|
Chapter 1 “And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.” St. Mark 7: 14-15 Our thoughts are the things that come out of us and become visible on the world around us. Our thoughts can cause a positive and uplifting experience or they can defile and pollute. If the thoughts which form the foundation of our life experience are limited, the life built upon these thoughts will be limited. If we are to experience life at its fullest we must learn to improve and expand our thinking. This expanded thinking must include the spiritual element. We need to understand that our spirit is real; it has substance. The more spirit we possess the more enjoyable, stable and vital our life experience will be. We need to learn to build our spirit. Every chance that presents itself to us throughout our day needs to be consciously recognized as an opportunity to build our spirit. Each of us is a machine. Our human machine has been set up in a way that provides for our physical existence and growth. Our machine also possesses the potential for a spiritual existence. Our machine does not possess a fully developed spiritual element. We must make a conscious effort to cause our spirit to grow. The human machine consumes physical food and uses it to maintain itself. Our machine also takes in air and extracts substances from it and also uses these substances to maintain the body. Our machine also receives impressions. There are a wide range of impressions used by the human machine in its day to day work. Impressions such as hot or cold must be interpreted and processed in ways that allow for the safety of our machine. Our human machine receives many impressions. Most of these impressions are improperly interpreted. This misinterpretation prevents the spiritual element from growing. We must understand that our machine is unfinished. Our human machine is functioning only at the physical level and needs to be consciously constructed in order to properly interpret impressions. Because our machine is unfinished many of our life experiences will be unsatisfying. However, the processes of the machine can be extended into the spiritual realm, and this extended spiritual processing of our impressions can result in the formation of a spiritual body. Developing our human machine to include the spiritual component requires that we begin making conscious choices that build our spirit. True happiness depends on spirituality. Those of us interested in finding true happiness must consciously choose to build our spiritual body. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the These parables express the ancient knowledge regarding the need to build our spiritual body. The substances the human machine uses to build the spiritual body are impressions. Our impressions come from our daily life experiences. Impressions are food for the spirit. Impressions are received by the machine through the senses. These impressions evoke our emotions. Our emotions often erroneously interpret the food of our impressions and we then unconsciously project this erroneous interpretation onto our life experience. Rather than unconscious, habitual interpretation the human machine should use consciousness to digest these impressions. Consciousness or right thinking causes the digestion of impressions in a way that results in an improved life experience and an increase in spiritual substance. Improper thinking or lack of consciousness digests impressions in a way that causes a loss of spiritual substance. It is the spiritual substance produced by consciousness acting on impressions that builds the spiritual body. Through the eye of the spiritual body it is possible to begin to see that the ‘ In order to build spirituality we must learn to change our way of thinking. We must be willing to admit that much of our thinking is habitual. We must realize that we have learned to think in the ways of our parents, our teachers, and our society. The problem with this acquired way of thinking is that it usually does not result in the proper digestion of impressions. If we hope to find happiness we must give up our improper, unconscious, unprofitable ways of thinking, and choose to use right thinking. Groups can assist in teaching right thinking and thereby foster the process of spiritual development. Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Islamism, and Hinduism are a few of the groups that begin to teach the basic elements of a system that can be used by an individual to accomplish the building of the spiritual body. But ultimately it is our individual responsibility to interpret the teachings and put right thinking to work in our lives. By using right thinking we are making good investments with our life energy. These good investments will result in an improved and increased understanding of the basic elements the groups have provided. The Christian parable of the talents teaches the benefits of good investment. “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one: to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed; And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” St. Matthew 25: 14-30 We have been given the talents of our human machine. This machine has the potential to build itself into a fully developed organism. The newly developing organism will begin to view life in an entirely different way from the undeveloped organism. The question is, will we be faithful and use our talents in ways that result in spiritual development, or will we be wicked and bury our talents in unconscious habitual thoughts where they make no profit? Will we make a gain and be asked to enter into the joy associated with spiritual development, or will we prove ourselves unprofitable to spiritual development and end up in outer darkness weeping and gnashing our teeth? Most of us are now dominated by unprofitable unconscious thoughts. These unprofitable thoughts leave little room for the more profitable ways of right thinking. Choosing to undo our habitual unprofitable thinking makes room for new thought and is the first step we can take toward building our spiritual body.
“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the The thoughts of a young child are not habitual. A child has not yet learned the unprofitable ways of the physically interpreted world. If we want to find happiness we must undo our limited and unprofitable ways of thinking. We must become as little children and make our minds open to receive new knowledge. After we have made our minds open we must work to acquire an increasing consciousness. There are four levels of consciousness. The lowest level is the level of sleep. When we are asleep our bodies are in a state of rest and our minds are unfocused. Our unfocused minds dream; they ramble about in streams of events that are often originating from within our memories. Many of these dreams, at the time they are occurring, seem very real. Yet, when we awaken, the experience of the dream falls away. Next is the level of waking sleep or subjective consciousness. Subjective consciousness is the level of consciousness used most frequently in our day to day experiences. The level of subjective consciousness is not far above the level of actual sleep. We demonstrate very little control over our thoughts that originate at the level of subjective consciousness. We walk about in the world, but we are seldom consciously present. The actions that originate from the level of subjective consciousness are really reactions that are based on social norms, memories, and habits that were formed in our past. At the level of subjective consciousness we spend our energy unwisely and project our limited thoughts onto the canvas of our lives. Next is the level of self consciousness or the state of beginning to awaken. The level of self consciousness begins when our thoughts enter the here and now. Self consciousness is focused on the moment and uses deliberate thought based on right thinking. At the level of self consciousness we have the opportunity to build our spiritual bodies. At the level of self consciousness much that befalls us during our subjective consciousness falls away just as our dreams fall away as we awaken from sleep. Finally, there is the level of objective consciousness. Objective consciousness is far above our normal levels of consciousness. Objective consciousness and the thoughts and actions that originate from the level of objective consciousness demonstrate full understanding into the spirituality that is predominant throughout the universe. We live mostly in the first two levels of consciousness seldom reaching the level of self consciousness and never reaching a level of objective consciousness, yet we ascribe to ourselves the ability to think with self consciousness and objective consciousness. This is a problem, for how can we ever reach a level of self consciousness or objective consciousness if we already think we possess objective consciousness? If we fail to realize that we are undeveloped and function only from the two lowest levels of consciousness, how can we hope to awaken from the dream and find the open mindedness that will allow for our continuing spiritual development? An important tool our machine can use in awakening and developing self consciousness is the tool of self observation. Self observation will allow us to see our levels of consciousness and allow us to elevate ourselves from waking sleep and move into a state of awakening where true peace and true freedom exist. The doorway to the world of awakening is found at the level of self consciousness. At the level of self consciousness our thoughts are based on right thinking, and it is this right thinking that causes an increase in the substances necessary for our spiritual development. Quite simply, we must learn to watch ourselves. We must use the tool of self observation to recognize when we are thinking in habitual, unprofitable ways. And then we must plant the seeds of right thinking. “Then said he, Unto what is the When planted into the garden of our being and tended with self observation, the seed of right thinking will grow. Right thinking will come out of us and manifest itself on our day to day experiences. Right thinking will allow us to see that the ‘
|