Imagination Creates Reality...One Cause
Creation is finished and it is good! God created the earth and all that is
in it and God said it was good. Man has puzzled over these statements for
centuries. If man really understood the meanings, he would not be confused nor
would he feel anxious about his past, present or future. The understanding of
these two statements would enable man to realize that he, alone, controls his
actions and the circumstances of his life.
Let us take the first statement. God created the earth and all that is in it.
God is infinite; therefore, God must have been before any form came into being.
What substance could He have used to create all that exists?
There can be only one answer. God created everything that exists from the only
substance available – Himself. God (thought/consciousness) spoke the Word and
brought everything into being out of himself. Everything you perceive is made
of the one substance – God. The one substance back of everything is energy and
that energy is God or the “Word.”
Although scientists and medical men can analyze the various chemicals of which
the body is made, none can combine these chemicals to form a living person.
Since God created all that is out of Himself, it follows that God is the
creator and the creation. God is expressing life through each and every one of
us. It could not be otherwise.
Let us take the second statement. God said that His creation was good. That
statement has confused man who believes that if God is good, another power must
have created that which is not good. Yet, man also acknowledges that God is
infinite, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. These qualities of God must include
all forms, all events, and all situations. If it were possible to remove all
that is discordant or inharmonious from the world, it would not be possible to
experience the reverse of that condition.
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was
God.” The Word is thought or imagination. God imagined the world into being and
became that which He conceived. This is the principle on which all creation
rests. Since God became man to give man life, man must contain that same creative
principle within himself. “The Kingdom
of Heaven is within you.”
We have created our personal world through thought. If you are experiencing
lack, limitation, illness, disharmony or any other unwanted condition; you have
either consciously or unconsciously brought these conditions into your
experience. The majority of people do not realize that thought, belief, and
imagination has created their individual worlds. There is no other cause for
the conditions of your life. You may choose to disbelieve this, but whether you
believe it or not, all that you behold in the outer world was conceived within
your own consciousness prior to your experience of it.
Neville Goddard
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Monday, August 27, 2018
The Hermetica...Rebirth
The Hermetica...Rebirth
The inexorable working of destiny, imposed on man by the turning of the Zodiac, subjects all human beings to the pain of birth and death. Man's problem is that in his ignorance he believes himself to be just a body, one that will grow old, suffer and eventually die. His sense of injustice at the inevitability of his fate leads him to hurt himself and others, either through lust for more life or fear of approaching death. These crimes serve further to bind the soul to the body and so increase man's suffering. Purifying ourselves of ignorance is therefore the first step on the ladder that leads to rebirth. Rebirth is the knowledge of our own immortality.
To escape the suffering inherent in our human predicament, we must be reborn in spirit. The spiritual path that we must walk is the same one trodden by our ancestors. It is a hard road to follow whilst incarnate in a physical body, because we must struggle to master ourselves. Right understanding purifies us of all the vices that torment us and awakens our immortal soul.
One who is thus reborn communes with God. But this only happens when we stop talking about it and allow it to occur naturally in the silence and tranquility of deep contemplation. An enlightened being no longer believes he is a body. The body belongs to Nature, not to him, and so its fate is of no importance. He is One with everything. He sees Goodness everywhere. He is bathed in divine Light. H|e has become All-Mind.
Rebirth is not a theory that we can learn. It is a natural occurrence that happens when God wills it. All that we may do is prepare for this enlightenment by mastering our passions and accepting whatever fate may bring us. For a man with vision, all things are good, even if other people see them as evil. His knowledge of God gives him the ability to see Goodness at work even when he is mistreated by others. Those who are reborn are already living in the kingdom of heaven.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
The inexorable working of destiny, imposed on man by the turning of the Zodiac, subjects all human beings to the pain of birth and death. Man's problem is that in his ignorance he believes himself to be just a body, one that will grow old, suffer and eventually die. His sense of injustice at the inevitability of his fate leads him to hurt himself and others, either through lust for more life or fear of approaching death. These crimes serve further to bind the soul to the body and so increase man's suffering. Purifying ourselves of ignorance is therefore the first step on the ladder that leads to rebirth. Rebirth is the knowledge of our own immortality.
To escape the suffering inherent in our human predicament, we must be reborn in spirit. The spiritual path that we must walk is the same one trodden by our ancestors. It is a hard road to follow whilst incarnate in a physical body, because we must struggle to master ourselves. Right understanding purifies us of all the vices that torment us and awakens our immortal soul.
One who is thus reborn communes with God. But this only happens when we stop talking about it and allow it to occur naturally in the silence and tranquility of deep contemplation. An enlightened being no longer believes he is a body. The body belongs to Nature, not to him, and so its fate is of no importance. He is One with everything. He sees Goodness everywhere. He is bathed in divine Light. H|e has become All-Mind.
Rebirth is not a theory that we can learn. It is a natural occurrence that happens when God wills it. All that we may do is prepare for this enlightenment by mastering our passions and accepting whatever fate may bring us. For a man with vision, all things are good, even if other people see them as evil. His knowledge of God gives him the ability to see Goodness at work even when he is mistreated by others. Those who are reborn are already living in the kingdom of heaven.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Sunday, August 26, 2018
The Hermetica...Ignorance of the Soul
The Hermetica...Ignorance of the Soul
The limitations imposed on the soul by the physical body mean that human life rests on how we live our present lives. Earthly existence is an opportunity to train the soul so that, at death, it does not lose its way but travels straight to heaven.
Everything material, even our own body, is foreign to our essential spiritual nature. Unfortunately, we become so caught up with the transitory sensual pleasures of life that we are unaware of our eternal soul. The body should be the slave of the soul, not its master.
Hermes assures us that there is a way to free ourselves from the torments of life. These he tells us are simply caused by our own ignorance. |He exhorts us to free ourselves from our enslavement, develop our inner vision, and use the power of our mind to experience the Mind of God. 'Why give yourselves to death when you could be immortal?' he asks.
Hermes assures us that the haven of peace awaits those who rise to his challenge. Man is made in the image of God and can therefore rise to become one with God. Only like can know like. It is our fear that separates us from the truth., our lack of belief in ourselves that binds us to the Earth. Man has the power to ascend into heaven and yet crawls on his belly through the dust. In Hermes' eyes Mankind's greatest error is that he has the power to know God and yet does not use it.
Simply wishing to know God is enough to set us on the road to enlightenment. The spiritual path is not difficult, for as we awaken from our ignorance, God comes to us. At times and places where we least expect it, suddenly we are aware that God is with us. The end of the spiritual journey is the realization that he is everywhere and everything.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
The limitations imposed on the soul by the physical body mean that human life rests on how we live our present lives. Earthly existence is an opportunity to train the soul so that, at death, it does not lose its way but travels straight to heaven.
Everything material, even our own body, is foreign to our essential spiritual nature. Unfortunately, we become so caught up with the transitory sensual pleasures of life that we are unaware of our eternal soul. The body should be the slave of the soul, not its master.
Hermes assures us that there is a way to free ourselves from the torments of life. These he tells us are simply caused by our own ignorance. |He exhorts us to free ourselves from our enslavement, develop our inner vision, and use the power of our mind to experience the Mind of God. 'Why give yourselves to death when you could be immortal?' he asks.
Hermes assures us that the haven of peace awaits those who rise to his challenge. Man is made in the image of God and can therefore rise to become one with God. Only like can know like. It is our fear that separates us from the truth., our lack of belief in ourselves that binds us to the Earth. Man has the power to ascend into heaven and yet crawls on his belly through the dust. In Hermes' eyes Mankind's greatest error is that he has the power to know God and yet does not use it.
Simply wishing to know God is enough to set us on the road to enlightenment. The spiritual path is not difficult, for as we awaken from our ignorance, God comes to us. At times and places where we least expect it, suddenly we are aware that God is with us. The end of the spiritual journey is the realization that he is everywhere and everything.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Saturday, August 25, 2018
The Hermetica…Death and Immortality
The Hermetica…Death and Immortality
From mankind’s perspective, time is a destroyer. Through the process of time we age and die. From a cosmic perspective, time is an endlessly repeating cycle, measured by the constant revolution of the stars. Whilst the things of the Earth are always changing, the orbits of the stars always remain the same. Hermes asks, could something as impermanent and transitory as our earthly existence be regarded as anything other than an illusion? Yet this illusion arises from an underlying permanent reality. The discovery of the permanent within the impermanent is the reward of the spiritual quest.
Hermes teaches that we must accept the inevitable transitory nature of all physical things. Everything is in a process of being born and then dying. The old must pass away so that the new can come into existence. New shoots are born from the decaying remains of old vegetation. And these new shoots will in turn eventually decay and die. He teaches, however, that a human birth is not the beginning of the soul, only of its incarnation as that particular person. Death is simply the end of this particular person and the soul’s transformation into another state. Death is just the discarding of a worn-out body. Most people are ignorant of this fact, and therefore needlessly fear death.
After leaving the body at death, the individual soul is judged by the chief of the gods, to see if it is pure and honorable. Pure souls are assigned to a heavenly realm. Ignorant souls fall once again into the material realms and are reincarnated. A soul which during its earthly life has come to know God, will have become all Mind. When it leaves the body it takes on a body of Light and is freed from all limitations. Such an enlightened soul has recognized that its essential nature is god-like, and on death it communes with God. It has 'run the race of purity' and is now completely spiritual and devine. such a soul has become a 'god'.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Friday, August 24, 2018
The Hermetica…Incarnation of the Soul
The Hermetica…Incarnation of the Soul
All souls share the same essential nature. They are neither male nor female, as such differentiating characteristics exist only in the body. All souls are a part of the one Soul of the Cosmos.
God has two servants which look after souls. The Keeper of Souls cares for disembodied souls, and the Conductor of Souls sends them down into physical incarnation. Nature creates the individual body into which a soul incarnates. The power that Hermes calls “Memory’ ensures that this body conforms to the universal ‘form’ of the human species. The power Hermes calls ‘Skill’ makes sure that each individual body is a fitting home for the particular soul it houses.
Our individual characteristics are governed by the qualities of the gods presiding over the moment of our incarnation. If the gods present at our birth are peaceful, we will be peaceful by nature. If they are warlike, we will be aggressive. This is why astrologers say, for example, that those born at the time of Aries have certain characteristics whilst those born at the time of Capricorn have a different nature. Those gods who accompany the soul at the moment of birth affect the instinctual nature of the soul. Those that have their effect later in adolescence affect the rational part of the soul.
Before it incarnates, the soul is already wrapped in a spiritual body. When this wrapping is thin and clear, the soul is intelligent. However, when this wrapping is dense and opaque, the soul has limited vision and is only aware of its immediate situation. As a soul sinks into incarnation it forgets its own nature and takes on the qualities of the gods who have shut it into a human body. Hermes describes a vision of disembodied souls about to make their journey into a physical form. They are filled with fear and horror at the fate which awaits them. They cannot bear the prospect of such imprisonment.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Thursday, August 23, 2018
The Hermetica…the Universal and the Particular
The Hermetica…the Universal and the Particular
Everything has a ‘form’. A table, for example, is a horizontal surface supported by legs. This is the ‘universal form’ which all tables share. Every individual table shares the universal form of all tables, but it also has a unique particular form by which we know it to be this table and not that one. One table is large and made of oak. Another table is small and made of plastic. Both are unique and yet both are still tables. If anything deviates too far from this universal form we would no longer call it a table. If a table were to be smashed into pieces, for example, it would have changed form and we would now call it something else, ‘firewood’ perhaps.
Everything is a particular version of a universal form. Every animal for example, both unique and a member of a particular species. All human beings share the quality of being human, but each individual has unique characteristics by which we may tell them apart from other members of our species. Each one of us is a particular version of the universal form "human being'.
This quality of humaness is unchanging and permanent. We are very different from our ancestors, but we are are no more 'human'. The particular forms are always changing. in a single human life we change from being a baby to become an adult and finally an elder. We never remain the same, yet birth, mortality and death are all contained within the universal form of a human life.
Hermes compares the constant universal forms to the fixed constellations of the stars. He compares the changing particular forms to the changing relationships between the stars as revolve in the heavens.
Our fundamental human nature remains the same throughout our life, but our individual fate changes in accordance with the constantly changing pattern of the stars. As in astrology, Hermes teaches that our individual destiny is created by the positions of the planets at our moment of birth. These are the 'gods' who take charge of us, controlling our bodies and shaping our souls,
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
The Hermetica…The Zodiac and Destiny
The Hermetica…The Zodiac and Destiny
God created humans to appreciate the awesome wonder of his universe; to be themselves a beautiful embellishment of the Cosmos; and to share in God’s creative powers and participate in the work of creation.
The heavenly gods, the planets, who had already bestowed on man some of their own power, now urged the Creator to be cautious. They fear that man will use his inquisitive mind for destructive as well as constructive purposes. Man’s powers, they complain, are too great and unlimited, and therefore dangerous to himself and the order of the Cosmos.
God responds to their concerns by creating the Zodiac. This celestial mechanism will control the fate of men and be ruled over by the goddess Destiny. She sows the seeds of a person’s fate, which grow and develop under the constraints of Necessity, the limits and demands of physical nature, to shape every human life.
It is man’s lot to live the life prescribed for him by his fate. Very few human beings are capable of escaping from the determining influence of the Zodiac. Man’s earthly life is controlled by the power of Destiny, through the physical limitations of the mortal human body. However, if a man’s mind is illuminated by the light of God, he becomes free from these celestial influences – for even the gods are powerless before God. Hermes teaches that it is our duty not simply to acquiesce in our fate, but rather, through intense contemplation of God, to rise above our merely mortal nature and awaken our immortal soul.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
God created humans to appreciate the awesome wonder of his universe; to be themselves a beautiful embellishment of the Cosmos; and to share in God’s creative powers and participate in the work of creation.
The heavenly gods, the planets, who had already bestowed on man some of their own power, now urged the Creator to be cautious. They fear that man will use his inquisitive mind for destructive as well as constructive purposes. Man’s powers, they complain, are too great and unlimited, and therefore dangerous to himself and the order of the Cosmos.
God responds to their concerns by creating the Zodiac. This celestial mechanism will control the fate of men and be ruled over by the goddess Destiny. She sows the seeds of a person’s fate, which grow and develop under the constraints of Necessity, the limits and demands of physical nature, to shape every human life.
It is man’s lot to live the life prescribed for him by his fate. Very few human beings are capable of escaping from the determining influence of the Zodiac. Man’s earthly life is controlled by the power of Destiny, through the physical limitations of the mortal human body. However, if a man’s mind is illuminated by the light of God, he becomes free from these celestial influences – for even the gods are powerless before God. Hermes teaches that it is our duty not simply to acquiesce in our fate, but rather, through intense contemplation of God, to rise above our merely mortal nature and awaken our immortal soul.
The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
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