Elementals - the Heavyweights- 21st May 1995

FOR Man to be afforded sin but be without sin (to remain distinct from his own products) he was to be attached to the beings of his making (though not design), yet free in spirit that he may return to the Father at any time. Christ challenged the demons when they grew to be all too powerful. They are of varying commons, although all are lethal if permitted into the extreme of their perversions. 

We are reminded of our ennoblement - most of which is serviced by the sorrow and bleakness of sin itself - that the ladder is indeed of many, and we are as men, somewhat in debt to our enemies for the contest. Our payment, one day in glory, shall be their fulfillment and redemption, for they too may be purified by our example; and the fashion as set by our Lord, who has taken concern upon all - all Men and their associated family.

We have begun to discuss the difficulties borne with the attachments of such beings known as thought-elementals. It has been established that these entities, though not with soul in the context of a man, do cling to and cherish men and seek their expenditure, this being most natural to them. They are constantly defiled by the heinous and unworthy desires of men, although there are most definitely advanced thought-beings who do come into effect similarly, but by virtue rather than lower means. We may look to the biblical text of Jude to find a perspective on the action and description of such beings. He writes that we may come to salvation, and speaks of the "angels who had not kept their own original state, but had abandoned their own dwelling" Jude 1:6 (Darby) - such angels who are still plastic to the ways of men, albeit ungodly. He brings to us the historical picture of that which evokes the eternal fires, concluding "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities" Jude 1:8 (KJV). 

He continues, "Now when Michael, one of the chief angels, was fighting against the Evil One for the body of Moses, fearing to make use of violent words against him, he only said, May the Lord be your judge." Jude 1:9 (Basic English Bible).

Historically the sin of Man has been proven, and not so remarkable are the following observations thereafter; however the choice passage to be noted is thus:
"These are spots in your love-feasts, feasting together with you without fear, pasturing themselves; clouds without water, carried along by the winds; autumnal trees, without fruit, twice dead, rooted up" Jude 1:12 (Darby).

"Clouds without water" - this is a twofold description of the thought-elemental in nature and in manifestation. For these angels which have left their own habitation are so chained to the lower worlds, devoid of their qualities of heavenly ego. In Michael's realm the angels are indeed with the waters transparent to heaven. These waters translate into all worlds and are flowing spirit, but cannot accumulate in mist around the body of that which is defiled.

The thought-beings are true to man, and in this are still most characteristically angelic. They are in service to man, and although they are dependent upon him for life in an erroneous way, they are nonetheless true to his impressionings, now placing him as a demi-god in standing. Therefore we may understand that although these demonic creatures (at their lowest) are vile and loathsome, they are indeed clouds without water and appear as such accumulating around the man, conspiring in such formations - that being the second interpretation of the picture given.

Furthermore, we are in agreement with Jude, as he explains that there is no good fruit to come of this 'twice dead' procedure. For all that we give over in vitality to the lower and debased elementals is most certainly unproductive; it goes backward and forth, as with a man speaking only to himself, bringing death to the soul in the process. 

When it is said that there are men who "walk after their own ungodly lusts" (Jude 1:18) we are given the concept whereby the man becomes enslaved in his directing will to that which is going ahead of him and provoking him. Yet our message is one of distinctness - that the man is separate to the sin (conveyed by these elemental beings) and so with hope we may then proceed: 

"But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
And of some have compassion, making a difference:
And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."
-Jude 1:20-23 KJV

The advice for remedy is good and plain, namely to build ourselves out of the formations of higher beings, with our most holy faith, praying for the expediency of the Holy Ghost to quicken these very motivations. To then keep ourselves in the loving protection of God, for by Him it is acknowledged of our intrinsic goodness. The mercy of Christ was displayed in this facility, i.e. that we are separate to our sin and may be then recovered from it.

To some of these beings may we be compassionate and thereby to ourselves and our brothers also, who are primarily responsible for their proliferation. To others we may find contempt in the 'garment', that we also may refuse to wear our own contamination; for this too, is to be acknowledged.

In John's recount (chapter 17) we find the words of Christ giving us a beautiful prayer:

"I do not demand that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them out of evil. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world; and I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified by truth.
And I do not demand for these only, but also for those who believe on me through their word; that they may be all one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, and the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them."
Verses 15-26, Darby

In this the World is still given preference for Men, even though Christ nor his beloved are of the World itself. Instead there is the differentiation placed, that we should be kept from evil, rather than from the World. The World, therefore, is given to be important to Christ. 

And if you have not already guessed, how then is it especially decided - why not simply surrender all to Heaven in the immediate? Why persist at all with the perilous plains? This is no simple question and not to be regarded as such. What we may draw from this is that the World is to be cherished and reformed as a whole. Secondly, it is to Father God which we rely upon for such effective Love for reformation.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Christ confronts the entire body of elemental desire in meeting with Satan. Remembering that it is the nature of the elemental being to prompt a man into more of the same, he is typified in chapter four as bringing every realm before Christ which is offered to Man by experience. The kingdoms that are associated are vast, for this is commensurate with life and all of its investments; and here for Christ to purvey, he is offered the table of Satan.

The stipulation of worship is an interesting one. Of course, this is and isn't a correct account of what actually transpired. The fancies of men are overridden by the true moments of intense rapture and glory, whilst all experience, earthly experience, arrays the soul after having been borne by the ego. 

We come to life in all of its contrasts and Christ has permitted all beings hence, and held realization for each and every one. The conglomerate being of elemental desire came before Man as he did perform before Christ. He asks of Man to worship him as the Master, which of course, was mere illusion of conceit and in ignorance of God. But Man himself will not settle for second best, and so the holies are pledged - which Christ did remonstrate by his rebuke.

In Chapter 18: 8-9 Christ says:

"So if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life injured or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell fire." ISV

Here once again is the distinction between ourselves and our sin; that we in spirit, are not what places us in the world, connects us to the world or brings our perception right there. We are separate and may discard the elemental beings associated, rather than suffer their sorrows in the purifying fires of Hell after death.

However, and also in Luke 11:34-36 we find:

"The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light."

So we take into our being much and do color it so with our thoughts and our intentions respectively. A man is still squarely responsible for the poisons manufactured or the joys he upholds. We are asked to be aware and mindful of our place as co-creators in this world, and the corresponding thought-world as mirrored in our beings also.

Paul reminds us soothingly in Corinthians 2 (13:5-14) that we shall know that we are not reprobates, and that we shall do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. His comforting thought is namely:
"For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth."
That Man is singular to the truth, and that his appearance as a 'reprobate' is deceptive to that truth.
"Be perfect" he cheerfully concludes! -

"Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you.
The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen."

Paul was in no way defeated by the 'damned and lost' elemental, when he defied them with his courage, hope and cheer. He has invoked gladness by such discrimination and has called upon a stronghold for Man to be found in comfort (for dis-ease harbors terrible elementals and runs contrary to the meditative allowances). He reiterates the wish for oneness, that we may be so conjoined as Men, and live in peace rather than incite the scurrilous activity of thoughts at war, which pitch men against each other whilst the devils feed on the remains of their humanity. His answer was in his cheerfulness and also, in the discrimination between what truly becomes a man in becoming a man.

Man is empowered to free himself and others from the overbearing natures of vampiristic elementals. It is his right to disable their harm and not answer or play to his own, nor those of others. Whilst they have cunning, Man has forthrightness and he shall win out over these sorry repositories which are verily his own personal shadows.

Our quest towards divinity is not marred by the complicated natures of these attending beings. It is rather that because of their existence being distinct from us, that we may be separate to the sin which we are answerable for. 

They suffer as we should not, but they are greedy for existence and seek perpetuation through our constant desires and fulfillment. If therefore our days are filled with joyous and uplifting aspirations it shall be that this is what they shall become, as we also will be returned with more invocations for the same.

This is why it is essential for men to come to know certain happiness, that the light of Heaven may stream throughout their souls and fill their beings completely. The thought-beings of sorrow and of hardship are hindrances to the developing man, of themselves. One must pass through these conditions and onto joy. That Christ has imbued His Creation with Beauty and with elation and mostly, moreover Love, is the greatest indication we may follow with likewise, as to how we are to become and be, best of all.

Criticism, Elemental Beings, Meals & Meetings- 23rd April 1995

CRITICISM within one's own awareness and sub-awareness, draws the offendant closer to he who he criticizes, that he may be embraced and possibly unburdened somewhat. This is why criticism is an irritant to he who openly criticizes, for there is that part of the higher consciousness which seeks to allay all misfortune as perceived in another; whilst the mundane consciousness in a man makes struggle with any such involvement.

Abhorrence to particular conditions comes naturally; whilst accompanying judgments about the men we find disagreeable or whom we find uncomfortable, may be untoward in cruelty if not answered also with a degree of compassion. In simple terms, he who we are not moved to feel sorry for when a criticism emerges from within our own being, is one who shall share their experience with us in some period hence, that we may come to sympathy in full awareness. 

When a man overcomes an illness or unsanctity, he is triumphant for all. He has accomplished a recovery which will affect many in this lifetime and the following. Conversely, during times of struggle - be it any form of struggle - he may also make share of his pains and his involvements, so that the influence of such travels over into becoming planted within the psyche of other men, then brought forth within their circumstance; and so it goes. 

On the surface this does appear (and with warrant) to be a dangerous outcome, sadly. Of course we have also discussed previously, how the very company of men who are of untoward natures shall affect even pure individuals in a derogatory way, were that they continually abided them. Influence does indeed work its way through regardless. 

However, in respect to our true natures which yearn to incorporate all understandings of humanhood, the shared experience may be of merit, particularly in relation to karma and the relative unattachments there. All consequences are karmicly in tow, however when one man 'shares' experience with another directly, it can be through the activity of an extended ego who:

1. Wishes to make supplement - make right the perceived wrong (in the circumstance of criticism) - and seeks to alleviate the karmic burden of that soul.
2. Has conflict arising from this confrontation of attachment – the lower self seeks to flee from the experience and may become antagonistic to he who he criticizes because of fear of involvement.
3. Is subsequent to the very velocity of such antagonism - i.e. the further one is repelled the closer one is drawn - the individual shall experience that which he has rebuked.
   

If on the other hand he has already such experience within his soul-consciousness or waking consciousness, to recognize that which he finds offensive, and further to this he has pity for that circumstance, then accordingly the supplication has been offered by the Higher Self in the form of pity or compassion so given immediately, and the involvement goes no further.

None of this relates to false criticism, whereupon the claimant has misjudged another by mistake. The reasons for such depend largely upon whether or not there is upset or rage which accompanies the complaint. There are many casual criticisms which come and go, flitting throughout a man's mind during the day, which barely impact his consciousness, but act as little aggravations to his overall concentration. These mites of dissension are of an elemental nature which primarily feed from the vitality expired, given out in cursory bursts. Their own nature is built of uneven-temper, bad-temper; and they continue to inspire it where they can, feeding from the man's expirations as he is goaded into replay.


These elementals are essentially colored by the man himself, who is responsible. They are encouraged and fed by him, and when viewed only abstractly in relation to one's thinking, one may still acknowledge their presence and their effect, particularly when they have become immeasurably interrupting and disagreeable to self.

The expiration of thoughts which we harbor, compound and hold consequence. A 'simple' expression of anger, let's say for example, may be nil-directed and of itself ineffectual (impotent enough to cause any great or lasting harm) but it will assuredly go directly into an awaiting elemental being who will thereby return to the initiator for more of the same. This elemental being will go back, with the same substance as was given out by that individual - the very same - to then inspire more. 

Now this may or may not be entirely effectual. Should it be that the elemental is weak, having only just been 'born' to this, then he may dissipate his substance and the man may indeed walk away without furtherance; or if the individual responds twice over he shall give issue to his friend who then doubles his strength with the outpouring.

The elemental being may then return to the man with an increased ploy, sufficed by he himself. There is then the relationship of this external fellow of Anger living independently as it were, but returning to be reinstalled by the man who is loved and acknowledged as creator. Every time the man hastens to expound this emotion and his astrality ignites with passion, it is then fed to the awaiting being who, for the main part, has been the very cause of the inspired 'feeling'. 

The man himself may believe that he has reasons, either well-placed or otherwise, but he has moreover a habit which has been experienced and practiced over many episodes which all have differing reasons in the past, therefore he is prompted to anger by the anger he has - whether it is useful or destructive, it is self bound and self orientated.

One of the saddest sights seen, is of the circumstance where an elemental being of this desire variety has taken a man into death - their relationship has gone thus so. In the case of Anger, as we have talked of, one can see many a man being led over the threshold holding this being's hand for the last time, only to enter the astral domain quite weakened from all the vitality so expended.

The individual after death is habit orientated, and relies upon the behavior moreover, than wording or even thinking. He is what he has exuded - he is substance for substance. If there have been negative parallel relationships such as described, it will take much effort for the soul to detach from the relationship in order that he remove himself and carry onwards into higher realms. For in the case of longstanding relationships between our personal demons and ourselves, there is that self-identifying dependence and a reluctance to give up and sever ourselves from that which we have poured much of ourselves into. Pity that it is not with an angelic being, rather than demon! 

However, in all of these sojourns there becomes a lasting and good effect. For then a man becomes entitled further to Grace, because of his efforts in Hell. He may not move into Heaven with unnaturalized fiends; he must forcibly and consciously see them as they are, and himself into the bargain, and then in answer to need, he is awash with the anointing love that comes to his sorriness. Elemental beings, during one's lifetime, will desist if they are not encouraged or fed. They do expire after time, and are not therefore empowered to promote more of the same, if more of the same is refused. 

For the purpose of today's subject we relate only to those undesirable elementals. There is of course the same principle given and worked to positive effect. They are a part of nature, of human nature as a matter of fact, and simply colored by Man, depending upon his desires, his inclinations and his determinations. They may serve Man usefully, or if so allowed, be a deterrent to his brighter consciousness. They are intrinsic to the thought-world, but have origins which go before thoughts, and are so played out in this way also. So one may look more closely to the aspects of criticism in ways related to self, to try to discover the internal promptings to such. 

Discernment is distinct from criticism and necessary to the developing ego. Discernment is well-founded and must be accurate by its nature, that by experience and with clarity we can assess a predicament well. But this is rarely accompanied by negativity, and if it is, the negativity is a detraction from the man and is unrelated to the judgment; for complete discernment brings the true peace of knowing. When any situation is properly reviewed and understood, then there is always a peacefulness which abides. 

In the most horrible of human circumstances, where grief and cruelty is prevalent, one may be moved to focus only on the pitiable causes and then wish to defy them. However, concentration upon the upset is not concentration upon the men concerned; it is further from them than to them in an overall reality. When the soul is seen there is hope and hope then given them. When the knowing comes that no earthly circumstance will shatter a man, then a peacefulness may not only answer one's own upset for him, but tend also to that which we find discrepancy with. We begin to administer supplication ourselves, providing we are enabled to do this with a peaceful attitude above all else. 

In our daily applications of this it is possible to divorce ourselves from our corresponding elemental devils (for which most have differing natures and intensities) for a time, and by such practice, their effectiveness lessens with every such separation. There are places made externally (such as a chapel) and ways to be internally (during prayer and certain meditations), where they cannot interrupt the feeling-consciousness and draw the man yet away from his spiritual intention. When we pray we purify, this is true. 

There are many activities which could ordinarily be of a crude or base nature, given that is all that they were. For example: when we go to eat, we may eat with many elementals at our table. Let us work through this simple examination, remembering that elementals do not belong primarily to reasons or to reasoning. They are born of desire, be it of a higher nature working in Man, or a cruder lower nature. They are what they are, and they only inspire what we have made of them.

When a man comes before that which he is about to partake in, he adopts a preparatory attitude. This attitude will assist him into the activity, and is comprised of one or many 'summonings'. When the man is preparing for a meal, and the food is there to be had, there also are the elementals of communion (for which there are a great many involved), and we shall come to them further on, subsequent to this. 

Before the meal a man may involve an accompanying elemental of:

• INDIGNATION - The experience of indignation at having to eat. It may presuppose that the meal will not be enjoyable, even if it is what is desired. This is a complicated, but an often seen elemental inclination. Our relationship to the food we take to ourselves is delicately balanced every time. Our desire to eat may have little or no relativity to the perceived substance before us. Our perception of the nature of the food may not correlate to its true substance and action upon us. We may have had some difficult experience with food (as all have) whereupon we bring a suspicion to the table, inspired from that first experience. The suspicion would be a secondary elemental to the indignation. We may be indignant at our own desire and need. This may have formed when we were refused a food or refused a second helping, and became abashed at the circumstance thereby. The meal may become rancid with the indignation. It will taste differently. Dietary obsessions - even to the extreme (anorexia, bulimia, over-indulgence in substance) come from this elemental. Food is no longer associated with wholesomeness or given the respect it's due. It is viewed negatively and unreasonably.

• GREED - This elemental may work with indignation or be quite separate as entity. Greed is an overactive preliminary for survival. It is also quite unreasonable and unfounded, except to say that it is stimulated excessively in its very nature and a most responsive demon because of that. If we are to over-eat past our required fill we are being greedy. If we are prepared to eat whilst others go without, we experience greed. The elemental can present even if there is no one else in the room besides, it can be inspired and inspiring because as modern man we know that food may well be someone else's would that circumstances were different. When food is wasted, there was greed involved in the misjudgment. For greed is hapless and has no regard for wastage. Greed cares not for the nutrition within the food, nor the heavenly grace; it is an attitude of sense-fulfilling, inciting the lower astrality to excite at the anticipation and over-indulgence of sensory pleasure, before physical or spiritual fulfillment. Greed plays for excessiveness, insatiable excessiveness. Frugality may be inspired by greed when it comes of a man who is 'greedy' to be frugal. In this sense, one may be excessive or over pronounced with good intentions - i.e. to over fill the dinner table, or to underestimate the appetites of others. It can be that poor judgment is more apparent than mere greed, however it is greed we can watch out for.

• ANGER - This elemental has been given some consideration here already, but now for a specific context in relation to attitude and eating. The combustive nature of assimilation works similarly to the fiery relationship of sexually combining individuals in regards to the lower aspects and passions inspired - the individuals are inflamed in centres of activity all at the one time. There are very definite times when a man is 'combustive', and also when he is meeting within proximities, needing toleration or love with intimate involvement. The process of assimilation requires that we may firstly withstand that food, for without the adequate toleration it would become by its action upon us as a poison. Whether or not it would kill us entirely, it does certainly aggravate the system in part, and does kill us partially within the moment, within a certain centre. Quite often one may see a man getting angry during the course of his meal. As he ingests any food with contemptuous mood, he certainly does poison himself (and perhaps others who are present in his company); however, the point here is that the anger is usually inspired because of an inadequacy within, in meeting with the natures of the food which he is to combine with. If we cannot combine with love we find that the combustive forces actually turn corrosive against us, and become inflaming to our unhappier passions. If, on the other hand we have combined with love, then the opposite is true and we are inspired to happier experience. This then promotes also the need for one to choose that food which is most conducive to the system, and also highlights the merits of one's table grace, that we may call upon the higher order to help us in the very assimilation of that which would be otherwise intolerable.

• STUPIDITY - This elemental accompanies many a meal, particularly in the instance of men who seek to become the substance they consume. For the weaker ego there is the desire to lose the consciousness in the lower activities, and further on into the very natures of the foods so provided. As an essential experience it is fine to come to any particular and know it well, however the elemental of stupidity takes a man into the desire for unconscious participation, thereby negating the experience entirely. It seeks stupidity for stupidity's sake. This of course is most ... (if you get the picture).

Perhaps if we move on to the more positive aspects that may be brought to a meal, for this may help to encourage the student to realize that just as our elementals of the lower desires presuppose their worthiness upon us, there are more useful acquaintances which we may harbor lifelong.

• JOVIALITY - We rejoice in life itself when we begin to combine with others and with external substance. Here we come to know ourselves. We have tasted something different to ourselves and it does please us, therefore there is harmony known and experienced firsthand. This elemental may be encouraged and responded to in such ways that it does promote further harmony in situations where there is none. The stomach will be relaxed and the fiery digestion will transmute the forces into higher activity, rather than in a congested mass which circulates and concentrates solely around the lower regions - the man shall have his own higher activity stimulated thereby. Joviality may go where anger cannot and it will transform the working substances with joy and with love, that a combining shall be successful and of merit.

• REVERENCE - is an attitudinal elemental to accompany our meal. This elemental corresponds to life and is angelic in aspect, presupposing us to the higher realities of what is taking place. Every bite and every sip involves the mystery of being. The actuality of consuming a meal, although commonplace in occurrence, is one of the greatest happenings experienced and known to Man. We do not approach our food on a level for level basis. The elementals who do feed from our expirations and intentions, do so to satisfy a preliminary and base survival. The animals are drawn to etheric vitalities or astral attributes, but do not combine in the way of the ego in relationship to that which they may consume. In Man the substance is actually uplifted and given greater substance. Through Man, in the overall sense, that which does adjoin his evolutionary pathway is thus brought higher by such involvement, and in the day to day sense with these relationships, that substance coming from whatever living entity (plant, animal, angel, elemental), is directly involving the living evolution of that entity, and raising them higher.

• HUMILITY - We are humbled before need, we are humbled by mortality. There is that part of all men that knows of its dependence upon the food and upon the provider of that food. This elemental shall grace us with their presence when we are meditative upon thanksgiving. So here is another working example of table-grace; be it simply uttered, nonetheless, it does provide for a different space for a more beneficial elemental to enter in. Humility assists us in being able to give consideration to that which is outside of our immediate ego-experience. In this way our egos are developed when we return to them with greater experience thereby. In the context of meal-eating we are necessarily caused to become attentive to that which we do take into ourselves. We may develop from this the necessary discrimination also, so that we are cautious about substance, whilst trying to develop our awakening consciousness in this regard.

The meal is not merely a sense pleasure, nor is it an experience in which we may lose our ego involvement. It is a sacred act which we may pray for, remembering that what we may do in all ways encourages activities of elementals which will directly affect us now and in the future. And particularly when there is fiery activity stimulated, there shall be activity on the whole. 

The purification of prayer should not be underestimated. The very attitude of prayer inspires within a man the form of elemental which immediately drives out all lesser and aggravating fellows. Father God provided Man with a respite wherein he could go at anytime to Him unhindered. During the time of prayer we are exactly that: unhindered. So in not only the circumstance of table-grace where we seek to have a proper attitude and call upon the heavenly and higher forces to attribute our substance and combining, we may also use this gift of purification in preparation for other such combining, such as collective study. 

Once again, although briefly explained, we may cite a few elementals which may well determine the passions either way: Indignation, Anger and Greed - answered by: Joviality, Reverence and Humility.

Firstly it may be said, that the more one is practised the stronger there becomes the elemental being thereby. Therefore, it cannot be reasonably anticipated that any meeting group shall instantaneously upon will or want, establish separate or joint elemental beings of stamina. This is only won from recurrent effort. And the principle holds for good as for bad. 

Initially those prayers said at the beginning of such an effort will provide a clearing from the room of personal demons, at the time of the issue. However they are not far away and often called back in, for remember also, that they are habits moreover that we do live with, and the sanctity provided by prayer shall only hold good in a sealed and protected space (one which is not usually entertained by negative or frivolous moods for example). 

We may liken the attitude desired to those last and first moments adjoining sleep. Sometimes spiritual work and prayer takes men into sleep because they are separated from their demons. Also a man may be so used to being 'fired up' by his elemental host, that without them and their interplay he is open to the heavenly forces, but tired by them as well. However the reduction of activity is desirous when we come to serious study. 

Once again we may briefly examine our common or garden variety of elemental:

• INDIGNATION - We often resist truth, yet it is because of this elemental so inspiring the attitude, rather than by reasoning or intimation from the spirit. Once again it has all come from some defensive moment long past and we may realize that in the first instance. The ego is given a peculiar status - in children who are unawares and unattached to their active egohood, we find the greatest surety and knowing. In adulthood there is a conflict of knowing within the one man, and largely it becomes unresolvable, as the individual is ongoing throughout the entire life thereafter. Changes have to manifest within the consul, and he is ill-equipped to sustain soul experience with egoic explanation. At best there shall be an easing of tensions, but tensions shall predominate ever after, and perhaps primarily all indignation does come from this within. Indignation may be a tool of discrimination when we refuse an untruth. The elemental itself cares not for right and proper use, only for the exercise of vitality out from a man, and so when we bring such a being into our consciousness when considering another's point of view, we may answer it with a humility which will give over to a more charitable aspect of consideration. Indignation says: "Who are you to say that?" Humility says: "Who am I to say that?"

• GREED believes that we are individually entitled to a spiritual progression before all others. It will coerce the student into many excesses. Whether well meant or not they are a hindrance to proper study. We may feel greedy for upliftment and although it is not as a sensory indulgence, it may actually become as parallel to such if we are overeager for the repeated experience of upliftment without the true revelation to accompany it. The attitude here is a difficult one. Who does willingly abandon their ecstasy of finding? However there is quite a difference between this and the other. The greedy initiate has little time to give for those things which do not bring him pleasure. His excessiveness will show when he is unable to let the pure joys come to him, rather than he stimulate elated joys in fantastic imagination. By all means the higher involvements will come and be revealed; be it because of the effluence of others or by personal attainment, yet only because of the love of that which you work with, and not for the experience moreover. Reverence shall answer this, for intemperance may come out from simple mistakenness or from greed. However with reverence we may learn to honor the spiritual life and seek to give it value, rather than use it solely for self-improvement. This is another reason why meetings of men are significant, for they can be for one another and thereby surpass the sole effort integrally. Greed says: "I must take to myself all that I can that I may become more. "Reverence says: "I honor all Life and shall become only by its becoming."
  

• ANGER or its corresponding elementals of dissension often frequent meetings of men, for firstly as was discussed, there are combustive forces at play - just in the dynamics of great and wonderful thought communicated between minds, and then onto the higher ego involvements also.

Elementals are not prompted by actuality so much as perceived and recalled actuality. When a man sits with other men he is often as not recalling similar circumstances and bringing to mind this and that story. This can be untoward if in fact it calls upon negative associations - for them or for others - and so we find that the elementals which are not conducive to enriched and cooperative study are induced by those things outside of the issues (rather than within).

Joviality is an aspect which need not be excessively remonstrated to be effectual and as remedy to dissension of any regard. The nature of joviality is uplifting - it is what it is - and though harsh judgments despise it (that being the nature of a harsh judgment, if you get the thinking), it is as unhindered, untouched by upset when pure and free from criticisms or insinuations. For there are times when the elementals of dissension need be cleared away and Joviality can do this. 

Anger says: "I cannot tolerate you, you cause me to pain myself".
Joviality says: "Arise out from that pain and expel yourself."

We should not be dissuaded from trying our best, for it is the very trying and rehearsing which will establish our strengths and our patterns as empowered into the elementals of our choosing. Much can be managed, and there is plenty yet to be learned - with no recriminations from self, as this only brings on elementary indignation at self etc.

We may close with a prayer:

To the Angels of Man -
May we not offend with violent overload,
In stresses of magnetisms ungoverned by joy or of love.

As powerful as demi-gods, we've shaped as shapes did form,
And now for all the whole of Man those hideous makings perform.

Dear Angels, do protect us now from shades which hunt our souls-
Our starlife-lights they shall expire, our joys exhaust,
Our truths withhold.

With wings God-strong raise us above,
That we shall not feed dragons with tears or this our bleeding blood;
And rest safely on your pinions.

Shall we then move to transform them?
With that sanctity of a greater fire?
For here I be, enshrouded in Thee,
By Christ, make pure my Desire.

Amen

At Eastertide- 14th April 1995

THERE are those times, seemingly vacant, preceding the events designated to become. They are not empty as such, bereft of design and configuration; they are as an expectant pause amassed with possibility yet given to the directives and impulses that are to be, are to be manifest.

Every 'space' that awaits to be filled, every passage into place and time awaiting projection, is in actuality, living hope. These 'vacancies' are not indifferent; just as that and those which comprise the spiritual worlds are not indifferent. They are enlivened and stimulated into further life by the very substances of Hope and Joy. This is important to comprehend and re-instil back into the consciousness, that all space, be it filled or empty, is imbued with a joyful, hopeful permeation - it is Christ filled.

The bleak aspect of Golgotha is a most terrifying representation to the spirit. When taken into account, Christ's Sacrifice does make all opponents to Him tremble within, and thereby at least by that measure alone they shall know obedience to Him. His immediate protesters are creatures of sin who live in wickedness as pronounced and vitalized in Man. They are all pretenders to the throne:

• Malice, defying His Love;

• Ridicule and Criticism bearing Doubt and Doubt's diseases;

• Covetousness and Jealousy- the jailers of the spirit;

• Hatred and its conspicuous enclave Vanity, which chooses self-righteousness over humility and perpetual betterment;

• Lovelessness desires self-empowerment firstly before all else,

• Ugliness (in the spiritual reality) assuming beauty and contesting true purity.

Yes Christ has opponents who actively contrive against His ways, who are not as yet so dispositioned to accept His reality in aspect that is needed.

The greater Universe is graceful and with all things contained harmoniously. With the contrast of sin and all of its contradictions we have the paradox of living Man, for in this Christ has made allowances and provisions for His very foes - they are subject to Him for existence also, so great and powerful is His Love and toleration that they be.

Sin may continue to live in Man and not harm him so long as there is Christ there also. It is not so much the sin that shall devour his soul, but that the man would weaken and disseminate without his Christ's infilling. It is not enough to be sinless were that one was Christless as well.

Karma, for the main part takes care of the sin - particularly the congested or overly pronounced disvirtues. Accordingly the holiest of men carries sin within, as part of his uncompromising makeover. It shall travel with him and manifest in lesser and differing ways, but shall nonetheless be that part of his humanhood to remain.

Before the crucifixion of our Beloved, the inner sun within Men was eclipsed by the falsehoods so compelling to the soul that Man was in danger of losing his very pulse linking him with Christ. Incarnation would have ceased, Love would not be known. Even today men are so disheartened as to the wondrous realities of life.

The perilous death in Christlessness presents itself every year at Eastertide. Once more we are tenuously offered a free decision - just as, after completing an episode of a lifetime we are so given the choice as well - and deep within our spirit's nuances we may embrace Christ or turn from Him. We may withstand the overwhelming Love or suffer the pains of our own lovelessness.

We have been forgiven of our wretchedness, even though there is that within our brother and ourselves besides, that would otherwise become intolerable; it is suffered within Christ and made good. We are loved completely in this issue, in this moment; in all that we are and are to become, we are loved.

In all pressures in twain, in bud and shoot, in mind and dialogue, with here and now, in virtue and its pretenders, there are stresses of nuclear proportion, all brought to peace by the presence of Christ. We may slip in and out of time during prayer; we may cherish our meditations and give thanks for all of the knowing.

The more like Him that I become,
The more He shall reveal to me,
That I should know my Christ, my Sun,
And live His Love's intensity.


I call, oh Lord, for you this day,
Be known, that never shall I leave Your Grace,
In Presence here, my Christ, my Sun,
By mercy sweet, my sins atone.


And now forthwith, with copious Love
Your contestants lose virility,
Yet men who seek their Christ, their Sun,
Increase their strength commendably.

The Church in Radical Transition- 4th April 1995

In reply to question from J.W.-
HE may ask of these things because he is entitled to ask. He may inquire of the priests simply because of his having been such a priest. His questioning therefore comes deeply from past experience and does not dishonor the priests of churches today. There are many instances where such qualification is necessary afore probing a mystery with intensity; particularly if 'groundbreaking' is the pledge and the progression of Man the very purpose.

As said before, new impulses cannot simply arrive of themselves; they must be drawn on to the former and in relationship to them. It is a speciality to receive and entertain various qualities of inspiration. Intangible as it may seem, it can be a work of its own and with great merit for mankind. For where else and how many can 'rise to the mark', and also carry new thought into the future?

There are many purposes in one, but this is intrinsic to the rest. There may be little outwardly to signify the working processes of grand interplay, and very few to recognize to what extent and how far the implications; however such is the circumstance when broaching the uncommon.

'Egotism' from this is unlikely to ensue because of that matter of distinctness - it requires more inner confidence than false egoism to proceed with one's careful meditations (seemingly alone). If there were many involved and adoring, this would be another matter, and a disabling distraction. The many who are affected in spill-over, are so because of less recognizable employs, and no less enriched by the efforts thus made. It is the exact difference between hosting a dinner and sending off food parcels - exactly.

If I strike a wet match is it guaranteed to light? If it cannot, should I thus imagine the flame nonetheless? There are other means to flames other than a standard match also. A reproducible spiritual experience? Everything renews - this is a constant - all vows accordingly; particularly in the instance of a practicing priest. There are those who have most naturally altered vocation but not title, and continued to practice as rehearsed and learnt before.

The issue here is of a higher self-consciousness. Supplication, great supplication, is administered to attendees of sacramental ceremony. However, this occurs in such a way which is rarely consciously felt or realized. Part of that is in the giving over to the priest trust of him that he may demonstrate such godliness and it will blanche the soul. Part of this also is that the physicality is commensurate with unknowing; that open-eyed experience is a distraction from the inner activities when it comes to pure self-conscious realization.

The practicality of St. Peter’s Church system is physical, with the soul consciousness not having connected in the way it may in future men. For although the esoteric wisdoms are present, there is no means in place to consciously re-conceive them. However this was never the objective of the Church, and by bipolar equation it is (or was) the wager in saving the souls en masse (in Mass).

The powers are diminishing. They have moved out into the world and spread. Once it was that both the magician and the priest could effectively summon elemental forces which overran the natural world. Of course they were of differing influences, however their powers were apparent and the Church brought into this World the illumining prospects. It received into itself the great Divinities and it transformed this space with invisible cathedrals built of a yearning for God's Blessing, and the rightful restoration of place and people to Christ.

So it was and so it will be, but in a spread advanced and changed. The spires of thought need now find a vital connection, not into the physical World alone, but advancing through to the penetration of Earth-man's waking consciousness and thus relayed into their heavenly aspects also.

• Outer activity performance = soul-consciousness = with no ego-involvement = insteeps the Physical World = Incarnation.

• Inner activity striving = involving the active consciousness = ego development = the unknown becoming incarnate in realization.

The process has evolved into the ego life of Man to be substantiated there. Does this throw some light on the question?

Making Light of Certainty- 18th March 1995

Question: Could you please explain the line in our Lord's Prayer which says "And if put to the challenge, may we walk in the shadow of Your example"?- I find the word 'shadow' a bit off-putting.

A SHADOW is that which falls out from someone (or something) when there is light strong enough to make such discernible. The 'shadow of an example' means the example's projections which naturally fall this way or that; depending upon their relation to what is before them. 

Although the word 'shadow' implies a gloominess distinct from its contrast of light, it is a product of a light-focus, of there being that place to where the rays have issued and met. Darkness, as often signified, is that which is without light, i.e. no thing which the light present can efface. 

Light itself is ever-present, called into being by the need of a lowly existence; for all light (all, as in all) is a reality from a higher world presenting in pure form. It contains an essential fluidity, and an amalgamation of qualities and higher forces, including myriads of beings respective to times and places from higher realms also; and it enters into the spheres beneath, presenting to illumine and make known that which is in existence there. 

We come to recognize and know all that is of this World by the provisions of that from a far higher impetus. Thus all knowledge, even the blatant materialistic comprehension, is inspired from 'on high'.

One cannot light a candle and bring the fires out from Hell to produce an illuminating flame. Any flame, of necessity, is from an adjoining region which is higher to the condition from which it is seen in, and from that perspective the fires of Hell themselves are indeed what is needed and a godsend so to speak, rather than an object of evil. They are purging to the sinner to whom they are abhorrent, because they are from a higher sphere. Those who are temporarily (yes, temporarily) committed within the lowly confines, are enshrouded with a darkness all of their own. Their spirit is truly divorced from the joy of any great illumination; and as a plant without light they either recoil back from life or adapt with an astrality which feeds them the milk of the light as cast from others; and as a creature of the depths of darkness, their characteristics mutate into spurious, inhuman design. 

It is a higher world which calls us into being. We are drawn up towards it, but only brought as far as the perimeters of this in our consciousness; whilst all the while we live too in quality and in perspective, in some of that which is to be our spiritual future, belonging further on ahead.

The miracle of Medjugorje is a circumstance of discovering this truth. The Sun becomes the very portal that it is, with the cascade of angels multifariously tumbling into our place of being, with too the grandest of Loves, in pure spirit form, who may meet in the light and are seen in this light, and interpreted in countless languages because their true and first language is direct and spoken in presence, rather than projection.

The earth in which the kernel rests, cradled and nourished, protected before maturation, this earth is penetrated by the sunlight daily; and although our eyes would not take in the difference between morning and night, all growth beneath the ground does. The etheric sight belonging to all things which live beneath the soil is keen to the Sun, which actually radiates all the way through the larger Earth, saturating it entirely. We are never without some of its influence - and even in those portions where the darkness of night is apparent, there is still much of the Sun that is with us even so.

Heat and light are two totally different commodities. Heat is activity whereas light is our immediate Heaven, the 'one' above us, the element so combined of our higher resources. Heat is an activity which is not necessarily partial to the relative higher aspects in its manifestation. It is active because of higher possibility, but may come from a lower source. Heat expires soul forces, whereas light infills them. 

Heat is natural to the activity of soul, but requires containment and direction. Light is of the soul and knows no containment but is satisfied and lives through all things lower than itself - it finds itself (transversely) by its subjection into the grosser imprints. 

The Future finds its way into the Present and thus recognizes itself, by that which it makes apparent. The Present may only come to recognize itself by those powers as sacrificed to it from the incoming Future.

Actuality, of a higher and firstborn reality, inspires activity, where the forces of the Future impound and tussle with the forces of the Present. Warmth is such an activity, whereupon the Future makes wrestle with the Present; and accounted for, may expire some of the Present whilst making way for the new.

Question: Is there anything that one can ever really be 'certain' of?

Yes indeed! Whilst we may never be certain about our own perspectives being completely and utterly adherent to an actuality, we may, for one, be certain that there are those more able than us who are reliable. This is not a trite put-down, but offered as a comfort. For although it is paramount for each to learn for himself all things, there can be much too much self-importance placed in this by the individual student, who may overestimate his wisdom into the bargain. There are those times in which it is appropriate for all of us to acknowledge our relative infancy on this path to higher Wisdom, and look forward to many adjustments in understanding, in comprehension.

Having said that, we may examine the meaning of certainty, and hope that we may come to it! Certainty is to Light as Knowledge is to the Heat's activity. The experience of certainty within a man is, of itself, a higher quality given expression; for the time that he has called it forth and lives with it in true affirmation within, this 'living' certainty (irrespective of its connections), is expressive of his higher nature, positioning him in relation to the present. 

It is assumed that this is relative to the ego-activity of a man, but it is not. Many creatures that know certainty have not the egos to know that they know. Many self-realized beings are brimful of certainty, but reflective solely of the Cosmos, and have no marked individuality which distinguishes them from their brothers (apart from their histories). So we may say that certainty is not bound to self, with all of the implications of possible mistakenness.

Certainty lives in our experiencing that which is really outside of ourselves, rather than some false imagination. In other words, one cannot consider it properly in a negative context - of 'it' having gone wrong - particularly in this case, the subject being what it is; if you get the point.

The clearest and strongest of experiences of pure certainty comes to a man during prayer - this is true. When we endeavor to combine with our Christ or Father God, or appeal to the Angels also, we effectively do so. As immediately as the hope goes out it is answered. There is an enormous eagerness to meet with us, and quite often, although a man may almost experience a solitude during prayer, he is at the same time amassed with a loving attentiveness that obliges his soul.

Many times we may come to share in the greater strengths which are about us. We may come to a certainty of Christ's wherein we know:

He is unshakably, undeterably, incorrigibly, unrelentlessly, completely and emphatically, unreservedly and undeniably, totally, most utterly, fully, and happily:

• CERTAIN of His Love for us - for all of us.

• CERTAIN of His unswerving commitment to us.

• CERTAIN of our being, (in existence) and our right to be.

• CERTAIN of His being, (in existence) and His right to be.

• CERTAIN of the Future (because He is the Future).

• CERTAIN of Love (it being the one Key to Creation).

• CERTAIN of Purpose - with a definite direction known to Him.

By just such contemplation of this earnest certainty we begin to adhere to its reality, and thus experience it. There is no doubt about it! That is the very experience of certainty - its gift to us is the pleasure of a godly conformity, where we do not battle our wills with the greater Will, but we may yet do battle with those aspects of the World which we need to effect change.

Should we ever really discuss the correctness of a man to ponder his correctness of certainty? You see, as implied before, the nature of certainty is what it is. The experience of it, in one sense, no matter how it is attached to what or what for, is still a heavenly inspired gift working within a man. What he knows in certainty may not even translate and correlate in thought. He may be mistaken in opinion, but in those times of certainty he is close to the big truth; and so one is separate to another and not dependent upon another.

How a man manifests day to day in blithering logic and movement does not depict his full reality. What he says he knows and what he truly knows is an extraordinary comparison of itself. We may cite countless instances of him knowing so much more in the richness of his soul experience, having been gleaned over ages now beyond memory (but not beyond recall), that for the time he may be fixed with acquiring a technique of this age, or a sophistication in his thinking; but he is a grand being with vast associations. 

Therefore he is able to be certain of a good many things without even having to qualify why. And he is entitled because the spirit-soul is far wiser than the all-connecting intellect regardless. And he is accountable to his own spirit-soul before answering to the intellects of others.
But what of delusion? Delusion is another matter. In certainty he is never wrong, even though his reasoning may be. 

Just as light comes to us from the higher spiritual realities, so does the light of certainty infill us with its higher spiritual knowing. From this, when the future is brought into our present thought, we have an activity arising, a combusting process within the inspiration of reasoning, of further surmising, of unrelated thoughts too, and vapors of emotion also. We begin then to expire some of our soul forces into that which we are considering. There becomes a warmth and a liveliness, which may consume our present selves, or maybe quick to extinguish, depending upon the episode.

Certainty is to Light, as the activity of Knowledge is to Heat. And if you can't stand the heat... you can still get into a Certainty.

Cloak & Shoe- 5th March 1995

FOR the very reason that men do not glimpse outside of their own splendor for very long, or indeed effectively, there is that which does save them from the consideration of inertia and dullness also.

When men strike confidence within themselves, and by which are so self-bound as to refute the world before their own wisdoms, it is from a quality so endowed in ego which is lastingly good and godlike by nature and inclination. The certainty of one’s ego and one’s direction is born firstly from that same certainty of God; with there being lesser characteristics following to distinguish a false confidence in lesser activity.

A false confidence is one which is falsely based; i.e. wherein the individual is clearly wrong about something, the judgment has gone awry, and yet there is little or no perception of the fact, and little or no connection with the outer reality or inner truth.

However, if a man is to know something, then he must be given the right to know what he does know; and were one to forcibly shake just one certainty out from his gather, he should then be corrupted and lessened in regards to all. Disillusioned, he would become inept and without the compulsion to evermore learn – and inertia (a spiritual disease of soul-consciousness, which afflicts the mind - when there is one) (or forces thereof) would set upon the individual, who in lackluster treatise would become most ineffectual within the world.

Fortunately there is no simple way to unhinge a man in this way, and so the events of this happening are exceedingly rare. The point is though, that there is a responsibility of attitude by this that we can arrive at, and an understanding of one’s place unto another, and furthermore of Christ’s position in this as well. 

In reference to there being a cloak of invisibility that one could don at will, we may take the consideration of Christ of the Gospels as He beseeched His beloved to make recognition, whilst time and time again was refused; even the belief in Him, let alone the vision of the obvious. As our first example of this cloak, now transversed, we may go to our Master and wonder why it was that He was not 'seen' or understood or comprehended with clarity to be He who He was. This is an important point. 

The frustrations that are often experienced in one soul who is keen to share realities with another but cannot because the other individual stares back blankly as if there is no such thing brought before them, this basic frustration that one may experience from another is best to be understood and worked through, rather than aggravated with annoyance.

For there are two types of communication that can be shared between men: one is where there are 'toes dipped in water' wherein the consciousness flits in and out and to and fro, from self into logic then quasi-logic, with only a little rapport. In this instance the distance is marked, and each man is quite separate even though there is a consciousness-meet wherein they agree in kind. The separation is natural to the necessity of knowing who is who (that being that which distinguishes one from the other) which is elementary to individual life, whilst also perfunctionary to an underdeveloped consciousness also.

The second form of communication is empathetic, sympathetic and, in a higher sphere, sequelogistic to the soul comprehension. Here there has been a space given willingly by each participant, to which they go, away from their own definition’s restraints, and meet consciousness in communication, in experience, direct experience - which is not solely worked out within the one mind of one party, but is cohesive and accurate to the two.

In other words, in this mingle there becomes a temporary conjoining, which really thereby, has been a moment or so which was shared completely. By contrast to 'toe-dipping' we may liken this to full immersion; and so the communications shared between individuals do vary and differ markedly.

The space which is given over to where the two souls may meet, is a space made by the heart, which is the only true entrance into a man that he shall initially give his faith, to enable some other to be warranted worthy for communication. In this we find Christ asking of the men for them, to make a space in their hearts that they should believe in Him, so that He would then be made known to them, as they to He. Without this consent the men who sought evidence would find none, and the grand majesty of soul would go unrealized, as was proved.

One cannot come to the unknown by way of the mind or intellect, as this would be contrary to logic in the first instance. Either a man comes to what he does know, learning anew, or he must find a capability which would be outside of his mind to enable the addition. For mind alone cannot increase other than in parallels - it cannot add to itself complete contrasts from what substance it already has.

Intrinsic to our beings is our preoccupation with relevancy. That we may be specific to only a handful of realities at the one time is a gift which assists the consciousness and the soul to live in time, and experience wakefulness. If a man could not be particular, and was not insensitive to the many myriads of spiritual realities which breathe through him and accompany his immediate life, then he should have little or no knowledge of self or contrast of self, and therefore self consciousness. He would be and become all else firstly.

So the gift of self and of knowing self is valuable and to be respected. No matter how important it may appear to our selves that another individual come to our understandings as we have them, one can see that their station and aspect of self and the protection thereof, is of more gravity. One may not forcibly request a mutual meeting in thinking or in being; and further to this one can actually step back and become less persuasive in attitude, whilst more effective in soul experience.

Many men go to break the egg to find the chick, not waiting for the bird to manifest in its own time. They would will for another, rather than love for another – the approach is all or nothing and therefore ill-satisfying. 

Later on, if a man lives in commonness, he shall only seek out the company of those in which there is a shared likeness, because he cannot stand the frustration of trying to bend others to him. His narrow hatreds will deepen because they are born from intolerance and weak mindedness, dismissing the value of all which is unknown.

This is yet another case for the exercise of heart logic. If we think with our hearts we may find another way to actually confer with a man; one in which he will be pleased and enhanced, as we too would hope to be. 

Let this be said furthermore - the story of Cinderella is just that; as we may find:
We begin with the picture of the hearth, as it was the sweet Cinders’ title to attend to the space in which the fires would burn heartily. Let this space be now her heart, which is given over to the household and to the world. She does clear away the ashes that she may prepare for the fires to burn again. In this there is truth that the soul’s love which inflames our inner spaces, graced by spirit and the life of the spirit, becomes choked with residue and the impulses subside, ever needing prompting back to life; for love and love’s passion, does ebb and flow in rhythmic obedience. There is the time in which we contain the fire, and the time in which we clean the hearth and prepare for its coming again.

Cinders had two sisters which dominated this story: Slovenliness and Wickedness. These sisters were unlike her in nature, bearing little or no resemblance to the child of the heart/hearth.

There was to be an occasion. A prince of the district was to hold a gala party that he may choose a wife to couple with. The sisters were eager to try their chances. The prince resembled all that a stately soul should be, in upright virtue, in strength and in capability. Therefore the acquaintance and subsequent mingling was desirable. For it can be said too, that when an individual truly meets in soul with another friend, then the qualities are shared. This is why we seek our Christ in combining, as best influence upon our humble natures. 

Returning to the story: The haughty sisters mocked Cinders that she would wish to go to the Prince’s party. This party was the community host of all his invited confederates. This other soul has opened himself to the world at large, that he may seek out true commune in spirit, and so by inviting all of those who would accept the invitation (and others who would not) he has gone through the necessary obligations of being openhearted as well as openminded. For we must remember that all men are unknown to us, unless we truly know them. Should we really come to know them, then there is much love and affinity thereby. However, at the stage he was at, the Prince was seeking for his soul’s commune (that being the theme of this story) and so he was open to all, that he may find that which was especial. 

The sisters are attributed to be quite ugly, but did do the best they could, dressing themselves in common finery, pretending that the outer appearance could conceal their sinful and lazy natures. In the outer world this does happen, that a man may feel uplifted, almost morally, by such clothes which are stately- however, it may be but a good guise and little more; particularly if the individual wears pride as well. And proud these two were, as they did strut with self admiration.

Here now, our picture of sweet Cinders is of rags, and she is overcome with the soot-black of ash upon her white skin. Why then should it be this way, that the pure of heart is portrayed so forlorn? This is because the soul is wanting and is not fulfilled. The closer to God that a soul does become, the more it suffers the world. It does also come to great happiness accordingly, however.

When the sisters had departed, Cinders fell into great upset at her self’s condition. If we are to review ourselves by comparison, we shall always find disparity; and so it is that the sadness came, but was answered in the appearance of an Angel. The Angel appeared to Cinders in beauty and in radiance, saying "You shall go to the party tonight, and I have come to help you."

That Cinders was to attend was ordained by her right to do so. The assistance that she was given is one that we all have. Although our angel’s presence goes unrecognized (for they are forbidden to make themselves known), in this special story our Cinders catches the vision of her intervening Angel and hears her speak.

Our physical presence which carries us through a lifetime in the world, is comprised of the service of both the animal and plant kingdoms. The transformation of pumpkin into coach was an example of this; as quite so, our physical bodies are just such an issue, wherein the dear contributory kingdoms serve to bear our souls by their constant reformation.

Cinders herself was clothed anew in the most beautiful of wraps, with also two crystal shoes upon her feet. In her case the outfit bore the resemblance of her inner nature, inasmuch as she was worthy to wear the finery. It was produced from the Angel herself, and of much better material than could be purchased within the world.

The crystal shoes are significant, for they are the connection she has within the world, and they represent the very clarity of being, true to the world in perceiving how it is for what it is. Shoes are our protection, and they may be of fashion as well as practical, however they are worn to soften our relationship with the world, and do cordon our selves from the immediate reality. By the wearing of crystal slippers, Cinders is still quite separate and protected from the tearing and scratching and skinning of coarse grounds, but is connected in the most refined way possible, as her perceptions of the world are nonetheless accurate – therefore she meets with the world in a consciousness of purity. Only she was entitled to wear them; and this was so because there was no selfishness to mark and mar the clarity.

The Angel made warning that there was but a definite time for which Cinders could make use of her equipment; that she must indeed return home before midnight, for then it should happen that all would return to how it was.
When Cinders made her entrance she appeared exquisite and quite obviously beautiful. The Prince immediately recognized this, and had come to see the quenching of his longings; for there was this other soul which was in likeness to his, and with space waiting there to fill; for she had gone in faith and with open expectation.

The love became a rapture and they danced together for the length of the night. But as the late hours did filter into the new morning’s day, Cinderella (Cinders now made beautiful), lost her strength in magic glamor as she remembered the Angel’s warning of returning back. She fled the court lest he catch her great indignity - leaving behind one of two crystal shoes.

That which the Prince had retained was rightfully now his to keep. For this is the way of soul commune, that there is always the remaining evidence and shared qualities; so one of the shoes became of his belonging. It is significant also because they both shared now a same connection with the world, and that he would come to know this to seek it further.

The Prince had no immediate way of finding his love directly. The powers of soul are illusive, and perhaps better understood to say that our comprehensions are many, with not one being so constant as to prevail over all. Continuance is always assured - that we pick up and return to this and that understanding, situation or soul. But change occurs in lively fashion, for without change, there becomes inertia leading to subsequent expiration; which necessitates a different change regardless. So he took charge to find his beloved, in whom he experienced a mutual knowing - but he knew not enough to simply recognize her by sight alone! 

How often Christ has appeared to those who knew Him, but knew Him not! The way in which they could come to Him, once again, was not by this the visual appearance, and not by expectation born of themselves, but in being true to the spiritual reality, in meeting with crystal clear connection (the other half recollected), knowing that the love between you both verily made two sets of keys. You may go into the space of faith, into the heart, to find Him.

The noble search continued until the Prince happened upon the cottage in which Cinders took rest. Pushing their way before her, the sisters were determined to press their feet into the shoe - bleeding and crushing, bones cracked and toes looped off. But even so, there was no fit, and their false proof of soul-hood came to no real description. It was then that Cinderella was given the opportunity and so placed her foot in his half of the pair. Of course, the fit was perfect! It could not have been otherwise, and he knew her to be the one that he longed for.

Without the shoe he may have well bypassed this individual and kept up the lonely search. By appearance only we are ill-informed. Her costume given to her from the Angel, was one which showed only substance of soul; but it could not survive as visible within the outer world for long – it had to withdraw.

As it is said, the heart sees what the eyes do not; and contrariwise, the heart is a gentle informant. We can be peaceful in the proposition that others rarely see us as we are in truth. Although there most certainly will come the day when aspects are shared openly and obviously, for the time being there is a self protection for immature egos, that they develop a sense of self firstly; and then may go on to such sharing amongst selves in the greater outreach.

If we are aware of this, then we shall immediately lessen our penetrating influences upon others: those that impinge or dominate, or devastate the less developed individual. Once again it is a matter of understanding and attitude that people shall come to understandings with us and by us at the time when we cease to force ourselves upon them.

Our cloaks of humility are apparent when we are relaxed in our selves (and no, this does not mean inebriated or casual, or inconsiderate or sleepy). In spiritual definition it means that the inner tensions of want and will are divorced from our interest in another, and our love for their being prevails over personal desire. Our desire here of course, is that of being seen for who we are etc., and so we may forgo even that in order to meet them with love. This is not to say that we wear a cloak of falsehood or deception, for that kind brings sadness to both souls and no real convening.

Expressions of love from men, bring the gods their great happiness. We can only give love where it is chosen to be received; and if the space is not there for us to go into, there is no reality thus given it. And the space shall not be made if there is no faith there within that heart – as so cried Christ, for us to believe in Him.

The Prince did find his sweetheart and delivered her from the service of the sisters. The three were truly the one – our sweet souls are mocked thus by our own laziness and wickedness, which pretend to be beauteous and worthy of another soul’s consideration. When we have departed from these two undesirables, when we listen to our Angel’s counsel and pursue our heart’s destiny with clarity within the world, then it shall happen accordingly that we will find our destiny through faith, in believing of the greater love that shall one day come to reclaim us.