The Cloud upon the Sanctuary [part 3]

By the Councillor d' Eckartshausen
Translated (with notes) By Madame Isabel De Steiger

Published in six parts in the periodical "The Unknown World", 1895.

Part 1 Letters 1&2

Part 2 Letters 3&4

Part 3 Letters 5&6

 

LETTER V

In our last letter, my dear brothers (and sisters), you granted me
your earnest attention to that highest of mysteries, the real
possession of God; it is therefore necessary to give you fuller light
on this subject.
Man, as we know, is unhappy in this world because he is made out
of destructible matter that is subject to trouble and sorrow.
The fragile envelope- i.e., his body- exposes him to the
violence of the elements, pain, poverty, suffering, illnesses. This is
his normal fate; his immortal spirit languishing in the bonds of
sense. Man is unhappy, because he is ill in body and soul, and he
possesses no true panacea either for his body or for his soul.
Those whose duty it is to govern and lead other men to happiness,
are as other men, also weak and subject to the same passions and
prejudices.
Therefore, what fate can humanity expect? Must the greater part of
it be always unfortunate? Is there no salvation for all ?
Brothers, if humanity as a whole is ever capable of being raised
to a condition of true happiness, such state can only be possible
under the following conditions:-
First, poverty, pain, illness and sorrow must become much less
frequent. Secondly, passions, prejudices and ignorance must diminish.
Is this at all possible with the nature of man, when experience
proves that, from century to century, suffering only assumes fresh
form; that passions, prejudices and errors always cause the same
evils; and when we realise that all these things only change shape,
and that man in every age remains much the same weak man?
There is a terrible judgment pronounced upon the human race, and
this judgment is- men can never become happy so long as they will not
become wise; but they will never become wise, while sensuality governs
reason, while the spirit languishes in the bonds of flesh and blood.
Where is the man that has no passions? Let him show himself. Do
we not all wear the chains of sensuality more or less heavily? Are we
not all slaves? All sinners?
This realization of our low estate excites in us the desire to be
raised beyond it, and we lift up our eyes on high, and an angel's
voice says- the sorrows of man shall be comforted.
Man being sick body and soul, this mortal sickness must have a
cause, and this cause is to be found in the very matter out of
which man is made.
The destructible imprisons the indestructible, the ferment of
sin is in us, and in this ferment is human corruption, and its
propagation and consequences form the perpetuation of original sin.
The healing of humanity is only possible through the destruction
of this ferment of sin, hence we have need of a physician and a remedy
that really can cure us. But an invalid cannot be cured by another;
the man of destructible matter cannot re-make himself of
indestructible matter; dead matter cannot awake other dead, the blind
cannot lead the blind.
Only the Perfect can bring anything to perfection; only the
Indestructible can make the destructible likewise; only the Living can
wake the dead.
This Physician and this active Medicine cannot be found in death
and destruction, only in superior nature where all is perfection and
life!
The lack of the knowledge of the union of Divinity with nature,
nature with man, is the true cause of all prejudice and error.
Theologians, philosophers, moralists, all wish to regulate the world,
and they fill it with endless contradictions.
Theologians do not see the union of God with nature and fall
therefore into error.
Philosophers study only matter, and not the connection of pure
nature with divine nature, and therefore announce the falsest
opinions.
Moralists will not recognise the inherent corruption of human
nature, and they expect to cure by words, when means are absolutely
necessary.
Thus the world, man and God, continue in permanent dissension; one
opinion drives out another; superstition and incredulity take turn
about in dominating society, separating man from the word of truth
when he has so much dire need of approaching her.
It is only in the true Schools of Wisdom that one can learn to
know God, nature, and man; and in these, for thousands of years, has
work been done in silence to acquire to the highest degree this
knowledge,- the union of man with pure nature and with God.
This great object, God and Nature, to which everything tends, has
been represented to man symbolically in every religion ; and all the
symbols and holy glyphs are but the letter by which man can gradually,
step by step, recover the highest of all divine mysteries, natural
and human, and learn the means of healing his unhappy condition, and
of the union of his being with pure nature and with God.
We have attained this epoch solely under God's guidance. Divinity,
next remembering its covenant with man, has given forth the means of
cure for suffering mankind, and shown thereby how to raise man to his
original dignity, uniting him to God, the Source of his happiness.
The knowledge of this method ensuring recovery is the science of
Saints and of the Elect, and its possession the inheritance promised
to God's children.
Now, my beloved brothers, I want you to grant me your most earnest
attention to what I am about to say.
In our blood there is lying concealed a slimy matter (called
the gluten) which has a nearer kinship to animal than to spiritual
man. This gluten is the body of sin.
This material, this matter, can be modified in various manners,
according to the stimulus of sense; and according to the kind of
modification and change occurring in this body or matter of sin, so
also vary the diverse sinful tendencies of man.
In its most violent expansion this matter produces pride; in its
utmost contraction, avarice, self-will and selfishness; in its
repulsion, rage and anger; in its circular movements levity and
incontinence in its eccentricity, greediness and drunken-ness; in its
concentricity, envy; in its essence, sloth.
This ferment of sin, as original sin, is more or less working in
the blood of every man, and is transmitted from father to son, and the
perpetual propagation of this baneful material everlastingly hinders
the simultaneous action of spirit with matter.
It is quite true that man by his will power can put limits to the
action of this body of sin, and can dominate it so that it becomes
less active, but to destroy and annihilate it altogether is beyond his
power. This then is the cause of the combat we are constantly waging
between the good and the evil in us.
This body of sin which is in us, forms the ties of flesh and blood
which, on the one side, bind us to our immortal spirit, and, on the
other, to the tendencies of the animal man. It is as it were the
allurements of the animal passions that smoulder and take fire at
last.
The violent reaction of this body of sin in us, on sensuous
stimulation, is the reason why we choose, for the want of calm and
tranquil judgment, rather the evil than the good, because the active
fermentation of this matter impedes the quiet action of the spirit
necessary to instruct and sustain the reason.
This same evil matter is also the cause of our ignorance, because,
as its thick and inflexible substance surcharges the fine brain
fibres, it prevents the co-action of reason, which is required to
penetrate the objects of the understanding.
Thus falseness and all evils are the properties of this sinful
matter, this body of sin, just as the good and the true are the
essential qualities of the spiritual principle within us.
Through the recognition and thorough understanding by us of this
body of sin we learn to see that we are beings morally ill, that we
have need of a physician who can give us a medicine which will destroy
and eradicate the evil matter always fermenting banefully within us, a
remedy that will cure us and restore us to moral health.
We learn also clearly to recognise that all mere moralizing with
words is of little use when real means are necessary.
We have been moralizing in varied words for centuries, but the
world remains pretty much the same. A doctor would do but little good
in talking only of his remedies, it is necessary for him actually to
prescribe his medicines; he has, however, first to see the real state
of the sick person.
The condition of humanity- the moral sickness of man- is a true case
of poisoning, consequent upon the eating of the fruit of the tree in
which corruptible matter had the superiority.
The first effect of this poison resulted thus: the incorruptible
principle, the body of life as opposed to the body of sin or death,
whose expansion caused the perfection of Adam, concentrated itself
inwardly, and the external part was abandoned to the government of the
elements. Hence a mortal matter gradually covered the immortal
essence, and the loss of this central light was the cause subsequently
of all man's sufferings.
Communication with the world of light was interrupted, the
interior eye which bad the power of seeing truth objectively
was closed, and the physical eye opened to the plane of changing
phenomena.
Man lost all true happiness, and in this unhappy condition he
would have for ever lost all means of restoration to health were it
not that the love and mercy of God, who had no other object in
creation but the greatest happiness for its creatures, immediately
afforded to fallen man a means of recovery. In this means, he, with
all posterity, had the right to trust, in order that while still in
his state of banishment, he might support his misfortune with humility
and resignation, and, moreover, find in his pilgrimage the great
consolation, that every corruptible thing in man could be restored
perfectly through the love of a Saviour.
Despair would have been the fate of man without such revelation.
Man, before the Fall, was the living Temple of Divinity, and at
the time when this Temple was destroyed, the plan to rebuild the
Temple was already projected by the Wisdom of God; and at this period
begin the Holy Mysteries of every religion, which are all and each in
themselves, after a thousand varying modes, according to time and
circumstances, and method of conception of different nations, but
symbols repeated and modified of one solitary truth, and this unique
truth is- regeneration, or the re-union of man with God.
Before the Fall man was wise, he was united to Wisdom; after the
Fall he was no longer one with Her, hence a true science through
express Revelation became absolutely necessary.
The Revelation was the following:-
The condition of immortality consists in immortality permeating
the mortal. Immortal substance is divine substance, and is no other
than the magnificence of the Almighty throughout nature, the substance
of the world and spirits, the infinity, in short, of God in whom all
things move and have their being.
It is an immutable law, no creature can be truly happy when
separated from the source of all happiness. This source, this in whom,
is the magnificence of God Himself.
Through the partaking of destructible nourishment, man himself
became destructible and material; matter, therefore, as it were places
itself between God and man, that is to say, man is not directly
penetrated and permeated by divinity, and, in consequence, he is
thenceforth subject to, and falls under the dominion of, the laws
regulating matter.
The divine in man, imprisoned by the bonds of this matter, is his
immortal part, the part that should be at liberty, in order that its
development should once again rule the mortal. Then once more does man
regain his original greatness.
But a means for his cure, and a method to externalise what is now
hidden and concealed within, is requisite. Fallen and unwise man of
himself can neither know nor grasp this expedient; he cannot even
recognise it, because he has lost pure knowledge and the light of true
wisdom; he cannot take hold of it, because this remedy is infolded in
interior nature, and he has neither the strength or power to unlock
this hidden force.
Hence Revelation to learn this means, and strength to acquire this
power are necessary to man.
This necessity for the salvation of man was the cause of the
determination of Wisdom, or the Son of God, to give Himself to be
known by man, being the pure substance out of which all has
been made. In this pure substance all power is reserved to vivify all
dead substance, and to purify all that is impure.
But before that could be done, and the inmost part of man, the
divine in him, be once more penetrated and re-opened again, and the
whole world be regenerated, it was requisite that this divine
substance should incarnate in humanity and become human, and therein
transmit the divine and regenerative force to humanity; it was
necessary also that this divine human form should be killed, in order
that the divine and incorruptible substance contained in the blood
should penetrate into the recesses of the earth, and thenceforth work
a gradual dissolution of corruptible matter, so that in due time a
pure and regenerated earth will be presented to man, with the Tree of
Life growing once more, so that by partaking of its fruit, containing
the true immortal essence, mortality in us will be once more
annihilated, and man healed by the fruit of the Tree of Life, just as
he was once poisoned by the partaking of the fruit of death.
This fact is the first and most important revelation and it
embraces all, and it has been carefully preserved from mouth to mouth
among the Chosen of God up to this time.
Human nature required a Saviour, this Saviour was Jesus Christ,
the Wisdom of God itself, reality from God. He put on the envelope of
humanity, to communicate directly the divine and immortal substance
once more to the world, which was nothing else but Himself.
He offered himself voluntarily, in order that the pure essential
force in His blood could penetrate directly, bringing with it the
potentiality of all perfection to the hidden recesses of the earth.
Himself, both as High Priest and as Victim at the same time,
entered into the Holy of Holies, and after having accomplished all
that was necessary, he laid the foundation of the Royal Priesthood of
His Elect, and taught these through the knowledge His person and of
His powers; now they should lead, as the first born of the spirit,
other men, their brethren, to universal happiness.
And here begin the Sacerdotal Mysteries of the Elect and of the
Inner Church.
The Royal and Priestly Science is that of Regeneration. It is
called Royal Science because it leads man to power and the
dominion over Nature.
It is called Sacerdotal, because it sanctifies and brings all to
perfection, spreading blessing and goodness everywhere.
This Science owes its immediate origin to the verbal
revelation of God, it is always the Science of the Inner Church of
Prophets and of Saints, and it recognised no other High Priest but
Jesus Christ the Lord.
This Science has a triple object; first, regenerating the
individual and isolated man, or the first of the Elect; second, many
men; thirdly, all humanity.
Its exercise consists in the highest perfecting of itself and of
everything in Nature.
This Science was never taught otherwise than by the Holy Spirit of
God, and by those who were in unison with this Spirit, and it is
beyond all other sciences, because it can alone teach the knowledge of
God, of nature, and of man in a perfect harmony; while other sciences
do not understand truly either God or nature, neither man nor his
destination.
The capabilities of this Science are the powers to know God in
man, and divinity in nature; these being, as it were, the Divine
impression or seals, by which our inner selves can be opened and can
arrive at union with Divinity.
Thus the re-union was the most exalted aim, and hence the
Priesthood derived its name religio, clerus regenerans.
Melchizedek was the first Priest King; all true Priests of God and
of Nature descend from him, and Jesus Christ himself was united with
him as "priest" after the order of Melchizedek. This word is literally
of the highest and widest significance and extent- [qoph][daleth]
[tsadhe][kaph][lamedh][yod][mem] (MLKIZDQ). It means literally the
introducing of the true substance of vital life, and the separation of
this true vital substance from the mortal envelope which encloses it.
A Priest is one who separates that which is pure nature from that
which is of impure nature, a separator of the substance which contains
all from the destructible matter which occasions pain and misery. The
sacrifice or that which has been separated consists in bread and wine.
Bread means literally the substance which contains all; wine the
substance which vitalizes everything.
Therefore, a priest after the order of Melchizedek is one who
knows how to separate the all-embracing and vitalizing substance from
impure matter, one who knows how to employ it as a real means of
reconciliation and of re-union for fallen humanity, in order to
communicate to him his true and royal privilege of power over nature,
and the Sacerdotal dignity or the ability to unite himself by grace to
the upper worlds.
In these few words is contained all the mystery of God's
Priesthood, and the occupation and aim of the Priest.
But this royal Priesthood was only able to reach perfect maturity
when Jesus Christ Himself as high Priest had fulfilled the greatest of
all sacrifices, and had entered into the Holy Sanctuary.
Here we are now entering on new and great mysteries worthy, I
entreat you, of your most earnest attention.
When, according to the wisdom and justice of God, it was resolved
to save the fallen human race, the Wisdom of God had to choose the
method which afforded in every aspect the most efficacious means for
the consummation of this great object.
When man became so thoroughly poisoned by the fruit of evil,
carrying in himself henceforth the ferment of death, all around him
became subject to death and destruction, therefore, divine mercy was
bound to establish a counter remedy, which could be partaken of,
containing within itself the divine and revitalising substance, so
that by taking this immortal food, poisoned and death-stricken man
could be healed and rescued from his suffering. But in order that
this Tree of Life could be replanted; it was requisite beyond all
things that the corruptible material in the centre of the earth should
be first regenerated, resolved and made capable of being again one day
a universally vitalising substance.
This capacity for new life, bringing about the dissolution of
corruptible essence which is inherent in the centre of the earth, was,
however, possible to no other matter than divine vital substance
enveloped in flesh and blood which could transmit the hidden forces of
life to dead nature. This was done through the death of Jesus Christ.
The tinctural force which flowed from His shed blood penetrated
to the innermost parts of the earth, raised the dead, rent the rocks,
and caused the total eclipse of the sun when it pressed from the
centre of the earth where the light penetrated the central darkness to
the circumference, and there laid the foundation of the future
glorification of the world.
Since the death of Jesus Christ, the divine force, driven to the
earth's centre by the shedding of His blood, works and ferments
perpetually to press outward, and to fit and prepare all substances
gradually for the great cataclysm which is destined for the world.
But the rebuilding of the world's edifice in general was not only
the aim of Redemption. Man was the principal object for the shedding
of Christ's blood, and to procure for him already in this material
world the highest possible perfection by the amelioration of his
being, Jesus Christ submitted to infinite suffering.
He is the Saviour of the world and of man. The object and cause
of His Incarnation was to rescue us from sin, misery, and from death.
Jesus Christ has delivered us from all evil by His flesh, which He
sacrificed, and by His blood, which He shed for us.
In the clear understanding of what consists this flesh and
this blood of Jesus Christ lies the true and pure knowledge of
the real regeneration of man.
The mystery of being united with Jesus Christ, not only
spiritually but also corporeally, is the greatest aim of the
Inner Church. Become one with Him in spirit and in being is the
fulfilling and plenitude of the efforts of the Elect.
The means for this real possession of God is hidden from the wise
of this world, and revealed to the simplicity of children.
Vain philosopher, bend thyself before the grand and Divine
Mysteries that thou in thy wisdom canst not understand, and for the
penetration of whose secrets the feeble light of human reason darkened
by sense can give thee no measure!

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

I am well aware that many readers of this fifth (the last but one)
letter and the preceding ones, will think that the mystic who writes
them was but a half-instructed philosopher, and had he known the
Bibles of other nations would never have taught what will seem to
some, bigoted and sectarian doctrines. But before such dictum be
decided, is it not as well to remember that Eckartshausen and other
mystics of his school especially say that all religions in their
infinitely various manners of expressing themselves have the same
object? Eckartshausen recognises and does not even hint at
condemnation of any of the various religions, he seems to respect all
for he says that the aim and object of all is the Regeneration of Man.
The stumbling block and difficulty to most students, certainly to
those who are students only of the neo-Buddhism of the day, is the
re-introduction of what is considered by such as exploded and narrow
ideas, and that is the need of man for Salvation, his inability to
help himself, and the Redemption of man by the Sacrifice of the Jewish
Saviour. It is neither in my province or power to enter with ability
into this discussion, but I would respectfully suggest these two
things- first are we quite sure as Buddhist students that we do
understand the true hidden teaching of the Way of Salvation as known
to their Initiates; secondly, do we all understand it either in
Christianity? It is true, exoteric Buddhism even when called esoteric
repudiates such doctrines, Christianity admits them, but has taught
them in such fashion that a large proportion of people born under
Christianity repudiate them also. It is clear the outer schools all
repudiate them, so it would seem that the Mystic Initiates preach
doctrine no longer agreeable to our "sense of justice."
It is thought by many that these new (?) doctrines of Karma and
re-incarnation are much more satisfactory than Christian doctrines.
Perhaps so, as modern Christianity is understood. But is evil Karma
aught else but original sin in its works and
consequences?
All knowledge is requisite, and it matters not so much how we get
knowledge, so long that we do get it, therefore we owe a vast and
great debt of gratitude to the Eastern school for refreshing ours by
proving from another aspect the truth of our own, and one must
recognise the great value of the recovery, not discovery of these
doctrines (as our able thinker Mr. Maitland would say). But I take my
stand upon the ground that knowledge even of true doctrine is not
always directly helpful. Indeed, as a most respected thinker says,
"the doctrine of Karmic re-incarnation is in truth a terrible one in
point of FACT, and hopeless for the individual." The law of Karma is,
in fact, the law entailed on destructible matter, the law under which
we are all born as "sinners," that law, which Christ who fulfilled all
the law, which we can never do, but out of whose power it is
henceforth possible for us to raise ourselves through his perfection.
But this is a long subject and must now not be entered into, as it is
unwise as useless to profane great subjects by inaccurate statement
and mere polemics. Unhappily, owing to much vaporous and non-
experimental discourse on the mysteries of Regeneration, more
particularly the result of the Calvinist school, there was no doubt
much profanation; and the re-action that many thoughtful and earnest
minds feel still, even to the very words, is due to the inner terror
that they felt, though not understood, at this profanation. The
mystics put to us the great question: Can man work out his own
salvation? They say, No. The Eastern school, as we know it, which is
not in its entirety, says Yes. It appears to me the mere observation
of life and society in the West says, No. This may not apply to
others.
The "Raj-yog" may be a perfect means of "salvation" to some
nations. Is it to ours?
With regard to the text quoted in the last letter, "For a just man
falleth seven times and riseth up again," it is referable to Proverbs
xxiv., i6. The number seven is important.
We must carefully bear in mind all throughout these letters, just
as in the Bhagavat Ghita, two orders of minds are addressed. The
latter, however, being a Sacred Book from Catholic source, has
universal as well as particular application, whereas mystics write as
a rule particularly but to the Initiate as well as to the Neophyte.

ISABEL DE STEIGER.

Scanned from "The Unknown World", Vol. II. - No. 4, May 15, 1895.

 

LETTER VI AND LAST

God made Himself man to deify man. Heaven united itself with earth
to transform earth into heaven.
But in order that these divine transformations can take place, an
entire change, a complete and absolute overturning and upsetting of our
being, is necessary.
This change, this upsetting, is called re-birth. To be
born, simply means to enter into a world in which the senses
dominate, in which wisdom and love languish in the bonds of
individuality.
To be re-born means to return to a world where the spirit
of wisdom and love governs, and where animal-man obeys.
The re-birth is triple; first, the re-birth of our intelligence;
second, of our heart and of our will; and, finally, the re-birth of
our entire being.
The first and second kinds are called the spiritual, and the third
the corporeal re-birth.
Many pious men, seekers after God, have been regenerated in the
mind and will, but few have known the corporeal rebirth. This last has
been attained to but by few men, and those to whom it has been given
have only received it that they might serve as agents of God,
in accordance with great and grand objects and intentions, and to
bring humanity nearer to felicity.
It is now necessary, my dear brothers, to lay before you the true
order of rebirth. God, who is all strength, wisdom, and love, works
eternally in order and in harmony.
He who will not receive the spiritual life, he who is not born
anew from the Lord, can not enter into heaven.
Man is engendered through his parents in original sin, that is to
say, he enters into the natural life and not the spiritual.
The spiritual life consists in loving God above everything, and
your neighbour as yourself. In this double-love consists the
principle of the new life.
Man is begotten in evil, in the love of himself and of the things
of this world. Love of himself! Self interest! Self gratification!
Such are the substantial properties of evil. The good is in the love
of God and your neighbour, in knowing no other love but the love of
mankind, no interest but that affecting every man, and no other
pleasure but that of the well-being of all.
It is by such sentiments that the spirit of the children of God is
distinguished from the spirit of the children of this world.
To change the spirit of this world into the spirit of the children
of God is to be regenerated, and it means to despoil the old man, and
to re-clothe the new.
But no person can be re-born if he does not know and put in
practise the following principle- that of truth becoming the object
for our doing or not doing; therefore, he who desires to be re-born
ought first to know what belongs to re-birth. He ought to understand,
meditate, and reflect on all this. Afterwards he should act according
to his knowledge, and the result will be a new life.
Now, as it is first necessary to know, and to be instructed in all
that appertains to re-birth, a doctor, or an instructor is required,
and if we know one, faith in him is also necessary, because of what
use is an instructor if his pupil have no faith in him?
Hence, the commencement of re-birth is faith in Revelation.
The disciple should begin by believing that the Lord, the Son, is
the Wisdom of God, that He is from all Eternity from God, and that He
came into the world to bring happiness to humanity. He should believe
that the Lord has full power in heaven and on earth, and that all
faith and love, all the true and the good, come from Him alone; that
He is the Mediator, the Saviour, and Governor of men.
When this most exalting faith has taken root in us, we shall think
often of the Saviour, and these thoughts turned towards Him develop,
and by His grace re-acting in us, the seven closed and spiritual
powers are opened.
The way to happiness.- Do you wish, man and brother, to
acquire the highest happiness possible? Search for truth, wisdom, and
love. But you will not find truth, wisdom, and love, save in the
unity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed of God.
Seek, then, Jesus Christ with all your strength, search Him from
the fullness of your heart.
The beginning of His Ascension is the knowledge of His absence,
and from the recognition of this knowledge is the desire for increased
power to seek Him, which desire is the beginning of faith.
Faith gives confidence, but faith has also its order of progress.
First comes historic faith, then moral, then divine, and finally
living faith. The progression is as follows: Historical faith
when we learn to believe the history of Jesus of Nazareth, and through
this simple historical faith in the existence of Jesus, will
evolve moral faith, whose development consists in the acquirement of
virtue by its search and practice, so that we see and find real
pleasure in all that is taught by this Man; we find that His simple
doctrine is full of wisdom and His teaching full of love; that His
intentions towards humanity are straight and true, and that He
willingly suffered death for the sake of justice. Thus, faith in His
Person will be followed by faith in His Divinity.
This same Jesus Christ tells us now that He is Son of God, and he
emphasizes His words by instructing His disciples in the sacred
mysteries of nature and religion.
Here natural and reasonable faith changes into divine faith, and
we begin to believe that he was God made man. From this faith it
results that we hold as true all that we do not yet understand, but
which He tells us to believe. Through this faith in the Divinity of
Jesus, and by that entire surrender to Him, and the faithful
attention to His directions, is at last produced that living faith, by
which we find within ourselves and TRUE through our own
experience, all that hitherto we have until now believed in merely
with the confidence of a child; and this living faith proved by
experience is the highest grade of all.
When our hearts, through living faith, have received Jesus Christ
into them, then this Light of the World is born within us as in a
humble stable.
Everything in us is impure, surrounded by the spider-webs of
vanity, covered with the mud of sensuality.
Our will is the ox that is under the yoke of its passions. Our
reason is the Ass who is bound through the obstinacy of its opinions,
its prejudices, its follies.
In this miserable and ruined hut, the home of all the animal
passions, can Jesus Christ be born in us through faith.
The simplicity of our souls, is as the shepherds who brought their
first offerings, until at last the three principal powers of our royal
dignity, our reason, our will, and our activity[1] prostrate
themselves before Him and offer Him the gifts of truth, wisdom, and
love.
Little by little, the stable of our hearts changes itself into an
exterior Temple, where Jesus Christ teaches, but this Temple is still
full of Scribes and Pharisees.
Those who sell, Dives and the money changers, are still to be
found, and these should be driven out, and the Temple changed into a
House of Prayer.
Little by little Jesus Christ chooses all the good powers in us to
announce Him. He heals our blindness, purifies our leprosy, raises the
dead powers into living forces within us; He is crucified in us, He
dies, and He is gloriously raised again Conqueror with us. Afterwards
His personality lives in us, and instructs us in exalted mysteries,
until He has made us complete and ready for the perfect Regeneration,
when He mounts to heaven and thence sends us the Spirit of Truth.
But before such a Spirit can act in us, we experience the
following changes:-
First, the seven powers of our understanding are lifted up within
us; afterwards, the seven powers of our hearts or of our will, and
this exaltation takes place after the following manner. The human
understanding is divided into seven powers; the first is that of
looking at abstract objects- intuitus. By the second we
perceive the objects abstractedly regarded- apperceptio. By the
third, that which has been perceived is reflected upon-
reflexio. The fourth is that of considering these objects in
their diversity- fantasia, imaginatio. The fifth is that of
deciding upon some thing- judicium. The sixth co-ordinates all
these according to their relationships- ratio. The seventh and
last is the power of realizing the whole intellectual intuition-
intellectus.
This last contains, so to say, the sum of all the others.
The will of man divides itself similarly into seven powers, which,
taken together as a unit, form the will of man, being, as it were, its
substantial parts.
The first is the capacity of desiring things apart from himself-
desiderium. The second is the power to annex mentally things
desired for himself- appetitus. The third is the power of
giving them form, realizing them so as to satisfy his desire-
concupiscentia. The fourth is that of receiving inclinations,
without deciding upon acting upon any, as in the condition of passion-
passio. The fifth is the capacity for deciding for or against a
thing, liberty- libertas. The sixth is that choice or a
resolution actually taken- electio. The seventh is the power
of giving the object chosen an existence- voluntas. This
seventh power also contains all the others in one figure.
Now the seven powers of the understanding, like the seven powers
of our heart and will, can be ennobled and exalted in a very special
manner, when we embrace Jesus Christ, as being the wisdom of God, as
principle of our reason, and His whole life, which was all love, for
motive power of our will.
Our understanding is formed after that of Jesus Christ; First,
when we have Him in view in everything, when He forms the only point
of sight for all our actions- intuitus. Second, when we
perceive His actions, His sentiments, and His spirit everywhere-
apperceptio. Third, when in all our thoughts we reflect upon
His sayings, when we think in everything as He would have thought-
reflexio. Fourth, when we so comfort ourselves in such wise,
that His thoughts and His wisdom are the only object for the strength
of our imagination- fantasia. Fifth, when we reject every
thought which would not be His, and when we choose every thought which
could be His- judicium. Sixth, when in short we co-ordinate the
whole edifice of our ideas and spirit upon the model of His ideas and
spirit- ratio. Seventh, It is then will be born in us a new
light, a more brilliant one, surpassing far the light of reason of the
senses- intellectus. Our heart is also reformed in like
manner, when in everything,- First, We lean on Him only-
desidare. Second, We wish for Him only- appetere. Third,
We desire only Him- concupiscere. Fourth, We love Him only-
amare. Fifth, We choose only that which He is, so that we avoid
all that He is not- eligere. Sixth, We live only in harmony
with Him after His commandments and His institutions and orders-
subordinare. By which in short, Seventh, is born a complete
union of our will with His, by which union man is with Jesus Christ
but as one sense, one heart; by which perfect union the new man is
little by little born in us, and Divine wisdom and love unite to form
in us the new spiritual man, in whose heart faith passes into sight,
and in comparison to this living faith the treasures of India can be
considered but as ashes.
This actual possession of God or Jesus Christ in us is the Centre
towards which all the mysteries converge like rays to the circle eye;
the highest of the mysteries is this consummation.
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of truth, morality, and happiness.
It operates in the saints from the innermost to the outside, and
spreads itself gradually by the Spirit of Jesus Christ into all
nations, to institute everywhere an Order by means of which the
individual can reach as well as the race; our human nature can be
raised to its highest perfection, and sick humanity be cured from all
the evils of its weakness.
Thus the love and spirit of God Will one day alone vivify all
humanity; they will awake and rekindle all the strength of the human
race, will lead it to the goals of Wisdom and place it in suitable
relationships.
Peace, fidelity, domestic harmony, love between nations, will be
the first fruits of this Spirit. Inspiration of good without false
similitudes, the exaltation of our souls without too severe a tension,
warmth in the heart without turbulent impatience, will approach,
reconcile, and unite all the various parts of the human race, long
separated and divided by many differences, and stirred up against each
other by prejudices and errors, and in one Grand Temple of Nature,
great and little, poor and rich, all will sing the praise of the
Father of Love.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

I can but fear that, especially in this latter part, our noble
teacher Eckartshausen may displease, even disgust, some of his
readers. To the natural man the things of God are foolishness, and the
intellect that is only equipped with the opinions of this modern
nineteenth century world will probably feel even resentment at what he
or she may think is surrendering their whole natures in an ignoble
manner, and that to follow out teachings which some may consider
savour of the meeting-house or Roman Catholic Chapel- as the ending
suggests both- is really quite unsuitable for the intellectual
religious student of the various religions, Theosophical or Occult
present times, and to these objections, which one feels come
rather from the head than the heart, I would like respectfully to
suggest a few thoughts.
In the first place, Eckartshausen is addressing himself to the
Elect, these last also including all who desire to know the things of
the Spirit. Many are called but few chosen, many have the desires but
are not strong enough to carry them through; now, Eckhartshausen does
not consider these, he speaks to steady students, and he leads them up
to a point which we all feel few can attain, and that sense of
resentment is not altogether blameable, because it proceeds from an
intuition of our own shortcomings and the magnitude of the whole. In
very simple words the author puts before us the achievement of the
individual man in the greatest work that can be done on earth, the
conscious possession of God- known and taught in the Eastern School,
equally, that of the entering in of finite mortal man into
Omniscience, Immortality, and Infinity. Because we have by too common
use of such phrases lowered and profaned our own ideals, it does not
alter the fact that this possibility and the hope of mankind is
of all things the most superb. Neither, because we feel as ordinary
men and women that these things are too high for us, and our souls
faint within us at the bare notion of such achievement, need we
despair. We must reflect that the whole purpose of Creation is the
ultimate full manifestation of God in Man that though we as mere
individuals can but make small headway, yet we belong to humanity,
and it is humanity that is to be restored to its pristine glory, and
for which the superlative work of Christ's Incarnation was done. Man,
the greatest of God's works; this Catholic soul of man, when
regenerated brings about the great Redemption. Few as individuals can
attain, save those holy Priests of the Mysteries, those Saints, those
Masters of the Rosy Cross, those first men made perfect, who
lead the way for us to follow each as best he can; remembering, to our
everlasting comfort, that we are now in the Kingdom, that our
Faith keeps us there, and so that we hold on, as it were by the fringe
of His garments, we are in the Fold with our Shepherd. Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, so our Faith is a proof of the
substance to which we are annexed.
As to the objection that there are no masters and doctors, now-
are there not? God has left no one without them. Every one of us
according to his merits and requirements has some teacher of some
sort. Doubtless very few have arrived at the point when what is
called occult knowledge is either given or required; but, when any
mind is able to know the important things of the spirit, it does not
matter in what outward religion he may be placed the doctor and master
will surely come. Experience proves this. In these days there is an
unfortunate idea afloat, that "information" in the things of the
Spirit means mainly clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc. Certainly there
is much, very much, to learn about these matters, which can only be
learned correctly in special manners and under authorised teachers;
but most students are in these matters only impelled by very shallow
curiosity or vanity, and have no intention of real work. These will
not find- otherwise than what they seek. They will find but the
apparitions created by the passions of their soul, having no
substance, therefore, not signifying anything true, which they will
not have the knowledge to understand. The vaporous estate of universal
being will, as under the Satyric form of "Pan," conceal all truth from
them, and they run the risk of losing themselves away from the
Kingdom.
To readers of intellect who are dissuaded from the idea of the
"Quest" as being derogatory to their intellect to have faith in that
of which they know nothing, I would also venture to suggest that the
plan should be tried, for nowhere does Eckartshausen or any mystic at
all imply that the intellect is to be stultified. On the contrary,
they assert that the objects for the intellect are so great and noble,
that the intellect naturally, when really honourable to itself,
humbles itself because of the nobility of the objects contemplated. In
everything the intellect is regarded with respect, and it is only
humbled by the comparison it must make when it sees the vast
difference opening for it, when it leaves the small issues of the
sense-life to the great and catholic ones of the new life of man. All
this is not mere words; it is meant precisely as said, not as figment
of the imagination, which has no root in itself- but as the recorded
experience of the wise ones; which we simple ones would do well to
respect.
Now with regard to the last letter a friend suggests some valuable
thoughts which I will quote. With reference to the word gluten, lest
any one should place too gross an interpretation on the word, it may
be as well to bear in mind that a similar term has been used by others
who lead up thence and from every vulgar interpretation, by showing
that what is referred to by Eckartshausen is our sensorial life, the
sensuous spirit in the blood, which having departed from the Image of
its principle needs conversion to and co-ordination with it- not that
the body of sin- the wicked man- should die absolutely, but that he
should be converted and live, by which process he becomes indeed the
body of the divine Image by which he is re-capitulated. If he repent,
he lives with a new whole sensorium.
Thus Dante, among others, speaks in the Paradiso of the double
garment, the spiritual body, and the glorified earthly body. Refer,
moreover, to Isaiah xi. 7, "Therefore their land shall possess the
double, and everlasting joy shall be unto them," and hence it
is that the greatest and humblest of all earthly creatures, viz., the
re-created pure humanity, the Rosy-Cross of the Regeneration, has been
honoured, by such as have known the handmaid of the Lord, the Servant-
Form not yet glorified which He vouchsafed to take upon Him.
Thus the angels will be seen in the same aspect after the Judgment
as before, being true emanations, but the souls of the Saints will
bear "the two-fold garment" spoken of in Canto xxv., viz., the
spiritual and the glorified terrestial or paradisaical body, that is
to say, our sensorium being recapitulated by its Principle,
i.e., in Christ, reigneth with Him in glory, a perfect
manifestation of Deity which is the Omega of all Creation.[2]
These admirable thoughts will surely help to raise ours to a
hopeful belief that such a magnificent future is worthy of all our
highest aspiration and endeavour. Each in our own small way is of use,
we must remember that every stone is wanted by the Master Builder that
He Himself chisels and points to one great End. Surely we should have
infinite patience in all clash of opinions, knowing that opinions
matter nothing.
This little work of Eckartshausen is, as it were, his last Swans
Song. It was greatly esteemed by many, and still holds its own,
stamping the author as a man who wrote from experimental knowledge.
Doubtless he was understood thoroughly only by minds in his own grade
of office, and to such he still speaks principally. It is a mistake to
suppose that his period of history was very different from our own in
these matters; for in all generations there are minds in certain
processes of re-birth, and from time to time these speak with no
uncertain sound; each, as he departs hence, opening another door for a
new aspirant. The work is not a selfish one, it can never be
individual only. It is not our petty individual immortality that is
the aim of such writers as Eckartshausen, but each individual swells
the multitude of the Elect, and so hastens the time of the great, even
the supreme, Consummation.

ISABEL DE STEIGER.

[1] The Three Magi.

[2] It may be observed that Mystics uniformly respect the Historic
Tradition, if but as in a secondary sense, as it were a husk for the
safe keeping of the invaluable kernel, and as the bark protects the
vitality of the tree.. Thus Dean Colet, in his Introduction to
Dionysius, quoting him says- "We have heard as a mystery that Jesus
Christ was made in substance as a man, but we know not how He was
fashioned of the Virgin's substance by a law other than natural, nor
how with feet bearing a corporeal mass and weight of matter He passed
dry-shod over this watery and fleeting existence. The understanding of
this bow has not been considered essential to Salvation."

Scanned from "The Unknown World", Vol. II - No. 5, June 15, 1895.

 

Part 1 Letters 1&2

Part 2 Letters 3&4

Part 3 Letters 5&6