Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

BALDER THE GOOD

A symbol of the Higher Self who sacrifices himself for the sake of humanity, and descends as Spirit into Matter to become the Archetypal Man-dying in involution, to rise again in the evolution of the myriad human souls.

"It may truly be said of Balder that he is the best, and that all mankind are loud in his praise. So fair and dazzling is he in form and features, that rays of light seem to issue from him; and thou mayest have some idea of the beauty of his hair, when I tell thee that the whitest of all plants is called 'Balder's brow.' Balder is the mildest, the wisest, and the most eloquent of all the Æsir, yet such is his nature that the judgment he has pronounced can be altered." - Prose Edda, MALLET, p. 418.

The Higher Self is the Ideal and centre of the mental qualities (man-kind) which extol and venerate it. The light of Truth shines from it, and through faith there may be perceived something of its purity and perfection ("His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow." REV. i. 14). The "whitest of all plants" is the tree of life" which is the spiritual ray of Truth and Life (Balder's brow) which vitalizes every soul. The Higher Self who is love and wisdom (atma-buddhi) is the Word of God (eloquent). For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit" (HEB. iv. 12).
"After that, Hermod rode forward to the palace (in the underworld), alighted, went in, and there he saw Balder, his brother, sitting in the highest place: and there Hermod remained overnight. The next morning he entreated from Hel that Balder might ride home with him, representing to her the sorrow which prevailed among the Asar." - Prose Edda.

And following that, the Christ-soul, or progressing soul, reaches the stage where the Christ within is enthroned as a supreme Ideal. Then there ensues a devachanic condition wherein the soul passes an intervening period of relative inaction or subjectivity. That state concluded, and when the soul was to go forth again, the petition is made that the Divine Vision within may accompany it. The excuse given for this request is the need which exists for further co-operation upon the planes whereon the forces of nature are working.

"Hel replied, that it should now be tried whether Balder was so universally beloved as they said; if, therefore, everything in the world, the living as well as the dead, wept for him, then should he return to the Asar; but that he should remain in Hel if any single thing excused itself or would not weep." - Ibid.

Now the promise is made that the Christ from within shall come forth and manifest in the soul, and that the choice shall be given to the activities and intelligences operative on the lower soul levels, to be made one in Him,-the soul being composite and full of all potencies. If then, every emotion or quality earnestly yearns for the Christ,-that which is actively as well as passively engaged co-operatively, then He would come to them and raise them. But where there should be no ardent desire for Him, no sense of incompleteness, no sense of spiritual need, then the Christ should remain in the realm of the potential and unmanifest.

"In most of the religions of the ancient world, the relation between the soul and God has been represented as a return of the soul to God. A yearning for God, a kind of divine home-sickness, finds expression in most religions." - MAX MÜLLER, Theosophy, etc., p. 92.

"The One is not far away from any one, and yet is liable to be far away from one and all, since, present though It be, It is efficaciously present only to such as are capable of receiving It." - PLOTINUS Enneads, VI, ix. 4.

"Perfect Love pertains to Charity which clings to God for His own sake." - AQUINAS.

See Also

ASAR
ASGARD
DEATH
DEATH of BALDER
FORMS
FROST
GANGLER
HERMOD
HUNGER
THOCK
URNA