The Cloud upon tbe Sanctuary.
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BY THE COUNCILLOR D' ECKARTSHAUSEN.
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TRANSLATED BY MADAME ISABEL DE STEIGER.
LETTER V.
In our last letter, my dear brothers (and sisters), you granted me
your earnest attention to that highest of mysteries, the real
possession of God; it is therefore necessary to give you fuller light
on this subject.
Man, as we know, is unhappy in this world because he is made out
of destructible matter that is subject to trouble and sorrow.
The fragile envelope- i.e., his body- exposes him to the
violence of the elements, pain, poverty, suffering, illnesses. This is
his normal fate; his immortal spirit languishing in the bonds of
sense. Man is unhappy, because he is ill in body and soul, and he
possesses no true panacea either for his body or for his soul.
Those whose duty it is to govern and lead other men to happiness,
are as other men, also weak and subject to the same passions and
prejudices.
Therefore, what fate can humanity expect? Must the greater part of
it be always unfortunate? Is there no salvation for all ?
Brothers, if humanity as a whole is ever capable of being raised
to a condition of true happiness, such state can only be possible
under the following conditions:-
First, poverty, pain, illness and sorrow must become much less
frequent. Secondly, passions, prejudices and ignorance must diminish.
Is this at all possible with the nature of man, when experience
proves that, from century to century, suffering only assumes fresh
form; that passions, prejudices and errors always cause the same
evils; and when we realise that all these things only change shape,
and that man in every age remains much the same weak man?
There is a terrible judgment pronounced upon the human race, and
this judgment is- men can never become happy so long as they will not
become wise; but they will never become wise, while sensuality governs
reason, while the spirit languishes in the bonds of flesh and blood.
Where is the man that has no passions? Let him shew himself. Do
we not all wear the chains of sensuality more or less heavily? Are we
not all slaves? All sinners?
This realization of our low estate excites in us the desire to be
raised beyond it, and we lift up our eyes on high, and an angel's
voice says- the sorrows of man shall be comforted.
Man being sick body and soul, this mortal sickness must have a
cause, and this cause is to be found in the very matter out of
which man is made.
The destructible imprisons the indestructible, the ferment of
sin is in us, and in this ferment is human corruption, and its
propagation and consequences form the perpetuation of original sin.
The healing of humanity is only possible through the destruction
of this ferment of sin, hence we have need of a physician and a remedy
that really can cure us. But an invalid cannot be cured by another;
the man of destructible matter cannot re-make himself of
indestructible matter; dead matter cannot awake other dead, the blind
cannot lead the blind.
Only the Perfect can bring anything to perfection; only the
Indestructible can make the destructible likewise; only the Living can
wake the dead.
This Physician and this active Medicine cannot be found in death
and destruction, only in superior nature where all is perfection and
life!
The lack of the knowledge of the union of Divinity with nature,
nature with man, is the true cause of all prejudice and error.
Theologians, philosophers, moralists, all wish to regulate the world,
and they fill it with endless contradictions.
Theologians do not see the union of God with nature and fall
therefore into error.
Philosophers study only matter, and not the connection of pure
nature with divine nature, and therefore announce the falsest
opinions.
Moralists will not recognise the inherent corruption of human
nature, and they expect to cure by words, when means are absolutely
necessary.
Thus the world, man and God, continue in permanent dissension; one
opinion drives out another; superstition and incredulity take turn
about in dominating society, separating man from the word of truth
when he has so much dire need of approaching her.
It is only in the true Schools of Wisdom that one can learn to
know God, nature, and man; and in these, for thousands of years, has
work been done in silence to acquire to the highest degree this
knowledge,- the union of man with pure nature and with God.
This great object, God and Nature, to which everything tends, has
been represented to man symbolically in every religion ; and all the
symbols and holy glyphs are but the letter by which man can gradually,
step by step, recover the highest of all divine mysteries, natural
and human, and learn the means of healing his unhappy condition, and
of the union of his being with pure nature and with God.
We have attained this epoch solely under God's guidance. Divinity,
next remembering its covenant with man, has given forth the means of
cure for suffering mankind, and shewn thereby how to raise man to his
original dignity, uniting him to God, the Source of his happiness.
The knowledge of this method ensuring recoyery is the science of
Saints and of the Elect, and its possession the inheritance promised
to God's children.
Now, my beloved brothers, I want you to grant me your most earnest
attention to what I am about to say.
In our blood there is lying concealed a slimy matter (called
the gluten) which has a nearer kinship to animal than to spiritual
man. This gluten is the body of sin.
This material, this matter, can be modified in various manners,
according to the stimulus of sense; and according to the kind of
modification and change occurring in this body or matter of sin, so
also vary the diverse sinful tendencies of man.
In its most violent expansion this matter produces pride; in its
utmost contraction, avarice, self-will and selfishness; in its
repulsion, rage and anger; in its circular movements levity and
incontinence in its eccentricity, greediness and drunken-ness; in its
concentricity, envy; in its essence, sloth.
This ferment of sin, as original sin, is more or less working in
the blood of every man, and is transmitted from father to son, and the
perpetual propagation of this baneful material everlastingly hinders
the simultaneous action of spirit with matter.
It is quite true that man by his will power can put limits to the
action of this body of sin, and can dominate it so that it becomes
less active, but to destroy and annihilate it altogether is beyond his
power. This then is the cause of the combat we are constantly waging
between the good and the evil in us.
This body of sin which is in us, forms the ties of flesh and blood
which, on the one side, bind us to our immortal spirit, and, on the
other, to the tendencies of the animal man. It is as it were the
allurements of the animal passions that smoulder and take fire at
last.
The violent reaction of this body of sin in us, on sensuous
stimulation, is the reason why we choose, for the want of calm and
tranquil judgment, rather the evil than the good, because the active
fermentation of this matter impedes the quiet action of the spirit
necessary to instruct and sustain the reason.
This same evil matter is also the cause of our ignorance, because,
as its thick and inflexible substance surcharges the fine brain
fibres, it prevents the co-action of reason, which is required to
penetrate the objects of the understanding.
Thus falseness and all evils are the properties of this sinful
matter, this body of sin, just as the good and the true are the
essential qualities of the spiritual principle within us.
Through the recognition and thorough understanding by us of this
body of sin we learn to see that we are beings morally ill, that we
have need of a physician who can give us a medicine which will destroy
and eradicate the evil matter always fermenting banefully within us, a
remedy that will cure us and restore us to moral health.
We learn also clearly to recognise that all mere moralizing with
words is of little use when real means are necessary.
We have been moralizing in varied words for centuries, but the
world remains pretty much the same. A doctor would do but little good
in talking only of his remedies, it is necessary for him actually to
prescribe his medicines; he has, however, first to see the real state
of the sick person.
The condition of humanity- the moral sickness of man- is a true case
of poisoning, consequent upon the eating of the fruit of the tree in
which corruptible matter had the superiority.
The first effect of this poison resulted thus: the incorruptible
principle, the body of life as opposed to the body of sin or death,
whose expansion caused the perfection of Adam, concentrated itself
inwardly, and the external part was abandoned to the government of the
elements. Hence a mortal matter gradually covered the immortal
essence, and the loss of this central light was the cause subsequently
of all man's sufferings.
Communication with the world of light was interrupted, the
interior eye which bad the power of seeing truth objectively
was closed, and the physical eye opened to the plane of changing
phenomena.
Man lost all true happiness, and in this unhappy condition he
would have for ever lost all means of restoration to health were it
not that the love and mercy of God, who had no other object in
creation but the greatest happiness for its creatures, immediately
afforded to fallen man a means of recovery. In this means, he, with
all posterity, had the right to trust, in order that while still in
his state of banishment, he might support his misfortune with humility
and resignation, and, moreover, find in his pilgrimage the great
consolation, that every corruptible thing in man could be restored
perfectly through the love of a Saviour.
Despair would have been the fate of man without such revelation.
Man, before the Fall, was the living Temple of Divinity, and at
the time when this Temple was destroyed, the plan to rebuild the
Temple was already projected by the Wisdom of God; and at this period
begin the Holy Mysteries of every religion, which are all and each in
themselves, after a thousand varying modes, according to time and
circumstances, and method of conception of different nations, but
symbols repeated and modified of one solitary truth, and this unique
truth is- regeneration, or the re-union of man with God.
Before the Fall man was wise, he was united to Wisdom; after the
Fall he was no longer one with Her, hence a true science through
express Revelation became absolutely necessary.
The Revelation was the following:-
The condition of immortality consists in immortality permeating
the mortal. Immortal substance is divine substance, and is no other
than the magnificence of the Almighty throughout nature, the substance
of the world and spirits, the infinity, in short, of God in whom all
things move and have their being.
It is an immutable law, no creature can be truly happy when
separated from the source of all happiness. This source, this in whom,
is the magnificence of God Himself.
Through the partaking of destructible nourishment, man himself
became destructible and material; matter, therefore, as it were places
itself between God and man, that is to say, man is not directly
penetrated and permeated by divinity, and, in consequence, he is
thenceforth subject to, and falls under the dominion of, the laws
regulating matter.
The divine in man, imprisoned by the bonds of this matter, is his
immortal part, the part that should be at liberty, in order that its
development should once again rule the mortal. Then once more does man
regain his original greatness.
But a means for his cure, and a method to externalise what is now
hidden and concealed within, is requisite. Fallen and unwise man of
himself can neither know nor grasp this expedient; he cannot even
recognise it, because he has lost pure knowledge and the light of true
wisdom; he cannot take hold of it, because this remedy is infolded in
interior nature, and he has neither the strength or power to unlock
this hidden force.
Hence Revelation to learn this means, and strength to acquire this
power are necessary to man.
This necessity for the salvation of man was the cause of the
determination of Wisdom, or the Son of God, to give Himself to be
known by man, being the pure substance out of which all has
been made. In this pure substance all power is reserved to vivify all
dead substance, and to purify all that is impure.
But before that could be done, and the inmost part of man, the
divine in him, be once more penetrated and re-opened again, and the
whole world be regenerated, it was requisite that this divine
substance should incarnate in humanity and become human, and therein
transmit the divine and regenerative force to humanity; it was
necessary also that this divine human form should be killed, in order
that the divine and incorruptible substance contained in the blood
should penetrate into the recesses of the earth, and thenceforth work
a gradual dissolution of corruptible matter, so that in due time a
pure and regenerated earth will be presented to man, with the Tree of
Life growing once more, so that by partaking of its fruit, containing
the true immortal essence, mortality in us will be once more
annihilated, and man healed by the fruit of the Tree of Life, just as
he was once poisoned by the partaking of the fruit of death.
This fact is the first and most important revelation and it
embraces all, and it has been carefully preserved from mouth to mouth
among the Chosen of God up to this time.
Human nature required a Saviour, this Saviour was Jesus Christ,
the Wisdom of God itself, reality from God. He put on the envelope of
humanity, to communicate directly the divine and immortal substance
once more to the world, which was nothing else but Himself.
He offered himself voluntarily, in order that the pure essential
force in His blood could penetrate directly, bringing with it the
potentiality of all perfection to the hidden recesses of the earth.
Himself, both as High Priest and as Victim at the same time,
entered into the Holy of Holies, and after having accomplished all
that was necessary, he laid the foundation of the Royal Priesthood of
His Elect, and taught these through the knowledge His person and of
His powers; now they should lead, as the first born of the spirit,
other men, their brethren, to universal happiness.
And here begin the Sacerdotal Mysteries of the Elect and of the
Inner Church.
The Royal and Priestly Science is that of Regeneration. It is
called Royal Science because it leads man to power and the
dominion over Nature.
It is called Sacerdotal, because it sanctifies and brings all to
perfection, spreading blessing and goodness everywhere.
This Science owes its immediate origin to the verbal
revelation of God, it is always the Science of the Inner Church of
Prophets and of Saints, and it recognised no other High Priest but
Jesus Christ the Lord.
This Science has a triple object; first, regenerating the
individual and isolated man, or the first of the Elect; second, many
men; thirdly, all humanity.
Its exercise consists in the highest perfecting of itself and of
everything in Nature.
This Science was never taught otherwise than by the Holy Spirit of
God, and by those who were in unison with this Spirit, and it is
beyond all other sciences, because it can alone teach the knowledge of
God, of nature, and of man in a perfect harmony; while other sciences
do not understand truly either God or nature, neither man nor his
destination.
The capabilities of this Science are the powers to know God in
man, and divinity in nature; these being, as it were, the Divine
impression or seals, by which our inner selves can be opened and can
arrive at union with Divinity.
Thus the re-union was the most exalted aim, and hence the
Priesthood derived its name religio, clerus regenerans.
Melchizedek was the first Priest King; all true Priests of God and
of Nature descend from him, and Jesus Christ himself was united with
him as "priest" after the order of Melchizedek. This word is literally
of the highest and widest significance and extent- [qoph][daleth]
[tsadhe][kaph][lamedh][yod][mem](MLKIZDQ). It means literally the
introducing of the true substance of vital life, and the separation of
this true vital substance from the mortal envelope which encloses it.
A Priest is one who separates that which is pure nature from that
which is of impure nature, a separator of the substance which contains
all from the destructible matter which occasions pain and misery. The
sacrifice or that which has been separated consists in bread and wine.
Bread means literally the substance which contains all; wine the
substance which vitalizes everything.
Therefore, a priest after the order of Melchizedek is one who
knows how to separate the all-embracing and vitalizing substance from
impure matter, one who knows how to employ it as a real means of
reconciliation and of re-union for fallen humanity, in order to
communicate to him his true and royal privilege of power over nature,
and the Sacerdotal dignity or the ability to unite himself by grace to
the upper worlds.
In these few words is contained all the mystery of God's
Priesthood, and the occupation and aim of the Priest.
But this royal Priesthood was only able to reach perfect maturity
when Jesus Christ Himself as high Priest had fulfilled the greatest of
all sacrifices, and had entered into the Holy Sanctuary.
Here we are now entering on new and great mysteries worthy, I
entreat you, of your most earnest attention.
When, according to the wisdom and justice of God, it was resolved
to save the fallen human race, the Wisdom of God had to choose the
method which afforded in every aspect the most efficacious means for
the consummation of this great object.
When man became so thoroughly poisoned by the fruit of evil,
carrying in himself henceforth the ferment of death, all around him
became subject to death and destruction, therefore, divine mercy was
bound to establish a counter remedy, which could be partaken of,
containing within itself the divine and revitalising substance, so
that by taking this immortal food, poisoned and death-stricken man
could be healed and rescued from his suffering. But in order that
this Tree of Life could be replanted; it was requisite beyond all
things that the corruptible material in the centre of the earth should
be first regenerated, resolved and made capable of being again one day
a universally vitalising substance.
This capacity for new life, bringing about the dissolution of
corruptible essence which is inherent in the centre of the earth, was,
however, possible to no other matter than divine vital substance
enveloped in flesh and blood which could transmit the hidden forces of
life to dead nature. This was done through the death of Jesus Christ.
The tinctural force which flowed from His shed blood penetrated
to the innermost parts of the earth, raised the dead, rent the rocks,
and caused the total eclipse of the sun when it pressed from the
centre of the earth where the light penetrated the central darkness to
the circumference, and there laid the foundation of the future
glorification of the world.
Since the death of Jesus Christ, the divine force, driven to the
earth's centre by the shedding of His blood, works and ferments
perpetually to press outward, and to fit and prepare all substances
gradually for the great cataclysm which is destined for the world.
But the rebuilding of the world's edifice in general was not only
the aim of Redemption. Man was the principal object for the shedding
of Christ's blood, and to procure for him already in this material
world the highest possible perfection by the amelioration of his
being, Jesus Christ submitted to infinite suffering.
He is the Saviour of the world and of man. The object and cause
of His Incarnation was to rescue us from sin, misery, and from death.
Jesus Christ has delivered us from all evil by His flesh, which He
sacrificed, and by His blood, which He shed for us.
In the clear understanding of what consists this flesh and
this blood of Jesus Christ lies the true and pure knowledge of
the real regeneration of man.
The mystery of being united with Jesus Christ, not only
spiritually but also corporeally, is the greatest aim of the
Inner Church. Become one with Him in spirit and in being is the
fulfilling and plenitude of the efforts of the Elect.
The means for this real possession of God is hidden from the wise
of this world, and revealed to the simplicity of children.
Vain philosopher, bend thyself before the grand and Divine
Mysteries that thou in thy wisdom canst not understand, and for the
penetration of whose secrets the feeble light of human reason darkened
by sense can give thee no measure!
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
I am well aware that many readers of this fifth (the last but one)
letter and the preceding ones, will think that the mystic who writes
them was but a half-instructed philosopher, and had he known the
Bibles of other nations would never have taught what will seem to
some, bigoted and sectarian doctrines. But before such dictum be
decided, is it not as well to remember that Eckartshausen and other
mystics of his school especially say that all religions in their
infinitely various manners of expressing themselves have the same
object? Eckartshausen recognises and does not even hint at
condemnation of any of the various religions, he seems to respect a1l
for he says that the aim and object of all is the Regeneration of Man.
The stumbling block and difficulty to most students, certainly to
those who are students only of the neo-Buddhism of the day, is the
re-introduction of what is considered by such as exploded and narrow
ideas, and that is the need of man for Salvation, his inability to
help himself, and the Redemption of man by the Sacrifice of the Jewish
Saviour. It is neither in my province or power to enter with ability
into this discussion, but I would respectfully suggest these two
things- first are we quite sure as Buddhist students that we do
understand the true hidden teaching of the Way of Salvation as known
to their Initiates; secondly, do we all understand it either in
Christianity? It is true, exoteric Buddhism even when called esoteric
repudiates such doctrines, Chtistianity admits them, but has taught
them in such fashion that a large proportion of people born under
Christianity repudiate them also. It is clear the outer schools all
repudiate them, so it would seem that the Mystic Initiates preach
doctrine no longer agreeable to our "sense of justice."
It is thought by many that these new (?) doctrines of Karma and
re-incarnation are much more satisfactory than Christian doctrines.
Perhaps so, as modern Christianity is understood. But is evil Karma
aught else but original sin in its works and
consequences?
All knowledge is requisite, and it matters not so much how we get
knowledge, so long that we do get it, therefore we owe a vast and
great debt of gratitude to the Eastern school for refreshing ours by
proving from another aspect the truth of our own, and one must
recognise the great value of the recovery, not discovery of these
doctrines (as our able thinker Mr. Maitland would say). But I take my
stand upon the ground that knowledge even of true doctrine is not
always directly helpful. Indeed, as a most respected thinker says,
"the doctrine of Karmic re-incarnation is in truth a terrible one in
point of FACT, and hopeless for the individual." The law of Karma is,
in fact, the law entailed on destructible matter, the law under which
we are all born as "sinners," that law, which Christ who fulfilled all
the law, which we can never do, but out of whose power it is
henceforth possible for us to raise ourselves through his perfection.
But this is a long subject and must now not be entered into, as it is
unwise as useless to profane great subjects by inaccurate statement
and mere polemics. Unhappily, owing to much vaporous and non-
experimental discourse on the mysteries of Regeneration, more
particularly the result of the Calvinist school, there was no doubt
much profanation; and the re-action that many thoughtful and earnest
minds feel still, even to the very words, is due to the inner terror
that they felt, though not understood, at this profanation. The
mystics put to us the great question: Can man work out his own
salvation? They say, No. The Eastern school, as we know it, which is
not in its entirety, says Yes. It appears to me the mere observation
of life and society in the West says, No. This may not apply to
others.
The "Raj-yog" may be a perfect means of "salvation" to some
nations. Is it to ours?
With regard to the text quoted in the last letter, "For a just man
falleth seven times and riseth up again," it is referable to Proverbs
xxiv., i6. The number seven is important.
We must carefully bear in mind all throughout these letters, just
as in the Bhagavat Ghita, two orders of minds are addressed. The
latter, however, being a Sacred Book from Catholic source, has
universal as well as particular application, whereas mystics write as
a rule particularly but to the Initiate as well as to the Neophyte.
ISABEL DE STEIGER.
Scanned from "The Unknown World", Vol. II. - No. 4, May 15, 1895, and
corrected by hand.