Chapter 12- The Therapies: Contraindicated

Activities Contraindicated:

• Bearing false witness
• Entertaining the pessimisms: Gloomus & Doomus
• The eating of Artichokes
• The eating of unripe fruit
• Charcoal drawing

To bear false witness can, in actuality, have many applications. In relation to the Therapies it is a condition in which our observations are somewhat deluded; as are assumptions that follow, which become equally as misplaced in relation to what we truly know. 

Firstly we can honestly declare that experiences interpreted by ourselves are subjective, regardless of our attempts at fairmindedness. Even those who are lacking in imagination still see through the eyes of related experience. Our interpretations will be our interpretations, and therefore ‘delusion’ will always be arguable as far as that goes.
Yet what is not arguable or contestable by others exists within our own inner-speak – those things to which we truly subscribe to or know; and that part of us which is the ‘me’ amongst the ‘I’ and within the ‘we’.

Candidness is always preferable to compromise, when it comes to the dialogue of the self and in meeting the demands of others. Essentially we are but one person, and when we are inconsistent within our own consciousness the fragmentation becomes destructive and illness will surely follow. 

To negate or dismiss our innermost knowings and preferences negates also the rights and privileges of others as well. Whilst this may appear quite simple, and commonly said, it becomes a constant review in the life of the initiate when he must simultaneously weigh his own heart alongside the wishes of the world.

However, to compromise ourselves is to bear false witness to ourselves, because at the most fundamental level it comes from questioning our own self-worth and integrity, demeaning it by going against what is known to be correct and true (for yourself). 

When as children a strong-willed bully has goaded the group into snickering, meanness or even brutality, those children who weakly complied knew simultaneously that their own inner nature was becoming scored by this compromise, that in the very participation of something for which was not their own natural inclination, yet of another’s perhaps, they were bearing false witness upon themselves – turning upon themselves in that moment, as if to accuse that goodliness of being too timid, for example.

Much evility within the human nature is fostered by precisely such a process. Here in the Therapies we are studying the ‘coaxing’ of good influences, and in this portion we can take time also to consider the ‘goading’ which occurs amongst the more negative aspects impinging upon ourselves.

It is tricky to say the least. It can happen in the best of individuals. Quite often there is a goodness appealed to in this occurrence when men are made to feel less than they should be and thus begin to turn against themselves – to betray themselves – believing this to be an honorable path to improvement. 

NEVER desist from who you are. Never give way to a lesser opinion of your own goodness and correctness. NEVER falter into betrayal of one’s own selfhood. 

The negation of self is the greatest of sufferings to our Christ. When we bear false witness upon ourselves, we afflict Him in this also.

Therefore we recommend that a philosophy or learning which promotes self-development should only be adopted if it proceeds with kindness and respect for the student firstly. And, concurrently, a philosophy of therapy should likewise treasure such consideration. We do not know or even presume to know, for another. 

The assumption of Original Sin bore false witness upon all of Mankind, placing individuals into that intangible position of apology, denigrating the true worth and measure of our Lord’s Grace as it is active within this World in fact. Enter: Gloomus and Doomus! 

For what is pessimism if it is not firstly self-doubt? And, (and this is the really interesting part) both Lucifer and Satan thrive on it! (Gloomus – appropriate title to the ‘light-bearer’, Doomus – describes the predictability of Ahriman most adequately!) 

The eating of artichokes is contraindicated in relation to the Therapies as they are an unripe bud. When the maturation of a food has been halted we respond in likeness to that condition. The life which was to have been coaxed from the bud has been interrupted prematurely. This is contrary to the therapeutic reasonings.

Similarly the eating of unripe fruit suggests to our own organism of a certain defeat. The body will react by trying to evacuate the material as quickly as possible, and at times there will be tensions felt – either within the psyche itself, or it will be displayed in muscular spasm.

There are very definite expressions within physical development by which we are all marking time and working through to.

When a child consumes unripe fruit he shall similarly begin to hold back forces seeking developmental expression within him and can begin to fail his incarnating process. In an adult the development may have reached its maturation, however the daily commitment to reincarnate can become interrupted as well. 

All foods can be viewed as medicinal in relation to their action upon us. There becomes an added difficulty when one realises that that which is unripe may have an opposite effect upon the constitution to that which has ordinarily realised its own nature and seen through its expression to become fully developed through the advantages of the sunlight and the water that is required. 

Charcoal drawing endeavors to combine an artistic experience with a dried, soulless, dead remnant. Whilst this could be said for the very paper also that we draw on, there are substances within the charcoal which are no longer representative of the former tree to which the matter belonged to. With paper we can trace its organic origins and find within its influence much of the forest from which it has come. In paper the parent qualities remain. And yet, with charcoal we are attempting to encapsulate a lively imagination through a corrupted vehicle testifying to death.