Ego, self-discipline, Mental Mastery

Ego Needs to be Leashed, Not Killed

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Here is the original cause, that the Creature of the Darkness wills to be above the Deity, as the Devil does; and here is the origin of Self-Pride;for such as the Source in the Creature is, such also is the Creature. For the Creature is proceeded … out of the eternal will of the dark Mind.

“And this will is not the Will of God,neither is it God but the reconceived Will, … which stands in the center of the Birth in the Sharpness. … And to generate the Virtue of eternal Omniscience and Wisdom in the Love that is God; and the procedure from Him, is His Willing.” ~Jacob Boehme

Beginning of Ego

While the archaic language of Boehme is difficult to follow, it seems clear to me that the “Creature” he is talking about is either Ego, or man under control of Ego. If you have read any spiritual writings at all, you are probably not surprised that he looks upon ego as something negative. He actually says that it can be traced back to the Devil and the Darkness and stems from the desire to be above God(Deity).

In Gnostic spirituality, we say that it is this desire to be above God, or belief that you are as great as God, that led the fallen angels or Demiurge to try to create like God. The result was the seriously flawed creation of the material universe. And since our physical bodies and minds are part of that creation of the Demiurge, we have that ego in us as well.

Birth in Sharpness

I believe that the “birth in the Sharpness” Boehme references is simply birth into the dimension of matter. When we are born at this level, we are born with an ego, with the Creature within us. It is unavoidable.

At the same time, we are born with spiritual faculties that are dormant since they are not of this realm. We can survive on the physical level without ever awakening those spiritual faculties. But our physical body will die one day. To survive beyond that, we must awaken those spiritual faculties before it happens. You can’t wait until the flood has happened to build a boat. Continue reading “Ego Needs to be Leashed, Not Killed” →

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light mind , enlightened man, light beings, unpolluted truth, Beings of Fire (Light)

Unpolluted truth and knowledge for Spiritual Growth

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“If thou shalt intend that which is present, following the rule of right and reason carefully, solidly, meekly, and shalt not intermix any other businesses, but shalt study this only to preserve thy spirit unpolluted, and pure, and shall cleave unto him without either hope or fear of anything, in all things that thou shalt either do or speak countering thyself with heroical truth, thou shalt live happily; and from this, there is no man that can hinder thee.” ~Marcus Aurelius

Intend Unpolluted Truth

Imagination is a wonderful thing. But it is also something that is often misused. We misuse it when we hide form reality by filling it with fantasies. Not just by reading books or watching movies, but by letting our view of the world around us be hid under a veil of imagination.

Zen masters say we must empty our cup before it can be filled again. This means that we must remove those fantasies, false beliefs, and opinions about the world and the universe that allows our imagination to hide reality from us. We don’t need to empty out the truth, just the lies.

Intermix Other Business

Anyone who is good at telling lies knows that the best way to do so is to mix some truth in with the lies. Then if someone starts questioning what you say, you simply provide proof of the small part that is true.

The other side of that coin is rarely mentioned. If you take truth and mix it with thirty-percents, twenty-percent, or even as little as ten-percent lies, what you have is lies. A wise man can look at the results and discern what is true and what isn’t. Most people can’t. Frequently, something like this happens. An intelligent, but not wise, person looks at what was said or written and realizes some of it is not compatible with the rest. He realizes it can’t all be true. Unfortunately, being a materialist in a material world, he will probably choose the lies to believe and through out the rest. We see a lot of that today in those who call themselves Evangelical Christians though they are hardly practicing Christianity as taught by Jesus and his true apostles.

So mixing lies with truth is not a good way to go. Unpolluted truth is spiritual truth. Spiritual students must learn to know when it has happened and what is true and what isn’t. It it much like the necessity to learn spiritual symbolism to understand the allegorical and symbolic writings of the ancients. Continue reading “Unpolluted truth and knowledge for Spiritual Growth” →

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Demiurge

Demiurge and the Gnostics

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“The Gnostics were divided in their opinions concerning the Demiurgus, or creator of the lower worlds.

He established the terrestrial universe with the aid of six sons, or manations (possibly, the planetary Angels) which he formed out of, and yet within, himself. As stated before, the Demiurgus was individualized as the lowest creation out of the substance called pleroma. One group of the Gnostics was of the opinion that the Demiurgus was the cause of all misery and was an evil creature, who by building this lower world had separated the souls of men from truth by encasing them in mortal vehicles. The other sect viewed the Demiurgus as being divinely inspired and merely fulfilling the dictates of the invisible Lord. Some Gnostics were of the opinion that the Jewish God, Jehovah, was the Demiurgus.” ~Manly P. Hall

Gnostics and the Demiurge

It is possible that different Gnostic groups had different beliefs about the nature of the Demiurge. It is also possible that historians have misunderstood the teachings since they admit that most knowledge of such groups was destroyed by the state-approved Christian church.

In any case, it seems that they all agreed that this Demiurge who created the lower realms or realms of matter is not the true God, but a lower level being. Not much lower, obviously, if e had the power to create an entire universe of matter, but still not the real God. Continue reading “Demiurge and the Gnostics” →

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Morning comes

Morning comes Bringing an End to the Darkest Night

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“I beheld the forces of Knowledge laying siege to the city of Inherited Privilege; but they were few in number and were soon dispersed.

“And I saw Freedom walking alone, knocking at doors, and asking for shelter, but no one heeded her pleas. …

“I saw Religion buried in books, and Doubt stood in her place.

“And I saw man wearing the garments of Patience as a cloak for cowardice and calling Sloth Tolerance, and Fear Courtesy….

“I saw gold in the hands of the wasteful, a means of evil doing; and in the hands of the miserly as a bait for hatred. But in the hands of the wise I saw no gold.

“When I beheld all these things, I cried out in pain, Oh Daughter of Zeus, is this indeed the Earth? Is this Man?’

“In a soft and anguished voice she replied, ‘What you see is the Soul’s path,and it is paved with sharp stones and carpeted with thorns. This is only the shadow of Man. This is Night. But wait! Morning will soon be here!” ~Kahlil Gibran

Knowledge and Freedom

If you ask almost anyone, they will say they want knowledge and freedom. They want it very much. Yet in many cases, when it knocks at the door, they hide under the bed. They want knowledge, but not if it means giving up their long-held beliefs. Knowledge is great, as long as it doesn’t shatter their fantasies. If knowledge insists on behaving like that, they will continue to hide from it. We have to open up to it if we truly want it. But morning comes.

Religion Buried in Books

If you ask a Christian if God is still alive, they will probably look at you in shock and reply, “Of course God is still alive, He’s immortal.” Yet if you ask them when they speak to God, they will almost certainly answer that they read the Bible often.

If you get your religious truth from the Bible, or any other book, you are saying, in essence, that your God is dead. If he wasn’t than what he has to say cannot be trapped in a 2,000 year-old book. Things change, times change, and religion needs to be able to change. Not according to social whims or politicians, but by talking to God Now, and finding out what he wants Now. That is real religion.

Patience, Tolerance, and Fear

Patience is certainly virtue. So is tolerance, though on a lower level. With real love, there is no need for tolerance. Fear is not a virtue. It is probably our worst enemy.

But while real patience is a virtue, false patience isn’t. As Gibran says, sometimes we are mislabeling cowardice as patience. Real patience is when we are willing to wait for something to happen that may actually happen. Cowardice is when we refuse to act against dictators, despots, evils of all sort out of fear of the consequences. Refusing to act because of fear may be called patience, but it isn’t.

Tolerance is similar. When we allow certain things to happen even though they may not be what we would like to happen, we are being tolerant. When we accept that other may believe different than ourselves and we must allow that, we are being tolerant. When we permit politicians and business leaders to commit horrendous crimes against humanity and nature, that is fear, not tolerance. We can be tolerant of behavior that is not destroying people. Allowing destruction and evil is not tolerance, but cowardice. Yet, morning comes. Continue reading “Morning comes Bringing an End to the Darkest Night” →

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