The Fourth Man

 

Consciousness is never in any trouble. In fact, it improves with every human experience—good or bad. Consciousness is not a property of the body; it is, for our ghost, what air is for the body. We breathe consciousness the way we breathe air.

When ancient texts tried to explain this, terms like life were used in place of consciousness, and a first man was used to explain how experience corresponds with bodies as a result of “life,” or consciousness, within them.

I was awakened by my mom’s healthy awareness to tend to her body’s failing awareness. This happened yesterday morning, at around 12:30 AM.

Only I know what I am even attempting to discuss here. No one on Earth knows that I was shown the truth—beyond any physical transferring of information.

What does this have to do with consciousness?
Everything.

When I discovered Mom’s machine, it was malfunctioning. Her brain was being pressurized by another, physical entity, altering its effectiveness as an onboard computer. A tumor had grown and was pushing against her prefrontal cortex.

While there was truly a sense of urgency present, somehow, deep inside my own ability to reason, I was comforted by the “Holy Ghost.”

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
—John 14:26 (KJV)

No matter where you get your faith, this truth applies. It is not about the doctrines we find in any book at all. Even my own words fail, and the references I use could easily distract from—rather than point to—this truth.

As religious as this sounds, personal experience is the only way.

So, while I write millions of words, hoping to reveal the God of Heaven, I can only offer a signpost—a sign that reads, “Look here.”

However, if you look where I am pointing and see nothing, then my words may as well be a dry well.

This is as mystical as it is mythical—and as true as it is fictional.

Jacob had a private dream and later told others. This became our story of Jacob’s ladder. Where was he when he had the dream? He was at the base of the spine, which is a metaphoric state of consciousness where a person identifies with his or her body.

The Bible says he was in the city of Luz, which is also the mystical, indestructible bone at the base of the human experience.

The takeaway is supposed to be that Jacob suddenly realized our connection to God through consciousness.

“At the base of your spine you will find a golden liquid light which is pulsing and living. As you look at it you recognize yourself and consciously fuse with it. Then, like a fiery serpent, you move up that spinal cord to enter your skull as it reverberates like thunder. Try as you will, you cannot get out, for your skull contains the dream of which you are its life.”
—Neville Goddard, Lecture: No Other Foundation, 1962

Goddard could not help himself. He understood the symbolic references in the Bible so well that he spoke of them as if anyone should be able to see what he saw. However, when you take any of Goddard’s quotes, you may begin to wonder if he was all there. He was.

William Blake was seen in that same light. Most people still think Blake might have been a bit mad.

However, when you begin to have a personal experience like that of Jacob’s—or even my own—you begin to see striking similarities across time and within every culture.

The city of Luz, which could be thought of as “The City of the Base of the Spine,” was instantly changed to the City of Bethlehem when Jacob had his dream. This makes it central to the biblical narrative, but does little to reveal the Luz and the Bethlehem within you.

I did not become a believer when I felt an inner calling to go and check on Mom; I was already a believer—one who happened to be looking for personal, empirical evidence that would support my wobbly belief.

As simple as this one storyboard may be, I know I was joined by the fourth man—exactly when I needed him.

You will eventually feel that too. This is not to suggest that you will necessarily have a religious experience. The fourth man in the fire is really always there. It represents the fourth sense or the fourth dimension—usually unrecognized by our normal feelings or senses.

“It seemed to me often that we were four, not three.”
—Ernest Shackleton, South, describing his experience with Tom Crean and Frank Worsley as they desperately fought against incredible odds in 1916. (Worth a look.)

Sound familiar?

“Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors,
‘Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’
They answered and said unto the king, ‘True, O king.’
He answered and said, ‘Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’”
—Daniel 3:24–25 (KJV)

Well, this is not just for explorers like Shackleton or kings like Nebuchadnezzar. This is your own Comforter. And as a machine, you will be very glad when you feel Him—and you will.

I felt the Comforter yesterday morning. My soul spoke to me:
“Should we not go to check on Mom?”

This was the moment when a feeling came from beyond my usual senses, and some presence spoke to me from behind the veil.

I am very grateful for my fourth-man experience, and I do not believe I will ever be the same again.