Silver Threads & Gold
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
As mentioned earlier, the religions of the world work in the realm of belief. They believe that the information they have about this or that ‘truth’ is accurate. Unless they can verify their information with corresponding experience, it remains simply that: information that they believe in. The master, from whom the knowledge sprang, knew the truth of what he was telling his followers, but without verification they are reduced to belief without the benefit of knowledge. When the master leaves this world, only those who were given knowledge of the truth (information plus experience) are able to verify for themselves that indeed the master gave them truth. They are in the unfortunate position of not being able to accurately transmit the truth of what they have learned because they can provide the information, but not the experience. As a result of this inadequacy, belief springs up. Information is treated and acted upon as though it was knowledge in almost every sphere of human activity. Wars, depressions, visions, politics, divorces, and even bull and bear markets can result from the misunderstanding of what is knowledge and what is information. Knowledge is available and can be best experienced or acquired from one who knows and who can demonstrate its validity; but information must be put to the test in order to become knowledge. Of course, speculation can lead to theory, then on to experimentation and knowledge, or additional theory. This leads to relative truth -- truth limited to the subject at hand at this point in time. It may be enlarged or modified subject to further experimentation; however we are interested in absolute truth about life, death, and afterlife. We want to know where we came from, where we are going, and why we are here. What is the purpose behind this great unfolding scene we call life on earth? We have a great need to know the Truth about everything. Absolute truth Absolute Truth or knowledge of the Absolute is not subject to modification. The new testament makes the comment, ‘Jesus Christ, the same today, tomorrow, and forever,’ emphasizing that Truth is unchanging. The question is how to get Truth and make it our own. Of course writing about this question can only provide information. It is the reader’s task to search and confirm (or deny) this information, based on experience gained from the search, and then to supplant the information with knowledge. Whom can we trust? Fortunately, there is an answer. We have not been forgotten. There are true messengers who visit mankind from time to time and dispel the fog of ignorance for those who have devoted themselves to solving the puzzle of life and death. Pure knowledge Pure knowledge or knowledge of Truth is the sole propriety of the Masters of Truth who dispense their precious message at all times for those who are ready to receive it, and who have reached the realization that the world falls short when it comes to true understanding of things divine. Whoever comes into contact with these Messengers is exposed to the wisdom of the ages and is in the rare position to advance spiritually beyond the reach of religion or the way of the avatar, for such a one has replaced belief with knowledge. Esoteric sources tell us that into each age the One Father of all sends His pure knowledge to this earth in some human form. The function of this human form is to lead erring humanity back to the true path that leads to the home of the Father that was left so long ago. Man’s primary need is to meet a man who can talk to him at his own level, man to man, and tell him of his long forgotten inheritance, and give him some direct experience of the divine. In the bronze or copper age this human form was known as Karunamai. This River of Truth flowed through the bronze age into the Iron or Dark Age, and its many branches became the early esoteric schools, as well as the teachings of Buddha, the Kabbalists, the Taoists, the Christians, the Sufis and others. This branching from a common source discloses that there is a basic similarity, a root teaching in the world religions. Each of these branches finds its own preferred name for the Father of all, but He remains Nameless as all names fall short of embracing the Source of everything. The Father is one and the way back to Him is also one. Truth never gets old or rusty. --Guru Amar Das
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
We, the people, are the great adventurers! We explore, we study, we sift our findings -- whether it is about stars at the beginning of time, or our neighboring planets, or the depths of the oceans. From the moon, brave explorers will venture to Mars. Who can say where the adventure will end or how far from our home planet we will ultimately plant our civilization. The limitations of today will become passé tomorrow, there is no end to it. There is, however, a different space that contains a greater wonder -- inner space. It has been explored down the ages by mystics, psychologists, the religious, and science with and without the aid of mind-altering substances. It, too, looks as if we will never come to the end of it -- the more we explore, the more we find fresh questions. At the heart of the mystery is the soul. This work is an exploration of the timeless soul’s adventure through time and inner space. It investigates the whys and wherefores of the soul caged in a time-bound body, as well as the just god and the jealous god; and the savior of man walking through the world unrecognized, except for a few that he claims as his own. There are souls that have found the tear in the fabric of life. They have seen through the illusion and are desperate to escape. For the opposition, there is no end to the efforts made to seduce the soul back into the illusion. Does God exist, and if so, where is He? Who and what is a Master? What is an avatar and what is his true role in the world? Does this world have an order, or is it simply an accident tumbling in space? The escape route to total freedom of the individual and the nature of the soul is explored in depth in Silver Threads and Gold. The mystery of the soul must be plumbed on a personal basis, no literature can substitute for the experience. The way to that experience is the subject of this volume. Come, join in our mystic adventure! This is not a journey for the curious, the timid, or the unwary; as many cherished beliefs are shattered, never to return to support the chimera of life. Enjoy the journey, but fasten your seatbelt; the road ahead can get rough!
About the Author
In February 1922, in the village of Windsor Mills, Quebec, Mrs. Craig gave birth to her second son. In Canada, May 24 was a national holiday celebrating the birth date of Queen Victoria. Royal’s father was born on May 24th and was christened Royal Victor in honor of the occasion. When number two son was born, they also named him Royal. (When number one son was born, the father was such a hellion that his wife refused to name the child after her husband.) Six weeks after the birth, in the dead of winter, the family made an arduous trip to Dryden, a small town in northern Ontario. Royal spent his childhood in this town surrounded by forest (2nd growth timber) and went native. He loved to be in that part of the bush (as it was called) that had no sign of civilization. He learned from the Indians that mud would ease the pain of the yellow jacket, how to tickle trout to catch them, and how to set a trap to catch small animals. He ran a trap line that he serviced each morning before school. This put fresh rabbit on the menu. These were the days of massive unemployment and fresh caught food was a necessary part of the menu. Perhaps it was his closeness to nature that made Royal begin to question life and death. Royal grew up with a natural bent for the esoteric. Raised in a religious environment, it seemed natural that there was an order to the world and that God was in charge. As he grew older, questions began to form, why this, why that. As Royal grew older, his questions became bolder. The priests began to wonder about this damnable upstart that asked questions they couldn’t answer. Finally, religion no longer satisfied and the search for answers elsewhere began. Years of searching the philosophies and religions of the world followed. He consumed the local library but found little to satisfy his questions regarding life and death. The works of the German visionaries and Christian saints were studied with little success. Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, and many others, including the lives of great men of history were explored. They seemed to see a certain something that he could not grasp. Again and again, he returned to the unsolvable problem regarding the origin and mystery of man and his relationship with the invisible God. Royal resolved that, if he ever found any real information on the mystery of life and death, he would share his discoveries with others in unambiguous language. By this time (1957), a tool and product designer in aerospace, Royal was married, with children, but he was unshaken in his search for the underlying truth of life. In the teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, he was drawn to the hard, unvarnished way that G&O tackled the way of the world and the way of the awakened man. Suddenly, without warning in 1961, Royal took a three-year contract as works director with a company in England. While there with his family, he found a group in London under a former student of Gurdjieff and studied the Work for three years. Returning to California, he continued the G & O studies locally for another thirteen years. This struggle toward consciousness resulted in a number of inner revelations revealing the inadequacy of trying to think and reason in the habitual way. Findhorn was discovered along with its revelation of magic and love. The people connected with this experimental contact with Nature (on the North Sea shore of Scotland) were some of the most delightful that Royal had ever known and whatever advancement he had incurred with the Gurdjieff study groups allowed him to drink the elixir of Findhorn to the dregs. In 1972, Kirpal Singh, a Master of Surat Shabd Yoga in India, came to America and Royal was coaxed to attend his lecture. Steeped as he was in the reality of Gurdjieff and the wonders of Findhorn, this eastern teaching seemed dull by comparison. This teacher seemed to be quoting various scriptures (a number of which Royal had already studied) and he did not find something in the talk that was entirely new. Still, this elderly man seemed to have an enormous power, and this persuaded Royal to continue to attend the series of talks. After all they were free! During the last talk Kirpal Singh offered initiation into Surat Shabd Yoga. Royal balked at the very idea. The idea of Indian gurus had already left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. It was then that his lifetime struggle for understanding came to his rescue, and in spite of grave misgivings personally, he submitted to initiation the following day. That became the true turning point in his life. The questions that had plagued him from childhood became like so much loose skin to be sloughed off as answers came to him unbidden. Unrecognized and resisted at first sight, this was the Teacher he had been looking for all his life. This present work is the result of a young man’s resolve to share whatever truth he found. What Royal didn’t realize when that promise was made, was that certain things do not have words and can only be inferred or transferred, heart to heart. The result is that this work is necessarily inadequate to the task but should shed some light on this elusive question of life and death. What follows is a homemade distillation of the insight of some of the greatest visionaries of the twenty-first century, a sort of bathtub gin of spirituality. It has been a work of love. Some of the spirit of his quest appears in his earlier works -- Bedside Manor and Poetry & Prose to Dream by and Slicing the Moon.