 Gnosis of the Creed –by Swami Nirmalananda Giri Chapter Four—Maker of heaven and earth,
And of all things visible and invisible
 How Is God “Maker”?
Having already considered the deeper meaning of the words “I believe in one God, the Father almighty,” let us look at the next word: Maker.
The Greek term Poieten is better translated by the word “Fashioner,” but it also means both to do and to act. By using this expression, the Fathers are indicating (1) that God does not create the world from nothing, but fashions it out of already-existing substance, that substance being His own Being; and thereby (2) that God is the Doer, the Actor in all things, His creation not being a separate entity from Him but rather the dynamic expression of His own Life, as the Scripture says: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
Two Aspects Of God’s Being
The theologian-mystics of Eastern Christianity say that God, though One, is yet twofold in His existence, being both Essence and Energies. That is, in His unmoving, static, unchanging nature as the Son, God is Essence. But in His evolving, dynamic nature as “heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible,” the divine Holy Spirit, God is Energies. This is a Mystery that should be understood as far as our limited human intellects are capable. For it enables us to see to some extent how as Christians we can believe that God is ALL. Pantheism: The Ultimate Truth
Pantheism, the concept that God is everything, is the only construction that can reasonably and honestly be placed on these words. Worlds without number rise up from the Being of God as waves rise up from the bosom of the sea, returning after their allotted time to their source for a while, then again emerging upon the surface in endless, perpetual cycles. Yet, at all times, it is He alone Who ever Is.
Poieten also implies one who “spreads out” or “puts forth,” and in this instance is an affirmation of the truth that the universe is an outpouring, a breathing forth of the divine Life itself, an emanation of the divine Substance. A simile frequently used in the Far East is that of the spider which spins its web out of its own body substance and then absorbs it back into its body and spins the web anew. In brief: God is both Source and Substance of all. The Nature Of Our “Fall”
This being so, we can realize that our alienation from God, our “fall,” is only a matter of the focus of our consciousness, that there is no reality to our supposed separation from Him, and that salvation is a restoration and transcendence of our original consciousness. Understanding this, we can fathom the meaning of the Lord’s words: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The word in the Gospel which is translated “repent” is metanoite, which literally means to turn around one hundred eighty degrees, to totally perceive differently or change one’s awareness. There is no implication of the emotionalism commonly associated with revivalist “repentance.” So the Lord’s actual words were: “Transform–completely turn around–your consciousness, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” In other words, the kingdom of heaven is not something to be attained or to “go to,” but is an ever-present reality “at hand” which we in our ignorance cannot perceive. But if we change our level of consciousness, “behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The Work Of The Son
God the Father acts through the Son; therefore it is said: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Even further, we can also say that nothing returns to the Father except through the Only-Begotten, the Son, for Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
We have been breathed forth into this universe where we have forgotten ourselves, wandering from life to life in delusion, folly, ignorance, and sin. We would retrace our steps back to the Father, but He is Theos, absolutely alien and unreachable from our present level of existence. Therefore it is through the Divine Presence as the Only-Begotten of the Father that we have access back to the Father.
“Heaven” And “Earth”
The Creed then proceeds to tell us that He is the Fashioner “of heaven and earth.” We must not assume that the Fathers meant only simple earth and sky by these two terms. The words ouranou and geis are technical, symbolic terms for the division that is encountered in creation. For all creation falls into two areas of polarized existence: that which gravitates downward toward the material and that which gravitates upward towards the spiritual. The downward pulling domain is called “earth” and the upward tending domain is “heaven,” those who dwell therein being called “the stars of heaven” and “the sons of the kingdom.”
These two expressions embrace the whole of relative existence. “Earth” includes both the physical level of creation and the lesser, invisible worlds in which the individual is impelled to rebirth in the material plane. All the regions above those, which by their polarization impel the individual upward to higher and higher forms of evolution, are “heaven.” The Source Of All
He, the Father, is the Source of all of this, both that which tends upward back to Him and that which draws downward away from Him–not in the sense of moving away or drawing near in terms of space, but in terms of consciousness. Attunement is the crux. Non-duality is the law. The Deeper Meaning
The polarization of our consciousness, accomplished by our wills, is the actual force that shifts our awareness away from or toward the Real. We cannot blame some external being or force, for not even Lucifer or his angels possess that power over another. This is why Saint Paul wrote: “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” But we can effect that separation by the simple turning of our will. This dangerous power rests in our hands alone, as does the power to turn back to our Source.
It is not the devils outside that we need fear, but the inner will to darkness. It is not an outside force that we must invoke to save us, but the inner yearning for the Light. Christ the Savior is within us: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We are our own Lucifer who brings about our fall; our own Michael who conquers; and our own Christ who restores–but all through Jesus Christ our Lord, “the firstfruits of them that slept.” Many Creations
The Fathers understood that this is not the first creation, nor will it be the last. God has created many times before this and will continue eternally to dissolve and create universes at will. “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.…yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same.” Creation In Cycles
When creation is manifest, it is “day”; and when it is withdrawn and unmanifest, it is “night.” Knowing this, the Genesis account of the “days” of creation becomes more clear. Elsewhere in the Bible the creation is likened to a scroll that is alternately spread out (“unrolled”) and withdrawn (“rolled up”). All is breathed out and all is breathed back in by God, the sole Power, the “Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.” For there are realities that the eye can see, and there are others that it cannot see, that it is incapable of seeing by its (and their) nature. Although we can see this vast earth and the heavenly bodies surrounding it and even pierce the incomprehensible depths of space through telescopes and “probes,” there are vaster worlds that the material eye can never see. They are the subtle worlds, the angelic or astral worlds.
By these words the Fathers also affirm that there is no other Creator, no other Mover or Actor but God, though we are busily building our little houses of straw. Therefore the King James Version rightly translates Jesus’ words: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Even the falling to earth of a sparrow is God’s doing. The Vision Of Unity
All this also underlines the truth “that all things work together for good,” ultimately. For through the words “heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible” is expressed the absolute unity of all things, and therefore their goodness and value. Thus we must look at things and events around us with a much wider perspective. And through that perspective of mind we may even be enabled to discover the hidden purposes to a degree.
Furthermore, if we live in that knowledge, we will see how every step we take, every event in our lives, whether pleasant or painful, gain or loss, is a step towards God. All that comes to us is a visitation from God, a chance to draw nearer to our eternal goal. Some people drown in the changes and misfortunes of the world, while others rise above them, just as the same water that keeps afloat those who know how to swim also drowns those who do not. Therefore we must be knowers of the truth of things if we would live. The Creed Is Life
Once more we have seen that the Creed is intended to point out a way of living and seeing. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus …Holding forth the word of life.” God: The Source
As we have ascertained, God is the Source of all things visible and invisible. This implies that there is a material universe perceptible to the senses and there is an immaterial universe the senses cannot perceive. It is not quite correct to call this invisible universe a spiritual realm. Rather, it is psychic–that is, mental–in nature and is usually perceived only in sleep or after the death of the physical body when our awareness shifts into our psychic levels.
Duality Is Illusion
Not only is there nothing existing separately from God, there is no thing that is not God in its essential being–or perhaps more accurately, there is nothing of which God is not its essential being. Realizing this, we can understand that the supposed power of evil is illusion, that what strength it has is handed over to it by foolish humanity. This is why Lucifer said to Jesus: “All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me.” We must face the uncomfortable truth that it is our own weakness and ignorance that must be combated and overcome, for we alone are responsible for the negativity in our lives, having handed their rulership over to egoism and materiality.
The devil that must be cast down from heaven is within us: the selfish ego-sense that denies our true spiritual nature and creates for itself a constant series of bodies from life to life so it can enjoy itself and expand its capacity for experience and power, smothering our imprisoned spirit by imitating the evolutionary process that is meant to free the spirit.
This imitation by the ego empowers the ego and binds the spirit. Just as the kingdom of heaven is within, so also is the kingdom of Satan; for Satan is really the power of illusion, the “liar,” the “accuser” Christ spoke about, the “destroyer” of our inner awareness of truth.
It is man and his misuse of this universe that has made it a trap–not God. If we go into a house, lock the door, and throw away the key, we are the ones making it into a prison, not the person who built it. Why The Invisible Worlds?
That is the truth about this material, visible world, but why did the Fathers even bother to mention the invisible worlds?
The Lord Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” This physical creation is only one of the “mansions” or levels of existence. There are numberless worlds beyond this in the higher, psychic levels. The simile has been used of a gigantic gas balloon under which is suspended a small basket for people to ride in. The basket is this physical universe, while the balloon is the much vaster, psychic world. We Must Experience The Invisible
It is evident that the Fathers point us to the existence of this vaster, invisible sector of universal life because as Christians we should be experiencing the inner side of things. We should be expanding our awareness into the higher strata of our own being so that what is presently invisible both within and without will become visible. In this way we may pass from this world of recurrent birth and death into the place of uninterrupted life and evolution. This, of course, is just the opposite of popular “Churchian” thought in which knowledge of (and the consequent wielding of power in) the higher planes is either denounced as “occult” and “satanic” or claimed to be the exclusive province of the elite in charge of running things–who supposedly do not want “to confuse the people” by presenting this higher knowledge, though they have no scruple about keeping them in ignorance.
The common idea that Christianity should consist of a few simple rules and beliefs to subscribe to so God will let us into heaven and not burn us up forever in hell is not consistent with the thought of the Fathers of the Church, and therefore not Christian. It is contrary to the Gospel of Christ to teach that Christians should go though life seeing only with the two eyes of the body and hearing only with the physical ears. For Jesus said: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” He was not speaking of the bodily organs, but of our inner faculties. We do have them, so we should use them!
The “Third Eye”
It was not the physical eyes He told the disciples to “lift up” to behold the spiritual ripening,but the inner eye of which He said: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” Notice He did not say “eyes,” but eye. The concept of the inner, psychic or “third” eye is not foreign to authentic Christianity.
Psychic Christians
When we read the book of Acts, we find it filled with psychic phenomena experienced and produced by Christians. Negative psychic phenomena is also chronicled there, for in this world of duality there is always a negative counterpart to anything positive. How absurd to leave the field of inner knowledge and awareness to those alien to Christ! Christians are the very people fitted for venturing into those realms that so frighten the ignorant, for they are the “heirs of the kingdom.”
Of course the “keys” to the kingdom must be obtained and used according to the ways given by Christ. A “Christianity” which does not bestow the keys upon all its adherents for them to consciously wield frustrates the very purpose of Christ, Who said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”–expanding their life and function into all levels of existence, that they may be whole in their living and not confined to the material plane alone.
The Holy Scriptures definitely show that a person who does not have the inner, psychic faculties awakened and in operation cannot be a functioning Christian. Life is consciousness, awareness. And abundant life is expanded awareness. The Mysteries of Christ cannot live in the mundane and confined consciousness of this blinded world, but in the awakened heart which alone truly sees and believes.
Mysticism Necessary For The Mysteries
The Gospel cannot be heard with the physical ears or studied with the physical eyes, “for the letter,” the material, external consciousness, “killeth, but” the inner, awakened consciousness and life of “the spirit giveth life.” There has to be inner, mystical experience. The moment supposed rationality dominates religion it is dead and is really no longer religion. Such dead religion simply leads us back to ourselves in our lower levels and becomes the worship of the human ego.
Christianity Is True Occultism
That which passes itself off as Christianity engages in much fluster and bluster against “the occult,” “occultism,” and “occultists.” Yet, no person is a true Christian who is not an occultist. In fact, Christianity is occultism, for it is the opening of the hidden life, the making visible of the invisible and the revealing of that which has been concealed. This is the correct meaning of Christ’s declaration: “There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.” I give these references so it can be seen how strongly these words impressed themselves on all three evangelists.
No Truth Is To Be Withheld
Christ came to this world to reveal “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Is this mystical knowledge to be shared only with the spiritual elite, lest misunderstanding and even persecution be the response of “ordinary” people? No. For Saint Paul says in the very next verse: “Teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” To do otherwise is to contradict the instruction of Christ to His Apostles: “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.”
Gnostic Christians should speak plainly and completely to all who will listen that which was revealed in secret to the few, not fearing that the ignorant and evil (if there is a real distinction) will mock or persecute them. A church whose members “cannot handle” the fundamental, mystical realities is a church that is not imparting the mind of Christ to its members and is therefore anti-Christianity.
Spiritual Practices Must Be Taught
The directives of Christ apply not only to philosophical concepts but also to the means of attaining higher spiritual consciousness–the actual methods of spiritual practice which will open our awareness to the higher planes of life, as did the holy prophet Elisha when he gave his servant the clairvoyant sight to see that “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about.” Opening And Ascent
“Then opened he their understanding [nous, mind], that they might understand.” In this passage, we see that Jesus gave the Apostles a psychic opening–for the mind is in the psychic (astral) body, not in the brain, which is just the instrument of the mind. When the prophecy said that the Messiah would open the eyes, ears, and mouths of the people and make the lame to walk, it had a far greater meaning than simple physical cures. It was also a prophecy of the mystical enlivening that is the prelude to the true resurrection from the dead.
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” The word translated “power” could also be rendered “authority” in the sense of an authorization that empowers the person so authorized. True Christianity imparts to us the capacity to ascend to divinity through the esoteric power and knowledge it imparts. But the individual must himself expand and strengthen that capacity through cultivating his own inner life with its subtle faculties, the psychic powers; for until we reach perfection in the psychic realms, we will not be enabled to ascend to the spiritual life.
The ladder of divine ascent has three rungs: material life, psychic life, and spiritual life. At the top is Divine Life–unity. Daily we must live more and more in the invisible and less and less in the visible. This process is symbolized in Saint John the Forerunner’s words: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” We must increasingly perceive the hidden side of things. Further Meaning
In another aspect, Christianity can be viewed as the passage from the visible to the invisible, from the mortal to the immortal. While yet in this world we learn to live in the next so that our transition at death will be both easeful and permanent, the bonds of cycling birth and death broken forever. Otherwise it can be fittingly said of us: “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Christ The Example
In the Byzantine Orthodox Liturgy there is a prayer of great significance: “In the tomb with the body and in hades with the soul [psyche], in paradise with the thief and on the throne with the Father and the Spirit, wast Thou, O boundless Christ, filling all things.” This means that Christ was in all four states of being simultaneously, not moving back and forth from one to another. His consciousness was all-embracing. If we are going to be a Christ (which is what a Christian is), we must work to consciously function on all levels of our being to be as omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent in our microcosmic mode of existence, as is God in the macrocosm. “As above, so below” is both a principle of creation and a challenge to attainment.
Every Christian has to be fully conversant with the invisible worlds or, more precisely, the worlds which now are invisible to him must become visible, a part of his life and experience. (I mean the inner, presently unknown areas of his mind which correspond to other “world”–not so much experience and knowledge of the multitude of astral and causal words external to him.) Otherwise he is not a Christian in the full sense. Saint Symeon the New Theologian wrote that a person who does not know God intimately has not been baptized, but has only been made wet by ceremonial! For baptizo, the Greek word for baptism, means “to plunge into.” Baptism is the plunging of the finite spirit into the infinite ocean of Spirit. A person cannot say he is truly baptized until that oneness with the Divine is accomplished.
Explore The Unknown
A Christian is not to be bound to a set of ideas which supposedly he must believe or else be damned. Rather, a Christian is to be set free and enabled to move into wider and deeper modes of life. Real Christian life is a life of discovery; it is exploration of the unknown to make it known.
A Sad Example
A Greek Orthodox abbot once told me some of his mystical experiences and deeper insights regarding Christianity. He also told me of similar experiences and understandings of great mystics who were even then living on the Holy Mountain of Athos in Greece. But he also made me promise never to reveal those things, for if they became known to the official church authorities, he and those monks of Athos would be denounced as heretics. Yet, the Lord Jesus said: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Can a church really be considered faithful to Christ if its members cannot speak what they know to be true through their own experience of the spiritual life? Christian theology is a mystery and therefore can only be understood by mystics. What, then, can be the result if mystics are silenced in the Church and the people are told that they must not attempt to gain any mystical experience?
True And False Mysticism
It is true that there is an aspiration for mystical experience that is spiritually unhealthy, springing from idle curiosity or an egoic desire to be thought wise and to possess spiritual powers in order to feel exalted and great. But there is also a healthy longing for mystical experience, arising from the desire to draw near to God and to know His ways that we may walk in them. Love always desires to be one with the beloved.
Lucifer wanted spiritual knowledge and power so he could be equal with God and above the rest of his brethren. The true Christian mystic desires mystical experience and capacities so he can serve God, love God, and become united with God. His motto in life is that of Saint John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” To be barred from the ascent to divine life by the false objection that desiring to ascend is an imitation of Lucifer is to actually serve Lucifer’s own ends: the prevention of humanity from passing to divinity.
When A Church Is Not A Church
No one should subject himself to a spiritual system in which he is prohibited to speak of his spiritual insights. To continue in such an affiliation is to consent to the murder of one’s spiritual awareness. Any organization wherein people may not speak of their life in Christ or in which it is prohibited to seek the uncovering of the hidden side of life is in reality anti-Christianity, being the enemy of Christ and His purpose for us. If someone of spiritual insight comes into their orbit, their reaction is to either subvert or destroy him, as they have only hatred for true spirituality. These are sharp words, but not as sharp as those Jesus directed at the false religionists of his day–or as sharp as those He said He would speak to those who claim to be Christians without really knowing Christ. The Intentions Of The Fathers
The Fathers put into the Creed the statement that God is the Maker of all things, both visible and invisible, not to impress us with the vastness of His power, but to assure us that the invisible world is His realm and therefore part of the Kingdom which we must enter into and “inherit.” The superstitious continually make a fuss about how “dangerous” the unseen realms are and how we are sure to be seized by devils and destroyed if we venture anywhere near them. But this is ridiculous, for God our Father is the Maker of those worlds. Therefore they belong to Him and to us as His children. The Folly Of The Hebrews
Remember the example of the Hebrews. When they came to the borders of the Promised Land, they refused to enter at the command of God because they were afraid of the inhabitants, saying: “We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Because of this they died, wandering in the wilderness. The same is true of the invisible worlds. They have indeed in many instances been seized by the evil ones, but it is our duty as Christians to reclaim those regions and banish the false spirits from them. We are soldiers of Christ, not invalids!
A Hidden Meaning
There is also a secret wisdom to the verse just quoted. Note that the Hebrews do not say they were “as grasshoppers” because they were puny, but rather: “We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” In other words, because they thought of themselves as tiny and helpless, the enemy saw them in the same way! So it is with us. If we think we are weak and defenseless against evil spirits, they will assume the same thing and harm us. But if we know “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us,” they will fear us and be defeated. Saint James tells us plainly: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Fear should be unknown to a Christian.
Truth Must Be Proven
In many metaphysical writings we find the term “demonstration” used. It is an excellent term, for truth is to be demonstrated, not just “believed,” otherwise we have no way of knowing whether it really is the truth. This is why Saint Paul wrote: “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” The Creed, too, must be lived and demonstrated. True Science Is Needed
What is a fact? A fact is something that can be tested and seen (proven) to be true. Scio, the Latin root of our word “science,” means “I know,” not “I think,” “I hope,” or “so it seems to me.” The interior, mystical apparatus by which we come to this necessary knowing must be brought into play. Therefore we are to be scientists in the truest sense of the term. For this reason the Lord said: “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.” The “closet” is our own body; the “door” which must be shut is the sense-mind. The “secret place” where God is found is the core of our being, our true “heart.” Our inner awareness is our spiritual laboratory where all truth is discovered. In our outward consciousness we encounter only illusions. Saint Dimitry of Rostov has written that when we enter the inner place of the heart we will find the ladder which leads upward to the vision of God.
The demonstration of this part of the Creed is the living of the mystical life, the linking of the mind with the inner worlds that is accomplished through meditation.
The Foolish And The Wise
It is true that there are the foolish and eccentric who, being misguided and–especially–undisciplined, are all bound up in their fantasies and delusions about “Inner Plane Adepts,” “Inner Plane Masters,” and “The Great White Brotherhood” which are supposedly accessible to them through their “astral travel.” Most of this drivel is imagination or deliberate lies, though it can in time lead to real contact with the masters of illusion on both the inner and outer planes and result in enslavement to, and even possession by, the dark powers. Without the guiding light of Christ through the mystical tradition of (Gnostic) Christianity, or of another valid religion, a person who attempts to scale the esoteric heights and behold the eternal mysteries is inevitably fated to fall into the abyss of great darkness.
On the other hand, those Christians who are centered in the light of Christ through meditation, and who follow the guidelines of those holy ones who have gone before, may safely move out into the unseen universe, for, being accompanied by the angels and saints of God, they are not alone.
Safety And Danger
It is not the invisible world that is unsafe, but the unlawful penetration into it which brings harm. By “unlawful” we mean the attempt to enter those worlds at our own desire without the will and approval of their Master, Christ. We lawfully enter those worlds through Christ, the Door, and are safe and guided. But he who “climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber,” and thereby is a prey to the inner plane thieves and robbers who will indeed wound him and leave him as one dead. To step out into the inner planes without a guide or without protection is to risk serious–though not inevitable–harm. This is not said to create fear, but to instill caution. We must eventually enter those realms, but it must be at the right time, which is His time.
A Grave Warning
Just as there are thieves and murderers in the physical, material world, so there are malicious entities in the invisible, astral worlds. They work great harm, especially through deceit.
Once I came across a formula called “The Invocation of the Silver Ray,” which had supposedly been revealed by the Archangel Gabriel. It consisted of about a dozen lines of silly, high-sounding metaphysical doggerel. Although on the surface it appeared merely absurd, I discovered that the use of it attuned a person to the very low astral region from which it had been revealed to a spiritualist medium. Though appearing to be a noble invocation of spiritual powers, it brought the user into contact with the spirits of deception from which it had come. We must be very careful indeed before ever reciting prayers of formulas that have supposedly been revealed by astral “saints” or “angels.” For Saint Paul gives us a very important occult principle when he says: “Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?”
No matter how noble, religious, or positive something may seem to be, if it comes from an evil, polluted, deceptive source, it will attune the user to evil, pollution, and deception. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of Saint John the Evangelist, said in one of his epistles regarding this very subject that hidden within the seemingly good “food” of such sources is the deadly poison of the evil consciousnesses from which they were produced. However noble and true the sentiments or principles set forth might be, those who partake “sweetly eat and drink unto their own death.” This is especially true of religious, esoteric, or “occult” practices and experiences. Why? Because they are direct links with the minds that created them. Even if the words appear grandly noble or just silly and childish, the effect is not. They can be the doorways to contact with those who dwell in the outer darkness, hating the light and wishing to draw us out into the darkness with them, or to invade the world in which we live. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” Fear Not
As already said, the esoteric, occult world is a world fraught with danger for the unlawful intruder. But we are the heirs of the kingdom, and to deny our heritage and abandon the conquest of those higher and subtler realms would be to repudiate the plan of Christ. Instead, we must obey the command of God to “go in and possess the land.” Knowledge Of Spirits Is Expected
Most Christians are familiar with Saint John’s advice: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” But are they aware of the full implication of those words? They occur in a letter written to ordinary Christians–Christians whom Saint John assumed would be in frequent contact with spiritual beings and forces. Evidently he considered that a normal Christian would be encountering the citizens of the invisible worlds as a normal occurrence. More than that, he considered that they knew the esoteric processes by which spirits could be tested to determine their true nature, since on the astral levels it is the simplest of matters to change form and appearance.
In the (usually) unseen worlds, sense experience is many times more unreliable than it is in this world, for by a simple act of will appearances are changed in the fraction of a moment. This Is Not Spiritualism
When I speak of extending our awareness into the invisible worlds, I am not speaking of what is called Spiritualism. I am talking about extending our life in Christ, not about bringing back the dead.
The Gnostic Christian may enter the unseen worlds to find those who have passed on and in that way communicate with them. But to go into trances and attempt to pull earthward those departed spirits whom we should help escape from the orbit of this planet is unwise indeed–and even harmful to them because we may cause those spirits to become earthbound and unable to either continue their evolution in the higher worlds or to reincarnate in this one. And it is unwise because most of the time it is not the dead we contact, but the projections of our own creative minds or–much worse–ignorant or malicious spirits who by their clairvoyance are able to imitate the dead and deceive us. Some spirits do it innocently, thinking that is what we want, and have no concept of its being a deception. Others desire to influence us and eventually possess us.
No positive, honest spirit would ever possess the body of a medium to contact us. Possession is a terrible transgression and always harms the medium, no matter how mistakenly willing they may be for it to happen. A “true” spirit knows how harmful it is and will never commit such a crime–for a crime it is.
Never does the true Christian mystic give up his consciousness and will to another. As Saint Paul wrote: “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets,” and to no other. The path of Christ is the path of freedom. Obedience to Christ is the exercise of will, not its surrender. The Better Way
God has created both the visible and invisible worlds. And it is to each of us that the Father says: “Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” Thus, by expanding our experience and life into those realms beyond this visible world, we fulfil our destiny won for us by Christ, that we might be coheirs with Him.
What a glorious heritage has been passed on to us by the Fathers in this little phrase: “And of all things visible and invisible.” When we go deeply into the simplest expressions of our Faith, what profundity we find! It is not just God Who is being outlined in these opening words of the Creed, but the spiritual destiny of all who will “put on Christ,” reassume the light garment of Paradise, and return to the bosom of the Father.
More chapters of the Gnosis of the Creed:
• Chapter One—The Nicene Creed
• Chapter Two—I believe
• Chapter Three—In one God, the Father almighty
• Chapter Four—Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible
• Chapter Five—And in one Lord
• Chapter Six—Jesus Christ
• Chapter Seven—The Only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all ages. Light from Light, True God from true God. Begotten not made, Being of one substance with the Father; By Whom all things were made.
• Chapter Eight—Who for us men, and for our salvation
• Chapter Nine—Came down from heaven
• Chapter Ten—And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit
• Chapter Eleven—Of the Virgin Mary. And was made Man.
• Chapter Twelve—He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. Suffered and was buried.
• Chapter Thirteen—And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
• Chapter Fourteen—And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead.
• Chapter Fifteen—Of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.
• Chapter Sixteen—And in the Holy Spirit, the Lady and Giver of life: Who proceedeth from the Father. Who together with the Father and the Son Is worshipped and glorified. Who spoke by the prophets.
• Chapter Seventeen—And in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
• Chapter Eighteen—I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
• Chapter Nineteen—And I look for the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the age to come. Amen.
1) John 1:4 [Go back]
2) Matthew 4:17 [Go back]
3) Luke 17:21 [Go back]
4) John 1:3 [Go back]
5) John 14:6 [Go back]
6) Romans 8:38,39 [Go back]
7) Colossians 1:27 [Go back]
8) “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Revelation 12:7-10) [Go back]
9) I Corinthians 15:20 [Go back]
10) Psalm 102:25-27 [Go back]
11) “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” (Isaiah 34:4) “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” (Revelation 6:14) [Go back]
12) Matthew 10:29 [Go back]
13) Romans 8:28 [Go back]
14) Philippians 2:5,16 [Go back]
15) Luke 4:6 [Go back]
16) John 8:44 [Go back]
17) Revelation 12:10 [Go back]
18) I Corinthians 10:9 [Go back]
19) John 14:2 [Go back]
20) Matthew 11:15; 13:9,43; Mark 4:9,23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35 [Go back]
21) “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35) [Go back]
22) Matthew 6:22,23 [Go back]
23) James 2:5 [Go back]
24) Matthew 16:19 [Go back]
25) John 10:10 [Go back]
26) II Corinthians 3:6 [Go back]
27) Matthew 10:26; Mark 4:22; Luke 8:37, 12:2 [Go back]
28) Colossians 1:26,27 [Go back]
29) Colossians 1:28 [Go back]
30) Matthew 10:27,28 [Go back]
31) “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Corinthians 2:16) [Go back]
32) II Kings 6:17 [Go back]
33) Luke 24:45 [Go back]
34) Isaiah 35:5,6 [Go back]
35) John 1:12 [Go back]
36) John 3:30 [Go back]
37) Revelation 3:1 [Go back]
38) Mount Athos, a peninsula is Greece (actually an independent country unto itself), is the spiritual center of the Byzantine Orthodox Churches. [Go back]
39) John 8:36 [Go back]
40) “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:22,23) “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” (Luke 13:25-27) [Go back]
41) Numbers 13:33 [Go back]
42) Romans 8:37 [Go back]
43) James 4:7 [Go back]
44) I Corinthians 2:4,5 [Go back]
45) Matthew 6:6 [Go back]
46) There truly are Inner Plane Adepts, Inner Plane Masters, and a company of evolved souls that are sometimes called The Great White Brotherhood. These statements are not meant to deny their existence. But few are those in communication with these high beings, and they never boast about their contact, but keep silent. [Go back]
47) “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7) [Go back]
48) John 10:1 [Go back]
49) “And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” (Luke 10:30) [Go back]
50) I Corinthians 10:18 [Go back]
51) II Corinthians 11:14 [Go back]
52) James 2:5 [Go back]
53) I John 4:1 [Go back]
54) Also, at death we shed some of the lower astral layers or “bodies,” and on occasion wandering entities enter and animate them, showing up as “ghosts” or at seances as “the dear departed.” [Go back]
55) I Corinthians 14:32 [Go back]
56) Luke 15:31 [Go back]
57) “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16,17) [Go back]
58) Galatians 3:27 [Go back]
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