PART III.

THE LOGOS.
*' In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John i. i,
THIS sentence, with which the author of the fourth Gospel commences his discourse, strikes the key-note of the esotericism of the Christian Scriptures ; it is the connecting link between the exoteric narrative of Genesis, the inner meaning of which we have already traced to some extent, and the exoteric narrative of the Gospel, beneath which we must now endeavour to penetrate.
But this sentence is something more than the key-note of the Christian Scriptures, it is the key- note of the esoteric doctrine of all ages and all systems ; and when we find it used thus by the author of the fourth Gospel, we recognise at once the pass-word of the Initiate; and applying the esoteric key, we read clearly where others grope and falter. For when our author proceeds to iden- tify the Logos with the Christos, under cover of an
1 16 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
historical narrative concerning the personal Jesus of Nazareth, we are prepared at once to interpret that narrative as a key to man's (to our own) outer physical historical nature in its relation to his inner spiritual and divine nature, and the relation of the latter to that divine principle — the ' Father ', the Atman, the eternal ONE — to THAT, incomprehensible, immutable, eternal, in which, and through which, and by which all things live, and move, and have their being.
We have already seen, in our study of Genesis, what are the various aspects of the ever-con- cealed ' Causeless Cause ' in its first emanations or manifestations. We have seen that this must necessarily appear as a trinity, the first and second Logoi, — * Father-Mother ', or Spirit-Substance — producing by their inter-action the phenomenal world, which is the third Logos, or the ' Son '. Yet these three are ONE. Neither can exist without the other. Each is an aspect, 2i persona, of the one ' Rootless Root '.
This mystery of the one in three aspects, of the infinite, indivisible, and eternal, becoming the finite, phenomenal, and temporary, repeats itself *' as above so below *' ; so that in the minutest subdivision, in every ' atom ', we see the faith- ful copy or reflection of the whole ; nay, what could we expect to find in that ' atom * but the whole Itself; for could we fix our waver- ing mind in concentration upon that ' atom ',
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which to us is but an abstract mathematical
point, it would expand into the infinite All.
We may resort for a moment to our geometrical
symbology to illustrate this. The three Logoi are
symbolised by the / \ . This is the divine
trinity, and includes the whole universe, manifested and unmanifested, or objective and subjective. But when we regard the universe from the point of view of our normal consciousness, this divine trinity appears to be above and beyond us, it belongs to the subjective world. How then shall we repre- sent the objective world ? All things, we have seen, are a copy or reflection of the whole, and the objective world must therefore be represented symbolically as a reflection of the divine trinity. This is done in the symbol of the interlaced triangles. The divine triangle reflects itself down- ward, so to speak, into matter, where it appears in an inverted form. But since the two are not really separate, but interblended. — the separation being due to our finite and limited perceptions — they are represented as interlaced; and the upper one is usually represented as light or spirit, the reflect- ed one as dark, or matter. These taken together make six, and with a point in the centre, or a circle circumscribing the whole,we have the seventh, the synthesis
1 1 8 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
of the six. *
Now consider for a moment what is our objec- tive view of the universe. We are situated, so far as our physical perceptions are concerned, at the apex of the lower triangle, that apex being turned downward. The result is that we look upward or outward, and see nothing but infinite expansion in every direction ; from our point of view the two sides of the triangle expand to infinity. And if we look down or inward we find nothing but
infinite contraction ; the two sides of the
triangle meet in a mathematical point of no dimen- sions, beyond which we cannot pass even in imag- ination, just as we cannot stretch our imagination to the outermost limits of space. Consider further that everything that comes into objective existence on this plane of consciousness, makes its appear-
* Those \N ho have some difficulty in harmonising this symbol with that of the which has already been
given as the symbol of the third Logos, or manifested world, may remember that the four consists of the
with the / \ taken as one instead of three. Theie symbols must not be hardened, but used only as aids.
THE LOGOS
"9
ance through this mathematical point, the inverted apex of the triangle, and expands and grows there- from. If we take ' matter ' we find it built up from this point, which scientists cal! the atom, though no one as ever seen it physically, and though it reduces itself to a mere metaphysical abstraction when strictly examined. If we take ' life ' we find it originating also at a point ; at the nucleole within the nucleus of a single cell. From that nucleole it becomes active and potent on our plane of matter, spreading out on all sides the differen- tiating and formative impulse, and ever working from within outwards.
Does it not suggest itself, therefore, that if we luld get at the root and source of our life and being, we must look inward not outward ; we must pass through that mysterious point from which it originates. That point is the laya point of occult- ism, the laya centre which exists on every plane. And see how our symbolism lends itself to the idea. For the lower triangle being the reflection of the higher, the apex of the one corresponds to the apex of the other ; and when we pass through the apex of the lower, the phenomenal, we find it xpands into the infinite life of the higher, the noumenal and real. For the phenomenal is but the inayavic reflection of the noumenal on the " waters of space ".
What then is ' space '? It is to our sense perceptions the " great illusion ", the viaha-maya
I20 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
It gives rise to the " great heresy ", the sense of separateness. Nor is there any clearer demonstration of the nature of this illusion, than in those exoteric systems of religion which for ever separate Man and God ; which are for ever looking upward and outward, if happily they may thereby approach nearer to the throne of God ; which seek for the kingdom of heaven in time and in space, and speak ever of the mysteries of that kingdom in terms of the illusive life of sense.
Outward forms, outward ceremonies, outward prayers, these in all ages make up the exoteric religion of those who worship in the outer courts of the temple. But where to-day in the Christian Church is the Priest-Initiate, who can pass into the inner sanctuary, who can in his turn initiate those who are prepared to pass beyond the exoteric forms ? Aye, there was a time, and shall be again, when the Priest was also the high Initiate, when the nations were ruled by the divine King-Initiates. All that has passed away in the darkness of the Kali Yuga, and remains but as mere tradition of prehistoric races.
' ' The kingdom of Heaven is within you*\ Is it not time that the Christian Church began to understand and teach this doctrine of Jesus and of Paul, this doctrine of the Initiates in all ages? ** He that loseth his life shall find it ", is another of those hard sayings which only the Mystic can under- stand ; and, so surely as this is true of the individ-
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ual, it is also true of the race, of the community, of the Church. That Church whose whole efforts, whose whole teaching is based on the salvation of the individual, can never be the gate through which we may pass into a realisation of, and idert' tity withy that ONE LIFE which containeth all, of whom all things are an expression, to whom there is no great and no small, no mean and no noble, no good and no evil : for all things are its very
Self.
Let us glance now at the idea which the Logos represents, as being the divine ' Son ', the mani- festation of the divine • Father'; that ever-conceal- ed ' Causeless Cause ', which no mati hath seen or can see at any time.
Any attempt to rest the Christian doctrine of the divinity of Christ as the Logos upon the histor- ical foundation of the New Testament, must be as futile as that which would rest the origin and evolu- tion of the world upon the literal narrative of Gene- sis. The use of the term Logos or Word comes to us from the ancient Greek Philosophers, and more especially from the teachings of Plato. The idea, however, is of far older origin, and means some- thing more in esoteric philosophy and in occultism than that of a spoken word as being the expression or manifestation of a thought. It is intimately connected with the occult power of sound, and with the potencies of the akdsa, whose one charac- teristic, we are told in the Secret Doctrine, is that
122 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
of sound. It is sufficient, however, for our pur- pose here, to take the mere exoteric meaning, and to attach to it the idea of the manifested universe being the Logos or Word of God, in the sense that it is the expression of the divine thought ; it is the divine thought uttering itself in an objective form.
But it is something more than the creative idea, or the creative Word, thought or uttered '* in the beginning. " It is a continued and active potency, an ever present reality, sustaining and upholding all things. Thus the German Mystic Eckhart says : " If God were to cease from this speaking of the Word, even for one moment, Heaven and Earth would vanish. ** And again : '* He who standeth at all times in a present now, in him doth God the Father bring forth his Son without ceasing " *. Thus also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul speaks of the Son *' upholding all things, by the word of his power " ; that Son being the Logos *' through whom he (God) made the worlds " and who is '* the effulgence of his glory and the impress of his substance. " In Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna the Logos speaks of his unceasing activity, whereby all things are sustained, and says that if he were to cease from action, all creatures would perish.
We have now to trace the connection between Man and the Logos, as set forth in the New Tes-
* Vaughan, ** Hours with the Mystics. *' Vol. I, p. 189.
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123
tament. We have already traced the connection in Genesis and we have seen that the third Logos is Man, or Humanity in its complete and full nature ; made in the image and likeness of the Alhim.
But we should endeavour to grasp this idea more clearly before we can understand the identity and yet the difference between the Old and the New Testament presentation of this doctrine. The difficulty lies in our conventional ideas of Man, limited and conditioned in his nature as we now V him. We have to throw off those limitationSj born of our finite faculties and sense-perceptions, before we can grasp that higher divine nature which is really ours by birthright as "Sons of God ".
But let us endeavour for a moment to grasp the idea that the perfect type of all things that come into existence, must of necessity exist on the nou- menal plane, before they can by any possibility be represented on the phenomenal. If there be any meaning whatever in that which we call evolution, or unfolding, that evolution — whether we postulate it as the result of divine wisdom or
I not — ^presupposes and implies the existence of a type, already existing in the noumena ; or as we should say, on a higher plane ; whether that plane be called the universal mind, divine ideation, or whatever term we choose to employ in order to designate it. Our own mind and powers reflect the same process. Before we can bring
I I
124 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
forth anything from our subjective sphere, and clothe it with matter or form on the physical plane, it must have its own definite existence on our own thought-plane. We are so apt to regard the sphere of operation of the mind, that which we call the mental plane, as being vague, formless, chaotic. Yet a little reflection will show that, on its own plane, a thought must be a thing, having a defi- nite form and existence of its own ; aye, even though it be but a vibration, as our materialists would have us believe. To think a thought is to create a form. That form, if imbued with will and desire, becomes an active potent force, an Elemental ; working blindly, unless controlled by the higher Manas, for its realisation on whatever plane, in whatever direction, or towards whatever object it is directed.
Thus, if we ask why we are incarnated here, why our life is so and so, the answer is : because we have thus created it by those thoughts and desires to which we gave an active potency in our previous existences. We are the incarnation of our own thoughts, the manifestation of our own Logos.
And if we ask what will be our future, let us examine the contents of our own consciousness, our present thoughts and desires ; it is these which in due time will be born into the phenomenal world, and shape for us a new incarnation.
Man is the mirror of the universe, the micro-
THE LOGOS
'25
cosm of the macrocosm. He repeats on every plane the universal Law, He is himself the crea- tive deity, the manifestation of the divine thought, the Logos of the infinite ONE. If then Man is the incarnated thought of God, and we pos- tulate that thought to ba absolute wisdom and perfection; and, moreover, since all things are summed up in THAT, since with THAT all things already exist, and there is neither good nor evil, neither past, present nor future: it follows that the divine thought (the Logos = Man = the Uni- verse) is already perfect, and the Universe in its perfection eternally IS.
How then do we see the imperfect and incom- plete; how do we sense this law of evolution which appears to us to be a continual progress towards a perfection not yet attained ?
Suppose that instead of regarding it as a pro- gress, as the effort of something ever striving to perfect itself, we regard it simply as an unfolding of that which already ii. In that case the aspect is
The seed is not yet the perfect plant, the rose- bud is not yet the full-blown rose. But if there were no such thing as the perfect plant already existing, there could be no such thing as the seed. The e.'iistence of the rose-bud presupposes merely the unfolding of that which already exists, the full- blown rose.
The perfect type of all things exists eternally ; the individual manifestations vary infinitely. An
126 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTiASITY
individual manifestation , a persona, being an aspect merely, being partial, limited, and there- fore incomplete, appears to us to present ever a struggle towards conformity with the perfect type. Let it be understood then, once for all, that when we speak of MAN as being the Log-os, we do not mean a Man, but the type MAN, that which wc have already named the Heavenly Man, the divine Prototype, the Christ.
If this divine Prototype, this divine Logos, did not exist, no single man could ever appear. And as it is with Man, so it is with the types of all things that appear in the manifested world ; they arc * created ' first in the archetypal world. * * These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew'\
Moreover, Man being the Logos, and there- fore the creative deity of the manifested universe, (the Jehovah of the second chapter of Genesis) the type or ' seed ' of all things in that universe exist in him ; he brings them forth, and they have to continue their evolution through him. (Vide Part IL page 96). This is also why Noah — who is also the Manu of the Hindu records — takes into the ark with him a pair, or the ' seed ', of all living things. The deluge.
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127
I I
as well understood by students, is the period between two Rounds, a Pralaya ; and the ark is Man himself; as also is the tabernacle in the wilderness, and King Solomon's temple, the mea- surements of which are the " measure of a man ". The same may also be found in the measurements of the Great Pyramid.
Conformity to type is the great law of physical maniicstation ; but the type must pre-exist before ever the first representative could appear. One of the latest theories of science concerning heredity, is that of Profess. Wiessmann, known as the " im- mortal germ " theory. Speaking of this the Secret Docl'ine says : (vol. i. p. 244) " Complete the physical plasm, the ' Germinal cell ' of man, with all its material potentialities, with the ' spir- itual plasm ', so to say, or the fluid which contains the five lower principles of the six-prin- cipled Dhyan — and you have the secret, if you are spiritual enough to understand it. "
And as from parent to child, and from incar- nation to incarnation we have the ' immortal germ cell ', which is the seed of all the potential- ities which later on will unfold an evolutionary I process : so also from Race to Race, and from Round to Round we have the ' Seed Manus ' of whom Noah is an exoteric type. Verily our boast- ed science of to-day is but the faintest reflection I of the Wisdom of the Ancients, who cared nothing for the physical, regarding it merely as a reflection and symbol of the spiritual and divine.
1 28 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CIHRISTIASITY
Matrjrial science seeks ever the permanence of force and matter on this plane ; but the very contmjityof these » that law of the consenration of matter and energ>- which has become a scientific axiom, is an additional proof of the existence of that " spiritual plasm " without «-hich they could never have been called into existence.
The vcr>' existence of the universe, its gradual unf'jldin;^ which appears to us under the guise of evolution, presupposes that operation to have taken jjlacc already in the divine mind, in all its completeness. Xay, that which appears to us as the manifested universe, having extension in time and space, i% the operation of the divine mind, Oimplete and perfect from eternity to eternity. Extension in time and space are but illusions. The dream of a single moment gives us often an apparent extension of many days and years. So by our finite and conditioned consciousness, fallen under the influence of the great illusion we project the Mayavi Rupa, and live for centuries and eons in the thought-forms we have projected.
*' Within yourselves deliverance must be sought, Kacli man his prison makes ".
Learn to know thy true Self, to know thine own creative powers, then shalt thou cease to build the prison-house of sense-life from age to age.
It seems strange that any should think that
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the manifested world, that which is termed nature, could be merely casual in its origin and develop- ment. It is forced upon us from all sides that it exhibits reason and intelligence — if not always wis- dom — in every feature and detail. There is a type, an idea, embodied in all its work. Whose idea ? Not necessarily the idea of a theological ^ God *. It is because the old philosophy of the Logos and the Hierarchies of ^ Builders * has been for- gotten in the enforcement of an arbitrary theology, that men have now nothing to fall back upon, when that theology fails them, but atheism and materialism.
We have seen that in Genesis we are con- cerned with the first conception or outbreathing of Man and the Universe, in its widest and most general aspects. We have seen that we have there a mutilated fragment of the ancient Esoteric Wisdom, but that sufficient is left for us to trace its real source and origin. We have seen that the process of outbreathing or mani- festation, stated first of all in its broadest and widest terms, becomes more and more differen- tiated as we descend from the universal to the particular ; from Man considered as the Logos, to man considered in his merely human and histori- cal aspects.
The human and historical aspect represents man as * fallen ' ; represents that which we call our own individual selves, that which we ourselves are
I30 THE ESOTERIC BASiS OF CHRISTIASiTY
to-day, in our limited, finite, and terrestrial nature.
It is just here, at this point, that the New Testa- ment takes up the problem. Individually we are ' fallen ', in so far as we are but incomplete and imperfect representations of the perfect type MAN. In the New Testament that i>erfect type is still the Logos, the Word ; but instead of this being a mere abstract conception of a perfect type existing from the beginning, towards which all are endeav- ouring to conform, through long ag^es of evolution: wc have set before us an individual presentation of the perfect man in the person of Jesus the Christ. *' The Word became incarnate and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth '\
Among all the uncertainties and difficulties of New Testament narrative, there can be no doubt on this one point, that the Christ of the Gospels is the divine ' Son ', the Logos, the iype of Man, l)crfcctcd in his spiritual and divine nature. There can be no doubt also that the Logos or Christos is represented as having had a special manifestation or incarnation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. We have already shown the importance of dis- tinguishing between the personal Jesus, and the typical Christ ; and the real difficulty of the New Testament in the light of the interpretation we are now putting forward, is not a doctrinal one, but simply and purely one of historical evidence. More-
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over, as wc have before pointed out, the historical difficulty becomes of very secondary importance, instead of being a stumbling-biock at the very outset of our endeavour to find the truth.
The question is not one as to the existence or nature of the Logos or Christ, and its relation to Humanity; it is not one as to the divinity of CAmf, for that goes by definition ; it is simply a question as to whether the man Jesus of Nazareth was an exceptional or unique incarnation of the Logos or ChrUt.
If that question was one of dispute in the very earliest days of the Christian Church, how shall we settle it now? We have already hinted (Part I. p. 50) that this was the whole matter of dispute as be- tween Peter and Paul. We find it referred to also in John's Epistles. In I John iv. 2. 3. we read ; *' Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ i come in the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the ' flesh, is not of God. " Those who opposed the carnal doctrine were denounced as Anikkn\t The use of the term Jfstis Christ in this passage is curious. If Jesus were an historical character who had only lately been crucified and resurrected, I how could any one doubt that Jesus the Christos I had come in the flesh ; - — or was his history I 80 uncertain even then? On the other hand, the 1 passage implies the coming or incarnation of some I one who existed before this coming. What could
132 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CIIRISTIASIT\
this have been but the Log-os ? And if so, we see that in thj Kpistles th^ terms Christ, or Je5u> Christ, are used promiscuDjsIy for th^ Logos, and do not njcessarily refer to the historical Jesus. Hut thedjctrinj of thj Logos is pre-Christian, and thj wh )le of ecclesiastical Christianity is based on its application to one historical character, on the carnal doctrine of Peter, instead of on the spiritual doctrine of Paul.
We are not concerned to solve the historical question now ; as it is not essential to an under- standin;^ of our own nature, it may well be left in abjyancL'. But in order that our position miv be cle.'irly comprehended, the general nature of the problem mu-it he indicated.
If the (}ospjIs are in ths main historical we mav be inclined I > accept that which was evident!.* accepted by s')me portion of the early Church and regard Jesus of Nazareth as beino- such a special incarnation. It by no means follows how- ever, that the doctrines which have been built up by the Church on that basis are to be accepted. We cannot gather from the Gospel narrative even if that narrative be accepted as mainly true that which has passed for centuries as Christian doc- trine. The very general rejection of the doctrine of the atonement by men of note in the Church itself to-day, is a significant indication of this.
On the other hand, if we accept the Gospels as being in the main historical, we have to account
THE LOGOS 133
for the parallelism between the events narrated of Jesus of Nazareth, and similar events ascribed to the incarnations of the Logos in the earlier Egypt- ian, Hindu, and other systems, of the most remote antiquity, and ijn all parts of the globe, among savage as well as civilised races.
There cannot be the slightest doubt that there was a mystical or typical Saviour, whose history is repeated in many ways and with many varia- tions, but always with the same leading events. It would appear to be an equal certainty that Jesus, having in course of time come to be recognised as an incarnation of the Logos, had ascribed to him the same allegorical and symbolical events which had been taught concerning the Logos in the earlier systems. These events have, all of them, their deep and significant esoteric meanings, some of which we have already glanced at, and more particularly the symbol of the cross. But the exoteric presentation was always in the form of narrative which the uninstructed regarded as history, while the inner meaning was taught only to the initiated.
There can be no doubt that some of the early Church Fathers were initiated to a certain degree, and knew the inner meaning of the symbols ; but the bulk of those who settled the course of Church history were ignorant ecclesiastics, with a still more ignorant and fanatical following. These in the end prevailed, and the darkness and depravity of the middle ages followed as a natural sequence.
134 7'//E ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTiASITY
Moreover, we must bear in mind the literary facts concerning the Gospels as we now have them, the uncertainty of tradition in the early centuries, the enormous number of Gospels which were in existence, out of which the Church chose the four that were ultimately placed in the Canon. Those Gospels, moreover, were chosen because they sup- ported the already formulated theology of the Church. They were altered and amended from time to time to suit the existing orthodoxy. In the later manuscripts the compilers did not scruple to add whole passages in support of some favourite dogma. A very large proportion of the document- ary evidences upon which Christian apologists rely, rest entirely upon the authority of Eusebius. Yet this very man unblushingly advocates lying and cheating for the benefit of his religion, and makes the following boast : *' I have repeated whatever may redound to the glory, and suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace of our religion. " Eusebius, Praparatio Evangelica, Bk.XII.Ch. 31.
The fetish of the Bible has been such, however that there is still a great reluctance on the part of competent scholars to depart from the time-honour- ed phraseology, or to admit the flagrant literary dishonesty of the Book. If it were any other sacred book, such as the Vedas or Puranas, we should have a minute and critical examination of every word and phrase, the various manuscripts would be quoted and compared, and the proper alternative
THE LOGOS
readings given. We may well ask, why have we no such exhaustive work on our own sacred book ? The answer is quite plain : Ecclesiastical authority and influence is based on the fetish of the Bible.
But in endeavouring to ascertain whether Jesus of Nazareth was really a special incarnation of the Logos, there is one fact which is apt to be alto- gether overlooked. That fact is, that it would have been impossible for him to have been so recognised, had not the doctrine of the Logos, and the possibility of such a divine incarnation, been already well known and understood.
We have seen that the doctrine of the Logos, so far as it was a part of the Greek or Alexandrian philosophy, may be attributed, without going any further back, to the teachings of I'lato. Moreover, it very significant fact that Philo Judaius, who must have been contemporary with Jesus, if the accepted chronology is correct, and who speaks of having visited Jerusalem, wrote much about the
I Logos, and even calls it " the only begotten Son of God " ; yet he makes no mention of Jesus. So far as Jesus has been identified with the Logos, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the pre-existing teachings concerning the nature and character of the Logos,were simply transferred to and centred round him, and with the doctrines were transferred also the mythical stories which were related in the exoteric teachings concerning the earlier supposed incarnations of the Logos. For
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136 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRTSTIANITY
just as it would have been impossible to originate the philosophical doctrine of the Logos from the life or sayings of Jesus, so also it would have been impossible to originate from these the idea that he was a special incarnation of the '' only begotten Son. "
The idea of such special incarnations may pro- bably be traced back to the prehistoric '• Divine Kings " of r^gypt. But apart from that, the Hindu doctrine of Avatcirs is well known, there having been several special incarnations of Vishnu, the supreme Lord, of which the best known is that of Krishna.
Let us bring the matter home to our own expe- rience. The question has often been asked : if Jesus were to appear now, how would he be receiv- ed ? If he were to come now as he came then, a poor man of lowly parentage, born in an obscure village, one who simply went about preaching" and doing good ; of extraordinary speech perhaps, and reputed to have performed several miracles; calling himself, or claimed by a few ignorant and dis- reputable followers, fishermen or countryfolk, to be a divinely sent Messiah : how would you or I recognise in him a special incarnation of the Logos, even if we knew all about the philosophy of the Logos, and the doctrine of Avatars ? Would our Churches and our learned theologians accept him as such, if he openly proclaimed ** I and my Father are one ", and made himself equal with God?
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Would orthodox science accept his miracles, any more than orthodox religion would accept his morality ? Would he obtain a certificate from the Society for Psychical Research, after having sub- mitted himself to rigorous *' scientific tests ". What would the Fellows of the Royal Society, or the learned members of the medical profession have to say of his superhuman powers? Charlatan and impostor would be the least offensive epithets by which he would be named, even if he did not as before openly consort with publicans and sinners. And why should he not come now as he came then? Is it because we are now more enlighten-* ed that we should be less able to recognise him ? Let us not deceive ourselves here. We are so apt to look back at what we consider to hz the mistakes of others, and think how differently we should have acted had we been in their place. We look back upon history and think how different we are to- day. But that is not so. Human nature is the same, though custom varies its outward expression ; and if we look beneath the surface, we see the same principles repeating themselves in different events over, and over, and over again.
Might we not even in the present century name some incarnations, that have sought no recogni- tion from the many, but have been known to the few ; and round which in the course of time there might gather a special significance and a legendary lore. The measure of opposition and persecution of
138 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
one century is often the measure of acceptance and deification of the next.
Much uncertainty seems to exist as to when or how the term Christ or Chrtstos came to be applied to Jesus, and from whence this term was derived. Like the term Lo^os it appears certain that it did not originate with the life and personal- ity of Jesus, but was derived from an earlier source*.
It would seem then, that Jesus first became recognised as an Initiate, and gradually passed on in tradition to become a special divine Avatdr. What is really important, however, is that there is no single so-called Christian doctrine which cannot be traced as having been derived from earlier, and so-called pagan systems. The same is true also of the ritual of the Church, its symbols, vestments and sacraments are all pre-Christian ; nor have they even assumed a new or deeper significance, on the contrary they have lost their connection with the great cycle of human evolu- tion, have been invested with an exceptional char- acter, and become important de facto in mere events, instead of representing eternal realities.
In the Gnostic Gospel Pistis Sophia, the esoteric significance of the characters and events which
♦ For much valuable information on this question consult Lucifer, Vol. I. Art. ** The Esoteric character of the Gospels. "
THE LOGOS
'39
have been taken by the Christian Church in their mere historical sense is clearly seen ; as also the distinction between Jesus and the Christ which we have already pointed out.
Deeply interesting, therefore, as it is to ascertain how much of the Gospel is, and how much is not history, the question really becomes unim- portant when we pass on to an understanding of the esoteric doctrine in the light it throws upon our own dual nature, human and divine. For ths importance of the outward, whether it be in matter of doctrine, of ritual, of history, or ot our own outward sense-life, diminishes just in proportion as we penetrate and understand that inner notfinenon, of which the outward is only a pheno- menal and transitory aspect. Only thus can we dispossess ourselves of the fever and unrest of life. And only thus in matters of fitilh can we hold ourselves free to accept facts, however or whenever they may be brought to light, without fear lest those facts should upset our cherished convictions, should uproot the very basis of our religion.
How many people one meets who are afraid to face facts, afraid to open an inquiry into the cre- dentials of their religion — "it is so unsettling
, you know, " And so they lull themselves in the fancied security of orthodoxy. *' As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen ".
' Unhappy indeed is that man or that Church, which
140 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRiSTIASlTY
stands in such a predicament, whose house is built upon the ever-shifting sands of conventional beliefs.
In considering the life of Jesus in its historical aspect, and apart from any dogmatic theology or esoteric interpretation, we find that it has a twofold value ; (a) a character-value, which is the same in kind, though perhaps different in d^ree, from that which we derive from the example and character of all great men ; (b) a /y^^-value, that is to say the revelation which it gives us of the possibilities of our own nature.
The character-value is dear to every devout Christian ; it is the inspiration of the example of the Master which carries them through life's dan- gers and difficulties.
Hut the type-value is the most important, and may be understood and appreciated by those who do not feel that intense personal attachment which the emc.tional devotee endeavours to cultivate. The type- value consists in this, that all that Jesus was — aye, even to the divinest attributes with which we may invest him — we can and must become.
How much this has been lost and misunderstood in the doctrine of the merits of Christ and the vicarious atonement. How many Christians are there who think of becoming Christ-like in this or any future incarnation ? It is only in heaven that such perfection may perchance be reached.
Of what value can his life be to us, as a revela-
THE LOGOS 141
tion of the possibilities of our own nature, if instead of regarding him as our elder brother we are to make him the great exception, related to the deity but not to humanity ? We lose the value of his life just in proportion as we make it excep- tional, just in proportion as we isolate it, and invest it with the attributes of the superhuman, the supernatural, and the miraculous.
Passing now from the personal Jesus — what- ever may be the view we may take of that person- ality — we must examine more specifically the doctrine which the New Testament presents of man regenerated and resurrected. We pass from the personal Jesus to the typical Christ ; Christ the Logos, divine man, our own Higher Self,
We have already seen that, taken in its broadest outline, the whole cycle of Man's evolution con- sidered historically, resolves itself into two main divisions : his descent into matter, or * fall ', and his re-ascent or ' redemption \ This great cycle, or maha manvantara, is divided into seven minor cycles called Rounds, and these again into seven subdivisions called Races, After this we have the sub-races and other minor cycles, until we come down to the individual, who has to pass through all these cycles in various incarnations.
Each cycle, by correspondence and analogy, reflects all the principles of the major cycle of which it is a part. Thus man in every incarnation
142 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRiSTIASITY
reflects the whole process of the manifested universe.
In order to represent the two main divisions we must have two types, a type of spiritual man falling into incarnation, and a type of physical man resuming his spiritual nature.
These two types are represented in the Christian Scriptures by the two Adams : the first, the Adam of Genesis; the second, the Christ of the New Testament. ' * The first man is of the earth, earthy : the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly " (I Cor. XV. 47).
But popular religion needs something more than an abstract type. How fully Paul recognised this is seen all through his Epistles. Although with the full-grown or initiated he spoke " wisdom in a mystery", with the Churches he determined " not lo know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified '* ; he spoke to them " not as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ ".
The difficulty of expressing the esoteric, that which can only be grasped by the intuition and spiritual faculties, in the language of everyday life, is one which is insurmountable. It has compelled the world's Initiates at all times to teach in parable
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and allegory and symbol, and to have their inner circle of disciples, composed of those who were prepared to grasp that which must necessarily elude the less advanced, whose ideas were en- tirely formed on the lines of their external sense- life. For the difficulty is not one of language merely. The language may be clear enough when once it is understood to be symbolical, and the symbol can be interpreted. A word, a sign, a geometrical figure may express to some, more than whole volumes could convey to others. The real difficulty is the same as that which exists with all children, as they grow from childhood to maturity. They cannot in the very nature of the case under- stand that which is an open book to the adult. The esoteric teachings concerning man's spiritual evolution are seen to harmonise here with the facts of our daily experience. Spiritual evolution is a matter of long ages and eons, of many cycles and many incarnations in each cycle. To be a spiritual adult is therefore quite distinct from physical or intellectual maturity in any one incar- nation. A man may be an intellectual giant and a spiritual babe. Many such arc seen in our material- ists to-day. The very faculty of perceiving, even intellectually and logically, the necessity of the noumenal world, is often entirely wanting.
Exoteric religion is for those who, in the very
nature of the case, are not able to grasp the
^L " mysteries of the kingdom of heaven". To be
I
144 7//£: ESOTERIC BASIS OF" CHRISTIASITY
understood bv such it must be broy^rht down to their own level in some familiar form, but in that very process it is degraded and obscured, it takes to itself a body of form which must of necessity be partial, incomplete, and subject to change, decay and death.
Such are all historical Relig^ions, forms that chanj^e from day today, from agfe to age. But RELI- (;io\ remains ever the same. ** The Path is one for all, the means to reach the goal must var\' with the PiJcrrini " {Voice of ths SiUuce). That which is not a religion, but RKLIGIOX itself, is Thco'Sophiciy tlie Ksoteric Wisdom, incarnated in many forms from age to age.
Relii^non then, to be serviceable to the multitude, requires a popular and simple presentation in terms of everyday ideas and experience. How far that has been successfully accomplished in the Christian religion, let each judge for himself.
But we are concerned now with the esoteric significance of the Christian forms. For surely at the end of this nineteenth century it is time that at least the teachers in the Church should cease to cling to the outward forms, should understand something of the deeper principles of spiritual evolution. For on every hand are incar- nating Egos who have passed the state of child- hood, who look on the universe wdth open eyes and fuller knowledge ; who are demanding now from the Church the interpretation of their spiritual life
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'45
and intuitions, of that which is striving vaguely and strangely within them. They demand it from the Church, simply because being born into this Christian country, they have been brought up to know no other spiritual guide. What answer does the Church give to these advanced Egos? Many, aye, thousands, have already turned away in disgust. The Church has nothing to offer them. But Theosophy has. Theosophy strikes immediate- ly the key-note of their inner nature, and they pass beyond the exoteric forms to that inner mystery to which the Church has no key, and upon which she lays her anathema.
In the New Testament then, although Christ, the Logos, stands for the type of the ' second Adam ', — Humanity rising out of the cycle of its fall into matter, and resuming its divine nature, ■ — there is a special value in the more specific application of the genera! type to our own indi- vidual requirements and present conceptions, to our individuality or personality which at present assumes the most prominent position.
Few indeed are those who can rise entirely above the persona!, who can blend their indi- vidual life in the ONE LIFE, who can learn to ' ' live and breathe in all, as all that thou perceivest breathes in thee ; to feel thyself abiding in all things, all things in SELF ". ^^ And in tlie personal presentment of the man ^H Christ Jesus, we have an ideal which is brought
1 46 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
home to our personal requirements, through which we may rise from the personal to the universal, by gradual stages, as our own spiritual life unfolds; from the mere character-value, to a full realisation of the type-value; to a full realisation that it is the Christ, the Logos, verily incarnated in our own nature, in Humanity to-day, as in all ages, who is the redeemer and saviour of the world ; for it is the divine spirit, the divine thought, the incarnat- ed Word, ever working out its own divine and perfect expression.
The central doctrine of Theosophy, that round which all else revolves, is the doctrine of the Higher Self, Briefly stated, that doctrine teaches that our own true Self, the immortal Ego, is ONE with the universal SELF, with that which in ordinary phraseology is called * God ',
In the Key to Theosophy (page 174) we read:
*' Atmanor the "Higher Self is really Brahma, the ABSOLUTE, and indistinguishable from it. In hours of Samadhi, the higher spiritual conscious- ness of the Initiate is entirely absorbed in the ONE essence, which is Atman ",
In the Secret Doctrine (vol. i. page 297) we have the following :
" By paralysing his lower personality, and arriving thereby at a full knowledge of the no/i- separateness of his higher SELF from the one absol- ute SELF, man can, even during his terrestrial life, become as one of us ".
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I
In the Voice oflhc Silriice (pp. 20 and 21) the state oi Samadhi is described as follows :
" And now thy ^elf is lost in SELF, thyself Linto THYSELF, merged in THAT SELF from which thou first didst radiate "...
" Behold! thou hast bscomc the: Light, thou hast become the Sound, Ihcu art thy Master and thy God, Thou art tiivself the object of thy search : the VOICE unbroken, that resounds throughout eternities, exempt from change, from sin exempt, the seven sounds in one, the VOICE OF .THE SILENCE ".
This doctrine of the Higher Self lias been the central doctrine of the highest systems of religion in all ages. The method by which the lower self, our own personality, can reach this knowledge and this oneness, not as mere theoretical doctrine, but as actual knowledge and experience, bringing with it divine powers and wisdom, making each man a full Initiate, an Adept, a MahJl-Atma, (Mah&tma) or Great Soul: is the method of initia- tion into the esoteric wisdom, the hidden " Mys- teries of the Kingdom of Heaven ", or that which is put forward to-day by Theosophy as the highest attainment of Occidthm.
The whole evolution of the race has many cycles
yet to run before it can attain the full perfection
of this knowledge, but every individual may step
ut in advance of the race. For such the road is
difficult and dar.gerous. The conquering of the
148 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRiSTIAMTY
lower nature, the complete subjugation of the personal self, with its accumulated load of karmic energy, hereditary tendencies, acquired habits, and structural defects, is in itself an immense task, requiring many incarnations of steady and persis- tent effort for its accomplishment. And then, and only then, when this is accomplished, can the real task be begun, and the higher powers come IntD operation.
" Before the soul can see, the Harmony within must be attained, and fleshly ^ycs be rendered blind to all illusion. "
** Give up thy life if thou wouldst live. "
** Ere thy soul's mind can understand, the bud of personality must be crushed out ; the worm of sense destroyed past resurrection. "
'' Kill thy desires, Lanoo, make thy vices impotent, ere thy first step is taken on the solemn journey. Strangle thy sins, and make them dumb for ever, before thou dost lift one foot to mount the ladder. '*
** The pupil must regain the child-staie he has lost, ere the first sound can fall upon his ear. " {Voice of the Silence),
In the Christian Scriptures we still find this high doctrine ; though in all that is known histori- cally 2LS Christianity, it is blurred, obscured and finally lost altogether. Is it not passing strange that Christianity should deem God most honoured when man is most debased ? Is it not sti ange that
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s oneness of God and Man, taught clearly and expressly ages before the Christian era, taught in Christianity itself in its origin and inception, should have resulted , after so many ages, in nothing better than the hideous theology and demonology of the Church to-day.
The divinity of man, of all men, was taught ages before the divinity of Jesus became an accept- ed dogma. We have seen that it Is implied in the ' fall ' of man as given in Genesis, and in the ' redemption ' of man as given in the Gospels. All through St Paul's Epistles we find it also the one dominant note, though it is often concealed under a phraseology which makes it appear that it was only the divinity of Jesus to which Paul was referring.
Many quotations might also be given from the writings of Origen, Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Au,:justine, and others, to show that this doctrine was also held in the early centuries of the Christian Church ; indeed, once it is understood, it is seen to stand out with startling clearness in places where we might least expect to find it, I'lato's philosophy (400 B, C.)is saturated with it; his well-known doctrine that all knowledge is remi- niscence, is based upon it ; and, as we have already seen, the doctrine of the Logos in the Christian Church owes its existence to the earlier teachings which identified the soul of man with the univer- sal soul.
ISO 1 HE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIASITY
But earlier than Plato, and more explicit even than in his teachings, we find this doctrine in the ancient Hindu philosophy, in the Vedinta philosophy, based upon the oldest books in the world, the Sanscrit Vedas and Upanishads. Prof. Max Mullcr in his recent work on ' ' Theosophy, or Psychological Religion ".states this in the following terms: " If we ask what was the highest purpose of the teaching of the Upanishads we can state it in three words, as it has been stated by the greatest VedAnta teachers themselves, namely: * Tat tvam asi '. This means. Thou art that. That stands for what I called the last result of Physical Religion, which is known to us under different namc'> in different systems of ancient and modern philosophy. It is Zeus or the Et; 0-o; or TO 6/ in (ircjce ; it is what Plato meant by the Kternal Idea, what Agnostics call the Unknowable, what I call the Infinite in Nature. This is what in India is called Brahman, as masculine or neuter the being behind all beings, the power that emits the universe, sustains it and draws it back ao-ain to itself. The T/ioti is what I call the Infinite in Man the last result of Anthropological Religion the Soul, the Self, the being behind every human Ecro free from all bodil}'' fetters, free from passions, free from all attachments. The expression Thou art that, means Thine Atman, thy soul, thy self is the Brahman; or, as we can also express it, the last result, the highest object discovered by Physical
THE LOGOS
Religion is the sam:; as the last result, the highest subject discovered by Anthropalogical Religion ; or, in other words, the subject and object of all being and all knowing are one and the same. This is the gist of what I call Psychological Religion, or Theosophy, the highest summit of thought which human mind has reached, which has found dif- ferent expressions in different religions and philo- sophies, but nowhere such a clear and powerful realisation as in the ancient Upanishads of India. "
Yes, this is indeed " the highest summit of thought which the human mind has reached "; but if it be true, then all that has ever been taught or expressed as to the possibility of passing from the human thought to the divine realisation, must be true ; though, indeed, human thought and human language is powerless to express the mys- tery which is beyond. It is one thing to grasp this great truth as a mere intellectual or philosophical concept ; it is quite another to realise it so that our every thought and action is moulded upon it ; and beyond that, again, is that straightgate and narrow way which leadeth to life eternal, the full realisation of the divine in our own nature^" and few there be that find it. "
We can understand now, thatChristian doctrine is capable of covering the whole ground of human experience, from the" highestsummit of thought " down to the lowest requirements of exoteric reli- gion. It is only when the lowest requirements are
1 52 THE ESOTERIC BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY
put forward as " Gospel truth ", and the higher ii entirely lost sight of and denied, that Christianity becomes nothing more than a degrading super- stition.
It is really difficult to say, amid all the conflicts of sects, and creeds, and Churches, what Christian doctrine really is ; or even what Christianity really is.Certainly wefind no agreement among Christians themselves; but by studying the matter in the light of the deeper principles of human nature which Theosophy discloses, we are able to discern that, however much in one period, or in one Church, Christianity may be limited and narrowed by for- mulas, creeds, or rituals, it is capable of expand- ing, until it becomes identical with that deeper stream of Divine Wisdom which incarnates in many forms from age to age, and which we name Theo- sophy, When the '* new theology " has carried Christian doctrine to the furthest point which its most advanced professors can at present anticipate, it will still stand only on the threshold of that Divine Temple of Wisdom, into whose inner courts those only can pass who have done with outward forms and ceremonies.
ThatTemple is not being built, as some imagine; it is an eternal edifice " not made with hands. " It is Man's own nature, it is the Logos, the Divine Thought, perfect in all its proportions. And if thou would'st find the Holy of Holies within that Temple, penetrate into the inmost recesses of thine
THE LOGOS 155
own nature, and there shalt thou find the secret of death and of life, the Alpha and the Omega.
For as with Adam we die, and as with Christ we are made alive again, for us also it is written : '' I BECAME DEAD, AND BEHOLD, I AM ALIVE UNTO THE AGES OF THE AGES, AND I HAVE THE KEYS OF DEATH AND OF HAD.es. "