Introduction

Image is a powerful device that has developed throughout history and functions as an instrument that helps us make sense of the world around us. We derive meaning from the images that surround us, as well as the images we create for ourselves as we go through life. This commences from the moment we are able to form an image in our mind, which usually happens around the age of two, and a child begins to recognize shapes and then formulates patterns that create meaning. The child is then able to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects. This tendency to create meaning out of the world around us is what ultimately shapes our thinking patterns and cements our values and beliefs.

We all have an image of ourselves: what we are like, as well as the way we think others perceive us. This is our self-image. We also have an image of each person in our lives. These images reside in our mind, and were created by our mind. They were constructed by an accumulation of ideas and beliefs about ourselves and others. Most of what we believe about others and the world germinates from the beliefs we have about ourselves. We are a mirror to everyone around us, an echo that ricochets an image outward into the world and back into us, perpetually.

An image is a representation of something or someone, not the thing itself. At any given moment we think about someone or something and an image is created in our minds of that person or thing. It is an image that is being honed by our mind, and we give it more definition the more we think about it. We are the ones sculpting that image in our mind. Yet, if you stop and think about the object (be it a person or thing) you start to realize that the object, whether you notice it or not, will continue to be as it is, regardless of your perception of it. The object itself can undergo great changes, gradual or sudden, that do not affect the image of this object as you have come to shape it in your head.

When a child begins to perceive the world around him or her, he or she begins to notice objects, and can spend a considerable amount of time studying and observing a toy, or an apple. The child starts to distinguish more details the more time he or she spends with the object, establishing a relationship to the object. The deeper the child is able to know the object, the more defined it becomes in his or her mind. We can’t fully know a thing, or a person, not even if we spend our entire lives observing and studying the object. Nature can be unpredictable and unexpected. The world as we know it is in constant flux and changing at such a rapid pace, that there is no sure way to predict behavior, because even patterns can change suddenly.

An image is a fixed thing, and therefore a representation. It is not the essence of the thing itself. It represents the thing or person, but it has no life inherent in it. If we do not see the same person or place for another fifteen years, our image of that person or place will remain in our mind the exact same way as it was when we first encountered it.

As we develop physically, emotionally, spiritually, we are forming a self, as well as the image of that self in our mind. We have our self, and an image of who we believe we are, the latter is created by our own mind.

What is that thing from which life springs forth? What is the source of life? The source of self?

My entire life has been a constant search for essence, beyond representation. I have ultimately been searching for truth, which leaves me with the question of: what then is essence?

I would first have to begin by defining representation. This is the easy part. Representation can be a painting of a lamp, a tree, a still life of a bowl filled with fruit. A painting of a woman who posed for it. Representation is a callback to the original thing that it represents, and is therefore a reference, an allusion; an association.

Association: noun of action from past-participle stem of associare“join with,” from assimilated form of ad “to” (see ad-) + sociare “unite with,” from socius “companion, ally” (from PIE *sokw-yo-, suffixed form of root *sekw- (1) “to follow”).

Once we have established that a representation is what follows essence, we can clearly see they are both linked, the representation with the thing it is representing. There is a distinct relationship between the two, but they are not equal. You cannot convince anyone that a painting of the sun is exactly the same, or just as real, powerful, or necessary to our daily existence as the sun itself. There is no comparison. One could say that, no pun intended, it is beyond the shadow of a doubt. We know that while the sun is capable of casting shadows, giving the earth food, light, and energy, the painting, no matter how accurate and believable it is, cannot come anywhere close to achieving the same benefits or claiming any real value in our lives other than an aesthetic, personal, or educational one. The sun, in this example, is the essence when it comes to our material and biological reality.

Likewise, our material existence, creation, is the representation of the essence that is God. We are intended to be what follows God. There is a clear relationship between the two; we are not equal to God. God satiates us and gives us the spiritual nourishment we need in order to be a living spirit. He gives us light and wisdom, and through the Holy Spirit, gives us what we need in order to remain spiritually alive.Because we are created in the image and likeness of God, we have the capacity to be born in the spirit, because of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. Being both human and divine, he defeated death (sin) by remaining pure of sin throughout his entire life, he was the ultimate sacrifice to God for all the sins of the world, past, present, and future. He was the sacrificial lamb of God, which tore the veil between God and man, re-establishing a direct connection between humans and God.

The acceptance and belief of Christ’s sacrifice is what destroys the representation, the image that we were, and establishes us as living sons of God, Jesus Christ being the first fruit of the resurrected life from death. He paved the way for us, so that we may follow him and become like Him, born in the spirit.

I have always been drawn to things beyond the natural world. I was fascinated by anything supernatural, spiritual, and other worldly. Although I did read the Bible and was raised as a Christian, my mind constantly wandered in the opposite direction, into the other realm, away from God’s protection, into the world of magic, superstition, mythology, folklore, and the occult. I found myself staying up all night before a high school presentation reading a book written in the 1800’s on Chiromancy, which is just a fancy word for palm reading. In college I took up the art of handwriting analysis, and spent a lot of my time interpreting other people’s handwriting. I considered myself a modern day interpreter of personality and intention. But I did not know how far that fascination could lead me. Eventually I stumbled upon other occult books that were not just surface level entry into occult topics, but full fledged occult theology, or I should say, theosophy. As they love to state: when the student is ready, the master appears. This was an extremely dangerous endeavor, and after reading three or four of these occult books, I personally experienced such bizarre phenomenon that I decided to toss the books into the trash. I should have burned them. The entire circumstances around the way the books arrived at my house, and the fact that the money was continually being put back into my bank account, was very strange. These were not my only explorations into the supernatural. One of my aunt’s lived in Mexico City, and practiced Hinduism (please note that one must say: practiced Hinduism, practiced yoga, seeing that it is a religious practice and not just a philosophy or ideology). All of these world religions stem from the same ancient religion, which goes far back, before the Romans, the Greeks, and even the Egyptians. It has been deceiving and pulling people away from the Truth throughout all of human history.

I bring all of this to the table as a way to introduce my main point: the Truth is only slightly different from the lie, which is why it works and has been such a cunning deception. There is a dangerous and fine line between the pagan and occult practices and ideas, and true Christianity. This has been accomplished throughout history through symbolism and images. I am going to do my best to point out all of these discrepancies and discuss why each one matters.

We are at a moment in time that is heralding a new era, one in which it will be crucial to hold strong, clear values and beliefs, and to use discernment when allowing any information to enter our minds. The ones in power have been working, for many centuries, towards forming a unified world religion, one that encompasses all different practices, with the idea of an inclusive, cohesive goal: unity. This is deceptive at its core, and ultimately goes against all the teachings of Jesus, who came to divide. He stated:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

- Matthew 10:34-39

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell…But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

- Matthew 10:26-33