The Mystery Of The Gobi - Part III

The Desert of Nature

[QUOTING]

You have heard that nobody can approach the Heart of the Universal Brotherhood who does not know the lost and forgotten Word and who therefore cannot pronounce it. You have also been told how the pupil on the Path can rediscover this Word, since it is, as you know, a state of being, an entry into the Immovable Kingdom, which cannot possibly be realized and experienced by the ordinary man of this nature.

The human beings which populate this earth have a spirit, soul and body that are neither structurally nor fundamentally suited for participation in the New Life. Consequently, there is no point at all in inducing them to cultivate spirit or soul in a whatever manner. In the first place, liberation could not be gained in this way, and in the second place, cultivation of what is not of God would be a formidable obstacle to liberation. For this reason, the essence of liberation should be considered from quite a different angle and one should learn to understand all that has been said about it in the Holy Language in a totally different way. As dualistic beings, we need to realize that man must first die if he is to be truly born.

In the course of the ages, it has become abundantly clear that man does not understand this fundamental doctrine, because of an unsuited comprehension-faculty which causes all attempts to end in cultivation of the ordinary personality. That is why it is first necessary to approach the concept of "man" as it is understood in the science of ttransfiguration.

In the science of transfiguration, "man" is composite., a system of phenomena contained within one structure. We refer to this structure as the microcosm. Within the microcosm there are undesirable phenomena resulting from and maintained by sin. There are also possibilities and developments that were once able to unfold to completion, but that once able to unfold to completion, but that for aeons were restricted until finally, they were reduced to nuclei in the microcosm.

The science of transfiguration also teaches the existence of various "flashes of spirit" active within one microcosm. What in our philosophy is called "dualistic man", is the result and essence of one of these "flashes of spirit".

Now, this entire dualistic being, with its behavior, results and causes, must die, must perish so that the True Man can manifest himself once more. The Universal Doctrine refers to this process as rebirth, transmutation, also as "the Alchemical Wedding". The method followed in this process, referred to as magic or alchemy, results in knowing and being able to use the lost and forgotten Word.

Now, let us suppose that you have found The Key and are willing to die fundamentally. Then you would know that "dying" in this sense means to reduce the entire dualistic I-being to a biological minimum, to the state of childship which is referred to in the First Epistle of John, chapter 3. Only if you are standing on this basis does it make any sense to tell you more about the Brotherhood of the Siddha, the inhabitants of the Heart of the Gobi.

How does the pupil reach this heart? This is the question which the pupil must have continually in mind; and if it is really a supplication, it will always be answered in accordance with his state of being.

Logically and fundamentally, there is but one answer to such a question. However, this one answer is composed of countless aspects and rays, just as the one sunlight splits up into a whirl of rays. The answers are therefore the succession of rays which the pupil can receive as he follows The Path. For him or her, these rays form a shining staircase leading to the One Aim.

Experience has shown that there is no point in troubling a seeker with a ray of the universal Light to which he is not yet ennobled, He would neither be able to perceive nor respond to it, for the simple reason that he does not yet have a pure ether-concentration in the constellation of his respiration-field.

As The Path is the way leading to eternity, it is certain that on it there will be an eternal variety of radiations of ever-increasing beauty, of ever more merciful glory, of ever more intense light and of ever more dynamic, majestic power. It is in this sense that you should understand the intervention of the present World-Brotherhood. It develops a radiation for us in this age, adapting it to our state of being as individual human beings and as humanity as a whole. So the question: "how does the pupil penetrate to the Heart of the World?" takes on a new and urgent character.

It is not possible to find an answer to this question by consulting old and yellow parchments; nor can we cling to what the ancients have said on this subject. One needs to be able to listen to and understand the heart-beat of the present. When you can do that, the answer will come to you sparkling and new, and at the same time, you will understand what the ancients really said.

You have now heard a good deal about the Gobi, about the universal nucleus of the World-Brotherhood situated in Central Asia. There is indeed a formidable universal focus there, a point of contact of the Immovable Kingdom; the true Holy Land of the Sons of Will and Yoga.

As regards what we want to say here, however, you may forget this and even ignore it. Listen to the call of the Brotherhood as a call emanating from a voice and a focus which are very close to you. And let it penetrate your consciousness fully, that in order to be able to answer this call, you yourself will have to undertake a journey through the desert. As regards spirit, soul and matter, your life in this nature is a desert;  an arid desert in which you live and exist.

We know very well that millions of people would flatly deny that this is so, and maybe you, too, disagree with us. It is possible that you do not consider your path through the desert; that you do not experience your dualistic state of life as a miserable, arid and deathly state, and that you will therefore deny, perhaps, that you are in a state of such deathly foresakeness. This is possible, because for many people, life in this world is full of beauty and excitement. Think only of the many artists who express this in various ways.

The "desert awareness" is therefore a discovery, a tremendous self-discovery and at the same time, an intense mercy. One could even compare it with being born into a new awareness of life. Indeed, the Holy Language does call it a birth, but a birth entirely on the horizontal level of duality. It is the birth of John the Precursor, the man in the wilderness, the preacher in the desert.

And just as this figure is described in the Gospel, so the apprentice-builder has to be born as a man in the desert. The scales must fall from his eyes and he must see this world as it is. Then, such a pupil will no longer say: "I live", "I am", because he knows that he is not a living, but a dying creature. The greatest reality in this field of existence is death, and life is but a shadow.

[END QUOTING]

From "The Brotherhood of Shamballa" by J. van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Pietri

Man is born, he lives, he dies. All this without ever having become aware of the True Purpose of his wasted life. We are born as image-bearers, whose purpose is to liberate the Other One who lies imprisoned within us. If human beings were aware of their high calling, our sacred task, perhaps we would not debase ourselves in the various ways we do.

We are living, existing and dying in a spiritual desert, a state of life as far removed from Reality as we can possibly get. What's even more unfortunate is that we are enjoying it, that we are blissfully wasting our precious few moments as the current inhabitant of our microcosm in debauchery and bacchanalia.

It would be as if a fireman were sent to a burning house to rescue a victim. He prepares himself, he collects his gear, dresses properly, consults his handbooks. He is ready to perform his mission of mercy. But just before he enter the burning house, he notices a swimming pool in the backyard. He immediately drops his gear, strips to his underwear, and jumps into the pool. There he plays while the house burns to the ground, its occupant, lost. He then drowns in the pool. End of story.

That is what our lives have been. Sacred opportunitys to escape from  the desert of life, wasted.

~ g
.