|
 |

Flying Roll XXI
Know Thyself
Address to the Zelator Adepti Minores
of the Order R.R. et A.C. By
Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum 6° =5°
Perfect knowledge of Self is required in order to attain Knowledge
of Divinity, for when you can know the God of yourself it will be possible
to obtain a dim vision of the God of All, for the God of the Macrocosm
only reflects Himself to Man through the God of Man's Microcosm.
Therefore, before you would invoke the Shining Ones be certain that
you have called upon the Lord of Yourself, that is to say, that the You
in Daath (the seat of the Spiritual Consciousness) have allied yourself
to the You in Tiphereth (the seat of the Human Consciousness) and to the
You in Kether (the seat of the Divine Consciousness), and from thence
the Kether sending rays downwards; from it to the Daath, from Daath to
Tiphereth and from thence to Yesod, which is the seat of the Automatic
Consciousness.
This combination must have taken place with the consent of the Lower
Will (in Tiphereth) as being the Human Will.
If you have succeeded in accomplishing this you are commencing the
real Initiation, (therefore, should an Adeptus Minor strive to begin the
practice of such an operation).
It is said elsewhere that The Beginning of Initiation is the Search for
the Shining Light. For if the Man through Pure Knowledge and Aspiration
has been able to place himself with his head resting immediately under
Kether the Crown, he has come into contact with his First Light.
But his Knowledge must be true, and his aspirations pure. How else is
he able to wear his Crown, upon which poureth the Influx from Jechidah?
It is this development of the Man that must have been intended by
the Apostle Paul when he said : — ‘Till we all come... to
the Knowledge of the Son of God', unto a Perfect Man, unto the measure
of the stature, of the fulness of Christ.' That is, that Man must grow
sufficiently in his Spiritual growth, that he may attain to that stature
where his head will come into contact with his Kether—that is, unto
the Knowledge of his Higher Self.
Regarding this, I will also quote another passage from the New Testament
in which Christ says : — ‘Whosoever shall confess me
before men him shall the Son of Man also confess before the Angels of
God' : — signifying that he who shall raise himself by linking
his Human to his Divine Self, being consequently in touch with the Kether
of his Assiah, he will be able to rise still further to the Plane of the
Angels, that is to say, that through the Kether of his Assiah he can be
admitted to his plane of Yetzirah, his Angelic Self; for he has accepted
the Christ within him, his power of Ascent. ‘But he that denieth
me before men shall be denied before the Angels of God,' meaning that
he who denies the me, the power of the letter Shin, the letter of the
Holy Spirit that makes of Jehovah the Name Jeheshua, hath denied that
Spirit, that Higher Self, which is his one link with the Truth of Life,
and so hath refused the Christ that can be within him, the only part which
would enable him to rise to his Divine Self, whence he could receive the
descent of the Divine Spirit, which ever comes to him who seeketh for
it.
Kether is the Crown, then, which is placed on the head of the complete
Initiate; and a great King must he indeed be who is fitted to bear such
brilliance, and well must he have worked towards the developing and perfecting
of his Kingdom to have made it worthy of that Divine Crown.
Therefore must he whose aim is to become the Initiate, work well at the
development of the Forces of the Being; seeking to purify and to exalt
them.
He, the man, standing in his Sephiroth, can well be compared to a King
in his Kingdom which if he wishes to govern well, he must first learn
to know and understand, for only after having a complete knowledge of
the constitution, character and inhabitants of his realm, will it
be possible for a just Ruler to bring about such reforms as he may deem
necessary;—hence the great assistance given to us in the teachings
of our Order which insist on a careful study of the Kingdoms of the Macrocosm
and the Microcosm side by side with our Spiritual Development, one study
helping the other; in fact the two are almost inseparable.
Now the Kingdom of the Microcosm, the man, with which this lecture is
chiefly occupied, has distinctly its character, its constitution, its
inhabitants etc.—The King is placed in his sphere, that is the boundary,
the frontier of his realm.
The constitution consists of his Sephiroth, upon which the principal
scheme of the Kingdom is modelled.
Its character would be the general aim and tendency of the Kingdom. (This
would depend on the inclination of the pole of its sphere as regards the
Macrocosm.)
The King's abode is in Tiphereth where is placed his throne, the seat
of the Human Will, whence he wields the reins of government either as
a great ruler inspired by his masters above, the Spiritual and Divine
Consciousness, or as the Ruler debased (inspired or, more accurately speaking,
obsessed) by the voluntary abdication of his rule, through being
led astray by the temptation of the Automatic Consciousness to descend
therein and make Yesod his chief abode instead of Tiphereth, thereby permitting
the usurption of the Higher by the Lower.
This fall, according to the nature of the man, (besides leading to other
evils) may bring him to the Phallic School of Symbolism or to the grossest
sensuality, for these two things are merely the expression of the same
error in different natures.
His people are the many Forces of the Sephiroth of Ruach, working in
Malkuth through Nephesch (Nephesch = Malkuth) The Priesthood, or rather
the Prophets and Magicians, alone ascending as far as their Daath, they
dwelling on the Threshold of their Divine Consciousness.
The Nobles will be with the King himself, about his throne in Tiphereth;
as well as all the petty rulers, and professions and trades governed by
the Sun.
In Chesed are the various occupations under Jupiter.
In Geburah, Netzach and Hod are all those under Mars, Venus and Mercury.
Yesod, as the seat of the Automatic Consciousness, can hardly be said
to be an inhabitant, a conscious being; rather might it be represented
by the machinery, works and tools of the nation.
Of course each Sephira will have its own Ten Sephiroth within it, which
would give its various types—professions, trades, etc.—for
example—--Chesed;—in its Kether might be the Priest (this
naturally supposes the Priest to be true and upright; the Prophet as the
inspired Priest, which we mentioned before, is placed in the Daath of
the man.)
A Philanthropist would be in its Chesed; in its Tiphereth—a judge;
and probably an artisan working under Jupiter in its Yesod.
Now he who is a just ruler will try to know well these people, his subjects;
neither giving undue attention or preference to either one class or another,
nor permitting strife in any one of them,—therefore must one of
the works of a student for Adept-ship be to learn to bring perfect order
into the Six Sephiroth of his Ruach, then will the Qlipoth who may be
called the Wild Beasts of the Nation, be forced to retire, they only having
been permitted to remain through Disorder.
He will then be able to banish them to their own plane, the land beyond
Malkuth; as they, working in their own habitation, therefore in their
own element, they will be as the lecture on the Microcosm says ‘equilibrated
therein and the Evil Persona (their synthesis) will become as a strong
yet trained animal, whereupon the man rideth, this bringing added material
strength unto the man', which is a thing to be desired, if it be completely
governed by the Higher.
One school of Occultism insists on the Neophyte retiring from the world,
on his leading a thoroughly ascetic life, and in every way trying to exist
without thought or desire for anything of that which is Human.
Now to some of us this may appear to be the only method for the attainment
of that self-development which we express in the Tiphereth clause of the
Adeptus Minor Obligation, when we pledge ourselves to become more than
human.
We know that all the works of Nature are gradual in their growth, therefore
must a man also be gradual in his growth, and before attaining to that
more than human, that is to say, Yetziratic, Briatic and Aziluthic planes
he must certainly be the Perfect Man in Assiah.
It must be our object then, to become that Perfect Man, in order to attain
ultimately to that Angel, that Archangel, and that Divinity, which are
in Yetzirah, in Briah, and in Atziluth.
And the Zelator Adeptus Minor, is not actually given any special manner
of life to follow; rather is he advised to determine for himself
what shall be his relations with his family business, society, etc., seeing
that we human beings are so varied in our character as in our surroundings
so that the discipline which will be beneficial for one may often be evil
for another.
One thing, however, is greatly insisted upon, and that is that we should
not retire from the world, for we can succeed in perfecting ourselves
in what is required of us without isolation.
In certain cases, it might be advisable for the execution of certain
experiments connected with more advanced studies to avoid contact with
others for a short time; but this would only be permissible in special
cases.
One of the reasons why we are told not to isolate ourselves is that isolation
tends to make a man egotistical—it will become a habit to him to
study and to pay too much attention to his own Microcosm, whereby he will
neglect other Microcosms which together with his form part of the Macrocosm;
and this Egotism of the Spirit, (though not so gross a sin as is that
of the Animal or the Human Consciousness) will yet be a far greater snare
to him, as being more subtle and therefore less easy to be perceived and
checked.
For the chief danger of spiritual egotism lies in the self-righteous
spirit so easily developed, which while gradually absorbing the true Occult
Aspiration flatters its victim with the idea that he is rapidly attaining
his proposed Goal.
It will be best, then, for us to live amongst our fellows, and in our
contact with them are we advised to avoid preaching and proselytising;
which often leads also to a condition of selfrighteousness in the
Preacher, and is generally useless to the listener.
Rather would we influence them by our example, and by keeping our thoughts
as well as our actions pure.
Our Order teaches that one of our aims should be the Regeneration
of the Race of the Planet.
We who are but beginners, and but on the Threshold of the Second Order,
can do but little yet in this Great Work, but we are daily approaching
this end, if we are fitting ourselves to become the Perfect Man, for he,
the Perfect Man, the Adept, whose Human Will is at one with his Divine
Will, therefore always in contact with his Genius, or Angelic Self, can
attract yet Higher Forces. These Forces sending down Divine Rays till
they radiate through him, he, the Adept, is able to give out this Force
to the human beings who are ready to receive it, and thus is he helping
in their regeneration; an Angel or a God not being so fitted for the contact
with ordinary mortals, as is the Adept who, though exalted is still a
man, and of Assiah.
Most of you will recall that passage in Bulwer Lytton's Zanoni, (that
romance which contains so many valuable hints on Occult study and which
is a good lesson to us on the dangers of untrained Occultism) when he
says, speaking of Zanoni, that ‘those with whom he principally associated,
the gay, the dissipated, the thoughtless, the Sinners and publicans
of the more polished world—all appeared rapidly, insensibly to themselves
to awaken to purer thoughts and more regulated lives.'
We who are but Neophytes in the Great Initiation, can only at very rare
moments be so in touch with our Higher Self, that our head is immediately
under our Kether. For those few moments we are standing in the position
in which the Adept ever stands—yet must we on no account imagine
that during those few seconds we have equal power with the Adept, for
unaccustomed as we are to the Divine Vision, it almost blinds us
and it can therefore only be partially transmitted to our Spiritual and
Human Selves; yet is this partial vision greatly to be desired, for it
is a Force unto us, and it also gives us a glimpse of what we may one
day attain.
Let us try then to ascend unto our Higher Self, and to stand with our
head under the Crown, before deciding on any great and important action
in our life, and especially, and this most especially, when we are judging
another, or trying to modify the life of another, for that is indeed a
grave responsibility;— for we imperfect mortals are ever ready to
lean towards the Pillar of Mercy or the Pillar of Severity, and even if
we do remain standing in the Middle Pillar, the Pillar of Mildness; how
few of us raise our heads to our Kether—only with his head touching
his Crown, his Kether, can a man have perfect Knowledge of the things
of his Assiah.
He who leans much towards the Pillar of Mercy, will think him the Perfect
Judge, cruel when that Judge deems it necessary to extend his arm on the
side of Severity.
He who leans to the Pillar of Severity will also have corrupted vision,
for judging from thence, the action of the Perfect Judge will appear to
him feeble, when that Judge may have found it well to extend his arms
on the side of Mercy.
He who stands straight in the Middle Pillar will not be so prejudiced
as his brothers who lean towards Severity or Mercy, but unless he is linked
with his Ket her, he does not take in the whole scheme of his Sephiroth;—is
therefore incomplete, and his judgment imperfect. Let us be careful, then,
in judging another, we see how easily we may be deceived, and' let us
insist and force ourselves to aspire to, and be convinced that we are
indeed with our Higher Self, before pronouncing such a judgment,
seeing how much mischief may be worked through the action of Unbalanced
Mercy or Severity, or of the insufficient judgment of the Middle Pillar
without the Crown;—as the Hiereus in the 0°=0° Ceremony
hath said:— ‘Unbalanced Severity is cruelty and oppression;
Unbalanced Mercy is but weakness and would permit Evil to exist unchecked,
thus making itself an accomplice of the Evil'.
Referring again to the Six Sephiroth of the Ruach, and to the necessity
of keeping them balanced; it will occur to most of us (who almost without
exception are given to some profession or occupation) that we shall be
delayed in Spiritual Development by tending, in our daily duties, to throw
out more rays from the Spiritual Consciousness to some portions of our
Sephiroth at the expense of the others, and thereby becoming unbalanced.
Though far more difficult to live than the life in which we can dispose
of our time, more or less, at will, this need not be a delay in our development;
these daily duties may indeed be an increased strength to us. But in such
a case, must we aim always at the Purest and the Best of that occupation,
whatever it may be, and attempt to develop in it those qualities that
we may be weak or deficient in, such as courage, resolution, patience,
concentration, etc., which can be learned in the performance of any
work, however petty.
So that if we are really doing our best, we are bringing increase
of strength to the Highest part of the Sephirah in which we may happen
to be working;—and to increase the Power of the Kether of anyone
of our Sephiroth can but be an added strength to the Self of the Whole;
for the Kether of each of our Sephiroth is the reflection of that of our
Microcosm, which again is a reflection of its Higher Prototypes, and being
Kether (or rather its reflection) in its action, however great its strength,
it will not become disorderly and attempt to over-ride another Sephirah,
but will be reflected again into the Kether of the man, thereby becoming
an increased force to him, for seeing that it is a presentment of the
Divine no Kether can be unbalanced.
For we see that even the Kether of the Qlipoth can hardly be said to
be unbalanced, being composed of Two Forces, ever contending certainly,
for it is that quality of contention that makes them partake of the Qlipoth;
yet are they balanced, for were they not of equal strength, how could
they ever be at war with one another? Sooner or later one would have to
surrender.
Therefore is it evident,—that many are the means to Knowledge,
and many are the paths by which we may reach the Goal of the Initiate—wherefore—I
would say to each of you;—absurd and ill-judged is it to rule that
all shall crowd into one path, because that happens to be the one chosen
by one member. There is too much tendency to wish all to follow the Ideal
of one,—we are apt to forget that the Ideal of each will lead to
the same Truth. We can help each other better, then, by helping each to
rise according to his own ideas, rather than, as we often unwisely do,
in advising him to rise to what is best in ourselves only.
That error of wishing to make another as ourselves is another and a very
hurtful form of most subtle egotism. All we can do is to help him to elevate
himself and to study to ‘Know Himself', in order that by working
at that Knowledge, he may cross the Threshold of the Portal, which leads
to the Knowledge of the Divine.
Ex Deo Nascimur!
In Yeheshuah Morimur!
Per Spiritum Sanctum Reviviscimus!
|