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Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation
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RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD
A symbol of the rising of the Higher Self
from the potential to the actual in the minds of humanity: also the
rising of the indwelling or incarnate Self from the lower nature to
the higher at the end of the cycle. In relation to the egos, the
resurrection signifies the rising of the consciousness from the
lower mind to the higher in the causal-body at the cycle's end; or
the liberation the spiritual egos from captivity to the lower
nature. The lower nature is "dead," for it has in it no true Life.
'For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised. .
. . But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first-fruits
of them that are asleep... Christ the first-fruits; then they that
are Christ's, at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall
deliver up the kingdom to God." - 1 Cor. xv. 16-24.
If the lower qualities (the dead) have not been transmuted (raised),
neither hath the incarnate Self been raised; for the raising of the
qualities implies the rise of the Self in the soul. But now the Self
hath been raised in the qualities as the first spiritual fruit of
the experience of the egos asleep" in the human forms. The Self is
the first to rise, then the egos rise whose qualities are raised
from the dead lower nature. Then at the end of the cycle, when the
Self has raised the souls to the buddhic plane,- the Self becomes
merged in the Absolute.
"The true resurrection, the resurrection to newness of life, is the
rising of the Christ in human nature and human society into higher,
fuller, and richer modes of expression. That resurrection is
continually going on, and its correlative is the ascension of human
consciousness into perfect oneness with the all-embracing mind of
God in the sacred fellowship of love." - R. J. CAMPBELL, Serm., The
Resurrection Life.
"The Phrygians call Him (Korybas the perfect Man) also dead-when
buried in the body as though in a tomb or sepulchre.. 'The dead
shall leap from their graves,' that is, from their earthly bodies,
regenerated spiritual, not fleshly. This is the Resurrection which
takes place through the Gate of the Heavens, through which all those
who do not pass remain dead. The same Phrygians again call this very
same Man, after the transformation, God. For he becomes God when
rising from the dead; through such a Gate he shall pass into Heaven
" (Doctrines of the Naassene Gnostics). From the Philosophumena of
Hippolytus. - G. R. S. MEAD, T. G. Hermes, Vol. I. p. 172.
The Archetypal Man (Korybas) dies at the close of the involutionary
period, and rises in the souls of humanity in the present
evolutionary epoch. He is the Higher Self or the God in us.
“Out of the tomb of worldliness and selfishness, and the
grave-cloths of materialism, ignorance and error, the Eternal Christ
is coming forth. Resurrection is not an isolated, catastrophic act;
it is a perpetual process and an ever-active principle. The Divine
Spirit is always rising within humanity. The stone is always being
rolled away from the tomb in order that the Divine Life may come
forth in power and glory." - E. W. LEWIS, Easter, 1910.
"The chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together unto
Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he
was yet alive, After three days I will rise again." - MATTHEW xxvii.
62, 63.
The state of mind in literalism, formalism, and dogmatism
(Pharisees, etc.), does not wish for Christ to rise in the mind, for
that would put an end to the practices it finds pleasure in; it
therefore appeals to worldly-mindedness (Pilate) to crush out the
Spirit. Yet, "after three days," which here signify a period of time
to complete a condition of development, Christ would rise in glory
in the minds of human kind, and become the actual ruler in men's
lives, and not only the Ideal of their souls. For the ideal of life
of one age is the actual conduct of the next.
“Curiously enough we find the story of the resurrection of Dionysus,
after his dismemberment by the Titans, compared by the most learned
of the Christian Fathers with the resurrection of the Christ. Thus
Origen (Con. Celsum, IV. 171), after making the comparison, remarks
apologetically and somewhat bitterly : Or, forsooth, are the Greeks
to be allowed to use such words with regard to the soul, and speak
in allegorical fashion, and we forbidden to do so?'- thus clearly
declaring that the rection' was an allegory of the soul, and not
historical."-G. R. S. MEAD, Orpheus, P. 186.
"The Cross and Passion represents the pain and stress that
accompanies the process (of the return of man to the perfect
Humanity-Christ); the pain of self-sacrifice, of penitence, of
resistance to temptation, the trouble connected with the maintenance
of a consistent life in the midst of a selfish world. The
Resurrection is the new life that follows the sacrifice; the
Ascension is the final attainment of union with God." - J. G.
ADDERLEY, The Symbolism of the Mass.
Damacius, speaking of the dismemberment and resurrection of Osiris,
remarks, 'this should be a mingling with God, an all perfect at-one-ment,
a return upwards of our souls to the divine.' MEAD, Orpheus, p. 186.
“ Osiris died and was buried, like Asari or Merodach, whose temple
at Babylon was also his tomb; but it was that he might rise again in
the morning with renewed strength and brilliancy. . . Both in Egypt
and in Babylonia he was the God of the resurrection, whether that
took place in this visible world or in the heavenly paradise. In
order to share in this state of bliss, it was necessary for the
believer in Osiris to become like the God himself. He must himself
be an Osiris, according to the Egyptian expression. His
individuality remained intact; as he had been on earth, so would he
be in heaven." - A. H. SAYCE, Rel. of Anc. Egyptians, etc., pp. 164,
169.
The Higher Self (Osiris) became involved in matter (tomb) in order
to rise from it in greater glory during the emanation (morning) of a
new era. The soul, or ego, must become perfect in all its qualities
even as the Self is perfect, and when the perfected soul is
liberated from the lower nature it becomes one with the Self above.
"The apostle bids us reckon : 'Like- wise reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ.' Hence
Christ says, 'I am the resurrection and the life,' for that all his
are safe in him, suffering, dying and rising. He is the life, our
life'; yea, so our life, that by him the elect do live before God,
even then when as to themselves they yet are dead in their sins.
Wherefore, hence it is that in time they partake of quickening grace
from this their Head, to the making of them also live by faith, in
order to their living hereafter with him in glory; for if Christ
lives, they cannot die that were sharers with him in his
resurrection. Hence they are said to live,' being quickened together
with him.'" – JOHN BUNYAN, Justification, etc.
"Risen with Christ. This Resurrection, then, is a moral change; it
is a spiritual movement. A resurrection is a transfer from one state
to another. It is a passage from the darkness of the tomb to the
sunshine of the upper air. It is an exchange of the coldness,
stillness, corruption of death for the warmth and movement, and
undecayed energies of life. . . The spiritual resurrection of a soul
belongs to nature just as little as does the bodily raising of a
corpse. It is an evidence of the real introduction of a Higher Power
into humanity. It is essentially supernatural." - H. P. LIDDON,
University Sermons, pp. 260, 265.
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