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Virtue, Moderation
and
The New Way of Life
[QUOTING]
'As far as the seeds of God are concerned, they are few in number, but great and fair and good. They are called Virtue, Moderation and Piety'.
What should we understand by virtue? Virtue, in a hermetic sense, is a consistent behavior in harmony with and on the basis of the powers of the new soul which are being manifested in you. Are you sensitive to the soul? Do you understand, do you experience when the light of the Gnosis is transmitting to you? Well then, a consistently practiced way of life, in harmony with what you thus experience, feel, and understand, is virtue in the hermetic sense. You must begin to believe in that mode of behavior which is thus reveled to your inner vision. You must open yourself to that way of life with your innermost yearning. You must long for it, as the Beatitudes say: 'Blessed are those who yearn, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven'.
Are you already familiar with that mighty, all-consuming desire to begin to live in harmony with what is projected into your soul? When you truly begin to practice this virtue, there will arise within you a powerful binding with the astral power of The Beginning, with the astral Fire-power into which the Logos has etched the Idea underlying human creation.
The important thing now is that you believe from within in the Light-power that has touched you, that you have faith that you will be able to enter the New Life-Field. If you desire, yearn, and believe in this way, if you have faith in your own soul, in the possibilities within you, in the love of God, in the divine impulse to True Birth, then you will be driven to different thoughts. Then order will be established in your thought-life. Then you will think other thoughts, because you are yearning for the New Kingdom.
When a person desires something, his thoughts are always drawn in the direction of what is desired. So if one orientates oneself, full of yearning, towards the New State-of-Life, other thoughts are attracted in accordance with that yearning. And the moment your new mentality purifies you in this way, the astral bonds with all the demons of destruction are broken. To the extent that they are your personal demons, they are dissolved entirely. And to the extent that you participate in collectively created and maintained demons (g: the aeons and archons, the rulers) you will be utterly freed from them. So reflect, in this light, on the hermetic Virtue, on the New Way of Life.
What does Hermes mean by moderation? He means that you must dissociate your self from duality, carefully and consistently. Moreover, he means that you must no longer allow yourself to be victimized by duality. Hermetic moderation means 'being in the world, but not of the world'.
The opposite of moderation is immoderation. To be immoderate in the sense of the Gnosis means to throw oneself full into ordinary life. To be moderate means to take a responsible course, taking into account all conditions, all situations, so that any obstacles to the progress of the new soul-forces are removed as far as possible from the personality-system.
The New Way of Life presents one with many facets. Think, for instance, of the erotic element, which is so powerful in the average person, the sexual urge to which he is subjected. In present-day mankind, at least, the sex-urge is connected with the most terrible demons of the astral field.
This proves anew, then, that the end is nigh. Therefore you who possess a living Soul-power: do make use of the possibilities that have been realized within you! The Virtue that Hermes recommends and the Moderation of which he speaks are extremely necessary. If you enter into these things, divine salvation and the Perfect Knowledge of God will come to you. That is the True Birth of man; that is Liberation
If, on the basis of the Soul-power that now exists within you, on the basis of the Light-power of the Christ, you choose the New Way of Life and cast aside everything that holds you back, in unconditional Yearning and Faith, you will win the prize of the True Soul-man: Absolute Liberation.
One could of course go on speaking for a very long time about these things, in much more detail than we have done.However, we will not do so. If you have understood us, the issue is whether you will try, with us, to apply the formula we have given? If not, your pupilship will not make any sense at all. However, if you are willing to take, with us, the decision to walk this Path, steadfastly and consistently, you will one day discover, as a pious human being, that the dualistic, embryonic field has been rendered evil, and kept that way, by delusion and ignorance. But he who annihilates the delusion within himself will see and experience everything in great purity. In this way, in keeping with Hermes' words, he will turn all the evil into The Good, the Original.
A group of people who have been raised up as to Soul and Spirit, will be able to perform the most grand and magnificent things in a world such as ours.
[END QUOTING]
Excerpted from 'The Formula of the Path to Life" -- The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis And Its Call In The Eternal Present Vol. 3 by Jan van Rjickenborgh
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7 comments:
g
Not sure if my definition of duality is right. Sorry to bother you with this brother g.
d
d,
It's never a bother. i am always at your service.
If you haven't read the following post, give it a read:
"Duality? What's That?"
i will try to elaborate a bit more in my next comment or post.
~ g
"...cast aside everything that holds you back.."
At the moment I feel held back. It is do to with dealing with some personalities in the school. There are some odd events that have cropped up this year and it has made me feel like "this is not for me, these people are very controlling and pushy".
Anyway I am going back to the start of your original posts to see if I can get some idea of what to do.
I honestly have found your posts much more helpful than public lectures and meetings. Currently I am not sure if I can continue attending these events in the country I am in.
I feel that yes I understand this path now but do you have to keep on going to these public lectures and meeting that don't appeal to me at this time.
I have consistently tried to help, support and get involved. Attendence in the City where we hold these meetings and lectures is almost non-existent. It is rare if someone shows up and rarer if they return.
Some of the meetings in the past have gone well it's not all bad.
This year I feel under a certain "pressure" to attend. How important is it to keep going to these meetings as pupil?
Is it a case that my "I" personality is causing me to want to "take a break" or now that I have some issues with other "personalities" who are pupils and do not feel so comfortable around them as I was before?
Is it a case that I must manage dialectical life better to be in a better position to fully engage in the path.
Sorry if this feels like a ramble but I find that your replies can be very helpful. I just feel a bit confused with relation to what happens next.
Thank you in advance if you have the time to reply.
God bless.
Will reply this evening, my friend. Friday, 11/24/2017.
~ g
Friend,
This response will be in two parts, due to length.
Group unity is a significant part of the Path. Conferences and temple services afford pupils with opportunities to immerse themselves in the beneficent radiations of the Gnosis emanating from the Living Body of the School. No one is obligated to attend a conference or a temple service. The desire to place oneself within this foci must come from the pupil.
The same goes for public meetings and lectures. No one is forced or required to attend these gatherings. Again, the meetings are an opportunity for pupils to assemble in group unity and share their soul-state with the public and each other. It does not matter if only three people are in the room.
"Where two or more are gathered in My Name, there so am I" - The Christ
Pupilship is not just theory, it is action. One must live one's pupilship. It won't be said that it is impossible to walk the Path without ever congregating with others of like-mind, but the challenges may be greater. It is said that even if one chooses to walk the Path alone, if that one is really engaged in building the New Soul, one will eventually be driven by an inner need to find oneself in a foci of the Gnosis.
As for your issues with other personalities in the School...one who is truly on the Path practices non-attachment and detachment from the things of this world. If one is living these requirements, there would be nothing that another personality could do that would affect one in the least.
One must accept the behavior of others, as they must act according to their blood-state. Those who are on the Path are supposed to have a Gnostic element in their blood and are expected to behave according to that Gnostic blood-state.
End Part I
~ g
Part II
It is possible that you are not as far along on the Path as you imagine yourself to be. There is no shame in that. If you wish to withdraw from the public activities of the School, that is up to you. There are pupils who withdraw from the School only to be drawn back after years of further bitter experience in the world. The inner Remembrance that originally brings one in touch with the Path never goes away. It will present itself to the seeker over and over again until conditions are right for a proper and dedicated response.
In the meantime, if you decide to stop attending group functions, you must re-double your efforts to consciously live your pupilship daily. If you continue to live as a nature-born human-being, the Light within will begin to fade. If you live your day-life in the Light of the Gnosis, you should be able to bathe in that Light during the hours of sleep. But you will have to live the Gnostic life. Your thinking has to be purified. Your actions have to be unselfish and directed entirely towards helping all others, in whatever way possible. You have to really live the Life. Are you prepared to do that?
It is said that the School does not "throw people out". It is usually the case that people remove themselves from the School. Your discomfort with other personalities indicates that there is a vibrational incompatibility that exists between you and the group. Only you can know what are the reasons behind that.
Be advised that your "I" will use every trick in the book to get you to doubt what you are doing and fall back into the old ways. You should be extremely wary of this because it always happens. Your "I" is engaged in a battle for its very existence and will come up with every excuse in the book as to why you should not further your pupilship. That battle will have to be fought and won not by you, but by the Other One within. The "I" can never kill the "I".
In closing, the Path should not feel forced. It should not feel like an obligation. It should feel like the most natural thing in the world. It should be as if one is standing outside of the world while following the Light of a Fire that burns Within. It is hoped that you will continue forward and not allow your "I" or other-selves to dissuade you from the Path you have chosen.
~ g
Sincere thanks for your reply. This has certainly helped to make some of my concerns to be clearer. I have struggled big time this year. I definitely do not plan to go back my old ways as such. Hopefully I can get my head in the right place again very soon.
All the best Brother.
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