The Husbands of the Woman at the Well

We’ll finish up looking at our subject of Kundalini and it’s activating the chakras by interpreting the process in light of the well known story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well in chapter 4 of John’s gospel.  Beyond the immediate theological meanings elucidated in Biblical commentaries, beyond the breaking of strict Middle-East social and cultural barriers, beyond Jesus knowing everything about this woman’s previous life (all of these understandings are relevant, by the way), there is a deeper meaning to be gleaned from this Gospel encounter…

In her work “What We Can Learn from the East,” Beatrice Bruteau looks at Jesus and the gospels in light of eastern religious traditions.  What if these traditions are seen as the “Old Testament” for Eastern peoples.  Instead of having to leave society to go and meditate and live the ascetic life apart (pretty much really the only way to become enlightened, and enlightenment IS salvation in the east), Jesus comes and opens the way to all peoples, even… even… (gasp… wait for it!) Samaritan women! (whom to a Jew would be seen as akin to a Hindu untouchable).

Bruteau begins:

Of course, we all develop through stages.  One way of describing one lineup of stages is by means of the CHAKRAS, the “wheels” or “centers of consciousness” through which the energy of manifestation in the finite order ascends to reunion with the Infinite of which it is, so to speak, the “flip side.”  The energy, in the Hindu tradition is called SHAKTI and the infinite is called SHIVA.  The union is spoken of as a marriage… The centers of consciousness can be identified as security, pleasure, power, love, creativity, insight, and divine union.

Bruteau goes on to interpret the story calling it “The Seven Husbands of the Samaritan Woman.”  She places the conversation of the woman with Jesus in a Zen context as a DHARMA combat, which is what Zen practitioners who want deeper experiences of enlightenment seek from more advanced practitioners.  The “husbands” become the chakras of the Hindu tradition.

When the meeting begins, Jesus addresses the woman first, meaning that he acknowledges that she has something to offer him.  “Give me a drink” (John 4:7).  But Jesus also has something to offer.  A few verses later: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (4:10).  But Jesus doesn’t have an instrument for drawing from Jacob’s Well.  Does he have something even better to give?  Bruteau continues…

I interpret the Well – Jacob’s Well – as the traditions of the people, the revelation by which both the Jews and the Samaritans have been living.  She understands him immediately as claiming that this revered and revelatory tradition is to be superceded.  This is a very daring thought (do we dare to think that way about OUR sacred tradition?)…  He is ready for this question because he knows the source of the Well itself.  The Well of tradition does not satisfy; it provokes continuing thirst (which is not a bad thing). But the water he is speaking of comes from an interior well; it becomes in one “a fountain of water springing up to eternal life” (4:14). Therefore, mediating instruments for reaching the water are unnecessary: the water comes of its own accord.  The source of life is not outside or separate from the living one.  The question of replenishment does not arise; the life is eternal.

Jesus has now prepared the woman for the next step of the teaching.  From out of nowhere, a complete non-sequitur, he says, “Go call your husband and come.”  In other words, Jesus is asking her “What are you currently wedded to? What are you joining yourself to?”  The woman answers “I have no husband.”  In other words, she is not wedded to anything at the moment; she is free from attachements (except her unfulfilled thirst!).  “Ah!” says Jesus.  “This is correct! You have tried and then discarded 5 previous life-mates.  You are currently involved with a sixth, but you realize this isn’t your true husband either.  How do I know this?  Well, this is the seventh time you’ve come to this well looking for fulfillment.  But this well of tradition can only take you so far.  Strange that you’ve come here with a seventh husband in mind and found me, isn’t it?”

Let’s look at these six other “husbands” that the Samaritan woman has found to be necessary but ultimately unfulfilling.  When the questing soul realizes a “husband” is insufficient, it divorces itself from that life goal and joins itself to another, somewhat broader and less ego-centered goal.  Bruteau explains:

The first husband (Root Chakra/Seal) represents a life-style sometimes spoken of as “living to eat.” The dimensions of life are simple direct pleasures and comforts; the “good life.”

The second husband refers to sexual energy… For most people this will be raising a family and feeling pride and satisfaction in continuing one’s tribe, in reproducing and externalizing and multiplying oneself.

The third husband is more ambitious, symbolizing a position and activity of power, a larger scope for one’s creativity.  This can take the form of a career… a feeling of dominating some kind of world, even if a relatively small one.  The satisfaction here is not in the body or emotions but more in the mind.

The crossing from the third to fourth husband is made when the third husband’s energy is turned away from purely self-seeking and begins to be engaged in unselfish love for others.  After the relationship with the fourth husband begins, the ensuing relationships don’t exactly prove unsatisfactory (as the former did), but what they represent expand into the next marriage.  Perhaps one is “widowed” from these levels and tenderly handed on to the next.  

The fourth marriage is more serious, and the soul gives itself to it more consciously and more thoroughly.  Appreciation of the PERSON as such appears and grows, concern for the other self in the other’s own terms, instead of in terms of how the other can be pleasing or useful to me.

The fifth husband means creativity with a transcendent, sacred aura.  It includes whatever can be experienced as a creative art of high and pure aspiration… Deep living with the fifth husband produces profound satisfactions that are not of this world and enlarges the capacityo f the soul for still greater experience, leading to a holy frustration with the limitations of the externalized, or material world.  Thus, one is drawn more and more inward, toward the source of beauty and inspiration and revelation within.

The sixth lover – who is still not the true husband – is some version of the contemplative life, in the mind/heart alone, in intellectual intuitions and realizations difficult to express.  The old ego-centered self has been dissolving ever since the fourth marriage… At the sixth chakra it has worn away, except for it’s drive to find the Totally Real… (The woman) knows quite clearly that she seeks the Absolute… No RELATIVE being, goodness, truth, or happiness will answer.  Thus she knows it has to be sought within herself; all external things are certainly relative… Our Samaritan woman, therefore, is a questing soul that is READY to pass from the sixth lover to the seventh and true husband.

Wedding the seventh husband is the transcending of any and all culture and tradition.  Jesus says true worshipers will not hold to traditions of worship, neither on the Samaritan mountain or in the Jewish  temple.  True worship happens on the inside “in spirit and in truth.”

Now for the final dharma confrontation.  Bruteau finishes…

The woman then throws her final challenge to him – for her, a direct assault on the summit: “How about the ‘Messiah,’ that is, the final revelation of everything?”  And the ultimate revelation, the passage from even the highest intuition to actual BEING IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH comes: “I AM, the [one] speaking to you” (4:26).  This is, at long last, the seventh husband; the man and the woman are united at this point.  His I AM is not different than her I AM.  What has been speaking to her all along has been her own I AM – “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song of Solomon 6:3) – the one divine I AM, the Spirit and the Truth.  She/he has been”raised up” on the last day, the seventh day, the sabbath day of completion and consummation, in which “all things are shown” (4:25), “everything [the soul] ever did” (4:29), the recapitulation of everything cosmic and psychic in the “ascension to where he/she was before” John 6:62).

Hopefully this take on the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well gives you a taste of the depth and wisdom that can be found in sacred scriptures when read beyond our usual understanding.  We can see that a deeper meaning is there hidden in plain site for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.  Whatever religious tradition you may come from, remember that it is there to feed your thirst for the source and nothing more.  The tradition cannot quench your thirst, but hopefully you will let it lead you to it’s source, which is the only thing that can.

In my next post we’ll jump back to where we left off in “The Shining Stranger.”  Until then, peace…

Cracking the Seals

Continuing our journey of exploring the activation of Kundalini,  let’s look at what the Book of Revelation says when the Lamb begins to open each of the seven seals:

1 Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures call out, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer. 3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, “Come!” 4 And out cameanother horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword. 5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come!” I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, 6 and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!” 7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, “Come!” 8 I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth. 9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; 10 they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” 11 They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters,who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed. 12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Rev. 6:1-17

1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Rev. 8:1-5

The opening of the seals are followed by 7 “trumpet blasts” and then 7 “vials of wrath,” which produce even more alarming consequences.  These trumpet blasts and pouring out of the vials describe the further processes of each seal’s activity as it becomes “activated.”  In some way the known material world begins to “disintegrate” or lose it’s hold on perceived reality.  As William Butler Yeats describes in his poem “The Second Coming:”

 Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
 Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
 The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

 The ceremony of innocence is    drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the   worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

 

Joshua Tilghman, a fellow blogger, describes what is happening here quite well on his “Spirit of the Scripture” blog.  In his post Introduction to the Book of Revelation, he tells us:

Although these symbols can seem scary when interpreted literally, they are really about the great strides that are being made within the soul as it journeys back to God. Each trumpet blast and each vial of judgment poured out from the angels symbolize cleansings and openings within our spiritual gateways called chakras. This is the process of unveiling higher consciousness as the Holy Spirit rises within us. It isn’t about devastation, destruction, and the end. It’s about new birth and life in the conscious experience. It’s about the purging of lower thoughts and emotions in order to awaken to our higher natures. The stigma that has come with the Book of Revelations needs to be lifted. 

The incompatibility between the egoic lower self and nature of our higher self is very real, albeit a very natural one. It is this divine tension that enables life as we know it to unfold. We should embrace it. It allows for the development of our thoughts and emotions.

Thank you for stating this so well, Joshua!  In our next post we’ll look at the positive aspects of growth that come with the opening of the seven seals, and we’ll use a familiar Gospel story to guide us.  Until then, peace…

The Good Book

As promised in my last entry, we will now look at the concept of a “book.”  Of course we know books as a collection of paper leaves, bound together in between two covers via a spine.  As Harold mentions, though, a book as we know it today did not exist in the ancient world, but rather was known as a roll – a scroll.  Psalm 40:7-8 says:

Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, Oh my God; your law is within my heart.

Notice the words in this prophecy: “I am,” “the book,” not a book, and “your law is within my heart.”  We have the name of God, the definitive article describing “book,” and the vital organ of the human body is described as the very dwelling place of God’s nature.  Where is this leading us?

Let’s skip ahead to the Book of Revelation.  In his masterful work, “The Apocalypse Unsealed,” James Morgan Pryse enlightens us as to the meaning of the “book,” or scroll.  We are directly confronted with this issue in Chapter 5…

1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals; 2 and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” -Rev. 5:1-2

The scroll is a mysterious document which it has taken the God æons to write, a Bible which, when rightly read, discloses cosmic and divine mysteries. It is simply the human body, and its seals are the force-centres wherein radiates the formative force of the Logos.  These seals are the same as the seven Societies (Churches) and the lampstands.  The expression “written on the inside and on the back” refers to the cerebrospinal axis and the great sympathetic system.

So the human being itself is the book in which Messiah comes when a man’s consciousness is transformed from being grounded in his lower mind to his higher mind.  This is done via the activation of the “force-centers,” or “seals” which run up the human spine. Isn’t it interesting that Pryse describes the human being as a “mysterious document – a Bible” which must be “rightly read to disclose cosmic and divine mysteries?”  Let’s remember what Harold says about the Bible itself…

The Bible, as Messiah, possesses glory, grace, and reality… In sum, it contains the expression of humanity: it is Homo sapiens’ complete picture of himself, from Genesis to Revelation.  Beginning with the advent of man’s realization of God-consciousness, symbolized in Adam, it reaches it’s climax in man’s realization of God incarnate in his being, symbolized in Jesus as Son of man, Lord, with which one’s consciousness may have but brief encounter – and then it bears witness to the transformation in consciousness this encounter evokes.

Notice that Harold understands a transformation of consciousness is of paramount importance here.  In the next post, I will explore this idea of transformation of consciousness as necessary if we are to correctly “open and read the book.”