THE EPOCHS OF THE WORLD

The material world has come into being because interferences have occurred in the divine creative radiations traversing cosmic space.  










Forces Reaching Earth 

The earth and its inhabitants are not yet conscious of the forces which reach the earth from out of the cosmos and maintain it. Consequently the inhabitants of the earth aren´t able to control these forces and transform them at will. The earth receives these radiations from out of the cosmos and is immersed and bathing in these waves of energy. Everything that happens on earth is a direct reaction to the action of these radiations... a kind of resonance resulting from their interaction. The Sun magnifies to a tremendous extent the radiations of the particular constellation in which it stands at any given moment as it radiates its force to the earth simutaneously with the radiations of the constellation concerned. This fact has a bearing on the way in which the four seasons have come into being.

The Vernal Point 

The movements of the earth give us the impression not only that the vault of stars is rotating about us, but also that other movements are taking place. One of the most important movements the earth makes is that its axis describes the surface of a cone. Whereas one of the end points of the earth´s axis remains relatively fixed, the other describes a circle. Because of this movement, the vernal point in the cosmic wheel is slowly displaced. Seen from the earth, it appears to be moving backward. The time it takes for the axis of the earth to complete one full conical movement -- moving from the vernal point in the zodiacal circle right round to its starting point again -- corresponds to 25,920 terrestrial years. We call this a cosmic year. Divided by twelve, this number gives us a cosmic month, namely 2,160 terrestrial years, the time it takes for the vernal point to move through one zodiacal sign.  

Vibrations From Cosmos 

The vibrations from the cosmos have such a great effect on the earth that they even influence world history. The leading ideas in religion, science and art are the result of the radiation of the particular constellation in which the vernal point is moving throughout the course of a cosmic month. The incarnated spirits on earth -- that is to say humanity -- must always achieve a new epoch by reaching a new milestone in human development and establishing themselves in the ideas of the time.

Groups of Spirits 

A nation is a group of spirits, the incarnation of certain concentrations of energy. Each epoch brings to the earth a different group of spirits, a different race, and when this race has fulfilled its task of carrying out the new ideas and developing a new civilization for the space of a cosmic month, it leaves the earth in order to develop further on another planet. In every race, of course, there are always individuals who don´t quite `make the grade´ before the end of the epoch. These remain behind, like dregs in a drink, and must continue to develop on earth. That´s the reason why a nation experiences a sudden decline after achieving a high point in civilization. The highly developed fathers of the nation are followed by degenerate and weak-willed descendants, and the nation which was once greatly esteemed gradually falls into debility and disrepute. These descendants are the dross of the nation which has reached the highest degree of earthly development, become spiritualized, and departed from the earth.  

(Article is from "Initiation" -- teachings of Ptahhotep, High Priest of Ancient Egypt.)

THE FIRST SOURCE OF ALL TRUTH

"You must learn the law of the three-dimensional  world which is based on the Law of the Spirit and could not exist without it...."



ETERNAL BE-ING

"The first source of all truth and of all manifestation is the eternal being -- GOD.  But God is in the unmanifested state beyond time and space, and only his manifestations appear as projections in the three-dimensional world.  Therefore in order to understand these laws correctly, we must begin with GOD.  In order to talk about God, however, we always have to cope with the fact that God stands above the recognizable world.  For this reason every living creature can only understand God to the extent to which it itself is able consciously to experience, manifest and realize God;  that is, to the extent to which it itself can be God!  In everything God is living, and everything is living in God.  Nevertheless, God in his own complete, perfect being can be understood only by one who has himself become God -- or who has never fallen out of God.  God can be understood only by God!

"The fact that even the most primitive man has a concept of God shows that divine consciousness is dwelling within him, even though only very dimly and to the lowest degree.  On the other hand, to become conscious in God, to understand God completely, and to be God means to become completely one with one´s own divine self, with the God dwelling within.  That is easy to say but very hard to do!  Because man has fallen out of his divine consciousness, he can only imagine God in accordance with his own personal power of understanding.  How can he know what the real, living divinity is like in its perfection when his power of imagination only corresponds to the level he personally stands on, separated as he is from unity, and having fallen as he has from divinity??  How can the finite understand the infinite, the mortal the immortal, the temporal the eternal??. . . How can an imaginary being understand, experience and become identical with the eternal, true being -- God??


MAN´S INTELLECT

"And still man must reach him!  His eternal desire, his unquenchable longing helps him and propels him forward in the direction of his divine self.  Man´s intellect -- the greatest but most dangerous gift he has received from God -- builds a bridge across the seemingly unconquerable chasm between that which is personal and mortal and that which is impersonal and eternal.  Through man´s intellect he succumbed to the temptation to fall out of divine unity with his consciousness.  But by the same token, his intellect gives him the possibility of bringing back his consciousness into full union with divinity.   By means of his intellect, man is able to understand truth,  and when he has understood, he will seek and keep on seeking and trying until he some day succeeds  in finding the only path to the realization of his self.


REALIZATION

"Realization means being something.  For as long as we think about something or talk about it, we aren´t being it.  You can think about a cat, or about a lion, but that doesn´t mean by any manner of means that you have achieved realization, that you have become a cat or a lion.  Likewise, you can think about yourself without being your divine, creative self!   To think something is to be separated from it.  For if you send out a single thought, you -- the thinker -- are connected only by thinking with the object of your thought.  You are connected with it, but not identical with it.  You are not yet that which is in your intellect.  Your intellect belongs to you;  it is a wonderful tool, a mirror into which you can project everything and in which you can recognize everything but your intellect is not you!!  The intellect is outside your self.  Consequently what you can do with your intellect is not you yourself, is not achievement of realization.

THE PERSONAL `I´

"When man seeks God outside himself, he can often be `thinking´ about God, he can be `praying´ to God, he can be `loving´ God with his whole being, but all this doesn´t mean he has become identical with God.  For man can never find God outside himself!!

"The creator in man is man´s own self whose last manifestation, farthest from his own center, is his little `I´ , his personal `I-consciousness´.  The personal `I´ within him is the image of God mirrored by matter -- in the body.  Thus when man seeks to return to God and re-establish his identity with him he must follow the same path with his consciousness:  he must draw his consciousness more and more from his own little personal `I´ -- deeper and deeper into himself -- turning to his own true self, to his creator, until he consciously recognizes himself in HIM.  But this doesn´t mean that the creature -- the person -- recognizes itself in this condition.  As an imaginary being, it has no true existence and cannot really achieve self-knowledge.  On the contrary, the creator recognizes himself in the created, in the person.  This is the only possibility for overcoming the state of separation and bringing back the consciousness into the state of unity:  the individual stops thinking about himself and instead becomes himself, recognizes himself.  In this condition, the recognizer, the recognized and the recognition are one and the same.  The self -- the creator -- recognizes its self in itself!!


RESURRECTION

"Man can only experience God in this way.  This is resurrection!!  In this state he recognizes that his own self has created him and is constantly creating him, hence that his own self is his creator.  He likewise realizes that the one and only self is the creator of the entire universe!!  As a result of this divine self-recognition he simultaneously experiences the creative cosmic all-consciousness.  At the same time as he achieves self-recognition, he achieves recognition of everything, omniscience!!"


(Article is from "INITIATION" -- Teachings from Ptahhotep, High Priest of ancient Egypt.)