Hubris, pride

Pride and Ego Let the Devils In

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“The Pride of Nature indeed inclines one man more strongly than another, but it forces none that they must be proud; and if there be a force [or strong compulsion upon any,] then it is when man willingly for temporary honor and pleasure sale lets the Devil into his eternal essences; and then the Devil sees presently how that man is inclined by the Spirit of the World, and in that way tempts him accordingly. If man lets him but in, he is then a guest very hard to be driven out again; yet it is possible, if the man entirely and sincerely purposes to turn, and to live according to the Will of God.” ~Jacob Boehme

Pride of Nature

What Boehme is calling “the Pride of Nature” is not natural pride, or being proud of the accomplishments of Mother Nature. He is talking about ego. Specifically, a puffed-up ego caught up is materialistic desires. A person to whom the word “treasure” means a pile of temporary money rather than the eternal treasure of an immortal spirit and soul.

Need for Ego

Ego is necessary. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t have one. But any tool can be harmful when misused and ego is probably the most misused tool we humans have to work with.

Without ego, we have no drive, no passion, no desire to accomplish. This may stop you from doing evil deeds, but it also stops you from doing good ones. You become like a piece of driftwood floating on the tides. Some governments promote the destruction of ego since it makes their people into sheeple—people who behave like sheep or contented cows.

God has little use for those people. He needs people who can accomplish things for the good of humanity and the universe. He needs people who want to help and be co-creators. Sheeple can’t do that. The key is to let the spiritual faculties control the ego, not destroy it. First, of course, those spiritual faculties have to be awakened. Continue reading “Pride and Ego Let the Devils In” →

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spiritual secrets

Spiritual Secrets of Mystery Schools

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“If you would know what eye has not seen nor ear heard and what has not arisen in the human heart, and who stands high above all good, swear to keep the mystery of instruction secret. Our father, who saw the good perfected in him, has kept the mysteries of silence secret. He has sworn and will not waver. Here is his oath: “I swear by the one over all, which is the Good, to keep these mysteries, to tell them to no one, and not to go from the Good back to the creation.” When you take this oath, you enter the Good and see what eye has not seen nor ear heard and what has not arisen in the human heart. You drink from the living water, the washing, the spring of living water bubbling up. ” ~Book of Baruch

Need for Secrets

There is a strong belief among many these days that there should be no secrets. Governments shouldn’t keep things secret from the people. Businesses should keep formulas and processes secret so only they can sell that product or service.

Even that much is not the great idea that it may seem to be at first. A government that can’t keep things secret could never negotiate treaties. A government that can’t develop new technologies in secret won’t bother to develop them at all. Likewise for a business that has to share all it develops with its competitors. So while an end to materialism and capitalism is desirable, until that happens, taking away the rights of governments and businesses to keep secrets is foolish.

Another reason to keep secrets is that it is dangerous to share certain information. I remember how upset many people got some years ago when a fool wrote and published a book with instruction on making bombs from easily obtained chemicals. It is obvious to those with a functioning brain that no one but a person desiring to harm others has any need to know how to build a bomb. When you write such a book, you know your customers will be terrorists and criminals. Claiming that you are not responsible for how people use the information you provide is stupid. Of course you are. Continue reading “Spiritual Secrets of Mystery Schools” →

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Ignorance Bane of spirit

Ignorance: Bane of Man and Spirit

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Omission is the bane of prayers: Of houses, laziness the bane; The bane of beauty, indolence; And carelessness the watchman’s bane. Ill conduct is a woman’s bane, A giver’s bane is avarice; A bane are all bad doctrines, in this world and the next. Thence, more baneful than the rest, Is Ignorance, the bane supreme. This bane renouncing, baneless be, O monks! Easy is life to live for a shameless man, Impudent as a crow, and backbiting, Aggressive, bold, depraved. Hard is life for a modest man, Ever in quest of what is pure, Disinterested, retiring, clean-lived, clear-sighted. He who destroyeth life and speaketh lies, Who taketh in the world what is not given, And goeth to another’s wife. And the man who is addicted to strong drink, E’en in this world doth his own root dig up. O mortal, know thou this: Evil is the state of the intemperate; Let not impiety and greed Reduce thee long to pain.” ~The Dhammapada

Omission and Laziness

What the Dhammapada is calling omission would be called procrastination today. Putting off until some future time things which should be done now. Procrastination is the bane of many things.

With prayer, I don’t think omission is the greatest bane. The main problem with the way most people pray today is that they do it all wrong. It isn’t that they leave things out, it’s that they use prayer like a form of begging. Or they act like God is some genie ready to grant their wildest wishes. The proper way to pray is to ask God to give you what He knows you need to grow and learn. Also ask for the strength and wisdom to deal with the dark ones who would lead you away from the path.

I can agree that laziness remains the bane of houses, or at least orderly homes. If we don’t clean our houses, and make repairs when necessary, they cease to be places of comfort and beauty. Of course, there are other things that can be a bane to a happy home.

The Great bane of Ignorance

Many disagree with the idea that ignorance is the greatest bane. They will tell you there are many good, kind people who lack education. On the other hand, there are well-educated despots, thieves, and greedy businessmen.

But ignorance is not a lack of formal education. To spiritual people, ignorance is more specific. It is lack of knowledge of truth. It is not knowing God in and true sense. They may have been taught about God, but that is not the same as knowing God from one’s own experience. Those who do know God cannot help but want to sever God’s Great Plan. Those ignorant of God and truth think they follow their own path, but are probably following one under the guidance of Satan and his minions. Continue reading “Ignorance: Bane of Man and Spirit” →

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region of bliss, multi-sensory human, soul birth, Archetype of Man

Soul Birth is Real Birth

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“To the Eleusinian philosophers, birth into the physical worlds was death in the fullest sense of the word, and the only true birth was that of the spiritual soul of man rising out of the womb of his own fleshly nature. ‘The soul is dead that slumbers,’ says Longfellow, and in this he strikes the keynote of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Just as Narcissus, gazing at himself in the water (symbolizing the transitory, illusionary, material universe) lost his life trying to embrace a reflection, so man, gazing into the mirror of Nature and accepting as his real self the senseless clay that he sees reflected, loses the opportunity afforded by physical life to unfold his immortal, invisible Self.” ~Manly P. Hall

Birth Into Death

It may seem unreasonable of the Eleusinians to think of birth into the physical realm as death, but in a sense it is. That attitude is exaggerated, but does make the point that physical life is not life at all. It is imitation life, life in illusion.

Suppose you covered a turtle with mud. The mud now seems to be moving around like a living thing. But wash off the mud and you see that it was the turtle under it that was actually moving. That is much how it is with physical live compared to the spiritual. The physical body is like spirit that has been covered with the mud of matter. It moves and seems alive only because of the spirit within. After a while, that physical body dies. That would not happen if it were truly alive. So in that way, the Eleusinians, and some other ancient mystery schools, were correct in considering physical life just a form of death.

The one thing that defies this idea that physical life is death is that while we are in the physical realm, we can awaken our spirit and soul and be come truly living while still on Earth, still physical. In this way, we can redeem that lost “dead” matter that is our physical body and mind and join it with the immortal spirit and soul. That is how we become truly immortal beings, yet still individuals. Continue reading “Soul Birth is Real Birth” →

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