And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what
comparison shall we compare it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown
in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:
But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater
than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches;
— Mark 4:30-32
Generally speaking, "seed" symbolizes the power of
God, which manifests throughout the universe. Within every human being is a
spark of our Divine Creator, and this "seed" has within itself the
ability to grow and flower into a microcosmic "kingdom of God." No
matter how small or undeveloped this"seed" may be, it has latent
within itself all the potentialities of its Creator, and by proper cultivation
becomes a wholly glorious manifestation of the spiritual attainment possible
for all mankind.
The spirit within man is threefold, patterned in the image
of its Creator, andits three aspects are designated as the divine spirit,
the life spirit, and the human spirit. Man is also sevenfold
and tenfold, having a threefold soul and a threefold body, connected with the
spirit by the mind. During its pilgrimage into matter, the divine spirit
aspect emanates from itself the dense body, extracting as pabulum
the conscious soul. Similarly the life spirit radiates from
itself the vital body, and extracts as food the intellectual soul;
and the human spirit brings into being the desire body and
extracts therefrom the emotional soul.
The problem facing every human being is to live so
that the "seed" of divinity within may germinate and be nurtured
into a living reality of the transcendent powers of the spirit, and we find in
the Western Wisdom Teachings definite instructions for nurturing the latent
spiritual potentialities into dynamic powers. By persistent endeavor to
cultivate certain faculties, food for the spirit is produced, and it
"shooteth out great branches" wherein the "fowls of the
air" (spiritual aspirations which naturally accompany the unfolding
process) will "lodge."
The faculty of discrimination is that whereby we distinguish
the real from the unreal, the essential from the non-essential, and it
generates the intellectual soul. Discrimination, first of all, teaches
usthat we are spirits, and our bodies are but temporary dwelling places,
instruments for our use in our pilgrimage through matter.
The faculty of observation (along with action) generates the
conscious soul. Accurate observation is of the highest importance in
spiritual development, for it insures the harmonizing of the pictures in the
conscious memory with the automatic subconscious records, and thus establishes
the rhythm and harmony of the dense body.
The faculty of devotion (to high ideals) evolves the
emotional soul, helping to eliminate undesirable habits or traits of
character by superseding mere desire. For intellectual people, in particular,
the cultivation of devotion is most necessary.
Persistent daily effort in exercising these faculties will
gradually bring about the complete mastery of the lower self by the higher
self, the goal of every spiritual aspirant. The intangible liveliness radiated
by every spiritually developed person speaks eloquently of the unfolded
potentialities of the spirit, made manifest by the ascendancy of the Higher
Self.
— Rays from the Rose Cross Magazine, January, 1975, page 21.
This web page has been edited and/or excerpted from reference material, has been modified from it's original version, and is in conformance with the web host's Members Terms & Conditions. This website is offered to the public by students of The Rosicrucian Teachings, and has no official affiliation with any organization.
