Volume 2, Number 3, Summer 2006 Editorial Articles
Poems by Featured Artist
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Mystics, Occultists,
and Problems of There are three paths which lead man to enlightenment: Path 1: The Path of Ignorance - the greater way. The masses (undeveloped and average man) are learning their life lessons on this path. Ignorance refers to being unaware of the spiritual life in any conscious and intelligent sense. Focus is upon survival and satisfaction of the physical appetites such as food, sex, money, power. On this path the physical nature and brain are brought into a high degree of coordination and development. Path 2: The Mystical Path of Heart and Devotion. It follows on from the first path, and is a major step forward in development. In this class, the astral (emotional) nature is brought into full functioning activity and sensitivity. The great asset of mystics is their loving and inclusive nature. Historically, their focus was self-centred and centered in their own particular religion. But today, in their thousands, people following this path give of their time to help the poor and disadvantaged because of their genuine love for mankind. Mental development is the next evolutionary stage for mystics. A keen sense of discrimination is required to qualify a mystic for entry onto the third path. The modern mystic should be able to formulate his knowledge intelligently and express his awareness clearly, in order that he may share his spiritual vision with the public which is steadily growing in intelligence. Path 3: The Occult Path of Mind and Will. The true white occultists are heart-mind people. They have graduated from the Devotional Way and love is alive in their hearts. Added to this now is mental acuteness and a keen sense of discrimination. With love and intelligence combined, the marks of the true occultist are--equilibrium, a just sense of proportion, a due regard for environing conditions, and a sane common sense. 1 A dangerous situation arises when the love stage is missed. A developed mind and ambitious will, without the balancing factor of empathy and compassion, results in occult power being used in a way which violates Spiritual Law. This is the Left Hand Path of black occultists. Comparisons between the Mystical and Occult Paths
The following quote from Bailey’s The Light of the Soul: A Paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, summarises the differences. “Through the use of the will, discrimination between the self and the not-self is achieved and pure spirit is arrived at. This is the way for the Aryan race whose function it is to develop the fifth principle or mind and thus become true sons of mind... Through following this way the five planes of human and superhuman evolution are dominated and atma (the will of God, the Father aspect) stands revealed through the medium of buddhi (Christ consciousness), having for its vehicle, manas or higher mind. The other way is the way of pure devotion....This is the way of least resistance for many…it largely ignores the fifth principle.. the four planes are dominated and buddhi (or the Christ) stands revealed. Students should differentiate clearly between these two ways, remembering that the white occultist blends the two and if in this life he follows the way of Raja Yoga with fervour and love it will be because in other lives he set his foot upon the way of devotion and found the Christ, the Buddhi within. In this life he will recapitulate his experience, plus the intense exercise of the will and control of the mind which will eventually reveal to him his Father in Heaven, the point of pure spirit.” Sutra I-22 Spiritual Group Life The majority of spiritual or religious groups are composed of mystics. In comparison there are fewer occult groups in the world, though the numbers will naturally increase as more people step onto the Occult Path. What makes spiritual group life interesting as well as challenging, is when mystics and occultists are found in the same group. Unless carefully managed, the different ways of approaching the divine could lead to clashes and a shattering of the group form. In my experience, there are four possible outcomes when such a group is formed.
Spiritual Communications on our Planet There has been an explosion of spiritual teachings and communications on the planet over the last one hundred and fifty years--some of it is genuine, from credible sources of Wisdom Teachings. But most are interpretations of the true teachings, filled with distortions and personal biases, or downright nonsense. Such messages originate from one of the seven planes in our system. The higher four planes are considered spiritual, and are called “the higher worlds”--1. Logoic, 2. Monadic, 3. Atmic, 4. Buddhic. The lower human worlds are - 5. Mental (Manasic), 6. Astral, 7. Physical. However, the higher part of the fifth Mental Plane is considered spiritual, because it is a bridge to the higher realm, and the soul body is located there. The substance and energy on the first Logoic plane is of the highest and finest vibration, that of the next plane not so fine, and so on until that on the seventh or physical we find the lowest and densest energy and forms. Evolutionary status is determined by the plane upon which a person or being is conscious. We raise our level successively through the planes as we learn from the experiences presented to us in our various incarnations. The great Ones reside on the higher planes of our system. Also found here are sources of divine knowledge such as “the raincloud of knowable things,” 2 and the Akashic Records 3 which register all experiences on our planet. Emanating messages or energy transmissions travel down from these high sources, degrading in quality and purity as they pass through each plane, and finally exhaust themselves on the physical plane. So for example, a message originating from Atma can only be received in its pure form by those consciously aware at this level or higher. Everyone below else gets a distorted message, and the lower the consciousness, the more distorted the message! Through Raja Yoga, the mind can be trained to probe the heights even while in incarnation and receive inspired messages or spiritual knowledge in a purer form. But this demands rigorous and ongoing spiritual training - to make contact with the soul (the higher mental plane), and to develop a trained and disciplined mind instrument. Such people are distinguished by their love for mankind, mental focus, keen sense of discrimination, equilibrium, a just sense of proportion, and a sane common sense. 1 The Problem of Channelling Without Raja Yoga training, and when consciousness is focused in lower mind or the emotional nature, we have the situation in which people can delude themselves into believing they are receiving divine inspiration when actually the source is often from within. We have a condition of auto-suggestion, giving voice to one’s "wish life", listening to one’s own negative self-talk, remembering spiritual aspirations from previous lives, contact with beings on the astral plane, picking up thoughts telepathically or from souls returning to reincarnation. 4 Mystical types, especially those in the earlier stages of their class, are the bulk of people who fall victim to the “channelling” phenomenon. But even advanced mystics and occultists must guard against its attractive lure. A channeller is a person who claims to have received spiritual messages from a higher divine source. Lacking mental discrimination and earnest in their desire to contact and communicate with their God, Guru or Teacher, mystics readily interpret the visions or impressions they receive as coming from a divine source. The more advanced who are full of ego and pride, could convince themselves they are the recipients of special attention from the Master. Such people are victims of a particular psychological problem which assails all emotionally focused people, which we call ‘glamour.’ This is the tendency to distort reality because of emotionally based biases, wishes and prejudices found within the nature. And mystics in their thousands seem to accept the glamorous offerings of channelers without question. 5 Mental types are less prone to succumb. Their minds demand evidence! But mental types who have not yet built the link to soul, suffer from “illusion,” a condition in which the mind misinterprets the facts. 5 The point being made is that if a true spiritual inspiration is received by a consciousness which is glamoured or operating from the lower worlds, no matter how beautiful the original message, it will be distorted in some essential and important way. I believe it is impossible for true spiritual communications - which are of such a high and fine vibration, emanating from the higher spiritual planes, to be received by minds and brains which have not been prepared through the correct evolutionary process. And who wants to take to heart a supposed spiritual message which has been distorted in some way? It would amount to the blind leading the blind. So how do we sort out who to believe? 1. Firstly, in our search for knowledge, we need listen to, and read only those books written or coming from enlightened beings. This will provide us with a correct understanding about the manner in which enlightened beings relate with people on earth. For example, we are told by the Tibetan Master, that Masters only work with those people who are in touch with their souls. “The days of personality contact, of personality attention and of personal messages are over, and have been over for quite a while, save in the vale of illusion, on the astral plane.... The satisfying of individual aspiration, the meeting of the desire of the probationers and the feeding of spiritual ambition appeal to us not at all. The times are too serious, and the crisis too acute.” 6 “Many well-meaning occultists believe that the Masters take a personal interest in them, that (they) have no better occupation than to tell them personally how to live, how to solve their problems and how, in detail, to guide their undertakings... the individual aspirant is of no personal interest to the Master until he has achieved the point in his evolution where he is so closely in touch with his soul that he becomes a magnetic server in the world. Then, and then only, will it profit the Master to throw him a thought, and to give him a hint. Then, as those hints are followed, he may give him more, but, and this is the point that must be emphasized, only in connection with the work that he has to do in the field of world service.” 7 We need to take this to heart, and refuse to listen to glamorous nonsense. Don’t try to fool yourself. If you know you have much work to do to establish a durable connection with your soul, that voice you are hearing is coming either from your own self, or from a dubious source in the lower worlds. 2. We need to apply the sword of discrimination to the channeller, and the information being received. A person operating from the lower mind or astral level, will be the distributor of distorted information. So look at the person and his or her life to determine whether there is evidence of soul contact (wisdom, love, morality, integrity, intelligence, light). Jesus said “You Will Know Them by Their Fruits. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” 8 Raja Yoga tells us that the level of consciousness of a person can be determined if we study the person - beginning by what we see! “The consciousness of an object is attained by concentration on its fourfold nature:
So ask yourself the question - “Does this person, does this information, measure up?” 3. We need to work at occult meditation and establish a stronger conscious connection with the soul, because the true dissipator of glamour is the soul itself. There are other things we can do, but these three come immediately to mind. In Summary There are many “false prophets” out there who are peddling their messages, and many of these are very sincere mystics or deluded occultists. Their words are often flowery, loving and help mystics feel good. They make appeal to the emotions and to vanity. With these the true seeker after wisdom should have nothing to do. Enlightened teachers communicate the fire of occult truth. They appeal to the mind. This usually makes us feel uncomfortable, because it strips away our pretensions, it exposes us. But it is this essential stripping away which enables us to move closer to Spirit. We should find the true wisdom, find those disciples teaching it, and close our ears to all else.
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