THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
“Humanity is deeply spiritual and innately religious but needs today a new form with which to clothe the ancient verities.” EXT, 114
“Religious Music”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n9EyT1R3l0 (Right click and select “Open in New Tab”, allowing this page and another page to be open for the music on youtube - skip ad first)
Allegri - Miserere mei Deus - God Have Mercy On Me performed by The Choir of New College, Oxford. In other words — ‘God Be With Me, — God Be Present With Me’.
Miserere, also known as Miserere mei Deus (in Latin: "Have mercy on me, God") is a cappella music of Psalm 51 (50) by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri.
An ethereal composition traditionally sung during Tenebrae vigil beginning on Maundy Thursday and ending on Holy Saturday.
NOTE: 14:44 is the end of this piece. The rest is a loop repeating.
A listener wrote: “The ethereal beauty, the heavenly voices, the perfect melodies & harmonies as they dance weaving in & out, forming a tapestry of sound so perfect it stirs the innermost recesses of my soul. The music is so brilliant, words seem insufficient. Just when you think your palette is satiated, a single voice pierces the heavens with a note so high, so pure, so crystal clear, soaring effortlessly upward, it hangs gloriously in the rafters and then gently glides back to earth to take rest just over the other voices. It is an absolutely mesmerizing piece that can bring me to tears. I feel as if we are experiencing just a tiny, tiny glimpse of Heaven!”
THE CHRIST FIELD
Let us enter into and stand in the Peace and Presence of the SOUL FIELD of the Soul Star Group … joined in the radiatory PRESENCE of the Christ — in His Field of living Love and Life. Let us prepare to receive Christ’s blessing … as He blesses all His Disciples and all the world.
(You may choose to do a full meditation as written in Sunday's Entry into Jerusalem or do an abbreviated version by linking with the Soul Star Group — the Spiritual Hierarchy and Christ at the Center. Let us link more deeply today with the Soul Star Group worldwide as we move towards Easter). If you choose to do the full meditation (which is highly recommended especially on this Thursday), refer to Sunday's Entry into Jerusalem of our Esoteric Easter Vigil).
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PREPARATION: Before we enter the Garden of Gethsemane, let us bring our preparedness with us. We are stepping through a portal into a dimension of Reality wherein lives the Christ. The selected paragraphs below are more than interesting words on a page. They are living Words and Thought-forms written by a high Initiate, a Master of Love-Wisdom and a Disciple of the Christ (the Tibetan Master DK Who presented these Teachings for the Western Disciple steeped in both Christian and Buddhist theology). As we read these words in the paragraphs below, let them "vibrate through us". Stand as the Soul open to the Presence of high Truths and the energy fields that embody them. The living dimensions of Father-Mother God has many mansions. The mansion we are about to step into is exceedingly high and subtle that only the most sensitive aspect of our nature will register and 'know'. Expect that you will, and so you will (if not now then sometime in a prepared future).
THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
The Father's Will is Anchored on Earth
CHRIST ENTERS THE GARDEN TO PRAY TO THE FATHER
ROC, 52/53 …”Christians are apt to forget that the crisis in the final hours of the Christ was not that spent upon the Cross, but those spent in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then His will—in agony and almost despair—was submerged in that of the Father...."
In the Garden of Gethsemane He said, "Father, not My will but Thine be done," thus indicating His realization of divine destiny. The meaning of these words is not (as is so often stated by Christian theologians) a statement of acceptance of pain and of an unpleasant future and of death. It was an exclamation, evoked surely by His realization of the universal implications of His mission and the intense focusing of His life in a universal sense. The Gethsemane experience was an experience uniquely possible only to those Sons of God Who have reached His rare point in evolution; it had no real relation to the Crucifixion episode, as the orthodox commentators emphasize." (ROC, 28/9)
CONTEMPLATE
“The Christ, at that time over-shadowing His great Disciple [Jesus], also passed simultaneously through a great initiatory experience. The agony of His yearning for revelation and increased enlightenment (in order to enhance His equipment as World Saviour) revealed to Him the new possibilities, from which—when confronted with them dimly in the garden of Gethsemane and later upon the Cross—His whole nature shrank.” (R&I, 524)
“It was the dawning of this significance of the will of God upon the consciousness of the Christ which led Him to certain great decisions, and which forced Him to cry out: "Father, not my will but Thine be done." These words definitely indicate conflict and do not indicate the synchronization of the two wills; they indicate the determination on the part of the Christ that there should be no opposition between His will and that of God. Suddenly, He received a vision of the emerging, divine intention for humanity – and through humanity – for the planet as a whole. At the particular stage of spiritual development which Christ had then attained and which had made Him the Head of the spiritual Hierarchy, the One who engineered the emergence of the Kingdom of God and established Him as the Master of all the Masters and the Teacher of angels and of men, “His consciousness was absolutely at one with the divine Plan; its application on Earth and its goal of establishing the Kingdom of God and the appearance of the fifth kingdom in nature [the Kingdom of Souls] was simply for Him the fulfilling of the law and to that fulfillment His entire life was and had been geared.” (R&I, 289)
“Reverently we might say that in this "occasion" of the Christ's, two facts were involved and that both of them are difficult for man to understand. The fact of the synchronization of His will with that of the Father, and the fact that this synchronization led to a basic decision, must be recognized by us. It is not easy for the average Christian to realize that the Christ passes on steadily to increasingly potent experiences, and that in His divine experience there is nothing static or permanent—except His Unalterable Love for Humanity.” (ROC, 24)
LET US CONTEMPLATE: We pause to recognize the synchronization of His will with that of the Father, and the new vision for Humanity dawning upon His mind, and the role He would play for Humanity and the planet. He would realize the application of this vision, fulfilling the Law of Love, as the new ‘heaven on earth’ in manifestation. His life had been geared in this direction and remains so now. Let us enter into a deeper understanding of unalterable Love, expressed through Christ as an unalterable Love for Humanity — a perfect Love that is an expression of the Lord of the World absorbed from the Solar Lord of Divine Love (the Heart of the Sun) — in Divine interplay with the Cosmic Christ on Sirius. Before Him now was synchronization with the “Will to Love” of the Father.
"The first faint tremor of reaction to monadic "destiny" and to the widespread universal influence a Son of God can exert makes itself felt in the consciousness of the Christ—as it will in the consciousness of all those who obey His injunction and arrive at the perfection which He pointed out as possible. The highest divine quality or aspect now makes itself felt in the life of the progressing Son of God; He knows the meaning of intelligence; He realizes the significance of love and its attractive quality. Now—because of these two recognitions—He becomes aware of the potency of will and of the reality of the divine intention which that will must (at any cost) implement. This was the major crisis of the Christ.” (ROC, 27)
CONTEMPLATE: Divine Will implements the purpose of God. Christ contemplates the Vision for the destiny and fulfillment of Humanity — a Center in the body of the Planetary Logos. Humanity will express this vision. The Earth itself is a Center in the Body of the Solar Logos, the Base of the Spine Center. Christ saw all this in His vision. In parallel, as a human Being expresses the higher will of the Monad (Spirit), the coiled serpent of 1st ray energy slowly rises from the base of the spine, evoked by the awakened Crown Center; this occurs gradually and automatically through the course of the very long journey of the Initiation process.
Christ is leading Humanity toward this Higher Will and future Destiny. We are destined to Be as He is — “As I AM, You are Also.” The perfected Human — As He Is, So Shall We Be.
CHRIST SEES THE VISION OF THE FATHER
“At this point, He passed through the Gethsemane of renunciation. The greater, the larger and the more inclusive was revealed to Him and all that hitherto seemed so vital and important was lost to sight in the greater vision. It is this living realization of Being and of identification with the divine intention of God Himself, the Father, the Lord of the World upon levels of awareness of which we know nothing (as yet) which constituted the unfolding awareness of the Christ upon the Way of the Higher Evolution."
Pause to Contemplate.
“This Way He treads today and He began to tread it in Palestine two thousand years ago. He knew, in a sense hitherto unknown to Him, what God intended and what human destiny meant, and the part that He had to play in the working out of that destiny. We have paid little attention down the centuries of human thinking to Christ's reaction to His own destiny, as it affected the human. We have paid small attention to the aspect of His reaction to knowledge, as it unfolded itself to Him. We have been selfish and grasping in our reaction to His work and sacrifice." (ROC, 26)
CONTEMPLATE: We must be like Him by going through the same processes He went through (purification, the desert experience facing the Three Temptations, Service, Renunciation). It not enough to believe that His death was a ‘vicarious atonement’ for our sins for all time and that nothing more need be done by us — relying solely on the teaching that He “saved” us. It is not enough to believe in Him — we must follow Him by Being like Him in our lives. We need to become “Christs” to fulfil the destiny of Humanity. He lived the Way forward, opening those doors for us. Now we must ‘forward move’ doing the same.
Our appreciation of the magnificence of Who He Is among us — the extraordinary Being He Is, not merely one teacher or prophet among many, must also be understood — Christ is unique in His demonstration as the first of Earth Humanity to pave the way forward for all to follow — “No man cometh unto the Father except by Me”. The path He set before us is “the Way”. Purification of and from the old ways, and treading the path of Initiation — as He did — will bring us ‘all the Way’.
This day, Good Friday is the episode of the Initiation of Renunciation — renouncing all self-will and those aspects of the lower nature that bind us to “form”. Not my will but the higher Will of the Father — in us (the Spirit aspect, the Monad) — Be Done.
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Higher Devotion is to give one’s life energy for the higher Ideals taught and expressed by the Spiritual Hierarchy of which The Christ is Master of All Masters — for “the Plan [of God], its goal, its techniques and its laws” ….
“The Plan, its goal, its techniques and its laws, its energy (that of love) and the close and growing relation between the spiritual Hierarchy and Humanity were known to him, and fully understood. At the highest point of this consummated knowledge and at the moment of His complete surrender to the necessary sacrifice of His life to the fulfilling of this Plan, suddenly a great expansion of consciousness took place. The significance, the intention, the purpose of it all, and the comprehensive divine Idea (as it existed in the mind of the Father) dawned upon His soul—not on His mind, for the revelation was far greater than that. He saw still further into the meaning of divinity than had ever before seemed possible; the world of meaning and the world of phenomena faded out and—esoterically speaking—He lost His all. ... For the time being, neither the energy of the creative mind nor the energy of love were left to Him. He was bereft of all that had made life bearable and full of meaning. A new type of energy became available—the energy of Life itself, imbued with purpose and actuated by intention. For the first time, the relation of the will which had hitherto expressed itself in His life through love and the creative work of inaugurating the new dispensation and the launching for all time of the Kingdom of God, became clear to Him. At that point He passed through the Gethsemane of renunciation.” (Rays & Initiations, 290)
◊ CONTEMPLATE. Looming large and extraordinarily more encompassing than He could have imagined on His own, Christ passing through the "Gethsemane of renunciation" would be leaving much behind in light of the new Vision that the Father, the Lord of the World, had given Him — on a world scale.
◊ CONTEMPLATE. Reading the above, what must we leave behind (at our level) to fulfill a higher Will and work with the Christ in fulfillment of the Plan of God?
(completed cycles, temptations, old beliefs, fixed points of view - willed determinations, plans, old projects remaining as attachments, and remaining personality purifications such as reactive irritations, emotional indulgences, distracting routines, … )
◊ It is not uncommon during such a Contemplation for a new or more completed vision to appear as a next step forward in line with the Plan of God inspired by the will of the Father flowing through you. Allow.
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CHRIST LEAVES THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (Nicholas Roerich’s teacher/art) Christ-in-the-Garden-of-Gethsemane-1901
“Something new, yet planned for from the very depth of time, happened then in that quiet garden; Christ, representing mankind, anchored or established the Father's Will on Earth and made it possible for intelligent humanity to carry it out. Hitherto, that Will had been known in the Father's House; it had been recognized and adapted to world need by the Spiritual Hierarchy, working under the Christ, and thus took shape as the divine Plan. Today, because of what Christ did in His moment of crisis hundreds [now thousands] of years ago, humanity can add its efforts to the working out of that Plan. The will-to-good of the Father's House can become the goodwill of the Kingdom of God and be transformed into right human relations by intelligent humanity. Thus the direct line or thread of God's will reaches now from the highest place to the lowest point, and can in due time become a cable of ascension for the sons of men and of descent for the loving, living spirit of God.” (EXH, 606)
CONTEMPLATE the "Cable of Ascension". “The direct line or thread of God's will" is reaching us now from the "high places" to the low, providing a "cable of ascension for the sons of men" and of "descent for the loving, living spirit of God.”
Let us recognize the cable from two directions: high to below, below to on-high ... a threefold cable of divine life intertwining three aspects of Divinity. Let us recognize this cable as a spiritual fact, a recognition and realization of our own Divine nature as Spirit - Father Mother - Consciousness. This cable exists. Make it Real in your consciousness and awareness
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CREATIVE MEDITATION: We know that the next phase of God’s plan for humanity builds upon 'right human relations'. With soul-powered thought and Soul-action, we must be supportively engaged building Soul Cultures through the efforts humanity is making today for the greater "good" on behalf of all life.
In the field of Divine Intention created by the Christ and the Father we must learn to stand and live, unphased and undisturbed by the world's pain and suffering caused by ignorance, whilst doing all we can to assuage it as Humanity moves closer to the Kingdom of Souls in our building of Soul cultures — and as the Hierarchy (Kingdom of Souls) moves closer to Shambhala — the Kingdom of God. We are given the methods — the Will to Good of the Father leads to Goodwill and Right Human Relations as the higher energy flows through the soul to all life on earth. We stand in the life presence of the "cable of ascension" ... the inevitable Divine Will translated to us by the Christ as Love-Wisdom and Life.
Let us be in profound gratitude for what happened then and continues to unfold today through people of goodwill and the aspirants and Disciples of the Christ.
We shall continue to move toward the Resurrection of new life through Renunciation ...
As new Vision dawns, as intention sweeps into activation, as the glory of the human Kingdom brings revelation and encompasses all kingdoms of Earth ... the beauty of the blue Pearl that is the Earth seen as a jewel from afar, turns with new life in accord with the Will of God.
"Let It Be Done".
Let this be our Prayer ...
Let this be our Intention ...
Let this be our Will ...
Let this be our Living Response ...
... every day in every way.
"Let It Be"
~ In Pace ~
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Let us sound the Great Invocation with the Christ and the Soul Star Group for the Blessing of the Earth and the further awakening of the Soul of Humanity.
OM
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AFTERTHOUGHTS
“The word to "know" (in relation to the initiate-consciousness of the Christ and of still lesser initiates) concerns the certainty of the knowledge the initiate has gained through experiment, experience and expression."
As the New World Religion increasingly unfolds, as the 7 newer Truths (7 Newer Truths) and teachings on Initiation become known for training modern disciples, as the truer meaning and purpose of the episodes of the Christ are told and lived and experienced through newer presentations and interpretations for our times (such as the 'Esoteric Advent' program initiative is advancing to put forth), and as these 'episodes' are experienced increasingly in the life of humanity through the accelerated process of “Initiation” that Christ demonstrated (through His Disciple Jesus), the emphasis will increasingly shift to manifesting Essential Divinity — God Immanent, through the Plan of God. As this happens in greater numbers and momentum, the whole world will radically change.
The focus by the churches on the betrayal, the tragic death experienced by Jesus on Good Friday, and consequent emphasis of Christ dying for our sins to bring humanity salvation, was wrongly emphasized by theologians over the centuries and greatly distorted the real message of the Christ: giving Love through Service, the fact of the Soul and by extension the One Soul of Humanity, the existence of the Great Chain of Being, the existence of the Kingdom of Souls - the Spiritual Hierarchy from times immemorial, the significance of Ageless Wisdom Teachings for the edification of humanity and its high destiny of building Soul Cultures for a new heaven on earth, and making oneself ready for treading the conscious Path of Initiation that accelerates man's essential Divinity into expression.
By extreme contrast in the secular world, the spiritual context of Easter is entirely lost when parents and grandparents of small children know not the divine origins of the “egg”. Stuffing plastic eggs with money for children to go on competitive Easter egg hunts prompts materialism and is an example of having “lost the teachings.” Whereas, the eggs could be stuffed with messages about the child’s higher nature. The materialization of the hidden reality behind this sacred season is lost on young minds without the true story of Easter that could otherwise be brought through rituals of divine play.
Part of the work in cultivating Soul Cultures is telling new stories, filling in the missing truths to pass on to new generations. As children play, parents themselves must know the higher truths and hold them in mind through the spiritual seasons. We shall build soul cultures as we reflect higher soul values for the life we all would want to live - an eternal rising of divinity within all members of the human family, young and old, of the universe within.
Click here: //www.monasteryicons.com/product/story-of-the-first-easter-egg/did-you-know. The origin of the colored egg dates back to Mary Magdalene holding an egg when facing prosecutors with the injustice of Jesus' death ... and His rising three days later (and other stories from various traditions).
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Metaphysical Dictionary: Gethsemane, a garden near Jerusalem at the foot of the Mount of Olives, means "oil press". Oil is extracted from the fruit and the "good" is pressed out and saved while that which is not good or not needed is let go or exorcised out of the system — out of current ways of living and being so that we can live a higher, truer, Soul way of life — ever evolving. Metaphysically, it is the struggle within consciousness for the higher Will to be realized as the one Reality presses in upon consciousness.
(See Supplemental Reading - Gethsemane, for more).
NOTE: the above sections were edited 4/7/2023
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