The Judas Factor; Part IV

At this point in Harold’s assessment of Judas and his role in the gospels, he makes a startling interpretation of a well-known scripture that has always been attributed to Jesus:

Judas, the despised, rejected of all, the one lost that the Scriptures be fulfilled, that nature’s supreme law might be fulfilled to the last iota – Judas, an utter revulsion to the elect upon whom fell the task of building Christianity – is he not the stone that the builders rejected? Scripture says:

The stone that the builders rejected is the chief stone now of the corner: this is the doing of the Lord, and a wonder to our eyes?…

The stone that the builders rejected is the chief stone now of the corner. Everyone who falls on that stone will be shattered, and whoever falls upon it will be crushed.

Although the early church used this Psalm as a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection, Preston Harold gives us good reason as to why we might interpret it as referring to Judas.

A stone is matter. Matter is head of the corner of the building – the temple of life, the body. Most precious to man, the inherent and first necessity of life, is matter of his own. Yet this “stone” – flesh and its demands – is seen to be evil. Money is mammon’s symbol, and mammon is seen as evil. With matter and money Judas is completely identified. Was it not Judas upon who the crushing stone fell – was not the Judas drama the doing of the Lord?

It’s hard for me to argue with this reasoning. Yet a lifetime of interpreting this scripture as referring to Jesus presses back onto me. Harold continues:

As one views the whole picture, it would appear to say that there is one among the elect of consciousness, the superego, who gathers and disperses matter. At the command of Authority-Ego, this factor moves to convert this experience in life into “hard coin.” This member of the household that betrays to death can find solace only in death, but through its action One’s mission in life is completed and he gives back the “mammon” he has taken unto himself. Jesus says:

And I tell you use mammon, dishonest as it is…

He who is faithful with a trifle is also faithful with a large trust, and he who is dishonest with a trifle is also dishonest with a large trust….So if you are not faithful with dishonest mammon, how can you ever be trusted with true riches? And if you are not faithful with what belongs to another, how can you ever be given what is your own?

Mammon is dishonest because matter is not what it appears to be – it is but a trifle of mass. Judas had been faithful with the “trifle” of keeping the purse; Jesus could depend upon him to be faithful in executing the large trust involved in His betrayal and its aftermath – essential to His work. This world’s wealth, or matter, is not actually man’s own, but God’s. In this stewardship man must prove himself capable of using wealth before he can be given true riches – matter of his own.

Until next time, peace.

Love and the Authority-Ego

Through the cycle of life and death we come to know the fullness of love. Up through the “twisted tree of knowledge of good and evil” our Authority-Ego within leads the way.

In rebirth, one partakes of love’s spirit…He is reclothed in the flesh of God, virgin flesh, that he may live again to learn the cost of evil doing and through learning, be redeemed. In death the Authority-Ego divests man of his garment: it is this psychic factor that sheds one’s blood for the remission of the many sins of his ego-group; it is this factor that determines life or death…Love itself, which is his Authority-Ego, resurrects and holds inviolate in the id those of the ego-group whose own expression of love has redeemed them; and love resurrects also those that must live again unto the resurrection of damnation until their forces of good and evil are recast into a nonmaterial responsive factor that will prevent abusive exercise of power, and into the pure or purified evil that matter in itself must be seen to be; and in each rebirth love brings to life something of its whole being that has yet to partake of the tree of knowing.

What might this “nonmaterial responsive factor that will prevent abuse of power” be? Preston Harold will ultimately turn once again to William Wordsworth for a poetic description:

Thus, into a new world of being, the Authority-Ego brings its love of life, the ego-group restated: “he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” In time, as consciousness comes to the ego-group, the voice of worldly experience is heard: conscience sounds its note from one’s subconscious depths. And then, the superego is formed of that element in the id that is responsive to truth and can carry a word of it into the world, as the Authority-Ego “elects” them, giving to these the “keys” to the kingdom within. Through the superego, love speaks, and makes its presence felt in:

…that blessed mood

In which the burden of the mystery,

In which the heavy and the weary weight

Of all this unintelligible world,

Is lightened: -that serene and blessed mood,

In which the affections gently lead us on,-

Until, the breath of this corporeal frame

And even the motion of our human blood

Almost suspended, we are laid asleep

In body, and become a living soul…

Here Wordsworth describes an “out of body” experience, a body-free state of rapture; a “nonmaterial responsive factor.” As we become a living soul, there is no need for abuse of power, no need to flaunt ourselves, just increasing knowledge and assurance of blessedness. But why does this knowledge have to be hard earned? Why can’t God simply and totally reveal Himself and our full human nature to us? Let’s ponder this in our next installment. Until then, peace.

Jesus the Biochemist, Pt. 2

Jesus lived a relatively short life. He only needed to be around as long as was necessary for his message to be “absorbed.”

In the world of the cytoplasm the life of the Son, messenger-RNA, is short. Once the ribosomal-RNA is “keyed in,” the messenger-RNA is quickly broken down into individual nucleotides, which are put to a variety of uses in the cell. Thus, as the Son, messenger-RNA, completes its work, its “flesh and blood,” or body, is given for the life of the world of cytoplasm.

Once the Son has done His job, the apostles are the ones left to disseminate His message:

In the cell, there is a “transfer” or “missionary” job to be done. This work is accomplished by small fragments of RNA, fragments so small as to be freely soluble in the cell. These are often referred to as transfer-RNA. There are a number of varieties of transfer-RNA, and each will attach itself to one particular activated amino acid and to no other… In parallel, one might say that each factor of the superego can transmit only a portion of the truth, and thus brings only its “understanding” to be “attached” to the Son, messenger-RNA, so that many prophets and apostles are necessarily involved in the whole story that the Son, sent into the world, must reveal unto it.

In the Gospel of John Jesus says: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” “My teaching is not my own, but comes from the one who sent me.” “Yet even if I should judge, my judgment would be valid, because it is not I alone who judges, but I and the one who sent me. “ Harold tells us that…

The world of the cytoplasm can see the Father, DNA, only in the Son, in messenger-RNA, which is somehow sent from the nucleus to give itself to “key-in” the “truth-blanks” in order that the world of the cytoplasm may partake of the Father’s word and the Son’s body, and thereby live. The Father, DNA, does not leave the nucleus; the “doctrine” of the messenger-RNA is not its own; it is the doctrine of the DNA that sends it. Whatever the message it gives, its judgment is true, for it gives DNA’s judgment as to the particular imprint (of the particular substance) to be impressed upon the ribosomal-RNA.

We’ll finish up today’s post with this potent paragraph:

In the cell, the message is expressed in a “chemical language,” which may now be the only “language” left to the Father, for to the Son, man, is given the power of the word. The “chemical words” of DNA brought by messenger-RNA are life to the cells. Jesus indicates that the words of truth, sounding from the depths in man and voiced through his Authority-Ego, are life to consciousness. As it partakes of them it is partaking of that which gives it eternal being, for truth and love are the “us” of God, eternal. Thus, He says, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” He insists that the spirit quickens the flesh, and thus that life itself is a nonmaterial force.

And where do we find life, spirit, within the body? That will be the focus of our next post. Until then, peace.

Jesus the Biochemist, Pt. 1

Preston Harold sees Jesus’ life as a parable of two scientific concepts: biochemistry and light. We will look at how Jesus’ story reveals the scientific theories of light later in the The Shining Stranger but for now we will explore how His story uncovers biochemistry.

As symbol of primordial life, giving voice to that which all things were made, Jesus’ strange words appear to enfold what is today called biochemical information – and from this point of view, the whole story of the Son of man as Jesus depicted it may be seen as a parable revealing the life of the cell. To reveal life’s deepest secrets is incumbent upon truth bearer:

“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” –Matt 13:35

In other words, Jesus’ parables run DEEP, going much further than what we may have even imagined or been able to understand of them up to this point. Many excellent and enlightening volumes have been written on Jesus’ parables, but none have ever gone, or even considered going, down to the microscopic levels of biological life. But why not? As Harold says, truth resides at ALL levels of our lived experience. Why then leave out biochemistry or any of the sciences for that matter?

The psychic operation between Father, Son, and the world of man as Jesus described and depicted it parallels the biochemists’ description of DNA and messenger-RNA operating in a cell. The biochemical operation may reflect the psychic operation and vice versa… One may see the cell’s DNA as Father, and the cell’s messenger-RNA as Son of man, which has partaken of the “life” of the Father, DNA, and is sent into the world of the cytoplasm to reveal the Father’s, or DNA’s, message.

Very good. Now Harold will tell us how the world of the cytoplasm mirrors the subconscious, ego-group, and superego:

This world is a complex system containing thousands of small bodies of various sizes, shapes, and functions; these bodies are called Mitochondria and are the “powerhouses” of the cell; they may be compared to the ego-group, “Israel.” But these ‘bodies” are not the ones messenger-RNA must impress with the Father’s, DNA’s, doctrine if the cell is to have life or the know-how to produce the substance it must have. In the cell, there are smaller “particulates” containing RNA; these are called Microsomes and they are the protein factories; they may be likened to the subconscious. In addition, there are tiny particles densely distributed on the network of membranes associated with the microsomal fraction in the cell; they are known as Ribosomes and may be likened to the superego or the disciples because they contain just about all of the RNA, which may be likened to “truth.”But the ribosomal-RNA does not carry the genetic code; ribosomal-RNA is something like a “key-blank” which can be ground to fit any lock. Upon this “key-blank” the messenger-RNA, sometimes called template-RNA, impress DNA’s message, giving ribosomal-RNA the “keys,” the secrets, of the “kingdom within,” the nucleus, seat of DNA, Father.

We will continue with this line of thought in our next post, Until then, peace.

Dilemma of the Ego-Group

In his poem “Tintern Abbey” William Wordsworth describes an all too rare state of consciousness:

…I have felt

A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.

Poetry is necessary because nothing yet in psychology’s concepts of ego or superego provides for humanity’s direct correspondence with complete truth and joy.   Nor does psychology provide concepts for the inner certainty of infinity, or deathlessness. According to Wordsworth’s poem, the sublime sense of joy and eternity is based on the sense of a “presence.” Usually our sense of “presence” is rooted in a person, or some living being. Yet in our everyday lives we regularly identify with groups, becoming a different personality depending upon the group with which we are interacting. Harold says:

Dependency upon the group means loss of one’s individuality – this is seen…to be the growing problem. Dr. Van den Berg says, “We are not ourselves; actually there is nothing we can call a ‘self’ anymore…we have as many selves as there are groups to which we belong.” In simple truth man does present a different self to every person, to every situation – he always has, always will…

This reality of different selves leads to an issue that needs to be solved:

Man’s consciousness is not expressed by an ego, but by an ego-group which includes an image that corresponds to each person he knows, sees, or thinks about. His Dr. Jekyll selves are haunted by his Mr. Hyde selves, and these graduate one into the other – but none of these selves are the man himself. Only as he tries to merge these ego-members into a Self-consistency, into a Group-ego, to replace Authority-Ego must his identity incorporate every degradation he has suffered, inflicted, witnessed, or read about. Attempting to be one-self by making of the ego-group a Group-ego causes the personality to reflect all that characterizes the group in society – no part of it is responsible for one’s failure or misery, no part is wholly mature.

So what is the remedy for making a person wholly mature?

A governing authority, one central to man’s being, appears to be necessary to him. Jesus teaches that this authority, which upholds social and moral law even as it transcends law’s limitations, cannot be found in society nor in man’s conscious domain where conscience operates. But such an authority is within each man: it is a certainty in being that accords with truth and turns consciousness to experience truth as it works in life. Upon this Authority’s shoulders the government of one’s life rests; in time it brings him to reap as he sows; it refuses much that consciousness accepts; it returns the forgotten errors the ego-group refuses to face; it will call itself only by its God-given name, “I.”

And there it is, our remedy, our answer: the sense of “presence,” an “I,” an experience of “one person,” each person’s Authority-Ego. We will explore our Authority-Ego’s leading in our next post. Until then, peace…

Never fear, the Superego is here!

Let’s briefly review the components of our unconscious that we have explored so far and what their outer symbols are.  First we have the id, which is symbolized by the “earth, formless and void” from Genesis 1.  Second, we have the ego, which in it’s highest aspect is represented by Jesus as Authority-Ego.  Now we move on and begin exploring the superego.  Harold begins with Freud’s concept…

The concept of Authority-Ego in man, as posed by this study, is not to be confused with superego.  In regard to superego, Jesus’ words and drama invite another basic alteration in psychological concepts.  

Superego, man’s “higher nature,” or the “ego-ideal,” posed a knotty problem for Freud.  He saw “that there is a special segment of the ego that contains the ‘higher’ values, the aspirations, and also the ‘conscience’ of the personality…and he described it as speaking to the ego with the voice of both inspiration and stern commandment.”  He saw the “closest kinship…between the id and the superego, the highest and lowest having the most in common by virtue of their relative lack of consciousness… This ‘higher nature,’ however, is nothing more than the conventional moralities that traditional religions enforce.”

But as the beginning of the quote above states, Jesus took a different tact when it comes to the superego’s role.  The big difference revolves around the role of conscience…

Jesus’ teaching and drama draw a sharp distinction between conscience, or the conventional moralities that traditional religions enforce, and superego.  He indicates that the ego-group does not form the superego from the unconscious, nor is the superego the ego-group as developed along the lines of self-criticism and moral conscience – nor is it the Authority-Ego, “I.”  In Jesus’ drama, the superego is represented by the elect, the disciples.

Harold presents us with the idea of superego=disciples; the elect.  And he draws a specific distinction between superego and conscience.  What then is the role of conscience?  

Upon the disciples Jesus confers the certainty of being; and He, symbol of Authority-Ego, chooses this elect of consciousness.  But the call of conscience, represented by John the Baptist, must precede the formation of the superego-group, and conscience, like John the Baptist, also develops its own following of selves responding to the censuring voice or assuming the ascetic stance.  Conscience prepares the way for Christ-consciousness to express itself, but the elect of Authority-Ego’s choosing are not belabored by Him nor stricken by conscience to repentance.  They appear to represent an element in man’s consciousness that spontaneously responds to truth and accepts the invitation to do its work in this world.  The following of conscience and the following of truth never merge to become one fold. Thus, he whose actions are commanded by conscience is not an acting superego, not a disciple of his Authority-Ego.  Such an ego-factor is disciple of the ascetic intellect John the Baptist represented, and “the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  But this is not an unworthy calling, for Jesus says “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”  Conscience is of the conscious domain.

So conscience is of the conscious domain, which means it is not of the kingdom of heaven, the unconscious.  But it has an important role to play; it “prepares the way of the Lord…”  We’ll finish with the role the superego, the elect/disciples, plays in the world:

Jesus’ drama indicates that superego is not drawn from the intellectual or learned level – it appears to be a lifting of simple consciousness to experience truth in action so that this consciousness may serve as a bridge between the conscious and unconscious domains, conveying to the ego-group the certainty of life and love.  Thus, Jesus says of the elect, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”  But He prays that they not be taken out of the world of consciousness, for here they represent “I-consciousness” in being.

And there it is.  Do you consider yourself primarily a follower of conscience or of Authority-Ego?  Something to think about!  Until next time, peace…