The Return of Prophecy

The Return of Prophecy

Introductory essay to accompany 35-segment course of 10-minute videos on The Return of Prophecy True Prophecy once existed. A direct, or what can be called a Vertical connection with heaven once existed. It once existed and it will exist again. And in a subtle way, not as outright prophecy, but within the mind and heart of every human being, it actually exists now. As we shall see, our job is to refine ourselves to the point where that still small voice that almost no one hears presently, will break forth not only in the minds and hearts of select individuals (as in former times), but far beyond that, to a quantum leap in consciousness for all mankind. This is what is needed now. This is what Hashem, God, has said He will do. This is what we should be preparing for now. Part of that preparation is UNDERSTANDING WHAT IT ENTAILS, WHAT PROPHECY IS, ACCORDING TO THE TORAH, THE PROPHETS, AND THE SAGES. As with many things that Hashem says, whether it involves a commandment in the Torah or a prophecy about the Future, if Hashem says that He wants something, it is up to us to WANT it also. If this idea of wanting what God wants is not clear, how to do it, etc., see my book Realizing the Unity. So the Return of Prophecy is a magnificent subject. The fact that Prophecy once existed, and that we are promised that it will exist again, this is actually all part of a great plan, the Creators plan for mankind. For instance, Adam and Eve were prophets. Not only did they hear Gods voice, but their relationship with all creation was far different than anything we can imagine. If you imagine the Torah as a play or a movie, the first scene ends, the curtain falls, right after Adam and Eve are banished from Eden. The rest of the Torah is about how to get back in. As I will share with you in a moment, when Adam was in Eden, he was connected to all creation. There was only one thing he lacked. Himself. He was connected to the ALL so deeply that he lacked a solid sense of self. What he got from eating of the Etz Daat Tov vaRa was himself, but in the process he lost that incredible connection he had had! This is what I mean about the curtain falling at the end of the first act, and that the remainder of the Torah is about getting back in to Eden with our SELF. As I just said, in Eden, Adam and Eve were prophets. What does this really mean? What is it like to be a prophet? In the Zohar we read:1 Rabbi Yossi said It is written, Elokim said: Let there be light and there was light. Elokim saw the lightthat it was goodand Elokim made a division [separated] between the light and the darkness (Genesis 1:3-4). This refers to the first light that the Holy One created. It is called the light of the eye [the light of consciousness]. It is the light that the Holy One showed Adam, with which Adam was able to see from one end of the universe to the other. It is the light that He showed David, concerning which David praised Him saying, How great is the good [i.e., the light] that You have hidden away for those who revere You... (Psalm 31:20). It is the light that He showed Moshe, with which he saw from Gilead to Dan [and the whole future of his people].
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Zohar Bereshit (1:31b).

The Return of Prophecy

When the Holy One foresaw the three wicked generationsthe generation of Enosh, the generation of the flood, and the generation of the tower of BabelHe hid this light away so that they would not have access to it [and misuse it] Seeing from one end of the universe to the other is to be understood both horizontally and vertically. That is, it certainly shone from east to west and from north to south. More importantly, it shone from above to below, from heavenly transcendence into earthly immanence. In addition, it means that Adam saw from the beginning of time to the end of time. What was this light that Adam saw? What is Gods light? We can best answer this by calling it a mental or spiritual light. It was the primordial light of Gods presence permeating all worlds and everything in them. With this mental light Adam could close his eyes and know God. He could also enter into and explore any creature or any thing from the insidea stone, an ocean, a cloud, a tree, a flower, an animaland know its Godly essence. He could concentrate his mind (and he was Mind) on anything, enter into it, and know it intimately. In truth Adam was an angelic being sent down into the Garden of Eden in order to perform an awesome task that would have repercussions on the entirety of creation. The exalted level on which Adam and Eve existed is beyond anything we can imagine. Not only could they see from one end of the universe to the other, but their molecular structure was different. Thus their bodies were not physical. They were pure light. And their ability to grasp truth and reality was equally different. They were so connected to the source of life that they could close their eyes and travel into other dimensions. Their ability to know God and experience His presence was awesome. There are beautiful sources for everything I am telling you. I want to share these sources with you. In his masterful commentary to the Torah, Rabbi Moshe Alshikh (1521-1600) shows how Adam and Eve were initially dressed in garments of light. Their bodies were subtle and light, energy-bodies. Only afterwards did they become physicalskin, flesh, and bone. In his commentary to the Zohars Sifra dTzeniuta (Book of Concealed Mysteries), the Gaon of Vilna (Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, 1720-1798) states, Adam was originally clothed in garments of light, referring to none other than the primordial hidden light. Only afterwards was he covered with skin, causing the light to be concealed. The source for all these statements is the Zohar:2 Come see. When Adam was in the Garden of Eden, he was dressed in spiritual garments [i.e., his body was made] of supernal light. Once he was expelled from the garden, however, he required garments more fitting for this world. It is thus written, God made garments of for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them (Genesis 3:21). Prior to this, they were clothed in garments [i.e., their bodies were made] of , the light of that supernal radiance with which he perceived all the spiritual worlds when he was in the Garden of Eden. For it is known that the light of the Garden of Eden [did not come from the sun; rather, it] came from the supernal radiance. For this reason, when the Holy One placed Adam in the

Zohar Pekudey (2:229b).

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garden, He clothed him in garments [i.e., gave him a body] of light appropriate for that place. Without such garments he could not have existed there. What is the Return of Prophecy? It is the Torahs prophetic story of how we lost Eden, with a built-in map of how to get back at a higher level than if we had never left. The Torah, in other words, is the repository, the heavenly safe-deposit box, of Edenic consciousness. No matter how distant we take ourselves and the world away from Eden, with the Torah we can always come back. This is certainly true about the prophetic level of the Torah, not only its prophetic teachings, but the spirit of prophecy that is alive within it. Through this hidden level of the Torah, we reconnect with Eden. In other words, why does the Torah describe the descent of mankind as it does the devolution of human consciousness that occurred after Adam and Eve lost Eden? So that we can understand the way back. And of course, dont get me wrong when I say back. The Torah is definitely not talking about retrograding backwards. It is VERY future oriented. Trust me about this till I can show you what I mean. Part of our course will be called Visions of the Future, thru the eyes of the Prophets and the Great Master Sages (see also my Well of Living Waters). And the idea is that learning about these things in this way, we will prepare and refine ourselves for that moment when the spirit of prophecy will break forth not only in the minds and hearts of select individuals (as in former times), but far beyond that, to a quantum leap in consciousness for all mankind. So our purpose here is to reintroduce the concept of prophecy, or all the incredibly rich ideas that make up the concept of prophecy. This is not a university course. It is rather a universe course, a course in what the universe is about, what prophecy teaches us about the universe, about the Creator of the universe, and our relationship to Him. It is also a universal course. We will take the purest teachings of the Torah and the Prophets, and show how they apply universally to all mankind and to each and every individual. We will thus taste our first taste of prophecy, which is to wake up from the lower level of consciousness that characterizes earth life, wherein each nation lives its own myth irrespective of the larger reality of which we are all part. Through true prophecy, on the other hand, we see that there are universal laws that apply across the board. These universal laws are hidden and therefore not understood. Mankinds fall from this clear understanding is what prophecy explains. The return of prophecy is the return to this deeper understanding. *** This course is being hosted by the Temple Institute. The Temple Institute is dedicated to spreading the consciousness of the importance of building the Third Temple, on the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem, in our time. In this course The Return of Prophecy, we will provide a context with which to understand what this means. Such that, once it is understood, it will become clear to all how important this is. Copyright 2012 Avraham Sutton Site: www.AvrahamSutton.com Email: avraham.sutton@me.com