Seal Six – Natural destruction

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Rev 6:12-14

“When we read these words where are we standing? Do we see ourselves as a small physical being standing on the earth looking up at the heavens, ducking falling stars and trying to keep our balance as the earth is quaking and changing? What a frightening prospect. Is this what John saw? Or did he see all these things from a different perspective?

Think about an earthquake seismos that is caused by the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates. Then compare the image of these tectonic plates with the bones of our skull. Also, think about how we experience our inner life bound within the perimeter of this skull. Whatever we see outside our body is not part of us.

Could John be describing a vision that extends beyond our conscious perimeter?

If we were to imagine our being enlarged to reach the outer regions of the universe we would then be looking down upon the sun, the moon, the stars and sky. Then all that John describes would be happening within us. Is this what the resurrection is like? Pre-resurrection we are contained within our physical body, our ‘universe’ is inside our being and our highest experience is of our own skull. Post-resurrection we are freed from the confines of our physical body.

It is quite possible that John is describing the resurrection process. We die to our physical existence as we have experienced it thus far in this life, and we are born to a new vision. Try to imagine looking down on your life. See yourself in your room as if you were looking down from the roof. Then expand this vision to take in your neighborhood, town or suburb, then your country and so on. This task is made easier since astronauts have sent their images back to earth. Yet John’s vision is not quite like that. The astronauts are looking on, John is looking within.

This is the view we come across in the Bagavhad Gita when Krishna advises Arjuna to be the onlooker. The Higher Self speaks to its reflection – the incarnated lower self – saying,

“Participate in whatever happens, do not shrink from any experience because each event is an opportunity for us to be together once more.”

When we have this image of ourselves – the full spectrum of the higher and lower – then everything that happens in our surroundings happens within us. This view, of course, assists us to observe what takes place without overreacting. We experience a new level of courage and a new freedom. Things are no longer ‘done’ to us; they happen within us.”

Blood Moon by Monica Marquez Gatica

Kristina Kaine from The Virgin and Harlot, an interpretation of the Book of Revelation