.--The descent of the Holy Spirit is not like the entrance of air
into man; it is an expression and a simile, rather than an exact or a
literal image. No, rather it is like the entrance of the image of the sun
into the mirror--that is to say, its splendor becomes apparent in it.

After the death of Christ the disciples were troubled, and their ideas and
thoughts were discordant and contradictory; later they became firm and
united, and at the feast of Pentecost they gathered together and detached
themselves from the things of this world. Disregarding themselves, they
renounced their comfort and worldly happiness, sacrificing their body and
soul to the Beloved, abandoning their houses, and becoming wanderers and
homeless, even forgetting their own existence. Then they received the help
of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit became manifested; the
spirituality of Christ triumphed, and the love of God reigned. They were
given help at that time and dispersed in different directions, teaching
the Cause of God, and giving forth proofs and evidences.

So the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles means their attraction
by the Christ Spirit, whereby they acquired stability and firmness.
Through the spirit of the love of God they gained a new life, and they saw
Christ living, helping and protecting them. They were like drops, and they
became seas; they were like feeble insects, and they became majestic
eagles; they were weak and became powerful. They were like mirrors facing
the sun; verily, some of the light became manifest in them.

25: THE HOLY SPIRIT

Question.--What is the Holy Spirit?

Answer.--The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God and the luminous rays which
emanate from the Manifestations; for the focus of the rays of the Sun of
Reality was Christ, and from this glorious focus, which is the Reality of
Christ, the Bounty of God reflected upon the other mirrors which were the
reality of the Apostles. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles
signifies that the glorious divine bounties reflected and appeared in
their reality. Moreover, entrance and exit, descent and ascent, are
characteristics of bodies and not of spirits--that is to say, sensible
realities enter and come forth, but intellectual subtleties and mental
realities, such as intelligence, love, knowledge, imagination and thought,
do not enter, nor come forth, nor descend, but rather they have direct
connection.

For example, knowledge, w