Revelation 21:17 · World English Bible
Revelation 21:17 Meaning Its Wall Is One Hundred Forty-four Cubits
Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
What does Revelation 21:17 mean?
The boundary of the perfected inner city is measured by the completed human, so that the fully realized person and the angel come out to one measure. The number 144 is the fullness of spiritual order, 12 multiplied by 12, the whole pattern of the awakened faculties squared into completeness, the finished dimension of a consciousness brought to its full stature.
From the Esoteric reading below.
Revelation 21:17 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
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ESOTERIC
Esoteric
The boundary of the perfected inner city is measured by the completed human, so that the fully realized person and the angel come out to one measure. The number 144 is the fullness of spiritual order, 12 multiplied by 12, the whole pattern of the awakened faculties squared into completeness, the finished dimension of a consciousness brought to its full stature. The wall is the containing edge of that inner state, the firm limit that holds the holy city of the mind together. Its measure being a man and equally an angel means the divine and the human meet at the same line.
The finished self is built to the exact stature where the human and the divine become the same.
The number 144: the fullness of spiritual order, 12 times 12, the awakened faculties squared into completeness The wall: the containing edge of the inner holy city, the firm limit that holds the realized state together
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Live Revelation 21:17 today
- Do one ordinary thing today with your whole self in it, washing a dish, walking to the car, answering one email. The holy is not somewhere else, it is this at full attention.
- Treat one person today as if the line between the human and the divine runs right through them, the barista, the driver, your sister on the phone. Speak to them that way and do not explain why.
- When you are being pushed to be less than yourself, less honest, less kind, less patient, hold your own stature. Your full height as a person is the boundary that keeps everything else standing.
What is my full stature as a person, and where today am I shrinking below it?
The same truth in other traditions
Hinduism · Upanishads
The teaching says that the self in you and the ground of all being are one and the same. There is no gap between the finished human and the divine, only a mistake about where the line is.
Zen
A student asked what the Buddha is, and the teacher answered that it is the one standing right there asking. The fully human and the fully awake turn out to be the same measure.
Judaism · Hasidic teaching
The Kotzker Rebbe asked where God is to be found, and answered: wherever a person lets God in. The divine is measured at the edge of a human life that is actually open.
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