1. THE SPHINX...The Wheels of Truth
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“As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle”
(EZEKIEL 1:10)
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In order to manifest, there was an emanation from the Absolute into two streams of consciousness called Father and Mother. The Mother is often referred to as the great sea of substance or light in which the Father reflected Himself. The word “mare,” or “sea,” is sometimes called “the Virgin Mary.” The first step therefore in manifestation was the One Being becoming both masculine and feminine.
Man has a conscious (male) and subconscious (female) mind—simply two phases of the one universal consciousness specialized or individualized.
It would seem confusing to refer to God as Mind, except we clarify what we mean by Mind. The subjective mind of man is the God in man. The conscious mind reasons, analyzes, and investigates. In other words our conscious mind is constantly changing, and God changes not; “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Consequently, that which changes cannot truly be termed God. To presuppose investigation of something is to deny the One Being of Omniscience and Boundless Intelligence. It is true, of course, that all is God; nevertheless we find it necessary for purposes of clarification to distinguish between the two phases of consciousness. Mentation or ideation is, therefore, no part of the functions of the subjective mind of man. All things in the world were made by the self-contemplation of Spirit, as there is only Spirit. Spirit may be termed the highest degree of matter,—and matter the lowest degree of Spirit. To put it in a more simple way, all things in the world, such as all the elements, suns, stars, seas, trees, ad infinitum are simply different degrees of condensation of the Light Limitless. “I am the light of the world.” There is nothing but light, sometimes referred to by scientists as a sea of scintillating energy forever turning and twisting on itself. We look into space and it seems empty, but this radiant light, or energy, is forever turning, twirling, rotating on itself.
The ancients referred to God as a Circle, having neither beginning nor end. He is without face, form, or figure, boundless, timeless, space-less, infinite, soundless, sometimes referred to as the Silent One— motionless. He desires to express Himself, and this results in motion, or activity, therefore, the original velocity or seat of perpetual motion flows from consciousness or God, and all other vibrations or motions in the Universe are simply modifications of the one original motion.
Let us look at this matter in a very simple way. God becomes man by conceiving Himself to be man. “The world not made but begotten.” The word “begotten” means acquired by being; therefore, strictly speaking, nothing is made or created; it is simply God becoming all things He ideated in the incorporeal state. In the first chapter of Genesis, we read of the incorporeal man, or God, or Adam (all three mean the same thing, as there is only man, nothing but man) feeling Himself to be all things, (earth, herb, grass, trees, fish of the sea, fowl of the air, seas, stars, suns, and moons) and yet, nothing in particular, desired to express, or particularize Himself. In the first chapter of Genesis, is set forth the story of man who was in paradise—a desire-less state. “Thou hast been in Eden and the Ruby was thy covering,” and desiring to express Himself, He ideated a world of suns, moons, stars, seas, continents, and all things contained therein.
Those simply were ideas, or archetypes, and were not objectified on the screen of space until after He became man, or limited by desires. Man is both conditioned and unconditioned; the unconditioned state is God, or the Absolute; the conditioned state is God defining Himself as that man. Man is God limiting himself by conceiving himself as man; the Timeless One is now conceiving in time; the Boundless One now conceives boundaries and limitations; the Space-less One conceives in space. Man has forgotten the whole world is his and he fights over one-quarter of an acre.
In the second chapter of Genesis, man appears first and all things mentioned in the first chapter follow, as they were only thoughts of man in the first place. The earth is here for man to walk on, and exists because man dreamt it into being. “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” God’s mind is full of man; there is nothing but man, and all things are the extensions of the one man.
When man decides he no longer needs furs for his wife, all the fur bearing animals will disappear. In the near future all men will begin to eat synthetic meat; consequently, all cattle, sheep, ad infinitum, will gradually become extinct. The dinosaurs of old have disappeared; their skeletons may be seen in the museums of the world. The reason for their disappearance is man no longer had any use for them, moreover he no longer had traits or characteristics resembling these ferocious animals. When the sly, cunning, deceptive states die out in man, the fox will disappear. This is true of all animals as they are simply extensions in space of the moods of man.
In the ancient Greek myth, the Sphinx propounded to all comers the riddle of man, and those who could not answer the riddle died. The riddle was, “What walks on four legs, on two legs, and on three legs?” The ancient answer was supposed to be, “Man, because he crawls on hands and feet as a baby, walks erect on two feet until such time as he uses a cane or crutch to help him when he gets very old and feeble.” This explanation is not the correct one. The inner meaning is as follows: Most of the human race is still walking on four legs, which means that we are worldly minded, catering to our passions and appetites and have forgotten the laws of life and the way of the spirit. The four-footed animal is the sensual man who lives to eat and enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. It also means the five-sense man, who walks the earth believing what he sees, and thinks his security rests in the accumulation of riches and things of the world. He is the type of man who has forgotten to lay up treasures in heaven by feasting on the mood of peace and happiness within, thereby establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth. Only a few are walking erect who have discarded the animal nature; but of those who have matured, who have become of age, only a very small minority walk the earth bearing all their weight on the crutch of intuition, or the Christ within. “Come unto me all ye that labor, and I will give you rest; my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The Sphinx is man’s unconditioned consciousness, the unconditioned awareness within man. This is the center or Sphinx around which all revolves—it remains unmoved while the wheel of personalities ceaselessly turns beneath him. The Sphinx is the synthesis of the four animals of Ezekiel mentioned at the beginning of this chapter which are both male and female, as was the Absolute before He emanated Himself into Father and Mother, for the purpose of manifestation. Within you, the reader, the Universe came into being. Within you the Universe is established. Within you the Universe passes away. Man is dual; he is both God and man. God is unmodified consciousness or formless awareness. This unmodified consciousness now becomes modified by becoming man. Man himself is the projection of the beliefs embodied in his own consciousness. In the same manner as the wave of the ocean is a projection of the contents of the ocean, and the wave goes back to the deep from whence it came; likewise, ultimately man goes back to the great deep and becomes one with the All. When man awakens from the dream, or illusion of separation, he will find it “not robbery to do the works of God” though in the form of man. He will find he is God—the only Being there is, and that he had been dreaming a non-eternal dream.
The vision spoken of in the first chapter of Ezekiel, representing the four Sacred Animals and the Wheel within Wheels, is explained as follows: The dot “Yod,” is the first circle. A point is dimensionless— this represents God, or unconditioned consciousness in man—the space-less, formless awareness. The next circle is the creative world. The third circle is the formative world, and the fourth circle is the physical world as we see it. The four animals also represent the four letters in the name Jehovah, “I.H.V.H.,” the name by which all things are created. The first letter, Yod, represents the Eagle or Scorpio. The Eagle is a bird which soars above the storm and tempest, where skies are blue and clear. Move-over, the eagle looks directly into the sun and is not blinded. The eagle represents man’s awareness of the fact that the seat of Causation and Omnipotence is within him. The next letter, Heh, is man’s capacity to conceive his vision or ideal, symbolized by the lion. It represents man’s desire. The third letter, Vau, represents a nail, or the cementing of a fixed state. This letter is represented by the Angel, or Aquarius; —the latter means meditation, or feasting on the reality of the state desired. It is actualizing the idea in consciousness; in other words, it is the feeling of being what you long to be, and the feeling of doing what you long to do. The final letter, Heh, symbolized by the Bull, is the manifest state, or the objectification of that which was subjectively felt within.
To sum it up, the four animals mentioned are the perfect formula for prayer. The practice of this method will cause you to realize the most cherished desire of your heart. First you realize that your own consciousness is God Almighty, the seat of Omnipotence, thereby giving complete recognition to the power within. The second step is your new conception of yourself,—your desire, or goal in life—or whatever you wish to be or do. The third step, is the feeling which unites consciousness desiring, with the thing desired. The fourth step, is the physical manifestation of that which was felt in the unseen, or within-ness, of yourself.
We can take a lesson from nature. The seed, the soil, the creative essence, result in the tree, or plant, or fruit, as the case may be. Another example of the eternal trinity by which all things are created is hydrogen and oxygen plus the electric spark uniting the two, and the resultant product—water.
There are four stages to the unfoldment of all ideas. Suppose, for instance, that your main desire in life is to be a great musician who will bring happiness to thousands or millions. Ask yourself this simple question, “Can I now feel the naturalness of being the great musician?” Enter into the mood of joy of actually being the musician now. You can do this by shutting out all evidence of the senses and silently contemplating the reality of the state desired. As you meditate in this manner you will find that the time comes when this state is fixed in consciousness and all the necessary qualities and attributes will be resurrected, as they were always within you in the first place.
Everything we see around us is in a process of change—a constant flux pervades nature. The formed is constantly returning to the Formless; therefore that which changes cannot be real, as God changes not. “He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” We see the illusion and believe it to be the Real, but in essence the latter is invisible. To “see” the Real is to become one with it. We are here for no other purpose than to grow and in the growing discover and awaken to the true Self.
All our thoughts should be circles or bands of love. “They knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.” In order to form this perfect circle, we must think in harmony with the One, the Beautiful and the Good. This is sometimes referred to as being “in tune with the Infinite.” We are not compelled to love, but we have freedom to love. Love is spontaneous and joyous, and we have the ability to give or withhold it. There is no compulsion to love. However, there would be no joy unless we knew the opposite. How could you experience joy unless you had known sorrow? If we are compelled to love, that would not be love, as love must be freely bestowed. Someone may feign love due to necessity or a sense of dependency, but this is not love. God expresses Himself as Life, Love, Beauty, Order, Symmetry, and Proportion. When our thoughts are in tune with the Infinite, they form a perfect circle or circuit and return to us, pressed down shaken together, and running over. When our thoughts are negative, as when for example we indulge in criticism, cynicism, jealousy, or feeling sorry for ourselves or another, we are not in tune with the Infinite; consequently, there is no polarity; the circle of good is not formed. The dynamo has stopped.
As Truth students, we must realize that every lack, limitation, or adverse circumstance is the result of negative moods entertained by us, which portray weaknesses in us, and as you know, weakness is simply absence of power. It comes from nowhere; it is nothing. The remedy is to realize that the seat of Omnipotence is within you, and by quietly stilling the mind, we realize gently that all power and energy necessary to overcome any situation, be it what it may, are ours now. This is the silent inner knowing of the mystic who is humble before God and proud before man. We come out of meditation as a live wire charged with sufficient power to melt away all discord, dissolve all hate, and dry all tears.
Jesus goes from Galilee to Judea and from Judea to Galilee. This is simply the union of the conscious and subconscious mind in feeling. The idea held in the conscious mind (Jesus) can be dropped into Judea, or subconscious mind, by feeling the reality of it. The subconscious mind gives form, to the impression made on it in ways we know not. Thus is all manifestation. When our desire or ideal appears on the screen of space, this is the return of Jesus to Galilee. The latter means we are now consciously aware of the objectification of our desire. This journey on the map closely resembles a perfect circle, symbolizing simply the eternal wheel of the Law. A battery is formed by connecting opposite poles of zinc and copper, causing a circuit which generates energy. This identical process is repeated when we meditate. Our thought must be charged with energy, or emotionalized by love. In other words we must become one with our ideal by feeling the reality of the state desired within ourselves. This is the polarization of thought, or the wheel within wheels.
So we begin to pray scientifically and discover our power by touching the Reality within; we go from glory to glory until finally we die to all the beliefs and limitations of the world and go back to paradise. “Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God, and the Ruby was thy covering.” We must learn to shut our ears to the confusion of the world which surrounds us. Let us open the inner hearing and aspire earnestly. He speaks to man, “Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth.” That urge which sends us in search of Him is our search for the Self within—our true Self, or Christ. Forever we are bound to the One. We are wheels within the One wheel—the motionless wheel. What is a day, or a month, or a year, or a lifetime, or a thousand lifetimes? Time ceases for those who turn within to the Wisdom, the Power, and the Glory. The quest will be forgotten when we have reached the Goal. Deep within us is something that reminds us of our origin and urges us back to it. Our mission and purpose in this life is to cherish, enlarge, and glorify this memory, to follow sincerely the inner impulse until that spark grows by cultivation into a light and fills us, and we identify ourselves with it.
We can begin now to become one with the All, by practicing daily the perfect relationship between the conscious and the subconscious. We are told that Eve, the subconscious of man was taken from the rib while he slept. This, of course, as everyone knows is an allegory. The meaning is obviously as follows: It is during sleep that the subconscious emerges. She comes forth from his rib. The symbiology of the ribs is protective, as the ribs protect the vital organs of the body. This merely portrays the protective nature of the subconscious. During sleep Eve takes the office of instructor. The subconscious feeds the body; it carries on the internal process of which the conscious mind is wholly unaware. It is said that Eve was made subject to him for good or evil. Our subconscious was perfect in the beginning, but we have defiled it, and in the same way that we have degraded and abused it, we can purify it by our thoughts and moods. “Subservient was she to be to her husband all the days of her life.” At night she talks back to man and takes charge, and according to his mood prior to falling asleep either enjoys (if his thoughts are of the good and the beautiful) or he has unpleasant experiences, particularly if he has gone to sleep in a turbulent mood. In this latter case Eve is simply pointing out to him that he has mismanaged things. She also instructs and guides him and says what she pleases.
Man must learn to have only the most exalted ideal and enthrone peace and happiness as his predominant mood, and by sustaining this state of consciousness, he will weed his garden and then therein only lovely flowers will grow. Effectual prayer will change all the doubts, fears, and other negative states that may be lurking in the subconscious due to past errors and superstitions. Man must become the perfect lover and give all attention and devotion to his subconscious instead of to his conscious mind. He must not get confused and mix them, but must learn to tell them apart. If we will still the mind and enter into the feeling of love and peace, forgiving all men by casting any burden of resentment on the Christ within, we are then free. In this meditative mood of peace and joy, we can incline our ear to Eve and she will speak with an inner assurance, or by what is known as the still small voice of intuition. She will tell us where to go, what to do, and will truly be a lamp unto our feet. She may warn us in a dream by showing us the end. For example, if you have a fear of a disease, she may dramatize your mood by a dream showing you in the hospital attended by doctors and nurses. Now there is no such thing as an inexorable fate and the dream mentioned can easily be explained. The subconscious reasons deductively only and deduces a conclusion from the fear of disease, entertained by the individual, and she dramatizes this fear in a dream. Now man can change the dream and completely neutralize the fear by a counter suggestion of perfect health given to the subconscious. He can either enter into the mood that perfect health is his now and feel the joy of radiant health and peace, or in a meditative, relaxed mood, he can suggest with conviction one word, “Health” just prior to going to sleep and keep on repeating it until he falls asleep.
Unfathomed and unfathomable is the great deep of the interior Being. In this No-thing the Eternal will of God arises and then the Nothing comes forth as Something. This is the eternal wheel of the law.
