Thank you Ashvin

[Lou Gold]

Aloha Ashvin,

Thanks to your new signature, I discovered the full poem of Florence May Holbrook (1860-1932) who lived most of her life in the city of my birth and childhood/adolescence - Chicago. The poem speaks to my heart in a non-sectarian way that others may appreciate as well.

Not more of Light we ask, O God,
But eyes to see what is;
Not sweeter songs, but ears to hear
The present melodies.

Not more of strength, but how to use
The power that we possess;
Not more of love, but skill to turn
A frown to a caress.

Not more of joy, but how to feel
Its kindling presence near,
To give to others all we have
Of courage and of cheer.

No other gifts, dear God, we ask,
But only sense to see
How best those precious gifts to use

Give us all fears to dominate,
All holy joys to know;
To be the friend we wish to be,
To speak the truth we know.

To love the pure, to seek the good,
To lift with all our might
All souls to dwell in harmony,
In freedom's perfect light.

Amen!

[AshvinP]

Aloha Ashvin,

Thanks to your new signature, I discovered the full poem of Florence May Holbrook (1860-1932) who lived most of her life in the city of my birth and childhood/adolescence - Chicago. The poem speaks to my heart in a non-sectarian way that others may appreciate as well.

Not more of Light we ask, O God,
But eyes to see what is;
Not sweeter songs, but ears to hear
The present melodies.

Not more of strength, but how to use
The power that we possess;
Not more of love, but skill to turn
A frown to a caress.

Not more of joy, but how to feel
Its kindling presence near,
To give to others all we have
Of courage and of cheer.

No other gifts, dear God, we ask,
But only sense to see
How best those precious gifts to use

Give us all fears to dominate,
All holy joys to know;
To be the friend we wish to be,
To speak the truth we know.

To love the pure, to seek the good,
To lift with all our might
All souls to dwell in harmony,
In freedom's perfect light.

Amen!

You're welcome, Lou.

Since you mention this sectarian issue again, I want to also share the following. Cleric has also pointed this out in many different ways.

During the whole course of our lectures, you have seen what our position is in relation to the document called the Gospel of St. John, standing as we do upon the foundation of Spiritual Science. You have seen that it is not a question of gaining out of this document some particular truths about the spiritual world, but of showing that, independent of all human and other documents, it is possible to penetrate into that world, just as anyone wishing to learn mathematics at present does so independent of every original document by means of which, in the course of human evolution, different branches of mathematics have first been communicated. What, for example, do those students know who begin to study elementary geometry, acquiring it by means of their own faculties from geometry itself, what do they know of the geometry of Euclid, of the original document in which this elementary geometry was presented to the world for the first time? If the student has first learned geometry by means of his own faculties, he can judge and appreciate better the nature and meaning of the original documents. This should show us more and more that those truths which deal with this spiritual life can be gained out of the life of the spirit itself. If a person has found these truths for himself and then is directed to the historical documents, he finds in them again what he already knows. In this way he acquires a right and true human valuation of them.

In other words, the myths, scriptures, etc. stop being sectarian as soon as we independently penetrate to the more imaginative sphere of thinking consciousness. What we know as sects only exist on the horizontal plane of intellectual concepts of the higher worlds. When we are confined to that plane in our own thinking, we feel forced to use vague, low resolution language of spiritual reality in order to be 'non-sectarian'. We have a certain subconscious insecurity that we can’t delve into the specific cultural forms without getting entangled into sectarian tendencies, which is no doubt a justified fear in the modern age. But when we develop the imaginative consciousness via modern initiation, this insecurity fades out and we can maintain a high resolution because we understand the archetypal worlds clothe themselves in many differentiated forms, from many different angles, which together kindle our intuition and strengthen our Self-knowledge. We can fluidly move between these forms to illuminate the higher Self as the Sun moves through the signs of the Zodiac as it alights various parts of the Earth. This movement is not optional - we can't simply bypass the concrete forms and angles and access 'pure meaning' without also faithlessly abandoning Self-knowledge in the process. Instead we can work to redeem the forms from the sectarian tendencies we have imposed on them by our flattened physical consciousness. (and I mean "we" literally, because we may very well have contributed to the sectarian divisions in our previous incarnation)

[AshvinP]

Aloha Ashvin,

Thanks to your new signature, I discovered the full poem of Florence May Holbrook (1860-1932) who lived most of her life in the city of my birth and childhood/adolescence - Chicago. The poem speaks to my heart in a non-sectarian way that others may appreciate as well.

Not more of Light we ask, O God,
But eyes to see what is;
Not sweeter songs, but ears to hear
The present melodies.

Not more of strength, but how to use
The power that we possess;
Not more of love, but skill to turn
A frown to a caress.

Not more of joy, but how to feel
Its kindling presence near,
To give to others all we have
Of courage and of cheer.

No other gifts, dear God, we ask,
But only sense to see
How best those precious gifts to use

Give us all fears to dominate,
All holy joys to know;
To be the friend we wish to be,
To speak the truth we know.

To love the pure, to seek the good,
To lift with all our might
All souls to dwell in harmony,
In freedom's perfect light.

Amen!

You're welcome, Lou.

Since you mention this sectarian issue again, I want to also share the following. Cleric has also pointed this out in many different ways.

During the whole course of our lectures, you have seen what our position is in relation to the document called the Gospel of St. John, standing as we do upon the foundation of Spiritual Science. You have seen that it is not a question of gaining out of this document some particular truths about the spiritual world, but of showing that, independent of all human and other documents, it is possible to penetrate into that world, just as anyone wishing to learn mathematics at present does so independent of every original document by means of which, in the course of human evolution, different branches of mathematics have first been communicated. What, for example, do those students know who begin to study elementary geometry, acquiring it by means of their own faculties from geometry itself, what do they know of the geometry of Euclid, of the original document in which this elementary geometry was presented to the world for the first time? If the student has first learned geometry by means of his own faculties, he can judge and appreciate better the nature and meaning of the original documents. This should show us more and more that those truths which deal with this spiritual life can be gained out of the life of the spirit itself. If a person has found these truths for himself and then is directed to the historical documents, he finds in them again what he already knows. In this way he acquires a right and true human valuation of them.

In other words, the myths, scriptures, etc. stop being sectarian as soon as we independently penetrate to the more imaginative sphere of thinking consciousness. What we know as sects only exist on the horizontal plane of intellectual concepts of the higher worlds. When we are confined to that plane in our own thinking, we feel forced to use vague, low resolution language of spiritual reality in order to be 'non-sectarian'. We have a certain subconscious insecurity that we can’t delve into the specific cultural forms without getting entangled into sectarian tendencies, which is no doubt a justified fear in the modern age. But when we develop the imaginative consciousness via modern initiation, this insecurity fades out and we can maintain a high resolution because we understand the archetypal worlds clothe themselves in many differentiated forms, from many different angles, which together kindle our intuition and strengthen our Self-knowledge. We can fluidly move between these forms to illuminate the higher Self as the Sun moves through the signs of the Zodiac as it alights various parts of the Earth. This movement is not optional - we can't simply bypass the concrete forms and angles and access 'pure meaning' without also faithlessly abandoning Self-knowledge in the process. Instead we can work to redeem the forms from the sectarian tendencies we have imposed on them by our flattened physical consciousness. (and I mean "we" literally, because we may very well have contributed to the sectarian divisions in our previous incarnation)

Let me add, sectarianism can also be seen as an echo of consciousness rooted in collective identifications. This will seem odd or backwards to our modern thinking, but it is so. In very ancient times, we first identified with the absolute Spirit and had no sense of individuality. Then, as ancient spiritual sight faded, we began identifying with our race, as a group spiritual connection was preserved in our blood. Even as the strict racial identifications faded, we continued to identify with our 'folk' or nations, generally those who speak the same language and live in a common area. Our identifications with those of a same religious creed is a lingering after-effect, fading away slowly but surely. It is only through the power of the 'I AM' principle which incarnated on the physical plane that this collectivist conditioning can be overcome and people can intimately relate to each other soul to soul, without mediation of any collective identifications. The ancient Hebrews would say, "I and father Abraham are One", while Christ responded, "Before Abraham was, I AM." The outer collective consciousness served its purpose, but now autonomous individuals must freely associate and harmonize their relations with one another through the power of their enlivened and ennobled thinking consciousness.