The Traditions
The Comparative Religions
What the traditions agree on is the interesting part. Side by side, the shared structure becomes visible — and the argument that they are all describing one thing badly.
The Grand Synthesis: Unveiling the Secret Doctrine of the Ages Friends, let us cast our gaze backward over the vast, winding history of this world. When we look upon the vanished religions of old and the shaken faiths of history, one might easily be overcome by a sense of dizziness at the mere sight of the sinuous trail described by human thought. Its advance has been slow indeed.
In the beginning, humanity’s spiritual thought sought refuge in the gloomy crypts of India and the subterranean temples of Egypt. Later, it moved to the Roman catacombs, and later still, it lingered in the dim twilight of great cathedrals. It is a strange paradox that this thought seemed to prosper in obscure places, in the heavy atmosphere of the monastery and the stillness of cloisters, rather than in the broad daylight of open spaces or the study of nature.
If we take only a cursory survey, a superficial glance, at these beliefs and superstitions of the past, we are inevitably led to scepticism. But, my friends, if one perseveres; if one lifts the dazzling outer veil interposed between the great hidden mysteries and the public gaze; if one penetrates the inner sanctuaries of religious conception, one finds oneself in the presence of a momentous revelation.
One: The Dual Nature of Ancient Wisdom. We must understand that the ancient religions possessed a dual character. The showy outer shell, the pomp of ceremony, was designed merely to impress the masses. But behind these veils, the ancient faiths wore a very different aspect: they presented a grave and lofty character that was simultaneously scientific and philosophic.
Their teaching was divided: one side was public and superficial; the other was hidden and inner, revealed solely to the initiated. Thanks to the patient labour of reconstructing inscriptions, we have dissipated the doubt that once reigned. With light, harmony has ensued. We have proved that all religions of the past, Brahmanism, Hermetism, Greek Polytheism, and even Christianity at its origin, were interconnected and based upon one single doctrine, handed down by a lengthy line of sages.
To judge these ancient paths by their outer, vulgar side is as unfair as appraising the moral character of a man by his clothes. We must burrow into the inner thought that justified their existence to find the generating principle that gave them life. There, in the depths, lies the unique, immutable doctrine of which human creeds are but imperfect, transitory presentments contrived to fit the epoch.
Two: The Failure of Materialism and the Study of the Soul. In our modern day, we have arrived at a purely materialistic and superficial conception of eternal truths. Modern science, while producing astounding results, limits itself to accumulating facts and deducing laws, yet the knowledge of first causes and higher principles eludes it. The unseen domain of life is too vast for our feeble senses, yet out of it proceed the causes of which we perceive only the effects.
Antiquity reasoned quite otherwise. The wise men of the East and Greece did not scorn nature, but they sought the everlasting principles primarily in the study of the soul and its innate forces. To them, the soul was like a book recorded in mysterious characters. Through profound self-scrutiny and concentration, they strove to uplift themselves to the causeless Cause, the First Principle from which all beings proceed.
They viewed the soul as the supreme vehicle of knowledge, placed between the two worlds of the visible and the occult, observing them both. They understood that according to the soul's degree of perfection and purity, it reflects, more or less clearly, the rays of the divine light. Three: The Path of the Initiate. In those ancient days, a short span of hasty study was not deemed sufficient to equip one for the duties of life. Adepts were chosen and prepared from childhood, led gradually up the slopes of intellectual eminences to survey life. This initiation was an entire remoulding of character.
Listen closely to this requirement: No adept was allowed to participate in the great mysteries until he had conquered the flame of passion and the lust of desire. He had to be capable of concentrating his nature upon that which is Good and Beautiful. Only then was he allowed power over nature and the ability to communicate with the occult forces of the universe.
History leaves no room for doubt regarding the "miraculous" acts of Apollonius of Tyana, Simon the Mage, Moses, or Christ. These initiated souls possessed the secret of fluidic and magnetic forces, a realm unfamiliar to modern scientists who vainly struggle to reconcile psychical phenomena with their preconceived theories. This domain was mastered by the eastern sanctuaries. Contemporary science is now at the threshold of this occult world, and soon, it will discover nothing supernatural, but rather an unknown side of nature and the subtle forces that fill infinite space.
Four: The Secret Doctrine. What, then, is this Secret Doctrine in its essential features? It teaches that life is the evolution through time and space of the one permanent fact: the soul. Matter is but the soul's inferior expression, its changing form. The Being of beings, the Source of all life, is God: at once triple and unique, essence, substance, and life, in whom all nature is summarized. This Trinitarian deism passed from India and Egypt into Christianity, which later made three persons out of the three elements of the Supreme Being.
The human spirit is immortal, a particle of the Great Spirit. Through many existences, alternately terrestrial and spiritual, it ascends towards its Creator. Man is a ternary nature: body, perispirit, and soul, a microcosm or small world, which is a reduced image of the macrocosm, the Great Whole. Universal life has two great phases: Involution, the descent of spirit into matter; and Evolution, its gradual ascent through the chain of lives back to divine Unity. These paradoxically happen at the same time and are at work right this very moment.
Attached to this central philosophy was a ramification of sciences, sacred mathematics, theogony, cosmogony, and psychology, where inductive and experimental methods formed a perfect unity. This teaching revealed abysms of such depth that it was reserved for the most robust minds. While weak spirits might be maddened by a glimpse of the infinite, the strong are broadened, deriving an enlightened confidence in the future and a sure reliance in adversity.
Five: The Corruption of Truth. This profound knowledge begets indulgence and tolerance. The initiated knew how to unite and pray with all men; whether worshipping Brahma, Osiris, or Jupiter, they worshipped the pale images of that Supreme Power which governs all souls. Great reformers rose from these ranks, Krishna, Zoroaster, Hermes, Moses, Pythagoras, Plato, Jesus.
They cast the seeds that mature the soul to the winds, preaching the immutable moral law. However, disciples were not always able to preserve the master's heritage intact. The average man is little apt to perceive the things of the spirit, and truth was soon veiled under gross, material interpretations. Symbols were used too freely to impress the imagination, and the original thought was buried beneath the rubbish of overlying symbolism.
Consider this beautiful metaphor: Truth is comparable to a dew-drop trembling at the tip of a branch. So long as it remains suspended on high, it glistens like a pure diamond in the light; but no sooner does it touch the ground than it mingles with all the impurities thereof. Thus, all that comes from above is besmirched by earthly contact. Man brought his evil passions and moral ailments into the sanctuary, mingling error with truth, the Divine Offspring.
Six: The Necessity of True Religion. One might wonder, is religion really necessary?. Rightly understood, it is the bond uniting men to one another and to the supreme principle. There dwells in the soul an innate sentiment inclining it toward ideal perfection, righteousness, and justice. If enlightened by science and reason, this sentiment is the main spring of high deeds; but when tarnished and manipulated by theocracy, it becomes a tool of selfish domination.
True religion is not an external manifestation; it is a sentiment, and the true temple of God stands in the heart of man. It requires neither ritual nor imagery; it embraces all creeds but transcends them, bidding us never to forget that Truth is greater than all else. Seven: The Glorious Renascence. We must realize that the ranks of the faithful are growing daily thinner because the idea of God has been distorted by materialism. Men have dwarfed the universe to their own level, attributing their own passions to God and decomposing truth's golden ray through the prism of their ignorance.
Current religious creeds are stuck in their dogmas like mummies in their cloths. Stifled by earthly ligaments while the world evolves, they are doomed to perish. But take heart! Like everything else, religion dies only to be born again. We have reached a time in history where a philosophical and moral renascence is preparing. In the depths of human souls, a tumult of inspiration is seething, ready to spring into life. Sentiment and Reason, those mighty twin forces are inclining at last to an understanding.
To become scientific, religion must discard its dogmatic character; and science must cast loose from the shoals of materialism to be enlightened by divine light. A new doctrine will arise: idealistic in tendency, yet positive and experimental in method. It will be a grand synthesis, conciliating spiritualism and naturalism.
This new doctrine will be a resurrection of the secret doctrine of yore, but broader, heralding the dawn of a natural religion, simple and pure. Through a craving for righteousness, religion will be translated into action. Its holocaust will not be of blood, but the sacrifice of our passions and the cultivation of our minds.
Superior, final, and universal shall be this religion of the future. All ephemeral and conflicting creeds, too long a source of strife, will flow into its broad bosom as rivers lose themselves in the sea.
Eight. Conclusion.
Let us walk toward this light, where science meets the sacred, and where the soul finds its true home in the infinite.
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