THE WALKER

Brothers and Sisters:

When beginning this manuscript a thought came to me of a fragment from a poem that says: "The walker is not made for the road, the road is made for the walker."

I pause a moment meditating on the reason this sentence came to mind and then realized that those expressed a great truth since within them the seven Hermetic Principles may be found in a condensed form.

Let us see then how this sentence applies to the first principle.

MIND

This principle says that "EVERYTHING is mind"

Life as we know it, the universe, energy, matter etc. is the ALL; and nothing can exist outside of the ALL, because if that were possible it would not be the ALL.

What is this ALL? Is it matter? No, because it is greater than matter. Is it then, energy? No, because it encompasses the entire universe. Is it the universe then? No, because it contains life also, so is it life? No, rather life proceeds from the ALL. What then, shall we call it? We can conceive of it best as MIND; an infinite and living mind that can only be understood when compared to a living but finite mind since things can only be understood in comparison to one another. This is revealed to us; that everyone and every phenomenon in the universe, though they are distinct parts, are united and exist as the mental creations existing within the MIND OF THE ALL in whos being we move and have our very being for all eternity. Truly, the ALL is the walker who creates the road by walking it.

CORRESPONDENCE

This principle declares: "As above, so below; as below, so above." If we meditate a little on this old axiom we will notice that it fits with the fragment of famous poetry. This principle tells us that there is always a correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of existence.

This principle of correspondence applies to the universality of manifestation in the various planes of existence, material, mental and spiritual. It is a universal law. From this we can deduce that if man is a mental creation of God and is made in the image and likeness of God, then according to this principal of correspondence man is also able to create at his own level of vibration. Therefore, regarding this principle we can also apply our sentence since the walker is the one chooses to create the route in going toward a destination.

VIBRATION

Everything is in motion, everything vibrates, nothing remains at rest" This principle indicates that the differences in different manifestations of matter, energy etc. is entirely a variation of the vibratory frequency. Emanating from the ALL, which is pure spirit, from the highest down to the densest matter, all is vibration.

The vibration of the spirit is of such a strong intensity that it seems almost to be at rest. And at the opposing pole, that is to say matter, are forms whose vibrations are so low they too might seem to be at rest (a stone for example). Between those two poles of course, millions and millions of varying degrees of vibration manifest the different planes of energy field, all as mind taking form.

If everything is vibration, as presented, constantly in motion and generating movement, then it also applies well to the words of the sentence about the route being made by walking.

POLARITY

"Everything is dual, everything has two poles and everything has its opposite. These opposites are alike in kind but differ in degree."

Humanity has always recognized something similar to this principle and expressed it in maxims such as: Things both are and are not, at the same time, there are two sides to every issue, all truth is half true and half false, and so on. In this we express realization that the ALL and the many things are the same thing, varying only in degree of manifestation of mind. In this sense, the LAW and the laws are two poles of the same thing.

Applying this to the material plane we can observe it in multiple aspects, such as cold-hot, light-dark, east -west, white-black, etc. These terms are not absolute, we often call one end of a scale good, and the opposite polarity bad. Let us however, keep in mind that for every good thing there will always be one that is better still, and vise versa.

The mental plane is the same. Let us consider the example of love-hate: which we consider diametrically opposed and irreconcilable. However if we apply the principal of polarity we recognize that there is no absolute love or absolute hate, totally different from one another. Rather by ranging across the whole scale from one end to the other and then coming to rest in the middle, we realize that those terms are so relative that is hard to say where one leaves off and the other begins.

A profound knowledge of this principle can lead us to a better understanding of our mental state and the mental states of others as we come to understand that things are relative, it is only a question of degree. We can use our will to move up or down the vibratory scale and in this way stop being enslaved by our mental states. We need to remember that we are all walkers, creating our route by our walking it.

RHYTHM

"Everything flows, rises and falls; everything has its tides; the oscillation of the pendulum is manifest in everything, the swing to the right in equal measure to the swing to the left, the rhythm compensating to retain balance."

For every action there must always be an equal reaction. This is the way of everything in the universe, the way of worlds, the way of men and animals, the way of the mind, of energy and of matter. This law is manifest in the creation and destruction of worlds, in the rise and fall of nations, in the lives of all beings and of course in the mental states of men. If we learn the previous principles and how to apply them we can adjust our rhythm by polarizing it to the point that we feel at peace, neutralizing in this way the oscillation of the pendulum that would otherwise carry us from one pole to the other with the inertia of its constant movement.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

All cause has its effect, and all effect has its cause. Everything happens in harmony with the LAW; the Law is called causality for good reason.

Regarding this principle I will surrender myself to the inspiring KIBALION, where the principal is expressed in a very clear way. The Kibalion explains that everything occurs in harmony with the LAW. It says that there is no such a thing as chance and that, while there are causes and effects on various planes, both higher and lower, nothing escapes the LAW.

The mass of people respond to the environment in which they are, to the will and desires of those others who are stronger than themselves, to suggestion, and to other external causes that move them about as pawns in the chess game of life.

Those who have begun on the Path, if we apply ourselves in this learning, will eventually rise to a higher plane, rising above the dominance of our moods, character and power, as well as our surrounding environment and become the movers instead of the pawns. In this way we come to be the players in the GAME OF THE LIFE instead of being played and moved by the will of others. The foregoing reflects the value of understanding in the journey toward a higher state.

GENDER

Everything has gender. All things have their masculine and feminine principle and gender is manifest on all planes"

The word gender is derived of the Latin root meaning to engender, meaning to create, to procreate, to generate or cause to take place. We know that gender manifests in all things, the masculine and feminine principles being present not only on the physical plane but the mental and spiritual planes also.

The principal of gender always works in the direction of generation, regeneration and creation. All people and things have this dual aspect within their being. On the physical plane gender is most apparent as sex, on higher planes it takes on subtler forms but the principle is the same. No physical, mental or spiritual creation is possible without this principle.

On the mental plane we confront the objective and subjective minds. In them we can say that the masculine principle corresponds to the objective mind, active mental consciousness, and the feminine principle corresponds to the subjective mind with its passive, subconscious control of involuntary actions.

When we say "I am" it seems, at first, to be a very final statement about our consciousness but when we look deeper we discover that this I am can be separated in two parts, two different aspects. Initially "I" seems to declare a singularity of self but on a closer observation we note that within "me" exists also a "my". The me represents the masculine part of the mind, the my represents the feminine principle. The total "I" represents the total of being, that which is and that which is and that which is becoming.

The feminine principle carries on the work of generating new thoughts, concepts, ideas etc., while the masculine principle addresses the work of the will in its varied phases. However, without the active help of the will of the masculine principle the feminine principle would be doomed to generating single mental images expressing impressions received from the senses instead of producing original mental creations.

How many thoughts or original actions do average people execute? Do the majority of people not follow as groups and echo others who have wills or minds than their own? The problem is that the average person dwells completely in their self conscious thoughts, and never realizes the greater totality of what we mean by "I".

By reflecting on these teachings we will learn that in all the creative manifestations the principal of gender is always manifest on the spiritual, mental and physical planes. This manifestation of masculine and feminine principles works in practice because it is based on the unalterable universal laws of life.

CONCLUSION

Completing this presentation I have come to the conclusion that these seven principles, seemingly independent of each other, are really insolubly united because any one of them needs the others in some measure, large or small.

"As above, so below. As below, so above". "The walker is not made for the road, the road is made by the walker".