Genesis 14:15 · World English Bible
Genesis 14:15 Meaning He Divided Himself Against Them by Night
He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
What does Genesis 14:15 mean?
This is the first victory of spirit over the ego, the right side of the head overpowering the left. Abram is the right hemisphere, the seat of the higher awareness, and he strikes by night, in the dark inwardness of meditation, driving the invaders back until they are pinned at Hobah, on the left hand of Damascus.
From the Esoteric reading below.
Genesis 14:15 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Esoteric
ESOTERIC
Esoteric
This is the first victory of spirit over the ego, the right side of the head overpowering the left. Abram is the right hemisphere, the seat of the higher awareness, and he strikes by night, in the dark inwardness of meditation, driving the invaders back until they are pinned at Hobah, on the left hand of Damascus. Damascus is activity, the endless doing and outward motion of a person, and its left hand is the left brain, the calculating side where the trouble began. The spirit has come down to rescue the captured mind, chasing the disorder out of the busy, reasoning half and back across into its own corner. The higher awareness, working in stillness, wins its opening battle by pushing the ego clean out of the thinking side.
Night: the inward darkness of meditation, the stillness in which the higher self does its real fighting Hobah: the far edge of the left side, the corner into which the routed ego is driven and cornered Damascus: the ceaseless activity and outward doing of a person, the restless motion of the busy self Left hand of Damascus: the left hemisphere of the brain, the calculating side where the disorder took hold
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Live Genesis 14:15 today
- Tonight, before sleep, sit in the dark for five minutes with no phone. Let the planning, rehearsing, replaying part of you run out of fuel while you just sit and breathe.
- When someone says something that sets off a loop of arguments in your head, stay quiet and stay present with them. Let the arguing voice get smaller instead of letting it do the talking.
- In a meeting or a traffic jam where your mind starts calculating furiously, drop your attention into your breath for three breaths. You are not solving anything in those breaths, you are taking the wheel back.
Where does my calculating mind run the show, and what happens when I stop feeding it?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 16
Return to stillness and you see clearly. The restless, calculating mind cannot settle itself, only the quiet underneath it can.
Buddhism · Dhammapada
The mind that races and schemes is the real opponent. It is overcome not by more effort but by steady awareness watching it.
Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius
Withdraw into yourself for a moment. The small inner retreat is where you regain command over the part of you that is spinning.
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