On Evil

Today I am only going to post some quotes. It is unfortunate that some religions use the word ‘Evil’ to create fear and to control their membership. And it is also unfortunate that the terms ‘New Age’ and ‘New Order’ has resolved into such a negative sense of understanding. Look around you…aren’t we in need of a new age, a new order in life, filled with greater compassion and goodwill toward humanity?

Quotes:

“What do we mean by the phrase “forces of evil?”  Not the armies of unrighteousness and sinfulness, organized under that figment of imagination, the devil, or some supreme anti-Christ, for such an army does not exist, and there is no great enemy of God, arraigned in battle against the Most High. There is only suffering, erring humanity, still half-awakened, dimly sensing the vision, and struggling to free itself from the thralldom of the past, with its tarnished allegiances and its unchecked loyalties.  The forces of evil are, in the last analysis, only the entrenched ancient ideals and habits of thought which have served their purpose in bringing the race to its present point of development, but which must now disappear if the New Age is to be ushered in as desired.  The old established rhythms, inherent in the old forms of religion, of politics and the social order, must give place to newer ideals, to the synthetic understanding, and to the new order.  The laws and modes of procedure which are characteristic of the New Age must supersede the old, and these will, in time, institute the new social order and the more inclusive regime. ”

– Esoteric Psychology, p 630-631,  by Alice A. Bailey

“Evil is that which can be controlled and subdued but which is permitted to govern.  The positive can always manipulate the negative.  When the negative line is followed and the line of least resistance to that which is no principle, is pursued, then we have evil.”

– A Treatise on Cosmic Fire p 618, by Alice A. Bailey

“Evil itself is but an illusion, for it is the use that is made of motive and opportunity by personality separativeness and selfishness which constitutes evil.  From right motive and the same circumstances good may emerge.”

– Discipleship in the New Age Volume I, p 241-242,  by Alice A. Bailey

God

This is a difficult and touchy subject for many. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Many people think you need to be religious or belong to an organized religion or you can’t possibly believe in God. The truth is, in many cases, belonging to a religious group can hinder your appreciation of the true nature of that great being referred to as God. Many millions of people believe in a higher power but never set foot inside a structure that has been set aside for worshiping God, no matter what the religion may be. And eventually God will openly permeate all aspects of life on our planet, including government, with humanities blessing. However, I, for one, certainly don’t want some religious group’s fanciful notions of who and what God is forced on me. There are some pretty ridicules beliefs out there! Someday there will be a greater measure of understanding within humanity regarding God and He will become universally accepted throughout all of man’s activities.

Let’s be clear on one thing – God exists! He is real! However, there are many facets to the term ‘God’ and many levels of understanding. It has been said that the average Christian prays to their ‘personal god’…that is, the highest aspect of themselves. You see, man is the first level of being that can claim ‘god’ status. God is a creator. Man is also a creator. Although it goes without saying, man is far from perfect; nonetheless, he is a god in the making. Christ refers to this fact in the statement “I have said you are gods” (John 10:34).

Going higher we can say that the informing life of our planet is God – He is the creator of all that lies within His sphere of influence…but that does not include the entire solar system. However perfect our planetary life is to us, He is not perfect when it comes to that great life informing our solar system. He IS God on a much higher plane! Higher than that, we dare not go. Those stupendous lives are so far removed from our small level of existence there is no point in trying to comprehend the nature of life on those tremendously high levels. Life progresses from point to point. We are told there is no beginning and there is no end! As each individual life achieves perfection on its own level – the next highest level is entered and work begins to master that next phase of development – there is no death – only evolutionary life, constantly changing and moving upwards toward the next highest sphere of livingness.

Each life within our solar system, no matter at what level they find themselves, incarnates upon particular streams of energy. There are seven such streams or rays as they are called. One ray of energy is called ‘Love-Wisdom’ – it is said the main characteristic of the informing life of our solar system, God, is upon this particular stream of energy. ‘God is Love’ is a factual statement. Man’s attempt to try and describe, or in any way consider Him as some emotional, vengeful or angry God is absurd! There is only love streaming through Him to us and all lower kingdoms in nature. It is our misunderstanding, misuse, and present attainment upon the ladder of life that limits our ability to respond; to demonstrate in our lives the highest potential of this energy, as individuals and as a race. The perfect life of a Son of God was demonstrated for us in the Person of the Christ. Such is the destiny of us all! At some point in our evolutionary development we will each achieve the state of a perfected human being and thus be permitted to move upward into the next kingdom, and continue our life’s sojourn.

Quotes:

“First and foremost, there must be recognition of the fact of God. That central Reality can be called by any name that man may choose according to his mental or emotional bent, racial tradition and heritage, for it cannot be defined or conditioned by names. Human beings perforce always use names in order to express that which they sense, feel and know, both of the phenomenal and also of the intangible. Consciously or unconsciously, all men recognize God Transcendent and God Immanent. They sense God to be the Creator and the Inspiration of all that is.

The Eastern faiths have ever emphasized God Immanent, deep within the human heart, ” nearer than hands and feet, ” the Self, the One, the Atma, smaller than the small, yet all-comprehensive. The Western faiths have presented God Transcendent, outside His universe, an Onlooker. God transcendent, first of all, conditioned men’s concept of Deity, for the action of this transcendent God appeared in the processes of nature; later, in the Jewish dispensation, God appeared as the tribal Jehovah, as the soul (the rather unpleasant soul) of a nation. Next, God was seen as a perfected man, and the divine God-man walked the Earth in the Person of the Christ. Today we have a rapidly growing emphasis upon God immanent in every human being and in every created form. Today, we should have the churches presenting a synthesis of these two ideas which have been summed up for us in the statement of Shri Krishna in The Bhagavad Gita: “Having pervaded this whole Universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain.” God, greater than the whole, yet God present also in the part; God Transcendent guarantees the plan for our world and is the Purpose, conditioning all lives from the minutest atom, up through all the kingdoms of nature, to man.”

– The Reappearance of the Christ, p 144-145, by Alice A. Bailey

“A new definition of God was given us when the Buddha taught that God was Light and showed us the way of illumination, and when Christ revealed to us that God was Love through His life and service on earth. Today the knowledge aspect of illumination is being comprehended, but the inner meaning of love is only now dimly sensed. Yet light and love have been revealed to the world by two great Sons of God in two Approaches. A new Approach is on the Way, bringing us the next needed truth. We ask ourselves: What will it be? For it, the knowers and lovers of God and their fellowmen are prepared; for it, the masses of men wait.”

– The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p 406, by Alice A. Bailey

 

Evolution? Creation?

Evolution? Creationism? The argument rages on. The fact of the matter is both sides have their basis in reality but are incorrect in detail and presentation. The ensouling life of our solar system, God, is real and within the sphere of His being He has created all there is. It is within this sphere we live, move and have our being…and evolve as units of life. The term ‘Evolution’, as presently understood by the vast majority, leaves room for much question and doubt…again lacking in detail and presentation. We did, in fact, evolve from the animal kingdom, and the plant and mineral kingdoms before that!

Two things need to be emphasized.

1. God does exist! (But He is not the vengeful emotional God that most Christians tout.)

2. Evolution is a fact! (Evolution and Creationism are not mutually exclusive terms.)

The human kingdom is but one kingdom of evolving life on the planet. Darwinism touches, in part, upon the truth of evolution but fails to recognize the divinity of the life aspect dwelling within each form. Evolution proceeds through all the kingdoms in nature, progressing from one level of being into the next over ions of time. Life is an evolutionary spiraling upwards, forever moving forward and onward into successive kingdoms. A process, we are told, without beginning or end. As a spark of life completes evolution in a given kingdom, they are liberated into a greater life expression within the next higher kingdom, and begin their evolutionary progress once again, but on a higher turn of the spiral.

It may seem silly to think that we, as evolving units of life now in the human kingdom, used to be evolving units within the mineral kingdom, but such is the case. And although it is not a generally accepted concept, a single small atom of matter has consciousness, even though that consciousness is so far removed from our own as to be incomprehensible to us. There is no such thing as inorganic matter – all is life from the tiniest unit ensouling an atom up to and beyond those stupendous lives ensouling planetary and solar bodies. The life within the form evolves and progresses through the forms used in each kingdom, always expanding their conscious life in newer, better, forms that are able to accept the vibratory activity of that sphere of life.

Can you even begin to imagine the kingdoms of life that exist above the human? The kingdom of souls is said to be next – the so called Heaven spoken of by Christians. All units of life, in due time, will pass through this kingdom and move onward, not just those claiming special privilege. Of that life we as yet know nothing. But we can surmise that it would be as wonderfully different from us as we are from a dog. Vast stellar systems are ensouled by units of life so far evolved as to be unimaginable by us. They too passed through the human kingdom in the far distant past.

One day it will become right and necessary to present both Creativity and Evolution in our schools. The cleavage between the Creationists and those firmly entrenched on the side of Evolution will gradually disappear. And then all of humanity will be free to evolve into higher states of awareness using education as an added tool. People will consciously aid in the effort of evolving within the life of God. As these ideas are presented they will bring about a re-alignment in thinking, a reorientation toward that which is important, promoting a greater understanding and appreciation of man’s place and role in the vast scheme of things. Individuals will come to realize that regardless of the level of life expression of the unit, all units exist within that great creative life we call God, and should be treated accordingly.

The following poem is appropriate here:

A fire-mist and a planet,
A crystal and a cell,
A jelly-fish and a saurian,
And caves where the cave-men dwell;
Then a sense of law and beauty,
And a face turned from the clod–
Some call it Evolution,
And others call it God.

Like tides on a crescent sea-beach
When the moon is new and thin,
Into our hearts high yearnings
Come welling and surging in:
Come from the mystic ocean
Whose rim no foot has trod–
Some of us call it longing,
And others call it God.

A picket frozen on duty,
A mother starved for her brood,
Socrates drinking the hemlock,
And Jesus on the rood;
And millions who, humble and nameless,
The straight, hard pathway plod–
Some call it Consecration,
And others call it God.

– William Herbert Carruth

Quote:

“The word ‘spiritual’ does not refer to religious matters, so-called.  All activity which drives the human being forward toward some form of development – physical, emotional, mental, institutional, social – if it is in advance of his present state is essentially spiritual in nature and is indicative of the livingness of the inner divine entity.  The spirit of man is undying; it forever endures, progressing from point to point and stage to stage upon the Path of Evolution, unfolding steadily and sequentially the divine attributes and aspects.”

– Education in the New Age, by Alice A. Bailey