THE DISPELLING OF IGNORANCE From a sermon given by Noel Bertelle, at St Alban Brisbane , Sunday November 20, 2011 The Intent for today is The Dispelling of Ignorance and I will return to that topic shortly as I note that today is also A Day of Devotion to the Holy Spirit, so initially I’d like to spend a little time pondering what we might actually know about the Holy Spirit? And unless we have been fortunate enough to experience its influence in our lives then I’d have to say...very little I suspect. I say that because not only are there very few clear references to the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures but even those references are somewhat confusing as they appear under different names and descriptions so that one is left with an element of doubt about the writer’s intent. Adding to that (and now I refer to my own experiences), sermons and explanations from those I have presumed should know about the subject have left me with the feeling that while they have made lots of interesting assumptions, there has been very little evidence put forward that relates to the speaker’s personal experiences. Nevertheless we do know from various readings that the Holy Spirit is one of the three aspects of God which make up the Trinity or Triad, and that the Trinity is the foundation of all which, as Dr Annie Besant observes in her ‘Study of Consciousness’ (a fundamental Theosophical text), has itself grown out of the One. It is interesting to note that in Christian circles we are inclined to think that the Trinity is exclusive to Christian thought, yet Annie Besant argues that in esoteric or non-inclusive thought, the Trinity is made up of three fundamental expressions of consciousness, Will, Wisdom and Activity which is then reflected in a myriad of ways in the creation of the Universe, which is precisely where we, each of us, comes into the equation. Now I hasten to point out that this explanation in no way takes away from the importance and magnitude of the Christian understanding of the Trinity; it simply demonstrates that God in his Magnificence and in His various ways, is reflected in every major religious persuasion. Let us expand then on this Great Trinity that emerges from the One by referring back to those three fundamental expressions, Will, Wisdom and Activity and we find they may be further expressed as follows:
You will have noted that the Holy Spirit is described as Activity and it is Activity that is said to give to matter its responsiveness to action - which brings me to the point I wish to make -while we seem to have (to my mind at least) very little clear scriptural reference to the Holy Spirit, as stated earlier its influence must therefore be experienced in one’s very life before it can be properly understood, and if I may add to that observation, not confused with a surfeit of emotion. So I am inclined then to make the reasonable assumption and ask you go along with me for the moment that the Holy Spirit is an ever-present, all-pervading spiritual energy that is available to all seekers of pure intent and to them the Holy Spirit will respond as needed. This is better expressed I think in today’s Collect which describes the Holy Spirit as ‘...the breath of life and fire of love that touches us with the glow of celestial flame that...we might shine forth as the sun’. Ask and you shall receive, perhaps? Now let’s move on to Today’s Intent. You will remember it is the Dispelling of Ignorance - a subject with which I have a measure of familiarity. Sympathetically the Collect to which I have just referred not only asks that the Holy Spirit touches us so that ‘...we might shine forth as the sun’... but goes on to request that we may be sufficiently purified to ‘...enlighten and encourage those of our brethren who are lost in the darkness of ignorance and guide them to Thee’. Wonderfully expressed and should quite literally bring a warm glow to the hearts of all Christians who have the interests of their brothers and sisters at heart and harbour the wish to reach out and share with them the word of God. So, how can we learn to dispel the ignorance in our hearts so that we may be better able to understand and so be able to reach out that helping hand? Well first it would be helpful to know its primary cause. Various Yogic texts describe it by the word Avidya, i.e. lack of knowledge, ignorance of one’s true nature or spiritual ignorance. Such ignorance is said to be accompanied by its four effects; attachment, ego, hatred and fear which in turn are the primary causes of all suffering. And correspondingly it states in Proverbs 8:13 ‘...the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance’. The Bible also says ‘...the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’. (Psalm 111:10). And then in the Gospel of Peter (4:18), we are reminded that ‘...there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear’. All this is delightfully summed up in the Chandoga Upanishad (1.3.1) ‘He who knows becomes a Dispeller of Darkness or Ignorance’. And those quotes from their various sources bring us mindfully back to our Intent of the day, Dispelling Ignorance, having learnt that perfect love can cast out fear which is in turn is caused by ignorance; and that correct knowledge can also help in dispelling ignorance. Such wise words from across ages and cultures surely places us on a path to discover our true nature, and if we still suffer any doubt or confusion then perhaps we might refer to today’s reading from the 8th Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke, which refers to the parable spoken by Jesus about the sower and his seed. I’m sure I have no need to repeat it in its entirety but in terms of correct knowledge having the power to dispel ignorance, its message is very clear. Remember how a sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed some fell by the wayside and was eaten up by birds, and some fell on a rocky surface and because it lacked moisture it withered and died, and some fell into the thorns and was choked, And other seed fell on good ground and it bore fruit a hundred times over because it was nurtured. When the Disciples asked to know the meaning of this parable Jesus said, ‘Unto you is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables; that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand’. Then He told them ...‘the seed is the Word of God and those by the wayside are they that hear but then are confronted by the adversary, the doubter, who takes away the word from their hearts lest they understand and be saved. They on the rock are they who, even though they hear receive the word with joy; but have no foundation and for a while believe and then in time of temptation they fall away. And those which fall among the thorns are they who when they have heard, go forth and are choked with the cares and the riches and pleasures of this life and so bring no fruit to perfection. But those on the fertile ground are they who are in honest and good heart, and having heard the word keep it and bring forth plentiful fruit with much patience.’ Now let me suggest to you that rather than find ourselves in the category of those by the wayside, who even though hearing the word of God, are inclined by persuasive argument to close their ears; or those who hear the word with great initial joy but allow it no time to root so that their belief is exposed as shallow and they are pulled away by even the slightest temptation; or even those who though they have heard are so easily distracted by everyday concerns, material successes or their inclination to pleasure and so allow the word to fade away and completely deny the message they have received in favour of such distractions. Surely we (you and I) would be more inclined to earnestly work towards dispelling any ignorance we may be harbouring in order to be more like those of honest and good heart, who having heard the word, give time and effort to its patient understanding and then keep to its truth faithfully within their hearts so that it may bring forth its fruit in the manner in which we live our lives in witness to the word of God? |
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