Abraham & the Sacrifice of the Ram (i.e., the ‘thinker’)
Abraham & the Sacrifice of the Ram (i.e., the ‘thinker’)
As stated in the Torah, God Commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (thus, the messiah came through the lineage of Isaac rather than Ishmael); but, at the very last minute, He provided a ram (an animal ‘like a lamb’—Revelations 13:11; but with two horns) for the sacrifice.
As explained in rigorous detail by Soren Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling, the fundamental conflict encountered by Abraham was the conflict between Revealed Truth—that is, the Command by God that he sacrifice Isaac—and the thoughts and logical arguments of the ‘thinker’ in opposition to his submission to the Will of God (which, fundamentally, is a conflict between the consciousness Created by God and the consciousness of the ‘thinker’); Kierkegaard’s conclusion being that the sacrifice of Isaac consisted of a “teleological suspension of the ethical”.
In terms of the symbolism involved, however, the ram is the very manifestation of the consciousness of the ‘thinker’ itself, as echoed in Revelations 13:11. Thus, Abraham sacrificed the ram in thanksgiving for the Promise or the Covenant; signifying that the thoughts, arguments and even the very consciousness of the ‘thinker’ itself—that is, the ‘fallen’ consciousness—must be sacrificed in the pursuit of Truth, and in order to regain the human consciousness Created in submission to the Will of God.
