The churches are so wedded to materialistic thought that a preacher does not even hint at the existence of phases of life above the physical lest he be termed "a spiritualist" or accused of being "spooky." In the name of Truth, is the teaching, that _man is a spiritual being_, inconsistent with the teachings of Christ and the records of the Scripture? Must one forego all such beliefs, in favor of a heathenish creed of "physical body" resurrection of the dead--an immortality in the worn-out mortal body long since discarded? Which is the true spiritual teaching? Can there be any doubt regarding the same in a mind willing to think for itself? It seems sad that the orthodox churches do not see this, and cease forcing out of their congregations all thinkers who dare a.s.sert the existence of a soul independent of the physical body.
What is the use of a soul, if the physical bodies of the dead are to be resurrected in order that their owners may enjoy immortality? And where are the souls of these dead bodies now residing and abiding pending the coming of the Last Day? Are the souls of the dead with their bodies? If not, then they must be living a life independent of the physical body--and if such be the case, why should they afterward be required to take on their worn-out physical bodies which they have managed so well without during their disembodied life? What becomes of those who had diseased, deformed or frail bodies during their mortal life--will they be compelled to inhabit these bodies through all eternity? Will the owners of aged, worn out bodies be compelled to re-a.s.sume them at the Last Day? If not, why the necessity of a physical body at all, in the future life? Do the angels have physical bodies? If not, why should souls require them on higher planes? Think over these questions and then realize how materialistic is the current Christian conception, when compared with that of Mystic Christianity, which teaches spiritual evolution from lower to higher planes of being, and on to planes of being beyond even the faintest conception of men of the present day.
The occult traditions teach that during the forty days of Jesus"
appearance in the Astral Body, He imparted many of the Higher Truths to His disciples. They state that He even took some of them out of their bodies and showed them the higher Astral Planes of Being. He also informed them regarding the real nature of His mission which He now clearly saw with His spiritual mind, the cloud of His mortal mind being now removed.
He told them that the real work of His followers was the sowing of the seed of the Truth, without regard to immediate results. He told them that the real fruition would not come for many centuries--yea, not until the pa.s.sing of over two thousand years or more. He told them that the pa.s.sage of the centuries would be like the preparing of the soil for the great work of the Truth, and that afar in the distance would be the real fruit season.
He taught them regarding the Second Coming of Christ, when the real Truth of His teachings should become apparent to mankind and the true Life of the Spirit should be lived by the race. He taught them that their work was to keep alight the Flame of the Spirit and to pa.s.s it on to worthy followers.
This and many other things He told them, before He pa.s.sed on.
And the mystics teach that He still lives in the world, diffused among all the living souls on earth, striving ever to lead them to a recognition of the Real Self--the Spirit Within. He is with us ever as an Abiding Spirit, a Comforter, a Helper, an Elder Brother.
He is not gone from us! He is here with us now and forever, in Actual Spirit Communion!
The Lord hath indeed Risen--Risen from Mortal Form to Immortal Spiritual Existence!
THE NINTH LESSON.
THE INNER TEACHINGS.
The first and main phase of the Inner Teachings of Mystic Christianity is that connected with the Mystery of the Life of Jesus. The outer teachings give but an imperfect view of the real life and nature of the Master, and theologians have built up an edifice of dogmatic theory around the same. The Mystery of the Life of Jesus forms the subject of some important Inner Teachings of the Mystic Fraternities and Occult Brotherhoods, and is considered by them to be the foundation of the other teachings. And so we shall consider this phase of the subject at this point.
In the first place we must remember that the soul of Jesus was different from the souls of other men. His was a "virgin birth"--not in the commonly accepted sense of the term, but in the occult sense as explained in the second lesson of this series. His soul was fresh from the hand of the Creator--His spirit had not been compelled to work through repeated incarnations, pressing forward for expression through humble and ign.o.ble forms. It was free from taint, and as pure as the Fountain from which is flowed. It was a virgin soul in every sense of the term.
This being so, it follows that it was not bound by the Karma of previous incarnations--as is the case with the ordinary soul. It had no entangling ties--it had no seeds of desire and action planted in previous lives, which were pressing forward toward expression in His life. He was a Free Spirit--an Unbound Soul. And therefore He was not only unbound by any Karma of His own, but was also free (by nature) from the Karma of the race or of the world.
The absence of personal Karma left Him free from the selfish personal Desire which binds men to the wheel of action and personal ambition.
He had no desire or thought for personal aggrandizement or glory, and was perfectly free (by nature) to work for the good of the race as an outside observer and helper, without suffering the pains and sorrows of race-life, had He so wished. But He chose otherwise, as we shall see in a moment.
The absence of Race-Karma, or World-Karma, freed Him from the necessity of the pains of humanity, which are a part of its collective Karma. He would have been perfectly able to live a life absolutely free from the pains, trials and troubles that are the common lot of Man, owing to the Race-Karma. He would have escaped persecution, physical and mental pains, and even death, had He so elected. But He chose these things of His own free will, in order to accomplish the great work that He saw before Him as a World-Savior.
In order for Jesus to enact His part as the Redeemer and Savior of the race, it was necessary for Him to take upon Himself His share of the Karma of the race--virtually taking upon Himself the "sins of the world." Before He could lift the burden from the race of men, He must become a man among men.
To understand this more clearly we must remember that to a being such as Jesus--a soul free from Karma--there would be no such thing as temptation, longings, desires, or any of the mental states of the ordinary man with the Karma of successive past incarnations resting within him as seeds of action pressing forward ever for unfoldment and expression.
Jesus, the free soul, would have been practically an outside observer of the world"s affairs, and not influenced by any of its ordinary incentives to action. In this state He could have aided the world as a teacher and instructor, but He would not have been able to accomplish His great task of Redeeming the world, in its highest spiritual significance, as we shall see as we proceed. It was necessary for Him to take upon Himself the burden of the earth-life in order to become the Savior of the people of the earth.
The occult teachings inform us that during His sojourn abroad, Jesus was simply a teacher, with but a dim perception of His real mission.
But gradually He began to experience periods of Illumination in which He recognized His real nature and the difference between Himself and other men. Then came to Him the conviction of the mighty work that lay before Him in the redemption of the race, and He began to see the necessity of entering into the Karmic circle of the race in order to carry out the plan. This came gradually, by slow degrees, and the final sacrifice was made only in the Wilderness after His Baptism by John.
In the Wilderness, after His long fast and His days of meditation, the way opened up for Him to take upon Himself the burden of the Karma of the earth people. In that scene of the most tremendous spiritual struggle that the earth has ever witnessed, Jesus deliberately bent His shoulders that the weight be placed upon His back. From that moment the earth-souls received a blessing far beyond the comprehension of the mind of the ordinary man. Into the Karma-bound circle came this mighty soul, animated by Pure Spirit, for the purpose of lifting a great portion of the burden, and of joining in the work of the actual unfoldment and redemption of the race.
For be it remembered that, being a free soul animated by Pure Spirit, Jesus was A G.o.d--not a man, although inhabiting the fleshly garments of humanity. His power was superior to that of many of the high intelligences scattered throughout the universe, and playing important parts in the cosmic processes. Jesus was Pure Spirit incarnate in human form, with all the powers of a G.o.d. Although of course _subordinate in expression_ to the Absolute--the Great Spirit of Spirit--He was in His essential nature the same in substance. Verily, as He Himself said, "I and the Father are One."
His youthful mind was not able to grasp the truth of His real nature, but as that human instrument became perfected by age and training, He realized the Truth and perceived His own Divinity.
But even a G.o.d, such as he, could not raise up the world from its burden of Karma, by acting _from the outside_. Under the Cosmic Laws, established by the Absolute, such work could be performed only _from within_ the circle of earth-life. And so Jesus saw that to raise up Man, He must become a Man. That is, to help lift the earth"s Karma, He must enter into it, and place Himself within its Circle of Influence.
_And this He did_.
We wonder if our readers can realize, even faintly, just what this sacrifice meant? Think of a Pure Spirit--a Free Soul--so filled with the love for the race of men as to renounce deliberately, for aeons of time, total immunity from all mortal existence, and willingly to place itself under the burden of pain, woe, misery and sin which formed the earth-people"s Karma. It was a thousand-fold greater sacrifice than would be that of a Man of the Highest spiritual and mental development--an Emerson, for example--who, in order to raise up the race of earth-worms, would deliberately place himself within the being and nature of the Group-Soul animating the race of earthworms, and then stay within its influence, striving ever upward and onward until finally, after aeons and aeons of time, he was able to bring up the earthworm Group Soul to the level of Man. Think of this, and then realize what a sacrifice Jesus made of Himself.
In the Wilderness, when Jesus took the final steps of renunciation and sacrifice, He at once pa.s.sed within the circle of the Race Karma and laid Himself open to all the pain, misery, temptations and limitations of a Man. His power, of course, remained with Him, but He was no longer a G.o.d outside of the world-life, but an imprisoned G.o.d working from within the race, using His mighty power, but bound by the Karmic Law. He became open to influences from which previously He had been immune. For instance when He was "tempted" by the Devil of Personal Attainment, and urged to seek worldly glory and renown, He was tempted only because He had taken on the world"s Karma and was subject to its laws. As a G.o.d, He would not have felt the temptation any more than a man would feel the temptation of the earthworm. But as a man He was subject to the desires and ambitions that perplex and "devil" the race. And according to the rule that the greater the mental development the greater the power of such temptation toward self-aggrandizement (because of the mind being able to see more clearly the opportunities), Jesus was subjected to a test that would have been impossible to an ordinary man.
Jesus, knowing full well that He had in His possession the power to manifest the things with which He was tempted, was compelled to fight off the temptation to place Himself at the head of the race as its ruler--as the King of the World. He was shown this picture to compare with the other whose last scene was Calvary--and He was called upon to feel the desire of the race for such things, even unto its highest degree. Imagine the desire for personal aggrandizement of all the world thought beating upon His mind demanding the expression which could be had through Him alone. And then imagine the struggle required to defeat this opposing power. Think of what the ordinary man has to meet and overcome to conquer the desire for Personal Aggrandizement--and then think of what the Master had to fight, with the focussed desire of the entire Race-Thought striving to express itself through Him! Truly the Sins of the World bore down upon Him with their mighty weight. And yet He knew that He had taken upon Himself this affliction by entering upon the Life of Man. And He met it like a Man of Men.
It was only by fixing His mind fully and firmly upon what He knew to be His Real Self--the Spirit Within His soul, and holding His mind "one-pointed" upon the fact--that He was able to fight the fight and conquer. Seeing the Truth, He could see the folly and illusion of all that the world had to offer, and He could put forth His mighty Will bidding the Tempter retire from the scene and from His mind. It was in this full knowledge of His Spirit--His Real Self--that He was able to rebuke the Tempter, saying, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy G.o.d!"
He held fast to His realization of the G.o.d Within--the Spirit that was within Him and all men--and thus denied out of existence the power of the earth-things--the illusions of mortality--the _maya_ of the race.
But not alone this and other weaknesses of man"s mortal nature were constantly besieging the mind of the Master after He had taken upon Himself the Karma of the Earth. He had also taken upon Himself the mortal life consequent of the human frame which He inhabited. He must live, suffer and die--even as all men--and according to the law of mortality. And so He moved forward toward the end, knowing fully what lay before Him. He, a G.o.d, had taken upon Himself all these attributes of mortality, in order to be able to perform His work as the Redeemer and Savior of the race.
And so, He lived, and suffered and died--even as you and I. He drank the cup to the dregs, suffering as only such a finely organized mental nature could suffer. And, men, poor creatures, speak of His sufferings as terminating with the last breath upon the cross. Why, they only _began_ there!
For know ye, that Jesus the Christ is still within the race of men, suffering their woes, paying with them their penalty, every day, every hour--yea, and must remain so throughout the ages, until finally the soul of every man, yea, even that of the last man; the most degraded man in the world, is fully cleansed of the Karmic taint, and thus fully "redeemed" and "saved." And within the soul of every man is found the Christ Principle, striving ever to elevate and lift up the individual toward that realization of the Real Self--and this is what "redemption" and "salvation" really means. Not a saving from h.e.l.l-fire, but a saving from the fire of carnality, and mortality. Not a redemption from imaginary sins, but a redemption from the muck and mire of earth-life. The G.o.d within you is like the fabled Hindu G.o.d who descended into the body of a pig and then forgot Himself. It is to bring you to a realization that you are a G.o.d and not a pig, that Jesus, the Master, is working within your soul as the Christ Principle. Have you never heard His voice, crying from within your soul, "Come out--come out of your pig-nature and realize the G.o.d that you verily are!" It is this "recognition, realization and manifestation of the G.o.d within you" that const.i.tutes "salvation" and "redemption."
The Occult Teachings tell us that Jesus, after His final disappearance from before the eyes of His apostles, pa.s.sed on to the higher planes of the Astral World where He rapidly discarded all of His astral and mental vehicles which the soul had used in its manifestation. The Astral Body and its corresponding higher sheaths were cast off and discarded. That is, all except the very highest of all. Had He discarded every vestige of individual soul-existence His spirit would have immediately merged itself with the One Spirit--the Absolute--from which it had originally proceeded and Jesus, as an ent.i.ty, would have disappeared entirely within the Ocean of the One Spirit. _This highest state of all He had deliberately resigned until the pa.s.sage of ages, in order that He might accomplish His work as the World-Savior_.
He retained the highest vehicle--the Spiritual Mind in its highest shade of expression--in order that as an ent.i.ty He might labor for the race. And so, He exists at this time--one in substance with the Father, but yet maintaining an apparently separate ent.i.ty-existence.
But this must be remembered, that Jesus, _as Jesus the son of Mary and Joseph_, no longer exists. When He cast off the lower vehicles of His personality, His personality disappeared. But His _individuality_ persisted--that is, He is still HE, although His personality has disappeared, leaving Him--the real Him--existing as the CHRIST PRINCIPLE.
By the above statement, we mean that when a soul reaches the highest spiritual stage short of absolute absorption into the One Spirit, _it is no longer a person_, but exists as _a principle_. But that principle is not an inanimate mechanical force--it is a living, knowing, acting principle of life. This occult fact cannot be explained in the words of men, for no terms have been coined by which men can speak of it. It is only indirectly that we can hope to have even the advanced student grasp the fact.
Jesus exists today, as the Christ Principle which _actually lives_ and acts, but which is not confined in a body of any kind, using the word "body" in its accustomed sense. As the Christ Principle or "The Christ" He is mingled with the life of the human race, and may be found immanent in the mind of every man, woman and child that has ever existed, does now exist, or will exist _so long as Man is Man_. Not only is this true of those who have lived since His pa.s.sage from the physical body, but it is equally true of those who lived before His birth. This apparently paradoxical statement may be understood when we remember that these souls did not "die," but only "pa.s.sed on" to the Astral Plane, from whence they re-incarnated in due time. The Christ (for so we shall speak of the present-state of Jesus) even entered into, and still abides in, the Astral Plane, as well as upon the Material Plane, for wherever the souls of men abide--or whatever place their residence may be--there is found The Christ, ever working for the salvation and redemption of the race.
On the Astral Plane He is working in the minds of the souls abiding there, urging them to cast off the dross of earth-desires and to fix the aim upon higher things, to the end that their re-incarnations may be under improved conditions. On the Physical Plane He is working in the hearts and minds of the earth-people, striving ever to uplift to higher things. His aim is ever toward the liberation of the Spirit from its material bonds--the Realization of the Real Self. And so, in the hearts of all men, Christ is living, suffering, and being crucified every day, and this must continue until Man is redeemed and saved, even the last man.
This wonderful sacrifice of Christ far surpa.s.ses the physical sacrifice of Jesus, the man. Try to imagine, if you can, even the faintest pangs of a being so exalted compelled to dwell in the world of the hearts and minds of a humanity so steeped in materiality as our race, knowing always the possibilities of the souls if they would but reach upward to higher things, and yet constantly suffering the knowledge of the base, carnal, material thoughts and acts flowing from these souls. Is not this the extreme refinement of torture? Does not the agony of the cross sink into insignificance beside such spiritual agony? You rail at the cruelty of the Jews who crucified their Savior, and yet you crucify _your_ Savior, with a thousandfold degree of torture, every day of your life, by your persistence in the carnalities and foolishness of mortal thought and action.
The mighty uplift of the world since the death of Jesus, of which the present is but a faint prophecy of the future, has been due largely to the energizing influence of The Christ in the hearts and minds of the race. The sense of the Fatherhood of G.o.d and the Brotherhood of Man, which is now manifesting so powerfully in the world of Men, is but an instance of the work of the Christ--the Savior and Redeemer. And the highest dreams of the exalted souls of this generation are but inadequate visions of what the future will hold for the race. The work is just beginning to bud--the blossom and the fruit will render this earth a far more glorious place than even the highest ideals of heaven entertained by the faithful in the past. But even these things of the future will be poor things, when compared with the life of the higher planes which await the race when it has demonstrated its fitness to pa.s.s on and on and on to these greater glories. And ever and ever The Christ is working, and toiling and striving and suffering, in His efforts to raise humanity even one petty degree in the spiritual scale of being.
The Christ is always with us, and if we but recognize His presence we shall be able to feel that warm, loving response to our soul-hunger and spiritual thirst which will result in our being given that we are so longingly craving. Here within us dwells The Christ, ever responding to the cry of Faith, "Believe in Me and ye shall be saved."
What a promise this is seen to be when properly understood! What a source of power and comfort is opened up to every human soul when the Inner Truth underlying the teachings is understood! Mystic Christianity brings this Message of Truth to each and all of you who read these lines. Will you accept it?
We would ask our students to pause at this point and contrast the teachings of Mystic Christianity regarding the doctrine of Christ, the Savior, with the corresponding teachings of the current Orthodox Theology.
On the one hand we have Jesus the G.o.d-Man deliberately choosing the work of the World Redemption and Salvation, and descending into the circle of the World-Karma, relinquishing the privilege of His G.o.dhood and taking upon Himself the penalties of Manhood; not only undergoing the sufferings of the physical man, but also binding Himself upon the Cross of Humanity for ages, that by His spiritual presence in and of the race He might lift up humanity to G.o.dhood.
On the other hand, we have a picture of an angry Deity, manifesting purely human emotion and temper, bent on revenging himself upon the race which he had created, and demanding its eternal punishment in h.e.l.l-fire; then the same Deity creating a Son whom he sent into the world, that this Son might be the victim of a blood-atonement and death upon the cross, that the Deity"s wrath might be appeased and the blood of this Divine Lamb be accepted to wash out the sins of the world.
Can you not see which is The Truth and which is the perversion? The one is from the pure fountain of Spiritual knowledge--the other originated in the minds of ignorant theologians who were unable to grasp and understand the Mystic teachings, but who built up a system of theology in accordance with their own undeveloped minds; making a G.o.d who was but a reflection of their own cruel animal natures, demanding, as did they themselves, blood and pain--physical torture and death--in order to appease a most un-Divine wrath and vengeance.
Which of the two conceptions seems most in accord with the intuitive promptings of the Something Within? Which brings the greater approval from The Christ within your heart?