Jesus said, “Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and winter and whose leaves do not fall. Whoever becomes acquainted with them will not experience death.”
Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. The Lord is speaking of himself and of all the enlightened and righteous ones who incarnate to accomplish God’s Will on earth and to guide and uplift humanity toward its Divine destiny. They are messengers of the Lord, spiritual teachers and guides, holy souls that have previously awakened to one or another degree and who continue to incarnate in humanity out of love and compassion in order to uplift the holy sparks and enlighten and liberate souls from the power of ignorance. They are, indeed, blessed and a blessing, worthy of all praise and honor. It is a priceless gift to encounter and meet one of these tzaddikim in life, and the wise who encounter them listen to them and follow their teachings, becoming disciples or companions of the master.
To listen means to open and surrender oneself, to practice and live according to the holy teachings, and to establish the conditions necessary to receive initiation. The secret wisdom may be openly spoken to many, but only those who listen and hear will receive initiation and be saved—that is to say, attain a degree of self-realization. One must practice and live according to the Spirit and Truth in order to awaken and set oneself free. The initiate will tell you that there is no other way to live, no other way to eternal life. Every other way is as though being in a deep slumber of strange and fitful dreams or in a living death of which death itself is the lord and fruit.
Now for those who listen and hear, there will be a radical change in consciousness. Upon entering into the mystical path and involving oneself in it through actual spiritual practice and spiritual living, the inner dimensions will open and one will discover God constantly speaking to one’s secret and undying soul in every circumstance, situation and event of life, the whole of life being filled with the Divine presence and power. The disciple will discover the kingdom of heaven within and all around. Even in the most ordinary thing, the Holy Spirit will minister to the soul and self. The world is alive and full with the holy Shekinah; the Living Word and Wisdom of God are to be found within everyone and everything. The Spirit of God indwells Creation, as much as transcending it altogether. Realizing this you will truly live and move, and consciously have your being in God, knowing the Spirit of God indwelling you, and even rocks will speak the Word of the Lord to you.
But what if I told you that stones do speak as heavenly angels, all manner of Divine spirits and angels, from spirits of the prophets and sages to great angels? What if I told you that hosts of angels constantly minister to the holy ones, the Divine powers continually coming and going from their presence? Does it sound too fantastic? I will tell you this, what the Lord has in store for you is fantastic. It is unbelievable, awesome, and wonderful! It is incredible, absolutely incredible!
So let me tell you more. If you don’t believe me, it won’t matter anyway. But if you are blessed to believe me, perhaps it will set you to seeking, so that you might find and know yourself and therefore receive far greater blessings than anyone could ever possibly bestow, blessings straight from the Lord God itself!
Not only can we speak of the Divine powers that serve and minister to the elect, but the tzaddikim become aware of other worlds in the inner dimensions, worlds within worlds and worlds beyond. Each world is as “real” as this material world and those nearer to God are perhaps more real in experience. Not only does the initiate commune with the presence of the Lord and the Divine beings-forces. The initiate enters into other worlds and brings blessings back. Indeed, as St. Paul tells, oftentimes the apostles of God are taken up into the heavens while yet in this life, just as the prophets before them, and they return bearing gifts of the Holy Spirit and a Divine vision or message, whether for themselves or for the people of the book. The holy Master is teaching and initiating his disciples into these mysteries, imparting the secret keys of the mysteries to them.
It must be understood that such holy things are not taught openly but in secret, never in public, only in private, and only to a true and faithful disciple and one who has already had something of the experience and therefore knows already. Only a disciple can receive such precious gifts in Spirit. Only a disciple is involved so deeply in the holy covenant with the master as to share in such mystical experiences. The outsider cannot receive such things, only one who has become an insider and, yet more, a lover of the mystery and the Beloved.
I will share another secret with you. It is unbelievable, but nevertheless valuable. Although great angels are sent with messages for the holy tzaddik, they always are delighted when sent by the Lord into the presence of a holy one who bears the presence. While it is their mission to help the tzaddik in the Divine labor, the angels go also to learn secret wisdom from the tzaddikim and, like the disciples of the holy tzaddik, receive secret teachings and initiations.
All of these things that I have shared are not really so secret. The greater secret lies in the meaning of the five trees in paradise and the nature of acquaintance with them. These five trees are the holy Sefirot in the five worlds or universes, hence “Jacob’s Ladder” or the “Palace of Lights.” They are the spiritual flows of the Divine powers in the universes of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Acquaintance with these holy trees, the Tree of Life that spans five infinite universes, is the spiritual experience of the Sefirot through binding oneself to them and binding them to oneself. Hence, the Master is teaching his disciples of Merkavah, the ascent and descent of the soul through the Ladder of Lights and, yet more, is imparting the secret keys to mysteries never before disclosed, namely ascent into Atzilut and into the universe of Adam Kadmon. No prophet had ever passed so far in ascent before, nor had any master ever held the keys of these holy mysteries. They are known only to the soul of the Messiah.
“These stones will minister to you.” Yes, with such gnosis, one would realize the Supernal Light of Keter secretly hidden in every particle of matter and would possess the knowledge to actualize and release this spiritual nuclear energy. This same truth is reflected in the earlier verse when Thomas speaks of stones thrown at him, from which fire would come and burn up those who threw the stones. It is an allusion to this secret spiritual power of Messianic consciousness.
There is a spiritual power the Lord has in store for us that is far greater than we can imagine as mental beings. This Divine presence and power is now active upon the earth, working in secret among us to bring about the great transformation. Living and moving among us are individuals who embody something of this Light-force, and they transmit this holy Light to those who are ready and willing to receive it. This is the nature of the succession of apostles in the lineage of Yeshua and Magdalene, the divine labor of the great work.
This is a verse of crazy Wisdom. May you become so mad with Divine passion as to receive such Wisdom and embody the Light of Messiah! Amen.