The Eminent Way is founded upon five principles.

1. To Live by What One Is

2. To Live by What One Stands For

3. To Live in Pursuit of One’s Beliefs

4. To Live by a Chosen Covenant of Life

5. To Live to Continue the Ways and Works of Kind

To live eminently, one must hold certain qualities within themselves. For example, one has to have self-will, knowledge, and ability. One must be alert, awake, aware, and conscious about oneself. One must have a purpose, a direction, and more! Yet, these qualities, though natural to the human, are rare in today’s culture; some might even say extraordinary!

Living an eminent life does not mean wielding power or control over others. It is a presence or content one carries within oneself based on one's values and standards.

We’ve all encountered people who seem to have a particular awareness of intention and gentle charisma that we are naturally drawn to, but we often don’t understand why. In reality, what they emanate and what we feel around them is only a side effect of what they carry within.

This lesson will touch lightly upon the five principles as an overview and introduction. Future studies will explore each principle in detail.

TO LIVE BY WHAT ONE IS

To understand the principle of “living by what one is,” it is essential to distinguish between the ‘who’ of oneself and the ‘what.’

In our culture, these expressions have become interchangeable. We often define ourselves by our job, our title, or our role in life by saying things like “I am a doctor,” “I am an engineer,” “I am a parent,” and so on. But that’s not what you are; it’s what you do. To illustrate further, consider the man who, at his parent's insistence, becomes a medical doctor when he only wants to play the violin. Is he a doctor or a musician playing the doctor role? If the latter is the case, can it be said that he’s living by what he is? Probably not.

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that treats us more like a commodity than a living being. If you consider that most people work for eight or more hours each day and sleep for another eight, then consider grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and the like; what remains for you? How do you spend those precious few hours? Do you spend them watching television, surfing the internet, playing games, or in other forms of passive entertainment that offer no genuine enrichment? Right from the start, it becomes apparent that the demands of the culture are stacked against the person who wishes to live by what one is.

To reclaim oneself and truly live by what one is, one must first decide what one is. If you strip away all that has been added to you by your parents, peers, family, education, and culture, what remains? The most honest answer will likely be, “I don’t know.” And this is where the real journey begins. The journey of discovering one’s true nature must certainly come before one may live it.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

How does one begin such a task? Consider a simple example. Animals naturally live by what they are. One never sees an animal pretending to be anything whatsoever. They are what they appear to be, nothing more. Now, I would like you to try an exercise. Get a piece of paper and write down every association that comes to your mind about dogs, not a specific dog, but dogs in general, and only what applies to all dogs. For example, they have four legs, fur or hair, and a tail. They bark, whine, and growl. They prefer to run in packs and are protective of their territory. You get the picture. Do this exercise now, and come back to this when you’ve finished.

Great! Now that you have a list of all dog's essential features think of a specific dog. Any dog that you know well will do. Write down all of the things you can think of about that particular dog that do not appear on the list you previously made. For example, his name is Buddy, and he’s a Boxer/American Bulldog mix. Buddy is afraid of deep water and doesn’t like to swim. He is fascinated with cats, not in a predatory way but in a playful manner. Squirrels drive him bonkers. And so on. Do this now and come back as before.

You should now have two lists, one general and one specific. Now, cross off your lists anything that was added by human influence. For example, the dog in my second list is named Buddy. However, that’s the name I gave him, so I must scratch that off the list. I also identified him as a Boxer/American Bulldog mix, but those are breeds engineered by humans to emphasize certain traits over others, so I must also cross that off the list. You now have two lists. Label the first list “Endemic” and the second “Hereditary.”

The endemic list includes everything that applies to all dogs, and the hereditary list includes everything that applies to a particular dog but not as a result of human interference. Note that “loves kitties” and “hates squirrels” stay on my hereditary list because I never trained him to do so, even though it may be an indirect feature of his breed.

Now, the point of this exercise was not to teach you all about dogs but rather to get you on the frequency of what’s to follow in a non-personal way. You’re going to do the exercise again, but using humanity for your endemic list and yourself for your hereditary list.

Like before, create a list of endemic features that apply to all humans. Humans have five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, two arms, two legs, and one head. Humans are vocal, able to think, emote, move, etc.

Do not label your second list as “hereditary” yet. First, write down everything you can think of about yourself. Include things you like and don’t like, your education, hobbies, natural inclinations, etc. Only after you’ve written down everything you can think of regarding yourself should you cross off features resulting from an external influence. This can be tricky and require a lot of contemplation, but the result is worth every effort you put into this. For example, consider the notion that one may be a teacher by profession, an external influence. Still, one may also be inclined to teach, which is part of your natural self.

Coming to a complete understanding of what one is may take months or even years, but that doesn’t mean that one cannot begin to “live by what one is” as one’s understanding matures.

For now, your primary goal is to understand the ‘what’ of you, but you should also consider how you can offer yourself more opportunities to strengthen these essential features. By doing so, you will naturally begin to reclaim your life from the culture and experience a more profound sense of purpose and meaning.

TO LIVE BY WHAT ONE STANDS FOR

Think briefly about what is implied in the above core principle. Our culture has a certain amount of vague ambiguity regarding certain words such as standards, values, principles, morals, and the like. For example, if asked, nearly everyone will claim to have standards. However, if you ask them what their standards are, they often cannot articulate them, and you will find the person mentally scrambling to make them up on the spot.

The phrase “to live by what one stands for” implies more than just laying claim to a set of attitudes towards life. It means something of a dynamic, living nature. It means developing criteria by which all initiation and response are formed. Standing for something in one’s life requires an inner attitude based on principled reasoning. Standards then become the outward display of one’s principled reasoning.

Returning for a moment to the exercise outlined in the first principle, it becomes apparent that what passes for standards in today’s culture is often nothing more than the adoption of a morality imprinted upon us from the outside and lumped together under the category of “being a good person.” It becomes an emotional shortcut and robs us of an essential aspect of developing objective standards – principled reasoning.

PRINCIPLED REASONING

Principled reasoning is an Eminent Way process whereby one identifies, dismantles, polishes, and reassembles an aspect of one's inner psychology that may have been imprinted upon them but that does not belong to them so as to make it one's own.

Herein lies a contradiction. Consider, for example, that most people hold the moralistic view that stealing is wrong. And yet, without ever going through the process of principled reasoning about theft or all other moralistic views they claim to adhere to, are they not stealing their set of morals from someone (or something) else? Whatever you’re not born with or have not worked for does not belong to you.

The term “emotional shortcut,” used earlier, is adopting a sentiment about something without having done the actual work to manifest it in oneself. From the outside, it appears to be the thing itself, but inside, it’s hollow and lacks any real substance.

Therefore, before one can truly “live by what one stands for,” a great deal of principled reasoning work about one’s standards must occur.

THE 9 QUALITIES

All actual standards are derived from some value we hold within. Understand that values are not principles, nor are they standards. All values one holds result from endemic qualities in everything in Creation. As an aspect of Creation, these qualities are also naturally in us. They are not learned but are part of the “what” of us.

These are the nine essential qualities with which every human is born. One's ability to connect to the source determines whether they become indelible in them or remain as shadows of something greater.

The Nine Qualities are:

• Care

• Patience

• Understanding

• Humility

• Hope

• Belief

• Charity

• Radience

• Life

In upcoming lessons, we will explore these Creational qualities in depth. For now, it will be helpful to use one or two to illustrate the process of principled reasoning from which one’s values may be derived. This approach is much more powerful and natural than the “Thou shalt not…” method, which is the primary way one assumes their so-called standards in today’s culture.

Let us say that after careful consideration, you decide that you uphold the quality of care in all its forms and expressions in the human event and in Creation.  At this stage, it is not yet a value in yourself but rather like a concept or sentiment. It becomes valuable when one forms an indelible connection to the universal essence of care. But how does one go about doing such a thing? Go search for it!

Throughout your Eminent Way studies, you will return time and again to some fundamental universal laws. One of these basic laws is The Tuning Fork Principle or The Law of Sympathetic Response. It works like this: If I have two tuning forks of the same note, such as the kind to tune musical instruments, and I hand one of them to you and ask you to stand some distance away from me when I strike my tuning fork, you will hear yours begin to ring in sympathy, even though you have not struck it. Why does this happen? It happens because each tuning fork is on the same frequency, so what happens to one also happens to the other.

Unlike a tuning fork stuck at a particular frequency, the human is like a sensitive radio receiver, capable of psychically “tuning in” to a wide variety of frequencies. But how does one turn the ‘dial’ and alter the frequency of what one receives? It is through the power of attention. Whatever we pay attention to aligns us with its frequency. And so, if one wishes to form an indelible connection to the universal essence of something such as care, one only needs to exercise one’s attention upon it by actively looking for examples everywhere.

What are some examples of care in the natural world? There are numerous examples if one cares to look. The easiest to spot is the care all mothers naturally show towards their offspring in the animal kingdom. There are other examples, too; cats are fastidious cleaners. If you’ve ever watched a cat bathe itself, you can easily see the care they express towards their electrical and physical condition.

As a practical exercise, choose one of the nine qualities above that resonates most with you over the next few days or weeks, and begin your quest to actively find it in the natural world, wherever it may be. The rewards for such a quest far outweigh the effort!

A VALUE STATEMENT

If you practice the above exercise for some time, there will come a point when the essence of the quality begins to rush into you through a Sympathetic Response. The effect of this response is often a deeply profound spiritual experience – and the result in oneself is quite unmistakable. As it rushes into oneself, it creates an indelible print in one’s astral light one’s aura, and one becomes a living embodiment of that universal quality.

As stated, all true (as in universal) values are derived from one or more of these fundamental nine qualities. Only when one has entered into an indelible relationship with one or more of these nine qualities can the pronouncement of a value statement be possible in its fullest sense. What is a value statement? An example could be something like the following:

“As I have become a living embodiment of the universal and Creational essence of care, I chose to uphold it wherever I may encounter it and in whatever form it may find expression.”

The above is a value statement backed by the content of what one is connected to and what one has become. It is hoped that the qualitative difference is now apparent between this type of stance in oneself and something along the lines of “the ten commandments tell me not to…(fill in the blank).”

So, what is the difference between a value statement derived from an indelible connection to a universal, Creational quality and a standard by which one lives? It's only a matter of application.

THEREFORE...

Moving a value statement into a standard by which one lives requires only one word: “therefore.” For example, consider the following extension to the above value statement.

“As I have become a living embodiment of the universal and Creational essence of care, I chose to uphold it wherever I encounter it and in whatever form it may find expression. Therefore, I shall work to enhance, preserve, and promote the quality of care in the world, wherever I can.”

There is, of course, one more ingredient to being able to “live by what one stands for,” and that is doing it! It’s no good to say it if you don’t do it.

For example, if one were to hold the standard and pronouncement of care above, would one be able to let their home fall into disrepair or be dirty? Certainly not. Such a person would not walk by something in their care that required cleaning or repair without pausing to attend to it.

And this is the difference between “living by what one stands for” and maintaining a set of morals impressed upon you by the culture.

TO LIVE IN PURSUIT OF ONE'S BELIEFS

The word ‘belief’ is exceptionally loaded in our culture. Its use often implies a religious connotation and spurs many debates when one’s beliefs conflict with another’s. What passes for belief today is often hope, fantasy, or wishful thinking. However, The Eminent Way takes a different view of belief.

To illustrate the difference, consider that it would be foolish to ‘believe’ you can drive a car if you’ve never sat behind the wheel before. It would be lunacy to ‘believe’ that one is an expert rock climber after reading a book on the subject or that one can fly a helicopter because one has seen it done in movies. Hope, yes, but not belief. One can certainly believe they can learn to do these things, but it is self-deceptive to attribute qualities or skills to oneself that one does not possess. And think, if someone already believes they know or can do something, this becomes the most significant barrier to its actual accomplishment, for who strives to attain something they think they already have?

This is where it gets tricky because the reverse is also the case; once accomplished, one no longer ‘believes’ they know something or can do something. For example, I don’t ‘believe’ I can drive a car; I get in and do it—there is no belief involved whatsoever.

So, how do we define belief? It is the state of living with the knowledge that something is possible based on the accumulation of evidence lived and experienced. For example, I believe I can learn to speak Hebrew because I have learned to speak several other languages. However, I don’t believe I already know how to speak Hebrew simply because I have learned to speak different languages. The difference is subtle yet profound.

So, what does it mean to “live in pursuit of one’s beliefs?” In short, it means making intelligent assumptions of what is possible for oneself based on one’s current experience and then striving to achieve progress in that direction. Regarding the example above of learning a new language, the assumption is that since I have already learned some languages, it is reasonable to assume that I may learn another. Now, whether I pursue that end comes down to a few factors. First, it must be important to me, which is obvious. I must also have the resources to achieve the aim – If I lack books, audio recordings, or someone to teach me Hebrew, it is impossible to learn it, no matter how much I wish. Finally, I must make an effort, which is meant by the phrase “to live in pursuit of…”

Now, learning languages or other valuable skills is one thing, but we’re discussing here how one thrives on a personal development journey towards a life of Eminence! In these realms, I want you to pause momentarily and consider what you believe. For example:

• Do you believe in abilities such as clairvoyance, telepathy, psychometry, and the like?

• Do you believe in energetic healing?

• Do you believe in an afterlife or reincarnation?

• Do you believe in yourself?

Now, pick one and ask yourself what evidence supports your belief. Restrict yourself to your own experience for the moment.

EXPERIMENT, EXPERIENCE, BELIEF, AND ABILITY

In The Eminent Way, we teach that experiment leads to experience. Experience leads to belief. Belief, based on experience, leads to the ability to do, and the ability to do negates the need for belief. To illustrate this process, let us say you’re undecided on so-called extra-sensory abilities such as clairvoyance. Many lay claims to such beliefs, but few can back them up with personal experience, and fewer still pursue the outcome of their beliefs. So, how can one move from unfounded belief to ability? It begins with experimentation.

I want to offer a couple of experiments for you to try in the coming weeks:

EXPERIMENT 1

Whenever you find yourself in a public place where several people are around you, pick one of them in front of you with their back turned to you and stare intently at the base of their skull, where the neck meets the head. Imagine a beam of force coming from your eyes and connecting to this spot as you do this. You may be surprised to discover that the person will unconsciously turn around and make eye contact with you most of the time! If they don’t after 1-2 minutes, select another person. Do this experiment until it becomes an experience. Once you’ve had substantial experience, reexamine your belief in the possibility of ‘extra-sensory’ abilities.

EXPERIMENT 2

The next time you or one of your family members has a headache, try this experiment: Sit (or ask them to sit) upright in a chair.

1. Perform a pairing movement to charge and isolate the energy of the hands.

2. Using your negative hand, perform a downward 'wiping' motion in the etheric region of the aura above the head.

3. Continue to do this for a few minutes and see if the subject's headache has subsided.

Once you’ve done this several times with several people, reexamine your belief in the possibility of energy healing.

EXPERIMENT 3

Obtain a notebook. For the next 28 days, each night before you go to bed (one complete lunar cycle), write the following three times: “I ___(name)___, wish to have a conscious experience of leaving my body so that I may come to know whether it is possible to exist apart from it.” After writing this three times, lay down and imagine or visualize yourself standing at the foot of your bed, looking back at your sleeping body. Unless you hold a belief that limits this experience, at some point in the 28 days, you will most certainly have the experience of being outside your body. In many cases, you can move around the room, transition through walls, and instantly travel out of the body to almost any location. Most people who experience this result often report how vivid and natural it seems and how it differs from the dream state in conscious awareness of the experience.

Once you’ve become accustomed to doing it whenever you want, reexamine your belief in the possibility of an afterlife and reincarnation.

The most important aspect of the above experiments is that they lead to personal experience. Only through personal experience can beliefs not based on fantasy be formed. The next phase, of course, is to expand your experience through practice.

In time, your belief in these things will fall away simply because they become your natural abilities. Belief is no longer necessary.  This practice can be a rewarding, life-long process as you continue to experiment, experience, believe, and do new things.

TO LIVE BY A CHOSEN COVENANT OF LIFE

At this stage, personal religion becomes the prime feature of an eminent life. It is essential to understand that we are not discussing ‘religion’ as understood in our culture today, nor are we using the term ‘covenant’ in a Judeo-Christian context, with which it is mostly associated.

In all of this, it is necessary to understand that there are orders of magnitude of conscious life, both above and below in scale. Thus, one can see that the very planet we live on - our Great Mother also wishes to evolve and grow and does so by taking from something greater than herself and adding to herself. This can easily be seen in the physical realms wherein she processes force from the sun and other stars to warm and enrich her adornment and array in the form of organic life.

In the unseen worlds, any experience or event that happens to her becomes a part of her living memory - it never leaves, which includes human events and processes as well.

Pierce!

Friday, April 30, 2021