John 13:6 · World English Bible
John 13:6 Meaning Then He Came to Simon Peter
Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
What does John 13:6 mean?
The anointing enters through the lowest door first, and the choosing ego recoils from it. Peter is the mind still trapped in material consciousness, the part that must pick a side, and its protest is the resistance of a self that cannot believe the divine would begin at the ground of it rather than the crown.
From the Esoteric reading below.
John 13:6 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Esoteric
ESOTERIC
Esoteric
The anointing enters through the lowest door first, and the choosing ego recoils from it. Peter is the mind still trapped in material consciousness, the part that must pick a side, and its protest is the resistance of a self that cannot believe the divine would begin at the ground of it rather than the crown.
The feet are the lower mind, the region of accumulated conditioning that touches the earth, and washing them is the cleansing of that mind from fear and negative thought. The self expects to be met at its height and is met instead at its base, where the real work of clearing begins. The higher life reaches a person by starting exactly where the ego least wants to be seen.
Peter: the choosing ego, the mind still trapped in material consciousness that must pick a side Feet: the lower mind, the accumulated conditioning that touches the earth and carries a person through the world
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Live John 13:6 today
- Deal with the small grubby thing you keep stepping over, the pile in the corner, the email you are ashamed you never answered. Starting at the bottom is not beneath you, it is where the ground actually is.
- Let someone help you with something embarrassing, a mess you made, money, a mistake at work. Receiving help is harder than giving it, and that difficulty is the point.
- When you are being corrected and you feel yourself protest that this is not fair, pause before defending. Hear the part that is true first, even if it lands somewhere tender.
Where do I want to be met at my best, and what is waiting for me at my worst?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 66
The sea is king of the valleys because it lies below them all. What is willing to take the low place is what everything else flows into.
Zen
The practice is in sweeping the floor and washing the bowls, not in the high talk. People want to begin at the summit and are handed a broom.
Sufism
The path begins at the doorstep, with the parts of yourself you would rather not show anyone. Pride wants to be met at its best and is met at its worst.
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