sublime idea, Spring watering the soul

Spring that Feeds and Waters the Soul

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“He who yokes the practice of the virtues to spiritual knowledge is a skillful farmer, watering the fields of his soul from two pure springs. For the spring of spiritual knowledge raises the immature soul to the contemplation of higher realities; while the spring of ascetic practice mortifies our earthly members: ‘unchastity, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire’. Once these are dead, the virtues come into flower and bear the fruit of the Spirit: ‘love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control’. …
“Take note, too, that you who are a good friend of Christ, that if one passion finds a place in you and takes root there, it will introduce other passions also into the same shrine. For even though the passions, as well as their instigators the demons, are opposed to each other, yet they are all at one seeking our perdition.” ~The Philokalia

Gaining Spiritual Knowledge

Increasing our spiritual knowledge, and reaching higher levels of consciousness by doing so, is what real spirituality is all about. I’m not sure the metaphor of a farmer of spirituality is a great one, but the idea of such a farmer watering his soul from two springs does create an inviting image.

The first spring mentioned is that of Spiritual knowledge, and that is as it should be because you can make little progress without it. This does not mean that ultimate level of spiritual knowledge called “Gnosis,” although that is the goal. Some minimal spiritual knowledge is necessary to make any progress at all. Continue reading “Spring that Feeds and Waters the Soul” →

Share
Fog of Ignorance

Caught in the Fog of Ignorance

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Ignorance of the Father brought about terror and fear. And terror became dense like a fog, so no one was able to see. Because of this, error became strong. But she worked on her material substance vainly, because she did not know the truth. She assumed a fashioned figure while she was preparing, in power and beauty, the substitute for truth.
“This, then, was not a humiliation for the illimitable, inconceivable one. For they were as nothing this terror and this forgetfulness and this figure of falsehood, whereas established truth is unchanging, unperturbed, and completely beautiful.
“For this reason, do not take error too seriously. Since error has no root, she was in a fog regarding the father. She was preparing works and forgetfulnesses and fears in order, by these means to beguile those of the middle and to make them captive. …
“Since forgetfulness existed because the Father was not known, if the Father comes to be known, from that moment on forgetfulness will cease to exist.” ~The Gospel of Truth

Ignorance of the Father

The “Father” in this discussion is, of course, God. Many will argue that they are not ignorant of God, that they know him very well, but what they “know” is not actual knowing, but opinion. It is opinion because they have not personally experienced Oneness with God, but only know of him what they were told by preachers, teachers, or books. This would be bad enough if the preachers, teachers, and authors of books were people who had experienced that enlightening state of Oneness with God and were trying their best to share that truth with others. Unfortunately, most of them have not had such an experience, not even for one brief moment. They are, in almost all cases, simply repeating what they were told by someone who was repeating what he was told, and on and on. Continue reading “Caught in the Fog of Ignorance” →

Share
indifferent state, Perfect Stillness

Reasoning and Spirituality, looking Within, and Without

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“There are those whose reasoning powers have been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine that animal passions can be so sublimated and elevated that their fury, force, and fire can, so to speak, be turned inward; that they can be stored and shut up in one’s breast, until their energy is, not expended, but turned toward higher and more holy purposes: namely, until their collective and unexpected strength enables their possessor to enter the true Sanctuary of the Soul and stand therein in the presence of the Master—the HIGHER SELF! For this purpose they will not struggle with their passions nor slay them. … Oh, poor blind visionaries!
“As well hope that a band of drunken chimney-sweeps, hot and greasy from their work, may be shut up in a sanctuary hung with pure white linen, and that instead of soiling and turning it by their presence into a heap of dirty shreds, they will become masters.” ~H. P. Blavatsky

Reasoning and Spirituality

It’s a simple fact: reasoning and spirituality don’t play well together. The logical, materialistic mind of reasoning is simply the wrong tool to use to comprehend the spiritual, just as a saw is the wrong tool to use to pound in nails.

When Blavatsky says the reasoning powers have been “distorted by foreign influence,” she isn’t talking so much about people for other countries as she is about truly foreign influences: devils and demons. While there is certainly nothing wrong with being intelligent and using your reasoning mind, we have to get away from the idea that it holds the answers to everything. Continue reading “Reasoning and Spirituality, looking Within, and Without” →

Share
rise above, Creature evolving, integrated being, purification, spiritual evolution, abstract transformation

Transformation on a Spiritual Level

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“The Mystic Way will then be described, not as a journey, but as an alteration of personality, the transmuting of “earthly” into “heavenly” man. Plainly these two aspects are obverse and reverse of one whole. They represent that mighty pair of opposites, infinite and Finite, God and Self, which it is the business of mysticism to carry up into a higher synthesis. Whether the process be considered as outward search or inward change, its object and its end are the same. Man enters into that Order of Reality for which he was made, and which is indeed the inciting cause of his pilgrimage and his purification: for however great the demand on the soul’s own effort may be, the initiative always lies with the living Divine World itself.” ~Evelyn Underhill

Mystic Way

It is true that the path of the mystic or spiritual adept is not a “journey” in the sense of moving from one location to another. Those people who think that they will achieve some level of enlightenment by traveling to some magical place are mistaken. The “journey” is not one of traveling, but one of transformation. Transformation of self, which in turn leads to transformation of the world around us. Continue reading “Transformation on a Spiritual Level” →

Share