When man loses the material avenues of expression and has not developed the spiritual, he is in torment. The Teller of this allegory was striving, evidently, to depict the two states of consciousness in which the higher and the lower principles of the soul find themselves after the death of the body.) A good Bible translator also says that " Hades" means "the invisible land, the realm of the dead, including both Elysium and paradise for the good, and Tartarus, Gehenna, and hell for the wicked." We do not, however, understand that "Abraham's bosom" refers to a place called heaven, nor that " Hades" refers to a place called hell. (According to the best Bible authorities, "Abraham's bosom" represents a state of felicity, or celestial happiness. Lazarus, the beggar, was "carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom." The inner spiritual ego, drawn by its innate spiritual ideas, finds a haven or rest in the bosom of the Father, represented by Abraham. "And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." The material avenues are lost to the outer, and the carnal phase of the soul finds self in a hell of animal desires without the flesh through which to express. When death overtakes such a one, both the inner and the outer change environment. Material selfishness starves the inner man and devitalizes the true or spiritual phase of the soul and body, which is described in the sentence, "A certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table." The higher soul life is put out of the consciousness and fed with the dogs. "He was clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day." This condition typifies carnal riches. The outer consciousness appropriates the attributes of soul and body and expresses them through sense avenues. The rich man and Lazarus represent the outer and the inner consciousness of the average worldly-minded person. In the parable ( Luke 16:19-~1) Jesus describes the states of consciousness of one who passes through the change called death. Lazarus (whom God helps, without succor) refers to the part of the consciousness that is helped by the good, though apparently utterly neglected by the man himself. b A friend of Jesus, and brother of Mary and Martha, whom Jesus raised from the dead ( John 11:1-44). Others believe it to be derived from Loa-ezer, meaning "without help."Ī The name of the "beggar" in one of Jesus' parables ( Luke 16:20). Some consider it to be a form of Eleazer, meaning whom God hath helped. The true Hebrew derivation of Lazarus is disputed. Heb.)- whom God helps succor of God assistance of God grace of God not of help without succor helpless.
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