Can we save coral reefs from the ravages of climate change? Why engineering heat-tolerant species is our moral imperative …
Many people have an aversion to human interventions into the natural world. However, as Corals: On the Brink explores, this mindset can overlook both the responsibilities humans already bear for the state of the world around them, and the potentially extraordinary consequences of inaction. Centred on the work of Line Bay, a research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and Ryan Phelan, Executive Director of the conservation organisation Revive & Restore, the short documentary details their efforts to leverage emerging technologies to engineer coral species that are more resilient in the face of dire threats posed by man-made global warming. Situated at the nexus of genetics, climate and risk management, the piece makes a compelling case that the only way to save coral ecosystems, which are invaluable to human and nonhuman animals alike, may be human intervention and innovation. […]
A hundred and one are the heart’s channels; of these one passes to the crown. Going up by this, he comes to the immortal.
Katha Upanishad
Viraga — indifference to pleasure and pain, illusion conquered, truth alone perceived — marks the beginning of the razor-edged Path. For reasons connected with the cosmogony of Gupta Vidya, human beings find the first step on the Path most difficult. They must come to an initial standpoint of detachment from the world, with its false values, its fickle glamour and attractions, its febrile nightmares and anguish. Indifference simply means perceiving no essential difference between pleasure and pain because both arise from compulsive cerebral reactions to sensory stimuli. They are alike devoid of intrinsic meaning for that impartite Self which sustains its own transcendent conception of spiritual growth. Two individuals, from seemingly identical experiences of pleasure or pain, may come to contrasting conclusions and derive radically different implications. Consider two persons who enjoyed identical dinners, containing ingredients guaranteed to produce an acute stomach-ache, such that both suffered severe gastric pains the next day. Similar facts yield no insights into the diverse meanings that persons might ascribe to their experiences. This points towards the philosophical basis for self-reference and voluntary action. Man is a reality-assigning, value-assessing and meaning-ascribing agent, who needs minimal freedom from titillation and disturbance induced by pleasurable or painful experiences. Once this initial standpoint of philosophical detachment is established even to a small extent, one will soon find out for oneself that it shows the spiral Path of inward growth.
When one averts attention from the chaos of external events, through the dawning realization that ascribing meaning and assessing value is one’s own task (svadharma), one rapidly confronts a host of unresolved elements (unappeased devas and devatas) — repressed longings, fears and fantasies — within what is often wrongly called the ‘unconscious’. Once they are set in motion, one risks slipping into alternating euphoric and terrifying states of mind, losing hold over the real world of supernal light one seeks as well as the public domain of shared sensory impressions. To dare to face oneself fully is difficult, if only because the more illusions one strips away, the more illusions crop up, like a hydra-headed monster. The protracted and painful, self-reinforcing nature of mundane illusions is boringly familiar, but they must be firmly cut through. Sufficient detachment helps one to glimpse the central but undiscovered truth of transcendental Selfhood, shining behind and beyond the world of maya. This truth about the hidden SELF is also the truth about the secret Path, which must be trodden in solitude. Only by taking each step is the next revealed. Like a winding mountain path which cannot be discerned from a hazy distance, it cannot be traced without treading it.
One must foster steadiness, determination and constancy, remaining fixed in the recognition of the spiritual insignificance of the passing panorama of the lunar subconscious and the supreme value of the single truth one now partly sees and wholly seeks. When a willing resignation (vairagya) is sustained at this level, one is ready to experience greater fearlessness (abhaya) and penetrating insight (prajna). Viraga is ‘the Gate of Balance’. Repeatedly, at different levels of inward growth, through daunting trials at successive stages of spiritual life, one needs to establish a stable fulcrum in consciousness, reflecting a mentally renewed standpoint of calm steadiness and cheerful balance. Though seemingly complicated, this is not unlike walking, or balancing on a bicycle, or standing on a tightrope. One only knows for oneself that it is possible to maintain balance, or that it is necessary to preserve absolute faith in one’s strength of mind and soul-wisdom. A tightrope walker cannot mechanically teach a doubter how to balance and perform delicate maneuvers upon a very thin, taut wire. The experienced acrobat can take all the appropriate security measures in regard to the wire, but it is the apprentice learner who must not move one iota from an absolute, immovable conviction that he can both maintain and restore balance, and that even if he experiences a sudden loss of balance, he can still bring himself back to a steady state of balance. Existential equilibrium cannot be taught to someone who is not whole-heartedly engaged in the elusive quest for balance amidst ceaselessly shifting variables and parameters. Yet, the more one gains proficiency in the practice of viraga, the more it becomes as natural as breathing.
One must be yoked through raja yoga, by regular meditation (dhyana), deep self-study (svadhyaya), unconditional devotion (bhakti), sustained reflection (dianoia) and sagacious equanimity (sophrosyne) to the universal and indwelling Self (Avalokiteshvara) of Krishna-Christos. That Self is veiled rather than revealed by compulsive speech and chaotic thought-vibrations. One must sustain in the daily round of duties a secret spiritual discipline which no one else can discern from peering at perfunctory externals. This ‘divine discipline’ has to do with fidelity to that sovereign standpoint which steadily sees the unmanifest Self behind the mental furniture of the world and manifest selves. What is at first a simple exercise in repeated restraint and resilient balancing can become, after a while, a rhythmic mental breathing as natural as physical breathing, leading to a state of inmost tranquillity. The Voice of the Silence enjoins the lanoo or disciple to be ready to find “thy body agitated, thy mind tranquil, thy Soul as limpid as a mountain lake”. It is certainly feasible to realize this fully within oneself, to abide constantly in those depths of spiritual self-awareness (svasamvedana), wherein there are no waves or ripples, but rather a sublime experience of serene limpidity, crystalline clarity and radiant translucence, which are all intrinsic to Alaya, the universal Paramatman. This state of self-awareness must be brought down into the realm of the higher mind in a manner that makes for steady self-tranquillization and self-regeneration, which is compatible with vigorous incarnation in the sphere of active duty. Like all subtle delineations of spiritual detachment, these helpful lines from The Voice of the Silence have a hallowed, archetypal significance. These are vitally relevant at the very start, but they presage the sweet efflorescence at the end, and they have crucial applications all along the ancient Path.
The Katha Upanishadteaches that once one hears of the secret Path to enlightenment and conscious immortality, one cannot pretend life will be the same again. Once the flashing insight has torn away ‘the loathsome mask’, the blazing words of truth cannot be set aside as if they were never heard. All who enter the sacred orbit of Great Teachers and true gurus are self-condemned: they will never again be able to nestle in the soft folds of delusion, for the ‘Hound of Heaven’ will pursue them to the bitter end. Not to recognize this is either naïve ignorance about oneself and the cosmos, or bovine perversity in the face of the precarious incarnation of supernal light within the imperfect vestures and inherent limitations of the deceptive world of samsara. Since supple balance in motion requires both vision and verve, when one is in right earnest about treading the Path, one will find that one cannot keep one’s feet on that arduous Path without the sustained practice of spiritual archery, taught in the Mundaka Upanishad. This requires the repeated realignment of mental vision, symbolized in archery by the correct relation of eyesight to the distant target, allowing for the trajectory of the arrow, the texture of the bow, wind and weather. AUM is the sacred bow, the arrow is spiritual resolve, and the fixed target is the indestructible, invisible, formless, supreme Self (Paramatman), mirrored in the embodied Self (Jivatman), the divine Triad within and beyond one’s manifest identity.
Mililani Trask (Kanaka Oiwi) is a Native Hawaiian political speaker, attorney, and champion of indigenous and human rights. During the Hawaiian sovereignty movement in the 1980s, Trask founded Ka Lahui Hawaii, a Native Hawaiian initiative for self governance. She worked as a diplomat and has testified multiple times at the United Nations, advocating for the passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She remains prominent in Native Hawaiian politics, and currently serves as an advisor to Innovations Development Group, a firm focused on bringing clean, renewable, energy to Hawaiian communities.
Phanem-anon: Celebrating Indigenous Women and Leadership – May 4-5
We invite the Dartmouth community and the public to join in the conversation with Jennifer Rose Denetdale (dine), Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe), Mililani Trask (Kanaka Oiwi), and Ellen Gabriel (Mohawk). Their involvement in indigenous resistance movements include DAPL, the Keystone XL Pipeline, Indigenous gender issues, Treaty rights, history, the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous peoples, and more. Please join the Native American community at Dartmouth in welcoming these extraordinary women, while engaging in opportunities to bring awareness to prominent indigenous issues.
Sponsored by: Native American Studies Program, Office of the Provost, Environmental Studies Department, the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Office of Sustainability, Porter Family Fund for Sustainability in the Curriculum, Office of Residential Life and the Living Learning Communities, Native American Program, and the First Year Student Enrichment Program
The Pacific and the world are mourning the loss of Hawaiian scholar and activist Haunani-Kay Trask, who died at the weekend aged 71.
In 1991 Tagata Pasifika had the privilege of interviewing Professor Trask for the documentary The Hawaiians. Trask, a fearless advocate for the Kānaka Maoli, spoke passionately about Native Hawaiian rights and indigenous sovereignty.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m a patriot of the Hawaiian nation. The Hawaiian nation burns in our hearts. It’s still alive. It’s right here on my land.”
Our alofa to Haunani-Kay Trask’s family, friends and the Hawaiian community.
Dr Haunani-Kay Trask 03 October 1949 – 03 July 2021
Hawaii was a recognized independent nation prior to January 17, 1893. On that day, the nation and government was illegally overthrown by the United States. Since then, the USA has illegally assumed control over Hawaii turning the islands into Military Bases that threaten world peace.
The United States claims that Hawaii was lawfully annexed as the 50th State.
What would you think when you find out that is Not True! In fact the United States government signed a Joint Resolution of the Congress in 1993 that “acknowledges that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum”.
1. To remove the odour from your hands after cutting onions, chicken or fish, just wash your hands with salt and water, then you will have no more smell.
2. To avoid the feeling of the hotness of pepper on your hands after cutting/slicing it with your hands, rub them with salt and vegetable oil or red oil and wash them.
3. When pepper mistakenly enter your eye, put a pinch of salt in your mouth, the hotness of the pepper will disappear and you will see the magic.
4. When storing empty containers or bottle, throw in a pinch of salt to help them from getting stinky.
5. Sprinkling some salt on your fresh peppers while pounding it, helps to make it pound quickly.
6. Soaking bitter leaves in salt and hot water, helps to remove extra bitterness before cooking with it.
7. If your liquid milk always spoil before you finish it, You can add pinch of salt when you first open it, it will help the milk to stay fresh longer.
8. Salt and detergent mixture can help you to kill ants and cockroaches disturbing you in the kitchen.
9. Placing your overripe tomatoes in a cold and salty water overnight, will help to make them fresh and firm.
10. If you cut lemon and you do not want to use it finish, sprinkle salt on it, it would stay fresh for 3 days. Make sure you rinse it before using it again.
11. Salt can be used as a preservative method for preserving meat, fish or vegetables. It helps to prevent bacteria growth.
12. Grease fires or small fire can be put out with the use of salt.
13. To store your fermented locust beans (ogiri, iru or dawadawa), mix it with salt and put it in a container. Your fermented locust beans will stay fresh for years without getting spoil.
14. When boiling eggs, add a pinch of salt to keep the shells from cracking and peeling the eggs will also be easy.
15. If you don’t want your spaghetti to gum together while cooking, add a drop of vegetable oil into a salty boiling water and it will come out separately.
16. Soaking your rice with hot water and salt before cooking it, will help to remove excess starch.
17. You can use salt to parboil your rice in order to remove the starch from the rice quickly.
18. Adding salt on your cocoyam when it starts boiling helps to make it soften quickly.
19. Salt is used to sanitize your kitchen sponges. It is used to kill the bacteria, germs in them. Soak the sponge in a hot salty water.
20. Salt improves the texture of the meat as it helps to break down the tough proteins, thus tenderizing the meat.
21. When chopping/cutting vegetables, sprinkle little salt onto the chopping/cutting board, it will keep the vegetables from moving or flying around while cutting/chopping.
Immediately after saying I AM FREE NOW, a rampaging 75-mph wind came to a complete stop. This was just one of many stunning Archangel Michael telekinetic events that David recounts in this powerful sequel to Part One: • David Wilcock LIVE: The Archangel Mic…
Also, in perhaps the ultimate “I’m Not Racist” social proof in the history of this community, within minutes of enduring your way through this film, David drops a slightly-rushed rendition of “Mr. Bozack” by EPMD (1991).
In the original this was done completely without music after 31 years. We added the music back in so you can rate how well D-dub did!
Go to thedisclosure.com for more updates!
PLEASE NOTE: The comments section has been MASSIVELY infected with spam accounts claiming they are David and want to speak to you.
David does NOT use Telegram whatsoever. David does NOT text people. David does NOT reach out and make personal contacts. He’s alone in a house with a dog and a turkey. That’s it.
Almost every single heartfelt comment you write is getting pounded by one of these. It appears to be nearly impossible to stop. We do not have the time to do all the labor. Please do not respond to them!
With that being said, the comments are overwhelmingly fantastic and we are not going to let “Our Friend” get in the way of appreciating you… at a distance, not by text!
I am so aware of the strenuous efforts you have been making recently. You have been working yourself to exhaustion, so it is not surprising that you have found your way here in search of some peace and quiet today. In addition to this, there is no longer any reason for you to worry about anything at all because you can seek safety in me.
As I always have, I will continue to look after you in this present moment as well as in the future. I am aware of the amount of difficulty that you have been through. Listen to me carefully as I tell you that you do not need to continue feeling this way any longer.I ask that you simply take a moment to unwind so you can clear your head. Taking care of yourself is not an act of selfishness.
What you need to know
Turn off your thoughts and relax; everything will work out. Mother Mary wants you to unwind. Just go with the flow so you do not impede You are impeding the natural sequence of events by focusing so closely on what you want to happen.
Hand over any issue or problem to Our Lady, and she’ll take care of it. Appreciate your past accomplishments and talents. Instead of worrying about what is to come, why not focus on self-care as well as engaging in things that nourish your spirit? It is crucial for you to just relax and to have more fun.
Prayer for healing
Our Lady of Sweet Rest, hear my prayers as I ponder on your devotion to your children here on earth. Your help relaxes my mind, body and spirit. You soothe me when I am worried. You defend me always with a serene, strong spirit. I have discovered love both inside myself and in you, my Mother,
The most potent energies in our universe are love and compassion for one another. Teach me every day how to be more like you as I embrace humanity in spite of its faults. I feel supported by you to be the change in the world that I wish to see. In the name of everything that is pure and merciful, please make it so that this comes to pass!
The absolute Queen of the Night joins the Sun God in his own territory, in the eternally moving waters of Cancer, a sign that rules unhesitatingly. The mood swings and emotional states of the Crab […]
Homemade fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls are easy to make and perfect for summer gatherings or a light dinner tonight. You’ll love the Spring Roll dipping sauce options, including a traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce and a 2-ingredient peanut sauce that we also use for Shrimp Lettuce Wraps. Watch the video tutorial and see how easy it is to make Fresh Spring Rolls. […]
Out in the Hawaiian islands is a place that stands out on its own. Molokai is the island (outside of unaccessible Niihau) that’s kept development away. This is old Hawaii, a place without traffic lights or bustle. Here, time stands still, and the locals have fought hard to keep it this way. Join me on an epic adventure with a Molokai local into a Hawaiian island that has stayed true to its roots.
Lahaina Fire Recovery Update. Cleanup in Lahaina Town on Maui is nearing completion with more than 1,183 residential properties already cleared, 42 commercial properties cleared and 2,632 vehicles removed.
Over eight months ago, the deadliest fire in modern American history torched the city of Lahaina on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. So, what’s it like now? Join local firefighter Jonny and me as we explore the restricted burn zone to better understand the situation from a local’s perspective.
@FreeHawaiiNews – Why Are Mauiʻs Residents Saying “No” To Building Seven More Telescopes Atop Haleakalā? What Do Hawai`i Island Residents Think About Extending The US Armyʻs Lease For Pohakuloa Beyond 2029? Also Our Pacific Way Report On The 2024 Festival Of The Pacific Arts Held For The First Time In Hawaii, Why The Hawaiian Islands Have Never Been Specifically Named As Part Of The State Of Hawaii In Legal Documents & Another Fascinating Kumu Hinaʻs Mana`o. Join Hosts Hinaleimoana Wong & Leon Siu As They Give The Kanaka Perspective On Issues In Hawaii You Wonʻt Get Anywhere Else.
Experience my dazzling kindness as it improves and transforms your current reality as well as your future. Be prepared to be sparked to life in a variety of ways soon, as everything is sure to feel different and original to you. I am here to instil in you a new feeling of freedom and optimism.
When you place your confidence in me, as my child, you will never be wounded by anybody or anything. Nothing at all can diminish or constrain your lovely spirit. You may soar freely because my love is protecting you always and forever. My love is flowing through you always!
What you need to know
True, you’ve been injured before, but you can and will begin to trust again. Unfortunately, in today’s cultural society, there is an undercurrent that seeks to shatter the soul and stifle the spirit. Mother Mary, on the other hand, gives fresh life to those who obey and adore her. So, rather than being pressured to conform to an image, it’s time to understand that you are perfect just the way you are!
Circumstances may now be seen for what they actually are. You are now capable of loving, breathing and communicating your own real truth. You are avoiding anxiety and power struggles since they are unrelated to your particular experience. You are being the real you!
Prayer for healing
Trust that your life will improve as a result of realising that you are perfect as you are. You don’t have to alter something about who you are to receive the respect, affection, and approval of others. Live only for you. Be joyful as you spread your happiness to others you meet!
The following is a beautiful prayer to invoke Mother Mary’s help, “Our Lady of Radiant Grace please live within my heart! Give me the space I need to flourish and grow on all levels, I beseech thee! Please provide me with the opportunity to realise my spiritual purpose because of your honourable grace!”
I am so proud of you, my most loved child. Whenever you accomplish something new it gives me such joy to see you develop! Permit me to assist you in breaking free from a karmic cycle so that you will be led into a new way of perceiving the world around you. You are undergoing a rebirth in the most incredible way imaginable!
You are prepared to begin again on a fresh page that will be expertly written with the most incredible and inspiring tales ever told. My heart is home to the rising sun. As you make your way inside of it, protected by the affection I have for you, you will be able to see that illumination for the first time. You will be able to see the light at the end of any tunnel while you gain insight into the meaning behind your past anguish, allowing you to finally release the past and live peacefully, unburdened by feelings of bewilderment, humiliation or doubt.
What you need to know
My dear child, you are currently going through a meaningful period of change and progression, which will ultimately lead to huge personal development. You, my beloved, have entered a phase of spiritual connection and reawakening, during which you have the chance to work closely with your higher consciousness as well as your guiding principles.
This is a very exciting time for you! You will now make preparations to be the ultimate version of yourself that you are capable of being by aligning with the many shifts going on around your life!
Prayer for healing
Our Lady of the Ocean of Rebirth walks with you to help you to understand that your life has a certain amount of karmic burden. You are neither being penalised nor confronted with a “bad” scenario. Because your spirit is developed, it can deal with more than that of a person with a more youthful soul. So, in actuality, the significant troubles you may currently face are an indication of your soul’s personal enlightenment.
A good devotion for wholeness is, “I invoke the heavenly compassion and karmic healing of Mother Mary, who unconditionally adores me. I embrace your heavenly influence in every aspect of my life and praise you for providing me with spiritual gifts that serve my ultimate good. By my own will and union with divine love, let it be so!”
Allow yourself to relax into Supergiant Wind Chimes Sound Bath. This recording is intended to give you Maximum Relaxation and Relief from Stress and Tension. Imagine yourself immersed in a Sonic Bath. One that Submerges you in Waves of Pure Sound. One that Cleanses your Soul and Detoxifies Your Body. Close your eyes and imagine you are the best version of you. Listen to the Chimes as your Higher Mind gives you evidence that you are perfect in this moment. Peace, Love and Joy to You. ❤️🙏🏻👍🏻
To those who knew that there was more than one key to theogonic symbolism, it was a mistake to have expressed it in a language so crude and misleading. For if the educated and learned philosopher could discern the kernel of wisdom under the coarse rind of the fruit, and knew that the latter concealed the greatest laws and truths of psychic and physical nature, as well as the origin of all things — not so with the uninitiated profane. For him the dead letter was religion; the interpretation — sacrilege. And this dead letter could neither edify nor make him more perfect, seeing that such an example was given him by his gods. . . . Now all the gods of Olympus, as well as those of the Hindu Pantheon and the Rishis, were the septiform personations (1) of the noumena of the intelligent Powers of nature; (2) of Cosmic Forces; (3) of celestial bodies; (4) of gods or Dhyan Chohans; (5) of psychic and spiritual powers; (6) of divine kings on earth (or the incarnations of the gods); and (7) of terrestrial heroes or men. The knowledge how to discern among these seven forms the one that is meant, belonged at all times to the Initiates, whose earliest predecessors had created this symbolical and allegorical system.
The Secret Doctrine, ii 764-765
It is, according to Gautama Buddha, a greater feat to govern oneself than to command all the elements in Nature. All Nature and its powers bend heavenwards before the gentle, irresistible theurgy of the perfected Bodhisattva, the pilgrim-soul who has reached the summit of the Path and become the son of the Dhyanis, compassionator of the triple worlds, greater than all gods. The potential of pure swaraj or self-rule is latent in every Monad, and is quickened by the fiery ray of the Manasa Dhyanis. When first the dark fire of their formless intelligence ignited self-consciousness in the evolved forms of terrestrial humanity over eighteen million years ago, man became a living link between heaven and earth. Conscious of the divine presence within his preceptors, his companions and himself, he was governed by a natural impulse towards gratitude, devotion and benevolence. He lived in effortless sympathy with the hosts of bright devas and devatas that he found in and around himself and throughout the entire realm of Nature. Reflecting the Akashic ideation infused into him by the Manasa, his actions radiated a benign and spontaneous magic.
Although the impress of that primordial time is ineradicable, human beings have descended so low in consciousness that they can scarcely believe, much less recall, their original estate. Emerson’s charitable characterization of man as God playing the fool cannot account for the awful process by which man has become spiritually self-orphaned and blinded, becoming a burden to himself and a parasite on Nature. What, one might ask, are the strange gods and alien altars towards which human beings have directed their pristine powers in degrading themselves? Since there is no power greater than that which made Monads self-conscious, one need not look beyond oneself to find the cause of one’s own impoverishment. Nor need one look anywhere but within to find the means whereby one may embody the divine impulsion towards its transcendent end. The regeneration and restoration of humanity requires individuals to heed the wisdom of Krishna’s teaching that all beings go to the gods they worship, and thereby awaken to self-conscious immortality in unison with the unmanifest godhead.
Such an awakening can be neither metaphysically cheap nor psychologically simple; one must skillfully navigate between the Scylla of desperate salvationism and the Charybdis of cynical materialism. If man is potentially a self-conscious link between heaven and earth, one might ask how man is specifically connected with the earth and with heaven. The elements constituting the human vestures are indeed consubstantial with the fabric of Nature outside the human form. Thus, man is linked to the earth through the five sense-organs, each of which has its astral analogue, and also through a variety of classes of elementals. Through each of the astro-physical senses, and especially the sense of inner touch, man is continuously involved in complex processes of interaction with the elemental kingdoms. On the other side, he is connected with the Dhyanis and the devas through daimons, which are the invisible essences of the elements, elastic, ethereal and semi-corporeal, in Nature. These daimons are made up of a much more subtle matter than that which composes the astral form of the average human being. By consciously drawing upon them, one can bring about the progressive etherealization of one’s vestures. Just as the crucifixion of Jesus symbolizes the bondage of spirit on the cross of matter, so too the Eucharist signifies the spiritualization of material vestures and the liberation of the spirit. This process must be initiated through meditation, intensified through refinement in consciousness, through reverence, renunciation and compassion. If one can suffuse one’s whole being with benevolent and elevated thoughts and feelings, it is possible, over a period of seven years, to reform the life-atoms that constitute the astro-physical form. Such a radical renewal will be apparent in one’s hands, face, toes and tongue — indeed at every point in the body.
This in itself is only one small application of the vast body of arcane and exact knowledge regarding the hosts and hierarchies of beings involved in human evolution. In neo-Platonic thought these beings were divided into three broad classes:
According to the doctrine of Proclus, the uppermost regions from the Zenith of the Universe to the Moon belonged to the Gods or Planetary Spirits, according to their hierarchies and classes. The highest among them were the twelve Huperouranioi, or Supercelestial Gods, with whole legions of subordinate Daimons at their command. They are followed next in rank and power by the Egkosmioi, the Inter-cosmic Gods, each of these presiding over a great number of Daimons, to whom they impart their power and change it from one to another at will. These are evidently the personified forces of nature in their mutual correlation, the latter being represented by the third class, or the Elementals.
H.P. Blavatsky
In every aspect of life, human beings are intimately and immediately engaged with these ordered ranks and legions of daimons or elementals. The elementals are neither immortal spirits nor tangible bodies; they are merely astral forms of the celestial and super-celestial ideas that move them. They are a combination of sublimated matter and rudimentary mind, centres of force with instinctive desires but no consciousness in the human sense. Acting collectively, they are the nature-spirits — the gnomes and sylphs, salamanders and undines of alchemical tradition.
All these daimons, together with the higher gods, are connected with the seven sacred elements. At the highest metaphysical level, these elements have nothing to do with what we call fire, air, earth and water. For, in essence, these elements are not material, nor may they be understood in terms of visible functions on the physical plane. Just as the hosts of celestial and super-celestial gods are guided from within by the power of formless spiritual essences, and act outwardly in their dominion over the daimons of the elements, so these daimons themselves preside directly over the elements of the four kingdoms of organic life, ensouling them and giving them their outward capacities of action. Thus, when human beings arouse Buddhi in kama, the reflection of the sixth principle in the fourth,Buddhi will transmute the lower Manas. In the antaskarana, in the channel of aspiration, the force of Buddhi in Manas will actually become manifest in the fingers, nostrils and lungs.Buddhi will be aroused in all the centres of the brain and the heart. It will then be possible to invite or invoke the chief controllers of the many classes of daimons. When this takes place, the teaching that man is a living link between heaven and earth takes on a concrete meaning in benevolent magic based upon arcane science.
Weekly Astrology June 10-16 JUNE 11 MARS SQUARE PLUTO- ARE YOU UP FOR CHALLENGES? MARS in TAURUS is forming a square to PLUTO Retrograde. Rules by VENUS in GEMINI right now, it may be a war of word […]
My essence remains constant, despite my various appearances and names. Now and always, I am your adoring mother. Even during the times you felt isolated, I was always there for you. I am with you in both the good and the bad. Even when life doesn’t appear to be going your way, I’m there for you. Have trust that I’ll always be there for you, no matter what you’re dealing with.
Your happiness and safety are at the heart of my universe as your mother. With my presence in your world, you will have enormous spiritual strength and tranquillity. You, too, are a radiant being. By embracing your divine nature, you will help and assist others in moving from a state of suspicion and anxiety to one of compassion, generosity, and sheer delight. Even in the dead of night, my child, you exude spirituality!
What you need to know
When Mother Mary reveals her light face to us, it is quite simple to recognise her presence. Then, we sense her empathy, calm energy and kindness. However, it’s more difficult to perceive her being there when her face isn’t as bright. When we go through grief, anger, alienation, death, and other bad emotions, we may feel this way. She is always there for us, even while we are fighting our inner demons to keep afloat.
Her dark face is as warm and beautiful as her bright one. Mother Mary’s dark face, sometimes known as the Black Madonna, gives us all hope. You see, even when you’re sad or depressed, you’re secure in her loving arms. She provides you with unwavering brightness in the present and the future. She has come to answer your prayers because you are in desperate need of her. As you feel and then express your feelings in safety, remember that she is cradling you in her warm embrace
Prayer for healing
Picture a lovely river of sunlight streaming before your eyes while you sit calmly. Slowly, a lovely black face appears, subconsciously encouraging you to let go of your anguish. You sense the world’s pain in her beautiful, black eyes, but you instinctively understand that all will be well.
Permit yourself to offer her unconditional love as you pray, “Our Lady of the Dark Mysteries, I am so very grateful for every single one of your blessings! My Mother, I beg you to assist me. Work through me so that I may help the world in every manner possible. I pray for your advice and assistance so that I may carry out your desires.”
Plato explains, in a myth in the Timaeus, that when the Demiurge was fashioning the form of man, he endowed the human body with a stomach. This was done, according to the myth, out of compassion because otherwise man, unlike the animal, would be in danger of eating continually. Not only would this be disastrous for human health, but it would needlessly preoccupy consciousness with the intake and elimination of physical food. If human consciousness is to mature fully, it cannot be preoccupied with the persona, with the stomach and the libido, with physical space, time and motion. Consciousness must be freed to contemplate eternal motion, boundless space and infinite duration. This liberation from the bonds of the persona cannot be accomplished all at once but must be attempted again and again, through persistent efforts over a lifetime of meditation.
The radical reorientation of consciousness, away from the persona and towards the Divine, requires ceaseless striving and unremitting patience. Such continuity cannot be sustained over a lifetime unless it can be sustained for a year or even a week. In this arena, where clean beginnings and steadiness of application are crucial, one may gain great help from the example of the good gardener, who comes again and again to tend seedlings and plants, and yet allows nature time to work its magic. In fact, people who actually do some planting can gain considerable benefit through the restoration of their contact with the earth and by gaining an organic sense of growth. They can learn that all life is sacred, including the human body, and that every form of life can and should be treated with due respect. To recover this lost sense of the inviolable integrity of nature, however, one must be able to insert oneself into the whole, gaining intimations of what it is like to be a single blade of grass in a field or a single tree in a vast forest. As a modest experiment one might go to a nursery and purchase a seed, a pot and some soil. If one asks properly, the clerk will give whatever instructions are necessary and then one can take these materials home, carefully and with respect. Then after planting the seed in the soil with humility and love, treating it not as a symbol but as life, one can set the pot firmly upright in a place prepared for it. Each day one can give to the growing plant what it requires by way of water and nourishment, but it is important to do this with an assurance and confidence that comes with humility before nature. Forgetting oneself and without anxiety, one can observe the process of organic growth. In doing this properly, one will also be sowing in oneself the seeds of a new confidence rooted not in fear, not in deceit, but rather in fearlessness and truth, the source of authentic humility.
As one spends a few moments each day noting the growth of the plant, one may see this as linked magnetically to the seed of the new astral form which one seeks to gestate within oneself out of the soil of the old astral. This old astral is chiefly composed of patterns of selective memories, which are instinctual, habitual and compulsive, as well as somewhat inefficient and so unreliable that they would be unacceptable in any court of law. Having no firm basis in either fact or truth, they are primarily externalizations based upon misconceptions and predilections directed against those to whom we owe so much. Rather than remaining captive to an appalling burden of memories and an attendant tendency to judgmentalism towards parents, grandparents and ancestors — of whose trials and difficulties one knows little or nothing — one should mainly concentrate the mind upon the nurturing of the new astral form to which one is attempting to give birth. Indeed, one’s motive in doing this should be to benefit all those who have come before and to whom one should be grateful. One is aiming at the attainment of an active state, where one has energy, but in which one is not bound to one’s persona and irrational self through the forces of kama, krodha and lobha — desire, anger and greed. Speaking of the purifying and benevolent energy of the spiritual will, H.P. Blavatsky pointed to the fundamental requirements of spiritual regeneration and their connection with the discovery of one’s true immortality.
It is only when the power of the passions is dead altogether, and when they have been crushed and annihilated in the retort of an unflinching will; when not only all the lusts and longings of the flesh are dead, but also the recognition of the personal Self is killed out and the ‘astral’ has been reduced in consequence to a cipher, that the Union with the ‘Higher Self’ can take place.
H.P. Blavatsky
The path of inner gestation and self-regeneration depends critically upon the recovery of the capacity to think clearly, freely and creatively. This prerogative, guaranteed to every human being by the cosmos, which never has been (and nor can it ever be) abridged by any terrestrial institution, is the sacred and sacrificial birthright of every Monad blessed with the fire of Manas. Whilst true thinking may be rare, this is not the fault of any society or governments and it is irresponsible and immature in the extreme to blame one’s lack of thoughtfulness upon anything outside oneself. Thinking, in fact, has nothing to do with blame; the more one thinks, the less one will be involved with blaming altogether. As Merlin exhorted Arthur, “Think! Think! THINK!” It is extraordinary how rare true thinking is, but as soon as one does begin to think, thinking things through — dianoia — then one begins to concentrate and gains the ability to go back to an original moment. Those who have completed this training, true disciples who have gained effortless mastery over their astral forms at will, can instantly summon the moment of birth or of death. Herein lies the authenticity and integrity of the true spiritual Path. If ever one hears someone speak of astral travel who is unable to say what his thoughts were before the moment of birth, one should know immediately that such a person is deluded, or a dupe. It is too late to be taken in by such twaddle, much less participate in it.
One should begin by trying to think through what is essential in one’s life, seeking to recover, if not one’s moment of birth, then one’s moment of spiritual awakening in this life. What were one’s dreams as a child before seven? Was there any moment of awakening then, when one realized that one was worth more than all of one’s toys and trinkets? Was there any moment of awakening between the ages of seven and fourteen, when bright possibilities of the future were glimpsed and was there a moment around the age of puberty, when one was filled with hopes and ideals in relation to human brotherhood? Did the possibilities of human growth, beauty, fulfillment and promise fire one’s imagination? What were the secret dreams and longings for the good that one whispered to one’s closest friend in school but did not mention to adults? Were there certain withdrawn and sensitive moments in one’s life which one did not mention to another living soul, but rather honoured in the heart? Each person must self-consciously recover these golden moments for himself or herself because no one else can do this for another. Each person must discover the seeds of goodness within himself or herself and nurture them. If one is to take into account one’s failures, mistakes and errors, then it is only fair that one should also note in one’s life-ledger one’s golden dreams and finest thoughts. One should learn to accentuate the positive and not become preoccupied with the negative. The best means to do this is not to speak very much about oneself to others. Be silent for awhile. Learn to talk less and think more. Then, as one takes note of the truest things in one’s life, one will begin gradually to see connections within, and one will no longer be a slave to connections imposed from outside by others.
Ultimately, one’s life is one’s own. It does not belong to parents or friends or spouse or any other. In one’s spiritual life one cannot come closer to the Guru until one has become worthy of the blessing, and this can only be done by voluntarily putting oneself through vows within a period of probation. During that period of probation there will be a tremendous testing brought on by no one else but oneself. By putting oneself as oil in a refinery, or as a jewel in a cleansing solvent, one chooses precisely which trials and tests are to be brought upon oneself by oneself. Through the power of one’s resolve one enters upon an alchemical process of removal and burning out of impurities in one’s nature. If, for example, one pronounces a sacred word like Atman, then one both blesses and curses oneself. One curses oneself in that the darkness will be drawn out; one blesses oneself in that the Light of the Atman will be shed upon one’s nature. One can choose to stand in the Light of the Atman, but then there will be war — war between that part of oneself which loves and is one with the Light, and that part which is incompatible with the Light. It is impossible to cling to Light and darkness at the same time. One cannot worship both God and Mammon. One must choose, and even though one cannot choose all at once, each choice on behalf of the Light increases self-respect. Every time one chooses to meditate instead of cerebrate, every time one chooses to contemplate instead of chit-chat, every time one chooses to learn from other human beings instead of becoming judgmental, one gains dignity and a measure of self-respect. And unless one respects oneself, one cannot earn the respect of others. This does not mean that one should work at this anxiously and with strain. Rather, one should accept and recognize one’s unimportance, seeing oneself as only one amongst billions of human beings, treating this not as an excuse but as one of the primary facts of life.
Human beings must find out for themselves individually the meaning and purpose of their life. Each human soul in incarnation has a sacred mission and goal. One must have the courage to discover what one has come to earth to do. If one has come to work for the City of Man, then one must train oneself. One must come out of the Necropolis, the city of the dead. One cannot work for the City of Man whilst remaining captive to the city of the dead. One must learn compassion for the morally and mentally crippled, the blind and lame, the victims of crime and ignorance, as well as the criminals themselves. One must become a person of strong nerves capable of loving more and more people, and along with this one must become aware of what one can handle and what one cannot. Each individual is different, and it is necessary to learn something about the plastic potency of one’s own astral vesture. What are its capabilities and what its limitations? There is also great meaning and value in meditating upon a vast and general promise which is the glorious goal of universal human evolution. It is good to envisage in the mind, not merely for oneself but on behalf of all, the prospect of that sacred moment far along the Path when, as H.P. Blavatsky said:
the ‘Astral’ reflects only the conquered man, the still living but no more the longing selfish personality, then the brilliant Augoeides, the divine , can vibrate in conscious harmony with both the poles of the human Entity — the man of matter purified, and the ever pure Spiritual Soul — and stand in the presence of the MASTER SELF, the Christos of the mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into, and one with IT forever.
Mahatma K. H., commenting upon the Tibetan proverb that everyone is master of his own wisdom, states that each is at liberty either to honour or degrade the slave. He then goes on to link this with the eternal process of evolving subjective matter into objective atoms. This intimates that one must, through the power of meditation upon extremely abstract and subjective thoughts, evolve new life-atoms. It is these fresh and pure life-atoms which will push out the old life-atoms of one’s astral body. This is analogous to taking a purgative medicine to clean out unhealthy and unwanted residues in the body. It is even more analogous to the taking of an antibiotic, such as penicillin which was discovered in bread mould by Sir Alexander Fleming. One must, so to speak, extract out of the fungus of one’s chaotic mind a purifying idea capable of cleansing one’s entire mental field. One must directly and deliberately intervene in the war between creators and the destroyers within one’s astral frame. Like an antibiotic medicine derived from life itself, yet capable of destroying harmful bacteria, one’s heartfelt ideals, distilled and clarified through meditation, have the power to release the purifying and benevolent energy of the spiritual will. This is only an analogy pointing to the process of mental self-purification through sacrificial meditation, which is a vital part of the sacred science of spirituality. That science is mathematically exact and precise in its laws and is therefore not possessed by human beings who are captive to the illusions of terrestrial existence. It is an arcane science which combines meta-chemistry with meta-biology, and it is rooted in a metaphysics which only becomes dynamized and activated when it is rendered into meta-psychology — that wisdom which is used and applied in daily life. When it is properly used, and this has nothing to do with mere words — though it has a great deal to do with the use of the tongue — it is extremely powerful and is equivalent to the release of the spiritual will flowing from the Atman.
For the neophyte, the initial step is to become a true pragmatist by putting to use the idealism which is within the soul and which is consubstantial with the plane of Mahatmic ideation in the cosmos. It will then become possible to bring into the unreal world of time, which ordinary human beings mistake for reality, the fruit of meditation, the flower of contemplation and the fragrance of self-study and self-correction. When one is filled with the milk of human kindness, it will become possible to extract from the depths of one’s divine nature the ambrosia of immortality. In deep sleep, when one is far from the persona, when the personal nature is reduced to a cipher, one may receive the gift of Krishna, a drop of the divine elixir. The personal nature will know nothing of this secret gift, and when one awakens, it matters little what the personality makes of the change. What is important is that one honour and treasure it and go forth into the day, sifting and selecting that which is of value, that which is good and true and beautiful. One should not do this strenuously, but rather with a lightness and relaxation consistent with one’s own sense of unimportance in relation to the entirety of mankind.
All forms of over-exertion and strain are signs of a sense of personal self-importance and a desire for attention incompatible with spiritual maturity. Karma cannot condone an abnormal desire for attention for oneself at the expense of the human race, because karma cannot shelter the propensity to indulge in attention to the shadowy persona. Therefore, one must learn and enjoy a new set of rules wherein one does not ask for more ego space than one is entitled to. But if one understands what it is to be only one amongst billions of human beings upon the earth and only one of a smaller though extensive class of beings who have come into the Avataric orbit, then one will know how to do this. Instead of yielding to the backward tendency to impose one’s personality and problems upon others, one will learn to do tapas in silence, so as to prepare oneself for the opportunity to serve which comes with being in the presence of other human souls.
If one would become worthy of being in the presence of Krishna, then one must begin by attempting to understand what Krishna meant when he said that he established this entire universe with but a single portion of himself and yet remains separate from it. Whatever be the percentage of that portion of himself, and that would vary with the needs of the era, his essential nature remains Kutastha — He who standeth apart. The sense in which Krishna is separate from the universe is mystical and metaphysical, but one cannot hope to begin to understand this if one remains subject to the delusion that one can understand oneself by understanding Krishna. This is a typically Western misconception. One must understand oneself through understanding other human beings; when one has understood oneself through all other human beings, then one may begin to understand Krishna. Through love and devotion one can cross the barriers of the mind and the heart and the self, and prepare oneself for Mahasmashana — the burning of the corpse of the persona. There one is consumed by the fire of devotion so as to be reborn to live purely for the sake of others and not at all for oneself. Only those who have crossed that sacred threshold, difficult of approach, can participate in the conscious creation of their lower self. Very few have heard of this mystical threshold, and of these, even fewer have been able to approach it. Fewer still are those who have made a burning-ground of their hearts for the sake of the Guru, and thereby truly entered his service. Yet such is the great teaching and rich promise given by Krishna to his devotees, to all those heroic souls who would become willing servants of the City of Man.
I have a wide range of resources at my disposal, so I can assist you in a number of ways. I will send one of my messengers to help you when you appeal to me. To help you see your way out of the gloom of your difficulties and into the light of your understanding, I always enlist the help of the angels.
You and those close to you will benefit from the assistance of my angels as they provide light on your road through dark times. Do not be afraid right now because you will be assisted by a heavenly army under my leadership so that your life will drastically improve!
What you need to know
It is time for something to alter in your world since you absolutely know that things can no longer remain as they are. Mother Mary is here to remind you that to receive assistance from the angels you need to simply ask. If you don’t do this, they won’t be able to intervene.
For those who have a problem they don’t know how to cope with, Mother Mary offers a very powerful message. The situation might even apply to someone other than you. Thankfully, as long as you do it with good intentions and aren’t attached to the outcome, it’s permissible to ask the angels for aid on behalf of another individual.
Prayer for healing
Envision that you are bathed in a warm glow that is lovely and therapeutic. As you breathe and calm your mind, take in all of the feelings that you are currently experiencing. You are able to sense that your cares and problems are drifting away, enabling you to feel much lighter.
When you feel ready, say the following prayer, “Our Lady, Who Sends the Angels, I kindly ask you to dispatch your angels to aid myself and others who need you. I am able to link with the divine kingdom through the joy and love that lives within me thanks to your compassionate force.”
Amongst the many names that are used to identify me, one is Our Lady of the Abundant Garden. I speak with you today to let you know that you are either now in the midst of a period of abundance or are on the verge of entering one very soon!
The seeds that you plant now will germinate and develop into a thriving landscape in the days to come. Therefore, be sure that everything you do is productive and has a purpose. You will never misplace what is destined for you because I will see to it that it is always there in the right place.
What you need to know
Believe that good fortune is all around you and it will come to you. In addition to this, trust and believe in yourself completely. It would also be beneficial for you to make a list of not just your aspirations but also your motives and aims right now so you can focus more of your energy on these.
You are getting to a point where your happiness is untouched by anything that is going on around you. Therefore, simply take it easy while you savour the pleasures that life has to offer you. Keep in mind that generosity brings about such a satisfying feeling. When you give more, you will, in turn, be rewarded with a greater amount. Keeping this in mind, don’t forget to express your gratitude and appreciation to others who deserve it.
Prayer for healing
“Permit me, Our Lady of the Abundant Garden, to see, appreciate and accept everything that my world has to offer. My environment is presently filled with a sense of magic that will blossom into something even greater. Help me recognise and appreciate every little miracle, every natural cycle and every encounter of loving kindness.”
“Please lend me your support while I release everything else in my life that I no longer require. Everything I’ve ever learned is shifting and morphing into an idea that is far bigger than I am. I am developing into a version of myself that is much less stressed and more joyful as time goes on.”
The ‘Master’ in the sanctuary of our souls is ‘the Higher Self’ — the divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived solely (at any rate during the mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from the Mind, which we have agreed to call the Human Soul (the ‘spiritual soul’ being the vehicle of the Spirit). In its turn the former (the personal or human soul) is a compound in its highest form, of spiritual aspirations, volitions, and divine love; and in its lower aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it by its associations with its vehicle, the seat of all these.
H.P. Blavatsky
Restoration of the right relationship between the Master in the inmost sanctuary and the incarnated consciousness is gained only through a sacrificial process of self-purification. Obscuring and polluting tendencies nurtured in the mind through its misuse over many lives must be removed by a self-chosen and self-administered therapy. Like the Pandava brothers exiled from their kingdom through their own folly, or like the master held prisoner in his own house by those who should be his servants in the parable of Jesus, the pristine divine ray of the Logos in man is trapped and stripped of its sovereign place in human life unless consciously sought by the aspirant. This invocation of wisdom through the supplication of the mind to the spirit was seen by the ancient Greeks as the cultivation of sophrosyne — the subordination of the inferior element to the superior. It is shown in The Voice of the Silence as the shila virtue — the attunement of thought, will and feeling to the pulsation of divine harmony, Alaya-Akasha. The mind stands as the critical link between the divine and the animal nature. The recovery and right use of the privilege of human existence depend upon the subordination of the elements of the lower rupa existence to the spiritual ideation of Arupa Manas.
The sacrificial posture and selfless motive required for this self-purification can be readily grasped through a telling analogy. There is not a modern metropolis which does not maintain the equipment needed to neutralize the effluvia of human waste and thereby reduce the danger of infection to its population. Similarly, a large number of devices are available, both to cities and to individuals, for the purpose of removing sediments and impurities from drinking water, through distillation, filtration and osmosis, to make it available in a purer and fresher form. With the human mind the same principles of public health and civic responsibility would require that each individual and every society strive to purify the muddy stream of human passions which pollute those coming into contact with it. Every human being has received the crystalline waters of life in a pure and unsullied condition, and therefore everyone has the karmic responsibility for every failure to return these waters to the ocean of life in a pristine condition. Insofar as this responsibility has been neglected by individuals, under karma in successive lives they are self-condemned to immersion in the waters they themselves have poisoned. Under the laws of karma affecting the processes of reincarnation and the transmigration of life-atoms, individuals owe it to their neighbours and their descendants, as well as to themselves, to purify their mental emanations.
In practice, this implies a continuous cleansing of one’s thoughts, one’s words and one’s actions; these in turn fundamentally depend upon the purification of the will. Unfortunately, purification of the will, which is vital to the spiritual regeneration of humanity, is itself seriously misunderstood as a consequence of the process of pollution of consciousness and magnetism. Mired in the morbid obscuration of higher consciousness, too many people suppose that a bolstering of the lower will is a means to survival. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The higher spiritual will does not itself need to be strengthened, but it may be released through the removal of obscurations and hindrances. So long as the will is activated by the individual only on behalf of passions and the illusion of the persona, that will is not worth having. Hence, many people have discovered that the will cannot be released on behalf of lesser purposes. This predicament is conspicuous in those diseased societies which place an inordinate emphasis upon the personal will. Will itself is a pure colourless principle which cannot be dissociated from the energy of the Atman released through breathing. Thus when human beings breathe benevolently, blessing others with every breath, they can release the beneficent will-energy of the Atman. As soon as the will is released on behalf of the personal ego, however, against other human beings, it is blunted. This inevitable paralysis of the antagonistic lower will is indeed a beneficent and therapeutic aspect of karma.
Viewed from a collective standpoint, many human beings can be seen as having been weakened because they have absorbed life-atoms from others who have misused spiritual knowledge and the potency of the higher will. Throughout the world perhaps one in ten persons has insistently used the will against other human beings in this or previous lives. This may have been for the sake of bolstering the insecure identity of the persona or, worse, through the misuse of spiritual knowledge connected with false meditation, indulgence in drugs and mediumistic practices. Since 1966 contemporary society has witnessed the emergence of a number of centres of pseudo-spiritual activity; now it is witnessing the inevitable psychological breakdown of many who were responsible for this moral pollution. The waves of spiritual influence initiated by the descent of Krishna offer golden opportunities to all souls, including those inverted natures self-blocked from inward growth by their own failures on the Path in previous lives. Amongst these there were some too cowardly to make a new beginning, who sought instead to compensate for their own weakness and delusion by cashing in on the currents of the 1975 Cycle. Having forfeited timely opportunities offered through compassion, they are self-destroyed when Krishna takes a firm stand on behalf of the entire human family because they are unable to generate a genuine concern for others. Never having generated an interest in the welfare of the vast majority of mankind, they are self-condemned. Sadly, they cast a long shadow over a much larger class of weaker souls who are affected by them, no doubt through their own delusions and vulnerabilities.
Persons are sometimes drawn into dangerous orbits of misused knowledge through loose talk about such sacred subjects as kundalini, kriyashakti and the activation of the higher spiritual centres in man. Ordinary people who enjoy a normal measure of spiritual health wisely avoid those places where they are likely to hear profane chatter. Through a natural sense of spiritual good taste they simply shun those places where self-deluded con men congregate to make a living off the gullible. Today, because the moral and spiritual requirements for participation in the humanity of the future have become more evident to many people, the market for such deceptive opportunism has begun to diminish. The America of P.T. Barnum, who said that a sucker is born every moment, has been replaced to a large extent by the America of Abraham Lincoln, where, as is well known, one cannot fool all the people all the time. Although many souls have to travel a great distance along the path of self-integration, they have learnt enough not to be duped by pseudo-spiritual blandishments. Just as they have learnt not to believe everything conveyed by the mass media and not to leap at every free offer or supermarket discount, they have also learnt to pass up invitations for instant development of kundalini and every facile promise of spiritual development that dispenses with the judicious control of the emotions and passions.
Even in the difficult area of sexuality the idea of strength through celibacy (e.g. Gabrielle Brown, The New Celibacy, 1980) has gained some currency amongst many people, young and old, who find the burden of ego-games and unequal experimentation intolerable. There is nothing wrong with the sacred act of communion and procreation, and as the ancient Jews believed, God is pleased when a man and a woman come together in true unison. Nor need this issue be obscured by pseudo-arguments concerning the Malthusian spectre of over-population. As the economist E.F. Schumacher pointed out, even if the entire population of the globe were concentrated in America, this would result in a population density no greater than that of Great Britain, a nation long noted for the spaciousness and greenery of its countryside. North America itself, over its ancient and almost entirely unwritten history, has supported many varied civilizations, some of which displayed a much greater spiritual maturity than is evidenced in its recent history. Broadly, one cannot understand the physical facts of life on earth, much less the spiritual facts of life, through a language of conflicting claims and counter-claims, rationalizations and compensatory illusions, or pseudo-sophisticated statistical arguments based upon a selfish and shallow view of the nature of the human psyche.
The purification and release of the will must be comprehended in terms of human individuality, and therefore must be considered in the light of the mystery of every human soul. Since this mystery encompasses an entire series of reincarnations extending over eighteen million years, it can only begin to be appreciated through careful consideration of the motley evidence offered by one’s participation in varied states of consciousness in the present life. Any individual concerned to recover the spontaneity and benevolence of the spiritual will must be willing to examine courageously the manner and extent to which he or she has become the servant not of the divine Ego, but rather of the lower astral form and its attendant incubi and succubi.
For this ‘Astral’ — the shadowy ‘double’ (in the animal as in man) is not the companion of the divine Ego but of the earthly body. It is the link between the personal SELF, the lower consciousness of Manas and the Body, and is the vehicle of transitory, not of immortal life. Like the shadow projected by man, it follows his movements and impulses slavishly and mechanically, and leans therefore to matter without ever ascending to Spirit.
Hālau 'Aha Hui Lānākila 