Sophian.org

[Brooke]

In The Gospel of St. Thomas, Verse 67, Jesus states, "If one who knows the all still feels a personal deficiency, that person, he is completely deficient."

In Tau Malachi's illumination on this point in "Meditations of the Mystical Teachings," he points out the subtle meaning of the Master's words: Divine Grace can only work when the egotistic self is suspended. It is spiritual practice and living that helps us to get to that point. So, when we are deficient God is all. Something even more powerful to be taken from this is his point that when disciples and initiates worship, pray, and meditate it is the Christ-spirit in them that is the doer. This is why surface consciousness should be reined it, so the Light and the Holy Spirit may work.

Worship has taken various forms since the beginning of human evolution and the dawning of human consciousness. Even then, in the earliest stages of our physical, mental, and spiritual development, we had this innate need to worship. While this concept is not new, when we realize that God's will to create, i.e. Adam Kadmon, resulted in these Divine Sparks, we must also understand that this need to worship is vital to our very being. Since the beginning of human history, our Essential Self has always felt this compulsion to worship; we've always been guided by the Holy Spirit and the indwelling light; we just didn't recognize from where that light came.

While intellectuals and agnostics or atheists might attribute the need to worship to ignorance in order to also justify their belittling of those who still worship as somehow primitive, we know better. We know that those earliest forms of worship -- whether it be of stones or trees or stars made into gods and all of nature as emanations of godly power-- with still developing brains, are indicative of our greater purpose. Our soul knew, even then, although it would be a few million more years before we would evolve to the point where lineage holders and others would understand what all this means. Our spiritual evolution would take us through much to the point where we can talk about our understanding of God without the fear of being put to death or persecuted. Still, we are a long way from the ultimate Spiritual destiny in our human evolution.

May We All Learn How to Make the Ego Serve the Essential Self and Give the Indwelling Christ Spirit Room to Work.

Shalom.
_________________
Lady Mary said, "If you are seeking, it is the Holy Spirit that is seeking in you, and so be assured you will find."

[Tau Malachi]

Greetings Brooke!

It is, indeed, interesting to contemplate gnostic worship and the desire to worship. In many primitive forms of religion, worship was based upon fear and appeasement, arising from a sense of insecurity and deficiency; such worship is based upon superstition and the desire to preserve the egoistic self – it is worship in ignorance. In much the same way, there are also many other forms of worship, or motivations for worship, that are founded in the egoistic self and the ignorance of dualism – worship that is motivated by the desire to receive for oneself alone or to get ones own way, or worship in order to appear as a “good person,” among others. All of these arise from a deficiency, from insecurity, from the ignorance.

Of course, these are not the only reasons we may desire to worship – for within and behind all of the ulterior motives there is a deep desire for wholeness and completion, for fulfillment and satisfaction, connectedness and communion: in a word a *desire for union*. If we can recognize our deeper desire for worship, letting go of the desires on the surface, we will find a desire as powerful as our desire for an intimate and personal relationship – in fact, we will find that our desire for an intimate relationship and desire to worship are the same in essence, and we will discover another motivation for worship: *love*.

There is spiritual humility and spiritual self-worth in love, for in love we surrender ourselves and offer ourselves, but with the belief that we are desirable and capable of union – unlike the motivation to worship by fear, there is no deficiency in worship motivated by love. We love, so we worship; we love, so we seek to enter into union. In gnostic worship it is not so much that we want this or that from God, but rather what we desire is the Divine – God and Godhead; we want Godself.

The words “entering into union” are somewhat deceptive, though, just as saying that “we want Godself,” for in truth we have always existed in union with God and the Christ Self is the constant reality of our inmost being, our True Self; thus, in our worship we remember our innate union with Christ in God, and abide in the peace and joy of the Risen Christ, the Divine I Am (Eheieh). It may be that our experience of remembering is like and “entering,” but having entered we come to understand that we never really departed from union – the perception of dualism, of separation, of departure, is completely illusory.

Thus, gnostic worship is an expression of the joy of union – the celebration of union, as we see in the Wedding Feast, the Holy Eucharist, as understood by Sophians. The very term “wedding feast” speaks the mystery, for if it is a feast of “thanksgiving and praise,” it is a feast of pure delight and the affirmation of the Truth and Light in our experience of the Risen Christ – Christ indwelling us, and Christ transcending us, Christ in the all and the all in Christ, and Christ transcendent of the all, the Entirety. More than to “give” thanksgiving and praise, as though Divine Being is separate and apart from us, when we take up gnostic worship we seek to remember and celebrate union, and to live in union, to live Christ. Of this we may say, “We are Christian until we remember ourselves as Christ and experience Christhood – Christ Consciousness.”

Of course, in this Holy Remembrance, the unreal personality, the egoistic self, disappears – we become empty of ourselves, and so we are Spirit-filled, Light-filled. When we are empty of ourselves, no longer oriented upon name and form, or the unreal personality, the Light-presence (Christ) and Light-power (Holy Spirit) indwells us, and the Christ Self takes up our personality and life display – something of the True Light is embodied and lived.

This is a spirituality of enjoyment, as written about elsewhere, and just as we may say that “the Shekinah cannot not rest upon a depressed person,” so we here we may say that “she cannot rest upon a deficient person” – unless I recognize my innate unity with the Risen Christ, the truth of the Human One of Light in me, and abide in the peace and joy of the Risen Christ, how shall the Shekinah of Messiah accompany me? If I know this Truth and Light, how shall be bound to the law, and to sin and death? Indeed, I am free to live, free to enjoy, all in the Divine Light, all in Christ.

Elsewhere, friends have been discussing morality recently, but in truth morality isn’t an issue in Sophian Gnosticism, at least not in the typical religious sense – the typically religious ideal of morality is bound up in the law and sin, but through the Divine Gnosis of the Risen Christ, non-dual realization, the law is no longer in effect and we know the illusory nature of sin and death – we abide in the Sanctuary of Divine Grace.

The very essence of the law is love, and the experience of union is the fruition of love – if I have the love of Christ, the love of the True Light, then I transcend the law and all arguments of morality. If I have love, who will need to tell me to worship or keep the Holy Shabbat – the day of my Beloved; or who will need to tell me not to kill or not to steal, or any of these things? Indeed, true morality is innate to love, to the intelligence of the heart, and in love I will not do any harm – the violent inclination is put to an end, and with it the dominion of the demiurge is put to an end. Isn’t this, perhaps, the most central message of the crucifixion and resurrection – the cessation of violence and transcendence of the law through love-union?

The law is for the lawless, the violent ones – violence comes from insecurity, deficiency, the dualistic condition. Love brings to union, to fulfillment and satisfaction – to enjoyment: Pure Delight, Pure Bliss. This is the Gospel, the Good News, of the Risen Christ, the Truth and Light we adore, the Truth and Light we worship – within us, all around us and beyond us.

From its original Latin root the word “morality” literally means the “preservation of the self” – and we may say it is the realization of the Real Self, the Christ Self. The nature of this realization is love, is union, and this is the very essence of gnostic worship – the experience of this Knowing Being, Gnostic Being, the Christ.

Here we must remind that the nature of this Self-realization in Christ is not fixed or static, but rather is fluid and flowing – there is, in truth, no self, no substantial or independent self-existence, so as to say at any point, “I’m enlightened.” No, indeed! The enlightened nature, the Christos, is the ground of clarity and confusion alike, and is experienced when we let go of attachment to the surface consciousness to allow the flickering between clarity and confusion without attachment or aversion – it is not so much that we “become” or “attain” enlightenment, but rather that we recognize and realize the enlightened nature, the Christ in us, and therefore experience enlightenment, enjoyment: Divine Illumination.

Entering into union with the One-Without-End (Ain Sof), where is the end of this Self-realization so that at any point I may say, “I’ve arrived”? At the same time, never having been separate from the Infinite, how shall I propose that I’m not present in the Holy One, so as to say, “I’ve not arrived”? In truth, the entire idea of “arrival” is illusory, founded upon the illusion of separation, dualistic consciousness. There is a most subtle and sublime truth that we must look and see, and recognize and realize – the innate emptiness, which is the Divine Fullness (Pleroma).

This is the Divine Play, the love-play, of Gnostic Worship…

May we be passionate in our worship, passionate in our love-play with the Beloved, so that we might remember and experience Union – Divine Rapture; amen.

Blessings & shalom!
_________________
Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia

[Brooke]

Greetings, +Tau Malachi.

Indeed, the early motivations for worship had less to do with love than fear and manipulation. For me, however, there is much beauty to be seen in the evolution itself -- in the becoming. Humanity's evolutionary journey parallels the journey of the individual, early on her path, seeking to recognize the indwelling Christ. I have faith that the "true" seeker, motivated in her deepest heart by love for God and others, will find her way to the Truth.

First, we must get past our surface consciousness, past our personal hangups. Someone here has suggested "counseling" is the best way to get past these deficiencies, but perhaps the better way is to use our burgeoning awareness to become conscious of what we do and why we do it -- because recognizing it is key to turning it around. There's no need to pay a psychologist if we are learning to make ourselves an empty vessel so we may recognize the indwelling Christ and be filled up with God's love. Early on I think we learn that our surface personality is just that -- AND it's NOT who we really are... Maybe we start out not even being aware of our real motivations for Seeking but if we have faith and seek in love we will become what the Christ within us is seeking.

I interpreted "deficiency" as found in Verse 67 entirely differently than you; for some reason I saw it as "emptiness" but I read it too fast and now realize you wouldn't feel that deficiency if you feel, instead, your connection to your innate Christ-self. Obviously, I have "much" work to do, but I'm learning to see this not as a burden but a joy. Each day is a reason to rejoice that we leave ourselves open to the wonder of God's magnificent creation unfolding in the scriptures, in nature, and in our own consciousness.

I agree with your statements on "morality" as a necessary construct for those who do not not recognize the Christ within. As I wrote in that same thread, Ain Soph is beyond morality; likewise our Christ-self is beyond morality. It's the same way organized religion (the outer church) , after the First Coming, is necessary (some might say a "necessary evil") as part of the evolutionary process to offer a way of morality and an intermediate path to know something of Christ and God even if it is not entirely the correct understanding of the Christ within.

These are just some of my reflections.

Shalom!
_________________
Lady Mary said, "If you are seeking, it is the Holy Spirit that is seeking in you, and so be assured you will find."

[Kat]

Shalom Brooke,

It seems we spend a lot of time trying to fix the dream, not realising that it personal defiency that is dream like in nature. Is nature really deficient or is it that we not intergrated a part of oneself. If we feel we are lacking in any way it is because we have come to accept a veiw of lack which as Tau says does include the fullness of life. Enjoyment comes when we realize that what we desire is health and happiness, and that also includes levels of ourselves we would like to think are "less spiritiual". Enjoyment of life can be a form　worship, if we are trully embracing each moment be it singing in praise or being in the midst of a work day. If we look at mandane tasks as not having the experience of Christ within them, then we have made a seperation in consciousness between one moment to the next. It seems that we take the mentality of sitting in a cave is superior to cleaning dishes, paying bills, then we have made all our Being difficient. If there is no continuity of consciousness from one state to the next, then our realization is deficient or lacking.

This saying is wonderful as it talks to one who as already entered into gnosis, "knows the all", which seems a pretty lofty state, and shows that there is a danger in focusing too much on the transcending of life, and a need for intergration. Even going further we must become a true individual, so that the Presance and Power flows for every part of our Being. This is where the contemplation of defeciency and worship lead me.

One of the interesting things you brought up is the Seeking, or journey we are on. Love is what sets us on the path, and Love is what we are seeking, therefor what we are seeking is reflected to us in our experience of seeking.

Shalom,
Kat

[Brooke]

Kat, beautifully put:

[Tau Malachi]

Greetings Brooke and Kat!

Well, dear sisters, the two of you are drawing out this contemplation in delightful ways – it certainly invokes further contemplation in my own experience.

The scriptures are delightful, for there are many ways to interpret them. They may speak to us in different ways from one occasion to another, becoming a vehicle expressing our heart’s intelligence or the Divine Spirit showing us things we need to see, speaking things we need to hear. It can be very interesting to notice how they speak to us differently from one time to another, and to look at the insights that have been given to us. This, too, seems to be a play of evolution.

The principle of evolution is at the heart of the Sophian view – we do, indeed, experience evolution in our journey, in our spirituality, in everything we take up in the spiritual life and practice. Thus, as the first saying in the Gnostic Gospel of St. Phillip implies we may say, “First we become Christian, and then we become Gnostic,” and many individuals pass through the vehicle of the exoteric church to come to esoteric Christianity, the interior church.

I must agree, the sincere seeker will find their way – the Holy Spirit will lead them to Divine Truth, each according to their capacity to receive, and as the author of Hebrews suggests, they will grow and mature in Christ, the will evolve, for the Mother Spirit is an evolutionary force, a Fiery Intelligence that illuminates and brings to maturation, all in due season.

It seems that we begin as a child in our faith, and then grow to become a woman or man in Christ; then, becoming a woman or man in Christ, an authentic human being in Christ, we may grow towards Christhood to become “more than human,” to become as Christ. It is a natural course of growth and development, of spiritual evolution, and this evolution does seem to be reflected in our worship – it is in our maturation that our capacity to love comes to fruition.

Indeed, worship need not be isolated to formal occasions of worship, nor isolate to the Shabbat – in terms of methods of worship it may assume many forms, and likewise all activities of life can become worship, all activities may be offered up and become vehicles of realization. The key, of course, is enjoyment, for when we enjoy and are present we draw near to God, we become Spirit-connected, and we may taste something of the enlightenment experience, glimpse something of the truth of Christos, the Anointed.

It is interesting, in speaking with a Samaritan woman, Master Yeshua says, “The time is coming and is now here when no longer will you go on top of a mountain or to the temple to worship, but you will worship God in spirit and truth, you will worship God in your heart wherever you are” (a paraphrase occurring in oral tradition).

The noble ideal of the Holy Gospel is this: As the image and likeness of God, Divine Being, the Human One is the vehicle for the realization and embodiment of God, the coming into being of God incarnate – the Living Temple of God. We may take up all manner of external symbolism, generate all manner of sacred environments, perform all manner of external ceremonies, and these may serve as vehicles for experience, and be creative expressions of the Truth and Light in our experience; yet, in truth, we need nothing whatsoever external to worship, we need only our heart and soul, mind and life. Thus, as in Deuteronomy, Master Yeshua says, “Love Yahweh Elohim with all of your heart and all of your soul, all of your mind and all of your strength”; and “love your neighbor as yourself.”

External things in worship can be very good and useful, so long as we remember the true nature of our worship, the true context, which is inward and upward – Godward.

It is interesting to look and see where Master Yeshua worships – he does go and teach in the “houses of worship” of the time, and he does go and teach in the precincts of the temple. Yet, it seems that he worships in homes and in the countryside, and wherever he is lead to worship and minister by Ruach Ha-Kodesh, the Spirit of Holiness; but often, when he wishes to pray and meditate, he goes out into the wilderness or into a garden – it appears that his communion with God is most often in nature.

This is very interesting, for that is where we find the patriarchs and matriarchs worshipping, and that is where we most often find the prophets worshipping – out in nature, and their worship is very “shamanic” in its quality.

The message seems to be that we may worship wherever we are, in whatever we are doing – it is all simply a matter of the presence of awareness, the awareness of the Divine within ourselves and all things. As the Psalmist inquires, “Where shall I go that the Divine is also not present with me?”

There is something more to be said of worship in a natural setting, for there we behold the great splendor and glory of creation, the fullness of life in all of its infinite diversity; we see the great display of the One Life-Power, the presence and power of God. Yet also in nature the human being stands out – this seemingly “alien creature” in which there is an active Fiery Intelligence that is unique to it on the face of the earth, a creature in which it seems “earth” and “heaven” are united. Beholding the splendor and glory in nature with holy awe and wonder, and looking and seeing this, one will naturally look within to seek knowledge and understanding of that heavenly part, the divine nature within oneself, seeking to commune with the Divine within and beyond oneself – it is quite natural that one will do this in nature as an intelligent being. When we recognize and realize our divine nature (neshamah), our human intelligence (ruach) and vital soul or life (nefesh) are illuminated and uplifted, and all that we do may become worship – a continual prayer and meditation, a perpetual communion in the Holy Shekinah, the Divine Presence and Power.

Perhaps we may correctly say that this Fiery Intelligence pervades all of creation – this seems perfectly true and our experience verifies this truth. Yet, from the mineral dominion arises the vegetable dominion, and from the vegetable dominion arises the animal dominion, and from the animal dominion arises the human dominion; in the Risen Christ, in the holy and enlightened ones, from the human dominion arises the divine dominion – a Supernal or Supramental Humanity. In each of these “dominions” there is a greater manifestation of Fiery Intelligence, each representing a radical leap in the actualization and realization of the Fiery Intelligence. Yes, indeed, evolution – creative evolution!

If we look into worship, if we look into the spiritual life and practice, it emerges in what we may can a semiconscious state, more unconscious than conscious, but as the spiritual life and practices grows and develops it becomes increasingly more conscious, more intelligent, and eventually becomes a conscious evolution towards the ever more we can be and become in the Divine. As the Fiery Intelligence becomes active in us, realized in us, it becomes more and more a creative affair, for each of us is a center of the Holy One we adore, and each are an emanation of the Holy One – the Anointed of God, each a cocreator in this creative evolution, the realization of God (or enlightenment).

This innate need to worship, this inclination to worship, is the impulse of this Fiery Intelligence in us, from a Sophian Gnostic perspective, it is the impulse of an evolutionary force, and whether semiconscious or fully conscious, it is a struggle for evolution beyond the present human condition, a struggle to evolve towards the Highest or Life – Divine or Enlightened Being.

What is uniquely human on earth? It is our capacity for self-realization, our capacity for conscious evolution on all levels, from the material to the spiritual – the capacity of a true and full cocreator with God.

Perhaps we may say that the very essence of gnostic worship is the activity of a conscious cocreator…

May we emerge as the Risen Christ to fulfill the Divine Intention of this movement of creative evolution; amen.

Blessings & shalom!
_________________
Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia

[Susan]

Greetings All!

Ah, yes - gardens, and their place in the world's wisdom traditions as preferred places of worship. And how well many of us relate to that daily (at least!) burning desire to get outside, put your bum on the ground and Just Be!

When it comes to worship, be it prayer, meditation or contemplation, human constructions, buildings, are one thing, but Nature, the natural world, as an element of the Body of the Mother Spirit is a sublime other-thing altogether. A few deep breaths in clear, unpolluted air, vistas of coloured beauty, or simply a patch of soft, green grass and a shady tree to sit under, these elements of the natural world are a vital touchstone for holy communion for many of us.

Why vital? Well, they are just that - alive, dynamic, evolving! Just like us!Energetic bodies through which the Radiant Holy Breath flows, just like us. In all our glory we inspire each other and in a climax of shared inspiration/worship we can sometimes, through the Grace of the Mother Spirit, realize that divine union with the Shekinah, all in the temple of our shared bodies.

What a time to be living then! Acts of environmental destruction are so commonplace and vast. While some see a woman's ankle peeping from below a skirt and are incensed that God's laws are being violated, I see the largest island on earth being reduced to a one giant gravel quarry and cry sacrilege! How then to turn this poison into it's own antidote, for the benefit of our own spiritual evolution and that of our fellow beings?

Recently a wise and holy teacher shared truths on this question with me, many blessings to him for this. Now may I ask for your understandings also, as I believe there may be many who share my hunger for learning on this question.

God's Peace and Light to All who Seek in Good Heart,

Susan

[Tau Malachi]

Greetings Susan!

We have good reason to entertain gnostic worship and to seek to recognize and realize our innate unity with the Divine; hence to realize our bornless nature, as reflected in Hebrew 7:3. This life is a fleeting moment in the midst of the countless aeons that compose the great aeon or cosmic cycle, and even the duration of this good earth and our solar-system is very brief in comparison to that of the entire galaxy, let alone to that of the universe; manifestation in the material dimension of the universe is finite and limited in duration – *everything is impermanent*, a continuum of constant change through flow and ebb.

This is reflected in the eight solar “holy days” we celebrate in the year, which pass from birth to death, and explore the various mysteries of the Gospel of Truth, following the seasons in nature that reflect the life-cycle. On one hand, we celebrate the Light Continuum (Being) represented by the sun, the light of which is constant amidst the changing seasons; on the other hand, we celebrate the Continuum of Change (Becoming), through which growth and evolution transpires. In other words we celebrate the *Being of the Becoming*, centering ourselves in Christ, the Spiritual Sun, and entertaining the dance of the Holy Spirit amidst things ever changing – embracing what is transpiring in space-time, while remembering the eternal realm.

We may rightly say that everything comes to the End-Of-Days, whether individual or collective, one way or the other – everything that appears in the fields of sentient existence, the Entirety, will disappear. Thus, we have good reason to seek to recognize and realize the Pleroma of Light, the bornless nature that underlies our existence, for that alone transcends appearance and disappearance, birth and death.

Indeed, in wisdom, as an intelligent species, on an individual and collective level we could choose to extend the duration of life on earth, seeking to keep the earth in place as long as possible in compassion for sentient beings, providing as much time as possible to allow as many souls as possible to develop and evolve, and to enter into the Path of the Great Ascension. That would surely be wise and mature, and in an ideal world that would not doubt be the case – in an ideal world there would be peace on earth and good will among peoples. However, that is not the case here, and apart from some catastrophe the direction we are headed is unlikely to change its course; but even if it did, and even if we bought more time, still, by one means or another great catastrophe would eventually come – for we know in earth’s history it has come many times and we know it will come again. Life is a dance of great beauty and great danger, beauty and horror; nothing is going to change that. It does not take a prophet to tell us this, but we can all look and see the impermanence of life and the material existence.

Nature herself is our teacher in this – go look and see! Inquire of Zoe Sophia, life-wisdom! There are seasons, there is flow and ebb and constant change; before we mammals came into being as the dominate life-wave, the reptiles held dominion, and for a little while in the cosmic scheme of things we hold dominion. If we want to understand the ascension of souls, or ascension of worlds, let us go and watch a salmon run or sea turtles hatching and making their way out to sea – it is a brutal world, a brutal universe, though also amazingly beautiful. Nothing is going to change that; so the question becomes: In the midst of it, what are we going to do?

As Sophian Gnostics we worship, we take up the spiritual life and practice, and we live life to the fullest possible extent; and in the midst of this we seek to look and see Reality as It Is, and we seek to accept and embrace Reality as It Is. What else is there to do?

As for the self-destructive tendency within the collective of humankind, the Ignorance, this too is Nature, the dark side of the unconscious of Nature – everything has this tendency to self-destruction and disintegration in the material world and material universe; all good things come to an end, all dreams dissolve into the ground from which they arose, whether luminous or darkly splendid dreams. Perchance in the midst we shall put an end to the Ignorance in ourselves, and perchance we shall help others put an end to it in themselves; but the Ignorance is part and parcel of the play of Creative Evolution, and even in the midst of the Ignorance, Nature if the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the Mother Spirit, and the world is sacred as it is.

The thought that we will “save the world” is akin to the thought that one man and woman “sinned” and brought trouble upon the whole world – it is rather unrealistic and seems like an egoistic projection. The idea of some “original sin” and the idea that we will “save the world” perhaps make us feel very important, but it comes from the unreal personality and represents obstructions to our ability to look and see Reality as It Is, or God as God Is.

This sort of thinking is the play of the Ignorance (demiurge) as well, for by it we are distracted from our most essential purpose in this life and this world – our Self-realization in Christ and our evolution beyond the need for material forms of existence. If there is any “salvation” it is this, the enlightenment and liberation of the soul from the Entirety, the realization of the Pleroma of Light.

In this, paraphrasing Master Yeshua, we may say, “If you save the world and preserve life in it for a while, but you do not enlighten and liberate your soul, or facilitate the enlightenment and liberation of other souls, what good is that to you or to the world?” After all, in truth, ultimately you cannot save the world or preserve life in the world forever – everything in the world has a natural conclusion and comes to an end.

This view is not doom and gloom by any means, but is simply looking and seeing the true nature of Reality as It Is; looking and seeing, we may live and enjoy this life to the fullest possible extent, and labor to unfold our Self-realization in Christ – indeed, looking and seeing, we have our motivation, the desire for the Great Liberation.

May we be empowered to worship the Divine in Spirit and Truth, and bring this play of Creative Evolution to its fruition in the Risen Christ – the Great Ascension; amen.

Shabbat Shalom!
_________________
Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia

[Susan]

Greetings Malachi,

Yes, I now understand. Rather than maintaining our conditioned fixation on the material world of matter, as Sophians we rather aim to recognise, and indeed realise, the divine energy within and behind everything in the Entirety.

Hence, the beauty of nature is perceived as even more beautiful, more incredible, when seeing matter for what it truly is - divine energy made manifest! We can thereby live with the Mother Spirit always before us, in a continual state of remembrance, of the Shekinah, of divine unity and of the ultimate purpose of our incarnation in this world.

Many thanks again for these new understanding of how to view the natural world, in all its fantastic beauty and horror, and also our on-going need to practise just be-ingrather than do-ing.

Shalom and blessings!

Susan

[Renee]

na

[+Yonah]

Greetings Renee!

It's interesting that you bring up this idea of catastrophe to bring about evolution.

I think this is even true at the individual level. Have you noticed that most that have come to gnosis seem to have been through a lot in their lives? A personal apocalypse seems to be a necessity for our individual evolution.

Blessings,
Brother Mark+
_________________
Blessings & Shalom,
Brother Mark (+Yonah)
Magdalene Circle
Bishop, Ecclesia Pistis Sophia

[Renee]

na

[Kat]

Shalom Renee,

I have been thinking of what you and brother Mark have been talking about in what it takes to make huge leaps in consciousness on a personal level. I have heard it said by Malachi that it takes some kind of restling or a large amount of passion to make these leaps. It would seem that one must really be sick of the gilgilum or karma to want to shift to a new level of consciousness, that something makes us look and se why another option is better. As far into the heights we go, we must also go down into the depths, integrating the Light into our experience. It is like the loosening of our indentity to name and form, it is only when we understand how it limits us can we choose to disolve and surrender to the Divine Presance and Power. In my own personal experience there are karmic knots that loosen once I can look and se, and then it takes a lot of passion and cleaving to make a dramatic change. When the Shekanah moves in our lives it it that which we cling that will cause us pain and that which we loosened which will be liberated. Therefor this reflects nature in how she is always balancing herself.

Shalom,
kat

[Brooke]

[Sister Sarah+]

Greetings Kat and Brooke,

What comes to mind in this beautiful contemplation is the verse in John that says:

“He breathed on them and said to them, “receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22)


If we look into our experience we can see that to the degree we can forgive others and ourselves is the degree we can loosen karma, hence descending into materiality and completely taking up our personality and life display, the Neshamah taking up the Ruach and Nefesh. In this way the duality of self and other dissolves and sparks are released, this loosens the karmic knots that the delusion of separation created. If in the midst of our material experience we become aware of our karmic interactions (remembrance), this exchange of sparks, we can consciously forgive. This same movement takes place with the idea of retaining sins, which seems to mean karmic paths that cross and stay crossed until whatever brought these two together is resolved.

This verse speaks of the wave like motion apparent in the cycle of evolution. If we look at the idea of retention as a sort of constriction, and the idea of forgiveness as an expansion, the movement of a forward and backward flow begins to form. What is interesting in this particular verse in John is that it is speaking of an initiation that the Risen Savior is imparting to the disciples. It appears that this initiation, this Breath of the Holy Spirit, allows awareness to dawn in the disciples, an awareness of the play of sparks and the exchange in the Karmic Web. If we are aware of that which we are forgiving and that which we are retaining then the Holy Shekinah moves and the power that binds becomes the power that liberates.

Praise be the Shekinah, she who liberates!

Many Blessings and Shalom,
Sarah+

[Leslie Kaneel]

Shalom Sarah+!

I find your last statements above to be very profound and tying beautifully into Saying 67 - Gospel of St. Thomas.

Key is the being "aware". A minuscule quantum shift in Presence of Awareness can definitely result in an immense leap forward in conscious evolution.

As we take up our Cross of Incarnation and meet very difficult situations of the world, grating our soul to the core at times, we have a choice in perception of reality.
One can fall into the very detrimental state of self-pity, subject/object dualism, filling the mind with "feelings of personal deficiency." When this happens, as Saying 67 depicts, a person becomes "completely deficient." These "feelings" hit anybody at anytime, bringing down, or binding, even those who have attained lofty Spiritual heights - coming in subtler and subtler forms of self-grasping.
Or, one can, through Presence of Awareness, open to become completely Spacious, accomodating Reality As it Is. From this spaciousness enters Love and Compassion having the real power to not only abide in the difficult situations of the world, but, provide the capacity to transform them into that which Divine Grace flows abundantly. "The Holy Shekinah moving." This is the Place where "the power that binds becomes the power that liberates"; the difficult situations actually serving as vehicles toward enlightenment and liberation.

May we see Reality As it Is and live up to our complete Divine Potential! amen.

All in the Holy Mother Spirit!

Leslie.

[Brooke]

Salutations, all!

Indeed, Sarah's + post speaks to me more clearly now than it did before thanks to my current studies and focus. Yes, we can choose to break the karmic cycle and, yes, as Leslie points out, we can open ourselves up to that by becoming "completely Spacious, accomodating Reality As It It... [thus providing the ground] for Divine Grace [to flow] abundantly."

This really is a beautiful contemplation. Thanks.

Love, Light, and Blessings!
Brooke