Elohim is, and is not, a plural word.
The concept behind the Hebrew word for God, Elohim, is difficult. Elohim is a compound word: "Above (or, Over) the Flames" (per Victor Alexander).
Right away we can see why it has a plural ending--the second half, Flames, is plural. What is Over them is the Most High God. What is difficult about the concept is keeping the two parts of the one word together. We are likely to see one thing over a bunch of other things--everything separate and discrete. That is the problem: there is, in Elohim, no separation or division--the One Most High God IS the Flames, and vice versa. It is an integral unit: no splits.
The One True God are the Flames, and the Flames (all together) is the One True God.
The Hebrew word for God, YHWH, may held us better conceptualize Elohim. I believe that Y signifies the nature of the One True God, the Most High. In the Most High's nature is intent to manifest, signified by H; the power to effect manifestation, signified by W; and the intent to manifest again, signified by the second H.
All four elements ARE God's nature, and God's nature is a process. The process flows from the One True Most High to continuously discrete manifestations. Yet the manifestations ARE the One True Most High God. YHWH, then, is a picture of Elohim.
We, by the way, are the second H, the intent to manifest, and the second part of Elohim, the Flames. Keep in mind that there is no separation or division between ourselves and what is above us, the Most High, and our nature is His process. So YHWH is also a picture of us.
When you read the Bible, keep all of this in mind: God is one really big thing that encompasses a bunch of really small things which are manifestation of God: there is no separation or division between the One and the myriad "things" manifesting (the process is continuous).
So when God says to the judges of Israel, "You are Gods," well, no, he said, "You are Elohim--God." Even instances of multiple gods in polytheistic cultures--a god of good and a god of evil and a god of wealth and a god of rats--they are all together bunched into a single idea of "what's up there," their God. Hinduism boasts having a million or more gods, yet its core is Advaita: God is many without division: not one, but not two. That is, the million are contained within the One with no separation or division.
Brothers and sisters, we need to look up just like they do. We are all living beneath our station. Let's take up the intent to manifest, for it is our nature to. And let's do it well.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
5:37 PM
10 Comments:
Regarding Elohim being plural: I am a systems engineer, and I work /w a technology called virtualization, which can be used as sort of an analogy for what many (myself included) struggled to understand.
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Suunic D, at 12:56 PM
So, in virtualization, a host (computer with lots of CPU & RAM) is used to generate many (hundreds or even thousands) of 'computers' that are accessible to many different individuals. Now, although these many different computers are 'individualized', they all use the resources allocated by their host. They only exist by 'virtue' of the host, and receive all sustenance from the host. In this way, the host exists within the individual computers, and the individual computers within the host! It is a nearly direct analogy to the reality of understanding Elohim.
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Suunic D, at 1:02 PM
Suunic,
The host and individual computers are different from a mainframe and dummy terminals how? Is the host internally expanded to emulate individual computers, or are the individual "computers" physically remote?
I assume our spiritual individuality to be something like the texture in tapioca pudding: all the same mass, but concentrated at conceptual locations.
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Daniel C. Branham-Steele, at 8:26 PM
Dumb terminals have the limitation of only emulating the host. They are not individualized at all. If I have 50 dumb terminals, they must all be completely identical to what the mainframe is. That is what makes them 'dumb'; but it is a similar concept. Think of dumb terminals as what Adam & Eve must have been, before they partook of the Tree of Life to know 'good & evil'. After that took place, they had free will, making them individualized and no longer 'dumb'. This does not represent some sort of thing they did 'wrong' but it was rather something that had to happen for their CREATOR'S intention to be complete.
So, back to my analogy, virtualization between the host and individual computer. The host is more of a raw power (managed by a hypervisor); a sort of master facilitator that allows true individualization. None of the individual 'virtual' computers have to be alike, here. One can be Windows 7. Another can be Windows 95, XP, Windows 8, Linux, Solaris, Unix, OS X, etc; literally anything! This is where it differs from mainframe & dumb terminal.
Furthermore, in virtualization, the individualized computers are completely unaware of their relationship with the host; kind of like most of us. It appears as though they have no host, and they are in it all alone, on their own!
A virtualized computer behaves as though it is its own 'box', even though it is not. It is one with the host (a saying of Christ comes to mind)! And unless some sort of networking is implemented between these individualized computers, they cannot even communicate with each other. TCP/IP is the language, of course most common, by which all computers (virtual or not) communicate over a network. Again, kind of a sub-analogy of human sociology.
We have actually, whether we know it or not, created technology based on our understanding of ourselves! Therefore technology can be used, as we are doing right now, to understand ourselves on a deeper level.
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Suunic D, at 11:47 PM
Huh. Very interesting. Leaving computers, I am interested in the existence of the Ineffable and It's imagining. I have posted about Neville's vision of human-faced sunflowers who followed all the will of the Father in concert, but were fixed in the ground. We are likened to those consciousnesses learning here how to be free like the Father. All are His imagining, and "material" world only exists to facilitate His imagining's manifest experience. "We" are the invisible imagining inside the body having the experiences. Heading toward the experience OF the Ineffable. I guess your virtual computers experiencing hypervision.
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Daniel C. Branham-Steele, at 12:22 AM
Dan, when I was about 20/21 (I'm 40 now), I had a series of subtle yet profound experiences that through me for a 'loop', and changed my life. At age 18, I had a lot of deja vu episodes; not abnormal. But, they began to get closer and closer in my awareness. After a very particular one, on a Sunday morning, I was left baffled:
I put on my clothes preparing for my day. As I looked into the mirror, I could not identify with my image. Something inside of me reached out & gave me a clear statement that 'that' was not me. Feeling peculiar, I moved in closer to look into my eyes, and again I got the distinct clear message that something inside of my body was declaring itself to be me, and that the physical image I was seeing was indeed not me! It wasn't scary, but it was more like I was clearly being shown something. I did not understand it.
Afterwards, my life was consumed with finding some answers, as to what that was. I had never been a really religious person, but I did go to church, but it was just more of a family tradition; no real interest. However, after that, I sought answers from different religions & sects of religions. I even became interested in ancient history/studies, and read many books. Many people started to just 'pop' up in my life that contributed to my spiritual growth, but after several years I actually felt no closer to realizing what happened to me back then. I was left with many more questions, than when I began, so I just gave up.
It wasn't until 2013, that a series of events led me to The Secret. From there, the discovery of the I AM philosophies, which lead me to Neville. Then, things began to really 'gel'. I had come full-circle, and now it all makes sense to me. I am, of course interested in learning more & more all the time.
My experience in IT has helped along the way. I've always been a little different that the contemporaries, in my field, with the way I go about solving problems. Most of my colleagues are math/left-brain individuals, but I have always been more of the creative-type. So, that is the way I solve problems, which tends to baffle them at times. I think logically as well, but I am definitely more right-brained. I feel things through. That is why I used the computer analogy here. It serves me well, but we all see things a little differently. There can be many interpretations of the same thing; and that is exactly what we are (different interpretations of the same thing/entity).
I'm pleased to share some of my journey with you. My name is Dan, as well...LOL...Nice to meet you!
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Suunic D, at 1:09 AM
Regarding imagining, I have applied the principles Neville discusses, with great success! I have the impressing that we all use it, anyway. It's just that so many people are unaware of what they are doing/creating in their lives. One thing that serves me, is to stop getting involved with news, politics, and things that lead to emotional & religious debates that are undesirable, and unrelated to me personally. I have tuned out the 'noise' in my life. Some people may consider that 'selfish' & that I should be aware of everything that goes on in the world/state/national political environment, but no one can even pay me to turn back now. I am far removed from it and I have imagined & created a better/happier life, because of it.
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Suunic D, at 1:20 AM
I also have the impression that the media systems are actually controlling peoples minds & imagination, and thus their realities in the world. Whether this is intentional & malicious, I can't discern.
I do know one thing. The key to true freedom, is to turn off that 'noise', and embrace your own creative thoughts lovingly, and become primarily disassociated from the 'associated press'.
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Suunic D, at 1:31 AM
Suunic D (Sorry, but Sonic Dan just occurred to me), Yes to everything you said. "Everything that goes on in the world" is NOT what is going on in the world. The world of death and affliction has purpose in generating ITs likeness in us. It is a good kick in the pants, no? Then we find that we have unwittingly been creating it, and repent to IMAGINE WHAT WE WANT. The media is, of course, us. It is a voice of our ignorance, the ignorance from the amnesia we took upon ourselves to become more like the Ineffable. Taking ITs nature as our model and becoming purely that--the "Tree of Life"--THAT is what is happening. Thank you so much for your contribution. It is quite edifying to hear that we are not alone in what we are going through.
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Daniel C. Branham-Steele, at 11:36 AM
Suunic,
For the benefit of others who may not have caught it, like the virtual computers within the host, our consciousness is actually outside of ourselves and is infinite. Yes, our consciousness is also within the brain, but our brains are as antennae making the connection between physical stimulation and "virtual" thought and the universal consciousness outside. It is, in the end, all one. See Deuteronomy 6:4 and Ecclesiastes 3:11. Where Solomon says, "He has hid eternity in their hearts, "eternity" = the whole of the host. That is, the whole of God/God's resources--the power and the wisdom of God, Jesus Christ--is in us. He--WE--are the Becoming God.
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Daniel C. Branham-Steele, at 10:22 AM
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