Solve et Coagula Earthfiler
Anmeldedatum: 28.03.2006 Beiträge: 374
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Verfasst am: 28.03.2006, 15:30 Titel: |
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Why Look for Models in the World Above
Man can never improve anything on this earth if he has not first learned to rise mentally to higher levels so as to contemplate other images, other modes of existence superior to his own, and find his models and guidelines in them.
Jesus said, «Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.» He could not have expressed such a prayer if he had not already contemplated Heaven and compared it with earth - and seen that there was simply no comparison! Above, in Heaven, everything is so perfect, so glorious, that when one sees how different it is from earth, one cannot help wishing what Jesus wished for in his prayer. But for man to achieve Heaven on earth implies, necessarily, that he must be capable of rising above the shabby, mediocre, fragmented realities of this earth in order to conemplate the realities of Heaven and, having contemplated them, of returning to organize and adjust earthly realities to conform to the models he has seen on high. And this is the work of Initiates: through their meditations and contemplations they perceive and tune in to the perfection of the world above, which they then endeavour to reproduce here, on earth.
It is only in Initiatic schools that human beings learn to do this: most men have no idea how to rise to a higher plane, above and beyond that of the earth, and to contemplate that higher world, and this is why they have made such a ghastly mess of this world below. Only nature is truly beautiful, with its lakes and mountains and flowers. The things that man has built in the midst of nature are often dreadfully ugly. But, in spite of all obstacles and thanks to all those beings who bring to earth new notions more akin to those of Heaven, humanity has gradually been improving over the course of the centuries. The only purpose of meditation and contemplation is to enable man to reach a higher plane of consciousness capable of influencing and colouring his tastes, judgements and attitudes. The problem is, however, that one has to know how to meditate, how to contemplate, and what subjects to choose. A great many people meditate, but they meditate about the most prosaic things: how to organize their businesses, how to earn more money, how to steal a kiss from a lovely woman! If you ask somebody what he is doing, he will tell you. «I'm meditating», but only the Lord knows what he is meditating about! A cat meditates, too: it meditates on the problem of how to catch a mouse. So, you see, there are different kinds of meditation. And since, in spite of all their meditations, human beings are still bogged down in the same old faults and failings, the same perversions, the same infamy, it is obvious that they have not yet grasped the secret of true meditation.
True meditation is, first and foremost, to rise to a higher world, to lose oneself in wonder and admiration and, then, to reflect that wonder in oneself. If your still feel apathetic, dull and uninspired after your meditation it means that it was a failure. Meditation should change something in the way you move. It should give you something new, something subtler, just one little particle, perhaps, but a particle that vibrates in harmony with the divine world. This is how you can tell whether you have meditated well or not.
Meditation begins with the choice, by the intellect, of an elevated subject on which you fix your mind. After a few moments you can relax your mental concentration and simply contemplate the beauty you have conjured up in your mind's eye and let yourself be steeped in it. And finally, if you are able, you identify with that beauty. The first stage, therefore, is concentration and meditation, and then, once the ground is prepared, comes the stage of contemplation in which you bask in the image of perfection that fills your heart and mind, you drink deeply of its beauty, you savour it and find happiness in it. And, finally, you identify with it - and this is plenitude. These are useful, magnificent methods and if you apply them you should be able to draw great benefit from your meditations. Otherwise you will fritter your life away, deluding yourself into believing that you have done something worthwile, whereas in reality you have accomplished nothing.
These methods used to be applied by the great geniuses of the past, painters, sculptors, musicians and poets, and it was thanks to such methods that they were able to bequeath so many masterpieces to humanity. Today, unfortunetly, artists have forgotten these helpful practices, they prefer to create amdist the noise and prosaic ugliness of everyday life. This is why their creations are incapable of bringing you closer to the world of beauty and perfection, whereas, in contemplating the masterpieces of the past, you are in direct contact with more advanced beings and you begin to feel and experience what they felt and experienced. Without any deliberate effort on your part, you are practically obliged to follow them into the sublime regions that they contemplated and in which they found such delight.
This is the great advantage, the educational value of art but, unfortunetly, it does not apply to contemporary art. Contemporary art, instead of reflecting the sublime regions of the superconsciousness, often reflects the infernal regions of the subconscious. Today's artists who create works of this kind are leading mankind to destruction. And the same must be said of thinkers and writers who have never meditated or experienced ecstasy, who have never risen to celestial heights or contemplated the structure of the universe: they write books which have a destructive, disintegrating effect on their readers by filling them with doubt and revolt and a taste of disorder and anarchy. A great many of the books published today are written by authors who have never made the effort to rise to the higher regions of the spirit. Perhaps you will ask, « How can you know that?» Simply by seeing the effect they have on you. If a writer fails to awaken your higher nature it is a sure sign that he has never visited the Heavenly world above. When a man rises to higher spheres he absorbs particles from those regions and those particles continue to be active and to vibrate within him; in fact, they vibrate in such a way as to operate all kinds of transformations in the world. This is the ideal of a true artist, the ideal of an Initiate.
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov | |