The First State-Of-Being

[QUOTING]

We have now considered two of the states-of-being on the Path, in connection with the Sermon on the Mount.

As we have seen, paucity of Spirit is related to the notion of the two nature orders, seeing that besides the world in which we live, there is another World Order which we do not know, although it exists within our planetary cosmos. As the pupil on the Path becomes conscious of such a distant, yet such a near Realm of Light, becoming aware of the "I" as to the blood, soul and body in this dark, fallen world order, he discovers that there is an alarming poverty in his being, a deep spiritual loneliness, a bankruptcy of life. He sees through the gruesome interplay of good and evil and though his entire being is riveted to the fallen world order, and because of his constitution he cannot live one second without the natural laws of this fool's paradise (in fact, to be able to live he must, from breath-to-breath, breathe in the oxygen charged with poisonous miasma), in principle he still undertakes to take leave of this sham.

Of course, he is in and of this world; he can neither lie away not dream away this world and its laws. But in awareness of his poverty and impotence he lifts his head, knowing that there is also another World Order. He goes on with a positive resolution pulsating through his bloodstream:

'I do not want to be of this world any longer'.

Then scoffers jeer and those who are so intelligent by the standards of this nature shake their allegedly wise heads, mocking this strange brother who does not wish to conform and who will not let himself be swept along in the currents of nature. One takes him for a fool. Isn't he just that? He wants a world nobody knows and about which he himself knows nothing. How impractical! How senseless! He is a fool, maybe pure, but then a pure fool like Parcifal.Thus he is lectured and told to five up his silly ideas.

Have you had this experience? You cannot just quietly sneak away when you decide to take leave of this nature-order. It is as if the powers of the world conspire to single you out and deter you. Your adversaries mobilize and sometimes they work through your own friends to keep you from departing. They make it very difficult for you. And then, out of this chaos of tensions and desperation, spiritual relief comes. The word from the Mountain resounds: 'Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven'.

The 'fool', as he is called, is ignited in the Light of Christ - the Gnosis. By this Grace he makes a positive, first-hand binding with the Realm of Light, so long divined but never seen. The Pilgrim becomes a possessor; this is the first state-of-being upon the Path of Regeneration. The pupil has come to the Source and from it he freely draws the Living Water for nothing.

And after this? For he still exists in this broken reality. Will he be liberated? Yes and no. Through his binding with the Light he is now a Blessed One, one who is liberated; but this Eternity, this blessedness, he must be able to experience in Time.

This means that since the static Divine Order now has a focus established in duality by means of the pupil, the pupil is being used to break up and renew the degeneration in all its aspects; that through him and his co-workers Eternity may break into Time as a Divine revolution which has to be carried out and fulfilled by human heads, human hearts and human hands. Indeed, in accordance with the cosmic order, God does not interfere with His creation, but His desire is that His creation should shine and triumph through his creature! Therefore, as seen from a higher point-of-view, it is a most happy situation when the pupil comes to the first state-of-being, that of being in this world, but no longer of this world.

However, be sure that you understand this expression correctly. For as soon as the pupil has consciously taken hold of Eternity in Time, a reversal takes place in hm. The one who takes leave of the world and becomes a stranger to it, will again turn towards the world and plunge directly into its midst. As the driller and the blaster hack their way into the dark depths of a mine, so the pupil will break his way through the world about him, engrossed in his mission which is to inherit the Earth by means of the new Goodness, Truth and Justice. Eternity must be built in Time and this lower sphere of sunkeness must be cleansed, if our planetary cosmos is again to join harmoniously in the symphony of the stars.

From "Blessed Are Those Who Mourn" - The Mystery of the Beatitudes - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

Awakening one's Divine Spark entails some effort, as one must somehow develop Insight into the true nature of things before one can realize that this nature-order is not where one wishes to be. Even more difficult than that is the actual walking of the Path while still having to exist within this fallen nature-order.

Difficult, but definitely not impossible.

~ g
.