARY

The Enlightenment

We are used to a description of Enlightenment as a category that is typically associated with the sacred traditions of the East. It is important, therefore that we see its roots and reality in the western Abrahamic traditions as well, but with its own unique characteristics. Though Yeshua was certainly not the only western sage to have had a profound experience of Enlightenment, however as the center of the new rising of Interiorized Judaism, he represented a powerful mystical seeing and teaching coming from the ancient streams of earlier Jewish Wisdom. Until the discovery of the Gospel of Philip, however, the scope of our understanding about his experience was limited largely to the canonical Gospels and their descriptions preserved in the western world. 

Now however, with the discovery of this and other texts in upper Egypt, we have a new, fresh perspective, one that brings us not only greater detail, but also deeper insight based upon Oriental viewpoints that were held and preserved by the early Jewish and Christian communities east of Palestine. These are of great value, and like the enlightenment of the Buddha, we begin to understand more fully the powerful experience of Yeshua’s own enlightenment as an Anointed being. 

After his experience at the Jordan and in the wilderness, he is suffused with insight as his own task and mission becomes clear to him in those days. In addition, this analogue sets out the teaching concerning the Messianic mission of Yeshua, not as a result of his birth, but because of his baptism. According to this Gospel, everything begins there for him, and thus a physical “virgin birth” is not the necessary category of theological thought in the East in the way it became critical in the Christian West. There is much to consider from this passage. 

The Central Mission

The central mission of Yeshua begins with the events around his baptism in the River Jordan, under the aegis of John the Baptist, the eastern borderline of central Palestine. There is a new movement of turning away from the old conventions of religion and the beginning of a new, fresh path according to the visionary seeing of John who it seems was a member of the outlier communities of Jewish non-conformists and resistance along the Dead Sea. John appears to have emerged out of those alternate forms of Judaism, to which Yeshua himself had also been exposed. His baptismal act brought about a renewed personal responsibility to the inner traditions of the faith—loyalty to the Spirit of the Torah and a cleansing of the inner core, followed by a path and a practice that supported the highest ideals of first-century Jewish spirituality. Not all the details are fully known, but what is clear is that this is an alternative vision to the conventional norms of religious practices as they were sustained in Jerusalem by the religious establishment of Judaea centered in the Herodian Temple. Alternative practices and theological thought are offered to the ordinary person seeking to follow the ancient tenets of their faith perhaps in a more intentional way. Yeshua is initiated into this stream and tradition, accepting the leadership of John as both mentor and master of his unique pathway. 

In his own initiatory act, Yeshua undergoes a sudden, inner transformation of spirit and consciousness that appears to change him and his life from this point forward. From this experience he is sent out upon a new path that will ultimately take his short life and intense work across the landscape of Palestine in the first century. His experience is explained using the language of first temple mystical experience that has been explored through the findings of the scholar Margaret Barker. Yeshua undergoes an experience and initiation that leads him not simply to the temple precinct in Jerusalem, but to its analogue within his own being.

Transformation into a Sage and Mystic 

According to this Gospel, suddenly Yeshua undergoes a profound transformation of consciousness and being and he begins the work of cosmic restoration for which he will be forever known. The explanation of his mission, however, is described in ways that are unfamiliar and often misunderstood in the western tradition. As a mystic, Yeshua became a young Jewish sage and wisdom master. There had, of course, been early years of inner preparation for this, but here is the culmination of that extraordinary journey of a revelation that is being made known to him. Everything appears to come together inside of him as an act that falls not only along the horizontal axis of his personal history, but even more clearly, from above along the vertical axis of his being. Light falls, the Spirit descends, his own soul is illuminated and united in a sacred marriage. He emerges out of this moment and the next forty days of wilderness experience whole and unified in a way that, at least from the perspective of this text, he had not known previously. 

While on earth, Yeshua tasted the fullness of heaven. Not unlike descriptions of individuals who have had Near Death Experiences and come back aware of the fullness of transcendence. From those critical days onward, he carried the vision and message of heaven within him. It appears that he was permanently in contact with heaven as the Source of his words and work, about which he was fully aware. The text enumerates what happened to him. It is described in the mystical language of First Temple Mysticism. He was begotten and birthed as a divine Son. He was anointed with Sacred Spirit who was his wisdom mother, sister, beloved, light and fire. His own being was fully restored and reunited to its fullness—its complete potential, and in turn he began the same work for the rest of humankind. 

Yeshua undergoes an experience and initiation that leads him not simply to the temple precinct in Jerusalem, but to its analogue within his own being.

The Inner Virgin

In this analogue, the secret and mystery of what is said to have happened to him inwardly—his mystical experience of union—is more fully explored. This description does not seem to come from an outside observer, but from his own unique, inner perspective. We have not had anything like this before in the Gospel tradition. This is subjective experience from Yeshua’s point of view, and he himself appears to be reflecting on its meaning (at least in the way the Gospel of Philip presents it). After he has had time to reflect, he described privately to his students what it has come to mean for him. 

If this Gospel is a transmission of his own deep reflections on his inner experience, then from Yeshua’s unique understanding, this is the significance for him: The Father as Source descended and united with the Mother-virgin inside of him. This was clearly not his birth-mother, but perhaps we could say it was the virginal ground of his own being. Light leapt up from the fire that has been ignited inside him, and he saw and experienced the power of the Bridal Chamber—the place of deep mystical union. It was perhaps this sudden realization and the ongoing sense of unity that he carried with him into the desert where he grasped the power of the unity of being alive within him. He had undergone a Sacred Marriage within the inner precinct of his own soul. 

Restoration to the Adam Kadmon

In that transformation, barriers had been overcome, matter joined with spirit, male and female were united, heaven descended and bonded with earth. Yeshua himself was born not only as a full-grown son, but one fully manifested as of the Son of Humanity, the original being of Adam—Adam Kadmon—in its new transfigured form combining all. He understood himself to be, therefore, a “married being.” He was no longer partial or fragmented, for the bride and bridegroom had been united inside of him. 

In another metaphor from Analogue 14, the image and the Angel archetype came together as one, the split between being healed. The ancient imbalances were made whole in his heart. Yeshua emerged from that experience knowing fullness, which was the necessary energy that comes from the mystical experience of oneness. He was also able to transmit that same energy to his students in order that they too might come to know this ultimate state of inner rest and peace. Something extraordinary, beyond the norm had occurred in Yeshua’s heart, but it was not held there privately for him alone. It became the breath and energy that he would share, transmitting it to his students and through them to the world.   

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. If, as may be true, this Analogue is the deep, personal, and private sharing of Yeshua’s personal inner experience and what he shared with his students, how does this change the way you read this analogue?
2. This description of Yeshua’s central moment of enlightenment is also part of the narrative of the canonical Gospels (Matthew 3:13–17, but in Mark 1:9–11 and Luke 3:21–22, John 1:29–34). Read these and see what comparisons and contrasts they have with the description found in this Gospel. How are they similar or different? What may be the differences in their focus and perspective?
3. If you were to write a “Christology” using this analogue, what would be its significant truths and teachings? The term Son relates to the phrase that Yeshua uses to describe himself—the Son of Humanity (or Man), meaning the original Adam. He understands that he is representing this original form of humankind and bringing it to full manifestation on earth. How would you describe this greater understanding rather than simply expressing his birth as a human?
4. The Gospel of Philip assigns the description of the virgin birth to this baptismal event and not to the birth narratives of the other Gospels. This appears to be a key difference between the traditions of East and West. What or who is the “virgin” inside of Yeshua? How would you explain virginity from this perspective? 
5. If Yeshua became the Messiah from the moment of baptism, what changed in his own consciousness and experience? How do you think he “woke up” during this event from what he had experienced before?
6. How would you describe and define the great Restoration that Yeshua begins from this moment forward? 
7. Who do you think are the bride and bridegroom that leave this bridal chamber? How would. you describe or identify them?
8. This analogue says that the “balance of all things” was established in Yeshua’s heart. What do you think that means? What imbalances were restored for him that you might also experience?

 

NOTES FOR FURTHER STUDY 

AND REFERENCE

1. This analogue differs from the other canonical narratives of the baptism of Yeshua and his subsequent experiences in very significant ways. First, it appears to be a first-person account, seen from Yeshua’s own perspective as the commentary above suggests. This is entirely unique, and part of the “mysteries” as Yeshua is telling them. It also contains a very different theological perspective shared by the early Jewish community which was rejected by the orthodoxy of Gentile Christianity in later centuries. From the Occidental perspective, Yeshua was always the “son from his birth” and that sonship was uniquely his own, different from anyone else’s and known from Eternity prior to his “incarnation” as the unique Son of God. The early Jewish community did not accept this point of view, but ascribed to what was later called “Christological Adoptionism.” As a human being, at his baptism, Yeshua was adopted or received into the state of “sonship” which began for him at that moment and not before. This theological perspective was later considered heretical and on this basis as well as for other reasons, Jewish Christianity (the form followed by Torah-observant Jews in later centuries) was rejected and expelled from the gentile Christian communities of the West. You might want to explore these and other issues of concern between the early followers of Yeshua further. James Taybor’s explanations are a credible look at this first traditions of Christian theological expression. His The Jesus Dynasty (2006) is a comprehensive exploration of these perspectives. (In addition, Jeffrey Butz on the legacy of Yeshua, and Samuel Zimmer on his history of the Gospel of Thomas, as well as Margaret Barker’s work on Temple theology and mysticism, make important contributions to this topic)
2. The historical recreation of first century Judaism is a highly complex enterprise. Clearly there were multiple factions among Jewish practitioners, not the least of which was the division between Galilean Jewry and its counterpart in Judea. In Judea, the center of temple worship, there were further divisions, most prominent being the dissidents and non-conformists who withdrew into private enclaves and communities around the Dead Sea. John, the cousin of Yeshua, appears to have come from one of these communities whose most notable representations were the Essenes. Whether John was an Essene or not is unclear. Certainly, he was inclined toward the distinctions made against the conventional forms of Judaism practiced in Jerusalem, which the outlier communities considered to be corrupt and compromised. Yeshua appears never to have officially joined these southern non-conformists, but he may have been amenable to many of their ideas. His vision appears to be both uniquely his, and yet also influenced by other Jewish mystics in a region centered around the city of Safed (known as Tzfat in Hebrew) and other places in the trans-Jordanian region of greater Galilee to which he had often retreated. 
3. The teaching of the Great Restoration of all humankind to fullness of being is in focus in this Analogue. This doctrine was espoused and taught as significant in the early teachings of Christianity, but became lost as a central focus to the West in later centuries after the Alexandrian period of patristic history. This teaching was the great good news of ultimate reconciliation, where nothing is ever lost to God and all is restored to completion at the culmination of human history. Ultimate Reconciliation (or apocatastasis) is central to the vision of the Gospel of Philip, which understands this as the destiny toward which all history is pointed and in which every human soul will eventually participate. It is similar to the Buddhist teaching of the Bodhisattva where the great Ones, enlightened beings, will not leave this plane of existence until all are saved from suffering. The Abrahamic version found in this text understands this same reconciliation to involve multiple dimensions of time and being and not just the temporal world as we know it. These dimensions are called aions whose end results in full restoration. This final rest (or rest-point) can only take place when all and everything is reconciled and restored back to original goodness. This is known as the great Age. 
4. In this Analogue the doctrine of the Son of Adam (Adam Kadmon) is once again brought forward, but this time in terms of a fulfillment. Beginning in the prophetic tradition, this figure represents the original being of humankind at its very beginning point in the heavens, but which now moves toward its ultimate eschatological conclusion in Eternity.  
5. The word virgin and virginity is fraught within Christianity, especially its western manifestations. Doctrines of the virgin birth, the immaculate conception, and the perpetual virginity of St. Mary have created great difficulty for understanding this term from a more primordial perspective. It is now an idea weighted with so much historical and doctrinal baggage that it is nearly impossible to see what its essential meaning is in this analogue. A clarifying insight is found in the Meditations on the Tarot (by Valentin Tomberg). in his reflection on the arcana of Force he speaks eloquently (not about its sexual connotations) but about the force of virginity, which is the unity of that which is above with that which is below. This becomes an original force that Yeshua says, can “move mountains” (Logion 108). The energy to do this is the power of three worlds (body, soul, and spirit) coming together in harmony inside the heart which is capable of accomplishing the seemingly impossible. This is a very deep meaning of virgin, used in this analogue in such an interesting way—the virgin point within Yeshua’s heart. 

Notes ON the Translation

• The Kingdom of the Heavens could also be translated as the “realm” or “sovereignty” of the heavens.
• The phrase “restored to fullness of being” is the full meaning of the word “salvation” or “restoration.”
• We put the term “the virgin” in quotes because this text appears to be making a claim about the virgin soul of Yeshua and not about the Virgin birth from his earth mother.
• The All referring to the Father of All is the same word used for the phrase the balance of All. This particular way of translating the term “the All” or “the Totality” puts emphasis on the fact that nothing is missing and everything is present and in balance—which is the direct meaning of that term.
• There is an ambiguity in the original text concerning a word that could be translated as “embodied.” We have chosen instead to translate it as “came into fullness of being.” One could possibly make the case that it is the Father who is embodied, for clearly Yeshua is the embodiment of the Father. Here, however, it is Yeshua who came forth in a body that was now saturated with Spirit. In the translation the term Yeshua is signified, which is then emphasized in the original text in the last sentence.
• The term “rest” is the Greek word used for “repose” which implies the place of balance and equilibrium between opposites.