The Ishaya Tradition is the oldest living tradition on the Earth. How old, exactly, is it? In one sense, it is uncreated, uncreatable, for the Ascending currents of life are built into every fiber of Creation. Praise and Gratitude and Love are wound through every atom of space, through every cell, through every plant, animal and human. Therefore, the mechanical means of aligning with the Ascending currents of Creation have always been and always will be contained inside every human heart — as well as inside absolutely everything else. There is nowhere in this Universe that the Science of Ascension cannot be fully read and known by a sufficiently conscious being. The 108 primary Ascending passageways are omnipresent and eternal in Creation since they are the prime Thoughts of the Mind of God.

Even though this is True, there has always been a historical Tradition in this human race of the Teaching of Ascension; today we call it the Ishaya Tradition. The origins of the Ishaya Tradition are lost in remotest antiquity. The Ishaya's have always maintained that humankind is not native to Earth; They, represented by the Seven, the seven deathless ministers to Humankind, have in every age attempted to lead humanity from the darkness of fear and greed and the ego into the light of love and compassion and complete alignment with the will of God.

These Seven are the ultimate source of the Ishaya Tradition. We honor Isha ben Joseph, Jesus the Christ, by putting his name in the Tradition (Ishaya means "for Isha") as he was the last Ishaya to walk the Earth openly Teaching Ascension, but the Tradition represented by the Ishayas is vastly older than two thousand years. Isha was a fully conscious, enlightened being before he was born in Palestine: indeed, he is recognized by the Ishayas as being one of the Seven — the master of the heart chakra — as well as an incarnation of one of the Four primary aspects of God. As such, he was involved with the Ishaya Tradition as one of its original founders and historically, was one of the prime movers who labored throughout the unending millennia to preserve the Teaching of Ascension and keep humanity aligned with the upward currents of Creation.

The Ishayas have been holding the Teaching of Ascension for the human race, awaiting the appropriate moment in history to release it, complete and undistorted, back into the world. Because of the life of Isha, and because of his primary disciple, Boanerge (John), a process which might otherwise have taken tens of thousands of years has been compressed into two thousand. Because of the redirection of humanity’s karma attained by Christ’s completely conscious sacrifice in Palestine, the trends of humanity have been sufficiently altered to enable the full return of the Ishaya Teaching much earlier than would have otherwise been possible. A mere two thousand years have passed, and we are back.

A dominant theme of the Ishaya Tradition is the understanding that there are two paths open to those who wish to rise beyond the waking state of consciousness. These historically have been named the Path of the Gods and the Path of the Sages.

The Path of the Gods is far easier for most and is, indeed, chosen by most who wish to evolve to enlightenment. It involves a gradual expansion of understanding that is extremely non-threatening to the ego and allows for much slipping and sliding around the point before the goal is attained. This is the path of happiness, of enjoyment, and is simpler by far for most.

The primary disadvantage of the Path of the Gods is that it can take a very long time to structure the highest degrees of enlightenment. This is true primarily because there is so much to enjoy along the way. The Path of the Sages, on the other hand, is ruthless. Anything that stands in the way of the growth of consciousness is cut away: any attachment, any fear, any quality of any sort that "distracts" is surgically removed by the sword of ruthless compassion. Far from being enjoyable, the Path of the Sages can be sheer hell — but it traditionally produces in a single lifetime the highest degree of human consciousness.

The Path of the Sages is known as the Path of Joy — as opposed to the Path of Enjoyment that is the Path of the Gods. The distinction between Joy and enjoyment or happiness may not be immediately apparent to a soul new to the path of evolution, but it is quite real. It might appear enjoyable to engage in drugs, for example, but this is not the Path of Joy, for any drugs, natural, or allopathic, have side effects that slow down the growth of consciousness. Relative happiness does not often lead to Eternal Freedom. It can, but it is not common.

Our teaching of Ascension in the world is honoring both the Path of the Gods and the Path of the Sages. Those that wish to take the Teaching of Ascension and use it as they will, derive great benefit from its deep fathomless silence and notice that their lives start dramatically improving in every area, as long as they continue regularly Ascending. This kind of alignment with the Ishayas is known as the Path of the Gods. We freely offer this Teaching to humanity, fully well recognizing that most will wish to take from it and enjoy it as they will, and not much care about the complete development of human consciousness known as full enlightenment.

The second group of those attracted to Ascension is smaller — it consists of those that wish to be fully enlightened, no matter what. They are willing to do absolutely anything to align fully with the will of God; they are willing to do absolutely anything it takes to become suitable channels for the Isham and Ishani energy, moving daily more fully into the Earth. These recognize no limit of past belief or attachment that can compare with the perfect joy of full Realization; these are walking the Path of the Sages. These are the ones who actually make it to Teacher training and then successfully navigate the course to graduate as fully enlightened beings.

Which path is correct? They both are. We as Ishayas are of course, eager to find those who wish to become Ishayas in a single lifetime, but we also recognize that everyone on Earth is following an inner script — it may be that our dear brother or sister or child or friend is very much needed the third lifetime hence as an Ishaya, and therefore is going to follow the Path of the Gods this time — period. No amount of cajoling or pleading or begging or coercion on our part is going to change that one’s destiny. C’est la vie.

The point is that everyone already knows in his or her heart which path to follow. There may be walls of fear surrounding that knowingness — it may be that the ego is fighting so hard to maintain the boundaries and beliefs of the waking state that the deep intuitive knowingness is not allowed to surface — nevertheless, the knowingness is there; with courage, persistence, patience and one-pointed faith it can be released and will be honored….

Good advice to follow for all those on either path is this: do not judge or condemn those who choose the other path. We have seen much of this already in the Ascending community — strange and bizarre rumors are used by those that wish to defend their choices about their lives, to prove that they are right and those walking the other path are wrong. But this is not a teaching revolving around a personality or a series of personalities. This is a Teaching centered in the Truth.

One nice thing about Truth is that it never needs to be defended. It matters not how many buy into the illusion of judgment; judgment is never, ever real. It matters not which path you choose, but please have the common courtesy (or even common sense) to allow those who choose the other path to do so with grace and dignity.

The Ishayas wish only to give full knowledge to you; take as much as you wish from the wellsprings here, if you are satiated and desire no more, so be it. But if you wish to rise to complete human consciousness, in this, your current body, we can show you how.

One common misperception of New Age thinking is that anyone can attain full realization without competent guidance. Anything, of course is possible; but the Ishayas have always maintained that attempting to structure full enlightenment without fully enlightened assistance is only slightly more difficult than attempting to build a starship having as your sole tool a primary school grammar book. The ego is subtle in the extreme; it will convolute and twist and even mimic enlightenment in its attempt to stay alive.

A question most frequently asked: "Is it really necessary to have a Teacher?"

It is theoretically possible, that anyone could anywhere at anytime gain full realization, for it is the birthright of every human being. Full consciousness exists inside every human heart, everywhere, always. But even though this is true, we personally have never known anyone to gain full enlightenment without having a Teacher.

The answer flies in the face of reason, all beliefs, as well as any innate sense of fairness. We know of no way to kill an ego without the guidance of someone who has killed an ego. It is too subtle, its perversions of the truth, its twisting of joy into happiness, its projection of its all-too-often perfectly logical program for healing are beyond the ability of any human mind we have known to defeat without assistance. We are reminded of one of the recurrent themes of Second Thunder: Never in pride rely wholly on your own strength. Help will come when you need it, even when it is least deserved, if you but allow it. The willingness to be humble and ask for help is one of the things an ego can never do.