"Then I shall know as I am known."

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Not just the surface (though real) conceptual knowing that involves an intellectual seeing of a concept or a line of reasoning, an intellectual journey.

Not just the "amphibious" knowing of a skill: that of a mind hanging out in the presence of the conceptual side of things whilst bodily skills of creativity are learned and muscle memory is developed, so that a skill is developed and appears to be seen in this world, and finally known by a human being.

Not just as friends who are open to each other, and who see each other regularly, can be said to know each other through the covenant of friendship. A journey through some aspects of life together.

Not just as husband and wife know each other through the covenant of marriage, and the enactment of an intercourse that is deeper & more than any one aspect. It is a life, a communication, a thing where the whole is MORE than the sum of the parts. More open, more giving, more personal than just verbal, mental, intellectual, imaginative, consensual, bodily, sexual intercourse. And it kind of slides from a single experience of this more complete intercouse, into the life of seeing each other (not just each other's face), and knowing each other in regular sexual intercourse, a marriage. This will involve a prior commitment, a hope for affection to grow, a sharing of intimacies, & regular interactions allowing for a sharing of not only hopes and dreams, but of property, friends, allies and enemies, & progeny. It will involve a journey together through the entire life of this real, though invisible, covenantal creature (of which a spouse is a member, or organ) which some call a TWOMAN.

But as YHWH-GOD and offspring/beloved of YHWH-GOD know each other (this involves a fuller, more complete knowledge & understanding of a human than any other kind of knowing). Moreover this kind of knowing involves the depths of knowing, accepting, sharing, giving, empowering of all lesser kinds of knowing, and goes further.

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"And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bore a son…" (Genesis 4 beginning)

"For the Lord knows the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish" (Psalm 1 end)

But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Matthew 25:12 NRSVUE

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3 NRSVUE

Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental principles? How can you want to be enslaved to them again? Galatians 4:9 NRSVUE

"but anyone who loves God is known by him." 1 Corinthians 8:3 NRSVUE

"Then I shall know as I am known." (1 Cor 13, near end)

So then from now on we know no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer. … 

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. 2 Corinthians 5:11,16

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"..IN THE IMAGE OF GOD WAS ADAM CREATED; MALE & FEMALE DID GOD CREATE ADAM.* "

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Not just two animals in a symbiotic relationship, each run by impulses designed to aid those animals in the survival of their species.

But two unique creatures (baby, no, fetal gods -i.e. able to, and meant to, look at the overall view, and make choices for the best (of the whole she-bang, even choices that might bring on their own hurt). These last choices (that are best for the whole she-bang, but are for their own hurt), if done with a certain spirit of "seeking glory, honour, and immortality", or "trusting the IS-ness, behind the whole universe", or "an implicit connectedness to all goodness" function as the pathway, the test, the way forward, the canal of pain and suffering down which they must travel in order to get "born", to graduate to being a baby god, in a new-creation body, immortal (like Jesus's resurrection body).

This special relationship (between a male/female image/likeness of YHWH/Elohim) is a key experience which is meant to be a training process, as well as to act as a metaphor, designed to produce many progeny, in all senses, physically, emotionally, idea-ly.

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I heard someone call it a TWOMAN (said as 2 MAN, but when spelled out, it beautifully, both overlaps & retains connotations of all three concepts: TWO, WOMAN & MAN)

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The trick seems to me to be to learn to freely give my personal identity & creative, loving, & regenerative powers to the life of this mystical creature that cannot be (physically) seen. 

The participation in, and experience of, the building & creation of this real but unseen ephemoral creature is an experience of a metaphor designed to lead one on to something bigger than one's individual self. Something freely entered into by smaller selves, and that will give each self entering an experience of a corporate, or bigger, kind of one-ness, & selfhood, from which all other "ones", or selves are birthed.

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* After "day 5":

..God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 

Then God said, 

‘Let us make ADAM in our image, in our likeness, 

so as to rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ 

So God created ADAM in his own image, 

in the image of God was ADAM created; 

male and female did God create ADAM. 

God blessed ADAM and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ 

Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so. 

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. 

And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day. 

Genesis 1:25‭-‬31 (see Hebrew, NIV, NRSV, NLT, GNB, & if you don't know the "original" language, read multiple translations, & see footnotes. A further > thousand translations available by choosing from the drop down menu at the top of each column beside the translation heading.)

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..under authority..

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I'm glad I have a guru, teacher, who

as "guru-ji" or master, knows much more

and who I've learned to trust as trainer to

have more wisdom than me, and knows the lore

of his humaity, as well as mine.

He knows his place within the scheme of things,

is clear and confident, most of the time,

but ev'ry now & then, his "seeming wings"

bedraggle as he makes his body bend,

He "learned obedience through suffering",

as we too, here must do that. So he'd send

his spirit to help us, to even bring 

our wills in line with this reality.

To brand the calf, to set this will as "his".

It's suffering, apparently, for me,

that trains me to look up, and to envish-

shion things from any other view than mine.

It helps me learn to see the world afresh.

to keep alive when rhythm's not in time

with my own heart beat. Like holding my breath,

and finding still that I can "go below",

for times that I can trust my trainer to

know more of here. I'll let him push me so

I'll learn to lift my limits, & to do

what couldn't be done by this bod before.

I need a trainer who's been down this track

before, & learned from others to gain more

than trial & error of my own, brings back..

to mind, to then enable it to be

now truly what is mine, to live out from.

I love that you can from your vantage see

a whole lot more, and can be prompting on

the stage with me, when script has been not made

yet by the writer, who now broadens scope

of who is able to choose as they're bade

by spirit of the inside motives, hopes

of author who began the tale as "good",

but who shares his authority with us

as actors who have loved his work, and would

not go against such open-handed trust.

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A part of me wants dreadfully to make a judgement on a number of humans now! To say whether, in fact, they are a "goody" or a "baddy". My Guru/ Teacher has warned me not to judge before the appointed time, and has not appointed this time and my place as the spot where others must be judged by me. As I obey him, I see the wisdom in his words. It is my interactions now, and their non-judgemental quality, that nudge people either towards the good, or towards more sin (any missing of the mark of all the glorious hopes & dreams the creator had for us at first).

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A mate (let's call him Fred) studying before exams (in psychology?)

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God please help Fred to focus (in short bursts?) 

and keep his productivity up high. 

And use his time in better, not in worse

ways to enjoy your company in this fight

against our ignorance, to understand

the way your world works, & the people here

in both camps: those who live by the demands

of folks desires, and those where love reigns clear..

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response to news of chaos winning over love… in the life of two friends' son, the brother of others, & in the world of creative love

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Not ev'ry action's sane. And here in saying now "Goodbye",

we know we need to groan and weep again

together as we gather, as we share the pain and cry 

we know that things can't keep on just the same.

We won't say Things were good! where they were not.

We want to recognize what really was

reflecting much of good before the lot

was flattened to this darkness now because..

a body must be buried before rot 

sets in; though some may think they saw rot there

when everything seemed fine (or it did not)

before life's seeds were growing fungal hair…

But most of all, my only chance and hope 

I put in one (who David once pledged to) 

who went through death and called it sleep to cope 

with its disruptive pow-er, and who knew

what it could be used for in God's good scheme.

How it could be a start to some new day,

in company with who knows what life means,

it can reset. I think that's how he'd pray1.

And we're not trying to be David's judge.

Yeshua told of strange things to come, yet: 

some enemies we thought would never budge 

will join the feast with those who don't forget.

And others who claimed God as their best friend 

might not show up at all - that's what he said.

So David's life is in God's hands. The end 

and start of all that's human - live or dead..

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1 Rom 8:34-39

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God's will for me - is good!

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3.   Be joyful always.

 2.  Pray without stopping.

1. Be thankful in all circumstances.

For this is what God wills for you, in your life in union with Christ Jesus. 1 Thess 5:16-18 

16 πάντοτε χαίρετε, 17 ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε, 18 ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖτε· τοῦτο γὰρ θέλημα θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς ὑμᾶς. 1 Thess 5:16-18

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I thank you Lord, for tuning me in to

a something that was "out of touch" today.

And thank you that my woman gave a clue,

then, that a mediator came to stay

for dinner here with us, and had some time.

And too, that things worked out so we could talk,

and even that young Wayne was not in line

(but help us to connect, to not just balk).

And thank you for our life together too.

The many good times, heaps of wisdom shared,

the attitudes and habits gained from you

together with each other. Learning care.

Do you consider you're being imaged, 

or, copied by a likeness here on Earth.

I know, we gain insight through this marriage

a holy game, pursuit of royal birth,

relationship that insights all your off-

spring, honours them as well, being allowed

to copy you yourself. We need to soft-sing

to enter into life this way, somehow.

And thank you that we're learning basic love.

Not higher forms perhaps, but courtesies,

and noticing of things come "from above",

that smell of goodness. We choose more of these,

to do beside you, as we waddle on.

And thank you most of all for help in this,

in wanting to keep walking with your son

(& daughter), for your spirit's holiness!

Lord, your own way of love connecting with 

your dad at ev'ry turn, you never stopped(!)

and thankful for the goodness in each biff,

your life on Earth gave you, each step on top,

well maybe I should say, down here, beneath

the heavens where you trusted God had placed

you with capacities that he'd bequeathed

you, not to "know" in loveless time or space,

but really to be known, then also know,

the king of all this wondrous realm around,

and show us duty, grown in afterglow

as little fetus* in your life, love found!

I see in the demenour of your boy 

before a  prayer of thankfulness to God,

and Luke's record that "Jesus, full of joy, 

right through the holy spirit..1" isn't odd.

And Hebrews2 notes the coming joy as well,

and John3 recalls his method to complete

our joy, that we might smell as heaven smells,

the joy of new life growing up is sweet.

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*  I note how well the name Jesus, or the singular title Christ, fits the New Covenant/Testament psalm about Love in 1 Cor 13. Once he said to his closest disciples: "..the world must learn that I love the father, and that is why I do everything as he commands me"(John 14:31) I also hear from the apostle Paul, a continual use of the image of an image of God, (identified as Christ), being formed by his seed in us, and also until we be formed into the full stature of Christ. Christ, may that kind of duty based on love, develop in this marriage. Oh, help me please to learn this love from you. 

1 "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do." Luke 10:21 NIVUK cf the proverbial insight for the path of a disciple who takes God lessons seriously, as mediated by "parents" and "grandparents": "…You will become wise, and your knowledge will give you pleasure. Your insight and understanding will protect you and prevent you from doing the wrong thing. They will keep you away from people who stir up trouble by what they say — those who have abandoned a righteous life to live in the darkness of sin, those who find pleasure in doing wrong and who enjoy senseless evil, unreliable people who cannot be trusted. Proverbs 2:10‭-‬15 GNBUK

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2‭-‬3 NIVUK

3 I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. John 15:9‭-‬12 GNBUK

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neigh saying neighbour

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Oh Lord, you know about this place where we

are living in your world, with gnostic news,

that we know with the grace and peace of he

who knew much more of hidden things & clues,

of dues owed to the greatest pow'r and judge,

whose justice would be metered to all whose

clear cries for justice drew care not to smudge

the evidence, so all who looked just knew;

so justice would be just as if all knew

reality, and all that happened there,

and knowing that, they'd know what they could do,

if anything, to show a neighbour's care.

And here, you've let us live in house, in street,

near others who are living here as well;

a set up that ensures we'll sometimes meet

our neighbours, to make this place more like hell,

or heaven, as we choose our pathways here.

I'd like to straight a way make good foot paths,

warn by some constant use, with not much fear

of stumbling on them, flattened, & with laughs

that often sound along them, folk appear

with hearts of gold, and hopes for better-ness 

because of what is often happ'ning near.

Now I recall "ho kurios eng-us*"

I must confess I often do forget.

But I recall again a true good friend

and neighbour, who has brought hope (& one debt).

I'll look for options that he has opened^.

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*  "ho kurios eng-us" (Greek: ὁ κύριος ἐγγύς·), meaning "The Lord is at hand" NKJV; or "The  Lord is near." or as J.B.Phillips translates it "Never forget the nearness of your Lord." Philippians 4:5.

^  "Ephphatha" is an Aramaic word, spoken by Jesus to a man who was deaf (& mute?) man who some people brought to Jesus. First he took him away on his own, then he he had pantomimed to him by putting his fingers in the man's ears and after spitting, touched the man's tongue. Then he looked up to heaven. Then he gave a loud sigh or groan, then said this one word. Mark, writing in ancient common Greek, tells his Greek-language readers what the Aramaic word means, by saying in Greek "that is.." & giving this translation immediately after as: "Διανοίχθητι·" that is (in English) "Be opened up!" Mark 7:31-37, and the man could both hear, and speak plainly. Everyone rejoiced.

This Greek word is dianoithēti, and according to the Bible Hub, it is a form of the word dianoigó: to open up completely

Original Word: διανοίγω

Part of Speech: Verb

Transliteration: dianoigó

Phonetic Spelling: (dee-an-oy'-go)

Definition: to open up completely

Usage: I open fully.

HELPS Word-studies

1272 dianoígō (from 1223 /diá, "all the way across" and 455 /anoígō, "the process to open fully") – properly, open fully by completing the process necessary to do so..

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

to open up completely

From dia and anoigo; to open thoroughly, literally (as a first-born) or figuratively (to expound) -- open.

see GREEK dia; see GREEK anoigo

It is interesting to see what other things Jesus was involved in "opening up", or were "opened up" around him:

• his own birth was spoken of as "opening the womb" of his mother Mary, in a Jewish understanding of both child birth, and the first-born (inheritor) Luke 2:23

• of some grief-stricken disciples who did not at first recognize the resurrected Jesus, Luke says that "their eyes were opened" they recognized him, he disappeared from their view, & they ran back to the other disciples Luke 24:31

• in recounting the time spent walking with him, they said didn't he "open up the scriptures" to us Luke 24:32

• When the resurrected Jesus appeared to a gathered group of his disciples, Luke again records that he "opened their minds to understand the scriptures" Luke 24:45

• When Stephen is killed for his spirit-led prophetic testimony regarding Jesus, he looked up, face glowing and said (as a prequel to Daniel's prophecy, which Jesus before him had alluded to and was thus sentenced as worthy of death): "I see heaven opened up, and the Son of Adam (standing) at the right hand side of God" Luke 24:45

• When Paul takes his message to the Roman town of Thyatira, Luke in his second book (Acts) says of a god-fearing business woman  named Lydia, that the Lord "opened up her heart to attend to what was spoken" Acts 16:14

• Luke mentions that Jesus' apostle Paul had a custom with the Jews, of reasoning with them from their scriptures, and that he "opened up (the concept of) the Christ for them proving three things: that the Christ had to suffer and be resurrected and that this Jesus he proclaimed was in fact the Christ" Acts 17:3

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