“How have all the prophets written of thee, and yet thou know not thyself, thou rides so upon the fat pampered beast, and that riding pleases thee so well, that thou wilt rather go to the Devil and into the abyss of Hell rather than thou wilt light off thy beast? What shall become of thee then, thou blind Babel? Do but light off from the great ugly beast, which is the might, pomp, state, and pride. Behold! Thy bridegroom comes, and reaches forth his hand to thee and would lead thee out of Babel.
“Did not he walk on foot upon Earth? He did not ride in that manner. He had nothing wheron to lay his head. What kingdom do you build for him? Where is the place of his rest? Does he not rest in thy arms? Wherefore does thou not embrace him? Is he too poor in this world? Yet he is rich in heaven. Who will thou send to him to be reconciled? The Mother of Jesus? O no, that will not avail; he does not stand behind thee and absolve thy wickedness, for thy inclination of falsehood. He knows not the letters which thou sends to him by the saints, who are in the still rest before him in the heavenly element.” ~Jacob Boehme
Riding the Fat Beast
The fat and ugly beast that so many “ride” today is the beast of materialism. It may not be a beast in the conventional sense, but it is probably the most dangerous beast that exists. It is dangerous because it turns us away from the spiritual. Many think that they can throw reins on this beast and control it, but this beast is not so easily controlled. It may, for a time, seem as if it is under your control, but in actuality, it is leading you further and further away from the eternal life of Spirit, and closer and closer to the death and destruction of the lower realm of matter.
At times, this beast may have been skinny to the point of being emaciated, but in today’s world, it is a fat beast indeed. Fat because it is fed by so many foolish people who make heroes of the greedy, leaders of the stingy, saints of the self-involved. The beast is leading us to destruction, but it is not too late to jump off the beast and go the other way. It is a difficult thing to do, but the reward of eternal life is worth it.
Might, Pomp, State, and Pride
The beast of materialist is a many-headed beast, and Boehm has listed the names of several of its heads. One is Might, the desire to have power and to rule over others. Another is Pomp, a desire to be a celebrity of sorts, a desire to be admired. One needs to realize that the admiration of stupid people and misled people is of no real value at all. As for “state,” there are many meanings for that word. I believe that Boehme means it in the sense of one’s personal state within society, in other words, rank. Desiring to rank highly in social circles is riding the beast when the society is one of materialism. Pride is another of the heads of the beast. We have to have humility and realize that even in the realm of materialism, no one accomplishes much of anything without the help of others who may have done their part long before you were even born, yet they contributed. The spiritual people understand that any real spiritual accomplishments come with the aid of God as well.
Boehm left greed off of his list. Perhaps it wasn’t as big a problem in his time as it is now. Today we not only permit great greed to flourish, but we also encourage it. This is definitely feeding the beast of materialism making it ever more powerful and hard to resist. Fortunately, we now have the Light of the Sun of Righteousness shining down on us to give us more strength to resist the beast.
The Bridegroom Comes
This talk of a bridegroom confuses many. It is an allegorical reference used in the Bible and other spiritual literature. The bridegroom is Christ, and the Christ spirit comes to us to free us from materialism, which Boehm calls “Babel”. Here is the catch. We have been given a limited kind of free will and therefore the Christ Force is never pushed upon those who refuse it, deny it, or simply are not ready for it. We must, like a good bride, welcome the Bridegroom into our arms. We do that by turning from materialism, jumping off the back of the Beast of Materials, and working on the development of our immortal Soul. Only those who are headed down that road will meet Christ, the Bridegroom on the path, and in due time, achieve their own Christ Consciousness.
From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette
