Chapter XXI The Cosmic Meaning of Easter

PART II

Once more we have reached the final act in the cosmic drama involving the descent of the solar Christ Ray into the matter of our earth, which is completed at the Mystic Birth celebrated at Christmas, and the Mystic Death and Liberation, which are celebrated shortly after the vernal equinox when the sun of the new year commences its ascent into the higher spheres of the northern heavens, having poured out its life to save humanity and give new life to everything upon earth. At this time of the year a new life, an augmented energy, sweeps with an irresistible force through the veins and arteries of all living beings, inspiring them, instilling new hope, new ambition, and new life, impelling them to new activities whereby they learn new lessons in the school of experience. Consciously or unconsciously to the beneficiaries, this outwelling energy invigorates everything that has life. Even the plant responds by an increased circulation of sap, which results in additional161 growth of the leaves, flowers, and fruits whereby this class of life is at present expressing itself and evolving to a higher state of consciousness.

But wonderful though these outward physical manifestations are, and glorious though the transformation may be called which changes the earth from a waste of snow and ice into a beautiful, blooming garden, it sinks into insignificance before the spiritual activities which run side by side therewith. The salient features of the cosmic drama are identical in point of time with the material effects of the sun in the four cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, for the most significant events occur at the equinoctial and solstitial points.

It is really and actually true that “in God we live and move and have our being.” Outside Him we could have no existence; we live by and through His life; we move and act by and through His strength; it is His power which sustains our dwelling place, the earth, and without His unflagging, unwavering efforts the universe itself would disintegrate. Now we are taught that man was made in the likeness of God, and we are given to understand that according to the law of analogy we are possessed of certain powers latent within us which are similar to those we see so potently expressed in the labor of Deity in the universe. This gives us a particular interest in the annual cosmic drama involving the death and resurrection of the sun. The life of the God Man, Christ162 Jesus, was moulded in conformity with the solar story, and it foreshadows in a similar manner all that may happen to the Man God of whom this Christ Jesus prophesied when He said: The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works shall ye do; whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

Nature is the symbolic expression of God. She does nothing in vain or gratuitously, but there is a purpose behind every thing and every act. Therefore we should be alert and regard carefully the signs in the heavens for they have a deep and important meaning concerning our own lives. The intelligent understanding of their purpose enables us to work so much more efficiently with God in His wonderful efforts for the emancipation of our race from bondage to the laws of nature, and for its liberation into a full measure of the stature of the sons of God—crowned with glory, honor, and immortality, and free from the power of sin, sickness, and suffering which now curtail our lives by reason of our ignorance and nonconformity to the laws of God. The divine purpose demands this emancipation, but whether it is to be accomplished by the long and tedious process of evolution or by the immensely quicker pathway of Initiation depends upon whether or not we are willing to lend our cooperation. The majority of mankind go through life with unseeing eyes and with ears that do not hear. They are engrossed in their material affairs, buying163 and selling, working and playing, without an adequate understanding or appreciation of the purpose of existence, and were it unfolded to them it is scarcely to be expected that they would conform and co-operate because of the sacrifice it involves.

It is no wonder that the Christ appeals particularly to the poor and that He emphasizes the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom of heaven, for even to this day when humanity has advanced in the school of evolution for two millenia since His day, we find that the great majority still value their houses and lands, their pretty hats and gowns, the pleasures of society, dances, and dinners more than the treasures of heaven which are garnered by service and self-sacrifice. Although they may intellectually perceive the beauty of the spiritual life, its desirability fades into insignificance in their eyes when compared with the sacrifice involved in attaining. Like the rich young man they would willingly follow Christ were there no such sacrifice involved. They prefer rather to go away when they realize that sacrifice is the one condition upon which they may enter discipleship. So for them Easter is simply a season of joy because it is the end of winter and the beginning of the summer season with its call of outdoor sports and pleasures.

But for those who have definitely chosen the path of self-sacrifice that leads to Liberation, Easter is the annual sign given them as evidence of the cosmic basis of their hopes and aspirations. As Paul properly states164 in that glorious fifteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

“Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up if so be that the dead rise not.

“For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.

“And if Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

“If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the dead rise not?

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.”

But in the Easter sun which at the vernal equinox commences to soar into the northern heavens after having laid down its life for the earth, we have the cosmic symbol of the verity of resurrection. When taken as a cosmic fact in connection with the law of analogy that connects the macrocosm with the microcosm, it is an earnest that some day we shall all attain the cosmic consciousness and know positively for ourselves by our own experience that there is no death, but that what seems so is only a transition into a finer sphere.

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It is an annual symbol to strengthen our souls in the work of well-doing that we may grow the golden wedding garment required to make us sons of God in the highest and holiest sense. It is literally true that unless we walk in the light as God is in the light, we are not in fellowship; but by making the sacrifices and rendering the services required of us to aid in the emancipation of our race we are building the soul body of radiant golden light which is the special substance emanated from and by the Spirit of the Sun, the Cosmic Christ. When this golden substance has clothed us with sufficient density, then we shall be able to imitate the Easter sun and soar into the higher spheres.

With these ideals firmly fixed in our minds, Easter time becomes a season when it is in order to review our life during the preceding year and make new resolutions for the coming season to serve in furthering our soul growth. It is a season when the symbol of the ascending sun should lead us up to a keen realization of the fact that we are but pilgrims and strangers upon earth, that our real home as spirits is in heaven, and that we ought to endeavor to learn the lessons in this life school as quickly as is consistent with proper service, so that as Easter Day marks the resurrection and liberation of the Christ Spirit from the lower realms, so we also may continually look for the dawn of that day which shall permanently free us from the meshes of matter, from the body of sin166 and death, together with our brethren in bondage, for no true aspirant would conceive of a liberation that did not include all who were similarly placed.

This is a gigantic task; the contemplation of it may well daunt the bravest heart, and were we alone it could not be accomplished; but the divine hierarchies who have guided humanity upon the path of evolution from the beginning of our career are still active and working with us from their sidereal worlds, and with their help we shall eventually be able to accomplish this elevation of humanity as a whole and attain to an individual realization of glory, honor, and immortality. Having this great hope within ourselves, this great mission in the world, let us work as never before to make ourselves better men and women, so that by our example we may waken in others a desire to lead a life that brings liberation.