Part 4 (1/2)

[44] For a vivid account of the spread of the Mysteries of Isis and Mithra over the Roman Empire, see _Roman Life from Nero to Aurelius_, by Dill (bk iv, chaps v-vi) Franz cureat authority on Mithra, and his _Mysteries of Mithra_ and _Oriental Religions_ trace the origin and influence of that cult with accuracy, insight, and charm WW Reade, brother of Charles Reade the novelist, left a study of _The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the Druids_, finding in the vestiges of Druidism ”the Ean and Christian_, by C Cheethan; also _Monumental Christianity_, by Lundy, especially chapter on ”The Discipline of the Secret” For a full discussion of the attitude of St

Paul, see _St Paul and the Mystery-Religions_, by Kennedy, a work of fine scholarshi+p That Christianity had its esoteric is plain--as it was natural--froen, Cyril, Basil, Gregory, Austine, and others Chrysostom often uses the word _initiation_ in respect of Christian teaching, while Tertullian denounces the pagan mysteries as counterfeit is: ”He also baptises those who believe in him, and promises that they shall come forth, cleansed of their sins” Other Christian writers werein Christ the answer to the aspiration uttered in the Mysteries; and therein, it ht

[46] _Phaedo_

THE SECRET DOCTRINE

/ _The value of man does not consist in the truth which he possesses, or means to possess, but in the sincere pain which he hath taken to find it out For his powers do not aug it, wherein consists his only perfectibility Possession lulls the energy of man, and ht hand absolute truth, and in his left only the inward lively impulse toward truth, and if He said to, I ive! absolute truth belongs to Thee alone_

GE LESSING, _Nathan the Wise_ /

CHAPTER IV

_The Secret Doctrine_

I

God ever shi+elds us froracious and wise Emerson; and so does nature She holds back her secrets until man is fit to be entrusted with them, lest by rashness he destroy himself

Those who seek find, not because the truth is far off, but because the discipline of the quest makes them ready for the truth, and worthy to receive it By a certain sure instinct the great teachers of our race have regarded the highest truth less as a gift bestowed than as a trophy to be won Everything must not be told to everybody Truth is power, and when held by untrue hands it ue Even Jesus had His ”little flock” to whoht it in parables cryptic and veiled[47]

One of His sayings in explanation of His method is quoted by Clement of Alexandria in his _Honess that our Lord gave the charge in a certain Gospel: ”_My mystery is for Me and the sons of My house_”[48]

Thisof the Master, with the arts of spiritual culture employed, has come to be known as the Secret Doctrine, or the Hidden Wisdoes, and in every land, behind the system of faith accepted by the ht by those able to grasp it This hidden faith has undergonenow one set of symbols and now another, but its central tenets have remained the saht are ever immutable By the same token, those who have eyes to see have no difficulty in penetrating the varying veils of expression and identifying the underlying truths; thus confir in the arcana of faith e found to be true in its earliest forms--the oneness of the human mind and the unity of truth

There are those who resent the suggestion that there is, or can be, secrecy in regard to spiritual truths which, if momentous at all, are of common moment to all For this reason Demonax, in the Lucian play, would not be initiated, because, if the Mysteries were bad, he would not keep silent as a warning; and if they were good, he would proclaim them as a duty The objection is, however, unsound, as a little thought will reveal Secrecy in such matters inheres in the nature of the truths themselves, not in any affected superiority of a few elect s is, and must always be, a matter of personal fitness Other qualification there is none For those who have that fitness the Secret Doctrine is as clear as sunlight, and for those who have it not the truth would still be secret though shouted from the house-top The Grecian Mysteries were certainly secret, yet the fact of their existence was a e, and there was no more secrecy about their sanctuaries than there is about a cathedral Their presence testified to the public that a deeper than the popular faith did exist, but the right to admission into them depended upon the whole-hearted wish of the aspirant, and his willingness to fit himself to know the truth

The old maxim applies here, that when the pupil is ready the teacher is found waiting, and he passes on to know a truth hitherto hidden because he lacked either the aptitude or the desire

All is , and the tendency to befog a theretted Here lies, perhaps, the real reason for the feeling of resentainst the idea of a Secret Doctrine, and one must admit that it is not without justification For exale of man to know the truth there exists a hidden fraternity of initiates, adepts in esoteric lore, known to the, through the centuries, the high truths which they permit to be dimly adumbrated in the popular faiths, but which the rest of the race are too obtuse, even yet, to grasp save in an ies, it would see humanityit go on forever seeking without finding, while they sit in seclusion keeping the keys of the occult[49] All of which would be very wonderful, if true It is, however, only one ers entertain the s of pity and disgust Sages there have been in every land and time, and their lofty wisdoht, but that there is now, or has ever been, a conscious, much less a continuous, fellowshi+p of superior souls holding as secrets truths denied to their fellow-es upon the absurd

Indeed, what is called the Secret Doctrine differs not one whit froht openly and earnestly, so far as such truth can be taught in words or pictured in sye The difference lies less in what is taught than in the way in which it is taught; not so et that, with few exceptions, thethe way toward the Mount of Vision, have not been men who learned their lore from any coterie of esoteric experts, but, rather, ht in sorrow--initiates into eternal truth, to be sure, but by the grace of God and the divine right of genius![50] Seers, sages, ht in sincerity, found in reality, and the ion Sooras, were trained for their quest in the schools of the Secret Doctrine, but others went their way alone, though never unattended, and, led by ”the vision splendid,” they caate and passed into the City

Why, then, itas the Secret Doctrine at all, since it were better named the Open Secret of the world? For two reasons, both of which have been intie of any kind was a very dangerous possession, and the truths of science and philosophy, equally with religious ideas other than those in vogue a the multitude, had to seek the protection of obscurity If this necessity gave designing priestcraft its opportunity, it nevertheless offered the security and silence needed by the thinker and seeker after truth in dark times