Introducing the FUTURES- 25th October 1998

- Pneu Vs New

perchance,
to dance,
the dance,
of bones.
they dance the song
of long ago.
with skin on drum,
the heart beats on;
percussive strain,
we dance again,
and again,
and again,
and again,
and again.

ALL causality must answer and respond to a higher remedy or else it would be predeterminately destined to ever make an inescapable rendition of itself. That the spiritual worlds manifestedly intermingle with all kingdoms of physical residence is proof of this very law. That nay, does the spiritual not simply merely coincide with all physical properties about, but rather that it does so with such determined coincidence that it becomes remedial to these distinguished particles with which it corresponds, one by one.

Answers to cyclical stagnation are to be discovered within the higher reference. Now what does this mean? How is this effected? All that is within the physical is vesseled with a womb-like holding. It is contained and cradled and kept separate. There are buffer spaces and fields of formative energetic and emanatory forces, dividing and detecting, remaining magnetic within their own reference. Matter pools and collects amongst its own. It may adhere and adjunct, it may comply and correlate, but essentially it is distinct and separate in its nature at present.

The physical world therefore is a compilation of much separateness. Innately the human soul collective knows this condition of the world and is distressed by it. There is ever a need to believe and sense a higher harmony that will draw together the material elements and create them, to appear as a cohesive whole. In truth however, that which participates within the material realm is self-contained, with actualities which stream back to distinct histories that argue perspective, definition and even reality amongst themselves.

This occurs from the highest representative of life into the minor aggregates with uniform prediction: beings are self-contained within their cloth of matter, and all quite capable of duplicating, replicating themselves, which in a manner of speaking, we do just in order to carry into the next day and further. We are very busy about ourselves repeating ourselves.

Life is affirmation. As a manifestive being I am establishing who I am with a constant recreation of myself, over and over, whether it be in memory or in active thought, in the unspoken dialogue between my own presence and the present I now dwell in, I am constantly reaffirming etherically who I am with a pulsing signal of beingness. This repetitive saga is maintained without a self-conscious participation and is supported on many levels by various beings who promote such laws; and much of this ongoing reaffirming of life as is known will continue on after the expiration of the physical matter also.

Now according to the boundaries of any given being's circumference, the constant as it is (or would be) on its own is not capable of variance from what it is. Neither vacuum nor addition can be brought in upon the containment. Imagine it so ... the chaos of possibility! Yet amongst the myriad of constants which cohabit this realm, there has to be somehow, somewhere, the provision for evolution, development, for change within a future as yet unknown. 

It is of course the oldest joke imaginable and it relates to the introduction of new esoteric thought as much as anything - that is: if we knew ways to effect the future right now, it would already be presently with us! 

Predestination is but a concept that the Past would have you believe in! It is the Past speaking (quite often the far past, which repeats back with its inclining tendencies). It does not belong in the Future! This is not said to in any way disown the benefits which are brought to us by the very laws and cycles which we can rely upon. It is not to discredit our need for such repetition which occurs throughout and upholds the structures of existence, but if you catch the concept you may begin to comprehend the spirit of the new which is yet to become in both Man and the World, which we at present may be indifferent to. It is singularly different to the operations of our historical tendencies.

Before we persist with the introduction to the Futures, cordially we may acknowledge amongst us that it is very true to say that anything which is new is not necessarily better; just as there are no outstanding claims to providence being preferred either.

What can be said is that past offers us:

1. Our arterial line which connects us back to our eternal beginnings, our residence with Father God.
2. The sum total of who we currently are, including also an associated and abbreviated knowledge of all beings with which we combine with accordingly.
3. Reference perception - the interpretation of perceptible manifestations because of correlating past inferences with reliable findings.
4. Subjective (ego) and objective (soul) memory.*
5. The persistence to exist. The 'pulse' which goes back and streams from our eternal beginnings is fired with a perpetual repetitive force (as discussed) that promotes continuation.
6. The knowledge of both good and evil. This is a living, resonating knowledge.
   

Everything which we are is reaffirming itself and lives to relive what it has known. When it comes to those darker periods of evolution that Man has passed through and gathered in, there are aspects of self that would be preferably dispensed with. It is this part of the past we should seek to exchange for future aspects. Whether we view this within the personality or elemental tendency,

• by zodiacal exaggeration;

• by determined and sclerotic egotism;

• through selfishness;

• physical determination - whereby the physical nature dominates the individual's responses in the world overwhelmingly through the dictates of carnal desire;**

• our Double and his repository of insult;

• those obstinacies which insist that new virtues are unrequired;

• and finally the demons themselves that contest our own change for the better.

This subject becomes rather involved, but is well worth purveying. The demons just mentioned belong to families of darker proportion. As men we have carried them over from ages in which we were stationed in places that were once so far removed from the Sun that we ourselves had begun to forget its existence (although carried it within our being).
We have all known incarnations of quiet splendor and periods of rest in between, however also there have been episodes of 'life' for us all when we have been amongst characters which did not exude warmth or compassion to any degree. These original beings were not offcasts of ourselves, but rather independent to our own beginnings.

When our own egos were so immature they actually experienced the worlds we were in much like a large mirror. Our loving and trusting egos took to themselves and copied faithfully the outward remonstrations taught to us by all kinds of beings around. Even to this day our astral bodies are sensitive (particularly in small children) to copy and exact much of what is offered simply by proximity; and similarly so our earlier days were filled with eager collections from far and wide. 

Added to this we bear the demons of our vanities. A vanity is a point of pride which has outlived its usefulness. A vanity is self-fulfilled and its 'worth' is self-determined. They are particularly destructive when they inhibit us from recognizing the true merit in others; or in ourselves, either in possibility or actuality.

We may return now to our original thought describing the repetitive nature of the material existence and all within it. There was the thought put forth that the way to break any given cycle and introduce something new into the enclosure of being, is from the infiltration of a higher perspective. If it was not possible to effect change within any repetitive scenario then such continuum would turn into waste - it would become void. If we apply this to the particular, for example we may begin to qualify what might be a useful departure from one's expected behavior (to that which is either with yet more repetition) or purely chaotic. The question, entitled refinement was:

Question:
I feel that a beautiful friendship blossomed between Madame Blavatsky and her nurse/companion Countess Wachtmeister at the end of Madame's life.

The Countess was blessed with this only after she ignored all the warnings about Madame Blavatsky's rough and ready manners(and worse), to take on the carer's role.

Refinement of our spiritual nature to be purer than pure gold seems only to have ever been advised, but is there an inversion of this principle necessary in our behavior towards society as a whole in order to shake out our true selves?
Love,
-John W.

Ah! This appears to be a two-edged question, which is doubly pertinent as we may incorporate also the larger topic of the 'work' as well. Firstly, in regards to Helena herself, it is not for us to make personal remarks as to whether there was, in her relations with others in their outbursts, inspired departures from the normal circumstances, repetitions of what was expected or chaos - but it does make for a good study's speculation nonetheless. For here was an individual who was so very capable of being inspired with the very highest motivation, with caring and thought in relation to the men and women around her. If at times there was an explosion of words coming from her, one can understand that it may well have been the only way seen to help break the very repetitive nature (and confines) of the thought of the dear folk around.

The proviso for this behavior being pertinent and most useful is in its content, and in its source. If we are in company and our behavior does not fulfill their expectations, if it indeed breaks the cycle of habit socially or the usually preferred, then it will surmount to a chaotic destructfulness if our considerations are not of the very highest value. Therefore, if we act outside of our (or their) habitual nature to bring about a 'new' experience or help deliver a new thought into the environment, then it shall not begin to be effective if it rests solely on the plane of thought we are both already upon. It needs be drawn in from a source above the given and the usual. It must also be quite free of the mundane, of motivation, of self-interest and yes, to a degree, formality.

Perhaps this is why folk find sincerity refreshing, and often as a signpost to sincerity they look for the unexpected comment, the outrageous observation. Sincerity itself may well sit comfortably asleep in the lap of all habits, but as men we mark consciousness and experience with notable and outstanding events. The refreshing aspects of honesty and sincerity are not so much the honesty and sincerity themselves (dogs are atrociously honest), but rather that there is a break from the old self, the former self, the expected self, and a combining with another in an effort of consciousness that actually begins/sparks/introduces a future hitherto not known previously.

In this way we can acknowledge that our behavior to society as a whole may well determine a shaking out of theirs and our future selves, if self-consciously worked with the highest possible qualification. This does appear contradictory to the discipline of presenting oneself with a steely self-control admittedly. Yes it does, doesn't it? Respect for one another is often acknowledged through good manners and the compliance to customs, and it is important that we respect all men equally - both the shopkeeper and the king are entitled to our respectful considerations. We can respect the Christ-God within all men and love that about them - being as affable and congenial as good sense permits. But we are not required by Him in that love to live to conformity if that conformity perpetuates sorrow, hate or shame.

If custom, habit or social acceptability asks us to belittle ourselves (or another) then it is then a matter of bad manners and no respect to follow through with it. Even in the sphere of expected behaviors there must be a self-consciousness prevailing that so decides. In this we will come to a refinement, because we shall be true to merit itself; sometimes finding it in the most unexpected places! 

On the subject of Helena herself: some have the talents to displace and dispel the old ghosts of disused thought. Summoned out from ancient strongholds of incorruptible truth came both the legends and their shadows, forces of wisdom and the 'unknowns' who oppose, into a materialism then so encapsulated within its own cleverness it was verily the dragon eating its own tail! Remember? In perpetual statement thereof of itself - around and around this dragon now spins - the material existence almost at that point of becoming so tight-bound that the spiritual forces were beginning to be repelled.

The question in this century to come, as to how best one helps to bring into this materialism fresh truths resplendent with life for the soul, hope for the heart, clarity for the mind, discrimination for the ego, tolerance/compassion for the being, and help Christ incarnate in the World, is still being asked in this moment. Yet the fissures are tightening ever further. The contractive forces are prevalent. There is a hardening and a sharpness, entailing each to his own, each to his own.

This paper is controversial inasmuch as we suggest that evolution does not imply merely repetition: that true development would not mean that we live out the past and go the rounds infinitely, but there needs be wisdom offered to men that brings in a new knowledge also.
We have two further points of consideration now before us, namely:

1. How are we to know that the future is at all to be desired by men collectively or individually? (In the stead of the past.)
2. By what means can we help to effect this, given especially that the world is ever tightening further and the physicality is becoming ever more uncompliant to the new issue.
   

In esotericism one fundamental law is that you will find the 'keeper of the key' at the point of its origin. This goes no less for 'newness' in relation to Man. From where and from who did this newness begin? Our original new World and all of its marvels came essentially and empirically, remarkably and quidditively from Christ – introduced to men by Him, and shall be received a'further, through Him.

The lesser gods continue to promote those retired impulses from the past (as do the de-men gods too). But in that which becomes retrogressive (compactive, contractive for Man) there becomes no provision for the futures, only perpetuation once again of former times of being.
We can look to any organized body of men who share faith/beliefs/codes to find whether or not the spirit of Christ is there in amongst them. His Name itself is to be found in living form, i.e. the term 'Christian' is no real indication of His living Presence within a given man or body of men (although a fine beginning in the asking). However, the true Son of God must be verily born in the man - made manifest in attitude and disposition of heart and consideration genuinely. Then it is that Christ's Name becomes 'Mary' or 'Joseph', 'Peter' or 'John', or whoever becomes His representative and lives as He does thereafter.

If men would commit to a work of faith collectively we ask that they appreciate that which invigorates the Futures, and that which condemns them. You see, Love by its nature is expansive. It is only by Love that we can make safe openings within our shells of physical resistance, within our spheres of ego-definitives, amongst our peoples of contrasting intelligences, even amongst the spaces of the sky which would crack and congest if it were not for the issues of Love itself.

We can examine any body of men with this qualifying power and try to interpret further in relation to the Futures and ask:

• Are these men loving? (EXPANSIVE)

• Do any of them profit from each other? (contractive)

• Does the group give charity outside of its own? (EXPANSIVE)

• Do they enforce a charter of membership with rules? (contractive)

• Do they obligate in any way? (contractive)

• Are they tolerant of the joys and loves of others? (EXPANSIVE)

• Do they condone death? (contractive)

• Do they encourage creative individual thought? (EXPANSIVE)

• Do they encourage destructive thought? (Fear, hatism, pessimism, anarchism, etc.) (contractive)

• Is there a vanity independent to their worth? (contractive)

• False ego? (Subservience to another without reasoning or proper effort to work on behalf of one's own ego) (contractive)

• Sense of self? (Ability to exercise discrimination and develop ego) (EXPANSIVE)

• Humility? (Proper perspective as to place in Cosmos - respective reverence, awe and wonder because of) (EXPANSIVE)

• Is there an exchange of money for spiritual training? (contractive)

• Is there a claim to exclusive rights or wisdom? (contractive)

• Is there an acceptance of the karmic perimeters which protect all individual beings in what they are? (EXPANSIVE)

Question:
We are taught that containment is good, that there necessarily is a 'breathing in and breathing out' motion of ego, and other things universally; what is the difference between a healthy containment and an unhealthy contraction?

There are three notable conditions of ego we can name:

Tense - This is the contracted state, similar to a muscular cramp, where the tightening implies ourselves to be more aware of ourselves than that which we were responding to. Tense is not taut. It is temporarily locked and inflexible.

Slack - Though not thoroughly relaxed, this is the condition of containment which is also inactive, whilst also deferring to a related activity elsewhere; and at the same time capable of further expansion also. It can be viewed as rest or improvisation, but it is moreover that time for taking in and up, that which the ego has contained. It is a time of assimilation, whereas in the contracted state we shut down this process.

Expansive - Although not to the point of absolute pressure, when we push out to the limits of our own perimeters, the expansive condition is only ever-stimulated by positive curiosities. Eagerness, enlightenment, enthusiasms, hope, humor, wondering, anticipation, excitement, affection, zeal, playfulness, good naturedness, appreciativeness, humility and love - these predispose the individual in his ego to come to take in NEW knowledge, experience and understandings. It does even assist in a living comprehension of all that he has formerly taken in and up as well.

So we can consider a'further more points of containment in relation to groups and group-study and what this means (as opposed to the contractive elements).

Containing pauses:

• Reflection

• Deliberation

• Prayer (containing & making a being of holy thought)

• Reviewing

• The point of desisting (yet also the springboard to inquiry)

• Summoning the will

• Receiving of the etheric vitalities (and processing them)

• Imaginatively conspiring thoughts

• Vocalization (having given form and being to words)

• Making physical spaces (giving form - for practical or creative use)

Through Christ it will be that it is for men to maketh their own futures. Dreaming, imaginatively forecasting, creating, projecting - these things are certainly enforced with past recall and imagery, yet are not merely true to the past. The difference between a new future and a mere perversion of the past is in the quality of the life which is about to become in Man.

With higher skies and deeper insights, the colors enriched, the water much sweeter, we can know the new by the enhanced properties that come with it. For the past itself (or perversions thereof) cannot of itself bring anything more than poor copies of itself. We know when Christ is there amongst our Futures when the value is greater, and the experience is better.

The Past, of course, has been gleefully responsible for such previous joys of betterment as we have known at that time when it came to us afresh. For this we thank the Past, and do honor it again with all life to come anew. However, it will only be from the new that improvements and enhancements are possible. This law alone does encourage Man to ever move forward ...and with hope in our hearts shall it only be so!

*Reply to an objection made:
Your point should be: subjective for soul and objective for ego.
This is also according to Freud.

Answer:

Objective perception and subsequent recall via the soulic consciousness is fundamental to the nature of the soul's impressioning i.e. to take to itself that which is. The faithfulness of this is angelic in quality: that the soul can love and absorb influences, events and even understandings which are true to the qualities and aspects of other souls. This faithfulness of perception is an objective overview rather than a discriminating reflective faculty as is expressed by the differentiating ego.

When the ego of a man or woman qualifies events and memory, it does so through its own criteria accepted consciously by it. These points of reference are particular and specific to its own development and understanding. They are singular and work within their own spheres of comprehension, unlike the soulic consciousness which has the ability to identify realities which do not necessarily need to be actively expressed within itself. Therefore the subjectivity noted by the egoic consciousness is one of necessary discriminatory reasonings which reflect the individual's (subjective) assessment.


**By this we mean habitual distractions by stimulants or sedatives. When the physical body is craving and given stimulants or sedatives which invoke altered conditions of mind and thought-processes, the individual is immediately thrown out from his own arterial perceptions of place and time, being given to an artificial synchronization of such.

This is not only effected through substance but by behavior as well. The nature of excessiveness itself can promote and feed stimulants within the body unhealthily too, in respect to any physical activity - eating, sport, conversation etc. Any activity which is excessive to the point of interfering with the full day's consciousness and abilities can effectively draw a man out from his relationship to proper time.