In Mouravieff's Gnosis it was most interesting to read M's overview about the individual stages in "esoteric evolution". Everyone who studies Book I chapter XX section 17 ff. can get an approximate overview about the extent of work that is ahead of us, and an approximate idea at which stage he/she is at the moment.
Attached to this post is a diagram (Fig. 57 in the book) which shows the individual stages (you have to be logged in to see the attachment):
In short: The 10 stages correspond to a musical octave, including barriers between half-steps which can be difficult to overcome and serve as "thresholds" or "shocks". The note DO on the far right is the maximum possible evolution for man in our 'cosmos'. M explains:
This stage describes a very high and very rare degree of evolution. It is probably not yet relevant for most of us. So, let's begin from the left:
Stage I (DO) is exterior man, who is happy in regular life (enjoys "bourgeois happiness"), or has just begun assimilating 'B' influences.
M explains what happens at stage II (which is the "first Threshold"):
As M explains earlier in the book, this choice becomes visible to us only during a certain 'crossroads', a moral or spiritual bankrupcy or crisis. There, we effectively become disillusioned about exterior life and realize that its "bourgeois happiness" will just end in death with nothing remaining. Hopefully, we can make this choice consciously, because, as M says:
After crossing this first Threshold, the so-called "staircase" (notes SI, LA, SOL and FA in the diagram) begins. It is not yet The Way proper, but it is merely the Path of Access to it. Especially interesting is when M says that once one is on this staircase, there is limited time allotted to each step:
He doesn't explain what it means, or how it manifests, when a step "gives way". Maybe it leads to a general degeneration of the individual? The idea that there is "limited time" is also mentioned by G, only in relation to society at large:
Anyway, the task on the "staircase" is the following, and it has pitfalls, as M continues:
Here we learn about "karmic debt" that has to be expunged. We are prompted to resolve as much as possible -- before and during the "staircase". It seems that "karmic debt" especially has to do with people close to us (especially family). Interestingly, this topic has been brought up in a recent Cassiopaean session (Dec 6 2014). Apparently, failing to do so leads to "leaking of energy" and a general degeneration of the individual.
After the staircase comes the second Threshold, also called the Second Birth. M describes it:
So, our time for progress on the staircase seems to be limited. However, M also says that there is, in theory, enough time to reach the higher sections of the Way in one lifetime:
For anyone having evolution as personal goal, this gives a bit of hope because it seems reachable and doable in principle. But of course, when something is possible in principle does not mean that it happens by default or is the general case. We should, however, (in G's terms) 'wish' for it. If we 'wish', we 'can'.
Attached to this post is a diagram (Fig. 57 in the book) which shows the individual stages (you have to be logged in to see the attachment):
In short: The 10 stages correspond to a musical octave, including barriers between half-steps which can be difficult to overcome and serve as "thresholds" or "shocks". The note DO on the far right is the maximum possible evolution for man in our 'cosmos'. M explains:
This stage describes a very high and very rare degree of evolution. It is probably not yet relevant for most of us. So, let's begin from the left:
Stage I (DO) is exterior man, who is happy in regular life (enjoys "bourgeois happiness"), or has just begun assimilating 'B' influences.
M explains what happens at stage II (which is the "first Threshold"):
As M explains earlier in the book, this choice becomes visible to us only during a certain 'crossroads', a moral or spiritual bankrupcy or crisis. There, we effectively become disillusioned about exterior life and realize that its "bourgeois happiness" will just end in death with nothing remaining. Hopefully, we can make this choice consciously, because, as M says:
After crossing this first Threshold, the so-called "staircase" (notes SI, LA, SOL and FA in the diagram) begins. It is not yet The Way proper, but it is merely the Path of Access to it. Especially interesting is when M says that once one is on this staircase, there is limited time allotted to each step:
He doesn't explain what it means, or how it manifests, when a step "gives way". Maybe it leads to a general degeneration of the individual? The idea that there is "limited time" is also mentioned by G, only in relation to society at large:
In Search of the Miraculous said:
Anyway, the task on the "staircase" is the following, and it has pitfalls, as M continues:
Here we learn about "karmic debt" that has to be expunged. We are prompted to resolve as much as possible -- before and during the "staircase". It seems that "karmic debt" especially has to do with people close to us (especially family). Interestingly, this topic has been brought up in a recent Cassiopaean session (Dec 6 2014). Apparently, failing to do so leads to "leaking of energy" and a general degeneration of the individual.
After the staircase comes the second Threshold, also called the Second Birth. M describes it:
So, our time for progress on the staircase seems to be limited. However, M also says that there is, in theory, enough time to reach the higher sections of the Way in one lifetime:
For anyone having evolution as personal goal, this gives a bit of hope because it seems reachable and doable in principle. But of course, when something is possible in principle does not mean that it happens by default or is the general case. We should, however, (in G's terms) 'wish' for it. If we 'wish', we 'can'.
