THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Beyond the Jordan at the Sea of Galilee. Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 19
- Chapter 266 -
The spiritual vision.
1
(The Lord) "For behold, I want it so that those who walk according to the Commandments of Moses should not remain that withered in their earthly possessions either.
2
And so I came here to you all firstly to announce to you all that the kingdom of God and thus all of heaven has come down to you on this Earth in and through Me, which now a large number of previously staunchest Gentiles already recognize and admit openly, so that is fulfilled what Daniel prophesied: 'Even in the graves will His voice be heard!' For it is the Gentiles who were buried in the grave of night, judgment and death from their birth.
3
But secondly I want to also place you and your children and your children's children earthly in such a situation that your physical needs should not suffer any affliction. Indeed I do not want you to wallow in great abundance, but you should not suffer any too great affliction as has often been the case with you before.
4
And the third reason for My coming here is already known to you, since I planned to take a few days' rest in this quiet area with My disciples. And now, since we have come to the end of this necessary affair, we will now head home again and see everything that has happened there!"
5
On the way the host said, "Lord and Master! Would it not be pleasant for You if we went over this small peak and thus home on a small diversion? For from this height one truly enjoys an extremely magnificent view; one sees from there even as far as Jerusalem, also a part of the Sea of Galilee, and at very good weather one can even see the great Greek Sea! If You, oh Lord, would like, I would like to show You now this true blissful place of mine!"
6
I said, "I am quite with you; for I am also a friend of mountains and very far views, and so let us climb this small hill!"
7
Then we climbed the small peak and it was very exhilarating to be on top, and Barnabe became almost untiring in his praise of the beautiful region.
8
But I admonished him and said, "It is undeniable that the area, seen from this height, is very exhilarating to look at "that is the whole image; but just take a close-up look now at every individual thing that you see here in general, and you will soon have enough of the beauty of this area!
9
Only that which is of the soul and the spirit is truly and everlastingly beautiful. Since you are now enjoying only this scenery and its fragrant opalescence, you still derive more pleasure from matter and its forms than from the spiritual presented to you by the rigid forms, as in a large script. Ah, when one day you are able to behold, read and understand all these forms with the inner eyes of the spirit, you will also be able to exclaim, like David: 'Oh Lord, how great and glorious are all Your works! He who takes notice of them, delights in them!'
10
] Behold, to truly take notice of the works of God means to see them with the eyes of the spirit, whereby the soul gains true cognition. Only this gives man a true joy that is no longer perishable but is always and forever the property of the soul. And if you then want to see also the spirit world, you will initially behold it spiritually only by first recognizing the forms solely of this world, and then more and more by your comprehension of the various activities, aspirations and correlations of these forms which give you already so much pleasure even without your better and deeper comprehension of them.
11
Spiritual vision at first is merely a recognition of the outer and inner correspondences. If one keeps practicing with a heart that is pure and as free from sin as possible, is full of pure love for God and, therefore, for the fellowman, this cognition and comprehension passes into a clear vision, proving to the seer that he is at one within and has reached the true rebirth of his spirit and the resurrection of the soul from the material grave of its flesh. - Do you understand Me well?"
12
Sais the host: Oh Lord and truly my God! If I understood that in its true depth, I would obviously be one of the happiest men on this earth. But I am far behind in my understanding, although I have got a vague idea of what You meant to tell me. My Elisa, who is a kind of visionary, would undoubtedly have grasped and understood Your explanation better than I do. Yet I, too, have understood something. But it takes some doing to find in the external forms the inner, completely spiritual correspondences and understand them in their numerous ramifications. Lord, could You not make this a little clearer for me through some suitable metaphor?"
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Say I: "Oh yes, certainly, and so listen!"