Esoteric Christianity 9

Esoteric Christianity: The well and ladder of Jacob
We have said that these three souls are Nephesh, Ruach and Neshamah. (We say ‘primary’ because there are two other souls which are of a much more elevated and cosmic nature which will not discuss here, namely Yehidah and Chaiah.)

The lowest one is Nephesh, which we can call the animal soul. Nephesh is related to our appetites and our instinctive impulses. It is a type of animal consciousness. In a literal sense, Nephesh is means something related to life or life force, vitality, blood, breath of life, soul, or appetite.

Nephesh relates to these lower instinctual aspects of our consciousness and impulses. Ruach is called the thinking emotional soul; this is a soul that has a type of discernment that can rationalize.

The real purpose of Ruach is to develop and understand ethics: to be able to perceive what is right and what is wrong.

The problem with Ruach is we can use it in a very subjective way. We can rationalize our desires. We often feel Nephesh is very strong within us. Nephesh does not think about anything, Nephesh is already doing.

So, while Ruach is thinking whether some impulse is right or wrong, Nephesh is already doing it. Ruach, similarly to Nephesh, can be translated literally as spirit, wind, or breath.

Beyond the thinking emotional soul is the spiritual soul, Neshamah. This is spiritual perception, objective perception. This is our inner light, that which perceives God, and it can be translated literally as breath as well.

As we have said before, the breath and the wind can be seen in all three of these types of souls.

Today we are going to relate this lecture mostly to Nephesh, the animal soul, and what we must do. It is not simply that we need to transcend the animal soul, it is that we have to learn how to transform it, because within Nephesh is an immense power, and if we give up that power we actually will not have what is necessary to do the work. Nephesh is where the power is.

The problem is, all of our powerful instincts are unconscious, subjective, animalistic. In order to clarify this we going to talk some more about the Samaritan woman speaking with Jesus at the Well (John 4:5).

5 So He came to a city of Samaria [שמר shamar, preservation] which is called Sychar [שכר shekar: intoxicating drink, or, recompense], near the plot of ground that Jacob [Ἰακώβ, יעקב Iokab] gave to his son Joseph [Ἰωσήφ, Ioseph, IO-Ceph]. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth [ו vav] hour.

Samaria comes from the Hebrew word שמר shamar which means preservation, and within that land of Samaria was the city called Sychar, which comes from the Hebrew שכר shekar, intoxicating drink or recompense.

In this place that means intoxicating drink or recompense there is plot of ground near of that of Jacob. Jesus sat of this well of Jacob and it was about the sixth hour.

Let us understand more about Jacob, because he is such an important figure of the Old Testament. Jacob has a lot that can be studied, and all of it has a lot of importance, but we are not going to go in every detail at this time.