Preface:

Hear ye, hear ye–Glad Tidings to one and all. Listen up, for Thoth brings another Teaching Tale of mystery and benefit to those with hearts to feel and ears to hear, That, which remains silent to the world.

The Canon of Baal Eyt is a compilation of the Teachings of Gabriel Baal Eyt, son of Miriam of Luxor and Marcus Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, given in his 31st year to his Fratres and Sorores, all Initiates of the Order Lake Moeris.  Such transmission occurring some 13 years following the Resurrection of Master Jesus, the Christ.

The Canon of Baal Eyt has been preserved and kept from profane eyes for 2,000 years. It was rediscovered and translated by members of the Institute for Conscious Evolution and Human Development upon the return of Gabriel to this world. These Teachings are to be shared with seekers of pure heart, open mind, and possessing the selfless wisdom to knock upon our Atrium doors.

Liber I.  The Way of the Gallant Heart

Forward:

Over many thousands of years of experimenting, mystics and saints uncovered four hidden pathways, or Royal Roads, originating in the darkness and suffering of the Forest of Error and culminating in an Empyreal World of Boundless Light, Endless Life, and Unconditioned Love. Moreover, these Enlightened Ones, possessing compassion, wisdom, and intention, returned to the Forest of Error seeking tyros longing for escape and refuge.

The first Path is followed by those tyros possessing hearts bearing the hieroglyphs for the doing of good works. In dynastic Egypt, the Sacred Image, Maat, presided over the kheri-heb dedicating themselves to living a life of service to Maat and society. For just and selfless actions upheld the fundamental Order of the universe.

In the Indian continent, the practitioners doing good work, including, non-harming, are found in the Jains and Theravada Buddhists. Some call this Path, Karma Yoga. By living a life based upon non-harm, non-violence, and attention to ones actions, practitioners find the Higher Life.

The second Path is followed by those tyros possessing hearts able to devote themselves to one Sacred Image, or Refulgent Deity. In the Indian continent, we find devotees of Krishna, Isvara, Shakti, and others. Herein, devotees seek communion with the divine male or female principle or energy so to become as each Deity is. It is the path of the personal god.

In the West, history tells us of many men and women who lived lives consciously by having Christ present with them at all moments. See Thomas á Kempis, The Imitation of Christ or Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God.

The third Path is followed by those tyros possessing very keen minds which are easily devoted to studying the laws of both the inner and outer worlds. Commonly, such persons are inherently scientific thinkers and love to create models explaining the Great System. The practitioners of seek resonance with Original Mind, Cosmic Mind, the Impersonal Source of Creation, and Direct Knowing. Esoteric Schools are found in Jnana Yoga, the Kabbalah of Luria, the Christian Gnostics, the Neoplatonists, the Zuranites, and the Sufis.

The first, second, and third Paths are generally followed by tyros residing in seclusion from the day-to-day secular world of politics and suffering. However, the great majority of people cannot withdraw from secular life and need a Path for escape from the Forest of Error while living the life of a normal householder. The fourth Way or Path is called, the Way of the Householder. All spiritual practice is designed for those having commitments in the secular world, such as family and career. The 4th Way is difficult, as its practices encompass portions of the first three Paths adapted for secular life.

The best known 4th Way Schools are the Rosicrucian Order, the schools of GI Gurdjieff and his students, some Mahayana Buddhist schools, the American Buddhist centers stressing vipassana, and psychological mindfulness.

There is an interesting variant of the 4th Way Schools that had its birth during the time of the First Crusade (circa 1096-1099) originating in the ducal and princely courts of southern France and the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. This time period is responsible for the modern appreciation of the term, Romantic Love. Though, the practice of courtly love died in a few centuries, the flame ignited by the poems and tales of the troubadours remained, ash-coated, embers hidden from mundane eyes.

As a poet, I am intrigued by the quality and depth of many of the songs and poems composed by male and female troubadours of the 11th to 14th centuries of the common era. My interest growing over the years as I experimented with gallantry and purity of affection. The ways of medieval, courtly love provided an impetus and format for devising a 5th Path, the Way of the Gallant Heart. The Way of the Gallant Heart is based upon the conscious practice of birthing and growing, inside ones innermost heart, a refulgent flame of unconditioned Love for one individual. Embers of the fifth Path are found in medieval Islamic poetry and the mystical Teachings of the Sufi Schools, including, Rumi and Omar Khayyan.

For the past few days, I have shared suitable poetry as a modern troubadour.

It is a most difficult Path to follow for our very natures are centripetal, as to love and possessions. We are born into this world with many ‘desire-vessels for receiving.’ Truly, one can say, that each person seeks solely to satisfy his or her core love(s) at the expense of all other personal needs and benefits.

To counter such evolutionary tendencies, the Institute offers the Way of the Gallant Heart to those individuals possessing the proper disposition, character, and temperament. Such factors arising due to: [1] material fate (ancestral genetics and social circumstances), [2] astral fate (potential spiritual influences at conception), and [3] destiny (ones capacity for consciously serving the purposes of Nature, while attaining to a status above Nature, becoming an Immortal).

The 5th Path bears no relationship to the corrupted sexual tantras being peddled in the Occident by false teachers. While, the 5th Path contains Teachings, as to proper utilization of human sexuality, physiological, psychoistic, and spiritual, such Teachings and practices are designed to normalize and improve the functioning of the human neurohormonal system so to best manifest spirituality,

For many students, a 4th Way teaching is more expedient and is recommended. Fortunately, the Institute easily offers both together.