Delusion-Pain-Rebirth

[QUOTING]

The human consciousness is quite definitely not in harmony with the divine idea. The Universal wisdom teaches that at the very centre of the human consciousness is a profound delusion - the delusion of separation, the delusion of a separate self, which exists in isolation from every other self, and in isolation from God.

This delusion is like a congenital disease with which we are all born, and which we hand down from generation to generation.

Our whole physiological structure, and the whole process of human development, from babyhood to adulthood, is aimed at the production of this delusional self, this self, separated from all other selves. And the whole process of education and child-rearing is geared towards intensifying and cultivating that delusion of separation.

So the human consciousness is a consciousness based on delusion. It creates around it a world of experience, but that world, too, must be delusion, because it is born of delusion! And that delusional experience, in turn, conditions the consciousness. So we live, if you like, in a dream world.

We only think we are awake, but in reality we are asleep, dreaming our shared dream, participating in our communal delusion.

But - and this is the great blessing - the current of the divine idea does not leave us alone in our delusion. As we said before, it keeps on acting in a corrective way, bringing whatever is not in harmony with it back to its starting point, so as to give the deviant creation a new chance to unfold in the right way.

Now just think of this, for a moment, in terms of your own life. As a creature whose consciousness is, through no fault of your own, based on a delusion, you keep on acting in ways which are not in harmony with the divine idea. You can’t help doing that; you just do it automatically, because of the state of your consciousness.

And the result is that you keep on attracting experiences that bring you back to your starting point in one way or another. Everything you do, everything you touch, unfolds along a course which becomes more and more painfully familiar - the course of rising, shining and fading; the course of growth, maturity and decay. And what is the result of that? Suffering! Untold human suffering.

Is that all, then? Are suffering and death all we can hope for as human beings? How do we escape from this vicious circle?

Well, as human beings, with very inventive minds, we use all kinds of palliatives, don’t we, to dull that pain and suffering, even if only for a few moments. We have our televisions and our analgesics, our holidays and our stress management techniques, our meditation and our visualisation and all those things. But do we realise that all these palliatives may only be prolonging our pain in the long run?

We want to diverge, just for a moment, to give you an analogy, so that you can see more easily what we mean.

The disease of leprosy is often used in the Universal wisdom as a very apt symbol for the whole human condition. Now did you know that the main symptom of leprosy is the inability to feel pain?

And did you know that it is precisely because of the leper’s inability to feel pain that his body deteriorates in the horrible way so characteristic of the disease? The leper feels no pain, so when he hurts his foot, or something like that, he will take no action to protect his foot from any further harm. And in this way, as time goes by, he does irreparable damage to his body - without even knowing how it happened!

It is the same with our pain. The pain we feel when the realities of life do not measure up to our dreams is not an enemy to be avoided or destroyed, but our best friend.

Without the ability to feel that pain, we damage and mutilate our souls. So we should befriend that pain; we should welcome it, and trust that it will lead us in the right direction.

For what can happen then?

Well, that pain can bring us to a point - not of despair, exactly - but a point of inner quietness that results from knowing that there is nothing more we can do, no more tears left to cry, no more blood left to shed, and in that quietness we let go, for a moment, of our I-central hold on our consciousness. We KNOW for certain that, in our own strength, we can do nothing.

Our consciousness, with all its conditioning, with all the techniques and knowledge it has accumulated over the years, can do nothing. And as that awareness fills us, it is as if a kind of ‘trap-door’ opens in our hearts, and the heart is at last able to send out a steady, clear distress signal, an SOS, a cry of yearning for help, for relief, for salvation, without any interference from the ego.

And that sure signal will certainly be answered. The heart has sent out a pure cry of yearning; it has given voice to its holy desire, its holy thirst, and for once, the human consciousness, with all its techniques and palliatives, has not tried to quench the heart’s thirst with vinegar, but, has remained silent. And in that silence, only four, simple words are heard: ‘Thy will be done’.

And in the silence, the love, the power of the divine idea can reach the heart and help it! The heart can enter the stream of the divine idea, and be carried along by its current.

And if this state of pure yearning for salvation persists, then, in time, it will have consequences.

The pure, divine forces drawn into the system in response to the heart’s pure yearning will feed the consciousness in a new way. The consciousness will no longer be fed only on the dust and ashes available in this world of delusion.

And when the consciousness receives that new, holy food, it is bound to change, and if the consciousness changes, the whole body must follow, for the blood, the nervous system, the hormones and so on are bound to be affected. And if the whole process of thinking and desiring is changed in such a radical way, the quality of the experiences attracted by our thoughts and desires is bound to change also.

[END QUOTING]

The Divine Heart of the Microcosm : The Awakening of the Heart - Lectorium Rosicrucianum - www.goldenrosycross.org