“We do not always learn a lesson at one trial, and we are sent back to our task over and over again until we have accomplished it. But not the slightest effort is ever lost, and if we have failed at the task in the past, it is easier for us to accomplish it today.

“An American writer, Mr. Berry Benson, gives us a beautiful illustration of one of the features of the workings of the law of Spiritual Evolution. We reprint it herewith:

“’A little boy went to school. All that he knew he had drawn in with his mother’s milk. His teacher (who was God) placed him in the lowest class, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt do no harm to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. So the man did not kill; but he was cruel and he stole. At the end of the day (when his beard was gray) his teacher (who was God) said: Thou hast learned not to kill, but the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come back tomorrow.

“On the morrow he came back a little boy again. His teacher (who was God) put him in a class a little higher, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt do no harm to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. So the man did not hurt any living thing; but he stole and he cheated, so his teacher told him to come back tomorrow. …’

“This is what I have read … in the scroll of the Heavens. The great lesson to be learned is the Oneness of All. This knowledge carries with it all the rest.” ~William Walker Atkinson

Learning a Lesson

When we are first learning to walk, we fall down a lot. But we are encouraged by our parents to try again and again until we can do it without falling. The same is true when we learned to ride a bicycle, drive a car, ice skate, etc. When we go to college, we do not get a degree on the first day. It takes time to learn enough to get a degree. Yet many seem to think it should be different with spiritual studies and they should be able to learn all that needs to be learned in a few days, or weeks at the most. That belief is wrong.

His Teacher Was God

God is the ultimate teacher, but before we can talk directly to God, we need a human teacher to show us The Way. Like learning those other lessons mentioned above, learning to link directly to the mind of God takes time and effort. And you have to know what you are doing. While the popular saying that there are many paths to God is somewhat true, most paths are twisted and lengthy. To be successful, you should follow the most direct path possible. That is what Cosolargy teaches.

Mr. Benson’s tale is intended to say that we live many lives until we succeed in learning the lessons. This is a pleasant fantasy promoted by governments who don’t want the many people in their countries living in terrible poverty to rise up in a revolution. Making them think it is simply a lesson they must learn, and then in another life, they can have wealth, helps prevent those revolutions. In Cosolargy, we are taught that our current life is our only life, so we can’t be lazy, we must do our best to evolve our spiritual Self now.

Read the Scrolls of Heaven

What Mr. Atkinson is calling “the scrolls of Heaven” is just an allegorical name for the great Knowledge and Wisdom found at the highest levels of consciousness that the Gnostics called Gnosis. This Knowledge is not found in books, podcasts, or videos. It must be gained by direct access to these higher levels of consciousness. We do that only by the gradual development of our spiritual faculties using the solar techniques taught in Cosolargy.

The Great Lesson

The Great Lesson is Oneness, the Oneness of all. Humans, animals, plants, rocks, rivers, planets, etc. are all part of The One, the Godhead. That is a simple thing to say, but nearly impossible to understand. We only truly grasp this Knowledge when we reach the highest level of consciousness and become fully aware of The All. But when it happens, we know that one spirit is much like another, one being is much like another, no matter what material shell it may be wearing. That means that all living things are a part of us so killing any other being is killing a part of ourselves. Unfortunately, we have sunk so far down into matter that we must kill and eat other beings to survive. We can, however, start learning to live on Light again and reduce our dependence on eating matter. Being part of The One makes us more tolerant and merciful toward others. We can start practicing mercy and tolerance now.

“A Japanese friend of mine, Shin-ichiro Terayama, who is an executive director of the Japan Holistic Medical Society is a cancer survivor. … Shin was hospitalized for cancer. … He refused to stay in the hospital and checked himself out. When Shin awoke the next day, he was amazed to find himself still alive. The morning seemed to him to be unbearably beautiful, and he was aware of a great desire to watch the sunrise. He went to the eighth-floor rooftop of his apartment house, where he could look over the skyline of Tokyo. He recited Buddist mantras and poems, put his hands together to pray, and awaited the sun. When it rose, he felt a ray enter his chest, sending energy through his body. ‘I felt something wonderful was going to happen, and I started to cry,’ he says. ‘I was just so happy to be alive. I saw the sun as God. When I came back down to my apartment, I saw auras around all my family members. I thought everyone was God.’

During the next few weeks, Shin observed a strict [macrobiotic] diet and performed daily the ritual of watching the sun rise from his roof—the one thing he looked forward to each day. …

‘I began to realize that I had created my own cancer by my behavior. As I came to that realization, I saw that I had to love my cancer, not attack it as an enemy. It was part of me, and I had to love my whole self.’

“Today Shin is not merely a cancer survivor, he is a transformed being.” ~Andrew Weil

Andrew Weil

Dr. Andrew Weil is known for promoting natural healing and the idea that the human body has the capacity to heal itself if we allow it to do so, but we block it by eating toxic food, breathing toxic air, and taking drugs that treat symptoms instead of the underlying cause of the illness. He does not encourage any form of sun gazing, so I was surprised to find the above story in his book, “Spontaneous Healing.”

Shin-ichiro Terayama

Shin’sexperience is not typical of one who gazes at the sun for the first time, but it is not unheard of either. Most of us know the story of St. Francis who had his spiritual awakening while watching a sunrise from his sickbed, and there is the story of Jacob Boehme who had his spiritual awakening when the sun reflecting off a metal bowl he was holding struck him in the eyes. Since Shin was a holistic medicine teacher, it is likely that he was somewhat spiritual already, just like St. Francis and Boehme, so they were ready for the sun to give them a true spiritual awakening.

Mantras and Poems

We are taught in Cosolargy that simple sun-gazing by itself does not result in a true spiritual awakening. We have to do it with the proper attitude of humility and love. And we use a form of mantras as well, so Shin had the right idea and the right attitude when he recited mantras and poems while waiting for the sunrise. We also use music and hand gestures to help.

Daily Ritual

Shin began a daily ritual of watching the sunrise, and we can assume he continued doing so beyond the few weeks mentioned in the quote. In Cosolargy, beginning students are taught to do solar techniques only a few times a week, but eventually, we should all practice doing so daily when possible. Some beginners might think that instead of doing the techniques for just a few minutes several times a week, they can just do it for an hour once a week. That is a mistake. Such long exposure at one time does little good for beginners and can cause harm. We must remember that while we look to the Spiritual Sun, we are also observing the physical sun where the Kalos nature is found which can negatively affect us. And in Cosolargy, we teach that God’s presence is in the Spiritual Sun, the Sun of Righteousness, not that the Sun is God.

Creating Illness

Shin came to the realization that he created his own cancer. It takes a truly enlightened person to realize that we are at least partially responsible for our own illnesses, especially cancer. Cancer is unlike other illnesses because it is the uncontrolled growth of the cells of your own body, so it is obvious that something is wrong in your own body that is causing it. It could be a poor diet, it could be smoking or alcohol consumption, it could be drinking polluted water or breathing polluted air. It could also be mental, specifically mental stress. It most likely is a combination of several of these things. The point is, admitting that he was responsible for his cancer was an important first step in curing it. He knew that he had to change himself, not look outside for help. Of course, his morning ritual of sun gazing was helping, but he had to make the decision to do that and do it with the proper attitude. The same is true for many other illnesses. We might not be able to cure all illnesses without drugs or surgery, but we can cure a lot of them, far more than we do now. That is true of mental problems as well. And while we don’t think of it as illness, our dormant spiritual faculties is the most important of us, so awakening them with sunlight is the most important aspect of spiritual sun-gazing. And an awakened spirit also helps in some ways to heal the body and mind. That doesn’t mean that practitioners of Cosolargy never get sick. None of us are perfect, so we fall prey to the same weaknesses as others, though less often. And generally speaking, Cosolargy students are healthier than the average person. It is also true that sometimes we get ill because we need to develop humility and sympathy for others.

“A transcendental genius obeys the laws which govern all other forms of genius, in being susceptible of culture: and, indeed, cannot develop to its full powers without an educative process of some kind. This strange art of contemplation, which the mystic tends to practice during the whole of his¹ career—which develops steps by step with his vision and his love—demands of the self which undertakes it the same hard dull work, the same slow training of the will, which lies behind all supreme achievement, and is the price of all true liberty. It is the want of such training—such ‘supersensual drill’—which is responsible for the mase of vague, ineffectual, and sometimes harmful mysticism which has always existed: the dilute cosmic emotion and limp spirituality which hang, as it were, on the skirts of the true seekers of the Absolute, and bring discredit upon their science.

“In this, as in all other and lesser arts which have been developed by the race, education consists largely in a humble willingness to submit to the discipline, and profit from the lessons of the past. … Each new and eager soul rushing out towards the only end of Love passes on its way the landmarks left by others upon the path to Reality.” ~Evelyn Underhill

Transcendental Genius

We are not all geniuses as measured by the standard education system, but anyone following a spiritual path is demonstrating above-average intelligence. And those who follow a genuine spiritual path will often discover that their intellect improves as well. It is not unusual for those having spiritual training to discover that they now score ten or fifteen points more on an I.Q. Exam. Not that it is necessary for spiritual growth, but it is a fortunate side effect. It also helps you deal with those opposed to spiritual development as they usually rely on intellect to make their point.

An Educative Process

While there are some today who will deny it, no one becomes spiritually awakened and developed overnight. That is actually a good thing because the revealing of too much reality before a person is ready to handle it has driven some people insane. But there are different ideas of what kind of an educative process is needed. It is probably ideal to have a spiritual adept take you under their wing and teach you individually. Unfortunately, there are few advanced adepts available to do that. The second best option is to attend a school that has an advanced mystic or spiritual adept leading it or at least was founded by such a person. Pythagoras ran such a school which is why I chose a drawing of him teaching to illustrate this article. Cosolargy is one such school and teaches some things that none of the others teach.

While reading spiritual books is a good way to start, but you cannot rely on them for your entire spiritual education. One reason is that the books never contain everything you need to know. Another is that you might misunderstand some of the things the books say, especially when they are said in allegorical terms, as they often are. A third reason is that you have no one you can ask questions of when you have difficulties. A fourth is that a teacher can help you know where you are in your spiritual quest, and what you need to do next. And fifth, working as part of a community developing together helps you grow and gives you some protection from the dark forces and beings that try to prevent us from developing our spiritual Self.

Whole Career

Ms. Underhill tells us that the mystic spends his whole career studying and learning more about the realm of spirit. That education is never complete. The idea that you can spend a few days studying a form of meditation and you are done is complete nonsense. In the ancient mystery schools, the students generally stayed for many years, often their entire life. That wasn’t because they were slow learners, but because the spiritual development process is one of gradual development. Any school that claims otherwise is, frankly, a fraud.

A Humble Willingness to Submit

Underhill is also correct in saying that the successful spiritual student must have humility and a willingness to submit. That is another reason why the process takes years. Few of us have such humility. In our modern world of commerce and competition, we are discouraged from showing humility. It is considered a weakness. Yet we must submit to the Beings of Light, to God, to the Greater Good, if we are to be fully successful in our spiritual quest, and that requires humility. So we start learning the basics of spiritual development, and also to develop humility and love (also very important) gradually. As we advance, we develop more and more love and humility. Those who fail to do so—and I have met some of those—never develop beyond a certain point. So practice your spiritual techniques, but also work on developing humility, discipline, and love.

“’You need to refine every human function – moving, sleeping, breathing, thinking, feeling – and eating.’

‘Wait a minute, Socrates, eating isn’t a problem area for me. I’m slim, I generally feel good, and my gymnastics proves I have plenty of energy. How is changing a few things in my diet going to make a difference [in my spiritual growth]?’

‘Your present diet may give you plenty of energy, but it makes you groggy, affects your moods, and lowers your level of awareness. …’

“In your present state of evolution, you cannot “eat sunlight” except in limited ways. When humanity does develop this ability, the digestive organs will become vestigial and laxative companies will go out of business. For now, a proper diet allows you to make the most direct use of the sun’s energy. This energy helps you focus your attention, sharpening your concentration into a slashing blade. … Your good habits must become so strong that they disolve the ones that are not useful. … I eat only what is wholesome, and I eat only as much as I need. … My diet may at first seem spartan compared to indulgences you call ‘moderation,’ Dan, but I take great pleasure in what I eat because I’ve developed the capacity to enjoy simple foods.” ~Dan Millman

Refine Yourself

While doing proper solar techniques is the primary teaching of Cosolargy, it isn’t the only thing. It is the most important, but there are other things we should do to help our spiritual growth. As the old man Dan calls Socrates (not his real name) says, we need to refine every human function. Some of those functions are easier to refine than others, and changes in our eating habits is one of the easiest.

Healthy Eating

The first rule of healthy eating is to avoid anything artificial. That includes artificial colors and flavors as well as foods that are artificial. Second, avoid heavily processed foods. That seems to be a hard one for most Americans today. We have become addicted to convenient fast foods, which are more accurately called junk food. It also includes anything with processed sugar added. And if you are not ready to give up meat entirely, at least avoid beef and pork—and yes, that definitely included bacon, probably the most unhealthy thing humans eat. As the quote says, such foods lower your vibrations, and your frequencies, and if you are seeking real spiritual growth, that is the opposite of what you want to do.

I recently read the book “Lifespan” by David A. Sinclair, in which he talks about his research into aging and the research of others on the same subject. In this book, he gives advice on what we can do now to not only add years to our lives, but add healthy years. One of the things he advises is healthy eating, and the first rule of it is to avoid eating mammals. That means no beef or pork.

Even good food like fresh fruits and vegetables can be unhealthy if you only eat them cooked. It is a good practice to have some uncooked fruits or vegetables as part of each meal. The enzymes in fresh fruits and vegetables help them digest better and better digestion means better health. Physical health does affect your spiritual health, so it is good to stay physically healthy.

Eat Sunlight

Socrates tells Dan that in our present state, we can’t “’eat sunlight’ except in limited ways.” While what he says is true, at least in the way he meant it, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bother to “eat sunlight,” even if it is in a limited way. You must also realize that Millman’s book was written in the 1980s, and much has changed since then. While it remains true that humans cannot YET live entirely on sunlight, we do need it for spiritual growth, especially the Light of the Spiritual Sun.

Note: I was beginning to doubt that the man Millman calls Socrates was a real spiritual teacher until I read this short comment about sunlight. From that, I can see that he is a valid spiritual teacher, and while he may not have been teaching Dan the things that Cosolargy teaches, it is because he was teaching one individual and taught him according to where that student was and what he was ready to learn.

Only What You Need

Socrates also says that he eats only what he needs. In other words, he makes sure that he supplies his body with the necessary vitamins, proteins, carbs, fat, minerals, and enzymes that it needs. When you do that, the desire to overeat tends to fade. So does the desire for junk food.

I started following the diet known as the “Bright Line Eating Plan” a few years ago. I won’t go into all the details, but here are the basics of this diet. You avoid sugar and anything that has sugar added to it. You avoid anything made with flour. Grains are allowed, as long as they have not been ground into flour. So oatmeal and puffed rice, for example, are allowed. Beyond that, the diet includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, much of it fresh. And you eat three meals a day with no snacks. I lost weight easily when I am on this plan, and I am much healthier by following it.

So do your solar techniques, read your lesson books and other spiritual books, listen to music ad burn incense. But also remember to eat a more spiritual diet, which also happens to be the kind recommended for a long and healthy life.

“The mystic knows his task to be the attainment of Being, Eternal Life, union with the One, the ‘return to the Father’s Heart’: for the parable of the Prodigal Son is to him the history of the universe. This union is to be attained, first by cooperation in that life which bears him up, in which he [or she] is immersed. We must become conscious of this great life of the ALL, merge ourselves in it if we are to find our way back from whence we came. Hence there are really two distinct acts of Divine Union., two distinct kinds of illumination involved in the Myatic way: thr dual character of the spiritual consciousness brings a dual responsibility in its train. First, there is the union with Life, with the world of Becoming: and parallel with it, the illumination by which the Mystic gazes upon the veritable world, Secondly, there is the union with Being with the One: and that final, ineffable illumination of pure love which is called the ‘Knowledge of God.’ It is through the development of the third factor, the free, creative Spirit, the scrap of Absolute Life which is the ground of his soul, that the Mystic can conceive and accomplish these transcendent acts.” ~Evelyn Underhill

Attainment of Being

Attainment of Being certainly is one of the goals of the Mystic or spiritual Adept. Some might reply to this, “But I already exist, I already am ‘Being’”. But Underhill is talking about a different level of Being. She is talking about having an awakened spirit, your eternal Being, not your temporary physical being. Beyond that, the attainment of Eternal Life and joining the One are more advanced goals of the Adept. This is why she says this “return to the Father’s Heart” is represented by the parable of the Prodigal Son.

The Prodigal Son

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, a wealthy man has two sons. His youngest son asks for his inheritance in advance and is given it. The son then leaves home and goes off to live a life of excess using up his money. When a famine strikes his new home, he is left destitute and forced to take a job as a swineherd. After a while, he decided to return home to his father. His father welcomed him back with open arms. That is a short version of the story, you can read more detailed versions elsewhere if you wish.

Ms. Underhill tells us that this tale is allegorical, and I think she is right. The prodigal son represents all of us who have wandered far from the Father of us all: God. God is spiritual and lives in a spiritual world. We lived there once also but fell into the realm of matter, the creation of the false god known as the Demiurge in Gnostic literature.

We have not only fallen into the realm of matter, but over many centuries, we have embraced this world and fallen deeper and deeper into its clutches until we are now at a point where, if we fall any further, we will not be able to return.

The prodigal son, fallen to the point where he must become a swineherd, an undesirable job for a Jew, represents all of us fallen as low into dense matter as we can, and still have a spirit and soul that can be saved. The prodigal son had the good sense to turn around and return to his father. We must all show the same sense and return to the Father of us all: God in Heaven. We do that by awakening our spiritual faculties with the Light of the Spiritual Sun, and by continuing to develop those faculties until we achieve Oneness with God.

“In this, our generation, goodly people have been robbed of their estates by strangers. … Their possessions have been sold to provide earthly pleasure for those who revel in things of the earth. …

“In their dire despair, they seek to lay the blame upon a God who does not strike down wrongdoers and seemingly rewards those who are Earthwise. Wherein have they failed? This is the echo in the corridors of the ages.

“They have failed because they have left to God the things which they, as God’s overseers on Earth, should have accomplished. It is Men in the mass who permit evil to flourish in their midst. Their woeful lamentations ascend to Heaven and call upon the heavenly hosts for aid, but better by far would be would it be to call their own resolution and fortitude and fight the good fight, to bring about the rule of right and justice.” ~The Kolbrin Bible (Man:20:1-4)

Lamentations of the Woeful

What was true hundreds of years ago when the quote above was written is even more true today. People complain that God doe not destroy the evil and evildoers of the world. They complain that they don’t get what they want. They complain that others have more material wealth than they do. They complain to God, but never blame themselves. They ask God to find them a job instead of using their own intuition and talents to find one themselves. They ask God for a new car instead of earning the money to buy one themselves. To some degree, it is understandable that some don’t want to embrace the ways of the earthly materialists, yet we must exist in this world for the time being, so to some degree, we must function within its rules.

Robbed of Estates and Possessions

Yes, there are those who rob us of estates and possessions. Some do so illegally, others, like tax collectors, do it legally—either way, we get robbed often in this world. On top of that, cherished possessions break, rust, fall apart, or stop functioning. Many try to blame God for that. Others blame the manufacturers for making goods that fall apart. To some degree, those manufacturers are to blame, but we also have to learn to accept that we live in a world of constant change. That means things will fail, rot, rust, etc. We have to be prepared to deal with that in ways other than crying about it. When you buy something new, plan for the fact that it will need repairs, or have to be replaced at some time.

God Does Not Strike Down Evildoers

Many are disappointed that they see no evidence that God strikes down those who do evil things. They don’t understand that to destroy any being is evil, and God never does evil. God doesn’t destroy the evildoers, he gives them opportunities to redeem themselves. Even the fallen angels will be redeemed, not destroyed. Of course, they will have substantial karmic debts to pay when they turn themselves around, but they will do it. Lucifer has already and Satan will do so as well. Foolish people often depict God’s angels carrying swords and killing devils or evil people, but that is not how angels work. They help God convince them to seek redemption, they do not destroy. In a sense, they destroy evil, but not the beings doing evil.

Overseers on Earth

We are overseers on earth in the sense that we are the caretakers, even if unaware of it. But the important point is that God is NOT our servant, we are here to serve Him. It is up to us to straighten out the world’s problems as much as possible, but without resorting to violence and war. God and the angels help, but only for those who help themselves. And helping ourselves begins with each of us developing our own spiritual Self.

“I became the wind, yet with eyes and ears. And I saw and heard far and wide. I blew past the east coast of India near the Bay of Bengal, past a scrubwoman busy with her tasks. In Hong Kong, I whirled around a seller of fine fabric. I raced through the streets of Sam Paulo. …

“I left no country untouched, I thundered through China and Bangladesh, and across the vast, rich land of the Soviet Union.¹ I gusted through the valleys and alpine meadows of Austria, sliced cold through the fjords of Norway, I tossed up litter on the Rue Pigalle in Paris. One moment I was a twister ripping through Texas; the next I was a gentle breeze, caressing the hair of a young girl in Canton, Ohio.

“I experienced every emotion, heard every cry of anguish, and every peal of laughter. Every human circumstance was opened to me, I felt it all, and I understood.

“The world was peopled with minds, swirling faster than any wind, in search of distraction and escape from the predicament of change, the dilemma of life and death—seeking purpose, security, enjoyment, trying to make sense of the mystery. Reality never matched their dreams; happiness was just around the corner—a corner they never turned.

“And the source of it all was the human mind.” ~Dan Millman (in the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior)

The Wind with Eyes

The book this quote came from was written about Millman’s unusual spiritual awakening that began with him meeting an enigmatic old man he called Socrates, who proceeded to teach him there was more to life than attending college and being an athlete. During one of Millman’s visits with Socrates, Socrates touched him in the head leading to the experience in the above quote.

Obviously, Millman is speaking allegorically when he says he became the wind. What really happened is his mind left his body and traveled around the world at a speed that made it seem like he was the wind.

Empathy

Millman says he was a wind with eyes and ears, but there was more. He describes sights and sounds, but more. He also describes the emotions of the people he came close to on that unusual journey of mind. Feeling the emotions of others is a form of empathy. While Millman may not have had much empathy normally, during this strange journey that Socrates sent him on, he did. He not only says that he felt it all, but he also understood, meaning he understood why these people were feeling these emotions.

A World of Minds

Millman concludes that ours is a world of minds. He doesn’t say it yet, but if he does understand as he claims, then he knows that those minds are responsible for a lot more than most of us are aware of, or even believe. Many now understand that our minds are responsible for how we react to circumstances in our lives. We are not responding to the circumstances, but to how the mind feels about the circumstances. For example, the mind of a vegan would interpret being served meat differently than the mind of a meat lover.

But the mind does more than interpret our surroundings, it helps create them. When the world is full of angry people who can’t get along, their minds send a vibration into the environment. Those angry vibrations cause storms, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes. Experiments have shown that people who talk nicely to their plants have healthier plants. It isn’t the speaking that does it, but the vibrations from their minds. And when a group of spiritual people surrounded a polluted lake in Japan and prayed for the lake, the pollution quickly disappeared. Our individual minds may not have such power, but collectively, they do a lot.

The dilemma of Life and Death

Many of us do spend much of our time hiding from the dilemma of life and death. Too much of what is happening in the world doesn’t make any sense, yet it continues to happen. We say we want peace, yet we continue to have wars. We say we want to be strong and healthy, but we eat junk food and do other things that weaken us and lead to illness. We think a loving God has created this world, yet it is not a world of love. Instead of seeking solutions, many of us hide from it all in distractions and entertainment like movies, fictional books, and sports. And the governments and media support this hiding from reality as it benefits them, as well as the demons whispering into their ears.

There is a solution. For starters, we must stop believing that a loving God created this world. The realm of matter was created by the false god, the Demiurge, and is therefore flawed. Hiding from the truth won’t make it better. We need to turn away from the failed paradigm of capitalism and materialism and develop our spiritual side. We do that with the help of God and the Light of the Spiritual Sun.

“Who will release me from the pits and prisons of assembled lusts that I loathe? Who will take me over the flooding sea, the mouths of conflict that give no rest? Who will save me from the jaws of pitiless beasts who destroy and terrify? Who will lead me beyond the walls and over the moats that boil with fear and trembling from ravaging demons? Who will take me beyond rebirths, and free me from the waves which give no peace? I weep for my soul, saying, May I be saved from this, from grotesque beasts who eat each other! The human body, birds of the air, fish of the ocean, quadrupeds and insects, who will take me beyond them? Who will save me so I won’t turn and plunge” “into those hells, so I won’t live in their muck or suffer rebirth devoid of living plants? Who will save me from the swallowing height and the devouring deeps of hell and distress?

“And while I wept on the ground, I heard the voice of the beneficent king.

“I shall save you from the powers of revolution who terrify. I will release you from deception, a field of turbulence, and the torment of death. I will end the forces that destroy. I will ban sickness, which has dismayed you, and death. I will take you from the hands of hell’s guardians, who treat the spirit and soul without mercy. I will take you eagerly, and we’ll soar on wings high over dark powers and recalcitrant princes. I will take you into the primeval calm of new land, the new paradise, and will show you the design of the father’s being. You will know joy and praise, go beyond pain, and in luminous dress you will gird on light. On your head is your diadem of authority. Spirit spoke and built on that structure the vast fortress of the noble emperor. The primeval firstborn merits a palace as his dominion. The first human clothes himself in gladness and binds on the diadem of sovereignty. On his friends he binds the diadem and clothes their bodies in the garment of gladness. And those faithful elect he clothes” ~Parthian Songs

Pits and Prisons

What is the writer of this song talking about? The pits and prisons of the material world, the realm of the fallen. As a creation of the false god that the Gnostics call the Demiurge, it is full of unpleasant things like death, disease, hunger, violence, etc. The terms pits and prisons are allegorical, as are the others he uses, such as “the mouths of conflict,” and “ the jaws of pitiless beasts.”

I weep for my Soul

The singer weeps for his Soul, not his body or mind because he knows the realm of matter is the rightful place for the body and mind, but not for the divine Soul that belongs in Heaven. He weeps as he fears that Soul might never return to heaven, but I think we can assume that the one writing this song is sufficiently awakened to know that it is possible to save the Soul and turn back to Heaven, as we shall see from what he writes later on.

Beasts Who Eat Each Other

This is not just about animals that eat others of the same species, but about any being that eats other beings. And it doesn’t matter much whether those beings are animals or plants, Eating other beings violates the Law of God, but we have descended so deeply into matter that we have no choice. We cannot survive only on God’s Light as we were intended to do. But as we take in more and more of that Divine Light, we start to change, and can eventually reduce our eating of other beings.

Soar on Wings

Yes, God does invite us to soar on wings above the powers of darkness, in other words, He invites us to climb out of the pits of darkness into the higher dimensions of Light and higher levels of consciousness. And when we reach those high levels of beings, we will cloth ourselves in Light, because we will be spirits only, conscious Souls that are made of Light, just as the highest dimensions are of Light, but Spiritual Light, not ordinary light.

“Songs of Thomas Song —My Father Evoked Holy Fire. My father the pleasured light, the pleasured light, the glory, my father the pleasured light, the pleasure, the holy light, my father the pleasured light, the pleasure, the esteemed light. He summoned the aeons of light, he chose them to enjoy his greatness. He summoned the aeons of peace in whom no flaw or loss lives. He summoned the aeons of light and his sons in whom he put the aeons. He summoned the aeons of peace. He called his wealth, set it in them. He summoned the aeons to repose. He called his angels, set it in them. He founded places for life. He set living icons in them. He set living icons in them, which never disappear. He summoned clouds of brightness, dripping with dew and light. He evoked holy fire that burned sweet. He evoked wind and air that breathed a living breath. He evoked holy mountains pouring out fragrant roots. They are all concord and melody. In them is no flaw or loss of lives. They were ecstatic in brightness filled and inhabiting eternity.”

“A son of light looked down from high and saw him. He said to rich brethren, O my brethren, sons of light in whom no flaw or loss lives, I looked down into the abyss. I saw the evil one, the son of evil. I saw the evil one, the son of evil, who wanted to get into war. I saw his seven companions too and his twelve helpers. I saw their tent pitched and a roaring fire in it.” ~The Coptic Manichaean Songbook

The Pleasured Light

God is the pleasured Light because God’s Light is pleasing, even though it is very bright. God is all about Light, and when He created, He started with the words, “Let there be Light”. Of course, there is more than one kind of light, and while all light does good, Spiritual Light is better than physical Light because it awakens and nourishes the soul.

Aeons of Light

Just as there are aeons within the physical realm, there are aeons in the spiritual world of Light. As we in Cosolargy know, we are now at the end of the fifth aeon and the beginning of the sixth. The sixth aeon will return us to the spiritual beings we were always meant to be.

The song also says that God also summoned aeons of peace in which His wealth was set. This also refers to the spiritual realm, which is always at peace within itself. In the realm of Spirit, there is no war, no death, no disease, no greed, and none of the negative things that are found in the physical realm.

A Son of Light

The song says that a Son of Light looked down and saw him. In this case, him probably means Mani, the founder of Manichism. This statement tells us that there is more than one Son of Light, or it wouldn’t say “a son of Light.” There are indeed many sons and daughters of Light in Heaven, but if this one is looking down toward Mani, then he is also seeing them on Earth. There are sons and daughters of Light on Earth, but they are, for the time being, fallen from the Light. It is up to us to try to return to that Light. When we do try, we are aided by God and the Angels of Light.

I saw the Evil One

Of course, when you look “down” at the physical realm, you will see the evil one, the Devil and the demons of darkness that rule the physical domain. Their evil ways are limited to some degree by God, but they exercise them nonetheless. Their tent with fire in it is a reference to hell. Although the idea of Hell as eternally burning souls is outdated, it is probably how most people thought of it in the time of Mani. In any case, I think this short song, the last paragraph in the quote, was sung as a warning to those who embraced the realm of matter and turned away from the Light of God.