I was disappointed with this one.
After reading Alice Bailey's take on the Seven Ray's I was curious to hear a different point of view. This book has a thimble full of insight into the topic but mostly it approaches the Ray's as a personality type. I really liked parts of it and some of his perspectives it really doesn't seem to resonate with the information I've come across about the seven rays elsewhere. The language is very dated. This is another book I had to drag myself through. While it does contain a little bit of information on the Ray's it leaves a lot to be desired. I imagine if it was written today it would have a multiple choice test at the start that would tell people what Ray they fall into...and based on Bailey's work that doesn't seem correct. He doesn't really explain how to tell which one you fall into either...which is a bit problematic because all of them are described in such a general that at some point or another all of us resemble the person described in each. All of that said and done I may use it as a reference in the 7 Ray's YouTube series but I'm definitely going to explore other texts. This book pretty much describes the 7 Ray's as personality types making the subject feel so superficial. He was also head over heels in love with Hindu concepts thinking that they are superior to the Western Culture's approach to spirituality. Apparently, the author was a convert and looked down upon all other spiritual perspectives.
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First, and foremost, I highly recommend all Christians read this book.
This book is great for helping Christians start to branch out into the systems of 7. This would be a fantastic book to introduce Chrstians to ideas that are not normally in their paradigm. I was so exicted about this book hoping it would help illluminate the mystery of the Chrsitian concept of the Heart that Yeshua talked about and another system of 7. That said, as I said in my February 13th post this book as almost painful to read because of the poisonous Chrstian Dogma it contains. Second, I suggest if your more of an open minded inclusive person like myself that is open to studying all of the systems...don't read this book. This book will only confuse you. The dialect and terms are strictly Christian. While I can see correlations, and I will go over those when I write the YouTube series on Teresa of Avila's 7 mansions sometime next year (hopefully), they are buried deep in this book behind a lot of fundamentalist Christian ideas that I think are poisonous and don't have a biblical foundation (it was just dogma created and taught but Rome that all of the branches that rejected Rome kept for some reason or based on Paul the Roman's nonsense...check out the blog I published on February 13th). That said there was as lot of good in this book too. I have 33 markers in the book and I stopped there because I ran out of markers. This book continued the trend about Spiritual Maturity. I was shocked to see a Christian admit that most Christians and most Churchs are not spiritually mature...that they only focus on people doing missionary work and church work without the emphasis on a personal relationship with Yeshua. We could go very deeply into that debate but this book doesn't go into that at all so it would be inapproriate in this blog. I'm not going to quote a lot of this book but there is a section in chapter 12 named "Your Unique Journey" that I just want to touch upon. Here are some quote from that chapter including the list of 'the process of discvoery' that Ashbrook provides: "Although most, if not all, of us grow in self-knowledge over the years, few are really intentional about it. We have all known people who go to their grave, tragically still living with major delusions about themselves and the people around them...It is vital for us to understand what drives us, where our needs come from, and the helpful and unhelpful ways in which we attempt to navigate life...The unfortunate process of hitting the walls of our misperceptions can bring significant insight to thos who are willing to lear, but it is possible fo rus to be intentional in our disvoery process..." pg 226 "Biblical Perspective: The world around us attempts to define as normal a life that is broken and dying, estranged from God. Only in Scripture can we gain the real perspective to honestly see ourselves as sinners, in the light of God's love, forgiveness and reconcilliation." (Isn't it strange that they say scripture is the way but they never study Jewish tradition?) Authentic Spiritual Friendships: Most of what we know about ourselves, truth or falsehood, has been reflected back to us from others. Christian Community: Individual relationships are important, but we truly come to understand ourselves in teh context of a safe, loving, and honest Christian communty. (Group work is important but not neccesarily limited to just Christian churchs). Spiritual direction, coacthinig and counseling: The rare many times when it is helpfu to have the assistance of a person trainted to listen to our experience with God, and help ut it into context and give guidance where needed. Journaling: Often iit is easier to understand that what we are feeling when we put words to it. Solitude: The busyness of daily life often obscures self-knoweldge because we don't take time to be reflective" So, that's just some of the concepts covered in the book. Although, I don't neccesairly agree with all of the ideas exactly they do capture the spirit of the type of work that the Seeker on any Path follows. I found this book funny in some ways. There is an entire section lamenting that meditation has been 'given up' to just the Eastern philosophies and New Age. Yet, the author couldn't bring himself to call it meditation throughout the book..instead it's "Abiding prayer." Much of what this author has to say does, as I said before, correlate well with the other systems of 7. However, the issue is that it is so bogged down he(Group work is important but not neccesarily limited to just Christian churchs)and so distorted by really poinsonous beliefs that it's almost lost. That's why I'll probably pick up Teresa Avila's actual book and another book on the subject. I'm curious to see just how lost Teresa's message was in the religious rhetoric of her time or if she was actualy a Kabbalist who hid it from the church with flowerly dogmatic language. As I said in my blog on February 13th...this book was very hard for me to read after reading so many straightforward books. Even the text book on Qigong that I'm currently reading is easier for me to understand because it is more straightforward and has far less paranoid concepts. Chrstianity is probaby one of the most psycholgoically unhealthy religions on the planet. I 100% believe in Yeshua but if he read a good deal of the New Testament and heard the dogma being preached in his name I'm sure he'd grit his teeth and demand accountability of those who spread these negative lies. As long as Christianity still holds onto the psychologically poinsonous ideas- such as Outside Forces putting thoughts in their heads and possessing them, fear of pornography and that they are required to suffer in this life in order to go to heaven- our society in the Untied States will continue to be sick. SInce this dogma saturates every form of entertainment there is no doubt in my mind why there is so much Anxiety, Depressioni and people with Panic Attacks in our society. This religion breeds people like that by teaching them they are unworthy, that they must be terrified and that they must suffer. That's a guranteed recipe to ensure that our society never experiences joy. I've watched a few YouTube videos of Eben Alexander talking about his Near Death Experience. Strangely, my husband said that if it could be proven that Eben had experienced something close to brain death that he would believe in the afterlife.
I picked up the book mostly for that reason. The book doesn't cost much but watching one of Eben Alexander's videos will give you enough information that you don't have to read the book. That said, the book was well written and riveting. I finished it in two days. I don't normally pick up books on NDE's because they are pretty boring and usually repeat the same stuff. The experience that a person has when they cross into Spirit temporarily is usually subjective. When they come back they filter it through their religious beliefs which make them even less interesting. What set's Eben Alexanders Near Deat Experience apart is: 1.) The doctors were over 90% certain that he was going to die. 2.) He shuld have become a human vegetable after having menegitis but he fully recovered (he does have some odd neurlogical twitches and speech patterns based on the video's I've seen...but that's far from being a human vegetable). 3.) His description of what he experienced is unique in that he didn't remember who he was and he described three levels that agree with the Kabbalah Tree of Life. 4.) He accurately describes the type of telepathic communication I've experienced in OBE's. That is the only reason why I picked up this book. I've read other NDE books at my in-laws (my father-in-law is currently obsessed with the description of the afterlife)...and been very disappointed. Too often the people describing their NDE's have to relay their entire life story. Usually, just like with Eben Alexander...there is an element of unworthiness. In order to explain the story of their NDE and why it was so personally meaningful these people have to tell their entire life story...which is fascinating to them, I'm sure, but when you read enough of them they become so predictable that it's almost a routine. As I said, skeptics who experiences these things usually end up being the best witnesses and correlate more directly with the systems that make sense. That's because they aren't projecting or interperting the experiene based on biased beliefs afterwards...they are taken by surprise and so describe exactly what they said without projection. The last chapter, in particular, where a doctor that was at the hospital and a colleague of Eben Alexander that witnessed everything wrote a testimonial that Eben's story was true. That can be very powerful stuff. I will give that to my husband and see if he thinks it's valid enough to beleive in an afterlife. Maybe it will make him think twice or maybe he will just dismiss it because he needs to see an actual medical report. I doubt he'll read the entire book (I haven't seen him pick up and read an entire book in the 9 years I've been with him...he's just too busy with work, playing music, yard and house work). Maybe, when we get older he'll pick up the book...either way, I'll have it and I think it belongs in most people's libraries. The Earth-Worm point of view that Eben describes as being our level of existence and being like 'the roots of a tree' correlates directly with Malkuth. The level that was moved by a melody (an accurate description of the breath of life or the music of the spheres that Bashar describes that I have heard as well and also used to visit the upper reallms in OBE's) and the level of light spheres above it correlate well with Netzach and Hod. The inky black level with the circular light at the center perfectly correlates with the Binah (the inky black womb) and Chockmah (the light sphere). For someone who wasn't a mystic or (from what I understand) never will and never has studied the Kabbalah...that's a startling bit of evidence that the Kabbalah Tree of Life is an accurate description of the structure of the cosmos. **On an entertaining note I have a tatoo from 1997 that is the same blue butterfly as the one depicted on the front cover. My mom and dad went with me to get it and paid for it on my 16th birthday. As far as I know I was the only student in my high school with a tatoo! This is a hard book review for me to write because I know the author and I adore him. However, I read this book at the start of this year and I really wasn't sure what to make of it. I also wasn't sure about sharing the information and observations I had based on this book because I'm sure the conclusions I've come to were never Laird Scranton's intent and I'm not sure he would be pleased I used his material in a way that he does not intend.
I only had four paragraphs tagged in it back then. I recommend this book only for those who are truly dedicated to the more scientific evidence gathering Path of the Seeker. There is a lot of good information in this book, however, the presentation style can be a bit obtuse, and some of the premises presented, at first glance, appear to contradict the bulk of material on the same subject. Discernment must be applied when reading this book. That requires that the student already has a good grasp of the knowledge behind the concepts discussed in this book including the Kabbalah. The real value in this book is that it provides evidence that this information is Universal. Upon reading this book it becomes evident thater there is an underlying cosmology that all of humanity once possessed before splitting apart and each culture's subsequent generations elaborated, theorized, expanded, and interpreted the information so that it appeared to be unique to each culture. For the majority of the people who come to this blog who are looking for information that can be applied to the Path of the Seeker and self-transformation this book will only be confusing. I do not recommend it to someone first starting out on the Path of the Seeker. Instead, before cracking open this book I recommend, at the very least, that you go and read the entire, "My Big TOE," trilogy by Thomas Campbell. I reviewed that book on this blog and you can buy it on Amazon. Thomas Campbell describes the same information Laird describes in this book (albeit Thomas Campbell's is a lot longer). Campbell's book is explained in a way that's far easier to grasp. This comes from the fact that Thomas Campbell has a direct experience of how Physical Matter Reality (PMR) and Non-Physical Matter Reality (NPMR) work together. Laird Scranton, on the other hand, has pieced all of this together through a synthesis of ancient cosmologies passed down through the ages by cultures he has had little or no direct contact with. He tends to recite a flood of information and then leave the reader draw his own conclusions. This makes all of Laird's books a bit like reading a puzzle mystery. Reading them requires a good deal of thinking and pondering over each paragraph to grasp the ideas. Again, if you have previous knowledge of the systems he's describing it helps considerably because you come at it informed...otherwise it's very confusing. For example, he mentions the Kabbalah in this book but he never mentions the Tree of Life that depicts the Process of Creation. This is odd given what he later says is the purpose of the book. In fact, the final chapter in this book where you would believe he would tie it all together and lay out his conclusions...only tends to repeat what he has said in other books. Here is an excerpt: "In each of the previous volumes of this on-going discussion on ancient cosmology, a single culture, tradition or region has served as the primary focus of the volume, with comparative references made to other traditions. Geographically speaking, that primary focus has shifted from Northwest Africa, to ancient Egypt, to India, Tibet and China, then to archaic Turkey, and most recently on to Neolithic Scotland. Similarly, the focus of yet another upcoming volume, currently in the process of publication, will be on the more historically recent cosmological traditions of the Maori in New Zealand and Polynesia. In this book, however, our effort has been to unravel the likely meanings of a set of words, symbols, concept structures and themes that lie at the very foundation of the ancient cosmological tradition, and which therefore carry a potentially broader impact for our ultimate understand of how all those traditions relate to one another.... From the outset, the explorations of this volume have fallen into a unique arena of inquiry, precisely because they gravitate toward topics that most popularization of modern science and religion often choose not to discus at length. Essentially the goal in this case has been to triangulate on sensible meanings for ancient cosmological construct for which we have previously had no overt scientific correspondence..." He goes on to summarize what he believes the volume demonstrates: "By now, we should be able to agree, based on ample demonstration within these volumes, that the ancient symbolic cosmology was an inherently scientific one, known to ancient tribal groups like the Dogon and the Buddhists only as the consequence of careful, deliberate instruction imparted in ancient times by a much more knowledgeable group of teachers...it becomes clear that this system of cosmological symbolism must have been aimed not at ancient tribal groups, but rather at some future audience, possessed of the technology to recognize and understand it's references." Now, I'm sure that Kabbalah teachers such as Rav Michael Laitman and alchemists like D.W. Hauck would agree with Laird about the scientific nature of these teachings.They have been preserved among these groups of people, (among the Rosicrucian's as well) for centuries. So while, maybe, the more accepted modern scientists and religions (especially Christianity) may not comprehend these teachings. There have been people in the West who honored these traditions just as much as the cultures that have been Laird's focus. They have been villainized by ignorant fear based individuals starting with the persecution by the Catholic Church. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I didn't comprehend this book until I really delved into Paul Foster Case's work alongside Thomas Campbell's My Big TOE (Theory of Everything). There is no reason to believe that Laird Scranton has studied the Kabbalah in depth, or the Tarot as presented by Paul Foster Case or anything along those lines. So, that he came to value much of the same information is priceless. Instead, he only seems interested in the Hard Scientific physical matter reality aspects of this information. One of the main points he seems to be out to prove is the idea that God doesn't exist. Much like the scientists at the particle accelerator he seems to be out to prove that there is only a fundamental 'energy' that's the source of creation and not a 'Creator' or 'Divine Architect'. Yet, it serves as another example of proof being in the pudding. Much of this book is corroborated by my other sources. While it does not stand to inform on it's own it does help to reinforce that the teachings of those other Sources are correct and helped to expand my appreciation for those concepts. After re-reading this book over the course of the last two days I now have 24 items marked in this book. Here is a selection of the more intriguing bits: "The po-pilu is the end-product of a series of processes that begin with a primordial source of matter, one that persists in an underlying wavelike state. An act of perception is the catalyst for this processes of creation. It causes the perceived wave to "draw up like a tent cloth, pulled upward from it's center...The suggestion is that like wand-blown bubbles, the first few insubstantial bubbles of matter tend to collapse under their own weight. By the seventh of these bubbles, matter acquires just enough mast to support a coherent structural framework, and so holds its shape for a period of time before ultimately bursting." pg 14 (Thomas Campbell in his book describes much the same phenomenon in very similar terms). "Dogon and Egyptian symbolism associates the earliest stirrings of existence with the concept of a reed. It is this symbolism that underlies our interpretation that the reedleaf glyph represents the concept of a geometric point, conveying the notion of, "That which is"...We take these Egyptian glyphs to be correlates of to Hebrew Yuds or Yods, which in Judaism often stand in place of the name of God... The Kabbalistic outlook aligns with Dogon and Egyptian definitions in interesting ways. First, it relates to the name of the Dogon white millet seed, or yu, as providing a sensible phonetic root for the Hebrew term yud or yod. The second rests on the oval shape of the yu seed, which we also see reflected in the Egyptian mouth glyph. These are further linked with Dogon and Kabbalist charecterizations of matter as a Word that issues from a mouth. In each of these cases we see the ancient concept of tan aether unit that is placed conceptually prior to metaphoric acts of creation, each with symbolic association to seeds and plants. A seed, of course, reprsents a potential for life that precedes the actual growth of a plant, such as a reed. Meanwhile a reed represents one of the most basic plant types." pg 48-49 (There is so much here. First, it is a very common tradition of Native American Tribes of both North and South America that the first ancestors were born of Reeds or protected by reeds in the Creation stories. Second, Yod's are seen as a seed/divine spark that is emanated by the One Creator that is then 'planted' in the soul of the individual on the Path of the Seeker. We then seek to 'grow' this seed in order to return to the divine. Which gives a very different meaning to the Harvest depicted in the book of Revelation. So, while Laird focuses on this as the basic building block of Physical Material Reality- in a way it is, because it is both because all of Creation is based on the same pattern- his work and connections help provide fascinating applications on the Path of the Seeker. However, this is a good example of how you have to develop discernment and possess prior knowledge of this information before reading his books to pull out the truly pertinent meanings to you as an individual). "To the extend that we consider the yu seed to represent a gateway between the nonmaterial and material universes, Ganesha to be it's gatekeeper, and the Sakta Goddesses Dharni Penu and Tana Penu to be the two mothers of Ganesha who stand symbolically on either side of that gateway..." "From that perspective, a primary role for their son Ganesha can be seen as the gatekeeper between the n on-material and the material universes. This symbolism also provides a rationale for the term penu, an archaic term for deity that we associated with Ganesha in Point of Origin...Within the mindest of the cosmology, the phonetic value pe can imply the concept of a "mouth" (much as the Hebrew word "Pei" means mouth) and nu implies the concept of water or waves. As guardian of the gateway between universes, Ganesha would literally stand at the, "mouth of the waves," Ganesha's symbolism can also be understood to link to the symbolism of the vesica pisces, a figure that is ultimately evoked by the base plan of a (Buddhist) stupa..." (pg 49-50) (Based on our studies elsewhere we know that the Waves/Water represent Binah on the Kabbalah Tree of Life. Fascinatingly, and happily for me this book connects the Vesica Pisces as absolutely a symbol for Binah which I had not conceived or come across anywhere else. This is very important. Further, since we know that Binah is the 'non-material' waters we can associate that Sephiroth with Dharni Penu and Malkuth is the 'material' waters we can say she is Tana Penu. Again, we see a direct correlate between the Kabbalah Tree of Life and this Hindu system describing the process of Creation that Laird has provided sufficient evidence to prove is the basis upon which Hinduism and Buddhism are built. Further, Ganesha's role as a Guardian of the Gateway should be familiar to all of you...this is the same figure that is referred to as the Dweller at the Threshold. Also, in Egyptian Anubis is this figure who weighs the heart before allowing you to proceed. We have, in our studies, identified both Anubis and the Dweller at the Threshold with the Subconscious..so no we can add Ganesha multi-cultural to this list). "In The Pale Fox, Griaule and Dieterlen present comparitive imges of the yala, tonu and toy perspectives of light, the egg-of-the-world is portrayed as a spiral comprised of short two-dimensional line segments. From the tonu view (figure B), or perspective of waves, it is depicted in its classic Dogon form, which consists of seven rays of a star of increasing length emitted from a central point. In the toy/toymu view it appears as a spiral.." (Here we have the Seven Rays mentioned again and that it is the same as the spiral. There is a much bigger element to this concept that I will eventually go into in another blog). "What Yukteswar describes as "the mental virtue of the internal world" refers to humanity's ability to perceive and comprehend aspects of the on-material universe, a facility (or lack thereof) which Buddhists understand tobe cyclical, in that it increases and wanes. This cycle of perception is known as the Yuga Cycle, and its conceptual effect is as if to move humanity into and out of the range of reception of spirituality, perhaps as an automobile that travels a distance may move into and out of the broadcast area of a radio station frequency." pg 83 "In Buddhist symbolism, the yu seed shape that rests at the center of the stupa base plan geometry is known as "the fish," or alternatively in some traditions as the vesica pisces, or "bladder of the fish." pg 94 (As we already associated the Vesica Pisces with Binah it's interesting here to see it associated with the symbol of the fish. Previously, we saw that Laird also associated this with mouth and the Hebrew Yods.) "...Budge gives an Egyptian word for "good" as aakhu, a homonym for a word that means, "light." Interpreted symbolically, the glyphs for the word good read "spiritual" "source" followed by the image of a scroll. We know that, from the perspective of the archaic philosophies, the non-material (spiritual) universe was considered to be of the same nature as light. So the term, "good," which we correlate to words for both god and gate, refers to the non-material realm that sits conceptually just beyond the gateway of the aether unit... The suggestion is that modern concepts of god may have derived from the aetherial gateway in which archaic concepts of deity resided." (I only threw in the last sentence so that you can see that Laird was using this as an attempt to debunk the god's of the 'archaic philosophies'. However, this just confirms that Paul Foster Case was right in calling the Yud or Yod -which Laird is not referring to as an 'aether unit' in this book- as a spark and also justifies the use of the term 'enlightenment' by those 'archaic philosophies'.) "Differentiation is also made in Kabbalisim between ways that the Tora will be understood during different ages of ascension, relating to the relative states of comprehension of mankind during the ascending/descending cycle. Much like the Yuga Cycle, the Kabbalists defined four "worlds" that constitute a spiritual hierarchy akin to ascension.These are characterized as a world of divine emanation, a world of creation, a world of formation, and a world of activation and reflect a procession that aligns with the four state Dogon metaphor of Bummo, yala, Tonu and Toymu." pg 116 (This is a bit self evident...instead of just 'worlds' these are actually stages of development in the individual on the Path of the Seeker. I have not delved into these too much in our work yet but there is a good deal about these 'four' levels of ascension in books on the Kabbalah I have studied). There is much more that I could go into but that would be lengthy. I just wanted to give some examples and how, as I said, when you understand the systems you can draw out correlates with established systems. However, as I said, because (unfortunately) Laird has bias's such as debunking the existence of a God and a focus on/justification of a very PMR only point of view (not allowing for the possibility that the contact with these potential astral beings didn't take place 100% in the physical realm for example) it can lead to confusion in the student. Only someone with a firm established grasp should try to draw out this additional information from these books. For me, I often experience very symbolic nightmares when reading these books. Most of that, I think, is because the intention of the book has energetically affect the information it contains in a negative way. These books are great to use as references because, for all intents and purposes Laird is not biased by the Path of the Seeker. If anything, he's biased against it. So, using his information to prove that there is a universal Path of the Seeker gives it more power because despite the effort to use this information to prove that the 'archaic philosophies' and their 'deities' are wrong...it inevitably proves that the system is far more elaborate then people may think and that it is all an interwoven tapestry that appears chaotic to those who are not Seekers that just requires the right tools of perception to perceive it. I have read many books on the Kabbalah.
This by far one of the best. While the word Kabbalah is spelled differently for this book it is the same as the others that I have read. Back in the 1930's the Jewish Kabbalists really didn't share their secrets. After thousands of years of persecution I cannot blame them. I loved this book. If you are interested in the Kabbalah this is the book you need to read. There was some information I felt that Dion Fortune was a little bit mislead about and confused on. I have learned very distinctly through dream instruction that the 7 planets of the Zodiac along with the Greek/Roman gods should not be associated with the Sephiroth on the Kabbalah Tree of Life. For the most part, I have ignored that information when imparting it to you in my Lower Sephiroth Path of the Seeker YouTube Series. Those 7 energies only belong to the Sephiroth associated with the 7 Rays of Life- the Sephiroth Chesed. When you try to tap into those energies via the Kabbalah Tree of Life you end up unbalanced and it can be dangerous because instead of dealing with the Sephiroth you end up with the their opposite...the Qliphoth. I highly recommend you ignore or avoid systems that attempt to tie the energies of those Gods to the Sephiroth on the Kabbalah Tree of Life. That said everything else she spoke about was spot on in a down to Earth way. Where as Rav Michael Latiman tends to be oblique in his discussion, John Van Auken tends to stick to the same story that he always does based on the Edgar Cacye Material, and Paul Foster Case always refers to the Tarot...Dion Fortune deals with each Sephiroth individually in a very detailed meditative style based on her experience working with the energy. I have 77 markers in this book. I know that I will read this book multiple times because there is so much information. I have, essentially studied it twice already...once as a straight read through and the second time as I created the YouTube videos chapter by chapter on the individual Sephiroth. Part of the intrigue is that it's a bit of a time capsule. Written in 1937 in midst of World War II the perspective is fascinating. In many ways Dion Fortune was writing to her contemporaries and there is one section I'm going to share in a separate blog meditation. While many like to focus on the fact that Hitler had a mystical bent I think it's clear- by reading books by Paul Foster Case, Dion Fortune, Edgar Cacye and Alice A. Bailey...that the time period was of a potential Great Awakening...but that Awakening lead to near disaster for the entire population that was not ready for it and much like the time of Atlantis...with great Knowledge sometimes comes great Danger and it nearly destroyed the world. That said, you will find that the entire 7 Lower Sephiroth of the Kabbalah Tree of Life Series is influenced by Dion Fortune. So there is no need to go into too many quotes...but I will share a small sampling. I agree with Dion Fortune about many things. However, I will note that terms such as savages are annoying and the constant references to 'he' instead of a gender neutral term. However, that was the nature of writing in that day and age. "For my part I believe that this selfishness and exclusiveness is the bane of the occult movement rather then its safeguard. It is the old sin of retaining the knowledge of God in the hands of a priesthood and denying it to all outside the sacred clan; justifiable enough when the people were savages, but unjustifiable in the case of the modern student. For when all is said and done, the desired information can be worked out from existing literature by those who can afford high prices for books now rare. Surely the possession of ample time and ample cash should not be the test of the fitness to obtain the Sacred Wisdom?" pg 26 paragraph 21 "The Qabalist, then, starts where he can- at the first point that is within the reach of finite consciousness. Kether is equated with the most transcendent form of God that we can conceive, whose name is Ehieh, translated in the Authorized Version of the Bible as, "I am," or, more explicitly, the Self-Existing One, Pure Being...But these are words and nothing more unless they convey an impression to the mind, and in themselves they have any significance. We only begin to understand Kether when we study Chockmah, the second Sephirah, its emanation; it is only when we see the full unfoldment of the Ten Sephiroth that we are ready to approach it with the data that gives us the key to it's nature. In working with the Tree it is wisest to keep on going over it, rather than to concentrate upon a single point until it is mastered, for one thing explains another, and it is our perception of the relationships between the different symbols that enlightenment arises. Again, we say, the Tree is a method of using the mind, not a system of knowledge." pg 31 paragraph 6 "The Way of Initiation follows the coiling of the Serpent of Wisdom upon the Tree; but the Way of Illumination follows the Path of the Arrow which is shot from the Bow of Promise, Qeseth, the rainbow of astral colors that spreads like a halo behind Yesod. This is the way of the mystic as distinguished from the danger of temptation of unbalanced force that is met with in either pillar,but it confers no magical powers save those of sacrifice in Tephareth and psychisim in Yesod." Pg 59 Page 15 "The first and most obvious division of the Tree is into the three Pillars, and this immediately reminds us of the three channels of Prana described by the Yogis, Ida, Pingla, and Shushumna; and the two principals, the Yin and the Yang of Chinese Philosophy,and the Tao, or Way, which is the truth established, and when we find three of the great metaphysical systems of the world in complete agreement we may conclude that we are dealing with established principals and should accept them as such." pg 80 paragraph 7 "Viewed as a means of invoking the spirit of God, ceremonial is pure superstition; but viewed as a means of evoking the spirit of man, it is pure psychology, and that is how I view it. It is a lost art in the West, but an art that is well worth reviving. In these pages I have given the philosophical basis on which this art rests. Its practical application depends not only upon the technical knowledge, but upon the development of certain powers in the mind by careful and prolonged training of which the first is the power of concentration, and the second the power of visual imagination. It is concerning the power of the visual imagination that we are so lamentably ignorant in the West. Coue just missed the turning when he sought in prolonged attention a substitute for spontaneous emotion." pg 306 paragraph 7 The primary reason that I wanted to buy this book was to explore the eight fold path.
This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in Buddhisim. This book covers every aspect of Budhism in detail and it gives you practical ways to relate to the material. This is not someone who hides in a monastary as a recluse...he goes out into the world but he's also experienced the retreats. For any Western Mind (aside from Pema Chodron) I highly recommend this book. I've read a lot of books on Buddhism but most of them focus on a particular theme. They my briefly mention parts of the eight fold path or they might list them very quickly...almost like a side note. In this book, however, Lama Surya Das goes into detail about each of the Eight Intentions with a chapter dedicated to each. The book starts off with a biography of Lama Surya Das. He was born in Long Island United States with the name Jeffry Miller. He was born Jewish. During the 1960's his friends at Berkley were killed during an anti-war protest. Strangely, one of the other students that was killed also had the same name. The tragedy of losing his friends and having all of his family think he died sparked a Spiritual Awakening. He found his way to Europe and eventually from there he wound up in India with a Tibetan Buddhist Monk who was willing to teach him Buddhisim. He was instrumental in bringing Buddhisim to the United States. He helped Buddhist monks gain citizenship and set up temples throughout the United States. The Biography was interesting but that wasn't the purpose of buying the book. At first I thought that I had made a mistake buying this book. However, after the first 100 pages or so he started talking about Buddhist topics and the book was meaningful. I have 59 markers in this book that's 395 pages long. I did find a lot of meaningful concepts in Awakening The Buddha Within. There were some things I don't agree with as far as current political and cultural persepectives. There is the usual emphasis on the need to recycle as though somehow people who recycle is spiritually superior...when in fact most of the stuff in our recycle bins end up going to landfills anyways because there isn't a market for recycling...but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt since he wrote the book int he late '90's. Not only does he cover the 8 fold path but he also covers other conecpts. One of those concepts is the Three Poisons. The first is Ignorance of Truth. The seocnd is Attachment. Third is Aversion. He also covers the Four Noble Truths: First is Life is difficult. Second is Life is difficult because of attachment, because we crave satifaction in ways that are inherently dissatisfying. The Third is the possibility of liberation from difficulties exists for everyone. The Fourth is the way to realise this liberation and enligthenment is by leading a compassionate life of virtues, wisdom and meditation. WIth that in mind here are a few quotes I enjoyed: "Enlightenment- whether you call it spiritual awakening, liberation, illumination, or satori- means profound inner transformation and self-realization. In fact, there are different degrees and depths of enlightenment experience, stretching from an initial momementary glimpse of reality all the way to the fullest actualization of Buddhahood, the furthest form of entlightenment. Having said that, I think it's important to understand that spiritual rebirth in Buddhisim is not a mystical encounter with God. Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human. In examining the archetypal experience of the Buddha, we that his enlightenment represents direct realization of nature of reality- how things are and how things work. Enlightenment is the end of ignorance. When we talk about walkingi the path of enlightened living. The Zen master Dogen said, "To be enlightened is to be one with all things." pg 14 "Waking up your inner Buddha and staying awake requires extraordinary self-knowledge and presence of mind. It means paying close attention to how you think and how you act,and it means making an ongoing commitment to searching inward for answers- Inward. Deeper. Beneath the surface of things, not just inside yourself. As Westerners, this isn't how we have been conditioned to think. We keep looking outside fo ranswers. We look for lovers, friends, parents, authorities, and even children to answer needs that they can't possibly fulfill." pg 19 "We're ofsten told, "Don't just stand there, do something!" And we do...we believe we can resolve our unhappiness by changing locales. Then when our problems refuse to go away, we complain that we're stuck and look for ways to get moving." pg 20 "Self-transformation implies self-transcendence. Therefore inner transformation is a spiritual affair of cosmic signifance, including all, animate and inanimate, everywhere. Authentic self-transformation is defeintely not for oneself alone. It is for all beings- for waren't we all insepreably interconnected? Whatever befalls us, befalls one and all; harm a single strand of the web of life, and the entire web is harmed. In Africa, the Xhosa tribe has a saying which is worth remembering; "I am because we are." pg 48 "The Buddha never said he would save you; in Buddhisim, you save yourself. Taking refuge in the Buddha is making a firm commitment to know the truth, to know how things really are. ...Total awareness, pure wakefullness, is the Buddha within, the innate purity of your own hear-mind. That natural authenticity is the ultiamte refuge." pg 58 Conclusion Already this book review is very long. I learned a lot from this book...not what I expected but I did learn a lot. Aside some of the naieve things he says because it was the nineties...there is a lot of good. I bought this book because I wanted to read something by someone who was taught traditionally about Kundalini. There are a lot of misguiding and just plain odd interpretations on Kundalini out there.
I wanted to hear what the actual Hindu tradition had to say about Kundalini...not the western interpretation. I cannot recommend this book enough! At first, I was a little discouraged because it started off with the Mythical story of Shiva and Sati...the origin of Kundalini. Each myth, as always, is a symbolic telling of a concept. Om Swami could not have started this book any other way. He then relates his story of being a successful business man that gave all of that up to become a monk. He relates his experience with waking his Kundalini and touches upon a variety of subjects. In the third part of the book he goes through each of the 7 chakras. He describes them based on depictions of the Devi's associated with the chakras. This was a fascinating alternative description to what I'd read previously but completely in alignment with what I've already read and shared. The most interesting thing, however, is that he prescribed food for working on each of the chakras. I have 21 markers in a 172 page book...which is a lot considering the last third of the book was information I already knew and didn't feel a need to mark as exceptional. I won't share all 21 passages with you but here is a small sample of the wisdom this book contains.... "When it awakens, you realize how immensely powerful you already are. You experience how there is a whole universe within you. It is your feminine energy if you are a man and your masculine energy if you are a woman. It is your passage, your path to eternal fulfillment within you." pg 39 "All said and done, Kundalini is not a physical reality. Any association of the kundalini with the physical body is ignorant at best and absurd at the wort. At the rise of the kundalini, there is no snake crawling up your spinal cord. The chakras are not physically there on your body. At the most, they are psychoneurotic plexuses. They are strategically placed wherever there is a concentration of nerves. This does not make the kundalini a mythical concept though. It is your reality, it may not be physical but it is perceptible. The soul cannot be proved, even consciousness for that matter has no physical existence, yet without consciousness we cannot even do the most basic of chores. Similarly, the awakening of the kundalini or piercing of the chakras is as real as the sun, moon and stars." pg 42 "The real transformation upon the awakening of kundalini is that you shed your old tendencies and negativity like a snake sheds its old skin. You no longer feel angry or flustered over trivial matters unlike the earlier times. Your emotions and thoughts don't overpower and trample all over you anymore. You beginto gain control of yourself. 'Supernormal' streams of creativity and energy gush forth at the awakening, surprising even you with talents you never thought you had." pg 43 "Our negative views about ourselves, our emotions and attachments have twisted our passage of kundalini. It stands wrung. Just like if you scold a small child, he might just curl up in fear and lie in his bed, kundalini too is culred up and lying down in your root chakra...It is so because we are almost conditioned to be afraid of ourselves.We are afraid of making mistakes or making decisions. We are even afraid of doing things right and we want someone else to validate what we have done. In fear, you never sleep with your legs stretched out, you always curl up a bit." pg 44 "On the path of awakening all knots must be untied. The umbilical cord must be cut if you want to discover an identity of your own. We wouldn't know how deeply we are attached to something until we distance ourselves from it." pg 50 "As a sadhak progresses and rises above his sexual thoughts and thoughts of creation, a kind of stillness starts to brew in his mind, undercurrents of restlessness subside and a sense of gratitude arises naturally, "Truly, I have everything," like a fully bloomed flower attracts bees naturally, a mind that has gone beyond creation and procreation attracts thoughts of a different nature. Tangled in the second knot now, different desires sprout in the mind." pg 59 "No matter how hard or how badly entangled is a knot, you cannot lose it by pulling on it. Frustration or intolerance has no role or room in Kundalini meditation...Some examination, a bit of observation, a lot of patience and a great deal of effort to untie is required. No knot is hard enough then. If you walk the path and not give up, you will get the results exactly as expected." pg 63 "Mind becomes eternal when it becomes still," the rishi continued, "No change is possible without movement. Truth is still, and that's why it's eternal." pg 74 "The latent energy of kundalini is present in all of us like fire in wood. Our fears and conditioning hold us back. They plunge our creative energy to the bottom most chakra and we end up using it for petty things for the most part of our lives. And through the years we spend living, majority of the the time is spent in either battling with ourselves or with others." pg 76 "Each one of us has two minds, you know. Our positive mind is like the beautiful musk deer. It runs through the jungle of emotions and thoughts spreading fragrance. It is swift, agile, and confident and it doesn't collide. It carves its own path. So is our negative mind, unfortunately, which is like an ugly cockroach with two irritating antennas of self-doubt and negativity. It walks through our delicious food of hope, our clean home of dreams. It breeds rapidly. It reminds you constantly that you don't have it in you or that you don't deserve it." pg 86 "In fact, good concentration leads to good meditation. Concentration is the act of building focus and meditation is the art of retaining it without losing awareness. Success in piercing of chakras depends on the quality of your meditation. The better the quality of your one pointed concentration, the quicker and longer-lasting are the results." pg 96 "With each step you make on the path of the kundalini sadhana, you unlock a new level of your consciousness. The clarity of your thoughts begins to improve noticeably. Your memory improves and an inexplicable stillness arises in the body. You feel more grounded, you find it had to react to others criticism, and you begin to maintain an awareness without being affected about what is going on around you. You start to see that your thoughts have started manifesting in real life, they begin to materialize." pg 102 I cannot recommend this book enough.
I admit that I have not read this cover to cover. This is one of my go to books though and I'm sure that it's going to be one of my all time favorites. There is not a hard copy of this book, sadly, only digital. My use of this book is to focus on each Hebrew letter individually as I study them from both the perspective of the 7 associated with the Path of the Seeker and the letters that make up the names of the Sephiroth on the Kabbalah Tree of Life. What I have read is mind blowing. Daniela's father was a known Kabbalah teacher. The book is a treasure trove of information on the Kabbalah that I have not encountered anywhere else. Each letter is like a meditation that she embarks on, similar to the purpose that I have been using this book for, and while I don't always included all of the information in my blogs it has added a great deal to my knowledge of the Kabbalah. There are historical points of view on the Hebrew traditions and references to the oral tradition that you don't really find anywhere else. I won't go into quotes because you'll find tons of them in my videos on the Hebrew Letters and meditative blogs on the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah Tree of Life. The dynamic beauty of the Hebrew language is in full view and captured perfectly in this book. Thank you Daniela for writing this book because it is priceless. This book came super highly recommended by Francesca Simon.
Trying to find a good astrology book that covers the planets alone is very hard. This book was amazing. If you have any interest in understanding astrology or the signs you need to buy this book. I give it a 10/10. I know people that belong to all 12 signs and when reading this book I was amazed on how spot on the book was at describing them. The book describes how the person belonging to the zodiac sign is in many faucets of their life. *If they working the energy of their sign in a positive way *If they are working the energy of their sign in a negative way. *As a co-worker *As a boss *Many facets of a love relationship from the first date to the end of a relationship. *Compatibility with other signs *How to raise them *How they are as parents For all of the people I knew these descriptions were spot on. The descriptions for each seem pretty basic at first glance but as you read more into them the small details are amazing. My husband is not a believer in Astrology but when I read to him the information for the Zodiac sign of Cancer he laughed and said, "That is you to a T!" with a shocked expression. This is a *must have* book for anyone on the Path of the Seeker. Now if only the authors would write books on Rising and Moon Sign's for us! I had no idea what I was getting into with this book.
I first I was confused. Is this channeled material? Is this material that an actual monk named Djwhal Khul gave to Alice Baiely? I'm still not really sure. I can't recommend it for everyone because the information feels a bit obtuse. I definitely wouldn't consider this an easy read. There is so much information in this book that is so diverse...the fact it's not even an accurate summary of the information about the 7 rays is mind blowing. For any avid Seeker I urge you to give this book a try. If you do not comprehend it the first time through...that's okay. Your subconscious will work upon it...then you'll just go back into it again. This book is a compilation based on letters 'compiled by a student' and published by a private company called Lucis Trust. I stumbled across this book because of a Esoteric Astrology presentation given by William Meader. I wanted to know what his source because he never gave credit to anyone else for the system he seemed to be sharing. So I looked up Esoteric Astrology and up came Alice A. Bailey's name. I saw that there was a book called the 7 rays and given the many systems of 7's I've studied I decided to buy the book as a lark. This is from the introduction, "As the publishers of their books, we are delighted to issue this new compilation- "The Seven Rays of Life" - which is intended to serve as an introduction to the whole subject of the rays. The information in this book should not be regarded as complete or definitive, bur rather as a sign post that can direct people to experiencing the reality of the seven rays for themselves. This requires more than an intellectual approach; it demands, and can foster, the unfoldment of the intuition. This inclusive quality of awareness goes beyond the thought forms that veil spiritual truth. It will enable those who persist in their quest for wisdom to have a direct experience of some inner reality, in this case the significance and the quality, as well as the outer effects, of the seven rays." (Forward). Now, I read this first prior to reading Dion Fortune's book and I was surprised when Fortune actually referred to the Seven Rays. This information, back during it's time among the esoteric circle, was obviously known. Not only that but Fortune assigned them to a specific Sephiroth - Chesed. The Essence of the book is that there are 7 rays upon which divinity split itself to manifest reality. Each of those 7 Rays are what gave rise to the 'masses' or the ''choirs of Angels'. Not only that but each soul that incarnates in this Physical Realm comes from these 7 rays...or 'incarnates upon the 7 rays.' Each Ray is assigned to a planet which are seen as their physical representatives. There are three Rays of Aspect: 1. Will/Power 2. Love/Wisdom 3. Adaptability/ Active Intelligence Then there are four Rays of Attribute 4 Harmony/Beauty/Art 5. Concrete Knowledge/ Science 6. Abstract Idealisim 7. Ceremonial Magic One of the key concepts, that I found fascinating, was that the Fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge/Science started passing out of incarnation in 1998. Now, 1998 is an important date pin pointed by Edgar Cacye as well as being a pivotal turning point. Now, we know why. Here is what Alice Bailey had to say on the subject back in 1949: "The Fifth Ray has been in Manifestation for nearly seventy years. It will pass out (by special and unique arrangement) in another fifty years (published 1949) , thus breaking into it's own cycle, because it is deemed that the needed special impulse given to the human "spirit of discovery" has served it's purpose. Any further intensification of the mental processes just now (except through the general pervasive effect of the third ray) might prove disastrous. The ray cycles are usually set and determined, but in collaboration with each other and because of the imminent spiritual Crisis of Approach, the Lord of the Fifth Ray and the Lord of the World have decided temporarily to withdraw this type of force. It will take about fifty years to do this." Here is another fascinating tid bit that is far from a doomsday prediction: "This little known divine energy now streams out of the Holy Center. It embodies in itself the energy which lies behind the world crisis of the moment (Word War II). It is the Will of God to produce certain radical and momentous changes in the consciousness of humanity which will completely alter man's attitude to life and living. It is this force which will bring about in conjunction with the Second Ray force that- that tremendous crisis- immenent in the human consciousness- which we call the second crisis- the initiation of the race into the Mystery of the Ages- into that which has been hid from the beginning... The First Crisis...was the crisis of individualization wherein man became a living soul. the second crisis is the immediate one of initiation, made possible (if you will but believe it) by the many individual initiations which have lately been under gone by those members of the human family who had vision and a willingness to pay the price." pg 100 "All that we have considered covers the time till the coming in of the new subrace. This race will summaries and carry to a temporary conclusion the manasic effort of the fifth root race of mental growth, and will cause results of stupendous import... Other cosmic rays will play upon our earth as this seventh ray activity becomes increasingly active, the result of their influence will be to facilitate the emergence of the new racial types, and above all else, to destroy the veil or web which separates the world of the seen and tangible from the world of unseen and intangible...(the) web separating the world of the physical life and the astral." pg 128 "The third effect of the coming of this (seventh ray) is one that may repel- it will cause a great destruction in the animal kingdom. During the next few hundred years many of the old animal forms will die out and become extinct..." pg 164 There is much more in this book this these prophetic statements. The 349 pages are chock full of astrological, esoteric psychology and details about the 7 rays. I can't even begin to go into the details. The people of our current age want to take the sole blame for the dying off of animal species do to climate change...but Alice Bailey saw it coming back in the 1940's as an important part of the New Age. This work has a long view of humanity. It seeks to divulge the cosmic plan for Creation, and in particular, humanity. There is a lot of information about the Path of the Seeker in particular. There is a lot of advice on how to keep on the Path and not fall into pitfalls. There is a huge emphasis on Group Work that I do not resonate with...as I prefer small groups (although, technically you could say I belong to Fracesca Simon's Charting Your Course Group Work). So, get out there and read this book if your truly devoted to the Path of the Seeker. You'll find a lot of spiritual sustenance in this book, even if it is a bit overwhelming and confusing at times. Just take it slow, and as I said, your subconscious is absorbing all of this and you will plant seeds of comprehension that will bloom with time and study of other subjects. I will, no doubt cover the 7 Rays and their implications in up coming blogs but this Review has gone far longer then I prefer. |
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Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
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