登陆注册
5467600000024

第24章 THE WORSHIP OF ISHI.(1)

In Hosea ii. 16 we find this remarkable statement:--"And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me Ishi, and shalt no more call Me Baali"; and with this we may couple the statement in Isaiah lxii. 4:--"Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married."

In both these passages we find a change of name; and since a name stands for something which corresponds to it, and in truth only amounts to a succinct description, the fact indicated in these texts is a change of condition answering to the change of name.

Now the change from Baali to Ishi indicates an important alteration in the relation between the Divine Being and the worshipper; but since the Divine Being cannot change, the altered relation must result from a change in the stand-point of the worshipper: and this can only come from a new mode of looking at the Divine, that is, from a new order of thought regarding it.

Baali means Lord, and Ishi means husband, and so the change in relation is that of a female slave who is liberated and married to her former master. We could not have a more perfect analogy.

Relatively to the Universal Spirit the individual soul is esoterically feminine, as I have pointed out in "Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning," because its function is that of the receptive and formative. This is necessarily inherent in the nature of the creative process. But the individual's development as the specializing medium of the Universal Spirit will depend entirely upon his own conception of his relation to it. So long as he only regards it as an arbitrary power, a sort of slave owner, he will find himself in the position of a slave driven by an inscrutable force, he knows not whither or for what purpose. He may worship such a God, but his worship is only the worship of fear and ignorance, and there is no personal interest in the matter except to escape some dreaded punishment. Such a worshipper would gladly escape from his divinity, and his worship, when analyzed, will be found to be little else than disguised hatred. This is the natural result of a worship based upon UNEXPLAINED traditions instead of intelligible principles, and is the very opposite of that worship in Spirit and in truth which Jesus speaks of as the true worship.

But when the light begins to break in upon us, all this becomes changed. We see that a system of terrorism cannot give expression to the Divine Spirit, and we realize the truth of St. Paul's words, "He hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." As the true nature of the relation between the individual mind and the Universal Mind becomes clearer, we find it to be one of mutual action and re-action, a perfect reciprocity which cannot be better symbolized than by the relation between an affectionate husband and wife. Everything is done from love and nothing from compulsion, there is perfect confidence on both sides, and both are equally indispensable to each other. It is simply the carrying out of the fundamental maxim that the Universal cannot act on the plane of the Particular except through the Particular; only this philosophical axiom develops into a warm living intercourse.

Now this is the position of the soul which is indicated by the name Hephzibah. In common with all other words derived from the Semitic root "hafz" it implies the idea of guarding, just as in the East a hasfiz is one who guards the letter of the Koran by having the whole book by heart, and in many similar expressions.

Hephzibah may therefore be translated as "a guarded one," thus recalling the New Testament description of those who are "guarded into salvation." It is precisely this conception of being guarded by a superior power that distinguishes the worship of Ishi from that of Baali. A special relation has been established between the Divine Spirit and the individual soul, one of absolute confidence and personal intercourse. This does not require any departure from the general law of the universe, but is due to that specializing of the law through the presentation of special conditions personal to the individual, of which I have spoken before. But all the time there has been no change in the Universal Spirit, the only change has been in the mental attitude of the individual--he has come into a new thought, a clearer perception of God. He has faced the questions, What is God? Where is God? How does God work? and he has found the answer in the apostolic statement that God is "over all, through all, and in all," and he realises that "God" is the root of his (the individual's) own being, ever present IN him, ever working THROUGH him, and universally present around him.

This realization of the true relation between the Originating Spirit and the individual mind is what is esoterically spoken of as the Mystical Marriage in which the two have ceased to be separate and have become one. As a matter of fact they always were one, but since we can apprehend things only from the stand-point of our own consciousness, it is our recognition of the fact that makes it a practical reality for ourselves. But an intelligent recognition will never make a confusion of the two parts of which the whole consists, and will never lead the individual to suppose that he is handling a blind force or that a blind force is handling him. He will neither dethrone God, nor lose himself by absorption in deity, but he will recognize the reciprocity of the Divine and the human as the natural and logical outcome of the essential conditions of the creative process.

同类推荐
  • 上清灵宝大法

    上清灵宝大法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛点头脉诀

    佛点头脉诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 朝宗禅师语录

    朝宗禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 论语集注

    论语集注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 罗天大醮早朝科

    罗天大醮早朝科

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 奇异风云传

    奇异风云传

    贪心神器却不料放出了上古凶兽,为了弥补因为自己的过错,少年禾义衷带着神器七玄,前往云浮山,欲凭一己之力整压七只凶兽,路途遥遥,一路上会有多少奇遇等待着渐行渐远的少年……
  • 性空臻禅师语录

    性空臻禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 英雄联盟之逍遥都市

    英雄联盟之逍遥都市

    当王乐走出网咖,看见一脸忧郁的亚索靠着墙吹笛子的时候,他便知道,自己的人生即将改变了……当英雄们来到了现实世界,会发生怎样的故事?
  • 魔神:又穿了

    魔神:又穿了

    “快,快去找,好好的怎么又没了!”“唉,不要紧张,不要着急,又不是第一次了会回来的。”“你不紧张,你不着急,那你去批奏折啊!”……“靠!你离我远点,我们不熟!”某君警惕地看着面前的男子后退了几步。“我们不熟?要不要我来帮你回忆一下。”某帝挥手在周围布下结界拦住了准备逃跑的某君。“你又这样!不就比我高了一个境界嘛!得意什么!”某君一头撞在透明的结界上气的大喊“你等着,不要有落在我手里的一天!!”……“呃,没想到这秘法的副作用这么大,瞧瞧这小胳膊小腿的,按照人类的年龄应该只有五六岁……”某君好不容易从衣服里钻出来,结果看到自己这样子又钻了回去。
  • 上帝使用手册

    上帝使用手册

    想要完美体验不同的人生,那么就必须是不同的“人”。记忆,只是一种阻碍……
  • 现代护理管理进展集萃

    现代护理管理进展集萃

    编者以我国护理管理实践为基础,注重理论联系实际,力求反映护理管理学科新知识和新进展,全面介绍了当今护理管理的新理论、新观念及热点问题,内容涵盖护理管理基础知识、管理理论与原理;管理职能方面讲述了人力资源、领导、控制等内容;在管理质量方面涉及了护理质量管理、护理业务技术管理、护理安全与风险和质量持续改进的控制方法和评价策略。
  • 拜见,祖师爷

    拜见,祖师爷

    “你自称剑道仙师,可斩天地,日月在你面前都暗淡无辉?本座以指代剑,一招杀你!”杨玄屈指一弹,一代绝世剑仙,猝!“洪荒尊者,肉身强横如龙,可拳碎星辰?可笑,龙只是本座的宠物罢了!”杨玄大手一挥,无上至尊灰飞烟灭!“你究竟是何方神圣?”杨玄轻蔑一笑:“摊牌了,我是你们的祖宗!”
  • 五枭江湖

    五枭江湖

    1.我不知道世界为何这样,我不知人心为何冷漠,我不知女友为何离开,我不知……2.修真世界吗?仙人吗?还会飞?不懂,只有踏前一步,唯有探个究竟。3.如果有一天能找到亲生父母我会怎么做?是欢喜还是悲哀?会哭还是想笑?〈五枭江湖〉
  • 云麓漫钞

    云麓漫钞

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。