Essay 13: THE REVELATION: A PERSONAL JOURNEY INTO SELF

“The book of Revelation is in figurative language and refers to the breaking forth of the great judgement and understanding in one mind, in all minds everywhere. Then all the powers of mind are found ours. We use them skillfully.” (Esoteric Philosophy page 41:2)

Revelation is an “end game” in any creative process. By recognizing Perfect Cause, the Christ is realized in our resurrected consciousness, the Spirit becomes flesh, and God’s Will is revealed in the world. This description is, of course, the Divine Ideal, the Alpha and Omega as it flowed through Jesus Christ. He overcame the world and, in doing so, beckons and attends each one of us in doing the same, just as it was accomplished in the consciousness of St. John.

Of all the disciples, John was the one who was most spiritually attentive. Every one of the 12 had qualities, tendencies, and attributes through which Christ revealed their greatness, but John’s inner ears and inner eyes, as well as the atmosphere of Love present in his soul, made him uniquely qualified to author the final book, the crowning glory, of the Bible: The Revelation. It is the story of one man’s journey, yet every man’s journey, out of the darkness and into the Light, from bondage in the world to overcoming the world.

The book of Revelation is a very graphic, metaphorical account, filled with symbolism, imagery, and analogies. Demons, dragons, and beasts abound but so do angels, mystic elders, and triumphant heroes. If one did not know better, we might think that we were reading the latest installment of Harry Potter. In fact, the fantastic descriptions offered by St. John are ones that all of us who have consciously pursued inner lives and Higher Consciousness are familiar with. Which of us have not had to face the consuming fires burning in our own souls? (Rev. 20:9-10) Who among us have not had to face the multi-headed beasts of duality, unconsciousness, fear, and error- thinking so common in the lower body consciousness? (Rev. 13:1) Are there any on this path that have not been attended by the angels of inspiration and intuition at pivotal moments on our journeys? (Rev. 5:11)

The Revelation is such a rich, complex tapestry of symbolic imagery that an entire class series could be devoted to them. For the purposes of this essay, we will trace the timeline of John’s spiritual journey, touch of some major themes and, hopefully, embrace his journey as our own.

John touches first upon the matter of the seven churches and the assessments that Christ Jesus made of each. Each of the churches had its own personality, temperament, and ethos, just as we all do. These churches represent the inner dogmas that attend our human personality: ingrained belief systems based on culture and race. One could characterize this mental state as institutionalized consciousness dependent upon elements of our earth-bound thought steeped in structure (mental agreement with others). This kind of thinking can obscure the True Face of God behind the “clouds” of human will, attempting to create God in its own image.

The idea of “overcoming” is one that dominates the first chapters of Revelation. Many are the Promises of God, but those made by overcoming the world, for those “that hath an ear” (Rev. 2:17) are special and exalted, indeed. In passages such as Rev. 2:7, 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12 and 3:21, the voice of Christ Itself sets the stage for our own return to the Promised Land of Immortal Mind consciousness, as well as the innumerable specters, delusions, shadows, and “lies from the beginning” that have bound and imprisoned us. Remarkably, we find that the “crowns” adorning the heads of the “beasts” as authority are ones that we placed there ourselves, by our attachments in the world.

With the stage set, Chapter 4 initiates the journey of recognition and realization that, for most of us, seems nothing short of an epic, Shakespearean tale. We experience cycle after cycle of exposing error (our personal seven seals) rooting out our fears (our multi-headed beasts) and the “Father of lies,” the delusion of unworthiness. John says, “and I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and read the Book of Life, neither to look thereon.” (Rev. 5:4) Struggle, strife, inner warfare, anguish and even violence often mark this journey we make, but there is always that “something” with us every moment giving us the courage, guidance, and strength to restore and reveal our Original Me. “There are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:14)

One by one, the errors of our mortal mind consciousness are brought into the Light, healed, and dissolved forever. Each of our “angels,” our perfect, inspired thoughts, pour out their vials of Truth into our lives, our bodies, and the body of our affairs. Wisdom takes the place of mystery, and our “seventh angel” announces God’s Will done in us as completion. This completion now speaks through us as resurrected consciousness. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” (Rev.10:7)

Chapters 10-14 announce the appearance of Christ on earth, the blessed second coming through each of us that have made the passage that John describes. The seven seals (impediments to the revealing of God Mind) have been broken, and struggle, suffering, hatred, duality, death, judgement, and matter live in us no more. We are the living Victory of Faith. “These are they which follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 14:4) Despite the struggles and inner warfare, the only Reality there ever was, even before the world was made, exposes Itself in us; but the story is not finished.

Those like us, who stand on Mount Sion with the Lamb, “having the Father’s Name written in their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1), come not only for their own sakes, but to become lights unto the world and a lamp at the feet of others. By our inspired ministries, our call to service and our own personal transfiguration, we become the very angels we depended upon to make our own journeys. “And I fell at his feet [the seventh angel] to worship him. And he said unto me, see thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.” (Rev. 19:10) “Babylon” consciousness continues to define earthly life and it is through us that Christ, working as Truth, and the Word of God restores all to its Native State.

The remainder of The Revelation is the account of how and by what processes Immortal Mind consciousness is restored and revealed in the world by what John calls “the second death.” Babylon represents the innumerable temptations, attachments, addictions, earthly aspirations, and desires that we have all indulged in lower body consciousness. The harlot symbolizes the activity of “looking toward” or worshipping this world of sensory pleasure, idolatry, and satisfaction through the hypnosis of matter. The Light of Truth and those who bring it (Christ in you) cannot help but bring the “noonday sun” where no shadow or illusion can exist. The only Reality there is always reveals itself by the name Jesus Christ and “in one hour so great a city as Babylon is come to naught.” (Rev. 18:17)

In the end, only the Truth remains, revealed as God’s Perfect Kingdom. It is described by John as a city, perfectly ordered, filled with peace and beauty. This “city,” “the New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2) is the realm of consciousness in which we dwell when struggle, suffering, and strife not only end in us, but in the world. The Tree of Knowledge that set us on our way in the first garden brings us home by Wisdom and Truth to the Tree of Life. “In the midst of the street of [God’s City] … was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruits … every month. And the leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Rev. 22:2)

In The Revelation, St. John relates a story that we all know well, the angels of our better Nature struggling with the illusions of our fallen nature. In the end, we find out what is Real, what possesses Substance and Truth. We also find out something else that John discovered: those things we did battle with, the beasts and dragons of mortal mind, never did exist but by the power we gave them. “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not.” (Rev. 17:8)