The Descent
A funny thing happened to me on the way to salvation. I rejected Christianity and got involved with all sorts of different religions and wound up practicing occult meditation at the metaphysics bookstore in Honolulu. The main tool in the practice was guided-imagery meditation, wherein the leaders would give the group images to imagine and mentally interact with.
First, we would be led to relax thoroughly to a sleepy, drowsy state -- but still fully awake in our consciousness -- and then descend a number of steps down an imagined stairwell, ten or twelve steps down to an imagined workshop in our subconscious. We were acutely AWARE of the steps and of the descent down to the workshop.
During my last occult meditation, I was instructed to build a door in the wall of my workshop and to allow an ascended master to come in to teach me secret mystical things one-on-one. I constructed the door by becoming aware of such a thing being there and, with some trepidation, I opened it. It was dark out there in the endless nothingness beyond consciousness, but I did perceive a ramp that descended from some higher place to, well, to my front door.
Lo and behold, here was Jesus Christ, supposedly the real one, descending to teach me the spiritual things he taught his disciples but which the church through corruption had lost. As he approached I was feeling a bit leery, but he was glowing and for all appearance looked like Jesus Christ should: beard, robe, and all. As I gazed at him, suddenly I could see through the glow and into him. He was all darkness within -- a deceiving spirit. I closed the door.
I am telling you this for two reasons: the necessity of awareness and of descent. Awareness because everything we did mentally hinged upon our awareness of it. We became aware of our muscles and relaxed them. We became aware of the steps and of our descent down them. We became aware of seeing things and touching and using things. Yes, I have been in the lagoon with the blue oyster, acutely aware of it and everything else there. But the descent was not to a demonic realm; it was to a spiritual realm, to a deeper, richer experience of the spirit WHICH I AM. Yes, there was a "demon" there, but so was God there. God is always there because both he and the "demons" are me. The "demons" are my ignorance, and they are always screwing with me, but God is ALWAYS also here goading me to overcome them. This is his show!
How did we descend to the deeper experience of the spirit? We simply imagined walking down steps AWARE that we were descending down steps. Later, when I asked for the gift of tongues, I was rejected by Jesus Christ. I quickly caught on that I was asking flippantly and got serious. I gave everything I could think of. Still no go. Desperately seeking how to be accepted, I slipped into a trance. I was in a wash, a riverbed, and followed a path to a tall wall along the river bed that had a gap in it. The trail led through the gap, but I was blocked from following the trail any further by a huge block. I did not know what the block was. I could not reach to climb over it, and I could not go around it, for the path led not past the block but down a hole underneath it. I needed to get down that passage to find acceptance and could not, because the block blocked my way!
I was aware of the impossibility of my moving this immense, solid block out of my way on my own, and that this unidentified block was what I had NOT yet given to God. How could I surrender what I did not know? I said of the block, "I do not know that it is, but I give it to you." It disappeared, and I saw the hole the path went down. I became aware of the deeper sphere of the spirit. In that sphere I became aware of the actions taken in having become me, God's life-spirit encased in a mud-man, and I became aware that my "block" was my own self-lordship! I ruled my life without recognition of the Source of my life nor the purpose the Source had for my life. Ungrateful and rebellious, I was "giving" myself to God as though I were his peer, like if I did not like what he did with me, I would take myself back! I repented of this and cast self-lordship's self-control out of myself -- NONE OF WHICH I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT HAVING LEARNED IN THE OCCULT THE SENSE OF AWARENESS AND THE DESCENT INTO DEEPER REALMS OF THE SPIRIT. It is God's occult to use as He sees fit, and I thank Him for sending me into it for that training. Well spent, I think.
Neville says to get into a sleepy, drowsy state bordering sleep but still in full control of your mental faculties. Yes. And I say, imagine there that you are descending to a state of deeper spirituality. Descend. You know, you just imagine this stuff. Not that it isn't real, but it is real because you imagine being aware that it IS real. Abandon the shallowness and flippancy of the things you have learned, the doctrines you believe, the stories you have heard and the superstitions you have imagined. They are intermediaries to your experience of the spiritual realm; i.e., they come between you and the reality of God. Take the "sandals" from your feet and stand on the holy ground of awareness of God in you.
Do not misread Exodus 3: 5. When God says, "Do not come near," he is saying, "You, as you are, with all the bs you believe, do not come near Me. Give up all the crap that you are holding onto instead of Me, your 'sandals' which hold you away from Me, AND EXPERIENCE MY REALITY DIRECTLY. Now, what do you want? I'll become what you imagine."
The funny thing is, whenever I get there, I can't think of anything I want but him.
Oops. I forgot to mention that the Descent appears in the baptism in the Holy Spirit as Jared (Genesis chapter 5). The antediluvian patriarchs are overlapping states we go through unto the state of Noah, the resting in God. The patriarchs "names" need to be translated. They are actually natures -- states of conscious awareness which give birth to numerous thoughts and emotions.
The Descent may also be that flip that occurs when the intelligence of the Ineffable by its own power becomes what is thought. The faith of the mustard seed, as you know, is the knowledge that it is a mustard, so it becomes one. I am reminded here that this intelligence and power that is God descended to become us. We might not look like a deeper, richer experience of the spirit, but hell (here) is where heaven is forged. This state of death is hell, where our worm dies not nor fire is quenched. While "death" from here gives some respite, we are stuck here until we fulfill scripture by overcoming and ascend to where we were before better than we were before. We descended to learn humility and freedom, to become better, so this is a better place than where we came from. Continue to descend to humility and be aware of being humble, contrite, and lowly of spirit. You might just find yourself in a spiritual bear hug.
First, we would be led to relax thoroughly to a sleepy, drowsy state -- but still fully awake in our consciousness -- and then descend a number of steps down an imagined stairwell, ten or twelve steps down to an imagined workshop in our subconscious. We were acutely AWARE of the steps and of the descent down to the workshop.
During my last occult meditation, I was instructed to build a door in the wall of my workshop and to allow an ascended master to come in to teach me secret mystical things one-on-one. I constructed the door by becoming aware of such a thing being there and, with some trepidation, I opened it. It was dark out there in the endless nothingness beyond consciousness, but I did perceive a ramp that descended from some higher place to, well, to my front door.
Lo and behold, here was Jesus Christ, supposedly the real one, descending to teach me the spiritual things he taught his disciples but which the church through corruption had lost. As he approached I was feeling a bit leery, but he was glowing and for all appearance looked like Jesus Christ should: beard, robe, and all. As I gazed at him, suddenly I could see through the glow and into him. He was all darkness within -- a deceiving spirit. I closed the door.
I am telling you this for two reasons: the necessity of awareness and of descent. Awareness because everything we did mentally hinged upon our awareness of it. We became aware of our muscles and relaxed them. We became aware of the steps and of our descent down them. We became aware of seeing things and touching and using things. Yes, I have been in the lagoon with the blue oyster, acutely aware of it and everything else there. But the descent was not to a demonic realm; it was to a spiritual realm, to a deeper, richer experience of the spirit WHICH I AM. Yes, there was a "demon" there, but so was God there. God is always there because both he and the "demons" are me. The "demons" are my ignorance, and they are always screwing with me, but God is ALWAYS also here goading me to overcome them. This is his show!
How did we descend to the deeper experience of the spirit? We simply imagined walking down steps AWARE that we were descending down steps. Later, when I asked for the gift of tongues, I was rejected by Jesus Christ. I quickly caught on that I was asking flippantly and got serious. I gave everything I could think of. Still no go. Desperately seeking how to be accepted, I slipped into a trance. I was in a wash, a riverbed, and followed a path to a tall wall along the river bed that had a gap in it. The trail led through the gap, but I was blocked from following the trail any further by a huge block. I did not know what the block was. I could not reach to climb over it, and I could not go around it, for the path led not past the block but down a hole underneath it. I needed to get down that passage to find acceptance and could not, because the block blocked my way!
I was aware of the impossibility of my moving this immense, solid block out of my way on my own, and that this unidentified block was what I had NOT yet given to God. How could I surrender what I did not know? I said of the block, "I do not know that it is, but I give it to you." It disappeared, and I saw the hole the path went down. I became aware of the deeper sphere of the spirit. In that sphere I became aware of the actions taken in having become me, God's life-spirit encased in a mud-man, and I became aware that my "block" was my own self-lordship! I ruled my life without recognition of the Source of my life nor the purpose the Source had for my life. Ungrateful and rebellious, I was "giving" myself to God as though I were his peer, like if I did not like what he did with me, I would take myself back! I repented of this and cast self-lordship's self-control out of myself -- NONE OF WHICH I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT HAVING LEARNED IN THE OCCULT THE SENSE OF AWARENESS AND THE DESCENT INTO DEEPER REALMS OF THE SPIRIT. It is God's occult to use as He sees fit, and I thank Him for sending me into it for that training. Well spent, I think.
Neville says to get into a sleepy, drowsy state bordering sleep but still in full control of your mental faculties. Yes. And I say, imagine there that you are descending to a state of deeper spirituality. Descend. You know, you just imagine this stuff. Not that it isn't real, but it is real because you imagine being aware that it IS real. Abandon the shallowness and flippancy of the things you have learned, the doctrines you believe, the stories you have heard and the superstitions you have imagined. They are intermediaries to your experience of the spiritual realm; i.e., they come between you and the reality of God. Take the "sandals" from your feet and stand on the holy ground of awareness of God in you.
Do not misread Exodus 3: 5. When God says, "Do not come near," he is saying, "You, as you are, with all the bs you believe, do not come near Me. Give up all the crap that you are holding onto instead of Me, your 'sandals' which hold you away from Me, AND EXPERIENCE MY REALITY DIRECTLY. Now, what do you want? I'll become what you imagine."
The funny thing is, whenever I get there, I can't think of anything I want but him.
Oops. I forgot to mention that the Descent appears in the baptism in the Holy Spirit as Jared (Genesis chapter 5). The antediluvian patriarchs are overlapping states we go through unto the state of Noah, the resting in God. The patriarchs "names" need to be translated. They are actually natures -- states of conscious awareness which give birth to numerous thoughts and emotions.
The Descent may also be that flip that occurs when the intelligence of the Ineffable by its own power becomes what is thought. The faith of the mustard seed, as you know, is the knowledge that it is a mustard, so it becomes one. I am reminded here that this intelligence and power that is God descended to become us. We might not look like a deeper, richer experience of the spirit, but hell (here) is where heaven is forged. This state of death is hell, where our worm dies not nor fire is quenched. While "death" from here gives some respite, we are stuck here until we fulfill scripture by overcoming and ascend to where we were before better than we were before. We descended to learn humility and freedom, to become better, so this is a better place than where we came from. Continue to descend to humility and be aware of being humble, contrite, and lowly of spirit. You might just find yourself in a spiritual bear hug.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
1:13 AM
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