Seeing what cannot (should not?) be seen
“And Jesus said, The Holy Breath cannot be seen with mortal eyes; nor can men see the Spirits of the Holy” (Aquarian Gospel 26:9).
When I typed in the above words I immediately remembered an incident both amusing and sad. Soon after our first ashram temple had been established, we celebrated the birthday of Sri Ramakrishna. Do not ask me why, but we invited the heads of a local “experimental” Roman Catholic monastic community to attend. Since the Second Vatican Council had told them to be “open” to the heathen, they accepted.
After the worship I spoke a bit, explaining who Sri Ramakrishna was, and then we had lunch together in our main room. During the conversation the founder of the community began asking about who of our number had been baptized. I understood that we was wondering who was apostate and who was just invincibly ignorant. To his horror he found that most of us had been baptized in one “church” or another.
As he sat there, politely aghast, I worsened the situation greatly by saying: “But none of these have really been baptized; they were just wetted down by the Protestants in a feeble ceremony. There is no comparison between that and the authentic baptism of the sacramental churches such as the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.”
“What do you mean?” he demanded, and I, the fool, strode in where the angels would prudently have stood apart.
“The Protestants just take tap water and slosh it on you or dunk you in it. But in the real Baptism, the divine power of the Holy Spirit descends into the water and transforms it into a supernatural vehicle of enlivening and purification.”
He drew back and thundered at me: “YOU CANNOT SEE THE ACTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
I, undaunted, shrugged and said: “Well I did.”
After some sputterings, there was sullen silence and a soon departure.
This is why commercial religion of all types detest mysticism. The mystics have a direct “seeing” which reveals the truth of what is really going on–or not going on–in religion. For example, I knew two mystical, psychic Catholics that got into big trouble when they perceived that the new rituals adopted by the church in 1968-69 were often ineffectual. One went from parish to parish, and when asked by Catholic friends, including a priest, the reason why, replied: “Because the Mass no longer ‘works’!” Things were compounded when her little daughter, who was very psychic chimed in and said: “Jesus doesn’t come to grandma’s church anymore” (This is not unique. I knew several children who were taken to a “renewed” church by their parents. They refused to take communion, telling their parents: “That man is not a priest and that is not real communion.” Fortunately the parents heeded their words. “And a little child shall lead them” Isaiah 11:6). Another friend attended the supposed consecration of a bishop and saw that nothing whatsoever had taken place. The interesting feature of this incident was that after his “consecration” the “bishop” had looked directly into my friend’s eyes with virulent hatred and later refused to give him a blessing. He knew that he knew–though he had no idea who my friend was. He knew what he was, and that was enough. Get the stake ready!
The seeing eyes
It is true, human eyes can see neither the Spirits of the Holy nor that transforming Divinity from which they draw their holiness. But we are not human; we are extension of the Divine Itself. And when the divine eye is opened in us we will see The All. “For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalms 36:9).
Saint Paul tells us that humans cannot even see the light in which God “dwells,” much less God Himself. ([God is] dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” I Timothy 6:16) Jesus said that no “man” had ever seen God. (“No man hath seen God at any time.” John 1:18) But it was none other than God who explained the matter, saying: “There shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20). Jesus clarified this by saying: “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father” (John 6:46. Yes, God is invisible (Colossians 1:15; I Timothy 1:17), but only to the eyes of mortality. Once we have in truth passed “from death to immortality” we see the Immortal with our immortal eyes.
To see Divinity we must enter into our own divinity. In India they speak about an insect that, when attacked by another species of insect, takes on the exact form of the attacker and becomes indistinguishable from it–and thereby disarms its enemy. This comes about because it becomes totally fixated on the form of the attacker. So, it is said, the yogi must become so utterly absorbed in the contemplation of God that he becomes a god. Then the problem is solved. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (I Corinthians 15, 53,54. “Death” must be understood symbolically in this passage as spiritual death, the absence of spiritual consciousness or perception).
To see God is to be[come] God. All lesser being vanishes. In his comic poem, The Hunting of the Snark, Lewis Carroll speaks of a “boojum”–a being whose very sight causes the beholder to dissolve instantly. God is the ultimate boojum, causing all mortality, all limitation and ignorance to vanish like the chimera they really are all along.
The opening of the eyes
Both the King and the Kingdom are beyond the reach of earthly eyes.
“And Jesus said, This kingdom is not far away, but man with mortal eyes can see it not; it is within the heart” (Aquarian Gospel 29:19).
“The kingdom of the Holy One is in the soul; men cannot see it with their carnal eyes; with all their reasoning powers they comprehend it not. It is a life deep hid in God; its recognition is the work of inner consciousness” (Aquarian Gospel 75:15,16).
“I cannot show the king, unless you see with eyes of soul, because the kingdom of the king is in the soul. The man of God is pure in heart; he sees the king; he sees with eyes of soul” (Aquarian Gospel 71:4,15).
In the Aquarian Gospel it is demonstrated that by the Word the blind eyes are opened to see (Aquarian Gospel 121:34,35; and 140:6,7). The Word is Om. And in the fortieth chapter Jesus also speaks of meditation as the process of gaining spiritual sight.
“And Jesus said, There is a Silence where the soul may meet its God, and there the fount of wisdom is, and all who enter are immersed in light, and filled with wisdom, love and power. Men carry with them all the time the secret place where they might meet their God. It matters not where men abide, on mountain top, in deepest vale, in marts of trade, or in the quiet home; they may at once, at any time, fling wide the door, and find the Silence, find the house of God; it is within the soul. The Silence is the kingdom of the soul, which is not seen by human eyes. If you would find this Silence of the soul you must yourself prepare the way. None but the pure in heart may enter here. And you must lay aside all tenseness of the mind, all business cares, all fears, all doubts and troubled thoughts. Your human will must be absorbed by the divine; then you will come into a consciousness of holiness. And then the curtains part, and you are in the Holiest of All, where rests the Ark of God, whose covering is the Mercy Seat. And then, behold the manna there, the hidden bread of life; and he who eats shall never die” (Aquarian Gospel 40:3,6,7,10,12-14, 19,23).
Read the next section in the Aquarian Gospel for Yogis: To God Through Man