“I asked if I might understand this, and it said to me, The One is a sovereign that has nothing over it. It is god and father of all, the invisible one that is over all, that is incorruptible, that is pure light at which no eye can gaze. The One is the invisible spirit. …  It does not exist within anything inferior to it, since everything exists within it alone. It is eternal, since it does not need anything. For it is absolutely complete. It has never lacked anything in order to be completed by it. Rather, it is always absolutely complete in light. The One is illimitable, since there is nothing before it to limit it, unfathomable, since there is nothing before it to fathom it, immeasurable, since there was nothing before it to measure it, invisible, since nothing has seen it, eternal, since it exists eternally, unutterable, since nothing could comprehend it to utter it, unnamable, since there is nothing before it to give it a name. The One is the immeasurable light, pure, holy, immaculate. …  It is impossible to say, “How much is it? What kind is it?” For no one can understand it. The One is not among the things that exist, but it is much greater. It is not a part of the eternal realms or of time. For whatever is part of a realm was once prepared by another. … Such a one beholds itself in its light. The One is majestic and has an immeasurable purity. The One is a realm that gives a realm, life that gives life, a blessed one that gives blessedness, knowledge that gives knowledge, a good one that gives goodness, mercy that gives mercy and redemption, grace that gives grace. Not as if the One possesses all this. Rather, it is that the One gives immeasurable and incomprehensible light. What shall I tell you about it? Its eternal realm is incorruptible, at peace, dwelling in silence, at rest, before everything. It is the head of all realms, and it sustains them through its goodness. We would not know what is ineffable, we would not understand what is immeasurable, were it not for what has come from the father. “~The Secret Book of John

Nothing Over It

I sometimes see questions on Facebook spiritual groups like, “Who created God?” and “What existed before God?” If you understood the real God, the God of spirit that John is calling “The One,” you wouldn’t ask such questions. As John correctly states, The One is God of all with noting above or before him. His^[1] existence is not dependent on any other being, any time, any space, any thing. If it was, He wouldn’t truly be The One God.

Everything Exists within It

This is true, though it can be misleading. Everything is part of the Godhead, but not everything is part of God as a being. When speaking of the spiritual, such things can get complicated. So how can God have evil things and evil beings within Him? In the same way that you can have a disease within you, yet you did not create the disease, nor is the disease a part of you. The disease is an invader in your body, and evil is an invader in the body of God.

Does not Need Anything

“I’m sure that a lot of us question, when reading the bible or other scripture, why God would want sacrifices of animals, burned fruit, or even humans. The answer is that The One, the True God, does not. It is the false god, the Demiurge who created the fallen realm of matter who desired such sacrifices. The only thing The One wants us to sacrifice is the misuse of free will to do things that are against His plan for redemption.

Not Part of Time or Space

The One is not part of time, but is over time, beyond time. Questions like “What existed before God?” make no sense because it implied that God is subordinate to time, which He isn’t. Likewise, God is not restricted in any way by space and exists both within and without space. He is everywhere and nowhere because the whole concept of space is outside of The One. Space and time are restrictions and God has no restrictions. But just as we might choose to avoid places full of disease, death, or other dangers, God limits His presence in places that are not truly part of His realm, though they are derived from it, namely, the realm of matter.

Immeasurable and Incomprehensible Light

We often hear of God and light being connected, but most people think of this as being physical light. It is for that reason that many have been tricked by Satan and demons into believing that they are seeing angels or other heavenly beings. The demons and devils can shine with physical light, but only God, His Angels, and advanced spiritual people give off Spiritual Light. It is the Spiritual Light that John says is immeasurable and incomprehensible. That Spiritual Light flows to us primarily from the Spiritual Sun, so the best way to receive that Light is to turn to the Sun.

[1]    I am using “His” out of convention, but God is just as much female as male, God is beyond such distinctions.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

OAKLAND, CA – NOVEMBER 06: Tim Tebow #15 of the Denver Broncos prays before their game against the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum on November 6, 2011 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

“When those who have acquired moral stability and contemplative knowledge employ these for the sake of human glory, merely conveying an outward impression of the virtues, and uttering words of wisdom and knowledge without performing the corresponding actions; and when in addition they display to others their vanity because of this supposed virtue and knowledge, then they are rightly handed over to commensurate hardships, in order to learn through suffering that humility which was unknown to them before because of their empty conceit.

“Each demon promotes the attack of this or that particular temptation according to his innate propensity. For one demon is productive of one kind of evil, while another is clearly more abominable than his fellow and has a greater propensity for some other form of evil.” ~The Kolbrin Bible

For Sake of Human Glory

The purpose of spiritual and moral development is to help ourselves and others and to help bring about God’s Plan for the redemption of the world. It isn’t for self-glorification or to allow us to claim that we are better than others because we have Awakened. When our motive for spiritual development is human glory or self-pride, our results will be limited at best. It isn’t just doing certain development techniques that help us grow, it is also our attitude while doing them.

Words Without Action

Likewise, spiritual development is limited when we talk about it, use the right words, say Namista often, etc. but don’t actually engage in any real spiritual growth techniques. Our results will be limited. In fact, we will probably get no results at all just by talking the talk. Speaking German doesn’t make me German, speaking the current spiritual words and phrases doesn’t make me a spiritual person.

Learn Through Suffering

It is true that many have to learn through suffering. It is not, however, because God requires us to suffer, but because some of us refuse to learn without it. As the Kolbrin Bible says, it is those who display vanity or hubris who need suffering to wake them up. The Dark Night of the Soul isn’t necessary if we develop humility.

Particular Temptation

The idea that each demon has its own way of tempting us makes sense, even if you think of demons more as forces of evil rather than beings (they could be both!). As we are individuals with different tastes and different desires, so are demons. Of course, there is more than one demon that uses money as a temptation and more than one that uses promises of love, but the idea being expressed is that different demons may use different temptations to get to us. We must be aware of this and be prepared to protect ourselves against all sorts of temptations. We should also be aware that some demons won’t use temptations, but trials and tribulations instead. When the demon sees we are on the Path of Righteousness, it will make us ill, or cause us to have an accident. They will make us miserable to get us to turn away from truth. We must not listen to those demons either. The war between Light and Dark is truly a war, and the forces of darkness fight dirty.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“And he said, Humankind is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among the fish he found a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea and easily chose the large fish.”

“Yeshua said, Look, the sower went out, took a handful of seeds, and scattered them. Some fell on the road and the birds came and pecked them up. Others fell on rock and they did not take root in the soil and did not produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns and they choked the seeds and worms devoured them. And others fell on good soil and it brought forth a good crop, yielding sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.”

“Yeshua said, I took my stand in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh. I found them all drunk yet none of them thirsty. My soul ached for the human children because they are blind in their hearts and do not see. They came into the world empty and seek to depart from the world empty. But now they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, they will repent.”

“He said to them, If it were useful, fathers would produce their children already circumcised from their mothers. But the true circumcision in spirit is altogether valuable.”

“Yeshua said to her, I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was given from the things of my father. Salome said, I am your student. Yeshua said, I say, if you are whole, you will be filled with light, but if divided, you will be filled with darkness.” ~The Gospel of Thomas

Wise Fisher

This short saying from the Gospel of Thomas is a variation of other familiar parables. The wise fisher keeps the fine large fish and throws the smaller ones back. In the same way, we might say the wise orchard grower picks the ripe apple and leaves the green one to continue growing or the wise carpenter uses the strong and well-aged wood and leaves the weak, green wood behind. But while this quote speaks of humankind, it is really about how a few of us are the chosen of God. As the Gospel of Thomas says, one of a thousand, or two of ten thousand are chosen. Of course, God doesn’t choose based on size or physical strength, but on our willingness to learn, grow, expand spiritually, and obey the Will of God. But Jesus says humans should behave this way because if we want to be one with God we should try to emulate God as much as is possible.

The Sower and Seeds

This is another variation—or perhaps explanation—of the fisherman parable. The farmer sows many seeds so that some will grow and yield healthy fruit. This answers the question of why there are those few who are the Chosen of God. Because we have been given by God a somewhat limited free will, there will be those who will take the wrong path or no path at all. Eventually, all will be on the one path, but the ones who seek the path early and with devotion will be among the chosen.

Drunk but not Thirsty

When Jesus says that when he descended to the Earthly plane, he found them “all drunk yet none of them thirsty,” he means that our thinking was the idle-brained kind of thinking. The drunken thinking of the materialist. And they lacked a thirst for truth, for knowledge, for God. But he adds that we will all repent once we have “shaken off our wine”. In short, once the illusions of the material world are revealed to us as illusions, and temporary ones at best, we will turn back to God and back to the spiritual.

Circumcision

This one is straightforward. The real circumcision of the chosen of God is to cut themselves off from their attachments to the world of matter. It has nothing to do with maiming male babies.

What is Whole

God is whole. The Godhead, the highest dimension of reality is whole. All lower dimensions are part of it and therefore not whole. To become whole, we must raise our consciousness one level at a time until we are at the level of the Angels and God. Then we will be whole, we will be in the Light, we will have wisdom and knowledge. Until then, we live in some degree of darkness.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“How have all the prophets written of thee, and yet thou know not thyself, thou rides so upon the fat pampered beast, and that riding pleases thee so well, that thou wilt rather go to the Devil and into the abyss of Hell rather than thou wilt light off thy beast? What shall become of thee then, thou blind Babel? Do but light off from the great ugly beast, which is the might, pomp, state, and pride. Behold! Thy bridegroom comes, and reaches forth his hand to thee and would lead thee out of Babel.

“Did not he walk on foot upon Earth? He did not ride in that manner. He had nothing wheron to lay his head. What kingdom do you build for him? Where is the place of his rest? Does he not rest in thy arms? Wherefore does thou not embrace him? Is he too poor in this world? Yet he is rich in heaven. Who will thou send to him to be reconciled? The Mother of Jesus? O no, that will not avail; he does not stand behind thee and absolve thy wickedness, for thy inclination of falsehood. He knows not the letters which thou sends to him by the saints, who are in the still rest before him in the heavenly element.” ~Jacob Boehme

Riding the Fat Beast

The fat and ugly beast that so many “ride” today is the beast of materialism. It may not be a beast in the conventional sense, but it is probably the most dangerous beast that exists. It is dangerous because it turns us away from the spiritual. Many think that they can throw reins on this beast and control it, but this beast is not so easily controlled. It may, for a time, seem as if it is under your control, but in actuality, it is leading you further and further away from the eternal life of Spirit, and closer and closer to the death and destruction of the lower realm of matter.

At times, this beast may have been skinny to the point of being emaciated, but in today’s world, it is a fat beast indeed. Fat because it is fed by so many foolish people who make heroes of the greedy, leaders of the stingy, saints of the self-involved. The beast is leading us to destruction, but it is not too late to jump off the beast and go the other way. It is a difficult thing to do, but the reward of eternal life is worth it.

Might, Pomp, State, and Pride

The beast of materialist is a many-headed beast, and Boehm has listed the names of several of its heads. One is Might, the desire to have power and to rule over others. Another is Pomp, a desire to be a celebrity of sorts, a desire to be admired. One needs to realize that the admiration of stupid people and misled people is of no real value at all. As for “state,” there are many meanings for that word. I believe that Boehme means it in the sense of one’s personal state within society, in other words, rank. Desiring to rank highly in social circles is riding the beast when the society is one of materialism. Pride is another of the heads of the beast. We have to have humility and realize that even in the realm of materialism, no one accomplishes much of anything without the help of others who may have done their part long before you were even born, yet they contributed. The spiritual people understand that any real spiritual accomplishments come with the aid of God as well.

Boehm left greed off of his list. Perhaps it wasn’t as big a problem in his time as it is now. Today we not only permit great greed to flourish, but we also encourage it. This is definitely feeding the beast of materialism making it ever more powerful and hard to resist. Fortunately, we now have the Light of the Sun of Righteousness shining down on us to give us more strength to resist the beast.

The Bridegroom Comes

This talk of a bridegroom confuses many. It is an allegorical reference used in the Bible and other spiritual literature. The bridegroom is Christ, and the Christ spirit comes to us to free us from materialism, which Boehm calls “Babel”. Here is the catch. We have been given a limited kind of free will and therefore the Christ Force is never pushed upon those who refuse it, deny it, or simply are not ready for it. We must, like a good bride, welcome the Bridegroom into our arms. We do that by turning from materialism, jumping off the back of the Beast of Materials, and working on the development of our immortal Soul. Only those who are headed down that road will meet Christ, the Bridegroom on the path, and in due time, achieve their own Christ Consciousness.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“I cannot blame You, my God, if  You have turned your back on men, for they have deserted the path of righteousness shown them by the men of olden times. Truth is with us no more, and men choose the pleasant paths of ignorance in preference to the more austere and profitable one. The pure worship which once filled this land and guided its people has fallen prey to greedy and ambitious men. … Its centerpiece is no longer the dark chamber of austerity where great spirits sought the light, but the pomp of elaborate but empty ceremonial and futile sacrifice. It is a thing of well-organized, but barren ritual, the perverted tool of unscrupulous priests. The temples have become refuges for those who seek to avoid the trials of life. How can such as they ever be true servants of God?

“I do not erase the words I have inscribed with heavy heart and a spirit overburdened with grief and perplexity, for through the enveloping mists of sorrow, I perceive a Light dimly. This is my message to those who follow and who may be tossed on the turbulent waters of despondency and despair, my pitiful contribution to the great total of inherited wisdom: If you seek God and find Him not, then the blame lies with men and not with God. I know for in declaring my trust by setting forth these things, my heart has suddenly been filled with an indescribable Light of Spiritual Illumination, and now I know things beyond any hint of doubt, I too am awakened” ~The Kolbrin Bible (Man:18:6-7)

The Deserted Path

The speaker says he cannot blame God for turning His back on those who have turned away from the path of righteousness. Actually, God doesn’t turn His back on us. It is we who turn our backs on God. We do this either by deserting the whole idea of God, or by making false gods in our own image rather than learning of the true God. We do it by listening to preachers who teach what they learned from other preachers who also taught what they learned for other preachers, etc. None of them have ever had a real revelation or a real vision, none have actually spoken to God, or even an Angel. Then there are other ministers who know that what they are preaching is false, but it is what the congregation wants to hear and what they will pay to hear, so it is what they preach. The path of truth is followed by few these days.

Austere and Profitable Path

Many choose the path of ignorance and convenience over what the author of the quote calls the “austere and profitable” path. Austere and profitable? That seems like an odd combination, but it really isn’t. It only seems like an odd combination because we think of profitable in terms of money only, while the austere path of spiritual growth is one that is profitable in another way: it leads to eternal life, which is far more valuable than money. There are foolish people who have amassed huge piles of money, who spend fortunes seeking ways to extend their lives by a few years. If they turned to the spiritual path of truth and righteousness, they would extend their lives by an infinite amount, yet few will even try that path.

Light of Spiritual Illumination

The author of the quote says that if you turn to God, you will find your heart filled with the “indescribable Light of Illumination”. This, of course, means spiritual Illumination, not any material kind of light. He adds that when you have that Illumination, you know beyond any doubt what is true and what is real, and you are then “Awakened.” That is what it means to truly be spiritually awakened. Simply recognizing that there is more to life than material pursuits is the first step on the path to Awakening, but it isn’t the whole thing.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“It is very difficult for us to speak intelligently of the phenomena coming under the heading of Clairvoyance without getting into the subject of the Astral Plane, as Clairvoyance is an incident of the Astral Plane and belongs to that subject. But we cannot go into details regarding the Astral Plane, as we intend to devote an entire lesson to that subject, so we must go on with the subject before us, with the understanding that the student will be given an explanation of the nature and incidents of the Astral Plane in due time. For the purpose of this lesson, however, we must ask the student to accept the statement that man has within him faculties which enable him to ‘sense’ vibrations which are not responded to by his ordinary physical organs of sense. Each physical sense has its corresponding astral sense, which is open to the vibrations alluded to and which interpret such vibrations and pass them on to the consciousness of man.

“Thus, the astral sight enables man to receive astral light-vibrations from an enormous distance; to receive these rays through solid objects; to perceive thought-forms in the ether, etc. … The other astral senses correspond to the other physical senses.” ~William Walker Atkinson

Astral Senses

As with other things, Atkinson often mixes the mental and spiritual levels of human nature and this is probably no exception. Still, he is correct in saying that we have “astral senses,” as he calls them. Where he, like many others, get confused, is in thinking that the astral level is the same as the spiritual, and therefore the astral senses are the spiritual senses. They are not. We have three levels of being, and three bodies, each with its own senses. We have a physical body with well-known physical senses. Above that, we have the psychic body that Atkinson calls the astral, and it has its own senses which are associated with psychic powers. But there is an even higher body which is the spiritual body, or simply the spirit. It has senses also, and they are the highest level of such.

Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is probably the most discussed of the psychic abilities. It is the ability to see, or at least discern things, with abilities other than the physical senses. Telepathy, remote viewing, and clairaudience are some of the others. The first thing to know is that these psychic abilities are real, although many who claim to have them are faking. The second is to recognize that psychic abilities are not spiritual abilities. They lie at a level midway between the physical and spiritual. Now there is nothing wrong with having psychic abilities and using them to benefit yourself and others (in certain ways), but the danger is that many think they have developed their spiritual self when they have done so, and never move beyond the psychic. If you get too caught up in the psychic, you will probably never move on to the spiritual; so while it is interesting to develop those astral senses, you need to move beyond them to the spiritual. The physical and mental/psychic levels of being are temporary. Only the spiritual is permanent.

Spiritual Senses

Spiritual senses are not the same as astral senses, although awakening the psychic (astral) senses is often the first step to awakening the spiritual ones. The psychic senses are associated with the mind, so it is simply a matter of developing certain parts of the mind to awaken them. The spiritual senses are all connected to the spirit and soul, and so the spirit must be awakened as the first step of the process. This is best done with the use of the Spiritual Light originating with God, which flows to us from the Spiritual Sun. Some people find that odd. They say they have never heard of people practicing a form of sun gazing to awaken the spirit. The ancient Essenes, however, were known to go to a mountain top every morning to observe the sunrise. That wasn’t because they worshiped the sun, but because they wanted to get the Spiritual Light from the Spiritual Sun. St. Francis had his spiritual awakening while watching a sunrise and Jacob Boehme had his when the sun reflected into his eyes off a silver bowl. So there is plenty of evidence about the power of the Spiritual Sun if you know where to look for it.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“How long must I sink between worlds? In the name of a better life, may light be everywhere. I am happy, very happy, though I am hurt in the house of the wicked. In my heart, I will be pleased by the works I have created in this world. How much longer must I sink between worlds? How long should I pour light into the world? How long shall I raise treasure to the house of the leaders? I will be happy! My soul looks to the father. I will be pleased by working with the poor and the young. I will quiet my heart and be calm. How long must I nourish powerful light world messengers and the leaders’ rhetoric? How long should I combat demons and murder rebels? Will one of you release me from Abathur the high judge? How long must I walk with weights on my neck? How long will I tramp on Sunday, our holy day, and expel it from existence? When will I bring authority to the tollhouses?

“How long must I restrain the living water and throw it into still water? How long must the messengers of light claw through pollution and wrongdoing? How long can they stand it? When will darkness end and light come? When will I not waste pearls on transitory life? How many will hang in my fishing nets, and when can I cease dragging up the poor and the hurt? How long will I punch mountains? How long will I dress the perishable in darkness? When will I stop hanging chains on earthly adulterers and thieves? When will I stop waving my fists, killing, stomping on the bad and the liars? How soon will I give up disorienting them? When will they give up killing? When will combat fade, my heart heal? When will Tibil’s earthly world end, so I can conceal my nets?”
~HIBIL’S LAMENT from the Book of John

Who is Hibil?

It is not clear who Hibil is. At times, he speaks as if he is the creator of the material world, the Demiurge. At other times, as an ordinary human. It could be either, but we can empathize with his dilemma. Wikipedia says Hibil is an “angel or guardian from the world of light” in Mandaeism. Nonetheless, we can see ourselves in Hibil’s lament.

Sink Between Worlds

This is another thing that is not made clear. When Hibil says he is between worlds, what does he mean? A being must be in one “world” or dimension at a time. One way of interpreting this is that he is that his spirit is not in Hell or Heaven, but caught between them in the realm of matter. It could also be that he is saying that his material body and mind are in one world, the third dimension, while his spirit is in a higher dimension (hopefully the fifth, and not the fourth dimension where demons dwell).

Pour Light Into the World

This is another place where we can relate to what Hibil is saying. As spiritual students and adepts, it is our duty to help bring more light into the dark realm of matter (dark being a relative term here). At one time or another, perhaps more than once, we have asked ourselves how long must we bring light into the world before it transforms, how long must we be trapped in a world of death and disease, pain and anger, a world of darkness. We all want it to end, to change, to transform as God wishes it to. We must be patient, though, because God is not going to complete the process so quickly that most of us will die like fish out of water because we will be in a world we are not prepared to function in. So keep bringing light down from the sun and pouring it into the world to aid in the process of transformation, and try not to question the speed of the change. Just rest in the comfort that the change is happening.

Punching Mountains

Another of Hibil’s complaints is, “How long must I punch mountains?” This is a phrase I loved when I read it. It is not meant to be literal, of course, but allegorical. Hibil is complaining about trying to awaken the spiritual in people who have become so materialistic, they are as hard-headed as rock, as unmovable as mountains. He thinks it is a waste of time for him to have to keep doing this until his fists are sore and bloody (again, allegorical). In fact, it isn’t. Even if only one in ten thousand of the mountain-headed people are awakened, that is a move forward. And as more and more are awakened, it becomes easier to awaken others. And now we are in the age of the Sun of Righteousness which is sending more spiritual Light into the world than before, so that also aids the process.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“When Man will enter with repentance and with his prayers turn to God, he should, before he begins to pray, seriously consider the fate of his own Soul. How is it wholly and altogether turned away from God, become faithless to Him, and only bent upon this temporary, frail, and earthly life; bearing no sincere Love towards God and his neighbors, lusting and walking contrary to the commandments of God, and seeking itself only, in the temporal and transitory lusts of the flesh?

“In the next place, he should consider that all this is an utter enmity against God, which Satan hath raised and wrought in him, by his deceit in our first parents; for which abomination’s sake we must suffer death, and undergo corruption with our bodies.

“He should consider the three horrible chains wherewith our Souls are bound during the time of our earthly life. The first is the anger of God, the Abyss, and Dark world, which is the center, root, or principle of the Soul’s life. The second is the desire of the Devil against the Soul, whereby he tempts it, and without intermission strives to throw it from the Truth of God into his own evil Nature, viz. into pride, covetousness, envy, and anger; and with his desire, blows up and kindles those evil properties in the Soul, whereby it turns away from God, and enters into Self.”  ~Jacob Boehme

When We Pray

Many believe that if we pray to God, God listens to our prayers no matter what. Boehme is telling us, and rightfully so, that such is not the case. If we spend most of our life doing things that violate the Laws of God, and further the goals of Satan (or the Dark Forces, if you prefer), God isn’t listening to our prayers. It is like the sacrifice of Cain, where the smoke curled down to the ground instead of rising you toward Heaven (not that God wants burnt offerings anyway, but that is another tale for another day). We need to prepare ourselves to pray to God by doing the best we can to obey God’s Law and follow the Way of God and Light. We won’t always succeed, but we must do our best if we expect God to listen to us and help us.

Fate of His Soul

I think Boehme has it wrong here. It is not the soul that has turned from God, but the mind—which is definitely not the same thing. The Soul, in most cases, has remained in the dormant state it was in when that person was born into the material world with a material body. The mind is easily tempted by the “temporary, frail, and earthly” pleasures, not the Soul. The Soul, once awakened, seeks only God, good, Truth, and Light. That is why awakening the soul is so important for the spiritual adept.

Enmity Against God

Enmity is defined as hatred, ill-will, or strong dislike. It is not likely that a person who feels enmity toward God would be praying to Him at all. I think Boehm may be exaggerating to make a point. What he really means is that if we don’t truly believe in God, don’t truly love God, and don’t truly want God to take over and reform the fallen realm of matter into a peaceful and loving place of spirit, then our prayers are not likely to be answered. It is hard to say for sure, though, because God may see the potential in the person before it clearly manifests.

Souls Are Bound

First and foremost, God has no anger toward us regarding the Great Fall from Heaven to earth. He feels sorrow for us, pity perhaps, but not anger. Anger is for the false god, the Demiurge who created the realm of matter.

It is also not accurate to refer to this realm of matter as the abyss. This is the third dimension of reality. The Abyss is the first and lowest. In it, nothing can live, nothing can exist, so the Soul cannot be there, but it can fear that we will fall in that direction if we don’t turn to God, and the Soul wants us to turn to God more than anything else.

The Devil’s Temptations

The Devil does tempt us with the temporary pleasures of the world. Wealth, comfort, fine food, a new car, and so on. In the past, many believed that we had to give up all earthly pleasures and live in total poverty to follow the Way of God. Fortunately, that is not true. We can enjoy the comforts of the world, within reason, as long as we don’t get attached to those things. That is the danger. When we become too attached to worldly things, we stop growing spiritually. So we need to walk that razor’s edge with care and concern.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“The soul in me yearned for life. Knowledge blossomed in my eyes. The soul in me yearned for life. I floated and wandered up till I reached the first planet. Her slaves came to meet me. ‘Seize him, seize that man. He will keep us company. Seize him, seize that man, and ask where he is from.’ ‘Friend, where are you from and where are you going?’ ‘I come from earth, the Tibil, the house the planets built. The soul in me yearned for life and aimed for the place of life.’ ‘This is the house of life. This is the way! Where are you going?’ When you go among enemies they will perform anything imaginable against you. ‘That is not what I desire and not what my soul wants.’ The soul in me yearned for life. Knowledge blossomed in my eyes. The soul in me yearned for life. I floated and wandered up till I reached the second planet, and the third and the fourth. When you go among them, they will shout the name of death, and chain and torment you. I floated and wandered up the fifth, sixth, and seventh planets till I reach the house of life. When I reach the house of life, life came out to meet me. Life came out to meet me “and dressed me in radiance and covered me with light. He counted me, gave me his number. The good came out of his midst. Among the lamps of light your lamps will float and shine. Soul, if you hear what I say and do not oppose my word, for you I will throw a bridge over the great sea. For you I will lay a dam and guide you to the watchtower where the rebels hold out. I will guide you past the fire and smoke touching the sky. I will take you past the double pits where Ruha has dug her way. And over that high mountain I will smooth the path for you. In this wall, this wall of iron, I will hack a breach for you, hug you with all my strength, and take you to the place of light.” ~Soul Songs

The Soul In Me

Most of us think of our soul as being inside us. It is a natural thing to do. It is not entirely accurate, though, since the soul is spirit, and therefore occupies no space and all space at the same time. It is within us, but it is just as much outside of us if we think of “us” as our physical bodies and brain-minds.

The Soul Yearned for Life

How can the soul yearn for life? Isn’t it alive already? Yes, it is, but the sentence has a deeper meaning. The soul is alive, but when we enter the physical world, it is in a dormant state that is somewhat like being in a coma. It needs to be awakened, to be activated. And once awakened, it needs to be nourished and nurtured so that it grows in strength and awareness. Also, to the soul, life means life in Heaven, not on earth. Once the soul is awakened, it years to be in Heave and not trapped on earth in the realm of matter.

Reached the First Planet

The soul reaching for Heaven does not travel to “the first planet” or any other planet. It doesn’t travel in the physical sense at all, and if it did, it would not go to the planets on its way to heaven. Heaven is a higher dimension of being and consciousness, not a physical place located somewhere in space. This talk of traveling to planets, therefore, must be taken allegorically. One way it may be used allegorically is that planets all represent our energy centers (chakras). Just as each primary energy center is associated with a color, some also associate them with certain planets in the solar system. It may also be an allegorical way of saying the soul heads towards the sun since the Spiritual Sun is a portal between Heaven and Earth, between matter and spirit.

Among Enemies

The enemies of the soul are the forces of Darkness: the Devils and Demons of matter. That want to keep the soul trapped in the material world and keep it from knowing its true nature and power, to keep it from Gnosis. They have many ways of doing this. They may whisper doubts to our minds. They may hit us with physical ailments to distract us from the spiritual. They may hit us with floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other disasters to get our minds back on the physical and away from the spiritual. Take such efforts as a sign that you are on the right track and continue your spiritual journey. When we give in to Darkness, we lose our immortality.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette

“If the Mystic Way be considered as an organic process of transcendence, this illuminated apprehension of things, this cleansing of the doors of perception, is surely what we might expect to occur as man moves towards higher centers of consciousness. It marks the self’s growth towards free and conscious participation in the Absolute Life; its progressive appropriation of that life by means of the contact which exists in the deeps of man’s being—the ground or spark of the Soul—between the subject and the trancendental world. The surface intelligence, purified from the domination of the senses, is invaded more and more by the transcendent personality; the ‘New Person’ who is by nature a denizen of the independent spiritual world, and whose destiny, in mystical language, is a ‘return to the Origin.’ Hence an inflow of new vitality, a deeper and wider apprehension of the mysterious world in which man finds himself, an exaltation of our intuitive powers.

“In such moments of clear sight and enhanced perception as that which Blake and Boehme describe, the mystic and the artist do really see the Four-fold River of Life—that World of Becoming in which, as Erigena says, ‘Every visible and invisible creature is a theophany or appearance of God’—as all perhaps might see it, if prejudice, selfhood, or other illusion did not distort our sight.” ~Evelyn Underhill

Organic Process of Transcendence

The Mystic Way is an “organic process of transcendence” because it is a natural one. It doesn’t involve drugs or hypnosis. Those things produce fantasies, not transcendence. And simple meditation, while it can be one step in the process of transcendence, is not the complete process as believed by many. Underhill mentions Jacob Boeme in the quote above. Jacob Boeme had his transcendence when the sun reflected off a metal bowl and into his eyes. Now that is not a recommendation that we all go out and try to repeat what happened to Boehme. He was fortunate that he wasn’t blinded by that “accident.” St. Francis was watching the sunrise when he had his awakening. While they don’t often mention it, those in mystical schools know that many others were practicing some form of spiritual sun gazing to awaken their spiritual Self. The Essenes did it, as did the Pythagoreans, just to name a few. It is an important part of the Mystic Way in any real spiritual school.

Illuminated Apprehension

Today, apprehension generally refers to a fear of something unpleasant coming, but I think that when Ms. Underhill wrote about mystical apprehension, she meant it in a more general way as having some knowledge or insight into the future, whether pleasant or not. She further defines it as a “cleansing of the doors of perception” meaning that the veils of materialism and materialistic beliefs are removed for the mystics, allowing them to see the reality of a thing or being. In addition, their spiritual senses are functioning and reveal things hidden to the physical senses.

As Man Moves Forward

We have gone through centuries when religion and spirituality have slowly been reduced to a very small part of our lives, or worse yet, religions teaching material things rather than spiritual ones. Thankfully, that trend seems to be ending and more people every day are rediscovering the need for a spiritual life as well as a physical and mental one. It is not easy when we and our governments are so much under the control of the big multinational corporations that emphasize the material. Fortunately, we have the power of the promised Sun of Righteousness shining down upon us now and helping people to awaken their spiritual Selves. There will, of course, be resistance from the forces of darkness, but the Light will prevail.

From the SUN TALK collection by Harold Boulette