THE SPIRIT OF MAN
The Greek word for the human “spirit” used in the Bible is “pneuma.” Spirit, or the Greek word “pneuma” primarily denotes the wind, to breath, blow, also breath; then especially, the spirit, which like the wind, is invisible and immaterial. Pneuma, or spirit, is the center of man’s being, the portion or area where God deals with humans. Before humans are regenerated, or “born again”, this space does not contain the Spirit of God, but and is either empty, or, at other times, can even be a dwelling place for demon spirits. However, the moment a person receives Christ as Savior, by faith, and is genuinely born again, God sends His Holy Spirit to take up residence in this area (1st Cor. 12:13), and from that time on, starts to communicate to the spirit of man by shaping, molding, and forming him into a new creation! Man’s spirit has a wall around it, dividing it from the soul. The only door into the spirit area, or opening, is guarded by the human “will.” The moment this will succumbs to the Will of God, the Holy Spirit enters this area where the new education of the sense faculties begin. As God has His way, this is the area where Faith, Hope, Prayer, Reverence, and Worship takes place. Therefore, we might refer to the human spirit, after regenerated by the Holy Spirit, as the location in man where all of his spiritual insight takes place!
The “Soul” of man is the part of man which is referred to by the Apostle Paul as “Natural.”, (1st Cor.2:14). The Greek word used for soul is “psuche.”According to Vine’s Dictionary, “Psuche”, the Greek word for “Soul”, “ denotes the breath, the breath of life, then the soul in various meanings such as natural life of the body, the seat of personality, the inward man, the seat of the new life, the life constituted in an individual.” “Natural men” mean the men that live animal lives, such as to satisfy the body’s need of food and sleep, gratify his passions, etc. The soul area of man has an outer dividing wall around it dividing it from the physical body, and the inner wall of the spirit. This outer wall has five openings in it which take in information fed to it by the physical body. The soul is the area where information of each individual intellect is stored to form a unique personality, different from any other. These five openings are in the outer wall to the soul, which are identified as: imagination, conscience, memory, reason, and affections. As the Holy Spirit works in the spirit area of man, there will be times of filling where the Holy Spirit will overflow from the filled spirit compartment into the compartment of the soul, transforming this area, also. Paul recognized this work of the Holy Spirit in genuine believers when he exhorted them in Romans 12:2 saying, “and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (soul compartment), that ye may prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
The Holy Spirit penetrates the “memory” openings of the wall housing the soul area, in order to go through the “will” opening of the spirit wall, into the spirit area.
The body is the physical container of man referred to by Paul as the “Carnal” (1st Cor. 3:1-3) part of man, which houses the soul and the spirit until physical death. The Greek word for body is “Soma”, and this physical house has five openings or gates, which take in information to the soul and spirit compartments, and are in contact with the physical realm. These five openings are: The eye gate takes in all the physical sights into the imagination opening of the soul. The nose gate takes in all the physical odors and smells, and corresponds to the “conscience” opening to the soul, by which the soul detects the presence of good and evil. The ear gate takes in sounds, or hears, corresponding to the memory opening to the soul which recalls what it heard. The mouth gate tastes physical foods, or body fuel, corresponding to the opening of “reason” to the soul permitting the soul to compare facts as the taste compares foods. The feel gate, or touch sense, is the hand by which the affection opening to the soul feels the person of the one it loves, and is warned of danger such as heat, cold, or pain, etc.
The Holy Spirit penetrates the body through the “ear gate”, in order to get through the “memory” gate to the soul, and the “will” gate to the spirit, because the Bible informs us in Romans 10:9 that “faith comes by HEARING, and hearing, by the Word of God.” Faith is a gift from God (1st Cor. 12:9) as well as a spiritual fruit of a regenerated spirit (Galatians 5:22), and is an absolute necessity in order to receive salvation, because we are told in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by Grace, through Faith, which is a Gift from God. Going back, for a moment, to the way this gift of God (faith) comes that brings salvation, is when faith comes through the “ear gate” by hearing the WORD of God, the Greek word for “Word” here, is “Rhema”, which actually means the spoken word, directly from God, or the direct communication from God. Another Greek word used for “word” in the New Testament, is “Logos”, meaning the written word of God, or the Son of God, Jesus Christ (John 1:1), who was always with the Father. Faith does not come by “logos”, but by “Rhema.”
Before the diversion from man’s spirit becomes too confusing, the reason I am expounding saving faith is that so many times, it is hard to understand why a person will spend a life time reading the Bible and other Holy Writings, and takes this information in through the “eye gate” and never comes to a saving knowledge of Christ! Now, does this mean that the only way a person can get saved is by haring the bible preached, receiving it through the “ear gate?” The answer to that question is NO! A person can read the bible, taking this knowledge through the “eye gate”, and when it pleases God to reveal the saving knowledge of this information to the spirit, He will do so by transforming the “Logos” fed to the “eye gate” into “Rhema”, revealing it directly to the spirit, at which time, it becomes “Revelation Knowledge,” or quite simply, “Saving Faith” which is His Gift to His Elect, or “Marked.” This truth was revealed to Paul by Christ, because he passed it on to us in 1st Thess. 2:13; “For this cause also thank our God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you HEARD of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word (Rhema) of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
To complete this spiritual nature of man, when he is totally filled with the holy Spirit, the Spirit will fill both the spirit and soul compartments, overflowing into the body compartment. The physical manifestations of this occurrence in a believer filled with the spirit, can be utterances in foreign languages, healings, miracles, as listed in 1st Cor. 12. To be filled with the spirit is the greatest enemy to Satan, because sin will be replaced by the Spirit!
In order to complete the subject of the spirit of man, we must examine what happens to the spirit at the physical death of the body when the human spirit looses its home in the physical realm.
In Luke’s gospel, the story of the “rich man and Lazarus” is told, revealing a glimpse of the “underworld.” It describes two compartments; Hell and Paradise, separated by an impassable gulf. At the bottom of this gulf is “the bottomless pit” or “abyss.” Evil spirits, or demons are confined temporarily in this pit, which has a king called “Apollon”, and is kept locked by God who commissions an angel to open it any time he wants to (Revelations 9:1-11; 17:8; 20:1-3).
Before Christ was resurrected, the spirit and soul of the Elect who died physically went to the “Paradise” compartment of this underworld. This was the place where Christ met the penitent thief. after His death on the Cross. When Christ Note that in Luke 23:43, Jesus said to the penitent thief “Verily I say to you, Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Now if Paradise at that time was in Heaven, where did He go at death, and where did He spend the time between the crucifixion and the resurrection? After He was resurrected first appeared to Mary Magdalene, and she recognized Him calling Him “master” (John 20:16), Jesus said to her, “touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). So, obviously, Jesus met the penitent thief the day of their physical deaths in Paradise which was in the depths of the earth at that time! When Christ was resurrected, His soul and spirit returned from the underworld, of which He brought back all the occupants of Paradise and locked it up. He now has the “Keys of Death and Hades”, (Revelation 1:18). Death refers to the grave, and Hades to the underworld. Some of those who came back from Paradise with Christ received their bodies rising and ascending with Him as the “First Fruits” of the resurrection from among the dead. (Matt.27:52,53.) The rest were moved to the “Third Heaven”, where Paul was caught up, )2nd Cor. 12:1-4). Paul referred to it as Paradise. Therefore, since the resurrection of Christ, Paradise moved from the underworld to the third Heaven, and now contains the spirits and souls of all the righteous dead, from Adam to the present. They, and all the future believers who die “in Christ”, and go there, will remain until the time when Christ comes back to meet His church in the air (1st Thess. 4:14), bringing them from Paradise to re-unite with their bodies from the grave, and they (these with their new glorified bodies like the body of Jesus), shall ever be with Him. (This subject needs to be discussed more in detain in another thesis under “Eschatology.”)
As for the wicked dead in the Hell compartment of the underworld, as far as we know, they are still there and will remain there until the second resurrection, when they will return to the earth and get their bodies, and proceed to the “Great White Throne” judgment. After judgment, they will be sentenced to the “Second Death” meaning that they will die again, loosing their bodies, and as “disembodied spirits”, they will be cast into the “lake of fire”, (Gr. Gehenna, the “Final Hell”). The last verse of Isaiah describes a place in the earth where they will be as an example for others to look at! “And they shall go forth and look upon the carcass of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. This will be the final eternal prison of all the reprobate, and evil spirits of all ages after the earth is “renovated by fire” and cleansed of all evil and rebellious spirits.
Eternal Flame
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
GOD??
IF we make a careful and unbiased study of the Sacred Books of the world we discover that the
concept of God among the ancient Chinese was similar in many respects to that of the Hindus, Buddhists and Zoroastrians. The God of the ancient Egyptians is not opposed to the Christian's idea of the Great First Cause. One is astounded at the numerous points of agreement.
Surely, the time has arrived to cast aside the points of disagreement-to open our eyes and realize that we all are worshiping the same God, since there is but one God to worship.
The following is a composite, condensed definition of God-a summary of the wisdom of the ages; and the student must agree that it is not only wonderfully complete but inspiring-and naturally so, since the wise men of old who wrote the Sacred Books were themselves inspired.
From the standpoint of the absolute, or in the absolute sense, God is beyond what is known and manifested, being unsearchable, changeless, perfect, neither seen nor heard, and eternally unconditioned and undivided. God is beginningless and endless, without form and devoid of passions; He, or rather It, is too great to be fully defined by any combination of words, and for that reason is self-described.
All the Sacred Books declare that God is One; the First and the Last; from which nothing can be excluded, and to which nothing can be added.
God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, our Father and our Mother. God as Mother is the Primal Substance and the Seed of all things-yes, existence itself.
God is Breath of Breath, Spirit, Primeval Fire, Creator or Generator; and being the one great Universal, Supreme Eternally creation of all differentiation, which never changes its nature and is as unmoved as a waveless ocean, eternally unconditioned and undivided."
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY,
Shrimat Shankaracharya's
Crest Jewel o f 1.llisdoyn, p. 136.
Changeless Soul, all things are threaded on God like pearls on a string. The universe is spread in God's vast Form; and the Infinite One is an Ocean into which all things flow-the Supreme Treasure House.
God is Lord of Heaven; and, being omniscient (all knowledge) Mind, of necessity, is of God's very Essence. This Mind is One Mind, since God is One; the All-Conserving Mind, the Creative Mind, Mind of Mind.
God is not only Life, but Life of Life, Light, Truth, Love and Good.
We cannot conceive of a universe without a Law to govern it; and this Law is the Good Law, the Royal Law, the Perfect Law of Liberty, the Law of Love, the Law of the Spirit of Life-an Originating and All-comprehending, Eternal Principle.
There is no variableness in God since He is eternal, immortal and infinite; nevertheless He is that from which every transformation arises.
The following is a digest, of a few excerpts from various Sacred Books which describe the Attributes of God, yet in differnt wording.
"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent."
-I SAMUEL 15:29.
"Forever, 0 Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast
established the earth, and it abideth.
"They continue this day according to thine ordinances:
for all are thy servants."
-PSALMS 119:89-91.
"The Tao, considered as unchanging, has no name."
-THE TEXTS OF TAOISM,
The Tao Teh King, Part I, p. 74.
"Immovable [is] God alone, and rightly [He] alone; for He Himself is in Himself, and by Himself, and round Himself, completely full and perfect.
"God, then, hath [ever] been unchanging, and ever, in like fashion, with Himself bath the Eternity consisted,having within itself Cosmos ingenerate, which we correctly call [God] Sensible.
"Of that [transcendent] Deity this Image bath been made,-Cosmos, the imitator of Eternity."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
The Perfect Sermon, Vol. II, p. 368.
"We do not recognize (Brahma as any thing perceptible); therefore we do not know how to teach him (his nature to a disciple). It is even different from what is known (from the manifested universe; if you then say, it must be the unmanifested universe, no) it is also beyond what is not known (to the senses, it is beyond the unmanifested universe)."
-THE KENA OR TALAVAKARA UPANISHAD OF THE SAMA VEDA, pp. 668-9.
"I am the Lord, I change not."
-MALACHI 3:6.
"Was that which was produced before Heaven and Earth a thing? That which made things and gave to each its character was not itself a thing."
-THE TEXTS OF TAOISM,
The Writings o f Kwang-Tze, Part II, p. 72.
"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning halt laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
"They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
"And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall
not fail." -HEBREWS 1:10-12.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." -ISAIAH 55:8, 9.
"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable." -PSALMS 145:3.
"0 Lord that dwellest eternally, whose are the highest heavens, whose chambers are in the air, whose throne is beyond imagination, whose glory inconceivable;
Hear the voice of thy servant, give ear to thy creature's petition, and attend to my words!"
-THE APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT,
IV EZRA 8:20, 21, 24.
Vol. II, pp. 594-5.
"No man hath seen God at any time."
-I JOHN 4:12.
'The Tao cannot be heard; what can be heard is not It. The Tao cannot be seen; what can be seen is not It. The Tao cannot be expressed in words; what can be expressed in words is not It. Do we know the Formless which gives form to form? In the same way the Tao does not admit of
being named.' "
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, VOL. XL.
The Texts of Taoism.
The Writings o f Kwang-Tze, Part II, p. 69.
"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
"On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." -JOB 23:8, 9.
"The King of kings, and Lord of lords;
"`Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." -I TIMOTHY 6:15, 16.
"Not in the sight abides his form, none beholds him by the eye. Those who know him dwelling in the heart Unsearchable "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
"It is as high as heaven
"The measure thereof is larger broader than the sea."
than the earth, and
-JoB 11:7-9.
(ether of the heart) by the heart (pure intellect) and mind, become immortal."
-,SWETASWATARA UPANISHAD, p. 396.
"But verily thou art not able to behold Me with these throe eyes; the divine eye I give unto thee."
-THE Bhagavad-Gita, p. 113.
" `The Perfect Tao is very recondite, and by nothing else but Itself can it be described. Since ye wish to hear about it, ye cannot do so by the hearing of the ear:-that which eludes both the ears and eyes is the True Tao; what can be heard and seen perishes, and only this survives. There is (much) that you have not yet learned, and especially you have not acquired this! Till you have learned what the ears do not hear, how can the Tao be spoken about at all?"'
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XL.
The Texts o f Taoism. Yu Shu King,
or the Classic o f the Pivot o f Jade, Part II, p. 266.
"As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him." -PSALMS 18:30.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."
-PSALMS 90:2.
"Our God is a living God.
"His power fills the universe. He was before the world saw light. He will be when the world exists no more. He formed thee; with His Spirit thou breathest.
"Lao the Master said, The Great Tao has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth. The Great Tao has no passions' , but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do.
"The Great Tao has no name, but It effects the growth and maintenance of all things.
"I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and call It the Tao."
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XL.
The Texts o f Taoism.
Khing Kang King, or the Classic o f Purity, Part II, p. 249.
"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: bath he said, and shall he not do it? or bath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
-NUMBERS 23:19.
"And the Father himself, which bath sent me, bath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape."
"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
-EPHESIANS 4:6.
"Know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him."
-DEUTERONOMY 4:35.
"There is but one Brahma which is Truth's self. It is from ignorance of that One that god-heads have been conceived to be diverse."
-MAHABHARATA,
Udyoga Parva, Vol. III, p. 145.
"''Passions', that is, feelings, affections, as in the first of the thirty-nine Articles,"
F. 2s(1.
His bow is of fire. His arrows are of flame."
-THE TALMUD.
Without Form Devoid of Passions Per feet, if-described beginningless " `There is no end or beginning to the Tao.' "
The Texts o f Taoism,
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXXIX.
The Writings of Kwang-Tze, Part I, p. 382.
-JOHN 5:37.
"The Atman, which is the substratum of the ego in man, is one: and therefore different from the physical bodies which on the other hand are many. How can this body then be the Atman?"
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY, Shrimat Shankaracharya's Aprokshanubhuti, p. 8.
"As the sun, manifesting all parts of space, above, between, and below, shines resplendent, so over-rules the allglorious adorable God, one alone, all that exists in likeness with its cause."
-~WETASWATARA UPANISHAD, pp. 397-8.
"The Oneness being Source and Root of all, is in all things as Root and Source. `'Without [this] Source is naught; whereas the Source [Itself] is from naught but Itself."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Corpus Hermeticum IV (V),
The Cup or Monad, Vol. II, p. 90.
"When he perceiveth the diversified existence of beings as rooted in One, and spreading forth from it, then he reacheth the eternal."
-THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 139.
"Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."
-ISAIAH 44:6.
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
"In the essence of Suchness (God), there is neither anything which has to be excluded, nor anything which has to be added."
-THE AWAKENING OF FAITH, p. 57.
"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." -REVELATION 19:16.
"I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."
-GENESIS 17:1.
"Holy art Thou, more powerful than all power. Holy art Thou, transcending all pre-eminence."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Poemandres, the Shepherd o f Men, Vol. II, p. 19.
"The energy of God is Power that naught can e'er surpass, a Power with which no one can make comparison of any human thing at all, or any thing divine."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Mind Unto Hermes, Vol. II, p. 178.
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
"If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
"Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
-PSALMS 139:7-10.
Omni
The First and the Last
"That they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us."
-ACTS 17:27.
-REVELATION 1:8.
Nothing 11. "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for Excluded, Nothing Added ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it." -ECCLESIASTES 3:4.
"May the one God, who, like the spider, through his own nature, encases himself with many threads, which are produced by the first (cause, Pradhana, nature), grant us identity with Brahma,
"The one God, who is concealed in all beings, who pervades all, who is the inner soul of all beings, the ruler of all actions, who dwells in all beings, the witness, who is mere thinking, and without qualities."
-SwETASWATARA UPANISHAD, p. 401.
"Whoever knows the God who is without commencement, without end, who within this impervious (world) is the creator of the universe, who is of an infinite form, the one penetrates of the universe, becomes liberated from all bonds."
-SWETAS`WATARA UPANISHAD, p. 399.
Omniscient 14. "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
-COLOSSIANS 2:3.
"Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
-MATTHEW 10:26.
"0 Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
"Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
-PSALMS 139:1, 2, 6.
"The Master said, `The Tao does not exhaust itself in what is greatest, nor is it ever absent from what is least; and therefore it is to be found complete and diffused in all things. How wide is its universal comprehension! How deep is its unfathomableness! The embodiment of its attri
butes in benevolence and righteousness is but a small result of its spirit-like (working); but it is only the perfect man who can determine this. The perfect man has (the charge of) the world;-is not the charge great?"'
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, `7Ol. XXXIX,
The Texts of Taoism.
The Writings o f Kwang-Tze, Part I, p. 342.
"So there is nothing that cannot be perceived by it, [that is, the world of relativity is submerged in the oneness of Suchness] (God). Thence we assign to Suchness this quality, the universal illumination of the universe."
-ACVAGHOSHA'S AWAKENING OF FAITH, p. 97.
"Helping and guarding, guarding behind and guarding in front, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, proves an and unceivable spy and watcher for the man to whom he comes to help with all the strength of his soul, he of the ten thousand spies, the powerful, all-knowing, undeceivable god."
"But I think thus in my heart:
" `Should the evil thoughts of the earthly man be a hundred times worse, they would not rise so high as the good thoughts of the heavenly Mithra;
. " `Should the heavenly wisdom in the earthly man be a hundred times greater, it would not rise so high as the heavenly wisdom in the heavenly Mithra."'
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXIII,
The Zend-Avesta.
The Yasts and SiYOZahs, Part II, pp. 131 and 146-7.
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."
-MATTHEW 6:9.
"Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, 0 Lord,
Mother
Trinity
art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting." -ISAIAH 63:16.
"This is the Monad which is incomprehensible or unknowable; this it is which has no Seal (or Mark), in which are all Seals; which is blessed for ever and ever. This is the eternal Father; this the ineffable, unthinkable, incomprehensible, untranscendible Father; this it is in which the All become joyous."
-FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN) Codex Brucianus, pp. 549, 550.
"I the Father of this universe, the Mother, the Supporter, the Grandsire, the Holy One to be known, the Word of Power."
-THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 98.
"Thus it is that the Tao produces (all things), nourishes them, brings them to their full growth, nurses them, completes them, matures them, maintains them, and overspreads them."
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXXIX, The Texts o f Taoism.
The Tao Teh King, Part I, p. 94.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."
-I JOHN 5:7.
"The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things."
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXXIX.
The Texts of Taoism.
The Tao Te1a King, Part I, p. 85.
" `Hail, My brethren and My children. Let there be with you the peace of My Father, which is thine, which I received from My Father, so that I might make it to remain with you for all time.' And He breathed on their faces and said, `Receive ye the Holy Spirit.' "
-COPTIC APOCRYPHA,
The Book o f the Resurrection o f Jesus Christ,
By Bartholomew the Apostle, p. 205.
"They are even father, mother and child; mind is even the father, speech the mother, and life the child." -BRIHAD ARANYAKA UPANISHAD, p. 222.
"The Mahayana has a triple significance. "The first is the greatness of quintessence. "The second is the greatness of attributes. "The third is the greatness of activity."
-AgVAGHOSHA'S AWAKENING OF FAITH, pp. 53-4.
"The Mind of the Father uttered [the Word] that all should be divided [or cut] into three. His Will nodded assent, and at once all things were so divided.
"He who governs all things with the Mind of the eternal.
"In every cosmos there shineth [or is manifested] a Triad, of which a Monad is source.
"All things are served in the Gulphs of the Triad. "From this Triad the Father mixed every spirit.
"Arming both mind and soul with triple Might." -ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS,
The ChaldrPan Oracles, Vol. VIII, pp. 51-54.
Seed of All Things
"From Him is the seed of all things, and it is He that upholds the Earth with all her mobile and immobile creatures."
-MAHABHARATA,
Canti Parva, Vol. VIII, p. 883.
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
-GENESIS 1:29.
"For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
"And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha."
-ROMANS 9:28, 29.
("Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; )
"Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God."
-II CORINTHIANS 9:10, 11.
"The Atman is permanent, eternal and therefore existence itself."
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY,
Shrimat Shankaracharya's Aprokshanubhuti, p. 6.
"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
"Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."
"All is the effect of all, one universal Essence."
-BRIHAD ARANYAKA UPANISHAD, p. 208.
"This soul is Brahma, and stands as the soul and substance of the universe."
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY,
Shrimat Shankaracharya's AProkshanubhuti, p. 13.
"I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
"My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and
my revenue than choice silver.
"I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the
paths of judgment:
"That I may cause those that love me to inherit sub
stance; and I will fill their treasures."
-PROVERBS 8:12, 19-21.
22-23. "0 Primal Origin of my origination; Thou Primal Primal Substance of my substance; First Breath of breath, the substance breath that is in me." Breath of
-ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS, Breath
A Mithriac Ritual, Vol. VI, Pp. 18, 19.
"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.
"Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
"And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
"Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord
Universal Essence
Substance Existence Itself
-ACTS 17:24, 25.
God; Come from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
"So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army."
-EZEKIEL 37:1, 5, 6, 9, 10.
"But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; ... and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, bast thou not glorified."
-DANIEL 5:23.
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
"Of this same Spirit, of which I have already spoken many times, all things have need; for that it raises up all things, each in its own degree, and makes them live, and gives them nourishment."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Cyril o f Alexandria,
Fragment XVIIZ, p. 259.
"The Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem."
-ISAIAH 31:9.
"But who may abide the day of his coming~ and who shall stand when he appeareth% for he is like refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope."
-MALACHI 3:2.
"The Third Utterance (Logos)
"Hear me, give ear to me - ... Creator of the Light; 0 Holder of the Keys; Inbreather of the Fire; Fire-hearted
One, whose Breath gives Light; ... 0 Lord of Light, whose Body is of Fire."
"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
"I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded."
"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him."
"For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high place of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name."
-AMOS 4:13.
"Indeed, I have no hope that the Creator of the whole o Greatness, the Father and the Lord of all the things (tha are), could ever have one name. He who cannot b named, or rather He who can be called by every name.
"For He, indeed, is One and All.
"He, then, alone, yet all-complete in the fertility c either sex, ever with child of His own Will, doth ever brie to birth whatever He bath willed to procreate.
"His Will is the All-goodness, which also is the Goon ness of all things, born from the nature of His ova Divinity."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
The Perfect SeYynon, Vol. II, p. 344.
-ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS,
A Mithriac Ritual, Vol. VI, p. 25.
-JOHN 1:3.
-ISAIAH 45:12.
Spirit
-JOHN 4:24.
-COLOSSIANS 1:16.
Fire
Generator
"His being is conceiving of all things and making (them). He ever makes all things, in heaven, in air, in earth, in deep, in all of cosmos, in every part that is and that is not of everything. For there is naught in all the world that is not He."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Corpus Hermeticum V. (VI.) Though Unmani f est God is Most Manifest.
Vol. II, p. 104.
"l am the Generator of all; all evolves from Me." -THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, P. 104.
bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow." -DEUTERONOMY 28:12.
"He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
"When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures."
-JEREMIAH 10:12, 13.
Threaded on
"There is naught whatsoever higher than I.... All this
"Just as the rivers of all lands, God Like Pearls on a String is threaded on Me, as rows of pearls on a string."
Into the ocean find their way,
May gods and men from every world
-THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 82.
Universe Spread
"First of the Gods, most ancient Man Thou art,
Approach and find their way to thee."
-BUDDHISM IN TRANSLATIONS,
in God's Form
Supreme receptacle of all that lives;
Knower and known, the dwelling-place on high;
In Thy vast Form the universe is spread.
Jataka, p. 31.
"To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him."
Supreme Treasure-House
"In power boundless, measureless in strength, Thou holdest all: then Thou Thyself art All." -THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, pp. 122-3.
"Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord bath wrought this?
"In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."
-JOB 12:9, 10.
"Lofty, beyond all thought, unperishing,
Thou treasure-house supreme, all-immanent." -THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 116.
"The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to
-CORINTHIANS 8:6.
"All this universe has the (Supreme) Deity for its life. Univer. That Deity is Truth. He is the Universal Soul....
"That particle which is the Soul of all this is Truth; it is the Universal Soul."
-CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD, pp. 593, 595.
"God is as a soul and the world as a body." -MASNAVI I MA'NAVI, p. 29.
"The Supreme Soul hath another name, viz, Pure Knowledge."
-MaHABHARATA,
Udyoga Parva, Vol. III, p. 162.
Supren
Lord of
GOD??
IF we make a careful and unbiased study of the Sacred Books of the world we discover that the
concept of God among the ancient Chinese was similar in many respects to that of the Hindus, Buddhists and Zoroastrians. The God of the ancient Egyptians is not opposed to the Christian's idea of the Great First Cause. One is astounded at the numerous points of agreement.
Surely, the time has arrived to cast aside the points of disagreement-to open our eyes and realize that we all are worshiping the same God, since there is but one God to worship.
The following is a composite, condensed definition of God-a summary of the wisdom of the ages; and the student must agree that it is not only wonderfully complete but inspiring-and naturally so, since the wise men of old who wrote the Sacred Books were themselves inspired.
From the standpoint of the absolute, or in the absolute sense, God is beyond what is known and manifested, being unsearchable, changeless, perfect, neither seen nor heard, and eternally unconditioned and undivided. God is beginningless and endless, without form and devoid of passions; He, or rather It, is too great to be fully defined by any combination of words, and for that reason is self-described.
All the Sacred Books declare that God is One; the First and the Last; from which nothing can be excluded, and to which nothing can be added.
God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, our Father and our Mother. God as Mother is the Primal Substance and the Seed of all things-yes, existence itself.
God is Breath of Breath, Spirit, Primeval Fire, Creator or Generator; and being the one great Universal, Supreme Eternally creation of all differentiation, which never changes its nature and is as unmoved as a waveless ocean, eternally unconditioned and undivided."
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY,
Shrimat Shankaracharya's
Crest Jewel o f 1.llisdoyn, p. 136.
Changeless Soul, all things are threaded on God like pearls on a string. The universe is spread in God's vast Form; and the Infinite One is an Ocean into which all things flow-the Supreme Treasure House.
God is Lord of Heaven; and, being omniscient (all knowledge) Mind, of necessity, is of God's very Essence. This Mind is One Mind, since God is One; the All-Conserving Mind, the Creative Mind, Mind of Mind.
God is not only Life, but Life of Life, Light, Truth, Love and Good.
We cannot conceive of a universe without a Law to govern it; and this Law is the Good Law, the Royal Law, the Perfect Law of Liberty, the Law of Love, the Law of the Spirit of Life-an Originating and All-comprehending, Eternal Principle.
There is no variableness in God since He is eternal, immortal and infinite; nevertheless He is that from which every transformation arises.
The following is a digest, of a few excerpts from various Sacred Books which describe the Attributes of God, yet in differnt wording.
"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent."
-I SAMUEL 15:29.
"Forever, 0 Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast
established the earth, and it abideth.
"They continue this day according to thine ordinances:
for all are thy servants."
-PSALMS 119:89-91.
"The Tao, considered as unchanging, has no name."
-THE TEXTS OF TAOISM,
The Tao Teh King, Part I, p. 74.
"Immovable [is] God alone, and rightly [He] alone; for He Himself is in Himself, and by Himself, and round Himself, completely full and perfect.
"God, then, hath [ever] been unchanging, and ever, in like fashion, with Himself bath the Eternity consisted,having within itself Cosmos ingenerate, which we correctly call [God] Sensible.
"Of that [transcendent] Deity this Image bath been made,-Cosmos, the imitator of Eternity."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
The Perfect Sermon, Vol. II, p. 368.
"We do not recognize (Brahma as any thing perceptible); therefore we do not know how to teach him (his nature to a disciple). It is even different from what is known (from the manifested universe; if you then say, it must be the unmanifested universe, no) it is also beyond what is not known (to the senses, it is beyond the unmanifested universe)."
-THE KENA OR TALAVAKARA UPANISHAD OF THE SAMA VEDA, pp. 668-9.
"I am the Lord, I change not."
-MALACHI 3:6.
"Was that which was produced before Heaven and Earth a thing? That which made things and gave to each its character was not itself a thing."
-THE TEXTS OF TAOISM,
The Writings o f Kwang-Tze, Part II, p. 72.
"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning halt laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
"They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
"And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall
not fail." -HEBREWS 1:10-12.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." -ISAIAH 55:8, 9.
"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable." -PSALMS 145:3.
"0 Lord that dwellest eternally, whose are the highest heavens, whose chambers are in the air, whose throne is beyond imagination, whose glory inconceivable;
Hear the voice of thy servant, give ear to thy creature's petition, and attend to my words!"
-THE APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT,
IV EZRA 8:20, 21, 24.
Vol. II, pp. 594-5.
"No man hath seen God at any time."
-I JOHN 4:12.
'The Tao cannot be heard; what can be heard is not It. The Tao cannot be seen; what can be seen is not It. The Tao cannot be expressed in words; what can be expressed in words is not It. Do we know the Formless which gives form to form? In the same way the Tao does not admit of
being named.' "
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, VOL. XL.
The Texts of Taoism.
The Writings o f Kwang-Tze, Part II, p. 69.
"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
"On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." -JOB 23:8, 9.
"The King of kings, and Lord of lords;
"`Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." -I TIMOTHY 6:15, 16.
"Not in the sight abides his form, none beholds him by the eye. Those who know him dwelling in the heart Unsearchable "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
"It is as high as heaven
"The measure thereof is larger broader than the sea."
than the earth, and
-JoB 11:7-9.
(ether of the heart) by the heart (pure intellect) and mind, become immortal."
-,SWETASWATARA UPANISHAD, p. 396.
"But verily thou art not able to behold Me with these throe eyes; the divine eye I give unto thee."
-THE Bhagavad-Gita, p. 113.
" `The Perfect Tao is very recondite, and by nothing else but Itself can it be described. Since ye wish to hear about it, ye cannot do so by the hearing of the ear:-that which eludes both the ears and eyes is the True Tao; what can be heard and seen perishes, and only this survives. There is (much) that you have not yet learned, and especially you have not acquired this! Till you have learned what the ears do not hear, how can the Tao be spoken about at all?"'
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XL.
The Texts o f Taoism. Yu Shu King,
or the Classic o f the Pivot o f Jade, Part II, p. 266.
"As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him." -PSALMS 18:30.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."
-PSALMS 90:2.
"Our God is a living God.
"His power fills the universe. He was before the world saw light. He will be when the world exists no more. He formed thee; with His Spirit thou breathest.
"Lao the Master said, The Great Tao has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth. The Great Tao has no passions' , but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do.
"The Great Tao has no name, but It effects the growth and maintenance of all things.
"I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and call It the Tao."
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XL.
The Texts o f Taoism.
Khing Kang King, or the Classic o f Purity, Part II, p. 249.
"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: bath he said, and shall he not do it? or bath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
-NUMBERS 23:19.
"And the Father himself, which bath sent me, bath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape."
"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
-EPHESIANS 4:6.
"Know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him."
-DEUTERONOMY 4:35.
"There is but one Brahma which is Truth's self. It is from ignorance of that One that god-heads have been conceived to be diverse."
-MAHABHARATA,
Udyoga Parva, Vol. III, p. 145.
"''Passions', that is, feelings, affections, as in the first of the thirty-nine Articles,"
F. 2s(1.
His bow is of fire. His arrows are of flame."
-THE TALMUD.
Without Form Devoid of Passions Per feet, if-described beginningless " `There is no end or beginning to the Tao.' "
The Texts o f Taoism,
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXXIX.
The Writings of Kwang-Tze, Part I, p. 382.
-JOHN 5:37.
"The Atman, which is the substratum of the ego in man, is one: and therefore different from the physical bodies which on the other hand are many. How can this body then be the Atman?"
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY, Shrimat Shankaracharya's Aprokshanubhuti, p. 8.
"As the sun, manifesting all parts of space, above, between, and below, shines resplendent, so over-rules the allglorious adorable God, one alone, all that exists in likeness with its cause."
-~WETASWATARA UPANISHAD, pp. 397-8.
"The Oneness being Source and Root of all, is in all things as Root and Source. `'Without [this] Source is naught; whereas the Source [Itself] is from naught but Itself."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Corpus Hermeticum IV (V),
The Cup or Monad, Vol. II, p. 90.
"When he perceiveth the diversified existence of beings as rooted in One, and spreading forth from it, then he reacheth the eternal."
-THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 139.
"Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."
-ISAIAH 44:6.
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
"In the essence of Suchness (God), there is neither anything which has to be excluded, nor anything which has to be added."
-THE AWAKENING OF FAITH, p. 57.
"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." -REVELATION 19:16.
"I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."
-GENESIS 17:1.
"Holy art Thou, more powerful than all power. Holy art Thou, transcending all pre-eminence."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Poemandres, the Shepherd o f Men, Vol. II, p. 19.
"The energy of God is Power that naught can e'er surpass, a Power with which no one can make comparison of any human thing at all, or any thing divine."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Mind Unto Hermes, Vol. II, p. 178.
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
"If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
"Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
-PSALMS 139:7-10.
Omni
The First and the Last
"That they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us."
-ACTS 17:27.
-REVELATION 1:8.
Nothing 11. "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for Excluded, Nothing Added ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it." -ECCLESIASTES 3:4.
"May the one God, who, like the spider, through his own nature, encases himself with many threads, which are produced by the first (cause, Pradhana, nature), grant us identity with Brahma,
"The one God, who is concealed in all beings, who pervades all, who is the inner soul of all beings, the ruler of all actions, who dwells in all beings, the witness, who is mere thinking, and without qualities."
-SwETASWATARA UPANISHAD, p. 401.
"Whoever knows the God who is without commencement, without end, who within this impervious (world) is the creator of the universe, who is of an infinite form, the one penetrates of the universe, becomes liberated from all bonds."
-SWETAS`WATARA UPANISHAD, p. 399.
Omniscient 14. "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
-COLOSSIANS 2:3.
"Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
-MATTHEW 10:26.
"0 Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
"Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
-PSALMS 139:1, 2, 6.
"The Master said, `The Tao does not exhaust itself in what is greatest, nor is it ever absent from what is least; and therefore it is to be found complete and diffused in all things. How wide is its universal comprehension! How deep is its unfathomableness! The embodiment of its attri
butes in benevolence and righteousness is but a small result of its spirit-like (working); but it is only the perfect man who can determine this. The perfect man has (the charge of) the world;-is not the charge great?"'
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, `7Ol. XXXIX,
The Texts of Taoism.
The Writings o f Kwang-Tze, Part I, p. 342.
"So there is nothing that cannot be perceived by it, [that is, the world of relativity is submerged in the oneness of Suchness] (God). Thence we assign to Suchness this quality, the universal illumination of the universe."
-ACVAGHOSHA'S AWAKENING OF FAITH, p. 97.
"Helping and guarding, guarding behind and guarding in front, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, proves an and unceivable spy and watcher for the man to whom he comes to help with all the strength of his soul, he of the ten thousand spies, the powerful, all-knowing, undeceivable god."
"But I think thus in my heart:
" `Should the evil thoughts of the earthly man be a hundred times worse, they would not rise so high as the good thoughts of the heavenly Mithra;
. " `Should the heavenly wisdom in the earthly man be a hundred times greater, it would not rise so high as the heavenly wisdom in the heavenly Mithra."'
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXIII,
The Zend-Avesta.
The Yasts and SiYOZahs, Part II, pp. 131 and 146-7.
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."
-MATTHEW 6:9.
"Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, 0 Lord,
Mother
Trinity
art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting." -ISAIAH 63:16.
"This is the Monad which is incomprehensible or unknowable; this it is which has no Seal (or Mark), in which are all Seals; which is blessed for ever and ever. This is the eternal Father; this the ineffable, unthinkable, incomprehensible, untranscendible Father; this it is in which the All become joyous."
-FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN) Codex Brucianus, pp. 549, 550.
"I the Father of this universe, the Mother, the Supporter, the Grandsire, the Holy One to be known, the Word of Power."
-THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 98.
"Thus it is that the Tao produces (all things), nourishes them, brings them to their full growth, nurses them, completes them, matures them, maintains them, and overspreads them."
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXXIX, The Texts o f Taoism.
The Tao Teh King, Part I, p. 94.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."
-I JOHN 5:7.
"The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things."
-THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST, Vol. XXXIX.
The Texts of Taoism.
The Tao Te1a King, Part I, p. 85.
" `Hail, My brethren and My children. Let there be with you the peace of My Father, which is thine, which I received from My Father, so that I might make it to remain with you for all time.' And He breathed on their faces and said, `Receive ye the Holy Spirit.' "
-COPTIC APOCRYPHA,
The Book o f the Resurrection o f Jesus Christ,
By Bartholomew the Apostle, p. 205.
"They are even father, mother and child; mind is even the father, speech the mother, and life the child." -BRIHAD ARANYAKA UPANISHAD, p. 222.
"The Mahayana has a triple significance. "The first is the greatness of quintessence. "The second is the greatness of attributes. "The third is the greatness of activity."
-AgVAGHOSHA'S AWAKENING OF FAITH, pp. 53-4.
"The Mind of the Father uttered [the Word] that all should be divided [or cut] into three. His Will nodded assent, and at once all things were so divided.
"He who governs all things with the Mind of the eternal.
"In every cosmos there shineth [or is manifested] a Triad, of which a Monad is source.
"All things are served in the Gulphs of the Triad. "From this Triad the Father mixed every spirit.
"Arming both mind and soul with triple Might." -ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS,
The ChaldrPan Oracles, Vol. VIII, pp. 51-54.
Seed of All Things
"From Him is the seed of all things, and it is He that upholds the Earth with all her mobile and immobile creatures."
-MAHABHARATA,
Canti Parva, Vol. VIII, p. 883.
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
-GENESIS 1:29.
"For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
"And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha."
-ROMANS 9:28, 29.
("Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; )
"Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God."
-II CORINTHIANS 9:10, 11.
"The Atman is permanent, eternal and therefore existence itself."
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY,
Shrimat Shankaracharya's Aprokshanubhuti, p. 6.
"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
"Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."
"All is the effect of all, one universal Essence."
-BRIHAD ARANYAKA UPANISHAD, p. 208.
"This soul is Brahma, and stands as the soul and substance of the universe."
-RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY,
Shrimat Shankaracharya's AProkshanubhuti, p. 13.
"I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
"My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and
my revenue than choice silver.
"I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the
paths of judgment:
"That I may cause those that love me to inherit sub
stance; and I will fill their treasures."
-PROVERBS 8:12, 19-21.
22-23. "0 Primal Origin of my origination; Thou Primal Primal Substance of my substance; First Breath of breath, the substance breath that is in me." Breath of
-ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS, Breath
A Mithriac Ritual, Vol. VI, Pp. 18, 19.
"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.
"Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
"And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
"Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord
Universal Essence
Substance Existence Itself
-ACTS 17:24, 25.
God; Come from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
"So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army."
-EZEKIEL 37:1, 5, 6, 9, 10.
"But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; ... and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, bast thou not glorified."
-DANIEL 5:23.
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
"Of this same Spirit, of which I have already spoken many times, all things have need; for that it raises up all things, each in its own degree, and makes them live, and gives them nourishment."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Cyril o f Alexandria,
Fragment XVIIZ, p. 259.
"The Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem."
-ISAIAH 31:9.
"But who may abide the day of his coming~ and who shall stand when he appeareth% for he is like refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope."
-MALACHI 3:2.
"The Third Utterance (Logos)
"Hear me, give ear to me - ... Creator of the Light; 0 Holder of the Keys; Inbreather of the Fire; Fire-hearted
One, whose Breath gives Light; ... 0 Lord of Light, whose Body is of Fire."
"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
"I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded."
"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him."
"For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high place of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name."
-AMOS 4:13.
"Indeed, I have no hope that the Creator of the whole o Greatness, the Father and the Lord of all the things (tha are), could ever have one name. He who cannot b named, or rather He who can be called by every name.
"For He, indeed, is One and All.
"He, then, alone, yet all-complete in the fertility c either sex, ever with child of His own Will, doth ever brie to birth whatever He bath willed to procreate.
"His Will is the All-goodness, which also is the Goon ness of all things, born from the nature of His ova Divinity."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
The Perfect SeYynon, Vol. II, p. 344.
-ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS,
A Mithriac Ritual, Vol. VI, p. 25.
-JOHN 1:3.
-ISAIAH 45:12.
Spirit
-JOHN 4:24.
-COLOSSIANS 1:16.
Fire
Generator
"His being is conceiving of all things and making (them). He ever makes all things, in heaven, in air, in earth, in deep, in all of cosmos, in every part that is and that is not of everything. For there is naught in all the world that is not He."
-THRICE-GREATEST HERMES,
Corpus Hermeticum V. (VI.) Though Unmani f est God is Most Manifest.
Vol. II, p. 104.
"l am the Generator of all; all evolves from Me." -THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, P. 104.
bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow." -DEUTERONOMY 28:12.
"He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
"When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures."
-JEREMIAH 10:12, 13.
Threaded on
"There is naught whatsoever higher than I.... All this
"Just as the rivers of all lands, God Like Pearls on a String is threaded on Me, as rows of pearls on a string."
Into the ocean find their way,
May gods and men from every world
-THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 82.
Universe Spread
"First of the Gods, most ancient Man Thou art,
Approach and find their way to thee."
-BUDDHISM IN TRANSLATIONS,
in God's Form
Supreme receptacle of all that lives;
Knower and known, the dwelling-place on high;
In Thy vast Form the universe is spread.
Jataka, p. 31.
"To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him."
Supreme Treasure-House
"In power boundless, measureless in strength, Thou holdest all: then Thou Thyself art All." -THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, pp. 122-3.
"Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord bath wrought this?
"In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."
-JOB 12:9, 10.
"Lofty, beyond all thought, unperishing,
Thou treasure-house supreme, all-immanent." -THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, p. 116.
"The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to
-CORINTHIANS 8:6.
"All this universe has the (Supreme) Deity for its life. Univer. That Deity is Truth. He is the Universal Soul....
"That particle which is the Soul of all this is Truth; it is the Universal Soul."
-CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD, pp. 593, 595.
"God is as a soul and the world as a body." -MASNAVI I MA'NAVI, p. 29.
"The Supreme Soul hath another name, viz, Pure Knowledge."
-MaHABHARATA,
Udyoga Parva, Vol. III, p. 162.
Supren
Lord of
GOD??
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
ULTIMATE FREEDOM
"Freedom's Just Another Word;
For Nothing Left To Loose................." ( From a song written by Janis Joplin )
There is a lot of Wisdom in those two verses! I wonder if Ms. Joplin finally found freedom when she vacated her body?
In our present chaotic age of instant information of happenings around the planet, most of us seldom take any moments to live in the moment. We rather forget the moment, and either live in the past, or , are hoping for a better future. We are always interested in what's happening in world and political affairs which we can do very little to change, alone, but we CAN change our inner world, by looking within, and changing ourselves. We are trying to extinguish the fire in other people's houses, when in fact, our own houses are in flames and about to go up in ash!
WHAT IF, none of our Scriptures, regardless of religion or Sect, contained historical events? What if EVERY Scripture, or Holy Writing, ever written by humans, was written as a Teaching Tool to point us to the Universal Wisdom within?
What if The Old Testament was not historical, and only contained allegorical clues for Initiates, on the Methodology of how to travel within one's own psyche, where all Wisdom is contained?
What if Israel, instead of being a Race of "Holy" people, was really meant to be the soul, which had strayed away from the Father, or "SOUL?" The "Promised Land" then would not be where people are presently gathered in a strip of land called Israel, but the Promised Land would then be a Spiritual place where the lost soul, "Israel" could enter at will, after becoming an Initiate of the "Shekaina Glory" mentioned in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament Prophets all had different ways to share the secrets, but how many of us have ever understood what they were telling us?
There have always been physical teachers, masters, gurus, lamas, monks, priests, ministers, etc. to share some of what they have been given by others before them. Spiritual Truths can NEVER be sold for a profit. Jesus told his disciples that they had received his instructions free, so they should also continue sharing what they had learned freely! If it costs money, it most likely isn't worth having, Spiritually.
When true Leaders lead, the masses will follow. When the many others in power push, the masses will rebel, and go astray. ( away from the promised land).
There is more Power in a single tear, than the blast of a suicide bomber's vest of explosives loaded with nails and sharp metal objects.
Eternity is lived, moment, by moment, by moment, while the past has disappeared, forever, and the future has yet to be lived. Success in every task is won by focusing on the moment.
As bad as the political climate appears, this June, 2007, and as wars rage on, "This Too Will Pass", and new changes will replace wars, some good, while some even worse!
But, Israel, the lost soul, will never change, as long as it returns to the Promised Land, i.e. The Father, or Universal SOUL.
Be Well,
Eternal Flame
For Nothing Left To Loose................." ( From a song written by Janis Joplin )
There is a lot of Wisdom in those two verses! I wonder if Ms. Joplin finally found freedom when she vacated her body?
In our present chaotic age of instant information of happenings around the planet, most of us seldom take any moments to live in the moment. We rather forget the moment, and either live in the past, or , are hoping for a better future. We are always interested in what's happening in world and political affairs which we can do very little to change, alone, but we CAN change our inner world, by looking within, and changing ourselves. We are trying to extinguish the fire in other people's houses, when in fact, our own houses are in flames and about to go up in ash!
WHAT IF, none of our Scriptures, regardless of religion or Sect, contained historical events? What if EVERY Scripture, or Holy Writing, ever written by humans, was written as a Teaching Tool to point us to the Universal Wisdom within?
What if The Old Testament was not historical, and only contained allegorical clues for Initiates, on the Methodology of how to travel within one's own psyche, where all Wisdom is contained?
What if Israel, instead of being a Race of "Holy" people, was really meant to be the soul, which had strayed away from the Father, or "SOUL?" The "Promised Land" then would not be where people are presently gathered in a strip of land called Israel, but the Promised Land would then be a Spiritual place where the lost soul, "Israel" could enter at will, after becoming an Initiate of the "Shekaina Glory" mentioned in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament Prophets all had different ways to share the secrets, but how many of us have ever understood what they were telling us?
There have always been physical teachers, masters, gurus, lamas, monks, priests, ministers, etc. to share some of what they have been given by others before them. Spiritual Truths can NEVER be sold for a profit. Jesus told his disciples that they had received his instructions free, so they should also continue sharing what they had learned freely! If it costs money, it most likely isn't worth having, Spiritually.
When true Leaders lead, the masses will follow. When the many others in power push, the masses will rebel, and go astray. ( away from the promised land).
There is more Power in a single tear, than the blast of a suicide bomber's vest of explosives loaded with nails and sharp metal objects.
Eternity is lived, moment, by moment, by moment, while the past has disappeared, forever, and the future has yet to be lived. Success in every task is won by focusing on the moment.
As bad as the political climate appears, this June, 2007, and as wars rage on, "This Too Will Pass", and new changes will replace wars, some good, while some even worse!
But, Israel, the lost soul, will never change, as long as it returns to the Promised Land, i.e. The Father, or Universal SOUL.
Be Well,
Eternal Flame
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