COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS

The Man-God Whom We Await

by

ALI NOMAD

1915

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE NEW BIRTH; WHAT IT IS; INSTANCES DESCRIBED

The religions and philosophies of the Orient and the Occident compared;their chief difference; The mistaken idea of death. Cosmic Consciousnessnot common in the Orient. Why? What the earnest disciple strives for. TheReal and the unreal. Buddha's agonized yearnings; why he was moved by themwith such irresistible power; the ultimate victory. The identity of TheAbsolute; The Oriental teachings; "The Spiritual Maxims of BrotherLawrence;" The seemingly miraculous power of the Oriental initiate; doeshe really "talk" to birds and animals? How they learn to know and read "theheart of the world. " The inner temples throughout Japan. The strangeexperience of a Zen (a Holy Order of Japan), student-priest in attaining_mukti_. The key to Realization. An address by Manikyavasayar, one of thegreat Tamil saints of Southern India. The Hindu conception of CosmicConsciousness. The Japanese idea of the state. The Buddhist "Life-saving"monasteries; how the priests extend their consciousness to immeasurabledistances at will. The last incarnation of God in India. His marvelousinsight. The urge of the spiritual yearning for the "Voice of the Mother. "His twelve years of struggle. His final illumination. The unutterable blisspictured in his own words. What the Persian mystics allusion to "union withthe Beloved" signifies; its exoteric and its esoteric meaning. The "Way ofthe Gods. " The chief difference between the message of Jesus and that ofother holy men. The famous "Song of Solomon" and the differentinterpretations; a new version. A French writer's evident glimpses of thenew birth. Man's relation to the universe. 

CHAPTER II. 

MAN'S RELATION TO GOD AND TO HIS FELLOW-MEN

The great riddle and a new solution. The persistence of the ideal ofPerfected Man; Has it any basis in history? The superlative faculty ofspiritual sight as depicted by artists, painters and sculptors. Symbols ofconsciousness. The way in which the higher consciousness expresses itself. Certain peculiar traits which distinguish those destined to the influx. Theabode of the gods; The conditioned promise of godhood in Man. What isNirvana? The Vedantan idea. The Christian idea. Did Jesus teach the kingdomof God on earth? Is there a basis for belief in physical immortality? Anew explanation. The perilous paths. Those who "will see God. " Evolutionof consciousness from prehistoric man to the highest developed beings. 

CHAPTER III

AREAS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The Divine spark. Consciousness the essence of everything. Axioms ofuniversal Occultism. The great central light. The teachings of Orientalseers regarding the ultimate goal. Different stages of mankind. Births inconsciousness. Physical consciousness: its limitations. Mentalconsciousness: the jungles of the mind. Soul consciousness; whither itleads. The irresistible urge. Why we obey it. Sayings of ancientmanuscripts. Perfecting Light. The disciple's test. Awakening of the divineman. Is he now on earth? What is meant by the awakening of the inner Self. Is the _atman_ asleep? The doctrine of illusion; its relation to CosmicConsciousness. 

CHAPTER IV

SELF-NESS AND SELFLESSNESS

The Dark Ages. The esoteric meaning of religious practices. The penetratingpower of spiritual insight. The mystery of conversion. The paradox ofSelf-attainment and the necessity for selflessness. The Oriental teachingsregarding the Self. The wisdom of the Illumined Master. The test of fitnessfor Nirvana. What caused Buddha the greatest anxiety? Experiences ofOriental sages and their testimony. What correlation exists betweenBuddha's desire and the attainment of Cosmic Consciousness amongOccidental disciples. 

CHAPTER V

INSTANCES OF ILLUMINATION AND ITS AFTER EFFECTS

The wonderful brilliancy of Illumination. Dr. Bucke's description of theCosmic Light; his opinion regarding the possibility of becoming moregeneral. Peculiar methods of producing spiritual ecstacy, as described byLord Tennyson and others. The Power and Presence of God, as a reality. Thedissolution of race barriers. The effacement of the sense of sin among theIlluminati. What is meant by the phrase "naked and unashamed. " Will such astate ever exist on the earth? Efforts of those who have experienced CosmicConsciousness to express the experience; the strange similarity found inall attempts. Is there any evidence that Cosmic Consciousness is possibleto all?

CHAPTER VI

EXAMPLES OF COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS, WHO HAVE FOUNDED NEW SYSTEMS OF RELIGION

The simple religion of early Japan. The inner or secret shrine: itsesoteric and its exoteric office. The Mystic Brotherhoods. Why the esotericmeanings have always been veiled. The great teachers and the uniformity oftheir instructions. Philosophy as taught by Vivekananda. The fundamentaldoctrine of Buddhism. Have the present-day Buddhists lost the key? Isreligion necessary to Illumination? The fruits of Cosmic Consciousness. 

CHAPTER VII

MOSES, THE LAW-GIVER

The salient features of the Law as given by Moses to his people. Had theancient Hebrews any knowledge of Illumination and its results? The symbolof liberation. Its esoteric meaning. 

CHAPTER VIII

GAUTAMA--THE COMPASSIONATE

Prenatal conditions influencing Buddha. His strange temperament. Hispeculiar trances and their effect upon him. Why Buddha endured suchterrible struggles; is suffering necessary to Cosmic Consciousness? Fromwhat was Buddha finally liberated? The simplicity of Buddha's commandmentsin the light of Cosmic Consciousness. The fundamental truths taught byBuddha and all other sages. Buddha's own words regarding death and Nirvana. Last words to his disciples. How the teachings of Buddha compare with thevision of Cosmic Consciousness. His method of development of spiritualconsciousness. 

CHAPTER IX

JESUS OF NAZARETH

The astonishing similarity found in all religious precepts; thedistinguishing feature of the teachings as delivered by Jesus. His repeatedallusion to "the light within. " The great commandment he gave to hisdisciples. Love the basis of the teachings of all Illumined minds. The"Second Coming of Christ. " The signs of the times. 

CHAPTER X

PAUL OF TARSUS

His undoubted experience of illumination and its effects. Was Paul changedby "conversion, " or what was the wonderful power that altered his wholelife? Why Paul sought seclusion after his illumination. Characteristics ofall Illumined ones. The desire for simplicity. Paul's incomparabledescription of "the Love that never faileth. " The safe guide toillumination. The "first fruits of the spirit, " as prophesied by Paul. 

CHAPTER XI

MOHAMMED

Mohammed a predestined Leader. Condition of Arabia at his birth. Propheciesof a Messiah. His peculiar psychic temperament; his frequent attacks ofcatalepsy; his sufferings because of doubt; his never-ceasing urge toward afinal revelation. His changed state after the revelation on Mt. Hara. Hisunswerving belief in his mission; his devotion to Truth; His simplicity andhumility. His claim to Cosmic Consciousness. 

CHAPTER XII

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Swedenborg's early life. His sudden change from materialism. The difficultyof clear enunciation. His unfailing belief in the divinity of hisrevelations. How they compare with experiences of others. The frequentreception of the Light. The blessing of Cosmic Consciousness. 

CHAPTER XIII

MODERN EXAMPLES OF INTELLECTUAL COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS: EMERSON; TOLSTOI;BALZAC

The way to Illumination through intellectual cultivation; Emerson a notableexample; The Cosmic note in his essays and conversations. Emerson'sreligious nature. His familiarity with Oriental philosophy; his remarkablediscrimination; the peculiar penetrating quality of his intellect. Hisnever failing assurance of unity with the Divine. His belief in a spirituallife. Did Emerson predict a Millenium? His writings as they reflect lightupon his attainment of Cosmic Consciousness. 

LEO TOLSTOI--RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHER

Tolstoi the strangest and most unusual figure of the Nineteenth Century;His almost unbearable sufferings; his avowed materialism; his horror ofdeath; The prevailing gloom of his writings and to what due. Incidents inhis life previous to his illumination. The remarkable and radical changemade by his experience. To what was due Tolstoi's great struggle andsuffering? Why the great philosopher sought to die in a hut. His idea notone of penance. The signal change in his life after illumination. What hesays of this. 

HONORE DE BALZAC

Balzac's classification as of the psychic temperament. His amazing power ofmagnetic attraction. His feminine refinement in dress. His power ofinspiration gave him his place in French literature. The dominant motive ofall his writings. His unshakable conviction of immortality. His power tofunction on both planes of consciousness. The lesson to be drawn fromSeraphita. Balzac's evident intention, and why veiled. The inevitableconclusion to be drawn from the Symbolical character. 

CHAPTER XIV

ILLUMINATION AS EXPRESSED IN THE POETICAL TEMPERAMENT

Poetry the language of Cosmic Consciousness. Unconscious instruments of theCosmic law. The true poet and the maker of rhymes. The mission and scope ofthe poetical temperament. How "temperament" affects expression. No royalroad to Illumination. Teaching of Oriental mysticism. Whitman'sextraordinary experience. His idea of "Perfections. " Lord Tennyson's twodistinct states of consciousness; his early boyhood and strangeexperiences. Facts about his illumination. The after effects. Tennyson'svision of the future. Wordsworth, the poet of Nature. How he attained andlost spiritual illumination. How he again received the great Light. Theevidences of two states of consciousness. Outline of his illumination. Noguchi--a most remarkable instance of Illumination in early youth; Linesexpressive of an exalted state of consciousness; how it resulted in laterlife. The strange case of William Sharp and "Fiona Macleod:" a perfectexample of dual consciousness; the distinguishing features of the self andthe Self; the fine line of demarcation. How the writer succeeded in livingtwo distinct lives and the result. Remarkable contribution to literature. Apuzzling instance of phases of consciousness. 

CHAPTER XV

METHODS OF ATTAINMENT: THE WAY OF ILLUMINATION

The four Oriental methods of liberation. The goal of the soul's pilgrimage. Strange theory advanced. Revolutionary results that follow. How to perceivethe actuality of the higher Self. Gaining immortality "In the flesh;" WhatRevelation has promised and its substantiation in modern Science. The prizeand the price. Some valuable Yoga exercises to induce spiritual ecstacy. What "union with God" really means. The "Brahmic Bliss" of the Upanashads. The new race; its powers and privileges. "The man-god whom we await" asdescribed by Emerson. 

THE SELF AND SYMBOL

 Thou most Divine! above all women Above all men in consciousness. 

 Thou in thy nearness to me Hast shown me paths of love. Yea; walks that lead from hell To the great light; where life and love Do ever reign. 

 Thou hast taught to me a patience To behold whatever state; However beautiful and joyful; however ugly and sorrowful. 

 To know that these are--all!--but The glimmerings of the greater life-- Expressions of the infinite. 

 According to the finality of that moment Now to come; in the eternal now, which thou Sweet Presence, hast awakened me to-- I see the light--the way. 

 An everlasting illumination That takes me to the gate; the open door To the house of God. There I find most priceless jewels; The key to all the ways, That lead from _Om_ to thee. 

 A mistake--an off-turn from the apparent road of right Is but the bruising of thy temple, Calling thy Self--thy soul-- The God within; showing thee, The _nita_ of it all; which is but the half of me. 

 And as thy consciousness of the two The _nita_ and the _ita_, comes to thee A three is formed--the trinity is found. 

 Through thee the Deity hast spoken Uniting the two in the one;

 Revealing the illusion of mortality The message of _Om_ to the Illumined. 

--Ali Nomad. 

ARGUMENT

Man is essentially a spiritual being. 

The source of this spiritual Omniscience we may not, in our finiteintelligence, fully cognize, because full cognition would preclude thepossibility of finite expression. 

The destiny of man is perfection. 

Man perfected becomes a god. 

"Only the gods are immortal, " we are told. 

Let us consider what this means, supposing it to be an axiom of truth. 

Mortality is subject to change and death. Mortality is the manifest--thestage upon which "man in his life plays many parts. "

Immortality, is what the word says it is--godhood re-cognized in themortal. "Im" or, "Om"--the more general term--stands for the Changeless. Birthless. Deathless. Unnamable Power that holds the worlds in space, andputs intelligence into man. 

Biologists, even though they were to succeed in reproducing life bychemical processes from so-called "lifeless" (sterilized) _matter_, makingso high a form of manifestation as man himself, yet could never name _thepower by which they accomplished it_. 

Always there must remain the Unknownable--the Absolute. 

"Om, " therefore, is the word we use to express this Omniscient, Omnipotentand Omnipresent power. 

The term "mortal" we have already defined. The compound immortal, appliedto individual man, stands for one who has made his "at-one-ment" with Om, and who has, while still in the mortal body, re-cognized himself as onewith Om. 

This is what it means to escape the "second death, " to which the merelymortal consciousness is subject. 

This is the goal of every human life; this is the essence, the _substance_of all religious systems and all philosophies. 

The only chance for disputation among theologians and philosophers, lies inthe way of accomplishing this at-one-ment. There is not the slightestopportunity for a difference of opinion as what they wish to accomplish. 

Admitting then, that the goal of every soul is the same--immortality--(themortal consciousness cognizing itself as Om), we come to a consideration ofthe evidence we may find in support of this axiom. This evidence we do_not_ find satisfactory, in spirit communication; in psychic experiences;in hypnotic phenomena; and astral trips; important, and reliable as thesemany psychic research phenomena are. 

These are not satisfactory or convincing evidences of our at-one-ment withOm, because they do not preclude the probability of the "second death;" buton the contrary, they verify it. 

However, aside from all these psychic phenomena, there is a phase of humanexperience, much more rare but becoming somewhat general, that transcendsphenomena of every kind. 

The western world has given to these experiences the term "cosmicconsciousness, " which term is self explanatory. 

The Orientals have long known of this goal of the soul, and they have termsto express this, varying with the many types of the Oriental mind, but allmeaning the same thing. This meaning, from our Occidental viewpoint, isbest translated in the term liberation, signifying to be set free from thelimitations of sense, and of self-consciousness, and to have glimpsed thelarger area of consciousness, that takes in the very cosmos. 

This experience is accompanied by a great light, whether this light ismanifested as spiritual, or as intellectual power, determines itsexpression. 

The object of this book is to call attention to some of the more pronouncedinstances of this Illumination, and to classify them, according as theyhave been expressed through religions enthusiasm; poetical fervor; or greatintellectual power. 

But we have also one other argument to make, and this we present with aconviction of its _truth_, while conceding that it must remain a _theory_, until proven, each individual, man or woman, for himself and herself. Thepostulate is this: immortality (i. E. Godhood) is bi-sexual. No male personcan by any possibility become an immortal god, in, of and by himself; nofemale person can be complete without the "other half" that makes the ONE. 

Each and every SOUL, therefore, has its spiritual counterpart--its "otherhalf, " with which it unites on the spiritual plane, when the time comes forattainment of immortality. 

Sex is an eternal verity. The entire Cosmos is bi-sexual. Everything in thevisible universe; in the manifest, is the result of this universalprinciple. "As above so below, " is a safe rule, as far as the IDEA goes. This hypothesis does not preclude _perfection_ above, of that which we findbelow, but any radical reversion or repudiation of nature is inconceivable. 

"Male and female created he them. " This being true, male and female mustthey return to the source from which they sprung, completing the circle, and gaining what?

_Consciousness of godhood; of completeness in counterpartal union. Notabsorption_ of consciousness, but _union_, which is quite a differentidea. 

Out of this counterpartal union a race of gods will be born, and these_supermen_, shall "inherit the earth" making it a "fit dwelling place forthe gods. "

This earth is now being made fit. This fact may seem a far distant hope ifwe do not judge with the eyes of the seer, but its proof lies in theemancipation of woman. Its evidences are many and varied, but the awakeningof woman is the _cause_. 

This awakening of woman constitutes the first rays of the dawn--thatlong-looked for Millenium, which many of us have regarded as a mere figureof speech, instead of as a literal truth. 

The argument is not that there has been no individual awakening until thepresent time; but that never before in the finite history of the world hasthere been such a general awakening, and as it is self evident thatconditions will reflect the idea of the majority, the fact that woman isbeing given her rightful place in the sense-conscious life, proves that theearth will be a fit dwelling place for a higher order of beings than havehitherto constituted the majority. 

The numerous instances of Illumination, or cosmic consciousness which areforcing attention at the present time, prove that there is a_race-awakening_ to a realization of our unity with Om. 

Another point which we trust these pages will make clear is this: So-called"revelation" is neither a personal "discovery, " nor any special act of adivine power. "God spake thus and so to me, " is a phrase which theself-conscious initiate employs, _because he has lost sight of the_ cosmiclight, or because he finds it expedient to use that phraseology indelivering the message of cosmic consciousness. 

If we will substitute the term "_initiation_, " for the term "_revelation_, "we will have a clearer idea of the truth. 

Perhaps some of our readers will feel that the terms mean the same, but forthe most part, those who have employed the word "revelation, " have used itas implying that the plan of the cosmos was unfinished, and that theCreator, having found some person suitable to convey the latest decisionto mankind, natural laws had been suspended and the revelation made. 

It is to correct this view, that we emphasize the distinction between thetwo words. 

The cosmos is complete. "As it was in the beginning, it is now and evershall be, worlds without end. "

A circle is without beginning or end. We, in our individual consciousnessmay traverse this circle, but our failure to realize its completeness doesnot change the fact that it is finished. 

We can not add to the universal consciousness; nor take away therefrom. 

But we can extend our own area of consciousness from the narrow limits ofthe personal self, into the heights and depths of the atman and who shallset limitations to the power of the atman, the higher Self, when it hasattained at-one-ment with Om?

It is not the purpose of this book to trace the spiritual ascent of manfurther than to point out the wide gulf between the degrees ofconsciousness manifested in the lower animals and that of humanconsciousness; again tracing in the human, the ever-widening area of hiscognition of the personal self, and its needs, to the awakening of the souland its needs; which needs include the welfare of all living things as anabsolute necessity to individual happiness. 

Altruism, therefore, is not a virtue. It is a means ofself-preservation--without this degree of initiation into the boundlessarea of universal, or cosmic consciousness, we may not escape the karmiclaw. 

The revelations, therefore, upon which are founded the numerous religioussystems, are comparable with the many and various degrees of initiationinto THAT WHICH IS. 

They represent the degree which the initiate has taken in the lodge. 

It may be argued that this fact of individual initiation into theever-present truth of Being, as into a lodge, offers no proof that thisearth is to ultimately become a heaven. It may be that this planet is theouter-most lodge room and that there will never be a sufficient number ofinitiates to make the earth a fit dwelling place for a higher order ofbeings than now inhabit it. This may, indeed, be true. But all evidencetends toward the hope that even the planet itself will come under theregenerating power of Illumination. 

All prophecies embody this promise; all that we know of what materialistscall "evolution" and occultists might well name "uncovering ofconsciousness, " points to a time when "God's will, " "shall be done on earthas it is in heaven. "

All who have attained to cosmic consciousness in whatever degree, haveprophecied a _time_, when this blessing would descend upon every one; butthe difficulty in adequately explaining this great gift seems also to havebeen the burden of their cry. 

Jesus sought repeatedly to describe to his hearers the wonders of thecosmic sense, but realized that he was too far in advance of the cyclicend; but even as at that time, a number of disciples were capable ofreceiving the Illumination, so to-day, a larger number are capable ofattainment. If this number is great enough to bring about theregeneration--the perfecting--of the earth conditions, then it _must beaccomplished_. 

We believe that it is. We make the claim that the Millenium _has dawned_;and although it may be many years before the light of the morning breaksinto the full light of the day, yet the rays of the dawn are dispelling theworld's long night. 

In his powerful and prophetic story "In the Days of the Comet, " H. G. Wells, tells of a _great change_ that comes over the world following anatmospheric phenomenon in which a "green vapor" is generated in the cloudsand falls upon the earth with instantaneous effect. 

As this peculiar vapor descends, it has the effect of putting every one tosleep; this sleep continues for three days and when people finally awake, their interior nature has undergone a complete change. 

Where before they "saw dimly, " they now see clearly; the petty differencesand quarrels are perceived in their true perspective. Instead of place, andpower, and influence, and wealth, being all-important goals of ambition asbefore the change, every one now strives to be of service to the world. Love and kindness become greater factors than commercial expediency andbusiness success. 

In many respects, Wells' description of the great change and its effectupon people, corresponds with the effect of Illumination. 

The sense of entering into the very heart of things; of growing plants; thebirds and the little wood animals; the intense sympathy and understandingof life described by him, sounds like the effect of cosmic consciousness, as related by nearly all who have attained it. 

How the world's activities are resumed after the change, and under whatvastly different incentives people work, form a part of the story, which iswritten as fiction, but which contains the seed of a great truth. 

This truth is expressed in science, as human achievement, and in religionas fulfilled prophecy, but the truth is the same. 

Both religion and science point to a _time_ when this earth will knowfreedom from strife and suffering. Even the elements which have hithertobeen regarded as beyond the boundaries of man's will, may be completelycontrolled; not _may be_, but _will be_. Manual labor will cease. NationalEugenic societies will put a stop to war, when they come to the inevitableconclusion, that no race can by any possibility be improved, while the mostperfect physical species are reserved for armies. 

Awakening woman will refuse--indeed they are now refusing--to bear childrento be shot down in warfare, and crushed under the juggernaut of commercialcompetition. 

Those who realize the signs of the times, look for the birth of cosmicconsciousness as a race-consciousness, foreshadowing the new day; the"second coming of Christ, " not as a personal, vicarious sacrifice, but as afactor in human attainment. 

"For I am persuaded, " said St. Paul, "that neither death nor life, norangels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, norpowers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able toseparate us from the love of God. "

If we interpret this in the light of cosmic consciousness, we realize thatwe shall know, and _experience_ that boundless, deathless, perfect, satisfying, complete and all-embracing love which is the goal ofimmortality; which is an attribute (we may say the _one_ attribute) ofGod. 

We are not looking for the birth of _a_ Christ-child, but of _the_Christ-child; we are not looking for a second coming of _a_ man who shallbe as Jesus was, but we are anticipating the coming of _the_ man (homo), who shall be cosmically conscious, even as was Jesus of Nazareth; as wasGuatama, the Buddha. 

That there may be one man and one woman who shall first achieve thisconsciousness and realization is barely possible, but the preponderance ofevidence is for a more general awakening to the light of Illumination. 

"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in the twinkling of aneye, " said St. Paul. 

The prophecy of "the woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon underher feet, " is not of _a_ woman, but of Woman, in the light of a race of menwho have attained cosmic consciousness. 

Nothing more is needed to make a heaven of earth, than that the great lightand love that comes of Illumination, shall become dominant. 

It will solve all problems, because problems arise only because we aregroping in the dark. The elimination of selfishness; of condemnation; offear and anger, and doubt, must have far greater power for universalhappiness and well-being than all the systems which theology or science orpolitics could devise. Indeed, all these systems are sporadic and empiricalattempts to express the vague dawning of Illumination. 

In the fullness of its light, the need for systems will have passed away. 

CHAPTER I

THE NEW BIRTH: WHAT IT IS: INSTANCES DESCRIBED

The chief difference between the religions and the philosophies of theOrient and those of the Occident, lies in the fact that the Orientalsystems, methods, and practices, emphasize the assumption that the goal ofthese efforts, is attainable at any moment, as it were. 

That is, Oriental religion--speaking in the broad sense--teaches that thedisciple need not wait for the experience called death to liberate theSelf, the _atman_, from the enchantment or delusion, the _maya_, of theexternal world. Indeed, the Oriental devotee well knows that physicaldeath, _mrityu_, is not a guarantee of liberation; does not necessarilybring with it immortality. 

He well recognizes that physical death is but a procedure in existence. Death does not of itself, change the condition of _maya_, in which thedisciple is bound until such a time, as he has earned liberation--_mukti_, which condition may be defined as immunity from further incarnation. 

Immortality is our rightful heritage but it must be claimed, --yea, it mustbe _earned_. 

It is a mistake to imagine that death makes man immortal. Immortality isan attribute of the gods. But since all souls possess a spark of the divineessence of Brahman (The Absolute), _mukti_ may be attained by earnestseeking, and thus immortality be _realized_. 

This condition of awakening, is variously named among Oriental sages andchelas, such for instance as glimpsing the _Brahmic splendor; mutki;samadhi; moksha; entering Nirvana_; becoming "_twice-born_. "

In recent years there have come to light in the Occident a number ofinstances of the attainment of this state, and these have been describedas "cosmic consciousness;" "illumination;" "liberation;" the "baptism ofthe Holy Ghost;" and becoming "immersed in the great white light. "

Baptism, which is a ceremony very generally incorporated into religioussystems, is a symbol of this esoteric truth, namely the necessity forIllumination in order that the soul may be "saved" from furtherincarnations--from further experience. 

The term cosmic consciousness as well describes this condition of thedisciple, as any words can, perhaps, although the term liberation is moreliteral, since the influx of this state of being, is actually theliberation of the _atman_, the eternal Self, from the illusion of theexternal, or _maya_. 

Contrary to the general belief, instances of cosmic consciousness are notextremely rare, although they are not at all general. Particularly is thistrue in the Orient, where the chief concern as it were, of the people hasfor centuries been the realization of this state of liberation. 

The Oriental initiate in the study of religious practices, realizes thatthese devotions are for the sole purpose of attaining _mukti_, whereas inthe Occident, the very general idea held by the religious devotee, is oneof penance; of propitiation of Deity. This truth applies essentially to theinitiate, the aspirant for priesthood, or guru-ship. No qualified priest orguru of the Orient harbors any doubt regarding the _object_, or purpose ofreligious practices. The attainment of the spiritual experience describedin occidental language as "cosmic consciousness" is the goal. 

The goal is not a peaceful death; nor yet an humble entrance into heaven asa place of abode; nor is it the ultimate satisfying of a God of extremejustice; the "eye for an eye" God of the fear-stricken theologian. 

One purpose only, actuates the earnest disciple, like a glorious starlighting the path of the mariner on life's troublous sea. That goal is theattainment of that beatific state in which is revealed to the soul and themind, the real and the unreal; the eternal substance of truth, and theshifting kaleidoscope of _maya_. 

Nor can there be any purpose in the pursuit of either religion orphilosophy other than this attainment; nor does the unceasing practice ofrites and ceremonies; of contemplation; renunciation; prayers; fasting;penance; devotion; service; adoration; absteminousness; or isolation, insure the attainment of this state of bliss. There is no bartering; noassurance of reward for good conduct. It is not as though one would say, "Ah, my child, if thou wouldst purchase liberation thou shalt followthis recipe. "

No golden promises of speedy entrance into Paradise may be given thedisciple. Nor any exact rules, or laws of equation by virtue of which thegoal shall be reached. Nor yet may any specific time be correctly estimatedin which to serve a novitiate, before final initiation. 

Many indeed, attain a high degree of spirituality, and yet not have foundthe key of perfect liberation, although the goal may be not far off. 

Many, very many, on earth to-day, are living so close to the borderland ofthe new birth that they catch fleeting glimpses of the longed-for freedom, but the full import of its meaning does not dawn. There is yet anotherveil, however thin, between them and the Light. 

The Buddha spent seven years in an intense longing and desire to attainthat liberation which brought him consciousness of godhood--deliverancefrom the sense of sin and sorrow that had oppressed him; immunity from thenecessity for reincarnation. 

Jesus became a _Christ_ only after passing through the agonies ofGethsemane. A Christ is one who has found liberation; who has been bornagain in his individual consciousness into the inner areas of consciousnesswhich are of the _atman_, and this attainment establishes his identity withThe Absolute. 

All oriental religions and philosophies teach that this state ofconsciousness, is possible to all men; therefore all men are gods inembryo. 

But no philosophy or religion may promise the devotee the realization ofthis grace, nor yet can they deny its possible attainment to any. 

Strangely enough, if we estimate men by externalities, we discover thatthere is no measure by which the supra-conscious man may be measured. Theobscure and unlearned have been known to possess this wonderful power whichdissolves the seeming, and leaves only the contemplation of the Real. 

So also, men of great learning have experienced this rebirth; but it wouldseem that much cultivation of the intellectual qualities, unlessaccompanied by an humble and reverent spirit, frequently acts as a barrierto the realization of supra-consciousness. 

In "Texts of Taoism, " Kwang-Tse, one of the Illuminati, writes:

"He whose mind is thus grandly fixed, emits a heavenly light. In him whoemits this heavenly light, men see the true man (i. E. , the _atman_; theSelf). When a man has cultivated himself to this point, thenceforth heremains constant in himself. When he is thus constant in himself, what ismerely the human element will leave him, but Heaven will help him. Thosewhom Heaven helps, we call the sons of Heaven. Those who would, bylearning, attain to this, seek for what they _can not learn_. "

Thus it will be seen, that according to the reports offered us by this wiseman, that which men call learning guarantees no power regarding that areaof consciousness which brings Illumination--liberation from enchantment, ofthe senses--_mukti_. 

Again, in the case of Jacob Boehme, the German mystic, although he lefttomes of manuscript, it is asserted authoritatively, that he "possessed nolearning" as that word is understood to mean accumulated knowledge. 

In "The Spiritual Maxims" of Brother Lawrence, the Carmelite monk, we findthis:

"You must realize that you reach God through the heart, and not through themind. "

"Stupidity is closer to deliverance than intellect which innovates, " is aphrase ascribed to a Mohammedan saint, and do not modern theologians reportwith enthusiasm, the unlettered condition of Jesus?

In the Orient, the would-be initiate shuts out the voice of the world, thathe may know the heart of the world. Many, very many, are the years ofisolation and preparation which such an earnest one accepts in order thathe may attain to that state of supra-consciousness in which "nothing ishidden that shall not be revealed" to his clarified vision. 

In the inner temples throughout Japan, for example, there are persons whohave not only attained this state of consciousness, but who have alsoretained it, to such a degree and to such an extent, that no event ofcosmic import may occur in any part of the world, without these illuminedones instantly becoming aware of its happening, and indeed, this knowledgeis possessed by them _before_ the event has taken place in the externalworld, since their consciousness is not limited to time, space, or place(relative terms only), but is cosmic, or universal. 

This power is not comparable with what Occidental Psychism knows as"clairvoyance, " or "spirit communication. "

The state of consciousness is wholly unlike anything which modernspiritualism reports in its phenomena. Far from being in any degree asuspension of consciousness as is what is known as mediumship, this powerpartakes of the quality of omniscience. It harmonizes with and blends intoall the various degrees and qualities of consciousness in the cosmos, andbecomes "at-one" with the universal heart-throb. 

A Zen student priest was once discovered lying face downward on the grassof the hill outside the temple; his limbs were rigid, and not a pulsethrobbed in his tense and immovable form. He was allowed to remainundisturbed as long as he wished. When at length he stood up, his face worean expression of terrible anguish. It seemed to have grown old. His _guru_stood beside him and gently asked: "What did you, my son?"

"O, my Master, " cried out the youth, "I have heard and felt all the burdensof the world. I know how the mother feels when she looks upon her starvingbabe. I have heard the cry of the hunted things in the woods; I have feltthe horror of fear; I have borne the lashes and the stripes of the convict;I have entered the heart of the outcast and the shame-stricken; I have beenold and unloved and I have sought refuge in self-destruction; I have liveda thousand lives of sorrow and strife and of fear, and O, my Master, Iwould that I could efface this anguish from the heart of the world. "

The _guru_ looked in wonder upon the young priest and he said, "It is well, my son. Soon thou shalt know that the burden is lifted. "

Great compassion, the attribute of the Lord Buddha, was the key whichopened to this young student priest, the door of _mukti_, and although hiscompassion was not less, after he had entered into that blissfulrealization, yet so filled did he become with a sense of bliss andinexpressible realization of eternal love, that all consciousness of sorrowwas soon wiped out. 

This condition of effacement of all identity, as it were, with sorrow, sin, and death, seems inseparable from the attainment of liberation, and hasbeen testified to by all who have recorded their emotions in reaching thisstate of consciousness. In other respects, the acquisition of thissupra-consciousness varies greatly with the initiate. 

In all instances, there is also an overwhelming conviction of thetransitory character of the external world, and the emptiness of allman-bestowed honors and riches. 

A story is told of the Mohammedan saint Fudail Ibn Tyad, which wellillustrates this. The Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, learning of the extremesimplicity and asceticism of his life exclaimed, "O, Saint, how great isthy self-abnegation. "

To which the saint made answer: "Thine is greater. " "Thou dost but jest, "said the Caliph in wonderment. "Nay, not so, great Caliph, " replied thesaint. "I do but make abnegation of this world which is transitory, andthou makest abnegation of the next which will last forever. "

However, the phrase, "self-abnegation, " predicates the concept ofsacrifice; the giving up of something much to be desired, while, as amatter of truth, there arises in the consciousness of the Illumined One, anatural contempt for the "baubles" of externality; therefore there is nosacrifice. Nothing is given up. On the contrary, the gain is infinitelygreat. 

Manikyavasayar, one of the great Tamil saints of Southern India, addresseda gathering of disciples thus:

"Why go about sucking from each flower, the droplet of honey, when theheavy mass of pure and sweet honey is available?" By which he questionedwhy they sought with such eagerness the paltry pleasures of this world, when the state of cosmic consciousness might be attained. 

The thought of India, is however, one of ceaseless repudiation of all thatis external, and the Hindu conception of _mukti_, or cosmic consciousness, differs in many respects from that reported by the Illumined in othercountries, even while all reports have many emotions in common. 

Again we find that reports of the cosmic influx, differ with the century inwhich the Illumined one lived. This may be accounted for in the fact thatan experience so essentially spiritual can not be accurately expressed interms of sense consciousness. 

Far different from the Hindu idea, for example, is the report of a womanwho lived in Japan in the early part of the nineteenth century. This womanwas very poor and obscure, making her frugal living by braiding mats. Sointense was her consciousness of unity with all that is, that on seeing aflower growing by the wayside, she would "enter into its spirit, " as shesaid, with an ecstacy of enjoyment, that would cause her to becomemomentarily entranced. 

She was known to the country people around her as _Sho-Nin_, meaningliterally "above man in consciousness. "

It is said that the wild animals of the wood, were wont to come to herdoor, and she talked to them, as though they were humans. An injured harecame limping to her door in the early morning hours and "spoke" to her. 

Upon which, she arose and dressed, and opened the door of her dwelling withwords of greeting, as she would use to a neighbor. 

She washed the soil from the injured foot, and "loved" it back towholeness, so that when the hare departed there was no trace of injury. 

She declared that she spoke to and was answered by, the birds and theflowers, and the animals, just as she was by persons. 

Indeed, among the high priests of the Jains, and the Zens (sects which maybe classed as highly developed Occultists), entering into animalconsciousness, is a power possessed by all initiates. 

Passing along a highway near a Zen temple, the driver of a cart was stoppedby a priest, who gently said: "My good man, with some of the money you havein your purse please buy your faithful horse a bucket of oats. He tells mehe has been so long fed on rice straw that he is despondent. "

To the Occidental mind this will doubtless appear to be the result of keenobservation, the priest being able to see from the appearance of the animalthat he was fed on straw. They will believe, perhaps, that the priestexpressed his observations in the manner described to more fully impressthe driver, but this conclusion will be erroneous. The priest, possessingthe enlarged or all-inclusive consciousness which in the west is termed"cosmic, " actually did speak to the horse. 

Nor is this fact one which the western mind should be unable to follow. Science proves the fact of consciousness existing in the atoms composingeven what has been termed _inanimate_ objects. How much more comprehensibleto our understanding is the consciousness of an animate organism, eventhough this organism be not more complex than the horse. 

There is a Buddhist monastery built high on the cliff overlooking the JapanInland sea, which is called a "life-saving" monastery. 

The priests who preside over this temple, possess the power of extendingtheir consciousness over many miles of sea, and on a vibration attuned to apitch above the sound of wind and wave, so that they can hear a call ofdistress from fishermen who need their help. 

This fact being admitted, might be accounted for by the uninitiated, as awonderfully "trained ear, " which by cultivation and long practice detectssounds at a seemingly miraculous distance. 

But the priests know how many are in a wrecked boat, and can describe them, and "converse" with them, although the fishermen are not aware that theyhave "talked" to the priest. 

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the latest incarnation of God in India, andthe master to whom the late Swami Vivekananda gives such high praise anddevotion, lived almost wholly in that exalted state of consciousness whichwould appear to be more essentially _spiritual_, than _cosmic_ in thestrict sense of the latter word, since _cosmic_ should certainly implyall-inclusiveness, rather than wholly _spiritual_ (spiritual being hereused as an extremely high vibration of the cosmos). 

We learn that Sri Ramakrishna was a man comparatively unlettered, and yethis insight was so marvelous, his consciousness so exalted that the mostlearned pundits honored and respected him as one who had attained unto thegoal of all effort--liberation, _mukti_, while to many persons throughoutIndia to-day, and indeed throughout the whole world, he is looked upon asan incarnation of Krishna. 

It is related of Sri Ramakrishna that his yearning for Truth (his mother, he called it), was so great that he finally became unfit to conductservices in the temple, and retired to a little wood near by. Here heseemed to be lost in concentration upon the one thought, to such an extentthat had it not been for devoted attendants, who actually put food into hismouth, the sage would have starved to death. He had so completely lost allthought of himself and his surroundings that he could not tell when the daydawned or when the night fell. So terrible was his yearning for the voiceof Truth that when day after day passed and the light he longed for had notcome to him he would weep in agony. 

Nor could any words or argument dissuade him from his purpose. 

He once said to Swami Vivekananda:

"My son, suppose there is a bag of gold in yonder room, and a robber is inthe next room. Do you think that robber can sleep? He cannot. His mind willbe always thinking how he can enter that room and obtain possession ofthat gold. Do you think, then, that a man firmly persuaded that there is areality behind all these appearances, that there is a God, that there isOne who never dies, One who is Infinite Bliss, a bliss compared with whichthese pleasures of the senses are simply playthings, --can rest contentedwithout struggling to attain it? No, he will become mad with longing. "

At length, after almost twelve years unceasing effort, and undividedpurpose Sri Ramakrishna was rewarded with what has been described as "atorrent of spiritual light, deluging his mind and giving him peace. "

This wonderful insight he displayed in all the after years of his earthlymission, and he not only attained glimpses of the cosmic conscious state, but he also retained the Illumination, and the power to impart to a greatdegree, the realization of that state of being which he himself possessed. 

Like the Lord Buddha, this Indian sage also describes his experience asaccompanied by "unbounded light. " Speaking of this strange and overpoweringsense of being immersed in light, Sri Ramakrishna described it thus: "Theliving light to which the earnest devotee is drawn doth not burn. It islike the light coming from a gem, shining yet soft, cool and soothing. Itburneth not. It giveth peace and joy. "

This effect of great light, is an almost invariable accompaniment ofsupra-consciousness, although there are instances of undoubted cosmicconsciousness in which the realization has been a more gradual growth, rather than a sudden influx, in which the phenomenon of _light_ is notgreatly marked. 

Mohammed is said to have swooned with the "intolerable splendor" of theflood of white light which broke upon him, after many days of constantprayer and meditation, in the solitude of the cavern outside the gates ofMecca. 

Similar is the description of the attainment of cosmic consciousness, givenby the Persian mystics, although it is evident that the Sufis regarded theresult as reunion with "the other half" of the soul in exile. 

The burden of their cry is love, and "union with the beloved" is thelonged-for goal of all earthly strife and experience. 

Whether this reunion be considered from the standpoint of finding the otherhalf of the perfect one, as exemplified in the present-day search for thesoul mate, or whether it be considered in the light of a spiritual merginginto the One Eternal Absolute is the question of questions. 

Certainly the terms used to express this state of spiritual ecstacy arewords which might readily be applied to lovers united in marriage. 

One thing is certain, the Sufis did not personify the Deity, exceptsymbolically, and the "beloved one" is impartially referred to as masculineor feminine, even as modern thought has come to realize God asFather-Mother. 

In all mystical writings, we find the conclusion that there is no _one way_in which the seeker may find reunion with The Beloved. 

"The ways of God are as the number of the souls of men, " declare thefollowers of Islam, and "for the love that thou wouldst find demands thesacrifice of self to the end that the heart may be filled with the passionto stand within the Holy of Holies, in which alone the mysteries of theTrue Beloved can be revealed unto thee, " is also a Sufi sentiment, althoughit might also be Christian or Mohammedan, or Vedantan. 

Indeed, if the student of Esotericism, searches deeply enough, he will finda surprising unity of sentiment, and even of expression, in all the varietyof religions and philosophies, including Christianity. 

It has been said that the chief difference between the message of Jesusand those of the holy men of other races, and times, lies in the fact thatJesus, more than his predecessors, emphasized the importance of love. Butconsider the following lines from Jami, the Persian mystic:

 "Gaze, till gazing out of gazing Grew to BEING HER I gazed on, She and I no more, but in one Undivided Being blended. All that is not One must ever Suffer with the wound of absence; And whoever in Love's city Enters, finds but room for one And but in Oneness, union. "

These lines express that religious ecstacy which results from spiritualaspiration, or they express the union of the individual soul with its mateaccording to the viewpoint. In any event, they are an excellent descriptionof the realization of that much-to-be-desired consciousness which isfittingly described in Occidental phraseology as "cosmic consciousness. "Whether this realization is the result of union with the soul's "otherhalf, " or whether it is an impersonal reunion with the Causeless Cause, TheAbsolute, from which we are earth wanderers, is not the direct purpose ofthis volume to answer, although the question will be answered, and thatsoon. 

From whence and by whom we are not prepared to say, but the "signs andportents" which precede the solution of this problem have already madetheir appearance. 

Christian students of the Persian mystics, take exception to statementslike the above, and regard them as "erotic, " rather than spiritual. 

Mahmud Shabistari employs the following symbolism, but unquestionably seeksto express the same emotion:

 "Go, sweep out the chamber of your heart, Make it ready to be the dwelling-place of the Beloved. When you depart out, he will enter in, In you, void of your_self_, will he display his beauty. "

The "Song of Solomon" is in a similar key, and whether the wise kingreferred to that state of _samadhi_ which accompanies certain experiencesof cosmic consciousness, or whether he was reciting love-lyrics, must be amoot question. 

The personal note in the famous "song" has been accounted for by manycommentators, on the grounds that Solomon had only partial glimpses of thesupra-conscious state, and that, in other words, he frequently "backslid"from divine contemplation, and allowed his yearning for the state ofliberation, to express itself in love of woman. 

An attribute of the possession of cosmic consciousness is wisdom, and thisSolomon is said to have possessed far beyond his contemporaries, and to adegree incompatible with his years. It is said that he built andconsecrated a "temple for the Lord, " and that, as a result of his extremepiety and devotion to God, he was vouchsafed a vision of God. 

As these reports have come to us through many stages of church history andas Solomon lived many centuries before the birth of Jesus, it seems hardlyfitting to ascribe the raptures of Solomon as typifying the love of theChurch (the bride) for Christ (the bridegroom). 

Rather, it is easier to believe, the wisdom of the king argues a degree ofconsciousness far beyond that of the self-conscious man, and he rose to thequality of spiritual realization, expressing itself in a love and longingfor that soul communion which may be construed as quite personal, referringto a personal, though doubtless non-corporeal union with his spiritualcomplement. 

Although the pronoun "he" is used, signifying that Solomon's longing waswhat theology terms "spiritual" and consequently impersonal, meaning GodThe Absolute, yet we suggest that the use of the masculine pronoun may bedue entirely to the translators and commentators (of whom there have beenmany), and that, in their zeal to reconcile the song with theecclesiastical ideas of spirituality, the gender of the pronoun has beenchanged. We submit that the idea is more than possible, and indeed in viewof the avowed predilections of the ancient king and sage, it is highlyprobable. 

He sings:

 "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth For his love is better than wine. "

Again he cries:

"Behold thou art fair my love, behold thou art fair, thou _hast dove'seyes_. "

The realization of _mukti_, i. E. , the power of the _atman_ to transcend thephysical, is thus expressed by Solomon, clearly indicating that he hadfound liberation:

"My beloved spoke and said unto me, 'Rise up my love my fair one, and comeaway. For lo, the winter is passed, the rain is over and gone. 

"'The flowers appear upon the earth; the time of singing of birds has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. 

"'The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vine with the tendergrapes gives a goodly smell. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away. '"

It is assumed that these lines do not refer to a personal hegira, butrather to the act of withdrawing the Self from the things of the outerlife, and fixing it in contemplation upon the larger life, thesupra-conscious life, but there is no reason to doubt that they may referto a longing to commune with the beautiful and tender things of nature. 

Another point to be noted is that in the spring and early summer it is withdifficulty that the mind can be made to remain fixed upon the petty detailsof everyday business life. The awakening of the earth from the long coldsleep of winter is typical of the awakening of the mind from its hypnotismsof external consciousness. 

Instinctively, there arises a realization of the divinity of creativeactivity, and the mind soars up to the higher vibrations and awakes to thereal purpose of life, more or less fully, according to individualdevelopment. 

This has given rise to the assumption, predicated by some writers on cosmicconsciousness, that this state of consciousness is attained in the earlysummer months, and the instances cited would seem to corroborate thisassumption. 

But, as a poet has sung, "it is always summer in the soul, " so there is nospecific time, nor age, in which individual cosmic consciousness may beattained. 

A point which we suggest, and which is verified by the apparent connectionbetween the spring months, and the full realization of cosmicconsciousness, is the point that this phenomenon comes throughcontemplation and desire for love. Whether this love be expressed as theawakening of creative life, as in nature's springtime, or whether it beexpressed as love of the lover for his bride; the dove for his mate; themother for her child, or as the religious devotee for the Lord, the keythat unlocks the door to illumination of body, soul and spirit, is Love, "the maker, the monarch and savior of all, " but whether this love in itsfullness of perfection may be found in that perfect spiritual mating, whichwe see exemplified in the tender, but ardent mating of the dove (the symbolof Purity and Peace), or whether it means spiritual union with the Absoluteis not conclusive. 

The mystery of Seraphita, Balzac's wonderful creation, is an evidence thatBalzac had glimpses of that perfect union, which gives rise to theexperience called cosmic consciousness. 

It is well to remember that in every instance of cosmic consciousness, theperson experiencing this state, finds it practically impossible to fullydescribe the state, or its exact significance. 

Therefore, when these efforts have been made, we must expect to find thedescription colored very materially by the habit of _thought_, of theperson having the experience. 

Balzac was essentially religious, but he was also extremely suggestible, and, until very recently, Theology and Religion were supposed to besynonymous, or at least to walk hand in hand. Balzac's early training andhis environment, as well as the thought of the times in which he lived, were calculated to inspire in him the fallacious belief that God would haveus renounce the love of our fellow beings, for love of Him. 

Balzac makes "Louis Lambert" renounce his great passion for Pauline, andseems to suggest that this renunciation led to the subsequent realizationof cosmic consciousness, which he unquestionably experienced. 

Nor is it possible to say that it did not, since renunciation of the lowermust inevitably lead to the higher, and we give up the lesser only that wemay enjoy the greater. 

In "Seraphita" Balzac expressed what may be termed spiritual love and thatspiritual union with the Beloved, which the Sufis believed to be the resultof a perfect and complete "mating, " between the sexes, on the spiritualplane, regardless of physical proximity or recognition, but which is alsoelsewhere described as the soul's glimpse of its union with the Absolute orGod. 

The former view is individual, while the latter is impersonal, and may, ormay not, involve absorption of individual consciousness. 

In subsequent chapters we shall again refer to Balzac's Illumination asexpressed in his writings, and will now take up the question of man'srelation to the universe, as it appears in the light of cosmicconsciousness, or liberation. 

CHAPTER II

MAN'S RELATION TO GOD AND TO HIS FELLOW-MEN

The riddle of the Sphinx is no riddle at all. The strange figure, the lowerpart animal; the upper part human; and the sprouting wings epitomize thegrowth and development of man from the animal, or physical (carnal), consciousness to the soul consciousness, represented by woman's head andbreast, to the supra-conscious, winged god. 

No higher conception of life has ever emanated from any source, than theconcept of man developed to a state of perfection represented by wings (asymbol of freedom). These winged humans are sometimes called angels andsometimes gods, although the words may not be synonymous. 

The point is, that no theory of life and its purposes seems more general ormore unescapable than that of man's growth from sin (limitations) togod-hood--freedom. 

Whether this consummation is brought about through an unbroken chain ofupward tendencies from the lowest forms of life to the highest; or whetherit is symbolized by the old theologic idea of man's fall from godhood tosin, the fact remains that we know no other ideal than that represented byperfected man; and we know no lower idea than that of man still in theanimal stage of consciousness. 

Artists, painters, sculptors, wishing to depict the beauty of spiritualthings, must still use the human idea for a model--refined, spiritualized, supra-human, but still man. 

It is a truism that man epitomizes the universe. Therefore, the law ofgrowth, which science names evolution, may be studied and applied withequal precision and accuracy to the individual; to a body of individualscalled a nation; and to worlds, or planets. 

The evolution of an individual is accomplished when he has learned throughthe various avenues of experience, the fact of his own godhood; and when hehas established his union with that indescribable spiritual essence whichis called Om; God; Nirvana; Samadhi; Brahm; Kami; Allah; and the Absolute. 

A Japanese term is _Dai Zikaku_. The Zen sect of Japanese Buddhists say_Daigo Tettei_, and one who has attained to this superior phase ofconsciousness is called Sho-Nin, meaning literally "above man. "

Emerson, the great American seer, expressed this Nameless One, as TheOversoul, and Herbert Spencer, the intellectual giant of England, used theterm Universal Energy. 

Emerson was a seer; Spencer was a scientist, which word, until recently, was a synonym for materialist. 

But what are words?

Mere symbols of consciousness, and subject to change and evolvement, asman's consciousness evolves. The student of truth will recognize in thesedifferent words, exactly the same meaning. The "eternal energy from whichall things proceed" is a phrase identical with "The Oversoul, " or "TheAbsolute, " from which all manifestation comes. 

Man's evolution, then, is an evolution in consciousness, from thesubjective _awareness_ of the monad to a realization of the entire cosmos. 

Each phase of life is a specific degree of consciousness and eachsuccessive degree brings the individual nearer to the realization of the_sum_ of all degrees of consciousness, into godhood--the highest degreewhich we can conceive. 

Such, briefly, is a statement of that phenomenon which is attracting theattention of occidental students of psychology, and which has beenfittingly termed "the attainment of cosmic consciousness. "

The phrase expresses a degree of consciousness which includes the entirecosmos--not only this planet called earth, and everything thereon, but alsothe spheres of the Constellation. 

Not that this degree of consciousness carries with it the power to expressin words, that which it is. In fact, the one who has had this marvelousawakening, cannot adequately describe, or even _retain_, a fullcomprehension of what it signifies. 

All-inclusive knowledge would indeed, preclude the possibility ofexpression. Therefore, even if it were possible to retain in the finitemind, the full realization of cosmic consciousness, words could not befound in which to express it to others. 

Thought is the creator of words, but thought is but the material which themind employs, and cosmic consciousness transcends the mind, engulfs thesoul, and reaches to the trackless areas of Spirit. 

It may be doubted if any one may retain a full realization of cosmicconsciousness, and remain in the physical body. 

Great and wonderful as have been the experiences of those who have soughtto relate their sensations, it is probable that these flashes of insighthave been in the nature of cosmic _perception_, and have lacked fullrealization. 

Of those who have had glimpses of that larger area of consciousness whichincludes an awareness of eternal unity with the cosmos, there are, webelieve, many more than students of the subject have any idea of. 

This century marks a distinct epoch in what is called evolution. 

The end of a _kalpa_, or cycle of manifestation, is symbolized by thepresence on a planet of many avatars, masters, and angels. 

By their very presence these enlightened ones arouse in all who are readyfor the experience a glimpse of that state of being to which all souls aredestined, and to which all shall ultimately attain. 

A time when "gods shall walk the earth" is a prophecy which all nationshave heard and looked forward to. 

That time is now. We see the effect of their presence in Peace Conferences;in abolition of child labor; in prison reform; in the amalgamation of theraces; in attempts at social equality; in National Eugenic Societies, andabove all, as we have before stated, in the Emancipation of Woman. In fact, it is seen in all the various ways in which the higher consciousness findsexpression. 

One of the characteristic signs of this awakening, the Millenium Dawn, asit has been named, lies in a very general optimism shining through themists of doubt and unrest and inexpressible desire, which accompany thenew birth in consciousness. 

Amid the seeming chaos of present day conditions is it not easy to discernthe coming of that dawn of which all great ones of earth have foretold--atime when "the earth shall be made a fit habitation for the gods"?

"The heavens" is a term employed to specify the Constellation which iscomposed of planets and stars, but we use the term "Heaven" also to mean astate of happiness and bliss attainable through certain methods, aconsideration of which we will take up later. 

The immediate point is that this planet is being prepared for a position inthe solar system consistent with that which is the abode of thegods--Heaven. 

This proposition is made in its literal meaning. Corroborative of thisstatement, which is consistent with all prophecies, is the informationrecently given to the world, by Camille Flammarion, and other greatastronomers, that "the earth is changing its position in the heavens at anastonishing rate. " The idea that "there shall be no night there, " isforeshadowed by the estimate that this change will give to the earth aperpetual and uniform light, and heat. 

The New Thought preachment of physical immortality is but a faint andimperfect perception of this time, when "there shall be no death, " becausethe animal man, subject to change, shall give place to the changeless, deathless, spiritual man; not through cataclysms, and destruction, butthrough the natural birth into a higher consciousness. 

The Occidental mind is easily affrighted by a name. Perhaps we should notspecify the Occidental mind, but rather the mind of man among all races iseasily put to sleep by the hypnotism of a word. 

The word Pantheism is a bugaboo to the Occidentalist. He fears thedestruction of the Monistic faith, if he admits that man is in essence agod, and that therefore there are many gods in the one God, even as thereare many members to the one physical organism. 

Nevertheless all literature, whether sacred or profane, teaches theattainment of godhood by Man. This can not mean other than the attainmentof _realization_ of godhood, by the individual and the _retention_ of thisrealization to the end that reincarnation shall cease and identity with thecosmic, principle, be established, beyond further loss, or doubt, orstrife, or death. 

This is what it means to attain to cosmic consciousness. It is inclusiveconsciousness. It is not absorption into the vast unknown, in the sense ofannihilation of identity. It is consciousness _plus_, not minus. 

An ancient writing says:

"And thou shalt awake as from a long dream. Thou shalt be like the perfumearising from the flower in which it has been so long enclosed. And thouwilt float above the opened flower. And thou wilt say 'There is time beforeme in eternity. '"

There is nothing in the testimony of those who have described, as best theycould, their emotions upon attainment of this consciousness, which wouldargue the absorption of the individual soul into The Absolute. 

There is no testimony to argue that the attainment of cosmic consciousness, carries with it anything approaching annihilation of _sentiency_. 

Rather it would seem to testify to an acceleration of all the higherfaculties. 

That this would be a more apt interpretation may be seen by comparing thedifferent reports of those experiencing the phenomenon of Illumination. 

Nevertheless there has been much controversy regarding the meaning of theterms nirvana; samadhi; dai zikaku, etc. --words expressing the conditionwhich we are considering under the phrase cosmic consciousness. 

WHAT IS NIRVANA?

Let us consider briefly, what is meant by Nirvana, and see if it is nothighly probable that the word describes the state of consciousness whichwe are considering, referring later on to the question, and itsinterpretation by the various schools of religion and philosophy. 

It is apparent that the most learned sages of the Orient fail to agree asto the exact meaning of Nirvana. Occidental writers and leaders of theTheosophical philosophy, differ somewhat as to its import, but at the sametime we find enough unity on this point to make it evident that the stateof Nirvana is a desirable attainment--the goal of the religious enthusiast. 

Going back for a moment, to a consideration of the earliest recordedreligion of Japan, we find that Sintoism means literally "the way of thegods, " meaning the way in which men who have become god-like, found thepath that led thereunto, but as to exactly what conditions are representedby godhood, how indeed, is it possible for man to _know_, much less toexpress?

Since we are conscious of a divine and irresistible urge toward theattainment of this state of being, it is hardly consistent with what weknow of merely _human_ nature, that the way lies in the direction of lossof identity, or in other words, in what is popularly comprehended as_absorption_. That this idea prevails in many Oriental sects of Buddhismand Vedanta we are aware, but we are confident that this idea is erroneous, and comes from the fact that it is impossible to describe the condition ofconsciousness enjoyed by the initiate into Nirvana, which term we believe, is identical, or at least comparable with cosmic consciousness. 

The very fact that external life represents so universal a struggle forattainment of this state of being, or higher consciousness, indicates atleast, even if it does not actually _guarantee_ a fuller, deeper, morecomplete state of consciousness than hitherto enjoyed, rather than anabsorption or annihilation of any of that dearly bought consciousness whichdistinguishes the self from its environment, and which says with conviction"I am. "

It is admitted that those who have experienced liberation, illumination, _mukti_, have reported their sensations with such relative vagueness andwith such apparent variance of conclusion as regards the _meaning_ of theexperience that the reader is left to his own interpretation of thecharacter of that state of being, other than a general uniformity ofdescription. 

Referring to the pleasure which the lower nature feels under certainconditions, the late Swami Vivekananda says:

"The whole idea of this nature is to make the soul know that it is entirelyseparate from nature and when the soul knows this, nature has no moreattraction for it. But the whole of nature vanishes only for that man whohas become free. There will always remain an infinite number of others forwhom nature will go on working. "

But did Vivekananda employ the phrase "nature has no more attraction forhim, " to describe the sensation of unappreciativeness of the wonders of thenatural world? We think not. Rather the gentle-hearted sage meant to reportthe fact that the soul is no longer _held in bondage_ to the externalworld, when it has once attained supra-consciousness. 

If this expression referred to the pleasure the true lover of nature feelsin the out-of-doors, he might well say "I trust that I shall never attainto that state of consciousness. Or if attainment be compulsory, then shallI prolong the time of accomplishment as long as possible. "

And who would blame him? Why should we strive for the attainment of a stateof being described so unattractively as to give us the impression of entire_loss_ of so enjoyable and unselfish a sensation as love of nature?

The Vedantic idea, according to interpreted translations is that out of TheAbsolute, the All (Om), we _come_, and therefore back to it we go, beingnow in our present state of consciousness, en route, as it were to return. 

But returning to _what_? That is the unanswerable problem of all religions;all philosophies; all science. If we _return_ to a void, such as someinterpreters of the Vedas declare, then surely this urge within mankindtoward this annihilatory state would hardly be expected. It would beinconsistent with that instinct of self-preservation which we are told isthe first law of nature. 

Compared to this Vedantic concept of the Absolute, the Christian's simple, and very empirical ideal of eternal happiness is preferable. 

To walk streets paved with gold and play a harp incessantly while chantingdoleful praises to a Deity who ought to become wearied of the never-ceasingadulation, would still be a more desirable goal of our strife, than that soinaccurately and unattractively described by many students of Orientalreligions and philosophies as the state _nirvana_, or _samadhi_. 

Again quoting from Vivekananda's Raja Yoga:

"There are not wanting persons who think that this manifest state (ourpresent existence) is the highest state of man. Thinkers of great caliberare of the opinion that we are manifested specimens of undifferentiatedBeing, and this differentiated state is _higher than the Absolute_. "

Although as Vivekananda says there are thinkers who make this claim, theidea does not find ready acceptance among theologians, either Eastern, orWestern. Neither do philosophers, as a general thing incline to adopt thisview. The reason for this general disinclination is not difficult ofdiscovery. It is due to the present state of man on this planet. 

If man, as we see and know mankind, is the highest state of Being (notmerely of manifestation, but of Being) "then, " they say, "we have nothingto hope for. "

But have we not? May we not hope that man will _manifest_, on this planet afuller realization, of that which he _is_ in _Being_, and that, far fromdissolving what consciousness he has, he will but _plus_ this consciousnessby a larger--an all-embracing consciousness that shall make earth a fithabitation for god-like men?

In Vivekananda's Raja Yoga we find the following:

"There was an old solution that man, after death, remained the same; thatall his good sides, minus his evil sides, remained forever. Logicallystated, this means that man's goal is the world; this world meaning earthcarried to a state higher and with elimination of its evils is the statethey call heaven. This theory, on the face of it, is absurd and puerilebecause it cannot be. There cannot be good without evil, or evil withoutgood. To live in a world where there is all good and no evil, is whatSanskrit logicians call a 'dream in the air. '"

It is not necessary to argue here that there is no such thing as positiveevil. 

St. Paul said: "I know and am persuaded that nothing is unclean of itself;save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it isunclean. "

And again we are assured that "there is nothing good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so;" which means that evil has no more foundation in reality thanhas thought, and thought is ever-changing; transitory. Evil therefore maybe entirely eliminated by thought, since it is created by thought. 

That there is a condition of mankind which has been alluded to as "evil" isself-evident. The term has been employed to describe a condition of eitheran individual, or a society, or a nation or a race, wherein there is inharmony; disease; unhappiness. Anything that makes for suffering on anyplane of consciousness, may be termed "evil" as here used. 

Let us consider for a moment if it be illogical to imagine a world in whichthis in harmony has been eliminated. Imagine a family in which all themembers radiate love and unselfish consideration. Add to this, or we maysay complementary to this, we have perfect health and prosperity; and overand above all we have a conviction of immortality, eliminating doubt andfear and worry as to future sorrows or partings, with no knowledge thatthere are others in the world suffering. 

Do we not find it quite possible, to say the least, and even desirable, tolive in such a family, particularly if we had previously acquired aknowledge of that which is evil and that which is good--merely terms usedto describe limited, or enlarged consciousness. 

If we admit the desirability of living in such a family, why not in such aworld? "Logically stated, " says the Hindu swami, "this means that man'sgoal is this world (earth planet); carried to a state higher and with theelimination of its evils, this world is the state (place) they callheaven. "

Again we must question. Why not?

This planet we call earth, is a great and marvelous work, whether it be thework of an abstract God, or whether it be the work of the god in Man. 

And whether this earth be the gift of an abstract God, or whether it bethe generating bed of the life now upon it, the fact remains that we haveno business to despise the gift, or the work of self-generation. Ourbusiness is to enhance its beauties and eliminate its ugliness. Why have weprayed that the will of God which is Love, "be done on earth as it is inthe heavens, " if we despise the planet and hope to leave it?

Although the general impression given in all religious systems is thatthe perfected soul leaves this earth, yet there is nothing in any of themto prove that it does so, or if it has hitherto, that it shall continue soto do. We have no right to assume that the outer life--the external, manifested life which we perceive with our physical senses, is all there isto this earth and that when we leave this outer life, we go to some other_place_. The _invisible_ life on this planet is unquestionably far greaterthan the _visible_ but both visible and invisible doubtless belong to theplanet earth. 

The Absolute, presumably occupies all space, and therefore it may asreasonably be postulated that this state of Nirvana or Samadhi, may beentered within the area of this planet's vibrations, as in that of theother planets. The finite mind cannot conceive of a state of being apartfrom motion, space or time, even though these concepts are crude in theirrelation to the state of consciousness to which the sum of allconsciousness is tending, whether the individual would, or not. 

We speak of "the heavens" when we refer to the immeasurable, and littleknown region of the solar system, and we use the same term when we refer toa state of being in which the perfected soul of man will finally enter. Andthis term implies that when we are thus in heaven, we are _with_ God, ifnot _absorbed into_ God. 

Jesus, the master, taught the coming of the kingdom of God _on earth_ andurged mankind to _pray_ for its coming, asking that the will of God(or gods) be done on earth as it is in the heavens, from which it is notillogical to infer that the earth itself, as a planet, is not outside thepale of that blissful state which we ascribe to God, and which, at the sametime, we expect to enter without being swallowed up in the sense that welose that consciousness which cognizes itself as an eternal verity. 

If then, the "heavens" as applied to the planets revolving above the earthin the solar system, and "Heaven" as a term used to describe a state ofhappiness, bliss, samadhi, nirvana, or "life with God, " be synonymous itmay reasonably be inferred that in the solar system are planets upon whichlive sentient beings, in a state to which we on earth, are seeking toattain; a state wherein so-called evil has been eliminated and the goodretained. 

In fact, we may see with none too prophetic eyes the elimination of evilright here in the visible. All who have attained a glimpse of Illuminationhave reported the loss of the "sense of sin and death, " and have retainedthis feeling of security and "all-is-well-ness" as long as they have livedthereafter. 

From the old conception of "evil" as a positive, opposing and independentforce, modern thought, in all its branches, namely science; religion;social evolution, and philosophy, has arrived at the conclusion that evilis not a power or force in and of itself, but that it is evidence of alimited degree of consciousness which sees only one side of a subject--onlya limited area of an infinitely wide and varied manifestation of the onesupreme consciousness. Therefore, it is, that evil per se, does not existas power, but that it is the effect of a misapplication of power. 

The cure then, for this state of Relativity, is found logically enough, inan extension of individual consciousness. 

That this idea is logical may be deduced from the fact that as the mindexpands, through the various channels of learning; observation; contactwith each other, and by the many roads of Experience, altruism becomes moregeneral. Almost every one readily admits that the world is "growingbetter, " as they express it. 

This means that the individual consciousness is becoming broadened, deepened, enlarged; and this enlargement makes it possible to show thatthe happiness of each one, means the happiness of all, and that no onehuman life can reach the goal of freedom and eternal life (_mukti_, whichcan mean nothing less than godhood) unless he does so by some one of themany paths of selflessness. 

Up through the perilous paths and the devious ways of brute consciousnesstoward a more or less perfect perception of that blissful state which theIllumined have sought to describe, each individual has come to his presentstate; and it is only by virtue of the ability to look back over the path, and to look onward a little into relative futurity, that each may recordthe fact of his gain in consciousness, and what this gain means to thefuture of this earth. 

But who is there who cannot see that each step in attainment ofconsciousness brings with it a corresponding freedom from suffering?

The planet itself does not make us suffer. The latest discoveries ofastronomers indicate that as the standard of morality (using the term"morality" in its true sense), becomes higher, the position of the earthitself becomes changed, in its relation to the solar system. 

In this way, it is expected that a uniform temperature will prevail allover the earth's surface; and with the cessation of war, and ofcompetition (which is mental warfare) cataclysms, storms, and earthquakeswill cease. When we come, as we will, in succeeding chapters of this book, to a review of the experiences of those who have attained cosmicconsciousness (mukti) we will find that, in each instance, there has comea realization of the _nothingness_ of sin and consequent suffering. 

The trouble then, is not with the earth as a planet, but with the lack ofconsciousness of earth's inhabitants, which lack makes possible all thesuffering which afflicts human life. 

Those who have attained to the state of cosmic consciousness in bothOccidental and Oriental instances of this perception, have reported anabiding sense of rest and peace and satisfaction--a condition which weassociate with accepted ideals of heaven as taught in Occidental creedsand among some schools of Oriental philosophers, and sects of religiousworship. 

There is a far greater unity of idea between the Oriental and theOccidental methods and systems, as to the _goal_ of ultimate attainmentthan is generally believed, or understood. 

The highest expression of Japanese Buddhism differs from Hindu Buddhism andfrom Vedanta, and the many other forms of Hindu philosophy and religion, inthe same way that the Japanese, as a nation, differ from their Hindubrothers. 

The Japanese emphasize, more than do the Hindus, the preservation of thenation, and to this end, they are called more "practical" minded, but withthe Japanese, as with all the Orientals, we find an intense contempt forany one who would seek to preserve his physical existence, or hesitate atany personal sacrifice. 

This unwritten code has its origin, as have all Oriental traditions andconcepts, in the teachings of religious systems. According to Orientalethics, the person is very low in the scale of consciousness, when heconsiders his physical body as of comparative consequence, when thequestion of expediency, or of the welfare of his country, is in thebalance. 

Nevertheless, Japan has offered, far more than has India, a fertile fieldfor the growth of materialism, owing to the fact that underlying theapparent observance of and loyalty to, religious practices, the Japanesetemperament inclines to a practical application of the wisdom attainedthrough religious instruction. 

Therefore we find among the Illumined Ones of Japanese history, sages whotaught the attainment of liberation through paths which are not generallyaccepted by interpreters of Hinduism. 

For example, among the orthodox Sintoists, (the original religion of theJapanese, before the advent of Buddhism), we find that cleanliness of mindand body, was taught as the prime essential to attainment of unity with_Kami_, rather than contemplation, meditation and isolation, as with theHindus. 

And in the Christian world we have a corresponding admonition in the phrase"cleanliness is next to godliness. "

Simple as this rule of conduct is, it nevertheless embodies the key to thesituation, inasmuch as we are assured that "blessed are the pure in heartfor they shall see God. "

Again Jesus told his hearers that they "must become as little children, "evidently meaning that they must possess the clean, pure, guileless mindof a little child, if they would reach the goal of liberation, from strife;death (repeated incarnation); and all so-called "evil. "

To this end man is striving, whether by rites and ceremonies of religion;by worship; by contemplation; by effort and struggle; by invention; byaspiration; by sacrifice; or by whatever path, or device, or system. 

What, then is the goal, and how may it be attained?

Before taking up this question, let us go back a little over the history ofhuman life and attainment, and trace, briefly, the evolution ofconsciousness, from pre-historic man, to the highest examples of humandevotion and wisdom, of which, happily, the world affords not a fewinstances. 

CHAPTER III

AREAS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Consciousness may be termed, simply, "the divine spark, " which enters intoevery form and phase of manifested life emanating from that one EternalPower which materialists designate as "energy" and which Occultists, bothOriental and Occidental, best define as "Aum, " God! The Absolute--TheDivine Mind, and many other terms. 

Consciousness, therefore, enters into everything--is the life essence ofeverything. 

The materialistic hypothesis formerly predicated the axiom that there weretwo distinct phases of manifestation, namely organic and inorganic. 

Organic life was sentient, or conscious, while inorganic life wasinsensate--a structure acted upon from forces outside itself, and dependentupon an exterior force for its action. 

Other names for this differentiation, would be "matter" and "spirit. " Thepoint is, that the old materialistic philosophy failed to recognize thefact that consciousness, in varying degrees, characterizes all manifestedlife. 

This fact every phase of Oriental philosophy recognized, and always hasrecognized. The assumption of the Christian Science devotee, that there isanything new in the postulate that "all is spirit, " is possible onlybecause of his ignorance of Oriental philosophy, as will be seen later onin these pages, when we take up the relative comparison between theOriental and the Occidental systems of "salvation. "

To resume therefore, we postulate the following recognized axioms ofUniversal Occultism. 

All life is sentient or conscious. 

All life is from the one source, and therefore contains this "divinespark. "

All manifestation expresses degrees or phases of consciousness. 

The degree of this consciousness fixes the status of the organism, anddetermines its classification, whether it is organic or inorganic; simple, or complex. 

Every cell, each separate cell, in fact, has its own consciousness--that iseach cell is a center of this power that we term consciousness; a group ofcells with this power focalized to a given point, or center, makes an organof consciousness, and so on up the scale through many many degrees ofcomplexity of organism, until we come to man. 

Webster defines consciousness as "the ability to know ones mentaloperations. " But, we do not take this definition in Occultism, for theobvious reason, that it is not possible to state arbitrarily whether ornot, the cell "knows its operations, " and since all operations arenecessarily mental in the final analysis, we assume that there is a phaseof consciousness below that of cognition of "self, " which may be termed"the unconscious consciousness, " which again is synonymous with the phrase"automatic cerebration. "

Coming up through the various myriad degrees of sub-conscious life (subbeing here used as below self consciousness) we arrive at the stage ofsimple consciousness which characterizes the animal kingdom, rememberingthat consciousness in the abstract is not a _condition_, or state ofenvironment. It is one of the eternal verities. It _is_ just as Aum _is_. 

The attainment of a wider and wider area of consciousness, is but the_uncovering_, or the attracting to a central point or to an individualorganism of _this that is_. Thus consciousness, in the abstract, may sayof itself "before creation was, I am. "

That is what is meant when it is said that God is omnipotent, andomniscient. 

The difference between mere power, or energy, and consciousness, whetherconsidered from the standpoint of the organic or the inorganic kingdom, maybe likened to the difference between a blind force, and a power that knowsitself. 

Consciousness is practically the great central light that "lighteth everyman that cometh into the world. " Without consciousness, manifestation wouldbe darkness. Thus it is said, "the light shineth in darkness and thedarkness comprehendeth it not. " This applies to that tiny spark of divinityin which consciousness exists but where there is not realization of itsdivinity. 

This fact is not applicable to the inorganic, or the animal kingdoms alone. Many men are not conscious of the light that shineth within them, save asthere is an aggregate of cell consciousness which recognizes its focalizedpower as an organism. 

Manifestation then, is the vehicle (carrying character) of universalconsciousness, and we may logically assume that manifestation is due tothe necessity of developing individualized entities, who may, throughsuccessive phases of conscious unfoldment, or uncovering of areas ofBeing, become gods. 

The western writers, and indeed, many Oriental seers prefer to put it thus:"become fit to dwell with God, in eternal bliss and power. "

To dwell with God, must be to become gods. Once more, we must remember thatonly gods are immortal. Souls continue to exist after the physical body hasbeen discarded, for the reason that no body in these days, lives as long asits psychic counterpart or dweller. But, although the soul continues toexist on another plane of note of the _scale of vibration_, it does notargue that the identity shall continue eternally, except in such instances, as when the soul through numbers of incarnations shall have finallyaccomplished the purpose of its pilgrimage and attained to _mukti_(liberation from the law of change and death). 

Returning to a consideration of what may be said to constitute certainspecific phases of consciousness, we will take into consideration thephase of consciousness, which we see expressed in the mineral kingdom. That there is a distinct and separate character of consciousness thusexpressed is evident from the fact that there is a law of chemicalaffinity, i. E. Attraction and repulsion, which causes different mineralsto respond, or to refuse to respond, as the case may be, to certainconditions or chemical processes, more or less crude in character. 

From this to the vegetable kingdom we assume a step in advance, asvegetable life measured by complexity and refinement, responds with agreater degree of sensitiveness to the laws of evolution, as expressed incultivation, selection and environment. 

Even in this phase of manifestation, we find the law of Being, is measuredby the perfection of species. Evolution of inorganic life, is as real, andas much a part of the plan, (or whatever name we choose), as is organic, and self-conscious life. 

That which is less perfect, measured by the law of beauty and usefulness, we find gradually being exterminated. That the earth, as a planet, isobeying this cosmic law of evolution from grossness to refinement; fromcrudity to perfection; from the limited to the all-inclusive, isindisputable. As the motor power of electricity has become general, we findthat beasts of burden are fast disappearing from the earth, according tothe law of the "survival of the fittest, " this law, always being subject tochange. The "fittest" means that which is best fitted to the conditions ofthe time. 

Brute force survives among brutes, in the degree that it is strong or weak;coming out of that expression of law into the mental areas ofconsciousness, we find that the _mentally_ fit survive among those who liveonly in the areas of the mind; so on, into the spiritual, we will find the"survival of the fittest" will be those who are best fitted for spiritualeternity--for godhood. 

Coming again, to our consideration of the term consciousness, we will takea brief survey of that phase of consciousness which we see manifested inthe forms of life that have the power to move from their immediateenvironment; such for instance would include the fish in the sea; insectlife; reptiles; the birds in the air; and all forms of animal life. 

While expressing a very limited degree of consciousness, yet there isevident a certain degree or aggregate of cell consciousness, whichtranscends that of the mineral and vegetable life. This apparently_advanced_ degree of consciousness, does not, as we have stated, presupposea nearer approach to immortality, however, for the reason that we applythe law of the survival of the fittest to all manifestation, and thatwhich is best fitted for certain stages of the planet's life during theprocess of evolvement, may be most unfitted for succeeding stages, andwill, by the inexorable law of survival, be discontinued--discarded, evenas the properties and stage-settings of a drama are thrown aside, when theplay has been "taken off the boards. "

It is admitted, therefore, that those forms of life having the power oflocomotion, involve a more complex degree of consciousness, than does thatof the mineral or vegetable. 

In that phase of life that we see possessing the power to move, to changeits immediate environment, even though not capable of changing its_habitat_ we may perceive the beginning of that consciousness expressed as"free-will. " Here, we assume, the organism recognizes its self as distinctfrom its environment, and from its counterparts, etc. , but this recognitionhas not sufficient consciousness to _assert_ that recognition, and so wesay that there is no _self_-consciousness. There is what occultists haveagreed to call simple consciousness, but this does not include arealization of identity, as apart from environment. This may be betterunderstood if we separate these degrees or phases of consciousness intogroups, applicable to the human organism, leaving, for a time theconsideration of whether or not some human specimens are higher in thescales than are some animals. 

Physical, or sense consciousness, is shared alike by man and the animals. 

Beyond this phase of consciousness we may classify the human species in thefollowing terms:

Physical self-consciousness. 

Mental self-consciousness. 

Soul (individual) "I" consciousness. 

Spiritual self-consciousness. 

Physical self-consciousness is that phase of self-recognition which knowsitself as a body distinct from its neighbors; from its natural environment. This awareness of the self it is that actuated pre-historic man when hemanifested the blind force that is sometimes called "self-preservation, "which force has erroneously been termed "the first law of nature. "

Preservation of this physical self is the most "primitive" law of nature, but not "first" in the sense that it is the most important, or thestrongest. 

The world's long list of heroes refutes this idea. The pre-historic speciesof human, then, in common with his brother, the animal, sought to preservethis physical self, because he felt that this physical self, his body, wasall there was of him, and he wished to preserve it, even as the _wise_ manof to-day, sacrifices everything to the preservation of the moral andspiritual Self which he realizes is the _real_ of him. 

To this end, he cultivated physical force, sufficient to overcome hisenvironment; and as he developed a little of that consciousness which weterm mental (using the term merely as a part of the physical organismcalled the brain), he realized that co-operation would greatly enhance hischances for self-preservation, and therefore, this mental consciousnessimpelled him to annex to his forces other physical organisms so that theirunited strength might preserve each other. 

This side of the story of man's evolution in consciousness is not however apart of our present work, and we will therefore leave it, for a briefconsideration of the successive steps in attainment of consciousness, leading through devious paths, and through millions of relative time calledyears, into the present state of man's consciousness which in so manyinstances presages the oncoming of that state, called liberation, orillumination--mukti. 

Through mental self-consciousness the way has been long and arduous. Thereare many, many degrees of this phase of consciousness, and to this phase weowe what is called our present civilization. 

The true occultist, whether viewing manifestation from the standpoint ofOriental or of Occidental ideals, realizes that everything is right whichmakes for human betterment, and that _dharma_ (right-action) consists inacting in accordance with the highest motive of which one's consciousnessis capable. 

That our present civilization is most _uncivilized_ in many respects, willbe admitted by all whose range of consciousness has touched in any degree, the infinite areas of wisdom expressed in altruistic action. 

But, though the path be long, and thorny, the cycle is closing, and manyhave reached the goal through its zigzag course. 

But, underlying, as it were, and upholding and uplifting the expression ofsense consciousness in which so many persons seem lost to-day, there areevidences of a consciousness which _observes the effects_, of thistremendous mental activity, and knows itself as something apart from, andsuperior to this manifestation. 

This, we define as soul--individualized expression of the spiritualconsciousness--the central light, which as we previously quoted, "lightethevery man that cometh into the world. "

Many there are who merely _perceive_ this. To them there is a vague andindefinable _something_ which seems to realize that the operations of themind are something phenomenal and apart from the _real_ Self. Psychology, even so empirical a psychology as is possible of demonstration in westernschools and colleges, evidences the fact that there is a far greater fieldof mental operation than is covered by the outer, or _mental_consciousness. 

The outer, or objective action of the mind, considers but one subject, onequestion, one problem at a time. Many varied _phases_ of this problem maypresent themselves, but the mental forces are focalized upon one subject ata time. And yet to state that but one idea, thought-concept, or desire, canenter the mind at a time, is not a safe assumption. 

After many centuries of material strife, with the object of satisfying thedemands of human life, the conviction is forcing itself upon people in allwalks of life, that wealth, ambition, power and possessions, do not give usthe answer to the eternal unescapable and insistent question of the way tohappiness. 

This means that there is awakening in the human race more generally than atany other time in recorded history, a realization that the human organismis not merely a physical aggregate of cells, nor yet that it is mindindividualized and in operation for the purpose of exercising new powers. The fact is becoming apparent that all discovery is but an uncovering ofthose vast areas of consciousness which are limitless; and which includenot only all life on this planet, but all life in the Cosmos. In short, cosmic consciousness is becoming _perceived_, by a vast majority, and isbeing _realized_ by not a few. 

But in the immediate future of the race, we find the next step, for themajority to be that of soul-consciousness. 

Back of thought, like a guardian angel stands the desire of the soul, stimulating and directing; back of action stands thought, as the masterdirects the servant, or as the captain decides the course of the ship. 

Spiritual evolution may be understood, or at least _perceived_, from astudy of physical and mental evolution. From the crude to the perfect isthe law; if this perfection of species, or of phases, could be attainedwithout pain, it were well. Pain comes from lack of wisdom to realize thatout of the lower the higher inevitably springs, as the butterfly springsfrom the cocoon; as the flower springs from the seed; "as above so below"is a translation of an old Sinto saying, which also bids us "trust in Kamiand keep clean. "

Again it is said "to him who overcometh, will I give the inheritance. "_Overcoming_ may be variously interpreted. In the past, it has beenpresented to the initiate, as sacrifice. If so it be, then is it because oflack of that wisdom which knows that there is no sacrifice in exchangingthe physical for the spiritual--the ephemeral for the abiding. 

Says the ancient manuscripts:

"The body is purified by water, the mind by truth, the soul by knowledgeand austerity, the reason by wisdom. "

But as the groping, undeveloped soul struggles for consciousness, itreaches out for the gratification of mental desires. The soul is moved bydesire for perfect happiness. The mind seeks to satisfy this craving forhappiness in increased activities; in accumulation; in so-called pleasure, i. E. Always looking outside--thinking outside, living in the outside--the_maya_. But the soul has but one answer to this quest for happiness. It islove, because only love and wisdom give immortality--which isself-preservation in the true sense. 

It is written in the Shruti: "Brahman is wisdom and bliss. "

No higher text can be given the disciple. 

Wisdom comes from reflection upon the results of Experience, in the searchfor happiness. 

When the mind has sounded the depths of its resources, and the urge forwardcan not be appeased, when the voice of the inner self--the soul, cannot besilenced; the disciple pauses to ask _the way_. He wants to know what it isall about, and why it is that all he has so striven and struggled for failsto satisfy. He wants to know how to avoid pain; and how to find the mostdirect road to that satisfaction which endures; and which is not synonymouswith the so-called "pleasures" of the senses. 

When this stage of development has been reached, the disciple is ready foranother phase of Experience which shall extend his consciousness intothose areas of knowledge, in which the Real is distinguishable from theIllusory. 

Experience will then teach him that only Love is real. 

That which is for the permanent good of all, as opposed to that which istransitory and only seemingly satisfying to the few, may be said toconstitute the perception of the Real, and the avoidance of Illusion. 

To exchange a present seeming advantage to the physical environment, for afuture and permanent satisfaction of the soul is the prerogative of thewise--the soul that has discovered itself and its mission. 

In all organisms below the scale of the human, there is a constant growthin complexity of organism, with specialization of functions. 

When we come to this last-mentioned stage of human development, we findthat there is no more specialization in the way of development of thephysical functions. Instead, there is a determined effort at perfectingthe higher functions, through the gradations of consciousness, until thespiritual consciousness of the individual entity has been awakened. 

Then, indeed, has been awakened the "divine man" and the path toimmortality is henceforth comparatively short, although by no means strewnwith roses, judged from the limited standard of Relativity. 

A man's karma simply and mathematically, proves the direction of his formerdesires. Karma does not punish or reward, as is frequently imagined. 

The general impression that one is reaping "good or bad karma" according ashis life is one of pleasure or of pain, is not the solution of the problemof karma, and has no relation to the law of karmic action. 

If a soul has in a previous life outgrown or outworn that evolutionaryphase of development, in which the mind seeks temporary pleasures, and hascome to the place where he wants to distinguish the Real from the Illusory, his karma, in compliance with the law of desire, will bring him in relationto those conditions which will teach him to know the Real from theIllusory, and in those conditions he will experience pain because he will, if he remain in the activities of the world, be acting contrary to theideas of the _average_. 

Thus, to the onlooker, and in accordance with the general misinterpretationof the law of karma, he will be thought to have reaped a "bad" karma, whileas a matter of reality, he will be making very rapid strides on the path togodhood. Said a famous Japanese high priest:

"Desire is the bird that carries the soul to the object in which his mindis immersed, and thus his future actions are the result. "

This means that by the law of desire, acting in accordance with theevolutionary pilgrimage of the soul, the karma is produced. The Americanpoet, Lowell, says: "No man is born into the world whose work is not bornwith him. " However, whether or not this applies to man in the first stagesof his upward climb to the goal of attainment of conscious godhood, it mostassuredly applies to those souls who have become aware of their purpose, and who have made a _conscious_ choice of their karma. And of this class ofsouls, the world to-day has a goodly number. 

The end of a kalpa finds many avatars, and angels on earth, and howeverobscured the mind of these may become in the fog of Illusion, the innerlight guides them through its mists to the safe accomplishment of theirmission. 

There is a story of a Buddhist priest, who when dying, was comforted by hisloving disciples with the reminder that he was at last entering upon astate of bliss and rest. To which the earnest one replied:

"Never so long as there is misery to be assuaged, shall I enter Nirvana. Ishall be reborn where the need is greatest. I shall wish to be reborn inthe nethermost depths of hell, because that is the place that most needsenlightenment; that is the place to point out the path to deliverance; thatis the place where the light will shine most brightly. "

Thus it will be seen we may not readily determine what is "good" and whatis "bad" karma, by judging from external conditions. 

As we are told that we may entertain "angels unawares, " so we may pass theworld's avatars upon the street, and judging from the external, thephysical environment, we may not know them from the vampire souls thatcontact them. 

The point of our present consideration is that this "year of grace, "meaning not the mere twelve months of the calendar year, but the century, is the end of the present _kalpa_ (cycle), and demonstrates that period ofevolution has terminated, and the era is at hand when spiritual alchemyshall transform the old into the new, and that the desire, which has solong ministered to the wants of the physical body, shall be turned(converted) into the channels that lead to spiritual consciousness. 

The undefined, instinctive urge that has actuated so many intrepid souls, is becoming recognized for what it is--the awakening of the inner Self; theblind groping in the dark will cease and there shall arise a race of humanbeings liberated; free; aware of their spiritual origin and their inherentdivinity. 

All who have conformed their life activities to the divine law of action, which may be tersely stated as "Not mine, but thine, dear brother, " willhave achieved the goal of the soul's purpose--will have found Nirvana. 

CHAPTER IV

SELF-NESS AND SELFLESSNESS

During what is historically known as the Dark Ages, the esoteric meaning ofreligious practices became obscured. This is true no less, and no more, ofOriental countries, than of European. The long night through which theearth passed during that time and since, but foreshadowed a coming dawn. Inthe still very imperfect light of the dawning day, truth is seen but dimly, and its rays appear distorted, whereas, when seen with the "pure andspotless eye" they are straight and clear and simple. 

Indeed, the very simplicity of Truth causes her to pass unnoticed. 

While to the superficial observer; the student who is mentally eager butwho lacks the wonderful penetrating power of spiritual insight, there seemsto be a great complexity in Oriental philosophy, the fact is, that theentire aggregation of systems is simple enough when we have the key. 

One of the stumbling blocks; the inexplicable enigma to many Occidentalstudents, is the problem of the preservation, of the Self, and the constantadmonition to become selfless. The two appear paradoxical. 

How may the Self acquire consciousness and yet become selfless?

Throughout the Oriental teachings, no matter which of the many systems westudy, we find the oft-repeated declaration that liberation can never beaccomplished and Nirvana reached, by him "who holds to the idea of self. "

It is this universally recognized aphorism which has given rise to theerroneous conception of Nirvana as absorption of all identity. 

Hakuin Daisi, the St. Paul of Japanese Buddhism, cautioned his disciplesthat they must "absorb the self into the whole, the cosmos, if they wouldnever die, " and Jesus assured his hearers that "he who loses his life formy sake shall find it. "

Christians have taken this simple statement to mean that he who enduredpersecution and death because of his espousal of Christianity, would berewarded in the way that a king bestows lands and titles, for defense ofhis person and throne. 

This is the limited viewpoint of the personal self; it is far from beingconsistent with the wisdom of the Illumined Master. 

He who has sufficient spiritual consciousness to desire the welfare of_all_, even though his own life and his own possessions were the pricetherefore, can not lose his life. Such a one is fit for immortality andhis godhood is claimed by the very act of renunciation--not as a rewardbestowed for such renunciation. 

By the very act of willingness to lose the self we find the Self. Not theself of externality. Not the self that says "I am a white man; or a blackman; or a yellow man; or a red man. " That says "I am John Smith"--or anyother name. The awareness of this kind of selfhood, this personal self, islike looking at one's reflection in the mirror and saying, "Ah, I have on abecoming attire, " or "my face looks sickly to-day. " It is the same "I" thatlooked yesterday and found the face looking excellently well, so that theremust have been consciousness behind the observation, that could takecognizance of the difference in appearance of yesterday's reflection andthat which met that cognizing eye to-day. 

Eagerness to retain consciousness of the personal self blocks the way ofIllumination which uncovers the real, the greater, the higher Self--the_atman_. 

This constant adjuration to sink the self into The Absolute, is what hasgiven rise to so much difference of interpretation as to the meaning of_mukti_, liberation. It sounds paradoxical to state that it is only bygiving up all consciousness of self, that immortal Self-hood is gained. 

Thus has arisen all the confusion as to the meaning of "absorption into astate of bliss. " How may the Self realize a state of selflessness and yetnot be lost in a sea of _un_ consciousness?

Only one who is capable of self-sacrifice were he called upon, cancorrectly answer this question, and by what may be termed the very _law ofequation_, the sacrifice becomes impossible. 

Should any one seek to bargain with himself to pay the price of loss ofself, so that he might gain the higher, fuller life, his sacrifice would bein vain because it would not be selflessness, but selfishness--there couldbe no _sacrifice_, were it a bargain. 

Let no one think that this unchanging law of the Cosmos is in the nature ofeither reward or punishment, or that it was devised by the gods, as amethod of initiation--a test of fitness for Nirvana. Even though the testbe applied by the gods, it is not of their planning. 

It _is_, just as the absolute _is_, and analysis of the way and wherefromis not possible of contemplation. 

If it sometimes appears that Illumined Ones have seemed to infer a loss ofidentity of the Self, it should be remembered that not only have thesereported instances of liberation (cosmic consciousness attained), beenvague, but they have necessarily suffered from the impossibility ofdescribing that which is indescribable. We should also remember thattranslators employ the words in the English language which most nearlyexpress their interpretation of the original meaning. 

Words are at best but clumsy symbols. 

Perfect bliss is voiceless--inexpressible. 

This does not, however, mean that perfect bliss is nothingness. Rather isit _everything-ness_, in that it is all-embracing in its realization. Incomplete realization of the Cosmos nothing is excluded. Exclusiveness is aconcomitant of the state of consciousness pertinent to the personal self, which state is not excluded from the consciousness described as cosmic, _nirvana_ or _mukti_, but on the contrary, is included in it, even as thesimple vibrations of the musical scale are included in the great harmoniesof Wagner's compositions. 

"He who has realized Brahman becomes silent, " says Ramakrishna. "Discussions and argumentations exist so long as the realization of TheAbsolute does not come. If you melt butter in a pan over a fire, how longdoes it make a noise? So long as there is water in it. When the water isevaporated it ceases to make further noise. The soul of the seeker afterBrahman may be compared to fresh butter. Discussions and argumentations ofa seeker are like the noise caused during the process of purification bythe fire of knowledge. As the water of egotism and worldliness isevaporated and the soul becomes purer, all noise of debates and discussionsceases and absolute silence reigns in the state of _samadhi_. "

A better translation of the word "noise" would be "sputtering. "

Sound is not necessarily _noise_. The idea conveyed is not intended to be acondition in which the soul becomes anæsthetized as it were, but a state of_knowing_, and the effort and the sputtering of _questioning_ and_searching_ is passed. 

The same gospel better expresses the meaning thus:

"The bee buzzes so long as it is outside the lotus, and does not settledown in its heart to drink of the honey. As soon as it tastes of the honeyall buzzing is at an end. Similarly all noise of discussion ceases when thesoul of the neophyte begins to drink the nectar of Divine Love, at thelotus feet of the Blissful One. "

Who will not say that the bee is more satisfied when he has found and drankof the honey than when he is buzzingly seeking it?

Surely it is not necessary to be of one mind, in order that we may be ofone heart. Even though we were as "like as two peas in a pod, " it is wellto note that the two peas are _two_ spheres--nature has made them separateand distinct despite their close resemblance. 

To unite with the absolute should correspond to this unity of all hearts inthe desire for a common effort to establish harmony, while we permit toeach individual the freedom of mind; of taste; of choice of pursuits; ofchoice of pleasure; of discrimination; and preservation of identity. 

Our contention is that _mukti_, or liberation (which we believe to beidentical with attainment of cosmic consciousness) does not mean anabsorption into the Universal, the Absolute, Brahm, to the extent ofannihilation of identity. And we claim that this view finds corroborationin the best interpretation of Oriental philosophies and religions, as wellas in the Christian doctrine. 

Says Nagasena, the Buddhist sage:

"He who is not free from passion experiences both the taste of food, andalso the passion due to that taste; while he who is free from passionexperiences the taste of food but no passion. "

Hence we discover that the state of Illumination, _samadhi_, or _mukti_, according to the most enlightened and logical interpretation, means a calmand peaceful consciousness, undisturbed by passion. But we should notinterpret the word "passion" as here used, to mean absence of allsensation, feeling or knowledge. 

There is absolutely no arbitrary interpretation or translation of the wordsof Buddha, nor can there be. The same is true of Confucius; of Mohammed; ofKrishna; of Laotze; of Jesus; of all the teachers and philosophers of theworld. 

Who of you who read these words has not listened to debates and endlessdiscussions as to what even so modern a writer as Emerson or Whitman, orNietzche or Kobo Daisi, or some other, may have meant by certainstatements?

In the Samyutta Nikaya we read:

"Let a man who holds the Self clear, keep that Self free from wickedness. "

This does not imply annihilation of identity, _absorption_ ofconsciousness, although it has been so interpreted by many students. On thecontrary, instead of losing consciousness of the Self (which is not merelythe personality), we _find_ the Real Self. 

As an adult we realize more consciousness than we do as infants. Not thatwe possess more consciousness. We cannot acquire consciousness as weaccumulate _things_. We can not add one iota to the sum of consciousness, but we can and do uncover portion upon portion of the vast area ofconsciousness which _is_. 

Says the Dhammapada:

"As kinsmen, friends and lovers salute a man who has been long away andreturns safe from afar; in like manner his good deeds receive him who hasdone good, and who has gone from this world to the other, as kinsmenreceive a friend on his return. "

If this state of _mukti_ were annihilation of individual consciousness itwould hardly be an incentive to do good deeds, except that good deeds inthemselves bring happiness, but if the bringing of happiness did not alsobring with it a larger consciousness, it would not be true happiness, butmerely a _condition_, and conditions are always subject to change. 

"It is not separateness you should hope and long for; it is _union_--thesense of oneness with all that is, that has ever been and that can everbe--the sense that shall _enlarge the horizon of your being_, to the limitsof the universe; to the boundaries of time and space; that shall lift youup into a new plane far beyond, outside all mean and miserable care forself. Why stand shrinking there? Give up the fool's paradise of 'This isI'; 'This is mine. ' It is the great reality you are asked to grasp. Leapforward without fear. You shall find yourself in the ambrosial waters ofNirvana and sport with the Arhats who have conquered birth and death. "

This admonition to give up the struggle and strife for separateness isinterpreted by many to declare for annihilation of consciousness ofidentity, but we contend that _union_ is in no wise akin to annihilation, and since this assurance of union is further described as an enlargement ofthe horizon of _your being_, it is evident that your being can not beenlarged by becoming annihilated, or even _absorbed into_ The Absolute, asin that event it would cease to be _your being_. Moreover, you are toldthat you will "sport with the Arhats who have conquered birth and death. "Arhats are alluded to in the plural, and not as One Being. 

To be sure there may be a final state of absorption of consciousness farbeyond this state of being which is described as Nirvana. 

Theosophy lays much stress upon the assumption that the attainment ofgodhood is possible to every human soul, but that this godhood mustinevitably have an ultimate conclusion. That is, there is a _place_ orheaven, which is called the Devachanic plane, and this plane, or place, is inhabited by "gods, " for a definite period, approximating thousands ofyears, but that the final conclusion must be, absorption of identity intothe universal reservoir of mind, or consciousness. But we may readily seethat beyond the Devachanic plane, we may not penetrate with the limitedconsciousness which takes cognizance of external conditions. Any attempt, therefore, at a description of what occurs to the individual consciousnessbeyond the areas of Devachan, must be futile. 

The argument that most logically postulates the assumption that allidentity, or differentiation of consciousness, becomes absorbed into TheAbsolute, is based upon the fact that we remember nothing of previousstates of consciousness. That is, the devious pathway by which theadvanced and progressive individual has reached his present state orrealization of consciousness, is shrouded in oblivion. From this it isnot unnatural to assume that since we have come OUT OF THE VOID, havingapparently no memory or realization of what preceded this coming, we willreturn to the same state, when we shall have completed the round ofevolution. 

This postulate, is, however, merely the result of our limited power ofcomprehension, and may or may not be true. The answer is as yetinexplicable to the finite mind, considered from the standpoint of relativeproof. 

If it were a fact, that all Oriental sages experiencing the phenomenon ofliberation, _mukti_, had reported what would seem to be annihilation ofidentity of consciousness, we still maintain that this fact would not beproof sufficient upon which to postulate this conclusion, for the veryobvious reason that the present era promises what Occidental theology, science, and philosophy unite in designating as a "new dispensation, "wherein the "old shall pass away, " and a "new order" shall be established. 

"Look how the fine and valuable gold-dust shifts through the screen, leaving only the useless stones and debris in the catches; even so thatwhich is infinitely fine substance becomes lost when sifted through thescreen of the limited mind of man, " said a wise Japanese high priest. 

However, it is our contention that Buddhism, far indeed from postulatingthe assumption that individual consciousness is swallowed up in TheAbsolute, as is frequently understood by Occidental translators ofBuddhistic writings, announces a calm and unquestioning conviction in thepower of man to attain to immortality, and consequent godhood, throughcontemplation of faith in his own identity with the _Supreme One_. 

When we consider that there are in the religion of Buddhism, as many assixty different expositions of the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and thatthese vary, even as the Christian sects vary in their interpretations andpresentments of the instructions of the Master, Jesus of Nazareth, we beginto have some idea of the difficulties of correct interpretation of theobscure and mystical language in which _mukti_ is ever described. 

One of the most quoted of the translations of the Life of Buddha, reachesthe English readers through devious ways, namely, from the Sanskrit intoChinese, and from the Chinese into English, and again edited by an Englishscientist who is also an Oriental scholar. 

We must also consider the poverty of the English language when used todescribe supra-conscious experiences, or what modern thought termsMetaphysics. Only within very recent times, approximating twenty-fiveyears, there have been coined innumerable words in the English language. 

The advances made in mechanical, scientific, ethical and philosophicalthought, have made this a necessity, while, when it comes to an attempt atclarifying the meaning of mystical terms, a very wide range ofinterpretation is imperative. 

Buddha, addressing his servant, says:

"Kandaka, take this gem and going back to where my father is, lay itreverently before him, to signify my heart's relation to him. "

It is related that the gem mentioned was a beryl, which in the language ofgems signifies purity and peace. It must be remembered that all Orientallanguages give power to gems, perfumes and talismanic symbols. This factmakes direct translation of Oriental writings a difficult task for theOccidental scholar, who, until recently at least, gave no power toso-called "inanimate" things. 

"And then for me request the king to stifle every fickle feeling ofaffection, and say that I, to escape from birth and age and death, haveentered the forest of painful discipline. 

"Not that I may get a heavenly birth, much less because I have notenderness of heart, or that I cherish any cause of bitterness, but Onlythat I may escape this weight of sorrow; the accumulated long-night weightof covetous desire. I now desire to ease the load, so that it may beoverthrown forever; therefore I seek the way of ultimate escape. 

"If I should gain the way of emancipation, then shall I never need to putaway my kindred, to leave my home, to sever ties of love. O grieve not foryour son. The five desires of sense beget the sorrow; those held by lustthemselves induce sorrow; my very ancestors, victorious kings, have handeddown to me their kingly wealth; I, thinking only on eternal bliss, put itall away. "

The meaning here conveyed is simple enough to understand. From a long lineof ancestors who had ruled with the unquestioned authority of Orientalmonarchs, the young prince felt that he had inherited much that wouldretard his soul's freedom. The examples of kings and emperors who haveabandoned their possessions have been too few to cause us to believe thatthey have held these possessions as naught. 

Through rivers of blood; through ages of despotism, and self-seeking, kingsand emperors have maintained their vested rights bequeathing to theirprogeny the same desires; the same covetousness of worldly power; the sameconsideration for the lesser self; the same hypnotism that takes account ofcaste. 

To escape from these fetters of the soul, into a realization of the EternalOneness of life, was no easy task for the inheritor of such desires andbeliefs and appetites as an ancestry of rulers imposes. 

And Prince Siddhartha was anxious to escape reincarnation--a theory orconviction inseparable from Oriental religion. 

His reference to "fickle affection" means literally that selfish affectionof the parent, which would retain the fleeting joy of a few short earthlyyears of companionship, while the larger and more perfect love would bidthe child seek its birthright of godhood. The word "fickle" here would moreproperly be translated transitory. 

Buddha's desire to escape from a continuous round of deaths and"leave-takings from kindred, " does not necessarily imply an absorption intoThe Absolute; it may as logically be interpreted to mean, that liberationfrom the hypnotisms of externality _(mukti)_ insures the possession andpower of the gods--power over physical life and death, and this power neednot mean a cessation from individual consciousness, but rather, a fullrealization of individual _unity_ with the sum of all consciousness. 

There is another mistaken interpretation of the means of attainment of thatstate of liberation, which has been alluded to in so many varied terms. Thefact that Buddha, like many of the Oriental Masters, sought the seclusionof the forest; the isolation, and simplicity of the hermit, --has given riseto the belief, almost universally held among Oriental disciples, thatliberation from _maya_, the delusions of the world, can not be attainedsave by these methods. 

Monasteries are the result of this idea, and this Buddhistic practice wasadopted by the first Christian church, since which time the real purposeand intention of the monastery and the nunnery have become lost in theconcept of sacrifice or punishment. The Christian monk almost invariablyretires to a monastery, not for the purpose of consciously attaining tothat enlarged area of consciousness which insures liberation, _mukti_, butas an "outward and visible sign" that he is willing to undergo thesacrifice of worldly pleasures at the behest of the Lord Jesus. Thus, thereal object of retirement is lost, and the sacrifice again becomes in thenature of a "bargain. "

In the Bhagavad-Gita, we find these words:

"Renunciation and yoga by action both lead to the highest bliss; of thetwo, yoga by action is verily better than renunciation of action. He who isharmonized by yoga, the self-purified, self-ruled, the senses subdued, whose self is the self of all beings, although _acting_, yet is such an onenot _affected_. 

"He who acteth, placing all action in the _eternal_, abandoning attachment, is unaffected by sin as a lotus leaf by the waters. "

This is interpreted according to the viewpoint of the translator, even as, among an audience of ten thousand persons, we may find almost as manyinterpretations, and shades of meaning of a musical composition. 

True, the Oriental meaning _seems_ to be the one that we shall cease tolove friends, relatives, and lovers, abandoning them as one would abandonthe furniture of one's household when outworn, and no longer of service. 

We do not accept this interpretation. 

To abandon one's friends, one's loved ones, yea, even one's would-beenemies is equivalent to leaving one's companions on a sinking raft and, without sentiment or remorse, save one's physical self from destruction. 

No higher sentiment is known to struggling humanity than love of eachother. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for afriend. "

Oriental or Occidental philosophy, whichever may be presented to the mind, as an unfailing guide, should be distrusted, if that philosophy prescribesthe abandonment of lover, friend, relative, neighbor, brother, companion. That is, if we accept the dictionary meaning of the word "abandoned" astranslated into English. 

A western avatar has said:

"I will not have what my brother can not, " and in this we heartily concur, not hesitating to say that until all human life shall accept and realizethe fullness of this message, we shall not, as a race, have attained to theinheritance that is ours. 

But shall we then believe, that the Oriental doctrine is erroneous? Notnecessarily. 

Errors of interpretation are not only natural but inevitable, and thisinterpretation of abandonment is in line with the idea of sacrifice (usingthe word in its old sense of paying a debt), which prevailed throughout allthe centuries just passed--centuries in which the idea of God was estimatedby the conduct of the kings and monarchs of earth. 

A later revelation or dispensation has given what the Illumined One saidwas a "new commandment, " and it is one more in accord with our ideals ofgodhood. 

"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye _love_ one another. "

But love, like everything which _is_, means much or little, according asthe soul is advanced in knowledge, or is undeveloped. 

Perfect and complete love is not selfish; it desires not possession, butunion. There is a world of difference between the two words. 

"The soul enchained is man, and free from chain is God, " said SriRamakrishna. 

And the soul is enchained by illusion--by mistaking the effect for thecause, and by regarding the effect as the real, instead of realizing theincompleteness; the limitedness; the unsatisfying character of thechanging--the external. 

Not that the pursuit of the external is sinful, but it is unsatisfying, while the soul that has caught a glimpse of that wonderful ecstasy ofIllumination, has found that which satisfies. 

Upon this point of attainment of complete satisfaction, and certainty, allwho have experienced the consciousness we are considering seem to agree, according to the testimony here submitted. 

CHAPTER V

INSTANCES OF ILLUMINATION AND ITS EFFECTS

The term Illumination seems a fitting description of the state ofconsciousness which is frequently alluded to as cosmic consciousness. Without the light of understanding, which is a spiritual quality, wordsthemselves are meaningless. When the mind becomes Illumined the spirit ofthe word is clear and where before the meaning was clouded, or perhapsaltogether obscured, there comes to the Illumined One a depth ofcomprehension undreamed of by the merely sense-conscious person. 

If we consider the recorded instances of Illumination found amongOccidentals, we will find that such extreme intensity of effort as thatwhich is reported of Sri Ramakrishna, and other Oriental sages, does notappear. 

It would seem that the late Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke of Toronto, Canada, was the first in this country to present a specific classification of whathe termed the "new" consciousness, and to describe in some detail, heexperience of himself and others, notably Walt Whitman. 

Dr. Bucke's first public exposition of these experiences was made at acongress of the British Medical Association in Montreal, Canada, inSeptember of the year 1897. Dr. Bucke described this state ofconsciousness--a subject that seemed to him at that time to be a newone--in the following words:

"But of infinitely more importance than telepathy, and so-calledspiritualism--no matter what explanation we give of these, or what theirfuture is destined to be--is the final act here touched upon. This is, thatsuperimposed upon self-consciousness as is that faculty upon simpleconsciousness, a third and higher form of consciousness is at presentmaking its appearance in our race. This higher form of consciousness, whenit appears, occurs as it must, at the full maturity of the individual, ator about the age of thirty-five, but almost always between the ages ofthirty and forty. There have been occasional cases of it for the last twothousand years, and it is becoming more and more common. In fact, in allappearances, as far as observed, it obeys the laws to which every nascentfaculty is subject. Many more or less perfect examples of this new facultyexist in the world to-day, and it has been my privilege to know personallyand to have had the opportunity of studying, several men and women who havepossessed it. In the course of a few more milleniums there should be bornfrom the present human race, a higher type of man, possessing this highertype of consciousness. This new race, as it may well be called, wouldoccupy toward us, a position such as that occupied by us toward the simpleconscious 'alulus homo. ' The advent of this higher, better and happierrace, would simply justify the long agony of its birth through countlessages of our past. And it is the first article of my belief, some of thegrounds for which I have endeavored to lay before you, that a new race isin course of evolution. "

At a subsequent date, having given the subject further consideration andhaving collected data corroborative of his former observations, Dr. Buckesaid:

"I have, in the last three years, collected twenty-three cases of thisso-called cosmic consciousness. In each case the onset or incoming of thenew faculty is always sudden, instantaneous. Among the unusual feelings themind experiences, is a sudden sense of being immersed in flame or in abrilliant light. This occurs entirely without worrying or outward cause, and may happen at noonday or in the middle of the night, and the person atfirst feels that he is becoming insane. 

"Along with these feelings comes a sense of immortality; not merely afeeling of certainty that there is a future life, --that would be a smallmatter--but a pronounced _consciousness_ that the life now being lived iseternal, death being seen as a trivial incident which does not affect itscontinuity. 

"Further, there is annihilation of the sense of sin, and an intellectualcompetency, not simply surpassing the old plane, but on an entirely new andhigher plane. * * * The cosmic conscious race will not be the race thatexists to-day, any more than the present is the same race that existedprior to the evolution of self-consciousness. A new race is being born fromus, and this new race will in the near future, possess the earth. "

Dr. Bucke later published an article in a current magazine, illustratingthe illumination of his friend Walt Whitman, and supplemented with anaccount of his own experience. We quote briefly from Dr. Bucke's account ofhis own experience:

"I had spent the evening in a great city with some friends reading anddiscussing poetry and philosophy. We had occupied ourselves withWordsworth, Shelley, Browning, and especially Whitman. We parted atmidnight. I had a long drive in a hansom to my lodgings. My mind, deeplyunder the influence of the ideas, images and emotions called up by thereading and talk, was calm and peaceful. I was in a state of quiet, almostpassive enjoyment, not actually thinking, but letting ideas, images andemotions flow of themselves, as it were, through my mind. All at once, without warning of any kind, I found myself wrapped in a flame-coloredcloud. For an instant I thought of fire, an immense conflagration somewhereclose by in that great city. The next moment I knew that the fire waswithin myself. "

While Dr. Bucke is unquestionably right in his estimate of the fact that "anew race is being born, " as he expresses it, there can scarcely be anyquestion of individual age, in which the new consciousness may be expected. Physical maturity can have nothing whatever to do with the matter, sincethe acquisition of supra-consciousness is a matter of the maturity of thesoul. This completement of the cycle of the soul's pilgrimage and service, may come at any age, as far as the physical body is concerned. Indeed, science records no definite age at which even physical maturity isinvariably reached, although there is an approximate age. 

A case recently widely commented upon was that of a child of six years whoshowed every symptom of senility or old age, which could hardly be possiblewithout having passed what we call "maturity. "

Again, we find that some persons retain every indication of youth, both ofmind and body, long after their contemporaries have reached and passedmiddle age. It is coming more and more to be admitted that age is relative, and that what we know as the relative is the effect of mental operations. Mental operations are subject to change--to enlargement. 

The advent of cosmic consciousness is, therefore, not subject to what weknow as time, as applied to physical development. 

Nor should we speak of cosmic consciousness as an acquisition, but ratheras a _realization_, since the consciousness _is_, at all times. It alwayshas been, it will always be. Our relation to it changes, as we develop fromthe sense conscious to the self-conscious state and finally to what we termthe "cosmic" conscious state. This latter must of necessity have been asyet only imperfectly realized, even by those of the Illuminati, who areknown to the world as avatars and saviours. 

Several instances of the possession of cosmic consciousness by children, are personally known to the writer. A well-known woman writer in Americathus describes a succession of experiences in what were evidentlyconditions of cosmic consciousness, although as she said, she did notuntil many years later realize what had taken place. 

Like Lord Alfred Tennyson, who tells of inducing in himself a state ofspiritual ecstasy or liberation, by repeatedly intoning his own name, thislady acquired the habit of repeating in wonder and awe the name by whichshe was called in the household, which was an abbreviation of her baptismalname. The effect is best described in her own words:

"It seems to me that I never could quite become accustomed to hear myselfaddressed by name. When some member of the household would call me fromstudy or play--even at the early age of five or six years--I wouldinstantly be seized with a feeling of great and almost overwhelming awe andamazement, at the sound, which I knew was in some way associated with me. 

"I found it extremely difficult to identity myself with that name, andoften when alone would repeat the name over and over, trying to find asolution of the 'why and wherefore. '

"At length this wonderment grew upon me to such an extent that I felt Imust see this self of me that was called by a name. 

"I acquired the habit of standing on a chair to gaze into the mirror abovethe chest of drawers in my mother's bed-room, and putting my face close tothe mirror, I would gaze and gaze into the eyes I saw there, and repeatover and over the name which seemed to me not to belong to that 'otherself' hidden behind those eyes. On one occasion I became quite entrancedand fell from the chair, after which I refrained from looking into themirror, although I did not for many years get over the feeling ofwonderment at the sound of my own name, and many times, on repeating thename aloud, I would feel myself being lifted up into what seemed to me theclouds above my head, until I felt myself being 'melted, ' as I termed it, into the moving cloud of soft transparent light. 

"At this time I was between seven and eight years of age, and although Iwas far beyond children of my age, in my school studies, I was frequentlyadmonished for being 'stupid, ' owing to the fact that I could not rememberthe names of objects, nor could I be trusted on an errand. 

"While walking from our house to the grocer's, scarcely a block away, Iwould feel that sudden wonderment and awe of my name steal over me, andagain I would be transported to some unknown, yet immanent region, utterlylosing consciousness of my surroundings. I would sometimes awake to findmyself standing before the counter of the grocery store, struggling toremember who and where I was, and what it was that I had been sent to thatstrange place for. "

This lady relates that she never dared to tell of her strange experiences, although she did not "outgrow" them until early womanhood, when she droppedthe abbreviation of her name, and assumed her full baptismal name. Whetherthis latter fact had anything to do with the cessation of the experience isdoubtful. At the same time, she declares that she can even now induce thesame sensations, and transport herself into childhood again by repeatingher childhood name. 

The following extract from a paper published in London, England, in 1890, gives a description of an experience of a young man who had fallen into acondition which the physicians pronounced "catalepsy. " This young man wasat the time a medical student, and had always exhibited a tendency toentrancement, or catalepsy. On recovering from one of these catalepticattacks, and being asked to give a description of his sensations orexperiences, the young man said:

"I felt a kind of soothing slumber stealing over me. I became aware that Iwas floating in a vast ocean of light and joy. I was here, there, andeverywhere. I was everybody and everybody was I. I knew I was I, and yet Iknew that I was much more than myself. Indeed, it seemed to me that therewas no division. That all the universe was in me and I in it, and yetnothing was lost or swallowed up. Everything was alive with a joy thatwould never diminish. "

Such, in substance, was the attempt of this young man to describe what allwho have experienced cosmic consciousness unite in saying is indescribable, for the very obvious reason that there are no words in which to expresswhat is wordless, and inexpressible. This authentic account of a young manunder twenty years of age, however, serves to prove that there is nospecial age of physical maturity in which the attainment of this state ofconsciousness may be expected. 

This account was published seven years previous to Dr. Bucke's statement, and yet, since it is not quoted in Dr. Bucke's account, it is most unlikelythat he had seen the article. Certainly the young man had never heard ofthe experience which Dr. Bucke later records, as "cosmic consciousness, "and yet the similarity of the experience, with the many which have beenrecorded is almost startling. 

The salient point in this account, as in most of the others which havefound their way into public print, is the feeling of being in perfectharmony and union with everything in the universe. "I was everything andeverything was I, " said this young man, and again "I was here, there andeverywhere at once, " he says in an effort to describe something which inthe very nature of it, must be indescribable in terms of senseconsciousness. 

Illustrative of the connection between religious ecstasy and cosmicconsciousness, we find the experience of an illiterate negro woman, acelebrated religious and anti-slavery worker of the early part of the lastcentury. 

This woman was known as "Sojourner Truth" and was at least forty years ofage in 1817, when she was given her freedom under a law which freed allslaves in New York state, who had attained the age of forty years. 

Sojourner Truth never learned to read or write, and her education consistedalmost entirely of that presentation of religious truth which finds itsmost successful converts in revivalism. 

With this fact in mind, nothing less than the attainment of a wonderfuldegree of spiritual consciousness could account for her marvelous power ofdescription, and her ready flow of language, when "exhorting. "

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote of her, in an article published in theAtlantic Monthly, as early as 1863:

"I do not recollect ever to have been conversant with any one who had moreof that silent and subtle power which we call personal presence, than thiswoman. In the modern spiritualistic phraseology, she would be described ashaving a 'strong sphere. '"

The wonderful mental endowment which seems to follow as a complement to theexperience of Illumination, when not already present, as in the case ofWhitman, for example, is characteristic of "Sojourner Truth, " or Isabella, as she was baptized. 

Naturally, this mental power, seemingly inconsistent with her humbleorigin, and her unlettered condition, is evidenced along those lines whichmade up the sum and substance of her life. Judging her from the broaderconcept of philosophy, Isabella appears somewhat fanatical, but theinfluence of her life and work was so great, that Wendell Phillips wrote ofher:

"I once heard her describe the captain of a slave ship going up tojudgment, followed by his victims as they gathered from the depths of thesea, in a strain that reminded me of Clarence's dream in Shakespeare, andequalled it. The anecdotes of her ready wit and quick striking replies arenumberless. But the whole together give little idea of the rich, quaint, poetic and often profound speech of a most remarkable person, who used tosay to us: 'You read books; God Himself talks to me. '"

Isabella's conviction that she had "talked to God, " was unshakable, andwas, indeed, the dynamic force which moved her. She was accustomed to tellof the strange and startling experience in which she met God face to face, and in which she said to Him: "Oh, God, I didn't know as you was so big. "In the New England Magazine for March, 1901, there was given a full accountof the work of this noted negro woman. Commenting on her sense of awe ofthe immensity of God "when she met him, " the writer says:

"The consciousness of God's presence was like a fire around her and she wasafraid, till she began to feel that somebody stood between her and thisbrilliant presence; and after a while she knew that this somebody lovedher. At first, she thought it must be Cato, a preacher whom she knew orDeencia or Sally--people who had been her friends. 

"We are not told whether these persons were living or dead, or whether shethought they had come in the flesh, or in the spirit to her relief. Howeverthis may be, she soon perceived that their images looked vile and black andcould not be the beautiful presence that shielded her from the fires ofGod. She began to experiment with her inner vision, and found that when shesaid to the presence 'I know you, I know you, ' she perceived a light; butwhen she said 'I don't know you, ' the light went out. 

"At last, she became aware that it was Jesus who was shielding her andloving her, and the world grew bright, her troubled thoughts were banished, and her heart was filled with praise and with love for all creatures. 'Lord, Lord, ' she cried, 'I can love even de white folks. '"

The question will legitimately arise here, as to the authenticity of anexperience in which Jesus is said to be personally guiding and shieldingher, but it must be remembered that the mind is the medium through whichthe spiritual realization must be _expressed_ and, as has been statedpreviously, the description of the phenomenon of Illumination, particularlywhen experienced in a sudden influx must partake of the character of themind of the illumined one. 

William James, late professor of Psychology of Harvard University, in hisexhaustive book _The Varieties of Religious Experiences_, in the chapter on"The Value of Saintliness, " says:

"Now in the matter of intellectual standards, we must bear in mind that itis unfair, where we find narrowness of mind, always to impute it as a viceto the individual for in religious and theological matters, he probablyabsorbs his narrowness from his generation. Moreover, we must not confoundthe essentials of saintliness with its accidents, which are the specialdetermination of these passions at any historical moment. In thesedeterminations the saints will usually be loyal to the temporary idols oftheir tribe. "

Applying this explanation to the case of "Sojourner Truth, " we may realizethat the literal conception of Jesus as her guide and shield, was a mentalimage, inevitable with her, as Jesus was the motive power of her everythought and act. And although at the moment of her Illumination, sherealized the "bigness" of God, later, in arranging and recording thephenomenon, in her mental note-book, she tabulated it with all she knew ofGod--the religious enthusiasm of her work of conversion to the religion ofJesus. 

Says James, commenting upon the question of conversion in human experience:and this tendency to what seems a narrow and limited viewpoint:

"If you open the chapter on 'Association, ' of any treatise on Psychology, you will read that a man's ideas, aims and objects form diverse internalgroups, and systems, relatively independent of one another. Each 'aim'which he follows awakens a certain specific kind of interested excitement, and gathers a certain group of ideas together in subordination to it asits associates. "

It is perhaps natural to assume that most instances of the attainment ofIllumination, have been inseparable from religious devotion, or at leastcontemplative mysticism. This view is held almost exclusively byOrientals, and seems to have been shared to a great extent by westerncommentators upon the subject. 

A notable example among Occidentals, bearing the religious aspect, and onewhich is important from the fact that the person detailing his experience, was a man of mental training, is the case of Rev. Charles G. Finney, formerly president of Oberlin College. 

In his "Memoirs, " Dr. Finney describes what Orthodox Christians generallycall the "baptism of the Holy Spirit":

"I had retired to a back room for prayer, " writes Dr. Finney, "and therewas no fire or light in the room; nevertheless it appeared to me as if itwere perfectly light. As I went in and shut the door after me, it seemed asif I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It did not occur to me thennor did it for some time afterwards, that it was wholly a mental state. 

"On the contrary, it seemed to me a reality, that he stood before me and Ifell down at his feet and poured out my soul to him. I wept aloud like achild and made such confessions as I could with choked utterance. 

"It seemed to me that I bathed his feet with my tears, and yet I had nodistinct impression that I touched him, that I recollect. As I turned andwas about to take my seat, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost. 

"Without any expectation, without even having the thought in my mind, thatthere was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had everheard the thing mentioned, by any person in the world, the Holy Spiritdescended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me body and soul. 

"I could feel the impression like the waves of electricity going through meand through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in _waves of liquid love_. For Icould not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath ofGod. I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me like immensewings. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in myheart. 

"I wept aloud with joy and love. These waves came over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recollect that I cried out, 'I shall die ifthese waves continue to pass over me. ' I said 'Lord, I cannot bear anymore. '"

We will note, that although Dr. Finney says that he could not remember everhaving heard the thing mentioned by any person, yet he felt "the baptism ofthe Holy Spirit. " It is practically impossible that Dr. Finney could havelived in an age and a community which was essentially strict in itsOrthodoxy, without having heard of the phrase "baptism of the Holy Spirit, "even though the words had escaped his immediate recollection. However, thepoint that characterizes Dr. Finney's experience, in common with allothers, is that of seeing an intense light, and of the realization of theoverwhelming force of love. 

The relation of this experience to a creed or system of religion, issomething which, we believe, may be accounted for, as Professor James hassaid, on the fact of "historical determination. "

Until very recently, the idea that spirituality was impossible save inconnection with religious systems, and rigid discipline, has been quitegeneral. 

In the case of Dr. Finney, we find that all his life previous to thisexperience he had been noted for his simplicity and child-like trust. Following his Illumination we learn that he became a man of greatinfluence, and power, because of "the wonderful humanity which heradiated. "

Similar in experience, in its effects, is a case related by Theodore F. Seward, the well-known American philanthropist, Mr. Seward relates thefollowing story:

"The strange experience which I here relate came to a friend whom I knewintimately, and from whose lips I received the account. It is a lady inmiddle life, who has for years been an earnest seeker for truth andspiritual light. She was alone in her room sewing. 

"Thinking, as was her wont, of spiritual things and feeling a strong senseof the presence and power of God, she suddenly had a consciousness of beingsurrounded by a brilliant white light, which seemed to radiate from herperson. The light continued for some minutes, and at the same time, shefelt a great spiritual uplifting and an enlargement of her mental powers, as if the limitations of the body were transcended, and her soul'scapacities were in a measure set free for the moment. The experience wasunique, above and beyond the ordinary current of human life, and while thevision or impression passed away, a permanent effect was produced upon hermind. She had never heard the term 'cosmic consciousness, ' and did not knowthat the subject it covers is beginning to be discussed. "

It must be noted that in these experiences, the idea most strongly felt wasthe one of the "power and presence of God, " and we are impressed with thefact that, no matter how varied may be the _creeds_ of the world, asfounded by "saviours" and incarnations of God, there is a unity among allraces, as to the fact of a one supreme universal power, which is Aum, theAbsolute, and which must represent perfect love and perfect peace, sinceall who have glimpsed their unity with this power, testify to a feeling ofhappiness, peace and satisfaction, rare and exalted. 

By comparing the experience of those who have attained this state ofliberation from illusion, through religious rites and ceremonies, or"sacrifice to God, " as it is not infrequently called, with the experienceof those who have recorded the phenomenon, apparently arriving at the goalthrough intellectual and moral aspiration, we will find that the resultsare almost identical, and the after-effects similar. 

It has been said that those who attain liberation have invariably sought tofound a new system of worship, and this fact has given rise to the manypaths or methods of attainment which have been taught by various IlluminedOnes, both in the Orient and in the western world, supplementary as it wereto the main great religious systems. 

We will take a short survey of a few of these systems in Japan and India incomparatively modern times, or at least during the last two thousand years, which is modern compared to the history of the Orient. 

CHAPTER VI

EXAMPLES OF COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS, WHO HAVE FOUNDED NEW SYSTEMS OF RELIGION

The early religion of Japan, before the advent of Buddhism, was extremelysimple. 

It consists of the postulate that there was but one God, _Kami_, from himall things came, and to him all things shall return. As has been statedpreviously, the chief injunction of Shintoism is: "Keep your body and yourmind clean, and trust _Kami_. "

Shintoism literally translated, means "the way to God, " and includes thebelief that all persons ultimately reach the place where God dwells, andbecome "one with Him. "

In present day interpretations and descriptions of Shintoism, we read ofthe "heathen" belief that _Kami_ himself dwells in person, in the "innertemple" or sacred place of Shinto temples. 

This idea doubtless exists as a reality among the very ignorantsuperstitious devotees, much as among the ignorant Catholics we find theunquestioned belief that the actual body and blood of Jesus the Christ iscontained in the Eucharist. 

The Shinto temple always contains an "inner or sacred shrine, " which isequivalent to the "holy of holies, " of the Mystic Brotherhoods, andtypifies the fact that _within_ and not _without_, will be found the God inman, by finding which, man reaches liberation, or cessation from the cycleof births and deaths. 

A Shinto funeral is an occasion for rejoicing, because the departed one maybe a step farther on the way to God, and since his ancestors were directlyresponsible, as a favor, for his occasion to become reborn, thus fulfillingthe law of _karma_, the Shintoist pays much respect to his ancestors. 

The advent of Buddhism into Japan was made possible by the simple fact thatthe people were becoming somewhat disgruntled with Shintoism, because ofits emphasis upon the never-to-be questioned postulate that the Mikado andhis progeny was the direct gift of _Kami_ to his people, to be obeyedwithout demur, and to be adored as divine. 

Several generations of Mikados who did not fulfil the ideal of Deity--anideal to which even savages attach the qualities of justice and mercy--leftthe masses ready and eager to grasp at a religion that gave them some otherpersonified god, than the Mikado, much as a drowning man clutches at astraw. 

The Lord Buddha was a prince, therefore worship of him would not be anabsolutely impossible step--an unforgivable breach of contract with theMikado, and as he exhibited the qualities of humility and mercy andtolerance, he was welcomed. The religion of Japan is to-day regarded asBuddhistic, although the Imperial family, and consequently the army and thenavy are to all outward appearance, Shintoists. 

Coming, then, to a consideration of the varying sects of Buddhism in Japan, and the corresponding sects in India, we find that there have been ninedifferent incarnations of God, and that another, and, it is believed thefinal one, is expected. 

The intelligent and open minded seeker after truth of whatever race orcolor, will find in the instructions given man by each and every greatteacher, whether we believe in them as especially "divine" or as merehumans who have attained to the realization of their godhood (_avatars, _) acomplete unity of _purpose_, and if these teachers differ in _method ofattainment_, it is only because of the immutable fact that there can be no_one and only_ way of attainment. 

Methods and systems are established consistently with the age and characterof those whom they are designed to assist in finding the way. 

And again we must emphasize the fact that by the phrase "the way, " we meanthe way to a realization of the godhood within the inner temple of man'sthreefold nature. 

Thus, the intelligent, unprejudiced student of the religions andphilosophies of all times and all races, will find that, while there aremany and diverse paths to the goal of "salvation, " the goal itself meansunity with the Causeless Cause, wherein exists perfection. 

Perhaps it has been left for the expected Incarnate God, which Christiansspeak of as "the second coming of Christ, " to make clear the problem as towhether this attainment or completement means an absorption of individualconsciousness, or whether it will be an adding to the present incarnation, of the memory of past lives, in such a manner that no consciousness shallbe lost, but all shall be found. 

In considering instances of cosmic consciousness, _mukti_, which have beenrecorded as distinctly religious experiences, and the effect of thisattainment, the system best known to the Occident, is contained in thephilosophy of Vedanta, expounded and interpreted to western understandingby the late Swami Vivekananda. 

But it should be understood that the philosophy taught by Vivekananda isnot strictly orthodox Hinduism. It bears the same relation to the oldreligious systems of India that Unitarianism bears to orthodox Christianitysuch as we find in Catholicism, and its off-shoots. 

Vivekananda honored and revered and followed, according to hisinterpretation of the message, Sri Ramakrishna, whom an increasing numberof Hindus regard as the latest incarnation of Aum--the Absolute. Not thatthe reader is to understand, that Sri Ramakrishna's message contradictedthe essential character of the basic principles of orthodox Hinduism, asset down in the Vedas and the Upanashads. 

The same difference of _emphasis_ upon certain points, or interpretationsof meaning exists in the Orient, as in the western world, in regard to thepossible meaning of the Scriptures. 

Sri Ramakrishna, who passed from this earth life at Cossipore, in 1886, wasa disciple of the Vedanta system, as founded by Vyasa, or by Badarayana, authorities failing to agree as to which of these traditional sages ofIndia founded the Vedantic system of religion or philosophy. 

Vedanta, particularly as interpreted by Sri Ramakrishna and his successors, offers a wider field of effort, and a more intellectual consideration ofHindu religion than that of the Yoga system as interpreted from theoriginal Sankhya system by Patanjali, about 300 B. C. 

Patanjali's sutras are considered the most complete system of Yogapractice, for the purpose of mental control, and psychic development. Patanjali's sutras are almost identical with those employed in the Zen sectof Buddhist monasteries, throughout Japan. 

These sutras, together with Buddhist mantrams will be considered in asubsequent chapter, devoted to the development of spiritual consciousnessas taught by the Oriental sages and philosophers. 

One other great teacher of modern times who has left a large following, wasLord Gauranga, who was born in India in the early part of the fifteenthcentury. Gauranga was worshipped as the Lord God, whether with his consent, or without, it is not exactly clear, even though his biographers are unitedon the fact of his divine origin. 

Those who have espoused the message of Gauranga claim that he brought tothe world "a beautiful religion, such as had never before been known. " But, as this claim is made for all teachers and founders of religions andphilosophies, we suggest that the reader compare the message of LordGauranga with those of other avatars and teachers. 

Lord Gauranga's message is known as Vaishnavitism, and we will hereconsider only those passages of his doctrine which shed light upon hisattainment of cosmic consciousness. Certainly his breadth of mind, and hisstandards of tolerance, justice and consideration for all other systems ofworship, would indicate his claim to cosmic consciousness. 

One of the contentions of the Vaishnavas is that they alone of allreligious faiths, admit the divine birth and mission of the founders of allreligions. 

Thus the Christians have declared that Jesus was the only Son of God; theBuddhists have claimed Buddha; the Hebrews have clung tenaciously to theirprophets as the only true messengers from heaven, and the Mohammedans haverefused, until the present century, to even sit at the table with the"infidels" who would not acknowledge Mohammed as the only true incarnationof Allah. 

It is well to remember that these claims have been made by the blindfollowers of these great teachers, and that it is almost certain that notany one of them made such claim for himself. Certainly he did not, if hehad attained to spiritual consciousness. 

One passage from the doctrines of Gauranga is almost identical with manyothers who have sought to express the feeling of security, of_deathlessness_ which comes to the soul which has realized cosmicconsciousness. He says:

"My Beloved, whether you clasp me unto your heart, or you crush me by thatembrace, it is all the same to me. For you are no other than my own, thesole partner of my soul. "

The gospel of Gauranga and his followers is, indeed, much more a gospel oflove, than of methods of worship, or of intellectual research. 

The realization of our union with God, in deathless love, is the key-noteof the message, and this great joy or bliss comes to the soul as soon as ithas attained Illumination through love. 

God is alluded to in Vaishnavism most frequently as _Anandamaya_--meaningall joy. Vaishnavism more nearly resembles the gospel of Jesus, as taughtby orthodoxy, than it does the Vedantic systems, since it does, not claimthat God is _within each_ human organism, as the seed is within the fruit, but that, by love, we may gain heaven or the state or place where Goddwells. 

"If you would worship God, as the Giver of Bounties, then shall the prayerbe answered, and further connection cut off, God having answered thedemand. So if you would worship God in simple love, He will send love. Thereal devotee seeks to establish a relationship with God which will endure. He will ask only to worship and love God, and pray that his soul may clingto God in divine reverence and love. " Thus, say the Vaishnavas, "God servesas he is served, in absolute justice. "

Another salient point which the followers of Lord Gauranga emphasize, isthe "All-Sweetness" of God. This idea is impressed, doubtless that thedevotee may not feel an impossible barrier between himself and so great andall-powerful a being, as God, when His Omnipotence is considered. The ideais similar to that of the Roman church, which bids its untutored childrento select some patron saint, or to say prayers to the Virgin Mary, becausethese characters were once human and seem to be nearer, and moreapproachable than the Great God whose Majesty and All-Mightiness have beenexploited. 

Be that as it may, the fact remains, that Lord Gauranga is said to haveearned the devotion and love of some of the most learned pundits of Indiaand, according to a recent biographer, "he had all the frailties of a man;he ate and slept like a man. In short, he behaved generally like anordinary human being, but yet he succeeded in extorting from the foremostsages of India, the worship and reverence due a God. "

The fact that Lord Gauranga "behaved like a man, " is comforting, to say theleast, and presages the coming of a day when "behaving like a man" will notbe considered ungodly. When that time shall have arrived, surely there willbe less mysticism of the hysterical variety and probably fewer hypocrites. 

Very unlike Lord Gauranga, is the report of a writer of India, who tells ofthe effects of cosmic consciousness upon Tukaram, considered to be one ofthe greatest saints and poets of Ancient India. Tukaram lived early in thesixteenth century, some years later than Lord Gauranga. 

This Maharashtra saint is chiefly remembered for his beautiful descriptionof the effects of Illumination, in which he likens the human soul to thebride, and the bridegroom is God. This poem is called "Love's Lament, " andmight have been written by an impassioned lover to his promised bride. 

The life of Tukaram, like that of the late Sri Ramakrishna Paramanansa, wasone long agony of yearning and struggle for that peace of soul which hecraved. One of his chroniclers thus describes, in brief, the final struggleand the subsequent attainment of Illumination of this good man:

"Selfless, he sought to gather no crowds of idle admiring disciples abouthim, but followed what his conscience dictated. He listened not to thecounsel of his relatives and friends, who thought he had gone mad; and hebore in patience the well-meant but harsh rebukes of his second wife. Aftera long mental struggle, the agonies of which he has recorded inheart-rending words, now entreating God in the tenderest of terms, nowresigning himself to despair, now appealing with the petulance of a petchild for what he deemed his birthright, now apologizing in all humilityfor thus taking liberties with his Mother-God, he succeeded at last ingaining a restful place of beatitude--a state in which he merged his soulin the universal soul, "--that is, Illumination, or cosmic consciousness. 

Sadasiva Brahman, one of the great Siddhas, and a comparatively modern sageof India, left a Sanskrit poem called _Atmavidyavilasa_, which gives acomprehensive description of the experience and the effects ofIllumination, as for example:

"The sage whose mind by the grace of his blessed Guru is merged in his owntrue nature (Existence, Intelligence, and Bliss Absolute), that greatIllumined one, wise, with all egotism suppressed, and extremely delighted_within himself_, sports in joy. "

"He who is himself alone, who has known the secret of bliss, who has firmlyembraced peace, who is magnanimous and whose feelings other than those ofthe _atman_, have been allayed, that person sports on his pleasant couch ofself-bliss. "

"The pure moon of the prince of recluses, who is fit to be worshipped bygods and whose moonlight of intelligence that dispels the darkness ofignorance causes the lily of the earth to blossom, shines forth in theabode of the all-pervading Essence of Light. "

The above stanzas represent a more impersonal idea of the bliss ofattainment than those of many others who have experienced Illumination, butthey emphasize the same point that we find throughout all writings of theIlluminati, namely, the realization of the kingdom _within_, rather thanwithout, and the necessity of selflessness--meaning the subjugation of thelesser self, the mental, to the soul. 

We come now to a consideration of the life and character of the LordBuddha, whose influence is still stronger in all parts of the world thanthat of any other person who has ever taught the precepts of attainment. 

In Japan, for example, Buddhism, in its various branches, orinterpretations, is the religion of the vast majority and even whereShintoism is the method of worship, the influence of Buddhism may be seen. So too, we find in Japan, a form of Buddhism, which shows evidences of theinfluence of Shintoism, but I think it may be admitted that Japan, aboveall other countries, represents to-day, the religion of Buddhism. 

Buddhism has been called the "religion of enlightenment, " but the term"illumination" as it is used to describe the attainment of cosmicconsciousness, is what is meant, rather than the purely intellectualquality which we are accustomed to think of as enlightenment. 

Sakyamuni, another name for Buddhism, means also illumination, orrealization of the saving character of the light within. 

The lamp is the most important symbol in, Buddhism, as it typifies thedivine flame or illumination (which is cosmic consciousness), as the goalof the disciple. 

Another interpretation of the symbol of the lamp, is that of the power ofthe lamp to shed its rays to light the way of those who are traveling "inthe gloom, " and by so doing, it lights the flame of illumination in others, without diminishing its own power. An article of faith reads:

"As one holds out a lamp in the darkness that those who have eyes may seethe objects, even so has the doctrine been made clear by the Lord inmanifold exposition. "

Again, in the _Book of the Great Decease_, we learn that Buddha admonishedhis disciples to "dwell as lamps unto yourselves. " Another symbol usedthroughout Japan as a means of teaching the masses the essential doctrinesof "The Compassionate One, " has become familiar to occidental people as asort of "curio. " It is that of the three monkeys carved in wood or ivory. 

One monkey is covering his eyes with both paws; another has stopped hisears; and the third has his paw pressed tightly over his mouth. The lessonbriefly told is to "see no evil; hear no evil; speak no evil, " and thereason that the monkey is employed as the symbol, is because the monkey, more than any other animal, resembles primitive man. If, then, we wouldrise from the monkey, or animal condition (the physical or animal part ofthe human organism), we must avoid a karma of consciousness of evil. 

Buddhism is full of symbolism, and these symbols must be interpretedaccording to the age, or of the individual consciousness of theinterpreter, or the translator. But the fundamental doctrine of Buddha isessentially one of renunciation as applied to the things of the world. Nevertheless this quality of renunciation has been greatly exaggeratedduring the centuries, because of the fact that the Lord Buddha had so muchto give up, viewed from the standpoint of worldly ethics. 

In the following "sayings of Buddha, " we find that the quest of the noblesage was for that supraconsciousness wherein change and decay were _not_, rather than that he regarded the things of the senses, as sinful. Forexample:

"It is not that I am careless about beauty, or am ignorant of human joys;but only that I see on all the impress of change; therefore, my heart issad and heavy. " Or this:

"A hollow compliance and a protesting heart, such method is not for me tofollow: I now will seek a noble law, unlike the worldly methods known tomen. I will oppose disease, and change and death, and strive against themischief wrought by these, on men. "

According to the _Samyutta Nikaya_, the twelve _Nidanas_ (or chain ofconsequences) are:

"On ignorance depends karma;

"On karma depends consciousness;

"On consciousness depends name and form;

"On name and form depends the six organs of sense. "

"On contact depends sensation;

"On sensation depends desire;

"On desire depends attachment;

"On attachment depends existence;

"On existence depends birth;

"On birth depend old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, anddespair. 

"Thus does this entire aggregation of misery arise. "

Having arrived at this conclusion, the problem may be solved by learninghow to avoid existence. But, let us consider what the term "existence"means. The common acceptance of the word, as used in the English, seems toinclude _being_; but if we will consider the word in its literal meaning, when analyzed, we find that it comes from "est" (to be), and the prefix"ex, " meaning actually "_not-being_. "

The word _Being_, is a synonym for eternal life--for Deity. It does notsavor of anything that has been created, or that will terminate. _Beingis_, therefore, to cease to _ex_-ist, is to cease to live under the spellof the illusory and changing quality of _maya_, or externality. 

Far from meaning to be "wiped out, " or absorbed into The Absolute, in thesense of complete loss of consciousness, it means the eternal retention ofconsciousness, unhampered by the delusion of sense as a reality. 

To escape from this chain of illusory ideas, and their consequences, the obvious necessity isto claim the soul's right to _Being_. This is doneby dispelling ignorance (_A-vidya_) by vidya(knowledge). Thus karma ceases:

"On the cessation of karma ceases consciousness of self;

"On the cessation of this consciousness of self, cease name and form;

"On the cessation of name and form, cease the organs of sense;

"On the cessation of sense, ceases contact;

"On the cessation of contact, ceases sensation;

"On the cessation of sensation, ceases desire;

"On the cessation of desire ceases attachment;

"On the cessation of attachment ceases existence;

"On the cessation of existence, ceases birth. 

"On the cessation of birth cease old age, and death; sorrow; lamentation;misery; grief and despair. Thus does the entire aggregation of miserycease. "

But, as to the exact interpretation of all these, Buddha himself says:

"Ye must rely upon the truth; this is your highest, strongest vantageground; the foolish masters practicing superficial wisdom, grasp not themeaning of the truth; but to receive the law, not skillfully to handlewords and sentences, the meaning then is hard to know, as in thenight-time, if traveling and seeking for a house, if all be dark within, how difficult to find. "

But let it be understood, that Buddhism as now taught and practiced isnecessarily colored by the effect of the centuries which have elapsed sincethe Lord Buddha lived and taught the precepts of his Illumination. ModernBuddhism, as a religious system of worship bears the same relation toPrince Siddhartha, as does modern Christianity to Jesus of Nazareth. 

A short review of the life and character of the personalities around whomthe great religious systems of the world have been formed will aid us inperceiving the unity of thought and character of the Illumined, and thesimilarity of reports as to the effect of this realization of cosmicconsciousness will be apparent. 

CHAPTER VII

MOSES, THE LAW-GIVER

The salient feature of the law as given by Moses unto his people, the Jews, is that of strict cleanliness of mind and body. In this we find asimilarity to the oft-repeated behest of Gautama, the Buddha, whoconstantly admonished his followers to keep their hearts pure and theirminds and bodies clean. 

This spirit of cleanliness finds also a counterpart in the saying ascribedto Jesus, "blessed are the pure in heart. "

The cleanliness here referred to is doubtless not so much physical neatnessas mental purity of thought--thought free from doubt and calumny and pettydeceits and hypocrisy and selfishness and debasing perversions of the lifeforces; but during various stages of history we find that all teachingshave their esoteric and their exoteric application. 

The law, as enunciated by Moses, according to the Jewish reports, laid muchstress upon physical cleanliness, as an attribute of godhood. 

But Moses, if we may credit reports, was something far more inspired andillumined than a mere physical culturist--commendable as is personalcleanliness--and his admonitions were the result of that fine sense ofdiscrimination and enlightenment which comes from cosmic perception even ifhe had not experienced the deeper, fuller realization of liberation, ofwhich Buddha is a shining example. 

It is evident that the laws laid down by Moses were taught and practised bythe Egyptians many many years prior to the time in which Moses lived, whichfrom the most reliable authorities, must have been about four to fivehundred years before the Exodus. 

This does not detract from the evidence that the great Egyptian-Hebrew, wasa man of wonderful intellectual attainments, and from what we know ofmodern examples of Illumination, he also possessed a degree of cosmicconsciousness. 

The story of the seemingly miraculous birth of Moses, and the mystery withwhich his ancestry is surrounded, is also typical of one who has attainedto cosmic consciousness. 

The Illumined one realizes his birthlessness and his deathlessness, andexpresses it in symbolism, meaning of course, the realization that as thespirit is never born and can never die, the idea of age is anunreality--and should find no place in the consciousness of one who regardshimself as an indestructible atom of the Cosmos. 

But the evidences regarding the probable Illumination of Moses are to befound in the reports of his ascension of Mt. Sinai, and what occurredthere. 

The phenomenon of the great light which is inseparable from instances ofcosmic consciousness, and which gives to the phenomenon its name"Illumination, " was apparently marked in the case of Moses. 

The "burning bush, " which he describes is the experience of the mind whenthe illusion of sense has ceased, even temporarily, to obscure the mentalvision. 

"And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, and out ofthe midst of a bush; and he looked and behold, the bush burned with fireand the bush was not consumed. "

There is a subtler interpretation to this report than that usually given, even by those who realize that this expression is an evidence of the suddeninflux of supra consciousness which attends the soul's liberation from thelimits of sense consciousness. 

The "burning bush" is synonymous with the "tree of life" which is everalive with the "fires of creation. "

All who realize liberation are endowed with the power to understand thissymbol. For those who have not attained to this degree of consciousness, the esoteric meaning is necessarily hidden. 

The phenomenon of the strange mystical light which seems to enfold andbathe the Illumined one, is concisely expressed in the case of Moses. 

"And it came to pass, that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with thetablets of the testimony in hand, that Moses wist not that the skin of hisface shone, or sent forth beams by reason of his speaking with Him. 

"And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses behold! the skinof his face shone and they were afraid to come nigh him. "

Again we find in the case of Moses, a momentary fear of the phenomenonwhich he was experiencing, in the influx of light and the sound of thevoice which seems to accompany the light. 

The interpretation given the words spoken, and the identity of the voice isever dependent upon the time and character of the mind experiencing theIllumination. 

Thus Moses claims to have heard the voice of the God of the Hebrews, butthe probabilities are, that the "voice" is the mental operations of theperson experiencing the phenomenon of supra-consciousness, and thisinterpretation will vary with what Professor James calls the "historicaldetermination, " i. E. It is dependent upon the age in which the illuminedone lived, and upon the character of the impressions previously absorbed. 

This apparent difference of report, as to the identity of the "voice, " isof small import. 

The salient point is that each person relating his experience has heard a_voice_ giving more or less explicit instructions and promises. 

In each instance it has been characterized as the voice of the God of theirdesire, _and adoration_. 

Certainly, whatever may be our opinions as to whether God, as we understandthe term, talked to Moses, giving him such explicit commands as the greatleader afterwards laid down to his people accompanied by the insurmountablebarrier to dissent or discussion, "thus saith the Lord, " we can but admitthat the prophet was possessed of intellectual power far in advance of histime, and his laws did indeed, save his people from self destruction, through uncleanliness and strife, and dense ignorance. 

The ten commandments have been the "word of God" to all men for lo! thesemany ages, and even Jesus could but add one other commandment to thosealready in use: "Another commandment give I unto you--_that ye love oneanother_. "

To sum up the evidences of cosmic consciousness, or Illumination, asreported in the case of Moses, we find:

The experience of great light as seen on Horeb. 

The "voice" which he calls the voice of "The Lord. "

The sudden and momentary fear, and humility. 

The shining of his face and form, as though bathed in light. 

The subsequent intellectual superiority over those of his time. 

The perfect assurance and confidence of authority and "salvation. "

The desire for solitude, which caused him to die alone in the vale of Moab. 

The intense desire to uplift his people to a higher consciousness. 

CHAPTER VIII

GAUTAMA--THE COMPASSIONATE

Gautama, prince of the house of Siddhartha, of the Sakya class, was born innorthern India in the township of Kapilavastu, in the year 556 B. C. , according to the best authorities, as interpreted and reported by MaxMuller. 

The Japanese tradition agrees with this, practically, stating that O ShakaSama (signifying one born of wisdom and love) was born as a Kotai Si, crownprince of the Maghada country. 

We have the assurance that as a youth, Gautama, like Jesus, exhibited aserious mindedness and an insight into matters spiritual, which astonishedand dumbfounded his hearers, and the sages who gave him respectfulattention. 

Some accounts even go so far as to state that at the very moment of hisbirth the young prince was able to speak, and that his words ascended "evento the gods of the uppermost Brahma-world. "

Divesting the traditions that surround the birth and early life of theworld's great masters, of much that has been interpolated by a designingpriesthood, we may yet conclude that a certain seriousness, and a deepsympathy with the sorrows of their fellowmen, would naturally characterizethese inspired ones, even while they were still in their early youth. 

It is evident that the young Prince Siddhartha was subject to meditationand that these meditations led at times to complete trance. 

It is reported that one day while out riding in all the pomp andaccoutrements of the son of a ruling king, he was visited by an angel (amessenger from the gods of Devachan), and told that if he would lessenthe sorrows of the world that he must renounce his right to his father'skingdom and go into the jungle, becoming a hermit, and devoting his life tofasting, prayer and meditation, in order to fit himself for the work ofpreaching the "way of liberation, " which consisted of, first of all, totake no life; be pure in mind; be as the humblest, which latter admonitionfound little favor with the world of his personal environment where castewas and still is, a seemingly ineradicable race-thought. 

The sorrows of humanity weighed heavily upon his heart, and thesuperficialities of the wealthy and ostentatious court in which he lived, irked his outspoken and truth-loving spirit. 

Surrounded, as he was, by wealth and ease, with time for contemplation anda mind given to philosophic speculation, the young prince found no sense ofcomfort or permanent satisfaction in his own immunity from want and sorrow. He pondered long upon the way to become freed from the "successive round ofbirths and deaths, " and thus pondering, he sought solitude in which to findhis questions answered. 

Fasting and penance have ever been the gist of the instruction given tothose who would "find the way to God, " and so to this end Gautama fastedand prayed, and practised self-sacrifice. 

But the attainment of liberation was not easy, and Siddhartha suffered longand practiced self-mortification assiduously, at length being rewarded; and"there arose within him the eye to perceive the great and noble truthswhich had been handed down; the knowledge of their nature; theunderstanding of their cause; the wisdom that lights the true path; thelight that expels darkness. "

The terrible struggle which characterized the attainment of cosmicconsciousness, by so many of the sages and saviours of history, is, webelieve, clue to the fact that no one individual may hope to rise soimmeasurably above the plane of the race-consciousness of his day and age, except through intense and overwhelming desire. 

Gautama abandoned his heritage, his relatives, his wife to whom he wasdevoted, and his infant son, as we have previously stated, not becauseIllumination is purchasable at so terrible a price, but because his desireto _know_ transcended all other desires, and in order to be free from thedemands made upon him, he must of necessity, seek solitude. 

Few examples of the attainment of cosmic consciousness are as complete andof such fullness, as that attained by Buddha, and no instance which historyaffords has left so great an effect upon the world. 

It is estimated that at least one-third of the human race are Buddhists. This is not saying that any such number of persons are like unto Buddha, nor do we contend that this is any evidence that his message is greater ormore fraught with truth than that of other illumined ones. 

The intelligent student of occultism in all its phases will arrive, sooneror later, at the inevitable conclusion that all illumined souls have seenand have taught the same fundamental truth. 

Buddha was convinced that in The Absolute, or First Cause, there could beno sin and consequently no sorrow, and he persistently sought to inauguratesuch systems of conduct and such a standard of morals as would lead thedisciple back to godhood, or liberation from the "wheel of causation. "

To keep the mind pure and clean was the burden of his cry, well knowingthat the mind is the fertile field wherein illusions of sense consciousnessthrive. He says:

"Mind is the root (of evil); actions proceed from the mind. If anyone speakor act from a corrupt mind, suffering will follow, as the dust follows therolling wheel. "

That we can not expect to escape the result of our thoughts and acts wasever a doctrine of Buddha, albeit, he seems also to have sought to makeclear to his disciples, the UNREALITY of sin as a part of theindestructible "First Cause. "

Many Buddhist sects interpret the doctrines of Buddha to deny a belief ina future existence, in at least as far as identity is concerned, but thisconception is not consistent with the most reliable reports, neither is itin keeping with the extreme peace and satisfaction which all illumined onesexperience. 

If extinction of identity were the goal of Illumination, it isinconceivable that the illumined ones should report the attainment ofperfect satisfaction and bliss. 

Besides, it is clearly stated that Gautama told his disciples that he hadalready entered Nirvana, while yet in the body. 

"My mind is free from passions; is released from the follies of the world. I have gained the victory, " said Lord Buddha to his disciple Ananda. 

It is also asserted that Buddha appeared in his own "glorified body" tohis disciples after his physical dissolution, plainly indicating that farfrom being swallowed up in The Absolute, he had acquired godhood in hispresent body. 

Detailing the advantages of a pure life, Buddha said to his disciples:

"The virtuous man rejoices in this world, and he will rejoice in the next;in both worlds has he joy. He rejoices, he exults, seeing the purity of hisdeed. "

Again, alluding to a sage (rahan), Buddha is reported to have said:

"He is indeed blest, having conquered all his passions, and attained thestate of Nirvana. "

This alluded to the acquisition of _Nirvana_ while still in the physicalbody. In other words, as we of this century understand the teaching, hehad experienced cosmic consciousness. 

The modern version of the commandments of Buddha are almost identical withthose of the Christian creed, and these commandments are, as we havepreviously observed, the same that Moses laid down for the guidance of hispeople. That they were old before Moses was born, is also more thanproblematical. 

It is also more than probable that Buddha did not personally write theethical code which we now find submitted as the "Commandments of Buddha, "but that Buddha merely emphasized them. 

These commandments are not, however, understood, by the intelligentBuddhist as "sacred, " in the sense that "God spoke unto Buddha. "

Moses doubtless assumed to have been divinely instructed in the law, although that supposition may be erroneous. He may have had in mind thesame fundamental idea which all those expressing cosmic consciousness havehad, that of being a mouthpiece of a higher power, rather than to attractto themselves any adulation or worship, as being specially divine. 

The "Commandments, " therefore, as translated and ascribed to modernBuddhism, are an ethical and moral code for the _MORTAL_ consciousness, rather than a _formula_ for developing cosmic consciousness. Thesecommandments are:

1--Thou shalt kill no animal whatever, from the meanest insect up to man. 

2--Thou shalt not steal. 

3--Thou shalt not violate the wife of another. 

4--Thou shalt speak no word that is false. 

5--Thou shalt not drink wine, nor anything that may intoxicate. 

6--Thou shalt avoid all anger, hatred and bitterlanguage. 

7--Thou shalt not indulge in idle and vain talk, but shall do all forothers. 

8--Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. 

9--Thou shalt not harbor envy, nor pride, nor revenge, nor malice, nor thedesire of thy neighbor's death or misfortune. 

10--Thou shalt not follow the doctrines of false gods. 

And the devotee is assured, even as in the Christian creed, that "he whokeeps these commandments, shall enter Nirvana--the rest of Buddha. " But letit be understood that Gautama, the Lord Buddha, did not formulate thesecommandments. Neither are they considered as infallible formulæ, by theenlightened Buddhist. 

They constitute the ethical and moral code of the undeveloped man in allages of the world, and among all peoples. They had become traditional longbefore Buddha came to interpret "the way of the gods. " But Gautama, likeJesus, was an evolutionist, and not a revolutionist. He came "not todestroy, but to fulfill, " and so Buddha paid no attention to the code ofmorals as it stood, but merely contented himself with emphasizing theimportance of unselfishness--purity of heart and mind, because he realizedthat the mental world is the trap of the soul, even as "the elephant isheld tethered by a galucchi creeper. "

Buddha taught the way of emancipation of the soul held in bondage by meansof the illusions of _maya_, even as the elephant is held in captivity by soweak a thing as a galucchi creeper, which could be broken by a singleeffort. 

That many who keep the commandments are yet a long way from cosmicconsciousness must be apparent to all. Therefore we are justified inassuming that the mere keeping of the commandments will not bring about_mukti_. Many a man follows the letter of the law, and escapes prison, butif he does this through fear of punishment, and not because of a desire tomaintain peace that his neighbors may be benefited, then he is not keepingthe spirit of the law at all, and his reward is a negative one. 

According to the most reliable authorities, Buddha died in his eightiethyear, having spent about fifty years in preaching, in healing the sick, inconversing with exalted beings in the heavenly worlds, and in leaving atwill his physical body and visiting other worlds. 

Buddha prophesied his coming dissolution, and expressed to his disciples, ahope that they would realize that he still lived, even when his physicalbody should have become ashes. 

As his last hour approached, Buddha summoned his disciples, and after amoment's silent meditation, he addressed himself to Ananda, his relative;as well as his favorite disciple, thus:

"When I shall have disappeared from this state of existence, and be nolonger with you, do not believe that the Buddha has left you, and ceased todwell among you. Do not think therefore, nor believe, that the Buddha hasdisappeared, and is no more with you. "

From these words, it is evident that the state of Nirvana which Buddhaassured his followers that he had already attained, did not argue loss ofidentity, nor translation to another planet. 

Nor is there anywhere in the sayings of Buddha, rightly interpreted, anysuggestion of expecting or desiring personal worship. This, the great sageparticularly avoided, as indeed have all illumined ones. 

It is evident that Gautama the Buddha had experienced that divine influx oflight and wisdom in which he sought for others the happiness he had gainedfor himself, and to this end he was eager to leave to his friends anddisciples such rules of conduct of life as should aid them in attaining thedivine peace that comes from illumination. 

But that he founded a religious system of worship of himself, is whollyunbelievable in the light of a study of comparative religions and thewisdom which illumination confers. 

To realize that one has attained to immortality, and claimed hisbirthright of godhood, is not synonymous with the claim to worship as theone eternal source of life. 

It is a part of human weakness to insist upon idealizing the personality ofa teacher, and this tendency becomes in time merged into actual worship, whereas the teacher, if he or she be truly illumined, seeks only toinculcate the philosophy which will bring his faithful followers into arealization of cosmic consciousness. 

The points which characterize the person who has experienced a degree ofillumination (entered into cosmic consciousness), were particularly evidentin the life and character of Gautama, the Buddha. They may be summed upthus:

A marked seriousness in youth. 

A great sympathy and compassion with the sorrows of others. 

A deep tenderness for all forms of life. 

A realization of the nothingness of caste and pomp and power. 

The firm conviction that he was instructed by angels. 

The wonderful magnetism and illumination of his person. 

The firm conviction of immortality--released from the "wheel of life" ashe expressed it. 

The knowledge of when and where he was to pass out from the life of thebody. 

The love of solitude and meditation. The intellectual power maintained eveninto old age. 

The unselfish desire to help others. 

Great and never-failing sympathy with suffering, a divine patience, andinsight into the hearts of all forms of life, earned for this great soulthe name "Buddha--The Compassionate. "

CHAPTER IX

JESUS OF NAZARETH

Turning now to the next in order of the world's great masters, or illuminedones, we come to a consideration of Jesus of Nazareth, in whose name thegreat moral system of religion, called "Christianity, " is promulgated. 

It has been conclusively shown that the essential features of thepresent-day _system_ of religion, known as Christianity, were instituted byPaul rather than by Jesus, and that the system itself, like Buddhism, isthe work of the followers of the great teacher, rather than that of theMaster. 

Our present concern, however, is not with the system or method of thechurch, but with those historic facts which bear upon the question of theIllumination of Jesus, classifying Him, not as an incarnate son of God, inthe accepted theological interpretation, but in the light of cosmicconsciousness. 

Jesus the Christ was born, according to the most reliable authorities, about six hundred years after Gautama, the Buddha. 

Whether or not the Nazarene was familiar with the Buddhist doctrines orwhether He spent the years of His life which are shrouded in mystery, inthe inner temples of either Thibet, India, Persia, China, or other orientalcountry, will doubtless always be a disputed point among controversialists. 

The fact does not matter, either way. 

There is an encouraging similarity in the fundamentals of all religiousprecepts, arguing that when a teacher is really inspired, the truth makesfriends with him or her. 

Some writers on the subject of Illumination give exact dates when the flashof cosmic consciousness came to the various teachers of the world, butthese dates are problematical, and they are also inconsequential. 

That Jesus was among those historic characters who had attained cosmicconsciousness, there can be no possible doubt, even though his exact wordswill be disputed. 

Enough has come down to us through the ages to prove the fact that Jesusknew and taught the illusory character of external life (_maya_) and thathe was himself absolutely certain of the "kingdom within, " which headmonished his hearers to seek, rather than to live so much in theexternal. This he did because he well knew that constant dwelling in theexternal consciousness led not to liberation. 

_The light within_, was the substance of his cry, and that light, whenperceived, leads to illumination of everything, both the within and thewithout. 

The transfiguration of Jesus was undoubtedly the effect of his being in asupra-conscious state, a state of exaltation, in which many mystics enterat more or less frequent intervals, according to their mode of life, andtheir objective environment. 

"And he was transfigured before them; and his garments became exceedinglywhite, " we are told in the gospels, and there are many persons in the worldto-day possessing the power of the inner or clairvoyant vision (notidentical with cosmic consciousness), who have witnessed similar phenomena. 

In the "Sermon on the Mount, " we find that Jesus spoke with such certaintyand such authority, as one who had experienced the very essence of thecosmic conscious state, and was already freed from the illusions of thesenses. His words, like those of all who have sought to give directions andinstructions for the attainment of freedom from externality, are capableof interpretation in various ways, according to the degree of consciousnessof the age in which the interpretations have been made. 

For example, we find these words of Jesus given different meanings, and infact, there have been many and diverse discussions and conclusions as toexactly what the Master did mean by them:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "

Let us examine the phrase, and see if it accords with our ideas of cosmicconsciousness. To be "poor in spirit, " is not consistent with ourunderstanding of the requirements for the expansion of the soul. 

Those who take this phrase literally, and who are opposed to religiousconcepts, as a factor in human betterment, are fond of using this phrase asan evidence of the fanaticism of Jesus, and his concurrence in the worldlyhabit of exploiting the poor, and "riding the backs of the wage slaves, " asour Socialist brothers put it. 

Now let us, for a moment, consider the phrase _as a person who possessedcosmic consciousness would have said it_. 

One possessing the cosmic sense, viewing the external more as a trap of thesenses, than as realities, would readily perceive that to amass wealth(external possessions), the mind must be in harmony with the methods andthe ideals of the world, rather than that it should be concentrated uponthe "things of the spirit. "

This idea is expressed in the phrase, "no man can serve two masters, "and while we are not prepared to say that the possession of worldlygoods is absolutely _impossible_ to the attainment of cosmicconsciousness--observation, reflection, and intuition will unite in theconclusion that they are more or less _improbable_. 

If then, we will interpret these sayings of Jesus in the light of a broaderoutlook than was possible to the understanding of his chroniclers, we willfind that what he doubtless said was:

"_Blessed in spirit_ are the poor, for theirs shall be the kingdom ofheaven. "

And in his vision, which extended beyond the times in which he lived, andforesaw that the attainment of cosmic consciousness must involve a degreeof physical hardship, he said:

"Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, fortheirs is the kingdom of heaven. "

A survey of the world's progress will readily prove the fact that those whohave bent their talents and their energies toward the uplift of the race, have done so under great stress, and in the face of persistent opposition. 

This opposition is an accompaniment to altruistic effort, for the veryobvious reason that the race-thought of the world is still materialistic. 

The thoughts that predominate are commercial. This is due to the fact thatthose who are wealthy have large financial interests to maintain; businessproblems to solve; that take about all their time. The poor find themaintenance of physical existence a task that absorbs the greater part oftheir mortal mind, and therefore, those who are devoting their time andtalents to the work of regeneration (the coming of the cosmic sense), arenecessarily in the minority, and the majority rules in thought, as in act. 

The present metaphysical movement lays great stress upon worldly successand "attraction" of wealth, as an evidence of possession of power andtruth, but the law of equation proves that we obtain _that which we mostdesire_. A religious system which amasses great wealth in a short time doesso, only because its _dominant_ teaching inspires the desire for worldlyadvancement, as the _prime requisite_. 

The same is true of an individual, as of a system. 

Not that the attainment of cosmic consciousness is absolutely impossible toa rich man, because a man may inherit riches and position and power, as inthe case of Prince Siddhartha, the Lord Buddha; or he may have set inmotion certain currents of desire for wealth, and later in life may changethat desire, when naturally, the "business" he has created will follow thelaw which instigated it, and increasing wealth will result. 

But, let it be known, that Buddha renounced all his possessions, and thereare many instances to-day of renunciation of worldly life and wealth, inorder to attain to that supreme consciousness in which the illumined onepossesses all that he desires, even though he have but one coat to hisback. 

Let it not be thought that we mean to infer that God is partial to poverty, and that the rich man will be excluded from the attainment of the kingdom, merely because of his riches; but if riches be any man's aim, thenassuredly he cannot "serve two masters" and it will not be possible for himto become illumined while in pursuit of worldly goods. 

Jesus said:

"It is easier for a camel to go through the needle's eye, than for a richman to enter the kingdom of heaven. "

It is now thoroughly established that the "Needle's Eye" was the name givento a certain narrow and difficult pass through which camels bearing heavyburdens, could not find room to pass, and Jesus sought to convey to hishearers the truth that persons bearing in their mental desires the loadof many possessions, would hardly find room for the one supreme desirewhich would bring them into the kingdom (the possession of cosmicconsciousness). 

But the most significant of the utterances of the illumined Nazarene is theone in which he said:

"Except ye become as little children, ye can in no wise enter the kingdomof heaven. "

The possession of cosmic consciousness brings with it, invariably, thesimplicity, the faith and _innocence_ of a little child. The child ispleased with natural pleasures, and does not know the worldly standard ofvaluation. And above all, the soul, while still attached to the physicalbody, is like a little child. 

The attainment of cosmic consciousness is possible only to one who hasfirst "got acquainted with his soul"; when we are really soul-conscious wepossess the innocence (not ignorance), of a little child, and we alsopossess a child's wisdom. We are, in other words, "as wise as the serpentand as harmless as the dove. " Wisdom brings with it harmlessness. The trulywise person would not wilfully harm any living thing; wisdom knows norevenge; no "eye for an eye" philosophy; makes no demands. 

And what may be considered the second most significant remark of the Master_is_ this:

"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say Lo, here; or Lo, there, for Lo, the kingdom of heaven is within you. "

Jesus, although forced by the conventions of the time in which he taught toconform to the laws laid down by the scribes and Pharisees, influenced bythe strict views of the Israelites, who honored the law laid down by Mosesand the prophets, still possessed cosmic consciousness to such an extentthat he knew the folly of judging others by outward appearance, and alsoof promising them cosmic consciousness in return for obedience toprescribed rules or commandments. 

When it would seem to his critics that he did not sufficiently emphasizethe traditional laws, that he was seemingly making it too simple and tooeasy for people to live, they sought to trap him into a statement thatwould oppose the accepted commandments. 

But this Jesus steadfastly refused to do. "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, " he said. 

Like all those who have experienced cosmic consciousness, his policy wasone of construction, and not of destruction. Evolution accomplishespeacefully what revolution seeks to do by force. 

Jesus laid little stress upon the commandments as they stood. He neithersought to emphasize them, nor to criticise them. All that he said was:

"A new commandment give I unto you: that ye love one another. "

All truly illumined minds have made love the basis of their teaching, wellknowing that where true love reigns there can be no destruction. 

Love conquers fear--the arch-enemy of mankind. 

Love makes it impossible to harm the thing loved, and universal love wouldmake it impossible, for one experiencing it, to consciously bring theslightest pain to any living thing. 

Therefore Jesus taught repeatedly the doctrine of love, and he made no newcommandments other than this. 

It has been said that inasmuch as Jesus laid greater emphasis upon this onegreat need than had any previous inspired teacher, he deserves greaterhonor. 

Theologians whose purpose it is to promulgate the doctrine of Christianityas superior to others, use this argument in support of their contentionthat Jesus was the only true son of God. 

But this view will be recognized as prejudiced, and lacking in the veryessentials taught and practiced by the Christ. 

In the light of Illumination, it will readily be perceived that all personsexpressing any considerable degree of cosmic consciousness, have taught thesame fundamental and simple truths, as witness the following:

Do as you would be done by. --_Persian. _

Do not that to a neighbor which you would take ill from him. --_Grecian_. 

What you would not wish done to yourself, do not unto others. --_Chinese_. 

One should seek for others the happiness one desires foroneself. --_Buddhist_. 

He sought for others the good he desired for himself. Let him passon. --_Egyptian_. 

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so tothem. --_Christian_. 

Let none of you treat his brother in a way he himself would dislike to betreated. --_Mohammedan_. 

The true rule in life is to guard and do by the things of others as they doby their own. --_Hindu_. 

The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members ofsociety as themselves. --_Roman_. 

Whatsoever you do not wish your neighbor to do to you, do not unto him. This is the whole law. The rest is a mere exposition of it. --_Jewish_. 

While it is probable that Jesus gave no directions or methods ofattainment, yet the records of his sayings give the clue to the characterof his instruction to those of his students who were capable ofunderstanding, particularly as shown in a recently discovered papyrus, authentically identified as belonging to the early Christians. This-papyruswas discovered by Egyptian explorers in 1904. Although the papyrus was moreor less mutilated, the meaning is sufficiently clear to justify thetranslators in inserting certain words. However, we will here quote onlysuch of the "sayings" as were decipherable, without having anythingsupplied by translators. 

Evidently having been asked when his kingdom should be realized on earth heanswered:

"When ye return to the state of innocence which existed before the fall"(i. E. , when manifestation will be perceived in its illusory character, andthe soul freed from the enchantment of the mortal consciousness). 

"I am come to end the sacrifices and if ye cease not from sacrificing, thewrath shall not cease from you. "

This evidently corresponds to his saying, "They who use the sword, shallperish by the sword. "

The conclusion is obvious that hate and destruction beget their kind, andthat love is the only power that can prevent the continuation ofdestruction. This may with equal logic, be applied to the sacrifice ofanimal and bird life for food, as well as the sacrifices of blood whichformed a part of ancient ritual. 

His disciples said unto him:

"When will thou be manifest to us, and when shall we see thee?"

He saith:

"When ye shall be stripped and not be ashamed. "

The time is near at hand, when the body will not be regarded as somethingvile and unworthy; something of which to be ashamed and to keep covered, asif God's handiwork were vile. 

In fact, the function of sex, from the extreme of ancient sex worship tothe present extreme of sex degradation, shall soon be established in itsrightful place. It is not the purpose of this book to deal with thisimportant subject, so we will say no more here. 

Nevertheless, this saying attributed to Jesus, the Christ, resurrected asit has been in this century, is timely. It is almost universally concededthat the time of the "Second Coming of Christ" is already at hand. Justwhat this second coming means, is interpreted differently by theologians, philosophers, scientists, poets and prophets, but there is a unanimousbelief that the time is here and now. 

Those who have the comprehension to read the signs of the times, arecheerfully expectant of radical changes in our attitude toward the functionof sex and the divinity of love. 

"When the two shall be one, and the outside as the inside, and the male asthe female, neither male nor female--these things if ye do, the kingdom ofMy Father shall come. "

Again, the meaning of these words depends upon the degree of illuminationof the person reading them. They mean the present inevitable equality ofthe sexes, when each individual will count not as a mere man or a merewoman, but as an important factor in the world's redemption. Or, it willappeal to a few as the promised time when every soul which has completedthe circle, ended its karma, and claimed its god-hood, unites with the soulof its mate, the two blending into one perfect whole--the Father-Mother Godof the New Dispensation. 

Again we find in these newly discovered papyri a phrase bearing upon thissubject:

To the question of Salome:

"How long shall death reign?" The Lord answered:

"As long as ye women give birth. For I am come to make an end to the worksof the woman. "

Then Salome said to him:

"Then have I done well that I have not given birth?"

To this the Lord replied:

"Eat of every herb, but of the bitter one eat not. "

When Salome asked when it shall be known what she asked, the Lord said:

"When you tread under foot the covering of shame, and when two is made one, and the male with the female, neither male nor female. "

"How be it, he who longs to be rich is like a man who drinketh sea water:the more he drinketh the more thirsty he becomes, and never leaves offdrinking till he perish. "

"Blessed is he who also fasts that he may feed the poor, for it is moreblessed to give than to receive. "

"Let thy alms sweat in thy hand until thou knowest to whom thou givest. "

It is not probable that any one who reads these words will make the mistakeof assuming that Jesus advised us to inquire into the character or theantecedents of the one on whom we are to bestow a gift. Neither are weexpected to ascertain whether he belongs to our "lodge" or not. 

If you give alms as though to an inferior; if you assume a self-righteousmind; if you give for hope of reward; then withhold your gift. In fact, unless you can realize that you are giving as though to yourself, keep yourgift. It will do neither you nor the one receiving it, any good whatsoever. 

"Good things must come. He is blessed through whom they come. "

This presages the coming of the kingdom of love on earth, as a foregoneconclusion. Yet, those who lend themselves _consciously_, as _servants_ ofthe cause--helpers in the establishment of the new order--are blessed. 

"Love covereth a multitude of sins, so be not joyful save when you lookupon your brother's countenance in love. "

"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, for the greatest of crimes isthis: if a man shall sadden his brother's spirit. "

"For our possessions are in heaven; therefore, sons of men, purchase untoyourselves by these transitory things which are not yours, _what is yours_, and shall not pass away. "

For the Lord has said in a mystery: "Unless ye make the right as the left;the left as the right; the top as the bottom; and the front as thebackward, ye shall not know the kingdom of God. "

"Keep the flesh holy and the seal undented, that ye may receive eternallife. "

"If a man shall sadden his brother's spirit. " This indeed is the greatestof all crimes, because out of man's inhumanity to man springs all the sinand sorrow of the world. 

"Unless ye make the right as the left; the top as the bottom; the front asthe backward. " The meaning should be clear enough and the words are worthyof the illumined mind of Jesus of Nazareth. 

The great sin is separation; segregation; "My and mine" as opposed to "Theeand thine. " To the truly illumined one there can be no "mine, " as distinctfrom another's. 

The sinner is no less my brother than is the saint. The beggar is as dearto me as is the rich man. Every man is a king. There are no "chosen of God"to the one who has entered cosmic consciousness. 

"For our possessions are in heaven. Use, therefore, the things of earth, while ye are living in the flesh (sons of men), in such a way and to suchpurpose that they will not enchain you in the maze of manifestation, andthereby require that you postpone your claim to immortality. "

This statement is distinct enough, as is also the one: "He who longs to berich is like a man drinking sea water. The more he drinketh, the morethirsty he becomes and _never leaves off drinking until he perisheth_. "

The hypnotism of the external world is too well illustrated to need furthercomment. The man who enters upon the pursuit of worldly possessions;temporal power; personal ambition; thinking that when he shall haveattained all these, then will he turn to the solution of the mystery ofmysteries, finds himself caught in the trap of his desires, and he can notescape. He is under the spell of enchantment, wherein the unreal appears asreal, and the real becomes the illusory. 

To sum up, the fragmentary accounts we have of the life and character ofthe man Jesus are conclusive proof that he had entered into fullrealization of cosmic consciousness. 

Like Lord Gautama, he appeared to his disciples after he had left thephysical body, "glorified, " as one who had taken on immortality. 

Nor was there ever, it would appear, any doubt in the mind of Jesus, of hisright to godhood, while retaining, also, his self-consciousness. 

The intellectual superiority. 

The wonderful spiritual magnetism and attraction of his presence. 

The absolute, unwavering conviction of his mission, and of his immortality. 

The transfiguration, after his "temptation" and his prophetic vision. 

His great love and compassion for even his enemies. 

These are what made him indeed a Christ. 

The term "Christ" and the term "Buddha" are synonymous. They both mean onewho has entered into his godhood. One who has attained to cosmicconsciousness, leaving forever the limitations of the lower self. 

CHAPTER X

PAUL OF TARSUS

The system of worship known as Christianity owes its systematic foundationto Paul of Tarsus. Paul's sudden conversion from zealous persecution of thefollowers of Jesus of Nazareth to an equally zealous propaganda of thegospel of Light, offers a perfect example of the peculiar oncoming ofcosmic consciousness. 

Paul evidently occupied a position of authority among the Jews and it isequally probable that he was near the same age as Jesus, as he is referredto as a "young man named Saul" in Bible accounts of the persecution of theearly Christians. His illumination occurred shortly after the crucifixion, probably within two or three years. 

In Acts, chapter 8-9, we read:

"And Saul was consenting unto his death (Stephen). And at that time therewas a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem and theywere all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea, and Samaria, except the apostles. 

"And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentationover him. 

"As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, andhailing men and women, committed them to prison. 

"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings, and slaughter against thedisciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him lettersto Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whetherthey were men or women, he might bring them bound, unto Jerusalem. 

"And as he journeyed he came near unto Damascus, and suddenly there shoneround about him a light from heaven. 

"And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him: 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?'

"And he said: 'Who art thou, Lord?' And the Lord said: 'I am Jesus, whomthou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. '

"And he trembling and astonished, said: 'Lord, what wilt thou have me do?'

"And the Lord said unto him: 'Arise and go into the city, and it shall betold thee what thou must do. '

"And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice butseeing no man. 

"And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened he saw noman; but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 

"And he was three days without sight and neither did eat nor drink. 

"And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias, and to himsaid the Lord in a vision: 'Ananias;' and he said: 'Lord, behold, I amhere. ' And the Lord said unto him: 'Arise and go into the street calledStraight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus;for behold, he prayeth. And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananiascoming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. 'Then Ananias answered: 'Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how muchevil he hath done by thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authorityfrom the high priests to bind all that call on thy name. ' But the Lord saidunto him: 'Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my namebefore the Gentiles, and kings, and children of Israel. For I will show himhow great things he must suffer for my name's sake. '

"And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting hishands on him, said: 'Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared untothee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receivethy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. ' And immediately there fellfrom his eyes, as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, andarose and was baptized. "

Like all those who have entered cosmic consciousness, Paul sought theblessing of solitude, that he might readjust himself to his changedviewpoint, since he now saw things in the light of the largerconsciousness. 

He says:

"Immediately I conferred, not with flesh and blood; neither went I up toJerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went away intoArabia; and again I returned unto Damascus. "

The irresistible longing to get away from the sights and sounds of theexternal world, is one of the most characteristic phases of Illumination. It is only in order that they may take up the work of bringing to othersthis great blessing that those who have entered into the largerconsciousness, eventually bring themselves to enter the life of the world. 

Thus, we find that Paul's great desire to bring the light to others, tookhim again to Damascus; and from the records we have of his utterances andhis mode of living, we may gather some idea of the great change whichIllumination made in him. 

Certain statements, which characterize all who possess cosmicconsciousness, in any degree of fullness, emanate from the converted Paul. He says:

"I must needs glory though it is not expedient, but I will come to visionsand revelations of the Lord--for if I should desire to glory I shall not befoolish; for I shall speak the truth; but I forbear, lest any man shouldaccount of me above that which he seeth me to be, or heareth from me. Andby reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations--wherefore that Ishould not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. "

One of the characteristics of the Illumined is a deep humility. This isnot in any sense an abasement of the self; not in any sense a feeling thatit is necessary to "bow down and worship;" nor yet a tinge of that namelessfear, which the carnal-minded self feels in the presence of exalted beings. 

It is a humility born of the desire to make every one know and feel a senseof kinship with him; he hesitates to reveal all that has been revealed tohim, lest those who hear his words may think he is either "speakingfoolishly, " through egotism, or else that they may look upon him as a beingsuperior, more exalted, than themselves. And a divine compassion and lovefor his fellow being characterizes the Illumined. Again, Paul wishes tomake clear the fact that he is still living in the physical body; livingthe life of a body, and until liberated from the conditions that influencethe external world, he is himself subject to the lesser consciousness, andhe does not want them to expect more of the personal self, than thatpersonal self is capable of, under the conditions in which he lives. 

He desires no personal exaltation, or praise, therefore he hesitates tospeak fully of his own revelations, but prefers to teach by reference tothe experiences of others. 

Nevertheless, he tries to make clear the fact that he is not merelypreaching a "belief, " which he has embraced because of doubt or fear, orbecause it is a creed. Indeed, he is free from the "law" and is, therefore, not merely following a system, neither the old one which he has abandoned, nor a new one which he has accepted. He speaks from the "Lord, " which is noother than the highest authority that man may know--namely, the authoritythat comes from the realization of his own imperishable godhood--the effectof cosmic consciousness. 

He says:

"For I make known to you brethren, as touching the gospel as preached byme, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, norwas I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Christ. 

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. But before faith came, wewere kept inward under the law, shut up unto the faith which shouldafterwards be revealed. For ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ. For with freedom did Christ set us free. "

This we take to refer to his former adherence to, and belief in, the systemof worship taught by the Jews, as a necessary and probably the only "way ofsalvation" acceptable to God. He wishes his hearers to understand that heis not bound by adherence to any creed; neither the old one, nor yet thenew one, but that what he preached came from the light of cosmicconsciousness, in which there is no law, nor sense of law. Cosmicconsciousness gives to the illumined one a sense of freedom (Christ meanscosmic consciousness, and not a personality). 

Cosmic consciousness confers, above all else, perhaps, a sense of freedomfrom every form of bondage. 

The duty and the obligations that bind the average person, are impossibleto the cosmically conscious one. Not that he displays indifference towardthe welfare and the rights of others. Far from that, he feels an addedsense of responsibility for the irresponsible; an overwhelming compassionfor the unfortunate, and a relationship greater than ever to mankind. 

But this sense of freedom causes him to do all _in love_, which he hithertodid because it was so "laid down in the law. "

Again St. Paul makes this plain:

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance; against such as these thereis no law--neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a newcreature. "

When we are armored with the "fruit of the spirit, " we have no need forrules of conduct; for methods of salvation; or for any of the bonds thatare necessary to the merely sense-conscious man. 

Plainly, Paul recognized the fact that systems of religion, of philosophy, of rules and ethics of intercourse, are necessary only so long as manremains on the sense-conscious plane. When Illumination comes, there comeswith it absolute freedom. God does not want to be worshipped on bendedknee; by rites and ceremonies; by obedience to commandments, but theundisciplined soul acquires power and poise through these exercises, and intime grows to the full stature of god-consciousness. 

Nor is intellectual greatness to be confounded with the godlike characterof the one who has attained to Illumination. 

Elsewhere in these pages we have made the distinction between knowledge andwisdom. Knowledge alone can never bring a soul into the path ofIllumination. Wisdom will point the way, but love is the unerring guide tothe very goal. 

St. Paul's expression of this fact is concise, and to the point. Thisobservation alone, stamps him as one possessing a very high degree ofrealization of what cosmic consciousness is. 

"If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this world, let himbecome a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world isfoolishness to God. "

The worldly wise man or woman asks "how much do I get?" The truly wiseperson cares nothing at all for possessions. He only asks "how much can Igive?"

And although we find in the marts of commercialism a contempt for thegullible, and the credulous; the trusting and the confiding, let it beknown that the "smart" bargainer will indeed smart for his smartness, forin the light of cosmic consciousness, this alleged "wisdom" of men, appears as utter foolishness; wasted effort; a perversion of opportunity. 

Because "all these things shall pass away. "

Love alone is imperishable. 

Love alone is the savior of the human race, and whenever we fail to actfrom motives of love, we are disloyal to the light within us. 

Again says St. Paul:

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I amas sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. 

"And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and allknowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but havenot love, I am nothing. 

"And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to beburned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 

"_LOVE NEVER FAILETH_. 

"But whether there be prophecies they shall be done away; whether there betongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge it shall be done away. For we know in part and we prophecy in part, but when that which is perfectis come, that which is in part shall be done away. "

It must be remembered that in the days of St. Paul the high priests and theprophets were accounted the wisest and most exalted persons in thecommunity. 

The ability to prophecy presupposed a special favor of the God of the Jews. St. Paul's exposition of the changed viewpoint that comes to one who hasentered into cosmic consciousness, was therefore aptly illustrated by hisopen avowal that there was a far greater power--a more exalted state ofconsciousness, than that of the gift of prophecy and of "knowing allmysteries;" that state of one in which love was the ruler, and in orderthat they might the more fully comprehend the simplicity, and yet theperfection, of this state of consciousness, he made clear the fact that noone truly who became "a new creature", as he characterized this change, ever exalted himself, or made high claims; or became exclusive, or"superior, " or "holy, " in the sense the latter word had been used. 

How, then, would they know when they had attained to this state ofconsciousness, of which he spoke, and which they but dimly understood?

How might they know when they had found this great love that was to makethem "a new creature"?

First of all, they might know because:

_LOVE NEVER FAILETH_. 

Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth notitself; is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly; seeketh not its own; isnot provoked; taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things;hopeth all things; endureth all things. 

In fact, _LOVE NEVER FAILETH_. Love is always a safe guide. No matter whatmay be said to the contrary; no matter how much suffering it entails; nomatter how seemingly fruitless the sacrifice; or how ungrateful theresults, _love_ never faileth. 

How can it fail when we "seek not our own, " but only love for love's ownsake, without regard to compensation or gratitude?

St. Paul, with all who have expressed in any considerable degree thiscosmic realization, seems to have expected a time, when cosmicconsciousness should become so general, as to bring the kingdom of loveupon earth. This corresponds to the Millenium, which has always beenprophesied, and which the present era fulfills, in all the "signs of thetimes" that were to usher in The Dawn. 

Moreover, the idea that there shall come a time when death shall beovercome, is a persistent part of every prophecy, and of every religiouscult. In these days we find that science is speculating upon theprobability of discovering a specific for senile death, as well as for thefinal elimination of death from disease and accidents. 

Whether or not this is to be the manner of "overcoming the last enemy, " thefact remains that the almost universally held idea of physical immortalityhas a basis in fact, which this postulate of science symbolizes. 

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortality must puton immortality, but when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass thesaying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. '"

So said St. Paul, and his words show clearly that before his time there hadbeen a prophecy and belief in the final triumph of love over death, not asan article of faith, but as a common knowledge. 

St. Paul speaks of the time when "we shall not all sleep, but we shall allbe changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. 

"And then come to the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule, all authority, andall power. "

Unquestionably, if all men on earth in the flesh and in the astral, were tocome into the light of the cosmic consciousness, there would be no need forlaws, for authority or power. The kingdom, which signifies the earth as aplanet, would indeed be delivered to God, which means Love, and "Love neverfaileth. "

And while we admit that these words of St. Paul may be applied toindividual attainment of cosmic consciousness, and not refer to an era ofearth life, in which the fruits of this larger consciousness are to begathered in the physical, yet we maintain that the argument for such anhypothesis is strong indeed. He says:

"For the earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the revealing of thesons of God. "

For the term "sons of God" interpret "those who have attained cosmicconsciousness, " and we may readily parallel this with the many allusions tothe earth's redemption, with which history is strewn. 

To "redeem" the earth is quite comparable with the idea of redeeming anypart of the earth's surface--either as a nation, or as a tract ofland--which is not yielding the best that it is capable of. 

In the cosmogony of the heavens, the planet earth may well be likened to aterritory that has possibilities, but which needs cultivation;encouragement; work; to bring out its possibilities and make it a place ofcomfort and enlightenment. 

So we have been informed--and an understanding of deeper occultism willbear out the information--that this earth is being made a "fit habitationfor the gods" (i. E. , cosmically conscious beings, to whom love is the onlyauthority necessary). 

Paul clearly alludes to the redemption of the body, as well as thecontinuance of the life of the soul, when he says:

"For the creation was subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reasonof him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall bedelivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory ofthe children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth andtravaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, WHICH HAVE THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, even we ourselves, waiting forour adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. "

St. Paul declared that even those who had glimpsed that wonderfulIllumination (which have the first fruits of the spirit), are not free fromthe travail of the sense-conscious world, until such time as the cycle hasbeen completed, and those who "are already in Christ, and then they thatare Christ's at his coming, " shall have made possible the perfectedcreation, and brought about the reign of love on earth. 

So that, when a sufficient number of souls shall have attained to thisIllumination (cosmic consciousness), the "last enemy shall be overcome. "That this present era gives promise of this hope, is evident. 

The attainment of cosmic consciousness brings with it immunity fromreincarnation, as a necessity--as a law, but it does not provide againstthe coming of avatars--"sons of God, " who are to "deliver Creation from thebondage of corruption. "

This also is clearly stated by Paul:

"There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. For the law of thespirit of life in Christ made me free from the law of sin and death. "

There never is any doubt in the minds of those who have attained cosmicconsciousness, that they are spiritual beings and immortal--free from thelaw of karma; neither is there any thought of evil or of condemnation. 

They know that men are gods in embryo and that until they have been borninto the cosmic consciousness--the realization of their _reality asspirit_, they must travail; but this sense-conscious state is not to becondemned any more than the child is to be condemned because it has notyet grown to adultship. 

The advice of St. Paul himself was simple enough and straight-forwardenough. It was devoid of all subtleties; free from complexity; free fromfear, or haste, or doubt, or strife, while confidently awaiting theuniversal attainment of Illumination. 

To the question as to what path to follow; what should be done to gainthis great boon, if the law of the ancient Hebrews was not to be followedin its literal significance, Paul said:

"Whatsoever things are honest; whatsoever things are true; whatsoeverthings are just; whatsoever things are pure; whatsoever things are lovely;whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if therebe any praise, _THINK ON THESE THINGS_. "

Which is to say, do not seek the letter of the way of Illumination. Do notlook for forms and ceremonies and rules and systems, but look for thatwhich is clean and pure and good wherever it may be found. 

In St. Paul we have fulfilled all the points that characterize those whohave been blessed with the great Illumination. 

His broad outlook upon humanity, which refused to see evil or to condemnwhere formerly he had been noted for his zeal in bringing to condemnationall whom he believed to be heretics; his conviction of immortality; hishumility, as far as personal aggrandizement was concerned; the great lightin which was revealed to him the truth; the annihilation of the idea of sinand death; the realization that systems and laws and methods of worship andgiving of alms and all the by-paths which formerly he had deemed necessary, were as naught compared to the great illuminating, all-embracing power ofLove--the Savior whose kingdom should sometime be established uponearth--the time being when cosmic consciousness should be general. 

CHAPTER XI

MOHAMMED

Despite the fact that the followers of Mohammed, the prophet, are among themost fanatical and prejudiced of all religious sects, Mohammed himself wasunquestionably among the Illumined Ones of earth, and had attained andretained a high degree of cosmic consciousness. 

The wars; the persecutions; the horrors that have been committed in thename of Islam, are perhaps a little more atrocious than any in historyalthough the unspeakable cruelties of the Inquisition would seem to have noparallel. 

The religion of Persia, wrongly alluded to as "fire-worship, " marksZoroaster as among the Illuminati, but as the present volume is concerned, in the religious aspect of it, only with those cases of Illumination whichwe are classifying among the present great religious systems, we cite thecase of Mohammed, the Arab, as one clearly establishing the characteristicpoints of Illumination. 

When Mohammed was born, in the early part of the fifth century, thecondition of his countrymen was primitive in the extreme. 

The most powerful force among them was tribal or clan loyalty, and acorresponding hatred of, and readiness to make war with, opposing clans. 

Although at the time of Mohammed's birth, Christianity had made greatheadway in different parts of the old world, it had made very littleimpress upon the Arabs. They worshipped their tribal gods, and there aretraces of a belief in a supreme God (Allah ta-ala), but they were not as arace inclined to a deeply religious sentiment. 

One and all, whether given to superstitions or denying a belief in Allah, they dreaded the dark after-life and although the different tribes madetheir yearly pilgrimages to Mecca, and faithfully kissed the stone thathad fallen from heaven in the days of Adam, the inspiration of theirancient prophets had long since died, and a new prophet was expected andlooked for. 

The yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, which was at once the center of trade andthe goal of the religious enthusiast, was observed by all the tribes ofArabia, but it is a question whether the pilgrimage was not more often madein a holiday spirit than in that of the devotee to the _Kaabeh, _ the mostsacred temple in all Arabia. 

Indeed, it is agreed by all commentators, that the ancient Arab, "In theTime of Ignorance, " before the coming of Mohammed, knew little and caredless about those spiritual qualities that look beyond the physical; notquestioning, as did Mohammed, what lies beyond this vale of strife, whoseonly exit is the dark and inscrutable face of death. 

Besides the tribal gods, individual households had their special Penates, to whom was due the first and the last salam of the returning or out-goinghost. But in spite of all this superstitious apparatus, the Arabs werenever a religious people. In the old days, as now, they were reckless, skeptical, materialistic. They had their gods and their divining arrows, but they were ready to demolish both if the responses proved contrary totheir wishes. A great majority believed in no future life, nor in areckoning day of good and evil. 

Such, then, was the condition of thought among the various tribes whenMohammed was born. 

It was not, however, until he was past forty years of age, that therevelations came to him, and although it was some time later that thesewere set down, together with his admonitions and counsel to his followers, it is believed that they are for the most part well authenticated, as theKoran was compiled during Mohammed's lifetime, and thus, in the original, doubtless represents an authentic account of Mohammed's experiences. 

It is related that Mohammed's father died before his son's birth and hismother six years later. Thus Mohammed was left to the care of hisgrandfather, the virtual chief of Mecca. The venerable chief lived but twoyears and Mohammed, who was a great favorite with his grandfather, becamethe special charge of his uncle, Aboo-Talib, whose devotion never wavered, even during the trying later years, when Mohammed's persecutions caused theuncle untold hardships and trials. 

At an early age Mohammed took up the life of a sheep herder, caring for theherds of his kinsmen. This step became necessary because the once princelyfortune of his noble ancestors had dwindled to almost the extreme ofpoverty, but although the occupation of sheep herder was despised by thetribes, it is said that Mohammed himself in later life often alluded to hisearly calling as the time when "God called him. "

At the age of twenty-five he took up the more desirable post of cameldriver, and was taken into the employ of a wealthy kinswoman, Khadeejeh, whom he afterwards married, although she was fifteen years his senior--adisparity in age which means far more in the East, where physical charmand beauty are the only requisites for a wife, than it does in the Westwhere men look more to the mental endowments of a wife than to the fleetingcharm of youth. 

It is also to Mohammed's credit that his devotion to his first wife neverwavered to the day of her death and, indeed, as long as he himself livedhe spoke with reverence and deep affection of Khadeejeh. 

We learn that the next fifteen years were lived in the usual manner of aman of his station. Khadeejeh brought him wealth and this gave him thenecessary time and ease in which to meditate, and the never-varyingdevotion and trust of his faithful wife brought him repose and the power toaid his impoverished uncle, and to be regarded among the tribes as a manof influence. 

His simple, unostentatious, and even ascetic life during these years wasnoted. He was known as a man of extremely refined tastes and sensitivethough not querulous nature. A commentator says of him:

"His constitution was extremely delicate. He was nervously afraid of bodilypain; he would sob and roar under it. Eminently unpractical in the commonthings of life, he was gifted with mighty powers of imagination, elevationof mind, delicacy and refinement of feeling. 

"He is more modest than a virgin behind her curtain, " it has been said ofhim. 

"He was most indulgent to his inferiors and would not allow his awkwardlittle page to be scolded, whatever he did. He was most affectionate towardhis family. He was very fond of children, and would stop them in thestreets and pat their little cheeks. He never struck anyone in his life. The worst expression he ever made use of in conversation was: 'What hascome to him--may his forehead be darkened with mud. '

"When asked to curse some one he replied: 'I have not been sent to curse, but to be a mercy to mankind. ' He visited the sick, followed any bier hemet, accepted the invitation of a slave to dinner, mended his own clothes, milked his goats and waited upon himself. 

"He never withdrew his hand out of another's palm, and turned not beforethe other had turned. 

"He was the most faithful protector of those he protected, the sweetest andmost agreeable in conversation; those who saw him were suddenly filled withreverence; those who came to him, loved him. They who described him wouldsay: 'I have never seen his like, either before or after. '

"He was, however, very nervous and restless withal, often low-spirited, downcast as to heart and eyes. Yet he would at times suddenly break throughthese broodings, become gay, talkative, jocular, chiefly among his own. "

This picture corresponds with the temperament which is alluded to as the"artistic, " or "psychic" temperament, and allowing that in these days thereis much posing and pretense, we still must admit that the quality known as"temperament" is a psychological study suggesting a stage of developmenthitherto unclassified. It is said also, that in his youth Mohammed wassubject to attacks of catalepsy, evidencing an organism peculiarly"psychic. "

It is evident that Mohammed regarded himself as one having a mission uponearth, even before he had received the revelations which announced him as aprophet chosen of Allah, for he long brooded over the things of the spirit, and although he had not, up to his fortieth year, openly protested againstthe fetish worship of the Kureysh, yet he was regarded as one who had adifferent idea of worship from that of the men with whom he came incontact. 

Gradually, he became more and more inclined to solitude, and made frequentexcursions into the hills, and in his solitary wanderings, he sufferedagonies of doubt and self distrust, fearing lest he be self-deceived, andagain, lest he be indeed called to become a prophet of God and fail in hismission. 

Here in a cave, the revelation came. Mohammed had spent nights and days infasting and prayer beseeching God for some sign, some word that wouldsettle his doubts and agonies of distrust and longing for an answer tolife's riddle. 

It is related that suddenly during the watches of the night, Mohammed awoketo find his solitary cave filled with a great and wondrous light out ofwhich issued a voice saying: "Cry, cry aloud. " "What shall I cry?" heanswers, and the voice answered:

"Cry in the name of thy Lord who hath created; He hath created man from aclot of blood. Cry--and thy Lord is the most bountiful, who hath taught bythe pen; He hath taught man that which he knew not. "

It is reported that almost immediately, Mohammed felt his intelligenceilluminated with the light of spiritual understanding, and all that hadpreviously vexed his spirit with doubt and non-comprehension, was clearas crystal to his understanding. Nevertheless, this feeling of assurancedid not remain with him at that time, definitely, for we are told that"Mohammed arose trembling and went to Khadeejeh and told her what he hadseen and heard; and she did her woman's part and believed in him andsoothed his terror and bade him hope for the future. Yet he could notbelieve in himself. Was he not perhaps, mad? or possessed by a devil?Were these voices of a truth from God? And so he went again on thesolitary wanderings, hearing strange sounds, and thinking them at onetime the testimony of heaven and at another the temptings of Satan, orthe ravings of madness. Doubting, wondering, hoping, he had fain put anend to a life which had become intolerable in its changings from thehope of heaven to the hell of despair, when he again heard the voice:'Thou art the messenger of God and I am Gabriel. ' Conviction at lengthseized hold upon him; he was indeed to bring a message of good tidingsto the Arabs, the message of God through His angel Gabriel. He went backto his faithful wife exhausted in mind and body, but with his doubtslaid at rest. "

With the history of the spread of Mohammed's message we are not concernedin this volume. The fact that his own nearest of kin, those of his ownhousehold, believed in his divine mission, and held to him with unwaveringfaith during the many years of persecution that followed, is proof thatMohammed was indeed a man who had attained Illumination. If the conditionof woman did not rise to the heights which we have a right to expect of thecosmic conscious man of the future, we must remember that easterntraditions have ever given woman an inferior place, and for the matter ofthat, St. Paul himself seems to have shared the then general belief in theinferiority of the female. 

It is undeniable that Mohammed's domestic relations were of the mostagreeable character; his kindness and consideration were without parallel;his harem was made up for the most part of women who were refused andscorned by other men; widows of his friends. And the fact that the prophetwas a man of the most abstemious habits argues the claim that compassionand kindness was the motive in most instances where he took to himselfanother and yet another wife. 

However, the points which we are here dealing with, are those whichdirectly relate to Mohammed's unquestioned illumination and the spirit ofhis utterances as contained in the Ku-ran, corroborate the experience ofBuddha, of Jesus, and of all whose illumination has resulted in theestablishment of a religious system. 

Mohammed taught, first of all, the fact of the one God. "There is no Godbut Allah, " was his cry, and, following the example, or at leastparalleling the example of Jesus, he "destroyed their idols" andsubstituted the worship of one God, in place of the tribal deities, whichwere a constant source of disputation among the clans. 

Compare the following, which is one of the five daily prayers of thefaithful Muslim, with the Lord's prayer as used in Christian theology. 

 "In the name of God, the compassionate--the merciful. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds, The compassionate, the merciful. The king of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship and of Thee do we beg assistance. Guide us in the right way, The way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, Not of those with whom Thou art wroth, nor of the erring. "

Mohammed never tired of telling his disciples and followers that God was"The Very-Forgiving. " Among the many and sometimes strangely variedattributes of God (The Absolute), we find this characteristic most stronglyand persistently dwelt upon--the ever ready forgiveness and mercifulness ofGod. 

Every _soorah_ of the _Kur-an_ begins with the words: "In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful, " but, even as Jesus laid persistentemphasis upon the _love_ of God, and yet up to very recent times, Christianity taught the _fear and wrath_ of God, losing sight of the onegreat and important fact that _God is love_, and that _love is God_, so theMuslims overlooked the _real_ message, and the greatness and the power andthe fearfulness of God, is the incentive of the followers of the IlluminedMohammed. 

The following extracts from the Kur-an are almost identical with manypassages in the Holy Scriptures of the Christian, and are comparable withthe sayings of the Lord Buddha. 

"God. There is no God but He, the ever-living, the ever-subsisting. Slumberseizeth Him not nor sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavensand whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him, save by His permission?"

The Muslim is a fatalist, but this may be due less to the teachings of theprophet than to the peculiar quality of the Arab nature, which makes himstake everything, even his own liberty upon the cast of a die. 

The leading doctrine of the all-powerfulness of God seems to warrant thebelief in fatalism--belief which offers a stumbling block to alltheologians, all philosophers, all thinkers. If God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, how and where and in what manner can be explainedthe necessity of individual effort?

This problem is not at all clear to the western mind, and it is equallyobscure to that of the East. 

It is said of Mohammed that when asked concerning the doctrine of"fatalism" he would show more anger than at any other question that couldbe put to him. He found it impossible to explain that while all knowledgewas God's, yet the individual was responsible for his own salvation, byvirtue of his good deeds and words. Nevertheless, it is not unlikely thatMohammed possessed the key to this seeming riddle; but how could it bepossible to speak in a language which was totally incomprehensible to themof this knowledge--the language of cosmic consciousness?

Like Jesus, who said: "Many things I have to tell you, but you can not bear(understand) them now, " so, we may well believe that Mohammed washard-pressed to find language comprehensible to his followers, in which toexplain the all-knowingness and all-powerfulness of God, and at the sametime, not have them fall into the error of the _fatal_ doctrine offatalism. 

But throughout all his teachings Mohammed's chief concern seemed to be todraw his people away from their worship of idols, and to this end he laidconstant and repeated emphasis upon the one-ness of God; the all-ness, thecompleteness of the one God; always adding "_the Compassionate_, theLoving. "

This constant allusion to the all-ness of God is in line withall who have attained to cosmic consciousness. Nothing moreimpresses the illumined mind, than the fact that the universe isOne--uni--(one)--verse--(song)--one glorious harmony when taken in itsentirety, but when broken up and segregated, and set at variance, wefind discord, even as the score of a grand operatic composition whenplayed in unison makes perfect harmony but when incomplete, isnerve-racking. 

Like all inspired teachers, Mohammed taught the end of the world of sense, and the coming of the day of judgment, and the final reign of peace andlove. This may, of course, be interpreted literally, and applied to a lifeother than that which is to be lived on this planet, but it may also withequal logic be assumed that Mohammed foresaw the dawn of cosmicconsciousness as a race-endowment, belonging to the inheritors of thissphere called earth. In either event the ultimate is the same, whether theone who suffers and attains, comes into his own in some plane or place inthe heavens, or whether he becomes at-one with God, The Absolute Love andPower of the spheres, and "inherits the earth, " in the days of theon-coming higher degree of consciousness, which we are here considering. 

That Mohammed realized the nothingness of form and ritual, except it beaccompanied by sincerity and understanding, is evident in the following:

"Your turning your faces _in prayer_, towards the East and the West, is notpiety; but the pious is he who believeth in God, and the last day, and inthe angels and in the Scripture; and the prophets, and who giveth moneynotwithstanding his love of it to relations and orphans, and to the needyand the son of the road, and to the askers for the _freeing of slaves_; andwho performeth prayer and giveth the alms, and those who perform theircovenant when they covenant; and the patient in adversity and afflictionand the time of violence. These are they who have been true; and these arethey who fear God. "

Parallel with the doctrine taught by Buddha, and Jesus, is the advice toovercome evil with good. In our modern metaphysical language, we mustdissolve the vibrations of hate, by the power of love, instead of opposinghate with hate, war with war, revenge with revenge. 

Mohammed expressed this doctrine of non-resistance thus:

"Turn away evil by that which is better; and lo, he, between whom andthyself was enmity, shall become as though he were a warm friend. "

"But none is endowed with this, except those who have been patient and noneis endowed with it, except he who is greatly favored. "

Mohammed meant by these words "he who is greatly favored, " to explain thatin order to see the wisdom and the glory of such conduct, one must haveattained to spiritual consciousness. This was especially a new doctrine tothe people to whom he was preaching, because it was considered cowardice tofail to resent a blow. Pride of family and birth was the strongest trait inthe Arab nature. 

In furtherance of this doing good to others, we find these words: "If yeare greeted with a greeting, then greet ye with a better greeting, or atleast return it; verily. God taketh count of these things. If there be anyunder a difficulty wait until it be easy; but if ye remit it as alms, itwill be better for you. "

Mohammed here referred to debtors and creditors; as he was talking totraders, merchants, men who were constantly buying and selling, thisadmonition was in line with his teaching, which was to "do unto othersthat which you would that they do unto you. "

In further compliance with his doctrine of doing good for good's sakeMohammed said: "If ye manifest alms, good will it be; but if ye concealthem and give them to the poor, it will be better for you; and it willexpiate some of your sins. "

Alms-giving, as an ostentatious display among church members, was heregiven its rightful place. It is well and good to give openly toorganizations, but it is better to give to individuals who need it, secretly and quietly to give, without hope, or expectation, or desire forthanks, or for reward, to give for the love of giving, for the sole wish tomake others happy. This desire to bestow upon others the happiness whichhas come to them, is a characteristic of the cosmic conscious man or woman. 

It is comforting to know that Mohammed, like Buddha and The Man of Sorrows;and like Sri Ramakrishna, the saint of India, at length attained unto thatpeaceful calm that comes to one who has found the way of Illumination. Itis doubtless impossible for the merely sense-conscious person to form anyadequate idea of the inward urge; the agony of doubts and questionings; theimperative necessity such a one feels, to _KNOW_. 

The sense-conscious person reads of the lives of these men and wonders whythey could not be happy with the things of the world. The temptation thatwe are told came to Jesus in the garden, is typical of the state oftransition from sense-consciousness to cosmic consciousness. Thesense-conscious person regards the _things of the senses_ as important. Heis actuated by ambition or self-seeking or by love of physical comfort orby physical activity, to _obtain_ the possessions of sense. To such asthese, the agonies of mind; the physical hardships; the ever-readyforgiveness and the desire for peace and love of the Illuminate seem almostweaknesses. Therefore, they can not fully comprehend the satisfaction whichcomes to the one who has come into a realization of illumination, throughthe years of mental tribulation such as that endured by Mohammed and Jesusand Buddha. 

We are told that the prophet repeatedly refuted the suggestion of hisadoring followers that he was God himself come to earth. 

"It is wonderful, " says one of his commentators, "with his temptations, how great a humility was ever is, how little he assumed of all the godlikeattributes men forced upon him. His whole life is one long argument for hisloyalty to truth. He had but one answer for his worshippers, 'I am no morethan a man; I am only human. ' * * * He was sublimely confident of thissingle attribute that he was the messenger of the Lord of the daybreak, andthat the words he spake came verily from him. He was fully persuaded thatGod had sent him to do a great work among his people in Arabia. Nervous tothe verge of madness, subject to hysteria, given to wild dreaming insolitary places, his was a temperament that easily lends itself toreligious enthusiasm. "

While it may be argued that Mohammed did not possess cosmic consciousnessin the degree of fullness which we find in the life of St. Paul, forexample, we must take into consideration the temperament of the Arab, andthe conditions under which he labored. But that he had attained a highdegree of Illumination is beyond dispute. This fact is evidenced by thefollowing salient points characteristic of cosmic consciousness: A finesensitive, highly-strung organization; a deep and serious thoughtfulness, especially regarding the realities of life; an indifference to the call ofpersonal ambition; love of solitude and the mental urge that demands toknow the answer to life's riddle. 

Following the time of illumination on Mount Hara we find Mohammedpossessing a conviction of the truth of immortality and the goodness ofGod; we find him also with a wonderful power to draw people to him inloving service; and the irresistible desire to bring to his people themessage of immortal life, and the necessity to look more to spiritualthings than to the things of the flesh. Added to this, we find Mohammedchanged from a shrinking, sensitive youth, given to much reflection andsilent meditation, into a man with perfect confidence in his own missionand in his ultimate victory. 

CHAPTER XII

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

While the Swedenborgians, as a religious sect, are not numericallysufficient to be reckoned among the world's great religions, it is yet afact that the followers of the great Swedish seer and scientist hold aprominent place among the innumerable sects which the beginning of thiscentury finds flourishing. 

Swedenborg was born in Stockholm, in January, 1688, and lived to theadvanced age of eighty-four years. 

Swedenborg was well born; he was the son of a bishop of the Swedish church, and during his lifetime held many positions of honor. He was a friend andadviser of the king, and his expert knowledge of mining engineering gavehim a place among the scientists of his age. 

He was a voluminous writer, his early work being confined to the phases ofmaterialistic science, notably on mines and metals, and later upon man, inhis physiological aspect. 

His "De Cerebro and Psychologia Rationales, " published in his fifty-seventhyear, showed a different Swedenborg from the one to whom his colleagueswere accustomed to refer with much respect. 

This book dealt with man, not as a product of brute creation, but as anevolutionary creature, having at least a possibility of divine origin. Itis, however, his "Arcana Coelestia" upon which "The Church of the NewJerusalem" is founded; and it is this work which caused Swedenborg'sfriends and colleagues to determine that he had become insane. It is, infact, only within very recent years, that the so-called scientific worldhas deigned to regard Swedenborg's revelations with any degree of seriousand respectful attention. 

Swedenborg's Illumination was not, like that of so many others, who havefounded a new religion, a sudden influx of spiritual consciousness, butrather a gradual leading up to the inevitable goal, by virtue of seriousthought, deep study, and a high order of mentality. 

But that the Swedish seer received, in full measure, the blessing of cosmicconsciousness, is beyond doubt. 

Swedenborg's extremely simple habits of life; his freedom from any desirefor display, or for those social advantages into which he was born; hisgentleness and unassuming manner, of which much is written by hisfollowers, all point to him as one upon whom the blessing might readilydescend. Swedenborg was a vegetarian, but this seems not to be a necessarycharacteristic of those possessing illumination, although, when cosmicconsciousness shall have become almost general, vegetarianism mustinevitably come with it, as animal life will disappear from the earth. 

Swedenborg, like many others who have perceived the cosmic light, evidentlybelieved that he had been specially selected and consecrated for the workof the new church. That is, he took his illumination, not as an initiationinto the higher degrees of cosmic truth, but as a special and personalrevelation. This view characterizes those who founded a new, or a reformedreligious system, while as a matter of truth, the light that comes is apart of the cosmic plan, and not, as Swedenborg and others imagine, as apersonal revelation. 

However, Swedenborg considered himself a direct instrument in the hands ofGod, and God is alluded to as a personality. He believed that his greatmission was to disclose the true nature of the Bible, and to prove that itwas actually the inspired word of God, having an esoteric meaning, whichhas wrongly been interpreted to apply to the creation of a material world, and to its history and its people, but that when understood, it explainsclearly, the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their relation toeach other. It should be remembered that at the time Swedenborg wrote histheological works, the church had fallen into rank materialism andsuperstition. That Swedenborg should have received his illumination, orrevelation, direct from the Lord, only serves to prove that the mortalconsciousness clothes the revelation with whatever personality appeals toit, as having authority. 

Thus, the angel Gabriel was the dictator in the case of Mohammed, and the"Blessed Mother" of the Hindu reveals to them the vision of _mukti_. Swedenborg says of his vision: "God appeared to me and said, 'I am the LordGod, the Creator and Redeemer of the world. I have chosen thee to unfoldthe spiritual sense of the Holy Scriptures. I will myself dictate to theewhat thou shalt write. '"

In "The True Christian Religion, " published shortly before his death hesays: "Since the Lord can not manifest Himself in person as has been shown, and yet He has foretold that He would come and establish a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He is to do it, by means of aman, who is able not only to receive the doctrines of this church with hisunderstanding, but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord hasmanifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me on this office, andthat, after this, He opened the sight of my spirit, and thus let me intothe spiritual world, and gave me to see the heavens and the hells and alsoto speak with spirits and angels, and this now continually for many years, I testify in truth; and also that, from the first day of that call, I havenot received anything that pertains to the doctrines of that church from myangel, but from the Lord alone, while I read the Word. "

It is stated with great positiveness by Swedenborg's followers, and indeed, apparently by the seer himself, if we may take as authoritative, thetranslations of his works, that the revelations accorded to him covered aperiod of many years, whereas, we find in most instances of cosmicconsciousness, the illumined ones have alluded to some specific time, asthe great event, even while claiming that the effect of this illuminationremains indefinitely--in fact, forms a part of a wider area ofconsciousness which is ever increasing. 

But when we take the numerous instances of revelations, in which the devoutones firmly believe that they and they alone have been accorded the vision, we must realize that this phenomenon is impersonal, looked at as a favor toany one human being. By that we mean that Illumination comes to every soulwho has earned it, just as mathematically as the sun seems to set, afterthe earth has made its hourly journey. 

Perhaps this comparison is not as clear as to say: when the normal childhas grown to manhood or womanhood, his consciousness has widened, beyondthat of the infant; not excluding that of the infant but inclusive of allhitherto acquired knowledge. Without in any degree lessening theimportance and the verity of Swedenborg's visions, it may be assumed thathis record of these visions and their meaning has partaken more or less ofthe limitations of mortal mind. 

Spiritual consciousness can not be set down in terms of sense. The externalworld symbolizes spiritual truths; each interpreter must of necessity weaveinto his interpretation and attempt at finite expression of these truths, something of his own mortal consciousness; and this "mortal mind"consciousness is bound to partake of the time and age, and conditions ofenvironment of the person who has experienced the revelation. 

Making due allowance, therefore, for the impossibility of exact expressionof any spiritual illumination, we find in the revelation of Swedenborgexactly what we find in all who have attained to cosmic consciousness, namely, the absolute, confidential assurance of immortal life: theconviction that creation is under divine love and wisdom, administered byCosmic Law and order, or Justice, and the final "redemption" (i. E. , evolution), of all men. In his "Conjugal Love, " Swedenborg touches upon thepremise which we declare, as the foundation of all cosmic consciousness, namely the attainment of spiritual union with the "mate" which we believeto be inseparable from all creation; the reunited principle which we seeexpressed in the male and female, whether in plant, bird, animal, man, orangel; the "twain made one" which Jesus declared would be the sign manualof the coming of his kingdom; that is, the coming of cosmicconsciousness--the kingdom of pure and perfect love upon earth as it is inthe heavens. 

In Corinthians (11: 12) we read:

"For as the woman is of the man so is the man also of the woman; for thewoman is not without the man, nor the man without the woman _in the Lord_. "

Which is to say, that in the attainment of cosmic consciousness (_in theLord_), the "twain are made one, " and immortality (i. E. , immunity fromreincarnation) is gained, because of this union. God is a bi-sexual Being. This fact is evidenced throughout all creation. To attain to immortalityis to become as God. In this day and age of the world we have come into arealization of the Father-Mother idea of godhood, clearly and literallysignifying the coming consciousness which is bi-sexual; male and female;perfect counterparts, or complements and through which alone, this earthcan be made a "fit dwelling place for gods. " This, too, is the message ofthe great seer Swedenborg, as it relates to love, as it is, when rightlyunderstood and interpreted, of all who have felt the blessing ofperfection, as exemplified in Illumination. 

The fundamental points of Swedenborg's doctrine agree with those of allother Illumined ones, who have founded a system of worship; a "Way ofIllumination" it may be called; or in whose name such systems have beenformed. That is, he testified to:

A conviction of immortality;

A realization of absolute justice, whereby all souls shall finally comeinto cosmic consciousness. 

An actual time when Christ (the cosmic illumination) shall come to earth. 

A great and abiding love for and patience with the frailties of hissense-conscious fellow-beings;

A transcendent desire to bestow upon all men, the blessing of cosmicconsciousness. 

Few if any, have ever attained a full and complete realization of cosmicconsciousness and remained in the physical body. 

Those who have attained and retained the highest degree of this glimpse ofthe Paradise of the gods, find it practically impossible to describe orexplain the sensations experienced, even though they are more convinced ofthe truth and the reality of this realm than of anything in the merelysense-conscious life. 

Lastly, let us not lose sight of the all-important fact that no one system, creed, philosophy, or way of Illumination will answer for all types anddegrees of men. "All things work together for good" to those who have thekeenness of vision which precedes the full attainment of cosmicconsciousness, as well as to those who have grasped its full significance. 

The characteristic evidence of the potentiality of the present era of theworld, is preeminently that of a desire for unity. 

This desire is expressed in all the avenues of external life; its innermeaning is obscured by commercialism and self-interest, as in trusts andlabor unions, but it is there nevertheless--the symbol of the inner urgetoward unity in consciousness. 

It is found in efforts at Communism, and in allied reform movements. It isparticularly evident in the breaking down of church prejudices. In thesedays a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi find it not only expedient butmutually helpful, to unite in the work of municipal reform; in theabolition of child labor; in all things that will bring a better state ofexistence into daily human life. 

The business man uses the phrase "let us get together on this" withoutknowing that he is expressing in terms of sense-consciousness, the urge ofhis own and his fellow beings' inner mind, which senses the fact of ourunescapable Brotherhood. 

All religious systems then, are good, as are all systems of philosophy. They are good because they are an attempt at bringing into the perspectiveof the mortal mind the reality of the soul and the soul life; the rule ofthe spiritually conscious ego over the physical body in order that we maynow, in our present incarnation, claim immortality. 

CHAPTER XIII

MODERN EXAMPLES OF INTELLECTUAL COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS: EMERSON; TOLSTOI;BALZAC

Passing over the ancient philosophers, Aristotle, Albertus Magnus, Plotinus, Marcus Aurelius, Pascal, Socrates, Plato, Aspasia, and others, all of whom had glimpsed, if not fully attained, cosmic consciousness, wecome to a consideration of those cases in our own day and age, in whichthis superior consciousness has found expression through intellectualrather than through religious channels. 

Of these latter, no more illustrious example can be cited than that ofRalph Waldo Emerson, the sage of Concord. 

Emerson's nature was essentially religious, but his religion was not of theemotional quality so often found among enthusiasts, and which is almostalways openly expressed when this religious enthusiasm is not balanced byintellectuality. 

Analysis is frequently a foe to inspiration, but there are fare instanceswhere the intellect is of such a penetrating and extraordinary quality thatit carries the power of analysis into the unseen; in fact what wehabitually term the unseen is a part of the visible to this type of mind. True intellect is a natural inheritance, a karmic attribute. The spuriouskind is the result of education, and it invariably has its limitations. Itstops short of the finer vibrations of consciousness and denies the realityof the inner life of man--which inner life constitutes the _real_ to thecharacter of intellect that penetrates beyond _maya_. 

Of such a quality of intellect is that exemplified in Emerson. No meretabulator of facts was he, but a dissector of the causes back of all themanifestation which he observed and studied and classified with the mentalpower of a god. 

Nor is there lacking ample proof that Emerson experienced the phenomenon ofthe suddenness of cosmic consciousness--a degree of which he seems to havepossessed from earliest youth. 

In his essay on Nature, we find these words:

"Crossing a bare common in snow puddles at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, Ihave enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. "

Emerson here alluded to a feeling of fear, which seems to have beenexperienced during a certain stage by many of those who have entered intocosmic consciousness. This fear is doubtless due to the presence in thehuman organism of what we may term the "animal instinct, " which is aninheritance of the physical body. This same peculiar phenomenon oppressesalmost everyone when coming into contact with a new and hitherto untriedforce. 

A certain lady, who relates her experience in entering into the cosmicconscious state, says: "A certain part of me was unafraid, certain, secureand content, at the same time my mortal consciousness felt an almostoverwhelming sense of fear. "

Continuing, Emerson says:

"All mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; Isee all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I ampart or particle of God. "

Emerson's powerful intellect would naturally describe such an experiencein intellectual terms rather than, as in the instances heretofore recorded, in religious phraseology, but it must not be inferred that Emerson was lessreligious, in the true sense, than was Mohammed or St. Paul. 

Emerson lived in an age when orthodoxy flourished, and he and hisassociates of the Transcendentalist cult, were regarded as non-religious, if not actually heretical. Therefore, it is that Emerson's keen intellectwas brought to bear upon everything he encountered, not only in his ownintimate experience but also in all that he read and heard, lest he betrapped into committing the error which he saw all about him, namely, ofmistaking an accepted viewpoint as an article of actual faith. His way tothe Great Light lay through the jungle of the mind, but he found the pathclear and plain and he left a torchlight along the way. 

Emerson fully recognized the illusory character of external life, and theeternal verity of the soul, as witness:

 "If the red slayer thinks he slays, Or if the slain thinks he is slain, They know not well, the subtle ways, I keep and pass and turn again. "

Horrible as is war, because of the spirit of hate and destruction itembodies and keeps alive, yet the fact remains that man in his soul knowsthat he can neither slay nor be slain by the mere act of destroying thephysical shell called the body. It is inconceivable that human beings wouldlend themselves to warfare, if they did not know, as a part of that area ofsupra-consciousness, that there is a _something_ over which bullets have nopower. 

This fact, regarded as a more or less vague _belief_ to the majority, becomes incontrovertible fact to the person who has entered cosmicconsciousness. His view is reversed, and where he formerly looked from thesense-conscious plane forward into a _possible_ spiritual plane, he nowgazes back over the path from the spiritual heights and sees the windingroad that led upward to the elevation, much as a traveller on the mountaintop looks back and for the first time sees all of the devious trail overwhich he has, climbed to his present vantage point. During the journeythere had been many times when he could only see the next step ahead, andnothing but his faith in the assurance of his fellow men who had attainedthe summit of that mountain, could ever have sustained him through theperils of the climb, but once on the heights, his backward view takes inthe details of the journey and sees not "through a glass darkly, " but inthe clear light of achievement. 

Such is the effect of cosmic consciousness to the one who has seen thelight. 

"One of the benefits of a college education, " says Emerson, "is to show theboy its little avail. "

Does this imply that an unlettered mind is desirable? Not necessarily, butthere is a phase of intellectual culture that is detrimental while itlasts. 

It is as though one were to choke up a perfectly flowing stream whichyielded the moisture to fertile lands, by filling the bed of the streamwith rocks and sticks. 

The flow of the spiritual currents becomes clogged by the activities of themind in its acquisition of mere knowledge, and before that knowledge hasbeen turned into wisdom. The same truth is expressed in the aphorism "alittle knowledge is a dangerous thing. " It is dangerous because it chainsthe mind to the external things of life, whereas the totally unlettered (wedo not use the term ignorant here) person will, if he have his heart filledwith love, perceive the reality of spiritual things that transcend mereknowledge of the physical universe. 

Beyond this plane of mortal mind-consciousness, which is fitly described as"dangerous, " there is the wide open area of cosmic _perception_, which maylead ultimately to the limitless areas of cosmic consciousness. If, therefore, an education, whether acquired in or out of college, so whetsthe grain of the mind that it becomes keen and fine enough to realize thatknowledge is valuable _ONLY_ as it leads to real wisdom, then indeed it isa benefit; unless it does this, it is temporarily an obstruction. 

Out of the lower into the higher vibration; out of sense-consciousness intocosmic consciousness; out of organization and limitations into freedom--thefreedom of perfection, is the law and the purpose. This Emerson with hisclearness of spiritual vision, saw, and this premise he subjected to themicroscopic lens of his penetrating intellect. In his essay on Fate hesays:

"Fate involves amelioration. No statement of the Universe can have anysoundness which does not admit its ascending effort. The direction of thewhole and of the parts is toward benefit. Behind every individual closesorganization; before him opens liberty. * * * The Better; the Best. Thefirst and worse races are dead. The second and imperfect races are dyingout, or remain for the maturing of higher. In the latest race, in man, every generosity, every new perception, the love and praise he extorts fromhis fellows, are certificates of advance _out of fate into freedom_. "

This phrase, "out of fate into freedom, " may be read to mean, literally, out of the bondage of the sense-conscious life which entails rebirth andcontinued experience, into the light of Illumination which makes us free. 

Further commenting, Emerson says:

"Liberation of the will from the sheaths and clogs of organization which hehas outgrown _is the end and aim of the world_ * * * The whole circle ofanimal life--tooth against tooth, devouring war, war for food, a yelp ofpain and a grunt of triumph, until at last the whole menagerie, the wholechemical mass, is mellowed and refined _for higher use_ * * *"

The sense of unity which is so inseparable from the cosmic consciousstate, was always uppermost in Emerson's mind. Neither did he everpresent as unity that state of consciousness that may be termedorganization-consciousness--group-consciousness it is often called. Herealized that the person who stands for Individualism is much more thanapt to recognize his indissoluble relationship with the Cosmos. Aperception of unity is a complement of Individualism. 

That which, in modern metaphysical phraseology, is best termed "TheAbsolute, " was expressed by Emerson as the Over-Soul, and this term meantsomething much greater, more unescapable than the anthropomorphic God ofthe church-goers. His assurance of unity with this Divine Spiritual Essencewas perfect. It savors more of what is termed the religious view of lifethan of the philosophic, but we contend that in the coming era of thecosmic conscious man, all life will be religious, in the true sense, andthat there will be no dividing line between philosophy and worship, becauseworship will consist of living the life of the spiritual man, and not inany set forms or rites. Bearing upon this we find Emerson saying:

"Not thanks, not prayer, seem quite the highest or truest name for ourcommunion with the infinite--but glad and conspiring reception--receptionthat becomes giving in its turn as the receiver is only the All-Giver inpart and in infancy. I cannot--nor can any man--speak precisely of thingsso sublime, but it seems to me the wit of man, his strength, his grace, andhis tendency, his art, is the grace and the presence of God. It is beyondexplanation. When all is said and done, _the rapt saint is found the onlylogician. _ Not exhortation nor argument becomes our lips, but paeans of joyand praise. But not of adulation; we are too nearly related in the deep ofthe mind to that we honor. It is God in us that checks the language ofpetition by a grander thought. In the bottom of the heart it is said, 'I amand by me, O child, this fair body and world of thine stands and grows; Iam, all things are mine; and all mine are thine. '"

We could quote passages from the essays ad infinitum, showing conclusivelythat the cosmic conscious plane had been attained and retained by thisgreat philosopher--one of the first of the early part of the century, whichhas been prophesied as the beginning of the first faint lights of the Dawn, but enough has been offered for our present purpose, that of establishingthe salient points of the cosmic conscious man or woman, which points arethe complete assurance of the eternal verity and indestructibility of thesoul; of its ultimate and inevitable victory over _maya_ or the "wheel ofcausation"; and the joyousness and the sense of at-one-ness with theuniverse, which comes to the illumined one, bespeaking an unquenchableoptimism and an utter destruction of the sense of sin--points whichcharacterize all who have attained to this supra-conscious state ofBeing. 

These points are all expressed repeatedly in all Emerson's utterances andmark him as one of the most illumined philosophers, as he was one of thegreatest intellects of the last century, or of any other century. 

LEO TOLSTOI: RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHER

A strange, lonely and wonderful figure was Tolstoi, novelist, philosopher, socialist, artist and reformer. 

Great souls are always lonely souls, estimated by sense-conscious humans. In the midst of the so-called pleasures and luxuries of the senses, a wisesoul appears as barren of comfort as is a desert of foliage. 

Without the divine optimism that comes from soul-consciousness, such a onecould not endure the life of the body: without the absolute assurance thatcomes with cosmic consciousness, men like the late Count Tolstoi must needsdie of soul-loneliness. 

From early childhood up to the time of his Illumination Tolstoi indulged inseriousness of thought. Like Mohammed, great and overpowering desire tofathom the mystery of death took possession of him. He was ever haunted byan excessive dread of the "darkness of the grave, " and in his essay, "Childhood, " he describes with that wonderful realism, which characterizesall his works, the effect on a child's mind of seeing the face of his deadmother. This may be taken in a sense as biographical, although it is notprobable that Tolstoi here alludes to the death of his own mother as shedied when he was too young to have remembered. He describes the scene inthe words of Irteniev:

"I could not believe that this was her face. I began to look at it moreclosely, and gradually discovered in it the familiar and beloved features. I shuddered with fear when I became sure that it was indeed she, but whywere the closed eyes so fallen in? Why was she so terribly pale, and whywas there a blackish mark under the clear skin on one cheek?"

A terror of death, and yet a haunting urge that compelled him to be foreverthinking upon the mystery of it, is the dominant note in every line ofTolstoi's writings up to the time which he describes as "a change" thatcame over him. 

For example, when Count Leo was in his 33d year, his brother Nicolai died. Leo was present at the bedside and described the scene with the utmostfrankness regarding its effect upon his mind; and again we note that awfulfear and hopeless questioning which characterizes the sense-conscious manwhose intellect has been cultivated to the very edge of the line whichseparates the self-conscious life from the cosmic conscious. 

This questioning, with the fear and dread and terror of death and of the"ceaseless round of births" and the cares and sorrows of existence waswhat drove Prince Siddhartha from his father's court and Mohammed into themountains to meditate and pray until the answer came in the light ofillumination. 

It came to Tolstoi through the very intensity of his powers of reason andanalysis; through the sword-like quality of mental urge--a much moresorrowful path than the one through the simple way of love and service andprayer. 

His comments upon the death of his brother give us a vivid idea of thestate of mind of the Tolstoi of that age:

"Never in my life has anything had such an effect upon me. He was right(referring to his brother's words) when he said to me there is nothingworse than death, and if you remember that death is the inevitable goal ofall that lives, then it must be confessed that there is nothing poorer thanlife. Why should we be so careful when at the end of all things nothingremains of what was once Nicolai Tolstoi? Suddenly he started up andmurmured in alarm: 'What is this?' He saw that he was passing intonothingness. "

From the above it will be seen that the Tolstoi of those days was amaterialist pure and simple. "He saw that he was passing into nothingness, "he said of his brother, as though there could be no question as to thenothingness of the individual consciousness that he had known as Nicolai, his brother. 

This soul-harrowing materialism haunted Tolstoi during all the years of hisyouth and early manhood, and threw him constantly into fits of melancholyand inner brooding. He could neither dismiss the subject from his mind, norcould he bring into the area of his mortal consciousness that serenecontemplation and optimistic line of reasoning which marks all that Emersonwrote. 

Tolstoi's morbid horror of decay and death was not in any sense due to alack of physical courage. It was the inevitable repulsion of a strong androbust animalism of the body, coupled with a powerful mentality--both ofwhich are barriers to the "still small voice" of the soul, through whichalone comes the conviction of the nothingness of death. 

A biographer says of Tolstoi:

"The fit of the fear of death which at the end of the seventies brought himto the verge of suicide, was not the first and apparently not the last andat any rate not the only one. He felt something like it fifteen yearsbefore when his brother Nicolai died. Then he fell ill and conjectured thepresence of the complaint that killed his brother--consumption. He hadconstant pain in his chest and side. He had to go and try to cure himselfin the Steppe by a course of koumiss, and did actually cure himself. Formerly these recurrent attacks of spiritual or physical weakness werecured in him, not by any mental or moral upheavals, but simply by hisvitality, its exuberance and intoxication. "

The birth of the new consciousness which came to Tolstoi a few years later, was born into existence through these terrible struggles and mentalagonies, inevitable because of the very nature of his heredity andeducation and environment. Although as we know, he came of gentle-folk, there was much of the Russian peasant in Tolstoi's makeup. His organism, both as to physical and mental elements, was like a piece of solid iron, untempered by the refining processes of an inherent spirituality. Hisnever-ceasing struggle for attainment of the degree of cosmic consciousnesswhich he finally reached was wholly an intellectual struggle. He possessedsuch a power of analysis, such a depth of intellectual perception, that hemust needs go on or go mad with the strain of the question unanswered. 

To such a mind, the admonition to "never mind about those questions; don'tthink about them, " fell upon dull ears. He could no more cease thinkingupon the mysteries of life and death than he could cease respiration. Norcould he blindly trust. He must _know_. Nothing is more unescapable thanthe soul's urge toward freedom--and freedom can be won only by liberationfrom the bondage of illusion. 

Tolstoi's friends and biographers agree that along about his forty-fifthyear, a great moral and religious change took place. The whole trend of histhoughts turned from the mortal consciousness to that inner self whenceissues the higher qualities of mankind. 

From a man who, although he was a great writer and a Russian nobleman, wasyet a man like others of his kind, influenced by traditionary ideas ofclass and outward appearance; a man of conventional habits and ideas;Tolstoi emerged a free soul. He shook off the illusion of historical lifeand culture, and stood upon free, moral ground, estimating himself and hisfellows by means of an insight which ignores the world's conventions anddespises the world's standards of success. In short, Tolstoi had receivedIllumination and henceforth should he reckoned among those of the newbirth. 

In his own words, written in 1879, this change is described:

"Five years ago a change took place in me. I began to experience at firsttimes of mental vacuity, of cessation of life, as if I did not know why Iwas to live or what I was to do. These suspensions of life always foundexpression in the same problem, 'Why am I here?' and then 'What next?' Ihad lived and lived and gone on and on till I had drawn near a precipice; Isaw clearly that before me there lay nothing but destruction. With all mymight I endeavored to escape from this life. And suddenly I, a happy man, began to hide my bootlaces that I might not hang myself between thewardrobes in my room when undressing at night; and ceased to take a gunwith me out shooting, so as to avoid temptation by these two means offreeing myself from this life. * * *

"I lived in this way (that is to say, in communion with the people) for twoyears; and a change took place in me. What befell me was that the life ofour class--the wealthy and cultured--not only became repulsive to me, butlost all significance. All our actions, our judgments, science, and artitself, appeared to me in a new light. I realized that it was allself-indulgence, and that it was useless to look for any meaning in it. Ihated myself and acknowledged the truth. Now it had all become clear tome. "

From this time on, Tolstoi's life was that of one who had entered intocosmic consciousness, as we note the effects in others. Desire for solitudea taste for the simple, natural things of life, possessed him. Theprimitive peasants and their coarse but wholesome food appealed to him. Itwas not a penance that Tolstoi imposed upon himself, that caused him toabandon the life of a country gentleman for that of a hut in the woods. The penance would come to such a one from enforced living in the glare ofthe world's artificialities. Cosmic consciousness bestows above all thingsa taste for simplicity; it restores the normal condition of mankind, theintimacy with nature and the feeling of kinship with nature-children. 

It is not our purpose here to enter into any detailed biography of theseinstances of cosmic consciousness. The point we wish to make is the factthat the birth of this new consciousness frequently comes through muchmental travail and agonies of doubt, speculation and questioning; but thatit is worth the price paid, however seemingly great, there can be nopossible distrust. 

HONORE DE BALZAC

Balzac should head this chapter, if we were considering these philosophersin chronological order, as Balzac was born in 1799, preceding Emerson by amatter of four years. But Balzac's peculiar temperament, might almost beclassed as a religious rather than strictly intellectual example of cosmicconsciousness. Of the latter phase or expression of this "new" sense, aspresent-day writers frequently call it, Emerson is the most perfectexample, because he was the most balanced; the most literary, in thestrict interpretation of the word. 

Balzac's place in literature is due far more to his wonderful spiritualinsight, and his powerful imagination, than to his intellectuality, or toliterary style. But that he was an almost complete case of cosmicconsciousness is evident in all he wrote and in all he did. His life wasabsolutely consistent with the cosmic conscious man, living in a worldwhere the race consciousness has not yet risen to the heights of thespiritually conscious life. 

Bucke comments upon his decision against the state of matrimony, because, as Balzac himself declared, it would be an obstacle to the perfectibilityof his interior senses, and to his flight through the spiritual worlds, andsays: "When we consider the antagonistic attitude of so many of the greatcases toward this relation (Gautama, Jesus, Paul, Whitman, etc. ), thereseems little doubt that anything like general possession of cosmicconsciousness must abolish marriage as we know it to-day. "

Balzac explains this seeming aversion to the marriage state _as we know itto-day_, in his two books, written during his early thirties, namely, LouisLambert and Seraphita. "Louis Lambert" is regarded as in the nature of anautobiography, since Balzac, like his mouthpiece, Louis, viewed everythingfrom an inner sense--from intuition, or the soul faculties, rather thanfrom the standard of mere intellectual observation, analysis and synthesis. This inner sense, so real and so thoroughly understandable to thosepossessing it, is almost, if not quite, impossible of description to thecomplete comprehension of those who have no intimate relationship with thisinner vision. To the person who views life from the inner sense, the soulsense (which is the approach to, and is included in, cosmic consciousness), the external or physical life is like a mirror reflecting, more or lessinaccurately, the reality--the soul is the gazer, and the visible life iswhat he sees. 

Balzac expresses this view in all he says and does. "All we are is in thesoul, " he says, and the perfection or the imperfection of what weexternalize, depends upon the development of the soul. 

It is this marvelously developed inner vision that makes marriage, on thesense-conscious plane, which is the plane upon which we know marriage as itis to-day, objectionable to Balzac. 

His spirit had already united with its spiritual counterpart, and his soulsought the embodiment of that union in the flesh. This he did not find inthe perfection and completeness which from his inner view he knew to exist. 

Barriers of caste, or class; of time and space; of age; of race and color;of condition; may intervene between counterparts on the physical plane;nay, one may be manifesting in the physical body and the other haveabandoned the body, but as there is neither time nor space nor condition tothe spirit, this union may have been sought and found, and _reflected to_the mortal consciousness, in which case marriage with anything less thanthe _one_ true counterpart would be unsatisfactory, if not altogetherobjectionable. 

With this view in mind, Seraphita becomes as lucid a bit of reading asanything to be found in literature. 

Seraphita is the perfected being--the god into which man is developing, ormore properly speaking, _unfolding_, since man must unfold into that fromwhich he started, but with consciousness added. 

Everywhere, in ancient and modern mysticism, we find the assumption thatGod is dual--male and female. The old Hebrew word for God isplural--Elohim. 

Humankind invariably and persistently, even though half-mockingly, alludesto man and wife as "one"; and men and women speak of each other, whenmarried, as "my other half. "

That which persists has a basis in fact, and symbolizes the perfect type. What we know of marriage as it is to-day, proves to us beyond the shadow ofa doubt, that the man-made institution of marriage does not make man andwoman one, nor insure that two halves of the same whole are united. Thehighest type of men and women to-day are at best but half-gods, but theseare prophecies of the future race, "the man-god whom we await" as Emersonputs it. But that which we await is the man-woman-god, the Perfected Being, of whom Balzac writes in Seraphita. 

It has been said that Madame Hanska, whom the author finally married onlysix months previous to his death, was the original of Seraphita, but itwould seem that this great affection, tender and enduring as it was, partook far more of a beautiful friendship between two souls who knew andunderstood each other's needs, than it did of that blissful and ecstaticunion of counterparts, which everywhere is described by those who haveexperienced it, as a sensation of _melting or merging into_ the other'sbeing. 

Seraphita is the embodiment, in human form, of the _idea_ expressed in theworld-old belief in a perfected being; whose perfection was complete whenthe two halves of the _one_ should have found each other. 

The inference is very generally made that Balzac believed in and sought toexpress the idea of a bi-sexual individual--a _personality_ who is completein himself or herself _as a person_; one in which the intuitive, feminineprinciple and the reasoning, masculine principle had become perfectlybalanced--in short, an androgynous human. 

This idea is apparently further substantiated by the fact that Seraphitawas loved by Minna, a beautiful young girl to whom Seraphita was alwaysSeraphitus, an ideal lover; and by Wilfrid, to whom Seraphita representedhis ideal of feminine loveliness, both in mind and body; a young girlpossessing marvelous, almost miraculous, wisdom, but yet a woman withhuman passions and human virtues--his ideal of wifehood and motherhood. 

But whatever the idea that Balzac intended to convey, whether, as isgenerally believed, Seraphita was an androgynous being, or whether shesymbolized the perfection of soul-union, our contention is that this unionis not a creation of the imagination, but the accomplishment of the plan ofcreation--the final goal of earthly pilgrimage; the raison d'etre of loveitself. 

One argument against the idea that Seraphita was intended to illustrate anandrogynous being, rather than a perfected human, who had her spiritualmate, is found in the words in which she refused to marry Wilfrid, althoughBalzac makes it plainly evident that she was attracted to Wilfrid with adegree of sense-attraction, due to the fact that she was still livingwithin the environment of the physical, and therefore subject to theillusions of the mortal, even while her spiritual consciousness was sofully developed as to enable her to perceive and realize the differencebetween an attraction that was based largely upon sense, and that which wasof the soul. 

Wilfrid says to her:

"Have you no soul that you are not seduced by the prospect of consoling agreat man, who will sacrifice all to live with you in a little house by theborder of a lake?"

"But, " answers Seraphita, "I am loved with a love without bounds. "

And when Wilfrid with insane anger and jealousy asked who it was whomSeraphita loved and who loved her, she answered "God. "

At another time, when Minna, to whom she had often spoken in veiled termsof a mysterious being who loved her and whom she loved, asked her who thisperson was, she answered:

"I can love nothing here on earth. "

"What dost thou love then?" asked Minna. 

"Heaven" was the reply. 

This obscurity and uncertainty as to what manner of love it was thatabsorbed Seraphita, and who was the object of it, could not have beenpossible had it been the usual devotion of the _religeuse_. 

Seraphita, whose consciousness extended far beyond that of the people abouther, could not have explained to her friends that the invisible realms wereas real to her as the visible universe was to those with onlysense-consciousness. It was impossible to explain to them that she hadfound and knew her mate, even though she had not met him in the physicalbody. 

To Wilfrid she said she loved "God. " To Minna she used the term "Heaven, "and when Minna questioned: "But art thou worthy of heaven when thoudespisest the creatures of God?" Seraphita answered:

"Couldst thou love two beings at once? Would a lover be a lover if he didnot fill the heart? Should he not be the first, the last, the only one? Shewho loves will she not quit the world for her lover? Her entire familybecomes a memory; she has no longer a relative. The lover! she has givenhim her whole soul. If she has kept a fraction of it, she does not love. Tolove feebly, is that to love? The word of the lover makes all her joy, andquivers in her veins like a purple deeper than blood; his glance is a lightwhich penetrates her; she dissolves in him; there, where he is, all isbeautiful; he is warmth to the soul: he irradiates everything; near himcould one know cold or night? He is never absent; he is ever within us; wethink in him, to him, for him. Minna, that is the-way I love. "

And when Minna, like Wilfrid, "seized by a devouring jealousy, " demanded toknow "whom?" Seraphita answered, "God. " This she did because the one whomshe loved became her God. We are told that "love makes gods of men. "Perfect love, the love of those who are spiritual-mates--soul-mates--the"man-woman-god whom we await, " becomes an immortal: and immortals are gods. 

Moreover if Seraphita had intended to teach the love of the religiousdevotee to The Absolute instead of a perfected sex-love, she would not havepointed out to both Wilfrid and Minna that which she, in her superiorvision, her supra-consciousness, perceived, namely, that Wilfrid and Minnawere really intended for spiritual mates, and that what they each saw inher was really a prophecy of their own perfected and spiritualized love. 

The subject is one that is positively incomprehensible and unexplainable tothe average mind. All mystic literature, when read with the eyes ofunderstanding, exalts and spiritualizes sex. The latter day degeneration ofsex is the "trail of the serpent, " which Woman is to crush with her heel. And Woman is crushing it to-day, although to the superficial observer, whosees only surface conditions, it would appear as though Woman had fallenfrom her high estate, to take her place on a footing with man. This view isthe exoteric, and not the esoteric, one. 

They who have ears hear the inner voice, and they who have eyes see withthe inner sight. The mystery of sex is the eternal mystery which each mustsolve for himself before he can comprehend it, and when solved eliminatesall sense of sin and shame; brings Illumination in which everything is madeclear and makes man-woman immortal--_a_ god. 

Swedenborg's theory of Heaven as a never-ending honeymoon in whichspiritually-mated humans dwell, has been denounced by many as "shocking" toa refined and sensitive mind. But this idea is shocking only because eventhe most advanced minds are seldom Illumined, their advancement being alongthe lines of intellectual research and _acquired knowledge_, which, as wehave previously explained, is not synonymous with _interior wisdom_. 

The illumined mind is bound to find in the eternal and ever-present fact ofsex, the key to the mysteries--the password to immortal godhood. 

The subject is one that cannot be set forth in printed words; this fact is, indeed, the very Plan of Illumination. It cannot be _taught_. It must be_found_. Only those who have glimpsed its truth can even imperfectly pointthe way in which it _may_ be discovered. No teacher can guarantee it. It isthe most evanescent, the most delicate, the most indescribable thing in theCosmos. It is therefore the most readily misinterpreted and misunderstood. 

Balzac doubtless understood, not as a matter of perception of a truth butas an experience, and this fact, if no other, marks him as one having avery high degree of cosmic consciousness. 

Seraphita called herself a "Specialist. " When Minna inquired how it wasthat Seraphitus could read the souls of men, the answer was:

"I have the gift of Specialism. Specialism is an inward sight that canpenetrate all things; you will understand its full meaning only throughcomparison. In the great cities of Europe works are produced by which thehuman hand seeks to represent the effects of the moral nature as well asthose of the physical nature, as well as those of the ideas in marble. Thesculptor acts on the stone; he fashions it; he puts a realm of ideas intoit. There are statues which the hand of man has endowed with the faculty ofrepresenting the whole noble side of humanity, or the evil side of it; mostmen see in such marbles a human figure and nothing more; a few older men, alittle higher in the scale of being, perceive a fraction of the thoughtsexpressed in the statue; but the Initiates in the secrets of art are of thesame intellect as the sculptor; they see in his work the whole universe ofthought. Such persons are in themselves the principles of art; they bearwithin them a mirror which reflects nature in her slightest manifestations. Well, so it is with me; I have within me a mirror before which the moralnature, with its causes and its effects, appears and is reflected. Enteringthus into the consciousness of others I am able to divine both the futureand the past * * * though what I have said does not define the gift ofSpecialism, for to conceive the nature of that gift we must possess it. "

This describes in terms similar to those employed by others who possesscosmic consciousness, the results of this inner light, which Seraphitacalls a "mirror. "

And yet, with this seemingly exhaustive and lucid exposition of the effectsof Illumination, Seraphita declares that "to conceive the nature of thisgift we must possess it. "

Balzac further comments upon what he terms this gift of Specialism, whichis cosmic consciousness or illumination, thus:

"The specialist is necessarily the loftiest expression of man--the linkwhich connects the visible to the superior worlds. He acts, he sees, hefeels through his _inner being_. The abstractive _thinks_. The instinctivesimply _acts_. Hence three degrees for man. As an instinctive he is belowthe level; as an abstractive he attains it; as a specialist he rises aboveit. Specialism opens to man his true career; the Infinite dawns uponhim--he catches a glimpse of his destiny. "

The merely sense-conscious man is the man-animal; the abstractive man isthe average man and woman in the world to-day--the human who is evolvingout of the mental into the spiritual consciousness. The specialist is thecosmic conscious one, the one who "catches a glimpse of his destiny. "

Balzac, in company with all who attain cosmic consciousness, had a greatcapacity for suffering; and this soul-loneliness became crystalized intospiritual wisdom, which he expressed in the words and in the manner mostlikely to be accepted by the world. 

How else can that divine union to which we are heirs and for which we areeither blindly, consciously, or supra-consciously, striving, be describedand exploited without danger of defilement and degeneracy, save and exceptby the phrase "unity with God"?

All mystics have found it necessary to veil the "secret of secrets, " lestthe unworthy (because _unready_) defile it with his gaze, even as thesinful devotee prostrates himself hiding his face, while the priest raisesthe chalice containing the holy eucharist in the ceremony of the mass. 

CHAPTER XIV

ILLUMINATION AS EXPRESSED IN THE POETICAL TEMPERAMENT

Poetry is the natural language of cosmic consciousness. "The music of thespheres" is a literal expression, as all who have ever _glimpsed_ thebeauties of the spiritual realms will testify. 

"Poets are the trumpets which sing to battle. Poets are the unacknowledgedlegislators of the world, " said Shelley. 

Not that all poets are aware, in their mortal consciousness, of theirdivine mission, or of their spiritual glimpses. 

The outer mind, the mortal or carnal mind--that part of our organism whoseoffice it is to take care of the physical body, for its preservation andits well-being, may be so dominant as, to hold in bondage the _atman_, butit can not utterly silence its voice. 

Thus the true poet is also a seer; a prophet; a spiritually-consciousbeing, for such time, or during such phases of inspiration, as he becomesimbued with the spirit of poetry. 

A person who writes rhymes is not necessarily a poet. So, too, there arepoets who do not express their inspirations according to the rules of metreand syntax. 

Between that which Balzac tabulated as the "abstractive" type of humanevolvement and that which is fully cosmic in consciousness, there are manyand diverse degrees of the higher faculties; but the poet always expressessome one of these degrees of the higher consciousness; indeed some poetsare of that versatile nature that they run the entire gamut of theemotional nature, now descending to the ordinary normal consciousness whichtakes account only of the personal self; again ascending to the heights ofthe impersonal fearlessness and unassailable confidence that is theheritage of those who have reached the full stature of the "man-god whom weawait"--the cosmic conscious race that is to be. 

All commentators upon modern instances of Illumination unite in regardingWalt Whitman as one of the most, if not _the most_, perfect example of whomwe have any record of cosmic consciousness and its sublime effects upon thecharacter and personality of the illumined one. 

Whitman is a sublime type for reasons which are of first importance intheir relation to character as viewed from the ideals of the cosmicconscious race-to-be. 

Moralists have criticized Whitman as immoral; religionists have deploredhis lack of a religious creed; literary critics have denied his claim tohigh rank in the world of literature; but Walt Whitman is unquestionablywithout a peer in the roundness of his genius; in the simplicity of hissoul; in the catholicity of his sympathy; in the perfect poise andself-control and imperturbability of his kindness. His biographers agree asto his never-failing good nature. He was without any of those fits ofunrest and temperamental eccentricities which are supposed to be the "signmanual" of the child of the poetic muse. 

In Whitman it would seem that all those petty prejudices against anynationality or class of men, were entirely absent. He exalted thecommon-place, not as a pose, nor because he had given himself to that task, but because to him there was no common-place. In the cosmic perception ofthe universe, everything is exalted to the plane of _fitness_. As to thepure all things are pure, so to the one who is steeped in the sublimityof Divine Illumination, there is no high or low, no good or bad, no whiteor black, or rich or poor; all--all is a part of the plan, and, in itsplace in cosmic evolution, it _fits_. 

Whitman cries:

"All! all! Let others ignore what they may, I make the poem of evil also, Icommemorate that part also; I am myself just as much evil as good, and mynation is, and I say there, is in fact no evil. "

Compared to the religious aspect of cosmic consciousness in which, previousto the time of Illumination, the devotee had striven to rise to spiritualheights through disdaining the flesh, this note of Whitman's is a newnote--the nothingness of evil as such; the righteousness of the flesh andthe holiness of earthly, or human, love, bespeaks the prophet of the NewDispensation; the time hinted of by Jesus, the Master, when he said, "whenthe twain shall be one and the outside as the inside, " as a sign and symbolof the blessed time to come when the kingdom he spoke of (not his personalkingdom, but the kingdom which he represented, the kingdom of Love), shouldcome upon earth. 

Whitman's illumination is essentially poetic; not that it is not alsointellectual and moral; but after his experience--at least an experiencemore notable than any hitherto recorded by him, in or about histhirty-fifth year--we find his conversation invariably reflecting thebeauty and poetical imagery of his mind. He may be said to have lived andmoved and had his being in a state of blissful unconsciousness of anythingunclean or impure, or unnatural. 

This absence of _consciousness of evil_ is in no wise synonymous with atype of person who _exalts_ his undeveloped animal tendencies under theguise of liberation from a sense of sin. Neither is this discriminationeasy of attainment to any but those who _realize_ in their own hearts thevery distinct difference between the nothingness of sin and the pretendedacceptance of perversions as purity. 

While we are on this point we must again emphasize the truth that cosmicconsciousness cannot be gained by prescription; there is no royal road to_mukti_. Liberation from the lower _manas_ can not be bought or sold, itcan not be explained or comprehended, save by those to whom the attainmentof such a state is at least _possible_ if not _probable_. 

Illustrative of his sense of unity with all life (one of the most salientcharacteristics of the fully cosmic conscious man), are these lines ofWhitman's:

 "Voyaging to every port, to dicker and adventure; Hurrying with the modern crowd, as eager and fickle as any; Hot toward one I hate, ready in my madness to knife him; Solitary at midnight in my back yard, my thoughts gone from me a long while; Walking the hills of Judea, with the beautiful gentle God by my side; Speeding through space--speeding through Heaven and the stars. "

Oriental mysticism tells us that one of the attributes of the liberated oneis the power to read the hearts and souls of all men; to feel what theyfeel; and to so unite with them in consciousness that we _are_ for the timebeing the very person or thing we contemplate. If this be indeed the testof godhood, Whitman expresses it in every line:

 "The disdain and calmness of olden martyrs; The mother condemned for a witch, burnt with dry wood, her children gazing on; The hounded slave that flags in the race, leans by the fence, blowing, covered with sweat; The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck--the murderous buckshot and the bullets; All these I feel, or am. "

Seeking to express the sense of knowing and especially of _feeling_, andthe bigness and broadness of life, the scorn of petty aims and strife; inshort, that interior perception which Illumination brings, he says:

 "Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? have you reckoned the earth much? Have you practised so long to learn to read? Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems? Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems; You shall possess the good of the earth and sun--there are millions of suns left; You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books; You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me; You shall listen to all sides, and filter them from yourself. I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end; But I do not talk of the beginning nor the end. 

 * * * * *

 "There was never any more inception than there is now; Nor any more youth or age than there is now; And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now. "

A perception of eternity as an ever-present reality is one of thecharacteristic signs of the inception of the new birth. 

Birth and death become nothing more nor yet less, than events in theprocedure of eternal life; age becomes merely a graduation garment; Godand heaven are not separated from us by any reality; they become every-dayfacts. 

Whitman tells of the annihilation of any sense of separateness from hissoul side, in the following words:

 "Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul. "

He did not confound his mortal consciousness, the lower _manas_, with thehigher--the soul; neither did he recognize an impassable gulf between them. 

While admittedly ascending to the higher consciousness from the lower, Whitman refused to follow the example of the saints and sages of old, andmortify or despise the lower self--the manifestation. He had indeed _struckthe balance_; he recognized his dual nature, each in its rightful place andwith its rightful possessions, and refused to abase either "I am" to theother. He literally "rendered unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, " byclaiming for the flesh the purity and the cleanliness of God's handiwork. 

In Whitman, too, we find an almost perfect realization of immortality andof blissfulness of life and the complete harmony and unity of his soul with_all there is_. Following closely upon the experience that seems to havebeen the most vivid of the many instances of illumination which he enjoyedthroughout a long life, he wrote the following lines, indicative of theemotions immediately associated with the influx of illumination:

 "Swiftly arose and spread around me, the peace and joy and knowledge that pass all the art and argument of earth; And I know that the hand of God is the elder hand of my own, And I know that the spirit of God is the eldest brother of my own, And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers, And that a kelson of creation is love. "

In lines written in 1860, about seven years after the first vivid instanceof the experience of illumination which afterward became oft-recurrent, Whitman speaks of what he calls "Perfections, " and from what he writes wemay assume that he referred to those possessing cosmic consciousness, andthe practical impossibility of describing this peculiarity and accountingfor the alteration it makes in character and outlook. 

Says Whitman:

 "Only themselves understand themselves, and the like of themselves, As souls only understand souls. "

It has been pointed out that Whitman more perfectly illustrates the type ofthe coming man--the cosmic conscious race, because Whitman's illuminationseems to have come without the terrible agonies of doubt and prayer andmortification of the flesh, which characterize so many of those saints andsages of whom we read in sacred literature. But it must not be inferredfrom this that Whitman's life was devoid of suffering. 

A biographer says of him:

"He has loved the earth, sun, animals; despised riches, given alms to everyone that asked; stood up for the stupid and crazy; devoted his income andlabor to others; according to the command of the divine voice; and wasimpelled by the divine impulse; and now for reward he is poor, despised, sick, paralyzed, neglected, dying. His message to men, to the delivery ofwhich he devoted his life, which has been dearer in his eyes (for man'ssake) than wife, children, life itself, is unread, or scoffed and jeeredat. What shall he say to God? He says that God knows him through andthrough, and that he is willing to leave himself in God's hands. "

But above and beyond all this, is the sense of oneness with all who sufferwhich is ever a heritage of the cosmic conscious one, even while he is, atthe same time, the recipient of states of bliss and certainty ofimmortality, and melting soul-love, incomprehensible and indescribable tothe non-initiate. Whitman's calm and poise was not that of theice-encrusted egotist. It is the poise of the perfectly balanced man-godequally aware of his human and his divine attributes; and justly estimatingboth; nor drawing too fine a line between. 

 "I embody all presence outlawed or suffering; See myself in prison, shaped like another man, And feel the dull unintermitted pain. 

 * * * * *

 "For me the keepers of convicts shoulder their carbines and keep watch; It is I left out in the morning, and barr'd at night. Not a mutineer walks handcuffed to jail, but I am handcuffed and walk by his side;

 * * * * *

 "Not a youngster is taken for larceny, but I go up too, and am tried and sentenced. Not a cholera patient lies at the last gasp but I also lie at the last gasp; My face is ash-colored--my sinews gnarl--away from me people retreat. 

 * * * * *

 "Askers embody themselves in me, and I am embodied in them; I project my hat, sit shame-faced and beg. "

If any one imagines that Whitman was not a religious man, let him read thefollowing:

 "I say that no man has ever yet been half devout enough; None has ever yet adored or worshipped half enough; None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and how certain the future is. "

There is a sublime confidence and worship in these words which belittlesthe churchman's hope and prayer that God may be good to him and bless himwith a future life. Whitman's philosophy, less specific as to method, isassuredly more certain, more faithful in effect. Whitman had the experienceof being immersed in a sea of light and love, so frequently a phenomenonof Illumination; he retained throughout all his life a complete and perfectassurance of immortality. 

His sense of union with and relationship to all living things was as much apart of him as the color of his eyes and hair; he did not have to remindhimself of it, as a religious duty. 

He experienced a keen joy in nature and in the innocent, childlikepleasures of everyday things, and at the same time possessed a splendidintellect. 

All consciousness of sin or evil had been erased from his mind and actuallyhad no place in his life. 

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

In the case of Lord Tennyson, we have a definite recognition of twodistinct states of consciousness, finally culminating in a clear experienceof cosmic consciousness; this experience was so positive as to leave nodoubt or indecision in his mind regarding the reality of the spiritual, andthe illusory character of the external life. 

In truth Tennyson had so fixed his consciousness in the spiritual ratherthan in the external, that he looked out from that inner self, as throughthe windows of a house; he was prepared, as he said, to believe that hisbody was but an imaginary symbol of himself, but nothing and no one couldpersuade him that the real Tennyson, the _I am_ consciousness of beingwhich was he, was other than spiritual, eternal, undying. 

Like so many others, notably Whitman, who have realized a more or less fulldegree of cosmic consciousness, Tennyson was deeply and reverentlyreligious, although not partisanly connected with church work. Tennyson'searly boyhood was marked by experiences which usually befall persons of thepsychic temperament. As he himself described these states of consciousness, they were moments in which the ego transcended the limits of selfconsciousness and entered the limitless realm of spirit. 

They do not tabulate with the ordinary trance condition of thespiritualistic medium, who subjects his own self consciousness to a"control, " although Tennyson always believed that the best of his writingswere inspired by, and written under "the direct influence of higherintelligences, of whose presence he was distinctly conscious. He felt themnear him and his mind was impressed by their ideas. "

The point which we emphasize is that these peculiar states of consciousnessare not synonymous with the western idea of trance as seen in mediumship, although Tennyson uses the term "trance" in describing them. 

He says:

"A kind of walking trance I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has often come upon me through repeatingmy own name to myself silently until all at once, as it were, out of theintensity of the consciousness of individuality, the individuality itselfseemed to dissolve and fade into boundless being. "

It is a fact that children of a peculiarly sensitive or psychic temperamentseem to have strange ideas regarding the name by which they are called, andnot infrequently become confused and filled with an inexplicable wondermentat the sound of their own name. This phenomenon is much less rare than isgenerally known. 

In Tennyson's "Ancient Sage" this experience of entering into cosmicconsciousness is thus described:

 "More than once when I Sat all alone, revolving in myself, The word that is the symbol of myself, The mortal limit of the Self was loosed, And passed into the nameless, as a cloud Melts into heaven. I touched my limbs; the limbs Were strange, not mine; and yet no shade of doubt, But utter clearness, and thro' loss of self The gain of such large life as matched with ours Were sun to spark--unshadowable in words. Themselves but shadows of a shadow-world. "

Tennyson's illumination is certain, clearly defined, distinct andcharacteristic, although his poems are much less cosmic than those ofWhitman and of many others. There is, however, in the above, all that isdescriptive of that state of consciousness which accompanies liberationfrom the illusion--the _enchantment_ of the merely mortal existence. 

Words are, as Tennyson fitly says, but "shadows of a shadow-world"; howthen may we hope to define in terms comprehensible to sense-consciousnessonly, emotions and experiences which involve loss of _self_, and at thesame time gain of the _Self_?

Tennyson's frequent excursions into the realm of spiritual consciousnesswhile still a child, bears out our contention that many children notinfrequently have this experience, and either through reserve or from lackof ability to explain it, keep the matter to themselves; generally losingor "outgrowing" the tendency as they enter the activities of school life, and the mortal mind becomes dominant in them. This is especially true ofthe rising generation, and we personally know several clearly definedinstances which have been reported to us, during conversations upon thetheme of cosmic consciousness. 

YONE NOGUCHI

Any one who has ever had the good fortune to read a little book of verseentitled "From the Eastern Seas, " by Yone Noguchi, a young Japanese, willat once pronounce them a beautiful and perhaps perfect example of versethat may be correctly labeled "cosmic. "

Noguchi was under nineteen years of age when he penned these verses, butthey are thoughts and expressions possible only to one who lives thegreater part of his life within the illumination of the cosmic sense. Theyare so delicate as to have little, if any, of the mortal in them. 

It is also significant that Noguchi in these later years (he is now only alittle past thirty), does not reproduce this cosmic atmosphere in hiswritings to such an extent, due no doubt to the fact that his dailyoccupation (that of Professor of Languages in the Imperial College ofTokio), compels his outer attention, excluding the fullness of the innervision. 

The following lines, are perfect as an exposition of spiritualconsciousness in which the lesser self has become submerged:

 "Underneath the shade of the trees, myself passed into somewhere as a cloud. I see my soul floating upon the face of the deep, nay the faceless face of the deepless deep-- Ah, the seas of loneliness. The silence-waving waters, ever shoreless, bottomless, colorless, have no shadow of my passing soul. I, without wisdom, without foolishness, without goodness, without badness--am like God, a negative god at least. "

The almost perpetual state of spiritual consciousness in which the youngpoet lived at this time is apparent in the following lines:

 "When I am lost in the deep body of the mist on a hill, The universe seems built with me as its pillar. Am I the god upon the face of the deep, nay-- The deepless deepness in the beginning?"

And the following, possible of comprehension only to one who has glimpsedthe eternal verity of man's spiritual reality, and the shadow-like qualityof the external; could have been written only by one freed from the bondsof illusion:

 "The mystic silence of the moon, Gradually revived in me immortality; The sorrow that gently stirred Was melancholy-sweet; sorrow is higher Far than joy, the sweetest sorrow is supreme Amid all the passions. I had No sorrow of mortal heart: my sorrow Was one given before the human sorrows Were given me. Mortal speech died From me: my speech was one spoken before God bestowed on me human speech. There is nothing like the moon-night When I, parted from the voice of the city, Drink deep of Infinity with peace From another, a stranger sphere. There is nothing Like the moon-night when the rich, noble stars And maiden roses interchange their long looks of love. When I raise my face from the land of loss Unto the golden air, and calmly learn How perfect it is to grow still as a star. There is nothing like the moon-night When I walk upon the freshest dews, And amid the warmest breezes, With all the thought of God And all the bliss of man, as Adam Not yet driven from Eden, and to whom Eve was not yet born. What a bird Dreams in the moonlight is my dream: What a rose sings is my song. "

The true poet does not need individual experiences of either sorrow or ofjoy. His spirit is so attuned to the song of the universe; so sympatheticwith the moans of earthly trials, that every vibration from the heart ofthe universe reaches him; stabs him with its sorrow, or irradiates hisbeing with joy. 

Jesus is fitly portrayed to us as "The Man of Sorrows"; even while werecognize him as a self-conscious son of God--an immortal being fully awareof his escape from enchantment, and his heirship to Paradise. 

Cosmic consciousness bestows a bliss that is past all words to describe andit also quickens the sympathies and attunes the soul to the vibrations ofthe heart-cries of the struggling evolving ones who are still travailing inthe pains of the new birth. We must be willing to endure the suffering _inorder that we may realize_ the joy; not because joy is the reward forsuffering, but because it is only by losing sight of the personal self thatwe become aware of that inner Self which is immortal and blissful; and whenwe become aware of the reality of that inner Self, we know that we areunited with _the all_, and must feel with all. 

It would be impossible in one volume to enumerate all the poets who havegiven evidence of supra-consciousness. As has been previously pointed out, all true poets are at least temporarily aware of their dual nature--rather, one should say, the dual phases of their consciousness. Many, perhaps, donot function beyond the higher planes of the psychic vibrations, but eventhese are aware of the reality of the soul, and the illusion of thesense-conscious, mortal life. 

Dante; the Brownings; Shelley; Swinbourne; Goethe; Milton; Keats; Rosetti;Shakespeare; Pope; Lowell--where should we stop, did we essay to draw aline?

WORDSWORTH

Wordsworth, the poet of Nature has given us in his own words, so clearlycut an outline of his Illumination, that we can not resist recording herethe salient points which mark his experience as that of cosmicconsciousness, transcending the more frequent phenomenon ofsoul-consciousness and its psychic functions. 

Wordsworth's Ode to immortality epitomizes the lesson of the Yogasutras--out of The Absolute we come, and return to immortal bliss withconsciousness added. Wordsworth also affords an excellent example of ourcontention that cosmic consciousness does not come to us at any specificage or time. Wordsworth distinctly says that as a child he possessed thisfaculty, as for example his oft-repeated words, both in conversation and inhis biography:

"Nothing was more difficult for me in childhood than to admit the notion ofdeath, as a state applicable to my own being. It was not so much fromfeelings of animal vivacity that my difficulty came, as from a sense of theindomitableness of the spirit within me. I used to brood over the storiesof Enoch and Elijah, and almost to persuade myself that, whatever mightbecome of others, I should be translated, in something of the same way, toheaven. With a feeling congenial to this, I was often unable to think ofexternal things as having external existence, and I communed with all thatI saw as something not apart from, but inherent in, my own immaterialnature. Many times while going to school have I grasped at a wall or tree, to recall myself from this abyss of idealism to the reality. "

In later life, Wordsworth lost the realization of this supra-consciousness, in what a commentator calls a "fever of rationalism"; but the power of thatwonderful spiritual vision, pronounced in his youth, could not be utterlylost and soon after he reached his thirtieth year, he again becomes thespiritual poet, fully conscious of his higher nature--the cosmic consciousself. 

WILLIAM SHARP--"FIONA MACLEOD"

A pronounced instance of the two phases of consciousness, is that of thelate William Sharp, one of the best known writers of the modern Englishschool. 

It was not until after the death of William Sharp, that the secret of thisdual personality was given to the public, although a few of his mostintimates had known it for several years. In the "Memoirs" compiled byElizabeth Sharp, wife of the writer, we find the following:

"The life of William Sharp divides itself naturally into two halves: thefirst ends with the publication by William Sharp of 'Vistas, ' and thesecond begins with 'Pharais, ' the first book signed _Fiona Macleod_. "

In these memoirs, the point is made obvious that _Fiona Macleod_ is notmerely a _nom de plume_; neither is she an obsessing personality; a guideor "control, " as the Spiritualists know that phenomenon. _Fiona Macleod_, always referred to by William Sharp as "she, " is his own higher Self--thecosmic consciousness of the spiritual man which was so nearly balanced inthe personality of William Sharp as to _appear_ to the casual observer asanother person. 

It is said that the identity of _Fiona Macleod_, as expressed in themanuscript put out under that name, was seldom suspected to be that ofWilliam Sharp, so different was the style and the tone of the work of thesetwo phases of the same personality. 

In this connection it may be well to quote his wife's opinion regarding thetwo phases of personality, answering the belief of Yeats the Irish poetthat he believed William Sharp to be the most extraordinary psychic heever encountered and saying that _Fiona Macleod_ was evidently a distinctpersonality. In the Memoirs, Mrs. Sharp comments upon this and says:

"It is true, as I have said, that William Sharp seemed a different personwhen the Fiona mood was on him; but that he had no recollection of what hesaid in that mood was not the case--the psychic visionary power belongedexclusively to neither; it influenced both and was dictated by laws he didnot understand. "

Mrs. Sharp refers to William Sharp and Fiona, as two persons, saying that"it influenced both, " but both sides of his personality rather than bothpersonalities, is what she claims. In further explanation she writes:

"I remember from early days how he would speak of the momentary curious'dazzle in the brain, ' which preceded the falling away of all materialthings and precluded some inner vision of great beauty, or great presences, or some symbolic import--that would pass as rapidly as it came. I have beenbeside him when he has been in trance and I have felt the room throb withheightened vibration. "

One of the "dream-visions" which William Sharp experienced shortly beforehis last illness, is headed "Elemental Symbolism, " and was recorded by himin these beautiful words:

"I saw Self, or Life, symbolized all about me as a limitless, fathomlessand lonely sea. I took a handful and threw it into the grey silence ofocean air, and it returned at once as a swift and potent flame, a red firecrested with brown sunrise, rushing from between the lips of sky and sea tothe sound as of innumerable trumpets. "

"In another dream he visited a land where there was no more war, where allmen and women were equal; where humans, birds and beasts were no longer atenmity, or preyed on one another. And he was told that the young men of theland had to serve two years as missionaries to those who lived at theuttermost boundaries. 'To what end?' he asked. 'To cast out fear, our lastenemy. ' In the house of his host he was struck by the beauty of a framedpainting that seemed to vibrate with rich colors. 'Who painted that?' heasked. His host smiled, 'We have long since ceased to use brushes andpaints. That is a thought projected from the artist's brain, and itsduration will be proportionate with its truth. '"

In explanation of why he chose to put out so much of the creative work ofhis brain under the signature of a woman, and how he happened to use thename _Fiona Macleod_, Sharp explained that when he began to realize howstrong was the feminine element in the book _Pharais_, he decided to issuethe book under a woman's name and _Fiona Macleod_ "flashed ready-made" intohis mind. "My truest self, the self who is below all other selves must findexpression, " he explained. The Self that is _above_ the other self is whathe should have said. The following extracts are from the _Fiona Macleod_phase of William Sharp and are characteristic of the Self, as evidenced inall instances of Illumination, particularly as these expressions refer tothe nothingness of death, and the beauty and power of Love. "Do not speakof the spiritual life as 'another life'; there is no 'other life'; what wemean by that, is with us now. The great misconception of death is that itis the only door to another world. " This testimony corroborates that ofWhitman as well as of St. Paul, notwithstanding all the centuries thatseparate the two. St. Paul did not say that man _will have_ a spiritualbody, but that he _has_ a spiritual body as well as a corporeal body. 

After the experience of his illumination, William Sharp, writing as _FionaMacleod_ constantly testified to the ever-present reality of his spirituallife; a life far more real to him than the sense-conscious life although healluded to it as his dream. In one place he says:

"Now truly, is dreamland no longer a phantasy of sleep, but a loveliness sogreat that, like deep music, there could be no words wherewith to measureit, but only the breathless unspoken speech of the soul upon whom hasfallen the secret dews. "

Of the impossibility of adequately explaining the mystery of Illuminationand the sensations it inspires, he says, speaking through the Self of_Fiona Macleod_: "I write, not because I know a mystery, and would revealit, but because I have known a mystery and am to-day as a child before it, and can neither reveal nor interpret it. "

This is comparable with Whitman's "when I try to describe the best, I cannot. My tongue is ineffectual on its pivots. "

Another sentence from _Fiona_:

"There is a great serenity in the thought of death, when it is known to bethe gate of Life. "

Like all who have gained the Great Blessing, the revelation to the mind ofthat higher Self, that _we are_, William Sharp suffered keenly. The despairof the world was his, co-equal with the Joy of the Spirit. Indeed, his isat once the gift and the burden of the Illuminati. 

Mrs. Mona Caird said of him: "He was almost encumbered by the infinity ofhis perceptions; by the thronging interests, intuitions, glimpses ofwonders, beauties, and mysteries which made life for him a pageant and asplendor such as is only disclosed to the soul that has to bear the tormentand revelations of genius. "

The burden of the world's sorrow; the longings and aspirations of the soulthat has glimpsed, or that has more fully cognized the realms of the Spiritwhich are its rightful home; are ever a part of the price of liberation. The illumined mind sees and hears and feels the vibrations that emanatefrom all who are travailing in the meshes of the sense-conscious life; butthrough all the sympathetic sorrow, there runs the thread of a divineassurance and certainty of profound joy--a bliss that passes comprehensionor description. 

Mrs. Sharp, in the final conclusion of the _Memoirs_ says "to quote myhusband's own words--ever below all the stress and failure, below all thetriumph of his toil, lay the _beauty of his dream_. "

In accordance with an oft-repeated request, these lines are inscribed onthe Iona cross carved in lava, which marks the grave wherein is laid torest the earthly form of William Sharp:

 "Farewell to the known and exhausted, Welcome the unknown and illimitable. "

And this:

"Love is more great than we conceive, and death is the keeper of unknownredemptions. "

They are from his higher Self; from the illumined "Dominion of Dreams. "

CHAPTER XV

METHODS OF ATTAINMENT: THE WAY OF ILLUMINATION

Oriental philosophies recognize four important methods of yoga. 

Yoga is the word which signifies "uniting with God. " From what has gonebefore in these pages, the reader will understand that unity with God meansto us, the uncovering of the god-nature within or above, the humanpersonality; it means the attainment and retainment in _fullness_ of cosmicconsciousness. We do not believe that any one retains full and completerealization of cosmic consciousness and remains in the physical body. Thenumerous instances to which we allude in former chapters, are at best, buttemporary flights into that state, which is the goal of the soul'spilgrimage, and the only means of escape from the "ceaseless round ofbirths and deaths" which so weighed upon the heart of Gautama. 

The paths of yoga then, are the methods by which the mind, in the personalself, is made to perceive the reality of the higher Self, and its relationto the Supreme Intelligence--The Absolute. 

The various methods or paths are pointed out, but no one, nor all of thesepaths guarantees illumination as a _reward_ for diligence. That which is inthe _heart_ of the disciple is the key that unlocks the door. 

These paths are called:

_Karma Yoga; Raja Yoga; Gnani Yoga; Bhakti Yoga_. 

_Karma Yoga_ is the path of cheerful submission to the conditions in whichthe disciple finds himself, believing that those conditions are his becauseof his needs, and in order that he may fulfill that which he has attractedto himself. The admonition "whatever thy hand finds to do that doest thouwith all thy heart, " sums up the lessons of the path of Karma Yoga. Theurge to achieve: to do; to accomplish; to strive and attain, actuates thosewho have, whether with conscious intent, or because of a vague "inwardurge, " devoted their lives to taking an active part in the material orintellectual achievements of the race. 

There are those who are blindly following (as far as their mentaloperations are concerned), the path of Karma Yoga; that is, they workwithout knowing why they work; they work because they are compelled to doso, as slaves of the law; these will work their way out of that necessityof fulfillment, in the course of time, even though they blindly follow theurge; but, if they could be made to work as masters of the conditions underwhich they labor, instead of as slaves to environment, they would findthemselves at the end of that path. Karma Yoga would have beenaccomplished. 

"Work as those work who are ambitious" but be not thou enslaved by thedelusion of personal ambition--this is the password to liberation fromKarma Yoga. 

_Raja Yoga_ is the way of the strongly individualized _will_. "_Knowledgeis power_" is the hope which encourages the disciple on the path of RajaYoga. He seeks to master the personal self by meditation, by concentrationof will; by self discipline and sacrifice. When the ego gains completecontrol over the mental faculties, so that the mind may be directed as theindividual will suggests, the student has mastered the path of Raja Yoga. If his mastery is complete, he finds himself regarding his body as theinstrument of the Self, and the body and its functions are under theguidance of the ego; the mind is the lever with which this Self raises theconsciousness from the lower to the higher vibrations. The student who hasmastered Raja Yoga can induce the trance state; control his dreams as wellas his waking thoughts; he may learn to practice magic in its higheraspects, but unless he is extremely careful this power will tempt him touse his knowledge for selfish or unworthy purposes. 

Let the student of Raja Yoga bear in mind the one great and high purpose ofhis efforts, which should be: the realization of his spiritual nature, andthe development of his individual self, so that it finally merges into thespiritual Self, thus gaining immortality "in the flesh. "

Does this "flesh" mean the physical body? Not necessarily, because thisthat we see and name "the physical body" is not the real body, any morethan the clothing that covers it, is the person, although frequently werecognize acquaintances _by their clothing_. Immortality in the fleshmeans cessation from further incarnations, the last and present personalityincluding all others in consciousness, until we can say, "I, manifesting inthe physical, as so-and-so, am now and forever immortal, remembering othermanifestations which were not sufficiently complete, but which added to thesum of my consciousness until now I _know myself a deathless being_. "

To those who seek the path of Raja Yoga, we recommend meditation uponPatanjali's Yoga Sutras, of which there are several translations, differingslightly as to interpretation. We have selected some of the most important, from the translations by Johnston. They are designed to make clear thedifference between the self of personality, and the Self, or _atman_ whichmanifests in personality:

"The personal self seeks to feast upon life, through a failure to perceivethe distinction between the personal self and the spiritual man. Allpersonal experience really exists for the sake of another: namely, thespiritual man. By perfectly concentrated meditation on experience for thesake of the Self, comes a knowledge of the spiritual man. "

The wise person seeks experience in order that he may attain to thestandard of the spiritual man; doing all things for the lessons that theyteach; working "as those work who are ambitious, " and yet having nopersonal ambition. Looking on all life, and at the self of personality andknowing the illusion of the self he is raising the personal self to thespiritual plane; but always he has the handicap of the desires of the lowerself, the personal, which "seeks to feast on life, " because it is born ofthe external, and its inherent appetites are for the satisfaction andpleasures of that physical self. 

We do not say to look upon the body with its needs and its desires, as anenemy to be overcome; or that its allurements are dangerous althoughpleasurable. No. We say to the student, "control the desires of the body. Make them do the bidding of the Self, because it is only by so doing thatyou can gain the immortal heights of god-hood, looking down upon thefleeting dream of personality, with its so-called pleasures, as a badnightmare compared to the joys that await the immortals. "

Therefore, concentrate upon experience for the sake of the Self that youare, and learn the lesson of your experience, throwing aside the experienceitself, as you would cast aside the skin of an orange from which the juicehad been extracted. Don't fill the areas of your mortal mind withrubbish--with memories of "benefits forgot;" or loves unrequited; orfriendships broken; or misspent hours; or unhallowed words and acts. 

Cull from each day's experience all that helps to develop the spiritualman--all that will stand the test of immortality--kind words and deeds;principle maintained; a wrong forgiven; a service cheerfully extended; atolerance and generosity for the mistakes of others as well as for yourown. These seem small things to the personal self--the ambitious, thegloating, the sense-desiring self of the personality; we scarcely take theminto account, but to the Self that is seeking immortality, these are thegrains of wheat from the load of chaff; the diamond in the carbon; thewings upon which the spirit soars to realms of bliss. 

_Meditate upon this sutra. _

"By perfectly concentrated meditation upon the heart, the interior being, comes the knowledge of consciousness. "

The heart is the guide of the inner nature, as the head is of the outer. Love, the Most High God, is not born in the head, but in the heart. Theheart travails in pain through sorrow and loss and compassion and pity andloneliness and aspiration and sensitiveness; and lo! there is born fromthis pain, the spiritual Self, which embraces the lesser consciousness, enfolding all your consciousness in the softness and bliss of pure, Seraphic Love--the heritage of your immortality. 

_Meditate long and wisely upon this sutra. _

"Through perfectly concentrated meditation on the light in the head, comethe visions of the Masters who have attained; or through the divining powerof intuition he knows all things. "

There is a point in the head, anatomically named "the pineal gland"; thisis frequently alluded to as the seat of the soul, but the soul is notconfined within the body, therefore, it is in the nature of a key betweenthe sense-conscious self and the spiritually conscious Self; it is like acentral receiving station, and may be "called up, " and aroused toconsciousness by meditation. Realizing and focusing the light of thespiritual nature upon this part of the head, opens up those unexploredareas of consciousness in which the masters dwell, and the student knows byintuition, which is a higher aspect of reason, many things which wereheretofore incomprehensible to the merely sense-conscious man. 

The spiritual Self is not a being unlike and wholly foreign to our conceptof the perfect mortal-man; all the powers of discernment which we find inmortal consciousness are accentuated, intensified, refined; all grossness, all imperfections and embarrassments removed; pleasure sensitized toecstasy; love glorified to worship. "Shapeliness, beauty, force, the temperof the diamond; these are the endowments of that body. "

The spiritual body is shapely, strong, beautiful, imperishable, as thediamond, with all its brilliancy. No vapory, uncertain, or _unreal being_, but the Real, with the husk of sense-consciousness dropped off, and onlythe kernels of truth buried in the chaff of Experience, retained from theexperiences of the personal self. 

"When the spiritual man is perfectly disentangled from the psychic body, he attains to mastery over all things and to a knowledge of all. "

The spiritual Self, the cosmic conscious Self, must not be confounded withthe psychic body, which is formed from the emotions--passions; fears;hatreds; ambitions; resentments; envy; regrets. Know thyself as a beingsuperior to all baser emotions, and the mastery over them is complete. Theyare not destroyed, but converted into love--the everlasting Source of Life. 

"There should be complete overcoming of allurement or pride in theinvitations of the different regions of life, lest attachment to thingsevil arise once more. "

It is said that the disciples, seeking the paths of Yoga, reach threedegrees or stages of development; first, those who are just entering thepath; second, those who are in the realm of allurements, subject totemptations; third, those who have won the victory over the senses and theexternal life--_maya_; fourth, those who are firmly entrenched behind thebulwark of certainty; the spiritual being realized: cosmic consciousnessattained and retained. 

"By absence of all self indulgence at this point, also, the seeds ofbondage of sorrow are destroyed, and pure spiritual being is attained. "

Self-abnegation and self-sacrifice have ever been the way of spiritualdevelopment; but we are prone to misunderstand and mistake the trueinterpretation of this admonition; men shut themselves in monasteries andwomen become nuns and recluses _as a penance_, in order to purchase, as itwere, absolution (at-one-ness with The Absolute, which knows not sin); thisis not the point intended here. Spiritual consciousness can not be bought;the desires of the personal self may be _sublimated_ into divine force andpower, through recognizing the desires of the self as baubles which attractand fill the eye, until we fail to see the glories of that which awaits us. 

"Thereafter, the whole personal being bends toward illumination, full ofthe spirit of Eternal Life. "

Here again, we have assurance that the spiritually-conscious man, the"luminous body" is not a being apart from the self that we know our innernature to be, but rather it _is_ the inner Self even as we in our ignoranceand our lack of initiation, know it, raised to a higher realm ofconsciousness; our desires refined, spiritualized, made pure, and ourfaculties strengthened and immortalized. We do not withdraw from experiencebut we draw from Experience the _lesson_--the hidden wisdom of theinitiate. 

_Meditate upon these sutras. _

"He who, after he has attained, is wholly free from self, is set in a cloudof holiness which is called Illumination. This is the true spiritualconsciousness. "

This aphorism is self-explanatory. He who attains illumination, andafterward lives and acts from the inner consciousness--the _spiritual man_, is free from the desires of the sense-conscious life, with its consequentdisappointments; he sees everything from the spiritual, rather than themental point of view, and understands the phrase "and behold, all wasgood. "

"_Thereon comes surcease from sorrow and the burden of toil. _"

The one who has attained cosmic consciousness, acting always from the Self, and not from personal desires, is set free from karma; he has fulfilled thecycle; he makes no more bondage for himself; he is free and is alreadyimmortal. 

"When that condition of consciousness is reached, which is far-reaching, and not confined to the body, which is outside the body and not conditionedby it, then the veil which conceals the light is worn away. "

The acquisition of spiritual consciousness, Illumination, endows the mortalmind also, with a degree of power sufficient to penetrate the veil ofillusion--the _maya_; the disciple then sees for the first time, all thingsin their true light. The separation between the personal self, and thespiritual being that we are, is so fine as to be like a cob-web veil, andyet how few penetrate it. The suddenness with which this awakening (for itis like awakening from a dream of the senses), comes, startles andsurprises us, and then we become astonished at the transparency of thebonds that bound us to the limitations of the mortal, when we might havesoared to realms of light. 

"By perfectly concentrated meditation on the correlation of the body withthe ether, and by thinking of it as light as thistle-down, will come thepower to traverse the ether. "

The Zens say that the way of the gods is through the air and afterwards inthe ether. This means that we must evolve from the physical to the psychic, and thence to the etheric or spiritual body. This is the way of the many. It is only the few who attain to perfect spiritual consciousness whilemanifesting in the physical, but these do not have to undergo "the seconddeath" which is the dropping off of the psychic body, and assuming thespiritual body. They attain to immortality _in the flesh_, (i. E. , in thepresent personality). 

"Thereupon will come the manifestation of the atomic and other powers, which are the endowment of the body, together with its unassailable force. "

The body here referred to, it must be borne in mind, is the etheric orspiritual body, which possesses the power to disintegrate matter; the powerto annihilate time and space; so that he may look backward into remoteantiquity and forward into boundless futurity; or as the commentator says, "he can touch the moon with the tip of his finger"; the power of levitationand limitless extension; the power of command; the power of creative will. 

These are the endowments of the spiritual body with which the disciple isseeking to establish his identity--that he may overcome the second deathand become immortal _in consciousness_, here and now. 

Of this spiritual, or etheric body it is said, "Fire burns it not; waterwets it not; the sword cleaves it not; dry winds parch it not. It isunassailable. "

_Meditate upon this sutra. _

"For him who discerns between the mind and the spiritual man (the Self)there comes perfect fruition of the longing after the real being. "

When the disciple has once grasped the fact that he _is_ a soul, and_possesses_ a mind and a physical covering, he has entered on the way ofIllumination, and must inevitably reach the goal; then shall he find"perfect fruition of the longing" after the perfect Self, and itscompletement in union with the love that he craves. "Have you, in lonelydarkness longed for companionship and consolation? You shall have angelsand archangels for your friends and all the immortal hosts of the Dawn. "

Such are the Yoga sutras, or aphorisms, as enunciated by Patanjali. 

If the aspiring one were to give up a whole lifetime to their practice, gaining at last the consciousness of immortal life and love, what a smallprice to pay. 

_Raja Yoga_ with its methods and exercises, is the path of knowledge, through application; concentration; meditation. 

The practice of Raja Yoga will lead the student to the path of Gnani Yoga;and to the realization that Bhakti Yoga, the way of love and service willbe included, not as an arduous task; not as a study, or as a means to anend, but because of the love of it. 

_Gnani Yoga_ comes as complementary to practice of the sutras becauseknowledge applied for the purpose of spiritual attainment brings _wisdom_. _Gnani Yoga_, then, is the path of wisdom. The follower of Gnani Yoga seeksthe occult or hidden wisdom, and always has before him the idea of whetherthis or that be of the Self, the _atman_, or of the self, the personal, gradually eliminating from his desires all that does not answer the test ofits reality in spiritual consciousness; he welcomes experiences of allkinds, as so many lessons from which he extracts the fine grain of truth, and throws aside the husks; he accepts nothing blindly or in faith, but"proves all things holding fast to that which is good"; not that he lacksfaith, but because the very nature of his inquiry is to discover theinterior nature and its relation to God. 

There are many in the world of to-day who feel the urge toward the path ofGnani Yoga, because of the conviction that is forcing itself upon everytruly enlightened mind, that civilization with all its wonderfulachievements, does not promise happiness, or solve the question of thesoul's urge. In short, the educated, and the well conditioned, if he be athinker, and not submerged in _maya_, lost in the personal self, inevitablyfinds himself searching for the _real_ in all this labyrinth of mindcreations and sea of emotions, and then as a rule, he seeks the path ofGnani Yoga, because his intellect must be satisfied, even though his heartcalls. The mystic, the teacher, and the philosopher are following the pathof Gnani; so is the true occultist, but many who deal in so-calledoccultism are employing _knowledge_ only, entirely missing the higherquality--_wisdom_. 

_Bhakti Yoga_, the path of self-surrender; the thorny way through theemotions; the "blood of the heart, " is the short cut to Illumination, ifsuch a thing could be. But there is no "short cut"; nor yet a long road. 

Some one has said there are as many ways to God as there are souls. Andyet, all persons who are on the upward climb, are demonstrating some one ofthese four paths, or a combination of the paths. It is, however, asignificant fact that we do not hear anything of the great intellectualattainments of the three great masters--Krishna, Buddha and Jesus, but onlyof their great compassion; their wonderful love for mankind, and all livingthings. 

St. Paul, who was probably an educated man, as he held a position ofprominence among those in authority, previous to his conversion, laidparticular stress upon the love-nature as the way of illumination. 

And Jesus repeatedly said "Love is the fulfilling of the law. " What is thelaw? The law of evolution and involution; of generation and regeneration;when the time should come, that Love was to reign on the planet earth as itdoes in the heavens above the earth, then should the kingdom of which heforetold "be at hand, " and in conclusion of this _to-be_, Jesus promisedthat the law would be fulfilled when Love should come. 

So Swami Vivekananda in his exposition of Vedanta declares:

"Love is higher than work, than yoga; than knowledge. Day and night thinkof God in the midst of all your activities. The daily necessary thoughtscan all be thought through God. Eat to Him, drink to Him, sleep to Him, seeHim in all. Let us open ourselves to the one Divine Actor, and let Him actand do nothing ourselves. Complete self-surrender is the only way. Put outself, lose it; forget it. "

Let us substitute for the words "God, " and "Him, " the one word Love, andsee what it is that we are told to do. 

Love of doing good frees us from work, even though we labor from early dawnuntil the night falls; so, too, if we have some loved one for whom westrive, we can endure every hardship with equanimity, as far as our owncomfort is concerned. Few human beings in the world to-day are so enmeshedin the personal self as to work merely for the gratification of selfishinstincts. The hard-working man, whether laborer or banker, must have someone else for whom he struggles and strives; otherwise, he descends to alevel below that of the brute. 

This is the reason for the family; the lodge; the community; the nation;there must be some motive other than the preservation of the personal self, in order to develop the higher quality of love which embraces the world, until the spirit of a Christ takes possession of the human and he wouldgladly offer himself a sacrifice to the world, if by so doing he couldeliminate all the pain from the world. 

How natural it is to feel, when we see a loved one suffering, that we wouldgladly take upon ourselves that pain; the heart fills with love until itaches with the burden of it; this love enlarged, expanded and impersonal inits application is the same love with which we are told to love God, and to"do all for Him. " Do all for love of all the other hearts in the Universethat feel as we feel when their loved ones suffer--that is the way to loveGod--it is the only way we know. We only know divine love through humanlove: human love is divine when it is unselfish and eternal--not fed uponcarnality, but anchored in spiritual complement. 

The story of Abou Ben Adhem ("may his tribe increase") tells us how we mayknow who loves the Lord. The angel wrote the names of those who loved theLord most faithfully and fully, and coming to Abou Ben Adhem asked if heshould write his name, and received the reply that he could not say whetherhe deeply loved the Lord, but he was quite certain that the angel could"write me as one who loves his fellow-men. " And, lo! when the list was madeand the names of all who loved the Lord recorded, Abou Ben Adhem's nameheaded the list. 

The Vedanta philosophy teaches non-attachment and Vivekananda himself says:"To love any one personally is bondage. Love all alike then all desiresfall off. "

To love only the personal self of any one binds us to the sorrow of lossand of separation and disappointment; but to love any one spiritually is toestablish a bond which can never be broken; which insures reunion, anddefies time and space. 

We can not love all alike, though we can love all humanity impersonally. All desires that have their root in the sense-conscious plane ofexpression, will fall off when the heart is anchored in spiritual love; butlet it be understood that spiritual love is not opposed to human love; wedo not grow into spiritual love by denying the human, but by plussing thehuman. 

Spiritual consciousness is all that is good and pure and noble, andsatisfying in the mortal and infinitely more. It is the love of personalself _plus_ the _Self_--the _atman_. 

Love is never unrequited. It is never wasted; never foolish. Love is itsown self-justification; if it be real love, and not vanity, or selfadmiration, misnamed, give it freely, and don't ask for a return; don't askwhither it leads; only ask if it is real--if the love you feel is for theobject of your love, or if it is for yourself--for you to possess and tominister to your pleasure; ask whether it is from the senses or from theheart. 

The way of the _Bhakti yoga_, is the way of love and service, becauseservice to our fellow beings, is the inevitable complement of love. Wherewe truly love, we gladly serve. It has been said: "The chela treads ahair-line. " That is to say, the initiate must be prepared to meet defeat atevery turn. Not defeat of his object of attainment, but the personal defeatthat so many seek in the delusion that the world's ideal of success is thereal success. 

In conclusion we can only repeat what has been told and retold many timesby all inspired ones, of whatever creed and race; namely, think and actalways from the _inner Self_, cheerfully taking the consequences of yourchoice. Let not the opinions of the illusory world of the senses balk andthwart you. Let not the "worldly-wise" swerve you from your ideal and yourfaith in the final goal of your earthly pilgrimage--the attainment ofspiritual consciousness _in your present personality_; this is the meaningof immortality in the flesh Doubt not this. 

Make love your ideal; your guide; your final goal; look for the inner Selfof all whom you meet. "Learn to look into the _hearts_ of men, " says theinjunction in Light on the Path; dismiss from your mind all theaccumulation of traditional concepts and prejudices that are not groundedin love, and above all _falter not_, nor doubt--no matter what seeminghardships you encounter in your earthly pilgrimage; they are but theIndian-clubs of your soul's gymnasium--Experience. "Meet with Triumph andDisaster, and treat these _two impostors_ just the same. "

Triumph and Disaster as seen with the eyes of sense-consciousness are bothillusions; but don't for this reason cease your work. The phrase "you mustwork out your own salvation" is true. So also, you must be willing to doyour part in working out the salvation of the world; salvation means simplythe realization of the spiritual Being that you are--the attainment of thatstate of Illumination which guarantees immortality. 

Experience teaches one important lesson: Our sense-conscious life is filledwith symbolic language if we have the inner eye of discernment. Anunescapable truth is symbolized in our daily life by the evidence that weget nothing for nothing. Everything has its price. 

Immortality godhood, will not be handed to you on a silver salver; neithercan any one withhold it from you, if you desire it above all things. And, altho' it has its price, yet _you can not buy it_. A seeming paradox, butthe Initiate will see it all clearly enough when the time comes. 

 "He who would scale the Heights of Understanding From whence the soul looks out forever free Must falter not; nor fail; all truth demanding Though he bear the cross and know Gethsemane. "

 * * * * *

The discouraged student says to himself: "If Truth demands such sorrow andsacrifice as this, I will not serve her. It is a false god that would sotry his devotees. "

Have you not said it?

The toll you pay is not to the Divine Self within, but to the "keepers ofthe threshold, " that guard the entrance to the dwelling place of theIlluminati. 

Earthly lodges and brotherhoods are symbols of the higher initiations. 

There is a common mistake in the idea that the invisible states ofconsciousness are chaotic, or radically different from the visible. 

"As below, so above, and as above so below" is an aphorism constantly heldbefore the eyes of the would-be initiate. Each of whom, must interpret andknow it for himself. 

If the student finds the Raja Yoga sutras difficult of comprehension or ofpractice let him meditate upon the following mantrams:

I know myself to be above the false concepts which assail the personal selfthat I _appear_ to be. I am united with the All-seeing All-knowingConsciousness. 

I abide in the consciousness of the Indestructibility and Omniscience ofBeing. I rest secure and content in the integrity of Cosmic Law which shalllead my soul unto its own, guaranteeing immortal love. 

I unite myself with that Power that makes for righteousness. Thereforenothing shall dismay or defeat me, because I am at-one with the limitlessareas of spiritual consciousness. 

My mind is the dynamic center through which my soul manifests the Lovewhich illumines the world. Only good can come to the world through me. 

Much that is called Mental Science, New Thought and Christian Science hasfor its aim and ideal, avoidance of all that does not make for personalwell-being, and worldly success. Avoid this ideal; distrust this motive. Beever willing to sacrifice the personal self to the Real Self, _if need be_. If the ideal is truly the desire for _illumination_, and not forself-gratification, the mind will soon learn to distinguish between thelesser and the greater. Have you longed for perfect, satisfying _human_love?

You shall have it plussed a thousand fold in immortal spiritual union with_your_ god. 

SUMMARY. 

In the foregoing chapters we have set forth only a few of the facts andinstances which the inquirer will find, if he but seek, of the reality of asupra-conscious faculty, no less actual, than are the faculties of thesense-conscious human, which type forms the average of the race. 

This faculty, or rather we should say _these faculties_--because they findexpression in many ways, through avenues correlative to the physicalsenses--prove the existence of a realm of consciousness, far above theplanes of the mortal or sense-conscious man, and transcending the regionknown as the astral and psychic areas of consciousness. 

All who have reported their experiences in contacting this illimitableregion unite in the essential points of experience, namely:

The experience is indescribable. 

It confers an unshakable conviction of immortality. 

It discloses the fact that we are now living in this supra-conscious realm;that it is not something which we acquire after death; it _is_ not _to be_. 

This realm is characterized by a beautiful, wonderful radiant iridescentlight. 

"_O green fire of life, pulse of the world, O love. "_

It fills the heart with a great and all-embracing love, establishing arealization of the silent Brotherhood of the Cosmos, demolishing allbarriers of race and color and class and condition. 

Illumination is inclusive. It knows no separation. 

It announces the fact that every person is right from his point of view. 

"That nothing walks with aimless feet; that no one life shall be destroyed;or cast as rubbish on the void; when God hath made the pile complete. "

That Life and Love and Joy unutterable are the reward of the seeker; andthat there is no one and only path. 

All systems; all creeds; all methods that are formulated and upheld byaltruism are righteous, and that the Real is the spiritual--the external isa dream from which the world is awakening to the consciousness of thespiritual man--the _atman_--the Self that is ageless; birthless;deathless--divine. On all sides are evidences that the race is enteringupon this new consciousness. 

So many are weary with the strife and struggle and noise of thesense-conscious life. 

The illusions of possessions which break in our hands as we grasp them; ofempty titles of so-called "honor, " builded upon prowess in war; thefeverish race after wealth--cold as the marble palaces which it builds toshut in its worshippers--all these things are becoming skeleton-like andno longer deceive those who are even remotely discerning the new birth. 

The new heraldry will have for its badge of royalty "Love and Service to myFellow Beings, " displacing the "Dieu et mon Droit" of the ancient ideal. 

The Dawn is here. Are you awake?

 "--In the heart of To-day is the word of To-morrow. The Builders of Joy are the Children of Sorrow. "

Jesus The Last Great Initiate

By EDOUARD SCHURE

Mr. Schure in this volume, has done much to strengthen the belief thatJesus was an Essene, in whom a Messianic consciousness was awakened byspecial initiation. 

A remarkable full account is given of his experiences among the Essenes andhow his early life, (about which the Bible is so reticent) was spentstudying with the advanced Occult masters. 

The problem of how Jesus became the Messiah, he holds to be not capable ofsolution without the aid of intuition and esoteric tradition. 

The life of the great Teacher as pictured by the writer is one to bedreamed over and capable of imparting both knowledge and stimulus to thatinner life which is in so many undeveloped and even unsuspected. 

Bound Silk Cloth. 

Price $0. 80 Postpaid. 

 * * * * *

Krishna and Orpheus

The Great Initiates of the East and West

By EDOUARD SCHURE

The lives and teachings of these two great Masters who preceeded Jesus arevery much like the latter's. You cannot help noting the remarkableresemblance they bear to each other. 

Krishna's Virgin Birth, His Youth, Initiation, The Doctrine of theInitiates, Triumph and Death, are all told in a fashion that shows thatMr. Schure has devoted much time to thought and research work. The mightyreligious of India, Egypt and Greece are passed in rapid review and theauthor declares that while from the outside they present nothing but chaos, the root idea of their founders and prophets presents a key to them all. 

Bound in Silk Cloth. 

Price $0. 80 Postpaid.