Inner Exile and Return in Hosea

Neville's Inner Vision

In the inner theater, the floor and the winepress signify the foundation of thought and the wine of joy within. When both fail to feed you, you are being shown a drought of the consciousness, where the land of the LORD no longer feels present as a living state. Ephraim returning to Egypt represents a mind clinging to old self-images, while eating unclean things in Assyria marks a deterioration in inner purity, polluting the bread of life with fear, doubt, and grievance. The offerings of wine that no longer please reflect worship performed without a living relationship to the I AM. Sacrifices resembling the bread of mourners indicate sorrow-backed attempts rather than gratitude-filled alignment with being. The cure is to reoccupy the Lord’s dwelling by claiming the I AM as your constant state, and to reimagine your daily life from that truth until the inner famine dissolves and you are restored to the land within.