January-March 2018

CONTENTS:

Cyclic Resolutions  – Editorial
At this darkest time of the year, the Christ and all Sun Gods are born, and from the winter solstice as the sun moves north, we recognise this period of preparation for the higher interlude as one of inbreathing. Working with this rhythm and turning inward again, we draw sustenance from the inner spiritual sun and begin anew our ascent in spirit.

Sheep and Goats – Djwhal Khul
The reorganisation being planned at this time by the Hierarchy and by the ashramic groups affects the personal lives of disciples and their efforts at accepting training; with the proposed changes and with the results of the outer ashramic work they must fall in line and they must accept the changing curriculum.

Intuition and Intuitive Concepts – John Rasmussen
Silence is the birthplace of intuition; it is experienced as a non-discursive mental activity that denotes nothing about the phenomenal world. Nowhere in silence does the mind assume the form of any phenomenal object. Intuitions emerge from silence in many ways; just as there are many ways in which one may momentarily lose all sense of phenomenal separation.

The Pillars of the Portal, Part 2 – James T. Ryder
The history of science is mankind’s meditation on the nature of the universe. That meditation includes the breadth of scientific thought in all fields of inquiry. The basis of all sciences is light, matter, energy and force, which have been contemplated by mankind for over 2000 years.

Light in Painting – Sue Henry
Light is an elusive quality for the painter who strives to create an illusion of reality with colours that have evolved from earth pigments and plant dyes to the synthetic palettes of today. Those who were truly great incorporated the quality of light into their colours and painting, an example being the beautiful frescoes of the early renaissance painter, Giotto, that adorn the church of Santa Croce in Florence.

Mankind Perpetually in the Process of Construction? – Chima C. Ogu
To live the subjective life requires us to recognize our humanity in its wholeness, that we are divinity and form, creator and the creation, perpetually in the process of construction. The struggling aspirants and disciples thus have in them all it takes to grow out of the appearance of the form nature that glamours and deludes, into a knowledge of the quality of God’s consciousness and the purpose which it reveals.

Rimbaud and the Breaking Down of the Mask – Anders Lidén
In his own way Rimbaud was exploring the soul dimension of his being and, like all who deliberately dive into this kind of research, he was a pioneering spirit. Rimbaud was still a young man when he suddenly interrupted his brilliant literary career for an even more adventurous one as a trafficker in obscure merchandise in the desert parts of Abyssinia.

Nikolaj Grundtvig; A Forerunner – Elizabeth Falck
This essay gives us a fascinating insight into the life of a man greatly honoured in his own country, but hardly known elsewhere. Born at the end of the 18^th century his life trajectory led him forward on the path of the religious life. He soon became aware of the huge difference between the church as an institution and a spiritual life with its authentic experience of transcendence, which translates into a true and uplifting sense of fellowship.

BOOK REVIEWS
Expect Great Things: The life and search of Henry David Thoreau, by Kevin Dann
Lost Knowledge of the Imagination, by Gary Lachman