Revisiting Initiation
Reader Question: “If I understand the initiation process correctly, it is a process of purification whereby our mind/body/spirit becomes in complete harmony with God. I realize this is a vast understatement but is this accurate or have I completely missed the mark?”
JJ: Purification is more of a byproduct of the path of initiation rather than the purpose of initiation itself. Purification, as it is generally understood, plays a much larger roll in the first two initiations than those that follow.
Each initiation does bring us in closer harmony with God, but again this is not the prime motivator that pushes us along the path.
The core ingredient that moves us from one initiation to another is the removal of limitations. Because of being born to this material existence we have moved into a sphere of great limitations. These limitations must be removed one by one until complete liberation is attained.
A reader first quotes me: “In the fifth initiation, the disciple receives a revelation that he has to take to the world. […] When that revelation is taken to the world successfully, he then has the opportunity to become a Master of Wisdom.”
Then he writes: “What might define/determine when a revelation “has been taken to the world successfully” – Publication? When a particular number of folks believe, follow or teach it? When it has manifested physically — like the lightbulb. What?”
JJ: One of the problems with teaching the Fifth Initiation is the lack of examples. Jesus worked on his fourth and the Christ his sixth and began his seventh. According to DK, Jesus completed his fifth as Apollonius of Tyana. It is possible that Moses completed his fifth before he was translated.
DK does not talk about his fifth or how any of his fellow masters accomplished theirs.
To complete the fifth involves more than getting a revelation and publishing it. After the disciple completes the fourth and approaches the fifth he will indeed receive a revelation involving principles or a vision of work to do. This could concern something that he alone must do, or even the furthering of a group endeavor. The revelation will involve the incorporation of higher knowledge, but it will be knowledge that the disciple not only has to anchor in the world, but also incorporate into his own life. He must transmute the vision into workable reality. When he accomplishes this to the satisfaction of his inner self then heaven and earth will meet in him and he will obtain power to sustain his body with vital energy as long as it serves higher purpose.
If you go to the search link at the end of this post and type in “Initiations” you’ll be led to numerous things I have said on the topic.
Reader: “Is not God’s hand in all things so that ultimately, all our works fulfill God’s eternal purpose?”
JJ: God’s purpose is fulfilled despite our works, not because all of them are essential to purpose.
If you want a room painted blue and the worker paints it yellow then a non essential mistake was made. The painter has to learn of his mistake and then paint the room blue. Painting the room yellow was not essential to the plan, but a complete waste of time. In the end the owner got what he wanted despite the mistake which was not essential to his plan.
Reader: “In my experience, the forces opposite an act are as necessary to accomplishing that act as the force of the act itself.”
JJ: Yes, the opposition in all things as taught in the Book of Mormon is a true principle. All things are created by the interplay of opposing forces of positive and negative. One thing I have taught that goes beyond this standard doctrine is that for the creation of form to be, the two forces must be slightly out of balance. The positive and negative forces in each atom and molecule are slightly out of balance. If they were in perfect balance they would be transmuted into pure spirit.
Even so, good and evil are not perfectly balanced in the universe, but are dominated by good (creation) over evil (destruction). This is called “the dominating good” in the Alice A. Bailey writings.
Reader “I think of God as the director of the Broadway Play we call The Universe. To simplify, I limit the play to just this earth’s inhabitants (plant, animal, human). The director does not attempt to have the dark characters be as good as they can. For the play to be successful, each character follows the script. And without conflict, their wouldn’t be a story to tell.
“My question to the group was whether that belief comports to the system of teachings this group is based on, ie DK. I don’t think it does and hence why I laid out my thinking step-by-step to see where we deviate.”
JJ: First let me make it clear that unlike the churches and many organizations we do not have a strict set of teachings that members have to accept without question. Anything that I say or any quote from any source is open to question. If a teaching is given here and someone thinks they can present a greater light on the subject then they are welcome to try. All we ask is that students be civil in their discourse.
New people are welcome to challenge any presentation here, but they should also expect to be challenged themselves if something they say does not make sense.
The basic guide here is that teachings should ring true to the soul and make sense to the mind and heart.
That said, let us examine your idea that God has produced a correspondence to a Broadway Play in creating the universe.
There is one problem with this correlation. Where is the audience? Who writes a play to be watched by himself alone? That would be no fun.
What would be fun for God is to reflect Himself with an unlimited number of creations in His image and then plunge into a complicated universe that becomes an extremely complex puzzle from which to work Himself out.
A good game is always fun for any life form — even God; and we are all involved as his reflections in solving the problems of creation, guiding it toward a satisfying end and mastering all the challenges along the way.
You might want to read “The Grand Tour” in my book “Eternal Words.”
“Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.” — Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)
July 10, 2009
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