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From Maurice Nicoll (The Mark & The New Man)  Click here to read or safely download The Mark or here for the New Man

• The Cross of Time and Eternity: Nicoll explicitly diagrams the vertical. He states that a person's future is not just horizontally in "tomorrow," but vertically in a "higher state of themselves." To be "healed" is to be lifted from the horizontal bed of mechanical time and made to stand upright (vertical) in the light of Eternity.

The Sensual vs. The Psychological: He comments that the "shoes" (the lowest part of man) represent the senses grounded on the horizontal earth. To understand the vertical, one must "remove their shoes" (detach from literal, sense-based thinking) and use the psychological mind.

The Scale of Man: Nicoll details that esoteric teaching comes from a vertical level above humanity. If a person has no feeling of the "vertical arm of the cross," they will mix up higher teachings with ordinary life affairs, rendering the teaching useless.

WORD: Hermeneia ([G2047]) - Hermeneutics Locations: 1 Corinthians 12:10, Luke 24:27

Definition: The science and methodology of interpretation. While exegesis is the "what," hermeneutics is the "how"—the set of governing Principles used to determine the meaning of a text. PARDES ANALYSIS: [PSHAT - Horizontal/House]: The literal application of grammatical and historical rules to understand the author's original intent. It is the "outer court" of study. [DERASH - Vertical/Temple]: In the Fourth Way, hermeneutics is the lens that separates the "A-Influences" (literal history) from "B-Influences" (esoteric teaching). It is the mechanism that allows the Teknon to move from the letter that kills to the Spirit that gives life. [SOD - Vertical/Temple]: The ontological realization that the Word is a living mirror. True hermeneutics is not an academic exercise but a state of being where the Pneuma recognizes the Logos within the scriptural vessel.

The Theological Spectrum of Interpretation

To understand how these disciplines interact on the Vertical Plane, we must distinguish between the extraction of truth (Exegesis) and the delivery of truth

The "Missing" Disciplines of Vertical Synthesis

You are currently mapping the path from the Nepios to the Huios. To complete this exegesis, there are three critical disciplines often overlooked in traditional seminaries but vital for the "Sunesis" (Synthesis) you are performing:

• Eisegesis (The Counter-Trap): The opposite of Exegesis. It is the act of "reading into" the text one's own horizontal prejudices or tribal concepts. This is the hallmark of the Old Man who forces the Logos to fit his "A-Influences."

• Catechesis: The systematic instruction of the "preparatory concepts." This is the mandatory horizontal phase where the Nepios is fed "milk" (Pshat) before they can handle the "strong meat" (Sod).

• Anagogy (The Vertical Lift): This is the specific branch of hermeneutics that looks for the upward or mystical meaning. While exegesis tells you what happened, anagogy tells you how it relates to your vertical ascent and the "Kingdom of Heaven" within.

Vertical Synthesis & Sunesis Takeaway

Biblical Hermeneutics is the "protocol" that prevents the mind from falling into the mechanical trap of the literal sense. If your hermeneutic is strictly horizontal (Historical-Critical), you will only ever find the historical Jesus (the cornerstone). If your hermeneutic is Vertical (Anagogical/Esoteric), you begin the process of Sunesis—the synthesis of fragments into a unified whole, Sunesis is understanding, and with all your seeking, seek understanding. 

Exegesis is the labor of the Nous (Intellect) digging into the text. However, without the Epignosis (C-Influence), exegesis remains a "puffed up" Ginosko (B-Influence). The transition occurs when Hermeneutics moves from a study of the book to a study of the Self through the mirror of the book. As you have noted, when the "15 aspects of 1 Cor 13" are crystallized, the Ainigma (Darkly seen reflection) is clarified. You no longer interpret the text; the text interprets your level of Being.

(1Co 13:12)  For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God].

Amplified Translation

Below is the Ladder that Leads to perfection, which is fulness, completion of a stage and preparation for the next stage.  Remember, we cannot climb up some other way.  So the next step also serves as the Guardian of the Threshold. You cannot meditate nor "affirm" your way over or around the Cross, Matt 10:38. These steps are listed in 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-11 culminating or perfecting in verse 12. Literally becoming Equally Yoked with Jesus, See Matthew 11:29,30 and being Rooted and Grounded in Love, Ephesians 3:17 a prerequsite to comprehension..v18.

For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God] 1Co 13:12 AMPLIFIED

The Key to this chapter and the New Testament Gospels & Epistles is right here in plain Sight if you can SEE it.  Frist look at the Greek word translated "darkly/dimly" G135 ainigma:  Thayer Definition: 1) an obscure saying, enigma, riddle.  Why is it obscure or a riddle, a puzzle? Because we only have the part that we needed to traverse to the next Level and each Level costs us.  Have you ever made a commitment to the Spirit of Truth yet?  Seriously, if not, that is one of the Foundational Stones, and like Peter I will never tire of putting you in remembrance, 2 Peter 1:12 that we cannot climb up some other way: Purification, Clarification, Illumination. That is elementary. If you have not made that step try the Garmet of Truth on for size and see if doesn't cost you.

Second, look at the word translated "know" G1097 ginosko which is knowledge of the Divine, Sacred knowledge, both the bread of our Necessity and the bread of our convenience, Proverbs 30:7,8. It is just what we need to fill up what is lacking wanting or falling behind at whatever Level of Spiritual stature/maturity that we currently occupy, and just the amount that we need to encourage us to seek yet a bit Deeper and Higher.  Warning, this Level of knowledge can puff you up, 1 Cor 8:1 but it is not the gnosis that puffs but the puffee, us, because if we are still seeing a blurred reflection and know in part, it is us that Divine Knowledge makes "haughty.  So number 5 on the list, 1 Cor 13:4 that will be Dealt with by the Cross in our lives.  Here is how it works in the so-called real world, I study night and day go to endless bible study and get a bit cocky and "know-it-allish and you meet someone whose grasp on the Word causes you to know that you don't even know. Or it could be some form of embarassemt that "happens" and you absolutely know Who orchestrated it!

Here is a saying that I discovered early in my Journey, now this only applies to Travelers, casual inquirers do not need to sweat this, but if you are committed to the Narrrow Way and have counted the cost and decided that the Treasure in the Field is worth the Price, you can count on a few of these along your way:
"God is fixin't to fix a fix to fix you with and if you "fix" that fix He will just fix another fix to fix you with." Sometimes it is convenient and we see the step, the next attribute to become flesh in our life and it is an easy assimilation, most on the are not,  and they will come back to be tested at 30, 60, 100-fold Levels on our walk until the Logos becomes Flesh and takes up Its Abode in our purifed Temple.

Next In-sight, is