The principle in operation is that the world is as we perceive it. There are fundamental differences in degrees of consciousness from person-to-person and even from moment-to-moment within each of us. Some days we feel better than other days, some days we feel less burdened, some days we are more creative, happier, more at peace with ourselves and with our Universe.
There are countless degrees of consciousness available to every human. There is a state of conscious where all is still and dark and the conscious mind thinks of nothing. This we call sleeping.
There is another state where we are limited only by our imaginations; absolutely anything we can conceive occurs. This we call dreaming.
And there is the state we call waking, structured by certain definite physical laws, in which life is quite predictable. This is a state where if you place your hand in fire, you will be burned; where if you step unprotected off the top of a fifty-story building, you will surely die. Pain, suffering and ineluctable death are the eternal handmaidens of life in the waking state.
But the waking state is subject to variation. Anything that changes is not permanent, it is not eternal. We can at least conceive of lives with little pain and suffering, even if death in the end is the final result. What might the limit of such variations be? What is the potential of human life? Is there a limit?
Most would agree that there have been "great souls" on this planet -- individuals who are so far beyond the standard that we revere them as being enlightened, saints, geniuses, or even God incarnate. Is it that there are only a gifted few who are capable of deeper thought, perception, understanding and love? Or does everyone have this potential, and is it simply not developed in the average person?
There are many ancient traditions in the world that maintain that anyone can rise to complete human consciousness, that anyone can live the highest state of human development. Far from being the exclusive privilege of the chosen few, blessed by birth or circumstance, these traditions claim this is the natural birthright of all.
If this is true, it must not be difficult to move into a more expanded level of consciousness. It must be neither complicated nor a matter of faith. It must not require a giant intellect nor an unswerving belief. Nothing must be required that is not possessed by all humans everywhere. The only requirements would be curiosity and the willingness to give this development a chance.
How curious. This well describes the practice of Ascension as taught by the Ishayas.
The rewards of the development of consciousness are limitless -- every area of life is beneficially affected by the growth of full human awareness. There is no problem, physical, emotional, mental or spiritual that cannot be reduced and eventually resolved as an individual moves more and more toward complete consciousness.
Why this must be so may not be immediately clear. The problems of life are multi-fold and extreme. How can any one thing affect all areas of life?
Consider our daystar. The Sun, a thermonuclear fusion fire some 96 million miles from the Earth, brings light to all EarthÃ's creatures by day, chasing the darkness from every corner of our lives.
Just so, there is a light within our minds, a light we variously call our consciousness, our spirit, our Self, our soul. This inner awareness acts in our individual lives like the Sun acts for our Earth. This inner consciousness is the root of the tree of our life, the basis of all that we think, all that we perceive, all that we feel, all that we do. Calling the inner light the root of the tree of our life is reminiscent of the metaphorical passage in the Bible about Eden and the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
This passage, as has so much of the worldÃ's scripture, has been interpreted from the waking state of consciousness -- with rather unfortunate results. The Tree in either case -- as the Tree of Life or as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil -- is the human nervous system. When it is used properly, it functions as the Tree of Life, bringing health and life and all good things to the human being.
When the human ego (the serpent) is drawn into the experience of duality, the emotional nature (Eve principle) eats of the apple of duality, and the rational mind (Adam principle) follows -- the individual perceives duality, feels hot and cold, believes in good and bad. In this state, the nervous system loses its innocent perception of immortality and becomes the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In this state of judging, dualistic life necessarily ends in death. A house divided against itself cannot long endure. It will rot, it will decay, it will fall. If we live by the two-edged sword of judgment, we will surely die by it.
It is not difficult to restore the proper functioning of the nervous system -- it is only necessary to take the poisoned apple of duality back out of the mouth. To do this, the requirement is to stop listening to the serpent, the desires of the ego that lead in the direction of duality. There are two voices inside every human -- the first speaks for the ego and leads to judgment, to fear, to defense, to the continuance of ignorance; the second speaks for the Ascendant and leads to clear perception, to love, to invincibility, to Self-realization.
If the inner light of awareness becomes stronger in us, all dark areas, all problems of every kind naturally begin to vanish, as if by magic. It takes no great expenditure of energy, no in-depth or complicated working to solve the problems of individual life; they are simply no more found. Allegorically speaking, we could say that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It is Here, it is Now. No time needs to elapse to realize this. It is not necessary to spend years in meditation or prayer, it is not necessary to purify the body or mind to awaken to this Truth.
Each of us is already conscious! We have already been given everything we need to be perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. Where is Heaven? It is here, close by, directly at hand, in our heart. Who is our Father in Heaven? He is here, close by, directly at hand, in our heart: He is our most expanded or developed level of consciousness, our own perfected Eternal Self. God, being all love, creates only in His own image and likeness.
We, created by God, must therefore be only all love.
