Lecture XIII
The Bible and Wisdom
Berlin 26th April, 1907
In a previous
lecture, [ unknown reference ] we discussed spiritual science
in relation to religious records. Today we shall attempt to
enter more deeply into the Bible, at least in a few
instances. The Bible is after all a religious document that
today is known to every educated person. From the spiritual
scientific point of view, it will be easiest if, in our
approach, we start with the New Testament. In the earlier
lecture, we discussed how certain critical comments
concerning the Bible are to be understood in the light of
spiritual science, in particular those concerned with the
actual writing of the four Gospels and Scriptures in the Old
Testament. Today we shall look at more positive aspects and,
while bearing in mind what was dealt with in the previous
lecture, go straight to the subject from the spiritual
scientific viewpoint.
You will be
aware that someone who, out of a heartfelt need of his
Christian faith, turns to the four Gospels known as the
Gospel according to Matthew, to Mark, to Luke and to John,
comes up against what appear to be insoluble contradictions.
A modern person, however great his faith, can have no notion
of how differently one approached the Bible in an earlier
more religious age. Nor can a person have any idea of the
significance attached to the word Bible or to the expression,
the Word of God. We must realize that for centuries the
faithful were in no doubt that the writers of the religious
records were inspired. Consequently, every word in the Bible
was regarded as holy, as from divine inspiration only truth
could come. People saw the Bible as dealing with great world
questions, and they fastened onto every word, for it was
impossible for them to believe that fault could be found in
what men of God had written under divine inspiration.
Modern human
beings find it difficult to transport themselves into such a
mood and attitude. They read the Gospel of Matthew and that
of Luke and find two different genealogies of Jesus of
Nazareth. Already in the third place, above the name of
Joseph, they find in Matthew the name Solomon, in Luke the
name Nathan; going further they find many more names that
differ, and ask, How is it possible that a document, which
for centuries has been considered a source of Truth, can
contain such contradictions?
Here we see the
seed of all the doubts aroused by disparities in the Gospels
and consequently doubt that they were in fact inspired. By
subjecting the Gospels to detailed scrutiny we believe to
have discovered what can be accepted as more or less genuine.
In regard to the fourth Gospel, the conclusion is drawn that
as it is so different from the others it cannot be a
historical record at all. It is understandable that the
modern person becomes critical when faced with contradictions
that are impossible to explain away by even the most
open-minded individual.
However, we
must ask ourselves how it came about that no one for
centuries, for millennia, noticed these contradictions that
are now criticized. It is difficult to believe that only very
stupid people ever handled the Bible. Perhaps it could be
argued that only very few people had access to the Bible;
before the art of printing, the majority of the faithful did
not. Consequently, they could not pass judgment on something
about which they were not informed by the leading few who did
have access to the Bible. But are we really to believe that
those few were all so stupid that they did not notice what is
pointed out by today's critics?
Some historians
maintain that only slowly, through the power of the church,
did these documents come to be appreciated. Reverence for the
Bible arose only gradually. It is said that the Bible cannot
stand up to close historical investigation. Looking at events
that took place in the early Christian centuries, the
conclusion is drawn that the Ecumenical Council of Nicea
[
Council of Nicaea was called by Emperor Constantine. It
formulated the Nicene Creed in A.D. 325.
]
decided which Gospels were true, and there it was ordained:
“These are the true Holy Scripts.” Unprejudiced
investigation does not bear this out. Looking back we come to
personalities who lived in the early days of Christendom.
From them we learn that, for example, in the year
A.D. 160 a
so-called harmonizing of the Gospels took place. This meant
collating the Gospels and bringing them to present a uniform
picture, a procedure that was later repeated. And indeed,
careful examination of the Gospels as they were in the second
century showed that already then they contained what we know
as the New Testament. We find that the early Church Fathers
in particular spoke with the deepest reverence about the
Bible, which suggests that they certainly had the belief that
the Bible had been inspired by a higher spiritual source.
Already in Origen
[
Origen (c. 185–A.D. 254) was an early
Christian Church Father and writer.
]
we encounter the same reverent approach to the biblical
records as is later to be found in the faithful, whether of
learned or of simple faith.
When these
things are considered, all prejudice must be set aside. In
the early centuries the attitude of learned people towards
Christianity was by no means the same as that of modern
people. Today one risks being accused of repudiating the true
words of the Bible, of being an agnostic and unfit to call
himself a Christian by people with orthodox viewpoints. These
people should recognize that to interpret the Bible in ways
that differ from their own is not the equivalent of doubting
its truth. It was the Church Father Augustine
[
Augustine, Saint (354–430) a Christian theologian and
writer. The most prominent of the Latin Fathers of the Church.
]
who said: “What is known today as Christian religion is
ancient; in fact, what was the true primordial religion is today
called Christianity.”
These words are
in great contrast to the usual experience of those who
interpret the Bible in the light of spiritual science. The
hostility, often coming from family and friends, is nothing
short of tragic. Spiritual scientific explanations are
harshly rejected as having nothing to do with the Bible. Such
reactions are based on complete ignorance of the Bible
itself. It is also pretentious, for it proclaims an
understanding of the Bible that cannot be faulted. If only
such people would recognize that their attitude to the
spiritual scientific explanations is in effect like saying:
“What I find in the Bible is the only truth.”
Spiritual
science, far from having a negative approach to the Bible,
seeks to unravel its deep truths. The main concern is that
these religious records should be properly understood. Those
who simply find it more comfortable to remain within views to
which they have become accustomed are not in a position to
oppose spiritual science. Rejection of true explanations is
often based on deep seated hostility, though sometimes it is
simply too much effort to learn something new.
No Christian
with any understanding of a certain passage from the Sermon
on the Mount, often quoted by me, could maintain that
attitude. The passage, when rightly translated reads:
"Blessed are those who are beggars of the spirit, for within
themselves they shall find the Kingdom of Heaven." No words
could better or more beautifully express the inner feeling
and disposition of the spiritual scientist than this passage
from the Sermon on the Mount.
What do we mean
by the inner disposition of the spiritual scientist? We mean
an inner impulse to strive to develop the deepest kernel of
our being, our spirituality. What builds our body comes from
substances that surround us; likewise our inner being comes
from the spirit that lives, and always did live all about us.
Just as it is true that our body is, as it were, a drop from
the sea of material reality, so is it true that our soul, our
spirit, is a drop from the sea of the all-encompassing
Universal Spirit. As the drop of water is of the same
substance as the sea from which it is taken, so is that which
lives in the deepest recess of the human soul godlike. Human
beings are able to recognize God because God lives within
them and human beings are themselves spiritual. Furthermore,
if a person truly will, he can attain that spiritual world
that is all about him. However, for that to come about
something is needed — something which can be simply
expressed by saying: Do not ever stand still. Human beings
must experience progress, must be conscious of
evolving, rather than merely having faith that it will
happen. It means never to lose sight of the fact that not
only have human beings developed to their present stage from
inferior levels, but also that at every moment they can
develop further.
In this
instance we are not concerned with the fact that a person's
external being has altered in the course of evolution, but
rather with the fact that the human soul can climb upwards
from stage to stage. In striving for perfection, a human
being's soul is capable of improving from day to day. Today
we may learn something new; we inwardly grasp something we
did not know before; through our will we become capable of
achieving something we could not manage before. If we remain
at what we understand today, at what our will is capable of
today, then we do not evolve. We must never lose sight of the
fact that as well as the forces that are already developed
within us, we possess others still slumbering. It is
comparable to the seeds of new plants that slumber within the
seed that has already become a plant. If we never forget that
we possess such forces, our will grows stronger; it reaches
higher stages of development and we become aware that our
soul begins to evolve spiritual eyes and ears. We must not
think of this as something trivial, but recognize that the
development of the human soul and spirit is of universal
significance.
When we see in
the physical world, a relationship between animal forms and
the noble human form, it does not justify the assumption that
a person has developed from the animal, even if natural
science has established that, as regards the physical
structure, there is greater similarity between the lowest
developed human being and the highest developed ape, than
between the lowest and highest developed ape. This
observation, however, led natural science to regard human
beings as having descended from the ape. The famous natural
scientist Thomas Henry Huxley
[
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895). He supported Darwin's
theory of evolution. He coined the word “agnostic.”
He also was a natural scientist.
]
spoke about it as a great heresy in 1859. This view influenced
practically everything he wrote. However, those who recognize
spiritual development say: Granted that man, in regard to his
external bodily form, is closer to the highest evolved ape,
than the latter to the lowest of its own species, it is equally
true that a human being who has reached a certain stage in spiritual
development is further from the lowest developed human being,
than the latter from the highest evolved animal.
When evolution
is followed through, the higher stages are seen to continue
up into spiritual realms where what is described by spiritual
science takes place, and which to spiritual sight is as much
a reality as physical evolution is to physical sight.
Spiritual knowledge has always existed. Natural science today
only acknowledges an evolution that starts with the lowest
animal form and continues up to that of man. Spiritual
science is in hin agreement with that evolution. It also
acknowledges the enormous difference between the lowest form
of life, barely visible even through the microscope, and the
perfect structure of the human organism. A person's physical
structure does indeed pass through innumerable evolutionary
stages from the most imperfect to the most perfect.
However, the
spiritual scientist sees the evolution of soul and spirit as
just as real. The difference he sees is just as great between
the highly advanced human being, the initiate, and the person
who has barely begun to develop his slumbering forces. An
initiate is someone who has attained spiritual faculties by
developing to ever greater perfection forces that are
inherent in every human soul. The difference between the
lower stages of soul development and those attained by an
initiate is actually greater than the difference between the
lowest living structure and that of human beings. A person
who knows that initiates exist also knows that the
possibility to develop spiritually is a reality.
With this
insight there dawns in the human soul a feeling, an attitude
that says: I look up to a godlike ideal of man, the seed of
which slumbers within me. I know that in the future it will
become reality, though as yet it is only slightly indicated.
I know also that I must exert all my powers to attain that
ideal. With this insight into spiritual development man
becomes a “beggar of the spirit”; he feels
himself blessed. In the spiritual scientific sense the
passage from the Sermon an the Mount is a truly wonderful
saying: “Blessed are those who are beggars of the
spirit, for within themselves they shall find the Kingdom of
Heaven.”
Those
acquainted with old linguistic usage will not imagine that
what is here meant by heaven is something existing in an
unknown beyond. In those days heaven was understood to be
wherever man is. Where we are is where heaven is, that is,
the spiritual world. A blind person will see the world full
of color when successfully operated upon; likewise a person
whose spiritual eyes are opened sees around him a new world.
What a person sees was actually always about him, but he sees
it in a new way. He sees the way he must be able to see if he
is to attain his higher humanity. He will know that heaven is
not somewhere else, is not in another place or time. He
recognizes the Truth when Christ says: “Heaven is in
the midst of you.”
Where we are is
the Kingdom of Heaven; it penetrates everything physical. As
ice swims in water out of which it has condensed, so does
matter swim in a sea of spirit out of which it has condensed.
Everything physical is condensed, transformed spirit.
In the animal
kingdom we see the physically imperfect side by side with the
physically more perfect; in the human kingdom we see all
stages of spiritual development: One person has forged ahead,
another remained at a lower stage. This indicates how in the
spiritual scientific sense, human beings are connected with
evolution. One person's interest lies in the realm of modern
science, another's in the realm of human cultural development
from the savage to the highly advanced individual who has
attained insight into the spiritual world around him. The
initiates always had insight into all the stages of human
spiritual development. One spoke of the initiate as of
someone who possessed greater knowledge than anyone else.
Such initiates were mentioned in every epoch. Let us make it
clear in what sense one spoke of those initiated into the
spiritual world.
We have often
discussed the fact that in ancient times people had
clairvoyant consciousness. The term "clairvoyant" did not
refer to clarity, but to the fact that it penetrated through
the external to the soul. A residue of this dull, dim
consciousness can be seen in today's consciousness in dreams.
Our clear waking consciousness developed from it. At the time
when in general a person's consciousness was dull and dim,
though clairvoyant, a few were initiates. In what sense did
this consciousness differ from that of the rest of humanity?
It differed because those who were initiates already
experienced something of the type of consciousness that
mankind in general attained today. They reached at an earlier
stage something that belonged to the future. Already they saw
the world the way humanity in general sees it today. That is
to say, they investigated the world through the physical
organs, through sight and hearing, and grasped things through
the intellect. That is the sense in which they were
initiates. An initiate attained ahead of time something that
belonged to the future. There are also initiates today; who
have already developed the higher clairvoyant consciousness,
that is, the higher perception that mankind in general will
possess in the future. The initiate was looked up to in
ancient times by those who understood. They said to
themselves: The initiate's outlook, his understanding of the
would, is the outlook and understanding all human beings will
possess in the future. He is the embodiment of a future
ideal; through what he is, is revealed what we shall become.
In the course of time the initiate will lead a great number
of human beings to attain what he has attained.
In this sense,
the initiate was a prophet or a messiah. He was also called a
“first-born.” But those to be initiated had to
pass through many stages. Before the stage of initiation was
attained, many different degrees of learning and schooling of
the will must be passed through. As a plant must go through
many stages from root through leaf and blossom before bearing
fruit, so a human being strove upwards in stages of ever
greater insight, till finally the pupil became an initiate.
He attained progress by going through certain schooling that
anyone can adopt. Those who deny that such a schooling is
possible do so out of ignorance. They have as yet not
discovered that through schooling, a person's spiritual eyes
and ears can be opened so that he attains a higher kind of
perception. It is the task of spiritual science to provide
knowledge of such schooling. In my book Knowledge of the
Higher Worlds and its Attainment, you will find this
subject is dealt with in great detail. There are many reasons
why this knowledge is essential in our time. I will mention
just one.
It is a tragedy
that because human intellect and reasoning power have
progressed too far, he is no longer able to believe in the
ancient religious records. He no longer experiences them as
the embodiment of the words of God. The fact that the human
soul no longer receives the ancient knowledge causes it
torment and depression. What is needed is the knowledge
presented in a new form, and this is what spiritual science
wishes to provide. Those who are initiates today are
able — as were initiates in ancient times — to
foresee humanity's future evolution. However, human
development must follow certain rules. Just as one must adopt
a definite method if one wishes to become an astronomer,
likewise must a certain method be adopted if one is to
develop spiritually. No one should wish to attempt to do so
without guidance; that would be like wishing to become a
mathematician without consulting any authority. Someone needs
show the way, but no other kind of authority is required, and
it is nonsense to talk about blind faith and dependence in
relation to spiritual science.
Throughout the
millennia, right back to antiquity, there were always books
in existence, or rather not actual books, but traditions
handed down by word of mouth, of the rules of initiation.
These rules were not permitted to be written down. They
consisted of indications that the candidate for initiation
had to follow when setting out to attain all the stages of
development that lead to initiation. Even today certain
indications are not written down, but imparted directly to
those worthy to receive them. These indications the neophyte
must observe if he is to attain the highest goal. A principle
of initiation was always in existence, that is rules for the
birth of the spirit in man. He who dedicated himself to
spiritual striving was guided through exercises and conduct
of life an ever higher levels. Once the highest was attained,
the initiate would reveal to him the deepest secrets.
One word more
about this codex for initiation. Today things are different;
the procedure of initiation also progresses. In ancient
times, the neophyte was brought to a condition of ecstasy.
This word had a different meaning; it did not indicate "being
out of one's mind" but becoming conscious on a higher level.
The spiritual guide led the neophyte to this condition of
higher consciousness. Strict rules were observed; the
prescribed length for the condition to last was three and
one-half days. This procedure is no longer followed; today
the consciousness is not subdued. But in ancient times a
state of ecstasy, of rapture, was produced during which the
neophyte knew nothing of what went on about him; to the
external world he was like someone asleep. However, what was
experienced in this condition differed considerably from the
experiences of a contemporary person when the external
objects disappear from his consciousness, on falling asleep.
The neophyte experienced a world of spirit; all about him
there was light, astral light. This is different from
physical light; it appears like a sea of spirituality out of
which spiritual beings emerge. If a very high stage had been
attained, sound would also be experienced. What in the
ancient Pythagorean schools was called “the harmony of
the spheres” was heard. (What today we understand
intellectually as universal laws are experienced as a kind of
spiritual music at this level of consciousness. Spiritual
forces are revealed as harmony and rhythm, but must not be
thought of as ordinary music. The spiritual world, the
heavenly world, resounds in the astral light.) In this world
into which the neophyte was led, he learned to know stages of
godliness that humanity will attain in a far distant future.
During the three and one-half days a person experienced all
this as reality, as Truth.
These things
may sound extraordinary to many, but there are, and always
were people who recognize that a spiritual reality exists
that is as real as the one perceived through physical senses.
After three and one-half days the initiate was guided back to
the sense world enriched with knowledge of spiritual
existence, and prepared to bear witness of the spiritual
world. All initiates on their return to the ordinary world
uttered certain words that were always the same: "Oh my God,
how thou has glorified me!" These words expressed the
sensation felt by the one just initiated as he set foot again
in the everyday world. Those who guided the initiation knew
all the stages by heart; later when writing came more into
use certain things were written down. But there always
existed a typical or standard description of the life of an
initiate. One said as it were: "He who is accepted into the
cult to be initiated must live according to certain rules and
pass through the experience which culminates with the words:
"Oh my God, how thou hast glorified me!"
If you could
depict the way an initiate necessarily had to live, the way
you could depict someone wishing to carry out experiments in
a chemical laboratory, then you would obtain a picture
typical of someone striving to attain a higher development,
typical of someone to be awakened to a higher life. Such a
codex of initiation always existed or was at least known by
heart by those concerned with initiation. Knowing this, we
can understand why the descriptions of different initiates of
various people are similar This fact contains a great secret,
a great mystery. The people always looked up to their
initiates, insofar as they knew of them. What was said about
initiates was not the kind of thing modern biographers relate
about famous people; what was told was the course of the
spiritual life experienced by the initiate. We can therefore
understand why descriptions of the life of Hermes, Zarathustra,
Buddha, Moses and Christ are similar It was because they had to
experience a certain life if they were to become initiates. Their
lives were typical of that of an initiate.
In the outer
structure of the spiritual biography we can always see a
picture of the initiate. We can now answer the question: Who
were the writers of the gospels? In my book, Christianity as
Mystical Fact, you will find this question answered in
greater detail from the viewpoint of spiritual science, and
also indications of the spiritual authenticity of the
Gospels. Here I can only give a few hints! In my book is
explained that what is written in the Gospels is derived from
ancient records of initiation. Naturally what initiates wrote
differs in regard to incidentals, but all essentials were
always the same. We must realize that the writers of the
Gospels had no other sources than the ancient codex of
initiation. When we look into the details, we recognize in
the Gospels different forms of initiation. They differ
because the writers knew initiation from different regions.
This we shall understand when we consider how the writers of
the Gospels were connected with Christ.
The best way to
form an idea of this connection is to think of the
significant words at the beginning of the Apocalypse.
[
Apocalypse was a prophetic revelation about Armageddon.
Jewish and Christian writings appeared in Palestine between
200 B.C. and A.D. 1500.
]
The One who dictates the content to John is named "The First
and the Last, the Alpha and Omega." This refers to that Being
who is always present, through all changes from generation to
generation, from human race to human race, from planet to
planet; the Being that endures through all transformations.
If we call this Being God, of whom a particle lives within
each of us, then we sense our relationship to this Alpha and
Omega. Indeed, we recognize it as the ultimate ideal, the
ultimate goal of striving human beings.
At this point
we must remind ourselves of a forgotten custom. Nowadays,
names are bestowed more or less haphazardly. We do not feel
any real connection between a person and his name. The
further back we go in human history, the greater the
importance and significance of the name. Certain rules were
observed when a name was given. Even not so very long ago, it
was the custom to consult the calendar, and give the newly
born the name mentioned on the day of its birth. It was
assumed that the child had sought to be born on the day that
bore that name. When someone attained initiation he was given
a new name, an initiation name that expressed a person's
innermost nature, expressed what the spiritual leader had
recognized to be his significance to the world.
As you know, we
find in the New Testament many sayings attributed to Jesus.
Their deeper meaning can be understood only if approached
from the viewpoint of initiation and understanding of the
significance of bestowing names. For example, if someone had
reached an as yet not so high level spiritually, and one
wished to give him a corresponding name, it would be one that
expressed characteristics of the astral body. If a person had
reached a higher level, the name would express
characteristics of the ether body. If it was to express
something that was typical, it would be derived from
characteristics of the physical body. In ancient times, names
were related to the person and expressed his essential
nature. You will remember that in the Gospels Jesus often
describes what He is in words that refer back to the word
“I.” This you find particularly in the Gospel
according to John.
We must now
bear in mind that we distinguish four members in a person's
being: physical body, ether body, astral body and
“I.” The “I” will increase more and
more. It is inherent in a person's “I” to develop
towards initiation. In undeveloped people it is imperfect, in
the initiate perfect and powerful. You will now understand
from the way names were given that Christ did not refer to
Himself as an ordinary human being with an ordinary human
“I.” In John's Gospel He often indicates that He
is identical with the “I am, as in the sentence, "I and
the Father are One." He describes Himself as identical with
the human being's deepest nature. This He does because He is
the Eternal, the Christ, the Alpha and Omega.
Those who lived
at the time of Christ saw Him as a Divine Being who carried
about Hirn a physical body, a being in whom the spirit is the
all-important, whereas in human beings the physical is the
all-important. For human beings the outstanding
characteristic was expressed in the name. When we ponder this
we find that it opens the door to many of the mysteries
contained in the Bible. We shall understand what it means
when Moses stands before Jehovah as messenger and asks:
“Whom shall I tell the people has sent me?” And
we hear the significant words: “Tell the people that
the ‘I am’ sent thee.” What does Jehovah
refer to? He points to the deepest and most significant
aspect of a person's being, to that which lies deeply hidden
in every human soul, to the human's “I.” We find
that when we come to this fourth member, then the
“I” is a name we must bestow an ourselves. The
godlike within human beings must speak. It begins to speak in
what appears to live in human beings as a mere point , aa a
tiny insignificant seed, which can however develop to
infinite greatness. It is this aspect of a person's being
that gave Moses his task and said: “Tell them that the
‘I am’ sent thee.” A divine seed lies
within every human soul enveloped inthe physical, etheric and
astral bodies. It appears as a mere point to which we say:
“I am. But this member of our being, which appears so
insignificant, will become by far the most important. The
essence of the human being teils Moses: “I am the I
am.”
This
illustrates the significance connected with the giving of a
name. Whenever a reference is made to the “I am”
it is also a reference to a certain moment in humanity's
evolution that is indicated in the Bible, and often referred
to in my lectures: the moment when physical man became an
ensouled being. Physical man, as he is today, has developed
from lower stages. Only when the Godhead had endowed him with
a soul was man able to develop higher stages of his being.
What descended from the bosom of the Godhead sank into the
physical body and developed it further. In the Bible this
moment is indicated in only a few words; it actually
stretched over long epochs. Before that time, the human
bodies did not possess what is essential — essential also
for physical man today — if the “I” is to
develop: the ability to breathe through lungs. A human
being's physical ancestors did not originally breathe through
lungs, which only developed in the course of time from a
bladder-like organ. The human being could receive a soul only
when he had learned to breathe through lungs. If this whole
event is summed up in one sentence, you have the saying in
the Bible: "And the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and man became a living soul." In regard to
the name Jehovah, we find that it means something like
blowing, or rushing wind. The word Jahve expresses the inrush
of breath with which the spirit, the “I” drew
into man. The physical breath enabled man to receive his
soul.
Therefore, in
the name Jahve is expressed the nature of the inrushing
breath with which the “I am the I am” poured part
of its Being into human beings. What we are told in the Bible
truly represents a world event depicting the entry into a
human being of the eternal aspect of his nature. Whether we
think of man as he is today or as he was thousands of years
ago, the nature, the “Being of the I”
(Ichwesen) always was. Think of the highest
revelation of this “Eternal I,” when all external
aspects are irrelevant. Think of a human being in whom can be
recognized the most inward nature of the “Eternal
I” in all its greatness and might, and you have an idea
how the first followers of Christ saw Hirn. What in ancient
time was revealed on earth only as a spark, was revealed in
Jesus of Nazareth in its highest glory. He was the greatest
initiate because He was the most Godly, so that He could say:
“Before Abraham was, I was.” He incorporated that
which existed before Abraham,
[
Abraham, the biblical father of the Hebrew people and first
of the patriarchs, was regarded as the founder of the ancient
Hebrew nation.
]
Isaac
[
Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah.
]
and Jacob.
[
Jacob of the Old Testament was the son of Isaac and Rebecca
and was the father of the twelve patriarchs.
]
He is that to which striving mankind looks up as the greatest
ideal. They are those mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount as:
“Blessed are those who are beggars of the Spirit, for within
themselves they shall find the Kingdom of Heaven.”
These words applied to the followers of Christ. But how could
they give a description of the life of the highest God
incarnated? What description would be worthy of Hirn? Only
the one that was contained in the canon of initiation,
describing the rules of initiation. There was described the
way the one to be initiated must from stage to stage pass
through certain experiences which culminated in the words:
“Oh my God, how thou hast glorified me!” (The
transcript of this lecture ends at this point.)
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