Symbols - What does heaven look like
Treasure
The symbolism of treasure is very subtle. It does not symbolically represent anything other than a sort of Reward – a group of things some or all of which may be attained, that may be the reward for achieving a task – meeting and fulfilling the Challenges - in the Great Work.
What sort of things can treasure thus be?
- Treasure may be wisdom – about heaven and its spirit beings, its layers, its history, and knowledge of the underlying framework of the spiritual world
- Treasure may equate to yet other ‘Redemptive qualities’, higher understanding in a more generic way
- Treasure might be a move along the spiritual path – progress along the stages as challenges are met and tackled successfully
- Treasure might be a specific type of spiritual experience that provides one or all of the above – see Types of Spiritual experience.
Thus as we can see, treasure is not just found at the end of life’s journey. The treasure is accumulated, it is symbolic of the wisdom accumulated over the spiritual journey – wisdom, spiritual experience and spiritual progress – all the changes that have taken place and the new understanding it brings.
This treasure is available to help others and part of the spiritual path requires the person [the ‘hero’] to share this knowledge and wisdom with people who are also following the path.
Some example treasures mentioned in myths include:
- The philosopher’s stone – knowledge of the secret of turning ‘base metals’ into symbolic ‘gold’ in alchemy
- Gold - is often the symbol used for the treasure being – priceless, valuable, it doesn’t tarnish, it is pure. A gold ring is thus eternal treasure
- The Holy Grail
- The Golden Fleece - The Golden fleece was a spiritual treasure found in a grove of trees hanging on an oak tree and guarded by a sleepless dragon. It is described as
“like a cloud blushing red with the beams of the rising sun”
Treasure of this sort is usually guarded by a Dragon, who in this capacity is acting as the Guardian. The use of a Guardian to protect Treasure is symbolically saying that if the spirit world wishes to give rewards, they have to be given not taken. They have to be earned and not expected or ‘stolen’.
Heroes can acquire spiritual kingdoms, thus increasing their territories much as humans do in the physical world. But in order to acquire the treasures of a set of souls the new spiritual leader has to overcome the dragon left to guard the treasure.
We should also realise that Treasure can be ‘lost’. That wisdom accumulated and worked hard for over the centuries can – because it is guarded by too much encryption and symbolism – become lost to subsequent generations, until someone comes with the key of course.
Observations
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- Aeschylus - Agamemnon - Precious as silver, of the purple dye
- Ailo Gaup - The Night Between Days - The Sámi noaides
- Aladdin's cave
- Alice in Wonderland - Ch 03 - A Caucus race and a long tail
- Aurora consurgens - 09 An allegory of the citadel
- Beowulf - Stealing the Dragon's treasure hoard
- Beowulf - Treasure
- Beowulf - Burial at Sea
- Beowulf - Buried Treasure
- Beowulf - Encounter with the Dragon guarding the Treasure
- Beowulf - The lost treasure
- Beowulf - The Terror of the Dragon
- Braveheart - A long shamanic journey
- Braveheart - Down the manhole
- Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz - The First Day
- Coleridge, Samuel Taylor - The Good Great Man
- Croll, Oswald - Preface of Signatures – 15
- Delville, Jean - Magica
- Dickinson, Emily - A moth the hue of this Haunts candles in Brazil
- Guru Granth - Bilaval 03
- Healer H - I’m the Fagan with the kids
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell - A familiar letter
- In marble halls as white as milk
- Into The Flood Ibogaine, iboga Total Aklaloid Extract by Xorkoth
- Japanese islands
- Japanese tea ceremony 2
- Khusrau, Amir - Ghazal 1034
- Lewis, C S - Dawn Treader - The Magic Book
- Nizami – Makhzanol Asrar (The Treasury of Mysteries) – from The First Seclusion 01
- Pauli, Wolfgang - Dream of October 1949
- Pauli, Wolfgang - Dreams of Rings, Circles, Eggs and Stars
- Poetic Edda - The Prophecy of Grípir [extract]
- Proverbs 24
- Rig veda - Soma
- Saint Teresa of Avila - The after effects of union 1
- Samavedas – 01 Book 05 Chapter 01, DECADE III Indra [extract verses 8-10]
- Samavedas – Book 04 Chapter 01, I Soma Pavamana
- Samavedas – Book 04 Chapter 01, XXI Soma Pavamana
- Samavedas – Book 08 Chapter 03, XII Asvins
- Shabistari, Mahmud - The Gulshan-i raz - Non being is the mirror of absolute being
- Spencer, Stanley - Symbolism 01 - Mending Cowls Cookham 1915
- Spencer, Stanley - Symbolism 08 - Angels of the Apocalypse 1949
- Surdas - Fatephur Sikri manuscript - NPS 3908
- Tagore, Rabindranath - Song XXXXX to XXXXXII, Gitanjali
- The Kybalion - The Law of Knowledge
- The Lotus Sutra - 10 The Emergence of the Treasure Tower - 1 The Treasure Tower
- Traherne, Thomas - Dumbness - A world of innocence as then was mine
- Villoldo, Dr Alberto - Journeying into the Chamber of Treasures
- Wordsworth, William - Elegiac Stanzas - I would have planted thee, thou hoary Pile