T H E T R E E OF L I F E

THE PERFECT OUTCOME (2)

Lesson T h irty -th ree

In Lesson 29 you learned that the w ise agree that the One O perator in the G reat Work is the Divine Soul, N esham ah, that spo tless, im perishable princip le of which Qabalah says that even the w orst of human beings, stained with the basest c r im e s , do not and cannot soil its pu rity . T his Divine Soul is what R osicrucians designated by the Latin ph rase , Dei g lo ria in tacta , "The untouchable glory of God."

In Latin g em atria , Dei g lo ria intacta is 136, and th is is the num ber of Corvus n iger, the Black Raven, and of Deus T rin u s, the T riune God.

Corvus n iger is an alchem ical te rm which THE SECRET SYMBOLS OF THE ROSI­CRUCIANS (page 11) ca lls the "door of the a r t ." The Black Raven is the f i r s t stage of the m a tte r of the G reat W ork. It is called the "door of the a rt" because it is the point of en trance through which the power of the Divine Soul en te rs into the fie ld of m ani­festa tion .

One clue to the meaning of the Black Raven is its co lo r, which is the sam e as that a ttribu ted to Binah; and Binah, as the point through which the power of the Supernal T riad descends into the seven Sephiroth of m anifestation, is the "door of the a r t ." F u rth e rm o re , in Binah the tr ia d of the Supernals is com pleted, so tha t Binah is the point at which the triu n e na tu re of the L ife-pow er becom es m anifest. Consequently, to th is point the te rm Deus T rin u s, the T riune God, is co rrec tly assigned .

Behind a ll ve ils of appearance is the untouchable Divine G lory . Yet that G lory is hidden from the ignorant by v e ils , and appears to them as thick d a rk n ess . Thus we read in the Bible that the habitation of God is thick d a rk n e ss . Binah, th e re fo re , is rep resen ted on the colored T ree of Life by a black c irc le , and black is also the co lor of Saturn, the planet of which the th ird Sephirah is said to be the sp h e re .

Bear in mind also that the th ird Sephirah and the second a re not rea lly separa te from K ether, the f i r s t . T hus, when we say the Divine Soul is the O perator in the G reat W ork, we a re to understand that N esham ah is in separab le from Yekhidah, the Indivi­s ib le SELF, and that every activity which is rep resen ted by any one of the th irty -one paths below K ether is rea lly som e phase o r mode of the w hirling motion which has its beginning in the f i r s t S ephirah .

We might com pare K ether to the fly-w heel of an engine, and the o ther points to various m achines. One may be a grindstone, another a lathe, another a d r il l . The power which drives them all com es from the fly-w heel of the engine. Thus the engine rea lly opera tes the whole fac to ry , and the o ther m achines act as tra n s fo rm e rs which change the w hirling motion into as many different functions as th e re a re m achines. The power is one: the fo rm s of expression v a ry .

On the T ree of Life, the G reat M otor is K ether; but T iphareth , the sixth Sephirah, may be com pared to a secondary m otor from which power derived from the G reat Mo­to r is d istribu ted to the fie ld of human personality sym bolized by the seventh, eighth,

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ninth and tenth Sephiroth, together with the paths linking these to T iphareth and to one ano ther. One of these connecting paths is that of the le tte r Ay in, which c a r r ie s the in­fluence from T iphareth down to the eighth Sephirah, Hod.

In T a ro t, th is path is rep resen ted by Key 15, the Devil; and since th is Key c o r r e s ­ponds to the le tte r Ayin, to which Q abalists assign C apricorn , the fo rce at work in th is path may be understood to combine the influences of Saturn and M ars, since Saturn ru le s , and M ars is exalted, in C aprico rn .

The re lig ious sym bols of the whole world assoc ia te the b irth of sav iours and r e ­deem ers with C ap rico rn . H ere is a hint you may find usefu l. C apricorn is an earthy sign which is associated with the tenth house of the horoscope, a house having to do with business and with the m a te ria l a ffa irs of the w orld .

Too many persons look upon relig ion , m etaphysics, occultism and philosophy as ways of escape. They reg a rd the a ffa irs of business, the concerns of daily life , as being beneath the notice of tru ly sp iritu a l p e rso n s . Thus they leave the conduct of these m un­dane activ ities to "w orldly p e rso n s ," that is , to those who have little tru e insight, to those who a re dom inated by the delusion of sep a ra ten ess .

Yet the selection of C apricorn as the sign in which w orld -sav iours a re born, the location of Jesus* b irthp lace at Bethlehem, "House of B read ," and many o ther hints in o c ­cult w ritings, should put us on the righ t tra c k . One of the m ost s trik ing of th ese h ints is given again and again in the tre a tis e s of the a lch em is ts . W hatever e lse th e ir books may mean, th e re can be no doubt that the Sages of H erm etic Science w ere seeking d ili­gently fo r som ething which would put at th e ir d isposal a lim itle ss supply of actual, m a­te r ia l w ealth.

At the sam e tim e , these very alchem ists w ere seeking sp iritu a l illum ination. Thus it is evident tha t, to them , m ate ria l wealth and sp iritu a l insight w ere by no m eans i r r e ­concilable.

Genuine occultism never asks its adherents to be content with c ru s ts on earth in o r ­d e r that they may gorge on pie in the sky. On the co n tra ry , the sages affirm that we find redem ption and freedom , health and happiness, righ t h e re on e a r th . They bid us pay close attention to mundane a ffa irs , and te ll us to look fo r illum ination in the very place which, to the ignorant, appears to be the stronghold of darkness and ev il.

Even the Lord’s P rayer c a r r ie s the sam e suggestion. "Thy w ill be done on earth , as it is in heaven." In the w orld of cau ses, heaven, the Divine Will w orks pe rfec tly . On the m a te ria l plane, because the G reat Work is not ye t finished, th e re seem to be a ll so rts of fa ilu re s . T hese appearances of fa ilu re a re sum m ed up in the sym bolism of Key 15, and you have learned from your T aro t studies that the leering m onster th e re depicted is only a disguise fo r the beneficent power seated in the sixth Sephirah.

Our adv ersities and m isfortunes sharpen our in te lle c ts . Dealing with p rac tica l p ro ­b lem s enables us to d isce rn p rincip les behind the v e ils of appearance. No m a tte r how much we may feel it necessa ry to be devoted to "h igher th in g s ,” we shall m iss the m ark m ost m iserab ly if we do not rea lize that one m ain re su lt of tru e illum ination is ability to

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deal intelligently with the business of th is w orld . To be tru ly w ise is always to be tru ly p rac tica l in the m anagem ent of mundane a ffa irs .

To the ignorant, a ll appearances of adversity seem to be caused by outside fo rce s , and devils, o r the Devil, a re personifications of these supposedly ex ternal causes of m isfortune. According to eso te ric doctrine, the re a l cause of all human experience is the L ife-pow er acting from w ithin. Thus the Devil in T aro t is rea lly the Ego in T ipha- re th as that One Self of a ll humanity p resen ts itse lf to the minds of the unenlightened.

The One Self is the M ediating Influence between the superpersona l activ ities of the L ife-pow er, corresponding to the f i r s t five Sephiroth, and the personal ac tiv ities of the paths below T iphare th . T his One Self is the Ego in a ll human p erso n alities incarnate and d isca rn a te .

P ersonalities a re its m eans of expression , and it w orks through and upon them con­tinually . The object of th is work is to bring to perfection its m anifestation through these personal veh ic les . T h is it does by putting the p e rso n alities into situations and c ircum stances which w ill so modify and develop them that they become adequate in ­strum ents .

Up to a c e rta in point, th is work of the Ego upon its personal veh icles is alm ost autom atic. In the low er kingdoms of na tu re , the Ego w orks d irectly on the V ital Soul, and through it upon groups of m inera l, vegetable and anim al p e rso n a litie s . In the high­e r an im als, the rudim ents of in tellectual expression begin to show them selves, and such anim als evidence som e signs of tru e specialized personality .

Yet even the h ighest among them a re to som e extent conditioned by the group soul of th e ir sp ec ies . F o r that m a tte r, the low er types of humanity (and please notice that we say low er types, not low er ra c e s , since ex trem ely low types may belong to supposed­ly su p erio r ra c e s ) a re by no m eans em ancipated from the group soul condition. T his we may see from the behavior of m obs, and som etim es of whole populations. F rom lynch- ings and cam p-m eetings, to such c ra ze s as the M ississipp i Bubble o r the Tulip Mania, o r to recen t, and even p resen t, m anifestations of m ass h y ste ria evoked and d irec ted by cynical h ig h -p ries ts of Mammon, humanity in the m ass moves often in response to the autom atic behavior of the V ital Soul it sh a res with the kingdoms below it .

On the o ther hand, hum an beings have always the possib ility of intelligent p a r tic i­pation in the G reat W ork. They, of a ll c re a tu re s we know, a re the only ones capable of com prehending the underlying princip les of the p ro cess whereby the L ife-pow er has brought the evolution of personality up to the level of genus hom o. Among m ore advanced human beings, th is g ra sp of p rinc ip les has been organized into scien tific and philosophi­cal system s, such as that rep resen ted in these lesso n s, and in the body of e so te ric doc­tr in e we have inherited from our p red ecesso rs in th is fie ld .

Briefly stated , one im portant doctrine of A geless Wisdom is that human se lf-co n ­sciousness reaches its highest level in those w ise men and women who becom e aw are that the One Self is the only T hinker and A ctor, m anifest through countless p e rso n a litie s . T his aw areness is , at f i r s t , no m ore than in tellectual apprehension of the idea.

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When th is apprehension dawns, it leads to new ways of being and doing. Though the illusion of sep ara ten ess p e rs is ts , it is seen fo r what it is , and the delusion no longer ex erts its hypnotic sway over the m ind. To the person who has reached th is stage of sp iritu a l development come flashes of in sp ira tion which im pel him to work and p rac tice in o rd e r that he may attain to perfect rea liza tio n .

At th is stage, he seem s to exert personal w ill, and m ake personal e ffo rt. Most of the tim e he appears to h im self to be drawing upon his own personal pow ers to accom ­p lish h is purpose . At the very beginning of h is work, indeed, he may have little o r no idea that anything h igher than him self is engaged in the operation .

L ater on, he may re a liz e that h is p ro g ress depends on a h igher pow er. Yet even then he may suppose such h igher pow ers to be gods, angels, o r the like , su p erio r to him , and sep ara te from h im . He p rays to them , invokes them , invites o r im plores th e ir a ss is tan ce , and finds that h is endeavors in th is d irection m eet with su cc e ss . F o r , in sp ite of the fact that he does not fully understand what is at work, his idea that a power o r pow ers su p erio r to h is own personality m ust be involved is substantially c o r­re c t . To such h igher pow ers he su rre n d e rs h im self, and, as may be learned from study of the sp iritu a l development of many sa in ts , th is act of se lf -su rre n d e r does actually bring to pass the re su lt fo r which it is intended.

All such persons a re driven, in the beginning, by a d e s ire to escape from ev il.They find them selves sick and m ise rab le . They fee l strongly that th e ir lives, a re un­sa tisfac to ry and, if they have been brought up under the influence of the g loom ier types of theology, they usually have a strong sense of sin and fee l them selves to be beset by tem ptations from a personal devil.

T h is, fo r exam ple, w as the m ental sta te of the g re a te s t of G erm an s e e rs , Jacob Boehme, and with him , indeed, it p e rs is te d to some extent even a fte r h is illum ination. Yet he was one with a ll the company of the sages in h is p rac tica l g ra sp of the G reat W ork. In one of h is books he w rites:

’’The d iscip le said to h is M aster: S ir, how may I come to the su p er-sen su a l life, so that I may see God, and h e a r God speak?

’’The M aster answ ered and said: Son, when thou canst throw thyself into That, w here no c re a tu re dwelleth, though it be but fo r a moment; then thou h ea res t what God speaketh.

’’When thou standest s till from the thinking of self and the willing of self; when both thy in te llect and thy w ill a re quiet and passive to the im p ress of the e te rn a l W ord and Spirit; and when thy soul is winged up above that which is tem poral, the outw ard senses and the im agination being locked up in holy abstrac tion , then the e te rn a l hearing , s e e ­ing, and speaking w ill be revealed in thee. So God heareth and seeth through thee who a re now the organ of h is Spirit; so God speaketh in thee and w hispereth to thy sp ir it, and thy sp ir it heareth h is v o ic e .”

This perfect rea liza tion is rep resen ted on the T ree of Life by the eighth Sephirah,"11 h, Hod (pronounced hode) , Splendor. The root of th is noun, according to G esenius,

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is a v e rb which m eans ” to sw e ll.” Thus the noun Hod signifies prom inence, em inence, im portance. It im plies also that th is prom inence is a consequence of expansion from within.

The values of the le tte rs 1 and 1 a re 5, 6 and 4, adding to 15 which isalso the num ber of the Divine Name Yah, a ttribu ted to Chokmah. To a Q abalist,th is m eans that the thing expanded into prom inence as Hod is rea lly the essence of the second Sephirah. H ere we may note that since Hod stands fo r the num ber 8, which is the cube, o r th reefo ld m ultiplication of 2, it is evident that even in a rithm etic 8 is rea lly an expansion of 2, the Q abalistic num ber of W isdom .

15 is also the num ber of the w ord Abib, the nam e of the month ofExodus and Passover, corresponding to ou r E a s te r tid e . The meaning of Abib is "b lo s­so m ," and th is suggests the swelling of buds into flow ers. A ssociated with the tim e of y e a r which, to Jews and C h ris tian s alike, is linked with the ideas of re le a se , of p re ­servation from death, and of escape from tribu lation , th is noun Abib is a v e rb a l symbol of a ll we m ean by " lib e ra tio n ," of a ll we have in mind when we speak of perfect re a liz a ­tion . And it c a r r ie s with it the thought that such rea liza tion is the re su lt of growth, of expansion from w ithin.

Y et 15 is also the num ber of the noun V K, ade, which m eans "calam ity , m ise ry , m isfo rtune ." H ere is one of many exam ples of a num ber being associated with w ords of d iam etrically opposite m eaning .

T his is because every p a ir of opposites, instead of being two wholly d istinct effects produced by different cau ses , shows som e aspect of the Law of Polarity which is at work through every p a rt of the u n iv erse . What we a re to understand h e re is that m isfortunes and evils a re rea lly no m ore than undeveloped, unexpanded seeds of good.

What meaning would the Exodus have had, had th e re been no Egyptian bondage from which to be set free? Is not the chief g lory of the R esurrec tion its co n tra st to the d a rk ­n ess of Calvary? Thus in T a ro t the num ber 15 is given to the p ic tu re nam ed "The D evil," but the hidden m eaning of th is Key is sum m ed up in the aphorism "A dversity is the d is ­guise of opportunity: bondage is the beginning of lib e ra tio n ."

The eighth Sephirah is the Sphere of M ercury, the fie ld of man’s in te llec t. Thus we may understand that the active p rincip le at w ork in th is field is p ictured in T a ro t by Key 1. This Key corresponds to the path of the le tte r Beth which c a r r ie s the influence from K ether down to the th ree Sephiroth com posing the P illa r of Severity .

The eighth Sephirah re p re se n ts the logical consequence of what you have learned concerning the seventh . The la tte r is nam ed V ictory because a lim itle ss W ill (K ether), knowing itse lf perfectly (Chokmah), fo resee ing every possib le consequence of what it knows itse lf to be (Binah), im parting itse lf free ly to every phase of ex istence (Chesed), according to a perfect law of adjustm ent and adaptation (Geburah), which op era tes always tow ard the production of beautiful re su lts through the agency of human se lf-consciousness (T iphareth), m ust inevitably succeed .

The se lf-ex p ress io n of the L ife-pow er is a success; and th is is tru e at any p a rti-

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cu la r tim e we may se le c t. It was tru e when the Pyram ids w ere bu ilt. It was tru e when Buddha sat under the B o-tree . It was not le ss tru e at the crucifixion than at the r e s u r ­rec tio n . It was tru e when Columbus sailed , when the P ilgrim s landed at Plymouth Rock, when the D eclaration of Independence was adopted, when you woke th is m orning. It is tru e now. It always w ill be tru e . No m a tte r what the appearances of the moment may be, the L ife-pow er never fa ils . Every stage of the cosm ic p ro cess is n ecessa ry , and leads to the perfection of the ultim ate re su lt .

Thus Qabalah teaches also that what p re sen ts itse lf to man’s in tellectual conscious­ness as the fu tu re m ust n ecessa rily include the perfect m anifestation of the E ternal Splendor of the L im itless L ight. T his idea that the L ife-pow er’s m anifestation is an e te rn a l p ro g ress from glory to g lory is the root-m eaning of the eighth Sephirah.

When th is doctrine is propounded, many good people voice a decided objection.With m ore o r le ss heat, they argue that although the chain of reasoning is flaw less, provided we adm it the p rem ise of an omnipotent W ill-to-good, th is p rem ise appears to be an unw arranted assum ption in a u n iverse so fu ll of so rrow and suffering as th is .

"How can you ca ll that an e te rn a l success which is obviously a perpetual agony?What about death? What about d isease? What about poverty, c rim e , g reed , and the r e s t of th is w elter of m isery? Dare you ca ll these p a rt of a success p ro cess?” Such is the substance of th e ir indignant response to the doctrine we have ju s t outlined.

A Q abalist answ ers: " F ir s t of a ll, you a re ignoring the many evidences of good. Is th e re no love? Have not even the m ost m ise rab le human beings th e ir m om ents of joy? The w orst you can say is that evil and good seem to be mixed, and that, from your point of view, th e re is m ore bad than good.

"A geless Wisdom g ran ts th is . As Buddha taught, so rrow is an in teg ra l p a rt of the L ife-pow er’s se lf-expression ; but the L ife-pow er itse lf fee ls that so rro w . Thus C h ris ­tian doctrine says the incarnate Logos was a man of so rrow s, acquainted with g rie f, and speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the w orld . E so te ric philosophy does not evade the problem s of so rrow and ev il. On the co n tra ry , it says the f i r s t thing to be known is that the w orld, as it is experienced by the in tellectual man, and by c re a tu re s below man in the sca le of evolution, is n ecessa rily a place of m ise ry until the G reat Work is fin ished.

"Not acciden tally . Not because som e o ther power has in te rfe rre d with the o rig inal C reative Plan. Not because of the m alicious opposition of som e P rince of E v il. The p resence of seem ing evil in the un iverse is a necessity , because m anifestation itse lf m ust com e through lim itation, and lim itation is the root of p a in .

"The un iverse is the re su lt of the L ife-pow er’s own se lf-lim ita tion , and since even the le a s t degree of lim itation on Absolute Wisdom m ust be some m easu re of ignorance, Hindu philosophy is c o rre c t in its declaration that c reation is rooted in Avidya, o r ig ­norance. S im ilarly , Q abalists in s is t that the ve rb beraw , to c re a te , hidesa ll m y ste ries of darkness and ev il. Nor is th is idea lim ited to the e so te ric ism of the Qabalah. It is s ta ted explicitly in Isaiah 45:7, w here Jehovah speaks thus: ’I fo rm the

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light, and c rea te darkness, I m ake peace and c re a te evil: I Jehovah do a ll these th in g s .' T h e re the verb tran s la ted c re a te is the sam e beraw that appears in G enesis I as the second w ord of the f i r s t v e rs e of the Hebrew o rig inal. A11 m ise ry is rooted in ignorance; but ignorance can be cured , and when it is cured , th e re is an end to m is e ry .”

The tap -ro o t of ignorance is the notion that m an is a person , bom at a given date, dying at ano ther. Yet in human consciousness at its p resen t level th e re is a power which enables us to get r id of th is ignorance, if we go about it in the right way. We may use the mind we have now to such advantage that we may c o rre c t o u r e r r o r s and bring ourse lves into a living experience of tru th . T his has been done in the past, again and again, is being done now, may always be done.

They who have accom plished th is w ork rep o rt that its com pletion has had these good resu lts :

1. They have found them selves in a position to understand why so rrow is n ecessa ry , and why the fact of suffering is no re a l contradiction to the idea that the un iverse is the m anifestation of an e ternally p ro g ressiv e success p ro c e ss .

2. They have found so rrow and pain extinguished in them selves because they have en tered into another kind of knowing which f re e s them from painful m isapp rehensions.

3 . Because they have extinguished delusion, these enlightened ones ex ert e x tra ­o rd inary , though by no m eans supernatu ral, con tro l over th e ir own bodies and over con­ditions in th e ir environm ent. They also wield o ther pow ers, and, in p a rtic u la r , a re able to influence the psychic s ta tes of o ther persons to a m arked deg ree . None of these pow ers a re acqu ired . They a re sim ply re le a se d . F u rth e rm o re , none of th ese powers a re ev er employed by the enlightened to coerce o ther p e rso n s, even " fo r th e ir own good," n o r a re such pow ers ev er employed fo r personal aggrandizem ent.

Thus Qabalah says, in effect: ”To argue about so rrow , m ise ry and seem ing evil is a w aste of tim e and e ffo rt. It is siHy to deny the actuality of the various appearances of evH. The point is that a ll evil may be tran sm u ted . T h e re is a way to 'd e s tro y the w orks of the devil, ’ but that way, o r method, tran sfo rm s appearances of ev il into m ani­festa tions of positive good. Why, then, w aste tim e in f ru itle s s argum ent? Let us to workl"