The realisation we spoke of in the other orientations unfolds as a gradual inner process. It is a path of self-realisation, born of a new orientation of life that places the growth of the new soul at its center. This means: doing what serves this process, and refraining from what hinders it.

From this, a few conclusions can be drawn:

The human being dwells in a microcosm, in a little world.

In the mortal human, an immortal soul can be awakened.

This is the beginning of a way that leads to complete renewal of spirit, soul, and body.

This way has been known in all times and among many people. It has been taught and practiced in the mystery schools of the Egyptians, the Indians, the Chinese, the Christians, and many others. And it is this same initiatory path that the Rosicrucians practice.

The Rose in the Heart

In Rosicrucian philosophy, the rose, the spirit spark, has a central role. It is the eternal principle in the microcosm. On the basis of this spark, the renewal of the soul can begin.

And once this renewal begins, it reaches down even into the very structures of the body. The process of transfiguration is not a vague image, but a real transformation, unfolding in the visible body and in the subtler bodies alike.

Magnetic Influences in the Natural Human

We know the ordinary chemical processes of the body: we take in food, we breathe oxygen, and these sustain our lives. But alongside food and air, we also live from subtle ethers that sustain our vitality and our ensouling.

These etheric forces feed our system,  as we attract them according to our state of consciousness, our desires, our orientation of life. Whatever we nourish ourselvess with, it grows.

The same applies not only to the microcosm, but to the cosmos and the macrocosm. The entire life-atmosphere is woven of ethers and astral vibrations, currents of light and magnetic powers. These constantly influence us, and we in turn radiate them outward again. We are never isolated. We are always in exchange with the world around us.

But we can only hold on to what resonates with our own inner condition. Whatever is not in harmony with our consciousness passes by us. In this way, our inner orientation determines what we attract and what we do not.

So we may ask ourselves:

From what am I nourished?

Which reality sustains my consciousness?

The Magnetic Call of the Original Human

J. van Rijckenborgh describes this beautifully:
Even though we dwell in a corrupted temple, it is still our task to care for it, because it is the only ground we have for now. And in and through this old temple, a new one must be built.

From the spirit spark in the heart, one in nature with the field of Gnosis, radiation goes forth. It awakens in us the memory of the original human being, the divine human within. Countless people sense this inner call. It disturbs them, moves them, and sets them searching for answers to life’s fundamental questions.

This is the beginning. For the Gnostic Light does not only awaken us mentally. It also begins to work physically. The heart and the blood are touched by the light. The thymus gland directs this new vitality into the bloodstream, raising it toward the head. And thus, even our brain centers begin to be nourished by the light of the Spirit.

This is not just the birth of new ideas. It is the beginning of a transformed consciousness, the dawning of soul-renewal.

State of Consciousness is State of Life

An old saying tells us: 

“state of consciousness is state of life.”

This does not mean we can force life to change by imagining it. It means that our consciousness is always fed by a magnetic field. When we connect with the Gnostic field, the change of life is no longer just a possibility, it becomes a necessity.

Our ordinary consciousness is shaped by desires and cravings. As long as our astral body is tied to the self, it colors our entire perception. But life itself is the school. Again and again it brings us to the choice:

Will I live for myself,
or for the Other-in-me, the new soul?

In the Bible, this process is portrayed in the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus. John is the forerunner, the herald of the soul. He represents the human being who dedicates their life to preparing the way for the inner Christ.

What is Transfiguration?

Transfiguration is the process by which the mortal human being gives itself entirely to the resurrection of the immortal human. Just as the earthly person has a mortal soul and body, so the new person arises with an immortal soul and an immortal body.

This new body is not constructed according to the laws of this nature. It belongs to another order altogether.

The transformation from old to new involves the whole human being. Only by a deep dedication, by surrendering the entire self, can this magnificent renewal of spirit, soul, and body take place.

The Bible describes this symbolically as the building of a new temple. In spiritual language it is the creation of gold, the divine alchemy.

A New Soul and a New Body

Our material body is accompanied by an etheric double, the life body. This body is formed of the four ethers, and its state is determined by the condition of the soul.

When the spirit-atom in the heart awakens longing for sanctification, for light, for unity, a new consciousness begins to take shape. The new soul awakens.

But this new soul cannot fully use the old life-body and the old personality. They are unfit for the assimilation of divine forces. So a new ether-body needs to be developed, with a new structure.

Once the fundamental radiations of Gnosis can be assimilated, then the hidden prismatic atom unfolds into seven aspects, revealing the holy Seven-Spirit in our soul. From the new soul arises a new life-body, which in turn leads to a new instrument of manifestation, not born of this nature, but of a finer and nobler construction.

This is the mystery of transfiguration: the mortal gives way to the immortal, and the human being becomes a conscious participant in divine life.