What If Only Matter Exists?

“If Matter is taken to be the only existent, and all other things as modifications of Matter, it is not legitimate to set up a single genus to embrace both the existent and the other things; consistency requires that Being (Substance) be distinguished from its modifications an that these modifications be duly classified. …

“The error in this theory is fundamental. To set Matter the potential above everything, instead of recognizing the primacy of actuality, is in the highest degree perverse. If the potential holds the primacy among the Existents, its actualization becomes impossible; it certainly cannot bring itself into actuality; either the actual exists previously, and so the potential is not the first principle, or, if the two are to be regarded as existing simultaneously, the first-principle must be attributed to hazard. Besides, if they are simultaneous, why is not actuality given the primacy? Why is the potential more truly real than the actual?

“Supposing then that the actual does come later than the potential, how must the theory proceed? Obviously, Matter does not produce form: the unqualified does not produce quality, nor does actuality take its origin in the potential; for that would mean that the actual was inherent in the potential, which at once becomes a dual thing.

“Furthermore, God becomes a secondary to Matter, inasmuch as even He is regarded as a body composed of Matter and Form.” ~Plotinus

If Only Matter Exists

It is hard to follow the archaic and convoluted style of Plotinus, but what he is saying quite simply is that it is not possible that Matter is the only thing that exists, and everything else (spirit, consciousness) is derived from Matter. While he may put it oddly, what he says is true.

We can add to this falsehood of the theory that only matter exists, a second one which says that matter existed before spirit or consciousness.

Actuality and Potential

What Plotinus is saying about actuality and potential means that matter, as he sees it as a potential. By itself, it has no form, no being. Being and form must be added to matter to create an actuality, such as an apple. So what Plotinus is saying is that something had to be added to matter to give it being and form, and that something cannot be simply more matter, but something that is not matter. But, he argues, if the actuality of the thing, with being and form, is no longer pure matter, it cannot be derived from matter, or at least not solely from matter.

Matter and Spirit

It is generally believed in science today that matter did come first, and the spirit and soul, if they actually exist, are offshoots of matter. This idea denies the whole concept of spirit.

Spirit is immortal. All spirits are immortal, all souls are immortal. They exist entirely without the limitations of time and space, so they have no beginning and no end. Matter, on the other hand, does have a beginning and an end. Everything in the material universe is born, or comes into existence, and is later destroyed or dies on its own. So matter could not have existed before the spirit or the soul.

Then we have to return to the previously mentioned form and being. If form and being did not come from matter, then where did it come from? The logical answer is that spirit added to matter brings about being and form. So this tells us again that spirit came before matter, it is not an offshoot of matter, it is not a form of matter. This is something that the great spiritual masters have taught for centuries, but few seem to grasp it. So not only is it false that only matter exists, but it is also false that matter generated spirit. And if being and form come from spirit, not matter, then all forms and all beings must be made up of a spirit as well as matter.

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Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on May 3, 2021

“If you suffer yourself to be always looking into Nature and the things of Time, and to be leading the will, and to be seeking somewhat for thyself in the desire, it will be impossible for thee ever to arrive at the Unity, that you wish for. Remember this and always be on your watch. Give not your mind leave to enter into, nor to fill itself with, that which without you; neither look backwards upon yourself; but quit yourself and look forward upon Christ. Let not your left eye deceive you, by making continually one representation after another, and stirring up thereby an earnest longing in your self-propriety; but let your right eye command back the left; and attract it to you, so that it may not gad abroad into the wonders and delights of Nature. Yea, it is better to pluck it quite out, and to cast it from thee, then to suffer it to proceed forth without restraint into Nature, and to follow its own lusts. However, for this there is no necessity since both eyes may become very useful, if ordered aright; and both the divine and natural Light may in the Soul subsist together, and be of mutual service to each other.” ~Jacob Boehme

Always Looking Into Nature

Let’s get one thing straight right away. There is nothing wrong with Nature. Nor is there anything wrong with enjoying what nature has to offer. What Boehme is talking about, we would today call Materialism. He is warning us to not get caught up in the traps and endeavors of materialism. To use the more proper spiritual terminology in use today, he is telling us to not get attached to the material world and the things in it.

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Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on April 16, 2021

“The success of a person depends on their faith: their faith in God, their neighbor and themselves. Be glad when you meet a smart person, it is a blessing for you. …

“There are countless abilities in Man’s soul, because it is the expression of God Himself. The soul is made of the image and likeness of God. One cannot understand these things until he tries them. You say: ‘I believe in God.’ Firstly, think about God, then you will feel God. You have to become a servant of God; you have to do something for Him. If you have a Lord for whom you have not thought the best, if you have not put Him in ypuself to think the best, to have the best feelings, to do good things for Him, to do favors for others, you cannot know God.

“The name we have for God is not the true one, because if we know His true name, it will get stained. The one who pronounces the name of God must possess pure heart and deeds. When you pronounce the name of God, pronounce it with that Love, faith, and hope as if God is something great.

“In love, there are no difficulties. In love, there is no suffering. In love, there are no misunderstandings. … I say: love is a nice world where I can rest; in love is paradise. … Allow love to start acting in you where it has not acted so far.” ~Biensa Douno

Having Faith

Faith is belief in God, people, or ideals. We all need to have faith in something. We should start with having faith in ourselves and in God. Once we have that, we should develop faith in others and faith in ideas and beliefs. Hopefully, we are discerning enough to have faith in ideas ad beliefs that are true, not unproven fantasies. If we can’t develop faith in others, we can’t trust others. If we can’t trust others, we can’t learn from them.

Some will argue that faith in God is faith in the unproven and unprovable, but that isn’t true. The existence of a Supreme Being or Force is logical and provable, although the methods of proof may not meet the criteria of physical science. God, being spirit, cannot be proven by the rules of matter, or He would be matter. But there are sciences of spirit that allow the existence of God to be proven, or at least shown to be probable.

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Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on April 12, 2021

To look back upon things of former ages, as upon the manifold changes and conversions of several monarchies and commonwealths. We may also foresee things future, for they shall all be of the same kind; neither is it possible that they should leave the tune, or break the concert that is now begun, as it were, by those things that are now done and are now brought to pass in the world. It comes all to one therefore, whether a man be a spectator of the things of this life but forty years, or whether he see them ten thousand years together: for what shall he see more? ‘And as for those parts that came from the earth, they shall return unto the earth again; and those that came from heaven, they also shall return unto those heavenly places.’ Whether it be a mere a mere dissolution and unbinding of the manifold intricacies and entanglements of the confused atoms; or some such dispersion of the simple and incorruptible elements. With meats and drinks and divers charms, they seek to divert the channel, that they might not die. Yet must we needs endure that blast of wind that cometh from above, though we toil and labor never so much.” ~Marcus Aurelius

Look Back

There is nothing wrong with remembering the past. Those who say we must completely forget the past and just deal with the present are being ridiculous. I learned to speak English in the past. If I forgot the past, I wouldn’t understand that language anymore. I learned to write in the past. If I forgot the past, I wouldn’t be able to write. I couldn’t read, walk, drive a car, etc. if I completely forgot the past. So we do need to look back, we do need to remember what we learned in the past, but without letting it limit what we can do now. But Aurelius isn’t just talking about our personal past, but historical past, looking back hundreds of years.

Foresee Things Future

What Aurelius is saying is that if we look at the past, we can predict the future because things don’t change much. What happened last century is pretty much what will happen in the next century. The details will vary, the technology will change, but human nature remains the same. So if Aurelius looked five centuries into the future and saw a world full of disease, death, war, famine, etc. is predictions would have been correct. Those things happened then as they do now. However, to suggest that it will always be so is, in my opinion, a defeatist attitude that we should not subscribe to.

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that we can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that created it. Since the basic nature of humanity doesn’t change, neither does our thinking. At least that is the theory. But in fact, it is possible for humanity to change on a very basic level, and I believe that is starting to happen, if only to a few of us.

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Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on April 23, 2021

Living Book of the Sun

“He who cannot accept truth looks only on the surface and makes conclusions which his mind can accept. The same thing happens with him who does not understand the Sacred Book of Life. He is content to seek the superficial truth – he is not ready to seek its real content. As the book is a living and sensible book for one who understands it, so is the Sun a living and sensible book, which only a few can read and understand. Every morning the sun rises and a voice from the invisible world asks if you have read your page for today. The Sun is a book in the pages of which God every day writes something new. You may say that the Sun is something that has no intelligence. The Sun exists – it has abundant light which causes the fruit to ripen, the flower to bloom, the snow and ice to melt – how can it be said that it has no intelligence? The light that the Sun sends to all the plants indicates that there are living beings in the Sun with a high level of intelligence and the ability to reason. Whatever the speculations about the Sun may be, it is important for man to know how to make use of the Sun’s light and warmth and to achieve something from it. One day his eyes will open and he himself will be able to investigate. Therefore I say that man has a great future ahead of him.” ~Beinsa Douno

Looking at the Surface

Many will not believe what Douno is saying about them looking only at the surface truth, and not going deeper to the real truth, yet what he says is correct. And it isn’t limited to the average person who doesn’t care to dig any deeper than what he needs to function in his daily life, get his job done, etc. Even scientists who think they are studying things all the way to the depth of molecules and atoms are still only looking at the surface. The level of matter is but one dimension of being. There are other dimensions above it and when you look at only that part that is in the dimensions of matter, you are looking only at the surface. You are studying the ten percent of the iceberg sticking out of the water and ignoring the ninety percent that is below the surface of the water. With a limited view like that, you may find some truth, but it will be limited, partial, and probably temporary.

As Douno also points out, even those who look beyond matter into the realm of spirit, but do so with an attitude of expecting it to be virtually identical to the dimensions of matter will not understand what they are seeing, feeling, and hearing. They will look at spiritual things with their physical senses and not be able to comprehend them because they will be seeing them in a very distorted way. Only the spiritual faculties of Man can truly see, feel, and hear the spiritual, but they must first be awakened as they are dormant when we arrive in the physical world.

Read the entire article online at spiritsun.net.

Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on May 12, 2021

Note and link submitted by Michael McIntyre

Arrogant God of Matter

“Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of endless matter, and he turned arrogant, saying, ‘I am god, and there is no one but me.’ “When he said this, he sinned against all. And a voice came from above the realm of absolute power, saying, ‘You are wrong, Samael,’ that is, god of the blind. “And he said, ‘If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!’ Immediately Sophia pointed her finger and introduced light into matter, and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. And she returned up to her light. Once again darkness returned to matter. “This ruler, by being androgynous, made himself a vast realm, an endless precinct. And he contemplated creating offspring for himself, and created seven offspring, androgynous like their parent. “And he said to his offspring, ‘I am the god of all.’ “Zoe the daughter of Pistis Sophia shouted, saying to him, ‘You are wrong, Sakla’ (for which the alternate name is Yaldabaoth). She breathed into his face, and her breath became a fiery angel for her; and that angel bound Yaldabaoth and cast him down into Tartaros, at the bottom of the abyss. “Now, when his offspring Sabaoth saw the strength of that angel, he repented and condemned his father and his mother matter. “He loathed her, but he sang songs of praise up to Sophia and her daughter Zoe. And Sophia and Zoe found him and put him in charge of the seventh heaven, below the veil between above and below. And he is called ‘god of the forces, Sabaoth,’ since he is up above the forces of chaos, for Sophia placed him there. “Now, when these events had come to pass, he made himself a huge four-faced chariot of cherubim and harps and lyres and an infinity of angels to act as ministers. “Sophia took her daughter Zoe and had her sit at his right to teach him about the things that exist in the eighth heaven, and the angel of wrath she placed at his left. Since that day, his right has been called life, and the left has signified the unrighteousness of the realm of absolute power above. It was before your time that they came into being.” ~The Reality of the Rulers

Endless Matter

To the eyes of most of us, the realm of matter does indeed seem endless. Yet we are also told by scientists that the universe of matter is continuing to expand. If it is expanding, it must be expanding into areas where there previously was no matter. So the universe of matter may be enormous, but it isn’t endless. It just seems endless to a limited mind. And since the arrogant “god” in the quote thought it was endless, he had a limited mind, unlike the true God.

The Arrogant God

If it isn’t clear from the quote, this arrogant god who is claiming that he is god and there is no other god is the creator of the universe of matter. He is the being (or beings) called the Demiurge in Gnostic scripture.

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Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on March 29, 2021

“The rays of the Sun are a bearer of great good. And each ray that comes out of God brings great blessing to the people. It is alive. I am not saying that the Light is only a vibration, motion of the air – this is the outer part of the matter. The Light is a force that is alive and reasonable, that penetrates into the human being and revives them.

“Modern people live in great chaos – they do not know how to plan their work and as a result spend a lot of energy to accomplish poor results. If you want to work efficiently, the moment you wake up and you are still lying in your bed, thank God for everything He has given to you. You will ask, ‘Where is God?’ God is in the Sun, in the sky, in the Earth, in the water, in the air, in the wind, in the rocks, in the plants, in the animals, in humans – God is everywhere. …

“He who cannot accept truth looks only on the surface and makes conclusions which his mind can accept. The same thing happens with him who does not understand the Sacred Book of Life. He is content to seek the superficial truth – he is not ready to seek its real content. As the book is a living and sensible book for one who understands it, so is the Sun a living and sensible book, which only a few can read and understand.” ~Biensa Douno

Rays of the Sun

While Douno doesn’t seem to distinguish this, there is a difference between the sun and the Sun. The “sun” is the physical body in the sky at the center of our solar system. The “Sun” is the Spiritual Sun which is the spirit of the physical sun. Both of those suns can be bearers of good, but when it comes to spiritual development, it is the Spiritual Sun that provides that good. There is some good in the physical sun, but it is for the physical body and the mind. The physical sun does not benefit the spirit and soul.

Ray Out of God

This ray out of God can only be within the Spiritual Sun. It does bring great blessings, but only if you receive those rays and absorb them. Many people hide from those rays or block them with inappropriate thinking and behavior. Many receive them but are not willing or ready to utilize the energy in them, so the rays pass through them and do nothing. You have to accept the rays with gladness, humility, and a desire to do good in the world. Then the rays of the Sun are absorbed into the spirit and soul and the spiritual energy centers.

Read the entire article online at spiritsun.net.

Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on March 15, 2021

Spiritual Hunger and Thirst

“Could we receive God Himself into our comprehension. He would give Himself to us without intermediary; but this is impossible to us because we are too narrow and too little to comprehend God. And therefore He pours His gifts into us according to the measure of our comprehension and the worthiness of our practices. For the fruitful unity of God ever abides above the unity of our powers and ever demands of us likeness in love and in virtues. And that is why we are touched again and again, that we may each time be renewed and become more like Him in the virtues. And, through these renewed touches, the spirit falls into hunger and thirst, and would taste through and through, and pass through the whole abyss in a storm of love, that thereby it may be satisfied. Hence there comes an eternal, hungry craving., and an eternal desire and striving after God, each according to its nobleness and the measure in which it has been touched by God; yet God remains eternally incomprehensible by way of our active desires, and therefore there abides in us, together with all saints, an eternal hunger, and an eternal desirous introversion. And in the meeting with God, the radiance and the heat are so great and so limitless that all spirits must fail in their activity, and must melt and vanish away in sensible love in the unity of their spirit. And here they must passively endure as sheer creatures the working of God. And here our spirit and Divine grace and all our virtues are one sensible love without activity, for our spirit has spent itself and has itself become love. And here the spirit is simple and susceptible of all gifts and is capable of every virtue.” ~John of Ruysbroeck

The Hunger

The spirit falls into hunger and thirst, but it is not a hunger for food or a thirst for water. It is a spiritual hunger, a hunger to be linked again to heaven and all the Light Beings who dwell there, including God. It is a hunger to be something more than a mortal being of matter struggling for decades to simply exist on this fallen world, only to die in the end. Many feel this hunger, but have no idea what it is. They try to satisfy it with material things because it is all that they know or believe in. If they believe in God at all, they believe in the god of matter, not the true God of Spirit. So they seek to satisfy that spiritual hunger with a “food” that can never satisfy it. If they are scientists, they try to discover more and more new things about the realm of matter. If they are preachers, they try to have the biggest church building and biggest congregation without realizing that the size of the building or the congregation has nothing to do with the number of souls actually awakened and saved. If they are businessmen, they try to be among the most successful businessmen ( or women) in the world, not realizing that true success is not measured by the size of your bank account or stock portfolio. What is really sad is that so many people have now fallen into the traps and illusions of matter that they think these greedy people are the pinnacle of success, when they are actually complete failures because they keep trying to satisfy a spiritual hunger with material success.

Satisfying the Spiritual Hunger

There is only one way to satisfy that spiritual hunger. We must first awaken our dormant spiritual faculties. Only when the spirit and soul are truly awakened can we understand what that spiritual hunger is all about. Once the spirit and soul have been awakened, they must be developed. You don’t stop developing a child the day after it is born. The same should be true of the spirit and soul. We must continue to develop in us the attributes that encourage spiritual growth: Love, kindness, and humility. And we must “feed” that spiritual hunger regularly. As already noted, material food won’t do. It has to be spiritual “food “. The spiritual food is the Light that comes from God and into the Spiritual Sun, then from that Sun into us. So if you want to grow and satisfy the spiritual hunger, you must turn to the Spiritual Sun. Some have become confused about this and are doing sun-gazing by looking at the physical sun. Not only can that harm the eyes, but it will also make you more material, not spiritual. You must learn how to look beyond the physical sun to the Spiritual Sun to satisfy the spiritual hunger.

Read the entire article online at spiritsun.net.

Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on March 12, 2021

Perfect Human

“One day in Judea Jesus went to his students. He found them all sitting together as they all were practicing group piety. When he came near, they were giving a prayer of thanks over the bread. He laughed. The students said, ‘Master, why do you laugh at us for giving thanks? Are we in error?’ He answered, saying to them, ‘I don’t laugh at you. You are acting not of your own will but so that through these things your God will know your offerings of praise.’ They said, ‘Master, you are the son of our own God.’ And Jesus told them, ‘How do you know me? Amen I say to you, no generation of the people who walk among you will know who I am.’ When the students had listened to all of this, they broke into anger and fury. They began to execrate him in their hearts. When Jesus noticed their deep ignorance and interior weakness, he asked them, ‘Why has your agitation made you furious? The God who operates inside you spurs the anger in your souls. Let anyone of you endowed with strength among the beings on earth produce the perfect human, and stand near so I can gaze on him face to face.’ They all replied to him, ‘We have that strength.’ Here their beings of spirit didn’t dare to stand before him, except for Judas Iscariot. He was able to stand before the figure but couldn’t look him in the eye and turned his face down and away. Judas said, ‘I know who you are and where you come from. You are from the deathless realm of the aeon of Barbelo, the holy source of all, and my mouth is unworthy to utter the ineffable name of him who sent you.’” ~Gospel of Judas

Prayer over the Bread

Why would Jesus laugh when he found his disciples giving a prayer of thanks over the bread, what we today call “saying grace”? Isn’t it proper for the students to pray to God for thanks for what he has given them? Of course it is. But if you have just committed a crime, you wouldn’t thank God. If you were about to violate one of God’s laws, you would not pray to Him about it. Yet that is what you do when you eat bread, or meat, or even fruit. We were made to be beings of Light and God wanted us to live on His Divine Light and only His Divine Light. To kill and eat other living things, animals or plants is a violation of God’s law, therefore, it is not appropriate to say a prayer of thanks when you do. Instead, you should say a prayer for forgiveness, something like; “God forgive us for eating other beings in violation of your Law.”

Acting Not of Your Own Will

When the disciples question Jesus’s laughing at them, he replies that he isn’t laughing at them because they are not acting according to their own will. They are saying prayers taught to them by priests long ago, without realizing that they have no real meaning if you don’t understand them and really mean what you are saying, and not just asking for God to like you because you are praising Him without really knowing why. Jesus knew that the real God, the God of spirit that He came to teach them about, was not the God of matter. When you that god for material things, you are thanking the false god of matter, the Demiurge.

Read the entire article online at spiritsun.net.

Original article posted by HAROLD BOULETTE on March 8, 2021