Wealth of the Whole World Seen in the Sun

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“When the air is filled with the brightness of the sun, the beauty and the wealth of the whole world are revealed, and the eyes of men become enlightened and rejoice in the manifold diversity of colors. And so it is, when we are onefold within ourselves, and our power of understanding is enlightened and the Spirit of Understanding shines through it. Then we can become aware of the high attributes which are in God, and which are the cause of all the works which flow forth from Him. Although all men may understand the works, and God through His works; yet no one can truly understand, neither in their appearance nor in their reality, the attributes of the works of God as they are in their ground, save by means of this gift. For this teaches us to seek out and to recognize our own nobleness, and it gives us the power to discern the virtues and all practices, and the way in which we should live without error in accordance with eternal Truth: and they who are enlightened by it can dwell in the spirit, and can, with enlightened reason, rightly apprehend and understand all things in heaven and on earth.” ~John of Ruysbroeck

Worldly Wealth and Beauty

The wealth and beauty that Ruysbroeck is talking about aren’t found in banks and beauty salons. H is talking about the beauty and abundance of Nature, not the synthetic version created by men.

The false beauty fades and has to be replenished with chemicals and surgery. The wealth of money and stocks has to be kept growing or its value in comparison with the overall material wealth of the world drops. Yet foolish people get trapped in the game and illusion of pursuing such wealth and beauty.

The beauty and wealth of the whole world are found in fields and gardens, on mountains and in the sea, in the wild places unchanged by man. It is true that such places are not really from God since the physical realm is the creation of the Demiurge, yet they are closer to the original creations of God than are the manmade treasures and edifices found in cities and museums. And their value is certainly greater than that of money and stocks. Many seem to forget that the only value money actually has is in buying the things that make up the wealth of the whole world. If you hoard the money and don’t buy things with it, you are just letting it go to waste. It is like putting a dam in a clean, flowing river, and turning it into a stagnant pond. And the wealthy who do that wonder why people dislike them for making stagnant ponds of wealth, when a flowing wealth could do so much good in the world, even that false manmade wealth. If nothing else, that money can be used to protect nature and wealth of the whole world, but few rich people see it that way. Continue reading “Wealth of the Whole World Seen in the Sun” →

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great corruption

A Great Corruption of Man and His World

Posted on by Harold Boulette

A Great Corruption of Human Nature

“Toward the middle of the Atlantean evolution a calamity gradually befell humanity. The Mysteries of the Initiates had to be carefully kept secret from those who had not purified their astral bodies from sin. Had they gained insight into that hidden knowledge, into the laws by means of which higher beings directed the forces of nature, they would have employed those forces thus placed at their disposal for their own perverted needs and passions. The danger was all the greater because mankind was coming, as has been described, into the sphere of lower spiritual beings, who could not take part in the regular evolution of the earth and were therefore working against it. These persistently influenced humanity in such a way as to instill into it interests which were actually directed against human welfare. But mankind still had the power to employ the forces of growth and reproduction belonging to animal and human nature in their own service.

“Not only humanity in general, but even some of the initiates yielded to temptation from low spiritual beings. They were induced to employ the supersensible forces mentioned above for a purpose which ran counter to human evolution. And for this purpose they sought out associates who were not initiated, and who made use of the secrets of the supersensible forces of nature for low ends. The result was a great corruption of human nature.” ~Rudolf Steiner

Mysteries Had to Be Secret

I have written on this before. The great mysteries of spiritual development, or Mysticism, if you prefer, have always been kept secret from the general public. This is not because the Initiates are greedy of stingy, but to protect humanity from the kind of thing Steiner is writing about. Hitler and Nero are examples of people who learned some of the esoteric knowledge that was to be kept secret and look at how harmful they were. If they were not protected, it could—and did—lead to great corruption.

Directing Forces of Nature

According to Steiner, part of these mysteries was the ability to direct forces of nature. There is evidence in records of some mystery schools of individuals who could do this. It is said that they could turn a tornado or hurricane away from their location when it was heading directly for them. Or they could bring rain to an area suffering a drought. But such power was not found in the average initiate of the mystery schools, but only the most advanced members. It is true, though, that even junior initiates could accomplish such things when a group of them worked together. That is why the history of mystics almost always has them clustered together in schools or communities. Even today, in what many think is a rather enlightened age, few realize the effects our thoughts and emotions have on the weather and the environment in general. Part of the great corruption of humanity is that we live in ignorance of the effects of our choices. Continue reading “A Great Corruption of Man and His World” →

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Intelligent Nature and Suffering Humanity

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Suffering indicates that one has come into conflict with the Laws of Intelligent Nature. The one who does not attain Divine Wisdom suffers.

“The lack of understanding of the wholeness of life is the source of suffering. Those who would like to free themselves of suffering need to change the direction of their movement. In order to achieve this, one needs to be courageous and resolute. When someone commits a crime, sufferings knocks at the dor and forces that person to begin thinking.

“God has created a harmonious world, and the existing suffering in this world is the result of human actions. At first, Nature tries to teach us with gentleness, and if we do not understand, the storm comes. Nature manifests herself to be like us. She conforms to us, and then we understand her language.

“The good gardener prunes the cultivated trees, leaving the wild ones to grow untouched. For how long? Until their turn comes to be pruned. When a sheep is slaughtered, the other sheep stand by and watch, but the same thing will happen to them. Their turn has not yet come. To the one who has endured suffering to the end, suffering will come no more.” ~Biensa Douno

Laws of Nature

There are three levels of law that humanity has to deal with. The highest level is that of God’s Divine law. The lowest is of manmade laws. In between those two falls the laws of Nature. Those laws are not the same as the Divine Law of God, but the laws of Nature, unlike those of Man, never violate the Law of God. Intelligent Nature is not a fantasy for children and commercials, it is real. All things are part of the One Consciousness, therefore all have some degree of intelligence. Nature gets much of its intelligence from the minds of humans, so it should not be surprising that sometimes intelligent nature gets angry and punishes us.

Suffering

Douno says those who have not attained Divine Wisdom suffer. There are two reasons for him to say this. One is that the awakened person isn’t so easily affected by the world of illusion around him, so is less likely to suffer. But even the most advanced spiritual adepts may get a disease or be injured so they may suffer some, but far less than the average person. Second, suffering is often a way to get the stubborn to partially awaken and start moving in the direction of complete spiritual awakening. It is, in some cases, why certain disasters happen in this world. The silver lining of the disasters is that it helps some become aware of what reality is and what illusion is. Continue reading “Intelligent Nature and Suffering Humanity” →

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God, nature, and man

God, Nature, and Man for True Knowledge

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Alchemy is that science which results from a knowledge of God, Nature, and Man. A perfect knowledge of either of them cannot be obtained without the knowledge of the other two, for these three are one and inseparable. Alchemy is not merely an intellectual, but a spiritual science; because that which belongs to the spirit can only be spiritually known. Nevertheless, it is a science dealing with material things, for spirit and matter are only two opposite manifestations or ‘poles’ of the eternal One. Alchemy is an art , and as every art requires an artist to exercise it, likewise this divine science and art can be practiced only by those who are in possession of the divine power necessary for that purpose. It is true that the external manipulations required for the production of certain alchemical preparations may, like an ordinary chemical process, be taught to anybody capable of reasoning; but the results which he would accomplish would be without life, for only he in whom the true life has awakened can awaken it from its sleep in the prima materia, nd cause visible forms to grow from the chaos of nature.” ~Franz Hartmann

Knowledge of God, Nature, and Man

Hartmann says that Alchemy results from the knowledge of God, Nature, and Man. But virtually all of us have some knowledge of each of those things, yet we cannot claim to be a true Alchemist. So it might be better to say that Alchemy is the science that results in complete knowledge of God, Nature, and Man. He notes that there are those who have perfect knowledge of one or two of the three, but not all. Those people, he says, cannot be true Alchemists. They will be the kind of Alchemists who deal with material things only and are therefore only ordinary chemists. Of course, if you look up “Alchemist” or “Alchemy” on sites like Wikipedia and Dictionary.com, you will see that this phony type of Alchemist is how they define the whole science. But as Hartmann says, real Alchemy is as much a spiritual science as it is an intellectual one. And the purpose of the real Alchemists was not to transform base metals like lead into valuable metals like gold, it was to transform the leaden consciousness of materialistic men and women into the golden consciousness of the spiritual adept. The word Alchemy itself tells us this. It is derived from words that mean “to Transform” which didn’t mean changing one metal into another.

Spirit can Only Be Spiritually Known

I put that line in bold font in the quote because it is a very important statement. Too often materialists try to prove or (more often) disprove the things of spirit using the science of matter. This will never work and the materialists think that proves that spiritual things and spiritual worlds are fantasies, or at least unknowable. But spiritual things can be known by spiritual methods and there are spiritual sciences developed over many centuries that are just as reliable in the spiritual realm as conventional science is in the realm of matter. So before you scoff at the idea of spiritual realms and spiritual beings, start using the proper sciences to investigate such things. In order to know God, Nature, and Man, you need to know the spiritual as well as the physical.

Poles of the Eternal One

While it is true to say that the realms of spirit and matter are two opposite poles of the eternal One, it can be misleading. It sounds as if you are saying they are but two sides of the same coin, but they are not. First, the realm of spirit is the creation of the real God and is intentional. The realm of matter, on the other hand, was created by the fallen angels called the Demiurge in Gnostic teachings. So matter is not just the other side of spirit. It is a distortion of spirit, a disease of spirit like cancer. And like cancer in the physical body, it must be cured or removed. The great transformation that has already started, and is at least partially responsible for what is called “global warming”, will turn matter back into spirit and heal it.

Art and Artist

While Alchemy, or any form of spiritual discipline, is a science, it is also an art and requires an artist to do it properly. That will likely change with time.

From the 1940s through the 1960s, the study of computer programming was far more art than science. Even when I entered the field in the 1970s. But over the decades, businesses and universities worked to make things in that field more standardized and more predictable making it more of a science than an art. Yet there still remains a bit of art to it.

While the idea of being an Alchemist may no appeal to you, try replacing that word in this article with “Gnostic,” “Mystic,” or “Spiritual Adept”. Those terms mean nearly the same thing and everything that is said here about Alchemy is true of all of those disciplines. So is the idea that we need to know God, Nature, and Man to achieve Gnosis.

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