by Guardian in Chief Richard A. London
Given in the Blue Star Memorial Temple
March 9, 2025
I consider “concupiscence” to be one of the more unusual words expressed within the Ten Rules of Discipleship:
“Thou shalt not sin against thine own body nor against the body of thy neighbor by concupiscence; for the Lord thy God will demand an accounting of thee for all of the Creative Fire enthroned within thee.”
From Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, “Concupiscence, noun [Latin, to covet or lust after, to desire or covet.] Lust; unlawful or irregular desire of sexual pleasure. In a more general sense, the coveting of carnal things, or an irregular appetite for worldly good; inclination for unlawful enjoyments.”
From this definition, we can extrapolate the root meaning of concupiscence to be the result of stimulated physical sensations, in a misguided effort to appease desires based on the perceptions and interpretations by one’s intellect.
How Humanity’s interaction with sexual desire has evolved within various cultures throughout the eons has impacted, if not defined, what is judged to be acceptable behavior. What is deemed acceptable can vary by degrees depending on one’s upbringing.
Of course, without procreation as we know it, life would be evolving in a whole other form of matter.
Another socially provocative aspect of the functioning biology of human life that seems relevant to the discussion at hand would be the challenges of how one manages the different types of odors emanating from one’s body, a challenge that can be greeted with relief, acceptance, embarrassment, disgust, responsibility, gratitude, and even humor.
Some time ago, it came to me that how one accepts the ultimate results associated with the ways and means our bodies metabolize the fuels of our existence is subject to what I now refer to as the “Law of Consideration.” With rare exception, this law makes quite clear that whatever release may come through me, it is much less offensive to my cellular core than when coming to terms with its passage through someone else nearby. I believe this holds true for most thoughts, words, and deeds that may come through any of us as well. I tend to have little to no issue with most types of emanations coming through me, as opposed to being offended by someone nearby who is perceived guilty of some alleged faux pas, because of this naturally deep-rooted biological personal bias. And yet, it is the intentional consideration of others over ourselves that nurtures the potential for Unity and living by the Golden Rule.
With this preface, I’m attempting to scratch the surface on the various socially closeted aspects of life, to suggest that the more modern lifestyles many of us are becoming accustomed to are in part responsible for disconnecting our opportunities for realizing our interdependency with the Universal Principles of Existence. The fact that our society has become offended by the public display of some of the various necessities of life, which can be punishable by laws in the name of civility, is merely one of the factors having the unintended consequences of distorting our intellectual ability to perceive reality. We do not take into account how modernization is impacting our ability to know that Mother Nature is truly Sacred.
Difficult to know, let alone prove, what may be contributing to the Conundrum of Intellectual Concupiscence as it threatens the evolving potential of our humanity. Perhaps by believing “that in me dwelleth every good and perfect Spirit” rather than worshiping the golden calf, we might be able to increase the likelihood for solving the Conundrum of Intellectual Concupiscence.
However, from Temple Messages — Red Folio, we find these excerpts within Master Morya’s message entitled “The New Day”:
An important measure of time closed August 19, 1927, on the Hour and Figure marked by the Clock of Kronos, the Golden Standard and Heart-shaped Paddles or Wheels. It is the same symbol as the Golden Lotus, Padma, the Feminine Aspect of Vishnu, in general application, the Past that shall be no more.
Time, Kronos, swallows its children, the personal gods of exotericism. Human fancy has been cycling downward in physical and intellectual development. The death knell of Intellectualism has been sounded and the birth-note of Spiritual Perfection has been struck when Kronos can no longer be deceived. The Serpent of Pure Wisdom, the Union of physical and spiritual Powers, will beget a progeny that will overthrow the Mental Race with an Intuitional One, a Mighty One that shall be Incomparable.
This symbolic warning to humanity, alerting us that our gifted ability to be conscious of our consciousness, has already come up against the point of satiation. What began as an instinctual seed of perfecting the privilege of choosing how humanity takes advantage of the Fruits of Mother Nature, has evolved into the illusionary pursuit of having dominion over every other living thing and creature.
Despite many of us now sensing the growing burden of intolerance and impatience, our awareness of having waded into the quicksand of Intellectual Concupiscence would seem to be nonexistent.
Imagine — if all of the world could believe that God is in His Holy Temple, just long enough to let all the earth be still? Just long enough to let all the earth be silent? Just long enough to let all the earth be at Peace?
From my perspective the advent of social media, a concept my career path afforded me the chance to explore back in the early 1980s, has exponentially exacerbated the ease for succumbing to the seduction of Intellectual Concupiscence. This is especially true for those of us who remain unaware of the 5th Rule of Discipleship and the Principles revealed therein:
“Thou shalt not speak falsely, unnecessarily or critically against thy neighbor and so put in action the converse force of creative sound and word; for the Higher Law will reverse the action of the force thus directed and bring back upon thee, with intensified strength, the results of the broken Law.”
While we can be enticed by the seemingly productive strategy for sharing and exchanging information, many of our social media platforms gravitate towards the tendency for Intellectual Concupiscence. Unknowingly, there are those of us who offer assertions without any context or sense of Karma, laced with false, unnecessary, and critical biases that stultify the more natural fragrances of life that are self-evident, and yet unnoticeable to many. And for many of us, we are most certain that we are implementing our good intentions.
It’s interesting how our emphasis on freedom, and the value we attribute to it as a country, to the nearly unrestricted expression of speech through one’s choice of words, but heaven help us if “nature calls” and we need to physically relieve ourselves in an open public space.
Just to reiterate, the Trinity of Producer, Consumer, and Decomposer is as Sacred as Father, Mother, Son and as is sacred as the evolution of Matter, Force, and Consciousness.
To quote an Internet AI explanation: “In an ecosystem, a producer is an organism that creates its own food using sunlight (like plants), a consumer is an organism that eats other organisms to gain energy (like animals), and a decomposer is an organism that breaks down dead plants and animals into nutrients that can be used by producers (like bacteria and fungus).”
And yet today’s Intellectual Concupiscence seems to be more focused on how we think life needs to be, rather than on the Universal Laws and our Karmic relationship with those Laws up until and through these present times.
It’s not surprising that humanity’s Karma and attempts at civility have necessitated the need for closeting various aspects of the producer, consumer, and decomposer relationships that every other living thing and creature performs openly within the domain of Mother Nature.
Should these bodily functions be somehow depicted within our various storytelling amusement formats, they end up with a restricted rating and are considered unsuitable for children. And yet today, we think we have the wisdom to debate if there is a Creator, let alone what was intended by that Creator. And then there are the shifting roles of the sexes, castes, and races, and the evolving aspirational desires for one to be so uniquely free and unencumbered as to be totally unaware of having become toxically malignant to the whole.
The more polluted and unnatural the hierarchical arrangements of the Producer, Consumer, and Decomposer relationships have become, the greater the tendency for Intellectual Concupiscence. The blaming of others rather than taking responsibility for our own thoughts, words, and deeds adds to the conundrum of intellectual concupiscence.
And yet, many offerings of solutions can be attributed to an ego-driven intellect unknowingly determined to circumvent the Karma attached to the breaking of Universal Laws over great periods of time. Our defensive preference tends to be the demonization of the personality or defame the messenger, as communication tactics such as scapegoating continues to be a convenient means for dominating the illusion.
Uncoupling from the rat race and our addiction for amusement, to carve out time for thoughtful learning and reflection would seem to have become a luxury.
To be clear, it’s been humanity’s intellectual prowess, with the incorporated benefits of experience, intuition, and imagination, that has lifted to some extent our animal instincts to the level of compassion that has made civility even a possibility.
Most certainly there is great wisdom to be gleaned from many sources. How we interpret and utilize knowledge gained through experience — and to what end — matters most.
I believe Morya’s words from “The New Day” are worth taking to heart: “Human fancy has been cycling downward in physical and intellectual development. The death knell of Intellectualism has been sounded and the birth-note of Spiritual Perfection has been struck when Kronos can no longer be deceived.” I find this assertion to be in alignment with “Creeds Disappear, Hearts Remain.”
A very bright intellect that has become overwhelmed by or devoid of emotions and feelings can become more susceptible to fancy, selfishness, and perversion. Ultimately, the balance between intellect and emotion, male and female, light and dark, hot and cold, positive and negative, and so on is vital to the Divine Sacredness within the evolution of Matter, Force, and Consciousness.
The widening political polarization, contentiousness and nearly undiplomatic relationships being encountered here and around the world would appear to be symptomatic of the offering found in “The New Day.”
And now, there is artificial intelligence, which can be defined as “the capability of computer systems or algorithms to imitate intelligent human behavior.”
I have to wonder what if any aspect of AI, has been influenced by Intellectual Concupiscence? And within Humanity’s quest to control if not to dominate Mother Nature, what role will AI play in concert with the Incomparable, as alluded to in The New Day? “The Serpent of Pure Wisdom, the Union of physical and spiritual Powers, will beget a progeny that will overthrow the Mental Race with an Intuitional One, a Mighty One that shall be Incomparable.”
As a means for endearing the potential Wisdom embodied in the Union of physical and spiritual Powers, I have paraphrased the following excerpt from OnondagaNation.org:
When Deganawihda, the Peacemaker, according to Iroquois or Haudenosaunee historical accounts, left his native Huron Nation, traveling from the Great Lakes region towards the area now known as Syracuse, New York, he was driven by an impulse from the Creator to bring peace to a group of warring nations, who were experiencing great bloodshed and death.
The Peacemaker was seeking out the most feared leaders of these warring people, when he first came upon a woman, who accepted the fighting amongst the people as normal. When Jikonhsaseh heard about the message of peace and that her actions were promoting war and saddening the Creator, she agreed to follow the message of peace. Jikonhsaseh was the first to accept the great peace and change her ways. Because of this, the Peacemaker set aside a special duty for the women of the warring nations. They were given the duty of Clan Mother. The Clan Mother watches over the members of her clan and counsels them in a peaceful way. The Clan Mother also has the important duty of selecting the next leader of their clan to keep the great peace continuing on. To this day the Clan Mothers select the Chiefs of their respective Nations.
Over a thousand years ago on the shores of Onondaga Lake, the beginning of what became the foundation of the United States Constitution and the principles of democracy was born.
One by one the most feared leaders of the nations of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca people accepted the Peacemaker’s plan. They ultimately found common ground as the Peacemaker explained that he carried the Creator’s plan of peace. That one nation can be easily broken, like a single arrow. But five arrows bound together with one heart, one mind, and one law will be powerful.
But one of the most feared men of these nations was an Onondaga man named Tadodaho. Tadodaho was said to be so evil that his body was twisted and snakes grew from his head. Tadodaho defied all talks of peace. When one man, Hiawatha talked of peace and the end of war, Tadodaho killed his family.
Grief stricken, Hiawatha no longer thought of peace until one day when he came upon a lake. As he came upon the lake, he found white and purple clam shells. When stringing these together, Hiawatha made the first wampum string and was able to find peace. He then joined with the Peacemaker and together they continued to spread the word of the peace to the other nations.
One nation, the Seneca could not agree to the peace. It was at this time that the Peacemaker told the Seneca to look to the sky to know that his words are true. The Seneca then looked to the sky and witnessed the sun turn to black, an eclipse. The Seneca then agreed to join the peace.
Once all four nations agreed to join in the peace, all that remained was the Onondaga. The Peacemaker, Hiawatha, and the leaders from the other Nations were ready to confront Tadodaho again. Tadodaho tried his sorcerous ways to stop them as they traveled across Onondaga Lake. But the message of peace was unstoppable.
The Peacemaker then offered to Tadodaho a very special duty in this plan of peace. Tadodaho would preside over the Grand Council of 50 chiefs. There were 9 chiefs of the Mohawk, 9 chiefs of the Oneida, 14 chiefs of the Onondaga, 10 chiefs of the Cayuga, and 8 chiefs of the Seneca that made up this Grand Council of Peace.
That he, Tadodaho, would have the responsibility to make sure that decisions were made with a good mind and were aligned not only for the Haudenosaunee people of that day, but for the Seven Generations not yet born.
The Peacemaker told all of the leaders that their skin shall be seven spans thick to deflect criticism and anger in making their decisions of peace. It is at this time when Tadodaho agreed to live in a peaceful way as they “combed the snakes” from Tadodaho’s hair.
The Peacemaker then symbolized this union of peace by uprooting a great white pine tree. The white pine tree has 5 bundles of needles to remind the Haudenosaunee of the five nations coming together. All 50 leaders then threw their weapons of hatred, jealousy, anger, and war into the hole, burying their hatchets against each other. A mighty stream washed it away pledging to have peace between the 5 nations as the Peacemaker replanted the Tree of Peace.
As they replanted the tree, the Peacemaker placed an eagle on top of the Tree of Peace. The eagle is there to use his eyesight to look out far and is to warn the Haudenosaunee, the People of the Longhouse, of any dangers on the horizon to this great peace. If any nation seeks to live in peace, they will follow the roots of the tree of peace and it will lead them to the Haudenosaunee.
A wampum belt was made to record the event. It is called the Hiawatha Belt. The belt is made of purple shells with five symbols across the center.The Hiawatha Belt begins with the path the Peacemaker took bringing peace to the people. The first symbol is in the east and represents the Mohawk people, next the Oneida, in the center is the Tree of Peace and the Onondaga, next is the Cayuga and the final symbol is the Seneca people. Eventually the Tuscarora Nation migrated north from the Carolinas to become one with the other five Nations. They were then all united in peace and have remained that way for centuries.
I find the Temple’s connection to this history deeply relevant as we need never take for granted the initiation of Francia A. LaDue and William H. Dower into the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation.
From earthmothercrying.org, I would like to close with Chief Leon Shenandoah’s October 24, 1985 address to the General Assembly of the United Nations. Chief Shenandoah was the 235th Tadodaho and his remarks seem to me to be all about what Intellectual Concupiscence is not:
Brothers, listen to the words of the Creator given to the first United Nations, the Haudenosaunee, over one thousand years ago.
The Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee shall be mentors of the people for all time. The thickness of their skin shall be seven spans; which is to say that they shall be proof against anger, offensive action and criticism. Their hearts shall be full of Peace and good will and their minds filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people. With endless patience, they shall carry out their duty. Their firmness shall be tempered with a tenderness for their people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodging in their minds, and all their words and actions shall be marked by calm deliberation.
In every Nation there are wise and good men. These should be appointed Chiefs. They should be the advisors of their people and work for the good of all people and all their powers comes from the “Great Peace”. A chief must never forget the Creator of mankind, never forget to ask him for help. The Creator will guide our thoughts and strengthen us as we work to be faithful to our sacred trust and restore harmony among all peoples, all living creatures, and Mother Earth.
In the beginning, we were told that the human beings who walk about on earth have been provided with all things necessary for life. We were instructed to carry a love for one another and to show a great respect for all the beings of this Earth. We were shown that our life exists with the tree life, that our well-being depends on the well-being of the vegetable life, that we are close relations of the four-legged beings.
In our ways, spiritual consciousness is the highest form of politics… when people cease to respect and express gratitude for these many things, then all life will be destroyed, and human life on this planet will come to an end.
These are our times and our responsibilities. Every human being has a sacred duty to protect the welfare of our mother earth from whom all life comes. In order to do this, we must recognize the enemy — the one within us. We must begin with ourselves.
Put aside the fears that have you conditioned to obey blindly the directions of the governments whose motives are power and profit.
Open your eyes and see the outrages of violence carried on against innocent people in the name of power and profit within the governments.
Open your ears and hear the cries of pain and death inflicted upon your brothers and sisters throughout the world in prisons, concentration camps, cities and villages in the name of capitalism or communism or any of the other ideologies that are motivated by power or profit at the expense of we, the people.
Open your throats and speak out against the crimes against nature and mankind and our children in the future. We must recognize our enemies, the forces of darkness that now march across all lands in the Four Sacred Directions, throwing the shadow of death and destruction even into the seventh generation to come.
The political, economic and military powers are combined in an unholy alliance with the dark forces, and the major powers in this world are leading this march.
Ideology has replaced common sense in the minds of the leaders of nations. Double speech has become the common language, with constant use of such terminology, ideas and attitudes becoming “facts”, thus the highest most aggressive military budget ever proposed in the history of world powers has become a “defense” budget.
The seeds of destruction planted by the sales of arms to smaller nations will bring a harvest of war.
Why are such elemental deductions beyond the understanding of the leaders of governments, when we, the people, so easily understand?
We must gather the mothers of the nations and hear their outrage at the senseless expenditure of their children’s lives for profit, power and the supremacy of any ideology, whatever it may be.
The men have failed as leaders simply because they have failed to listen to the other half of the creation which is female that bears the burden and sacred gifts of life.
We must live in harmony with the natural world and recognize that excessive exploitation can only lead to our own destruction. We cannot trade the welfare of our future generations for profit now. We must abide by the natural law or be victim of its ultimate reality.
We must stand together, the four sacred colors of man, as the one family that we are in the interest of peace.
We must abolish nuclear and conventional weapons of war. When warriors are leaders, you will have war — elementary. We must raise leaders of peace. We must unite the religions of the world as the spiritual force strong enough to prevail in peace. It is no longer good enough to cry peace. We must act peace, live peace, and march in peace in alliance with the people of the world. We are the spiritual energy that is thousands of times stronger than nuclear energy.
Our energy is the combined will of all people with the spirit of the natural world, to be of one body, one heart and one mind for peace.
We propose, as a resolution for peace, that October 24th, 1986 be designated as a day of peace, and a worldwide ceasefire take place in honor of our children and the seventh generation to come.
Dah nay toh (That is all for now),
Tadodaho Chief Leon Shenandoah Haudenosaunee
The Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy
— Richard A. London, 6th Guardian in Chief