“Man is unique not because he does science, and he is unique not because he does art, but because science and art equally are expressions of his marvelous plasticity of mind.” —Jacob Bronowski
In the PBS concert presentation of Les Miserables earlier this past Summer, Jean Valjean seeks an answer to the ancient question: “Who am I?”– to which Marius, the young man whose life he had just saved, responds “You are Jean Valjean.” But that answer doesn’t seem to satisfy Jean Valjean’s deeper query, as he keeps repeating “Who am I?”– as though asking “Who is this man I’ve become? What fate has brought me to this end? What have I done in past lives? What karma have I brought with me to this life? Why am I here now? WHO AM I?”
These questions stir deep currents in my soul. I will speak candidly here. Whether or not these were Jean Valjean’s deeper queries, they are mine today. Oh, I can give answers to them, answers that I’ve learned during my spiritual awakening, but they somehow do not satisfy the deeper query of the mind — and it is the mind that is asking.
I know who I AM. My mind, on the other hand, has its uncertainties, as though it has a separate identity and history from who I Am — even a collective one. After all, my personal intellect will evaporate with my physical body’s last breath. However, the Body of Mankind is still around after all these thousands of years, and the collective Mind, which we all share, is still alive and active in this world, having acquired its own separate identity as the “human ego.”
But why are these questions visiting my mind now in this day and time — and they do seem personal. Is it my Catholic upbringing that has made it so easily susceptible to guilt and blame when things fall apart? Whence is this guilt that lingers in my mind — and in my heart? Has my mind poisoned my heart with guilt and blame? Why the feelings of guilt over ancient failures and catastrophes, as though I was there and responsible for them? Was I there?! Is this voice in my head the voice of the collective Mind awakening from its coma wondering what’s been going on all these eons of time while it slumbered in amnesia, and now asking “WHO AM I?”
Lucifer — Light Bearer — Morning Star
The archaic word “Lucifer” has been with me for several decades, much like an archetypal presence, ever since I heard my spiritual mentor speak of the return of this “fallen angel” to its rightful place in Heaven as the “Light Bearer.” I have thought long and hard about this over the years, as something within me identifies with Lucifer. My role in life seems to be associated somehow with Lucifer? Am I simply one of many incarnate angels whose role it is to be a Light Bearer in this world?
Here is a passage from the Gospel of John that poses a question for me:
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
Was the Evangelist John a Lucifer?
I’ll take this a step further and ask: Why is Lucifer also the name given to the Devil and Satan? And how can Satan, who is also called the “Prince of darkness” be a bearer of Light? The prophet Isaiah had some words to say about Lucifer:
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” For thou hast said in thine heart, “I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.”
Yet, thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying: “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?” (Isaiah 14:12-17)
This sounds more like a celestial event involving comets and planets than a biblical one involving angels and men — given the cataclysmic upheavals in our planet’s ancient history where, in one episode, the planet Venus, for instance, was given the name “Baal Zevuv” (which later became Beelzebub), and “Lucifer,” the “Morning Star,” due to her brightness in the early morning sky before she was “cut down to the ground” to become a comet for several terrifying decades until she was restored to the status of planet.
This all makes it obvious that one cannot take biblical accounts literally, as men in those days didn’t know what to make of the cataclysmic events occurring in the heavens and on the earth. So they made up stories to pass on to their offspring . . . and to record in the history books, which the Bible is, “The Story of Man.”
The word Lucifer was not always associated with the Devil and Satan. In one of the Gnostic Gospels, for example, Jesus calls Mary Magdalene “Mary Lucifer” because of her brightness of spirit, her mental acuity, and her passionate love for him. He was the Light of the world and she his “Beloved Companion” in their shared mission, his Light-bearer, the “Apostle of apostles.” She knew and understood him while the other disciples only believed in Him — except for John the Beloved, who also knew and loved him. They both shared a conscious awareness of his mission and purpose, his divinity, as well as their own.
Who and what is Lucifer?
Here’s my take: Lucifer in Heaven was a bearer of the Light of Truth, and after his fall from grace, from Heaven, he became the Devil and Satan, the “Prince of darkness” and “the Prince of this world.” If this is so, Satan is no longer in Heaven but on Earth; no longer an invisible but a rather visible entity on the material plane of this world, which we should be able to see. I believe we do — and not in the television series.
Where is this Satan, then? Is he embodied by Donald Trump, perhaps? Some may think so. Maybe by the Koch brothers and the Cabal that rule the world economy from Wall Street and the World Bank? Is he in Russia as Vladimir Putin, or more likely in the murderous dictator of Syria, Bashar Hafez al-Assad — who, by the way, was born in Damascus on September 11, 1965. Did Assad bring down the World Trade Center to celebrate his 36th birthday? The number 36 can be interpolated as three sixes — 666, the “number of the beast, which is also the number of a man.” The number 666 is also the address of the Jared Kushner Tower on Fifth Avenue, which was recently bailed out by Qatar in Saudi Arabia, where Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman lives in decadence. Perhaps he is the “Prince of this world.” Maybe the Devil is all of the above. So many “evil men” at which to point the finger.
Here’s something significant: The Hebrew for the blamer is shatan, or obstacle; the Greek for divider is diabolos. Hmm….
I don’t believe the Devil is anyone or anywhere “out there.” I believe that we humans are devils when we cast blame and pass judgement on one another, and are hateful and cruel toward ourselves and one another.
(I just learned today that human trafficking is the number one illegal money maker, a near forty-billion-dollar-a-year business globally — with illegal drug sales second and gun sales third.)
In my early years, while studying for the Catholic priesthood, my father used to advise me not to try and save the Devil, as he was lost forever. As I awakened spiritually, I began to understand more about who the Devil is, and I found myself doing exactly the contrary. This has been a central part of my life’s mission and purpose: saving Lucifer from perdition by inviting my own mind, drawn by its love for the beauty of Truth, to ascend to its appointed place in Heaven as the Light Bearer it was designed to be. This is my whole purpose for writing: to shine Light on the path of our sojourn through this “valley of the shadow of death.”
I see light shining in this valley as more and more angels incarnate, emissaries of Light, are using their minds to shine the Light of Truth into the consciousness of mankind, enlightening us about our true state and that of our world — but also about our humanity and our true identity: Be Your Humanity: Know Your Divinity.
Life in this chaotic world is beginning to be brightened a bit because Lucifer is being restored to its heavenly role as Light Bearer . . . shining Light as well on our self-active past:
The Ascent of Man such celebrated “great minds” as Dr. Jacob Bronowski, and Sir David Attenborough on Overpopulation, speak of is more about the awakening of the mind to its reckless past and to the stark realities of existence on a rather small planet that has limited accommodations for its voracious appetite for more of everything, including people. It is precisely man’s “marvelous plasticity of mind,” along with his wild and evil imagination, that are responsible for the dire straits in which we find ourselves today.
I believe the so-called “Devil” is simply the self-active mind of man, and that Lucifer is the Truth-active Mind of Man, neither of which has a separate identity from who I AM. For it is with our minds that we shine the Light of Truth in this darkened world full of hate and lies. The mind is a wonderful capacity when used as a lens to refocus the Light of Truth from within and not as a reservoir of “knowledge” that, given its rather thin substance, can easily become overwhelmed and fragile with too much information and so-called “knowledge.” And its rightful place is not up front leading the way with its bright ideas and empty promises, but behind us, with our Spirit, the Light of Love that we are, leading forth in our lives. This is the truth of our humanity and our identity, a truth we must come to love and cherish in our hearts.
I’ll leave you to ponder these words of Lloyd A. Meeker (Uranda):
The Truth, through the mind, through the working of intelligence, provides the design, the factors of form in concept or belief; and Love, through the heart, animates that which is accepted by the mind. And the physical body receives that which is so established, for the body as such has no choice but to receive that which is imposed upon it. . . .
Human beings accept certain things in the sense of intellectual beliefs, but that which is animated in the actual expression of their lives takes form on the basis of resentment ideas, fear ideas, rebellion ideas, or hate ideas. The real feeling manifests in the range of something which carries a critical, condemnatory or destructive attitude, and that which is of the Divine Design, even though it be seen, is not animated in the individual life because there is no particular feeling in regard to it. . . .
Illumination comes when the mind accepts the Truth idea, and the Dominion idea, in a manner which allows the heart to animate the Dominion, Kingdom idea. Any constructive idea which becomes animated through the heart brings some degree of Illumination—vividness of comprehension and appreciation; for Illumination is simply comprehension coupled with due appreciation. By reason of appreciation there is the acceptance of value. (Uranda)
I will continue with the series on the spiritual significance of the Thyroid gland in my next post. Until then,
Be love. Be loved.
Anthony
tpal70@gmail.com
Healing Tones 