The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 28 -
Mathael's speech about God.
1
(Mathael) "Look, what you call God, I call the living water; but the water does not recognize the life in it. But when it is brought to the boil through the powerful love which equals the heavy pressure against the centre of its being, the spirit of life rises in its freedom over the once arresting water, and you see here the spirit of God floating over the waters, as Moses describes. And the spirit recognizes itself and the water, and knows that it has been the same as the water since eternity; and this eternal recognition is understood under the phrase "Let there be light!"
2
But your spirit, friend, will also float over your boiling water of life, then you will also begin to recognize your life and the life of God in you.
3
You see, all existence must begin to be, it must have a beginning, otherwise it can never exist! If a self-recognizing life never had had a beginning it would never be there; but because it began it has been there for a long time, as we are also here because we once have begun to be what we now are.
4
But we were here before this existence, like the undeveloped cold spirits in the cold, still water; and the highest life power in God has a double existence, firstly a mute existence and next an inner active beginning free seeing through and through itself!
5
Thus Moses says: In the beginning God created heaven and Earth, and the Earth was void and empty and dark in its depths. Who or what is then the heaven and what or who is the Earth? Do you mean this Earth which now bears you, or the heaven which gives you air and light? Oh, how far you would be from the truth! Where was this Earth then, and this heaven?
6
You see, it is only dimly pointed to, how the eternal life power of God in its existence began to investigate and to recognize! And there "heaven" represents the self-recognizing wisdom of its Self; but in the loving concentration of its centre which is meant by Earth, it was still dark and void and empty, without a deeper recognition of the own Self.
7
But the centre became hotter and hotter, the more the outer self-consciousness began to press on it. And the centre became red hot and out of the boiling life water emerged the steam (spirit), floated now freely over the water of the mute and calm eternal being and recognized itself through and through; and this recognition is then the light which, as Moses says, God lets be right after the creation of heaven and Earth.
8
Only from then on God like a spoken word becomes the "Word" Himself, and this word "Let there be light" is a free will which becomes aware of itself thoroughly, a being in the being, a word in the word, an all now in everything!
9
And only from then on the original source of all life begins to emerge, having discovered itself most thoroughly from out of the free will. - Now do you have an idea yet?"