JESUS : THE LAST GREAT INITIATE - Chapter two

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Here si the chapter two :

 

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JESUS :THE LAST GREAT INITIATE

 

Chapter two : Mary – First development of Jesus

 

JEHOSHOUA, whom we call Jesus, from he Greek form of his name, was

probably born in Nazareth (It is by no means impossible that Jesus

might chance to have been born in Bethleem. But this tradition seems

to form part of the cycle of later legends relating to the holy

family and the infancy of the Christ). It was certainly in this

abandoned corner of Galilee that his childhood was passed, and the

first, the greatest, of the Christian mysteries accomplished : The

appearance of the soul of the Christ. He was the son of Miriam, or

Mary, wife of the carpenter Joseph, a Galilean woman of noble origin,

affiliated to the Essenes.

 

Legend has woven a tissue of marvels around the birth of Jesus. If

legend gives refuge to numerous superstitions, it also at times

conceals psychic truths but little known, for they are above the

perception of the mass of mankind. One fact may be learned from the

legendary history of Mary, that Jesus was a child consecrated before

his birth to a prophetic mission by the wish of his mother.

 

The same thing is related of several heroes and prophets of the Old

Testament. These sons thus dedicated to God were called Nazarenes.

Touching this point, it is interesting to refer to the histories of

Samson and of Samuel. An angel announces to Samson's mother that she

will soon be with child, and will give birth to a son, whose head the

razor shall not touch. In the case of Samuel, it is the mother who

herself requests a child from God (Cf;. Judges xiii. 3-5; and I

Samuel i. II-20).

 

Now SA-MU-EL, in its original root signification, means, Inner glory

of God. The mother, feeling herself, as it were, illumined by the one

she incarnated, considered him as the ethereal essence of the Lord.

 

These passages are extremely important, as they introduce us to the

esoteric, the constant and living tradition in Israel, and along this

channel, into the real signification of the Christian legend. Elkana,

the husband, is indeed the earthly father of Samuel in the flesh, but

the Eternal is his heavenly father in the Spirit. The figurative

language of Judaic monotheism here masks the doctrine of the pre-

existence of the soul. The woman to receive it into he womb, and

bring to birth a prophet. This doctrine, considerably veiled by the

Jews, and completely absent from their official worship, formed part

of the secret tradition of the initiates. It appears in the prophets.

Jeremiah affirms it in the following terms : " The word of the Lord

came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee;

and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and

I ordained thee a prophet unto nations " .

 

Jesus will say the same to the scandalised Pharisees, " Jesus said

unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am " .

 

How much of this can we apply in the case of Mary, the mother of

Jesus ? It appears that, in the first Christian communities, Jesus

had been regarded as a son of Mary and Joseph, since Matthew gives us

the genealogical tree of Joseph to prove that Jesus can trace his

descent from David. At a later date, legend, anxious to show the

supernatural origin of the Christ, wove her web of gold and azure :

The history of Joseph and Mary, the Annunciation, and even the

infancy of Mary in the temple.

 

An attempt to discover the esoteric signification of Jewish tradition

and Christian legend would lead one to say that the action of

Providence, or the influx of the spiritual world which co-operates in

the birth of any man, whoever he be, is more powerful and evident at

the birth of all men of genius, whose appearance can in no way be

explained by the sole law of physical atavism. This influx reaches

its greatest intensity in the case of one of those divine prophets

destined to change the face of the world. The soul, chosen for a

divine mission, comes from a divine world; it comes freely and

consciously, but that it may enter upon an earthly life a chosen

vessel is needed, and the appeal of a highly gifted mother, who from

the attitude of her moral being, the desire of her soul, and the

purity of her life, has a presentient, attracts and incarnates into

her very blood and felsh the soul of the Redeemer, destined in the

eyes of men to become a son of God. Such is the profound truth

beneath the ancient idea of the Virgin-Mother. The Hindu genius had

already given expression to his idea in the legend of Krishna. The

Gospel of Matthew and of Luke have rendred it with an even more

admirable simplicity and poetic instinct.

 

" To the souls which comes from heaven, birth is a death " , Empedocles

has said 500 years BC. However, sublime the spirit be, once

emprisoned in flesh, it temporarily loses remembrance of all its

past; once engaged in corporal life, the development of its earthly

consciousness is subjected to the laws of the world in which it

incarnates. It falls under the force of the elements. The higher its

origin, the greater will be the effort to regain its dormant powers,

its celestial innateness, and become conscious of its mission.

 

Profound and tender souls need silence and peace to spring into

manifestation. Jesus passed his early years amid the calm of Galilee.

His first impressions were gentle, austere, and serene. His

birthplace resembled a corner of heaven, dropped on the side of a

mountain. The village of Nazareth has changed but little with the

flight of time. Its houses, rising in tiers under the rock, resembled

_ so travellers say_ white cubes scattered about in a forest of

pomegranate, vine and fig trees, whilst myriads of doves filled the

heavens. Around this nest of verdant freshness floats the pure

mountain air, whilst on the heights may be seen the open, clear

horizon of Galilee. Add to tis imposing background the quiet, solemn

home-life of a pious, patriarchal family. The strength of Jewish

education lay always in the unity of law and faith, as well as in the

powerful organisation of the family dominated by the national and

religious idea. The paternal home was a kind of temple for the child.

Instead of the grinning frescoes, the nymphs and fauns which adorned

the atrium of the greek houses, such as could be seen at Sephoris and

Tiberias, there could be found in the jewish houses only passages

from the laws and the prophets, the stern, rigid texts standing out

in chaldean characters above the doors and upon the walls. But the

union of father and mother in mutual love of their children illumined

and warmed the house with a distinctly spiritual life. It was there

Jesus received his early instruction, and first became acquainted

with the Scriptures under the teaching of his parents. From his

earliest childhood the long strange destiny of the people of God

appeared before him in the periodic feasts and holy days celebrated

in family life by reading, song and prayer. At the Feast of

Tabernacles, a shed, made of myrtle and olive branches, was erected

in the court or on the roof of the house in memory of the nomad

patriarchs of bygones ages. The seven branched candlestick was lit,

and there were produced the rolls of papyrus from which the secret

history was read aloud. To the child's mind, the Eternal was present,

not merely in the starry sky, but even in this candlestick, the

reflex of his glory, in the speech of the father and the silent love

of the mother. Thus Jesus was made acquainted with the great days in

Israel's history, days of joy and sorrow, of triumph and exile, of

numberless afflictions and eternal hope. The father gave no reply to

the child's eager and direct questions. But the mother , raising

those dreamy eyes from beneath their long dark lashes, and catching

her son's questioning look, said to him, " The Word of God lives in

his prophets alone. Some day the wise Essenes, solitary wanderers by

Mount Carmel and the Dead Sea, will give thee an answer " .

 

We may also imagine the child Jesus amongst his young companions,

exercising over them the strange prestige given by a precocious

intelligence joined to active sympathy and the feeling of justice. We

follow him to the synagogue, where he heard the Scribes and Pharisees

discuss together, and where he himself was to exercise his

dialectical powers. We see him quickly repelled by the arid teachings

of these doctors of the law, who tortured the letter to such an

extent as to do away with the spirit. And again, we see him brought

into contact with pagan life as he visited the wealthy Sephoris,

capital of Galilee, residence of Antipas, guarded by Herod's

mercenaries, Gauls, Thracians, and barbarians of every kind. In one

of those frequent journeys to visit jewish families, he might well

have pushed on to a Phoenician town, one of those veritable hives of

human beings, swarming with life, by the seaside. He would see from

afar the low temples, with their thick sturdy columns, surrounded

with dark groves, whence issued the songs of the priestesses of

Astarte, to the doleful accompaniment of the flute; their voluptuous

shrieks, piercing as a cry of pain, would awaken in his heart a deep

groan of anguish and pity. Then Mary's son returned to his beloved

mountains with the feeling of deliverance. He mounted the steeps of

Nazareth, gazing around on the vast horizon towards Galilee and

Samaria, and cast lingering eyes on Carmel, Gilboa, Tabor, and

Sichem, old-standing witnesses of the patriarchs and prophets.

 

However powerful might have been the impressions of the outer world

on the soul of Jesus, they all grew pale before the sovereign and

inexpressible truth in his inner world. This Truth was expanding in

the depths of his nature, like some lovely flower emerging from a

dark pool. It resembled a growing light which appeared to him when

alone in silent meditation. At such times men and things, whether

near or far away, paaeared as though transparent in their essence. He

read thoughts and saw souls; then, in memory, he caught glimpses, as

though through a thin veil, of divinely beautiful and shining beings

bending over him, or assembled in adoration of a dazzling light.

Wonderful visions came in his sleep, or interposed themselves between

himself and reality by a veritable duplication of his consciousness.

In these transports of rapture which carried him from zone to zone as

though towards other other skies, he at times felt himself attracted

by a mighty dazzling light, and then plunged into an incandescent

sun. These ravishing experiences left behind in him a spring of

ineffable tenderness, a source of wonderful strength. How perfect was

the reconciliation he felt with the universe ! But what was this

mysterious light _ though even more familiar and living than the

other _ which sprang forth from the depths of his nature, carrying

him away to the most distant tracts of space, and yet uniting him by

secret vibrations with all souls ? Was it not the source of souls and

worlds ? He named it : His Father in Heaven.

 

This primitive feeling of unity with God in the light of Love, is the

first, the great revelation of Jesus. An inner voice told him to hide

it deep in his heart; all the same it was to give light to his whole

life. It gave him an invincible feeling of certainty, made him at

once gentle and indomitable; converted his thought into a diamond

shield, and his speech into a sword of flame.

 

Besides, this profoundly secret, mystical life was day life. Luke

shows him at the age of twelve years as " increasing in strength,

grace, and wisdom " . The religious consciousness was, in Jesus,

innate, absolutely independent of the outer world. His prophetic and

Messianic consciousness could only be awakened by outer

circumstances, by the life of his age, in short, by special

initiation and long inner elaboration. Traces of this are found in

the Gospels and elsewhere.

 

The first great shock came to him during a journey to Jerusalem with

his parents, as related by Luke. This town, the pride of Israel, had

become the centre of Jewish aspirations. Its misfortunes had had no

other effect that to exalt the minds of men. Under the Seleucides and

Maccabees, first by Pompey and finally by Herod, Jerusalem had been

subjected to the most terrible of sieges. Blood had been shed in

torrents; the Roman legions had butchered the people in its streets,

and innumerable crucifixions had polluted the surrounding heights.

After such horrors, and the humiliation following on the Roman

occupation, after decimating the Sanhedrin and reducing the pontiff

to a mere trembling slave, Herod, as though in irony, had rebuilt the

temple with more magnificent pomp and glory than ever. Jerusalem

remained, as before, the holy city. Had not Isaiah, the favourite

author of Jesus, named it " the bride before whom the people shall bow

down " ? He had said " The gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings

to the brightness of thy rising….. Violence shall no more be heard in

thy land, wasting no destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt

call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise " . To see Jerusalem and

the Temple of Jeovah was the dream of all Jews, especially since

Judaea had become a Roman province. They journeyed hitter from Perea,

Galilee, Alexandria and Babylon. On the way, whether in the

wilderness under the waving palms, or near the wells, they cast

longing eyes as they sang their psalms, in the direction of the hill

of Zion. A strange feeling of oppression must have come over the soul

of Jesus, when, on the first pilgrimage, he saw the city girt around

with lofty walls, standing there on the mountain, like a gloomy

fortress, the Roman amphitheatre of Herod at its gates, the Antonia

tower dominating the temple, and Roman legions_ lance in hand_

keeping watch from the heights. He ascended the temple steps, and

admired the beauty of these marble porticoes, along which walked the

Pharisees in sumptuous flowing garments. After crossing the Gentiles,

he proceeded to the women's court, and mingling with the crowd of

Israelites, drew near the Nicanor gate, and the three-cubit

balustrade, behind which were to be seen priests in sacerdotal robes

of purple and violet, shining with gold and precious stones,

officiating there in front of the sanctuary, sacrificing bulls and

goats, and sprinkling the blood over the people as they pronounced a

blessing. All this bore no resemblance to the temple of his dreams,

or the heaven in his heart.

 

Then he descended again into the more populous quarters of the town,

where he saw beggars pallid with hunger, and whose faces were torn

with anguish; a veritable reflection of the tortures and crucifixions

accompanying the late wars. Leaving the city by one of the gates, he

wandered among those stony valleys and gloomy ravines forming the

quarries, pools, an tombs of the kings, and converting Jerusalem into

a veritable sepulchre. There he saw maniacs issue from the caves,

shrieking out blasphemies against living and dead alike. Then,

descending a broad flight of stones to the pool of Siloam, he saw

stretched out at the water's brink lepers, paralytics, and wretches,

covered with ulcers and sores in the most abject misery. An

irresistible impulse compelled him to look deep into their eyes, and

drink in all their griefs and pain. Some asked him for help, others

were gloomy and hopeless, others again, with senses numbed, seemed to

have done with suffering. But then how long had they been there to

have come to such a state ?

 

Then Jesus said to himself : " Of what use are these priests, this

temple and these sacrifices, since they can afford no relief to such

terrible suffering ? " And, of a sudden, like an overwhelming

torrent , he felt pouring into his heart the grief and pains of this

town and its inhabitants _ of the whole of humanity. He understood

now that a happiness he could not share with others was absolutely

impossible. These looks of despair were never more to leave his

memory. Human suffering, a sad-faced bride, would henceforth

accompany him everywhere, whispering in his ear : " I will never leave

thee more! " .

 

His soul full of anguish, he left Jerusalem, and proceeded towards

the open peaks of Galilee. A cry leapt forth from the depths of his

heart : " Father in Heaven! Grant that I may know, and heal and save! " .