METAPHYSICAL BIBLE INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
This is a series of lectures given by Mr. Edward Rabel, member of the faculty of S.M.R.S.
Fall semester 1975 - 2nd. Yr. Class. Lecture given on October 3 and October 13, 1975
Topic: 32
Gen. 18:16 - Gen. 19:24, pp. 120-125 of transcript.
In a general way, Sodom and Gomorrah stands for the factors which constitute harmful and negative states of mind. Both conscious, which is Gomorrah and subconscious, which is Sodom; the word Gomorrah means tyranny, material force, oppressiveness, thus conscious, dangerous erroneous states of mind. In the bible dictionary it is called states of mind which are adverse to the Spirit.
There are many erroneous or negative states of mind in us which are not directiy adverse to Spirit. They are just wrong, but they are not antagonistic to Spirit. Those states of mind which definitely are adverse to Spirit are conscious and that is what Gomorrah stands for. The word, Sodom, means secret intrigues, hidden wiles. That's the subconscious level of the same kind of erroneous states of mind. Mr. Fillmore, in the dictionary are found in the very lowest levels of sense consciousness. Any period in our life where our existence was demoralized by negative, harmful, erroneous states of mind are our Sodom and Gomorrahs.
But notice how I emphasized that word, when our existence was being demoralized, not just when they existed, because they exist in everybody, but they are not harmful and they do not have to be dealt with unless they are destructive or demoralizing to a person who would proceed with his spiritual growth and unfoldment, so, any period in our life, in our existence that was demoralized by negative, harmful states of mind or beliefs, were our active Sodoms and Gomorrahs, and we, like Lot and his family, were warned in many ways by the Lord of our being to get out of those states of mind and leave them behind us and if we would obey, that they would be dealt with under the law of Spirit in the same way that Noah and his family and the wicked earth of that day were dealt with.
They become a part of our past, our past ignorance and negativeness. They are destroyed by fire and brimstone, out of heaven, which would mean a descending, therefore, a purifying activity in Spirit. That is in 19 to 24.
Now, I read the MBD treatment of both Sodom and Gomorrah very thoroughly, and also Mysteries of Genesis treatment of it and there Sodom and Gomorrah are dealt with very, very heavy emphasis on what connotation? Sexual connotation, that has gathered around that symbolism. Whether it was originally intended as that I can't say, but certainly history has brought this about, so that psychiatric terminology, the names themselves have become synonymous with certain kinds of sexual conduct, which at one time was illegal.
Even in our MBD and Mysteries of Genesis, bless his heart, Mr. Fillmore refers to one of these sexual expressions as "unmentionable vice". I thought that went out with hoopskirts. In justice to evolution, we've got to re-think some of this. The Victorian attitude toward morals and things like that was not quite right. On the whole it couldn't have been correct since it caused so much unhappiness, so much frustration, so much mental illness in people that it must have had things wrong with it and in our re-evaluating a lot of things, perhaps we can do a wonderful service for the race consciousness and ourself.
Now, in their sexual connotations, Sodom and Gomorrah definitely do have a place. But, to me, after my research and study and praying, and the refining process in my mind; Sodom and Gomorrah no longer stand for sexual expression per se, but only for demoralizing sexual expression either just as thought or as performance. We go into very shaky ground now, we're going to knock a few taboos. To say that metaphysically Sodom and Gomorrah would stand for homosexuality is not correct. But only for the moralizing through sexuality either homo or hetero.
Now, I have a theory about why it has zeroed in strictly on homosexuals, two reasons; one is that in the narrative itself, it talks only about what men do to men, but then they also get a crack at the daughters, so it could not have been totally, exclusively homosexuality going on there, since they were all so interested in the daughters, too, and they were all men. It only talks about the men.
The other reason, I think, is more logical, is that it's quite apparent that there is more demoralizing sex produced by homosexual behavior than hetero. The danger is greater because of the climate. Society has forced itself upon that kind of conduct. So, a person who enters into homosexuality life style already has two and a half strikes against him. It's already established that the chances for that being a demoralizing life style is pretty sure. It's pretty hard to find, the percentage of happy, well-adjusted, practicing homosexuals is pretty low if not nil. Therefore there would be more demoralization observable in that, wouldn't there? And, so, the observers and especially religious people say, well, since homosexuality produces demoralization, then that's what Sodom and Gomorrah are talking about, but that's not fair.
That's not true. If the hetero sex person is demoralized by whatever kind of sex expression he is thinking about or performing, then that's just as much a Sodom and Gomorrah for him.
We have this business of race consciousness coming in here too. I think we've covered it pretty well, but I want you to take out of this that the sexual connotation for the wrongness of Sodom and Gomorrah is in the demoralization, not in sex itself, whether it is homo or hetero or if there is any other kind. The orientation of the libido is not the determining factor, it's the mode or the effect it will have on your life.
The idea that what we see in others is in ourselves, else we wouldn't recognize it. If, for example, I see others not living up to what they profess to believe. Is it because I myself am not fully living up to what I believe? The answer is yes, all the way down the line. Of course, no one is fully living up to what he believes, and nobody is ahead of himself, or on par with the highest part of himself because our name is still "legion." Nobody is going through life right now using his right name, which is I AM. Everybody is going through life with a series of aliases, and collectively called "legion." You are not the same person here as you are there and somewhere else, and you change your personality to adapt to those surrounding you. Is this bad? I don't think so. I think it's part of what we call sociability and role playing. My name is legion, not because I'm bad or wrong or wicked but because this is the kind of demand made on me by life at this stage of my existence. And of course we see things in others because it's in ourselves first because all things are in all of us.
We are whole persons, and whole means I contain all the parts, and in my perfect wholeness I contain all the imperfect partitions, so that everything that's in you is in me in different form, in different percentage of distribution, in different proportion, but essentially we're all whole, we all contain everything everybody else contains. Our timing is different, our cycle we have reached may be different, but essentially we're all one, so naturally I can see things in you because you're whole, and you're exhibiting something of the whole, which is in part now, and it's also in me. I know you're lying because I know what lying is. If I didn't know what lying is how could I know you're lying? I know when someone's being disagreeable and unpleasant because I know what disagreeableness and unpleasantness are or I couldn't recognize them.
Up to now we're dealing with this negatively, but we can also deal with this positively. I recognize supreme love and forgiveness and healing power in Jesus, too, but why can I recognize that in Him? It's in me, too. We don't only recognize negative factors because they're also in us, but all of the magnificence too, because that also is in us. Folks, get used to thinking of yourselves and other people in terms of wholeness, completeness, totality rather than particulars here and there, each taking their turn to pass across the stage of personality. That way we stay out of trouble.
Q. Would you say that Jesus Christ, who manifested the I AM, the perfect Christ, that He was able to discern all things in others?
A. Of course. It says quite plainly in the Gospel of John that Jesus knew all that was in man. Allness. Wholeness. Jesus was aware of everything possible to human nature.
Q. What is lying?
A. You know what lying is because you have the same potential to lie that I have. You are no different there than I am, essentially, and if I tell a lie you recognize it because that same potential is in you and you know yourself. We make a big deal of this, and it's nothing but pure logic, and nothing critical about this. We talk so much about seeing something in somebody. It isn't that. We're simply aware of human nature, that's all. And if somebody is exhibiting a certain facet of human nature, our own gift of awareness comprehends it, that's all. It isn't that I see this in you, therefore, my seeing this in you causes you to do this. Who am I to take on such responsibility that my seeing a thing is causing it in your or someone else's life. That's egotism almost to the level of insanity. But Brendan exhibits something, then my sense of awareness comprehends it, that's all. And I could do the same thing, because we're both whole, a whole person.
Q,. But you take a person and hold him in the light in love, that gives him power, if you are aware of his need.
A. Absolutely. You always want to use your power of awareness to be helpful, so if I just become aware of, say, a fault or a defect in you and then I close the book, I've judged, and then that's that. I've called something a finality. But if I am aware of something incorrect or dangerous in you, then my awareness, which is not the same as judging, it is awareness and I can't help it if I'm aware. But what I want to do then is remember the truth I know and place what I'm aware of back into the context of the truth. See, not denying that that exists — that's been tried, folks, and it doesn't work. So you don't deny that it exists, you forgive the fact that it exists. Then you place this part back into context, and what have you got? Wholeness. And in that realizing of a person's wholeness, you see, you are holding him in the Truth, and therefore your consciousness has a very beneficial or blessing influence on that person. This is why praying for others works so marvelously. You don't do this to the person through your prayer, but you make something available to him through consciousness. And then that soul, if it is cognizant of what has been made available and most of the time the soul is, there is this acceptance, the blessing becomes manifest.
We will go on now with our narrative, we were dealing with Sodom and Gomorrah, being destroyed by fire and brimstone out of Heaven. Now that out of Heaven is very significant because there are two types of suffering and cleansing referred to in the Bible. There is the fire and brimstone of Hell, there is the fire and brimstone from Heaven. But what is the big difference between what these two references to fire and brimstone, how they act in the narrative?
Is anything destroyed in Hell? Nothing. Hell - nothing is destroyed in Hell - do the souls that go to Hell dissolve? How long do they stay there? How long do they endure torture? Forever. In Hell forever. This is the theology of the Catholic church, I'm not making this up, folks, I was raised on this. If you die in a state of mortal sin you go to a place of eternal torture. No reprieves. Is anything accomplished by that? Nothing's dissolved, nothing's destroyeds. The soul endures and is in eternal torture. Do you blame people for turning that off in their belief? That's the fire and brimstone from Hell in the Bible which is simply a referring to useless and unnecessary suffering. As Marina says, in metaphysical thinking, the foreverness of Hell is not eternal endurance, but until the thing is fulfilled, until the cycle is complete. But that kind of activity is an eternal potential. It is not removed from the possibility of man's experience until the cause of useless, unnecessary suffering is removed from his consciousness and that is something called generically sinning.
The other type of fire and brimstone from Heaven is purifying. Dissolving, eliminating, constructive, useful suffering, and it is what is being designated as the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah are just speaking very generically representing very dangerous errors in consciousness on the very lowest levels of sense and animalism. On the very lowest level of sense man. Sodom and Gomorrah stand for the kinds of errors which have to be eliminated before sense man can evolve to higher levels.
Transcribed by Margaret Garvin on February 24, 2015.
