Dor said:
So Andrew are you a Morman?
Hmmmm. From a Christian frame of reference, you might say,
close enough. 
Maybe I'm a little bit Mormon, but with definite Gnostic overtones. I'm also quite keen on what Q is saying re
Druidry, or at least, the Arthurian legends. I like Path of One's posts, and also the Christian Mysticism of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, and Joan of Arc. I can't quite tune in yet to Joan's
inspirations (her Voices) ... but that's what the Path of Purity is for.
I actually revolt, strongly even, to the notion that
mankind is somehow -
or in any fashion, for that matter - "greater than" God. Our equality, I maintain, comes from the fact (or so I believe) that
for God, and thus for anyone so attuned, there is only ONE, and no
second at all. This may seem like a copout of an answer to the problem of the One and the Many, but in essence I believe as the Buddhists believe -
the world of mayavic appearances is ultimately illusion.
What this means is not that nothing, or no one, exists, but rather, as Bishop Berkeley maintained,
only God does. How can any of us prove this, other than as an interesting intellectual possibility, unless we seek to
discover on our own the signficance of Christ's words,
"I and the Father are ONE"?
I get lost in all the Christian theology, honestly, and I know this isn't about the Trinity ... but I believe that Christ proceeds
from the Father, as does the 3rd Aspect, yet all three -
no matter how we seek to understand them - are ultimately the Expression(s) of the Absolute (as Nick has said, speaking as a Theosophist).
From THAT level proceeds the notion, and the fact, of a
non-duality with regard to our Being, and God's Being, such that we are all
Sons of the One Father ... yet one with Him, even in Essence. The difference, the distinction, can be found in the
degree to which any of us - or any group of us - manifests this Inner, Essential Oneness
outwardly.
This is an obvious apparent contradiction, to the mortal mind. And so the Mystics have always struggled to express even a
hint of this Oneness which they have felt, or experienced, and even that struggle often takes place within the personality,
after (in terms of time and space) their original mystical experience.
Are we really any
less than they - just because it's 2007, the Internet is here, and we have these discussions and sharings on the Web?
I have long considered myself, at CR and in various other Cyberspatial venues,
literally in the company of
Saints. A disciple, esoterically defined, may have a different meaning than the more conventional, Christian definition, often exchanged with
Apostle.
So while I might not believe that everyone here is
Christ's appointed Apostle - as per 2100 years ago - I
do think that darn-near everyone,
probably everyone, who posts at CR with any frequency, IS a disciple. I just have no problem whatsoever with the idea that various of us have different, or differing, associations ... with perhaps a dozen or more individual Masters, and to penetrate much farther into this line of inquiry gets squarely to the heart of the question about
The Secret.
The Secret, to me, is that
these various, other avenues, or paths to God - can be known. They can be not merely studied, or speculated upon, they can be understood intimately, personally, and claimed as one's own ...
trodden,
with much the same goals as those of Christians, seeking to Serve the Lord. Ultimately, all true Teachers are united,
as I see it, under the umbrella of
the Christ, for He is the Lord of Lords, and Master of Masters -
the Teacher alike of Angels and of Men (or so it has been said).
The methods, however, for advancing spiritually - though the same
inwardly - will differ from East to West, and even from one Teacher to another. The goal is for there to be cooperation between, and among, all who seek to
Serve, yet there are different forms of discipline, and methods of traveling the path. I don't like the way esoteric teachings are
trivialized, or efforts made to
dumb them down into some supposed set of
universally applicable, magical concepts.
This is where I would say that while the
essence may be simple, its
application is more than a little difficult. In fact, it turns out to be the
hardest thing we've ever attempted - either individually, or as a planet, as a race! This is because of the familiar struggle,
between the two "natures" of man. Much, if not most, of the confusion, which I see arising in discussions such as these, comes from an inadvertent
blurring of the lines, or failure to speak along similar terms, when it comes to this point.
Yes, some differences may be irreconcilable. But what the Occultist comes to accept as the ABC regarding himself, the Divine (or God), Humanity and the world around him ... will either find its
complement, or correlation, within the Christian framework, or else the two will ever speak (shout? argue?) with each other across an unbridgeable gulf.
Certain principles are just basic, and Nick has done an excellent job of spelling out what Theosophists believe. I am not quite a Theosophist, and I think Nick's list is a bit lengthy, so I might sum up a couple of noteworthy points here, then I promise to fade out a bit, unless there's an interest.
Hermetic Axiom: `As it is above, so it is below. As it is within, so it is without.' - In short, the Divine has
mirrored, or reflected Himself into Humanity. Faithful said this. And the converse is that by studying nature, and Humanity (God's Creations), we can learn something about God.
Spirit and Matter are two
poles, or expressions of the same thing, not a fundamental
duality, or dichotomy. Further, they meet upon every level of existence, and
where they meet, Consciousness is the result. Every speck, every atom, of matter, therefore,
has consciousness (as it does Spirit, however latent). These three,
Spirit, Consciousness, and matter, are a Trinity (with obvious correspondences in Christianity), and they are
synthesized by LIFE, which equates with GOD.
Yet, if no anthropomorphism is applied -
and I would eschew such - then a certain type of hierarchy
does naturally reveal itself ... simply by the inherent structure of the Universe. LAWS ultimately govern this structure, not the arbitrary whim, or
desire(s), of some
Being who is
Himself subject to these very Laws!!!
This is contradiction. To say that God is above and beyond the LAW is a meaningless statement. We can only say, with the best of our understanding and knowledge, as supported by the Bible, or any other sacred text, that the greatest law is LOVE ... and thus that God,
as God, is LOVE. We cannot divorce God's Nature, Being, or
`Self,' from the Law of Love. This does not mean that there is nothing
"beyond" - but for us, with our present understanding,
the point is not even academic! {But challenge me, if you will, by telling me what is
Greater than God-AS-Love? Remember, this is the SOURCE of all that we know, the Sustainer, as well as the Future.}
If we feel that Jesus is a magnet, drawing all men unto the Father ...
then an esotericist will nod, and affirm that none of us comes to Mastery of the Laws of the Spirit, before we have gained knowledge, right use, and therefore increasing mastery overy the Laws of Consciousness ...
yet even while we are striving toward this goal, we must also work to master the least aspect of our being, which is matter, our material aspect - body, emotions, mind. Matter must be brought under control of Consciousness, and Consciousness is in turn mastered by Spirit.
The distinctions are not quite the same as many Christians may be used to. Fair enough. Yet the discussion of the
Laws of Attraction rings out to me with more or less clarity as a call to
make further inquiry regarding these subjects. If Christ is the magnet that
draws the Consciousness of Humanity inward and upward, through the portal of Knowledge, Love and Sacrifice (Service) toward the One Spirit ... then why should we not be studying the
application of Christ's teachings to
material life in the world today ... just because the motifs, the setting, the challenges, the technology, the political struggles, and religious & cultural settings - are not all thoroughly Biblical?
Matter is not God's outcast, unwanted refuse. It is not "dead" or inert. It is part of God's living substance, and must be Spiritualized through the activity of the Mediating Principle upon it. That Mediator, re the world at large, is US .... HUMANITY, the Consicousness of the Human Family, Spiritually considered. Relative to Humanity, the Mediator is CHRIST. And esotericsts even speak of yet higher centers, which Mediate between our Planet and the `Father's House.'
This is all I can say at 3am, writing in the shadow of one of Christianity's Greatest Adepts,
rather than at the hem of his aura. It's a bit to chew on; not sure I can even digest it myself. Just remember: often we see a good bit of ourselves in the world around us, even in freaky people like me.
And that's when folks are clear & concise.
Peace ...
~andrew
