Chapter 8 - The Mental Supplants the Physical - Question Helps -

1. Do the higher activities of the soul ever die?

2. What is denoted by Sarah's death at Kiriath-arba?

3. What do we mean by saying that our spiritual ideals are "buried" in the cave of Macpelah?

4. What is the reaction of the human mind to the letting go of states of consciousness that have fulfilled their usefulness?

5. What attitude of mind is helpful in overcoming this tendency?

6. Is is wise to insist on giving value received for everything?

7. Explain the symbology of putting the hand "under my thigh" and swearing.

8. Spiritually interpreted, why did Abraham want Isaac to marry a daughter of his own people?

9. Is a declaration of Truth always demonstrated? What quality of mind serves as a complement to this demonstration?

10. Is there any inner significance in the state of consciousness represented by Mesopotamia?

11. What soul phase does Rebekah symbolize?

12. What is represented by Rebekah's journey to the house

of Abraham and her union with Isaac?

13. "Let thy seed possess the gate of those that hate them." Explain.

14. Explain the Scripture "And Isaac went out to meditate . . . and he lifted up his eyes, and saw . . . And Rebekah lifted up her eyes . . . and he loved her."

15. Why did Isaac take precedence over the sons of Abraham's concubines?

16. How does the individual lay the foundation for the manifestation of life throughout mind, soul, and body?

17. What phases of life are symbolized by Jacob and Esau?

18. Was the union of mind and body perfectly expressed in Jacob and Esau?

19. Is age a just claim to superiority?

20. Why did Isaac love Esau more than he loved Jacob?

21. Why did Rebekah love Jacob more than she loved Esau?

22. What is the order of development in the natural world?

23. How does the intellect gain precedence over the body?

24. What is represented by the mess of "pottage"?

25. What is meant by the birthright that Esau bartered away?

26. Why did Jacob take advantage of Esau?

27. How does man become a citizen of the inner kingdom?

28. What is the result when personal will rules? How is such a condition corrected?

29. In what way do the "Philistines" of one's consciousness strive for Abraham's "wells"?

30. Must one be willing to give up the lower for the higher? Explain.

31. What is the predominant impulse of the will as represented by Abimelech?

32. What does the opening up of the seven wells symbolize?

33. Why is it necessary to regard Scripture as the history of soul unfoldment?

34. Why must spiritual understanding determine whether we should follow our dreams and visions or not?

35. Does the physical body have equal rights with the intellect to the benefits of Spirit?

36. Against whom or what were the denunciations of the prophets directed?

37. Can Jacob be said to represent the spiritual man? Explain.

38. What is signified, in the realm of individual unfoldment, by Isaac's blessing upon Jacob?

39. Explain metaphysically the meaning of Esau's threat against the life of Jacob.

40. Compare the results of Jacob's marriage to Rebekah and of Esau's union with the daughter of Ishmael.

41. What does Jacob's experience at Beth-el denote?

42. Explain God as omnipresence.

43. How can common things and the hardness of one's experience be made to bless?

44. Explain God as the all-providing One.

45. How does one begin the ascent from self to selflessness?

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