A Stranger On Earth IV

[QUOTING]

The Soul-Directed Life

When a man lives from the Soul he is conscious of the great love and goodness of the Gnosis every moment of the day. When you are Soul-born and take part in the Gnosis, nothing can happen to you; then, nothing can cause you sorrow; then, according to the Bible, not a hair on your head shall be harmed. To be allowed to take part in a Life-field in which there is nothing of the disintegration of duality, in which there is no enmity, in which the fiery tongues of hatred, criticism, slander and conflict are entirely lacking, gives an experience of unlimited joy -- of which many Soul-men have borne testimony throughout the history of mankind.

For each Soul-born man it is necessary to end the day in this way. When, after completing the day's work we retire to our bedroom for the night's rest, our thoughts and our considerations must not be allowed to dwell upon the many aspects of duality, for duality is always a scourge. It usually tends to sadness and the urges of the "I" of nature. No, having arrived at the end of the day, we write Pymander's blessing in ourselves. We allow the intense current of gnostic blessing to go through us, to permit Pure Joy to fulfill us, even during those hours which, dualistically speaking, there would be ample reason to worry and complain.

If in this way we have brought ourselves in harmony with the Living Salvation of the Gnosis and our respiration has acquired the quiet rhythm of inner satisfaction and thankfulness, we can fall asleep like a child, entirely directed towards the True Light. Then, the sleep of the body becomes the soberness of the Soul, that is, the complete awakening of the Soul in its own world, the gnostic astral field.

The sleep of the body, as we said, should not start in a general, dualistic inclination, even if it is of an innocent nature -- but in complete Soul-inclination. If you live daily out of the Soul, if you subordinate every thing else to the Soul-inclination, it will be relatively easy; the Soul-consciousness is nourished and the Soul awakens in the field destined  and prepared for it. It is almost an axiom that: he who goes to sleep Soul-inclined, awakens the Soul, makes it Conscious. After what has been explained, you will see the great significance and the enormous advantage of this.

What is especially important is the inclination, the vibration of the astral self, when the body falls asleep. This determines our entire nocturnal experience. Whoever knows of this will have experienced that man awakens as he went to sleep. A brooding man will say, when talking about his cobwebs: "I go to bed with it and wake up with it". That speaks for itself! But he himself calls it into being; it is his faulty inclination that keeps him imprisoned in this way. The vibration of the astral self when falling asleep is the same as when you awaken. It is a destined inclination that places you in surroundings during sleep that are similar to those when you arise.

If a person is of a worrying disposition and feels justified in being angry with someone else, the following happens: after a day of sulking and brooding, his body is exhausted and he goes to bed. In the reverie-state just before sleep, he dwells once more on all his troubles and sorrows  and on the one who has angered him; in this state-of-mind, he falls asleep.

The next morning when he awakens, his consciousness will be occupied with much the same situation. His bodily vitality has been partially restored and the body is charged with new vitality. But as soon as the image of his enemy returns, the burning pain of everything that keeps his anger alive flows into his emotional being. And with his new vitality he decides: "Today I'll do this. If he says this, I'll say that. I'll take this or that attitude towards him". Consequently, upon awakening in that state, he is prepared again for the fight. The same struggle starts anew and so he never gets rid of the enmity!

However, the same law can be applied in a liberating sense. He who goes to sleep Soul-inclined sends the Soul to the Home of the Souls, prepared for him in the School. Like attracts like.

Now, when going to sleep you should not ask yourself anxiously, "Am I sufficiently Soul-inclined tonight?" And don't worry about whether you have employed the right method. You should change the center-of-gravity of your day-life! Your entire day-life should be in the sign of the Soul, in a life of service. Then in the evening too, before going to sleep, you will be Soul-directed and feel a great thankfulness. As soon as you fall asleep, the Soul will enter the astral field of the School in a state of soberness, with a quality of consciousness that conforms with the level of Soul development the pupil has attained.

Of course, there is a difference in Soul development. There are a variety of matured Souls, maturing Souls and newly-awakened Souls among pupils. But whatever your Soul-development may be, it is certain that, as soon as you go to sleep Soul-inclined, the Soul will direct itself to the Home of Souls, the gnostic astral field. It will be there immediately in the state-of-consciousness that corresponds with your level of Soul development. Everything experienced in this situation, the Soul brings back into the body as a Treasure, in the morning. In the meantime, the body has recovered its vitality and you are ready to direct the New Attitude of Life to greater glory. You will have the strength not only to Think about it, to Yearn for it, but to break through to the Deed. A more powerful new faculty will fill your entire being and the Process of Transfiguration will accelerate accordingly.

You will no doubt see the imperative Truth of all this and you will realize that you yourself have the responsibility and the means for your gnostic development. Your fate is in your own hands. In duality, man is the plaything of the Fate that governs him; in the Gnosis he has his fate in his own hands.

The Path of the Gnosis does not require any heavy methods that are difficult to understand; neither breathing or other exercises, nor countless prayer instructions. It requires that you stand in the Soul-directed life. This is the Key to your salvation.

If you see this clearly and elevate yourself to a true Soul-directed life, the life of the Soul-born man, you will always write Pymander's Benefaction in your heart and look forward in measureless Joy to the daily hour of the Awakening of the Soul. Once you have experienced this it will never leave you. Such an experience is not like dualistic joy -- giving rise to shouting, soon to pass away as the dying of a single sunbeam in a heavy cloud. No, it is a constant Joy, a perpetuating sense of Salvation replenishing the serious pupil completely.

From "The Awakening Of The Soul (I)" The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol. 1 - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

Here we are given profound instruction. The Key to growing in the Gnosis and moving forward on the Path lies in the life-focus of the candidate. During our day-life we should profess our Soul-directedness via our deeds, our acts of selfless service to all those whom we may come across. With our astral body charged in this way, we enter the sleep-state where we are immediately taken up, not to the ordinary astral-realms of the natural reflection-sphere, but to the gnostic astral field that has been prepared for all those who walk the Path in sincerity, humility and steadfastness. Here our reborn New Soul is nourished, with astral ethers of a pure, unsullied nature.

The dreams we have are no indication of where our reborn Soul has traveled during the hours of sleep. Our dreams are a result of the brain having to discharge certain energies and are more often than not, a confused and veiled mess. Pay them no attention. What we bring back from our nightly stay in the gnostic astral field will be etched into the new Soul as impressions that will stay with us as we once again take up our Soul-directed day-life.

JVR does not speak idly when he reminds us that we hold our fate in our own hands. No magical incantations, mantrams or spells are required, nor intermediaries or priests. No amount of money needs to exchange hands.

By day, live in the sign of the Soul, live Soul-directed. By night, bathe in the restorative, replenishing, pure ethers of the Gnostic Astral Field. Each day and night, you will grow stronger in the Gnosis, each day the construction of the New Soul will reach a higher level.

May you intuitively understand and, more importantly, immediately begin to apply in your life that which has been offered.

"The sleep of the body becomes the soberness of the Soul, the closing of the eyes, the real Seeing; the Silence becomes as a pregnancy of the Good for him and the proclaiming of the Word will result in fruitful works of salvation" -- Corpus Hermeticum

~ g
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