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5 Planes of Existence
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Five Planes of Manifestation
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CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS, ACCORDING ΤΟ THE CANONICAL GOSPELS
A symbol of the final anguish of the incarnate
Soul as it reaches perfection, and the lower nature drops away from
it.
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,-My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"- MATTHEW xxvii. 46.
The "ninth hour" refers to the period of the attainment of
perfection on the three lower planes. The crucifixion not being yet
completed, the cry of mental distress and despondency signifies that
the soul is temporarily agonized by this transition state, for it is
not yet entirely alive to the nature of the highest conditions of
Being, when, in fact, it is not yet completely able to identify
itself with the Highest. When the identification is complete, the
consciousness has risen to the causal-body, and the suffering lower
nature has been exchanged for bliss.
"In the Apocryphal Gospel of Peter, the dying Christ cries, My
Power, my Power, thou hast forsaken me,' the 'Power' being the
heavenly Christ, who for a time had been associated with the earthly
person of the Redeemer." - W. R INGE, Paddock Lectures, p. 57.
“The heavenly Christ," or Higher Self, is to be understood as always
associated with the struggling Lower Self symbolised by Jesus. This
cry of the lower to the Higher indicates the lower consciousness on
the verge of union with the Higher, but still perceiving its
separateness from it. The expression "my Power" must be regarded as
meaning "my Divine Life and strength," which for a moment the
personality realised as departing from it-the mortal personality. It
must be remembered that it is the "earthly person" or lower
personality signified by the "body of Jesus," which dies when the
Divine spark has been withdrawn from it.
"And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his
spirit." - MATTHEW xxvii. 50.
This signifies the consummation the ultimate suffering, and then the
triumph over the ultimate ills of the lower planes,-the Soul's
liberation and final withdrawal from the lower manifestation.
“Although Redemption as a whole is one, the process is manifold, and
consists in a series of acts, spiritual and mental. Of this series,
the part wherein the individual finally surrenders his own exterior
will, with all its exclusively material desires and affections, is
designated the Passion. And the particular act whereby this
surrender is consummated and demonstrated, is called the
Crucifixion, This crucifixion means a complete, un-reserving
surrender to the death, if need be. without opposition, even in
desire, on the part of the natural man. Without these steps is no
atonement. The man cannot become one with the Spirit within him,
until by his 'Passion' and 'Crucifixion, he has utterly vanquished
the 'old Adam' of his former self. Through the atonement made by
means of this self-sacrifice he becomes as one without sin, being no
more liable to sin; and is qualified to enter, as his own high
priest, into the holy of holies of his own inner. most." - The
Perfect Way, p. 215.
"All the pains' we have to take,— they form the Cross upon which the
Body is stretched out and the Blood is spilt. But it is all tending
Godward, it is all in the appraoch to Love and Justice. This is the
death of Christ.'" - J. G. ADDERLEY, The Symbolism of the Mass.
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