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#Post#: 3000--------------------------------------------------
Falling!
By: Helen Date: August 28, 2015, 12:31 pm
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Mike at least will remember me writing on our old site about so
many close friends of ours who have "fallen by the way" changed
totally, some not even believing in God any more. People we have
prayed with, preached with, fellowshipped with and stood side by
side in worship with.
Well another one has gone down!! It really blows my mind. How
can someone go from an intermate relationship with
God..to...nothing? :-\ I know some people just glibly say "
well they were really converted/born again/ saved or (whatever
term is used) in the first place." I knew them all too
well...that is a rubbish statement.
It seems that the last step is the winning step. In
Pilgrim’s Progress the greatest number of doubts and
dangers were lurking in the area closest to the gates of the
Celestial City! Whicht was close to where Doubting Castle stood.
And it was there the enchanted ground lured the tired traveler
to fatal slumber. (I love that book)
It is when heaven’s gates are in full view that the
'gates of hell' are pushing their cause on us . So..the longer
we are on the road the more dangerous it is!!! “Let us
not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will
reap a harvest if we do not give up” Gal.6:9.
And my favourite as you all know...“Run in such a way as
to get the Prize” 1 Cor. 9:24.
Ain't that just like the Devil, to let us live a life following
after God...and hold his big guns and temptations for whatever
our weakness is , unto the very end...our last step.
I am very sad for all those who have "gone sideways".
( As you know, I do not believe they are all "lost" as some
people would believe...I believe they have "missed the mark" as
Pauls says.....and will not receive the Prize of a faithful
runner. )
#Post#: 3001--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: Piper Date: August 28, 2015, 1:12 pm
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[font=trebuchet ms]Will download Pilgrim's Progress . . .
Sounds like good encouragement for the long and weary road.
:)[/font]
#Post#: 3012--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: bradley Date: August 29, 2015, 10:50 pm
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Excellent read, Pilgrims progress. I seem to remember another
book that followed that story, about the wife that stayed
behind, how she finally came to see the light due to Christians
witness finally breaking through to her. It was good as well.
Helen, I believe one of the greatest pitfalls of the christian
life is letting our intellect rule over your basic faith.
Those that do so, eventually give way to the views of
agnosticism or atheism, it seems in my opinion. But there is
the other side of the coin of faith, faith in whatever your
particular church teaches you leads to too much inclusion and
hatred for all that isnt your little kingdom of a particular
faith. How many times have you heard the line moderation in
all things, save one for me, growing in understand the voice of
the Holy Spirit, and being courageous.
#Post#: 3013--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: Oneoff Date: August 30, 2015, 3:43 am
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[quote author=bradley link=topic=344.msg3012#msg3012
date=1440906629]
0ne of the greatest pitfalls of the Christian life is letting
our intellect rule over your basic faith. Those that do so,
eventually give way to the views of agnosticism or atheism, it
seems in my opinion.
[/quote]
But doesn't 'intellect' play a vital part in causing a person to
examine how much of their basic faith derives from the
prejudiced teaching of their background (the common denominator
behind there being countless differing faiths/religions)?
IMO the best 'faith' comes after ditching the background from
which one's faith emerged, and then setting about the enormously
difficult task of starting again from a 'clean slate'; pleading
with God to help ensure that the 'plate' really is 'clean'.
In my case 'plausibility', in the context of 'universal
applicability', has to sit alongside the instinct of a 'plate'
that is as 'clean' as I (with God's help) can achieve.
Thereby I conclude that if a faith has no answer to the question
of the destiny of the myriads of mankind who die/died without
ever knowing what was promoted by those who (in the main)
thought that the world was confined to the Mediterranean region,
and had an 'edge' over which one would fall if one sailed into
the Atlantic beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, then that faith is
prejudicially based and lacking in 'plausibility'.
Helen's faith in there being many mansions in God's 'house',
into which all of mankind will ultimately 'fit' seems to me to
get pretty close to unprejudiced universal plausibility.
#Post#: 3014--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: bradley Date: August 30, 2015, 8:25 am
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My point is proved. You wouldnt understand the context though
Mike, so I wouldnt dare to explain the simplicity of faith in
the SPIRIT, versus any man reasoned knowledge. And to know the
voice of the Holy Spirit over the other voices out there is
something I dont think you have learned yet. Perhaps one day.
I think you believe in the Holy Spirit but only as how you
intellectually perceive Him. I tell people all the time how
simple it can be, and immediately, they revert to intellectual
arguments they have to prove that it cant be simple. So for
those who cannot see the simplicity, it will ALWAYS be complex,
because they choose it so.
#Post#: 3015--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: Oneoff Date: August 30, 2015, 11:20 am
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Bradley, my point that some Christians' faith might be
incomplete and faltered is also proved.
You chose to address part of the reason why my faith differs
from yours, without making any attempt whatsoever to address the
question of why Helen and I do in fact incline in the way that
we do in respect of "the destiny of the myriads of mankind who
die/died without ever knowing what was promoted by those who (in
the main) thought that the world was confined to the
Mediterranean region, and had an 'edge' over which one would
fall if one sailed into the Atlantic beyond the Straits of
Gibraltar"
I won't be so insular as to suggest that one day you might come
to a similar understanding of what happens to those myriads of
mankind....I would rather say that "one day both of us will know
even as we are known", but not necessarily before we "meet
Christ face to face".
My inclination may be wrong.....but at least I do have one.
#Post#: 3016--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: Kerry Date: August 30, 2015, 4:29 pm
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I like what Madame Blavatksy said of the mind
HTML http://www.hermetik-international.com/en/media-library/mysticism/helena-petrovna-blavatsky-the-voice-of-silence/.<br
/> Christians may not look at her as a valid authority; but she
wrote:
The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real. Let the Disciple slay
the Slayer. For: When to himself his form appears unreal, as do
on waking all the forms he sees in dreams; When he has ceased to
hear the many, he may discern the ONE — the inner sound which
kills the outer.
The ONE (to use her term) has already endowed us with everything
we need. The human mind, the part that is rational and which
can comprehend reality by observing it, was given us to so we
could know about the ONE and even understand what we need to.
There is no native lack of intelligence or knowledge which
hampers us except of our own devising, not even in those people
we might call stupid. Indeed what we call stupidity is founded
firmly on the refusal to heed "the inner sound".
The trick is learning how to stop using the imagination in a
way it was never intended to be used. "Go figure," the
serpent said to Eve, and Eve started figuring and imagining; but
how she went about it was not using the rational mind correctly
or its facility to imagine. She wanted knowledge that was not
based on observation of reality; and we cannot deny this craving
for occult knowledge remains a strong force in Christianity and
other religions.
If we use the mind to devise ideas not grounded in observed
reality, we can imagine almost anything; and if we then succumb
to pride and suppose our ideas are true, we are living in a
make-believe world of our own devising. The Mind, meant to
relate us to the ONE, has been hijacked into making us the
slaves of our own imaginings.
I repeat it: The ONE has endowed us with a Mind capable of
knowing what we need to know, capable of observing reality and
understanding it and then relating to it rationally. To
suppose otherwise is following in the footsteps of Eve and
disobeying the commandment given to Love God with all our minds.
How can we love God with all our minds if our minds are
telling us God may be up to tricks of some sort and wanting to
keep us in the dark? The suspicions our minds harbor about God
can be hidden from others; and we may even hide them from
ourselves by refusing to be honest with ourselves.
Job was one of those people who secretly suspected God of evil.
He did not voice his suspicions, but he had them as we can
see. He supposed, for one thing, that he loved his children
more than God did. He imagined perhaps they had sinned
secretly by cursing God in their hearts (what Job was guilty of
himself) and that he should pray and sacrifice for them.
Thus he was suspecting sin in his children without the least bit
of evidence; and he was also supposing God might be angry about
this and need to be placated by sacrificing animals and by
prayers. Yes, he imagined God might want to kill his
children while he wanted them to live -- in short, Job was more
loving than God. Job may have been righteous but he wasn't
loving. Not only does the Bible omit saying he was a loving
person, we can see his children visited each other but not him.
My guess is Job was a difficult person to be around. The
result was disaster; and what Job feared came to pass.
The ONE loved both Job and children. The temptation by Satan
was allowed to raise Job to a new spiritual awareness. He was
already perfect in his deeds, but his heart and mind were not
quite right. The errors in the heart and mind are like seeds
waiting to sprout -- or like the stump of a tree that although
it's been chopped down can still send up new shoots unless the
stump itself is removed. Do not think, do not ever think, that
Jesus' main mission was to tell everyone how terrible they are
while he takes care of all their sins by forgiving them. No,
no, no, Jesus' main mission was to lay the ax to the root of
the tree, sinking into it deeply and then pulling it up so it
couldn't grow back. Jesus wants to deal with the causes of
sin. So we have sinned, and even after becoming Christians may
still sin; but we must wish to be like Job striving to perfect
ourselves; and if we do that,then Jesus can start working with
our hearts and minds.
Thus the day came when God was no longer content with Job's
righteousness in deed. That was very good; but it was not
enough. The hedge then came down. God often protects us
from our own flaws by a hedge; but it's not a situation that God
wants to be eternal. When we are strong enough to pas the test,
God then removes the hedge and we fall into temptation --
temptation of our own making, temptation God has graciously
protected us from when we were too weak to deal with it.
Some people "fall" when this happens. They are fine with God
as long as things seem to be going smoothly. If they believe in
the Prosperity Doctrine, God may give them money for a while to
keep them in the fold. Similarly God may heal people whenever
they ask if that is what is needed at the time to keep them from
wandering from the fold. Eventually they must be taught about
their inner weaknesses so they can be corrected.
One cannot predict how an individual will react when the hedge
comes down and he comes face to face with defects of the mind
and heart. He can go either way; but I firmly believe what
Paul wrote: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
Still it's not predictable who will benefit from such tests and
who will fall.
If you believe in the Prosperity Gospel and are "blessed" like
Job with money and possessions, there is no reason to doubt the
god of our imagination as long as your wealth is intact. The
imaginary god however evaporates if we lose our money. The
idol has been toppled. How the person responds when that
happens is a matter of free will.
1. He may realize his ideas were wrong and seek the ONE.
2. He may become an atheist, thinking all ideas about God are
foolishness.
3. He may seek out new ideas and new idols.
4. He may fall into dark practices, hating God.
The first option involves, of course, reverting to a childlike
state of being where collecting ideas based on nothing is
abandoned. It is not possible to enter the kingdom with such
ideas. They are idols if we love our ideas about a god we
imagine more than we love the ONE.
The worst religion is the sort that alleges its leaders know so
much more than you and you should just believe whatever they
tell you. The best religion is the kind that tells you its
leaders know more than you and you can come to know as much as
they do. I do assert that I know more than most people about
spiritual reality; but it doesn't make me a superior person in
any way. It makes my life easier and happier; but I don't want
to lord it over others. No, I feel sorry for people who are
battered about by the ideas that based on nothing. I wish
they'd stop abusing their imagination and become like children
content to see things as they are and not wasting their time in
chasing useless knowledge that isn't even real knowledge but
pure speculation.
The best religion tells us what to do if we want to progress.
Use the knowledge we have already profitably. Don't go chasing
pipe-dreams.
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our
God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to
our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
If we are willing to obey and do the things we know to be right,
we are willing to be faithful in the knowledge already given
to us. "Hold fast" to those things we know to be both good
and true. Hold fast.
Revelation 2:25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I
come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to
him will I give power over the nations:
#Post#: 3017--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: Helen Date: August 30, 2015, 6:59 pm
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[quote]
The trick is learning how to stop using the imagination in a
way it was never intended to be used. "Go figure," the
serpent said to Eve, and Eve started figuring and imagining; but
how she went about it was not using the rational mind correctly
or its facility to imagine. She wanted knowledge that was not
based on observation of reality; and we cannot deny this craving
for occult knowledge remains a strong force in Christianity and
other religions. [/quote]
Sadly I have to agree with that.
[quote] If you believe in the Prosperity Gospel and are
"blessed" like Job with money and possessions, there is no
reason to doubt the god of our imagination as long as your
wealth is intact. The imaginary god however evaporates if we
lose our money. The idol has been toppled. How the person
responds when that happens is a matter of free will.
1. He may realize his ideas were wrong and seek the ONE.
2. He may become an atheist, thinking all ideas about God are
foolishness.
3. He may seek out new ideas and new idols.
4. He may fall into dark practices, hating God. [/quote]
Yep...I think the prosperity message was a clever trap. It
doesn't even line up with the bible teachings...it set many
people up for a big fall when things didnt go how they felt they
should go.
I fight it myself,( because I was in it for many years...it
brain washes) when I see what scripture says about all the
people that were healed etc etc..then it doesn't happen.
This life, this small span of years is NOT what it is all about.
We keep our eye on the goal.
#Post#: 3018--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: Oneoff Date: August 30, 2015, 7:10 pm
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Kerry, I’m thankful that you gave us the link to the article
from which you took your quote.
The article (it is so beautifully written that I have copied it
in its entirety) seems to be an exposition on Hermeticism which
is described as being “the Western wisdom teaching providing
answers to the fundamental questions of life”.
Such as:-
•
•
•
•
•
its purpose?
“Hermeticism” originates from Hermes which, in the Greek
mythology, is the intermediary between mind and matter, and is
shown diagrammatically as:-
HTML http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/artisational/lebensbaum_zps9jh0m4ff.png<br
/>
To understand what you’re telling us ‘I’ (and maybe ‘we’) need
to become familiar with the meanings of the terms within the
article, which I have highlighted in red.
These instructions are for those ignorant of the dangers of the
lower IDDHI. He who would hear the voice of Nâda, “the Soundless
Sound,” and comprehend it, he has to learn the nature of
Dhâranâ. Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the
pupil must seek out the râja of the senses, the
Thought-Producer, he who awakes illusion.
The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real. Let the Disciple slay
the Slayer. For: When to himself his form appears unreal, as do
on waking all the forms he sees in dreams; When he has ceased to
hear the many, he may discern the ONE — the inner sound which
kills the outer.
Then only, not till then, shall he forsake the region of Asat,
the false, to come unto the realm of Sat, the true.
Before the soul can see, the Harmony within must be attained,
and fleshly eyes be rendered blind to all illusion. Before the
Soul can hear, the image (man) has to become as deaf to roarings
as to whispers, to cries of bellowing elephants as to the
silvery buzzing of the golden fire-fly. Before the soul can
comprehend and may remember, she must unto the Silent Speaker be
united just as the form to which the clay is modelled, is first
united with the potter’s mind. For then the soul will hear, and
will remember. And then to the inner ear will speak — THE VOICE
OF THE SILENCE
And say: If thy soul smiles while bathing in the Sunlight of thy
Life; if thy soul sings within her chrysalis of flesh and
matter; if thy soul weeps inside her castle of illusion; if thy
soul struggles to break the silver thread that binds her to the
MASTER; know, O Disciple, thy Soul is of the earth.
When to the World’s turmoil thy budding soul lends ear; when to
the roaring voice of the great illusion thy Soul responds; when
frightened at the sight of the hot tears of pain, when deafened
by the cries of distress, thy soul withdraws like the shy turtle
within the carapace of SELFHOOD, learn, O Disciple, of her
Silent “God,” thy Soul is an unworthy shrine.
When waxing stronger, thy Soul glides forth from her secure
retreat: and breaking loose from the protecting shrine, extends
her silver thread and rushes onward; when beholding her image on
the waves of Space she whispers, “This is I,” — declare, O
Disciple, that thy soul is caught in the webs of delusion.
This Earth, Disciple, is the Hall of Sorrow, wherein are set
along the Path of dire probations, traps to ensnare thy EGO by
the delusion called “Great Heresy”.
This earth, O ignorant Disciple, is but the dismal entrance
leading to the twilight that precedes the valley of true light —
that light which no wind can extinguish, that light which burns
without a wick or fuel.
Saith the Great Law: — “In order to become the knower of ALL
SELF thou hast first of self to be the knower.” To reach the
knowledge of that self, thou hast to give up Self to Non-Self,
Being to Non-Being, and then thou canst repose between the wings
of the GREAT BIRD. Aye, sweet is rest between the wings of that
which is not born, nor dies, but is the AUM throughout eternal
ages.
Bestride the Bird of Life, if thou would’st know.
Give up thy life, if thou would’st live.
Three Halls, O weary pilgrim, lead to the end of toils. Three
Halls, O conqueror of Mâra, will bring thee through three states
into the fourth
and thence into the seven worlds, the worlds of Rest Eternal.
If thou would’st learn their names, then hearken, and remember.
The name of the first Hall is IGNORANCE — Avidyâ.
It is the Hall in which thou saw’st the light, in which thou
livest and shalt die.
The name of Hall the second is the Hall of (Probationary)
Learning. In it thy Soul will find the blossoms of life, but
under every flower a serpent coiled.
The name of the third Hall is Wisdom, beyond which stretch the
shoreless waters of AKSHARA, the indestructible Fount of
Omniscience.
If thou would’st cross the first Hall safely, let not thy mind
mistake the fires of lust that burn therein for the Sunlight of
life.
If thou would’st cross the second safely, stop not the fragrance
of its stupefying blossoms to inhale. If freed thou would’st be
from the Karmic chains, seek not for thy Guru in those Mâyâvic
regions.
The WISE ONES tarry not in pleasure-grounds of senses.
The WISE ONES heed not the sweet-tongued voices of illusion.
Seek for him who is to give thee birth, in the Hall of Wisdom,
the Hall which lies beyond, wherein all shadows are unknown, and
where the light of truth shines with unfading glory.
That which is uncreate abides in thee, Disciple, as it abides in
that Hall. If thou would’st reach it and blend the two, thou
must divest thyself of thy dark garments of illusion. Stifle the
voice of flesh, allow no image of the senses to get between its
light and thine that thus the twain may blend in one. And having
learnt thine own Ajńâna, flee from the Hall of Learning. This
Hall is dangerous in its perfidious beauty, is needed but for
thy probation. Beware, Lanoo, lest dazzled by illusive radiance
thy Soul should linger and be caught in its deceptive light.
This light shines from the jewel of the Great Ensnarer, (Mâra).
The senses it bewitches, blinds the mind, and leaves the unwary
an abandoned wreck.
The moth attracted to the dazzling flame of thy night-lamp is
doomed to perish in the viscid oil. The unwary Soul that fails
to grapple with the mocking demon of illusion, will return to
earth the slave of Mâra.
Behold the Hosts of Souls. Watch how they hover o’er the stormy
sea of human life, and how exhausted, bleeding, broken-winged,
they drop one after other on the swelling waves. Tossed by the
fierce winds, chased by the gale, they drift into the eddies and
disappear within the first great vortex.
If through the Hall of Wisdom, thou would’st reach the Vale of
Bliss, Disciple, close fast thy senses against the great dire
heresy of separateness that weans thee from the rest.
Let not thy “Heaven-born,” merged in the sea of Mâyâ, break from
the Universal Parent (SOUL), but let the fiery power retire into
the inmost chamber, the chamber of the Heart and the abode of
the World’s Mother.
Then from the heart that Power shall rise into the sixth, the
middle region, the place between thine eyes, when it becomes the
breath of the ONE-SOUL, the voice which filleth all, thy
Master’s voice.
‘Tis only then thou canst become a “Walker of the Sky” who
treads the winds above the waves, whose step touches not the
waters.
Before thou set’st thy foot upon the ladder’s upper rung, the
ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of thy
inner GOD* (*The Higher SELF) in seven manners.
The first is like the nightingale’s sweet voice chanting a song
of parting to its mate.
The second comes as the sound of a silver cymbal of the Dhyânis,
awakening the twinkling stars.
The next is as the plaint melodious of the ocean-sprite
imprisoned in its shell.
And this is followed by the chant of Vînâ.
The fifth like sound of bamboo-flute shrills in thine ear.
It changes next into a trumpet-blast.
The last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a thunder-cloud.
The seventh swallows all the other sounds. They die, and then
are heard no more.
When the six are slain and at the Master’s feet are laid, then
is the pupil merged into the ONE, becomes that ONE and lives
therein.
Before that path is entered, thou must destroy thy lunar body,
cleanse thy mind-body and make clean thy heart.
Eternal life’s pure waters, clear and crystal, with the monsoon
tempest’s muddy torrents cannot mingle.
Heaven’s dew-drop glittering in the morn’s first sun-beam within
the bosom of the lotus, when dropped on earth becomes a piece of
clay; behold, the pearl is now a speck of mire.
Strive with thy thoughts unclean before they overpower thee. Use
them as they will thee, for if thou sparest them and they take
root and grow, know well, these thoughts will overpower and kill
thee. Beware, Disciple, suffer not, e’en though it be their
shadow, to approach. For it will grow, increase in size and
power, and then this thing of darkness will absorb thy being
before thou hast well realized the black foul monster’s
presence.
Before the “mystic Power”* (*Kundalinî, the “Serpent Power” or
mystic fire) can make of thee a god, Lanoo, thou must have
gained the faculty to slay thy lunar form at will.
The Self of matter and the SELF of Spirit can never meet. One of
the twain must disappear; there is no place for both.
Ere thy Soul’s mind can understand, the bud of personality must
be crushed out, the worm of sense destroyed past resurrection.
Thou canst not travel on the Path before thou hast become that
Path itself.
Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the lotus
bares its heart to drink the morning sun.
Let not the fierce Sun dry one tear of pain before thyself hast
wiped it from the sufferer’s eye.
But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there
remain, nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is
removed.
These tears, O thou of heart most merciful, these are the
streams that irrigate the fields of charity immortal. ‘Tis on
such soil that grows the midnight blossom of Buddha more
difficult to find, more rare to view than is the flower of the
Vogay tree. It is the seed of freedom from rebirth. It isolates
the Arhat both from strife and lust, it leads him through the
fields of Being unto the peace and bliss known only in the land
of Silence and Non-Being.
Kill out desire; but if thou killest it take heed lest from the
dead it should again arise.
Kill love of life, but if thou slayest tanhâ, let this not be
for thirst of life eternal, but to replace the fleeting by the
everlasting.
Desire nothing. Chafe not at Karma, nor at Nature’s changeless
laws.
But struggle only with the personal, the transitory, the
evanescent and the perishable.
Help Nature and work on with her; and Nature will regard thee as
one of her creators and make obeisance.
And she will open wide before thee the portals of her secret
chambers, lay bare before thy gaze the treasures hidden in the
very depths of her pure virgin bosom. Unsullied by the hand of
matter she shows her treasures only to the eye of Spirit — the
eye which never closes, the eye for which there is no veil in
all her kingdoms.
Then will she show thee the means and way, the first gate and
the second, the third, up to the very seventh. And then, the
goal — beyond which lie, bathed in the sunlight of the Spirit,
glories untold, unseen by any save the eye of Soul.
There is but one road to the Path; at its very end alone the
“Voice of the Silence” can be heard. The ladder by which the
candidate ascends is formed of rungs of suffering and pain;
these can be silenced only by the voice of virtue. Woe, then, to
thee, Disciple, if there is one single vice thou hast not left
behind. For then the ladder will give way and overthrow thee;
its foot rests in the deep mire of thy sins and failings, and
ere thou canst attempt to cross this wide abyss of matter thou
hast to lave thy feet in Waters of Renunciation. Beware lest
thou should’st set a foot still soiled upon the ladder’s lowest
rung. Woe unto him who dares pollute one rung with miry feet.
The foul and viscous mud will dry, become tenacious, then glue
his feet unto the spot, and like a bird caught in the wily
fowler’s lime, he will be stayed from further progress. His
vices will take shape and drag him down. His sins will raise
their voices like as the jackal’s laugh and sob after the sun
goes down; his thoughts become an army, and bear him off a
captive slave.
Kill thy desires, Lanoo, make thy vices impotent, ere the first
step is taken on the solemn journey.
Strangle thy sins, and make them dumb for ever, before thou dost
lift one foot to mount the ladder.
Silence thy thoughts and fix thy whole attention on thy Master
whom yet thou dost not see, but whom thou feelest.
Merge into one sense thy senses, if thou would’st be secure
against the foe. ‘Tis by that sense alone which lies concealed
within the hollow of thy brain, that the steep path which
leadeth to thy Master may be disclosed before thy Soul’s dim
eyes.
Long and weary is the way before thee, O Disciple. One single
thought about the past that thou hast left behind, will drag
thee down and thou wilt have to start the climb anew.
Kill in thyself all memory of past experiences. Look not behind
or thou art lost.
Do not believe that lust can ever be killed out if gratified or
satiated, for this is an abomination inspired by Mâra. It is by
feeding vice that it expands and waxes strong, like to the worm
that fattens on the blossom’s heart.
The rose must re-become the bud born of its parent stem, before
the parasite has eaten through its heart and drunk its life-sap.
The golden tree puts forth its jewel-buds before its trunk is
withered by the storm.
The pupil must regain the child-state he has lost ‘ere the first
sound can fall upon his ear.
The light from the ONE Master, the one unfading golden light of
Spirit, shoots its effulgent beams on the disciple from the very
first. Its rays thread through the thick dark clouds of matter.
Now here, now there, these rays illumine it, like sun-sparks
light the earth through the thick foliage of the jungle growth.
But, O Disciple, unless the flesh is passive, head cool, the
soul as firm and pure as flaming diamond, the radiance will not
reach the chamber, its sunlight will not warm the heart, nor
will the mystic sounds of the Âkâśic heights reach the ear,
however eager, at the initial stage.
Unless thou hearest, thou canst not see.
Unless thou seest thou canst not hear. To hear and see this is
the second stage.
When the disciple sees and hears, and when he smells and tastes,
eyes closed, ears shut, with mouth and nostrils stopped; when
the four senses blend and ready are to pass into the fifth, that
of the inner touch — then into stage the fourth he hath passed
on.
And in the fifth, O slayer of thy thoughts, all these again have
to be killed beyond reanimation.
Withhold thy mind from all external objects, all external
sights.
Withhold internal images, lest on thy Soul-light a dark shadow
they should cast.
Thou art now in DHÂRANÂ, the sixth stage.
When thou hast passed into the seventh, O happy one, thou shalt
perceive no more the sacred three, for thou shalt have become
that three thyself. Thyself and mind, like twins upon a line,
the star which is thy goal, burns overhead. The three that dwell
in glory and in bliss ineffable, now in the world of Mâyâ have
lost their names. They have become one star, the fire that burns
but scorches not, that fire which is the Upâdhi of the Flame.
And this, O Yogi of success, is what men call Dhyâna, the right
precursor of Samâdhi.
And now thy Self is lost in SELF, thyself unto THYSELF, merged
in THAT SELF from which thou first didst radiate.
Where is thy individuality, Lanoo, where the Lanoo himself? It
is the spark lost in the fire, the drop within the ocean, the
ever-present Ray become the all and the eternal radiance.
And now, Lanoo, thou art the doer and the witness, the radiator
and the radiation, Light in the Sound, and the Sound in the
Light.
Thou art acquainted with the five impediments, O blessed one.
Thou art their conqueror, the Master of the sixth, deliverer of
the four modes of Truth. The light that falls upon them shines
from thyself, O thou who wast disciple but art Teacher now.
And of these modes of Truth: —
Hast thou not passed through knowledge of all misery — Truth the
first?
Hast thou not conquered the Mâras’ King at Tsi, the portal of
assembling — truth the second?
Hast thou not sin at the third gate destroyed and truth the
third attained?
Hast not thou entered Tao, “the Path” that leads to knowledge —
the fourth truth?
And now, rest ‘neath the Bodhi tree, which is perfection of all
knowledge, for, know, thou art the Master of SAMÂDHI — the state
of faultless vision.
Behold! thou hast become the light, thou hast become the Sound,
thou art thy Master and thy God. Thou art THYSELF the object of
thy search: the VOICE unbroken, that resounds throughout
eternities, exempt from change, from sin exempt, the seven
sounds in one, the
VOICE OF THE SILENCE
Om Tat Sat
#Post#: 3019--------------------------------------------------
Re: Falling!
By: Kerry Date: August 30, 2015, 7:51 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Helen link=topic=344.msg3017#msg3017
date=1440979145]
[Yep...I think the prosperity message was a clever trap. It
doesn't even line up with the bible teachings...it set many
people up for a big fall when things didnt go how they felt they
should go.
I fight it myself,( because I was in it for many years...it
brain washes) when I see what scripture says about all the
people that were healed etc etc..then it doesn't happen.
This life, this small span of years is NOT what it is all about.
We keep our eye on the goal.[/quote]
The message of the prosperity gospel theology is so attractive,
appealing to our craving for money and the things money can buy.
It is so attractive that the people in the pews want to
believe it when they hear it from the pulpit; and any Wisdom of
the Spirit that should guide us is pushed to one side as Bible
passages are quoted out of context. This is often quoted.
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that
there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith,
saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be
room enough to receive it.
But what they aren't telling you if they know themselves that
the tithe never applied to wages earned working at a job. If
you work and earn money, why would God ask you for any of that
money? But if you plant a field of wheat, can you say you did
all the work? Did you make it rain? Did you put the land
there? Can you make the wheat grow? No, we see God has a lot
to do with things are increased. So Israel was told that God
would give them land; and when they entered that land to tithe
of the increase. And they had celebrations with the tithes.
Ha, ha, people were even told they could convert some of the
tithe to buy strong drink.
But that got warped into churches commanding people to give a
tenth of their wages to them. I'm all in favor of people
supporting the churches they attend financially; but people can
also give to charity if they like. They should not feel
pressured into giving money to their churches; and they surely
shouldn't be promised falsely that if they hand over money to
the leaders, God will bless them and give them even more money.
It is strange though how people look at prosperity gospel
ministers. The ministers are often very rich. Filthy rich.
And the people say, "This seems to work for them, doesn't it?"
So they figure if it worked for the ministers, it should work
for them too. What they do not see is that "filthy lucre" is
being made into an idol; and so what if the minister is rich?
God didn't give him all that money -- people in the pews did.
Suckers taken in by the con game.
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