81. “Father, Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do.”
Who does not know these momentous words uttered by Jesus of Nazareth when He hung on the Cross? It was a prayer of intercession, one of the greatest of all times. The words are plain and explicit, but mankind has not yet understood what they mean, although two thousand years have passed since they were spoken. They have been interpreted in a one-sided fashion to accord with what it pleased man to believe. Not a single voice was raised to declare their right meaning and to cry it aloud to all men, especially to the Christian world.
This is not all. The soul-stirring events in the earthly life of the Son of God have all been brought into wrong perspective by one-sided interpretations. It is true that such faults are to be found in all religious traditions, not in the Christian only.
One can well understand that the disciples should push the person of their Master and Teacher far into the foreground, placing it above all else in importance, and it was specially natural in this case, when He had been so suddenly and brutally torn from their midst and, though absolutely innocent submitted to the most terrible suffering, exposed to the coarsest and most bitter mockery, and finally put to an agonizing and ignominious death.
That such events should make a deep impression on the souls of those who had been privileged to lead an ideal life together with their Master, thus learning to know Him intimately, should cause them to consider His person before all else, is a matter of course.
But the sacred mission of the Son of God lay in His Word, the Truth He brought to mankind from on high, to show them the way to the Light. Up till then this way had been closed to them, for they had not advanced far enough spiritually to perceive by it.
The fact that the Bringer of Truth suffered so unspeakably at the hands of man, is a thing apart.
What was quite natural — a matter of course — with the disciples, gave rise in time to grave errors in the religion that developed later. The essential, the Divine Message almost dropped out of sight, and Christ's personality was turned into a cult such as He had never intended or encouraged. Owing to this, numerous errors have crept into Christian teaching which, if not frankly acknowledged and set right, threaten to bring about a complete break-down of the system.
Gaps and deficiencies must be patent to all those who have the least enlightenment. These should not be avoided; it is best boldly to tackle them. Why should not the faults be rectified by the highest authority, by the Leader Himself? What numbers of men would gladly listen to a voice that would clear up the doubts that have long tormented and oppressed them without their knowing the reason! How many would joyfully follow his lead to the Light and the Truth, and would welcome conviction! Following in the steps of all those who blindly subject themselves to the suggestions of their intellect (thus narrowing their powers of conception) they laid the same weight on Christ's life on earth as on his sacred Mission. Indeed investigators showed more interest in His family relations and the details of His daily life than in the great, the principal object of His Coming, which was to enlighten those sufficiently mature to understand, on the significance and purpose of the happenings in Creation, wherein alone they should seek the knowledge of God's Will. Until man has come to a true knowledge of the Will of God, he cannot find the way to the Light, much less ascend by its means.
Instead of simply accepting facts and seriously studying the Message with the intention of ordering their lives according to its precepts, which the “Bringer of the Truth” so repeatedly and earnestly urged, the founders of the Christian religion built up their edifice on a personal cult, which constrained them to make Christ's sufferings mean something quite different from what they really were. They needed this interpretation to serve their ends.
In the course of further development, error was added to error, and the accumulation proved a fatal obstacle and prevented many from recognising the right way. The result of neglecting the essentials in instituting the new religion was that all that had happened was put in a wrong light — all unbiased opinion was silenced as soon as the principal cult became purely personal. From this arose the strong desire and tendency to see Christ's Mission as one principally concerning this world, and in the end this view prevailed.
But Christ's whole attitude proved this to be wrong. More than once he clearly and decisively declined all personal worship, and, in all He said, pointed to God the Father whose will He obeyed, and clothed in whose power He stood and worked. He taught men how to look up to God the Father; He never spoke of Himself.
As, however, they did not listen to Him, nor obey His words, the inevitable result was that His Sufferings finally came to be regarded as necessary, as part of God's Will, and that it was for this reason that He had come to earth. The conclusion arrived at was that He had come down from heavenly heights to suffer here upon earth. As He had not burdened Himself with a single sin, the only explanation they could find was that He must have taken the sins of others on Himself in order to atone for them. After this they had no choice left but to go on building on this foundation.
The exaggerated self-esteem, from which all mankind suffers, supplied ever fresh food and provided fruitful soil for this teaching. All this was a result of the Fall of Man, the sin against the Holy Spirit, which I have often described in detail. When a man lays an excessive value on his intellect, he only knows himself and not God, for he has destroyed all the bridges leading to Him. If a tottering plank here and there still connects man with the Spiritual Kingdom, this is quite insufficient to provide him with any conclusive spiritual knowledge. Because of this the right, the natural thought of separating Christ's sufferings from His Divine Message occurred to no one. Not to recognise the ill will, the persecution and the tortures to which Christ was subjected, for what they really were, but to insist that they were necessary and not heinous crimes, is a new sin that man commits.
It was not to be expected that the tyrannical and revengeful generation that had arisen after the Fall of Man would welcome the Son of God; but this did not deter him from bringing the necessary Message of Truth to the few righteous men on earth and a crown of radiant light, heavenly glory, power and honour are for ever His for having suffered and been subjected to agonising Crucifixion for the sake of the very small number who were willing to be saved.
What new sacrilegious crime has man committed in trying to make out that what happened was necessary and predestined, thus mitigating the guilt of those that murdered Christ!
These utterly wrong surmises cause so many to feel uncertain as to what they are to think of Judas Iscariot. If the Crucifixion were necessary, then Judas was but a tool, and his act of betrayal necessary, and, therefore, spiritually speaking, he was guiltless. But when the truth as to what really happened is made known, those misinterpretations and errors will be cleared up and the current belief proved to be wrong.
When what is true is made manifest, there will be no room left for questioning, for truth can be examined from every side without let or hindrance. Let man have the courage at last to acknowledge what human sagacity and cowardice keep so carefully hidden away in the dark. Here again, we see the veiled self-sufficiency of the human intellect which cannot suffer that anything be put above or before it. What a fine thing for man to imagine that he is so precious that God Himself should subject Himself to torture to be able to offer him a place of honour in His Divine Kingdom. This is what reveals itself as man's true view of the case, if a rough hand robs him of his outer garment of pretence, artifice and hypocrisy.
I need hardly point out that such a view can only exist where man's conception of the beyond and of transcendental happenings is most restricted and narrow. This again is a fatal grave result of the homage paid to the intellect which intercepts any broader outlook. The worship of the idol intellect naturally grew and grew after the Fall till it developed into Anti-Christ or Anti-Spirit, which has grown so strong on earth. Today this is everywhere clearly evident, and it does not require keen sight to see. In looking up to the intellect as the highest and foremost authority, which the scientists of the present day proudly state they do, they declare open warfare on God, for only by means of the spirit can man approach to an understanding of Divine problems.
Not the scientist alone — all mankind follows in their footsteps so that even those who call themselves serious seekers carry this poison about with them. Thus it is no wonder that the Church also has adopted much of this way of thinking and, in interpreting the Saviour's words, has allowed much to creep in, that is evidently inspired by the craftiness of the intellect. Here again it is the Voice of the Tempter questioning God's decrees — the Serpent of whom the Bible warns man, for is it not written that the Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. As soon as the decision of a question is left to the Serpent (intellect) it will surely choose what is diametrically opposed to God's Will. It will decide for what is purely mundane, the inferior field in which the human intellect can flourish, as it cannot conceive higher spiritual things.
Intellect was given to man as a counter-poise to spirit. Whereas when under the influence of the spirit alone, he would constantly be soaring in spheres above and neglecting his duties on earth below, intellect holds the balance and reminds him of his tasks in each of his incarnations. Moreover, it serves to make life in the world easier and more comfortable for him. But, above all, intellect has to adapt that innate quality of the spirit which aims at the highest, purest and noblest perfection, to the small matters of daily life, so as to make it manifest to all. Intellect is to be the living tool of the living spirit. It has nothing to command, but only to assist and obey the spirit, its office being to provide and to prepare possibilities for the spirit to work in matter. If, however, all questions and matters are left to the intellect to decide independently, as is now done, it no longer acts as a counter-poise, as a helper, or a tool, but throws its own weight into the scales, so that one side sinks down. It must be so, for the intellect belongs to matter, and is bound by it, whereas the spirit comes from above. Instead of offering to help the spirit, in doing which it would itself gain strength and become great, it rejects the proffered hand that the spirit holds out to it, and cuts itself adrift. When left to itself it quite naturally discards all that is spiritual and obeys the laws which govern its own being.
Still, it must be pointed out and clearly understood that it is not till the human intellect is ranked above the spirit that it becomes its enemy, for if it stands under the dominion of the spirit, as it should do, it remains a faithful and valuable servant. If, on the contrary, in the face of natural laws, it is set on the seat of authority, which is not its rightful place, it will begin by suppressing all that could cast it down from its borrowed throne. It carefully shuts all the gates which, if left open, might let in the Light and disclose its deficiencies and narrow limitations.
A counter-part of this we see in the case of men who feel that their capacities for achievement grow strong and increase, while they are living in well-ordered circumstances and under good leadership. But they over-estimate what they can do, and if a revolution, disorders or riots, break out, and they are raised to responsible positions, it becomes evident that they are incapable of higher office, and they reduce the people who put their trust in them to want and misery.
Just as those would never (not even to themselves) confess their incapacity, but would cast all blame on the preceding circumstances, so the human intellect would never acknowledge that it could not undertake the work of the spirit without doing grievous harm, if not breaking down altogether.
We see the same happenings eternally repeated everywhere. If a man will pause and think and try to realise the situation, he will understand and see that things must be so and cannot be otherwise.
It was the result of the same unequal balance of intellect and spirit that infected the teachings of the Church and of founders of religious sects that veiled the simplicity of Divine Truth, making its right understanding impossible.
Men could hardly have done anything more lamentable, than thus voluntarily limiting their sphere of comprehension, and shutting their eyes to the transcendental worlds, where by far the greater part of events come to pass and, which are consequently literally above their narrow horizon.
Now let man try to fight against the density of this wall he has built. He will soon acknowledge the truth of the saying: “The gods themselves fight in vain against stupidity.” This stout wall can only be tackled by each individual singly from within, for it was built up from within. But man will not bestir himself, and, whichever way we look we see universal failure, confusion and bitter distress.
And who stands on the summit of this pile of ruins puffed up with pride? It is the author of this wild jumble, modern man as he likes to call himself — the advanced man whose progress has been constant retrogression. Furthermore, in his self- admiration, he styles himself sober-minded. It is nauseating to see how much good, that would in propitious surroundings have blossomed and borne good fruit, must be lost with the rest; and how many must suffer from this grievous state of things. Spontaneously the prayer rises to one's lips: “Make Thou an end, oh Lord, to this; we cannot!”
Added to the other troubles are the many schisms and their growing hatred of one another. Yet in one point they are all agreed: they are the willing slaves of their intellects.
It is not the fault of employers or of employees, nor of capital, nor of want of capital, nor of the Church, or the State, nor again of the varieties of nations and their separate interests, it is the wrong attitude of each individual that has brought about this disastrous state of things.
Even the so-called seekers after the truth are seldom on the right path; nine tenths of them turn into Pharisees and arrogantly look down on their neighbours whilst quarrelling among themselves. Everything is all wrong. The prophecies concerning the dreadful end must be fulfilled before a few of these at least are roused from their sleep. Conversion is still possible for every one, but soon it will be too late for all time, and this in spite of the hopes that so many faithful believers cherish that, although the necessary period of purification may last a longer or a shorter time, according to the requirements of each individual case, still at last the human soul must find the way to the Light, to everlasting joy and happiness near its God. This is a comfortable thought, a consoling view to take, but it does not correspond to the truth — for it is not so!
Let us once again give our attention to the great evolution of Creation and of mankind belonging to it, carefully noticing the operation of the primeval law of homogeneity that I have often explained, and its results. Physical substance revolves in a giant circle like a huge seed-field at the lowest, heaviest part of Creation. There beginning with the primeval seed, all is in constant motion, unceasingly developing, linking together into forms, solidifying to globes like our earth and the stars visible in the firmament. These develop, thrive and fructify to a state of perfection corresponding to our present time.
Then, when overripe, they disintegrate of their own accord and return to their pristine state of primeval seed waiting for the opportunity to form fresh ties and evolve anew.
That is the picture this process presents looked at from above.
Physical substance is but lifeless matter; it serves to provide an outer covering, a shell or vessel that only becomes alive when it is penetrated and animated by the soul of nature (animism) from above.
This amalgamation of physical matter with immaterial, natural life, provides the basis for further development. The souls of animals evolve from the substance of this realm.
Above these two great spheres, the sphere of physical material substance and the sphere of immaterial natural substance is the highest sphere of Creation, the Kingdom of the Spirit. This, as my readers already know, again has its own peculiar nature, its own structure, its own component parts; and from here issues the seed which is destined to develop into conscious human spirits. It is only in the seed field of physical substance that the seed of the spirit can germinate and mature to a conscious human spirit.
The spirit-germs' entry into the field of physical substance is not possible till this field has reached a certain stage of maturity, a stage that corresponds to the modality of the germ, which, because it is of the spirit, stands highest in order in Creation. This stage or point is when Creation produces the most perfectly developed animal body animated by the life or soul of nature. Having advanced so far, it can progress no further, for this is the highest stage it can attain to. This great cosmic process is reflected again and again later on at the birth of the human soul into physical substance. Indeed, all happenings in Creation, all cosmic phenomena, are reflected in man, he being the most perfect of created beings, the crown of Creation. The entry of a human spirit into the child's body developing in its mother's womb, can only take place when this body has reached a certain stage of maturity, not before. It is the time between conception and birth, the midpoint.
In the same way, when the great cosmic revolution or rotation had completed just half its appointed circle, had, in other words, reached the midpoint, the spirit was able to enter into the perfect animal body. This happened at a period when the soul or life of natural substance having animated matter, had formed the animal body; it then developed it to the highest perfection it was capable of and made the way free for the spirit to enter this animal body from above. Spiritual seed ranked lowest in the Spiritual Kingdom but could only enter into the highest achievement, the master-piece that the Kingdom of Nature had produced, viz. the perfectly developed animal body.
In virtue of its superiority the spirit now took the reins of government into its hands. It was able to further develop the body that it was inhabiting and all its mundane surroundings, which animism could not do, and the spirit naturally also developed in harmony with the body. This is but a rough sketch, an outline of how the process of development goes on in Creation. I will go into every particular most minutely in later lectures.
We belong to the very first part or section of this cycle of matter. We are the vanguard and stand at the head of its revolution. There has never been a similar process before us, but after us, it will be repeated eternally.
All that is now happening in the part of Creation to which we belong, is occurring for the first time. For this reason, this earth plays such a particularly important role. Being the furthest matured of all material globes, the great and decisive happenings in the revolution of Creation all take place here for the first time, so what we are now experiencing and what lies before us, is not a repetition of something that has been before! But let us return to the first entry of the human spirit-germ into matter. This happened when matter had come to the midpoint of the great circuit of its revolution. The animals that had, at that time, arrived at the highest stage of development were wrongly (and are today still wrongly) called Primeval Man. As a race they have died out and only those bodies that the spirit-germ entered to replace the animal soul, were retained for further development and refinement.
These spirit-germs had now matured through manifold experiences; they refined the bodies they were in till they became what is familiar to us as the human body, and they grouped and separated themselves into races and peoples. It was the first independent act of free-will or free-choice on their part after their having become conscious (for the Fall was behind them), when they elected to put the intellect above or before the spirit, giving the intellect authority over the spirit. The deplorable consequences of the dominion of the intellect were soon clearly evident. Hereditary sin (wrongly called Original Sin) is the one-sided development of the human brain which is an hereditary evil.
I have often mentioned this fact and shall go into the question much more fully later on. And it is to be hoped that men, who can grasp these truths, will joyfully come forward to help in the great work of enlightenment on the lines laid down here.
Unretarded, unmoved, the great evolution continued on its appointed course, but erring mankind obstructed the development, which should necessarily have kept step with it causing confusion where it could. It was in this time of ferment among men that the Jewish people came under the scourge of the Egyptians, which, as we know, lay heavy on them. Their tribulation and their longing for liberation abnormally hastened the maturity of their souls, so that they spiritually outstripped all other nations. This upheaval of seething emotions had nothing to do with sex, so for the first time they were able to see themselves as in a mirror and also to look into the souls of their oppressors. When, at last, they perceived that no worldly wisdom nor the shrewdest intellect could help them in their trouble, and at the same time recognised that their souls were sterile, their spiritual eye began to open and slowly the conception of the true God arose before them, a God standing immeasurably higher than the gods they had worshipped up till then. And once more fervent prayers arose from these people bowed down in grievous tribulation.
Thus it was that the Jews became the Chosen People who were to take precedence spiritually of all other nations, because they had arrived at the purest conception of the Godhead and were as far advanced as could be expected from people at their stage of maturity.
I would, however, not have you confuse maturity of the spirit with knowledge acquired by learning, but always keep in mind that what is meant is the spirit that dwells in a man's heart.
The advanced spiritual maturity of the Jews enlightened by Moses enabled them to recognise the Will of God in the form of laws. These represented a rare and invaluable treasure and afforded a mighty help on the way to further progress. It is quite natural that cosmic events will only concentrate and manifest where conditions are most mature, thus gradually they came to concentrate on this human race of the Jews who continued to progress spiritually.
Here again the cosmic events and the events we read of in the history of the world must not be confused, for they lie far apart. The world's history mostly treats of what resulted from the wrong use made of the human-spirit's free-will. By continually putting obstacles in the way, men temporarily diverted the course cosmic events should have taken and this causes confusion in the world's affairs. The religious cult of the Jews was of far higher standing than the other cults and far nearer the truth. Thus the promise of an incarnation from the Light could only take place among these, for other existing ways of thinking and methods of teaching were too far from the Truth to be considered; they all led astray.
The law called Attraction of the Homogeneous would naturally impel a Bringer of Truth from the Light to incarnate where the way of thinking and teaching was nearest the Truth. Only from there would the attraction be sufficiently strong, and the hold sufficiently firm. Erroneous ways of thinking repel and allow no Light to penetrate. All proceedings must be subject to the eternal laws. The laws that operate here are the law of returns and the law of attraction. That Christ, as the great Bringer of Truth, incarnated in the Jewish race, is a proof that the Jews had the purest conception of the Deity and of Spirituality, and shows that the other religions were further from the Truth than they. Buddhism, for example, did not stand so near the Truth, nor does it now; it errs in many respects. The universal laws, however, never err. If he will but try, every man can come to a right understanding; if he will but think it over quietly, he will hit on the right course and all his vacillation will cease.
When in time, the Jews again allowed the intellect to dominate in their religion, where it bred corruption and place- hunting, the heavy hand of the Roman conquerors oppressed them sorely, and this saved just a small number from forsaking the true faith, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled in them.
My readers must set themselves to study the great laws of the attraction of homogeneous species, the law of returns and the law of gravitation, with earnest intent. They must observe and think out or try to realise the subtlety of their mechanism which operates in every direction. They will soon perceive how all-embracing and upholding, how living and unfailing they are. They are the keys to all riddles, they clear up all perplexities, all doors will open to them. The student will find that he will never get lost in foolish imaginings nor mysticism, but will enjoy unclouded and unbroken mental vision.
The spirit-germ can only enter that section of the universe which exactly corresponds to it in maturity and never into a part less advanced, nor into a part further advanced as our part now is where only such souls can exist that have been incarnated several times. Thus a Bringer of Truth from the Light could only incarnate in a humanity on the highest level of maturity.
In the case of a Divine Messenger the conditions of all the eternal laws had to be most exactly observed. He could only be born into a race whose system of opinions came nearest to the Truth.
A spirit-germ can only enter matter which nature has brought to the highest state of perfection of which it is capable. If at this point the spirit-germ does not enter it, progress comes to a standstill and a period of stagnation is succeeded by retrogression. Our physical earth had arrived at that point before Christ's Advent. The spirit, utterly confused by inherited sin, could not advance further. Free-will, the prerogative of the spirit, having raised the intellect to pre- eminence in authority had made itself powerless to work for the advancement and development of Creation and was constrained to put all its abilities at the service of material interests. That was a moment of imminent danger!
Animism, not gifted with free-will, had accomplished its part in the development of Creation, as the Creator intended, in the right way, but the spirit with its gift of free-will had incapacitated itself by the Fall of Man and had only brought confusion and standstill into the process of the development of matter. The spirit also misused the power given it to direct the Divine energy which pulsates through all Creation; instead of using it for good, it put it to sinful purposes, instead of the influence working to raise matter to its highest state of development, it worked in a downward direction. Mundane technical achievements are not real progress, not progress in a cosmic sense, nor in the sense God wills. Here help was promptly needed. The appalling confusion called for the intervention of the Creator Himself.
The mischief would have increased with every succeeding century and the way to Divine help would have been lost and connection would have been no longer possible. The dominion of the intellect would have become so despotic in time, that nothing spiritual, much less divine, would have been comprehensible. There would have been no anchorage possible for an incarnation from the Light. Immediate steps had to be taken, for the time for the coming of the Son of Man was not yet, He was, however, preparing for his future task on earth. It was in this urgent dilemma that the great, the ineffable wonder occurred, the Divine Mystery: God Almighty, Creator of all the Universe, made the stupendous sacrifice of sending down to earth a portion of Divinity Itself to take Light to the erring. This Coming of Christ had not been foreseen from the beginning! It was alone man's misuse of his free-will, his fall from his high estate and the consequences resulting that made Divine intervention necessary — it was contrary to God's original intention. Nature had done its share of the work of development with success, but spiritual man had completely failed in his task and even worse, he used the free-will with which he had been endowed, to work in the opposite direction to that which God intended and had taken up a position antagonistic to God's Will. The gravity of his sin can easily be imagined.
Christ's birth was thus not the fulfilment of a promise. He was not the eternal Mediator whose coming had been revealed in olden times! It was a case of emergency to save all Creation from threatened ruin. From this it follows that that part of Divinity which was incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth must return to the Father, as Christ Himself so often said — to be one with Him. This fact also proves that He can never be the eternal Mediator between God and His Creation, nor could He be the Son of Man! The Son of Man will come when Creation has arrived at its last stage of progress. His Coming had always been prepared for the time of the end, which is the end of the first part of matter, after which Creation is to continue on its even course. The Son of Man, the eternal Mediator, will be at the head, but he will at the same time be and always remain the first servant of God.
Christ, the Son of God, was a part of Divinity itself. He had, therefore, to return and reunite with God — he had to become one with the Father.
The Son of Man is the servant and executive agent of God. He was sent forth from Divinity, but he cannot return to be completely re- absorbed. This is because he became possessed of something apart from Divinity. That was the spirit he received on passing through the spiritual world. Pure spirit, still it prevents him from uninterrupted sojourning in Divinity. In him the promise revealed to the Fathers will be fulfilled: an eternal Mediator between God and His Creation, to which man belongs.
Such is the course of the world and will be until the end shall come, events succeeding one another in natural order. When the Fall of Man has been rightly understood, fully grasped as also the subsequent events, the results of man's sin, which called for the unforeseen Coming of Christ as an act of emergency to save all from ruin, it will not be difficult to understand the rest, all gaps will fill in of themselves and all questions find their solution.
It was Christ's Message that opened the portals of Paradise for mature human souls. Before then the ability to find the way and to understand how to get there, did not exist. Through going astray man had lost this ability. If prompt help had not come, the way would have been lost altogether. The Message, as all Divine messages, as every word coming from the Light, was addressed to and intended for men living on earth, as well as for those who had already passed over.
The laws given in this Message were strict and uncompromising, but the Message also taught Love, which, up till then, man had not been able to comprehend, but which he was now to develop and cultivate. However, Love was not intended to undermine the laws but to supplement them. The laws were to remain the firm foundation, but in enforcing them, Love should not be forgotten.
Later, men sought to amplify the meaning of Christ's behest, but they started from false premises, and what fatal errors came of their efforts based on their wrong interpretations I pointed out in the beginning of this lecture.
Let us cast a glance at the history of Christianity. It will teach us much and will also throw a light on all other religions. We shall find the same faults everywhere. Every Bringer of Truth, whether great or small, has had to suffer mockery and scorn, has been persecuted and attacked by his contemporaries. These considered themselves too learned and too wise to listen to a Divine Messenger's interpretations of the Creator's Will, for in truth none of these Messengers had studied at a High School or taken a degree at a University!
To interpret Divine Will is but to explain the course of events, the phenomena in Creation, in which mankind lives and to which it belongs. To be able to grasp its meaning, to fathom its secrets is everything. If a man has this knowledge, he will be able to make use of all the possibilities offered; they will be of the greatest service and give him every advantage. He will see the purpose of life and willingly carry out what he is called on to do, thus furthering things generally and rising to the Light, a joy to himself and a blessing to his surroundings.
But men scoffed at the Messengers and in so doing scoffed at the Message. Nor did it once happen that such a Messenger was welcome, however much good he might do. He was always a grievance. Their antagonism was rooted in their intellect, which here again proved its enmity to God. Christ illustrates the customs of man when he speaks of the Master who sent out his servants to collect the fruit of his vineyard. But the husbandmen scoffed at the servants, beat them and sent them away empty-handed. In their utter callousness men say: this is but a parable, and they never dream of seeing any reference in it to themselves. Some may even seek to imply that it is a distinction for God's Messengers to suffer persecution, and do not regard such treatment as a crime committed against God's Divine Will.
To mask its own shortcomings and limitations, the intellect takes every occasion of emphasising its contempt for the simplicity of the Truth, which it fears will one day be a danger. It dresses up in cap and bells and makes use of highflown language to attract attention to its own importance-now-a-days more than ever.
But as for those who so despised the simplicity of Truth, their contempt has turned to nervousness. They continually add bells to their gaudy fools-cap and jingle them louder and louder by their bounds and antics, for they wish to retain their borrowed throne. Of late these bounds suggest a dance of despair about to end in a dance of death!
Then indeed Truth in all her simplicity will be seated on the throne that by right is hers, and her crown will radiate peace- bringing Light, consoling and comforting. The serious seeker, who has been much confused by the preposterous obstacles intentionally put in the way of understanding higher problems, will at last gain a sure foothold. He will without effort be able to grasp the whole truth, whereas, up till now, it cost great trouble to unearth even the smallest atom. Let us return to simplicity of thinking, for if we do not, we shall never grasp the whole truth nor attain it. That is the meaning of Christ's admonition: “If ye do not become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The complicated way of thinking of the present day will never put a man on the road to the Truth. It is the same in religious teaching. When men say, sorrow and affliction further religious spiritual growth, they are right, but this grain of Truth they mischievously dress up to disfigure it, for God does not want His people afflicted. He wants joy, love and happiness to be theirs on their way to the Light, and this cannot be otherwise. If they find stones on their path, man himself has put them there.
The grain of truth in the teaching is that man may redeem some former sin by suffering. But that can only be the case when he is fully conscious that he deserves to suffer, as did, for instance, the penitent malefactor on the cross, who begged Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom.
The life men continue to lead in the world is senseless and mad, even the life of those who so sagaciously talk of their sins being redeemed by Karma. Sins are not always so easily redeemed as these wiseacres imagine. Karma reaction does not always at the same time redeem or atone for a sin. Mark this well, reader! On the contrary, it may have quite an opposite effect on a man and drag him down still further.
His rising depends entirely on the attitude of the man himself. Although the sin may have been atoned for, it depends on how a man steers his ship whether he goes forward, backward or straight ahead.
Here again it is clear that he is not and never can be the plaything of fortune, but must of his own free-will seek out and follow the Way. In that respect a man's will is always free up to the last moment: he really is his own master, with the proviso that he must always take account of the consequences of his inner attitude. If he directs his course upwards with insight and judgment, and his will is steadfast, the evil reactions will gradually lose their effect, and only appear symbolically, and this because the position he has attained is above the plane on which the reactions could have effect; even though he may still be on this earth, the evil will go past him on a lower level. It is not in the least necessary for a man striving upwards to the light to suffer. Away, therefore, with the bandage, with which man has wilfully blindfolded himself, lest he see the abyss yawning before him.
Temporary relief from anxiety is not strength-giving help, but only a loss of precious time that cannot be retrieved.
Mankind has never been able to find a plausible explanation or justification of the existence of suffering on earth, thus figments dressed up in more or less artful language are thoughtlessly handed down as narcotics. This is what one finds in all religions, and should it happen that a seeker driven to despair, demands an explanation, he is told that all that is incomprehensible comes under the heading of Divine mystery. Many who have been hard pressed by awkward questions have sought and found refuge in this reply as in a harbour of safety. Indeed, it is a convenient reply to all unanswerable questions.
But this method of giving answers is distinctly and unmistakably wrong. The end of every right way must be plainly visible to the seeker; he must not come up face to face with an impenetrable wall. Those who speak of the inscrutable ways of the Almighty only reveal their ignorance. There need be no mystery in Creation for mankind. It would be contrary to God's Will, for it is intended that man should become perfectly familiar with the working of the laws which govern Creation, so that he may wisely and successfully steer his course accordingly and not err for want of understanding.
It was one of the greatest and most fatal misconceptions of man that the murder of the Son of God was a necessary, propitiatory sacrifice for mankind. To think that the brutal murder of His Son would propitiate God Almighty! Just because no logical reason can be found for this extraordinary and utterly preposterous view, the embarrassed apologist creeps behind the convenient screen already mentioned above, and says: “This again is a Divine mystery, therefore, a problem beyond man's understanding.” Yet what God does is all so clear, so explicit lucidity itself! Nature was created by God's Will, so what is natural must be right, for God's Will is perfect.
The propitiatory sacrifice on the Cross must, however, appear unnatural to every sane mind, let alone the injustice of crucifying the innocent — the Son of God being without blemish. Here all twisting and turning is useless; rather let a man frankly confess that such a proceeding is truly beyond all comprehension! He may take all possible trouble and rack his brains but will come to no satisfactory conclusion: in this case he cannot understand his Master. But God wills that man should understand Him, and as His Divine Will is so clear and distinct in all He has created, man can understand Him. God's laws never contradict each other: it is only the religionist who takes trouble to introduce what is incomprehensible. The structure such men so laboriously erected on the postulate that the propitiatory sacrifice was necessary, is destroyed by Christ's own words at the time of His death: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Would this intercession have been necessary, if the crucifixion was requisite as a propitiatory sacrifice? They know not what they do is the gravest of accusations, and clearly indicates that what they were doing was wrong, that the deed they were committing was an ordinary crime. Would Christ have prayed to His Father at Gethsemane that if possible, the cup of suffering should pass from Him, if His death on the Cross was a necessity? Certainly not. Christ would never have done so. It was because He knew that the tortures awaiting Him resulted from the exercise of man's free-will, that He prayed thus.
Men have been content to be blind for two thousand years and thoughtlessly to accept the impossible as a solution of the mysteries of those times. It is, indeed, distressing to hear it seriously affirmed that stigmatization and other physical defects are signs of special grace assigned to privileged disciples of Christ. Such a view comes of course from man's wrong interpretation of Christ's sufferings on earth. Later on I will explain what grave consequences will ensue to those who think thus. What fatuity, what a servile and perverse mind must he have to think that the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth would require that a man He has created, should writhe in pain when He accords him a special grace! A grievous sin indeed to think thus of the Most High, whose sublimity and beauty exceed all that it is possible for man to imagine, whose glory he cannot even approach in his thoughts. How is a man with such views to advance spiritually? Men shape their God as they wish to have Him; if He does not answer to their ideal, they cast Him aside and fall upon those who dare to choose a sublimer God. Men's views up to now do not testify to greatness of mind; on the contrary they only tell of their unshaken belief in their own worth and importance. They take it that God should sue for man's favour. They think it quite natural that God should quietly take back his scorned, scourged and tortured Son from their bloodstained hands — the Son He had sent down to help them, to take them the Message of Salvation.
Even now they insist on keeping to their outrageous statement that this was a necessary propitiatory sacrifice. Christ Himself in his agony cried out in despair at their blindness: They know not what they do!
Is there any possibility of bringing mankind to a right understanding?
The severest condemnation would be too mild here. When will man perceive to what depths he has sunk? How empty and hollow, how utterly deceptive his imaginings have been! Although, from all sides, protestations come in high-flown language from seekers for God, they prove themselves on examination to be the usual self-sufficient hypocrites, egotists of the purest water, who in reality are utterly destitute of seriousness in their search for the Truth. They only seek to glorify divinity in themselves — nothing else! No man troubles himself seriously to understand God. With a smile of self- complaisant superiority they disregard and push aside Truth in its simple dress, for they consider their knowledge too profound and their position too intellectually advanced to accord with simplicity in their God. For their sakes He must be far more complicated. Otherwise it would not be worth their while and under their dignity to put their faith in Him. How can they accept teaching and acknowledge it to be valuable if every simpleton can understand it? That is not greatness! Now-a-days one would make oneself ridiculous by allowing such information to make any impression on one! This may be left to children, old women and the unlettered. It is not for the cultivated brains of the cultured of the present day. The people, the ordinary man, may accept it if they will. The greater the difficulty in understanding a problem, the profounder must be its wisdom — at least so our scholars think. Those who measure by this standard know in reality nothing, neither do they deserve to receive another drop from the fountain of wisdom that the Creator provides in His Creation. Their limitation is such that it precludes the possibility of their grasping the magnitude that lies in the simplicity of the Divine Laws. Such dullness is due to their brains having been crippled since birth, their brain, a possession of which they are so inordinately proud! It will be a blessing indeed if God in His mercy lets them pine away and perish in the building they have erected, for whichever way one looks at it, all is against God, all is disfigured and mutilated by the morbid self-aggrandizement of the intellectual man whose incapacity is slowly coming to light.
This has been going on and increasing in intensity for thousands of years. This corrosive evil, the result of the Fall, when man decided that the intellect was to have sole dominion, naturally introduced its poison into churches and religions. This wrongfully usurped authority has at all times deceived its slaves in matters Divine, even in matters spiritual. He who does not dethrone this dictator within himself will certainly perish.
It is no longer appropriate to talk of poor mankind, for knowing they are as guilty as any creatures can be. Christ's words: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” no longer apply to the man of the present day. He has had more than one opportunity of opening eyes and ears. Men of today are fully conscious of what they are doing, so they will suffer the reaction in its full force.
When the time is fulfilled and the circle complete, the harvest will be gathered in — the harvest, for this section of Creation is the first that has ripened — and then the grain will be separated from the chaff. That has never been done before since matter has existed. Our section of Creation takes the lead of all the others in the great eternal revolution, and our section will be the first to undergo this experience.
It was for this reason that the Son of God incarnated on this earth two thousand years ago. It was a cosmic event which took place in the most mature and most advanced portion of matter, one which will never be repeated, for the effect of what has happened here will go on influencing the succeeding sections. Thus this section is about to enter a new phase of existence hitherto unknown, but which after us will always be repeated. It is the natural dissolution of formed matter which follows on maturity.
All has been accomplished. The way to the Light, to Eternal Life for the individual spirit is pointed out.
Let human spirits take thought and decide in this last hour whether they will take the path to eternal damnation or to everlasting joy, for God Almighty has given them free choice.
This is not all. The soul-stirring events in the earthly life of the Son of God have all been brought into wrong perspective by one-sided interpretations. It is true that such faults are to be found in all religious traditions, not in the Christian only.
One can well understand that the disciples should push the person of their Master and Teacher far into the foreground, placing it above all else in importance, and it was specially natural in this case, when He had been so suddenly and brutally torn from their midst and, though absolutely innocent submitted to the most terrible suffering, exposed to the coarsest and most bitter mockery, and finally put to an agonizing and ignominious death.
That such events should make a deep impression on the souls of those who had been privileged to lead an ideal life together with their Master, thus learning to know Him intimately, should cause them to consider His person before all else, is a matter of course.
But the sacred mission of the Son of God lay in His Word, the Truth He brought to mankind from on high, to show them the way to the Light. Up till then this way had been closed to them, for they had not advanced far enough spiritually to perceive by it.
The fact that the Bringer of Truth suffered so unspeakably at the hands of man, is a thing apart.
What was quite natural — a matter of course — with the disciples, gave rise in time to grave errors in the religion that developed later. The essential, the Divine Message almost dropped out of sight, and Christ's personality was turned into a cult such as He had never intended or encouraged. Owing to this, numerous errors have crept into Christian teaching which, if not frankly acknowledged and set right, threaten to bring about a complete break-down of the system.
Gaps and deficiencies must be patent to all those who have the least enlightenment. These should not be avoided; it is best boldly to tackle them. Why should not the faults be rectified by the highest authority, by the Leader Himself? What numbers of men would gladly listen to a voice that would clear up the doubts that have long tormented and oppressed them without their knowing the reason! How many would joyfully follow his lead to the Light and the Truth, and would welcome conviction! Following in the steps of all those who blindly subject themselves to the suggestions of their intellect (thus narrowing their powers of conception) they laid the same weight on Christ's life on earth as on his sacred Mission. Indeed investigators showed more interest in His family relations and the details of His daily life than in the great, the principal object of His Coming, which was to enlighten those sufficiently mature to understand, on the significance and purpose of the happenings in Creation, wherein alone they should seek the knowledge of God's Will. Until man has come to a true knowledge of the Will of God, he cannot find the way to the Light, much less ascend by its means.
Instead of simply accepting facts and seriously studying the Message with the intention of ordering their lives according to its precepts, which the “Bringer of the Truth” so repeatedly and earnestly urged, the founders of the Christian religion built up their edifice on a personal cult, which constrained them to make Christ's sufferings mean something quite different from what they really were. They needed this interpretation to serve their ends.
In the course of further development, error was added to error, and the accumulation proved a fatal obstacle and prevented many from recognising the right way. The result of neglecting the essentials in instituting the new religion was that all that had happened was put in a wrong light — all unbiased opinion was silenced as soon as the principal cult became purely personal. From this arose the strong desire and tendency to see Christ's Mission as one principally concerning this world, and in the end this view prevailed.
But Christ's whole attitude proved this to be wrong. More than once he clearly and decisively declined all personal worship, and, in all He said, pointed to God the Father whose will He obeyed, and clothed in whose power He stood and worked. He taught men how to look up to God the Father; He never spoke of Himself.
As, however, they did not listen to Him, nor obey His words, the inevitable result was that His Sufferings finally came to be regarded as necessary, as part of God's Will, and that it was for this reason that He had come to earth. The conclusion arrived at was that He had come down from heavenly heights to suffer here upon earth. As He had not burdened Himself with a single sin, the only explanation they could find was that He must have taken the sins of others on Himself in order to atone for them. After this they had no choice left but to go on building on this foundation.
The exaggerated self-esteem, from which all mankind suffers, supplied ever fresh food and provided fruitful soil for this teaching. All this was a result of the Fall of Man, the sin against the Holy Spirit, which I have often described in detail. When a man lays an excessive value on his intellect, he only knows himself and not God, for he has destroyed all the bridges leading to Him. If a tottering plank here and there still connects man with the Spiritual Kingdom, this is quite insufficient to provide him with any conclusive spiritual knowledge. Because of this the right, the natural thought of separating Christ's sufferings from His Divine Message occurred to no one. Not to recognise the ill will, the persecution and the tortures to which Christ was subjected, for what they really were, but to insist that they were necessary and not heinous crimes, is a new sin that man commits.
It was not to be expected that the tyrannical and revengeful generation that had arisen after the Fall of Man would welcome the Son of God; but this did not deter him from bringing the necessary Message of Truth to the few righteous men on earth and a crown of radiant light, heavenly glory, power and honour are for ever His for having suffered and been subjected to agonising Crucifixion for the sake of the very small number who were willing to be saved.
What new sacrilegious crime has man committed in trying to make out that what happened was necessary and predestined, thus mitigating the guilt of those that murdered Christ!
These utterly wrong surmises cause so many to feel uncertain as to what they are to think of Judas Iscariot. If the Crucifixion were necessary, then Judas was but a tool, and his act of betrayal necessary, and, therefore, spiritually speaking, he was guiltless. But when the truth as to what really happened is made known, those misinterpretations and errors will be cleared up and the current belief proved to be wrong.
When what is true is made manifest, there will be no room left for questioning, for truth can be examined from every side without let or hindrance. Let man have the courage at last to acknowledge what human sagacity and cowardice keep so carefully hidden away in the dark. Here again, we see the veiled self-sufficiency of the human intellect which cannot suffer that anything be put above or before it. What a fine thing for man to imagine that he is so precious that God Himself should subject Himself to torture to be able to offer him a place of honour in His Divine Kingdom. This is what reveals itself as man's true view of the case, if a rough hand robs him of his outer garment of pretence, artifice and hypocrisy.
I need hardly point out that such a view can only exist where man's conception of the beyond and of transcendental happenings is most restricted and narrow. This again is a fatal grave result of the homage paid to the intellect which intercepts any broader outlook. The worship of the idol intellect naturally grew and grew after the Fall till it developed into Anti-Christ or Anti-Spirit, which has grown so strong on earth. Today this is everywhere clearly evident, and it does not require keen sight to see. In looking up to the intellect as the highest and foremost authority, which the scientists of the present day proudly state they do, they declare open warfare on God, for only by means of the spirit can man approach to an understanding of Divine problems.
Not the scientist alone — all mankind follows in their footsteps so that even those who call themselves serious seekers carry this poison about with them. Thus it is no wonder that the Church also has adopted much of this way of thinking and, in interpreting the Saviour's words, has allowed much to creep in, that is evidently inspired by the craftiness of the intellect. Here again it is the Voice of the Tempter questioning God's decrees — the Serpent of whom the Bible warns man, for is it not written that the Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. As soon as the decision of a question is left to the Serpent (intellect) it will surely choose what is diametrically opposed to God's Will. It will decide for what is purely mundane, the inferior field in which the human intellect can flourish, as it cannot conceive higher spiritual things.
Intellect was given to man as a counter-poise to spirit. Whereas when under the influence of the spirit alone, he would constantly be soaring in spheres above and neglecting his duties on earth below, intellect holds the balance and reminds him of his tasks in each of his incarnations. Moreover, it serves to make life in the world easier and more comfortable for him. But, above all, intellect has to adapt that innate quality of the spirit which aims at the highest, purest and noblest perfection, to the small matters of daily life, so as to make it manifest to all. Intellect is to be the living tool of the living spirit. It has nothing to command, but only to assist and obey the spirit, its office being to provide and to prepare possibilities for the spirit to work in matter. If, however, all questions and matters are left to the intellect to decide independently, as is now done, it no longer acts as a counter-poise, as a helper, or a tool, but throws its own weight into the scales, so that one side sinks down. It must be so, for the intellect belongs to matter, and is bound by it, whereas the spirit comes from above. Instead of offering to help the spirit, in doing which it would itself gain strength and become great, it rejects the proffered hand that the spirit holds out to it, and cuts itself adrift. When left to itself it quite naturally discards all that is spiritual and obeys the laws which govern its own being.
Still, it must be pointed out and clearly understood that it is not till the human intellect is ranked above the spirit that it becomes its enemy, for if it stands under the dominion of the spirit, as it should do, it remains a faithful and valuable servant. If, on the contrary, in the face of natural laws, it is set on the seat of authority, which is not its rightful place, it will begin by suppressing all that could cast it down from its borrowed throne. It carefully shuts all the gates which, if left open, might let in the Light and disclose its deficiencies and narrow limitations.
A counter-part of this we see in the case of men who feel that their capacities for achievement grow strong and increase, while they are living in well-ordered circumstances and under good leadership. But they over-estimate what they can do, and if a revolution, disorders or riots, break out, and they are raised to responsible positions, it becomes evident that they are incapable of higher office, and they reduce the people who put their trust in them to want and misery.
Just as those would never (not even to themselves) confess their incapacity, but would cast all blame on the preceding circumstances, so the human intellect would never acknowledge that it could not undertake the work of the spirit without doing grievous harm, if not breaking down altogether.
We see the same happenings eternally repeated everywhere. If a man will pause and think and try to realise the situation, he will understand and see that things must be so and cannot be otherwise.
It was the result of the same unequal balance of intellect and spirit that infected the teachings of the Church and of founders of religious sects that veiled the simplicity of Divine Truth, making its right understanding impossible.
Men could hardly have done anything more lamentable, than thus voluntarily limiting their sphere of comprehension, and shutting their eyes to the transcendental worlds, where by far the greater part of events come to pass and, which are consequently literally above their narrow horizon.
Now let man try to fight against the density of this wall he has built. He will soon acknowledge the truth of the saying: “The gods themselves fight in vain against stupidity.” This stout wall can only be tackled by each individual singly from within, for it was built up from within. But man will not bestir himself, and, whichever way we look we see universal failure, confusion and bitter distress.
And who stands on the summit of this pile of ruins puffed up with pride? It is the author of this wild jumble, modern man as he likes to call himself — the advanced man whose progress has been constant retrogression. Furthermore, in his self- admiration, he styles himself sober-minded. It is nauseating to see how much good, that would in propitious surroundings have blossomed and borne good fruit, must be lost with the rest; and how many must suffer from this grievous state of things. Spontaneously the prayer rises to one's lips: “Make Thou an end, oh Lord, to this; we cannot!”
Added to the other troubles are the many schisms and their growing hatred of one another. Yet in one point they are all agreed: they are the willing slaves of their intellects.
It is not the fault of employers or of employees, nor of capital, nor of want of capital, nor of the Church, or the State, nor again of the varieties of nations and their separate interests, it is the wrong attitude of each individual that has brought about this disastrous state of things.
Even the so-called seekers after the truth are seldom on the right path; nine tenths of them turn into Pharisees and arrogantly look down on their neighbours whilst quarrelling among themselves. Everything is all wrong. The prophecies concerning the dreadful end must be fulfilled before a few of these at least are roused from their sleep. Conversion is still possible for every one, but soon it will be too late for all time, and this in spite of the hopes that so many faithful believers cherish that, although the necessary period of purification may last a longer or a shorter time, according to the requirements of each individual case, still at last the human soul must find the way to the Light, to everlasting joy and happiness near its God. This is a comfortable thought, a consoling view to take, but it does not correspond to the truth — for it is not so!
Let us once again give our attention to the great evolution of Creation and of mankind belonging to it, carefully noticing the operation of the primeval law of homogeneity that I have often explained, and its results. Physical substance revolves in a giant circle like a huge seed-field at the lowest, heaviest part of Creation. There beginning with the primeval seed, all is in constant motion, unceasingly developing, linking together into forms, solidifying to globes like our earth and the stars visible in the firmament. These develop, thrive and fructify to a state of perfection corresponding to our present time.
Then, when overripe, they disintegrate of their own accord and return to their pristine state of primeval seed waiting for the opportunity to form fresh ties and evolve anew.
That is the picture this process presents looked at from above.
Physical substance is but lifeless matter; it serves to provide an outer covering, a shell or vessel that only becomes alive when it is penetrated and animated by the soul of nature (animism) from above.
This amalgamation of physical matter with immaterial, natural life, provides the basis for further development. The souls of animals evolve from the substance of this realm.
Above these two great spheres, the sphere of physical material substance and the sphere of immaterial natural substance is the highest sphere of Creation, the Kingdom of the Spirit. This, as my readers already know, again has its own peculiar nature, its own structure, its own component parts; and from here issues the seed which is destined to develop into conscious human spirits. It is only in the seed field of physical substance that the seed of the spirit can germinate and mature to a conscious human spirit.
The spirit-germs' entry into the field of physical substance is not possible till this field has reached a certain stage of maturity, a stage that corresponds to the modality of the germ, which, because it is of the spirit, stands highest in order in Creation. This stage or point is when Creation produces the most perfectly developed animal body animated by the life or soul of nature. Having advanced so far, it can progress no further, for this is the highest stage it can attain to. This great cosmic process is reflected again and again later on at the birth of the human soul into physical substance. Indeed, all happenings in Creation, all cosmic phenomena, are reflected in man, he being the most perfect of created beings, the crown of Creation. The entry of a human spirit into the child's body developing in its mother's womb, can only take place when this body has reached a certain stage of maturity, not before. It is the time between conception and birth, the midpoint.
In the same way, when the great cosmic revolution or rotation had completed just half its appointed circle, had, in other words, reached the midpoint, the spirit was able to enter into the perfect animal body. This happened at a period when the soul or life of natural substance having animated matter, had formed the animal body; it then developed it to the highest perfection it was capable of and made the way free for the spirit to enter this animal body from above. Spiritual seed ranked lowest in the Spiritual Kingdom but could only enter into the highest achievement, the master-piece that the Kingdom of Nature had produced, viz. the perfectly developed animal body.
In virtue of its superiority the spirit now took the reins of government into its hands. It was able to further develop the body that it was inhabiting and all its mundane surroundings, which animism could not do, and the spirit naturally also developed in harmony with the body. This is but a rough sketch, an outline of how the process of development goes on in Creation. I will go into every particular most minutely in later lectures.
We belong to the very first part or section of this cycle of matter. We are the vanguard and stand at the head of its revolution. There has never been a similar process before us, but after us, it will be repeated eternally.
All that is now happening in the part of Creation to which we belong, is occurring for the first time. For this reason, this earth plays such a particularly important role. Being the furthest matured of all material globes, the great and decisive happenings in the revolution of Creation all take place here for the first time, so what we are now experiencing and what lies before us, is not a repetition of something that has been before! But let us return to the first entry of the human spirit-germ into matter. This happened when matter had come to the midpoint of the great circuit of its revolution. The animals that had, at that time, arrived at the highest stage of development were wrongly (and are today still wrongly) called Primeval Man. As a race they have died out and only those bodies that the spirit-germ entered to replace the animal soul, were retained for further development and refinement.
These spirit-germs had now matured through manifold experiences; they refined the bodies they were in till they became what is familiar to us as the human body, and they grouped and separated themselves into races and peoples. It was the first independent act of free-will or free-choice on their part after their having become conscious (for the Fall was behind them), when they elected to put the intellect above or before the spirit, giving the intellect authority over the spirit. The deplorable consequences of the dominion of the intellect were soon clearly evident. Hereditary sin (wrongly called Original Sin) is the one-sided development of the human brain which is an hereditary evil.
I have often mentioned this fact and shall go into the question much more fully later on. And it is to be hoped that men, who can grasp these truths, will joyfully come forward to help in the great work of enlightenment on the lines laid down here.
Unretarded, unmoved, the great evolution continued on its appointed course, but erring mankind obstructed the development, which should necessarily have kept step with it causing confusion where it could. It was in this time of ferment among men that the Jewish people came under the scourge of the Egyptians, which, as we know, lay heavy on them. Their tribulation and their longing for liberation abnormally hastened the maturity of their souls, so that they spiritually outstripped all other nations. This upheaval of seething emotions had nothing to do with sex, so for the first time they were able to see themselves as in a mirror and also to look into the souls of their oppressors. When, at last, they perceived that no worldly wisdom nor the shrewdest intellect could help them in their trouble, and at the same time recognised that their souls were sterile, their spiritual eye began to open and slowly the conception of the true God arose before them, a God standing immeasurably higher than the gods they had worshipped up till then. And once more fervent prayers arose from these people bowed down in grievous tribulation.
Thus it was that the Jews became the Chosen People who were to take precedence spiritually of all other nations, because they had arrived at the purest conception of the Godhead and were as far advanced as could be expected from people at their stage of maturity.
I would, however, not have you confuse maturity of the spirit with knowledge acquired by learning, but always keep in mind that what is meant is the spirit that dwells in a man's heart.
The advanced spiritual maturity of the Jews enlightened by Moses enabled them to recognise the Will of God in the form of laws. These represented a rare and invaluable treasure and afforded a mighty help on the way to further progress. It is quite natural that cosmic events will only concentrate and manifest where conditions are most mature, thus gradually they came to concentrate on this human race of the Jews who continued to progress spiritually.
Here again the cosmic events and the events we read of in the history of the world must not be confused, for they lie far apart. The world's history mostly treats of what resulted from the wrong use made of the human-spirit's free-will. By continually putting obstacles in the way, men temporarily diverted the course cosmic events should have taken and this causes confusion in the world's affairs. The religious cult of the Jews was of far higher standing than the other cults and far nearer the truth. Thus the promise of an incarnation from the Light could only take place among these, for other existing ways of thinking and methods of teaching were too far from the Truth to be considered; they all led astray.
The law called Attraction of the Homogeneous would naturally impel a Bringer of Truth from the Light to incarnate where the way of thinking and teaching was nearest the Truth. Only from there would the attraction be sufficiently strong, and the hold sufficiently firm. Erroneous ways of thinking repel and allow no Light to penetrate. All proceedings must be subject to the eternal laws. The laws that operate here are the law of returns and the law of attraction. That Christ, as the great Bringer of Truth, incarnated in the Jewish race, is a proof that the Jews had the purest conception of the Deity and of Spirituality, and shows that the other religions were further from the Truth than they. Buddhism, for example, did not stand so near the Truth, nor does it now; it errs in many respects. The universal laws, however, never err. If he will but try, every man can come to a right understanding; if he will but think it over quietly, he will hit on the right course and all his vacillation will cease.
When in time, the Jews again allowed the intellect to dominate in their religion, where it bred corruption and place- hunting, the heavy hand of the Roman conquerors oppressed them sorely, and this saved just a small number from forsaking the true faith, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled in them.
My readers must set themselves to study the great laws of the attraction of homogeneous species, the law of returns and the law of gravitation, with earnest intent. They must observe and think out or try to realise the subtlety of their mechanism which operates in every direction. They will soon perceive how all-embracing and upholding, how living and unfailing they are. They are the keys to all riddles, they clear up all perplexities, all doors will open to them. The student will find that he will never get lost in foolish imaginings nor mysticism, but will enjoy unclouded and unbroken mental vision.
The spirit-germ can only enter that section of the universe which exactly corresponds to it in maturity and never into a part less advanced, nor into a part further advanced as our part now is where only such souls can exist that have been incarnated several times. Thus a Bringer of Truth from the Light could only incarnate in a humanity on the highest level of maturity.
In the case of a Divine Messenger the conditions of all the eternal laws had to be most exactly observed. He could only be born into a race whose system of opinions came nearest to the Truth.
A spirit-germ can only enter matter which nature has brought to the highest state of perfection of which it is capable. If at this point the spirit-germ does not enter it, progress comes to a standstill and a period of stagnation is succeeded by retrogression. Our physical earth had arrived at that point before Christ's Advent. The spirit, utterly confused by inherited sin, could not advance further. Free-will, the prerogative of the spirit, having raised the intellect to pre- eminence in authority had made itself powerless to work for the advancement and development of Creation and was constrained to put all its abilities at the service of material interests. That was a moment of imminent danger!
Animism, not gifted with free-will, had accomplished its part in the development of Creation, as the Creator intended, in the right way, but the spirit with its gift of free-will had incapacitated itself by the Fall of Man and had only brought confusion and standstill into the process of the development of matter. The spirit also misused the power given it to direct the Divine energy which pulsates through all Creation; instead of using it for good, it put it to sinful purposes, instead of the influence working to raise matter to its highest state of development, it worked in a downward direction. Mundane technical achievements are not real progress, not progress in a cosmic sense, nor in the sense God wills. Here help was promptly needed. The appalling confusion called for the intervention of the Creator Himself.
The mischief would have increased with every succeeding century and the way to Divine help would have been lost and connection would have been no longer possible. The dominion of the intellect would have become so despotic in time, that nothing spiritual, much less divine, would have been comprehensible. There would have been no anchorage possible for an incarnation from the Light. Immediate steps had to be taken, for the time for the coming of the Son of Man was not yet, He was, however, preparing for his future task on earth. It was in this urgent dilemma that the great, the ineffable wonder occurred, the Divine Mystery: God Almighty, Creator of all the Universe, made the stupendous sacrifice of sending down to earth a portion of Divinity Itself to take Light to the erring. This Coming of Christ had not been foreseen from the beginning! It was alone man's misuse of his free-will, his fall from his high estate and the consequences resulting that made Divine intervention necessary — it was contrary to God's original intention. Nature had done its share of the work of development with success, but spiritual man had completely failed in his task and even worse, he used the free-will with which he had been endowed, to work in the opposite direction to that which God intended and had taken up a position antagonistic to God's Will. The gravity of his sin can easily be imagined.
Christ's birth was thus not the fulfilment of a promise. He was not the eternal Mediator whose coming had been revealed in olden times! It was a case of emergency to save all Creation from threatened ruin. From this it follows that that part of Divinity which was incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth must return to the Father, as Christ Himself so often said — to be one with Him. This fact also proves that He can never be the eternal Mediator between God and His Creation, nor could He be the Son of Man! The Son of Man will come when Creation has arrived at its last stage of progress. His Coming had always been prepared for the time of the end, which is the end of the first part of matter, after which Creation is to continue on its even course. The Son of Man, the eternal Mediator, will be at the head, but he will at the same time be and always remain the first servant of God.
Christ, the Son of God, was a part of Divinity itself. He had, therefore, to return and reunite with God — he had to become one with the Father.
The Son of Man is the servant and executive agent of God. He was sent forth from Divinity, but he cannot return to be completely re- absorbed. This is because he became possessed of something apart from Divinity. That was the spirit he received on passing through the spiritual world. Pure spirit, still it prevents him from uninterrupted sojourning in Divinity. In him the promise revealed to the Fathers will be fulfilled: an eternal Mediator between God and His Creation, to which man belongs.
Such is the course of the world and will be until the end shall come, events succeeding one another in natural order. When the Fall of Man has been rightly understood, fully grasped as also the subsequent events, the results of man's sin, which called for the unforeseen Coming of Christ as an act of emergency to save all from ruin, it will not be difficult to understand the rest, all gaps will fill in of themselves and all questions find their solution.
It was Christ's Message that opened the portals of Paradise for mature human souls. Before then the ability to find the way and to understand how to get there, did not exist. Through going astray man had lost this ability. If prompt help had not come, the way would have been lost altogether. The Message, as all Divine messages, as every word coming from the Light, was addressed to and intended for men living on earth, as well as for those who had already passed over.
The laws given in this Message were strict and uncompromising, but the Message also taught Love, which, up till then, man had not been able to comprehend, but which he was now to develop and cultivate. However, Love was not intended to undermine the laws but to supplement them. The laws were to remain the firm foundation, but in enforcing them, Love should not be forgotten.
Later, men sought to amplify the meaning of Christ's behest, but they started from false premises, and what fatal errors came of their efforts based on their wrong interpretations I pointed out in the beginning of this lecture.
Let us cast a glance at the history of Christianity. It will teach us much and will also throw a light on all other religions. We shall find the same faults everywhere. Every Bringer of Truth, whether great or small, has had to suffer mockery and scorn, has been persecuted and attacked by his contemporaries. These considered themselves too learned and too wise to listen to a Divine Messenger's interpretations of the Creator's Will, for in truth none of these Messengers had studied at a High School or taken a degree at a University!
To interpret Divine Will is but to explain the course of events, the phenomena in Creation, in which mankind lives and to which it belongs. To be able to grasp its meaning, to fathom its secrets is everything. If a man has this knowledge, he will be able to make use of all the possibilities offered; they will be of the greatest service and give him every advantage. He will see the purpose of life and willingly carry out what he is called on to do, thus furthering things generally and rising to the Light, a joy to himself and a blessing to his surroundings.
But men scoffed at the Messengers and in so doing scoffed at the Message. Nor did it once happen that such a Messenger was welcome, however much good he might do. He was always a grievance. Their antagonism was rooted in their intellect, which here again proved its enmity to God. Christ illustrates the customs of man when he speaks of the Master who sent out his servants to collect the fruit of his vineyard. But the husbandmen scoffed at the servants, beat them and sent them away empty-handed. In their utter callousness men say: this is but a parable, and they never dream of seeing any reference in it to themselves. Some may even seek to imply that it is a distinction for God's Messengers to suffer persecution, and do not regard such treatment as a crime committed against God's Divine Will.
To mask its own shortcomings and limitations, the intellect takes every occasion of emphasising its contempt for the simplicity of the Truth, which it fears will one day be a danger. It dresses up in cap and bells and makes use of highflown language to attract attention to its own importance-now-a-days more than ever.
But as for those who so despised the simplicity of Truth, their contempt has turned to nervousness. They continually add bells to their gaudy fools-cap and jingle them louder and louder by their bounds and antics, for they wish to retain their borrowed throne. Of late these bounds suggest a dance of despair about to end in a dance of death!
Then indeed Truth in all her simplicity will be seated on the throne that by right is hers, and her crown will radiate peace- bringing Light, consoling and comforting. The serious seeker, who has been much confused by the preposterous obstacles intentionally put in the way of understanding higher problems, will at last gain a sure foothold. He will without effort be able to grasp the whole truth, whereas, up till now, it cost great trouble to unearth even the smallest atom. Let us return to simplicity of thinking, for if we do not, we shall never grasp the whole truth nor attain it. That is the meaning of Christ's admonition: “If ye do not become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The complicated way of thinking of the present day will never put a man on the road to the Truth. It is the same in religious teaching. When men say, sorrow and affliction further religious spiritual growth, they are right, but this grain of Truth they mischievously dress up to disfigure it, for God does not want His people afflicted. He wants joy, love and happiness to be theirs on their way to the Light, and this cannot be otherwise. If they find stones on their path, man himself has put them there.
The grain of truth in the teaching is that man may redeem some former sin by suffering. But that can only be the case when he is fully conscious that he deserves to suffer, as did, for instance, the penitent malefactor on the cross, who begged Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom.
The life men continue to lead in the world is senseless and mad, even the life of those who so sagaciously talk of their sins being redeemed by Karma. Sins are not always so easily redeemed as these wiseacres imagine. Karma reaction does not always at the same time redeem or atone for a sin. Mark this well, reader! On the contrary, it may have quite an opposite effect on a man and drag him down still further.
His rising depends entirely on the attitude of the man himself. Although the sin may have been atoned for, it depends on how a man steers his ship whether he goes forward, backward or straight ahead.
Here again it is clear that he is not and never can be the plaything of fortune, but must of his own free-will seek out and follow the Way. In that respect a man's will is always free up to the last moment: he really is his own master, with the proviso that he must always take account of the consequences of his inner attitude. If he directs his course upwards with insight and judgment, and his will is steadfast, the evil reactions will gradually lose their effect, and only appear symbolically, and this because the position he has attained is above the plane on which the reactions could have effect; even though he may still be on this earth, the evil will go past him on a lower level. It is not in the least necessary for a man striving upwards to the light to suffer. Away, therefore, with the bandage, with which man has wilfully blindfolded himself, lest he see the abyss yawning before him.
Temporary relief from anxiety is not strength-giving help, but only a loss of precious time that cannot be retrieved.
Mankind has never been able to find a plausible explanation or justification of the existence of suffering on earth, thus figments dressed up in more or less artful language are thoughtlessly handed down as narcotics. This is what one finds in all religions, and should it happen that a seeker driven to despair, demands an explanation, he is told that all that is incomprehensible comes under the heading of Divine mystery. Many who have been hard pressed by awkward questions have sought and found refuge in this reply as in a harbour of safety. Indeed, it is a convenient reply to all unanswerable questions.
But this method of giving answers is distinctly and unmistakably wrong. The end of every right way must be plainly visible to the seeker; he must not come up face to face with an impenetrable wall. Those who speak of the inscrutable ways of the Almighty only reveal their ignorance. There need be no mystery in Creation for mankind. It would be contrary to God's Will, for it is intended that man should become perfectly familiar with the working of the laws which govern Creation, so that he may wisely and successfully steer his course accordingly and not err for want of understanding.
It was one of the greatest and most fatal misconceptions of man that the murder of the Son of God was a necessary, propitiatory sacrifice for mankind. To think that the brutal murder of His Son would propitiate God Almighty! Just because no logical reason can be found for this extraordinary and utterly preposterous view, the embarrassed apologist creeps behind the convenient screen already mentioned above, and says: “This again is a Divine mystery, therefore, a problem beyond man's understanding.” Yet what God does is all so clear, so explicit lucidity itself! Nature was created by God's Will, so what is natural must be right, for God's Will is perfect.
The propitiatory sacrifice on the Cross must, however, appear unnatural to every sane mind, let alone the injustice of crucifying the innocent — the Son of God being without blemish. Here all twisting and turning is useless; rather let a man frankly confess that such a proceeding is truly beyond all comprehension! He may take all possible trouble and rack his brains but will come to no satisfactory conclusion: in this case he cannot understand his Master. But God wills that man should understand Him, and as His Divine Will is so clear and distinct in all He has created, man can understand Him. God's laws never contradict each other: it is only the religionist who takes trouble to introduce what is incomprehensible. The structure such men so laboriously erected on the postulate that the propitiatory sacrifice was necessary, is destroyed by Christ's own words at the time of His death: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Would this intercession have been necessary, if the crucifixion was requisite as a propitiatory sacrifice? They know not what they do is the gravest of accusations, and clearly indicates that what they were doing was wrong, that the deed they were committing was an ordinary crime. Would Christ have prayed to His Father at Gethsemane that if possible, the cup of suffering should pass from Him, if His death on the Cross was a necessity? Certainly not. Christ would never have done so. It was because He knew that the tortures awaiting Him resulted from the exercise of man's free-will, that He prayed thus.
Men have been content to be blind for two thousand years and thoughtlessly to accept the impossible as a solution of the mysteries of those times. It is, indeed, distressing to hear it seriously affirmed that stigmatization and other physical defects are signs of special grace assigned to privileged disciples of Christ. Such a view comes of course from man's wrong interpretation of Christ's sufferings on earth. Later on I will explain what grave consequences will ensue to those who think thus. What fatuity, what a servile and perverse mind must he have to think that the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth would require that a man He has created, should writhe in pain when He accords him a special grace! A grievous sin indeed to think thus of the Most High, whose sublimity and beauty exceed all that it is possible for man to imagine, whose glory he cannot even approach in his thoughts. How is a man with such views to advance spiritually? Men shape their God as they wish to have Him; if He does not answer to their ideal, they cast Him aside and fall upon those who dare to choose a sublimer God. Men's views up to now do not testify to greatness of mind; on the contrary they only tell of their unshaken belief in their own worth and importance. They take it that God should sue for man's favour. They think it quite natural that God should quietly take back his scorned, scourged and tortured Son from their bloodstained hands — the Son He had sent down to help them, to take them the Message of Salvation.
Even now they insist on keeping to their outrageous statement that this was a necessary propitiatory sacrifice. Christ Himself in his agony cried out in despair at their blindness: They know not what they do!
Is there any possibility of bringing mankind to a right understanding?
The severest condemnation would be too mild here. When will man perceive to what depths he has sunk? How empty and hollow, how utterly deceptive his imaginings have been! Although, from all sides, protestations come in high-flown language from seekers for God, they prove themselves on examination to be the usual self-sufficient hypocrites, egotists of the purest water, who in reality are utterly destitute of seriousness in their search for the Truth. They only seek to glorify divinity in themselves — nothing else! No man troubles himself seriously to understand God. With a smile of self- complaisant superiority they disregard and push aside Truth in its simple dress, for they consider their knowledge too profound and their position too intellectually advanced to accord with simplicity in their God. For their sakes He must be far more complicated. Otherwise it would not be worth their while and under their dignity to put their faith in Him. How can they accept teaching and acknowledge it to be valuable if every simpleton can understand it? That is not greatness! Now-a-days one would make oneself ridiculous by allowing such information to make any impression on one! This may be left to children, old women and the unlettered. It is not for the cultivated brains of the cultured of the present day. The people, the ordinary man, may accept it if they will. The greater the difficulty in understanding a problem, the profounder must be its wisdom — at least so our scholars think. Those who measure by this standard know in reality nothing, neither do they deserve to receive another drop from the fountain of wisdom that the Creator provides in His Creation. Their limitation is such that it precludes the possibility of their grasping the magnitude that lies in the simplicity of the Divine Laws. Such dullness is due to their brains having been crippled since birth, their brain, a possession of which they are so inordinately proud! It will be a blessing indeed if God in His mercy lets them pine away and perish in the building they have erected, for whichever way one looks at it, all is against God, all is disfigured and mutilated by the morbid self-aggrandizement of the intellectual man whose incapacity is slowly coming to light.
This has been going on and increasing in intensity for thousands of years. This corrosive evil, the result of the Fall, when man decided that the intellect was to have sole dominion, naturally introduced its poison into churches and religions. This wrongfully usurped authority has at all times deceived its slaves in matters Divine, even in matters spiritual. He who does not dethrone this dictator within himself will certainly perish.
It is no longer appropriate to talk of poor mankind, for knowing they are as guilty as any creatures can be. Christ's words: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” no longer apply to the man of the present day. He has had more than one opportunity of opening eyes and ears. Men of today are fully conscious of what they are doing, so they will suffer the reaction in its full force.
When the time is fulfilled and the circle complete, the harvest will be gathered in — the harvest, for this section of Creation is the first that has ripened — and then the grain will be separated from the chaff. That has never been done before since matter has existed. Our section of Creation takes the lead of all the others in the great eternal revolution, and our section will be the first to undergo this experience.
It was for this reason that the Son of God incarnated on this earth two thousand years ago. It was a cosmic event which took place in the most mature and most advanced portion of matter, one which will never be repeated, for the effect of what has happened here will go on influencing the succeeding sections. Thus this section is about to enter a new phase of existence hitherto unknown, but which after us will always be repeated. It is the natural dissolution of formed matter which follows on maturity.
All has been accomplished. The way to the Light, to Eternal Life for the individual spirit is pointed out.
Let human spirits take thought and decide in this last hour whether they will take the path to eternal damnation or to everlasting joy, for God Almighty has given them free choice.
