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The history of man's devotion to the cause of freedom may never be written either for the planet or for the individual. Therefore, man will never know by outward study the true story of freedom. Nevertheless, through the outreach of the Spirit of God in man and its wondrous attunement with the central clearinghouse for every part of life, he may enter into the akashic records of those solemn moments in the lives of other men and thereby perceive how they obtained their victory.
Even as the alchemist builds on the discoveries of his predecessors, so there is an inner teacher within every heart who tutors the outer self, subduing it when necessary and guiding the fires of the mind in their search for the oftentimes invisible strands of reality.
When the subject of creation is given more than ordinary consideration, man begins to realize that his own destiny lies as a gift in his hands. He has always looked to God for assistance, and God has always looked to man that he might convey to him every good gift and all the support which man could reasonably receive and acknowledge. Unfortunately, even in those periods of their most advanced meditations, mankind have seldom glimpsed the necessary cosmic pattern of what they are and what they shall be.
The secrets of alchemy are always to be found in the domain of creation. If man has not the power to create, he is not truly free. Therefore, the stream of energy that God is giving to him in ceaseless descent must needs be channeled into matrices of creative desire patterned after the divine will; but when misqualified, these energies form the links of the chain that binds him.
Our first step, then, is to abort and to transmute the negatively qualified substance in the world of every would-be alchemist. The power of the violet transmuting flame, as an agent of the Holy Spirit, can be called forth from God for the purification of man's world.
It should be noted, however, that this power is seldom recognized until the alchemist has invoked the flame for a considerable period of time. But, practice as he will, his use of the flame will not be enough to transform his world unless the correct scientific attitude is maintained. The alchemist who insists on exalting his own human will and ego in contradistinction to the Divine Will and Ego cannot possibly receive the great gifts which the Spirit seeks to convey.
I know that many people are reluctant to release themselves completely into the hands of God. They are willing to go part of the way, and they gingerly step forward when the higher will seems to flatter their own; but because they have not let go of the human will, they find in the end that their efforts are unrewarded.
Man cannot bargain with God. Nevertheless, Cosmos is far more ready to give every good and perfect gift to man than man is ready to receive it. The problem, then, lies not in the ocean that is filled with pearls, but in the diver himself, who must be willing to acknowledge the presence of the treasures of heaven in the cosmic depths - treasures that heaven intends man not only to discover but also to possess.
By incorrect attitudes, men have kept themselves from the kingdom of heaven. They have sought through magic and, unfortunately, even through witchcraft to win for themselves that which could be obtained on a permanent basis only by willing submission to the will of God, to his intents and his purposes.
How long will men deceive themselves? How long will they prevent themselves, by their fears, from surrendering to the living purposes of God? It is as though they would not relinquish their money to the merchants in the shops until they held in hand the intended purchase.
There is no bargaining with God or with Cosmos. Cosmos is ever willing to convey the highest and best gifts to man, but in order to receive them, man must change his attitude.
Those who are schooled in the knowledge of the world may believe in their hearts that they have found through academic pursuits the key to the governing of the senses and to gaining entree into the realms of the Spirit. We say, not so! For neither by intellect nor by self-righteousness shall men obtain the highest gifts.
These gifts will come as the natural unfoldment of the soul who submits to the grace of God and understands that having done so, he can rightfully expect the divine revelation to manifest within himself. And when that revelation comes forth, it is received within the hallowed circle of righteousness and reason - a righteousness that does not do despite to his neighbor, that seeks no harm to any, and a reason that understands that the best gifts of the Spirit relate to the realm of the practical.
The practicality of God must not be employed as a weapon to destroy the mystical beauties of the Spirit. On the contrary, it must be used to draw the divine mystery to the focal point of individual manifestation. As the flesh came forth and was animated by the Spirit, so practicality must come forth and be animated by the creative purposes of God.
Then God will take man by the hand and lead him through the realm of perfect order to a place where man will perceive that the world and all things in it were originally created according to a perfect cosmic pattern. Here he will be shown that each individual was intended to manifest a specific facet of the divine intent and that each facet of the grand design was created to complement the other and to produce thereby the miracle beauty of an everlasting kingdom, worlds without end.
How can men imagine that the Mind that created man in all of his wondrous parts - the universe, the stars, the suns, the spiritual realms - would be so lacking in foresight as to fail to provide a way of escape for those who might wander from the cosmic blueprint? Did not his practicality bestow upon man the fullness of the divine conveyance expressed in the command "Take dominion over the earth"?1 Man, then, was and is intended to be a practical manifestation of God, learning how to master his environment by cosmic wisdom united with his own natural intelligence.
We have seen, however, that man becomes discouraged when he realizes that although he has exercised his mental faculties to the point where his mind is literally crammed with an encyclopedic knowledge of the world, he is nevertheless mentally muscle-bound and powerless to take dominion over his personal affairs - much less the earth - because he is spiritually anemic.
Now, such discouragement is the result of the individual's failure to recognize the fact that he is actually a monadic part of God. He does not know - for he has not been told - that in his silent eternal union with the mind of God, he is tied to a giant computer. Through this computer all knowledge is immediately available by spiritual transmission to those who will use it to do the will of God.
But the bounds of man's habitation - including the bounds of his mental probings - which are prescribed by cosmic law, cause this wisdom to be withheld from that part of the universe which is not yet ready to assume its role in taking dominion over the earth and in making itself functional with the powers of the Universal Christ.
The key, then, to the practice of advanced spiritual alchemy lies in the alchemist's understanding of the purposes of the Brotherhood and in his consciously yoking himself together with those who are pledged by word and deed to the fulfillment of those purposes.
Little do men realize when they begin to pursue the study of alchemy how deeply involved it will become and how deeply they will become involved in it. For unless there is an immersion of the self in the sea of universal wisdom and purpose, the soul cannot be saturated, the sponge cannot be wetted, and the energy so needed for transmutation cannot be evoked.
If I seem to be releasing the secrets of the ages slowly into the minds of the hurried and harried students who would like to overcome all things in a moment, let me say that you today are receiving from the retreats of the Brotherhood more information than we ourselves received in the past when we were undertaking our own novitiate.
In your patience, then, possess ye your souls;2 but be diligent in studying the various aspects of being which from time to time will be pointed out to you - sometimes from the most unexpected sources. Be ready to find in the smallest gift an intricate treasure that, like a piece in a great puzzle, may not at first seem relevant.
Again I say, be patient. For time, in marching on, reveals eternal patterns. Therefore, to decline the search or to reject the means of cosmic study which makes possible the search is an error of the first magnitude.
Let all who are receiving this form of instruction rejoice and be glad, seeing in the very opportunity for self-study the need to render the service to the brothers of acquainting others with the teaching. Thus, by making available the gift of life to receptive souls, Heaven shall respond and give a greater gift to the souls of you who have proven that you are willing to labor and to wait.
Perfection is forthcoming, and it is the perfection of a master mason - a builder who, in idealizing perfection in the universe, has no alternative but to idealize it in himself. This is the builder who sees the need to cleanse the very foundation of residue in his world, to submit to the washing of the water by the Word3 and to the cleansing of the sacred fire. This is the builder who sees the need to know what the tools of the aspirant are and how these tools may be employed in the service of self, in the service of humanity, and thus ultimately in the service of his God.
Let us, then, reiterate for all
That life is not so simple as men have dreamed.
But it is a scheme so vast and tall
As to literally enfold us all -
Men and gods and Masters, too,
Parts of life you do not view
Right now, but one day will
If you will only learn to listen and be still,
Knowing I AM God within.
[Taken from the book version, Saint Germain On Alchemy]