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“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1).
There is significance in this whole story, though the details in this single verse are sketchy. The Bible tells us that Abram’s father, Terah, worshipped multiple gods; he was polytheistic. Abram was the first to embrace a single god idea: monotheism.
From a metaphysical point of view we can see there is a distinct shift in philosophy here. Abram is called by the single voice of the Lord—Yahweh—to leave his father’s house and move to a land where he and his descendants will become a great nation. The significance here is that God’s promise of greatness to Abram is conditional on Abram’s abandoning his polytheistic heritage and follow Yahweh.
When you think of Terah and Abram, not as biblical characters but as states of consciousness, you begin to grasp the importance of this change. This shift in thinking to the idea of a single power at work in your life is the beginning of your spiritual success.
When our emotions are controlled by appearances, we become subject to a multitude of secondary “powers” that negatively influence our action. Fear, self doubt, resentment, and emotional wounds we don’t think we can get over are just a few of these debilitating little “gods” that we bow before. The conditions they engender become a hydra-headed dragon and we end up devoting a lot of our time and energy trying to keep it at bay. Then we find we have the same problem that Hercules had with this beast: Every time we cut off one head, two more take its place. And at least one of them knows how to swing in and nip us from behind.
So, what do we have to do to leave this old country and head off to this new land of peace, power, and plenty? According to the story there are only two things we can do at this juncture: say, “yes I’m willing,” and start packing.
J Douglas Bottorff 