William G. Gray - The Ladder of Lights

The Tree of Life is growing, flexible and adaptable life pattern capable of indefinite extensions throughout all states of existence. The Qabalah, or "received teachings," is the outcome of experiences of those who have climbed the ladder of the Tree by arranging their lives according to its pattern of perfection. The Tree provides the means of receiving inner world contacts with types of consciuosness normally inaccessible to the ordinary human mind--it is from and through these sources that the "teaching" comes. Here William Gray has presented a step by step guide to the Tree of Life and the Four Worlds of the Qabalahs--the worlds of contemplation, meditation, magic and daily action. The Tree of Life is a means and not an end. It is a map for helping you attain the single objective common to all systems, mysteries and religions--namely, the mystical union of humanity and divinity.

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THE PATTERN OF THINGS

We live in patterns because we have to. They are inescapable. The Cosmos is a pattern. So are we. There are patterns of Spirit, Soul, Mind, and Body extending through all states of existence. We can find them readily enough anywhere. Our human bodies are a Magic Maze of patterns throughout their cellular structure. We have only to look at our own fingertips to observe our individual patterning. Insofar as the pattern of anything may be called a symbol, each of us are living Symbols forming part of the Great Design we can only think of as Divine Life.

The basic facts are simple enough. We live between two worlds or states of existence. The Outerworld of ordinary mundane living, and the mysterious Innerworld of thoughts, feelings, and subjective activities which we vaguely classify as "spiritual". Both worlds are real in relation to ourselves, and the energies operating through them are transmutable and interchangeable from one to another. The patterns formed by such exchanges are those by which we live. We can alter ourselves by altering our life-patterns and vice versa. We and they are interdependent.

If it were possible to find or formulate what might be described as the Perfect Pattern and follow it faithfully, then we should be Perfect People. This has been the aim of every religion and philosophy. Creed, Code, or System. Looking at our past history and present situation as humans, it seems evident that we have either failed to find or to follow any such thing. Nevertheless, this has not been for want of attempts made in that direction. So many attempts have been made so often by such different means, that confusion occurs among them all, and for an individual to make any selective choice for himself is mostly a matter of instinct or inclination.

It was and is the Ideal of every Spiritual System to find this Perfect Pattern and use it for the development and upliftment of such souls who might fit themselves into its framework. An intelligent human applying this Design to himself must surely be on the way to his own perfection. This was the purpose of Occult Initiation, in which aspirants were supplied with a Symbolic Plan for their progression through the worlds of Spirit, Soul, Mind and Body which form our whole state of Being.

The sublimity of this Concept is such that we can scarcely appreciate it at a first glance. It is like trying to sum up the whole of human language into a single word. In fact it is symbolized by the mythical Lost Word, which is said to explain everything, contain everything, and once spoken obviates the need for any further speech. In line with this is the idea of expressing all mathematics by one single and simple equation which would solve every possible problem. One thought which comprises all thinking; the Cause of all causation.

If we consider some of the principal Systems among us, we shall see that they have all produced some kind of a Master pattern which must have been effective to some degree or they could not have affected so many people for so long a time. Perhaps the most universal was the ancient Solar, or circled Cross, held in common by nearly all faiths in one form or another. Christianity began under its aegis, the Calvary Cross being a later adaptation. Bhuddists show it as the Wheel of Life, and it remains today as a major Symbol of most Mystery Schools. As a universal Symbol, it is scarcely to be surpassed.

The Hebrew faith ultimately adopted the Hexagram, or Shield of David as a Master-Glyph, and the profundity of its design is capable of indefinite interpretation. Later came the highly sophisticated development of the Quartemity and Sex-tuplicity as the Ten Emanations of the One, arranged in the pattern known as the Tree of Life. Few minds could, or yet can, work with this Glyph on account of its complications, so it remained almost the exclusive property of the Qabalistic School. Orthodox Rabbinism declared it heretical. However, it became the sign of a developing and Westernising mind and soul, growing away from the static Oriental outlook and culture, and such it remains today.

The Symbol of the Tree of Life is neither static nor dead.

It is a growing, flexible, and adaptable Life-Pattern capable of indefinite extensions throughout Life Itself in all states and existences. This means not merely cellular organic life, but the whole of Being, manifested in all possible aspects. Since there cannot be more, the Tree presents no less. It is no rigid accumulation of defunct dogma and meaningless symbology for an advancing humanity, for it presents an ever richer field of faith in widening dimensions of spirit. Before all else it lives, and must be lived.

The so called Qabalah, or "received teaching" is the outcome of beliefs, experiences, and developments of souls who have "trodden the Paths" by arranging their lives according to the patterns produced by means of the Tree. It is not a hard and fast rule of thumb mysticism, but a Way of Life and Living within a Pattern which constantly and consciously aims at its own perfection.

As we grow the Tree grows. It bears a different variety of fruit in the twentieth century than it did in the fourteenth, but it still fulfils its function of producing sustenance for the insatiable human soul in search of its own meaning. What is more, its fruits are literally inexhaustible, since they continually renew themselves with fresh supplies of Inner energies. The harder we pluck the Tree, the more plentifully comes its amazing fruit.

After initial contacts with the Tree of Life and the Qabalah, it is only natural that we should ask ourselves whether to continue our investigations, or stop wasting time on what seems a medieval rubbish heap in some abandoned Ghetto. Such a question can only be answered by the querant himself. No amount of reading will solve it. All we can read arc the opinions and theories of others, which may or may not be helpful. Each Qabalist must formulate the Tree according to his own life within its pattern. Those unable to do this cannot be Qabalists.

The Tree provides the means of receiving Innerworld contacts with types of consciousness normally inaccessible to the ordinary, human mind. It is from and through these sources that the "Teaching" comes. Nor is this an automatic process, but the result of hard and painstaking work in all worlds. Qabalism is not for the lazy, the ineffectual, or the indifferent occultist. It offers a living-pattern which must be experienced, not merely looked at.