Concepts

A house is composed of many parts – parts that when taken separately look nothing at all like a house. Piles of lumber and bricks, bundles of shingles and spools of wire, bags of concrete and boxes of nails – no one but experienced architects and builders could visualize the finished structure from the assembly of its parts fresh off the truck and still in their wrappers. Similarly, the building blocks of spiritual knowledge – the concepts that comprise the Ancient Wisdom Teachings – reveal little, when taken separately, of the expanded, holistic consciousness that comes as a result of careful, persistent study of the Mysteries.

Intellectual understanding by itself cannot bring about spiritual realization, just as merely building a house does not provide the experience of living in it. But a well-built house – one that is sturdy and well laid out – offers a quality of living that is unmistakable. It becomes a home. And just as a house serves as a launching pad for the many lives reared within it, so do the Teachings, when carefully laid into our thinking, provide us with a stability that not only gives us comfort and refuge but allows us to extend our consciousness into the unknown reaches of our spiritual potential.

So, as you study the basic building blocks of the Teachings, try to gain a feeling for them, just as a tradesman gets to know his materials through the course of his career. Contemplate them; look for where they appear in your life; try to discover new ways in which to apply them in your daily living. This way, you will find your spiritual home, and from that home you will beget many lives who by their living will transform the world.