Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.

If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.

—Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author 1821-1881

There was a time when ancient wisdom was considered blasphemy.  People were forced into religious systems without their permission, or else.  Many brave individuals were put to death for their beliefs–including Jesus.  So we have been through a tremendous dark age, forgetting our heritage, forgetting our place.

There was a time when pagan works were very threatening to the emerging but violent Western civilizations.  The Egyptian Library at Alexandria founded by Ptolemy I and its smaller library at the Serapheum were destroyed by degree of Thodosius in the third century AD destroying much of the written history of civilization and most of the works of Hermes, known as the God Thoth or Mercury, scribe of heaven.

Perhaps some of these works are still with us, moved, buried, not destroyed. Hopefully this goal is not wishful thinking.  Wouldn’t it fill in the gaps in our knowledge of our selves and our history if perhaps one day we rediscover this lost material?  What a loss we have suffered. What a tremendous find it would be if this ancient wisdom is finally revealed.  Some guardians of secrets are deliberately releasing information and making it public after years of secrecy.

Considered on of the oldest books of all time, The Sefer Yetzirah, or the Book of Creation was probably written by the father of Judaism, Abraham, according to oral history. The tradition called the short book “The letters of Abraham, our father”.  History places the date of Abraham at 1800 BCE, around the time of the writing of the Vedic texts in India.

This Book of Creation is the most mysterious of all the texts of the Kabbalah.   It reads as an obscure manual.  However, when understood properly by an initiate of the mystery schools, it is an instruction manual, consistent with alchemy of Hermes, that is supposed to aid in concentration and to develop telekinetic and telepathic powers. This and other similar works, especially the Vedas and the Emerald Tablet from Hermes Trismegistus, form a body of wisdom that has been penetrated by mystics, religious scholars, magicians, and mystery schools for centuries.

Supposedly this wisdom traveled in the steps of our forefathers–from Adam it passed to Noah, from Noah to Abraham who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out.

It is possible that it was in this way that the Egyptian, Hermes Trismestigus obtained knowledge of it.  But, history is so confusing insofar as there is a Hermes senior and a Hermes junior…so perhaps historians are only guessing.  As I have mentioned before, some believe that it is possible that Hermes and Moses are actually only one person.

Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt as he was raised by the royal family and was initiated into it in Egypt, all of which is well documented. Moses became more proficient in the use of the magical powers of creation during his 40 years of wandering in the desert.  Moses initiated seventy Elders of the tribe into the secrets of this doctrine during the sojourn in the desert and since then, they have transmitted secrets from person to person.

Jewish mystics claim that Moses ascended Mount Sinai three times, remaining in the presence of God forty days each time. During the first forty days the tables of the written law were delivered.  The Ten Commandments.  During the second forty days he received the soul of the law, the Mishnah. During the last forty days God instructed him in the mysteries of the Kabbalah, the soul of the soul of the law.

Moses concealed the secret instructions that God had given him in the first four books of the Pentateuch, and for centuries students of Kabbalah have studied the Old Testament for codes about the secret doctrine of Israel.  And there are numerous scholars still seeking to understand what is hidden there in the codes supposedly given to Moses by God himself.

As if spirituality is a problem to be solved, there is a riddle.  Just as the spiritual nature of man is concealed in his physical body, so the unwritten law is concealed within the written teachings of the bible as a code.  And this key comes from the Sefer Yetzirah, one of the primary books of the Kabbalah.

Kabbalah means the secret or hidden tradition, the unwritten law, and according to an early Rabbi, it was delivered to man in order that through the aid of its principles he might understand the mystery of both the universe and the universe within him.  As above, so below.

According to the Sefer Yetzirah, there is a Tree of Life within us.  And this contains 10 Sephiroth, 32 mystical paths of wisdom, 221 gates, and 72 names of God from permutations of the 22 original Hebrew letters.   The Tetragrammaton, or name of God, is formed by re-arranging the four letters of the Great Name, י ה ו ה, (I H V H), in the form of the Pythagorean Tetractys, then, the there are 72 permutations or versions which represent various powers that this Great Name manifests.  The Tetragrammaton appears 6800 times in the Old Testament.

Understanding this system of thought can become the study of a lifetime.  Here is an example of one paragraph of the first chapter:

“Ten Sephirot of Nothingness
ten and not nine
ten and not eleven
Understand with wisdom
Be wise with understanding
Examine with them
and probe from them
Make each thing stand on its essence
And make the Creator sit on His base”

This excerpt discusses the will of man, the faculty of the highest Sephira, Keter, meaning Crown.  As a mystic reaches the highest levels of consciousness, he may be fooled into thinking that he is reaching for God, himself, but the Sefer Yetsirah says, ten and not eleven, because we cannot ever reach that level of the Infinite, the Ain Sof–it is beyond our grasp.

From this and related books, many secret or arcane traditions have sprung up using the wisdom handed down.  Astrology, gematria and the Tarot are based upon the systems articulated here.  All arcane.  All undeniably old and ridiculed by the practical science of our modern world.  Forgotten knowledge?

If you study either the Kabbalah or the Tarot, you will find the most gracious links to the wisdom presented in the Sefer Yetzirah.  Actually, it is amazing how the Tarot has boiled down much of the information into a visually presentable style.  There is much more to Tarot than you might think at first blush.

The Sefer Yetzirah is perhaps the one of the most dense but detailed and enlightening informational books ever written.  On the other hand, this was written by the guy who came back from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.  Those are similarly dense and important.

The Book of Creation is so short that I am going to give you a reproduction of it here in case you are interested….now, it would take a lifetime of study and hundreds of pages to examine these contents, but it is totally cool to see the real thing.

Then, if this text peaks your interest as it has mine, you can buy a book or 100 books to learn how to interpret this.  If you are interested in reading a great analysis of the theories behind this important book, it has relatively recently (10 years ago) been translated into English by Aryeh Kaplan, naturally called the Sefer Yetzirah.

The Short Version of the Sefer Yetzirah, Book of Creation

Chapter 1

1. With thirty two mystical paths of Wisdom engraved YAH, YHVH of Hosts, God of Israel, the Living God, God Almighty, high and exalted, dwelling in eternity on high, and his name is Holy, and he created his  Universe with three books, with text, with number, and with communication.  They are Ten Sephirot of Nothingness and 22 foundation letters:  three Basics, seven Doubles, and twelve Elementals.

2. Ten Sephiroth like the number of ten fingers, five opposite five.  The singular covenant is directly in the middle, like the circumcision of the tongue in the mouth, and like the circumcision of them membrum.

3. Ten Sephiroth of Nothingness, ten and not nine; ten and not eleven. Understand with wisdom, probe with understanding. Discern with them and probe from them. Make a thing stand on its essence and make the Creator sit on His base, for He alone is the Former and Creator and there is none beside Him. And His measure is ten and they have no end.

The ten ineffable Sephiroth have ten infinitudes, which are as follows:

The infinite beginning and the infinite end;

The infinite good and the infinite evil;

The infinite height and the infinite depth;

The infinite East and the infinite West;

The infinite North and the infinite South;

and over them is the Lord Superlatively One, the faithful King.He rules over all in all from His holy habitation for ages of ages.

6. The appearance of the ten spheres out of Nothing is as a flash of lightning or a sparkling flame, and they are without beginning or end. The Word of God is in them when they go forth and when they return. They run by His order like a whirlwind and prostrate themselves before His throne.

7. The ten Sephiroth have their end linked to their beginning and their beginning linked to their end, co-joined as the flame is wedded to the live coal, for the Lord is Superlatively One and to Him there is no second. Before One what can you count?

8. Concerning the number of the Sephirot out of Nothing, seal up your lips and guard your heart as you consider them, and if your month opens for utterance and your heart turns towards thought, control them, returning to silence. So it is written: “And the living creatures ran and returned.”  And on this wise was the covenant made with us.

9. These are the ten emanations of number out of Nothing:

1st. The spirit of the living Elohim, blessed and more than blessed be the living Elohim of ages. His Voice, His Spirit, and His Word are the Holy Spirit. 2nd. He produced air from the spirit and in the air. He formed and established twenty-two sounds–the letters. Three of them were fundamental, or mothers; seven were double; and twelve were simple; but the spirit is the first one and above all. 3rd. Primordial water He extracted from the air. He formed therein twenty-two letters and established them out of mud and loam, making them like a border, putting them up like a wall, and surrounding them as with a rampart. He poured snow upon them and it became earth, as it reads: “He said to the snow be thou earth.”  4th. Fire. He drew forth from the water. He engraved and established by it the Throne of Glory. He fashioned the Seraphim, the Ophanim, and the Holy Living Creatures, as His ministering angels; and with these three He formed His habitation, as it reads: “Who made His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire.” 5th. He selected three consonants (I, H, V) from the simple ones–a secret belonging to the three mothers, or first elements; א מ ש (A, M, Sh), air, water, fire. He sealed them with His spirit and fashioned them into a Great Name and with this sealed the universe in six directions. He turned towards the above and sealed the height with י ה ו (I, H, V). 6th. He turned towards the below and sealed the depth withה י ו (H, I, V). 7th. He turned forward and sealed the East with ו י ה (V, I, H). 8th. He turned backward and sealed the West with ו ה י (V H, I). 9th. He turned to the right and sealed the South with י ו ה (I, V, H). 10th. He turned to the left and sealed the North with ה ו י (H, V, I).

10. These are the ten ineffable existences out of nothing; From the spirit of the Living God emanated air; from the air, water; from the water, fire; from the fire, the height and the depth, the East and the West, the North and the South.

Chapter Two

1. There are twenty-two basic letters. Three are the first elements (water, air, fire), fundamentals, or mothers; seven are double letters; and twelve are simple letters. The three fundamental letters א מ ש have as their basis the balance. At one end of the scale are the virtues and at the other the vices, placed in equilibrium by the tongue. Of the fundamental letters מ (M) is mute like the water, ש (Sh) hissing like fire, א (A) a reconciling breath between them.

2. The twenty-two basic letters having been designed, appointed, and established by God, He combined, weighed, and exchanged them, and formed by them all beings which are in existence, and all which will be formed in time to come.

3. He established twenty-two basic letters, formed by the voice and impressed upon the air by the breath. He set them to be audibly uttered in five different parts of the human mouth: namely, Gutturals, א ה ח ע; Palatals, ג י כ ק; Linguals, ד ט ל נ ת Dentals, ז ש ס ר ץ; Labials, ב ו מ ף.

4. He fixed the twenty-two basic letters in a ring like a wall with two hundred and thirty-one gates, and turned the sphere forward and backward. Turned forward, the sphere signified good; when reversed, evil. Three letters may serve for an illustration: There is nothing better than ע נ ג (O, N, G), pleasure (joy), and nothing worse than נ ג ע (N, G, O), plague (sorrow).

5. How was it all accomplished? He combined, weighed, and changed: the א (A) with all the other letters in succession, and all the others again with א (A), and all again with ב (B); and so with the whole series of letters. Hence it follows that there are two hundred and thirty-one formations, or gates, through which the powers of the letters go forth; every creature and every language proceeded from One Name and the combination of its letters.

6. He created a reality out of Nothing. He called the nonentity into existence and hewed colossal pillars from intangible air. This has been shown by the example of combining the letter א (A) with all the other letters, and all the other letters with א. By speaking He created every creature and every word by the power of One Name. As an illustration, consider the twenty-two elementary substances from the primitive substance of א. The production of every creature from the twenty-two letters is proof that they are in reality the twenty-two parts of one living body.

Chapter Three

1. The first three elements (Mothers, א מ ש) resemble a balance, in one scale virtue and in the other vice, placed in equilibrium by the tongue.

2. The three Mothers, א מ ש, enclose a great, wonderful, and unknown mystery, and are sealed by six wings, namely, air, water, fire–each divided into an active and a passive power. The Mothers, א מ ש, gave birth to the Fathers, and these gave birth to the generations.

3. God appointed and established three Mothers, א מ ש, combined, weighed, and exchanged them, forming by them three Mothers, in the universe, in the year, and in man.

4. The three Mothers, א מ ש, in the universe are: air, water, and fire. Heaven was created from the elementary fire, ש, the earth, comprising sea and land, from the elementary water, מ, and the atmospheric air from the elementary air, or spirit, א, which establishes the balance among them. Thus were all things produced.

5. The three Mothers, א מ ש, produce in the year heat, coldness, and the temperate state. Heat was created from fire, coldness from water, and the temperate state from air, which gives equilibrium to them.

6. The three Mothers, א מ ש, produce in man breast, abdomen, and head. The head was formed from the fire, ש; the abdomen from the water, מ; and the breast from air, א, which places them in equilibrium.

7. God let the letter א (A) predominate in primordial air, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed the air in the universe, the temperate state in the year, and the breast in man.

8. He let the letter מ (M) predominate in primordial water, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed the earth in the universe, coldness in the year, and the abdomen in man.

9. He let the letter ש (Sh) predominate in primordial fire, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed heaven in the universe, heat in the year, and the head of man.

Chapter Four

1. The seven double letters, ב ג ד כ פ ר ת (B, G, D, K, P, R, Th), have a duplicity of pronunciation, aspirated and not aspirated, namely: פּ ת, רּ ר, פּ פ, כּ כ, דּ ד, גּ.  They serve as a model of softness and hardness, strength and weakness.

2. The seven double letters symbolize wisdom, riches, fertility life, power, peace, and grace.

3. The seven double letters also signify the antitheses to which human life is exposed. The opposite of wisdom is foolishness; of riches, poverty; of fertility, sterility; of life, death; of power, servitude; of peace, war; and of beauty, deformity.

4. The seven double letters point out the six dimensions, height, depth, East and West, North and South, and the Holy Temple in the center, which sustains them all.

5. The double letters are seven and not six, they are seven and not eight; reflect upon this fact, search into it and reveal its hidden mystery and place the Creator on His throne again.

6. The seven double letters having been designed, established, purified, weighed, and exchanged by God, He formed of them seven planets in the universe, seven days in the Year, and seven gateways of the senses in man. From these seven He also produced seven heavens, seven earths, and seven Sabbaths. Therefore He loved seven more than any other number beneath His throne.

7. The seven planets in the universe are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon. The seven days in the Year are the seven days of the week. The seven gateways in man are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth.

8. In the central triangle are the three Mother Letters from which come forth the seven Double Letters–the planets and the heavens. Surrounding the black star are the signs of the zodiac symbolized by the twelve Simple Letters. In the midst of this star is the Invisible Throne of the Most Ancient of the Ancients–the Supreme Creator beyond definition.

1st. He caused the letter. ב (B) to predominate in wisdom, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them the Moon in the universe, the first day in the year, and the right eye in man.   2nd. He caused the letter ג (G) to predominate in riches, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Mars in the universe, the second day in the year, and the right ear in man.  3rd. He caused the letter ד (D) to predominate infertility, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them the Sun in the universe, the third day in the year, and the right nostril in man. 4th. He caused the letterכ (K) to predominate in life, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Venus in the universe, the fourth day in the year, and the left eye in man. 5th. He caused the letter פ (P) to predominate in power, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Mercury in the universe, the fifth day in the year, and the left ear in man. 6th. He caused the letter ר (R) to predominate in peace, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Saturn in the universe, the sixth day in the year, and the left nostril in man. 7th. He caused the letter ת (Th) to predominate in grace, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Jupiter in the universe, the seventh day in the year, and the mouth of man.

9. With the seven double letters He also designed seven earths, seven heavens, seven continents, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days, seven weeks, and in the midst of them His Holy Palace. There is a cycle of seven years and the seventh is the release year, and after seven release years is the Jubilee. For this reason God loves the number seven more than any other thing under the heavens.

10. In this manner God joined the seven double letters together. Two stones build two houses, three stones build six houses, four stones build twenty-four houses, five stones build 120 houses, six stones build 720 houses, and seven stones build 5,040 houses. Make a beginning according to this arrangement and reckon further than the mouth can express or the ear can hear.

Chapter Five

1. The twelve simple letters ה ו ז ח ט י ל נ ס ע צ ק (H, V, Z, Ch, T, I, L, N, S, O, Tz, Q) symbolize the twelve fundamental properties: speech, thought, movement, sight, hearing, work, coition, smell, sleep, anger, taste, and mirth.

2. The simple letters correspond to twelve directions: east height, northeast, east depth; south height, southeast, south depth; west height, southwest, west depth; north height, northwest, north depth. They diverge to all eternity and are the arms of the universe.

3. The simple letters having been designed, established, weighed, and exchanged by God, He produced by them twelve zodiacal signs in the universe, twelve months in the year, and twelve chief organs in ` human body.

4, The signs of the zodiac are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The months of the year are: Nisan, liar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tisri, Marcheshvan, Kislev, Tebet, Sebat, and Adar. The organs of the human body are: two hands, two feet, two kidneys, gall, small intestine, liver, esophagus, stomach, and spleen.

5.  As to the arrangement of properties:

1st. God caused the letter ה (H) to predominate in speech, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Aries in the universe, the month Nisan in the year, and the right foot of the human body. 2nd. He caused the letter ו (V) to predominate in thought, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Taurus in the universe, the month liar in the year, and the right kidney of the human body. 3rd. He caused the letter ז (Z) to predominate in movement, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Gemini in the universe, the month Sivan in the year, and the left foot of the human body. 4th. He caused the letter ח (Ch) to predominate in sight, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Cancer in the universe, the month Tammuz in the year, and the right hand of the human body. 5th. He caused the letter ט (T) to predominate in hearing, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Leo in the universe, the month Ab in the year, and the left kidney of the human body. 6th. He caused the letter י (I) to predominate in work, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Virgo in the universe, the month Elul in the year, and the left hand of the human body. 7th. He caused the letter ל (L) to predominate in coitus, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Libra in the universe, the month Tisri in the year, and the gall of the human body.  8th. He caused the letter נ (N) to predominate in smell, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Scorpio in the universe, the month Marcheshvan in the year, and the small intestine in the human body.  9th. He caused the letter ס (S) to predominate in sleep, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Sagittarius in the universe, the month Kislev in the year, and the stomach in the human body.  10th. He caused the letter ע (O) to predominate in anger, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Capricorn in the universe, the month Tebet in the year, and the liver in the human body.  11th. He caused the letter צ (Tz) to predominate in taste, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Aquarius in the universe, the month Sebat in the year, and the esophagus in the human body.  12th. He caused the letter ק (Q) to predominate in mirth, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Pisces in the universe, the month Adar in the year, and the spleen in the human body.

6. He made them as a conflict, He arranged them as provinces and drew them up like a wall. He armed them and set one against another as in warfare.

Chapter Six

1. There are three Mothers or first elements, א מ ש (A, M, Sh), from which emanated three Fathers –primordial air, water, and fire–from which issued the seven planets with their angels, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

2. To prove this there are three faithful witnesses: the universe, the year, and man. There are the twelve, the balance, and the seven. Above is the Dragon, below is the world, and lastly the heart of man; and in the midst is God who regulates them all.

3. The first elements are air, water, and fire; the fire is above, the water is below, and a breath of air establishes balance between them. The token is: the fire carries the water. The letterמ (M) is mute; ש (Sh) is hissing like fire; there is א (A) among them, a breath of air which reconciles the two.

4. The Dragon is in the universe like a king upon his throne; the celestial sphere is in the year like a king in his empire; and the heart is in the body of men like a king in warfare.

5. God also set the opposites against each other: the good against the evil, and the evil against the good. Good proceeds from good, evil from evil; the good purifies the bad, the bad the good. The good is reserved for the good, and the evil for the wicked.

6. There are three of which each stands by itself: one is in the affirmative or good, one is in the negative or evil, and the third provides equilibrium for them.

7. There are seven divided three against three, and one provides balance in the midst of them. Twelve stand in warfare: three produce love and three hatred; three are life-givers and three are destroyers.

8. The three that cause love are the heart and the two ears; the three that produce hatred are the liver, the gall, and the tongues; the three life-givers are the two nostrils and the spleen; and the three destroyers are the mouth and the two lower openings of the body. Over all these rules God, the faithful king, from His holy habitation in all eternity. God is One above three, three are above seven, seven are above twelve, yet all are linked together.

9. There are twenty-two letters by which the I AM, the Lord of Hosts, Almighty and Eternal, designed and created by the three Sepharim of Numbers, Letters, and Sounds. His universe, and formed by them all creatures and all those things that are yet to come.

10. When the Patriarch Abraham had comprehended the great truths, meditated upon them, and understood them perfectly, the Lord of the Universe appeared to him, called him His friend, kissed him upon the head, and made with him a covenant.

First, the covenant was between the ten fingers of his hands, which is the covenant of the tongue; second, the covenant was between the ten toes of his feet, which is the covenant of circumcision; and God said of him, “Before Abraham bound the spirit of the twenty-two letters upon his tongue and God disclosed to him their secrets.”

God permitted the letters to be immersed in water, He burned them in the fire and imprinted them upon the winds. He distributed them among the seven planets and gave them to the twelve zodiacal signs.

It needs the gentle breezes of Soul-wisdom to brush away the dust of our illusions.

Seek, O Beginner, to blend thy Mind and Soul. Shun ignorance, and likewise shun illusion. Avert thy face from world deceptions: mistrust thy senses; they are false.

But within thy body — the shrine of thy sensations — seek in the Impersonal for the “Eternal Man”; and having sought him out, look inward:   thou art Buddha.

—H.P. Blatavsky, founder of Theosophy, 1831-1891

It seems that there is a mystery that we must penetrate.

There is a secret doctrine that has been hidden from the many for centuries.  It is a synthesis of science, religion and philosophy.  It is not a religion. The work is the basis of sects within religions, secret societies and myth and lore.

Several world philosophies were synthesized by the founder of the Theosophy movement, Helena Blatavsky.  I have read some of Blatavsky’s work and find the reading a bit trying.  Perhaps it is the style of the writing of the time.  Blatavsky insists that we are not the first root race on our planet, but the fifth.  And we are  heading toward a permanent golden age where people will understand that they are part of light, and that light is universal spirit.

But Theosophy is not the only movement that discusses the origin of man and our ultimate destiny.  Most secret societies who have a limited number of initiates and levels of achievement also explore this mystery.  Many, many such groups as the Rosicrucians,  Buddhists, Hindu, Kabbalist Jews, Freemasons, Illuminati, Pythagoreans, Gnostics, Plato and Aristotle, the Order of the Golden Dawn and Hermetic alchemists are based upon the secret doctrine. Even the whole series of books called Harry Potter are all based upon concepts from alchemy, magic and secret doctrine, hidden away for centuries.

Perhaps these earlier root races of Blatavsy explain the origin of many of our myths and legends of the past–from the Gods, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes to the earlier civilizations lost for all time–even Noah, no less Plato’s Atlantis.

This mystery of ages past contains the secret of happiness.  There is a way to lift ourselves out of mundane reality and into super consciousness.  There is a history of people who have achieved this–some are quite famous —Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Mother Mary, Archangel Michael, Sri Ramakrishna, Kwan Yin, Yogananda, Archangel Metatron, Confucius, Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, St. Germain, and others.  They are referred to as Ascended Masters, or those who have acquired sufficient knowledge and to become immortal.

Ascended masters have gained a command over thought, feelings and the spoken word.  They have achieved self knowledge, or have become aware of and in touch with the self conscious divine spark within.   This ability translates to the ability to master love, wisdom and power in manifestation of everything that the world has to offer.  This gift enables us to create joy, love and abundance as a master of the energy that permeates the universe.

Super consciousness allows us to transcend our normal waking thought patterns and be lifted into the limited light of the Kabbalah’s “Ain Soph Aur” or “Limitless Light”.   The light represents universal spirit and we are a part of that light or spirit.  The whole phenomenal universe was created out of this light which is indescribable and for humans beyond comprehension and impossible to penetrate.

This light is everywhere.  Even within us. It is holographic.  Mystic teachings the world around agree on this….everyone is a part of this light and and the root of our being stretches throughout the universe.

The Kabbalah is a series of books that has been hidden from most humans for hundreds or thousands of years.  Yet, here is where the heart of the Secret Doctrine lives.

The origin of Kabbalah is a legitimate subject for controversy.  The system comes from the deepest past.  It seems that it stems from the Kybalion, an arcane document from early Egyptian times. This hidden history has developed into Hermetic Kabbalah and is studied by many non-Jewish people who derive significant benefit from the wisdom accumulated there.  Some have speculated that the Biblical Moses and Hermes Trismegistus are indeed one and the same person.

The Kabbalah is designed for western cultures.  In the Vedic traditions stemming from Hinduism and India, the philosophy is essentially the same, but the characters are different.  The Egyptian Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus is of unknown age but is thought to have been authored in Egypt before the beginning of recorded history.  It seems as if this information has mostly the same components, and much wisdom is in both the East and the West.  All documents come from before recorded history can remember.  No one knows.

The Kabbalah is quite amazing as it is so logical, so simple, and explains such complexity with such precision.

For various reasons, the various books of the Kabbalah have been a closely guarded secret that is now being released to those who are interested by agreement.  It seems that the dawning of the Golden Age is upon us.

The legend goes that the secret doctrines of Kabbalah have existed since the beginning of the world. The writing of the Sefer ha Zohar was attributed by Simeon ben Jochai, a disciple of the famous Rabbi Akiba.  After being sentenced to death in 161 during the reign of Emperor Marc Aurelius Antoninus, he escaped with his son to hide in a cave and pen the manuscript of the Zohar.  During the twelve years that he lived in that cave he created the complicated system of the “Greater Face” and the “Lesser Face” of God.   The books were discovered and published by Moses de Leon in 1305. Some authorities believe that Moses de Leon wrote the Zohar from the oral tradition of unwritten secrets of Jewish mystics.

Initiates of the Kabbalah believe that it was taught by God to a school of angels before the fall of man into the dark period that we are now in, the Kali Yuga, in Hindu terms. These angels evidently communicated the secrets to Adam.  The idea was that Adam would help pass on and preserve this information of our divine source.  By understanding the principles of how we create our reality, the lost people in the darkest times of humanity might retain and reuse the acquired wisdom for the coming Golden Age. The Angel Raziel was dispatched from heaven to instruct Adam in the mysteries of the Kabbalah. Different angels appeared in later times to teach the patriarchs in this difficult science.

With Kabbalah comes the fantastic and illuminating idea of the “Tree of Life” and all of its wisdom. The Tree of Life has 10 Sephirot–which literally means counting.  Each Sephira is like a book that serves as a memory bank.  Each of us has our own tree of life. These Sephira may also correspond to the Asian concept of the human Chakra system.  The tree has 32 paths which correspond to our nervous system. So, it seems that it might indeed be a way for the divine to communicate with us and for us with the divine.

The Hebrews had three levels of theology that were disseminated to the people. The first was the law that was taught to all the people.   The second was the soul of the law, the Mishna, revealed only to the Rabbi.  The third was the soul of the soul of the law, the Kabbalah, concealed and taught to the highest initiates among the Hasidic Jews who appear as strange as any cult to the rest of the world.

Kabbalah combines gematria with a trinity of words, letters and numbers together. The 22 Hebrew letters, 10 Sephirot form one tree of life with 32 paths.   Kaballistic theology uses simple arithmetic—10 emanations of light – that can be counted on one’s fingers, and 4 worlds.   But it becomes ten ciphers and twenty-two letters, a triangle, a square, and a circle.

These elementary principles are the “Word”—the gift that separates man from the animals and plants.   This is the manifestation of the “Word” that the Old Testament indicates created the world as we know it.

The three greatest books are the Sefer Yetzirah, The Book of Creation; the Sefer ha Zohar, The Book of Splendor; and the Apocalypse, The Book of Revelation.  The study of Kabbalah takes a lifetime, and it is likely that you will need a teacher and a study group.

The Tarot system is an amazing and complex tool used for enlightenment and course correction that is based upon Kabbalistic thought and ideas of personal transformation.  Each Tarot card corresponds to the Sephirot, paths, and combinations that come directly from the Tree of Life.  The Tarot is another amazing system worth looking into.

It is well worth investing time and effort into understanding this wisdom that has been handed down from generation to generation and just opening up to everyday man.  We are the lucky, the chosen ones to live through these amazing times as humanity explodes with new creativity and energy.  The Secret Doctrines that are hidden in plain sight are truly a gift from beyond.

We believe that electricity exists, because the electric company keeps sending us bills for it,  but we cannot figure out how it travels inside wires.

—Dave Barry, American humorist

Benjamin Franklin ran out in the electrical storm with a kite and a key in 1746.  Can you imagine his wife running after him saying “Come back in here, you crazy guy, you’ll catch your death out there!”

Franklin was a busy and intensely curious individual.  His natural interests led him to question whether lightning was a natural occurring electrical current.  Franklin is considered to be the first American physicist because he characterized two kinds of electric charge, which he named positive and negative.

Other inventors, Michael Faraday with the electric motor and generator, and Thomas Edison who of course invented the electric light bulb, were also interested in electric phenomena.  Edison invented the first light bulb in 1879 utilizing a carbon filament which burned for only 40 hours.   Just two years later, Edison used a bamboo filament and it the bulb burned for 1400 hours.

Franklin, Faraday and Edison were men who were curious about this amorphous element, light, and they studied light as did Einstein, Planck, Bohr, and Shockley.

The study of light has not just given us more time to stay up at night, but most recent inventions can be traced to this series of critical discoveries.   Fundamentally, light has changed humanity and our living conditions within and without.  The understanding of light, electrons and related physics has taken us from the dark ages into a whole new era.  Maybe even toward the famous Age of Aquarius.

It was only 100 years ago when we first got electric generation for industrial and home use.  Before that, water wheels were used as a primitive power source.  If you wanted electricity in your home in the early days, you had to have your own generator.

Before electricity heated and lit our homes we used kerosene lamps or candles, ice boxes or no refrigeration for our food, rooms (or caves) were warmed by coal or wood…  There was reading by candlelight or stories from the elders, singing and the study of the stars.  Time moved more slowly.  We were closer to nature, to the food we ate, the land.

But still, we understood plenty and invented more.  We had silence.  So, with that pressing silence we gazed at the stars, wondered at the sky, watched animals and horticulture.   We invented music, art, mythology.

We invented agriculture, astronomy, writing, navigation, mathematics, architecture, and science.  We searched deeply for the mysteries of the universe, of God and the origin of life.  The study of human existence led us to analyze morals and invent codes, religions and belief systems.

People watched the stars diligently and calculated the precession of the equinox and understood its mathematical precision.   They invented calendars and clocks to measure infinitesimally small increments of time because they felt it was deeply important.

There were mysteries to be solved and mystery schools for the initiates of deeper wisdom.  The wise ones thought it best to keep their universal secrets to themselves until they feel that mankind was ready for it.

There are still artifacts of ancient civilizations who call out to us that they were here.  Some believe that there were very advanced civilizations before the biblical flood who may have had much of the same or even better technologies than we have today.   It is hard to say, and even harder to prove when there are few traces left.

It is clear that even this antediluvian generation of mankind is older than the 5000 years of recorded history.  The cave paintings widespread in Eurasia date to 20,000 BC.  Agriculture in the fertile crescent dates to before 10,000 BC.  By 8700 BC they were metalworking in Mesopotamia.  And at 7000 BC we have discovered that people used cloth woven from flax.  In 5000 BC beer and bread were a mainstay of the diet in Egypt.  Archaeologists uncovered a stone paved street dating to 4000 BC.

The earliest use of clay bullae in Sumeria date to 3500 BC where we have found envelopes bearing marks corresponding to clay tokens inside. This is thought to be the precursor of the Sumerian writing system.  The earliest cuneiform markings representing words are traced to 3100 BC in Sumer, giving us the first language-based writing system. Sharpened reeds are used to mark clay tablets, which are then dried in ovens. While cumbersome, many survive today.  In Egypt, the earliest instances of hieroglyphic writing appear on slabs of slate in chapels and tombs dating to 3000 BC the same time rice was first cultivated in India.

In 2800 BC the Egyptians introduced the lunar calendar of 365 days.  The earliest known pyramid was built in 2640 BC, a step pyramid.   Ink is in use for writing in both Egypt and China by 2500 BC.  A shipyard in India was in use by 2400 BC.  Currency is used for trading by 2000 BC.

The earliest known samples of Chinese writing date to 1800 BC.  The Babylonians were using an early form of the abacus to count and keep track of numbers in 1800 BC.   By 1500 BC the water clock was used in Egypt, cementing the idea of consistent and linear time into human affairs.  In 1500 BC we find the earliest organization of the Vedas, an orally transmitted collection of sacred literature, chants and hymns in Asia and India.  The Chinese were using primitive books made of wood or bamboo strips bound together with cords by 1800 BC.  The earliest surviving Phoenician inscriptions, an early alphabet, probably the ancestor of the Greek alphabet date to 1800 BC.

1000 BC brings us the first pen used by Chinese calligraphers. In 750 BC. Brahmin, the ancestor of modern Indian writing systems springs up.  The first examples of Greek writing are found around 750 BC.  In 710 BC. the Egyptians invent the sundial as a means to keep time. A library was organized in Ninevah in 660 BC. marking the first systematically organized repository of written works anywhere, born in the Middle East. By 500 BC. the pre-Columbian civilizations are using paper, and have developed simple mathematical notations.

360 B.C.- Aristotle’s school, the Lyceum, becomes a center of philosophy but he ends up executed by the State for a sort of heresy.  Early Hebrew dates to 300 BC.  In 280 BC. the museum in Alexandria was founded by Ptolemy. The Library of Alexandria gradually became the most important center of gathered knowledge until the Renaissance.  The Julian calendar was perfected in 50 BC by lengthening the Egyptian solar calendar of 365 days to 365 1/2.

In 105 AD the Chinese developed a process for making paper which reaches Central Asia by 751 and Baghdad in 793. Paper is not introduced to Europe for another 1000 years. Parchment is developed in Asia Minor in 160 as a response to an embargo on exported papyrus from Egypt. The Mayans invent a system of hieroglyphics in 300.  The earliest “illustrated” Chinese scroll, the forerunner to the narrative type, are used to depict moral lessons in 350.  The Chinese develop block book printing by 500, carving the proofs for pages in wood.  The astrolab is developed in 550, reaching Europe from the Islamic world, and proves among the most versatile and important instruments. By 700 wood engraving is widespread in China.  Musical notation was first developed in Europe about 750.  830 sees the foundation of the Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, an academy which contains a library with a large collection of materials on a wide range of subjects. In China, the first printed book came out in 868, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, and is produced using carved blocks of wood. Talmudic academies in Babylon and Palestine complete an authentic text of the Old Testament that synthesizes oral tradition.

In the next millenium, 1000, the French introduce a type of abacus, in which numbers are represented by stones bearing Arabic numerals.  By 1050, Europe introduces the system of Arabic numerals, which greatly facilitate mathematics and started the first University at Bologna, the oldest in Europe. The magnetic compass is in use in China and the Mediterranean by 1190.  The Inca are using the quipu, an elaborate accounting apparatus by 1200.  THe quipu consists of a long rope that carries a number of knotted cords representing units, tens, and hundreds.  Cartography begins with the Portolan chart in 1296 which plots coastlines in a way that will allow navigational distances to be measured by means of rhumb lines. The first recorded patent for an industrial invention is granted in 1421. Guttenberg produces the first printed bibles in 1455. The Mercator projection allows cartographers to plot navigational bearings as straight lines in 1569. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1578 maintaining the coincidence of calendar and seasons

1600 -Galileo performed fundamental observations, experiments, and mathematical analyses in astronomy and physics; discovered mountains and craters on the moon, the phases of Venus, and the four largest satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede 1608- A Dutch lens grinder Lippershey applies for a patent on the telescope. 1614- Scotland publishes the first table of logarithms, based on the principle that addition and subtraction are easier to compute than division and multiplication. 1627- Kepler establishes a schema of planetary positions later used for the tables calculating planetary orbits. 1675- The Greenwich Observatory is founded for navigational purposes to establish longitude by star positions. It is the first scientific institution established in England. 1687- Newton developed theories of gravitation and mechanics, and invented differential calculus

1710- John Locke publishes a Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. 1765-  Semaphore towers, set ten miles apart, carry messages from Lille to Paris in two minutes using telescopes and flagbars. 1783–Flight in a hot air balloon. 1795- France adopts the metric system. 1798- Noah Webster undertakes the compilation of a book to be called A Dictionary of the American Language. It appears in 1828 in its final form as An American Dictionary of the English Language.

1804- France devises an automatic loom in which the woven pattern is controlled by punched cards. The locomotive becomes a phenomena creating cities out of nowhere. 1814- The Times of London is the first newspaper to begin printing newspapers on a steam powered flatbed press, which permits production of 5,000 copies an hour. 1820- The first commercial calculator, the arithmometer, is produced in France. 1822- Charles Babbage builds his difference engine, a computing machine based on finite differences. 1825- Joseph Henry performed extensive fundamental studies of electromagnetic phenomena and devised the first practical electric motor1826- Niepce produces the first permanent photograph from nature and Morey invents the internal combustion engine. In 1834 we got the early refrigerators. In 1837 Morse gave us the telegraph. 1830- English mathematician invents the first slide rule.  In 1849 we get the telephone.  And in 1873 Levi Strauss give us jeans.

Now about here comes electric generation and light in 1880.  After this, look at the explosion into the industrial age.  It is as if time itself has sped up.  We make more progress now than ever.  People’s lives are forever changed, hopefully for the better.  By 1888, Max Planck had formulated quantum theory and explained wavelength distribution of black body radiation.  In 1889 Daimler and Benz invented the automobile with a 1.5 horsepower gasoline powered internal combustion engine.

The 20th century was filled with drama, violence, change and progress. Just about the beginning of the century was when Albert Einstein explained Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect, then later he contributed to theory of atomic spectra and formulated theories of special and general relativity.  In 1903 the Wright Brothers took the first manned powered heavier than air flight.  Niels Bohr was given a Nobel prize for his contributions to understanding the nature of atoms, their nuclei and their physical and chemical structure in 1922.  His concept of complementarity shows how deeply the changes in the field of physics have fundamentally affected our scientific outlook.  The consequences of this change of attitude reach far beyond the scope of atomic physics and touch the whole spectrum of human knowledge. In 1928, we get antibiotics. In the 1930s were new materials like nylon and rayon. By 1940 William Shockley co-discovered the transistor.  From here we get the semiconductor and it produces radio, television, computers, high speed networking and instrumentation. 1953 starts the human biology explosion affecting medicine and pharmaceuticals when Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA forever changing cell biology.  And the laser comes along in 1960, another derivative of the use of light.  Packet switching fuels the growth of communications in 1971 with the amazing Arpanet which later then becomes the commercial Internet by 1990.

And now we have all this stuff.  Miniature devices.  Cellular.  Microwave.  Xray.  Spectrometry.  Television captivates some. Social networks replace personal relationships.

Time speeds up.  We are so busy with our lives.  We can’t keep track of all of the inventions.  And we have practically destroyed our earth with pollution, greed and disregard for nature.  The world is still at war and poverty and suffering is all around us.  We are in some ways farther away from our natural roots than ever.  Are we advanced, or more primitive?  It is hard to say.

Now it is all rock and roll.   And it was all because of light.

People are like stained-glass windows. 
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, 
but when the darkness sets in, 
their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
…

—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. 1926-2004

Life is a precious gift.

Not a minute of our time can be wasted with useless activities or negative habits.  When we are lost in our youth, time seems endless and many squander time away in endless circles of unproductive action.   Then, one day, we are older…time seems more precious.  The days do not seem so endless anymore.  Where did the time go?

Life is complicated.

People come and go, stages of life are thrust in front of us, new challenges await us to be digested and conquered. Every situation and person we meet teaches us more about life and our self.

Some people play at life as if they are a victim of their emotions.  These emotions are below the surface, boiling and directing the unconscious actions of the individual.  Not thinking, these individuals hurt with their words, take without giving, act as if they are more important than everyone else and are selfish, needy and greedy.  They are not aware that anyone else exists. Or they live in constant pain and suffering which does not allow them the ability to look outside of themselves.

With a mindful state of consciousness we can snap the chains of the past that keep us imprisoned.  We can begin to see that we are in the state of wakeful dreaming.  That we have created our own prison.  That we are fighting invisible demons.

And from mindfulness we can move to a state of right actions, beginning to see outside of ourself to come to the aid of others.   The path of truth requires that you keep your word.  Impeccability.  Right action. Kindness to others. No lying or stealing or cheating.  Become a dream maker working on behalf of other people, never a dream breaker.

You can take the inner path.  This is the path of true riches and gold.

You must want to transform.  You must get acquainted with your true self.  We are living in a conscious universe where every element is aware of itself. Discover and live out of your true will.

We can become an Ippisimus; a person most in touch with his true self, free from limitations and living in perfect balance with the manifest universe.  Integrate your consciousness–unconscious, subconscious, conscious and superconscious minds into one.  The Buddha claimed that he had total recall of his many lives when he reached the state of enlightenment by integrating his consciousness.  By bringing out the divine spark  of light in us we can unite it with our conscious self for a deeper and richer human experience.

The levels of the human mind and consciousness are not distinct, separate and isolated….the superconscious mind is a product of the unification of the unconscious and conscious mind of the person.  The route is directly through the unconscious because that is the largest element and where the most energy remains for our use, dormant.  Transformation comes when everyday consciousness becomes aware of what lies below and is able to utilize the energy  and give it form, direction and meaning.

How to we get to the path of the transformed personality.  We have to look at the mask that we have created with our ego.  We have to see that that mask is not who we are.  We have to re-define our self image and values.  We have to define our SELF for ourself.   Who am I?   One way to do this is to write a personal constitution.  And then, become the person you aspire to be.

It is extremely common for people to wonder about the meaning of life when they reach middle age.  When people are young they are primarily concerned with finding victory over the basics of life–school, achieving success, finding a partner.  But once a level of success has been reached, then, sometimes we wonder about the value of it.  Hopefully, taking stock–who am I underneath this image, these possessions?  Today, many younger people are already on the path and asking these questions.  They want a sense of meaning and an inner essence.  And more and more people find that the way to answer these questions is to look inside, deep within our self.

The light of the unconscious mind beckons us to go within for the answers under the cover of the conscious mind.  By finding this center, we can slowly gain access to and release the light by following a process of self discovery and self awareness.

Every breath we take is filled with life, energy.  By understanding that every breath is a precious gift, we can begin to appreciate what this life is all about.  As I said earlier, there is not a minute to waste.

“Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.”

George Gurdjieff  1877-1949

We work hard to get an education, to make a living and take care of our family.  We want to realize our full potential.  But, who has time?  Just as we take steps to move up the pyramid, things always seem to get complicated and slow us down or get us off track.

Abraham Maslow, himself, stated that “If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.”  This is because people at heart want to achieve and grow toward self-actualization.  When we stop growing, we get unhappy and unhealthy.

We strive to be the best person we can possibly be.  Most people really try hard to succeed in life, often exhausting themselves in the process.  To go beyond and above the basics to the top of Maslow’s pyramid is our goal.  Some people find success at life so difficult to achieve that they do not even try to grow beyond the needs of daily life.  Because to integrate the lessons of life that push us higher takes a great deal of courage and impeccability in with our actions and our words.

For most of us, every hour of our life is consumed to satisfying the basics and with the material issues.   Nevertheless, we have to run very fast to stay even in this non-forgiving economy.   Forging onward toward achieving the top of Maslow’s pyramid is a challenge, to say the least. Life continually provides us with situations to learn, to grow emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.  Life knocks us on the side of the head and causes us to step back or rest.

Self-actualization means a complete understanding of who you are, a sense of completeness.  It means that we no matter what hand life deals, we have to take the time for self-examination and reflection.  When we take the time to do this evaluation, self-actualization is the result. Self-actualization is easily within reach.  We just need to take the time to let in a little light.

Life gives us choices each day but we only have a certain amount of time to drive toward growth.  The idea is to confront, examine and dissolve the negative characteristics that detract from our natural buoyancy.  By looking inside our mind we can see both good and evil impulses and thought patterns. We can hear the harsh critic of our ego self.  But our true self and being is not that ego self, not that noisy, scared, critical voice.  It is not necessarily the complex and dramatic weave of interrelationships and patterns that present themselves to the mind’s eye.  Each of these choices and life situations gives us the chance to free ourselves from that noisy voice to the calm observer who represents the grace, calm and dignity of our true self.

True magic happens when the individual gains that confidence and grace from self-actualization.  The magic is the magic and grace from the self.  By getting better acquainted with your true self, the one who has been there all along through all the ups and downs of life you can discover the answer to the most baffling puzzle in the universe:  who we are.  After discovering this hidden and wonderful part of yourself life becomes much better because you will understand the mysteries of life itself.

This is what mystics and alchemists talk about when they talk doing the “Great Work”.   Mastery over the great work gives you a command of your universe, which is yourself.

There is a great difference between mastery and ambition or achievement for one’s personal ego esteem needs or material gains.  While everyone has material needs, and having sufficient means or ability to take the personal time to grow is terrific, often material gain goes unchecked and some people will experience such significant abundance that it turns to greed or self indulgence.  The trouble with this type of success is that you can never become satisfied.  You can never reach a final goal.   Financial accumulation becomes another addiction with an unfillable void.  You keep rolling the stone of Sisyphus up the mountain and as soon as you get there it rolls down and you have to roll it up again.

True potential and self-actualization is the recognition that one has the ability to achieve anything we want and that the joy of this co-creatorship is the secret to Life Itself.  We have the innate ability to know everything inherently and to do anything we want in life yielding fruitfulness, abundance, peace and prosperity and bringing forth anything we need.  This is the grace of self actualization.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

—Albert Schweitzer, Theologian, musician, philosopher and physician, 1875-1965

Some people are born to greatness.  Most of us have to work at it.  If you suspect that you fall into the latter category, as most of us do, you can hit the mark faster if you have some idea of what success is and how you can get there.

If you assume that an ideal strategy for planning a life rich in achievement is to merely find an achiever and then do everything just the same, you would be right.

Almost.  The problem is that success is defined individually.  It doesn’t come in “one size fits all.”  Many people think that they want the kind of success that they perceive others to have, without really understanding what it is or what it took to get it.

As much as it seems an interesting prospect, we can’t slip out of our own life and into the life of another, no matter how attractive or successful it might seem.  And there are still more practical impediments to morphing yourself into an achiever you admire.  In a fast paced world, most people at the top are behind closed doors or hidden behind a wall of agents, and intermediaries.  Not only is it nearly impossible to gain access to a celebrity or a mover and shaker, but it is likely that the person will not have the time to teach you all that he or she has learned in a lifetime, even if it could be articulated.

Even without direct access and endless time freely given, achievers have a lot to teach us.  One way to learn the secrets of success is to study achievers from the past. We can learn from them because these people hold still within the pages of books.

Historical perspective has validated the timelessness of their insights and brilliant outcome of their ideas and work.  And commentaries on their lives can add depth and insight to enrich our understanding of their essential nature.

As Edison learned from the pages of his books, and as I have myself learned from Edison and others like him, the real keys to success are passion and commitment.  This is where we start.

To be successful, perhaps we should first understand what success really is and how to recognize it when you have it in your grip.  So many people are changing jobs or even changing careers incessantly, I have started to call it “looking for utopia”.  When the key to success is so simple and right in front of our eyes.  Success is defined as simply as completing something to your satisfaction.  No more.  No less.   Just doing your best.

If you deliberately set a goal, achieve it, and are happy with the outcome, you are successful and should congratulate yourself.  Of course, there are various scales for successes, both large and small. Certainly, while finally getting a cluttered desk in order is a success, but let’s face it, it’s a small one.  Landing on Mars or curing cancer, however, would be bigger and some might argue, more worthy.  But that’s the point.  You decide.

If you are an achiever, you would set your sights fairly high.   But you still, simply, do your best.  I have been studying with great interest what the formula for so much professional and financial success that comes from the engineers and business people alike who live and work in Silicon Valley.  What I discovered is that the most stunning successes begins with passion.

Passion is an intense desire, wanting something so badly that you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.  It is the most positive of all obsessions … especially when it’s shared.  It literally creates the corporate culture and bonds like-minded people together.  Although passion is enormously helpful for getting started, it’s not entirely the key to success.  Nor is it enough to get you there.

Couple passion with commitment, and now you’ve got lift-off.  As in Edison’s lab, passion is the small spark that ignites a team to action, but commitment is the fuel that keeps the flames alive.

“I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence.

Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists - proves that there are infinite laws behind it.

There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.”

—Thomas Alva Edison, 1847-1931

Edison’s is a man who changed everything for everyone through his fascination with light.

Furthermore, His life will give you another simple insight into a “thoughtful” life, where stunning results stem from contemplation and reliance on intuition and instinct.  He was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio.  If Thomas Edison were alive today, I like to think that he would be living next door to me because he would fit right in with the inventors and entrepreneurs who form the nucleus of Silicon Valley society.

As you well know, he was a high tech inventor in high gear. In addition to my personal favorite invention of his, the incandescent light bulb, his list of accomplishments includes the stock-ticker system and printer, mimeograph, phonograph, a quadruplex telegraph allowing four messages transmitted simultaneously on one wire, and alkaline storage batteries.   A number of his inventions laid important groundwork for the microphone, telephone, X-ray machine, movie camera and projector, and electric wheel chair.

He was awarded 1,093 U.S. patents.  Can you believe how prolific he was?

What he achieved was no more amazing than how he did it.  As a child, Edison was only occasionally schooled, but his family had a library where young Thomas explored the world within the pages of books, becoming familiar with the works of scientists, philosophers, novelists, and playwrights, an eclectic assortment of ideas after which he patterned his thinking.  He found the library and his own explorations of the world to be more satisfying than the constrictions of formal education.

Later when Edison worked in his own laboratory, he still relied upon his own explorations and determinations about what was possible and impossible.  But, he didn’t do it alone.  He would eventually employ over 60 people, all of whom shared his belief that the only limitations on possibilities in technology were the limitations of their own imaginations.

Edison created what we today call a “corporate culture” based on supportive enthusiasm, where his staff was free to interact with him and each other, and freewheel with their thoughts.

When inventing, he would sit at his drawing board and sketch a component for his staff to consider.  While his staff was studying the sketch, he would wander away, deep in thought.  He would read for a while and then return to his lab, where he would delightedly sort through component parts, arranging and rearranging them in seemingly mindless configurations.  Then he would nap, where many people close to him contend that he got clarity.

Edison was living proof that much more information is available when the mind is relaxed and clear.  He would return to the lab after lunch, and review the original sketch, make any necessary modifications, and then work with his team until the project was completed, no matter how long it took, no matter how difficult the solutions were.

From the first rough sketch to successful completion, Edison was single minded and laser focused.  He loved his work passionately.  In fact, he sometimes actually lived in his lab.

He was famous for his ability to concentrate and block distractions, much to the annoyance of his neglected friends and family.  He was totally committed. And completely successful.  He was intelligent, interested in the way things work and his heightened awareness was tuned into super-consciousness.

I want to point out ten of Edison’s traits that are common to almost all successful people:

1.  He read a great deal.  The books he selected represented a variety of topics.  His base of knowledge was broad.  The point is that you never know where the source of your ideas is going to originate or where the information will lead you.

2.  He was analytical.  Although he was reliant on instinct and intuition, he was logical thinker who integrated every mental tool available into this work.

3.  He had great passion for his work.  When you’re doing what you are meant to do, when your thinking is clear and when you have slipped past the lions at the gates of consciousness, Paradox and Confusion, who stand sentinel at the Gateway of Truth, then you function with the highest joy and in the highest integrity.

4.  He worked with a group of like-minded people who shared his passion. He trusted them and valued their input.  He shared his energy with a team.  Together they made things happen.

5.  He knew how to think and made time in his day to do it.  Edison acknowledged the value of sending and receiving clear thought, and tuning in to clear feeling.  The only way to do that is to create quiet and be ready.

6.  He saw himself as a problem-solver.  He knew how to combine and recombine information until something made sense.  How did he know when it was right?  He knew.

7.  He understood the roles of rest and relaxation in the process of seeking answers and solutions.  Not only is a rested, relaxed mind more clear, but the very act of relaxation puts you into a state to send and
receive more easily.  Naps are a wonderful idea.  But if you’re unlike Edison, and you can’t sneak a little nap, then try rising from sleep a little more slowly and give yourself time for gentle contemplation. Or meditate.

8.  He was focused.  He knew how to block distractions.  He didn’t cloud his “receiver” with a lot of static.  He knew how to create and use quiet.

9.  He was disciplined.  Edison was a man with a plan and a man on a mission.  Clearly and surely.

10.  He was tenacious.  He worked until a project was complete.  Failure was not in his vocabulary.  I would be willing to bet you that he understood that failure is the balance to success, and that every failure merely eliminates one more thing that doesn’t work on his way to a success.

If the list seems daunting, don’t worry. While we all aren’t just like Thomas Edison, he sure can teach us a lot about how the mind works.

Perhaps, for us, it will all fall into place as we learn to use our mind’s full capacity, to eliminate self doubt and trust our self as much as Thomas Edison did.

“We may divide thinkers into those who think for themselves and those who think through others. The latter are the rule and the former the exception.  The first are original thinkers in the double sense, and egoists in the noble meaning of the word.

It is from them only that the world learns wisdom.

For only the light that we have kindled in ourselves can illuminate others.”

—Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher 1788-1860

Awareness is what a baby experiences when it takes a first breath.  Suddenly this child is rudely awakened from its state in the womb cognizant of a significant change in mental states and body processes.  Suddenly this child is self-aware.

Perception.  What is it?  Through certain faculties of observation such as sight, smell, touch and other physical sensations, we develop a capacity for comprehension and private thoughts which determine the differences between mind and matter.  We develop an image of our self and create that view as an illusion of a separate identity.  We form subjective ideas about this experience and record them.

We are taught by others, parents and caretakers, teachers, clergy about how the world is to be perceived.  We are given “the word” or language to relate our views.  We learn by doing.  Experimenting.  We are rewarded for choosing proper thinking and punished…for not.

We listen. We learn that  people are not always truthful with you, with themselves. Soon we are forming a framework that is unique to our personality and that we will function with for the better part of our life.  It can be a positive disposition or a negative one, depending on our nature and our early nurturing.

We see incredible diversity in life, in nature, in people.    We can get hurt by those who are supposed to love us or those who might be our friends in school.  The whole scene is amazing.  It can be overwhelming.  The beginnings of suffering starts early.  We begin the waking dream trying to understand what is going on around us.

George Gurdjieff (1877-1949) was a Greek-Armenian philospher who claimed that people do not perceive reality but live in a state of “waking sleep” but that it is possible for a man to wake up and experience life more fully.

The Sanskrit word for this waking sleep is Maya, meaning illusion.  Maya is the word used to describe our perception of the material world in which we live.

Fundamentally, these philosophies are pointing at the same thing:  that our mental abilities create nonphysical phenomena as a powerful view of reality.

Soon, we are old enough to choose whether to believe or not what someone says to you.  When you can begin to see the truth and to see people for what they really are, you can choose not to take anything personally.   You can short circuit the addiction to suffering that is set up and reinforced every day in life.

Of course, there a definite purpose to suffering. Suffering awakens consciousness.  It is normal for us to suffer, to live in fear and to create and recreate emotional drama.  Throughout the world we see this suffering en masse–wars, violence, abuse, injustice, anger, addictions and revenge.  And these situations create personal crisis.  These crises are designed for our personal evolution and to free us from past actions or erroneous thinking.

The purpose of this life is to pursue happiness and joy.  This is possible. It requires vigilance and attention to your immutable nucleus in your person.  But getting there requires us to surface and dissolve the negative emotions that get in the way of pure joy.

Our job is to manage our emotions, not lose control of them.  Gain control of fear.   These negative emotions represent a defilement of your own consciousness and lead to unnecessary anxiety.  Simply stop feeding these emotions.  Stop thinking about the past. Negativity will die of starvation when you learn to substitute a positive outlook and outcome as a considered expectation.  By raising your awareness of how and what you are thinking,  you can surface and dissolve those old, nasty belief systems that are planted like weeds in your garden.

We need to let go of the judge inside.  That judge is holding you back by incessant negative criticism–”I am not good enough, I am not smart enough, I can’t do it”….etc…  By becoming aware of how this inner critic works and how it affects your emotions you can conquer this judge and eliminate the inferior impulses and preoccupations that sap energy and increase alienation.

Silence will help.  Turn off the cell phone. Turn off the TV.  Turn off the radio.  Listen.  You might even find that the beliefs that are controlling the mind are the cause of needless suffering because you might realize that they are coming from your mind and are not real.  You can say STOP any time you want.  Catch the dream that you are living in the act.

Do your best.  Makes us happy.  Because you love it.  You can become an artist and paint a masterpiece of your life by the choices that you make.  You can choose to be aware.  Increased awareness can allow an awakening of dormant faculties that are capable of expanding the mind and overall quality of life.

You can choose to transform any negative energy into positive.  You can become free from the negative emotion that entraps the mind.  You must become aware of the fog that comes over us when we are entrapped by this emotion.   It can debilitate and harm.

Learn from mistakes. Practice.  There are many strong and long held beliefs that live in our mind that can be difficult to overcome. These beliefs took a long time to take root, and they may take time and patience to displace.  But it is possible.  And it is worth the effort.

Working at understanding the workings of the mind takes belief in yourself.  Practice at mindfulness improves awareness.  If you are not aware, you cannot change.

Grow your awareness by letting go of the past.  Just forgive any hurt, let go of anger, and live in the present moment, right here and now. By letting go of the past, you can fully experience the here and now–notice more, enjoy more, love more.  You can awaken from the dream and see what is real.

“We are what we think

All that we are arises with our thoughts

With our thoughts we make the world.”

—Gautama Siddhartha, founder of Buddhism, 563-483 BCE

The quality and quantity of work you produce is dependent on your ability to concentrate.  Functioning at peak performance requires self nurturing so that you can excel at highly creative activities and encourage breakthrough thinking.

There are different types of concentration:

• Focused: The ability to respond to visual, auditory or tactile stimuli.
• Sustained: The ability to maintain a consistent response in continuous and repetitive activity.
• Selective: The capacity to maintain focus with distracting or competing activity.
• Alternating: Mental flexibility that allows a shift of focus to move between tasks.
• Divided: The ability to respond simultaneously to multiple tasks.

Thought is formed by consciousness.  Thoughts just arise; they seem to form and carry on waves through the zero point field.  Some people can receive ideas and images from others.  It is not even clear if we know what we originate or what we pick up.  This does seem to explain how inventions and ideas travel.  We are like a biological radio receiver and transmitter.

Thought is the product of mental activity. The capacity to reason or imagine forms our intellect. The intellect manifests itself with intellectual capacity, creativity or artistic ability, leadership and academic excellence. The things that we think about form our personal depth.  To pursue the intellect is to neglect to form inferior mental images that drag us down.  For that which one thinks is a body of thought.

Using the intellect enables us to use our intelligence quotient to conceive of, to imagine, to understand situations or solve problems. When we are inspired by the fire of creativity we can expect new ideas or bring things into being by mental imagination - like an invention.

It starts with intention.  With purity of purpose.  The belief or opinion that we can get it done.  Then, through a type of mental visualization. mental images or visual pictures ideas spring forth.  With reason, concentration and intelligence we create our world.

Generally, one cannot get outside of our own mental box or intellectual framework.  We have a certain temperament, attitude and aptitude.  A negative outlook cannot help when one is attempting to learn new frameworks, create scientific hypothesis or solve world problems.

The very act or process of thinking or mental activity can weary us when the reasoning is weak or the thinking becomes circular, as in worry.  Worry is a negative and repetitive system of thought that serves no purpose. It produces anxiety and a host of problems.  Worry is the opposite of concentration. It produces nothing productive.

By keeping our thought processes active and clean of degeneration from the shadow or lower self (anger, jealousy, greed and selfish desires) the mind is better able to concentrate on higher principals and gain clarity.  Cleaning the mind from darkness enables us to move to a higher level.  I believe that we can increase our intelligence and creativity this way.

Highly intelligent individuals learn more quickly, deeply, and broadly than their peers. They tend to demonstrate high reasoning ability, memory, creativity, curiosity, a large vocabulary, and remember details. They often can master concepts quickly.  Some people exhibit intelligence in one area but can be lagging in others.  The ability is frequently not evenly distributed throughout all intellectual sphere.

Extremely high intelligence may become noticeable in individuals at different points of development. While early development often comes with the gifted, it is not a determinant. It is well-documented that Albert Einstein did not talk until he was more than 2 years old.  Some gifted individuals experience heightened sensory awareness and may seem overly sensitive to sight, sound, smell and touch. They may be unable to concentrate because of the distraction of the sound of a clock or another small disturbance. Hypersensitivity to external stimuli can cause some to avoid crowded environments.

Other highly intelligent people, however, are able to tune out any unwanted distractions as they focus on a task or on their own thoughts, and seem to seek and thrive on being in the midst of lots of activity and stimulation.

Meditation is an exercise designed to prevent your mind from thinking in a natural way by relaxing the body and senses. Meditation and contemplation place you deep in pure perception and awareness.  You can separate your “self” or the thinker from the thoughts going by.  Just noticing.  Just not thinking so much.

All this goes to just say that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and that life has so much to offer to those who can participate in it fully.  Let a little more light in.  Here are some suggestions:

10 Ways to Focus Your Mind

1. Get adequate sleep
2. Eat healthy food and exercise regularly
3. Eliminate distractions
4. Clear your mind of everything
5. Focus on your goal
6. Free your mind of negative or distorted viewpoints
7. Look at problems in different ways
8. Think about the opposite of your problem
9. Look for analogies
10. Take Breaks

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

—John Quincy Adams

Get out there and do what makes your heart sing.  Anything that interests you and provides a service to mankind will fit the bill.  It is a lifetime calling and best to choose something that fits your disposition.

• Some people feel a spiritual calling and help to establish the character and morality of society. They exemplify goodness and great purity of spirit and want to assist others in becoming more.
• Others become leaders–of societies, countries or businesses.  These individuals tend to exhibit qualities of courage, fearlessness and ingenuity as they face changing conditions and lead people through to their better welfare and prosperity.
• Providers and servers supply all of the goods and services from food to entertainment that society needs to support commerce and the social and economic welfare of the people.

All of these functions are needed to have our incredible human family.  In every area there is a chance to become dedicated by performing your work carefully and selflessly.  And in each area you can have a lifetime of success and adventure by continually seeking improvement in your methods and effectiveness.

Working for change or improvement is the criteria for making positive change, whether you are an athlete like Michael Phelps, who broke the world record in swimming and taking the most Olympic medals ever–or someone creative like J.K. Rowling, who managed to write the most amazing new classic book series while working full time and a single parent.  There is room for inspired service in every field of endeavor.

It takes dedication, confidence and perseverance.   Very few pessimists become leaders, it takes consistency and optimism.  You have to believe that success is possible and lead people into a collective vision of how that is possible and help them to believe in their own ability to “make a difference.”  Keeping a genuine and good sense of humor will help because people work better when they’re happy.

By being a positive example, the hardness of ego is overcome and replaced with the new softness from the encounter from inspiring and motivating other people.  No matter what you are doing, this quality is endearing and your influence is real and palpable. No words are necessary, because you lead by example.  Knowledge of the task at hand or situation is honest and supportive. Leading by example in accordance with the core values of  the group will build the trust and confidence of the people with whom you work.

Leaders take a challenge well.  The scope of the task is not a deterrent, because leaders are not daunted.  Leaders break down problems into component parts and work on the pieces until the job is done. Being accountable for their own actions and holding others accountable is the role that a leader plays.

Exhibiting a clear sense of purpose with goals, focus, enthusiasm, and commitment is key to success.  The leader has to show drive and initiative to influence because people always look at the results-orientation that comes from directing every action towards the agreed upon result, prioritizing activities to spend time on the activities that produce the best result.

Leaders will involve the people who are stakeholders, seeking their views, listening actively to what they have to say and representing these views honestly.  A leader cooperates with everyone.  Keeping people informed is an important function of leadership because no one likes to be left out.

Cooperation is an ability to work well with others while exhibiting good interpersonal skills. It is good to develop clarity on what is expected in advance, correct small variations before they turn into tragedies, and provide feedback on progress along the way.  Every person is unique and showing empathy and tolerance and dealing with their problems and issues fairly.  Thanking, acknowledging and recognizing people for their contributions and performance makes a good leader into a great leader.

Charisma is common in a leader. How do they develop charisma? What is it?  Why do some have it and others fall flat?  Self knowledge and self confidence are key to leadership. The ability to take responsibility and “lead” one’s own self precedes the ability to lead others. The best leader does not take the circumstances too seriously and keeps a sense of humor.  This quality is extremely  attractive.   This distinct ability is converted into leverage to motivate.   Dedication to a role or service builds trust that this preoccupation consumes much of leaders’ life - the level of commitment moves from merely service to a cause.  This stickiness of leadership translates into the ability to encourage and nurture those that respond to the cause.  Leaders delegate in such a way as people will grow.

Adaptability is critical as nothing stays the same.  Weighing alternatives, considering both short and long-term effects and then being resolute in decisions.  This resolute-ness builds trust.  People want to be with someone who has integrity, ethics and responsibility.

Lastly, listening and understanding what others say, rather than listening to how they say things gives this leader the empathy to attract a large and motivated group.