Holiness At The Camp Edge

Neville's Inner Vision

Interpret the command as a map of your inner life. The 'camp' is your present state of consciousness; the 'unclean thing' is any impulse, belief, or habit you have not owned as yours. When you 'go forth abroad' to ease yourself, you are simply recognizing an inner movement—a thought or urge—then turning back to bury it in the ground of your imagination by covering it with a higher image. The paddle on thy weapon becomes your disciplined instrument of attention: you touch the impulse, acknowledge it, and set it aside in a small, mental trench outside the camp, then cover it with reverent focus on the I AM. The Lord thy God walking in the midst of thy camp is your divine awareness, the I AM, always there to deliver you and to set aside your enemies when your camp is holy. Thus, when you maintain this inner order, no unclean thing stands in your sight; life responds by turning toward you as you hold the sense that the camp is sacred, and that God’s presence is now at home in you.