(Continued from part 1)A Lifestyle Built on Creative Work and Meditation
Even though it can get out of control if you let it, the ego is the work of the Divine Mother and you can use it to make incredible things while you’re here.
This is why my spirituality is centered on creative work, which utilizes the ego to an extent, and meditation, which quiets the ego and opens one to a higher consciousness.
Creative work induces a light meditation and brings me closer with the Mother, and meditation brings me a sliver closer with the unknowable Father.
When Franklin and others allude to the great, unknowable mystery, they’re usually referring to the Father.
Many teachers, including those Franklin followed with enthusiasm, taught disconnection from the earthly aspects of one’s consciousness (i.e. the Mother’s creation) in favor of enlightenment or a subtle understanding of the great mystery.
They didn’t teach disconnection from the qualities associated with the Mother such as love and compassion, but they did teach disconnection from our fascination with the aspects of the Mother’s creation that they felt were distracting.
Focusing solely on unity with the Father is probably the quickest way to reach any kind of enlightenment.
However, if you want to take the journey a little slower so you can stop and see the sights, the Divine Mother offers a more gradual form of spiritual progression that involves creating things while you’re on this planet.
It’s centered on creativity as a means to expand consciousness and uplift others, and if you decide to take it up, I highly recommend setting aside time for meditation.
Even if creativity forms the foundation of your spirituality, why not grow closer with the mystery by making time to explore the silence? If you’re ever at a brick wall with your creative work, you might find that meditation is just what you need.
The Ego and the Rules of Writing
Franklin writes that language can be utilized properly from an egoistic standpoint, but it fails when describing the great mystery.
“Now, from the egoistic or ‘self-conscious’ standpoint language can be used correctly. But in the case the expression is about the event or reality as seen from the outside; it is not the event or reality itself. Expression as from the SELF, which is expression in the Current, IS the Reality.
“Necessarily there is a mystical quality in the latter, but not implying irrationality in the sense of anti-rationality. In fact the SELF is REASON, while all external reasoning is but a reflection of that REASON and, in most cases a very poor reflection indeed.” (1)
Sometimes, the rules of writing will have to be abandoned out of necessity to properly describe the mystery.
“The rules of literary form will have to be sacrificed when they interfere with the main purpose. At times I write in the midst of the Current, yet at other times more or less out of It. The Current carries Authority, and in the face of this literary rules must be discarded when they act as barriers to Meaning.” (2)
Whether it comes to writing or anything else, the Current is more important than fitting in with societal standards.
When revelations flow straight from the Source, they have to be recorded regardless of whether the descriptions concocted by the mind and soul are in line with society’s rules.
You’ll notice in some spiritual writings that rules are broken and barriers crossed for the sake of proper explanation. Even if it seems sloppy, an edited description would fail to describe the experience accurately.
In terms of style or neatness, it would be even worse than the original.
Writing: A Slow but Necessary Process
Franklin writes that in comparison to the speed and clarity with which he could receive flowing thoughts and revelations, writing them down is a slow process.
“I am exploring a new world. There is so much which requires to be thought into clarity that there seems not to be time enough for the writing, setting aside all more external activities. But it is necessary that a record should be kept as far as the inner events and ideas can be captured.
“My thought is extraordinarily clear. An increasing amount of it is now within the range of formulation, but my actual thought is in the form of a sort of shorthand which takes much less time than the completed expression on paper or the spoken word. The writing process seems so slow!
“I shall place down what I can in this record as the material comes to the foreground, leaving systematic formulation to the future.” (3)
Despite this, in a later passage he described his growing passion for writing down his experiences and observations.
“There is a growing compulsion to write. At first I did not care to bother with writing or with any other form of expression. Even the world of thought, hitherto always a rich one with me, became inferior to the Consciousness induced by the Recognition wherein I found Myself sustaining the universe.
“But I have accepted duty in the relative world and that duty has become, first, thought, and then as complete an exposition of it as its racing current will permit. At first I made myself write but now there is a growing compulsion that sends me to the typewriter.” (4)
I can relate to the initial struggle to write, which is often followed by the urge to do it because the thoughts and expressions suddenly flow clearly.
Instantaneous Thought and Expression
When Franklin describes his thoughts as ‘a sort of shorthand’ that comes in more quickly than the words to express it, he describes the manner of thought and expression common in higher states of consciousness.
This expression is instantaneous, and words aren’t a part of it at all.
In their place are complex images and streams of thought that, despite appearing in an instant as a single thought package, could fill thousands of books.
Could you imagine receiving or communicating thousands of books worth of information in a single thought? This is what awaits us in higher states of consciousness, and as you can probably imagine, words don’t compare.
For now, however, words are useful and they’ll take us far before they’re no longer needed. Then, we can exchange them for an unparalleled method of communication that will far surpass anything we currently know.
Footnotes:
- Franklin Merrell-Wolff, Pathways Through to Space. A Personal Record of Transformation in Consciousness. New York: Julian Press, 1973, 25.
- Ibid., 26.
- Ibid., 9.
- Ibid., 15.
By Wes Annac, Culture of Awareness, June 22, 2016 – https://tinyurl.com/gohw72y