The Hymn Of The Robe Of Glory - Part 2

"Call to mind that thou art a Son of Kings!
See the slavery -- whom thou servest!
Remember the Pearl
For which thou didst speed to Egypt!

Think of thy Bright Robe,
And remember thy glorious Toga,
Which thou shalt put on as thine adornment,
When thy name hath been read out in the List of the Valiant,
And with thy Brother, our next in rank,
Thou shalt be King in our Kingdom."

And my letter was a Letter
Which the King sealed with his right hand,
To keep it from the Wicked Ones, the Children of Babel,
And from the savage demons of ...

It flew in the likeness of an eagle,
The king of all birds;
It flew and alighted by me,
And became all speech.

And its voice and the sound of its rustling,
I started and arose from my sleep.
I took it up and kissed it,
And loosed its seal, and read;

And according to what was traced on my Heart
Were the words of my Letter written.
I remembered that I was the Son of Kings,
And my Free Soul longed for its natural state.

I remembered the Pearl,
For which I had been sent to Egypt,
And I began to charm him,
The terrible, loud-breathing Serpent.

I hushed him to sleep and lulled him to slumber;
For my Father's name I named over him,
And the name of our next-in-rank,
And of my Mother, the Queen of the East;
And I snatched away the Pearl,
And I turned to go back to my Father's house.

And their filthy and unclean garb
I stripped off, and left it in their country,
And I took my way straight to come
to the light of our home, the East.

And my Letter, my Awakener,
I found before me on the road,
And as with its voice it had awakened me,
So too with its Light it was leading me.

Shone before me with its form,
And with its voice and guidance,
It also encouraged me to speed,
And with his Love was drawing me on.

I went forth, passed by...
I left Babel on my left hand,
And reached Maishan the Great,
The haven of the merchants, that sitteth on the shore of the Sea.

And my Bright Robe, which I had stripped off,
And the Toga wherein it was wrapped,
From the heights of Hyrcania
My parents sent thither,
By the hand of their Treasurers,
Who in their faithfulness could be  trusted therewith.

And because I remembered not its fashion --
For in my childhood I had left it in my Father's house --
On a sudden as I faced it,
The Garment seemed to me as a mirror of myself.

I saw in it my Whole Self,
Moreover I faced my Whole Self in facing it,
For we were two in distinction,
And yet again one in one likeness.

And the Treasurers also,
Who brought it to me,
I  saw in like manner,
That they were in twain, yet one likeness.

For one Kingly sign was graven on them,
Of His hand that restored to me
My Treasure and my wealth by means of them.

-- to be concluded --

~ g
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The Hymn Of The Robe Of Glory - Part 1

When I was a little child,
And dwelling in my kingdom, in my Father's house,
And in the wealth and the glories
Of my nurturers had my pleasure,
From the East, our home,
My Parents, having equipped me, sent me forth.

And of the wealth of our Treasury
They had tied up for me a load.
Large it was, yet light,
So that I might bear it unaided --

Gold of ...
And silver of Gazzak the great,
And rubies of India,
And agate from the land of Kush,
And they girded me with adamant
Which can crush iron.

And they took off from me the Bright Robe
Which, in their love, they had wrought for me,
And my Purple Toga,
Which was measured and woven to my stature.

And they made a compact with me,
And wrote it in my heart that it should not be forgotten:

"If thou goest down into Egypt,
And bringest the one Pearl,
Which is in the midst of the Sea,
Hard by the loud-breathing Serpent,
Then shalt thou put on the Bright Robe
And thy Toga, which is laid over it,
And with thy Brother, our next in rank,
Thou shalt be heir in our Kingdom."

I quitted the East and went down,
There being with me two Messengers,
For the way was dangerous and difficult,
And I was young to tread it.

I passed the borders of Maishan,
The meeting place of the merchants of the East,
And I reached the land of Babel,
And I entered the walls of...

I went down into Egypt,
And my companions parted from me.
I betook straight to the Serpent,
Hard by his dwelling I abode,
Waiting till he could slumber and sleep,
And I could take my Pearl from him.

And when I was single and alone,
A stranger to those with whom I dwelt,
One of my Race, a Free-born Man,
From among the Easterns, I beheld there --
A youth, fair and well-favored.
And he came and attached himself to me.

And I made him my intimate,
A comrade with whom I shared my merchandise.
I warned him against the Egyptians
And against consorting with the Unclean;
And I put on a garb like theirs,
Lest they should insult me because I had come from afar,
To take away the Pearl,
And lest they should arouse the Serpent against me.

But in some way or other,
They perceived that I was not their countryman;
So they dealt with me treacherously.
Moreover, they gave me their Food to eat.
I forgot that I was a Son of Kings,
And I served their king;

And I forgot the Pearl,
For which my Parents had sent me,
And by reason of the burden of their...
I lay in a deep sleep.

But all these things that befell me, 
My Parents perceived and were grieved for me;
And a proclamation was made in our Kingdom,
That all should speed to our Gate,
King and princes of Parthia,
And all the nobles of the East.

So they wove a plan on my behalf,
That I might not be left in Egypt,
And they wrote to me a Letter,
And every noble signed his name thereto:

"From thy Father, the King of kings,
And thy Mother, the Mistress of the East,
And from thy Brother, our next in rank,
To thee, our Son, who art in Egypt, greeting!
Up and arise from thy sleep,
And listen to the words of our Letter.

-- to be continued --

~ g
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The Suicide

The act of suicide is a mistake. Not only for the obvious reasons, but for reasons that are unseen, as well.

Once the suicide has crossed over, the first thing he realizes is that he is still as much alive as ever. From beyond the veil, he is able to look back into the physical realm and see the sorrow of all those whom he hurt or disgraced by his rash and unintelligent action. He also experiences an indescribable feeling of being "hollowed out". The reason for this is as follows:

Prior to the rebirth of a new personality, an archetype is constructed in the mental regions of the reflection-sphere. This archetype acts as a mold for the physical body that is to be used in the coming life by the personality and is set to vibrate at a particular frequency for a previously-determined period of time. We can liken the purpose of the archetype to an hourglass where the vitality of the personality is represented by the sand therein. Not until the last grain of sand drops can we consider our earthly incarnation to be over.

In the case of natural death, the activity of the archetype ceases, and the mold which was used by the dense, physical body is taken over by the astral, or desire body. In the case of the suicide, however, an awful feeling of "emptiness" remains until the time comes when, in the natural course of events, his death would have occurred. It is said that the feeling is like a "gnawing" that will not go away.

In addition, the next personality will have to re-live the life just terminated, repeating all scenarios right up to the point of despair where, once again, he or she will have to make a decision as to whether to battle on or terminate the experience. There can be no progress until the proper choices are made. It is therefore very short-sighted and extremely unwise to attempt to end an incarnation prematurely.

The deep impression of this singularly unpleasant after-death experience is very powerful and remains with the microcosm. The memory can be instrumental in helping to prevent future personalities from falling victim to the temptation of suicide in subsequent lives.

Those who do not have insight into the invisible worlds or knowledge of the fact that life persists beyond the veil of so-called death will, in ignorance, selfishly choose the option of suicide as a means of escape from difficult and unpleasant earth-life situations. If they were aware of the foregoing, it is possible that they would think twice before choosing to "end it all".

It is said that a personality is never presented with life situations and scenarios that he or she cannot handle. Each life is set up for success, not failure. Much depends on whether the personality succeeds in making the right choices. Therefore we must remember to battle through whatever difficulties that earth-life may present to us, as all troubles are designed to balance karma, assist with soul-growth, etc.

God will not be mocked. We must play the hand that we are dealt. It is our job to turn lemons into lemonade. Suicide is not an option. Never was, never will be.

~ g
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Death Unto Life

The following responds to a question regarding suicide, posted in the comments section of the post Touched, dated 21 April 2016 ~ g

Q: "If one is really tired of this life and has found the thread back to the path......is it ok to voluntarily end this life?"

A: The ancient and ever-present gnostic Universal Doctrine has always emphasized that the true Seeker, once on the Path, must undergo a death of the personality in order to liberate the Immortal One that sleeps within. This is commonly referred to as a "death unto life", where the death of the nature-born entity is necessary in order to make way for the rebirth of a Divine entity.

This "death unto life" was referred to by the medieval Cathars of Southern France as the endura. Its meaning was this: that the candidate on the Path must endeavor to detach himself from the natural world. He must cease to be interested or invested in the things of the world, for it is those very attachments that will prevent the candidate from making any progress on the Path towards the Divine rebirth. Man cannot serve two masters. One cannot aspire to Divinity if one's focus is rooted in Mortality. A Choice must be made to pursue one or the other. It is impossible to do both, and extremely ill-advised to even try.

The medieval Church twisted this basic, fundamental teaching of the Universal Doctrine into slanderous allegations that the Cathars practiced suicide as a part of their belief system. These allegations were due either to ignorance or deceitful intent.

Throughout the ages, this misconception has arisen whenever nature-born religious "scholars" and theologians were confronted with this basic, fundamental teaching of the Universal Doctrine. Invariably, their ignorance showed as they accepted - without proper discernment - a literal interpretation of the gnostic doctrine of the endura. The early Manicheans of the first and second centuries also faced similar accusations.

If,  during the physical life, one is fortunate enough to locate and embark upon the Path of Return, the candidate must proceed to live that physical life as a stranger among men. He or she cannot, should not, and must not attempt to expedite the process or "hurry home" via the agency of suicide. There are several reasons why this act should never be undertaken in the name of the Gnosis:

1. Transmutation and Transfiguration of the personality must begin on the Physical plane. The physical body is composed of certain organs whose designed purpose is to participate in and help facilitate an alchemical transformation. This alchemical transformation cannot hope to succeed without the use of the physical instrument.

It is ironic that in order to turn away from the physical, one must retain the use of the physical body for as long as possible.

2. As stated above, the candidate who is successful in awakening the Rose of the Heart is engaged in an alchemical process of transmutation. As a key part of this process, the candidate attracts, or draws into his microcosm, gnostic Light power from the divine kingdom. This activity benefits not only the candidate, but his fellow human-beings as well.

3. Every personality is born with an expiration date. As part of one's destiny, the time and circumstances of the death are already set in advance. It is a violation of cosmic law for the personality to attempt to circumvent that expiration date. The consequences are severe and far-reaching. It is illegal to do so in order to avoid pain and strife. It is just as illegal to do so to under the mistaken impression that by voluntarily terminating the incarnation, one can accelerate his spiritual progress. In fact, the exact opposite result will be obtained.

Contemplate the above and commit it to memory. There is no "skipping of classes" in this earthly school of life. Those who are fortunate enough to find the Path are entrusted with a great power and a great responsibility. We do not choose the Path only for our personal salvation, but in unity with all those who have succeeded before us and in service to all who are presently attempting to complete this Walk. Selfish motives that focus upon our own well-being will only impede our progress, thereby harming The Work and the group.

It is the plan of the Logos and the duty of the candidate to connect Heaven with Earth, thereby bringing Light to mankind and hastening the process of Liberation for all of humanity. Personal reward will manifest as a natural by-product of this activity, for when one serves the group, one ultimately serves the self as well.

~ g
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Touched

"If a person does not feel at home in this world, he will turn to a Spiritual School. He longs for the unknown purpose of human existence. A person who thinks along those lines catches in the heart something of the radiations of the Gnosis.

These influences enter by means of the Rose of the Heart. They affect the blood and push this person gently into the direction of a Spiritual School. What he sees and experiences there corresponds to the suggestions that wander through his blood. This makes him feel grateful, and he praises the Light."
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Your Garment Awaits You

“Receive your form and that shape, which exist in the presence of the Father. It is the status and the rank that you knew before you wandered astray and were sentenced to become flesh.”

Interpretation of Knowledge
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As Children

"What an enormous advantage have those who are able to approach the mysteries of God open-mindedly, like children."
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The Holy Aim

"We intend to place you once more before The Holy Aim, which is hidden to those who are understanding and wise by the standards of this world. If only you can find the missing thread again and hook the missing link to the chain again, then for you the Call will not have sounded in vain.

You are not expected to apprehend the complete fullness of the Divine Life in the twinkling of an eye. The issue is the restored contact, the being born anew. Even if you are still in the swaddling clothes of your new childhood, you are already worth more than if you possessed the highest consciousness estimated by the norms of nature; for you know the words:

“The things which are hidden from the wise and understanding of this world are revealed to the children of God.”
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The Day Will Come

"Once you have seen that you are dreaming, you shall wake up. But you do not see because you want the dream to continue.

A day will come when you will long for the ending of the dream, with all your heart and mind, and be willing to pay the price; the price will be dispassion and detachment, the loss of interest in the dream itself."

-- Nisargadatta Maharaj
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Restoration

“In the original nature, the spirit of man was an abode for the Light. Through his preference for the material, he must now walk in ignorance and in darkness, but if the Divine Spirit can gain entrance again, as Fire and Flame and Light, a pure state of consciousness can be restored in man.”

— Robert Fludd
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That One Necessary Thing

“The best Treasure that a Man can attain unto in this World is true Knowledge; even the Knowledge of himself: For Man is the great Mystery of God, the microcosm, or the complete Abridgment of the whole Universe.

He is the Mirandum Dei Opus, God’s Master-piece, a living Emblem and Hieroglyphic of Eternity and Time; and therefore to know whence he is, and what his temporal and eternal Being and Well-being are, must needs be that ONE necessary Thing, to which all our chief Study should aim, and in comparison of which all the Wealth of this World is but Dross, and a Loss to us.”

The Signature of All Things - Jacob Boehme

"Let us therefore take hold of this Beginning and accomplish with haste our passage through all that awaits us; for it is difficult indeed to abandon what is so familiar and to leave behind all that one has, in order to turn back to the ancient and first things."

Corpus Hermeticum
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Answers For Brian

The following are posted in response to questions presented here. The responses were too long to fit in the Comments section ~ g

Q: I am trying to get insight into The New Man "merging" with the Other One. Does Oneness equal death for a Microcosm?

A: No. The microcosm is immortal. It is the successive, un-divine, mortal personalities inserted into the microcosm that are temporary. The mortal personality experiences birth and death, repeatedly. The immortal microcosm persists.

Q: What happens to the New Man? Does he not enter the New Field of Life then?

A: When we speak of the New Man, we are speaking of the liberated human-being. One who, through self-surrender and a complete, fundamental reversal of attitude towards life, has succeeded in undergoing the transmutation that leads to transfiguration, thereby allowing the Other One, the True Man, to regain control of the microcosm.

The New Man will be in permanent contact with the New Life Field (the 6th Cosmic Domain), no matter where he may be located in time and space. The New Field of Life is not a physical destination or a place light-years away. The New Life Field is here and now. It surrounds and interpenetrates our physical realm. It is only those who are able to tune into the frequency of the New Life Field that will be able to forge this link.

For these ones, there will be no need to return to the material world via the agency of physical childbirth, unless there is a voluntary need to do so for the good of the rest of fallen mankind. Even if such a one returns to earth as a Sent One, he or she will never lose their connection with the Divine Kingdom. Symbolically speaking, though their feet may be on the ground, their head will be in the clouds.

Q: Do the Pure One's become Shepherd's for the others stuck in dialectics?

A: Yes. This human life-wave, although fragmented at the present time, was once a unity. We must be unified once again before we reach the end of these Seven Cosmic Days of Manifestation. Those who have been Liberated from the physical realm will take their places as new links in the extensive Universal Chain of Brotherhoods. It is their sacrifice and their loving duty to remain behind, to postpone their own future development in order to "reach back" into the Physical Realm and fish souls out of the sea of living-death. No one needs to be lost.

Q: Is the Vacuum of Shamballa an astral realm? There is not much on it in JVR writings other than "you will have time to complete transfiguration there" and something about the Gobi desert. How would that be able to happen?

A: The Vacuum of Shamballa is a manifestation of the 6th Cosmic Domain (the Divine Kingdom), that has established a focus here in the 7th Cosmic Domain (the Physical Realm), right down to the material earth. You can say that there are seven aspects, corresponding to each of the seven planes of the 7th Cosmic Domain. The physical-etheric manifestation of the Vacuum of Shamballa is located in the middle of the Gobi desert. It is the Heart of the World.

Because the vibrations of the 6th Cosmic Domain are so much higher than those of the 7th, the vibrations radiated by the Vacuum of Shamballa, although very high, are stepped-down in frequency a bit to allow the seeking, terrestrial man on the Path to receive its special vibration or to approach it, if possible. One can think of it as a simple bridge extended over a deep valley, enabling people to move from one side of the valley to another. One can also liken it to a diving bell, which allows man to breathe underwater at great depths, or to an airlock, which enables astronauts to get accustomed to breathing oxygen again after a space-walk. Think of it as a sort of halfway-house, where one learns to acclimate themselves to a new environment before finally taking the trip home.

The Vacuum of Shamballa is a safe haven established here in the earth-planes for use by those who are intent upon walking the Path of Return all the way to the victorious Good End. It provides much-needed help for each candidate, providing them with the strength to walk the Path. Shamballa is characterized as a vacuum because, similar to how a vacuum can roughly be defined as "the absence of air", there is an absence of aeonic influences and reflection-sphere pollution there; the very things that conspire to interfere with our Walk while we are in the physical. If death comes to one while he or she is engaged in the process of transmutation, the remains of their personality cannot go to the ordinary reflection-sphere, as their microcosms no longer vibrate at that frequency. There has to be a place for these ones to go after physical death, and that place is Shamballa.

For more information on the Vacuum of Shamballa, you may want to read "The Brotherhood of Shamballa" by Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri, if you have not done so already. It should answer many questions for you.

Q: What are all the inner degrees/inner schools/various aspects in the LR for?

It is not critically important to obtain information about such things at this time. All organizations have a structure and a hierarchy. What is important is to gain much-needed insight about the Path of Return so that the decision can be made to surrender the self in diligent pursuit of the One Goal of Humanity: Liberation.

~ g
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Victory At The Start

Most nature-religious systems promise some sort of "pot of gold" at the end of the proverbial rainbow.

1. live a good life, go to "heaven" (the reflection-sphere), Live a bad life, go to "hell".

2. live a life, die, go to the heaven-worlds (the reflection-sphere), incarnate again, repeat.

3. after repeated lives, developing along occult lines, one can die and remain in the heaven-worlds (the reflection-sphere) for an eternity.

4. live a life, then die. There is nothing further.

These are the four options presented to mankind. Each chooses his or her option based on the belief-system that they were either born into or have become acquainted with along the way in life.
Everyone has questions about these options, because they just don't know for certain what the outcome will be. Revelation will only come once they draw their last breath.

For many, this makes for a state of a bit of uneasiness. Without knowing what "the end" will be, they stumble through life trying to ensure either present or future happiness. They have to believe what their nature-religious spiritual leaders tell them, even though all evidence indicates that the vast majority of these so-called "leaders" are either clueless automatons or unsavory vassals of the prince-of-this-world.

There is another option, known throughout the ages by all those called to become Sons of the Fire. This option is revealed to those who show themselves to be worthy by way of their intense desire to be free of the chains of this world. For these ones, there is the gnostic Path of Return, the path of the Fundamental Reversal that leads to Transfiguration and ultimately, to Liberation from the ever-rotating Wheel of Death and Rebirth.

Unlike the nature-religions, which promise eventual salvation at the end of a long period of development, the Path of Return promises the exact opposite. Once a candidate forges a link with the Gnosis via the agency of the Divine Spark, the Spirit-spark Atom, he or she is immediately linked with the healing and transmuting powers of the Divine Kingdom. He or she is provided with what is needed to complete the Journey, in whatever measure is suitable for the present state-of-being. No candidate will be asked to travel farther or faster than they are able. Even so, the very act of linking up with the Gnosis guarantees that the candidate is already free. He or she now has but to complete the Path and bring their journey to its ultimate Good End.

Once the Divine Spark is awakened and the New Soul is in the process of being born, then upon death, the microcosm will not go to the reflection-sphere where dissolution and rebirth await. Instead, it will head for the Vacuum of Shamballa, where those who have begun the task of Transfiguration during earth-life can complete the process in a special atmosphere designed for that very purpose. Now this may take some time, but the key is this: rebirth into the nature-of-death will no longer be necessary. In addition, the personality will not be dissolved, but will remain a viable part of the process until it is time to merge with the revived Other One.

Therefore, take heart in the reality of the fifth option:

5. live a life then, due to the unceasing sorrows encountered, yearn to leave that life. This yearning will attract the light of the Gnosis. The Immortal Spark at the center of the microcosm will be touched and a Great Process of Transmutation will begin. Upon so-called death, one will not go to the ordinary heaven-worlds on the other side of the veil, to the reflection-sphere, the realm of the dead, but will instead retire to Shamballa, where he or she will join the ranks of the Living, to complete the alchemical process of Soul Rebirth..

Victory assured at the start.

~ g
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