The Method, Purpose and Means

Summary

When someone dear to us dies, we are in deep bereavement. This simple human truth in one sentence tells the complete story of our subject of study, the Person. Somewhere in history we knew some fantastic person who seemed to have been endowed with all good qualities and who was a perfect leader defending the values and natural religious lead of dharma - that is to say, of virtue, righteousness and duty to the cosmic order. And now He is there only in our memories, He, together with all our ancestors as their ruler of perfection, persists in the spirit so one says. We also remember Him as the protector of all those souls vowed to dharma - the believers, the followers, the adepts. He is usually known as a teacher of fundamental human standards and values. We received from Him precepts that we e.g. should not to lie, adulterate ('lose our quality or purity'), steal or kill. That are His main guidelines, and our law books in societies all around the globe reflect these truths fundamental to our humanity. That person, the King of Dharma, the King of Righteousness, the Emperor of Our True Nature and Naturalness, the Prophet of All prophets of the Great Person in Defense of Himself, has changed, and possibly will change again, the world during His stay on this globe. For ever and ever we keep remembering Him in His different manifestations in our religions, even though every religion knows Him by a different routine, prayer, ritual and name or names.
We said that the Person is a psychological necessity, an idealistic agent we absolutely need as a beacon to navigate upon. Some say that we because of that psychological need have made up this lordship for ourselves. He would be a myth, a literary construction or even a lie. In reality He, according to some cynics, might have been a schizophrenic carpenter, a fallen prince, a jealous guy, a heroic but gentle cowboy or an adamant cowherd and noble. Nevertheless, the scriptures called holy recounting His life, pastimes and teachings, constitute an historical claim that allows a scientific historical check. And many scholars studying the Person this way have concluded that He probably was among us as described, but that the record as passed down in history might have grown over time more into a mixture of myth, common wisdom, historical fact, allegory, spiritual politics and idealistic make-belief. These first books of mankind would constitute some kind of primitive encyclopedia, a collection of historical folk tales and wisdom, of ancient history in prose of the culture in question, fundamental to the identity of the civilization in question. Human honor in written text. It would always be more honorable to defend this collective belief in human and divine decency and cohesion as a believer, than to be in doubt about it as a heretic. A believer thou shall be..., simply out of modesty.
The collective of a certain culture has an ego, a superego we noted in alarm, that often demands respect for the Person the religious way, culminating in systems of social control. Thus He also casts a shadow for reason of being abused for other purposes than being the beacon for the self-realization of divine inner integrity. It is our human honor to believe in the Person, religiously or not. Everything known culturally about Him is contained in the sacred books and their corollary writings. The rest of our personal cultural proposals may be doubted as relative, sooner or later to be forgotten as a single page or chapter in history. But He, the Great Inspirer, is known as the Absolute Truth fundamental to all human and natural consciousness. Some say that these holy books containing so many lessons of history, constitute our first efforts to be scientific, to be comprehensive, systematic and lawful. Different testimonies are found in them to report about His One Nature, His words and His actions, but next to these accounts also not rarely many stories about the order of society, creation and our cosmological genesis are offered in these books. Half of the present population is convinced of the traditional value of these writings without taking them too literally. People certainly believe in Him because the memory of Him surviving history itself in contrast with lesser personalities and downright opponents, would be sufficient proof of His veracity to begin with. That what lasts must be true...
Meanwhile the other half of humanity not so happy with Him, is still in mourning about His actual absence or is else of denial being skeptical about His existence or reality as the One Ruling All. Non-believing one condemns the other-worldliness of His remote heavenly goal of a better world or paradise as being an excuse for not taking responsibility here and now in life. Some philosophers  referring to the attitude and culture of belief, speak of a slave mentality or of treason to the cause of authenticity. Many of them say that He, this Supposed Controller in the Sky, cannot be real, or of any influence, for why else would there be so much misery in the world? Of course, with them neglecting the fact that to go, with our free will, for something like His presence within, makes that something of Him real and that one moving away from Him in the spirit - or from anything else for that matter - evidently makes it all unreal and unwanted or even hellish,  they are confirmed in their non-belief as good as the believers are confirmed in their belief. Thus, with each being confirmed by his own purpose in this duality, it becomes clear that to state that believers are some kind of escapists, is not quite logical. That would, psycho-analytically spoken, then be more a projection of one's own depression of failing on Him. But let us not argue on matters like the taste of life and its Cause. They who want Him and seek Him will also find Him.
Without insight in these matters, in disbelief, the question would be 'What is going on in our lives psychologically?' Are we unconsciously mourning the absence of the actual presence of the culture of the Ideal Person of Social Coherence, and in pain because of the failures in political leadership the way we described them in the previous Inspiration? Are we actually immature little children with a regressive problem of not willing to grow up and face our own absence as persons believing in other persons? Would we not have an emancipation problem when we believe in Him? When it would be the purpose to forget about Him, like forgetting about the roadmap once one has achieved one's destiny, is it then not clear that we are not done with Him? One can be in great doubt, even as a fallen believer, about whether He, as said, would be the Ideal of Humanity, whether He would be the One whom we may never forget and always must find our modesty with. Previously, we as a believer analyzed theism, gnosis and spirituality together with their counterparts of atheism, agnosticism and materialism in Inspiration 10, where we were talking about attachment and the qualities of progress. When we despite of those insights, being of belief, then still are caught in fear and despondency of not seeing Him anymore being faced with all our human corruption and foolishness with which we spoil this planet, what should we do then? Is it possible that we maybe are just poorly informed about the entire stack of holy books concerning His life and teachings throughout history? Are we maybe too much fixed on but one of His manifestations in culture, on only one of His chapters in the book of the history of mankind? Books - or files or websites these days - are supposed to help us as adults when we are in need of information. In this book we take this latter stand and do hope that, with these Inspirations, one may find the spiritual strength needed for reading the Story of the Fortunate One they sprouted from. For this book is relatively unknown, strange, or, rather, only known as a sectarian script that must be ignored. But it is an Indian classic, not a sectarian invention. This person, the writer of these pages and translator of that book, hopes to share the insights that he as a Western yoga convert has acquired from this magnificent unparalleled book of classical wisdom. These writings are as such nothing but a stepping stone to the solid work they are built upon and guided by. 

Thus far we have discussed a number of inspirations in which we followed a certain course of reasoning. Looking at the subjects covered one may wonder where we are heading. The book is about the Person and, being inspired a by another book called the Story of The Fortunate One, it has a fixed course. Consulting that book it indeed becomes clear where we are heading, but finding our own words to it in these pages, the outcome is less certain, so it seems, for at first we leave the book to speak for itself without suggesting any interpretation. From an independent position, without consulting the Other Book, we are less self-determined though than the Book itself.

The personal experiences of this writer are quite different from the experiences of the original writer of this Great Book, and thus inevitably they will result in a different story, for we want the principle of self-realization and authenticity to be respected. In fact there is no such thing as a standard way of relating to Him in the form of this Book of Books. The relation between the Person and the person we all are, has its own history and is similar to the one between a hand and a glove. The Person in the Beyond is us, the hand that moves us, inspires us and directs us, but we, the ones moved and inspired, the glove, are not the Greatest Person. This is a gnostic faith. It builds on this primal duality of the Great Doer and us, the ones done, the ones more or less beset with our consent and/or resistance against Him as Father Time - the impersonal title He is also popularly known by (and yes, He confirms that in His books). He is not only the great Conditioner of Absolute Time, has also, as the One Source of Consciousness, the Overview, the Vision, the Glance and the Breath, while we, as individuals, are limited in our consciousness by our looking away from Him in enjoying the benefits of our material existence and associated fruitive labor. In the diverse perspectives that we - or better stated He - developed therewith, we now want to unite us with the term ànd the practice of what we called filognosy, the love for the knowledge of self-realization that we in these pages expound on.

The advantage of this course of action is that we are more up to date with the Person in these pages, but the disadvantage is that, with what is written, we are less of the Absolute and more of the relative of this person, of the limitations of this writer. We as a standard fear the politicization and mere opinion that so often in history caused harm to the divine cause, but have faith in the tradition that handed down the Book as-it-is. Therefore we in these pages, believe in this guidance of Him, who is there as the Other Book. We believe that everything will be revealed to the sincere seeker of Himself. When we with regular meditation stay properly focussed on Him we will, with the help of both this Grand Story of His Fortune and the help of the support to it of a disciplic succession of gurus and pupils, certainly succeed. We said by this tradition: we are the quality of the Person, but not His quantity. The complete of the Person is more than the sum of His parts and parcels - us persons - just like a hand relates to an individual finger. The complete of nature is involved in the presence of His hand constituting the one grip; the flora, the fauna, the macrocosmos and the microcosmos, the spiritual world and the material world. The Person of the Book who is the Book stands for the integrity and underlying cause of all creation, the original doer or mover. He as the Absolute of Time, is the Cause of all Causes. The Person of Him, and also the person of you and me as a devotee, according to our Inspirations, needs more attention, for He and His adherence constitutes our coherence and integrity, our quality and happiness, our refuge and salvation. We, as smaller persons, must not disappear in the impersonalism and voidism of not having Him as a clear lead. The Person is the purpose we all belong to, while the means, like money and power, must not be the purpose. We said in the previous Inspiration about the political spectrum that taking the means for an end is corruption and constitutes the wrong course. But what exactly would the means of this great Integrity, this Personal Coherence of Knowledge be? And how, that is, by what method or logic, would we  arrive at such an inventory in the first place? 

So firstly let us see what the course of our method of reasoning, this type of logic, entails. From the Western perspective we have the rational method of philosophy saying that first of all we should doubt and take nothing for granted, that next we should divide matters in manageable portions, that thirdly we should assign a certain order to that division to cover the complexity of reality, and that at last we should try to be comprehensive, to involve everything in our vision. Thus the truth can be attained. The Eastern version of this course of logic (called nyāyika) is first to have a thesis, a statement that needs to be proven, let us say: Time is causal. Then one needs to express doubt, a counter thesis saying e.g. Time might just be relative, a consequence. Then one should arrive at an opposing argument, saying for instance: Time is causal, because otherwise the universe could not exist. Then one is supposed to arrive at a conclusion, like saying: There must be a cause of the universe you can address with the word time, but probably another expression like Absolute Time is better to cover all relative time phenomena in the universe. Then one should, according to this methodical logic, conclude with a summary like: There are two forms of time: Absolute Time is the cause and the relative time of observable universal dynamics is the consequence.
In the Western rationalist style the argument would run as follows: I doubt that time is simply relative. Then the rational approach advises to divide the matter in relative time and some 'other time'. Then one should try to assign a certain order to these two positions so as to describe its complexity: 'Relative time has three dimensions, length, width, hight. The 'other time' must be another dimension. Then we should arrive at a comprehensive point of view by incorporating as much as we can, like saying: Matter is three dimensional relative time that tries to contain form by gravity - that is, internal attraction or contraction - and space is the fourth dimension that is causal, always expansively working inside out. Space, time and matter is all there is, and thus being comprehensive we arrived at truth.
Both approaches are rationalistic missing the point of filognosy. They are heading for knowledge without being clear about the purpose of the person, except for the terms of comprehension or completeness. They are impersonal terms and therefore always represent half of the truth. The person, as we saw in Inspiration 11 is a manifestation of the cosmic absolute, the ultimate of comprehension, who is the Original Person. Therefore the method followed in this book is different. It is more a form of reasoning one could call, analogous to a 'purpose economy', a 'purpose philosophy', without therewith speaking of a personalistic approach that condemns the impersonal with a schism (is identified with an -ism). In such an approach of logic that is anthropic, we first have a statement of the problem, then we have an inventory of aspects involved, then we assign a certain order that is comprehensive, and then we arrive at a statement involving the person. With the same subject of survey we then anthropically would say: The problem of time is that the causality of it is not registered by clocks, only the regularity. Then we say for an inventory: Causality can be personal and impersonal, absolute and relative, and work from the inside out and from the outside in. What follows is a statement of order combining the elements comprehensively in response to the initial problem. So there is likely an organic and nonorganic mechanism of time that combined in relativity might be sensitive to the Absolute Cause that possibly works inside out  throughout the cosmos and thus reveals the causality we are looking for. The concluding statement than would be The Person willing as the Operator of Time can be proven as the source of all life and relative time in a setup involving organic and mechanical principles.' The truth of this filognostic logic thus leads to an experimental situation to put the theory of this logic to a test. This type of reasoning we consider more clear, honest and true, because the proof of the person is the motive here, while the means to it in the sense of knowledge and power are only instrumental to that outcome. Whether this filognostic method leads to better science remains to be seen in book three and four of this series, wherein the first book covers indeed this method in an explanation of the conceptual framework that is supported by a tradition and the second book covers the theory resulting therefrom that needs to be put into practice.

Now that the method is clear, we can say more about the means and the purpose. The purpose of the person in terms of various forms of intelligence was realized by the description of the complete of the six filognostic visions of intelligence as indicated in Inspiration 3. The aim is the Person as the full integrity of intelligence in every filognostic aspect. But about the means we have to arrive at an equally clear and comprehensive division according to our method. With that inventory of means we have to arrive at an order that combines them with, and justifies them by, the different filognostic perspectives. There are two options of error here: one can be foolish in connecting the means with the wrong purposes, like using one's power of influence for becoming a politician instead of submitting one's influence to the greater glory of the Person a in a scientific context. The other type of error is to be corrupt with the means by going for the means instead of the purpose by e.g. using scientific power to become rich, like seems to happen these days in e.g. the pharmaceutical industry or weapons industry. When we free from corruption and foolishness have the means at our disposition, we are optimally equipped for attaining the Person of Integrity we are after and need to relate to. Thus we then may find happiness, peace and  justice in our lives. The means of the Person are also known as His wealth, that is to say, as true wealth. We arrive at them by following their service to the primal division of filognosy in the sense of facts, principles and persons.
First of all, concerning the facts we are in need of knowledge and power. The questions offering themselves here are: 'What are we dealing with factually?' and 'How can we be in control with the facts in the sense of being free from illusion?' When know the facts, we are still left with the organization of knowledge about those facts, to which we always have the central question of their causality and structure. It is about the logic like we exercise in this book. How do the facts cohere and how do we think about their cause? We then face the different ways toward the truth in the sense of direct perception, inference and revelation as discussed in Inspiration 11. About the facts realized from our sense input, we are not quite sure whether they are all true. Like we said in Inspiration 8, we may see a snake, but our senses can deceive us in precaution making a snake of the input where there in reality is a rope. So supposed facts, in order to be objective or manifest, require the power of proof, for we are psychological beings subject to faults, wishful thinking and fears. Only then, with the facts perceived ànd with a proof of their reality, their objectivity, we are in touch with the reality we share and thus have the power to engage meaningfully and effectively. Knowledge we develop with the logic of a certain philosophy like in our case with a purpose philosophy. Power and control one develops with science: to measure is to know.

Secondly, concerning the principles, we have two motives that operate as the two basic means to arrive at a transcendental position above the facts that makes the knowledge and control of them possible. The first motive is that of harmony, a realization of order we experience as beauty. In order to master the duality of the material world, we need to transcend, but that only works if we are not caught in some ego of this or that type of schism. To realize the beauty of creation is an important principle for attaining transcendental fulfillment. For that purpose we have to meditate on a mantra like 'nor this. nor that' so as to oversee the duality and perceive and be able to appreciate its natural harmony. The beauty of this harmony an artist may display in his work, the painter may create an attractive painting with it and the musician may compose an attractive piece of music. Beauty is the guideline, the means here, but not the purpose, and also in education when a teacher explains something he assumes the position of an artist to present everything in one picture that clarifies the comprehensive harmony and truth of the subject.
Next to the beauty of a certain harmony of manifestation as a basic means of transcendence there is renunciation. For the time of one's meditation one has to withdraw oneself from the world - choose for this principle of non-manifestation - and turn the attention inward. There, inside of oneself, the Eternal Witness of All Qualities is found. This turning away from the world is an act of renunciation. Correctly performed it will free energy which can bring about a blissful state of rapture and inner peace. What exactly that correct performance entails we will discuss later. Renunciation for certain is a necessary means to transcend the world of dualities.
Then, thirdly, we arrive at the manifest and non-manifest means of the material person. The person is known first of all by his reputation, also called his fame, name or renown. We know this or that person by his actions, his way of thinking and his speech. Fame, as far as a positive image is concerned, is clearly a result, a manifestation, of dharma - a word these days found in the dictionary. Otherwise we speak of notoriety, or of being famous for a-dharma or bad qualities, or of a corruption of one's character, or else of qualities that divide us and do not unite us. Normal persons we know by a mix of good and bad qualities, but the positive qualities we trust for being part of the Great Person of All Qualities. Lesser qualities can be forgiven as long as essential good qualities are there. Nobody is endowed with All His Qualities. Cheaters, knowing this, often attract by a false show of good qualities, or else in envy elevate themselves with the denouncing of others for their bad qualities, for normally we trust each other for our good qualities as the key to the Supreme of the Person. Fame is, as said, to be known as a means and not as a purpose. Normal people normally do not praise each other highly. General human fame is celebrated by traditions that center about the great moral guides of this or that religion. But if one joins a religious ceremony in order to become such a famous person oneself, one is evidently mistaken or simply corrupted in one's motives. With religions we reserve the concept of fame for the Person of All Holiness, just to keep us all modest servants of the cause. If at the other hand one with fame e.g. imagines to have more easily a career in politics, that would be foolish, for being famous in sports or writing does not directly make one a good politician.
Last but not least there is the manifestation of riches. In order to take responsibility for the concrete person, to engage with His fame does not suffice, for also His riches are required, to attain the Person, of All Peace, especially the distribution of these riches. The best example of a common virtuous practice of managing riches in respect of the person is what normally governments do. They collect taxes and distribute that wealth by state subsidies of subventions for all kinds of public projects and people. The redistribution of riches as maintained under the guidance of justice and wisdom, is one of the most important functions of a government. Private property consisting of accumulated riches or capital, must be properly taxed by governments or else the opulent persons must always be urged - or even forced - to be engaged in philanthropic projects. It is better of course as was stated in Inspiration 13, to institute basic incomes and maximum incomes. But considering the majority enjoying the old Democracy 1.0 and the illusions of freedom and victory belonging to that, one for the time being will have to donate for good purposes like being another private civil ministry in a field the government does not properly cover, or like serving as a secondary or auxiliary administrator of the government. Rich people are not always happy about this social duty, because riches in a dharmic sense imply that one has to accept responsibility for the community. Economy is a social science after all. Money is a communal thing created to reinforce desired behavior and penalize unwanted behavior, and it must flow, for it is a means of exchange. Riches constitute a burden thus that obliges to think properly about a behavioral program, and therefore neither rich people, nor poor people unable to take financial responsibility, belong to the happiest in society. The poor suffer all kinds of want they cannot simply be blamed for, and the rich suffer the social burden they did not directly choose for but are morally obliged to.
Corrupt governments consist of people with schemes of becoming rich instead of leading the community to general wealth and well-being. Bad politicians are the ones who are of financial abuse in their political position. It is one the main reasons why they fall down. At the other hand being foolish with riches would be e.g. to engage one's riches to become a religious leader by financing a religious institute. The first Pope of Rome was a converted emperor who centuries later as such had a difficult time in reconsidering his administrative claim. This confusion of religious and political purposes happened as early as the first centuries of Rome before the Christian era. But a religious leader who has to inspire for inner peace, cannot directly be a political leader who has to step into the fray, even though politicians tend to preach civil morality and priests tend to engage in diplomacy for the sake of material interests. The latter form of corruption with the Person, was the main reason of the fall-down and fragmentation of the Christian Church in reformist movements directly after the Middle Ages. State and church, the material and spiritual interest, therefore should be separated we know these days. But more about this subject later. As for now it is important to remember that to attain the Person, as the full comprehension of respecting facts, principles and persons, means that one has essentially six basic forms of wealth or opulence at one's disposition: knowledge, power, beauty, renunciation, fame and riches. The art of life in filognosy consists of engaging the right means for the correct purpose and not to corrupt. To be corrupt or to be a fool can never be the conscious desire of someone who wants to be happy.

Source for this Inspiration:
S.B. Canto 1, Chapter 14