Purity

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5

This path we have travelled throughout the contemplations on the Eightfold path leads us to the birth of love in all its purity. More specifically, it leads us to the birth of the purest, the Nathan Jesus. This birth was only possible because Buddha perfected himself and then made himself available through his purified astral forces.
Buddha and Christ show us the compassion and love that is required for this virgin birth to take place. It is our virgin birth because we have to fructify ourselves through the Holy Spirit. So first the Holy Spirit enters into us, then, the purity of the Nathan Jesus can take its place in us – its rightful place.
In fact, the body of this baby is created through our ability to live the steps on Buddha’s path: Right Understanding; Right Judgment; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. Not necessarily in that order, but to put into practice these steps, in part or in full, in our lives, daily - this builds the body that will be able to contain the Christ Impulse.
We have been walking this path to the manger since we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. As we gaze on the baby Jesus the story of mankind should well up within us as a powerful archetype.
Right Mindfulness assists us to remember from the core of our being the story of when, in ancient Lemuria, the Luciferic forces infiltrated for the first time the human astral body. We were there - human spirits participating in the preparations to enable us to incarnate on earth and become self-aware individuals.
When the Luciferic forces permeated the human astral this gave us our I, our sense of self. Oh sure, it was an immature, Luciferic I - the kind of I we see in young children. So, while this was a good move, for it gave us the possibility of freedom and individuality, it had its risks. If the balance was tipped, even slightly, the Luciferic forces could penetrate into the human etheric body too soon. This I, this sense of self, could not dwell in the etheric forces of mankind until it matured in the astral body first. Lucifer is always in a hurry, he is the Lord of Instant, the Lord of Shortcuts.
To avert the possibility of Lucifer taking things into his own impatient hands the spiritual rulers of evolution removed part of the human etheric body from evolution. They kept the finer etheric life forces in the heavens and only gave us the lower etheric forces from which to build our etheric bodies. The tree of life is the symbol of this act.
“He (God) drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” Gen 3:24
The only way back to the tree of life is via the manger. Lying in the manger for the first time ever, are the pure etheric forces withheld from us, until now. The Nathan soul, the pure adamic spirit had never incarnated before. When we look at the baby Jesus we should be filled with absolute wonder at this act of pure wisdom. Untainted etheric forces, kept in the heavens until Buddha and Christ (and the rest) could enter into the right time and place and preside over the form of an infant. In this baby we can see humanity as it was in its childhood, in its divine innocence. Of course it could only “be born of the will of God.”
And yes, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.” Jn 1:10
How could we know him? He, the Nathan soul, had been held in the heavens for us - unknowable.
“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;” Jn 1:12
As we contemplate the heavenly child we can feel ourselves absorbing this pure etheric and becoming the children of God. I pray that the child born at Bethlehem is born more deeply in our souls each Christmas.