62. Returning

The audio recording is available at https://youtu.be/yQ8QXTCOkmc.

To understand our soul’s path back to the One and Only, we must first examine the manifestations of the soul. Every human soul manifests at least twice in life: first, when it enters the body, at birth, and second, when it leaves the body, at death, when the soul "exits" the person. The period between these two states—the entry into the body and the exit from it—is what we call life, during which the soul "breathes," that is, lives. How alive, dynamic, expressive, awakened, and eager to return a soul is, or whether it remains in a sleeping, static, or hidden state, is up to us. Some, by free will, express the purity and dynamism of the soul, embodying vitality, enthusiasm, and an active spirit. Others do not. 

The first group consists of those who have "spiritual strength," while the second group includes grumpy, lazy, discontented people, arms crossed, with no "spiritual strength" to return. From a spiritual perspective, the soul was created to be dynamic—alive, awakened, not dead or dormant—because only the awake, "strong" soul, the spirit, can return to the One. Only the awakened soul can express the universal self within it, experiencing existence (space) during its lifetime (time) on its returning to the One. For this, the soul requires meaning, "strength," and wisdom, because only then can eternity, the soul's permanence, and the cycle of the soul be ensured. The sleeping soul remains unaware of this and thus loses itself by renouncing itself. 

In today’s materialistic, liberal, and modern age—an era focused on external appearances, such as showcasing the body—the body judges the soul. Therefore, our time speaks of soullessness and materialism. Yet, spirit is always above matter; it is the soul that judges the body. It is not what the materialist Greeks taught that in a healthy body the healthy soul resides, but rather, the healthy soul resides in the healthy body. Just as the world exists within the One, not the One exists within the world. On the microcosmic level, the body is inferior, and the soul is superior. On the macrocosmic level, the world is inferior, and the One is superior. 

As modern humans, we know that matter can only manifest through interaction with other matter. Thus, the manifestation of matter is not a necessity, but rather a possibility, or a probability. What is certain, however, and not just a possibility, is the manifestation of the soul or form. The form gives material content. If there is no soul, there is no content because there is nothing to fill. If the form disappears, the matter vanishes with it. Without form, matter loses its properties and dissolves, much like the body at death. 

The condition for returning to the One (theosis) is, therefore, a soul with an awakened universal self, capable to fulfilling the fourfold task or vocation mentioned earlier: finding the centre of the cross in oneself, and embarking on the spiral path that leads back. In other words, the condition for theosis is to follow the example of our Initiation Master, because His cross is also our cross. If He took the man upon Himself unconditionally, then we, too, must take the person upon ourselves unconditionally, accepting both its horizontal and vertical aspects, but asking for no reward. This selfless bearing of the cross, this renunciation, is what the greatest holy day of the second Christianity is about, because this selflessness and unconditionality is that, when by renouncing the individual self, the soul renews, leading to its resurrection. The holy day is about finding our soul’s universality and origin. Furthermore is about awakening to the possibility of transformation, to our universality, and the return to the universal self. This is our sole task. 

The unconditional returning is the true spiritual renewal, as our Initiation Master says: "Sell all your possessions and follow me." We must be able to renounce our materialism, empty ourselves, and shed our burdens (our individual self) to rediscover our universality. This is the ascent, but it can also be called the alignment with verticality, the resurrection of the soul, and the possibility of returning. Those who did not understand this spiritual renewal, this elevation of the soul, have linked renewal to material concerns—progress and development, or the sacrifices of flesh found in the old scriptures. The renunciation of flesh (not consuming meat) is the Pharisaic renunciation, which does not correlate with spiritual renewal. One focuses on the body (material food), the other on the soul (spiritual food). The material food has, at most, an indirect connection to renewal, as during the prohibited period, an empty stomach might force the unlearned and ignorant material person to meditate.