Tree of Life — Nazirene

Segment 1

It is important to recognize that when Clement wrote the above in his Epistle to a congregation of Christians, he did so in the expectation that the people to whom he was writing would understand the great truths he was presenting to them. That the Kingdom or End Times would and could only come when "...two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female . And the fact that this statement that is in the Gospel of Thomas and was contained in a first century Epistle from an elder to a congregation of believers in that time-frame, could not be contained and understood in a letter or epistle to a congregation today, is merely one example of the fact that the dogma and thinking of the modern Church has virtually nothing in common with the original teachings of Jesus known as TheWay (see The Original Teachings Have Nothing In Common With Church Dogma ). Which provokes the question: Has the requirements to enter the Kingdom changed in order to accommodate the dogmatic corruption of the Church? Has Truth and Higher Spiritual Reality been discarded and thrown away, because the Church threw this body of essential Knowledge pertaining to the Coming of the Kingdom away? Or, does modern Christians dwell in a self-imposed Diaspora of abject Spiritual Ignorance which was brought about by the massive corruption of the scriptures (see BibleCorruption.com ), and the suppression of the body of essential knowledge that is necessary to restore the lost prodigal son to his rightly place in the Edenic Kingdom of Origination.

Segment 2

When Jesus conveyed to Nicomedus that "...Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" -- and when Nicomedus did not understand the threefold process of birth, Jesus then asked how he could be a teacher, and not know these spiritual realities: "...Nicodemus answered and said to Him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? It is important to grasp the reality of the words that when Nicodemus did not grasp the reality of achieving the next stage of birth, that Jesus replied: Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:1-12 NKJ). Thus, if the next stage of birth was brought about by saying a prayer to the Jesus-god created by fourth century pagan Church of Rome -- or, the sinners prayer as is commonly practiced by modern Christians -- then Jesus would not have replied to Nicodemus in this manner. He would have stated to Nidodemus that a person must say the prayer to the Messianic Lord and Savior, in order to be born again. But he did not, because this man-made dogma had not yet been invented and propagated by faux-priests who were part of the great shadow-church of pagan Rome.

Segment 3

In the same way that genetically, the embryo that forms the body when an infant is born into this world is the merger and balance of 23 pairs of chromosomes from the mother and father, what is being presented in the words of the Gospel of Thomas -- i.e., "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female..." -- is the means by which the Feminine-Intuitive and Male-Linear opposite spheres of mind within the pattern of the twelve spheres of the Tree of Life must be brought into a state of Evolved Wholeness and Oneness, in order for the mind of the seeker to evolve beyond what Paul portrays as an "animal-soul" level of consciousness (see Organic Man Ruled Over By His Lower Animal Nature), and for the Kingdom to come in the manner that was promised in the Gospel -- i.e., "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna" (Rev 2:17). Which provokes the question: Overcomes what? Overcome the division of the Tree of Duality of the person's own mind as explored in the article The Tree Of Life -- as personified in the statement: "'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God'" (Rev 2:7). Which spiritually transformative process is personified in the words of the Gospel of Thomas: "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; ...then will you enter the kingdom" .

Segment 4

That the later fourth century Church of Rome threw this essential knowledge away that the first-century Christian clearly understood, does not in any manner change the requirements of birth that Jesus set forth in the Gospel. In the words of that 60s philosopher Bob Dylan during that time of his life when he was a student of Hebrew Mysticism, when he said: "He whos not busy being born, is busy dying"! There are Two Ways -- i.e., what Jesus portrayed as the "narrow path" of TheWay of Life, and the "broad-way" that the vast majority of mankind walks to their own demise. And if you fail to bring about the next stage of birth -- with the Second Coming and End Times coming within you, while you are still in the physical body -- it will be impossible to accomplish this necessary next stage of birth in the after-life when you pass from this world. Thereby fulfilling the statement: "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom" (Matt 16:28 NKJ). As stated in the Gospel of Philip: "Those who say that first they shall die and (then) they shall arise are confused. If they do not first receive the resurrection (while) they live, they will not receive anything (when) they die" Therefore, it is impossible to fulfill the requirements of the Gospels without first fulfilling the teaching of Jesus when he stated: "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; ...then will you enter the kingdom."

Segment 5

And it is for this reason that the narrow path of TheWay is portrayed as difficult that few find -- i.e., regardless of what your pastor, minister, priest, clergy or inspired preacher tells you, if you fail to find the "narrow gate that is difficult and which leads to life, and only the very few ever find it" that permits entrance into the Kingdom within you (Luke 17:20-21) while you are still alive in the physical body, you will have walked the broad-way that is walked by the multitudes to their own self-destruction. The Gospel of Thomas opens with the profound statement: And [Jesus} said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death." The only way to find the meaning of the above statement with respect to overcoming the male/female columns of Duality of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is to remerge what is allegorically personified as Adam and Eve into their original condition of Adam/Eve, and eat the Life-Giving Fruit in the Center of the Tree of Life ( http://TreeOfLife.Nazirene.org ). Which means that to "find the interpretation of these saying" , the seeker/disciple must bring about the next stage of birth by "making the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; ...then will you enter the kingdom."

Segment 6

The Gospels continually warn us that the path or the second birth and entrance into the Kingdom is not easy. The strife of the inner war within ourselves as embodied in the symbols of Armageddon is seen in the words: "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22 NKJ). In the words of Jesus: "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt 10:38 NKJ). Thus, in the same way that a woman travails in labor to bring a child into this world, we must ourselves endure the "many tribulations" of spiritual labor to be born into the Kingdom of God. Since the Kingdom is within us, and Armageddon is therefore not an historical event -- but more factually, a spiritual event in the life of the disciple in search of Truth -- we must then totally re-evaluate everything we think we know about both the Gospel Message, and the life we are presently living. In fully comprehending these biblical statements in relation to the whole purpose of the teachings of The Way, let us again examine the definitive statement which conveys to us the very essence of the Gospel -- and especially the Revelation of John: "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie" (Rev 22:14-15 NKJ). If the text of the Revelation represented the end of the world, as is commonly believed by the majority of Christians today, then we must pose the question: Why are those who remain outside the city portrayed as "dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie" ? Armageddon, then, indicates the disciples personal tribulation described as the "pangs of birth", as he endeavors to overcome his own lower carnal nature through the crucifixion of what is symbolized by the flesh, in order that he can possess the Knowledge of the fruit of the Tree of Life, transcend the natural barriers of this world, and "enter through the gates into the city" .

Segment 7

Actions from one side of the Tree of Duality -- if not resolved -- causes one to be born under the Laws of the oppose side

The Law Of Action And Reaction - All Actions Initiate An Opposite Re-Action: When we open the hood of a car and we say the word engine, the functioning of that engine is the result of many very different processes all working together in an optimum level of performance. In many ways the mind functions in a parallel perspective. Intelligence is derived out of man's ability to perceptively-understand from many diverse perspectives. In the same way that an automobile engine has many diverse and seemingly separate functions all performing their task both simultaneously and in concert together in order to support the proper running of the engine -- and if any of these separate functions is inhibited, then so too is the functioning of the whole negatively affected -- the same is true of the workings of the mind to function from the foundation of Wholeness (see Wholeness of Mind & Being http://TreeOfLife.Nazirene.org#wholeness ).

Segment 8

It is not until we understand that mankind is presently dwelling in a realm of Duality -- where opposite polarities of the same consciousness can and must interact with each other in order to evolve to Wholeness -- that we can begin to understand the separate functions that must be brought together to bring about Wholeness of Mind and Being. Therefore, we must pose the question: Why is the One comprised of the Many -- and the Many are often found in conflict with each other? Because each action has an opposite reaction -- and each solution intimately imposes movement in the opposite manifest polarity. And in understanding this reality, it then must be understood that when an action is initiated, a corresponding (re)-action is initiated in the opposite polarity. The Soul, or our True-Self, is a Being of Light -- but what is the Source of this Light? The intensity, depth and substance of the Light of the Soul is drawn from the balance of positive (male) and negative (reflective) spanning all the lives that Soul has ever lived. All Soul-Growth is achieved through the interaction of the opposite polarities (positive/negative - male/female) which manifest in what is portrayed as the Third-Force of Mind -- all of which is powered and animated by the Vital Life-Force or Bio-Energy of the Spirit. At a Soul-Level of Being, no growth can be brought about because the opposite polarities of positive/negative male/female is balanced within the Mind of the Soul. Wherefore, the Soul must incarnate into lives where the polarities of the Divine Pattern (positive/negative and male/female) are divided and appear separate, so they can interact and gain experiential knowledge. And in the same way that the two sides of the heart while separate, remain dependent upon their opposite, so too does the polarities of positive/negative (male/female).

Segment 9

In the same way that the contraction of the two atrium chambers of the heart initiate the contraction in the ventricles of the heart, in this divided reality every action initiates a reactive-action in its opposite polarity. Which from the higher perspective of mankind wherein the pattern of the complexity of mind is manifest in the pattern of the Tree of Life, it means that every word, and every action you make, initiates an opposite polarity-action that MUST BE BALANCED IN THE CENTER OF THE TREE OF LIFE. When balance and wholeness is achieved, then growth and development is brought about. When the active and reflective opposites cannot be balanced within one's own self, then the action becomes externalized -- which in the parable of the prodigal son, is portrayed as the squandering away of the inheritance on "riotous living" . But because the loss or externalization of the bio-energy is stamped with what can be portrayed as the imprint of our Spiritual DNA, it MUST return back to us -- and this process can and does continue until Wholeness and Completion is achieved.

Segment 10

The Divine Mind: If we look at an adult, few of us see that the person is the result and outgrowth of two opposite polarity cells that came together to form an embryo -- and if man was created in the image of Creator-God, then we must permit ourselves to be cognizant of the reality that our own beginning was very much the same as God's Beginning -- and in the beginning we must then understand that the Mind of God and all that exists, came into being in the form of a Primal Divine Embryo that gave birth to Creation. In the same way that an adult person did not come into being in the stature of an adult -- and that each person began as a single embryonic cell drawn from the generative essence of the opposite polarities of positive/male and negative/reflective/female, the same is true of God. And if this is difficult to envision, perhaps even more difficult is the fact that we cannot even begin to envision the process throughout all of the above article, without first understanding the connection that exists between all of mankind and all of Creation. The problem is seen in the fact that organic (natural) man who is "born blind" to his own higher reality (see Soul-Evolution - Reincarnation And Soul-Development http://OriginalGospel.Ebionite.com#SoulEvolution ), cannot even begin to understand his own higher Soul-Reality and the theric Connection between all of mankind. One of the most important realities that organic man is blind to, is the reality of Mind. With our physical eyes and vision, we cannot directly see Mind -- yet it not only exists, but we can observe the results of mind in the actions of mankind. Yet, the more we develop Wholeness of Mind, the more we develop the ability to perceive Mind -- becoming aware of the Mental Bodies that surround Man's physical body as a personal atmosphere. In addition to breathing in oxygen, with each breath we polarize the body through positive and negative cycles of Mind that surround the physical body. And as the mind of the person begins to evolve to a more mature level of consciousness, only then is the person able to begin to perceptively-observe not only the Mental-Bodies that surround each person, but also the theric-Connections that connect individual groups of people together -- and especially the Morphic-Field that Unifies the opposite polarities of a man and women who enter into a Divine Marriage.

Segment 11

That Organic Man is blind to these higher realities of Mind and Spirit -- but has the capacity of develop his expanded perceptive-sight -- is portrayed in the Gospel of Thomas in the words: (5) Jesus said, "Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you...".

Segment 12

When the first century elder Ignatius wrote to the Christian congregation of believers that: Might I not write to you things more full of mystery? But I fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are babes. Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to receive their weighty import, ye should be strangled by them -- he said this because if he was to begin to even convey the truth and reality of man's higher soul and spiritual nature and the Kingdom, these Christians would very quickly dismiss him as a crazy lunatic, and they would no longer listen to a thing that he says. Therefore, Ignatius, as with all the biblical authors (see Mystery), understood that the mind of the believer must be matured -- the dormant spheres of mind that do not correspond to this physical world must become activated and developed -- in order for the believer to begin to perceive and grasp his own higher soul and spiritual reality. When Jesus said to the woman at the well that she was unable to go and get her husband because she had five husbands (John 4:18), we must be cognizant of the fact that Jesus and other spiritually advanced souls are able to see into the theric (Field) dimensions that man in his natural organic condition cannot. What Jesus was observing when he made this statement, was the stream of vital life-force from five different men with whom the woman had sex, as a connective thought-stream entering into her. And this expansion of organic human perceptive-vision and conscious beyond normal physical limits is what is portrayed in the process: "Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little" (Isa 28:9-10 NKJ). In the same way that an infant grows into a child and adult one step at a time, so too does the process of mental-expansion take place line upon line. And this immaturity of mind and spirit causes the vast majority of believers not to comprehend an important overlooked and not understood Bible passage states in reference to the Higher Reality of God that mankind is blind to: For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring (Acts 17:28 NIV). If we indeed "...live and move and have our being" within God, then what is our true relationship to God?

Segment 13

When we put the foregoing together with the statement by James Jeans that: ...the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine . Or the words of Arthur Eddington: The stuff of the universe is mind-stuff . What is portrayed is a higher reality that few people are even prepared to contemplate -- much less, understand with sufficient degree to even form a realistic opinion. We live and move and have our being in God, because there is nothing but Mind. And all that exists, exists because the Thoughts of God brought it into existence. And when you look at the outer world, what you are seeing is the Mind of God allegorically presented to you in the forms of nature.

Segment 14

An Enlightened person who understands the Natural Laws of Creation, understands that God is not a being who is separate from man -- but is the very Consciousness within which we move and have out being. Perhaps one of the best teachings (which was removed from the canonical Gospels by the Church), has been preserved in the outlawed Gospel of the Nazirenes, and is known as the parable of the fishes (quoting): "And there were certain men, of doubtful mind, who came to Yeshua, and said to him, You tell us that our life and being comes from God, but we have never seen God, nor do we know of any God. Can you show us whom you call the Father-Mother, one God? We don't know if there is a God. Yeshua answered them, saying, Hear this parable of the fishes. The fishes of a certain river communed with one another, saying, they tell us that our life and being is from water, but we have never seen water, we don't know what it is. Then some among them, wiser than the rest, said, We have heard there dwells in the sea a wise and learned fish, who knows all things. Let us journey to him, and ask him to show us what water is. So several of them set out to find this great and wise fish, and they came at last to the sea where in the wise fish dwelt, and they asked of him. And when he heard them he said to them, O you foolish fish that don't contemplate! The few of you who seek, are wise. You live, and move, and have your being in the water; from the water you came, to the water you return. You live in the water, yet you don't know it.' In a similar manner, you live in God, and yet you ask of me, 'Show us God.' God is in all things, and all things are in God."

Segment 15

Does a fish see the water? No. They only see the physical form of the objects that exist within the water -- or in the analogy of the fish, the water is the Reality of Mind within which all the physical objects exist. At a deeper level, all of Mankind and Creation exits -- and is intimately connected -- within the Mind of God. And while, like the fish, organic man can only see the form of the physical objects, because organic man is blind to the Reality of Mind and Spirit, we fail to see that For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring (Acts 17:28). Which has been confirmed in the words of James Jeans that: ...the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine -- and the words of Arthur Eddington who is portrayed as an astronomer, physicist, and mathematician who did his greatest work in astrophysics.: The stuff of the universe is mind-stuff .

Segment 16

How did the Divine Mind come into being? From what has been conveyed to me: In the very beginning a Spark of Consciousness Moved -- and in the move, a difference of potential was formed which created the polarities of positive (active-principle associate with male) and negative (reactive/reflective-principle associated with female) -- with the experience of the initial movement being the Third-Force Logos or Mind -- and in this primary consciousness, the Primal Embryo came into being in the same way that an embryo is evolved by the Natural Laws in the formation of a person. In the same way that an embryo evolves into a complex mind that is able to perceive life from a great diversity of perceptive-understanding, the same was true of the Divine Embryo that came into being in the Alpha of Creation. In the same way that an embryo has no experiential knowledge, God sought to Know -- and since nothing but God existed, God sought to Know Thyself -- and in pursuit of this Divine Knowledge, all the Souls came into being and were holographically created as sparks of the Divine Mind in the pursuit of Self-Knowledge. By Law, the Souls remained intimately connected to the Primary Source -- and as the Souls moved out into Creation and brought forth their own offspring-expressions, the connection was maintained. In the Very Beginning, abject ignorance prevailed because no experiential knowledge existed. The Soul's themselves which were 12 dimensional beings of Light, could not experience, because of their own Wholeness. In the same way that White Light is comprised by the seven primary colors as expressed in the rainbow -- and an Octave is comprised of the seven primary notes that make it up -- and in the same way that it is the blending of the primary colors that enables an artist to create a masterpiece -- and a musician to compose a master opera -- the only way that the Soul could experience, was to interact within itself by proxy with other Souls in a divided reality.

Segment 17

Thus, in this three-dimensional reality the polarities of male and female were divided -- but because of the holographic pattern, the positive (male) polarity ("XY") maintained a negative (female "X") polarity that was rendered inactive and passive, because of the dominant outward flow of vital life-force generative power -- while the negative (female) polarity ("XX) became imbued with a quasi-male polarity that is drawn from the woman's father -- but the female was imbued with an "X" factor from her mother, which enabled her to manifest the ability to be a surrogate for the male's suppressed negative polarity -- often portrayed as the two becoming "one flesh" with the union of opposites. Because White Light is comprised of seven primary vibrational colors -- the vibrational frequencies also responsible for the seven notes of an Octave -- a division between what has come to be the heavenly and the earthly formed. Mathematicians such as Pythagoras, Bruno and Gurdjieff have envisioned a mathematical foundation to Creation, because the spectrum of the division of both the seven primary colors and the seven notes of an octave are very much mathematical in their separation. Quoting from The Story Of Mathematics: "The mystical Pythagoras was so excited by this discovery that he became convinced that the whole universe was based on numbers, and that the planets and stars moved according to mathematical equations, which corresponded to musical notes, and thus produced a kind of symphony, the 'Musical Universalis' or 'Music of the Spheres' . In the same way that mathematics controls the frequencies of sound and the spectrum of color, the same is true of Mind and the Evolution of Consciousness and the pursuit of Wholeness and Completion.

Segment 18

In holding to the primary Divine Pattern in the consciousness of man, an upper male/female triad formed with the sixth spiritual center often portrayed as the third-eye -- and this male-triad became the male-polarity in relation to the reflective female-polarity of the lower triad that formed the earthly reality which itself being imbued with the Divine Pattern, formed the lower triad of earthly nature -- manifesting the lower earthly kingdoms of mineral, vegetable and animal. But the balance of the heavenly-triad with the earthly-triad meant that the fourth kingdom of man became the balance point of all of Creation where all growth and development took place. The fourth kingdom of man was divided across the polarities of man and women -- which in the blueprint of mind as patterned in the twelve spheres of the Tree of Life, separated the mind into a left (feminine) and right (male) columns which is portrayed as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Duality). And these outer columns were themselves threefold in the representation of spiritual, physical and third-force balance. But so long as duality existed, ignorance would prevail -- which portrays the divided incomplete male and female impressions as the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Duality. But when Wholeness was achieved where the 12 spheres of mind were all equally developed and balanced across the spectrum of opposite (male/female) polarities with their respective third-force balance -- and with Wholeness, the All could be brought into the Center Love Sphere which is the Wholeness/Love portrayed in the Gospels -- and this would enable the person to become At-One with their Higher Soul-Selves. The formula for achieving Wholeness and the subsequent stages of birth is presented in the 22nd saying of the Gospel of Thomas in the words: "Jesus said to them, When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; ...then will you enter the kingdom." With Wholeness achieved, the polarities of heaven/earth (Upper/Lower) which are male/female in relation to each other, expressing through the male/female columns of the Tree of Duality brought together, enabled the growth and development of the Light of the Soul to take place.

Segment 19

And while the un-evolved Souls remained as sparks of the Divine Mind, the advanced Souls evolved into Great Beings of Light -- Light being the manifestation of All-Knowing Intellectual Love-Energy. In the Final Stage of Birth, the Soul-Alpha (Female) is brought together with its paradoxical opposite Soul-Omega (male), and the Center which is the Mind on all levels of Being expressed across TIME, is expressed in the Ultimate Love-Energy of Absolute Completion and Intellectual Knowing. The Soul of the man Jesus is representative of this Evolution of Consciousness by overcome the Natural Laws of Creation, and is the Pattern which all of mankind will eventually accomplish within themselves.

Segment 20

All growth is brought about when an action initiates its opposite, and this action and reaction is brought about by the Natural Laws of Creation. And those who seek to understand the Natural Laws have been traditionally known as Deists. While Ralph Waldo Emerson is known as the father of Transcendentalism, he is also known as a Deist -- but by definition , it has been noted that Plato and Pythagoras can be defined as a Deist. Moreover, when it is understood that the man Jesus fulfilled the Law to become At-One with the Indwelling Logos (see The Ebionite Nazirenes http://OriginalGospel.Ebionite.com#Ebionite ), this would have been impossible without a higher understanding of the Natural Laws of Creation. And of ultra interest in understanding the Natual Laws that connect in the manner above as the fishes in the parable, is the statement in the book on Emerson where it is written: "Emerson gives his argument a special twist at this point since his first sentence also alludes to Paine's Rights of Man. Arguing for the rights of men over the rights of institutions and government, he recalls Paine's claims for the sacred rights of the individual. Like Emerson, Paine's 'motive and subject" -- as he describes it in a letter of 1806 to John Inskeep, the mayor of Philadelphia -- had always been 'to rescue man from the tyranny and false systems and false principles of government, and enable him to be free.'" (see Nature's Archives - p. 114). While it is noted that this expos portrays Emerson's thesis on the Oversoul as perhaps his most important work, it is also noted that very little useable information is provided to the reader. And because of the great importance of this higher reality, this present work is intended to fill in the great void with respect to the higher reality of the soul of man that few religions or philosophies today have any real understanding of.

Segment 21

With respect to Ralph Waldo Emerson thesis on the Oversoul, quoting the Wikipedia: The Oversoul is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, first published in 1841. The broad subject of the essay, considered one of Emerson's best, is the human soul. Several general themes are treated: (1) the existence and nature of the human soul; (2) the relationship between the soul and the personal ego; (3) the relationship of one human soul to another; and (4) the relationship of the human soul to God. Influence of Eastern religions, including Vedantism, is plainly evident, but the essay also develops ideas long present in the Western tradition, e.g., in the works of Plato, Plotinus, and Emmanuel Swedenborg. The essay attempts no systematic doctrine, but rather serves as a work of art, something like poetry. Its virtue is in personal insights of the author and the lofty manner of their presentation. Emerson wishes to exhort and direct the reader to an awakening of similar thoughts or sentiments. With respect to the four themes listed above, the essay presents the following views: (1) the human soul is immortal, and immensely vast and beautiful; (2) our conscious ego is slight and limited in comparison to the soul, despite the fact that we habitually mistake our ego for our true self; (3) at some level, the souls of all people are connected, though the precise manner and degree of this connection is not spelled out; and (4) the essay does not seem to explicitly contradict the traditional Western idea that the soul is created by and has an existence that is similar to God, or rather God exists within us. This idea was later adopted by many religions.