This is Part 4 of a series of postings on the authentic Christian view and attitude regarding psychic phenomena, a follow-up to The Negative Side of Psychic Phenomena.Having spoken of the power of Christ, we should consider the positive side of the matter of psychic phenomena. For there is a very positive and beneficial mode of psychic communication and phenomena.
This is opened to us by the Sacraments, through which we enter into communication with God, Whose being embraces all levels of existence.
In both Old and New Testaments we see the righteous involved in psychic matters, including divination. Two things distinguish them from the negative and the foolish:
- the source of such phenomena is God, the Supreme Consciousness, and
- their purpose is evolution of the their consciousness and the facilitation of their return to God.
What we are speaking of in this context is the opening of the highest part of ourselves, our immortal spirit, to the world of God so that through our own evolution–not through the interference or action of other intelligences–the ability to perceive and function meaningfully on the higher psychic planes (and beyond) arises within us as a part of our own being and is wielded through our own divinely inspired and empowered will.
That is, spiritualized psychic experience occurs as a natural consequence of our attaining “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” to “grow up into Him in all things, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:13,15).
Revelation
Perhaps the most striking psychic record in the Bible is the book of Revelation in which the psychic visions of Saint John the Apostle are recounted. I say “psychic visions” but in actuality they were spiritual communications transmitted through the purified psychic faculties of the Apostle.
We know this is so, for he tells us: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10). The term “Lord’s day” means not just Sunday, but the eighth “day” or level of existence which transcends and yet embraces all modes of existence. In this way Saint John assures us that what he is about to tell us is coming from the highest point of consciousness that transcends all conditioned, relative states of consciousness.
Moreover, we must not miss the point that everything Saint John tells us was his direct experience. He was not acting as a medium for any being, however high. He himself had ascended to the highest and witnessed all this directly. What he received he received directly from the Infinite.
This is why all the holy prophets of the Bible never said: “Thus says my control,” or “thus says my guide.” Nor did they ever say: “Thus says the Archangel.” Rather, they said: “Thus saith The Lord.” For their spirits were in perfect union with the One Spirit; the finite was joined with the Infinite; the parts were one with the Whole. And so they spoke with the Divine Breath, the Holy Spirit.
Adam and Eve
Originally, Adam and Eve were citizens of the astral region of Paradise, functioning in that vehicle we call the astral body, which is also known as the “mind body.” In other words, they did not communicate through eyes and ears and mouth, but through their minds, which included their psychic faculties. For in the astral world all experience is psychic experience.
Eve could not distinguish between the Elohim (creator mothers) and Lucifer because she was not in touch with her higher, spiritual faculties that would have enabled her to perceive the difference. Also, Lucifer was an archangel and therefore likely to be mistaken for one of the Elohim. Eve was deceived through her psychic nature–something that would have been impossible if her awareness had been established in her spirit.
Not only did Lucifer look all right to Eve’s psychic eye, so also did the astral fruit that brought about her psychic death. If she had looked with the eye of the spirit, she would have understood the nature of both and understood they were deadly–Lucifer because he was maleficent, and the fruit because she was not yet ready for the energies and the psychic opening it would convey. (This, too, is discussed in Robe of Light.)
God meant for Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, but not yet. She had only just come into Paradise and still had much development and learning ahead of her. If she had been back down on the earth and in the physical body, she could not have even seen or heard Lucifer; she would have been safe. But in Paradise she was susceptible to deception.
Our situation
Since we are indeed “poor banished children of Eve,” we are in the same predicament psychically. Therefore it is indeed true that we must be cautious about the psychic realms, and must endeavor to center our consciousness in the spirit before probing into it. However, Adam and Eve had to enter the astral world of Paradise and evolve there. And so must we. Since as Christian initiates we are to evolve simultaneously on the physical, psychic, and causal levels, we must prepare ourselves for incursions into all regions in time.
Without this preparation, entry into astral experience will be dangerous, for then we will be under the sway of the ego and may readily go–or be led–astray. For the flattering and corrupting spirits will come to us as did Lucifer to Eve. Like Lucifer they will entice and enslave us–even using truth as the bait if need be, leading us on from truth, to truth, to cloudy truth, to utter deception.
This is the age-old strategy. Even in recent times we have seen Lenin and Hitler doing the same thing. They did not completely lie, but mixed in truths, half-truths, and falsehoods. By this means they deceived far more people than if they had only lied.
Saint Paul speaks of those “Who changed the truth of God into a lie” (Romans 1:25). So this process of seduction can even be worked using the highest truth, “the truth of God.” How is this? Because they are dealing with the intellect, which still is subject to psychic rather than spiritual consciousness.
True intuition, which is mistakenly considered a part of psychic phenomena, is actually the higher faculty which replaces intellect as we ascend to spiritual perfection. Much of what we mistakenly think is intuition, however, is really astral perception that trickles down into our conscious minds without our being aware of the astral experience from which it originates.
Cultivating a wise perspective regarding psychic phenomena
As is usual with life, even spiritual life, the situation seems contradictory. We must in time experience psychic phenomena and perceptions, and yet must also be wary of them and understand that they, too, must be transcended as much as material experience.
We should think of our experience of the psychic world as a journey. We must know the difficulties that may be encountered, the precautions that must be taken, and the mishaps and even dangers for which we must be prepared. We must know the danger zones and the safe zones. We must know the bad roads and the good roads. Yes, we must know them all. And we must make the trip. Without it there is stagnation.
The same thing can be said of the development of consciousness as has been said about the American expansion into the West: “The cowards never started, and the weak died along the way.” We must be neither.
Next: Be Safe and in Control with Psychic Phenomena
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