Below is a recent video from the Golden Rosycross (more information can be found about their organization from this [LINK]) I do not represent the organization, but I did format some ideas pertaining to this lecture below. It is well worth listening to several times to pick out all the subtleties and references.

Part I

This relates to something I wrote recently about (“The Parts of the Path”), where I talked about our constant perception and choice to either focus downward, or upwards. Downward is the cares of the earth, and upwards is the freedom of the spirit.

Be the Change

The lecture opens with a quote from Gandhi, “if you want to change the world, start with yourself.” Which is similar to the concept in the Tao Te Ching – which speaks to the need of changing the self, in order to change the outer world. In Buddhism this concept is referred to as Emptiness. Everything (according to Buddhism) lacks self-existence… which means that we project what’s within us to a blank canvas (the world). So the world we experience is a project of what’s within ourselves.

How Do we Change?

The speaker in the video quotes HP Blavatsky, saying that in silence to the world we begin to hear the inward prompt or voice within. This is indeed the process of my own path and experience. My testimony is that this is how I shifted from following the dogma of groups, to unfolding the truth within. The actual practice is perhaps unique to the individual – and perhaps can not be easily shown. Tools can be learned to help in this endeavor. A person can become mindful, silent to the world, and most importantly learn to diminish the limited self (what the Golden Rosycross calls the “Personality self”) so that the Greater aspect (the Neshama, Higher Self, or the Divine Source) can begin to guide us along the way out of our entanglements with the world.

What is Changing?

The speaker in the video mentions 4 aspects of self:

• Physical
• Etheric
• Astral
• Mental

Five aspects of the natural soul animate the four aspects of self. Basically, if a person focuses too much on their own nature they get out of balance.

The way I think of it, my personal view here, is that a person can only look in one direction at a given time. We can look downward at the carnal (self, earthly things) or upwards to the spirit. Perhaps there are variations of degrees between these states, but at the extreme, if we cast our vision in one direction, it is not focused on the other extreme at all. Upwards is love, downwards is anxiety and fear.

The speaker refers to the inner sun that is radiating guidance for our growth and spiritual pursuit. This radiation is understood when we make silent our distractions.

A New Soul Being

Next the video discusses the replacement or transformation of the soul being currently, into a Greater expression of soul. He illustrates from the Voice of the Silence the idea of the individual going through the phases of ignorance, learning and wisdom.

To progress one must create an environment conducive to this. This might mean restricting one’s diet, inputs, media, music, whatever is distracting or blocking this connection.

We must remain open to the Greater truth.

Consider the Story of Mirdad

In the opening story to the Book of Mirdad, the central character begins a quest to the peak of a mountain. The character believes that the source of spiritual wonder is there… a monk that is from the days of Noah, and the Ark itself.

As he travels the slope along the mountain, the aspirant is met with someone that he offers his food with. The person takes all of the aspirant’s food… throwing it to his flock of goats. The aspirant is shocked. Left without food he moves on. He rests for the night, to awake to a woman taking his clothes. Naked, he moves to a shelter… only to find a couple who push him from his shelter. Each character along the way offers advice and in the end he is in the dark night, naked, without food, lamp, staff and shelter. Stumbling forward he falls into the abyss. His final thought, “dying to live, not living to die.” When we awakes he has made it to the summit, and is welcomed by the monk.

My opinion: The moral is that one must be willing to forgo everything in the quest for spiritual truth. That doesn’t mean you hand money to grifters or gurus, but rather you are willing to sacrifice the earthly fetters that hold our attention downward. To make the steps along the way in faith, until gnosis is realized.

Abandoning Seperateness

The speaker identifies the need to abandon separateness… much like Arjuna and Krishna’s story of the Great battle, we are in the battle of removing the obstructions to unity.

“By changing ourselves, we are changing the world,” the speaker tells us… identifying the unity that is birthed through the healed New Soul.

Part II

By changing ourselves we can change our world.

We need a new soul – a healed soul… this is required to reconnect with the World Soul. The state, as the speaker says, was called Eden. This state wasn’t a personality “I” concept, but a Oneness with the World. In other words, the healed soul is not one of “I”, or separateness, but rather Oneness and Unity.

The world Soul is the same as the concept of Anima Mundi.

As a soul we called to be a bridge between heaven and earth (or spirit and matter).

Structure of matter:

• Energy of atom
• Energy of subatomic particle
• Energy of the Milky Way Galaxy

It all has a similar construct.

Similarly we all share a similar construct with the Divine – the Divine within.

The Spirit Spark is the gateway to Divine fullness, or Oneness… and likewise the World Soul also seeks a return to Divine Oneness – the so-called “Eden.”

The metaphor of “eating of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil,” was the choice for beings (now humans) to become part of the world of duality/dialectics.

The speaker mentions that this isn’t a one time event from the prehistoric past, but happens every day. We make a choice to either choose Unity, or Duality.

We are seeking a transformation of the soul to a new soul in order to make this objective a reality.

The chaos within us is reflected in the world around us. So too the potential for our healing is within us… represents by the rose of the heart – the spirit spark. This is the potential to connect to the Source of All. Reconnecting to our new Soul – is made manifest by our longing for the transition.

We have three sanctuaries that are the basis for the new soul, enabling reconnection to the spirit spark:

• Head
• Heart
• Pelvic

Questions

How do we start?

Perhaps through silence… what is silence? Quieting the ego/personality, becoming less so that the Greater can become more.

Focus on transformation… giving up eating meat, drinking caffeine… breaking the tether with the personality self that requires attention of self-maintenance?

Further Reflection

“The microcosms in which we live have been damaged and the soul and the spirit-soul are not yet active, or barely active, in the personality-soul. For this reason the spiritual path is called a path of healing or sanctification. That is why Jesus ordered his apostles to not only proclaim the gospel but also to heal the sick. It is very important that the gift of healing does not relate primarily to healing physical ailments or diseases, but to heal the whole microcosm. As a result of this healing, the microcosm will reconnect with the heavenly spheres where it originates” 

Mysteries and Symbols of the Soul, Becoming a Spirit-Inspired Person by André de Boer, pages 142-143