Inner Priest, Outer Idols

Neville's Inner Vision

All the sacred images in the text are symbols of inner states. The five men are restless thoughts that go out to survey the landscape of your mind and return with images you have mistaken for truth. The carved image, ephod, and teraphim are inner pictures you have allowed to stand in for reality, and the molten image is the fixation that gives them power. The priest at the gate represents your inner function that guards attention and assigns meaning, while the six hundred armed men symbolize organized beliefs prepared to defend a chosen image against any softening of its hold. When the men fetch the images and press the priest to accompany them, they reveal the lure of making personal worship a tribal custom, outsourcing authority to a larger system. Neville would urge the reversal: remain anchored in the one I AM within, revise external forms into inner truth, and let imagination be the sole priest of your inner Israel. By claiming this inner authority, you dissolve dependence on external substitutes and awaken true worship as living alignment with consciousness.