Christianity is a religion, but the word “religion” has evidently three distinct meanings:
1. In the first place it signifies the practice of a certain kind of
spiritual training, by which the higher principles in the constitution of man
are developed and reunited (bound back) to the divine source to which they
belong. In this sense it is the same as yogism
(from yog, to bind).
2. In the second aspect it implies the knowledge of the true relation existing
between microcosmic man as a part of the All and the macrocosm of the spiritual
and material universe. In this sense it is a science.
3. In the third and common acceptation of the term, “religion” means a
certain system of forms, ceremonies and usages, by which some supposed eternal
deity is worshipped or propitiated and his favor obtained, so that the sinner
may escape the deserved punishment and evade the law. In this sense it is a
superstition.
To become a “Christian” of the third
order, it is merely necessary to submit to a certain ceremony called baptism,
whose mode of administration varies in the different sects; but it seems that
to become a real Christian some other baptism is necessary, namely, the baptism
of the water of Truth, the baptism of
Blood, and the baptism of the living Fire of the Spirit.
The first baptism, with the water of Truth, means the attainment of spiritual
knowledge, and corresponds to the first of the four noble truths taught by Buddha:
“right doctrine.”
The second, or the baptism of blood, is commonly supposed to mean a
shedding of blood by martyrdom, in the defense of a belief in a historical
Christ. But such a process would be a loss of blood and not a reception of it,
and could not properly be called a “baptism.” The best way to obtain
information in regard to this “baptism of blood,” will be to ask those who have
received it or who are receiving it at present.
There is a certain class of “practical
occultists,” whose inner senses are opened to a great extent, and who have been
taught by no one but the spirit within themselves and their own experience. They
say that the “baptism of blood” means a penetration of the growing spiritual
germ in man, through the flesh and blood and 'bones of the physical body, by which
even the gross elements of the physical form are attenuated and purified,(1) and that this process produces
pains and sufferings, typically represented by the suffering, crucifixion and
death of the man Jesus of Nazareth.
They say that no one can be a true
follower of Christ, or a “real Christian,” who has not undergone this baptism
of blood, and experienced the pains of crucifixion,(2) but that man having passed through that
occult process becomes an Adept, when only the highest baptism (or the last
initiation) —the baptism of Fire— will be necessary to enter the highest
attainable state (Spiritual Power), and to become a Son of Light.
But, it is asked, what has Jesus of
Nazareth to do with that process?
How does the latter come to be
typified by his suffering, and what is the rationale of it?
It is claimed that at the beginning
of certain historical periods, when old religious truths are about to be forgotten,
and the idolatry of form assumes the place of true religion, some great spirit
(planetary) appears upon the Earth, incarnated into a human form, and by his
word and example impresses the old truths forcibly upon a number of receptive minds,
to communicate them to others, and thus lay the foundation of a new religious
system, embodying old truths in a new form.
It is believed that the man Jesus of
Nazareth was the mortal form in which such a Spirit was embodied; the latter
being no le.-s than what I believe every planetary spirit to be — an emanation
of the Universal Logos or the Word.
(John i, 1) (3)
But what is the Logos?
Or, to express it better, how can we
form a conception of it?
We can conceive of no other God (or
Supreme Good) but the one which lives within ourselves, and which is said to be
the image of the Universal God reflected in the purified human soul, where it
(He) may attain self-consciousness and the knowledge of self.
The Universal God may be described
as the incomprehensible centre from which proceed the elements of Love, Life
and Light in the various modes of manifestation on the different planes. The
whole of Nature is a product of the Spirit of God, being poured out throughout
the All by the power of The Word, which is the Life — or thought rendered
active by will.
The same process which took place in
the eternal Macrocosm of the Universe, takes place in the inner world belonging
to the microcosm of man.
“No one can come to the Father, but
through the Son.”
That is to say: No God will take his seat in the interior temple of Man, except through the power of the Word — in other words; by the concentration of thought and good will upon the divine germ which rests in the innermost centre of every human being. If we concentrate our Love upon that centre of Good, the divine germ will begin its active Life, and the interior world will gradually become illuminated by the Light of the spirit.
As this principle grows, it will
penetrate the soul and through the soul all the lower principles, even the
physical body, throwing off the impurities of soul and body, and the more such
impurities are present, the greater will be the suffering, typically
represented by Jesus, until finally the baptism
of blood is completed, the soul purified, the animal ego controlled and the
man has become a “Christ’’ or an Adept, — that is to say one in whom the (6th)
Christ principle has taken form.
It will readily be seen that this
process is much more difficult to accomplish, than merely to go to church, pay
the dues to the priests, attend to prayer-meetings and perform the prescribed
ceremonies.
To accomplish this process requires
a constant meditation of the highest kind, and a continual employment of will
power to keep away the disturbing elements of evil, which in a person who
strives for light are still more boisterous than in one who is indifferent, for
as soon as the spiritual light kindled in the centre begins to radiate its
life-giving rays throughout our interior world, the “dwellers of the threshold” — the evil egos, created by evil
thoughts and selfish desires, floating at the periphery of the soul-sphere like
clouds sailing through the atmosphere of our earth, begin to feel the
destroying influence of the central sun and battle for their existence.
Still this atmosphere of evil must
be penetrated before we can reach the luminous centre and the tranquil heaven
within, and this is done by clinging to the principle of Good and virtue whose
rays radiate from the centre. This principle will at first only be felt
intuitionally but as we feed it with good thoughts, it grows and the interior spiritual
senses become opened, so that we may see and hear its voice distinctly and
without any fear of misunderstanding its meaning.
The “below” is always in exact
correspondence to and related with the “above.” We are immersed in an all
surrounding but invisible ocean of life, whose waves pervade our psychic organization,
in the same sense as volumes of air enter our lungs, and as the latter stimulates
the life of the body, likewise the former stimulates the growth of the elements
of the spirit; which draw their substance from the lower animal principles. In
the same way the caloric rays of the sun enter the bodies of plants and
stimulate the assimilation of the elements which are drawn from earth, water
and air.
Those who have gone through that
occult process, will require no proof of the truth of these assertions: because
they know it to be true by experience; but the “exoteric Christian” and
sceptic, having no such experience to assist his faith, may arrive at a certain
degree of conviction by using his reasoning powers and logic in conjunction
with the teachings of the Bible.
Christ is reported in the New Testament to have said:
- “Except Ye eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in You.” (John vi, 53)
And again:
- “I am the living bread, which came
down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever” (John
vi, 51)
Now this seems plain enough to every
student of occultism, and if translated into the scientific language of modern
occultists, it would mean:
« Unless you absorb and
assimilate within your psychic organization the sixth principle (The Christ),
which is the only permanent and immortal principle in the constitution of Man,
you will have no sixth principle developed within you, and consequently possess
no immortal life — at least as far as Your personality is concerned (for the
divine and now unconscious germ within you cannot die, but will reincarnate again).
But if you absorb the principle or
spiritual life and develop the spirit within you, so that it grows through your
flesh and blood, then will you have drunk from the Elixir of Life and received the Baptism
of Blood and become a Christian (an Adept); for "Christ" will have taken form
in your body, and being himself immortal you will be immortal through him. »
These views are corroborated by the
great Christian mystic Jacob Boehme, by Jane Leade, Paracelsus, the
Rosicrucians, and I can find nothing in them which would in any way conflict
with the Esoteric Doctrine, as taught by the Eastern Adepts. If any difference
in opinion could arise, it could be only, in regard to the person of Jesus o f
Nazareth or Jehoshua, and whether he lived exactly at the time claimed by modern
Christians.
This question I must leave to some
one wiser than myself to settle; but it seems of no great importance to me; for
the existence of the Christ-principle is disputed by none, and the man, Jesus —having
died— can only be a Savior to us at present, if we study his character and
imitate his example.
Notes
- Compare the article “The Elixir of Life” in The Theosophist.
- This has nothing whatever to do with so-called “stigmatization”, the latter being merely the result of u string imagination upon a weak body.
- That which was from the beginning,” etc.
(Path, March 1887, p.355-359; reprinted in Theosophical Siftings, 1888, v.1, p.12)
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