Did you know, that it's possible for you to return to that consciousness of love and beauty in the here and now, and that you can claim that treasure chest of divine talent, which is rightfully yours, which is actually your birthright, guaranteed to you by the immutable promise of God our Father?

     Did you know, that at the heart of this radiant divine identity, that the soul communes with God in the most personal and loving manner, constantly and forever knowing the most profound comfort, constantly and forever knowing the most profound fulfillment, constantly and forever knowing the most profound delight, and that this relationship is the generator of all good things, and that it's possible to enter into that relationship in the here and now?

     What we're talking about, is the greatest treasure in the entire cosmos, and to regain it, it will take the greatest effort your soul has ever made, in fact an Olympic Class Effort. The path to victory in this regard is not easy, nor is it short. But the goal can be achieved in this lifetime if you follow the path set forth by the Ascended Masters.

     In the Chart of the Divine Self (above right) you will see depicted a functional diagram which embodies the principles just elucidated. (This chart is available in wallet size, medium size, and poster size, from Summit University Press, the official publisher of the Ascended Master Teachings.)

     The upper sphere, composed of the seven concentric color rings, represents the Causal Body. The Causal Body is your divine storehouse. That's right! YOUR divine storehouse. And inside of that storehouse God keeps your treasures, consisting of past achievements, of talents, of skills, of divine powers, which you have succeeded in drawing forth from God the Father over vast stretches of time (primarily before the fall) while you yet lived in your divine estate. Each color ring represents a different and distinct vibrational dimension within which are recorded the fundamental energy patterns associated with all of the sacred achievements, divine skills, holy talents, and radiant powers that are stored in the Causal Body.

     At the center of the Causal Body we see depicted the presence of the One Infinite God individualized for you. This represents that part of the Divine One, that part of the Divine Totality, that part of God Himself which He set aside in the beginning specifically to look after your best interests for all of eternity. This individualized presence of the One Infinite God, is known as the God Presence. And this God Presence, specifically your God Presence, has been absolutely faithful over the aeons, providing you with friendship, with care, with protection, and with the ongoing power of life itself, and has kept the epoch traversing vigil over the course of your seemingly endless wanderings in the planes of human illusion, waiting patiently for the signal that you are ready to return home, and preparing you for the day when you would return home to the consciousness of the ever present Reality of God. And right at this very moment, this God Presence, representing the TOTAL friendship of God the Father, is right there, right now, waiting and hoping for your return.

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     Now, in referring to the personal God Presence as "part" of the totality of the Divine One, it needs to be understood that this does not imply any degree of limitation upon the power of the personal God Presence. The personal God Presence is, in fact, integrated with the totality of the infinite treasures of goodness that comprise the totality of God's Being. In this regard it would be useful to visualize the totality of God symbolically as a gigantic sphere of light. Within this sphere of light we can visualize all the treasures of power, wisdom, and love, in an endless and infinite variety, which makes up the whole of God Reality. Within that sphere is contained all the power, all the wisdom, all the love necessary to create and sustain an infinite number of whole universes, and all the life that has, is, and will be, evolving therein. And from the absolute inside center of that sphere, we can visualize an infinite number of distinct beams of radiant love emanating out to meet the inside surface of that sphere, again, at an infinite number of locations. And at each point where each beam of love impacts the surface of the sphere, we can visualize the fact that God has crafted a unique face to interact with each soul that he has created, a face designed for the specific needs of that soul. And behind each one of these unique faces, exists the totality of God's powers and treasures. And thus, arrayed across the entire outside surface of this symbolic sphere of God-Reality, we see an endless number of kind, friendly, and compassionate faces, each one engaged in a relationship with a specific soul, with the vision of that face reserved for the soul for whom it was specifically crafted, yet each face giving each soul access to the totality of God's Glory.

     Though it ought to be understood, as the mind attempts to bridge the gap between the symbolic and the actual, that the individual face of God referred to here, in transferring to the soul the knowledge concerning the characteristics of the nature of God (in terms of his total manifestation), will reveal those characteristics within the context of an infinite majesty, which, in a very real manner, permeates every atom of God's infinite being. But at the same time, this infinite majesty can be gathered all together and focused into a bundle of personal regard for the individual soul.

     We can carry this spherical symbol of God one step further to shed some light on the essential nature of the soul.

     Around this sphere, which represents the allness of absolute God Reality, we can visualize a very thick band of radiant light.

     In terms of our symbolic model for the nature of God in his total manifestation, visualize this band of radiant light flooding forth and extending out to the farthest reaches of infinity. This band of radiant light represents the Only Begotten Son of our Father/Mother God, which is to say the very first creation of our Father/Mother God, which the Ascended Masters refer to as the Universal Christ. This Universal Christ is one being, made in the image of our Father/Mother God. And this Universal Christ is in full contact with God the Father/Mother along the full expanse of our symbolic sphere. In other words, there is no place within the mind, within the heart, of this Universal Christ that is not in full contact with, and in full recognition of, the One infinite Father/Mother God. But the interesting thing about this Universal Christ is this, that while it is truly of infinite scope, it has a single identity, a single mind, a single heart, and carries within it the archetypical functionality of God contact for the whole of creation. (This is a principle that we will look at in more detail below.)

     And out of the fabric of the single identity of the Universal Christ, all other beings have been created. This is a very important principle. The fabric of the Divine Identity, for all of God's children, is woven out of the substance of this one Universal Christ. This is true for Elohim. This is true for Archangels. This is true for angels. This is true for elementals and all the spirits of nature. And it is true for the children of God generally. All were created out of the fabric of this One Universal Christ.

      In addition to providing the common life-structures for the outpicturing of God's life at all levels, the Universal Christ plays another important universal role. The Universal Christ is the governor and regulator of God contact for all created creatures. It is important to understand the reason why such a governing and regulating mechanism is required. And this understanding must begin at the point at which the soul itself is created. When our Father-Mother God creates a soul, this newborn soul is an infant, small and fragile, in relationship to the awesome infinity of power and glory that the totality of God represents.

     And so it is with every newborn soul who comes into being in the octaves of pure spirit (as we all once did). There must be some kind of an intelligent mechanism that will stand between the totality of God's power and the fragile newborn, making sure that the newborn soul is not overwhelmed by the awesome magnitude of power that is always resident within the Father. And thus our Father/Mother has given unto the Universal Christ, the power, the mastery, the intelligence required to play this regulating role. The Universal Christ embodies the intelligence and mastery necessary to step down the powers of infinity to a level that the fragile new soul can handle.

      The Universal Christ is constantly active in the role of providing this profoundly complex service of containing, regulating, and processing the immense power from cosmic energy sources for all souls created by our Father/Mother God. And it does so over the entire course of the soul's life, which is intended to be eternal, and without end. At every point along the continuum of eternal life, the question concerning how much God-Reality the soul is in contact with, will always be determined by the universal mind of the Universal Christ. As the soul grows in stature, as it learns more and more about the laws of God, and the purposes of God, the Universal Christ stands ready to initiate the soul into ever greater levels of God Realization. This is the process by which all the citizens of heavenly octaves grow in stature, in terms of their internalization of the attributes of the one infinite Father/Mother God.

     And in this respect, the Universal Christ itself is the archetypical model for the internalization of the attributes of our Father/Mother God for the whole of creation. This is another very important principle. If the Reality of God is to be internalized, it must be, in a word, contained, which is to say, held within the container of individualized being. The Universal Christ has within itself these systems of containership. Moreover, the presence of these systems of containership, within the body of the Universal Christ, defines, to a very large degree, the identity and function of the Universal Christ generally. In fact, the identity of the Universal Christ is characterized in totality by these systems of containership which it embodies exclusively. This is another very important principle. The Universal Christ provides the one and only cosmic warehouse wherein all systems of containership, have been kept, are kept, and will be kept, in storage for distribution to the Sons and Daughter of God according to cosmic timetables and other factors defined by God's purposes, plans, and laws.

     We must observe then, that as a soul grows in stature, as it garners unto itself the capacity to internalize more and more of the attributes of the One God, that the structural mechanisms and associated energy systems that provide the soul with these capacities must originate someplace, and that someplace is the body of the Universal Christ. It is the Universal Christ that transfers into the soul that part of itself which will fulfill the soul's desiring to posses an expanded awareness of, and a mastery of, a particular attribute of the One God.

     Thus, we can conclude from this, that all sentient creatures created by God evolve (and this has to be true throughout all systems and worlds) towards greater spiritual enlightenment in exactly the same way. This is worth thinking about at some length.

     Take for example the situation in which the Teacher reveals to the student a new dimension of God's being, and the student decides that he wants to have, as a permanent part of his own identity, an awareness of that dimension, and a mastery of that dimension. Where does the soul go to get the actual nuts and bolts capacity to hold an awareness of that dimension, and to more deeply understand that dimension? Those resources of consciousness must come from the body of the Universal Christ. In answer to the soul's desiring in this regard, (and in response to the soul's application of the law), the Universal Christ weaves these new capacities into the current fabric of the soul at the appropriate place, seamlessly and perfectly, into the existing systems of consciousness.

     Take this example, in more detail, in which a particular aspect of God's Reality is revealed to the soul by the Teacher in the course of the soul's devotions. As usual, no matter what the particular aspect may be, of God's character, that comes into view, the soul experiences the fabric of its identity erupt into a conflagration of adoration, composed of the most profound dimensions of respect, esteem, honor, and appreciation unto God. With each additional revelation, the soul is given to experience yet again these profound dimensions of respect, esteem, honor, and appreciation unto God. And as the memory of these experiences accumulate, the more clearly and the more tangibly the soul comes to comprehend the value of these experiences. And it comes to pass that the soul comes to perceive these experiences (which, within the System of Redemption, are tantamount to actually moving from the realm of spiritual death to spiritual life) as the most valuable treasure that life can offer. As this sense of treasure grows within the awareness of the soul, the soul desires more and more to experience these deep dimensions of respect, esteem, honor, and appreciation unto God as a constant reality.

     In other words, the soul desires to move from its current condition of periodic experience, to a condition of perpetual experience. To achieve this goal, the soul must draw forth from the Universal Christ those facilities of consciousness which, when transferred to the soul, will give to the soul that capacity. And when the soul has achieved the capacity to experience constantly the deepest respect, esteem, honor, and appreciation unto God, the soul understands that it has actually taken unto itself that aspect of the identity of the Universal Christ, for of a truth, only the Universal Christ has the capacity to experience perpetually the deepest and most profound respect, esteem, honor, and appreciation unto God.

     It is very important to understand, that the extent to which the soul can further integrate itself with, and assimilate additional levels of, the functional substance of the Universal Christ, that this will always be directly proportional to the extent to which the soul has already consecrated its existing systems of consciousness to the furtherance of God's purpose and plan within its immediate sphere of influence. This fact is worth reflecting upon deeply.

     As all members of God's creation, throughout all systems and worlds, move towards the goal of realizing and internalizing more and more of the reality of God, the universal pattern of life within all of these divine civilizations must incorporate, and they do incorporate, this process of taking on more and more of the very life substance, which is to say the actual functionality, of the Universal Christ. This means, that within the context of a divine civilization, that every child of God residing therein, regardless of their stage of development, is a representation of some portion of the universal identity of the Universal Christ.

     This fact of life, speaking now within the context of those divine civilizations which exist throughout all heavenly octaves, leads us to another very important principle. Because all of God's children are constructed out of the very substance of the Universal Christ, each one of God's children are capable of performing the mediating role of the Universal Christ to those of lesser development. The extent of the soul's capacity in this regard depends upon the breadth and depth of integration the soul has achieved with the resources of the Universal Christ. But since every soul, by definition, has achieved some level of integration with the Universal Christ, that soul is, by definition, capable of some level of mediation, and this capability can express itself in the simplest of teacher/student relationships that deal with the transfer of outer knowledge, or it can express itself in the more complex Teacher/Student relationships that deal with the transfer of inner knowledge. Whether the student requires a knowledge of truth in the form of outer information and experiences, or a knowledge of truth in the form of inner information and experiences, in either case, a teacher/mediator will always stand between the receiving student and the larger reservoir of illumination, truth, and power. And it will always be true, that it will always take a much greater depth and breadth of integration with the Universal Christ to play the role of the Teacher/Mediator in terms of inner knowledge and experience, than it does to play the role of the teacher/mediator in terms of outer knowledge and experience. But for every need there is a teacher/mediator available, a personification of the Universal Christ, at the level required.

     Therefore, life, within the framework of a divine civilization, consists of an endless number and variety of unique ascending staircases, one in fact, for every living soul, with each ascending step, within each staircase, representing a unique teacher/student relationship. Each soul enters the staircase at the bottom step, and ascends from there, level upon level, to heights of attainment which have no predefined limitations. As the soul climbs to each new level, there will always be a teacher/mediator at the next higher rung of the ladder extending the hand of the Universal Christ as circumstances and needs require. At each level, the teacher/mediator will transfer the resources of the Universal Christ which are commensurate with the needs of the receiving student.

      Newly born souls have simpler needs, and those needs are provided by those whose level of understanding, and other attributes, fits the needs of the newborn. As souls grow in stature, their needs become more comprehensive, and this requires teachers of greater depth of understanding and mastery, and so it goes up the ladder of life, reaching into realms of understanding and mastery which will eventually qualify a soul for the administration of whole solar systems and beyond. And even they are still learning, and preparing for more advanced duties.

     The divinely sanctioned Teacher/Mediators (The Ascended Masters) who minister unto the children of God within the System of Redemption have skills that are unique to their mission. They are masters at transferring the resources of the Universal Christ in the precise quantities and areas required specifically for the soul's victory on the Path of Initiation. Most importantly, they are masters of the energy resources that are applied to the dissolution of the substance of human illusion. And they are masters of the methodologies and techniques required to reconnect souls to the patterns of Christ Identity stored in the Causal Body.

      And when we are talking about the content of the Causal Body, and all of the treasures stored therein, we are talking about all of the points of integration and assimilation with the body of the Universal Christ which the soul has already achieved, albeit (primarily) before its fall from grace. It is important to understand that the very substance of our souls, with its unique identity matrix, is intertwined with the patterns of Christ Identity stored in the Causal Body. In this respect, the patterns of Christ Identity stored in the Causal Body are not generalized, rather, they belong to a very specific soul, i.e. you. And, in this respect, one must not make the mistake of thinking that the Causal Body contains only impersonal antiseptic records of your past divine accomplishments, like unto a cosmic film library. No. Those records are actually constructed out of your own soul substance. The very essence of who you are, the divine stuff out of which your soul is composed is integrated with all the patterns of Christ Mastery stored in the Causal Body. Therefore, the whole issue of reuniting the soul with the contents of the Causal Body is actually a matter of returning the soul to a condition of wholeness.

     And it is equally important to understand that the content of the Causal Body represents not simply our own past achievements in mastering the energies of God, but most importantly it represents our own past achievements in integrating ourselves with the God-Centered Wisdom, Love, and Power of the Universal Christ.

     This is another very important principle. All treasures of the individual Christ Identity stored in the Causal Body have as their central axis, personal contact between the soul and the individual God Presence. Around the central axis of personal contact you will always find a great conflagration of awe and adoration before the glory of God generally. And this conflagration of awe and adoration is not somebody else's conflagration. It belongs to the soul, because it is the very fabric of the soul that is on fire with this awe and adoration. All experience within the heavenly octaves, i.e. real life within the context of a divine civilization, in terms of outer thought, feeling and activity, is woven like a radiant tapestry, around this central conflagration of adoration. All points of divine purpose that we have realized in the past (and those records are stored in the Causal Body) were realized within the context of this conflagration of adoration. All points of divine purpose that we have personally and successfully fulfilled, and that we count as true achievements, (and those records are stored in the Causal Body) were originally conceived within this inner conflagration of adoration, and outpictured as expressions of that adoration.

      But when the soul accepted the central lie of the rebellion, that it should begin to spend more of its time serving its own interests, rather than God's interests, allowing the illusion to be planted within the mind, that these could somehow be different and distinct areas of interest, one from the other, this marked the point of departure from the stream of divine life. From that point on, the soul no longer held the Reality of God at the center of its attention. Instead, it fell into the habit of manufacturing (within its own imagination) interests that fell outside of the framework of divine purpose. And it fell into the habit of holding those interests at the center of its attention. Around these false centers of interest, no self-cleansing fires of adoration burned, and thus the light of purity was extinguished within the mind, and thus began the long night of wandering in the realm of human illusion. For a soul that sincerely believes that its fears, its frustrations, and all of its self-centered desires, ought to be at the center of its attention, for a soul that has spent literally millions of years building up, layer upon layer, this false version of reality, the contents of the Causal Body have become inaccessible. This is a very important point. Because the soul can no longer interlock with the central axis of those experiences, having lost the desire and the capacity to keep the God Presence at the center of its attention, the soul has lost the key to accessing the contents of the Causal Body.

     The goal then for all of God's children evolving within the System of Redemption is not simply to regain access to the treasures of the Causal Body, but most importantly, to first rebuild the required a priori foundation of consciousness upon which is predicated all further progress towards the achievement of wholeness (i.e. reintegration with the contents of the Causal Body), which is to say, to first regain the all important desire and the all important capacity to lock the resources of attention upon the Reality of God, both in the macro cosmic sense, and in terms of contact with the personal God Presence --- Essentially, to reinitiate and to rekindle the eternal fires of adoration within the very fabric of the mind. To achieve this goal, the soul must acquire a deep understanding of precisely what the middle figure in the Chart of the Divine Self represents.

     In this regard, the middle figure in the chart represents two (2) distinctly different principles, of equal importance, which must not be confused one with the other. And this is an important point. These two principles have been confused in the past in the minds of many students, and that confusion has become an obstacle to making progress on the Path of Initiation. (See Keepers of the Flame Lesson No. 3, pp. 16-18, in the original format). The first principle is a functional principle, and it is fully functional, operating in the here and now to accelerate the soul into ever higher realms of divine awareness. The second principle is a principle of potentiality, made functional in the here and now only in incremental steps over an extended period of time.

     As to the first principle, which is perpetually, as well as fully, functional, the middle figure represents the position of the Ascended Master mediator who stands midway between the realms of flawless God perfection, and the realms of human illusion. This Ascended Master mediator has full access to the soul's Causal Body for the purpose of reconnecting the soul to those aspects of Christ Mastery within the Causal Body which the soul has prepared itself to receive in the course of its service on the Path of Initiation. In this respect the Ascended Master mediator is a real divine personage, an independent soul, who is fully integrated with his or her own Christ Identity, a fully illumined God-Free being, one that has been thoroughly trained (in higher octaves) to implement the duties of the Office of Mediator on behalf of God's purpose and plan as it relates to those students who have chosen to return to the Path of Initiation. As we noted above, the Ascended Master mediator, through a long training process, has internalized those aspects of the Universal Christ which are necessary to successfully and perfectly fulfill this mediator role.

     It is appropriate, and perfectly so, that the chart which depicts the reality of your Divine Self, would include the depiction of the process of achieving a realization of that Divine Self, of which the function of the Ascended Master mediator is key. For example, when the student uses the Science of the Spoken Word to invoke the descent of the Sacred Fire, (which is the central operating principle in self-transformation), the Master, or Masters, who sponsor a particular decree matrix, will take this position of mediatorship, stepping down the power of the Sacred Fire (from higher and more powerful energy sources) according to the Divine Law, in response to the student's calls. It is important to grasp this fundamental principle, that there is simply no possibility, none whatsoever, for the soul to achieve reintegration with the Divine Identity stored in the Causal Body without the services of the Ascended Master mediator. This is a fact of life within the System of Redemption.

     And I might add here that even if the soul is clinging with all of it's might to the pant leg of a particular Master, and I have in mind here, the Master Jesus Christ, and those who pay allegiance to him according to the false formula of vicarious atonement, if the soul has no accurate conception of what that relationship is supposed to produce, it is impossible for that relationship to produce anything of substantial (eternal) value. In other words, if the soul does not expect the Master to place into its hands the crown jewels of Divine Identity, the Master cannot extend those jewels, for the soul would have no context of understanding that would enable it to recognize the value or the portent of what it is receiving. That relationship, if it is ruled by ignorance and false expectations --- which have everything to do with skirting around the principle of personal responsibility, especially in regards to the balancing of personal karma --- cannot produce anything more than sadness within the Master's heart.

     As to the second principle, this one of potentiality, the middle figure in the chart, which the Ascended Masters refer to as the Holy Christ Self, represents the past and future you, your true and real self, as the personification of the total content of the Causal Body. In this respect, the Holy Christ Self represents an abstraction of the real you, as you were before you made the decision to leave the kingdom of heaven for what you thought at the time were greener pastures (or for other purposes).

     Now, in regards to this issue of leaving off of the divine path, and looking for greener pastures, we need to take a few moments to digress into this subject area somewhat, to point out the fact that there are three (3) basic categories of souls evolving within the System of Redemption. This is important to understand because the circumstances associated with this leaving off of the divine path were different for each of these three categories of souls, and in the case of one of these categories of souls, the principles embodied in the Chart of the Divine Self do not apply.

     The first category of souls, and those who were the first to arrive in this System of Redemption (again, my term for the physical universe generally) soon after it was created and staffed, and who comprise the greatest percentage of the whole number evolving here, are those who were led astray during the original Great Rebellion. These souls were assigned here to undergo the redemption process with the hope that they might one day choose by free will to return to their lives within the divine civilization in heavenly octaves from which they fell. This category of souls have been tied to the wheel of rebirth for the longest time, i.e. embodying and re-embodying within the System of Redemption for perhaps several billions of years. This gives you an idea of how difficult it is for God's ministers to persuade the fallen consciousness, i.e. the fear and pride trapped soul, of the benefits of returning home to God's Heart (i.e. in the here and now).

     The second category of souls consists of those who organized and led the original Great Rebellion, whom the Ascended Masters refer to as the fallen angels, who were forced out of the heavenly octaves and into this System of Redemption, not for the purpose of being redeemed themselves, but to ensure that those who were to be redeemed, would have a clear choice between what constitutes rebellion, and what constitutes allegiance to God's will. The equation of choice is a key functional parameter of the redemptive process. This category of souls, which consists of fallen angels only, represents numerically the smallest percentage of the total population of this System, but their influence on the way of life within the System goes far beyond what their limited numbers might suggest.

     The third category of souls are those who never participated in the Great Rebellion in its original form, but who volunteered for service within the System of Redemption in subsequent time periods. After having completed rigorous training programs in higher octaves, these souls actually embodied among their fallen brothers and sisters, to carry out various functional roles in the redemptive process, but who themselves became beguiled by and trapped within the very patterns of rebellion that they were sent to help the people overcome. Thus, rather than playing their originally planned roles of facilitating the redemptive process (especially in regards to providing examples of what it means to be devoted to God's will), these servants of God, in many cases, have been splashing around in the mud of human illusion for several lifetimes. But now, at the onset of the Aquarian Age, they are being called to wake up, and to enter into the redemptive process themselves, with the immediate goal of returning them to a level of divine awareness that will allow them to fulfill their original missions.

     The Chart of the Divine Self applies, and to an equal extent, to the first and third category of souls only, who have the opportunity of redemption before them, i.e. the opportunity to return to the Path of Initiation and ultimately home to the heart of God (again, in the here and now). But while it applies to the first and third category of souls equally, the third category of souls have a lighter karmic burden simply because they have been rolling around in the mud of human illusion for less time, and these are the ones the Ascended Masters expect to attract back to the Path of Initiation first, and in the largest numbers. The less weight of human illusion a soul carries with it, the more likely it is that such a soul will have an affinity for the larger panorama of truth which provides the backdrop and context for, and which actually enfolds, the tumultuous drama of life on this planet.

     The Chart of the Divine Self does not apply to the second category of souls, i.e. to the fallen angels. They have already been judged by God, in as much as they are already dead in terms of their capacity to attune to divine principle. They have no capacity to attune to divine principle, because such attunement requires that the Spirit of Allegiance to God reside within them at some level, but in this regard, because they have sworn eternal enmity with God down to the very depth of their beings, the entire well of being has been polluted with the passions of rebellion.

     The existence of the fallen angels (on this and other planets throughout the System of Redemption) continues only by God's leave, again, because the redemptive process requires the equation of choice referred to above. In other words, some number of God's children (long ago) made a free will choice to follow these rebel angels, and unfortunately, they have been repeating this mistake lifetime after lifetime. At some point, as a key part of the redemptive process, they must make the opposite choice, i.e. the choice to abandon the ways of the fallen angels, and to follow God and his laws once again. For this choice to be actively and dynamically presented to the occupants of the System of Redemption, the fallen angels must be present, and they must be given bodies to wear (when and where God deems it appropriate), and minds, voices, hands and feet, to make the rebellious option a tangible quantity, clearly and unambiguously perceivable, which can then be decisively accepted or decisively rejected. The soul cannot be reunited with its Divine Identity, which gives it unlimited access to heavenly octaves generally, until all propensities towards rebellion have been cleaned out of the soul's psychology, until the soul has been tested, and tested again and again, on its weakest points, to make sure that it will never again choose rebellion as a way of life.

     It must be understood that the fallen angels, who set the standard for rebellion in this System, have nothing to gain by supporting God's purpose and plan in any manner whatsoever, not just because redemption is not a possibility for them, but because their hatred for God is complete and total. You will find them working feverishly behind the scenes (and occasionally in public and out in the open leading the charge) throughout all the nations of the earth, on their various pet projects, which are generally geared towards the acquisition of power, wealth, status, and control, with a general interest in throwing a monkey wrench into the redemption process at every possible opportunity. Though in a pinch, when the issue of wealth, power, and control is at stake, they are not above feigning allegiance to God to gain the support and allegiance of God's children. They have often found this to be a practical necessity, because the great masses of souls on this planet are after all God's children who still retain deep within their souls a memory of their former allegiance to God, and their cooperation is often required if the fallen angels are to succeed in their various plots. The more successful they are in persuading the children of God to rally around their banner of rebellion (a facade of piety will often work wonders in this regard), the more time they get to stay alive themselves. This is because, in any given lifetime, if the fallen angels can further entice the children of God into weaving their life energies into additional patterns of false allegiance, i.e additional patterns of allegiance to the programs of rebellion promulgated by the fallen angels, the redemptive cycles must be extended (by the Heavenly Hierarchy) to provide opportunity for the transmutation of those additional patterns of false allegiance. As redemptive cycles are extended, the opportunity of the fallen angels to remain alive is extended as well, because again, the fallen angels must be present to provide the factor of rebellion in the all important equation of freewill choice. Their presence brings to the forefront, within the consciousness of fallen man, previously established habit patterns of rebellion. The fallen angels are the quintessential activators of these patterns. Upon activation, the soul becomes aware of these habit patterns, and being aware, the soul can choose to reject those habit patterns, provided that the soul has been alerted through a proper education to be on the lookout for these patterns.

     Returning to the middle figure in the chart, then, we must observe that it is representative of one of the most important truths a soul can grasp, concerning both what was in the past, and what can be in the future (if the soul returns to the Path of Initiation and completes the course). But it is important to grasp the idea, that in terms of what was in the past, that this is an abstraction in relation to the present moment. And what will be in the future, is also an abstraction in terms of the present moment. In other words, the potentiality represented by the middle figure, (what has been in the past, and what might be in the future), has no operative power in the present moment (other than the guiding and framing effect the knowledge of this potentiality has on the soul's present state of mind --- at most providing an ever present reminder of the need to take steps, in the here and now, towards the realization of that potential).

     In other words, the talents, skills, and powers stored in the Causal Body are depicted as coalesced and operative in a single person, in the middle figure in the chart, but there is no person actually there around which these talents, skills, and powers can actually coalesce, because that person, is actually you, and you are not currently able to form the divine magnet within your four lower bodies that is required to bring about the coalescing (again, around you) of the contents of the Causal Body because of the impurities (the allegiance to the various aspects of human illusion generally) you still carry in your chakras.

     What does have operative power in the present moment is that which is realized by the soul in the present moment. These jewels of realization enter the awareness of the obedient student via the heart of the Ascended Master mediator over time as the soul makes progress in the process of purification. And in regards to each point of realization, the point of operational reality resides within your own consciousness, i.e. where you are, and no longer within the framework of an abstraction positioned above you.

     Without personal realization in the here and now, the middle figure in the chart can never represent anything more than an unrealized potential. Of course, your God Presence maintains the divine storehouse, the Causal Body, and does so perpetually, and maintains all the mechanisms necessary, including the vast network of Ascended Master mediators, to implement your decision to return home to those realms of divine awareness. But unless there is a soul to embody the content of the Causal Body, i.e. you, all of those momentums of achievement will remain in storage. The middle figure can only represent what is, in the here and now, if the soul makes the choice to take the steps necessary to become reintegrated with the contents of the Causal Body.

     All of these divine talents, skills, momentums of wisdom, vision and love stored in your Causal Body can be likened unto a wardrobe of magical coats, capes and robes, and the middle figure in the chart (as the Holy Christ Self) represents the amalgamation of them all, and only you, as the divine soul who worked with your God Presence (over vast aeons of time) to bring them forth from the treasure house of God's infinite goodness, can wear them. Again, only you can wear them. While the middle figure in the chart represents the totality of the entire contents of your divine wardrobe embodied in a single person, which of course is the way it was at one time, you must keep in mind that you are that divine person. Nobody else will put on that wardrobe but you.

     It must be understood that, before the fall, the soul did not have a Holy Christ Self. The soul was the Holy Christ Self. And after completing the Path of Initiation, and graduating from the redemptive program through the Ascension, the soul will likewise, no longer "have" a Holy Christ Self. The soul will BE the Holy Christ Self. In this respect as well, it would be appropriate to observe that the Ascended Masters do not have Holy Christ Selves either. They ARE Holy Christ Selves. And they enter into the wardrobe of the Causal Body at will to choose and dawn the garment of power which best fits the exigencies of the hour.

     Your soul's conception of what your Holy Christ Self actually represents must be a powerful magnet that draws down into your temple, the fullness of who you are capable of becoming, the fullness of all that you have been in your (divine) past. The more accurate and precise this conception is, the more powerful the magnet will be, and the quicker you will make progress towards anchoring the patterns of Christ Mastery that the Holy Christ Self represents. But, if you fall into the trap of worshiping the Holy Christ Self as a god, making it into yet another idol, attributing to it the powers to affect current circumstance, a power which it could not possibly have, in as much as there is no soul, no center of ideation, freewill, or mastery, at the center of an abstraction, then you block the process of identification and becoming.

     More specifically, it's important to understand that the Holy Christ Self does not perform the function that belongs exclusively to the Ascended Master mediator. It never did, never has, and never will. Moreover, the Holy Christ Self is not a genie you can ask for favors. It is not a guardian angel you can ask for protection. If you need intercessory help from a God-Free being, the appropriate place to look for that help is to the Ascended Masters, the Elohim, the Archangels and angels that tarry with the earth for exactly that purpose. Any lingering desire to idolize the Holy Christ Self represents a point of rebellion against (or shall we say non-cooperation with) God's plan for the soul, which is to become, in terms of personal realization, all that the Holy Christ Self represents in terms of potential that we have alluded to above.

     The conception of what your Holy Christ Self is, must be in harmony with the ever-present mandate to pour all of your attention, your devotion, your allegiance, unto God generally, and unto your God Presence in particular. The law states, "Let your eye be single". Therefore, the soul's attention must always pass through the soul's conception of the Holy Christ Self to rest upon the reality of the God Presence (as this is the point of the soul's true and eternal love). It is the patterns of the Christ Identity stored in the Causal Body which give the soul the functional resources of consciousness, the apparatus of divine awareness, which allow it to commune with the God Presence face to face. Again, one does not bow down before these resources. One does not enter into a master/student relationship with these resources. What the soul does is enter into these resources. What the soul does is enter into this apparatus of divine awareness. What the soul does is allow itself to be re-assimilated into this apparatus of divine awareness, which will then carry the soul into an awareness of God generally, and the God Presence particularly. The release of the concept of the Holy Christ Self by the Ascended Masters was never intended to short-stop the attention of the soul, i.e. to bounce it back without reaching the mark of the God Presence.

     In fact, within the context of the Divine Law, the Law of your Divine Being, it is unlawful to think about the Holy Christ Self without at the same time thinking about your own God Presence (and in thinking about your own God Presence, without thinking about God in general, in as much as the God Presence is fully integrated with the TOTAL reality of God), because, again, the Holy Christ Self represents the apparatus of consciousness, the previous patterns of attainment, by which the soul perceives and communes with the God Presence!. The concept of the Holy Christ Self is completely, totally, and absolutely meaningless unless it is understood within the context of the great goal of re-uniting the soul --- within the very fabric of the soul's conscious awareness --- with the individual God Presence, and not in some future time, but in the here and now. In other words, not at some point beyond the grave, or even in some future life, but rather, at some point in the current life, at some point along the Path of Initiation which the soul walks and completes in this life.

     When you speak the phrase, "Holy Christ Self", in the course of each of your decree preambles, you must become very disciplined in bringing to life within your mind an accurate conception of what the Holy Christ Self represents. In this respect, when you say these words, "Holy Christ Self", you must be very determined and active in thinking at least these three ideas:

1) The Divine Self that I have been in the past --- the Divine Self that was able to keep the God Presence at the very center of its attention at all times and under all circumstances.
2) The Divine Self that I must become in the future --- the Divine Self that will be able to keep the God Presence at the very center of its attention at all times and under all circumstances.
3) The Divine Self that I am becoming day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment, as I become more and more able to keep my God Presence at the center of my attention, as I continue the work of invoking the Sacred Fire, as I continue the work of calling forth the intercession of the hosts of the Lord, as I continue the work of outpicturing my divine plan and my divine mission, as I continue my efforts to anchor the most glorious conflagration of appreciation unto God the world has ever seen, as I continue my efforts to enter into the everlasting awareness of the infinite love that God pours out upon me every moment of the day, as I continue my efforts to enter into the everlasting awareness of God's infinite goodness, as I continue my efforts to enter into the everlasting awareness of the fact that God is the Center of Life, as I continue my efforts to enter into the everlasting awareness that I Am only because God desires for me to BE, as I continue my efforts to enter into the everlasting awareness of the friendship and companionship of my very own beloved God Presence, and as I continue my efforts to work for the victory of God's holy purpose within my life, and the lives of all of God's children throughout this nation, throughout all nations, and throughout all planetary systems, worlds without end."

     Never, ever, indulge a microsecond of idolatry in relationship to the Holy Christ Self. Let your conception be that which will elevate your awareness, right here, and right now, into direct contact with God.

     Any tinge of idolatry directed towards the Holy Christ Self will dilute and disperse the forcefield of conviction, which is necessary for the soul to maintain in the strongest manner, if it is ever to become reintegrated with the actual patterns of Christ Mastery that are stored in the Causal Body. In this regard, remember that worship and adoration is fit for the One Father/Mother God only, and that this fact is the atom of ultimate truth around which the identity of the Holy Christ Self is built up anew in the planes of matter.

     The bottom figure (in the chart above) represents you, as you will become (in the near term) as you enter onto the homeward path, as a student of the Teachings of the Ascended Masters, as a recipient of Ascended Master mediation, immersed in a forcefield of the violet transmuting flame, which you have re-discovered, returning to the knowledge of how and why to invoke it, returning to a knowledge and practice of the Science of the Spoken Word as the primary method of balancing karma and as the primary method of washing the mud of human illusion from the jewel of the divine soul, allowing the fallen self to be remolded back into the image of the divine man or woman that you once were, which you can still become, i.e. the being represented in potential by the middle figure in the chart.

     Make note of the aura of illumination depicted around the head of the bottom figure of the chart. This represents the ever-accumulating treasury of actual Christ Realization that the soul has succeeded in internalizing, in becoming. And as the soul puts on these royal robes of divine realization, the point of Christ Identity is no longer an abstraction of potentiality depicted in a position above the student. Those points of Christ Identity that have been realized are contained within the forcefield of the student's identity here on earth. Of course, in as much as the process of reintegration is gradual, and proceeds according to the parameters of the individual divine plan and mission of the soul, most of the potential Christ Identity stored in the Causal Body, will remain in the Causal Body as potential, for a substantial portion of the time the student is on the path, with the fullness of reintegration occurring only after the Ritual of the Ascension has been completed.

     In this respect, it is wise to keep in mind the admonishment of the Master Jesus Christ, "to become as little children." The child is what the child is, a member, in miniature of the human race. The child holds no illusion of maturity, but innocently lives a life of dependency, a life of discovery, a life of adventure, riding the wave of growth, which will one day deliver it onto the white sandy beaches of adulthood. It is the same when it comes to putting into perspective this process of becoming the fullness of the Christ Identity stored in the Causal Body. The student on the path --- after having reached a certain level of purification, and after having received and assimilated some initial points of Christ Realization -- - when speaking of his or her own sense of Divine Identity, will be able to say, with certainty and conviction, that "I Am the first green shoot of what will become the mighty oak." Thus, the identification with the Christ Identity is complete in principle, while taking into account the various processes of divine growth that are yet to be outpictured.

     Therefore, it must be declared forthrightly, that the Universal Christ generally, and your Holy Christ Self specifically, is not something that you bow down before. The Universal Christ generally, and your Holy Christ Self specifically, is something that you must identify with anew and fully become (again).

     One of the most important things the student needs to do when he or she steps onto the Path of Initiation is to completely and utterly forsake the tendency to indulge in the "I am a poor sinner" attitude, and all of its corollary vibrations of guilt, unworthiness, and self-condemnation. God has gone to a very considerable amount of effort, not only to save and keep in perfect condition the full wardrobe of your Divine Identity, but to establish the homeward path itself. And the fact that he has gone to all the trouble of creating, maintaining, and administering this awesome System of Redemption for the sole purpose of redeeming all souls who have fallen into the tar pit of human illusion, is proof positive that his love for us is constant and unwavering, and that he considers us worthy to return home.

     Looking into the night sky at the billions of stars arrayed before us, we can say with certainty that every star represents God's manifest desire for the redemption of the millions of souls assigned to the planetary homes that you would find within each one of those distant solar systems. Each of the billions of stars in the physical universe, without exception, represents an outpost of God's redemptive desiring and power.

     If you are coming to the Teachings of the Ascended Masters from a Christian background, you need to know that the Ascended Masters recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ. They recognize that Jesus is a Son of God, but they stop short of proclaiming him the "only" Son of God, and for good reason, not the least of which is their own awareness of the fact that the heavenly octaves are filled with numberless numbers of devoted Sons and Daughters of God, each of which they can see with their own eyes. In other words, the heavenly octaves consist of a vast divine civilization that stretches beyond the bounds of infinity itself, all of it heavily populated by God's children, some more, some less, and some equal to the stature of Jesus Christ in terms of how much love, wisdom, and power the identity has absorbed from the central divine treasure troves of the One God. They teach us that Jesus Christ is but one member of a very large divine family to which we all belong. They teach us that he has a twin flame who was embodied as Mary Magdalene during the time of his Galilean mission, and more recently, as the well known founder of the Foursquare Gospel church, Aimee Semple McPherson, who subsequently attained her own Ascension in the Light (total reintegration with her Divine Identity), and now, as the Ascended Lady Master Magda, works side by side with her twin flame Jesus from the heavenly octaves assisting mankind in their efforts to find the homeward path. (Pearls of Wisdom, Vol. 25, No. 24).

     They teach us that the role and mission of Jesus Christ in relationship to the inhabitants of this planet is a special one. They teach us that the mission of Jesus Christ was to set an example, before the eyes of all mankind, of what any soul can achieve once that soul makes the choice to return to the kingdom of God's consciousness of love and beauty. His mission was to establish a pattern, a model, that represents what God wants each of us to achieve, especially in terms of establishing and maintaining a personal relationship with Him, i.e. with the One God, Our Father, Our Creator, and through that relationship, becoming re-absorbed back into the noble, majestic, and thoroughly honorable pursuit of God's purpose and plan.

     While Jesus Christ is an important leader in the heavenly hierarchy, in fact representing the archetype of the Holy Christ Self fully realized in physical embodiment, and at the same time, representing the archetype of the Ascended Master mediator for the planet, and who remains one of the primary sponsors of the Path of Initiation, we are warned against the temptation to idolize him, or make a "god" out of him. While his offices and endowments are quite awe inspiring (especially from the human perspective), we are taught to keep in mind that he is in fact quite simply our elder brother, a fellow Son of God, who, after many lifetimes of preparation took on this great mission, which required him to walk the very same Path of Initiation that is before each one of us today, a path onto which God beckons all, for it is the only path that will take us home to His Heart, i.e. God's Heart.

     And when I say that this is the "only path" that will take us home to the heart of God, I say this from the standpoint of what must be accomplished from a technical point of view in terms of restoring the soul to its divine estate. When the soul falls into the tar pit of human illusion, there is a certain range of technical criteria that must be addressed if the soul is to be successfully extracted from this tar pit, and this range of technical criteria is the same for every soul (no matter to what karmic group, i.e. culture, the soul is assigned). This range of criteria includes, purification, balancing of karma (debts to life), reintegration with the original Divine Identity, and fulfillment of the soul's divine mission in this life. All of these represent alchemical processes that must be sponsored by bonafide representatives of the Universal Christ, i.e. the Ascended Masters, who alone have access to the reservoirs of divine solvent necessary to remove the tar, and who alone have access to the divine power required to reconnect the soul to the Divine Identity stored in the Causal Body.

     The Ascended Masters teach us that we are all co-equal with Jesus Christ in terms of divine potential, that we can all achieve what Jesus Christ achieved, and that the heavenly hierarchies are ready and waiting to assist all souls who choose to place their feet once again on the homeward path. The U.S. Congress did not invent the principle of equal opportunity. God invented it, and applies it to all of his children. But we need to be clear about this. All of us are required to meet the very same terms and conditions of that path in much the same manner that Jesus Christ himself met those terms and conditions.

Our elder brother Jesus Christ walked the Path of Initiation under the tutelage of the Ascended Masters for many years prior to the time when he returned to [what the Romans would later call] Palestine to carry out the mission that God assigned to him. There are records of his travels to the far east for the purpose of studying under the embodied Masters of the eastern traditions. This evidence is discussed in some detail in Elizabeth Clare Prophet's, The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus' 17-Year Journey to the East. Click HERE to go to amazon.com to buy this book. Passionately and energetically recommended reading by the Ascended Masters.

     Regarding our own entry onto this timeless path, we must grasp the truth, that the forgiveness of the Ascended Master Jesus Christ, which is so highly celebrated in scripture, does not release any member of the human race from accountability for past errors of thought and action, especially as the record of all error continues to clog the chakras, blocking all direct perception of Divine Reality. The forgiveness of Jesus Christ, extended from his position as one of the primary sponsors of the Path of Initiation, represents no more, and no less, than the door of opportunity reopened for the soul to return to the Path of Initiation where the soul must take up again the task of balancing its own karma in preparation for the restoration of each of the divine treasures stored in the Causal Body. While this forgiveness includes the carrying of the student's karmic burden on a temporary basis to allow the student to receive the divine inspiration necessary to stay faithful to the requirements of the Path, Jesus does not carry this burden into perpetuity, nor has he paid the price for mankind's misuse of freewill for all time. At some point the karmic burden must be balanced by the soul according to the Law of God. The karma balancing aspects of this path include first and foremost, daily world service before the Altar of the Holy Grail where the student employs the Science of the Spoken Word to invoke the Sacred Fire from the realms of divine perfection to A) consume past records of error, and B) to consume the current potential to re-create error, and secondly, the taking up of the sacred labor to fulfill the divine mission of the soul in this life. If the soul will humbly return to the spirit of personal responsibility, Jesus Christ, and the Ascended Masters generally, will be there, tarrying with the evolutions of the earth until the very end, to reconnect each soul to each precious jewel contained in the treasure chest of its Divine Identity (the Causal Body).

      Now, it is clear that the less than stellar behavior (and distorted belief structure) of some individuals within the Christian churches have alienated many souls, who are, nevertheless, called to this great work of redemption in this life; and that a substantial emotional barrier has been created between these souls and the Master Jesus Christ, making it next to impossible for them to relate to this Master. This is one of the reasons why the duties of the Office of the Mediator for this planet have been divided up among many qualified Ascended Masters. While Jesus Christ remains the Archetype of the Ascended Master mediator for this planet, he has personally sponsored and trained many additional deputies, as it were, to perform the duties of that office, particulary for the benefit of those souls who are not psychologically capable of relating to Jesus Christ himself because of the stain and burden of alienation imposed upon them by the many firebrands of false dogma that have populated the Christian church (and the churches of other religions) over the centuries unto the present day. As one delves more deeply into the Teachings of the Ascended Masters, the identity of these Ascended Master mediators, and their personal presence, will become familiar to the student.

      And a few words specifically about distorted doctrine are in order here. Recently, when asked about the strength of her personal faith, a woman quickly responded, "my salvation is secure in Jesus Christ." But this woman, and all souls who drink from the trough of polluted theology, must come to understand, that this is but a half-truth that will leave this soul, and other souls, empty handed (at the end of this current life) when it comes to the true spiritual victory over death and hell that they were sent into physical embodiment to achieve.

      It's one thing to be picked up out of the proverbial gutter of human decadence, and to be put back onto your feet, and thereby, to be given yet another opportunity to pick up again the golden thread of self-worth within the context of a productive and civilized life within the physical octave. It is quite natural, that in this process, that the soul will experience the love and compassion that the Master Jesus pours out to all souls who have become trapped in the lowest dungeons of human confusion, and who have, thereby, discovered the jewel of humility in moments of true desperation.

      But it's quite another matter to regain the full stature of your divine estate. And in this respect, only the complete truth will guarantee the complete victory of the soul over death and hell, and it is expressed in this manner: "my salvation is secure in my completion of the Path of Initiation sponsored by the Ascended Masters who are the bonafide representatives of the Universal Christ." Of course, as one of the key representatives of the Universal Christ for this planet, the Ascended Master Jesus Christ has, unquestionably, an important role to play as one of the primary sponsors of the Path of Initiation. But he does not stand at the gate handing out free tickets to paradise to everyone that will simply kiss his ring, as most of the misguided leaders of the modern Christian Church contend. As noted above, achieving one's spiritual freedom is not a cost free, or an effort free, enterprise.

     Even so, spiritual freedom --- freedom to be the Divine Person that we once were --- is the birthright of every soul who takes embodiment in this System of Redemption. In this regard, every newborn child is a replica, in potentiality, of the child Jesus, heir to the same Divine Promises which were so effectively cashed in by Jesus the Student, by Jesus the Graduate of the Path of Initiation. And this is what ought to be celebrated each and every Christmas Day. This is what ought to be contemplated as we listen to Christmas carols over the entire Christmas holiday season, i.e. not just the Divinity of Jesus, but the Divinity of every child of God, including ourselves, and not simply in terms of the real potential that each one of us possesses to grow into the full stature of the Christ, but the very real mandate, the very real requirement for each of us to reclaim the stature of Christhood we once knew; this being the only avenue by which the soul can be set free from the rounds of rebirth within the System of Redemption; this being the only State of Freedom that will allow us to return to the eternal life within the divine civilizations from whence we fell.

     With this in mind, how ironic it is to hear Christian leaders proclaim Jesus Christ to be the only Son of God, and at the very same time rail against the evil of abortion, when the fact of the matter is, that by declaring Jesus Christ to be the only Son of God, theologians, over the centuries, and up to the present moment, have, perhaps inadvertently, but in some cases quite consciously, been a party to the denial of the divinity of every new born child, and thereby set in stone the intellectual foundation for the practice of abortion, for the practice of killing the (divine) child in the womb. The false dogma of the Christian Church in this respect --- and this applies across the board, whether it's the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, or the Protestant denominations --- having programmed the minds of the faithful over so many centuries as to their unworthiness to be called Sons and Daughters of God, is the very thing that allows a woman to believe that the life in the womb is no more than a blob of protoplasm, leading to the death of millions of genuine Christ Childs every year. How long could abortion remain legal in a society that was well aware that every child in the womb is being sent forth into embodiment (by God) to balance its karma and to become the fullness of the Christ once again? Clearly, when you consider which of the multitude of hotly debated public policy issues might be enthusiastically supported by the fallen angels, the practice of abortion has to be at the very top of the list. Why? Because this is the single most effective institution for thwarting God's plan of redemption for not just incoming souls, but for those in embodiment as well, whose life plans and missions hinge on the presence of those (aborted) souls.

     Finally, let us admit the obvious, that all of us have a constant thirst to be appreciated, respected, and loved. This is natural, because this is what each of our souls has already experienced over aeons of time (before the fall) in our personal relationship with God. God appreciates us, God respects us, and God loves us, beyond our wildest dreams. But when we left off from that relationship, the thirst for appreciation, respect, and love, remained with us, except then, and even more so now, we seek those expressions of appreciation, respect, and love from other souls, in fact, from those who are cut off from God as much as we are, and sometimes more so, and it is no wonder that we suffer the frustration and disappointment that is inevitable when we expect something from those who do not have the capacity to give it, at least not in terms of the quantity, quality, and consistency, that we require to be truly fulfilled and happy.

     Animated by these frustrations and disappointments, we have, over the centuries, been moved to manufacture (out of the fabric of our human imagination) alternative routes to happiness, each one leading us farther and farther away from the central source of true happiness which can only be that place of personal communion with our own personal God Presence. As we splash, thrash, and flail around in this polluted and ever deepening ocean of frustration and disappointment (which continues to be fed with so much industrial waste from a multitude of corrupt, sputtering, irrational, and incoherent mental manufacturing processes), we are, thereby, ignominiously self-condemned to live our lives with all of our sensibilities clogged up and choked up with all of the rancid memories associated with all of these misguided efforts (over many lifetimes) to engineer one detour after another around the Holy Mountain of God, and beyond to some imagined destination of true happiness. And therefore, it has come to pass, that all of the sights, all of the sounds, all of the smells, and all of the ever-circling thoughts, and all of the ever-circling feelings, associated with these experiences, when taken together, has formed a completely new sense of identity around the soul, a variegated composite of sludge, which is a false sense of identity, based on pain, suffering, and fear --- a murky, dark, and muddy pall of error --- which is, from the standpoint of God's plan and highest hopes for the soul, the mud of human illusion spread thickly upon the once shining jewel of the divine soul. This false sense of identity must be gradually dismantled and washed away through the invocation of the Sacred Fire. And through the mechanism of the Ascended Master mediator, the soul must be returned incrementally to the frame of awareness that holds as the central jewel of personal identity, communion with the One God. This is, after all, the central pinion of the individual Christ Identity.

	Next Steps 1. Find out more about the various aspects of the Teachings, the Science of the Spoken Word and the use of the Violet Flame in particular. 2. Read books and more books on the Teachings of the Ascended Masters. 3. Read the dictations given by the Ascended Masters as published in the Pearls of Wisdom. 4. Join the Keepers of the Flame Fraternity and receive monthly lessons on the Teachings of the Ascended Masters. 5. Find a local group of Ascended Master students.

     The quantity, quality, and consistency of respect, appreciation, and love that the soul genuinely needs can only come to the soul through the personal relationship it must reestablish with the one Father/Mother God, the Creator of the universe and the Creator of our souls. The Path of Initiation is designed by God and administered by the Ascended Masters to return the soul into the loving embrace of that relationship --- but not in some nebulous future time, but in the here and now. Truly, it is by and through this relationship that the soul will learn how to solve every problem, meet every challenge, overcome every obstacle, and learn to contribute to the upliftment of life wherever its footprints are to be found. When millions of God's children find this path, and secure their feet to it, truly the planet will have in its future a new golden age of peace and enlightenment, where fear and hatred, war, strife, and discontent will not be known anymore. With outstretched arms, the Ascended Masters welcome you back to the homeward path that is guaranteed to bring you home to God's heavenly consciousness of love and beauty, and to bring you home in this lifetime, if you can muster the determination to meet the requirements of the Path of Initiation and to stay with that path until it leads you to the very mountain summit of victory.
 
 

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