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Unknown to the vast majority of Christians a large number of writers in both ancient and modern times have affirmed that the ancient Spiritual Wisdom and a practical philosophy of life have always been available to mankind since the beginning of recorded time and even earlier, and that, however deeply hidden, this Spiritual Wisdom and knowledge are to be found in the various Scriptures of the great world faiths. From immemorial time, and in all races, there has been current, especially among minds more receptive and thoughtful than the average run, an intuition, persistent and ever-enduring, that there exists somewhere a body of sublime teaching or doctrine which can be had by those who qualify to receive it by becoming worthy depositaries of it. These intimations have frequently found lodgment in legend and myth, and thus have become enshrined or crystallized in the different religious and philosophical records of the human race. "Truth-seekers", the ancients maintain, have but to interpret correctly the concealing disguises and veils of allegory, metaphor, analogy, simile, figuration, typification, symbolism, myth, fable, and parable in our Bible to discover the ancient's Spiritual knowledge which can bestow serenity of mind and heart and lead to Spiritual illumination of our Soul like never before. After many years of study I can concur with that statement; all I was lacking was the "keys" necessary to recognize that much of what I had previously been taught was a "literal" event in our Bible was in reality disguised Divine Allegory expressing Universal Laws and Divine Truths of the cosmos disguised in veils of personification and anthropomorphic symbolism. These "keys" to correctly interpreting our Bibles are available to all if they will seek them.
Mere folk tales and primitive superstitions apart, the world's Scriptures and mythologies of ancient peoples should, according to many scholars, be similarly approached. At least two views exist concerning these myths which we find in the world's Sacred Scriptures and their origin:
Initiates of the various esoteric and mystery schools and the mystery religions of the older civilizations are also said by many scholars to have deliberately refashioned the legends, myths, and stories of the nations into vehicles for the transmission to later peoples their knowledge of cosmogony, the astrophysical study of the origin and evolution of the universe, cyclic manifestations of the cosmos, the incarnation and Spiritual evolution of the Soul, and the true Spiritual nature, goal and destiny of humanity. Modern scientists have also found in ancient myths appropriate symbols for the subtle mental processes they study and attempt to elucidate. Carl Jung, for example, has found in the ancient stories symbolic "archetypes" and "patterns" of human responses.
In these various ways the study of the world's various religions and philosophies of the ancients prove profitable to the modern student, while those possessed of knowledge of the sacred language and the "keys" of interpretation to the ancient Spiritual Wisdom of the ancient nations will in such study begin to recognize a repetition and "Divine Pattern" and "archetypes" that exists in all ancient religious and Spiritual ideas which are found to be common to all world faiths and their Sacred Writings before the rise of Roman Christianity. In such study, I came to see for myself as many scholars whom I had read maintained, the universal use of symbols common to the world's ancient nations and their Sacred Wisdom which they used for thousands of years to portray eternal celestial and Spiritual ideas which they observed in the working of God's cosmos. These symbols and their true meaning were make readily available to those who desired such Spiritual knowledge and "gnosis". Over time I came to see for myself in my studies that the the meanings of the symbols used in the ancient Spiritual Wisdom in Sacred Book after Sacred Book, from nation to nation, were basically constant, and more importantly I came to see in such comparative religious study that consistent also are the doctrines which they reveal; that is up until a point in time when Rome "reinterpreted this Divine Wisdom between the 2nd through the 5th century. Thus, while ancient superstitions and magical practices, and the instinctive personification and dramatization of natural phenomena by early peoples are recognized, world Scriptures and mythologies may legitimately be regarded as rich mines of the Ageless Wisdom of humanity's Spiritual fathers. On occasion throughout these articles therefore, parallels are drawn between Biblical statements and the same ideas appearing in different forms in other sacred writings. In so doing this repetition of this "Spiritual and Divine Pattern" concerning God, His Krst/Karest/Christ and Soul can be seen by the avid "truth-seeker" and student.
The value of this approach to world Scriptures and comparative religious study becomes evident when the "keys" of correct Scriptural interpretation are applied to our Christian Bible. This has, however, been rendered difficult by at least three prevalent practices:
These trends observable in orthodox Christianity may be regarded as particularly harmful at the present period in world history; for as a result of them the attention of Christians is diverted from eternal truisms. These especially include the existence of the Divine presence within, "Christ in you, the hope of glory," (Col. 1:27) and the fact that the divinity in all human beings is one and the same. When the Spiritual unity between all members of the human race is fully recognized, aggressive competition and strife, organized crime and wars of conquest become impossibilities for humanity.
Answer for yourself: How, then, can these veils of allegory and symbol be drawn aside and the hidden wisdom revealed?
These articles offer both general and detailed answers to that most vital question. Briefly stated, those who seek to discover the wisdom underlying inspired allegories should proceed as follows:
Behind the use of such Spiritual myths in our Bible which mistakenly are first taught as if "literal" lie a great system of teaching has been called in different ages the Esoteric Philosophy, Wisdom-Religion, Secret Doctrine, ancient Spiritual Wisdom, or again, the Esoteric Tradition. As well, this Esoteric philosophy I found reconciles all religions, strips every one of its outward, human garments, and shows the root of each ancient religion to be identical with that of every other great religion; including Christianity once it is correctly interpreted by recognizing and discerning Divine allegory from actual historical events. Such knowledge proves the necessity of an absolute Divine Principle that operated in both nature and humanity.
The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion of the ancient and prehistoric world. Proofs of its diffusion, authentic records of its history, a complete chain of documents, showing its character and presence in every land, together with the teaching of all its great adepts, exist to this day; we simply don't know this and failing to have the "keys" to its recognition as it exists in our Bibles it goes unnoticed by the vast majority of Christians today. Fragments of this ancient Spiritual Wisdom and Secret Doctrine have survived geological and political cataclysms to tell the "same" story; and every survival shows evidence that the now Secret Wisdom was once the one fountain head, the ever-flowing perennial source, at which were fed all its streamlets and all later religions of all nations, from the first down to the last, and again this includes the earliest Chrestians (called Christians today) before the rise of Roman Orthodoxy in the 2nd through the 5th centuries.
An exhaustive and genuinely critical examination, conducted in a wholly impersonal spirit, of even the remains of ancient times will convince one that these statements which I have made are founded on truth and undeniable fact; and the conviction grows upon the impartial student that it is a marvel almost beyond belief that Christian scholars could have been so blind as to allow the actual existence of the esoteric tradition to escape observation and discovery for so long as they have. This just testifies to the Spiritual blindness of those indoctrinated by error.
Hosea 4:6 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge....KJV)
The task of unveiling the hidden Sacred Wisdom has been undertaken by many today. Such a "lifting of the veil of Isis" was undertaken in this age with great insight and erudition by Madame H. P. Blavatsky, cofounder of The Theosophical Society. Her aptly titled books, Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, give the traditional "keys" and many interpretations of world allegories. G. A. Gaskell has made a magnificent contribution to the subject by producing a Dictionary of the Sacred Language of All Scriptures and Myths. But such insight are not limited to but these two. Great insights come from reading Alvin Kuhn, Gerald Massey, G. dePurucker, I. M. Oderberg, Eloise Hart, W. T. S. Thackara, William Q. Judge. Not to be forgotten are Plato, and the later Neo-Platonists like Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus which brings to the Greek mind this ancient Spiritual Wisdom as far back as ancient Egypt. The literature which proceeded from Plato, who himself was initiated into the mysteries and studied in ancient Egypt along with the later Neoplatonists of Alexandria, and especially the writings of Philo Judaeus (approximately 30 B.C. to 45 A.D.) are also a valuable source of information.
The disciples of Ammonius Saccus were called Analogeticists because of their practice of interpreting sacred scriptures and mythologies by a principle of analogy and correspondence, also found in both the Kabbalistic system and the esoteric philosophy of the East. Thus studied, many books of the Old and New Testaments are found to contain hidden knowledge of the greatest value; for, in addition to its content of metaphysical teachings of profound significance, the Bible also indicates the existence of a pathway of hastened evolution and the means by which special powers for the service of humanity may be attained. These powers can, however, be misused to bring grave harm upon their possessors and also upon their victims. The more metaphysical teachings in the Bible are therefore, as also previously stated, written in an allegorical language which conceals, even while it reveals, power-bestowing knowledge. The Christ revealed through Judaism that this pathway of hastened evolution is called "the narrow way" which is entered through "the strait gate" (Matt. 7:13, 14). Isaiah wrote of "the way of holiness" (Isa. 35:8). Hinduism similarly teaches of the Razor-edged Path, and Buddhism of the Noble Eightfold Path. Mankind has always been shown his path to God regardless of geography or difference in religion; at their core of all these ancient Mystery Religions lies the same Divine Truths that leads mankind's Soul in Spiritual evolution and eventual return to the Father. In essence, each is a path of discipleship and initiation, which leads within a relatively short space of time to salvation, Moksha (Hinduism) or Nirvana (Buddhism). Salvation was never limited to Christianity not can it ever be once one's personal study comes to the point where he can possess the "keys" that unlock the Bible and is Esoteric Wisdom hidden in the pages and disguised through allegory mistakenly read and believed today as it a "historical" and "literal" event meant for another. With such Spiritual enlightenment that accompanies these "keys" for proper Spiritual interpretation of our Bibles one comes to see what was mistaken for a "historical" and "literal" event that supposedly occurred for another was actually intended for "You".
