Focus  For  The  Master  Pattern

David Barnes

For the possibility of a living psychology of sacred wisdom to emerge through the consciousness of human beings, here and now, it is imperative to listen, observe and perceive all familiar things in new ways. This requires the courage to open the heart and embrace the power inherent and available in the Silence, and allow re-attunement with the original harmony of the Great Way. The mystery of the Creator and the mystery of the Creation remain an enigma for those who fear to enter the Silence, those who fear the intensity of light which cleanses the gates of perception and unveils the Great Way. Opening to mystery is opening to ceaseless wonder! The vast and intricate design of Spirit which enlivens the phenomenal world becomes discernible and increasingly comprehensible in momentary living. The matrix of connection between the historical and the immediate emerges out of the mists of the collective unconscious, revealing the wonder of what before had not been heard, seen or understood.

The prolific influx of wisdom which found expression in some of the classical Greek philosophers, the sages and mystics of the east, and the Hebrew prophets appeared as a specific response to conditions on earth and within the Solar whole, preparing human consciousness for the initiation point of a new Universal Cycle—which began around 400 BC—opening the way for the incarnation of a conscious focus of the Master Pattern, capable of leading responsive human beings out of the chaotic state which had governed world conditions for several thousand years and into realignment with Cosmic order and purpose. In his book The Dimensions of Paradise, John Michell tells us that “the geometric order of the universe” is represented by the design of “twelve equal spheres...placed around a thirteenth, so that each touches the nucleus and four of its neighbors, producing the geometers image of twelve disciples grouped around a master. Christ, Osiris and Mohammed are among those who are represented as a central sphere with twelve retainers” (Michell, 1988, p. 73).

The Master Jesus—LORD of the Sacred Seven—was born on earth just 400 years after the initiation of a new, overlighting 310,000 year Universal Age, a new 25,850 year Solar Age, and a new 2,150 year Age. A perusal of developments during the centuries prior to His appearance leave the distinct impression that everything was set up, that the flow of events was inextricably linked, and that the timing was now-or-never for the achievement of the specific Cosmic purposes as they relate to this Earth, and the transformation of human consciousness in particular. The social, cultural, and spiritual atmosphere of the global whole was as receptive as it was ever going to be, to welcome the sublime message of this One who provides a Focus for the Master Pattern—which is the foundation of this whole world. His arrival on the world stage was precisely orchestrated by the great Cosmic time-keeper.

Jesus, the Christ, is perhaps the most misunderstood man in human history. In my copy of the Holy Bible there are 132 pages recording the details of His personal life and public ministry. The gospels of Matthew and Luke offer but little insight into the affairs of His life prior to the age of twelve. No accurate documentation of His movements between the ages of thirteen and thirty are extant, though speculation abounds in metaphysical literature. The four gospels of the New Testament (and certain of the Gnostic gospels) are what remain, and they record events pertaining to the last three years of His life. However, John, the beloved disciple, emphasizes in his writings the abundant expression of his Master: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” Given the remarkable, albeit limited, account of His life and the enduring impact of His message, it is evident that most of His associates and followers failed utterly to understand His mission. Just prior to the crucifixion He asked His disciples: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?” From the beginning, He has been largely misunderstood.

The record in the King James version of the Bible suggests that the earthly heredity of Jesus extends back to King Solomon and King David, about 1000 B.C., and back another 1200 years (2200 B.C.) to the great patriarch Abraham—father of the children of Islam and the children of Israel. Following out one line here, Abraham's grandson Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel after his awakening and Illumination) had twelve sons whose legacy, drawn together initially by his son Joseph and culminating in the leadership of Moses, became known as the development of the thirteen tribes of the House of Israel—which included as the thirteenth tribe, the Levite priesthood. A relatively unbroken (though frequently corrupted) lineage of spiritual leadership can be traced up until 971 B.C., when King Solomon ascended the throne of a united Kingdom of Israel, bequeathed to him by the incomparable work of his father King David. A nation of immense wealth, power and spiritual focus, all the known world paid tribute to Solomon, servant of the LORD God of Israel: “So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.” Approaching this apex point in the development of the spiritual and temporal nation of the Israelite people, something went terribly wrong: “Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.” Whatever the cause, the result was an Israel left corrupted, vulnerable and weakened from within. The nation crumbled by 931 B.C. Spiritual leadership was assumed by a series of prophets, notably Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel—and a debased Judaiac royalty and Levite priesthood.

It is noteworthy that recorded history in Greece didn't begin until around 1100 B.C., and in China until about 800 B.C. Within the then-known world virtually nothing was known of the Americas. Outside of Egypt, whose culture was of the most ancient vintage, Africa remained an enigma. However, the Hebrew people had by this time enjoyed a lengthy, unbroken history of language, culture and leadership, fueled by a powerful sense of destiny as the children of the One God. Respected for their strong spiritual focus, and their capacity as a nation of spiritual warriors to maintain that focus, something unique had been established in this “peculiar people.” With the decline of the Kingdom of Israel during Solomon's reign, chaos enveloped the known world for several centuries.

Gradually the focused light of wisdom began to rise once again in a few individuals. In Greece, the philosopher Thales was born in 624 B.C., followed by Anaximander in 611, each one searching for physis, the essence of life. The legacy of Lao Tsu, born in China in 604 B.C., is the Tao Te Ching: Classic of the Natural Way. In 582 B.C., Pythagoras was born in Greece, teaching the art and science of sacred music and number, and reminding his students of the immortal Soul. While in captivity, the Hebrew prophets Daniel and Ezekiel refocused the Word of the One God of Israel, around 570 B.C.

In India, Gautama Buddha was born in 560 B.C. He brought to remembrance the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path. His mission was to “beat the drum of the Immortal in the darkness of the world” (Humphreys, 1951, p. 34). Confucius was born in China in 551 B.C.  Empedocles and Heraclitus were both born in Greece in 540 B.C. Contemporaries all, it was a significant influx of genius, an incarnation of wisdom flooding the human psyche in one massive and well-synchronized wave.

This same wave washed to ruin the remnants of Hebrew culture, now rotting at the core. Assyria and Babylon invaded from the north, destroying Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon. In 586 B.C., the Hebrew people were led captive into Babylon. The prophet Daniel was the man of the hour during this desolate period. His wisdom compelling, his counsel invited, he served four kings, exercising a secular authority and a spiritual influence which moved Persia from polytheistic to monotheistic worship. He had prophetic awareness of the future incarnation of the LORD of the Sacred Seven, and Daniel’s influential groundwork served as a guide for a future generation of Hebrew prophets in their determination to prepare a setting for the coming of the Master Jesus. It is no mere coincidence that Lao Tsu and Confucius in China, Gautama Buddha in India, Daniel and Ezekiel in the Middle East, and many of the classical Greek philosophers were all incarnate during the closing phase of a 310,000-year Universal Age.

In 538 B.C., a remnant of the tribe of Judah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the great temple, begin a restoration of the greatness that was Israel, and prepare the way for the coming of a Messiah. In fact, a global regeneration of the human mind was underway in the Mediterranean, and throughout the eastern world with the spread of Buddhism and Taoism. In 458 B.C., the Hebrew prophet Ezra began the work of compiling the Torah, the basis for the Old Testament of the Holy Bible as we know it. Socrates was born in Greece in 470 B.C., followed by Hippocrates in 460, Plato in 437, and Aristotle in 384. The Hebrew prophets, Malachi and Nehemiah were active in Israel, preparing a receptive spiritual nucleus for the coming of the Master Jesus. In China, the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine was compiled around 400 B.C.

This brings the historical overview to 400 BC—that date which has been identified as the completion point for one great Universal Age (310,000 years) and the initiation point of another. Preparation had been deliberately made, through the overlighting guidance of the Master Pattern, for the incarnation of a specific focus point of Mastery at this most auspicious time. The commission was to provide an embodiment of Divine wisdom and power capable of drawing humanity into re-attunement with Cosmic order and design, in harmony with the Spirit of the new Universal Age, and within the context of the conditioning atmosphere of the correlated, lesser Ages and cycles which were also in ascendancy.

The rebuilding of the Hebrew homeland, midst war with both Syria and Greece, and complete domination by Rome when Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 B.C., left a weary Jewish people ready for the appearance of a Messiah who would restore freedom and fulfill the prophetic destiny of Israel. Hunger for wisdom in the daily affairs of a perilous age—with the decline of Greece and the ascendance of the Roman Empire—aroused apocalyptic memories. Approximately 400 years into the initiation of a new Universal Age, Jesus of Nazareth was born.

How do you recognize a Messiah when you meet one? Jesus identified Himself: “I that speak with thee am he.” This forthrightness didn't go over too well with Jewish authorities, as word of His presence spread. His conduct didn't fit the paradigm of Messiah as political liberator who would lead the fight against Roman oppression and restore the glory of Israel. Both the Jewish establishment and His own gathered disciples failed to grasp the Cosmic significance of the presence of the Master. He was of the Universal Whole, and was thus present for the blessing of the whole world of humanity, and all living things. Jesus continually emphasized that He had other designs, spiritual purposes in mind, and this vexed a generation of Jews who had been nourished on the letter and precious little of the living Word. The prophets of Israel had long since gone mute. This Voice was unfamiliar and challenging.

He didn't fit their preconceived image. He was not of their conventional paradigm. The term I abounded in His discourses. “I know whence I came." “I came from above.” “I am the light of the world.” “I and my Father are one.” “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” When He spoke the words, “Before Abraham was, I am”, it was too much, too threatening for Jewish authorities, and they sought to stone Him—and thereafter worked to eliminate Him. His authority was perceived as arrogance and blasphemy. All the world loves a philosopher, but few can receive such expressions of absolute and eternal identity. Plato and Aristotle had postulated a realm of pure Ideas, First Principles, the Abstract, but they never had the audacity to absolutely identify with that realm, saying I am that. Jesus did! Moreover, He challenged others to assume the same eternal identity and character, reminding them, “Ye are the light of the world.”

His greatest message was simply expressed: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It is not far away. It is not in the realm of ideas. It is not only in the invisible realms of this world. It is not to be experienced after you die. It is right here now. Such an expression is powerfully disturbing of the status quo. Its implications are apocalyptic. In Nazareth, in the synagogue of His home city, Jesus delivered the first message of His public ministry, drawing to remembrance the words of Isaiah:

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And He concluded by proclaiming, “This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Astonishment at this bold pronouncement—as He berated Israel for its treatment over the ages of those who come in the name of the Lord—gave way to fear and anger, and:

“All they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him headlong down.”

With Jewish authorities He brooked no compromise, His lamentations taunting them, prophesying: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye fools and blind. Ye are full of hypocrisy and inequity. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Yet His message was such that “the people were astonished at His doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

Jesus seemed to have paranormal abilities. He turned water into wine, multiplied two loaves and five fishes to feed five thousand people, and walked on water. He could see into the past and knew the future, healed the sick, forgave sins and had the audacity to do it on the Sabbath! He identified with God, then said: “With God all things are possible.” “All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.” “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Yet He came, “eating and drinking ... a friend of publicans and sinners.” and that too was unacceptable. Jesus was an altogether unconventional character. He didn't fit the paradigm of Messiah, holy man, prophet, or king. He emphasized Heaven and embraced the Earth, at home in the union of both domains.

He was a living embodiment of Taoist wisdom at its apex of refined understanding, and His life was an exemplification of the injunction uttered by Lao Tsu, six centuries before Him: “Let your honour serve the world and you may be an emissary to the world. Love the world as yourself and you may be entrusted with the world.” (Stubbs, 1990, p.13). His primary work was to re-introduce of the Spirit of Truth, and make immediately available the Spirit of His Love, forgiveness, inclusiveness, peace, and His consciousness of Oneness: the unity of God in both man and woman, the oneness of Heaven and earth, the Invisible and visible. It was not an unfamiliar message—but none before Him had ever lived it completely. “He came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” Few received Him. Few received the available power.

Conscious of the power immanent in the Cosmic pattern of twelve, Jesus gathered around Him a core of twelve disciples—with Himself, as the thirteenth, the Melchizedek Priesthood, at the Center—and attempted to draw them into a unity of spiritual perception and expression; even as Moses had worked to draw the twelve tribes of Israel—with the Levite priesthood as the thirteenth—into a unified body of God's people on earth. However, the failure of this inner core of associates to understand His purposes led to a rapid disintegration of the collective embodiment of the Master Pattern which He was capable of developing, had there been adequate communion with Him, in Spirit and in Truth. After a mere three years of high public profile and ministry, he was rejected and crucified at Golgatha, the place of the skull, an apt symbol of the unwholesome, destructive and separated state of human consciousness. His compassionate words on that sad and painful occasion, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do", were consistent with the attitude He displayed throughout His life. The resurrection and the ascension reveal His characteristic mastery over external circumstance

The ministry of Jesus, which could have expanded beyond Him alone, to include the whole world in a new, collective manifestation of the Master Pattern, disintegrated, even as the nation of Israel dissolved in chaos after the failures in Solomon's time. Peter (who denied Him) and Paul (who never met Him) each carried their own brand of Christianity to the world. The Christian religion, with its manifold denominations of belief, is certainly not the gospel of Jesus, the Christ. John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, was the only one of His original circle of male friends who remained physically and spiritually close with Him during the whole ordeal of His trial and crucifixion. Several of the women who had remained true to their established love and understanding of the Master Jesus throughout His life and ministry, were with Him, providing essential physical and spiritual care and support to the end. In his elder years, John wrote the prophetic and much misunderstood book of Revelation while imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos. The wisdom inherent within his writings, awakened through the few years of spiritual intimacy with his Master, was largely ignored by the rest of the Christian apostles, disciples, zealots and martyrs, in their rush to spread their own limited perceptions of the gospel of Jesus. While John was eventually executed on Patmos, his life and writings formed the basis for a new, though cryptic, revelation of the Master Pattern.

The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and the world entered another dark and chaotic round. The rhythmic movement of Universal cycles causes history to repeat itself, unless the incarnate light of the Master Pattern is received, expanded and differentiated clearly through at least a few individuals. Both Catholics and Protestants tend to define a lineage that originates in Peter and Paul rather than the Master Jesus. Scarcely anyone in fact has a clear understanding of Jesus, the Christ—LORD of the Sacred Seven—and what He established through the vibrational quality of His living. After the crucifixion and His departure, the world was left with skepticism, stoicism, and the zeal of Christian martyrs and crusaders—a reaction against the Spirit of the times. What amounts to a significant corruption of the clear and simple message of the Master Jesus was later synthesized into the confounded doctrines of neo-platonism and Pauline Christianity. When Moslem and Christian scholars resurrected the works of Aristotle, a blend of Christianity with neo-classicism resulted in the suffocating, anthropocentric dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. In the East, the original power of Buddhist and Taoist wisdom was likewise manipulated to serve the degenerate purposes of a corrupt priesthood. A few precious men and women in every land kept available the Sacred thread of wisdom and Love, allowing the ongoing delicate weave of the Master Pattern to work its invisible magic. Under a yoke darkness and decay humanity has labored throughout this past 2,150 year cycle, initiated around 400 B.C., and concluding in the mid-18th century, at the dawn of a new era.

The presence of the incarnate wisdom of previous ages has been briefly outlined. Points of success and failure have been evident throughout the story. Perhaps the greatest success can be sensed in what has been termed the mystery of the resurrection and ascension of the One who functions as a Focus point for the Great Patterned Order of this world. Such mastery has enormous implications for our time. We have moved 250 years into a new 2,150 year Cycle—a new Age. In this current light, it is possible to listen and perceive all old and familiar things in entirely new ways. This is the Spirit of the new Heaven and the new earth. Look around. Incarnate wisdom is present in our midst. You and I are not here by accident. Our own presence, along with many others who are awakening but who yet may be unknown to us, has been precisely orchestrated by that great Cosmic timekeeper who has governed the Cycles of incarnation down through the ages. Such Mastery has enormous implications for our time—in your life and in mine.

"And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."