Qabalistic Paths to the Inner Planes - Class 7

We will begin with the Meditation on Kof from the Book of Tokens.

I am the knot in the endless cord of life, binding past to future in the eternal present.

I am alif and tav, beginning and end. All that was and all that shall be now is for in mine eyes time is not therefore am I the outset of the quest and also the goal thereof and I am the way of life this is my hidden being behind the face of the vast countenance therefore am I called the back of the head which is not a ahead. I am the sum of all perfections, the decad multiplied by itself. In this my number shall be found a key to the bringing forth of form. My presence is the cause of every form, and to those who have eyes to see, wherever a man may plant his foot is holy ground. Not alone in sanctuaries set apart but in the street and marketplace in the abode of sin as well as in the house of prayer mayest thou say with thy father jacob surely the lord is in this place and I knew it not verily thy consciousness of body is my self-knowledge of form and by that knowledge working in thee do I maintain thine existence in all states and conditions. Behold, I dwell with thee, O Israel, and thou dwellest with me. Take heed that thou despise not thy Lord in human form.

In the previous weeks of this class we've covered the various elements that are involved on the path of return which deal with the first order of the true training elements that are involved in the the various paths, their techniques, their rituals and ceremonials.

And remember, as we pointed out, the first order deals with that which we call personality or the powers of the personality. And they are involved with what we also call in Qabalah the elemental nature.

And so we pointed out to you that the various forces, which we call the elements, fire, air, water, and earth are involved in these various advancements because they are the means through which the higher consciousness or the mental and image-making powers of selfhood create the form, hold the form, and keep the forms, all the various types of forms, in motion. So we have been dealing with those parts of our nature which we call the personality remembering also always that the personality is really a group type of vehicle it involves several vehicles which are more or less on the subtle plane except for the physical vehicle which appears very much more more solid than the other one. Nevertheless, each of our vehicles is as solid as the physical vehicle when experienced from that level by our consciousness. That is why those, for example, who have managed to send word back from the other side of life, that which is usually called death have always related that the world or plane on which they are existing is just as solid to them even though there are other laws of motion just as solid to them as this plane of consciousness that is that which we call the physical level is solid to us remember always solidity or experience of solidity is really a relative thing it's a matter of the rate of vibration in relation to another rate of vibration and we try to show it to you in other ways if you will recall by pointing out to you that an electric fan if it stands still has open spaces between it and when you throw sand quite a bit of it is going to go through these open spaces is out onto the other side but if you put the fan in motion the motion creates an appearance of solidity you look at it and it looks solid you throw sand on it and it's going to hit right back at you as though it were solid and yet it isn't it's the motion and motion remember is a rate of vibration. So that which we experience as solid merely means that our consciousness is vibrating in a state of motion on the same vibrational level or speed as the thing which we are experiencing, which we call solid. Matter in essence is just as spiritual, for example, as that which we like to call the mental body or the spiritual body it's merely an experience in vibrational rates which brings about certain well capabilities which we could not have under other vibrational rates because each vibration has its own mode of self-expression and self-experience and the physical vehicle which is called the outermost vibrational element of consciousness the outermost form it is in and through this outermost form that we must come to express the highest and innermost truth we will never get away from form despite what you may have heard and read in other schools of thought we will deal through more sensitive forms through forms that from this point of view are more tenuous but from the point of view of the consciousness which is experiencing itself in form it is not so we wanted to bring this out because we are now going to deal with that which is involved in the advancements into what we call the Second Order. And indeed, all the work of the First Order is aimed at that, inasmuch as the aspirant is being continuously inspired in every way possible to work towards that goal, that is, to work towards attaining the state of consciousness which we call the second order.

The masters of wisdom, incidentally, are the ones who express through the third order.

But it is in and through the second order that you attain to what we call the Christ consciousness.

And that is why such emphasis is put on it.

That is, at least, shall we say, the beginnings of Christ consciousness.

Now, in the work as it has been given us, actually, advancement into the second order consists of two different periods of advancements. One is called a going through the portal, and then a considerable period of time takes takes place before one actually then is advanced or at this time it is again called a complete initiation into the second order but we will not cover the two different time periods involved because what we want you to do is to get the spirit of each of these paths to understand what is involved in attaining to the sphere of activity or the evolutionary level which the the advancement into each particular grade involves, and thereby learn how to promote and intensify in yourselves, even those of you who have not yet attained to the chapter part of the work which takes you through the grades in this manner, we want you to at least be preparing yourselves so that those of you who are destined to come into our inner esoteric work into the chapter training will have enough advanced work done upon yourselves so that the work of the ritual the work of the ceremonial the actual work of becoming Coming awakened to the inner aspects of these grades will take place in you more quickly and more readily than they do in most, and this is something much to be desired.

We try very much at this period to give more preliminary training than we used to do, because there are so many more numbers coming in at this time who will be eligible for this esoteric type of work and training. The thing you want to realize basically is this. Always, those of us who have had the responsibility of keeping alive this system of training, which we have had down through the ages, as you know, those of us who have been given the responsibilities for it, have also been told in no uncertain terms by the Masters that the intensification of the nature, the therefore, shall we say, capacity for greater projection of power which takes place as a result of it is a tremendously dangerous thing when it occurs in those people who are still controlled by their elemental natures instead of having learned to at least in a fairly good measure to control the elemental nature and remember what we have told you about the elemental nature certainly it consists of our intellect our desire emotional nature of our subconsciousness and our physical vehicle.

This is true. But these are the powers of the higher self, even though they involve the elemental nature.

And the elemental nature in itself works through the lower forms of life also, as well as our own, except, of course, for the higher aspects of the reason and the intellect, as well as the higher aspects of desire. Desire, but our higher mammals have very excellent thinking ability. Those of you who have had pets or have pets certainly have come to recognize this, and it becomes a matter of degree almost, even though this matter of degree makes us another type of being. So that in the animal form and all forms below man. The elemental nature in essence, this includes us, really involves the forces of nature, just plain forces of nature. And after all, what is nature but God? But it is the forces of nature working on more or less of what we call the subconscious levels, so that when they pour through animal forms because of the smaller or less evolved kind of consciousness these natural forces are held in a form of expression so that we can say of animals in their various in their various activities they are pure in heart they still live in the Garden of Eden but these same forces when they pour through a human consciousness you have what you might call a wider just to give you an analogy you have a wider pipeline and because you have a wider pipeline you have not got the same narrow guidance because it's the form remember that determines the type of consciousness you can express and it is the higher self it is the true ego that builds the form in ever more complex measures in its evolving awareness so that when these elemental forces these nature forces pour through the human form and consciousness you have to begin with what we call the primitive states where you come across these wild uncontrollable temple tempers these wild fears and so on you have a wobbling an unbalance of the force and this is the reason for so much of say the expressions and personality which are quite horrible really horrible as we know isn't it in today's paper or yesterday's paper where this man murdered the woman because she had a fatal fascination for me he said and we've often reminded you of the murders well I I killed I killed him or I killed her because I loved him or her so much with such love we better stick close to our enemies you know we'll be a little safer and the the wild responses we have you see all of these things are really the the nature forces the elemental nature in ourselves which has not yet been controlled and therefore when they work work through a human consciousness you have forms of horror that could never take place in an animal form in an animal consciousness and yet it is the very problems arising from these unbalanced forces which drive the human consciousness into experiment drive the human consciousness into researches drives the human consciousness into finding an answer And after finding many erroneous answers, eventually we come across the proper ones and the controls again.

So we want you to look here at the Tree of Life and notice this yellow Sephirah called Beauty.

This actually is the Sephirah that's involved with the second order. This is the first step of the second order. The grade is called Lesser Adept or Adeptus Minor. And notice that it balances the whole tree. Beauty is what? It is balance.

But it means a great deal more than that. In Qabalah, it's called the mediating influence of consciousness. And what is mediating again, but balancing or bringing into proper relationship one with the other? Here you have that central core on the tree of life which remember this is our higher soul although it isn't it just in itself the three together the yellow the red and the blue are involved in our higher soul you might call it the triune higher mind the triune higher soul this is our individuality whereas these sefiroth below are what we call the changing personality now this higher individuality this higher soul which we are dealing with now which we are going to explain to you in terms of the paths and just what it means the idea of awakening and bringing about the connections and the linkage between the different portions of our own being. This particular point of balance actually is that which God uses in order to experience selfhood on other vibrational levels. Notice, for instance, that this yellow circle, this Sephirah, has a connecting link with every Sephirah above it.

I mean, it has a direct channel.

Notice, it has the channel of Lamed, connecting it to severity, the red circle. It has the channel of Yod, the hermit, connecting it with the blue circle. It has the channel of Zion, the lovers, connecting it with the black circle. It has the channel of Hay, the emperor, connecting it with the gray circle and it has the channel of gimel the high priestess connecting it with the white circle it is directly connected with all the forces above it and it channels down to the forces below that is to its own personal vehicle which is it is evolving the desire nature the intellect and the subconscious that has direct channels to those and it is from that triune personality element that finally the physical form is projected through the subconscious part of it the subconsciousness remember being foundation which finally projects the full physical form of a flower so that particular yellow circle you can say is God on another vibrational level. From the point of view of the white circle, which is Kether, the indivisible, the universal one, from the point of view of that, this yellow circle is the child. And you know Christ born in the manger? The child. That's from the point of view of the white circle and the trinity above which is cosmic father cosmic mother and the one the indivisible within which they reside but from the point of view of the bottom circle the very bottom one which is malchus the physical plane the vehicle that particular circle is the redeemer and it is called the King and you know that was one of the names for Christ the King and in itself from the point of view of itself it is the sacrificed God and you know the stories of the crucifixion so there you have that one aspect of our being that which is eternal in us which depending on the point of view it is experienced from has these different functions and this is the place from which all complete control of personality develops and takes place the paths then are the ones we will now consider in order to show what is involved here and just what advancement into second order actually portends remember we've been going backwards through the tarot keys and backwards through the sefiroth because this is what has always been meant by the paths of return now because we have in essence been been advanced into each of the previous grades we have open sesame so to speak below this yellow circle because we have been introduced to the guardians of the gate of the element we have been linked with what is called the in hebrew the malechin and that means the the ruling king aspects of the angels.

And the angels, remember, are the nature forces on different levels.

And so because of this, we can enter into the spirit of each of these sefiris more than we would have been able to previously, though none of it is as yet perfected, you realize.

And so in order to go through the first path that's involved in the backward return remember the last one we covered was that cross path of the path of pay which is a tower which took us and the last connecting path which involved the advancement into victory the seventh sphere of the desire nature and that was key 16 so the next one going backwards would have to be key 15 and where is key 15 place it connects the intellect splendor the orange circle with beauty the sixth circle and what is it it's the devil now here is something that has very rarely been focused on in most metaphysical schools of thought even and in really serious occult schools and that is the thing that is involved with this tarot key and this connection and this path which in the advancement has the most profound significance for us for the rest of our lives in fact for the rest of our incarnation and it has to do mainly with this do you know what the greatest problem is on the path of return you might be surprised when I tell you that the greatest problem on the path of return is a lack of a sense of humor what do you think of that that's true of course unfortunately everybody thinks he has a sense of humor just like everybody thinks that he has quite a fine mind you know we're all enamored with our mentality and we think that the other person is stupid and we're all enamored with our love nature we think we have a marvelous love capacity the other person who's cold or ruthless or needs developing uh of the ability and capacity to love it isn't us and in the same manner as the other person who hasn't got a sense of humor we've got it and so some people feel gee have I got a sense of humor and they put little things on their buttonholes you know so somebody introduces them they go squirt squirt you know into the eye isn't that funny you know they think they're being very humorous oh uh or uh they'll trip them up and you know this or the slapstick comedy you know who enjoys slapstick comedy a child or a grown-up who's still a child and hasn't evolved what's slapstick comedy it's enjoying somebody else's misfortune isn't it and somebody because he laughs at somebody else falling or getting a pie in the face or getting knocked flat and they'll go ha ha they'll just practically hold their stomach naturally that proves they have a sense of humor look how they can laugh unfortunately at somebody else's misfortune so you see having a sense of humor might be something other than some of us think and the absence of a sense of humor is really the most deadly thing on the face of the earth really people with a true sense of humor incidentally are are never cruel believe it or not you know why we'll explain it to you through the devil this tarot key the devil is assigned to the function the double function one is bondage the other function is mirth mirth all right consider just what mirth ought to imply at any rate in terms of the tarot this again this tarot key cabalistically this hebrew letter is assigned to the eye as the organ of vision what has that got to do with it everything these subtleties these subconscious uh symbolisms that are put into our lower levels of of subconscious awarenesses are really fantastic in the way they work truly fantastic because just consider now the eye as an organ of vision is indicating what it means that that which appears to be what we see because the eye can only register a group or a vibration that's all the eye does it takes a picture and it sends this picture to the back of the brain then in back of the brain the consciousness the subconsciousness let's says let's see this vibration uh perhaps maybe this fills me with horror at the idea with since I'm a mathematical or at least consciously but perhaps the subconsciousness says oh my this is 24 equals X equals 29 5 minus 0 or something you know it's the vibration on that scale and that means house or flower or tree or person or Jane or Jim you see it's consciousness that makes an interpretation of vibrations and and it's the higher mind which makes the image of it. All we really register on the outside are pictures of a bunch of vibrations which usually recognize people who've been blind and never seen one if they suddenly see they don't know how to see they have to learn how to see You'd be amazed some of the experiences they have they have to learn how to reinterpret everything now then what we see on the surface isn't what a thing usually is in any case and if we judge by surface appearances we're usually in trouble when we look at surface appearances it seems like it's the sun that's revolving around the earth doesn't it but it's the other way around we make a correction in our consciousness and this goes on in all sorts of ways when we see somebody moving towards us actually our eye is just seeing something getting bigger and consciousness makes the interpretation of motion this is somebody who's been blind and never seen before interprets it as something getting bigger because they haven't learned how to interpret the things that are registering. Therefore, seeing correctly gives us what? Perspective. Now, is that not so? Now, what is perspective? Perspective is being able to see the proper relationships. And what is humor? Back to Merth. Humor is being able to see the perspective, the relationship, the ludicrous. That's why you have the devil there looking quite ludicrous indeed. And those who have not got a sense of humor really are like these bestialized figures because they interpret everything from surface appearances. They don't see the ludicrousness of their a sense of self-importance the less true sense of humor we have the more important it is to ourselves to feel very important that might be a hint to you to help you look into your own hearts and find out how much humor you lack and how much needs developing people who have an complete need to get up there you know and pompously like the napoleon with the hand on the in the vest and and the the the entire pompous I am I look up to me idea people like that definitely lack a sense of humor they may be able to see something funny outside at times but they're more apt to be the kind who will laugh at the infantile type of conduct like the slapstick sort of thing or the person who has a little ball in his hands and says shake hands ha ha ha when you jump because the thing goes squeak you know well the ability to laugh at ourselves this is the heart of humor and mercy and those who can chuckle at themselves already have come far more I mean they've gone much farther along the way of return than many a human being who can sit down and spout what sounds like the most profound philosophy believe it or not because it is the self-awareness along with the self-activity and the motivations which are involved in evolutionary levels.

And he who can poke fun at himself is the sort of person who sees, with true perspective, the rantings and ravings of the personality on the stage of life, who sees how we all have this need. It isn't that we lose completely the need to be looked up to and admired, but he we can chuckle at this need this is what's the difference what makes the difference to be able to chuckle at these things it's like the child you know how the child wants attention gets to an age where you say oh he's at the show-off age and he really can drive you crazy showing off saying look look look see I can stand on my head or and all that sort of thing for the child it's fine but you see uh when we are supposed to be grown up we still do the same thing in very subtle ways we're saying see see how clever I am by for instance uh spouting great wisdom more in love with the fact that we're being wise than a real effort to serve and help another it's a matter of motivation underneath what is driving it how often have you just think and I mean if you can smile at it it's all right what things smile how often have you just enjoyed so much spouting a bunch of of philosophical truths at least as you saw them in order to show other people how profound you are and to make them feel that oh there's somebody unusual and rare and if you feel that you've succeeded haven't you gone on home just full of a glow and if you feel you didn't succeed haven't you been just full of despair and just practically wanting to die and those who are quite the super sensitive shall we say but you see it's a funny thing those who truly know how to chuckle at themselves spontaneously serve others and spout wisdom and truth and often are surprised when somebody else says how wise that is oh really it's like humility and this is part of the same story people who are proud of their own humility have they got it have they just think in the same way when we are proud of our wisdom or our ability in occultism chances are we haven't really got it at all especially when we need to be pompous and chatter chatter chatter in order to make specific impressions therefore the ability to chuckle at ourselves is our greatest safeguard now he who has not got the ability to chuckle at himself incidentally is a dangerous person to entrust with power but the occult and esoteric power because in taking himself too seriously it's like he is in a smaller measure a type of hitler or napoleon or stalin you see the self-importance is there and unrecognized and this type of person can through complete self-deception use power with which to try to subjugate others could injure others calling it by beautiful names just like the nazis called their extermination of the jews by very beautiful names indeed when they murdered six billion people and up you know they called it some very fancy getting rid of ridding the world of that which causes all its evils this is the kind of consciousness that exists where humor is absent and by humor we mean the ability to chuckle at ourselves our evolutionary level is just screams out at those who know how to see in terms of just such a little thing as that with other elements of course but just such a little thing as that and people who get their feelings hurt very readily incidentally are the people who have not yet developed humor about themselves to a sufficient degree they might have in some situations but in other situations it might hit boom you know into that over feeling of over-important for the little self you see those of us who've had even a glimpse of the vastnesses of our higher being just even a glimpse can see the personality for something that can be chuckled at like you chuckle at a child we chuckle at all the little tricks and clumsinesses of the child don't we and of the infant and perhaps mirth true mirth might be said to involve that very thing because that part of us which is the true ego should be able to chuckle in the same way over our personalities because the personality personality is the child of the higher mind and that perhaps might give you more of an inkling or an understanding of what's involved dr case used to say so often when he would just deal with that tarot key in itself he'd advise our members to make a habit of getting in front of a mirror and just looking and saying ha ha and he had a very sort of saturnine face at times when he'd say ha ha you know looked like it had never cracked a smile in his life and yet he had the most delicious humor I think that ever was little little humorous quirks would just start to twitch the corner of his mouth well it really amounts to something like that and uh again we might point out in another way Voltaire it was who said he who believes in absurdity will commit atrocity and you see again it takes the true perspective not to believe in absurdity and it take therefore it takes mirth it takes humor people with humor usually are not so prone to believe in absurdity because their perspective is broader they're able to laugh at themselves to chuckle at their own drive and because of this incidentally they're able to love because when you can chuckle at yourself uh it means you have a sort of feeling of good humor in relation to your child the personality and therefore you can have it towards other personalities which are also children you see and you're not apt to judge so much then by appearances and then really act like a bestialized devil or which we do when we can't see things in their proper perspective so the intellect you see and the reasoning mind are the connection made between uh beauty Tiphareth through the devil or that particular tarot key key 15 but here is the point the function of that Sephirah beauty Tiphareth is the function of the image making power now we know by now I hope we know by now that it is the image-making power which creates is it not that which we image and these powers of the personality below the image-making powers merely are the channels through which the image-making power works to bring it into manifestation this image Don't forget these are the powers of the true higher self, the intellect, the emotional nature, the subconsciousness, and then finally the outer environmental element, the body or the environment, they're both the outer.

So it's the image-making power, which is our godhood, incidentally, and our sonhood with God and the connection through the intellect you see it is the intellect that has to reason out and gain the perspective because humor only resides in those who have a well-evolved mentality I mean true humor and it does not mean those who are very well educated because we can come across many a human being who you might say has has lacked schooling perhaps can't even read or write but that human being might have a very well developed mentality and if you haven't met a few then I feel sorry for you because it's a good lesson to learn it's very important to know that outer technical education is not what makes a well-evolved mentality. A good, well-evolved mind is a mind that knows how to utilize the appearance and see it in its proper perspective. And so again, this connecting link between the mind, the intellect, which is called splendor, and the image-making power which is our true selfhood is shown through the devil then the other inner essence which is involved in the part of the ceremonial and ritual that is stimulated through going directly from the intellect into beauty through the path of the devil the inner essence that's involved here is to have become at least aware in part that whatever the outer appearance whatever the outer appearance the powers of the image making faculty can change this outer appearance through the practice the proper practice and directing control of the mind no matter what it is and there has to be this absolute conviction well this path when it is traversed by the aspirant in the esoteric work brings about a greater capacity for developing this particular response so that from then on and in ever-increasing measure there will be less and less of a tendency to go to pieces over appearance because something will be quickly stimulated due to this connection that has been made in the inner organism of the consciousness something will be stimulated to know that it isn't hopeless no matter what it looks like and therefore there will be a courage and a strength which one didn't have before it might be so slight at the beginning one could hardly recognize it but it comes and it gains strength as it is work just like a muscle more and more so this is the first path involved in attaining to the second order now the next path we've been dealing with key 15 we therefore go go, what, to key 14, actually. And key 14 is what? It is temperance. Now, what is temperance called?

In Qabalah, this particular Hebrew letter is called the prop, you know, or the peg. And what is a prop? It's a support. It's also called the intelligence of probation and trial. Trial and this is the testing part of our consciousness which comes from the higher self from the higher mind because what is probation and trial it is testing and testing for instance uh we often think that we are just being tested uh when we cut when we go in for some some very serious trouble, you know, some dire or catastrophic something occurs to us and we may think as aspirants, well now this is a test. What we don't realize is that everything is a test. There are just some tests that are a little tougher than others. Every form that exists is the way the higher soul is testing the perfection of its image-making powers whether it has made the form in accordance yet with what it has in mind that is in fact one of the several reasons for having an outer form and then it's like taking this form like for instance uh when steel is made in order to build a bridge you know what they have to do with that steel they have to take it and they have to start pounding at it and subjecting it to certain compressions and certain pressures to see at what point will this steel break they have to know at what point that steel will break because that's going to go into a bridge and the bridge is going to be able to carry just so many tons of weight in order to safeguard the total endeavor the same principle resides in relation to this changing something we call our personality with its form in relation to the higher mind our higher soul forms are tested for the strength.

Therefore, the emotions are tested, the mind is tested, the clarity and purity of the patterns and subconscious are tested, all through the form which comes about.

And in essence, really, the final proof of the perfection of evolution comes in accordance with how much control do you have over your environment, which is form. You know, when we come to the whole final thing, which, for instance, the Master of Wisdom has.

It's a continuous, growing, evolving thing through action, through living, through experiencing. So in this particular path, we are dealing with the intelligence, Kabbalistically called the intelligence of probation and trial, that which tests, and it tests it in the fire, it tests it in the furnace. And in this Tarot key, you notice how the angel pours fire on the eagle, and the eagle is a symbol of water remember it represents scorpio which is a water sign and it sends water pours water on the lion the lion is is uh astrologically the fire sign leo so it is making steam that's what it's doing this is the power of steam to move the various forces the the to move these patterns about in subconsciousness in order to drive them down into their testing area, which is the living in and through the form. Of course, this involves more even than that.

And we'll cover that in the latter part of tonight's class. We'll cover that after we've had our intermission. But before the intermission, I'm going to give the announcement. It's all typed out for me so I don't have a problem.

Tuesday Prenneas classes are suspended for the summer. They will reopen in October and the date will be published in our program.

There will be a Beginner's Prenneas started on October 4, 1961 at 8 p.m. It will be held each Wednesday evening thereafter. After those planning to enroll for this pranayas class this beginner's class should register as soon as possible next thursday evening we will give the like the eighth lecture on the cabalistic paths to the inner plane all together we have nine of them you know so after tonight we'll have two more and uh what we will do is cover that which is important in terms of the paths of return for the second order because the third order you'd have to be a master of wisdom and since I'm not a master of wisdom all I can tell you about it is what the masters told me so that won't take very long at least we're going to work at covering the next two to cover the rest of the paths and the next two classes that way I always need more time than I take for these classes it seems and in half the hurry.

Well, the title of the lesson sermon, which I will give next Sunday morning, coming Sunday, is The Qabalistic Use of Color and Sound for Overcoming Indecision.

Now, it says here, Do not forget to register your children for our Qabalistic Sunday School, which will open October 1st at 11 a.m. This is an opportunity which we have been able to give our children only now. Before this the children of today were deprived of this much-needed foundation she's uh eleanor is propagandizing you now very nicely I think there are very few vacancies left in this first class so please do register your children as soon as possible and she's certainly saying something profoundly true because the more children we can raise in the qabalistic type of thinking feeling and training the more souls we are going to have who will have the capacity for attaining complete mastery and to help this very sorry very tragic state of affairs in this world more quickly towards the brotherhood of man with less of the agony of soul that's involved at this time we need our young very desperately let's have a five minute stretch it.