Essay 3: THE GENESIS BREATH

“The ‘I’ fathers all things, that is, it starts all things. It is the mystic body of all men alike. Whoever gets back of breaths and back of thoughts to his majestic starting point, is one with Jesus Christ indeed.” (Esoteric Philosophy page 11:4)

One of the endless blessings bestowed upon the dedicated Initiate in Christ during the journey Homeward is that of True Sight. True Sight, once the sole domain of what we know as the “single eye,” is realized through our physical eyes as well, and we can see through our Jesus eyes where everything in the material world becomes but a symbol of the Reality lying back of those symbols. It is by this gift, this blessing, that the rich mystery of the Lord’s Prayer passage “Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” can be revealed as the Christ in us all. When we see everything through the eyes of Cause and no longer through the hypnosis of matter, we reveal Truth.

The activity of the breath, both physical and the mystical, is simple, elegant, and vital to our different bodies, seen and unseen. As we begin to look at all life with better eyes, we see that the physical breath, essential to the life of our outer bodies, is a powerful symbol of the breath of Spirit that sustains and develops our inner bodies. Depending upon the arena of consciousness in which we operate during our Sacred journeys, the activity of the breath shows forth in different ways and becomes exalted and more fully freed to Truth along the way.

Attention to the physical breath has become a touchstone in many spiritual practices over the years and rightly so. By using our outer senses to examine aspects of our physical being, we can create points of entry into the unseen Reality which is the Cause of All. The Wisdom behind our physical eyes shows us the way, through inspiration and expiration, into the higher consciousness awareness. To see the material as symbol allows us to look and breathe toward Substance.

The breathing that sustains our physical body is easy and effortless in normal circumstances. There is no time at which we breathe in and find that life-giving oxygen is not available to fill our lungs. By the same token, there is no instance when the inhaled breath, having bestowed its gift of life, cannot be expelled, relieving our lungs of that which does not serve our bodies. During those times when a belief in illness, disease or disorder causes restriction, congestion, or chaos in our respiratory system, we may experience difficulty or limitation in breathing, but the air and the life-giving oxygen it contains is always available, never withheld.

In fulfillment of the Promise “on earth as it is in Heaven,” the way in which the breath of Spirit operates, is the template for the symbolic, physical breath.    

At every level of consciousness, the breath is our invitation to Life, to Spirit and to Truth. The more deeply and consciously we breathe in Spirit, the more we surrender symbols to Substance and can breathe this Presence out into the world as the Christ.

In what we know as Kingdom 1 consciousness, the breath is reactive. The Spirit we breathe in is so infused and diluted with the attention given to matter, conditions, and duality that we hardly notice its Life-giving Presence. At this level, we breathe only to survive and are not so far removed from the animal-breath. It is here that we breathe in chaos and fear while breathing out suffering and limitation. This breath is congestive and labored at best: Truth concealed by layers of error and ignorance. The atmosphere in which we draw breath in Kingdom 1 is indeed thin and our spiritual “lungs” limited in their capacity.

As we emerge into Kingdom 2 consciousness, we reveal the breath as responsive. We breathe in desire, hope, purpose, and intention while breathing out demonstration and manifestation into the world. The breath becomes a vehicle for the Good that we can identify and specify. In this realm, we master the breath, replacing ignorance and fear with intelligence and faith. In this consciousness, we are lifted out of the darkness but are still bound to the earth because of the duality associated with our breath as idea and demonstration. Every inspiration is still followed by an expiration, every giving followed by a receiving and every fullness followed by an emptiness, in endless cycle.

In the lower consciousness, the breath is troubled, labored and congested. The statement of being is “I breathe opposition, I breathe to exist.” At its next level, the breath finds life, balance, and freedom. The statement of being becomes, “I breathe to show forth, to demonstrate. I breathe so that I can do.” In what we know as Kingdom 3 consciousness, the breath is reflective. It is here that the breath can remember its Native State. Gone is the duality of inspiration and expiration. Unity reigns supreme and there is surrender to “Flow,” Spirit moving through us unobstructed, Grace-Filled, free of the bondage of the material. In this state, we are a conduit for Spirit, Immortal Mind Presence, unencumbered by space, time or matter. This is the Genesis Breath.

As this Breath moves through us, we are free from our own ideas, attachments, specifications, and identifications. Genesis Breath penetrates the surrendered ego, resurrecting it so that Divine Ego can be exposed as Being.

As the unbroken Eternal Breath flows through us, we operate in that Immortal Mind consciousness which knows nothing of outcomes and conditions, but is the Cause of All. Here, the purified breath of Truth moves through us as individualized Christ. Where once we specified and manipulated in prayer, we yield gracefully to the Ideal of “your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.” (Matt. 6:8)

The effortless breath is the True Breath. The Breath that knows only Itself is brought forth as Genesis and sweeps across everything that is made. It is Life. It is Perfection. It is the transmission of Christ as each of us.