My Imaginative Church
Spiritual and Physical Evolution
The Nature of Good and Evil
The Absolute and Relative Views of Everything
BEHOLD
The Long View of Life and Death
Beyond the Chaos of the World
Identification with a School of Thought
Objective, Subjective, and the Meaning of Truth
Media in the Thought-free Zone
Near Death Experience
Illustrated Quotations on the Soul by Alice A Bailey — Djwal Khul
Quotations
Just sharing a site that has begun to catalogue Pre-Birth Experiences
The Travler
“The Traveler
It was on an evening, I like to think, when there was nothing at all but the illimitable loneness of the sea, and from the rim of it, and on into infinity, the rose-flame of the sky.
He was going into the far country, never to return, and his words drifted away with pale leaves and delicate blossoms over the star-clear waters:
Brightest of all the bright
Blossoms along the sea,
Cradled in song and light,
Bloom in the soul of me!
After the sunset-gleam,
Over the twilight-dew,
Gather me, dream by dream,
Into the dream of you.
There bad been a time, he remembered, in his childhood, when the flowers that he saw were more than flowers and the songs that he heard were more than songs. The faces of peole glowed with a strange, beau-.-tiful light: there was hope in them and a rememberance of something in-effable. But as the years passed, dark veils fell before his eyes. The flowers lost their bright enchantment, becoming flowers, the songs songs. The light in human faces was gone. Towered in gloom, a different world appeared: sunlessness and starlessness brooded over the cities and the mountains and the sea. Only in memory, and slowly retreating, wasthe golden world with its luminous flowers and living songs and faces that were not faces at all, but living souls.
The long music of the waters, whispering through the avenues of the~ waves, heard him and listened; and then, strand upon beautiful strand, climbed slowly upward through the ewel-mist of the stars.
And if it was the wind that made words, speaking to him, he did not know. And if it was the loneness of the sea, or the sky above it that made words, speaking to him, he did not know. But he heard, somewhere in the world, near him or afar he was never able to tell, words spoken not in time, but in the vastness and quietness of eternity. And hearing hem, he thought of waving flowers in the morning, flowers of pale and delicate flame that reached upward to heaven, and he thought of songs hat rose like sunlight on swift wings, pouring melody over the world, and he thought of human faces luminous v’ith beauty and joy.
The whole world, with its mountains and seas, and the sky above it, and him, became – and he knew that it had always been so – a divine oneness of peace. Even the words of eternity were of him, spoken by him, through the winds or the sky or the waters he was never to know. But wherever flowers were, or songs, there was he. And wherever human hearts beat there he was also.
It was on an evening, I like to think, when there was nothing at alJ~ but the illimitable loneness of the sea, and from the rim of it, and on into infiPity, the rose-flame of the sky.”
Cardinal C. LeGros
What is the Theosophical Society?
H. P. Blavatsky was the founder of modern Theosophy and the Theosophical Society:
Theosophy defines itself as one of the major modern expressions of the Ageless Wisdom teachings. The Theosophical Society began in 1875 and is among a hand full of modern schools of thought that gave birth to the “New Age” with its associated ideas of brotherhood, karma and rebirth, and a path of spiritual enlightenment that may be followed independently of religious affiliation. It includes the concept of God and immortality of the soul, and teachings about the state of consciousness following death. Theosophy recognizes a brotherhood of spiritual masters that, mostly behind the scenes, have sought to guide and teach humanity down the ages. For more on this concept, see: Spiritual Hierarchy–Its Nature and Relation to History and the Cultural Evolution of Humanity
Theosophy is also one of the main influences responsible for modern evolution of Eastern thought and its impact on the West. For more background on that, see Theosophy Academic Papers.
Theosophical lodges or study groups for Theosophy can be found in most major cities in the United States and in many other cities around the world. Today, the Theosophical Society is “…an international organization with members in some 70 countries of the world and local groups in about 90 locations in the United States.” Theosophical Society in America
These are its most active areas in the United States.
The foundation of the Theosophical teachings can be found in The Theosophical Quarterly, Volumes 18-19 which states.
“The principal aim and object of this Society is, To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color.
The subsidiary objects are:
- The study of ancient and modern religions, philosophies and sciences demonstration of the importance of such study
- The investigation of the unexplained laws of nature and the psychical powers latent in man.”
Most people who have heard of Theosophy are unaware of the historical impact and its influence on society, see for instance: Famous people in the Theosophical Society
and Theosophy Influence – Wikipedia
See also: The Theosophical Society in America: An Illustrated History:
To get a broader sense of what Theosophy is, read this article: Theosophy – Theosopedia
So, as suggested above, though most are unaware of it, Theosophy is woven into many aspects of modern society including not only the religious and philosophic but the cultural and artistic in many of its dimensions. To gain an impression of this read through this list of famous people who were members of the Theosophical Society and were also noted writers, architects, scientists, inventors, psychologists, painters, musicians, actors, politicians, feminists, and religious figures, etc: Famous people in the Theosophical Society
.
The list is partial, one of many omissions being David Bohm:
“Many theosophists will know of Bohm as a close associate of Krishnamurti, and also as a unique philosopher. However his primary role was as a quantum physicist.” Bohms Quantum Physics…Theosophical Society
A good historical perspective can be found here:
Course on “The Theosophical Society”… Religious Studies, University of Vienna, Summer semester 2019]
Though sometimes dismissed as another religion or amalgam of them, it is far more than that. Theosophy defines itself, not as a religion, but as the underlying principles from which the best aspects of all religions derive. So it is not religion in a formal sense but the essence of them. One Theosophical work delves into this in exploring The Essential Unity of all Religions
.
Broadly speaking, there are two different senses of the word “Theosophy.” On the one hand it is the particular body of teaching that derives from the founder of the Theosophical society, H. P. Blavatsky
and her many students who wrote books on the subject. But in the broader sense, Theosophy means the “wisdom of God,” or spiritual wisdom wherever and in whatever form it is found, which includes the best of religions, philosophies, the sciences and all aspects of life that pertain to the cultural evolution of humanity. These, of course, did not arise with H. P. Blavatsky but are part of the wisdom of the ages. In this sense Theosophy is “New Age” philosophy. These two senses of the word are elaborated here: Theosophy: What is It
?
For some of the specifics of Theosophical teaching, see this summary: Theosophy in the Modern World
and also Theosophy in the World Today, and Enchanted Modernities: Theosophy and the Arts in the Modern World
.
The New Age philosophy I reference above is a modern phrase that is close in meaning to what is called the “Ageless Wisdom” and also not far from the meaning of Perennial philosophy
:
“The Ageless Wisdom is called the “Golden Thread” that connects the inner, hidden teachings at the heart of the world’s religions, East and West. It’s often referred to as the “Perennial Philosophy” because it’s been present on earth in some form since the beginning of recorded history.” Ageless Wisdom
.
There is a Wikipedia article on New Age
that contains a paragraph with the following good summary:
“Despite its highly eclectic nature, a number of beliefs commonly found within the New Age have been identified. Theologically
, the New Age typically adopts a belief in a holistic form of divinity which imbues all of the universe, including human beings themselves. There is thus a strong emphasis on the spiritual authority of the self. This is accompanied by a common belief in a wide variety of semi-divine non-human entities, such as angels and masters, with whom humans can communicate, particularly through the form of channeling. Typically viewing human history as being divided into a series of distinct ages, a common New Age belief is that whereas once humanity lived in an age of great technological advancement and spiritual wisdom, it has entered a period of spiritual degeneracy, which will be remedied through the establishment of a coming Age of Aquarius, from which the milieu gets its name. There is also a strong focus on healing, particularly using forms of alternative medicine
, and an emphasis on a “New Age science” which seeks to unite science and spirituality.”
The newest evolution of this movement toward the union of science and spirituality can be seen here:
Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science
Theosophy is often attacked from two opposite directions— materialistic science and Christian theology. While advocating an open minded scientific point of view, Theosophy is critical of strictly materialistic science or scientism and its eclectic approach to religion makes it the subject of attack by orthodox Christian writers.
This passage gives a Theosophical view point on Theology
:
“Theology and Theosophy. Helena P. Blavatsky has a strongly negative view of Christian dogmatic theology, calling it “a corpse without a soul” (IU II:264), the “dogmatic, undemonstrated and undemonstrable theology of our Christian ages” (IU I:36). She deemed that the inner teachings of Christ and the Gospels have been lost sight of by modern theologians. Thus, Blavatsky devoted the entire second volume of her Isis Unveiled on “Theology” to explore comparative theology, and to attempt to demonstrate that underneath the exoteric teachings of popular religions lie the principles of an ageless wisdom, of which theosophy is a but a modern expression. In her introduction to the work, she states that “we must show our false theologies in their naked deformity, and distinguish between divine religion and human dogmas. Our voice is raised for spiritual freedom, and our plea made for enfranchisement from all tyranny, whether of SCIENCE or THEOLOGY.”
In her preface to the second volume, she wrote:
An analysis of religious beliefs in general, this volume is in particular directed against theological Christianity, the chief opponent of free thought. It contains not one word against the pure teachings of Jesus, but unsparingly denounces their debasement into pernicious ecclesiastical systems that are ruinous to man’s faith in his immortality and his God, and subversive of all moral restraint.”
Theosophy’s relation to science can be understood in connection with the above mentioned Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science
with which Theosophy would fully agree.
There is also a more recent incarnation and evolution of Theosophy in the broader sense of the word for which see Alice Bailey (Books online
Someone asked,”Is everything in heaven 100% perfect’ or are there still flaws? I feel perfection would make us go insane.”
Your intuition is correct. There is no static perfection in heaven or for that matter on Earth. Perfection is a concept, something projected by humans onto things. Heaven is not composed of things in the material sense— it is a state of consciousness that transcends things and concepts. The soul’s participation in heaven is as a creator. Heaven is dynamic and infinite in its scope and variety. Heaven is the source of all and out of it is born all the endless universes that ever were, are or will be.
Quantum Brain
We see by eyes, the world, but just its face. Yet by quantum brain we see through time and space.
Image by Iadineaa
Lessons from a Near Death Experience
Quotations from “How to Like People”
Collected quotatoins from the book “How to Like People” by Robert Jackson:
One thing we need to remember always is that we affect people so much by what we see in them that we almost make them what they are. We open doors for them or close them.
Look beneath the surface and invite the real man to speak – and invite again, and again. He’ll come out. This is liking people, seeing them instead of their shells.
We forget that we are always free to like people. They can’t stop us. Nothing can.
So! With real talk, action, laughter, learning, and love you are fearless. Those things are the opposites of fear. They cast it out. They are the things a fearless man does. They are the things a man does to grow more fearless.
He does not attack, so defenses are not built against him. He does not push, so he is not resisted. He cannot be pushed, so he is willing to move. He invites, he does not demand, and his invitation is accepted. He condemns not, so he is not feared. He fears not, so he is not attacked. He frees, and the freedom is felt. He talks, and he is talked to.
Without a project going…he loses touch with his fellows…He can’t enjoy people the way a man with a project can. Without something a-building a man’s talk means little.
Though we laugh about it, know it wasn’t serious at all, still we know that anyone who praises us has caught a glimpse of the real us. He has invited us to be ourselves. Don’t wait until compliments are one hundred percent deserved. Don’t wait at all. Some judgement and lots of good will, and you can move right in and build people up.
Aim at vast love and understanding, but practice for it by liking the people around you.
Real talk is talk from what a man is, not from what he thinks might sound all right. It is talk about what he sees as good, what interests him…It speaks to the depth, intelligence, humanity, and goodwill of others in spite of their surface opinions.
Don’t resent the indifferent ones. A cold look is a lonely look.
You can’t have both shyness and friendliness.
Good looks are mental…No way out of looking like our thoughts except to think something else.
…forget yourself and look at other people. See them as good-looking, interesting. Appreciate them, encourage them, like them, without any bother about judging them.
Do you get a thing of life, a spark of communication between you and others? Or do you say the same old things, the safe and cautious things? No spark, no life? Too bad.
The Paranormal, Skepticism, and Debunkers–collected links
Debunking the Arguments of PseudoSkeptics and Paranormal Debunkers
Skeptics or Pseudoskeptics? » Skeptical About Skeptics
The problem with Western science
Stop Using the Word Pseudoscience
100 Scientific Papers Offering Evidence for Psi Phenomena & Effects
Ian Stevenson’s Case for the Afterlife: Are We ‘Skeptics’ Really Just Cynics?
What is the true nature of our “Matrix” that disguises reality?
In the movie, the matrix is the illusion, and the material world outside of it the reality. But in truth, while the “matrix” is relatively illusory, it is not the material world that is real but the spiritual world that is its higher correspondence. The physical world is Maya:
Maya (devanāgarī: माया māyā) is a Sanskrit word that in Indian religions has multiple meanings. Usually translated as “illusion” (from mā “not” and yā “this”), it points out the fact that we do not experience the reality but only a false image perceived by our minds, as when one pursues a mirage in the desert or mistakes a rope for a snake.
It is also regarded as “the cosmic power which renders phenomenal existence and the perceptions thereof possible.”[1] Thus, in early Vedic mythology, maya was the power with which the gods created and maintained the physical universe.
Awakening to the truth that the material world is Maya or relatively illusory is a spiritual awakening which is the path of the hero. Only by comparison with the experience of spiritual reality are we able to see the illusion. In The Matrix as the Hero’s Journey, we read:
“The hero’s journey” is a phrase coined by Joseph Campbell to describe the underlying monomyth that links stories from every part of the world and every epoch in human history. This story emerges again and again because it is the fundamental human story written in symbolic language, laying out the journey we all must take from ignorance to knowledge. It tells the story of our own growth and development into fully realized individuals. The hero separates from the reality we share, is awakened to greater truths, and then returns to share the knowledge and power gained. The most effective contemporary expression of this archetypal myth is the 1999 film The Matrix, in which Thomas Anderson, aka Neo, is separated from the reality he has always known, awakens to the truth of his existence, masters the power that comes with that knowledge, and then vows to free others. Neo’s story is our story writ large. It reminds us, just as mystics from every age have done, that we are all asleep, that we must wake up to the truth, that our work is to help others.
At The Matrix of Matter we find:
Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, and Edwin Schrodinger, the originators of Quantum Mechanics, all believed in a single universal consciousness.
In the words of Max Planck, the father of quantum theory, “I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. Mind is the Matrix of Matter.”
Perceptions and Being–Light of Worlds
“There! Ghost of light, arresting glimmer on the periphery of vision… Is that a magic mirror, a window, a door? If mirror, it does not reflect earth-light. If a window it might be a sacred landscape, a memory of ancient worlds or worlds not yet born.
It is close now, and clearly an opening door. I see through to a world, and within and beyond that another and another–bright worlds of the past and worlds of the future, infinite vistas of painful beauty. They sweep around and through me and I go to them. Their flow is joyous, commanding, where each paints the fiery core of things. And now a chorus of shining, ascending, voices. They fill me with open spaces; they engulf and overwhelm; I am with them, of them… I love and become through them.”
A Movie Montage on Light, Love, and Identity
Is it true that the moon affects humans in a psychological way?
Yes, it does see this article, Lunar correlates of normal, abnormal and anomalous human behavior by Dr. Dean Radin where the abstract states:
Three types of relationships were explored: Correlation with total lunar cycle; mean differences bctwccn thc waning and waxing lunar cycles; and sudden changes on the day of thc full moon. Besides obtaining expected correlations with some geophysical variables, statistically significant relationships were also observed with some behavioral variables, mutual fund price residuals and state lottery payout percentages. Bivariate spectral analyses confirmed the presence of 29.5 day cycles in the crisis calls, abnormal. financial and lottery payout behavior. Variables showing sudden changes on the day Of the full moon included crisis calls, suicide, and psychiatric admission rates. Variables showing significant differences between the waning and waxing moon included homicide and crisis calls. We conclude that this dataset supports popular beliefs about interrelationships of lunar phase and human behavior.
“Lunar correlates of normal, abnormal and anomalous human behavior
Someone asked, “Does anyone truly feel happy? Or is it always a fleeting emotion for people?”
There is true happiness into which the awakening soul is expanded. Once that is opens then happiness never entirely departs for there is, even in the moments of pain sorrow and darkness, the memory of the infinite spaces, the current of numberless dimensions that is the source of deepest joy. Happiness need not always ride in the forefront of consciousness but it lives as the deep background against which all other experiences play out. The periphery of our life experiences will wax and wane but the central point of light that is reality remains luminous and clearly visible even in the darkest night.
“Many persons have a wrong idea about what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” (Helen Keller)
“Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.” (Leo Tolstoy)
“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know; the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. “ (Albert Schweitzer)
See my related Quora answers:
Why do I feel so happy for no reason at all?
Can true happiness ever be attained from things outside yourself?
image by the author
Someone asked, “According to the Advaita school in Hinduism, the entire universe is not separate from God, and the entire world is an illusion. If we are God, then why did we create this illusion?”
The world is not entirely illusion but only partly or relatively so. To the degree that the light of Divinity is present in and through the world, then it is no longer an illusion. Though I think it is presumptuous and somewhat misleading to say so, yet I will say it anyway: God enjoys evolution, change and relativity. God loves not just one universe but an infinite series of them in time with all manner of variations, in other words all that is other than God alone as the One.
The spiritual is synonymous with knowledge in the higher sense. Ignorance or amnesia is the characteristic of the relatively physical world, the world as it exists when relatively cut off from and apart from the spiritual. The material world including our external personalities, thoughts, emotions etc. are to some degree apart from the spiritual, that is they are other than pure Divinity. Yet in evolution we move from separation toward unity and Divinity expresses increasingly through the form, through the external personality.
If there were no ignorance, no amnesia, there would be only Reality, Divinity, and so no relativity, time or evolution. With the manifestation of the physical universe relativity comes into being and obscuration and ignorance come into being. The light of pure Reality is obstructed by the material world and it is the relationship between the spiritual and the material that creates evolution and the unfoldment of things in time. In the purely spiritual, in the timeless, above and beyond all forms and manifestations there would be only absolute Reality and knowledge. But in time and in evolution in the material world, the manifested world, there there is always some measure of amnesia.
We value revelation but revelation unfolds in time and is only possible because of relativity and evolution, that is, of the fact of the existence of something other than pure absolute Reality or Deity. So we have separation, both spirit and matter, male and female, and all manner of polarities. While from a higher standpoint there is only One, only Unity, yet from the view within the relatively illusory world there is the many, there is all that is other than the one.
The One manifests as a ray of Beauty. Beauty arises with manifestation, with separation and reunification. In austere beauty, the awakening and defining moment—Light falls from the apex of spirit and rises from the depths. The voice of God kills and resurrects—probably only in that nonverbal experience is the deeper answer to the question to be found.
Without temporary separation and relativity, there would be no kiss:
Someone asked, “What decides a soul’s eligibility to enter into heaven: a conscious entity, a committee of conscious entities, or predetermined criteria?”
Heaven is not a single door but an infinite series of doors that are opened, or stay temporarily closed, from moment to moment throughout life—both the life lived on Earth and the life afterward. In other words, heaven is an ongoing revelation and a matter of degree. Entrance at any given moment into the next higher realm of heaven is determined by who and what you are. It is not entered by the decisions of others but is solely the result of the quality and nature of your own consciousness that gives access. It is your ability to apprehend and take into yourself and give forth from yourself the bliss and love that is within you and around you at every moment of life regardless of whether you are in a physical body or not. Heaven is not a place but a path.
Someone asks, “What is the end goal of reincarnation? After we have lived, learned, experienced everything we wanted to. What then? It all seems, not pointless, but rather mundane. At least that’s how I’ve always felt.”
I will share some ideas, partly from my own thoughts and experiences, and partly from the wisdom traditions.
To begin with, it will help to understand what “learning” is not. I think our human concept of “goals” and learning are vague analogues of the real meaning and do not actually capture the essence of it. Learning is not simply the gains from the kind of labor we experienced in school and it is not simply learning to seek pleasure and avoid pain. It has little or no correspondence with what Mom and Dad taught us or what we read in most books. Spiritual learning is not verbal. When we are asleep to the real meaning of what we encounter then we assign conventional and mundane meanings to spiritual terms and teachings and so miss reality.
What then is learning in the spiritual sense of the word? It has been defined as the expansion of consciousness. But any word or phrase that one may use to describe or define it will fall short of the reality. The limited meaning that most have for goals and learning, together with the sense of the mundane are all limitations within our own consciousness and these words do not actually point, for most, to the inner meaning. I’ve suggested the new word “consciousness” but the real meaning of that will also have to be learned by direct personal experience. We must stay open to that possibility.
I will say that consciousness is bound up with the true meaning of love, joy, and life— it is a vast thing of infinite dimensions. It is not just learning as we may have experienced it thus far in this tiny slice of life–a partial life and part of the chain that stretches back into the remote past and forward into the distant future embracing all the undreamed of possibilities of that. And it is not even just learning within an earthly body on this planet, rather it is cosmic and has about it as many facets as are stars in the depths of space—so “learning” is not limited to planet Earth at all– that is just the beginning.
And beyond that, it is not just learning–it is also doing, which is to say the power to create and the power to be and become vastly more than can now be imagined by anyone on the planet. I will say that love is the key and that by engaging in creative work on behalf of humanity, from the motive of love, will come some illumination to us as to the nature and meaning of the word “consciousness.”
The spiritual goal of our life and all lives is written in space as a dynamic Divine archetype which is gradually accessible to our consciousness as we grow and unfold the powers and potentials of divinity within us. So the goal in a spiritual sense is not a limited thing. It is unlimited. It is infinite and so there is no final ending point where attainment is absolutely complete and so the story ends. The goal is not a matter of learning everything that you wanted to. It is a vastly expanded sense of learning who and what you are which means a transformation of the sense of identity and so what you “want.” It is the discovery of infinity both within yourself and within the universe. Think large and realize that even this universe is but one of a chain of universes that stretch into the remote past and on into the infinite future.
Each of us can, by virtue of what is within us, say with Divinity:
“And within me, deep and deep, Universes wake and sleep.” Kenneth Morris
Deep star field from NASA
Behold
Life is the Business of Alchemy
Love
On the lower psychological level there are illusions of love that are not actually love but various forms of selfishness and desire.
On the higher psychological and spiritual levels love is the opposite of Illusion. It is the fundamental reality of higher consciousness. Love is the energy of the Soul.
The heart center, adapted from The Chakras by C. W. Leadbeater.
“Love is the tuning fork of life. It gives the keynote to harmony in every situation.” Charles Newcomb
“Love is not dependency, idolization, sentimentality, craving, or physical attraction…” Vernon Howard
Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of character which determines the relatedness of a person to the world as a whole, not toward one ‘object’ of love…Because one does not see that love is an activity, a power of the soul, one believes that all that is necessary is to find is the right object. Erich Fromm
“…the particular loved one is really only a window through which that Immortal Beloved is glimpsed…Love is therefore in its essential nature and in the last analysis, the worship of the divine through the human.” Old Lamps For New, C. Bragdon
Love is not a companion come to dwell with thee in thy narrow house of personal separateness; he is a messenger come to lead thee from that narrow prison out into the wide, free places of the earth, and if thou wilt not be led by him, then will he go on and leave thee, as a messenger who may not tarry. Helen Bourchier
“Love is not making the object of the love feel comfortable superficially. Love is far-seeing wisdom which seeks to keep alive in the object of that love those sensitivities which will guarantee safe progress.” Alice Bailey
“ Love is not soft and sentimental but fiery and wise.” Anonymous
“Love is not blind; it is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard.”
J. Barrie
“Life is eternal and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon… and a horizon is nothing, save the limit of our sight.” Carly Simon
“The true way to love is to reflect and meditate deeply and constantly upon the significance and meaning of love, its origin, its expression through the soul, its qualities, goals and objectives.” Alice Bailey
“He who sees without loving is only straining his eyes in the darkness.” Maeterlinck
“Love is a miraculous baptism of consciousness, a luminous aspect of awareness and unshadowed understanding.” Wesley La Violette
Behind the orient darkness of thine eyes,
The eyes of God interrogate my soul
With whelming love.
The luminous waves that roll
Over thy body are His dream.
It lies On thee as the moon-glamour on the skies;
And all around — the yearning aureole
Of His effulgent being — broods the whole Rapt universe, that our love magnifies.”O thou, through whom for me Infinity Is manifest!
Bitter and salt, thy tears
Are the heart-water of the passionate spheres,
With all their pain.
I drink them thirstily!
While in thy smile is realized for me
The flaming joys of archangelic years.
The Book of Love, By Elsa Barker
One of the Best Compilations on NDE (Near Death Experiences)
The Iran that You do Not see on the News
Someone asked, ” Is it possible to pray without ceasing?”
Not while we are so much on the physical plane, but we should strive for that beautiful ideal. And here is the spirit of my prayer:
“I call you to no organisational loyalties, but only to love your fellowmen, be they German, American, Jewish, British, French, Negro or Asiatic. I call you from your dreams of vague beauty, impossible Utopias and wishful thinking to face life as it is today; and then to begin, in the place where you are, to make it better. I call you to the experiment of right human relations, beginning with your own personal relations to your family and friends, and then to the task of educating those you contact so that they also start a similar work. It is the work of attaining right individual relations, right group relations, right intergroup relations, right national relations and right international relations. I call you to the realisation that in this work no one is futile or useless, but that all have a place of practical value. I call you to recognise that goodwill is a dynamic energy which can bring about world changes of a fundamental kind, and that its mode of expression is through the activity of the individual man and woman and through their massed intent. The massed power of goodwill, the dynamic effect of intelligent and active understanding, and the potency of a trained and alive public opinion which desires the greatest good of the greatest number, are beyond belief. This dynamic power has never been employed. It can, today, save the world.” Externalization of the Hierarchy-Alice Bailey/Djwhal Khul. 1957
Someone asked, “Are there any scientific evidence or theories of the existence of souls and the ability to be reincarnated?”
Someone asked, “Could you define consciousness so a Westerner can understand?”
Probably not too well because consciousness is Light and the Sun rises in the East. But being somewhat of both the East and West by nature I would say:Consciousness is the eternal flame that arises from the interaction between spirit and matter. Consciousness in the higher sense is the soul which is a whirlwind of loving fire and a shower of many-colored sparks. Consciousness or soul is portal to higher space and the knowledge of God. It is the indefinable light that holds the stars in place and feeds their life. It is panacea and upliftment. The soul is artist and its beauty is the essence of spirituality. So each moment the awakening soul is destroying limitation and advancing toward higher consciousness, toward Beauty.
Someone asked, “Why do I feel so alone in spiritual path?”
“A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.” R. W. Emerson
This is not an unusual experience. It is partly because fewer people can be found on the same path as the one you follow and partly because it is easy to form superficial relationships whereas meaningful relationships are more rare. That said, remember that evolution in the spiritual sense is intimately bound up with relationships and with the fulfillment of the best possibilities in relationships. As we become better we do eventually attract better friends. But with regard to making connections and reaching out to others it’s good to simply offer the best of yourself whenever possible and to not expect it in return. So you can adapt to the needs of others and take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves. We want to expand our relationships and opportunities for service and not narrow them unduly or expect that many will become our close friends. We can simply share as much as possible with each person as fits their nature and circumstance.
“Real friendliness is strong. It isn’t weak and dependent. A fearless man will use it on everyone.” How to Like People, Robert Jackson
Someone asked, “Why is the world imperfect?”
If the world were perfect would you ask, “Why is the world perfect?” No you would not because in a hypothetically perfect world you would already know the answer. And such a world would be quite boring would it not? Because everything would be known and nothing would be lacking and so there would be nothing to discover and no adventure to be had. And so the world with relativity, the world with some imperfection, that is the world to be in and that is the world as we have. The reality we have is the beauty of evolution, both physical and spiritual.
…a world in which matter never got out of place …and iron had no flaws and wood no crack, in which gardens had no weeds and food grew ready cooked…and things never went wrong, would be a much easier place to live in. But for purposes of training and development it would be worth nothing at all. It is the resistance that puts us on our mettle: it is the conquest of the reluctant stuff that educates the worker. I wish you enough difficulties to keep you well and make you strong and skillful!
Henry Van Dyke
Someone asked, “What is your personal definition of non-duality?”
Non-duality is a way of speaking about and underscoring the spiritual unity of all things. So, for instance Divinity or the divine reality in which all things originate is the same spiritual reality that is the essence of human consciousness and identity. Or to put it in another simpler and traditional way: God’s spirit and man’s spirit are one spirit.
The non-duality concept is also a way of underscoring how the mind functions in relation to the phenomenal world and the need to use but transcend the mind-level of understanding. The mind divides things, separates them, and understands in terms of relationships between different phenomena. The light of spiritual reality shining down into the mind sparks the non-duality realization, and a strict non-duelists might assert that all I have written here is itself too dualistic, and it is because any analysis of relationships involves duality or multiplicities that mislead as words, to some degree, inevitably do.
Another example is that in very dualistic thinking—such as we find in most religions and philosophies, spirit is conceived of as separate from matter. But a more non-dualistic concept is to define spirit and matter as aspects of one thing—in other words there is only single continuum of spirit-matter.
For your edification and amusement I point to the follow video on this theme:
Someone asked, “What is Marianne Williamson talking about when she says there’s a ‘dark psychic energy’ in America?”
Many people who supported Trump did so because they are, without realizing it, caught up in dark fears and selfish materialistic desires of the group. And many are so caught up in this force that they are willing to harm others or see them harmed in the frantic attempt to satisfy their desires and shield themselves from mostly artificial enemies and others perceived as “outsiders,” the later phenomena being related to propaganda as in the Faces of the Enemy.
About Marianne Williamson, in New Age teachings, fear and selfish desires are seen as not only in the heads of individuals but they also exists on a psychic (astral) level which is an actual dimension or vibratory field that pervades everything on our planet like a dense invisible flog. So in this sense, we all live in a communal or group-think aura (really a relatively mindless state) where we are subject to the psychic forces and pressures of the group emotion (This is rather like the Borg mind of Star Trek fame.) It is telepathy or consciousness-sharing on a lower emotional level, and at that level many humans unconsciously participate in the communal “dark psychic energy” that colors and conditions a substantial portion of the US psyche. It is literally, “the dark side of the force” as the Star Wars mythology correctly names it.
Many people pick up the depression, the anxiety, the fear or irritation of other people. It is rather like the phenomena of sympathetic vibration in the physics laboratory… many people do not know which emotions are their own and which emotional mood they have picked up from people around them.
Dr. Shafica Karagulla
Group mind, the term, is frequently used to denote the collective conscious of a specific group of people such as a tribe, village, or town, and which is the accumulation of their essential beliefs. Usually the group mind occurs within a certain location, so the thoughts, fears, hopes, and desires of the inhabitants form a sphere of energy that attaches itself to that area. The group mind influences the residents by disposing them to the nature of the thought form, or mind set. It can promote such behavior as shared by members of a magical lodge. This is the way people share a basic commonality. The group mind phenomena should be differentiated from the group mod or other psychotic behavior, and not confused with the group soul.
See also:
Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality, Dean Radin Ph.D.
The Global Consciousness Project
On a happier note, there is a higher correspondence to the “dark psychic force” which is the “Light psychic force,” e.g.:
Someone asked, “What should Americans know about Marianne Williamson’s run for the presidency?”
They should know, but do not, that most of her ideas belong to the future, a future that, sadly, most neither deserve nor are yet ready for. Since the US population is not yet ready for a person of her quality and type and views, it is unlikely she will not be elected but perhaps she will find a role in the new Democratic administration.
Americans should realize that Marianne Williamson has been unfairly attacked in some media and her views distorted and misrepresented. Sometimes this is done as satire, as in the case of Stephen Colbert, but the humor in this case is not worth the price of it as it does a serious disservice to the viewers and is quite harmful.
Williamson’s beliefs on health and healing are often one of the main criticisms by her detractors. What is often not appreciated is that…
…her HIV/AIDS activism, which came at a time when many were afraid to even be in the same room as someone who was HIV-positive, let alone someone dying from AIDS complications. She founded Project Angel Food in 1989 to deliver food and provide other services, like hospice care, to those with terminal illnesses. Again, like with the Los Angeles Center for Living, of which the program was an extension, most of those the organization served were suffering from HIV/AIDS. Marianne Williamson Has a Long, Complicated Relationship With the LGBTQ Community
We also have;
And in a blog post Williamson wrote:
I’m a modern woman, and of course I go to the doctor. Of course I take pharmaceuticals when they’re called for, and I am as grateful as anyone for the advances of modern medicine.
I do not judge pharmaceuticals, and I do not judge anyone who uses them – including for depression.
What I do criticize – and I cannot understand why anyone wouldn’t – is predatory practices on the part of big pharmaceutical companies.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, we find:
Whatever context that was in, I never told anyone not to go to the doctor. I spent hours and hours and hours driving people to the doctor. When a clergyperson, a faith leader, prays with someone, or leads them in a guided meditation—this is not in repudiation of medicine. Body, mind, and spirit. In today’s world, the oncologist is liable to be the first person to suggest that you get yourself over to one of those spiritual support groups, because serious spiritual practice has been proven to boost the functioning of the immune system. And by the way, when I was working with AIDS patients, a lot of that was at a time when there was no medicine yet. Marianne Williamson Explains Her Magical Thinking
On his blog, Mark King wrote:
“It was bloody war, and Marianne pulled up her sleeves and got to work on our behalf. She should always, always be remembered and honored for that. While her current political moment may be fleeting and easy to satirize, I won’t deny Marianne Williamson her due when it comes to her devotion to us in our darkest hour. I wish we had had a hundred more like her.” welcome, my friends…
Somone asked,”What do you think that we can learn from the universe and the stars?”
The most profound answer can be found in the writings of George William Russell who wrote the poem “Star Teachers” which runs:
…These myriad eyes that look on me are mine;
Wandering beneath them I have found again
The ancient ample moment, the divine,
The God-root within men.For this, for this the lights innumerable
As symbols shine that we the true light win:
For every star and every deep they fill
Are stars and deeps within.
Fake News and Post-Truth Encyclopedia of Teacher Education, 2019
Some one on Quora asked, “How did you enter into a spirit of opulence?”
I’m 13 years old. The library is seven blocks from my house. I walk there in the early evenings. Along the way, I whistle and sing; softly on the singing because I don’t know how and its strictly in-the-shower level vocalizations. I’ve never heard of meditation, or yoga, but I begin to do it anyway. I have no names or concepts for the inward seeking. I think during these meditative walks, but often the thinking stops, replaced by something else. The singing is breath and the sound is searching. Among the notes and thoughts of warm summer nights, my thoughts settle into a wonderful stillness. There are sacred words in the sounds of traffic and in the voices of people on the streets. I listen to these magical sounds; I attend to them with an inner stillness. I walk in the flow of something that I will much later call energy, or fire, or light. I read myself in the fire. But I do not call it by these names, for I have no name, no words. I’m just a boy out for a walk. Decades later, I find some of the words in Edward Carpenter, a kindred spirit who wrote:
What is this flood, overcoming body and sense?
I feel the walls of my skull crack, the barriers part,
The sun-flood enter–Love, magnified, floating eternal seas of essence–
Before and behind births and deaths
Spiritual gravitation, the emergence evermore expanding.Back to the first word of speech,
On to the last utterance of seers,
My soul catches the perfect song.
Adapted from my blog A Short Biography
Someone asked “I always help others because I feel worthless. How do I love myself?”
Truly love, then help others not in order to feel less worthless but help them because you love them. If you do that you will be in a space of love that includes yourself and everything else.
“The true way to love is to reflect and meditate deeply and constantly upon the significance and meaning of love, its origin, its expression through the soul, its qualities, goals and objectives.” Alice Bailey
Someone asked, “Are the benefits of meditation the same without mantra and only breath counting?”
Meditation is not breath counting—that’s just an aid to mindfulness which is a preliminary thing, and counting is not necessary and if you are counting then you are not meditating.
Mantra can be helpful, but again that’s not meditation but a form, a vibration like a note of music, that is used to trigger a meditative state. It is relatively useless unless you can be the consciousness behind the mantra while understanding the essence of meditation as it relates to love, service, and divination of meaning.
Breath, mantra, posture, and so on are all just forms and all are empty and pointless without the right spirit behind them. Meditation itself relates to the formless, to that which is beyond all forms, thoughts, and ordinary emotions.
Meditation has a closer affinity with the best music, poetry, and love than it does with mantra and breath.
Someone asked, “What is the intended purpose of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra?”
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Repetition of any kind is a means of strengthening a thought or pattern. It is also a reflection of the cosmic principle of cycles where everything in nature is expressed in rhythm. However, what is not so well appreciated is error inherent in soulless repetition which tends to numb the consciousness without in real benefit. It is the energy and quality behind any action that gives it real meaning and potency.
Soulless repetition destroys the Teaching. Also, the quality of rhythm must be understood. Of course, every crystal functions according to the principles of attraction and pulsation. But pulsation—or rhythm—is characteristic of the living principle. However, any given rhythm may be more or less alive or dead. Living rhythms, spiritualized by the power of consciousness, will produce varying combinations of subtle energies. But the rhythm of the lips’ soulless repetitions results only in a dead beat that violates the wisdom of silence and brings only harm. Beware of repetitions devoid of spirit! Truly, they dissolve the most precious gems of the spirit. If one’s action is based only on fear or greed, then even a skeleton or a military drummer could rap out a more useful rhythm. Can one expect a manifestation of fire from the raps of the tail of a dog awaiting a bone? Remember this when you are dealing with the finest energies, when you intend to approach and awaken the manifestation of Fire.
Agni Yoga
Someone asked, “What happens in our brain and nervous system, when we like a new song or new music? Is it linked with memories or is it something else entirely?”
I think it is both linked with memories and for many people also “something else entirely.” It depends on the nature of the consciousness of the listener. About this consider this quote by Beethoven, “Music – The one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.” Music speaks to the soul and evokes it, or it does so for those with ears to hear.
I’ve come across no finer description than that of the poem on music titled “Wizard:”
…Like some illumined thing
Akin to lighting in the stormy air
It ribboned the darkness with the edge of fire.And blazing fiercer yet
Challenged the inky hollows of the soul
With such immortal flame
That memories long hid as in a tomb
And hopes deprived and dreams beyond our call
Leaped in the light and beckoned us again…Angela Morgan
Her poems are online in many places including Angela Morgan – Poems by the Famous Poet – All Poetry
This is a picture of her:
Someone asked, “How do you motivate yourself when there are still questions on purpose of life?”
Life is an adventure! The questions are part of the mystery. It is all very exciting and interesting. You also are a mystery. Accept the challenge. What a wondrous self-discovery awaits you. Be cheerful and go forward with confidence. You will gain ever-increasing knowledge of the meaning of things and all will be well. I have seen it.
Images from Morphing with Light
Mystic Muse 