Christianity
is a religion. 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 re-united
(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 external, deity is worshipped or propitiated,
and his favour 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 [Page
13] 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 defence of
a belief in a historical Christ. But such a process would
be a loss of blood, and not the inception 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, [Compare the “Elixir
of Life” in the Theosophist.] 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, [ “That
which was from the beginning”, etc — John, Epistle
I, i ] 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 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 less than what I believe every planetary spirit to be — an
emanation from the Universal Logos or Word. [This
has nothing to do with so-called “stigmatisation”,
the latter being merely the result of a strong imagination
upon a weak body]
But
what is the Logos ? or, to express it better, how can we
form a [Page
14] 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 this 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 goodwill 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 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
impurities there 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
dead, 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 more difficult
to accomplish than merely to go to church, to pay the dues
to the priest, 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 be felt only 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 to [Page
15] the "above".
We are immersed in an all-surrounding but invisible ocean,
of life, whose waves pervade our psychic organisation,
in the same sense as the 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 body 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 is true by experiment, 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 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 for ever" (John vi.
51). Now, this seems plain enough to every student of occultism,
and if translated into scientific language of modern occultists,
it would mean — "Unless you absorb and assimilate
within your psychic organisation 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 in 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 re-incarnate 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
you will 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 these 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 only
be in regard to the person of Jesus of Nazareth or Jehoshua,
and whether he lived exactly at the time claimed by the
modern Christians. This question I must leave to someone
wiser than myself; 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 Saviour
to us at present, if we study His character and imitate
His example.