– The mystery of fire is the mystery of life.
« True sacrifice is the process by which all our old, worn-out, impure elements are transformed into light and heat, that is to say, into love and wisdom. It is because initiates understand this that they offer themselves up every day to the Angel of Fire so that they may be devoured and consumed. Humans have often compared God to a consuming fire but they do not really know very much about this fire; all they know is that it burns so fiercely that man cannot bear it. This is the pure fire of the Spirit; at its touch all forms melt and disappear. Those who receive the kiss of this fire melt and blend into it to become one flame.
A great many people have written very complicated books about the experiences of mystics. But the truth is not complicated; it is really very simple. The experience of a mystic is the experience of fire, of the sacred fire that he feeds by throwing bits of his lower nature onto it every day, just as we throw sticks and dead branches onto the fires in our hearths. Look at a log fire: all the branches and twigs that were once separate and scattered are brought together to form a single flame, a blaze of light and heat; they are all obliged to think and feel as the fire thinks and feels.
What else can fire teach us? Look at a bonfire and you will see that the branches on top of the pile seem to burn more quickly and with more eagerness than those below. It is as though they were in a great hurry because they are so happy to be transformed into light, into sparks of fire.
The branches beneath them burn much more slowly, more reluctantly. And those that fall off the pile and roll away from the fire seem to be uncertain of what to do. They are wondering whether they really want to be burned or not. If they hesitate it is because they have moved away from the fire, and it is never good to stray too far. They continue to blaze for a little while and then the flames die down and the fire goes out.
So as you see, even a bonfire gives us a portrait of life: those who rise burn brightly, those who stay down below smoulder and stagnate, and those who fall away are extinguished.
The mystery of fire is the mystery of life. The fire in humans is the spark of life that dwells in his heart. At the exact moment when this spark leaves their heart humans die. This is why the one thing that matters is to learn how to protect this fire, not only physically but, above all, spiritually.”
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov,
Izvor Book 232, The Mysteries of Fire and Water,
Chap.3
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