Alice Bailey - From Bethlehem to Calvary - VII - Our Immediate Goal - The Founding
of the Kingdom
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From Bethlehem to Calvary - Chapter Seven - Our Immediate Goal - The
Founding of the Kingdom
We are told that when we enter the world of ideals, "the
differences between religions become negligible and the agreements striking. There is only
one ideal for man, to make himself profoundly human. 'Be ye perfect.' The whole man, the
complete man, is the ideal man, the divine man." On the path of purification we
discover how weak and faulty is the lower personal man; on the path of discipleship we
work at the unfoldment of those qualities which are characteristic of the man who is ready
to tread the Way and be born in Bethlehem. Then we shall know the truth about ourselves
and God, shall know through attainment whether what we are told is fact or not. We are
told that "...no one can rightly understand the historic truth of such documents as
the Gospels unless he has first experienced within himself the mystical meaning which they
contain... Angelus Silesius of the seventeenth century has already expressed the whole of
the critical attitude toward this kind of investigation:
"
'Though Christ were yearly born in Bethlehem and never
Had birth in you yourself, then were you lost for ever; [271]
And if within yourself it is not reared again
The Gross at Golgotha can save you not from pain.' "
- Quoted in The Way of Initiation, by Rudolf Steiner, p. 46.
Self
knowledge leads one to God knowledge. It is the first step. Purification of the self leads
one up to the portal of initiation, and then one can tread the Way that Christ trod from
Bethlehem to Calvary.
We are human beings, but we are also divine. We are citizens of the kingdom, although
we have not yet claimed and entered into our divine heritage. Inspiration is pouring in
all the time; love is latent in every human heart. Only obedience is required at the first
step, and when that is rendered, service, which is the expression of love, and
inspiration, which is the influence of the kingdom, become a definite part of our life
expression. This is what Christ came to reveal; it is the Word which He sounded forth. He
has demonstrated to us our human and divine possibilities, and by accepting the fact of
our dual but divine nature we can begin to aid in the founding and expressing of the
kingdom.
The realization must come to us that "the highest, purest and absolutely adequate
expression of the mystery of man is Christ the God-man. He alone really and finally places
human nature in the right light. His appearance in history entitles man to regard himself
as more than a mere creature. If there is really a God-man there is also a Man-god, that
is 'man' who has received the godhead into himself... the Man-god is collective and
universal, that is to say, mankind as a whole or a world-church. For it is only in
communion with all his fellow men that man can receive God." (Wrestlers with
Christ, by Karl Pfleger, p. 235.)
The
individual attitude to the example of Christ is therefore obedience to the command that we
achieve perfection. But the motive must be the one that incited Christ to all His divine
activity - the founding of the new kingdom and the attainment of that state of
consciousness on a universal and human scale which will make out of the human being [272]
a citizen of the kingdom, consciously functioning therein, voluntarily subject to its
laws, and striving steadfastly for its extension on earth. He is the messenger of the
kingdom; and the raising of the consciousness of his fellow men, so that they can
transcend themselves, becomes his self-appointed task. The sharing with them of the
benefits of the kingdom, and the strengthening of them as they tread the difficult path to
the gate which admits into that kingdom, become the only dear and immediate duty. The soul
who has made contact with the lower expression, the personal self, sweeps that self on to
the path of Service. The man cannot then rest until he has led others into the Way and
toward the freedom of the sons of God which distinguishes the new and coming kingdom.
The new
religion is on the way, and it is one for which all previous religions have prepared us.
It differs only in that it will no longer be distinguished by dogmas and doctrines, but
will be essentially an attitude of mind, an orientation to life, to man and to God. It
will also be a living service. Selfishness and self-centered interests will finally be
ruled out, for the kingdom of God is the life of the corporate whole, sensed and desired
by all its citizens, and worked for and expressed by all who tread the Way. Initiation is
nothing more than the process of developing within us the powers and faculties of this new
and higher kingdom, which powers release one into a wider world, and tend to make one
sensible of the organic whole in place of the part. Individualism and separatedness will
disappear as that kingdom comes into being. The collective consciousness is its major
expression and quality. It is the next definite and clearly indicated step upon the
evolutionary Path, and there is no escape from this issue. We cannot prevent ourselves
from finally becoming conscious of the larger whole, or actively participating in its
unified life. However, it is possible to hasten the coming of the kingdom, and the need of
the world at this time, and the general turning of men towards the world of ideas, would
seem to indicate that the time has come for the making of [273] that extra effort which
will precipitate the appearance of the kingdom and bring forth into manifestation that
which is awaiting immediate revelation. This is the challenge which today confronts the
Christian Church. The need is for vision, wisdom and that wide tolerance which will see
divinity on every hand and recognize the Christ in every human being.
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