Analogue 65

Analogue 65 

The Analogy of a Household

Consider a landowner of means who has children, servants, cattle, hogs and dogs, as well as wheat, barley, hay, fodder, meats, and acorns. Being wise he understands the nutritional needs of each member of his household. To children he gives bread, olive oil and meat. To servants, he offers oil and grain. To the cattle he gives barley, hay and fodder. He throws bones to the dog and acorns and bread crusts to the pigs. So it is with spiritual masters. If they are wise and truly understand the principle of discipleship they will not be fooled by outer physical form or appearance, rather they will perceive the inner condition of each individual’s soul and will adjust their words accordingly.

In our world’s system there are many humans who take on animal characteristics. The wise recognize this and to swine-like beings they throw acorns. To those who are bovine in nature, they give barley, straw and hay. To those whose characteristics are canine, bones. To servants, however, they give basic fare, and to their offspring they offer complete food.

SYNOPSIS

• All creatures in the world of being are being nourished and fed. 
• We are fed through wisdom which is a nutrient at the level of our own basic needs. 
• Providing the proper food for each level of being is wisdom’s desire.
• The wise master understands the interior level of being and the interior needs of each creature. 
• Qualities become essences in human beings. 
• Adjusting language according to individual need is critical.
• Complete food is available for those beings who possess divine-human characteristics.
• The principles of mastership and discipleship are on display in this analogue.

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COMMENTARY

Creature Dependent

Spiritual training, education, accomplishment and self-mastery (attained by means of practice under the guidance of a Master) are necessities and also a privilege in the processes of realization and becoming. This entire experience and its complexities are analogized in this passage which attempts to understand multiple realities, levels of being, types of human experience, and perhaps different spiritualities as well. All of these are aspects of the proper care and feeding of human beings who depend on differing modes of practice based perhaps on levels of consciousness and inner being. The complexity of these realities is likened to a landowner managing a large agricultural estate with its variety of creatures, each having their own particular and unique needs. If you have ever been around the daily work of a farm, you know the reality of its complex agricultural practices. Needs have to be met and understood on certain timetable which are not dependent upon the whims of the landowner, but upon the particular requirements of each creature being cared for and upon the seasons in the rounds of a year. These practices are cyclical as well as creature dependent.

There is a vast variety of needs and possibilities, each creature requiring its own kind. A seasoned master who knows what those might be and how they can and should be supplied is in reality “farming the world.” This could be understood as wisdom’s work of pastoral care. All of it requires discernment, understanding the resources available, and what sequence is needed. This is the practice of multi-tasking and wise management, which takes a high degree of understanding and previous experience. Years of training and practice are essential if one is to feed a multitude of beings and care properly for the land upon which they depend. It is a form of practical knowledge with great responsibility. 

What is at issue is the quality and “qualification” of a human being—the processes by which their inner qualities are either increased 

or diminished.

Inner Discernment

Of particular importance in this passage and one that is at its heart, is the following insight: The one who is wise and truly understands the principles of discipleship will not be fooled by outer physical form or appearances. Rather, he or she will perceive the inner condition of each individual’s soul and will adjust their words and actions accordingly. This directs the work of a mentor, teacher, or spiritual master towards the most salient features of spiritual transmission. At its core is the ability to read the soul of another individual despite what the outer form may or may not say or suggest. Yeshua clearly had this ability, and so was constantly speaking to the inner needs of the persons around him whom he was addressing. As a teacher, transmitter, and shepherd of souls, his spiritual mastery was such that he could see past the surface structure of an individual to the deep conditions of each being. 

There are as many levels of consciousness and being within individuals as there are differing kinds of nutritional needs, depending on the inner condition and state of each being. Those whose souls are bound to animal-like forms of consciousness must be dealt with in their own particular way. Those who are closer to the inner relationships of family life within the “household” have an altogether different set of needs with their own ways of being met. There is basic food, and then there is something called complete food (for a wide-ranging diet). We could also think of the latter, perhaps, as a full meal with all the trimmings, whereas for those at the more basic levels, their needs are more simple, much in the same way we feed an infant or a young child. 

You cannot give a baby gourmet fare. The diets of children are often limited and spare. Only later are all the varieties of foods and cuisines introduced and appreciated. This seems to be a spiritual principle that can be applied to the work and practice of spiritual direction and guidance—the raising up of those in need of care. The householder. on the other hand, perhaps requires nothing from the outside. All of his or her needs are met from within. This is not directly said, but it is implied based on principles outlined in this Gospel. What is at issue is the “qualification” of a human being—the processes by which their inner qualities are either increased or diminished, for both directions seem possible. Maturation and growth is implicit and required, but it also appears that qualities within a soul might also ebb away. Perhaps this describes a dying process. 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. The thought of this analogue is a full metaphorical treatment of the spiritual care and feeding of human beings. It is imperative to allow the metaphors to speak as they will and not focus simply on the literalisms or rely too strictly on words or practices with which we might be more familiar. It is clear that in the human world, words spoken at the right moment for the right reason indeed become food for the soul. Think back, how have you been fed such spiritual fare? In the course of your spiritual becoming, when has spiritual direction helped most to meet your inner needs? What has been ministered to you?
2. Think of a great household as a spiritual metaphor. Where might you be in such a residence? What do you see to be your work in that household?  What responsibilities for feeding others do you have? When do you know if it is the right time or fare needed for the spiritual growth and sustenance of another soul?
3. Can you think of a time when you have judged another by outer appearances, only to find later that what was on the inside was different? How might you have been fooled, or how might you have been helped to better discern the interiority of another? What inside you assists in that discernment? 
4. What other principles of discipleship are important for you that have assisted you in your own becoming, or that you have found most useful in helping others that may or may not be in this analogue?
5. What type of spiritual foods are known to you that you can offer others? Think of provisions where you must go out and buy food that is already prepared, or when you make a meal, cooking and preparing it all yourself. Imagine that you could not only cook the food but also grow it, and then harvest and prepare it. What levels of spiritual proficiency do each of these activities require? 

 

NOTES FOR FURTHER STUDY 

AND REFERENCE

1. One of the great sacred vocations empowered by Spirit and known across traditions is the Way of the Teacher. (Traditionally, the others are the Way of the Warrior, the Healer, and the Visionary). The symbol for the Way of the Teacher is a winged human (or alternatively, an Angel—a humanoid form with wings). In the canonical tradition, the Gospel of Matthew is understood to express this charism masterfully, embodied in the work of Yeshua as Teacher. His wisdom teachings form the foundations for the transmissions that flowed from him East and West. In the modern West. We are used to educational structures that carefully delineate levels of age and achievement—and these are perhaps educational improvements as we train and teach our young. In ancient times, however, classrooms were not so structured. Typically, as in the early days of American education, teaching was done in a one room school house—all levels and everyone was present listening and taking in the process from the earliest levels through to graduation. This represents the metaphor of this analogue where a careful householder and landowner is required to see to the needs of everything and everyone, managing and caring for the whole and not just the part with a degree of expertise that a single-crop farm (such as cattle ranching, or a soybean farmer) does not necessarily need to do. Under these conditions, the Way of the Teacher demands careful attention using methods of transmission that work up and down the levels of ability, attention and comprehension that each student has. This is a form of mastery that is also perhaps best understood as a gift given by both heaven and earth—a synergy of Spirit that is embodied in an individual when both the horizontal and the vertical axes of reality are brought into coordination and flourish together to accomplish the task. These forms of spiritual mastery are replicated in different ways in the other sacred vocations as well. 
2. Discernment is said to be both a gift of wisdom (the result of long years of experience through trial and error), as well as an endowment from the Sacred Spirit. It is clearly not just an intellectual exercise that is the result of careful analysis. In the sacred traditions, it is described as being much more intuitive. From the perspectives and teachings of Perennial Wisdom, discernment is known to be a kardial function rooted in the cognitive capacities that exceed our rational faculties. Intuition requires not simply mentation as an activity of the brain, but is more deeply located in the cognitive center of the heart (understood to be a cognitive organ transcendent to the capacities of mental thought). Discernment is always used in conjunction with an active intelligence that is available beyond the dimensions of space and time, and part of the greater fullness of being and consciousness, also described as a oneness or a fullness. Related to this unity, discernment is made possible a both as a gift and a learned skill. 

Notes on the Translation

• The landowner is said to be a householder who possesses wealth and holdings. 
• The words “children” and “offspring” translate the original words “son” or “sons.” 
• The Spiritual Master in the original text is described as a “disciple of God.”
• The various designations of humans appearing in animal form is somewhat reversed in the original text which speaks of animals in human form.