The noble King Anfortas, grievously afflicted, could only be healed if his nephew Parzival asked the right question. Advised early in his adventures not to ask too many questions, Parzival failed to ask the question. The king suffered on until at last Parzival, tearful and concerned, asked that question, "Uncle, what is it that troubles you?" Then he who raised Lazarus healed the king.

Thus Wolfram von Eschenbach (ca. 1170-ca. 1220), in his wondrously allegorical epic Parzival (PARZ), suggests the title of this book.

That Anfortas symbolized humanity since its Fall (Gen 3) is made clear by the circumstance that, being periodically exposed to the Grail, he could not die in spite of his longing for death—the curse divinely imposed upon both Cain and Job (Gen 4,13-16; Job 2,6).¹

There are many questions, but the deepest question of the human soul, and the one it fails to ask, is "What is man?" For to ask it earnestly is to let the one who raised Lazarus heal all its suffering. The question is the basis (i.e., self-knowledge: "he came to himself"; Lk 15,17) of the Prodigal Son's (humanity's) return.

Four times in scripture the question is asked (see the Chapter End Note).

But as we begin our quest, we immediately notice that the setting is different in each of these passages. In Job, probably the most ancient, the question clearly arises out of the normal human condition.

We then notice that each Psalm passage includes both "man" and "the son of man" in its question. But the second line (the "son of man" clause) in each instance merely restates the first line in different words—the ever-present parallelism in the Psalms.² The context in Ps 144 is very brief. It speaks only of the brevity of human life in a single short sentence, and even then with parallelism. Missing in it is the mystical nature that characterizes the "son of man" phrase in the Gospels and the influential Book of Enoch (Enoch I). That mystical nature also seems absent in Ps 8, for while it does speak of the dominion given by God over other creatures, only earthly creatures are listed.

But the Hebrews passage clearly brings the Christ into the formula. Whatever reference Paul may have had to the "man" portion of the parallelism—and in this there is, perhaps, still the faint hint of melding the two together—without a doubt Paul spoke of the Christ as being "for a little while lower than the angels" (vss 7 and 9). And this must necessarily be the case also because the dominion given him was not limited to earthly creatures but included also the heavenly, though Paul notes that humanity is not yet able to see all things that are subject to him (vs 8). That Paul included heavenly creatures also as being under the dominion of Christ is fully in keeping with his "letters."³ This then gives special effect to his saying that Christ was, for a little while, made lower than the angels—the lowest of the nine levels of the hierarchies (see the footnote just cited).

We saw in the "I AM" essay of The Burning Bush that there is both a higher and a lower "I Am," the normal human and the Christ, and that the end to human evolution is that these will become one. The question "What is man?" will not be answered except in seeing both the existence of these two and the necessity of their union in the evolution of human consciousness. This is the great mystery that Paul refers to in Eph 1,9-10: "For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."

My mother never would read a book without reading the last page first. If it did not end right she would not read it. I think God did the same with his creation. But as normal human beings we have been denied that vision. The last essay in this book has the book's own title. But the nature of our question is such that to read the end first serves no purpose. We must work our way through several of the most basic biblical terms and scientific quandaries before gaining entrance to the final contemplation. Like both Cain and Job, as the Prodigal Son we must travel from Alpha to Omega, seeking the Unity of all.

Chapter End Note

All four quotations are from the Revised Standard Version (emphasis mine).

Ps 8,3-8:

³ When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou has established;

⁴ what is man that thou art mindful of him, And the son of man that thou dost care for him?

⁵ Yet thou has made him little less than God, And dost crown him with glory and honor.

⁶ Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet,

⁷ all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

⁸ the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

Job 7,17-21:

¹⁷ "What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,

¹⁸ dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

¹⁹ How long wilt thou not look away from me, Nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?

²⁰ If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee?

²¹ Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; Thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be."

Ps 144,3-4:

³ O Lord, what is man that thou dost regard him, Or the son of man that thou dost think of him?

⁴ Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow.

Heb 2,5-9:

⁵ For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.

⁶ It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him?

⁷ Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor,

⁸ putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

⁹ But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one.