A Little About the Life of the Spiritual Man

[bartholomew]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

I loved the way you put this in your first post.
"Eventually though the soul is freed and makes the final (Earth system) ascension.''

And glad you bring up Lucifer is not 'the bad guy' people think he is...he has a very special purpose, yes!

I like to think of ascensions being coupled with changes, refinements, in form. When, in a dream, we pop out and go exploring it is in our astral bodies that we visit the astral plane for instance. We cannot go there in the physical or in the ethereal. We have "ascended" if only for a short time.

If we continue this train of thought we will bump into those higher Earth planes about which nothing yet has been said (in this thread). What form, for instance, is necessary for us to visit the Manasic? These require much study and consideration and yet they are so close to home.

Yes. The human mind is designed to be at it's best in oppositional situations. In this area if God is the ultimate good then there must be an ultimate evil as well. While it is true that evil does exist it is helpful to step back and realize that it really is a measure of separation from the Father, nothing more. If we study the spiritual nature of our world we will find that there are two major influences, one good. The other not good. These vie for our attentions. This is not contrary to God's Will. It is this way by design.

When Jesus was in the desert meditating his purpose was to make the final decision about His path in life. Jesus, the man, knew full well that his previously agreed (made before his birth) upon mission lay before him. He understood what the future would bring and why it was so very important. But, as always, we have freedom to choose. Jesus was, for a time, fearful. He doubted his ability. Jesus could have declined and left the dry lands to live out his life as an ordinary man with a family. He knew.

In the story we are told that Satan approached him and said: "If you worship me I will give you all this (the Earth)". This story is a metaphor of course. It never happened that way. The truth was simply that Jesus was remembering that he could say no and walk away and thus have his life in the world like other men. He was faced with a choice. His time in the desert brought him to a point of decision. And he did choose.

When Jesus emerged from the desert he was still Jesus the man but he was now the full representative of the Christ, anointed by fire (another metaphor), fully accepted, purified, blessed.

It was at this moment that Jesus' public life began. We all know the rest of the story.

But how did all this happen? In what form was the so called temptation in that Jesus met and overcame?

When God created the Earth to be home for we humans He provided it with two polar opposite sets of high spiritual lives. It is the resultant "tension" between the two that we are immersed in during our lives.

Now we better can understand the reason why religions are so very essential things in the human experience. They help us to "keep to the right" as it is stated in one hymn. Without these we would constantly be at the mercy of the dark spiritual lives which are ever ready to gather us, give us gifts and keep us bound to them, never advancing, never ascending into the Light.

Each of us are confronted with lesser points of decision in our lives. How will we choose? This is another lesson that Jesus reminds us of. Each of us has decisions regarding our spiritual paths.

It is not easy to speak of such things outside of a religious format. We should know though that for so long as we remain in the Earth' spiritual scheme we can fail. Even a master soul is capable of suffering a setback. Never is when we should lay in comfort thinking "now I am above such things". This is a most important truth that Jesus taught us when he was in the desert. Complacency is not the friend of any who achieve. This possibility is precisely why we are bid be humble, avoid the glamor of the "self".

At the end of the long struggle is the bountiful wisdom which finally frees us.

Proof reading this post I find myself getting preachy again. I try to never do that simply because it is not my place to do so.

Bartholomew