The records publicly available concerning the Mystery tradition, wherefrom much of the above is drawn, are few. Some published translations from the Chinese and some from Tibetan manuscripts, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the first and last books of the western Bible and also the narratives of Ruth and Job and fragments of the gospel stories, some transactions from Rosicrucian records, a few hints in Theosophical publications — these are about all the reading available. Much of the text even in these is in guarded language and parts are almost hopelessly obscure. Moreover in very few of them do we touch the original; nearly all are reflections, more or less distant, of the Mysteries — nor is this at all surprising for the original itself is in the language of allegory. The book referred to earlier, The Secret Doctrine, is the most generous with hints.
The widespread legends, myths and folk-lore found among all nations and peoples have an interesting bearing on our quest by reason of their many similarities. [Definitions. Legend: a chronicle of adventure historically unauthentic; Myth: a legend magnified by tradition and given out as historical; Allegory: a figurative manner of speaking or writing in which a subject of a higher spiritual order is described in terms of that of a lower which resembles it in its properties and circumstances the principal subject being so kept out of view that we are left to collect the intentions of the speaker or writer from the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject.' Nuttalls Dictionary. ] The mythologies of India, Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia, the ancient cults of the Americas and others, have much in common and may well be derived from some very early pre-historic version. The explanation of such similarities as arising from a common background of nature worship, superstition and primitive ignorance breaks down when critically examined. It is more reasonable to accept the tradition of the existence of a Mystery version of very ancient date as being the real source. This too is supported by the resemblance mentioned which may be traced in the myths and allegories though each version has its own national characteristics. The hero, often a god, is born on earth, frequently of a mother stated to be a virgin; he has experiences of many kinds, some god-like and some human; he is dedicated to a certain work or the discovery of something hidden; is thwarted but overcomes temptations to be diverted; his life is sought by those jealous of his mission or intent on stopping his success; he is attacked and slain; his body is injured, torn apart and scattered or buried; the body is sought, found, reassembled as to its parts — and the hero lives again triumphant. These all seem to point back to some deeply rooted original presentation of some special teaching in an allegorical form.
WHY 'MYSTERIES' ?
With some analysis, as with mythologies, it is possible, indeed easy,, to discern that the instructions given by all the great spiritual Teachers of history have similar foundations. It is the superficial body of dogma built up by some of their followers which varies widely and causes confusion, division, bigotry and even war. The names and countries of the historical Teachers are well known. They are Thoth of Egypt, Zoroaster of Persia, Krishna and Gautama the Buddha of India, Lao-tse and Confucius of China, Jesus of Palestine and Europe, and Mohammed of Arabia. The disciples, followers and adherents of such Great Ones are very prone to claim for their Teacher the loftiest and most important role. Some, particularly the followers of the two last-named, maintain that their Teacher is the one and only representative of the Most High; it is to them we owe the curious epithets 'heretic' and 'infidel.' , Yet all these Great Teachers taught essentially the same doctrines though using different languages and the idiom best suited to the times and the culture of the people among whom they lived. For example, Moses, following the first named of those above, Thoth, admonished his people " Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself," many centuries B.C. [The Bible: Leviticus XIX, 18.] It is becoming obvious that these common teachings were a particular exposition of the all-embracing truths embodied allegorically in some one source, now called the Mysteries.
The talks or sermons publicly given by the Great Teachers were almost exclusively moral exhortations and ethical though, in every case, references were made to other instruction which was reserved for the more immediate adherents, for chelas, disciples and pupils. These were taught in secret on occasions when Teacher and pupils were withdrawn from the public. When, for example, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven were mentioned by Jesus, he spoke of them as for the disciples only, when he and they were on the Mount together (Matt. XIII, 11); the Mount, or the Heights, being symbolic of a reserved place. The esoteric teachings associated with Islam, known as Sufism, were given also for the deeper students of that faith.
What then, it may well be asked, were these Mysteries of such ancient origin? Obviously they were teachings and instructions that were not suitable for observance by everyone for, if construed and interpreted by the untutored mind, they were very liable to be misunderstood and misapplied. Actually some followers have, at times, broken the secrecy of the Mount — to the frequent confusion ever since of the Christian Church when confronted with such exhortations as " Take no thought for the morrow " and many more (Matthew VI).
Almost certainly some of these esoteric instructions related to the awakening of the latent powers of the spiritual man, powers referred to as gifts of the spirit in Christian terminology, and as siddhis, or spiritual powers, in yogic literature. Classic writings of all faiths agree that latent in every human being are the powers of divinity which, however, are not lightly to be released. "He that believeth on me," said Jesus, "greater works than these shall he do." A disciplined purity of body and mind is enjoined in the words "believeth on me " and this is a pre-requisite of success, not to mention personal safety. A lightning-bolt is a mild demonstration of force compared to the play of the spiritualised will, known figuratively as the Serpent Fire or, in Sanskrit, Kundalini. In the human nervous system lies the promise of the one mechanism in the physical world through which this force may safely be released under proper control, yet any premature awakening is more likely to be hurtful, possibly fatal, than illuminating. A good symbolic description of that which, in consciousness, seems to happen, when the Serpent-Fire functions, is given by a mystic in Chapter VI of the last book in the Bible, when the sixth seal is broken.[ Revelation of St. John: VI, 12-17. ]
The value of the obscurity of the Mysteries, of the screen of allegory and their reservation and secrecy, lies in the protection thus afforded to any irresponsible assault. Yet true mysticism, of all times, owes its fire to the judicious use of stepping stones to the spiritual understanding which releases the Serpent Power wisely — and these stepping stones are provided in the indelible records known as the Mysteries.
THE TECHNIQUE OF THE MYSTERY RECORD
The source of the many allegorical stories mentioned and the fount of mysticism is in the nature apparently of a play, a mentally inscribed play in tableaux and drama. It presents the story of Man, his origin, his experiences in incarnation and the destiny he may win. When the import of this wonderful play is grasped, it is said, the aspirant is enabled to understand the processes of nature, the laws of growth, and the central place of human consciousness in manifestation. The play was evidently prepared and recorded to serve as a beacon light of spiritual inspiration during the period when Man was engaged in his hardest task, at the time when Man was about to enter upon his deepest descent into material forms; it was composed and imprinted on the mental plane.
Recorded is an appropriate term and will be well understood today, for the mental technique is similar to the making of a gramophone disc or the sound-track on a film-reel. We need not however go beyond our own familiar human constitution for an example of the same process; it is quite common and natural to us all in our own memory records. For an instance; on holiday we may see a new and striking landscape and gaze at it for some time with interest and pleasure; it becomes vividly impressed in memory, recorded in the mind. Its record is literally graven there, minute in size but readily vivified again when it can be instantly enlarged — and can also be 'seen' at any subsequent time when we 'remember' it. The mind of a human being is material in texture though of a much subtler nature than the physical; it is a portion of the world-mind, or mental plane, just as the physical body is a portion of the physical world. An imprint on the human mind, a memory, may last a life-time easily and it is obvious therefore that an imprint on a specially prepared mental screen, composed and recorded by an Adept-Author, would continue intact indefinitely; it could be tended also by appointed devas and mind-elementals. [Devas: literally means 'Shining Ones.' An order of beings using subtler bodies than physical: the nearest western equivalent is angels. Their consciousness is an exact reflection of what we term 'natural law,' i.e. the One Will; as an expression of this, under a strict and distinctive hierarchical system of their own, they operate all nature's forces. Elemental Life: of similar nature to the devas but a lower, indeed a primitive, grade of' consciousness, purely instinctive and working under devic direction. They operate many functions popularly regarded as automatic, such as digestion, the heart's action, secretions, etc. The Work of the elemental life also-includes the ' ensouling' of habitual thought-forms. ] Theoretically it could be seen and heard by anyone to whom the mind-plane is objective though a considerable concentration is needed which amounts to a process of tuning in — and there's the rub. So far as I can judge, the tuning in business demands from the would-be listener a contribution from him to the wave-length that links one to the record. The listener must provide, so to speak, a mental needle to touch the 'disc'.
The record which constitutes the Mystery Play must not be confused with the akashic records of occultism. The akashic records are described as being an indelible imprint on the atomic plane, the highest sub-plane rather, of our planetary material. These constitute nature's memory of everything that has happened since the earth's birth, nor — if we grant a mental plane, a universal mind in nature — is this unacceptable as a theory, for in ordinary human memory alone we have ample proof of its possibility. To read the akashic records however one would need to be able to function consciously at a corresponding level, the atomic, of one's own bodily constitution — a feat at present very much beyond us. Just as one can see and hear through the mechanism of eye and ear, because we can function consciously at the level of the visual and auditory wavelengths, so could one read off the akashic records if we had in use a corresponding sense-organ. For many a cycle these are likely to be a sealed book; hence the reason why the records that constitute the Mystery Play were mercifully prepared. The Play is much nearer man's aspiring reach and seems to have been made purposely to assist mankind during that dark period of 'obscuration in matter' referred to in occultism as the Kali Yuga, the iron age, the current cycle. The Mystery Record is a generous concession to human need, for truth is brought much nearer to present-day human consciousness by its existence. The Mysteries thus within reach serve as a continuing source of strength and inspiration to all spiritual aspirants — many of whom may however often ascribe their spiritual illumination to intermediaries such as the Great Teachers of history, and the meaning of the play then may be received as instructions from the Teacher, even if the aspirant has looked upon the record for himself. Their mighty guidance on occasion may indeed be very real.
THE MYSTERIES
In connection with that which follows let me confess at once that I am no mystic worthy of the name. Occasionally glimpses come my way—if I do not try too hard. Truth has many facets and the reflection I have caught may not be quite accurately reported though I am convinced it has a sound foundation—else this facet would not be set forth here. Description too must of necessity be somewhat free, a free rendering rather than a clean-cut commentary.
For clarity's sake I divide the Mystery Play into three Acts, but all three in a sense are on the stage together as it is the onlooker who contributes the time sequences. Acts I and III are of the nature of tableaux or symbolic pictures and they form a somewhat static background to the dynamic Act II. Acts I and III are depicted on what looks like a vast back-stage screen, the figures, geometrical, lined in glowing fire on a dark surface.
Picturing Act I is a large fiery circle of light with a brilliant pin-point of light in the centre. That is all — and at first seems hardly to warrant the title of an Act — but wait. As one gazes, Act I becomes alive; the point within the circle disappears, then with a chord of music it reappears in rapid movement, and from the centre strikes a flaming line horizontally across the circle. From the centre again, the point flashes up and down, a vertical line of fire appears — and an equal-armed cross shines forth on the screen. It fades away and the original plain circle of fire remains. Not very thrilling perhaps — till I realised, with something of a shock that the movements on the screen had been my doing. The onlooker contributes to the play; in Act I he is spectator and actor.
Act
III also presents a large circle of fire, but
its circumference is made up
of numbers of points of light each similar
to the central point in Act I. Within the circle
- at
one side is a small, a very small, circle
with an outline
of fire resembling a tiny edition of the
large circle
of Act I.
In fact, in a curious way, the circles of Act III in their components seem to be a reversal of those in Act I. Here again, movement began. The large circle of points of light. expanded and became the periphery of a sphere. The very small circle within also became a small sphere and moved about hither and thither apparently attracted or repelled by the surrounding star-like points of light bounding the large periphery. Then the small sphere became two, four, eight—multiplying indefinitely, all dancing wildly. They slowed down, melted into one sphere again and this one gradually assumed a motionless poise in the centre. Then after a short pause, a brilliant pin-point of light shone forth, from its centre—and then all faded again and the original circles of Act III appeared with the small one on one side, as at first. Again it had been I who contributed the movement.
The
visions had a significance beyond that which I can
convey
by verbal description. Objective certainly — but
more, for they were of subjective interest too;
the experience I think can best be called one
that was
jointly objective-subjective to a peculiar degree.
It afforded a demonstration of the relation of
consciousness to the environment; it is we who
move, which is to
say that it is always our action that counts. In
more general terms it may be said that the movements
within the figures were symbolic of the Divine
Life in action in an environment of Forms, first
to build
the unit of form to obtain the prize that form
alone can give, then to obtain release from the
claims
and clamour of Form — and so discover Itself.
EXTENSIONS OF ACTS I AND III
It was soon evident that what is seen at a first
session is not all that the tableaux of Acts I
and III have as their content. Extensions of the
figures
are numerous — but these very evidently depend
on the onlooker. When re-viewing the cross within
the circle of Act I, on an early occasion, the
equal-armed cross developed a third arm and became
a three-dimensional
cross within a sphere, to which the plain circle
had extended. Then the six terminal points of this
'solid' cross we're joined together by the flashing
movement of the original focus of light and the
twelve fiery lines converted the figure into a
beautiful
octahedron. The periphery of the sphere then faded
and the octahedron stood. forth by itself full-grown.
I realized that here was one of the early figures
of Form, the octahedron itself
'being made of two tetrahedra each with four
surfaces 
positive
and negative, indicating presumably the beginnings
of axes of mineral
growth. Further sessions showed the possibility
of endless
permutations with combinations of tetrads introducing
the five regular geometric solids in succession.
One feature of all these building processes was specially
marked. This was the recapitulation, from the centre
onwards, whenever a new figure of extension was
projected. Always a beginning was made starting anew
from the
central point within the original plain circle
of fire. As the figures became more and more elaborated
the recapitulation up to the new extension became
quicker and quicker until the figures seemed almost
to flash out full grown, up to the terminus reached just before.
This recapitulation from .the original centre, prior
to every new advance, was a never varied rule. Similarly,
with the figures of Act III, the permutations appear
to promise an immense variety though with these I
have not gone very far. There are probably plenty
of sessions ahead, but I feel that the tendency is
for 'the symbolic characters of both Acts I and III
to become more and more specialized and to relate
ever more closely to the spectator's path and interests.
In other words, the onlooker contributes so much
in viewing Acts I and III that the symbolism pursues,
as it were, the branch or ray that he has followed
in his succession of incarnations. So I will leave
Acts I and III here with this brief, and I believe
uncoloured, description of what may be called the
foundational stage scenery of the play.
ACT TWO
DRAMA AND AUDIENCE
The drama enacted on the mental stage is of
a character very different from anything presented in a modern
theatre. Nor are the scenes easy to analyse and
describe, the difficulty being due to the strangely
intimate
relationship induced between stage and audience.
The Mystery Record is an allegorical presentation
throughout and should be accepted as such. It must
be understood as allegory and therefore to be interpreted
by the onlooker. Allegory is the one adequate
medium — and
it serves marvellously well. The meaning and instruction
in general terms is usually clear enough and the
personal application is for the spectator. Mistakes
in interpretation may be made but these can be
rectified by experience, that is by the effect
in practice
of any application of the teachings to life, due
to a glimpse of the allegorical original. In the
Mysteries the spectator is something more than
an onlooker. To adopt any scene or succession of
scenes
as representing historical happenings or as a literal
indication of future events is to open the door
widely to superstition.
The intimate relationship between the drama
and its audience is not at first appreciated, at least
it
was not in my case though I may have been unduly
slow. Suitable conditions being obtained for observation
I 'took my seat'. But in the early sessions with
Act II the impressions received were
startling; the stage was filled with storm and
turmoil, disorder, riot and confusion, inducing
in the onlooker — in
my case I felt as if in the midst of it —a
feeling of floundering bewilderment not without
fear. Trying
out various approaches I stumbled on the necessary
technique for a moment and, cultivating this, had
some, though not much, success with the earlier
scenes. Quite simple, I suppose, if it can be done!
The spectator
must be undisturbed emotionally, unaffected, in
short detached but not tense. I found this difficult
to
sustain, the tendency to identify oneself with
the action is so strong. In viewing Acts I and
III the
spectator becomes the actor and provides the movement,
the action, though unconsciously, without volition.
When viewing Act II the spectator must use the
will to prevent being carried off in the action
and losing
himself in the play and must do so consciously
and wilfully. Otherwise all gets distorted.
A little further experience made fairly plain what
was really happening. The recorded version that the
spectator is observing, a mental record as stated,
is seen in the sequence that the spectator decides.
In this respect it resembles re-collecting a memory
of one's own: a particular detail is remembered at
will. With the Mystery Record, the observer makes
contact with his own probing mental 'needle' and
finds that part of the play which he wishes to observe.
A near correspondence in physical terms would be
to drop the gramophone needle on to the disc at some
chosen spot on the record.
The recorded drama of the early life of our earth
is not only a reflection of the real events of that
cycle but it serves a most useful purpose in the
education of the observer who, after some experiences
of that order, learns perforce to stand clear and
not join in with the stage play. If he does, then
the emotional excitement is bound to distort both
memory and understanding, as I found at first in
full measure. It was into an early scene of Act II
that I had plunged and, though seemingly chaotic,
it was not so from another and interior point of
view for it represented a very early stage of life
on our planet. The interactions of the three grades
of material, the 'elements' we know as fire, water
and earth, were extremely turbulent. Yet it was an
ordered turbulence and the descriptive term 'primeval
chaos' is true only from an imaginary exterior view-point.
SYMBOLISM, ALLEGORY AND RELIGION
As already emphasised the principles and sequences
of manifestation which are set forth in Act II
of the Mystery Drama are symbolically shown. The
speech
is not language and the action is purely allegorical.
An observer who attempts to report the drama is
faced with a task that simply cannot be adequately
handled
for it is of a nature that does not lend itself
easily to clean-cut verbal description — much
indeed is beyond the physical sense-range. But
the effect
of the drama on the spectator in bringing understanding
to many problems of the intellect, is convincingly
persuasive. A few further words about reading the
Mystery Record is therefore appropriate.
The moving drama of Act II is throughout
a demonstration of the play of consciousness; unlike Acts I and
III it is non-formal. To make the approach, an
adequate
quietude of mind must be cultivated since the mind
is the receptive
agent and it must be unruffled in order to reproduce
accurately what is seen. There must be no pre-judgments,
no partialities, no bias; the ideal is a mental
tabula rasa. Obviously also the technique
involves a certain
awareness at the level where the drama is registered,
an awareness that must be alert though not unduly
intrusive. When the interior awareness has 'seen',
a pause follows, since a transcript in verbal terms
must be built up in the mechanism of the brain.
The success of the verbal transcript depends on
many factors, the chief of which are an attitude
of detachment
and a certain lucidity, which allow the perceived
event to take a true shape at the verbal level.
Obviously any language or idiom employed will be
the observer's
own, hence a re-view is necessary later because
it is imperative to check and verify the interpretation.
The verification is done by submitting the verbal
record, as held by mind and brain, to the torch
of
the higher-mental focus of consciousness — for
this illumines truth only.
MONOTHEISM AND OMNIPOTENCE
In the early scene of Act II there is a symbolical
presentation of the total organism of which our
humanity forms an integral part. Here the, problem
of omnipotent
power and the quality of the divine consciousness
implied so frequently by the term Almighty God
is clarified and explained, as also the allied
problem
of the divine nature of the Great Teachers who,
from time to time, have assisted in the evolution
of humanity.
This scene may be expounded somewhat as follows.
Within the boundaries of any one cycle of involution
and evolution, there is one Ruler or Lord dominant.
The developing sequences of manifestation on the
vast scale of a Solar System are under the direction
and control of specific grades of Rulers — for
order and design are brilliantly in evidence throughout.
Within any one boundary or ring-pass-not, the life
contained has a particular goal to reach, and the
Ruler is of course equipped with the necessary
power, wisdom and skill, based on experience won
from success
in other and earlier roles. The Ruler of such a
cycle or unit-period of manifestation, such as
the occupation
of a planet, is thus one of a hierarchy of responsible
Officers ranging, from the mighty LORD
OF THE SUN (the loftiest level
touched I believe by the Mystery Record down to the minor
Rulers of
nature's forces
operating on a planet of the Sun's System, such
as our earth. With the exception of a few, all
these
rulers or Lords have a consciousness above and
beyond anything attained by our humanity and most
are vastly
above and beyond. Human life nevertheless is of
the same spiritual kind and is derived from the
same source as the life of these Great Ones — and
all else. Monotheism therefore, when held to have
a purely relative application to the unitary areas
each governed by its Lord in accord with this hierarchical
system, is a simple truism, with an ever widening
horizon as one's thought rises from planet to sun
and on to constellations and galaxies or island-universes,
as numerous as 'the sands of the sea-shore'.[The
Universe Around Us by Sir J. H. Jeans,
F.R.S. ] In
each of these units there is only one Ruling Lord.
The
current unit-period or cycle of manifestation with
which
our humanity is concerned is the world-occupation
period of our earth — a time-cycle covering
some millions of years. [A ' world-occupation
period' is said to be about forty millions of years.
Several cycles of activity and rest therefore have
occurred during the two thousand million years
of the earth's age. ] Governing
that period there is a Ruler or LORD of
our planet whose might and
wisdom
are of such a scale that, for every purpose within
the vision of our humanity, He is indeed our LORD
or GOD.
By way of comment it may be noted that the religionists
of the early Christian Church adopted the untenable
monotheistic theory of a supreme and absolute deity,
ruler of heaven and earth and all that therein
is — with
our humble planet as the centre and core not only
of a solar system but of the whole canopy of stars.
In principle this theory is still current! Coupled
with this conception was that of an only-begotten
Son, personal and incarnate, who lived as Man on
earth. These theories, particularly the second,
including the grossly materialistic doctrine of
an atoning
blood-sacrifice, being unique to Christianity as
the Church saw it, supported a claim to precedence
in religions and this precedence was, and still
is in many quarters, emphasised to the extreme.
For
centuries these theories bred a gross intolerance
which, with the Church as a strong temporal power,
led to a long reign of religious terrorism coupled
with tenets of 'salvation or damnation', from which
even today many a mind is not cleared. While a
theory of relative monotheism would be a great
advance on
earlier conceptions of subsidiary and opposing
gods, to leap from that simple truth to an unattainable,
indeed an unthinkable, Absolute was due, apparently,
to that 'anxious religious credulity' which is
akin-to
superstition.
To resume: the virtue of the allegorical form used
to present the drama of manifestation in the Mystery
Record is that it has a universal application. The
content can be clothed in the spectator's, the hearer's,
the student's tongue. The basic foundation of all
religious teaching, as presented in the Mystery symbols,
is so all-inclusive and pervasive that every faith
is seen as attempting to interpret some aspect of
it.
HIERARCHICAL GOVERNMENT
In a further scene of Act II the ruling
system within the boundary of a ring-pass-not is demonstrated
and appears to be on pure hierarchical lines.[he
word hierarchy is used in its literal sense to
indicate a graded order of government having many
ranks of
authority from the purely spiritual levels downwards.
A national army is an example of similar graded
ranks. In occultism the hierarchical principle that
is emphasised
is the high spiritual qualification which is imperative,
together with the responsibility which must be
carried, by everyone who holds an office of authority. ] In
our world the hierarchical system applies at present,
obviously, only to the inner, invisible government.
Its numerous high Officers, whose work consists
partly
in assisting the evolutionary progress on our earth,
though usually unseen are marvellously efficient,
using little known creative faculties still dormant
in ordinary man to influence processes and events
in the visible world. Such a pattern of government,
with an inner and unseen range of hierarchically
ordered officials assisting and directing the flow
of visible affairs, is easy to follow because the
constitution of man is likewise fashioned and ideally
should function on precisely the same lines, man
having an inner spiritual principle and an outer
active body or abode in the objective world. In
Man at present the spiritual principle is very much
subjective,
it is unextended, is within himself, but there
is a bridge which links it to each of its successive
personalities living in the objective world of
the
physical, emotional and mental experience. The
bridge is the mind as a whole, for the essence of
the mind,
its harvest, is carried on from one incarnation
to the next. In humanity the mental functions are
divided
into a higher and a lower. The higher-mind mirrors
spiritual facts and experiences while the lower-mind
mirrors objective physical matters. The arch-span
of consciousness bridging these two, which would
complete man's hierarchical structure and enable
him to direct his actions from his spiritual centre
is as yet by no means well and truly built. The
lower-mind, the concrete intellectual mind, together
with its
emotional life, usually is the active and directing
force of the personality, while the physical body
is the stabilising component taking part in clear-cut
objective action.
Although in ordinary mankind the spiritual principle
is still mostly subjective, this is not the case
with the personnel of the inner government of the
world some of whom are advanced members of our own
humanity. In the scene shown in
the Mystery Record the spiritual, divine life is
demonstrated as in activity in full measure in
the planet's hierarchical government, under its LORD.
The division that at present exists between the higher
and lower selves of any single human being is indicative
of a similar division between the spiritual and personal
manifestation of Life on our earth. This division
is at present bridged only through the unified consciousness
of the inner hierarchical government. As further
members of our humanity close the gap in themselves,
so is the whole progressively unified. Man himself
is a representative in miniature of the ideal government
of a world and, as he is successful in achieving
his own spiritual integrity and hence his own hierarchical
union, all else is accomplished. All this, as presented
in a scene of Act II, offers a promise of a future
for humanity of such glory as to surpass our imagination.
As a summary of this scene one might describe the
relation and interdependence of architect and craftsman
in the construction of a building. The design is
in the mind of the architect; the constructive
work is in the hands of the craftsmen. As the craftsmen
succeed in translating the design into a manifested
work of art, they educate themselves. The craftsmen
are as the hands of the artist and the loftiest
genius
could not express and manifest his vision without
such assistance. Similarly the LORD
OF THE WORLD claims and uses the intuitive
consciousness of a whole range of officials, including
our humanity,
to achieve the manifestation of His vision and
the accomplishment of the task assigned.
THE STORY OF MAN
Rapidly passing on, the stage became the field
of a series of scenes representing in brilliant
action,
allegorically, the story of Archetypal Man. It
would however be misleading if I attempted a description
in any close detail of these scenes of Act II in
familiar present day language — even were
I competent to do so. The use of allegory opens
the way, as
already indicated, to interpretations that may
vary with every onlooker, listener or reader.
The realization
of this in fact becomes so strongly marked, provided
one can maintain the detachment necessary, that
I believe every spectator would regard this original
Mystery
Play as particularly appropriate to himself. And
this implies that this play is so personally impressive
and soul-searching that it is utterly impersonal.
It is for mankind everywhere and not for a man,
a
group or a nation. Certain leading features and
generalizations may be indicated.
The story of the building of the personal
bodies of Man is the theme of some scenes. Bodies are
the 'masks' through which each individual functions
and
with which recurrently and for long he is intimately
identified — his mental and physical bodies
and emotional life. These constitute man's body
and soul, «in
ordinary language, as distinct from that focus
of divine life which is the man's real self — the
spirit. The human spirit uses a personality as
its abode during successive incarnations and, at
what
is called death, withdraws from the physical body
and somewhat later from emotional contacts and
from the personal mind. The experiences of the
last incarnation
are assimilated and become converted into faculties
before returning to another incarnation in a physical
body. The point of the process that seems emphasised
is that no experience in action is lost, all is
worked up and makes for growth in spiritual stature — or
its reverse if opportunities are misused or neglected.
So much so is this to be inferred that one might
affirm that a new physical life begins at the status
reached at the end of the last — no more
and no less for average man.
The scenes tell of the assembly of the
personal bodies, of their growth to the maturity of their cycle,
of their death and, later, of the eventual transcendence
by the illumined spirit of the need for experience
at the personal level. All this originally covers
enormous periods as we reckon time and its purposive
trend becomes clear only as these immense periods
are shortened in the recurrent recapitulatory cycles.
For an example which will illustrate much else,
consider
the few months of gestation now needed for the
building of a new physical body. This begins as one
cell,
minute in size and more or less spherical in shape,
and represents, indeed is, a human physical
body.[ It
must be remembered . . . the new life of the child
commences at the time of the fertilization of the
ovum." Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 8, page
388, 14th Edition ] The months
of gestation, seven to nine
only, rapidly retrace an ancestral course, as the
scientist puts it, for 'the development of
the individual is a shortened recapitulation of
the history of the species [Encyclopedia
Britannica, Vol. 8, page 389. ]
It is.the many repetitions which, becoming shorter
and shorter and thus easier
to analyse, resolve otherwise elaborate problems
by making the long drawn out processes understandable.
The Mystery Record, in its allegorical setting,
shows forth a history of the human species that
runs coincidentally
with the life of the earth, from the planet's very
beginnings onwards. Vast cycles of time were needed
for the countless experiments indicated and their
many corrections and recapitulations — experiments
which have resulted now in the successful emergence
of a well-equipped and sensitized human form following
a few months of preparation. The extent and skill
of the creative effort involved is overwhelmingly
evident. The contrast between this view and that
of an Almighty Fiat presented by early, and even
some present-day, religious thought, is so staggering
that the acceptance of the larger concepts would
mean another reversal in much of our philosophical
and religious ideas. And, further, it points to
a magnificent goal for humanity if that goal is
to
be at all commensurate with the prodigious tasks
of preparation displayed in these recapitulatory
cycles, a goal far transcending the promise of
the younger religions of the west.
OPPOSITE PATHS
In the Mystery Play, spiritual man is represented
occasionally by a Voice, and a Voice only. This
is particularly so in the earlier scenes of Act
II.
The actors represent human principles and it is
not difficult to discern the originals of those
which
appear in the Christian version, of Peter the physical
body, the rock; of James the practical argumentative
mind; of John the attractive emotional nature.
It is significant too that, in this latter interpretation,
Jesus and Judas in one of the derived mystery
plays
were represented as twin brothers — an arresting
and revealing relationship.
The engagement, control and mastery of
the personality by the spirit is the objective work of the many
incarnations of man and failures and successes
are allegorically
portrayed in some of the scenes of Act II. The
elemental life
animating the bodies that compose the personality
of man is quite distinct from that of the spirit
of man. This elemental life is itself seeking deeper
immersion in material forms, hence it is intent
on pursuing an opposite course from that of the
human
spirit; it offers the necessary resistance which
enables man to climb, though it is itself descending.
The opposition and consequent friction between
man and his personality is extreme at first and
the elemental
life is for long the dominant partner. Herein is
an explanation of much of that which we call evil,
for the normal law for the growth of the elemental
Life of the bodies is on the lines of competition
and strife, selfishness, arrogance and aggression.
This is both a sound policy for the elemental
life's progress and also an integral part of the
design
of manifestation. Some mystics of earlier days,
sensing this foundation in design, voiced it in
the language
of their day. Krishna, in the great Indian epic,
the Bhagavad Gita, is represented as saying "I
am the gambling of the cheat and the splendour
of splendid things" : and Isaiah expressed
it "I
am the light and create darkness; I make peace
and create evil: I the Lord do these things." [The
Bhagavad Gita, Tenth Discourse. The Bible,
Isaiah XLV, 7. ] This law of
the evolving elemental forces emerges clearly
in the Mystery scenes and its interpretation through
the personification of Evil in the figure of Satan,
is reasonable and appropriate in drama. Animal
forms personate the bodily elementals which, when
dominant
with their appetites and desires, become 'devils'
of temptation. In one dramatic incident (the original
perhaps of the story told in Mark V) the devils
are thrown out of an afflicted man by a blaze of
dazzling
light — to disintegrate in the ocean of elemental
life (down a steep place into the sea) whence they
had risen in response to the ill-considered welcome
offered by the man — 'a man of the tombs'.
THE MYSTERY RECORD AND CHRISTIANITY
The narratives concerning the life of Jesus
given in the current gospel scripts have been examined,
explored and treated by sympathetic expositors
and impartial critics of infinite number. The views
and
judgments advanced range from literal acceptance
to a complete rejection of any historical authenticity.
If a
competent and level-headed judge, without prejudice
and bias, was asked for a verdict based on all
the testimony available, the almost certain result
would
be (a) a Teacher of power and eloquence lived and
taught in Palestine about 2000 years ago; and (b)
some of the Sayings attributed to the Teacher are
probably correctly reported. That would be about
all if the judge was guided by anything like our
modern rules of evidence. But this alone is striking
testimony —the more impressive because of
the very lack of unimpeachable facts, for very
few lives
indeed survive in history without some adequate
and informed contemporary biographer. Yet here
we have
a life which, for hundreds of years, has thrilled
generations of men. This has occurred partly by
virtue of the sublime courage and self-sacrifice
described as displayed by the Teacher, but very
much more
because
of the inner mystic assurance of companionship
with the divine which every earnest seeker after
truth
experiences when he responds sincerely and whole-heartedly
to Sayings such as "I am the way, the truth
and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but
by me" (John XIV.6). This and many other such
Sayings are attributed in the scripts to Jesus. [SAYINGS. "Many
expositors 'and critics of the gospel narratives
affirm that the Sayings — Beatitudes et seq. — are
all that can be accepted as having historical value.
Others disagree with this exclusive view. An average
verdict on the documents available would probably
run — Mere legend so far as narrative is
concerned but preserving genuine Sayings of Jesus." Encyclopedia
Britannica. ] In the
Mystery Play the originals are uttered by a Voice
off-stage,
a Voice of winning beauty, speaking as the divine
principle hidden in Man.
Here we touch the very heart and core of the
teaching conveyed in the Mysteries — the essential
divinity of Man. This mighty truth of the divine
nature of
Man has been belittled and reduced to the narrow
limits of a single life in time—and then
compensation has been attempted by exalting that
life to the loftiest
heights. There was and is no need for this extravagance
since Jesus shared with our whole human hierarchy
the birthrights of divinity. The 'way of life',
which can lead the individual to a realization
of his own
hidden divinity was taught by Jesus and constitutes
the new testament that the western world needed
as the facet of truth most appropriate for the
western
nations and the times. The distinction and eminence
of Jesus were due to his divine unfoldment; to
the
degree to which he lived consciously as Spirit,
not
to a difference in his essential nature from that
of his fellow human beings. A realization of this
fact, in the light of certain texts, say John XVII,
opens wonderful vistas of thought.
The use of parable and allegory, cast in the form
of adventure and experience, stories such as the
Prodigal Son, the Journeys of Ulysses, the Everyman
Plays, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and others,
are very much the obvious and most appealing method
of
instruction in regard to the nature and unfoldment
of the human spirit. 'Everyman is in one
man's skin'. Hence the Mystery Record has many
interpretations
in the terms of human adventures, with the emphasis
on the crises common to all human life. In this
record as has been said, the distinction between
the spirit
of man and the life functioning in the bodies (the
latter still on the involutionary arc as described
earlier) is illustrated in figures that personify
the higher and lower selves in man. St. Paul spoke
of this opposition as 'the law of my members warring
against the law of my mind'.
The allegorical story of Everyman, narrated in the
many mythologies already cited, is easily to be
traced in the gospel narratives, for in these, as
is so
often the case in compiled and edited oral traditions,
the Mystery Drama itself emerges head and shoulders,
so to speak, above the journeyings and precepts
of the Teacher, It is around the life of the hero that
the drama is woven and the narrative is the cord
that threads the pearls together.
The gospel stories have the same pattern as so many
other sacred lives. A carpenter prepares the stage
and provides the properties; a virgin birth is celebrated
by angels and kings; the child-hero confounds much
older associates; temptations are surmounted triumphantly
and the tempter rebuked; the lower self, personified
by three characters who scale the Mount, has the
vision splendid of the higher-self, also three characters;
an epitomised betrayal scene for payment which proves
a curse; a trial, scourging, death, and a resurrection
scene; all appear in the gospel stories as outstanding
experiences in the life of Jesus. These probably
had little or nothing to do with the actual life
of the Great Teacher, whose education and upbringing
among the learned Essenes provided the necessary
preparatory training for the
important reformatory role he undertook.
The Sayings have been consistently attributed by
the Christian Churches to Jesus as having been
pronounced by him in his personal and individual
aspect, that
is they are considered as delivered from a purely
literal and external source. There is however inherently
a dramatic ring and a quality in the tone of the
Sayings which are much more in keeping with a pronouncement
by one who, in filling a role in a Play, personified
a hidden principle of being, the divine principle
as yet unawakened in man. The Sayings have not
the atmosphere of conversation with disciples either
on special occasions or by the wayside in public.
They appeal to a reader, and certainly to a hearer,
as much more in keeping with an, allegorical setting
dramatically presented.
In the Mysteries the Voice — as the latent
spiritual principle in Man — is heard on critical
occasions enacted in- the play. The following are
a few examples
as rendered by St. John.
To the physical nature:
I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
never hunger.
Whosoever drinketh of the water I shall
give him shall never thirst.
To the emotional nature:
Ye are from beneath, I am from above: ye are of this
world,
I am not of this world .....
As long as I am in the world
I am the light of the world.
To the mind:
I am the vine, ye are the branches.
The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they
are life.
To the triple personality of man:
He that has seen me has seen the Father.
I and my Father are one.
He that loveth me shall
be loved of my Father and I will love
him and will manifest myself to him.
If any man will
serve me, follow me.
The decisions of the Church in the middle centuries
and earlier concerning belief, together with the
Church's formulated dogmas, were enforced with
such vigour, to put it mildly, that the Church's
rulings
concerning the gospel scripts made of them an infallible
scripture — and an artificial tradition of
truth has sheltered the rulings, very unfortunately
for
the Christian faith, ever since. Truth is not learnt
by subservience to authority.
CEREMONIAL MAGIC IN ACT I
[The
word Magic is used in its literal and pure sense — the
wise use of natural forces. ]
Many formal ceremonies have been introduced into
religious rites as, for example, the sacerdotal
practices of the Hebrews, the Zoroastrians, the Hindus,
and
of many of the Christian Churches, and the nature
of these has often raised questions concerning
their authorship and validity. Some sects of the
above
named and other faiths have later repudiated such
rites entirely, together with the elaborate ceremonial
vestments and regalia associated with them. Especially
perhaps do they seem strange and out of place in
connection with the beautifully simple, unadorned
and direct teachings of the founder of Christianity.
An explanation is provided, I believe, in the formal
demonstrations arising in certain subsidiary Tableaux
of Acts I and III, for the practice of ceremonial
magic is indicated and promoted, subject to certain
strict conditions, in the extensions of this branch
of the Mystery Play.
The creation of forms, natural and artificial as
we should now distinguish them, is the special
and very extensive theme of Act I. The principle
on which
all is based is progression by definite steps.
The atom, the molecule, the compound unit, the cell,
the organ, a body, are terms for definitely marked
stages of growth, meaning that a certain completeness
or wholeness is reached and established before
proceeding
to mount the next step. The contents of a bird's
egg, for example, must attain a certain wholeness
before the shell can be safely broken and the young
bird released: similarly, a certain wholeness of
attainment by aspirants towards a higher life,
up to a certain level, is the doctrine taught by
Act
I as advisable before making the next advance.
This, by the way, must not be taken to imply that
'forms'
and 'steps' are the best means. There are no bests.
It is merely to state,
as I understand the Mystery Act, that for the development
of consciousness on the lines depicted they are
the medium in use, and many doubtless may find it
the
best for them. Human life in many cases seems to
progress like music and architectural design. In
these, progression is purely formal, both being
based on numbers and on their demonstration in geometry,
passing from simple units to the intricate and
complex.
Human progression in moral, ethical and spiritual
development appears to be shown in symbol and allegory
in Act I, with most of the allegory founded on
the practices of constructive building under the
supervision
of an architect. The building crafts lend themselves
well to this mode of symbolical interpretation.
A sound foundation, a sturdy well-balanced structure,
appropriate furnishings; as also the significance
of the tools and implements required, the measuring
rule, the square, chisel, plumbline, compasses,
and
many more; ' all these are suggested as having
application to human conduct.
As demonstrated in the Mystery Record there seem
to be several definite steps, at least two series
of three each, with an important uniting ceremonial
bridge between them; that is, between the personal
and the spiritual principle. Before proceeding
to a further stage the candidate must give convincing
evidence of the skill acquired in the earlier stage
and thus establish his achievement of wholeness
up
to that point.
The occasion when the first and the later
human steps are taken are marked in the allegory by impressive
introductory ceremonies. The first three stages
are
related to the personal aspects of Man — the
physical, emotional and intellectual — and
each is in turn emphasised. In the ceremonies symbolising
the steps to be taken by the candidate as a personality,
the elements of earth, water and fire are introduced
as typical of that which must be overcome by the
aspirant. Physical resistances must be surmounted
by muscular skill and the will to persevere; the
fluid emotions must become the seat of real knowledge;
the mind must be ruled by the fire of wisdom — 'from
above'.
It
is interesting to note that in the building crafts
right up to modern times three steps or qualifications
have been recognized: (1) apprenticeship; (2)
improver; (3) journeyman, i.e. the skilled man
who has learned
his trade. It is indeed fairly certain that not
only the building crafts derived something of
guidance from the extensions of Act I but also
that the
origins of the speculative Orders of Masonry,
known as Freemasonry, may be traced to the Mysteries.
Ceremonial rituals and regalia coupled with the
rich religious inspiration obtained from the
use
of symbol and allegory make of genuine Freemasonry
a religion of itself, a guide to the heights
of spirituality; a magical co-relation of the living
powers of subtler planes of being with the visible
and personal is part of the effect which may
be
produced. An appreciation of the potency of such
ceremonies leads to some understanding of the
sacraments, as celebrated by the Roman, Greek and
Anglican
Churches. Together with their sacerdotal equipment
the rubric of the sacraments appear to have been
lifted from the Mysteries at one remove, that
is from the Mystery Temples founded on Act I which
were operative during pre-Christian times; —and
a very welcome addition and support this must
have afforded the early Churches. An impressive
and
colourful dignity and a rhythmic beauty of diction
were added to the somewhat cold simplicities
of Christian worship and the Church throve on
the
embellishments, especially as the masonic connections
in later centuries led to the building of" magnificent
cathedrals and places of worship by the practical
masonic guilds whose own original foundations
are likewise traceable to the inspiration of
the Mysteries.
The union of two mystical interpretations, the
allegorical story of Act II and the magical practices
attending
Act I, which have curious contrasts, has been
the cause of many schisms and divisions in the
Christian Church, though as is so often the case
with similar differences, both are well-founded.
The Christian religion thus seems for some centuries
now, as a whole, to be a blend of Acts I and
II and, as such, is in legitimate continuity
with
the Mystery Record, however much some of its
interpretations may have erred.
THE ONE LIFE.
The material of our world of which all forms
are built is now regarded as being a manifestation
of energy. The so-called atomic unit of physical
matter has yielded something of its amazing
secrets and is no longer seen as an inert and
lifeless bullet but rather as having a content
of mighty
potency — though locked up, or in-turned
as the occultist puts it. Crystallized light
is a
term used as a description of material in the Secret Doctrine [The
Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, page 179. ] It
is such light or energy, call it what we will,
that, as an expression of the One
Life,
manifests as matter. This composes the worlds
in which our personal selves function and is
unitary
in character, which is to say that all material
is built up of combinations of an ultimate basic
unit — a real indivisible, atom.
THE NEGATIVE ASPECT
In the Mystery Drama, particularly in an extension
of Act III, the passive, or negative, character of
this unitary material is very plainly demonstrated,
and a few words here concerning the figure seen may
be useful, though a clear description is difficult.
A sphere of large volume is built up, pulsing with
an intense throbbing rhythmic motion, ablaze with
light; it contracts in size till the sphere is
minute, just visible: the spectator is aware however
that
the same throbbing intensity is still continuing
within the minute sphere's periphery; it expands
again and contracts again; its apparent solidity,
and resilience, are superlative, for multitudes
of impacts from without make no mark nor impression
upon it; whatever their cause they return, rebound,
along the same path as their incidence. The figure
conveyed brilliantly an indication of the quality
of the material which we. handle so
familiarly.
It is impossible to put into words the understanding
that accompanies a Mystery symbol of this kind
though interpretations in this case are easy. It
is obvious
that any medium a creative artist uses can be put
to purposes that are either good or base — which it
is to be lies in the hands of the artist and is
not a choice on the part of the medium; the
material
is itself innocent and irresponsible. The clay
modelled by the sculptor, the canvas covered by
the painter,
the instrument played by the musician, are all
practically unaffected by the use made of them
as material. An illustration
and example that appealed to me as expressing the
symbolism the most clearly was that of the screen
on which a moving picture is thrown. Whatever the
picture may be, whether artistically beautiful
or coarse and vulgar, the screen remains spotless,
immaculate — yet it provides the necessary
medium for the play of the light and, indeed, supplies
the
'body' for a demonstration of form and colour.
It is along these lines and similar analogues that
the spectator of the drama interprets the hidden
truth of the nature of material amid which and
in which we live. From our point of view, the One
Life
thus manifesting is in-turned, apparently aloof
and indifferent, for material, in itself, seems to
continue
unchanged, unaffected, while yielding and responding
to every action of ours upon it. It is responsive
but not responsible, it is neither benevolent nor
malevolent, neither conscious nor unconscious,
it is as a mirror which reflects accurately and perfectly,
for it returns exactly that which it receives.
This, marvellously responsive expression of the
One Life, manifesting as the material which we
use in
our bodies and abodes and which we shape as we
will, can be regarded in relation to ourselves
as far above
or far beneath, impersonal, transcendent, yet 'nearer
than hands and feet, closer than breathing'. Veritably
it constitutes in itself a God of perfect justice — for
it returns to consciousness-in-action precisely
that which consciousness-in-action ' impresses,
imposes,
upon It. The One Life, in its role as material,
thus presents to human consciousness the negative
aspect
of manifestation.
THE POSITIVE ASPECT
The positive aspect of the One Life is represented
by foci of spiritual fire which, like the ultimates
of matter, are unitary — all are alike in
essence. Emanating from 'the SOLAR
LORD these are the occult
Sparks of a Divine Flame, centres of life and of
consciousness-to-be. They have been intuited by
some philosophers and called Monads. My interpretation
of the Mystery Drama so far as it concerns the
positive
aspect of the One Life is that this aspect is expressed
in terms of these foci, or monads, throughout all
the kingdoms of nature, as we classify
the grades of forms. In the elemental kingdoms
and in the mineral, plant, animal, human and beyond,
all differences between them are due to differences
in the degree of consciousness, not to a difference
of kind. The ability of each focus of light, as
a
unit of consciousness, to respond increasingly
and more adequately to contacts made through the
help
of forms entitles that unit to rise through the
kingdoms. The expansion or degree of consciousness
attained
by each monad seems to be determined by speed and
subtlety of movement in terms of time, instead
of an increasing complexity and delicacy of structure
in terms of space, as in forms.
CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness is defined as an awareness of living,
or being, and this awareness is born of the contact
of the spiritual foci with material — in
other words, consciousness is due to the interaction
between positive and negative aspects of the One
Life in
manifestation, themselves the First and Third Aspects
of a Trinity giving birth to the Second Aspect,
Consciousness. What may have preceded the negative
and positive
states of being, before the division of the ONE into
a Self and a Not-Self, may occasion abstract and
mathematical speculation; I brought nothing away
beyond that which I could derive from the beginnings
of Act I — almost a blank. To sum up; the
spiritual foci of life, represented in the tableau
of Act
I in the singular as a brilliant point of light,
becomes
conscious, that is aware of being, by reason and
virtue of contact, with material, their opposite
number. Some of the inferences are rather startling.
The numerous positive foci of life which become what
we have called units of consciousness, monads,
when they engage with material never change their
appearance;
they continue throughout the cycles of manifestation
as foci of brilliant fire and the term 'expansion
of consciousness' means an increasing ability to
respond to the exciting sensations induced by contact
with material forms, not to any increase in size.
They remain unchanged in appearance and essence
but expand in awareness, in consciousness.
In each kingdom of nature a similar grade of consciousness
functions throughout the whole of the kingdom,
each grade is more or less the same order of expansion
and, in connection with the kingdoms, this expansion
has been defied as the ability to respond to the
formal dimensions of space, a useful classification.
In further detail: the unit of consciousness in
the
mineral kingdom achieves position in space, a more
or less static condition of repose after the turmoil
of the subtle elemental kingdoms which precede
the mineral. Its symbol is the point, position
without
magnitude. In the plant kingdom response is made
to one dimension of form; its symbol is the line,
length without breadth. In the animal kingdom two
dimensions are covered by consciousness, surfaces;
its symbol is length and breadth. In man the three
dimensions of form can be cognized, length, breadth
and depth — and the limits of form are thus
reached. [Consciousness and the
Dimensions of Space is treated at length in the
author's Web
of the Universe, Chapter V. ] Also
in the human kingdom an important and significant
fact is
that consciousness is associated with one
type of form only, not with many and various types
as in the earlier three kingdoms.
Man, being thus able through his physical body
and triple personality to extend his awareness
to the
periphery of form, can engage and master the whole
of the world of forms. In other words, man's consciousness
by virtue of its spiritual awareness can ultimately
compass, respond to and accept the whole of his
sphere of experience. When this triple achievement
is accomplished within the limits of the planet
which is his immediate field of action, man becomes,
within
those limits — omnipresent, omniscient and
omnipotent. Although this be a very far-distant
horizon of the
future, that and nothing less is the goal fore-shadowed
in the Mysteries. Certain implications arising
from the above may be elaborated.
When these divine attributes omniscience, omnipresence
and omnipotence are ascribed to God, man is merely
projecting his own deeply hidden, innate and inalienable
powers into the concept of a deity who is pictured
as separate and external to himself. Man really
is simply 'remembering' his own essential potentialities.
This is not to deny, not even to decry, the existence
of a mentally graven image
of a deity who is supposed to possess absolute
and arbitrary powers and who is capable of wrath
and a forgiving benevolence at will — as
asserted in countless exhortations in Christian
Churches. [One
example from the Book of Common Prayer, Anglican
Church. "We acknowledge and
bewail our manifold sins and wickedness . . . provoking
most justly thy wrath and indignation." (General
Confession, in Communion Service). ] That
projection, that ex-position, possibly has been
inevitable, perhaps even useful for a youthful
humanity such as ours, just as the individual child,
maybe to some advantage, tends at first to impute
almighty powers to its parents.
But we are growing up and the value and usefulness
(if they ever were) of such an external concept
is fading fast. The adoption of the Mystery Drama
as
an historical happening was, moreover, pitifully
shallow. The dogmas built upon it were devised
presumably because a mediator, miraculously born
as a god-man,
was imperatively necessary to link humanity to
such a humanly projected deity. They also reflect
something
of the Hebrew outlook of one branch of the early
church. With the help of interested revisers and
interpolators [" After the
Council of Nicea, A.D. 325, the manuscripts. of the New
Testament were considerably tampered with. Prof.
Nestle . .
. tells us that certain scholars, called correctores,
were appointed by the ecclesiastical authorities,
and were actually commissioned to correct the text
of Scripture in the interest of what was considered
orthodoxy." After Death What! by
Archdeacon Wilberforce. Concerning variations in
the gospels "No satisfactory explanation has
ever been found for these variants;
they are evidently made on purpose by persons who
had new matter to insert into the text and felt
themselves at liberty to do so: Encyclopedia
Britannica, Volume 3, Page 519 ] the
allegory became literalised and the authorities
of the time
firmly and successfully
engraved it. The Christian Church has become a
body with wide-based and 'established' vested
interests
and is very loath to change. That the life and
teachings of Jesus survive the weight, of misrepresentation
for which the Church is responsible speaks eloquently
of the spiritual strength and beauty of that life
and message.
MAN'S ROLE
There being no essential difference in the monadic
life, as between one monad and another except, as
already stated, in terms of expansion, an insistent
inference is that all monads pass through the human
kingdom when the expansion corresponding to human
experience is reached. Obviously vast periods of
time are spent earlier by each hierarchy of monads
in progressing through the younger kingdoms. Eventually
in successive cycles all graduate as Man, attain
to self-consciousness and contact the whole of the
personal planes or worlds, the physical-emotional-mental.
Thus in each monad will be awakened eventually the
divine powers latent in all life, for the differences
in the life of the kingdoms are of degree and not
of kind. This appears to be a valid and compelling
interpretation of the Mystery Drama.
That the human state of consciousness is latent
in all life is illustrated in dramatic scenes in
the
course of Act II. These may be summarized — (1)
The difference in consciousness between an infant-in-arms
and an adult human being is great, yet it is clear
that this is a difference merely between one who
shortly will be man and one who is man. (2) The
fertilized ovum within the womb of a mother-to-be
is the physical
body of a human being though at that time it is
but a single cell. That much is recognized in medical
science and in law for 'the new life of the child
commences at the time of the fertilization of the
ovum'—as already quoted. Such a human being,
using this simple spherical form when beginning
a new incarnation, is 'recapitulating the history
of its species' which means that at one time, in
the very remote past, that simple form (probably
a vortex in the fire-mist) was the earliest and
only physical body of man in that cycle. Physical
consciousness at that stage would be comparable
to
a plant's consciousness now. In the case of the
fertilized ovum the human stage of consciousness
is reached
in a few years — for in that short time now
is accomplished that which took ages of effort
and countless
experiments in past cycles. (3) Further, it follows
that the difference between the consciousness of
adult man of today and the mighty Lord of the World,
vast beyond understanding as this may be, is a
difference of degree and not of kind. The Lord
has been Man.
The state of consciousness reached by mankind now,
of our hierarchy appears to be a critical one. Further
advance, it is clear, is
self-determined. In this respect it differs entirely
from the earlier kingdoms. Our humanity is becoming
'of age' and an inheritance of conscious divinity
awaits acceptance. The inheritance must be claimed,
however; heaven must be taken by storm. With the
spiritual Self aroused, man assumes control of his
own destiny. Freewill, within the wide limits of
the immediate field of manifestation, can be exercised
if the divine Self, the spiritual centre of man's
being, is enthroned. In the religious terms of early
Christian mysticism, the cross of matter (the elemental
life of the bodies, on the 'opposite path') is transcended
and the Christ is Risen. In the Mystery Drama everyman
is 'in one man's skin'.
THE SACRIFICIAL DESCENT OF ARCHETYPAL MAN
Reference has been made earlier to the ruling system
of our world, an inner government, appointed in
the first place by the SOLAR LORD.
This system is hierarchical
and the LORD OF THE WORLD is
assisted by a company of highly expert Officials,
all of whom have/graduated
in an earlier though not necessarily a similar
manifestation. Theirs is the mighty task, at the
beginning of our
present planet's life, to prepare for the prospective
birth of another following hierarchy-in-the-making,
our own humanity and, later, those of the mineral,
plant and animal kingdoms. Active in these early
cycles of creative work was an instinctively obedient
life of a certain Order of the devic hosts who
were the building craftsmen of nature's forms — as
indeed they are now in different circumstances.
This Order of Builders was under the Government's
direct
superintendence, during the early cycles of their
training.
A microcosmic correspondence to this preparatory
work, today — indeed a brief recapitulation — is
the preparation made for an expected birth in a
human family. A new-born babe is helpless; the
care of
attendants is imperative if the child is to live
and thrive. Parents, doctors, nurses, teachers,
all have helping hands, guidance and advice to
give if the newcomer is to be launched successfully
on
his or her own feet. Also, before the child is
born, during the months of gestation, the same
Order of
willing builders mentioned above give generously
of their skilled and rapid craftsmanship, learnt,
during the long cycles of training, beginning with
the earliest experimental work of our world's history.
So amazingly expert are they now that a 'building'
which occupied vast periods of time in the past
is now completed in a few months.
The successful birth of a child implies the descent
into the limitations of a physical body of a consciousness
already at the human level. The human monad thus
reincarnating has descended from its heaven of
rest and assimilation in the subtler worlds and
enters
on another physical life in the new body. This
usually is quite an unconscious descent and. therein
it
differs from the original descent of Archetypal
Man though
it is certainly a recapitulation in principle.
At. the very beginnings of the planet's history
those
who first descended into the forms, into the very
limiting spherical forms then provided by the builders,
were Men. For the same reason that a craftsman
must train the young apprentice and the teacher
must precede
his pupil so Man preceded the flow of the younger
monadic life which then followed. This means that
those who were the first to use the simple forms
provided, the spherical, were monads who had attained
to human consciousness in a prior cycle. Theirs
was the honour of making a vast sacrifice, to descend
in full consciousness to inspire and ensoul the
primitive
new bodies — and pass them on to the following
grades of monadic consciousness in a condition
much easier for the novice to handle. This sacrifice
of
Archetypal Man is symbolised in St. John's vision
as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Our humanity benefits from the sacrifice as a child
benefits from that of its parents. We may hope
to repay the obligation in our turn to successors,
as
the child does when it achieves parenthood.
While still adolescent we may continue to rely
upon external help, for, although free, human
consciousness
is not isolated. Earnest, heartfelt and genuine
prayer of emotional sincerity arouses a response
on the
part of the still ministering devas as certainly
as a bird will respond to the cry of its young,
though the devas are not equipped for all emergencies
nor
permitted to intervene unwisely. Purely mental
prayer, of a petitionary character, addressed to
an external
agency, presumably spiritual, is curiously useless — probably
because the mind is man's own province. Mentally
to invoke such assistance is like a man with a
full purse begging a crust; by denying the crust
the purse
stands a chance of being use,d. There may be exceptions
to this, for nothing in life is utterly hard and
fast; but it is very certainly now the rule. Man,
as he becomes mature, is meant to use the powers
of the mind creatively, from within outwards,
not to frame petitions but to re-create circumstances
from within.
IN CONCLUSION
If we accept the occultist's assertion that we
are about half-way through the vast cycle of the
Terrene
Scheme —in which our world is an important
contributor to the Solar Design — then
mankind as a whole is passing from adolescence
into an
adult maturity. A figurative. estimate is that
if the whole manifestation period be scaled down
to, say, forty-nine years, then our hierarchy-in-the-making,
mankind, is about twenty-five or twenty-six years
old. This of course applies only as a rough average.
The future, every event together with its results,
is in man's hands. As a spiritually centred being
he is free of the world of forms and can with
self-discipline and training command the potencies
of the three planes — physical,
emotional, mental — on which he lives. The
task for adult humanity which lies ahead is difficult,
for the goal is high. In the Mystery Drama this
is
emphasised. It would seem that our human hierarchy
is, metaphorically, to be the key-stone of an arch
that will bridge two major cycles of manifestation
within the Solar Design. Each of these cycles
has been the scene of experiment and achievement
on a
cosmic scale concerned with two aspects of the
world of thought — (a) pure ideas and (b)
concrete mentality, or, to change the simile, an
architect's
plan and the material for the building; the design
and the objective canvas.
Our human hierarchy, under the direction of its mighty
Hierophant, the LORD OF THE WORLD,
has the task, in its role of Mediator, of building
the span of
consciousness between these two so that the One
Will may be done 'on earth as it is in heaven'.
For adult
man, when filling his intended role as mediator,
guidance and inspiration are readily available
as he turns attention more and more to the centre
of
divine light, the real and abiding seat of every
man's life — within. This centre or focus
of light is the mystic's 'Father who art in heaven',
and true worship is the act of adjusting and relating
one's personal self to this interior light.
In turning to the Light within, the personality finds
itself by no means comfortless, for a 'personal'
God of mighty power and wisdom rules, the LORD
OF THE WORLD, to whom the mind of every man is as an
open page: reciprocally, the mind of every man is
as a screen on which His Light may shine and hence
His Will be known.