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The Purpose of Love by Richard Gardner PART TWO - A - - page index - Fire | Air | Water Supression | The Magic Circle chapter index 
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The elements referred to are in NO WAY SYMBOLIC. This point must be stressed, because people in their present outlook are so unaware of the source, the true nature, and the essence of things, that when we speak of these essences, we are assumed to be speaking symbolically. What is described is actual, demonstrable and can be observed in ourselves and in others, once our eyes have been opened! The next important step in human evolution is for us to become aware of the nature of consciousness. What has been happening until now is that we have tended to identify ourselves with this or that channel of consciousness and we have imagined that this was our nature. The situation is rather as if we have been automatically operated television sets that have been tuned into just one or two channels, and we have assumed that the performance they give is all we are capable of. Whereas the real us, a tiny centre that should be in control, has become spelbound by the channels that have been allowed to dominate. Let us hope that what follows may do something to break these restricting spells, liberating the soul (our deeper feeling) to experience more of the wonders of life. The nature and essence of consciousness is made up of four elements in energy conscious form, slightly comparable to television broadcasting valves, and as we become more aware of our behaviour we can see their nature and how they operate through us. These elements are Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. They are the four basic energy vibrations that underlie all manifestations and are realized in their subtlest form through human behaviour. To begin, let us consider the element Earth and its negative and positive influences upon us, according to how we use it. Think of yourself and others as you read of its nature. These are some of the manifestations of the element Earth in conscious form working through us. chapter index
chapter index The brain is much like a not very efficient receiving set, and is known for its dependency upon oxygen (air). No doubt that the first breath we take at birth has far reaching effects upon our lives. Perhaps it is due to planetary influence, but one may get the impression that that first breath makes a kind of imprint like a radio circuit upon the brain, bestowing abilities and limitations thereby, and thereafter thrusting upon us the responsibility of expanding our 'circuit'. Air then is essentially neutral, so that little can be said of its influence in isolation. When we speak of airy people it would be Air with some other element such as Fire. However air is the most prized aspect of our achievements in this age. Refined air with a little yellow fire is the intellect. Education and social pressures tend to make us feel that this is the most important aspect of life. Most tests are of the intellect only. Most other equally important aspects of a human being are disregarded, not tested and therefore tend to atrophy.(1) The serious result of putting the air above all other ways of knowing and perceiving is that we lose our aware- ness of the planetary sources of attributes and skills, because Air is a detached element, and is detaching in its influence. When our awareness is cut off from the sources of things, life becomes increasingly meaningless. chapter index
chapter index People who suppress their earth find it hard to be practical, to face the seamy side of life, or to be matey. Again it is very painful for them to use these abilities. People who suppress their Air are overawed by intellectual subjects and 'run a mile' or go to sleep if these subjects are discussed in their presence. It pains them to allow their minds to take in knowledge which would wake them up and expand their intellect. Women need the ability to charm, to attract, to bewitch, the power of drawing towards them what they desire, to practice certain types of dancing. It is for women to rediscover what it really means to be female. When women begin to redevelop their femininity men will find it necessary to greatly aid one another to develop true masculinity, or women will as easily take over the world as a mother can control a boy. This would have the effect of retarding further growth of conscious mind. Those who suppress their Water have great difficulty with their feelings. Their troubles are enhanced these days, since feeling is out of fashion. They cannot allow themselves to make strong attachments. They have difficulty in showing their feelings and cannot use them to perceive anything of value in others, or in what they learn. Such people lose much of the taste of life. As with the other three examples they experience real pain when they begin to allow their feelings to function. It is equally difficult for us to gain control over an element which we have allowed to dominate us. Just try to get an active, fiery person to take things more calmly, or to get an intellectual person to cease demanding intellectual answers to everything, he forgets that many things can only be known through our senses. Evolution means growth, growth of a transformative nature. We can see that we have the same four elements to grow upon as Plants. Whereas they grow upon the grosser aspects of these elements, we can grow upon the same elements in their higher vibrations, which are conscious. They use sun, rain, soil and air. We use or should be using the highest vibration from the sun (fire consciousness, skill, will), the highest vibration from the blue energy in the sky (water consciousness, receptive perception), the highest energy form emitting from the earth (practical application) and the highest energy form of air (the intellect). In our quest for further evolution the two main tasks of priestesses and priests will be to aid in the effectiveness of love- making, so that coition would bring about a further integration between the conscious and subconscious minds of the parties con- cerned. Their other, equally important function would be to help bring forth the suppressed elements of consciousness in us, and aid us to control the dominant one. Lovemaking cannot give the supreme delight that our imagination tells us it should, if we have not a reasonable degree of understanding, knowledge, ability, insight and a capacity for total surrender. This means both some quality and quantity of consciousness to exchange with our beloved. chapter index  Putting the pairs of elements in this circle reveals many points. The first and most important one is where we should 'stand' when we wish to perceive anything or anyone. This is, of course, in the centre. The centre represents a state of carefree innocence, humility and objectivity. The great religions have always recommended this state which is made up of those qualities. When we forget to be in the centre we become spell-bound by one or two channels of knowing which we have developed to a greater or lesser degree, thereafter ridiculing knowledge and behaviour that springs from other channels to which we have closed ourselves. In this behaviour we are like television sets that have twelve potential channels, but are so much in the habit of using, say, only three of them that we have forgotten the existence of the other nine. Then if we meet someone using an unfamiliar channel we tend to dislike him because he disturbs what we have come to identify ourselves with and imagine is our only reality. In other words, we dislike him because he is a threat to our complacency and imaginary security. All this negativeness can be avoided by remembering the centre. That means that no matter how much you know, you are still able to revert to an open state where the unfamiliar can communicate with you. This is an important aspect of goodwill. Working from the centre shows our real growth, whatever channel(s) we turn our backs upon inhibits our real balanced development. Just as surely as a plant wilts if it lacks an element. The truly evolving person will as often as possible return to the centre, allowing all around to instruct him, expanding thereby until 'All shall be made known unto you' as Jesus promises. At birth we start at the centre and make some progress through the grey matter along about three of these channels as a rule. Later our progress is judged in relation to our achievements in whatever channels our time and social values accept as valid forms of knowing or doing. At least half of the twelve channels are not appreciated in our time, some are even outlawed. Each civilization has only ever developed a few, and then as a result of the imbalance has fallen. Ignorant people are those who have not bothered to do anything much about developing any channel. In all seriousness this circle is presented as a blueprint to show the total amount of consciousness to be evolved by us. A blueprint is a plan that invites workers to make it a reality! At this stage of our evolution it is best that people concentrate on the channels most suited to their make up. This is not so often allowed these days as intellectual assimilation (Air) is the only recognized form of knowing. One can know much through crafts or art. Often natural artists are discouraged if they cannot pass some quite irrelevant Airy test. We must cope with our elements in the order in which we find them, which means to encourage the first aptitude of a child, when that is developed others can begin to be encouraged. Undoubtedly many of the great crafts of the past which we have since lost were executed by persons often unable to read! So long as we insist on all persons developing their Air before allowing other elements, we are only distorting and stultifying. Adopting this practice would bring about very advanced specialists in all fields. As long as they obey the over-riding rule of goodwill to all, communication between such people would lead to tremendous knowledge and human development. There are actually five elements, the four mentioned and ether from which they are said to have sprung. Complete integration would lead back to ether, that is to say we should become whole. The logical conclusion of total integration of all forms of knowledge is that we should become as goddesses and gods. This means a much transformed inner structure of our bodies and a state of paradise on earth. The circle reveals another set of problems with which consciousness presents us. These are the problems of opposite states of mind, merely in the sense that one cannot be in both at the same time. Simple as this basic fact is, it nevertheless causes rows, quarrels and wars, especially religious wars. Religions have invariably identified themselves with a few channels of consciousness to the exclusion of others. Our task with these conflicting opposites its to reconcile them. The lines drawn across the inner circle are designed to show what these conflicts are, and it can be seen that there are six of them. For balance the opposites need each other. but as we are, we tend to identify with one and disapprove of the other. Any reader is making real progress when he begins to accept any pair of these opposites. In fact we are in the presence of a superior person if he or she can be equally sympathetic towards any pair of opposites. An 'archetype' has been suggested for each channel. That means to say that if any person devotes himself principally to any given channel he will tend later to look like the 'archetype' ruling it. These archetypes have been developed rather in the way in which the goddesses and gods of the ancient Greeks came into being. They were given increasingly more attributes over the centuries. and came about as a result of a combination of objective associative thinking, and observation of what accrued to particular behaviour patterns. These archetypes are not presented as, the 'last word' on the essential nature of any channel, in fact as we evolve it is probable that more advanced archetypes will occur to us, as happened to the Greeks. Objective associative thinking is most necessary if we want to leam more about each channel. This is a natural human function, but is seriously impaired these days by what is called education. It belongs to one of our imaginative abilities, that is one of the aspects of Water consciousness. This happens at a deeper level in us than any of the Fire channels; its true meaning is understanding. Modern education concerns itself almost exclusively with the consciousness activated by Fire. Fire sees the differences between everything. Water their similarities and relationships. One defines and categorizes, the other associates and sees continuity. One is 'scientific' the other poetic. The marriage of these two gives something like a practical understanding of truth. Neither on their own are adequate. Subjective associative thought is of little use in revealing the nature of consciousness. For example, ask someone what comes to mind when you mention river, and receive the reply 'bicycle' you ask why and he tells you he spent a couple of happy hours by a river the first day he went cycling. This is the process conditioned by personal history that goes on in an analyst's consulting room. It is an aid to freeing objective associative thought, but little is gained if a person is not encouraged to expand his associations beyond the purely personal, which would lead him on to objective perception; so that when you say river to him you receive the reply more along these lines: Coolness, greenness, travel, fish, flow, receptivity, communication, fertility, etc. footnote: (1) To be a man, for instance, one should at least prove one's self in courage, honour, initiative, tolerance, ability to listen, industry, feeling, understanding and good manners. |
MASCULINE
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| Introduction | 1 |
| PART ONE. ON CENTRE | |
| Chapter 1. Fallen Consciousness | 2 |
| Chapter 2. Three Basic Constituents | 3 |
| Chapter 3. Points to Consider | 4 |
| Chapter 4. The Two Establishments | 5 |
| PART TWO. THE TWELVE CHANNELS | 6 |
| Introduction | 7 |
| PART TWO (A) | 8 |
| PART TWO (B) | 9 |
| PART TWO (C) | 10 |
| PART TWO (D) | 11 |
| Addenda | 12 |
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APPENDIX Physics and Consciousness |
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| Bibliography | 14 |
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