Author: quantumdreamer

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Likelihood and Significance

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

What is significant and important is very subjective. Things important to some are not to others. Many might imagine themselves important to society or the institution in which they work. The whole notion of importance is important in the minds of some. People might make an “important” discovery in science and get a Nobel prize.  People might make an important contribution to literature and get a Booker prize. “Important” things end up as questions on University Challenge. I can normally answer more than half a dozen questions per show. There is loads of stuff in the show which I have never heard of. Being an old git, much of what seems important to the younger generations has next to zero importance to me. My phone has never been used for a call. It is only used to keep in contact with the wife when we are apart. This is almost unbelievable for many though actually factually correct.

I speculate that I am only “important” to one human and three cats, two of which are stray. My current level of significance in the grand planetary scheme of things is very low, the prevailing likelihood is that this will not change.

Were I to leave the physical form it would not impinge on many people, there would be no obituary, no funeral. It would matter not a lot. I am not in the lives of others and they are not in mine.

We will have been here six years in January. It is the longest time in my life since 1969 in which I have not travelled by airplane. My first outing was a 32 hour flight from Heathrow via Acapulco to Syndney Australia. We have left Brittany only once in the six years to go to the Loire with a view to house hunting. One of the questions we occasionally get asked is “have you been back to England?” People are surprised when the answer in no, not at all. I can’t think why I would want to go back. There is nothing there for me. I may never see the UK again.

I was pondering on the nature of fate and mine in particular. The likelihood is that this life will simply fizzle out. I am pretty confident I won’t make it to the life expectancy of ~82.  A part of the fate was to shine early then stop suddenly. I left full time employment at the age of 42 and I haven’t had a job since. I did private tutoring for a number of years. I did pioneer a few things but since end of 2006 I have not contributed in practical terms, I certainly did not add to UK plc. I have not been of much use. Whatever potential I once had has perhaps been spent and there is not much left.

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This from Wikipedia

Social isolation is a state of complete or near-complete lack of contact between an individual and society. It differs from loneliness, which reflects temporary and involuntary lack of contact with other humans in the world. Social isolation can be an issue for individuals of any age, though symptoms may differ by age group.

Social isolation has similar characteristics in both temporary instances and for those with a historical lifelong isolation cycle. All types of social isolation can include staying home for lengthy periods of time, having no communication with family, acquaintances or friends, and/or wilfully avoiding any contact with other humans when those opportunities do arise.

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Research indicates that perceived social isolation (PSI) is a risk factor for and may contribute to “poorer overall cognitive performance and poorer executive functioning, faster cognitive decline, more negative and depressive cognition, heightened sensitivity to social threats, and a self-protective confirmatory bias in social cognition.” PSI also contributes to accelerating the ageing process: Wilson et al. (2007) reported that, after controlling for social network size and frequency of social activity, perceived social isolation is predictive of cognitive decline and risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

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Although I meet the connectivity criteria for social isolation, I do not feel particularly isolated and certainly not lonely. Social conditioning suggests that one ought to be social and one would miss contact when it ceases.

It is perhaps my fate to live this way. I have always been taken by the poems of Ryōkan Taigu a Sōtō Zen Buddhist monk who lived much of his life as a hermit. As a couple our lives are quite hermit-like. {The wife talks to friends using Skype.}

Whatever knowledge I have will go with me to the incinerator.  From time to time I wonder if people missed out learning from me, but that could simply be vanity messing with me.

I bought a new A4 folder today to put my dreams in because the other ones are full. I have made good progress towards carving some dice for the Mo practice. The parameters of life will be clarified by medical professionals next week. It is difficult to engage with the news as it is so repetitive and dire.  War, mass killing, sex scandal, flooding, people getting cancelled for not being PC, orange manbaby says blah blah, blah. The human world has lost its way.

According to numerology I am now well into my final pinnacle which is a one. This is supposed to have the positive aspects of pioneering, go-getting, the instigator, the strategist, the natural leader, the inventor, the cosmologist, mapping out the unknown, fluidity, tenacity, originality, individualism, self-respect, volatility.

Of these only two apply these days.

The negative aspects don’t really fit either apart from perhaps anti-establishment.

I took a good long look at leadership because someone once banged on at me about this {a lot}. I have concluded that I lack the socio-political skills and inclination to lead for anything other than a very short time. I just cannot be arsed with all the horse trading and back scratching. I am not cut out to lead people in normal activities.

I am confident that I have pioneered differing forms of meditation.

I have pretty much stopped reaching out to other people. I have no desire to inflict myself upon them. Everybody has their own agenda and evidence suggests that I am not thereupon.

I wonder if having a quiescent mind ends with a quiescent life fading in which one realises that one is not a big deal and in reality, one never was. I am no big cheese, no grand fromage. I was perhaps only mildly significant to others for a very short period.

I wonder how many people think themselves important, if only in their own lunch hour…

Hmnn….

Vis Viva – A Journey to Sirius – Preface

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Frontispiece

The prophet is not diverted by illusions of past, present and future. The fixity of language determines such linear distinctions. Prophets hold a key to the lock in language. The mechanical image remains only an image to them. This is not a mechanical universe. The linear progression of events is imposed by the observer. Cause and effect? That’s not it at all. The prophet utters fateful words. You glimpse a thing “destined to occur”. But the prophetic instant releases something of infinite portent and power. The universe undergoes a ghostly shift. The wise prophet conceals actuality behind shimmering labels. The uninitiated then believe the prophetic language is ambiguous. The listener distrusts the prophetic messenger. Instinct tells you how the utterance blunts the power of such words. The best prophets lead you up to the curtain and let you peer through it yourself.

– The Stolen Journals [1]

Frank Herbert “God Emperor of Dune” Gollancz, Orion Publishing, London. Page 297 ISBN 0 575 07506 6

1st May 2008


Preface

As they say, “Every journey begins with a single step!”

I am heretic, a heretic to the church of reason. Though it was there that I began my genesis, there I found nemesis and where, I no longer belong.

This very morning as I mulled over koans and Leibniz, Lao Tzu and Newton, I stepped out of my front door. I looked down at our beautiful garden, now partially tamed and resplendent in the spring-ness of spring. Two beautiful white gulls flew overhead filling me with peace. I, yes I, had to return to the source and for me at least a part of the source of all this, is the second law of thermodynamics and that fate full night on a beach in Negril.

Over the last few days I have been waiting on a image from a lady in Australia to arrive and yesterday it did; a rose of deepest blue touched by the tears of heaven. This rose will adorn the cover of this book; “Vis viva – a journey to Sirius”.

Later, pondering on whether to start today or tomorrow and looking to clear my head, I took a stroll around the block. The wet earth rich in aroma from yesterday’s rain, the sun shining down on the fields nearby raised my spirits. And, as I paused to smoke on the bench, much as my grandfather had done, gazing out across the valley to Clydach, I saw a black crow chasing a red tailed kite into the sun. I followed them by eye until I could not bear it. I looked away and then only a few seconds later they were no where to be seen. The skies around here are big and there is no place to hide. But they were gone and I knew. I had to begin. It was an omen.

This book is not a book of answers. It is a book of beginnings. In these pages I will hope to outline a way of thinking that strays from the concretised thought patterns so prevalent today and in doing so will set myself up, for as we know, heretics are never welcome at the altar. Each church has for itself a bane of some kind and the bane of the church of reason is, proof. This is the catch 22 of a limited philosophical and dare I say “scientific” study of life. Here I mean science in the sense of knowing and knowledge and not in the sense of what has become the extension of technology which currently masquerades as science. How can I prove anything to you in the absence of a shared context? I cannot. It is only in reference to your knowledge and the veil of perception which is both yours and mine that I can attempt to communicate. In any case it is not things per se that I want to talk about, though of course things will be a part of this discourse. Proof itself is a concept. Proof is not really a reality but more often a mental construct within a thought pattern or collection of thoughts. In a sense proof requires a theory. In the absence of theory proof itself is only a potential construct of the mind which has yet to come into being.

Whether we like it or not the great philosophical, scientific, psychological and religious schools of thought have all influenced how we as mankind behave. They, along with the media, our peers and parents condition us to behave in certain ways. For example if lots of people agree on something then it becomes a truth and a lie told often enough becomes the truth.

Je pense donc je suis or cogito ergo sum, has permeated much of our thoughts and whether intentionally or otherwise has raised thought onto the high altar of existence, there perhaps to challenge the Divine for supremacy in the minds of man. If there is not thought then how can there be existence? Yet life itself is way beyond the scope of man’s petty intellect, it is so much more than that.

I feel therefore I am, is perhaps a better way of putting it. After all and once all that analytical thinking is done, life is much more of a feeling than a thought. Isn’t it?

Or even better still, simply, I am. Existence and life do not require logic or proof. There is no need for because, donc or ergo. At one level there just is.

The invention of these reasoning words pre-supposes a thought pattern upon the nature of communication that limits one in the exploration of being-ness. These words themselves hint at a direct and linear causality in life and constrain, implying the social conditioning inherent in the use of should and ought.

As part of this book I am going to attempt to reclaim some language before I use it. Words by their very nature, veil the truth and explicitly so. They take on a meaning or life of their own as they are used again and again. Certain sub cultures, let’s say for example the physical sciences use words in highly specified circumstance and within definitional frameworks, as such they cannot for them, have a meaning other than their context specific usage. Energy is a classic here. Ask any scientist what energy actually is and they will gloss over the subject calling it a capacity to do work. So what is this capacity that is energy? Does it really exist?

Here then is the beginning of the borders of a Kurukshetra, the Chautauqua of a journey into perception. Written by a man, in his mid forties, who has published in the physical science literature, co-founded a successful high technology spin out company and who was until recently a senior lecturer in chemistry at a top university. This means because of my qualifications that I am an initiate of a certain degree within the school of concrete science, the new religion of mankind.

Please, bear with me on this journey and let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes

Talking – Effective Personality Disorder – INFJ Dream 27-11-2024

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This dream is from between 3 and 5 AM this morning. This is out of the blue.

The dream starts in the front room of my old house in Brixton. I am initially sitting on the coir carpet. It then shifts to a meeting room with psychological professionals discussing a case. I am to assist. One turns to the others and says about me, “I know that he is not a qualified professional, but he has an uncanny knack of putting people at their ease and getting them to talk freely. He is utterly nonjudgmental and very empathic.”

The scene changes and I am in a single bedded hospital ward. On the bed dressed in a hospital gown is a young man with wavy blonde hair which needs a trim. I say, “hi” and he replies. I go over and sit on the bed. I introduce myself. Implicit is that he has just survived a suicide attempt and is recovering. He is in a bad way. I ask how he is and what medication they had already tried. He says, “Xanax but it did not work very well!” I ask if they have a tentative diagnosis and he says, “effective personality disorder.” I already knew this in the dream.

The next day the staff wheel his bed down to the swimming pool. They are using water to help him walk again. I am dressed in my speedo swimming trunks. I lift him off the bed in my arms and walk into the water until such time that he can float. I let him float off my arms. He is smiling and very happy. We walk a few widths of the pool in the water and then I help him out of the pool. The healthcare assistants dry him and help him change into a new gown. I lift him back onto the bed.

The next day the scene is repeated but I also help him to swim a few lengths of breaststroke.

He asks me how I can make him relax. I say that we INFJs have tremendous and sometimes painful depths of empathy. We can feel the suffering of other beings and sometimes tune into it. We want that suffering to cease.

Dream ends.

A passing thought after the dream was, “is this pointing at helping others again”. A while back I started the process of joining Samaritans but was unsure of the other people seeking to join

The Superpower of Patience

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I’ll speculate that immediacy and the immediacy of gratification are part of the modern way of life for many. People do not like to wait and many suffer badly from premature conclusion which can be messy. The concluding kangaroo can be found easily on all sides and people jump great distances to form dodgy yet firm conclusions without real basis. Many rely on what “they” say and are unwilling or too lazy to look into things themselves.

Śāntideva in the Bodhicharyâvatâra has a whole chapter on the virtues of forbearance which is a close ally of patience. The jewel of awareness forbearance is depicted by tarot 12.

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Sometimes you are required by karma to bear whatever life brings and to do so in as cheerful a manner as possible without pissing and moaning or whingeing like a stuck record. Often there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a TGV train oncoming.

This urge for immediacy means that long term policy making is neglected and life is governed by knee jerk reactions and sticking plaster temporary “solutions”. If it can’t be “sorted” quickly people lose interest. This condemns life to the shallows and the profound depths are never plumbed. It is a natural law that depth needs time and application. Concentration without distraction for extended periods brings insights more meaningful than a short flashy TikTok video. If you wait long enough an insight might come along and then just like with busses you may get several.

Humanity is in a rush like never before in some senses.

This means that the superpower of patience is fading and heading towards a mass extinction event. Being patient is not fashionable, nor is it good clickbait. Being patient is for losers. Gimme, gimme, gimme.

Aligning a complicated dye laser to give the best balance of laser power output and narrowness of spectral linewidth is nearly an art form. I refer to it as Zen and the Art of Laser Alignment. If you get twitchy and impatient it can go badly wrong and you are returned back to the start. All the good work can be undone by one or two impatient tweaks of a mirror positioning knob. If you note that you are losing patience, best to stop go out of the room and then come back calm to start again. In the past I could work at laser alignment in four hour sessions.

This loss of patience and hasty reaction is fairly prevalent. If gratification is not immediate interest is lost.

In Buddhism theory even after one has entered the stream it takes several lifetimes to complete liberation. Patience then is a scale. If one can work over many lifetimes that is patient. If one gets annoyed by the slow loading of a Netflix film, that is less patient. We boomers had ~50 kilobyte per second modems, we were initiated into patience thereby.

Pavlovian society is now conditioned to immediacy, buying in a click and getting food delivered to the doorstep in many places.

I wonder if I could survive the massed impatience and accompanying ire / agitation of London these days. For a long time, I was immersed therein. I doubt I could hack it now.

I think it fair to speculate that I am more patient than average. I can sit in a hospital waiting room without my comfort beads, by smartphone. I do not have to scroll frantically.

The need, it seems, for constant distraction is having a detrimental effect on mental health. The data dealers keep pushing more deal baggies of gigabytes at us, encouraging us to use high definition cameras like junkies to make huge files and selling ever more data to satisfy this addiction.

If people could go cold turkey on the taking and publication of all that imagery, the climate would not get so hot.

I think that were we all to better develop our superpower of patience, the world would be a better and perhaps more tolerant place. It would stop being so knee jerk reactive and it might even try to understand differing views and perspectives. It might ease the pervasive malady of premature conclusion.

Selected Dragon Content in the Blue Books Opus

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All of these, unless otherwise stated, are from a Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Djwhal Kuhl and Alice Bailey

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In the fifth round, at its middle point, certain things will eventuate.

The fifth Hierarchy will rise to its full power. This will precede the Judgment Day, and will mark a point of tremendous struggle, for the manasic vehicle “manas” (which they embody) will rebel against the translation of the life within (the buddhi). There will, therefore, be seen on a racial scale and involving millions simultaneously, a repetition of the selfsame struggle which embroils the man who seeks to transcend mind and to live the life of Spirit. This will be the final Armageddon, the planetary kurukshetra, and will be succeeded by the Judgment Day when the Sons of Manas will be cast out and the Dragons of Wisdom rule. This only means that those in whom the manasic principle is over-potent or underdeveloped will be considered as failures and will have to wait for a more suitable period for development, while those who are living the buddhic life, and in whom it is waxing stronger – spiritual men, aspirants, disciples of various degrees, initiates and adepts – will be left to pursue the natural course of evolution on this scheme.

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Second. The goal set before humanity is that of becoming Masters of the Wisdom, or conscious units in the Body of the Dragon of Wisdom or of Love. This a man achieves when he can function consciously in the buddhic vehicle, or when the astral permanent atom is superseded by the buddhic permanent atom.

Third. The next reason is that the second aspect of the Logos (that of love or the manifestation of the love nature of the Logos through the medium of the Son) is the one demonstrated in this system. This system is:

  1. A Son of Necessity, or of desire.
  2. Vibrant to the key of the cosmic Ray of Love.
  3. The form through which this ray of cosmic Love (shown in the interrelation between the Self and the Not-Self, or through duality) is expressing itself.
  4. Governed by the cosmic Law of Attraction. The monads of love are the dominating quality. (I choose this word ‘quality’ specifically.)

Fourth. The center in the cosmic body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID of which our solar Logos is the embodied force is the heart center. Here we have one of the clues to the mystery of electricity. The sacred planets, with certain allied etheric spheres within the ring-pass-not, are parts of that heart center, and are ‘petals in the Lotus,’ or in the heart center of that great unknown Existence Who stands to the solar Logos as He in His turn stands to the Heavenly Men Who are His centers, and specially as He stands to the particular Heavenly Man Who is the embodied force of the logoic Heart center. Therefore, it will be apparent to the careful student that the entire force and energy of the system and its life quality will be that which we call (having perforce to use handicapping, misleading words) LOVE. This will account for the fact that the force that plays through that cosmic heart center will be the paramount force found in the manifestation of a solar Logos, and of a Heavenly Man; it will likewise produce its microcosmic analogy, and reflective reactions; hence the relative importance of the astral permanent atom within the causal periphery. It is in the direct line of active force emanating from the cosmic existence, and passing to it in ever lessening degree, via the solar Logos in His system of love, and the planetary Logos within a scheme, the Dragon of Wisdom-Love.

This force when rightly directed and properly controlled is the great transmuting agency, which eventually will make of the human unit a Master of the Wisdom, a Lord of Love, a Dragon of Wisdom in lesser degree.

Finally: this solar system, the objective physical manifestation of the Logos, is interpenetrated by His astral body, as is the case with the human manifestation. As the Logos is polarized in His cosmic astral sheath and has not yet attained cosmic mental polarization His force or desire nature is the main incentive for the subjective Life and Eves that underlie the form.

If the student will ponder with care these five facts, he will get a clue to the problems of existence as realized around us, to the causes of the heat of the solar system, to the method of the cosmic Law of Attraction and Repulsion, which governs all atomic forms, and to the question of SEX which is apparent in every kingdom of nature. They give the clue also to the constitution of the Divine Hermaphrodite.

Therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind the relative importance of the permanent atom of the second aspect of the personality within the causal periphery, and to remember that the force which flows through that atom and which is the animating force of the astral body is following the lines of least resistance and really might be considered as bearing upon his physical manifestation in a manner twice as strong as that reaching him through the other two. The Logos expresses Himself now through the Divine Ray, His second aspect, and this Ray is the sumtotal of the radiation of the Lords of Wisdom, the Heavenly Men, the Dragons Who are Unity and Who are Love. Through Them this force flows, and They in turn clothe Themselves with form, or as H. P. B. expresses it ‘The primordial Ray becomes the Vahan for the Divine Ray. Their life animates every atom of substance when built into form, and Their life is the sumtotal of Logoic magnetism, or the great desire nature of the Logos going out after the Not-Self, producing the cosmic Marriage; it is the logoic demonstration of the sex appeal, His search for His polar opposite, and their mystic union.

This process is repeated by the microcosm following the line of his being, and this brings him likewise into incarnation, or into mystic union with form.

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Initiation VI – Decision – Ray III

We have concluded our study of the rays and the five initiations, and there is little more that I can tell you about the remaining four initiations, except one or two points anent the sixth Initiation of Decision; this initiation is governed by the third Ray of Active Intelligence.

The only reason that I am making a few comments upon the sixth initiation is that at this time a number of the Masters are taking this great step, and it has a most peculiar application to the time of the reappearance of the Christ.

At this Initiation of Decision, the Master concerned decides usually which of the seven Paths He intends to tread; some Masters decide to remain until the close of our planetary Life, at which time the “last weary Pilgrim will have found his way home”; the Earth can then be prepared for a new Humanity. When this happens, our planet will no longer be known as the planet of sorrow and of pain, but will be distinguished by a quality of tranquillity and by an aura of calm potency wherein the will of God (to be demonstrated in the next solar system) will be focused; this – in some mysterious way – will enable the solar Logos (not the planetary Logos) to bring the first great divine aspect, that of Will or Power, into expression throughout the solar system. Instead, therefore, of the statement which explains our present solar system, “God is Love,” we shall have a dynamic expression of the will-to-good – an energy which will have been generated to some extent upon our Earth. This is the reward which the present Earth humanity will reap, and this is the consummation of the preordained task of our planetary Logos. He undertook, when He came into incarnation (through the medium of our little planet), to aid the work of the Solar Logos in expressing the will aspect of divinity.

Excerpted from “The Rays and the Initiations” by Djwhal Kuhl and Alice Bailey

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{This below concerns one of the available paths of higher evolution open to the fifth degree initiate or master. My comment.}

Path I. The Path of Earth Service

The nature of the spiritual force which animates the group of our peculiar planetary initiates will become apparent perhaps if the methods and purposes of their work are studied from the standpoint of subjective energy, and not so specifically of the material form. This point of view can be gleaned most easily from a consideration of the animating impulse lying behind all world groups which are particularly consecrated to the uplift of the race. This will necessarily include all political, religious, scientific and metaphysical organizations. It will be found that each and all are definitely related and have a point of at-one-ment with certain of the numerous occult bodies which are (usually unknown to the affiliated group) responsible for the vitalization of the principal units in any of these organizations doing this pioneer work.

This first path is the one that keeps a man linked to the Hierarchy which is pledged to the service of our planetary scheme. It comprises those who work under the Lord of the World in the seven groups into which our Masters of the Wisdom are divided. Not so many Masters follow this Path as some of the others, and only enough are permitted to do so to carry on planetary evolution satisfactorily. More is known about this Path than about any of the others, and more will continuously be found out as members of our humanity fit themselves to contact the Brothers of the Hierarchy. Their field of employ, Their methods of work will eventually become exoteric, and as the seven groups are recognized and known, schools of development for the filling of posts in these groups will be the logical sequence.

The adepts who stay upon this Path are distinguished by a dual attribute, which is their guarantee of attainment along this line of spiritual endeavor. They are animated by wise-compassion. These words should be carefully studied for they hold the clue to the nature of this first Path. The adepts who choose this Path are called esoterically the “beneficent dragons,” and the energy with which they work and the stream of living force upon which they are found emanates from the constellation of the Dragon, working through the zodiacal sign Libra. This special spiritual energy produces in all those groups which come under its direct influence a profound faculty for identification. This identification does not concern the form nor the soul but only the spiritual point of positive life which in the human unit we call the “Jewel in the Lotus.” It should be remembered in this connection that there is a jewel at the heart of every atom. Every jewel has seven facets which are the seven doorways to the seven Paths.

The “beneficent dragons” are distinguished by their “luminosity,” and it is this basic quality which lies behind the injunction given by all spiritual teachers to their pupils in the words “let your light shine forth.”

When the adept enters through the “luminous door” he has before him four very peculiar and esoteric IDENTIFICATIONS. This entrance takes place after he has passed the fifth Initiation and has demonstrated his fitness so to do through a long period of service in connection with our planetary evolution. These identifications eventually bring about within the jewel, which is essentially the true spiritual unit, a momentous happening, and are undergone within the monadic consciousness after the transcendence of the atmic sheath. These four identifications are connected with the fourfold lotus of the solar Logos, or with His twelve-petalled heart center. This lotus is sometimes called the “heart of the Sun,” and concerns the subjective sun. It is not, however, possible to say more along this line.

These four Identifications are only undergone upon this particular Path and are each preceded by three lesser identifications which make a totality of twelve Identifications, corresponding to the twelve-petalled lotus. It will be noted by the accurate student that we are now discontinuing the use of the word “initiation” which has to do specifically with consciousness and therefore with duality and are utilizing a word which connotes synthesis, though very inadequately.

The energy which is manipulated in the process of these identifications is largely that pouring through the sixth Hierarchy, which has an esoteric relation to the sixth Path on to which the initiates of Path I have eventually to fight their way. The form through which the adept must work in order to demonstrate his control of the energy concerned may not here be given. It may only be stated that luminosity is gained upon the battle ground through a fight with a dragon. The following summation may be found suggestive:

PATH I. EARTH SERVICE

  • Attributes – Wise-compassion.
  • Source – Constellation of the Dragon, via Libra.
  • Method – Twelve cosmic Identifications.
  • Hierarchy – The sixth.
  • Symbol – A green dragon issuing from the center of a blazing sun. Behind the sun and over-topping it can be seen two pillars on either side of a closed door.
  • Quality gained – Luminosity.

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SECTION THREE – DIVISION C – SEVEN ESOTERIC STANZAS

STANZA I

(From Archaic Formulas. No. 49)

PATH 1. The Path of Earth Service.

The Dragon who hideth within the lowest of the Sacred Three ariseth in His might. In His mouth He holdeth the balances, and in the balances He weigheth the sons of men who – upon the field of battle – are impaled upon His spear.

In the great balance upon which His eyes are fixed, one scale is veiled in fire of vivid green; the other hides itself behind a screen of red.

Those sons of men whose note responds not to the note of red enter the scale upon the right hand side. From thence they pass upon a path which dimly can be seen behind the dragon’s form.

This path is entered by a fourfold door. The sacred phrases of the Sons of Light define it thus: “The portal of the luminous light, which leadeth from the green into the heart of indigo, by that rare fire and richly colored blaze for which no name on earth hath yet been found.” Its tone is hidden.

The sons of men (and few their number is) enter that door of luminous fire when they surmount the crest of gold which riseth on the dragon’s head above the point where gleams “the eye of fire.”

This eye of fire transmits a strong vibration from the triple Lhas unto a center in the Adept’s head. This, when aroused, reveals the Life that is, the form that shall be, and the work united of the two and four.

These two are drawn together. Their essence blends. The man who seeks this path is then impaled upon the spear and thrust within the fiery light which veils the balance. The mystic process then proceeds and… Thus is the work of SATURN seen, and thus the consummation is effected.

Through SATURN’S fateful force the victor then is swiftly projected to the summit of the crest, and thence to that vibrating disk which guards the fourfold door of luminosity.

Three Words are then committed to the Liberated One. He stands triumphant on the speeding disk and when their utterance has… the door is seen ajar, and from its other side a voice is heard to say: “Son of Compassion, Master of Love and Life, the wheel turns all the time for those who battle on the fiery ground beneath the dragon’s feet.”

The first Word having entered on its mission, the victor lifts His head and seeks to utter forth the second Word. But, as He sounds it forth, He arrests its wide vibration, drawing again its power within His heart.

The motion of the disk slows down. The portal of the fiery light opens more widely yet. A form is seen. Unto the Master of the Fiery Heart, this form presents three precious jewels. Their names are hidden from those sons of men who have not yet attained the dragon’s crest.

These jewels three give to the Master of the Fiery Heart a portion of the triple force which circulates within the planet’s sphere.

With eye intent and heart alive with burning love the Master utters not the final Word. He steps from off the disk and turns His Lotus Feet back to that Path He earlier left behind, and from the other side remounts the Dragon’s crest. Himself a dragon, He now identifies Himself with those who seek the beast. And thus He serves, turning His back upon the door of light. He is the offspring of the dragon and serves His time…

Unknown and unseen by Him, a greater disk becomes apparent, turning unceasingly. He seeth not its movement for His eyes are on the world He has returned to serve. The disk revolves and brings around – before His yet unseeing eye – a greater wider Door… His eye of vision opens… He treads the first great path, yet knows it not.

The note that sounds forth from that first great WAY is yet unheard by Him. Its sound is lost in the uprising cry of the children of the lesser dragon.

NOTE: These seven stanzas form only one true stanza out of the oldest book in the world, and one which the eye of the average man has never contacted. Only the sense is here given and not a literal translation, and certain phrases are eliminated in all of them for one or other of the three following reasons: Either the manuscript from which these extracts are taken lacks certain of the words or symbols which are missing on account of the extreme age of the material upon which the text is indited, or their insertion would convey too much knowledge to the man whose perception is sufficiently awakened. Thirdly, the insertion of the omitted words would only serve to awaken confusion and even ridicule on account of the impossibility of translating them correctly; they concern realizations far in advance of the comprehension of man at this time.

Dragon Lore Dream 23-11-2024

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

This is a short but very intense dream from ~ 4 AM

I am with MF whom I knew as an undergraduate. We are sat in the front room of a British house in which I am living temporarily. He is sat on leather bound armchair. We have invited him over for dinner. We have eaten and are relaxing in front of an open fire.

I am lying on my stomach on the floor. My legs are bent at the knee and moving freely. I am reading my beat-up copy of “The Mists of Dragon Lore”. I can see the well-thumbed yellowed pages. I turn to the back of the book. Inside the hard cover is attached a vellum high quality cream envelope, the flap of which is sealed down with a fine bright red braided fabric. I slowly unwind the fabric and open the flap of the envelope.

With utmost care I pull out a card like piece of paper which is like artist’s paper. Embossed into the paper is an exquisitely drawn oriental dragon. It is in jet black ink and is something to behold. Next to it in fine black calligraphy is written in Kanji is “the famed black dragon”. I show the dragon to M he admires it and thinks it odd that such a print is stored in such a tatty old book.

In the dream I note that this is the very first black dragon I have encountered. I have seen many other colours.

With greatest care I return the artwork to its envelope and retie the seal.

The scene changes and I am now with M in a freight railway carriage. The carriage is empty of goods. M turns to me and says that the mullahs are talking about the coming of a new buddha. I ask if he is referring to the Islamic mullahs. Yes. I say that I know a little bit about Buddhism.

M gets out a prayer mat and places it in one corner of the carriage. He sits on it. Two young white boys, young teenagers, follow suit sitting next to him. Without a prayer mat, I sit next to the youngest boy. I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

The scene changes again and I am no longer in the carriage nor bound by the rails. I can go wherever I want.

Dream ends.

The Tendency to Scoff and Self-diagnosed Omniscience.

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

I’ll speculate that many have a tendency to scoff and perhaps belittle as a default knee-jerk reaction. People may be unaware of the limits of their knowledge and self-diagnose more than a little prematurely a know-it-all omniscience. Because I once worked in academia, I have met many pompous people along the way who rated themselves. I observed a willingness to soap box on matters outside their subject area, with an assertiveness inconsistent with their actual depth of know how.

A couple of years back in conversation I asked an ex-student what his maths was like in order to try to explain something. I wanted to know what “language” to use. He was very circumspect because he had attended my matrix heavy chemical group theory course. He sensed that he could be digging himself a hole and stopped.

A lot of people have a braggadocio which when tested is found groundless.

I have an ongoing problem which is not massive.

Here in France a fair proportion of Brits make little or no effort with the French language. This makes them seem a little stupid and illogical. Around here anyway the housing is relatively cheap and thus the British people who live here are not financially loaded.  There is some small correlation between wealth and intelligence. My prejudice is that the French have a low bar when it comes to their assessment of Brits, they do not think us smart, the French can be arrogant.

I’ll speculate with a high confidence that most of the locals round here have no experience of dealing with a former academic from a world top ten science university and a high tech. entrepreneur to boot.

There is a catch twenty-two. If we are interacting, how do I make them aware of what they are dealing with? They have no personal experience. I can offer them a wiki write up of Imperial College in French. This makes them think me weird. They read it cursorily. Then when they try for example, sales pressure manipulation and I assert back they are surprised. I say I did try to warn you. But you did not listen or try to figure out where I was coming from.

In a conversation about a house sale, I said; “I have absolutely no wish to discuss this endlessly over and over.”

The first offer had been at 60% of the sale price for our house and they kept edging up ten grand at a time. The phrase fuck off came to mind.

The negotiator said, “This is France, that is what we do. Il faut discuter.”

The conversation did not go further.

How do you explain to people that they don’t know what they are getting in to and that there is a shed load of things which they know nothing about? If you try you are not believed people can be very adamant and unaware of their ignorance. Is it even worth trying?

A cursory look at social media suggests that adamant self-diagnosed omniscience is a widespread phenomenon. There has never been so many experts pedalling stuff from their soap boxes and otherwise gobbing off.

Are we not blessed to live in an age like this?

Initiation, Human and Solar

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

INITIATION DEFINED

The question anent initiation is one that is coming more and more before the public. Before many centuries pass the old mysteries will be restored, and an inner body will exist in the Church – the Church of the period, of which the nucleus is already forming – wherein the first initiation will become esoteric, in this sense only, that the taking of the first initiation will, before so very long, be the most sacred ceremony of the Church, performed esoterically as one of the mysteries given at stated periods, attended by those concerned. It will also hold a similar place in the ritual of the Masons. At this ceremony those ready for the first initiation will be publicly admitted to the Lodge by one of its members, authorized to do so by the great Hierophant Himself.

Four Words Defined

When we speak of Initiation, of wisdom, of knowledge, or of the probationary Path, what do we mean? We use the words so glibly, without due consideration of the meaning involved. Take, for instance, the word first mentioned. Many are the definitions, and many are the explanations to be found as to its scope, the preparatory steps, the work to be done between initiations, and its result and effects. One thing before all else is apparent to the most superficial student, and that is, that the magnitude of the subject is such that in order to deal with it adequately one should be able to write from the viewpoint of an initiate; when this is not the case, anything that is said may be reasonable, logical, interesting, or suggestive, but not conclusive.

The word Initiation comes from two Latin words, in, into; and ire, to go; therefore, the making of a beginning, or the entrance into something. It posits, in its widest sense, in the case we are studying, an entrance into the spiritual life, or into a fresh stage in that life. It is the first step, and the succeeding steps, upon the Path of Holiness. Literally, therefore, a man who has taken the first initiation is one who has taken the first step into the spiritual kingdom, having passed out of the definitely human kingdom into the superhuman. Just as he passed out of the animal kingdom into the human at individualization, so he has entered upon the life of the spirit, and for the first time has the right to be called a “spiritual man” in the technical significance of the word. He is entering upon the fifth or final stage in our present fivefold evolution. Having groped his way through the Hall of Ignorance during many ages, and having gone to school in the Hall of Learning, he is now entering into the university, or the Hall of Wisdom. When he has passed through that school he will graduate with his degree as a Master of Compassion.

It might be of benefit to us also if we studied first the difference or the connection between Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. Though in ordinary parlance they are frequently interchanged, as used technically they are dissimilar.

Knowledge is the product of the Hall of Learning. It might be termed the sum total of human discovery and experience, that which can be recognized by the five senses, and be correlated, diagnosed, and defined by the use of the human intellect. It is that about which we feel mental certitude, or that which we can ascertain by the use of experiment. It is the compendium of the arts and sciences. It concerns all that deals with the building and developing of the form side of things. Therefore it concerns the material side of evolution, matter in the solar systems, in the planet, in the three worlds of human evolution, and in the bodies of men.

Wisdom is the product of the Hall of Wisdom. It has to do with the development of the life within the form, with the progress of the spirit through those ever-changing vehicles, and with the expansions of consciousness that succeed each other from life to life. It deals with the life side of evolution. Since it deals with the essence of things and not with the things themselves, it is the intuitive apprehension of truth apart from the reasoning faculty, and the innate perception that can distinguish between the false and the true, between the real and the unreal. It is more than that, for it is also the growing capacity of the Thinker to enter increasingly into the mind of the Logos, to realize the true inwardness of the great pageant of the universe, to vision the objective, and to harmonize more and more with the higher measure. For our present purpose (which is to study somewhat the Path of Holiness and its various stages) it may be described as the realization of the “Kingdom of God within,” and the apprehension of the “Kingdom of God without” in the solar system. Perhaps it might be expressed as the gradual blending of the paths of the mystic and the occultist, – the rearing of the temple of wisdom upon the foundation of knowledge.

Wisdom is the science of the spirit, just as knowledge is the science of matter. Knowledge is separate and objective, whilst wisdom is synthetic and subjective. Knowledge divides; wisdom unites. Knowledge differentiates whilst wisdom blends. What, then, is meant by the understanding?

The understanding may be defined as the faculty of the Thinker in Time to appropriate knowledge as the foundation for wisdom, that which enables him to adapt the things of form to the life of the spirit, and to take the flashes of inspiration that come to him from the Hall of Wisdom and link them to the facts of the Hall of Learning. Perhaps the whole idea might be expressed in this way:


Wisdom concerns the one Self, knowledge deals with the not-self, whilst the understanding is the point of view of the Ego, or Thinker, or his relation between them.

In the Hall of Ignorance the form controls, and the material side of things has the predominance. Man is there polarized in the personality or lower self. In the Hall of Learning the higher self, or Ego, strives to dominate that form until gradually a point of equilibrium is reached where the man is controlled entirely by neither. Later the Ego controls more and more, until in the Hall of Wisdom it dominates in the three lower worlds, and in increasing degree the inherent divinity assumes the mastery.

Aspects of Initiation

Initiation, or the process of undergoing an expansion of consciousness, is part of the normal process of evolutionary development, viewed on a large scale, and not from the standpoint of the individual. When viewed from the individual standpoint it has come to be narrowed down to the moment wherein the evolving unit definitely apprehends that (by dint of his own effort, aided by the advice and suggestions of the watching Teachers of the race) he has reached a point wherein a certain range of knowledge of a subjective nature, from the physical plane point of view, is his. It is in the nature of that experience wherein a pupil in a school realizes suddenly that he has mastered a lesson, and that the rationale of a subject, and the method of procedure, are his to use intelligently. These moments of intelligent apprehension follow the evolving Monad throughout his long pilgrimage. What has been misinterpreted somewhat at this stage of comprehension is the fact that at various periods the emphasis is laid on different grades of expansion, and always the Hierarchy endeavors to bring the race to the point where its units will have some idea of the next step to be taken.

Each initiation marks the passing of the pupil in the Hall of Wisdom into a higher class, marks the clearer shining forth of the inner fire and the transition from one point of polarization to another, entails the realization of an increasing unity with all that lives and the essential oneness of the self with all selves. It results in a horizon that continuously enlarges until it includes the sphere of creation; it is a growing capacity to see and hear on all the planes. It is an increased consciousness of God’s plans for the world, and an increased ability to enter into those plans and to further them. It is the effort in the abstract mind to pass an examination. It is the honor class in the Master’s school, and is within the attainment of those souls whose karma permits and whose efforts suffice to fulfil the aim.

Initiation leads to the mount whence vision can be had, a vision of the eternal Now, wherein past, present, and future exist as one; a vision of the pageant of the races with the golden thread of pedigree carried through the many types; a vision of the golden sphere that holds in unison all the many evolutions of our system, deva, human, animal, vegetable, mineral, and elemental, and through which the pulsating life can be clearly seen beating in regular rhythm;

  • a vision of the Logoic thought-form on the archetypal plane,
  • a vision that grows from initiation to initiation until it embraces all the solar system.

Initiation leads to the stream that, once entered, sweeps a man onward until it carries him to the feet of the Lord of the World, to the feet of his Father in Heaven, to the feet of the threefold Logos.

Initiation leads to the cave within whose circumscribing walls the pairs of opposites are known, and the secret of good and evil is revealed. It leads to the Cross and to that utter sacrifice which must transpire before perfect liberation is attained, and the initiate stands free of all earth’s fetters, held by naught in the three worlds. It leads through the Hall of Wisdom, and puts into a man’s hands the key to all information, systemic and cosmic, in graduated sequence. It reveals the hidden mystery that lies at the heart of the solar system. It leads from one state of consciousness to another. As each state is entered the horizon enlarges, the vista extends, and the comprehension includes more and more, until the expansion reaches a point where the self embraces all selves, including all that is “moving and unmoving,” as phrased by an ancient Scripture.

Initiation involves ceremony. It is this aspect that has been emphasized in the minds of men, perhaps a little to the exclusion of the true significance. Primarily it involves the capacity to see, hear, and comprehend, and to synthesize and correlate knowledge. It does not necessarily involve the development of the psychic faculties, but it does entail the inner comprehension that sees the value underlying the form, and recognizes the purpose of pervading circumstances. It is the capacity that senses the lesson to be learnt from any given occurrence and event, and that by means of these comprehensions and recognitions effects an hourly, weekly, yearly growth and expansion. This process of gradual expansion – the result of the definite effort and strenuous right thinking and living of the aspirant himself and not of some occult teacher performing an occult rite – leads to what one might term a crisis.

At this crisis, which necessitates the aid of a Master, a definite act of initiation is performed, which (acting on a particular center) produces a result on some one body. It keys the atoms to a certain pitch, and enables a new rate of rhythm to be attained.

This ceremony of initiation marks a point of attainment. It does not bring about attainment, as is so often the misconception. It simply marks the recognition by the watching Teachers of the race of a definite point in evolution reached by the pupil, and gives two things:

  1. An expansion of consciousness that admits the personality into the wisdom attained by the Ego, and in the higher initiations into the consciousness of the Monad.
  2. A brief period of enlightenment wherein the initiate sees that portion of the Path that lies ahead to be trodden, and wherein he shares consciously in the great plan of evolution.

After initiation, the work to be done consists largely in making that expansion of consciousness part of the equipment for the practical use of the personality, and in mastering that portion of the path that has yet to be traversed.

The Place and Effect of Initiation

The ceremony of initiation takes place on the three higher subplanes of the mental plane, and on the three higher planes, according to the initiation. The five-pointed star, at the initiations on the mental plane, flashes out above the head of the initiate. This concerns the first initiations which are undergone in the causal vehicle. It has been said that the first two initiations take place upon the astral plane, but this is incorrect, and the statement has given rise to a misunderstanding. They are felt profoundly in connection with the astral and physical bodies and the lower mental, and affect their control. The chief effect being felt in those bodies the initiate may interpret them as having taken place on the planes concerned, as the vividness of the effect and the stimulation of the first two initiations work out largely in the astral body. But it must ever be remembered that the major initiations are taken in the causal body or – dissociated from that body – on the buddhic plane or atmic plane. At the final two initiations which set a man free from the three worlds, and enable him to function in the body of vitality of the Logos and wield that force, the initiate becomes the five-pointed star and it descends upon him, merges in him, and he is seen at its very center. This descent is brought about by the action of the Initiator, wielding the Rod of Power, and puts a man in touch with the center in the Body of the Planetary Logos of which he is a part, and this consciously. The two initiations called the sixth and seventh take place on the buddhic and atmic planes; the five-pointed star “blazes forth from within Itself,” as the esoteric phrase has it, and becomes the seven-pointed star; it descends upon the man and he enters within the flame.

Again, the four initiations, prior to that of the adept, mark respectively the attainment of certain proportions of atomic matter in the bodies – for instance, at the first initiation one-fourth atomic matter, at the second one-half atomic matter, at the third three-quarters atomic matter, and so on to the completion. Since buddhi is the unifying principle (or the welder of all), at the fifth initiation the adept lets the lower vehicles go, and stands in his buddhic sheath. He creates thence his body of manifestation.

Each initiation gives more control on the rays, if one may so express it, although this does not adequately convey the idea. Words so often mislead. At the fifth initiation, when the adept stands Master in the three worlds, He controls more or less (according to His line of development) the five rays that are specially manifesting at the time He takes the initiation. At the sixth initiation, if He takes the higher degree, He gains power on another ray, and at the seventh initiation He wields power on all the rays. The sixth initiation marks the point of attainment of the Christ, and brings the synthetic ray of the system under His control. We need to remember that initiation gives the initiate power on the rays, and not power over the rays, for this marks a very definite difference. Every initiate has, of course, for his primary or spiritual ray one of the three major rays, and the ray of his Monad is the one on which he at length gains power. The love ray, or the synthetic ray of the system, is the final one achieved.

Those who pass away from the earth after the fifth initiation, or those who do not become Masters in physical incarnation, take their subsequent initiations elsewhere in the system. All are in the Logoic Consciousness. One great fact to be borne in mind is, that the initiations of the planet or of the solar system are but the preparatory initiations of admission into the greater Lodge on Sirius. We have the symbolism held for us fairly well in Masonry, and in combining the Masonic method with what we are told of the steps on the Path of Holiness we get an approximate picture. Let us enlarge somewhat:

The first four initiations of the solar system correspond to the four “initiations of the Threshold,” prior to the first cosmic initiation. The fifth initiation corresponds to the first cosmic initiation, that of “entered apprentice” in Masonry; and makes a Master an “entered apprentice” of the Lodge on Sirius. The sixth initiation is analogous to the second degree in Masonry, whilst the seventh initiation makes the Adept a Master Mason of the Brotherhood on Sirius.

A Master, therefore, is one who has taken the seventh planetary initiation, the fifth solar initiation, and the first Sirian or cosmic initiation.

Excerpted from:

“Initiation, Human and Solar – Chapter II – Initiation Defined” By Alice Bailey and Djwhal Kuhl

Travelling With a 511 keV Gamma Emitter Tomorrow

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

We are a four cancer household of two. I have had stage 3 colon cancer and a couple of basal cell carcinomas. The wife has recently had a lumpectomy for breast cancer, stage 1, followed by 15 sessions of radiotherapy. Tomorrow, she has a Positron Emission Tomography {PET} scan to check on the state of play with her multiple myeloma, it will be an 18F – FDG PET scan. The [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose shows sites of hypermetabolism associated with regular cancer or myeloma. It decays by positron emission, an up quark changes to a down quark.

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The annihilation of the emitted positron causes two ~511 keV gamma “rays” emitted at exactly 180 degrees to each other to conserve momentum. The half-life of 18F is around 110 minutes. The drive back from the centre of nuclear medicine is half an hour, we have a smallish Peugeot 207 and it takes place at less than one half life after injection.

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According to what I have read in the scarce literature, this car journey gives me an exposure of ~0.4% of the annual average exposure to radiation.

Perhaps there is a need for more research on what happens when a patient leaves the nuclear medicine centre? There are health and safety assessments for the healthcare practitioners, what about the carers? This is the third journey like this for me. There will be more.

We have an appointment with the radio-oncology specialist and the haematologist week beginning 2nd December.  We will know a little more about what our immediate future holds by the end of that week….