Astrology - the Cosmic Clock

        Astrology.  What a subject.  There are few subjects that are as misunderstood even by the practitioners and certainly by those who reject it as ridiculous.  It isn’t hard to understand how someone can think it is nonsense given the approach taken by so many who claim to have a secure grip on it.  How, for instance, can your astrology be given to you in a newspaper column that makes such generalizations about “Signs” as those columns do?  I have read some of them and they make little or no sense whatsoever.  Besides which to use the chart of the heavens for purposes as mundane as those to which they are often applied is to trivialize them completely.  It is, however, the inclination of many to misuse any gift that is given to us, to turn any tool on the path into a goal all of its’ own and this is done all too often with Astrology.

        Let’s talk about what astrology is and what it isn’t keeping in mind that this is only my opinion.  Here is the most basic question.  Do I believe that the planets - those bodies out in space that circle our sun – do I believe that they affect my life, that by their movements they have the effects that are so often attributed to them via the art and science of astrology?

        No.  I don’t.  Not any more than the hands of a clock make the earth rotate and change the time of day.  The planets do not have the effect that is credited to them.  Rather, they are the hands of a clock.  They simply tell you what the condition of the universe is at a given time like a clock will tell you what the time of day it is rather than being the cause of change.

        Well, in fact, they don’t work quite the same as a clock.  A clock will tell you what time it is now but has no ability to tell you what the results of that time will be.  A clock can’t tell you that, given the way things look right now for anything that has its’ beginning at this moment, this or that is what can be expected in the future.  There is no level of clarity to what the clock can say beyond the simple statement about the “now”.

        The planets, however, in spite of their not being the source of anything, do give us far more information than the clock ever will and, given that I don’t believe that God created anything that He wasn’t very adept at using fully.  I have no problem with the idea that the positions of the planets can be used, once we know how to read that cosmic clock, to tell us a lot about the nature of the universe at the time and to tell us a great deal about our karmic situations as well.  And a birth chart does just that.

        When you are born, at the moment you are born, the planets positions can be used to indicate what the karmic environment will be for that lifetime - because of the condition of the universe at the time of your birth.  You might think of it as a kind of  'time stamp'.  These are the issues we need to deal with this lifetime in order to progress on our individual paths.  Where people get the incorrect impression is when they assume that the astrological chart compels us.  It doesn’t.  It impels us.  That is to say it pushes us in a direction but we are free to accept or reject the environments it urges us into, the tendencies we are given are just that - tendencies.  Another way of saying it is that karma will return to us but nothing dictates immutably our response to that karma when it arrives.

        Saint Germain tells us that through the judicious use of the Violet Flame we can overcome any and all karma that we have incurred so that it will not only cease to affect us but will be balanced, that negative karma will be burned up in the Violet Flame itself.

        Kryia yoga is another tool for burning away negative karma.  Paramhansa Yogananda was known to keep track of his astrological chart to determine what the chart said would be his “worst” days for doing anything and then he would make a point of getting more done than otherwise.  He did that to point out that we are not the slaves of our charts but rather that the chart is a tool to use to know when we need to put extra energy into this or that area of our lives, to watch out for certain proclivities.

        Bottom line is that astrology is a great tool to use but a lousy master to be enslaved to.  However, despite it being a useful tool on the path it is not an essential one.  You can get there without it.

A Passenger for the Trip

        I want to discuss a difficult topic to completely comprehend.  I am not sure that I can make this clear but it is important for any reader of this blog to understand because it speaks to a good reason for not doing a blog like this.

        With any subject that I cover in this blog, even if I go in depth, (which I seldom do since it is up to the reader to continue to meditate upon and discover truths about each of the things that I talk about), my aim is not to fill you in on the real truths of the path.  Those are for you to discover.  I am not equipped to take you where I haven’t gone myself yet.  For that you must seek the God within.

        In a sense this is simply a primer for the path, a place to dismiss the simpler concerns that come up as you grow in understanding.  It isn’t even a sign post on the road.  It is more like a pit stop to take care of things that need to be periodically dealt with and dismissed so that you can get back to travelling.  That is why there is an email address for you.  So you can ask questions.  The questions don't need to be major.  They can be simply stuff you have been told that you got no real explanation for.  That is the kind of thing I have found to be overlooked by many different paths and that is what I am willing to address, (if and when I am able).

        There is always a far deeper level of revelation, of understanding, of unity with God available to you in your personal relationship with that being that I, myself, am still discovering.  You might think of what I say in these blogs as an ‘introduction’, a 100-level class, if you will, that is only meant to dismiss concerns, to clarify only the most basic information, and does not bring you the true reality of awareness of God in a personal relationship that is vital to your growth and purity.

        Even when I do discuss a topic, do not think at any time that my information complete.  There is always a level of spiritual understanding and revelation about any subject that is yet to be revealed.  Think of it this way.  The ascent up the steps of any topic is on a spiral staircase.  As you climb you keep coming back to the same place but at a higher level.  This is true of the issues we face, the things we are taught, the experiences life throws at us and it is certainly true of any thing I talk about.  I am at a lower level of understanding on the stairs of knowledge.  Some of you who read these blogs and learn from them have a greater momentum in particular areas than I do myself.  But the very thought of one being ‘higher’ or ‘closer to God’ than another is itself a fallacy.

        So, read these blogs, take what you can use, and move upward.  Eventually you will discover that you don’t walk the path to God with your mind.  Eventually you will find that, in order to achieve the highest goal, you leave everything behind – your ideas, your ‘learning’, your opinions, your ego itself.  In a very real sense that is what this blog is about.  I want to address particular subjects that are important only if they become stumbling blocks on your path and dismiss them so that you can get on with the real work.  When you do this, you become free of all personal knowledge that comes from an egoic structure.  So, it is a paradox that we experience.  We gain all this information in order to get to the place where we are able to let all of this go.

        "I didn’t come here of my own accord.  Whoever brought me here will have to come and get me."  I can’t be the driver but I can strive to be a most co-operative passenger for the trip.

Types of Useful Information on the Path

This is a subject that I have discussed a bit in the forward but I mention it again here not because I am hard set against it but because the distinction is important for the adept to be aware of.  Too often we just accept these kinds of information without thought or consideration.  So if you roll your eyes when I bring it up - well, that is ok.  But it may make you treat the subject consciously rather than without consideration.

        To my mind there are three different types of valuable information I have gotten from spiritual organizations as I have traveled on my path. The first is the set of beliefs of any given organization, those things I am to accept as given because I am told that they are true. It is the kind that you think of when someone mentions doctrine. That kind that comes with a religion, creed, sect, cult or whatever. You might call this their picture of the way things are in the universe, i.e. who is in charge, who does what, who I am to pray to, etc. These beliefs often form the basis of this or that group’s theology. They are beliefs. No matter how firmly you believe these things, no matter if they are true, they are not typically things that you know. They are things that you believe, things that you are told. There is a difference between doctrine and knowledge. The difference isn’t that important when it comes to your chosen affiliation but it is vital when it comes to your personal path. You might say that doctrine is the map that is drawn for you of the scenery up the mountain, the characters you are likely to meet or are available for you to call on as you go, all those things which are outside of you, that make up the spiritual environment of your particular religion, sect or creed.

        It is possible that you do know rather than believe some of what is handed down in a church’s doctrine. But if you do it is because you have experienced it for yourself. You have had a spiritual experience yourself that confirms what you have been told. That is different. Then it is no longer doctrine. It is knowledge that comes to you from experience, from the events of your own journey. These are invaluable for they give you great power and momentum on your path.

        The second is the instruction manual for how to progress on the spiritual path. This second assumes that the doctrine calls for that kind of effort on the part of the member. Faiths that teach that you only need to make a level of commitment to achieve the goal often don’t recognize a process for spiritual growth. For those sets of beliefs, the spiritual process is a leap rather than a journey.  In that case much of what I am talking about, rather than being part of the journey, will be part of the process of adjusting to the environment at the top of the mountain.

        The third are the laws that you must keep.  That kind of information straddles the line between the other two. 

        In the west we tend to get the first type of information, a set of beliefs, especially at the lower levels of spiritual commitment. One example is the Apostle’s Creed that is spoken at every Sunday mass. It lists out the most basic tenets of Catholic belief. In the East the word they use is Dharma. The three pillars of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. At their simplest they are the guru, the teachings and the followers. The teachings in both Hinduism and Buddhism are more of a mix of both beliefs as to how things are and instructions as to how to get where you want to go. Even so, in both the East and the West the instructions for walking the path are left either for the initiate to find or left to be given by a teacher if the initiate has the gumption to seek one out.

        In any event, when I use the word doctrine in this book I mean the first type of information, that information disseminated by a church to tell you what you need to believe in order to be a member of that church. You may have noticed that I am careful not to use the word dogma. For the purposes of this book I have a different definition for the word ‘dogma’.  For an explanation of the difference between my use of the word ‘dogma’ and ‘doctrine’ please see the forward. While I am not a fan of doctrine neither do I dismiss its’ importance. The acceptance of a doctrine at the beginning of your ascent up the path can give you an important grounding, a framework in which to orient yourself and to begin to experience the environment of the spiritual path. The big issue is what you do with it.

Sacrifice, Surrender and Love

As my wife pointed out to me recently a vital element of one’s path is complete surrender. Complete surrender comes with complete trust in God and complete love of God as well. But there is a kind of a Catch 22 to a complete surrender.

Complete surrender when viewed beforehand appears to involve sacrificing everything. We think of it as giving everything up. In a sense losing everything. But it is in fact the lowering of our barriers in complete surrender that allows us rather to receive everything. It is the Father’s good will to give us the kingdom of heaven.

I had a teacher once who told me that the idea that most adepts have about sacrifice is all wrong. What we give up is crap. We give up having walls. We give up the dross or the negative effluvia that stands in the way of a greater contact with God. We give up sorrow, loneliness, fear, anger, separation from God, all of the things that make our lives miserable.  The word sacrifice comes from the word sacred. To sacrifice something is to make it sacred even as the word implies. Whether this means an object, time, emotion, whatever. The catch is this. If we strive to surrender knowing that it means that we will receive everything, and our intent in surrender is to receive everything, then we most likely aren’t surrendering.  We're bargaining.  We are still holding out for gain.  My wife calls this a “merchant’ consciousness, trying to bargain our way to attainment.  It is when we believe that our surrender will take from us something we desire and yet we do it regardless of that or surrender without thought of gain because we love God enough, it is then that we are able to surrender completely.

Behind the statement that “all that is necessary for your path is to surrender” is the underlying understanding that “all that is necessary for your path is to Love God” with all your heart, all your mind, all of your soul and all of your strength. When you first fall in love and you would do anything for the object of your love, that can bring a total, (if temporary),  surrender.  Because surrender is a natural outgrowth of that total love. Within the experience of that love surrender is natural. Without it there is no true desire to surrender.