Analogue 68; a partner to Analogue 69

Analogue 68 

Secrets of the Hidden Realms

Abraham rejoiced to see what he saw, and as a sign, he cut off the flesh of his foreskin to show us what it means to put away the fleshly system of this world.

In this world when any living entity holds their inner reality in secret, they live; when it is exposed, they die. For example, when the inner parts of a human are enclosed within the body, the person lives, but if they should become exposed to the external world, the person dies. So it is with a tree, if it sprouts in a normal manner it will bud out and thrive as long as its roots are covered, but if it is uprooted and they are exposed, the tree withers and dies. This is true for everything brought into existence in this world, whether external and manifest, or internal and unmanifest.

If, for example, the roots of evil are hidden they remain strong, but as soon as they are recognized openly for what they are, they perish. It is because of this that the Logos says, “The axe has already been applied to the root of the tree.” It will not merely fell the tree, however, for a tree chopped down will sprout from its roots again. Rather the axe bites down deep into the roots until they are exposed, and so Yeshua uproots them from their place, which has only been done in part by others. Let us delve deeply into our own hearts to the root of evil and tear it out. If it is recognized for what it is, it will be uprooted. Yet, if we are unconscious of it and do not recognize it, indeed it takes root within the heart and produces its own fruits there. It masters us and we are made its slaves. It captures us causing us to do things we would not do otherwise, and keeps us from doing what we truly desire. Its potency remains as long as we do not recognize it. Hidden and unconscious it coerces us.

SYNOPSIS

• The inward signs and power of the shadow and the “fleshly nature” of this world’s systems is in view. 
• The traditional Hebrew image of circumcision and its esoteric meaning is used for the outer structures of this world as a debilitation. 
• Penis mutilation and its history is used as the signifier of the Jewish covenant within the Hebrew nation.
• The explanation of exoteric and esoteric function of religion is made explicit. 
• The need for both and the function of the exoteric is expressed as beneficial for the esoteric realities which must remain hidden and are not meant to be exposed. 
• The necessity of the exposure of evil, however, in the shadowland so that the Tree of Life may flourish and live. 
• The critical exposure of darkness to the light is explored. 
• The shadow side may be an unconscious reality, but becoming conscious (or being understood in the light of conscious awareness) it begins to change. 
• A textual understanding of how the shadow works is perhaps similar to contemporary understandings of the ego and super-ego in modern psychology. Both see the necessity of bringing these to the light. 
• The power of hidden or unconscious realities to enslave or master us is understood and explored. 
• In human experience, the shadow produces its own dark fruits creating compulsions and coercions, destroying personal freedom. 
• Psycho-spiritual functions that are necessary for spiritual maturation are examined. 
• The ancient Jewish image of the axe against the tree of the egoic and super-egoic structures within is used  . 

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COMMENTARY

Inner and Outer Realities

Contrasts between inner and outer realities (light and darkness, inside and outside, esoteric and exoteric, what is hidden and what is exposed) are highlighted in this analogue, raising crucial spiritual concerns that must be understood and addressed in order for the Tree of Life to flourish. The use of the metaphor of the Tree is, perhaps, an example of early Kabbalistic teaching whose central image is the living Tree (or Tree of Life) whose roots, strangely, are in the infinity of the heavens, and whose crown is growing into the finite worlds. In this mystical reality, the role of the esoteric and the hidden, needing protection by the outer covering, are contrasted with the structures of this world’s darknesses which need to be exposed and brought to light. These teachings are central to Perennial Wisdom. 

The Gospel of Philip explores deep psycho-spiritual dimensions related to spiritual maturation with great precision, indicating that Yeshua was keenly aware of the depths of our human nature and its many dimensions, and these insights were at the heart of his own traditional wisdom and teaching. 

The contrasts introduced here concern elements and qualities known within the immanent experience of the Bridal Chamber. It is there, in that secret and yet enduring relationship, that humans experience deep intimacies with the divine Presence, coming more deeply to know themselves. From the perspective of the mysteries of the Bridal Chamber, what is inward can be understood mystically. These explorations are not unlike contemporary depth-psychology, which insists that we cannot understand our own human nature and our relationships with one another without coming to terms with the underlying and hidden psychological dimensions and dynamics that occur below levels of ordinary consciousness. In many ways, these ancient and modern insights parallel one another. The Gospel of Philip explores deep psycho-spiritual dimensions related to spiritual maturation with great precision, indicating that Yeshua was keenly aware of the depths of our human nature and its many dimensions, and that these were at the heart of his own wisdom teachings. 

The Abrahamic Sign

The text begins with an observation about circumcision (the genital surgery on a male subject practiced and prescribed in ancient Jewish rites within the Abrahamic tradition). The text says that the roots of the practice of circumcision have come historically from Abraham, who undertook the spiritual meaning of surgical removal of the natural foreskin of flesh around the glans of the penis. He understood this act not to be simply physical, but more importantly a symbolic one, representing spiritual separation from the systems of this world. In dealing with the world’s systems within and around us, something must be removed at the level of the heart, not just in outer society or on the surface structures (the skin of the physical body). Following the Abrahamic tradition, this Gospel accepts the many symbolic nuances articulated here. Early Hebrew society, however, particularly used circumcision as a unique outer marker to distinguish Jewish men (and Hebrew culture) from the peoples of the world around them, where this strange and perhaps arcane custom (which is now common today) was not typically practiced. 

From this historical illustration, a broader point is being made concerning esotericism and exotericism in general, and the relationship between what is private and must remain so, and what is put on public display. An important distinction is being made between hiddenness and public disclosure, inwardness and outer revelation, as well as what is conscious in us and what is unconscious. All of these are highlighted in different ways within this analogue. These are complex relationships, and in each of the complementary opposites, on each side of the equation, there are both positive and negative realities at work. The text begins with statements about the necessity of keeping some aspects of our interior relationship (relationships within the heart) necessarily hidden and sacrosanct in order for them to remain alive and flourish. Some precious aspects of spirituality (the relationship between the human and the divine) must be kept secret, hidden away from public scrutiny, because exposure inevitably leads to processes of diminishment ending in death.

Natural Analogues

Using the illustration of the inner organs of the human body and the roots of a tree, the observation is made that in both cases there are parts which must be kept hidden since any exposure of them to the outer world leads to danger and death. These have correspondences within the spiritual world where inner spiritual organs also exist, and whose roots (to use the other metaphor) sink deeply into the divine Ground. Imagine that these organs and roots of spirit need protection from exposure to the world outside. For example, in the kardial center, elements and aspects of the flow of inner life and its transmission from their origins in Sophia Perennis need not be public knowledge. Because they are sacred and delicate, perhaps their transmission must be protected from the profane world. In a democratic society where anything that is not common knowledge is considered to be unegalitarian (requiring that it be made available to the general public), it is easy to forget this. The sacred often needs private protection from the damage done to it by the profane. Exposing its secret and sacred nature to the corrosive force of our common culture can be highly toxic and destructive. 

There are sacred qualities and relationships that flourish only in the context of the heart, but are diminished and destroyed in the profane outer world where they are at best misunderstood if not defaced. They are broken when exposed to public desecration. In the privacy of the heart, however (in the bed-chamber of relational intimacy), a whole other spiritual psychology begins to grow that is delicate, needing care, protection, and attention. Like the organs of the body, these inner workings and relationships can only flourish in a certain kind of environmental privacy held secretly within. 

Structures of Evil and Dysfunction

There is, however, a converse set of relationships—structures of evil and dysfunction—that also exist within us (however they got there). These must be exposed to the divine Light and unveiled for what they are. Only then will they lose their potency and ability to affect us because they have been touched by the disinfecting properties of Light. By experience, humankind knows the subtle distortions that are at work in the chambers and passageways of the outer and underworlds, as well as in the human soul. When these are hidden away, unacknowledged or undisclosed, they become sources of toxicity contaminating the living systems around them. In that hidden environment, the psycho-spiritual diseases of humankind are rampant (and perhaps like viruses), they go unrecognized but are nonetheless virulent, causing havoc at every level of being. This Gospel seems certain that if these lethal systems put roots down into the sacred soil of the heart itself, they damage the soul and the human world around them. The result is that the soul surrenders and sells itself into slavery, resulting in a loss of sovereignty. The precious zone of inner freedom becomes severely restricted. The territory of liberating action is narrowed to the normative patterns of self-interest and social conditioning. Nothing is free or flourishes in these spiritual wastelands where lovelessness reigns.  

In summary, this Gospel addresses what today in modern thought we might call; working with the shadow. It is the side of the soul that lies hidden in the unconscious but nonetheless affects human behavior in a most profound way. What needs to happen is for these hidden shadow-structures to be brought out into the sunlight of understanding so that their roots may be exposed for what they are. This is a therapeutic act that we are familiar with in contemporary psychological practices. It is not enough just to know that such things exist. It is critical they be brought into full conscious awareness where the purifying Light of exposure and understanding can do its work. In the modern era, this shadow-work falls, perhaps, into categories concerning the super-ego, egoic attachment, and other obsessive-compulsive behaviors that are the results of unacknowledged wounding, abuse, and systemic distortion. They also exist in the hidden underbelly of our common culture where prejudice and bigotry distort the very fabric of human society. In order for human life to exist and the Tree of Life planted at the center of the garden of paradise to flourish once again, all that inhibits it in the inner and outer world must be acknowledged. These shadows are to be exposed and the deep interior darknesses touched by the cleansing power of eternal Light. 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Using the metaphor of circumcision borrowed from the ancient religious practices of Judaism, this Gospel makes a case for cutting away aspects of human nature that inhibit the enjoyment of the divine Reality. If it is understood in this way, how does this metaphor appeal to you? How do you interpret its meaning outside a Jewish or medical context? Much can be said about this archaic and primitive metaphor which may be of no spiritual value to us now. Perhaps something else is more germane for us. What might that be?
2. The Gospel uses two other metaphors to speak about what is needed in the inner conditions of the heart: the roots of a tree and the organs of the human body. These illustrate actions and conditions that seem to express opposing needs. Outline for yourself what those opposites may be? These metaphors are perhaps more amenable to our contemporary sensibilities than the use of the act of circumcision. 
3. How might you apply these metaphors to an awareness of your own inner spiritual condition? How would you apply them to past experiences you might have had regarding concealing and exposure?
4. The state of the heart is the central issue in this analogue. This Gospel is trying to make an important point about its condition because it recognizes the heart to be the most holy place within a human being (its most sacred precinct), for it is the meeting point (the place of rendezvous) between the human and the divine. How do you assess your heart’s inner condition?
5. What is one’s personal responsibility to this core aspect of the soul—the heart space? Is there some action that is required of you now? What action might that be? What therapeutic act could you take based on this Gospel’s understanding? 
6. Using the commentary, can you detect anything about the original wounding of your own soul, or about the shadow work in league with the Sacred Spirit that might need to be done? Is there territory that has been surrendered that needs to be regained? How might the shadow-work of your own soul be addressed in any of the ways this Gospel suggests?

 

NOTES FOR FURTHER STUDY 

AND REFERENCE

1. In the history of human society, circumcision is arcane and culturally complex. Although it is practiced today as an aspect of a religious rite in both Judaism and Islam, it is also understood medically to have hygienic benefits for male subjects (although even this is often in dispute). It can certainly be understood in all of these categories, and the historical lineage of this tradition can be traced into the ancient past with its various social and religious associations. Looked at in a purely objective manner, however, it is a strange, unnatural mutilation, which has its counterpart in the genital mutilation of females for an even more nefarious reason—to inhibit sexual pleasure. Although this subject is arcane and anachronistic to say the very least, it still remains a curious custom in the modern world, retaining the symbolism of being “cut off” (or estranged) from the outer world, in order to know better the inner world. This latter interpretation is only one of many used to justify the custom, which is being traditionally presented in this very Jewish Gospel. 
2. Unconsciousness and the unconscious realm are a category for understanding the depth of the human psyche that is taken very seriously in the world of contemporary psychology. This category began to be explored and described as important in the last two centuries by such luminaries as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Though these terms are useful in describing the psychological life of human beings, they also express what Perennial Wisdom has always understood to be true—that we are multi-dimensional creatures. We both inhabit and contain multiple layers of reality, the deepest of which extends beyond the psyche and into the spiritual depths of the soul and perhaps even into infinite Reality itself. In that sense, depth psychology only goes so far, or typically confines itself to the domain of the human soul called the psyche. This is a structure of human consciousness and self-awareness with many layers and elements. In the modern era, we value these categories. They are rightly understood to have opened us up to our own interior depths. In other sacred worlds, especially in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, these depths have been explored in other important ways, indicating even greater complexity than that which is typical of our sacred or secular sciences in the West. In all cases, what is clear is that we human beings are not only complex but contain a depth that is typically hidden even from ourselves. 
3. In the contemporary world, systemic distortion and structural evil are two terms used to describe conditions not only concerning the human soul, but, perhaps more importantly, the larger structures of human society to which we belong. It is clear that the social structures of modern society are not only constructed to protect the privileged; they exploit the underprivileged in countless ways (but typically hidden from view until they are exposed). This is an evil that eats away at the heart of the human community, as do the distortions and inequities that are woven into many relationships in families and human institutions. Typically, these remain concealed until they are publicly exposed, and then, in that light, there is the possibility of taking action to change things for the better. Since the Enlightenment, modern thought has turned its focus on these hidden structures, seeking to reveal their destructive effects. This has become an important topic in political thought, social psychology, history, philosophy, and hermeneutics practiced in the humanities. It has sometimes been referenced as the hermeneutics of suspicion highlighted in the 17th and 18th centuries of the modern era. This subject matter has continued to contribute to deconstructionist thought which dominates modern philosophy. 
4. Working with the Shadow is now a term that is usefully available in ordinary discussions concerning the inner and outer work of depth-exploration used by psychologists, therapists, contemplatives, spiritual directors, and wisdom seekers. In each case, it has multiple meanings and has expanded into many practices that include dream analysis, hypnosis, guided meditations, personal inquiry, and reflective journaling, just to name a few. Depending on the psychological or spiritual lineages from which they come, they each have their own reference points. What is critical to each, however, is the realization that until these interior “shadowlands” have been explored and brought into the light of conscious reflection, they have undue control over the thought and behavior of most human beings. Once they are lifted into the light of self-awareness, they begin to lose their power, or are counter-balanced with other forces for a well-balanced life. The ancient adage “Know Thyself “ pertains, at least in part, to this kind of in-depth self-observation which is being expressed here. Evidence that these practices existed early on is found in the psalms of the ancient Hebrew people (Psalm 42 and 139 are examples). Knowledge concerning the depths of the heart is expressed, of course, in the Gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene. They are also in the later writings of the desert mothers and fathers and in the literature of the mystics and sages of all ages. In the present day, a vast treasury of literature concerning these important subjects is readily available to us.  

Notes on the Translation

• The quote in the third paragraph of the analogue is also found in Matthew 3:10 where it is said to be a saying of Yeshua.
• The “others” who only partially exposed the roots of evil are unknown, but the implication is, perhaps, that they are earlier prophets and messengers. 
• The term “hearts” is used in Coptic that could also mean “mind,” but only understood as the translation of the Greek word nous (the spiritual intellect) which is described as the Eye of the Heart in Hebrew.
• The reference about being made slaves of evil that causes us to do things we might not otherwise do is similar to the passage in Romans 7:14-20 where Paul says it keeps him from doing what he wants to do.