The Inner Radiance E-Book

Harriette Augusta Curtiss

• Herausgeber: Andura Publishing
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Experience the life-changing power of Harriette Augusta Curtiss with this unforgettable book.

Leseprobe

The Inner Radiance

Harriette Augusta Curtiss

CONTENTS

Preface

The material for this volume has been available for several years, but the long illness of Mrs. Curtiss, and the subsequent great growth of The Order of Christian Mystics as a result of our extensive lecture tours and our exhibit at A Century of Progress exposition in Chicago during 1933 and 1934, together with the tremendously increased activities which followed, have further delayed its preparation for publication.

But this delay has not been wholly unfortunate, as it has enabled us to include several chapters dealing with present-day conditions in the world which have been in great demand and which we are glad to make available to all in permanent form.

We trust that this new material will enable our readers and students to understand more intelligently the revolutionary conditions through which humanity is now passing, while the more general philosophical and spiritual material will give them both philosophical and scientific, as well as spiritual, reasons for a greater realization of their vital and personal relation to both the lower and the invisible kingdoms of lives which surround them in Nature, their relation to their fellow-men, and to that great Cosmic Source of all light, life and consciousness, that Eternal Being, whom men call God.

—The Authors.

Chapter I

THE INNER RADIANCE

“And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” St. John, I, 5.

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”// Corinthians, IV, 6.

Back of all evolution there is an inner power, a manifestation of life, an Inner Radiance which pushes the unfoldment of all forms of life—from atoms to planets—on to their destined perfected manifestation. The essence of this Inner Radiance is the out-breathing of the Supreme Being, the Divine Breath, which manifested as the sacred Word which brought all things into expression, and which in man becomes embodied in flesh as the Divine Dweller.

Science has proved that every form of life expresses some aspect of radiant energy or Inner Radiance; in fact, each form is fashioned by and exists for the express purpose of permitting its particular aspect of that Inner Radiance to manifest on Earth, much as the hard shell of the wholesome nut exists for the purpose of enabling the soft, tender meat to survive and manifest in conditions which without the outer shell would crush and destroy it and prevent its expression here on Earth.

Every physical form is but an aggregation of material and other substances held together by, and through which, a particular aspect, current or vibration of the divine One Life finds expression. And only by the steady pressure from within outward of the gyrations of the Inner Radiance, this mysterious life-force, can the inner and unseen pattern unfold, materialize in matter and evolve into the full expression of perfection it is intended to manifest. For, like the nut, the inner pattern[1] which was breathed out by the Creator through the Divine Mind, must have a protecting covering of physical substance ere it can fulfill its destiny, which destiny was imprinted upon it ere it was sent forth into manifestation.

And it is through the evolution of these outer forms[2] which are continually modified to accommodate the progressive unfolding of the inner pattern, that the Inner Radiance moulds all physical matter ultimately to embody God’s will for that form.

These outer forms are not created in an instantaneous flash; for after God spake the Word and the inner patterns or ideals were projected into manifestation, it required untold ages for their Inner Radiance to overcome the inertia of matter and mould that dense and resistant substance into the meshes of the delicate, ethereal inner patterns so as to permit their progressive unfoldment and correct materialization in the physical world.

It requires tremendous constructive power to unfold and evolve these outer forms; to gather the materials and transform and synthesize them into living tissue; to collect the tons of earth which compose a giant tree, for example, and to absorb and lift hundreds of feet into the air the countless barrels of water which are daily required by such a tree. All the outer forms which protect and more or less crudely outpicture their inner patterns are therefore sustained and evolved by the dynamic cohesive power of their Inner Radiance, the downpouring and inflowing of the life-aspect of the Godhead; that ever-renewing Inner Radiance of the Divine which constantly pushes all forms on to perfection; that Eternal Urge upward and onward from the primitive to the perfected through the progressive new presentation and new revealing of the inner pattern or Ideal of all things.

This is equally true of suns and cosmic systems as it is of the lowliest forms. All are but manifestations in matter of the Divine One Life.

This law applies to man as well as to all other expressions of the cosmic currents of the One Life. To accept the statement that “God formed man of the dust of the ground,” and to ignore the previous statement that “God created man in His own image and likeness” is to accept the letter which killeth all true understanding of the subject—the mere shell of the nut—and ignore the Spirit or Inner Radiance which maketh alive. For just as in the nut there is its kernel, which is destined to unfold into the tree, and which is wrapped in the hard outer shell, so in man there is an inner kernel—called the Christ Child—whose Inner Radiance, although wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the outer shell or personality and therefore little realized and understood, is ultimately destined to accomplish its mission, namely, to spiritualize the flesh and unfold the inner pattern of the Divine Real Self. But only as we remove the restrictions of the swaddling clothes, by allowing the Christ Child to manifest through us, can we enable Him to grow up and become the Carpenter who can utilize all the experiences of life as tools and all the conditions of life as materials with which to make our body a temple of the Living God, leaving behind as chips the superficial things of the outer life.

Once man realizes that his Real Self is truly a Ray of God, made in His image, and allows that Image of God[3] to manifest, the whole world will be changed. Man is therefore far more than the physical form—which was not created but formed or evolved[4] out of the dust of the ground—through which his Inner Radiance manifests. Man is a microcosm or an epitome of the universe. The same Eternal

Being from whose Divine Mind the inner pattern of all lower forms were projected also projected the Inner Man,[5] created in His image and likeness and destined to be the Lord of Creation and His highest manifestation on this planet.

The Inner Man or first Adam of the first chapter of Genesis was the Real Self or Spiritual Man, while the second Adam of the second chapter of Genesis was but the outer, physical form or animal body into which the Spiritual Man was to incarnate. But only when the Earth and its lower forms had evolved to the requisite point did this human-animal form appear. And only when this human form had evolved to a point where it contained the necessary organs and centers could the Spiritual Man be breathed into that human form. And it was only after the incarnation of the Spiritual Man into the body of flesh that man “became a living Soul” and the unfoldment (evolution) of man as we know him began.

If this fundamental distinction between the outer form or body of man and his Inner Radiance is understood, the so-called conflict between religion and science[6] disappears, for both are true in their own realms; one is talking about spiritual man and the other about his physical body. Only as we allow the Inner Radiance of the Spiritual Man to shine forth in our hearts and manifest in and through the body of flesh can we express our Real Self, the Image of God, which shall illumine, guide and ultimately redeem from ignorance and sin—transgression of the Law—the man of flesh.

Because of the effect of the Inner Radiance on the evolution of the outer form, one of the chief characteristics of all living things (forms) is change. This is due to an ever-progressive unfolding of the inner pattern, a new manifestation or ideal for each form. That which is incapable of change has ceased to grow and will soon cease to live. Then the lower forms of life of which that higher form was made up, or connected with—atoms, cells, bacteria, etc.,—will have a brief form of separate existence until the old body of which they were a part is entirely disintegrated. Then the Inner Radiance which formerly inhabited the now disintegrated form is freed to manifest in the higher worlds, and in its next incarnation must build up and inhabit a new form which will be less limiting to its unfoldment and manifestation.

This Law of Change is a Law of Life and applies to peoples, civilizations, customs, ideas and religions as well as to physical forms. When the Inner Radiance, or the Spirit which quickeneth, no longer finds free expression through a previous form of manifestation—no matter how vital and radiant with life and power that form may once have been— that form, be it civilization, custom, idea or religion, becomes but an empty shell; for its Inner Radiance has withdrawn to seek a new avenue or form of manifestation.

Applying this Law of Change to religion, we will readily understand that every form of religion must unfold and change its mode of expression in accord with the advances in man’s conception of the universe and its laws, if that religion’s Inner Radiance is to continue to shine forth anew and reveal its inner pattern more perfectly.

Like the rose whose petals, at first folded tightly over its inner golden center, gradually unfold and open its heart to the Sun and permit its perfumed breath to pour forth upon the air, so must religion follow the same Law of Change (growth). The “air” of mankind which religion must perfume is composed of the principles and ideals which it inbreathes and which vitally affect the spiritual, moral and social health of the nations. Air, when illumined and vitalized by the rays of the Sun, becomes to the physical universe the very breath of God, whose Voice pronounced the Word that was made flesh. Sunshine and air have been essential factors in the formation of all flesh since the beginning, but air, too, must change or it becomes “dead air” and often poisonous.

The inner mystical truths upon which the outer forms — creeds and ceremonies—of all religions are built remain unchanged throughout the ages, for they are spiritual verities eternal in the heavens. But the outer forms which veil and only partially express them must evolve, and should grow ever more transparent that the Inner Radiance of Divine Truth may shine through more brightly to illumine the minds of men and reveal all the Divine Truth that it is possible for man’s spiritual unfoldment in each age to grasp.

If, instead of evolving and more clearly revealing its Inner Radiance, a religion becomes materialized through adherence to the letter of its man-made dogmas and creeds, then it ultimately disintegrates and disappears, after having served its purpose for a cycle, as though blown away by the winds of heaven. But if it is willing to modify its former conceptions, its Inner Radiance will illumine the heart and mind of someone, or of many, to break through the crust of misconception and materialization which has gathered around it, that new conceptions of its vital truths may shine forth in forms suited to the New Age.

Thus do all religions have their reformers and regenerators. And the old forms of expression drop away as the petals of a rose which has spent its life-force fall to the ground, although its Inner Radiance still persists, either as a seed of a new rose or is indrawn into the bush that it may manifest greater beauty and fragrance in another, or perhaps several more blossoms on the same bush. Therefore, the crying need of religion today is to put forth new blossoms from the same Eternal Roots of Divine Truth. For no longer can the man-made interpretations of the medieval ages satisfy either the intellect or the heart- hunger of enlightened minds of the present twentieth century, the beginning of this new Aquarian Age. Hence, if our present- day religions are to remain a vital factor in the lives of modern men and women, there must be a new and vital interpretation of the world-old spiritual principles concerning the manifestation of the Divine to man and within man, such as The Order of Christian Mystics is endeavoring to set forth.

In former ages the heat and light of the Sun were about the only forces recognized by the mass of mankind as coming from it, but today we know that the visible rays constitute only a small part of the Sun’s vital forces. Important as the visible rays are to the life of man and the planet, it is the downpouring of the invisible rays (ultra-violet, etc.) of the Inner Radiance of the Sun which penetrates to the center of the planet and there forms the four inner realms of radio-active ethers which, together with the upward-streaming rays from the various radio-active substances in the Earth itself, are the most potent and which have the most important effects upon health, vitality and growth, whether of planets, animals or men.

Just so it is with the Spiritual Sun. For although the spiritual Inner Radiance, which has manifested visibly in the various world religions and teachers, has been of great importance in the outer spiritual life of mankind, yet it is only the inner, invisible and mystical rays of the Christ-light—which has always manifested under various names, even though unrecognized and unknown by the mass of mankind—which has been the most potent force in the inner spiritual life of humanity.

And just as we have now reached an Age in which we have begun to recognize the invisible rays of the Sun and begun to understand something of how to use them for health, healing, growth and vitality, so we have reached an Age when we must recognize and learn to use through actual practice—through prayer, meditation, aspiration and radiation in speech and conduct—the invisible rays of the Spiritual Sun, the Christ-light, for our spiritual health, heal­ing, growth and vitality. For it is this, at present little known, mystical Inner Radiance of the Christ-light which must be recognized and used to bring humanity a truer understanding and fuller appreciation of the laws of Its manifestation as set forth in the Gospel story. “That Light was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” But the Light shone in the darkness of man’s incomprehension and he recognized it not, just as the invisible rays of the Sun and of radium have shone forth in the physical world for countless ages until the expansion of man’s consciousness enabled him to recognize and use—although as yet only partially—their powers.

To obtain the healing, revitalizing and regenerating effect of the Sun’s invisible rays, we must deliberately expose ourselves to the direct light of the Sun, for the healing rays are cut off if the light passes through ordinary window glass. Likewise, to obtain the regenerating, redeeming and illuminating effects of our Inner Radiance from the mighty I Am Presence within, we must have certain definite periods daily when we deliberately expose ourselves to, or bathe in, the inner mystical Christ-light or the Inner Radiance of an individualized Ray of that Eternal Being which is sent to Earth to draw all things unto Him that all may have life, and life more abundantly. Hence the vital necessity for a specific time each day for meditation, prayer and worship.

Every advance in science which results in the alleviation of the hardships, discomforts, sorrows and suffering of humanity comes, firstly, because enlightened minds have deliberately turned their attention to the unknown forces and laws of Nature and meditated upon them until they have conceived something of their possibilities and uses. Then comes the recognition of those forces and their deliberate application to the problems of humanity. In a similar way, if we wish to quicken our spiritual growth and unfoldment, we too must deliberately turn our attention to the unknown forces and laws of the spiritual life and meditate upon them.[7] In other words, just as we have solar and radium solariums in our sanitariums, so we must establish a spiritual solarium, as it were, in which we consciously bathe in the Inner Radiance of the Christ- light of the I Am Presence within.

To help us gain this realization and apply its power to our personal lives, we should visualize our Real Self, not as a finite mortal, but as a great and glorious immortal spiritual being, the mighty I Am Presence, overshadowing us and endeavoring to find ever greater and greater expression through us, according to our recognition of and response to His divine guidance. We should picture Him so radiant with the spiritual emanations of His divinity that He is bathed in a dazzling white light which pours down over us, fills our aura and thus surrounds us with its snowy whiteness, much as though we were encased in a giant bottle of snowy white glass. Every time we visualize this ideal of our Real Self and reach up in aspiration to and correlate with its divine reality, we enlarge the channel through which that Inner Radiance can descend into our human personality. There its presence will help us to overcome our limitations, redeem our mistakes, illumine our minds and fill our lives with its radio-active emanations, so that we will unconsciously be a blessing to all we contact, just as the perfume of the rose unconsciously delights all who contact it.

As we make a practice of this we will gradually begin to recognize and respond to many invisible rays of spiritual light, life and truth which formerly were unknown and unsuspected by us. Once we recognize them we will be able to apply these forces as health, happiness, spiritual uplift and unfoldment in our lives and radiate them to others, thus helping to counteract, and ultimately entirely banish, the seemingly inevitable ills of mankind. Thus will we manifest not only physical health and intellectual growth, but spiritual health and intellectual illumination which will make our lives spiritually radio-active. And thus will the Inner Radiance shine forth in blessing upon all mankind because we have removed the swaddling clothes that obscured the Christ-light within; because we are unfolding new petals on the Rose of Life, and we have begun to bring the Inner Radiance into visible manifestation in joy, health, power and happiness in our outer lives.

Chapter II

THE GOD MAN

“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”/ John V, 18-19.

“God is in us of a truth.” / Corinthians, XIV, 25.

“Thus every mortal has his immortal counterpart, or rather his Archetype, in heaven. This means that the former is indissolubly united to the latter, in each of his incarnations, and for the duration of the cycle of births.” The Key to Theosophy, Blavatsky, 59.

The object of physical existence is still one of the greatest mysteries for most of humanity, even in these days of great scientific advance and enlightenment. But it is still a mystery only because the attention of the most progressive minds of the world has been focused on material things, problems and aims in the world outside of the Self, instead of being focused within to find out what the Self really is and its object in manifesting in the physical world.

In these days of turmoil, of uncertainty and of wavering faith, of growing antagonism and even atheism, the understanding of this mystery is of far more importance to our Soul-growth and even to our worldly welfare than any amount of information on psychic or occult topics, however informative and intellectually interesting they may be.

The fundamental concept for us all to realize and firmly establish in our minds is that we are essentially Spiritual

Beings here and now, as much so as we will ever be; that we have nothing to do with Earth conditions except when we come down from our heavenly home to manifest for a few short years in this world of matter. But when we are once incarnated in these bodies of flesh, we so lose the memory of our heavenly home and who we really are that we often manifest so little of our Real or Divine Self or I Am Presence that we seem to be but mortals instead of Immortals, and seem to be limited to the functions of the bodily organism in which we find ourselves.

This feeling arises because of our lack of proper training and teaching as to the difference between the human personality and the Real Self which is striving to find expression through it. Most persons have, therefore, never really conceived of the fact that the Real Self of us is an individualized Ray of the Divine, and therefore necessarily is made in the image and after the likeness of God or the sevenfold Elohim; an actual emanation from or particle of the Godhead that has been consciously projected from Himself for the purpose of manifesting Himself in individuality in the worlds of matter and form. Since we are His direct emanations we naturally contain all the potencies and powers of the Godhead, such as the God-consciousness to grasp and understand the truth which shall make us free from the bonds of ignorance and illusion, the Divine Will to manifest that Truth, the Divine Love to cherish and bring it forth, and the Divine Life to vitalize and establish it as a living power in our lives.

We must therefore never for a moment entertain the old medieval conception that we are worms of the dust, poor miserable sinners, weak human creatures, mere human animals. For we are far more than animals, more even than human beings. Instead of piteously praying for God to come down and save us from the results of our own ignorance, mistakes and selfishness, we must realize that God is right here all the time now, within us as the God Man, made in His image and after His likeness. Hence God does not need to come down. He merely needs to be recognised within and be allowed to manifest without. As our text says: We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not.”

We are indeed Sons and Daughters of God, children of the Most High, who are seeking to manifest our Divine Selfhood here on Earth through bodies of flesh. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.”[8] Even if the God Man within is as yet only in the babe stage of His unfoldment and manifestation, He nevertheless is filled with the love, the power and the glory of the Divine. And the more we meditate upon Him and strive to express His divine qualities, the more He grows in His power to manifest them through us and guide our personality. There is therefore nothing that cannot be accomplished in His name if we realize in all its intensity, in the depths of our hearts, that we, the Real Self, are Divine here and now; that we are Gods in the process of manifestation in matter. Hence the ancient axiom: “Men are mortal gods and gods are immortal men.”

However, some may ask: Where does the animal part of us come in? Here we must realize clearly that the animal part is not us, is not the Real Self, the God Man. We possess an animal body not because we are the highest type of animal, but because it is a highly evolved physical instrument which is absolutely necessary for the God Man to manifest through in this world of form and matter. [9] It is given to us so that when we reach the stage of unfolding consciousness wherein we recognize our Divinity, when we realize that we are more than mere animals, more than mere mortals; that we are truly Sons and Daughters of God; when we realize our power to reach up in consciousness to the throne of our Father, to become one with Him, to feel His love and His power and His blessing filling us, then we will have a perfected and trained instrument through which to manifest our Sonship and Daughtership here on Earth, even as it is done in heaven. Thus shall our life on Earth become a mirror of our celestial life.

But how are we to perfect our human instrument so that the God Man can manifest through it? First, we must recognize that the animal nature, with all its passions, appetites and desires, has been fashioned and given to us by the Father for our use.2 It is therefore not to be despised or ill-treated. For there is nothing that He has made, from the lowest one-celled microscopic organism up to man, or from the sands of the seashore up to galaxies of blazing suns, that has not a manifestation of His divinity within it, whether seen or unseen, whether understood or not understood by us. Hence, we should think of everything we contact on Earth as being a partial manifestation of God. By so doing we can gain a greater understanding of God and a greater power to help us manifest the God Man within.

For there is nothing manifested that is not made by God, except the inharmonious, impure and abominable things which are created by man through the perversion of his creative powers of mind and body because of his ignorance, his disobedience to the inner guidance, and his selfishness and perverse wickedness. Every thought we think and every word we utter creates after its kind in some realm. [10] It either adds to the inharmony and misery of the world or it helps humanity onward and upward, and it also sinks down into the lower kingdoms and blesses and lifts them up. Hence there must be no refusal to face anything, no denial of obvious facts or of the existence to us of the things that our senses report, but a willingness to see and recognize each manifestation for what it is and either use it, learn a lesson from it or pass it by as the God Man within may direct.

Realizing our real, Divine Nature and our power to transcend and control our animal self, we must strive in every way to train and perfect and uplift it by radiating and ex­pressing in our daily lives the powers and forces that come from the God Man within: our highest aspirations, our intuitions, our highest thoughts and ideals, so that their radioactive power will refine and make the animal nature and the whole human personality more and more responsive to the God Man within. Thus will the lower nature and all its faculties be purified, uplifted and glorified to their highest uses in the service of the God Man for His manifestation on Earth.

But the manifestation must be from the Divine within, radiating and expressing outwardly. No amount of assumed or outward show of religion or pretence or claim of spiritual advance, no hypocrisy or self-delusion, can long cover up or conceal the real character or stage of unfoldment of the God Man within.

Each person unconsciously but inevitably reveals his stage of unfoldment in his outer conduct. Daily, hourly, in every act of life and in all our contacts with others we evidence and prove the degree of our realization and manifestation of the God Man within.

It is comparatively easy to demonstrate our God-consciousness and our God-powers in the higher, finer realms whose substance is so immediately responsive to our every thought. But we can only complete the full cycle of expression of the God Man by demonstrating His characteristics and powers in the dense and relatively unresponsive conditions of Earth-life, and thereby gain the rudiments of self-knowledge through the physical senses. It is therefore both our duty and our privilege to learn to utilize our divine powers of will, wisdom and love here in the physical world. And since we are Sons and Daughters of God we must learn to live like Gods; must practice thinking and speaking and acting as near as we can imagine Gods would do here and now.

We must strive to manifest that absolute poise which results from an inner quietude. Manifest serenity under all conditions because of our realization of our high destiny: manifest self-control because the Real Self controls: pa­tience and no need for hurry because we realize the timelessness of Eternity in which we live; purity because of mastery of the flesh: radiant health without because of Life Divine within: cheerfulness and happiness because of our inner joy: kindliness of speech and act because of our great love: a melodious voice because it has lost its power to wound:[11] a quizzical humour because of our understanding of man’s foolishness: tolerance because of man’s ignorance: courage because of a realization of our immortality: a soft answer that turneth away wrath because we do not respond to inharmony and realize man’s spiritual childishness: words and deeds of helpfulness and comfort because of our great compassion and our desire to help others: unselfishness and charity because of our inner store of riches. The necessity for demonstrating the degree of our unfoldment in our daily conduct was clearly recognized by that illumined leader and founder of Quakerism, George Fox. He and his followers believed that the visible “signs” of the inward grace must be manifested outwardly. In every act of life they kept in mind the necessity of evidencing the real, positive proof of their realization of the God Man within, which they gained by meditation upon Him in regular periods of silence and communion with Him. It was not alone the manifestation of His power from within which carried them through persecution and martyrdom, that so puzzled and baffled their persecutors. It was their unfailing kindness, their gentleness in word and act, their courtesy, their tender care of the weak and ailing, their uncompromising stand against all inharmony and sin, even the mildest forms of wrongdoing, which demonstrated the power of the God Man within to guide them in the practical affairs of daily life. Theirs was the strength of gentle non-resistance, yet none could be so staunch and unyielding when faced with a question of principle or faith. No personal sac­rifice was too great, no suffering was too much, no imprisonment or persecution half so terrible in their eyes as to lack courage and fail to live up to the Divine Guidance of the God Man within as revealed to them through prayer and meditation. And we can do no better today than to emulate that attitude of mind and that daily practice of the presence of God in our lives.

To the extent that we recognize and correlate with the God Man within, the more we feel the warmth of His burning love, the more we feel His sympathy for all mankind, the more we realize His Christ-consciousness, the more do we respond to and radiate His qualities and forces to the upliftment and blessing of all we contact. For the more we are blessed by a realization of His God- powers within, the more we are able to bless, help, comfort and enlighten others. As we respond to the harmony and joy of His presence within, so will we be gloriously happy, kind, poised and serene under all conditions. We will thus be a shining example of what humanity, as manifestations of the God Man, should be: not by seeking to dominate others or to compel them to be or do what we think is right, but by inspiring them to manifest their own God Man within.

We must remember that this physical world is the realm in which we must learn to demonstrate our divine characteristics, just as a violin factory, wherein the material instrument is manufactured, is necessary before the musician can demonstrate the Soul-rapture of his musical genius. Our short visit to this Earth-plane should therefore be regarded as a great privilege, another opportunity to manifest as much of the God Man within as we have been able to unfold during all our previous incarnations.

But the God Man within cannot force us to follow His guidance nor can He manifest within us against our will. He therefore must have, first, our recognition of His presence within, and then our glad and willing obedience and help, so that He may find expression in and through our daily lives. For even God and His Archangels cannot manifest in the human kingdom except through us as Their instruments of expression. They are our Archetypes and we Their counterparts, Their mystic shrines, temples of the Living God. If we make mistakes, if we give way to temptation or to impure or destructive thoughts or words, nevertheless the God Man is still within us, but crucified by and suffering from all the inharmonies of our creation. He does not condemn or scold us, but speaks to us in the Still Small Voice.

As we recognize our mistakes and strive to correct and redeem them. He holds out His hands in love and says: “Come unto Me and I will give you rest and peace. I will give you My power to overcome. Only ask for it. Only take it and use it to master the personality and make it your servant. For the uplifting of humanity and all the lower kingdoms is a mighty task and I need your help. Come and help Me to uplift and bless all manifested things. Thus will you become My Chosen Ones. Thus will you learn to manifest Me, your Real Self, the God Man within.”[12] Then will we be able to demonstrate that; “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men,” as the people of Lycaonia said of Paul and Barnabas.[13]

Chapter III

AS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH

“As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man . . . . until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. . . . Likewise also was it in the days of Lot; . . . . the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” St. Luke, XVII, 26-30.

Everything in the universe finds expression in rhythmic waves of cyclic expression: periods of outgoing into manifestation and indrawal into obscuration and rest. History therefore ever tends to repeat itself in greater or lesser cycles. Nations, peoples and races tend to pass through similar conditions, especially toward the close of their greater and lesser cycles. And just as at the close of the cycle of the year all Nature passes through the disagreeable conditions of rain, mud, frost and snow, as a result of the storms of the closing cycles of the year, so do nations and humanity as a whole have to pass through similar conditions of stress and strain at the close of their respective seasons or cycles. This is due both to planetary and to national causes. Through their cyclic revolutions the planets periodically tend to return to their former relations to each other and therefore tend to subject this Earth and its humanity to conditions similar to those which obtained in previous ages when the planets formed the same combinations and relationships with each other and with the Earth.

Astrologers tell us that as the Sun (in 1931) was in adverse aspect to Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter, and especially as Saturn was afflicting Uranus, it tended to retard all progress. Such combinations have a very adverse influence both upon finance and labor as well as upon agriculture. Hence we are now experiencing planetary influences which tend to bring about “hard times,” unemployment, financial depression and panics, as well as unusual storms, droughts, floods, crop failures and famines. These generally adverse influences did not cease until Saturn passed out of the thrifty but earthbound sign of Capricorn into the airy but erratic sign Aquarius on November 20th, 1932, although they were modified for the better by the benign rays of Jupiter, the planet of finance, when it passed out of Leo into Virgo on August 11, 1932. But since astrology teaches that we should “rule our stars,” instead of passively and helplessly giving way to their influences as if they were fate, the results are greatly intensified by man’s personal reaction to the planetary influences, that is, whether he gives way to them or utilizes them for his learning and his ongoing.

The most important factor, therefore, in such unusually upset conditions of humanity as we find at present is the individual and collective Karma which man himself has created in the past and has not entirely redeemed. This unredeemed Karma naturally accumulates toward the end of the greater and lesser cycles, at which time it must be faced and redeemed or it will overwhelm all those whose personal advance has not enabled them to learn their lessons and thus escape participating in any but the general or racial Karma. As the combinations of planetary aspects and influences are now similar to those which existed at the close of the former great cycles in the days of Noah and of Lot, humanity is facing a similar crisis.

Again today we see “that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . . The Earth also was corrupt before God, and the Earth was filled with violence . . . . for all flesh has corrupted his way upon the Earth.”[14] And since the great mass of mankind today will not listen to the prophets of this age any more than they did to Noah and to the angels who came to Lot, similar cataclysms[15] must take place to cleanse the Earth and prepare for the new and spiritually advanced conditions of the incoming Aquarian age of Altruism. “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” For only so can humanity be cleansed, awakened and prepared for the greatest event in the two-thousand-year cycle of the Aquarian Age, namely, the descent and manifestation of the Christ as the coming Avatar.[16]

Noah symbolizes those illumined ones or prophets of the Lord who are able to hear His voice and give out His loving counsel and helpful warnings to mankind. Those “of the household of Noah” are all those who are willing to listen and heed the words of the many modern prophets of the Lord in all races and languages and religions who are warning their respective peoples to prepare for great changes in the Earth and all outer conditions, as well as for the near advent of the Son of Man, whether as the reappearance of the Asiatic Rigden Jyepo in Shambhala or of the phenomenal manifestation of the Christ in America. Therefore it is most important to broadcast the Cosmic Philosophy which explains the conditions which humanity is facing, and also the how, why and when of His coming, so that this knowledge shall be the leven that shall leven all humanity and give all who will, the understanding and the help which will enable them to pass through the coming conditions in safety and help them to prepare for His coming.

It should be understood that it matters not what the Soul has done in the past or is doing today: it is still divine and is beloved of the Christ. The Great Law, therefore, metes out to every Soul not the Karma of punishment, not of ar­bitrary tests merely to wring their hearts and overwhelm them with suffering, but our Karma is apportioned by the Lords of Karma[17] to each of us so that it will act as the law of adjustment which brings to each one at just the right time that which shall ultimately awaken him to a realization of the Christ within and to his divine heritage. Or, if necessary, it may remove us from incarnation to prevent us from generating further adverse Karma until we have learned our lessons and have attained greater growth and unfoldment.

The planets come back into their same relative positions at the appointed time, not to punish mankind, but again to touch the hearts of men with their vibrations of purification and redemption and to pour out the forces needed by man to cleanse himself and his environment and creations. Only that which is not cleansed and cannot respond to the octave of vibration of the new cycle needs to be swept away and allow this little planet to pass safely through its “days of tribulation” and again prepare for the coming of the Son of Man; for planets, like nations and individuals, must be tested and proved or disintegrate and be withdrawn from manifestation.

While all planets are His temples, yet at this particular cycle this Earth has been chosen as His sanctuary in the midst of them all, because it is here that He has chosen to manifest again to teach us to recognize Him and the help He can give us to awaken us to a fuller realization that we are His children and therefore Divine, and to bring to us the memory of our heavenly home and the great mission for which we are incarnated here in the flesh. Only a God of Divine Love would create man in His image and watch over his evolution and unfoldment through the long ages of ignorance and lack of realization and mistakes until he awakened to the realization of the I Am Presence of the Christ within and learned to listen to His guidance and serve Him on Earth even as it is done in heaven.

Our Karma comes, therefore, not merely as a mechanical reaping of that which we have sown in the past, but because those past experiences have left certain tendencies, vibrations or grooves in our lives, in our characters, in our dispositions, which we must either fill up or perfect into constructive channels of expression and realization. To bring this about, some need one thing, some another. Some need “hard times,” poverty, sickness, surprising experiences, perhaps disappointment and disillusion because of the dark shadows of their past lives. But that which comes is just that which is needed to wake us up and bring to us a realization of our Real Selves and our mission on Earth.

Think you that the Lord of Love sends these things as mere punishment? As mere tests? Not so. All these things come in the greatest love. For like humanity in general, and also the planet, even His awakened ones must be cleansed and readjusted and strengthened and fitted to do their part in preparing for His coming. Although we can always contact the Christ within when we turn to Him in prayer and aspiration, ere we are worthy to greet the Coming One face to face, we must prove that we have worked out or transmuted the old Karma which so often clings to us like a vampire, sapping our spiritual and psychic life and making us far from that which we should be manifesting.

We cannot trust and rely upon Him utterly, however, until we have conquered our fears. We cannot truly believe until we have faced and conquered our doubts. We cannot have perfect health until we have been cleansed from all impurities and live in harmony with Nature’s laws. But since we know that all that comes to us is but part of our training for His service, we can pass through it willingly and understandingly. And with His help we can triumph over all our experiences, and so, from our own experience and realiza­tion, be able to help, enlighten and comfort those who are in distress and spiritual darkness around us.

The book of Revelation in the Bible is an allegorical presentation of the conditions which the world must pass through at the close of the cycle of the Fifth Great Race. And as we are now passing through the closing days of the fifth sub-race we must naturally expect to pass through similar conditions, but in a lesser degree. Many persons fear to read Revelation, both because they cannot understand its symbology and because of the many dire disasters and terrible sufferings which it outpictures as the result of the cleansing process. They therefore often fail to read the last chapter, in which there is depicted the conditions which will prevail during the Sixth and Seventh Great Races after the cleansing has been completed.

To a less perfect degree similar conditions should prevail as we enter the sixth sub-race after the cleansing of the fifth sub-race which precedes His coming. For after His coming, if the humanity that survives the cleansing will live according to the Divine Law of love, harmony, purity, brotherhood and co-operation under His guidance, then indeed “there shall be no more curse.” The results of the former curse of inharmony and impurity will have been adjusted and wiped out and humanity, having learned its lessons, will no longer generate the antagonism and inharmonies with which mankind cursed the Earth and himself during the previous cycle. Also then “there shall be no more night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the Sun; for the Lord God giveth them light.”

In other words, when we realize the light of the Christ within we will no longer struggle blindly in the darkness of spiritual ignorance, nor will we turn to the “candle” of our human intellect, nor to the authorities of the outer world which correspond to the physical Sun, for guidance; for the light of the Christ within will thenceforth light our path through life and illumine all our problems and give us the peace and happiness which should be his here and now.

But to help humanity to pass through the troublous times of the necessary cleansing which must come, and be able to enter into the new conditions of peace, love, harmony and co-operation, all those who are “of the household of Noah” must set to work seriously, now while there is yet time, to build an Ark of the Lord wherein all who will may enter and be saved. Not only are all the spiritually awakened ones needed in this great work, but also all the enlightened minds of the race; those who are leaders in science, literature, religion and art, as well as in the fields of economics, industry, politics, etc. All should be brought to realize the significance of present-day conditions and use all their talents to further the constructive working out of the revolutionary planetary changes and the results which these changes will have upon mankind. All should be made to understand that it is a great cosmic event that is being prepared for and not merely the adjustment of man’s Karma; for this is the cycle “when the Son of man shall be revealed.”

Spiritually, this Ark of safety for humanity is the spiritual aura of the Coming One, which is so vast as to include all mankind to the extent that they “tune in” to the vibratory rate of His life, love and power. Yet into His aura there is drawn the essence of all the aspirations, the loving thoughts, kind words and helpful deeds of all those who are seeking, even if ever so blindly and ignorantly, to do His will or more understandingly to prepare for His coming; in fact, the constructive forces of all who are united in the one idea of preparing both themselves and humanity for His advent Since all our spiritual vibrations are thus united in Him, to that extent we become a part of Him and He of us. Then literally “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Through such an aura of the united spiritual forces of God and man the Master can more directly reach into the hearts of mankind and help to awaken their consciousness of the Christ within and thus help to save great masses of human­ity from the suffering they would otherwise undergo during these “days of tribulation.” Those who thus respond to His presence constitute the Elect, because they have elected to follow His guidance. And it is for the Elect’s sake or because of their activities among their fellow men that we are promised that the days of tribulation shall be shortened, else there should be no flesh left alive.

In the physical world The Order of Christian Mystics can be made into a corresponding Ark—one among many such that are needed—in which all who will listen to its message will find not only a warm welcome, fellowship and encouragement, but also that comfort, peace and sense of security which comes from an understanding of the Law and the Divine Plan which is working out through the present stormy trials in their lives and the turbulent conditions in the world.

The planks of this Ark of the Order are the universal spiritual principles which its Teachings present, all indissolubly bound together with the indestructible bonds of love. Hence they embrace all kingdoms and creatures, as well as mankind. And those who will enter into this Ark and rely upon its planks and follow the guidance of its Captain will surely pass through the deep waters of these changing conditions in safety and learn the lessons of such events. Even though they may be storm-tossed and wave-bound at times, they will surely land upon the mountain top of the higher consciousness when the storm is over. Then will the dove of peace bring them the olive branch of true understanding and realization.

With this understanding we need not be dismayed if in the next few years we see even more extraordinary changes and revolutions, both in the Earth itself and in all conditions of life, than in the past few years; if we witness revolutions, new wars and what appears to be the world gone mad, turned upside down. For we will know that all this is only the process of cleansing and purifying; the painful breaking out of the diseases which have been hidden in the body of humanity during the past cycle that they may now be recognized and cured.

Since we have the planks of this Ark of Safety already sawed, planed and fashioned and ready for our use in the clear, scientific and inspiring explanations of life and the ultimate destiny of mankind and the planet, as set forth in the Teachings of this Order,

it is our duty to help to spread this understanding of life to all who will listen.

Our responsibility is therefore great, almost beyond our present comprehension. Realization of this duty and responsibility and a faithful and self-sacrificing acceptance of it “in His service” will be the measure of our love for Him. Therefore, let us all make haste to spread abroad the call of the prophets. Let us use the planks of spiritual truths to build an Ark of Safety for ourselves, for our neighbours and for all mankind. Then shall the flash of lightning that shines from the East unto the West at the time of His coming be the flash of spiritual intuition that shall reveal to us the truth of His coming and how we may serve Him in helping to succour and save all who will listen.

Chapter IV

SPIRITUAL CO-OPERATION

“In that place I beheld a fountain of righteousness which never failed, encircled by many springs of wisdom. Of these all the thirsty drank, and were filled with wisdom, having their habitation with the righteous, the elect and the holy.” The Book of Enoch, XLVIII, 1.

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” St. John, IV, 14.

At this period of manifestation, or the New Aquarian Age into which humanity is now entering, the most important question confronting all classes and all nations, in one way or another, is that of co-operation. In a vague way this is spoken of as the one thing most essential to bring peace out of discord and to harmonize the many divergent views of life and the seemingly conflicting interests of classes and nations. Yet without unselfishness and spiritual enlightenment each tends to hold tenaciously to his own idea of what co-operation means. Each is assured in his own mind that if all the rest of mankind would co-operate with his pet theory all would be well, hence the difficulty of securing practical co­operation even among those who are striving for it.

The majority of advanced thinkers admit that only true co­operation in its highest and best sense can at this time bring about a solution of the world’s problems, and such international events as the acceptance of the Dawes’ plan, the Locarno Treaty, the London Conference on the reduction of naval armaments, the Kellogg- Briand Treaty, etc., indicate a decided advance toward the practical working out of this ideal. Yet the great mass of mankind must also understand what true co-operation means; hence the need to spread a knowledge of its principles.

Because co-operation is a fundamental principle underlying the whole manifested universe, when its principles are widely understood and practiced, it will manifest peace, harmony, prosperity and plenty in its predestined and God-ordained manner among men, just as it does among the planets of the solar system, among the organs of the body and among the parts of the growing tree or plant. Let us realize then that the present individualistic and disorganized expression of thought and interaction among men and nations is abnormal, and is but a passing phase of adjustment preparatory to ushering in the New Era, just as storms and disagreeable conditions mark the transition from winter to spring.

This New Era will mark the next step in the increased unfoldment of the minds and hearts of all mankind; for by passing through the stress and strain of coming world conditions and learning their lessons, we may the more quickly develop the innate possibilities which, in the majority of mankind, are now like seeds deeply buried in the soil of the earthly or physical consciousness. Although with the great majority this development may require considerable time, just as a deeply buried seed must be left alone for a long time ere it can unfold according to the inner pattern of that which it is destined to become, yet this New Era will see an ever-increasing overshadowing of all devoted hearts and enlightened minds by the Divine Wisdom received through the spiritual faculties!

Divine Wisdom is always a God-given gift, not an intellectual attainment; for while knowledge is man’s intellectual understanding of a fact or a truth, wisdom is the inner knowing and realization of that which the intellect conceives. Hence, it is often possessed by those who have little intellectual development. On the other hand, the intellect may be highly developed—through training, study, etc.,—yet if the unfoldment of the spiritual consciousness be lacking, the intellect alone can never receive or grasp Divine Wisdom. For ‘The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”[18]

During this new springtime of humanity we are told that the time is very near when that which may be likened to an examination as to the fitness of each and all to go into the New Era will be upon us. All who can pass such a testing will be given new and greater powers and have greater responsibilities for promoting the advancement of humanity and the globe, while all who fail will have to step aside or, to continue the simile, will be dismissed from this day at school for a time until they have had an opportunity for further study elsewhere (in the higher realms) that they may come back at some future cycle when they will be better prepared to pass the examination. But with these latter we have little to do in this lesson; for we desire to give all the explanation and help possible to those earnest ones who are determined to pass their examinations and tests, and advance and help the world here and now in its time of greatest need.

As this new spiritual consciousness springs into manifestation the great Gardener of Souls must carefully train, prune and divest this spiritual growth of the many opposing parasitic forces which, like plant pests and diseases, may attack it or which may have been acquired during its gestation. Some of these adverse forces and conditions have been brought over by the individuals from past lives, perhaps even while the spiritual seed was preparing for its enfoldment, while some may have been acquired from the Earth conditions in which the seed is germinating, just as the seed of a plant may be contaminated by disease in the soil or in the very manure which has been supplied to help on its growth.

But while the above conditions are karmic, both racial and personal, there is still another karmic condition not usually known or understood which accounts for a great deal of the evil in the world and for much of the definite opposition to all things good. This is the force of evil created by the so-called “fallen” angels[19] who became the terrible sorcerers and black magicians whose monstrous iniquities caused the sinking of the continent of Atlantis. Many of these evil beings are still living in and teaching and exercising their powers from the astral world, and it is the sum-total of their evil machinations which is called the force of the Antichrist which is now having such a widespread manifestation in its effort to blot out all forms of worship and religion in Russia. It is this concentrated force of evil, which draws to itself all mankind who can be influenced by it, and forms the invisible army which consciously opposes every effort for the good, the enlightenment and the uplift of mankind put forth by the army of the Christ. And it is this army of evil forces which is today fighting the terrible Battle of Armageddon in the astral world and which is beginning to be precipitated upon the physical plane.

As we have explained elsewhere,2 the giants which were created by the unlawful and unholy relations of the fallen angels with the daughters of men—also referred to in Genesis vi—were giants not alone in stature, but also in intellect and in their control over the forces of Nature. Possessing superhuman powers, they were able to bring into manifestation on Earth many forces of tremendous power, which were withheld from the knowledge of that infant humanity, and use them to dominate, enslave or destroy mankind. And it is some of these same forces which are being rediscovered today—such as poison gas, the so-called “death ray,” etc.,—and their physical aspect only too often being used to destroy instead of uplift mankind.