Seedtime and Harvest

Chapter 8

The Water And The Blood

“…Except a man be born again he cannot
see the kingdom of God.”
- John 3:3

“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced
his side, and forthwith came there out blood
and water.”
– John 19:34

“This is he that came by water and
blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water
only, but by water and blood.”
– I. John 5:6

According to the gospel and the Epistle of John, not only must man be “born again” but he must be born again of water and blood. These two inward experiences are linked with two outward rites – baptism and communion. But the two outward rites – baptism to symbolize birth by water, and the wine of communion to symbolize acceptance of the blood of the Savoir, cannot produce the real birth or radical transformation of the individual, which is promised to man. The outward use of water and wine cannot bring about the desired change of mind. We must, therefore, look for the hidden meaning behind the symbols of water and blood.

The Bible uses many images to symbolize Truth, but the images used symbolize Truth on different levels of meaning. On the lowest level, the image used is stone. For example:

“… a great stone was upon
The well’s mouth. And thither
were all the flocks gathered:
and they rolled the stone from
the well’s mouth, and watered
the sheep…”
…Genesis 29:2, 3

“…They sank into the bottom
as a stone.”
…Exodus 15:5

When a stone blocks the well, it means that people have taken these great symbolical revelations of truth literally. When someone rolls the stone away, it means that an individual has discovered beneath the allegory or parable its psychological life germ, or meaning. This hidden meaning which lies behind the literal words is symbolized by water. It is this water. In the form of psychological Truth, that he then offers to humanity.

“The flock of my pasture are men.”
… Ezekiel 34:31

The literal-minded man who refuses the “cup of water” – psychological Truth – offered him, “sinks into the bottom as a stone.” He remains on the level where he sees everything in pure objectivity, without any subjective relationship he may keep all the commandments – written on stone – literally, and yet break them psychologically all day long.

He may, for example not literally steal the property of another, and yet see the other in want. To see another in want, is to rob him of his birthright as a child of God. For we are all “children of the most high.”

“And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ…”
…Romans 8:17

To know what to do about a seeming misfortune is to have the “cup of water” – the psychological Truth – that could save the situation. But such knowledge is not enough. Man must not only “fill the water pots of stone with water” – that is, discover the psychological truth – into wine.

This he does by living a life according to the truth which he has discovered.

Only by such use of the truth can he “taste the water that was made wine…” – John 2:9

A mans birthright is to be Jesus. He is born to “save
his people from their sins”… Matthew 1 : 21.

But the salvation of a man is “not by water only, but by water and blood”.

To know what to do to save yourself or another is not enough; you must do it.

Knowledge of what to do is water; doing it is blood.

This is he that came not by water only, but by water and blood.” The whole of this mystery is in the conscious, active use of imagination to appropriate that particular state of consciousness that would save you or another from the present limitation. Outward ceremonies cannot accomplish this.

“… there shall meet you a man
bearing a pitcher of water; follow
him.
And wheresoever he shall go in,
say ye to the goodman of the
house, The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber,
where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?
And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared:
there make ready for us.”

Whatever you desire is already “furnished and prepared”.

Your imagination can put you in touch inwardly with that state of consciousness. If you imagine that you are already the one you want to be, you are following the “man bearing a pitcher of water”. If you remain in that state, you have entered the guest-chamber – Passover – and committed your spirit into the hands of God – your consciousness.

A man’s state of consciousness is his demand on the Infinite Store House of God, and, like the law of commerce, a demand creates a supply.

To change the supply, you change the demand – your state of consciousness.

What you desire to be, that you must feel you already are. Your state of consciousness creates the conditions of your life, rather than the conditions create your state of consciousness. To know this Truth, is to have the “water of life”.

But your savior – the solution of your problem – cannot be manifested by such knowledge only.

It can be realized only as such knowledge is applied.

Only as you assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled, and continue therein, is your side pierced; from whence cometh blood and water”. In this manner only is Jesus – the solution of your problem – realized.

“for thou must know that in the
government of the mind thou art
thine own lord and master, that
there will rise up no fire in the
circle or whole circumference of
thy body and spirit, unless thou
awakes it thyself.”

God is your consciousness.

His promises are conditional. Unless the demand – your state of consciousness – is changed, the supply – the present conditions of your life remain as they are.
“As we forgive” – as we change our mind – the law is automatic.

Your state of consciousness is the spring of action, the directing force, and that which creates the supply.

“if that nation, against whom
I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
If it do evil in my sight, that it
obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I
said I would benefit them.”
… Jeremiah 18:8, 9, 10

This statement of Jeremiah suggests that a commitment is involved if the individual or nation would realize the goal – a commitment to certain fixed attitudes of mind. The feeling of the wish fulfilled is a necessary condition in mans search for the goal.

The story I am about to tell you shows that man is what the observer has the capacity to see in him; that what he is seen to be is a direct index to the observer’s state of consciousness.

This story is, also, a challenge to us all to shed our blood” – use our imagination lovingly on behalf of another.

There is no day that passes that does not afford us the opportunity to transform a life by the shedding of our blood”.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
… Hebrews 9:22

One night in New York City I was able to unveil the mystery of the “water and the blood” to a school teacher. I had quoted the above statement from Hebrews 9:22, and went on to explain that the realization that we have no hope save in ourselves is the discovery that God is within us – that this discovery causes the dark caverns of the skull to grow luminous, and we know that: “The spirit of man is the candle of the lord”… Proverbs 20:27 – and that this realization is the light to guide us safely over the earth.

“His Candle shined upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness”
… Job 29:3

However, we must not look upon this radiant light of the head as God, for man is the image of God.

“God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in Night;

But does a Human Form display To those who dwell in realms of
Day.”
Blake

But this must be experienced to be known. There is no other way, and no other man’s experience can be a substitute for our own.

I told the teacher that her change of attitude in regard to another would produce a corresponding change in the other; that such knowledge was the true meaning of the water mentioned in I. John 5:6, but that such knowledge alone was not enough to produce the re-birth desired; that such re-birth could only come to pass by “water and blood”, or the application of this truth.

Knowledge of what to do is the water of life, but doing it is the blood of the savior.

In other words, a little knowledge, if carried out in action is more profitable than much knowledge which we neglect to carry out in action.

As I talked, one student kept impinging upon the teachers mind. But this, thought she, would be a too difficult case on which to test the truth of what I was telling her concerning the mystery of re-birth. All knew, teachers and students alike, that this particular student was incorrigible.

The outer facts of her case were these: The teachers, including the principal and school psychiatrist, had sat in judgment on the student just a few days before. They had come to a unanimous decision that the girl, for the good of the school, must be expelled upon reaching her sixteenth birthday. She was rude, crude, unethical and used most vile language. The date for dismissal was but a month away.

As she rode home that night, the teacher kept wondering if she could really change her mind about the girls, and if so, would the student undergo a change of behavior because she herself had undergone a change of attitude?

The only way to find out would be to try. This would be quite an undertaking for it meant assuming full responsibility for the incarnation of the new values in the student. Did she dare to assume so great a power – such creative, God-like power? This meant a complete reversal of man’s normal attitude towards life from “I will love him if he first loves me”, to “He loves me, because I first loved him.” This was too much like playing God.

“We love him, because he first
Loved us.”
… I. John 4:19

But no matter how she tried to argue against it, the feeling persisted that my interpretation gave meaning to the mystery of re-birth by “water and blood.” The teacher decided to accept the challenge. And this is what she did.

She brought the child’s face before her mind’s eye and saw her smile. She listened and imagined she heard the girl say “Good morning”. This was something the student had never done since coming to that school. The teacher imagined the very best about the girl, and then listened and looked as though she heard and saw all that she would hear and see after these things should be. The teacher did this over and over again until she persuaded herself it was true, and fell asleep.

The very next morning, the student entered her classroom and smilingly said “Good morning”. The teacher was so surprised she almost did not respond, and, by her own confession, all through the day she looked for signs of the girl’s returning to her former behavior. However, the girl continued in the transformed state. By the end of the week, the change was noted by all; a second staff meeting was called and a decision of expulsion was revoked. As the child remained friendly and gracious, the teacher has had to ask herself, “Where was the bad child in the first place?”

“For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, Our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace and
Love Is man, His child and care.”
(The Divine Image) – Blake

Transformation is in principle always possible, for the transformed being lives in us, and it is only a question of becoming conscious of it.

The teacher had to experience this transformation to know the mystery of “blood and water”; there was no other way, and no mans experience could have been a substitute for her own.

“We have redemption through his blood.”
… Ephesians 1:7

Without the decision to change her mind in regard to the child, and the imaginative power to carry it out, the teacher could never have redeemed the student. None can know the redemptive power of the imagination who has not “shed his blood”, and tasted the cup of experience.

“Once read thy own breast right, And thou hast done with fears!
Man gets no other light, Search he a thousand years.”
… Matthew Arnold