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Time for a lesson that will explain the use of "myths" to teach metaphysical realties. In so doing let us use the example given us by Plato. Plato thought a lot about the natural world and how it works. He thought that everything had a sort of ideal form, like the idea of a chair, and then an actual chair was a sort of poor imitation of the ideal chair that exists only in your mind.
Answer for yourself: Is that was Moses was speaking about when referencing over and over again the "pattern in the Mount" (Heaven)? Yes!
Exod 25:9 9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it. (KJV)
Exod 25:40 40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. (KJV)
Num 8:4 4 And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work: according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. (KJV)
1 Chr 28:12 12 And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: (KJV)
1 Chr 28:19 19 All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern. (KJV)
Heb 8:5 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. (KJV)
One of the ways Plato tried to explain his views on the world of "forms"
and "ideas" was with the famous metaphor
of the cave. Plato's Cave Allegory is all about this "pattern"
that lies behind what we think is the "real" from our Earthly
experience; the only problem is that what we think is the "real"
is in reality "not". He said, suppose there is a cave, and
inside the cave there are some men chained up to a wall, so that they can
only see the back wall of the cave and nothing else. Plato likens this to
men chained in an underground cave, whose only light is from an open fire.
These men are chained so that they cannot see the fire or the other
occupants of the cave. These men can't see
anything outside of the cave, or even see each other clearly, but they can
see shadows of what is going on outside the cave. They see men as shadows
reflected on the wall of the cave that he faces.
Answer for yourself: Wouldn't these prisoners come to think that the shadows were real, and that was what things really looked like?
Finally one of these subjects rebels. He breaks the chains and gropes his way by a winding stair tot he light of the upper world. He staggers and stumbles like one suddenly become blind. But his blindness is not the blindness of light that is lost, but light that is found. Understanding that the one who escaped and got out of the cave came to see what real people looked like, and real trees and grass. If he went back to the cave and told the other men what he had seen, would they believe him, or would they think he was crazy? Plato says that we are like those men sitting in the cave: we think we understand the real world, but because we are trapped in our bodies we can see only the shadows on the wall (we are unaware of the metaphysical realities around us). One of Plato's goals is to help us understand the real world better (the realm of God, the realm of the neteru, the Invisible Realm of God) by finding ways to predict or understand the real world even without being able to see it.
Rom 1:20 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (KJV)
Egypt saw into this "invisible" world better than any nation that has graced our planet. They pioneered the ideas that Plato will later teach concerning "the Cave". Let us not forget that when Socrates, Plato's master died, Plato travelled to Egypt and studied there with students of Pythagoras. Again we find that behind Greek thought we find Egyptian influence and we always will. With the recovery of the ability to read the Egyptian Hieroglyphs this unbelievable wisdom of Egypt once again sees the light of day and can be understood by all. This hierarchy of energies in the Cosmos was reflected in the the neteru (Energies/Powers, Forces, Attributes of God, gods, goddesses) in ancient Egypt, where material and spiritual realities were understood as aspects of a single scheme and the manifestation of ONE God since they all "Emanated" from Him. The material world was generally thought of as an aspect of the spiritual (Energy) world. The material world as understood as the Cosmos above, its laws, its operation, its cycles and patterns affected the material world below as seen in Mother Nature, its laws, its operations, its cycles and patterns. That is why Egypt would say: "So Above, So Below". Together both danced in harmony following the Sun across the sky and celebrated its equinoxes and solstices. The Egyptians took note of this and from intense observations over thousands of years came to understand the world of "forms", in my estimation, more perfectly than any nation sense and this information is available to us today only for the last two hundred years. We are truly so fortunate to have lived in this time.
