Esoteric Philosophy

"The Occultists, however, know that the traditions of Esoteric Philosophy must be the right ones, simply because they are the most logical, and reconcile every difficulty."




Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
1831 - 1891
co-founder The Theosophical Society

Nationalism

Pervading nationalism imposes its dominion on man today in many different forms and with an aggressiveness that spares no one. The challenge that is already with us is the temptation to accept as true freedom what in reality is only a new form of slavery.

John Paul (II) - the Great

The Rabbi's Gift

The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of antimonastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.


In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a hermitage. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again " they would whisper to each other. As he agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to the abbot at one such time to visit the hermitage and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the monastery.


The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him. "I know how it is," he exclaimed. "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years, "the abbot said, "but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me save my dying order?"


"No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you."


When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?" "He couldn't help," the abbot answered. "We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving --it was something cryptic-- was that the Messiah is one of us. I don't know what he meant."


In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi's words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery? If that's the case, which one? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him. He just magically appears by your side. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah. Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And on the off off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to visit the monastery to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.


Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.

Ultimate Authority

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.


His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

Irritation

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves."

Carl Jung

I am tomorrow...

I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.

Dr Harvey Spencer Lewis, F.R.C., S.^·.I.^·., 33°66°95°

1883 - 1939

The Conscious Universe

"Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is conscious: i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its own plane of perception."


Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
1831 - 1891

Cycles of Life

"Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle."




Marcus Aurelius

Kindred Spirits

"People who feel empowered by your presence become kindred spirits". 

Wayne Dyer

The Temple in Servitude

"Quar nous navons volu ne volons le Temple mettre en aucune servitute se non tant come il hy affiert."


"For we did not and do not wish the Temple to be placed in any servitude except that which is fitting."




Jacques de Molay
Grand Master, Order of the Temple (Knights Templar)

Hymn to Osiris

The doors of perception open; what was hidden has been revealed. It is myself I see and a thousand colors swirling in liquid light. I am where the sun sets below the mountains. I am in this body. I am that star rising above clouds hung by a thread from its ocean moon. Hail myself traversing eternity walking among gods, a shuttle flying across the loom through the threads of time. This is all one place, one cloth: a man's life endures. On earth flowers grow, snakes crawl and wisdom lies in the palm of a hand. All that is will be - hawks and sparrows, the thousand lives within.
I have come home. I have entered human-hood, bound to rocks and plants, men and women, rivers and sky. I shall be with you in this and other worlds.


When the cat scratches in the doorway, think of me. I have sometimes been like that. When two men greet each other in the street, I am there speaking to you. When you look up, know I am there - sun and moon pouring my love around you. All these things am I, portents, images, signs. Though apart, I am part of you. One of the million things in the universe, I am the universe, too. You think I disguise myself as rivers and trees simply to confuse you? Whatever I am, woman, cat or lotus, the same god breathes in every body. You and I together are a single creation. Neither death nor spite nor fear nor ignorance stops my love for you.


May we come and go in and out of heaven through the gates of starlight. As the houses of earth fill with dancing and song, so filled are the houses of heaven. I come in truth. I sail a long river and row back again. It is joy to breathe under the stars. I am the sojourner destined to walk a thousand years until I arrive at myself.


From the Egyptian Book of the Dead as translated by Normandy Ellis

Problems

"Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit."

M. Scott Peck

1936 - 2005

Individual Power

"Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also."


Marcus Aurelius

Enemies

"No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves."


Saint Francis of Assisi

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

"If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me."

Saint Patrick
387 - 493

Smile in trouble

"I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death."

Leonardo da Vinci

Apr 1452 – May 1519

Enlightenment

“Enlightenment is not imagining figures of Light but making the darkness conscious.”

Carl Jung

Jul 1875 - Jun 1961

Life is Simple

"Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else."

Leonardo da Vinci

Mystics

All mystics speak the same language, for they come from the same country.

Louis Claude de Saint-Martin

Creativity

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.......


What you Love is a sign from your higher self of what you are to do.

Carly Briton

Heart and Cross

Image by Anders Lundemark FRC

Happiness and Compassion

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."


His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

The Acquisition of Wisdom

"The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others."

Solomon ibn Gabirol