In my personal opinion, the quote I will mention below was stated by one of the most knowledgeable and greatest mystics of the modern world. Her formal name is Helena Patrova Blavatsky, or sometimes known as HPB. Many who decide to study her life and Magnus Opum, The Secret Doctrine, have come to understand the great contribution she left to society at large. She was personal friends with Ghandi, known by Thomas Edison, many of the greatest writers and poets of modern times, and some believe read by Einstein. Her life’s work was dedicated to bringing the original ancient wisdom that lay beneath and connects all great scriptures and religions of the world – in their esoteric origin and intent. She was a fierce intellect stating some of the principles Einstein would lay out in the future as early as 1887 through her famous dialogues with her inner circle, decades before Einstein would compose General Relativity. But most of all, I am impressed by her love of truth, which she stated first and foremost as the dedication to the upliftment of all humanity and nature as the ONE LIFE in which we are all involved. To that aim she seemed to have genuinely dedicated her entire soul to.
Here is just one in a myriad of her knowledgeable quotes helping us to understand the ONE LIFE:
“Spirit is universal…It cannot know itself except as soul. Spirit is the “power to become;” Soul is “the becoming.” Spirit is the power to see and know; Soul is the seeing and knowing. Soul is the accumulation of perceptions and experiences by means of which Spiritual Identity is realized.”
Anyone who pays close attention to her statement will perhaps better understand why I drove the comment section in part one of this series in the direction that I did. When I stated that “I AM THAT I AM” is the power to “become,” perhaps some misunderstood my intent. The Unknown, eternal nature of the divine is the eternal ONE Essence which cannot be defined by human intellect, but as the ancient doctrine teaches us, it can be felt as an experience. While we are yet “individual souls,” our essence is as the Bhagavad Gita makes clear, “Thou art Parabrahm,” or, “Thou art THAT. In other words, there is a divine relationship between the individual and the Absolute, and as the Apostle Paul states, it is a mystery.
Shortly, we will get to Blavatsky’s comment and dissect it in detail using the Scriptures of the Bible as a perfect correlate for those looking to explore this type of metaphysics. But for now, we have to start with a proper introduction to a concept that is, in my opinion, foundational to grasp.
Karma…
What is it? The Eastern meaning translates best in English as “action.” And what is the basis of all action? This post will show that any action’s fundamental essence in the human soul is in fact an accumulation of prior thought, whether self-conscious or unconscious, purposeful and with knowledge, or blind and ignorant.
In the West we probably have an idea of Karma as cause and effect. This is also a good definition to start with, but I would like to broaden this concept a little more as something all pervasive and omnipresent. The Bible seems to state this in its esoteric meaning, but I will let you be the judge. Since this is predominantly a Bible site, let’s go there and review some of the scriptures that I hope will give you some pause to consider as they relate to, what I believe, is karma.
“Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap” (Gal. 6:7).
Whether we define Karma as cause and effect or action, we can see that the Apostle Paul is expressing the same idea.This idea that “God cannot be mocked” by the human intellect has something to do with a universal law of reaping and sowing, which cannot be defied, because it is in operation everywhere at all times. The pretext of this scripture is also interesting. A few verses above, it states: “Let every man PROVE his own work…” and “For every man shall bear his own burden.”
Burden of what?
As we shall see, his or her thoughts and actions!
But here are some more scriptures to consider from the master Jesus that perhaps may broaden our view of the ONE LAW, as karma, being an integral concept throughout the Bible even though Western religious ideology has not typically seen it this way:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matt 5:17).
It might be a strange concept for some to think Jesus is using the Old Testament law and the prophets in the context of Karma. Understandable. An exoteric view (the literal rendition of the carnal mind) of the Old Testament would suggest the law given to Moses was a set of specific rules to live by. And oh, but they are! But esoterically, and in a holistically and spiritual viewpoint, these rules govern the evolution of the soul, its growth and development, as it relates to the mind. Jesus is acknowledging a certain phase of evolution, that even he, as the ONE UNIVERSAL LIFE PRINCIPLE in manifestation, as the Word, needs fulfillment. There is no denial, nor could there ever be, for the very essence and spirit of Jesus Christ is the EMBODIMENT of that law. This is clearly stated at the end of the verse, acknowledging, I am come to FULFILL it. In the broader sense Jesus is stating that the Word made flesh is the fullness of the entire law, from beginning to end, in each stage of its evolutionary stages, through every character as symbolically represented as the soul’s developing nature. And none of these stages can be denied.
Jesus also reiterates his mission in another way: to fulfill the will of his father. And what is the Father’s will? Esoterically, it is universal and cosmic law which governs both the visible and invisible worlds, known to us in name as karma, to which the man can choose, if he or she so wishes, to become a co-worker with it. The Apostle Paul came to accept this sentiment when he stated that he had learned to be content in all situations, as a form of mental surrender to it.
The first generation of Isrealites (the beginning of qualities and faculties “called out” in the soul to be disciplined) reveals the struggle the mind affords man. They were always wanting to return to Egypt where they had “flesh” to eat. Remember in my first article eating pertains to what the mind gravitates to as mental ideas. The real problem of interpreting the Bible literally, is that it places all the stories into a historical narrative, wherein the religious institutions of the world say one must believe in that historical framework in order to become saved. But this historical narrative is contrived by cultural and political ideology which is man’s laws in partial ignorance, not God’s law, the universal law of nature.
One way to become a co-worker with this universal law is to first know that this law is omnipresent, eternally working, in every facet of our lives. For as Jesus also stated, nothing shall pass away until every jot and tittle of that law be fulfilled. God also states that my people perish for a lack of knowledge. And what is this lack of knowledge? It is failing to understand this cosmic law as an ever pervasive principle in the soul of man, ever guiding and evolving it, inwardly and outwardly. Man has the ability then to conform his thoughts in such a way that he becomes a co-worker with this ever pervasive, omnipresent law, or to be ignorant of it, and therefore be subject to the effect of going against it as the Isrealites did in the wilderness and forever incurred its just cause and effect. Every man reaps what he sows, either towards life, or towards spiritual death. That first generation continually denied it until they perished, and the next phase in the evolution of the soul under Joshua and Caleb began.
Everything comes down to a man’s thoughts in a certain stage of evolution, and that stage, where most of humanity is today, has much to do with the intellect and one’s own inner conscience, that still small voice that can speak to us if the intellect trains itself, and disciplines itself, to hear it. Man’s intellect can either gravitate towards the spirit, or be mired by the desire-nature. Man must surrender his desire mind, or personal self interests, to the ONENESS of all life. He or she must surrender ambition, pride, vanity, lusts and greed in all thought. For only in so doing can his mind become freed by the spirit. And as I will show, scripture teaches this principle as a self-conscious act of responsibility, through the act of thinking. As the Apostle Paul stated, all things that are lovely and true, “think” on these things. And in the Old Testament the law demanded that every first born son, whether human or animal, was to be dedicated to God. And sons and daughters symbolically represent our thoughts and emotions, which are to be dedicated to the spirit rather than the flesh or carnal mind, the desire mind.
Consider how Jesus stated how important thought really is when he tells us that if a man lusts after a woman in his heart, he has ALREADY committed adultery. Can anyone deny here the foundational aspect of thought, and its basis for all action? The revolutionary concept being conveyed here is that even before any action is committed, it is ROOTED in thought! Perhaps this is why that great mystic Blavatsky stated that all “Action” is a prior accumulation of thoughts. Do we see a correlation here between Blavatsky and Christ’s words? Absolutely!
Retributive justice then is always fair and equitable as karma, and we are rewarded for our thought, for it is us, as we are! Again, that Bible scripture cannot ring true enough: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Can we deny then the basic power and nature of thought itself!? And what it means for the human condition!? We all reap what we sow, in thought. And this goes part and parcel with the intellectual man in our current stage of evolution of which we are all a part.
William Q Judge, one of the best friends of Blavatsky, also stated:
“When the period of rest after death is ended Manas (mind) is bound by innumerable electrical magnetic threads to earth by reason of the thoughts of the last life, and therefore by desire, for it was desire that caused so many thoughts and ignorance of the true nature of things. And understanding of this doctrine of man being really a thinker and made of thought will make clear all the rest in relation to incarnation and reincarnation. The body of the inner man is made of thought, and this being so it must follow that if the thoughts have more affinity for earth-life than for life elsewhere a return to life here is inevitable.”
Consider this in relation to Paul’s words, that as a man soweth, so shall he reap. The immortal thinker is a sower and a reaper. For those who can accept it, Mr. William Judge has just given the essence and subsequent meaning, in the esoteric sense, to the allegorical fall of Adam in the Garden.
He further states:
“The fifth principle is Manas…and is usually translated as Mind. Other names have been given to it, but it is the knower, the perceiver, the thinker…Manas, or the Thinker is the reincarnating being, the immortal who carries the results and values of all the different lives lived on earth or elsewhere. Its nature becomes dual as soon as it is attached to a body…In Manas the thoughts of all lives are stored…the total quantity of life thoughts makes up the stream or thread of a life’s meditation – “that upon which the heart was set” – and is stored in Manas, to be brought out again at any time in whatever life the brain and bodily environments are similar to those used in engendering that class of thoughts. It is Manas which sees the objects presented to it by the bodily organs and the actual organs within. When the open eye receives a picture on the retina, the whole scene is turned into vibrations in the optic nerves which disappear into the brain, where Manas is enabled to perceive them as idea.”
I want us to focus on one important statement of Judge above: “…the total quantity of life-thoughts makes up the stream or thread of a life’s meditation – that upon which the heart was set”.
And so we can see that whatsoever a man soweth is related first and foremost to his thoughts and ideas, and that which HE BECOMES IN MANIFESTATION.
It is interesting that the Sanskrit word for mind stems from manas. And this correlates to “mana” from “heaven,” which the Israelites that left Egypt were supposed to eat symbolically (in post one eating relates to perception of ideas), but rejected God’s food (or spiritual ideas, which the lower self and selfish personality is often apt to do!). And this is why esoterically they, the people (the potential faculties of becoming the disciplined mind), have to wander around in the desert so long until Joshua and Caleb rise up under the law. They represent two aspects of the mind. Joshua, being from the tribe of Ephriam, is one that sets his analytical mind correctly, and Caleb, being from the tribe of Judah, is the aspect of the higher mind. The union of the two, which can only be accomplished by Joshua’s proper thoughts, is thus the leader that leads the people (the faculties and qualities) to the Promised Land. This is why Joshua didn’t live by sight, or external reality, but by the inner man, and set his thought correctly towards the higher life and spirit in that Promised Land, which refused to believe or see the external report. It is Moses, the intellectual and moral nature developing in man (through the law), that is the foundation for both the coming of Joshua and Caleb. Every detail in scripture is important, and little thought is ever given to why Joshua is associated with the tribe of Ephriam (NOT JUDAH!). And Ephriam camped on the left side of the tabernacle. Jesus is from Judah, and this is why both Joshua and Caleb are needed, the two aspects of the mind. We must think, and discern!
William Judge also once said on his translation of the Bhagavad Gita:
“Man, made of thought, occupant only of many bodies from time to time, is eternally thinking. His chains are through thought, his release due to nothing else.”
So we see that according to Mr. Judge, our release is contingent upon our thought. Thought is what traps us, but it is also what releases us, in the sense that it requires a certain stage in evolution to begin the true free will of the spiritual mind to manifest itself in US, and THROUGH us.
Blavatsky gives us more information to ponder on the working of this process:
“Manas, the Mind Principle, is the connecting link between our pure nature, eternal, spiritual nature and our mortal, physical, material, personal nature…it is continually presented with the choice between spirituality and sensuality and has to choose one or the other, since the spiritual nature and the sensual nature can never and will never mix or meet. Manas cannot go in both directions at once. It can only either go up or down…up towards spirituality or down towards sensuality…Whichever one it chooses will shape and determine its destiny and its future evolutionary progress.”
Perhaps we can now see why Jesus states that man cannot serve two masters. He meant either the desire mind or the spiritual mind. For Blavatsky states, “The Self of Matter and the SELF of Spirit can never meet. One of the twain must disappear; there is no place for both.”
And what is perhaps the most important concept she gives to these points further elucidated:
She states: “The Mind, which we have agreed to call the Human Soul…is a compound in its highest form, of spiritual aspirations, volitions and divine love [Abel]; and in its lower aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imprated to it by its associations with its vehicle, the seat of all these [Cain]. It thus stands as a link and a medium between the animal nature of man which its higher reason seeks to subdue, and his divine spiritual nature to which it gravitates, whenever it has the upper hand in its struggle with the inner animal…”
And…
“Whenever [the mind] disconnects itself, for the time being, with [from] kama, becomes the guide of the highest mental faculties, and is the organ of the free will in physical man.”
I leave you with one more thought from the Book of Hebrews that is perhaps the best statement of karma and reincarnation in the Bible, in my humble opinion:
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13).
Some of God’s most faithful servants didn’t receive the promise. They welcomed them though from a distance. Meaning, the Hebrews’s author understands that the omnipresent eternal law is evolving the soul, and we can become a coworker with its divine attributes. These people which knew they were strangers in a land correlates to the aspects, attributes, and faculties of the evolving soul in its stages of growth and development and discipline under the spirit.
To not see that this scripture is probably one of the most profound statements backing up reincarnation of the soul and the law of karma is a travesty!
Man was never meant to transcend the LAW. He was meant to become a co-operator with it! For he is that law itself, unfolding in many ways and on many planes of its manifested presence. This is also clearly stated in Jeremiah, where the eternal law is written on the heart, not in transcending it as the religious mindset today sometimes so insidiously advocated, but becoming at ONE WITH IT.
Now let us finally return to HPB’s statement I made at the outset of this entire post. HPB’s quote above gets us close to the nature of who we are, and what we are to become, within the human condition. Let’s break it down.
“Spirit cannot know itself except as Soul,” she states.
The logic seems sound if we ponder it deeply. How could any substance universally diffused be self-consciously aware, which requires an individualized perception? And this is our mind manifested through a personality. The fall of the universal mind into matter allowed man to “KNOW” good and evil, or the duality of nature. This was the opportunity for the spirit to get it know itself, once self consciousness had been achieved. Before it was truly innocent because it knew not how to self-reflect on its current condition, but rather followed the law in its lowest workings. In order to become conscious of itself, it would need some further evolutionary development.
Now let’s look more at Blavatsky’s quote and dig even deeper!
“Spirit is the “power to become;” Soul is “the becoming.”
According to her words, spirit then, is the “power” to “become.” If one has a power, but never uses it, it lays dormant or latent, and manifests as nothing. All this talk in the New Age movement of today endlessly speaks of our power, and what we truly are as “divine” entities. And while this is true, it means nothing. Absolutely NOTHING, except what could be. In other words, it remains as an abstraction unless realized. To realize anything, the soul in the human kingdom must use the mental, emotional, and physical form to move in the direction of “becoming” something more, or expanded, than what it was prior. This can only be accomplished through “experience,” and the knowledge that can be gained through this experience. If one perceives the entire book of Job from beginning to end, one might realize that in the beginning of the Book, he only KNEW God by the hearing of the ear. But at the end of this journey, through his encounter with the adversary, he came to know God personally.
Blavatsky further quotes:
“Soul is the accumulation of perceptions and experiences by means of which Spiritual Identity is realized.”
Spiritual identity? What is she really getting at? Spirit, as a universally diffused principle, cannot be said to have any identity unless an aspect of its potential has become “realized” into a form, and that is our soul, and more specifically, the mind. It is ultimately an illusion, Maya. Yes! But not because it isn’t a real experience, but only because the experience is temporary, and continually changing.
The same concept is taught in that great esoteric book of Malachi, where Yaweh states, bring all the “tithes” into the storehouse. Tithes here simply symbolize an effort, mentally, emotionally, and physically, to dedicate all to God, which becomes “stored” as a permanent spiritual volition and cements itself to the immortal aspect of the higher ego. This “storehouse” is known more esoterically as the “causal body” or soul, which is the composite I spoke of earlier of spiritual volition cemented to unconditioned immortality. Such soul essence is what incarnates partially in each incarnation. Partially, as it informs and becomes the lower personality, which has the right and potential to add more to the “storehouse.”
Many Christians interpret the blessings that God will pour out back to them in Malachi as wealth, or physical prosperity, but it has little to do with personal life, and rather more to do with the permanent acquired attributes of the individuality, which remains as such only because those are spiritual volitions which have married itself to universality.
Now let’s expand upon those confusing above words and go into some esoteric thought that will run contrary to much New Age thought, but what I think is absolutely vital! How does the spiritual soul “realize” itself? And what is the true purpose of the aspects of the lower souls?
Blavatsky gives the esoteric key here in these statements:
“…the higher Mind in Man, or his Ego (Manas) is, when linked indivisibly with Buddhi, a spirit…”
In other words, the middle soul, or human mind, is the cementing link between the marriage of the lower personality and the Holy Spirit.
She further explains:
“”Buddhi becomes conscious by the accretions it gets from Manas after every new incarnation…”
Before explaining further, I will now link another scripture, which people can either accept or deny in its esoteric significance.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? (Ecc: 3:21).
And this also brings us back to the middle part of Blavatsky’s brilliant quote which we haven’t dissected yet:
“Spirit is the power to see and know..”
I will end here even though I feel like there is so much more to say on the subject. But the post is becoming quite long already 🙂 Perhaps I will conclude with this sentiment: the intellect of man in this world of manifestation is not the pinnacle of man, but rather an evolutionary stage that has to be set right. There will come a time in humanity’s future, that some already KNOW, where even the intellect is simply a tool of the spirit. Who knows how many have already accomplished this point in the great stages of humanity’s evolution? I certainly don’t. And who can say where we each out in those stages of evolution except of the spirit within us all? We each have to decide how much we have surrendered the intellect to the will of the father. But hopefully this post provides some thoughts that we can all self reflect on, and how much we are being coworkers with that great law, which is both God and man in manifestation 🙂
Blessings 🙂
Thanks Josh,
Karma in my book is ‘finding out about things’, all possible aspects.
Retributive justice has a link to : Egyptian scarabee
Just a quick commentfor now, i will have time to digest the full article later this day.
(i checked, the notification email was not received by me)
NOW BE IT KNOWN UNTO ALL MEN, OCCUPANTS, ETC., BY THESE PRESENTS:
BY THE GRACE OF, AND FOR, GOD I’VE DISCOVERED NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH WITH NEW JEURUSALEM OVER 144 SQ KM SAN FRANCISCO.
CARPENTTARIUS [PLENARY SOVERAIN]
Hi Josh, thanks !
I love it.
I love all of it !
My first comment is imo a typical reaction of intellect 🙂
This plate of servings deserves a 3 star Michelin.
Warm greetings,
Leo.
Hi Leo. Yes, this is a work in progress for us all. As Blavatsky also said:
And now it stands proven that Satan, or the Red Fiery Dragon, the
“ Lord of Phosphorus ” (brimstone was a theological improvement),
and Lucifer, or “ Light-Bearer,” is in us : it is our Mind—our tempter
and Redeemer, our intelligent liberator and Saviour from pure animalism.
Without this principle—the emanation of the very essence of the pure
divine principle Mahat (Intelligence), which radiates direct from the
Divine mind—we would be surely no better than animals. The first man
Adam was made only a living soul (nephesh), the last Adam was
made a quickening Spirit * :—says Paul, his words referring to the
building or Creation of man. Without this quickening spirit, or
human Mind or soul, there would be no difference between man and
beast ; as there is none, in fact, between animals with respect to their
actions.
Such a statement, while sounding profane to the literalists of religion, clears up such facts in their own book which some refuse to see: Both Hebrew words for serpent and messiah add up to the same numerical value, and both Christ in Revelation and Lucifer in the Old Testament are called the “Bright and Morning Star.” And Peter, the one who is given the keys of the kingdom, was also called by Jesus Satan, when he said, get behind me.
Also consider at the end of Mark, and correctly translated, Jesus says one of the signs which will follow him who believes is to raise the serpent, just as Moses did in the wilderness to bring healing to the nation. The brazen serpent, for brass represents the self conscious mental principle, and intellect. The limited intellect in man (in this current cycle of karmic evolution), is both the curse of man and its liberator. Curse when succumbed to the animal passions within us, a blessing when by reason that same nature is ruled over as an intermediate stage in which the spirit begins to unveil itself in man. For the intellect has to be rescued by the spiritual conscience within man, that innate sense of right and wrong, and we can only accomplish it by surrendering it to the spirit. As Jesus also states, to gain life, one must lose it. Esoterically translated, we thereby surrender the personal nature to the impersonal, which is in love and the unity of all life.
The path of the initiate then is selflessness. A love for all life and nature in its kosmic evolution. To live the selfless life is the hardest thing to do, and that which most of us currently struggle with as the battlefield of the mind, intellect vs passion of the personal self which continually wants to grasp its own satisfaction.
This is why I firmly believe that both meditation and the correct use of the mind through thought are necessary. Meditation is very effective in subduing the animal nature, and correct thought is very effective in surrendering the intellect to spiritual influx, and vice versa. Some teach meditation leads to correct thought, and others teach correct thought leads to meditation. But these are both two sides of the same coin that work in tandem and become the foundation for that which the heart of man is set upon. We do it for personal gain, or for impersonal life. The choice is ours, for while free will is mostly latent in man at his or her current state of evolution, it grows with use as the physical muscle does. As above, so below 🙂
Hello Joshua,
Original Hebrew word for Serpent is NH (Noha/Naha…), Nachash means Serpenter, known also written with a “C”, as in Carpenter…
Raymon
Lucifer [lux/luch/luh-ver/ber] means Light/Ray Taker [/bearer; to or/and from]…
Hi, Josh,
Thank you so much for this really well expressed informative article. Really enjoyed it, particularly second time of reading. Part 2 indeed has been well worth waiting for.
You state:
“In the West we probably have an idea of Karma as cause and effect. This is also a good definition to start with, but I would like to broaden this concept a little more as something all pervasive and omnipresent.”
Yes, indeed, karma is the all-pervasive force of nature.
You state:
“Man was never meant to transcend the LAW. He was meant to become a co-operator with it! For he is that law itself, unfolding in many ways and on many planes of its manifested presence. This is also clearly stated in Jeremiah, where the eternal law is written on the heart, not in transcending it as the religious mindset today sometimes so insidiously advocated, but becoming at ONE WITH IT.”
If I may add some additional insights here, Josh by way of expanding on your thoughts.
So, the law of sin, of karma, operates without conscious input. Before inner awakening we come under this law of sin. After spiritual awakening we come under Law of God – same Law just different expressions. The law of sin reminds us that our soul is adhering to suffering law. So, in order to become free of this unavoidable attraction to sin, we must transcend unto the law of God nature, which practically means entering into mental silence for short time periods daily. So, you’re correct, Josh, in that the mind cannot transcend the Transcendent Law. It’s a case rather of utter unconditional inner surrendering. This surrendering transforms to become raised awareness naturally, we don’t do it. Mental surrendering is meditation, it takes mind /awareness unto God-Law, God-Influence, which essentially is soul clairvoyance (clear inner vision).
Law of sin, as you say, is causal of spiritual demise where duality regains as the compelling judgemental force.
And yes, Josh, there’s only one intellect, which intellect is either seeing through law of sin or through law of Self. Transcendence thus is about transforming this born-into sin aspect of intellect when it changes to become Spirit-infused intellect – ability of conscious decision making through spiritual discernment rather than under law of compulsory karma. Meditation transforms lower intellect functioning unto universally-serving resolute intellect. When, what we’re thinking and discerning THROUGH becomes the savior — the difference between resolute and irresolute intellect is stark.
Karma is the opposite of stillness, of Being. Being is absolute existence while Karma is the force of nature through which the cycle of recycling creation and dissolution is kept going. Coming out of that law, that cycle of recycling, is our soul’s goal. Such is why we meditate to allow stillness — opposite of karma — permeate the mind, when the soul /mind attunes with eternal Being, or Law of God.
Karma is responsible for all inner and outer physical activity while Absolute is the witnessing state of eternal existence. Karma is relative life existence — laws of nature — while Being is Absolute, paradoxically, two side of the same coin.
Romans 7: 21—25 describes this karmic standard beautifully in simple language. In conjunction with this article, reading this scripture is time well spent for advancing our understanding of karma.
Thoughts are like pebbles dropping into the pond of mind, they create vibratory ripples or waves. Depending on pebble size, these ripples eventually spread and strike against something both within and without, thus their affect can be either positive or negative. When mind enters transcendental stillness it comes out of the influence of sin-compelling karma operating in the body since our physical birth. Through neutralization, or purification, in meditation, karma becomes glorified thus, fulfilling the Law within consciousness.
Because karma /activity is part of relative life, karma cannot ever, ever be abolished – but mind can transcend it’s influence, set free from its ever-spinning wheel.
Put another way:
Life has two aspects: relative and absolute.
So, in order to know absolute nature, mind needs to transcend the laws of nature. When mind returns from the Transcendent post meditation, absolute nature has become infused into the relative karmic nature of our life. In this context, as the Absolute also lies at the basis of all relativity, thus the One Law is fulfilled within our physicality. At practical level ‘fulfilling’ allows the nervous system experience two states of consciousness simultaneously – absolute and relative, or, time and no-time, or, living eternal life now.
Meditation is not about transcending the Absolute Law — we’re simply stilling the conscious mind so that mind transcends the karmic dynamic of the lower subconscious reactive thought patterns ruling our lives from birth, the dynamic of compulsive sin behavior.
Using a mantra, which is a vibratory thought — allows the awareness slip into Absolute status, thus returning infused of God-Law nature, or, established in co-worker with God standard.
Coming back to relativity infused of higher Law status, enables further spiritual growth by means of the same laws of nature — of mind — but this time life is lived through applied spiritual karma.
If mind does not transcend relativity, it remains individual ego-self, remaining intellectual only, thus heart is deprived of direct experience of transcendental Bliss-Consciousness.
If there’s no transcendence there’s no ‘coming’ to fulfill the heart of bliss.
Thanks again, Josh, for another well thought-out article. Blessings, my friend.
Raymond, you state:
“So, the law of sin, of karma, operates without conscious input. Before inner awakening we come under this law of sin. After spiritual awakening we come under Law of God – same Law just different expressions.”
So very true, Raymond. Same Law with different expressions. A good analogy is when someone argues by developing the airplane wing we transcend the laws of gravity. But not so. The airplane wing simply works with gravity a different way, but gravity is still the active agent that allows the airplane to moved forward at an altitude congruent with it’s engine output related to the weight of the plane and design of its structure, and because of gravity, all the pieces working together gives it flight to and fro its destination. The plane has not transended the law in any way, but become a co-operator with it according to other aspects of the law which provides alternatives. Even a rocket putting a structure in orbit around the earth has to periodically adjust its trajectory by force or the orbit will eventually decay.
You also state:
So, you’re correct, Josh, in that the mind cannot transcend the Transcendent Law. It’s a case rather of utter unconditional inner surrendering. This surrendering transforms to become raised awareness naturally, we don’t do it. Mental surrendering is meditation, it takes mind /awareness unto God-Law, God-Influence, which essentially is soul clairvoyance (clear inner vision).
Law of sin, as you say, is causal of spiritual demise where duality regains as the compelling judgemental force.
Beautifully put. As I stated in the above comment to Leo, there is an active agent of surrender. This is summed up in Paul’s statement from the New Testament that the man must lay his life down to the woman. While he rules the woman, he can only do so properly as surrendering to the spirit. This is true rulership. How paradoxical in our finite minds, to consider that rulership also comes with surrender! But it is only paradoxical to the personal egoic mind, not the spiritual mind 🙂
But I will add one caveat: There is an aspect of surrender, and also an aspect of determined will. That age old argument of whether manas has free will or not by the scientists is short sighted. It is not that the human has complete free will to choice, or doesn’t have it. Rather, it is somewhere in between, according to the faculties that have gone from latency to actuality, dependent upon past life growth. In other words, free will is released in stages of our evolutionary growth. One who chooses the path of meditation has already activated a portion of the divine, which is will on the higher planes, and realizes the limitations of personal life in physicality. Though he or she may not be totally free to act, it has been activated and therefore has the chance to grow by its continual exercise in meditation, if practiced with due diligence. The same can be said for correct thought, which is only liberated in degrees by the self conscious intelligence that practices thought of an impersonal nature. But we must choose to be diligent. As you say, the subconscious patterns in us all can be broken and reestablished into a higher order of conformity to the one LAW. But we must initiate it through self conscious choice, which begins with reason and intellect, also beginning with seeing clearly the inconsistency of life lived by passions and desires only.
You also state:
Thoughts are like pebbles dropping into the pond of mind, they create vibratory ripples or waves. Depending on pebble size, these ripples eventually spread and strike against something both within and without, thus their affect can be either positive or negative. When mind enters transcendental stillness it comes out of the influence of sin-compelling karma operating in the body since our physical birth. Through neutralization, or purification, in meditation, karma becomes glorified thus, fulfilling the Law within consciousness.
Because karma /activity is part of relative life, karma cannot ever, ever be abolished – but mind can transcend it’s influence, set free from its ever-spinning wheel.
Another awesome explanation! Karma cannot ever be abolished, but mind can transcend its influence. Yes! I like how you state that it is the MIND itself that can transcend its influence. The human soul is a mind. Mind is the soul of man. Some thoughts and emotions are so turbulent that it ruffles the pond into a torrential hurricane. We are reminded of the storm on the boat (the self) wherein the disciples feared they would drown. Jesus is awakened and calms the turbulent storm. The disciples (faculties of mind) were amazed and said, this man even commands the elements of nature! Jesus at this point in evolution represents the mind that is no longer influenced by passion and emotion (the turbulent seas), but has command over them! The mind of correct thought and meditation, realizing the inner power of the higher faculties:)
Thank you Raymond for your comments!
Josh, enjoyed how you phrased the surrender concept:
You say:
“How paradoxical in our finite minds, to consider that rulership also comes with surrender! But it is only paradoxical to the personal egoic mind, not the spiritual mind 🙂”
Spot on!
So, in this context, Josh, let’s develop this word surrender in to more broader spiritual terms.
There’s a Sanskrit word called: Kaivalya — hugely significant in the Hindu culture, which I love, meaning, ‘solitude’, ‘separateness’, detachment or, renunciation [of the material] world. Kaivalya is achieved through regular meditation, when one becomes a Kavalin: lives ‘surrendered’ or ‘renunciation’ consciousness naturally in our daily affairs..
Another term for surrender is: raising the inner White Flag [of spiritual victory] or, ‘surrendered ego’ unto pure silence thus its integration, and not ego surrendering itself to its own worldly envisionments..
Becoming surrendered happens. We / lower-ego self does not surrender as such, rather, mind, through its intuitively ‘seeking’ dynamic for higher awareness, comes under the influence of cosmic vibrational silence, which, in essence, is bliss-consciousness.
World happiness is contingent on material manifestation, whereas, eternal Self-Happiness or Bliss — which is separate from material happiness — is unconditionally present within each of us.
Yet again we have the term ‘let it be’ made popular by Beatles member, Paul McCartney. Who, going through some personal tough times, had a dream in which his late mother spoke the words, ‘let it be’ to him– which lyrics eventually became a global hit song.
But, here we must be careful.
For, practically speaking, If we allow everything in our daily life to just ‘be’ without having gained higher spiritual awareness, then the laws of our ‘born into’ relativity state of mind will just keep repeating the same karmic patterns through which a non-spiritualized intellect is discerning.
‘Let it be’ is best understood as ‘letting everything in our life till now, BE, while in meditation. When Mother Nature speaks HER wisdom through one’s pure receptive awareness.
When experiential Kaivalya represents liberation or Moksha from the cyclical born-into karmic mind state, witch which we each enter this material plane in order to integrate, awaken within, thereby spiritual growth leading to Self-realization and unbounded awareness.
Thanks for the additional info, Raymond. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods 🙂
Hi, Amazing Raymond,
This story sounds almost too good to be true.
Your solution looks like the first-hand approach to escape this hell on earth.
How different was I taught : growing by going through life ‘hard-core’, with an occasional ‘sauna-like’ stillness-exercise. Karma in my book is hard work getting to know all aspects of a certain life experience and thus attain equanimity.(by seeing all sides and by having consumed/converted all asociated emotions). And then there is my personal assignment in this life. I cannot come back to the Godhead empty handed.
Still your perspective looks very promising and easy to do.
So i will study your ideas diligently.
Again thanks,
Leo.
Hiya Leo,
Good to hear from you, and thank you kindly for this comment, which i found really interesting — edit corrections noted.
You say,
“I cannot come back to the Godhead empty handed.”
Am still smiling from this sentence, Leo, insert many smiley Joes here!!!!
But, better than something in our hands, my friend, is something in our heart..
You say,
“Karma in my book is hard work getting to know all aspects of a certain life experience and thus attain equanimity.(by seeing all sides and by having consumed/converted all associated emotions)”.
But, in spiritual terms, Leo, a mood of equanimity is never a substitute for the real thing, that of fulfilling the law of Authentic Love in the heart.
But we can short-cut all this karmic ‘hard work’ you mention by allowing integration of life’s issues through the silence of meditation. The experiences you mention, when growing up, were exactly the same as my own, maybe just culturally different. But suffering is suffering no matter what culture we’re reared in, I’m sure you would agree.
But it’s only when we decide we’ve had enough of this suffering station that things can actually begin to change for the good.
The truth is no person, including our-self, can fix our life to God standard. This we must do by making a decision to hand our ‘mind’s life-train of events’ and all it’s multi carriage layers, over to transcendental silence.
At some point we have to realize this, and, put the books and personal philosophies aside — at least for time periods during the day, when putting the lower self-ego aside can prove challenging.
These are the times we stop trying to fix ourselves through worldly means.
As a meditation teacher, Leo, here’s my suggestion.
This is the mantra I teach to those who’ve decided to move on to greener spiritual pastures.
The mantra is: MA-RA-NA-Tha.which in essence means ‘come holy spirit. But, forget the meaning for the meaning plays no actual role in the practice and outcome..
So, we sit comfortably on our chair — phone off.
Close our eyes slowly, then, pause for about 30 seconds before commencing HEARING the
sound maranatha in four separate syllables as — MA-RA-NA-Tha.
We don’t speak it or think about it, but quietly HEAR our sound from deep within — wait till mantra comes into inner hearing range. Then, hear the letters of each vibratory syllable fully and maturely..
If the mantra drifts — and it will — pause for about 2/3 seconds before restarting. This pausing is vital, it’s what deepens the inner hearing experience — remembering it’s OUR God-Vibratory practice, and that, it’s the Vibration which ‘doeth’ the work.
Ideally practice for 20 minutes twice daily.
Hope this is helpful, Leo.
Blessings, my friend,
Raymond
Leo, you state:
Karma in my book is hard work getting to know all aspects of a certain life experience and thus attain equanimity.(by seeing all sides and by having consumed/converted all asociated emotions).
I actually completely agree with you here. The Self conscious state of the highest principle must evolve through every experience to make it more self conscious. How can it be otherwise? Your statement of “seeing all sides and by having consumed/converted all associated emotions” is actually the key to the natural law of evolution and karma itself, which cannot be transcended until it is experienced and integrated! Why else would be the cause for our limited manifestations in the illusion of Maya? There is no logical explanation except for this! For how else could a free and happy spirit (the god within us) truly ever be liberated on all planes of manifested existence, and then by realizing its birthright, sit atop the evolutionary ladder to rule in accordance with all that it is as a pontentiality in the beginning, an actuality in the latter?
The Apostle Paul even states that we will rule in due time. How can any being rule anything until it has first experienced in its lower states that which it is to rule? We have politicians today that make decisions for all of humanity who never even had a job of physical labor! And yet they understand. Lol. True wisdom is only gained through experience 🙂
Retributive justice caised by karma : related to the Egyptian scarabee
Josh, in a previous post (by Raymand) about corona) quoted :
”
A scripture from the New Testament from St. Paul so perfectly illustrates your point:
“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that I do not; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15).
”
The practice of placing a scarabee on the heart of the deceased was intended to silence the heart a bit. To speak positively about one’s life, not to meet out all the bad things that occurred. (lg : in my own words, for ‘original’ text look into egyptology).
It is like referring to the Fifth Commandment in US legislation.
I believe the practice in Ancient Egypt of ‘going forth by day” (i quote Sir Budge) is an activity done at nighttime during our dreams.
Anyway, i would call it restorative justice (because I initiate it myself, knowing i hare erred).
When i bypass my own ‘restorations’ then karma can come from an unexpected side and maybe felt as retribution.
Correction :
It is like referring to the Fifth Commandment in US legislation.
Should be :
It is like referring to the Fifth Amendment in US legislation
(the right not to implicate one self)
Great scripture, indeed, Leo.
If we focused solely on Romans 7: 7–21 and 8: 1–30 for a while, this would help enormously in growing our understanding regarding the term ‘sin’, the misuse of karma.
Blessings
one more typo :
Anyway, i would call it restorative justice (because I initiate it myself, knowing i hare erred).
should be :
Anyway, i would call it restorative justice (because I initiate it myself, knowing i have erred).
Hi Josh, thank you for resurrecting SOS, but the all upper case comments that clearly don’t belong are a site for sore eyes, like the one from Carpenttarius. Any way you could stop approving those? Just because google shows the GG bridge city limit sign 12km from the southern dividing line there is no reason for the recent new age New Jerusalem hype train, it could as well be the county line since SF is a consolidated municipality. And btw, including the covered ones, there are 11 springs in San francisco, not 12, UN is headquartered in NY, and most of the downtown is now sitting on what used to be a bay when the city limits were established. Thanks.
Ramon:
You are forgetting the little known John Drake’s new Albion Castle spring and also that a Secretary Bird is on the flag of San Francisco. Let believers and nonbelievers remain a sleep and seekers inquire diligently… Raymon
Anno J1022
Hi Raymon, you’ve go the Vc. Count St. Alban’s New Alvion mixed up with the Albion Castle and first it was Francis Drake, not John, that got crowned Huah by Coastal Miwok people, and San Francisco’s flag has Phoenix, which anyone with access to Internet can figure out in seconds. And btw, “a sleep” is one word! Greetings.
Ramon:
Indeed, it was William I Tudor’s place; however, it was n east Karkin, delta Patwin, and E Bay Miwok by Mt. Diablo (once called Bereshit per Chochenyo.) “A” could go either way, with or without…
Raymon
Ramon and Raymon:
I don’t think these comments are really relative here. Let’s keep it on topic 🙂
Ramon, or Sol-mon [Solomon, Solu-man, etc.], and Raymon, or the light alone, without the body [hedgehog, chestnut, thorns, etc.], represent two antithetical systems, points of view, etc., of the same one thing for a given day [thousand years]. In one, Son Rose [sun-rise] with a full breadth lifted sun, in another, sunrise in name only, before utter sunrise, with Son Set [sun-set].
RC
Hi Joshua,
thank you for another insightful article. I Thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will continue to ponder more deeply, as I will Raymond’s and Leo’s comments too.
Raymond thank you for the detailed account of the mantra meditation, I will definitely try it out.
Also Joshua, would you say that the tree of knowledge represents in a way the law, because understanding the law is how we come to know good from bad. Once we have experienced and transcended we can eat from the tree of life which actually is the tree of knowledge transformed into the tree of life. Just as you and Raymond have already said that the law is not abolished and the law just has a different impact to the reformed or renewed mind after the inner man. In other words , the cycle of Karma is broken to one who understands and chooses good naturally through the newness of the spirit. The law only has an impact on transgressors of the law.
The oldness of the letter which Paul refers to in Chapter 7, is like eating from the tree of knowledge which brings death but the newness of the spirit brings forth life.
This can also be associated with the first 5 barley loaves which Jesus fed the 5,000. Five referring to the 5 books of Moses, the law and then he fed the 4,000 with 7 wheat loaves referring to the bread that Jesus identifies himself as the bread of life. One brings death and the other life. Death or subjection of the lower self and life to the higher self. The stories within scripture are written to instruct each of us how to become spiritually minded, to receive higher consciousness or rather how to experience it within us.
I do believe that Romans chapter 7 and 8 have so much depth and insights to ones journey of the soul, obviously in a metaphysical way. I have returned back to these chapters many times for inspiration over many years.
Regards to you all
Hi Kris,
Great comment and great question!
While the law basically has two aspects, it’s the same functioning law existing in the brain on two different levels simultaneously. Thus we may only be conscious in one law and its fruits with the other remaining out of conscious awareness.
So, let’s reflect first on the Garden of Eden and its status.
We’re reminded in Genesis that God planted Eden in the East of the Garden. East as we know is where the sun rises, metaphysically representing dawn of spiritual nature, or, awakening of divine faculties within.
Law in Genesis is best understood as the workings of the two brain hemispheres, particularly regards a discerning or non-discerning intellect.
There are two trees in the center of the Garden, indicative of left brain-right brain dynamic. Man, through ignorance, has mainly developed left brain or, lower intellect, to the exclusion of right side brain or, Spirit nature — hence ‘fall of man’ or, fall of intellect, hence delusion.
In deciding right from wrong action — moral from immoral — brain needs to become familiar with right side dynamic, for left brain fruit will not nourish spiritually. In other words, eternity consciousness is accessed through right brain hemisphere only.
Gen 2:8 says, ‘be fruitful and multiply’ meaning increase in right brain status or, God /spiritual law achieved by transcending, the laws – thus, subduing or, integrate, left brain activity thereby transforming law of karma fruit to spiritually-serving Mana through unitary-established brain-consciousness.
Adam and Eve were naked because they had not established the Royal Robe of unitary God-consciousness, such as like the prodigal son on his / her return from feasting on fruit of ignorance level unto eventual tree of life status.
‘Fall’ represents mind /intellect’s inability of spiritual discernment – thus the term lower-mind status.
In this context, forbidden fruit represents outpourings of ego-law which has not undergone spiritual transformation – as alluded to in your comment, Kris. The tree of life represents Spirit Dynamism law, to include obedience – ability of moral judgment on our own randomly occurring thoughts and their expression — how these expressions play-out both within and without — when ability of resisting temptation to immoral action becomes a vital soul strength. Thus, Eve, when tempted, did not possess ability to resist, to overcome temptation – had not transcended unto directly knowing purity of intellect /mind thus higher awareness – or, tree of life consciousness.
In order for these two trees to become One tree, One law, the awareness must pass through the center of the Garden where God placed the trees, which placement is within our own being.
But, crucially, where within is ‘the center’ of the Garden?
An indicator is: If we look at the color spectrum of the seven chakras, the middle or center color represents the Heart which color is Green. Green is the color at the center of nature, the healing /unifying vibration. Thus the center of our Garden is the Heart, to where our 10% tree of knowledge and its fruits of good and evil must be tided — given over, surrendered, in meditation. Thereby gaining the untapped 90% of tree of life, thus making the brain Whole unto serving One tree — eating One law-of God-Fruit through our heart centered consciousness.
Thanks, Kris, for your great comment and profound question, really enjoyed it. Hope this response resonates ‘good’, my friend.
Thank you Raymond for your response.
It definitely resonates ‘good’. I love the angle you always come from. I must admit my knowledge comes from purely the metaphysical aspect of scripture. The technical side coupled with the spiritual side always intrigues me.
I will make an effort and read about chakras. I didn’t even consider reincarnation until I found this website, several years ago and now I see how much total sense it makes.
So, Eve because she did not have the ability to choose “good” as yet was tempted by the serpent.
Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Hence why the commandment was put in place to subdue the left side nature which births fruits that produce illusion and in turn awake the right side nature. She becomes the mother of all living because she gives birth to eternal truths
regards
Josh,
https://workmindfulness.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Loretta-Graziano-Breuning-Habits-of-a-Happy-Brain-Adams-Media-2016.pdf
Have you ever read Biocentrism by Robert Lanza? And the following free pdf helps to understand how the brain works, which with better understanding (in my opinion) can assist with further understanding of your writing, which is exceptional.
Hello Joshua!
Thank you sir. Your esoteric interpretations has been the missing piece of the puzzle for me. For as long as I can remember I’ve had trouble reconciling my eager soul with my critical mind. Your posts has led me to a place where I can truly start to embrace fatih. That is the segway into my question(s) – we should believe in christ but what should we actually believe in? The symbol? The man? The miracles? God, since he is the son of god? The practice of inching closer to reaching our higher selves?
Even under the esoteric interpretation I find this a bit unclear.
What exactly does it mean to ‘believe’ in christ?
Sincerely,