Metaphysical meaning of Demetrius (mbd)
Demetrius, de-me'-trl-us (Gk.)--belonging to Demeter or Ceres, i.e., the goddess of agriculture and rural life; grain.
a A silversmith at Ephesus who stirred up a great tumult against Paul and the doctrine of Christ. He did this because he feared that the Truth would take away his business and he would thus lose materially (Acts 19:24, 38). b A convert to Truth (III John 12).
Meta. Material thoughts make a material body. Spiritual thoughts make a spiritual body. All thoughts and ideas embody themselves according to their character. If you find yourself using a body in which the material prevails, you are safe in assuming that somewhere in your consciousness are material beliefs upon which its manufacture is based, and that this manufacture is being carried forward day by day. Your body in the form, shape, and general character of its visibility represents your beliefs about substance. Man can idealize the divine substance idea in any way that he wishes, and according to his thought of it his body will manifest. In order to build a spiritual body, he must spiritualize his thoughts and beliefs that continually have been manufacturing a material body. This process of spiritualization begins and is carried forward in the mind through the introduction of true ideas about God and man.
Paul preached the Truth of the Lord Jesus Christ at Ephesus until material ideas that were there making material images began to lose their hold. The master craftsman, or chief thought, is Demetrius (substance) the silversmith. Out of substance he and his fellow craftsmen have been making material images of Diana, the goddess of vitality. (See DIANA.)
Demetrius was materializing the pure ideal and was spreading broadcast little images made of bronze and silver.
In the stomach the food undergoes one of the most wonderful processes that occur in the chemistry of body building. Some metaphysicians say that every cell that passes from this center to the circulation bears the exact image of the whole body--it is a picture of the body in miniature.. Here we find Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen making images that build the body of flesh. Some new and higher ideals are beginning to prevail there, however. The mind has become saturated with the thought of a more substantial and more permanent body. The resurrection of Jesus, the I AM, from this death of matter is being proclaimed and it stirs up these makers of matter. You cannot change established states of thought without some commotion. This commotion is called chemicalization. It is not uncommon for the metaphysician to have a "riot" in his stomach after a denial of matter and a powerful affirmation of the purity and permanency of Spirit. Sometimes this confusion is so great with beginners that they think themselves seriously ill, when the trouble is merely a riot of the little workers who are opposing a change of ideas. This turmoil continues until poise is gained in the Alexander thought (Alexander "beckoned with the hand"), symbolical of the word of power and mastery. But the battle of Spirit against matter is not won without effort. After Alexander began to talk to the people in an effort to enlighten and quiet them the craftsmen "with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians." An appeal to the law of justice and the right relation of things in the body politic restores harmony and gains a point that will have lasting effect in establishing a new and greater vitality in every part of the organism.
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Preceding Entry: Demas
Following Entry: demons
