The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Read Revelation 6
    The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse give the key to the nature of man as we know him.  When you understand these symbols thoroughly you will understand your own makeup, and you will be able to begin the work of getting dominion over yourself and your surroundings.
    The Bible is not written in the style of a modern book.  It has a method of conveying knowledge through picturesque symbols, the reason being that this is the only possible way in which knowledge could be given to people in all ages in different parts of the world and for different degrees of spiritual development.  A symbol appeals to any audience, each individual getting just what he is ready for.
    The Horsemen of the Apocalypse stand for the four parts or elements of our human nature.  There is, first of all, the physical body – the thing that you see when you look in to the glass.  Then there is your feelings or emotions, and although cannot “see” your feelings, you are tremendously conscious of them.  Third, there is your intellect, which contains every bit of knowledge that you posses.  Finally there is spiritual nature, your real eternal self, the true you, the I AM, the indwelling Christ.  This is your total identity, which is eternal.  Almost everyone believes in its existence, but most people are very little conscious of it as an actuality.
    Ultimately the time will come when the first three will be merged in the fourth, and then we shall all know instead of only believing that the spiritual nature is all.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

This completely defines the conflict that resides in me.  Finding a healthy and honest way to acknowledge that I am made up of these four parts is a constant battle.  Allowing each part to exist on its own without judging it or labeling it as good or bad is very difficult for me.  The way that these four parts interact and feed off one another really defines the overall vibe that I put out as an earthly child of God.  There is so much to this passage. I had never really thought of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as symbols.  To be honest, other than the Johnny Cash song, “When the Man Comes Around”, I really hadn’t considered them much at all, yet they so perfectly describe the battle within.  The idea that the “I AM” or indwelling Christ is my real eternal self has always been a difficult concept for me to understand in the context of being here on earth as a human.  It is sad to me that if I am really honest about my life, this is the horse I feed the least.  It is also the horse that I pay the least amount of attention to.  I suspect that this is true of Alcoholics in general.  And when I think of AA’s central theme “To help you find a power greater than yourself that will solve your problem for you” I believe most people in AA misinterpret it.  Take for example this idea that “ANY” higher power will do that AA prescribes.  I believe this idea is nothing more than a parlor trick used to cause members to spend less time on the three horses that steal time from the spirit horse.  If it succeeds in helping a person starve the other three horses, I suppose it is not all bad.  But to think that any real deep spiritual growth will result from calling a doorknob your higher power is difficult for me to swallow.  I think this has been a core source of skepticism for me with the program of AA and I haven’t, until now, really been able to define it.  But the point of recovery is to life a happy, joyous, and free life.  How an individual achieves that isn’t something I need to worry about.  If spiritual misdirection serves them and causes them to move on to a deeper spiritual understanding, wonderful.  But just as it is inappropriate for me to “label” his or her path as wrong, it is equally inappropriate for anyone in AA to judge mine.

Prayer – Lord I pray that you would help me pay more attention to the spiritual horse in my life and that by doing so I would find equilibrium  in my life here on earth.  I also pray for all of the members in AA and that their spiritual path would lead them all to you.