Quote:"Being without knowledge of reality and life, the theologians have believed themselves able to interpret the gnostic symbols that have fallen into their hands and have of course misunderstood the symbolic expression “grace” as well. It quite simply means that man is in a better position than he deserves. In his tens of thousands of incarnations he has committed such bestial acts that, if all of it had been returned to him at once, life had not been able to endure. There is much old sowing to be reaped which will have to wait until he has acquiredthe qualities of attraction and has opportunities to make good by lives of service the suffering he has caused other beings."

Quote:"The ability to understand at once and to realize at once is an ability that Christian theologians have never understood and that is why it is called “grace”. There is no grace in the whole cosmos, only Law. That is the only groundwork on which to build our understanding of the realities of life. That groundwork affords ideas for interpretation that in any case approach the correct explanation in contradistinction to the fiction of “grace”, which falsifies everything."

Quote:"Together  with  “sin  and  grace” forgiveness is the most diabolical means the satanists have ever invented to idiotize and so tyrannize mankind. According to esoterics, there is no sin, no grace, no forgiveness, no right to judge. There is just Law, the law of sowing and reaping. That is a law of life, necessary to the continuance of life, and not even the gods are able to change it."

Quote:"Men  receive  knowledge  when  “the  time  has  come”.  This  too  is  expressive  of  law.  Individually it depends on the individual’s relations to the laws of self, destiny, and reaping. Where all mankind is concerned, there are in addition the factors connected with the law of development.  Every  “race”  has  a  task  allotted  to  it,  a  work  to  perform  in  the  service  of universal  evolution.  If  it  fails  its  task,  evolution  is  delayed.  Men  are  able  to  counteract development  to  the  detriment  of  the  whole  and  particularly  for  their  clans,  who  share  the responsibility. The gnosticians in this connection used the term “period of grace”. When “the cup is full to the brim” and the clan has proved incorrigible, it is removed to some other globe. Evolution can be delayed but cannot be stopped. "

Quote:"The complex of sin is an emotional complex of inoculated fictions. If it has been deeply rooted  and  been  fed  with constantly new repetitions it can, in delicate characters, have the same devastating effect as an idée fixe, a mania, and a psychosis combined. The antidote is in most cases the fiction of divine grace and forgiveness. To see through the fictitiousness of that entire view would require a whole new world view and life view, and the work of forming such a view is beyond the powers of most people."

Quote:"It should be pointed out that you cannot disclaim your own co-responsibility for anything, however  many  times  you  “wash  your  hands”.  Any  compromise  whatever  as  to  right  and wrong  in  respect  of  the  Law is a  mistake about  the Law (of cause and effect). Praying for “grace” is as meaningless as praying to the fire not to burn while putting your hand into it. It is the dharma of the fire to burn and it cannot do otherwise."

Quote:"About the law of reaping it should be pointed out that the past always lives along with the present. In that respect there is nothing beyond recall. You may reap the evil you have caused in two ways: either by suffering for it or by atoning for it in a new life. You can blot out your mistakes, such as they are represented in the planetary memory, as if they had never been. In actual fact nothing unatoned-for may remain in this memory for anyone who is to become a 45-self.  He  must  have  made  everything  good.  The  opportunity  of  atonement  the  ancients called “grace”, an idea that was distorted so that people thought they could “sin on grace” and then  buy  indulgence  from  the  church.  It  is  disgusting  to  hear  priests  in  Catholic  countries make  uneducated  people  believe  that  they  can  buy  off  twenty  or  ten  thousand  years  in purgatory, etc. by giving gifts to the church."

Quote:"It is a “grace” to be able to serve."

(12-01-2018, 06:14 PM)Bring4th_Plenum Wrote: 3) does Grace have an intermediary?  Ie, the Holy Spirit, or the spirit complex?  Does it even matter if it does?

(12-02-2018, 12:58 AM)moyal Wrote: From Henry T. Laurency's "Knowledge of Life I-V:
...

Quote:"Together  with  “sin  and  grace” forgiveness is the most diabolical means the satanists have ever invented to idiotize and so tyrannize mankind. According to esoterics, there is no sin, no grace, no forgiveness, no right to judge. There is just Law, the law of sowing and reaping. That is a law of life, necessary to the continuance of life, and not even the gods are able to change it."

...
-> https://www.laurency.com/index.html

(12-02-2018, 10:56 AM)Patrick Wrote: This quote seems to imply that forgiveness is powerless in affecting karma?  If so I will have to disagree.
 

Quote:8.8 Morality and Moralism
1
The word “morality” is derived from the Latin word mores, customs, and meant (before
the theologians introduced the fiction of sin and so absolutified all ideas of right) a system of
conventions intended to inform the barbarian about how to behave among people.
2
The usual abuse of words by ignorance has of course had the result that the word
“morality” has come to mean a multitude of things, chiefly a collection of prohibitions and
taboos, psychologically as perverse as possible. They have absolutified the negative, which
paralyzes, instead of emphasizing the positive, which liberates.
3
“The basis of morality is the idea of good.” That is of course easy to say. However, the
philosophers have not yet been able to agree on the content of that idea. Only esoterics can
solve that problem. It is connected with the meaning and goal of life.
4
Morality is standardization, the conventional proof of the equality of all.
5
Moralists think they have any right of life to make demands on other people. They judge
all who do not make a fetish out of decency. They are blind to their own lack of judgement,
their intolerance, their arrogance.
6
Moralism is a typical example of life ignorance, self-blindness and intolerance placing
itself on the judge’s seat.
7
“Thou shalt, otherwise thou art condemned.” This prohibiting and condemning have
characterized morality in all times. Conception of right is something quite different. Among
the wise, it is application of the laws of life. Among those at the stage of culture, the basis of
judgement is a free social life, the equal right of all, uprightness, freedom and peace.
8
That current morality with its absurd demands and eternal judging is hostile to life is most
clearly seen when contrasted to the insights that every individual is found somewhere on a
ladder of development that seems endless to us, and that his understanding of life and
behaviour are the outcome of the level he has reached.
9
“People never forgive.” Then it is asked: Who has given them any right whatever to
forgive? Since they totally lack any right to judge, a right they in their self-sufficiency have
usurped in conflict with the Law of life (those who judge will be judged), then the right to
forgive is just a self-assumed right without any ground. Together with “sin and grace”
forgiveness is the most diabolical means the satanists have ever invented to idiotize and so
tyrannize mankind. According to esoterics, there is no sin, no grace, no forgiveness, no right
to judge. There is just Law, the law of sowing and reaping. That is a law of life, necessary to
the continuance of life, and not even the gods are able to change it.
10
On the other hand, there are social laws necessary to the continuance of society, thus laws
without which no society can exist. There are social laws necessary to the regulation of
relations of right between individuals, necessary to a society in which people are able to live
in peace with each other. But these laws have nothing to do with morality. Morality is the
invention of satanists. Morality will exist as long as hatred is mankind’s elixir of life, for
morality affords people the appearance they need in order to hate and judge. Morality will
always exist as long as mankind is dependent on its emotional consciousness. Morality is one
of the many proofs of the fact that “the world wants to be deceived”, that people want to
deceive themselves.
11
It is not difficult for an esoterician to decide which sayings in the New Testament gospels
really derive from Christos. Most gnostic sayings have been attributed to him. But there are
also true sayings by Christos, and among these are: “Judge not...” The true words they have
consistently omitted to heed and, above all, to apply. Judgement is the strongest expression of
hatred and the gravest mistake as to both the law of freedom and the law of unity. Judgement
excludes the judger from the community of life and so it can be said to be a “blunder worse
than a crime”.
12
We are here in order to have experiences and to learn from them. On account of our
almost total ignorance of life we largely make nothing but mistakes, which (when we have
learnt from them) we call follies. That morality is hostile to life is seen in the fact that
morality puts it into our heads that these follies are unpardonable. Instead they were necessary
experiences, which have taught us wholesome, not to say necessary lessons. It is by making
mistakes that we learn. Instead of being grateful for them, many people torment themselves by
blaming themselves and so poison their entire lives. Thereby morality has a self-destructive
effect on man. The psychological error we make is that we identify ourselves with these follies
of the past whereas our very disapproval shows that we are different. We identify with our
experiences, and this is what makes morality hostile to life.
13
The Christian fiction of “salvation from sin” has the psychological effect that it liberates
the individual from his past: “it is forgiven”. And for many people this liberation has been the
basis of their “Christian faith”. The esoterician, who cannot accept this injustice, finds
consolation in the thought that he will some time have an opportunity to make good.
14
The psychological error of morality is prohibition (thou shalt not). So you tell children
who understand nothing until they have learnt to behave among people. But you do not say so
to adults. Moreover, prohibitions violate the law of freedom. (It is altogether another matter
that there must be rules to ensure a social life without friction. The law of reaping neither says
“thou shalt not” nor “thou shalt”, but “if you do so and so, then the consequence is that and
that”. Choose success or failure according to the law of freedom. All this presupposes so
much power of judgement that you know what it all is about before you choose. All this
twaddle about morality is meaningless when there is no knowledge of the stages of
development.
15
Shakespeare was an esoterician and only an esoterician can rightly understand him. His
plays witness to the fact that he had a knowledge of the stages of mankind’s development and
of reincarnation. They have blamed him for not being a moralist. But he depicted the various
human types on their respective levels. All were right, because they were such as they were.
The moralist is unable to see that the individual is such as he is on his level, and that he
cannot help that he is not different. They have blamed Shakespeare that he did not let crime be
followed by punishment. But such is life. We cannot see the consequences of our mistakes,
because they show in a later incarnation. The sophists of our time hold that all are right, that
all views are equally justified, and that all views are equally good and right, as if there were
nothing in itself true and right. But the fact that you do not moralize does not mean that you
accept the view held or action taken. The esoterician does not judge. But he sees the mistakes
and know what they are due to.
16
The view of life is different on different levels in a long series of ever higher levels with
more and more correct views, until the individual reaches the world of Platonic ideas and can
himself ascertain all the facts and judge, realize and understand what is in itself true and right.
17
One proof of the psychological injudiciousness of moralism is that “blamelessness” (of
conventional hypocrisy) is regarded as a mark of capacity. As if insight and the ability to
realize ideals were the same thing and indivisible, which is possible just for those in the fifth
natural kingdom. Besides, where is the logic? The Christian is forced by his religion to
confess his absolute sinfulness but demands to appear sinless before the masses. Moral
self-blindness is also a proof of psychological imbecility. Add to this that the cowardice of
morality is as great as its hypocrisy. Moreover, we have the cynicism of morality in the
eleventh commandment and the unforgiving condemnation of anyone who has let himself be
caught. And these people are the ones to speak of morality! The bottom has certainly been
reached. Still worse is that it is incurable. “He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”
And the Christians have daily cast their stones for two thousand years ever since this was said.
How many thousand years will they go on? Ask the canting moralist when he will stop, when
he will realize his idiocy.
18
The moralists, who are all either unaware or aware of their own cant and hypocrisy,
demand agreement of life and teaching, condemning those who “fail”. With such demands
nobody could be a teacher. The qualities we have acquired in previous lives we can reacquire
easily enough. But most qualities are slowly acquired in the course of development during
millions of years. When will mankind be liberated from the moralists?
19
Many people have once acquired all the qualities of the emotional saint but have not had
the opportunity to develop them anew, as a rule because other qualities or abilities must be
acquired and demand all their time and energy.
20
We judge ourselves by our good resolutions and other people by their actions.
21
The moralists judge a man by his faults and failings. The esoterician, however, judges
him by the level of development he has reached and his greatness within the given limits of
his capacity. Often, faults and failings are the price he must pay for his greatness.
22
The moralist is self-blind. He is mostly unaware of what stirs in his own subconscious.
Poul Bjerre, the psychoanalyst who had opportunities to look somewhat behind the front,
stated about the Oxfordists, those public confessants, the fact that is self-evident to every
esoterician: “Becoming peccadillos come out well on the platform, but what has shaken the
foundations of the soul does not lend itself to publicity.” They would not even dream of
owning to their inner conflicts at confession meetings. And then people believe they know
themselves!
23
What kind of a human being am I? And what kind are you? The history of the world
testifies to that.
24
Anyone who knows himself ever so little never speaks ill of anybody. That is the proof.
25
When the moralists speak about a “misspent life” they mean that the individuals has not
made the most of his possibilities of development or contribution but has “failed”. They do
not realize that the individual has not yet acquired certain qualities which are necessary for
him in order to succeed and rightly use his visible qualities. Without a harmoniously shaped
fund of thousands of qualities, individual “brilliant” qualities do not have full scope for
development. We know so little of all the qualities we have acquired and have latently and of
all the qualities we still lack. If the moralists suspected their enormous ignorance of life, they
would not act judges and assessors. The fact alone that you have become a human being, is a
proof that you have acquired countless qualities.
26
The moralists know nothing about reincarnation and the law of sowing and reaping, about
life in between incarnations, about the law of development and the various stages of
development. The less you know the more certain you are of your illusions and fictions.
27
If the moralists had any knowledge of life, they would not be so surprised at mistakes that
even those at the humanist stage can make, at the faults, failings and various imperfections of
these people. For one thing they know nothing about the workings of the law of reaping, that
in certain respects terrible law. For another thing they can never grasp the motives of those on
higher levels and they do not know that the motive is the essential thing in all actions.
28
Moralists demand that the genius be humble. We have every reason to react to that as
Goethe did: “Nur die Lumpen sind bescheiden.” (“Only wretches are humble.”) What
demands have moralists to make? The mere fact that they are moralists demonstrates that they
are lying pharisees and hypocrites.
29
There are lots of esoteric ideas in Goethe’s writings witnessing to the source of his
knowledge, lots of sayings typical of esoteric insight. One such saying which would be very
good for the moralists, in particular, if they would care to remember it, is: “Es irrt der Mensch
so lang er strebt (Man goes astray as long as he strives).” We all largely make nothing but
mistakes, however wise and well-meaning we think we are, and so it is because we are
ignorant of life and the laws of life.
30
In our times they have instituted chairs in the history of literature. Such professor-ships
make it possible to take a doctor’s degree by parasitizing on the literary output of other
people, a sort of intellectual body-snatching, in which disclosures of all vices, faults and
failings of literary persons are regarded as important scholarly discoveries. These
professorships should soon be ripe for shutdown.
31
The maxims of Larochefoucauld are on the whole a scathing satire on moralism, without
effect as always, for people must have their motives of hatred. Trying to fight moralism is like
whipping the billows of the Hellespont with iron chains. It just billows more. The hydra of the
Grecian tale was the symbol of slander. For each head that was cut off two new ones grew out.
The Greeks of prehistoric times were fully alive to the fact that people are found at different
stages of development.
32
The following statement by a 45-self could perhaps make some readers reflect on the
effects of moralism, something that most people instinctively try to avoid (which explains
much): “As long as women do not defend the cause of the so-called fallen women instead of
participating in the outcry of the moralists, for so long they will fight in vain for full equality.
They make two mistakes: they are moralists and therefore hypocrites and they condemn their
own sex.”
33
There have always been a few courageous men and women on higher levels who have
done their best to fight infamous moralism, cynical hypocrisy, that most efficient weapon the
satanists can wield in their struggle against all pioneers. Blavatsky did her best to challenge
that life-poisoning gossip. She used to wear men’s clothes, ride astraddle (a terrible thing in
those times), smoke like a chimney, swear like a trooper and boast of her illegitimate children.
No wonder she was calumniated and condemned. Later she deplored her challenges, not for
her own sake but because the slander also affected the work she had been assigned to do for
mankind.
34
The war against moralism, against the cynical hate-mongering of social hypocrisy, is
probably fruitless as long as people are at the lower emotional stage where hatred is the
individual’s elixir of life.
35
When, some time in the future, mankind has reached the stage of culture, has acquired the
qualities of attraction, then the individuals will have realized that moralism is hostile to life
and stopped condemning others (and themselves) for their “faults and failings”. Until then,
self-blindness will reign.

(12-01-2018, 06:14 PM)Bring4th_Plenum Wrote: 1) do you think you've personally experienced Grace at some point in your life?

2) how does one 'actuate' grace?  An attitude of gratitude, receptivity, and mutual honoring?  Does it become pretty much automatic, when the mind is truly appreciative of each and every circumstance?

3) does Grace have an intermediary?  Ie, the Holy Spirit, or the spirit complex?  Does it even matter if it does?

4) how does the word/concept of Grace fit into the Law of One framework?

Dialogues of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Wrote:Q: Is destiny the same as grace?
M: Absolutely. Accept life as it comes and you will find it a blessing.

Amritbindu Upanishad Wrote:That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being -- I am that."

(12-02-2018, 09:38 AM)Agua Wrote:

(12-02-2018, 09:16 AM)Nau7ik Wrote:

(12-01-2018, 06:14 PM)Bring4th_Plenum Wrote: 3) does Grace have an intermediary?  Ie, the Holy Spirit, or the spirit complex?  Does it even matter if it does?

I would say that grace does have an agent in the spirit. In my limited understanding, grace is like a gift of divine encouragement or inspiration. Because one is karmically deserving of this higher aid.

Sorry to contradict, Nautik!
my experiences with grace clearly showed to me that its the very nature of grace that you DONT have to earn it, it is a gift available to every living entity.
I would say its nature is to bypass karma, to put it that way.

Bring4th_Plenum Wrote:1) do you think you've personally experienced Grace at some point in your life?

2) how does one 'actuate' grace?  An attitude of gratitude, receptivity, and mutual honoring?  Does it become pretty much automatic, when the mind is truly appreciative of each and every circumstance?

3) does Grace have an intermediary?  Ie, the Holy Spirit, or the spirit complex?  Does it even matter if it does?

4) how does the word/concept of Grace fit into the Law of One framework?

Quote:The green-ray energy transfer occurs due to the vibratory rate of each entity being undistorted in any vital sense by the yellow- or orange-ray energies; thus the gift, shall we say, being given freely, no payment being requested either of the body, of the mind, or of the spirit. The green ray is one of complete universality of love. This is a giving without expectation of return.

Quote:Each entity then was offered many more subtle ways of demonstrating either service towards others or service to self with the distortion of the manipulation of others. As each lesson was understood, those lessons of sharing, of giving, of receiving in free gratitude— each lesson could be rejected in practice.

Quote:There are some few whose desires to aid society are of a green-ray nature or above. These entities, however, are few due to the understanding, may we say, of fourth ray that universal love freely given is more to be desired than principalities or even the rearrangement of peoples or political structures.

Quote:Things come not to those positively oriented but through such beings.

(12-01-2018, 06:14 PM)Bring4th_Plenum Wrote: 1) do you think you've personally experienced Grace at some point in your life?

2) how does one 'actuate' grace?  An attitude of gratitude, receptivity, and mutual honoring?  Does it become pretty much automatic, when the mind is truly appreciative of each and every circumstance?

3) does Grace have an intermediary?  Ie, the Holy Spirit, or the spirit complex?  Does it even matter if it does?

4) how does the word/concept of Grace fit into the Law of One framework?

(12-04-2018, 07:35 PM)flofrog Wrote: To question 1,  I think one of the earliest times was when I was fourteen and I was working twice a week in a barn so in exchange I could ride horses.  So one day I took charge of a horse which had been mounted, took off his saddle, made him drink before taking him inside the barn to his stall. So he was a horse  which was always fresh and always spooky and to get to his stall you had to pass several stalls via a fairly narrow passage and he started to get really nervous, lifting his head, chafing his tail, walking unevenly and stopping then starting,  and for once I felt fear too, which is really dumb because horses get it immediately when you start to feel fear yourself. It was a long narrow passage and his stall was the last one and I was oh my god this is not going well.  Then I made this intense prayer,  we have to get out of this both alive, and a few steps after,  suddenly I felt this smooth state where everything flows perfectly,  his name was Hardy, and Hardy suddenly lowered his head, slowed his pace and suddenly he looked like an old peaceful pacified horse like the antithesis of the horse he was before.  I put him in his stall, he put his head against my chest without moving,  big sign of intimacy from a horse, lol,  and that was it.  For sure that was grace  !!

Quote:The Parable of the Lost Son

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”