Max Heindel's Message
Christian Mystic Initiation
Besides the Rosicrucian system of Initiation, fitted for those
who must walk the way by the light of reason, there is also a
path for people who walk by faith alone, and while there are great
advantages in knowledge and the deliberate conscious process of
the Rosicrucian Initiation, the Christian Mystic Initiation is
touching and beautiful. Only those who are free from the domination
of the intellect, who can forbear asking questions and take everything
in simple, childlike faith, can go this way.
The whole Bible is a book containing different systems of Initiation
and illumination from different phases of development. There is
no doubt that Christ Jesus lived and went through experiences
recounted in the four gospels, but it is also true that these
gospels are formulae of Initiation, and that the Christian Mystic
follows Christ Jesus upon that path though he is always unconscious
that he is undergoing occult development.
The foundation laid in former lives brings him into the world
by parents of pure natures; thus, his body is immaculately conceived.
When mankind rose from the waters of Atlantis they lost the spirit
of Love and Brotherhood, they became egotistical and self-seeking.
The spirit of love and Universal Brotherhood descends anew upon
the Christian Mystic when he goes under the water of Baptism and
he feels the throb of the Great Heart of God beating in his bosom.
Egotism and selfishness drew a veil between God and man, and when
restored, love lights the way to the secret places. On the mount
of transfiguration, the Mystic sees the continuity of life by
rebirth in different bodies. Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist,
are expressions of the same immortal spirit.
Forms are used as stepping stones for the evolving life. The mineral
is disorganized to nourish the plants, therefore the plant owes
a debt of gratitude to the mineral. Plants are destroyed to feed
animal and man, hence we are obligated to them. As the lower serves
the higher, there must be a return; to restore the balance, the
higher beings must serve the lower as teachers. To inculcate the
lesson that the pupils have a claim to their service, the mystic
washes his pupil's feet. To him nothing is menial; if a disagreeable
task is to be performed, he does it greedily to save others.
But though he serves others gladly, he must learn to bear his
burdens alone. When he goes through Gethsemene, even those who
are closest to him sleep. When he is ostracised and condemned
by the world, they also deny him. Thus, he is taught to look to
no one else, but to rely solely on the spirit.
He thus realizes that he is a spirit and the body a cross which
he must patiently bear. The vortices evolved by his spiritual
acts and exercises slowly but surely sever the vital body from
the dense and the crucified soars into the higher spheres with
the gladsome cry: "Consummatum est" (it has been accomplished).
He is then a citizen of the visible and invisible worlds as much
as the aspirant who pursues the Rosicrucian path of attainment,
for both schools meet at "the Cross."-"Echoes from
Mt. Ecclesia," August 10, 1913