Habits Of Thought - II

[QUOTING]

In our philosophy we speak of a fourfold personality. We would like to approach this fourfold personality in a way entirely different to that so far employed.

Our material body manifests itself in and through a concentrated ether-field. Inasmuch as this ether-field works and acts within our body we speak of the etheric body since we live from and through the ethers. Immediately outside the material body, the etheric body retains the shape of the material body, but soon merges into the field of manifestation or respiration (the auric field).

The mental faculty in the brain is likewise an ether-compound, albeit of a very rarefied composition.

Furthermore, there is consciousness present in the body. It is to be found in the cerebro-spinal system, the serpent-fire column, and we know that this fire of consciousness is ultimately connected with the blood and the nerve fluid. This consciousness, together with the blood and the nerve fluid, is governed by our desire-essence, from which it can be explained.

This desire-essence is thus the inner nucleus of our dualistic, material existence; it is the 'I', the blood-I, the earthly soul. Its seat in the body can be localised as the liver-spleen system. This location is to be understood not merely in a figurative, but also in a literal sense. The liver, the spleen, the kidneys and the adrenal glands plus the solar plexus (the pelvic cerebral centre) form the realm of the blood-I, the desire-being.

Man lives by virtue of the liver, the supreme organ. By its very name we can discern that the original name-givers of some nations knew about this. In the liver-spleen system and its attendant organs, the blood, the nerve fluid, the serpent-fire and thus the entire person is controlled and kept in a certain state-of-being. All those forces and their hormonal effects which cannot be explained out of this nature are therefore removed from the blood in this system!

We stated that the nucleus of the I-being resides in this system. It lies enclosed in the spleen. During our waking state it lies, coiled up as it were, in the spleen, but during sleep it steps outside; the coil unrolls, a cloud-like ribbon appears from the spleen and this cloud forms a figure in the respiration field, namely: the form of the true dualistic man, the desire-being, the true blood-I. This 'I' usually looks quite different from our material form! We would rather not give a description.

You will understand that this desire-being, appearing in the field of manifestation, is completely different from the thought-beings discussed previously. During sleep this, our true dualistic 'I', can withdraw from the material body to a fairly great distance, but by no means as far as the mental body. Once you are aware that all your nightly experiences take place in this desire-being and are absorbed by it, and that this blood-I fully belongs to nature, it will become clear to you why it is quite impossible for it to receive impulses of a liberating nature. The natural  'I' cannot be made receptive to Higher Life. The natural-I must perish, for 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God!'.

If for some reason or other we are highly agitated, the I-being leaves the spleen without our knowledge, ready, as it were, to face a potential aggressor.

Besides being the residence of the I-being, the spleen is also the principal entrance gate to the body for ether-forces. The desire-being feeds on these forces, lives from them and thus completely controls the entire bodily system. Finally, the mental phantoms, the origin and behaviour which we described to you, influence the spleen quite substantially. The process connected herewith can be described as follows:

The desire-being impels the brain to use its creative faculties, its mental activity, in accordance with the nature and the needs of the blood-I, thus populating the entire respiration or ether-field of the microcosm with mental beings.

Each of these thought-images form a focus for ether-powers dwelling in the manifestation field and transforms them according to its type. In this way, the ether-field is treated by all these thought-beings in a particular way, and the result thereof is lapped up by the desire-being, the 'I', via the spleen. All these forces circulate as if through a sluice-gate: they enter the body through the spleen and leave it through the liver. Thus we see that the entire process of life serves to feed the desire-being, the blood-being, the 'I' within us. That is the sinister image of our reality!

Now, when you completely survey both the poverty and the fatefulness of all this and consequently comprehend your captivity in every fibre of your being, when all these matters are intensively studied and proven in detail you may cry out: 'For goodness sake, stop it! I know that I live in a prison, but what is the good of measuring and defining its walls and the nature of the confinement right down to the tiniest detail?' Nobody, however, can rise from the grave of nature unless he has experienced to the very marrow the chill of the mortuary in which he 'lives'! No one can tread the Path of Redemption unless he has perceived the ubiquitous breath of death. And no one will behold the Dawn of Eternal Freedom unless he is ready to carry the Cross of Truth through the hours of midnight.

Whoever is not strong enough to bear this should keep away from our work. 'The Gospel of Jesus Christ is solely for the strong', says Paul, and rightly so. And this Gospel begins with the unmasking. If, however, you do indeed taste, like us, the bitter wormwood of the prison, if you are prepared to imbibe the sour vinegar, then we shall lead you to Paul's mystery of salvation, to the method of healing.

'Lo! I tell you a mystery of healing, a mystery of recovery: We shall all be changed! The perishable must put on the imperishable, the mortal must put on immortality; then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in Victory' 

From "The Nature of Human Imprisonment" - The Coming New Man - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

"Man does not live, he is lived"

Do you believe that you are in control of your thoughts and emotions? You are not. Do you wonder why you do the very thing you hate and then ask yourself "Why did I do that?". The answer is: you think and do the things you do because you are impelled to do them, to feed the desire-being with the ethers it needs to survive. Our desire-being, the blood-I, is a parasite, and we are its unwitting host. Due to our ignorance, our lack of True Knowledge, we live day-to-day, hour-by-hour being victimized by the I-being that controls us.

Until man is confronted with the Truth, until he examines this Truth and verifies it for himself, man will not take the necessary steps required to change his dire circumstance. He will remain a wandering microcosm, lost in disbelief, ignorance, delusion, darkness...and in slavery.

May you accept, understand, but most importantly, utilize the knowledge of this Revelation to begin your walk towards Freedom.

~ g
.