Welcome 2 SYNxronisation

excerpts of "From Candelstick to the Throne pt7" by J.Preston Eby

" The book of Revelation is not a book of fantasy or science fiction, but of spiritual realities in the kingdom of God. The symbols are but the outer covering under which exalted mysteries are concealed. These symbols were familiar to the people to whom John was writing, for they are all rooted in the history, language, and prophecies of the Old Testament! The truth is that the book of Revelation is a gathering up, or summarizing, of the whole core message of the Bible in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Sometimes a very crude illustration helps. This book of Revelation is like nothing so much as a big knot tied in the end of a long skein of yarn, or bundle of threads; every thread in the long skein of yarn is in the knot. And every thread in the knot is in the bundle of threads! Every principle thread in the whole Bible fabric comes into this Revelation knot, and every thread in this Revelation knot can be traced back into the rest of the Bible.

This serves as a key to the symbolism of the book. Its symbolic language has seemed like a foreign language to which we had no dictionary or grammar book, and so we have spent our time guessing and speculating about what it means. But this symbolic language, instead of being a hindrance and a puzzle, is really meant to make it an open book, able to be understood! It is a revelation, an unveiling — not a concealing, an obscuring or a confounding! For every bit of symbolism, and every strange allusion or phrase, can be found somewhere back in the pages of the Old Testament or in the New, in such a way as to indicate just what it means! The language of symbolism is meant to make the book more easily understood, but — there’s a "but" here — but understood by one who is familiar with the images of the scriptures and anointed by the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God!

...

We must pass beyond the signs in order to get to the message of the Spirit! The Lamb has seven horns — not literal horns, of course — for the horns are mere figures representing the seven-fold spirit of power and life which emanates from the mind and nature of the Lamb. May I reverently inject another thought? The "dead" who "stand" before God and are "judged" out of the "books" are not the physically dead in the outward cemeteries, nor are the books such as you have in your library. If the "Lamb" who opens the "book" in chapter five is not a four-legged lamb, it should not be difficult for anyone to understand that the "book" is not a two-covered book! People do such sloppy thinking about such divine and exalted things! If that "book" is one of the Revelation’s wonderful symbols, does it not follow that the "books" in chapter twenty are likewise word-pictures in the form of symbols? The religious commentaries that have been written on this book will avail you nothing, for they have been written as an attempt of the natural mind to decipher the meanings of the symbols rather than discovering the language of the Spirit and understanding out of the realm of the Spirit.

...

The idea behind each and every word of holy writ is to convey a higher meaning than the literal words contain, the truth of which must be seen and experienced by man spiritually, internally. This higher, concealed, inner, spiritual meaning, cast in the words and sense-images of ordinary events, can only be grasped by the quickened spirit and the renewed mind, and it is exactly here that the difficulty lies in conveying the deep spiritual things of God to the natural man. A person’s human level of understanding, regardless how educated or intellectual he may be, is clearly not equal to grasping spiritual truth. This is why Jesus, after speaking a parable, so often said, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Mat. 11:15) Let us be absolutely certain of this one momentous principle of the kingdom of God: It is not the surface meaning that has any importance, but the golden nugget of spiritual truth which lies in the mine beneath the surface is that alone which is able to enrich the inner man of the spirit."

complete "From Candelstick to the Throne" serie here

How Consciousness creates the Material World ?

By Amit Goswami 

Book excerpt: The Philosophy of Monistic Idealism - Mysticism & Religion

go to part I : Mysticism

Religion

To arrive at an understanding of Truth, a mystic usually discovers and employs a particular methodology. The methodologies, or spiritual paths, have both similarities and differences. The differences, which are secondary to the universality of the mystical insight itself, contribute to the differences in the religions founded on the teachings of the mystics. For example, Buddhism developed from the teachings of the Buddha, Judaism from the teachings of Moses, Christianity from those of Jesus, Islam from those of Mohammed (although strictly speaking, Mohammed is regarded as the last of a whole lineage of prophets, including Moses and Jesus), and Taoism from the teachings of Lao Tzu. This rule however, is not without exception. Hinduism is not based on the teachings of a particular teacher but instead encompasses many paths, many teachings.

Mysticism involves a search for the truth about ultimate reality, but the function of the religion is somewhat different. The followers of a particular mystic (most often after the mystic's death) may recognize that the individual search for truth is not for everyone. Most people, lost in the illusion of their ego-separateness and busy in its pursuits, are not motivated to discover the truth themselves. How, then can the light of the mystic's realization be shared with these people?

The answer is, by simplifying it. The followers simplify the truth to make it accessible to the average person. Such a person is usually caught up in the demands of the daily life. Lacking the time and devotion necessary to understand the subtlety of transcendence, he or she cannot appreciate the importance of direct mystical experience. So, the purveyors of the mystic's truth replace direct experience of unitive consciousness with the idea of God. Unfortunately, God, the transcendent creator of the immanent world, is recast in the ordinary person's mind into the dualistic image of a mighty King in Heaven who rules the Earth below. Unavoidably, the mystic's message is diluted and distorted.

The mystic's well-meaning followers inadvertently play the role of the devil in an old joke: God and the devil were talking together when God picked up a piece of paper. " What does it say?" the devil inquired. "Truth", said God serenely. "Give it to me, " said the devil eagerly. " I'll organize it for you."

Yet, despite the difficulties and fallibilities of organization, the religion does convey the spirit of the mystic's message; this is what gives religion its vitality. After all, the value to mystics of realizing the transcendent nature of Reality is that they become secure in a mode of being in which such virtues as love become simple. How can you not love when there is one consciousness and you know that you and the other are not really separate?

But how does one motivate an ordinary person who does not realize oneness to love others? The mystic clearly sees that ignorance of the transcendent oneness is the barrier to love. The net effect of absence of love is suffering. To avoid suffering, counsels the mystic, we must turn inward and commence the journey to self-realization. In the religious context, this teaching is translated into the dictum that if we are to redeem ourselves, we must turn to God as the supreme value in our lives. The method of this redemption is a set of practices, based on the original teachings, that forms the moral code of the particular religion - the ten commandments and the Golden Rule of Christian ethics, the Buddhist precepts, the Koranic or Talmudic law, and so forth.

Of course, not all religions introduce the concept of God. In Buddhism, for example, there is no concept of God. On the other hand, in Hinduism there are many gods. Even in these cases, however, the above considerations of religion are evident. Thus we arrive at three universal aspects of all exoteric religions:

1. All religions start with the premise that there is a wrongness in the way we are. The wrongness is variously called ignorance, original sin, evil, or just suffering.
2. All religions promise an escape from this wrongness, provided the "way" is followed. The escape is variously called salvation, liberation from the wheel of suffering in the world, or an eternal life in the kingdom of God, Heaven.
3. The way consists of taking refuge in the religion and the community formed by the followers of the religion and following a prescribed code of ethics and social rules. Aside from how esoteric teaching of transcendence is compromised, it is in the codes of ethics and social rules that the various religions differ from one another.

Notice the essential dualism in the first premise: wrong and right (or evil and good). In contrast, the mystical journey consists in transcending all dualities, including the one of evil and good. Also notice that the second premise is turned by the clergy into carrots and sticks - heaven and hell. Mysticism, on the other hand, does not dichotomize heaven and hell; both are natural concomitants of how we live.

As you can see, when filtered by the world's religion, the monism of monistic idealism becomes ever more obscure, and dualistic ideas prevail. In the East, thanks to an endless supply of students of mysticism, monistic idealism in its esoteric form has popularly retained at least some passing familiarity and respect. In the West, however, mysticism has had relatively little impact. The dualism of Judeo-Christian monotheistic religions has dominated the popular psyche, supported by a powerful hierarchy of interpreters. Like mind-body Cartesian dualism, however, the dualism of God and the world does not seem to hold up to scientific scrutiny. As scientific data undermine religion, there is a tendancy to throw out the baby with the bathwater - the baby being the ethics and values that the religion teaches, ethics and values that continue to have validity and usefulness.

Exposing the illogic of dualistic religions need not result in the monistic philosophy of material realism. As we have seen, an alternative monism is available. In view of the way quantum physics has demolished material realism, monistic idealism may be the only viable monistic philosophy of reality. The other option is to give up on metaphysics entirely, which for a while was the direction in philosophy. The trend now seems to be reversing.

Now we must face the crucial question: is science compatible with monistic idealism? If not, we must abandon metaphysics when doing science, adding the looming crisis of faith. If yes, we must reformulate science in accordance with the demands of philosophy. In this book, we argue that monistic idealism is not only compatible with quantum physics but even essential to its interpretation. The paradoxes of the new physics disappear when we examine them from the point of view of monistic idealism. Furthermore, quantum physics combined with monistic idealism gives us a powerful paradigm with which we can resolve some of the paradoxes of mysticism, such as the question of transcendence and plurality (how does the one consciousness become many?). Our work points toward the beginnings of an idealist science and the revitalization of religions.

How Consciousness creates the Material World ?

By Amit Goswami

Related articles :

-  Interview with Amit Goswami 

-  Is there a Big Mind?

The Accelerating Shift in Human Consciousness towards
The Universal Consciousness and Supra-Universal Consciousness Levels and Planes

Book excerpt: The Philosophy of Monistic Idealism - Mysticism & Religion

Mysticism

Realism grew out of everyday perceptions. In our everyday experiences of the world, evidence abounds that things are material and separate from each other and from us.

Of course, mental experiences do not fit neatly into such a formulation. Mental experiences, such as thought, do not seem to be material, so we have developed a dualistic philosophy that relegates mind and body to separate domains. The shortcomings ofdualism are well known. Notably, ikt cannot explain how a separate, non-material mind interacts with a material body. If there are such mind-body interactions, then there have to be exchanges of energy between the two domains. In myriad experiments, we find that the energy of the material universe by itself remains a constant (this is the law of conservation of energy). Neither has any evidence shown that energy is lost or gained from the mental domain. How can that be if there are interactions going on between the two domains?

Idealists, although they hold consciousness to be the primary reality and thus give value to our subjective, mental experiences, do not propose that consciousness is mind (beware of possible semantic confusion: consciousness is a relatively modern word in the English language. The word Mind is often used to denote consciousness, especially in the older literature. In this book, the distinction between the concepts of Mind and Consciousness is necessary and important.). Instead, they propose that material objects (such as a ball) and mental objects (such as the thought of a ball) are both objects in consciousness. In an experience there is also the subject, the experiencer. What is the nature of this experiencer? This is a question of utmost importance in Monistic Idealism.

According to Monistic Idealism, the consciousness of the subject in a subject-object experience is the same consciousness that is the ground of all being. Therefore, consciousness is unitive. There is only one subject - consciousness, and we are that consciousness. "Thou art that" say Hindu holy books known collectively as the Upanishads.

Why then in our ordinary experience do we feel so separate? This separateness, insists the mystic, is an illusion. If we mediate on the true nature of our self, we shall find, as mystics from many ages and times have found, that there is only one consciousness behind all the diversity. This one consciousness/subject/self goes by many names. Hindus refer to it as the atman. Christians call it the Holy Spirit, or in Quaker Christianity, the Inner-Light. By whatever name it is called, all agree that the experience of this one consciousness is of inestimable value.

[...]

Mystics, then, are hose people who offer testimony to this fundamental reality of unity in diversity. A sampling of mystical writings from different cultures and spiritual traditions bears witness to the universality of the mystical experience of unity:

"My being is God, not by simple participation, but by a true transformation of my being" Christian mystic Catherine Adorna of Genoa (XV^th).

"Our very self-nature is Buddha, and apart from this nature there is no other Buddha" Zen Buddhist Hui-Neng (VI^th)

"Thou art neither ceasing to be nor still existing. Thou art He, without one of these limitations. Then if thou know thine own existence thus, then thou knowest God; and if not, then not" Sufi mystic Ibn al-Arabi (XII^th).

"God...when he has just decided to launch upon his work of creation is called He. God in the complete unfolding of his Being, Bliss and Love, in which he becomes capable of being perceived by the reason of the heart...is called You. But God, in his supreme manifestation, where the fullness of His Being finds its final expression in the last and all-embracing of his attributes, is called I. Kabbalist Moses de Leon (XIV^th).

"But when you finally discover me, the inner naked Truth arisen from within, Absolute Awareness permeates the Universe" Buddhist Yeshe Tsogyel & Padmasambhava (VIII^th).

"In this breaking-through I receive that God and I are one. Then I am what I was, and then I neither diminish nor increase, for I am then an immovable cause that moves all things" Dominican monk Meister Ekhart (XIII^th).

"I am the Truth!" Sufi mystic Monsoor al Halaj (X^th).

"I am reality without beginning, without equal. I have no part in the illusion of I and You,  this and that. I am Brahman, one without a second, bliss without end, the eternal, unchanging truth...I dwell within all beings as the soul, the pure consciousness, the ground of all phenomena, internal and external. I am both the enjoyer and that which is enjoyed. In the days of my ignorance, I used to think of these as being separate from myself. Now I know that I am All" Hindu mystic Shankara (VII^th)

"My father and I are one" Jesus of Nazareth

What is the value of the experience of unity, For the mystic, it opens the door to a transformation of being that liberates love, universal compassion, and freedom from the bondage of living in acquired separateness and from the compensating attachments to which we cling. (This liberated being is called moksha in Sanskrit).

The idealist philosophy grew out of the experiences and creative intuitions of mystics, who constantly stress the direct experiential aspect of the underlying reality. "The Tao that can be spoken is not the absolute Tao, "said Lao Tzu. The Mystics caution that all teachings and metaphysical writings must be regarded as fingers pointing to the moon rather than as the moon itself.

As the Lankavatara Sutra reminds us: "These teachings are only finger pointing to the Noble Wisdom...They are intended for the consideration and guidance of the discriminating minds of all people, but they are not the Truth itself, which can only be self-realized within one's own deepest consciousness"

Alternatively, some mystics resort to paradoxical descriptions. Writes Ibn al-Arabi: "It (consciousness) is neither attributed with being nor with nonbeing...It is neither existent nor non-existent. It is not said to be either the First or the Last."

Indeed, the idealist metaphysics itself can be seen to be paradoxical, involving as it does, the paradoxical concept of transcendence. What is transcendence? The philosophy can only say, neti, neti - not this, not that. But what it is? The philosophy remains silent. Or, alternatively, says one of the Upanishads: "It is within all this / It is outside all this"

Is the transcendent realm within the immanent world? Yes. Is it outside the immanent world ? Yes. It gets very confusing.

The idealist philosophy also remains largely silent in answering such question as, How does the undivided consciousness divide into subject-object reality? How does the one consciousness become many? Saying that the observed multiplicity of the world is an illusion hardly satisfy us.

[...] monistic idealism is the correct philosophy for science in view of quantum physics. The integration of science and mysticism also helps resolve one of the difficult question raised by mysticism.

The integration of science and mlysticism should not be too disconcerting. After all, they share an important similarity: Both grew out of empirical data interpreted in the light of theoretical explanatory principles. In science, theory serves both as explanation of data and as the instrument of prediction and guidance for future experiments. The idealist philosophy, too, can be viewed as a creative theory that acts as an explanation of empirical observations of the mystics as well as guidance for other researcher of Truth. Finally, like science, mysticism seems to be a universal enterprise. There is no parochialism in mysticism. Parochialism enters when religions simplify mystical teachings to make them more communicable to the masses of humankind.

by Grace F. Knoche

Theosophical University Press Online Edition

The School of Athens by Raphael

Foreword

A Mystery school is a university of the soul, a school for the study of the mysteries of the inner nature of man and of surrounding nature. By understanding these mysteries, the student perceives his intimate relationship with divinity, and strives through self-discipline and devotion to become at one with his inner god.

This book attempts to present certain fundamental lines of teaching which it is hoped will give a more or less clear picture of what a Mystery school really is. Full and specific knowledge of the Mystery schools -- where they have been, where now they function, what are their chief characteristics -- has not been given out. Modern historians of the Greek mystery centers, for example, marvel at how well the rule of secrecy imposed upon the candidates was kept. This does not pertain to the public aspect, such as the fourteen-mile procession along the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis in which men, women, and children participated. But ``the rites of the Greater Mysteries . . . the true secrets of the teletai [initiation proper] and the epopteia [the culminating vision] have never been divulged.''

The student can find, however, a generous amount of information scattered here and there in the literatures of the past and can build up for himself a coherent picture of the pageantry of the Mystery schools, a picture which will turn into the reality of experience only as he becomes inwardly prepared through lifetimes of dedication and the study and practice of the ancient wisdom.

That which can be discovered by the sincere student may be likened to our knowledge of the atom. Who, for example, has ever seen the real atom? What microscope has penetrated the secret of its existence? Yet today we know more about the atom with its electrons than has been revealed for centuries. Although invisible to both eye and lens, scientists have detected the flash of its track, its "way of light"; through diligent and painstaking labor they have studied this way of light until, through inference and evidence, the structure of the atom and its components, its almost spiritual origin, has been revealed.

Thus with the Mysteries: as we look at the pages of history, and further into the mist of unrecorded time, we do not see the schools themselves, but through study and devotion we may glimpse the flash of their track, their way of light. From inference and spiritual testimony we can trace the pageantry of the light- bearers as they have passed from age to age, inaugurating the grand religions and philosophies of the human race. Some of these lights shine with immense glory, others with less strength, while still others are but fitful gleams of half-understood truth.

The physicist cannot point to the physical atom, yet he knows it exists as the basis, the foundation, of all matter; the student of theosophy cannot show you a Mystery school, yet he knows it exists as the heart or atomic center of the spiritual and intellectual life of the planet. Who then would dare assert the non- existence of the Mysteries, of this potent atom of esotericism, when luminous traces of spiritual power are seen scattered all over the world? If our physical bodies are rooted in invisible fiery lives, why should not our human spiritual, intellectual, and moral bodies likewise have their origin in the spiritual and intellectual fire-mist of the planet?

An uninterrupted history of the occult network of the human race is not available to us today, for such records are the guerdon of the pledged disciple, but with the powerful lens of the ancient wisdom we can study the way of light flashed forth by each lightbearer over the centuries; can recapture the atmosphere of the ancient temples; can discern the purpose of the schools, their methods of teaching; and, last but not least, can learn of the strong discipline imposed upon the candidates seeking initiation into the knowledge of their secret origin and their still more secret destiny.

The author's debt to theosophy as presented by H. P. Blavatsky cannot be measured. One can only hope that the present study will encourage those new to her writings to drink deep of the springs at their source.-- G.F.K.

Pasadena, California
October 2, 1999

complete e-book @ theosociety.org