If teachings, as theory, attempt to lay out the terrain of Truth, mark the guideposts and suggest a path, then exercises and meditations are vehicles to carry consciousness to higher ground. The primary work, however, is to cleanse our personality so that we can see clearly where we currently stand and where we are headed. Only after an individual has situated himself within his personality (which is no small feat) is he able to move on to heavenly matters. Hand in hand with the expansion of consciousness, is the need to refine and direct our conscious awareness. Yet, there is always a danger when beginning a work to foresee or imagine its end. It is a basic truth, and a very human folly, that the more we impose our ideas, our concepts and expectations on what lies ahead, the less capable we are to see things as they actually are. Seldom do our expectations approximate the experience, and almost always, they seem to compromise our access to the real nature of things. We must practice care with the ideas we create, as they may, in the end, serve to create us. In what way are we capable, from where we stand now, to measure and to see what we have set out to find ? We are fortunate that the pursuit of Truth has been dear to the hearts of many who have gone before us. Sages, masters, prophets and teachers from all over the world and in every epoch have bestowed great treasures upon us. Each path and each religion reflects another face of the great gem of Truth. There exists a huge corpus of written and oral teachings devoted to the common eternal Truth. All have contributed invaluably to our developing understanding of Absolute Beingness and the Divine Plan. “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Prov.3:17). Twenty centuries ago in Palestine all researchers, Archangels, angels, and demigods rejoiced as Joshua Emmanuel the Christ was born among us. Joshua, who come to us directly from Absolute Beingness (as distinct from all human Masters who earn their wisdom through successive incarnations) offered for the first time the direct guidance of God. What Joshua taught, by deed and word, during His short corporeal life remains with us as the most pure, direct and Divine Teachings. As the Son of man He was the “flesh and blood” of Truth (John 6:33). It is Christ as the Logos, the Son of God, who is the inextinguishable Light and the everlasting Life, the “bread and wine” of Truth (John 6:32). The Logos is the eternal nature of humanity, compelling us towards perfection through the gentle and lasting exaltation of consciousness as “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). Ours is Christian path in celebration of Joshua’s Teachings. We believe in the one Truth, the one God, which inspires religious traditions, esoteric and exoteric, past and present. Differing in expression only, the ageless human effort to reflect the Divine is guided “by the same Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:9). Esoteric Christianity is not the privilege of the few, but a faithful reflection of the Soul of each of us. The meaning of the term “esoteric” has become severed from its Greek roots. In Greek εσωτερικο (esoteriko) indicates knowledge found within us, “for nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest” (Luke 8:17). Inner Christianity, as “the secrets of his heart made manifest” (1 Cor. 14:25), is less a religion and more the very nature of life – a clear, concise and complete mirror of the Truth. Let us review what we believe to be the way things are. Absolute Beingness God is Love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God; and God in him. 1 John 4:16 What Is, what always Was, and what always Will Be is the Absolute Infinite Beingness, God the Father, as the Absolute Infinite Reality. Of Absolute Infinite Beingness there is very little that we can trace and come to know from the human perspective in the gross material world. What we know of God we see in reflection as witnessed both externally and inwardly. In order for light to become apparent it must be reflected off a surface. Everything that surrounds us and the worlds within is a reflection of the Truth of God. Absolute Beingness is, above all, the Divine Common Selfhood, that is to say, Super-conscious Self-awareness of the Whole. All Beings within Absolute Beingness are logoi expressing this Divine Selfhood as gods within God. Love, Light and Life belong to the primary Nature of Absolute Beingness. The Love of God is universal, ceaseless, impersonal and unconditional. It is the Love of God, expressed as Grace, which lies at the core of Creation. The Light is pure, luminous Self-consciousness which lives in the centre of every Being. Everlasting Life is the eternal motion, generation and regeneration of expression. Other characteristics of Absolute Beingness include Multiplicity, Self-sufficiency and the Will-pleasure to express Itself in Itself as Creation. We know of Absolute Beingness that It is multiple in Its Unity. Within Absolute Beingness, in both the expressed and unexpressed condition, are the Christ Logos and the Holy Spirit, “and these three are one”, writes the apostle Yohannan (1 John 5:7). Also composing the Multiplicity of Absolute Beingness are myriad upon myriad of Self-conscious Logoic Beings. Humanity, the Archangelic Orders, and other Self-aware Beings are Holy Monads within the timeless body of God. The Self-sufficiency of Absolute Beingness inspired Meister Eckhart to write, “Outside of God, there is nothing but nothing”. The Omnipresence of Absolute Beingness engenders everything, embraces all, and all will be in the “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21). There is nothing that God is in need of. In our struggle to comprehend the Will-pleasure of Absolute Be-ness we learn that the genesis of Creation takes place in a Divine Meditation where God contemplates the Divine Plan that becomes Creation. The Will-pleasure of God is a gem-like prism through which the Great Light shines giving us the colours of the Archangelic Orders. According to the Will-pleasure, Omnipotence, Omniscience and Love of Absolute Beingness, this Divine Plan unfolds, is unfolding and will always unfold in the Eternal Now. The universes, as the texture of God, pour forth in Space (a Nature of God). The Logos, Holy Spirit and the Holy Archangels build and maintain these universes. In our system we acknowledge seven heavens in which higher aspects of human consciousness can study and live in Self-awareness. There may well be more. We call the less tangible heavens the causal planes as they give definition and order to the more material universes. The Causes, Principles, Laws and Ideas of Creation exist here in their archetypal state cared for by the highest orders of the Archangels. The causal planes give rise to the noetic state. Here we have discernible forms in juxtaposition to one another, as yet unexpressed, in perfect harmony and order. More advanced human beings can begin to perceive structure in the noetic state. Following the noetic state, stepping down the vibrations of Mind, we begin to experience the worlds of separation as the noetical world takes shape. In the noetical world we have, for the first time, realized forms in a space-place-time environment (although quite different from the conditions we are accustomed to in the gross material world). The noetical world is the world of thought and is typified by seven planes, each plane further divided into seven sub-planes. Next, at a lower state of vibrations, we have the emotional or so-called psychical world. This universe is also divided into seven planes and seven sub-planes. We all experience these planes each night in our dream state, or self-consciously in exosomatosis. As in the noetical planes, the colours in the psychical world cover a much broader spectrum than on the gross material plane, and experiences of time and distance become more elastic. Where we read in the Old Testament that God labored for six days to create the material plane (cf. Gen. 1:1-31) we should understand that each day represents an epoch. The formation of the gross material world, the densest of the universes, took many millennia before becoming a fitting home, indeed a glorious paradise, for the expression of forms. The three worlds of existence co-exist, one within the other, as do our three bodies. The gross material world is constructed of Mind etheric vitality, ranging in frequencies, let us say, between1 and 10. If 1 is etheric vitality is its densest state as solid matter, 10 would be the more gaseous expressions. Mind as substance composes the psychical worlds and vibrates at frequencies 11 to 20. Mind as Super-substance, at frequencies of 21 to 30, constitutes the noetical worlds. The properties of each world, and of our bodies, are identical in nature; Super-substance, substance and etheric vitality, each express the four elements (fire, water, earth and air) and the various ethers (sensate, kinetic, creative and imprint), differing only in frequency. The more ethereal worlds are overlaid and intertwined with the gross material world and “doors” to self-conscious movement within these worlds open as a result of sincere training. The universes and all existences are constructed of Mind. Mind emanates from Absolute Beingness and all Self-aware Beings for the fulfillment of the Divine Plan. Mind is not Divine, but is holy as it is used eternally and is imbued with the goodness and purity of God. Mind is not itself a god, or Being, and is not therefore an immortal part of God. Mind’s nature, then, is to serve the Will-pleasure of God. A Spirit-Soul-Ego, in expression, “finds pasture” in the Kingdom of heavens, and it will “go in and out”, moving between the universes, incarnating and reincarnating (cf. John 10:9). The Archangels of the Elements And the Angel said unto them; Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:10 He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Luke 4:10,11 The Archangels are Logoic and Holy Spiritual Beings, who build, govern over and project themselves into the universes. Within Absolute Beingness are Orders of Archangels, Holy Monadic Beings, each Order containing myriad upon myriad of Beings of the same type. We know of the existence of twelve Archangelic Orders: Thrones, Authorities, Dominions, Principalities, Overlords, Seraphims and Cherubims, along with others, named and unnamed. No one has ever spoken in detail of the kind of vibrations of the Archangels who belong to the higher echelons of the Orders. Few have come close enough to these Orders to attune to them. Human language, in any case, proves inadequate to describe their splendor. When a human being descends into the worlds of separation, an Archangel from the Thrones accompanies him as his Guardian Archangel. Even if we are unaware of his presence, our Guardian Archangel, with whom we are egofied, is always caring for us. These Archangels appear in all religions, Eastern and Western, and in the majority of theosophic and esoteric systems, as messiahs, messengers, demigods, devas and the like. The Archangels are familiar to the Buddhists, Hindus, Aztecs and Ancient Egyptians. They vary in form and in name, but their duties, responsibilities and forces are universal and identical. The Archangels of the elements concern us in our research and meditations as they are most intimately involved in our well-being and advancement. Their names are not of human origin, but rather the resonance of each Order’s vibration. First there is the order of the “Michaels” – Ma-Ha-El, “The Great God”. In Sanskrit Maha means “great” and El stands for God (as it does also in Ancient Egyptian and Hebrew). Appropriately we find the suffix El in all the Archangelic names. Michaels’s light is red, in all its shades, and he is the Archangel of light and fire. Then there is the Archangel “Gabriel”, or in the ancient Egyptian pronunciation, Kha-Vir-El. Ga or Kha denotes desire, sentiment, and expressed love. Bir or Vir indicates element. Gabriel’s light is sky-blue in many different shades, and he is the ruler of water and the liquids, which constitute three quarters of the planet. Gabriel is the steward of the entire physical kingdom. Let us next mention “Raphael” – Ra-Fa-El. In ancient Egyptian Ra stands for the sun, and Fa, for vibration : “Sun-vibration-God”. Raphael, the Archangel of energy, is characterized by the shades of violet. This colour derives from the mixture of red (Michael) and blue (Gabriel), and thus tallies with the role of Raphael as fellow-worker with the other two. The planet in its entirety is within Raphael’s domain, who controls the electromagnetic forces – etheric vitality, as we call it. Another Archangel, who coordinates the work of all the Archangels within the gross material body, is “Uriel” – U-Ra-El, as known to our Egyptian forefathers. U stands for space and Ra for the sun: “Space-Sun-God”. The great harmonizer of substance, Uriel keeps the universal Law of Order and Harmony, both within and between each body. The colour which represents Uriel is silvery-white. The phenomenon of life in all the kingdoms is the work of the Archangels of the elements. When a human being first incarnates into the lower worlds it does so with one Archangel from each Order of the elements. Thus, within the bodies of every human being there work a Michael, a Gabriel, a Raphael, a Uriel and a Shamael. Shamael, who is the angel of earth, is the elemental projection of Lucifer, the Archangel of light and keeper of duality. Shamael is not himself an Archangel. Let us now look at the way they serve our material body. As the angel of earth and minerals, and in everlasting cooperation with the Archangels, Shamael provides us with the material for our bones, our muscles and the organs of the body. Michael gives us bodily warmth and rich red blood. Gabriel gives us the body’s various fluids. Raphael provides our etheric vitality and plays an invaluable role in maintaining our health. During the night these Archangels work in our resting bodies to enact repairs towards good health. Corresponding to their immaculate labors in our material body the Archangels also help build and maintain our psychical and noetical bodies and their respective etheric doubles. They work in a similar manner throughout all the universes. We must learn to work self-consciously with the Archangels of the elements in the maintenance of health and well-being, and also to consciously benefit from their wisdom and love. Exercises and meditations will help us develop awareness of the Archangelic Orders. On Being Human And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Genesis 1:26 Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18 Prior to passing through the Human Idea, humanity is an Archangel within the Archangelic Orders. Before their expression, Human Beings and Archangels, as Holy Monads, differ little from each other. Later, however, when they return to be within Absolute Beingness, the difference is great. Archangels cannot obtain Super Self-consciousness in any of their expressions. This is because they have their Being within the Eternal Now and are exposed to various experiences without being able to make comparisons. An Archangel of fire, for example, uses this element with Total Wisdom, but does not know the emotions and thoughts which are aroused by the presence of the element. Conversely, human beings, as Prodigal Children (cf. Luke 15:11-32), are fully exposed to the worlds of duality, of space-place-time impressions, and are therefore able to develop a keen sense of individuated Self-consciousness. Such considerations inspired Paramahansa Yogananda to say, “The human form is higher than the angel form. Man is the highest being in Creation because he aspires to freedom.” After passing through the Idea of Archangelic Man, a ray of the Spirit then continues through the Idea of Heavenly man to be shaped according to the law of the Human Idea. From that moment it takes on its own separate radiance within Absolute Beingness. A small ray of our Spirit-Ego-Being enters into a separate domain of Total Wisdom, Total Power and Total Love as a Self-aware Soul. Now we have two foundations for the Inner Self: the Holy Monadic Self within Absolute Beingness and Its emanation which passes through the Heavenly Man to be formed into the Self-aware Soul. Here we see how Holy Monadic Self takes on a separate existence from that of the Archangels. The Self-aware Soul, which is formed of Spirit, then begins to express Itself. As the Soul is of incorruptible Spirit, it is Self-sufficient and Omniscient. All Souls are equally luminous. The Soul can never be harmed or weakened in any way, so “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28). Its is the Soul which distinguishes humans from other Beings, for Archangels have no need of a Soul as they each belong to a communal Order. It is the Soul that harbors the Divine Individuation of each human Spirit-Soul-Ego when we return to our Father. The Soul is the womb of Super Self-consciousness. As the Spirit-Ego-Being gives birth to the Self-aware Soul, the Soul gives life to Its own projection. This projection is what we call our Permanent Personality. Descending into the worlds of experience, it takes on its own colour and designs its own projection. As long as it remains in the worlds of space-place-time, it assumes many names, dons many present-day personalities and expresses itself in many ways in these worlds. Individuated Selfhood Even though you tie a hundred knots – the string remains one. Rumi No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteh it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. Luke 11:33 Corresponding to the seven universes of Creation are the veils which dress the Spirit-Soul-Ego during its sojourn. Further investigation suggests that the human form does not so much contain the kingdom of heavens, but rather is the kingdom of heavens. When you realize this you understand that the traveler is the journey, the seeker is the sought. And when you seek this kingdom all “things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31). Human beings in their highest states express the Divine Love, Causes, Principles and Laws of Creation. In the lower, more dense states, as bodies, they express thought (noetical) and emotion (psychical) in the worlds of separation. Our gross material body, such a small portion of the Selfhood, and yet often mistaken for the self, belongs to the material plane. Our psychical and noetical bodies are given us as amorphous masses which we must sculpt into refined and cleansed vehicles through which we can live unencumbered. Most of us allow our emotions and beliefs to rule over our personality, but it is the personality that must dictate the composition of its psychical and noetical bodies. As St. Paul reminds us, “Hath not the potter power over the clay ?” (Rom. 9:21). After passing-over from the material plane we shall continue to live in the psychical world and, later on, in the noetical world before reincarnating on the gross material plane. Entrenched, encaged, in a petty present-day personality, most of us will fail to realize that we have crossed over to the other side, and will continue to live in the same restrictive manner as on earth. The work of self-consciously constructing our psychical and noetical expressions rewards us now and in the hereafter. “Verily I say unto you,” warns Joshua, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). The Selfhood of each of us extends from our Self as a Spirit-Ego-Being (our unexpressed Holy Monad Self) as it remains in at-one-ment with Absolute Beingness, and reaches down to the often struggling present-day personality. For those who wonder whether it was our choice to leave home we suggest a reading of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) which details the decision on the part of the Son to leave his father’s home. This is where free will is established. The central task of each Soul is to reunify the self –after its enrichment through the cycles of incarnations – into the unified Self in Theosis. The Individuated Selfhood, accounting for the various expressions, is in the “image” and “likeness” (cf. Gen. 1:26) of Absolute Beingness. Firstly, we have Self-sufficiency. As Absolute Beingness is without any needs, we contain within us everything: “The Kingdom of Heavens is within you.” We lack nothing and need nothing that we do not already possess. Secondly, as Holy Monads, we can express ourselves self-consciously within our own universe and within our own selfhood. In a similar way, macrocosmically, the Logos expresses Its Self within Its universes as the Common Selfhood. Thirdly, we have the power of shaping the Mind substance into thought and emotion, and of expressing ourselves as love. And when deemed worthy we are awarded the gift of emanating – not merely shaping – the Mind super-substance, the bearer of life. Fourthly, we have been blessed with the gift and the responsibility of procreation and of caring for other incarnated Souls. In this way we are co-creators within the Divine Plan, with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Archangels, and the Christ Logos. The Individuated Selfhood, as a single umbrella, encompasses four discernible expressions: Spirit-Ego-Being This is our Real Self, in at-one-ment with the Multiplicity and the Self-sufficiency of Absolute Beingness. The Spirit-Ego-Being project a ray of Itself into Creation. The Will-pleasure of Absolute Beingness to express Itself in Itself, is identical to the Will-pleasure of Spirit-Ego-Being to express Itself in Itself. The Spirit-Ego-Being is not properly considered an expression of the Selfhood, rather it is a creator of the Selfhood. Self-aware Soul We become a Self-aware Soul the moment a ray of the Spirit-Ego-Being passes through the Human Idea, at which point we understand our Self as something complete, yet seemingly separated from the Whole. The Self-aware Soul with its projections is both Beingness and existence. Beingness, as our real nature, is the Divine Permanent Point. That of existence is the other end of the continuum, where it plunges into the worlds of experience and development. Permanent Personality Described by some as “the foot of the soul”, this self is an expression of, and in union with, the Self-aware Soul in the worlds of time and place. The Permanent Personality contain the Divine Laws, Total Wisdom, Total Power and Total Love. It is the task of the Permanent Personality to select and supervise the lives and experiences of the present-day personalities. Through this process the Permanent Personality becomes fuller. Present-day Personality This is the personality we express in each individual incarnation. It is the projection of the Permanent Personality into the worlds of separation and their sub-planes. It is that aspect of the Self which experiences emotion, desires and thoughts, of which a character is formed. With time, this personality learns to interpret the impressions and correct its reactions, so that a refined personality develops. It is this expression of the selfhood that Joshua asks us to “deny” (Matt. 16:24) so that we may better understand our Real Self. Let us sum up, so as to better understand the concept of Individuated Selfhood in its different expressions. Our selfhood is one, even though we meet it in four stages: Spirit-Ego-Being, Self-aware Soul, Permanent Personality and present-day personality. Our Individuated Selfhood, in its higher expressions, takes part in the Common Logoic Selfhood. We can imagine the pure Spirit of humanity as a ray projected from the sun (Absolute Beingness). This ray passes through the Idea of the Archangelic Man, continuing on to the Human Idea. Now picture this ray approaching an open window. On one side of the window we have the Self-aware Soul. As the ray passes through the window the Permanent Personality is shaped, part of it remaining within the Soul’s home in the Eternal Now, and the other part expressing itself in the worlds of separation. The ray continues beyond the window and hits the floor. Here we have what we term our present-day personality. The floor, where the pattern of the Spirit Soul is laid, should be kept clean and swept. The light from its source is pure and luminous. Filtered down through Ideas, universes, and layers of the Selfhood, it remains the same light, only diffused. It is as if numerous lampshades had been placed over a bright bulb. Exercises and meditations, coupled with sound theoretical under footings, can do much to clean these shades, help us draw nearer to the source of the Light, and allow the Light from above to reflect more fully within our personalities. “If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light” (Luke 11:36). Therefore “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 05:38:13 +0000
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