Inner Princes of Zoan

Neville's Inner Vision

To read this in the Neville mood, you must see Zoan and Noph as inner states, not distant capitals. The 'princes' are the faculties of mind—the intellect, pride, and habit—grown arrogant by 'ancient kings' of memory. When the mind trusts its own cleverness, the counsel of the wise becomes brutish; the inner oracle—the LORD of hosts—cannot be heard through the roar of ego. The question 'Where are they?' becomes an inward inquiry: Where has the higher guidance gone in me? The LORD of hosts refers to the I AM—the awareness that information and events must bow to the living awareness that you are. The deception that seduced Egypt is the habitual thought patterns that hold you in fear, limitation and projection. They are 'the stay of the tribes'—your loyalties to old stories, to the old self-image. Yet the verse also bears promise: the true plan is purposed by the Lord, not by the clever of this world; when you still the mind and listen within, the false counselors collapse and a wiser order moves in.