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THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
by Rev Mario Schoenmaker

Becoming Spiritually Conscious

At the moment the materialistic forces are winning because last century there was no response from the majority of humanity. Now a deep materialistic thinking dominates this world, that is, thinking without spirit. What we have to do is even this out. We have to bring a balance into this uneven situation. The question is how do we do this?

Remember that I said that as sense beings we are really unconscious, dead, to the spiritual worlds? Because we are sense beings and cut off from the heavens, there is only one period in our life when we can enter into the presence of the divine beings and that is during the night. We rise from the physical and enter into the astral worlds to have communication with the divine beings. During the night we dwell with the Gods again and this is when we are really conscious of spirit. However, when you ascend into the spiritual worlds at night, you can only ascend to the level that your consciousness allows and no further.

If you imbue your consciousness with Christ during the day you will be able to aspire to that lofty height during the night and in that sense become Christ-conscious. Then you can also become a willing being during the day and make your own future and create your own destiny. But this is rare.

To live in that spiritual consciousness is to have what I call a 'flaming aura', an aura alive with the fire of spirit. A spiritually-conscious person lives out their past, present and future in the precise moment that they are in. That is observable in the aura. The aura is then alight with the energies of the past, present and future. Such a person can be constantly creative, and has audacity and daringness because that person knows they are going to win anyway. They are in touch with eternity.

How can one achieve such a consciousness? By filling your mind with that which pertains to Christ. Through your thinking, through devotional reading and activities, through meditation and prayer, through spiritual discussions, through studying devotional material, a consciousness of the Christ will eventually arise within you. And because your soul is fed during the day by that consciousness, during the night you take that consciousness with you into the astral. When it is seen that your soul is ready to receive the Christ-consciousness, it will be given. It can be seen, through the desires you have cultivated over a period of time, that this is what you truly wish to have.

In order to bring spiritual thoughts into any situation you have to have knowledge. To say that you do not want or need knowledge, that prayer and meditation are sufficient, is to go about it inadequately. You need knowledge to face the future. If you do not have knowledge you will never understand what is happening. But let this knowledge become spiritualised. Your intellect must be spiritualised, not in a sentimental manner, but in a real spiritual way. You must have an intellect that is capable of thinking in a first class manner.

As with everything, training is needful. Many souls have entered into incarnation who have a memory, dim though it may be, of their involvement with the Atlanteans, the Egyptians, and the Christ. They are advanced souls and are assisting us in a subtle way to become conscious of our heritage as spiritual beings.

In order to bring this about they are trying to develop certain qualities. Do not forget that harmony needs to be restored within us, and what was taken away from us in the first place will be given back when we have proven to ourselves and the Gods that we are indeed capable of standing on our own feet and being creative sensible beings, with a certainty that our home is in the heavens.

Firstly, and most importantly, we must learn to look at things from the spiritual point of view. This is not a natural thing because we look at existence in such a physical way. Therefore this new point of view requires practice and constant effort. It is like learning to ride a bicycle: one will never succeed as long as one looks at the pedals. It is essential to look straight ahead. It is the same in spiritual matters. People tend to look downwards. People want to look into the spiritual worlds and yet they keep on looking at the mechanics of the physical world.

Dare to look and trust that what you see is true. At times we have flashes of something beyond the physical world but we lose it because of our lack of concentration. We lose the value of the flash because we do not take hold of it, consider it, and look at it. Many people miss out because they do not trust what they see. So often people regard imagination as an illusory experience, but you cannot imagine what you have not experienced. It would not arise within you. Reflect upon whatever you imagine for it may be valuable in your spiritual development.

The vision which came to St John in the book of Revelation appeared in the form of an open door in heaven. A voice beckoned him into a new world. If John had hesitated or sat thinking about how beautiful that door was he would never have passed through it.

In order to go through the door John had to rise up and leave behind the mental and emotional levels he normally operated on. What holds so many people back is that they are not willing to rise in consciousness and leave the past behind. A potential occultist is one who wants to rise above self and behold the beauty of the spiritual worlds.

Transcripts of three lectures bound in A4 booklet. AUD$27.50 plus postage and handling.