Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

WHALES, OR GREAT SEA-MONSTERS

A symbol of the more primitive and gross passions of the lower nature of the soul.

"Am I a sea or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?" - JOB vii. 12.

The incarnate Self, or Soul, in passing through the sufferings and illusions of the lower life, identifies itself with the desires and passions, and is tormented by the prickings of conscience.

“Now I have gained release, and this world's bonds Are cut asunder by the knife of knowledge. Thus I have crossed the ocean of the world, Filled with the shark-like monsters of desire, And agitated by the waves of passion-Borne onward by the boat of stern resolve." (From Buddha's outburst of joy at having achieved emancipation). – MON WILLIAMS, Indian Wisdom, p. 60.

"And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good." - GENESIS. i. 21.

And now the primitive and more turbulent passions are realised in the process of involution, and all the numerous instinctual motives to action, and all the varying phases of astral (waters) activity, shown in the lower emotions and desires. And the higher desires being raised (winged) yield then more complex emotions. And all is pronounced perfect and fully prepared for the evolution that is to follow.

"Which whales in the sea are types of the devils in the world." - J. BUNYAN, Exp. of Genesis.

See Also

CREATURES
EARTH (specialized)
JOB
MONSTERS
PRISONERS
WATER (lower)
WAVES