Commentary and Philosophy Non-Fiction posted August 29, 2019 |
Easy reading
Rose Croix
by Cogitator
From 1986 through 1989, I studied "Mastery of Life" offered by the Rosicrucians. Their name comes from the French "Rose Croix," meaning Rosy Cross, anglicized into Rosicrucians. Each month I would receive four monographs to study, one for each week. The major revelation for me came from the section about how we communicate with our world. Exercises and rituals to break down ego resistance were an ongoing part of the study. This led me to read "Time, Space and Knowledge" by Tarthang Tulku (the founder of Dharma Publishing in California) after he fled the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Thirty-five exercises to tame the ego through meditation are a major part of that book.
A monograph contains writing about a single subject. The subject of Mastery of Life is how we can regain control of our life on earth. A Rosicrucian is accepted as a member of any Freemason lodge because many Freemason concepts run parallel to the revelations in the course. The combination of these two studies is the foundation of everything I communicate. Both are very powerful in their ability to develop greater understanding of what we are. I had no idea of how ignorant I was before the discoveries that were unveiled in these efforts. The mind is a powerful tool when we use it properly. For those who like the Bible, Science and Health (with a key to the Scriptures) by Mary Baker Eddy is great reading to prepare the mind for more revelations.
The section on how we communicate with our bodily senses was fascinating to me. Our sense of taste uses our palate and taste buds to determine if what we are ingesting is compatible with our own chemical makeup and discerns between sweet, sour, piquant, etc. Our sense of smell differentiates aroma, stench and the like. Touch handles hot and cold, hard and soft. These three senses interpret our physical environment. Our spirit knows which vibratory patterns harmonize with our physical being and will create a reaction against poisonous stimuli and synchronize with pleasant experiences. The range between the extremes creates our comfort zone and allows spirit to monitor and maintain homeostasis for whatever environment we're in. Hearing is about making sense of vibrations striking our eardrums. It is the slowest sense we have and is also muddled because of linguistics and semantics. If I were speaking to you instead of making your eyes gather my message, I would imagine how I could build the image I am now describing into your mind, take a breath, expel air via vocal chords and larynx through my mouth, perhaps modify those vibrations with lips and tongue, vibrate the air molecules between us and - voila! Human language as received by your eardrum. Your interpretation of the message will depend on semantics and literacy skill.
Lastly, sight. This is the most powerful sense of all animals. The electromagnetic spectrum spans from ultraviolet through infrared and vibrates at very high rates. Exactly in the middle is a tiny slice that we call visible light. The rods and cones in the eye are excited in various rates to create images in our minds that allow us to differentiate ourselves from other forms of energy. For example: The DNA of a tree is usually about 94% the same as our DNA. The tree form we see relates to 94% of our own vibratory pattern. All forms we discern must contain some harmony to our own energy or we couldn't see it. The cognition we are born with creates the re-cognition of our environment. What we see is never "outside," but in our own mind -- just like the images you are seeing in your mind as you read this.
I had knowledge of Helen Keller at the time and researched her life a bit. Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, was made famous by Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, and its adaptations for film and stage, The Miracle Worker. Her birthplace in West Tuscumbia, Alabama is now a museum and sponsors an annual "Helen Keller Day". Her June 27 birthday is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in Pennsylvania and, in the centenary year of her birth, was recognized by a presidential proclamation from Jimmy Carter.
A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled and outspoken in her convictions. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, antimilitarism, and other similar causes. She and others created the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU.) She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971 and was one of twelve inaugural inductees to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on June 8, 2015.
I tried to imagine how her accomplishments could be achieved without sight and hearing and realized her mind was vaster than virtually all humans on earth. One of my favorite quotes from her: "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but no vision."
Mastery of Life strives to describe a metaphysical mystic.
Mystic: "A person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the absolute by the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect."
Mystics come from progressive attitudes. Being a mystic is to be aware of and shoulder one's responsibilities in one's family life, working life, and spiritual life. A thinking, active, responsible mystic does not feed on what is negative and unhealthy. A mystic does not make judgments nor condemn. They seek to understand the why and the how of things and events. The WHY is a cause or a goal and the HOW can be a myriad of methods to achieve the WHY. The mystic's attitude is an open one, respecting everyone's right to be different and to exercise freedom of expression. A mystic can give assistance, bring calm, and speak in a compassionate manner to whoever is in need. A mystic accepts philosophically -- without becoming disenchanted -- the tests that are experienced during one's life for a mystic is not exempt from lessons, they just find it a little bit easier to learn them. The true role of a mystic is that of a catalyst for others to develop. Simply put, they are there to remove mental and emotional blocks to enlightenment.
Through mysticism, we develop spiritual wisdom, expanded awareness and a sense of connectedness with everything and everyone around us, and, in the process, we become captains of our ship and masters of our fate. This state of mind is evidenced by the Toltec Spiritual Warrior, the Arhat of Buddhism, the Hindu yogi of hatha yoga, the Jesus (Christ Nature) of Christianity and the Sufi of Islam, as well as many other examples. Reaching this level of enlightenment necessitates total understanding of what we are. Everyone can find their mystical being, but few will make the effort to do so. The mystic lives in a perfect state of being and becomes oblivious to mundane human activities. He has risen above and beyond his animal body because he lives according to Natural Law.
Natural Law is that set of laws that is the working basis of all creation and without which no manifestation can occur and exist. It is universal in scope and manner of operation, simple and direct. Natural Law is always constructive even when it seems indisputably destructive. It is the expression or manifestation of Cosmic Energy and order that humanity can discern. There is no such thing as supernatural law. There is nothing more divine than nature, nothing super beyond the natural. The greatest of miracles are not the result of some supernatural law, but of natural law. The mystic has removed all vestiges of fantasy, indoctrination, false beliefs and false values and is synchronized and harmonized with the symphony of life.
Mystics do everything they can to cultivate and maintain four primary virtues: understanding, service, compassion, and love. These virtues all flow into one another and end up merging into a perfect unity and forming one entity. Willpower, perseverance, and trust are three further virtues that need to be manifested to achieve spiritual elevation. The choice is ours, for we have our free will.
No baby is born with fear. Fear is caused by ignorance and babies have no ignorant ego to deal with, so parents teach them fear. They pass on their own phobias because they try to shield the child from their own ignorant actions. Babies are perfectly happy eating, pooping, sleeping and burping in their perfect universe.
From childhood, we begin hiding our inner self away. We learn to adapt and survive in the "outside" world. Our families and peers teach us socially acceptable behavior. Our educational system teaches us the technical and social skills we need to sustain a material life. As adults, we are thrust into a society geared towards materialism and maintaining the status quo. Rarely, especially in the early formative years, are we taught inner development; with an emphasis on intuition, the subconscious mind, independent thinking, self-esteem, self-confidence, psychic or inner spiritual growth. The road to enlightenment is an arduous one but is available to all. That road is not one of learning something new, but rather one of discovering what was always there.
Of the four primary values, understanding is utmost in importance for the simple reason that we cannot know others more than we understand ourselves. Performing service with compassion and love comes easily once we understand what we are.
We currently occupy an animal body. Like all animals, we have instincts that are innate and natural, like homing instincts, survival instincts, herding instincts and others. These instincts are like hard-coded programs in computers that serve to maintain a healthy body while navigating Mother Earth. Unlike most animals, we also can do unnatural things. We human beings can examine a stimulus and make decisions about how we will respond to it. We can stop a thought and delve into it for meaning. The ego is the reason for all human ills because it can activate an ignorant response that goes against natural law.
"Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to understanding by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." -- Plato
"We should stop kidding ourselves. It's always better with the truth." R. Buckminster Fuller.
Whether or not others want to achieve Enlightenment is irrelevant to a mystic. He is simply an example and resource for those who wish to understand. He knows that there is no such thing as a permanent ego and, since the ego is the only entity that fears death, the mystic cannot harbor that fear.
"If you want to understand the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." Nikola Tesla.
The human brain is bicameral -- two chambers. Normally, the left hemisphere is receiving waves of energy continually and interpreting them in terms of frequency, thus creating the concept of time and number. The right hemisphere receives the same energy waves and interprets them in terms of amplitude, thus creating the concept of size and space. This is the Space/Time Continuum Einstein referred to. Most radios will have a choice of AM (Amplitude Modulation) or FM (Frequency Modulation). Egos will "tune in" to what appeals to them, whether music or talk. This is exactly what we all do when we visualize our personal universe. Helen Keller used her bicameral brain exceedingly well.
When we interpret waves of energy as frequency, we imagine Time and number. The only time that exists in truth is the moment we call NOW. There is no such thing as past or future in truth. Our inborn consciousness resides in NOW. We imagine Space and size by interpreting the amplitude and size of the energy waves from our Point of View. That consciousness represents HERE. Our true self has always been and will always be HERE and NOW and designates the center of our universe. Whenever we stop a thought and contemplate it, it becomes the Big Bang of that specific thought. It is our Point of View. We will never experience death. The combination of HERE/NOW is the Space/Time continuum Einstein refers to and it will always exist. Ego's universe is finite and temporary while the mystic's universe is infinite and eternal.
"The simple secret of the universe is that we create our own reality." Captain Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut.
"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self." Aristotle.
The self is our personality or ego. It is the source of all humanity's woes and problems. It is an artificial (man-made) mind created by its ability to think, feel and experience its worldly existence. It is the differentiating factor between the human animal and all other natural life forms. It seeks to be independent in its self-defined universe, even though there is no such thing as independence for any life form. All life is dependent on all other life in order to "be."
"Learn to see. Everything is connected." Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo was not the only one to recognize this basic truth. Gauthama Siddartha, the first Buddha, said the same thing when referring to the oneness of everything. Carl Jung made the same observation, and Albert Einstein's Relativity equation boils down to depicting that all forms are manifestations of energy. The first step to understanding the self and bringing it under control is accepting that truth.
Ego is very much like a gatekeeper to its perceived universe. Its job is to gather input from our physical senses and submit it to our true mind, but it can reject new information from entering if the information threatens its Comfort Zone. It does not like to change when it feels comfortable. If pressured, ego will activate its "fight or flight" reflex to relieve the pressure. The other option is to stay indifferent to the stimulus and simply do nothing - like my shelter dog.
There are numerous ways to be aware of when the ego is taking charge of our actions. Anger, greed, fear, lust, pride, vanity, dominance, and other selfish behaviors are ego traits and easily recognized (and/or manipulated) by the ruling class. Those traits indicate a lack of understanding. To remove any ego trait, we must fight to remove it by knowing why we exhibit it. Most of the population exists as domesticated animals and satisfied much like Pavlov's dog when it gets a treat.
"Nothing pains some people more than having to think." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The human ego has the unique ability to stop a thought and contemplate it. A thought is not a thing, but a cycle of energy. The cycle of thought processing goes through several stages -- Awareness, Focus, Analysis, Action and Adaption. The place to be while executing these steps is centered in our Corpus Callosum. That is the balance point of our consciousness. It can be had by meditation. It is our Creative Thinking Center. Ego has no control when we are in this meditative state. We will have achieved self-control. We will be able to change the perception of our universe by changing our thoughts.
The mystic who knows something of the inner light of consciousness is bound to be a little difficult to be absorbed; he is going to be an upsetting force. Most egos don't want to be disturbed, even though they may be in misery. They are in misery, but they are accustomed to the misery. And anybody who is not miserable looks like a stranger to them. He who has achieved self-control is the greatest stranger in the world; he does not seem to belong to anybody. No organization confines him, no community, no society nor nation. His very way of being is rebellious - not because he is fighting against anybody or anything, but because he has discovered his own true nature and is determined to live in accordance with it. He challenges us to be courageous enough to take responsibility for who and what we are and to live according to truth.
More broadly, "Mystic" refers to the people with whom we share our spiritual lives. We need the guidance of personal teachers who are further along the path than we are, and the support and friendship of other practitioners. This is very important because mysticism is not an abstract philosophy or creed; it is a way of approaching life and therefore it only has any meaning when it is embodied in people. All of us need other people to learn from. We need the example and teaching of others who have done so before us, especially those who have gained insight into the nature of reality themselves.
Moral rules and ascetic rites are not necessary for Enlightenment. Rules and rites exist in the realm of the ego and its animal instincts, not in the spiritual universe of the mystic. Attachment to sensual desire, creature comforts and selfish interests are no longer important. The attraction of conceit, selfishness and ego development is eliminated, along with ill will towards all.
The mystic desires to live in the formless universe of Consciousness, Eternity and Infinity and the true Spirit of Living. He strives achieve understanding and peace without restlessness.
It is a metaphysical fact that for each minute of time we spend in thoughts of unfavorable impressions, unkind criticism, or hate toward any person, there will be hours of physical and mental suffering as a reaction. The first thing to do, then, in considering the relief of any mental or physical condition is to analyze your mental self over a period of time preceding the condition and discover what thoughts, attitudes, and conditions of mind you have held or expressed, and immediately eliminate this attitude by reversing your opinions, thoughts, and holding thoughts of love and kindness instead. In other words, the poison from the mind that has been eating at the very heart of every cell in your body must be eliminated before any treatment can be given to relieve the ultimate and outer manifestations. Any other process is merely treating the outer manifestations as though giving them a drug to nullify the senses without removing the actual cause.
Once you know what it is like to stop a thought you realize there is a reason for it. You see, one of the arts of the mystic is to collapse the self-made universe for a specific reason and then restore it again in order to keep on living. If we activate the process of understanding our past mis-takes, we repeat for the next one, etc. This is just like peeling an onion. When we strip off all its layers, the only thing remaining is the essence of being an onion. When we experience that within ourselves, we discover the essence of being what we are. We, as humans, have two duties if we wish to experience Universal Love and harmony. The first is to love ourselves so that we can love others. The other is to cultivate tolerance, for although it may not be possible to love everyone; it is imperative to hate no one. Besides, the opposite of love is really indifference; hate has to be imagined by the ego. Just like all the negative traits of ego, it is caused by ignorance.
From 1986 through 1989, I studied "Mastery of Life" offered by the Rosicrucians. Their name comes from the French "Rose Croix," meaning Rosy Cross, anglicized into Rosicrucians. Each month I would receive four monographs to study, one for each week. The major revelation for me came from the section about how we communicate with our world. Exercises and rituals to break down ego resistance were an ongoing part of the study. This led me to read "Time, Space and Knowledge" by Tarthang Tulku (the founder of Dharma Publishing in California) after he fled the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Thirty-five exercises to tame the ego through meditation are a major part of that book.
A monograph contains writing about a single subject. The subject of Mastery of Life is how we can regain control of our life on earth. A Rosicrucian is accepted as a member of any Freemason lodge because many Freemason concepts run parallel to the revelations in the course. The combination of these two studies is the foundation of everything I communicate. Both are very powerful in their ability to develop greater understanding of what we are. I had no idea of how ignorant I was before the discoveries that were unveiled in these efforts. The mind is a powerful tool when we use it properly. For those who like the Bible, Science and Health (with a key to the Scriptures) by Mary Baker Eddy is great reading to prepare the mind for more revelations.
The section on how we communicate with our bodily senses was fascinating to me. Our sense of taste uses our palate and taste buds to determine if what we are ingesting is compatible with our own chemical makeup and discerns between sweet, sour, piquant, etc. Our sense of smell differentiates aroma, stench and the like. Touch handles hot and cold, hard and soft. These three senses interpret our physical environment. Our spirit knows which vibratory patterns harmonize with our physical being and will create a reaction against poisonous stimuli and synchronize with pleasant experiences. The range between the extremes creates our comfort zone and allows spirit to monitor and maintain homeostasis for whatever environment we're in. Hearing is about making sense of vibrations striking our eardrums. It is the slowest sense we have and is also muddled because of linguistics and semantics. If I were speaking to you instead of making your eyes gather my message, I would imagine how I could build the image I am now describing into your mind, take a breath, expel air via vocal chords and larynx through my mouth, perhaps modify those vibrations with lips and tongue, vibrate the air molecules between us and - voila! Human language as received by your eardrum. Your interpretation of the message will depend on semantics and literacy skill.
Lastly, sight. This is the most powerful sense of all animals. The electromagnetic spectrum spans from ultraviolet through infrared and vibrates at very high rates. Exactly in the middle is a tiny slice that we call visible light. The rods and cones in the eye are excited in various rates to create images in our minds that allow us to differentiate ourselves from other forms of energy. For example: The DNA of a tree is usually about 94% the same as our DNA. The tree form we see relates to 94% of our own vibratory pattern. All forms we discern must contain some harmony to our own energy or we couldn't see it. The cognition we are born with creates the re-cognition of our environment. What we see is never "outside," but in our own mind -- just like the images you are seeing in your mind as you read this.
I had knowledge of Helen Keller at the time and researched her life a bit. Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, was made famous by Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, and its adaptations for film and stage, The Miracle Worker. Her birthplace in West Tuscumbia, Alabama is now a museum and sponsors an annual "Helen Keller Day". Her June 27 birthday is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in Pennsylvania and, in the centenary year of her birth, was recognized by a presidential proclamation from Jimmy Carter.
A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled and outspoken in her convictions. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, antimilitarism, and other similar causes. She and others created the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU.) She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971 and was one of twelve inaugural inductees to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on June 8, 2015.
I tried to imagine how her accomplishments could be achieved without sight and hearing and realized her mind was vaster than virtually all humans on earth. One of my favorite quotes from her: "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but no vision."
Mastery of Life strives to describe a metaphysical mystic.
Mystic: "A person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the absolute by the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect."
Mystics come from progressive attitudes. Being a mystic is to be aware of and shoulder one's responsibilities in one's family life, working life, and spiritual life. A thinking, active, responsible mystic does not feed on what is negative and unhealthy. A mystic does not make judgments nor condemn. They seek to understand the why and the how of things and events. The WHY is a cause or a goal and the HOW can be a myriad of methods to achieve the WHY. The mystic's attitude is an open one, respecting everyone's right to be different and to exercise freedom of expression. A mystic can give assistance, bring calm, and speak in a compassionate manner to whoever is in need. A mystic accepts philosophically -- without becoming disenchanted -- the tests that are experienced during one's life for a mystic is not exempt from lessons, they just find it a little bit easier to learn them. The true role of a mystic is that of a catalyst for others to develop. Simply put, they are there to remove mental and emotional blocks to enlightenment.
Through mysticism, we develop spiritual wisdom, expanded awareness and a sense of connectedness with everything and everyone around us, and, in the process, we become captains of our ship and masters of our fate. This state of mind is evidenced by the Toltec Spiritual Warrior, the Arhat of Buddhism, the Hindu yogi of hatha yoga, the Jesus (Christ Nature) of Christianity and the Sufi of Islam, as well as many other examples. Reaching this level of enlightenment necessitates total understanding of what we are. Everyone can find their mystical being, but few will make the effort to do so. The mystic lives in a perfect state of being and becomes oblivious to mundane human activities. He has risen above and beyond his animal body because he lives according to Natural Law.
Natural Law is that set of laws that is the working basis of all creation and without which no manifestation can occur and exist. It is universal in scope and manner of operation, simple and direct. Natural Law is always constructive even when it seems indisputably destructive. It is the expression or manifestation of Cosmic Energy and order that humanity can discern. There is no such thing as supernatural law. There is nothing more divine than nature, nothing super beyond the natural. The greatest of miracles are not the result of some supernatural law, but of natural law. The mystic has removed all vestiges of fantasy, indoctrination, false beliefs and false values and is synchronized and harmonized with the symphony of life.
Mystics do everything they can to cultivate and maintain four primary virtues: understanding, service, compassion, and love. These virtues all flow into one another and end up merging into a perfect unity and forming one entity. Willpower, perseverance, and trust are three further virtues that need to be manifested to achieve spiritual elevation. The choice is ours, for we have our free will.
No baby is born with fear. Fear is caused by ignorance and babies have no ignorant ego to deal with, so parents teach them fear. They pass on their own phobias because they try to shield the child from their own ignorant actions. Babies are perfectly happy eating, pooping, sleeping and burping in their perfect universe.
From childhood, we begin hiding our inner self away. We learn to adapt and survive in the "outside" world. Our families and peers teach us socially acceptable behavior. Our educational system teaches us the technical and social skills we need to sustain a material life. As adults, we are thrust into a society geared towards materialism and maintaining the status quo. Rarely, especially in the early formative years, are we taught inner development; with an emphasis on intuition, the subconscious mind, independent thinking, self-esteem, self-confidence, psychic or inner spiritual growth. The road to enlightenment is an arduous one but is available to all. That road is not one of learning something new, but rather one of discovering what was always there.
Of the four primary values, understanding is utmost in importance for the simple reason that we cannot know others more than we understand ourselves. Performing service with compassion and love comes easily once we understand what we are.
We currently occupy an animal body. Like all animals, we have instincts that are innate and natural, like homing instincts, survival instincts, herding instincts and others. These instincts are like hard-coded programs in computers that serve to maintain a healthy body while navigating Mother Earth. Unlike most animals, we also can do unnatural things. We human beings can examine a stimulus and make decisions about how we will respond to it. We can stop a thought and delve into it for meaning. The ego is the reason for all human ills because it can activate an ignorant response that goes against natural law.
"Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to understanding by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." -- Plato
"We should stop kidding ourselves. It's always better with the truth." R. Buckminster Fuller.
Whether or not others want to achieve Enlightenment is irrelevant to a mystic. He is simply an example and resource for those who wish to understand. He knows that there is no such thing as a permanent ego and, since the ego is the only entity that fears death, the mystic cannot harbor that fear.
"If you want to understand the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." Nikola Tesla.
The human brain is bicameral -- two chambers. Normally, the left hemisphere is receiving waves of energy continually and interpreting them in terms of frequency, thus creating the concept of time and number. The right hemisphere receives the same energy waves and interprets them in terms of amplitude, thus creating the concept of size and space. This is the Space/Time Continuum Einstein referred to. Most radios will have a choice of AM (Amplitude Modulation) or FM (Frequency Modulation). Egos will "tune in" to what appeals to them, whether music or talk. This is exactly what we all do when we visualize our personal universe. Helen Keller used her bicameral brain exceedingly well.
When we interpret waves of energy as frequency, we imagine Time and number. The only time that exists in truth is the moment we call NOW. There is no such thing as past or future in truth. Our inborn consciousness resides in NOW. We imagine Space and size by interpreting the amplitude and size of the energy waves from our Point of View. That consciousness represents HERE. Our true self has always been and will always be HERE and NOW and designates the center of our universe. Whenever we stop a thought and contemplate it, it becomes the Big Bang of that specific thought. It is our Point of View. We will never experience death. The combination of HERE/NOW is the Space/Time continuum Einstein refers to and it will always exist. Ego's universe is finite and temporary while the mystic's universe is infinite and eternal.
"The simple secret of the universe is that we create our own reality." Captain Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut.
"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self." Aristotle.
The self is our personality or ego. It is the source of all humanity's woes and problems. It is an artificial (man-made) mind created by its ability to think, feel and experience its worldly existence. It is the differentiating factor between the human animal and all other natural life forms. It seeks to be independent in its self-defined universe, even though there is no such thing as independence for any life form. All life is dependent on all other life in order to "be."
"Learn to see. Everything is connected." Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo was not the only one to recognize this basic truth. Gauthama Siddartha, the first Buddha, said the same thing when referring to the oneness of everything. Carl Jung made the same observation, and Albert Einstein's Relativity equation boils down to depicting that all forms are manifestations of energy. The first step to understanding the self and bringing it under control is accepting that truth.
Ego is very much like a gatekeeper to its perceived universe. Its job is to gather input from our physical senses and submit it to our true mind, but it can reject new information from entering if the information threatens its Comfort Zone. It does not like to change when it feels comfortable. If pressured, ego will activate its "fight or flight" reflex to relieve the pressure. The other option is to stay indifferent to the stimulus and simply do nothing - like my shelter dog.
There are numerous ways to be aware of when the ego is taking charge of our actions. Anger, greed, fear, lust, pride, vanity, dominance, and other selfish behaviors are ego traits and easily recognized (and/or manipulated) by the ruling class. Those traits indicate a lack of understanding. To remove any ego trait, we must fight to remove it by knowing why we exhibit it. Most of the population exists as domesticated animals and satisfied much like Pavlov's dog when it gets a treat.
"Nothing pains some people more than having to think." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The human ego has the unique ability to stop a thought and contemplate it. A thought is not a thing, but a cycle of energy. The cycle of thought processing goes through several stages -- Awareness, Focus, Analysis, Action and Adaption. The place to be while executing these steps is centered in our Corpus Callosum. That is the balance point of our consciousness. It can be had by meditation. It is our Creative Thinking Center. Ego has no control when we are in this meditative state. We will have achieved self-control. We will be able to change the perception of our universe by changing our thoughts.
The mystic who knows something of the inner light of consciousness is bound to be a little difficult to be absorbed; he is going to be an upsetting force. Most egos don't want to be disturbed, even though they may be in misery. They are in misery, but they are accustomed to the misery. And anybody who is not miserable looks like a stranger to them. He who has achieved self-control is the greatest stranger in the world; he does not seem to belong to anybody. No organization confines him, no community, no society nor nation. His very way of being is rebellious - not because he is fighting against anybody or anything, but because he has discovered his own true nature and is determined to live in accordance with it. He challenges us to be courageous enough to take responsibility for who and what we are and to live according to truth.
More broadly, "Mystic" refers to the people with whom we share our spiritual lives. We need the guidance of personal teachers who are further along the path than we are, and the support and friendship of other practitioners. This is very important because mysticism is not an abstract philosophy or creed; it is a way of approaching life and therefore it only has any meaning when it is embodied in people. All of us need other people to learn from. We need the example and teaching of others who have done so before us, especially those who have gained insight into the nature of reality themselves.
Moral rules and ascetic rites are not necessary for Enlightenment. Rules and rites exist in the realm of the ego and its animal instincts, not in the spiritual universe of the mystic. Attachment to sensual desire, creature comforts and selfish interests are no longer important. The attraction of conceit, selfishness and ego development is eliminated, along with ill will towards all.
The mystic desires to live in the formless universe of Consciousness, Eternity and Infinity and the true Spirit of Living. He strives achieve understanding and peace without restlessness.
It is a metaphysical fact that for each minute of time we spend in thoughts of unfavorable impressions, unkind criticism, or hate toward any person, there will be hours of physical and mental suffering as a reaction. The first thing to do, then, in considering the relief of any mental or physical condition is to analyze your mental self over a period of time preceding the condition and discover what thoughts, attitudes, and conditions of mind you have held or expressed, and immediately eliminate this attitude by reversing your opinions, thoughts, and holding thoughts of love and kindness instead. In other words, the poison from the mind that has been eating at the very heart of every cell in your body must be eliminated before any treatment can be given to relieve the ultimate and outer manifestations. Any other process is merely treating the outer manifestations as though giving them a drug to nullify the senses without removing the actual cause.
Once you know what it is like to stop a thought you realize there is a reason for it. You see, one of the arts of the mystic is to collapse the self-made universe for a specific reason and then restore it again in order to keep on living. If we activate the process of understanding our past mis-takes, we repeat for the next one, etc. This is just like peeling an onion. When we strip off all its layers, the only thing remaining is the essence of being an onion. When we experience that within ourselves, we discover the essence of being what we are. We, as humans, have two duties if we wish to experience Universal Love and harmony. The first is to love ourselves so that we can love others. The other is to cultivate tolerance, for although it may not be possible to love everyone; it is imperative to hate no one. Besides, the opposite of love is really indifference; hate has to be imagined by the ego. Just like all the negative traits of ego, it is caused by ignorance.
A monograph contains writing about a single subject. The subject of Mastery of Life is how we can regain control of our life on earth. A Rosicrucian is accepted as a member of any Freemason lodge because many Freemason concepts run parallel to the revelations in the course. The combination of these two studies is the foundation of everything I communicate. Both are very powerful in their ability to develop greater understanding of what we are. I had no idea of how ignorant I was before the discoveries that were unveiled in these efforts. The mind is a powerful tool when we use it properly. For those who like the Bible, Science and Health (with a key to the Scriptures) by Mary Baker Eddy is great reading to prepare the mind for more revelations.
The section on how we communicate with our bodily senses was fascinating to me. Our sense of taste uses our palate and taste buds to determine if what we are ingesting is compatible with our own chemical makeup and discerns between sweet, sour, piquant, etc. Our sense of smell differentiates aroma, stench and the like. Touch handles hot and cold, hard and soft. These three senses interpret our physical environment. Our spirit knows which vibratory patterns harmonize with our physical being and will create a reaction against poisonous stimuli and synchronize with pleasant experiences. The range between the extremes creates our comfort zone and allows spirit to monitor and maintain homeostasis for whatever environment we're in. Hearing is about making sense of vibrations striking our eardrums. It is the slowest sense we have and is also muddled because of linguistics and semantics. If I were speaking to you instead of making your eyes gather my message, I would imagine how I could build the image I am now describing into your mind, take a breath, expel air via vocal chords and larynx through my mouth, perhaps modify those vibrations with lips and tongue, vibrate the air molecules between us and - voila! Human language as received by your eardrum. Your interpretation of the message will depend on semantics and literacy skill.
Lastly, sight. This is the most powerful sense of all animals. The electromagnetic spectrum spans from ultraviolet through infrared and vibrates at very high rates. Exactly in the middle is a tiny slice that we call visible light. The rods and cones in the eye are excited in various rates to create images in our minds that allow us to differentiate ourselves from other forms of energy. For example: The DNA of a tree is usually about 94% the same as our DNA. The tree form we see relates to 94% of our own vibratory pattern. All forms we discern must contain some harmony to our own energy or we couldn't see it. The cognition we are born with creates the re-cognition of our environment. What we see is never "outside," but in our own mind -- just like the images you are seeing in your mind as you read this.
I had knowledge of Helen Keller at the time and researched her life a bit. Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, was made famous by Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, and its adaptations for film and stage, The Miracle Worker. Her birthplace in West Tuscumbia, Alabama is now a museum and sponsors an annual "Helen Keller Day". Her June 27 birthday is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in Pennsylvania and, in the centenary year of her birth, was recognized by a presidential proclamation from Jimmy Carter.
A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled and outspoken in her convictions. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, antimilitarism, and other similar causes. She and others created the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU.) She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971 and was one of twelve inaugural inductees to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on June 8, 2015.
I tried to imagine how her accomplishments could be achieved without sight and hearing and realized her mind was vaster than virtually all humans on earth. One of my favorite quotes from her: "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but no vision."
Mastery of Life strives to describe a metaphysical mystic.
Mystic: "A person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the absolute by the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect."
Mystics come from progressive attitudes. Being a mystic is to be aware of and shoulder one's responsibilities in one's family life, working life, and spiritual life. A thinking, active, responsible mystic does not feed on what is negative and unhealthy. A mystic does not make judgments nor condemn. They seek to understand the why and the how of things and events. The WHY is a cause or a goal and the HOW can be a myriad of methods to achieve the WHY. The mystic's attitude is an open one, respecting everyone's right to be different and to exercise freedom of expression. A mystic can give assistance, bring calm, and speak in a compassionate manner to whoever is in need. A mystic accepts philosophically -- without becoming disenchanted -- the tests that are experienced during one's life for a mystic is not exempt from lessons, they just find it a little bit easier to learn them. The true role of a mystic is that of a catalyst for others to develop. Simply put, they are there to remove mental and emotional blocks to enlightenment.
Through mysticism, we develop spiritual wisdom, expanded awareness and a sense of connectedness with everything and everyone around us, and, in the process, we become captains of our ship and masters of our fate. This state of mind is evidenced by the Toltec Spiritual Warrior, the Arhat of Buddhism, the Hindu yogi of hatha yoga, the Jesus (Christ Nature) of Christianity and the Sufi of Islam, as well as many other examples. Reaching this level of enlightenment necessitates total understanding of what we are. Everyone can find their mystical being, but few will make the effort to do so. The mystic lives in a perfect state of being and becomes oblivious to mundane human activities. He has risen above and beyond his animal body because he lives according to Natural Law.
Natural Law is that set of laws that is the working basis of all creation and without which no manifestation can occur and exist. It is universal in scope and manner of operation, simple and direct. Natural Law is always constructive even when it seems indisputably destructive. It is the expression or manifestation of Cosmic Energy and order that humanity can discern. There is no such thing as supernatural law. There is nothing more divine than nature, nothing super beyond the natural. The greatest of miracles are not the result of some supernatural law, but of natural law. The mystic has removed all vestiges of fantasy, indoctrination, false beliefs and false values and is synchronized and harmonized with the symphony of life.
Mystics do everything they can to cultivate and maintain four primary virtues: understanding, service, compassion, and love. These virtues all flow into one another and end up merging into a perfect unity and forming one entity. Willpower, perseverance, and trust are three further virtues that need to be manifested to achieve spiritual elevation. The choice is ours, for we have our free will.
No baby is born with fear. Fear is caused by ignorance and babies have no ignorant ego to deal with, so parents teach them fear. They pass on their own phobias because they try to shield the child from their own ignorant actions. Babies are perfectly happy eating, pooping, sleeping and burping in their perfect universe.
From childhood, we begin hiding our inner self away. We learn to adapt and survive in the "outside" world. Our families and peers teach us socially acceptable behavior. Our educational system teaches us the technical and social skills we need to sustain a material life. As adults, we are thrust into a society geared towards materialism and maintaining the status quo. Rarely, especially in the early formative years, are we taught inner development; with an emphasis on intuition, the subconscious mind, independent thinking, self-esteem, self-confidence, psychic or inner spiritual growth. The road to enlightenment is an arduous one but is available to all. That road is not one of learning something new, but rather one of discovering what was always there.
Of the four primary values, understanding is utmost in importance for the simple reason that we cannot know others more than we understand ourselves. Performing service with compassion and love comes easily once we understand what we are.
We currently occupy an animal body. Like all animals, we have instincts that are innate and natural, like homing instincts, survival instincts, herding instincts and others. These instincts are like hard-coded programs in computers that serve to maintain a healthy body while navigating Mother Earth. Unlike most animals, we also can do unnatural things. We human beings can examine a stimulus and make decisions about how we will respond to it. We can stop a thought and delve into it for meaning. The ego is the reason for all human ills because it can activate an ignorant response that goes against natural law.
"Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to understanding by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." -- Plato
"We should stop kidding ourselves. It's always better with the truth." R. Buckminster Fuller.
Whether or not others want to achieve Enlightenment is irrelevant to a mystic. He is simply an example and resource for those who wish to understand. He knows that there is no such thing as a permanent ego and, since the ego is the only entity that fears death, the mystic cannot harbor that fear.
"If you want to understand the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." Nikola Tesla.
The human brain is bicameral -- two chambers. Normally, the left hemisphere is receiving waves of energy continually and interpreting them in terms of frequency, thus creating the concept of time and number. The right hemisphere receives the same energy waves and interprets them in terms of amplitude, thus creating the concept of size and space. This is the Space/Time Continuum Einstein referred to. Most radios will have a choice of AM (Amplitude Modulation) or FM (Frequency Modulation). Egos will "tune in" to what appeals to them, whether music or talk. This is exactly what we all do when we visualize our personal universe. Helen Keller used her bicameral brain exceedingly well.
When we interpret waves of energy as frequency, we imagine Time and number. The only time that exists in truth is the moment we call NOW. There is no such thing as past or future in truth. Our inborn consciousness resides in NOW. We imagine Space and size by interpreting the amplitude and size of the energy waves from our Point of View. That consciousness represents HERE. Our true self has always been and will always be HERE and NOW and designates the center of our universe. Whenever we stop a thought and contemplate it, it becomes the Big Bang of that specific thought. It is our Point of View. We will never experience death. The combination of HERE/NOW is the Space/Time continuum Einstein refers to and it will always exist. Ego's universe is finite and temporary while the mystic's universe is infinite and eternal.
"The simple secret of the universe is that we create our own reality." Captain Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut.
"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self." Aristotle.
The self is our personality or ego. It is the source of all humanity's woes and problems. It is an artificial (man-made) mind created by its ability to think, feel and experience its worldly existence. It is the differentiating factor between the human animal and all other natural life forms. It seeks to be independent in its self-defined universe, even though there is no such thing as independence for any life form. All life is dependent on all other life in order to "be."
"Learn to see. Everything is connected." Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo was not the only one to recognize this basic truth. Gauthama Siddartha, the first Buddha, said the same thing when referring to the oneness of everything. Carl Jung made the same observation, and Albert Einstein's Relativity equation boils down to depicting that all forms are manifestations of energy. The first step to understanding the self and bringing it under control is accepting that truth.
Ego is very much like a gatekeeper to its perceived universe. Its job is to gather input from our physical senses and submit it to our true mind, but it can reject new information from entering if the information threatens its Comfort Zone. It does not like to change when it feels comfortable. If pressured, ego will activate its "fight or flight" reflex to relieve the pressure. The other option is to stay indifferent to the stimulus and simply do nothing - like my shelter dog.
There are numerous ways to be aware of when the ego is taking charge of our actions. Anger, greed, fear, lust, pride, vanity, dominance, and other selfish behaviors are ego traits and easily recognized (and/or manipulated) by the ruling class. Those traits indicate a lack of understanding. To remove any ego trait, we must fight to remove it by knowing why we exhibit it. Most of the population exists as domesticated animals and satisfied much like Pavlov's dog when it gets a treat.
"Nothing pains some people more than having to think." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The human ego has the unique ability to stop a thought and contemplate it. A thought is not a thing, but a cycle of energy. The cycle of thought processing goes through several stages -- Awareness, Focus, Analysis, Action and Adaption. The place to be while executing these steps is centered in our Corpus Callosum. That is the balance point of our consciousness. It can be had by meditation. It is our Creative Thinking Center. Ego has no control when we are in this meditative state. We will have achieved self-control. We will be able to change the perception of our universe by changing our thoughts.
The mystic who knows something of the inner light of consciousness is bound to be a little difficult to be absorbed; he is going to be an upsetting force. Most egos don't want to be disturbed, even though they may be in misery. They are in misery, but they are accustomed to the misery. And anybody who is not miserable looks like a stranger to them. He who has achieved self-control is the greatest stranger in the world; he does not seem to belong to anybody. No organization confines him, no community, no society nor nation. His very way of being is rebellious - not because he is fighting against anybody or anything, but because he has discovered his own true nature and is determined to live in accordance with it. He challenges us to be courageous enough to take responsibility for who and what we are and to live according to truth.
More broadly, "Mystic" refers to the people with whom we share our spiritual lives. We need the guidance of personal teachers who are further along the path than we are, and the support and friendship of other practitioners. This is very important because mysticism is not an abstract philosophy or creed; it is a way of approaching life and therefore it only has any meaning when it is embodied in people. All of us need other people to learn from. We need the example and teaching of others who have done so before us, especially those who have gained insight into the nature of reality themselves.
Moral rules and ascetic rites are not necessary for Enlightenment. Rules and rites exist in the realm of the ego and its animal instincts, not in the spiritual universe of the mystic. Attachment to sensual desire, creature comforts and selfish interests are no longer important. The attraction of conceit, selfishness and ego development is eliminated, along with ill will towards all.
The mystic desires to live in the formless universe of Consciousness, Eternity and Infinity and the true Spirit of Living. He strives achieve understanding and peace without restlessness.
It is a metaphysical fact that for each minute of time we spend in thoughts of unfavorable impressions, unkind criticism, or hate toward any person, there will be hours of physical and mental suffering as a reaction. The first thing to do, then, in considering the relief of any mental or physical condition is to analyze your mental self over a period of time preceding the condition and discover what thoughts, attitudes, and conditions of mind you have held or expressed, and immediately eliminate this attitude by reversing your opinions, thoughts, and holding thoughts of love and kindness instead. In other words, the poison from the mind that has been eating at the very heart of every cell in your body must be eliminated before any treatment can be given to relieve the ultimate and outer manifestations. Any other process is merely treating the outer manifestations as though giving them a drug to nullify the senses without removing the actual cause.
Once you know what it is like to stop a thought you realize there is a reason for it. You see, one of the arts of the mystic is to collapse the self-made universe for a specific reason and then restore it again in order to keep on living. If we activate the process of understanding our past mis-takes, we repeat for the next one, etc. This is just like peeling an onion. When we strip off all its layers, the only thing remaining is the essence of being an onion. When we experience that within ourselves, we discover the essence of being what we are. We, as humans, have two duties if we wish to experience Universal Love and harmony. The first is to love ourselves so that we can love others. The other is to cultivate tolerance, for although it may not be possible to love everyone; it is imperative to hate no one. Besides, the opposite of love is really indifference; hate has to be imagined by the ego. Just like all the negative traits of ego, it is caused by ignorance.
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