Daily Meditation: Friday, October 19, 2012
Snake - its symbolism as both helpful and harmful
We are told in Genesis that the serpent was ‘more crafty than any other wild animal.’ It was the serpent that persuaded Adam and Eve to disobey God’s orders and eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But in the book of Exodus it is written that, on God’s orders, Moses had a bronze snake made and that those who looked at this snake were healed. And when Jesus sent his disciples on a mission, he said to them, ‘Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.’ So he used the snake as a symbol for wisdom. In the same way, in India, sages are often called nagui, ‘snakes’. So, depending on the situation, the snake is represented as either helpful or harmful. How can we explain this apparent contradiction? Because the snake incited Eve and Adam to taste of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it has become a symbol for knowledge. And yet, knowledge is neutral. It is good or bad according to how it is used. The most educated people can be the greatest benefactors or the greatest criminals. Knowledge is power. Those who use their knowledge for evil are linked to the dark aspect of the snake; they are black magicians. And those who use it for good are linked to its light aspect and are white magicians.
Omraam Mikhael AivanhovBuy
- Actions
- Alive, becoming
- Angels
- Appetites, lowe…
- Atmosphere, ear…
- Attention
- Aura, the
- Banks, heaven’s
- Bible
- Birth
- Blessings from …
- Bodies, from th…
- Body, physical
- Body, the physi…
- Bringing up chi…
- Brotherhood, un…
- Changes
- Christmas
- Clairvoyance
- Connection
- Control
- Control of thou…
- Create, the nee…
- Creative activi…
- Creator, a
- Creatures, livi…
- Discouragement
- Disinterestedne…
- Dog-eat-dog wor…
- Doing what is r…
- Earth, the
- Emptiness
- Energy
- Entities
- Exercises
- Eye, spiritual
- Faith
- Fear
- Fig tree, barre…
- Fire and light
- Goal, inaccessi…
- Good and evil
- Gossip, malicio…
- Grain of wheat
- Great things
- Hands, shaking
- Horse
- Images
- Intellect, the
- Intelligence of…
- Joseph
- Joy, the
- Judgments
- Karma and dharm…
- Keeping silent
- Keys and locks
- Laughing
- Limits, inner
- Lower nature, t…
- Making an effor…
- Matter
- Maturity, spiri…
- Medicine, ortho…
- Men and women
- Moderation
- Moments of spir…
- Money
- Morality and re…
- Mystical delusi…
- Number 2
- Nutrition
- Obedient child
- Path to salvati…
- Peace
- Personal life
- Physical body
- Pieces of paper
- Precious stones
- Present, the
- Pride
- Psychic balance
- Radio programme…
- Remorse
- Science, offici…
- Sensual love
- Serpent to dove
- Serve the Lord,…
- Serving the Lor…
- Sexual experien…
- Spiritual eleme…
- Technical progr…
- Thinking
- Thoughts and fe…
- Truths of Initi…
- Understand
- Universal White…
- Voice of heaven
- Wolf
- Work
- ‘Rejoice that y…