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Friday, February 6, 2009
Alchemy, (ie, Esoteric Christianity), is the process of converting the dross of this world into the Gold of God.
What is Esoteric?
The word used by the early Christians to indicate the Christian Mystery is” Mysterion” New Testament versions indicate the Christian mystery was “Myaterion”. The Old
Testamnent uses an equivalent word to define the mysteries as “sod” or “secret”. In the New Testament the word mystery is applied ordinarily to the sublime revelation of the Gospel (Matthew 13:11; Colossians 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:9; 1 Corinthians 15:51), and to the Incarnation and life of the Saviour and His manifestation by the preaching of the Apostles (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:4; 6:19; Colossians 1:26; 4:3).
Theologians give the name mystery to revealed truths that surpass the powers of natural reason,so, in a narrow sense, the Mystery is a truth that transcends the created intellect. The impossibility of obtaining a rational comprehension of the Mystery leads to an inner or hidden way of comprehension of the Christian Mystery which is indicated by the term esoteric in Esoteric Christianity.
What is Alcheny?
This alchemical transformation that is needed is not easy to achieve. This world does not teach how to do it and it does not encourage the citizens of the world to seek that exalted "inner" condition and state of mind. In fact, this world for the most part, makes every effort to hide the valuable instructions, tools, locations of schools, teachers, books, institutions, and rewards.
This bolg is dedicated to that achievement that teachers of the past, especially Jesus (who has been so misrepresented, so ill defined, and so plagiarised and so inaccurately represented, that He Himself is changing His name.
New American Standard Bible Revelation 3:12
'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
Esoteric Christianity is a term which refers to an ensemble of spiritual currents which regard Christianity as a mystery religion, and profess the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices, hidden from the public but accessible only to a narrow circle of "enlightened", "initiated", or highly educated people.
A beautiful and very old example of what the early church practiced in their spirituall disciplines is what we call "The Philokalia", a Greek Orthodox body of teachings that was practiced daily in the monastic environments that afforded the brotherhods the time and the environments to develop their inner sanctum worlds.
St. John of Karpathos, in Texts for the Monks in India:
If we truly wish to please God and to enjoy the
grace of His friendship, we should present to Him an intellect that is stripped bare --not weighed down with anything that belongs this present life...
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", pp. 309-310, text 49)
St. Hesychios the Priest, in On Watchfulness and Holiness:
... When there are no fantasies or mental images
in the heart, the intellect is established in its true nature, ready to contemplate whatever is full of delight, spiritual and close to God.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 178, text 93)
this is only two of the hundreds of vital and much needed disciplines to achieve "Jesus Consciousness..that "Unitary" state of mind and heart that guarantees you that place of spiritual prominence and "permanence" inside His New Temple..the "New Jerusalem" now descending.
We should strive to preserve the precious gifts which preserve us from all evil... These gifts are the girding of the intellect with the invocation of Jesus Christ, continuous insight into the heart's depths, stillness of mind unbroken even by thoughts which appear to be good, and the capacity to be empty of all hought.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 180, text 103)
Because every thought enters the heart in the form of a mental image of some sensible object, the blessed light of the Divinity will illumine the heart only when the heart is completely empty of everything and so free from all form. Indeed, this light reveals itself to the pure intellect in the measure to which the intellect (your intellect) is purged of all concepts and blocks and obstacles between your "True Self" and your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 177, text 89)
To human beings it seems too difficult to still the mind so that it rests from all thoughts. Indeed, to enclose what is bodiless within the limits of the body does demand toil and struggle, not only from the uninitiated but also from those experienced in inner immaterial warfare. But he who through unceasing
prayer holds the Lord Jesus within his breast will not
tire in following Him, as the Prophet says (cf. Jer. 17:16.LXX). Because of esus' beauty and sweetness he will not desire what is merely mortal...
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 188, text 148)
... the delighted intellect delights in the light
of the Lord when, free from concepts, it enters into
the dawn of spiritual knowledge. By continually denying itself, it advances from the wisdom necessary for the practice of the virtues to an neffable vision in which it contemplates holy and ineffable things. Then the heart is filled with perceptions of infinite and divine realities and sees the God of gods in its own depths, so far as this is possible. Astounded, the intellect lovingly glorifies God, the Seer and the Seen, and the Saviour of those who contemplate Him in this way.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 185, text 131)
Evagrios the Solitary, in On Prayer:
When your intellect in its great longing for God gradually withdraws from the flesh and turns away from all thoughts that have their source in your sense-perception, memory or soul-body temperament, and when it becomes full of reverence and joy, then you may conclude that you are close to the frontiers of prayer.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", pp. 62-63, text 62)
Stand on guard and protect your intellect from thoughts while you pray. Then your intellect will complete its prayer and continue in the tranquility that is natural to it. In this way He who has compassion on the ignorant will come to you, and you will receive the blessed gift of prayer.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 63, text 70)
You cannot attain pure prayer while entangled in
material things and agitated by constant cares. For
prayer means the shedding of houghts.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", pp. 62-63, text 71)
St. Mark the Ascetic, in Letter to Nicolas the
Solitary: for the soul is carried away captive through
its inward assent to the thoughts with which it is
constantly and sinfully occupied.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 147)
St. Thalassios, in On Love, Self-control and Life in
accordance with the Intellect: The intellect cannot dally with any sensible object unless it entertains at least some kind of passionate feeling for it.
("Philokalia (Vol. 2)", p. 316)
©1999 by Deb Platt
Distinguishing ego from true self
(Quotations from The Philokalia)
St. Hesychios the Priest in On Watchfulness and Holiness:
As Antony, the great servant of God, said, "Holiness is achieved when the intellect is in its natural state." And again he said: "The soul realizes its integrity when its intellect is in that state in which it was created." And shortly after this he adds: "Let us purify our mind, for I believe that when the mind is completely pure and is in its natural state, it gains penetrating insight..." So spoke the
renowned Antony, according to the Life of Antony by Athanasios the Great.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 194, text 179)
St. Diadochos of Photiki in On Spiritual Knowledge:
... this single faculty of perception is split because of the dislocation which, as a result of Adam's disobedience, takes place in the intellect through the modes in which the soul now operates. Thus one side of the soul is carried away by the passionate part in man, and we are then captivated by the good things of this life; but the other side of the soul frequently delights in the activity of the
intellect and, as a result, when we practise self-restraint, the intellect longs to pursue heavenly beauty. If, therefore, we learn persistently to be detached from the good things of this world, we shall be able to unite the earthly appetite of the soul to its spiritual and intellectual aspiration, through the communion of the Holy Spirit who brings this about within us. For unless His divinity actively illumines the inner shrine of our heart, we shall not be able to taste God's goodness with the perceptive faculty undivided,
that is, with unified aspiration.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 261, text 29)
... Everything longs for what is akin to itself: the soul, since it is bodiless, desires heavenly goods, while the body, being dust, seeks earthly nourishment. So we shall surely come to experience immaterial perception if by our labours we refine our material nature.
("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 259, text 24)
so there you have some samples from the "early church" and its deep seriousness in learning how to be a "Christian", a true "follower" of Jesus Christ, the only Head of the church His body of "true believers today..not the shamful, broken, disunited, self rightous, many "headed" Hydra that is currently called "The Church".
Begone Oh Travesty and Become what your bible teaches you to become a "Christian: a follower of Jesus, in these last of the "Last Days".
Sp Mote it Be
