MOSES, THE LAW-GIVER
The salient feature of the law as given by Moses unto his people, the Jews,
is that of strict cleanliness of mind and body. In this we find a
similarity to the oft-repeated behest of Gautama, the Buddha, who
constantly admonished his followers to keep their hearts pure and their
minds and bodies clean.
This spirit of cleanliness finds also a counterpart in the saying ascribed
to Jesus, "blessed are the pure in heart."
The cleanliness here referred to is doubtless not so much physical neatness
as mental purity of thought--thought free from doubt and calumny and petty
deceits and hypocrisy and selfishness and debasing perversions of the life
forces; but during various stages of history we find that all teachings
have their esoteric and their exoteric application.
The law, as enunciated by Moses, according to the Jewish reports, laid much
stress upon physical cleanliness, as an attribute of godhood.
But Moses, if we may credit reports, was something far more inspired and
illumined than a mere physical culturist--commendable as is personal
cleanliness--and his admonitions were the result of that fine sense of
discrimination and enlightenment which comes from cosmic perception even if
he had not experienced the deeper, fuller realization of liberation, of
which Buddha is a shining example.
It is evident that the laws laid down by Moses were taught and practised by
the Egyptians many many years prior to the time in which Moses lived, which
from the most reliable authorities, must have been about four to five
hundred years before the Exodus.
This does not detract from the evidence that the great Egyptian-Hebrew, was
a man of wonderful intellectual attainments, and from what we know of
modern examples of Illumination, he also possessed a degree of cosmic
consciousness.
The story of the seemingly miraculous birth of Moses, and the mystery with
which his ancestry is surrounded, is also typical of one who has attained
to cosmic consciousness.
The Illumined one realizes his birthlessness and his deathlessness, and
expresses it in symbolism, meaning of course, the realization that as the
spirit is never born and can never die, the idea of age is an
unreality--and should find no place in the consciousness of one who regards
himself as an indestructible atom of the Cosmos.
But the evidences regarding the probable Illumination of Moses are to be
found in the reports of his ascension of Mt. Sinai, and what occurred
there.
The phenomenon of the great light which is inseparable from instances of
cosmic consciousness, and which gives to the phenomenon its name
"Illumination," was apparently marked in the case of Moses.
The "burning bush," which he describes is the experience of the mind when
the illusion of sense has ceased, even temporarily, to obscure the mental
vision.
"And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, and out of
the midst of a bush; and he looked and behold, the bush burned with fire
and the bush was not consumed."
There is a subtler interpretation to this report than that usually given,
even by those who realize that this expression is an evidence of the sudden
influx of supra consciousness which attends the soul's liberation from the
limits of sense consciousness.
The "burning bush" is synonymous with the "tree of life" which is ever
alive with the "fires of creation."
All who realize liberation are endowed with the power to understand this
symbol. For those who have not attained to this degree of consciousness,
the esoteric meaning is necessarily hidden.
The phenomenon of the strange mystical light which seems to enfold and
bathe the Illumined one, is concisely expressed in the case of Moses.
"And it came to pass, that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the
tablets of the testimony in hand, that Moses wist not that the skin of his
face shone, or sent forth beams by reason of his speaking with Him.
"And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses behold! the skin
of his face shone and they were afraid to come nigh him."
Again we find in the case of Moses, a momentary fear of the phenomenon
which he was experiencing, in the influx of light and the sound of the
voice which seems to accompany the light.
The interpretation given the words spoken, and the identity of the voice is
ever dependent upon the time and character of the mind experiencing the
Illumination.
Thus Moses claims to have heard the voice of the God of the Hebrews, but
the probabilities are, that the "voice" is the mental operations of the
person experiencing the phenomenon of supra-consciousness, and this
interpretation will vary with what Professor James calls the "historical
determination," i.e. it is dependent upon the age in which the illumined
one lived, and upon the character of the impressions previously absorbed.
This apparent difference of report, as to the identity of the "voice," is
of small import.
The salient point is that each person relating his experience has heard a
_voice_ giving more or less explicit instructions and promises.
In each instance it has been characterized as the voice of the God of their
desire, _and adoration_.
Certainly, whatever may be our opinions as to whether God, as we understand
the term, talked to Moses, giving him such explicit commands as the great
leader afterwards laid down to his people accompanied by the insurmountable
barrier to dissent or discussion, "thus saith the Lord," we can but admit
that the prophet was possessed of intellectual power far in advance of his
time, and his laws did indeed, save his people from self destruction,
through uncleanliness and strife, and dense ignorance.
The ten commandments have been the "word of God" to all men for lo! these
many ages, and even Jesus could but add one other commandment to those
already in use: "Another commandment give I unto you--_that ye love one
another_."
To sum up the evidences of cosmic consciousness, or Illumination, as
reported in the case of Moses, we find:
The experience of great light as seen on Horeb.
The "voice" which he calls the voice of "The Lord."
The sudden and momentary fear, and humility.
The shining of his face and form, as though bathed in light.
The subsequent intellectual superiority over those of his time.
The perfect assurance and confidence of authority and "salvation."
The desire for solitude, which caused him to die alone in the vale of Moab.
The intense desire to uplift his people to a higher consciousness.