1999-3-20 14:47:00
Samu,
I liked your commentary. I am glad you saw the correspondence between Hawking and Galileo. It probably takes an amateur scientist to appreciate that.
Marilyn is correct. This world as we understand it is not coming to an end, but many ways of thinking are. The earth itself will continue for millions of years.
Robin writes:
"One of my goals is to serve the purpose of "The Great Work" as best I can. The way for me to do this is to increase my own awareness of how I can do this. I have been attracted to this list and JJ's books and know beyond a shadow of doubt that this is part of my path at this time. So I do the exercises with faith that I will expand in a direction which in the long run will help all achieve a quantum reality."
This is an interesting comment worthy of note and is an act of faith as faith was originality intended to be defined.
In the New Testament faith comes from PISTIS which is derived from the root word PEITHO which basically means "to prove a thing true or false by evidence, argument, reason or experiment and through the guidance of your inner authority."
The book of Hebrews gives an expanded definition: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1
We can again find that the Greek will give us a much clearer translation here. "Substance" comes from HUPOSTASIS and in modern translations it is usually rendered "assurance" or "confidence" but in reality one English word cannot do it justice. It more literally means "That state of mind which supports an idea through a sustained effort." "Evidence" comes from ELEGECHOS which means "to prove a matter true or false". The word indicates that faith establishes the true reality. Thus a clearer translation of the preceding verse would be: "Now faith is having that state of mind which sustains that which is hoped for and reveals the truth of those things we do not see." This definition corresponds much better with the root meaning of the Greek PISTIS, which is translated faith.
If we have faith, we can sustain an idea until it is proven true or false. It is never a blind unreasoning belief.
The correct definition of faith should make the word more acceptable to the more enlightened and intelligent persons who were previously repulsed to using it. We see that the initiate Edison, for instance, had great faith. He sustained the idea of the light bulb until he proved its validity by making it a physical reality. When faith is sustained on a true principle a physical manifestation occurs. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed." Heb 11:2
We are also told: "But without faith, it is impossible to please Him" (God). Heb 11:6 Unless we can sustain an idea or conviction and prove it by argument or externalization we cannot please God.
By this scriptural definition of faith, I know of very few pious religious people who have any semblance of faith, but ironically, there are numerous nonreligious people who have it.
If those who claim to have faith do not actually have it, then what do they have? After searching through numerous words in the Biblical Greek the closest I can find to match what is commonly miscalled "faith" is BLASPHEMOS which in the English means "blasphemer".. BLASPHEMOS literally means "to hinder by stating an unfounded, rumored', or unreasonable statement". Interestingly, most of those who claim to have faith cannot support their belief with any logical foundation or reasoning, but merely repeat what they have been taught.
Thus Robin is creating an act of faith by allowing certain teachings to be planted in her like a seed and as the teachings are nourished and evidence gathered she and others will prove to themselves which principles are true or false.
This is much different than being a mindless believer which the misled of today call faith, but in the time of Jesus was called blasphemy.
Heather comments:
"Then why is there such a focus upon spending time on thinking about who is a liberal or conservative?" (By the way, welcome to the list, Heather. I don't think Robin intended to offend you and I hope I do not.)
This is a more important exercise than you know. If we desire to become initiates then it is important that we can recognize where the initiates are and that they are working hard on both sides of the fence. The trouble is that if an initiate is working on the other side of our bias we are likely to overlook his virtues and see him or her as a servant of evil, or at best misled, and be totally oblivious to the fact that the brotherhood may be using him as an instrument.
Initiates are above average people but are far from perfect and do not have a complete angle of vision. Many are not aware of their status, or that they are agents of the Brotherhood. In fact, an initiate on the left may sincerely believe that an initiate on the right is completely misled and visa versa. As these initiates advance their ring-pass-not they gain a wider vision and begin to see their initiate adversaries as working on the same side if wholeness is considered.
Let me make a few more comments on initiates. We mentioned that there are initiates on the side of light and also the dark path. The initiates among the Dark Brothers were at one time on the path of light. They passed through maya and glamour but were trapped by the illusion of selfishness. They are under the erroneous belief that the only way to happiness and fulfillment is through the self. Unlike Spock, they believe that the needs of the one self outweigh the needs of the many.
The initiates for the Brotherhood see through this illusion and move on to initiating many wonderful things that work for the good of the whole.
There is a major difference between concepts initiated by those on the left and right hand path. The dividing difference is this. The ideas initiated by those on the Dark side are not in alignment with the Purpose of God and is therefore temporary in effect. Because it is temporary, the initiation is thus illusion and will pass away.
An example of this would be the Third Reich initiated by Hitler. The Reich and the principles that it was founded on passed away and is on the path of extinction.
Now let us look at an initiate on the Right, such as Abraham Lincoln. He initiated the freedom of the slaves and ever since the Emancipation Proclamation, the black race has not gone backward, but forward and gained more and more rights and freedoms.
Now that we have eliminated slavery do you think we will ever go back and re-establish it? No. Because once a principle of truth is established by an Initiate of Light it would then seem madness to go backward and creep about in the dark again. And on the slim chance we are overtaken with madness it will only be for a short time.
True principles brought forth by initiates are always strongly resisted at first, but when a critical mass is reached and the light is turned on to reveal the truth the principle then becomes firmly established.
Edison initiated the light bulb, Tesla, the alternating current and Jobs the PC. Are we ever going to throw these tools away? No. Not in our present reality.
It is interesting that we now almost universally see Abraham Lincoln as a great man and the elimination of slavery as completely necessary, but few realize how difficult it was for Lincoln to arrive at the point where he could issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
He received less than a majority vote because of his stand on slavery and right after he was elected, the entire South succeeded from the Union because they hated Lincoln and despised his beliefs, feeling that Lincoln was going to destroy their way of life.
We think Clinton has problems, and most of them are his own fault, but imagine that half of this nation refused to be ruled by him, not because of a screw up, but because he supported some positive civil rights issue.
Lincoln did everything right and still half the nation thought he was there devil incarnate and refused to be ruled by him.
In addition to enemies in the South, he also had many in the North. Many religious leaders were openly hostile to him because he was a member of no church and also dabbled in spiritualism. Lincoln believed the Bible, but he refused to be subject to the Beast and many Christians who should have stood by him totally rejected him and preached against him.
It is interesting what time can do. Now every religion there is almost looks upon Lincoln as a saint and quotes him on a regular basis. The principles he initiated are now seen by all (except the insane) as good and true.
A giant step in advancing toward initiate status ourselves comes not through ignoring the polarities, but in discerning them. The power of true discernment precedes the power of union. There is much truth in the statement from the Course in Miracles: "Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved."
To solve the problem of duality we must first discern the two opposing sides in all things whether it be male-female, good-evil, positive-negative, spiritual-material or conservative-liberal.
The true discernment of the polarities is twofold. First comes the discernment of how the two sides are seen and defined by the masses and secondly how they are seen in the real world of the soul. Sometimes the two visions are similar and other times they are different.
For instance, radical environmentalists of the Unabomber's bent are seen by the masses as ultra liberal, but in reality they are ultra conservative because their focus is on the past which they seek to "conserve." This group has much in common with the ultra religious anti-abortionist people who approve of bombing clinics to conserve the past. These two groups are similar in mindset and evolution but have different points of view. Outside of having differing illusions, they are very similar.
Many businesspeople who are liberally seeking positive change (as in the world of computers, for instance) are called conservative by the masses whereas in reality, they are liberals in this area.
A false understanding of liberal-conservative works against the union of the whole while a true understanding brings greater cooperation and wholeness in the body of mankind. Differences seen as they really are realized as being two parts of the whole rather than two sides who must be at war against each other.
Now, I will end this post by risking my credibility with readers who are polarized on either the conservative side or the liberal by naming a controversial initiate on each polarity.
A controversial initiate on the liberal side is Doctor Kevorkian, also known as doctor death who seeks to end the suffering of the terminally ill who are undergoing great suffering.
An initiate on the conservative side is Rush Limbaugh who proudly claims to be one of the two most hated men in America. He attempts to point out how the country has deviated from the course of common sense by presenting mental arguments and sometimes shocking points that drive his enemies to the point of madness.
Now, the question of today is this. Why are these two men (who probably see each other as enemies) initiates for the cause of evolution and what are they initiating? How is it possible that they are really both working on the same side?
I apologize here to those outside of the US who may not be familiar with these two, but these two examples should stir up some thought.
Copyright 1999 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved