Before I go to sleep each night, I walk out on my deck to view the night sky. I thank the Father for the wonderful night, lean back my head and take in the grand, magical spectacle of night. As I listen to the night songs of the crickets, I think that the crickets usher in the night as the birds usher in the dawn, both acknowledging and singing praises to the change of light. The stars, moon, clouds, the lighting flash of a meteorite, the wind and the accompanying whispers of the leaves of the trees, the times of the scared appearance of the northern lights, the lighting bugs, all dance their special dance; yet all are moving with perfect harmony and unity under the influence of a higher principle.
As each and every snowflake has its distinctive pattern, the corner stone of its particular pattern is its six points. All snowflake modifications and permutations of patterns are brought into being by using the matrix of the six points. We therefore see an operational unity instructing modifications. This kind of directional unity is not uncommon in Nature, rather it is an universal imperative. Spock from, "Star Trek" is heard instructing Caption, James T. Kerk, about the "One into the many." I know that using a T.V. show as an authoritative testimony is weak, but perhaps its familiarity can bring insight. If you are looking for grander authority read the philosophy of Pythagoras. The point to remember however and to mentally distill, is that behind all manifestation there is an universal principle.
The ancient mystics, philosophers, and sages understood the truth of the primacy of universal principles. Once they grasped the universal principle it was easy to fit the particular detail into the universal principle and have confidence of its true relationship. The ancient's practice of reasoning from universals to particulars is the primary opposition relating to the difficulty of understanding their writings; and more often then not, misunderstanding them. Our present reasoning process moves from particulars to universals; in direct opposition to the ancient's reasoning process. The evolution of the change in reasoning can be attributed to the ideas of Aristotle, (384 B.C.), refined by Sir Francis Bacon, (1561), into the process of the scientific method, and further tweaked by Emmanuel Kant, (1724). The technique the ancient's used to comprehend the universal principles was their mind's laser like ability to focus so comprehensively on whatever subject, as to gain an understand of the universal principle. An analogy would be, fitting together a puzzle to fit the picture of what it was to look like. Using the picture as an universal principle it is then possible to place an individual puzzle piece with its corresponding piece and be certain of its correct relationship. On the other hand, following the reasoning of the scientific method, with out knowing the puzzle picture, the placing of a particular puzzle piece in the right relationship to another piece would be haphazard, a hit or miss try. That is why the "missing link" is still missing, the particle that makes all manifestation still has not been found, and the real nature of the cosmos does not conform to any scientific theories..
John P. Van Mater, a Theosophist, brings clarity to the above universal principle matrix.
"A study of the various religions and philosophies, past and present, reveals that they are for the most part based upon certain universal principles. There is an ancient wisdom running through them all like a golden thread. This is more than mere assertion, as the increasing researches into comparative religion, mythology, and symbology amply testify.. It is logical that there should be this common body of thought behind the apparent diversity. These expressions, after all, are attempts to describe how our universe, sun, and planet came into being - also what man's role is and has been in this genesis. And since the cosmos has a structure, a history, and origin, and operates according to basic laws, sincere attempts to explain these mysteries will contain much fundamentally identic material. To put it simply, all seek to describe the same panorama."
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
the causeless cause
There is an ancient axiom credited to Sextus, a Pythagorean, in his 104 sentences called, "The Sentences of Sextus," number 3 goes, "Do not investigate the name of God because you will not find it. For everything called by a name receives its appellation from that which is more worthy than itself, so that it is one person that calls and another that hears. Who is it, therefore, who has given a name to God? The word "God" is not a name of his, but an indication of what we conceive of him." In other words, God the word, is merely a conceptional focal point around which this concept draws its meaning. There is no wonder then, that different religions and spiritual communities have given different names to the concept of God, ie. God, Alla, Jehovah, the pantheon of Hindu names, Krishna, Siva, etc. Because the concept of God is of such a high quality of abstraction, differences of interpretation and understanding arise. The attributes, however of all the different religious and spiritual affiliations ascribe to this Intelligent Supreme Power, are more or less similar: infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, compassionate. The Intelligent Supreme Power accordingly is without equal, and has no opposite; that is, it is without an equal. Thus when, any attempt is made to explain this highest of concepts, it will invariably fall short. What then remains of the attempt are mental confusion, and unsound.philosophical reasoning.
All sages, past, and present, have fundamentally taught the same doctrine about the Intelligent Supreme Power. They teach that there is a fundamental causal unity, that underlies all things and all beings, and all worlds through out the full breath of the Kosmos; and this fundamental causal unity is what they describe as the illimitable Vast and incomprehensible, utterly Unthinkable-Life-Consciousness. This Intelligent Supreme Power is so divine that it is spoken of only as "That" or "Self," in the Hindu Upanishads. The mere mention of It to the uninstructed would be the gravest form of blaspheme. In many ancient texts reference to the Intelligent Supreme Power and other concepts were disguised, cloaked by fable and allegory. For instance, Origin, one of the early Fathers of the Christian Church wrote as follows:
"In Egypt, the philosophers have a most noble and secret Wisdom concerning the Nature of the Divine, which Wisdom is described to the people only under the garment of allegories and fables...
All the Eastern nations-the Persians, the Indians, the Syrians- conceal secret mysteries under cover of religious fables and allegories; the truly wise (the initiated in the Wisdom), of all nations understand the meaning of these, but the uninstructed multitudes see the symbols only and the covering garment."
A similar account is gotten from Mainonides, the greatest Jewish Rabbi of the Middle Ages, who writes in his "Guide of the Perplexed:"
"We should not take literally what is written in the Book of Creation nor hold the same ideas about it that the people hold. If it were otherwise, our learned ancient sages would not have been to so great labor in order to conceal the real sense, and to hold before the vision of the uninstructed people the veil of allegory which conceals the truths that it contains. Taken literally, that work contains the most absurd and far-fetched ideas of the Divine. Whosoever can guess the real sense, ought to guard carefully his knowledge not to divulge it. This is a rule taught by our wise men, especially in connection to the work of the six days."
The Causeless Cause, the Boundless All, that which is and is not, the Central Sun, the Unspeakable, the utterly Unthinkable, the god of the ancient and modern seers and sages, of its majesty and boundless perfection we can not know. It is enough, however to know that it infinitely is; that its the consciousness that underlies the fundamental causal unity of all things; that in common with our fellow creatures we posses a "spark" of its Essence; and that its Nature can be studied only in the worlds called forth by its mighty consciousness.
Plotinus, a third century Greek philosopher, student of Ammonis Saccas, provides first hand testimony to the unity of thought surrounding the concept of an Intelligent Supreme Power in the ancient world among philosophers of some capacity:
"The highest of all is ubiquitous yet nowhere in particular. Further more, the highest Divine is at once everywhere in its fullness for its the 'everywhere' itself, and furthermore, all manner of being. The highest Divine must never be thought as being in the everywhere, but itself is the everywhere as well as the origin and source of all beings and things in their unending residence in the everywhere."
I know the above quote may sound like 'philosophical babble,' but there is significant knowledge to be had in its understanding. If you go to, ascendtheascent.wordpress.com and find a blog "sayings and comments 4, Dec. 2012. hopefully you may find some clarification of the above statement.
All sages, past, and present, have fundamentally taught the same doctrine about the Intelligent Supreme Power. They teach that there is a fundamental causal unity, that underlies all things and all beings, and all worlds through out the full breath of the Kosmos; and this fundamental causal unity is what they describe as the illimitable Vast and incomprehensible, utterly Unthinkable-Life-Consciousness. This Intelligent Supreme Power is so divine that it is spoken of only as "That" or "Self," in the Hindu Upanishads. The mere mention of It to the uninstructed would be the gravest form of blaspheme. In many ancient texts reference to the Intelligent Supreme Power and other concepts were disguised, cloaked by fable and allegory. For instance, Origin, one of the early Fathers of the Christian Church wrote as follows:
"In Egypt, the philosophers have a most noble and secret Wisdom concerning the Nature of the Divine, which Wisdom is described to the people only under the garment of allegories and fables...
All the Eastern nations-the Persians, the Indians, the Syrians- conceal secret mysteries under cover of religious fables and allegories; the truly wise (the initiated in the Wisdom), of all nations understand the meaning of these, but the uninstructed multitudes see the symbols only and the covering garment."
A similar account is gotten from Mainonides, the greatest Jewish Rabbi of the Middle Ages, who writes in his "Guide of the Perplexed:"
"We should not take literally what is written in the Book of Creation nor hold the same ideas about it that the people hold. If it were otherwise, our learned ancient sages would not have been to so great labor in order to conceal the real sense, and to hold before the vision of the uninstructed people the veil of allegory which conceals the truths that it contains. Taken literally, that work contains the most absurd and far-fetched ideas of the Divine. Whosoever can guess the real sense, ought to guard carefully his knowledge not to divulge it. This is a rule taught by our wise men, especially in connection to the work of the six days."
The Causeless Cause, the Boundless All, that which is and is not, the Central Sun, the Unspeakable, the utterly Unthinkable, the god of the ancient and modern seers and sages, of its majesty and boundless perfection we can not know. It is enough, however to know that it infinitely is; that its the consciousness that underlies the fundamental causal unity of all things; that in common with our fellow creatures we posses a "spark" of its Essence; and that its Nature can be studied only in the worlds called forth by its mighty consciousness.
Plotinus, a third century Greek philosopher, student of Ammonis Saccas, provides first hand testimony to the unity of thought surrounding the concept of an Intelligent Supreme Power in the ancient world among philosophers of some capacity:
"The highest of all is ubiquitous yet nowhere in particular. Further more, the highest Divine is at once everywhere in its fullness for its the 'everywhere' itself, and furthermore, all manner of being. The highest Divine must never be thought as being in the everywhere, but itself is the everywhere as well as the origin and source of all beings and things in their unending residence in the everywhere."
I know the above quote may sound like 'philosophical babble,' but there is significant knowledge to be had in its understanding. If you go to, ascendtheascent.wordpress.com and find a blog "sayings and comments 4, Dec. 2012. hopefully you may find some clarification of the above statement.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
star shooter
On scared days, within the cosmic cycles, as when Earth, Moon, Venues, Mercury,
and the Sun are in suzyge or when the solstices or equinoxes accrue, star shooter, Chiti Shakti, takes up the sacred bow of liberation, and from his quiver, places a spiritually prepared aspirant of truth head first, between his bow and bowstring, draws the bow to its helt, angles his back
arching to the sky, and launches the seeker towards the Sun.
As the seeker moves out, passing through the various spheres of earth, "G" forces are pealing away his life experiences, but as excruciating and disconcerting as that feels there is no turning back. He has passed the point of no return, and just as the valve of his heart closes after the beat, there is no way back; his fate is sealed, either victory, madness or death.
Moving through the outer spheres of earth, while experiencing its extreme drag, the seeker must rely on the grace and power of the Star Shooter, and have complete faith in his aim, Each sphere of the earth the seeker traverses, sheds and clarifies, not only the aggregates of his physical body, but also the deeply warn pathways of emotions and obsessions within his mind; with each shedding he feels lighter and freer. As the seeker reaches the outer most sphere of earth, his forward thrust is severely weakened. It is there that he must battle every selfish earth desire before he can move through the threshold into space. The battle is fierce, draining the seeker's life force, until he surrenders to Chiti Shakti's grace and wisdom. His immediate victory in hand, he moves across the threshold into space, now passing along the magnetic channels towards the Moon.
Now that the seeker has dropped sheaths of his physical make up, and has freed himself from earth's fetters, he can ride the magnetic channel at mind speed. So at the blink of his eye he enters the atmosphere of the Moon. As he enters the field of the Moon, he feels drag; only this time on his Lunar body. The Lunar body now being dissolved, his human form has turned into an ethereal consistency. He effortlessly enters the heart of the Moon, becoming attuned to its essence which brings him complete understanding. Moving through the Moon's atmosphere at mind speed, he connects with the magnetic channel and enters the spheres of Venues.
Venues, Earth's day and evening star, immediately produces drag on the seeker's Venusian body. Again, sheath after sheath of the seeker's souls are dropped and abandoned, morphing his body into a light form, a blue light essence. He enters the heart of Venues, and knows its essence, purifying his form,even further. His blue light form moves through the Venusian atmosphere preparing the seeker to enter Mercury's spheres.
Mercury, the Sun's closest relation, creates drag on the seeker's Mercurial body. Sheaths are dropped and abandoned, further refining his light form in preparation for his final peregrination to the Sun. His light form has expanded into a universal unification of consciousness, the mortal is becoming immortal and omniscient. He enters the atmosphere of the Sun with unspeakable joy and peace; a million times over what he has ever experienced. As he aims for the heart of the Sun all progress comes to a abrupt, complete stop. The seeker understands that he must now make a choice in order to move on. He has come to, Robert Frost's proverbial " ...two roads diverge in the woods"... One road is to reap his hard fought and well deserved reward, heaven, nirvana; existing in bliss for eons and eons, until the Great Cycle moves into sleep and than reawakens. The other road, "less traveled," is to renounce his due reward, and return to earth, for eons and eons, until all beings and entities are liberated, enlightened. He hears the suffering of earth and cannot lay easy while his earth brothers and sisters are struggling. He desires to become a part of the brotherhood of the Guardian Wall.
*"Children of the Sun, offspring of the stars"... when your turn comes which road will you chose?
*(the quote is from Gottfried de Putucker's, a Theosophist, book, "The Four Seasons.")
and the Sun are in suzyge or when the solstices or equinoxes accrue, star shooter, Chiti Shakti, takes up the sacred bow of liberation, and from his quiver, places a spiritually prepared aspirant of truth head first, between his bow and bowstring, draws the bow to its helt, angles his back
arching to the sky, and launches the seeker towards the Sun.
As the seeker moves out, passing through the various spheres of earth, "G" forces are pealing away his life experiences, but as excruciating and disconcerting as that feels there is no turning back. He has passed the point of no return, and just as the valve of his heart closes after the beat, there is no way back; his fate is sealed, either victory, madness or death.
Moving through the outer spheres of earth, while experiencing its extreme drag, the seeker must rely on the grace and power of the Star Shooter, and have complete faith in his aim, Each sphere of the earth the seeker traverses, sheds and clarifies, not only the aggregates of his physical body, but also the deeply warn pathways of emotions and obsessions within his mind; with each shedding he feels lighter and freer. As the seeker reaches the outer most sphere of earth, his forward thrust is severely weakened. It is there that he must battle every selfish earth desire before he can move through the threshold into space. The battle is fierce, draining the seeker's life force, until he surrenders to Chiti Shakti's grace and wisdom. His immediate victory in hand, he moves across the threshold into space, now passing along the magnetic channels towards the Moon.
Now that the seeker has dropped sheaths of his physical make up, and has freed himself from earth's fetters, he can ride the magnetic channel at mind speed. So at the blink of his eye he enters the atmosphere of the Moon. As he enters the field of the Moon, he feels drag; only this time on his Lunar body. The Lunar body now being dissolved, his human form has turned into an ethereal consistency. He effortlessly enters the heart of the Moon, becoming attuned to its essence which brings him complete understanding. Moving through the Moon's atmosphere at mind speed, he connects with the magnetic channel and enters the spheres of Venues.
Venues, Earth's day and evening star, immediately produces drag on the seeker's Venusian body. Again, sheath after sheath of the seeker's souls are dropped and abandoned, morphing his body into a light form, a blue light essence. He enters the heart of Venues, and knows its essence, purifying his form,even further. His blue light form moves through the Venusian atmosphere preparing the seeker to enter Mercury's spheres.
Mercury, the Sun's closest relation, creates drag on the seeker's Mercurial body. Sheaths are dropped and abandoned, further refining his light form in preparation for his final peregrination to the Sun. His light form has expanded into a universal unification of consciousness, the mortal is becoming immortal and omniscient. He enters the atmosphere of the Sun with unspeakable joy and peace; a million times over what he has ever experienced. As he aims for the heart of the Sun all progress comes to a abrupt, complete stop. The seeker understands that he must now make a choice in order to move on. He has come to, Robert Frost's proverbial " ...two roads diverge in the woods"... One road is to reap his hard fought and well deserved reward, heaven, nirvana; existing in bliss for eons and eons, until the Great Cycle moves into sleep and than reawakens. The other road, "less traveled," is to renounce his due reward, and return to earth, for eons and eons, until all beings and entities are liberated, enlightened. He hears the suffering of earth and cannot lay easy while his earth brothers and sisters are struggling. He desires to become a part of the brotherhood of the Guardian Wall.
*"Children of the Sun, offspring of the stars"... when your turn comes which road will you chose?
*(the quote is from Gottfried de Putucker's, a Theosophist, book, "The Four Seasons.")
Monday, May 20, 2013
our human heritage-God-Wisdom II
In my last blog, I said that our human origination was from spiritual powers, which are the model structures upon which the physical human form was developed. I than asked the question, What would our world view be, if based on spiritual powers templating our physical, human form?
(It would be a good idea to reread my first blog on "Our Human Heritage-God Wisdom).
At first glance, the Christian, Jewish, Muslim view on the origination of humans would seem to evenly line up with the stated view above. God, Jehovah, Allah, although different names represent the same meaning, that an ultimate spiritual being, created humans and the universe. Since the spiritual, ultimate, supreme being originated/created the universe and humans, the sequence was from the spiritual to the physical. So far the doctrines line up, but here is the "but," the supreme beings of the above religions not only created/originated humans and the universe, but supervise and ultimately judge each human as to which will receive salvation and which will not. There is a logical, philosophical flaw with supreme beings supervising and judging their creations. The above religions assign, out of their gods' essential natures, certain omni-qualities: infinitness, omniscient, etc. An infinite being must operate on the plane of infinity and cannot operate on the plane of a mundane world without surrendering its infinitness. Simply put, an infinite being cannot become finite, in any way, shape or form. To have a supreme being step into the finite plane and supervise and judge its finite creations, seems from a mystical point of view acceptable, but from a philosophical point of view is untenable. Lets take an analogy of Superman, (the comic book hero) to strengthen my point. Superman is the man of steel; the strongest material on earth. We can mystically accept Superman's steel like nature and his super abilities, but when we scrutinize, philosophize, his nature we find that steel isn't the strongest material, for instance, a diamond is stronger. We also know from experience that a temperature of about a 1ooo+ degrees Fahrenheit, melts steel. So! why use hard to find kryptonite to destroy the Man of Steel? Thus we reduce the mystery of Superman to speculation, and must now reconfigure the idea of Superman to comform to the gathered, new truth. The best argument the religions can put forth to justify their doctrine of their gods supervising and judging their creations is, "It is not possible to know the will of omniscient god, therefore we must have complete faith in his judgements." The religions are really asking their followers to have "blind faith."
The practice of such a doctrine results in great fear and confusion for the religions' followers; the often heard question universally echos, "How can an omniscient, all merciful god let bad things happen to good people?" Listen to Thomas Hardy's, a novelist and poet, confusion, in his poem, "Hap,"
"If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!
Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
-Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan....
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain."
The religions' doctrines have their gods jump from infinitness to finiteness, which primarily stems from an orthodox rendering of their scriptures. Yet, it is not due to their scriptures in themselves, but solely to the wrong interpretation given them by priests and churches, and easily believed by a weak humanity that needs a support beyond itself on which to lean. Not only do these misguided doctrines lead to confusion, but they also lead to searching for salvation from the outside, within the dualistic material world. As soon as we postulate a Deity who is outside and beyond us we must bow our heads and lower our eyes, and wait for his judgement. To get a better grasp of the effects of a blind-faith belief searching for salvation from the outside, lets imagine a fictional character, Samuel Seeker, and examine his faith based views within any Christian sect.
Here stands Sam, immersed within his blind-faith from early childhood; believing in an infinite, omniscient, jealous, judging and supervising god being, along with god's only begotten son, Jesus the Christ who descended to earth, was crucifixied, died, and resurrected to establish a pathway for salvation. Along side Sam's god is an incarnate being, the source of all evil, "Satan;" one of Sam's god's prior, highest hosts, who turned away from god because of archangel pride, " who would rather reign on earth, than serve in heaven." Sam is instructed, in his one life on earth, even though he is brought into earth life marked by "original sin" to live a righteous life according to the sacred scriptures and to prepare himself for the "last judgement;" where he will receive his reward of eternal heaven, or punishment of purification in purgatory or eternal damnation in hell. Of course Sam's hope is for eternal heaven, and although Alexander Pope says ..."Hope springs eternal in the heart of man"... his next line, which no one ever quotes is ..." man never is, but always to be blessed." Sam's hope for salvation for eternal heaven, is conditioned by the judgement of his god and/or his devotion to Jesus, and all that is based on god's grace and mercifulness. Sam understands those conditions and estimates that his chances for eternal heaven are less than fifth percent. He came into this world with a black mark of sin on his soul, and into an environment tilted towards sin. Add to that an incarnate being, Satan, on par with god, strongly influencing his conduct towards sin, and he believes that the odds are stacked up against him. He thinks that if Jesus can be tempted, against Jeaus' will, by the Devil what chance will he have against Satan's influence, because he is no where near being a Jesus or a saint. The very best Sam can hope for is purification in purgatory, and even that may be tempered by god's final judgement, leaving an out come of eternal hell fire. Sam's life is therefore filled with great confusion and fear.
There is a saying, by Shrimat Shankaracharya, a Hindu sage, and whose commentaries on Hindu scriptures are the most recognized and authoritative, "The foolish being who lives making even the slightest distinction between the Self and his own Self will always be subject to fear." Here Shankara is not referring to the ego/personality self, but to the Higher Self, the Self that resides, beyond all duality, and beyond the reach of thought, There is an Upanishad, literally meaning "sitting down next to or at the feet of" a master of spiritual knowledge, it is called "Chandogya Upanishad." In chapter VI, Uddalaka, the father, is answering his son, Shvetaketu's question, about the Self:
..."In the beginning was only Being,
One without a second.
Out of Himself he brought forth the cosmos
And entered into everything in it.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."
"Please, Father, tell me more about the Self."
"Yes dear one, I will," said Uddalaka.
"Bring me a fruit from the nyagrodha tree."
"Here it is sir."
"Break it. What do you see?"
"These seeds, Father, all exceedingly small."
"Break one. What do you see?"
"Nothing at all."
"That hidden essence you do not see, dear
one,
From that a whole nyagrodha tree will grow.
There is nothing that does not come from
him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."
The Self can be known because it is the Knower, a spark of divine consciousness, who resides in every human being who has not degraded himself through material desire. This must, however be admitted before any approach is made to the Higher Self. As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita, ..."Among thousands of mortals a single one perhaps strives for perfection, and among those so striving a single one knows me as I am."... The path to the Self is long and arduous, demanding, courage, determination, diligence, and devotion. It is the only refuge where the restless mind can find complete satisfaction and truth, and finally rest in peace.
The religions that follow this teaching, of lifting the veil of ignorance to revel the true reality of divine consciousness within us, are Hindu, Buddhist, and Sufi, a mystic branch of Islam; there may be others that I am unaware of. These religions follow the god-wisdom about the Self supreme 's, infinitness. The Self builds His house within His own being and lives within it, yet pervades it and transcends it, while emanating countless beings and entities to architect and build, with the Self's ideation, the Universe.
In the almost infinite multiplicity of manifestation, there must be a universal constant, otherwise how could there be any understanding, knowledge or wisdom. The universe, without a infinite constant would be a bundle of chaos. There would be no relationship of experience to experience, thought to thought, no recognized causal effect; only haphazard events. In the movie, "Space Odyssey 2001," there appeared, at various transition points in the movie, or you might say evolutionary transition points, this relatively thin piece of four sided, some kind of metal like substance beam, and ever time it appeared a chanting sound, like that of Buddhist Monks chanting the sacred "Om," would be heard. I did not understand the symbolism at first, but over a period of reflection I have come to understand. It was an attempt, by the movie, to show that there was an infinite constant, that permeats, indwelts and infills, all manifistation. This is the Self, the spark of divine consciousness. Reader! you are That; you are That.
(It would be a good idea to reread my first blog on "Our Human Heritage-God Wisdom).
At first glance, the Christian, Jewish, Muslim view on the origination of humans would seem to evenly line up with the stated view above. God, Jehovah, Allah, although different names represent the same meaning, that an ultimate spiritual being, created humans and the universe. Since the spiritual, ultimate, supreme being originated/created the universe and humans, the sequence was from the spiritual to the physical. So far the doctrines line up, but here is the "but," the supreme beings of the above religions not only created/originated humans and the universe, but supervise and ultimately judge each human as to which will receive salvation and which will not. There is a logical, philosophical flaw with supreme beings supervising and judging their creations. The above religions assign, out of their gods' essential natures, certain omni-qualities: infinitness, omniscient, etc. An infinite being must operate on the plane of infinity and cannot operate on the plane of a mundane world without surrendering its infinitness. Simply put, an infinite being cannot become finite, in any way, shape or form. To have a supreme being step into the finite plane and supervise and judge its finite creations, seems from a mystical point of view acceptable, but from a philosophical point of view is untenable. Lets take an analogy of Superman, (the comic book hero) to strengthen my point. Superman is the man of steel; the strongest material on earth. We can mystically accept Superman's steel like nature and his super abilities, but when we scrutinize, philosophize, his nature we find that steel isn't the strongest material, for instance, a diamond is stronger. We also know from experience that a temperature of about a 1ooo+ degrees Fahrenheit, melts steel. So! why use hard to find kryptonite to destroy the Man of Steel? Thus we reduce the mystery of Superman to speculation, and must now reconfigure the idea of Superman to comform to the gathered, new truth. The best argument the religions can put forth to justify their doctrine of their gods supervising and judging their creations is, "It is not possible to know the will of omniscient god, therefore we must have complete faith in his judgements." The religions are really asking their followers to have "blind faith."
The practice of such a doctrine results in great fear and confusion for the religions' followers; the often heard question universally echos, "How can an omniscient, all merciful god let bad things happen to good people?" Listen to Thomas Hardy's, a novelist and poet, confusion, in his poem, "Hap,"
"If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!
Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
-Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan....
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain."
The religions' doctrines have their gods jump from infinitness to finiteness, which primarily stems from an orthodox rendering of their scriptures. Yet, it is not due to their scriptures in themselves, but solely to the wrong interpretation given them by priests and churches, and easily believed by a weak humanity that needs a support beyond itself on which to lean. Not only do these misguided doctrines lead to confusion, but they also lead to searching for salvation from the outside, within the dualistic material world. As soon as we postulate a Deity who is outside and beyond us we must bow our heads and lower our eyes, and wait for his judgement. To get a better grasp of the effects of a blind-faith belief searching for salvation from the outside, lets imagine a fictional character, Samuel Seeker, and examine his faith based views within any Christian sect.
Here stands Sam, immersed within his blind-faith from early childhood; believing in an infinite, omniscient, jealous, judging and supervising god being, along with god's only begotten son, Jesus the Christ who descended to earth, was crucifixied, died, and resurrected to establish a pathway for salvation. Along side Sam's god is an incarnate being, the source of all evil, "Satan;" one of Sam's god's prior, highest hosts, who turned away from god because of archangel pride, " who would rather reign on earth, than serve in heaven." Sam is instructed, in his one life on earth, even though he is brought into earth life marked by "original sin" to live a righteous life according to the sacred scriptures and to prepare himself for the "last judgement;" where he will receive his reward of eternal heaven, or punishment of purification in purgatory or eternal damnation in hell. Of course Sam's hope is for eternal heaven, and although Alexander Pope says ..."Hope springs eternal in the heart of man"... his next line, which no one ever quotes is ..." man never is, but always to be blessed." Sam's hope for salvation for eternal heaven, is conditioned by the judgement of his god and/or his devotion to Jesus, and all that is based on god's grace and mercifulness. Sam understands those conditions and estimates that his chances for eternal heaven are less than fifth percent. He came into this world with a black mark of sin on his soul, and into an environment tilted towards sin. Add to that an incarnate being, Satan, on par with god, strongly influencing his conduct towards sin, and he believes that the odds are stacked up against him. He thinks that if Jesus can be tempted, against Jeaus' will, by the Devil what chance will he have against Satan's influence, because he is no where near being a Jesus or a saint. The very best Sam can hope for is purification in purgatory, and even that may be tempered by god's final judgement, leaving an out come of eternal hell fire. Sam's life is therefore filled with great confusion and fear.
There is a saying, by Shrimat Shankaracharya, a Hindu sage, and whose commentaries on Hindu scriptures are the most recognized and authoritative, "The foolish being who lives making even the slightest distinction between the Self and his own Self will always be subject to fear." Here Shankara is not referring to the ego/personality self, but to the Higher Self, the Self that resides, beyond all duality, and beyond the reach of thought, There is an Upanishad, literally meaning "sitting down next to or at the feet of" a master of spiritual knowledge, it is called "Chandogya Upanishad." In chapter VI, Uddalaka, the father, is answering his son, Shvetaketu's question, about the Self:
..."In the beginning was only Being,
One without a second.
Out of Himself he brought forth the cosmos
And entered into everything in it.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."
"Please, Father, tell me more about the Self."
"Yes dear one, I will," said Uddalaka.
"Bring me a fruit from the nyagrodha tree."
"Here it is sir."
"Break it. What do you see?"
"These seeds, Father, all exceedingly small."
"Break one. What do you see?"
"Nothing at all."
"That hidden essence you do not see, dear
one,
From that a whole nyagrodha tree will grow.
There is nothing that does not come from
him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."
The Self can be known because it is the Knower, a spark of divine consciousness, who resides in every human being who has not degraded himself through material desire. This must, however be admitted before any approach is made to the Higher Self. As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita, ..."Among thousands of mortals a single one perhaps strives for perfection, and among those so striving a single one knows me as I am."... The path to the Self is long and arduous, demanding, courage, determination, diligence, and devotion. It is the only refuge where the restless mind can find complete satisfaction and truth, and finally rest in peace.
The religions that follow this teaching, of lifting the veil of ignorance to revel the true reality of divine consciousness within us, are Hindu, Buddhist, and Sufi, a mystic branch of Islam; there may be others that I am unaware of. These religions follow the god-wisdom about the Self supreme 's, infinitness. The Self builds His house within His own being and lives within it, yet pervades it and transcends it, while emanating countless beings and entities to architect and build, with the Self's ideation, the Universe.
In the almost infinite multiplicity of manifestation, there must be a universal constant, otherwise how could there be any understanding, knowledge or wisdom. The universe, without a infinite constant would be a bundle of chaos. There would be no relationship of experience to experience, thought to thought, no recognized causal effect; only haphazard events. In the movie, "Space Odyssey 2001," there appeared, at various transition points in the movie, or you might say evolutionary transition points, this relatively thin piece of four sided, some kind of metal like substance beam, and ever time it appeared a chanting sound, like that of Buddhist Monks chanting the sacred "Om," would be heard. I did not understand the symbolism at first, but over a period of reflection I have come to understand. It was an attempt, by the movie, to show that there was an infinite constant, that permeats, indwelts and infills, all manifistation. This is the Self, the spark of divine consciousness. Reader! you are That; you are That.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
our human heritage-God Wisdom
These ideas presented here, extracted from various written sources, have been gathered and ingested over a period of thirty years. I can not claim originality, nor full comprehension of these deep and grand ideas, for they were always present as part of our world; although, behind a veil of illusion and ignorance. What I can claim credit for is having a determined motivation to lift that veil a little, and let the incoming rays of truth wash over my consciousness and expand it, a little. To expand consciousness on one level is vital, but a relatively small step in the ever progressive advancement towards enlightenment, towards truth, towards finial liberation. The above description of progressive, expanding consciousness, alludes to Plato's "Allegory of the Caves," in his
"Republic," (if you have an interest, look into my blog archives for an essay on "The Allegory of the Caves").
There is an ancient tradition of spiritual knowledge, from a world view that dates back millions of years, when the gods walked the earth among nascent mankind. The gods instructed mankind in principles of life, science, and the arts. These principles claim a Reality underlying life, which rituals cannot discover, and which the agency of ceremonies or the priest craft cannot bring forth. I know, I know, I can hear you readers saying, "Millions of years ago? You must be daffy; current scientific theories and religious interpretations are against you." Please! stay with me; placate my seeming mad ravings. This world view teaches us that this Reality is the essence of all that is manifested, and sustains the Universe. It also teaches we are one with this Reality, that this oneness can be realized directly, not after death, but in this life, and that realizing this Reality is the ultimate purpose for which we were born, and the aim towards which evolution moves. Thus, these divine principles represent our divine heritage, and in total, what we may called the "wisdom of the gods." This god-wisdom is then the bases for answering our most fundamental and universal questions of life: "What is our origin, our nature, our purpose, and our destiny?"
Lets start like Genesis in the Old Testament, "In the beginning"... In the beginning all that could be manifest began from an ethereal or spiritual form or ideal. We did not originally appear on this earth totally materialized, with fully evolved human bodies. We could not call our first spiritual ancestors human, for they had not as yet evolved a material human form or self-consciousness. To give your imagination something to feed on, I will relate a description of our spiritual ancestors as given in "Symposium" one of Plato's dialogues; Aristophanes is the speaker, ..."First you must learn the nature of man and the history of it. Formerly the natural state of man was not what it is now. For at first there were three sexes, not two as at present, male and female, but also a third having both together; the name remains with us (hermaphrodite), but the thing is gone. There was then a male and female sex and a name to match, sharing both male and female, but now nothing is left but the title used in reproach. Next, the shape of man was quite round, back and ribs passing about it in a circle; and he had four arms and an equal number of legs, and two faces on a round neck, exactly alike; there was one head with two opposite faces, four ears, and two privy members, and the rest as can be imagined. They walked upright as now, in the direction they liked; and when they wanted to run fast, they rolled over and over on the ends of the eight limbs they had in those days, as our tumblers tumble now with their legs straight out. and why there were three sexes, and shaped like this, was because the male was first-born of the sun, and the female of the earth, and the common sex had something of the moon, which combines both male and female; their shape was round and their going was round because they were like their parents. They had terrible strength and force and great were their ambitions;they attacked the gods, and it is said of them, that they tried to climb into heaven intending to make war upon the gods."... Similarities to the above description of our spiritual origination can be found in the creation stores of American Indians, and by the way, their stories are said to have an antiquity of hundreds of thousands of years. Also, such similarities can be found in Genesis of the Old Testament, specifically with the explanation of the creation of male and female, if not taken literally, but taken as an allegory. The New Age saying aptly hits the mark in summing up what has been said, "We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience."
To bring more clarity into a mostly, unfamiliar and cloudy concept of our primary, causal, spiritual origination we will change our view and come at the concept from a different angle. We will call this angle , natural or rational thought, . Most of us have formed a concept of the reality of ethereal beings and entities by an association with religion or some ancient or contemporary philosophy or some spiritual teaching. We therefore have no difficulty accepting the reality of gods, angles, devils, demons, ghosts, and a whole host of ethereal beings and entities. Now lets compare our concept of ethereal beings and entities with materialized, human beings, we should agree, that the ethereal beings and entities have a greater duration than do materialized human beings. Now days, human being's earth life duration, is on average seventy to eighty years, while ethereal beings and entities have a much greater duration, and in some cases are thought to have an immortal life. Rationally than, the creation of a human being would logically follow a material sequence of aggregation over a period of time from an ethereal model body. This concept of development from the spiritual to the material is succinctly stated by an ancient Egyptian, Hermetic axiom, ..."as above, so below; as below so above"... Don't tie up your thinking process by taking this axiom literally. Think of the "above" as the apex of a hierarchy and the "below" as the lowest; from the highest, spiritual, to the lowest, (gross matter), and all the gradients in between. An analogy of this would be the case of a painter using a conceptual model in his mind to paint a two dimensional representation on a canvas. The conceptual model in the painter's mind has a more fluid and ethereal quality then the more static, materialized canvas representation, but the "above" model is causally related to the "below," and the "below" is likewise related to the "above." The evolutionary course is from the highest or "above" to the lowest, "below," and not visa versa. Clearly than, from a rational perspective , our primary origination is from spiritual forces and not from physical forces. How this reverse generation process changes the meaning of our lives, will be part two of this series on God Wisdom; giving you ample opportunity to mull over the content of this essay.
"Republic," (if you have an interest, look into my blog archives for an essay on "The Allegory of the Caves").
There is an ancient tradition of spiritual knowledge, from a world view that dates back millions of years, when the gods walked the earth among nascent mankind. The gods instructed mankind in principles of life, science, and the arts. These principles claim a Reality underlying life, which rituals cannot discover, and which the agency of ceremonies or the priest craft cannot bring forth. I know, I know, I can hear you readers saying, "Millions of years ago? You must be daffy; current scientific theories and religious interpretations are against you." Please! stay with me; placate my seeming mad ravings. This world view teaches us that this Reality is the essence of all that is manifested, and sustains the Universe. It also teaches we are one with this Reality, that this oneness can be realized directly, not after death, but in this life, and that realizing this Reality is the ultimate purpose for which we were born, and the aim towards which evolution moves. Thus, these divine principles represent our divine heritage, and in total, what we may called the "wisdom of the gods." This god-wisdom is then the bases for answering our most fundamental and universal questions of life: "What is our origin, our nature, our purpose, and our destiny?"
Lets start like Genesis in the Old Testament, "In the beginning"... In the beginning all that could be manifest began from an ethereal or spiritual form or ideal. We did not originally appear on this earth totally materialized, with fully evolved human bodies. We could not call our first spiritual ancestors human, for they had not as yet evolved a material human form or self-consciousness. To give your imagination something to feed on, I will relate a description of our spiritual ancestors as given in "Symposium" one of Plato's dialogues; Aristophanes is the speaker, ..."First you must learn the nature of man and the history of it. Formerly the natural state of man was not what it is now. For at first there were three sexes, not two as at present, male and female, but also a third having both together; the name remains with us (hermaphrodite), but the thing is gone. There was then a male and female sex and a name to match, sharing both male and female, but now nothing is left but the title used in reproach. Next, the shape of man was quite round, back and ribs passing about it in a circle; and he had four arms and an equal number of legs, and two faces on a round neck, exactly alike; there was one head with two opposite faces, four ears, and two privy members, and the rest as can be imagined. They walked upright as now, in the direction they liked; and when they wanted to run fast, they rolled over and over on the ends of the eight limbs they had in those days, as our tumblers tumble now with their legs straight out. and why there were three sexes, and shaped like this, was because the male was first-born of the sun, and the female of the earth, and the common sex had something of the moon, which combines both male and female; their shape was round and their going was round because they were like their parents. They had terrible strength and force and great were their ambitions;they attacked the gods, and it is said of them, that they tried to climb into heaven intending to make war upon the gods."... Similarities to the above description of our spiritual origination can be found in the creation stores of American Indians, and by the way, their stories are said to have an antiquity of hundreds of thousands of years. Also, such similarities can be found in Genesis of the Old Testament, specifically with the explanation of the creation of male and female, if not taken literally, but taken as an allegory. The New Age saying aptly hits the mark in summing up what has been said, "We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience."
To bring more clarity into a mostly, unfamiliar and cloudy concept of our primary, causal, spiritual origination we will change our view and come at the concept from a different angle. We will call this angle , natural or rational thought, . Most of us have formed a concept of the reality of ethereal beings and entities by an association with religion or some ancient or contemporary philosophy or some spiritual teaching. We therefore have no difficulty accepting the reality of gods, angles, devils, demons, ghosts, and a whole host of ethereal beings and entities. Now lets compare our concept of ethereal beings and entities with materialized, human beings, we should agree, that the ethereal beings and entities have a greater duration than do materialized human beings. Now days, human being's earth life duration, is on average seventy to eighty years, while ethereal beings and entities have a much greater duration, and in some cases are thought to have an immortal life. Rationally than, the creation of a human being would logically follow a material sequence of aggregation over a period of time from an ethereal model body. This concept of development from the spiritual to the material is succinctly stated by an ancient Egyptian, Hermetic axiom, ..."as above, so below; as below so above"... Don't tie up your thinking process by taking this axiom literally. Think of the "above" as the apex of a hierarchy and the "below" as the lowest; from the highest, spiritual, to the lowest, (gross matter), and all the gradients in between. An analogy of this would be the case of a painter using a conceptual model in his mind to paint a two dimensional representation on a canvas. The conceptual model in the painter's mind has a more fluid and ethereal quality then the more static, materialized canvas representation, but the "above" model is causally related to the "below," and the "below" is likewise related to the "above." The evolutionary course is from the highest or "above" to the lowest, "below," and not visa versa. Clearly than, from a rational perspective , our primary origination is from spiritual forces and not from physical forces. How this reverse generation process changes the meaning of our lives, will be part two of this series on God Wisdom; giving you ample opportunity to mull over the content of this essay.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
building a spiritual shield
I have a print called, "The Path." It depicts the path humans must travel to gain spiritual victory. It symbolically portrays a male human ascending an ascent filled with physical and subtle challenges of the most horrific kind. This warrior is fitted with the protections and weapon he needs to win the victory: a helmet, to protect his mind, but with a opening to clearly direct and focus his vision to the path of victory, a double edged sword, tempered with the strength of his desire, so he may vanquish his inner and outer dragons, a shield to protect him from his foes, the physical and the shadow forms, and a coat of mail, protecting his body, so it will not know fatigue.
The shield not only protects the seeker, but also temper's itself with each assault from the physical and shadow forms. It thus becomes the metaphor for the faith and determination upon which the seeker stands. Behind all right spiritual progress is the right spiritual knowledge, and that right spiritual knowledge is that all human beings are, at their essence, a god-spark, the face of god, the Higher Self, the progeny of the divine. Katherine Tingly, a Theosophic. says this idea so well in
her book, "The Path of the Mystic," "...For man .cannot find his true place in the great scheme of human life until he has ennobled and enriched his nature with the consciousness of his divinity."
This ennobling and enriching of man's nature with the consciousness of his divinity is no small feat. It takes the realization of our dualistic natures, and awareness that there is a continuous struggle between our spiritual side and material side for the dominance of our soul; a drama as old as our self-consciousness. Not one of you can remain neutral; you cannot serve two masters. The cry has gone out to each, and each must choose A choice and a corresponding path must be taken. The spiritual path though steep and rough it ends in integration with divinity. The material path though broad and smooth, but from its crown on rocks the traveller is tumbled down, and ends in disintegration. The spiritual path proceeds in concert with Universal Nature. The material path proceeds in direct opposition to Universal Nature.
Katherine Tingly warns those who choose the spiritual path, "Let us be careful, in making this forward step, that we do not ungird our armor through fear." ..."Fear nothing, for every renewed effort raises all former failures into lessons; all sins into experiences"... ..."So fear nothing for your self, you are behind the shield of your reborn endeavor, though you have failed a hundred times. Try slowly to make it your motive for fidelity that others may be faithful. Fear only to fail in your duty to others; and even then let your fear be for them, not yourself."...
The shield not only protects the seeker, but also temper's itself with each assault from the physical and shadow forms. It thus becomes the metaphor for the faith and determination upon which the seeker stands. Behind all right spiritual progress is the right spiritual knowledge, and that right spiritual knowledge is that all human beings are, at their essence, a god-spark, the face of god, the Higher Self, the progeny of the divine. Katherine Tingly, a Theosophic. says this idea so well in
her book, "The Path of the Mystic," "...For man .cannot find his true place in the great scheme of human life until he has ennobled and enriched his nature with the consciousness of his divinity."
This ennobling and enriching of man's nature with the consciousness of his divinity is no small feat. It takes the realization of our dualistic natures, and awareness that there is a continuous struggle between our spiritual side and material side for the dominance of our soul; a drama as old as our self-consciousness. Not one of you can remain neutral; you cannot serve two masters. The cry has gone out to each, and each must choose A choice and a corresponding path must be taken. The spiritual path though steep and rough it ends in integration with divinity. The material path though broad and smooth, but from its crown on rocks the traveller is tumbled down, and ends in disintegration. The spiritual path proceeds in concert with Universal Nature. The material path proceeds in direct opposition to Universal Nature.
Katherine Tingly warns those who choose the spiritual path, "Let us be careful, in making this forward step, that we do not ungird our armor through fear." ..."Fear nothing, for every renewed effort raises all former failures into lessons; all sins into experiences"... ..."So fear nothing for your self, you are behind the shield of your reborn endeavor, though you have failed a hundred times. Try slowly to make it your motive for fidelity that others may be faithful. Fear only to fail in your duty to others; and even then let your fear be for them, not yourself."...
Sunday, December 16, 2012
sayings and comment 4
"The nature of god is a circle which the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere."
(Empedocles ancient Greek philosopher)
COMMENT;
The circle was used as an ancient symbol to help explain the nature of god and the cosmos. Its configuration so impressed Michelangelo that he said, 'that an artist can claim perfection if he/she could draw, by free hand, a perfect circle.'
A diagram of a circle, in our case, symbolizes the boundless All; it also represents space. Within this boundless All resides all things that are and could be manifested. The sages. in an attempt to clarify the meaning of the boundless All, talked about it in terms of, "fullness." The possible permutations of manifestation are relatively infinite. To illustrate, lets take the case of our physical body, Scientists tells us that the bacteria alone number in the trillions, to say nothing of its cells, atoms, molecules, and sundry other manifested parts of our body. Now , what if we added all manifestations in our solar system and in our entire Universe, we have relatively infinite manifestation-fullness.
When Empedocles says that the center is everywhere, his meaning is that, even though the symbolic circle is marked, there is no real containment because the possible permutations of manifestation are relatively infinite. Thus the circumference is nowhere.
Now when Empedocles says that the center is everywhere, his meaning is that each unite of manifestation represents a point, a center, and since all possible permutations of manifestation are relatively infinite, all points/centers are everywhere.
(Empedocles ancient Greek philosopher)
COMMENT;
The circle was used as an ancient symbol to help explain the nature of god and the cosmos. Its configuration so impressed Michelangelo that he said, 'that an artist can claim perfection if he/she could draw, by free hand, a perfect circle.'
A diagram of a circle, in our case, symbolizes the boundless All; it also represents space. Within this boundless All resides all things that are and could be manifested. The sages. in an attempt to clarify the meaning of the boundless All, talked about it in terms of, "fullness." The possible permutations of manifestation are relatively infinite. To illustrate, lets take the case of our physical body, Scientists tells us that the bacteria alone number in the trillions, to say nothing of its cells, atoms, molecules, and sundry other manifested parts of our body. Now , what if we added all manifestations in our solar system and in our entire Universe, we have relatively infinite manifestation-fullness.
When Empedocles says that the center is everywhere, his meaning is that, even though the symbolic circle is marked, there is no real containment because the possible permutations of manifestation are relatively infinite. Thus the circumference is nowhere.
Now when Empedocles says that the center is everywhere, his meaning is that each unite of manifestation represents a point, a center, and since all possible permutations of manifestation are relatively infinite, all points/centers are everywhere.
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