Q. I have always loved God and I know God loves me. I have not judged others for many years; I honor everyone's path and try to see the God in them. I am a loving being and I have no need for group unity since I have already attained my own union with God within. I am free. I am the truth.
A. You are, once again, speaking of yourself in a positive light and praising your own accomplishments of the past (your own achieved state of non-judgment in this particular case, and yet you have exhibited this same tendency for self-judgment previously, even in the short time that I have known you), as is your propensity to do amidst the truth that you write, effectively bringing the focus back to the personal self of you and thus taking some glory and merit from God in your own consciousness while inviting others with free will to regard the self of you and your personal history and psychological constitution, which in the eyes of God do not even exist. This pattern clearly reveals the truth to anyone with eyes to see, for such a habitual focus on the personal self actually demonstrates self-doubt, and until one is free from egotism, self-doubt will always recur in some form, no matter how the sophisticated and well-utilized intellect may attempt to hide the reality from itself and from other people.
This is one way that a true Teacher may be distinguished from a would-be Teacher: absence of self-interest and so also an absence of self-orientation, which is the same as freedom from self-ish-ness, the root cause of all separation and delusion.
A self-focus on
'me' is the opposite of being humble (which is essential for spiritual
success), for true Humility is not thinking of oneself in either a
positive or negative light; true humility is not thinking of oneself at
all. I bring up this unresolved issue that has manifested again
recently, this error in your focus and orientation, only in order to
offer you the opportunity to see something that perhaps you had
previously not (and ostensibly still do not) see. For a great many
spiritually-disposed people on this Earth are plagued with self-doubt;
in their lack of complete and self-forgetting consecration only to God,
and to Christ in man, they are still at some level striving to work
themselves out, just as a psychotherapist might work them out. And yet
psychotherapy never produced a saint and so does not lead to Liberation.
Such a psychological complex of repeatedly thinking of the I, of bringing the I or self into one's spiritual philosophy is not only thwarting and retrogressive with regard to the one Goal of I-dissolution in God, but actually bars a man from walking the genuine Path of Sanctification, as it attracts to itself the energies and forces of the domain of the separate self. The world is replete with such false teachers and compromised aspirants. This is a fact that may be verified by the opened eye and heart everywhere in the spiritual supermarket today, where so many people habitually and mostly unconsciously attempt to hide their spiritual poverty behind lofty esoteric information borrowed from books or derived second-hand from others.
<>Books and head-knowledge give only an idea, but an idea is not the thing itself. The word “Life” or the idea of Life is not Life; neither is the word “God” God, or the thought of Liberation Liberation itself. Every illumined teacher has attempted to tell us what these things are, yet they could give us only an idea of their reality, and ideas are temporal and so not the Real thing.It is because we have so many different ideas and be-lie-fs to which we cling that we necessarily have so much separation and strife in religion, groups and nationalities in the world today, including in the so-called spiritual arena.
Love and Truth unites; cherished beliefs, ideas and egotism separate.
"O Teacher, what shall I do to reach to Wisdom?
O Wise one, what, to gain perfection?
Search for the Paths. But, O Lanoo, be of clean heart before thou startest on thy journey. Before thou takest thy first step learn to discern the real from the false, the ever-fleeting from the everlasting. Learn above all to separate Head-learning from Soul-Wisdom, the "Eye" from the "Heart" doctrine.
Yea, ignorance is like unto a closed and airless vessel; the soul a bird shut up within. It warbles not, nor can it stir a feather; but the songster mute and torpid sits, and of exhaustion dies.
But even ignorance is better than Head-learning with no Soul-wisdom to illuminate and guide it."
- The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky.
If you should give these facts just a little due and honest contemplation you may come to recognize that this one factor - self-orientation - in the lives of faithless, non-devoted or half-hearted spiritual aspirants is the single most potent ingredient for failure and compromise in the spiritual life.
Q. I realize that I have a long way to go. Please be patient with me, and thank you for always bringing me back to centre.
A. Since it is the 'I' that prevents Liberation, I would recommend that you seek not to regard yourself as having a long way to go or such like. This is an ego ploy and untrue. YOU are already Home; it is your vehicles of consciousness vibrating in the lower temporal spheres that are detained in this world. In active spiritual service, identification with our little self dissolves, and we Remember!
Never forget, therefore, WHERE THERE IS AN 'I', THERE IS A LIE and subsequent suffering in separation.
Q. ...Let us seek the very highest aspirations, and the most noble of human potentials. It is the mark of the genius and the revolutionary, to not settle for anything less than profound self-realization. Let us all seek to be Masters and to embrace Cosmic Purpose. To do this, we must intend greater Mastery, and by the same token, gain greater Mastery of Intent...
A. If I intend to become a master then I will only be extending my stay in the world of self-willed cause and effect. The wise man aspires only to not aspire to gain anything for himself in duality. If I have any intention, then my mind will only proceed to create more illusions (as well as fortifying the grand illusion of the separate self) and my consciousness will only expand in duality. When this happens we are nailed ever more firmly to the wheel of birth and death. Black magicians are made in this way.
Q. ..."Perpetual raising" is the Intent that a Master uses, in order to retain the basic status/state of Mastery. It is the Intent of total, ongoing, spiritual progressiveness moment to moment, of every day. Perpetual raising is therefore the unceasing focus upon the expansion of consciousness, both within the self, and throughout the world...
A. The 'masters' of whom you speak are of the unholy kind; masters of illusion, masters of the fallen, undivine world, sorcerers if you like. The wise man simply says: "Thy Will be done, my Lord". And is admitted again into the Divine Mysteries.
It is the left-hand path of which you speak.
Q. ...Every thought, emotion, image and belief we maintain, is founded upon an underlying Intent...
A. And that is exactly how the illusion of duality is born and perpetuated.
Q. ...With this Intent in place as our first priority, we make best use of every single circumstance and opportunity in life, for the progressive expansion of consciousness. Perpetual raising is the Intent through which the consciousness of the spiritual practitioner is maintained as a dynamic psychic engine, WHICH CONSTANTLY GENERATES HIGHER LOVE, CLARITY AND DIVINE CONNECTION ON A DAILY BASIS.
A. How can personal consciousness possibly "generate Love"? Love already exists, as it has ever existed. We cannot generate it. We may let it in, however, by "giving up all your trying and striving and let the Tao bring everything to you." - Lao Tzu.
SELFLESS SACRIFICE FOR THE ONE LIFE
Q. Divine Servers make such a tremendous sacrifice to enter this darkened world, don't they?
A. Yes, indeed Servers of the Divine Plan do make great sacrifice, but only in one sense. For at their exalted level of awareness (before volunteering to enter into the fields of darkness - Earth - under the veil of forgetfulness) they enjoy such a universal consciousness that they see the fallen ones (humanity) as but an ailing part of their own Being. As above, so below. Perhaps it might be expedient, then, in light of this perspective, to ask ourselves if we, as human beings, would consider it a sacrifice to give loving attention to a diseased part of our own body?
Q. How do I detect or discern whether I am practicing self-less service outside of delusion when I don't have the experience of being outside of delusion?
A. Proceed with tenacity in doing what is right simply because it is right, without attachment to results.
The attention of the divine Soul is demanded when we earnestly endeavor to live like a divine Soul. This is a universal law. Those who continue to pull up their own roots in order to examine how they are progressing never proceed very far on the Path.
Doubt is a great foe of humanity. Therefore, if you want to set your foot on the Path, the emptiness and uselessness of all dualistic appearances and efforts must become a permanent idea in your consciousness.
Q. But I am not sure how to translate self-less service as an attitude in my business when I have to make a living at it?
A. It is not what we do but the way in which we do it that molds our destiny. "It is not the things that we do which count in the eyes of God, but how much love we put into doing them." - Mother Theresa.
SELFLESS SPIRITUAL SERVICE: THE KEY TO LIFE
Q. I know that Love is the answer, yet so often do I feel unloving because unhappy. How to be an instrument of love in this world of fear and pain?
A. Jesus recommended that we "Love one another," but divine Love does not originate in the human personality. It does not come from the self although it may come through the self if that self is given up, surrendered for God's use. We may only truly Love, then, if we have forgotten the self completely, and on a dense and infected planet such as Earth, complete self-forgetfulness is not easy! We have found that self-forgetfulness is greatly facilitated when engaged in some form of active and focussed service, preferably with direct relevance to the One Great Cause of planetary and human redemption. Hence informed Service is the key to Life. So, you see, there is only ever one sane choice for everyone. Today, during this present end-times period, humanity is being compelled to make such a choice, one way or the other.