apostolic state

Apostolic State and How to achieve it

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“The true Apostolic state is to become all things to all men; that is, to impart to each one spiritually, according to his necessities. Only those who are reduced to littleness and simplicity have this power of communicating grace. They have also the ability to sympathize deeply to the states of others, of bearing to some measure their burdens, and are sometimes in great heaviness on that account. This communication of grace and aid is not necessarily restricted to the personal presence of the individual. We may be ‘absent in body, yet present in spirit,’ after the manner of God’s operations, and as the angelic powers communicate to us. It is only by the enlightening of God’s Spirit that we realize the state of those to whom we are spiritually united.

“Unity of souls is experienced, not only with those in the body, who have affinity with ourselves, but also with those out of the body. I realize, with the holy prophet David, a correspondence and unity, which renders our souls one in God. You will experience this unity with the saints more fully when all perception of self is taken away.” ~Madam Guyon

Apostolic State

What Madam Guyon calls the apostolic state is better called today a state of spiritual enlightenment. This is the state of being sought by the ancient mystery schools and schools of spiritual philosophy such as those of Pythagoras and Plato.

All Things to All Men

I have to disagree with Guyon on this one. At least in the way we would interpret it today, no one can be all things to all men. If, for example, a person wanted to hire a hitman to murder a rival, would one in this apostolic state take the job? Certainly not! What Goyon is really saying is that a person in this apostolic state will treat all people equally, not showing favoritism based on race, nationality, language, etc. Just as the sun shines on us all, the true mystic sends love and joy to all. That doesn’t mean that the mystic will teach the path of hidden knowledge to anyone who seeks it. They are aware that the misuse of that knowledge makes that a dangerous thing to do. Yet the mystic, or person in an apostolic state, will teach any who are ready for such knowledge and will not misuse it.

Littleness and Simplicity

Today we would say with more accuracy that the spiritual person in an apostolic state must have humility. While the ego need not, and should not, be destroyed, it must be controlled by the awakened soul so that one can function in humility, yet still function. Only those with humility would want to help others, and only those who still have an ego would bother to do so.

Sympathize Deeply

I don’t know if the term was used in the time of Madam Guyon, but what she is describing here is an empath, and that is indeed common among those in an apostolic state. It simply stands to reason that spiritual people have far more concern for others than a materialist would. That concern often reached the point of being an empath where the person can feel the emotions and sometimes even the physical aches and pains of other people who are physically close to them. I know that I can get very sad when near a funeral even if I have no idea who the dead person is. Why are we like that? Because God wants us to understand the trials and tribulations of our fellow beings trapped in the realm of matter. This makes us more sympathetic to their plight as well as our own. Some spiritual people just wouldn’t worry about it too much if their own life was difficult, but when they can feel the difficulties of others, they are more motivated to work to heal the world. To be in a true apostolic state means that we want to aid in the process of changing the fallen worlds of matter back into spirit, and we won’t let any of the efforts of demons or those they inspire stop us.

Unity of Souls

The apostolic state is one in which all souls become united into one super being called the Godhead. Most, however, only experience this state occasionally, and for brief periods of time. But as they continue to practice and to raise their frequencies and consciousness levels using the Light of the Spiritual Sun, they experience that unity more often, and it affects their behavior even on the physical and mental levels.

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world of becoming

World of Becoming Mystical and Spiritual

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“We have seen that a vast tract of experience—all the experience which results from contact between a purged and heightened consciousness and the World of Becoming in which it is immersed; and much, too, of that which results from contact set up between such a consciousness and the Absolute Itself—is included in that stage of growth which the mystics call the Illuminated Way. This is the largest and most densely populated province of the mystic kingdom. Such different visionaries as Suso and Blake, Boehme and Angela of Foligno, Mechthilde of Magdeburg, Fox, Rolle, St. Teresa, and countless others have left us the record of their sojourn therein. Among those who cannot be called pure mystics we can detect in the works of Plato and Heracleitus, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Walt Whitman indicate that they too were acquainted, beyond most poets and seers, with the phenomena of the illuminated life. In studying it then, we shall be confronted by a mass of apparently irreconcilable material: the results of the relation set up between every degree of lucidity, every kind of character, and the suprasensible world.” ~Evelyn Underhill

World of Becoming

The World of Becoming is all about achieving higher and higher states of consciousness. It is also about awakening and developing the spirit and soul. Those are not really two different things. The awakening and development of the spiritual faculties is the only way to really reach higher states of consciousness and enter the world of becoming.

Between Consciousness and the Absolute

Contact between our own conscious and the Divine Consciousness of the Absolute (God) is indeed the goal of the world of becoming. Real spiritual development isn’t about self-interest or education. It isn’t about making ourselves better than others so we can lord over them. Neither is it a panacea that will make us happy and wealthy without having to work for it. It is all about awakening the spirit and soul, then developing them into higher and higher states of consciousness until they become linked to the Divine Consciousness of God. This absolute consciousness may be looked at as a massive temple of consciousness in which each of our individual consciousnesses is but one small stone. Individually, those consciousnesses are not much, but when billions of them are working together, you have a very powerful force. Continue reading “World of Becoming Mystical and Spiritual” →

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mystical wisdom

Mystical Wisdom Revealed to Spirits and Souls

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“We speak the hidden mystical Wisdom of God, which God ordained before the world unto our glory; Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But, as it is written; eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man to conceive of things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so, the things of God know no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

“The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” ~Jacob Boehme1

Mystical Wisdom of God

The wisdom of the ancients mystics is the wisdom of God, and that is the only true wisdom. True wisdom comes from truth, and only that truth which comes from God is absolute truth. Yet this wisdom, as Boehme notes, is hidden to most. There are many reasons for this, but the two primary ones are simply this; some people would use such knowledge in a way that is harmful to themselves and others ( Think Hitler and Roman Emperor Nero), and the forces of darkness hide it as much as they can from all of us.

Princes of the World

Sadly, we are seeing much of such princes these days, even in countries that are supposed to be democracies. In a representative democracy, the elected officials have taken an oath to uphold the will of the people. That is what makes them representatives. But we are seeing in several countries that they very quickly forget that oath and act like the princes and despots of days gone by. They do what they want to do and what their wealthy supporters want while ignoring the desires and needs of the majority. So it should not be a surprise that such princes know nothing of the mystical wisdom and truth. They wouldn’t know how to use it if they did. Continue reading “Mystical Wisdom Revealed to Spirits and Souls” →

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mystic temple

Mystic Temple and the Light of Wonder

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Let us enter the mystic temple and be initiated,—though it must be supposed that, a year ago, we were initiated into the Lesser Mysteries at Agræ. We must have been mystæ (veiled), before we can become epoptæ (seers); in plain English, we must have shut our eyes to all else before we can behold the mysteries. Crowned with myrtle, we enter with the other initiates into the vestibule of the temple,—blind as yet, but the Hierophant within will soon open our eyes. “But first,—for here we must do nothing rashly,—first we must wash in this holy water; for it is with pure hands and a pure heart that we are bidden to enter the most sacred enclosure . Then, led into the presence of the Hierophant, he reads to us, from a book of stone, things which we must not divulge on pain of death. Let it suffice that they fit the place and the occasion; and though you might laugh at them, if they were spoken outside, still you seem very far from that mood now, as you hear the words of the old man (for old he he always was), and look upon the revealed symbols. And very far, indeed, are you from ridicule, when Demeter seals, by her own peculiar utterance and signals, by vivid coruscations of light, and cloud piled upon cloud, all that we have seen and heard from her sacred priest; and then, finally, the light of a serene wonder fills the temple, and we see the pure fields of Elysium, and hear the chorus of the Blessed.” ~Thomas Taylor

Mystic Temple

What constituted a mystic temple in the ancient world varied depending on several factors. One factor was the standards of those who founded the temple. Another was the acceptance of the area for mystics. Where they were not only allowed, but encourages, they may have had open temples like that of King Solomon. In other places, they may have been hidden caves that few knew about. In some cases, the temple may not have been a structure of any kind, but simply a group of like-minded mystics working together.

As with many buildings today, what you used it for defined it more than the architecture itself. Yet there were things that most of the mystic temples had in common. One was some form of chamber or maze where initiation was performed. Another was the entrance that had two pillars by it, one to the left, one to the right. It is said that in some of these temples, once you passed between the pillars, there was no turning around. That is why new students were not simply allowed to enter and wander around. They entered only when they had been prepared for initiation. That preparation part alone may have taken a year or two.

Shut Our Eyes

The students of the mystic temples did not literally shut there eyes in order to prepare for the knowledge of the mysteries. They certainly didn’t blind themselves. They shut their eyes allegorically. They stopped blindly accepting the material world as exactly what it appears to be and as the only reality. They at least accepted the possibility that the world of matter was an illusion. They could not have moved outside of those limitations without accepting that more existed. Their eyes were shut to illusion, not reality.

Wash in Holy Water

Having initiates “wash in holy water” in the mystic temple may be why many churches started the idea of using holy water for one ceremony or another. I really don’t know who started it, but I remember reading that the first known vending machine was in a religious temple and dispensed a few drops of holy water when a coin was dropped into the slot. But water that is made holy simply by being blessed by a priest isn’t the real holy water. It is an allegory, much like the “shut your eyes” above. The real holy water is the flowing light of the spiritual sun that awakens the spirit and soul. It is this that prepares one to enter the mystic temple and complete the initiation.

Book of Stone

Did mystic temples really have a book made of stone from which the Hierophant read? Perhaps. But whether it was literally real or not doesn’t matter. It is the symbolism that matters. The idea of using a book of stone is to say that what as being revealed was eternal truths, indestructible truths. It wasn’t the opinions and interpretations of men found in most written books of paper. If you have never done so, read a few books that are two or three hundred years old. Not spiritual books, but others. See how things that were accepted as normal or true would be laughed at today.

Light of Wonder

It may start with short bursts of light, that spark of light called “ vivid coruscations of light,” in the quote. But eventually, you are filled with that light and you begin to understand the truth. This is not truth in a sense of human history. It is eternal truth, ultimate truth. It is wisdom. The mystic temple could just as easily be called a wisdom temple. Today, many confuse education with wisdom, They are not the same. And real truth and wisdom never come from reading books. They must be experienced by each of us individually. That light of wonder does that for us. That light that originates with God and reaches us through the spiritual sun.

For more on the mystic temples, read this earlier post.

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