Symbols are simply tools to help us rise to the divine world.
Although he did not approve of the excessively rigid forms established by many religions, he readily acknowledged that pictures or statues could be useful, often serving as a necessary support for prayer. He himself made use of symbols in his spiritual work—the Tree of Life of the Cabbalah, the rose, the prism, the seven colors of the spectrum—but he always warned his disciples that such symbols must be no more than tools to help them rise toward the divine world.

In his initiatic school at Izgrev and at the Bonfin he advocated a spiritual work that mobilized mind, heart, and will. Time and again he talked about the role of these three basic components of every human being.

The Three Ways – Mystical, Spiritual and of Concrete Realization
They had an important place in his philosophy, but also in his life: ‘I have experienced the mystical way: the heart, feelings, sensations, love. I have tasted the spiritual way: study and knowledge. I have also followed the way of concrete realization through work and the exercise of the will. I have tried these three ways one after the other, and in each I have achieved results. And yet I do not want to choose one or the other: I want all three.’

The nature of True Silence
If he was to continue to reveal to his followers the truths that would enable them to advance, he needed tranquility and silence. But he saw that an understanding of true silence, the silence that is not merely a conventional attitude but a state of mind, was not accessible to all.

Regrets about lack of resolve and perseverance
Although his brothers and sisters were always receptive, he often felt that he was a voice crying in the wilderness. He told them frankly that their lack of resolve and perseverance saddened him. But his regrets were for them, for those who were not yet aware of the value of ‘a silence penetrated by thoughts of such an exalted nature, that it is endowed with all the elements needed to form their subtle bodies, even the body of glory’.

Extracts from the Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov Biography, by Louise-Marie Frenette,
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