Ariadne/Chapter Seventeen: Lessons on Eliminating Separation from the Whole

Chapter Seventeen:
Lessons on Eliminating Separation from the Whole

Around Hamilcar, those disciples gathered for whom the time had come for continued initiation into the stage of power development.

Hamilcar said:

“We are going to work today on acquiring skills in dissolving the self-soul into the subtlest eons.

“It is important for us to stop feeling separate from the Whole.

“It is important to understand that this separation from the Divine and from the whole universe is created by ourselves. Our thoughts and emotions, as well as our perception through the help of the organs of sight, hearing, smell, and touch create a vector from the center — outwards, from ourselves — to everything that ‘is not me’.

“We will try to change the direction of this vector and look from the Whole — into that tiny particle of It that is the body of each of us.

“In order to make this easy, we have already trained ourselves many times as souls and have become much more expansive through the techniques of giving love, calm, harmony, and peace — to everyone and everything around us.

“Today — to begin with — we will divide ourselves into pairs and look at each other as if we have exchanged bodies. We will see ourselves through the eyes of a friend from his or her body.

“This exercise, which may seem simple at first glance, also helps us to better understand the ethics of relationships between people! Let’s appreciate how useful it is to see ourselves through the eyes of others!

“Everyone can perceive how the person across from me is looking at my body. We can experience ourselves as that other person. It is an interesting experience.

“But this exercise should be performed only with those friends of ours who are prepared for this.”

Everyone practiced the exercise in pairs for a while.

Then Hamilcar continued:

“When the Divine Souls become Friends to us — clearly visible and perceptible — it is then possible to fill Their Appearances with ourselves, as souls, and to see everything around us and ourselves through Their Eyes. This allows us to perceive Their Guidance in our lives many times more clearly. We all have already tried to practice this, and this skill will help us in the future.

“Now, let’s continue the preparatory practices.”

The disciples, at Hamilcar’s request, formed a circle:

“Now we will take turns going into the center of the circle and looking at our bodies from the body of each person who is now forming the circle. First, you can look from one body, then from several bodies, and then from all of them at the same time.”

All the students practiced this task, taking turns staying in the center of the circle.

Then they, together with Hamilcar, went up to the temple. This small circular building with its snow-white columns and dome and its base of marble steps was situated on top of a steep high hill, at the most elevated point in the School grounds. Inside the temple, the sky seemed to hug it from all sides.

It was a special place where the presence of Divine Souls was always very clearly manifested.

“Here the Divine Teachers will help us to master what we have already practiced today. Here with us today are Thoth the Atlantean, Ptahhotep, Imhotep, Isis, and Khem…”

Hamilcar listed the names, and their Appearances became visible in the Light for a time. And then They again dissolved into the love-saturated surrounding space. A special silence was felt by all of them.

“Now, from a space of the subtlest Light, we can look at this temple and our bodies in it. Our Teachers will help us in this if we merge with Them.

“And from the vastness of the shining Light — we can look from all sides at the island in the world of matter where our bodies are situated… Let the vector of our attention be directed from outside — to the center, just as in our previous exercise. Let the dissolution take place. And try to feel that so far unfamiliar state, in which we do not exist as separate parts but have disappeared in mergence with these Divine Souls. It looks as a sea of Living Light around.

“Let us register that now there is only the Divine Sea of Light on all sides of our bodies, and we — as souls — are dissolved in this Light, united with It. We can feel the contours of our bodies on all sides or fill the vastness of the space of the worlds of immaterial Light — as much as we can. We can even fill the shells of our bodies with this state of Oneness.

“Let us remember well this state of us as souls, in which the universal Divine Oneness covers everything and we are dissolved in this Light!

“After mastering this, we can learn to act in Mergence with the Primordial.”