THE RISE OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

       LESSON II

Look back to the day when you went through the Great Initiation of God Realization and the Master Teacher rent the veil between you and the Self, which meant that you were no longer of this world but had gone behind the veil of renunciation.  While your physical body still functions in this world, it is not wholly in it -- for you have gone behind the veil of renunciation.

Renunciation and the pursuit of action are both means of bliss.  It is better to pursue action than renunciation, and it is true that right performance and renunciation are diverse, but it is also true that pursuit of either will gain the fruits of both.

For when one follows on the fixed path of holiness -- pure in heart and master of the senses, and works with the self and sees all beings as himself  -- he does not lose his spirituality by action, for this is the Age of Activity and our prayers will be by our actions each day.

And, when you follow the devotional path, you are the knower of truth and he that hears, sees, moves, eats, sleeps, and breathes with a higher consciousness knows that he doth nothing of himself, but merely it is that his senses are amongst the dense world and their objects.

In this day of the Age of Technology with radio and similar modern scientific achievements, these things have demonstrated some of the higher laws to you in a better way than we would have tested them ourselves.  The last few years have brought to you much under- standing and spiritual development.

Now you are ready to experiment with and to understand the principles which will give you a greater understanding of the outside world -- enabling you to help more and more of those striving to serve God with a higher understanding.

You have reached a point in our work where each of us is to become familiar with all the higher workings of God's creation and its principles, and to work the same as a teacher.  In other words, you are reaching a point where your own intelligence from the Self orders of the mastership of the teaching and your own development becomes equal to the highly skilled adept and makes you material for the approach to the teachers' realm.

In every true school or Order today-- instead of bringing sadness or any unpleasant situation -- this attainment should bring joy to the heart.

For in every true teacher, there is always the hope that he will have a student that will become greater than he is in mastery.  It is the desire of every great teacher of piano or violin, or in the arts, that their pupils will attain greater mastery of the art than themselves.  It is this unselfish desire on the part of the teacher which has produced the world's greatest performers in every line of effort.

In this Order it is our paramount desire to see the work progress and make sure that the greater Christian mysteries may be held for posterity and taught.

It is given to us in this day a new hope that we may be able to seek a certain degree of mastery, and thus, come closer to being a real teacher and a real worker in the future.

Let us return again to the purpose of our present activity which is preparing for the future cycles of the years to come.  In this new period of the New Age, we strive to more fully receive the greater light and that our bodies may be truly reborn again.

When we do this, we may start the approach to true use of the Self and the real purpose of Realization of God in our lives and its usefulness in service of humanity.  If you advance further, you may take on a part of the work of the true master, and become a real worker so badly needed in this day and in the future.

But, in order to do this, it is necessary that you purge yourself still further of all the elements which might deter you from attaining a purer and undefiled state.  This will bring you to a place where you could be given mastership by the Brothers.

There is always a question of when this will come -- whether it is to be in this earthly incarnation.  It is certainly possible to rise so high in this incarnation that the finishing work of perfection will be attained, either after transition, or upon your next incarnation.

It is also always to be taught how to bring others into illumination, and this degree of perfection is helpful in attaining such a status at this period, for the cosmic is waiting for such instructors; they will certainly be welcomed.

Remember that passing through transition is not the ending of development.  We are just going to continue to live in another form of life.

One of the first things to eliminate from our individualities is narrow-mindedness, for we must have a broad and universal comprehension of cosmic attunement in relation to ourselves and our brothers about us regardless of their religion or faith.

We are not referring to petty things in life -- whether you like oranges or bananas or meat or vegetables -- but to the larger, more universal understanding of things.  For these menial things disappear along with the temporary passing of anxieties, or every passing hatred, distaste and anger.  These things do not leave an indelible impression on our beings.  They are of the flesh, and we shuck them off with our dropping of the flesh body at transition 

But, we are interested in gaining a real working understanding of the principles of Creation.  We are interested in your working with the Self.

This brings up the fallacy of having a life of isolation, because in this type of life we are not in need of its use as much for practical purposes.  A certain amount of time spent in retreat each year for the purpose of meditation and spiritual contemplation does help to bring real attainment and mastery of the art of working with the Self.

Each experience of life should teach us the following lessons:  First, the weakness of our judgment and will through the use of our mind.  Second, how to use for universal good all of the experiences of all things.

Let us consider the life of an alcoholic, or one that has used alcohol too much and who has been brought down to a death of sorrow and despondency and sometimes poverty, but then raised himself up above temptation.

The above man has not only attained a degree of mastery of his own being, but is more able to work with those who have like troubles and problems and has a sympathetic understanding and knowledge that all human beings are thus tempted and do yield until they learn their lesson.  Thus, they will not look with disdain and criticism upon those who yield to the temptations of life.

The true teacher and adept you will note -- along with the true seeker -- those who are seeking the highest attainment, and are not the ones who have a past in purity and superior attitudes who wish to affect you with the idea that they have a superior consciousness.

The seeker must understand that sin is only that which one knows to be wrong and willfully refuses to get rid of from one's life pattern.

We must never look down on the women and men of the gutter, for they are redeemable and should be given all worthy consideration.  Help man and woman to help themselves.

For they are neither beneath our dignity, nor above our attainment.  Nevertheless they are still our God brothers, and remember, "But for the grace of God, there go I."

The Christian broad view of life brings God-consciousness to your being and allows you to see things as God sees them.  It will develop a consciousness of the conditions around us and an understanding of principles which no teaching in itself can convey.

You will be better able to realize what the leaders of organizations and the heads of organizations, such as the Holy Order of Mans, have taken upon themselves with their enthusiastic declarations and vows which you might find painful to fulfill as the days pass.

These things will give you a better understanding of why it is necessary to sometimes substitute a half-truth for a whole truth until the sight and mind of the individual is open enough to receive the whole truth.

You will realize why one cannot be drawn out of the deep darkness instantaneously into the blinding light of the sun and the truth, and the true light coming from the great light of the Christos.

They must merge gradually from one degree of darkness to another in a soft light before they come face to face with the truly greater light of reality.  We will see that the adult does not grow older, but younger, and the child grows older when he comes face to face with the true knowledge.

Let us remember that man and woman -- until they understand -- often do not prefer to be brought to the greater light, but to dwell in partial darkness.  This is why misconceptions are attractive to the undeveloped mind.

We must learn to know also that no matter how man may seek to know the truth, or what set of symbols he may use to represent the truth in his consciousness, he is, after all, adoring the truth and paying homage to it in his own humble way.

You must learn not to judge man by his mistakes, or his mistaken use of his symbols, but rather, by his attempting to do and the motive of his heart.

The motive of his heart was to pay adoration to that which was superior to himself.  In his adoration, he expressed sincerity, reverence, and obedience.

Take for example, the man who worships gold in his heart.  He throws all his energies and efforts into the attainment of such and realizes it has greater power than he possesses.

It is true that he is deluded by the thought that he does not possess greater power than the gold, but it is also true that it is better that man should die in vain adoration of his gold than he should die in no faith in anything greater than himself.

It must be our purpose to be compassionate with the man and his adoration for gold, and to gradually influence the substitution of the gold with God.  We must not destroy all faith and reality and conviction in his mind that there is something superior to himself, but rather, transmute it and teach him a grander and nobler symbol until the gold becomes as a mere tool which he will cast aside.

All of our sins and temptations while in the flesh represent false adoration.  The condemnation of false symbols will bring no change in the heart.  But the demonstration by ourselves in our daily lives of a greater and grander symbol with greater power will entice the adoration and the transformation will take place.