Mystic discourse 16

No theme is more common to every aspect of man’s activity than that of life—unless it be its counterpart, death. It has been dealt with realistically, philosophically, poetically. It has been made the underlying lesson of mystical teaching since earliest times. Birth, death, resurrection were the pivots of man’s first religious experience.

It is but natural, then, to expect that an opposition so fundamental as that of life and death should be common to the experience of all and that it should be represented by the pillars of opposition. Common as the theme is to all systems of mystic instruction, it is rarely set forth in its right relationship in Omneity’s pattern. It is often sentimentalized and distorted out of an undue deference to everyday viewpoints. In Martinism, however, life and death are presented as two facets, or aspects, fundamental to the expression of Omneity. One without the other would make impossible the rhythmic ebb and flow of the great dual law. In fact, it would negate it entirely.

It is true that we have been taught that life is good and death is evil; that one is to be sought after and the other avoided; that the coming of life is an occasion for joy and the coming of death a time of sorrow. It is also true that we have thought of birth as a beginning and of death as an end. All of these viewpoints, however, have arisen out of imperfect knowledge and fear—a knowledge that sees nothing of plan or order in the Life- Death process and a fear that nothing exists or can exist unless tangible to the material senses. So, we foolishly rejoice over one manifestation of Omneity’s pattern and, equally foolish, we weep over another; yet the same benevolence and wisdom show themselves in both.

Life and death, as evidences of the outbreathing into material form and of the inbreathing out of material form, are the positive and negative appearances of the same divine force.

With this pair of opposites, more than with any other, the Man of Desire finds it hardest to deal, for the attachments are greater and the demands made upon his confidence in Omneity are sharper and more insistent.

One can only seek to comprehend the complete operation of the law in order to free himself from sentimentality and yet retain his sympathy for the ignorant rejoicing and suffering of the profane.

Most Men of Desire are familiar with the Christian parable wherein the Master Jesus restored the widow’s son to life. Not so many are acquainted with the equally thoughtful parable to be found in Buddhist writings. In many ways, Martinists will acknowledge in it a teaching more profound and generally helpful than that usually obtained from orthodox
Christian instruction.

In the Buddhist story, a young mother, Kisagotami, lost an infant son. She went from door to door with the dead infant in her arms, asking for medicine to restore it. At last, she came to the one called the Buddha, the Enlightened One.
“Do you know of medicine good for my boy?” she asked.
“I know of some,” said the teacher. “Bring me a handful of mustard seed.”
“I shall bring it,” said the mother.
“But,” continued the teacher, “let it be taken from a house wherein no husband, father, son, or slave has died.”
The young woman went quickly in search of the mustard seed, still carrying her dead child. Everywhere, people offered her the seed; but when she asked whether any father, son, husband, or slave had died there, all were astounded. “What is that you are asking?” they asked. “The living are the few; the dead are the many.” In every house, she found someone had died. One said, “My parents are dead”; another said, “I have lost a son”; and a third said, “My servant is dead.” No single house had escaped. Thus, Kisagotami learned that “the law of death is” and that “among all living creatures, there is no permanence.”

Watching the lights in the houses and reflecting that they burned now but were later extinguished, Kisagotami heard in her heart the words of the Buddha: All living beings resemble the flame of the lamps. One moment, they are lighted; the next, they are extinguished. Only those who have arrived at Nirvana are at rest.

If, as we are told, the wise man sees no occasion for grief at the hour of death because through it one comes again to his original estate, it is equally certain that he sees in birth but a temporary season of instruction and testing under the guidance of Omneity. The perplexities of one’s birth lead one in maturity to question the meaning and purpose of life. Such questioning prompts a serious consideration of death. We are reminded in the Associate Degree that in the ordinary state of health the three vital parts of man—the ame, the plastic envelope, and the physical body—are closely joined. The illustration used was that of a balloon and its basket being joined by a connecting link or hook. The balloon itself represented the ame; the basket, the material body; and the connecting hook, the plastic envelope. It might be said that no sooner are the three joined by birth than the vicissitudes of human experience bear down upon them to shake them apart. One clings to life because it is the means of furthering the growth of the soul personality. Because its prospects seem too final, one makes every effort to postpone death. Yet both life and death are a part of Omneity’s rhythm, and the value of one must not be set higher than that of the other.

Summary

• The theme of Life-Death is common to everyone’s experience.
• Birth has been considered a time of rejoicing and death a time of sorrow because man’s limited view has prevented his acceptance of them as aspects of the same law.
• The Buddhist parable of Kisagotami and her dead child sets forth the fact that life and death are inseparable.
• The Master may allow a brief discussion of the contrasting viewpoints contained in the Buddhist parable and the Christian one of the Master Jesus’ restoration to life of the widow’s son (Luke 7:11-15).

Reference

A Brief History of the Martinist Order.

Mystic discourse 10

It is possible to summarize the “Treatise On The Reintegration of Beings” of our Venerated Master, Martinez Pasquales, by saying that it concerns the Fall of Man and the way of his reconciliation. In neither of these two departments can it be said to be a complete statement; but it holds a real value, nevertheless, for it points the way back to essential truths at a time when man’s need for spiritual grounding is especially great.

Coupled with the rites and practices devised by Martinez, it fulfilled the requirements and opened a way whereby Men of Desire could work toward reintegration harmoniously in company with each other. However little the profane world may wish to honour Martinez Pasquales as a spiritual teacher and pioneer, Martinists are proud to acknowledge him as a Venerated Master, just as did those who came under his personal instruction. He exacted no blind adherence and arrogated to himself no unwarranted sagacity. He taught as it was given him to teach, following the Light as he saw it. We can better his instruction only by penetrating further into the source of Light and by entering more completely into the way he opened up.

A few of his precepts on Reintegration were:

“In the End, all will come back to the Beginning.”

“The universal Creation will be reintegrated in its principle of emanation.”

“Matter in general will eclipse itself completely at the End of Time, disappearing entirely from the presence of men, as a painting disappears from the imagination of a painter.”

“The same divine faculty that has produced everything will recall everything to itself; and just as all kinds of form have manifested, so will they dissipate and reintegrate in the first center of emanation.”

These thoughts of our Venerated Master might be called the instruction, or doctrine, of final things, usually spoken of as eschatology. Let us, then, conclude our present review of his instruction with a consideration of both the reintegration of man and the nature of the physical world at the end of time.

We must not forget that the purpose of what we call the Great Work of our Order is the spiritualization of humanity, individually and collectively, and the re-establishment of the divinity of mankind. Our thoughts continually find their centre in Omneity and our concern is that man’s return to It may be speedily accomplished. Throughout time, mysticism has expressed man’s unquenchable desire for identification with Omneity. That desire is being realized through our Martinist activity, for here we are learning through personal experience to know the power, reality, and love of the Divine. It must be clear that when we speak of the end of time and final things, we mean that time when the whole of humanity will have been perfected, when all will have found their way back to the throne of Omneity. Such a process cannot be thought of as being possible of accomplishment in time as it is ordinarily conceived. No date can be marked on a calendar as the day when the law of reintegration will have been worked out. We know only that certain results must be achieved in order that such a state can be reached. Omneity created the world in which space and time exist for a purpose, a part of that purpose being that humanity should have an environment where certain lessons might be learned and a type of punishment and spiritual privation suffered.

Through the long process of the evolution of selfhood, of the soul personality, mankind is learning these lessons and is drawing ever nearer to its First Spiritual Principle. Because such lessons cannot be learned in one lifetime and because universal justice and equity must be manifest, men are reborn into successive earthly lives, preserving the identity of their spiritual beings so the wisdom of one life may be added to the experiences of preceding ones. Ultimately, through this process of learning and experiencing, all humanity will have attained mastership over the conditions and environment of this Earth, this material dwelling place. When this has been accomplished/ the purpose cf the material world will have been served. We can readily and logically conceive that at a future time the Creator will indraw to Himself the creation which He manifested eons ago.

“In the End,” as Pasquales says, “all will come back to the Beginning.” It is not given to man to know the ways of Omneity. They are inscrutable to him. However much he questions, he finds himself without the complete answers, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8) Man ceases, then, to importune Omneity and turns to consider what he can comprehend— the fact that even the first perverse spiritual beings were not forever removed from Omneity’s loving care even though separated from It by their own willfulness. Adam, the MAN-GOD, could not by his wrong action put himself entirely out of reach of his Creator. With every attempt to usurp the prerogatives of Omneity’s law, man found that law reaching out to find him so that he might know even in exile that the way of his return was at hand whenever he was ready to follow it.

Spiritual instruments were ever at hand, sent by Omneity to comfort man in his distress and to aid him whenever he besought them to. These Agents of Light have been in every land among all peoples and have been known by many names. They are the Repairers and Restorers of mankind. These beings, who represent Omneity and work to bring man back to his first estate, have been called saviours by the world. In the Christian tradition, the reconciliation of man is promised through Jesus the Christ, who has been called the Son of God.

In truth, these spiritual Beings are not personalities in any historical sense. Rather, they are principles, or powers, which manifest to the world as men. In each of us, there exists the same potentiality. When we have accomplished our return to the centre of Omneity, the same Light will shine through us.

In our oratories and Conventicles, we invoke the name Ieschouah (Ye-hesh-shoe-wha) as the Repairer, the Restorer, or Reconciler. By doing so, we have in mind no historical personage but rather the transcendent principle of Light to which we have given a name.

This name, coupled with the following steps, will see us far along the path of reintegration. These steps are a daily discipline of the bodily being so that the higher purposes and needs of the soul personality may be kept in view. A regular meditation for this purpose should be held so that the consciousness of Omneity may at all times be present in us.

A Suggested Weekly Application
At least once during the coming week devote the time in your Oratory to the following
special practice of attunement: When you have attained a calm and quiet frame of mind, read a few passages from the Gospel of St. John in the New Testament. Then put the book aside, close your eyes, and let your mind dwell on the nature, beauty, and power which characterize the Being, whom we have called the Repairer, Restorer, Reconciler. Invoke that power in your own behalf by softly pronouncing the name Ieschouah eight times. Afterward, remain absolutely quiet in order that you may sense completely your impressions. Such exercises of attunement cannot fail to bring rich spiritual results.

Summary

• The purpose of what we call the Great Work of our Order is the spiritualization of humanity, individually and collectively, and the re- establishment of the divinity of mankind.
• Mysticism has ever been the expression of man’s unquenchable desire for identification with Omneity. In our Martinist activity, we are learning through personal experience the power, reality, and love of the Divine.
• It is not given to man to know the ways of Omneity. They are inscrutable to him. However, spiritual instruments, Agents of Light, or saviors, are ever at hand to help him.
• Martinists invoke by the name Ieschouah (Ye-hesh-shoe-wha) the transcendent principle of Light, which men have ever personalized and to which the names Repairer, Restorer, Reconciler have been given.

Lectio Divina Meditation

Lectio Divina (pronounced “Lec-tsee-oh Di-vee-nah”) means “Divine Reading” and is an ancient method of Scripture reading practiced by monastics since the beginning of the Church.

It was in the 11th c. that the practice of Lectio Divina became formalised. The method was formalised as:

• lectio (reading): “looking on Holy Scripture with all one’s will and wit”
• meditatio (meditation): “a studious insearching with the mind to know what was before concealed through desiring proper skill”
• oratio (prayer): “a devout desiring of the heart to get what is good and avoid what is evil”
• contemplatio (contemplation): “the lifting up of the heart to God tasting somewhat of the heavenly sweetness and savour”

Katallasso – Reconciliation

The Greek verb katallasso basically means to change or exchange. It was often used as a monetary term referring to changing or exchanging money, but in general it referred to exchanging one thing for another. A common use of katallasso was in reference to changing someone from an enemy into a friend, that is, bringing together or reconciling two people or parties that are at odds with each other. This is how katallasso is used all six times in the NT, as is also the case for all four uses of the related noun katallage (meaning reconciliation; see 2Co 5:18-19; Rm 5:11; 11:15). These two words are found only in Paul’s writings. In 1Co 7:11, Paul used katallasso to describe the reconciliation of husband and wife. Paul’s other five uses of the term explain that unbelievers can be reconciled to God through Christ. Because of sin, unbelievers are God’s enemies (Rm 5:10), but they can be reconciled to God through faith in Christ (2Co 5:18-19).

“Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them,and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

What Christ did, God did. Christ’s death mainly affected the world, that is, human sinners rather than evil supernatural beings, for whom no divine provision for reconciliation has been made.

Reference

HCSB Study Bible