The Mystical Resurrection - Easter Sunday

We of Builders of the Adytum welcome you this Easter Sunday morning to share with us the Qabalistic interpretation of Easter which we call the Mystical Resurrection.

Now, we feel that the Qabalistic interpretation of Easter is perhaps the most convincing, not only interpretation but the most convincing piece of evidence of the primal will to good that exists in the universe we feel that only if we understand the qabalistic interpretation of Easter are we in a position to understand the entire story of the birth of Jesus the Christ his mission, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. Why do we feel this way? Well, as most of you know, the Holy Scriptures, this includes both the Old and the New Testaments, having been written by the prophets who were the ones who were trained in the esoteric wisdom of Israel, these have been the the people, the initiates, I should say, who were trained in Qabalah, because it was in the esoteric teachings, it was indeed in terms of the entire plan for the evolution of humanity, that the prophets, the esoteric initiations, the spiritual experiences, the abilities and capacities to know the word of God and therefore share the word of God with others, it is in and through this Qabalistic training system that the Old and New Testaments came. Therefore, in order to understand what this and many other stories truly mean, we need to understand exactly what the esoteric teaching has been and is. Of course you are also no doubt familiar with the fact that when a Qabalist is asked where did the Qabalah come from, there's one very nice simple answer and that is it came from the angels. And then some people laugh and other people feel that this is a very good answer. As a matter of fact we feel that it is the most accurate answer that anyone can receive especially after we learn to understand what is meant by angel now we won't go into the meanings of angel because we're going to take that up in our monday and our sunday morning talks through may the understanding of angels the intonation of the divine names and so on as used by the initiates of old and the new ones as well. But what we will go into this morning is the whole symbolic representation of the story of Jesus as it has existed in the fraternity which builders of the adytum represent for this era. This fraternity having existed incidentally since the foundation of the world according to tradition.

Now, most people do not realize that, for example, the entire story of the birth of Jesus, the hardships, the crucifixion, and the resurrection has been practiced in the initiatory rites down through the centuries even before the actual Jesus of Nazareth was born.

There is now scientific evidence of this when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered a lot of our materialists and atheists cried out aha see now we have proof that there never was such a man as Jesus that he's just a legend because look here you have the whole story told before Jesus was born to experience it. This again shows how people fail to understand the true significance of allegory. As a matter of fact, in the initiatory systems of the mystery schools, as was practiced incidentally by the Essene community, because remember the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially this story in relation to Jesus was from the Essene community records, in case I forgot to mention this to you. Therefore, we need to understand that in the initiatory practices of the Essene Brotherhood, as well as in the Eleusinian Mysteries and one or two other fraternities, all sharing in the same inner contact with the higher levels of consciousness. In these initiations, the actual evolution of man has always been portrayed not only in terms of the degree he has reached in his evolution but also in terms of what his destiny is to be.

Therefore the fact that the story of Jesus was foretold and that it is and has been a part of the initiatory ritualistic systems of the inner schools rules. The fact that this is so has nothing to do with whether there was or was not a historical Jesus. As a matter of fact, those of us who recognize that consciousness creates, those of us who realize that a thing is first created in the inner plane before it manifests on the outer plane can certainly see that the foretelling of the entire history of Jesus, that indeed even the initiatory rites, which included the crucifixion and resurrection, and still does, incidentally, the fact that this was so was because the contact was and is real, that is, contact with the inner and spiritual sources of our growth and our evolution.

Certainly, we are all familiar with the accuracy of prognostication, for example, in many instances. And certainly, we should realize that there have been many individuals who have reached a spiritual level of where it was easy for them to see or become tuned into the destiny of man and therefore the experience which Jesus would portray in and for man though not aside from man. So having given this little background let's go into the actual elements that are involved with the story of Jesus so that we can see that it is not something that happened two thousand years years ago and stopped. But that whatever happened 2,000 years ago was actually both an ending and a beginning of an evolutionary cycle which has every meaning for us. And especially during Easter time, we need to remember what the real meaning is. You see, in the holy Qabalah, that which we now call the Christ, as many of you are familiar with, comes from the Christus, which was the Greek translation of the Hebrew Mashiach, that is the Messiah. Messiah means savior.

Vocabolistically, the savior or Messiah, as well as man or generic humanity, also called Adam, as well as king these are all interchangeable terms kabbalistically for a specific level of consciousness they're not separate levels the one and indeed they indicate an exact identity in other words generic humanity or adam king that is he who rules over the kingdom which is the physical universe by the way and the Savior the Redeemer the Christ these are not separate ideas at all kabbalistically speaking they're one they are merely different phases of unfoldment in the consciousness of the self so we come to the idea first of generic humanity or Adam with the with his fall which means what esoterically well in the initiatory systems what it actually means is that man having been the unconscious son of God an unconscious enjoyer of the divinity of the glory of the ecstasy of the unity was locked out of paradise for purposes of attaining a conscious knowledge of unity with God a conscious sonship and therefore a conscious dominion or shall we say kingship so we have the wanderings you along with Jesus have been wandering through the highways and byways of Galilee have you not since time began for you as an evolving individual you have been suffering you have been weeping you have been wondering you have been hoping you have been despairing because mainly you have not known who and what you are and because it has been necessary that you go through this crucifixion in order to attain to your conscious sonship with god or the Father. Therefore, when we think of Jesus and the story told of him, we make a terrible mistake if we separate ourselves away from this story. In actuality, according to our esoteric tradition, Jesus definitely was the first to conquer death. Now there were many before who who had already achieved conscious states of union with the Father, a certain amount of dominion over the world and other elements of evolution on the way.

But Jesus was the first personality who was able not only to consciously know who and what he was, but by the very knowing, he was able to apply his kingship his rulership so that he was able to heal the sick raise the dead give comfort to the weary why?

Because in knowing who and what he was he also knew that all others were part of himself and he said so he said so in every way that one can imagine He tried to indicate in practically every story he gave that he was not really different than others, that the main difference perhaps was that he knew what the rest of us, because I rather suspect that we too were around during the actual historical period of Jesus' birth and crucifixion. Why I suspect it I don't know I just feel it intuitively shall we just put it that way and we won't discuss that part of it in this morning's talk now the thing we need to understand is that in wandering through the highways and byways in going through the loves and the hates the joys and the sorrows what we have done is to develop a deepened core of individuality and only when this core of individuality when this particular personality reaches a certain stage of ripeness only then is it possible for it to become a complete center for the expression of the Christ now let's see what we mean by the Christ for a moment in the esoteric tradition we have been told always and down through the ages that the Christ is really our own higher self yours not somebody else's only but yours in other words if you are one with the Christ it it is because you and the Christ are basically one being, in essence, at any rate.

The Christ, esoterically, is said to be the conscious child of the Father.

The conscious child of the Father. However, what we forget is that the conscious child of the Father is you.

Because who is conscious? Only those who have attained to human consciousness. Isn't that so?

The creatures below the level of humanity, they are not conscious. They have awarenesses, they have experiences. But self-consciousness, this is the Christ. In other words, your feeling of I. This is the Christ. You are an aspect or an expression of the begotten Son of God. You, not only Jesus. When you read in the Bible that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life, what do you really think it has meant do you think it meant that he gave a historical personage so that whoever believed that that historical personage was the son of God that automatically gave him eternal life doesn't that sound a little foolish well it is foolish because as a matter of fact this is not meant nor was it ever meant to be interpreted in that manner it has been the mistranslation it has been the literalness of unevolved human consciousness which has made this story something other than it really is because the story is far grander and more glorious than is taught in exoteric religion in actuality.

Far more glorious. Because to start to realize that you are the only begotten Son of God, but not you alone, you, along with all humanity, are the only begotten Son of God, to realize this makes you open your consciousness, your heart to the actual experience that is why it is said he who believe it on this because unless you practice reaching for this idea you do not open yourself and your vehicles do not become refined enough to have the conscious experience of who and what you are the fact that everyone is an aspect of this Christ consciousness which not only was crucified incidentally but is still can be shown in many ways for example in the Bible if you recall Jesus said for I was and hungered and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me now what is that saying can't you see then what Jesus was really saying every time you have taken the hand of your friend your brother your sister and given him aid or comfort in as much as ye did it to the least of these ye did it unto Christ unto Christ there is no one you have ever hated really though it has seemed to you that you have you just didn't know that you are standing in the presence of holiness when you sat with your husband or wife or sister or brother or friend or when you had problems with people if you have had these problems it was only because you were still an infant and didn't know that you stand in the presence of divinity there's not a single pair of human eyes if you knew how to look when you looked into these eyes that you could fail to see christ because the livingness in you is christ and because this livingness in you happens to be christ begotten child of the father because of this you really have never died though you think so and you can't we could discuss the mystical resurrection in many ways but even in our unevolved stages as we've been wandering the highways and byways of our incarnations which is our galilee even as we have done all this we have never died we have dropped physical vehicles and we have been resurrected into new vehicles. We have traveled from history to history, from period to period, with that eternalness that is ours, that eternal livingness in us, which definitely and completely cannot die. It cannot die because it always has been, it is, and it always will be one with the Son of God because you are that son and daughter of God. So the mystical resurrection is yours even when you don't believe in it, even when you don't believe in it. You have wept because you haven't known. Do you remember how Jesus said to a woman at one time, also as related in the bible if you knew who I am you would never weep again if you knew who I am now just think if you knew who your I am really is knew it consciously which you will incidentally if you'd have known it already but if you really knew who your I am really is if you really knew that you have eternally abided in god been an eternal part of the christ consciousness though still growing though still unevolved if you really knew that nothing in the final analysis can really hurt you only the passing instruments as they come and go if you really knew that you can never die because you have eternal life automatically no matter what stage of the path you're on would you really be able to weep again this is the real story of the easter season that is the story of your eternal life we may celebrate the historical experience that occurred through Jesus the Christ. We can reach out to Jesus and should with love overflowing from our hearts. We could and we should because Jesus was definitely what we might call the way-shower. Through the jungle of life he was the first one to beat a path through thorns for us. That is what is meant by by having died for us. But don't you know that you too have died for him over and over again and will until you stop believing in death but start believing in your eternal life? You see, evolving humanity, evolving humanity is the crucified Christ. This is the actual story when we are in our mother's womb what do we do we recapitulate as an embryo the whole evolution of the physical part of our being that is the vehicle or the kingdom then when we are born we recapitulate the psychological evolution of our being and you know how selfish a baby is you know it grasps and cries and wants attention right now will not wait and yet in a baby it's adorable isn't it and we hold it to us and we love it tenderly and we comfort this baby because we do not expect that baby to act like a grown-up but then after we have recapitulated whatever psychological evolution we have made up to a certain point from then on we start start growing in the newer direction towards our destiny.

And incidentally, it is the destiny of everyone, no matter what anyone tells you to the contrary. It is the destiny of everyone to attain conscious immortality, that is, conscious knowledge of who and what you are, and conscious dominion over death.

And how will it come to pass well it is already coming to pass evolution has quickened itself in such a way that like a geometrical progression where humanity was going along slowly and incidentally the birth of Jesus is what started the geometrical progression his attainment then the one who followed after him he beat the first path you might say to the complete evolution of man son of man and son of god then after him the next one was able to come more readily so he too got scratched and burned and hurt it is a necessary part of the growth process and after that every time another human being achieved the Christ awareness the Christ consciousness that person and group of persons made it easier for those who come after this is the whole spirit and incidentally of the initiatory system of our fraternity everyone who achieves even the slightest lightest realization or illumination, holds it like a beacon for the rest to make it easier so that we do have to send back waves of love, although it isn't really going back, it is here with us now. We should be pouring this love and gratitude to those who went before us, but at the same time we need to realize that we must have that mind in us which was in Christ Jesus and to see it in its true Qabalistic meaning rather than the ways we have been taught and just what does that really involve basically first of all the knowledge of the unity of life inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of thee my brethren ye have done it unto me you have to first know this and most of you already know it at least you know it to a very large degree and that degree will grow and it will grow and grow until it will sweep the farthest stars because it is growing that way by geometrical progression this is the first thing to recognize Having recognized that, we have to then also recognize that there comes a point in our evolution when we have to stop fighting pain and sacrifice as Jesus did. You remember he foretold his crucifixion. You remember he asked, he prayed, Father take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done so he was willing to go through what he needed to to attain to that highest the most glorious state that is to attain to the state of the king and the conqueror and in giving himself up to the divine will you know what happened in the interim he was mocked and he was said if you are King why don't you do something about this and he but he was meek and he was lowly of heart he was passing through the tests of initiation you know just as we do regularly he was meek and he was lowly of heart because he knew that he was just one aspect of the total life and he was so aware of the grandeur of the glory of the total christ self that he couldn't be anything but meek and humble in terms of his personality and then in the actual crucifixion he cried out as we have cried out father why hast thou forsaken me how many times have you wept and called out to god and asked why he has forsaken you you see you along with jesus have been going through this total agony this total pain this total crucifixion and because of this incidentally you along with jesus inevitably share in the rising up and the resurrection though it comes in different ways now for many human beings on our planet today you may not realize this but there are many today who really will not need to unconsciously incarnate anymore in other words the the dominion over death will take place for them in this particular incarnation though it may not be apparent to others because they will have achieved this spirit the spirit of accepting whatever the divine will thinks is necessary to evolve to the highest point in order to help mankind in order to serve because you see again in the initiatory mysteries we are told at one point and this is a very poignant part of the ceremonies that helps open inner centers there's a cry that comes up from the pain of the world's soul and this is a poignant cry indeed and you see every one of us actually are taking up the cross and following in the steps of Jesus. Whenever we accept our share of the pain because we've had it, it isn't that we haven't had it, it's that we have fought it.

When we accept our share of the pain for the sake of God, that is when we finally reach a point where we become the conquerors, and that is when he who loses his life shall find it. It is accepting the cross of suffering and self-sacrificing. It is in doing this that we lose the need for any more suffering. That is when we have outgrown that requirement for our own personal selves, because then we can start taking up the load and helping to share, to bring the others of our brethren into the light. Because if Christ is one being, if you and you and you and I are aspects of this divine eternal life, if this be so, So then every single one of us are precious beyond description and should be precious to each other. And if anyone comes to us in tears, we should recognize that that person in tears is taking his part of the cry of the world soul.

And we should love and comfort that person, knowing inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these my brethren ye do it unto me and as we hold this attitude of the unity of life as we search it as we look as we watch with each other looking for that spirit of divinity that is there treating each other as sacred and holy and beautiful beyond description or compare as we revere each other for the suffering and the crucifixions that we've all been through over and over again for humanity because you see you haven't suffered for yourself alone you like Jesus have suffered for the total whole and you like Jesus and like the Christ are just about ready to start reaching for the higher levels of the rewards and the conquering. And you can certainly start saying soon, I am the resurrection and the life.

He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever sliveth and believeth in me shall never die and do you know this is true this is absolutely literally true he that believeth on me on the I am on the christ on the fact that in the christ and of the christ there is no death and the conquering of death is inevitable he who thinks of this Christ Self in himself and sees himself as eternal eternal and forever how can he die he can consciously drop his physical body consciously and go on to eternal life or choose to become a master of wisdom where he stays with the physical body having conquered death even on the physical plane. Therefore say to yourself as often as you can that you are alive forevermore.

Don't think that you are ever going to die. Lift your heart and lift your mind to the Christ aspect of yourself. Lift it now. Say to yourself, I was never born though this body was born. I will never die, though many bodies of mine have died.

I have been resurrected untold numbers and numbers of times. With Christ I have earned my sublime and everlasting life. For I live in him and he in me and you you my brethren live in me and I live in you and let us worship at each other's shrine as we remember that it is the christ within all of us that can never die which takes us to the conscious attainment in time which we are now very rapidly reaching for walk in the sureness of your eternal life.

This is the message of the mystical resurrection.