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birth it leaps with joy. But, in so far as wisdom is a necessary attribute of the Christos, he cannot do without the baptism of intellect, in the first instance. Intellect is not the enjoyer of bliss, hence, not the bridegroom, but it is natural for it to feel joy at the bridegroom's voice, for he is to turn the wilderness into a veritable paradise. And, lastly, because the freedom of the soul means the attainment of omniscience which arises by the destruction of the lower mental equipment -intellect, memory, and the likee--as will be explained in the following chapters, intellect is described as saying, ' he must increase, but I must decrease.' The sending of his disciples by John to ascertain whether Jesus (soul) is the Messiah, i.e., the Redeemer, in spite of the fact that he had exulted with delight at his mother's voice, is in keeping with the nature of intellect, which always doubts and hesitates, and is seldom satisfied with its own conclusions. It is, thus, clear that the personality of John, the Baptist, is typical of the intellectual self of the man who has become conscious of the fuller Life of the higher Self.
Similarly, Barabbas stands for the bodily, or the lower self, whose passionate nature is the cause of all sorts of evil deeds and crimes. The preference of the Jews for Barabbas is suggestive of the nature of humanity who prefer to love the body and to do away with Spirit, which in its individualized aspect is Jesus,' the soul. The passage in Sura Baqr (Al Koran)
RESURRECTION.
* Cf. "Soul or spirit was used in several senses in Arabic, e.g., life (animal and plant), consciousness, revelation, the Arch-Angel, Jesus Christ."-Philosophy of Islam, p. 30.
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