DEATH

An old and very dear friend of mine passed away today. I had the privilege of holding his hand while he was crossing over. I watched his body take its last breath while I was simultaneously keeping an eye on an artery in his neck that was pulsating all the time up till then. While I watch this artery slowly stopping its dance of life, I was thinking what a wonderful machine we have in the human body that is equipped with a pump that never misses a heartbeat for the entire life of a human being. In my friends case it was for 74 years and 23 days. Absolutely wonderful! Nothing can beat nature; everything comes and goes and everything on time. The circle of life is completed for my friend and it gives me great pleasure that another son of man has done his time here and gone home after a battle well fought. Another prodigal son has found the way back to the house of his father [spirit].

The death of my friend prompted me to share some of the knowledge about death, that I have come across in my studies, with more people. I think not enough people are aware of the following facts yet. [I shared this knowledge with my friend not long before his passing, so he was well prepared.]

Let us first of all define this mysterious process to which all forms are subject and which is frequently only the dreaded end—dreaded because it is not understood.  The mind of man is so little developed that fear of the unknown, terror of the unfamiliar, and attachment to form have brought about a situation where one of the most beneficent occurrences in the life cycle of an incarnating Son of God is looked upon as something to be avoided and postponed for as long a time as possible.

 Death, if we could but realise it, is one of our most practised activities.  We have died many times and shall die again and again.  Death is essentially a matter of consciousness.  We are conscious one moment on the physical plane, and a moment later we have withdrawn onto another plane and are actively conscious there.  Just as long as our consciousness is identified with the form aspect, death will hold for us its ancient terror.  Just as soon as we know ourselves to be souls, and find that we are capable of focussing our consciousness or sense of awareness in any form or on any plane at will, or in any direction within the form of God, we shall no longer know death.

 Death for the average man is the cataclysmic end, involving the termination of all human relations, the cessation of all physical activity, the severing of all signs of love and of affection, and the passage (unwilling and protesting) into the unknown and the dreaded.  It is analogous to leaving a lighted and a warmed room, friendly and familiar, where our loved ones are assembled, and going out into the cold and dark night, alone and terror stricken, hoping for the best and sure of nothing.

 But people are apt to forget that every night, in the hours of sleep, we die to the physical plane and are alive and functioning elsewhere.  They forget that they have already achieved facility in leaving the physical body; because they cannot as yet bring back into the physical brain consciousness the recollection of that passing out, and of the subsequent interval of active living, they fail to relate death and sleep.  Death, after all, is only a longer interval in the life of physical plane functioning; one has only "gone abroad" for a longer period.  But the process of daily sleep and the process of occasional dying are identical, with the one difference that in sleep the magnetic thread or current of energy along which the life force streams is preserved intact, and constitutes the path of return to the body.  In death, this life thread is broken or snapped.  When this has happened, the conscious entity cannot return to the dense physical body and that body lacking the principle of coherence, then disintegrates.

Read more at; http://edgeba.webs.com/death.htm

PLANETARY INTEGRATION AND THE PLAN

If you take a child that is in school, say in year one or year two, to a lecture on mathematics or any other subject, in a University, do you think that he would understand and make any sense of the information and will it be of any use to him? Of course not. He will only be ready for it after twelve years of preparation through a school education. If God speaks to you now, would you be able to understand him? Of course not. We are like that child and we need to prepare for the contact with the Master or with our Souls. When the pupil is ready, the ………

This development of consciousness, to be ready for contact with the Master/Soul or later the Monad, is what the Plan is all about. Life itself in all the kingdoms, the whole of evolution, is geared up with this in mind. Just by being alive, your consciousness is developing or expanding through the use of your senses and the survival instinct that keeps you, and everything else, alive. Through emotions you want something, so you have to do something to get it. But first you have to learn to do that something and so the chain-reaction starts that puts you on the path of evolution and consciousness development. The integration process was started and more and more you start to become part of the whole as this consciousness expands. So, integration [into the whole] leads to the expansion of consciousness and this will probably be the objective of the next major changes which humanity must initiate in line with the Plan. Globalisation will have to play a big role in this.

 I was watching the television series ‘The World at War’, that I found in the Library, last week and did a lot of thinking about the good and bad things that befalls humanity. Things that seem to be happening all on its own and over which we humans, seem to have no control. The War was under the department of the Manu and/or the Department of the Lord of Civilisation [not the Christ] and had a Purpose of its own. Remember, we do not understand when God speaks or acts, although we form part of it. Whatever happens in this world, good or bad, has a purpose and we always learn something. The war helped the world to make a great leap in evolution, mental development, emotional development, science and technological development and political awareness and development, medical, education…. The list goes on. The more bad things in our lives, the faster we learn, although we do not like it and always try to take the easy way out and live a mundane and useless live.

My dad left South Africa in 1939 to fight in World War 2. He fought the Italians in Abyssinia, Rommel in North Africa as part of the 8^th Army under Montgomery then up through Italy. In 1990 he took me and his grandchildren back to the town, Oudshoorn, in South Africa, where he grew up. In the street where he used to live we found an old man who recognised my dad, after 50 years, sitting on a stoop.  He said, “hi, Eddie, is that you?.” It appears that that man never left the town or village where he was born. What a waste of a life, I thought to myself….if it wasn’t for the World Wars, a lot of people would have been left sitting on stoops in little villages all over the world. Developing your consciousness through conflict is better than living in ignorance all your life.

 So, bring on the warlords, the bad, stupid and corrupt politicians and let us learn some more because if we have peace on earth and everybody live in harmony it will be all over and nobody would be here because there will be no need for it. As soon as we stagnate in our bad ways without change for the better for the greatest good for everybody or as soon as we neglect our duty towards somebody, some nation or race of people, unrest will set in and we will be forced to do the right thing in the end that will lead to more good for the whole and more development of consciousness. Most people must find harmony through conflict and chaos, not by living in harmony. What will be the good of a harmonious life on Earth or anywhere else in the Cosmos? So, we cannot really make any mistakes or mess anything up, it is all part of the right thing in the making. Life or evolution itself will drag us kicking and screaming through to perfection.

 It seems that life consist of jumping from one bad thing to another, every time fixing it before tackling the next bad thing that needs fixing. We should think of ourselves as trouble-shooters and fix it before it happens. Maybe in that way it is possible to live in harmony, always one step ahead of catastrophe. Bud, sadly, we have not developed that ability yet and neither have any of our leaders.

 So, it looks like we should enjoy the journey and not the end of it. If you think of it, the journey never ends, but goes from one integration, to another. Even our Gods are being integrated. Yes, it is going to be a long and interesting journey. I just wish I had continuity of consciousness. This is the biggest objective for some of us that might be ready to undertake the journey consciously instead of through the evolutionary forces that control the rest of humanity and the other kingdoms in nature. It is here where the process of conscious integration will help us to become conscious workers of the Plan through service to humanity. We need leaders with spiritual vision.

Some of us will distinguish their lives by dedicating their energies to inclusion, redemption, and transformation. Others will follow the powerful forces of ambition and acquisition; and some will remain in the paralysing fog of indecision. Yet, all are vital and necessary links in the Great Plan.

The best example of planetary process of integration right now is Globalisation and our attitude towards animals that is also now and then in the news. The barbaric Slaughtering methods of Australian cattle in Indonesia and the whaling question with japan. The whole world is now in a process of integration. The world is changing fast. Global identification is currently experiencing structural shifts of such scale and size that they can only be understood in the light of a planetary spiritual recalibration. For centuries Western, industrialised nations have dominated the entire globe. During these same centuries, a steadily growing band of workers [of the Plan] has strived diligently to plant seed thoughts of synthesis, restoration, and human unification. Now, in less than a generation East will surpass West in higher education, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Then, the racial and cultural biases of yesteryear will rapidly become politically impractical. It is hoped that co-operation would prevent booms and slums and help countries in financial difficulties. When you bind economies and make them economically interdependent it is much more difficult for war to break out. This and the unification of Europe are a partial expression of the massive redistribution of wealth and the developing of global and human unity. Most of these changes are being brought about through circumstances out of the control of the majority of us. In some countries, the fear of war, greed and bad politics are being used instead of wars.

Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/planetaryintegration.htm

PERSONALITY AND SOUL INTEGRATION

This leads to illumination at the third initiation.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. So, it stands to reason that if you are an integrated personality or in the process of becoming one, that you will necessary have an influence on your environment or on relations within your individual sphere. The reverse is also true and you will be more sensitive, and thus more affected by your environment than the average man. I cannot put it better than the following abstracts:

When aspirants consciously and of their own volition undertake to hasten their evolution, it will be found that they are working simultaneously on the co-ordination of their physical-etheric vehicle, the integration of their emotional vehicle as a responsive whole, the integration of their lower and higher mind, and the integration of all these three aspects into a unified instrument. And at the same time they are striving for soul contact, soul impression and soul control. This effort in turn produces the integration of personality and soul which results in what is spoken of as “the soul-infused personality”, a degree of which is necessary as the starting point for a totally new stage of esoteric training for discipleship service. Furthermore, they are learning to relate themselves to their environment – to humanity in general and to their group in particular. The integration process is therefore not merely a vertical one – of the vehicles or mechanism with the soul – but also a horizontal one into the planetary life of which they form a unit. This horizontal integration proceeds with growing rapidity as soul contact deepens and soul infusion of the personality increases, because the soul is group conscious and impresses the mind and brain of the aspirant with the fact of his or her common identity and shared destiny with all people.

We must also bear in mind, however, that the achievement of the integration of the personality can become, in turn, an obstacle if our vision is not constantly held on the next stage ahead – that of soul infusion. Integrated personalities intensely aware of their potency, power and efficiency, but lacking the humility and love born of soul vision, can become a hindrance to, instead of powerful workers for the Plan. Aspirants nearing the stage of integration as personalities need above all else a sense of true humility and the ability to see their integration as but another step towards the high goal: that as working as the soul.

This stage of events, where the personality is becoming truly integrated, is one of the most difficult that the aspirant has to face. The potency of the personality becoming dominated by the Soul produces an intense karmic activity. Events and circumstances pile fast and furiously into the experience of disciples. Their environment in the three worlds is the best possible for them at this particular stage of their lives and provides the right setting for experience; their experiences fluctuate between the extremes; they work off their karmic obligations and pay the penalty of past mistakes with great rapidity. Incarnation succeeds incarnation and as this educational process proceeds, the progress achieved by the aspirant is tested by the frequency of moments of crisis. Climaxing moments are of importance and the pursuit of an even tenor is not usually good for a disciple……

The Laws of the Soul concern the life of the soul on its own plane, and the relation of the blending soul and personality. When the personality is becoming infused by the Soul then these Laws of the Soul are consciously and voluntarily obeyed. This inevitably “brings about increasing relation between the Hierarchy of Souls and Humanity as a whole, between the great planetary centre which is the custodian of the principle of love, and the planetary centre, humanity, which expresses the energy of mind. Because we are today occupied as aspirants and disciples with the task of coming under these higher laws, it is necessary for us to work simultaneously towards right human and right Hierarchical relationships. The first involves service; the second indicates our willingness to learn.
Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/soulintegration.htm

ENERGY FOLLOWS THOUGHT

The keynotes upon which the occult philosophy is built are:

1.       There is naught in manifestation except organised energy.

2.       Energy follows or conforms itself to thought.

3.       The occultist works in energy and with energy.

It must increasingly be born in mind that there is nothing in the created world but energy in motion, and that every thought directs some aspect of that energy, though always within the sphere of influence of some greater thinking energy. It is when the aspirant recognises that he himself is composed of energy units - held in coherent expression by a still stronger energy, that of integration – that he begins consciously to work in a world of forces similarly composed; he then begins to use energy of a certain kind, and selectively, and takes one of the initial steps towards becoming a true occultist. This world of energy in which he lives and moves, and has his being, is the living, organised vehicle of manifestation of the planetary Logos. Through it, energies are circulating all the time, and are in constant movement, being directed and controlled by the head centre of the planetary Logos; they create great vortices of force, or major points of tension throughout His body of manifestation. The Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet is such a vortex; humanity itself is another, and one which is today in a condition of almost violent activity, owing to its becoming a focus of divine attention.

Energy follows thought is the same as the Bible truism that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” and we should be able to use this information constructively and creatively in our meditations.

The power to visualise correctly is one definite mode of ascertaining truth or falsity. Visualisation is literally the building of a bridge between the emotional and the mental level and is, therefore, a personality correspondence to the building of the ANTAHKARANA. The creative imagination pictures a form through the ability to visualise and the thought energy of the mind gives life and direction to this form. It embodies purpose. Therefore a rapport or line of energy is constructed between the mind and the astral vehicle and it becomes a triple line of energy when the soul of the disciple is utilising this creative process in some planned and definitely constructive manner.

Seek to recognise in your day’s experience the operation of the law that “energy follows thought”, and see how during the day you energised or qualified [consciously, or unconsciously, deliberately or unwittingly] certain situations, relationships, or your own states of thought and feeling.

Discrimination is the method par excellence to develop the mind into the perfect instrument of the soul. Discrimination involves the capacity not only of standing off from one’s own feelings, but also from one’s own thoughts. We have to learn to watch our thinking process in action if we are to free ourselves from the domination of the contents of our lower mind, and thus become the USER of the mind. We must realise that right and wrong activity on the physical plane is due simply to a right and wrong direction of force currents, and not to anything inherently wrong or right in the energies themselves.

Patanjali said: “When thoughts which are contrary to yoga [union] are present there should be the cultivation of their opposite.”

The science of the balancing of the opposites, by using the mind, can be tabulated as follows:

1)                  As a man thinketh so is he. That which works out into physical objectivity is always a thought, and according to that thought or idea so will be the form and life-purpose.

2)                  Thoughts are of two kinds; those tending to form-building, to limitation, to physical plane expression; those tending away from the lower three planes and therefore from the form aspect as we know it in the three worlds, and leading to union [yoga or at-one-ment] with the soul, the Christ aspect.

3)                  When it is found that the thoughts habitually cultivated are productive of astral and physical reactions and results it must be realised that they are inimical to yoga; they hinder the at-one-ing process.

4)                  Contrary thoughts to these must then be cultivated; these can be easily ascertained for they will be the direct opposite of the inhibiting thoughts.

5)                  The cultivation of the thoughts which will tend to yoga and lead a man to a knowledge of his real self and consequent union with that self, involves a triple process.

[1] The new thought concept, definitely formulated and found to be contrary to the old thought current, must be ascertained and considered.

[2] The use of the imagination comes next in order to bring the thought into manifestation. This brings in the realm of desire and consequently the astral or emotional body is affected.

[3] Then follows definite visualization of the effect of that which has been thought and imagined, as it will manifest in the physical plane life.

 This will be found to generate energy. This means consequently that the etheric body becomes vitalized or energized by the new thought current and certain transformations and re-organizations take place which eventually cause a complete change in the activities of the physical plane man. The constant cultivation of this effects an entire transformation in the threefold lower man.

You can see from the above how it is possible for the dark forces to use this information and to brainwash people into a certain way of thinking and acting. Affirmations can be very strong. This knowledge can be used for good or for bad. Knowledge is power and must be prevented from falling into the wrong hands. This is where our fanatics come from that is threatening to blow up the world today.

Based on the works of AAB and DK.

WORLD MIND AND THE HUMAN KINGDOM

Perhaps one of the first things that every student has to learn, as he seeks to grasp the nature and use of mind, is that public opinion has to give place to individual consciousness of right, and that then that individual consciousness has to be so employed and concentrated that it is seen in its right proportion as that living germ which can expand into the divine flower of the Son of Mind, the Manasaputra or soul, and as the thread which leads back into the realm of the Universal Mind. This thread and this consciousness, when followed, will lead the individual into the Council Chamber wherein the plan and the purpose of the great Life will stand revealed, and wherein all human selfishness and self-seeking fade out in the clear light of the Will of God. Through right understanding and right use and control of the astral nature and a comprehension of the nature of the sentient consciousness, man can penetrate into the very heart of God Himself and know past all controversy that all is well, for all is Love. Through right use of mind, and through correct understanding of the nature of the intellect, man can enter into the mind of God and know that all is well, for all is planned, and divine purpose is steadily working out its objectives.

Humanity is the custodian of the hidden mystery, and the difficulty consists in the fact that which man conceals from the world is also hidden from him-self. He knows not the wonder of that which he preserves and nourishes. Humanity is the treasure-house of God [this is the great Masonic secret], for only in the human kingdom, as esotericists have long pointed out, are the three divine qualities found in their full flower and together. In man, God the Father has hidden the secret of life; in man, God the Son has secreted the Treasures of wisdom and of love; in man, God the Holy Spirit has implanted the mystery of manifestation. Humanity, and humanity alone, can reveal the nature of the Godhead and of eternal life. To man is given the privilege of revealing the nature of the divine consciousness, and of portraying before the eyes of the assembled sons of God [at the final conclave before the dissolution] what has lain hidden in the Mind of God. Hence the injunction before us today [in the words of the great Christ teacher] to possess in ourselves “the Mind of Christ.” This  mind must dwell in us and reveal itself in the human race in ever greater fullness. To man is given the task of raising matter up into heaven, and of glorifying rightly the form side of life through his conscious manifestation of divine powers.

To portray adequately the wonder and the destiny of the human kingdom lies beyond my powers or the power of any human pen, no matter how great a man’s realisation may be, or his response to the beauty of God’s world. Divinity must be lived, expressed and manifested, to be understood. God must be loved, known and revealed within the human heart and brain, on order to be intellectually grasped.

The Hierarchy of mystics, knowers and lovers of God, are manifesting this revealed truth in the world of the mental plane and of the emotional plane today. But the hour has now come when the manifestation of this reality can, for the first time and in truth, manifest itself on the physical plane in an organised group form, instead of through the instrumentality of the few inspired sons of God who have, in past ages, incarnated as the guarantee of the future possibilities. The Hierarchy of Angels and of Saints, of Masters, Rishis and Initiates, can now begin to organise itself in material form on earth, because today the group idea is rapidly gaining ground, and the nature of humanity is being better understood. The church of Christ, hitherto invisible and militant, can now be seen slowly materialising and becoming the Christ visible and triumphant. This is the coming glory of the Aquarian Age; this is the next revelation of the evolutionary cycle, and such is the task of the immediate future.  

Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/worldmindandthehk.htm

MENTAL NATURE AND INTEGRATION

The mental nature of a human being is complex because it is not a unity like the astral body. It manifest as a duality, not merely of “quality” but of Fusion. Hence we speak of the ‘lower’ or concrete mind and of the higher or abstract mind. Relating them is the Soul, the Son of Mind. The relating faculty of the Soul, bringing the two aspects of the mind into alignment, is also evocative of the intuition into and through the aligned mind.

Thus, the lower concrete mind is the form building faculty. Thoughts are things. The abstract mind is the mind which receives the ideas and creates the “blue-prints” upon which the forms are modelled. Beyond that lies “the intuition” or pure reason, the faculty which enables man to enter into contact with the Universal Mind and grasp synthetically, to seize upon divine ideas or isolate some fundamental and pure truth.

Again, we can usefully compare the mind, as it builds though-forms in response to the emotional impulses, with the higher creative use of the same mind as it builds thought-forms based on divine ideas – emanating as intuitions and registered in the consciousness of individuals. By such comparisons we learn to see the mind as an instrument, to be used by the indwelling “I” gradually becoming identified as the soul.

The disciple achieves mental integration in the following way:

[1]     He has to learn to think; to discover that he has an apparatus which is called the mind and to uncover its faculties and powers.

[2]     He has to learn next to get back of his thought processes and form building propensities and discover the ideas which underlie the divine thought-form, the world process, and so learn to work in collaboration with the plan and subordinate his own thought-form building to these ideas. He has to learn to penetrate into the world of these divine ideas and to study the ‘pattern of things in the Heavens’, as it is called in the Bible. [The Secret Doctrine.] He must begin to work with the blue-prints upon which all that is, is modelled and moulded. He becomes then a student-symbolist and from being an idolater he becomes a divine idealist.

[3]     From that developed idealism, he must progress even deeper still, until he enters the realm of pure intuition. He can then tap truth at its source. He enters into the mind of God Himself. He intuits as well as idealises and is sensitive to divine thoughts. They fertilise his mind he calls these intuitions later, as he works them out, ideas or ideals, and bases all his work and conduct of affairs upon them.

[4]     Then follows the work of conscious though-form building, based upon these divine ideas, emanating as intuitions from the Universal Mind. This goes forward through meditation.

Each of the above stages has to be mastered as the aspirant treads the path and moves from one stage of integration to the next, and due recognition has to be given to the gradual nature of this process. Before integration comes contact; first a glowing series of contacts with some new aspect of life, then the ‘pull of opposites’ as the old vies with the new; and finally, the elimination of the old and the integration of the new into the individual’s total consciousness. For instance, if we consider the above four points, the practical question arises: “how far can each of us truly think independently as distinct from mental activity produced under the compulsion of desire or wishes? Or, how far can we think without the colouring and distortion of long established emotional habits?” This is not to imply that thinking impelled by emotional states is necessarily wrong, for desire transmuted into aspiration is the underlying driving force which sends individuals forward to seek their God or to transmute and transform their ways in line with their ideal of discipleship for Humanity.

Fearless recognition is the quality we required to tread consciously the way of integration; fearless recognition of all aspects of life within and around us; an understanding of process and of the impossibility of skipping any stages, coupled with the sure knowledge that the attainment of the goal is inevitable, given steady persistence and devotion to the highest recognised truth.

Based on the work of AAB and DK.

THE MYSTIC AND THE OCCULTIST

When you talk of an emotionally polarised person and a mentally polarised person you are definitely talking about the mystic and the occultist. The lack of mind in the mystic you will find in the occultist and the lack of emotions in the occultist you will find in the mystic. If you combine the two you will get the perfect combination necessary for integration. If you keep this in mind we can have a look at the two paths that will eventually become the one path to enlightenment.

In “Letters on Occult Meditation” we read the following:

The mystic is not necessarily an occultist, but the occultist embraces the mystic. Mysticism is but one step on the path of occultism. In this solar system-the system of love in activity- the path of least resistance for the majority is that of the mystic, or the path of love and devotion. The next solar system will be the path of the occultist. Wherein lays the difference between these two types?

The mystic will start with some beloved individual, and from that individual, will rise through the various other individuals to the Master.

The occultist will start with meditation on the virtue most desired, add virtue to virtue in the building of the thoughtform of the ideal self until all the virtues have been attempted and the Ego or Soul is suddenly contacted.

The mystic deals with the evolving life; the occultist with god in outer manifestation. The mystic works from the centre to the periphery; the occultist reverses the process. The mystic mounts by aspiration and in tensest devotion to the God within or to the Master Whom he recognises; the occultist attains by the recognition of the law in operation and by the wielding of the law which binds matter and conforms it to the needs of the indwelling life. In this manner the occultist arrives at those Intelligences Who work with the Law, till he attains the fundamental Intelligence Himself.

The mystic works through the Rays of love, Harmony and Devotion, or by the path of the second, the fourth and the sixth rays. [2, 4, 6.] The occultist works through the Rays of Power, Activity, and Ceremonial Law, or the first, the third and the seventh. [1, 3, 7.] Both meet and blend through the development of mind, or through the fifth ray of Concrete Knowledge [a fragment of cosmic intelligence], and on this fifth ray the mystic is resolved into the occultist and works then with all the rays.

By finding the kingdom of God within himself and by the study of the laws of his own being, the mystic becomes proficient in the laws which govern the universe of which he is a part. The occultist recognises the kingdom of God in nature or the system and regards himself as a small part of that greater whole, and therefore governed by the same laws.

The mystic works as a general rule under the department of the World Teacher, or the Christ, and the occultist more frequently under that of the Manu, or Ruler, but when both types have passed through the four minor rays in the department of the Lord of Civilisation, then a completion of their development may be seen, and the mystic becomes the occultist and the occultist includes the characteristics of the mystic. To make it simpler, for general comprehension:-after initiation the mystic is merged in the occultist for he has become a student of occult law; he has to work with matter, with its manipulation and uses. And he has to master and control all lower forms of manifestation, and learn the rules whereby the building devas work. Before initiation the mystic path might be expressed by the term, Probationary Path. Before the occultist can manipulate wisely the matter of the solar system he must have mastered the laws that govern the microcosm, and even though he is naturally on the occult path yet will still have to find the God within his own being before he can safely venture on the path of occult law.

Thus the mystic seeks to work from the emotional to the intuitional, and thence to the Monad, or Spirit. The occultist works from the physical to the mental, and thence to the atma or Spirit. One works along the path of love; the other along the path of will. The mystic fails in the purpose of his being-that of love demonstrated in activity-unless he co-ordinates the whole through the use of intelligent will. Therefor he has to become the occultist.

The occultist similarly fails and becomes only a selfish exponent of power working through intelligence, unless he finds a purpose for that will and knowledge by an animating love which will give him sufficient motive for all that he attempts. 

Thus the mystic is too apt to feel that the occultist over-estimates the way of knowledge and repeats glibly or casually that the mind is the slayer of the real and that the intellect can give him nothing. The occultist is equally apt to despise the mystical way and to regard the mystical method as ‘lying far behind him”. But both must learn to tread the way of wisdom. The mystic must and will inevitably become the occultist and this whether he likes the process or not. He cannot escape it in the long run, but the occultist is not a true one until he recovers the mystical experience and translates it into terms of synthesis.

It is the materialising of the vision in astral matter, its development through the power of emotion [masquerading as devotion] and the failure of the mystic either to enter into the realm of mental perception or to bring his idealistic dream down into physical expression which lies at the root of the trouble. The man becomes deluded by the best that is in him; he is the victim of an hallucination which embodies the highest he knows; he is overcome by the glamour of the spiritual life; he fails to distinguish between the vision and the Plan, between the manufactured unreal of the ages of mystical activity and the Real which stands ever in the background of the life of the integrated human being.

So, to say that the mystic is not using his mind and that the occultist is not using his emotions is only true whist they are on the early stages of development or the left hand path as in the case of the occultist that works without a hart. 

Based on the works of AAB and DK.

Plates from MAN VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE-BY C.W. LEADBEATER.

THE EMOTIONAL OR ASTRAL BODY

The Soul reflects itself in the personality that is itself threefold:

1.       A mental body.

2.       An emotional body.

3.       A physical body.

The aim is to bring these lover aspects under the control of the Soul.

The emotional or astral body is, as is well known, distinguished by its colourfulness, and according to the stage of unfoldment, so will the colours be beautiful, clear and translucent, or ugly, dark and cloudy. Vibrations reach the astral body from the physical plane and from the mental world, and according to the nature of the man and to the point in evolution which he has reached, so will be the response to the higher or the lower call. It is either attentive to the egoic impression or swayed by the million voices of earth. It apparently has no voice of its own, no character of its own. The disciple stands midway between the two opposing forces of good and evil and searches for the right attitude to both. The astral plane is the battleground of the soul, the place of victory or the place of defeat.

In, Letters on Occult Meditation, we read the following:

The emotional body is simply a great reflector. It takes colour and movement from its surroundings. It receives the impress of every passing desire. It contacts every  whim and fancy in its environment; every current sets it in motion; every sound causes it to vibrate unless the aspirant inhibits such a state of affairs and trains it to receive and register only those impressions which come from the intuitional level via the Higher Self, and therefore via the automatic subplane. The aim of the aspirant should be to so train the emotional body that it will become still and clear as a mirror, so that it may reflect perfectly. His aim should be to make it reflect only the causal body, to take on colour only in line with the great Law, and to move under definite direction and not just as blow the winds of thought, or raise the tides of desire.  It should be still, serene, unruffled, quiet, at rest, limpid and clear, of a quality mirror-like, of surface even, a limpid reflector – one that accurately transmits the wishes, the desires, and the aspirations of the Ego and not of the personality.

The best way that I have worked out to deal with my emotions or to control them is an attitude of [1] acceptance, [2] surrendering, [3] and I don’t give a damn attitude. [4] I also practice harmlessness in thought, in emotional reaction and in physical action. [5] Spiritual reading and study keep me from depression and gives direction to my live. [6] Service also help for depression, keeps me out of trouble and gives meaning to life.

Purification and transmutation of the emotional nature

Before the desire of a man can be towards things spiritual he has to cease to desire the things of the world, and of the flesh. This produces an interlude of great difficulty in the life of neophyte, and the process is symbolized for us in the use of the word “conversion” in orthodox Christian circles; it involves “a turning round” with its consequent temporary turmoil, but eventual quietness. 

Purification and transmutation are brought about in several ways, some at the direction of the aspirant, and some at the direction of the Master.

1.       By the constant watching of all desires, motives and wishes that cross the horizon daily, and by the subsequent emphasising of all those that are of a higher order, and by the inhibition of  the lower.

2.       By a constant daily attempt to contact the Higher Self, and to reflect His wishes in the life. At first mistakes will be made, but little by little the building-in process proceeds, and the polarisation in the emotional body gradually shifts up each subplane until the atomic is reached.

3.       By definite periods daily directed to the stilling of the emotional body. It should be remembered that the stilling of the emotional nature is a step preliminary to the quieting of the mind; one succeeds the other and it is wise to begin at the bottom of the ladder. Each aspirant must discover for himself wherein he yields most easily to violent vibrations, such as fear, worry, personality desire of any kind, personality love of anything or anyone, discouragement, over-sensitiveness to public opinion; then he must overcome that vibration, by imposing on it a new rhythm, definitely eliminating and constructing.

4.       By work done on the emotional body at night under the direction of more advanced egos, working under the guidance of a Master. Stimulation of vibration or the dampening of vibration follows on the application of certain colours and sounds.

The work is gradual, and as the polarisation shifts up, the moment of transition from one subplane to another is marked by certain tests applied at night, what one might term a series of small initiations that eventually will be consummated in the second great initiation, that marks the perfection of the control of the body of the emotions.

We must not suppress and restrict the feeling nature but the suppressed or hidden conflicts must be faced and resolved, and the astral body rebuilt of higher grade substance. At this higher vibration the emotional body becomes a functioning asset to the disciple instead of a hindrance, and through it he becomes aware of the needs of others. 

In the early stages of his invocative work, the instrument used is the creative imagination.  This enables him at the very beginning to act as if he were capable of thus creating; then, when the as if imaginative consciousness is no longer useful, he becomes consciously aware of that which he has—with hope and spiritual expectancy—sought to create; he discovers this as an existent fact and knows past all controversy that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

The evolutionary processes can equally well be stated to be those of eliminating the physical substance lying between the dense physical body and the astral sentient body, and substituting substance of the four highest planes, the four cosmic ethers. Physically speaking, it is this etheric substitution which enables a man successively to take the five initiations which make him a Master of the Wisdom.
Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/theemotionalbody.htm

CHRISTMAS 2011

Let us not forget what it is really about; the celebration of the birth and accomplishments of one of the sons of humanity who have achieved liberation ahead of our time, thereby showing us the way.   

Our consciousness sheds its selfish boundaries proportionately as we reach out in empathetic support of others, whether materially or by giving gifts of our time, attention, and caring. With every effort we make to hold kindness in our hearts even toward those with whom we have had difficulties, to harmonize and heal with the patience of understanding and the sweetness of forgiveness, we draw upon the all-embracing consciousness that we honour in Jesus during this holy season. Recognizing as he did the divine kinship of all humanity as souls, free of the constraints of social, national, and religious boundaries, is the ultimate answer to so many of the challenges of our time. We truly are one in the spiritual realms. Let it be so on earth. I know it is not easy; I also know it is what our souls want and what we are working for.

In communion with God’s omnipresence in meditation, we can experience in the deepest way the union that Jesus knew at the Third Initiation, the Transfiguration on a High Mountain. The heart’s feeling bursts its boundaries and feels for all as its very own; you cannot bear to exclude anyone from that love. May that expanded consciousness, a part of it, or at least an acceleration towards its realisation, be the divine gift you receive this Christmas, to carry with you into the new year.

Wishing you and your dear ones all joy, peace, and blessings,

Christ gives us a definite picture of the entire process in His own life story, built around those major initiations which are our universal heritage and glorious [and for many] the immediate opportunity. They are:

[1] The Birth at Bethlehem, to which Christ called Nicodemus, saying, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

[2] The Baptism in Jordan. This is the baptism to which John the Baptist referred us, telling us that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire must be administered to us by Christ.

[3] The Transfiguration. There perfection is for the first time demonstrated, and there the divine possibility of such perfection is proven to the disciples. The command goes forth to us, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

[4] The Crucifixion. This is called the Great Renunciation, in the Orient, with its lesson of sacrifice and its call to the death of the lower nature. This was the lesson which St. Paul knew and the goal toward which he strove. “I die daily,” he said, for only in the practice of death daily undergone can the final Death be met and endured.

[5] The Resurrection and Ascension, the final triumph which enables the initiate to sing and to know the meaning of the words: “Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?”

Such are the five great dramatic events of the mysteries. Such are the initiations [awakenings] through which all men must some day pass.

For more information on the initiations of Christ please go to:

http://edgeba.webs.com/initiations.htm

THE ART OF DETACHMENT

One of the most valuable tools which the disciple must learn to use with effect on his evolutionary path is the art of detachment, impersonality and acceptance. The worker must learn to stand apart and hold himself free from that which he is trying to create. He must learn to cultivate the attitude of the onlooker and the silent observer. Mental detachment will enable him to obtain a calm and impersonal view of that which he wishes to accomplish.

This detachment must be seen as a form of self-protection, of self-immunisation, or of aloofness, but as an attempt to arrive at true perspectives and to see the real values involved as viewed from the level of the soul. It is only from this altitude that circumstances and people will be seen as they really are—with their shortcomings and their virtues, their divinity and humanity; it is only through this attitude that man may escape from violent emotional and mental responses which must inevitably result in unbalanced discernment. Detachment may of course also be carried to excess, when it will constitute a vice, and it is therefore for the true server of the Plan to find and walk the middle way.

The gaining of true impersonality and detachment is but another way of saying that the disciple has succeeded in lifting himself above the problems of the personality, and is now enabled to work from the level of the soul. He has learned acceptance and can therefore handle every situation in a spirit of love, refusing to take hasty action that might permit any form of separation to creep into his relationships with his fellow man. This must inevitably lead to true service and the fulfilment of that small section of the Plan for which he is responsible.

Impersonality is achieved by eliminating all personal ambition and love of power. It means relinquishing many cherished ideas, hard won qualities, carefully nurtured ideals, or powerfully formulated beliefs, and accepting conditions as they are.

The cultivation of an attitude of ‘divine indifference’ with regard to personal desires, contacts and goals, will contribute considerably towards the attainment of impersonality. Acceptance will mean emotional control, which is one of the most difficult tasks to which the evolving disciple is subjected, and which usually takes considerable time to achieve; once attained, however, it will prove to be worth all the effort expended.

Read more at:http://edgeba.webs.com/theartofdetachment.htm

INTEGRATION

 The goal of all development is integration:

“Having pervaded this entire universe with a fragment of myself, I remain.” The pull of that overshadowing “remaining Self” is what draws the little fragment back to its originating source.

 In relation to integration we can say that unity has to do with a relationship in consciousness. Life is One-no more distinctions, but only identification. The whole identifies itself with the parts of itself. Integration leads to synthesis and emerges in units of consciousness provided that these units acknowledge the presence of the one life in each part. Because we deal with the whole, synthesis has to do with the universal. All separation is overcome by it. All opposites disappear in the one. Joy and sadness, good and evil disappear when they are recognised as having only a temporary existence. The inner and outer life fuse. All that come to be within the original thoughtform of the planetary Logos is gradually brought into synthesis by the planetary Purpose. But this occurs in many phases and steps of integration; each time a broader and larger synthesis is brought about, from synthesis on the level of atoms to synthesis on the level of consciousness to the general identification with the Whole. This takes place because the instinctive inclination to fuse and unite is part of the entire universe. This expresses itself in the many societies, unions, associations, groups, and alliances. This instinct of integration is the guarantee of ultimate synthesis.

How does man fit into this process? Like any separate principle, we are apprentices in Synthesis and integration. We learn to evolve in our own bodies, swimming in our own information that we seize and reconstruct as fully and as incompletely as is our own understanding of ourselves. this ideas we grasp all have the goal of guiding us toward our higher reality. As for our thoughts, they are distorted reflections of ourselves, that reality from which we are abstracted. Man is the constant expression of the synthesis of his own thoughts and when they put him in alignment with the reality of The Thought that contains them, he becomes more integrated. What we are, the quality of our expression, depends entirely on the quality of all our thoughts. All are obligatorily perceptions of ourselves, as much as the idea we have of our neighbour, the sun, or of an abstract concept that we project incessantly without realizing it.

To succeed on this Path of Return in an efficient accelerated way we have to make use of the will which is latent in all of us. This aspect of will is present at the centre of the causal body. But because for the moment it is still impossible to reveal that Jewel in the Lotus, we have to limit ourselves to the use of the will of the personality. This is related to the will of the soul through the Petals of sacrifice in the lotus of the soul. One of the qualities of the personal will is perseverance. It is this quality we can call on and use to walk on the Path of Return. Together with another quality of the will, that of determination, we can bring the purpose of synthesis and integration even nearer. This is because the ultimate characteristic of will is the expression of the self that produces synthesis. In this way, at the end of the Path of Return, synthesis is reached by the use of constant effort. The separation at the departure of the hero has been nullified and the separated parts are fused again into ONE.  

Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/integration.htm

INTERNATIONAL UNITY

Throughout our long period of evolution we have had many forces working against unity of the human race. That unity will only be achieved near the end of our evolution when we are more perfect than we are today. [THANKS TO THOSE NEGATIVE FORCES.] Till then it is a dream for humanity and our aim to strive for. Every generation have their share of negative forces to overcome that will bring them nearer to that dream; in our generation as well. We are here talking about that age long battle between good and bad, the forces of light verses the forces of darkness. Every force that works against us in evolution is what we call evil and if it helps us forwards in our life, better our situation or helps our evolution, we call it spiritual. Without something to overcome, we cannot go forward and will stagnate in one place.

WE HAVE A LOT WORKING AGAINST US. First we have the “old entrenched forces” to consider. Of these reactionary forces we can say the following would be the most formidable:

• The antagonism between East and West, between superpowers and non-aligned nations, between Arabs and Jews, between communism and so called democracy, and even between Black and white. [Few of the most Formidable]

• Lack of unity in the United Nations.

• Pressures imposed upon nations which force the majority in the United Nations to forego any action by the Security Council on the demand of a minority—even of one nation’s use of the obstructing veto in the Security Council.
• Fissionable materials, oil, minerals, wheat and territorial boundaries are still controlling factors with developing nations or in the minds of most leaders.
• Small nations can only exert an influence through alignment with more powerful blocs.
• The forces of power politics instead of catering for human need. 
• The gap between rich and poor. [Human greed, a formidable force.]
• The fact that a country can disobey the orders of the UN without effective action being taken.
• UN inability to take a firm stand on behalf of justice. [e.g. Zimbabwe]
• The heresy of separateness. A formidable force. This prevents Unity.
• The biggest evil today, I think, is the Military Industrial Corporations of the USA. At the moment they are doing what they want and nobody can stop them. I hope it forms part of the Plan.

Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/internationalunity.htm

RELIGION, THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE

Religion is the formation of the doctrines and dogmas which have been drawn up in order to tell us how to find our way to god. This presentation should be scientific as well as theological or sentimental truths based on facts and experience.  All religions have been infiltrated by the dark brothers as is the case with all secret societies. 

Organised religion should lead a person to self-expression of the higher self or soul through the medium of an illumined personality, through the formulation of ideas about God and about a man’s relation to God. It should bind all people and beings into one grand whole and should be a basis for world unity. It has that potential but not as long as it is under the control of agents of the anti-Christ. They have their agenda too.

Theology is in reality only human interpretations of divine revelation and man-made teachings [by the dark “Illuminati”, the anti-Christ agents] with no divine basis but only intellectual [or material] interest.

The idea that everybody is going to lay in the ground and that all the dead is going to stand up at judgment day is of no value to me. This kind of theologies, are doing a lot of harm and should be wiped out. Here we can see that the presentation of the divine truth has not kept pace with the growth of the human intellect and that the church has really become the tomb of truth. As science and religion move nearer to each other we must start to throw out everything on both sides that do not fit into the big picture of truth. This will be done as our senses develop.

Morpheus in The Matrix:      “Do you want to know what it is? The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”

  “.....you are a slave Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch—a prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is—you have to see it for yourself....I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”

“The Matrix is a system, Neo, and that system is our enemy. When you are inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters, the very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are part of that system and that makes them our enemies. You have to understand most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many are so...hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.”

Dr Gordon Allen in his book, Enigma Fantastique:   “The purpose today is identical to the purpose in the times of the magician-scientists of ancient times, the purpose of the controlling priesthood of the Egyptians, the Ceasars, the Roman Catholic church, the Inquisition. The ecclesiastic control of the various ruling families had for its purpose the rule of the people in their material bodies on this Earth-plane....”

 Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/religiontheologyands.htm

THE ESOTERICIST

The first thing which every earnest student has to grasp is that esoteric training is self-initiated and self- imposed and self-applied. He is self-taught. No one is going to give us this training, for it is essentially a training in living spiritually in a material world. We have to train ourselves and it is not an easy task. There are-needless to say-certain basic and well known rules which have stood the test of ages, but we have ourselves to apply these rules and attain the needed attitudes- alone and unaided. Esoteric training falls into two parts:

[1]     The stage wherein the personality attempts consciously to know itself as a soul and gradually becomes a soul-infused personality. Through discipline, meditation and service, the individual brings his threefold personality [physical, emotional and mental vehicles] under control of the soul and thus becomes simply the agent for the soul life, light and service. It is with this stage that most students are now engaged; gradually the focus of consciousness shifts from the emotional nature into that of the mind and then student become integrated personalities and are ready to begin the process of shifting their consciousness into a still higher aspect of themselves and become focused in the soul.

[2]     The stage when the student begins to live the life of inclusive, loving esoteric understanding. When a measure of this has been achieved aspirants become aware of an even higher goal and their soul-infused personalities reach out to the spiritual expression of their highest divine aspect, the Monad, the Spirit or the Life. This expression is called the Spiritual Triad, the three aspects of which are to the Monad what the three aspects of the personality are to the soul. The student then begins to learn the nature of the will, to master the higher energies.

Six essential phases of esoteric training are:

1.            Training ourselves to live and work in the three worlds of human evolution as souls.

2.            Realising our exact point of focus or identity and learning gradually to shift it higher as life goes on.

3.            The clearing of our mental aura by right directed thinking.

4.            The redemption of that which is material and related to the form nature.

5.            The establishing of right human relations.

6.            The development of telepathic sensitivity and an intuitive perception of the inner side of life.

Esoteric training is not a process of acquiring cosmic information, ascertaining certain academic facts anent the solar system, the planet, the kingdoms in nature, the Lords of the Flame, the existence of planes and principles or the mysteries connected with the theme of hierarchical contacts. These wisdoms and knowledge will come as we begin to live as souls.

Esoteric training is a living process of daily intelligent and planned progress nearer to the heart of reality; it is the mode whereby the consciousness becomes inclusive of that which is other than itself; it is a discipline of thought and a determined control of the emotions and a strict adherence to the sacrificial life. But it results in radiation and in a wide spiritual influence; it enables one to become a bearer of light in a darkened world. It leads from darkness to light, from the unreal to the Real and from death to Immortality.

The quite ordinary formulations of “loving living and of daily instinctive self-sacrifice” suffers from being so vitally familiar yet...they are the A.B.C. of esotericism...

From the works of AAB and DK.
For similar topics go to: http://edgeba.webs.com/