So many of us on the spiritual path are seekers, and seeking—especially if we have any intent toward finding—means… books. What I read these days is very different from what I read when I started out. Now, I read old books. Really old books.
On the title page of Emma Curtis Hopkins’ “Bible Interpretations,” it reads, “These Bible Interpretations were given during the early nineties….” That would be the 1890s. 1891 to be precise. See what I mean? Very old books. Why do I do this? Because I am a metaphysician, and in the late 1800s, there was a spiritual explosion on the planet. It’s metaphysics, plain and simple. The older metaphysical books are closer to the source of their inspiration than the newer ones are, ergo, purer metaphysics.
Emma Curtis Hopkins was one of the primary students of Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy. She was known as the “Teacher of Teachers,” and eventually, she taught the five founders of the three main branches of metaphysical Christianity today. They are Ernest Holmes, who founded the Church of Religious Science or Science of Mind; Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, who founded Unity, and Melinda Cramer and Nona Brooks, who founded Divine Science.
For those who are interested in a spiritual vis-à-vis religious interpretation of scripture, Emma Curtis Hopkins is like finding buried treasure. I got the book from
Self-Improvement E-Books, and they have lots of other yummy, out-of-print finds.The first lesson in the book is called “All Is Divine Order.” In it she writes about the Holy Spirit as God the Feminine or Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom. In 1891! She goes on to say that one who communes with the Divine Feminine knows that She is hastening to work through us although it may seem to the world delay.
At one point, she trots out the Latin phrase Festina Lente. I wrote in the margin… Rejoice slowly? Latin I was a long time ago. (Sorry, Miss Smocke.)
I knew I wasn’t right so I finally googled it. (How did we manage before google was a verb?) Here’s what it means:
Hurry slowly.106 years later, the old girl still has a lot of Sophia in her.
posted May 23, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Hurry Slowly!!! How Sophia-like. And how like my little Italian grandmother, gone all these years but still loved deeply. “Caty,” she used to say to me, “why you got to go so quick? Where the fire.” Your suggestion to read the “oldies but goodies” on metaphysics is right on! I’m in the process (again) of reading all I can get hold of in the metaphysical vein. That includes books by and about Rudolph Steiner. I reccommend his take on humanity and our relationship with the devine. I think he had terrific insights. He wrote his best works before the turn of the 19th century, too. Yours, Cathy
posted May 24, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Wow did I love this! Festina Lente even sounds as great as the practice itself. (ditto for Lectio Divina) And thank you for the intro to Emma Curtis Hopkins; she’s now added to my summer reading list.