The Rose Cross

People often ask me what I personally believe; what follows is the sum total of my life experience, as well as spiritual and philosophical thought…so far at least.

The points below came to me suddenly, or were ‘received’ over a period of a few days. I have not changed them, other to correct some grammar and typos, hence the almost stream-of-consciousness quality to it. Some of it has been covered in bits and pieces in my other articles, but I leave it in tact here to give to you as it was given to me. I have absolute faith that in the fullness of time these ideas will weighed and considered in hearts and minds all over the world.

Gnostic Theism It is not a religion, so much as a philosophical world view and approach to life, meant to inform and animate an individual’s beliefs, but it certainly could serve the function of a religion standing on its own. It is an intellectual framework to hang your experiences on and help make sense of life.

Gnostic Theism is the evolution of spiritual thought:
Gnostic – Gnosticism is an ancient belief system that holds that a connection with the Creator and the real answers to life’s problems and challenges can only be found within.

Theism – Theism is a school of philosophy that conceives of God as personal and active in the physical world and universe at large.

Gnostic Theism is non-dogmatic, in that the PROCESS of deciding what you believe is more important than what you believe. Though you may find various guides along the way, the fact is in the end, we must each walk the Path alone.

As such, there is room in this Philosophy for people of all Faiths and world views. As with any system of thought, there are some fundamental ideas to be weighed and applied, or discarded, as necessary. Again, it is more important to know WHY you believe or don’t believe a thing, than whether or not you actually believe it.

The fundamentals of Gnostic Theism are as follows:
The universe is vast an infinite, and one of an infinite number of vast and infinite universes.

The Grand Creator exists outside and independent of these universes, and outside of time and space. This Being is the Author and Architect of all things, and can not be known in any way at the human level of consciousness.
The Grand Creator has given Divine Mind dominion over this entire universe, which It interpenetrates in all ways and at all times. This Divine Mind is ‘God’ as it is conceived of by most people.

Divine Mind is everywhere at all times, overseeing and animating everything in existence from the tiniest of particles to the planets and the universe itself; this Mind oversees. Divine Mind is not limited by time and space as we understand them, and It is aware of all occurrences in all dimensions simultaneously.

The Universe is designed and run like a tremendous machine; its individual functions are delegated to conscious and non-conscious beings to perform. These beings, pending the scope of their activities are the angels, gods, and spirits of common experience.

Everything exists, whether in physical, or non-physical form. It is easier to assume any given being, entity, god, demon, alien, etc is real or based on something that was real, than not. It is impossible to say if a given deity, Apollo for instance, exists because he was created to serve a purpose, or centuries of veneration and belief have given him a conscious existence. Imagine how leaves and branches flowing in a river collect into masses that can become so large they block the river itself; it’s the same with energy. Enough energy directed by enough people accumulates to form or strengthen the thing believed in.

Mankind is a microcosm of the macrocosm; any and everything that exists outside of us exists inside of us. Our outer experiences constantly reflect our inner state in an attempt to reach equilibrium; the easiest way to enact outer change it to enact inner change. As the Hermeticists say: As Above, So Below; As Within, So Without.

Each individual human being is infinitely powerful. You literally have all the power of the universe at your disposal, if you would just dedicate your self to its mastery.

Science is king, for its purposes, and religion is king, for its purposes. Science can tell us how, religion can tell us why. Using science in an attempt to disprove the existence of God is like trying to use a knowledge of music to disprove the existence of Beethoven. The Philosophy of Gnostic Theism, for our purposes, is a hybrid approach that allows us to not only know the Creator by knowing the Creation, but to know the Creator by truly knowing ourselves.

Gnostic Theism, therefore, is the study of the Divine and Its hand in existence by comprehending ourselves and our True Nature. Any other pursuit in life will necessarily fall short of the value of truly connecting with the source of All That Is.

Our current religious, scientific, social and political mechanisms have largely failed. Religions have been used as a tool of domination and social control for so long they are largely devoid of their original anima. Science has largely given way to Scientism, the arbitrary belief that the only things that are real are what can be measured in a lab or seen under a microscope. This was a necessary push back against domination of the Church, but in the modern day it is contrary to common experience, and puts human beings in the impossible situation of being forced to choose their minds or their hearts. This false division can only lead to stress and inner turmoil, the likes of which we see played out every day in the lives of Humanity.

Our social system has been crippled by negative ego and greed. Consider, if asked the average person on the street may say they don’t believe in UFOs. But consider what that person is really saying. They are saying that millions of people, over thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years, were ALL wrong in their accounts of UFOs. Even if you say they were mistaken instead of outright lying, you are putting yourself in a position of intellectual superiority over legions of strangers, and passing judgment on events you didn’t even witness. This type of negative ego based thinking is rampant in the world today, and causes each of us to live in glass towers of self-serving vanity that are as imprisoning as they are fragile. And to the counter arguments given that “I don’t believe it because there is no evidence”, I can only say that there are mountains of evidence that you may either be unaware of, or perhaps you have simply misinterpreted it.

Politically we suffer from the same misguided concepts, as our other conventions have failed we seek to fill them in with something else to believe in. But consider how in our current system, nothing ever really gets done. Because the politicians aren’t actually concerned with accomplishing things, but with doing just enough to get reelected. The actual good of the people represented runs a distant second to their own self interest. There is more than enough resources to go around, if the Governments of the world were more concerned with human rights and dignity, than global grandstanding and selfishness.

In the absence then, of functioning structures we must create new ones. And the place to create them first is in our own hearts and minds. Gnostic Theism will provide you with an intellectual framework to hang your experiences on, and make sense of day to day existence as well as your greater place in the cosmos

You are cosmically important. Everything you do, every thought you think, radiates out through eternity. Your purpose in this plane of existence is to realize this, and access your own true power and Inner Divinity. You can not afford the luxury of even one negative thought, just as you would not eat food with just one drop of sewer water on it.

It is our belief that life on Earth is a school, and you will continue to return to this Earthly plane again and again to learn the lessons placed before you. But while an idea of reincarnation may seem imprisoning, it is in truth the most liberating of ideologies. Because, rather than see things that happen to you as trials and tribulations in a limited life, you can instead see them as experiences in an infinite existence. It becomes that much easier to co-exist with others and accept their life choices, since it may be the lesson of this life for them to experience the worst forms of negative existence, either to work off past karmic debts, and or to prepare them for brighter incarnations in the future.

There are those in the world right now who have a vested interest in keeping you weak and bound. And I’m not talking about some shadowy conspiracy, but something much more mundane. Fear keeps you tuning into nightly news broadcasts. Feelings of inadequacy fuel a multi billion dollar fashion business. Paranoia generates billions of dollars in legal profits, and crippled health care systems and even bigger health care industry. Your dissatisfaction keeps sports teams and movie theaters going strong. Spiritual destitution keeps churches and temples open around the world.
Unfortunately your bondage is big business; there isn’t much money to be made off of free, intelligent, self-determinant people.

We exist at the crossroads of unbridled achievement, and abject ruin.
The current road we are traveling is leading us towards inner spiritual and outer social and economic collapse. It is only through the creation of a new class of free thinker, able to weigh situations critically, logically and thoroughly, that the potential crises can be averted, and victory achieved.

All things being equal, a person with no cause to lie, with no evidence of deception, should be believed or at least weighed impartially. Just like people are considered innocent until proven guilty, they should be considered honest until proven deceptive. A healthy dose of common sense is of course necessary, in that a person who says “An angel appeared in my bedroom last night” is one thing, if that person says “give me $500 and I’ll show you the angel” then you should probably be concerned.

It has always struck me as odd that people reporting unusual experiences are often accused of doing so to gain attention, or get on television; but consider, who’s more likely to be grandstanding: the person who risks ridicule and embarrassment to come forward, or the professional skeptic who’s claim to fame is shooting down other people and their beliefs.

“”Men are not punished for their sins, but by them” — Elbert Hubbard
Over the centuries, much has been made of the concept of ‘sin’. The original Greek word Harmatio means: “sin, to miss the mark; error; failure”, which is a far cry from the one way ticket to damnation it is often touted to be.
It is our position that the Divine is transcendent in every way (although still imminently present), and by Its very nature is beyond the ability to be offended by anything we do. The easiest explanation of what God is like is that of Divine Parent (Father or Mother, as you choose to perceive it); just like a parent has to discipline an unruly child, it doesn’t mean you hate that child or choose to imprison them for the rest of their lives.

Moreover, it does not follow logically that an all knowing, all loving, God can condemn people to eternal damnation. It also speaks to the greater ‘problem of evil’. Consider: if God is all powerful, He (or she) could miracle the Devil (or evil in general) out of existence at any time. And yet, He doesn’t. Even more, an all knowing God would have known what Lucifer was going to do when he was created, but He did it anyway, why?
The only answer can be that Lucifer’s rebellion, and ‘evil’ in the world must serve some sort of Divine purpose.
And if it does, how can you label it as ‘evil’?
Now, let me be clear: I am not arguing that there aren’t reprehensible acts, but that labeling a given thing ‘good’ or ‘evil’ is completely relative.

Let me give an extreme example: imagine if a 35 year old person were killed suddenly in an accident, a tragedy by any standard. But, what if you knew, with absolute certainty, if that person hadn’t died that day they’d have have contracted a painful degenerative disease, and lived every day of the rest of their life in constant agony. Is it still as tragic?
Or an even more extreme example: assume a woman has an abortion, something that no matter what your political affiliation we all can agree is unfortunate. But, again, what if you absolutely KNEW that child would have grown up to be the next Adolf Hitler. Is it still so terrible?

Obviously these examples are reaching. But they are illustrative of a greater point: life in this Universe is simultaneously more complex than you can ever imagine, and simpler than you can ever believe. The need for ‘redemption’ would require some form of ‘fall’ that has been massively over played across time. Our current misconceptions are the result of thousands of years of social engineering, designed not only to build better mousetraps, but to condition the mice to willingly lay their necks across the block.

What do you think? Feel free to comment down below!

You are great, and I love you!
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B. Dave Walters

Writer, Life Coach, and Talk Radio Host

Find out more about me:
http://about.me/BDaveWalters

Ask me anything:
http://formspring.me/BDaveWalters

Pages I support:
Jesus and Buddha  (Interfaith dialog)

Gnostic Theism (My own personal spiritual path)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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