Cause and Effect — Sixth of the Seven Hermetic Laws

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://spiritofmaat.com/aug08/correspondence.html

be well, be love.

david

correspondence — second of the seven hermetic laws
by bruce rawles

(this article was excerpted and adapted from the upcoming book, "the geometry code: symbolic wisdom of natural laws within us" by bruce rawles, available soon from elysian publishing. this is the second of eight articles; you might want to first read the initial article in the series and the prior article on the law of mentalism to get the context for this one.



"what do you forgive? well, it's simple. whatever comes up in front of your face on any given day, that's what you're supposed to forgive. it's not a mystery; it's always right there in front of you. you may think you can't see what's in your unconscious mind; well, you don't have to. all you have to see is the symbolic representation of it that is being presented to you right now... symbolic of that which already exists in your own unconscious mind. as you forgive that, you're really forgiving yourself."
— gary renard, the end of reincarnation



the law of correspondence (mirrors, lenses, echoes and projections) — keyword: love

the second of the seven laws or principles is given the name correspondence in the kybalion, along with the phrase "as above, so below; as below, so above." a detailed quotation follows: "just as a knowledge of the principles of geometry enables man to measure distant suns and their movements, while seated in his observatory, so a knowledge of the principle of correspondence enables man to reason intelligently from the known to the unknown." — the kybalion

the law of correspondence, combined with the law of mentalism covered in the previous chapter, offers us the liberating insight (if we pay attention :-) that the universe mirrors the models and belief structures that exist within our imagination; it is a reflection of a steady flow of holographic projections we call perception. the staggering implications from post-newtonian physics (which we'll review briefly below), suggest that if no one is around, trees falling in the forest really don't make a sound!

we are required to "breathe life" into our chosen "reality". an obvious extrapolation of this hermetic gem might be "as within, so without." the corollary "as without, so within", while extremely popular, is actually more like putting the cart before the horse, since the outer is a reflection of the inner. sure, we can use the rear view mirror to keep where we've been in perspective, but driving is far more fun — and much safer! — while maintaining the focus on what is directly in front of us. in this metaphor, we're paying attention to what is within to address what is 'front and center', rather than what the machinery of the physical universe has already fabricated as effect, and has already passed by on life's interstate (or interstellar, depending the pace we're trying to maintain!) highway.

the crucial ingredient, as stated in my previous article, is the thought system we use to assign meaning to the perceptions. if we tightly grasp onto our individual (finite, separate) perspective, we inevitably distort, omit and filter the feedback we get and keep ourselves lost in the labyrinthine illusion of form, space, and time. staying vested in the ego interests and identification with our 'special' personal stories, we usually miss the exquisite lessons all around us. with the right attitude (as any pilot knows when their airplane's control surfaces are properly trimmed), a plane will essentially fly itself. the same applies to the thought system of wholeness; we'll arrive where we need to be, if we just trust the intrinsic design of our internal guidance system. (it doesn't matter if we call it conscience, eternal intuition, or cosmic inspiration. what is important is the practice of heeding the inner promptings to achieve harmony (like the non-resistance of a superconductor to 'what is') by a two-step process:

1) relinquishing the hopeless, pathetic belief that our finite senses are giving us the whole picture; this leads to the realization that what we perceive "outside" in the realm of 3d space is all made up anyway and not worth getting upset about, and

2) realizing that with the help of the above insight about space, we can apply this to time as well. we're just experiencing echoes of the past bouncing around us as a grand distraction from what is going on within us, gently prompting us to 'step away from the grievance and no one will get hurt.'

or, by using another well known 2-step process:

"don't sweat the small stuff — and it's all small stuff." — richard carlson

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://spiritofmaat.com/sep08/vibration.html

be well, be love.

david

vibration — third of the seven hermetic laws
by bruce rawles

(this article was excerpted and adapted from the upcoming book, "the geometry code: symbolic wisdom of natural laws within us" by bruce rawles, available soon from elysian publishing. this is the fourth of eight articles; you might want to first read the initial article in the series and the prior article on the law of mentalism and law of correspondence to get the context for this one.

"listen-perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song whose name is long forgotten; and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place or anything particular. but you remember, from just this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened with you."

— from the forgotten song (chap. 21) from the text of a course in miracles

the law of vibration (light, sound, and other senses … and stillness) — keyword: strength

the third of the seven laws or principles is given the name vibration in the kybalion, along with the phrase "nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." — the kybalion

physics teaches us that all of our senses have a vibrational aspect in one way or another. sound and light are the obvious examples as they correspond to the spectra of acoustical pressure and electromagnetic energy — we hear about 10 octaves and see about 1 octave respectively, out of what are probably infinite spectra. the other three senses of taste, smell and touch also (when analyzed in terms of the biochemistry involved) can be thought of in terms of vibratory phenomena, harmonics, overtones and phase relationships and amplitudes, just as our two primary senses are. we typically spend most of our time involved with our sensory world, in one form or another, yet the evidence from the biological and physical sciences tell us that all of our perceptions are quite limited (1 tiny octave or 10 out of an infinite number) and unreliable (just look at the wide assortment of optical illusions for example.) perceptions also can vary widely from person to person — the classic story of the blind men and the elephant comes to mind, where each describes a different portion, but no partial examination reveals the whole story. more importantly, the meaning and interpretations we give our perceptions literally fabricate our model of an external world. perhaps trees falling in forests with no one around really don't make a sound!

the law of vibration, combined with the laws of mentalism and correspondence covered in the previous chapters, brings us the understanding that the realm of mind — our thoughts, feelings and attitudes — all have a vibrational counterpart. our outer vibratory state also can correspond to our inner vibratory state… but doesn't always necessarily. we may not get to choose what our external senses appear to deliver to us, but we certainly have a choice of whether we are the puppets of what impinges on our senses (the vibrations that seem to influence us) … or whether we proactively choose to recognize the dreamlike quality of our external experience and not make it our master.

[leo scone]

thank you lighteye! the kybalion has long been an essential favorite of mine. the seven hermetic principles have been an incredible help for me in sorting my way through the catalyst of life. i'm glad to see it being shared more here and recommend that lovely little blue book to everyone here!

of course, as i sit here using this digital medium, with a few flicks of the fingers i come up with this:

http://www.kybalion.org/kybalion.asp

so, hard-copy or digital, have at it kids!

huzzah!

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://spiritofmaat.com/oct08/polarity.html

be well, be love.

david

polarity — fourth of the seven hermetic laws
by bruce rawles

(this article was excerpted and adapted from the upcoming book, "the geometry code: symbolic wisdom of natural laws within us" by bruce rawles, available soon from elysian publishing. this is the fourth of eight articles; you might want to first read the initial article in the series and the prior article on the law of mentalism and law of correspondence and and law of vibration to get the context for this one.

"people think consciousness is really significant because we want what we made to be important. so we glorify it and measure it and attach specialness to it when it's really just a symbol of separation from our source. it's separation, because in order to have consciousness, you have to have more than one thing. you have to have a subject and an object. you have to have something else to be conscious of. that's where twoness came from to replace oneness. that's what makes the resulting symbolic illusory opposites, polarities and dualities." — your immortal reality by gary renard, page 47

"there are no sides, only angles — and when we view things from the right angle, it's obvious we're all on the same side."
— steve bhaerman a.k.a. swami beyondananda



the law of polarity (balance, objectivity, neutralization, non-resistance, integrity, transcendence, compassion) — keyword: purity

the fourth of the seven laws or principles is given the name polarity in the kybalion, along with the phrase "everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled." — the kybalion

i am writing this during the autumnal equinox; a time of year associated with balance, equality between night and day and a symbolic pivot point between the polarities of light and dark, hot and cold, activity and dormancy. these are but a few of the pairs of opposites we can relate to this middle of seven laws from the hermetic tradition. whenever we perceive anything in the realms of space, time, form or duality, the law of polarity comes into play. that covers just about everything in our so-called 3d reality, doesn't it!

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://spiritofmaat.com/nov08/rhythm.html

be well, be love.

david

rhythm — fifth of the seven hermetic laws
by bruce rawles

(this article was excerpted and adapted from the upcoming book, "the geometry code: symbolic wisdom of natural laws within us" by bruce rawles, available soon from elysian publishing. this is the fourth of eight articles; you might want to first read the initial article in the series and the prior article on the law of mentalism and law of correspondence, law of vibration and the law of polarity to get the context for this one. the remaining two articles will cover the law of cause and effect, and the law of generation.

"well, jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something." — gilda radner as roseanne roseannadanna on saturday night live …

"it's all nothing." — gene bogart, from gary renard podcast #21

the law of rhythm (flow, non-resistance, surrender as courage) — keyword: beauty

the fifth of the seven laws or principles is given the name rhythm in the kybalion, along with the phrase

"everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates." — the kybalion

becoming superconductors for our essence — going with the inner flow

"…instead of judging automatically, you will forgive automatically." arten;

"…the proper response to any situation is always love." gary, p. 213; from disappearance of the universe by gary renard

like all the hermetic laws or principles, this one (rhythm) can be used either by the fragmenting thought system of the ego … or by the non-dualistic thought system of our real self. we've trained ourselves from day one to look 'outside' and emphasize what appears to come our way — the tidal flood of experiences that come and go, to and fro, in endless variations. seasons, circadian flows, tides, lunations (phases of the moon), precession of equinoxes (yugas in the hindu tradition), meandering rivers, our heartbeats and our breath — all follow a rhythmic pattern. the enticement for entrainment is everywhere. the question is not whether there are tides; the question is do we want to be surfers or get caught in the undertow! … we certainly can't stop the waves from reaching the shores of our lives, but we can respond to the surf of this 3d world in very different ways. it isn't about what we do externally, but about how we choose to feel and think internally, and the meaning (or lack thereof) we ascribe to what goes on 'around' us.

i thought the juxtaposition of the gilda radner and gene bogart quotes above reveals the stark contrast (using the law of polarity to return to a non-dual state) between the egoic victimhood stance (lose-lose) and the enlightened caring, yet carefree (win-win) perspective that allows us to take all rhythms of life in stride. our inner graceful choreography in response to the circumstances of our daily forgiveness lessons provides all we need to ultimately dance our way to serenity beyond the stars. roseanne's whiny caricature reminds us to maintain a sense of humor about our grievances regarding things that come and go … how much will we fret and fuss about all of our current seemingly insurmountable obstacles in a year? in a millennium?

have you ever felt "in the flow?" being in a 'groove' where you simply respond inwardly to whatever comes up … instantly … is something we often associate with olympic athletes, charismatic speakers, superstar musicians and the like. yet we can gradually achieve our own state of inner superconductivity by lowering our resistance to inspiration, humbly acknowledging that everything we have is a gift (true for everyone!) and surrendering to the wiser and saner transpersonal self that always votes for the optimal welfare of all. when we look back on those moments when everything seemed to flow, we realize that we were willing to get our sense of a separate 'self' out of the way, and allow our unified identity (beyond space and time, yet acting within those dimensions) to take over the controls… i'd call this surrendering to one's higher self, and the best part is that this sort of surrender doesn't involve any compromises, since our metapersonal awareness isn't after any kind of special or exclusionary goals and benefit is assured for all from this encompassing intent.

we naturally are superconductors for spirit … we've just trained ourselves to believe otherwise! in order to hear the inner voice consistently, we must be willing to acknowledge that our finite perceptions (as observed from our little micro-dot in the cosmos of temporal and spatial delusions) are incomplete, and because of that minuscule window on truth, rather distorted. letting go of our biases and hopelessly provincial, territorial perspectives (hint; those of us who still occasionally believe we're limited to a human body are in that category :-) gives us the lucidity to receive guidance beyond what we currently believe possible. we become superconductors for the joyous experience of freedom by letting the trivial go and adopting an unyielding allegiance for the eternal. it's a feeling that is all our birthright, no prerequisites and guaranteed by our creator. recycling our preconceptions at the curb makes room in our inner pantries for delicacies we haven't even dreamed of!

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://spiritofmaat.com/jan09/cause_and_effect.html

we are all light made solid.

david

cause and effect — sixth of the seven hermetic laws
by bruce rawles

the secret of true prayer is to forget the things you think you need. to ask for the specific is much the same as to look on sin and then forgive it. also in the same way, in prayer you overlook your specific needs as you see them, and let them go into god's hands." — from the song of prayer supplement to a course in miracles

the law of cause & effect
(we reap what we sow)
— keyword: perfection

the sixth of the seven laws or principles is given the name cause and effect in the kybalion, along with the phrase "every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause; everything happens according to law; chance is but a name for law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the law." — the kybalion.

preoccupation with effect (focusing on the screen)

"people are always blaming circumstances for what they are. i don't believe in circumstances. the people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." — george bernard shaw

the law of cause and effect, like the other hermetic laws, applies equally to everyone; we all have the same opportunity to recognize that we have charge of the realm of cause, and are merely spectators to the realm of effect. how fortunate that the law works this way and not in reverse! yet most of the world appears to be caught in the folly of ceaselessly chasing after desired effects, mindless of the golden opportunity that exquisite cause is within us, awaiting our invocation through the realm of how we feel. we can always — and do always — choose how we want to feel inwardly every moment (cause) despite how appearances (effect) may be presented to us outwardly (including the vast spectra of sensory, bodily, and material concerns.)

shaw's quote above provides part of the solution to life's apparent dilemmas — circumstances (all the spacey, timey stuff we've gotten so hung up on as humans) are not an effective emphasis for our thoughts and feelings. if there is an outcome (or outcomes) that you are invested in within the realm of space and time, you immediately make an enemy (or at least a fearful projection) of the vast holographic machine of the universe. sometimes what appears on the screen of our material lives seems to be a pleasant, sunny jaunt through the pastoral countryside, abloom with fragrance from spring blossoms and sweetly accented with gentle bird songs (insert hollywood's best here :-). other times the screen shows us horror films that would make alfred hitchcock run screaming from the theater in stark terror. and then there's the bulk of our lives that range somewhere in between these extremes. this is all part of the rhythm of life in 3d that we signed up for, and then conveniently forgot about all the fine print in the boilerplate.

we're dreamers, and instead of choosing total recall of the arrangements we made (to attempt to forget our origins by being obsessed with externals), we have been (almost) total sleepwalkers. occasionally we have bursts of lucidity and remember that it is our mind that is the projector and that we are the projectionists, but most of the time (by design) we zombies operate in knee-jerk trance mode, oblivious to our birthright of choice, freedom and unimaginable happiness. it matters not whether our or not our bodies appear to be asleep physically — if we are preoccupied with results in the "world" we appear to be living in, we're forgetting about the movie — the dream — that we wrote, produced, directed and appear to be starring in…

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://spiritofmaat.com/feb09/law_of_gender.html

be well, be love.

david

gender/generation — seventh of the seven hermetic laws
by bruce rawles

(this article was excerpted and adapted from the upcoming book, "the geometry code: symbolic wisdom of natural laws within us" by bruce rawles, available soon from elysian publishing. this is the fourth of eight articles; you might want to first read the initial article in the series and the prior article on the law of mentalism and law of correspondence, law of vibration and the law of rhythmand the law of cause & effect to get the context for this one.

the law of gender/generation (unfoldment, evolution, yin/yang, blessing, gratitude, abundance, family, community, root and offspring, like begets like, compassion, kindness, empathy, forgiveness, release, allowing, awe, non-resistance, integrity, fusion) — keyword: gratitude

the seventh of the seven laws or principles is given the name gender or generation in the kybalion, along with the phrase:

"gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles; gender manifests on all planes." — the kybalion

"… here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)…" michael hedges, taproot from a poem by e.e. cummings

roots, generators, propagators — divergence of form and convergence of spirit

in our 3d 'reality', what we call life generally requires the fusion or union of male and female elements to initiate a viable individual to propagate a new member of a species. even in the mineral and plant kingdoms, one can identify masculine and feminine principles working together for the evolvement of an individual, family or community structure. for example, salt crystals build by accretion of sodium and chloride ions that have positive and negative charges — gender polarized archetypes, in a sense. in the plant kingdom, the morphology of growth usually involves both radial or circular (feminine) symmetries and expansion such as the circumferential growth rings of a tree, simultaneous with linear or angular (masculine) extension such as the gradually lengthening height of a tree and each of its cylindrical branches and recursive stems. with careful observation, any form of biological life can be seen as composed of male and female attributes.

all life that occupies form, space and time exhibits divergence, division and fragmentation. the classic example from genetics is that we have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, ad infinitum. it would seem that there's a population explosion reaching backwards in time with the magnitude of our lineage moving toward the infinite, or at least more folks that presumably have ever been on this planet at one time! i've never figured out how to reconcile that one, have you? :-) even within our own bodies, the process of cell division keeps multiplying the number of original cells until we walk around with several trillion cells! we're good at multiplying even if we don't care for math!