The Gate of Humility

Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy
"Purge me with H.I.Y.S.P. and I shall be clean..." — Psalm 51:7

Isaiah 6:1-9

  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

"The heights of the spirit can be scaled only by passing through the gate of humility."  — Rudolf Steiner

Humility is not thinking less of yourself,

It is thinking of yourself less. (AA Proverb)

"There is more value in the study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world."  — Saint Teresa of Avila

"Lack of humility is due to nothing else than lack of knowledge. A penetrating, comprehensive knowledge of man in his connection with the events of the world and of history will certainly not lead to excessive self-esteem; far rather it will lead the human being to look at himself objectively. It is precisely when a man does not know himself that there rise up in him those feelings which have their source in the unknown regions of his being. Instinctive, emotional impulses make themselves felt. And it is these instinctive, emotional impulses, rooted as they are in the subconscious, that make for arrogance and pride."  — Rudolf Steiner

"In the beholding of God we do not fall;
in the beholding of ourselves we may not stand."
                          — Julian of Norwich

Psalm 19

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
    Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
    Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Psalm 51

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

The Altar of Humanity
 The Solar Plexus : The Manipura Chakra : The Stronghold of Manu

Au(m) : Gold   — 13 ways of looking at my guru

#1: The Goldsmith

"The weakest of all weak things is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire."  —Mark Twain

When he hath tried me,
I shall come forth as gold.
—Job

"He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God."  — John 3:21

Revelation 3:14-22

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Swamiji has always served me as a father figure. As a resident at the Himalayan Institute, I'd seen him fry several people in public; in each instance I simply figured they must have had it coming. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition: one day out of the blue Swamiji lit into me! I was still burning a couple of days later when a Bible verse suddenly appeared out of the flames: "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." —Hebrews 12:6

I opened my Bible. 

Bingo:

Hebrews 12

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 

For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 

And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 

For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 

For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 

And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 

(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 

And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 

Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 

For our God is a consuming fire.

"He [Swamiji] said, 'Isn't this a cremation ground?' referring to his ashram. 'You come here to be burned, and if you can't get that into your head, there's no point in your being here!'" —Swami Veda

Rudolf Steiner, from an Esoteric Lesson given in Berlin on November 6, 1905:

A in the sacred syllable signifies our lower individuality; U the master's individuality; M the force through which we want to develop ourselves up to him.

"He must increase; I must decrease."  — John 3:30

"I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."  — Galatians 2:19-21

"ES IST ICH"

Related posts:
http://martyrion.blogspot.com/2017/03/life-is-open-book-read-it-and-weep-for.html
http://martyrion.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-joy-of-penance-today-is-my-70th.html
Swamiji photos:

https://www.facebook.com/thatfirst/photos/pb.662001497215277.-2207520000.1436441369./830622253686533/?type=3&theater

Earth First

"Whoever fails to seek Earth first does not deserve to look for heaven. . . . A religious mood wherein we make achievement of blessedness our highest goal is foreign to the Christianity of the gospels. It is a mood which was proper to certain earlier religions like some of India's because the time of the ego had not yet dawned, nor had the Christ descended to Earth. To seek sprit, human beings had then to turn away from Earth toward heaven. Ever since Christ walked this Earth, since he was lowered into Earth's grave to become Lord of heavenly forces on Earth--ever since that time the urge to search for blessedness by turning away from Earth has been an aberration of the soul. Christianity that aims only at blessedness is not really Christian." --Emil Bock

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."

--To Kill a Mockingbird

"The hero is he who is immovably centered." --Emerson

"I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." — Galatians 2:19-21

Related post: http://martyrion.blogspot.com/2009/07/13-ways-of-looking-at-my-guru-4.html

To the extent that we have insufficient regard for the truth, to that extent we are agents of evil

"Every violation of truth is not only a form of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society."  — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson's Dream

"I dreamed I floated at will in the great ether, and I saw this world also not far off, but diminished to the size of an apple. Then an angel took it in his hand and brought it to me and said, 'this must thou eat.' And I ate the world."
          Ralph Waldo Emerson

OM (W)OM(B) (T)OM(B) OM

O M

(W) O M (B)

(T) O M (B)

O M

O M

(W) O M (B)

(T) O M (B)

O M

Rudolf Steiner:  "I need to point out how difficult it is for any individual to be open to spiritual science if he is up to his ears in what will come his way if he succumbs entirely to the superficial trends that dominate all areas of modern thought."

"Turn my eyes from worthless things,
and give me life through your Word."
Psalm 119:37

Rudolf Steiner:  "Those striving to become ripe for esoteric development must widen the circle of their interests beyond everyday life. They must get away from the things that otherwise keep us going from morning to night, and must reach out to interests that move on the great horizon of the world."

"Read not the Times, read the Eternities" — Thoreau

Things in the world's spaces
Speak to human senses,
Changing in the course of time.
By cognizing, the human soul,
Unbounded by the distances of space
And undisturbed by the course of time,
Penetrates into the kingdom of eternities.

                                              Rudolf Steiner

Es sprechen zu den Menschensinnen
die Dinge in den Raumesweiten,
Sie wandeln sich im Zeitenlaufe.
Erkennend dringt die Menschenseele,
von Raumesweiten unbegrenzt
und ungestoert durch Zeitenlauf,
ins Reich der Ewigkeiten.

O M

(W) O M (B)

(T) O M (B)

O M

The Pangs of Love

from chapter 29 of the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila:

Beside me, on the left hand, appeared an angel in bodily form.... In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he pulled it out, I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one's soul then content with anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it — even a considerable share. So gentle is this wooing which takes place between God and the soul that if anyone thinks I am lying, I pray God, in His goodness, to grant him some experience of it.

The love that you withhold is the pain that you carry

The love that you withhold is the pain that you carry.   —Emerson

Thank you, Chris Manvell!

The Philosopher's Stone: The Breathing Human Being [Atman = Atmen]

Rudolf Steiner:

"If we become aware of how we live in the air element, we see how all thinking is actually nothing more than a refined breathing process — except that people don't know this. Thinking is refined breathing. The thoughts we live in are actually a refined breathing process. Breathing in, holding it in, and then breathing out work in a coarse way upon the blood circulation and in a finer, contrasting way upon the vibrations of the brain. Breathing is thinking in the physical world. Sublimated breathing is thinking.
     One who has advanced to Imagination no longer believes in the abstract thinking that lives tenuously in the brain. Someone who has advanced to Imagination feels the in-breath, the expansion of the breath, in their brain. They feel how the breath expands. If the breath expands in this way and closes in upon itself, then closed concepts are formed, closed ideas. If the breath surrounds something else with undulating waves, then ideas that move arise. What we describe as the forming of mental pictures, as thinking, is only a refined breathing process surging and modulating through us.
     In the same way that you feel "I breathe in; I draw a breath up into my brain and let it strike my ear," so you feel that you hear a tone as a sound that lives in you as thought. I let the breath strike my eye and it lies in me when I see color. The inner language of breathing works in me as ideas and mental pictures. When the highly refined breath strikes the sense organs, it makes mental pictures. But if you become aware of this, if you become more aware of yourself as a thinker and a breather, so to speak, then you feel this breathing process as something refined into thinking — a thinking that fills you like an organized mineral, like an organized stone.
     You know that oxygen is changed into carbon dioxide inside human beings. The uptake of carbon dioxide by the finer branches of breathing appears in the human head like carbon dioxide is being captured. It is a mineralizing process. The more one is in a position to perceive inwardly the capture of carbon by oxygen, the more one is conscious of this mineralizing process. We take up carbon, the coal substance, into ourselves. Carbon is the Philosopher's Stone. But carbon is the Philosopher's Stone only when it is inside human beings."









Source: https://steiner.presswarehouse.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=492752

An anonymous untitled poem

We were together.

I forget the rest.

A work of art by a first-grader

We did the soft wind

We danst   slowly  We swrld

Aroned  We danst soft

We lisin to the mozik

We danst to the mozik

We made personal space.

Source: Carolyn Jourdan

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=118460531969113351#editor/target=post;postID=2467039176592071442

Two out of three's not bad.

The Tao: Alpha and Omega

Rudolf Steiner:  "The Tao...is something that was considered a distant goal of the world and humanity, the highest element that human beings carried as a seed within them, and that would one day develop into a fully opened blossom from the innermost depths of human nature."

Rudolf Steiner:  "The totality of truth is present in every soul as a seed and can be brought to blossom if the soul devotes itself to the development of that seed."

"Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."  — Luke 1:46-47

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."  

Rudolf Steiner: "In older languages the self was not specifically designated, for it was contained within the verb. The ‘I’ was not directly mentioned. The verb was used to show what one was doing, and this was what indicated that one was speaking about oneself. There was no name for the self. It only came about in later times that the human being gave his self a name, and in our German language that name [ich] contains the initials of Jesus Christ, which is an important symbolic fact." [Iesus CHristus: ICH]







First image source: Søren Voltmar
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202862557017656&set=g.388223284560545&type=1&theater

Related post: http://martyrion.blogspot.com/2017/02/alpha-and-omega.html