God Beyond Religion: Reverse Engineering Spirituality “The Kybalion”

“ II THE PRINCIPLE OF CORRESPONDENCE: This Principle embodies the truth that there is always a Correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. The old Hermetic axiom ran in these words: “As above, so below; as below, so above.” And the grasping of this Principle gives one the means of solving many a dark paradox, and hidden secrets of Nature” The Kybalion, by Three Initiates page 17 Yogi Publication Society, 1908

The only thing one can really know is what one experiences. And now, in several scientific disciplines it is being discovered and understood that what we experience is really not reality. At least not in its fullness and underlying foundations. However, there is a way of knowing, that is in my view really reliable, and it is intuition. A common phrase would be “trust your gut!” Here is an exercise that one can do. Sit down, quiet your mind and ask yourself this question. What am I 98% sure of if anything? I am assuming that no one is actually 100% sure of anything. Then, take a piece of paper and make a list of the things that you are 98% certain of. Continue on by asking what you are 90% sure of, then 80%, and 70% on down. The test again should be, how does it resonate with my intuition?

I mention the above because, in full transparency, even when I was a pastor and preaching the evangelical gospel there were many things that did not resonate with my intuition. For example, the concept of hell and eternal torture got no more than 10% certainty ever. I actually believe that one has to be somewhat intellectually dishonest to embrace evangelical doctrine at all. The test is for the individual in the privacy of their bathroom, bedroom, or closet mirror.

On the other hand, the principles in the Kybalion have a very high resonance, and I have a certainty of 90% that they are correct. Yes, I can say this while all alone looking at my countenance in the mirror. I think that principle 2, the principle of correspondence is a very important axiom and that it alone can go a long way toward helping us reverse engineer the creative spiritual source. This is especially true of the second clause. It reads as below so above. The statement is that as above so below, meaning that the creative source created the material, corporeal world to match the source world. It does not mean that above is corporeal and material as well. Science sees it as a field of potentiality at the behest of conscious agents. That also resonates with me, but the second part of the principle, as below so above gives us a great place to begin our reverse engineering of the spiritual world. Since I do not believe that it is corporeal or material, then it follows that it is spiritual. This lines up nicely with the many sources over millennia that have suggested that the creative source is the Logos or Logoi. The concept goes back over 5,000 years to Egypt and Thoht. The Greeks called him Hermes. It was brought to Greece by Pythagoras and many different Greek Philosophers wrote about the Logos.

Back to the Kybalion and as below so above. By means of extrapolation one can begin to understand the spiritual world, the world of creative consciousness. This extrapolation enlists the principle as below so above. Everywhere we look there are cycles. There is the water cycle, the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the rotation of the planets and so on. It is therefore reasonable to assume that there are cycles in the spiritual realm as well. One such cycle would be conscious agents reincarnating into corporeal material reality. However, there are many things in material reality, in the human condition that can be used to reverse engineer the spiritual world of creative consciousness. I will explore many over time, but beyond cycles in this one, I want to imagine what might be the purpose of existence based on this principle.

Imagine that at the creative conscious level there is complete knowledge. Further, there is eternal existence without beginning nor end. Imagine if you will what would be the result of not having challenges on earth. It would be boredom. This is why it is important for a person who retires to have something meaningful to occupy their time. Those who don’t go stir crazy or end up going back to work just to keep busy. So, I think it is safe to extrapolate that one of the reasons for corporeal and material existence is to alleviate boredom. I am not suggesting that it is the only reason but definitely makes sense that it is one very good reason. Keep in mind that we want to have rest and vacations as well. Perhaps we reincarnate until we are exhausted, and then take a rest break, a sabbatical until boredom once again settles in and we then look for a fresh challenge.