As we continue to work with the vibratory formulas of the hierarchy of light we will see that each of the qualities of Universal Consciousness, are incomplete without their counter parts. Mercy, the Blue Sun from VFHL 3, without strength is incomplete. Undiscerning mercy creates a vulnerability and imbalance, causing a form of error described by Chogyam Trungpa as “idiot compassion”. Unrestrained givingness, and unbalanced Mercy causes injury to ourselves and others. Love, without the power to intelligently enact it, is weak and leads to another kind of suffering. In the meditation on VFHL 4 then we explore blue’s counterpart, the red vibration.
In VFHL 4, we focus on the Red Light, the primal force of vitality, strength, and dynamic power within the Hierarchy of Light. In the physical realm, red light occupies the longest wavelengths in the visible spectrum, ranging from approximately 620 to 700 nanometers. It is the first color visible when white light is dispersed and the last to disappear as the spectrum transitions into infrared. Thus, red light represents the boundary between the seen and the unseen, the manifest and the latent, symbolizing the initiation of creative force into the material plane.
In color science, red is considered one of the primary colors, along with yellow and blue. These three colors are reflections of the higher lights we explored in VFHL 1 and 2. The higher lights—White, Grey, and Black—are symbolically mirrored in the primary colors, with Blue corresponding to Grey, Red to Black, and Yellow to White. The higher lights resonate their essential natures from a higher plane of abstraction, to a more concrete and personal expression. The expansive, holistic expression of wisdom found in the Grey Light is given more definite form in the human activity associated with the Blue Light. Similarly, the Black Light of understanding and concrete ideation is mirrored in the Red Light’s expression of action.
Contrary to some new age beliefs, slower vibrations do not equate to less spiritual energy. All aspects of vibratory energy are a part of the inventory of divine attributes. Expressed in their most refined form, each vibration helps to bring about the sacred laws of the creative intelligence. Yet each vibration or center of consciousness also has its shells or husks, described in Qabalah as Qlipoth. Qlipoth are those errors and distortions of the divine energy that come into the world through unilluminated human personalities. Its appropriate to mention the husks here because at this stage of humanity’s development, the distortions of the red center of consciousness gives humanity a great deal of trouble. Excessive materialism, unbridled passion, ambition, and the will to dominate and exploit others are some of the distorted expressions of this, divine attribute. Yet in its refined form, this force drives the processes of evolution. It is the motive force that gives strength to the Will to Good.
In essence the Red Sun is the source of the Law of Karma. It is that just and benevolent law of the universe that links causes and effects through the great chain of time. It sets up the pattern in universal law that brings about the inevitable results of every action. “What we sow so shall we reap”, as the old maxim goes, is in its final evaluation, a great mercy. Since the law of cause and consequence is the very thing that enables us to learn. How else could we change our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors if we could not experience the effects of their errors ? This power then, is the root of our learning and ability to grow. It provides instruction as to the relative accuracy and value of each of our actions and the suppositions behind them.
The Red Sun, symbolizes the root of our physical existence, anchoring the spiritual energies into form and action. On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, this color corresponds to the sphere of Geburah גבורה, or Strength, associated with Mars. Geburah, meaning “severity” or “strength,” governs the forces of discipline, courage, and willpower. It is the principle that cuts away the unnecessary, the weak, and the imbalanced, forging through trial and challenge the proper understanding necessary for right action. The Red Sun, in this context, is the animating force of the lower self, the vital energy that propels us into action, ensuring our survival, growth, and the assertion of will. It is the life force that burns within every cell in the heat of metabolism, and the spark of passion to live and move and create. This light is a symbol of physical energy but its also the inner fire that drives ambition, desire, and the pursuit of purpose. It is the force that moves us forward, demanding that we engage with the world, confront our challenges, and harness our inner power.
Its no coincidence then that the blood is red. Blood not only carries the necessary chemical nutrients to the vital organs, supplying the body and brain with the necessary ingredients to function, it carries also the supra-subtle constituents that, when brought into their most refined quality, provide the ingredients for illuminated understanding. A great secret of the hidden science is tied up in this analogy. Many of you will have encountered the spiritual teaching of the serpent fire, and its rise to the pineal gland, super-charging all the centers of consciousness, enabling the full realization of natural law, and its sacred purpose. Yet while the unilluminated personalities, spill blood through war and dissipate this energy in conflict and misuse, the sacred expression of its divine potency goes unmanifest.
In the eastern traditions, red light is often associated with the root chakra, or Muladhara, the base of our energetic system. This chakra represents our most fundamental needs—survival, security, and stability. The Red Light then, is the ground upon which all higher energies are built. Without the grounding influence of this center of consciousness, our aspirations would lack the necessary strength and stability to manifest in the world. A key word associated to this center is volition, meaning basically the ability to take action. As we feel a desire to accomplish something in the world we are drawing from this energy. We might notice that the impulse to act in natural humanity is always aimed in such a way as to bring about the attainment of some need or desire. We are driven to eat by our hunger, or to alleviate our discomfort from the cold by seeking shelter, or ward off the anxieties of lack by establishing security.
Each of these desire impulses seem to us to be coming from a fundamental level of our biology and psychology, reenforcing the felt sense that we are the originators of our own activity. We experience a sense of individual personal will. We are each more or less convinced by this center of consciousness that we are autonomous individuals with our own free will to choose. We feel we are responsible for supplying ourselves with what we desire or require, by going out into the world with a plan of action. But, at more refined levels of its expression, we come to realize that nothing ever originates in us. All activity of the one life is seen to be an aspect of the universal consciousness expressing some phase of its activity. This insight reveals, for those who seek after it, the illusory nature of the sense of personal will and autonomous agency.
The illusion of separateness, in natural humanity, has a deluding influence. But the illusion of our individuality is not actually a problem. In fact while we maintain a physical vehicle that illusion will persist. This illusion is incredibly useful. Yet it need not delude us into identifying with it as a fundamental fact of reality. The uncovering of the illusion is one of the most beautiful things that we can experience on Earth. While it may at first seem to be the challenge of a life time (or many life times), and requires more of us than we seem to have, we at last realize as well, that it was the one life in us that undertakes the work. In its flawless strength all things are possible, and come to pass in their appointed time.
Fear and anger are our best indicators of how identified with the illusion of separateness we are. Fear, and anger however are not the product of the illusion of the personal will, but our over identification with it. This may seem a subtle distinction, but its implications are far reaching. The illusion of separateness presents at times, grave situations and heavy burdens of limitation, but it also presents great joy and beauty. It gives us after all, the ability to live to love and to grow! When the life power ripens in us, to over-through its deluding influence, the illusion becomes a divine play. Then, we see every part of life as the divine creative intelligence, enchanting us inspiring us and correcting us. Then it is the ultimate love affair, and a sacred dance of healing and evolution, culminating in the ecstatic embrace of an ever unfolding mystery.
The Red Sun is the source and administrator of justice. From time to time people may fear the cosmic administration of Justice. Karma is often given a negative connotation, when we are better served to think of it as our source of safety and strength. Karma can seem severe. When we have suffered long under heavy hardships the idea that we are responsible gives us little comfort. But maybe it should. If we are the cause of our suffering, we are also capable of transforming it in to joy. Karma is a necessary part of natural law and leads only to the refinement of the soul. The term Deen in Hebrew meaning “judgement” or “law” closely relates to the Red center. Reflecting on the concept of justice, discipline and judgement will lead us to better understand that the function of the law of karma, provides the power to enforce boundaries and correct the errors that lead to suffering for our selves and others.
The ideas of judgement and justice are often confused with punishment. There is no such thing as punishment. Karma is not retribution but instruction and correction. Yet when we are in bondage to the delusion of separation, we mistakenly believe that there are forces in the world that are inimical to us. When we turn toward our karma, and seek out the more complete understanding necessary to help us avoid mistakes, we are willing to undergo the temporary discomfort of correction. But when we defend our errors and repeat them, the goad of the one teacher gets increasingly intense. Its usually the case that the correcting force of karma, which comes only from the love of the Creator, seem to be coming from something or some one in the world. Its other people, governmental institutions, or seeming chance events. This appearance stems also from the illusion of separateness. All things are in and of the One and no real power exists apart from it.
Believing in our own separateness, we at the same time believe others are separate from us – because we suppose they must be like ourselves. Where there are separate wills, there are competing purposes which may at times conflict with our own. This appearance can make the administration of cosmic justice appear to be an affront, and a real danger to our own or other people’s security. Those who seem to have worldly power can and do misuse it for their own benefit. We won’t ignore that fact. But lets remember also that there is no place where the divine creative intelligence is not. It has no limits on its ability to use every portion of humanity, whether pleasant or unpleasant, for the cultivation of the good. And when we take it upon ourselves to be its eyes and hands in the world, it will soon pull down the mask of every adversary taunting us.
There is no power in the world apart from divine law, which is at its root a law of Love. The more we have validated this assertion for ourselves, the less we find any reason for fear, anger or despair. It is said that “fear is the beginning of wisdom”. And, in Psalm 119:120 we read “My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.” The term used here is פחד“pachad” in Hebrew often mistranslated as “fear” or “terror”, is better translated to mean “awe”.
Before we have learned the essential spiritual lessons that we came here to learn, we fear old-age, sickness, loss and death. We do not yet know the everlasting nature of the soul, our perfect invulnerability or that the infinite supply of all needful things is ever at our disposal. But as we grow in the strength of divine consciousness, we come eventually to the direct realization of the splendor and mercy suffusing every detail of creation. There never was or ever could be an adversary but our own ignorance. There never was or will be a single portion of life that could injure us in any real way. All our experiences then are seen as the divine creative intelligence addressing some portion of our uncompleted personality, to grow us. As this changeless truth dawns in our awareness, the magnitude of its beauty and mercy is so great we are struck by awe.
We come then to admire and love the divine laws and seek to learn them, that we might better obey them. Obedience, we find at the higher levels of consciousness, is not a subjugation or sacrifice of our personal freedom, nor is it mere conformity to someone’s interpretation of a moral code or religious dogma. Rather we see, by our own illuminated understanding that it is the only effective means of attaining true and lasting fulfillment. In this sense obedience to cosmic law is the ultimate application of our personal volition.
To do the will of the divine, we first have to know and understand it by our own direct experience. This requires that we have developed our powers of concentration to a high degree, and by our disciplines have made ourselves capable of the ultra-subtle discernments needed to apprehend them. Then having observed and rightly judged the perfection of cosmic law, finding nothing missing in it and finding ourselves to be lacking in our ability to fully harmonize with it, we reach the inevitable conclusion, that “we of our own selves can do nothing”. Meaning we of our own personal will can not fulfill the law. Such a revelation is at first unsettling, but its effect is profound. It builds in us a fiery passion of spiritual aspiration so great that the world trembles under our feet. This passion is the birth of the Divine Will in our personality vehicles and goes to work on each detail of our lives to unmake our miscreations.
We will then no longer try to escape our karma, or follow any old erroneous ambitions that have caused them, but courageously face each obstacle knowing it to conceal the face of the Creator’s Love.
Those adepts on the path of return who have attained the higher stages of spiritual unfoldment have reach the advanced degrees because they have made a singular priority of working to understand and obey the cosmic laws and by its wisdom and power, transform themselves into its servants and administrators on Earth. They see and feel and know, that nothing originates in themselves, but that they are only vehicles of the One Life sojourning along the great path of return. They do not fear the destructive power of the Red Sun, but seek to use it to dissolve the erroneous patterns in their personality and work to bring about the healing and awakening of all humankind. Neither do they sit in judgement of any of us lesser accomplished in our wisdom than them, for they know also we “know not what we do”, and will undoubtedly receive our corrections when we become ripe with the same divine aspiration that burns in themselves.
The masters of wisdom in the spiritual hierarchy will never condemn even the worst of human personalities, and they will never interfere with our personal will. To do so would be to undermine the natural processes involved in evolution. They know we must learn from our mistakes by harvesting the fruits of our past actions and will only intercede in our affairs when it is appropriate and when we ask. Though they command great power and authority, they will never lord over anyone, or seek to control the actions of another. They make a priority instead, of mastering themselves. They also won’t give us specific guidance to solve our personal problems. Instead they will transmit the higher principles at work in the problem and its solution, which are always together. It is up to us, to apply our powers of concentration to bring the higher principles to bare on our problems, learning best we are able how to put the insight coming to us from the higher planes in to concrete action.
When we ask for the Divine Agencies to undo some mis-creation in our lives we are drawing on the destructive power of the Red Sun to dissolve the errors in consciousness that have precipitated our particular problem. Destruction in this sense is intimately linked to creation since in order to bring about the new world, the old and the outmoded must first be put away. For this reason our eastern brethren celebrate Shiva the Great Destroyer. They know in a certain way, that that which can not be sustained in the sacred fellowship of universal love must come to an end. That which is not from Love will not last and has no real life at all. The distortions and mis-appropriations of the divine attributes we are each endowed with, will inevitably come to an end. The ending is not a loss and no sacrifice is required. Rather it is a gift, the only sacrifice is the burden of over identification with illusion. When we accept this mercy we let go of our attachments to the past, our old ideas and mistaken means of security and fulfillment. We allow what lacks strength and stability to pass away, secure in our knowledge that what’s in alignment with universal law will remain.
When we draw from the power of the Red Sun, we become energized, passionately inspired and courageous. We become increasingly decisive in what we want, and how to go about getting it, knowing that even if we make a so called “wrong choice”, our results will teach us to refine our thinking and doing. Either way we win a victory. When its balanced properly with the Blue Sun, our ambitions and desires are tempered with wisdom and loving kindness, and will align our choices with the greater good for all. And though we are supplied with the great fiery energy of the Mars force, we express it in ways that bring harmony and joy. Our judgments are tenderized with understanding and compassion, and though we have great power to respond to instances of injustice, we are able to direct that force in constructive ways for the betterment of all involved.
Lets draw on this force whenever we feel a lack of motivation, need courage or strength, secure in our knowing that it is supplied. And let’s remember as often as we are able, that as we are compelled to act on some inspiration that force comes from the livingness of the creative intelligence. That its not coming from us but through us. As we feel into it, listening and responding to its prompts, we will verify in ever increasing measure that it is the only true Will. And as we become more skillful in its administration in our lives it brings about ever more perfect expressions of truth, beauty and goodness.