Eye On The Cosmos

by William Britten | Reciprocal Feeding, Cynthia Bourgeault, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Thomas, Poems-Benedictions-Intentions | 0 comments

“Giving and receiving: God speaks to man. Receiving and giving, man speaks to God … serving the cosmological function.” Cynthia Bourgeault

Opening Invitation

Logion 21

Miriam said,
“Then tell us, Master, what your students are like.
How would you describe them?”

He answered,
“They are like small children
living in a field not their own.
When the landlords return and demand,
‘Give us back our field!’
the children return it by simply stripping themselves
and standing naked before them.

So then, I must also tell you this:
If a householder knows for sure
that thieves are coming to steal his goods,
he will keep careful watch before they get there
to prevent them from tunneling in and taking his possessions.

You too, from your beginnings,
must keep a watchful eye on the cosmos,
binding great power to yourselves
so that thieves cannot find a way to get to you.
Pay attention then.
Any outside help you look for they will try to seize first.

May there be someone among you who truly understands this.

So listen carefully, if you have an ear for this!
When the fruit was ripe, ready to burst,
the harvester came quickly, sickle in hand, and took it.

The Inseparable

Light and darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers and sisters. They are inseparable.
This is why goodness is not always good, violence not always violent, life not always enlivening, death not always deadly …
All that is composite will decompose and return to its Origin; but those who are awake to the Reality without beginning or end know the uncreated, the eternal.
Gospel of Philip, saying 10, LeLoup

“It doth ascend from earth to heaven. Again it doth descend to earth, and uniteth in itself the force from things superior and things inferior… human endeavour and the action of grace from above — unite and become a complete circle which contracts and concentrates to become a point where the ascent and descent are simultaneous and coincide.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p607

“Man has no significance in the Ray itself save as a part of Organic Life. But in regard to the Sun, which creates him, Man has the greatest significance if he chooses to find it. Here there is a door open to him — not leading up the gigantic Ray itself, but up a separate ladder beside it.” Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries, p129

Mediating Link

The Master said, “Blessed are all who existed before coming into being, for all who are now, both existed before and shall ever be.”
The transcendence of human beings is not obvious to the naked eye. It remains hidden from view, but the result is that humans have mastery over creation, even over those creatures which are larger and stronger. Through what is manifest and what is hidden, we are able to survive.
When, however, humans separate from nature, then everything begins to devour and destroy itself, because there is no mutual nourishment. But when human beings cherish and cultivate the earth, then all things are properly fed.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue Thirty-Eight, W Bauman

“Attention is not only mediating, it is transmitting. Giving and receiving, God speaks to man. Receiving and giving, man speaks to God. Midway between micro and macro cosmos, man has his part to play. Returning to the body is a gesture of opening to the attention which, beckoned, is ready to serve its cosmological function. In other words, what if the universe is structurally, inherently coherent and compassionate? And as we can bring our attention into alignment with that and participate in that two-way street, we receive the continuous gift of our real identity. And we give back understanding inescapable what our post must be in any given moment to be in harmony, to be a part of that wholearchy of compassion.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Claymont 2016 Three-Centered Knowing, 50:38 21-Friday Morning Teaching

The Breath Gathers

There are animals that obey people: the calf, the donkey, and those of this sort. There are others who do not obey, and live apart in the wilderness.People work with tame animals to plow their fields, and thus are able to feed themselves and the animals, whether tame or wild.
So it is with realized Human Beings, who work with energies that obey them. They prepare all things to come into being. Thus everything awakens, and is redeemed: good and evil, right and left. The Breath leads all things to their repose, it aligns the energies: the obedient, the wild, and the solitary ones. It gathers them together, so that they are no longer dispersed.
Gospel of Philip, saying 40, LeLoup

“The place where grace is activated in our own life is precisely in the system for which the whole planet, the whole megalocosmos came into being—that each of us in our station, in our Ray of life, would both receive from above, bestow laterally and below, and pay back by the quality of our alchemy.”CynthiaBourgeault, Claymont 2024, 37:20 Session 4 The Ray of Creation

A Seal

“Blessed are those who are before existing; for those who are were, and will be.”
Gospel of Philip, saying 57, LeLoup

Watchful Eye

Ascent and descent,
siblings coinciding,
in cosmic whole-archy.

A door opens,
where the two directions meet.
Hold the tension,
with a single exhalation.

God speaks. Humans answer.
Each in their station,
receiving, bestowing.

William Britten

Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll refer to Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Eureka Editions:2020) unless stated otherwise.

Quotations from the Gospels of Thomas and Philip are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)

Quotations from the Gospel of Philip from Jean-Yves LeLoup, Gospel of Philip, (Inner Traditions: 2004)