“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.

 “I hear the voice of the seven planets, who whisper to one another, ‘Blessings on the Father of the poor one: he is the one who tends the fruit tree. We have no Father and no one to tend our tree.’ Welcome to anyone life knows, and sorrow to whomever life ignores. Welcome to anyone life knows, and who stays on earth free from the world of imperfection where the planets live. They sit on rebel thrones and work with a whip. Gold and silver excite them, and they cast war into the world. They cast war into the world, and they will roast in fire. The evil will roast in fire, their glory gone. But my family and I will ascend and see the place of light where the sun does not go down, where lamps of light never dim, the place, the house to which your souls are called and invited in, souls of our kin, of the good, and of our believing brothers and sisters. There life is extolled.” ~Song from the Mandaean liturgy

Voice of Seven Planets

To man ancient peoples, the planets were also gods, and I think it is in that sense that this song refers to the seven planets. It is odd, though, that this song has them praising the true God. This may also be an allegorical reference to the energy centers of the human body.

Blessings on the Father

As this song is from the liturgy of the Mandaeans, it should naturally begin by blessing the Father, although He really doesn’t need our blessing, we need His. The statement that this Father of the poor is the one who “tends the fruit tree,” means that He is the one responsible for life and creation. As for being the Father of the Poor, “the poor” are those who have not been trapped in the constant pursuit of material gain. They don’t necessarily live in poverty, but they place spiritual growth above the endless pursuit for material goods that so many engage in these days.

Those who whisper that they have no Father are the ones listening to the false gods of matter. They are lost souls unless they become awakened.

Life Knows

You might think that life knows everyone, but this is talking about those who have become spiritually awake and are living eternally, as opposed to those who have only a temporary life in the realm of matter. The soul is always immortal, but if you don’t awaken it and unite with it, you are not one of those who have eternal life.

Rebel Thrones

Those who sit on rebel thrones and seek gold and silver are the leaders who have turned away from God and embraced materialism. They are rebels because, in the distant past, kings took advice from priests and followed God’s Law. Today, few if any political leaders truly follow God. As the song says, these evil ones will eventually “roast in fire,” but that should be taken as an allegory. The point is, they won’t go to Heaven unless they change.

Place of Light

The song ends by saying that those who follow The Way, will go to the Place of Light, where the sun never goes down. This, of course, is Heaven, the highest dimension of reality, the highest level of consciousness that we humans can reach.

“The Phrygians also say that the Father of all is an almond, not the tree, but that preexistent almond that has within itself the perfect fruit, palpitating and moving in its interior. It tore open its own womb and brought forth its invisible and unnamable and ineffable child, of whom we are speaking. To tear open is to tear open and cut through, just as physicians call scarifications the incisions that they make in inflamed bodies or in those that contain some tumor. So the Phrygians call almond the being from which the invisible one came forth and was begotten, and “through whom everything came into existence and apart from him the nonexistent was made.” The being so born is called a flute player because what was born is a harmonious breath or spirit. “God is a spirit. Therefore the true worshipers will worship neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit.” The worship of the perfect ones is spiritual, not carnal. The spirit is there where the father and the son are named, the son born of the father. He is the many-named one, many-eyed, incomprehensible, toward which every nature strives, and each in its own way. He is the expressed word of god, which is the word of declaration of the great power. So the word is sealed and hidden and veiled, lying in the dwelling on which the root of all is founded, the root of aeons, powers, thoughts, gods, angels, envoy spirits—existent and nonexistent, generated and ungenerated, incomprehensible and comprehensible, years, months, days, hours, and an indivisible point from which the smallest being will come forth, part by part, to grow. The nonexistent, underived, indivisible point will, by its own thought, become an incomprehensible greatness. This is the kingdom of heaven, the grain of mustard seed, the indivisible point existing in the body, which no one but the spiritual ones alone know. This is the meaning of the words, ‘there are no words or language, whose voices are not heard.’” ~The Naassene sermon

Like an Almond

I doubt that the Pyrygians said the Father of All was an almond. I think it is more likely that they said He was like an almond, at least in certain ways. To some of the ancient civilizations, the almond symbolized Purity, perfection, faith, fertility, hope, grief, and luck, and in Numbers 17:8 and Hebrews 9:4, Aaron’s rod sprouts sweet almonds for the followers of God’s laws, with the promise that forsaking these laws will turn the almonds bitter and inedible.  So to say that the Father was an almond is to say that He is perfection, purity, and the source of all hope for humanity.

Tore Open Its Womb

Aying that God tore open His womb is an odd way to put it, but nonetheless an accurate way to say that Gog created everything from Himself as He was all that existed. If you think that God is male and doesn’t have a womb, you are thinking of God as a human, which He isn’t. God is not male or female, and yet He is both, because God is everything, so in the sense that He has a center of creation from which all things are “born,” He does have a womb.

Invisible and Unnameable Child

Here, again, the quote uses allegory. This is not a reference to Jesus, though it may be a reference to Christ. Jesus was a man who was, for a time, a messiah and a Christ, but the Christ spirit is immortal and has existed forever. The Naassene sermon calls him unnameable because Christ is a name we have given him, not what God named him.

True Worshipers

It is true that God is spirit so we must worship Him in spirit. When the Naassene’s say that true worshipers don’t worship In Jerusalem or on a mountain, they mean that worship is a spiritual thing rather than a physical one. So it is not necessary to go to a special place to Worship, except to go to your own spirit and spiritual faculties. In order to do that, you must awaken and develop those spiritual faculties. The best way to do that is to use the Light of the Spiritual Sun or Son of Righteousness.

The Word is Sealed

It was true that the word was “ sealed and hidden and veiled,” but it is no longer so. It is being revealed through the Light of the Son of Righteousness, but only to those ready to hear it, and willing to use this Divine Knowledge to further the Goal of God to redeem the world, rather than to benefit themselves. We benefit from spiritual development, but the primary goal should be to redeem the world.

“Life is the constant accumulation of knowledge, the storing up of the result of experiences. The law of cause and effect is in constant operation, and we reap what we sow – not as a matter of punishment, but as the effect following the cause. Theology teaches us that we are punished for our sins, but the higher knowledge shows us that we are punished by our mistakes instead of for them. The child who touches a hot stove is punished by reason of the act itself, not by some higher power for having ‘sinned.’ Sin is largely a matter of ignorance and mistake. Those who have reached a higher plane of spiritual knowledge have borne upon them such a convincing knowledge of the folly and unwisdom of certain acts and thoughts, that it becomes almost impossible for them to commit them. Such persons do not fear there is some superior being waiting to strike them to the earth with a mighty club for doing certain things, simply because that intellighence has laid down an apparently arbitrary law forbidding the commission of the act.

“On the contrary, they know that the higher intelligences are possessed of nothing but intense love for all living creatures, and are willing and ready to help them, so far as possible under the workings of the Law.” ~William Walker Atkinson

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect is something we learned about in science class in grade school. If great force is shot out of the engines of a rocket (cause), the rocket will be pushed upwards (effect). But many don’t understand that this law also applies to human behavior, in which case it is often called Karma. Most people think of cause and effect as being an immediate thing. The rocket doesn’t wait until weeks after the engine is fired to launch into space. But with karma, the effect may be delayed for days, weeks, or even years. Yet it is still a form of cause and effect.

Reap what we Sow

It is part of this law that we must reap what we sow, or perhaps more accurately, as we sow. The effect may be a very obvious thing, but not always. A person who swindles people out of a great deal of money (cause) may not ever go broke but may suffer from incurable and painful illnesses (effect).

Occasionally we will see an obvious case of instant karma where the effect matches the cause, such as the story a few years back of the guy who loved to fish but didn’t catch fish to eat. He would just throw the fish onto the deck of his boat to die slowly. One day while he was doing that, a shark jumped up and grabbed him, pulling him into the water and killing him. Obvious tit-for-tat.

Not Punishment

Atkinson is correct in saying that the working of this scientific law is not punishment. For centuries, many have said that God punishes us for doing wrong, but that is not the case. It is simply the law of cause and effect at work. God may be disappointed in us at times, but he doesn’t punish us. It is Satan who punishes those who don’t listen to him, not God. Of course, some will argue that since God must have created the law of cause and effect, He is punishing us indirectly. I would disagree with that because God is simply letting the law function to maintain a certain amount of order in the universe, and help us learn from our mistakes. That isn’t punishment.

Higher Intelligences

Atkinson says that the spiritually developed person understands the law of karma, and avoids violating it, even though they know that “higher intelligences” do not punish us, but instead love us despite our faults. That is true, but we must understand that what Mr. Atkinson calls higher intelligences should more accurately be called higher levels of consciousness. Intelligence is associated with the brain and the physical world and is the realm and power of Satan. God, on the other hand, is the Supreme Consciousness.

Advanced spiritual people also understand that if they use spiritual knowledge and abilities for material purposes, they will find their spiritual gifts fading, or disappearing entirely.

Develops Step by Step

“Do not regard lightly the immaterial substance of the Soul, beloved one. The immotal Soul is a precious vessel. See how great the heavens and the earth are, and yet God was not satisfied with them, but only with thee. Consider thy dignity and thy nobility, that to thy succor the Lord came in person, not by the medium of angels, to recall those who were lost, those who were wounded, and to restore to thee the primal fashioning of the pure Adam. For Man was master from the sky above to the things beneath, and capable of discerning the affections, without any connection with devils, pure from sin, the Image and Likeness of God. But by transgression, he was lost, and wounded, and brought to death. Satan has darkened his mind. In one thing this is so, and in another, he lives and discerns, and has a will.

“When the Holy Ghost comes, … sin is eradicated, and man recovers the primal fashioning of the pure Adam. Man, however, by the power of the Spirit and the spiritual regeneration, not only comes to the measure of the first Adam but is made greater than he.” ~St. Macarius the Egyptian

Do not Regard the Soul Lightly

There are many people in this materialistic age who don’t believe they have a soul at all. As sad as those people are, even worse are those who do believe they have a soul, but treat it as something trivial. Some see it as a kind of lifesaver to be used only after physical death. Others think they need to do nothing to develop the soul, it came to them fully developed. Why they would think that I don’t know. We are not born with a fully developed body but have to work to develop it to its full potential. We are not born with the mind of a genius but have to develop our mind along with the body. The same is true of the soul, if not more so. We enter the physical world with our spiritual faculties in a dormant state, somewhat like being in a coma. If they are not awakened and developed, they will be wasted. The first step of spiritual regeneration is awakening the spirit. Then it must be developed in a fully conscious Soul.

Recall Those Who Were Lost

God does call to us to return to Heaven where we belong, but few hear the call. That is because the call is spiritual in nature and can only be heard by our spiritual faculties, but those faculties must first be awakened. If they are not awakened, that call is not heard or is heard very vaguely by the mind. It is why some wealthy people are never satisfied with what they have, but always want more. Deep down they feel something is missing in their lives, but they don’t realize it is something spiritual, so they keep trying to satisfy that need with material wealth.

Man Was Master

Before the Great Fall, Man was master over many things as trusted servants of God. After the fall, many people still think they are the masters, but in fact, they are being led and controlled by the forces of Darkness. Only those who have turned to God and seek spiritual regeneration can escape from the control of darkness. Even for them, it is not easy, but it can be done if one develops love, humility, and trust in God. The power of spirit is that it can give back to Man that mastery.

Wounded and Brought to Death

When humans were pure spirits living in Heaven, we experienced no illness, hunger, or death. But after the Great Fall symbolized in the story of Adam and Eve, we became material beings and now experienced illness, death, and many other negative things. Death does not affect the Soul, so that is another reason to seek its regeneration, or more accurately, awakening and development.

When the Holy Ghost Comes

There may have been various ways that the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit came to people in the past, but we are now in the age of the Sun of Righteousness, so it comes to us through the Light of the Spiritual Sun. We must turn to that Sun with pure hearts and minds to experience the power of the “regenerated” soul.