The 23rd Psalm - An Absolute Spiritual Masterpiece

[Still_Waters]

One of my favorite personal prayers is the very insightful 23rd Psalm, which I repeat many times a day and actually use it to time my yoga postures. (I say the 23rd Psalm when I start certain postures, and move on to the next posture once the 23rd Psalm is completed.)

There was one passage that somewhat troubled me for a while, but my difficulties with it were all completely resolved at a Quaker meeting of all places.

"Thou preparest a place before me in the presence of mine enemies."

Initially, I attributed that to possibly a poor translation as the statement definitely not resonate with me. Now, however, after the Quaker meeting, it makes complete sense and resonates completely.

During the Quaker meeting, which is observed in complete silence for those who are unfamiliar with Quaker services, an elder stood up halfway through the service with a very insightful comment. (If some one is inspired to speak, they can stand up and speak whatever inspiration came during the silent meditative service.)

He said that a passage in the 23rd Psalm had long puzzled him: "Thou preparest a place for me in the presence of mine enemies". He mentioned that he had no enemies so he was not sure what the passage really meant. However, he added, upon meditative reflection, he realized that he DID INDEED have enemies: Pride, lust, anger, greed, gluttony, envy, sloth. He then interpreted the passage to mean that he was placed in the presence of these internal "enemies" so that he could overcome them.

While the whole 23rd Psalm is very meaningful to me, that particular passage took on a very deep positive meaning for me after that Quaker spoke out during the otherwise silent service. I have never forgotten that ! Years later, I saw him at another Quaker service and reminded him of how his meditative statement had had such a lasting impact of me. He remembered that day and indicated that it was a major breakthrough for him as well since he had been contemplating that passage for years before the breakthrough.

I just thought that I would share that here, and I'm curious if anyone has alternative interpretations of that particular passage. If you want to discuss any of the other passages in that Psalm, it would be most welcome as I consider that Psalm to be a Spiritual Masterpiece.

[sky]

The table to me is a place where I eat and share food with Family and Friends, physical nourishment.



' You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;'


The table holds Inner nourishment ( Spiritual Food ) given in abundance to feed my Spirit rather than my ego ( enemy ).



Ps, I love singing this Psalm.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by sky123

The table to me is a place where I eat and share food with Family and Friends, physical nourishment.



' You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;'


The table holds Inner nourishment ( Spiritual Food ) given in abundance to feed my Spirit rather than my ego ( enemy ).



Ps, I love singing this Psalm.

Thanks for sharing !

[Tobi]

Hello....I moved the thread over from the Judaism sub forum to this one where it seems to have a better home.
I left a re-direct in the other forum in case you wondered where it had gone!
Tobi.

[Tobi]

....And yes....I find the 23rd psalm to have a great deal of spiritual force. We should not underestimate it. It is a great comfort to the Soul, especially in any problem or unrest.

To have no fear of my enemies that God prepares a feast and we feast and are comforted by the rod and the staff of my Sheppard and He is with me, since perfect Love casts out all fear. We celebrate knowing the adversary is a withering branch without hope. So yes those 7 sins above are a part.

This enemy is tsarar= to cramp. So it is an adversary that wants to bind you and hold you captive and oppress.

[SimpleMan]

I used this psalm when I fell from a moving train and survived without a scratch, then, I met three demons when I tried to seek help at a bar, I am not joking... I was really afraid and I ran away, then, I felt this amazing joy and I started to say again and again the psalm 23 and to praise God for His help.

This is what I saw but there's a little difference, their faces were melting down.One more thing to add, they were laughing at me with this creppy laugh and I knew why they were laughing, because I was suffering... I felt it.They were really close to me, in front of my face there was the seller, she was normal ( a human being ) but scared, then I turned my face to the left side and I saw these three demons.

[neil]

Originally Posted by SimpleMan

I used this psalm when I fell from a moving train and survived without a scratch, then, I met three demons when I tried to seek help at a bar, I am not joking... I was really afraid and I ran away, then, I felt this amazing joy and I started to say again and again the psalm 23 and to praise God for His help.

This is what I saw but there's a little difference, their faces were melting down.One more thing to add, they were laughing at me with this creppy laugh and I knew why they were laughing, because I was suffering... I felt it.They were really close to me, in front of my face there was the seller, she was normal ( a human being ) but scared, then I turned my face to the left side and I saw these three demons.

You said that their faces were melting down

Did you mean that their faces were melting down "moment by moment", as you were looking at them.

Or did you mean that their faces "had" appeared to have been, melted down at some stage prior.

I new a spiritualist person, who was in a car crash, that involved the vehicle smahing down trees and eventually hurtling off of a clff, & landing upside down in a river of water at the bottom of the cliff.

And almost as soon as the vehicle went out of control, the loan male driver, felt as if he was in a soft cushion like cocoon within the vehicle, he did not feel any pain, & did not suffer any injuries.

The rescue teams could not believe the whole incident, as far as they were concerned he should not have survived, the car was a wreck and he just walked away and went to work.

[SimpleMan]

Originally Posted by neil

You said that their faces were melting down

Did you mean that their faces were melting down "moment by moment", as you were looking at them.

Or did you mean that their faces "had" appeared to have been, melted down at some stage prior.

I new a spiritualist person, who was in a car crash, that involved the vehicle smahing down trees and eventually hurtling off of a clff, & landing upside down in a river of water at the bottom of the cliff.

And almost as soon as the vehicle went out of control, the loan male driver, felt as if he was in a soft cushion like cocoon within the vehicle, he did not feel any pain, & did not suffer any injuries.

The rescue teams could not believe the whole incident, as far as they were concerned he should not have survived, the car was a wreck and he just walked away and went to work.

They were melting down moment by moment, it's very hard to describe it... Their faces were not human, they had eyes but their eyes where black and void.. It was like their faces are made of some kind of smoke and this smoke had different colors, for their eyes and for their mouth it was black and for the rest of the face it was greyish.. Imagine this, I was looking at the seller, she was normal but scared, then, when I turned my face to the left side I saw these three demons and they were laughing at me.They were like one or two feets away from me... This is true, I told this story to many people.

Things happen but people don't want to see and believe... You tell them the truth and they still don't believe you.

[neil]

Originally Posted by SimpleMan

They were melting down moment by moment, it's very hard to describe it... Their faces were not human, they had eyes but their eyes where black and void.. It was like their faces are made of some kind of smoke and this smoke had different colors, for their eyes and for their mouth it was black and for the rest of the face it was greyish.. Imagine this, I was looking at the seller, she was normal but scared, then, when I turned my face to the left side I saw these three demons and they were laughing at me.They were like one or two feets away from me... This is true, I told this story to many people.

Things happen but people don't want to see and believe... You tell them the truth and they still don't believe you.

Yes many people tell me that i must be crazy, even a few on this site have recently informed me that i need psychiatric help because i am in their eyes psychotic.

But all in all i know that they will be mind blown when they start to see the truth of it all.

I HAVE TO SAY THOUGH, THAT SPIRITUAL BEINGS CAN CREATE ANYTHING IN SPIRIT FROM THE SPIRITUAL MATTER/ENERGIES.

THE DEMON LIKE BEINGS THAT YOU SAW COULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETE APPIRATIONS, OR THEY COULD HAVE BEEN SPIRITUAL BEINGS CHANGING THEIR APPEARANCES.
OR THE DEMON LIKE ENTITIES COULD HAVE BEEN VISIONS PROJECTED/PLACED INTO YOUR MIND BY DARK SPIRITUAL BEINGS, JUST AS THEY CAN DO WHEN WE ARE SLEEPING...THEY CAN CONNECT TO US & CREATE ALL MANNER OF VISION SEQUENCES & THE VISION SEQUENCES WILL ENTER OUR AWARENESS, BUT ESSENTIALLY IN THIS CASE THEY WILL NOT BE ACTUALLY REAL.
BUT IN THE OTHER ABOVE CASES THEY ARE REAL IN THE SENCE THAT THE DARK BEINGS HAVE CREATED THOSE DEMONS.

Simpleman...DEMONS ARE NOT REAL, THEY ARE NOT A REALITY..DEMONS ARE ILLUSIONS & OR CREATIONS WITHOUT CONSCIOUSNESS & HAVE TO BE ANIMATED BY DARK BEINGS IN ORDER FOR THEM TO APPEAR REAL.

But dark beings can be left very physicaly depleted & or crippled, deformed discoloured very squat small, & with limbs missing & head & face distorted in any miss sharpened mess, blind without eyes in their sockets, no teeth nor tongue, jaw all over the place or missing, torso short, twisted...& that is just a start of what the law of reap as you sow can do to an unrepentant unloving being, who is continuously acting way out of harmony with gods way of love.

No angel nor spiritual being is exempt from the law of reap as one sows..."unless" we thought it was us doing the evil...because in most of our instances of unlovingness, we were coerced into doing it & without actual intent nor desire to be unloving...SO IT IS THE DARK ONES THAT WILL REAP BADLY FROM THE UNLOVING ACT NOT US...IF WE WERE NOT ACTUAL THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE UNLOVING ACT THAT WE WERE APART OF. YOU WILL ONE DAY BECOME VERY AWARE OF JUST HOW DISCRETELY DARK BEINGS CAN COERCE US WHILE WE ARE UNAWARE OF THE INCIDENT

TRUTH WILL BE PROVEN, ON WHAT I SAY, ONCE WE ARE EVENTUALY IN THE LIFE OF SPIRIT.

This is why it is imperative, not to be coerced into lingering around the earth after starting our life without the flesh..& believe me they have many many many ways to fool the unsuspecting newly arrival in the life of spirit, to linger and become unloving.