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THE
SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION Chapter 6 From the Philosophy of Sacramental Initiation by the
Holy Order of MANS The
Word made flesh is the central fact of the life of the
cosmos. It is the awful and wonderful reality of the great
Being in whom we live and move and have our being. The central fact of human life on earth is the mystery that man has not understood – that the Word was made flesh uniquely once again in the person of our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. In His life is embodied the new divine pattern for man’s rebirth, the Redemption and the Atonement; and the chief events of His life, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension are the proofs of this grace. The
sacrament of Communion is the central act of Christian life.
It is the means our great Master gave us in order that the
work of the redemption and the atonement will be fulfilled.
In it the evolution of mankind is prefigured according to
the divine pattern of the Christos. He who partakes of this
sacrament ferverently and often will know its realization.
The full realization of this sacrament is the goal of
evolution: the God-man in a Christed humanity. Yet
it is the most misunderstood of all sacraments both in the
Order and outside. Among the Christian churches it is at
once their universal focus of worship as well as the source
of the greatest disunity. In the Order, Communion is the
bedrock foundation of our daily pattern of life and the
golden key that unlocks the door to greater reality in
Christ. Yet it remains largely unappreciated even by our own
Brotherhood, and its beneficial effects often go unnoticed
or remain unrealized. This is due to the lack of the proper
conscious attitude. Even
though we perform or receive Communion daily, we should
never fail to approach this sacrament as the greatest and
most sublime Christian mystery, worthy of the total devotion
and conscious energy of our whole being. This will open the
way for us to receive continuously of its vitalizing grace
and we will be drawn steadily into the state where we will
be "made perfect in One". As
priests you have all reached the point where you need no
convincing that the communion is real. You have felt the
Power and the Presence. You have seen the light descend, and
the transformation actually take place. If you have not
experienced these things and cannot honestly and steadfastly
affirm this reality, then you had better take a good
retrospective look at yourself right away and see what is
wrong. But
it is not enough simply to affirm that the communion is real
because Jesus said so and you felt it and assume that we
have done our duties as priests. Two thousand years of such
affirmations have not done that much good for humanity; and
for most of the world today the Eucharist – despite the
great effect it has had on world growth – is just another
ritual (although one with a somewhat gory symbolism) that
you can either take or leave depending on your inclination. Nothing could be further from the truth. Therefore, it is our responsibility to teach the living reality of the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ, and this means we have to know the sacrament of communion inside and out. We have to understand the full meaning of the living symbolism and its increments. We have to understand the nature of the reality involved and how it is actually conveyed. We should be able to explain the forces invoked and how the results or effects of these forces are achieved. And we must be able to explain these things in plain language. The
simplest way of doing this is to acquire the ability to
perform this sacrament in its full reality. And this is our
duty as priests. The
sacrament of Communion is the true and holy alchemy and it
takes a priest who is a true alchemist to perform it
properly. Communion is the continuation on the human scale
of the Cosmic alchemy performed by the Master in order to
bring life and progression back into the planet. How
is life and progression brought into the life of the
individual who partakes of the communion? How are the bread
and the wine actually transformed into the Body and the
Blood of Jesus Christ? What exactly is the transmutation?
How does it take place? Let us answer these questions using
the simple laws of creation, what we know about matter, form
and spirit, and the age-old guide line of "as above, so
below". Very
simply, the divine Spirit Consciousness, the Father-Mother
Creator, brings the universe into being by reflection upon
itself. The divine pattern is thus pictured throughout
creation. Everywhere in the universe there is Spirit acting
upon soul to create manifestation-spirit embodied in form. Thus
Divine Soul is the Substance of all things. It is the
eternal Mediator of the life of the Spirit which functions
through it and upon it according to the Law of Divine Mind
and the accumulated wisdom of the cosmic memory. And man is
created in the image of His creator, having Spirit existent
throughout the whole body, the divine Self: Soul, the sheath
around the Self; and body, the spiritual-physical vehicle or
form reflected from the soul. Matter
retains its place in the cosmic order as that portion of
divine Substance that manifests and the phenomenal world
bound by time and space. Man is the deepest penetration of
God into matter. The Divine consciousness in man ever seeks
to return to its Source and thus the story of man is the
story of this return as he gathers experiences form life to
life, ever growing toward the Goal by the unfolding of this
Soul. The
soul of man, then, is the focus of all transformation and of
evolution itself. As the soul of man is purified of all
dross and unfolds through right action and right thought, it
allows more of the perfect radiation’s of the divine Self
through into the body and thus the body is regenerated and
filled with light. The
soul received all the impressions that a being has ever
experienced. It contains in itself the record of the
development of the body and its mechanisms. It contains the
record of our performance in like vehicles in past lives and
the efficiency with which we were able to function in these
vehicles. We
know that the cerebral-spinal and sympathetic nervous
systems of the body function on the memory of the soul. For
as the body of man evolves in form as it has over the ages,
the record of it is in the soul. For as the body of man
evolves in form as it has over the ages, the record of it is
in the soul. As he adds or eliminates bodily functions and
organs, the record of this is just added to the previous
record on the soul. This is why, for example, we don’t
have to think every time we draw a breath. Now
the earth also has a soul, called the Over-soul. It contains
the memory of all that has ever happened on the earth. Just
as the soul of man is the lord of his body, so the Over-soul
of earth is the Lord of this orb. Jesus is Lord of earth;
therefore, His soul is coextensive with the soul of the
earth. He has become the Over-soul, so to speak. Just
as the soul of man records every function and impression, so
the Over-soul contains the record of our Lord’s function
evolving. Just as man controls his own evolution, so does
the Lord Jesus now control the specific evolution of the
earth and all men. It
is difficult at your state of development to imagine a
higher being as He truly is, but if you could imagine a
being whose Self had reached the proportions big enough to
envelope the earth, you would have some little idea of what
we are referring to. Jesus
assumed the reality of the Christos so completely that He
increased in size proportionately to His consciousness and
of the Christos, so that now He actually encompasses the
earth and we live within the encompassing being of the
Christ Jesus. Every factor of life and fiber of our being is
permeated with His consciousness and His atmosphere and the
energy of His being. Because
of the perfect union in Him of the divine and the human,
Jesus re-established the proper flow of communication
between God and We
know that the atmosphere and the aura of man are what allows
and influences all communications between man and the
universe. The earth too has an atmosphere and aura which are
now the atmosphere and aura of Christ Jesus. This is an
important factor in the function of communion as a means of
communication between the Body of Christ and the body of
man. The
aura is a magnetic field around any magnetic body, including
even some mineral life. It is a mixture of the radiation
from the physical body and the spiritual body of man, but in
order to make a true observation of this, it is necessary
that one have spiritual sight, for the physical eyes will
only observe the radiation from the physical. While
part of the sight of the physical eyes is of spiritual
quality and spiritual sight, it isn’t until one becomes
truly cognizant of this that he can truly observe with this
sight. This will occur when he has opened up to the Christ
Light and developed true sight of spiritual and psychic
things. For the spiritual quality of the aura is only
noticed by spiritual sight in reality. Auras
have actually no color, but they are radiations of the
spiritual body passing through magnetic emanations produced
by them. They are Electro-magnetic in nature with
exceptionally high vibratory rates beyond the vibrations of
light in the ocular range of the spectrum, and the human
eye’s optical nerve is not sufficiently sensitive to
produce the sensations we know as color. While
we cannot see them directly except with certain special
lighting effects, we can attune the spiritual self to the
aura and thus emanations or radiations are transmitted to
our sympathetic nervous system which received and transmits
the vital life force and passes it on through the rami or
structure. This gives impulses which permit consciousness of
color. Actually the color arouses within our own being. By
the latter method one may close his eyes and see. These
afferent and efferent nerves carrying impressions to the
brain, and energies back from it, are also called sensory
and motor nerves. These two sets of nerves are connected
with the cerebral-spinal system. The spinal nervous system
deals with the sending of power and the receiving of
impressions. It carries the objective intelligence of the
brain. The
other system is called the sympathetic nervous system, which
carries the subjective consciousness and is of constructive,
healing nature, cosmically guided. It works much like the
spinal system but on the psychic level. These nerves are
connected with the psychic centers of the body, the twelve
glands being most important. Some
are organs, some plexuses. The most important are the
thyroid, pituitary, pineal, adrenals or apprarenals, thymus,
gonads, parathyroids, and pancreas. The sympathetic system
controls and regulates growth as a source of healing power
by means of the glands, and it makes possible sympathetic
responses. The
sympathetic nervous system does not run down through the
spinal column, but on either side of the vertebrae. It does
not transmit motor power to muscles, but carries a divine
energy, a vital, creative, curing power to all parts of the
body. It carries the divine and psychic intelligence to all
parts. In the psychic or spiritual body, the sympathetic nervous system works for the subconscious or cosmic mind, carrying more refined vibrations – psychic energy. In
the material body, the spinal nervous system works for the
brain, going to every organ and part of tissue, flesh and
blood. The
two systems connect and are related, having communication
between. At every vertebra, they contact by means of short
"rami". These rami establish the slender
connection between the two systems, which permits the
transmission of both material nervous energy, and psychic
nervous energy to all parts. Since sympathetic system is closely related to the Cosmic through the soul and the infinite forces of God, the subtle influence of the planets affecting the cosmic vibrations, would affect the psychic conditions, the organs and nervous system of man. The
auras of objects are affected by persons handling them.
These vibrations do not alter the structure of the molecules
and atoms of the articles themselves; else this material
nature had become changed. Rather, such vibrations emanating
form the human being become immured within the magnetic
fields of the atoms. These affect our sympathetic nervous
system, as we become conscious of personalities whose auras
were in contact with the material substance. The
human aura mingles with the atomic aura of the substance.
Matter of all forms has its natural aura, but that does not
include the higher vibrations of consciousness. The aura of
consciousness mingled with the aura of matter leaves a
distinct effect that can be distinguished, as a high note
can be heard along with lower ones. The
aura is nature’s way of protecting the body from injurious
radiations of a vibratory nature such as would cause
unpleasant sensations, or disease. The
vitality of the body, or of animal or plant bodies, is
electrical in nature. Energy in the human body is a high
rate of electrical energy, and this energy can be directed
and controlled for magnetic healing, and this magnetism can
be drawn by contact from one body to another. The
human aura normally extends about three or four feet around
the body which is well developed physically. The psychic
person has an aura of a brilliant color extending about
eight or ten inches around the body, while the rest of the
aura is invisible. Its invisibility does not prevent its good work, but prevents other magnetic and electrical currents from having too much effect on one’s body. The aura acts as a neutralizing field or magnetic condition between the body and the outside world. If
the subtle influence of the planets affecting the cosmic
vibrations affects our physical bodies through the
sympathetic nervous system, how much greater effect upon our
bodies will be the influence of the vibrations of the
atmosphere and aura of Christ Jesus, within which we live
and breathe? When
Jesus became Lord of Earth, all His experiences, His
complete union with the Christ in His physical form, His
total mastery over life and death as the Living Law of the
New Age, His transcendent abilities, all became part of the
record of the Over-soul of the earth. The
record of the function of His perfect body has become part
of the memory of the soul and thus is available to all
mankind. For the Over-soul is in contact with all the souls
of men through the subconscious mind of man; therefore, the
abilities that Jesus demonstrated have become for all time
part of the heritage and potential of every man. "He
that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also;
and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto
my Father." If
the human aura mingles with the atomic aura of material
substance and causes vibration in the magnetic fields of the
atoms which affect our sympathetic nervous system, so that
we become conscious of the personalities whose auras were in
contact with the material substances, how much more powerful
will be the effect of the aura of Christ Jesus on the
material substance of the bread and wine? Will
we not become acutely conscious of His overwhelming
personality? Will not the very atoms of the bread and wine
declare His presence? Is this not exactly what takes place
in the Sacrament of Communion? Let
us not fail to declare the truth of the literal reality that
the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood
of Christ. For so is Jesus recorded, in John 6:35-37, as
making strong emphasis in five separate statements on the
literal meaning of His words, so that His hearers would know
that He meant what He said – literally, not just
allegorically: "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the son
of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. "Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last day. "For
my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. "As
the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so
he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." Consider
the fact that of all the Sacraments the Communion is the
only one that may be received more than once, in fact,
repeated daily. The other Sacraments are complete in
themselves, but the Communion is incomplete because the work
of the atonement, although completed, is not really
manifested on the material plane due to the resistance of
the material mind. The
process of overcoming the resistance of the material mind is
called the "Slaying of the Lamb". This is the
change that must take place in the mind before there can be
a change in the body. The vehicle for the self-conscious
mind is the cerebral spinal nervous system, also called the
voluntary nervous system. This is the objective this-worldly
consciousness of the brain and the senses which controls the
flow of impressions that affect the subconscious mind.
Because the material mind centers itself in objective
phenomena it normally is incapable of receiving experiences
from a higher source. The
Slaying of the Lamb is the voluntary opening of the
objective mind to receive impressions from the Divine source
by means of temporarily inhibiting its normal mode of
perceiving through the material senses. This is the act of
faith, which is the substance of true knowing, the prayer
without ceasing. The faithful partaking of communion is the
mode of inducing the higher vibrations of the Christ life
into the being of man. If
you were able to fully realize the full potential of the
Communion by partaking of it once, you would experience the
Ascension, and no longer need to take it again. But because
you are not functioning perfect yet, most of you, and you
have not yet achieved perfect mastery over the physical by
the spiritual, you have the Communion to take you along,
gracefully, step by step. Consider
an event that occurred while the Master walked the earth,
when the woman touched the hem of His garment and was
healed. Jesus had said at the time; "Someone hath
touched Me, for I perceive that virtue has gone out of
Me." This is the proof that when she came in contact
with His atmosphere and aura, there was a sudden flow of
power from Him to her which changed her bodily condition
just as suddenly and healed her. Her faith had created a
vacuum; and thus brought the power of His Christhood flowing
into her being through the contact. We
can assuredly declare that if one approaches the Communion
Table with the same faith and longing, that faith will be
the key which will make the attunement possible and will
bring down the power of the Christ flowing into the
Sacrament through the work of the priest; because the
priest, when he approaches the altar lovingly and humbly and
expectantly, is literally touching the hem of His garment,
as actually as the woman did. This,
His garment, is the overshadowed existence of His presence
which descends in vibration to just above the physical
earth. So, the priest at the altar is standing in His
Shadow. In
other words, when the Priest "stands in the Shadow of
the Master", he is literally reaching out and touching
the hem of His garment; and when he does that, virtue or
power must of necessity flow to him. For he has made himself
negative to the great Christhood of the Master and his
longing and his knowing has created the vacuum that will
bring the life power of the Christ to earth. The
continuous repetition of the Communion will develop and
strengthen the impressions that influence the subconscious
mind through the sympathetic nervous system. As these
impressions become part of the memory of the soul, they will
become part of the automatic function of the vehicle and the
individual will gradually become one with the Communion and
one with Christ Jesus in the Body of Christ. The
primordial role of the Christ is to draw all things to
Himself. Thus the priest in performing the Communion shares
in the active work of Christ Jesus, the High Priest, which
evolves the organic form of the universe; making it Divine
as the magnetism and the love of the world of Jesus Christ
gathers to Himself the energy scattered throughout the orb. For this is the continual prayer of our living Lord, our Master Jesus: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me. "And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they
may be one, even as we are one: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and has loved them, as thou has loved me. "Father,
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast
given me: for thou lovest me before the foundations of the
world." |