Inner Wine and Its Consequences

Neville's Inner Vision

See the verse as a map of your inner weather. The wine is not a bottle but a state of mind that lures you into instant sensation. When you tarry long at the wine, you dwell in a dream of relief through outward color, scent, and touch, fixing your gaze on the cup's moving glow. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright—that is, do not fix attention on seductive appearances as if they contain truth. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder: the repeated indulgence wounds your life with fatigue, distraction, and remorse. The answer is to awaken in the I AM, the unchanging awareness behind thoughts; revise inwardly by declaring, I am the Lord of my consciousness, I am unaffected by passing cravings, I choose purity and discernment. Then feel this new state as real until the inner scenery aligns with wisdom rather than craving.