Revisiting Initiation

2009-7-10 03:07:00

David writes:

"If I understand the initiation process correctly, it is a process of purification whereby our mind/body/spirit becomes in complete harmony with God. I realize this is a vast understatement but is this accurate or have I completely missed the mark?"

JJ:

Purification is more of a byproduct of the path of initiation rather than the purpose of initiation itself. Purification as it is generally understood plays a much larger roll in the first two initiations than those that follow.

Each initiation does bring us in closer harmony with God, but again this is not the prime motivator that pushes us along the path.

The core ingredient that moves us from one initiation to another is the removal of limitations. In being born to this material existence we have moved into a sphere of great limitations. These limitations must be removed one by one until complete liberation is attained.

Here are some posts from the archives that give more information on the initiations:

http://www.freeread.com/archives/536.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/716.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/1953.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/1954.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/1955.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/1956.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/1958.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/1959.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/2021.php
http://www.freeread.com/archives/3224.php

Another thing you can do is go to the search feature of the archives and type in "Gathering 2003."

If you start at Part 6 and move forward you can read a dissertation covering all the initiations.

David:

"Is not God's hand in all things so that ultimately, all our works fulfill God's eternal purpose?"

JJ:

God's purpose is fulfilled despite our works, not because all of them are essential to purpose.

If you want a room painted blue and the worker paints it yellow then a non essential mistake was made. The painter has to learn of his mistake and then paint the room blue. Painting the room yellow was not essential to the plan, but a complete waste of time. In the end the owner got what he wanted despite the mistake which was not essential to his plan.

David:

"Consider the following. We live in a world of opposition. Without it, there is no existence. Let's label these opposite forces good and evil. For the Universe to continue to exist, these two opposing forces must remain relatively balanced.

"In my experience, the forces opposite an act are as necessary to accomplishing that act as the force of the act itself."

JJ:

Yes, the opposition in all things as taught in the Book of Mormon is a true principle. All things are created by the interplay of opposing forces of positive and negative. One thing I have taught that goes beyond this standard doctrine is that for the creation of form to be, the two forces must be slightly out of balance. The positive and negative forces in each atom and molecule are slightly out of balance. If they were in perfect balance they would be transmuted into pure spirit.

Even so, good and evil are not perfectly balanced in the universe, but is dominated by good (creation) over evil (destruction). This is called "the dominating good" in the Alice A. Bailey writings.

  

"It is healthier to see the good points of others than to analyze our own bad ones."
  -- Francoise Sagan (1935 - )