The Hideous Three Horsemen

The four biblical horsemen in Revelation are tied to the end times but I will leave those discussions to others. Yet on a personal level, there is much we can learn from these examples. Consider the first three horsemen from an individual spiritual perspective: The Pale Horse represents the physical body and its destruction through all forms of addiction, the negative as well as the seemingly positive. The Red Horse brings destruction by our emotions and feelings and The Black Horse destruction through intellect.

To ride the Pale Horse means we have succumbed to addiction. Drugs and/or alcohol are obvious, but what of the person who is addicted to exercise or work or sex? The gym, running/biking trails or the office can become an escape from the world just as powerful as liquor or any chemical and equally spiritually destructive. The difference being the alcoholic or the drug addict has a difficult time “fitting” into polite society while the workaholic is often praised for their accomplishments, even as the other areas of their life and living are sacrificed in the name of success or “providing” for the family. The same family they are never present for, the estranged children seeking acknowledgment, often by acting out, the neglected spouse who files for divorce. Resulting in the workaholic’s lament: don’t they see I am doing it all for them?

Physical activity and exercise in moderation is always a good idea, but when it crosses over into narcissism, it becomes as sure a block to growth as any drink or drug. Sex is part of our nature, so it cannot be bad, yet the stories of lives and families ruined from unchecked sexual desires are legion. The problems come when sex and obtaining sex becomes the singular focus, living only for sensual escape, having lost sight of the true purpose, that of two people sharing the most intimate of experiences, the touching of two souls in embrace, a shared act of love. To be clear: hard work, the occasional beer or glass of wine or enjoying sex with a partner are not the problem, we ride the Pale Horse when these things become dominate in our lives and we eschew honest relationships or facing personal truths, both secular and spiritual because they have taken over.

The Red Horse represents destruction through emotions and feelings. How many lives have been lost or ruined when an individual or nation acted on overheated emotions or inflamed feelings? How many fights, confrontations and wars could have been avoided if cooler heads had prevailed? To be clear: We are emotional beings. Without emotion, this world would be a very drab place, bereft of music or art, possibly even love. It is when we are controlled, dominated by our emotions and feelings that we ride the Red Horse, and havoc, tumult and pain are the result.

The Black Horse represents complete reliance on our human intelligence. Consider how many worship at the alter of intellect. They would never see it as worship, but is there really a whit of difference in commitment or passion between the minister preaching from the pulpit or the righteous professor/scientist/politician speaking from the dais? Consider the textbooks of  just 30 years ago, regardless of discipline, have had to be rewritten because of new discoveries or the proving of old theories wrong. History is very illustrative on this point, for every generation believes they have it right. A few hundred years ago, if you argued the Earth was not the center of the universe you could be put to death. A little over a hundred years ago, the scientific community believed man could never fly, and they had the data to prove it. Sixty years ago many of the most prominent scientific minds believed man would never survive a trip into space since crossing the Van Allen radiation belt would certainly be fatal. In the last forty years everything we thought we knew about dinosaurs has been turned on its head, while revelations in Quantum mechanics in the last twenty has shaken physics, the basic laws of everything, at its foundation. Is it not the height of hubris to think that “now” we have all the answers in any area of study or science?  We ride the Black Horse when we close our minds, stop questioning, and begin collecting and herding sacred cows, shutting ourselves off the fresh winds that drive our higher selves, dismissing any contrary thought or belief out of hand because just like Galileo‘s jailers, we have nothing left to learn.