“Now, when the sages were refreshed they opened up the Book of Life and read. They read the story of the life of man; of all his struggles, losses, gains; and in the light of past events and needs, they saw what would be best for him in coming years. They knew the kind of laws and precepts suited best to his estate; they saw the highest God-ideal that the race could comprehend. Upon the seven postulates these sages were to formulate, the great philosophy of life and worship of the coming age must rest” (Aquarian Gospel 58:1-4).
Piscean Man
“Now Meng-ste was the oldest sage; he took the chair of chief, and said, Man is not far enough advanced to live by faith; he cannot comprehend the things his eyes see not. He yet is child, and during all the coming age he must be taught by pictures, symbols, rites and forms. His God must be a human God; he cannot see a God by faith. And then he cannot rule himself; the king must rule; the man must serve” (Aquarian Gospel 58:5-9).
It is the way of the child to himself be the sole measure of anything. What the child likes and dislikes should be liked and disliked by all. What the child wants and does not want–it should be the same for everyone. What the child gets should be gotten by all, and what the child discards should be discarded by all. In other words, a child is almost pure ego. It is the same those whose bodies grew up while their hearts and minds remained those of a child. Consequently people sneer at anything they have gone beyond, and this is true in religion. But here we see that religion must be of a character which can be grasped by those for whom it is intended. It must mirror their limitations as well as their capacities for growth.
Jesus’ true mission was one of Aquarian consciousness, yet for some reason he had to prepare for it at the beginning of the Piscean Age. Even the masters have rules they must follow. So there were to be two Christianities–or more accurately: Piscean Churchianity and Aquarian Christianity. Meng-ste had this to say about the first:
Man is not far enough advanced to live by faith; he cannot comprehend the things his eyes see not. Here we see that “faith” does not mean mere belief, but a conviction based on experience. Which is why Saint Paul wrote: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Meng-ste is speaking of the general populace, saying that it is not “native” to most people to have spiritual intuition.
He yet is child, and during all the coming age he must be taught by pictures, symbols, rites and forms. This is easy to comprehend.
His God must be a human God; he cannot see a God by faith. The ability to intuit and understand that God is Transcendental Reality beyond the reach of conceptualization–and therefore verbal statement–was rare at that time. Therefore anthropomorphic concepts of God were very necessary, and there was little value in metaphysical abstractions for most people.
And then he cannot rule himself; the king must rule; the man must serve. The concept of self-mastery and total self-responsibility just were not for people at that time. They needed an authority to trust, follow, and obey. Without the Papacy or Patriarchs and state political authority, Western and Eastern Christianity would have come to nothing. Monarchy was necessary in both secular and religious life. The idea of an invisible God might be dimly comprehensible to people, but they needed a very visible–and externally powerful–spiritual authority.
It is important to remember that what may be pointless and even detrimental now in the Aquarian Age, was necessary for the majority of people in the Piscean Age.
Aquarian Man
“The age that follows this will be the age of man, the age of faith. In that blest age the human race will see without the aid of carnal eyes; will hear the soundless sound; will know the Spirit-God” (Aquarian Gospel 58:10, 11).
In other words, this will be the age of awakened consciousness, of the true mystic, the adept yogi.
The Piscean contrast
“The age we enter is the Preparation age, and all the schools and governments and worship rites must be designed in simple way that men may comprehend. And man cannot originate; he builds by patterns that he sees; so in this council we must carve out pattern for the coming age. And we must formulate the gnosis of the Empire of the soul, which rests on seven postulates. Each sage in turn shall form a postulate; and these shall be the basis of the creeds of men until the perfect age shall come” (Aquarian Gospel 58:12-15).
As the title of this essay indicates, the principles to be set forth are the basis of Aquarian understanding. Nevertheless they were formulated to be taught as much as they could be in the Piscean era–especially to those whose consciousness was more advanced than the general state of awareness. But they would only be fully comprehended in the Aquarian Age. Until then they were aspirations to complete understanding.
The first Pillar
“Then Meng-ste wrote the first: All things are thought; all life is thought activity. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great thought made manifest. Lo, God is Thought, and Thought is God” (Aquarian Gospel 58:16, 17).
“Thought” has two aspects: consciousness and the movement of conscious will that manifests as the power of Logos (Word)–first the internal concept and then the exteriorizing ideation, and finally the external manifestation which may take the form of actual thought, word, or deed.
Looking at this principle from the first aspect we can express it this way: “All things are consciousness; all life is the activity of consciousness. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great consciousness made manifest. Lo, God is Consciousness, and Consciousness is God.” There can be no more complete or exact statement of Non-dual Theism. We can even paraphrase and get this: “All things are God; all life is the activity of God. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great God made manifest. Lo, God is All, and All is God.”
Considering the principle from the second aspect we can express it this way: “All things are the thoughts of God; all life is the activity of the thoughts of God. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great thought-power of God made manifest. Lo, God is His Thought, and His Thought is God.”
If these formulations are read slowly, carefully, and with pause for penetrative thought, no commentary is needed.
The second Pillar
“Then Vidyapati wrote the second postulate: Eternal Thought is one; in essence it is two–Intelligence and Force; and when they breathe a child is born; this child is Love. And thus the Triune God stands forth, whom men call Father-Mother-Child. This Triune God is one; but like the one of light, in essence he is seven. And when the Triune God breathes forth, lo, seven Spirits stand before his face; these are creative attributes. Men call them lesser gods, and in their image they made man” (Aquarian Gospel 58:18-23).
Eternal Thought is one; in essence it is two–Intelligence and Force; and when they breathe a child is born; this child is Love. And thus the Triune God stands forth, whom men call Father-Mother-Child.
The Eternal God is absolutely One. Yet, in His very essence He is dual, comprised of Awareness and Power, the Father-God and the Mother-God. Yet there appears between them a third Divine Aspect that draws them together and produces the Divine Projection that is Creation. This is the Child, the Divine Son, the Christ. This is symbolized by pictures of the Holy Family in which the child Jesus walks between Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary. Though usually thought of as being no more than a historical depiction, this is really a mirroring of the Trinity within the depths of the Godhead. This is the Holy Trinity: 1) Transcendent Consciousness, 2) Immanent (Indwelling) Consciousness, and 3) Divine Creative and Evolutionary Power. These are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (which in the Aquarian Gospel is always called Holy Breath since She is a breathing or moving forth of Divine Intelligence in the form of Creative Light).
The Child/Son is Love because He it is whose function is the recalling of the straying spirits that have emerged from the bosom of the Father and submerged themselves into the bosom of the Mother, losing themselves in a false consciousness of separation and materiality. For Love is not an emotion but a magnetic Force that reunites the finite with the Infinite, the many with the One. This is the Mediatorship of the Son with the Father, the Love that is God. For the Christ does not love, He is Love. When He draw us upward and into the Bosom of the Father, He is not “loving” us, He is being Love extended to us from the Father. This is a profound mystery, as is the Trinity Itself, and although the intellect can never grasp it, it can–and must–be experienced by each one of us.
This Triune God is one; but like the one of light, in essence he is seven. And when the Triune God breathes forth, lo, seven Spirits stand before his face; these are creative attributes. Light appears to be a single white “color,” but essentially it is the entire spectrum of color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The white is Transcendent Unity, the spectrum is Immanent Diversity. For before God is Love, He is Light. When creation is to emanate from the Divine as an extension, not as a separate entity or as a creation ex nihil (from nothing), the emanation takes place in various stages. First there is the One that is Two; then there is the Three; then there is the Seven. (I keep saying “is” because the Unity is never lost.) These seven are the great Creator Spirits who bring about the manifestation of all things. They are the Seven Archons–primal beings that are also Aeons, levels of manifestation. They, too, are one and many simultaneously. They are mirrored more closely to us as the Seven Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Anael, Samuel, Zacchariel, and Cassiel. Their energies are focused on human beings both directly and through agency of the seven planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They are spoken of in the Bible as “the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).
Men call them lesser gods, and in their image they made man. These Seven Spirits are the Elohim who said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Consequently we are sevenfold in various ways, the best-known being our possession of the seven psychic centers known in the Yoga System as chakras. Each of these corresponds to a state of consciousness that is native to one of the seven “layers” or “bodies” in which our spirit is encased.
The third Pillar
“And Kaspar wrote the third: Man was a thought of God, formed in the image of the Septonate, clothed in the substances of soul. And his desires were strong; he sought to manifest on every plane of life, and for himself he made a body of the ethers of the earthly forms, and so descended to the plane of earth. In this descent he lost his birthright; lost his harmony with God, and made discordant all the notes of life. Inharmony and evil are the same; so evil is the handiwork of man” (Aquarian Gospel 58:24-28).
Man was a thought of God, formed in the image of the Septonate, clothed in the substances of soul. Again, we must understand that “thought” does not mean a simple abstract mental idea, as with us, but that with God truly “thoughts are things” in the sense that each of us is a drop of consciousness in the infinite ocean of Divine Consciousness, a spark or ray of the Divine Light. In other words, divinity is our essential nature, unity is our nature. But we have been “formed in the image of the Septonate, clothed in the substances of soul.” That is, our consciousness has been modified into a sevenfold mode and enclosed in the envelope of the soul, the soul being a complex of energies ranging from most subtle to the nearly material life-force known to the yogis as prana. (It is necessary to make a distinction between soul and spirit, as Saint Paul does in Hebrews 4:12.) Even though we presently function in this sevenfold mode of awareness and find ourselves confined to the soul and body, we must not identify with them, for that is the root of all our troubles, but we must know that we are the spirit. Meditation is the only process for ending that mistaken identity.
And his desires were strong; he sought to manifest on every plane of life, and for himself he made a body of the ethers of the earthly forms, and so descended to the plane of earth. Where did those desires come from? How could they arise in a disembodied being that had no prior experience of relative existence, no experience of a separate object that could be desired? Robe of Light explains it this way:
“All conscious beings have existed eternally within the being of God–the technical term being ‘Bosom of God’–living within the heart of God, one with Him, distinct though not separate. Having their essential being rooted in the infinity of God, the individual consciousnesses have within them a natural impulse to transcend their finitude and attain the boundlessness of their Origin. This, of course, is impossible, since the essential, eternal nature of a being cannot be altered. Being rooted in God, and therefore in a sense a part of God, all beings are as immutable as God–the only infinite Being. Yet the urge for transcendence is part of their essential nature.
“The solution to this dilemma is actually quite simple: the individual consciousnesses cannot alter their natural state of finitude but they can come to share and participate in the infinite Consciousness of God. That is, they cannot become infinite themselves, but they can experience the infinity of another–their divine Father-Source. This is symbolized in the Scriptures by the expressions regarding their coming to sit in the throne of the Father or becoming heirs of His kingdom (Matthew 19:28; Revelation 3:21; James 2:5; Matthew 25:34; Romans 8:16,17; Ephesians 3:6). Just as a psychically sensitive person can experience the thoughts and feelings of another by tuning in to him, yet in no way becoming that other person, so the individual consciousness can come to experience the Consciousness of God while remaining in its limited native state.
“It is necessary, however, for the individual spirit to develop the capacity for such a state of awareness. And this is done by learning to fully experience the state of existence of a being completely different from oneself–to enter into an alien mode of being altogether, while retaining the awareness of one’s true identity. In other words, the individual spirit must learn to put on a ‘costume’ of a consciousness utterly different from its own and become able not just to fully experience that other mode of consciousness, but also to develop the ability to function as that other kind of being.
“To enable the spirits to enter into this process, God breathes forth–emanates–His own Self as the Son and the Holy Spirit and manifests all the realms of relative existence, from the most subtle worlds of the Cherubim and Seraphim to the most objective worlds of atomic matter. The spirits then enter into relative existence by taking on ‘bodies’ of varying grades and patterns of vibratory energies and descend into this material world to begin working their way back up the ladder of ever-evolving forms, beginning with forms whose scope of consciousness is lesser than theirs and working their way upward, entering into higher and higher levels of awareness until they can surpass their original breadth of consciousness and begin to partake of a life of awareness much beyond their own.
“Upward and upward they evolve until their capacity for awareness is developed to such a perfect state that they can actually experience the Being of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Then, after having perfected themselves in even that empyrean state, they can actually reenter the Bosom of the Father in full participation of His all-embracing consciousness, thenceforth to live in His infinity, His ultimate gift of love to them, thus experiencing the meaning of His ancient declaration: ‘I am…thy exceeding great reward’” (Genesis 15:1).
“As Shakespeare wrote, ‘all the world’s a stage’ with the individual spirits wearing their costumes and playing their parts. Just as actors begin with small parts and progress to bigger roles by demonstrating their skill in those smaller parts, so also do the spirits advance to higher and more complex forms of existence and consciousness through taking on and perfecting their identity and functions within the elementary forms of creation, returning at last home to God.” This is the ideal, but:
In this descent he lost his birthright; lost his harmony with God, and made discordant all the notes of life. Have you ever been in a life-threatening situation? For many people at such a time panic takes over and all good sense is forgotten, resulting in pointless and even destructive behavior. Those who have almost drowned really know how this is. Many people who are drowning drown those who try to save them because they are utterly irrational from desperation and fear. Being completely overwhelmed by the external situation, a person totally forgets all reason and reacts in a foolish way. That is the crux of the whole thing: forgetfulness.
Perhaps more close to home is our reaction to motion pictures. We watch and feel fear, happiness, humor, sorrow, anxiety, pride, anger, and disappointment–all just in response to light patterns on a screen. We know that what we are seeing is not real, yet we react as though it is. We do not seem able to help ourselves. It is my experience that no matter how many times I see a dramatic motion picture and know the outcome I still feel tension or anxiety each time. This is absurd. Knowing that all will be well, I feel tense and anxious about whether it will come out well. This is akin to mental illness–and maybe not just akin!
The senses draw us into an externalized consciousness that makes us completely forget reality and come to believe thoroughly in unreality. Identification with the body and its senses, including the mind, turns us inside-out, makes us truly negative, seeing black as white and white as black. Destructive ignorance is the result.
The birthright we lose is self-awareness and self-knowledge; and once those are lost what can remain? We become like a piece of driftwood on the heaving swells of the sea, dwarfed, dominated, and tossed about aimlessly. If this is not hell, what is?
Forgetting ourselves we naturally forget God, the root of our existence, the archetype of our being. No longer in sync with God we become engulfed in disharmony. Being in conflict with ourselves we are in conflict with God, and ourselves become “Satan.” Being out of harmony with God, it is inevitable that every note of our life becomes discordant, a clashing symphony of derangement and chaos. We become deranged on all levels of our being. With our ability to accept unreality as reality, we order our insanity and call it sane and “normal.” Even worse, we become fearful or angered at any contradiction or displacement of our delusion, feeling threatened by that which would restore us to inner harmony. We mistake numbness for peace and unawareness for security. Yet the horrible truth is:
Inharmony and evil are the same; so evil is the handiwork of man. Being crazy, we raise all kinds of delusory structures–philosophical, religious, psychological, and social–to attribute evil to any other source but ourselves. We even try to make God the source of evil, or His shadow-image “the Devil.” And until we get enough sanity to acknowledge that we are the source, that it is our clinging to delusion which produces all our troubles (which we also try to not admit to), there is no hope of our emerging from this darkness into the light of truth.
When in Persepolis on His way back to Israel to begin His ministry there, Jesus spoke of this situation in this way: “Whatever God, the One, has made is good, and like the great first Cause, the seven Spirits all are good, and everything that comes from their creative hands is good. Now, all created things have colors, tones and forms their own; but certain tones, though good and pure themselves, when mixed, produce inharmonies, discordant tones. And certain things, though good and pure, when mixed, produce discordant things, yea, poisonous things, that men call evil things. So evil is the inharmonious blending of the colors, tones, or forms of good. Now, man is not all-wise, and yet has will his own. He has the power, and he uses it, to mix God’s good things in a multitude of ways, and every day he makes discordant sounds, and evil things. And every tone and form, be it of good, or ill, becomes a living thing, a demon, sprite, or spirit of a good or vicious kind. Man makes his evil thus; and then becomes afraid of him and flees; his devil is emboldened, follows him away and casts him into torturing fires. The devil and the burning fires are both the works of man, and none can put the fires out and dissipate the evil one, but man who made them both” (Aquarian Gospel 39:11-18).
However great the mess we find ourselves in, embodiment is presently necessary for us, and is a positive thing when like the Prodigal Son we “come to ourselves” and begin to live in the eternal perspective. So the next principle presents a happier (and inevitable) picture.
The fourth Pillar
“Ashbina wrote the fourth: Seeds do not germinate in light; they do not grow until they find the soil, and hide themselves away from light. Man was evolved a seed of everlasting life; but in the ethers of the Triune God the light was far too great for seeds to grow; and so man sought the soil of carnal life, and in the darksomeness of earth he found a place where he could germinate and grow. The seed has taken root and grown full well. The tree of human life is rising from the soil of earthy things, and, under natural law, is reaching up to perfect form. There are no supernatural acts of God to lift a man from carnal life to spirit blessedness; he grows as grows the plant, and in due time is perfected. The quality of soul that makes it possible for man to rise to spirit life is purity” (Aquarian Gospel 58:29-36).
Seeds do not germinate in light; they do not grow until they find the soil, and hide themselves away from light. Man was evolved a seed of everlasting life; but in the ethers of the Triune God the light was far too great for seeds to grow; and so man sought the soil of carnal life, and in the darksomeness of earth he found a place where he could germinate and grow. The seed has taken root and grown full well. The tree of human life is rising from the soil of earthy things, and, under natural law, is reaching up to perfect form. Nothing can be more satanic than a philosophy or theology that convinces human beings that they are innately, naturally evil, and then condemns them for it. What else could they do, if it is their nature? What a malicious deception most “Christianity” is on this point. It is calculated to utterly confuse and torment. “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t” is really the condition of those who accept such a lie. But the truth is otherwise: Christhood is our nature; and since it is our nature it is the path of harmony, peace, and assurance, because it is also inevitable. Nature itself is on our side in our spiritual development.
Equally assuring is the fact that our spiritual development occurs under natural law. This means that our evolution is precise and orderly, not skipping a single step (no, there is no “short path”), and moving forward according to law, not the whim of a cosmic tyrant who must be placated or “pleased” lest we be kicked back like a ball because of his wrath at a misstep or omission. We need not ask God for help–He has set it up for us from eternity and has spread out the vast series of worlds, causal, astral, and physical, as an “evolution machine.”
It follows, then, that our spiritual evolution can be enhanced and quickened by spiritual methodology, by practices based on the nature of the human complex and its capacity for openness to divine influence as well as its capacity for self-unfoldment. According to the Aquarian Gospel Jesus gave two method-tools for spiritual liberation: Silence and Word. Silence is meditation which centers us in the consciousness of Spirit, and The Word is the invocation of the Divine Life within ourselves. These Keys to the Kingdom, when applied in a context of morality and spiritual orientation of thought, word, and deed, are infallible keys to the kingdom of Divine Consciousness.
There are no supernatural acts of God to lift a man from carnal life to spirit blessedness; he grows as grows the plant, and in due time is perfected. These words do not mean that God is not with each one of us, blessing and guiding (if we will be open to His blessing and guiding); in fact, the division of life into “natural” and “supernatural” is erroneous–all is Divine. However, it is true that Divinity is orderly and operates strictly by spiritual law. Yet, since Divinity exists on many planes (John 14:2), there are many levels of laws, some superseding or canceling out those on lesser planes. This is evident even in the physical world. The law of gravity pulls things to earth, yet birds fly by the application of laws that circumvent gravity. By “natural law” an airplane should not fly because of its tremendous weight; but since the laws of aerodynamics have been discovered nearly a million people fly every year in the United States alone. Aviation is neither an abrogation of natural law nor supernatural intervention–it is an operation of previously unknown laws.
All of the foregoing is to explain that there are indeed spiritual mechanisms that facilitate our evolution, but they are in no way the whimsical intervention of God on behalf of any “favorite sons.” So we should do our utmost to understand the ways and means of spiritual law and work accordingly rather than asking God to help us or do things for us. He is with us every moment, but the doing must be ours; otherwise there would be no progress on our part. Rather than “storming heaven” with prayers and praises we need to get busy and “work out” our own salvation (Philippians 2:12).
There is a superstitious supernaturalism that has no place in spiritual life. Saint Peter gives the exact perspective when he outlines the following work-plan for self evolution: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature….And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1:1-8). We can accelerate our evolution by conforming to the principles of inner life, but we cannot skip over even a single step. Otherwise we would not be able to “stand perfect and complete” (Colossians 4:12) in our development.
The quality of soul that makes it possible for man to rise to spirit life is purity. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The literal translation of these words are: “Blessed are those who are clear at the center, for they shall see God.” Those whose consciousness has been cleared of all obstructions of ignorance and passion are admitted to the vision of God which is union with God. Purity of thought, word, and deed are essential; and purity is not some kind of warmy, snuggy feeling and Pinochio-type aspiration such as “I wish I was a real Christ.” To purify ourselves we have to get our physical, mental, and spiritual hands calloused by deliberate, willful application of the highest moral and ethical principles.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I John 3:2, 3).
Read the next section in the Aquarian Gospel for Yogis: The Seven Pillars of the Aquarian Age – II