Theos-Talk Archives (May 2006 Message tt00776)

The Revelation of St. John, the last book of the Bible, is sometimes called 
the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation. It has been a mystery ever since it 
first appeared about 2000 years ago because it is written entirely in 
symbols.

The traditional approaches to interpreting the Revelation could be 
characterized as "external-temporal," because they assume that the various 
episodes denote events that occur in the external world at definite past or 
future times. A few commentators, however, have used a psychological 
approach.

For example, Helena P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, made 
the following point: "The fact is . . . the whole Revelation, is simply an 
allegorical narrative of the Mysteries and initiation therein of a 
candidate, who is John himself." (Isis Unveiled)

Edgar Cayce, a well-known medium, made a similar point: "Why, then, ye ask 
now, was this written (this vision) in such a manner that is hard to be 
interpreted, save in the experience of every soul who seeks to know, to walk 
in, a closer communion with Him? For the visions, the experiences, the 
names, the churches, the places, the dragons, the cities, all are but 
emblems of those forces that may war within the individual in its journey 
through the material, or from the entering into the material manifestation 
to the entering into the glory, or the awakening in the spirit." (Van Auken, 
Edgar Cayce on the Revelation)

Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship, made a 
related point:

"Certainly in the Revelation of St. John we are led by means of metaphor 
into the profound insights of the yoga science in which Jesus initiated his 
advanced disciple John, and others, whose consciousness thereby ascended to 
the exalted Self-realized state of the kingdom of God within." (The Second 
Coming of the Christ)

Blavatsky, Cayce, and Yogananda interpreted only a few symbols in the 
Revelation, and they did not attempt a verse-by-verse analysis of any 
chapter.

I have just published a new book called The Revelation of Saint John (Red 
Wheel/Weiser, 2006), which provides a verse-by-verse analysis of the entire 
Revelation. It uses a psychological approach of interpretation that takes 
every symbol as representing some aspect of an aspirant who is on the 
spiritual journey. When interpreted psychologically, the meaning that 
emerges from the Revelation is similar to the teachings of the Ageless 
Wisdom, such as found in Theosophy and especially in Blavatsky's Voice of 
the Silence.

The Voice of the Silence characterizes the spiritual journey as "the 
sevenfold Path" (p. 91) and gives instruction for each stage of the path. 
The Revelation also characterizes the spiritual journey as a sevenfold path, 
as shown by the seven churches, the seven seals, and the seven vials. In 
fact, according to my analysis, the descriptions of the seven stages in The 
Voice of the Silence match fairly well with the corresponding instruction 
given in the Revelation. My book provides an extensive set of footnotes that 
show the passages in the Voice and Revelation that correspond to each other.

My book is now available from Amazon.com. Theosophical Society in America 
plans to publish an excerpt from it in the Nov.-Dec. issue of their Quest 
magazine.

Regards,

Zack Lansdowne