A HIGHER ASPECT OF CONTEMPLATION

A mystic once said, “If any one saw God and understood what he
saw, then it was not God that he saw, but something that belongs
to Him.”(1) Some mystics contemplate the formless God and others
meditate on the forms that God takes, but the wise mystic knows
that the unmanifested and unknown God is beyond both. Even the
formless God is an “idea” created in our own mind as an archetypal
ideal to help us describe an unknown God, obscure, remote, and
outside of us, that remains an abstract thought in our mind.
 The last statement reveals that both the visible and invisible God
take external appearances so that our own thoughts and feelings
about these irrational and abstract ideas are rendered more rational
and concrete for our intellect. For these reasons, abstract thoughts
acquire different forms and remain concealed in various archetypal
symbols in our conceptual world. Therefore, all philosophies and
belief systems may be nothing more than complex and interesting
concepts created to help us understand our relationship with an
unknowable God

We should add that our conceptual world and everything in it help

us to enliven our spirit. In fact, the language of our conceptual
world is an intuitive language coming from the psyche. These ideal
models are indeed meaningful and significant to sincere seekers of
truth since all images and representations of an invisible and
unknown God within their psyche serve a Divine purpose. In truth,
these symbolic images are designed to attract, enchant, enrapture
and vitalize our passion and ardor towards our own source or
Center of Pure Being that is the unknown God

Ruysbroeck, a Flemish mystic, once expressed a similar idea: “God

devours us and feeds us at the same time.” Now, we could add, “All
the appearances that the unknown God takes on for us, with or
without form, are still godly and holy guises, and thus are
profoundly significant and meaningful to the one receiving these
impressions, since all of God’s expressions enliven and excite the
soul of man

We could further add, “Any concept we have of God, even a most

intricate and abstract one encompassing the idea of the Void, will
still remain personal and, therefore, even this idea of the Void will
still reflect and externalize an idea we have of it. Hence, the concept
of the Void will, in itself, be a reflection of one of God’s faces or
guises, compatible with our own level of understanding.”

So, what does this mean? Simply that any image or face that you
may make of the Divine still remains a creation of your own
thoughts and feelings, and hence will be rooted in your ego. That is
why all thoughts and ideas you have of an unknown God will always
belong to the world of duality, meaning that the world in which
everything that you conceive and feel is first projected outside of
you so that your intellect can recognize and absorb it. This is why
projections of spiritual ideas are actually reflections coming from
your conceptual world, drawing you back towards your own inner
center.
 We can now better understand how God’s Divine guises reflect in
our own being so as to harmonize, endear and unite our ego with
God’s own Center of Immanence and Presence. All the images and
aspects that God may take in our imagination will be represented by
a multitude of symbols conceived psychically and mentally in the
world of duality in which ego prevails. Through these inner
attractions and enticements, ego is also invited to join in, after its
transmutation and absorption into the Center of Pure Being.

Consequently, we see that it’s impossible for us to jump suddenly

from a world of duality into a world of Pure Being. We know that the
Law of Duality governs man’s daily life, which is the law of
observer/observed. By keeping ourselves in that state of separation
and division, we persist unconsciously in keeping ourselves apart
from our own Center of Pure Being. So, if we focus solely on the
external rather than going within ourselves to our Center of Pure
Being, we will find it impossible to find that Center, since the
presence of the unknown God is the same center as our Center of
Pure Being

THE SEED WITHIN..

So, what are we saying?

Simply that any description we may have of God, be it
contemplative or otherwise, with or without form, belongs to a
world of duality where object and subject, observer and observed,
challenge each other incessantly. However, to help us overcome this
entrapment, God, with His unlimited wisdom, uses our imagination
to open before us the gates of the conceptual world that serves as a
bridge to link the world of duality to the world of wholeness and
unity.
However, these two opposite poles—duality and wholeness—
harmonize in a neutral zone within our being, a state of peace and
silence in which the unknown presence of God resides as a seed
within our psyche. All types of meditation guide us towards this
zone, and teach us to gradually blend our consciousness with the
Cosmic Consciousness residing in the seed

God Is The Consciousness of the Present Moment

When you are in touch with your Center of Pure Being, you learn to
weave and surf via the subtle and sublime energies existing within
that intimate center. By this spiritual and subtle process, your ego is
attracted to your Center of Pure Being. Then, an indescribable level
of consciousness opens up, harmonizing and blending your ego with
your Center of Pure Being to fulfill Ruysbroeck’s, “God devours us
and feeds us at the same time.”

Your body is indeed your temple, so by blending your ego with your
Center of Pure Being, your temple becomes holy. As a result of
these transformations, you are made a perfect witness to your own
awakening since, from that moment, your consciousness enters a
new dimension, your ego no longer living a separate existence. You
are reborn, twice-born, and your will effortlessly expresses God’s
will in the miracle of your ordinary, everyday life.

Please note that the words “He” or “Him” are not used to imply
gender but rather to simplify the text. Gender exists only in a world
of duality, and Consciousness and Being are beyond them

The tender and loving "Faces" or guises of the Divine that the
Unknown God chooses to take for our understanding touch us
deeply, enticing and pulling us gradually inwards behind the invisible
veils of our psyche, to give us the opportunity of bringing change
and metamorphosis in our consciousness with a whole range of pure
and untapped energies. This is done to help us live life more
intensely and earnestly. Hence, ignorance and narrow-mindedness
and bigotry gradually vanish from our minds. These specific
mystical experiences also bring about something different,
something indescribable but crucial and important. We could even
go as far as to say that the whole spiritual process is to help us
reach a certain level, and this level is a center within ourselves and
yet it is also beyond ourselves since this center is nowhere and
everywhere at the same time… What do we mean.
.The Hallow Faces Of GOD
We are here, immersed in the heart of Omnipresence. These
hallowed "Faces" are symbolic images reflecting the Unknown God’s
Presence in us, they often vary and take different expressions
according to different religions. We could say, that they leave their
imprints in our psyche, and through them gradually we are shown
our way back to the Center of God's Omnipresence. These "Faces"
or "Guises" are deeply personal infusing directly our soul with the
intimate qualities of God’s infinite Love and Wisdom. Consequently,
through this secret and sacred "Face to face" encounter, a hallowed
merging occurs, a union of man with God’s Image, which we can
refer to as a "Veil". Usually these divine "Faces" leave us with a
strong impression that transform us for ever. With these intimate
contacts, we are rejuvenated and a new world appears in and
around us. Things start to look quite different from all angles and
yet nothing really changes from the exterior.

We are the ones that change because only consciousness can move
and change the energies in and around us. It is indeed
consciousness that harmonizes, blends and transforms our
perceptions. Man on all his planes of manifestations and in all his
different aspects, is made of pure energy. Hence the same law
affects his intellect and his emotions. In other words, it affects his
ego self, and his individuality. Different spiritual energies pour into
our psyche all the time, but we remain unaware of them until a
direct mystical experience brings us "Face to face" with an aspect of
the Unknown God, which reveals and reflects in us our own angelic
nature. This is interesting since it shows us that unless we look into
the mirror of our own purified heart, we will never be sensitive and
change into our own angelic essence.

A Pythagorean Saying
A Pythagorean way of saying the same thing would be: it is only
after we cooperate in the purification process of our psyche that the
muses pour upon us their gifts. Yes, indeed, it is only afterwards,
that we can receive these ineffable and transcendent gifts. We
should ponder on what this means, and consider that with each
Divine "Face" emerging from within the darkness of our own
unconsciousness a new level of consciousness appears in the light of
our conscious mind. A new "Face" manifests Itself within our heart.
We are using the word "Face" to emphasize the fact that to
understand something spiritual, man must project or receive an
image, even if this image reflects an abstract idea ... he must be
moved and excited from within by what he sees; be enthralled and
aroused intellectually by it, so as to attract to himself and learn to
blend with one of the divine Faces.

What is meant by this statement is difficult to explain, since each

divine FACE represents a level of consciousness. Hence, for a mystic
such an experience means that his psyche is about to, or has
blended already with one of the Unknown God's, emanations. We
could call the Unknown God, "the Clear Light", "the Source", or use
any expression or wording that expresses our own understanding of
this unknown PRESENCE within our own Center of being… we should
allow ourselves to be magnetically pulled in by the divine FACE that
attracts our psyche. We are openly saying here, that no man can
perceive the Unknown God "face to Face" simply because the God
we are trying to describe is the: UNCREATED LIGHT - THE
IMMACULATE PRESENCE - OF PURE BEING.

There is a hidden Path opening up from within a disciple and this

Path belongs to his inner and divine Self. To unfold the path of
initiation, and tread on it consciously, the mystic must desire with
all his heart to succeed in his Quest and persevere until the end of
the process. This means until the end of his incarnation...and when
the time comes and he is "ripe" to let the Divine Light appear in
him, this Energy will take the most appropriate Divine "Face" for
him, to attract and transform him with LOVE from within his being.
To receive such divine gift, he must first learn to let go and discard
his old ego patterns, his old "faces" and models, so as to be able to
be reborn anew

Indeed it is true to say that as personalities, we do change and with

those changes our traits change too. As we purify our psyche from
the complicated "stories" and "excuses" that we make up, we enter
slowly into a new-world, unveiling subtly a Divine "Face" - an
appropriate one that corresponds to our personal need of the
moment. This Divine Face projects an imprint into our own face like
a hologram… and in this way our level of consciousness is affected
by these subtle energies and as a consequence of these delicate
operations, our traits and attitudes soften and mature. They
become more beautiful, and therefore more attractive and magnetic

We also understand however, that there is an important spiritual

work going on within our psyche. These are subtle alchemical
operations that must remain sealed in the darkness of an inner
"cocoon" for our own protection. If we are to be called mystics or
disciples, our first step on this path is to learn to OBSERVE
ourselves. Generally, man finds excuses to cover his own mistakes,
faults, weaknesses. This is disastrous to someone who wishes to call
himself a mystic since it is only on that level of spirituality that a
disciple will learn to let go of his egotistic patterns and experience
what is meant "to vanish completely into the Center of God’s
OMNIPOTENCE, OMNIPRESENCE, and OMNISCIENCE".

This Center is the Center of PURE BEING and is also called the
UNCREATED LIGHT. Consequently, we understand that one must
desire to climb the ladder of Light within himself so as to reach
higher levels of Consciousness. One does that guided by the
inspiration, impulses and gifts given to him through the HOLY
SPIRIT.
 ..

We understand therefore, that before one is able to acquire the

appropriate level of consciousness which allows one to receive the
inspiration and guidance of the divine wisdom, one must first free
oneself of all the chains and fetters of the ego. One must be
prepared to embrace the different emanations and qualities
embodied: the divine "Faces" of the uncreated God... This means
that each Divine Face embodies in Itself a divine EXPRESSION, and
QUALITY, as each "Face" purifies, and transforms the ego into a
more refined expression. However, to reach the center of the
Uncreated Light one has to abandon at a certain point of his journey
all the divine Aspects letting go of everything including the most
spiritual gift received by the Holy Spirit. Hence by first embracing
one by one all the divine qualities of the unknown God, the disciple
has at the end of his Quest to "return" them back to the Source, to
the Center of the Uncreated Light of BEING. From that level of
Cosmic Consciousness, he abandons them one by one releasing
them into the Source. It is only then, that the Center of the
Uncreated God's Omnipresence in the disciple becomes active..
Ponder and contemplate on what is meant by this statement...

In the same context of what we just said, I would like to make a

point on the importance of spiritual psychology since the world of
the "observer" and the "observed" belong to it. Spiritual psychology
teach us to be Vigilant, Alert and Conscious of our own mistakes,
faults, and weaknesses. We all create around us a personal
"STORY", meaning that we skilfully make up excuses for our own
shortcomings, accusing others, or blaming instead of looking
objectively into our own cynicism. We should understand that faults
are in themselves distortions of qualities. For example: compassion
and love can turn out to become jalousie or hatred, but what
concerns us specially here is the fact that spiritual awakening
cannot happen unless we become conscious of our own patterns
and have a strong need to change them.

The Roles Of Imagination

The role that our IMAGINATION plays in the creation of spiritual and
sacred Ideas is very important. Through these ideas we create
mental images and sacred "Faces", giving form to the formless God.
We could say that the role or mission that our imagination takes for
us is to make "visible" and "understandable" different
manifestations of unknown, uncreated, unmanifested impulses

So, as we have said, before we can have an "idea" and give

meaning to what God is for us, even if the idea is an abstract one it
will still remain in a world of duality where God and us humans
remain separate. Hence, we understand by this statement that to
approach the Unknown God or the Clear Light we have first to
recognize and be "penetrated" by His Divine "Face", in other words
by His Divine Emanations… His divine Qualities... and we receive
these impulses only when we are ready and well prepared.
However, this process is indeed a life long spiritual project that
demands our entire dedication. This project comprises the
purification of our astral and mental bodies and a simplification of
the way we live. That is why a wise mystic knows that God is nearer
to him than he is to himself… and therefore, God is a better Judge
of his personal needs…

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