Tao
Containing all within itself, the Way is the primal cause. It was, is, and shall be, in all eternity. Its omnipotence borders on space and time and from its Logos the world-soul has come forth*
The Way is the primal cause: This idea is confirmed by all the mysteries because it is from the holy, divine forces that true life proceeds. And this true life will go on existing throughout eternity. But for us, the most important thing is that we have to gain participation in that eternal life, to see it and know it once more.
It is for this reason that true life radiates a beam of light, power and beauty into the world of mortality. This beam serves as a bridge over which we can cross, so that we can enter again the original land of the Father.
The pupil who is following this ‘Way’, or is, to put it in our terminology, `admitted into the new life-field’, knows that the world of space and time still borders on it.
*The poem quoted in this chapter was inspired by the Tao Te Ching. It istaken from: Teh, universele bewustwording, parafrasen op de Tao TehKing van LaoTse, by C. van Dijk, Amsterdam 1934.
The straight way is: vibrating in its rhythm, with every breath avowing the being of the All, immersed in its luminous spiritual light so that nothing can be save all-inspiring will.
The pupil stands on the straight way, the path that leads to the liberating, new life without any detours or by-ways. And the rhythm of this liberating pathway is around and within him; it is like a song of the Lord, like a gentle, silver-toned melody. It is like the river of God flowing through the eternal city.
One breath is equal to a heart-beat. Breath causes the life-blood to flow through the veins. And now, with every new breath, the pupil is aware of his unity with the divine universe. His whole being longs for it and there is but one, divine, all-inspiring will, which carries him along and urges him forward.
Discernment proceeds from recognition; the inner essence is reflected in the phenomenon. Cohesion forms the block of granite, and thus perception forms before our eyes.
The natural result of this is that the pupil will now enter a new field of sensory perception. He learns `discernment, which means that he sees, he experiences the divine touch. And since he has entered the new field of percep-tion, he will naturally begin to live out of it, and the results of this are bound to be evident. The divine being will be reflected in this wondrous pilgrim.
The power of cohesion will be demonstrated before the candidate’s eyes. Just as the law of cohesion keeps the atoms of a granite block together, so this same divine law will cause the pupil’s new being to be built up into a structure of great glory.
O great power by which forms are ensouled, through which the oak arises from the tender seed; which causes the wheels of heaven to whirl and from the dark mud brings forth the Lotus-flower.
And so the feast of awakening continues. The oak tree rises upward from the tender seed of renewal. Is not this giant of the forest the symbol of the pupil’s link with the holy, universal Spirit? And does not the lotus, that delicate, white and pure flower rising out of the mud, symbolise the holy spirit-spark flowering within the pupil, the awakening of the latent rose?
Thus does every mortal seek what will restore his link with the forgotten word; and when, at times, a subtle chord vibrates, he recognises the divine design, and reverence will fill his being.
With us, you are seeking the forgotten word of power, the ‘Open, Sesame’ of the mysteries, and sometimes a faint suggestion of the forgotten word reaches you. Your whole being is moved by it and just for one, fleeting moment you ‘know, you see, face to face, the divine plan for you as a fallen child of man. But:
When once the light has pierced the darkness, and man discerns his place in the universe, then the word can germinate which, when uttered, will free him from the earthly vale of tears.
When you break through from understanding to actual awareness, and you see your position in this vast field of terror, a great mercy has been granted to you because then the word, the holy word, which until now you had perhaps heard only as a faint suggestion, is able to ger-minate in you, as the divine seed. With this seed ger-minating in your heart sanctuary you will break through all the limitations, through your circle of existence, through all the fetters of consciousness, soul and matter. The prince of this world will lose all power over you. And in this way, the following words will become a logical, scientific certainty:
The Way begets and makes ‘It’ grow; develops, nourishes and perfects, ripens and protects, causing death and flowering, in an unending cycle.
It is the power that governs all things, possessing nothing but its own, deep life. In not-doing, it breathes eternity; it is the mystery, never defined.
Before our consciousness stands the radiant figure of the human being who has laid aside every aspect of dialectical nature. He has died and risen again. In not-doing, he breathes eternity.
The human being of this nature is always full of action; he always wants to do things! The pilgrim on the path will gradually learn the mystery of Lao Tzu’s term: `not-doing. He will no longer allow the ego to predominate, for it is He, the Lord of all Life, who fashions both the willing and the doing in him.
When the pupil is once more linked with `It, with the path, with Tao, with the Gnosis, he is bound in voluntary obedience to the Eternal, to the Kingdom of God within him, to the Jesus-state within him. And then it will be the Other One, who cannot be explained from this nature, who does what is done, who lives and who is. The I-being has departed; it has died and will never again exist, in all eternity.
Together, let us resolve to walk this path of eternity. Come with us through the Eternal Doors, to Eternal Life!