then it was not God that he saw,
but something that belongs to Him.”
Some mystics contemplate the formless God and others meditate on the forms that God takes, but the wise mystic knows that the unmanifested and unknown God is beyond both. Even the formless God is an “idea” created in our own mind as an archetypal ideal to help us describe an unknown God, obscure, remote, and outside of us, that remains an abstract thought in our mind.
The last statement reveals that both the visible and invisible God take external appearances so that our own thoughts and feelings about these irrational and abstract ideas are rendered more rational and concrete for our intellect. For these reasons, abstract thoughts acquire different forms and remain concealed in various archetypal symbols in our conceptual world. Therefore, all philosophies and belief systems may be nothing more than complex and interesting concepts created to help us understand our relationship with an unknowable God.
We should add that our conceptual world and everything in it help us to enliven our spirit. In fact, the language of our conceptual world is an intuitive language coming from the psyche. These ideal models are indeed meaningful and significant to sincere seekers of truth since all images and representations of an invisible and unknown God within their psyche serve a Divine purpose. In truth, these symbolic images are designed to attract, enchant, enrapture and vitalize our passion and ardor towards our own source or Center of Pure Being that is the unknown God.
GOD as Concept
Ruysbroeck, a Flemish mystic, once expressed a similar idea: “God devours us and feeds us at the same time.” Now, we could add, “All the appearances that the unknown God takes on for us, with or without form, are still godly and holy guises, and thus are profoundly significant and meaningful to the one receiving these impressions, since all of God’s expressions enliven and excite the soul of man.”
We could further add, “Any concept we have of God, even a most intricate and abstract one encompassing the idea of the Void, will still remain personal and, therefore, even this idea of the Void will still reflect and externalize an idea we have of it. Hence, the concept of the Void will, in itself, be a reflection of one of God’s faces or guises, compatible with our own level of understanding.”
So, what does this mean? Simply that any image or face that you may make of the Divine still remains a creation of your own thoughts and feelings, and hence will be rooted in your ego. That is why all thoughts and ideas you have of an unknown God will always belong to the world of duality, meaning that the world in which everything that you conceive and feel is first projected outside of you so that your intellect can recognize and absorb it. This is why projections of spiritual ideas are actually reflections coming from your conceptual world, drawing you back towards your own inner center.
We can now better understand how God’s Divine guises reflect in our own being so as to harmonize, endear and unite our ego with God’s own Center of Immanence and Presence. All the images and aspects that God may take in our imagination will be represented by a multitude of symbols conceived psychically and mentally in the world of duality in which ego prevails. Through these inner attractions and enticements, ego is also invited to join in, after its transmutation and absorption into the Center of Pure Being.
Consequently, we see that it’s impossible for us to jump suddenly from a world of duality into a world of Pure Being. We know that the Law of Duality governs man’s daily life, which is the law of observer/observed. By keeping ourselves in that state of separation and division, we persist unconsciously in keeping ourselves apart from our own Center of Pure Being. So, if we focus solely on the external rather than going within ourselves to our Center of Pure Being, we will find it impossible to find that Center, since the presence of the unknown God is the same center as our Center of Pure Being.
THE SEED WITHIN
So, what are we saying? Simply that any description we may have of God, be it contemplative or otherwise, with or without form, belongs to a world of duality where object and subject, observer and observed, challenge each other incessantly. However, to help us overcome this entrapment, God, with His unlimited wisdom, uses our imagination to open before us the gates of the conceptual world that serves as a bridge to link the world of duality to the world of wholeness and unity.
However, these two opposite poles—duality and wholeness—harmonize in a neutral zone within our being, a state of peace and silence in which the unknown presence of God resides as a seed within our psyche. All types of meditation guide us towards this zone, and teach us to gradually blend our consciousness with the Cosmic Consciousness residing in the seed.
God Is The Consciousness of the Present Moment
When you are in touch with your Center of Pure Being, you learn to weave and surf via the subtle and sublime energies existing within that intimate center. By this spiritual and subtle process, your ego is attracted to your Center of Pure Being. Then, an indescribable level of consciousness opens up, harmonizing and blending your ego with your Center of Pure Being to fulfill Ruysbroeck’s, “God devours us and feeds us at the same time.”
Your body is indeed your temple, so by blending your ego with your Center of Pure Being, your temple becomes holy. As a result of these transformations, you are made a perfect witness to your own awakening since, from that moment, your consciousness enters a new dimension, your ego no longer living a separate existence. You are reborn, twice-born, and your will effortlessly expresses God’s will in the miracle of your ordinary, everyday life.
Please note that the words “He” or “Him” are not used to imply gender but rather to simplify the text. Gender exists only in a world of duality, and Consciousness and Being are beyond them.
The tender and loving "Faces" or guises of the Divine that the Unknown God chooses to take for our understanding touch us deeply, enticing and pulling us gradually inwards behind the invisible veils of our psyche, to give us the opportunity of bringing change and metamorphosis in our consciousness with a whole range of pure and untapped energies. This is done to help us live life more intensely and earnestly. Hence, ignorance and narrow-mindedness and bigotry gradually vanish from our minds. These specific mystical experiences also bring about something different, something indescribable but crucial and important. We could even go as far as to say that the whole spiritual process is to help us reach a certain level, and this level is a center within ourselves and yet it is also beyond ourselves since this center is nowhere and everywhere at the same time… What do we mean.
The Hallow Faces Of GOD
We are here, immersed in the heart of Omnipresence. These hallowed "Faces" are symbolic images reflecting the Unknown God’s Presence in us, they often vary and take different expressions according to different religions. We could say, that they leave their imprints in our psyche, and through them gradually we are shown our way back to the Center of God's Omnipresence. These "Faces" or "Guises" are deeply personal infusing directly our soul with the intimate qualities of God’s infinite Love and Wisdom. Consequently, through this secret and sacred "Face to face" encounter, a hallowed merging occurs, a union of man with God’s Image, which we can refer to as a "Veil". Usually these divine "Faces" leave us with a strong impression that transform us for ever. With these intimate contacts, we are rejuvenated and a new world appears in and around us. Things start to look quite different from all angles and yet nothing really changes from the exterior.
We are the ones that change because only consciousness can move and change the energies in and around us. It is indeed consciousness that harmonizes, blends and transforms our perceptions. Man on all his planes of manifestations and in all his different aspects, is made of pure energy. Hence the same law affects his intellect and his emotions. In other words, it affects his ego self, and his individuality. Different spiritual energies pour into our psyche all the time, but we remain unaware of them until a direct mystical experience brings us "Face to face" with an aspect of the Unknown God, which reveals and reflects in us our own angelic nature. This is interesting since it shows us that unless we look into the mirror of our own purified heart, we will never be sensitive and change into our own angelic essence.
A Pythagorean Saying
A Pythagorean way of saying the same thing would be: it is only after we cooperate in the purification process of our psyche that the muses pour upon us their gifts. Yes, indeed, it is only afterwards, that we can receive these ineffable and transcendent gifts. We should ponder on what this means, and consider that with each Divine "Face" emerging from within the darkness of our own unconsciousness a new level of consciousness appears in the light of our conscious mind. A new "Face" manifests Itself within our heart. We are using the word "Face" to emphasize the fact that to understand something spiritual, man must project or receive an image, even if this image reflects an abstract idea ... he must be moved and excited from within by what he sees; be enthralled and aroused intellectually by it, so as to attract to himself and learn to blend with one of the divine Faces.
The Divine Faces
What is meant by this statement is difficult to explain, since each divine FACE represents a level of consciousness. Hence, for a mystic such an experience means that his psyche is about to, or has blended already with one of the Unknown God's, emanations. We could call the Unknown God, "the Clear Light", "the Source", or use any expression or wording that expresses our own understanding of this unknown PRESENCE within our own Center of being… we should allow ourselves to be magnetically pulled in by the divine FACE that attracts our psyche. We are openly saying here, that no man can perceive the Unknown God "face to Face" simply because the God we are trying to describe is the: UNCREATED LIGHT - THE IMMACULATE PRESENCE - OF PURE BEING.
There is a hidden Path opening up from within a disciple and this Path belongs to his inner and divine Self. To unfold the path of initiation, and tread on it consciously, the mystic must desire with all his heart to succeed in his Quest and persevere until the end of the process. This means until the end of his incarnation...and when the time comes and he is "ripe" to let the Divine Light appear in him, this Energy will take the most appropriate Divine "Face" for him, to attract and transform him with LOVE from within his being. To receive such divine gift, he must first learn to let go and discard his old ego patterns, his old "faces" and models, so as to be able to be reborn anew.
Indeed it is true to say that as personalities, we do change and with those changes our traits change too. As we purify our psyche from the complicated "stories" and "excuses" that we make up, we enter slowly into a new-world, unveiling subtly a Divine "Face" - an appropriate one that corresponds to our personal need of the moment. This Divine Face projects an imprint into our own face like a hologram… and in this way our level of consciousness is affected by these subtle energies and as a consequence of these delicate operations, our traits and attitudes soften and mature. They become more beautiful, and therefore more attractive and magnetic.
We also understand however, that there is an important spiritual work going on within our psyche. These are subtle alchemical operations that must remain sealed in the darkness of an inner "cocoon" for our own protection. If we are to be called mystics or disciples, our first step on this path is to learn to OBSERVE ourselves. Generally, man finds excuses to cover his own mistakes, faults, weaknesses. This is disastrous to someone who wishes to call himself a mystic since it is only on that level of spirituality that a disciple will learn to let go of his egotistic patterns and experience what is meant "to vanish completely into the Center of God’s OMNIPOTENCE, OMNIPRESENCE, and OMNISCIENCE".
The CENTER of PURE BEING
This Center is the Center of PURE BEING and is also called the UNCREATED LIGHT. Consequently, we understand that one must desire to climb the ladder of Light within himself so as to reach higher levels of Consciousness. One does that guided by the inspiration, impulses and gifts given to him through the HOLY SPIRIT.
We understand therefore, that before one is able to acquire the appropriate level of consciousness which allows one to receive the inspiration and guidance of the divine wisdom, one must first free oneself of all the chains and fetters of the ego. One must be prepared to embrace the different emanations and qualities embodied: the divine "Faces" of the uncreated God... This means that each Divine Face embodies in Itself a divine EXPRESSION, and QUALITY, as each "Face" purifies, and transforms the ego into a more refined expression. However, to reach the center of the Uncreated Light one has to abandon at a certain point of his journey all the divine Aspects letting go of everything including the most spiritual gift received by the Holy Spirit. Hence by first embracing one by one all the divine qualities of the unknown God, the disciple has at the end of his Quest to "return" them back to the Source, to the Center of the Uncreated Light of BEING. From that level of Cosmic Consciousness, he abandons them one by one releasing them into the Source. It is only then, that the Center of the Uncreated God's Omnipresence in the disciple becomes active.. Ponder and contemplate on what is meant by this statement...
In the same context of what we just said, I would like to make a point on the importance of spiritual psychology since the world of the "observer" and the "observed" belong to it. Spiritual psychology teach us to be Vigilant, Alert and Conscious of our own mistakes, faults, and weaknesses. We all create around us a personal "STORY", meaning that we skilfully make up excuses for our own shortcomings, accusing others, or blaming instead of looking objectively into our own cynicism. We should understand that faults are in themselves distortions of qualities. For example: compassion and love can turn out to become jalousie or hatred, but what concerns us specially here is the fact that spiritual awakening cannot happen unless we become conscious of our own patterns and have a strong need to change them.
The Roles Of Imagination
The role that our IMAGINATION plays in the creation of spiritual and sacred Ideas is very important. Through these ideas we create mental images and sacred "Faces", giving form to the formless God. We could say that the role or mission that our imagination takes for us is to make "visible" and "understandable" different manifestations of unknown, uncreated, unmanifested impulses
So, as we have said, before we can have an "idea" and give meaning to what God is for us, even if the idea is an abstract one it will still remain in a world of duality where God and us humans remain separate. Hence, we understand by this statement that to approach the Unknown God or the Clear Light we have first to recognize and be "penetrated" by His Divine "Face", in other words by His Divine Emanations… His divine Qualities... and we receive these impulses only when we are ready and well prepared. However, this process is indeed a life long spiritual project that demands our entire dedication. This project comprises the purification of our astral and mental bodies and a simplification of the way we live. That is why a wise mystic knows that God is nearer to him than he is to himself… and therefore, God is a better Judge of his personal needs…
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