Intelligence & Jacob's Ladder  

The "ladder" which is portrayed as the proverbial Jacob's Ladder, represents step-by-step INNER development of the mind to receive and comprehend higher realizations of Essential Truth. An important reference to the Ladder of Expanded Consciousness has been preserved in the 90th chapter of the Gospel of the Nazirenes where it states: "God gives you all truth, as a ladder with many steps, for the salvation and perfection of the soul, and the truth which seems today, you will abandon for the higher truth tomorrow. Press toward perfection."

Another example of man's quest to see and understand Higher Truth is presented in the above Gospel where Jesus explains: "When one climbs a mountain and attaining one height, he says, this is the top of the mountain, let us reach it, and when they have reached that height, lo, they see another beyond it until they come to that height from which no other height is to be seen, if so be they can attain it". Why is the statement made: "...if so be they can attain it"? In order to begin to grab the next rung of the ladder, you must be able to let go of the previous rung that you have outgrown -- i.e., "...the truth which seems today, you will abandon for the higher truth tomorrow. Press toward perfection."

With respect to the Truth of the Gospels, Jesus then makes reference to his own quest for Higher Truth: "So it is with truth. I am the truth and the way and the life, and have given to you the truth which I have received from above. And that which is seen and received by one, is not seen and received by another. That which appears true to some, seems not true to others. They who are in the valley don't see what they who are on the hill top see" What Jesus was saying is that he, having climbed to the top of Jacob's Ladder, is conveying to others the Truth that he has seen and understands -- i.e., "I... have given to you the truth which I have received from above". And when rightly understood, the purpose of the Gospels is to provide all seekers with the necessary process that will enable them to climb to the top of Jacob's Ladder. And having yourself made the journey in TheWay, you will know and do all that your brother Jesus did before you. In the same way that after climbing to the top of Jacob's Ladder the historical man Jesus could receive and understand the sacred wisdom and knowledge that he was only then able to receive -- i.e., "I... have given to you the truth which I have received from above" -- you will only be of an enlightened understanding when you also arrive at the top of Jacob's Ladder as your elder spiritual brother Jesus did.

You could have a 180 IQ -- born with the potential of superior human intellect -- and if you continue to cling to the lower rung of the ladder, your (mental) advancement will remain flat-lined. Why? "When I was a child, I was speaking like a child, I was thinking like a child, I was reasoning like a child; when I became a man, I did away with the things of the child" (1 Cor 13:11). Those who cling to elementary ideas and concepts about life, cannot mentally and spiritually advance beyond the infantile state of mind representative of that rung they continue to grasp and refuse to let go of. Quoting from the Wikipedia article on the analogy of Plato's Cave: "Like the fire that cast light on the walls of the cave, the human condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses" (see Plato - The Physicist http://KnowThySelf.Nazirene.org#Plato ), unless we begin to open our minds to the level of consciousness representative of the next rung of Jacob's Ladder, it will remain impossible for us to advance beyond a level where, like the prisoners in Plato's Cave, it will remain impossible for us to embrace the process of growth through mental-expansion and spiritual-deepening.

Quoted from Jacob's Ladder http://CausalFactor.Nazirene.org#JacobsLadder