The Festivals of Ascension and Whitsun, and Cosmic Energies

At the end of May, we have just celebrated the Feast of the Ascension. Today, the 31st, commemorates the visit of Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth, who was to be the mother of John the Baptist, and Elizabeth's greeting of her, which forms the first part of the Hail Mary prayer. 

Then, at the weekend, we will be moving firmly into early summer with the Festival of Whitsun, or Pentecost, celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit as the disciples, together with Mary, waited in the Upper Room at Jerusalem as they had been told to do.

Pentecost comes 50 days after the Resurrection, and 50 is a number of great significance in esoteric studies. It symbolizes a great change, a freedom from the past, and a time of celebrating and feasting. Today, in Israel, the entire nation is celebrating a Jubilee Year, and the Jubilee of Jerusalem is especially important in the mystical teachings of esoteric Judaism. 

To Christians in the United Kingdom, the Feast of Pentecost has always been marked with special celebrations. Until recently, it was the custom for Christians in the North of England to hold parades, complete with brass bands, when families would all put on new clothes for Whitsun, and mark the birthday of the church with parties and dances. My own parents and their brothers and sisters would recall these festivities, which were a huge break from everyday life, and impressed on the children the importance of  Pentecost.

We can see this mood enhanced and reflected in the weather as the seasons change from late spring to early summer. The lengthening of the day is very obvious now; the sun is stronger; the countryside, the town parks and individual gardens are full of flowers and scents, as though Nature herself were joining in the celebrations of this great and ancient feast.

We can see how the Earth, turning now towards the Sun and towards the centre of our galaxy, is receiving special influences, from closer at hand than before. There is a real difference in the energies that permeate the very elements at this time, and these changes are the real reason why this time of year was the start of something quite new. Especially are we graced with fresh energies from the Sun, and from the Sun's Sun, as it were, the Dog Star, Sirius.

Our Sun revolves around Sirius, as we have been noticing. And Sirius, in turn, revolves around an even greater Sun, so that the entire galaxy is in motion, in a perpetual dance of joy and celebration.

Recall that we've passed the past eight months in focused, concentrated, inner work.

Since the Feast of St Michael at the end of September, and the harvest festivals and Jewish New Year of the September/October period, we've been remembering the eternal truths which Christianity, Judaism and the Work all teach us. 

We've been reminded of our own death; of the new birth which takes place at Christmas for those who have worked for it; of the celebrations of this new life and its beginnings in the world; and of the period of fasting and abstinence in Lent which prepares us for the Easter Passion Drama. 

We've recognized the changing seasons, their different energies, and the cosmic patterns which fit us for different types of work on ourselves as the year progresses.

Now, after the huge, most important time of all - the Easter drama, the Resurrection and the Ascension - we can have reached the time of Pentecost.

From the furthest reaches of space, from other suns and faraway galaxies, those of us who  are sensitive to such changes have experienced this whole time as especially propitious for our own personal work on ourselves.

When Pentecost comes, the emphasis falls differently. We now take all that we have learned and received from this remarkable journey and practice it as best we can in the external world. The time is now ripe for groups, for gatherings of all kinds, and for group work.

In our own lives, we try especially to live what we have learned, to practice external considering, to transform our mechanical reactions into the conscious reception of impressions. We need to do this all year, of course, but now, as the seasons propel us into summer, we emphasize putting it all together in a very real and practical way among our friends, our families, our colleagues, our fellow Work students. And as we do so, so others also gain the possibility of transformation.

Each season is different and unique, but each offers a particular way to practice the Work.

Looking at the cosmic dance of Suns and planets, we understand why it is most appropriate that the Ascension has recently taken place. Just as Christ ascends to heaven, so the extra-terrestrial, even extra-galactic, energies recede from us so that we can no longer directly perceive or experience them.

Jesus Christ returns to the Father; the influences from far, far afield - even from the sphere of the Most Holy Sun Absolute - seem now to return to their source. Of course, it is we, on our small and insignificant planet, who have moved. We are powerless to resist the changes, but we can benefit from the new and different influences that are apparent now.

 We cherish all that we have learned and assimilated, and take it into the world around us during the summer season.

The flames of Pentecost are reflected in the hotter, warmer sunshine we often experience. But even when the weather disappoints us, we can still feel the underlying shift of emphasis in the energies of this season, and if we are more awake we respond to it through our Higher Centres.

And as we remember this Feast, we can understand what a tremendous shock it gave those first disciples.

Nothing like it had ever happened in the world. Just as Jesus's entire ministry and Passion were unique and pioneering, so was - and is - Pentecost, for us as for them.

The first disciples were suddenly given the power to do. They began to communicate in unheard-of ways, to experience new emotions and new powers. Before Pentecost, they had been meeting together in prayer every day, but with no understanding or expectation of what was to come.

Because they were gathered together as a group, the shock they received was all the more powerful. They were welded together as a group, as the first church, and they were able - thanks to the shock of the Holy Spirit - to go out into the world and evangelize, just as they had been instructed. 

Before Pentecost, they could not do much. Afterwards, the entire world was changed.

This is the meaning of this very important festival, and how we may celebrate it today - by going out into the world and putting into practice what we have so arduously learned. And as we do so, we will receive exactly the energies and powers that Conscious Humanity knows we will need. It is not given until it is needed, but then it is poured out generously and freely and is available to all those who are able to receive it.

True Spirituality Takes Focus Away from Self

Last week I looked at the self-compassion and mindfulness practices, and whether they were real, spiritual paths. And it's clear that they are not. They are psychological, not spiritual, and while they may offer their followers some much-needed respite and reassurance, they don't go beyond the individual practitioner.

As counselling techniques they are admirable. They seem to be especially helpful to women, and less so for men, which I think says much about how women are treated - and how we treat ourselves - in western society today.

Women are often very stretched by having to care for their spouse and family, look after the house, work at a profession and maintain difficult standards in every sphere. We try to have it all, and we can't. And then we berate ourselves for our failures!

In this context, times of mindfulness and of self-compassion can be very useful indeed, even more so than the cliche of running oneself a bath, lighting a candle, and so on. What is needed is a change in consciousness, a break from the endless cycle of "shoulds" and "oughts" which plague so many of us.

Men, however, seem to find action more helpful in calming anxiety and stress. This is hardly surprising in our society, where so much emphasis is given to action rather than to creative non-action, but in the East it is traditionally a male guru who teaches meditation and helps his followers to tame their wayward thoughts and feelings

But true spirituality consists in none of these things by themselves.

We practise "sitting" and various forms of meditation, among which I include the Work's  morning exercise, in order to wake up, to become more conscious. But that is not the end.

Gurdjieff repeatedly reminded his followers how difficult it is to be a Christian. He never repudiated his faith, and he spoke only with appreciation and respect of the world's religions. And he emphasized that it is impossible to make progress in the Work just by working on and by oneself.

Essential as is that first step, it is only the beginning of a long journey out of our limited selves, our False Personalities, through the idiosyncfrasies of the Personality and into the Essence, towards Real I as our goal. Our Essence is the part of us which is most spiritual - indeed, it is the only part from which our spirit may grow. And Real I is the locus where our individual Essence meets with God.

To reach spiritual understanding, we need to work with others and to work for the sake of the Work itself. These are the second and third lines of Work, and they are vital to all progress.

We find that when we try to relate to others in the Work we can't simply fall back on our False Personality or our Personality. We need to relate to them with our Essence, because anything else will strike a false note. We will soon be caught out if we try to keep on our everyday mask, our "persona".

In the Work, we gradually learn to relate to people through externally considering them. We put ourselves in their place, moving completely away from our own limited, self-centred viewpoint and entering the experience of the other.

We do this both with fellow students in the Work and with those outside it, people we meet in our everyday lives, our families, colleagues and friends. We practise external considering in all circumstances, towards those we like and even more towards people we can't stand! And this again takes the focus away from our petty concerns and helps us to act with real understanding and compassion.

Eventually, we come to appreciate that the Work is so much greater than psychology. It is a way of reaching enlightenment, the shortest and surest way for those of us raised in the West who don't have access to a "guru" and whose responsibilities don't permit them to leave everything and live out their lives in a monastery.

And it is much more than that. The great creative power we call God has made it possible for us to evolve spiritually, and He has so directed our evolution that as we reach more enlightened states of consciousness so we also help the very universe itself to evolve.

So our ultimate responsibility is towards that great Being, and towards all of Conscious Humanity, all of whom cooperate in the task of ordering and maintaining the universe, and helping everyone who genuinely wishes to reach a higher level.

We are not alone; and we cannot work for ourselves alone.

Unlike the many self-help methods which claim to increase the practitioner's personal power, and which in reality do nothing of the kind but lead them further into delusion and materialism, spiritual paths emphasize the need for humility before God, and compassion to all beings.

When we acknowledge that there is indeed a God who directs our lives when we ask Him, we humble ourselves before that great source. We realize our own nothingness. Far from "bigging ourselves up" or bragging about our achievements, we acknowledge that we can do nothing without God's help, and that everything we try to do on our own inevitably comes to nought.

This is where the psychological and the spiritual paths diverge. To the psychologist who does not believe in God, everything begins and ends with the human being. There is nothing beyond. What a profoundly depressing world view this is!

The spiritual person knows she is under a great obligation to serve the highest; that she is bound to manifest compassion towards everyone she meets, in whatever form she can, even when that compassion may necessitate acting the part of anger, as a wise teacher must sometimes do.

She knows that on the spiritual path there are definite obligations that we all incur, ethical standards that we ignore at the cost of our own enlightenment.

And she longs with all her being to offer devoted service to the One who is above all, who has created her and everything that exists.

The self-help methods can never teach you such an attitude - and without it there is no growth in understanding.

As the Talmud says, "If I for myself only, what am I?"


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I'm taking a break from this blog for three weeks, as I prepare for the publication of my book "A Raging Thirst" in paperback, on CreateSpace.

I hope and pray that it will reach anyone who may be helped by it.

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Are Self Compassion and Mindfulness Spiritual Paths?

In my previous post, I wrote about Self Compassion and the Divine Mercy. The two have much in common; just as God shows mercy towards us, so we must be merciful towards ourselves. But is self compassion by itself a spiritual path?

I don't think it is.

To me, self compassion is an essential feature of well being. It's a self-counselling technique, one which may be taught by a therapist or learned from reading and applied to oneself. Without a similar approach to self observation, we can't make any progress in the Work or along any other spiritual path; certainly we can't become true Christians, able to love ourselves and other people, unless we show mercy towards ourselves.

But - like its companion discipline, mindfulness, which may be compared to the very beginning of self-observation - it operates purely on the natural level. There is nothing supernatural about it. And without the supernatural, there is no spirituality.

Neither self compassion nor mindfulness can, by themselves, function as a spiritual path. Why not? Because they begin and end with ourselves, whereas a spiritual path, by definition, leads us towards a Higher Power, towards God. Such a journey takes us out of ourselves, out of that short-circuit which is the natural, psychological level of life, where most people live for most of the time.

More, a spiritual path shows us how to treat other people.

Obviously, we need first of all to treat ourselves with compassion and mercy. That is basic to all spiritual progress, because we cannot love others or love God if we do not love ourselves. By loving ourselves, accepting ourselves with all our faults and defects, we place ourselves in a position whereby we can love others, who also have faults and defects. We accept that we are no better and no worse than others. We don't judge ourselves, and we don't judge others (though we must make value judgments about words and actions, otherwise we are lost in a maze of amoral options and fall into psychological entropy).

But someone who goes no further than self-acceptance is not engaged in a spiritual journey. That journey begins only when we aspire to reach a higher level of Being and Understanding, however we may describe that inner longing. To be spiritual beings - or rather, to understand that this is what we are, no matter how involved in matter we have become - we must have within us some idea of a Higher Power, of God.

All mainstream religions, all those which Gurdjieff considered to be real religions, have this awareness; that of ourselves we are nothing, can do nothing without help from above. And they all mandate that we must treat others as we treat ourselves, with compassion and mercy, with acceptance and understanding, knowing that we are all children of that same God and that He cares for all with equal love.

Equipped only with the psychological tools of mindfulness and self compassion, people may lead satisfied lives on the natural level, may reach a state of well being and personal comfort which nevertheless falls short of their real potential as spiritual beings.

And many, perhaps most, people are quite happy with this state. They may eventually, by leading the life of a Good Householder, reach an understanding that this life does not truly satisfy their deepest longings - but, again, they may never do so. We can't judge someone's ultimate Fate, whether they will reach a spiritual understanding in this life, or whether they may undergo further incarnations as they make progress towards such a goal.

My own teacher explained that Essence, if it does not develop, will simply be returned to the "universal melting pot" at the end of life. If people have made no efforts towards creating a soul, a higher being body, then they will have nothing permanent which can continue its journey after this life is finished.

We can't decide for ourselves whether this is the case for anyone else. We don't know what inner yearnings, what sufferings, someone with apparently no religious or spiritual orientation may be undergoing, nor where this may lead. We are not God.

And we can't see what the Fate of another may be, no matter how close they are to us; that depends on God, on the Higher Power in which they may say they don't believe, but which will still be present right up until their final moments, when they have the chance to decide whether to journey on, towards the Light, with all the purgatorial pain that might imply; or whether to reject that possibility, and hence to cease to exist at all.

So mindfulness, excellent as it is as a beginning practice and as a self calming technique, is not by itself a spiritual practice. Neither is self compassion.  Either or both can make people happier in this life, but they do nothing towards guiding the individual into a spiritual mode of existence.

We are now reaching the time in the cycle of the seasons when the Earth is leaving the influences that reached their peak at Christmas, those radiations which come from the farthest reaches of our galaxy and even beyond, which contain the possibility of new creation.

We have seen how, correctly and consciously taken up, these very special energies allow us to grow in Being, to experience a new birth in our Essence.

Now, however, that season is drawing to a close and we are beginning to experience the stronger influences of the Sun and planets closer to us.

In our spiritual lives, we are now encouraged to put into practice all that we have learned during the time of year that preceded it, to allow the new understanding to be expressed in the way we approach the outer world.

Mrs Pogson taught that the Earth experiences a whole cycle of breath during one year. From the time of Christmas until Midsummer, St.John's Tide, the Earth breathes out the energies it has received, while from Midsummer to Christmas the Earth is breathing in again. Uniting this cycle with the changes in the position of the Earth and Sun in our galaxy helps us understand the type of energy appropriate for each season of the year, and guides us as to the right way to express our spirituality.

Those who practice mindfulness and self compassion with a spiritual aim will find that they may go out into the welcome summer season with new confidence in their ability to put all they have learned to use.