The Elder continues:
– As soon as your soul has entered the cosmic region (cf. second star in the esoteric symbol) and has transcended all the elements that constitute the manifested dimension (earth, water, fire and ethereal air: i.e. the first star), it breaks free of the attractive force of the earth and of the impressions relating to the ego. Then it can freely move towards God.
The esoteric symbol.
Theo. – How can we acknowledge that state of freedom?
The Elder – A great inner simplicity settles in then, and the being’s purity increases considerably.
Theo. – Does the way we practice change, then?
The Elder – Yes, it does change. It is now mostly based on love. Meditation consists in being absorbed in the Presence and it becomes an inner sacred act. Cleaning is oriented toward the purity of the soul for the sole purpose of accessing the Union with the Ultimate and Merging. Then prayer is no longer a necessity – though you can still say it -, because it is now part of your deepest self. In connection with the Centre, with the Inner Master, His vibration becomes permanent.
Theo. – How can we know we have really reached that stage?
The Elder – The intense silence that reigns within us and all around us speaks for it.
Theo. – Such as the one we are now experiencing? I have the feeling that you are transmitting such a silence to me.
The Elder – Which is not the case. Citing it makes us pay attention to it, but what you are experiencing is a resonance phenomenon. The further ahead the soul is proceeding, the less it is acting. Its will is submitted to the Divine. The person doesn’t have to strive anymore. The soul is at rest, beholding the Presence. Whatever has to be done, either spiritually or humanly, is done by itself, as it happened just now, via resonance, and not by any personal will.
Theo. – Isn’t that an invitation to doing nothing, an invitation to laziness?
The Elder – It’s rather an invitation to acting more intensely, more efficiently, beyond human measure. Read the lives of our Masters and of any other great spiritual being in all times. You will note that they all live in the world, among human beings, and work for the good of each and every one.
Theo. – That is Divine management, isn’t it?
The Elder – Don’t forget that the aspirants have already worked hard for at least seven years. They have practiced regularly, restlessly, and shaped their characters. Above all, at each moment they have surrendered, otherwise their guide could not have helped them go through the gate to freedom.
Theo. – You told me that an aspirant was no longer subject to the Earth’s gravity!
The Elder – To be more precise, he/she does not feel its effects as strongly as before. His/her ego and soul keep being fully active. The remaining spiritual path is still considerable, but it is considered differently.
Theo. – As in meditation, we have to be “actively passive”.
The Elder – Exactly, attentive to the Divine, to the Inner Master within our self, more than to one self.
Theo. – Which entails the famous self-forgetfulness. But is not being no longer oneself rather worrying?
The Elder – No, and that is a paradox: you can never feel so much your Self than when you forget your self.
– I can understand it intellectually, but in practical terms, I find it more difficult, the young man says, pouting.
The Elder – We can have an experience, if you want. Look at that person who is sitting over there, among the group, near the bandstand. Look at her and at the other persons around her.
A silence takes place.
The Elder – Communicate with each of these persons through the heart.
Communicate silently with them.
You can see … the bandstand … the square … the city … etc.
Can you perceive the lights of “The Weft”?
Can you tell me what you are feeling?
Theo. – The Presence is there, extraordinarily intense, together with the consciousness of “being and non-being”. In fact, I have the feeling I am much “more” though I am “less” than usual. I can’t really describe how I feel or define such a state. I am fully alive, I am present as if without being there, as if I had erased myself.
The Elder – Does the erasing give you the impression you have been lessened?
Theo. – No. I feel I have grown, but that growth is mine without belonging to me. I am beginning to speak the way you do, and that is a problem, he says with a laugh.
The Elder – It is the expression of an oxymoron condition, of a paradox, as is the fact of being totally present by default. It is a way to show an unknown and indescribable state of being, a combination of the human and the Divine; being less to become more, less of our self and more of the Divine. Our brain may not be formatted for understanding it, but our conscience will easily see what it means. Babuji also used to say, “more and more of less and less”. He loved playing with oxymorons and with the law of invertendo.
Theo. – What I have understood is vast, very vast. It is somewhat like the feeling I have when I say the universal prayer at 9 p.m., but there are no words for it. It raises the soul and brings it nearer to other souls. Then it is as if my heart were in communion with all the other beings.
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogs with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s initiation