The Ancient Wisdom tells the story of the Soul's Journey through consciousness.
Driven by the "Will-to-be" it builds various forms
of expression and adds its own touch of love and wisdom to
each. But the form of expression gets more and more
dense with each layer until it becomes difficult to see pass
the appearance of dense materiality.
The process was
begun first as the soul building forms and involving itself
in the substance of the forms it built. It passed
downward into density on the involutionary arc before it
started its upward spiral of evolution.
At its densest
expression, we have the mineral kingdom which having been
imbued with the love and wisdom of the soul, offers itself as
sustenance for higher evolution. The vibration begins
its refining process, and the vegetable kingdom emerges
drawing nourishment from the mineral kingdom, and reaching
toward the light of the sun.
And so it goes,
with each lower form of life offering itself to be
refined as it nourishes the next stage of evolving consciousness. The highest point of consciousness
on one level becomes subliminal on the next.
The average person polarized in the three-fold
vehicle is identified with the form. He experiences life via the five
senses and processes the perceptions and experiences with his emotions.
The intelligent mind is active, but only to a small degree and that relating to
concrete knowledge of the world about him.
As the mental faculties awaken, he begins to
sense a stirring within and a sense of himself as the center of his world.
He begins to realize that he can direct his thoughts and actions. Hence
his environment responds to his influence. He comes to realize his own
self-worth and ability to set goals. He realizes that he can use his
desire and vitality to swing the physical vehicle into line with his purpose and
will.
Thus as the three bodies (physical, astral and
mental) become coordinated, they gradually come to function as on integrated
personality. This personality organizes his environment to function and
serve his comfort so that his desires are more easily met. The
emotional nature is subjugated to the mind, and the vitality is used to carry out
his selfish ends. He becomes more and more exclusive as he realizes his ability
to effect his environment to meet his own needs. The intellect assumes
control, and the personality becomes integrated. The three become one,
thus forming the vehicle fit for receiving impressions from the Soul.
As these impressions are felt, they evoke
a conscious response from the personality, he begins to orient himself toward
the source of these Soul impressions as they are sensed. He comes to
realize that he has a soul and seeks to lean more about this indwelling
presence. He then embarks upon the path of discovery of the Soul and
gradually learns to focus inward toward his Higher Self (Soul). Thus he
prepares for discipleship.
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What is the Soul?
The Soul is the second
aspect of the trinity of Being which builds the forms through
which it expresses and experiences life. Its vehicles are the
sheaths that the Soul builds around itself, i.e., the mental
body, the astral body and the etheric body (the dense
physical body being the outward expression) for experience in
the physical, emotional and mental worlds of human endeavor.
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The personality is the
aggregate of physical emotional and mental expressions which
must be brought into alignment with the Soul so that we may
function within our three worlds of experience but led and
directed by the Soul, our Higher Self - which in turn is led
and directed by Spirit.
Everything in the universe
contains a Divine Intelligence at its core and functions as
directed from within to perform the duties for which it is
created. I don't presume to know what each is created
for, but I know within myself that it is all good. I
also know within myself that there is a higher calling to
which we all reach.
Try viewing the soul
personality on an adventure through life discovering all its
wonders and its pitfalls. While taking its adventure it gets
so fascinated with the glamour of life that it manages to
lose sight of its home, and loses its way. So it wanders
around from place to place, from experience to experience
trying to figure out where it is.
For a time it may even
forget that there is a home to which it can return. Just
wandering. Yet there is something within gnawing at the back
of its memory - something calling ever so softly, "Come
Home."
The soul personality wanders
for perhaps several lifetimes, but with each round, the Still
Small Voice within becomes more and more familiar, and the
soul personality begins to listen more closely. The vague
memories of its Home begin to come to consciousness more
frequently, until it finally decides to consciously seek this
place called HOME. This is where the "Prodigal Son"
comes to himself, and says, "I will return unto my
father's house. This is where we step foot upon the path of
return.
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ego = lower self or the soul
personality on the involutionary arc - experiencing life by
involving itself in the rationalities [sometimes
irrationalities] of the mind, the glamour of the emotions and
the mire of the physical. At the extreme end of the spectrum,
the soul personality only knows itself as the ego, which sees
itself separate from all other egos, and is motivated purely
by survival instinct. It will fight with all it has at its
disposal to maintain its SEPARATE identity and to possess. It
is the "Prodigal son" who left his father's house
to go out and experience the world, and found himself in a
far country alienated from his true state of being.
The Master Within, on the
other hand, is the fully evolved soul that sees itself at one
with all souls. It stands above the need for physical
possession, emotional glamour or even rational thinking. It
knows that it knows.
Poised between these two
polarities is the individual (that's us) who experiences life
as an ego and as an evolving soul personality. Once the
"Prodigal Son" realizes the he has alienated
himself from his source of good. "He comes to
himself" and sets his foot upon the Path of evolution.
This is where the struggle begins, for we get to make contact
which our conscience, which tells us not to let the lower ego
have full sway in our lives as it once had.
There is an internal battle
taking place between our higher self and our lower self, and
the soul personality must choose whom to serve. The choices
we make will determine how far we evolve in each lifetime.
The mission is to bring the physical desires under subjection
to the higher aspirations to move forward on the Path.
Next the emotions must align
with reason. This helps to refine the ego, and its strength
of *Will* becomes a positive force. With this alignment of
the threefold nature of the lower man (physical-etheric;
emotional-astral; intellectual-mental) we then have an
integrated soul personality with a strong will that is ready
to be used by the Master Within to be a channel for the Soul
qualities of Wisdom and Love to assist in raising the
vibration of humanity as a whole.
I would venture to say that
emotion is a necessary attribute of the constitution of man
[soul personality expressing through physical form] but not
of the Master Within. The Higher Self expresses from the
level of the Soul intuned with the Will of God.
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The Soul has a mission to
perform, that being to bring in the Soul qualities of Love
and Wisdom to the material realm. The material realm does not
have these conscious qualities, and so the Soul must bring
them in. In order to accomplish this mission, it has to
"Involve itself in the lower levels of expression to
imbue them with the consciousness of Love and Wisdom. This
enables the lower levels to "evolve" to higher
levels, until these qualities are freely expressed and used.
The Soul's journey through
life serves to edify; to awaken us to that higher level of
expression; to bring us into conscious contact with the *God
of our Heart* so that we begin to operate in the world as a
Soul - one who lives in harmony with all life.
Everyday we see various
levels of Soul qualities awakening in the body of humanity.
We also get to see those who have yet to contact that
Divinity Within, and so are living out their experience from
a very low level of operating in the world. This does not
mean that the Soul is not perfect, but rather that the
individual has not yet realized himself as a perfect soul.
S/he thinks that the body is all there is. Thus his/her
living experience is focussed upon satisfying the appetites
of the flesh with no consideration of/for the soul.
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Reincarnation is part of our
spiritual evolutionary process. Each time we incarnate we
come with the advantage of all of the accumulated experiences
and lessons of previous incarnations. We evolve ever
upward toward Spirit.
The soul makes the choice of
circumstances into which it will incarnate. This is
based upon specific lessons it needs to learn or to teach. It
has naught to do with creature comforts, but rather with
spiritual growth. Once incarnated the 'soul personality' is
presented with life experiences which require choices that
will determine the outcome of that particular
incarnation.
I liken each incarnation to
a grade level in school. We learn certain basic
concepts on each level. Then we take a vacation that gives us
time to assimilate or internalize what we have learned.
When we return to school the next year (incarnation) we are
expected to have mastered the basics of the previous year
(incarnation). If we have not, we must repeat the
previous year's learning experience in order to master the
concepts before moving on. Once the concepts are
mastered we move to a higher grade which presents more
challenging learning experiences.
How this shows up in life is
based upon the choices we have made along the way at each
level. We all encounter many 'bad' experiences (some
worse than others) all of which are designed to teach us
lessons and carry a seed for spiritual growth. Since the body
is not who we are, but simply the vehicle in which we travel
through life, the choice of body and life circumstances is
more than likely made (before we reincarnate) to help us
consciously dissociate from body identification, and
associate our identification with the Soul which can then use
our personality to bring in Light and Love to this experience
we call Life.
One of the main lessons that
we come to learn through our incarnations, is that
"_agency which is in control of me_" is
the very soul which IS me. Not something outside of
ourselves. As we grow spiritually, we begin to identify
ourselves with the higher aspect of our being.
The experiences of each
incarnation lead us higher and closer in our awareness of the
'Master Within' until we finally allow ourselves to be
led by it. Life becomes a lot easier to live once
we have cultivated this relationship with our 'Master
Within.' We make better choices and get better
outcomes.
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On the Purpose of Form
Form does make a difference
in the realm of forms; for how else would the soul
express? However the Essence inhabiting the form does
not change. I don't identify myself with my form but
rather with my Essence. When I lay the form aside, I
will still be me, only much more encompassing. The
Essence to me is the Presence of the Divine within us, within
all of us. We are ONE. I see the form (physical, emotional
and mental) as vehicles for our expression, but not who we
are.
Incarnations occur as
corporeal experiences which permit the soul personality to
gradually grow into awareness of the spiritual realm and
merge with it bringing its whole constitution under direction
of the Soul. If we view incarnations as a process of
spiritual evolution then it would stand to reason that this
process is cumulative and consequential (therefore
sequential). One cannot evolve backward.
To me this is the purpose of
time - to give us a chance to "get it right."
This plane of third/fourth dimension, where pairs of
opposites exist, is our battleground and our proving ground.
A babe does not become an adult in an instant. There are many
stages and phases of growth in between, many lessons to be
learned that are contingent upon prior knowledge gained from
prior lessons.
Humans have a superior
intellect, but along with that comes the integration of
bodily instincts and emotions into a personality that
encompasses all three. Perhaps this is what makes the human
kingdom separate from the animal kingdom. It goes far
beyond instinct and keen senses, which is what gives the
animals their unique qualities. Humans have the ability
to know that we know, to make choices and use our free will.
Our ability to question and reason things out are also
distinguishing characteristics. Animals act upon
instincts. Humans want to know the reason why.
It takes more than a
superior intellect to make one superhuman. I believe it is
our conscious contact with the Master Within, consciously
giving the integrated personality over to the Higher Self and
living out a human experience as a Soul guided from above
rather than simply relying upon our often misguided human
judgments.
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Karma, it
serves to teach life lessons. Perhaps the soul that
incarnated as a babe afflicted, deformed or retarded, came
for the sole purpose to teach some lesson to all who came in
contact with it.
I am reminded
of a story from the Bible, when the Master Jesus was asked
about a blind man whom he had healed (he had been blind from
birth) "Is this man blind because of his own sins
or those of his parents?" The Master replied,
"Neither, but that the Father may be glorified."
[my paraphrase]
There is no
such thing as an incurable disease, because there is also no
such thing as a mind that cannot be changed, and that is what
it takes to cure a so-called incurable disease. Conditions
seem incurable because too many people have bought into the
notion. Minds joined in one accord form a mighty
collective power to build a thought form. Let us join
in establishing the good rather than building up negative
forms. Let us agree on the cure rather than
the disease. If people agree that no disease is incurable,
that opens our collective mind to the possibility of a cure
and the probability of discovering it.
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I view Grace as
each new day that we awaken with another chance to 'get it
right' - each new round of incarnation with another chance to
grow into the fullness of life and the fullness of spiritual
awakening, growing through and releasing the karmic
experiences of the past until we are finally released for the
wheel of life. Grace is a gift from God. We are all
meant to return home to our Father/Mother God, and Grace is
the assurance that eventually we all will.
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It has occurred
to me that there really is no such thing as good or evil, but
that all of creation has a function within its natural realm
of existence. When anything gets out of its natural
state or realm, it creates an imbalance in the place where it
finds itself (for its function cannot be performed in
harmony with its surroundings) as well as the place where it
should be (for its needed function is there lacking).
Havoc is wreaked until it finds its way back 'home' and order
is restored.
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On the
Fear of Death
Fear of death
stems from the identification with the body rather than the
soul-essence that inhabits it. Our lower ego is
attached to the body for its existence. If we think
that the body is all there is to life, then naturally we fear
losing it. If we accept that the body is not who we are
but rather the vehicle through which we express who we are on
this plane, then we relinquish our attachment to it.
Consequently, we come to view death not as a cessation of
life, but as a transition from one plane of expression of
life to another.
In our day to
day living it is a natural emotional response to be
devastated by the loss of a loved one. But once we move
through the grief process (and this takes time) we can accept
that life goes on, and the life of our loved one remains with
us as part of who we are.
Life itself is
indestructible. We can see it evidenced in all of
nature. The El Niņo weather patterned has caused so much
destruction, yet in the spring everything is teaming with
life. The flowers (and weeds) are blooming more
plentifully. Insects are abundant. Go
out to the desert and see it in full bloom. Watch a
blade of grass break through a slab of concrete. Life
is God expressing. There is nothing outside of it to
destroy it. When life as we know it changes, we then
must come to know it differently.
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To me the word desire can be
decoded as "De = down from" and "Sire =
Father"
Therefore I see desire as
coming down from the Father, as that which brought us into
manifestation and into this experience we call life. We come
down from the Father and involve ourselves fully in mundane
life experience until we come to the realization that this
world doesn't really hold what we are seeking. As that
point our desires turn to aspirations that lead us to seek
for something higher, something beyond the mundane.
This is when we begin to seek the Path and embark upon our
journey to find our way back HOME. Desire leads
to
involvement. Aspire leads to evolvement.
Light does not come without
responsibility. It makes sense that we are held
accountable for the knowledge we have gained. Having learned
certain principles, it becomes our responsibility to apply
them to our life circumstances. The experiences we encounter
along the Path are designed to provide us opportunities to
apply the these principles. If we do not, then the experience
itself will force the issue in order to teach us the lesson
we need.
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There comes a
point along the Path, when we become "detached"
from the things of this earth plane, and the glamour of the
world no longer holds our attention. This detachment is
a necessary phase of our Spiritual evolution. Our
identification turns away from the body and toward the Soul
which is the vehicle of Spirit. It is at this time when we
are called upon to be of greater service, when we consciously
live in the world but not of the world.
We are all on
this Path that leads us eventually to detach from the things
of the world while yet living and serving in it. Our
contentment does not stem form material existence, but rather
from the understanding that we are spiritual beings
experiencing humanity in order to pass on the Light with
which we are entrusted. Join with us. Live to
serve and experience the joy of serving. We can make
the world a brighter place, one light at a time.
Let Light, and
Love, and Power restore the God's Plan on Earth.
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More Musings
Disclaimer:
This is presented from what
I have come to understand thus far, and is by no means to be
taken as THE truth.
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