 54. Evolution |
The journey passes through the seven valleys, the seven kingdoms, the chakras, the planes of consciousness, the degrees of faith. Often we only know we've been in a certain place when we pass beyond it. Because when we're in it, we don't have the perspective to know, because we're only "being." But as the journey progresses, less and less do you need to know. When a faith is strong enough, it is sufficient just to "be." It's a journey towards simplicity, towards quietness, towards a king of joy and peace that is not in time. It is a journey out of time, with no past, no present and no future, leaving behind every model we have had of who we think we are. It involves a transformation of our being so that our thinking mind becomes our servant rather than our master. It's a journey that has taken us from primary identification with our body, through identification with our psyche, on to an identification with our soul, then to an identification with God, and ultimately beyond identification.
-Ram Dass
Life in the physical realm is a preparation for birth into the subtle realm. Everything born into the physical world must die; however, a developed individual who learns the "immortal way" may be born again into a life of absolute freedom. A subtle transformation takes place within an individual when he succeeds in cultivating himself and attains pure wisdom. Immortal cultivation is a gradual process of practicing pure diet, energy conducting exercises (Tow Ying), and the cultivation and refinement of one's whole being. With this the heavy, gross energy of one's life begins to diminish. All of these practices are the preparation for breaking through the cycle of birth, procreation and death, and emerging into the immortal divine condition. As an individual's energy becomes more refined and subtle, he comes under the dominant control of the physical realm less and less. As such a life evolves, it gradually becomes submerged in the mighty ocean of spiritual energy, the universal divine energy, and a new life, governed by wisdom rather than emotion, is thus created. As one's sense of life broadens, the psychological ego is dissolved and entire body is positive and influenced. As one subtly transforms oneself, one leaves the gross realm and approaches immortal divinity. The evolution of the soul depends on the growth of self-awareness. This takes place over the course of many lifetimes through learning the "internal way" of the universe and following the precise and explicit methods of self-cultivation which are the heritage of the accomplished angel.
-Hua Hu Ching (Text)
In this realm it is no longer important to have the sense of an individual soul or spirit as the substance of one's life, for one's life is pure nature itself, the constancy of the universe.
-Hua Hu Ching (Text)
It is essential to understand that an individual must remain one with the constant virtue of life and dissolve the stiffness and rigidity gathered by worldly confrontation. When the internal metamorphosis is complete, he may emerge into a new realm of being in which he is one with Tao (God). This is the culmination of his evolution into the realm of pure freedom.
-Hua Hu Ching (Text)
The body, in its various forms, is the vehicle in which we may attain the experience of the numberless worlds. The human body is the vehicle of our experience of the earth, and the transfigured body, transformed beyond the shape of mere man, will be the vehicle of our experience of all other planets, stars, places, spaces, times and planes. The free life energy we are structured to develop through surrender (return) of mind and body to the radiant life-principle will be the primary, necessary and ultimate means of our migration beyond earth and man. And that same energy is the "spiritual body" in which we transcend even all the worlds of our evolutionary embodiment.
