The barbarian seeks a god he can see, but try and make him understand this is impossible, because of God’s very greatness and the littleness of man. Take the barbarian out next time the sun shines at its strength and ask him to gaze upon it. He will be forced to admit that it is beyond his powers to do so. Then say unto him, “See, it is beyond your power to look upon even the shield behind which Haula hides himself because of his brightness. Yet even this great god is no more than a faint, far off reflection embodying the ray carrying power from The Supreme Spirit. How then could you hope to look upon the source of power itself?”
The barbarians are still children and these things do not easily come within their understanding. Because of this it may be best if they were taught by simple tales, like children, and so brought into the hght gradually. A behef
in The Supreme Spirit is of no great importance. An inquiry into His nature by the ignorant is purposeless foolishness. It is of much more importance to men that they believe in their own souls. Belief in a god of any sort without belief in the immortality of man and his godlikeness serves no end. If a god existed without man deriving any benefit from his existence, it would be better for man to ignore him. This, however, is not the case. Man seeks unity and communion with The Supreme Spirit only for his own benefit. Man has a destiny founded in something greater than himself, and hence his need for that something.
The existence of a Supreme Being is not just something to accept, believe in and ignore. A belief, faith alone, cannot be ends in themselves, for nothing exists without purpose. Simple belief in a Supreme Being is not enough, we must know the purpose or intention of the Being. If we believe this Supreme Being created us, however this was brought about, we must seek to discover the purpose behind our creation. If we were created to serve some purpose, to do something we were intended to do, we must do it or earn our Creator’s displeasure. Does the potter keep the pot useless for its purpose, or the smith keep unwrought metal? Only things which serve the purpose for which they were intended are kept and cherished.
Therefore, we who are brothers, were taught not only to believe in a Supreme Being but also in our similarity to Him. The Supreme Spirit is not a stranger beyond our ken, the powers of The Supreme Spirit infuse every fibre of our bodies.
If we have difficulties among the barbarians, the difficulties here are no less. The Truth we have seems not only unpalatable but also indigestible. Men seek tastier food, even though it is less sustaining, and few replace the brothers who depart. Would we serve better if we presented Truth as a draught diluted with water and honey? The threat of the barbarian king is something upon which you shall be counselled. If you are threatened with the alternatives of death or transgressing our laws, you may transgress them within reason and the bounds of conscience. If, however, you are required to deny all that you hold to be good and true, to betray all that we hold sacred, then you must accept death for the sake of your soul. You will be informed about these things by Kuin of Abalon who comes later, so only the things you enquire about are answered.
For the sake of the barbarians it is perhaps best to call The Supreme Spirit, ‘God, The God without a Name.’ This will solve some difficulties, and if the barbarians think themselves superior because they contain Him within a name, let it be so and hold yourself in peace.
Say to the barbarians, “As the soul of man fills his body, so does God fill His domain. As the soul surrounds and contains the body, so is it with God and his creation. As the soul sees but cannot be seen, so does God see without being seen. As the soul feels, so does God. As the soul oversees the nourishment of the body, so does God revitalise the whole of His habitation. As the soul occupies an unfindable place within the body of man, so is the residence of God unfathomable. No man can know the seat of the soul and no man can know the seat of God.”
The barbarians make images of God to make Him more understandable. Are we much better who make images of Him in our likeness within our thoughts? Not perhaps because we believe Him so, but to make Him more understandable.
As man’s understanding of God increases, so does God recede; so that though through the ages man comes to understand God better, He ever keeps the same distance away. We who dwell in the light of The Supreme Spirit have come closer to understanding, not because we are better men but because we have devoted our lives to the search. If any man seek carefully and diligently enough he must find whatever it is he seeks. The rest of this letter is missing, but on a small recovered scrap dealing with buildings, it refers to Galheda. Elsewhere it is stated Galheda rewrote it.
CHAPTER TWENTY THE TEACHINGS OF SADEK
All men within the Brotherhood are to be taught to live by these ordinances, which provide for the discipline of the spirit:
Men shall be made to abstain from all manner of wickedness and hold fast to all that is good. They shall become speakers of Truth and followers of uprightness, and justice shall be upheld in their hands. The virtues are staffs which will aid man in his long journey through life to the gate of his soul’s unfolding.
There are guides upon the path, guideposts and places of rest and shelter for the weary. There is provender to be found by the wayside and there are many things to be discovered along the trackways. (About two paragraphs missing).
The Master shall admit into the Brotherhood all who have, by diligent study and rigid self-rule, established themselves. They shall become one with those who climb the steps, and find their appointed place. The Master shall instruct them in the School of Light and Life, revealing unto them all the secrets of their nature and the manner of the soul’s release. There shall be no unnecessary chastisements here and no particular rewards. Austerity for its own sake shall not be practised.
Every man who comes under the Master’s hand, led forth by his nominator into the presence of the acceptors, shall bring with him all his skill, knowledge and possessions. He shall have been properly observed, judged and questioned before coming before the acceptors, and shall not do so until he has been here for one year. The next symbols shown are those representing the Design and The Law, these are the great unchanging things, lasting forever, they were the same in the time of our first forefather, as they will be in the time of our last descendant. (Much missing.)
No man shall remain within the Brotherhood, who does not live by these our ordinances. The man who walks in filth befouls not only his own floor but also the thresholds of his neighbours. Unless a man walk in cleanliness of body and purity of mind he shall not be counted among us, and no one shall call him brother. The soul must be wrought with the hard smiting blows of adversity and sorrow. It must be gently moulded by the waters of humility and charity, it must be chased by understanding and patience. These are things which form a shape of harmonious beauty. But other things shape it in ugliness, these are: falsehood and greed, deceit and malice, cruelty and haughtiness, together with other evil qualities.
The just reward of those who follow the path of ease and indolence is condemnation in the recesses of disgrace and shame. There will be sorrowful groans and tear-shedding in the misery of soul loneliness. These our ordinances are not made to provide for the comfort and ease of man, not even for his bodily welfare, but for the benefit of his eternal soul. Here his soul is to be purged and quickened to life by the strong waters of wisdom infused with the greatest amount of Truth he can tolerate. Only by himself submitting his soul to our discipline can any man acquire benefit from our mode of life.