June, 1961

HRAs Don’t Want a New “Religion”

 

A LETTER FROM CIGBO, HRA “KITTY”

Dear Aunties and Uncles HRAs:

I have had the dog gondest time (no cat would ever have been that far gondest). Last month ME and boss decided that it would be nice for ME to make all the HRAs a presink of a little paperback book named The Great Religions by Which Men Live, because most of you would not bother to get it for yourselves. We did some high frynance and turned my cigar box inside out, and figgered that if maby we shortchanged all of you a few issuse of the Huna Vistas when I couldn’t scratch up paper and stamps and stuff some more –  well it looked like we could chance it. The book only cost 35¢ and we could get it hullsail for 28¢, and ennelopes cost only 3¢ and the stamp was 8¢. So we placed the order and announced that the book would be sent “soon.”

The man promised delivery to us in “about three weeks”. When six weeks was gone and still no books, ME and boss insisked that some wires be burned up, and after a while we had word that the book had run out of print but was being printed again, in fact, had been and was now ready, and that 250 copies had arrived for the man to take to drug stores to put in their revolving library stands. Only joker was that the new printing was called a “Premier Book” instead of a “Crest” and that the rascality pubrisher had jumped the price on us to 50¢ and 40cents hullsail. He said “take it or leave it”, so ME and boss conflabbed and I cried so loud the pubrisher sure heard me. But he never backed up a inch. The upshot and downshot was that we did some more high frynancing and with piteous yeowls I telephoned the man in San Diego. He was ashamed to answer, but a nice lady who lives in the Agency did, and when she heard what trouble I was in, she said she would run out to the back room and stop them drug stores from getting any of the books which had already come. And she did. And she managed to scare up 250 of the books, which was just half of what we kneaded. So she sent them, and ME and boss hurried to get them mailed out. The ones of you who live in heathen lands was all sent this first batch because Africa and Australia and Finland and Iron Curtain is so far away that it takes longer to get boat mail. If the rest of you have not got your copy yet, when you get this bullington, be patient, or meow loud, whichever you feel like. If that pubrisher does not change the book again to a different imprint, like mabby “Inflashion Books”, and doesn’t jump the price again, you’ll get yours. So sorry for the slowness.

Love from your very own: CIGBO, hra jr. gd.Kitty.

WHEN YOU GET YOUR COPY of the little book, THE GREAT RELIGIONS etc., please read it and enjoy it, as I have done. But, as you read, try to watch for information concerning the views of God held by various religions, be God called Brahman or Tao or The Absolute.

Watch to see whether the concepts were based on reason, experience, revelation or the dogmatic statements of founders of a religion. Revelation may come through spirits, or through intuitions of the mystics.

The great unsolved mystery is how a Supreme Creator who, supposedly, is all powerful and all good, can allow evil beings on the level of gods and spirits to exist, or, on the human level, human beings. Even on the lower levels, how can a kind and just God allow evil forms of life to exist and prey on other forms? As you read, see the clever ways in which evil in a good creation is explained from one religion to the next. Read the arguments for the “Fall”, and the explanation of maya, or of karmic justice.

And, as you read, examine your own beliefs and explanations. This, frankly, is why I wanted to see the present study project taken up. I get so many letters which show me that the writer needs, like myself, to take time out to examine his or her beliefs concerning an ULTIMATE SOURCE and to clear away the fogginess caused by accepting the ideas or beliefs of others. In my copy of our text, page 187, pgr. 3, 1 have marked with red pencil the part which reads:

“The tragedy is that too many of us remain content, even in our adult years, with the answers or descriptions offered by someone else. We limit ourselves to what others say instead of re-exploring the basic questions for ourselves. Many of us cling to the values emphasized by some past leader without exploring their meanings in the present. Almost all of us have closed off certain areas of thought somewhere along the line … There are doors to be opened …” (The authors, Floyd H. Ross and Tynette Hills, will continually delight you by their knowledge, kindness and sympathetic understanding of all points of view.)

For the present, let us confine ourselves to the study of the several concepts of God. (I use the word common to the West, for convenience sake, but by it I mean to include all concepts of “CAUSE”.) After we consider the concepts of the ancient religions, we can quickly assay the ones presented by more modern revealed or invented religions.

Once we have filled in for ourselves, individually, an OUTLINE of what we have tentatively decided is acceptable as a God concept, we can move on to the lower levels where we will meet angels, gods, Aumakuas, Ashfars, Saints and Ascended Masters. That will begin to be very unsafe ground for us all, as here we will find many views based on revelation and dogmatic statements. We may even find that some of the HRAs are so set in their own beliefs that we can no more discuss the dogmas or compare them than we can discuss politics without war being declared and scalps taken right and left. I realize that in proposing this study project I have “walked in where angels fear to tread” and that, despite my best efforts to keep us all tolerant and able to hold our hats on, I may inadvertently touch off an explosion which will blow the HRA to bits. I sincerely hope that this will not happen, but we must all be forewarned and watch our steps with care.

SEVERAL LETTERS SHOW GROWING INTEREST IN THE OUTLINE project, but there is much objection to the use of the word RELIGION. There is also a general doubt that we can outline a set of beliefs, in which religion and psychology are combined, which would be accepted by even the major part of the HRAs, to say nothing of the millions outside our charmed circle.

The idea of selecting beliefs to fit various levels of people, measured in terms of “degrees Biometric,” seems to be considered a matter of less immediate importance than working out things for ourselves to fit the level falling between about 350 and 384 degrees.

IN A TAPE LETTER, ONE HRA SAYS that the mention of “religion or church” is to be avoided at all costs as these words have too long been connected with the bad features of priestcraft and blind dogmatism. Most people in our level who value Huna would be upset by having the element of “cult” enter at any point to tarnish our record of being a straight research organization.

He suggests that, if we have to give a name to the  OUTLINE, we call it, “World College of Wisdom” and then try to include in the outline everything we can which relates to the materials of the field in which the work will be done. He suggests six departments of study: Philosophical, Metaphysical, Mysticism, Occultism, Science and the section for the Devotee who is trying to practice or live some accepted system. He also points out the difficulty which we will encounter if we approach the mass of material which comes under the heading of “Comparative Religion” and in which there is no general agreement on sources of beliefs or on social values. Instead, we may do well to select things from various religions without too much comparison, and use them if they seem good. He thinks the stress should be placed upon the need to expand personal awareness and to encourage intuition so that the basic element of CONSCIOUSNESS in the universe can be better understood and even experienced. If, later on, we attempt to assemble ideas fitted to the several P.A. levels of intelligence, the six departments could be divided into as many grades as may be needed.

My reaction to this set of suggestions is that “College” at once suggests teaching, and that we are not teaching anything. We simply hunt for information and share what we find, not being sure that it is or is not valid and trustworthy. We also must be continually aware of the fact that what we believe today may not fit the evidence of tomorrow., Above all else, we must avoid being “frozen’ in our tracks” so that the later ideas are rejected, a cult formed and the slogan, “Believe this, or else” be printed on our banners.

A QUITE REPRESENTATIVE LETTER came from HRA W.M., of Buffalo, N.Y. who writes, “Might I ask WHY you propose a new religion? Why not use our HRA knowledge as it is and let it go at that? As a student of the HRA materials I have given many hours to reading and re-reading what you have written in the Bulletins and in your five books. I have accepted your findings because they make sense to me and give proof of many things I have read in the past.

“What would another religion mean to us? Haven’t we enough of them at present? Do we want a dogmatic one such as the Roman Catholic? Do we want one such as the Protestants have which can continually be broken down into one more segment? Last night we had 251 different denominations and this morning we may have a few more. As a Protestant, it has been a thought of mine for years: ‘How can there be so many diametrically opposite opinions on a religion?’ Everybody and his brother has a different interpretation when he reads the Bible. Or do we want a religion such as Christian Science, where not a word can be changed over a period of more than 75 years? If we have a set of tenets to begin with, what is to stop one from adding or taking away something from them? I believe we should also be open to what Science brings to light.

“NOW, HERE IS MY SUGGESTION: In reading your books I marvel at the miracles you bring to light. Not only what you have seen, but also what Dr. Brigham reported when you first went to Hawaii. Some of the lesser experiences, such as the materializations, I fully understand. I have seen materializations performed many times. But an outstanding miracle which you reported was that of the reviving of a drowned boy after an eight hour delay. That was a miracle of the first order.

“As I read your Huna Vistas, I note that many of your researchers are of an argumentative nature. Would they be fully in accord with any plan we might decide upon for another religion? I do not think so. But if they have been doing research on HRA lines, they must have hit on some of its truths. Take those simple truths and then try to add more of them to the collection. If we can get only a few of the wonderful things reported as done by the kahunas of years past, we will have done a good job. Let’s get into the study of healing in such a way that Huna students can obtain positive results. How about using our HUNA knowledge in getting better psychic demonstrations? I AM QUITE SURE WE CAN if we give our Huna a real try at psychic seances. I have often wondered at the immense power a group of sitters could exert if they all used the Huna method of building up the vital force. But Huna is not known to those who sell Spiritualism.

“I would like to have you use the Huna Vistas more toward extracting and reporting instances out of the realm of everyday experiences. Telling us in more ways how Huna has helped various ones. I don’t know how many members we now have, but in a recent H. V. you said there were 75 oversea HRAs. (We number 463 at this writing, about 425 of whom are other than “exchanges” or “complimentary.” MFL ) Knowing how other researchers have used Huna would help others to get more out of Huna teachings. Perhaps many have never given the Huna methods a real trial. From a psychic point of view, they all seem – as methods – so simple to demonstrate that results should be expected. Give these thoughts a bit of consideration, and let me hear from you ……..

MY COMMENT: Since first proposing the project of trying to gather materials and to outline a possible world religion tied to Psychology, I have been seeing the difficulty of using the old word, “religion”, and I have realized that the main value of such an effort lies in helping ourselves, as individual HRAs to take a long and questioning look at our own beliefs and try to fill in the holes as well as chuck out the inherited things which we see are useless. Personally, I have already had a very rewarding experience in such a re-examining of my all too vague ideas about Ultimate God. I have been pouring over books, old and new, always asking myself whether or not I had a satisfactory answer for the astonishing parade of questions which arise from reading aimed at getting a broad view of what men, ancient and modern, believe God to be. I agree most heartily that we do not need a new religion or cult. As I said in the beginning, I still say, we can measure all beliefs and theories all revelations and manufactured dogmas with the yardstick of Huna. It may be, as Wing Anderson (who, by the way is not an HRA) wrote, “kindergarden education”, but to me it seems to give in its ten elements all that is needed for our purposes, at least until we get to examining the beliefs and dogmas of the many religions. I agree heartily with the suggestion that our  best chance of developing a workable healing method lies in staying close to Huna. As to the use of spirits to aid in healing and the accumulation of mana surcharges by the seance members, I think that a most excellent idea. I have wanted to try it out in past years but could never find the right people or medium for the experiment. I did make a few preliminary tests and through them learned that with a surcharge of mana and the willingness to give it to spirits, one ran a great danger of attracting spirits of the lowest and worst kind, and that to give them access to one’s mana surcharge was dangerous. I encountered what seemed to be subhuman and wolfish spirits. Kahunas of old allowed Aunihipili spirits to take mana from the victim of the death prayer, and to use up the force in typical poltergeist activities, throwing around the simple furnishings of his hut, making noises and the like. For the test to be made safely and properly, one would need a good medium and a very strong and good spirit guide who could stand guard and prevent the mana accumulated by the circle from being taken by low level spirits. In theory, at least Huna theory (of course), miracles can be performed if there is enough mana and the right entity to use it to break down present conditions and substances (aka forms also) and rebuild them in the correct aka mold. (The breaking down of aka forms is, supposedly, needed only when the form of some future event of a “bad” kind is encountered and must be broken down and replaced with the aka form of a desired event or condition.)

If such a seance circle undertook to heal a person suffering from the full or partial obsessive influence of one or more spirits, a complicated situation would arise. Such spirits feed on the mana of the victim, if we are to believe what we see happen in epileptic attacks where the victim is left unconscious and greatly weakened after an attack. We would have to work with the greatest caution in such cases and consider the mana surcharge something which would be as dangerous as a high explosive if put into the wrong hands. A spirit of evil nature, so armed, might take possession of the body of one of the members of the seance circle and refuse to let go. In the past few years I have followed with great interest (and sometimes anxiety) the experiences of four different HRAs who attended seances and sat in “development” classes in two instances, only to attract low level spirits to them and have much difficulty getting free’. One HRA and his friend, both having sat for development of psychic abilities in a class conducted by a greedy medium, were knocked down, tripped, pushed at the head of stairways to make them fall, and subjected to many “punishments” for leaving the class and breaking with the spirits assigned as guides and said to be good and moral. Only by sticking it out stubbornly did the two men outlast the spirits and get rid of them. In another case a very intelligent woman HRA set out to investigate seances and mediums in Los Angeles, only to find that she was threatened by mediums when she wished to stop attending their classes and seances, and often ran into frightening psychic attacks. But she, also, held her ground and got clear after a considerable struggle.

Our efforts to try to use Huna healing methods have never gone all out for several reasons, the main one being that none of us have felt that we could give our full time to such experimentation in healing, and the secondary reason being that the patients, if found, would hardly wish without proof of the efficacy of the method, to submit to the cleansing (kala) work to make them and their Auninipilis ready to accept the healing ministration. I described in detail the cleansing work done on me in my book, SSBM. I went to a woman kahuna to get help in selling my camera business, and was told to give up smoking and food until after noon for a week. I was also to give “until it hurt” to some charity. I had been examined psychically beforehand and found not to have the need of going to others whom I had hurt to make amends. If you have forgotten the account, pick up your copy of SSBM and turn to page 336 where it begins. It is good that we refresh our memory on the method in any event. (The Hawaiian healer mentioned in recent Huna Vistas as healing many Indians successfully is said to have used this same cleansing method when at home and when there is time for the patient to do what is necessary to impress his Aunihipili that the healing is deserved. I think that the statement passed on to me that I had Huna wrong in many parts, was aimed at the belief in the ability to heal without the aid of spirits rather than at the cleansing steps, the latter appearing to be universally accepted as standard by the Polynesian kahunas.)

I still get letters begging me for the name of a powerful healer. They come from a woman who first wrote to me several years ago, and whom I was able to direct to a healer who had been successful in exorcising the semi-obsessed, as I took it she was. The treatment was progressing to the point of the final call to the “Light” to drive away the spirit, when it, apparently seeing what was about to be accomplished, took over and filled the patient with such fear of the doctor that she fled from his town without telling him she was going. As in every case where some healer has tried to rid her of the spirit, she turned on this doctor and began accusing him of coming at night to make psychic attacks on her. She describes in her letters the nights of horror in which she fights to retain consciousness and to keep the attacking spirits at bay. I believe she, as a person, greatly desires to be freed of the obsession, but that the spirit is strong enough to prevent her taking proper hypnotic or other exorcising treatment. It is a distressing case at best, and an example of the obsessional difficulties which seem at present to defy help. Perhaps the seance with the large supply of available mana may in the end be the answer. Tradition gives us the hope that “casting out devils” may yet be an art put into practice. (The famous work of Dr. Wickland is not to be forgotten. He drove the spirits out of the patients with static electricity and invited them to enter the body of his wife, who was a fine medium. Once in her, he could converse with them and often get them to see the evil of their ways and go with good spirit guides to live properly on their own level of life. Kahunas used mesmeric shock methods of driving out spirits, and often controlled them by hypnotic suggestion, if I understand their methods correctly.)

THE QUESTION OF HOW MANY HRAs THERE ARE, brings up the possible question of why Cigbo and boss ordered 500 copies of the give-away paperback book. The full 463 have their stencils cut for their addresses, and all will get a copy, even the exchanges, so that our present work can be better understood. The extra 37 copies are to have on hand to be sent to those who may belatedly discover the HRA and wish to get back copies of the H.V. The back copies of the old HRA Bulletin have also been kept on hand, and now and again someone desires the full set. (As I write these lines, Cigbo is meowing cheers and waving two letters which arrived in the afternoon mail. In both of them the writers sent thanks for the book that they had received, and each sent a dollar to help Cig to finance the deal. The HRAs are very kind, and I have an idea that Cigbo is very much spoiled but he reminds me that he never forgets to meow his thanks for gifts sent him, and that he meows very loud for those who help him “over and above the call of due ty”.)

GOOD REPORTS ON THE USE OF THE HUDSON sleep healing method continue to come in. Children respond well. Animals also seem to respond, and this brings up the question of whether or not suggestion is being used in our astral travel at night when we set out to heal. (Or when we only make telepathic contact through a connecting aka cord with the one to be treated.) All we have to go on is the knowledge that there is often telepathic communication between humans and animals, as in the case of an HRA who found he could call his dog telepathically and have him come from wherever he might be – often some distance away. The “talking horses” which have seemed to possess mathematical information of a high order, and even the ability to predict the future to a certain extent, have not been proven to be directed by the telepathy of the owner, but this form of direction has not been disproven. In a celebrated case some years ago in England, there were men called “horse whisperers”. One of these was famous for his ability to take a horse which was quite beyond ordinary control, and by whispering into his ear for a time, make him gentle and tractable. Chickens seem to be put into a form of hypnotic sleep by holding them gently in a position such as they take when asleep, and by silently suggesting sleep while gently stroking the head.

HRA W.B., of Los Angeles , who has managed to get copies of all five of Dr. Hudson’Is books, has boiled the method down into a short form for us. He writes: “Use George (the Aunihipili) somewhat as a machine, although a part of us. Tell him to go underground when we fall asleep and perform as per Hudson. Wait with joyous expectation, and something works out.”

I COMMENT: It would be good if we were able to understand just why and how this method works, but, fortunately, this is not entirely necessary. A savage may have no understanding at all of what makes a match light when scratched, but will be able to use matches just the same. I continue treating four friends. One became we, to all seeming, and I gave thanks and stopped work on him. Shortly after that the old trouble came back, and work was resumed. I see him almost daily, and once more he is back to normal. An interesting try was for arthritic trouble in the arms. One arm is reported much improved, and thus encouraged, I am working hard to try to get both arms in shape.

NEVER FORGET THAT SELF-SUGGESTION IS A MARVELOUS THING when used in healing one’s self. From things told me in letters during the past few years, and from personal testing, I pass on the following instructions: Have a good talk with your Aunihipili and give all the arguments to convince it that you want healing or freedom from some habit such as smoking. Take plenty of time, three or more conversations over several hours or on up to three days. If over a few days, watch for a reply in the form of a dream. The dream may be symbolical and if one does not understand its meaning and message upon awakening and recalling it, ask at once “What does this dream mean?” The answer will usually come at once or in a short time. An interesting case was reported by an HRA who wanted to stop smoking and who set about convincing the Aunihipili that this was a good thing to do and also very easy because they would pray and the Aumakua would help them. He dreamed that he was in a storage building where a small boy was smoking in hiding. He lectured the small boy on the evils of smoking, and got only nasty looks from the youngster. Then in walked a young fellow who was eight feet tall, blond, powerful, and dressed in shirt and shorts for athletic work. The small boy had vanished. The dreamer said to the big fellow, “You sure have all the muscle you need.” The young giant nodded and the dream ended.

Upon awakening and asking for the meaning of the dream, the thought came at once that the powerful youth represented the Aumakua and that it stood ready to help. That day the thought was kept to the fore that when going to bed the self-suggestion would be given to stop smoking without the least discomfort, and that the prayer to the Aumakua would be made for help. By night the mental attitude had been reached of giving thanks for complete freedom from the smoking habit. The self-suggestion was made and the prayer. Next morning there was no desire to smoke, only the joyous feeling of freedom and the deep thankfulness for the help which had been given.

This reminds one of the Hawaiian way of “breathing power” into a prayer by dwelling long on it as well as making the approach to the Aumakua in prayer a matter of slow and thoughtful steps. Once the steps are taken, as laid out above, keep giving thanks for the answer from the Aunihipili and the Aumakua. Stop talking to others about the original trouble as their doubts as to the healing will act as a suggestion to revive the thing which was been disposed of. In breaking up the aka mould of a bad condition, the Aumakua may let the pieces fall on one’s head, and the condition may seem to become suddenly worse. But sit tight, stop thinking about the trouble in so far as possible, and keep before the mind the picture of the desired condition as if it had already come. This will build the new aka thought mould of the proper condition and also continue to reinforce the suggestion given the Aunihipili. Repeat the prayer and suggestion as long as needed, always, after the first action, giving thanks for the freedom from whatever it has been that has caused trouble. Once healed or helped, never look back to dwell on the old state. If it is remembered, give thanks that it was done away with and turn the mind at once to other things.

FOR THE CHRONIC AILMENT which has taken some time to develop, the above method may need to be put to use in such a way that a small improvement is asked for at a time, obtained, and then rejoiced over before setting to work to get another step forward toward a complete healing. Sight, hearing and ailments seeming to involve a greater change in the body to put right can be taken in the slower way. In difficult cases the old kahuna method of having the patient do cleansing acts should not be over looked. Physical acts which will make the Aunihipili feel that you deserve healing are powerful physical stimuli to make self-suggestion take hold and to cause the Aunihipili to be open to the help of the Aumakua. In making the suggestion that, for instance, one’s sight be bettered by a noticeable extent, be sure to tell the Aunihipili that the good deeds and sacrifices you have been doing and making cause you to deserve the healing and help. Be very sure that you do not have an Aunihipili which is clinging to an affliction as a means of escaping some obligation or a means of punishing someone near you. The Aunihipili often does amazing things to the body just to get even with someone or to get some attention or sympathy. Very often it carries over childish traits and wants to bawl and blame someone else when the toe is stubbed. The approach there is, “You are a fine, big, stout fellow now and can handle things for yourself.” A desire to “get well” so that you can begin doing something which you wish very much to do will be a fine carrot to dangle before the reluctant donkey of the Aunihipili. Dwell on how much you will love being able to do this or that or the other thing, and when you can, begin to do whatever it is, even if in only a token way. Try to see, to hear, to walk or hoe in your beloved garden plot. If one finds that one has a firm faith in something, be it Jesus, a saint, a rabbit’s foot or the act of performing a “novena,” by all means get the benefit of that faith in the process if possible.

BOOK REVIEW

BEYOND THE LIGHT by HRA Mr. Fay M. Clark, ($2.75, 80 pages, to be had from Pyramid Publishing Co., Hiawatha, Iowa) is a most important document to us just at this time when we of the HRA are trying to decide what  we as individuals think God to be. We ask about the nature of God from the ancient and modern religions as well as from Science. The answers we get come largely from revelations, and from the dogmatic statements of the founders of religions. The spirits who have given thick volumes of dogmatic statements do not agree. Whom may we believe? In recent years a building effort has been made to learn through hypnosis, self-suggestion and the use of rare drugs, such as found in the peyote cactus roots or buttons – mescalin – or in some rare varieties of mushrooms, a way to open the consciousness to let in the very substance of mystical knowledge and visions.

Harold W. Percival started the effort by throwing himself into a special condition and having stenographers take down the answers he gave to the questions of his associates. His replies and comments make a book of over 1,000 pages, Thinking and Destiny. Under hypnosis an entity which gave the name of Bridey Murphy appeared to speak of a past life and to dwell on some mystical materials. A similar use of hypnosis caused Irene Specht to enter the special state and answer questions as if from the mouth of her “God Self”. Now we have the condition reached through self-suggestion and the use of peyote by Mr. Clark, and his answers to many questions put to him by his friends. His description of his heightened sensory impressions is excellent and provocative, but for the student his answers are most important. They are often unexpected and cause one to pause to wonder whether such a thing could be or not. Always there is the question of whether the answers are being given by a spirit on the “other side” or because of a great expansion of mind to contact what he calls “God mind,” and considers part of a “superconscious”. On page 35 he is asked: “WHY DOES THIS MIND USE THE PHYSICAL BODY TO TALK THROUGH?” (Check the Huna idea that the Aumakua does not speak in words through the body.) The answer was: “I would rather not; I would rather not. It took me a long time. It took me a long time to learn to talk. You can’t make words unless you have a body to talk out of.”

This surprising answer does not suggest communication with a spirit who is listening and giving the answers through the living man. Spirits are always great talkers. They even wrote the 884 page book, Oahspe through the hands of a medium who sat waiting before his typewriter. Only crazy spirits fail to talk, and, even they gibber through mediums. Then, we ask eagerly, who or what was this entity which had to learn to use words? Was it the author’s Aumakua? Was it a level of consciousness so high that the denizens there used no words? Or, had he, as he guessed, expanded the upward reach of his normal consciousness to the point where he covered vast reaches of the God mind?

HRA Clark wrote his comments on his experiences before coming to know Huna, but many of the things he says point to Huna concepts very clearly. His comments are simple and cover at a leap many complications. He writes (page 79), “Searching for contact with God is simply searching for truth – truth for you today – not searching for truth yesterday or tomorrow, but today – right now – the God mind is within us, not in our reasoning physical mind ………..

CONSTRUCTING A PERSONAL RELIGION — Part Two

IN OUR STUDY OF ANCIENT AND MODERN RELIGIONS we will sort materials and do a little thinking for ourselves. After recognizing the fact that the human mind cannot understand the way a divine mind may think, and after admitting that we cannot grasp the idea of anything which does not have a beginning and an end, limited by time and space …. we must go on to decide for ourselves, individually, what concept of FIRST CAUSE or CAUSELESS SUPREME BEING best satisfies us. For our purpose of discussion we will use the word “GOD”, although our concepts will not be limited by what we have been told in religions. Perhaps some questions may be put to act as guides in weighing the old ideas and those of our own time.

1. Shall I consider God as an original and eternal CONSCIOUSNESS existing without anything of which to be conscious, such as force or matter, space or time?
2. Shall I favor the idea that this basic CONSCIOUSNESS was a personal BEING, or something impersonal? Man can grasp nothing which is not colored by his own sense of being personal and apart. Shall we say that Consciousness, force and matter (the latter perhaps at first unformed and “etheric” in nature) existed together at the start of time limited “creation”, or shall we say that Consciousness created by an action of itself – thought – the force and subtle matter which were used to form the Universe?
3. Shall we reject the ‘single unit’ idea of Consciousness and accept Consciousness as a Duad in which it is divided from the start of material creation into the positive and negative or male and female polarities which we observe on all sides in Nature? Or shall we divide Consciousness to make it a Trinity, each part equal, such as we find in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost idea, or The Father, Mother and Son idea of some ancient religions?
4. Shall we go on to divide Consciousness as creation progresses, to have descending levels of lesser “gods” and “angels” some assigned to one task and some to another, with the dividing continued down through man and to the last and least atom, giving a sufficient consciousness to serve the purpose of living?
5. Shall we consider the First Something so good and just that IT could NOT create bad or evil conditions or  entities, the latter starting with a co-existing God who was perhaps equally powerful and who created bad and evil? Shall we say that because the Absolute is undoubtedly good, evil cannot have been created or tolerated, therefore there is no evil except in the eyes of men? That men are blinded to the absolutely good universe by some “maya” or built-in illusion peculiar to men?
6. Shall we say that Consciousness, force and matter are without beginning or end and must be looked upon as a vast Something always in a state of change, this change producing and destroying creations on the planet level, perhaps on an invisible level such as the postulated “etheric” or “astral”? Shall we say that in that part of this ever changing mass which we can observe, there seems to be a process of evolution from simple to more complex forms and units, and that evolution is the purpose of life? If so, to what goal are we humans evolving? MFL