Esoteric Christianity - mysticknowledge.org

Esoteric Christianity
Or The Lesser Mysteries
[pic] Annie Besant 1914
THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE
Adyar, Madras 600 020,
India Wheaton. Illinois, USA.London, England

Contents Esoteric Christianity 1
Annie Besant 1
FOREWORD 3
THE HIDDEN SIDE OF RELIGIONS 5
THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCRIPTURES 16
THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH 26
THE HISTORICAL CHRIST 41
THE HISTORICAL CHRIST OR JESUS THE HEALER AND TEACHER 44
THE MYTHIC CHRIST 49
THE MYSTIC CHRIST (concluded) 57
THE TRINITY 80
PRAYER 87
THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS 94
SACRAMENTS 101
REVELATION 114
AFTERWORD 120
FOREWORD
The object of this book is to suggest certain lines of thought as to the
deep truths underlying Christianity, truths generally overlooked, and only
too often denied. The generous wish to share with all what is precious, to
spread broadcast priceless truths, to shut out none from the illumination
of true knowledge, has resulted in a zeal without discretion that has
vulgarised Christianity, and has presented its teachings in a form that
often repels the heart and alienates the intellect. The command to "preach
the Gospel to every creature" [ S.Mark, xvi, 15] - though admittedly of
doubtful authenticity - has been interpreted as forbidding the teaching of
the Gnosis to a few, and has apparently erased the less popular saying of
the same Great Teacher: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither
cast ye your pearls before swine". [S. Matt., vii,6] This spurious sentimentality - which refuses to recognise the obvious
inequalities of intelligence and morality, and thereby reduces the teaching
of the highly developed to the level attainable by the least evolved,
sacrificing the higher to the lower in a way that injures both - had no
place in the virile common sense of the early Christians. S. Clement of
Alexandria says quite bluntly, after alluding to the Mysteries: "Even now I
fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls before swine, lest they tread them
underfoot, and turn and rend us'. For it is difficult to exhibit the really
pure and transparent words respecting the true Light to swinish and
untrained hearers". [Clarke's Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. IV.
Clement of Alexandria. Stromata, bk. I, ch. xii. ] If true knowledge, the Gnosis, is again to form a part of Christian
teachings, it can only be under the old restrictions, and the idea of
levelling down to the capacities of the least developed must be definitely
surrendered. Only by teaching above the grasp of the little evolved can the
way be opened up for a restoration of arcane knowledge, and the study of
the Lesser Mysteries must precede that of the Greater. The Greater will
never be published through the printing-press; they can only be given by
Teacher to pupil, "from mouth to ear". But the Lesser Mysteries the partial
unveiling of deep truths, can even now be restored, and such a volume as
the present is intended to outline these, and to show the nature of the
teachings which have to be mastered. "Where only hints are given, quiet
meditation on the truths hinted at will cause their outlines to become
visible, and the clearer light obtained by continued meditation will
gradually show them more fully. For meditation quiets the lower mind, ever
engaged in thinking about external objects, and when the lower mind is
tranquil then only can it be illuminated by the Spirit. Knowledge of
spiritual truths must be thus obtained, from within and not from without,
from the divine Spirit whose temple we are [I. Cor., iii., 16. ] and not
from an external Teacher. These things are "spiritually discerned" by that
divine indwelling Spirit, that "mind of Christ", whereof speaks the great
Apostle [Ibid., ii., 14, 16. ] and that inner light is shed upon the lower
mind.
This is the way of the Divine Wisdom, the true THEOSOPHY. It is not, as
some think, a diluted version of Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Taoism, or of
any special religion. It is Esoteric Christianity as truly as it is
Esoteric Buddhism, and belongs equally to all religions, exclusively to
none. This is the source of the suggestions made in this little volume, for
the helping of those who seek the Light - that "true Light which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world", [ S.John, 1,9] though most have not
yet opened their eyes to it. It does not bring the Light. It only says:
"Behold the Light!" For thus have we heard. It appeals only to the few who
hunger for more than the exoteric teachings give them. For those who are
fully satisfied with the exoteric teachings, it is not intended; for why
should bread be forced on those who are not hungry? For those who hunger,
may it prove bread, and not a stone.
THE HIDDEN SIDE OF RELIGIONS MANY, perhaps most, who see the title of this book will at once traverse
it, and will deny that there is anything valuable which can be rightly
described as "Esoteric Christianity". There is a wide-spread, and withal a
popular, idea that there is no such thing as an occult teaching in
connection with Christianity, and that "The Mysteries", whether Lesser or
Greater, were a purely Pagan institution. The very name of "The Mysteries
of Jesus", so familiar in the ears of the Christians of the first
centuries, would come with a shock of surprise on those of their modern
successors, and, if spoken as denoting a special and definite institution
in the Early Church, would cause a smile of incredulity. It has actually
been made a matter of boast that Christianity has no secrets, that whatever
it has to say it says to all, and whatever it has to teach it teaches to
all. Its truths are supposed to be so simple, that "a way-faring man,
though a fool, may not err therein", and the "simple Gospel" has become a
stock phrase. It is necessary, therefore, to prove clearly that in the Early Church, at
least, Christianity was no whit behind other great religions in possessing
a hidden side, and that it guarded, as a priceless treasure, the secrets
revealed only to a select few in its Mysteries. But ere doing this it will
be well to consider the whole question of this hidden side of religions,
and to see why such a side must exist if a religion is to be strong and
stable; for thus its existence in Christianity will appear as a foregone
conclusion, and the references to it in the writings of the Christian
Fathers will appear simple and natural instead of surprising and
unintelligible. As a historical fact, the existence of this esotericism is
demonstrable; but it may also be shown that intellectually it is a
necessity. The first question we have to answer is: What is the object of religions?
They are given to the world by men wiser than the masses of the people on
whom they are bestowed, and are intended to quicken human evolution. In
order to do this effectively they must reach individuals and influence
them. Now all men are not at the same level of evolution, but evolution
might be figured as a rising gradient, with men stationed on it at every
point. The most highly evolved are far above the least evolved, both in
intelligence and character; the capacity alike to understand and to act
varies at every stage. It is, therefore, useless to give to all the same
religious teaching; that which would help the intellectual man would be
entirely unintelligible to the stupid, while that which would throw the
saint into ecstasy would leave the criminal untouched. If, on the other
hand, the teaching be suitable to help the unintelligent, it is intolerably
crude and jejune to the philosopher, while that which redeems the criminal
is utterly useless to the saint. Yet all the types need religion, so that
each may reach upward to a life higher than that which he is leading, and
no type or grade should be sacrificed to any other. Religion must be as
graduated as evolution, else it fails in its object. Next comes the question: In what way do religions seek to quicken human
evolution? Religions seek to evolve the moral and intellectual natures, and
to aid the spiritual nature to unfold itself. Regarding man as a complex
being, they seek to meet him at every point of his constitution, and
therefore to bring messages suitable for each, teachings adequate to the
most diverse human needs. Teachings must therefore be adapted to each mind
and heart to which they are addressed. If a religion does not reach and
master the intelligence, if it does not purify and inspire the emotions, it
has failed in its object, so far as the person addressed is concerned. Not only does it thus direct itself to the intelligence and the emotions,
but it seeks, as said, to stimulate the unfoldment of the spiritual nature.
It answers to that inner impulse which exists in humanity, and which is
ever pushing the race onwards. For deeply within the heart of all - often
overlaid by transitory conditions, often submerged under pressing interests
and anxieties - there exists a continual seeking after God. "As the hart
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth" [ Psalms, xlii,1] humanity
after God. The search is sometimes checked for a space, and the yearning
s