Thursday, December 26, 2013
IN RESPONSE TO AN NFL.COM ARTICLE ABOUT ROBERT GRIFFIN
IN RESPONSE TO AN NFL.COM ARTICLE ABOUT ROBERT GRIFFIN
This was VERY well written, I fully agree with your assessment of the situation.
May I just add that Griffin come to see the absolute necessity to work out his own HERO complex? Its so 2,000 years ago. Its not about one guy anymore. Its about a bunch of guys doing THIS together. Honor and Glory? Such a tired story... This story about a Glass Knee is cloaked in smoke and mirrors, so please understand it continues to develop. The prognosis for his complete return to GLORY is not too promising. The people who care about those things are becoming more and more the minority these days. These days I see others finding the fulfillment of far more fundamental needs to be of much greater valuable than Honor and Glory. Griffin allowed his brain washed obedience to place his talents/gift in harms way. He was the origin of that harm. This was a decision that harmed the chances of success for his fellow teammates. Since when did he begin to value his own importance to the extent that he forgot about his teammates. These guys fight in the trenches. They do his dirty work. They play really hurt all season. They have families, they have children. They also want to be able to experience success for their efforts. Since when has any man who placed his own needs above those of his teammates, been successful? He forgot this, and THE mysterious powers of cause and effect bitch slapped his ass in hopes of waking him up, getting him off the quest for HONOR AND GLORY. Griffin would always be a highly motivated player with great ability but when he places these qualities in care of Honor And Glory, they fade out as fast as they came. His EGO, which convinced him that he is BEST option, even on one leg, can be affected. He can place those very same qualities in the hands of Love and Truth. He could look at himself as a long term commitment to really doing something the world would remember him by, IF HE CHOSE TO. But men trying to cash in quickly can hardly be blamed. THEY KNOW THEY ARE CANNON FODDER. They know they are living a gamble to keep themselves in tact long enough to get that BIG Contract. I would be very interested to see the exact number of men who actually make it to that point. 10%? I don't know. I follow the Cowboys and I have seen lots of guys get drafted, hurt a couple of times and then traded away before they got the Honor and the Glory, or in RING OF HONOR as it is called in Dallas.. Many guys only play a couple of years with a Hero's mentality similar to Griffin's. Is this all they care about? Getting theirs and getting out? There is NOTHING wrong with this this mentality, but just know that this will continue. Men will continue to hurt each other for a chance at Honor and Glory. Can Griffin connect to the Power he is in possesses of and use it to modernize the game of football beyond an archaic barbarianism which takes a heavy toll on the bodies and minds of HIS FELLOW WARRIORS? , Or will he play right into the Kingdom and CHAMPION mentality that KEEPS Griffin a Fools Savior and the rest of us too scared to even try? He can learn from Randall Cunningham as well as Mike Vick. Shoot, even Cam Newton, he learned quick. His was no "Sophomore slump". He saw that he was not Superman and Caught On and saw clearly where he was going to end up. He made a business decision to buy time while more guys like Griffin, Wilson and Luck arrive to so these guys could change the game together. Do something different. He could bring the game into a faster, less violent and more entertaining version which could be more dynamic and balanced. He could do all these things in a big way or he could get hurt before the total regeneration of Modern Day Mans Professional Football culminates. This may take 20 years but the game will trend away from the level of violence which still prevails, albeit a in a different way then 50 years ago. People need to understand that the game has sped up tremendously, while the capacity for sustaining trauma is far less then it was even 50 years ago. These are all collision injuries. Bodies collide. The way the game is right now is not sustainable. As the game speeds up, even greater the damage will be incurred from those collisions. Guys, like cars, will get wiped off the map. Guys are not built to take the beatings they once could endure. Griffin needs to acknowledge this fact in his own way. This is a modern day version of the Ruling Families which Warred against one another for centuries in the name of honor and glory TOO! Their soldiers died on battlefields that began in the minds of These ruling families. They would give their life to die for their KING. This day that fighting instinct plays out in business and professional sports. These Ruling Families did a great job building the games foundation and we can make it even more fulfilling. Every one loves a sacrifice such as would be offered when The Gladiators would take their crash course with mortality in the Roman Colosseum. Those men died too. They sacrificed their life. That's easy. Its much mare challenging to make a sacrifice, to compromise. To stay in the game and work with others. I don't know if Griffin has grown tired of sacrificing his gifts and squandering his OPPORTUNITY to really be used as a vehicle for change. These days the instinct of man has become tamed to the extent that we now sacrifice our bodies more so then our life. The modern day Gladiator We sacrifice our knees or our concussed brain drives us to commit suicide. What a tragedy you may say to yourself. Yes this is a tragedy indeed but not nearly as tragic as a 18 year old private who lost all his limbs fighting in a war over oil. This kid and so many others never had a chance to live life. Seau had 40 years of quality life, and 20 years as a Pro. In the Military he would have been called a lifer. His life's purpose could have been a personal crusade to bring awareness to the effects of trauma on the brain. Perhaps that is why he was so gifted and successful. Perhaps he was doing this all to show guys like Griffin, the gravity of the situation. Perhaps Griffin, in his year off, can see the absolute value of doing everything within his power to work with others such as Seau's family, to UPDATE this sport. Its NOT broken, We have simply outgrown the way it is still being played. Robert, Be aware that this is a path that is available to you if you choose to Drop the Honor and Glory act and start to really create a mastermind of men working together. Do it man. You know where the other path goes. It ends with you traded to The Browns as a second shelf backup with two hobbled knees. We cannot save you from yourself.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Applying The Principle of Co-Operation: The Corporations and Banks secret to "Success"
"You Can Do It if You Believe You Can!”
CO-OPERATION is the beginning of all organized effort. As was stated in the second lesson of this course, Andrew Carnegie accumulated a gigantic fortune through the co-operative efforts of a small group of men numbering not more than a score.
You, too, can learn how to use this principle.
There are two forms of Co-operation to which your attention will be directed in this lesson; namely:
First, the Co-operation between people who group themselves together or form alliances for the purpose of attaining a given end, under the principles known as the Law of the Master Mind.
Second, the Co-operation between the conscious and the subconscious minds, which forms a reasonable hypothesis of man's ability to contact, communicate with and draw upon infinite intelligence.
To one who has not given serious thought to this subject, the foregoing hypothesis may seem unreasonable; but follow the evidence of its soundness, and study the facts upon which the hypothesis is based, and then draw your own conclusions.
Let us begin with a brief review of the physical construction of the body:
"We know that the whole body is traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and the functions of the external organism.
"This nervous system is dual. One system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the tissues, and the like.
"The other system, known as the Voluntary or Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements of the body. This system has its center in the brain, while the other has its center in the ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The cerebro-spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental action, and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action which unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body.
"Thus the cerebro-spinal system is the organ of the conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of the subconscious mind.
"But the interaction of conscious and sub-conscious minds requires a similar interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onward to the thorax, sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally, passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between the two and making the man physically a single entity.
"Similarly different areas of the brain indicate their connection with the objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and, speaking in a general way, we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to the former, and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate portion partakes of the character of both.
"The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in the upper area of the brain, situated between the frontal and the posterior portions, and, physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance. These, at first, are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but are, nevertheless, perceived by the conscious mind; otherwise, we should not be aware of them at all. Then the effort of Nature is to bring these ideas into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold on them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the subjective mind."
If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we should find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called the "corpus callous." This is the point of union between the subjective and objective, and, as the current returns from the solar plexus to this point, it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form which it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus the conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to the objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective mind, acting through the frontal brain - the area of comparison and analysis - proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out the potentialities that are latent in it.*
The term "subjective mind" is the same as the term "sub-conscious mind," and the term "objective mind" is the same as the term "conscious mind."
Please understand these different terms.
By studying this dual system through which the body transmits energy, we discover the exact points at which the two systems are connected, and the manner in which we may transmit a thought from the conscious to the subconscious mind.
This Co-operative dual nervous system is the most important form of co-operation known to man; for it is through the aid of this system that the principle of evolution carries on its work of developing accurate thought, as described in Lesson Eleven.
When you impress any idea on your sub-conscious mind, through the principle of Auto-suggestion, you do so with the aid of this dual nervous system: and when your sub-conscious mind works out a definite plan of any desire with which you impress it, the plan is delivered back to your conscious mind through this same dual nervous system.
This Co-operative system of nerves literally constitutes a direct line of communication between your ordinary conscious mind and infinite intelligence.
Knowing, from my own previous experience as a beginner in the study of this subject, how difficult it is to accept the hypothesis here described, I will illustrate the soundness of the hypothesis in a simple way that you can both understand and demonstrate for yourself.
Before going to sleep at night impress upon your mind the desire to arise the next morning at a given hour, say at four A.M., and if your impression is accompanied by a positive determination to arise at that hour, your sub-conscious mind will register the impression and awaken you at precisely that time.
Now the question might well be asked:
"If I ran impress my sub-conscious mind with the desire to arise at a specified time and it will awaken me at that time, why do I not form the habit of impressing it with other and more important desires?"
If you will ask yourself this question, and insist upon an answer, you will find yourself very near, if not on the pathway that leads to the secret door to knowledge, as described in Lesson Eleven.
· · · · · · · ·
We will now take up the subject of Co-operation between men who unite, or group themselves together for the purpose of attaining a given end. In the second lesson of this course we referred to this sort of cooperation as organized effort.
This course touches some phase of co-operation in practically every lesson. This result was inevitable for the reason that the object of the course is to help the student develop power, and power is developed only through organized effort.
We are living in an age of co-operative effort. Nearly all successful businesses are conducted under some form of co-operation. The same is true in the field of industry and finance, as well as in the professional field.
Doctors and lawyers have their alliances for mutual aid and protection in the form of Bar Associations and Medical Associations.
The bankers have both local and national Associations for their mutual aid and advancement.
The retail merchants have their Associations for the same purpose.
The automobile owners have grouped themselves into Clubs and Associations.
The Printers have their Associations; the plumbers have theirs and the coal dealers have theirs.
Co-operation is the object of all these Associations.
The laboring men have their unions and those who supply the working capital and superintend the efforts of laboring men have their alliances, under various names.
Nations have their co-operative alliances, although they do not appear to have yet discovered the full meaning of “co-operation.” The attempt of the late President Wilson to perfect the League of Nations, followed by the efforts of the late President Harding to perfect the same idea under the name of the World Court, indicates the trend of the times in the direction of co-operation.
It is slowly becoming obvious to man that those who most efficiently apply the principle of co-operative effort survive longest, and, that this principle applies from the lowest form of animal life to the highest form of human endeavor.
Mr. Carnegie, and Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Ford have taught the business man the value of co-operative effort; that is, they have taught all who cared to observe, the principle through which they accumulated vast fortunes.
Co-operation is the very foundation of all successful leadership. Henry Ford’s most tangible asset is the well organized agency force that he has established. This organization not only provides him with an outlet for all the automobiles he can manufacture, but, of greater importance still, it provides him with financial power sufficient to meet any emergency that may arise, a fact which he has already demonstrated on at least one occasion.
As a result of his understanding of the value of the co-operative principle Ford has removed himself from the usual position of dependence upon financial institutions and at the same time provided himself with more commercial power than he can possibly use.
The Federal Reserve Bank System is another example of co-operative effort which practically insures the United States against a money panic.
The chain-store systems constitute another form of commercial co-operation that provides advantage through both the purchasing and the distributing end of the business.
The modern department store, which is the equivalent of a group of small stores operating under one roof, one management and one overhead expense, is another illustration of the advantage of co-operative effort in the commercial field.
In Lesson Fifteen you will observe the possibilities of co-operative effort in its highest form and at the same time you will see the important part that it plays in the development of power.
As you have already learned, power is organized effort. The three most important factors that enter into the process of organizing effort are:
Concentration,
Co-operation and
Co-ordination.
Lesson 15 on Co Operation by Napoleon Hill
The Law of Success
1928
CO-OPERATION is the beginning of all organized effort. As was stated in the second lesson of this course, Andrew Carnegie accumulated a gigantic fortune through the co-operative efforts of a small group of men numbering not more than a score.
You, too, can learn how to use this principle.
There are two forms of Co-operation to which your attention will be directed in this lesson; namely:
First, the Co-operation between people who group themselves together or form alliances for the purpose of attaining a given end, under the principles known as the Law of the Master Mind.
Second, the Co-operation between the conscious and the subconscious minds, which forms a reasonable hypothesis of man's ability to contact, communicate with and draw upon infinite intelligence.
To one who has not given serious thought to this subject, the foregoing hypothesis may seem unreasonable; but follow the evidence of its soundness, and study the facts upon which the hypothesis is based, and then draw your own conclusions.
Let us begin with a brief review of the physical construction of the body:
"We know that the whole body is traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and the functions of the external organism.
"This nervous system is dual. One system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the tissues, and the like.
"The other system, known as the Voluntary or Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements of the body. This system has its center in the brain, while the other has its center in the ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The cerebro-spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental action, and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action which unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body.
"Thus the cerebro-spinal system is the organ of the conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of the subconscious mind.
"But the interaction of conscious and sub-conscious minds requires a similar interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onward to the thorax, sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally, passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between the two and making the man physically a single entity.
"Similarly different areas of the brain indicate their connection with the objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and, speaking in a general way, we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to the former, and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate portion partakes of the character of both.
"The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in the upper area of the brain, situated between the frontal and the posterior portions, and, physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance. These, at first, are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but are, nevertheless, perceived by the conscious mind; otherwise, we should not be aware of them at all. Then the effort of Nature is to bring these ideas into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold on them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the subjective mind."
If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we should find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called the "corpus callous." This is the point of union between the subjective and objective, and, as the current returns from the solar plexus to this point, it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form which it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus the conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to the objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective mind, acting through the frontal brain - the area of comparison and analysis - proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out the potentialities that are latent in it.*
The term "subjective mind" is the same as the term "sub-conscious mind," and the term "objective mind" is the same as the term "conscious mind."
Please understand these different terms.
By studying this dual system through which the body transmits energy, we discover the exact points at which the two systems are connected, and the manner in which we may transmit a thought from the conscious to the subconscious mind.
This Co-operative dual nervous system is the most important form of co-operation known to man; for it is through the aid of this system that the principle of evolution carries on its work of developing accurate thought, as described in Lesson Eleven.
When you impress any idea on your sub-conscious mind, through the principle of Auto-suggestion, you do so with the aid of this dual nervous system: and when your sub-conscious mind works out a definite plan of any desire with which you impress it, the plan is delivered back to your conscious mind through this same dual nervous system.
This Co-operative system of nerves literally constitutes a direct line of communication between your ordinary conscious mind and infinite intelligence.
Knowing, from my own previous experience as a beginner in the study of this subject, how difficult it is to accept the hypothesis here described, I will illustrate the soundness of the hypothesis in a simple way that you can both understand and demonstrate for yourself.
Before going to sleep at night impress upon your mind the desire to arise the next morning at a given hour, say at four A.M., and if your impression is accompanied by a positive determination to arise at that hour, your sub-conscious mind will register the impression and awaken you at precisely that time.
Now the question might well be asked:
"If I ran impress my sub-conscious mind with the desire to arise at a specified time and it will awaken me at that time, why do I not form the habit of impressing it with other and more important desires?"
If you will ask yourself this question, and insist upon an answer, you will find yourself very near, if not on the pathway that leads to the secret door to knowledge, as described in Lesson Eleven.
· · · · · · · ·
We will now take up the subject of Co-operation between men who unite, or group themselves together for the purpose of attaining a given end. In the second lesson of this course we referred to this sort of cooperation as organized effort.
This course touches some phase of co-operation in practically every lesson. This result was inevitable for the reason that the object of the course is to help the student develop power, and power is developed only through organized effort.
We are living in an age of co-operative effort. Nearly all successful businesses are conducted under some form of co-operation. The same is true in the field of industry and finance, as well as in the professional field.
Doctors and lawyers have their alliances for mutual aid and protection in the form of Bar Associations and Medical Associations.
The bankers have both local and national Associations for their mutual aid and advancement.
The retail merchants have their Associations for the same purpose.
The automobile owners have grouped themselves into Clubs and Associations.
The Printers have their Associations; the plumbers have theirs and the coal dealers have theirs.
Co-operation is the object of all these Associations.
The laboring men have their unions and those who supply the working capital and superintend the efforts of laboring men have their alliances, under various names.
Nations have their co-operative alliances, although they do not appear to have yet discovered the full meaning of “co-operation.” The attempt of the late President Wilson to perfect the League of Nations, followed by the efforts of the late President Harding to perfect the same idea under the name of the World Court, indicates the trend of the times in the direction of co-operation.
It is slowly becoming obvious to man that those who most efficiently apply the principle of co-operative effort survive longest, and, that this principle applies from the lowest form of animal life to the highest form of human endeavor.
Mr. Carnegie, and Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Ford have taught the business man the value of co-operative effort; that is, they have taught all who cared to observe, the principle through which they accumulated vast fortunes.
Co-operation is the very foundation of all successful leadership. Henry Ford’s most tangible asset is the well organized agency force that he has established. This organization not only provides him with an outlet for all the automobiles he can manufacture, but, of greater importance still, it provides him with financial power sufficient to meet any emergency that may arise, a fact which he has already demonstrated on at least one occasion.
As a result of his understanding of the value of the co-operative principle Ford has removed himself from the usual position of dependence upon financial institutions and at the same time provided himself with more commercial power than he can possibly use.
The Federal Reserve Bank System is another example of co-operative effort which practically insures the United States against a money panic.
The chain-store systems constitute another form of commercial co-operation that provides advantage through both the purchasing and the distributing end of the business.
The modern department store, which is the equivalent of a group of small stores operating under one roof, one management and one overhead expense, is another illustration of the advantage of co-operative effort in the commercial field.
In Lesson Fifteen you will observe the possibilities of co-operative effort in its highest form and at the same time you will see the important part that it plays in the development of power.
As you have already learned, power is organized effort. The three most important factors that enter into the process of organizing effort are:
Concentration,
Co-operation and
Co-ordination.
Lesson 15 on Co Operation by Napoleon Hill
The Law of Success
1928
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
“We admitted that we had unconsciously created a self defeating belief system which has limited our ability to consciously create a life we desire”
***STEP ONE***
“We admitted that we had unconsciously created a self defeating belief system which has limited our ability to consciously create a life we desire”
We are born into this world to create. Every singe one of us is endowed with this most natural inclination. Our creative nature is always alive and at work from our very first breath right up to our last. As instruments of creation, we can either transmit love or project fear. Creation in and of itself is beyond the man made realms of GOOD and BAD. This creative ability that we all possess can either be constructive or destructive.
Creation, we have learned through our own experience, finds its mode of expression along either CONSCIOUS or UNCONSCIOUS lines.
Consciously, creativity can be harnessed into a powerful instrument for our being to affect cause of a positive and inspired nature. Unconsciously, it can become a powerfully destructive waste of life force expression. Creativity, just like knowledge, becomes life affirming or self defeating through its application.
Our own being, comprised of the fundamental principles and laws that govern the working of our physical universe, is CONSCIOUSNESS. It is a logical extension of the creative consciousness responsible for the organic genius of all life. Mother nature herself is a reflection of this conscious creative power at work.
Read more by clicking this link
“We admitted that we had unconsciously created a self defeating belief system which has limited our ability to consciously create a life we desire”
We are born into this world to create. Every singe one of us is endowed with this most natural inclination. Our creative nature is always alive and at work from our very first breath right up to our last. As instruments of creation, we can either transmit love or project fear. Creation in and of itself is beyond the man made realms of GOOD and BAD. This creative ability that we all possess can either be constructive or destructive.
Creation, we have learned through our own experience, finds its mode of expression along either CONSCIOUS or UNCONSCIOUS lines.
Consciously, creativity can be harnessed into a powerful instrument for our being to affect cause of a positive and inspired nature. Unconsciously, it can become a powerfully destructive waste of life force expression. Creativity, just like knowledge, becomes life affirming or self defeating through its application.
Our own being, comprised of the fundamental principles and laws that govern the working of our physical universe, is CONSCIOUSNESS. It is a logical extension of the creative consciousness responsible for the organic genius of all life. Mother nature herself is a reflection of this conscious creative power at work.
Read more by clicking this link
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Five Evolutionary Steps Of Man
That you may understand why it is called creative thought it is necessary briefly to study the process of evolution through which the thinking man has been created.
Thinking man has been a long time on the road of evolution, and he has traveled a very long way. In the words of judge T. Troward (in Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning), "Perfected man is the apex of the Evolutionary Pyramid, and this by a necessary sequence."
Let us trace thinking man through the five evolutionary steps through which we believe he has traveled, beginning with the very lowest; namely -
1. The Mineral Period. Here we find life in its lowest form, lying motionless and inert; a mass of mineral substances, with no power to move.
2. Then comes the Vegetable Period. Here we find life in a more active form, with intelligence sufficient to gather food, grow and reproduce, but still unable to move from its fixed moorings.
3. Then comes the Animal Period. Here we find life in a still higher and more intelligent form, with ability to move from place to place.
4. Then comes the Human or Thinking Man Period, where we find life in its highest known form; the highest, because man can think, and because thought is the highest known form of organized
energy. In the realm of thought man knows no limitations. He can send his thoughts to the stars with the quickness of a flash of lightning. He can gather facts and assemble them in new and varying combinations. He can create hypotheses and translate them into physical reality, through thought. He can reason both inductively and deductively.
5. Then comes the Spiritual Period. On this plane the lower forms of life, described in the previously mentioned four periods, converge and become infinitude in nature. At this point thinking man has unfolded, expanded and grown until he has projected his thinking ability into infinite intelligence. As yet, thinking man is but an infant in this fifth period, for he has not learned how to appropriate to his own use this infinite intelligence called Spirit. Moreover, with a few rare exceptions, man has not yet recognized thought as the connecting link which gives him access to the power of infinite intelligence. These exceptions have been such men as Moses, Solomon, Christ, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Confucius and a comparatively small number of others of their type. Since their time we have had many who partly uncovered this great truth; yet the truth, itself, is as available now as it was then.
Law Of Success by Napoleon Hill
Thinking man has been a long time on the road of evolution, and he has traveled a very long way. In the words of judge T. Troward (in Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning), "Perfected man is the apex of the Evolutionary Pyramid, and this by a necessary sequence."
Let us trace thinking man through the five evolutionary steps through which we believe he has traveled, beginning with the very lowest; namely -
1. The Mineral Period. Here we find life in its lowest form, lying motionless and inert; a mass of mineral substances, with no power to move.
2. Then comes the Vegetable Period. Here we find life in a more active form, with intelligence sufficient to gather food, grow and reproduce, but still unable to move from its fixed moorings.
3. Then comes the Animal Period. Here we find life in a still higher and more intelligent form, with ability to move from place to place.
4. Then comes the Human or Thinking Man Period, where we find life in its highest known form; the highest, because man can think, and because thought is the highest known form of organized
energy. In the realm of thought man knows no limitations. He can send his thoughts to the stars with the quickness of a flash of lightning. He can gather facts and assemble them in new and varying combinations. He can create hypotheses and translate them into physical reality, through thought. He can reason both inductively and deductively.
5. Then comes the Spiritual Period. On this plane the lower forms of life, described in the previously mentioned four periods, converge and become infinitude in nature. At this point thinking man has unfolded, expanded and grown until he has projected his thinking ability into infinite intelligence. As yet, thinking man is but an infant in this fifth period, for he has not learned how to appropriate to his own use this infinite intelligence called Spirit. Moreover, with a few rare exceptions, man has not yet recognized thought as the connecting link which gives him access to the power of infinite intelligence. These exceptions have been such men as Moses, Solomon, Christ, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Confucius and a comparatively small number of others of their type. Since their time we have had many who partly uncovered this great truth; yet the truth, itself, is as available now as it was then.
Law Of Success by Napoleon Hill
Sunday, February 12, 2012
SOLAR FLARE UNCLOAKS SPACESHIP NEAR MERCURY…
Click this link and see a huge cloaked UFO next to Mercury on SECCHI HI1-A on 12/01/11, appears when a CME hits it. Go to SECCHI and record this before it disappears.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
A Restoration of Sanity: A suggested plan of action by The Creative Collective Alliance
Please click the link above and give careful consideration to our suggested plan of action. The entire blog outlines every detail. Its gotta start some where... Its gotta start sometime...What better place than here?...What better time than NOW?
Friday, February 10, 2012
Morals And Dogma by Albert Pike
As the Ancients did, Masonry styles Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice, the
four cardinal virtues.
The people that would be Free and Independent, must possess Sagacity, Forethought, Foresight, and
careful Circumspection, all which are included in the meaning of the word Prudence.
She must, above all things, be just, not truckling to the strong and warring on or
plundering the weak; she must act on the square with all nations, and the feeblest tribes;
always keeping her faith, honest in her legislation, upright in all her dealings.
Whenever such a Republic exists, it will be immortal: for rashness, injustice, intemperance and
luxury in prosperity, and despair and disorder in adversity, are the causes of the decay
and dilapidation of nations.Whenever such a Republic exists, it will be immortal: for rashness, injustice, intemperance and luxury in prosperity, and despair and disorder in adversity, are the causes of the decay and dilapidation of nations.
Though Masonry is identical with the ancient Mysteries, it is so only in this qualified
sense: that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy, the ruins only of their
grandeur, and a system that has experienced progressive alterations, the fruits of social
events, political circumstances, and the ambitious imbecility of its improvers. After
leaving Egypt, the Mysteries were modified by the habits of the different nations among
whom they were introduced, and especially by the religious systems of the countries into
which they were transplanted. To maintain the established government, laws, and
religion, was the obligation of the Initiate everywhere; and everywhere they were the
heritage of the priests, who were nowhere willing to make the common people coproprietors
with themselves of philosophical truth.
Christianity taught the doctrine of FRATERNITY; but repudiated that of political
EQUALITY, by continually inculcating obedience to Caesar, and to those lawfully in
authority. Masonry was the first apostle of EQUALITY. In the Monastery there is fraternity
and equality, but no liberty. Masonry added that also, and claimed for man the three-fold
heritage, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, and FRATERNITY.
Truths are the springs from which duties flow; and it is but a few hundred years since a
new Truth began to be distinctly seen; that MAN IS SUPREME OVER INSTITUTIONS,
AND NOT THEY OVER HIM. Man has natural empire over all institutions. They are for
him, aecording to his development; not he for them. This seems to us a very simple
statement, one to which all men, everywhere, ought to assent. But once it was a great
new Truth,--not revealed until governments had been in existence for at least five
thousand years. Once revealed, it imposed new duties on men. Man owed it to himself to
be free. He owed it to his country to seek to give her freedom, or maintain her in that
possession. It made Tyranny and Usurpation the enemies of the Human Race. It created
a general outlawry of Despots and Despotisms, temporal and spiritual. The sphere of
Duty was immensely enlarged. Patriotism had, henceforth, a new and wider meaning.
Free Government, Free Thought, Free Conscience, Free Speech! All these came to be
inalienable rights, which those who had parted with them or been robbed of them, or
whose ancestors had lost them, had the right summarily to retake. Unfortunately, as
Truths always become perverted into falsehoods, and are falsehoods when misapplied,
this Truth became the Gospel of Anarchy, soon after it was first preached.
And Masonry early recognized it as true, that to set
forth and develop a truth, or any human excellence of gift or growth, is to make greater
the spiritual glory of the race; that whosoever aids the march of a Truth, and makes the
thought a thing, writes in the same line with MOSES, and with Him who died upon the
cross; and has an intellectual sympathy with the Deity Himself.
"Listen to me," says GALEN, "as to the voice of the Eleusinian Hierophant,
and believe that the study of Nature is a mystery no less important than theirs, nor less
adapted to display the wisdom and power of the Great Creator. Their lessons and
demonstrations were obscure, but ours are clear and unmistakable."
We deem that to be the best knowledge we can obtain of the Soul of another man, which
is furnished by his actions and his life-long conduct. Evidence to the contrary, supplied by
what another man informs us that this Soul has said to his, would weigh little against the
former.
Knowledge is convertible into power, and axioms into rules of utility and duty. But
knowledge itself is not Power. Wisdom is Power; and her Prime Minister is JUSTICE,
which is the perfected law of TRUTH.
four cardinal virtues.
The people that would be Free and Independent, must possess Sagacity, Forethought, Foresight, and
careful Circumspection, all which are included in the meaning of the word Prudence.
She must, above all things, be just, not truckling to the strong and warring on or
plundering the weak; she must act on the square with all nations, and the feeblest tribes;
always keeping her faith, honest in her legislation, upright in all her dealings.
Whenever such a Republic exists, it will be immortal: for rashness, injustice, intemperance and
luxury in prosperity, and despair and disorder in adversity, are the causes of the decay
and dilapidation of nations.Whenever such a Republic exists, it will be immortal: for rashness, injustice, intemperance and luxury in prosperity, and despair and disorder in adversity, are the causes of the decay and dilapidation of nations.
Though Masonry is identical with the ancient Mysteries, it is so only in this qualified
sense: that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy, the ruins only of their
grandeur, and a system that has experienced progressive alterations, the fruits of social
events, political circumstances, and the ambitious imbecility of its improvers. After
leaving Egypt, the Mysteries were modified by the habits of the different nations among
whom they were introduced, and especially by the religious systems of the countries into
which they were transplanted. To maintain the established government, laws, and
religion, was the obligation of the Initiate everywhere; and everywhere they were the
heritage of the priests, who were nowhere willing to make the common people coproprietors
with themselves of philosophical truth.
Christianity taught the doctrine of FRATERNITY; but repudiated that of political
EQUALITY, by continually inculcating obedience to Caesar, and to those lawfully in
authority. Masonry was the first apostle of EQUALITY. In the Monastery there is fraternity
and equality, but no liberty. Masonry added that also, and claimed for man the three-fold
heritage, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, and FRATERNITY.
Truths are the springs from which duties flow; and it is but a few hundred years since a
new Truth began to be distinctly seen; that MAN IS SUPREME OVER INSTITUTIONS,
AND NOT THEY OVER HIM. Man has natural empire over all institutions. They are for
him, aecording to his development; not he for them. This seems to us a very simple
statement, one to which all men, everywhere, ought to assent. But once it was a great
new Truth,--not revealed until governments had been in existence for at least five
thousand years. Once revealed, it imposed new duties on men. Man owed it to himself to
be free. He owed it to his country to seek to give her freedom, or maintain her in that
possession. It made Tyranny and Usurpation the enemies of the Human Race. It created
a general outlawry of Despots and Despotisms, temporal and spiritual. The sphere of
Duty was immensely enlarged. Patriotism had, henceforth, a new and wider meaning.
Free Government, Free Thought, Free Conscience, Free Speech! All these came to be
inalienable rights, which those who had parted with them or been robbed of them, or
whose ancestors had lost them, had the right summarily to retake. Unfortunately, as
Truths always become perverted into falsehoods, and are falsehoods when misapplied,
this Truth became the Gospel of Anarchy, soon after it was first preached.
And Masonry early recognized it as true, that to set
forth and develop a truth, or any human excellence of gift or growth, is to make greater
the spiritual glory of the race; that whosoever aids the march of a Truth, and makes the
thought a thing, writes in the same line with MOSES, and with Him who died upon the
cross; and has an intellectual sympathy with the Deity Himself.
"Listen to me," says GALEN, "as to the voice of the Eleusinian Hierophant,
and believe that the study of Nature is a mystery no less important than theirs, nor less
adapted to display the wisdom and power of the Great Creator. Their lessons and
demonstrations were obscure, but ours are clear and unmistakable."
We deem that to be the best knowledge we can obtain of the Soul of another man, which
is furnished by his actions and his life-long conduct. Evidence to the contrary, supplied by
what another man informs us that this Soul has said to his, would weigh little against the
former.
Knowledge is convertible into power, and axioms into rules of utility and duty. But
knowledge itself is not Power. Wisdom is Power; and her Prime Minister is JUSTICE,
which is the perfected law of TRUTH.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The 10 Commandments of Freemasonry by Albert Pike (Morals and Dogma)
Masonry has its decalogue, which is a law to its Initiates. These are its Ten
Commandments:
I. God is the Eternal, Omnipotent, Immutable WISDOM and Supreme INTELLIGENCE
and Exhaustless Love.
Thou shalt adore, revere, and love Him !
Thou shalt honour Him by practising the virtues!
II. Thy religion shall be, to do good because it is a pleasure to thee, and not merely
because it is a duty.
That thou mayest become the friend of the wise man, thou shalt obey his precepts !
Thy soul is immortal ! Thou shalt do nothing to degrade it !
III. Thou shalt unceasingly war against vice!
Thou shalt not do unto others that which thou wouldst not wish them to do unto thee !
Thou shalt be submissive to thy fortunes, and keep burning the light of wisdom !
IV. Thou shalt honour thy parents !
Thou shalt pay respect and homage to the aged!
Thou shalt instruct the young!
Thou shalt protect and defend infancy and innocence !
V. Thou shalt cherish thy wife and thy children!
Thou shalt love thy country, and obey its laws!
VI. Thy friend shall be to thee a second self !
Misfortune shall not estrange thee from him !
Thou shalt do for his memory whatever thou wouldst do for him, if he were living!
VII. Thou shalt avoid and flee from insincere friendships !
Thou shalt in everything refrain from excess.
Thou shalt fear to be the cause of a stain on thy memory!
VIII. Thou shalt allow no passions to become thy master !
Thou shalt make the passions of others profitable lessons to thyself!
Thou shalt be indulgent to error !
IX. Thou shalt hear much: Thou shalt speak little: Thou shalt act well !
Thou shalt forget injuries!
Thou shalt render good for evil !
Thou shalt not misuse either thy strength or thy superiority !
X. Thou shalt study to know men; that thereby thou mayest learn to know thyself !
Thou shalt ever seek after virtue !
Thou shalt be just!
Thou shalt avoid idleness !
But the great commandment of Masonry is this: "A new commandment give I unto you:
that ye love one another! He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, remaineth
still in the darkness."
Such are the moral duties of a Mason. But it is also the duty of Masonry to assist in
elevating the moral and intellectual level of society; in coining knowledge, bringing ideas
into circulation, and causing the mind of youth to grow; and in putting, gradually, by the
teachings of axioms and the promulgation of positive laws, the human race in harmony
with its destinies.
Albert Pike
Commandments:
I. God is the Eternal, Omnipotent, Immutable WISDOM and Supreme INTELLIGENCE
and Exhaustless Love.
Thou shalt adore, revere, and love Him !
Thou shalt honour Him by practising the virtues!
II. Thy religion shall be, to do good because it is a pleasure to thee, and not merely
because it is a duty.
That thou mayest become the friend of the wise man, thou shalt obey his precepts !
Thy soul is immortal ! Thou shalt do nothing to degrade it !
III. Thou shalt unceasingly war against vice!
Thou shalt not do unto others that which thou wouldst not wish them to do unto thee !
Thou shalt be submissive to thy fortunes, and keep burning the light of wisdom !
IV. Thou shalt honour thy parents !
Thou shalt pay respect and homage to the aged!
Thou shalt instruct the young!
Thou shalt protect and defend infancy and innocence !
V. Thou shalt cherish thy wife and thy children!
Thou shalt love thy country, and obey its laws!
VI. Thy friend shall be to thee a second self !
Misfortune shall not estrange thee from him !
Thou shalt do for his memory whatever thou wouldst do for him, if he were living!
VII. Thou shalt avoid and flee from insincere friendships !
Thou shalt in everything refrain from excess.
Thou shalt fear to be the cause of a stain on thy memory!
VIII. Thou shalt allow no passions to become thy master !
Thou shalt make the passions of others profitable lessons to thyself!
Thou shalt be indulgent to error !
IX. Thou shalt hear much: Thou shalt speak little: Thou shalt act well !
Thou shalt forget injuries!
Thou shalt render good for evil !
Thou shalt not misuse either thy strength or thy superiority !
X. Thou shalt study to know men; that thereby thou mayest learn to know thyself !
Thou shalt ever seek after virtue !
Thou shalt be just!
Thou shalt avoid idleness !
But the great commandment of Masonry is this: "A new commandment give I unto you:
that ye love one another! He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, remaineth
still in the darkness."
Such are the moral duties of a Mason. But it is also the duty of Masonry to assist in
elevating the moral and intellectual level of society; in coining knowledge, bringing ideas
into circulation, and causing the mind of youth to grow; and in putting, gradually, by the
teachings of axioms and the promulgation of positive laws, the human race in harmony
with its destinies.
Albert Pike
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
THE ORIGIN OF SYMMETRY: SECRET SYMBOLS PART 1
SPACE
The elements of a symbol are defined only by the space that is a part of its construction. Like the wind, the effect of space is gauged by its effect on the things within it or surrounding it. The concept of space, the void, is a profound part of our experience. To reach a state of “emptiness” is, for many, the ultimate spiritual experience and a way of connecting to the Absolute. When John Lennon wrote “Imagine,” whose lyrics gradually strip away the trappings of the material world, it was this idea that inspired him.
To be aware of the possibility of space within a flat, two-dimensional representation is to give that shape substance and a new kind of reality that lifts it off the page and makes it real. Space is not flat and cannot be confined by lines on a piece of paper. The page and the shape on it do not exist in isolation, but are a part of a greater cosmos. This book and you, the reader, are a part of this equation.
The concept of zero is a space. Indeed, the realization that “nothing” can be “something” marked a profound leap forward in man’s development. All creation myths begin with a Void, symbolic of potential.
Although attempts to explain the concept of space are inevitably faulty, it might help to think of a blank page. Before a mark is made upon the paper, the potential for what might appear there is so vast as to be unimaginable, a consideration which causes consternation for some artists and writers. Without this space, there is no arena for anything else to exist. This absence of any thing means that no thing is the most important symbol in the World.
DOT
A dot might seem to be an unassuming little thing, the first mark on the pristine sheet of paper. In this case, the dot is a beginning. But see what just happened there? The dot, an essential component in the structure of the sentence, closed it, making it a symbol of ending. Therefore, the dot is both an origination and a conclusion, encompassing all the possibilities of the Universe within it, a seed full of potential and a symbol of the Supreme Being. The dot is the point of creation, for example the place where the arms of the cross intersect.
The dot is also called the bindhu, which means “drop.” The bindhu is a symbol of the Absolute, marked on the forehead at the position of the third eye in the place believed to be the seat of the soul.
The presence of dots within a symbol can signify the presence of something else. A dot in the center of the Star of David marks the quintessence, or Fifth Element. It also acts as reminder of the concept of space. The decorated dots that surround the doorways of Eastern temples are not merely ornamental devices but have significance relevant to the worshippers. Dots frequently appear in this way, acting as a sort of shorthand for the tenets of a faith. In the Jain symbol, for example, the dots stand for the Three Jewels of Jainism. The dots in each half of the yin-yang symbol unify the two halves: one dot is “yin,” the other “yang.” Together they demonstrate the interdependence of opposing forces.
CIRCLE
The next logical magical symbol is the circle. Effectively an expansion of the dot, the circle represents the spirit and the cosmos. Further, the circle itself is constructed from “some thing” (the unbroken line) and “no thing” (the space inside and outside this line). Therefore, the circle unifies spirit and matter. The structure itself has great strength—think of the cylindrical shape of a lighthouse, built that way in order to withstand the fiercest attack by a stormy sea.
The physical and spiritual strength of this symbol are there because the perfect circle has no beginning and no end; it is unassailable. This power is the reason why the circle is used in magical practices such as spell-casting. The magic circle creates a fortress of psychic protection, a physical and spiritual safe haven where unwanted or uninvited entities cannot enter.
Hermes Trismegistus said of the circle:
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere.
Where would ancient man have seen the most important circles? Obviously, in the Sun and the Moon. As the Sun, the circle is masculine, but when it is the Moon, it is feminine. Because the passage of time is marked by the journey of the Sun, Moon and stars in orbit around our Earth, the circle is a symbol of the passage of time. In this form, it commonly appears as the wheel.
Because the circle has no divisions and no sides, it is also a symbol of equality. King Arthur’s Round Table was the perfect piece of furniture for the fellowship of Knights who were each as important as each other. Similarly, the Dalai Lama has a “circular” Council.
ARC
Perhaps the most prominent arc of the natural world appears in the elusive form of the rainbow, which primitive man saw as a bridge between the Heavens and the Earth. As a part of a circle, the arc symbolizes potential spirit. The position of the arc is important. Upright, shaped like a cup or chalice, it implies the feminine principle, something that can contain the spirit. If the arc is inverted, then the opposite is true and it becomes a triumphal, victorious, masculine symbol. As such, the arc can take the form of an archway. The vaulted or arched shape of many holy buildings, from a great variety of different faiths, represents the vault of the Heavens. The arc shape often appears in planetary symbols.
VERTICAL LINE
Man, alone in the animal kingdom, stands upright, so the vertical line represents the physical symbol of the number One, man striving toward spirit. This simple line is the basic shape of the World Tree or Axis Mundi that connects the Heavens, the Earth and the lower regions. It is not only a basic phallic symbol but also signifies the soul that strives for union with the Divine.
The upright line tells us where we are at a precise moment; think of the big hand of the clock, vertically oriented at 12 o’clock.
HORIZONTAL LINE
The opposite of the vertical line, the horizontal line represents matter, and the forward and backward movement of time. This line also signifies the skyline or horizon and man’s place on the Earth.
CROSS
Here, the vertical and horizontal lines come together to create a new symbol—the cross. There are of course countless different types of cross, a few of which are covered in this section of the book. Despite any embellishments or devices, however, the basic meaning of the cross stays the same.
The earliest example of the cross comes from Crete and dates back to the fifteenth century BC although the sign is much older than this, ancient beyond proper reckoning. It is an incredibly versatile and useful sign with many interpretations. As the convergence of the vertical and horizontal lines, it symbolizes the union of the material and the spiritual (think of the sign of the cross given by Catholic priests). As a geometric tool, it has no equal; if you put the cross inside the circle, then you are able to divide the circle equally. Similarly, the cross is said to “give birth to” the square.
Because of its four cardinal points, the cross represents the elements and the directions.
In the West the cross equates with the number 4, but in China, it is associated with the number 5 since the “dot” in the middle of the cross, where the two arms intersect, is also included.
The cross is sometimes disguised as another symbol, such as a four-petaled flower. All over the world, the cross is a symbol of protection.
SQUARE
Said to be the first shape invented by Man, the square represents the created Universe as opposed to the spiritual dimensions depicted by the circle.
The square represents the Earth and the four elements. Plato described the square, like the circle, as being “absolutely beautiful in itself.” Like the cross, the square is associated with the number 4. A square has four corners; to speak of the “four corners of the Earth” is something of an anomaly since the Earth is round, without corners. All the symbolism of the number 4 is encompassed within the square, and it is interesting to note that, just as the square represents the created Universe, in the Hebrew faith the Holy Name of the Creator is comprised of four letters. The square gives man a safe, static reference point, and a stable, unmoving shape as opposed to the continual motion of the circle.
Temples and holy buildings are often built in the form of a square, solidly designed to align with the four points of the compass. The Ka’aba at Mecca is a fine example, as is the base of the Buddhist Stupa. Altars, too, are square. Square shapes define limits and create boundaries; to speak of someone as being “square” means that they are fixed and unchangeable.
LOZENGE
A diamond shape often with rounded rather than pointed ends, the lozenge is often overlooked, but is actually a representation of the female genitalia. As such, its most popular appearance is probably as the vesica piscis, the sacred doorway through which spirit enters the world of matter. In heraldry, for example, the lozenge is used in place of the masculine shield, to denote a coat of arms belonging to a woman or a noncombative male, such as a member of the clergy.
TRIANGLE
The triangle shares all the symbolic significance of the number 3, as a shape, and therefore represents the many things that come in groups of three, from the Holy Trinity to the triple aspect of the Goddess. Triangles appear in lots of different signs and symbols. In ancient times, the triangle was considered synonymous with light, and the meanings of the triangle vary according to which way up it is. When it sits firmly on its base, then it is a masculine, virile symbol, representing fire. The other way up it becomes the water element, a chalice shape, emblematic of the feminine powers. Balanced on its point in this way the triangle also represents the yoni, further underpinning the Goddess aspect. The equilateral triangle is a harmonious form, used to indicate the Higher Powers, providing a framework, for example, for the All Seeing Eye of God.
As a symbol of strength, the triangle reinforces the corners of the square, both physically and meta-physically. The solid shape of the triangle also makes its appearance in yogic positions, for example in the Trikona Asana or Triangle Posture.
DIAGONAL
The square can be divided into two diagonal triangles. Because the length of these shapes has no simple relationship to its sides, the Greeks concluded that the diagonal must be a symbol of the irrational. Therefore, the diagonal, or oblique, has come to be associated with the incomprehensible, occult world. In J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, Diagon Alley is the hidden part of London that is a magical high street full of occult devices.
ZIG-ZAG
However it is interpreted, the jagged shape of the zig-zag carries with it the idea of heat, energy, vitality, and movement, the archetypal sign for lightning or electricity. The double zig-zag that makes the astrological glyph for Aquarius could be water or it could be the life-force itself. The serpent that spirals up the Caduceus is a soft-ened zig-zag shape. There is an inherent danger in the zig-zag, and the deities that carry it in their hands do so as a sign of their own authority and power.
THE ELEMENT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SECRET SIGNS AND SYMBOLS
The elements of a symbol are defined only by the space that is a part of its construction. Like the wind, the effect of space is gauged by its effect on the things within it or surrounding it. The concept of space, the void, is a profound part of our experience. To reach a state of “emptiness” is, for many, the ultimate spiritual experience and a way of connecting to the Absolute. When John Lennon wrote “Imagine,” whose lyrics gradually strip away the trappings of the material world, it was this idea that inspired him.
To be aware of the possibility of space within a flat, two-dimensional representation is to give that shape substance and a new kind of reality that lifts it off the page and makes it real. Space is not flat and cannot be confined by lines on a piece of paper. The page and the shape on it do not exist in isolation, but are a part of a greater cosmos. This book and you, the reader, are a part of this equation.
The concept of zero is a space. Indeed, the realization that “nothing” can be “something” marked a profound leap forward in man’s development. All creation myths begin with a Void, symbolic of potential.
Although attempts to explain the concept of space are inevitably faulty, it might help to think of a blank page. Before a mark is made upon the paper, the potential for what might appear there is so vast as to be unimaginable, a consideration which causes consternation for some artists and writers. Without this space, there is no arena for anything else to exist. This absence of any thing means that no thing is the most important symbol in the World.
DOT
A dot might seem to be an unassuming little thing, the first mark on the pristine sheet of paper. In this case, the dot is a beginning. But see what just happened there? The dot, an essential component in the structure of the sentence, closed it, making it a symbol of ending. Therefore, the dot is both an origination and a conclusion, encompassing all the possibilities of the Universe within it, a seed full of potential and a symbol of the Supreme Being. The dot is the point of creation, for example the place where the arms of the cross intersect.
The dot is also called the bindhu, which means “drop.” The bindhu is a symbol of the Absolute, marked on the forehead at the position of the third eye in the place believed to be the seat of the soul.
The presence of dots within a symbol can signify the presence of something else. A dot in the center of the Star of David marks the quintessence, or Fifth Element. It also acts as reminder of the concept of space. The decorated dots that surround the doorways of Eastern temples are not merely ornamental devices but have significance relevant to the worshippers. Dots frequently appear in this way, acting as a sort of shorthand for the tenets of a faith. In the Jain symbol, for example, the dots stand for the Three Jewels of Jainism. The dots in each half of the yin-yang symbol unify the two halves: one dot is “yin,” the other “yang.” Together they demonstrate the interdependence of opposing forces.
CIRCLE
The next logical magical symbol is the circle. Effectively an expansion of the dot, the circle represents the spirit and the cosmos. Further, the circle itself is constructed from “some thing” (the unbroken line) and “no thing” (the space inside and outside this line). Therefore, the circle unifies spirit and matter. The structure itself has great strength—think of the cylindrical shape of a lighthouse, built that way in order to withstand the fiercest attack by a stormy sea.
The physical and spiritual strength of this symbol are there because the perfect circle has no beginning and no end; it is unassailable. This power is the reason why the circle is used in magical practices such as spell-casting. The magic circle creates a fortress of psychic protection, a physical and spiritual safe haven where unwanted or uninvited entities cannot enter.
Hermes Trismegistus said of the circle:
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere.
Where would ancient man have seen the most important circles? Obviously, in the Sun and the Moon. As the Sun, the circle is masculine, but when it is the Moon, it is feminine. Because the passage of time is marked by the journey of the Sun, Moon and stars in orbit around our Earth, the circle is a symbol of the passage of time. In this form, it commonly appears as the wheel.
Because the circle has no divisions and no sides, it is also a symbol of equality. King Arthur’s Round Table was the perfect piece of furniture for the fellowship of Knights who were each as important as each other. Similarly, the Dalai Lama has a “circular” Council.
ARC
Perhaps the most prominent arc of the natural world appears in the elusive form of the rainbow, which primitive man saw as a bridge between the Heavens and the Earth. As a part of a circle, the arc symbolizes potential spirit. The position of the arc is important. Upright, shaped like a cup or chalice, it implies the feminine principle, something that can contain the spirit. If the arc is inverted, then the opposite is true and it becomes a triumphal, victorious, masculine symbol. As such, the arc can take the form of an archway. The vaulted or arched shape of many holy buildings, from a great variety of different faiths, represents the vault of the Heavens. The arc shape often appears in planetary symbols.
VERTICAL LINE
Man, alone in the animal kingdom, stands upright, so the vertical line represents the physical symbol of the number One, man striving toward spirit. This simple line is the basic shape of the World Tree or Axis Mundi that connects the Heavens, the Earth and the lower regions. It is not only a basic phallic symbol but also signifies the soul that strives for union with the Divine.
The upright line tells us where we are at a precise moment; think of the big hand of the clock, vertically oriented at 12 o’clock.
HORIZONTAL LINE
The opposite of the vertical line, the horizontal line represents matter, and the forward and backward movement of time. This line also signifies the skyline or horizon and man’s place on the Earth.
CROSS
Here, the vertical and horizontal lines come together to create a new symbol—the cross. There are of course countless different types of cross, a few of which are covered in this section of the book. Despite any embellishments or devices, however, the basic meaning of the cross stays the same.
The earliest example of the cross comes from Crete and dates back to the fifteenth century BC although the sign is much older than this, ancient beyond proper reckoning. It is an incredibly versatile and useful sign with many interpretations. As the convergence of the vertical and horizontal lines, it symbolizes the union of the material and the spiritual (think of the sign of the cross given by Catholic priests). As a geometric tool, it has no equal; if you put the cross inside the circle, then you are able to divide the circle equally. Similarly, the cross is said to “give birth to” the square.
Because of its four cardinal points, the cross represents the elements and the directions.
In the West the cross equates with the number 4, but in China, it is associated with the number 5 since the “dot” in the middle of the cross, where the two arms intersect, is also included.
The cross is sometimes disguised as another symbol, such as a four-petaled flower. All over the world, the cross is a symbol of protection.
SQUARE
Said to be the first shape invented by Man, the square represents the created Universe as opposed to the spiritual dimensions depicted by the circle.
The square represents the Earth and the four elements. Plato described the square, like the circle, as being “absolutely beautiful in itself.” Like the cross, the square is associated with the number 4. A square has four corners; to speak of the “four corners of the Earth” is something of an anomaly since the Earth is round, without corners. All the symbolism of the number 4 is encompassed within the square, and it is interesting to note that, just as the square represents the created Universe, in the Hebrew faith the Holy Name of the Creator is comprised of four letters. The square gives man a safe, static reference point, and a stable, unmoving shape as opposed to the continual motion of the circle.
Temples and holy buildings are often built in the form of a square, solidly designed to align with the four points of the compass. The Ka’aba at Mecca is a fine example, as is the base of the Buddhist Stupa. Altars, too, are square. Square shapes define limits and create boundaries; to speak of someone as being “square” means that they are fixed and unchangeable.
LOZENGE
A diamond shape often with rounded rather than pointed ends, the lozenge is often overlooked, but is actually a representation of the female genitalia. As such, its most popular appearance is probably as the vesica piscis, the sacred doorway through which spirit enters the world of matter. In heraldry, for example, the lozenge is used in place of the masculine shield, to denote a coat of arms belonging to a woman or a noncombative male, such as a member of the clergy.
TRIANGLE
The triangle shares all the symbolic significance of the number 3, as a shape, and therefore represents the many things that come in groups of three, from the Holy Trinity to the triple aspect of the Goddess. Triangles appear in lots of different signs and symbols. In ancient times, the triangle was considered synonymous with light, and the meanings of the triangle vary according to which way up it is. When it sits firmly on its base, then it is a masculine, virile symbol, representing fire. The other way up it becomes the water element, a chalice shape, emblematic of the feminine powers. Balanced on its point in this way the triangle also represents the yoni, further underpinning the Goddess aspect. The equilateral triangle is a harmonious form, used to indicate the Higher Powers, providing a framework, for example, for the All Seeing Eye of God.
As a symbol of strength, the triangle reinforces the corners of the square, both physically and meta-physically. The solid shape of the triangle also makes its appearance in yogic positions, for example in the Trikona Asana or Triangle Posture.
DIAGONAL
The square can be divided into two diagonal triangles. Because the length of these shapes has no simple relationship to its sides, the Greeks concluded that the diagonal must be a symbol of the irrational. Therefore, the diagonal, or oblique, has come to be associated with the incomprehensible, occult world. In J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, Diagon Alley is the hidden part of London that is a magical high street full of occult devices.
ZIG-ZAG
However it is interpreted, the jagged shape of the zig-zag carries with it the idea of heat, energy, vitality, and movement, the archetypal sign for lightning or electricity. The double zig-zag that makes the astrological glyph for Aquarius could be water or it could be the life-force itself. The serpent that spirals up the Caduceus is a soft-ened zig-zag shape. There is an inherent danger in the zig-zag, and the deities that carry it in their hands do so as a sign of their own authority and power.
THE ELEMENT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SECRET SIGNS AND SYMBOLS
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Self Unfoldment: Chapter 1 "LIFE"
CHAPTER 1
LIFE
Life is a Universal Element.
"Life is that Element in Nature which impels
everything—whether organic or inorganic;
physical, spiritual or psychical to
function according to the law of its being."
This definition of The Great School of the
Masters applies equally to Individual organisms
as a whole, and to the various Individual
organs and parts thereof.
There are four distinct and definite Universal
"Life Elements," and each of these
Elements is responsible for the functional
activities of Life within its own kingdom.
Ether, Air and Water are recognized as
"Elements" of Nature. And yet, they are not
subject to the process of evolution. They are
the same today, as far as science knows, as
they were a million years ago ; or as they were
when they first came into existence. They
have not "evolved" as Elements, or otherwise
changed, in any manner.
They are Universal within the environment
of our planet; and Ether, at least, is supposed,
by physical science, to be Universal in time
and space. Air and Water are sufficiently
Universal to be a part of all planetary environment
wherein exist Life and Intelligence.
Undoubtedly, Ether, Air and Water all
exert their influence upon the Individual
Lives and Intelligences that exist within them
and develop through them. But they, themselves,
are fixed and established conditions of
Nature; and, as such, are not in a state of evolution.
They are only parts of Nature's mechanical
device for the evolution of Individual
Intelligence.
We know that Individual Life and Individual
Intelligence do develop within the
waters of the earth. Bear in mind that Water
is one of the "Elements of Nature." We also
know that these Individual Lives and Intelligences
which come into physical existence in
and through the Element of Water do develop,
and do evolve; but, so far as science
knows, the Element of Water itself does not
evolve. It remains the same, yesterday, today
and forever, so far as we know. It is only one
of Nature's instrumentalities for the generation
and evolution of Individual Intelligence.
The parallel with the Life Elements, as
such, is complete. Individual Lives and Individual
Intelligences come into being within
the Life Elements; and we know that these
Individual Lives and Intelligences, having
become Individualized by Nature, proceed to
develop, unfold and evolve; but we do not
know that the Life Elements themselves, as
such, are subject to the process of evolution.
They remain fixed conditions, so far as science
knows.
The Life Elements are not limited to the
physical plane of Life; they exist on all
the planes of Life. There is, however, a difference
in the degree of their refinement and
vibratory activity. The Life Elements upon
the spiritual planes of Life are suited to the
refined requirements of the Individual Life
and Intelligence upon those planes.
But it must not be assumed that this increased
refinement and activity of the Life
Elements upon the spiritual planes are conditions
which have evolved from the Life Elements
upon the physical plane. The Life
Elements upon the spiritual planes are as
truly fixed and established conditions as are
those of the Life Elements upon the physical
plane. They are equally as much a part of
Nature's mechanical device for the evolution
of Individual Intelligence.
It is Nature's plan to Individualize and
evolve Intelligence. The Life Elements are
only parts of her mechanical device by which
she accomplishes that marvelous end. It is
the Individual Intelligence that evolves and
not the Life Elements, as such.
Nature, or the Great Creative Intelligence,
had a very definite purpose in creating and
establishing the Life Elements. Natural
Science finds that the uses to which Nature
puts these Life Elements are:
To generate Individual Life.
To Individualize Intelligence.
To carry forward the evolutionary Unfoldment
and Development of Individual Intelligence.
The Individual Intelligence, after Nature
has evolved it to a point where it becomes
aware of its Moral Accountability and Personal
Responsibility, uses the Life Elements
for its own Self-Unfoldment; thus enabling it
to add the evolutionary impulse of its own
efforts to the effort of Nature, and thus accelerate
the evolutionary process.
The Life Element which belongs exclusively
to the mineral kingdom is the Electro-
Magnetic Life Element. This is a single
Element.
The Electro-Magnetic Life Element combines
with the Vito-Chemical Life Element
to constitute the Life Element of the vegetable
kingdom. This forms a compound of
both the Electro-Magnetic and the Vito-
Chemical Life Elements, to form the Life
Element of the vegetable kingdom. It is
called the Vito-Chemical Life Element, because
it is that particular Element which
dominates the compound.
The Life Element of the next higher kingdom
(the animal kingdom), is a compound
of the two lower Elements with the Spiritual
Life Element, and is called the Spiritual Life
Element because it is the Spiritual Element
that dominates the compound, and because it
is the highest and most potent of the three
Elements which enter into the compound.
It is equally true that the Fourth Life Element,
which belongs to the Human kingdom,
is a compound Element, composed of the
three lower Elements combined with the Soul
Life Element. Thus it will be seen that all
the Life Elements are compound Elements,
except that which vivifies the mineral kingdom
(the Electro-Magnetic).
The name of each Life Element is taken
from the dominant ingredient in each Life
Element; and not from the kingdom in
which it exists.
An Element is an element.
A kingdom is a kingdom.
The Electro-Magnetic Element is solely
a Life Element. "Mineral" is the kingdom
in which it operates.
It would be improper to designate the Vito-
Chemical Life Element as the "Vegetable
Life Element" as "vegetable" applies to a
kingdom which is composed of two Life Elements—
Electro-Magnetic and Vito - Chemical.
It would be just as improper to refer to the
Spiritual Life Element as the "Animal Life
Element" as "animal" applies to a kingdom
which is composed of three Life Elements—
Electro-Magnetic, Vito-Chemical and Spiritual
Life.
In the same manner, the Soul Life Element
refers specifically to a Life Element of Nature.
"Man" has reference to a kingdom—
the kingdom of Man, which is composed of
four Life Elements—Electro-Magnetic, Vito-
Chemical, Spiritual Life and Soul Life Elements.
Each higher kingdom includes its own Life
Element and all the Life Elements of all the
kingdoms below it, with all their energies,
functions and powers. That is, plant life includes
the energies and powers of the Vito-
Chemical Life Element, and also those of the
Electro-Magnetic Life Element of the mineral
kingdom.
Thus, the evolution of Life upon the planet
involves an increasing number of Life Elements—
from one Life Element in the mineral
kingdom to four Life Elements in the
human kingdom—and the highest Life Element
is always the dominant one and controls
the activities, functions and powers of all
those below it.
In the human kingdom the Soul Life Element
is dominant, and it controls the functions
and powers of the three inferior Life Elements
below it in the scale of the evolution of
Life.
In the realms of Nature which lie below
the level of the Individual human life it requires
but the most casual observation of the
Intelligent Individual to realize the Universal
prodigality of Nature in her destructive attitude
toward Individual Life. Everywhere
one may turn he is compelled to note the remarkable
and seemingly inexplicable fact that
the destruction and seeming sacrifice of Individual
Life is an important factor in the great
evolutionary plan of Nature for the Unfoldment
and Development of "Individual Intelligence."
In "The Slaughterhouse of Nature," as the
poets have designated, every species of Individual
animal life (below the level of the
human) is sacrificed as nourishment on which
to feed and develop the physical bodies of the
more aggressive and powerful Individuals of
so-called "higher species" who are waiting to
devour them as rapidly as Nature can produce
them and bring them into her "Slaughterhouse"
for sacrifice.
And yet, this phase of the great problem of
Individual Life, wherein the sacrifice of the
Individual for the perpetuation of species, the
sacrifice of the weaker for the benefit of the
stronger, betrays the wantonness and seeming
cruelty of Nature in that she has made the
deliberate and purposeful destruction of Individual
Life an established institution for the
evolution of Individual Life and Intelligence.
If one could but obtain a clear glimpse of
Nature's process in operation he would see
that everywhere, throughout the entire Universe
of living things, Individual death goes
hand in hand with Individual Life, and is
Nature's commissary department for the supply
of food to sustain the Individual Life of
higher forms.
It must be admitted by every sane and Intelligent
Individual that all the moralizing
possible within the kingdom of Man will
never change the Universal order of Nature
ment is always the dominant one and controls
the activities, functions and powers of all
those below it.
In the human kingdom the Soul Life Element
is dominant, and it controls the functions
and powers of the three inferior Life Elements
below it in the scale of the evolution of
Life.
In the realms of Nature which lie below
the level of the Individual human life it requires
but the most casual observation of the
Intelligent Individual to realize the Universal
prodigality of Nature in her destructive attitude
toward Individual Life. Everywhere
one may turn he is compelled to note the remarkable
and seemingly inexplicable fact that
the destruction and seeming sacrifice of Individual
Life is an important factor in the great
evolutionary plan of Nature for the Unfoldment
and Development of "Individual Intelligence."
In "The Slaughterhouse of Nature," as the
poets have designated, every species of Individual
animal life (below the level of the
human) is sacrificed as nourishment on which
to feed and develop the physical bodies of the
more aggressive and powerful Individuals of
so-called "higher species" who are waiting to
devour them as rapidly as Nature can produce
them and bring them into her "Slaughterhouse"
for sacrifice.
And yet, this phase of the great problem of
Individual Life, wherein the sacrifice of the
Individual for the perpetuation of species, the
sacrifice of the weaker for the benefit of the
stronger, betrays the wantonness and seeming
cruelty of Nature in that she has made the
deliberate and purposeful destruction of Individual
Life an established institution for the
evolution of Individual Life and Intelligence.
If one could but obtain a clear glimpse of
Nature's process in operation he would see
that everywhere, throughout the entire Universe
of living things, Individual death goes
hand in hand with Individual Life, and is
Nature's commissary department for the supply
of food to sustain the Individual Life of
higher forms.
It must be admitted by every sane and Intelligent
Individual that all the moralizing
possible within the kingdom of Man will
never change the Universal order of Nature
for the perpetuation of Individual Life, nor
alleviate one iota of the suffering incident to
the process whereby Nature carries forward
her scheme for the evolution of Individual
Life and the perpetuation of species.
In the kingdom of Man, wherein the Soul
Life Element becomes the dominant factor in
the evolutionary process of Individual Intelligence,
Nature has brought her process to a
development where Man—the product of her
endeavors—has evolved to a point of Intelligence
whence he becomes an active and constructive
co-worker with Nature in the
further evolution of Individual Life and Intelligence.
It is here that the Moral Element enters
into the great Plan. A new order is invoked,
and Individual Life becomes a sacred thing.
Up to this point in the evolutionary plan and
process, it has been inevitable—and therefore
legitimate and proper—that one form of life
should feed upon another, with absolute impunity.
There could be no possible question
as to the right or the wrong of the process;
because it had been planned and inaugurated
by Nature herself. Man had no responsibility
whatever for its existence, and no power
to alter it, even in the slightest degree possible
to conceive. He might, with the utmost dignity,
and in all sincerity, enact all manner of
"laws for the prevention of cruelty to animals"—
and the big fishes would go right on
eating the little fishes, "in the same old way"
—the frog would eat the fly and the snake
would eat the frog and the weasel would eat
the snake and the cat would eat the weasel.
The chicken would eat the worm and the
hawk would eat the chicken. Not one of them
all would suffer so much as a qualm of conscience.
Each would feel that it had done the
natural thing.
There is absolutely no basis or foundation
in Nature to sustain a religion that is founded
upon the doctrine or the dogma of the "Sacredness
of all Individual Life."
The sacredness of Individual Life, however,
should apply, and does apply, to the
human kingdom of Life, in this:
That every Intelligent, normal, mature Individual
human being is bound by the fundamental
principle of Morality, to respect the
right of every other normal human being, to
Life. Our fundamental Law also adds ''Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness."
We are equally bound to respect the right
of every domestic animal (employed in the
service of humanity) to its own Individual
Life, and to such comfort and enjoyment as it
is possible for man to bring to these, his natural
servants and helpers.
By analogy it may likewise be said that
Life, being the unit of value by which
all other values are relatively determinable,
whatever in Nature holds the largest measure
of Life is of greatest value in the economy of
the Universe.
It is by this rule that Man measures up to
the standard of Supreme Value and Importance
in the limitless Universe of Infinite
Nature.
Human life represents "Life Supreme"
upon the material plane of this earthly planet.
Human life, when measured by the true
standard of exact values in Nature, is the most
precious possession possible to any Individual
upon this particular planet of Earth.
In the realm of human life, where the Soul
Life Element enters and becomes the dominant
life influence and power, the value of
Individual human life becomes supreme.
Man knows—because he is a "Responsible
Individual Intelligence," endowed with a
moral sense of Right and Wrong—that it is
morally wrong for him to eat his brothers and
sisters. He knows that Individual human
life is a sacred thing, and that it must be protected.
Recognizing the righteousness of the law,
he proceeds to organize human society upon
it. With his fellows, he forms and enters into
the social compact wherein all are bound to
respect and defend the right of Individual
Life. Upon this principle he learns that
whatever incites hostility, engenders strife,
cultivates enmities, or impels mankind to the
exercise of physical might, encourages a natural
disregard of the value of Individual
human Life, and impels mankind to its ruthless
sacrifice.
In due time, as naturally as the induction
of the Soul Life Element implants in man a
moral nature, the sacredness of Individual
human Life becomes the fundamental principle
upon which alone human society may
perpetuate itself indefinitely.
As we learn the sacredness and the value of
Individual human life, we naturally turn our
attention and our endeavors to the establishment
of those conditions, and those only,
which exercise a constructive and perpetuating
influence upon all Individual human life,
and upon the life of human society itself.
From personal experience every Individual
human being, in course of time, comes to
realize the fact that his Attitude has much
to do in determining his influence upon the
society of which he is an important integral
part. He knows that, by the exercise of his
powers alone, he may become either a constructive
or a destructive influence upon society
and among his fellows. He may become
a constructive and healthy unit in the social
structure; or he may become a destructive
and disintegrating unit, a unit of decay and
death, the antithesis of Life.
If he would become a deadly infection
within the body of society, spreading the
putridity of his poisonous presence broadcast
among the healthy cells of society, making his
pathway a trail of death among his fellows,
let him harbor within himself the passion of
anger, the spirit of envy, jealousy or malice,
the desire to hurt or to injure his associates,
the purpose to spread dissensions, hostility
and personal enmity wherever he goes, the
ambition to rule or to ruin. He need not wait
long to realize the destructive and deadly influence
he has thus set in motion among his
fellows and associates. His putrescent presence
will proclaim him a power for evil and
the potencies of death will follow him wherever
he may go.
Self-Unfoldment: The Practical Application of Moral Principles to the Living of a Life
By J. E. RICHARDSON Author of Vols. II, III, IV, V and Editor of Vol. I
Self Unfoldment: Chapter I "LIFE"
CHAPTER 1
LIFE
Life is a Universal Element.
"Life is that Element in Nature which impels
everything—whether organic or inorganic;
physical, spiritual or psychical to
function according to the law of its being."
This definition of The Great School of the
Masters applies equally to Individual organisms
as a whole, and to the various Individual
organs and parts thereof.
There are four distinct and definite Universal
"Life Elements," and each of these
Elements is responsible for the functional
activities of Life within its own kingdom.
Ether, Air and Water are recognized as
"Elements" of Nature. And yet, they are not
subject to the process of evolution. They are
the same today, as far as science knows, as
they were a million years ago ; or as they were
when they first came into existence. They
have not "evolved" as Elements, or otherwise
changed, in any manner.
They are Universal within the environment
of our planet; and Ether, at least, is supposed,
by physical science, to be Universal in time
and space. Air and Water are sufficiently
Universal to be a part of all planetary environment
wherein exist Life and Intelligence.
Undoubtedly, Ether, Air and Water all
exert their influence upon the Individual
Lives and Intelligences that exist within them
and develop through them. But they, themselves,
are fixed and established conditions of
Nature; and, as such, are not in a state of evolution.
They are only parts of Nature's mechanical
device for the evolution of Individual
Intelligence.
We know that Individual Life and Individual
Intelligence do develop within the
waters of the earth. Bear in mind that Water
is one of the "Elements of Nature." We also
know that these Individual Lives and Intelligences
which come into physical existence in
and through the Element of Water do develop,
and do evolve; but, so far as science
knows, the Element of Water itself does not
evolve. It remains the same, yesterday, today
and forever, so far as we know. It is only one
of Nature's instrumentalities for the generation
and evolution of Individual Intelligence.
The parallel with the Life Elements, as
such, is complete. Individual Lives and Individual
Intelligences come into being within
the Life Elements; and we know that these
Individual Lives and Intelligences, having
become Individualized by Nature, proceed to
develop, unfold and evolve; but we do not
know that the Life Elements themselves, as
such, are subject to the process of evolution.
They remain fixed conditions, so far as science
knows.
The Life Elements are not limited to the
physical plane of Life; they exist on all
the planes of Life. There is, however, a difference
in the degree of their refinement and
vibratory activity. The Life Elements upon
the spiritual planes of Life are suited to the
refined requirements of the Individual Life
and Intelligence upon those planes.
But it must not be assumed that this increased
refinement and activity of the Life
Elements upon the spiritual planes are conditions
which have evolved from the Life Elements
upon the physical plane. The Life
Elements upon the spiritual planes are as
truly fixed and established conditions as are
those of the Life Elements upon the physical
plane. They are equally as much a part of
Nature's mechanical device for the evolution
of Individual Intelligence.
It is Nature's plan to Individualize and
evolve Intelligence. The Life Elements are
only parts of her mechanical device by which
she accomplishes that marvelous end. It is
the Individual Intelligence that evolves and
not the Life Elements, as such.
Nature, or the Great Creative Intelligence,
had a very definite purpose in creating and
establishing the Life Elements. Natural
Science finds that the uses to which Nature
puts these Life Elements are:
To generate Individual Life.
To Individualize Intelligence.
To carry forward the evolutionary Unfoldment
and Development of Individual Intelligence.
The Individual Intelligence, after Nature
has evolved it to a point where it becomes
aware of its Moral Accountability and Personal
Responsibility, uses the Life Elements
for its own Self-Unfoldment; thus enabling it
to add the evolutionary impulse of its own
efforts to the effort of Nature, and thus accelerate
the evolutionary process.
The Life Element which belongs exclusively
to the mineral kingdom is the Electro-
Magnetic Life Element. This is a single
Element.
The Electro-Magnetic Life Element combines
with the Vito-Chemical Life Element
to constitute the Life Element of the vegetable
kingdom. This forms a compound of
both the Electro-Magnetic and the Vito-
Chemical Life Elements, to form the Life
Element of the vegetable kingdom. It is
called the Vito-Chemical Life Element, because
it is that particular Element which
dominates the compound.
The Life Element of the next higher kingdom
(the animal kingdom), is a compound
of the two lower Elements with the Spiritual
Life Element, and is called the Spiritual Life
Element because it is the Spiritual Element
that dominates the compound, and because it
is the highest and most potent of the three
Elements which enter into the compound.
It is equally true that the Fourth Life Element,
which belongs to the Human kingdom,
is a compound Element, composed of the
three lower Elements combined with the Soul
Life Element. Thus it will be seen that all
the Life Elements are compound Elements,
except that which vivifies the mineral kingdom
(the Electro-Magnetic).
The name of each Life Element is taken
from the dominant ingredient in each Life
Element; and not from the kingdom in
which it exists.
An Element is an element.
A kingdom is a kingdom.
The Electro-Magnetic Element is solely
a Life Element. "Mineral" is the kingdom
in which it operates.
It would be improper to designate the Vito-
Chemical Life Element as the "Vegetable
Life Element" as "vegetable" applies to a
kingdom which is composed of two Life Elements—
Electro-Magnetic and Vito - Chemical.
It would be just as improper to refer to the
Spiritual Life Element as the "Animal Life
Element" as "animal" applies to a kingdom
which is composed of three Life Elements—
Electro-Magnetic, Vito-Chemical and Spiritual
Life.
In the same manner, the Soul Life Element
refers specifically to a Life Element of Nature.
"Man" has reference to a kingdom—
the kingdom of Man, which is composed of
four Life Elements—Electro-Magnetic, Vito-
Chemical, Spiritual Life and Soul Life Elements.
Each higher kingdom includes its own Life
Element and all the Life Elements of all the
kingdoms below it, with all their energies,
functions and powers. That is, plant life includes
the energies and powers of the Vito-
Chemical Life Element, and also those of the
Electro-Magnetic Life Element of the mineral
kingdom.
Thus, the evolution of Life upon the planet
involves an increasing number of Life Elements—
from one Life Element in the mineral
kingdom to four Life Elements in the
human kingdom—and the highest Life Element
is always the dominant one and controls
the activities, functions and powers of all
those below it.
In the human kingdom the Soul Life Element
is dominant, and it controls the functions
and powers of the three inferior Life Elements
below it in the scale of the evolution of
Life.
In the realms of Nature which lie below
the level of the Individual human life it requires
but the most casual observation of the
Intelligent Individual to realize the Universal
prodigality of Nature in her destructive attitude
toward Individual Life. Everywhere
one may turn he is compelled to note the remarkable
and seemingly inexplicable fact that
the destruction and seeming sacrifice of Individual
Life is an important factor in the great
evolutionary plan of Nature for the Unfoldment
and Development of "Individual Intelligence."
In "The Slaughterhouse of Nature," as the
poets have designated, every species of Individual
animal life (below the level of the
human) is sacrificed as nourishment on which
to feed and develop the physical bodies of the
more aggressive and powerful Individuals of
so-called "higher species" who are waiting to
devour them as rapidly as Nature can produce
them and bring them into her "Slaughterhouse"
for sacrifice.
And yet, this phase of the great problem of
Individual Life, wherein the sacrifice of the
Individual for the perpetuation of species, the
sacrifice of the weaker for the benefit of the
stronger, betrays the wantonness and seeming
cruelty of Nature in that she has made the
deliberate and purposeful destruction of Individual
Life an established institution for the
evolution of Individual Life and Intelligence.
If one could but obtain a clear glimpse of
Nature's process in operation he would see
that everywhere, throughout the entire Universe
of living things, Individual death goes
hand in hand with Individual Life, and is
Nature's commissary department for the supply
of food to sustain the Individual Life of
higher forms.
It must be admitted by every sane and Intelligent
Individual that all the moralizing
possible within the kingdom of Man will
never change the Universal order of Nature
ment is always the dominant one and controls
the activities, functions and powers of all
those below it.
In the human kingdom the Soul Life Element
is dominant, and it controls the functions
and powers of the three inferior Life Elements
below it in the scale of the evolution of
Life.
In the realms of Nature which lie below
the level of the Individual human life it requires
but the most casual observation of the
Intelligent Individual to realize the Universal
prodigality of Nature in her destructive attitude
toward Individual Life. Everywhere
one may turn he is compelled to note the remarkable
and seemingly inexplicable fact that
the destruction and seeming sacrifice of Individual
Life is an important factor in the great
evolutionary plan of Nature for the Unfoldment
and Development of "Individual Intelligence."
In "The Slaughterhouse of Nature," as the
poets have designated, every species of Individual
animal life (below the level of the
human) is sacrificed as nourishment on which
to feed and develop the physical bodies of the
more aggressive and powerful Individuals of
so-called "higher species" who are waiting to
devour them as rapidly as Nature can produce
them and bring them into her "Slaughterhouse"
for sacrifice.
And yet, this phase of the great problem of
Individual Life, wherein the sacrifice of the
Individual for the perpetuation of species, the
sacrifice of the weaker for the benefit of the
stronger, betrays the wantonness and seeming
cruelty of Nature in that she has made the
deliberate and purposeful destruction of Individual
Life an established institution for the
evolution of Individual Life and Intelligence.
If one could but obtain a clear glimpse of
Nature's process in operation he would see
that everywhere, throughout the entire Universe
of living things, Individual death goes
hand in hand with Individual Life, and is
Nature's commissary department for the supply
of food to sustain the Individual Life of
higher forms.
It must be admitted by every sane and Intelligent
Individual that all the moralizing
possible within the kingdom of Man will
never change the Universal order of Nature
for the perpetuation of Individual Life, nor
alleviate one iota of the suffering incident to
the process whereby Nature carries forward
her scheme for the evolution of Individual
Life and the perpetuation of species.
In the kingdom of Man, wherein the Soul
Life Element becomes the dominant factor in
the evolutionary process of Individual Intelligence,
Nature has brought her process to a
development where Man—the product of her
endeavors—has evolved to a point of Intelligence
whence he becomes an active and constructive
co-worker with Nature in the
further evolution of Individual Life and Intelligence.
It is here that the Moral Element enters
into the great Plan. A new order is invoked,
and Individual Life becomes a sacred thing.
Up to this point in the evolutionary plan and
process, it has been inevitable—and therefore
legitimate and proper—that one form of life
should feed upon another, with absolute impunity.
There could be no possible question
as to the right or the wrong of the process;
because it had been planned and inaugurated
by Nature herself. Man had no responsibility
whatever for its existence, and no power
to alter it, even in the slightest degree possible
to conceive. He might, with the utmost dignity,
and in all sincerity, enact all manner of
"laws for the prevention of cruelty to animals"—
and the big fishes would go right on
eating the little fishes, "in the same old way"
—the frog would eat the fly and the snake
would eat the frog and the weasel would eat
the snake and the cat would eat the weasel.
The chicken would eat the worm and the
hawk would eat the chicken. Not one of them
all would suffer so much as a qualm of conscience.
Each would feel that it had done the
natural thing.
There is absolutely no basis or foundation
in Nature to sustain a religion that is founded
upon the doctrine or the dogma of the "Sacredness
of all Individual Life."
The sacredness of Individual Life, however,
should apply, and does apply, to the
human kingdom of Life, in this:
That every Intelligent, normal, mature Individual
human being is bound by the fundamental
principle of Morality, to respect the
right of every other normal human being, to
Life. Our fundamental Law also adds ''Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness."
We are equally bound to respect the right
of every domestic animal (employed in the
service of humanity) to its own Individual
Life, and to such comfort and enjoyment as it
is possible for man to bring to these, his natural
servants and helpers.
By analogy it may likewise be said that
Life, being the unit of value by which
all other values are relatively determinable,
whatever in Nature holds the largest measure
of Life is of greatest value in the economy of
the Universe.
It is by this rule that Man measures up to
the standard of Supreme Value and Importance
in the limitless Universe of Infinite
Nature.
Human life represents "Life Supreme"
upon the material plane of this earthly planet.
Human life, when measured by the true
standard of exact values in Nature, is the most
precious possession possible to any Individual
upon this particular planet of Earth.
In the realm of human life, where the Soul
Life Element enters and becomes the dominant
life influence and power, the value of
Individual human life becomes supreme.
Man knows—because he is a "Responsible
Individual Intelligence," endowed with a
moral sense of Right and Wrong—that it is
morally wrong for him to eat his brothers and
sisters. He knows that Individual human
life is a sacred thing, and that it must be protected.
Recognizing the righteousness of the law,
he proceeds to organize human society upon
it. With his fellows, he forms and enters into
the social compact wherein all are bound to
respect and defend the right of Individual
Life. Upon this principle he learns that
whatever incites hostility, engenders strife,
cultivates enmities, or impels mankind to the
exercise of physical might, encourages a natural
disregard of the value of Individual
human Life, and impels mankind to its ruthless
sacrifice.
In due time, as naturally as the induction
of the Soul Life Element implants in man a
moral nature, the sacredness of Individual
human Life becomes the fundamental principle
upon which alone human society may
perpetuate itself indefinitely.
As we learn the sacredness and the value of
Individual human life, we naturally turn our
attention and our endeavors to the establishment
of those conditions, and those only,
which exercise a constructive and perpetuating
influence upon all Individual human life,
and upon the life of human society itself.
From personal experience every Individual
human being, in course of time, comes to
realize the fact that his Attitude has much
to do in determining his influence upon the
society of which he is an important integral
part. He knows that, by the exercise of his
powers alone, he may become either a constructive
or a destructive influence upon society
and among his fellows. He may become
a constructive and healthy unit in the social
structure; or he may become a destructive
and disintegrating unit, a unit of decay and
death, the antithesis of Life.
If he would become a deadly infection
within the body of society, spreading the
putridity of his poisonous presence broadcast
among the healthy cells of society, making his
pathway a trail of death among his fellows,
let him harbor within himself the passion of
anger, the spirit of envy, jealousy or malice,
the desire to hurt or to injure his associates,
the purpose to spread dissensions, hostility
and personal enmity wherever he goes, the
ambition to rule or to ruin. He need not wait
long to realize the destructive and deadly influence
he has thus set in motion among his
fellows and associates. His putrescent presence
will proclaim him a power for evil and
the potencies of death will follow him wherever
he may go.
Self-Unfoldment: The Practical Application of Moral Principles to the Living of a Life
By J. E. RICHARDSON Author of Vols. II, III, IV, V and Editor of Vol. I
HARMONIC SERIES
The Life-wave and the Seven Elements. The Esoteric Philosophy as Taught by the Stoics.
Among the doctrines of Stoicism was that of the genesis or birth of the elements of the kosmos. Five were spoken of, and two more were vaguely hinted at. The five were aether, beginning with the highest; then what was called fire; then air; then water; and then earth. Now these kosmical elements are not the familiar things which we know by those names, for they were taken merely to symbolize, through certain appropriate qualities which they possess, the actual elements of kosmical being.
These elements of nature, which the Brahmanical philosophy called the tattwas, may likewise be called the principles of kosmos, precisely as man's seven principles may be called the elements of his being. We can say the elements of kosmos, or the principles of kosmos, and it means for present purposes the same thing; and we may say the elements of man or the principles of man, and it means for present purposes precisely the same thing. Seven different qualities or states or conditions of prakriti or nature — call it also substance or matter for the present, if you like. The present is not an appropriate time to go into a too detailed distinction of the difference — which does exist — between matter and prakriti. At any rate, the elements are seven different states or conditions or qualities of prakriti, the manifested side of kosmical being.
These seven elements or principles — five, as openly taught — according to the Stoic philosophy were derived one from the other, in order as follows: first, the Nameless One; second, its progeny or offspring or child, which is the second element lower in the scale; the third was aether, the progeny or offspring of the second, combining in itself, at the same time, the qualities or powers of the second, its parent, and of the first, its grandparent, so to say. Then came fire, containing in itself the elements of the three preceding, and also its own particular swabhava or essential characteristic. You will remember what swabhava means: the particularity, the essential nature, the real characteristic, of a thing, which makes it different from some other thing. The swabhava of a rose makes the rose plant bring forth a rose always, and not a lily or a violet; and the swabhava of a man brings forth as offspring a man always and not a gooseberry or an acorn. This is swabhava, or self-nature. Call it the essential individuality, if you like; it is the special or germinal individuality.
Then from fire, as a parent, sprang air. We are using these familiar terms, with a warning, as said before, that they do not really mean the familiar material things which we know by those names. However, this element called air contains in itself the qualities of its own nature, likewise those of fire, its parent, and of aether, its grandparent, and the qualities of the second and the first elements as well. Then comes water, containing in itself its own qualities and also the qualities of the five which precede it. Finally comes the seventh or last, gross matter, or concreted substance, containing in itself the qualities of all the six which precede it; each element giving birth to each following one as the life-wave ran its course down the shadowy arc of manifestation, or the building of the framework of the kosmos.
Copyright © 1979 by Theosophical University Press. All rights reserved.
These elements of nature, which the Brahmanical philosophy called the tattwas, may likewise be called the principles of kosmos, precisely as man's seven principles may be called the elements of his being. We can say the elements of kosmos, or the principles of kosmos, and it means for present purposes the same thing; and we may say the elements of man or the principles of man, and it means for present purposes precisely the same thing. Seven different qualities or states or conditions of prakriti or nature — call it also substance or matter for the present, if you like. The present is not an appropriate time to go into a too detailed distinction of the difference — which does exist — between matter and prakriti. At any rate, the elements are seven different states or conditions or qualities of prakriti, the manifested side of kosmical being.
These seven elements or principles — five, as openly taught — according to the Stoic philosophy were derived one from the other, in order as follows: first, the Nameless One; second, its progeny or offspring or child, which is the second element lower in the scale; the third was aether, the progeny or offspring of the second, combining in itself, at the same time, the qualities or powers of the second, its parent, and of the first, its grandparent, so to say. Then came fire, containing in itself the elements of the three preceding, and also its own particular swabhava or essential characteristic. You will remember what swabhava means: the particularity, the essential nature, the real characteristic, of a thing, which makes it different from some other thing. The swabhava of a rose makes the rose plant bring forth a rose always, and not a lily or a violet; and the swabhava of a man brings forth as offspring a man always and not a gooseberry or an acorn. This is swabhava, or self-nature. Call it the essential individuality, if you like; it is the special or germinal individuality.
Then from fire, as a parent, sprang air. We are using these familiar terms, with a warning, as said before, that they do not really mean the familiar material things which we know by those names. However, this element called air contains in itself the qualities of its own nature, likewise those of fire, its parent, and of aether, its grandparent, and the qualities of the second and the first elements as well. Then comes water, containing in itself its own qualities and also the qualities of the five which precede it. Finally comes the seventh or last, gross matter, or concreted substance, containing in itself the qualities of all the six which precede it; each element giving birth to each following one as the life-wave ran its course down the shadowy arc of manifestation, or the building of the framework of the kosmos.
Copyright © 1979 by Theosophical University Press. All rights reserved.
Correlation Between Nerves_Muscles & Electrical Current_Electromagnet (90 Degree)
Briefly, the hypothesis that mind can communicate directly with mind rests on the theory that thought or vital force is a form of electrical disturbance, that it can be taken up by induction and transmitted to a distance either through a wire or simply through the all-pervading ether, as in the case of wireless telegraph waves.
"There are many analogies which suggest that thought is of the nature of an electrical disturbance. A nerve, which is of the same substance as the brain, is an excellent conductor of the electric current. When we first passed an electrical current through the nerves of a dead man we were shocked and amazed to see him sit up and move. The electrified nerves produced contraction of the muscles very much as in life.
"The nerves appear to act upon the muscles very much as the electric current acts upon an electromagnet. The current magnetizes a bar of iron placed at right angles to it, and the nerves produce, through the intangible current of vital force that flows through them, contraction of the muscular fibers that are arranged at right angles to them.
"It would be possible to cite many reasons why thought and vital force may be regarded as of the same nature as electricity. The electric current is held to be a wave motion of the ether, the hypothetical substance that fills all space and pervades all substances. We believe that there must be ether because without it the electric current could not pass through a vacuum, or sunlight through space. It is reasonable to believe that only a wave motion of a similar character can produce the phenomena of thought and vital force. We may assume that the brain cells act as a battery and that the current produced flows along the nerves.
"But does it end there? Does it not pass out of the body in waves which flow around the world unperceived by our senses, just as the wireless waves passed unperceived before Hertz and others discovered their existence?"
"There are many analogies which suggest that thought is of the nature of an electrical disturbance. A nerve, which is of the same substance as the brain, is an excellent conductor of the electric current. When we first passed an electrical current through the nerves of a dead man we were shocked and amazed to see him sit up and move. The electrified nerves produced contraction of the muscles very much as in life.
"The nerves appear to act upon the muscles very much as the electric current acts upon an electromagnet. The current magnetizes a bar of iron placed at right angles to it, and the nerves produce, through the intangible current of vital force that flows through them, contraction of the muscular fibers that are arranged at right angles to them.
"It would be possible to cite many reasons why thought and vital force may be regarded as of the same nature as electricity. The electric current is held to be a wave motion of the ether, the hypothetical substance that fills all space and pervades all substances. We believe that there must be ether because without it the electric current could not pass through a vacuum, or sunlight through space. It is reasonable to believe that only a wave motion of a similar character can produce the phenomena of thought and vital force. We may assume that the brain cells act as a battery and that the current produced flows along the nerves.
"But does it end there? Does it not pass out of the body in waves which flow around the world unperceived by our senses, just as the wireless waves passed unperceived before Hertz and others discovered their existence?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)