Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Thoughts on Today's Verse...
So many things we honor and exalt in our culture are shallow and temporary. The one thing that lasts in a beautiful woman is not her charm or her beauty, but her godliness. Let's make sure that our church families and our physical families value godly women and give them the praise they deserve!
My Prayer...
Holy God, please give us better eyes and more faithful hearts that we may value in all people qualities that reflect your character. Bless us as we raise our children that we may instill in them a sense of proper values as they choose their life partner. And dear God, please help us in our churches to value and praise women for their holy character. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Today's Verse Illustrated
Individual embodiments of truth revolve spherically around each other, with those of a lower level acting as object partners to those of a higher level. Thus, the center of any spherical movement is an individual embodiment of truth of a higher level which acts as the subject partner. The centers of the countless symbolic individual embodiments of truth are interconnected from the lowest to the highest. The highest centers are human beings, who are individual embodiments of truth in image.
Let us examine the centrality of human beings. Science holds that elementary particles are the most basic building blocks of matter and explains that they are composed of energy. Considering the purpose of existence of the individual embodiments of truth that make up the material universe at different levels, we can surmise: energy exists in order to form particles, particles exist to form atoms, atoms to form molecules, molecules to form matter, and matter exists for the creation of all the individual entities in the universe. Likewise, the activity of energy is for the purpose of forming particles, the activity of particles is for atoms, the activity of atoms is for molecules, the activity of molecules is for matter, and the activity of matter is for the purpose of constructing the universe.
What is the purpose of the universe? What is its center? The answer to both questions is none other than human beings. This is why God, after creating human beings, commanded them to have dominion over the universe. 12(Gen. 1:28)CEV|KJ|NI If there were no people to appreciate the universe, then it could be likened to a museum without any visitors. The articles on display in a museum attain their true value and are cherished as historical relics only when there are people who appreciate, love and take delight in them. Their relationship with human beings gives value to their existence. If there were no one to appreciate them, then what meaning would their existence have? The same holds true for the universe, whose lords are human beings.
The diverse things in creation enter into mutual relationships with a common purpose when human beings discover the source and nature of matter, and when they identify and classify plants and animals of the water, land and air, and all the stars in the sky. Their common purpose is realized when they are assimilated into the human body as elements essential for people to maintain their physiological functions, and when they participate in the construction of a comfortable living environment for people. In these and other ways, human beings stand as the center of the created universe in terms of its external form.
In addition, people relate to the universe from their position as the internal center. While the relationships discussed above are physical relationships, here we consider mental or spiritual relationships. The human body, though consisting of matter, fully responds physiologically to the emotion, intellect and will of the human mind. This demonstrates that matter has within itself elements which resonate with emotion, intellect and will - elements which constitute the internal nature of matter. This is the reason all things in the universe respond to human emotion, intellect and will, albeit to different degrees. We become intoxicated with the beauty of the natural world and experience the rapture of mystical union. We experience this because we are the center of the internal natures of all things in the natural world. Human beings are thus created as the center of the universe, and the place where God and human beings become completely one is the center of the cosmos.
Let us discuss from another viewpoint how human beings are the center of the cosmos, which is composed of both the spirit world and the physical world. Every human being embodies all the elements in the cosmos. Yet, as we discussed earlier, everything in the cosmos can be divided broadly into subject partners and object partners. Had Adam, the first human ancestor, reached perfection, he would have embodied all the subject elements in the things of creation. Had Eve attained perfection, she would have embodied all the object elements in the things of creation. God created Adam and Eve to have dominion over the natural world. Growing together toward perfection, Adam was to become the king of all the subject elements in creation and Eve was to become the queen of all the object elements. If they had then become one as husband and wife, they would have become the center that could rule the entire universe consisting of subject partners and object partners.
Human beings are created to be the center of harmony of the whole cosmos. If Adam and Eve had attained perfection and united as husband and wife, it would have meant the joining into oneness of the two centers of the dual characteristics of all beings. Had Adam and Eve moved together in harmony and attained oneness, the whole cosmos with its dual characteristics would have danced in harmony. The place where Adam and Eve become perfectly one in heart and body as husband and wife is also the place where God, the subject partner giving love, and human beings, the object partners returning beauty, become united. This is the center of goodness where the purpose of creation is fulfilled. Here God, our Parent, draws near and abides within His perfected children and rests peacefully for eternity. This center of goodness is the object partner to God's eternal love, where God can be stimulated with joy for eternity. This is the place where the Word of God is incarnated and brought to fulfillment. It is the center of truth and the center of the original mind which guides us to pursue the purpose of creation.
Consequently, the entire universe will perform a spherical movement with a unified purpose when it is founded on the four position foundation established by a perfected man and woman who join as husband and wife centered on God. Tragically, the universe lost its center when human beings fell. This is why St. Paul wrote that the creation has been groaning in travail while longing for the children of God. 13(Rom. 8:19-22)CEV|KJ|NI Creation awaits the people who have restored their original nature to appear and become its center.
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