Metaphysical meaning of Samaritan (mbd)
Samaritan, sa-mar'-i-tan (Lat. fr. Heb.).
An inhabitant of Samaria (II Kings 17:29; John 4:9).
Meta. The Samaritans signify mixed thoughts, partly worldly and partly religious. They were a mixture of Assyrian and Hebrew. They claimed to be direct descendants of Abraham, and taught the books of Moses, but they were not recognized by the Jews as followers of the Jewish religion. Metaphysically Samaria represents a state of consciousness in which Truth and error are mixed.
The woman at the well represents the psychic or soul nature. The psychical realm is not the true source of wisdom, although many searchers for Truth fail to distinguish the difference between its revelations and those of the spiritual. The Samaritans claimed to be the descendants of Jacob, and they used portions of the Hebrew Scriptures, but the Jews repudiated them. In the eyes of the Israelites the Samaritans were pretenders. Thus spiritually enlightened people see in psychic phenomena and the revelations of that phase of occultism an imitation of Truth, without its understanding.
The soul must have Truth, however, and it is recognized by the Christ as worthy, hence this wonderful lesson of John 4, to only one auditor. The soul in its natural state draws its life from the earthly side of existence (Jacob's well), but is destined to draw from a higher fount, omnipotent life. Jesus asked the woman for a drink--indicating the universality of Spirit.
"If thou knewest the gift of God." The "gift of God" to man is eternal life. The soul informed of this asks the Father to let it be the subject of a manifestation of that life, and there gushes forth a never failing stream. Where sense consciousness is dominant, however, the soul is slow to see the realities of ideas, thoughts, and words. The sight is fixed on material ways and means: "Thou hast nothing to draw with, . . . whence then hast thou that living water?" This is a fair setting forth of the questioning souls of this day who ask the explanation of spiritual things on a material or sense basis.
The husband of the woman represents the intellectual side of the soul, with its sense perceptions. She had been the wife of five husbands; that is, the soul had been attached to the five senses, and its present attachment, which was evidently sense perception of Truth, was not her true husband. The soul is easily led away from Truth, and often becomes attached to the phenomenal phases of the mysterious unknowable, under the delusion that it is good and in line with true doctrine.
The Christ is a discerner of thoughts, and from them the history of the soul is read like an open book. When Jesus displayed this ability to the woman He had her faith at once, and she accepted Him as a prophet, not because she understood His doctrine but because He told her past. "Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did."
The soul is in its natural state attached to localities, forms, and conditions in the world. It believes in the importance of places of worship and the observance of outward forms. The mind of Spirit puts all this aside and proclaims the universality of spiritual forces: "God is spirit." "Neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father." The soul falls into forms of worship, and thereby fails to get the true understanding, but the Christ-minded know Spirit; they enter the consciousness of the formless life and substance, and are satisfied.
The leading characteristics of the Samaritan cited in Luke 10:33 are kindheartedness, helpfulness, and generosity. He typifies the traits that make religion a living, spiritual, uplifting power. The activities of these spiritual qualities are the stepping-stones that lead to the great demonstration. They are the forces that throw wide open the doors of the inner kingdom, so that man's consciousness may be lifted up and merged with the God consciousness. "Go, and do thou likewise," the Master was saying to all who wish to triumph over the last enemy, to all who wish to attain eternal life.
Two principal lessons are set forth in Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan. One is that we keep the law of eternal life by loving God; the other is that we keep this law by expressing love for our neighbor.
Metaphysically a man's neighbor is his nearest and most intimate embodied thought. The body is our nearest and most intimate embodied thought, therefore the body is our neighbor.
The man who was stripped and beaten and left half dead symbolizes the physical body that is in a similar condition. The robbers are our lawless thoughts that rob our body of its energy and substance.
The priest and the Levite represent the ignorance and the indifference to Truth that are found in both formal religion and law.
The good Samaritan is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Sacerdotalism disdains the inner Christ, but without His ministry the body would never be healed of its many wounds. The "beast" is the divine-natural substance; the "oil" is love, and the "wine" is life.
The parable of the good Samaritan teaches that the body is being robbed of its life by ignorant, lawless thoughts, and that that life will be restored by Christ if we exercise His merciful, healing love. Thus this parable helps one to attain eternal life.
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Preceding Entry: Samaria
Following Entry: Samgar-nebo
