Here we get a description of the ordeals suffered by the twice born. Obviously Jesus was following this path and doctrine and he clearly chose to make it a public spectacle. We presume he did have guidance that suggested he would survive it all.
It is also clear what all those ancient sacred sites were often about with their caverns and the like.
This is actually an important revelation for the present day when so much has now been forgotten and lost as well. We no longer know what we do not know..
CHAPTER TWO
THE HIBSATHY
These things must not be entrusted to common
folk, neither must they be degraded by disclosing them to such as would profane them. They were once reserved for
those who were exalted in wisdom and virtue. In those days of Harempta, Mouth of God on Earth, they were
hidden from those in high places. This is one among the Lesser Mysteries, the Ritual of the Twice Bom. It is a
ceremony to regain spiritual vigour and to restore spiritual power, whereby a Chosen One dies and rises again. It is
a grim undertaking fraught with danger. It is not for the spiritually weak or for the faint-hearted. Not
all survive to walk again upon the friendly ground of Earth.
Only the older men who had completed the three
cycles of seven years were accepted. They had to be men with wisdom and courage, with the strength and
fortitude to survive. Other essentials were absolute purity and complete self-discipline. The ability for
self-sacrifice and a strict sense of duty were demanded. Only men possessing all these qualities could cross the
border in consciousness and return. To be deficient in any essential quality meant death. The Tree of Life has many
branches and that which is initiation bears the best fruit. It is about this that your brother writes. It began in
that far away glorious period before the days of wickedness which caused men to walk in darkness, in the
days when they walked in the light of Truth. A House of Hidden Places was maintained, so that all who had any
part in governing the lives of the people, whether as king or priest or official, could prove themselves
worthy before becoming encumbered with the office. Later, it came about that the Hidden Places had to be further
secured and only men long established in goodness could enter them. Those in high places and those with power
shirked the austerities and dangers demanded, and thereby they cut themselves off from the light of Truth. The
kings and governors who ruled in Egypt, during all the many long generations of twilight and darkness, were
bom to the frailties of the flesh. Seeing only through earthly eyes they lacked the clear guidance of
revelation and knowledge. The Serif Egg remains, it will give up its secrets on the distant day when hatched under
the breast of understanding. Then it will open its eyes, unfold and spread its wings to reveal the light of Truth.
The spirit of man is like an unweaned child
which has wandered away and become lost among the rocks and cave. Unless it is found and given sustenance
from the source of its life it will perish.
The first Temple of the Shrine of the Hidden
Places was built on the Scared Heights. It was a temple within an iimer court where there were lesser temples and
the rooms of priests and teachers. The whole was surrounded by a courtyard and gardens, and beneath the main
temple were the three Caverns of Initiation. Later the Temple of the Shrine of the Hidden Places was built during
a time when the light was revealed throughout the land.
Though previously the shrines of the Twice Bom
had been concealed in the smaller temples, when Ramsis built the Great Temple of Ramen it contained, within
itself, both temple and shrine of the All Highest God. Also there were Caverns of Initiation underneath. In the
hall of the temple which faced East and West, between pillars of pure stone, was the portal of the outer
sanctuary. As the sun rises in the East, to give life to the day, so was the Devoted Priest placed in the East of the
sanctuary, to open the services of worship and to instruct, like a father, those who came to him with understanding.
In the ceiling above the candidates was the symbol of the sun and from it extended seven hands. This represented the sun of life dispensing the vitalizing forces of life from their fount within the circle of creative consciousness. Behind the priest were representations of the ten rays of power that flowed out from the All Highest God when He created Earth, and which became the attributes of His Spirit.
In the ceiling above the candidates was the symbol of the sun and from it extended seven hands. This represented the sun of life dispensing the vitalizing forces of life from their fount within the circle of creative consciousness. Behind the priest were representations of the ten rays of power that flowed out from the All Highest God when He created Earth, and which became the attributes of His Spirit.
They are: Love, Foresight, Wisdom, Insight, All Knowledge, Strength, Resolution, Justice, Mercy and Courage.
Between the Devoted Priest and the wall behind him was the triangular representation of the three Sublime Essences - Supreme Spirit, Soul Spirit and Forming Spirit - the three parts of Spirit ever in unity. The entrance to the sanctuary was in the East and above this was a representation of the Great Eye, the secrets of which cannot be written. Before the Devoted Priests was a hidden doorway and this led down to the Marriage Chamber. In this chamber were performed the rites known as The Marriage of the Soul. Here, too, spiritual nourishment could be inhaled through fragrant smoke of incense prepared from secret essences and ingredients which activate life.
Here was learned the profound Secret of the
Soul, the secret that was in the silence. Behind the sacred place in the temple, behind the place of flame, was the
Thrice Hidden Door and this led down to the Chambers of Darkness, which were before the Caverns of
Initiation.
Before the first Chamber of Darkness there was
an antechamber containing a small lamp and light. Cut on the walls were representations of Life and Spirit.
The candidate had studied with the priests of the upper temple for seven years and been observed by one of the
Twice Bom for seven years. Now, here in the antechamber he became an Anointed One.
The Anointed One went into the first Chamber of
Darkness for testing by one of the Twice Bom of a lesser order. Here it was discovered whether he tmly
desired The Great Illumination and whether he had all earthly desires and ambitions under control. Here he was
warned of the dangers he would have to face and was tested for courage and fortitude. Before him now there
was only one choice, victory or death. This was the Chamber of the Red Light. Now the candidate and he who
attended upon him stood before the next door, and the priest said to one who stood there. "Having realized by
his own preparation, that the extemal is unreal and having eliminated earthly desires and substituted
spiritual ones, he who aspires stands ready. He has tamed the wild steed of his body, so that it is completely
under his command. He has awakened the man within the man, and the eyes of inner vision are open. He has made the
irrevocable decision and is one ready to go forward".
The Anointed One was admitted into the second Chamber of Darkness and here he was uncovered and placed within a bath of cold water where he remained for a period determined by the buming of a lamp. This was the Chamber of the Purple Light.
From here the Anointed One passed into a small
chamber which was the entrance to the Caverns of Initiation.
He now stood before the Portal of Restuah and recited the Prayer Before the Portal, "O Unnamable God, give me a burden of suffering to bear and place about my shoulders the yoke of tribulation. O God, fill the empty spaces of my spirit with pain. O grant me such fortitude that even under an almost unendurable load of distress I may be willing to lighten the burden and suffering of another. Even as I stand prepared for the awaiting test, I ask that should I be returned to the light of Earth, I be granted a share in the afflictions of others, for I need the strength given by suffering and sorrow, and will welcome them for the benefits they bestow". Then one who stood in this place gave the Anointed One water to drink and said this prayer, "O Unnamable God, hear the prayer of the Anointed One. Strengthen him with such courage and fortitude that he will not fail in his hour of awful trial, but shall pass beyond the Place of Terror through the Portal of Death, and so may shine with the protecting radiance and therefore return unharmed in spirit and body". The Anointed One entered the first Cavern of Initiation and was tested there in such manner that no ordinary mortal could endure it. After three days he came out saying to one who stood there, "O acceptable suffering, what has been decreed is indeed best".
After passing through the first two Cavems of
Initiation the candidate became an Enwrapped One, and in the last small Cavern of the Lord of the Twice Bom
released his spirit. The Enwrapped One was then placed within the Womb of Rebirth and there, within the tomb
of stone, he was left seven days. Here came complete liberation of the spirit. It floated out through the
confining stone and went as it willed. No words of men, however learned, can ever describe this experience.
The spirit of the Enwrapped One returned to the
body at the behest of the Lord of the Twice Bom, and he who had survived became a Twice Bom One. When led
forth into the Place of Glorification his face shines with an inner beauty indescribable. From that day onward
his conduct and attitudes are changed and he is at peace with all men and with himself. He needs nothing from
earthly life and seeks nothing. He accepts and enjoys whatever life offers, for he has leamed the answer to the
riddle of life and solved the Secret of the Ages. Your brother was one who underwent the Initiation of the Twice
Bom, and he has drawn the curtain aside a little to reveal only what is permitted. It is little enough but
sufficient for you to understand why, when kings and govemors rose to position and power, they declined the ordeal. It
is understandable, for the final ordeal brought earthly life as close as possible to extinction, without
complete severance of the spiritual umbilical cord. Before this, went more than twenty years arduous preparation. Yet
long and terrible though it was, the time and austerity did not exceed the necessary limits by even one jot. In
sorrow your brother must say that it was not an ordeal required to obtain something man has never possessed, it was
to regain something he had lost. It was, however hard as it may seem, the lowest price payable for the
Secret of the Ages. For long years he who aspired to become one of the Twice Bom had to practise the awakening of
his spirit and bring his body under complete control.
The first thing to overcome was met long before any threshold was approached, it was something which lurked in the uncontrolled thoughts of men. The frightening experiences during the years of preparation had to be modified and their effect chaimeled off, otherwise the awakening spirit would have been completely overwhelmed. As the material body of man cannot come too close to a blazing fire, so cannot the spirit approach too close to the sphere of divinity. Having arisen from the Womb of Rebirth, the spirit is completely fi'ced from any doubt about the immortality of man. Can a man doubt the source of sunlight when he can see the sun arising in glory before his eyes? Having joined the Twice Bom each man has a choice, he can go on to higher development within the Realms of Light, or he can remain to help others. Your brother chose to remain. This wisdom of the Twice Bom has spread to every comer of the Earth, and Cavems of Initiation are opened everywhere. But increasingly, through the years, men have declined to undergo the austerities and trials essential to bring them into the clear light of Tmth. Therefore, the places of initiation decay and their secrets are lost, men grope in the dark and try to open a door to which they have no key. If a man has not the courage or the time, the inclination or the ability to sail to a far distant land, then if he would know about that land he must listen to those who have made the joumey. So it is with those who would know the Secret of the Ages. Men possess creed of little value because they are unwilling to pay the price of something better. Your brother has no way of explaining his ultimate experience to others. Although he has looked upon the face of Tmth and now understands the purpose of life, what he has seen must remain locked within the heart. Though he no longer has to be satisfied with belief alone, he cannot extend his certainty to others. Yet men forever seek him out hoping to share with him the wonderful knowledge which has so gloriously transformed his life. This he tries to do, within the limits imposed by his own expanded enlightenment, beyond that he cannot go. The spirit of the Twice Bom can be liberated at will.
How often have you seen your brother in a state of ecstasy which he cannot describe? It is a state beginning in quiet bliss, flowing outward in bright radiance from an inner light which can even illuminate the material darkness about him. He hears the music of the sacred spheres and sees the throbbing pulsations of life heaving about him, like waves upon the great seas. He becomes aware of an inflowing of unspoken knowledge from a surrounding power. It does not come fi-om any one point, but appears to flow out of all things and to penetrate all things. Material objects lose their density and become visible within, they become as though compounded of ten thousand whirling spheres of brightness. Colours are no longer dull and restricted, they become infinite in depth and number. The spirit becomes lost in adoration and wonder at the beauty revealed in everything. The soul is aware of something glorious within all this and knows it for the spirit outflowing from its source.
There is a complete unconsciousness of others, for the greater sight transcends their material bodies.
The spirits of men are seen in a harmony of colours and their bodies as whirling masses of power. The experiencing soul is lost in a sea of sensitivity and feeling. There is a swelling surge of harmony, a sounding of glorious chords. It is the sea that washes the shores of etemity lapping upon the nearer strand.
It is an experience that no one can give to another
or adequately describe to him. It is the eamed reward of those who have paid the price. It is not he only
reward, for throughout the life of one who is Twice Bom there is boundless feeling of wellbeing, sickness and
disease are unknown. There is an abiding love for all men, a sense of brotherhood, and over all this the certain
knowledge of the immortality of the soul and its unity with the source. The impressions received in moments of
illumination are everlasting. They flll the spirit with a glorified splendour. There are flashes of inspired
visions, and the future unrolls and can be read as the past.
There is a form of joyous rapture experienced by those who have risen from the Womb of Rebirth, and when it comes it can no more be held back than the sun can be stayed in its rising. When the body of your brother lay enwrapped within the Womb of Rebirth, his spirit was carried out as on the wings of a serif and became lost in a sphere beyond understanding. He knew not which way to go or what to seek. Then, like a roll of distant thunder, there was a swelling sound and there came an over dazzling light. It grew steadily more brilliant until your brother saw a beautiful form of divine glory arrayed in a splendour beyond all earthly bounds. The cumbersome words of Earth cannot do justice to what your brother wishes to describe. It is like trying to sew a silk garment with rope, or to eat sweetmeats with a spade. Words are wholly inadequate symbols. The vision of glory which had been granted passed away and your brother found himself in the familiar sphere of the Spirit.
Once the mysterious border has been crossed it remains open ever after and can be recrossed almost at will. You are told of these things because your brother knows that the age of the Twice Bom draws to its close.
Because of those who have devoted their lives to the discovery of Truth, there is progress in the sphere of the spirit. Nothing has been lost, nothing has been in vain; the Great Gates are still closed, but they are no longer bolted. Now they will open at a knock. The road is better marked and the way more clearly indicated. They who lit the path have departed from Earth, but their service has not ended. They serve still in another place. While life on Earth moves forward, life in the sphere of the spirit does not stand still.
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