Baptism

[Guest guest]

Someone asked me about baptism.

 

One could say that throughout our life there is a sequence of seven

natural 'baptisms'. None of them to be ritualized, as all arise

naturally from life... when living the human-divine in the 'milieu

divin'.

 

In our human 'turning of age' transitions (there may be a better English

term for this),

the transitions:

from embryo to baby

from baby to child (as in the German 'Kind')

from child to teen

from teen to adolescent

from adolescent to adult

from adult to sage

form sage to prophet,

the

*traditional-five-elements-combined-with-the-traditional-five-senses-and

-aggregates-plus-two-additional-non-traditional-elements/senses*, play a

role.

 

The combined understanding of the five elements / five senses fall under

the Sanskrit term 'skandas' and are an early attempt at

nature-psychology-philosophy. These skandas are still the focus in the

centre part of the Tibetan Mandala with its five directions, East,

South, West, North, Upwards. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote a tiny

little pamphlet on that which was never widely distributed.)

 

Back to baptism...

The following is quite schematic.

None of these baptisms should have been ritualized, but they are still

very 'celebratable'.

 

Other than just baptism by water or fire, a more complete lists contains

baptism by:

.. Earth, solid, touch, (root chakra), at birth through our mother.

.. Water, liquid, taste, (sacral chakra), through our father (too bad

we turned him into a priest). Our father would teach us about

procreation of life. (The traditional initiation rites.)

.. Fire, plasma, smell, (solar plexus) through the community of our

peers who would help us retain, regain and maintain

'freedom-of-will-and-clarity-of-mind, (body-will / body-mind). (Too bad

our peers do such a poor job nowadays.) (The traditional sororities and

fraternities.)

.. Air, vapour, sight, (heart chakra) (breath, ruach) through our

lover and companion in life. (The traditional marriage.)

.. Ether, space or akasha, sound, (throat chakra) through the

universe. (Learning, science, original meaning of 'university'.)

.. Light, mind, (brow chakra) through divine inspiration (The

traditional sages as priests and priestesses)

.. Pure energy, nirvanic, (crown chakra) through the realization of

unconditionality in principle. (The traditional Avatar, the one who

easily turns from energy to matter and vice versa).

 

Each of the above is an expansion from the already complete sphere of

love at conception, from smaller to larger spheres of completeness, so

to speak.

 

Each of us humans have the innate potential of all the above stages...,

age wise every human can transit through each of the above

functionalities. (They formed the basis of the Catholic sacraments.)

 

When this natural growth process in the human is traumatized or

disturbed the Human/Divine SELF restoration process kicks in.

(Traditionally called Kundalini.)

 

Love, Wim

[Guest guest]

Hi Wim,

>Someone asked me about baptism.

>

>One could say that throughout our life there is a sequence of seven

>natural 'baptisms'. None of them to be ritualized, as all arise

>naturally from life... when living the human-divine in the 'milieu

>divin'.

 

I don't see a good reason for calling seven stages corresponding to the

seven chakras/planes "baptisms." Of course, you can use a word any way you

choose. ) But in Christianity it already has a definite meaning. You

correlate the seven sacraments with the seven chakras/stages, but baptism

is just one of the sacraments.

>None of these baptisms should have been ritualized,

 

The definition of a sacrament is "the outer sign of an inward grace."

Baptism is the outer sign in one of the sacraments.

 

It uses water, and it symbolizes a washing-away of "sin" or of the "old

man," a death of the old and a birth of the new man. Among Christians it

is done in one of two ways:

 

1) By Roman Catholics and some Protestant denominations

a) Baptism of new-born babies, and

b) Confirmation by the young person at an age when he knows what he's

doing.

2) By some Protestant denominations

a) Dedication of babies by the parents and community, and

b) Baptism of the young person at an age when he knows what he's doing.

 

In the time of Jesus, the Jews were baptising by water, and Jesus was

baptized in the River Jordan. He himself doesn't seem to have ever

baptized using water, and he said his baptism was not of water but of fire.

At the first Pentecost the disciples seem to have had the baptism by fire,

when the Holy Spirit descended and they manifested various interesting

results... it's in the book of _Acts_.

 

In the early church they seem to have equated the baptism by fire with the

"baptism of the spirit," and there was quite a controversy about whether

you could give the baptism of fire to someone who hadn't had the baptism by

water or to someone who wasn't circumcised. But Peter insisted that when

he found someone who _already had_ the baptism of the spirit, he saw no

reason not to give the baptism by water as a sort of confirmation. And he

went right ahead and did it.

 

Many Christians now equate the baptism of fire and of the spirit with the

awakening of physically active Kundalini, which they see as the Holy Spirit.

 

If one has this, then he will naturally work through the seven

chakras/planes... Kundalini or the Spirit moving through each one in turn.

 

So it seems to me to be trying to make an entirely different word of

"baptism" to try to use it for the seven chakras/planes/stages themselves.

 

Love,

Dharma