The Sacred Path

[Tamrin]

The Sacred Path

R.W. Bro. Joan Wilkinson 18° — A talk given in St. John's Lodge No. 431

The Australian Co-Mason, Vol. 21 No. 2, December 1990, pp.12/18
Journal of the Australian Federation of International Co-Freemasonry — Le Droit Humain

[Part One of Two]

When one thinks of the Sacred Path, there are a number of questions that immediately arise:

1. Is there a Sacred Path?
2. What is the Sacred Path?
3. Where is it?
4. How does one find it?
5. How does one trave on it?
6. Where does it lead?
7. Is the goal worth reaching?

1. Is There a Sacred Path? The different V.S.L. tell us the same thing in ifferent ways: Seek ye the Kingdom of God; attain Moksa (liberation); follow the eight-fold path to Nirvana; gain Enlightenment; reach Satori; and so on.

All have the same message, namely the purpose of life is to attain the realisation that we are one with God, that each of us IS God at that higher level of Being. In the words of another sacred writing: God dwells within you as you.

2. [& 3.] What & Where is the Sacred Path? The Sacred Path has been called the journey within. It is not a "yellow brick road" that we can physically walk along. In the words of the poet Walt Whitman, who had trodden the Path and attained its goal:

Darest thou now, O Soul,
Walkest with me
Towards an unknown region,
Where neither path is for the feet,
Nor any path to follow.

In this we have the clue. The Path is uniquely our own. We make the Path as we follow it. We are not following someone else's Path. It cannot work that way. We all have our own unique Path. It has to be so, because each of us has different lessons to learn, different karma to work through. How could it be otherwise?

4. How Does One Find the Sacred Path? For whatever task in life we are to perform, we have to prepare. we prepare for life by going to school and learning the "three R's", then by learning skills and gaining knowledge to enable us to earn a living. It is no different when we seek to tread the Sacred Path. we have to prepare ourselves.

Masonry is an excellent training ground for the preparatiomn for the Sacred Path. it provides a discipline for our outer vehicles, physical body, mind, emotions, because it works in the format of a ritual. so we have prescribed actions nd words to which we must adhere. Before we enter the Lodge we are adjured to tyle the mind. In other words, we must stop the flow and jangle of our thoughts and focus on the inner aspect of ourselves, which is represented outwardly by our entering the Temple.

Each degree teaches us what we must do to learn the lessons of that degree. Nor do these lessons and their practices cease when we move into another degree. The lessons of the First Degree are as pertinent to a Bro. of the highest rank as they are to the new initiate. It has often been said by very senior Brn. that one is always an E.a., always learning and needing to practice those things inculcated in the First Degree. Why? Surely one can learn the few pages of ritual pertaining to the First Degree and then know it. NO! For the simple reason that the lessons in Freemasonry are not just words on a piece of paper. They are living tenets and as we need to learn the next step on our way towards the Sacred Path, so we are prepared to deal with the circumstances that life presents to us for our growth. You may have noticed this. So, as we progress through the Masonic degrees, new lessons are learnt, new perspectives attained, which we must embrace and use in our daily lives.

Masonry directs our attention to the world within. The mystic charges for th various degrees are full of deep meaning, level upon level. As our capacity to understand increases, so we pass to the understanding of a deeper level. Masonry, then, is truly a progressive science — progressive, not just outwardly, but much more so inwardly.

One cannot progress within by merely taking a thought about it. Nothing will happen, anymore than thinking one would like to be somewhere else. Unless one does more than THINK, the desired destination will not be reached. How much more subtle is the inner progression. Thought is useful in its proper place, used for the purpose for which it is intended. We could not conduct our daily lives without thought and the knowledge of the material plane of existence. BUT, when thought takes off on its own and causes all sorts of psychological mazes and messes — then we can so easily become lost and lose sight of our inner goal. Francis Thompson in The Hound of Heaven depicts the agony of the searcher fleeing down the arches of the years, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind, seeking in all external places for the Love of God, perhaps finding it for a moment, but losing it again. Eventually, the seeker turns within and finds his Beloved, and with that Love he finds all other things he once thought were lost. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.

Thought can be used correctly by directing our attention towards that for which we seek and then becoming still. The moments of inner realization, expansion, awareness, are moments when thought is not. Krishnamurti in modern parlance teaches the necessity for the absence of thought in order to be totally in contact with the Awareness or Consciousness of a situation. This teaching is, of course, centuries old, and has been couched in different terms and languages and built into systems that aim to assist the seeker attain the desired and yearned for goal of liberation from this mortal coil, as we current seekers know it.

[Tamrin]

[Part Two of Two]

5. How Does One Travel the Sacred Path? First one has to approach it by constant attention to the inner Self, by constantly remembering that it is the same Self within everyone, that same Self which is Universal Consciousness, which is God.

There are many things we can do to prepare ourselves, such as selecting the company we keep, the words we use, the thoughts we entertain. Negative thoughts reflecting the ego's dissatisfaction with everything that does not suit it, leads nowhere worth going — only deeper into the “labyrinthine ways” of the mind. One of the facts to remember constantly is that we can CHOOSE what we think. We may not be able to control external circumstances, but we can control what we think about them, and if we remember that God’s Love pervades all — including ourselves, then we are not tipped over into the mire of egoic, negative thinking — into the “labyrinthine ways”.

Our activities, too, can be pursued to assist us in focusing on our inner being. Meditation is very important for that. Incidentally, meditation is not done to “achieve” or “do” anything. One sits for meditation and with patience and perseverance, the mind will still — then something, or nothing, may happen. This is not so important. The important part of meditation is the discipline of sitting regularly and bringing the mind to a calm state and stillness. Then something CAN happen. Some people may use a Mantra, that is, a word or phrase that can help the mind focus and become quieter. Mantras can be very powerful agents in this especially those in Sanskrit. Sanskrit has been described as the language of the Gods. It is the basis of all languages. The remarkable thing about Sanskrit is that the SOUND of the words create a vibration which is the deep MEANING of the word. All words create sound — which is why we have to be so careful with our choice of words. In the opening ceremony, for example, we are reminded of the power of words and their sound when the IPM, standing before the Altar, extends her hand and says: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word created the universe; Sanskrit provides this powerful mode of penetrating deep within us.

The sound OM is the primordial sound. It pervades the universe. In the solpah scale it is FAH, the sound of Nature. Have you listened to it? Stand somewhere and listen: the sound of the wind in the pines, of running water, of distant traffic, the sound of a city. FAH.

Throughout this [talk] ... there has been the sound OM played on the tamboura, an ancient Indian stringed instrument. The resonant sound of the tamboura is described thus: The sound of the tamboura resonates with the primordial sound OM from which all melodies arise and into which they subside. Accompanied by the tamboura, melodies no longer sound like separate notes, but blend together into am ocean of sound that quiets the mind and soothes the heart.

So all these measures can assist us to enter the Sacred Path. The preparation is necessary so we become strong in our focus on God, otherwise we cannot stand the rigours of the Path and the demands it puts upon us. We an always temporarily fall off! So it is constant striving and deliberately maintaining the focus all the way to the end. Until we are actually on the Path, we have to use thought to direct our attention. Once we are on the Path then thought is needed less and less to direct our focus, for as our Awareness grows we can cast aside the coarse tool of thought.

As in Masonry, a new Bro. is initiated on the outer plane into the Lodge and into the Masonic Brotherhood, so is one initiated on the inner plane when one has prepared oneself for the experience. This Initiation is also called []the descent of the Holy Ghost[/i]: the awakening of the inner Kundalini.

6. Where Does the Sacred Path Lead? When Kundalini has been awakened within us, then we are on the Sacred Path to Heaven, to Bliss, to Nirvana, or whatever other name one likes to ascribe to that State of Being. Kundalini purifies the bodies that make up our finite being. She burns up the seeds of karma yet to be manifested and causes the various spiritual centres in the inner bodies to be opened. Then new powers and abilities become ours to use in the helping of others. Such are all these things promised if we first seek the Kingdom of God,

7. Is the Goal Worth Reaching? The answer to this is for you to decide. To those who are still immersed in and hanging onto the things of the outer world, the realm of the ego, the answer may be "no". Such people do not want to "lose" what they have and currently know. The Hound of Heaven describes this state well. But such things will pass away, as the Higher Self slowly causes us to become more and more attuned to the infinite life within and away from the finite life without.

To you who are attracted to Masonry, the answer is more likely to be "maybe" or a very definite "yes". Something attracted us to Freemasonry in the first place. We are required to state on the application form the reason why we want to join Masonry. The answer is always the result of the person "going within" and contacting the higher aspects of his relationship with himself and the world. Even at that point we make a conscious commitment to work on the preparation of ourselves to be worthy and ready to walk the Sacred Path, to being one with God.

At the end of a century and particularly at the end of an Age, there are great cosmic forces playing on and in our world. The impetus for spiritualizing life for personal inner growth is never stringer. We are in the throes of this creative period NOW, which is why so many changes are happening throughout the world, some quite unexpected, like the opening up of the Eastern bloc countries in Europe. But the impetus of change also applies on the inner planes. Let us not waste this G0d-given opportunity to move ever nearer to the commencement of the Sacred Path and then to enter and become established on the Path itself.