“Those upon whom the Divine Law is written, not with ink and letters, but implanted in hearts of flesh, these, having the eyes of their mind enlightened, and reaching after a hope, not tangible and seen, but invisible and immaterial, have power to get the better of the stumbling blocks of the evil one, not by themselves, but from the power that never can be defeated. But those who have not been honored with God’s Word, nor instructed by Divine Law, are vainly puffed up, and fancy that by their own free will they can bring to naught the resources of sin—sin which is only condemned through the mystery contained in the cross. It lies in the power of man’s free will to resist the devil, but it does not extend to an absolute command over the passions. Except the Lord build the house, it says, and keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain, and the builder labors in vain.
“You cannot go upon the asp and basilisk and tread under your feet the lion and the dragon, without first purging yourself as far as human ability goes, and being strengthened by him who said to the apostles, Behold, I have given you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.” ~St. Macarius the Egyptian
Divine Law is Written
As St. Macarius says, the Divine Law is not written with ink on paper, nor found in any books. Some parts of it may be found in books of scripture, but then it is open to misinterpretation. In any case, Divine Law does not really hold sway over you until it is written in spirit and soul, which is what the ancients usually meant when they said it was in your heart. The heart is just an organ of flesh and blood, but it has an energy center associated with it, and that is where the truth is written.
Eyes Enlightened
I have to disagree with St. Macarius on this one. It is not the “eyes of the mind” that are enlightened, but the eyes of the soul in an awakened spirit. This means, of course, that the spirit must be awakened from its dormant state before this can happen. It is only the spirit that can communicate with the spiritual worlds; it is only the spirit that can learn the spiritual truths that are found in the spiritual worlds. Macarius is correct, though, in saying that the one who has been enlightened has the power to resist the stumbling blocks of the evil one and his spiritual minions and human assistants. He is also correct in saying that that power is not with the enlightened person alone, but with the help of the “power that can never be defeated.”
God’s Word
St. Macarius is definitely correct in saying that those who are not receiving God’s Word and are not following God’s Law are just “vainly puffed up” if they think they can achieve enlightenment on their own. True, enlightenment does require we work at it and do so for some time; but we also need to do it with God’s Word or Light. But if you think that God’s Word can be found trapped in some holy book, you are mistaken. It is found only through direct communication with higher levels of being and consciousness.
Tread on Serpents and Dragons
This is just another way of saying that the enlightened person will be able to resist the temptations of the material world and the attempts by demons and devils to turn us away from spiritual growth and development. But again, you can’t do it on your own, you have to have God and the Angels on your side.
Mystery Contained in the Cross
There is a great mystery contained in the cross that is not recognized by most Christians. For starters, they confuse the cross for the crucifix upon which Jesus was hung to die. The mystery cross has been recognized as a symbol of God and God’s Word long before the birth of Jesus. The oldest version of it was a simple circle with a cross inside. This represented God, but also that God’s Light was in the sun; the circle represented the sun, and the cross inside, the Light of God. This advanced over time to new variations with the best-known version being the Maltese cross. Nearly all of these mystery crosses have four arms of the same length, and many have circles at the four tips, usually three. Here are some variations.
The important thing about this type of cross is that it speaks directly to the human soul, which understands geometric shapes, not words. So having a cross of this sort, such as the Cosolargy Cross, and looking at it regularly, or simply imagining it in our mind’s eye, helps awaken our spiritual faculties.
From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette