BDSM

The mystery of God can be found in this rising and falling. Jacob saw it in his dream (Gen.28:12-14) and our Lord described it to the apostles (Jn.1:51). This is what the angels do in heaven, and what the children of God do upon gaining entrance there.

That is, one’s spirit ascends from the spiritual body or heart to the spiritual head or mind. It remains there for a while before descending back to the heart again. After a while the process is repeated. Separating the mind and the heart (the head and the body) is what one could call an open door or window. Which is to say that there is nothing to hinder one’s will or spirit from passing from the spiritual head to the spiritual body and back again and again.

When one’s spirit is with the heart one experiences many joys, consolations, ecstasies and other gifts from the Father. Here one adores God and acknowledges his or her unworthiness to be with Jesus Christ and receive such pleasures. Passing into the mind one perceives all the glory of our Lord and praises Him and His great mercy.

The amount of pleasure one receives and praise one gives is proportional to the amount of love of neighbor one manifested while alive in the physical world. The greater the love, the greater the pleasure one receives and the greater praise one gives.

One’s own existence in the physical world provides an excellent example of this ascending and descending. It provides a good analogy.

Everything that one experiences in the physical world can – and is – experienced in one’s dreams. Everything one hears, sees, tastes, smells and feels, every emotion, every desire and every dislike and aversion that one has in the physical world, one also encounters in one’s dreams. One can therefore say that when one dreams one enters “another world.”

Yet, the person that one is in the physical world is not the same person that one is when one dreams. It is as though there are two parallel worlds in which one lives. When one is awake, he or she perceives one type of world. But when one goes to sleep, one ascends to and perceives a different type of world.

One’s dream life may be seen as one person and one’s waking life may be seen as a second person. Yet, one’s own thoughts and beliefs, which travel from this physical world to the other sleep “world” may be seen as a third person.

When one is awake, one perceives space and time, matter and form. But in one’s dream life there is no matter to take up space, while form and time seem to be omnipresent and eternal. One may say that the dream world is a Parmenidean One.

The same is true regarding one’s soul. When one’s spirit is with the mind, one experiences one type of peace and joy with God. Then when one’s spirit is with the heart, one experiences another type of peace and joy with God.

With the one, one’s soul gives, while with the other, one’s soul receives. With the one, one’s soul perceives, while with the other, one’s soul reflects back to God what he or she understands. With the one, one’s soul penetrates and with the other, one’s soul is pierced. With one, one’s soul is saturated and with the other, one’s soul is desiccated. With both, one’s soul is in complete joy and ecstasy.

Of all loves, pleasures and ecstasies of this world, the greatest is love of God. This love is the opening of the secrets of Jesus Christ. This love is the beginning of the marriage of our Lord and His spouse, the spiritual union of God and one’s own soul.

God pierces one’s soul and enshrouds one with His love. One penetrates God and envelopes Him with one’s humility. The two become as one being raptured in infinite bliss, emerging from the depths of emptiness and desiccation and then rising to the heights of ecstasy and delirium. This is the mystery of God.

If one could imagine him or her self riding upon a comet that is in an elliptical orbit around the Sun, such would be a good analogy of these different experiences.

The comet is always facing the Sun, with its tail always pointing away from the Sun. It is either forever climbing away from the Sun – to the cold, frozen outer edges of the solar system where the Sun appears as a mere star, a dot of light on the horizon – or forever falling toward the hot, sweltering Sun – until it approaches so close that the Sun fills its whole sky from horizon to horizon.

So also is it with God. In God’s world one never loses sight of our Lord. One’s attention is always focused on Him. That is, one is forever moving toward God. His magnificence grows from the depths of one’s soul to the fullest of one’s capacity. Upon reaching one’s fullest capacity, His magnificence then begins to dim and continues to do so until the soul can stand His diminishing no longer, at which point His magnificence begins to grow once again.

One is forever receiving and giving, rising and falling, penetrating and being pierced. God is forever entering into one’s soul until one can accept no more of Him, until one reaches his or her fullest capacity. Then God begins to withdraw from one’s soul until one can tolerate no more of His absence, until one can no longer stand His reduction. Then He begins to grow again.

Of course, those with the greater love can accommodate more than those of a lesser love. God is the center of all things and no matter where one goes in His world one always ends up facing either the Father or the Son (one’s spirit is always with the Holy Spirit). God is the center of all life. He is the tree of life.

The less love of neighbor one has the farther away from the innermost mansion of one’s soul one dwells. In order to get back into perfect love again one must increase his or her humility and decrease his or her pride. Upon gaining perfect love again, one shares the perfect joy of Jesus Christ. A soul in perfect love becomes so completely absorbed in and by God that the two become as one being.

Hence, those souls in perfect love are, as it were, Gods, knowing all good.

A soul in perfect love is completely one with God. It is the image and likeness of Him. As God is, so also is man’s soul a trinity (1Jn.4:17; 1Jn.5:7-8). One may say that God photocopies Himself each time He creates another human being. However, one must not forget that God is the original; each person is merely a copy.

There is the soul’s spiritual head or mind, which is one with the Father. There is the soul’s spiritual body or heart, which is one with the Son. Finally, there is a person’s own spirit or will, which is one with the Holy Spirit.

The spiritual head directs the spiritual body, for the body (or heart) proceeds from the head (or mind). But both the mind and the heart direct the spirit, for it flows from them both. However, all three “persons” of one’s soul are equal in authority and subject to our Lord, the Headmaster over all. Hence, one’s soul consists of three separate but equal beings, all of which are of the same personality, the personality of he or she who possesses the soul.

A person’s soul is not exclusively male, nor is it exclusively female. One could say that one’s soul is both sexes. One could say that one’s soul is animus, masculine, and one’s soul is also anima, feminine.

The same is true regarding God. As an analogy one may say that the Father (one’s spiritual head) is positive or male, the Son (one’s spiritual body) is negative or female and the Holy Spirit (one’s own spirit) is neutral.

Therefore, it is just as true to say “in the name of the Mother and of the Daughter and of the Holy Spirit” as it to say “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” One could also say “in the name of the Husband (Male) and of the Wife (Female) and of the Holy Spirit.”

The traditional Sign of the Cross given by our Lord (Mt.28:19) reflected the customs of mankind at the time. But today one knows that neither sex is superior to the other sex. They are equal and both are needed for procreation of the species.

Jesus Christ does not support a sexist theology. One should not forget that He exalted and chose a woman to be the instrument through which He entered this world and He chose to be a member of the male sex because the Jews at that time were a patriarchal society.

The Trinity of God, (1Jn.5:5-7) in whose image and likeness one’s soul is created to resemble, consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father (or First Person) directs the Son (or Second Person), for the Son proceeds from the Father.

It is for this reason that Jesus Christ, who is the Second Person, said that the Father is greater than I (Jn.14:26-28). Both the Father and the Son direct the Holy Spirit (or Third Person), for it proceeds from them both. However, all three persons of the Blessed Trinity are equal in authority, for they are of one nature.

One may better understand the trinity of God (or the trinity of one’s own soul) through observation of a combination lock that has three numbers needed to unlock it.

All three numbers must be dialed in the correct sequence in order to open the lock. Hence, the second number flows from the first, while the third number proceeds from both the first and second numbers. All three numbers are equal, for they are all needed in order to open the lock. Yet, all three numbers, although separate and unique, are of one combination. Hence, there are three separate and unique but equal numbers in the one combination.

The same is true with our Lord. There are three separate and unique but equal persons in one God. Just as there are three distinct persons in the one God, so too are the children of God (1Jn.5:8), for they are made to His image and likeness. Each human being has one soul that consists of three distinct “beings.” These are the spiritual head or mind, the spiritual body or heart and one’s own spirit or will, all of which are of one personality – one’s own personality.

Remember, no one begotten by man is God. By the mercy and love of God our Father one is able to become as a God. This gift is given freely to all human beings for obeying the law and doing our Lord’s will. His law and will is fulfilled today the same way it was thousands of years ago, the same way it is done today and the same way it will be as long as human beings are in the physical world, the spiritual world or in any world that God should choose to create (Gal.5:14).

One accomplishes this by being completely honest and just with one’s neighbor in all things and at all times. One must temper his or her honesty with wisdom and his or her justice with mercy, for such is following a logical thought and acting in a rational manner. It matters not what one’s occupation or study happens to be.

As long as one places honesty and truth tempered with wisdom, and the law and justice tempered with mercy, above one’s own, personal desires, and as long as one follows logical thought with rational actions, then one is doing the will of God.

One cannot emphasize it too much. Obedience to the law only requires one to place honesty and truth tempered with wisdom, and the law and justice tempered with mercy above one’s own, personal desires and to be logical in thought with rational actions.

One does not have to recite the rosary or any particular prayer. One does not have to do any particular penance or fasting. One does not even have to support any church or charity. (Such actions are for those who seek perfection.) One only needs to obey this law of love. By following such a course of action one will be helping to establish peace on earth.

If a person is not accomplishing his or her deeds according to this philosophy, then he or she is not doing the will of God. It is the will of Jesus Christ that mankind establish peace on earth by obeying His law, which is not heavy and is just a restating of the Golden Rule that He gave at the sermon on the mountain and again in a different version at the Last Supper.

One of the Psalms of David is an excellent example of love and humility before God.

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