God is all. God is in all. All is in God. God is all that is and is not. God is infinite. God is eternal. God is the consciousness within which all that is, was, will be, and could be has its existence. There is no not-God. Each of these statements is true, but no one statement is the truth. All are aspects of truth - truth that is beyond comprehension or definition by any finite consciousness. Within God, all that is has consciousness. All that is exists as vortices of awareness in a sea of consciousness. Can a part be dead when the whole lives? All that is has life and awareness. The highest consciousness, the ultimate reality of God is sometimes briefly perceived, even though only partly comprehended, in more limited stages of development. Such a perception is called a mystical experience. A mystical experience gives an immediate, personal, and direct perception of the oneness, timelessness, and spacelessness of all existence. All that is exists in an ambiance of truth. If a being allows itself to be silent and receptive, it becomes aware of and increases its comprehension of that truth. Reality is that which is. Different apparent realities are experienced in different states of consciousness and at different levels of development. Such realities are created by the beings which inhabit them. Will or desire is the creative power of the universe. Each reality is created by the being which lives in it, and it is appropriate to the state and level of consciousness of that being. The past and present of each being have been created by itself, and it is now creating its future. Life, for each being, is what is created by that being. All consciousness has free will. Because a being has free will, it is responsible for itself and for the life that it lives. A being is responsible for its actions and intentions, and for how it chooses to respond to the actions of other beings. A being is only responsible for what it is empowered to control, and no being has the power to control anything but itself and its own development. Free will combined with the creative power of will or desire enables each being to determine its own future within the framework of its own reality. All beings, except God, the infinite consciousness, have many aspects of consciousness which enable them to recognize and learn from the reality which they have created and from other realities of which they may become aware. Each reality has its own laws. A being may become familiar with and gain some comprehension of the realities of other beings, those other states and levels of consciousness, and of the underlying ultimate reality, as well as the reality of its own creation, through direct experience or through the use of logical or intuitive faculties or any combination thereof. Can there be time, space, duality, individuality, or opposition when all is one? These are merely some of the reality concepts which enable a being to function at the human level of consciousness. As a being increases in awareness and the ability to comprehend the universe it limits itself with such concepts less and less. Good and evil are concepts that human beings use to explain that which they fail to understand or that for which they do not wish to accept responsibility. All actions and all experiences lead more or less rapidly to growth, to increased awareness and understanding, to a more developed consciousness, to fulfillment of the being's potential within the infinite consciousness of God. A being is what it has learned to be. Within God, there is balance and justice. All true needs are met. All that is needed for growth is given. All that is given is needed. A being develops increasing awareness and comprehension within the infinite consciousness, and ultimately becomes fully conscious. Increase of awareness and understanding, expansion of consciousness are the natural results of growth. Growth is inevitable in life, and life is infinite and eternal. All life is a process of growth toward greater consciousness. Within God there are neither beginnings nor endings-there are continual processes. Healing is a process of growth, of removal of the limitations which hinder growth toward the fulfillment of the potential of the being. At the level of universal consciousness, all healing is seen to take place within the self for there is naught beyond the self. Thus, it is always oneself that one heals, even though to a being whose knowledge does not extend beyond its personal limited reality it may appear that there are separate beings, one healing another. All that exists is one. Can a being love, hate, heal, injure another without doing the same to itself? Can a being love, hate, heal, injure itself without doing the same to all that is? The development of the spiritual gifts of humanity are essential for the evolution of a human being to a higher state of consciousness, and the compassionate, wise, and creative use of those gifts aids in the growth of the being to that higher state. Compassion, wisdom, and the ability to enter into attunement with other beings and with the infinite consciousness are the essential attributes of the being who would aid other beings as they endeavor to achieve growth.
Notwithstanding all of the above statements of principles, it must always be understood that the principles of the individual members of the Order shall arise from contemplation, meditation, prayer, and personal experience. The Order does not seek to define in these pages the only acceptable beliefs of members, but only to provide a framework within which the individual members of the Order shall find shared principles and unity of purpose.
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