5. Mystical Death

The thing most people fear more than anything is death – physical death that is. However we also fear the many small deaths that are part of everyday life. When we are enjoying ourselves we want the enjoyment to last forever. We don’t stop to think that the real source of enjoyment arises in the birth of a new moment and its subsequent passing away. Then we can look back on the moment and savour it. It is impossible to look back on it while it is happening.

There are other things within us that need to die; they need to be crucified ‘on the cross’ and the cross is a symbol of our physical body which we are nailed to while we are incarnated in this world.
In my original Reflections on the seven Christian Initiations I wrote the following. “Often we know within ourselves that we are acting out of character when we interact with some people. We also know that they are not seeing us as we truly are but we are powerless to change this.

It is our dull consciousness that directs us to express ourselves through past life memories – memories that didn’t die with our body in that past life. Memories whose core lies within our I AM.

We have to ‘kill off’ these memories. The way to kill them off is to become conscious of them. But beware; during this process we experience the content of our soul in all its suffering and pain. We have to face our agony and there is no way we can withstand it if we do not have a strong and vital relationship with our I AM. We also need a living experience of the presence of Christ in our life.

Courage and daring is required to experience the mystical death. There is no room for false pride or even embarrassment. We have to accept the conscious view of ourselves and give birth to the new personality that can be ours through our I AM.

This, of course, is really the meaning of forgiveness of sins – we forgive ourselves for missing the mark. We accept our karma. Our I AM recognises that all we have experienced, life after life, was necessary to bring us to this point. And this point is, of course, that moment in the aeons of history when the presence of Christ in the life force of this earth can appear before us in the twinkling of an eye.”