The Sight of the Self in the Bible

For me connecting the dots between contemporary discussions of the Ring of Fire and Biblical ones brings about as much joy as winning the Grand Prix might.

So here are examples from the Old and New Testaments that are, I believe, disguised references to what I call the first enlightenment experience – in my case, the sight of the Self. (B) These passages are metaphorical ways of referring to that experience.

If enlightenment is the purpose of life and these sages from, oh, 2600 years ago – some of them – knew about enlightenment and could speak about it, it shows how important that knowledge has always been.

Classical enlightenment theory sees there as being four significant enlightenments:  Fourth-Chakra sight of the Self (described here and expected in the Ring of Fire); Sixth-Chakra Cosmic Consciousness; Seventh-Chakra God Realization; and finally Ascension beyond the seven chakras in what Christians call Redemption, Resurrection, or Salvation, Hindus call Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi or the natural state, Buddhists call Buddhahood,  and we lightworkers call Ascension.

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The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face (1) to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance (2) upon thee, and give thee peace. (Numbers 6:25.)

(1) The Self. The Lord cause the light of the Self to shine upon you and grant you the peace of enlightenment. This could be spiritual awakening or, given that it results in peace, it could be liberation (that is, sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi).

(2) The Self.

Can a man take fire in his bosom, (1) and his clothes (2) not be burned? (3) (Proverbs 6:27.)

(1) Experience the Self.

(2) Desires and appetites.

(3) Purified.

Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. (Psalm 4:6.)

Arise, shine; for thy light (1) is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (2) (Isaiah 60:1.)

(1) The Self. Again, this could be the experience of spiritual awakening or it could be liberation (Sahaja, Ascension).

(2) Could refer to the Light of the Self. But “the glory of the Lord” is also sometimes used to refer to the Holy Ghost, an aspect of the Divine Mother.

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, (1) and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord (2) shall be thy reward. (Isaiah 58:8.)

(1) This could be spiritual awakening or liberation.

(2) Again, usually an epithet of the Holy Spirit. Here this might mean all the rewards that heaven has to offer will be thine.

The kingdom of heaven (1) is like to a grain of mustard seed, (2) which a man took, (3) and stowed in his field: (4)

Which indeed is the least of all seeds: (5) but when it is grown, (6) it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, (7) so that the birds of the air (8) come and lodge in the branches thereof. (Jesus in Matthew 13:31-2.)

(1) The Father.

(2) The Self, which is one with the Father.

(3) After having seen it in the experience of awakening or illumination.

(4) Contemplated, or kept, it in the aspirant’s awareness constantly.

(5) The Self is said to be smaller than the smallest. (Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester, trans., The Upanishads. Breath of the Eternal. New York and Scarborough: New American Library, 1957; c1948, 18.) (Hereafter, UPAN.)

(6) When the aspirant has contemplated on it and entered into it.

(7) Greater than the greatest; namely, the Tree of Life, or the Father. (UPAN, 18.)

(8) Perhaps the angels.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, (1) which a woman took (2) and hid in three measures of meal, (3) till the whole was leavened. (4) (Jesus in Matthew 13:33.)

(1) The Self.

(2) Contemplated.

(3) Became absorbed in.

(4) Till she merged with It in the experience of the Father or liberation.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; (1) the which when a man hath found, (2) he hideth, (3) and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, (4) and buyeth that field. (5) (Jesus in Matthew 13:44.)

(1) The hidden treasure is the Self, hidden in the field of the body; specifically, the heart (not to be confused with the heart chakra).

(2) In the experience of spiritual awakening.

(3) Is circumspect about discussing and meditates upon it in private.

(4) Renounces all worldly desires, appetites, and thoughts.

(5) Wins Ascension (Sahaja) and with it liberation.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: (1) Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, (2) went and sold all that he had, (3) and bought it. (4) (Jesus in Matthew 13:45-6.)

(1) Practising spiritual discipline, seeking God.

(2) Saw the Christ or Self in spiritual awakening.

(3) Divested himself of all other desires except the desire to realize God.

(4) Single-mindedly meditated and contemplated that Pearl until it led him to the Father and liberation.

Did not our heart burn within us,
While he talked with us? (Luke 24:32.)

How great a matter a little fire (1) kindleth! (James 3:5.)

(1) The sight of the Self.

And the day star (1) arise in your hearts. (2) (II Peter 1:19.)

(1) The Self.

(2) I.e, may you be enlightened.

God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts. (St. Paul in II Corinthians 4:6.)

Footnotes

(A) Steve: Are there other lifetimes that you can tell us about? (Archangel Michael in a personal reading with Steve Beckow through Linda Dillon, Nov. 19, 2013.) (Hereafter AAM.)

AAM: The other lifetime I wish to tell you about was around the invention of the printing press and you were pivotal in that as well. So even at that early time you still wanted to get the news out. (AAM, April 26, 2011.)

Archangel Michael: Peter Schoffer, Yes. [Manager of Gutenberg’s print shop.] (AAM, March 29, 2013.)

(B) I called it “the sight of the Self” rather than Self-Realization because it was toned down, as I’ve discussed on numerous occasions. It was apparently toned down to prevent me from downing tools and going off to finish the job.

The sight of the Self as a brilliant Light may not be the only form of fourth-chakra experience. The heart opening I had on March 13, 2015 was also a fourth-chakra experience, Michael has confirmed. Sri Ramakrishna experienced the Mother as billowing clouds of consciousness. There probably is no limit to the variety of possible experiences.

Said Michael:

Steve: Was the sight of the self at the Xenia retreat a fourth-chakra event?

Archangel Michael: Yes, it was.

Steve: So it’s possible to have two fourth-chakra events [the heart opening being the other] or maybe even more possibly?

AAM: It is possible to have multiple chakra events throughout your lifetimes, sweet one. Again, what you are thinking of is a limitation. Something is activated or not activated.

Think in terms of open, open, open, open, bigger, bigger, bigger. So yes, you might have several events. You should have several events! (Archangel Michael in a personal reading with Steve Beckow through Linda Dillon, June 12, 2019.)