Subject: Man: The triune God - by Geoffrey Hodson
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MAN: THE TRIUNE GOD

By Geoffrey
Hodson

FOREWORD

The writings of Mr. Geoffrey Hodson have been
received with keen and growing interest by special groups of students for some
years in Britain and recently in America.

The present volume is offered to a wider public
by a press whose ideal is the helping of humanity through knowledge and beauty.
That ideal is incarnate in the guiding spirit of the press, Professor Nicholas
Roerich, intrepid tracker of the footprints of knowledge not only in its
horizontal extension from the pueblos of America to the high plateaux of Asia,
but in its vertical ascent in the as yet only meagrely explored upper regions of
the human spirit; creator of the noblest expression of beauty and vision in
painting in our time.

Mr. Hodson's book comes from the Roerich Museum
Press as a contribution to knowledge through the perpendicular exploration
spoken of above. This special kind of knowledge is not the accumulation of
details concerning the phenomenal universe. It is a subjective erudition, free,
in this book, of references, since it is one continuous quotation. It answers
with a negative the question: "Can man by searching find out. . . . ?” and obeys
the command: "Stand still and see. . . ." Its findings are beyond physical test
as yet. Its expression is not from the rostrum, but from the neighborhood of the
oracle, perhaps even of a certain bush that burned yet was not consumed
because its flame was not that of physical destruction or purgation but of
superphysical illumination. In olden times the recipient of such knowledge
betook himself to waste places crying: "Thus saith the Lord!" Mr. Hodson sits
down in his study and quietly writes: "An angel told me."

There is in this a certain bravery towards which
one bows acknowledgment without renunciation of personal judgment. There is
something fine in the spectacle of a young man of solid English lineage,
sensibly countenanced, well set up in body, keen on science, a helper of
humanity, with not the slightest suggestion of wizardry about him, taking his
seat without apology in the company of Blake and Swedenborg and the rest of the
seers; sponsoring statements of colossal import as if they were everyday
familiarities; and doing so at a time when intellectual authority is all for
knowledge by research, discovery or speculation, and not at all by
"revelation."

Yet it is apparently as difficult for humanity to
exclude revelation from its inner experience as it was for the novelist Sir J.
M. Barrie to keep his mother out of his books. That worthy lady, apart from her
objective identity, had become a permanent presence in the creative imagination
of her son; and in some analogous manner the creative imagination of humanity is
occasionally touched by "presences" from beyond the borders of its normal life.
Judgment may be suspended on the question of their identity, yet of their
existence there is a growing assurance. Professor T. H. Huxley, the "agnostic,"
declared that he could conceive of orders of beings as high above humanity as
humanity is above the beetle. Certain scientists today, like Lodge in England,
declare their conviction, based on scientific investigation, that differentiated
centers of consciousness function outside the limitations of human
consciousness, yet interact with it; while others, like Millikan in America,
have become aware of forces operating on the earth from distances so vast as to
make the long asserted influences of the solar system on human beings feel
almost elementary.

The chief reactions away from this book will
probably come from those who profess "faith" or "doubt" with equal earnestness.
Credulity (which is the common connotation of the rudimentary forms of religious
faith) has a knack of becoming extraordinarily incredulous of matters beyond its
own circle of interest and terminology. On the other hand, there is a tendency
in doubt of any kind to become even more certain and intolerant than faith; to
start off inquisitively and end inquisitorially. The professors of organized
faith are quite sure of the things they have faith in. They are not so certain,
however, as to what faith really is. Paul the Apostle defined it as "the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This is
commonly regarded as a passive, unquestioning acceptance of a particular
authority. Instead, it is a positive statement of the psychological truth that
faith is a certitude arising out of a personal realization that the hopes of
humanity are reflections of future achievement inherent in the nature of things;
that, as a function of the human consciousness, it is the executive aspect of an
inner reality. The definition accepts the observed double operation of
consciousness; in one aspect experiencing, in the other assimilating. The
"Manduka Upanishad" of India put the same thing thus at least as long ago as the
Apostle: "Two inseparable companions, of fine plumage, perch on the selfsame
tree. One feeds on the fruit of the tree: the other looks on."

This dual process is, be it observed, a process
of active consciousness; the antithesis of the renunciation of normal
consciousness practised in some phases of ordinary mediumship. The latter has
been for years a matter not merely of scientific interest but of use in
therapeutic hypnosis and induced somnambulic trance through which the normally
hidden content of consciousness reveals itself, and frequently reveals knowledge
which the normal consciousness does not possess. The introducing of the outer
consciousness to its inn "inseparable companion" has been the work of analytical
psychology for a generation, with its graph, unfortunately too frequently on a
descending curve. But a movement upwards from the subconscious to the
super-conscious is indicated in the recent publication in Germany of an ancient
Chinese manual of meditation with the approbation of Professor Jung. Before
long, science will follow the ascending graph of psychological enquiry, and give
its attention, not less to psycho-pathology and the suppression or supersession
of normal consciousness for the helping of sufferers, but more to the phenomena
of the heightening and intensifying of normal consciousness, and its apparent
expansion into affiliations with degrees and centers of consciousness beyond its
particular horizon. Such enquiry will throw light not only on the questions
raised by and in this book, but backwards through human history over the
whole matter of "inspiration" and "revelation."

Those who watch scientific tendencies will
therefore probably accept Mr. Hodson's "revelations" in the new scientific
spirit. Professor William James, in "A Pluralistic Universe," a generation ago
rebuked one school of thought for leaving out everything intermediary between
the item and the total in the universe. The trend now is towards inclusiveness,
and the contents of this book are likely to be regarded as a psychological
phenomenon to be considered. In a discussion after a lecture by the present
writer on supernormal experience many years ago in an Irish seaport, a Scottish
sailor asked for some instance that might be accepted as evidential. An instance
was stated, with the query: "What would you say about that yourself?" The canny
Scot replied "I'd say that it wad gie me something tae think aboot." Those who
know Mr. Hodson know that this is just his hope in regard to his
writings.

James H. Cousins.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

This book is the fourth of a series [The
three preceding books are: "The Brotherhood of Angels and of Men," "Be Ye
Perfect," and "The Angelic Hosts." ] of volumes containing teachings
given to the author by a member of the angelic hosts. In this work the angel
teacher seeks to portray the splendour of the human path of evolution. He
describes the transcendent powers of the God in man, dwells upon the glories of
those realms of consciousness in which the divine in man has its spiritual home.
He speaks directly to the man of the world, telling of the splendour which is
his heritage and how he may overcome the limitations of life on earth and enter
into that freedom which is his spiritual birthright.

For those readers to whom the conception of such
angelic ministration is unfamiliar, the author would explain that by an angel he
means a member of a stream of life and consciousness evolving side by side with
man on this planet and in this Solar System. Angels differ from man, first in
that they do not incarnate in physical bodies; they are superphysical and
therefore normally invisible beings; and, second, in that they are associated
more especially with the life and force side of creation, whilst man evolves
through the material and form aspect. As in essence life and form are one, so
also in their essential nature are angels and men.

Modern science has discovered the force behind
and within the matter and the form of the universe; leading scientists are
venturing to postulate the existence of a consciousness or intelligence which
directs that force. But one step further in thought is required to include the
conception and place of the angels in the economy of the solar system; for they
are the individual intelligences associated with every natural energy, the
"engineers" of the Logos, directors of the forces which constitute His
universe.

The angelic hosts are countless in their numbers
and various in their orders and degrees. Certain orders are definitely
associated with man, and it is a member of one such order who some years ago
began to teach the author certain spiritual truths and to explain the place
and function of his brethren in Nature.

This fourth book of angelic teaching may be
regarded as a continuation of the second, which is called: "Be Ye Perfect." In
that book some of the laws and principles governing the attainment of human
perfection are set forth, the new born child being taken as the starting point
from which man's pilgrimage through physical life to ultimate perfection was
considered.

In this volume the starting point is the
spiritual nature of man, and the study of his evolution is approached from its
most transcendent aspect. The angel's purpose is to lift the reader into the
highest and most spiritual conception of the human soul and to assist him
towards a realization of his own divine power and splendour.

Incarnation in the flesh inevitably accentuates
the purely human and earthly attributes of humanity. The stress of physical life
is so great that we are prone to forget and even to deny our inherent divinity.
We have come to regard the gravest vices with tolerance on the plea that they
are natural human weaknesses. It is of value, therefore, that our attention
should be directed to our equally natural divine strength. This service the
angel teacher has endeavored to perform through the medium of this
book.

The profound ideas contained in the earlier
chapters are far from easy of comprehension; to be understood and applied
they must be translated into individual experience. The author suggests that
this result cannot be attained by the ordinary process of reading. It would seem
necessary to dwell in deep thought upon the angel's teachings in order that
their full significance may be grasped.

The reader is directed to the introduction of the
three other books in this series for a full explanation of the method by which
the angel's teaching is given and received. In this preface the author repeats
that the teaching is not received in trance; that on the contrary his
consciousness becomes supernormally lucid and alert. The angel conveys not words
but ideas, and yet something more; he awakens in the author the power to see and
to know for himself, conveys to him the vision of that which is taught in such a
manner that the knowledge of it arises within the author's consciousness as if
it were his own discovery.

In such measure as his mental and literary
limitations permit, the author seeks to pass this teaching on, hoping that it
may awaken in others the vision of the spiritual splendour of man, which he
himself has begun, however dimly, to perceive.

CONTENTS

THE
EVERLASTING LIGHT

THE HEART OF
BEING

COSMIC MAN

EARTHLY
MAN

OMNIPRESENCE
AND OMNISCIENCE

THE DISCOVERY OF
SELF .

RULER, SCIENTIST AND
PRIEST

SPIRITUAL
ARISTOCRACY

THE
BRIDGE

THE WAY OF
RELEASE

MAN THE SAVIOUR OF
MANKIND

L´ENVOI THE SPIRITUAL
NAME

CHAPTER I

THE EVERLASTING LIGHT

BETWEEN the eternal darkness of the unmanifest
and the transient light of the manifest, there is a state of perfect equipoise,
a land of everlasting light. The mighty pendulum of life, through which
primordial rhythm is made manifest, swings back and forth between the states of
being and non-being. As on its outward path from non-being, it passes through
the midmost point, a cosmos springs into existence. The pendulum swings on, and
within the cosmos universes are born. Still farther on it swings, and solar
systems form, are peopled, and evolve.

The highest point of swing is the deepest point
of being. The pendulum hangs poised and the densest of all material worlds
appear. Then follows the return. The rule of spirit is established and
maintained, until once more the midmost point is passed and planets, systems,
universes, cosmoi disappear, passing through the realms of everlasting light
into the realm of non-being, there to be merged in That which is
beyond.

Throughout the realms of cosmic space, of
manifested universes, of systems with their suns, there is but one land, where
may be found eternal peace, immovable equipoise, and light that is never dimmed.
It is the midmost point of the pendulum's eternal swing, the highest point of
manifested being; the gateway leading from and back into eternal night. There
dwell the Rulers of the Cosmic fields of space, Whose Sons are Universal Lords,
in Their turn, the Parents of the solar Gods, Rulers of the wheeling systems of
which the realm of being is composed. From These again proceed a splendid
progeny of beings, hierarchy after hierarchy, sent forth from Them deeper into
the realms of being, each to be borne on the mighty swinging pendulum into the
depths of manifested life. Having reached the deepest point, these countless
millions take up their homeward way borne on the pendulum's returning
swing.

Before the midmost point once more is approached,
where being passes into non-being and the systems which have been their home
shall disappear, these children of the Solar Gods are destined to unfold their
Godlike powers until they display in full the glory of their celestial
parentage. Then the resplendent multitude will be absorbed once more into His
being, Who brought them forth.

The pendulum swings on towards the midmost point.
Each in His turn, the Solar Gods bear all Their harvests home, and are received
into the being of the universal Rulers Who sent Them forth. Finally, the cosmic
Lords, dwelling in the land of everlasting light, receive back into Themselves
the products of this aeonic travelling out into the realms of being. The midmost
point of swing at last is reached, and at that point of perfect equipoise there
is the illusion of a pause, so long, in terms of being, that eternity after
eternity seems to be swallowed up therein; until at last the pendulum swings on
and all manifested life sinks back into the Absolute.

Behind the unbroken rhythm of the swinging
pendulum is That from which its movement is derived. Penultimate motion causes
the pendulum to swing; movement causes change; from change the pairs of
opposites arise. The primary pair are being and nonbeing; through these the
pendulum swings eternally. The many pairs of opposites are born of these
primordial progenitors, the manifest and the unmanifest.

Of the unmanifest only They can speak who live in
that aeonic pause, the Cosmic Lords Who stand upon the threshold of being and
non-being and maintain Their foothold in the land of everlasting light. In terms
of the unmanifest, the period of Their enthronement in that land is limited, for
by the very law of its existence the swinging pendulum will bear Them onward
into the realm of non-being. In terms of manifested life They seem to know no
change, nor is there naught which can shake the firm foundations on which Their
thrones are built. They rest in the land of first and last existence. They and
They alone are the alpha and omega of Life.

As the eternal pendulum swings forth from the
night of non-being to the day of being, the everlasting light appears; next,
They themselves shine forth. On its return They are the very last to release
Their hold upon the realm of being. In terms of being, They appear as
everlasting, dwelling in that duration which is beyond all measurable
time.

Such are the cosmic Rulers, the god-like
Progenitors of countless universes: Parents of myriads of suns and planets, of
countless hosts of beings dwelling thereupon. So remote are They, that They seem
to dwell in a land beyond and yet within the vast infinitudes of space. Cosmic
fields of evolution are Their footstools. Universes are the steps leading to
Their abode. Solar systems are the stones of which the stairways are composed;
planets the atoms of which the stones are built. Their powers flow forth and
return continually, penetrating deeper and deeper into being as the eternal
pendulum swings on.

CHAPTER 2

THE HEART OF BEING

AMID the wide diversity of suns, of systems,
universes, and cosmoi, there is one central source of life and power and
consciousness. It is the cosmic sun from which all other suns emerge. From this
living heart flows forth the power which brings them into being and maintains
their life.

As the swinging pendulum crosses the threshold
dividing being from non-being, this heart appears. It is the first super-cosmic
atom, the heart of every atom throughout all manifested worlds. Cosmoi first
embody it as the heart of every cosmic sun; from these it manifests itself in
universal suns. Still deeper it plunges into the realms of being, to become the
heart of every planet, the source of life and power to every sun.

Although this central heart is manifest in every
atom in every world, it is yet one and indivisible. It is the cosmic heart
through which life passes continually between being and non-being. It is the
ultimate world of being, the land of everlasting light made manifest. That land
is both heart and womb of manifested life. All beings are conceived within it,
all life passes through it; it is the mother of all worlds. It is the place of
first emergence, where the unmanifest is united with the manifest, the absolute
with the self-conditioned. These three states of being, non-being, and the state
between, are represented equally throughout all worlds, in cosmoi, universes,
systems, planets, and their suns. The manifest and the unmanifest dwell united
in every form. The everlasting light from the threshold shines in every
form, however great, however small. Within all nature these three may be
discovered, being, non-being, and the state between.

From this triune heart in every form a pathway
leads to the land of everlasting light, the place of equipoise; and thence
onwards through the ever-open doorway into the unmanifest. This road is thronged
with countless myriads of beings; it exists within them; they walk within
themselves, scaling the heights of their own nature, plunging into the depths of
their own being, ever drawing nearer and nearer to the gateway of return. These
travellers are sent forth to people the mighty realms of being, to win therefrom
strength and vision and to find that road within themselves, on which alone
they may return and take up their abode within the land of everlasting
light.

Unshakable stability is there, immovable
equipoise, peace that can never be disturbed. The cosmic waves of power and of
life which flow resistlessly over the vast sea of space and beat eternally upon
the shores of being do not avail to break the calm of the dwellers in that land.
To them the cosmic breakers' thunderous roar is but the harmonious music of the
manifested worlds. He who has found and trod the homeward road, also stands
unshakable and unmoved, amid their mighty power. He has entered the heart of
being and found eternal peace.

CHAPTER 3

COSMIC MAN

In the immeasurable vastness of the worlds of
being, where suns are but as atoms, a single life of angel or of man may well
seem valueless, without significance. Yet, despite his seeming littleness, man
contains within himself the power both of the manifest and absolute, whilst he
himself stands poised immovable between. Throughout the duration of his
manifested life, man brings forth and ultimately rules the cosmos which is his
manifested self. One in his essence, a unit in himself, he manifests through a
succession of existences, puts forth portions of himself into many fields,
dwells in many universes, and takes his place on many stars.

Looking outward from the centre of his cosmic
life, he sees himself immersed in every form. He also sees the whole. He knows
and sees himself as sun, as planet, and as man evolving on a globe. He sees the
human efforts of his planetary self, the sorrows and the joys. He sees the many
lives, strung like precious stones upon the golden thread of life which makes
them one. A thousand jewels glisten on that thread of life, each flashing with
the hue by which the harvest of the life it represents is symbolized. When the
toll of lives in one system is complete, he withdraws therefrom and passes to
the next, for, to the cosmic man, lives, planets, systems, and universes are but
the many diverse parts of the vast cosmic whole, which is himself.

He is the stable centre of them all; the major
sun round which they all revolve; the boundless source from which their life and
power is drawn; the single consciousness pervading all the many forms. In
whatsoever form he finds himself, on star, on planet, or on sun, he remains the
cosmic man, holding at his command the powers and capacities of both the
manifest and the Absolute.

As, successively, he manifests himself in cosmos
and in universe, in solar and planetary fields, a measure of his cosmic power is
sacrificed at each descent. Yet the power of the cosmic man himself knows no
bounds, despite its everlasting flow into and through his myriad reflections in
the worlds below.

Between the spiritual ruler throned on high and
his material expression on the worlds below, exists a line of life and light and
power, a triple beam which links them through all time. Along that living beam
the powers of the immortal flow down into the mortal man. Millions of such beams
of living light pass from the cosmic Ruler and Progenitor through cosmic men
into the myriad forms below. He, the cosmic Overlord, holds in His hands these
living beams, and from age to age He weaves them into the pattern which portrays
His labours in the cosmic fields, His contribution to the mighty scheme of
being.

As thus He weaves, He meditates upon the mystery
of being and non-being, upon the change from Absolute to manifest, the causeless
cause to the conditioned. His meditations release vast energies, divine
potencies which flow along the beams of light, causing them to flash and
coruscate; in the fields of space below, form after form is perfected, whilst
the life within receives illumination, experiences a quickening of all its
powers.

The Cosmic Ruler meditates and weaves
throughout aeonic ages and thus the splendid pattern grows. One day His
cosmic tapestry will be complete. Borne onwards by the swinging pendulum, He
will pass into the Absolute. Then cosmic man will take His place as Cosmic
Overlord and in his turn bring forth myriads of beings, each linked to him by
lines of living light, he too will weave upon the warp and weft of time and
space his perfect tapestry of manifested life; his work complete he, too, will
pass onwards through the land of everlasting light into
non-being.

CHAPTER 4

EARTHLY MAN

MAN, passing through a single incarnation in the
flesh, knows little of the power and splendour of his cosmic self. Many lives on
many globes must pass ere the pendulum has reached its farthest point and, borne
on its returning swing, he awakens to the knowledge of his spiritual potency. As
member of a savage tribe he dwells under the domination of desire. His bodily
demands and their satisfaction absorb his consciousness exclusively. As member
of a cultured race he enters on the pathway of return and first becomes aware of
realms within himself beyond desire, beyond the mind. Conscience and pure love
present themselves as twin ambassadors from some new land beyond the borders of
desire. Millennia pass and the light of his spiritual selfhood begins to
penetrate the veils of mind and feeling to illuminate the earthly man. Gradually
he frees himself from theories, from doctrines and beliefs. Truth, perceived
direct, becomes his goal. Truth's dwelling place within himself becomes the
Mecca of a spiritual pilgrimage.

Perceiving this change, the cosmic self on high
sends down into the earthly man a fuller measure of his mighty power; the beam
which links them shines with a greater splendour, hangs like a many-colored
lightning-flash twixt earth and heaven. The pendulum swings on and, spiritually
illumined, earthly man grows strong and wise. The powers of the world below
which hitherto had mastery over him, now pay homage to his new-found power.
First comes Destiny, a lordly angel, with towering figure reaching to the sky,
bearing in his hand a scroll. Making profound obeisance, he delivers the scroll
of life into the hands which henceforth may write upon it as they will. Earthly
man, illumined and empowered by his cosmic self has become the ruler of his
fate, master of his destiny.

Then follow others, also conquered by the power
of inner light. Desire stalks forth from the undergrowth of passion wherein
it hitherto has dwelt. The gaunt and lurid figure, marked with many scars bows
at its conqueror's feet. He stretches forth his hand, and lo! the demon is
transformed into a Knight, young, fresh and beautiful. Desire has been
transmuted into will.

Fear comes next, a grey and grinning specter,
crawling on its knees. Its baleful eyes are covered by their downcast lids; its
head is bowed upon the ground. This, too, the conqueror touches as it bows, and
behold! a fearless warrior stands forth. Fear is overcome; immortal courage
takes its place.

Then follows one who is the embodiment of hate
and jealousy, self-seeking and deceit; this, too, is transfigured into a
splendid goddess, beautiful as Venus' self. Hate, with its ugly progeny, is
transmuted into sympathy, jealousy to trust, deceit to honour and self-seeking
into selfless love.

Thus, ruler of his fate, conqueror of desire and
fear, inspired by a pure and selfless love, man turns away from earth, his
battleground, towards the realm wherein his cosmic self is manifest, the heaven
in which he shall receive the victor's crown of immortality. Though he must yet
remain on earth, he dwells a god among men by virtue of the unfolding powers of
mind, of intuition and of will.

These godlike gifts made manifest greatly
increase the range of waking consciousness. The limits of earthly time and space
cease to bind and imprison as they have done through all preceding lives. Full
memory of those early lives is won, restoring to the earthly man such power and
knowledge as he gained in ancient days. Studying the past, he achieves stability
amidst the ever-changing scenes in which he lived his many lives. He becomes the
centre from which the power of each successive life was drawn, the thread on
which each life was strung, as pearls upon a silken strand.

The ultimate stability of cosmic man seated
throughout eternity within the highest realms of being, descends upon the
earthly man as rock-like strength and equipoise.

Knowledge of worlds invisible is gradually
acquired. His body becomes to him a garment which he lays aside at will. His
consciousness roams free by night or day. The whole earth is his dwelling place.
Heaven with its many worlds lies open to his illumined gaze. The hearts and
minds of men lie open, too. With piercing glance he sees infallibly their
motives and designs, their hopes and fears, sees also the powers of the divinity
within.

By the magic of his own achievement, by the power
of his awakened godhood, on which at last he learns to draw, he awakens the
sleeping divinity in other men, inspires them to arise and unfold their hidden
powers, assists them on the path which he himself has found and trod. He wields
great power, releases and directs the forces of his own being. Nature's energies
answer to his will. The angel hosts, who are the guardians and directors of all
power, become his allies and his friends; constitute an army always at his
command.

Thus, in every world, he becomes a man of power.
Nature obeying him, he calls forth Her forces according to his need and directs
them towards the fulfillment of the tasks he has elected to perform. The solar
energies hidden deep within the earth now answer to his will. He evokes them,
with their appropriate intelligences, who serve him in his work. Divinity
expressed as fire answers to the fiery power of his awakened will. The powers
and intelligences of fire [The angel teacher here refers to the four
elements in the Aristotelian sense as principles of Nature. Vide the third book
it this series "The Angelic Hosts." ] are at his command. With them he
purifies his worlds, transforms and quickens them. His mastery of fire gives
dynamic energy to every act and thought so that he moves among his fellow men, a
man of fire.

The forces of the air and their directors, the
mighty race of sylphs are at his command; they bear abroad the power of his
creative word, become the embodiments of his resistless will. He shares their
freedom throughout space, for to his illumined consciousness distance has ceased
to be. The powers of water and all the race of water sprites and water kings and
queens become his natural allies by whose aid he purifies, quickens and controls
all things within the area of his influence.

Earth bestows upon him her unshakable stability.
Magnetic and electric energies now answer to his will.

The denizens of earth, the race of gnomes, the
gods of forest, vale and hill, of single peaks and mountain chains pay homage to
the liberated son of man, lend him their mighty aid in all his labours upon
earth.

His triune powers are manifest in fuller measure
day by day. In the employment of his human will he now displays a growing
measure of divine omnipotence. He knows and wields the resistless power of his
immortal self. In its might he rules the cosmos of his being.

Thus the earthly man fulfills his destiny and
attains his goal; omnipotent he conquers matter, controls the forces of nature,
wins freedom from desire and makes of his heart and mind a pure translucency
through which may shine on earth the splendour of his cosmic self.

Liberated from material imprisonment, he unifies
the earthly and the cosmic man.

CHAPTER 5

OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE

WITHIN the glory of that land which is eternally
illumined by the first light which leaps forth when the Absolute becomes
conditioned, there shine innumerable suns. Each is the cosmic heart of angel,
man, or member of the kindred branches of the children of the
Supreme.

The cosmic hearts of all evolving beings compose
the heart of the Supreme. Together those hearts make up one cosmic heart through
which Love is eternally poured forth. In that Love, the Supreme is omnipresent
throughout the realm of being.

Amid the glorious light of that all embracing
love the cosmic hearts of men shine with a greater brilliance and intensity.
Each is the central sun of the individual cosmos over which the cosmic man shall
rule. Every atom of the cosmic and universal fields in which the immortal spirit
is destined to labour throughout aeonic ages is illumined by its light. In the
splendour of that spiritual sun there can be no darkness nor any shadows. Naught
can dim its everlasting radiance, its splendour and its power which grow
from age to age. Wherever that sun shines, the cosmic man is present, for in the
outward raying light of the spiritual sun which is his heart, he is omnipresent
throughout the cosmos which he rules.

That cosmic heart gives life as well as light; as
it illumines, it also vivifies. Every atom is self-illumined and self-sustained
by virtue of the light and life hidden deep within. Thus both as light and life,
cosmic man is omnipresent throughout his microcosmic realms.

This unbroken flow of spiritual light and life is
gradually manifested in material worlds as the divine and perfect love of the
triune godhead which is man. That love streams down through all his worlds.
Sphere after sphere is illumined and vivified by its descending light and
life.

Each earthly man contains within himself this
mighty cosmic power. His heart gives light and life to the body, which is his
cosmos in the densest world; it is the earthly representative of the cosmic sun
and in it therefore the powers of the triune godhead are enshrined.

Thus the God in man is present in his human
heart. Love is the expression of his divinity, by love he shall be glorified;
attaining love's apotheosis he becomes a God. As that great consummation is
gradually reached he finds the magic potency of love and learns to heal, to
teach, and to inspire by virtue of its sovereign power.

Yet love cannot rule alone; it ever moves to
union. Thus love spiritualized weds knowledge and from that celestial union
springs a glorious progeny. Wisdom is the first-born, then follow tenderness,
pity, divine compassion, sympathy, and perfect understanding, all irradiated by
divine and perfect love. As man's love increases, the cosmos of his being
likewise is increased. He continually extends the boundaries of his sphere of
influence. The floodgates of his heart stand open. Love in all its resistless
power pours forth in a mighty stream. That stream becomes an ocean, whose shores
mark out the boundaries of the system of which he will become the omnipotent and
omnipresent Lord.

Between the highest and the lowest, the cosmic
and the earthly there is an unbroken flow of life and light and power. As cosmic
man pours forth an increasing measure of that life, and light and power, so
earthly man makes manifest increasingly the triune powers of his cosmic
self.

Behind all manifested worlds there is eternal
motion. The swinging pendulum imparts the quality of motion to the realms of
being. Through motion, primordial energy passes into the manifested worlds. The
pendulum moves on until the highest point of swing is reached, at which there is
a pause; the densest state of matter has been reached, wherein that pause is
manifest as relative inertia and stability. The pendulum swings back once more,
until the midmost point is reached; thereat another pause occurs, as the
pendulum swings through the land of everlasting light, into the eternal darkness
of non-being. Force then has been withdrawn; motion has ceased; the manifested
universes vanish. Consciousness, motion, force, change from the conditioned
state into the unconditioned; the finite disappears; only the Absolute
remains. Such, in terms of motion, is a day of manifested life.

After the night of non-being, the pendulum
returns; a new day is born; motion is imparted to the motionless; force is
released; manifestation begins once more.

As the swinging pendulum is reproduced in man the
microcosm, so man contains within himself a reflection of the threefold states
of being, equipoise and non-being. He is a complete and perfect cosmos in
miniature. Eternal motion, the parent of all force, is reproduced in man, as the
source of all his energies. That source found beyond his cosmos in That from
Which all cosmoi spring.

Light and life pervade him and his cosmos. They
arise, dwell in, and flow through his heart; they manifest as love. Motion and
force flow through his mind and give birth to thought. Intelligence therefore is
the offspring of motion and of force. From cosmic sun to terrestrial atom,
motion is the vehicle for the cosmic mind; force is the expression of cosmic
thought.

Motion is behind all matter; force is within all
form. In them the divine mind is immanent; through them divine omniscience is
made manifest.

Man, too, knows his cosmos through the medium of
motion and of force. He, too, is omniscient within the sphere of his own
activities. Man, the microcosm walking on the earth, is omniscient within his
own body, which is a universe within the cosmos of his being. As the cosmic
becomes manifest in the earthly man, the field of his omniscience expands
eventually to include his cosmic whole.

Thus the cosmic becomes the earthly; thus the
triune Self of man is gradually made manifest throughout all realms as
omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience.

CHAPTER 6

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SELF

EVOLVING man dwelling upon earth pursues his
studies ever deeper into the interior regions of his own nature. He pierces
through the illusion of separated form and sees the One Life; he breaks up
material substance and finds the One Force. Plunging still deeper into the
abstruse science of the spirit, he discovers behind both Life and Force, that
eternal motion from which they spring. In his long and arduous search he breaks
through the boundaries of the solar fields in which his earthly self is manifest
and enters into the universe of which it is a part. From the universe he wins
free of the cosmic whole, for his awakened will, one with the Will Divine, knows
no obstacle within the realms in which he is made manifest. Then at last, beyond
and yet within the boundaries of his cosmos, he finds himself, the triune God,
the dweller in the realm of everlasting light.

The seed of omniscience which slept in him from
the first, now comes to full flower. He contacts within himself the product of
eternal motion and learns to wield its product, cosmic force. In worlds below,
his thought is now illumined, his knowledge is profound. No secret in all the
realms of being may be hidden from his mind. He identifies himself with
manifested life, knows it as he knows himself, and thus omniscience is
won.

The secret processes of Nature now are known by
him. He understands the birth of jewel and of sun, the germination of the seed
of plant, of animal, of man; he sees the myriads of the angelic hosts and
comprehends their function in the scheme of being: the geometry of life as
manifest in cosmos, in universe, in system and in sun, as in the atom which
contains the whole in miniature: all this is now revealed to him. Seeing the
whole, he becomes a god of knowledge, by virtue of his knowledge of God. No
longer does he seek true knowledge from without, needs no more to observe
external forms or processes. He turns within, dwelling in that world of divine
thought, wherein all knowledge lies.

A giant of intelligence he now reveals himself to
the few. Did he choose to show his powers forth, he would walk among men, a
veritable God of knowledge and of power. Yet he veils his light lest its
radiance should dazzle the eyes of men: lest the vision of another's truth
should blind them to the truth within themselves. He draws within the circle of
his illumination those whose eyes are fixed upon eternal truth, who seek the
ultimate goal, and in whom the Self transcendent has begun in some measure, to
shine forth. He becomes their teacher, they his students in the Temple of
Eternal Truth.

None may enter those sacred precincts save those
who, through many lives of searching without, have learned at last to look
within; who, deluded through centuries by separated forms, begin at last to see
the One Life. They, and they alone, can be safely led to those spiritual heights
from which the swinging of the pendulum may be observed. None who clings solely
to matter for support may behold eternal motion's mighty waves, lest, possessing
naught but an illusion on which to hold, he be swept up by them and lost in the
limitless immensity of being. None who still thinks himself a separated form may
see the One Life face to face.

So must they qualify who would enter that Temple
of Truth which has existed throughout all ages. Yet its doors are open wide.
None guard the entrances; the great stairways extend downwards into the worlds
wherein are lived the daily lives of men; nor are they too steep for any man to
climb. Though the Temple has stood for countless centuries; though the stairways
reach downwards into every land on earth, few indeed are they who have
discovered them, while millions daily pass them by, too blinded by self-seeking
and self-thought to perceive the stairway leading to the door.

Many men are seeking power, many seek to know,
but few pursue that wisdom by which alone success may crown the search. Because
of his innate triplicity, man may not discover Truth unless his search is
threefold also. All men have within themselves the germ of cosmic knowledge,
cosmic power and cosmic love. Between the eternal self-transcendent and the
transient, earthly self, there is a triple bond of knowledge, power and
love.

Man cannot win spiritual power or knowledge,
without their eternal complement, spiritual wisdom which in the earthly man
which is love. Without that essential third all search will be in vain. The
altar of Truth cannot be approached unless the heart is full of love; for love
springs from compassion, compassion from intuitive vision of unity and by
intuition alone may divine knowledge and divine power be grasped and divine
truth be perceived.

These aspects of his triune Godhead may be made
manifest by man at will. He must learn the science of their release and practice
the art of their employment.

The powers which he seeks reside within the God
which is his highest Self; therefore he first must know that God. To that end he
must know as lower self, the man of action, of feeling, and of thought; must
realize his higher Self as man of will, of wisdom, and of knowledge. Then from
the knowledge of his triple higher Self, he may pass into the knowledge of
himself as God omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.

The starting point for all his studies therefore
is his daily life, which must be perfected. He must free himself from the great
illusion of the external world in which he lives, must pierce the veil of that
illusion, until he sees that what his fellow men deem real is but the vaguest
unreality. When the real has been discovered amid the unreal, his daily life
must be ordered in the light of that discovery.

The first great change occurs in the motive by
which his actions are inspired. That change is radical. He ceases entirely to
judge the worth of action and event by its value to himself, by the increase of
happiness and material possessions which it brings. He learns to see in every
man the evolving God which he is seeking in himself, and having seen, he serves
that God. He comes to know the body as the transient and illusory covering which
hides the God from view. He learns to meet and deal with all men as God should
meet and deal with God.

The hand so long outstretched to grasp or to
repel is now held forth to give and to protect. The brain which planned the
day's activities to the end of increased material success, now meditates upon
the task of stewardship, and the proper use of all that has been
gained.

He sees his home as the solar system over which
with great beneficence he rules; his town as a universe, himself its sun, giver
of life and light, a neverfailing source of power and love. He looks upon
his nation as a God regards the cosmos in which His labours are performed; a
living organism, each human cell an embryonic God.

His growing powers, increasing wisdom, and wider
knowledge are not employed for the exploitation of those less favored than
himself, nor to gain wealth, fame and domination; for he learns that these are
shadows, parts of the great illusion whose unconscious victim he hitherto has
been; now freed, his growing powers are used but to widen the sphere of his
usefulness, to relieve the sick, the suffering, and the sad, to uplift the
downtrodden, to spread happiness abroad; to shine, in increasing measure, with
the glory of his transcendent Self, the triune God Which is within.

Each of his triple attributes must now be equally
employed, for he learns that power exerted without wisdom does not avail.
Love poured forth without knowledge and discrimination brings sorrow in its
train. Knowledge may give power, but is barren unless employed with love. Thus
power, love and knowledge are as shining jewels in the crown of glory which now
adorns his brow. Self-knowledge now is his, won by the discovery of the
Self.

CHAPTER 7

RULER, SCIENTIST AND PRIEST

THE long ages of his evolutionary past must form
the subject of deep study by him who would discover and release the powers of
his transcendent Self. To understand his present, to fulfill the promise of the
future, he must know in some measure the story of the past. That story is
imprinted in its entirety upon that vehicle of consciousness which persists from
life to life, the immortal principle wherein are stored all the products of his
age-long pilgrimage. His growing powers enable him to tap that perfect memory of
his higher Self, and so to read the story of his many lives. Thus he studies his
innate capacities, the instincts, intuitions, and natural abilities with which
he was born.

These are the expression, in terms of action, of
feeling, and of thought, of the faculties which have resulted from the past. He
sees in himself perchance, a tendency to achieve his ends by the power of his
will. He finds himself a leader of his fellow men.

He seeks within for the cause of this phenomenon,
this tendency to achieve all things by the force of will. He finds that in his
many earlier lives he has been possessed of temporal power. He sees himself as
lord of many a savage tribe, and later, overseer, captain of the armies of a
greater lord, leader of great expeditions and immigrations, as explorer,
soldier, viceroy, king. He learns that in those many lives the God within
was seeking to express omnipotence; that gleams from the light of his
transcendent Self shone through them and gave him the power to rule and lead his
fellow men.

The knowledge gained upon the Path which leads to
the Temple of Truth tells him that power alone is of little worth. He begins to
guard his actions, lest by the use of will alone he injure instead of heal, hurt
instead of help, override rather than inspire. He seeks immediately to soften
the harshness of his actions and decisions, and deliberately to enkindle within
himself a love which shall be commensurate with his growing power. If need be,
he will seek for lives when he was feminine, and omnipresence expressed itself
as tenderness, compassion, as love, as wifely and maternal care.

Thus, studying himself, he notes his powers and
deficiencies. He labours to perfect the powers and to remedy deficiencies. If
still unloving, or if love is second always to the will, then he will meditate
on love, and, Theseus-like, will guide himself by the thread of life which links
him with the omnipresent God. One with the love of God, he will share the light
and lifebestowing function of the sun, will know the beauty and the meaning
of the ever-open heart, and in his daily life will seek to emulate that sun,
which is the earthly symbol of his omnipresent Self. He will associate
deliberately with those in need, with every form of suffering and want, and shed
on all the rays of his beneficence. In his own home he will be heart as well as
head; will pour forth light and love and tenderness, and use his power to lead,
inspire and protect rather than to rule and overawe. With will thus tempered and
restrained, he enters the Temple of Truth by virtue of the omnipotence of the
Self within.

Should the aspirant find himself a scientist, a
man who tends to plunge into the abstruser mysteries of Nature and of life: who
seeks knowledge and yet perchance neglects his service to his family and state:
who, when a secret force is found, or a new principle discovered, instantly
protects it, so that he may gather in the greatest gain entirely for himself.
Seeking now the highest truth, he will correct these errors and order all his
actions according to the light shining above the altar of the Temple of
Truth.

He will learn to recognize the unity behind the
manifold diversity of men: to see the whole humanity as composed of Gods, even
as himself, not to be exploited, but served. He will begin to realize the true
function of the scientist in the service of the state and of the world. He will
cease henceforth to probe the mysteries of Nature for individual gain; he will
study but to give.

When this great change has been made, man will at
last be able to win true knowledge for Nature then will recognize his right to
know Her secret lore. Knowing now that knowledge by itself is worthless: that
power used for selfish ends may constitute the gravest danger to the human soul,
he deliberately fills his life with love. For love, wedded to knowledge,
produces wisdom, which is the heart of all science and the light by which alone
truth may be perceived.

He too will read his earlier lives and find
therein the source of his present genius, will watch there the birth and gradual
development of his love for knowledge. He will find himself in olden times as
theurgist, soothsayer, and astrologer, as alchemist and astronomer, as scientist
and engineer. He will live again his lives in ancient lands when he employed the
powers of Nature to build the temples and the pyramids which still exist as
monuments to the science of those ancient days. He will see himself as hermit
and as monk; mayhap as sorcerer and student of magic in its many forms;
sometimes coming to disaster and learning much therefrom, conscious always of a
steadily increasing thirst for truth and a greater aptitude for
science.

Thus the man of science seeks to discover and to
remedy deficiencies; to fill his life with deeds of selfless love and
altruism; to put at the service of the world his growing knowledge and the power
which it gives. As an aspirant to truth, it will now become impossible for him
to make his secret processes a means of self-aggrandisement and the acquisition
of possessions. He pierces the great illusion of the material world and knows
all the objects which men hold worthy of desire as worthless, transient as a
mirage. Should he grasp them even for a moment, he will become enmeshed in the
web of the great delusion from which now it is his purpose to emancipate the
world.

He seeks therefore those awards which shall be
more permanent. He knows that the just reward of knowledge used to serve, is
more knowledge, and wider fields in which to serve. Amid the transient he seeks
the eternal, knowing that the real things are invisible, all that is visible is
unreal. Surrounded by physically generated energies, the supply of which can
only be maintained by artificial means, he seeks that power which increases as
it is employed, that light which shines more brightly as its spendour is
revealed, that life which, flows forth with increasing abundance as it is
employed to nourish and sustain. He turns continually to the invisible,
investigates the many hidden worlds and their inhabitants which, though
physically ghostly and unreal are far more permanent than the temporal world in
which he hitherto has lived.

In this great search for Truth he becomes
conscious of an inner guidance and of teachers wiser, far, than he. Soon he
discovers that the mighty Guardians of the Race are guiding him, that the angel
agents of all natural powers recognize him as their friend: lay bare before him
their special knowledge of the universal life which permeates the ephemeral
shadow world in which he lives. Thus guided by Those Great Ones Who have gone
before and illumined by his own awakening omniscience, he passes through the
door of knowledge into the Temple of Truth.

His brother aspirants the priests, the healers
and philanthropists will find their entrance through the door of love. Already
they have learnt to serve and have begun to glimpse the splendour of the path of
love. The love of God is already born in them; it shall grow into full stature
and make them saviours of the world. Their lesson is to leave behind love
limited to individuals, for this prevents the expression in their lives of
universal love. All men must be to them as are their firstborn sons. Such love
knows no distinctions, sees no barriers of family relationship, of race or
colour, knows nought of differences of sex.

The love of him who saves the world seeks nothing
in return; it asks not even for an answering love. It pours forth continuously
through the opened heart of the lover of mankind. Heedless of all refusals,
undaunted by the selfishness of men, seeking neither to embrace nor to
hold, he lives but to illumine and to save.

He who would tread the lover's path to God must
be passion-free, must emancipate himself from the dominion of desire. The
faintest trace of lust, of passion, of sexual desire, will sully all his love
and make it an unworthy offering on the altar of the God of Love. Therefore, he
must work to purify his soul, till it shines with the bright splendour of the
sun which is his archetype, the model upon which his life of service must be
built. If he would serve as priest of love to men, the chalice of his soul must
be of a pure and exquisite translucency.

If he, too, seeks in earlier lives for
understanding of the present, and guidance for the future, he will find himself
as priest in many an ancient land, as Hierophant in the temples of the ancient
mysteries, as vestal virgin, sybil, soothsayer and seer. In the great
civilizations of long ago, he will find himself as monk, as travelling preacher
and healer, as loving friend of the poor, and as God's messenger to man.
Perchance he will observe that his high ideal of love has been many times
betrayed. He will see the need of intellect to guide the expression of his love,
of will for the transmutation of desire. He will recall the ancient lore and
knowledge of the healing art; will learn again to use the life force in his own
body, the properties of plant and herb, to heal the sick. He will heal by the
power of the love of God, by the means of natural energies, and by the
assistance of the angelic hosts. Studying the past, he will see the power of
religion in its early days, when all its priests and servants still shone with
the Light they saw within the Founder's eyes, still bore the power which they
had received from Him. He will restore the ancient sacramental art of healing
and uplifting by the laying on of hands.

These many threads of his past lives he will
gather up again and weave them into a new design which shall display the
beauties of the purest and most perfect love. He will strive to increase the
potency of love by evoking from within himself and blending with his love the
power of his divine omniscience and omnipotence. All his labours will be
irradiated by the inexhaustible outpouring of his love. The omnipresent God will
send down from on high His light and life, will widen the channels of its flow
until His representative on earth seems more than mortal man, lives as a
veritable God of love.

Within these three main paths of knowledge, power
and love are many lesser paths, all leading to the selfsame goal. Through
these three doors there is a way for all into the Temple of Truth. The way is
barred to none, the doors are never closed. The only barriers which exist are
within man's self: no hand can strike them down, save his who built them up. The
delusion of the separated self, the desire for personal gain, the craving for
power and position: pride of place, of race, of possession: lust and cruelty:
these are the barriers which one by one must be cast down, ere man may climb the
steps leading to the doorway of the Temple of Eternal Truth.

CHAPTER 8

SPIRITUAL ARISTOCRACY

A NATION'S standing in the eyes of the spiritual
Guardians of mankind is measured not by the value of its possessions, the many
lands which it has conquered, or by any physical achievements but by the number
of its sons who have found and trod the pathway leading to Eternal Truth.
All other honours pertain but to the nation's separated self, to the realm of
the unreal. Physical power and prosperity may even lower the value of a nation
as an agent for the fulfilment of its highest destiny. He who would exalt his
nation's honor, remove the evils of its civilization, and would make his
people's name great upon the earth should turn to the transcendent Self within
and from thence release the powers by means of which alone those ideals may be
realized. He must purify and perfect his earthly self, must find his way into
the Temple of Truth, before he can truly be a leader, guide and teacher of his
race.

In those who thus have labored, and by
selfrestraint, self-training and by service have won the right to power, to
knowledge and to love, consists the true aristocracy of the world. Their
nobility springs from the exaltation of the God within them, not from the mere
accident of noble birth. They win their rank by intensity of effort, self
sacrifice and spiritual worthiness; their reward does not consist of social
precedence or any earthly fame. They are rewarded by the gift of greater power,
deeper love, wider knowledge, with which to serve their nation and their
race.

Unimagined spiritual treasures await those who
will tread this upward path. Undreamed-of glory awaits the nation which embraces
and expresses high ideals and sets a spiritual standard to which all other
nations may aspire. Its peoples shall become the leaders of the human race. They
shall rule by virtue of their spiritual power, and to them shall be born
splendid sons and daughters, great beings who by their lives and leadership
shall exalt the whole race of man.

The foremost nations of the world approach the
point in their evolution when the spiritual power which unperceived has guided
and supported them must now begin to shine forth in their nation's life and in
their international relationships. The national transcendent Self must also be
made manifest. Humanity as a whole must one day tread that road which now is
trodden only by its foremost sons. A nation's true wealth consists of the
spiritual power of every member of the national community.

In the land of everlasting light, the
transcendent cosmic Selves of those whose earthly bodies constitute a nation or
a race, commune continually for the welfare and more rapid growth both of their
lower representatives, the earthly men, and of the nation from which their
earthly nurture and protection are derived. They seek to pour down an ever
richer measure of the light, the power, and the splendour which is theirs; to
inspire their nation with their all-embracing vision of the beauty and the
purpose of manifested life.

In ancient days the noblest nations of the world
consulted and were guided by their Gods. Their rulers and their aristocracy were
self-illumined men, through whom the wisdom of the God enthroned on high shone
forth, and was a beacon light to guide their nations through the stormy sea of
life. Hosts of bright angels served the high Gods as messengers, served their
earthly counterparts as companions, inspirers, and guides. In those days men
lived the godly life, knew the power of the God within, dreamed of the splendour
of their own immortal Godhead, caught, and in their lives and works portrayed,
the vision of the never-fading glory of the land of everlasting
light.

Throughout millennia of centuries, nation after
nation arising on the earth has lifted the human race to the highest pinnacle of
spiritual and physical development attainable in the age to which the race
belonged. Thus in later days, India arose, Egypt, and Babylon. Then followed
Greece, the light of whose divinity found a clear reflection in that Rome which
was the mistress of her world in the days when she was God-inspired and divinely
led.

To her dominions came the Christ, transcendent
love incarnate upon earth. Then darkness fell, as if the life-bearing pendulum
had paused in its age-long and eternal swing; but now at last amid the darkness,
dawn appears. The dwellers in the land of eternal light know that the pendulum
swings on from age to age bearing with it resistlessly, men and suns, systems,
universes and cosmoi. They see the dawning of a fairer day, they know that soon
another nation shall arise in which the Gods shall once more rule, and whose
ministers, guided by the light of spiritual knowledge, shall lead their nation
to greater evolutionary heights. Soon the day must dawn when humanity shall
recognize the light of that divine wisdom which alone is the patent of nobility
and bestows the authority to rule.

In days of old the Gods were the helpers of
mankind. Glorified and saintly ones came from far-distant worlds, and gave
to men the lordly wisdom to which unaided they could not yet attain. In those
old days the earthly representatives of man the cosmic God, dwelt in darkness,
knowing nothing of the mighty power, the wisdom and the love which are truly
theirs in their transcendent Selves.

Long ages now have passed. The outer Gods have
been withdrawn in order than mankind may learn the rule and power of the God
within, and, learning, pay homage to that rule. The listening ears of the
nations of the world even now begin to hear the voice of the inner immortal
ruler, for the transcendent Selves of men are sending down their power and their
wisdom from the land of everlasting light into the outer realms of being.
Earthly man begins to feel the tremor of that power, to perceive the awakening
deep within himself of that higher reason, from which, one day, wisdom will be
born.

At last, after the passage of long ages, the
spiritual Self in man begins to shine forth; but not in every man. Small groups
and isolated men, scattered widely over the earth begin to hear the inner voice
and to see the inner light. These strive to awaken the nations, that,
God-guided, they may learn to live and rule in peace, and their people may be
lifted towards those spiritual heights which it is their destiny to
climb.

Yet still, a yawning chasm separates the immortal
Gods seated on high from their earthly counterparts. The Gods bend all their
mighty powers to bridge the gulf. Man, too, must reach upwards and inwards into
his immortal Self and clasp the hand of his own divinity, for thus alone, the
great gulf may be bridged. The bridge once built, the mind, brain and heart of
earthly man will be illumined; power, wisdom and knowledge will be his. He will
become a saviour of his nation, and later, a saviour of mankind.

He who thus would serve his fellowmen: who,
filled with anguish for their suffering and their woes, would heal their wounds
and make them glad, he who would banish ugliness from the surroundings of the
poor, would give them the freedom of the woods and fields, pure air, bright
sunshine and fresh food; he who would cure the sick, and, healing all their
pains, lead them to a new life of health and happiness; he who would drive away
all evil from his nation and the world, would banish deceit, self-seeking,
craftiness, and cruel cunning, with all their dread results upon the lives of
those who fall beneath their power; he who would make his nation beautiful, fit
dwelling-place for God-illumined men, would see flowers of immortal
loveliness blooming in the dark lives of those crushed down by need and labor
without hope, would bring within their reach the joys of art and beauty,
refinement, self-culture and high endeavor, where now are ugliness,
self-indulgence and vice - let him first realize that these changes cannot be
produced by an external power alone, however great: by any legislation, however
wise: by any service to the form, however full of deep self-sacrifice. These are
but the accompaniments and the necessary active expression of that hidden force
for good which lies within both reformer and reformed.

The power lies within by which alone the gulf
between the spiritual and the earthly man may be bridged. The reformer first
must bridge that gulf within himself; he himself must be illumined by the light
of his own divinity; for not till then may he help his brother man to bridge the
gulf which he himself has crossed. Once bridged, the light beyond will shine
through him into his nation's life, darkness will be banished, and ugliness will
disappear.

The world's need is very great; great, too, is
man's opportunity; for all the liberated Ones, the Saviours of the world, are
pouring forth Their light and power for the illumination of a darkened world.
Many bridges have been built, many now are in the building, many more will yet
arise. In the far future the nations themselves will become the bridge from
earth to heaven and the spiritual and the earthly selves be one. Until that time
shall come the need is great, the laborers are few. Men must arise from every
side who will perceive the gulf and begin to build the
bridge.

CHAPTER 9

THE BRIDGE

THE successful building of the bridge, both
individual and national demands the exercise of will. By will alone the restless
activity of the mind, the surging passions and emotions of the heart and the
potent forces of the body may be controlled. The root powers of which each of
these aspects of the earthly man are composed must be mastered and their
energies directed inward towards the spiritual Self. Their energies thus
mastered, the vehicles of thought, feeling and of action may be used for the
building of the bridge. To this end, the mind must be harmonized and still, the
emotions calm and pure and the bodily expression become expert and rhythmical.
All strain of mind, of feeling and of body must be replaced by equipoise and
ease.

To achieve this self-mastery man must evoke and
use his powers of spiritual will; for by will alone may that stillness be
achieved, which is essential to expert self-expression in mental, emotional and
physical worlds. Unless the mind itself is still, power is dissipated and higher
vision is blurred. As the image of the sun, falling upon the wind-swept surface
of a pool, is split into a thousand images, and none of them is true, so is the
image of the spiritual Self distorted by an unquiet mind. Therefore the aspirant
must practice quietude, passing many hours in contemplation of the equipoise of
God; must find that peace unshakable which is beyond all motion and all sound.
Then may he enter the hall of silence which is the antechamber of the Temple of
Truth. There he will learn those lessons which silence alone can teach; for he
must acquire the virtue of silence, ere he may be entrusted with the potent
knowledge which shall be his when his novitiate is passed. He must blend
internal stillness with external silence and perfect
selfrestraint.

Deep sunk in contemplation of the silence behind
all earthly sound, of the darkness behind all earthly light, a sound will break
the silence in which his soul is plunged, a light will steal across his darkened
vision. Still undisturbed and still unmoved, a voice of surpassing sweetness
will fall upon his inner ear, and his soul will be illumined by a vision of
immortal loveliness. Its light will illumine the path by which he may pass
through the ever open doorway into the Temple of Eternal Truth, will guide him
to the altar, where at last he will hear the voice of his own immortal Self.
Power then will arise within him and give him strength and equipoise in the
realms which he has newly won, and enable him to penetrate still deeper into the
world of spiritual light where dwells the transcendent Self.

Thus awakened and illumined, he will review the
problems, the sorrows, the doubts and diverse difficulties of the millions
dwelling in the darkness of the world below. As he meditates, the light of
wisdom will illumine him. With clear vision and unclouded mind he will perceive
the causes of the sorrows of mankind and their cures. Even though as yet he sees
but faintly the power and the splendour of the immortal Self of man, he knows
with utter certitude that they are all-sufficient for the support and guidance
of the earthly man; that where they are manifest no evil can resist their power,
no darkness withstand their blazing light.

Self-illumined now, he studies the collective
mind of man, sees the mental body of the world. He gazes upon it as a watcher
safe on land, surveys the restless, troubled sea, the foaming breakers, the
storm-rocked coasts, sees the heavens darkened overhead, and the ocean troubled
from below. He sees both the splendour of the light above, the profoundity of
the darkness of the earth below. He sees that the many minds of man are but one
world-mind; that the thoughts of one affect the whole; that a mental tumult in a
nation or a man disturbs the equanimity of every nation and of every man. He
sees the places in the world where there is mental peace; he also sees the
gathering storms upon the distant horizon of the mental world. The dark clouds
gather, lightnings flash, the thunder rolls, jagged streaks of flame play across
the sea of human mind, inflaming and exciting as they play.

He sees an area in which all the mental ocean is
a maelstrom whirling round a central point, a place where all the waves turn in
upon themselves. He sees the circle widen, as league on league of sea becomes
involved and thousands of men are swept into the mental swirl. Looking down, he
sees the nation on the earth below wholly concentrated upon itself, sublimely
ignorant of the mental unity of man and seeking to absorb the powers and
possessions of another for itself. He sees within the nation's ranks
selfseeking man, oblivious of the laws of brotherhood, contributing to the
darkness and the maelstrom in the mental world. He sees a nation deep sunk in
gross materialism, denying the divinity of man.

Sometimes it seems as if the restless waves would
grow more peaceful of themselves, as if, within them dwells an influence of
calm, but as the turmoil seems to cease, a sudden rumbling from the earth below
disturbs the process of becoming still, and once again great waves are flung on
high, and where peace hovered, about to descend, the storms break out anew, and
all the manifold disturbances are redoubled and increased.

Yet even amid the storms, the maelstroms and dark
clouds, bright lights are shining; he sees great men, seers, saints, wise rulers
and philanthropists, and those who, like himself, have won their way into the
Temple of Truth. Also clear mental skies under which are happy nations, still
primitive, and, as yet untutored in worldly ways, unstained by doctrines of
doubt and selfishness, conscious still of family and tribal love.

In yet another region of the mental world, the
glowing splendour of the spiritual sun shines full and fair and is mirrored with
exactitude, for there is perfect peace on earth below. Here dwell the Holy Ones,
the Hierophants of Truth, the Priests and Guardians of Its Temple, the Mediators
through Whose translucency the light of the transcendent Self shines forth in
all its glorious perfection. Here great hosts of angels pass and repass, robed
in light, singing songs of joy, shining with myriad hues. They gather in vast
companies around the Holy Ones and serve Them in Their labors for mankind.
Continually they seek to pierce the darkness, to drive away the storm clouds, to
still the waves and stay the maelstrom's awful spin. Some plunge, regardless of
the lurid flashes and the angry waves, deep into the worlds below, bearing to
those who dwell therein a vision of the wondrous light and beauty of the worlds
above.

While thus he gazes on the auras of the nations
of the world, observes their mental atmospheres, their failings and their
virtues, their future possibilities, their place upon the canvas on which the
picture of earth's humanity is slowly to appear, he grows in wisdom. He learns
to see all men as one, all nations as branches of the human family of God. He
recognizes kinship amid diversity, sees that each nation has its colour and its
place upon the canvas, upon which the Supreme Artist paints from age to age. The
boundaries which separate the nations of the world are but the tubes in which
the paint is stored. Ere the picture may be complete, the colour must come forth
and be applied. Thereafter the empty tubes are thrown away.

In the light of this vision of mankind as one,
the neophyte becomes a citizen of the world; though he recognizes kinship and
nationality, these serve no more as barriers between him and the world. Thus he
liberates himself from the prison walls of blood relationship, of class and
nationality; he knows all men as brethren of the house of God. Thus he attains
the vision splendid of the One behind the many and learns to forsake the
personal for the national, the national for the international, the international
for the universal. He knows all life as one and indivisible; he knows all form
as vehicle for the One. He is illumined by the vision of the Whole; he bows low
before the altar of Truth, for at last he has seen Truth face to
face.

Heavenly man and earthly man are now united. The
temple is needed no more, for he himself becomes a shrine. He has found the
altar of his own soul. The heavenly communion has been consummated; within his
heart the Holy Eucharist is continually performed.

The beam of light and power which links him to
the cosmic man in the land of light eternal grows wider and more intensely
luminous. Light floods down to illumine and empower him in all his labours in
the worlds below. He becomes an incarnation of the Truth, for he has seen the
vision of the Whole. The splendour of his vision shines about him, his eyes are
filled with its light; be moves with the bearing of a king. His manhood is
lifted up into his Godhead, for the power of the God has found release;
henceforth he displays the attributes of that divinity which one day will raise
him to the level of a solar God.

Liberated from every weakness, emancipated from
every limitation, he has won his freedom from sorrow, from separation and from
sin. He enters into the kingdom of bliss, of union and of translucent purity. He
stands upon the summit of a spiritual mount; his vision of the worlds beneath
and of the people of those worlds is perfect; it is the vision of a God Who, one
day, will become the creator of peoples and of worlds. Serene, joyous,
invincible and immaculate, he exults in the knowledge of his divinity and of the
inexhaustible reservoirs of power which are now at his command. Exalted,
illumined, he turns his most compassionate gaze upon the millions of his
fellowmen who still toil in the worlds below, unconscious of divinity,
ignorant of their own inherent power, lost in the maze of earthly life, helpless
in the grip of the fate which they have created for themselves. He longs to lead
them along the pathway of release, to show them the vision of their immortality,
to see the light of divinity shine forth from their sorrow-laden
eyes.

He stretches forth his hands in blessings; great
floods of power pass downwards to the worlds below. Filled with intense and deep
compassion, he turns once more to the world of men which he left as a suppliant
and to which he now returns with power to save. Still he broods upon his vision
of the collective mind of man. He sees the everlasting light above, the
transient darkness beneath, the restless human mind between. Thereafter he
shares increasingly the agelong labours of the Hierophants of Truth; he
becomes a builder of the bridge across which earthly man will pass to knowledge
of union with his own transcendent Self.

CHAPTER 1O

THE WAY OF RELEASE

THE daily life of man on earth is far removed
from the eternal life of his cosmic spiritual counterpart. As man treads the
winding road which leads him to the stars, the eternal and the daily are
gradually becoming unified. The light of the eternal will one day perfectly
illumine the darkness of the world of days and hours.

The duration of eternity and the knowledge of the
ever present now are lost as man descends into the dominions ruled by time. Man
must therefore conquer time, must find the pathway of escape from all its
limitations, must free himself from the illusion of the separated periods of
past, present, and future, learning to live in the eternal now. Freed from time,
he will be also free from every limitation to which incarnation in the matter of
the lower worlds has forced him to submit.

The way of release is found by the deliberate
withdrawal of the consciousness away from the lower worlds of action and of form
and its gradual establishment in the higher worlds of pure being and of
formlessness. The battle of life is far more easily decided in favour of the
evolving God by a process of withdrawal of the human consciousness away from the
field of action than by the concentration of spiritual powers and faculties upon
the battle and the field. If the aspirant will withdraw the life and
consciousness from vice, viciousness will disappear; change the center of
interest from the self incarnate in the flesh to the Self in spiritual worlds,
selfishness will disappear: turn all the aspirations and ideals of the soul
towards achievement that shall be eternal, escape from the dominion of time and
space will have been achieved. He must fight no longer; but withdraw: crave no
longer for personal success and fleeting happiness, but seek only the fulfilment
of the plan of God.

Within this simple truth lies the answer to every
problem of human life.

Failure to perceive and recognize it is the cause
of every human sorrow. Sorrow is the great illuminator, for sorrow continuously
demonstrates that failure until the truth has been perceived.

This lesson learnt, he withdraws himself from all
these earthly pleasures which hitherto have claimed his life and interest
thereby gaining mastery over the worlds to which they belong. By withdrawing
from objects of desire, he wins the mastery of desire itself. The pleasures of
the world lose their hold upon him, its sorrows no longer depress him, for he
has found the means whereby they may be relieved. Though he may feel them
deeply, may suffer with the sufferers, yet his heart is full of joy in the
knowledge that suffering belongs to time and space, whilst the bliss which now
is his, and which one day will belong to all, endures throughout
eternity.

With this knowledge in his hands as key of joy
and pain, of life and death, the earthly man in search of liberation from the
woes of life and the imprisonment of time may unlock the doorway of the
dispensary of Nature and find the sovereign cure for every human ill, may find
the pathway of release and finding point the way to all his
fellowmen.

As he withdraws from the dominion of the lower
worlds he draws nearer to that divinity which is the source of all his life and
power. Approaching that source, more life and more power descend upon him and
the transcendent Self exercises increasing control upon the earthly man, lends
his will to strike off the shackles which have bound him to the earth, his
wisdom to comprehend the cause of all his sorrow, his knowledge to discover the
pathway of return.

One object, then, fills his mind, one ideal forms
the background of his life; he lives to share the knowledge he has won, to point
out the pathway of release from sorrow and to lead his brethren thereupon from
suffering to bliss. Ere this great task may be accomplished, he himself must be
utterly purified, his vehicles finally be rid of all the grossness and impurity
with which they have been sullied through many lives before the pathway has been
found. No traces must be left behind, for he must achieve perfect translucency,
so that the power by which he ministers to his brothers' need flows through him
unsullied and unstained. Rather must it be beautified by the addition of human
love and human tenderness.

This absolute translucency is attained by the
application of the fire of the will. Retiring deep within himself, he draws
forth from the transcendent Self floods of purifying power, streams of fiery
energy, which will sweep through all his vehicles and burn up the dross by which
they have hitherto been stained. Layer after layer of his nature will thus be
cleansed, until at last he, earthly man, is pure, even to the inmost recesses of
the soul. Pure within, he moves unstained and unsullied amid impurity without.
Desire no longer claims a place within his thoughts and feelings, for he has
purged himself of all desire.

Within the earthly man thus purified, the
transcendent Self takes up Its abode. The radiance, the beauty, the power and
the knowledge of the evolving God shine forth through the earthly man. The
supernal light and power of the cosmic man is at last reflected in his earthly
representative. The stability, serenity and the poise of the land of everlasting
light show forth in his activities on earth.

From his experience in time and space he acquires
the knowledge of eternity; his human powers and faculties are quickened and
exalted to their divine expression. His vision now includes the past, the
present and the future, the distant and the near. By its aid all knowledge lies
within his reach; no secret within the orbit of the furthest planet of the
system in which he dwells is hid from his all-penetrating gaze. As thus he
grows, as the transcendent Self becomes more and more incarnate in the flesh, as
earthly man becomes exalted into perfect godliness, he transcends even the
limitations of his solar realms and moves at will throughout the universe. He
becomes a servant of the Solar Rulers, labouring throughout universal time and
space. Exalted thus, the earthly man becomes one with the transcendent Self,
later to be merged with his cosmic counterpart. Then at last he will take up his
abode in the land of everlasting light.

CHAPTER 11

MAN, THE SAVIOUR OF MANKIND

BEHIND the darkness of earthly existence the
light of divinity is ever shining; behind its sorrow and distress exists eternal
bliss; behind the toil, the labour and the strain, are eternal rest, peace and
serenity unshakable. For these are pairs of opposites; each proves the existence
of the other, as darkness is a proof of light.

All men will complete their age-long pilgrimage
through the darkness, the sorrow and the toil of the transient worlds and will
pass into the eternal light, experience eternal bliss and enter into everlasting
peace. The duration of their sojourn in the worlds below depends entirely upon
themselves. If they dally in the darkness seeking to grasp the elusive pleasures
of the shade, their sojourn will be long and their passage full of woe; if, in
answer to the vision of the light which comes to every man continually, they
deny themselves the soft delights of dalliance amid the shadows of the illusory
worlds, they may pass quickly from the darkness to the light and their passage
will be full of joy.

Man, and man alone, decides the period and the
nature of his pilgrimage, whether it be slow and painful, or swift and full of
happiness. As every man sees continually the vision of the light, so every man
receives continually the necessary power and knowledge to ensure his safe and
rapid travelling through darkness to everlasting light. His sorrows are produced
solely by the closing of his eyes to the vision of the light, by sloth in the
employment of his power, and by failure to apply the knowledge which is
his.

To save man from the sorrow which he thus
inflicts upon himself and to hasten his pilgrimage, Messengers from the land of
everlasting light from time to time have visited him. These are mighty Ones Who
have won freedom and are united with Their cosmic Selves. Voluntarily They
assume the burden of earthly life and submit Themselves to the imprisonment of
the flesh to aid mankind to gain a clearer vision of the light and to call forth
a fuller measure of their inherent power and knowledge.

Each of these Guardians of the Race has His
special followers and devotees, who gather round Him when He comes and who
worship Him throughout the centuries which follow His departure. Every Saviour
leads a number of His chosen people to their spiritual home, to union with their
transcendent Selves. Yet mankind as a whole pays little heed; the great mass
marches slowly and with infinite pain along the slow and winding road of human
evolution.

Wars devastate their ranks, plague, famine,
disease and Nature's cataclysms decimate the people. The struggle for physical
existence grows keener as the centuries pass. The burden of human incarnation
grows heavier and more difficult to bear, in spite of rapid progress in the
development of mind. Still the nations will not listen to the voices of their
illumined Sons, Who, age by age come forth to teach the brotherhood of man.
Religions are founded and churches built; still the nations walk in blindness,
and stumble through fear and hatred, into war.

The heavenly and the cosmic counterparts of
nations, and of men, save for the few, have as yet been powerless to save their
earthly representatives. Blinded by the passion for material possession and
earthly sovereignty, they fail to see the light which shines upon them from
above. Deafened by the clamour which accompanies their halting progress they do
not hear the voice of the all-wise Counsellor Who is their deepest
Self.

The progress of humanity through this long age of
darkness depends greatly upon the efforts of individuals. All great reforms owe
their initial impulse to the vision of one woman or one man. The emancipation of
the world calls for superhuman efforts by those who would truly save. The task
would seem impossible were it not that behind each man there is the heavenly
man, himself a representative of the cosmic man, wielding cosmic powers. Vast
spiritual energies are locked up in the deepest self of even the humblest member
of the human race. By virtue of these powers there is not one who might not even
now become a saviour of his people, for the saviour exists in embryo in every
man.

That saviour-to-be stands eternally at the
doorway of the soul and knocks. Few men give answer; still fewer open the door
to let the Saviour in. That closed doorway to the heart of humanity is the
greatest tragedy of human life; for limitless power, all-embracing wisdom, and
perfect knowledge lie as yet unused in the inner recesses of man's being.
Spiritually, the world without is as an arid desert; cries of suffering are
heard on every side, yet human ears are deaf to the transcendent Self which ever
stands and knocks. The spiritual power, the wisdom and the knowledge to which
every man is heir remains undiscovered and unused, even in his hours of greatest
need.

If man is to enter into the rich heritage of his
spiritual possessions, the knock must be answered and the door be opened wide.
His true teacher then will guide him to self-knowledge of his powers and the
method of their employment. Before that great privilege is won, the aspirant
must emancipate himself from selfishness, be filled with longing to relieve his
fellow men from pain, become strong, pure, humble and deeply compassionate. Thus
prepared, he may enter into his spiritual heritage and learn to wield the mighty
powers of his divinity; thus armed, there shall be no suffering which he cannot
relieve, no evil which he cannot dispel, no troubled heart to which he can not
give peace. He shall enter on the Path which every Saviour of the world has
trod; mankind will be lifted up by every upward step he takes, be strengthened
by every power which he learns to wield, become illumined by his ever-widening
vision and healed by his all embracing love.

Chapter 12

L'ENVOI: THE SPIRITUAL NAME

THE spiritual name is the expression of the
individual in terms of eternity. It belongs neither to time nor space, but is
beyond them both. Cosmoi, universes and solar systems each have their spiritual
names. The human kingdom of a universe, as of a single globe also has its
spiritual name, which conceals the complete history of the race as of the
individual in terms of the eternal now. Yet it also reveals the whole history of
both race and individual, from the beginning of creation to the end; it denotes
both the spark of the divine flame, and the flame which that spark eventually
becomes. It includes the triune germ of divinity and the fully unfolded
omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience, with all the stages of unfoldment
which lie between. When an individual learns his true name, he enters into his
divine heritage; when that name is uttered all that is most deeply sacred in his
nature is revealed. All the long past, from the dawn of the Logoic day, is
contained within that synthesis of sound which is the spiritual name.

The kingdom of the angels also has its spiritual
name, as has every member of the angelic hosts.

When at last an angel discovers his true name,
all the powers of the angelic kingdom, from infusoria to solar deity, are placed
within his hands. When he repeats his name, he liberates those powers as far as
the divinity within him is unfolded and the infinite vibrations of his spiritual
name may resound throughout his being.

The name of man and angel may not be uttered
below the level of the formless worlds, for the mighty swing of its vibration
would shatter very form.

The name of the human kingdom signifies divine
transcendence, that of the angel kingdom, divine immanence. When immanence and
transcendence meet, perfection is attained. Each, incomplete without the other,
is perfected by union with its complementary truth. Such union exists within the
consciousness of That, Which is both human and angelic, immanent and
transcendent, Which both pervades and remains, Which lives in the land of
eternal light and permeates every atom of the cosmic fields of space.

Union between angels and men who labour and
evolve within those fields is a material expression of that spiritual truth of
which unity is the central heart. The immanent and the transcendent meet in the
Ruler of a Universe, one must they also become in external manifestation. Angels
and men must recognize their natural affinity, labour together for the
fulfilment of the divine Will, and together enter into the full manifestation of
their spiritual heritage.

Thus the One Will shall rule, the One Love shall
enfold and protect, and the One Power shall be made manifest throughout all
worlds.

FINIS

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