Amelia sat patiently observing the struggles of a butterfly as it attempted to emerge from it's coccoon. At first a small opening appeared at one end and the butterfly struggled and struggled for hours to force it's way out. And then it suddenly seemed to stop , as though it could go no further , stuck between two worlds. Feeling very sorry for it's plight , she decided to help the butterfly . So, with a pair of small scissors, she snipped the cocoon open and the butterfly emerged. But it was not what she had expected . It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. She continued watching , expecting that at any moment the wings would expand and unfold, thereby completing the transformation so it could fly away.
Unfortunately , this did not happen . In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of it's life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never managed to fly . What Amelia in her misguided kindness and haste had not understood was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was natures way of forcing fluid from the butterfly's body into it's wings , thereby expanding them and preparing them for flight.
A struggled such as this is perfectly natural. It is a process of natural law allowing us to experience the worst and the best in life . It is not just a test of our physical resolve to overcome obstacles in daily life either, but a direct strengthening of our soul awareness in it's quest for spiritual advancement. Of course there are times when everything seems overwhelming or we are caught up in the raw emotion if grief ; but such times pass and we can later look back reflectively and often see them from the wider perspective of the human condition .
Daily struggles are a fact of human life, and if we can but see them for what they really are, we will be well on our way to mastering life.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Seeking Answers Within
We, people of this world, have been given a special task to seek what we have lost .If we wish to find it, then we must not seek outside of ourselves. On the whole, we do not need flatterers and imposters who encourage us and promise us mountains of gold so that we should follow them alone and outshine them. And when i have attended sermons my whole life, always heard speak and sing of heaven and the new rebirth, and was left standing aside, i would not have advanced from one moment to the next. When one throws a stone into the water ant gets it out again, the stone is as hard as it was beforehand and has kept its shape. But if one throws it into the fire , then it gets a new shape.
Man , so it with you, even if you run off to church and wish to be seen as a servant of Christ; that is hardly enough . In case you have been standing aside, then you are the same as before. Neither is it enough that you have learned all books by rote and that you have continued for days and years reading all the writings and if you know the Bible of by heart, you are still no better in God's eyes than the pig herder who all this time has kept watch over his pigs, or a poor prisoner in the dark who all this time has not seen the daylight . This is how the doubting soul remains outside the temple of Christ , it knocks , it seeks and increasingly doubts whether this is true way. You will not find a new rebirth or precious stone in the battle, nor any wisdom of reason ; you have to let go of everything in this world no matter how beautiful it may be , and you have to go within, do nothing other than place your sins in a heap which have poisoned you, and cast them away with God's mercy , and raise yourself to God to ask Him that he will forget them and that He will illumine you with his spirit.
If you should fall and lose the beautiful crown , do not despair, seek, knock , turn back and try again and you shall experience the spirit which has written these words. You shall then receive a tree instead of a branch and you shall say : Has my branch thus becomes a tree while i was asleep? Then you shall immediately recognize the philosopher's stone.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Some Aspects Of Mysticism
It have been said that the mystical doctrine relates to the relationship and potential union of the human soul with ultimate reality and that the mystical school is a school of learning by becoming .
The mystic claims that the average person is only half alive: the greater part of his being i dormant because it has never been taught or allowed to function properly or to realize its full potentialities. They mystic discipline sets out to remedy that.
The keyword are light, life and love; and by these we have to transmute all that is negative, and therefore 'evil', in our live to that which is positive and good. We strive to overcome the "I" of self not by mortification or subjection (which is merely an inversion ), but by enlightenment ; seeking to outgrow rather to suppress it .
We can never be self-satisfied or complacent because each advancement made, only serves to emphasis how much further we have to go.
Gradually, as mystic or metaphysical students, we become aware of certain profound principles from an inward discovery or revelation. Initially, we commence by a search for truth. Purity of motive must be the underlying factor in this search, for unless we apply it to all things, thought, purpose, self-analysis and outward dealing with others, we cannot even begin to glimpse truth as a reality .
Many things can be leaned intellectually but it is not until we feel and know them throughout our whole selves that they become real and can then exert a positive influence in our lives. There is such a frail dividing line between thinking that we understand a thing and really understanding it; yet, to effect the transition between the states is, for many people, an apparent impossibility. That is the reason why we have often to experience tragic or unpleasant things in life: they serve to rupture the outer shell that separates the intellectual understanding from that complete understanding which permeates the whole being .
Without purity of motive one cannot understand oneself; if one cannot understand oneself it is impossible to understand others, then life becomes full of complexities and distortions and the truth totally obscured .
Understanding brings its own" shorthand' of expression. Colette, the famous french writer, was once giving water to tulips drooping in a vase. Her innate tenderness and compassion, which covered all aspect of God's creation, extended to the flowers dying for lack of water. "Maurice !" she cried to her husband, " there is only one creature." There, in a sort of "shorthand," the entire thing was said.
God's love runs through all, is manifested everywhere, and those who have eyes to see, recognize it in both the animate and inanimate worlds; in earth and rock, in plant and animal as well as in the human. God is love, sounding and resounding in every particle throughout the universe. It is a mystical experience and can only be conveyed to those who have had a like sensation. A love that is both person and impersonal, reflecting the all and taking us back again, in thankfulness, to the Source .
The mystic claims that the average person is only half alive: the greater part of his being i dormant because it has never been taught or allowed to function properly or to realize its full potentialities. They mystic discipline sets out to remedy that.
The keyword are light, life and love; and by these we have to transmute all that is negative, and therefore 'evil', in our live to that which is positive and good. We strive to overcome the "I" of self not by mortification or subjection (which is merely an inversion ), but by enlightenment ; seeking to outgrow rather to suppress it .
We can never be self-satisfied or complacent because each advancement made, only serves to emphasis how much further we have to go.
Gradually, as mystic or metaphysical students, we become aware of certain profound principles from an inward discovery or revelation. Initially, we commence by a search for truth. Purity of motive must be the underlying factor in this search, for unless we apply it to all things, thought, purpose, self-analysis and outward dealing with others, we cannot even begin to glimpse truth as a reality .
Many things can be leaned intellectually but it is not until we feel and know them throughout our whole selves that they become real and can then exert a positive influence in our lives. There is such a frail dividing line between thinking that we understand a thing and really understanding it; yet, to effect the transition between the states is, for many people, an apparent impossibility. That is the reason why we have often to experience tragic or unpleasant things in life: they serve to rupture the outer shell that separates the intellectual understanding from that complete understanding which permeates the whole being .
Without purity of motive one cannot understand oneself; if one cannot understand oneself it is impossible to understand others, then life becomes full of complexities and distortions and the truth totally obscured .
Understanding brings its own" shorthand' of expression. Colette, the famous french writer, was once giving water to tulips drooping in a vase. Her innate tenderness and compassion, which covered all aspect of God's creation, extended to the flowers dying for lack of water. "Maurice !" she cried to her husband, " there is only one creature." There, in a sort of "shorthand," the entire thing was said.
God's love runs through all, is manifested everywhere, and those who have eyes to see, recognize it in both the animate and inanimate worlds; in earth and rock, in plant and animal as well as in the human. God is love, sounding and resounding in every particle throughout the universe. It is a mystical experience and can only be conveyed to those who have had a like sensation. A love that is both person and impersonal, reflecting the all and taking us back again, in thankfulness, to the Source .
Sunday, April 14, 2013
The Basis Of Spirituality
In approaching the subject of spirituality, we come to realize that this subject seems to lack a singleness of nature. Some individuals think of spirituality as phenomenon unique to the human race; others consider it to be of supernatural origin, a divine efficacy. Then there is the rationale that spirituality is psychological, objective and subjective experiences .
There is however, the strong suggestion that each of these differing ideas regarding spirituality can be integrated into a single idea. In other words, spirituality embraces, in part at least, some quality of each of these different concepts. An eminent philosopher once said; "you are never an isolated individual cast off from the rest of the universe; you are always in relation to the world about you. The whole of man is greater than its part. The reality in which man finds his own realization is always above and beyond him."
This realization that we do not stand alone in existence, that in some way we have an affinity with all else, can well form the basis of what is termed spirituality.But while we exist to ourselves, what we experience has reality as well. These other things of this external world which we perceive can, in various ways, affect us; sometimes beneficially , and at other times causing fear and distress.
At this point we may assume that primitive man, long ago, began evaluation was based upon an innate sensitivity. This sensitivity has but two qualities to measure the value of all sensation: pain and pleasure.
Everything we experience has its final value determined in terms of the pain or pleasure accompanying it. But such sensations are varied in their cause and intensity. While some of our pleasure arise from the physical gratification of the appetite, we also have the more abstract pleasure of the intellect. There is also that mysterious and exotic pleasure which is experienced as the harmony of the whole self. it is a state of euphoria, a freedom from all irritability, and yet its sensations cannot be related to any of our peripheral sense; it seems to transcend them all. Achievements in aesthetic and cultural pursuit can often produce a state approaching that rapture of the whole self.
WHAT IS GOOD?
Humankind however, has arbitrarily and collectively assigned the quality of good to all the pleasure which have been and still are experienced.Whatever satisfactorily fulfils the expectation of pleasure, whether from a physical or mental pursuit, is said to be good. For example, a good craftsman is one whose work is well performed; a good citizen in one who conscientiously abides by the requirements of good citizenship.
What impression did the phenomena of nature have upon the mind of early man ? Among our early ancestors the concept of hylozoism prevailed, namely the notion that all celestial phenomena were imbued with life. Heavenly bodies, such as the planets, were said to be animate, thinking, superior beings. Some wee given imagined characteristics that were perceived as being good and beneficial to humanity; while others their opposite;evil. It was reasoned that the idea of good naturally suggested an opposite that was not good. So that which was adverse and distressed humankind in some manner and was associated with pain was thought to be harmful and evil.
it would appear that at some point in our intellectual and emotional evolution it was thought best to emulate the behavior of the gods and goddesses that, it was believed , possessed the quality of goodness. The question was asked, what benefit did these beings representing immanent goodness derive from their benign acts? Since humankind experienced this goodness as varying kinds of pleasure. by comparison then, what was the pleasure of goodness experienced by these heavenly entities? Was it through the acquisition of a material substance, or the successful completion of some act of other?
It was thought that heavenly entities performed good deeds for mortals, and humanity benefited from such acts. But did these celestial beings also experience a personal gratification from what they had done? Let's for a moment follow the reasoning process of early man in that stage of his inquiry into the nature of goodness. Quite clearly the goodness that was experienced when one person aided another in distress would be retained in the collective memory. The responsive display of gratitude from the person being aided was strongly felt by its recipient. This sensation of pleasure was one of emotion and unlike any that satisfied the physical craving of the body.
The Heart-Centre of Goodness
this sensation experienced after committing an act of goodness seemed to permeated the whole of man's being. The anger, fear and other forms of emotional response seemed to centre in the heart. We only have to reflect on how our own heart speeds up or palpitates at times of stress as well as pleasure. Was the pleasing sensation of goodness also centred in the heart? Since the heart was at one time consider to be a source of life, could not the impulsive act of goodness and its senation of pleasure be likewise centred in the life?
The conclusion, over aeons of time, was that the finer perceptions of life were immersed in the infinite ocean of the cosmic realm. There was an invisible power, a something that flowed from this supernatural realm to humanity. The experience was one of goodness and it was pondered upon what thoughts and human behavior would represent it . This impulse and motivation, of which humanity became conscious of , was the spiritual.
Yet this divine power infusing humankind had to be given an identity, a firm that the human mind could realize. It was thought to be conveyed by the breath, with which life enters ans departs. Thus the word spiritual, in one of its original meanings denoted the breathing of air.
The Concept Of Soul
Yet it came to be thought that air was not the essence of this spiritual quality; it was only the medium for transporting it to humans fro the cosmic realm. This gave rise to what theology and related subject designate as soul. The idea of soul went through a raft of changes as to its nature and function in man.The most prominent and persistent concept is that the soul is a kind of ethereal substance implanted in man by the spiritual or Divine Source which itself also became subject to various human interpretations.
The incorporeal substance concept of the soul, however, has associated with it the belief that can corrupt it by our behavior or we can regenerate it; returning it to its original spiritual state. Consequently, according to this notion, the quality of soul can very.
There is also the particular metaphysical and mystical concept , a belief held by mystics from the east and the west alike, that what is traditionally termed 'soul' is a super state of consciousness,in other words a higher manifestation of the stream of human consciousness. The attribute of consciousness pervades the whole force of life and exists in each living cell and, as an attribute of vital life force, resides in every human being. There is no distinction in its quality in humankind. To the extent that we each become aware of this exalted state of consciousness, we exhibit that goodness which is know as spirituality .
Individual Spirituality
But what should represent this spirituality, this oneness which is experience as the Absolute, or the God that we conceived of ? Man's reason struggled to reduce to common and comprehensible terms those rules of self-discipline by which we might become aware of our indwelling spirituality; simply , it was an attempt to establish a mortal goodness corresponding to true spirituality .
However, the conclusions of human reasoning are not universally alike. Those who had this revelation and attained a personal enlightenment felt an obligation an their part to assist others to experienced it also. They attempted to reduce a state of ecstasy to common words and actions, which formed the nucleus of their religious beliefs and practices . Although carried out in good faith, this process often engendered dogma and practices which were not truly spiritual and resulted in intolerance, bigotry , and a false sense of devotion .
There is no single road which leads directly to spirituality by its material aspect and its interpretation of the spiritual good, There are indeed many such road whose guidelines to spirituality deviate from what it really is. Goodness, which is true spirituality , cannot be realized by argument or the compulsory acceptance of a dogma. The realization of the goodness of spirituality must be a subjective attainment . If , for analogy, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then certainly spirituality is likewise wholly individualistic .
If we have the benevolent wish to assist others to attain the ultimate experience of spirituality, we may introduce them to mystical procedure by which this self-realization can be attained,either through a religion that teaches the fundamentals of mysticism, or through an organization which traditionally perpetuate those teachings. We should allow ourselves to learn the meaning of spirituality through the sphere of our own understanding, whether it is alignment with that of others or not .
After all, no particular description of a sunset can ever equal one's personal perception of it .
There is however, the strong suggestion that each of these differing ideas regarding spirituality can be integrated into a single idea. In other words, spirituality embraces, in part at least, some quality of each of these different concepts. An eminent philosopher once said; "you are never an isolated individual cast off from the rest of the universe; you are always in relation to the world about you. The whole of man is greater than its part. The reality in which man finds his own realization is always above and beyond him."
This realization that we do not stand alone in existence, that in some way we have an affinity with all else, can well form the basis of what is termed spirituality.But while we exist to ourselves, what we experience has reality as well. These other things of this external world which we perceive can, in various ways, affect us; sometimes beneficially , and at other times causing fear and distress.
At this point we may assume that primitive man, long ago, began evaluation was based upon an innate sensitivity. This sensitivity has but two qualities to measure the value of all sensation: pain and pleasure.
Everything we experience has its final value determined in terms of the pain or pleasure accompanying it. But such sensations are varied in their cause and intensity. While some of our pleasure arise from the physical gratification of the appetite, we also have the more abstract pleasure of the intellect. There is also that mysterious and exotic pleasure which is experienced as the harmony of the whole self. it is a state of euphoria, a freedom from all irritability, and yet its sensations cannot be related to any of our peripheral sense; it seems to transcend them all. Achievements in aesthetic and cultural pursuit can often produce a state approaching that rapture of the whole self.
WHAT IS GOOD?
Humankind however, has arbitrarily and collectively assigned the quality of good to all the pleasure which have been and still are experienced.Whatever satisfactorily fulfils the expectation of pleasure, whether from a physical or mental pursuit, is said to be good. For example, a good craftsman is one whose work is well performed; a good citizen in one who conscientiously abides by the requirements of good citizenship.
What impression did the phenomena of nature have upon the mind of early man ? Among our early ancestors the concept of hylozoism prevailed, namely the notion that all celestial phenomena were imbued with life. Heavenly bodies, such as the planets, were said to be animate, thinking, superior beings. Some wee given imagined characteristics that were perceived as being good and beneficial to humanity; while others their opposite;evil. It was reasoned that the idea of good naturally suggested an opposite that was not good. So that which was adverse and distressed humankind in some manner and was associated with pain was thought to be harmful and evil.
it would appear that at some point in our intellectual and emotional evolution it was thought best to emulate the behavior of the gods and goddesses that, it was believed , possessed the quality of goodness. The question was asked, what benefit did these beings representing immanent goodness derive from their benign acts? Since humankind experienced this goodness as varying kinds of pleasure. by comparison then, what was the pleasure of goodness experienced by these heavenly entities? Was it through the acquisition of a material substance, or the successful completion of some act of other?
It was thought that heavenly entities performed good deeds for mortals, and humanity benefited from such acts. But did these celestial beings also experience a personal gratification from what they had done? Let's for a moment follow the reasoning process of early man in that stage of his inquiry into the nature of goodness. Quite clearly the goodness that was experienced when one person aided another in distress would be retained in the collective memory. The responsive display of gratitude from the person being aided was strongly felt by its recipient. This sensation of pleasure was one of emotion and unlike any that satisfied the physical craving of the body.
The Heart-Centre of Goodness
this sensation experienced after committing an act of goodness seemed to permeated the whole of man's being. The anger, fear and other forms of emotional response seemed to centre in the heart. We only have to reflect on how our own heart speeds up or palpitates at times of stress as well as pleasure. Was the pleasing sensation of goodness also centred in the heart? Since the heart was at one time consider to be a source of life, could not the impulsive act of goodness and its senation of pleasure be likewise centred in the life?
The conclusion, over aeons of time, was that the finer perceptions of life were immersed in the infinite ocean of the cosmic realm. There was an invisible power, a something that flowed from this supernatural realm to humanity. The experience was one of goodness and it was pondered upon what thoughts and human behavior would represent it . This impulse and motivation, of which humanity became conscious of , was the spiritual.
Yet this divine power infusing humankind had to be given an identity, a firm that the human mind could realize. It was thought to be conveyed by the breath, with which life enters ans departs. Thus the word spiritual, in one of its original meanings denoted the breathing of air.
The Concept Of Soul
Yet it came to be thought that air was not the essence of this spiritual quality; it was only the medium for transporting it to humans fro the cosmic realm. This gave rise to what theology and related subject designate as soul. The idea of soul went through a raft of changes as to its nature and function in man.The most prominent and persistent concept is that the soul is a kind of ethereal substance implanted in man by the spiritual or Divine Source which itself also became subject to various human interpretations.
The incorporeal substance concept of the soul, however, has associated with it the belief that can corrupt it by our behavior or we can regenerate it; returning it to its original spiritual state. Consequently, according to this notion, the quality of soul can very.
There is also the particular metaphysical and mystical concept , a belief held by mystics from the east and the west alike, that what is traditionally termed 'soul' is a super state of consciousness,in other words a higher manifestation of the stream of human consciousness. The attribute of consciousness pervades the whole force of life and exists in each living cell and, as an attribute of vital life force, resides in every human being. There is no distinction in its quality in humankind. To the extent that we each become aware of this exalted state of consciousness, we exhibit that goodness which is know as spirituality .
Individual Spirituality
But what should represent this spirituality, this oneness which is experience as the Absolute, or the God that we conceived of ? Man's reason struggled to reduce to common and comprehensible terms those rules of self-discipline by which we might become aware of our indwelling spirituality; simply , it was an attempt to establish a mortal goodness corresponding to true spirituality .
However, the conclusions of human reasoning are not universally alike. Those who had this revelation and attained a personal enlightenment felt an obligation an their part to assist others to experienced it also. They attempted to reduce a state of ecstasy to common words and actions, which formed the nucleus of their religious beliefs and practices . Although carried out in good faith, this process often engendered dogma and practices which were not truly spiritual and resulted in intolerance, bigotry , and a false sense of devotion .
There is no single road which leads directly to spirituality by its material aspect and its interpretation of the spiritual good, There are indeed many such road whose guidelines to spirituality deviate from what it really is. Goodness, which is true spirituality , cannot be realized by argument or the compulsory acceptance of a dogma. The realization of the goodness of spirituality must be a subjective attainment . If , for analogy, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then certainly spirituality is likewise wholly individualistic .
If we have the benevolent wish to assist others to attain the ultimate experience of spirituality, we may introduce them to mystical procedure by which this self-realization can be attained,either through a religion that teaches the fundamentals of mysticism, or through an organization which traditionally perpetuate those teachings. We should allow ourselves to learn the meaning of spirituality through the sphere of our own understanding, whether it is alignment with that of others or not .
After all, no particular description of a sunset can ever equal one's personal perception of it .
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Rosicrucian Healing
The early Rosicrucians undertook to do healing work in a humanitarian spirit, and as a necessary reformation to take place in the world, because of this conclusion -through earlier experiments -that there was some secret involved in connection with the vital force of life in the human body, or in all animal and plants bodies, that was still unknown .
The earliest Rosicrucians did not interest themselves very greatly in the rapidly evolving school of "medicine " then holding the world's attention, since such school was merely a step beyond that of biology with which the had long been familiar . By understanding rightly the first principle of the Rosicrucian ontology which says,God formed the human being out the dust of the earth and then breath into its nostrils the breath of life and the human being become a living soul, it becomes known that the Rosicrucians viewed the physical body as merely a secondary part of humanity, made out of the primary element of the earth, and not so essential to its existence as the "breath of life".
The argument is and has been that the scriptural statement, as well as all mystical statement of other periods of time before the so-called christian bible was written, refers to the fact that after the breath of life entered the physical form made out out of the elements of earth, the human being become a 'living soul" instead of a" living body", and that the emphasis there is given to the divine, ethereal, or psychical part of the human being and not to the material .
Therefore, the Rosicrucians argued that whatever might become wrong in the normal functioning and condition of the human body should not be surveyed from the material angle alone but from both viewpoints . If any emphasis were to be given, it should be to the so-called breath of life or the vital life force .For this reason, botany and all biological principles were studied carefully in their relationship to the chemical, physical, and material composition of life, and all of the early Rosicrucians were quite expert in the preparation and administration of so-called herbal extracts which later evolved into forms of medicine and drugs .
It is strange but true that the more primitive or fundamental humanity's thinking, the more it gives emphasis to the biological side of its nature, assigning a secondary place to the spiritual part of its being. For that reason, we find that even the earliest American Indians-who most certainly did not have either christian bible or other textbooks of science or religion-became very expert in the cultivation of herbs and in the study of botany, not for the preparation of medicine but such extracts as would give the human being the necessary or missing mineral and earthly elements and fluids to make its physical body normal. It could then hold and maintain the spiritual part of its body .
The earliest "medicine men' among the american Indians tribes, and the so-called pagan or heathen medicine men of the south sea island and all primitive tribes, practiced an art of therapeutics that involved or applied more of mystical principle and intangible ethereal powers than did herbal extracts, They knew that the real secret key to health, and therefore to disease also, lay in this power that was so intangible that it could not be administered through minerals or extracted juices of anything of an earthly nature .
The presumption among all of these early thinkers was that if human beings would eat and drink properly , they would have a physical body meeting all the requirements of the physical and divine laws. They argued, as we Rosicrucians argue today , that disease and ill-health do not start in the physical body unless the individual has neglected the proper diet or has deliberately taken into his or her system such material elements as were poisonous or inharmonious .
Everyone who has made a careful study of the matter knows that the body in its physical composition, or let us say in its chemical,biological, and physiological composition, has to be neglected and badly treated for a considerable length of time before any real disease begins to manifest. But the greater and more frequent cause of ill-health and disease is the neglect or mistreatment of the essential spiritual or vital forces in the body representing the other part of humankind, the intangible, esoteric , ethereal part that is so little understood. Such neglect need exist only for a few hours or a day to produce long-standing chronic condition or illness and disease that may take years to correct and may eventually lead to an early and unnecessary transition .
Vibratory Energy
But what is this secret power or energy that so vitalized all of the body and that is more important than the material part of the body? It is the 'vibratory energy" referred to by various names and which constitute the real key to the healing processes in the Rosicrucian system .
While scientists have sought to discover serums and have recommended one form of serum or another for this or that condition and while others have tried to find salts and herbal extracts that would counteract or create various conditions in the body that would be of a healing nature, the Rosicrucians soon found that instead of these medicines or drugs acting upon the physical body of mankind , the physical body had expel these things immediately because they were abnormal, foreign matter taken into the body and not required by nature's healing processes. Therefore, whatever action and reaction took place from the use of medicines or drugs was the reverse of what these scientists thought it would be, for instead of the drug acting upon the body, the body had act upon the drugs and expel them. In the meantime , a warfare or battle was set up the natural healing force of the body attempted, and very often succeeded , in making the necessary cure.
White Cell, the Purifier
The fact is that when the vital powers or divine cosmic powers within the body and within normal range are functioning to the proper extent, there is no necessity for herbal extracts,medicines , drugs or any of the remedial things that are limited strictly to the material composition of the body .
While we speak of the white corpuscles or cell in the blood stream that fight and destroy bacilli or germs of various kinds, the truth is that it is not chemistry or the earthly matter that humankind eats or drinks that creates and builds up the so-called white cells to carry on their work of purging , extirpating, or cleansing the body of undesirable and abnormal conditions . It is the vital force in the human body, taken in through the breath and otherwise, that creates these white cells and maintains their integrity .
These white cells have to do more than the ordinary red blood cells which merely nourish and taken a certain amount of energy through the capillaries to all parts of the body. They have to maintain their own integrity and existence , as well as a consciousness and condition typical of an individual living body body,inasmuch as they must be able to function as independent living bodies. In addition to this , they must be able to analysis definitely all that they come in contact with, and decide what is destructive, dangerous or unnecessary, and should be destroy . These white cells then get rid of the remaining refuse. All of this requires a cosmic intelligence not possessed by all of the cell of the body .
Applying the Current
Nevertheless , the energy that is functioning in these white cells and in the red blood cells and in every other cell of the bone and tissue of the body is a divine cosmic energy that the Rosicrucians know how to apply and how to introduce into the body .
In the first place, in the normal healthy body such additional vibratory cosmic energy is not needed. It is there in abundance , in reserve, and in constant use and application. When you realize that each hour of the day, whether we are awake or asleep , laboring , exercising , working or resting, a certain number of thousands of cells throughout the body break down, disintegrate, and become cast in the refuse, and that an equivalent number must be rebuilt to take their place , you will see that the human body is a vast chemical machine creating and recreating new matter from what we eat and drink, and that there is an intelligence directing the chemistry that is not very well understood by the average person.
Scientists may talk about metabolism and the testing of your metabolism to see whether what you eat and drink and the manner in which you breath are assisting in the chemistry of your body. They may speak of blood counts, respiration, pulse beats,ans so on, but this is nothing more than testing a piece of machinery to see that it is operating rightly without testing to find out about the electrical current that is running into the machine to make it operate.
This electrical current, to use a simile, is a divine current that the Rosicrucians alone have discovered, and to them it is vital and important. And so in the Rosicrucian healing method, even if applied cosmically from a distance , this vital energy that becomes lacking is strengthened and increased, and applied most directly to where it is needed. Just as the early fratres and the knights of templars established places in the mountain for the lost travelers and called these hospices , from which the word "hospitals " comes , so the early Rosicrucians and mystics established laboratories and clinics, where those suffering from chronic or long-standing or complicated conditions could be examined , diagnosed and give treatment .
The principal form of treatment in such case is the raising of the vibratory rate of the entire body . This means to instil into the human body an addition amount of this cosmic vibratory energy so that all of the cells become functioning units in a normal harmonious manner in the direction of creation rather than in the creation of destruction, and this not done by the use of electric or "electronic "machines.
It is a know fact , and easily discernible under the microscope , that after a living cell taken from any part of the body becomes lowered in its vitality or rate of vibration , it begins to die. It seems to destroy itself by reducing itself to the elementary materials of the earth's dust . In the absence of the right vibratory rate or the right divine energy . It cease to carry on its constructive mission and retrogresses . Therefore, the Rosicrucians apply directly to the sick body not only chemical elements that may be absent in the diet and which are corrected but that vital energy and rate of vibration that cannot be applied with medicines . This represents the "cosmic key" of the Rosicrucian secret healing methods.
This vibratory energy can also be directed toward a patient by absent treatment . This is done regularly throughout the year by the members and worker of Council of Solace .
The cause of all disease is the vibratory nature of the psychic body must be remedied before any permanent cure be established . The "golden key" to Rosicrucian therapeutic treatment is to change the rate of vibratory energy functioning through the physical body. It then becomes what was first decreed by God who said that the human being was now a living soul .
The earliest Rosicrucians did not interest themselves very greatly in the rapidly evolving school of "medicine " then holding the world's attention, since such school was merely a step beyond that of biology with which the had long been familiar . By understanding rightly the first principle of the Rosicrucian ontology which says,God formed the human being out the dust of the earth and then breath into its nostrils the breath of life and the human being become a living soul, it becomes known that the Rosicrucians viewed the physical body as merely a secondary part of humanity, made out of the primary element of the earth, and not so essential to its existence as the "breath of life".
The argument is and has been that the scriptural statement, as well as all mystical statement of other periods of time before the so-called christian bible was written, refers to the fact that after the breath of life entered the physical form made out out of the elements of earth, the human being become a 'living soul" instead of a" living body", and that the emphasis there is given to the divine, ethereal, or psychical part of the human being and not to the material .
Therefore, the Rosicrucians argued that whatever might become wrong in the normal functioning and condition of the human body should not be surveyed from the material angle alone but from both viewpoints . If any emphasis were to be given, it should be to the so-called breath of life or the vital life force .For this reason, botany and all biological principles were studied carefully in their relationship to the chemical, physical, and material composition of life, and all of the early Rosicrucians were quite expert in the preparation and administration of so-called herbal extracts which later evolved into forms of medicine and drugs .
It is strange but true that the more primitive or fundamental humanity's thinking, the more it gives emphasis to the biological side of its nature, assigning a secondary place to the spiritual part of its being. For that reason, we find that even the earliest American Indians-who most certainly did not have either christian bible or other textbooks of science or religion-became very expert in the cultivation of herbs and in the study of botany, not for the preparation of medicine but such extracts as would give the human being the necessary or missing mineral and earthly elements and fluids to make its physical body normal. It could then hold and maintain the spiritual part of its body .
The earliest "medicine men' among the american Indians tribes, and the so-called pagan or heathen medicine men of the south sea island and all primitive tribes, practiced an art of therapeutics that involved or applied more of mystical principle and intangible ethereal powers than did herbal extracts, They knew that the real secret key to health, and therefore to disease also, lay in this power that was so intangible that it could not be administered through minerals or extracted juices of anything of an earthly nature .
The presumption among all of these early thinkers was that if human beings would eat and drink properly , they would have a physical body meeting all the requirements of the physical and divine laws. They argued, as we Rosicrucians argue today , that disease and ill-health do not start in the physical body unless the individual has neglected the proper diet or has deliberately taken into his or her system such material elements as were poisonous or inharmonious .
Everyone who has made a careful study of the matter knows that the body in its physical composition, or let us say in its chemical,biological, and physiological composition, has to be neglected and badly treated for a considerable length of time before any real disease begins to manifest. But the greater and more frequent cause of ill-health and disease is the neglect or mistreatment of the essential spiritual or vital forces in the body representing the other part of humankind, the intangible, esoteric , ethereal part that is so little understood. Such neglect need exist only for a few hours or a day to produce long-standing chronic condition or illness and disease that may take years to correct and may eventually lead to an early and unnecessary transition .
Vibratory Energy
But what is this secret power or energy that so vitalized all of the body and that is more important than the material part of the body? It is the 'vibratory energy" referred to by various names and which constitute the real key to the healing processes in the Rosicrucian system .
While scientists have sought to discover serums and have recommended one form of serum or another for this or that condition and while others have tried to find salts and herbal extracts that would counteract or create various conditions in the body that would be of a healing nature, the Rosicrucians soon found that instead of these medicines or drugs acting upon the physical body of mankind , the physical body had expel these things immediately because they were abnormal, foreign matter taken into the body and not required by nature's healing processes. Therefore, whatever action and reaction took place from the use of medicines or drugs was the reverse of what these scientists thought it would be, for instead of the drug acting upon the body, the body had act upon the drugs and expel them. In the meantime , a warfare or battle was set up the natural healing force of the body attempted, and very often succeeded , in making the necessary cure.
White Cell, the Purifier
The fact is that when the vital powers or divine cosmic powers within the body and within normal range are functioning to the proper extent, there is no necessity for herbal extracts,medicines , drugs or any of the remedial things that are limited strictly to the material composition of the body .
While we speak of the white corpuscles or cell in the blood stream that fight and destroy bacilli or germs of various kinds, the truth is that it is not chemistry or the earthly matter that humankind eats or drinks that creates and builds up the so-called white cells to carry on their work of purging , extirpating, or cleansing the body of undesirable and abnormal conditions . It is the vital force in the human body, taken in through the breath and otherwise, that creates these white cells and maintains their integrity .
These white cells have to do more than the ordinary red blood cells which merely nourish and taken a certain amount of energy through the capillaries to all parts of the body. They have to maintain their own integrity and existence , as well as a consciousness and condition typical of an individual living body body,inasmuch as they must be able to function as independent living bodies. In addition to this , they must be able to analysis definitely all that they come in contact with, and decide what is destructive, dangerous or unnecessary, and should be destroy . These white cells then get rid of the remaining refuse. All of this requires a cosmic intelligence not possessed by all of the cell of the body .
Applying the Current
Nevertheless , the energy that is functioning in these white cells and in the red blood cells and in every other cell of the bone and tissue of the body is a divine cosmic energy that the Rosicrucians know how to apply and how to introduce into the body .
In the first place, in the normal healthy body such additional vibratory cosmic energy is not needed. It is there in abundance , in reserve, and in constant use and application. When you realize that each hour of the day, whether we are awake or asleep , laboring , exercising , working or resting, a certain number of thousands of cells throughout the body break down, disintegrate, and become cast in the refuse, and that an equivalent number must be rebuilt to take their place , you will see that the human body is a vast chemical machine creating and recreating new matter from what we eat and drink, and that there is an intelligence directing the chemistry that is not very well understood by the average person.
Scientists may talk about metabolism and the testing of your metabolism to see whether what you eat and drink and the manner in which you breath are assisting in the chemistry of your body. They may speak of blood counts, respiration, pulse beats,ans so on, but this is nothing more than testing a piece of machinery to see that it is operating rightly without testing to find out about the electrical current that is running into the machine to make it operate.
This electrical current, to use a simile, is a divine current that the Rosicrucians alone have discovered, and to them it is vital and important. And so in the Rosicrucian healing method, even if applied cosmically from a distance , this vital energy that becomes lacking is strengthened and increased, and applied most directly to where it is needed. Just as the early fratres and the knights of templars established places in the mountain for the lost travelers and called these hospices , from which the word "hospitals " comes , so the early Rosicrucians and mystics established laboratories and clinics, where those suffering from chronic or long-standing or complicated conditions could be examined , diagnosed and give treatment .
The principal form of treatment in such case is the raising of the vibratory rate of the entire body . This means to instil into the human body an addition amount of this cosmic vibratory energy so that all of the cells become functioning units in a normal harmonious manner in the direction of creation rather than in the creation of destruction, and this not done by the use of electric or "electronic "machines.
It is a know fact , and easily discernible under the microscope , that after a living cell taken from any part of the body becomes lowered in its vitality or rate of vibration , it begins to die. It seems to destroy itself by reducing itself to the elementary materials of the earth's dust . In the absence of the right vibratory rate or the right divine energy . It cease to carry on its constructive mission and retrogresses . Therefore, the Rosicrucians apply directly to the sick body not only chemical elements that may be absent in the diet and which are corrected but that vital energy and rate of vibration that cannot be applied with medicines . This represents the "cosmic key" of the Rosicrucian secret healing methods.
This vibratory energy can also be directed toward a patient by absent treatment . This is done regularly throughout the year by the members and worker of Council of Solace .
The cause of all disease is the vibratory nature of the psychic body must be remedied before any permanent cure be established . The "golden key" to Rosicrucian therapeutic treatment is to change the rate of vibratory energy functioning through the physical body. It then becomes what was first decreed by God who said that the human being was now a living soul .
Friday, April 5, 2013
Materialism and the Mystical Life
There exists a belied that scientific knowledge is an obstacle to mystical knowledge and spirituality . Even today, experts of some of our contemporary religious sects regard universities and colleges as seats of iniquity . They argue that having faith in God is enough, for He will provide for human needs. They are of the view that science invades the sanctity of the divine sphere and these higher education faculties are therefore sinful. This view arises from the conflict between rationalism, the extension of knowledge and the dogmatism of church. Initially, many centuries ago, a view such as this was exclusively that of the Roman Catholic Church.Now many non-liberal protestant sects have adopted it too .
According to these sects, education is iconoclastic, attacking religious beliefs. Undoubtedly,education,strengthened by factual evidence, has torn apart superstitious image and concepts that these sects regards as "the word of God ". A representative example of these many case is the arbitrary date set by theologians to the creation of the world. Geology and related disciplines, can only elaborate theories as to the exact time that the earth began to exist . However, experts can prove that the earth came into existence billions of years before the date fixed by the theologians .
Although scientists have substituted biblical fantasies with facts, they do not really affect the heart of religion and its immanent purpose.Yet non liberal devotees consider it sacrilegious when someone has the audacity to alter even one detail in the bible. The purpose of true science in neither to disprove what religion teaches, nor to oppose it . Science seeks truth through experience, observation and reason. On the other hand, religion puts its trust in implied realities, and this is what is called faith .
Unfortunately however, some scientists are narrow-minded too. They do not recognize religion as an important factor in society, and delight in exposing the errors of religious beliefs. They exploit these errors in such a manner and when such evident satisfaction that they make it seem as though science it the sworn enemy of religion .
A Divine Order
True scientists know the value of religion. They know that the emotional and psychic elements of the human being cannot be fully satisfied by reason. For thousands of years, people have experienced feelings and condition before developing the faculty of reasoning at a higher level. Scientists who realize this strive to integrate their findings within the fundamental beliefs of religion . They try to explain that even if the Earth is the consequence of a production of matter from a star passing too near the sun, this does not contradict the existence of a divine order behind such a phenomenon. It indicates that the mechanism of the Earth and its development do not diminish the importance of the first religious premise which put God as the primary Cause .
On the other hand, progressive religion, fully aware of the tremendous influence of science over the public mind because of its "miracle ," seeks to link science and religion . The attitude of progressive religion is that even the biological sciences are only demonstrations of the laws of God; they are neither exceptions, nor negations. And this is not the first time that religion has faced the need to change its dogmatic views in order to remain compatible with materialism .
Intellectualism
The revival of Aristotelianism in the medieval period forced Thomas Aquinas to categorize all knowledge in an hierarchical order. He included science in this order as explaining the physical aspect of life , but he abandoned to the church the kingdom of God. The realm of revelation, he said, transcend mortal reasoning .
With respect , religion the , could accept the existence of chemistry , physics, geology, astronomy and other physical science. Indeed, what religion assumed was that God is the Supreme Being which transcends all physical laws, as well as any phenomena that human beings can discover and develop. The more humanity extended its temporal knowledge, the more revered God became . Physical knowledge resembled the block of a pyramid . No matter how many blocks there were, or how massive and high the pyramid became, the apex always remained the same......God.
Today, the true mystic does not quarrel with intellectualism. We must broaden our minds and assert our faculties . Mind is like a blade that remains blunt if is not sharpened by reflection. Mysticism urges thinkers in their exploration of reality, not to go as far as lose sight of the individual "me". If they do, this knowledge can make them bitter. They can become so cynical that life itself can seem futile. Some of the greatest scientists have also been mystics, or have had strong religious feelings. I refer to famous scientists such as Kepler, Burroughs , Morse, Harvey and Faraday .
Because we cannot measure the capacity or the weight of an emotion, we should not attempt to apply quantitative methods and physical, scientific processes to the psychic nature of the human being. When this attempted, intellectualism is applied in a manner that is false. Such practices produce flawed intellectual human machines, demons with cold-thinking spirits that are insensitive and that could even destroy their own species. When the only spark burning is an individual is intellectual, we have a human robot with limited usefulness .
False Idealism
Some people argue that to manage business today, one must resort to practices and acts that are often incompatible with personal idealism and the moral sense. Naturally it is necessary that we are not biased in our idealism. For example , we should not consider it a bad thing to achieve material success, to accumulate wealth, to be in charge , to find pleasure in the challenges of business. In itself, there is nothing wrong in any of these things.
Idealism is false if it is not compatible with the requirements of daily life. Being led by the cosmic principle of disinterestedness does not mean that we should cease striving to achieve earnings for material ends. However, it prohibits trespassing on the natural rights of others, or to use our earning ti harm others or to prevent them from seeking the happiness to which they are cosmically entitled .
According to these sects, education is iconoclastic, attacking religious beliefs. Undoubtedly,education,strengthened by factual evidence, has torn apart superstitious image and concepts that these sects regards as "the word of God ". A representative example of these many case is the arbitrary date set by theologians to the creation of the world. Geology and related disciplines, can only elaborate theories as to the exact time that the earth began to exist . However, experts can prove that the earth came into existence billions of years before the date fixed by the theologians .
Although scientists have substituted biblical fantasies with facts, they do not really affect the heart of religion and its immanent purpose.Yet non liberal devotees consider it sacrilegious when someone has the audacity to alter even one detail in the bible. The purpose of true science in neither to disprove what religion teaches, nor to oppose it . Science seeks truth through experience, observation and reason. On the other hand, religion puts its trust in implied realities, and this is what is called faith .
Unfortunately however, some scientists are narrow-minded too. They do not recognize religion as an important factor in society, and delight in exposing the errors of religious beliefs. They exploit these errors in such a manner and when such evident satisfaction that they make it seem as though science it the sworn enemy of religion .
A Divine Order
True scientists know the value of religion. They know that the emotional and psychic elements of the human being cannot be fully satisfied by reason. For thousands of years, people have experienced feelings and condition before developing the faculty of reasoning at a higher level. Scientists who realize this strive to integrate their findings within the fundamental beliefs of religion . They try to explain that even if the Earth is the consequence of a production of matter from a star passing too near the sun, this does not contradict the existence of a divine order behind such a phenomenon. It indicates that the mechanism of the Earth and its development do not diminish the importance of the first religious premise which put God as the primary Cause .
On the other hand, progressive religion, fully aware of the tremendous influence of science over the public mind because of its "miracle ," seeks to link science and religion . The attitude of progressive religion is that even the biological sciences are only demonstrations of the laws of God; they are neither exceptions, nor negations. And this is not the first time that religion has faced the need to change its dogmatic views in order to remain compatible with materialism .
Intellectualism
The revival of Aristotelianism in the medieval period forced Thomas Aquinas to categorize all knowledge in an hierarchical order. He included science in this order as explaining the physical aspect of life , but he abandoned to the church the kingdom of God. The realm of revelation, he said, transcend mortal reasoning .
With respect , religion the , could accept the existence of chemistry , physics, geology, astronomy and other physical science. Indeed, what religion assumed was that God is the Supreme Being which transcends all physical laws, as well as any phenomena that human beings can discover and develop. The more humanity extended its temporal knowledge, the more revered God became . Physical knowledge resembled the block of a pyramid . No matter how many blocks there were, or how massive and high the pyramid became, the apex always remained the same......God.
Today, the true mystic does not quarrel with intellectualism. We must broaden our minds and assert our faculties . Mind is like a blade that remains blunt if is not sharpened by reflection. Mysticism urges thinkers in their exploration of reality, not to go as far as lose sight of the individual "me". If they do, this knowledge can make them bitter. They can become so cynical that life itself can seem futile. Some of the greatest scientists have also been mystics, or have had strong religious feelings. I refer to famous scientists such as Kepler, Burroughs , Morse, Harvey and Faraday .
Because we cannot measure the capacity or the weight of an emotion, we should not attempt to apply quantitative methods and physical, scientific processes to the psychic nature of the human being. When this attempted, intellectualism is applied in a manner that is false. Such practices produce flawed intellectual human machines, demons with cold-thinking spirits that are insensitive and that could even destroy their own species. When the only spark burning is an individual is intellectual, we have a human robot with limited usefulness .
False Idealism
Some people argue that to manage business today, one must resort to practices and acts that are often incompatible with personal idealism and the moral sense. Naturally it is necessary that we are not biased in our idealism. For example , we should not consider it a bad thing to achieve material success, to accumulate wealth, to be in charge , to find pleasure in the challenges of business. In itself, there is nothing wrong in any of these things.
Idealism is false if it is not compatible with the requirements of daily life. Being led by the cosmic principle of disinterestedness does not mean that we should cease striving to achieve earnings for material ends. However, it prohibits trespassing on the natural rights of others, or to use our earning ti harm others or to prevent them from seeking the happiness to which they are cosmically entitled .
Communicating From Your Higher Self
It is important to be wary of the tendency to feel that you're better than anyone else, just because you belong to a particular social or economic group, or for that matter to a particular esoteric organisation. Unchecked, this can lead to fanaticism , and isolate you from learning from the rest of humanity .
I have some friends who live good lives but do not belong to any religions, formal groups or special mystical organisations. If i was to compare them, i would say they are more evolved than i am. They don't follow any particular doctrine, but they live in a manner which, in time, i hope to master through the teachings i follow .
Everyone is a traveler on the path, whether they realize it or not. God speaks through every mouth, even if we personally don't care for the tone of the speaker's voice! Realizing this, we must take care to humble ourselves before some external event force humility upon us .
Learn To Be Loving
If you want to learn to be loving , you might ask yourself, "what can i do to make it easier for another person to relate with me?" Trying to relate within someone else's framework is not manipulation, but rather consideration and common sense. If someone acts extremely formally and you ignore his sense of etiquette, whose fault is it if you weren't understood ?
Try to give a little of yourself every day, not to score points fro some future day of reckoning , but just to be a better, more loving person. If you do it for any other reason, you may still have something to learn, or as some might put it, you will have some karma to work out.
If you find it difficult to reach out and be with others, it may help to remember that they are probably just as nervous as you are when it comes to making the first move in getting to know someone new. We're all self-conscious at times.But to be conscious of only ourselves can lead to a selfish attitude. It's not wrong to be concerned with yourself, but by thinking only of yourself , how can someone else feel comfortable with you? How can they feel that you mean them no harm and have their best interest at heart, if all they can see is your preoccupation with your own needs and fears?
If you reach out to someone else in a friendly manner and are met with negativity, perhaps you can take comfort in knowing that you were communicating from the highest part of yourself. Maybe your kindness pf smile won't be returned,but perhaps it will be passed on to someone else who has a greater need of it than you. If someone is kind to you but because you are in a bad mood, you rebuff them, don't be too hard on yourself .Just try to do better next time .
Soul Mate
At times we look for the perfect mate or the perfect friend . However,as we aren't perfect ourselves, there is a good chance we won't find this perfect person . Acceptance of who we are , even though the tendency to deny it is compelling , is the first step to perfection .
Hard work to change these painful flaws is the next step. Perhaps, change what we can, but also accepting ourselves as we are , will help us to help someone else to become that perfect for whom we are searching . These efforts are difficult and seem so small in comparison to the great work others have accomplished. Yet we may eventually realize that our effort toward this goal are the greatest work we can do .
Perhaps, because of these efforts , we will one day find there is less need for formal teaching .Each person will be in touch with God within, and teachings will be heard whenever humanity converses . There will be no comparing , no judging , just ecstatic joy in being .
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Mystical Pantheism
It is really amazing how many misconceptions are associated with the word mysticism. This is partly due to the popular press and as a result, the average person who is not familiar with the subject will think of mysticism as being weird, occult and mysterious. These erroneous ideas are mainly caused by words that are similar in form such as mystify which, as defined in the dictionary, is quite contrary to mysticism in meaning. It is the resemblance in spelling of the two words that is the cause of the problem .
Mysticism is the doctrine and practice where we attempt a personal union in consciousness with our concept of God, or the Absolute, the Cosmic, the One or the Supreme Mind. The important element of mysticism is that it maintain that mankind does not require an intermediary to have the awareness of a transcendental power. A mystic does not necessarily need to belong to any particular religion. The doctrine of mysticism postulates that we posses an innate link with the divine from which all things emanate and upon which they are dependent. No one human has the attribute to a greater extent than any other. If one person is more successful than another it is due more to the technique applied than because of any innate difference in their faculties .
Many sects attack any organisation or group teaching mysticism. These attacks in themselves reveal an ignorance of mysticism or a prejudice against any group whose thought do not conform to the sect's own doctrines. It is obvious to any student of mysticism that most of the great mystics, eg. Meister Eckhart, Jan van Ruysbroeck , Jacob Boehme, and Abu Hamid Muhammad al Ghazzali, were devout advocates of one of the great world religions .Not all mystic were Christian ;there were prominent Jewish and Islamic mystic as well. For instance, the Suffis are Islamic mystic whose writings are very illuminating .
The Supreme Being
These renowned mystics and many others like then knew through personal experience that the enlightenment and ecstasy provided by mysticism are an individual attainment . There is no need for any religious creed. However, if a mystic is also a member of a religious sect he will then be inclined to define the transcendental power with which he personally seeks union in the terminology and images of that particular sect.
However, there are mystics who are non-sectarian. They do not consider the Supreme Being to be some divine person. To these mystics a metaphysical and abstract term represent the power they consider universal and which they believe infuses their being. To them such terms as Cosmic Mind and Universal Consciousness have a significant meaning. The term Supreme Being, is not construed by mystics to mean a single entity ;rather, it refers to the whole , the Absolute , the One of which all is an integral part.
Mystic have often been contemptuously called atheist by illiberal clergy. In effect, they imply that we can have no personal experience of reality through the medium of our own senses and mind, and that it must be experience through the specific channels determined by their religion. This attitude denies the possibility of so called Afflatus of the Soul or spiritual attainment outside the bounds of a religious creed .
There have long been men and woman, termed pagans , who do not belong to any of the established religions yet have shown reverence for the magnitude and grandeur of nature . They too are awed by the finite nature of man in comparison with that mysterious infinity of phenomena existing in, around and beyond humankind. They also have the desire to know and understand this phenomenon. Out of these feelings of intermingled awe and reverence there emerged magic and thereafter religion .
Those more liberated mystics, who want to know, to become aware of the great infinity thorough personal experience, are often also pantheists. To pantheists such as Spinoza there is an indwelling divine power, an intelligence or order that permeates all nature. Everything is conceived to be of this reality. Pantheist may say that all things are infused with God or some Intelligence . Yet , like Spinoza, the pantheist will say that the totality of all thing is not God. The real Pantheist will say instead that all manifestations of nature are impregnated with the infinite or divine quality, yet no total of such can ever equal it . The reason given is that this Cosmic cause, or whatever term you may use, is not limited by any number. It is infinite and therefore, no finite number can represent its entirety .
As mystical pantheists , we do not worship any particular object or phenomenon of nature. We seek a union with that of which all nature consists , and of which we are one of its creations. Through our observation of nature we experience a mystical attunement which cause us to feel that we are embracing the infinite even if but momentarily .
Giordano Bruno, who was burned at stake in Rome in 1600 for his views , is an example of a pantheistic mystic. Bruno extolled the idea of the unity of all expression of reality :"It is not reasonable to believe that any part of the world is without a soul life, sensation and organic structures .From this infinite all, full of beauty and splendor , from the vast worlds which circle above us to the sparking dust of the star beyond, the conclusion is drawn that there are an infinity of creatures, a vast multitude which, in its degree, mirrors forth the splendid wisdom and excellence of the Divine Beauty ."
Who can truly separate the finite from the infinite ? where does one being and the other leave off? if this separateness is not evident, then is not oneness their nature ?
Mysticism is the doctrine and practice where we attempt a personal union in consciousness with our concept of God, or the Absolute, the Cosmic, the One or the Supreme Mind. The important element of mysticism is that it maintain that mankind does not require an intermediary to have the awareness of a transcendental power. A mystic does not necessarily need to belong to any particular religion. The doctrine of mysticism postulates that we posses an innate link with the divine from which all things emanate and upon which they are dependent. No one human has the attribute to a greater extent than any other. If one person is more successful than another it is due more to the technique applied than because of any innate difference in their faculties .
Many sects attack any organisation or group teaching mysticism. These attacks in themselves reveal an ignorance of mysticism or a prejudice against any group whose thought do not conform to the sect's own doctrines. It is obvious to any student of mysticism that most of the great mystics, eg. Meister Eckhart, Jan van Ruysbroeck , Jacob Boehme, and Abu Hamid Muhammad al Ghazzali, were devout advocates of one of the great world religions .Not all mystic were Christian ;there were prominent Jewish and Islamic mystic as well. For instance, the Suffis are Islamic mystic whose writings are very illuminating .
The Supreme Being
These renowned mystics and many others like then knew through personal experience that the enlightenment and ecstasy provided by mysticism are an individual attainment . There is no need for any religious creed. However, if a mystic is also a member of a religious sect he will then be inclined to define the transcendental power with which he personally seeks union in the terminology and images of that particular sect.
However, there are mystics who are non-sectarian. They do not consider the Supreme Being to be some divine person. To these mystics a metaphysical and abstract term represent the power they consider universal and which they believe infuses their being. To them such terms as Cosmic Mind and Universal Consciousness have a significant meaning. The term Supreme Being, is not construed by mystics to mean a single entity ;rather, it refers to the whole , the Absolute , the One of which all is an integral part.
Mystic have often been contemptuously called atheist by illiberal clergy. In effect, they imply that we can have no personal experience of reality through the medium of our own senses and mind, and that it must be experience through the specific channels determined by their religion. This attitude denies the possibility of so called Afflatus of the Soul or spiritual attainment outside the bounds of a religious creed .
There have long been men and woman, termed pagans , who do not belong to any of the established religions yet have shown reverence for the magnitude and grandeur of nature . They too are awed by the finite nature of man in comparison with that mysterious infinity of phenomena existing in, around and beyond humankind. They also have the desire to know and understand this phenomenon. Out of these feelings of intermingled awe and reverence there emerged magic and thereafter religion .
Those more liberated mystics, who want to know, to become aware of the great infinity thorough personal experience, are often also pantheists. To pantheists such as Spinoza there is an indwelling divine power, an intelligence or order that permeates all nature. Everything is conceived to be of this reality. Pantheist may say that all things are infused with God or some Intelligence . Yet , like Spinoza, the pantheist will say that the totality of all thing is not God. The real Pantheist will say instead that all manifestations of nature are impregnated with the infinite or divine quality, yet no total of such can ever equal it . The reason given is that this Cosmic cause, or whatever term you may use, is not limited by any number. It is infinite and therefore, no finite number can represent its entirety .
As mystical pantheists , we do not worship any particular object or phenomenon of nature. We seek a union with that of which all nature consists , and of which we are one of its creations. Through our observation of nature we experience a mystical attunement which cause us to feel that we are embracing the infinite even if but momentarily .
Giordano Bruno, who was burned at stake in Rome in 1600 for his views , is an example of a pantheistic mystic. Bruno extolled the idea of the unity of all expression of reality :"It is not reasonable to believe that any part of the world is without a soul life, sensation and organic structures .From this infinite all, full of beauty and splendor , from the vast worlds which circle above us to the sparking dust of the star beyond, the conclusion is drawn that there are an infinity of creatures, a vast multitude which, in its degree, mirrors forth the splendid wisdom and excellence of the Divine Beauty ."
Who can truly separate the finite from the infinite ? where does one being and the other leave off? if this separateness is not evident, then is not oneness their nature ?
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Consciousness Transition
If one is to be born again, in spirit, one must first pass through transition. And yet this transition, or death, if you will, is not of the body; it is a transition of the consciousness. The consciousness is separated from its old order of thinking, from the world to which it has been chained fast. It is freed from enslaving ideas and from fears and superstitions. It soars forth into a new and higher realm. During this transition, the consciousness casts aside its dissolute, moral body, its wrong values of living. We are reborn in understanding. The new life is a spiritual one, and it is a life here and now, not in some remote place, or time. None of us is spiritually born until we become aware of the various sublime states of consciousness of which we are capable. The first birth of every incarnation is physical; it is when the soul enters the body. The second birth is when we realize the higher levels of our consciousness--when we experience Cosmic Consciousness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)