POINTS OF LIGHT 928 EAST FIFTH STREET VOLUME VI #5 Brooklyn, New York 11230-2116 Copyright 1993 by: Temple of the Eternal Light (718) 438-4878 An "Omni-Denominational" Religious Fellowship _____________________________________________________ WELCOME ALL READERS. POINTS OF LIGHT is the monthly newsletter of TEMPLE OF THE ETERNAL LIGHT. It is an open forum for anyone to send in articles, poetry, short, short, stories, advertising or anything else. It has blossomed into a cornucopia of fact, or fantasy relating to modern magickal living, spiritual growth and a network linking all members of our human family by a chain of fellowship. With wishes for Love and L.V.X. Rt. Rev. Jerome Peartree, Publisher Rev. Karen DePolito, Editor ****************************************************************** OPEN INVITATION TO ALL These events are open to both members and non-members. Please call a day in advance and let us know you are coming. SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1993 @ 8:00P.M. GNOSTIC MASS - PRIEST: Jerome PRIESTESS: Karen, DEACON: Andres Suggested Donation $3.00 The Nature of the Self, Mitochondria, DNA and RNA (reprinted from "Thirteen Tools Toward Enlightenment") by: Jerome Peartree, D.Th. Biological evidence indicates there is a relationship between DNA, RNA and us. In every living cell there is DNA and its RNA components that go out and replicate its cell. There is also something else, a parasitic something, that doesn't belong there yet exists in every cell and provides the energy source for the cell in a symbiotic relationship. Science has called them "Mitochondria". They rely upon the cell for something as they appear to be parasites. They are alien to cells, yet enable a cell to carry out its function. It is possible Mitochondria are responsible for: a) Photosynthesis, the process by which plants take in Carbon Dioxide and in the presence of SUNLIGHT produce Oxygen; b) Cell replication, c) Cell structural growth. Mito chrondria apparently convert chemicals, light and heat into energy. They serve as WILL-POWER or energy source. The accepted Astrological symbol for the Sun is a circle with a Dot in its center. The Dot could represent the Nucleus of a cell or it could be the symbol originated by the ancients to indicate the presence of a foreign life form, i.e., the mitochondria. A Dr. Lewis, a biologist at the Sloane Medical Center wrote a book entitled, "Lives of a Cell". He says, Mitochrondria are what we are. Should we walk through a park and hear birds, it is actually the Mitochondria listening. Without Mitochondria, Dr. Lewis states, we would not exist. Mitochondria provide the reason for our existence. Similarly, the Dot in the Sun symbol must be there; it provides direction. The Sun is our energy source. No Sun, no Oxygen -- and no life as we know it. But the Sun is not the reason we are here. The first worship was of the Moon. There is a sort of ambiguous relationship between the Sun and the Earth. It is the source of our Life, but it is not our heritage. We use the Sun as a battery for Life. It is an interdependent relationship. In Aryan languages (like Latvian, German, or Sanskrit), the Sun is referred to as "She" and the Moon as "He". This implies a completely different understanding of the Solar System. Greek and Roman deities connected with the Sun, such as Apollo, are male. It suggests either a Semantic or a Theological battle between Aryans and Western cultures. Perhaps the origin of all life is not Male, but Female. When a magickian is sent to the sphere of the Sun, he thinks mainly about himself, his own identity, his own persona. Man in his impure state, as Alchemists would say, is a bundle of Psychoses and Neuroses, all foisted on him in layers by society. All his actions are, in reality, reactions to stimuli. Man doesn't act out of himself, out of his True Being or out of a lust for life. He acts out of a reaction to what society has programed into him. Sometimes, this reaction takes place years later. The child, being programed, grows into adulthood feeling life centers outside himself: in His President, in His General, in His Workplace Owner, in Actors, Politicians, even in His Pope or a theologian who suggests we have come from the Sun or from a Divine source. But it is merely a suggestion that we are divine and are entitled to divine right. Salvation is offered in return for a belief in an external deity or for Cash under the guise of Tithing. Therefore, the strength and power stem NOT from the individual himself, but from leaders who, intentionally or mistakenly seek to control rather than to liberate. They take away his soul and when all that remains is a Shell, they leave him by himself. It is paradoxically funny, when a Magickian conjures up a Devil, he is said to be "selling his soul". Actually, it is his first attempt at regaining it. In this manner he can regain his soul from the powers that be. Man at Yesod is controlled through Fear. He fears he is a slave, perhaps not in reality, but politically, or economically. He fears punishment. Once the fear is faced it fades. Man realizes he has, and is, a source of immortality. He has the Sun -- a source of energy -- within himself that no one can take away. He becomes a master of his own energy. Once a magickian realizes Tiphereth he switches from Slave to Master. However, once this point is passed, on the way to Kether, eventually there is the realization that there is no such thing as Master or Slave. Once an understanding of the Sephira of Tiphereth is realized, the magickian can really act as he will and no longer need react. The ancient metaphysical theme of the Sun is the Child Sacrifice. We have to sacrifice the child still living within us in the sense the child is told by his parents, teachers, etc., not to do this or not to touch that. The child has been programed. (When I finally moved into my first apartment, I deliberately left my clothes lying around and heard the voice of my father heralding, "Hang up your clothes or God will punish you". I waited for the Divine retribution that never arrived.) When we think of ourselves as children, we often think of ourselves in a pitiful light. We think of the worst things that happened. That is what needs to be sacrificed. A Magickian needs to be WILLING to give up old, antiquated, outmoded, foreign, parentally biased ideas and thought patterns. The child to be sacrificed is really the part we do not need, the part we can do without. We hold on to it because we believe some place in it is our life. We can have all the understanding and knowledge in the world, but if we lack the will to use it, it has no value. The DNA and RNA are useless without the energy to carry on their functions. Conversely, without the DNA, the Mitochondria would soon die out as they can't exist in a cell that has no chance for improvement or involvement. Like the human emotion of Love, when we find our Will, we can then become in harmony with everything else just knowing who we are. The complex neuroses are in disharmony, not our will. When the alchemist speaks of changing Lead into Gold, he is going from Malkuth to Tiphereth. What he is saying is he can take a lump of clay containing many minerals and burn out everything until only the gold remains. One cannot make Gold, only realize the gold. In Malkuth Gold exists. There is a little bit of Kether in Malkuth. Our task is to find that Kether. At Tiphereth, the Dross is burned out leaving only the Gold. However, this is merely a reflection of Kether. It is the first step in being there. This first step is the hardest one similar to the first million dollars being the hardest. The second million is easier to accumulate. Even so, beginning the second step becomes easier for now you have the energy moving behind you, just as a sailing ship has the wind in its sails. However, once the knowledge of self is obtained some people do not know what to do with it. There is a tremendous possibility for evil as some become: Con Men , Criminals or Exploiters of the unawakened. Eventually, they realize their lives are empty as they achieved Power but didn't know how to use it. The Leap from Malkuth to Yesod is the most difficult as it includes the jump of awakening. Tiphereth links all eight Sephira. Except for Malkuth, it is the only Sephira to have this linkage. To step from Malkuth into the inner circle is a very big step. That's why it is called, "Initiation". You are baptized and shown many things at this point -- things you do not understand. You go from the circumference of the circle to the dot in the middle. Once you arrive there you have the energy and power to travel around the circle anywhere you desire to go. After that, it is knowledge that determines how you want to do it. When you begin the climb from Yesod to Tiphereth,, expect emotional stress. You have to face the "Lurker at the Threshold". You have to face the Demons inside your psyche that could hide the part of yourself you choose not to see. These are neuroses that at Malkuth you needn't face. There is nothing equal to the task of contacting your Holy Guardian Angel. Balancing Magickal Rite with Religious worship of some type is needed here, or daily meditation to deflect some energy into other areas to reduce the stresses. What is painful are the attachments to the world or to possessions you may lose. The outer layers of the psyche must die. They are to be part of the sacrifice. It's not the "Self" that dies. What dies is what society thinks you are.