The Washington herald., 1914-08-09
The Occult Side of Christianity
REsURRE4FIoN AND ASCENSION
BY DIR. w. w. :BAKER.

Myth and OF the life story Of the
Christ in man we md that the doctrines
Of the Resurrection and Ascension OF
Christ also form part OF the Lesser
Mysteries.
AS regards Christ Himself they have
their historical basis in the facts Of His
continuing TO teach His apostles after
His physical death, and OF His appear
ance in the Greater Mysteries as Hero
plant after His direct instructions had
ceased. In the mythic tales the resur-
rection of the hero and his gloriffcation
invariably formed the conclusioa Of his
death-story, as recited last Sunday; and
in the Mysteries. the body Of the can
didate was always thrown into a death
like trance, during which he, as a liber-
ated soul, travelled through the invisible
world, returning and reviving the body
after three days. And in the nfe-5tory
Of the individual, who 10 becoming a
Christ we shall ind. as We study 1t.
that the dramas OF the Resurrection and
Ascension are repeated.
But before We can intelligentIy follow
that story, We must master the outlines
Of the human constitution, and under
stand the natural and spiritual bodies OF
man.
There are still some who regard man
as mere duality. made up Of soul" and
OOOy. OuCn people use the words
soul" and Spirit" as synonyms and
speak indifferently OF soul and body"
or spirit and body" meaning that nan
is composed Of two constituents, one OF
which perishes at death. while the other
survives. For the very simple and ig-
norant this rough division is suficient,
but 1t will not enable US to understand
the mysteries Of the Resurrection ana
Ascension.
Spirit, Soul, and Body.
Every Christian who has made even
a superficial study Of the human con-
stitution recognizes in It three distinct
constituents-Spirit. Soul. and Body.
The Spirit itself n really a Trinity
The true man, the immortal. who Is the
Spirit. is the Trinity In man. This is
life, consciousness, and to this the spiri-
tual body belongs, each aspect of the
Trinity having its own Body. The Soul
Is dual, and comprises the mind and
the emotional nature, with its appropri-
ate garments. The physical Body is
the material instrument OF Spirit and
Of as seven-fold, because there are really
seven divisions. each being two-fold.
having a lfe-side and a form-side.
The word Body means a vehicle OF
consciousness, or an instrument OF
consciousness; that in which con-
seriousness is carried about, as in a We
hicle, or which consciousness uses to
contact the external world, as a me-
chanic uses an instrument Or, we may
liken it to a vessel, in which conscious
ness is held. as a Jar holds liquid. 1t
Is form used by a life and we know
nothing Of consciousness save as con-
nected with such forms The form may
be of rarest subtlest, materials. may
be so diaphanous that We are only con-
scious OF the indwelling life: still II is
there. and it is composed Of Matter 1t |
may be so dense, that II hides the in /,
dwelling life, and we are conscious only !
Of the form: still the life is there, and 1t |
is composed Of the opposite OF Matter |
Spirit. The student must study and re- |
study this fundamental fact-the duality !
Of all manifested existence, the INSOFAR
able co-existence OF Spirit and Matter |
in a grain OF dust. in the Logos, the God |
manifested. The idea must become part |
OF him; else must he give up the study /
OF the Lesser Mysteries. The Christ, as !
God and Man. only shows out on the I
kosmic scale the same fact of duality /
that is repeated everywhere in nature. !
On that original duality everything in |
the universe is formed. Our Christian |
Scientist should make note OF this fact I
The Natural Body.
Man has a natural body" and this .
is made up Of four different and separ-
able portions, and is subject to death.
Two OF these are composed of physical
matter etheric and dense, and may be
classed together as the Physical Body.
The third portion is the Desire Body.
so called because mans feeling and
passional nature finds in this its special
vehicle. In sleep the man leaves the
physical body and carries on his con- !
scious activities in this, which functions
in the invisible world closest to our
visible earth. 1t is therefore his vehicle
of consciousness in the lowest Of the
super-physical worlds. which is also the
first world into which men. pass at death.
The fourth portion is the Mental Body,
so called because mans intellectual ma
ture. so far as it deals with the con-
crete. functions in this. It is his vehicle
OF consciousness in the second OF the
worlds, which is also the
second. or lower heavenly world, into
which men pass after death, when freed
from the astral or desire world.
These four portions made up Of the
dual physical body, the desire body, and
the mental body, form the natural body
Of which St Paul speaks.
This scientific analysis has fallen out
of the ordinary Christian teaching, which
is vague and confused on this matter
1t is not that the churches have never
possessed it; on the contrary, this knowl-
edge of the constitution of man formed
part of the teachings in the Lesser Mys-
teries.
Should BE Readily Grasped.
This conception should be readily
enough graspeds If a man wants TO
travel on the solid earth, he uses as his
vehicle a carriage or a train. II he
wants to travel On the liquid seas, he
his vehicle. and takes a ship.
II he wants to travel in the air, he
changes his vehicle again and uses an
airship. He is the same man through
out, but he is using three different We
hicles, according to the kind of matter
In which he wants to travel. When
man is busy in the physical world. his
vehicle is the physical body, and his
works in and through that
body. When he passes into the world
beyond the physical, in sleep and at
death, his vehicle is the desire body, and
he may learn to use this consciously, as
he uses the physical consciously. When
he goes on into the heavenly world after
Heath, his vehicle is the mental body, !
and this also he is daily using, when
ne Is thinking, and there would be no
thought in the brain were there none
n the mental body.
Man has further "a spiritual body"
This is made up of three separable por-
ions, each portion belonging to one of,
and separating of, the three Persons in ,
The Trinity of the human Spirit St |
Paul speaks of being caught up to the |
bird heaven" and OF there hearing '''un-
olyah Il l., l., OIL :