Ancient Mysteries Of The Universe
Unveiled In 2023
Post 3 of 38
What was the result of these processes "initiated" or "started" by
sacramental rites, by symbolism, by masters of Gnôsis? Was the result
something purely "subjective" at best? The answer of the Masters of
the Gnôsis to this question, which is characteristic of the modern mind
and expresses the doubt which is gnawing at the heart of much modern
religious life, would have been "No. There are certain physical changes
as well. The body is spiritualised." They might possibly have
added, "It is assumed, in part at least, by the Body of Stars[1] which
has been awakened within it. This is the Body by means of which Union
with God takes place, and then still more wonderful changes happen. We
can awaken the Body of Stars or Rays, but to unite it with Himself,
that depends upon the Will of God above, but all is a mystery of Grace."
This awakening of the Body of Stars, this assumption, or partial
assumption, by immortality of the inner flesh, is the interesting
possibility to which I referred earlier. Let me here quote two
Catholic writers. Says Döllinger (_First Age_, p. 235, quoting Rom.
vii. 22, 1 Cor. vi. 14, Eph. iii. 16 and 30, in support), "Saint Paul
not only divides man into body and spirit, but distinguishes in the
bodily nature, the gross, visible, bodily frame and a hidden, inner
'spiritual' body not subject to limits of space or cognisable by the
senses; this last, which shall hereafter be raised, is alone fit for
and capable of organic union with the glorified body of Christ, of
substantial incorporation with it." Dom John Chapman, O.S.B., in his
excellent article on "Catholic Mysticism" in Hastings' _Encyclopaedia
of Religion and Ethics_, vol. ix., writes: "It is not to be denied that
this psycho-physical side demands scientific investigation. It seems
certain that St John of the Cross is justified in his view that the
body is somehow 'spiritualised' by contemplation. Such facts as the
power of saints over the animal world and the power of reading
thoughts, _e.g._, are proved beyond cavil."
Here, then, we have a consistent tradition held by many schools, and I
think that it is by investigation along the lines suggested by Dom John
Chapman that there is the greatest chance of arriving at some proof of
immortality that will satisfy the scientific mind. For the claim of
mystics is that here and now it is possible to participate consciously
in that which is immortal, and the "spiritualising" of the body is an
outward sign of the substantiality of that claim, the standard set up
upon a hill to testify that the human consciousness is not planetary
merely, not "hylic," nor "psychic," but has its root in the wisdom that
issues from an inconceivable Abyss of Life and Light.
I believe that the original source of the document I have translated
belonged to an Egyptian community or school of contemplation whose name
has been forgotten in the night of time; that it was connected with the
preparation of a candidate for the Baptism of Light. What form this
rite really took it is impossible to say, but that it had outward signs
of some kind is extremely probable. We have an old Gnôstic ritual
preserved in the compilation generally known as the "Acts of John."
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