In the last presentation, we looked at what constituted the ‘Self’. We saw that a self was directly correlated to the position of the focus of a monad within a triad. This led to Laurency suggesting that the triad should always be the point of reference when discussing the location of a monad’s consciousness. This also avoids the confusion, when students read about the “personality” or the “individual” and wonder what exactly is being referred to. Remember, the ‘personality’ is the ‘Self’ in the 1st-Triad envelope and the ‘individual’ is a refocused monad in its higher causal envelope, located on the 2nd-Triad. That has got the terminology sorted out. What about the symbology?
The writer of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali, stated that “when a complete detachment from the phenomenal world has been effected, emancipation has been attained.” Laurency lamented that this statement has been misconstrued by many and should be understood that the ‘phenomenal’ world refers to the world of the 1st-Self. When a monad moves into the 5th Kingdom of Nature and becomes a 2nd-Self, it is ‘emancipated’ from its dependence on its 1st-Self. The worlds inhabited by the 1st-Self were called the ‘Worlds of Illusion’. Why? Because the conceptions of life in these worlds were illusory. This is where the term “living in appearance “ comes from. When what you think is real, is an illusion, you are ignorant of what life is all about. It is worth noting that an esoterician would not call matter an illusion. We leave that concept to the philosophers.
One term that we often hear is “Maya” or “great illusion”. Again, this has led many to speculate that it means that objective reality is somehow ‘fake’. This misunderstanding comes from the fact that those holding this viewpoint do not realise that even if they are aware of, not only, the Physical World, but the Emotional World and the Mental World as well, these are not the only worlds in the Universe. They are only components of the 1st-Triad.
At the start of the presentation, we reiterated the distinction between the ‘personality’ and the ‘individual’. The monad, located in the 1st-Triad, is sovereign in that triad and has a synthetic consciousness of that triad. This is the limit of the development possible by a ‘personality’. How, then does the ‘personality’ get to function as an ‘individual’? It has to somehow acquire casual consciousness. For this, it needs assistance. The monad gets this subjectively from its 13 guardian angels (augoeides). It is also objectively assisted by members of the Hierarchy. It is this team that teaches the disciple the techniques necessary to activate their causal consciousness. If an aspirant is prepared to make this investment in time and energy, it can greatly speed up its evolution. The alternative is to continue with the herd and incarnate for millions of years and eventually achieve the same objective. If the choice is made to ‘walk the path’, esoteric knowledge is not the only prerequisite, although this helps greatly. The monad must be prepared to serve evolution and humanity. The terminology used was to “serve God”. Our capacity not only to shoot ourselves in the foot but in the head as well, is almost limitless. If we are not to revert to barbarism, we need to be prepared to step up and take responsibility for the evolution of the Human stream in the 4th Kingdom of Nature.
The Lord Buddha referred to the most desired state a wanderer on the path could achieve, was one of detachment. Call it “impersonality” or “impartiality” if you wish. When this is mentioned, many recoil, as though it somehow means you don’t care, you don’t love, etc. The state Buddha was referring to is only achievable when the monad enters the 5th Kingdom of Nature, on the 2nd-Triad. In this manner, the monad disentangles itself from the ignorance, illusion and fiction that characterise the 1st-Triad. The monad needs detachment to assess ‘reality’, without being clouded by ‘affection’ for what it is observing.
While we are still dealing with the 1st-Triad, let us look at the term “dweller”. This has been taken to mean some sort of “guardian” as in the expression “dweller on the threshold”. This term was romanticised in Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Zanoni. The term is referring to one who remains at and cannot pass, the ‘threshold’ between the 1st and 2nd triads. From an esoteric perspective, this term refers to a monad that is focused in its mental consciousness, controlling its lower envelopes of incarnation. This persona is ignorant of the laws of life and is unaware of its guardian angels. It thinks it is sovereign, with no levels of existence above itself. It ‘dwells’ on the threshold. You will encounter many other fanciful interpretations.
Now let’s move to the 2nd-Triad. There are many terms used in Christianity that refer to the 46th World. An example would be “the love of Christ”. The terminology around Christ is also used by occultists when they babble on about the “love of Christ”. An esoterician will tell you that the term ‘Christ’, in this context, refers to Unity Consciousness, found on Plane-46. So, the “love of Christ” is energy flowing from the 46th World of the 2nd Triad, down into the 1st-Triad.
The Apostle Paul spoke of “the love of Christ completes us”. What was he getting at? Well, as has already been mentioned, the term ‘Christ’ is referring to Unity Consciousness. So, if you ever decide to read any of the works of Paul, when he mentions ‘Christos’, he is talking about energies from the Unity Plane, not a person. It may interest you to know that Paul was an initiate according to Laurency and he was writing to initiates in their own language. Along came Eusebius, the father of the Catholic Church, who got hold of some of these epistles and rehashed them to his liking.
Whilst we are on the 2nd Triad, the term “bless” refers to calling down the energies of the 46th World. This energy is tangible. It is molecular and depending on your receptivity to such energy, would determine if you receive this ‘blessing’ or not.
We are always suckers for dramatic expressions like “death & destruction”. Laurency suggests that “elimination” would be more appropriate. In old esoteric parlance, “death” meant everything a monad had discarded as it evolved. This would include emotional illusions and mental fiction. If something is useful to you to help you evolve, and the illusions and fictions of the 1st-Triad serve this purpose, they can not die. They are just discarded. After all, these illusions and fictions are elemental essences. They are involving and have their own path to follow. They are not going to die just because that is how some have come to understand what death means.
Laurency rales against religion’s depiction of the word “sin”. It is not “a crime against an infinite being who, being unable to forgive, exacts an infinite punishment”. Sin is just a mistake as to the Laws of Life. These mistakes are dealt with by the enactment of the Laws of Sowing and Reaping; karma to you and me. No God, singular or collective is able to forgive sin. That would be a violation of the Laws of Life. Some may claim that they have witnessed the act of forgiveness. What is happening in such cases is that you are witnessing karma that has already been reaped. In exceptional circumstances, karma scheduled to be reaped in the present incarnation may then transfer to a future one. All sowing has to be reaped, no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’. The law can not be abolished, even by ‘God’. Come to think of it, why should the law suddenly be suspended? Does the transgressor wish to escape the consequences of their action? If you hold to such a view, then you are condoning lawlessness. The Catholic church ‘forgives’ sins and look where that got the world. Inquisition anybody? How can the clergy or a theologian know the effects of a mistake? When they stipulate the demands for forgiveness, they are in their own worlds of illusions and fiction. As esoteric students, by now it should be abundantly clear that Christ could not die on any cross to abolish the Laws of Sowing and Reaping. Dream on.
In the next presentation, we will continue by looking at the concept of God immanent and God transcendent and what that exactly means.