In the stillness of night Wisdom came and stood
by my bed. She gazed upon me like a tender mother
and wiped away my tears, and said : “I have heard
the cry of your spirit and I am come to comfort it.
Open your heart to me and I shall fill it with light.
Ask of me and I shall show you the way of truth.”

And I said : “Who am I, Wisdom, and how came
I to this frightening place? What manner of things
are these mighty hopes and these many books and
strange patterns ? What are these thoughts that pass
as doves in flight? And these words composed by
desire and sung by delight, what are they? What are
these conclusions, grievous and joyous, that embrace
my spirit and envelop my heart? And those
eyes which look at me seeing into my depths and
fleeing from my sorrows ? And those voices mourning
my days and chanting my littleness, what are they ?

“What is this youth that plays with my desires
and mocks at my longings, forgetful of yesterday’s
deeds, rejoicing in paltry things of the moment,
scornful of the morrow’s coming?

“What is this world that leads me whither I know
not, standing with me in despising? And this earth
that opens wide its mouth to swallow bodies and
lets evil things to dwell on its breast? What is this
creature that is satisfied with the love of fortune,
whilst beyond its union is the pit? Who seeks Life’s
kiss whilst Death does smite him, and brings the
pleasure of a minute with a year of repentance, and
gives himself to slumber the while dreams call him?
What is he who flows with the rivers of folly to the
sea of darkness? O Wisdom, what manner of things
are these?”

And she answered, saying :
“You would see, human creature, this world
through the eyes of a god. And you would seek to
know the secrets of the hereafter with the thinking
of men. Yet in truth is this the height of folly.
“Go you to the wild places and you shall find
there the bee above the flowers and behold the eagle
swooping down on his prey. Go you into your neighbor’s
house and see then the child blinking at the
firelight and his mother busied at her household
tasks. Be you like the bee and spend not the days of
spring looking on the eagle’s doing. Be as the child
and rejoice in the firelight and heed not your mother’s
affairs. All that you see with your eyes was and
is for your sake.

“The many books and the strange patterns and
beautiful thoughts are the shades of those spirits
that came ere you were come. The words that you
do weave are a bond between you and your brothers.
The conclusions, grievous and joyous, are the
seeds that the past did scatter in the field of the
spirit to be reaped by the future. That youth who
plays with your desires is he who will open the door
of your heart to let enter the light. This earth with
the ever open mouth is the savior of your spirit from
the body’s slavery. This world which walks with
you is your heart; and your heart is all that you
think that world. This creature whom you see as
ignorant and small is the same who has come from
God’s side to learn pity through sadness, and knowledge
by way of darkness.”

Then Wisdom put her hand on my burning brow
and said :
“Go then forward and do not tarry, for before
walks perfection. Go, and have not fear of thorns
on the path, for they deem naught lawful save corrupted blood.”

 

I was,
And I am.
So shall I be to the end of time,
For I am without end.

I have cleft the vast spaces of the infinite, and
taken flight in the world of fantasy, and drawn nigh
to the circle of light on high.
Yet behold me a captive of matter.
I have hearkened to the teachings of Confucius,
and listened to the wisdom of Brahma, and sat
beside the Buddha beneath the tree of knowledge.
Behold me now contending with ignorance and
unbelieving.

I was upon Sinai when the Lord showed Himself
to Moses. By the Jordan I beheld the Nazarene’s
miracles. In Medina I heard the words of the
Apostle of Arabia.

Behold me now a prisoner of doubt.
I have seen Babylon’s strength and Egypt’s glory
and the greatness of Greece. My eyes cease not
upon the smallness and poverty of their works.
I have sat with the witch of Endor and the priests
of Assyria and the prophets of Palestine, and I cease
not to chant the truth.

I have learned the wisdom that descended on
India, and gained mastery over poetry that welled
from the Arabian’s heart, and hearkened to the
music of people from the West.
Yet am I blind and see not; my ears are stopped
and I do not hear.

I have borne the harshness of unsatiable
conquerors, and felt the oppression of tyrants and the
bondage of the powerful.
Yet am I strong to do battle with the days.
All this have I heard and seen, and I am yet a
child. In truth shall I hear and see the deeds of
youth, and grow old and attain perfection and
return to God.

I was,
And I am.
So shall I be to the end of time,
For I am without end.

 

 

There is no greater paradox,
then the awakening to a higher self,
for paradoxically it is losing the self,
in the realization that all is part of the higher self,
the higher state of being.

Exodus 3, 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Luke 17, 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

For that to happen one must first awaken to the realization that there is a higher reality.
A most perilous path for most will fall to the religious state, the law-man state. The belief that one will be saved by self-righteousness in the following of the law.
Instead one needs to learn that we are not saved by the letter of the law, but by the spirit of the law. The law makes sin know to us. We are called to fulfill the law by written it on our hearts, to love the other as oneself, a higher nature from which the law follows.

Is it possible with man to turn the other check? To not fight evil with evil? To love thy enemy? To love the other as oneself?

Mat 19, 26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
 
On the road to the higher self the mind has to give in to the experience, to surrender its precepts, air castles, ego and instead be infused with His inner light. Once the higher reality dawns, the things of this world turn out to be the vanity of vanities. 

Mat 6, 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Mat 13, 44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

The awakening to the higher self is also the reason behind the speaking in parables by Jesus, the reason of the meaning given to those within, those that hear and see, and those still outside.
The Gospel calls the awakening to the higher self the baptism with the spirit, the spiritual state or true Christianity as John Wesley called it.