THE RISE OF THE GOLDEN DAWN
LESSON IX
As
we progress, we become more conscious of our being and we note that we perceive
the motion and movement within our body by outward observation.
We note that we become conscious of the existence of our physical body.
We see, hear, taste, smell, and feel.
Before
this perception, we had functioned with these senses, but were not really
conscious of them.
It
is also interesting to observe, likewise, that if one of the objects in our
household is removed, the perception or consciousness of its being there
continues. It is retained by
imagining that it is there. The many
mixtures of senses and consciousness compound together to give us this faculty,
which we call imagination.
Very
often, a long time after various objects and experiences have long since
departed from our life and even ceased to exist, the perception of them still
exists and this is what we call memory.
As
we perceive these outer objects, do we really see them?
Or not? For the mind looks
inward and wonders if it truly perceives its own perceptions.
For
the broader our consciousness grows, the more abstract the perception seems and
we tend to retire or withdraw into our own beings, instead of giving it more
studious research.
Man
usually has various appetites for good and a natural aversion towards evil.
The involuntary motions of the body tend to avoid evil and attain good.
The
laws of attraction and repulsion attract us to certain conditions, things and
principles naturally. We believe
this is our imagination, so they necessarily affect us.
Therefore, we develop appetites sometimes through aversion of good or
evil regardless of our knowledge.
The
live man is only starting to awaken but he feels
awake. He realizes for the first
time that there are others around him that he does not see and that he has been
asleep. He now is conscious of
himself and others, and becomes
cognizant that this personal consciousness controls the power that moves his
body.
Let
us state here that one of the greatest of all barriers is removed if we can
truly sense and grasp that the terms "matter" and "spirit"
are all one, except one we do not see with the physical eyes and the other we do
see with the physical eyes. And even
30% of our physical sight grasps things in the unseen, for man is both visible
and invisible in his present state of manifestation.
If we were to differentiate between a live body and a so-called dead body
we would say that in the
The
simplicity with which we explain these things, be they in scientific terms or
not, will keep us from false and superstitious concepts which might waylay our
understanding. We might also use the
terms material and immaterial elements which would give us a definite
categorization of relative density.
When
consciousness leaves the body in totality, all power and energy leave also.
The
life energies are related directly to the consciousness and life-force, for in
the consciousness is the intelligence and intelligence requires mind.
If consciousness and life-force are related, then mind and life-force are
related and go in or out of the body together.
It
was in the mass of mud and slime that a tiny bas bubble rose amongst the
steaming decay of the living herbage of the earth to the surface, pulsating of
its own breathing of oxygen and absorbing the light of the sun to become a cell
born into the consciousness of the Christos.
It was then that the process of birth, life and transition began.
The cell grew to the limits of the consciousness, died by separating, and
was reborn. In its place were two
small cells, each with a consciousness of the first through reflection
duplicating its own kind.
For
here was evolution, the evolution of consciousness and that duality of form
existent in progeny throughout the eons of time.
Within
each cell was consciousness and in each group of cells was consciousness.
For they were trying to fulfill the pattern and the Word of the Father --
thus was created man.
In
the perfection of the harmonious mass consciousness came then the coalition and
manifestation of the laws of cohesion and adhesion.
Thus was the nucleus formed by the vibrational rate of the total mass
giving spirit force. The Spirit of the Father gave motivation to the mass bulk
and shape to fulfill the form.
Thus
was the particular frequency and vibration of the various organs of the body and
the nature and characteristic shape of them established, and the nucleus of the
mass showed activity and was not attracted to or directed by any single cell.
Many
nuclei manifested varied shapes and sizes and controlled the environment of
these masses by the consciousness formed by the temporary unions.
The cells released them- selves as they were rejected and joined other
masses and the final rate of vibration of the nucleus became the vibrational
rate of the dual nuclear union. Thus
was the atom born.
For
from each came tiny cells having characteristic shapes and consciousness, all
adhering to the intelligence of the sun into a new generation of evolving shapes
and sizes. Thus was the life body,
that physical part which fits into the matrix or the spiritual body of man
readied, and the Father did breathe the breath of life into man and he became a
living soul.
Now
science may say, "From dust thou art, to dust thou shalt return," but
just prior to this we have noted that life and consciousness run hand in hand.
Therefore, we must logically return to mind and mind-stuff from which the
atom and the electron are only elements. For
all of this took place in the Mind of God, that cradle of birth, the great ocean
of thought in which we live and move and have our being.
Whether
that great ocean is conscious of itself, we have not yet reasoned.
And whether we, in our undeveloped state, shall persist and whether our
Self consciousness is that great ocean, independent of all time, science cannot
say. But Plato said, "If
goodness and love, like truth, be reality, then whatever atoms may really be,
that which delights in virtue must be happiness and in harmony with the totality
of the creation of things."
When
we reach the point where we know whose Father was God's Father, then we'll
understand this too. But now we know
this works and this is the criteria on which we function.
