Method

            Spiritual growth towards an Apotheosis, through Gnosis, is the ultimate goal for our souls; no matter how you want to define it. To achieve such this is the path. There is but one path. As for the definitions of this path, there are many. Most these days that choose to avoid religion, will pick up a self-help book. Self-help books focus on redefining the world around you. They develop a paradigm of understanding. The new processes they propose only work if the reader accepts the proposed paradigm. The same precepts are brought forth by any religion. Each religion has a specific understanding of their deity, the world around them, and a prescribed code of behaviour. Throughout their vast artisanal and dogmatic doctrines, all of these works follow certain guidelines.

            For example: the path to Nirvana in Buddhism comprises eight aspects in which an aspirant must become disciplined: their understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration. This is known as the Eightfold Path. Buddhists have built their method of ethical conduct on the concept of universal love and compassion for all living beings. Their guideline is the ‘middle way,’ moderation between extremes.

            Every religion has their own set of laws, rituals and sacraments. This is no different from the ancient mystery schools. Practitioners of all of these are to observe the moral code, and participate in ritual in order to receive the sacraments. It is understood in all of these that good moral character is the cornerstone for the developing spirit.

            In Northern-Traditional Shamanism there is a distinction of the techniques we use which change our state of mind. It identifies method without the concept of morality or of building towards anything. It simply observes the various ways which we alter our states of human consciousness. These altered states are brought on by different methods and are a mixture of invocations and evocations.

·         Meditation – “Path of Breath.” This is defined as a willful focus, a directed intention like prayer, breathing techniques, and trance work. This method has to do with sitting quietly and using only the tools of your own mind. This can be done lying in bed, and is where our mind goes without outside input.

·         Routine – “Path of Ritual.” Creation of a sacred space where repetitive and deliberate mindful activities laden with meaning are practiced. After a time, the space itself can create an altered state. This method has to do with organizing our expectations of the space around us. Whether we are attending church or managing our household, we are infusing the space with spiritual energy and producing a lasting conscious change.

·         Entertainment – “Path of Rhythm.” Inspiration through music, watching television, reading, and even looking in a mirror. Observance of physical life. Allowing your body and mind to be influenced by outside forces in sound frequency and harmonizing with them. This method has to do with acceptance and harmonizing with the forces that surround you, or vice versa. The rejection of these forces can also have an effect on the consciousness.

·         Fasting –“Ascetic’s Path.” Avoiding consuming of substances. The use of a sweat lodge, sauna, cold exposure, salt pool, or sensory deprivation chamber. Emptying the body of physical influences like food and toxins; like going through a cleanse. This method focuses on causing you to be sustained through willpower alone.

·         Substance – “Path of Sacred Plants.” Taking medication. Hallucinogenics, smoking, alcohol, etc. Allowing yourself to be influenced by outside forces that you consume; even food. This method is always practiced as we eat. Through it, we remind ourselves of the harmony and disharmonies provided by the Creation, and are thus sustained within it. This method can be quite dangerous if the substance is volatile or used in excess.

·         Experience - “Path of the Flesh.” Love, charity. This method associates with the primal response of the body, and all the physical, emotional, and chemical changes the body and mind can have through interaction with others. Unlike the other methods, this method addresses the pleasures and pains associated with involvement with others, and our expectations of the results thereof.

·         Ordeals – “Path of Pain.” Obstacles. Intentional and unintentional masochism. Effect of stress on the body and soul. This method can describe physical pain and exercise, but it has more to do with obstacles of the mind. When faced with an opposition our mind makes changes to its behaviour to prepare itself for conflict.

·         Channeling – “Path of the Horse.” Willful change of entire self. Communicating with the divine conscious. Spiritual possession. Acting. Fake it till you make it. Quantum jumping. This method has to do with altering the characteristics of the egoic self, and changing your outward appearance and/or belief system. This change can be upwards, downwards, or sideways upon the fractal tree of life. Through it one can discern truth or lose their way altogether. This method can change who you are, for better or worse. It is also a milestone along the path of spiritual growth, as it is what occurs during the symbolic death during Hermetic Rebirth.

            These methods are omnipresent in our lives and can be defined in a number of different ways. The importance of acknowledging them here is to understand how we subject ourselves to conscious change. We utilize these methods every day, whether we know it or not. Though we are subjected to the influence of environmental, physical, mental, and emotional changes, it is also our choice whether or not to accept their presentation and harmonize ourselves with them. The spirit can only change when the individual allows it to. It is important to acknowledge these gateways of conscious change as a source of study for universal progeny. In doing so we ultimately observe that the source of all things resides within ourselves.

            There are simple guidelines for success in any method. They are: to know, to dare, to will, and to keep silent. Simply explained it means to gather the knowledge necessary, to dare to practice the art, to will the desired results, and to keep quiet about what you are doing.

• To Know: The first factor revolves around knowledge of a thing. Everything we encounter we are also able to fathom. We know of it, so it is relevant. We believe in it. This mostly has to do with imagination. Knowledge of a thing permits it to exist. What is present in our current reality is what is known, and not what is unknown. It is the root of how things manifest into our lives.

• To Dare: The second factor is the acceptance of a thing actually occurring. In order for anything to happen in our lives we must first accept it as a possibility. We dare to take the chance of things occurring. In this step we acknowledge chance at multiple outcomes, some desirable and some undesirable. This is where our knowledge of a thing expands as we explore its possible outcomes.

• To Will: The third factor has to do with willpower. This is where our desires and expectations come in. It is a fragile step and is where our conscious and unconscious mind can fuel or under nourish the desired outcome. Any denial or lack of confidence could contradict the manifestation of a thing and cause undesired results.

• To Keep Silent: The fourth factor is its value, true value of a thing as weighed by the collective conscious. Everything currently in our lives has transgressed this doorway of our acceptance. This is affected by our current value of self-worth and severely influenced by our peers’ opinions. How we feel about a thing, and whether or not we deserve it, greatly influences the manifestations that come to us. This is where we consciously and subconsciously judge ourselves and each other to permit what becomes manifest in our lives. The preferred method at this step for magicians is to keep silent, as it eliminates the variable of the input of others.

            All four factors must be in alignment for anything to be manifest around us. Knowing this we can observe all that is currently manifest in our lives and decipher our current stance of all four of these factors, for ourselves and the collective. This is how things on Heaven and Earth are bound and loosed. It is our role to choose which things we will align with and bring about to experience. Through belief, choice, worship, prayer, desire, and our expectations we channel the creative power of the divine source within us. We tune ourselves like a radio and dance to the song of the cosmos; or rather, the cosmos dance to our song.

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                What we put into the corners of our mind is what emanates around us. To master the world around us, we must master self-control. There are many practices that instill the ideas and concepts in the minds of the many. For most there is the NEWS we watch on television. By being informed on the events of the world we make sacrifice of the firsthand experience and accept the words of others. In this fashion we allow the world around us to be a creation of others. It eludes youngsters as to why their elders had always said that television was evil; now we know why. The old point of view was that it was safer for the spiritual psyche to acknowledge the rest of the world as an unknown. Now we are being told what is out there. For the mystic, to see the outer corners of the world is to stare demons directly in the face. This is not a bad thing. This is why these days are ones of near-instant karmic returns. This is why our world is developing so quickly and so many are coming to enlightenment. When we see the results of our thoughts, words, actions and expectations, it becomes easier to hone them.

                To give an example:

                A humble married man is walking through the woods with his dog. He has him off leash, because he is confident in his control of his pet. A police officer driving nearby is coping with his recent divorce and not paying much attention to anything else. The police officer’s wife is far from these men, and has disdain towards her former husband and has taken their family pet in their divorce; a dog the police officer never cared for. Then a pack of deer pass by the man and dog in the woods. The man begins to worry his dog may run off after them; and the dog does. The deer then cross a nearby road where the police officer is approaching. The police officer, who has not been able to go hunting in the past few years because of his fights with his ex-wife, speeds up in attempts to hit one of the deer. The deer pass over the road. Then the dog comes to a standstill in the road, observing the approaching vehicle. The police officer, who has just enough time to stop to avoid the dog, does not do so. Instead he speeds up and hits the dog, and continues on.

                This fully observed situation can spark a number of opinions on the matter, but the result does not owe its’ fault to any one of the people involved. All three people mentioned, the man in the woods, the police officer and his ex-wife, share an equal blame for the fate of the dog. The man lost his confidence over his control of his dog and succumbed to fear before the dog came to harm. The police officer, in his state of despair ignored basic moral guidelines. The ex-wife, though far removed from the physical situation, wished the police officer an ill fate. Now, you the observer wish to know if the dog survived, or if the police officer was ever persecuted for cruelty to animals. Whatever your feelings may be on the matter, your mere knowing makes you a part of it; and you are now contributing to it. In times of tragedy, some blame themselves; some blame others and some damn all who are involved.

                It is a culmination of forces that bring cause to the physical existence. Knowing this truth makes it easier to forgive. We are responsible for each other as much as we are responsible for ourselves.

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                What we put into the phylacteries of our hearts is the most pivotal causation that affects the physical world. A phylactery, sometimes called ‘tefillin’, are small, square leather or wooden boxes containing portions of scripture from the Torah worn by Conservative and Orthodox Jews during prayer services. Phylacteries are worn in pairs, one phylactery is strapped on the left arm, and one is strapped to the forehead of Jewish men during weekday morning prayers. The word ‘phylactery’ comes from a Greek word meaning: “safeguard, protection, or amulet.” The symbol of the phylactery, like the Kaaba black stone in Mecca, is meant to mirror the kingdom of Heaven in our hearts. Ritual involving them is symbolic in the physical realm, but it affects our consciousness and manipulates the spiritual realm. These symbols are just like the altar in a Christian church or in a Masonic Lodge. What we surround the center with, is what emanates forth from the singularity; this is how God works through man.

                Inside the Jewish phylacteries are these scriptures:

                Exodus 13:1-10: This passage speaks of freedom from slavery and uses the allegory of the unleavened bread. It represents the idea of equality for all mankind who are born again in spirit.

                Exodus 13:11-16: This passage speaks of honoring God and uses the allegory of sacrifice of the firstborn. It represents the idea of responsibility to spread the word of God and assures a promise of salvation for all that accept it.

                Deuteronomy 6:4-9: This passage speaks of the importance of God and uses the allegory of educating children. It represents the idea of omnipresence of God and finding instruction wherever you look.

                Deuteronomy 11:13-21: This passage speaks on the promises of God and uses little to no allegory. It directly informs that those that honor God will have abundance, and those that honor other gods will have scarcity.

“And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your win and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.

Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that here will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.”

-Deuteronomy 11:13-21

                From these passages, Jesus discerned spiritual truth and presented the Beatitudes as a code of conduct based on spiritual law. Instead of a masked and veiled code of conduct offered in Exodus and Deuteronomy, Jesus told his disciples directly the actions they should take. Though he spoke in parables often, he did often offer a version of spiritual truth that was abridged and unmasked.

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            All of this may be pure nonsense, but I want to believe it. I admit that I myself am fallible. Even if I don’t say so out loud, I accept it as a possibility. In doing so, I make myself humble and open to the viewpoints of others. I know that I have accepted a paradigm of the reality around me that is unique to my own perception. I use words for things others identify in a different manner. Everyone is guilty of this, no matter how politically correct they train themselves to be. This is the fallibility of language. You can try to make sense to a specific audience, but you can’t identify with everyone.

            Each of us has a lens that we view the world through that makes us unique. This is why we each have our own path. It is unique in the details alone; but the concepts are identical for all of us. There is only one path to spiritual understanding, and each of us has our own path; a difficult concept to explain for sure. The uniqueness of our paths comes down to the details within the consciously manifested details in space and time that are laid before us on our individual journey within the Creation. Although he is among others, man walks this path alone.

            Man is not brought to enlightenment by other men, but by manifestations portrayed to him from God; and the teachers are always the same. In ancient Egypt these teachers were known as the 7 sages. They are the lower kingdoms in the Sephiroth, the realms of the world tree, the chakras of the body; the fallen angels, the 7 churches of Asia in the Book of Revelation, the Grigori, and the 7 deadly sins, etc. Though some of these symbolic representations of these concepts take on a negative or positive connotation, they are the same within their dualistic identities. Understanding the lessons wrought by these powers is to understand Arcanum. The teachers are duality itself.

            How we tip the scales in the dualistic paradigms of conscious thought is how we harden our hearts, spin upon the wheel of fortune, and draw in karmic returns. The fight between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ never ends as long as they continue to fight. Fighting against the devil only makes him stronger. To put these concepts into balance is the true goal that frees us from bondage of them.

            The methods used are trivial in their detail. The guidelines surrounding the concepts seem to apply to all methods, but it may not be so. Most of the rules are made up and agreed upon by man, but the divine has few rules. These have been portrayed in many different ways throughout many different traditions. The Biblical portrayal of these rules goes as such

• Love the one true God within with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Attribute power over the Creation to nothing else. 

• Love your neighbor as yourself. For he is in you and you are in him.

            We depart now with these commandments to reflect on. These two rules are not just a suggestion, but are cosmic law. They are the answer to all your ills. They are the key to spiritual growth and rising above duality.

“Though we each have our own path, there is but one mind.

Our methods are many; and the concepts entwine.

The details, trivial;

but the meaning, divine.”

-William Howell