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The Brotherhood of the Light |
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The
Brotherhood of Light:
A Society For Spiritual Counselling in
the Afterlife During the Process of Reincarnation
Introduction
The Brotherhood of Light, or White Brotherhood, is a voluntary charitable
organization. It is dedicated to helping those souls who have died, and are lost
and confused, and also to promoting peace and harmony in the universe. The
brotherhood is dedicated to serving others.
- The members are not gods, angels, or rulers
and they are not specifically Christian. The members follow many religious
paths, with the shared goal of helping those in distress. The name of the group
was changed about a century ago when the term "white" came to imply an
opposition to other races. Sometimes the organization is still called the White
Brotherhood but the name is archaic and out of use.
- While the Brotherhood of Light is aware of
spiritual organisations of a more political nature, their goals are
compassionate and humanitarian. The members guide the lost whose spiritual paths
have become confused or blocked. To some extent, they work with karma, but they
primarily focus on counselling and education. The organisation trains those
interested in counselling troubled souls, and working for peace in troubled
regions. The organisational model is closer to a university than to a secret
government.
- It is important to emphasise this because
there has been much misrepresentation of the organisation, and its goals. For
those interested in a brief explanation of the motivation for creating this site
and the source of the information contained here.
- This web site will include information on
the history, the organization, the centre's structure, and some of the courses
available. The sections related specifically to spiritual counselling in the
afterlife are "Death, Reincarnation, and Karma", "Healing",
and "Counselling" though information about the process of guiding lost
and confused reincarnating souls exists throughout the site. The section on
"grounds and environment" is perhaps the most detailed because it
shows the wide range of activities the brotherhood is involved in by describing
the location (or temple) of each activity.
- The Brotherhood of Light welcomes those who
are interested.
The
Brotherhood of Light
History
- The Brotherhood of Light began with a small
group of individuals who incarnated together in one of the intermediate
paradises. Many of these souls had skills, and it seemed to them a shame to
waste them on their own amusement. They wanted to do something worthwhile, to
help suffering beings. Because this group of souls was relatively free of karmic
bondage, they considered it reasonable to help those who were bound by karmic
necessity.
- The path of transcendence that they shared
involved spiritual sound and light. By meditation on mantras and harmonious
sounds, as well as meditation on brilliant white and deep blue light, they
reached a realm of beauty and peace beyond the worlds of form. Yet suffering
exists within the realm of embodiment, and that was where they wished to work.
- On the subtler ends of the world of form,
these souls created a temporary heaven for suffering souls. It began small in
order to help a few souls at a time, and it grew as volunteers came to help
them. The group first visualized a set of buildings, and then the surrounding
gardens, and later cliffs and oceans, and a small world in which to work.
- They specialised in different areas
according to each soul's skills - they developed centres for counselling, for
healing, for spiritual guidance, for knowledge, and for bringing peace to
troubled groups. They became the Temples of Wisdom, of golden healing,
and of justice. They began as a small group consisting of less than a dozen
members, but they have now grown to many dozens, and have the equivalent of
clinics, courtrooms, and classes. They also have outside consultants who
specialise in such areas as disturbed or insane souls, animal souls, and souls
bound to specific locales.
- The members do not demand a specific
religion or god, but rather help people along the religious path of their
choice. Spiritual sound and light are universals in the world's religions, and
are not bound to a specific belief system.
- As the group has grown, it has incorporated
the skill of many visualisers, peacemakers, architects, artists, and gardeners.
The intention of the Brotherhood of Light is to create a way-station, and has
grown from a small inn to a large complex for healing and wisdom.
The
Brotherhood of Light
Organisation
- The original founding members of the
Brotherhood of Light come from many different backgrounds, and share the common
goal of helping suffering beings. The brotherhood is run democratically, by
voting and having representatives come together and discuss issues. The meeting
room is arranged in concentric circles of seats, coloured deep purple in the
outer ring, through deep blue, then light blue, and finally white closest to the
centre.
- We will note here that the origins of the
organization are left intentionally vague because the founders come from diverse
religious backgrounds many of which do not relate directly to the organization's
present structure and philosophy. The founders also wish to remain anonymous to
avoid the cults of personality and status that naturally arise when people focus
on names, biographies, and personal histories.
- The brotherhood of light has tried to avoid
the hierarchies of power which generally lead to the corruption of spiritual
traditions in the non-physical worlds. Instead, the power is distributed among
many different members. The brotherhood is divided up into various committees.
There are judges of karma, negotiators, and diplomats who interact with
different cultures. There are organizers of classes, lectures and seminars, and
consultants who discuss with the members which skills are most needed. There is
a staff of visualisers who are responsible for the maintenance of the grounds,
and any additions of natural landscape and architecture. There is a committee
for growth and development, which oversees the current state of the haven for
wayfarers or visitors, and makes policy for future direction and growth.
- For instance, this committee plans to
introduce an emergency response team in the near future to deal with mass deaths
and violent passages, and a special counselling section for the mad, and another
section for the traumatized and alienated. The rise of organized rape and
mutilation as tools of war in both Eastern Europe and central Africa, and the
mass hatred in the Middle East and North Africa means that there has been and
will continue to be massive trauma associated with death in these areas. The
brotherhood will adapt and try to respond to these new situations to the best of
their abilities.
- The organization is much like a spiritual
university, with social obligations. It brings together souls with skills that
were not forgotten at death, and creates a place for the lost and lonely dead.
- If one wished to draw an organisational
chart, it would not be a tall mountain or contain an aristocracy. Instead, it
would be a collection of overlapping circles, with each group trying to help the
others. Both power and responsibility are distributed.
- There were about a dozen original founders,
and numerous sub-founders, helpers, counsellors, teachers, guardians,
visualisers, artists, and guides. They all meet to discuss policy. In fact one
of their recent discussions centred around how much information to present about
their organization to the outside world. The members are not gods but beings
dedicated to helping those in pain.
The
Brotherhood of Light
Death, Reincarnation, and Karma
-
Because death brings dissolution, it is important to have one guiding thought
which keeps everything together. That can be a god, a heaven, a mantra, or a
loved one. This slows the dissolution, and allows the dying person to
concentrate on something outside of himself. Then, there is more peaceful
transcendence, and less panic at the side effects of death.
- Spiritual guides can be helpful at the time
of death, but they cannot be everywhere, and many people die simultaneously.
Links forged while alive will bring the guide to the dying person at the time of
death. There are many kinds of spiritual guides. Some are specific to religious
traditions, like angels, bodhisattvas, or immortals. Some are more general and
nondenominational like those in the Brotherhood of Light. Other examples of
nondenominational guides are shamans, ancestors, and dead friends. The figure of
the Psychopomp who was a guide for the dead existed in ancient Greece but no
longer exists in the modern world.
- Guides bring people to their destinations.
Most relationships with guides are the result of karmic connections. Sometimes
people have created links with specific gods and heaven worlds, and go there
after death. Sometimes guides give options for reincarnation but the options are
limited by the person's karma. The individual can choose a new birth from one of
the options given.
- But in the modern world, most people
flounder at death, especially if their religious faith is superficial or
non-existent. Then they don't have a goal, and they often get trapped, waiting
for something to happen. For these persons, the pain and upset of death will
gradually lessen, and the person will stay in a grey world, neither good nor
evil, but vague and insubstantial. Here they will await the vortex of rebirth
where they will be drawn into another womb and reincarnate in a new body.
- The ability to travel spiritually and
meditate in the current life is knowledge that is usually maintained when people
die. Some types of knowledge stay and some disappear after death. Specifics like
names, dates, and places disappear along with many skills. Basic emotions and
habits stay, along with spiritual abilities.
- However, certain kinds of action in life can
obstruct spiritual abilities. They place a barrier between the soul and some
types of knowledge, as well as its karma. It cuts the soul in two, so that
things that are normally remembered are forgotten.
- This does not occur with minor bad karma,
which weighs down the soul and blurs its vision, but does not split it. However
trauma, or the infliction of trauma on others breaks the unity of the soul. Pain
(one's own or another's) severs the soul's access to knowledge.
- Free will at death depends on the acceptance
of the dying process and the ability to concentrate and focus attention during
life. If the dying process is not accepted, the soul becomes clogged with fear
and other negative emotions, and the pathway is obstructed. Ability to
concentrate during life allows that habit to be maintained at death, for habits
are maintained more easily than rational thought. Concentration allows
observation of the process of death, and conscious control over the speed of
events. Inability to concentrate means a large number of events happen at once,
with the soul being dragged along in a semi-conscious state. In this situation,
there are pieces of the self floating around, and the person literally needs to
keep himself together.
- We of the Brotherhood of Light can help at
death, if we are called. We can protect the soul, and unite its pieces as it is
pulled through the vortex out of the realm of embodied existence and into the
plane of spirits. Then we can guide the soul to a more peaceful location, and
give it some options depending on its karma.
Karma
and Reincarnation
- Reincarnation weaves the web of life, with
billions of life forms interacting through time and space. It makes the universe
a more complex place than it would be without such causality, but one with more
relationships than philosophers and theologians can possibly imagine.
- It means that each being is not only itself,
but is also composed of the remnants of those which came before it. These appear
as impulse, luck, coincidence, and knowing that which should be unknown. Within
each being is another (i.e. a past life), and another within that, creating a
vast chain of lives making up the mandala and stained glass windows of the
spiritual past.
- When karma first arises, it is in the
context of necessity, of action that must be performed, or experience that must
be endured. But when karma is studied, the individual can become conscious of
its existence and effects. Karma charts out the meaning of a life, and a
trajectory of lives. It determines what a person will accomplish, and what he or
she wishes to accomplish.
- Karma is a chain until it is recognised and
understood - then it becomes a fire for the casting of metal, and creation of
lives. It devours the pain and the joy of the past, and becomes clay to be
shaped. To control one's karma is an important part of the spiritual path.
Travelling
Spiritually
- Spiritual travel or soul travel is partial
mysticism - visiting the intermediate realms but not attaining the religious
goal. The Brotherhood of Light supports people who have spiritual goals, and
spiritual travel is a method for attaining such goals.
- The person interested in travelling
spiritually needs to develop a control mechanism for travel. First, the
individual needs to be able to escape the identification with the physical body
- to dissolve the barrier separating the lower and higher selves. Yogic
concentration can do this, or the barrier can be melted away by sheer will. A
tunnel or vortex can be visualized and the individual can enter and pass through
it, and this can have the same effect. This process is sometimes called opening
the door, or opening the third eye.
- Then, once you have access to travel, you
must determine where to go and how to get there. Mantras and light visualisation
can work in a general way for higher worlds, but if you want to go to a specific
place in the intermediate realms, you need a way to symbolise and specify that
precise location.
- Each person and place has a kind of karmic
after-image or identifier. This is an alternative form of the place or person
where you see only the karma as organized into patterns, and not the physical
form. The person in meditation must be able to shift his or her perceptions to
perceive the underlying karmic structure rather than the person or place.
- Certain drugs do this by creating a
beautiful and decorative set of karmic images and geometrical patterns, but the
individual needs to be able to do this without the use of drugs. This is not
only because they are illegal but also because it is a limitation on the
individual's freedom and mental power to be dependent on an external substance
such as a drug.
- The image of a great wheel or gear opening
the world of the spirit is often seen. However, it can also open up the lower
world, the realms of desire and frustration, and the traveller must avoid these
areas. Using or visualising a square or triangle mandala-like form is a more
secure way to travel.
- The physical world may also be made into a
background, or made to appear flat by use of visualization. If the world is
imagined as a dark blue velvet sky, or the ocean depths, or a vivid sunset, this
pulls the imagination away from the physical object. Both mind and heart must
guide the soul towards spiritual goals and objects - beings, worlds, and
revelations of light.
Travelling Spiritually Using Sound and Light
- The purpose of the spiritual area of the
Brotherhood of Light is to provide a place where people can learn to travel by
means of light and sound. When the person dies, and the soul is freed of earthly
dress, a variety of things might happen. It may be weighed down by bad karma or
sin, and taken off for punishment. It may be full of light and joy, and may be
welcomed into a paradise. Or it may end up in the uncertainty of the astral
realms, where good and bad balance each other, and there is no clear and strong
will. Some of the uncertain will meet with us, and we will help them and council
them. Most will go on their way to new lives.
- However, some choose to stay and learn, and
we are willing to teach them. In the spiritual area, we teach them about the
many worlds that the soul may enter, and also how to travel in the soul body.
- Souls have many layers or bodies one inside
the other like a set of Russian dolls. The personality may identify with any of
these bodies, and travel in that body through the world that that body inhabits.
People have access to many worlds, but they need to know how to focus upon
certain bodies and place the others in the background. This can occur
spontaneously but often it is a learned skill. As different bodies are
associated with various sounds and forms of light, meditation upon musical sound
and mantras, and also different colours and intensities of light can move the
attention from one locale to another.
- Attention is very important for spiritual
travel. When the senses are withdrawn from the world and the person looks
inward, the mind is often disordered, and ideas rise randomly and chaotically to
the surface, each one fighting for attention. Desire, memory, appetite,
questioning, attraction and repulsion all seek to gain attention. The seeker
must suppress all of these, and one way to do this is by meditating on light and
sound. Harp and flute are good beginning sounds, as are thunder and the buzzing
of bees. Contemplating memories of light like a sunrise, a comet flashing in the
night, a candle flame, or even fireflies are a way to begin meditation on light.
These inner sensations grow larger until the soul rides the crashing waves of
the light and sound of infinity.
- The traveller is a studier of worlds, but he
or she must retain humility. Pride causes the individual to be attached to
physical objects dragging him or her down. Love is needed for that which is
higher.
The
Brotherhood of Light
Healing
- The healing section was one of the first
developed by the Brotherhood of Light. It seemed obvious to them that one of the
basic acts of compassion was to heal people from mental and emotional pain,
loss, fear, grief, and sorrow. They developed classes on how to deal with
painful emotion, and brought in consultants for specialized types of healing.
- Some healing methods, such as separation and
immobilization of traumas with repeating effects, were developed by them.
Others, such as the rare cases requiring exorcism and direct spiritual
intervention, were learned from others.
- The beginning of healing is often difficult,
for when defences of survival drop away following death, the intense emotions
flare up - grief, anger, fear, envy, and greed. The individual is in a maelstrom
of emotion, and cannot concentrate or find balance. He or she is pushed and
pulled by these forces, which dominate the will.
- When a person enters who is deeply in need
of healing, he is bound to a gurney, and taken to the temple of healing.
Entering through the gate of the golden rising sun, the problem is analysed by
the diagnostic counsellors, and the patient is referred to specialists. Some
specialists work with trauma, others with addiction and emotional bondage,
others with extreme alienating emotions, and others with the inability to
organize thoughts (often a result of degenerative physical illness).
- Counsellors can describe the problems to the
soul, and give options for dealing with them. Healthier souls will choose one of
the options. Unhealthy souls may deny there are problems, and refuse treatment.
If that denial is strong enough, the counsellors may determine that the
individual cannot be helped by them, and the patient will be returned to their
earlier state of wandering. This is rare for counsellors normally allow entry
for only those souls who appear open to learning and growth.
- Some spiritual healing is more like an
operation - something analogous to a cancerous growth must be removed. Some
problems are so powerful that they become almost like living beings, developing defences
and survival tactics. This is seen in the case of multiple personality where
traumas develop separate identities and ego defences. When they become strong
enough to temporarily dominate the central personality, they must be removed and
relocated to a place where they can do no harm. Dealing with them is the
spiritual equivalent of a surgical operation.
- Healing and restoration is done in an
atmosphere of growth and nurturing. The soul is given a room facing the
mountains, where starlight is bright and reflects upon the water of a lake.
There are plants, flowers, books on comfort and happiness, and pictures
representing birth, growth, and beauty. For a few hours each day, quiet music
plays, along with the sounds of distant bells, chimes, and harps.
- The counsellors speak of hope, faith, and
new beginnings.
Counselling
and Guidance
- The buildings and grounds of the Brotherhood
of Light are intended to be a place of peace and instruction for souls who are
lost and upset in the process of reincarnation. It is a way station where they
feed the hungry, cheer up the sorrowful, and instruct the ignorant. This is the
primary purpose of the Temples of Wisdom.
- As counsellors and teachers, the members
find and help lost souls. They have generated the grounds and the temples by
concentrated will, and maintained them by will, and the force of compassion. For
those souls with no spiritual orientation, who are paralysed by fear or anger or
sorrow following death, the brotherhood has helpers. They speak of the process
of dying, of the necessity of moving on, and suggest reasonable options to such
souls. These souls may not be able to reach the heaven worlds, but neither are
they so malevolent that they will be forced into the hells.
- The counsellors examine their karma and can
suggest some directions of travel and incarnation. Many souls at death call out
for guidance and the counsellors allow time for deities to attend to them, if
they have a pre-existing relationship with a deity, or if one takes mercy on
them spontaneously and comes to their assistance. The counsellors look to the
neglected ones whose fear or sorrow has prevented the travel that would normally
occur following death.
- The observers of the brotherhood see if it
looks like they can be helped - if their thoughts and emotions are open to
learning. If they are open in this way, then the counsellors of the brotherhood
can help some of them.
The
Brotherhood of Light
Dreams
- There are many uses of dreams. They cleanse
cluttered piles of unconscious information, reorganizing them for easier access.
They symbolize emotions and passions, allowing them to be processed, rather than
intensifying and becoming destructive. And for some people whose souls are
structured in a specific way, they can become a jumping off point for spiritual
travel.
- The Brotherhood of Light does not interfere
in the lives of their members and students. They do not change the student's
spiritual evolution, their vibrations, or influence any number of other vague
and personal concerns. However, if they are called, they can help guide
individuals and take them for instruction to their Temples of Wisdom.
- For some people who possess more yogic
skills, they can give instruction during conscious and intentional meditation.
For others, whose minds are blocked by negative emotions, doubts, and
hesitation, instruction during dreams works better. Doubts become irrelevant as
the conscious mind sleeps.
- This sort of unconscious travel and
instruction brings new perspectives and ideas, which eventually penetrate the
conscious mind. By a slow process of insight, the person comes to accept
spiritual truths.
- Perhaps the best situation is when a person
is able to become conscious in his or her dreams. In this way, individuals have
the freedom of spiritual travel in dreams, mingled with the full awareness of
the conscious mind. What is needed for this is the ability to become aware in
dreams, along with concentration upon sound and light which creates a pathway
that the soul may follow.
- There are many dream worlds, indeed there
are worlds within worlds. Once one world is entered, another may be opened. The
guides of the Brotherhood of Light can help and teach individuals, but they will
only be there for people who seek spiritual truth. Once such travel becomes tied
up with power, mercenary goals, or invasion of the privacy of others, the
members of the brotherhood will cease to act as guides.
The
Brotherhood of Light
Visiting
- For visitors who are sincere in their desire
to learn about spiritual or soul travel, and do not do so from selfish or
power-hungry motives, there are ways to visit.
- The novice should bathe, wear clean clothes,
and try to enter a mental state of purity. He or she should first listen to
classical music (Beethoven, Mozart, or Bach) and then concentrate on remembering
the sound of the music when it is over. This helps train the mind to remember
music, so the sounds can be used in meditation.
- The one meditating should then focus on the
sound of a specific instrument, such as the flute, violin, viola, or harp. The
sound should reverberate through the body, and waft the soul into a realm of
pure music. The soul should visualize brilliant light around itself - white,
mother-of-pearl, golden, or deep blue.
- Avoid music with drums or other deep
percussion instruments, which will bind the soul more deeply to nature and the
body. Visualizing dark and muddy coloured light should also be avoided.
- The sound and light can make the soul rise
in joy. When that joy is mingled with compassion, without distraction, the soul
is ready to visit.
- The one meditating should then visualise a
great, shining, sapphire blue door surrounded by silver filigree work. The soul
should then ask for entrance to the Temples of Wisdom of the Brotherhood of
Light. The guardians at the door determine who is ready to enter.
Conclusion
- My Commentary
- This has been an introduction to the
activities and environment of the members of the Brotherhood of Light. The
knowledge that such a group exists may be of help to those who fear death, and
hope for some form of assistance in the process of dying, and entering into the
afterlife.
- In addition, the site suggests a very
different vision of what life is about, and the direction in which mankind is
evolving. It provides a glimpse of the kinds of activities spiritually advanced
souls are involved in, and the kinds of worlds they inhabit. This vision is
something to which some human beings in the physical world can aspire.
- Finally, much literature which attempts to
describe non-physical groups and states of being is full of cryptic language and
imagery. The result of this is that such literature becomes inaccessible to many
who are interested. This site attempts to avoid the confusion that arises from
this use of obscure terms. Instead, we attempt to use common terms and
straightforward language that can be understood by a reader with little
specialized training.
- The information at this site will be
expanded in the future as more material becomes available.
- Please visit again at a later time to check
for additions and changes as this site evolves.
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