Sometimes I am sitting here at home

all alone.

But I am not alone.

I have a drum, water, gourd rattle.

I sing the songs

And my worries are gone.

I feel good again

And refreshed.

–Bernard Ice

Settle in solitude,

and you will come upon Him

In yourself.

–st teresa

–Thomas Merton

…………………………

When I was eleven years old,

I had a dream

that I was facing the west

on a hill.

There was lightning.

I looked down

and I was holding a pipe.

The dream bothered me.

I dreamt it twice in one week.

I went to Sam Moves Camp, Sr.

who put me in a sweat lodge

with water and no food

since I was only eleven years old.

When I was fourteen,

Sam put me on the hill

for a vision quest,

I remembered from my Catholic instruction

That Christ fasted.

–Richard Moves Camp

…………………………..

“One of the most important concepts in Kabbalah teaches that whatever happens anywhere in the universe reverberates throughout the totality of creation. Thus our lives are affected by what is happening everywhere, moreoever, whatever we do in our lives affects everything in the universe.

Perhaps this sounds a bit pretentious. We often view ourselves as inconsequential specks of dust in a universe in which distances are measured in light-years and the number of known stars exceeds the limits of our imagination. This sense of individual limitation is a natural outcome of our linear thought process…….The kabbalistic approach is that awareness is a holistic continuum. Once we enter a holstic frame of reference in which all parts are complete and are replicas of the whole, then everything in the universe, by definition, is integrally connected…..

Each time we do something that raises consciousness, we lift sparks of holiness to new levels. This called tikkun ha-nefesh, mending the soul, and tikkun ha-olam, mending the world, bringing it closer to its source. Although initially the idea of mending the soul and mending the world seem different, in reality they cannot be separated: we cannot raise sparks in ourselves without raising those in the world, and vice versa. Even more important, according to Kabbalah, the process of expanding awareness in ourselves and the world is the fundamental reason for our existence. In fact, when we make no effort to raise our own consciousness and that of the world, we abdicate our humanness.”

- David A. Cooper (God is a Verb)

–ancient aramaic prayer

“Kabbalah teaches that before and after any manifestation, there is emptiness, before and after any being, there is emptiness. Try this principal truth by listening to your own breathing: before inhalation, there is emptiness in your lungs, after exhalation, there is also emptiness in your lungs. Remember the name of God? Ehyeh asher Ehyeh – the sound of your breath, the sound of emptiness. Ayn Sof is the quality of Keter, the Crown and first sefira. Ayn Sof is the emptiness from which all things are born and to which all things return. Ayn Sof is the beginning and end of everything. It is thus the primordial ground of being into which the roots of the Tree of Life are sunk, roots buried in emptiness, because everything that is must go through the cycle of the ten sefirot before returning to emptiness. Ayn Sof is what comes before everything else, and it is generally drawn at the head of the Tree, a stand alone sefira from which all manifestation flows.

        Emptiness, the energy of the Crown sefira, is not a static, gray, and dull place of death. Think of this emptiness as the most fertile ground. Think of the empty darkness of a woman’s womb before impregnation. Think of the darkest night of the year, deep in winter, before the light increases to lead the natural cycle to the fullness and ripeness of spring. Think of the quiet, still place you reach in meditation, before your soul starts speaking to you and revealing the mysteries of the universe. This emptiness is eternal, outside boundaries of time, space, and events.

        Emptiness is what lies behind you, past events in your life that are but memories, but fragrances of flowers bloomed and faded. Emptiness is what lies before you, future events not yet known, lands yet to be explored. Emptiness is the present, it is you right now.”

- Avram Davis & Manuela Dunn Mascetti (Judaic Mysticism)

I am posting it here as I felt I wanted to share it.  You may not agree with any of it.  It being from a discussion board it may appear to be slightly disjointed.

Thank you

………………………………………………………………

Ok firstly I appreciate some find the idea of looking at other religions or posting quotes from them as wrong, or “bad.”  Myself, I think the Gnostic texts are few

1153 pg nag hammadi library
389 pg pistis sophia
275 pg books of Yeu.

Then I myself would include the 3500 or so manichean pages of texts we have from egypt and perhaps the 343 pages from China

there are also ancient aramaic texts drashe dmalke,  asafar malawasha, qulasta etc. which this group doesn’t really touch….

Thus given the fact we only really have about 2000 pages of Gnostic texzts yes? It is really rather “safe” to say…a lot is missing.  Burned, buried, destroyed etc etc etc
Of course you could argue a lot simply was never written down.

When I look at other religions I look and see how universal truth IS.
Take perhaps my favourite Vedic text “The Isa Upanishad” I see Gnosticism screaming at me!  it proclaims we must join ignorance and knowldge..opposites to truly be….

Mystical GNOSTIC truths transcend any one group or religion. Why? Because they are OF THE DIVINE….this is what seperates episteme from gnosis.  This is why I can read Sufi and Zen texts.  Then read the Naghammadi texts and see even MORE.   It is all very good to cling to one’s texts, but is it not dangerous to do so at the exclusion of other expressions of the SAME universal truths?

Take Thomas…the truths in there are so universal…they really do transcend any one dogma, one sect, one set of perceptions etc….

This is just my opinion of course.

Now as to sex….

If one actually examines the teachings of the New Testament for example one finds it states more that sleeping around is wrong, not unmarried or same gender relationships.

The ideas of monogamy for instance were largely instituted via the Romans.  Romans that have advocated monogamy and celibacy.  While practicing orgies and having brothels.

The Jews for instance did not really mention sex before marriage until the 13th century.

Gnostic (persian, aramaic not “classical”) groups sometimes practiced sacred sexual multi group marriages.  In these groups one man may have several wives, and one wife may have several husbands.  This was not about carnal gratification EVER.  This was about sacred sexual energy.  Breeding amongst the pure.

The sleeping prophet, Cayce spoke of this, although reluctantly as he felt modern people were still not ready for such revelations (note Cayce spoke of things in the nag hammadi library before it was even found)

“In preparation for the coming of the Son of  man, there were those who joined in their efforts to consecrate their lives, their bodies, for a service; for a channel through which activities might be had for the perfecting, as it were, of the material channel through which such an expression of the Creative Forces might come into the earth. See? There were then, twelve maidens in the temple, or of the ORDER of the temple, who were dedicated for such preparation.” reading 649-2

In the Gospel of Philip there are numerous mentions of what is called the bridal chamber. We also find:

“When Eve was still with Adam, death did not exist. When she was separated from him, death came into being. If he enters again and attains his former self, death will be no more.”

The Mandaean texts speak of Manichean sexual mysteries:

“Then I explained to you, my disciples, that  there is yet another Gate (sect) that derives from Msiha (Messiah). They are called “Zandiqi” (saints)and ‘Mar dMani” (of Lord Mani). They sow seeds in concealment” –Ginza (right) 9:1

The Mandaeans themselves advocate sex, not celibacy. For them, not breeding is abhorrent and wrong.  Texts such as Alp Trisar Suailia  state:”Praised be the Treasure of Life, Mother of all works, she from whom the upper, middle and lower worlds emanated, for she is my Spouse,Mara d-Rabutha, since her name is Nasirutha….
And he took a Spouse for Himself and created plants (children) and created worlds.”

The Bonpo Buddhist sect, who are perhaps one of the “oldest” sects state:

“With a pure vow as precondition the important thing is a worthy mate as virtuous companion…Ravishing and gently spoken, yet like the meanest servant..eschewing evil acts and exerting herself in the ten good acts…observing pure conduct and living in chastity.”

So we see sex is sacred. If treated with respect and treated well, be you hetro or homo.  Personally I am of the mind no sex act is wrong as long as it uplifts, uplifts, brings you closer to the divine

“He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom”

“Listen! The tantric mysteries are said to be secret, Not because the Tantra is immoral but because it is closed. Closed to the narrow-minded adherants of lesser paths.” –Yeshe Tsogyel

It is perhaps then arguably the divorcing from these “rites” within “classical” Gnosticism, that is arguably, to my mind left it lacking.  While some groups marched head long into asceticism, I am sure there were some sacred sexual practioners.  As we really have an incomplete view of classical Gnosticism, because it was “heresy” and thus “destroyed” I feel it fair to consider a maybe, a what if…as regards “classical Gnosticism.”

As above so below
As in the bridal chamber, so in the body

This is what I mean…not a horny Jesus
But a SACRED Jesus…..

My apologies if this opinion is not liked here.

–Br Benjamin Assisi

Statue of Melchizedek in the Borghese Chapel of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

……………………….

Menander: Follower of Simon Magus, associated with Saturnis, who taught in Syria
and Antioch. (Hoeller p. 78-79)

………………………

Merovingean (Merovingian): A pre 11th century Frankish Dynasty, the ”Priors of Zion,” claim
the Merovingean Dynasty is of the bloodline of Jesus Christ. This is the basis
for the ”Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, and is largely fiction.

Frankish empire

………………………….

Metenoia: This is the “change of mind” or perspective that happens to the
initiate in the process of Gnosis, or spiritual transcendence. ”It is turning
the mind to the perception of the divine.” (“Hara” {Balance} by Durkheim,
Inner Traditions, 2004, p. 131.)

…………………………….

Monad: From the Greek word, meaning “one”, “single” or “unique.” It has ample
descriptions according to different contexts: According to Pythagoras it was the
first thing in existence. ”The Valentinian Exposition” declares Jesus the
‘Monad.’ (See Sethian Monadology.) mo·nad; (mnd) n. 1. Philosophy; An
indivisible, impenetrable unit of substance viewed as the basic constituent
element of physical reality in the metaphysics of Leibnitz. 2. Biology; A
single-celled microorganism, especially a flagellate protozoan of the genus
”Monas.” 3. Chemistry ; An atom or a radical with valence 1. (Online
Webster’s Dic. See also; Wikipedia.) The Monadic sequence to the Triad is
expressed is by the ”Oracles of Zoroaster,” which illuminates the
sequence…..
25. The Monad first existed, and the Paternal Monad still subsists.
26. When the Monad is extended, the Dyad is generated.
27. And beside Him is seated the Dyad which glitters with intellectual sections,
to govern all things and to order everything not ordered.
28. The Mind of the Father said that all things should be cut into Three, whose
Will assented, and immediately all things were so divided.
29. The Mind of the Eternal Father said into Three, governing all things by
Mind.
30. The Father mingled every Spirit from this Triad.
31. All things are supplied from the bosom of this Triad.
32. All things are governed and subsist in this Triad
33. For thou must know that all things bow before the Three Supernals.
34. From thence floweth forth the Form of the Triad, being preexistent; not the
first Essence, but that whereby all things are measured.
35. And there appeared in it Virtue and Wisdom, and multiscient Truth.
36. For in each World shineth the Triad, over which the Monad ruleth.”
The “Three Supernals” is perhaps a reference to the Kabbalah, but probably
refers to the state of Tripartite.

Representation of the Pythagorean monad

“I took my place in the midst of the world,

and I appeared to them in flesh.

I found all of them intoxicated;

I found none of them thirsty.

And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men,

Because they are blind in their hearts

And do not have sight;

for empty they came into the world,

and empty too they seek to leave the world.

But for the moment they are intoxicated.

When they shake off their wine,

then they will repent.”

“I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh“,

This phrase expresses the Christian idea of “God incarnate”.  I believe this must be re-interpreted as a metaphor or myth, otherwise Christians will continue to believe that their religion supercedes all others.

The following quotes are from John Hick’s book,

The Metaphor Of God Incarnate

Christology in a Pluralistic Age

1993, Westminster/John Knox Press

“A theology … stipulating that Jesus has been and will be the ONLY divine incarnation…means that Christ is in a category distinct from all other forms of revelation; the divine manifestation in him is thus both exclusive and final; it is qualitatively superior to all others, and it can never be surpassed.”

“The doctrine … is inherently liable to dangerous misuse”

“The Christian superiority complex in relation to the peoples of other faiths (has been) defended by appeal to the idea of Jesus’ deity “

Hick offers an alternate view of incarnation as

a METAPHOR, freeing Christians from a literal interpretation, which would promote bigotry by

ruling out other faiths as necessarily inferior.

“In the case of the metaphor of divine incarnation, …Jesus was a human being exceptionally open and responsive to the divine presence…In so far as Jesus was doing God’s will, God was acting through him on earth and was in this respect ‘incarnate’ in Jesus’ life”

(28) cont.

“I found all of them intoxicated;

I found none of them thirsty. …
But for the moment they are intoxicated.
When they shake off their wine,

then they will repent”

(47) No man drinks old wine

and immediately desires to drink new wine. 

Here in (28), “intoxication” with wine is used as a negative to contrast with “thirsty”. This metaphor of being “intoxicated” is similar to (47), where Jesus’ words are “new wine”, but his audience is still quite content with the old wine they’ve just consumed to excess. 

(13) Jesus said, “I am not your master.
Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated
from the bubbling spring which I have measured out.”

In contrast, Thomas is “intoxicated” with Living Water in (13), not “drunk” with wine and that “intoxication” is to be praised; it makes him equal with Jesus.

(28) cont.

“And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men,
because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight;
for empty they came into the world,
and empty too they seek to leave the world.”

Here again, there seems to be a sense of urgency

in this call for those with “eyes to see” to

gather Knowledge and Wisdom while they can.

Mandaeans exchanging a ritual handshake or kušṭa

Mani: (216- 276 CE) founder of the religion of Manicheanism. Believed to have written or had part in the “Manichean Psalms of Thomas.” See also; Manichaeaens http://essenes.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=280&Itemid=712

THE ENLIGHTENED MASTER MAR MANI, peace be upon him, entered the world on the 8th day of the 1st Babylonian month of Nissanu (April 14) 216 A.D.. He was born in Mardin, Iraq and raised in an Elkasite monastery on a floating reed island in the mashlands of near Basra, Iraq. Mani claimed to be the restorer and synthesizer of Gnostic Nazorean Christianity, Zurvan Zoroasterism, and Mahayana Buddhism. He created a worldwide vegan church which lasted over a thousand years. At one point Manichaeism was as big, or bigger, than the Catholic Church and its teachings have significantly influenced Bon, Buddhist, Sufi, Shia Islam, and Taoist traditions.

Mani’s mystical teachings have profoundly enriched the Nazorean Way. His name means the “Vessel of Life” and he came to be regarded by his Christian disciples as the Paraclete, by his Persian followers as the Zoroastrian redeemer Saoshyant, and by his Buddhist adherents as the Avatar Maitreya. He was also known as a reincarnation of both Lao Tzu and Buddha. He was a gifted writer, teacher, artist, physician, astrologer, musician and a miracle-worker. He personally illuminated and illustrated many of his original scriptures, and could draw a fine line on silk and then erase it by removing one thin thread.

Manichoi: Meaning one who has become a solitary one, or unified. (Hoeller p.
151)

Marcellina: (330-398 A.D.) The only sister of St. Ambrose of Milan. She was older than St. Ambrose, and was born most probably at Trier, where her father resided as “Praefectus Praetorio Galliarum.” Mentioned to have led a Gnostic sect founded by Heracleon.

Marcion: (85-160 CE) Marcion was son of the Bishop of Sinope in Pontus, Asia Minor. He organized a series of Gnostic congregations in the eastern Mediterranean which survived into the 3rd century CE. He wrote a book called “Antitheses” which earned him excommunication by the Christian leaders of Rome.
He wrote the “Gospel of Marcion,” and rejected Jewish influence in Christianity. He rejected the institution of marriage. He believed that the Demiurge arranged Jesus’ persecution and crucifixion. But the death of Christ on the cross was only a hallucination, since Jesus did not have a physical body.

Marcionites: Followers of Marcion who formed a sect around 144 A.D. They rejected the idea of the Jewish God, and declared that Jesus was not the son of the Jewish creator. Considered by some to be Gnostic like in their understanding of dualism.

Marsenes: Name of Tractate 1, Codex X, Nag Hammadi Lib. A Sethian writing also found in the Bruce Codex, also name of main character of the work, a Gnostic Prophet.

Matthias: According to Clement of Alexandria, teachings of Matthias were used by Basilideans and perhaps other Gnostic groups. According to Hippolytus, Basilides and his son Isidore claimed to have learned from Matthias ‘secret words,’ which he had received in private teaching from the Saviour. A disciple called Mathias replaced Judas Iscariot in apostolic succession after the crucifixion of Jesus.
(May be the author who wrote the text, “The Book of Thomas the Contender.”)

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10066a.htm

Meditation: The act of concentrating the mind for a specific purpose, or
response. The act is different than contemplation in some contexts, in others it
may mean the same. Sethian Gnostics rejected prayer as to an eminent power.
They did use ”contemplation,” or what we might call self-hypnosis today, which
was aided by the use knowledge of the monad. (See Sethian Monadology)

–Quran 18:60

Now, generally speaking, a modem person is a person who investigates and experiments and is not satisfied with the spiri­tual message of theistic religions. Let me give you the example of a scientist whom I met in the US. In the beginning of our meetings she told me that she refused to see any common grounds between Bud­dhism and modern science. She had a very negative attitude. Then our discussion started and we didn’t talk about God or soul. We talked about particles and emotions. As we were progressing in the dialogue the American scientist was becoming more and more enthusiastic. At the end of our discussion she accepted that there could be a common ground between Buddhism and modern science. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Buddhism does not have the concept of soul and God as in the theistic religions. That is to say, some modem people who believe in reason want also to rely on faith. This includes some modern scientists who get some benefit from the Buddhist explana­tions about the mind or about the emotions. More and more scientists begin to realize that emotions are very important for our health. When Buddhism talks about emotions it is not only concerned with salvation and life after death but with having better health, a happier family and a happier society. Nowadays Westerners show interest in Buddhist explanations of life not only because they are said by Buddhists but because they are scientific.

Of course, I think there are two types of Westerners who are in­terested in Buddhism. The first category is people who are not serious and who follow the fashion. Today they are interested in Buddhism; tomorrow they are interested in Hinduism and the day after they become Sufis. The second category concerns people who are more critical and more cautious in the beginning, but who study more deeply Buddhism and who find some substance in their experience of Buddhism. These people show a genuine interest in Buddhism. I think the interest comes also from the fact that Buddhism is an open  ­minded religion because it does not believe in the concept of a central authority. Even Jainism believes in the concept ofAtma (soul) though Jains have no concept of a God as a Creator.

I would just like to add that I think all religions without exception talk about love, compassion and self-discipline. So you find a lot of similarities among religions. But since there have been many wars in human history in the name of religion, some people think that religion and compassion are two different things. Because of the religious wars in history many people have told me that it is better to have one universal religion instead of having many different religions. I think such an opinion is due to a lack of knowledge concerning different traditions of thought and positive values like tolerance and compas­sion that they have perpetrated. I have a Muslim friend who believes in Allah and who says that because he believes in God he loves not only other human beings but also other creatures because God cre­ated them all. The Buddhist concept of love is the same. You find the same concept in Christianity and in Judaism. What makes problems in the minds of modern people is the memory of religious wars and violence which happened in the West. But fortunately Buddhism was quite far from the West.

–His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama

There is only One World, and this is It. What we look on as the sensible world, the finite world of time and space, is nothing but a conglomeration of veils which hide the Real World

–Shaykh Ahmad al-‘Alawi

and forget the world’s noises

–zen proverb
The following are my thoughts from a group discussion, unless it is signified or made obvious otherwise. You may not agree with them, Please be warned you may find some of this upsetting, so please do not read if you may:

There are great many ills in the world

while it is very true the catholic church has done a great many wrongs…it has also produced many good things.

The baptist church in USA arguably has more sexual misconduct within itself than the catholic church. But you don’t focus on that.

Child protection agencies have been rife all over the world with sexual misconduct, yet you don’t mention that

thousands of women are raped every year in USA, you fail to let us know about that

Women are forced to be raped by soldiers in Dafur and watch their children shot before them. No mention of that from you is forth coming.

With the help of an international net work, the CIA is able to fly and deport prisoners wherever they like. Countries all over the world are complicit in allowing their air space and air ports to be used by the CIA. The CIA are literally able, and now legally able (thank you military commissions act) to transport prisoners and torture them to death.

Iraqi prisoners face force feeding through tubes, watching their families shot before them, near drowning which can lead to death often. They spend 23 hours a day or more confined in small rooms(being forced to have extremely loud music pumped into their cells, so they cant sleep properly).

One Canadian man who was eventually found to be wrongly accused, spend several years in a cell the size of a large coffin, buried underground. The US government has refused to fully apologise, the Canadians have fully compensated and attempted to make amends. You do not say anything about these things.

etc.

You see there are great many ills in this world…yet you insist on only focusing on one. Shouldn’t you focus on them all?

Or are you like George Bush? He focuses on the “war on terrorism.” But does nothing to help other problems in this world, you may argue otherwise, but he IS complicit with other countries in their injustices.

So if we focus on one thing we are selling ourselves short. If we focus on everything when will it end?

Like bush trying to end terrorism, where will it end? It is a false crusade, a journey of a moron…the more we act, the less we actually do , bush has created terrorists…his actions have really changed nothing.

By writhing against the ills of the world what do we accomplish? In the end there is no end to our writhing and focus on negativity….

Instead of this there is another way, a Gnostic way. I use the term Gnostic in this instance as related to this group and in the Sufi meaning, which is “contemplative” or “seeker.” What does the Gnostic do when faced with such things?

The Gnostic knows it is foolish to give in to the ego.
Foolish to break the inner calm.

Foolish to constantly shout like a twit and solve nothing.

The Gnostic knows if they give in to such things all too soon they become of them. They give the Demi urge LIFE, when before it had NONE.

If the journey of the destroyer of injustice is never ending, how can one truly separate the crusader who seeks to do good, from the perceived evil they are attempting to destroy? Is not the painting inseparable from the artist, is not art an expression of the artist?

So what does the Gnostic do?

The Gnostic becomes love.

The Gnostic combats fear and injustice not by being angry and giving in to the injustice, the Gnostic sends love.

The Gnostic does not make themselves God and try to tell others how to think.

The Gnostic prays for those that do not see the correct way; the Gnostic prays for those in darkness to come into the light. The Gnostic prays that those in pain will become free from attachment.

The Gnostic way is not death.

The Gnostic way is life.

In the name of the living Gods,
I purify my hands in righteousness and my lips in faith.
Let them utter the speech of Light and make my ablutions
effective by thoughts of light.

Amen

“DETACHMENT from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between “things” and “God” as if God were another “thing” and as if His creatures were His rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become de-tached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God. This is an entirely new perspective which many sincerely moral and ascetic minds fail utterly to see. There is no evil in anything created by God, nor can anything of His become an obstacle to our union with Him. The obstacle is in our “self,” that is to say in the tenacious need to maintain our separate, external, egotistical will. It is when we refer all things to this outward and false “self” that we alienate ourselves from reality and from God. It is then the false self that is our god, and we love everything for the sake of this self. We use all things, so to speak, for the worship of this idol which is our imaginary self. In so doing we pervert and corrupt things, or rather we turn our relationship to them into a corrupt and sinful relationship. We do not thereby make them evil, but we use them to increase our attachment to our illusory self.

Those who try to escape from this situation by treating the good things of God as if they were evils are only confirming themselves in a terrible illusion. They are like Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent in Eden. “Woman has tempted me. Wine has tempted me. Food has tempted me. Woman is pernicious, wine is poison, food is death. I must hate and revile them. By hating them I will please God. . .” These are the thoughts and attitudes of a baby, of a savage and of an idolater who seeks by magic incantations and spells to protect his egotistical self and placate the insatiable little god in his own heart. To take such an idol for God is the worst kind of self-deception. It turns a man into a fanatic, no longer capable of sustained contact with the truth, no longer capable of genuine love.
In trying to believe in their ego as something “holy” these fanatics look upon everything else as unholy.”

Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation, Everything That Is, Is Holy

May all be free of pain, resentment and fear.

May we have infinite gratitude, patience and compassion for all above, equal, and below us.

May we be the doctor, medicine and nurse, for all the confused, sick and sad. May all the virtue acquired by us, flow freely to all need.

 May everyone find the Path to Peace,

 May everyone become pure and perfect,

 May everyone find the Treasury of Life!

May Kushta bless you and keep you . . . Amin

 [All place palms together and Bow to all others]

Good is the Good to the good, and They set their nature upon those who love their name.

We will seek and find, and will pray and be heard.

We have sought and found, we prayed and were heard in thy presence,

my Lord Yeshu and Maryam d-Hiya, Lords of Healings.

Amen

“If you do not fast from the world,

you will not find the Kingdom of God, and

if you do not keep the Sabbath for the whole week,

you will not see the Father.”

(Greek version)

(110) Jesus said,

“Whoever finds the world and becomes rich,

let him renounce the world.”

(111) Jesus said, …

“Whoever finds himself is superior to the world.”

Mark 2:27

“The Sabbath was made for Man,

not man for the Sabbath”

(capitalization for emphasis, mine)

Matthew 5:17,18

“Do not suppose that I have come

to abolish the law and the prophets;

I did not come to abolish, but complete.

Truly I tell you: so long as heaven and earth endure,

not a letter, not a dot, will disappear from the law

until all that must happen has happened.

In Gnostic thought, “the world” is to be considered inferior to both the realm of the soul and the realm of the Spirit. Although Thomas does not appear to be radically ascetic, the disciples are to be on their guard against becoming too deeply infatuated with material possessions.

The Sabbath is one day of physical rest per week,

but the Gnostic’s goal is to achieve a mental state

of repose “24 / 7”.  Although Matthew 5:17,18 is traditionally interpreted as referring to a future apocalyptic messiah, what if “so long as heaven and earth endure,” means as long as heaven and earth are separate, as long as they are two?  Once the two are made into One, “on earth as it is in heaven”, then you become free of the law!

The above summary of Thomas 27 states:

In Gnostic thought, “the world” is to be considered inferior to both the realm of the soul and the realm of the Spirit

As the text states Thomas is not overtly ascetic. Many “modern Gnostics” seem to be happy to take the idea of asceticism to heart.  They embrace the “world is a prison” idea too literally.

I think this is wrong.  I believe the key is to not value anything over anything.  The world to a Gnostic is false and illusion.  But it is still OF the father.  It is still sacred.  Yin and Yang, opposites must be embraced and unified and transcended.  Not one over the other. 

“In the beginning, Ein Sof emanated ten sefirot , which are of its essence, united with it. It and they are entirely one. There is no change or division in the emanator that would justify saying it is divided into parts in these various sefirot. Division and change do not apply to it, only to the external sefirah.

To help you conceive this, imagine water flowing through vessels of different colours: white, red, green and so forth. As the water spreads through those vessels, it appears to change into the colours of the vessels, although the water is devoid of all colour. The change in colour does not affect the water itself, just our perception of the water. So it is with the sefirot. They are vessels, known, for example, as Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferet, each coloured according to its function, white, red, and green, respectively, while the light of the emanator – their essence – is in the water, having no colour at all. This essence does not change; it only appears to change as it flows through the vessels.

Better yet, imagine a ray of sunlight shining through a stained-glass window of ten different colours. The sunlight possesses no colour at all but appears to change hue as it passes through the different colours of glass. Coloured light radiates through the window. The light has no essentially changed, though so it seems to the viewer. Just so with the sefirot.”

- Moses Cordovero (Pardes Rimmonim [Garden of Pomegranates])

It is a basic truth, that there is no beginning or end.

In Gnosticism we find this in the Oroborous symbol. The snake eating its own tail. Often this is seen as the end being eaten by the beginning (mouth and tail)…but if we dive deeper into an inner insight we could argue that it explores the idea of transcendence. That there is no end OR beginning, far more than the end is in the beginning.

In kabbalah we can see that the first emanation is closer to the last than it is to the second. The end is in the beginning, the end IS the beginning…thus there is no end or beginning.

One could argue that a hidden 11th emanation or 12th is the entire tree itself, in one big “sphere”…. a sphere has no end or beginning…

The passage states the nature does not change only our perception of it. Thus a simple example would be states of matter. H2O is H2O, whether it is ice, steam or water….the substance is still H2O. As regards the divine, thus it does not change, our perception of the divine changes…or our perception of “AIN” changes

Thus to tie this in with the nullification of ourselves we see that we are really the divine, the water in the example, we are that water. We conceive of ourselves as being red, green, blue or purple etc. However really we are water….

“It and they are entirely one.”

We find this idea of not valuing one over the other echoed in the Isa Upanishad:

He who knows both knowledge and ignorance together, crosses death through ignorance and attains immortality through knowledge.

–Isa Upanishad

This union of duality can be seen:

Yin is yang, yang is yin

Jesus said to them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].” (Gospel of Thomas)

Light and Darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers of one another. They are inseparable. Because of this neither are the good good, nor evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death. For this reason each one will dissolve into its earliest origin. But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble, eternal. (Gospel of Philip)

He who knows that both the unmanifested prakriti and the manifested Hiranyagarbha should be worshipped together, overcomes death by the worship of Hiranyagarbha and obtains immortality through devotion to prakriti. (Isa Upanishad)

What does this mean?

Spirit is form, form is spirit. Yet when spirit becomes form and form becomes spirit neither exists. All will dissolve into their origin that which is beyond spirit or form, beyond up and down, beyond male and female, beyond good and evil.

What does this mean? To Gnostics (some anyway lol) it means ascending the 7 heavens of the archons. To reach the 8th noble heaven….the realm of our heavenly parents, our origins.

22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist
in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their
own roots. (Gospel of Mary)

So it is not spirit, it is not form…..

Penis + vagina =child…. Child = penis + vagina, both and yet neither. Transcendence….

 In the world but not of it.

This to me is Gnosticism, which is why form is as important as spirit. BOTH are required, but neither should be valued over the other.

You are Aphrodite and Adonis as soft flesh endlessly dances on flesh
among the brilliant flowers of Mount Olympus.
You are the roll and roll of the universe
in the never ending movement of creation.
You are mastodons in rut,
but you are also a point of light beyond
manifestation.
That point explodes into a million fragments
like fireworks in cosmic eternity.
The two of you are one
but even the one melts into nothingness.
Finally, beyond thought, concept or even feeling at all
is the indescribable ecstasy
as your personality dies.
There is only god-consciousness in all directions and in all time
which is out of time forever.

“They do not eat meat either, on the grounds that the divine substance has fled from the dead or slain bodies, and what little remains there is of such quality and quantity that it does not merit being purified in the stomachs of the elect. They do not even eat eggs, claiming that they too die when they are broken, and it is not fitting to feed on any dead bodies…Moreover, they do not use milk for food…” – Augustine, De Haer 46:103-113, Faustum 16

I think the key to anything is BALANCE

Too much of one thing is always bad. Extremism in any form is bad.

Asceticism has its place but once it has gained what it was meant to do, loss weight, cleanse the system, gain spiritual insight etc. It should be dropped. Total asceticism imo is largely insane.

Take a group who I won’t mention by name, they deny caffeine in their lives. Fine, a sensible option you’d think yes? Caffeine is bad, it raises the blood pressure, is highly addictive etc etc etc. So denying yourself caffeine is a sensible option, and thus is holy. But is it?

“I’m often asked, ‘well, as a vegan, what do you eat?’ which seems like such a strange question. What do non-vegans eat? Meat, cheese, milk, eggs? Vegans eat everything else. Indian food, Chinese food, Mexican food, Thai food, Japanese food, African food, and so on, and so on.
“Whether I’m having a pan bagnia sandwich (olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, basil and onions, on ciabatta bread) at Teany, my restaurant, or having marinated exotic mushrooms with mixed baby greens and an orange vinaigrette in Paris, or having fajitas in Los Angeles, or vegan Chinese food in lower Manhattan, or vegan Pad Thai in Melbourne, or etc etc – I’m always a very happy eater.
“Primarily I’m a vegan for ethical reasons, but if the truth be told it’s the culinary aspect of veganism that has sustained me for 16 years of animal-product free living.” –Moby (muscician)

God is ALL, all that IS, WAS and WILL be…there is nothing that is not God. Does this mean then that if we are concentrating on caffeine and denying it we are concentrating upon the divine? Or are we focusing upon ourselves? Who should we be focusing on?

Asceticism is thus a useful tool, but like all tools once used should we not pick another? Just because eating soup with a spoon is better than a fork, should we use the same spoon to paint walls with? With the logic of extremism, yes, we should paint walls with a spoon.

Now bearing this in mind we must also consider that every one’s dietary needs are important and DIFFERENT. No two people have the exact same digestive system. Some people thrive on meat, others do not. Myself I eat meat three or four times a month. Coupled with how meat is produced along with the fact I have been surrounded by vegetarianism all my life, I cannot in all conscious promote the eating of meat. But no one can gain gnosis FOR another. Each must decide in their own hearts what is right for them.

Raw vegetables are great. I love raw carrots and tomatoes. Unfortunately I love potatoes. Eating raw potatoes make you sick. There is no two ways around that. So what are we faced with? BALANCE…. Let us not make it a crime to actually cook food. Cooking brings so much to our table. The interaction of preparation, herbs, spices, colors, smells and tastes. Food and cooking food are ever so holy things. Let us celebrate what the divine has given us, not become extremists. Of course this does not mean we should ingest poison deliberately; arguably mass produced meat is a poison. For some Alcohol and drugs is a poison. Each must decide for themselves unless we seek to paint walls with a spoon forever and ever.

“In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they’re the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought.”
Isaac Bashevis Singer, author, Nobel 1978

Of course the cooking of food does have repercussions:

Johns Hopkins Hospital reports:

“The combination of heat, water and oxygen is disastrous to vitamins and minerals. Cook all foods at a very low temperature (below boiling) so as to retain the vitamins and minerals. Unless we eat food properly prepared, we suffer from inferior physical development, mental instability, low endurance and lack of resistance to infection”.

For more of the above and suggestions on cooking, vegan and vegetarian Gnosticism see:

http://essenes.net/vcook.html

http://essenes.net/index-isis.htm

http://essenes.net/subindex3.htm

The Buddha said:

“If a man can (control) his body and mind and thereby refrains from eating animal flesh and wearing animal products, I say he will really be liberated.”

Buddhist Wisdom/ The Middle path
Let me tell you about the middle path. Dressing in rough and dirty garments,
letting your hair grow matted, abstaining from eating any meat or fish, does not
cleanse the one who is deluded. Mortifying the flesh through excessive hardship
does not lead to a triumph over the senses. All self-inflicted suffering is
useless as long as the feeling of self is dominant.

You should lose your involvement with yourself and then eat and drink naturally,
according to the needs of your body. Attachment to your appetites–whether you
deprive or indulge them–can lead to slavery, but satisfying the needs of daily
life is not wrong. Indeed, to keep a body in good health is a duty, for
otherwise the mind will not stay strong and clear.

This is the middle path.

From “The Pocket Buddha Reader,”

Jesus said, “When you make the two into one, you will become children of Adam, and when you say, ‘Mountain, move from here!’ it will move.”

–Gospel of Thomas

………………………………………………..

You are worthy of praise, beneficent Father, primeval Ancestor!
Blessed are you, beneficent God!

You, Lord, are the first alif and the last tau.
Through you yourself your pious wish has been fulfilled and
accomplished.

All gods and aeons, the deities of Light,
And the righteous bring praise to you,
singing “Holy”  repeatedly.

The spirits, the plants and all . . . . truly implore you
to blessing. And bring forth supplications with one voice.

Grant us our pious wish . . . .
They bear the form  that we have given up from afar.

Be merciful unto us in your mercy;
Show us your form, the noble epiphany, for which we yearn.

Let your brightness shine upon us, sweet source and breath of life!

Make, us, your children, strong.
In vain the dark foe boasts, together with the bellicose,
rebellious giants, In vain he wishes to cling to the Aeons.

–Hymn to Mani

……………………………………………………………

But  woe to him who, after having reached the top of one of these secondary eminences, lingers there through letting himself imagine that he has accomplished something final; for then it immediately turns from an aid into a hindrance, from a stage into a barrier, from an open into a closed door, from a symbol into an ^“idol.” This indeed is the essence of ^“idolatry” against which all the traditions are continually inveighing; nothing can be called an idol itself, but any­thing, even down to ^“good works” and ^“service,” can become one if it is for a moment allowed to assert is own independence to the Principle and thus enter into rivalry with it…

So long there yet exists a step to be taken there are alternatives and hence there are possibilities of comparison, but at the summit all alternative routes become one; every distinction between them, and therefore every opposition, is spontaneously reconciled. The summit itself not only occupies no space, although the whole mountain is virtually contained in it, but it is also outside time and all succession, and only the “eternal” present reigns there.  It is utterly inexpressible in its uniqueness; silent is the Knower of the Summit and the Whole Universe strains its ears to catch the accents of his speechless eloquence… [The summit] must be known immediately or not at all; ultimately all roundabout approaches must rejoin the direct route, of which they are but translations in the discursive mode, or they will not arrive

–Marco Pallis  from The way and the mountain

……………………………………………….

 And the Lord added and said: Let us go unto the mountain (and) pray.  And going with him, we the twelve disciples besought him that he would show us one of our righteous brethren that had departed out of the world, that we might see what manner of men they are in their form, and take courage, and encourage also the men that should hear us.

And as we prayed, suddenly there appeared two men standing before the Lord (perhaps add, to the east) upon whom we were not able to look.  For there issued from their countenance a ray as of the sun, and their raiment was shining so as the eye of man never saw the like: for no mouth is able to declare nor heart to conceive the glory wherewith they were clad and the beauty of their countenance.  Whom when we saw we were astonished, for their bodies were whiter than any snow and redder than any rose.  And the redness of them was mingled with the whiteness, and, in a word, I am not able to declare their beauty. For their hair was curling and flourishing (flowery), and fell comely about their countenance and their shoulders like a garland woven of nard and various flowers, or like a rainbow in the air: such was their comeliness.

We, then, seeing the beauty of them were astonished at them, for they appeared suddenly. And I drew near to the Lord and said: Who are these? He saith to me: These are your (our) righteous brethren whose appearance ye did desire to see. And I said unto him: And where are all the righteous? or of what sort is the world wherein they are, and possess this glory? And the Lord showed me a very great region outside this world exceeding bright with light, and the air of that place illuminated with the beams of the sun, and the earth of itself flowering with blossoms that fade not, and full of spices and plants, fair-flowering and incorruptible, and bearing blessed fruit. And so great was the blossom that the odor thereof was borne thence even unto us.

And the dwellers in that place were clad with the raiment of shining angels, and their raiment was like unto their land.

And angels ran round about them there.  And the glory of them that dwelt there was all equal, and with one voice they praised the Lord God, rejoicing in that place.

The Lord saith unto us: This is the place of your leaders (or, high priests), the righteous men.

–The Apocalypse of Peter

Up, Up! Ye Elect righteous ones,

Rise up, ye perfected and believing ones!

Rise, worship and praise the Almighty Living Ones!

And praise the great King Shishlam-Rba,

And praise the Occult Tanna and Ham-Ziwa,

And praise thr great Yawar and Zlar the great,

And praise Simar-Hiia,

From whom all the worlds came into being;

And praise the Wellspring and Datepalm

From Whom the Father of Uthras came into being.

I worship and praise that lofty and great

King of Light, the compassionate One

Who is full of loving kindness.

–The Gnostic Prayerbook: Daily Devotions & Book of Hours of Ancient Essenes, Nazoreans, & Manichaeans

–Graf Durckheim (from the Lingopasana rahasya)

………………………………….

 It seems we know full well from childhood that everything is connected to everything else in certain ways, that this happens because that happened, that for this to happen, that has to happen. Just recall all those old folk tales, such as the one about the fox who drinks most of an old woman^‘s pail of milk which she neglected to watch as she was gathering wood for a fire. She cuts off his tail in a fit of anger. The fox asks for his tail back, and the old woman says she will sew his tail back on for him if he will give her back her milk. So he goes to the cow in the field and asks for some milk, and the cow says she will give the fox some milk if the fox brings her some grass. So the fox goes to the field and asks for some grass, and the field says, “Bring me some water.” So he goes to the stream and asks for water and the stream says, ^“Bring me a jug.^“ This goes on until a miller, out of kindness and sympathy, gives the fox some grain to give the hen to get the egg to give to the peddler to get the bead to give to the maiden to get the jug to fetch the water . and so the fox gets his tail back and goes away happy. This has to happen in order for that to happen. Nothing comes from nothing. Everything has antecedents. Even the miller^‘s kindness came from somewhere.

 Looking deeply into any process, we can see that the same applies. No sunlight, no life. No water, no life. No plants, no photosynthesis, no photosynthesis, no oxygen for animals to breathe. No parents, no you. No trucks, no food in the cities. No truck manufacturers, no trucks. No steel workers, no steel for the manufacturers. No mining, no steel for the steel workers. No food, no steel workers. No rain, no food. No sunlight, no rain. No conditions for star and planet formation in the forma­tive universe, no sunlight, no Earth. These relationships are not always simple and linear. Usually things are embedded in a complex web of finely balanced interconnections. Certainly what we call life, or health, or the biosphere, are all complex systems of interconnections, with no absolute starting point or end point.

 So we see the futility and the danger of letting our thinking make any thing or circumstance into an absolutely separate existence without being mindful of interconnectedness and flux. Everything is related to everything else and, in a way, simulta­neously contains everything else and is contained by everything else. What is more, everything is in flux. Stars are born, go through stages, and die. Planets also have a rhythm of formation and ultimate demise. New cars are already on their way to the junk heap even before they leave the factory. This awareness might truly enhance our appreciation of impermanence and help us to take things and circumstances and relationships less for granted while they are around. We might appreciate life more, people more, food more, opinions more, moments more, if we perceive, by our own looking more deeply into them, that everything we are in contact with-connects us to the whole world in each moment, and that things and other people, and even places and circumstances, are only here temporarily. It makes now so much more interesting. In fact, it makes now everything.

 Mindfulness of breathing is one string on which the beads of our experience, our- thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, our perceptions, our impulses, our understanding, our very con­sciousness can be threaded. The necklace created is something new-not a thing really, but a new way of seeing, a new way of being, a new way of experiencing that permits a new way of acting in the world. This new way seems to connect what seems to be isolated. But actually, nothing is ever isolated and needs reconnecting. It^‘s our way of seeing which creates and maintains separation.

 This new way of seeing and new way of being holds life fragments and gives them place. It honors each moment in its own fullness within a larger fullness. Mindfulness practice is simply the ongoing discovery of  the thread of interconnected­ness, At some point, we may even come to see that it is not quite correct to say that we are doing the threading. It^‘s more like we become conscious of a connectedness which has been here all the time. We have climbed to a vantage point from which we can more readily, perceive wholeness, and can cradle the flow of present moments in awareness. The flow of the breath and the flow of present moments interpenetrate, beads and thread to­gether giving something larger.

–Jon Kabat-Zinn (from “Wherever you go there you are.”)

……………………………………………………

“The Holy of the Holies” is the bridal chamber. Baptism includes the resurrection and the redemption; the redemption (takes place) in the bridal chamber.

If the woman had not separated from the man, she should not die with the man. His separation became the beginning of death. Because of this, Christ came to repair the separation, which was from the beginning, and again unite the two, and to give life to those who died as a result of the separation, and unite them. But the woman is united to her husband in the bridal chamber. Indeed, those who have united in the bridal chamber will no longer be separated. Thus Eve separated from Adam because it was not in the bridal chamber that she united with him.

–Gospel of Philip

–Plato

……………………………………….

Judaic tradition, especially in the Midrash,
maintains that a man that has not known
a woman cannot be called “human,” and
the same is true for a woman who has not
known a man. These Biblical commentators
point out that before meeting his Other, the
male is simply called Adam; after meeting
her he is referred to as ha-Adam, which
literally means “the Adam.”

Kabbalists count the numerical value
of these Hebrew letters with the
following results: the later ha-Adam gives:
hey 5 + aleph 1 + dalet 4 + mem 40 = 50;
this is the numerical equivalent of
mi: mem 40 +  yod  10 = 50, which in Hebrew
means “who.” The earlier Adam alone gives:
aleph 1 + dalet 4 + mem 40 =45,
the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word
mah: mem 40 + hey 5, which means “what.”

– Basilides ( the seven sermons to the dead)

———————————–

The companion of the Son is Miriam of Magdala,
The teacher loved her more than all the disciples;
he often kissed her on the mouth.

–Gospel of Philip
————————

Beneath the apple tree:
there I took you for my own,
there I offered you my hand,
and restored you,
where your mother was corrupted.

Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim)
is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis
of a Biblical text. The term “midrash” can also refer
to a compilation of Midrashic teachings, in the form
of legal, exegetical or homiletical commentaries on
the Tanakh (Jewish Bible)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midrash

Pleroma (Greek πλήρωμα) generally refers to the
totality of divine powers. The word means fullness
from πληρόω (“fills”) comparable to πλήρης which
means “full”,and is used in Christian theological
contexts: both in Gnosticism generally, and by
Paul of Tarsus in Colossians 2.9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleroma

Pleroma: The word means “fullness,” and
the ‘All.’ It refers to ”all existence beyond matter.
Refers to the world of the Aeons, the heavens or spiritual
universe, which represents being out of the state of matter.
According to the “Gospel of Truth”
“….all the emanations from the Father are Pleromas.”
see Tractates 3, 2, Codices, I, and XII, Nag Hammadi Lib.
Pleroma can have other connotations according to
the Gnostic school of thought, some differences in
Sethian and Valentinian (other) schools can be noted.
Pleroma, is different than Logos.
(See; Logos, See aslo; Gaffney, p. 246.)

(Saunders Gnostic Glossary)

“Love you brother like your soul,

guard him like the pupil of your eye.”

Matthew 5:44,47

“Love your enemies…

If you greet only your brothers,

what is there extraordinary about that?”

Contrast Saying (55)

“And whoever does not hate his brothers…

will not be worthy of me.”

In Saying (25), the “brothers” Jesus refers to are “brothers” in the Spirit, not necessarily biological siblings or “kinsfolk”. In Saying (55), however, “brothers” represent those we are to separate ourselves from. These are our biological siblings who try to bind us to the old ways. Although we are told to love even our enemies, we are to give extra protection to those who share our “vision”.

I believe Saying (25) is related to the rites

of  “redemption” and the “bridal chamber”. 

To “love you brother like your soul” is a

reminder to guard your soul from the thievery

of the evil archons of the false-god, Yaldabaoth.

The redemption ritual is the catechism recited

to declare your freedom from him.

To “guard him like the pupil of your eye” is a reminder to place top priority on the gift of “sight” as the medium through which you see God “eye to eye” in

the mirrored “bridal chamber”.

As Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) put it:

“The eye with which I see God

is the same as that with which he sees me.

My eye and the eye of God are one…”

If your eye is one with the eye of God, and your “brother’s” eye is also the eye of God, then you should be able to see God in your brother’s eyes!

–Confucius  

 ………………… 

See and hear and become instructed,
that you may ascend to the Light Land victorious.

He stands there and instructs his sons,
and his sons instruct one another.

–Secret Teachings of Angelic kings (ancient Aramaic text)

………………….

Glass decanters and earthenware jugs
are both made by means of fire.
But if glass decanters break,
they are done over, for they came into
being through a breath. If earthenware
jugs break, however, they are destroyed,
for they came into being without breath.

-Gospel of Philip

–al-Hujwir

“Where are you?” Hoping I am not bogged down in words, my own and those of others. What is best is what is not said. True, my medi­tation is still slack, but I do not want to grip a futility and tighten on something merely imagined, arbitrarily decided. I do still wait, and listen, try for a more total awareness, more simple, and no phoney absorption.

The worst thing is, however, this preoccupation with a per­sona, a constructed personal self. This is the danger. Futility of it. Complete waste. The woods save me and the sun and snow_. Lovely songs of birds, melting snowfields yesterday afternoon.

– Sidi Abdesalam.

“What is meant by identity? Many facets of the concept could be
considered. For practical purposes here we are talking about one’s own
authentic and personal beliefs and convictions, based on experience of
oneself as a person, experience of one’s ability to choose and reject
even good things which are not relevant to one’s own life.”

–Thomas Merton

God is infinite in his simplicity and simple in his infinity. Therefore he is everywhere and is everywhere complete. He is everywhere on the account of his infinity, and is everywhere complete on account of his simplicity. Only God flows into all things, their very essences. Nothing else flows into something else. God is in the innermost part of each and every thing, only in its innermost part, and he alone is one.

–Meister Eckhart

“I have heard: ‘Once there was a little girl who got lost in the forest. Her parents became frantic and began searching for her everywhere. She too searched, but soon grew tired and lay down to rest. Her parents, however, felt no fatigue and continued to search. Near sundown the father came to a clearing and saw his daughter. Overjoyed, he ran toward her, shouting and making noise. Hearing him coming toward her, the girl jumped to her feet and shouted: “Abba, at last I’ve found you!”‘ So it is with human beings. The Divine is always around us, within us – is us – but the trick of the mystic is to bring this to consciousness. To know that this union is there. This does not necessarily mean frontal-lobe knowing – it refers, as Yeats wrote:

‘…..for always night and day

…..While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavement gray,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core’.”

- Avram Davis & Manuela Dunn Mascetti (Judaic Mysticism)

Quit this world

Quit the next world

Quit quitting

“Show us the place where you are,

since it is necessary for us to seek it.”

He said to them,

“Whoever has ears, let him hear.

There is light within a man of light,

and he lights up the whole world.

If he does not shine, he is darkness.”

(24) His disciples said to him,

“Show us the place where you are,

since it is necessary for us to seek it.”

Matthew 6:33

“Seek first the Kingdom of heaven”

Luke 17:21

“the Kingdom is within you”

(24) cont.

There is light within a man of light,

and he lights up the whole world.

If he does not shine, he is darkness.”

(61) “Therefore I say,

if he (duality?) is destroyed

he will be filled with light,

but if he is divided,

he will be filled with darkness.”

The Dialogue of the Savior (8) “The Savior said…

‘As long as the things inside you are set in order, …

your bodies are luminous.’”

The aware rise in spirals to ever higher rungs of awareness in each lifetime. Until finally they will have been through and been everyone and everything. They reach out to death and inquire ‘now where?’ Because once they were both beggar and rich, they understand. Because at one time in their past, they lived on every rung of being – human and animal. And through their own light they try to share their awareness. For they know that we are each different fragmentary manifestations of the Holy One Himself. And that the ultimate unification cannot occur until every single soul has become fully aware. Not until the wickedest person – the one with the most amnesia – seeks holiness instead, will the last part of the last man be realized.”

- Lawrence Kushner (Honey from the Rock)

“I shall choose you,

one out of a thousand,

and two out of ten thousand,

and they shall stand as a single one.”

Matthew 22:14

“For many are called, but few are chosen”

 Gospel of the Hebrews 

“I choose for myself the best

that my Father who is in heaven gives me.”

It has been calculated that:

1 per 1,000        =     .0010

+                              +

2 per 10,000       =    .0002

                                 .0012

Twelve disciples per 10,000 people

With today’s world population at over 6,000,000,000, this no longer amounts to an elite few. There should be many who are “chosen”. I think the term “chosen” must be viewed as a figure of speech, alluding to

the time when Jesus walked the earth “choosing” disciples. In the modern world, it is the individual

who does the choosing. They must choose whether

or not to listen to the voice of Jesus, which says, “Follow me”. Then the real question becomes which “Jesus” do you follow? In saying (8), the wise fisherman chooses the fine large fish without difficulty. Likewise, today’s Jesus-seeker must choose the proper “Jesus” or they risk being left spiritually hungry.

My commentary:

Chosen could easily be seen as those who are drawn to be seekers, drawn toward Gnosis. Drawn toward the divine…and those born into certain groups..even with such a large population as we currently have.

–Kena Upanishad

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Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him. Therefore, if one has knowledge, he gets what belongs to him and draws it to himself. For he who is ignorant, is deficient, and it is a great deficiency, since he lacks that which will make him perfect. Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him and for each one to get the things which are his. He registered them first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from him.

–the Gospel of truth

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It all comes back, in a sense, to the term “esoteric,” which has been widely misrepresented and misunderstood. The concept is a keystone of Schuon’s thought (and appears in the title of one of his chief stud­ies, Esoterism as Principle and as Way)., Using the symbol of a circle and its center-a formulation that Schuon also employs in his writ­ings-another leading traditionalist author, Martin Lings, has described how esoterism is actually the link between world religions:

My intelligence had never been able to accept the exclu­sivist idea that there is only one valid religion. But now it had learned and most readily accepted the truth that the great religions of the world, all of them equally Heaven-sent in accordance with the various needs of different sectors of humanity, can be graphically represented by points on the circumference of a circle, each point being connected with the center, that is, with God, by a radius. The points stand for the outward aspects of the religions, whereas each radius is the esoteric path which the religion in question offers to those who seek a direct way to God in this life, and who are capable of compliance with the demands of that way of sanctification, demands far more rigorous and exacting than those of the exoteric way of salvation.

The secret (or inner) does not negate or deny the open (or outer), which can at times even be said to surround it, contain it, protect it, albeit perhaps unwittingly. In specifically Islamic terms, the tarigah (Arabic for path or Way) does not replace the shart’ah (the law, the highly developed code of rules and regulations that consti­tutes Islam); both start with the same foundational guidelines. But at the same time, since the esoteric path is one where movement takes place inside the circle, its progress may not always be dis­cernible to those on the circumference.

The secret is furthermore not clandestine out of paranoia or some perverse predilection for elitist exclusivism, but because exposure and publicity always crudely compromise the message being pre­served. As with the meaning of a fairy tale, any attempt to expose the esoteric to the light of rational analysis spoils it forever, robs it of all its magical meaning: truth vanishes in a puff of smoke under such circumstances. Ripping the veil off a hidden or sacred symbol reveals nothing of the inner clarity of the representation in ques­tion, but only the naked hollowness of the vision of the viewer.

The straight path-spoken of as “al-Sirat al-Mustaqfm” in the fati­hah, the all-embracing opening verses of the Qur’an-of true Sufism thus never really strays outside the circumference of the circle; nor does it meander in and out of it. It heads steadily (and usually with great difficulty) toward the center. As with a traditional craftsman, a painter, ,or a pianist, years of training in technique are required before the seeker is allowed the grace of improvisation-usually only when the center is within reach.

This demanding or rigorous path is never easy or comfortable, nor is it egalitarian or democratic, accessible to all. It is an initiatic way, the traditionalists insist, one of direct experience which cannot be spoken of to outsiders, not because the listener “should not” be told about it, but because they would and could not recognize the vocab­ulary, and the very attempt to verbalize it would do far more harm than good for the cause of understanding.

–Merton and Sufism the Untold story Pgs. 198-200

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Jesus says:
“Come to know what is in front of you,
and that which is hidden from you will become clear to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not become manifest.”

–Gospel of Thomas

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He who knows both knowledge and ignorance together, crosses death through ignorance and attains immortality through knowledge.

–Isa Upanishad

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When my Beloved appears,

With what eye do I see Him?

With His eye, not with mine,

For none sees Him except Himself.

— ibn al-`Arabi

Amen

I am a door to you who knock on me.

Amen

I am a way to you, the traveler.

Amen

–The Acts of John

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A MAN is raised up from the earth by two wings — simplicity and purity. There must be simplicity in his intention and purity in his desires. Simplicity leads to God, purity embraces and enjoys Him.

If your heart is free from ill-ordered affection, no good deed will be difficult for you. If you aim at and seek after nothing but the pleasure of God and the welfare of your neighbor, you will enjoy freedom within.

If your heart were right, then every created thing would be a mirror of life for you and a book of holy teaching, for there is no creature so small and worthless that it does not show forth the goodness of God. If inwardly you were good and pure, you would see all things clearly and understand them rightly, for a pure heart penetrates to heaven and hell, and as a man is within, so he judges what is without. If there be joy in the world, the pure of heart certainly possess it; and if there be anguish and affliction anywhere, an evil conscience knows it too well.

As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he who turns completely to God is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new man. When a man begins to grow lax, he fears a little toil and welcomes external comfort, but when he begins perfectly to conquer himself and to walk bravely in the ways of God, then he thinks those things less difficult which he thought so hard before.

–The imitation of Christ

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My God and My All!

—St Francis of Assisi

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“‘ My power, sing praises to the Light and forget not all the powers of the Light which it hath given unto thee.

“‘And the powers which are in thee, sing praises to the name of his holy mystery;

“‘Who forgiveth all thy transgression, who saveth thee from all the afflictions with which the emanations of Self-willed have constrained thee;

“‘Who hath saved thy light from the emanations of Self-willed which belong to destruction; who hath wreathed thee with light in his compassion, until he saved thee;

“‘Who hath filled thee with purified light; and thy beginning will renew itself as an invisible of the Height.’

“With these words Pistis Sophia sang praises, because she was saved and remembered all things which I had done unto her.”

–Pistis Sophia chap. 73

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Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise

From outward things, what’er you may believe.

There is an inmost center in us all,

Where truth abides in fullness.

–Robert Browning

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One of the Sufis says this: “This borrowed life of mine, hand­ed over to me by the Friend, I shall hand back to Him when at last I see His Face.” . . . The fact that we belong to Him .. . that’s the reason we desire Him.

And another saying . . . “Before all men were made, God spoke to them in Adam and He said to them, `Am I not your [Lord],’ and in Adam, they all answered `Yes.’ And therefore in this answer of “Yes” which Adam gave to God’s question “Am I not your [Lord]?” there was a pact made for all creatures, and in Adam, all admitted that they belonged to God.’

The desire of God is tied up in our hearts with this deep sense, the deepest thing in our nature, not that He is a god, not that He is God or the Supreme Being, but that he is Our God, that He is My God. When our Lord says on the cross, “My God why hast thou forsaken me?” It isn’t just God, it is “My God.”

–Thomas Merton

–Gospel of Thomas

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The time of action does not differ at all from my time of prayer; I possess God as tranquilly in the bustle of my kitchen –where sometimes several people are asking me different things at one time—as if I was on my knees before the blessed sacrament…It is not necessary to have great things to do.  I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God;  when it is finished, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the ground and adore my God, who gave me the grace to make it, after which I rise, more content than a King.  When I cannot do anything else, it is enough for me to have lifted a straw from the earth for the love of God.

–Brother  Lawrence

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In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here. God himself culminates in the present moment, and will never be more divine in the lapse of all ages.

–Thoreau, “Walden”

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There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle.

–Albert Einstein.

I am dressed in light

–Manichean hymn

It was in the month of June when I saw Him for the first time. He was walking in the wheat field when I passed by with my handmaidens, and He was alone.

The rhythm of His steps was different from other men’s, and the movement of His body was like naught I had seen before.

Men do not pace the earth in that manner. And even now I do not know whether He walked fast or slow.

My handmaidens pointed their fingers at Him and spoke in shy whispers to one another. And I stayed my steps for a moment, and raised my hand to hail Him. But He did not turn His face, and He did not look at me. And I hated Him. I was swept back into myself, and I was as cold as if I had been in a snow-drift. And I shivered.

That night I beheld Him in my dreaming; and they told me afterward that I screamed in my sleep and was restless upon my bed.

It was in the month of August that I saw Him again, through my window. He was sitting in the shadow of the cypress tree across my garden, and He was still as if He had been carved out of stone, like the statues in Antioch and other cities of the North Country.

And my slave, the Egyptian, came to me and said, “That man is here again. He is sitting there across your garden.”

And I gazed at Him, and my soul quivered within me, for He was beautiful.

His body was single and each part seemed to love every other part.

Then I clothed myself with raiment of Damascus, and I left my house and walked towards Him.

Was it my aloneness, or was it His fragrance, that drew me to Him? Was it a hunger in my eyes that desired comeliness, or was it His beauty that sought the light of my eyes?

Even now I do not know.

I walked to Him with my scented garments and my golden sandals, the sandals the Roman captain had given me, even these sandals. And when I reached Him, I said, “Good-morrow to you.”

And He said, “Good-morrow to you, Miriam.”

And He looked at me, and His night-eyes saw me as no man had seen me. And suddenly I was as if naked, and I was shy.

Yet He had only said, “Good-morrow to you.”

And then I said to Him, “Will you not come to my house?”

And He said, “Am I not already in your house?”

I did not know what He meant then, but I know now.

And I said, “Will you not have wine and bread with me?”

And He said, “Yes, Miriam, but not now.”

Not now, not now, He said. And the voice of the sea was in those two words, and the voice of the wind and the trees. And when He said them unto me, life spoke to death.

For mind you, my friend, I was dead. I was a woman who had divorced her soul. I was living apart from this self which you now see. I belonged to all men, and to none. They called me harlot, and a woman possessed of seven devils. I was cursed, and I was envied.

But when His dawn-eyes looked into my eyes all the stars of my night faded away, and I became Miriam, only Miriam, a woman lost to the earth she had known, and finding herself in new places.

And now again I said to Him, “Come into my house and share bread and wine with me.”

And He said, “Why do you bid me to be your guest?”

And I said, “I beg you to come into my house.” And it was all that was sod in me, and all that was sky in me calling unto Him.

Then He looked at me, and the noontide of His eyes was upon me, and He said, “You have many lovers, and yet I alone love you. Other men love themselves in your nearness. I love you in your self. Other men see a beauty in you that shall fade away sooner than their own years. But I see in you a beauty that shall not fade away, and in the autumn of your days that beauty shall not be afraid to gaze at itself in the mirror, and it shall not be offended.

“I alone love the unseen in you.”

Then He said in a low voice, “Go away now. If this cypress tree is yours and you would not have me sit in its shadow, I will walk my way.”

And I cried to Him and I said, “Master, come to my house. I have incense to burn for you, and a silver basin for your feet. You are a stranger and yet not a stranger. I entreat you, come to my house.”

Then He stood up and looked at me even as the seasons might look down upon the field, and He smiled. And He said again: “All men love you for themselves. I love you for yourself.”

And then He walked away.

But no other man ever walked the way He walked. Was it a breath born in my garden that moved to the east? Or was it a storm that would shake all things to their foundations?

I knew not, but on that day the sunset of His eyes slew the dragon in me, and I became a woman, I became Miriam, Miriam of Mijdel.

–Kahlil Gibran