THURSDAY BEFORE EASTER
SURRENDER TO YOUR INNER MASTER
It is virtually impossible to go the Gnostic spiritual journey on your own. The development of the inner being requires specific nutrition that the pupil of the soul cannot provide on his or her own. For his spiritual development he is dependent on a resource that is outside himself and is stronger than he is. This is a natural law which applies in all areas of life and is the hallmark of fraternity; for if there is only equality, then development and progress are excluded.
People are self-contained individuals, but at a deeper level they are all connected to each other. Humanity is a unity that also interacts with the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom and with kingdoms ‘above’ us of which we are not aware.
A higher form of life affects subsequent forms of life, including those with no conscious contact. A force that is stronger and comes from the outside always causes a change in something that is less powerful and within its influence. People therefore bear responsibility for the plants, the animals and the people around them. Parents are responsible for their children. Similarly, there is a realm of living souls that takes care of the soul development of the people on earth.
Inner development cannot and should never be enforced. But once the spirit-spark in the heart of man is awakened and that person, on the basis of a deep longing, decides to allow the inner man within to develop, then transformative and helping forces can be provided from the soul field. The force from outside is then the force from within.
In ancient times there were mystery schools in many countries. Founders of such schools were spiritual leaders who followed the path of the mysteries themselves, and they attracted pupils who were ready, on the basis of inner distress, for the same road. The leaders continuously developed themselves and their schools, thus causing the inner being of their pupils to awaken and grow. Without the continuous development of their own strength such a school would soon have crystallised and disintegrated, leaving the pupils shattered.
The forces released within a bona fide mystery school are spiritual energies of an etheric and astral nature. They are referred to as the bread and the wine. The first Christians lived and worked in groups as a mystery school. Yet there are fundamental differences with the mystery schools prior to Christianity, which were always secret and accessible only to those who were mature enough to be ready for it on the basis of inner distress.
The special feature of Christianity is that Jesus made the Mysteries public, therefore accessible for every person on earth without the intervention of priests, masters or gurus. Through the synthesis and renewal of liberating values from the past, the historical Jesus has founded an entirely new cosmic mystery school.
The energy we call ‘Christ’ has been spread from the world heart, from the spiritual core of the earth ever since the Mystery of Golgotha. This Christ Field spreads around the whole earth as a luminous atmosphere in which the inner man can breathe and live.
All the forces necessary to go the way of transformation and true human genesis have been at the disposal of humanity since the beginning of this era. And everyone who is ready for it, wherever he or she lives, is lovingly admitted to the cosmic mystery school. That is why Jesus says in chapter 75 of The Gospel of the Holy Twelve:
You call me the Christ of God and you say well, for I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Walk in the Way, and you shall find God. Seek the Truth and the Truth shall make you free. Live in the Life, and you shall see no death.
The Gospel of the Holy Twelve 75: 11-12
The power of Christ, the force field of the Christ, is like a bridge between two worlds. It is the way by which every human being on earth can become a living connection between the mortal perishable world in which we live and the imperishable divine nature, God. Through the world heart and the spirit-spark in the human heart, eternity connects with time and the cross is planted in the earth.
Truth is the living inner knowledge, gnosis, resulting from the awakened spirit-spark and the cosmic mystery school. Gnosis does not consist of dogmas or philosophical theories and is not given to man on a silver platter, in articles, books or online modules. The essential truth must be recognised and accepted by the human mind on the basis of inner desire and intense searching.
The essence of a pure life is in us. The Christ Mysteries make it possible to develop this core to an inner field of higher life, a life that we can at most identify with words like light, love, harmony, freedom and eternal genesis.
The growth of this inner life field is described in the Gospels and other Gnostic writings as “the life of Jesus.” Everything that grows, including the inner imperishable being, grows according to natural laws. Seven stages are recognised in the Christian initiation mystery, none of which can be passed over:
- The birth and ministry of John the Baptist
- The birth of Jesus in the cave or stable in Bethlehem (meaning ‘bread house’)
- Jesus’ pilgrimage on earth
- The selection of the twelve disciples
- The preparation and celebration of the Holy Supper
- The Crucifixion on Mount Golgotha (meaning place of the skull)
- The Resurrection
John the Baptist symbolises the man who has fathomed the aridity of earthly existence and focuses on the inner life. Therefore Jesus can be born and grow up. Jesus’ pilgrimage, the circulation of the light power in ourselves, is the intense preparation for the work of service to the world and humanity, and ends with the baptism in the Jordan and the temptation in the desert.
In Inner Christianity, the figures in the Gospels are seen mainly as aspects of ourselves. The disciples Peter, John and James represent the will, the feeling and the thinking of the John man. Judas symbolises our natural possessiveness, ambition and lust for power aiming for a kingdom on earth. Jesus constantly emphasises:
My kingdom is not of this world.
The Gospel of the Holy Twelve 75:17
The teachings of Jesus meant for the inner man are ‘food for the soul,‘ and ‘miraculous nourishment.’ Within the mystery school of Jesus, pupils change in spirit, soul and body. The powers of the inner life work in a purifying way, as a transforming power that changes everything.
Then the time approaches to celebrate the Passover with a ritual meal, the feast of the unleavened bread. The Last Supper is not an annual event, but an intense inner process consisting of seven stages. Peter (the will, dynamism of the personality) and John (feeling, the devoted love to the one goal) are sent out to prepare that ‘pure bread.’ And the commencement of the ‘last supper’ symbolises the moment when the primeval golden pranic light, as the entirely pure bread and wine of life, can descend into physical man for the first time to serve the transformation process.
Jesus wishes to have a Passover meal with his disciples for the last time on the evening before the end of his earthly life in order “to institute the commemoration of his sacrifice for the service and salvation of everyone.” The disciples are mystery symbols for twelve guiding elements in the mortal human being, without which neither inner nor outer life is possible.
The bread and wine are inner forces which are spread throughout the entire system of the human being through the disciples. The bread is the unearthly life energy with which the new etheric body, the new flesh of the inner Jesus, will be built. And the wine, the blood of Jesus, is the new astral force which ‘sacrifices’ itself to the blood of the pupil of the soul. Equipped in this way he or she can then continue his way ‘in Christ’ to serve the world and humanity. In that surrender resound the words:
In Wisdom, Love, and Equity Thy Kingdom come to all. Thy holy Will be done always, as in Heaven, so on Earth. Give us day by day to partake of Thy holy Bread, and the fruit of Thy living Vine.
The Gospel of the Holy Twelve 76:20
Then Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. The inner master Jesus cleanses crucial aspects of the personality, symbolised by the disciples, with which the liberating path can be followed on a higher level. Washing other people’s feet was basically slave labour and represents the bond of all those who are part of a mystery school: the inner path can only be followed in service, where the higher serves the lower.
Symbolically allowing one’s feet to be washed shows that one is ready to ‘cross the threshold’ in order to celebrate the inner Easter of the resurrection. Such a person knows that the inner master is stronger than him and so he surrenders voluntarily and with confidence to his leadership.
Sooner or later every pupil of the soul is confronted with this test of willingness. Those who can leave their own earthly will behind and can follow the new inner master will step across the threshold with ‘clean feet’. They will recognise, from the depths of their hearts and with great insight:
As in the natural so in the spiritual. My doctrine and my life shall be meat and drink to you, the Bread of Life and the Wine of Salvation.
As the corn and the grapes are transmuted into flesh and blood, so must your natural minds be changed into spiritual. Seek the transmutation of the natural into the spiritual.
The Gospel of the Holy Twelve 32: 7-8