Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 94 – Voldemort Threatens Harry’s Life (HP Chapter 17)
Voldemort takes advantage of our infantile situation. He provides stumbling blocks such as pride and fear in addition to various authority figures to keep us from entering the Alchemical process that will take us Home – the process that will correct our childhood misunderstandings and totally free us from his control. That enables him to survive in a greater position of power than he was originally given.
In a very real sense, he overstepped his bounds, so God took from him (the snake in the Garden of Eden) a certain degree of power (his legs, or freedom of movement, and his spiritual food) because he had demonstrated the potential to eternally harm us.
Voldemort didn’t have to exist in the form he is in. He didn’t have to spend eternity trying to possess, control, and dominate others, but he was afraid of his function. He didn’t believe there were things worse than Death. He could only see and understand his present existence. Like most of us, he feared the unknown.
Jo has revealed elsewhere that he could have repented. He could have made different choices when he was younger, just as we could. But by the time Harry passes through the Veil in Book 7, Dumbledore explains that at that point, Voldemort was beyond help.
What might have been possible before wasn’t possible today.
“But there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds.” That’s because most of us are controlled by our fears. This infers that what we fear can literally attach itself to us and live on our life’s energy if we allow those fears to control us. However, the implication that Voldemort shared with Harry was that his controlling influence wasn’t absolute. His dominance depends on our willingness to let him into our minds and hearts.
Voldemort’s control hinges on our eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – our belief in and enjoyment of the experience of separateness (a state of anti-agape), and most of the pleasures and pain avoidance that our conditioning creates. It’s eating from that Tree that enables Voldemort to reign over us.
Unicorn blood strengthened Voldemort temporarily, so his existence is temporary. His existence in its present form was always designed to be temporary. It’s how the body was created without us having to consciously bring each step of that process into existence. It’s how our unconscious mind controls our body systems, so they can continuously function outside of our awareness without us having to consistently tell our lungs to breath or our heart to beat.
All of us ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as infants. We bought into the deception of separateness. We survived the emotional shock of being born into a world where we couldn’t communicate by making decisions about self-improvement that protected us when we were too young to care for ourselves. Some of us learned how to control others. That was fine when we didn’t have the strength to survive in the world alone, but the real problem began when we refused to see or accept the responsibility for what we did as a child.
We brought that distorted childhood programming – our false belief system that said our whole purpose in life was to experience pleasure rather than pain – into our adult life. That blindness and misunderstanding gave Voldemort the means to capitalize on our conditioning. He used it to his advantage, stepped over his original boundaries of creation, and taught us how to make that conditioning grow into an individual world (or earth) because it gave him more power. It prevented his death.
However, once Voldemort has the Elixir of Life, he will be able to create a body of his own. He won’t have to depend upon others for survival. He won’t have to find victims to coerce with his lies and deceits in order to live. With the Elixir of Life, he would come to full power. He would have an immortal body, so he would never die. Therefore, his Kingdom – his power over his subjects, Death Eaters, and slaves – would never end. At least, that’s what he believes.
“Why don’t you give me that stone in your pocket?” Voldemort said.
It wasn’t a command. It was a thought, an urge. But Voldemort’s mention of the Stone caused Harry’s fear to melt. It reminded him of his priorities, so feeling surged back into his legs. Harry’s courage returned, and he suddenly remembered his purpose for living was to protect the Stone.
This seemed to reflect how Masters of Compassion who re-incarnate take mortal conditioning upon themselves again. Harry was temporarily afraid of death, but once he remembered who he was and why he was here, that fear dissolved.
As Harry regained his powerful state of mind, he stumbled backward. Moving backward isn’t a bad thing. It often has value. It implied that Harry needed time to re-evaluate his present situation. That mirrored the circumstances we find ourselves in when we first learn about our conditioned state of being.
This seemed to reflect how Masters of Compassion who re-incarnate take mortal conditioning upon themselves again. Harry was temporarily afraid of death, but once he remembered who he was and why he was here, that fear dissolved.
Throughout the series, Harry does this backward movement a lot, but it’s always about giving himself time to think things through clearly. Stepping backward is similar to evaluating and looking at things objectively. While conditioned man acts impulsively and blindly accepts suggestions from those he considers an authority, perfected man does not. To prevent new Not-I’s from coming into existence, to resist the temptation of not seeing “what is” and the value of “what is,” perfected man stops, and considers.
Voldemort thought Harry was a fool to do that. “Better save your own life and join me….or you’ll meet the same end as your parents…. They died begging me for mercy….”
Harry’s desire to protect the Stone (his healed awareness) was stronger than his fear. He had remembered who he was and why he was here. He had taken a few minutes to put the situation in its proper perspective. Voldemort threatened Harry’s life if he didn’t join him, but also lied about Harry’s parents. In Book 1, Harry still held an idolized view of both of his parents, so he “believed” Voldemort was lying. In Book 7, Harry had relived that event, and “knew” Voldemort was lying.
Harry didn’t respond to Voldemort’s suggestion that he join him (return to his conditioned state) or the threat Voldemort made on his life. He ignored that, but he did respond to the lie about his parents. “LIAR!” Harry screamed. The Old Serpent has lied to us from the very beginning