In the last chapter we illustrated how Body and Mind Purification is just the beginning of the Firing Process, not the end goal of Life. We mentioned that without the dough, that we are just cooking an empty pot. How do we generate this internal gold that is to be cast in the Firing so that we don’t just ‘sigh our life away’ - moving down a side path to Nowhere?
The Purification of the Body has to do with strength and flexibility training so that the energy can flow more easily. We can speak of this as emptying the container of extraneous contents in preparation for the emergence of the spiritual embryo. If there are blockages in the Body, they will interfere with this spiritual pregnancy.
The Purification of the Mind has to do with the mental Differentiation of Mind and Brain - of Person and Being. The areas of the Mind that need purification are revealed by emotional disturbances, usually triggered by the external world. While frequently and inherently unpleasant, this is the area that needs to be thoroughly investigated to clear out all the dead wood that could lead to the next emotional fire. Further these emotionally sensitive sectors diminish the Flame by detracting from vitality by sucking the Life forces into secondary pursuits. These emotional confusions are usually based upon the mis-identification with one’s Person. One mistakenly believes that the Play is real. The emotions linger for too long after the movie is over. The Problem is that the polluted Mind/Brain complex is convinced that the illusions that he has projected to organize the world are real. Because the Mind/Brain has set up an unhealthy emotional connection to the circumstances of the Person, he thinks that he is his Person, rather than a servant of Being. In short the Mind/Brain complex thinks that the Person is their true Self, when it is only a sham. The false Self has come disguised as the true Self. Because of this mis-identification, the techniques of Mind Purification are sometimes said to lead to the Death of Self. How can the true Self hope to arise when there is an Impostor in his place?
Thus the Death of the False Self is a necessary precondition for the Birth of the True Self. Sometimes this is called emptying the Mind of its preconceptions so that true intent can emerge. Sometimes this transition is likened to the sliver of the dying/waning moon in the east just before dawn - preceding by a few days the birth of the sliver of the waxing moon in the west just after sunset. In this way the death of the Impostor leads to the birth of the spiritual Embryo, which is the purified self, ready to be cooked into the elixir of Life, essential to transformation and emergence.
The Purification of the Body empties the Cauldron in preparation for the entrance of the Primordial Soup. The Purification of the Mind leads to the death of the Impostor so that the true king can rise to the thrown. This is the Spiritual Embryo. Without the true king on the throne, no amount of cooking will do any good. The kingdom will be in a constant state of emotional chaos, led by the False Self.
The False Self is based upon the projections and expectations of the polluted Mind/Brain complex. While they frequently think that they are serving the Body, they have taken over control and have their own warped agenda instead. As an example, the polluted Mind pursues materialism to make the Body happy, while disturbing the Bodily organs with anxiety based upon attachment to results. How can the Body be at peace if her Organs are disturbed? If the Body is not at peace, how can she operate efficiently and avoid self-induced sickness and premature death? Constantly on overdrive, she is overworked and driven into the grave long before her ‘natural’ time has come.
How does the Spiritual Embryo of the True Self emerge? For this is the Dough or Soup that needs to be in the Cauldron so that the Flames can cook it. The Spiritual Embryo is the mission quest that is revealed in quietude by the Little Voice. Some call it the Little Voice of God. Some call it the 'Return of the Yang'. Others say it has to do with the Right Brain intuitive consciousness finally being heard over the clamor of the deductive logic of the Left Brain. However this process is characterized doesn’t really matter. The salient point is that it emerges unbidden from the midst of quietude. The polluted Mind generates so much emotional chatter that is impossible to Hear Internally. This is why it is so essential to purify the Mind of the misguided assumptions that are the foundations of destructive emotions, such as anger and fear.
There are some excellent examples of the Little Voice in the first five books of the Bible. Possibly the most famous is Abraham being asked by God to kill his first-born son to test his faith. In more recent times, Mohammed regularly listened to the Little Voice and inevitably founded the religion of Islam. Joan of Arc saved France from social chaos by listening internally to the Voice of God and then was burned at the stake for her troubles.
Sometimes the Little Voice tells you what you want to hear - ‘time to have a child’ - ‘time to start back to school’ - ‘time to start a business’ - ‘move away from home’ - ‘write a novel’. However, frequently the Little Voice tells you to do something that seems stupid or silly, illogical or unreasonable. This is normally because it conflicts with the mental projections of the polluted Brain. If so the Brain, thinking that he is in charge, will fight or resist the suggestions of this Right Brain emergence - giving a million reasons why this direction won’t work.
However, as we thoroughly discussed in our section on Gödel, Logic is severely limited because it can never see the whole picture and think outside the box to make holistic decisions. Therefore Logic independent of Intuition and Instinct tends to take the path of brute force and domination. Instead of searching for or sensing short cuts around the Wall, Logic attempts to tear the Wall down. Sometimes the Wall can’t be torn down; sometimes it takes too long to destroy the Wall. Either way the Journey is threatened by time delays or an unnecessary expenditure of energy, which diminishes the Flame, threatening the Firing Process. The Bread doesn’t rise. The Soup doesn’t blend and cook - some of the ingredients are still raw. The pregnancy is aborted; the Spiritual Embryo is lost.
The Little Voice of Intuition - of God - of the Right Brain - whatever - discovers the Secret Passageway to new dimensions - the Shortcut - the Hole in the fabric of the Universe that allows us to skip over deep valleys and traverse over high mountains to achieve the Mission. The Spiritual Embryo goes full term - is born a child - then matures into adulthood - allowing the Adept to attain Immortality as a Sage, Buddha, or Self Actualized Person. Or on a less dramatic note, if the Casting Process is complete, it means we have fulfilled our personal potentials, no matter how simple they might be.
Recapitulating: the quest to uncover underlying assumptions, which cloud our perceptions, allows one to hear the Little Voice, which enable the emergence of the Spiritual Embryo, which determines our life’s mission and purpose. While the Group wants us to serve the Collective, this may or may not be our Purpose. If not, then prepare for a serious joyless life - filled with emotional instability and anxiety - little laughter and a lot of toil - with very little sense of meaning and purpose - perhaps an intentional or inadvertent suicide - through excessive consumption of food, alcohol, drugs, or things.
Thru Self Reflection one is able to step outside the Box to understand the incompleteness of individual logic systems - of our parents, friends, teachers, and our media dominated culture. Thru Self Reflection one is able to still the mental mind chatter and hear the Little Voice, which reveals the shortcut to another dimension. Thru Self Reflection, one is able to purify the inner directives of corruption.
Beware. The emergence of the Spiritual Embryo is just the beginning of the Firing. There are still many things that can go wrong. Because the Purification processes are never complete and occur simultaneously with the spiritual Pregnancy, there is plenty of mental and physical pollution that needs to guarded against. The remnants of the polluted Mind will constantly attempt to seize control of the Firing, placing the Impostor upon the throne. The purity of the Spiritual Embryo is polluted and the pregnancy is threatened.
There are at least two ways that corruption occurs. The first is getting lost on a Side Path. Because of the omnipresent red dust of social conditioning, which has residues and is constantly falling, the original pure intent veers off the course. It is crucial to maintain constant vigilance in order to Return to the Path as quickly as possible, minimizing the time lost on Side Paths.
To this purpose it is mandatory to cultivate open awareness of intuitive consciousness so that one doesn’t get lost in details, which will take one away from main path. Sometimes this is called the valley spirit, because it is as empty as a valley, which echoes. No preconception or expectations here. Just an open awareness that is ready for any irregularity or obstacle that might block the Path. Instead of maintaining his own agenda - thinking mistakenly that he should be in charge - the discriminatory Mind needs to remain open so that he can protect and serve the true intent of the Little Voice. Thus the Mind needs to be constantly purified of the red dust so that he can have all his attentions upon the Quest, rather than distracted by petty desires and fears.
Another way that the original pure intent of the Little Voice is corrupted is by a gung ho Mind, who wants to help things along a little quicker than is natural. Here the corrupted Mind is a control freak thinking that he knows best. In this case it is said that the Fire is too hot and burns the Soup. The Firing Process is aborted and must be restarted.
The proper role of Mind is to attend the Flame and cultivate the subtleties of the emergent child, rather than dominating or obsessing about the process. Attempting to help out, the parents are a little too enthusiastic, discouraging the child’s natural curiosity. The initial action takes place to get the ball rolling, but then the Spiritual Gardener just cultivates the inner Garden watching the flowers unfold - not pulling on the leaves to make them grow faster - not over watering in an attempt to nurture. Instead the Gardener attends his Plant carefully - pruning the dead leaves and pulling the weeds of past conditioning - watering and fertilizing as necessary. The Gardener can’t dominate his plant, but must let it emerge according to its own pattern. The Action of planting the Seed precedes the Non Action of Cultivation.
While all of these things - Firing, Cooking, Pregnancy and Gardening - occur over time, the Reality is that as long as one is involved in the Process, One is Dancing with the Gods. While the external physical body is going through this process over time, the internal spiritual body is constantly hugging God. However, in order for the Inner Spirit to stay in the Presence of God, he must continually follow the inner directives. If Abraham had not followed God’s directive, he would have ceased to be in his presence and would have been denied the Bliss.
Hence the inner and outer bodies develop simultaneously. While the external is cooked over time to achieve transformation and self realization, sagehood or self-actualization, the inner is just attempting to hang onto his relation with the Divine. This only occurs in the Moment and has nothing to do with time.
Thus maintaining the Quest or Mission - staying on the Path - continuing the Journey - enabling a successful Firing - is just the Method for staying in touch with God. The result is a growing open awareness that allows one to experience Reality Directly with the attendant Bliss, unassociated with Result or Circumstance.
Reiterating: the external and internal bodies develop simultaneously: one in the four-dimensional world of space and time, the other in the eternal now. The only way to stay in the Now is by following the Little Voice, which gives the pure intent, which intensifies meaning and awareness. Without this Mission Quest the Now fades in significance - dimming and eventually fading away distracted by polluting influences. Afraid to follow the pure intent of the Little Voice, the Mind is distracted by physical desires, mistaking the dim light of pleasure for the Bright Light of the Firing.
Note that the experience of the Ecstatic Now converts the pursuit of Desire from the physical to the spiritual plane. This is sometimes called purified essence. In this case Being desires to be constantly in the Now, undistracted by the future or past. The Purified Mind realizes that this is possible only by following true intent, or the emergent directives of quietude. With this understanding Mind focuses his talents on achieving these Spiritual Desires, rather than the Material. Thus the purified Desire is directed towards following the internal messages of Purified Intent. Further the Purified Mind serves the Purified Desire to achieve this end. This is sometimes called pure sense serving pure essence that serves pure intent. This is sometimes called the consolidation of the base.
This is exactly opposite of the usual corruption. In this case, the polluted Mind serves polluted Desires in achieving external and therefore temporary satisfaction based upon the illusion of Person. Polluted Intent tags along, corrupted by Cultural Conditioning to ignore the internal and obey the external.
In summary: It is necessary to deconstruct the Verbal Reality so that the Firing of Transformation can take place. The Firing has to do with the Mission of the External Body, which is revealed in Quietude by the Little Voice. Following this Path, one’s Spiritual Body resides in the Bliss of the Now - eternally dancing with the Gods.
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