Some people who look for spirituality believe that simply by integrating into nature and living close to it, that they are leading a spiritual life. But living in accordance with nature is not in itself being spiritual. Real spirituality is very different from that—it’s a rebellion against nature. In it, we break ourselves free from nature and that is a very different way of living.
The way of the Being is not the way of nature. The way of the Being has its own path, has its own truth, and its own destiny – and that destiny is different from that of the one who lives the life of nature. That destiny is a psychologically immortal destiny, whereas the one in nature at the end of a life submerges into death, of which the person is likely to know nothing beforehand.
In nature, being of the things of the earth, one’s will, volition, and desires are all attracted to the things of the earth, and whoever is in that, goes with it with death, as it brings them back to matter. But those who are of the spirit, go with the spirit.
A person can live life in accordance with the spirit, knowing what’s beyond it, and knowing what its purpose is. People living an ordinary life think they have a purpose, or many do. It seems clear to them because that purpose is amongst things that are seen, that are easily recognizable and tangible. But that is a purpose in the sleep; that’s a purpose for the blind, who can’t see beyond forms. It’s an illusion of a purpose in a temporary existence. There is a greater purpose to living which is found in the spirit and the Being and that purpose is worth living for.
An ordinary life leads to the things which decay, which are temporary, however beautiful they are, and however wonderful the theories around them are. For a life to lead to the spirit requires a revolution to acquire. That revolution is of the inner death of the ego and alchemy; it’s one of a transformation of consciousness.
An ordinary consciousness can perceive and do so much; in order to have the spirit within, a superior kind of consciousness is needed, and that is built with alchemy. There is no other way to achieve it. Nothing else will fundamentally transform the psyche—nothing, no amount of concentration, meditation, or being aware will radically transform the psyche. This is as it has always been, an alchemical process. Very few actually try to practice it and attempt to self-realize and even those who try, if they are with their will toward matter rather than spirit, will not be able to pass the tests upon the matter, and to be able to transcend it.
To self-realize an individual needs to convert themselves into quite a different kind of a person. There are two kinds of people in the world: there are those of the earth and those of the spirit. They are two very different kinds, not simply in attitude, but in the structure of the psyche, and they don’t mix, they’re too different.
Q: I feel lukewarm. It’s hard to believe there’s something bigger or better than this.
Belsebuub: Those who try to awaken go through stages where nothing seems to work, where they have to feel weakness in order to see certain inner states and to be tested. There is also the entropy that falls upon virtually every activity that is done, which you work against, and there are times when, try as you will, there is just not enough strength to cope, where asking seems the only recourse.
But for most, being lukewarm is simply having a lack of interest in awakening and having a lack of responsibility and love for others. In the Bible it says I would that you were hot or cold, but you are lukewarm, and I will spew you out of my mouth. Lukewarm people may make up numbers but their lack of understanding causes problems. In nations they are likely to be like a population of sheep, who are manipulated in the millions by those in power who use them for their own interests. They are easily manipulated by sinister vested interests who lie, exploit them and feed them with meaningless slogans which rouse them to causes. They are unfit for the esoteric work, they won’t defend it, nor do they deeply value it. They are likely to be untrustworthy, to betray it, and turn an esoteric teaching into a religion. They waste serious people’s time and produce at best mediocre work, which gives a poor impression to the spiritual work. They usually lack activity or will power and like mostly to do easy things, but when they do try to be active externally, they lack the inner work and therefore don’t have the understanding to know what they are doing. They never awaken. Although some can see where they are stuck and change, they are the exception rather than the rule.
Can dreams help me to see the obstacles I have to overcome in my life?
Yes, you can look into your dreams and see if there are any egos which keep repeating, or if any dreams have the same kinds of scenes repeating in them, or to see which specific scenes are coming up. By doing that, you’ll discover the various egos which you need to work on during the day. The egos which come up in your dreams are the very ones which you need to get rid of; they are the obstacles to your inner progress. If someone doesn’t get rid of those obstacles, it’s likely that they would get stuck and wouldn’t be able to move forward internally. Anyone can get stuck on something small, but you tend to see what it is that you’re stuck on coming up in your dreams; that’s going to show you where you’re going wrong. So work on that ego state or action you saw in your dream when you are back in your daily life, where you have the opportunity to be able to sort it out.
It’s in the way you approach the things which happen in daily life that the learning takes place. There’s often an idea of there being an ideal time in the future to work on oneself, but that never arrives. Sometimes you might hope that if a problem was sorted out then circumstances would be much better to do the work in, then it would be easier to change, and much better for self-knowledge. But those very difficulties are the things that much can be learnt from. In them you’ll see lots of different egos cropping up, and then if you look into your dreams, you’ll see specific egos; these can tell you what egos you need to observe and get rid of.
Once you do see an ego in your dreams, then don’t let it go in daily life, make sure you observe it and work on it. If you do, then that kind of dream will subside and other types of dreams will come up with other egos in them; they will tell you about the current and most urgent things that you need to work on. Don’t let them pass, or let them go. When you let them go, you’re missing a great opportunity for learning in your daily life.
~ A talk by Belsebuub given in Oregon, USA 2009
