Dissolution, Not Death

- NINTH BOOK -

THAT NONE OF WHAT

TRULY EXISTS CAN BE LOST, BUT

THAT MAN MISTAKES

TRANSFORMATION FOR

ANNIHILATION AND DEATH

1. HERMES: With regard to the soul and the body let us now discuss, my son, in what way the soul is immortal and of what nature is the force that holds the body together and causes it to disintegrate.

2. Death has nothing to do with these things. Death, or mortality, is only a concept derived from the word immortality, whether as an invention or because man has dropped the first syllable and begun to speak of mortality.

3. Death is annihilation, but nothing that exists in the world is annihilated. Since the world is an immortal being, it is impossible for even a single part of it to perish. Everything in the world constitutes part of the world, and above all, Man, the being equipped with reason.

4. Before and above everything is God: the Eternal One, the Uncreated One, the Creator of All Things. The second one, the world, has been created by Him in His image; is maintained and nourished by Him, and is endowed with immortality since, as an immortal being which has proceeded from the Eternal Father, it possess everlasting life.

5. To live in eternity should be clearly distinguished from what eternally is, for the Eternal One has not proceeded from any other being, and even if He had been brought into being, He would have been brought into being by Himself. But He has never been brought into being, but brings Himself forth in eternal genesis. So the Universe has everlasting life out of the Eternal One, but the Father is eternal of Himself; so the world is everlasting and Divine through the Father.

6. He formed the body of the world out of all the matter which He had destined for this purpose. He gave it a spherical shape, determined the qualities that were to adorn it and endowed it, since the matter was Divine, with eternal materiality.

7. After the Father had radiated the qualities of the species into the sphere, He locked them up in it, as in a cave, because He desired to adorn His creation with all characteristics.

8. He surrounded the whole body of the world with immortality so that, if matter sought to break away from the body's cohesive force, it would not return to the chaos peculiar to it.

9. When matter had not yet been formed into body, my son, it was in a state of chaos. It even now gives evidence of this, to a certain extent, by its ability to increase and decrease, an ability which men call death.

This disorder, this return to chaos, only occurs in earthly creatures. The bodies of heavenly beings maintain the order assigned to them in the beginning by the Father. This order is indestructibly preserved for the return of each of them to the State of Perfection.

11. The return of earthly bodies to their former condition consists in the disintegration of the force of cohesion, which turns them back into bodies which cannot be disintegrated, or in other words, into immortal bodies. So there is indeed a falling away of the consciousness of the senses, but no annihilation of the bodies.

12. The third living being is Man, who has been created in the image of the world and, in accordance with the Father's will, is above all the other earthly animals in that he possesses reason. He is not only closely connected with the second God but also approaches, in his inner contemplation, the essence of the first God. With his senses, he perceives the second God as a body, while his insight causes him to recognize the first God as bodiless and as Spirit, as The Good.

13. TAT: Is this living being then not subject to annihilation?

14. HERMES: Rejoice, my son, and understand what God is, what the world is, what an immortal being is, and what a being is that is subject to disintegration. Realize that the world, born of God, is in God; that Man, born of the world, is in the world; and that God, the Origin of the All, contains and preserves all things in Himself.

Ninth Book of the Corpus Hermeticum - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol 2 - Jan van Rijckenborgh
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It Is Better To Be Stupid Than Wise

[QUOTING]

We would also like to mention that reason should not be confused with memory. Suppose we were to give you a perfect translation of all the books of Hermes with a complete, detailed commentary and that you, having received this gift, also had a tremendous memory. The memory of dualistic man can be developed by training --  a training that in most cases spans several generations and and is handed down from parent to child -- just as a stomach can be expanded by eating large quantities of food. There are people who have contracted a distortion of the stomach by eating too much. Consequently, they need much more food to fill their stomachs than other people, without their organisms deriving any profit from it.

Now suppose that you, with your tremendous memory, had received the complete translation of Hermes. Then you would quote from this hermetic treasure stored in the bag of your memory, whenever you wished or whenever you were asked. In the eyes of the world you would appear to be a hermetic genius, and a superficial person might perhaps take you to be a hermetic initiate.

The modern system of education seeks to make the bag of memory as big as possible. All teachers make this their aim and the parents co-operate. If a child does not learn its lessons, there is usually trouble. Do you see the mistake? With such a crammed memory you would in fact know nothing, nothing at all. In reality, you would be completely deceiving yourself and everyone else. Every time you dipped into your memory bag your brain organism would react in a robot fashion.

We are trying to draw your attention to one of the greatest mystifications of today's civilization: that memory training and memory filling means the acquisition of wisdom. Well, you may certainly become a professor, but a professor is by no means a sage. As one who is looking for Liberating Wisdom, you will have to free yourself from the mystification that memory training could make you into an independent, free thinker, a philosopher by the grace of God.

Moreover, what is considered to be "wisdom" is worse than stupidity, because it destroys the extremely delicate brain organism. A person who gives himself to that wisdom is imprisoned by delusion and a high degree of crystallization., whereas ignorance, in the sense of freedom from the memory cult and its consequences will, in the long run, induce man to Seek. For the sake of your body, your physical organism, it is better to be stupid than wise in the eyes of the world. Children who escape from the much-esteemed cult of the intellect, be it because of social conditions or because of the fact that they cannot get on in the treadmills of habituation, are pre-eminently blessed by Providence, for they escape a dance of death.

When we say this, we certainly do not mean to advocate stupidity and we certainly do not advise you to keep your children away from school. However, seen from the point of view of pupilship -- don't be worried if your child cannot learn and don't be over-enthusiastic if your child is getting along very well at school.

We very much hope that you will be able to understand something of the Great Gnostic Mystery of Salvation: the possibility of freeing yourself from all authority and entering the Divine Wisdom, the Gnosis, itself. Discover that in this development there are no more limitations. By means of the New Thinking, the candidate gains contact with whatever object he desires. The object is pulled into and revealed in the open space behind the frontal bone,  in which it can be seen and analyzed and its activity investigated. The candidate is then connected with it and, if it is useful or necessary, he will be able to speak about it to secure understanding and give advice.

In those who are gnostically-enlightened, memory is assigned its Original Task, in line with the Originally-intended Purpose. Therefore, we repeat: do not ruin your children, do not force them. If it is still possible for them, give them the opportunity to approach the Original Purpose of memory. For those who are gnostically-enlightened, memory is nothing but vehicle of reproduction. If information about something is required, memory will direct itself to it unconditionally, establish contact with it and enlighten the mind.

Finally, we wish to draw your attention to another point within the scope of this investigation. Many people who have not yet found The Path to Soul Birth and, consequently, have not yet put into effect their self-authority, sometimes find themselves in a desperate and even dangerous state-of-seeking. Such persons might be guided in the right direction if a certain aid were not withheld from them. Whenever a person truly seeks, he will be touched by the elementary light of the Gnosis, which is always seeking what is lost. In this state-of-being, in which millions of people are placed repeatedly, one is open for gnostic language and testimonies from the past. However, one does not get much out of testimonies from the past, unless they can take shape in the present.

What is the use of a preceding Brotherhood (the Cathars)  if it does not appear in the present in a young, gnostic Brotherhood (LRC). Only if the seeker is confronted with Gnosis in the present, will a living testimony develop for him and will he be able to find clear guidance for his life.

Also, you probably know how  the testimony and the remains of the gnostic past have been systematically destroyed to the greatest extent possible, and violated, stolen or kept hidden over the centuries. Therefore, you will realize all the more how necessary it is that you prepare yourself  for the True Freedom of which we have spoken. As a result of this state of Freedom and the possession of the Eyes of the Soul, you, as priestly beings, will become a living testimony in the gnostic realm; you will be able to be a consolation and a blessing for seeking, suffering and misguided mankind.

What is necessary in the first place is not literature, however useful it may be. What is necessary in the first place is not an organization harmonized to the finest detail, however important that may be and however much we strive for it. What is necessary in the first place is that you should possess the Eyes of the Soul and the enlightened, renewed Thinking. And in this respect, nothing stands in your way, nothing at all!

What we need in the young Gnosis is priestly human beings. And you can only bring into effect this gnostic, priestly office by absolute self-surrender to the Rose of Roses, to the Great, Holy Work, through a perfect endura, by doing what you profess, and not only talking about it.

From "The Wisdom of the World and the Wisdom of God" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol. 2 - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God" 1 Cor 3:19

~ g
.

An Invitation To Life

[QUOTING]

We hope and pray that very many will become conscious of the new liberating possibilities that have been granted to Seeking mankind; that they will understand the aim of the work of the young Gnosis: to make all those who are ready, open for the Light of the New Day which is now dawning for us. Our fervent prayer is that you will from now on abandon all counter-movement and that whenever it approaches you, you will always recognize it in time.

Mankind as a unity, as a Brotherhood of the Beginning, has been broken to pieces, and we see the fragments in man's extreme individualization. If you are also like this, you too stand in the midst of all those countless others as an "I", as a rock-hard, unapproachable, individualized being, separated from all others. You are lonely and, in more than one respect, imprisoned. All those who are lonely and imprisoned are moved about in their respective spaces by their respective forces. They are all in motion, it is true, but it is the motion of the counter-nature. You live side-by-side, but you do not understand each other at all. You do not tolerate one another, indeed, you are unable to do so -- until the Gnosis has been sought and found.

The Gnosis is the born Aesclepius, the healer, the Lord of Love. The Gnosis seeks you out in your isolation and captivity and acquaints you with The Path. Anyone who wishes to follow this Path must break away from the hell of counter-movement and, by dying the last death of self-surrender to the Gnosis, to the Lord of Love, cause the New Soul-State to awaken. Such a one will immediately enter the New Mystery of the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the Divine Genesis, the mystery by which the Son manifests Himself.

In the young Gnosis, this genesis is granted to you. It is a genesis in which you are given all that is truly Good, and in which nothing can be taken away from you any longer. It is a genesis in which the Father of the All, in His Son, brings Himself forth within Us.

The one, eternal salvation is open for you; come, approach its Majesty. Arise now, into this Wonderful Life, leaving behind all earthly strife.

From "The New Liberating Possibilities" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis - Vol. II - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

What is counter-movement? Counter-movement is what man mistakenly refers to as "reality". The nature-born human being who is controlled by the natural aeons of the spheres and remains comfortably within that space moves counter to the Divine Movement, the Divine Plan of the Logos, which proceeds from power to power and from glory to glory.

One can liken it to a man travelling on a long journey who stumbles across a garbage dump and then chooses to make himself at home there. Not only does he make himself at home, he tries with all his might to make the dump "a better place". He doesn't realize that no matter how much work he puts into it, he is still living in a dump. His Original Journey has been interrupted and his True Destination lies far off.

You are being invited to change from the mortal soul-state of the nature-of-death to the New Soul-State of the way to Life, the Way of the Stars. You are being invited to begin weaving the Golden Wedding Garment that will lead to a unification of Spirit and Soul, the rebirth of the Spirit-Soul. It is the Spirit-Soul that will provide the basis for the transfiguration of the human entity, for the glorification of the microcosm.

There is a method for obtaining the One Goal, there is a Path that can be followed straight to Liberation. This Path calls out to all, without reservation or discrimination, ready to lead an Awakened One to true Immortality.

It is the duty of Man to raise his head out of the intoxication of the mortal, earthly soul-state, heed The Call, and then answer It.

Those who have ears to hear...

~ g
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The Importance Of Self-Surrender

[QUOTING]

So it is crucial for every candidate to bring about the correct order  and regulation in the magnetic system of his microcosm. This must be the highest aim of the pupil's way of life. By means of the lipika*, the magnetic system, the astral fire of his astral body is brought into a particular motion, and this affects every vehicle of the personality and every aspect of his life.

This is how it works: the astral substance set in motion flows into the liver and brings the blood into a certain condition through which the person will live and act. In this way, he often finds he is forcibly conditioned. He lives in accordance with the astral fire flowing into his liver. Through this force, all his nerve centers are connected with each other. One might say that the entire nerve-ether is extracted directly from the astral fire, from the astral body. The nervous system, and in particular the nerve-fluid, causes considerable difficulties in your body and in your life, for instance the unwholesome inclination to sympathy and antipathy.

* The lipika (the auric being or the firmament) represents the totality of forces and values which have resulted from the various personalities in the field of manifestation of a microcosm. All these forces together from the lights, the stars of the microcosmic firmament. These lights are a magnetic foci which, according to their nature, determine the quality of the forces and substances extracted from the atmosphere and absorbed by the microcosm, and so, by the personality. The nature of the personality is therefore determined by the nature of these lights. The change of the personality must be preceded by a change of the lipika, of the lights.This will only be possible through the sacrifice of the I, the I-demolition or self-surrender, also called endura.

The astral nerve-fluid also determines the state and quality of the endocrine system. All the endocrine organs burn, work, exclusively on and through the astral fire. Furthermore, it determines all your moods. In short, your entire nature, your character, your attitude to life and also the state of your will, stem from the condition of the astral body. Thus the astral body governs your entire life-state.

Your way of life must therefore be aimed at bringing about various fundamental changes in your astral body. There lies the Key of your life. If you do not succeed in doing so, all your efforts will, in fact, be in vain. So what should your way of life be? There are various reformative aspects in your life. The primary one is and must be self-surrender. If you were to forget self-surrender, I-lessness, even the most assiduous efforts to fulfil all aspects of life-reform would be in vain.

Where does self-surrender, the crucifixion of one's own will, begin? It begins with the I, the bodily consciousness, the result of everything that seethes and boils in your astral body; it begins with the end-product of the astral anarchy which manifests itself in your life. It must begin with the I. As a result of long experience, the I discovers that things are not as they should be, that there is something wrong with this life, that he keeps on encountering difficulties and confusions in his life, until he finally understands the words "He who is willing to lose his life for My sake, shall gain the Kingdom, the New Life". He who is not willing to lose the life of his I, he who is not willing to enter self-surrender to the Living Soul, will certainly not enter the immortal life of the Soul.

If this is truly realized, if the necessity of this warning is understood, the way to self-surrender lies open, the mystical and gnostic, practically-applied self-surrender to the True Soul, to the Rose of the Heart. This Rose, which makes itself known in the heart at the top of the right heart ventricle, is the mathematical center of the microcosm and at the same time the central heart of the astral body.  The Rose must bloom; the unfoldment and blossoming of the Rose is the rebirth of the Soul.

In the heart of the Rose, in the center of our astral system, lies the primordial Idea of the Father, the Logos, the primordial principle of our existence, God's eternal Idea regarding us, His creatures. That is why the practical, gnostic human-being dedicates his consciousness, his I-being, the end-product of the astral  chaos, unreservedly to the Rose. When the Rose has been awakened once again, when once again it can radiate power, new, pure astral currents arise which fills his entire life. Then, for the first time in his state-of-existence, the morning, aurora, dawns.

As soon as self-surrender and its results are approaching completion, as soon as the meeting between Jesus the Lord and John the Baptist at the Jordan can indeed be celebrated, the Soul will bloom, the  Soul-Rose will come to life, and at the same moment the Spirit will descend upon it like a dove.  Then the gospel words will be heard: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".

From "The Clock and the Globe" - The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

Man's worst enemy is himself. The toughest battle you will ever fight will be with yourself. Because it is the I that rules you, wanting all for itself, concerned only with what is good for itself, repelling all that does not contribute to the satisfaction and aggrandisement of the self.

How difficult is it for one to ignore the promptings, the pleadings, the cajoling, the rationalizing, the persuasive arguments of the I? It is very difficult, extremely so because we are brought up from a young age to "love yourself". This simple concept does nothing but send us careening off into a life of chasing self-fulfillment at any and all costs, placing ourselves in front, and our brother or sister behind.

But what is wrong with loving myself, the I will postulate? The answer? Look about you and see what this doctrine of selfishness has created for mankind and the world. See where the quest to satisfy the self has gotten you in your own life. To love the self above all others goes against the grain of the Divine Plan for mankind. It has estranged us far from Spirit. To begin walking the Path back towards Spirit, we must surrender our selves, we must cease to allow the I to steer the boat. We must look out and away from the self, endeavoring to live lives of unselfish service, objectivity, non-conflict and unconditional love.

If we can do this, we will be demonstrating by our actions - not just our words, but by our actions - that we are prepared to walk the walk. That we are ready to stand aside and make way for The Other One, the True Human Being that lies within us, awaiting Resurrection.

~ g
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Long-Ago Message From A Brother Twice-Born

[QUOTING]

The spirit of the Enwrapped One returned to the body at the behest of the Lord of the Twice-Born, and he who had survived became a Twice-Born One. When led forth into the Place of Glorification his face shines with an inner beauty indescribable. From that day onward his conduct and attitudes are changed and he is at peace with all men and with himself. He needs nothing from earthly life and seeks nothing. He accepts and enjoys whatever life offers, for he has learned the answer to the riddle of life and solved the Secret of the Ages.

Your brother was one who underwent the Initiation of the Twice-Born, and he has drawn the curtain aside a little to reveal only what is permitted. It is little enough but sufficient for you to understand why, when kings and governors rose to position and power, they declined the ordeal. It is understandable, for the final ordeal brought earthly life as close as possible to extinction, without complete severance of the spiritual umbilical cord. Before this, went more than twenty years arduous preparation. Yet long and terrible though it was, the time and austerity did not exceed the necessary limits by even one jot. In sorrow your brother must say that it was not an ordeal required to obtain something man has never possessed, it was to regain something he had lost. It was, however hard as it may seem, the lowest price payable for the Secret of the Ages.

For long years he who aspired to become one of the Twice Born had to practice the awakening of his spirit and bring his body under complete control. The first thing to overcome was met long before any threshold was approached, it was something which lurked in the uncontrolled thoughts of men. The frightening experiences during the years of preparation had to be modified and their effect channeled off, otherwise the awakening spirit would have been completely overwhelmed. As the material body of man cannot come too close to a blazing fire, so cannot the spirit approach too close to the sphere of divinity.

Having arisen from the Womb of Rebirth, the spirit is completely freed from any doubt about the immortality of man. Can a man doubt the source of sunlight when he can see the sun arising in glory before his eyes? Having joined the Twice-Born each man has a choice, he can go on to higher development within the Realms of Light, or he can remain to help others. Your brother chose to remain.

This wisdom of the Twice Born has spread to every corner of the Earth, and Caverns of Initiation are opened everywhere. But increasingly, through the years, men have declined to undergo the austerities and trials essential to bring them into the clear light of Truth. Therefore, the places of initiation decay and their secrets are lost, men grope in the dark and try to open a Door to which they have no Key. If a man has not the courage or the time, the inclination or the ability to sail to a far distant land, then if he would know about that land he must listen to those who have made the journey. So it is with those who would know the Secret of the Ages.

Men possess creed of little value because they are unwilling to pay the price of something better. Your brother has no way of explaining his ultimate experience to others. Although he has looked upon the face of Truth and now understands the purpose of life, what he has seen must remain locked within the heart. Though he no longer has to be satisfied with belief alone, he cannot extend his certainty to others. Yet men forever seek him out hoping to share with him the wonderful knowledge which has so gloriously transformed his life. This he tries to do, within the limits imposed by his own expanded enlightenment, beyond that he cannot go.

The spirit of the Twice Born can be liberated at will. How often have you seen your brother in a state of ecstasy which he cannot describe? It is a state beginning in quiet bliss, flowing outward in bright radiance from an inner light which can even illuminate the material darkness about him. He hears the music of the sacred spheres and sees the throbbing pulsations of life heaving about him, like waves upon the great seas. He becomes aware of an inflowing of unspoken Knowledge from a surrounding power. It does not come from any one point, but appears to flow out of all things and to penetrate all things. Material objects lose their density and become visible within, they become as though compounded of ten thousand whirling spheres of brightness. Colours are no longer dull and restricted, they become infinite in depth and number. The spirit becomes lost in adoration and wonder at the beauty revealed in everything. The soul is aware of something glorious within all this and knows it for the spirit outflowing from its source.

There is a complete unconsciousness of others, for the Greater Sight transcends their material bodies. The spirits of men are seen in a harmony of colours and their bodies as whirling masses of power. The experiencing soul is lost in a sea of sensitivity and feeling. There is a swelling surge of harmony, a sounding of glorious chords. It is the sea that washes the shores of eternity lapping upon the nearer strand.

It is an experience that no one can give to another or adequately describe to him. It is the earned reward of those who have paid the price. It is not the only reward, for throughout the life of one who is Twice-Born there is boundless feeling of well-being, sickness and disease are unknown. There is an abiding love for all men, a sense of brotherhood, and over all this the certain knowledge of the immortality of the soul and its unity with The Source. The impressions received in moments of illumination are everlasting. They fill the spirit with a glorified splendour. There are flashes of inspired visions, and the future unrolls and can be read as the past. There is a form of joyous rapture experienced by those who have risen from the Womb of Rebirth, and when it comes it can no more be held back than the sun can be stayed in its rising.

When the body of your brother lay enwrapped within the Womb of Rebirth, his spirit was carried out as on the wings of a seraph and became lost in a sphere beyond understanding. He knew not which way to go or what to seek. Then, like a roll of distant thunder, there was a swelling sound and there came an over-dazzling light. It grew steadily more brilliant until your brother saw a beautiful form of divine Glory arrayed in a splendour beyond all earthly bounds. The cumbersome words of Earth cannot do justice to what your brother wishes to describe. It is like trying to sew a silk garment with rope, or to eat sweetmeats with a spade. Words are wholly inadequate symbols.

The vision of glory which had been granted passed away and your brother found himself in the familiar sphere of the Spirit. Once the mysterious border has been crossed it remains open ever after and can be re-crossed almost at will. You are told of these things because your brother knows that the age of the Twice-Born draws to its close. Because of those who have devoted their lives to the discovery of Truth, there is progress in the sphere of the Spirit. Nothing has been lost, nothing has been in vain; the Great Gates are still closed, but they are no longer bolted. Now they will open at a knock. The road is better marked and the way more clearly indicated. They who lit the Path have departed from Earth, but their service has not ended. They serve still in another place. While life on Earth moves forward, life in the sphere of the spirit does not stand still.

From "The Book of the Sons of Fire" - Fourth Book of The Bronzebook - The Kolbrin

[END QUOTING]

The books of the Kolbrin are thousands and thousands of years old. Their chronicles span aeons of time.

Long ages ago there were those who tread the Path through arduous austerities and years of rigorous preparation. The above passage comes from one who was successful in completing The Great Work. He was able to consummate the Alchemical Wedding, the re-linking of Spirit with the Reborn Soul.

Our brother attempts to describe what such an existence is like for one who has been "Twice-Born". He did the best he could with the words available to him.

The Path is as old as Time itself. We are now at a point where it is much easier to obtain the One Goal than it ever was in the past. All who are ready should take advantage of the Grace of an Age which is now currently available to all of mankind.

"Knock and it shall be opened to you".

~ g
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Get It Right

This is what the masses of humanity believe to be true:

"I am a body with a soul. If I believe in a particular "god" and follow a particular doctrine, then when I die my soul will leave the body and travel to "heaven" where I will be with Jesus or Buddha or Moses or seventy-two virgins or whatever my earthly religion has indoctrinated me to expect to find on the other side".

The foregoing is categorically incorrect. Here's another one:

"I am a body with an immortal soul. The purpose of life is to improve the quality of my soul until someday, I reach 'Nirvana'. I do not know what Nirvana even means. I think it means bliss. This process of soul-growth may take many lives to compete. I, me, will continue to repeatedly return to earth-life until I have reached the required level of soul-growth at which point I will travel to 'Nirvana'."

Wrong again. I won't even bother to get into the ridiculous confusion of the atheist.

Now, for the truth about what is happening here:

You are a temporary, emergency-order being, no more and no less. It is the microcosm that is immortal but stranded here on the physical plane. You are "born" as a personality into the material-sphere and mated with a microcosm in the hope that you will somehow, through diligent seeking, find the Key to the Mystery and awaken the divine part of you that is not of the earth-plane. That divine part of you is the Spirit-spark atom positioned in the center of the microcosm. The location of this Divine Nucleus corresponds roughly to the area of the upper right ventricle of the physical heart. It can only be awakened by the touch of a like-vibration. This divine vibration is called Gnosis.

Your "soul" is a mortal soul. It gradually dissolves after death. As for "spirit"? You have no spirit. Correction. Your "spirit" is currently disconnected from your earthly vehicles. You have no contact with "spirit".

The purpose of your life, the One Goal, is to purify and renew the soul so that Spirit can enter and re-unite with it. When the Spirit-Soul has been restored, the physical body can then undergo transfiguration. The old "you", the material-sphere human-being is effectively replaced and absorbed by the Other One, the divine True Human Being. The Tri-Unity of Spirit-Soul-Body will have been restored.

Consciousness will expand to encompass planes of existence currently undetectable to you. As a divine True Human Being, united with Spirit (which is of God) you will become an instrumentarium for carrying out the will of God on the material plane. Immortality will be restored.

This is the glorious destiny of man. It does not take lifetimes to achieve. It can be achieved in one short lifetime if the temporary, emergency-order human-being gains insight into his condition, discovers The Path and sincerely begins to yearn for Liberation. At that point, contact can be made between the Divine-Spark and the power of the Gnosis. From there, the human-being must undergo the endura, a surrendering of the self. Once the "I" and its selfish desires have been neutralized, the candidate will have to begin living with a new attitude to life. A life characterized by Unselfishness, Giving and Service. As the candidate persists in this Quest, living out of the New Field of Life, at a given moment he will no longer be of the earth, earthly. He or she will be in the world, but no longer of the world.

This is the Purpose for which you were "born". To pursue any other goal aside from Liberation will result in a failed incarnation and the dissolution of "you". Your microcosm will be emptied and in a few hundred years be made to return to physical life again to unite with a new temporary, emergency-order personality (which will not be "you"). This new personality will attempt to obtain for the microcosm the One Goal that you and umpteen other personalities before you failed to reach.

The only way to escape the "second death" (the dissolution of the remaining personality vehicles after the death of the physical body) and retain the "you-that-you-are" is to follow The Path of Liberation to a successful conclusion. Upon transfiguration, which is the culmination of the fivefold Gnostic process of Rebirth, the you-that-you-are will be merged with the Glorified Personality that will have been re-born through your efforts during this incarnation. Your consciousness will merge with a Greater Consciousness. Your eyes shall be opened.

Therefore, do not waste this valuable incarnation partaking in foolishness and chasing earthly desires. These things are a chimera, illusions that will fade into nothingness. You are not here to "enjoy life", "have fun", "be happy", get rich, be famous, partake in myriad pleasures, copulate excessively, indulge fetishes and compulsions, etc. You are here on a cosmic rescue mission. You are here to liberate your microcosm from its eternal prison. By doing so, you shall also liberate yourself and fulfill the Divine Plan of the Logos.

You can no longer say that "no one told me". It has now been revealed to you. Do not hesitate. Enough time has been wasted. Start today.

~ g
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The Great Crystal - Conclusion

[QUOTING]

Nevertheless, everyone has a "black king" with him, as a result of his karma and his parentage. Every human-being will need to take this fact into consideration. That is why, as we have seen, The Alchemical Wedding draws our attention to the presence of this black king. And we understand now that the first task is to bring together in our system all the elements necessary for the success of the alchemical wedding.

Then the great battle has to begin. Only then can The Great Work begin in reality. If one is able to begin this battle while young, it is of the greatest importance. So what a privilege it is for a child to have parents who understand all this and adapt their actions accordingly. Seen in this light, parenthood is a great privilege, a glorious task and a high vocation.

It is so very important to guide children into the sphere of the One True Human Calling. If, early in life, you give the child's pineal eyes the opportunity to absorb the mental attitude of a gnostic attitude to life, you will be teaching him to direct himself towards following The Path, and he or she will do this quite naturally, from within. And by so doing, you will quickly activate the faculties of the pineal gland mentioned above. Then, when the child reaches adulthood, he will have no difficulty at all in understanding mentally matters concerning The Path, not as lessons he has learned, but as self-evident truths. For through the crystal property of the pineal eyes a vital force is emanated which influences the entire being. This force will drive both body and soul in the same direction.

But this wonderful structure can also be mis-used and the pineal faculty dis-organized by various systems of education adapted to the concerns of the nature-of-death. If the pineal glands of the very many children who are harmed by such education are not nevertheless touched by something of the Original kundalini-fire, so that a few of the pineal eyes are affected, escape from imprisonment in the nature-of-death is out of the question. And even then, a far greater struggle to reach Liberation awaits them.

We would also like to mention the danger associated with the adoption of certain thinking habits. Many people maintain a thought-life which consists partly of fantasizing and for the rest is based on an incorrect attitude to life and on negativity. If such a wrong thought-life is maintained long enough, compulsive thought processes will develop which are often so strong that closely concealed thoughts drive one to evil practices or even a total inability to act.

Now that we have said all this, the meaning of he strange statues mentioned in the text will be clear. These statues moved as if they were alive and their appearance was fantastic. Every human-being has such a gallery of images stored in the pineal granules, and is frequently victimized by them. A rigid, inflexible mentality is always to be accounted for by such images. Only in a few cases does one benefit from them, when during childhood one's thought-life develops in such a way that body and soul spontaneously enter the Great Process of Liberation. But in many cases this gallery of images only means a thought-life, an "I"-life, incapable of making body and soul follow the liberating Path, or which leads to a state of total passivity. That is why very strange things are enacted in and by this fantastic gallery of images, sometimes so strange that we understand C.R.C. when he says he cannot possibly mention them all.

We hope that by saying all this we have alerted you fully with regard to the wonderful instrumentarium in your head sanctuary, of which you know so very little but which in fact requires your vigilance from second-to-second.

Therefore: be -- and remain -- watchful!

From "The Moving Statues" The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross, Vol I - JVR

[END QUOTING]

Teach Your Children.

Control Thy Thoughts.

~ g
.

The Great Crystal

[QUOTING]

To understand you will first need to know that the exterior of the pineal gland is covered with a granular, sand-like layer. These "grains of sand" are minuscule, so tiny that the pineal gland --  which itself is no larger than a pea -- has hundreds of them on its surface. The interior of the pineal gland consists partly of grains of a yellow or gold-like, glowing substance. These grains are larger than those on the outside. This "sand" on the outside of the pineal gland is not found in very small children, but it occurs in large quantities in young people in the prime of life. During growth from youth to adulthood, the number of grains constantly increases until a certain age, after which they gradually disappear.

Through a variety of experiments, physiologists have discovered that esotericists are right to claim that these "grains of sand" in the pineal system have a very important function, for they are involved in the thinking processes and also in memory and intelligence . These things have been investigated particularly during recent years, and no doubt you will be able to find out more from the literature published on the subject. For instance, it has been found that if there are insufficient granules on the surface of the pineal gland, the thinking processes are seriously obstructed or sometimes even entirely prevented.

The golden, luminescent granules both within and on the exterior of the pineal gland, can be compared with minuscule gemstones or crystals. They have a wonderful function. Whenever a thought arises in the brain as a result of a perception, an experience, or some other occurrence, this activity is absorbed by one of the exterior pineal crystals, retained and reflected to the interior of the pineal gland. But the crystal also reflects back the absorbed thought-image, sending it in various directions. So it is as if the pineal gland is covered with countless tiny eyes which receive thoughts and retain, reflect and radiate them. This small organ therefore, has an enormous radius of action.

The granules inside the pineal gland are crystals which have to do with the hereditary and karmic condition of the person concerned. So on the one hand, the pineal gland is influenced by the parents and the ancestors -- hence by hereditary factors -- and on the other hand by the auric sphere of the microcosm -- hence by karmic factors. The sum of these influences determine the quality of the pineal gland as an organ of perception and assimilation. The quality of the pineal gland will therefore demonstrate these two distinct aspects in the great majority of people.

On this basis, the crystals on the exterior of the organ are formed. These crystals correspond with various part of the bain and with the chakra system in the body as a whole. So the radiations of these crystals arouse a related activity throughout the bodily system, and naturally, the nerve-ether will be in harmony with this.

Besides its karmic and hereditary disposition, the child's pineal gland also possess a greater or lesser fundamental receptivity to the Light-power of the Gnosis. It is even possible for such crystals to be present in the pineal gland at birth. This clearly indicates the incalculable value of a positive and correct way of life on the part of the parents during the pre-natal state.

End Part I

From "The Moving Statues" The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross, Vol I - JVR

[END QUOTING]

The pineal gland is man's "third eye". Once active in ages and times past, it is now dormant. It is a crystalline structure, and, as you may or may not know, crystals are excellent receivers and transmitters (see: the radio). Within this tiny organ lies great potentiality. It is what makes multi-dimensional consciousness possible -- if it can be awakened in the proper manner.

By awakening, we are not speaking of the exercises advanced by certain occult groups. This will only lead to a negative sensitivity. The entity must follow the Path, in true self-surrender, in order to attract the pure vibrations that are required to awaken this powerful organ of perception.

~ g
.

"Goodness" Is An Illusion On Earth - Conclusion

[QUOTING]

If you are a candidate on the Path, we can describe your situation as follows:

Firstly, you know about the Path

Secondly, you are interested in the Path and have set your heart on it

Thirdly, as a result, you have been taken up into a gnostic Living Body

Fourthly, you are therefore subject to an intense radiation emanating from it.

Fifthly, on the one hand, you are standing in the midst of the nature-of-death and its influences, while on the other you are experiencing the radiations of the Gnosis.

Sixthly, it is a fact that the world's atmosphere is becoming increasingly evil and full of misery, while at the same time the influence of the Gnosis, which manifests itself in you in the Living Body, is growing in intensity.

Seventhly, you are therefore bearing a twofold burden and it is as if you are being torn limb from limb. On the one hand there is the nature-of death, on the other, the influence of the Living Body of the Gnosis.

You are being torn apart, and that is something no one can endure for long, unless you actually walk the Path you know so well in theory, taking all the consequences into consideration. Please understand what we are saying. We are not trying to blame you in any way. We only mean to draw your attention to a factual state which has existed until now, either wholly or in part. What is required now? What is necessary is that you begin immediately to experience the Path, and to walk it with the greatest possible speed. What you need is to throw yourself into the actuality of pupilship. You need to experience the Path. You need to realize your pupilship, immediately, positively.

Do you realize, in view of the facts we have mentioned, that many are teetering on the brink of an abyss? That is why, in view of the extremely rapid unfoldment of the course of world events, it is high time that you intervened radically in your own state-of-being. In everything in which you still remain on the negative side of things, you ought to intervene before it is no longer possible to do so.

You know the way. You are familiar with the method. At the same time, the power to break through is at your disposal. Why are you sighing then?

There is nothing to sigh about, because hands are outstretched in the thousands to lift you out of the morass. But if you don't take hold of the outstretched hand, how can you ever be helped?

"The Delusory Goodness of Evil" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol III - J. Van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

Get to it.

Don't talk about it...be about it.

~ g
.

"Goodness" Is An Illusion On Earth

[QUOTING]

It is necessary to place these words in the living present. By now you will no doubt agree with us that The Good is not to be found in this world and that life is nothing but trouble and sorrow, that pain and grief are man's lot. But there are optimists as well as pessimists, cheerful people as well as prophets of doom.

There are those who accept life as it is. There are also those who struggle hopelessly against it. There are those who worry all the time, and those who are quite content. But virtually all know in their heart of hearts  that, if it comes to the crunch, the 'good' they are searching for or think they have found is a shadow, an unreality. And even if that knowledge is not present, there are still feelings of doubt from time to time, and quite so often disappointments, too. For the 'good' turns out to be not so 'good' after all, but only a greater or smaller part of evil.

You will understand though, that what we have said does not apply to life-spark entities, who have no awareness of these things. They are just like animals and do not have an inner life.

Now if you are a pupil of the young Gnosis, take a look at yourself. Great opportunities are available to you, because you participate in the Living Body of the School. However, we would like to ask: 'Are you happy at this moment? Have you raised yourself above the level of grief and pain? Have you freed yourself from sorrow and suffering? Has sorrow gone from you? Do you stand, morning, noon and night, in the joy of the children of God? Is it not so that your course through life, particularly in these times, is very burdensome? Could it not be said that you are enmeshed in problems without number and that you have a thousand-and-one worries? What is the cause of all this?

Have you every noticed that many people complain of ill health? This is often true of pupils of the School. Many do not look well. The main complaint is tiredness. One has the impression that many experience these difficulties because of long periods of stress without sufficient rest. The diet of most pupils, too, is far from ideal.

This is a symptom of our times. All over the world, in fact, this general deterioration can be observed. The state we have entered into now was predicted several years ago. Pupils were warned about it again and again.

Why were they warned? What can one do about it? As nature-born human-beings aren't we all threatened by the same dangers?

No, you were warned repeatedly because there is something you can do about it! But one of the difficulties of these times is that people do not listen well and understand so poorly. More over, people forget very quickly. Everything we are telling you today, you could well have forgotten entirely by tomorrow, not intentionally, not because you are primitive, but because what you hear, you repress!

The atmosphere in which we live has changed. The Great Game is being played! You observe how world events are affected by the Great Game, how they correspond to the unmasking*. But do you observe how the Great Game has already begun with respect to you?

A general sickening, weakening and poisoning of all mankind has begun. We announced this well beforehand, so that you would not be victimized by it. All those complaints show that all are being swept along in the mighty current of destruction. Coughing and sneezing, anemic and laden with all kinds of symptoms we are carried along by the current, unable to resist. Uneasiness and despondency prevail wherever you look.  People are asking themselves: 'Where is this all going to lead? What is going on?'

The tenth book of Hermes provides us with an opportunity to give an objective answer to these questions: the human-being of this world is unable to perceive! What the eyes see, as Hermes says, are only chimera and shadows of the lower nature.

How so? On account of your head sanctuary. On account of your sensory faculties. The entire head sanctuary of the nature-born human-being is attuned to the nature-of-death, His sensory faculties, whether coarse or refined, are attuned to duality, to ordinary nature. This state-of-consciousness is forever unsuited to perceive The Only Good; The Only Good that, at the very least, is the Living Soul-state's condition of existence. That which most closely approaches the essence of The Good is hidden from our eyes. The most Mighty, the most Glorious, entirely eludes the centers of consciousness, the sensory organs of the head sanctuary.

The Good, The Only Good, is not to be found in this world. The radiation of The Good, however, the universal Seven-Spirit, is nevertheless omnipresent. And you can participate in this radiation. In that lies the possibility of ascent. But it is not enough simply to know this; that would mean only that you have grasped it intellectually. As long as this knowledge remains mere intellectual cognizance, it will do you no good.

"The Delusory Goodness of Evil" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol. III - J. van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]
.

The Ten Forces

"...the absolute, insurmountable unity of The Twelve can be assailed by the Ten Forces; only the Ten Forces can bring a solution, for when they begin to assert themselves, The Twelve automatically recede".

The Ten Forces, or Virtues, are:

Gnosis
Joy
Courage (Forebearance)
Self-Control
Righteousness (Justice)
Magnaminity
Truth
The Only Good
Life
Light

[QUOTING]

If you understand the Process of Rebirth, if you can really see how the Light-raiment of the Sophia develops -- and only a complete acceptance will make this possible --  if you truly recognize the Gnosis, the Sophia, then ignorance, the first vice, will be driven out. Hermes says that if you truly come to recognition, to insight, from within, you will be purified. If you do not simply accept the truth of the Gnosis on authority, but experience it from within, ignorance will recede from you.

Through purification and growing self-knowledge, ignorance is cast out and straight away, a great tremor of Joy will pass through you, reverberating throughout your being. This Joy casts out all sorrow: the second vice. It cannot be compared with any joy in the nature-of-death, any happiness arising from the interplay of opposites. It is a scintillating force from the life-sphere of the Soul-state; it confers upon you an inner state that will never fade.

Imagine that this ignorance has been taken away from you in a fundamental way, and in your nature-born state of experience it is as if the veils have been removed. Ignorance has vanished. And straight away, a glorious radiation descends into you from the Light-raiment of the Sophia - if you possess it - bringing with it an inner Joy that fills you utterly and passes all understanding. And behold, intemperance is driven out in the same way, for the flood of inner Joy poured out over you continues flowing into you in a steady rhythm, feeding and sustaining you. And as a result, any tendency towards disequilibrium -- which is what Hermes  means by 'intemperance' -- disappears.

If you are living in such a torrent of abundance, you will no longer want to keep on renewing your attachment to the nature-of-death. This renunciation of everything dualistic, this forebearance will drive out the vice of desire. By 'desire', Hermes means 'chasing after earthly goals' == the constant pursuit of  things on a horizontal level, things which are purely of the earth, earthly. So, when you stand in the steadily flowing current of energy coming from the Light-vesture surrounding you, the vice of desire will be driven out.

If you regard life and action in the nature-of-death with an objective eye, because you possess and experience the Inner Man, then, as Hermes says, this will provide a foundation for Justice. Then all unrighteousness will be banished without any trouble at all.

The person with an enlightened Soul lets his light shine over good and evil alike, over everyone and everything. Hermes calls this virtue Magnaminity, which drives out the vice of greed. Hermes does not mean greed for money or goods, or anything like that, but greed, miserliness with respect to your expressions of sympathy and the giving out of your love-radiations.

The Soul belong to everyone and is in everyone. The Soul makes no distinctions. Like the sun, it shines on good and bad alike. All that approval and disapproval, all those sympathies and antipathies people have, amount to nothing more than foolish, miserable unfairness and bias, and in Hermes' terms this vice can be called the worst, the most shameful desire. If you free yourself from this vice by radiating your Soul-power to everyone, regardless of who they are, then you will stand in the power of Truth. Then Truth will reveal itself, the Truth that dispels all lies, all deceit. Lies and deceit, in this sense, are the attachments and sympathies the nature-born human being harbors out of habit, or because of the expectations of society.

The world thirsts and sighs for truth! Only if Truth, in its absolute sense, enters the candidate, can The Only Good become perfect and complete in him. When Truth finds admittance, the Good, the Life and the Light appear. All jealousy, and any other vices, must then depart. And finally the moment comes when, out of the dark, dualistic nature-born body, no further vice emerges. All vices are banished, overcome by the storm of the soma psychikon. As soon as the Ten Virtues have entered, the Twelve Vices are vanquished. Only in this way can the Process of Rebirth from the Sophia be brought to completion. Many of you possess such splendid and glorious Soul-quality, and with it you should root all those vices out of your personality, with great determination, like a storm. Then you will make your body, your personality, a suitable tool in the service of God and mankind. Then there will no longer be anything to prevent you from rising right out of the nadir of materiality, and resurrection will become a fact. We hope and pray that you will soon complete this labor of purification.

"The Development of Gnostic Consciousness" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol. IV - J. Van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

Remember, however, that the "I" cannot cultivate these Virtues. They are bestowed upon the candidate once the Divine-Spark has been awakened and, in self-surrender, the candidate endeavors to 'walk in the light' from that point on. This reversal can be done, it must be done, in order for the Goal to be reached.

We must let go of the vices that 'make us human' and embrace the virtues that will enable us to become god-men and god-women.

~ g
.

The Twelve Vices (Listed)

[QUOTING]

The human-being possesses twelve fundamental vices, horrifying to behold. These are:

ignorance
grief and sorrow
intemperance
desire
injustice
greed
deceit
envy
guile
anger
thoughtlessness
malice

These fundamental vices are present in every human being born of matter. There is no exception. The worker in God's vineyard, sent out to labour in the nature-of-death, is daily reminded: 'Take care in your contact with the inhabitants of the nature-of-death. Keep in mind the twelve fundamental vices. If one of them fades into the background, it is more than likely that the others will act with re-doubled vigor'.

And that is how the Inner Man can be kept prisoner, if brothers and sisters in whom the Soul has been resurrected do not use their Soul-power to neutralize their own vices. And if they do not, no further progress can be made.

People often battle to control their vices. They observe these vices in themselves, or other people point them out, and then, full of good intentions, they often try to neutralize them with their ego. But that is never any use, in a liberating sense. These fundamental vices can only be rooted out with living Soul-power.

The period during which the influence of the New Soul is increasingly exerting itself, but the birth of the Inner Man from the substance of the Sophia has not yet taken place, is a critical one. That is why many pupils who already possess something of the Inner New Man are often obstructed in their progress by the presence of the Twelve Fundamental Vices. One can never afford to forget them for a moment.

'The Development of Gnostic Consciousness" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol IV - J. van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

Next: The Ten Forces

The Twelve Vices

[QUOTING]

The personality you yourself are, is not only of the earth, earthly, but of the zodiac. If you have ever studied astrology, you will know that our solar system, with all its planets and their moons, moves within and is enclosed by the twelve signs of the zodiac, so that the zodiac and everything it contains forms one system. This system triggers everything that happens in your life, and your personality is determined by it. This tent-dwelling owes its whole existence to the action of the twelve signs of the zodiac. If you study these things you will realize that the zodiac forms one astral system out of which all its inhabitants have to live, whatever planet they come from.

So this system and everything it contains is the nature-of-death, the non-static realm in which the forces of antitheses hold sway, constantly cancelling each other out. Even without astrology you can easily find proof of this, because astronomy, too, shows how every process of the universe-of-death is characterized by a constant rising, shining and fading. You can confirm for yourself the validity of Jacob Boehme's idea that the zodiacal system is a closed-off space in which 'God has enclosed mankind, so that the evil taking shape therein would not penetrate the entire universe'.

Hermes states plainly that the twelve vices are the direct result of zodiacal activity. He says: the zodiac consists of twelve elements; one nature, but manifold of conception. This means to say that you are born under one sign of the zodiac, one zodiacal activity. So there is one aspect which is fundamental in your life, and the other eleven merge with it. They all work together to mislead mankind. They form an absolute, insurmountable unity, and that is why the twelve vices are anchored fundamentally in man. You have not learned them. You have not cultivated them. They are not the result of evil, and neither are they the result of an accumulation of sins. No, they are twelve fundamental flaws that appear in your life as vices. Think of the two words: 'flaw' and 'imperfection'. As long as any flaw is present there can be no perfection, and the result will be a certain amount of disorder.

To put it another way, our nature is a nature in genesis, it is only an aspect of what it must one day become. That is why we speak of a birth in nature and a birth in the Spirit, of Soul-birth and Spirit-birth, and of being 'twice-born'.

The twelve vices are present in man in their positive and negative, their good and evil aspects, and thus are capable of building up heavy karma, under which man wanders bowed under a great burden of sin. And that is how what is not-yet-perfect can be held fast in the clutches of imperfection.

The existence of these activities and their effects has always been known to mankind. However far back you go in history, you will find knowledge of the forces of the zodiac. Think, for instance, of the Great Pyramid, that mighty Egyptian symbol whose construction is based entirely on measurements and data derived from the zodiacal system and the solar system. You will also see how the forces of the zodiac have always been a source of great confusion for seekers. This confusion lasts until the pupil on The Path discovers that the absolute, insurmountable unity of The Twelve can be assailed by the Ten Forces; that only the Ten Forces can bring a solution, for when they begin to assert themselves, The Twelve automatically recede.

"In The World, But Not Of The World" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis Vol. IV - J. van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]
.

The Mortal Soul's Journey To Liberation - Conclusion

 

 

[QUOTING]

When the mortal soul has reached maturity and has been completely absorbed in the complicated convolutions of the nature-of-death, when it has experienced suffering and sorrow, and when it has tasted all the vicissitudes of dualistic life, impulses are given to it by means of the Original Principle of Life, The Rose of the Heart. These impulses do not come from the ordinary aeonic macrocosmic sphere but from the Nature-Of-Life, which also sends out its radiations. If you think about the words, 'The Light shines in the darkness...', you will understand this. You should see The Rose as a sensitive point able to reflect the rays of the Gnosis to some extent.

When the mortal soul begins to react, it hears, 'O soul, cease your futile attempts to maintain yourself in the nature-of-death and turn to the One and Only Task for which you were created, namely to vivify and liberate the Immortal Soul  to ensoul your microcosm. Begin with this Johannine work! Become the harbinger of the savior of your microcosmic, sinful little world. If you, soul, will undertake this Work, then your consciousness will merge and be absorbed into the new Immortal consciousness. Then for you also, if you understand this, there will be no more death'.

Whoever begins to undertake this Great Work of Liberation, this Work of Rebirth, will immediately be linked to the macrocosmic sphere of the Nature-Of-Life, while still also linked to the aeonic sphere. This is, of course, a highly undesirable situation. This is why the Pistis Sophia says in Chapter 25 that "the Paralemptor, the Great Receiver of the Light" -- will separate from dualistic nature all who are occupied with the great process of Purification and hand them over to the Treasury of the Light.

It is clear that alongside the ordinary dualistic process of preservation, there is a process of Liberation, in and above the nature-of-death and that has nothing to do with the nature-of-death. This nature continues gathering its materials for the vivification of mortal souls. And when the mortal soul begins to listen to the Voice of the Liberators, it is lifted out.

You may have discovered, and science has explained, that the sun and the moon are great, intense purifiers and vivifiers in the ordinary field of nature. The sun is the great principle of life in our field of nature. In many senses we would not be able to live and our microcosms would not be able to maintain themselves, if there were no solar power.

You know that the School of the Golden Rosycross often speaks about electro-magnetic radiations. The radiations that are more electric by nature come from the sun, and they support and vivify the rest of the general magnetic radiations. The electric solar power radiations make the other radiations of the aeons palpable and active, and in this process the moon is in a certain sense a precision instrument.

The sun is the more fundamental force, and the moon is the regulating force, which gives the final result. There is not a single zodiacal or galactic influence that must not first be vivified  by the moon to be able to be positively active. This dual activity of the sun and the moon, as the vivifier and manifester, explains why in antiquity the sun was seen as male and the moon as female and why there was a sun god and a moon goddess.

As it is in the nature-of-death, so it is in the Nature-Of-Life. As there are a sun and a moon in the nature-of-death totally active in all the processes of nature, so there are a Sun and a Moon in the Nature-Of-Life, acting as two foci. Many holy scriptures, myths and legends mention a Sun behind the sun (Vulcan), and a Moon behind the moon. They speak of an invisible sun and moon, active in an unknown Universe invisible to nature-born eyes.

As there is a Universal Brotherhood in the nature-of-death, a Brotherhood that cannot be explained from the nature-of-death, a Brotherhood that works to liberate fallen microcosms, so there is necessarily a Sun behind the sun and a Moon behind the moon at the service of this Brotherhood. And so there are active in our solar system a field of Solar power and one of Lunar power, which cannot be associated with the sun and moon known to us and of which the positions, phases, and activities cannot be calculated in the ordinary way. It is to these force fields that the Pistis Sophia is referring. As soon as the pupil begins the great and glorious Work of Rebirth, according to the methods and principles of the fivefold universal Gnosis, he comes into contact with the invisible field of Solar power and that of Lunar power. This Sun becomes a vivifier to him, and this Moon brings the New Life gradually to manifestation.

When this Sun rises for the candidate on The Path, it will never set. And when this Moon shines for him, he will be led through all resistances and limitations, because of the manifesting activities of this force.

In the nature-of-death, the human being is under the control of the sun and the moon of this nature; this is a scientific fact. When the process of cornerstone freemasonry causes a new Light-force to become manifest in the microcosm, the Paralemptors, the receivers of the Sun and the Moon of the mysteries, will attract this microcosm into their system. The Light-force will then be taken away from the nature-of-death and transferred to the guardians of Melchizedek. Thousands and thousands of years ago these guardians were already called the Brothers of the Sun, and the Sons of Wisdom and of the Fiery Mist.

The Eternal Day has dawned for those for whom this new Sun rises. They no longer need the sun and the moon of dualistic nature, for Eternity has revealed itself to them in time.

"A New Sun and a New Moon" - The Gnostic Mysteries of Pistis Sophia - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

There is a Process of Soul Rebirth. Make no mistake, this Process is very, very real. It requires that one re-focus one's thinking, willing and desiring away from this ordinary, temporary "life" and towards the New Life that has always beckoned.

For most, this will not happen until they have been so bruised and battered by the sorrow and disappointment experienced in earth-life that the heart will cry out for a release from duality, for salvation from this misery. When the heart finally makes that silent cry, it will be heard.

The re-generative forces of this New Life have been with us since Time began. These forces call out to us every minute, every second. We have but to hear The Call with our heart, and answer with our actions.

~ g
.

The Mortal Soul's Journey To Liberation

[QUOTING]

The microcosm needs a soul, because a microcosm without a soul is a living-dead organism. A soul-less microcosm is like a plan that has not been carried out.

The microcosm that is familiar to us, and to which the human soul-state belongs, does not contain an immortal soul-state because the Original Soul-Life principle belonging to the microcosm cannot be vivified. This Soul-Life principle belonging to the microcosmic organism cannot be vivified. This Soul-Life principle continually lives in a living-dead state. It is like a rosebud that stays hidden under its covering petals. There is, as yet, no life-giving sun that can make it develop. The life-giving sun is present, but for the Rosebud, it is hidden in darkness. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness cannot see it.

The cause of this is a total dis-organization of the microcosm. It has become crystallized. It is like a nearly-extinguished fire, and accordingly, the Original Soul has died and disappeared. Only a rudiment has remained, like a seed, but this seed cannot be put in fertile soil in order to germinate.

In accordance with this situation, a provisional measure has been instituted in the nature-of-death, namely, the manifestation of a mortal soul-state. This manifestation does not in the least resemble the Original One, because it arises completely from the materials of the nature-of-death. It also exists and is maintained in a quite different way than the Original one, but this is nevertheless a wonderful mercy and a help to all fallen and disorganized microcosms.

We are referring to the earthly birth process of living souls. In this way, the microcosm is given a kind of ensoulment, albeit a mortal one, far removed from the Original ensoulment.

The Pistis Sophia says that the mortal soul-state arise from the cosmic sphere of the aeons. You could visualize the cosmic sphere as a great and mighty sphere enclosing all life and movement known to us.

This sphere is divided into twelve aspects, twelve spheres of power, twelve rays. These twelve aeonic rays or waves are absorbed by the magnetic system of the auric being, which in turn projects them into the magnetic system in the brain. When this magnetic system has absorbed these influences, they are then absorbed by the system of the endocrine glands. This system is threefold: One part is organically-linked to the serpent-fire, one part to the nervous system, and one part to the blood system.

You can now easily imagine how the aeonic electro-magnetic rays are concentrated in the entire human system and how all hormones arise from aeonic rays.

These hormones and their forces also build human seed. Human seed is the basic principle of provisional life. It has to be distinguished clearly from the seed-grain of Christ: the Rose of the Heart. Human seed contains aeonic soul-power that is attuned and conforms to the state-of-being of the microcosm concerned and its karmic burden. When male seed unites with the female, that is the union of a positively-charged principle with a negatively-charged one, resulting in a fiery process. The fiery principle thus generated develops from out of the serpent-fire, the nervous system, and the blood into a living soul.

A microcosm that has lost its Original ensoulment and harmonizes the most with this product receives and embraces it, and so a mortal soul is born some time later. As you will understand, this process is prone to many complications, which do indeed occur frequently.

End Part I

"A New Sun and a New Moon" - The Gnostic Mysteries of Pistis Sophia - JVR

[END QUOTING]

A couple of notes:

Astral force is literally radiation from the stars. The twelvefold zodiac is composed of a twelve constellations, or star-systems, that encircle this solar system. It should be clear to see that these twelve zodiacal aeons focus their astral energies into this solar system, where they are transmitted to every human microcosm in the manner described above.

These astral energies are magnetic in nature and can therefore be attracted or repelled by the human system, which is also naturally magnetic. Therefore, it is important to note that these aeonic energies do not force their way into the microcosm. If the microcosm has an affinity to  particular astral ray, it will attract those forces into its magnetic system. As noted above, transmission is effected thusly:

1. auric being
2. brain system
3. endocrine system
4. serpent-fire system
5. nervous system
7. blood

Note the progression. Astral forces originate in the stars, then are transferred in a top-down fashion until they become anchored in our blood and nervous system. Literally speaking, what we are in our day-to-day lives is a direct result of the astral forces that are focused towards us on a constant basis. This is why we are frequently reminded that "Man does not live, he is lived".

The endocrine glands act as transformers of a sort. These glands are ductless, which means that they do not transmit their hormones via a duct. Instead, like a squeezed sponge, they secrete their hormones directly into the blood-stream, which carries them to all parts of the body in the space of a heartbeat. Guided by the line-of-transmission outlined above, it becomes apparent that as soon as we attract, receive and accept an impulse from the twelve aeons of nature, it will be acted out by the human system.

These glands have the ability to transmute electro-magnetic energy (astral energy) into the subtle fluidic substance we call hormones. This is how the contact is made. We know that water is an excellent conductor of electricity. Mud may perhaps be not so excellent, but can still act as a conductor. Well, the fluids secreted by the hormones are of a very fine nature, enabling them to transmit electro-magnetic information to every part of the dense physical body and its etheric double.

The final part of this excerpt gives a brief description of how re-incarnating microcosms are united with a mortal soul that corresponds to the karmic state of the microcosm. This is the process known to humans as conception. Again, we have an example of how attraction works in this nature-order, as from life-to-life, the re-incarnating microcosm retains the karma developed by the personalities that have succeeded each other within it. Upon re-entry into the nature-of-death, the microcosm must be "matched" with the serpent-fire principle that most closely mirrors its own karmic and hereditary requirements so that the personality which is destined to develop in the returning microcosm will be able to "pick up" where the last personality left off.

Much food for thought, and a foundation for what comes next.

~ g
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Chakras And The Ductless Glands

   

Chakras (from the Sanskrit word cakra, meaning "wheel" or "circle") are astral-etheric concentrations that are used to receive and distribute astral energies throughout the human system. Each chakra has an organic counterpart in the dense physical body. These organic counterparts correspond to the ductless glands of the endocrine system.

 

The ductless glands are so named because there are no ducts attached to them which can transport their fluids. Instead, they secrete their special electromagnetically-charged fluids directly into the blood and nervous system.  

 

The purpose of the chakras is to transfer cosmic astral forces to the mental, astral and etheric vehicles of the human personality.

 

Keep handy.

 

~ g

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Flight of the Phoenix

Phoenix - a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.

Most of us have heard of the legend of the Phoenix. We acknowledge the myth without really understanding it. The legend of the Phoenix bears an important message for you, me and all mankind. That message is this:

We have been born for a purpose. Our purpose is to make contact with certain Divine energies and form a link with these energies. If we cooperate with the power of this Divine force which is not-of-this-world, a miraculous transformation will gradually take place. The True Man, the Other One that lies imprisoned within us will re-emerge in full glory while the "I", the self-conscious personality that was us, will fade in influence.

We are image-bearers only. Our purpose: to awaken the Spark and free the Divine One trapped within.

Then, from the ashes of fallen nature will rise the Firebird, the Phoenix that represents Resurrection, Transformation, Liberation.

~ g
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The Johannine Type

[QUOTING]

We do not want to view the figure of John the Baptist as an historical personality, but as the type of person who can indeed be called the harbinger of Jesus, in the sense that before the Christ-radiation can take shape in any person and this person can consequently be called a Jesus-person he must first be a Johannine-person. He must be taken up in a preliminary process.

This is why John precedes Jesus  in the Gospel and why John the Baptist is a figure of all time. He manifests himself immediately when any pupil of the Spiritual School commences the Path under the same conditions and in the same power as the Johannine type. Hence a given person cannot just decide to be a Johannine type; at most, he can decide to become a Johannine type.

There are different stages of genesis and therefore also different types and sub-types:

1. the type of the ordinary dualistic person, which type can be distinguished in various gradations;

2. the Johannine type, the type which populates the ordinary visible Spiritual School;

3. The Jesus type, the type of the new, liberated human being;

4. the Christ type, the type of the divine human being.

From the announcements of the Gospel and those of the Pistis Sophia, it appears that also a miraculous birth can be connected with the Johannine type. We mean this birth not in the sense of the natural birth of a child, but the entrance into a non-dualistic state-of-being. There are three births, three stages of miraculous resurrection:

1. the birth of John, called by the Rosicrucians 'kindled by the Spirit of God'

2. the birth of Jesus, called by the Rosicrucians 'perishing in Jesus the Lord'

3. the birth of Christ, called by the Rosicrucians 'reborn through the Holy Spirit'

The first birth is the condition for Transfiguration.
The second birth is the process to Transfiguration.
The third birth posits the fact of Transfiguration.

We give you this outline for the sake of completeness, but the point of direct, primary importance for us is whether we have indeed entered the process of that first birth -- the Johannine birth. And we repeat: this concerns a miraculous . One cannot decide to be a John today. One can decided to enter the Way, and on this Way, provided the conditions are fulfilled, the factors to this birth must be granted to us. This is why it is a miraculous birth. This birth must appear out of a state-of-being, out of a very concrete mode of life in which selflessness takes the central place.

In order to make this first miraculous birth radiate clearly before your consciousness and hence to place the Johannine type before you in clear definition, it is necessary to begin with some repetition: the repetition of matters and problems that should be very familiar to you from reading and listening. We begin with the question: 'Who is to be regarded as a successful pupil of the Spiritual School?' And we mean successful in the liberating sense.

The answer is:  'A pupil who has come to the discovery through experience, out of suffering and sorrow, that our nature-order cannot possibly be the divine order'.

Consequently, such a pupil will regard every attempt at the improvement of the world on the horizontal plane as superfluous and absolutely useless. He therefore does not just accept this world, but begins to seek from within for The Other. At least he constantly wants to do this seeking from a disquiet that has consequently entered his blood.

The person who is typified by this disquiet in the blood as mentioned above sends out a certain magnetic vibration. It is a radiation that makes contact with the source of powers that the Pistis Sophia calls the power of the little Iao, the Good, who is in the Midst.

What sort of power is this? It is the power that, as Jakob Boehme says, has seized the nature-of-death in its heart. It is the fundamental, calling power of the gnostic Body of the Universal Chain, active in the world of duality. It is a power that does not originate directly from the New Field of Life, but is nevertheless connected with it and takes shape completely in the dualistic field of nature.

Yet it is obviously separated from it and can be active exclusively  in people of the type described above. This field of power is therefore within reach of every dualistic person, without him or her having to enter an unnatural state-of-being. Although it is active in duality, it is nevertheless completely under the control of Original, Divine forces.

The power of this field is sown in the type of person described above as an answer to his soul distress and is connected with the Original Atom, with the heart,. When this work has been accomplished, the second phase begins.

'The Birth of John" - The Gnostic Mysteries of Pistis Sophia - JVR

[END QUOTING]

The Johannine type is that one who "makes straight the paths" preparing the way, via selflessness and self-forgetfulness, for 'He who is to come', the Jesus-man, who represents the birth of the New Soul.

One cannot begin to take this step unless and until one has first recognized that he or she has had their fill of the world, that they are through with the illusion of this temporal, finite nature-order.  It is only when this point of despair has been reached and the candidate yearns desperately for an escape from this prison that the Spark within the heart can be touched by a radiation not-of-this-world. This Touch will link the candidate to another Life-field, one that does not vibrate with this nature-order. From this earnest beginning, one is given the power needed to begin the conversion from ordinary to Johannine, one who "prepares the way".

~ g
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The Other One

[QUOTING]

Marsilio Ficino explained that the Spirit becomes ill when it feeds on too many dreams. Sickness through undernourishment weakens one, and a weak voice grows increasingly weaker. It is not heard; it cannot be heard, because the noise of society with all its fascinating but also heart-rending manifestations will drown it out as loudly as possible. Ultimately, it will thus grow silent, and the people will no longer be able to be bearers of the Spirit-spark, the last principle of the Light Soul. As life-sparks, they will then continue on their merry-go-round on earth, whereby they drive themselves and each other crazy, seek to kill each other, and eventually bring civilizations to an end.

Those who look around must brace themselves, they can see it happening, because guidance from above, inspiration by those who know, the bons hommes or the initiated, has vanished. And this has to be so, for the human being is not yet complete, and he must undertake the second part of his development himself, albeit under the stimulation and ultimately under the guidance of his inner inspiration, his living New Soul. This is why our era is so critical. It is still possible to hear this inspiration, this voice of the innate Soul-Spark, but the time is becoming increasingly precarious. It is certainly an exciting time in which we live. Something fundamentally different needs to be learned at short notice. What is it? What needs to be learned?

The human being himself is from nature. Everything contained in nature is also in him: growth and blossoming, learning, living, reproduction and ultimately, also sickness, decline and finally, even death. By learning to know himself, he learns to know the essence of nature and thus of the earth itself. By learning to know himself through and through, he learns to know four billion years of the earth.

Then that special psychological moment arrives in which the human being, deep within himself, recognizes, 'I am not yet complete, my development is not yet at an end, not at its peak. For the earth is also only half-way developed'. Is it then possible that he is also only half-way, like the earth? That depends. There is something more to it.  The human being must learn to know himself, certainly, but he must learn to know all of himself. For he is inclined to look always only at one half, to nature, being so close, while another, unknown half is certainly equally as important. The human being is indeed nature and of nature, but not exclusively so. In the magnificent physical body he has at his disposal, another principle is present. Deeply hidden, there is a Divine Nucleus, a Divine principle that in world literature is sometimes called the Rose of Infinite Beauty and also called the Sacred Lotus Flower Floating on the Water. The human being must learn to know this as well. Actually, this is what he must learn to know first of all. Being so near, it is a miracle that this Rose is not known, for it has inspired us with its life through which we can live. And also, this Rose of another nature has a plan and is destined to follow its own development. Its existence is found in a mighty, Divine Plan, not in time, but in the eternal.

 In fact, it has not been given to the human being to know what 'eternal' is. This is the prerogative of the Rose of the Heart, the Other One in the microcosm. And this One has been waiting. For how long? What for? Until the human being is finally able to read the characters of nature!

It is sometimes said that this Other One, this 'stranger' of the Gnostics, once underwent a Divine development, in a long-forgotten time, or rather, not long ago, but differently, outside of time. The Rose existed in Eternity. However, it was looking too much into the river of Time, too long, too intensely, causing the subtle balance of the mighty energies in which the microcosm was taken up to break, and the microcosm lost itself in Time. The human being lacks the senses to catch hold of how it was, or is, over there outside of Time. But the Other One knows and with its sensitive impulses, it awakens in the earthly human being that strange, inexplicable longing for unknown vistas, unknown beauty, for the Eternal.

But the Other One knows! Whoever can see this is able to recognize two parts, two principles, in the human being that are both engaged in a mighty learning process. On the one hand, there is the human being arisen from earthly nature and on the other hand, the Divine Rose of the Heart, originating in the Eternal, in The Other. Without this Divine Rose, we would be at the end of a long process of development. With it, the human being will experience standing at the beginning of a grand new phase in Life. The human being who decides to learn to know as well as possible both his own nature and that of The Rose, through and in the school of life, also with the help of a true spiritual school, will certainly understand...the essence of the earth, because he unfolded his inner self fully, and together with it, he went towards Unknown Horizons.

"A New Fundament"  Gnosis - Rays of Light Past and Present  Peter F.W. Huijs

[END QUOTING]
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