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Reflection for February 19, 2008: What is God?

Benjamin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:50:30 +0000

God is ineffable

as soon as you say what God is...
You have not said what God is.

The more you speak, the less you say.

Amen

…………………………..

"When an individual goes through a traumatic experience and reacts as if nothing has occurred, then the experience has most likely not yet sunk in. The data is in the intermediate period between the gathering of the information and the time when it becomes fully processed and absorbed. The information is still lingering on in the passageway and has not yet trickled down into the heart. This occurs with all types of information. There is always a lapse between receiving information and the emotional absorption of that information. The only variable is how long this takes. Some information is processed immediately, while other data takes more time to absorb and to be registered emotionally. At times we smile walking down the street because of something we heard hours earlier, and it is only then that we feel its impact.

There are times when this connection is impaired, or severed, so that one's ability to feel what one thinks is all but absent. This occurs when the passageway is cluttered, and it is a no go between the mind and heart. On a physical level, within the neck of a human being there exists two passages, the esophagus, which is the food pipe, and the trachea, which is the windpipe. In the spiritual domain as well, these two passages can be stuffed and cluttered. Spiritual blockage of the food pipe occurs when one is filled to excess with physical nourishment, when one is so overly engrossed in consuming and absorbing physical pleasures that one neglects the spiritual. The windpipe, on the other hand, represents air and ambiance. When this pipe is clogged, it means that one is not in an appropriate environment conducive to the arousal of noble emotions. When these connecting pipes are congested, the intellect has no avenue to penetrate the heart. The thoughts cannot evolve into emotions, and so they remain in the mind.

In Kabbalistic terminology this phenomenon is called Timturn halev, dullness of the heart. This is when one suffers from the inability to be responsive and to feel emotions. One may perceive with one's intellect how one should love, yet one's emotions remain silent. One is incapable of feeling or being spiritual moved. This spiritual numbness arises from and is a manifestation of one's ego, where all that one feels is one's own existence and need for survival. The preoccupation with coarse bodily experiences does not allow for genuine sensitivity to spirituality. In this state of spiritual numbness the ego does not allow the light of comprehension to illuminate the emotions."

- DovBer Pinson (Meditation and Judaism)

………………………………

Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God's Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world. These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language. We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us. But the people who don't know God won't listen to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the truth from the one that tells lies. My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God's children, and we know him. God is love, and anyone who doesn't love others has never known him. God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn't our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.

--1 John 4-10

....................................

the words flow, decisions made
idea's mine, but the inspiration not
dreams of hangers on, dreams of getting well
spells of ezmerelda, emeralds foretold
splinters in the eye sentiments remain
bones that never rest where we going to
it was never up to me and yet i pushed until it broke

I love the open road and all that it suggests
wheel wagon dust weeds and infidelities and
always for a love never question why
in a wooden house immoveable and silent and
drinking strawberry wine forever lost in town
and thru the sleeping streets night bound and heavy
wheels in the spoke still spoken for himself

now my gates are high, my friends even higher
forgotten in my mind, yet the sky still linger and
cloud the blue skies, i'm jealous of you birds
was the only truth in a world full of words?
hear the prairie sound in a friend called near
the heart is pointed down but my spirit pointed up
his voice for siren of greek mythology

i pause with my pen i begin to defend
every action taken, every moment sealed
when i was quick it coursed through open veins
the will to live the urgency to move
behind a panel door sealing cherry stain
i play my guitar and live those lonesome notes

like a dog that's down
in a corner just a sigh
waiting to be called
waiting to be yours
ghosts of all my shame
without purpose or will

i often speak of you but the you is always me
cause when i speak of me it's me i ask of you
so let there be no truth just trickery in rhymes
time the only thing waiting still as death

i hope for resolution pray one defining moment
pause without restrain barren without child
a child is who i was a child is who I'll die
soot in my hair
and stars in my hands
soot in my hair
and stars in my hands
soot in my hair
and stars in my hands

--soot and stars (smashing pumpkins)

reflection for February 1, 2008: Telling the truth

Benjamin — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:35:54 +0000

"Samsaric pleasures are like salt water, the more we indulge, the more we crave."

~ Ngulchu Gyalsey Thogmed Zangpo, Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas.

…………………………………………………….

The nature of will and the nature of ego are very close. A person who has labored long that the distinction between with his or her spiritual discipline often has great I illusion-it is all good! All pride. These are the people who have been punc- tilious about the law, observed the fasts, and given much time and energy to meditation and prayer. But this work and devotion have a hidden danger, which is the danger of pride. Pride is not the same as enjoying the labor or even rejoicing in one's accomplishment. These two feelings rest on the knowledge that life is temporary. Pride, on the other hand, knows of no future other than itself. Filled with itself, it believes that all reality revolves around it.

The following story describes the danger that can bring to our practice: Naftali the tzaddik was sitting at home one evening and heard a knock at the door. He answered. Standing there was a young man dressed in the robes of a scholar.

"Rebbe," he said, "I have come to study with you."

"Really?" said the rebbe. "What have you learned so far in your studies?"

"A tremendous amount," said the young man. " I have memorized all of Torah and most of Talmud."

"I am sorry, young man, I cannot teach you," the tzaddik said and closed the door. A little later there was another knock. He.answered it, and a young woman was there. "Ex cuse me, Rebbe," she said. "I would like to learn with you."

"And what have you learned of Torah up to now?" he asked sternly.

"To tell you the truth, I know nothing," she said.

"Come in, come in," he said, smiling broadly. Later his wife asked him the meaning of this strange behavior. "The first lesson and the important-the one we must always begin with - every year, every day, every moment-is that we know nothing. If we come from a place of thinking we know, it is very hard to progress."

--The Klippah of pride (Avram Davis, “The Way of flame”)

……………………………………

"What meaning is there in that kind of happiness? It is like a dream that just stops in the middle when you wake up. Those who, as the result of some slight positive action, seem to be happy and comfortable at the moment, will not be able to hold on to that state for an instant longer once the effect of that action runs out. The kings of the gods, seated high on their thrones of precious jewels spread with divine silks, enjoy all the pleasures of the five senses. But, once their lifespan is exhausted, in the twinkling of an eye they are plunged into suffering and fall headlong down to the scorching metal ground of hell. Even the gods of the sun and moon, who light up the four continents, can end up being reborn somewhere between those very continents, in darkness so deep that they cannot see whether their own limbs are stretched out or bent in. So do not put your trust in the apparent joys of samsara."

~ Patrul Rinpoche in Words of My Perfect Teacher.

.....................................

Saṃsāra, the Sanskrit and Pāli term for "continuous movement" or "continuous flowing" refers in Buddhism to the concept of a cycle of birth (jāti) and consequent decay and death (jarāmaraṇa), in which all beings in the universe participate and which can only be escaped through enlightenment. Saṃsāra is associated with suffering and is generally considered the antithesis of nirvāṇa or nibbāna

reflection for January 31, 2008: The right approach to life is like water

Benjamin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:06:31 +0000

"True will is participation in Divine Will. True awareness is participation in Divine Mind. True life is actually participation in Divine Life. We don't own them, we only participate.

If I am not the owner of will and consciousness, only a participant, then who am I?

The truth is that the self is the most elusive, most difficult to cognize. Why is this so? Because the self is that which is seeing. The eyes cannot see themselves."

- David Aaron (Seeing God: Ten Life-Changing Lessons of the Kabbalah)

………………………………………..

The right approach to life is like water.

Water is everywhere and exists in all places.

It flows even in places that men reject.

That is why the sage approximates Tao.

He dwells in the right place. His heart is as deep as an abyss. His love is perfect. He abides in the truth and he does the truth. Destined to govern, he maintains order. He performs his actions well, and acts at the right time.

Since he does not quarrel or contend with others, there is no guilt in him.

--Tao Te Ching (chapter 8, Rijckenborgh and Petri,)

One can see why chapter eight of the Tao Te Ching compares the way of life to be followed by the liberation seeking personality with water. Water is a sublime, universal symbol of the power-radiations of the new life. Just as the ordinary human being lives and moves in the electro- magnetic radiation-field of dialectics, so the pupil who, through the sacrifice of the self, has established a liberating link with the spirit of the valley, the God in him, will enter and live in the new electromagnetic radiation-field.

This is the true, living water, which is poured out over him , and fills every corner of his existence. In this stream of new power he becomes a new creation, a new creature. He under-

goes a new Genesis, a new beginning. This process can be compared with the first Genesis, when the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters and created a firmament in their midst, for when the living water is poured out over the he, too, gains a new firmament. It is the new lipika, a new magnetic system which imparts to him a quite new and different personality-consciousness. He is again ensouled by his only God, who works for his salvation.

If we shift our attention from the individual, microcosmic level to the level of the cosmos and macrocosm, we can see that the same concepts must apply there, too. For obviously, the God in us, the true, divine human being, the source of true life in the heart sanctuary, does not live in isolation from other human Gods. Just as the earthly human being experiences and is conscious in the nature of death, so, by the law of analogy, the divine human being must exist in a nature of life, a quite different, divine universe. The life-substance, the radiation substance of that divine universe is living water, the pure, primordial substance.

This divine universe, this divine primordial substance, is not separated from us by time or distance; it is here and now, interpenetrating everything, nearer than hands and feet. The water is everywhere, and there is no place where it is not. It is even in places scorned by man. The sage knows this, and that is what makes him say, in the words of Psalm 139:

If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!

If I descend into the realm of the dead, thou art there!

If I take the wings of the morning and go and dwell in the thirst. That thirst is yearn uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say: 'Let darkness cover me', the night shall be a light about me " even the darkness is not dark to thee. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with thee.

--The Chinese Gnosis (Rijckenborgh and Petri, a Gnostic Rosicrucian commentary on the Tao Te Ching)

……………………………………………….

The highest good is like water;

Water is good at benefiting the ten thousand things

and yet It does not

compete with them.

It dwells in places the masses of people detest,

Therefore it is close to the Way.

In dwelling, the good thing is the land;

In the mind, the good thing is depth;

In giving, the good thing is being like Heaven;

In speaking, the good thing is sincerity;

In governing, the good thing is order;

In affairs, the good thing is ability;

In activity, the good thing is timeliness.

It is only because it does not compete, that therefore it

is without fault.

--Tao Te Ching (chap 8, trans. By Robert G Henricks)

reflection for January 30, 2008: Polarity

Benjamin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:01:21 +0000

Polarity....

left is right, right is left.

The key to polarity is to realize that opposites are the same thing. A Kaplan explains this well early on in his version of the safer yetzirah.

Opposites if stretched out forever...will bend in upon themselves and meet.

However beyond opposites is the 3rd...

The sperm and the egg form a zygote
a chemical wedding...marriage of opposites to create a 3rd

Thus a child is of the mother and the father, both and yet neither.
Thus Christ is of the father and the world (the mother), both, and yet neither
The line (father) and the circle (mother) when joined form the serpent (child), which is the circle and the line, yet neither.

the end is in the beginning, kether is in malkuth, kether is closer to malkuth than it is to chockmah.
When united, there is no kether or malkuth.........there just is

"Tarry a little; there is something else. This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:' Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate unto the state of Venice.

Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh. Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more but just a pound of flesh: if thou cut'st more or less than a just pound, be it but so much as makes it light or heavy in the substance, or the division of the twentieth part of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn but in the estimation of a hair, thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate."

--the merchant of venice, the bard

So we see, nothing exists in isolation. Blood is inseparable from flesh. Good is inseparable from evil.

"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

good is not good, evil is not evil. Christ is not the father or the mother.

This is dualism.....

OM...

He who has known that all beings have become one with his own self, and he who has seen the oneness of existence, what sorrow and what delusion can overwhelm him?

He has occupied all. He is radiant, without body (incorporeal), without injury, without muscles, pure, untouched by evil. He is the seer, thinker, all pervading, self-existent, has distributed various objects, through endless years, each according to it's inherent nature.

--Isa Upanishad

of course concepts are concepts. Concepts by their very nature are inherently wrong. The Tao that can be spoken of is not the Tao. But concepts "help", the greatest thing you can say is however, to remain silent.

He who sees himself only on the outside

Benjamin — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:38:46 +0000

I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

–Revelation 22:13

Actually, the ground of everything is within me and it is God, and it’s within everybody too. And there’s one ground for everybody, and this ground in the Divine Mercy. . . . The people of the unveiling, that is to say the Sufis, ask the Mercy of God to subsist in them. These are the ones who ask in the Name of God and He shows Mercy upon them only by making the Mercy subsist in them. This is a totally different outlook. It is the outlook whereby the Mercy of God is not arranged on the outside in events for me-in good and bad events-but it is subsisting in me all the time. Therefore what happens is that if the Mercy of God is subsisting in me-and that goes to say if I am united with the will of God- . . . if I am completely united with the will of God in love, it doesn’t matter what happens outside, because everything that is going on outside that makes any sense is grounded in the same ground in which I am grounded. The opposition between me and everything else ceases, and what remains in terms of opposition is purely accidental and it doesn’t matter. And this is . . . a basic perspective in all . . . the highest religions. You ought to get down to this, you get down to it in Christianity, you get down to it in Buddhism, you get down to it in Hinduism, and so forth. It is arriving at a unity in which the superficial differences don’t matter. It doesn’t, mean that they’re not real, it doesn’t mean that they’re not there. They still subsist… .

–Thomas Merton

1. Left Hand Path Practices in the West

"Satanism is not a white light religion; it is a religion of the flesh, the mundane, the carnal - all of which are ruled by Satan, the personification of the Left Hand Path"

The Satanic Bible, Book Of Lucifer 3:paragraph 30

The Left Hand Path is solitary, individualistic, personal, based on self development, self analysis, self empowerment. Altruism is materialistically equated as long term selfishness. I think all forms of Satanism are considered Left Hand Path, even Devil Worship and inverse Christian-Satanists are Left Hand Path, although they are frequently considered deluded. Frequently called "evil" and "dark" by non Satanic religions, the followers of the left hand path often have had to remain in the darkness or face severe persecution from the religions that ironically call themselves "good". This is testimony enough that the image of the purely "good" icons is a veneer; a non-truth.

Features of LHP philosophies frequently include:

Emphasis on freethought, not dogma or strict systems.
Highly individualistic
A distinct rejection of absolutes and moralism
Personal, not universal.

Freethought, Individualism and moral relativism
Left Hand Path philosophies all have an emphasis on freethought; not dogma or strict systems. The "rules" in LHP religions are frequently merely "guidelines". The same attitude it applied to all knowledge, including that of the knowledge of reality and morals. Subjectivism and relativism are almost universally assumed amongst followers of the left hand path.

Personal Belief, not Universal
Left Hand Path philosophies do not claim that they are the best religion for all people and frequently claim they are only a valid religion for some people. "Satanists are born, not made" _{Anton LaVey}. Satanism and the LHP is striking for the lack of missionizing. This is probably the result of the admission that no religion, philosophy or belief system is suitable for all people.

“Yes, I can see why the idea of free thought, individualism and moral relativism (which requires the effort to think for yourself before judging something right or wrong) may be a turn off for some people or why they just don't get it. I hope that doesn't apply to you.”

oh I get it, I understand it fully

at a fundamental level I think it is un-Christ like though...

give and receive...vessels and light...kabbalah, that is all there is.

I know many see the divine as a nice treasure chest to plunder...I don't.
I think the "gimme gimme gimme" approach to life and the divine is childish.
At a very real fundamental level it is rape to my mind, forcing the hand, taking the fruit before it is ripe

Agenda is agenda. Agenda is always wrong, as you are not following the true self, the "divine will"; I realize it is your path and that it embraces selfishness and sees that as divine will...to some extent.

However I will never agree to something that is fundamentally about the self, survival is one thing, taking and empowering at the expense of others is another

This is not meant to be an attack, it is just my view.

You wrote
" Self development? Isn't that what spiritual training is supposed to offer? Isn't this the point of alchemy?
Self Analysis? Aren't we supposed to learn about ourselves? Don't we value the inward path?
Self Empowerment? Don't we prefer to be beings that have significance in the world of others or do we prefer to be
ineffectual?"

No it is Self development, not self development. In the east views generally speaking there is ONLY self. This is the root of one of the misunderstandings of the LHP since its inception. That self is NOT the self, it is THE SELF; or, GOD. The self development of alchemy etc. is to grow the true self as Thomas Merton calls it. It really has nothing to do with the self at all.

The I before is I and WE, the I after is I, and only I as there is no WE. And there is no i.

That is the fundamental point. Your view is like a man who opens a door..but refuses to enter. They are happy quickly going in, and running back out. Having gotten something that they want it is time to stay outside the door. This makes illusion more attractive, nicer, you are indeed self empowering. But illusion is illusion.

Like a drug addict you have to carry on taking more drugs to keep that high. That is of course part of where other people come in; little fish feed on big fish at a very real physical and spiritual level. Exploitation. There is someone at the top of the pyramid, sat back laughing, gaining all the power.

Just as the Buddha gained many great powers along the way, he also rejected them all. For trinkets and power is not what it is about. That is the temptation of Christ by Satan in the desert.

So no, I would say spiritual training has nothing to do with self development, no matter how many paper bags you put over your head to "look nice", you are still wearing a paper bag... This goes for knowing yourself also, knowing yourself is NOT KNOWING YOURSELF. This is fundamental basic thing.

“He who sees himself only on the outside,

not within, becomes small himself and makes others small.”

–Mani (turfan fragment M 801)

Power and influence, again this is a false notion. God is the only Rabbi as the Jewish proverb goes. Only God has power. Mankind may think he can build a dam and conquer nature, but he is fooling himself. Power is for the weak. Power in its "correct" application is about serving and sacrifice. Agenda is agenda, and again is un-Christ like.

You said

"Emphasis on free thought, not dogma or strict systems? What's wrong with respecting members to be conscious and
sentient adults who are capable of thinking for themselves and deciding what is the right or wrong course of action
instead of slavish devotion to some ancient text or the words of some "authority figure"? "

There is nothing wrong with free thought. But often it becomes childish. Too often people seek the mysteries, spirituality etc etc out of rebellion.
Free thought is good, rebellion is good it helps grow new branches, new plants, where none would have grown. However it soon devolves into as what James Dean said "What you got?" Until the point is reached when all you are doing is rebelling. You gain a new uniform, a new prison. Your prison becomes that of the "rebel", the "free thinker"

The fruitfulness of our life depends in large measure on our ability to doubt our own words and to question the value of our own work. The man who completely trusts his own estimate of himself is doomed to sterility. All he asks of any act he performs is that it be his act. If it is performed by him, it must be good. All words spoken by him must be infallible. The car he just bought is the best for its price, for no other reason that he is the one who has bought it. He seeks no other fruit than his, and therefore he generally gets no other.

If we believe ourselves in part, we may be right about ourselves. If we are completely taken in by our own disguise, we cannot help being wrong.

–Thomas Merton

We exchange one strait jacket for another. Instead of embracing what is called the middle way. If we are rebelling we eventually miss the basic truth, the basic truth is we are all on the same boat. Spending your life preening and shouting "look at me, I am special, I think for myself, not like you" is great and dandy, but it really is childish. Like a teenager who dresses up as a punk or a Goth. Nihilism and solipsism only serve to embrace the self as opposed to the SELF. Spiritual masturbation serves no purpose, it may feel good, and seem good..But again, like a drug addict you have to carry on doing it perpetually; or you are back to square one.

Instead there is another way...you open yourself to the wind and fly like a kite, like a kite that is unrestrained..guided by the wind...taken and changed and moved by what is. Instead of fighting the wind and insisting that the wind does not exist. Like the Shakespearean king....you can try to hold back the sea all you like, you are really fooling yourself.

You wrote

" A distinct rejection of absolute moralism? What is wrong with seeing that what may be considered right yesterday may not
be right today (such as burning witches, jews, locking jews up in ghettos, killing in the name of religion, executing
homosexuals, not giving women the same rights as men, etc.). And what is wrong when thinking that what may be
acceptable may not be so tomorrow and that there is a better way? Is this "moral relativism" worse than the moral
absolutism that created the atrocities mentioned above?
Personal, not universal? What is wrong with accepting that there are many paths to spiritual growth and development and
that each person has a right to choose which is the best for them? "

Now right and wrong are arguably subjective terms, yes I agree. In Gnosticism (as you'll read below if you read it) there is no good and evil per se, there is more "levels of imperfection." So what are we to do when faced with good and evil, morals and dogmas? We have discernment. Like a good parent would never hand a box of matches and gasoline to a child, we need to work out what is helpful and what is not. For the LHP there is often stated the phrase "nothing is wrong, everything is permissible." This is the mantra of Chaos magicians, as I am sure you know. Well find and dandy, if we follow this logic, it means we should stick pencils in our ears and nose...after all it is not wrong, and ultimately will help in our spiritual development. Clearly this is absurd. Everything is permissible is nonsensical, an excuse for debauchery and to again bathe in temporary pleasures...back to taking drugs, again.

Your rejection is based upon the idea that absolute moralism=hatred. This is untrue. Anything taken to extremes and to an unswerving ascetic extreme is wrong. Atrocities are atrocities, and are again about the individual not the group. The individual hates the Jew and the homosexual. The individual wants them gone, dead, removed. These people are of the collective, the collective is the collective. By singling out the Jew, the witch, the homosexual...these acts are selfish. Suffer not a homosexual or Jew to live.

"The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human." --Adolf Hitler.

The act of purification, inquisition...again is serving a part of the collective, it is serving individuals. NIMBY or "Not In My Back Yard" mentality. "I do not mind homosexuals or blacks, as long as they don’t live near me."

In the end LHP becomes miniature acts of solipsism, misanthropy and nihilism.
Solipsism is, well just plain "silly." I have interacted with the non physical since I was child. Before I even knew what I was doing. So I reject solipsism.

Nihilism is rejection, to take it to a tongue in cheek extreme; I would say the ultimate goal of nihilism is suicide. I would argue nihilism is suicide on a smaller lesser "vibration."

Just as Nihilism is suicide, misanthropy is purely selfish. But that is the LHP, "selfishness and indulgence." There really is nothing else to the LHP at a fundamental underlying basic level. If Nihilism is suicide, then misanthropy in its embracing hatred of all mankind can only lead to one conclusion. Misanthropy requires you to kill everyone, but yourself...in order that you are more and more self empowered. Of course this never happens, but on a smaller level people try... Or as the rock star Marilyn Manson wrote "There's no time to discriminate, hate every motherf****** that gets in your way."

To conclude, this is what is wrong with the LHP, as you can see, I have indeed thought about this...for a very long time. I really do like to think for myself. But I am not afraid to admit and embrace knowledge, experience "energy" etc. that is far more wise, profound and simply BETTER than my self....as opposed to my SELF.

“To respect the personal aspect in man is to respect
his solitude, his right to think for himself, his need
to learn this, his need for love and acceptance by
other persons like himself. Here we are in the realm
of freedom and of friendship, of creativity and of
love. And it is here that religion begins to have a
meaning…”
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, (N.
Y: Doubleday, 1989) p 82.

Further (although flawed, but still interesting):

“TRUE SELF” AND GAY SPIRITUALITY

Dear Friends,

I am posting my response to a question in our Yahoo chat room about

the meaning of the term “archon.” I hope this very brief discussion

may interest you in finding more about the subject, perhaps in the

Nag Hammadi text “Hypostasis of the Archons.”

I will be posting a brief discussion before the end of the week in

combination with this one — What is an “Aeon”?

-Matthew

Here is the archon discussion:

An archon, sometimes translated as a “power,” is a spiritual entity

or force that serves the demiurge, the creator of the physical

world. To be really crude about it you could say they are bad

angels, but it is a lot more complicated than that.. just consider

them the forces that define and limit physical existence.

One of the Nag Hammadi texts is called the “Hypostasis of the

Archons,” and has a mythological discussion of their nature.

You know how in Christian mythology there are some beings

called “archangels?” That is borrowed from this same greek word,

meaning “ruler..” so an arch-angel is an angel that is really

powerful and rules over the others, whereas in Gnosticism the

archons are the “rulers of this world,” the princes of the world

that Christ referred to, for example, in the story of Christ being

tempted in the desert. The tempter shows him the world and promises

to give him the “principalities of the world” if he will bow down in

homage…and we would interpret those principalities as the realms

of the archons, so to speak.

The thing I should caution you against is thinking that they

are “demons” or something like that… there are no demons or devils

per se in Gnosticism, because ultimately there is no metaphysical

category of “evil,” just various forms of imperfection. The

demiurge is in some way the full realization of imperfection, just

as God is of perfection. The demiurge personifies and draws within

himself the ultimate manifestations of physical form, limitation,

physical space, time, as well as the dimensions of space-time, as

well as natural laws and natural processes that govern the physical

world — including the law that everything that lives must die.

+Matthew

................

--
Better than one thousand verses
Where no profit wings the word,
Is one solitary stanza
Bringing peace of mind when heard.

Meditation instructions Nov 2, 2007: Jewish Meditation

Benjamin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:26:13 +0000

Jewish Meditation

Alan Brill

Jewish spirituality encompasses a wide variety of experiences generally associated with meditation. The traditional texts expect the pious: to visualize God's name continuously or constantly sense God's providence; to commit to daily and weekly sessions of self scrutiny and outpouring of the heart to God; to sense the inner meaning of the Sabbath and holidays; and to picture before prayer that one is standing before the Divine. Many of these techniques were not originally considered special meditations because they were intended for daily practice or were considered goals of ordinary Jewish piety.

In contrast, the Jewish meditation which I will discuss is a hierarchical ladder of internal states. It provides in its earliest stages a tether to still of the mind, providing relaxation, and the ability to calm emotions. This level is useful in enhancing intention in the ordinary practice of prayer and in continuously focusing on God's presence. In its higher stages, it leads to equanimity, freedom from emotions, and mind control; in modern terms it deals with creativity, pain, sickness, and trauma. Jewish meditation gives a sense of the Divine energies present in prayer, study, and performing the commandments. This level gives a sense of well being, wholeness. balance, and compassion. The next level is the development of an internal life in which one plays out contemplative dramas in order to enter the Divine. The highest levels are those of an influx of the Divine and prophetic inspiration.

Everyone is suited for Jewish meditation; however he/she needs to find the right teacher and techniques. Some people use their intellect, while others seek a path of the heart. Some need an active path engaged in this world, while others are otherworldly contemplatives. Those with a strong sense of sensory imagination will find the earthy images in the approach of the Piesetzna appealing while those with a scrupulous will can turn towards the introspection in the Mussar movement. Techniques for the Jewish meditation include: intellectual contemplation, visualizations, stillness exercises, imagination meditations, loving kindness meditations and mantras. There are focused meditations, free-form meditations within daily life, and meditations reserved for prayer.

In order to pray with intention, there is a spectrum of techniques from simple focus of the mind on the God's glory (Kavod) to the complex Lurianic kavvanot. Most medieval legal commentators, especially those influenced by philosophy, including Maimonides, Nahmanides, and the students of R. Yonah of Gerona, assume that a person needs a meditative intention in prayer. These are not isolated opinions but are the codified legal requirements for prayer as found in the Tur, the accepted 15th century codification of Jewish Law. Therefore, one of the first goals of a Jewish meditative practice is to have a consciousness of God's glory when one sits down to pray. The Shema has meditative intentions (kavanot) to help one sense the absoluteness of God's kingship and unity. The silent Amidah, according to the Kabbalists, requires before starting an ascent and a binding with the higher will. Afterwards, one makes petitions and senses the divine presence by channeling the energy downward. Falling on one's face (Nefilat Apayim-Tahanun) allows one to descend with the energy and offer up the self to God.

In addition to these required meditations, the Zohar, R. Moses de Leon, and R. Joseph Gikkatila have meditations on Divine lights and names in a variety of spatial configurations allowing an ascent into the higher realms of divinity. There is a lower level of Divinity immanent and embodied in this world receiving its light from above, as light shines into a prism. There is a higher realm of blue (or green, purple, and red) light that is God's manifestation and power. And finally, there is an infinite realm of brilliant shining light that is the source of all light, energy and power. One is to slowly ascend to the infinite realm by creating the needed spatial map of the Divine. In order to successfully work with this map, one works on giving it clarity, breath, and depth and on creating secure mental ladders and safety nets. Then one can bind oneself in emotion, will, and intellect to this infinite light and it will bind its infinite emotion, will, and intellect to the meditator. One slowly descends and brings the infinite light down into the blue light letting it grow and give energy, Then it cascades into the prism, into one's mind and visualization of the Divine name and into one's body and room. One has to make sure that it is channelled slowly and safely to avoid feelings of being overwhelmed. Medieval Kabbalists used this meditation during prayer, ascending before the silent Amidah. There are many variants of this meditation using a candle flame, regions of different colored lights, divine names, sefirot, or parts of the soul. They each provide a ladder of psychic development which inversely parallels a ladder of God's manifestation.

Maimonides presents the path for entering this hierarchy in his Mishneh Torah as the path of prophecy, but alludes to it in his discussions of prayer and the true method of worship. One is to have a breath and depth of knowledge, moral virtues, and complete control of one's desires. Then one contemplates the higher realms and trains one's mind not to have any distractions, and to be always focused on the celestial forms. This is a transformative process in which the practitioner becomes holy and angelic. While this discussion concerns the prophet, in the Guide to the Perplexed he shows that it applies to anyone who wishes to serve God truly. Many Kabbalists worked with this framework. Among the Kabbalists in Safed, there is a connection between mastering the techniques in the pietistic literature which consists of mediation techniques to achieve these spiritual ends, and the employment of the advanced techniques of contemplating Divine names or colors. The method of Maimonides was continued by many segments of the Hasidic tradition in requiring a contemplative approach to prayer. While, the Kabbalistic tradition of meditating on Divine lights and names both during and outside of prayer was carried forward into later centuries which created a complex contemplative tradition. R. Hayim of Volozhin in his Nefesh ha-Hayyim expects his readers during prayer to still the mind from thoughts and emotions, to visualize the Divine name and letters of the prayer, and for those on a high level, to perform the Lurianic Kavvanot.

When I teach meditation the first sessions are not on the Kabbalistic material, but on the basic skills that allow one to succeed in meditation. The first class is on how to sit properly, relax the body, and slow down one's busy mind. One needs to learn how to tether the mind and focus. I introduce meditation on the Divine name, consisting of visualization of the tetragrammaton, as a means of giving the mind a focus. We work on developing a clear image in the mind and learning to control it. I tell the class that this image will be developed in later classes to the point of basic yihudim and as the base of ascent into the inner Divine lights. Essential for meditation is to learn how to let go of distractions and to gently let them flow away. I explain how difficult emotions which distract during meditation need slowly over a course of time to be confronted, worked through, and only then can one let go of the hurt. The traditional pietistic works, such as Bahye Ibn Pakuda's Hovot HaLevavot or Moses Hayim Luzzato's Mesillat Yesharim, which are usually read only for their moralistic content, give many directions on releasing emotions. These basic steps take months of practice to perform properly and I suggest taking one's early steps in meditation outside of formal prayer.

The second level is to try various techniques of Jewish meditation and to develop the needed internal framework for actually using these methods. We do a simplified versions of the ascent called The Gate of Intention of the Early Kabbalists, and the light meditations in the Zohar. These give the ability to develop a spatial hierarchy in the mind from the visualization of the divine name in the mind to the Kavod above, and from there to God's manifestation as the divine name, and the to the infinite recess of the Eyn Sof. We discuss colors, shapes, lights, bringing the Divine energy down and how to avoid other unwanted images which come to mind. We grapple with the reorientation away from the popular modern image of God to a Jewish view of God as a source of energy, and as a hierarchy of divinity. This hierarchal model once mastered allows further growth through other techniques.

The third level is an introduction to hasidic techniques of sensing the Divinity immanent in the world. We work on stillness, emptying the mind, and selflessness in order to quiet the mind further and gain openness to the world around us. Worship through corporeality in acts of eating or the routine of everyday life allows the sense of the Divine gained in the ascent meditations to be embodied in this world. Originally, Jewish meditation techniques were elite and qualitatively monastic. Hasidism, especially R. Shalom Baer and R. Yosef Yitzhak of Habad and R. Kalonymous Kalman of Piesetzna adapted or grappled with adapting many spiritual practices for common use. Their approaches help those still having problems in meditation practice overcome and deepen the sense of the divine in daily life.

I do not start with the hasidic approaches because I find that they are self contained. The Kabbalistic techniques need to be brought down into this world, but the worldly techniques do not need to ascend. The Hasidic approaches work well on the emotions, but, they do not train or anchor the mind. Once one uses the emotions as a mental anchor, then visualizing the Divine name seems unnecessary. While the advanced Habad techniques can accomplish the same higher levels as the intellectual visualizations, I have found greater success and user-friendliness in the medieval techniques. Personally, I also found that the formal Jewish prayers seemed redundant or reduced to a mantra when following a Hasidic approach. There was greater oneness in meditation before prayer than during prayer, and when there was a sense of oneness during prayer there was no anchor back to the prayer act. I instruct my class to practice prayer in both Hasidic and non-Hasidic ways. In the Hasidic way, one does the opening Psalms slowly and builds up to an emotional crescendo in the silent Amidah. In the non-Hasidic approach, one does the opening Psalms emotionally and quickly, and slows down to an intellectual contemplative silent amidah. Students differ in which approach overall works for them and whether to use to the other approach also.

Finally, we start with the basic techniques found in Kabbalistic works. It takes months of practice to reach the level which allows one to start performing the Lurianic techniques properly. We learn to combine various forms of the Divine name and use them for ascents to channel the Divine energy. While the approach of visualization on the lights continued into later centuries, the sixteenth century Kabbalists predominantly tended to replace the lights in the Divine hierarchy with Divine names. For many, the Lurianic intentions on Divine names seen baroque and unnecessary at first, but, after experience in the interior castles of the mind, they become a form of active imagination of the Divine energy. Their performance contains many acts and routines as in an epic mythic play. The transformative drama of unifying names, contemplating scriptural verses, and alternating ascents with descents releases much energy. They can also be simplified or single instructions can be used out of context in the same way as acting out only one scene of a play or reciting a soliloquy out of context.

For those who feel that there is to much emphasis on metaphysical structures and filling the mind, we ultimately, do meditations on dissolving the Kabbalistic structures through focusing on the nothingness. The nothingness obliquely alluded to in Aryeh Kaplan's writings is a process of meditating on the space behind the Kabbalistic structures. It causes the fullness to fade away while leaving the path directing one to the infinite. One is left with the simultaneous Kabbalistic fullness and an emptiness of pure expanse.

The first obstacle to meditation is the cultural bias of the enlightenment and Protestant theology against meditation. In order to enter the modern world, the experiential traditions were rejected. Jewish philosophy and halakhah were read by the nineteenth century as abstract enlightenment knowledge, and traditional Jewish philosophic views on God, prophecy, providence, and eschatology were converted in modern scholarship from an ineffable Platonic encounter with the infinite Divine to a limiting negative knowledge or a supernatural theism. I find particularly vivid the account of this process in The Sins of My Youth of the Haskalah writer Moses Leib Lillenblum who on Rosh Hashanah 1861 during his meditation on the Divine name and his tremendous religious ecstasy started to question everything. His story shows how recently these techniques were still part of the accepted tradition. And despite his ability to achieve high religious levels, his meditative practice could not withstand modernity. He, like so many others, rejected meditative practice as worthless to the modern Jew. Modernity changed prayer from a mediative theurgic act into a communal service.

A second major obstacle is that most western Jews have trouble sitting still and releasing their tension. When I first started teaching meditation to my Talmud class and other groups that did not come to me to learn how to meditate, I discovered that most of the participants could not sit still, or not worry about their busy schedules or slow down their bodies. Even worse was that many would start complaining about their back and neck pains, have emotional pits in their stomachs, scrunch their eyes tight, contort their bodies or have various psychosomatic pains. This was something of a surprise to me because traditional Kabbalists and the various American and Israeli academics and yeshiva students attracted to meditation are able to sit still. I realized that most of those I met who are attracted to meditation are already a self selected group of those able to intellectually focus on one point, lead non pressured lives, and have a natural ability to use at least one technique of meditation. Therefore, in order to bring back the advanced levels of the tradition, I realized that I would have to cull the various statements of advice and direction from pietistic literature on how to start practicing. My only (conscious) modification of the tradition was to start the first class with everyone relaxing their bodies as done in a pain reduction or birthing class. These introductions became the first topics in my classes and afterwards I could proceed with the actual techniques of attaining Divine presence.

The third obstacle is the need to still the emotions and attain equanimity.

A sage once came to one of the Meditators (Mitbodedim) and asked that he be accepted into their society.

The other replied, "My son, blessed are you to God. Your intentions are good. But tell me, have you attained equanimity or not?"

The sage said, "Master, explain your words."

The Meditator said, "If one man is praising you and another is insulting you, are the two equal in your eyes or not?"

He replied, "No my master. I have pleasure from those who praise me and pain from those who degrade me. But I do not take revenge or bear a grudge."

The other said, "Go in peace my son. You have not attained equanimity...You are not prepared for your thoughts to bound on high, that you should come and meditate (hitboded). Go and increase the humbleness of your heart, and learn to treat everything equally until you have become tranquil (hishtavut). Only then will you be able to meditate. (Aryeh Kaplan, Meditation and the Kabbalah 143).

Aryeh Kaplan produced great introductions to the world of Jewish meditation, but, he was negligent in leaving out the basic steps in meditation. A reader of Kaplan's works would enter the meditative realm with too much self concern and personal desire. Basic steps are needed to allow one to work on the visualization techniques without the distraction of thoughts and emotions. These basic steps also provide the release of the tension and emotions to prevent the anxiety, depression, and other forms of potential psychic harm from these techniques. One would burn up in self-effacement or self- delusion if one used the advanced techniques in Kaplan's books without preparation. The Kabbalistic techniques done by themselves increase both physical and emotional tension. R. Hayyim Vital had a horrible reaction the first time R. Isaac Luria gave him a yihud to perform. One needs to confront one's emotions, pains, and traumas before one starts the advanced Kabbalistic techniques. Blocking pain and distracting thoughts or the Hasidic technique of raising them to their source is a slow and gradual process.

A third obstacle is knowing one's limit in order not to attempt more than one is ready to handle, and the need for regular practice in order to integrate meditation into ordinary religious life. Maimonides suggests to start one's meditative practice by having intention during Shema and then after several years to proceed to further advances in practice. Lurianic meditations and many other techniques take years of practice, piece by piece, in order to work successfully. One has to start slowly and integrate one or two lines of instruction at a time. In one's mind, one needs to learn slowly to stabilize the images and avoid distractions of even the alluring visions (unless one is doing Kabbalistic creativity and dream work). One also needs to beware of self-destructive plunges into an annihilating nothingness. The goal of meditation is a mature growth of selflessness and wholeness, not a dissolution of one's consciousness.

Integration of meditation in one's daily life involves assessing one's schedule and lifestyle and determining how to devote time daily to meditative practice. The week needs to become sacred time in which time is set aside either on Thursday night and/or on Friday for a week review and for meditating on the oncoming Sabbath; Saturday night is needed to channel the Sabbath into the week. A two hour welcoming the Sabbath service on Friday evening using various techniques of meditation and contemplative reading in addition to prayer transforms the Sabbath into an actual influx of the extra soul. Before the holidays, a similar process is needed to sense the presence of that holiday.

Ultimately, integration of meditation in one's daily life involves overcoming the dualities between meditation and not meditating. R. Zadok HaKohen of Lublin describes religious life as a process of growth along a sliding scale in which one integrates ever greater parts of consciousness towards Divine knowledge and unity. Yesterday's knowledge of God when one was first starting to meditate is today's distractions and inability to focus. A spiritual Sabbath on one level is considered a non-spiritual Sabbath on a higher level. Temporarily, one cannot actively jump above one's level because when one looks at the whole person the true level is revealed. One's dreams and unconscious desires, according to R. Zadok, always reveal ones actual mental preoccupations. Therefore, focused concentration is only one part of attaining continuous consciousness of God. One's entire life should be directed toward slowly becoming filled with the oneness of the Divine.

Excerpt from Meditation from the Heart of Judaism: Today's Teachers Share their Practices, Techniques and Faith ©1997 Avram Davis. (Woodstock, VT, Jewish Lights Publishing) For ordering info visit http://www.jewishlights.com.

Further Actual techniques

Reflection for November 1, 2007:all things must pass

Benjamin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:14:57 +0000

"For every human there is a
quest to find the answer to why
am I here, who am I, where did I
come from, where am I going.
For me that became the most
important thing in my life,
everything else is secondary."

-- George Harrison (1943-2001))

…………………….

Sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

Sunset doesn't last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day

Now the darkness only stays the night-time
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
All things must pass away

……………………..

I am without form,

without limit.

Beyond space, beyond time,

I am in everything,

everything is me.

I am the bliss of the Universe.

Everything am I.

--Ram Tirtha

Reflection for September 22, 2007: emptiness

Benjamin — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 22:21:25 +0000

In the name of the Living Ones!
Living waters shone forth in the splendor of their Shekinah.
The robes of the good were resplendent in their place.
The great Mana was dazzingly bright in his glory.
So too shall these living, brightly shining, steadfast and vigorous souls shine in splendor in the great Place of Light and the Ever lasting Abode.

--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)