14 365
modifications
« Initiation » : différence entre les versions
aucun résumé des modifications
Aucun résumé des modifications |
Aucun résumé des modifications |
||
| Ligne 2 : | Ligne 2 : | ||
({{init}}) | ({{init}}) | ||
---- | |||
INITIATION | |||
— | |||
LESSON 57 | |||
Much bas been written by the uninitiated concerning the Initiates and | |||
the Greater Mysteries, of which the writers are entirely ignorant. Naught | |||
but spiritual blindness could excuse one of ordinary intelligence for failing | |||
to perceive the absurdity of placing any credence in such palpably | |||
contradictory statements as are handed out for the mental delectation of the | |||
curious. Notwithstanding the fact that it is claimed in one paragraph that | |||
an Initiate must be an epitome of all Truth, [141] Wisdom, Faithfulness | |||
and Power, perhaps the following paragraph will picture that Initiate as | |||
imparting to all who may desire it, regardless of their good or evil | |||
proclivities, their unbelief or intellectual development, a description of | |||
some initiatory ceremony – or an offer to lead for mere pelf, whosoever | |||
will comply with their demands, to the heights of Initiation. Until man bas | |||
evinced the possibility of keeping his body free from sins of | |||
voluptuousness, his mind free from hatred for his kind, his soul capable of | |||
faithfulness to his Higher Self, he might with just as much surety of | |||
fulfillment expect the sun to be given him for a pleasure boat. Countless | |||
half-imbeciles ponder over such trash, hand over their hardly won means | |||
of livelihood, and follow the trail made by innumerable others as foolish | |||
and reckless as themselves, utterly ignoring the still small voice that is | |||
calling to them to stop and think of the great gulf that must inevitably exist | |||
between them as they now are, and one who bas reached a height so | |||
immeasurably far above them that they could get only a faint glimmering | |||
of the possibilities of such an eminence if they were to stretch their | |||
imaginations to the breaking point ; and then to consider what probability | |||
could possibly exist that a voluptuary, a traitor, a liar, a blasphemer, would | |||
be able to guide their footsteps through the mazes of the evolutionary | |||
stages which must be passed ere that height could be reached. Ah, my | |||
children, do not deceive yourselves, or permit others to deceive you ; be | |||
honest with your own souls ; face the fact that notwithstanding your divine | |||
possibilities, you are full of weaknesses and evil desires, even if you do | |||
not outwardly yield to such desires ; that you still wear the filthy garment | |||
you have been long ages in weaving about you ; and be brave enough to | |||
acknowledge the truth to yourselves, humble enough to perceive your | |||
unworthiness, and great enough to commence the preparation of the | |||
groundwork upon which you hope to build the edifice, the upper story of | |||
which will reach the heavens. | |||
No intelligent person will criticise unfavorably your desire, your | |||
longing to reach such heights as you may be able mentally to contemplate, | |||
for such contemplation is not only a rainbow of promise, but also an | |||
assurance of the certainty of attainment. | |||
No group of disciples of the White Lodge was ever admitted to | |||
probation to a higher degree of the Lodge at one time. Alone Man carne | |||
into the world, alone he must leave it, whether it be by the Path of death or | |||
Initiation, and the same great power that presided over his birth must | |||
preside over his Initiation, whether such Initiation be brought about by the | |||
power and effect of the Hierophant of the degree he bas reached, or by the | |||
Chela's coming face to face with his own soul on those heights of which I | |||
have spoken. Be assured, for [142] I tell you true – you may be led to the | |||
foot of the steps of the great Initiation Stair by one empowered and fitted | |||
for such leading, but when You have reached that stair you must pass the | |||
Guardian of the Threshold alone, and if it were possible for you to pass it | |||
while yet encumbered with your weaknesses, while yet enfolded in the | |||
ragged filthy garment you clutch so greedily now, the Stair would give | |||
way under your weight, and you would be plunged to the depths of Hades | |||
[in some of the courts of which you are now existing, all unknown to your | |||
lower selves]. My heart yearns over you with love past telling. I stretch out | |||
my arms to you in beseeching while I bid you set about making that | |||
ground-work now. Make it possible for yourselves to reach Adonai's feet | |||
by passing successfully through the primary degrees. | |||
A form or ceremony is but an expression in matter of the reality in | |||
spirit, and unless you have attained to the reality, the form will profit you | |||
nothing. If any man had power to whisper in your ear the great Creative | |||
Word, the word which would make you more than man, you could not | |||
hear and understand that Word while a trace of that which had hitherto | |||
deafened your ears and stultified your understanding remained. It is not | |||
words or forms you require so much, but thoughts embodied in deeds that | |||
will unite you to the source of all power, and make it possible for you to | |||
keep the obligations assumed in such outer ceremonies. | |||
{{hil}} | |||
{{eso}} | |||