The great spiritual Powers and Qualities are available to us from the universal spiritual dimension, which underlies and permeates this sensed world. In relation to our tangible, sensed world this spiritual dimension is a vast potential which may or may not inspire the known world and may or may not manifest here in it. This spiritual dimension, subsisting invisibly and potentially within our world, is the realm of the Gods, the Goddesses, the Angels, the Demiurges, the Powers, the Qualities, or whatever one chooses to name such Lives. And these are Lives. They may not have fixed bodies or physical respiration as we do, but They are the Living Powers of life and the inspirational Qualities behind all qualities of manifest expression. Their powers are vast and Their possibilities for manifestation are great. They are our very spiritual essence and also the essence of nature. We are Their physical, emotional and mental expressions, to some degree yet mostly very limited.
But Their great powers are limited, in terms of manifestation, by the limitations of Their expressive vehicles. That is, Their power to manifest is limited and dependent on you and me, or dependent on this world as Its receptive vehicle. Because of the cosmic law of Time and Creative Manifestation, there is a polarized division between the great spiritual Powers eternal in potential and Their limited forms of realization and expression throughout time eternal. Because of this there is, on one hand, the limited minds and bodies of realization and expression and, on the other hand, the unlimited and multi related spiritual Powers and Qualities of realization and expression which stand as potential to the limited world. Thus, two fundamental 'worlds' exist, the world of potential and the world of actualization, each standing in necessary relation to the other.
Man and woman, having the potential of spiritual consciousness and the abilities to creatively express all the multi varied Qualities of The Living Spirit, stand as the spiritual powers expressing through mind, emotion, and body, and limited by such vehicles as well. Through us, these polarized worlds make relationship, intercourse together, and exchange certain energies. There is this relationship, this intercourse between the two worlds, which means that the spiritual permeates our world of the senses, the feelings and the mind. And yet, the spiritual world is, for the most part, divided from us, unrealized and unexpressed. Thus, we must make relationship with it, or because there is already some relationship, we need to expand or deepen our relationship with it.
Our relationship with greater Powers, whether this be speaking about cosmic Powers or Powers within, will have to involve the two polar modes of active and receptive approaches. We, as limited realization and expression, must stand receptive to the higher or inner world of unlimited spiritual powers, so that the spiritual powers may be more active through us. We become the receptive chalice for the divine spirit, the wine or blood of the spiritual powers and qualities. We must open to the divine penetration and permeation actively working through our mind, feelings, and body.
The mind, feelings and body are the triplistic vehicles for realization and expression of divine spirit in its multifaceted qualities. This triplistic vehicle, this personal knowing, feeling and expression, is who we are at present, though we are much more in divine potential or essence. So we must stand where we are at present, in our limited fullness of mind, feeling and physical sensation, and be receptive to the greater spiritual powers or qualities of knowing, feeling and expression. This is our receptive role in the relationship. We open to the greater spiritual Beingness of the universe, the Beingness that is our own potential and essence. And this greater Beingness is a triplistic Being of power, consciousness and qualities of potential expression.
It surrounds us, like the great space of the universe, and we expand into It, or we merge into It, by our receptivity, our openness, and by our surrender into It. In this way, through this mergence, the divine spirit is able to more permeate through us and we become more expansive in It. That is one way to understand and work with this relationship.
The other way is to realize the greater spiritual world as being within our own unconscious potential, awaiting the opportunity to be realized and expressed through us. For the spiritual world, and all Its powers and qualities, subsist within our own essence, subsist right within our mind, feelings and bodies. The spiritual is the essential core of our triplistic being, the very essence of our mind, feelings and bodies. It is within our deeper unconscious, which is another way of saying that it is as yet unrealized
So, we must receptively allow this greater spiritual essence to unfold or emerge through us, allowing it to be realized and expressed through us. This is the way of spiritual unfoldment. It is essential the same way as the way of spiritual expansion, but the perspective is different. In one way we allow ourselves to expand into the greater universal spaciousness, or we allow that greater spaciousness to permeate through us. In the other way, we allow our essential spiritual core to unfold or expand from within.
Both ways involve an expansion and permeation of spirit, though this expansive permeation is experienced as either from the greater universe around us or from within us. Both experiences are significant, and we can realize these in the sexual ritual as divine spirit expanding through us from our lover or as divine spirit expanding from us to our lover.
We might also experience this relationship with nature, as in the forest for instance, where we can experience the divinity of the natural world permeating us with love and beauty, and we can experience our own love permeating nature around us. Either way we allow a greater love or spiritual power to move through us, either coming from outside us or from within us. This is the receptive, allowing mode of the divine relationship, whereby the realization and expressive qualities of divine spirit are received through us and allowed to permeate through the triplistic vehicle that we know as ourself. The potential is that a greater spiritual consciousness may be realized through the mental vehicle, that greater spiritual qualities may be felt through the emotional vehicle, and that greater spiritual creative power be expressed through the physical vehicle.
The mind realizes, the emotions feel, and the body expresses the various spiritual powers and qualities, subsisting throughout the universal space and within our own potential. This is the very purpose of life.
Mind awakens to the spiritual reality, as spiritual consciousness expands and permeates through it, and the practical way for this to unfold is for the mind, as it is, to be completely open and receptive, then the spiritual light of consciousness expands from within, the essential mind unfolds its light. And in this receptive openness the mind is also permeated with more of the whole universal Light, or universal Consciousness, as it dissolves into the greater spaciousness of universal Mind.
On the level of the emotional body, the deeper spiritual love in the core essence of being gradually and gently unfolds from within, as one lets go of all concerns and simply surrenders to the essence within. Then pure, virgin love permeates the whole emotional body. Then pure love is felt and enjoyed. This involves a complete letting go of any active mode, where one completely trusts in the unfoldment of one's essence of being and is completely open and receptive in relation to that unfoldment of deeper feeling. Only in this openness, this receptivity, this trusting, and this allowing, can the spiritual truth of being emerge and unfold, to be felt and realized Then, our self-knowing is transformed, our self-feeling is transformed, as our spiritual essence is allowed to unfold and expand.
And the feelings of spiritual love do not just come from within, for in our openness this divine love is able to permeate through us from others or from the divine nature surrounding us. This love can be experienced as coming from outside us, as well as from within us. Love can be felt as enfolding our emotional nature. And again, we must be completely receptive and open. For only then can the love enter us and transform us in its glory. This love may come from others, from friends, family and lovers, or it may come from Nature Herself, the very essence of all natural existence on earth, or this love may come from the whole spiritual Cosmos, the spiritual world or from the One Divine Being which both surrounds and enfolds us.
The feeling of love is the greatest, most ecstatic feeling possible, and it is the one true feeling permeating the whole universe and expressing through the essence of all. Love is actually the experience of being oneself, the essence of self. And love is the actual experience of Being Itself, the One Being knowing Itself. It is infinite, and so it is infinite in its degrees of realization and feeling, and thus whatever is felt or experienced of love is but partial to love's complete potential of realization There will always be a more vast love in the potential of experience.
One who is conscious and feeling of this love can then radiate its quality of feeling to others. Love just naturally flows, if consciously allowed, so as it is received and realized, it naturally radiates out to others and into the world. One receives the love, or surrenders into it, and through this one's being is expanded or transformed into the greater expansiveness of One Being. Love has a certain feeling of inclusiveness or being included, and it has a certain feeling of unconditional receiving or of being unconditionally received. Love includes us within it. It expands and permeates through us, from within and from outside us. And love includes others within it. It expands, radiates and permeates throughout others and the world. Love flows. And it flows in two primary modes, active and receptive. Love receives all others, as well as ourself, within it. It draws us into it, and we are transformed within it, if we allow this.
And love actively expands and reaches outward to penetrate and permeate the receptive space. It emerges and expands from within our essence of being to embrace and enfold the receptive space around us, as well as entering and permeating our own receptive space of being from the greater surrounding space or from Divine Being enfolding us.
The active mode of love expression, as a feeling or activity coming from our own center or will, is always possible once this divine love is felt and known, and once it has been allowed to emerge through us. Yet this love is limited in some way, compared to the great infinite potential of divine love which is within and surrounding us. The same is true for all divine Qualities. All of Divine Being is within us in potential and available to us for expression, and the Divine Being, in all its various qualities, seeks to be evermore complete through us, evermore known, felt and expressed. This is the Will of Divine Being and Its purpose throughout time and space. So our own role in this purpose, being the limited pole of the Great Existence, is to receive and express more of this through us, through the triplistic vehicle of mind, feeling, and body.
The receiving is called invocation and the expressing
is called evocation.
We invoke the spiritual powers and qualities
within us and around us, to be assimilated and digested in our mind,
feelings and body. These powers are then evoked through us,
expressing and radiating into the world around us, which actually
makes them more present and readily available to others. They are
evoked from our own centre or will, expressing outward from the
limited, triplistic individual, and yet this is a reflection of the
Divine Source evoking Itself. Ultimately, the Divine Source, the One
Divine Being, is making the evocation. But in order for evocation to
be possible, whether coming from an individual or the Great Divine
Itself, invocation must precede. There must first be a receptive
space and an open allowing for the spiritual powers to be evoked, for
such to be realized, felt and expressed.
This role of invocation concerns three possible relations or objectives. It may concern the invocation of powers or qualities within oneself, or the invocation of collective powers or qualities about in the world or cosmos, or the invocation of powers or qualities within another individual. Concerning this latter objective, each of us has the potential to invoke or help bring forth spiritual power and quality in others. This is the potential beauty of beneficial relationships. We each can help each other unfold our spiritual potential. And the tantra teaches us how to do this through the means of invocation. Invocation involves two basic modes, the active and the receptive. Both go hand in hand, so one does not necessarily precede the other, though one will begin with either the active or the receptive mode. The active mode involves perceiving within the other person a particular spiritual quality of power, and the receptive mode involves being open to some spiritual quality or power emerging from the other.
As said, these modes go hand in hand, complimenting each other in the process of invocation. The spiritual potentials within us are ever ready to emerge and become radiantly evident in their realized expression, but very often a particular potential is not yet strong enough to emerge from its own active will or power, so it needs to be seduced or nurtured into radiance. It also needs a receptive space to unfold or a reason for being, which another can provide. It needs a relationship for expression, because all spiritual qualities are relational qualities. Their very existence is in terms of relationship.
The one invoking provides this necessary relationship and this receptivity for the expressive radiance. He or she becomes open to perceiving and experiencing something new or greater emerging from the other. This like being open to a new surprise, not knowing what it shall be but openly receptive to whatever does emerge. It is a kind of expectant trust in the divine emergence, in the ever ready unfoldment of the other's spiritual potential, that something divinely beautiful will emerge through the other, given one's own receptive, trusting space. One is receptive to its emergence and receptive to realizing it. Maybe it was already there, even radiating already to some degree, but one was not yet present to it, not yet receptive, and not yet realizing it. But now, through the receptivity, that particular divine quality becomes more fully present and evident to the perceiver.
Being receptive may be virtually sufficient for this quality to emerge and become realized by the perceiver. Yet at least some of the active mode is still needed for this quality to emerge more completely. First one should be receptive to what is already expressive in the other, being receptive to what was previously unperceived or unrecognized For usually we are blind to qualities already expressing and radiating in the other. But we can do much more for the other person than awakening to what is already radiant. We can actually invoke in the other new and greater potentials. For this we need to actively perceive deeper into the other's potential and help draw this out.
The receptive mode is still needed, but one also takes an active stance, being a kind of magician in the process of invocation. The active role is to perceive what is awaiting in potential and affirm this as a reality, while allowing and receiving its emergence.
This active role involves an ability to perceptively penetrate into the person's potential, seeing into their soul, as it were, and giving this power by affirming its reality, and receptively experiencing its particular quality of radiance. That is essentially the magical process of invocation, involving the active and receptive modes. The spiritual quality is coaxed or seduced into expressive radiance, whereby it is realized by both the perceiver and the one in radiance.
Of course, in this process the person through which the quality is to emerge must be allowing and not suppressing this. Then, the quality evokes itself through them in response to the one invoking it.
Sometimes the creative imagination is used in the invocation, whereby, for instance, the goddess or a goddess quality is imaginatively visualized as the potential and allowed to be efficacious in the experience of the perceiver. This can partly stimulate the invocationary process, yet still at some point the invocating perceiver must realize and affirm this quality as a true reality emerging from the other and not merely an imagination. The creative imagination can have an invocationary power, which can magically stimulate the emergence, but nonetheless the emergence must ultimately be a reality, experienced and recognized as a reality by both partners. When this greater radiance is truly efficacious as a true felt experience and realization, then the invocation has been effectively achieved, though there is no real end to it all, but only levels of recognition along the greater process of spiritual unfoldment.