Marking and Tracing

The eternal questions are “Who am I?”, “Where have I come from”, and “Where am I going?”. These can be applied to some of the most immediate of our experiences: our own thoughts and emotions. Ann Ree said,

Niscience is based upon the Marking and Tracing techniques that enable one to experience his frame of consciousness within the Greater Archetypes. One who works within the Greater Archetypes becomes a “Nisciene” beyond nescience or unknowing.

She describes Marking and Tracing as follows,

The first stages of initiation are tracings. These are one’s chief negatives he must work with when he starts on the Path. Markings are divine signs and grace-reassurances experienced during illumination. When one receives a marking, he has attained a station in light through which he will serve as a pure and whole channel, that God may use him. One moves from marking to marking as he evolves in God-Realization.

The sanskrit word for “Mark” is lingam, which is also translated as “sign” or “inference”. (Interpretations of the lingam as a phallic symbol, said Ann Ree, are erroneous.) In one version of a Hindu myth involving their version of the Trinity, Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu, Vishnu and Brahma were arguing as to who was greatest. Siva appeared as a lingam from which emanated an infinite column of light, piercing the the three worlds. Whoever found the end of the column first would be declared the more powerful. Brahma went upwards trying to find the end, and Vishnu descended trying to find the other end. Neither was successful, though Brahma received a Ketaki flower, supposed to have fallen from the top, as a token.

These divine markings and tokens are thus shown to be from the Infinite.

The majority of us are pulled hither and yon by forces we little understand. Thoughts that we believe are our own are in many cases the result of collective forces from the emotional or astral world, survival reflexes from earlier genesis levels, habits etched in from repetition in past lives, or habits and reflexes inherited through the genes. Ann Ree went so far as to say that most thoughts of the average man are not his own.

To the extent that we even recognize what thoughts aren't our own, it is essential to distinguish between those coming from higher and lower sources. The higher thoughts that we eventually make our own can be identified by their long term consequences and whether they serve selfish or glamor ends.

When we are in a state of heated emotion, it is difficult to see things clearly. We attribute things to others that aren’t there. We fail to see ourselves reflected in others and they, likewise, are pulled into the same reactions. Ann Ree wrote,

Through the practice of Marking and Tracing with detachment, one can slow down the rajasic, heated thought-forms in his thinking. In the spilling out, Undersoul casts its unrest upward into the screen of the emotion and the mind. By standing back from this with a cool detachment, one can clear the Undersoul with total awareness. From this come humility, flexibility, and chastity.

Nescience, the opposite of Niscience or knowing, is where we are trapped in a habit-bound mechanistic state of the mind. Certain cultivated mechanical strengths of the mind are true necessary supports and can be very beneficial, but they are not always flexible enough to handle every situation. That twinkling quality that makes us living, creative beings comes from a higher “plus factor”. Without this, intellect mechanisms become as sounding brass or tinkling cymbals and it's initially impressive gains prove to be either of no lasting effect, or, followed too assiduously, they may actually enslave us, becoming our masters - as much of technology does today. “Time saving” devices, for example, leave many with even less time than they had before, for they save time only in order to pursue more perishables or engage in maintenance of the perishables they have hoarded.

The “plus factor” that takes us beyond repetition is ever before us waiting to be grasped. Ann Ree wrote,

There are voices uncountable in this earth seeking to sound into the mind and knowing of man. Men are dull and spiritually illiterate because they are inattentive to the Spirit side of their hierarchy natures. Millions in the earth today are no more than sentient vegetables, living to eat, to sleep. Above all, they desire to be safe. The teacher who asks such ones, “Safe, from what?” is met by bewilderment and hostility. No one in the world is totally secure from the Maya unpredictability forces unless he has knowledge of what these forces are saying.

We are assured by the great sages that many of the truly beneficial inventions and ideas that have come through the agency of finite minds were invisibly inspired by merciful higher sources. I would like to give some examples.

Thomas Paine, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers wrote,

There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.

Several ideas in his pamphlets published during the American Revolution, he admitted, were in second category. Some believe that they were impressed onto him by higher beings responsible for the archetype of America.

Carl Jung wrote, “... there are things in the psyche which I do not produce, but which produce themselves and have their own life.” He spoke about an inner figure called Philemon, who personified an objective (non-subjective) part of his psyche. In conversations with Philemon, he observed clearly that Philemon spoke, not himself. Jung described one conversation,

He (Philemon) said that I treated thoughts as if I generated them myself, but in his view thoughts were like animals in the forest, or people in a room, or birds in the air, and added, ‘If you should see people in a room, you would not think that you made those people.’

I was introduced to Ann Ree’s writings at around age 10, met Ann Ree at 11, and received my grace name at 12. In my late teens I did not attend services or her classes. At that age I had not developed a sense of responsibility and also took the rare opportunity I had been given for granted, thinking that everything in my world would always be there. For all the reasons I should have availed myself of the rare privilege of her guiding presence, the one that actually pushed me to do so was a peculiar one. One day a few years later, a thought struck me like a thunderbolt: receiving my grace name was so important in my life that I must repay that gift by supporting her great mission in the world as best I could. I didn’t know much about grace names then, or the power of words and names, but after I once again sat at her feet, Ann Ree saw fit to assign me several talks on the manifesting power of the Word and Sound Current: “Logos and Articulation”, “The Invisible made Visible”, “Shadows of Things to Come”.

For a final example of markings, Alice Bailey’s “Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle” the Tibetan has an account of the telepathy from Master Serapis, who

... sought to bring through some constructive idea for the helping of humanity ... one of [the] disciples on the inner planes, seized upon the suggestion and passed it on (or rather stepped it down) until it registered in the brain of Colonel House [in Woodrow Wilson's cabinet]. He, not recording the source (of which he was totally unaware), passed it on in turn to that sixth ray aspirant, called Woodrow Wilson.

The League of Nations was, alas, ahead of humanity’s readiness at the time and failed due to the weakness of its aspirants.

The phrasing that the intermediate disciple “stepped it down” is very interesting, as the stepping down of volume and power to tributary channels is part of we call in Niscience, mediation. We do not have the high revelatory degree of Ann Ree, but if we have been able to prove some portion of her teachings in our lives, it is our duty to pass it in the vernacular of our experience to others. We are channels of mediation in our daily lives and testimonies through character or action, though not always knowingly.

Elihu, who according to Ann Ree represented Job’s soul voice, said

But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.

Job 32:8

So how do we practice marking and tracing? For tracings, one way is to observe our thoughts and reactions to see where they come from - especially if we sense that we are off balance or that our mental reflexes are not adapted fully to the present and particular situations.

At other times we have a marking, a thought that “comes from the blue” and is very helpful. It may come with no prompting whatsoever, but it can come in a state of rest after we have exhausted ourselves trying to find an answer through our well-worn way of thinking. It is as if the calmness we experience after giving up our habitual ways of thinking - and perhaps also the releasing of our mental pride - allows a greater voice to be heard. Great souls are able to maintain this calmness, releasing ego claim and desiring, for greater and more continuous intervals than rest of us. They are alert to the voice of God speaking though all persons and all circumstances.

I love this quote of Jung,

... if some great idea takes hold of us from outside, we must understand that it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to it and goes out to meet it.  Richness of mind consists in mental receptivity, not in the accumulation of possessions.  What comes to us from outside, and, for that matter, everything that rises up from within, can only be made our own if we are capable of an inner amplitude equal to that of the incoming content.

Yogananda also wrote of the source of true thoughts,

Thoughts are universally and not individually rooted; a truth cannot be created, but only perceived. Any erroneous thought of man is a result of an imperfection, large or small, in his discernment. The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may hear the infallible counsel of the Inner Voice.

Marking and Tracing are for the purpose of sifting the true gems from ordinary stones in our thoughts. Making a setting for the gems, nicely called “amplification” by Jung, is how we make them our own and integrate the into our being.

Sacrifice

All lasting and indestructible things are purchased by sacrifice, industry, and faith in God.

- Ann Ree Colton

 A virtuous man’s sacrifice is acceptable; its memorial will not be forgotten.

- Ecclesiasticus 35:8

These are powerful statements and should give each person pause as he contemplates what spiritual gold he would extract from his life.

The truest gifts we give are those that we are willing to sacrifice for. These are the things that we value the most and these are the offerings that have the most love in them.

If life places us in situations that demand sacrifice it should not prompt resentment, but joy - provided the sacrifice is truly necessary for some good. Necessity is corrective grace in disguise, because we are spared unnecessary future suffering and are given an opportunity to move toward the divine rightness that we have been blind to.

I am thinking of the many sacrifices made by mothers in the world; sacrifices of time, career, opportunity. I am thinking of the sacrifices of fathers who work at jobs that aren’t fulfilling but which provide the necessities for their families. And of course I am thinking of the sacrifice of Jesus at His crucifixion.

All of these surely have their compensation and are well worth the cost. If one has a true sense of values the sacrifice is no sacrifice at all, for the gain in the world is so great and lasting. And God, who waits to see what we offer truly and sincerely without seeking reward itself, rewards us.

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

(Mat 6:3-4)

It may seem paradoxical that sacrifice is so tied to joy, but it only seems so if one is unwilling in sacrifice and focuses on what is lost. Such sacrifice is not true sacrifice, and conversely true sacrifice is not the sad sacrifice of regret. A spiritual joy can coexist with temporary sorrow. Seeing maya as temporary makes its struggles bearable - even joyfully bearable.

To come under a Most High Saint one must be obedient without deviation to his yoke of adversity. He must know sacrifice as a natural way of life; nor can he complain of his lack of any human thing. He must be so engrossed in the winged angels in the Christ Kingdom that, while suffering, he is in a continual state of grace. Therefore he sees sacrifice as not sacrifice. To these, the Most High Saints come with the oils of holiness - crowning and blessing forever.

The Jesus Story

After a few thousand lives, it gradually dawns on the initiate that the things most of the world seeks after are fleeting and produce no lasting happiness. A prescient conscience avoids the cycle of enchantment followed by disappointment as the monotony of this cycle is remembered. Regret fades as we are able to look to the future and trust in the good law of God.

Law, balance and justice are under the fourth light stream. The yoke side of the law leads to grace and is “light” as Jesus said,

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

(Mat 11:28-30)

All great souls do not look back once they have glimpsed their destiny. The sacrifices to fulfill what is asked of them are as nothing compared to the delight of opening the treasures of their path. Jung spoke of the yoke in this way

Free will is the ability to do gladly that which I must do.

In Watch Your Dreams, Ann Ree says that the number four relates to “Karma, sacrifice, the builder, Cherubim”. And this image of the square in The Venerable One shows how the square of sacrifice produces the stones for the road ahead:

In great cities, disciples receive a testing as to the great symbol of the square, as of sacrifice, in which disciples – as beautiful stones – become the path for the walk of the many feet.

The great Builders of our world sealed into every block of form a latent energy. To free that energy is our millennial task. Nature will not wield up its riches until we learn to seek the things hidden behind the commonplace events heaved onto the shores of our destiny. They are the building blocks which will eventually house our soul.

As a counter pole to those seeking escape from our earthly schooling, the alchemists conceived of a spirit Mercurius, who as Jung put it, was

… a sapientia Dei (Wisdom of God), but one who presses downward into the depths of matter, and whose acquisition is a donum Spiritus Sancti (gift of the Holy Spirit). He is the spirit who knows the secrets of matter, and to possess him brings illumination …

Mysterium Coniunctionis

Without this sensing of our task in the earth school, we flounder in vacillation, always looking for that detour away from the line of our life -a short cut that is no short cut. I find these words of the Master to Ann Ree on the fourth vow, the vow of decision, to be particularly interesting:

“Decision” is thy fourth vow. When sacrifice hath become not sacrifice, the authority of instantaneous decision is given to thee. That which speaketh “now or never” is the soul’s timing freeing thee from karma.

Though Ann Ree had a few moments of false steps in the early and middle parts of her life, she always had a sense of destiny that corrected her steps and kept her going forward. That same thread is our Ariadne’s thread leading us out of the labyrinth of maya.

Cosmic Christ

Jesus, the Lord of Love and Son of Man, may be experienced in three manners: first, as the personal Jesus; second, as the traditional Jesus; third, as the cosmic Jesus.

The Jesus Story

Most people who have been taught in formal religions have experienced Jesus in the first two manners. Often He is someone to get them out of some undesirable situation or help a loved one. His earthly deeds are also inspiring to many who emulate his sacrificial giving. These are very good and part of the plan. But I grieve over the scant attention to the cosmic Jesus on the altars of the world.

Ann Ree writes of the cosmic Jesus,

Initiation into cosmic Jesus is a confrontation with the spiritual reality of man’s sublime and divine nature, and of God’s eternal plan for souls and worlds without end.
Through the cosmic-Jesus initiation, one attains the soul crown of illumination. To be initiated under the cosmic Jesus with cognition and consciousness is to be in a state of increasing illumination and revelation. To know Him with a supernal non-separateness is to thirst and desire to serve Him beyond all others.

The Jesus Story

To think on the cosmic Jesus means many things, but one of them is to go beyond reacting to our immediate concerns and troubles so that we can divine our destiny, purpose, and part in this earthly drama. When we place our earthly affairs into the context of our cosmic learning, we invite the informing principle. We begin to see many clues as to what buds of destiny within us have yet to be opened.

Through most of my blessed times with Ann Ree in Niscience, the way I defined myself was pretty limited. I was interested in only a few things. And, like most people my young age, relied a bit too much on reflections of myself off others. Naturally, God uses others as a mirror to us and to teach us through reflection, so this is not altogether bad. In fact, it is a necessary stage of life.

We might compare this limited way of evolving to fitting the pieces of a jig saw puzzle together without a picture of the final image as a guide. It is certainly possible to complete the puzzle this way, but the process is longer and full of more needless experimentation. Worse yet would be to have a false picture and follow it.
Ann Ree served as a spiritual guide. Her style with me and many others was to give hints at our latent abilities and weaknesses, but nothing that our limited consciousness would bend into old familiar shapes. She told us that the greater teachers speak to the higher unconscious of their students. I have returned again and again to the all-too-few times that I heard her blessed personal words to me. These have continued to open to me.

Applying the same technique with the seed truths that Jesus left us through those who recorded the scriptures can yield greater results and can be a cosmic guide to the grand puzzle we are a part of. They have seven levels of interpretation according to Ann Ree. But most commentaries have penetrated only the lower veils of interpretation. That His words have more to them than the ephemeral meanings of the age was hinted at when He said,

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Another aspect of knowing the cosmic Jesus is awareness of His part in plan with the Great Ones who rule the earth’s destiny. These have been hinted at in the Bible, but have needed the commentary by the lesser and greater avatars who have come after Him.

Ann Ree writes of these Great Ones:

Jesus, the center of Mediation between man and God, knew God as no man of the earth has known Him. The Ancient of Days expanded eternity time into cosmos time for Jesus, that Jesus might accomplish His mission in a short period of three years. Melchisedec helped Him to alter the etheric currents of the earth. The Father sustained His restoring of the souls of men. The Christ animated His imaging thoughts. The Cherubim worked with Him to translate one energy into another, or to release the energy within the atoms of food, thereby giving yield and increase for the hungry thousands.

The Jesus Story

All of these mediative actions are also part of our evolvement: use of time, imaging, transubstantiation and use of substance. They can be used reverently to further our learning and serving in this life and prepare us for our future destiny, or they can be used selfishly or indulgently.

Through the human Jesus that incarnated as a babe, matured, and died, we see how He mastered the cosmic energies that God gave us in this earth. He voluntarily assumed human form with human weaknesses not because He had to, but so that He could demonstrate by example how we can rise above hungers, cruelties, and all of the contesting energies that can be harnessed to shape us.

In my white paper for this month, Ann Ree wrote,

By thoughts on cosmic force as a major motivator in each life and in the next life, he sees his sojourn on earth as a place to master cosmic force as a master mind-craftsman utilizing the complex intricacies of life. He sees that God is not a God of force, yet gives to man cosmic forces to master.

Dedication 119

We so unaware of these forces and think of everything personally that we sometimes react with feelings of “bad luck” or “I’m so terrible” rather than looking upon initiation as the raw material for channeling the forces we unknowingly fall victim to.

Jesus was unwavering in his meeting the discordant forces in the world. His strength can be ours if we enter into initiation without railing against the contesting forces.

One never retires from the spiritual life if he has moved with the holy acceptance of the contesting trials. As he matures in knowledge and years, he becomes a solace and a bulwark to those who crave to touch the holy proximity of an unwavering spiritual person.

Ann Ree Colton

Jesus was a master over the whole cosmos. I love this description of a vision of Jesus by Yogananda on December 27, 1943:

In spite of writing on my book, I went to meditate. I thought I would never come out of ecstasy. Our meditation day was eight hours long. Jesus came three times, once as a child in the crib of light, and as a young man, and twice as He looked before crucifixion. In His eyes trembled the command of the Universe.

While all of us have times when we have to put the microscope on particulars, it can be done with losing sight of the importance of our little lives in God’s grand plan. Ann Ree said that each person is as essential to His Plan as the mightiest star. Recognizing this is not a cause for ego inflation, but a cause for taking our responsibility seriously and giving our whole effort as if the whole world depended upon us.

For each thing mastered in this stage of our earthly sojourn, there await millions beyond that. The prophet Isaiah said,

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Isa 64:4