When Jesus reached his native land, after the years
of travel in India, Persia and Egypt, he is believed by the
occultists to have spent at least one year among the various
lodges and retreats of the Essenes. By reference to the first
lesson of this series you will see who and what was this great
mystic organization--the Essenic Brotherhood. While resting
and studying in their retreats His attention was diverted to
the work of Johannen--John the Baptist--and He saw there an
opening wedge for the great work that He felt called upon to
do among His own people. Dreams of converting His own
race--the Jews--to His conception of Truth and Life, crept
over Him, and he determined to make this work His great life
task.
The feeling of race is hard to overcome and eradicate, and
Jesus felt that, after all, here He was at last, at home,
among His own people, and the ties of blood and race
reasserted themselves. He put aside His previous thoughts of a
world-wandering life, and decided to plant the standard of the
Truth in Israel, so that from the capital of the Chosen People
the Light of the Spirit might shine forth to all the world. It
was Jesus the man--Jesus the Jew--that made this choice. From
the broader, higher point of view He had no race; no country;
no people;--but His man nature was too strong, and in yielding
to it he sowed the seeds for His final undoing.
Had he merely passed through Judea as a traveling missionary,
as had done many others before Him, he would have escaped the
punishment of the government. Although He would have aroused
the hatred and opposition of the priests, He would have not
laid Himself open to the charge of wishing to become the King
of the Jews, or the Jewish Messiah, come to resume the throne
of David, His forefather. But it avails us nought to indulge
in speculations of this kind, for who knows what part Destiny
or Fate plays in the Great Universal plan--who knows where
Free-Will terminates and Destiny moves the pieces on the
board, that the Great Game of Universal Life be played
according to the plan?
While among the Essenes, as we have said, Jesus first heard of
John, and determined to use the ministry of the latter as an
opening wedge for His own great work. He communicated to the
Essenic Fathers His determination to travel to John's field of
work later on, and the Fathers sent word of this to John. The
legends have it that John did not know who was coming, being
merely informed that a great Master from foreign parts would
join him later on, and that he, John, should prepare the
people for his coming.
And John followed these instructions from his superiors in the
Essenic Brotherhood to the letter, as you will see by
reference to our first lesson, and to the New Testament. He
preached repentance; righteousness; the Essenic rite of
Baptism; and above all the Coming of the Master. He bade his
hearers repent--"repent ye! for the Kingdom of Heaven is at
hand"!--"repent ye! for the Master cometh!" cried he in
forceful tones.
And when his people gathered around him and asked whether he,
John, were not indeed the Master, he answered them, saying,
"Nay, I am not He whom thou seekest. After me there cometh one
whose sandals I am not worthy to unloose. I baptize thee with
water, but He shall baptize thee with the Fire of the Spirit
that is within Him!" It was ever and always this exhortation
toward fitness for the coming of the Master. John was a true
Mystic, who sank his personality in the Work he was called on
to do, and who was proud to be but the Forerunner of the
Master, of whose coming he had been informed by the
Brotherhood.
And, as we have told you in the first lesson, one day there
came before him, a young man, of a dignified, calm appearance,
gazing upon him with the expressive eyes of the true Mystic.
The stranger asked to be baptized, but John, having perceived
the occult rank of the stranger by means of the signs and
symbols of the Brotherhood, rebelled at the Master receiving
baptism at the hands of himself, one far below the occult rank
of the stranger. But Jesus, the stranger, said to John,
"Suffer it to be," and stepped into the water to receive the
mystic rite again, as a token to the people that He had come
as one of them.
And then occurred that strange event, with which you are
familiar, when a dove descended as if from Heaven and rested
over the head of the stranger, and a soft voice, even as the
sighing of the wind through the trees, was heard, whispering,
"This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." And then
the stranger, evidently awed by the strange message from the
Beyond, passed away from the multitude, and bent his way
toward the wilderness, as if in need of a retreat in which he
could meditate over the events of the day, and regarding the
work which He could now dimly see stretching its way before
Him.
The average student of the New Testament passes over the event
of Jesus in the Wilderness, with little or no emotion,
regarding it as a mere incident in His early career. Not so
with the mystic or occultist, who knows, from the teachings of
his order, that in the Wilderness Jesus was subjected to a
severe occult test, designed to develop His power, and test
His endurance. In fact, as every advanced member of any of the
great occult orders knows, the occult degree known as "The
Ordeal of the Wilderness" is based upon this mystic experience
of Jesus, and is intended to symbolize the tests to which He
was subjected. Let us consider this event so fraught with
meaning and importance to all true occultists.
The Wilderness toward which Jesus diverted His steps, lay afar
off from the river in which the rites of Baptism had been
performed. Leaving behind him the fertile banks, and acres, of
cultivated land, He approached the terrible Wilderness which
even the natives of that part of the country regarded with
superstitious horror. It was one of the weirdest and dreariest
spots in even that weird and dreary portion of the country.
The Jews called it "The Abode of Horror"; "The Desolate Place
of Terror"; "The Appalling Region"; and other names suggestive
of the superstitious dread which it inspired in their hearts.
The Mystery of the Desert Places hung heavy over this place,
and none but the stoutest hearts ventured within its
precincts. Though akin to the desert, the place abounded in
dreary and forbidding hills, crags, ridges and canyons. Those
of our readers who have ever traveled across the American
continent and have seen some of the desolate places of the
American Desert, and who have read of the terrors of Death
Valley, or the Alkali Lands, may form an idea of the nature of
this Wilderness toward which the Master was traveling.
All normal vegetation gradually disappeared as He pressed
further and further into this terrible place, until naught
remained but the scraggy vegetation peculiar to these waste
places--those forms of plant life that in their struggle for
existence had managed to survive under such adverse conditions
as to give the naturalist the impression that the very laws of
natural plant life have been defied and overcome.
Little by little the teeming animal life of the lower lands
disappeared, until at last no signs of such life remained,
other than the soaring vultures overhead and the occasional
serpent and crawling things under foot. The silence of the
waste places was upon the traveler, brooding heavily over Him
and all around the places upon which He set His foot,
descending more heavily upon Him each moment of His advance.
Then came a momentary break in the frightful scene. He passed
through the last inhabited spot in the approach to the heart
of the Wilderness--the tiny village of Engedi, where were
located the ancient limestone reservoirs of water which
supplied the lower regions of the territory. The few
inhabitants of this remote outpost of primitive civilization
gazed in wonder and awe at the lonely figure passing them with
unseeing eyes and with gaze seemingly able to pierce the
forbidding hills which loomed up in the distance hiding lonely
recesses into which the foot of man had never trodden, even
the boldest of the desert people being deterred from a visit
thereto by the weird tales of unholy creatures and unhallowed
things, which made these places the scene of their uncanny
meetings and diabolical orgies.
On, and on, pressed the Master, giving but slight heed to the
desolate scene which now showed naught but gloomy hills, dark
canyons, and bare rocks, relieved only by the occasional
bunches of stringy desert grass and weird forms of cacti
bristling with the protective spines which is their armor
against their enemies.
At last the wanderer reached the summit of one of the higher
foot-hills and gazed at the scene spreading itself before Him.
And that scene was one that would have affrighted the heart of
an ordinary man. Behind Him was the country through which He
had passed, which though black and discouraging was as a
paradise to the country which lay ahead of Him. There below
and behind Him were the caves and rude dwellings of the
outlaws and fugitives from justice who had sought the doubtful
advantage of security from the laws of man. And far away in
the distance were the scenes of John the Baptist's ministry,
where He could see in imagination the multitude discussing the
advent of the strange Master, who had been vouched for by the
Voice, but who had
stolen swiftly away from the scene, and had fled the crowds
who would have gladly worshipped Him as a Master and have
obeyed His slightest command.
Then as the darkness of the succeeding nights fell upon Him,
He would sleep on some wild mountain cliff, on the edge of
some mighty precipice, the sides of which dropped down a
thousand feet or more. But these things disturbed Him not. On
and on He pressed at the appearance of each dawn. Without food
He boldly moved forward to the Heart of the Hills, where the
Spirit guided Him to the scene of some great spiritual
struggle which he intuitively knew lay before Him.
The Words of the Voice haunted Him still, though He lacked a
full understanding of them, for He had not yet unfolded the
utmost recesses of His Spiritual Mind. "This is my Beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased"--what meant these words? And
still, no answer came to that cry of His soul which sought in
vain for a freeing of that riddle.
And still on and on He pressed, until at last He mounted the
steep sides of the barren forbidding mountain of Quarantana,
beyond which He felt that His struggle was to begin. No food
was to be found--He must fight the battle unaided by the
material sustenance that ordinary men find necessary for life
and strength. And still He had not received the answer to the
cry of His soul. The rocks beneath His feet--the blue sky
above His head--the lofty peaks of Moab and Gilead in the
distance--gave no answer to the fierce insistent desire for
the answer to the Riddle of the Voice. The answer must come
from Within, and from Himself only. And in the Heart of the
Wilderness He must remain, without food, without shelter,
without human companionship, until the
Answer came. And as it was with the Master, so is it with the
follower--all who attain the point of unfoldment at which the
Answer is alone possible, must experience that awful feeling
of "aloneness" and spiritual hunger, and frightful remoteness
from all that the world values, before the Answer comes from
Within--from the Holy of Holies of the Spirit.
*
*
*
* *
To realize the nature of the spiritual struggle that awaited
Jesus in the Wilderness--that struggle that would bring Him
face to face with His own soul, we must understand the Jewish
longing and expectation of the Messiah. The Messianic
traditions had taken a strong hold upon the minds of the
Jewish people, and it needed but the spark of a strong
personality to set all Israel into a blaze which would burn
fiercely and destroy the foreign influences which have
smothered the national spirit. The idea of a Messiah springing
from the loins of David, and coming to take His rightful place
as the King of the Jews, was imbedded in the heart of every
Jew worthy of the name. Israel was oppressed by its
conquerors, and made subject to a foreign yoke, but when the
Messiah would come to deliver Israel, every Jew would arise to
drive out the foreign invaders and conquerors--the yoke of
Rome would be thrown off, and Israel would once more take its
place among the nations of the earth.
Jesus knew full well the fact of this national hope. It had
been installed into His mind from childhood. He had pondered
over it often during the time of His wanderings and sojourn in
foreign lands. The occult legends, however, make no mention of
His having ever thought of Himself as the Messiah until he was
about to re-enter His own land after His years of foreign
study and ministry. It is thought that the idea of His being
the long expected Messiah was first suggested by some of the
Essenic teachers, when He rested with them for awhile before
appearing before John the Baptist. It was pointed out to Him
that the marvelous events surrounding His birth indicated that
He was a marked individual destined to play an important part
in the history of the World. Then why was it not reasonable to
believe that that role was to be that of the Messiah come to
sit on the throne of His father David, and destined to bring
Israel from her now obscure position to once more shine as a
bright star in the firmament of nations? Why was it not
reasonable that He was to lead the Chosen People to their own?
Jesus began to ponder over these things. He had absolutely no
material ambitions for Himself and all His impulses and
inclinations were for the life of an occult ascetic. But the
idea of a redeemed and regenerated Israel was one calculated
to fire the blood of any Jew, even though the element of
personal ambition might be lacking in him.
He had always realized that in some way He was different from
other men, and that some great work lay ahead of Him, but He
had never understood His own nature, nor the work He was to
do. And it is not to be wondered that the talk among the
Essenes caused Him to ponder carefully over the idea expressed
by them. And then the wonderful event of the dove, and the
Voice, upon the occasion of His baptism, seemed almost to
verify the idea of the Essenes. Was He indeed the
long-expected Deliverer of Israel? Surely He must find this
out--He must wring the answer from the inmost recesses of His
soul. And so, He sought refuge in the Wilderness, intuitively
feeling that there amidst the solitude and desolation, He
would fight His fight and receive His
answer.
He felt that He had come to a most important phase of His
life's work, and the question of "What Am I?" must be settled,
once and for all,--then and there. And so He left behind Him
the admiring and worshipful crowds of John's following, and
sought the solitude of the waste places of the Wilderness, in
which He felt He would come face to face with His own soul,
and demand and receive its answer.
*
*
*
* *
And up in the inmost recesses of the Heart of the
Wilderness, Jesus wrestled in spirit with Himself for many
days, without food or nourishment, and without shelter.
And the struggle was terrific--worthy of such a great
soul. First the body's insistent needs were to be fought
and mastered. It is related that the climax of the
physical struggle came one day when the Instinctive Mind,
which attends to the physical functions, made a desperate
and final demand upon Him. It cried aloud for bread with
all the force of its nature. It tempted Him with the fact
that by His own occult powers He was able to convert the
very stones into bread, and it demanded that He work the
miracle for His own physical needs--a practice deemed most
unworthy by all true occultists and mystics. "Turn this
stone into bread, and eat" cried the voice of the Tempter.
But Jesus resisted the temptation although He knew that by
the power of His concentrated thought He had but first to
mentally picture the stone as bread and then "will" that
it be so materialized. The miraculous power which
afterward turned water into wine, and which was again used
to feed the multitude with the loaves and the fishes, was
available to Him at that moment in order to satisfy the
cravings of His body, and to break His fast.
None but the advanced occultist who has known what it
was to be tempted to use his mysterious powers to satisfy
his personal wants, can appreciate the nature of the
struggle through which Jesus passed, and from which He
emerged victorious. And like the occult Master that He
was, He summoned His Inner Forces and beat off the
Tempter.
*
*
*
* *
But a still greater temptation than this arose to try Him to
the utmost. He found Himself brought face to face with the
idea of Messiahship, and Kingship of the Jews, of which we
spoke. Was He the Messiah? And if so, what must be His course
of life and action? Was He destined to throw aside the robe
and staff of the ascetic, and to don the royal purple and the
sceptre? Was He to forsake the role of the spiritual guide and
teacher, and to become the King and Ruler over the people of
Israel? These were the questions He asked His soul, and for
which He demanded an answer.
And the mystic legends tell us that His Spirit answered by
showing Him two sets of mental pictures, with the assurance
that "He could choose either, at will, and cause it to become
realized".
The first picture showed Him true to His spiritual instincts,
and loyal to His mission, but which rendered Him indeed the
"Man of Sorrows." He saw himself continuing to sow the seeds
of Truth, which would, centuries after, spring up, blossom and
bear fruit to nourish the world, but which would now bring
down upon His head the hatred and persecution of those in
power and authority. And He saw each successive step, each
showing the approach of the end, until at last He saw Himself
crowned with thorns and meeting the death of a criminal on the
cross, between two base criminals of the lowest classes of
men. All this He saw and even His brave heart felt a deadly
sickness at the ignominious end of it all--the apparent
failure of His earthly mission. But it is related that some of
the mighty intelligences which dwell upon the higher planes of
existence, gathered around Him, and gave Him words of
encouragement and hope and resolve. He found Himself literally
in the midst of the Heavenly Host, and receiving the
inspiration of its presence.
Then this picture--and the Host of Invisible Helpers--faded
away, and the second picture began to appear before the vision
of the lonely dweller of the Wilderness. He saw the picture of
Himself descending the mountain, and announcing Himself as the
Messiah--the King of the Jews--who had come to lead His Chosen
People to victory and deliverance. He saw Himself acclaimed as
the Promised One of Israel, and the multitude flocking to His
banners. He saw Himself at the head of a great conquering
army, marching toward Jerusalem. He saw Himself making use of
His highly developed occult powers to read the minds of the
enemy and thus know their every movement and intention, and
the means to overcome them. He saw Himself miraculously arming
and feeding His hosts of battle. He saw Himself smiting the
enemy with His occult powers and forces. He saw the yoke of
Rome being cast off, and its phalanxes fleeing across the
borders in terror and disgraceful defeat. He saw Himself
mounting the throne of David, His forefather. He saw Himself
instituting a reign of the highest type, which would make of
Israel the leading nation of the world. He saw Israel's sphere
of influence extending in all directions, until Persia, Egypt,
Greece and even the once-feared Rome, become tributary
nations. He saw Himself in the triumphant chariot on some
great feast day of victory, with Caesar himself tied to the
tail of His chariot--a slave to Israel's King. He saw His
royal court outrivaling that of Solomon, and becoming the
center of the world. He saw Jerusalem as the capital of the
world, and He, Jesus of Nazareth, son of David the King, as
its Ruler, its hero, its demi-god. The very apotheosis of
human success showed in the picture of Himself and His Beloved
Israel in the picture.
And then the Temple was seen to be the Center of the Religious
thought of the World. The Religion of the Jews, as modified by
His own advanced views, would be the religion of all men. And
he would be the favored mouthpiece of the God of Israel. All
the dreams of the Hebrew Fathers would be realized in Him, the
Messiah of the New Israel whose capital would be Jerusalem,
the Queen of the World.
And all this by simply the exercise of his occult powers under
the direction of HIS WILL. It is related that accompanying
this second picture and attracted by its mighty power, came
all the great thought-waves of the world which had been
thought by men of all times who thought and acted out the
Dreams of Power. These clouds settled down upon Him like a
heavy fog, and their vibrations were almost overpowering. And
also came the hosts of the disembodied souls of those who
while living had sought or gained power. And each strove to
beat into His brain the Desire of Power. Never in the history
of man have the Powers of Darkness so gathered together for
attack upon the mind of a mortal man. Would it have been any
wonder had even such a
man as Jesus succumbed?
But He did not succumb. Rallying His Inner Force to His rescue
He beat back the attacking horde, and by an effort of His
Will, He swept both picture and tempters away into oblivion,
crying indignantly "Thou darest to tempt even me, thy Lord and
Master. Get thee behind me thou Fiends of Darkness"!
And so the Temptation of the Wilderness failed, and Jesus
received His answer from His soul, and He descended the
mountains, back to the haunts of men--back to the scene of His
three years' labors and suffering, and back to His Death. And
He knew full well all that awaited Him there, for had He not
seen the First Picture?
Jesus had chosen His career.
*
*
*
* *
The Master descended from the mountains and forsook the
Wilderness for the place in which John and his followers were
gathered. Resting for a time, and refreshing Himself with food
and drink, He gathered together His energies for His great
work.
The followers of John gathered around Him, filled with the
idea that He was the Messiah come to lead them to victory and
triumph. But He disappointed them by His calm, simple manner,
and His disavowal of royal claims. "What seek ye of me?" he
asked them, and many, abashed, left His circle and returned to
the crowd. But a few humble souls remained and around these
few gathered a few more, until at last a little band of
faithful students was formed--the first band of Christian
disciples. This band was composed almost entirely of fishermen
and men of similar humble occupations. There was an absence of
people of rank or social position. His people were of the
"plain people" which have furnished the recruits for every
great religion.
And after a time, Jesus moved away from the place, followed by
His band of disciples, which drew new members from each place
of gathering. Some stayed but for a short time, while others
replaced the faint hearted ones of little faith. But the band
steadily grew, until it began to attract the attention of the
authorities and the public. Jesus constantly disclaimed being
the Messiah, but the report that such indeed He was, began to
spread and the authorities began that system of spying and
watching which followed His footsteps for three years, and
which finally resulted in His death on the Cross. And this
suspicion was encouraged by the Jewish priesthood which began
to hate the young teacher whose opposition to their tyranny
and formalism was quite marked.
The band one day came to a small village in Galilee, and Jesus
began His usual meetings and teaching. Near where they
gathered was a house at which preparations were being made for
a wedding feast. The wedding ceremony has always been an
important occasion among the Jews. The most elaborate
preparations consistent with the size of the purse of the
girl's parents are indulged in. Relatives from far and near
gather to the feast. Jesus happened to be a distant kinsman of
the bride, and according to custom He was bidden to the feast.
The guests began to gather, each depositing his sandals in the
outer court, and entering the guest chamber barefooted, after
carefully bathing his feet and ankles after the custom still
prevailing in Oriental countries. Jesus was accompanied by a
few of His faithful followers. His mother, and His several
brothers were also among the blood-relations present at the
feast.
His appearance caused much interest and comment among the
other guests. To some He was simply a traveling religious
teacher, not uncommon in that land, to others He was an
inspired prophet, bringing a wonderful Message to the Jewish
people, as He had to the Persians, Egyptians and Hindus; to
others he was more than this, and whispers of "He is the
Messiah"; "The King of Israel," etc., began to circulate among
those present, causing interest, uneasiness or disgust,
according to the views of the hearers. But whenever He moved,
He attracted attention by His manner, attitude and expression.
All felt that here indeed was an Individual. Strange stories
of His wanderings in strange lands added additional interest
to His presence.
A feeling that something unusual was about to happen began to
creep over the crowd, as is the case often preceding such
events. Mary, His mother, watched her son with longing eyes,
for she saw that some strange change had come over Him, that
was beyond her comprehension.
Toward the end of the feast, it began to be whispered around
among the near relatives that the supply of wine was about
exhausted, the attendance having been much greater than had
been expected. This, to a Jewish family, was akin to a family
disgrace, and anxious looks began to be exchanged among the
members of the immediate family.
Tradition has it that Jesus was besought for aid by His mother
and other female kinswoman. Just what they expected Him to do
is not clear, but it is probable that they unconsciously
recognized His greatness, and accorded Him the place of the
natural Head of the Family, as being the most prominent
member. At any rate, they asked His aid. What arguments they
used, or what reasons they urged, we do not know, but whatever
they were, they succeeded in winning Him to their side, and
gaining from Him a promise of aid and assistance. But not
until after He had remonstrated that these things were of no
concern of His--that His powers were not to be trifled away in
this manner. But His love for His mother, and His desire to
reward her devotion and faith in Him, prevailed over the
natural disinclination of the mystic to be a "wonder worker"
and to exhibit his occult powers to grace a wedding-feast. He
had long since learned the necessary but comparatively simple
occult feat from His old Masters in far off India, that land
of wonder-working. He knew that even the humbler Yogis of that
land would smile at the working of such a simple miracle. And
so the matter seemed to Him to be of but slight moment, and
not as a prostitution of some of the higher occult powers. And
feeling thus, He yielded to their requests for aid.
Then moving toward the court in which were stored a number of
great jars of water, he fixed a keen, burning glance upon
them, one by one, passing His hand rapidly over them, in a
quick succession, He made the Mental Image that precedes all
such manifestations of occult power, and then manifesting His
power by using His Will in the manner known to all advanced
occultists, He rapidly materialized the elements of the wine
in the water, within the jars, and lo! the "miracle" had been
wrought.
A wave of excitement passed over the crowded house. The guests
flocked around the jars to taste of the wine that had been
produced by occult power. The priests frowned their
displeasure, and the authorities sneered and whispered
"charlatan"; "fraud"; "shameful imposture"; and other
expressions that always follow an occurrence of this kind.
Jesus turned away, in grief and sorrow. Among the Hindus such
a simple occult occurrence would have caused but little
comment, while here among His own people it was considered to
be a wonderful miracle by some, while others regarded it as a
trick of a traveling conjurer and charlatan.
What manner of people were these to whom He had decided to
deliver the Message of Life? And, sighing deeply, He passed
from the house, and returned to His camp.
