The Transcendent Unity Of Religions

Snmlarly when St Justin Martyr said, a century after Jesus Chnst, that there is no human race, whether Greek, Barbarian or any other, among whom the name of Chnst is not invoked, who would think of mterpretmg these words hterally and of accusing the samt either of falsehood or error;> Christ issued the command to 'teach all nations' (Matt. xxix. 19), and it is assumed that thIS refers to everyone who inhabits the terrestrial globe, but when Christ orders 'Go ye into the H

II3

LIMITS OF RELIGIOUS EXPANSION

world, and preach the gospel to every (creature' Mark xv1. 15), care 1s taken not to mterpret this literally and preach to every creature without exception, mcludmg ammals and plants, and especial care is taken to avoid a hteral mterpretat10n of the sequel to the same passage, accordmg to which believers are characterised by miraculous gifts such as unmumty agamst poison and power to cure the sick. It is s1gmficant moreover that the Acts of the Apostles make no mention whatever of the activ1t1es of those Apostles who had moved away from the Roman World, while on the other hand, Samt Paul and his companion Timothy were 'forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word m Asia', and when they arrived at Mys1a and tried to go mto B1thyma 'the Spmt suffered them not' (Acts xvi 6-7). All these examples indicate m a more or less direct way that for Chnst1amty the Roman world 1s symbolically and trad1t10nally 1dent1fied with the whole world, m the same way that for the Chinese Trad1t10n, for example, the Chinese people means all humamty, but so far as Chr1st1amty 1s concerned, there is yet another and still more positive ind1cat1on m support of what we have JUSt said, it is that Christian Rome, the centre of the western Chr1st1an world, 1s heir to Ancient Rome, the centre of the Roman world, and that the Pope, at least as 'Supreme Pontiff' (pontifex maximus), 1s heir to the Roman Emperor, and let us not forget that Christ, m saymg 'Give unto Caesar those things which are Caesar's', recognised and as it were consecrated the traditional legitimacy of the Emperor.

II4

Chapter VI

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

T

I

he transcendent umty of the tradlt10nal forms is illustrated m a particularly mstruct1ve manner by the reciprocal relationships existmg between the three great so-called 'monotheistic' Traditions, and this is precisely because these three Traditions alone present themselves m the form of irreconcilable exotencisms. First of all, however, it is necessary to make a clear distmct10n between what may be called 'symbolical truth' and 'objective truth'. To illustrate this distinction we may take as an example the arguments of Christiamty and Buddhism with regard to the traditional forms from which they may be said to have respectively ISSued, namely Judaism m the first case and Hmdmsm in the second. These arguments are 'symbohcally true', m the sense that the 'rejected' forms are not considered in themselves and from the standpoint of their mtnns1c truth, but solely in certain contmgent and negative aspects that are due to a partial decadence; the rejection of the Veda therefore corresponds to a truth in so far as this scripture 1s viewed exclusively as the symbol of a sterile erudition which was widespread in the time of Buddha, and the rejection by St. Paul of the Jewish Law was justified m so far as the latter corresponded to a Pharisaical formalism lackmg spiritual life. If a new Revelation may thus justrfiably depreciate traditional values of an earlier origin, it is because r15

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

it is independent of these values and has no need of them, since it possesses equivalent values of its own and is therefore entirely self-sufficient. This truth likewise applies within one and the same traditional form, for instance with respect to the antmorny between the Latm and Greek Churches; the 'schism' is a contingency which can m no way affect the intrmsic and essential reality of the two Churches The schism m question is not moreover, any more than the Moslem schism wluch gave birth to Shute Islam, due solely to the will of mdividuals, whatever the appearances may be, but sprmgs from the very nature of the Tradit10n which it divides outwardly, though not mwardly Owmg to ethrucal and other contingencies, the spirit of the Tradition may require different, though always orthodox adaptat10ns. The same considerations do not, of course, apply m the case of heresies, which divide the Tradition both mwardly and outwardly-though unable to effect a real divlSlon, smce error is not a part of truth-and which mstead of merely being incompatible on the formal plane Wlth other aspects of a selfsame truth, are false in themselves. Let us now consider as a whole the question of the spmtual and cyclic homogeneity of the religions. Monotheism, which embraces the Jewish, Christian and Islarmc Traditions, that is to say the religions properly so-called, is essentially based on a dogmatic conception of the Divine Unity (or 'Non-Duality'). If we speak of this conception as being dogmatic, this 1s to indicate that it is accompanied by an exclusion of every other pomt of view, failing which an exoteric applicati,pn, which is the justification for all dogmas, would not be possible. We have previously seen that this restriction, though necessary for the vitality of the religious forms, is fundamentally responsible for the limitation inherent in the religious pomt of view as such; in other words the religious viewpomt is characterized by an mcompatibihty within its own field between conceptions which in form are apparently opposed to one another, whereas m the case of purely metaphysical or initiatory doctrines, formulations which on the surface are conu6

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

trad1ctory are neither excluded nor regarded as being m any way embarrassing.* The monotheistic Tradition belonged ongmally to the entire nomadic branch of the Semitic group, a branch which havmg issued from Abraham was subdivided mto two secondary branches, one ISsumg from Isaac and the other from Ishmael, and it was not until the time of Moses that monotheism took a Jewish form, it was Moses who, at a time when the Tradition of Abraham was growmg dim among the Ishmaehtes, was called upon to give monotheism a powerful support by linking it in a certam manner with the people of Israel, who thus became its guardians; but this adaptation, however necessary and providential 1t may have been, was also bound to lead to a restnct10n of the outward form, owing to the 'particulanst' tendency mherent in each people. It may thus be said that Judaism

* The fact that certarn data from the Scriptures are interpreted umlaterally by the representatives of exotenCJSm proves that their hn11tat1ve speculations are not entirely disrnterested, as has already been shown in the chapter on exotencism In fact the esoteric interpretation of a Revelation 1s admitted by exotenc1sm whenever 1t serves to confirm the latter, and 1t is on the contrary arbitrarily passed over whenever it might prove harmful to that outward dogmatism which is the refuge of sentunental rndiv1duahsm Thus the truth represented by Christ, winch by its form belongs to Jewish esotencISm, is rnvoked in condemnation of an excessive formalism m J udaISm, but those who mvoke it carefully refrain from makmg a universal apphcation of this same truth by sheddmg its light on every form without exception, rncludmg the Chnstian Again, accordrng to St Paul's Epistle to the Romans (m. 27-1v 17) man is Justified by faith and not by works, however accordrng to the General EpIStle of St James (u 14-26), man IS Justified by works and not by faith alone, both cite Abraham as an example If these two texts had belonged to• different religions, or even to two reciprocally 'schISmatlc' branches of a srngle rehgion, the theologians on either side would no doubt have set about proving their mcompatib1hty, but smce they belong to one and the same religion, efforts are made on the contrary to prove their perfect compat1b1hty Why is it that people are reluctant to admit Revelations other than their own? 'God cannot contradict Hnnself', it will be said, though this 1s merely begging the question There are two alternatives either it must be admitted that God really contradicts Himself, in which case no R evelation wtll be accepted; or else it must be admitted, since there is no other choice, that the contradictions are but an appearance, but then there will be no further JUStlfication for reJectmg a foreign Revelation simply because at first sight it appears to be m contradiction with the Revelation of which the vahcb.ty is admitted a priori I

17

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEI SM

annexed monotheism and brought it mto the possess10n of Israel, with the result that under this form the heritage of Abraham was henceforth inseparable from all the secondary adaptations and all the ntual and social consequences implicit in the Mosaic Law. As a result ofbemg thus canalized and crystallized mJudaism, monotheism acquired a quasi-historical character, though the word 'historical' should not here be understood exclusively m its ordmary outward meamng, which would be mcompat1ble with the sacred nature of Israel It 1s this absorpt10n of the ongmal Trad1t10n by the J ew1sh people that makes it perm1ss1ble to distmgmsh outwardly the monotheism of Moses from that of the Patnarchs, though such a d1stmct10n does not, of course, bear on the doctrmal domam. The historical character of Judaism, owmg to its very nature, had a consequence which was not mherent m the original monotheism-not at least in the same form. This was the Messtamc idea, and this idea is accordingly hnked as such to the Mosaic trad1t10n These few indications concermngthe ongmal monotheism, 1ts adaptation by Moses, its 'annexation' by Judaism and its 'concretization' m the Messiamc idea, are sufficient to enable us to proceed to a cons1derat1on of the 'orgaruc' part played by Chnstiamty in the monothe1st1c cycle. We may say, therefore, that Christianity absorbed m its turn the doctrinal heritage of monotheism through the affirmat10n of the Messiah, and it 1s perhaps permissible to add that it was entirely withm 1ts rights in domg so, smce it was the legitimate culmmation of the J eWISh form. The Messiah, having to realize m His 9wn person the Divine Will from wh1c~ monotheism issued, necessanly transcended a form which was mcapable of allowmg the latter to reahze its rrussion fully. In order that He might effect this dissolution of a transitory form it was necessary, as we have just indicated, that, as Messiah, He should possess to an emment degree the authority inherent m the Trad1t1on whose last word He was, and it is for this reason that He had to be 'greater' than Moses and 'before' Abraham. These affirmations point to an over-ridmg identity between the Messiah and God, and show II8

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

that a Chnst1amty which demes the D1vimty ofChrist demes the reason for its own existence. We have said that the 'avatanc' person of the Messiah entirely absorbed the monotheistic doctnne, which means that Christ was not only the culmmat10n of historical Judaism, at least m a certain respect and up to a certam point, but also for that very reason the support of monotheism and the temple of the D1vme Presence. This extreme histoncal pos1t1Vlty of Chnst brought with it, however, m its turn a linutat10n of the trad1t1onal form, just as had happened in the case ofJudaISm, where Israel fulfilled the predommant function which was later to devolve upon the Messiah, a funct10n that was necessanly restrictive and lim1tat1ve from the point of view of the reahzat10n of integral monotheism It is here that Islam steps m, and it remains for us to consider its position and significance m the monotheistic cycle.* However, before gomg mto this subject, there remams to be considered another aspect of the quest10n with which we have been dealing. The Gospels relate the following saymg of Christ. 'The law and the prophets were until John· smce that time the Kmgdom of God is preached, and every man presseth mto it'; and the Gospels also relate that at the moment of Christ's death the veil of the temple was rent in twam from the top to the bottom, this and the saying just quoted both mdlcate that the conung of Chnst put a final term to the tradition of Moses. But it may well be objected that the Mosaic tradition, m so far as it is the Word of God, cannot by any means be annulled, since *The per~pectlVe we have just outlmed bnngs to mmdJoachim de Flora, who attributed to each .Person of the Trm1ty a predominant position m relation to a certam part of the trad1t1onal cycle of the Christian perspective the Father dam.mated the Old Law, the son the New Law, and the Holy Ghost the last phase of the Christian cycle wl:uch began with the new monastic orders founded by St. Francis and St Dom1mc The 'asymmetry' of these correspondences will at once be apparent· the author of this theory must have been ignorant (whether such ignorance was actual or professed) of the eXlStence of Islam, which according to Islarmc dogma actually corresponds to this reign of Paraclete, but it IS nevertheless true that the period w!nch according to J oachun de Flora was placed under the special influence of the Holy Ghost did see a renewal of spintuallty m the West

II9

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

'our Torah is for all eternity, nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away from it' (Maimonides), how, therefore, is one to reconcile the abrogat10n of the Tradit10n of Moses, or rather of the 'glorious' cycle of its terrestrial existence, with the 'eternity' of the Mosaic revelation? The first pomt to grasp is that this abrogation, though realm the realm to which it relates, is none the less relative, whereas the intrmsic reahty of the Mosaic tradit10n is absolute, because D1vme This D1vme quality necessarily resists the suppression of a Revelat10n, at least for so long as the doctrmal and ritual form of the latter remains intact, a condition which was fulfilled m the case of the Tradit10n of Moses, as is shown by the fact that Christ con~ formed to it.* The abrogation of the Mosaic Trad1t10n by Christ spnngs from a D1vme Volition, but the mtangible permanence of that same Trad1t1on is of a still profounder order, since it

* It is, however, rmportant to observe that the decadence of Jewish esotencism at the time of Chnst-for example, Nicodemus, a 'master m Israel', was unacquainted with the mystery of spmtual rebirth '-made it pernussible from the standpomt of the new Revelation to regard the Mosaic Tradition m its entirety as an exclusive and therefore 'solid' exotencJSm, a way of looking at thmgs which has nevertheless only an accidental and provlS!onal value, smce it 1s luruted, in its apphcat1on, to the origms of Chnstiamty However that may be, the Mosaic Law was not to govern access to the new Mysteries, as would have been the function of an exotencism m relation to an esotenclSm of which it was the complement, and another exotenc1sm was established for the new Tradition, though at the cost of difficulties of adaptat10n and mterferences which contmued for centuries Meanwhile Judaism for its part reconstituted and re-adapted its own exoter1c1sm m the new cycle of1ts history, the Diaspora, and 1t seems that this process was to some extent correlative to the development of Christiamty, thanks to the copious mflux of spmtuahty accompanying the mamfestation of the Word m the person of Chnst The influence of this mamfe~tauon made itself felt directly or indirectly, openly or m secret, throughout the whole ne1ghbounng environment This accounts, on the one hand, for the dJSappearance durmg the first centirry of the Christian cycle of the ancient Mysteries, a part of which was absorbed by Christian esotencJSm itself, and on the other hand for the irradiation of spmtual forces m the Mediterranean traditions durmg the same period, for example m Neo-Platomsm As regards Juda1sm, there existed until modern tunes, and perhaps still exJSts m certam places, a genume esoteric tradition, whatever may have been the exact date of the revival that took place subsequently to the mamfestation of ChrlSt and the begmrung of the new traditional cycle, the Diaspora, and notwithstanding the part later played by Islam m relation to bothJudalSm and Chnst1amty I20

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

derives from the D1vme Essence itself, of which this Voht10n is simply a particular mamfestation, JUSt as a wave 1s a particular mamfestat10n of water, the nature of which 1t cannot modify. The Divme Voht10n mamfested by Christ could only affect a particular mode of the Tradition of Moses and not its 'eternal' quality; although therefore the Real Presence (Shekinah) had left the Holy of Hohes m the Temple of Jerusalem, this D1vme Presence has always contmued to dwell m Israel, no longer, it is true, hke an unquenchable fire localized m a sanctuary, but like a flint which, though not permanently mamfestmg fire, nevertheless contams it virtually, with the poss1b1hty of manifesting it penodically or mc1dentally. 2

Monotheism contamed, m Judaism and Chnst1amty, two great antagomst1c expressions. Islam m its turn, although itself necessarily antagomstic m relation to these two forms, smce its point of VIew is hkewISe religious, recapitulated them m a certam manner by harmomzmg the J udaeo-Chnstian antagonism in a synthesis which marked the limit of the development and mtegral realization of monotheism. That this was so is confirmed by the simple fact that Islam 1s the third aspect of this traditional current; that is to say it represents the number 3, which is the number of harmony, whereas the number 2 represents an alternative and is not therefore self-sufficient, bemg compelled either to reduce itself to umty through the absorption of one of its terms bY. the other, or to recreate this umty by the production of a ne;., unity. These two methods ofrealizing unity are m fact achieved by Islam, which itself proVJdes the solution of the Judaeo-Chnstian antagonism from which ma certain sense it may be said to have issued, and which 1t annuls by reducmg it to the pure monotheism of Abraham. In this connection Islam might be compared to a Judaism which had not rejected Christianity, or to a Chnstianity which had not denied Judaism; but if its attitude can be characterized in this way m so far as it was the product of Judaism and Christianity, it stands outside this 121

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

duality m so far as it identified itself with the ongm of the latter, through 1ts reject10nofthejewish 'development' on the one hand and the Chnstlan 'transgression' on the other, and through its havmg restored to the place of central importance, acqmred first by the Jewish people and then by Christ, the fundamental affi.rmat10n of monotheism, namely the Umty of God. As a condit10n of bemg able thus to transcend Messianism, it was necessary for Islam to place itself at a pomt of view which was different from that of the latter, and to reduce the latter to its own pomt of view m order to mtegrate it w1thm itself, hence the integra t10n of Chnst m the lme of Prophets, which extends from Adam to Mohammed. It goes without saymg that Islam, hke the two precedmg rehgions, was born through a direct mtervent10n of the Divme Will from which monotheism issued, and that the Prophet had to reflect m a particular way and through a correspondmg reahzat10n the essential Messiamc truth mherent m the original or Abrahamic monotheism. In a certain sense Islam can be called the Abraham1c 'reaction' against the annexation of monotheism by Israel on the one hand and by the Messiah on the other Although metaphysically the two pomts of view are by no means mutually exclusive, on the religious plane they cannot be realized simultaneously and can only be affirmed by means of antagomstic dogmas which divide the outward aspect of mtegral monotheism. If m a certam respect Judaism and Chnstiamty present a single front agamst Islam, Chnstiamty and Islam in their turn are opposed to Judaism, m consequence of their tendency towards a full realization of the monotheistic doctrine. We have "' this tenseen, however, that m the case of the Chnst1an form dency was hm1ted by the predommance given to the Messiamc idea, which is only of secondary importance from the standpomt of pure monotheism. The legislative element in Judaism was demolished by an 'extenonzation', here necessary and legitimate, of certain esoteric conceptions, and was absorbed m a manner of speaking by the 'next world', m conformity with the formula Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo. The social order was replaced by the spiritual, the sacraments of the Church IQ2

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

representmg the form of legislation appropriate to the latter order But smce this spiritual leg1slat10n does not meet social reqmrements, it was necessary to have recourse 1.o heterogenous legislative elements, which created a cultural dualism that was harmful to the Christian world Islam re-established a sacred legislation for 'this world', and m this way re3omed Judaism, while at the same time reaffirmmg the umversahty which Christiamty had affirmed beforehand when breakmg the shell of the Mosaic Law. One thmg more remams to be said· the eqmhbnum between the two D1vme aspects ofJustice and Mercy constitutes the very essence of the Mohammedan Revelation, m which it re3oms the Abraham1c Revelation As for the Chnst1an Revelat10n, 1f it affirms its supenonty over the Mosaic Revelation, it is because the Divme Mercy is prmc1pially and ontologically 'antenor' to the D1vme Justice, as is attested by this mscript10n on the Throne of Allah. 'Verily, My Mercy precedeth My Wrath' (Inna Rahmat'i sabaqat Ghadabi). The monotheism revealed to Abraham possessed esotenc1sm and exoteric1sm m perfect eqmhbrium, and as it were m their primordial md1stmct10n, though there can only be quest10n here of a pnmord1ahty which is relative to the Trad1t1ons belongmg to the Sem1t1c stock. With Moses exoteric1sm so to speak became the Trad1t10n, m the sense that it determmed the form of the latter without, however, affectmg its essence, with Chnst the reverse happened, and it was esoteric1sm which in a certam manner became the Trad1t10n in its turn, finally with Mohammed, the mitial eqmlibrium is re-established and the cycle of the monotheistic Trad1t1on is closed. The~e alterations in the mtegral Revelat10n of monotheism proceeded from the very nature of the latter and are not therefore imputable to contmgent circumstances alone. Smee both the 'letter' and the 'spmt' were synthetically comprised m the primordial or Abrahamic monotheism, they were bound to become crystallized m some fashion, by different1at1on and successively, during the course of the cycle of the monotheistic Revelation, thus the Trad1t1on of Abraham marufested the undifferentiated equilibrium of 'letter' and 'spint', the Tradition 123

THE TERNARY ASPECT OF MONOTHEISM

of Moses the 'letter', Chnsuamty the 'spirit', and Islam the differentiated equihbnum of these two aspects of Revelation. Every Tradition is necessanly an adaptation, and adaptation implies limitation If that 1S true of the purely metaphysical Trad1t1ons, It IS still more true of the rehgions, which represent adaptations for the sake of more limited mentalities.* These hrmtations must needs be found m some manner or other m the origins of the traditional forms and it is meV1table that they should be marufested m the course of the development of these forms, becoming most marked at the end of tlus development, to which they themselves contribute. If these limitations are necessary for the v1tahty of a Tradition, they remam none the less hm1tat10ns with the consequences which that implies. The heterodox doctrmes themselves are mdirect consequences of this need for curtailing the amplitude of the traditional form and for hmitmg it in proportion with the advance of the Dark Age. It could not mdeed be otherwise, even m the case of the sacred symbols, because only the infirute, eternal and formless Essence Is absolutely pure and unassailable, and because its transcendence must be made marufest by the dissolution of forms as well as by its radiation through them.

* If one IS Justified m saymg that the mentality of Western peoples, mcludmg m thIS respect the peoples of the Near East, ism some ways more limited than the mentality of most Eastern peoples, this 1s pnmanly due to the mtrus1on of passion m the sphere of the mte!hgence, hence the tendency of Westerners to regard created things only under one aspect, that of 'plam fact', and their lack of aptitude for the mtwt1ve contemplation of the cosmic and universal essences which are mstilled m forms, this mtrus1on also explams the need for an abstract theJSm as a protec1:ion agamst the danger of idolatry as well as agamst that of panthCISm The mentality m que!c1on, owmg to cyclic causes, has for centuries been becommg more and more widespread amongst all peoples, and this explains, on the one hand, the relative ease with which rehg1ous conversions are made amongst peoples whose c1vtl1zat1on 1s non-rehg1ous, that lS to say mythological or metaphysical, and on the other hand the providential nature ofMoslem expansion within the domains of these ClV1hzations

124

Chapter VII

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

W

I

e have seen that among the branches issumg more or less directly from the Pnmordial Tradition, Christianity and Islam represent the spiritual heritage of this Tradit10n accordmg to different points of view. This immediately raises the question as to what exactly is represented by a 'pomt of view' as such. No difficulty can anse in this connection on the plane of physical vis10n, where the pomt of view determines a perspective which is always perfectly co-ordinated and necessary, and where thmgs change their aspect whenever the observer alters his standpoint, although the elements of vision, namely the eye, light, colours, forms, proport10ns and situations in space, remain always the same. The startmg pomt of vision may change, but not the vmon in itsel£ Now if everybody admits that such IS the case m the physical world, which is but a refiect10n of spiritual reahties, how can it be denied that the same r~ations exist, or rather pre-exist, in the spiritual realm? Here the heart, organ of Revelat10n, corresponds to the eye; the Divine Principle, dispenser of hght, to the sun, the Intellect to light; and the Realities or Divine Essences to the objects of vision. But whereas, generally speak.mg, nothmg will prevent a living being from changing his physical pomt of view, it is quite another matter with the spiritual point of view, which always transcends the individual and regarding which the will of the latter can only remain determmate and passive. In order to understand a spintual pomt of view, or what 125

CHRISTIANI TY AND ISLAM

amounts to the same, a traditional pomt of view, it is not sufficient to attempt to establish correspondences between trad1t10nal elements comparable from the outside, even with the best mtentions Such a procedure would be m danger ofleadmg to a superficial synthesis of httle value, though comparisons of this sort may nevertheless have their uses, on condition that they are not adopted as a startmg-pomt and provided also that account 1s first taken of the mner constitution of the Trad1t1ons m question In order to grasp a trad1t10nal pomt of view it is necessary to perceive the umty by which all its constituent elements are necessanly co-ordinated, this umty IS the umty of the spmtual pomt of view, which is the germ of the Revelat10n. Needless to say the first cause of a Revelation cannot be assumlated to a pomt of view, any more than light can be said to depend on the spatial situat10n of the eye, what constitutes every Revelat10n and justifies the use of this term is the encounter of a umque Light with a hm1ted and contingent sphere, which represents a kind of plane of spmtual reflection. Before entering into particulars concerning the relationship between Chnstiamty and Islam, 1t is not superfluous to observe that the mmd of Western man, in so far as 1t is positive, 1s almost entirely of Christian essence It does not he withm the power of men to rid themselves of so deep-seated a heredity by their own means, that 1s to say by mere ideological expedients; their rmnds move in age-old grooves even when they invent errors. One cannot set aside this mtellectual and mental formation, however weakened it may be This being the case, and given that some remnant of the tradit10nal pomt of view survives l\llCOnsciously even among those who consider themselves freed fro'm any attachment, or who, m their desire to be impartial, attempt to place themselves outside the Chnstian standpoint, how is 1t to be expected that the elements of other Traditions will be interpreted m their true sense? Is 1t not stnkmg, for instance, that the op1mons about Islam prevailing among the ma3ority of Westerners are more or less identical, whether those who utter them profess to be Christians or pride themselves on no longer being so? Even the errors of philosophy would not be conceiv126

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

able if they did not represent the negat10n of certam truths, and if those errors were not direct or mdirect react10ns agamst certam formal limitations of Tradit10n, from which it can be seen that no error, whatever may be its nature, can lay claim to complete mdependence relatively to the traditional conception which it rejects or disfigures A Tradit10n is an mtegral whole comparable to a hvmg orgamsm which develops accordmg to necessary and exact laws, one might therefore call it a spmtual organism, or a social one m its most outward aspect. In any case it is an orgamsm and not a construction of arbitrary conventions, one cannot therefore legitimately consider the constituent elements of a Tradition mdependently of their inward umty, as if one were concerned with a mere collection of facts. This error is one, however, which is frequently committed even by those who 3udge without preconceived opmions but who none the less endeavour to establish correspondences from the outside, without perceivmg that a tradittonal element is always determmed by the germ and starting point of the integral Tradition, and that a given element, a personality or a book for example, can have a different sigmficance from one Tradition to another. To illustrate these remarks, we are going to compare certain fundamental elements of the Christian and Islamic Traditions. The habitual want of comprehension of the ordmary representatives of either relig10n with regard to the other extends to almost insignificant details, such as for mstance the term 'Mahometan' applied to Moslems, an expression which is an improper transposition of the term 'Christian'. The latter expression is perfectly applicable to the adherents of a religion which is based on Christ and which perpetuates Him m the Euchanst and the Mystical Body. The same does not, however, apply to Islam, which is not based directly on the Prophet but on the Qoran, the affirmation of Divine Unity, and which does not consist in a perpetuation of Mohammed, but ma ntual and legislative conformity of man and society to the Qoranic Law and therefore to Uruty. On the other hand the Arabic term mushrikiin, 'associators' (of pseudo-divinities with God), which 127

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is aimed at the Chnstians, overlooks the fact that Christianity is not directly based on the idea of Unity and need not insist upon it, since its essential basis 1s the Mystery of Christ; nevertheless, inasmuch as the term mushrzkun is sacred-in its Qoranic sigmficance-1t is obVIously the support of a truth which transcends the historical fact of the Christian rehg10n. Moreover facts do not play so important a part m Islam as they do in Christianity, of which the religious basis is essentially a fact and not an idea as m the case of Islam. This serves to show where hes the fundamental divergence between the two traditional forms· for a Christian, all depends on the Incarnation and the Redemption, Christ absorbs everythmg, even the idea of the D1vme Principle, which appears under a Trmitanan aspect, as well as humamty, which becomes H1s Mystical Body or the Church militant, suffermg and tnumphant. For a Moslem, all is centred in Allah, the Divme Prmciple considered under the aspect of Unity* and of Transcendence, and m the state of conformity, of abandonment to Him· El-Islam. The idea of God made Man is at the centre of Christian Doctrine; the Son, second person of the Tnmty, is man universalized; Jesus Christ is God md1v1duahzed. Islam does not give the same predommance to the mediator; thelatterdoes not absorb everything, and it is exclusively the monotheistic concept10n of Divinity which takes the central place in Islamic doctrme and dommates it throughout. The importance attached by Islam to the idea of Unity may appear superfluous and sterile from the Chnsuan point of view and a sort of pleonasm relatively to theJudaeo-Chnst1an Tradition. One must, however, bear in mind that the spq_ntane1ty and vitality of the Islanuc Tradition can by no means be the fruit of external borrowing and that the mtellectual originahty of the Moslems can only proceed from a Revelation. Whereas in Islam the idea of Unity lS the prop of all spirituality, and to a certain degree of all social applications, it is not the same in the case of Christiaruty; the central pomt of the latter, as we have • It is expressly said m that Islamic credo the Fikh el-akbar of Abu Hamfa that Allah is unique, not in the sense of number, but 1n the sense that He ts without associate. 128

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already explained, is the doctrine of the Incarnation and the Redempt10n, umversally conceived m the Tnmty and without human apphcat10n save m the sacraments and the participat10n m the Mystical Body of Chnst. At no time, so far as may be Judged from the historical data, has Chnst1amty had a social apphcat10n m the full sense of the word, never has it entirely integrated human society; m the form of the Church it imposed itself on men without attaclung them to itself by assignmg to them funct10ns which would permit them to participate more directly m its mner hfe; it has not sufficiently hallowed human acts; it has left the entire laity outside itself, ass1gmng to 1t only a mcire or less passive part1c1pation m the Trad1t10n Such 1s the orgamzat10n of the Christian world as seen from a Moslem pomt ofv1ew. In Islam every man is his own priest by the mere fact of bemg a Moslem; he is the patriarch, imam or caliph oflus family; in the latter is reflected the entire Islamic society Man is m himself a unity, he ts the image of the Creator whose vicar (khalifah) he is on earth; he cannot accordmgly be a layman The family is also a umty, it is a society w1thm a society, an impenetrable block,* hke the at once responsible and resigned being, the Moslem himself, and like the whole Islamic world, which is of an almost incorruptible homogeneity and stability. Man, family and society are cast accordmg to the idea of U mty of wluch they are so many adaptations, they are umt1es as are Allah and HlS Word, the Qoran. Christians cannot lay claim to the idea of Umty with the same nght as Moslems, the idea of Redemption is not necessanly hnked to the conception of D1vme Umty and might be associated with a so-called 'polythe1st1c' do~trme. As for Divine Umty, although it is theoretically admitted by Chnstians, it never appears as a 'dynamic' element, and Chnsttan holiness, the perfect part1cipat1on m the *The supreme symbol oflslam, the Ka'bah, IS a square block, it expresses the number four which IS the number of stability The Moslem can create hIS family with four wives, they represent the substance of the family or the social substance itself, and are withdrawn from pubhc hfe, where man is by hu;nselfa complete uruty. The Arab house is planned m accordance with the same idea it IS square, umform, closed on the outside, omamented within and opens on to the court I

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Mystical Body of Chnst, proceeds but md1rectly from this idea The Christian doctrme, like the Islamic, starts from a the1st1c idea, but expressly insists on the Tnmtarian aspect of the D1vm1ty. God becomes incarnate and redeems the world, the Principle descends mto mamfestat1on to re-establish a disturbed equilibrium According to the Islamic doctrine God affirms Himself by His Umty, He does not become incarnate by virtue of an inner distinction, nor does He redeem the world, He absorbs it through Islam He does not descend into mamfestat10n, He projects Himself therein, as the sun is projected by its hght, and this projection perrruts humamty to part1c1pate m H1~. It happens not mfrequently that Moslems, for whom the Qoran is what Christ 1s for Christians, reproach the latter for not having a book equivalent to the Qoran, that 1s to say a book to which no other can be compared, at once doctrinal and legislative, and which is written in the actual language of the Revelat10n. They see in the mult1phcity of the Gospels and other New Testament Texts the mark of a division which 1s aggravated by the fact that these Scriptures have not been preserved m the language spoken by Jesus, but ma non-Semitic language, and have even been translated from the latter into another language equally foreign to the peoples ISsued from Abraham; mdeed these texts can be translated mto any foreign language This confusion is analogous to that which leads Chnstians to reproach the Prophet for having been a mere mortal. Thus, if m Islam the Qoran is the Divtne Word, the latter 1s represented m Christianity, not by the New Testament, but by the hvmg presence of Christ m the Eucharist. The New Test;;i.ment only plays the part of a support, just as the Prophet is only a support of the Divine message and not the message itself. The remembrance, the example and the intercession of the Prophet are subordmate to the revealed Book. Islam is a spiritual, rehg1ous and social block,* the Church is *A block, image ofUmty Unity is srmple and consequently md1vIS1ble Accordmg to an observation of a former highly placed Enghsb official m Egypt 'Islam cannot be reformed, a reformed Islam would no longer be Islam, it would be somethmg else.' 130

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not a block but a centre A lay Christian is by definition a peripheral bemg, a Moslem, by reason of his priestly function, is everywhere a central bemg withm his own Trad1t10n, and it matters little to him whether or not he is externally severed from the Moslem community, he always remains his own priest and an autonomous umty, at least m relation to matters within the sphere of rehg10n From this is derived the fundamental conviction of a Moslem. The faith of a Chnst1an is of another nature it 'attracts' and 'absorbs' the soul rather than 'enfoldmg' and 'penetratmg' 1t. Regarded from the Moslem pomt of view, which concerns us here, the Christian 1s only hnked to hIS Trad1t10n through the sacraments, he is always in the position of bemg relatively excluded and he mamta1ns at all times a receptive attitude. In the supreme symbol of Christiamty, the Cross, its arms branch off mdefimtely from the centre while remammg connected with it; the Ka'bah on the other hand is reflected as a whole m the least of its parts, each one of which, by its substance and internal cohesion, is identical with the other parts and with the Ka'bah itsel£ The correspondences between traditional elements which have been noted above do not exclude others which may exist from a different pomt of view. Thus the analogy between the New Testament and the Qoran remains realm its own order, just as there is a necessary correspondence from a certain point of view between Christ and the Prophet; to deny this would be to maintain that there are resemblances without sufficient cause, therefore meaningless. But the superficial and even syncretic manner in which such correspondences are most often viewed, usually to the disadvantage of one or the other element under comparison, deprive the result of any true value. In reality there are two kmds of traditional correspondences on the one hand those based on what may be called the phenomenal nature of the elements of the Traditions m question, and on the other hand those denved from the mternal structure of those Traditions In the first case the element will be considered as a person, a book, ante, an institution or whatever it may be, and m the second case this element will be considered from the point of 131

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view of its particular 'orgamc' significance for the Tradition. This takes us back to the analogy existing between the spmtual and the physical pomts of view accordmg to the latter a given object always remains one and the same object, but it is able to change its aspect and importance accordmg to different per· spectives, and this law may readily be transposed to the spmtual sphere.

It 1s important to make it clear that m this chapter we have been exclusively concerned with Trad1t10ns as such, that' is to say as organisms, and not with their purely spiritual possibilities which are identical m prmc1ple. It is obv10us that from this pomt of view any quest10n of preference is excluded, iflslam as a tradit10nal organism is more homogenous and more mtlm· ately coherent than the Christian 'form', this is a relatively con· tmgent matter. Likewise the 'solar' nature of Christ cannot confer upon Christiamty a superiority over Islam, we will explam the reason for this further on and need only recall here that from a certam standpoint each traditional form is neces· sanly superior to others belonging to the same order, though only m some particular aspect of its mamfestation and not in its essence or spmtual possibilities. To those who would judge the Islamic form on the basis of superficial and necessarily arbitrary comparisons with the yhristian form, we would reply that Islam, given that it represents a possible spiritual perspective, is all that it should be to mamfest this possibility; ax:.d we would say likewise that the Prophet, far from having been merely an imperfect imitator of Christ, was all that he should have been in order to reahze the spmtual possibility represented by Islam. If the Prophet is not Christ and ifm particular he appears under a more human aspect, it 1s because the reason for the existence of Islam does not reside in the idea of Christ or of the 'Avatar', but in an idea which necessarily excludes this perspective. The idea thus realized by Islam and the Prophet is that of the Divine Umty, the absolutely transcendent aspect of which implies132

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for the 'created' or 'mamfested' world-a correspondmg aspect of imperfect10n. This explains why it has been permissible for Moslems from the very begmning to employ a human means such as war to establish their trad1t10nal world, whereas m the case of Chnstiamty several centuries had to elapse after the apostolic times before it became possible to use the same means, which is moreover mdispensable for the propagation of a religion As for the wars engaged m by the Companions of the Prophet, they represented ordeals undergone m view of what rmght be called the 'elaboration'-or the 'crystalhzat10n'-of the tormal aspects of a new world. Hatred did not enter m, and the holy men who fought m this manner, far from fightmg agamst mdividuals and for human mterests, did so m the spmt of the teachmg of the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna enjomed upon Arjuna to fight, not out of hatred nor even to conquer, but in order to fulfil his destmy as an mstrument of the Divine plan and without attaching himself to the fruits of his actions. • This struggle between 'pomts of view' at the time of the const1tut10n of a traditional world also reflects the 'rivalry' between possibilities of mamfestat10n at the time of the 'emergence from chaos' which takes place at the ongm of a cosmic world, a 'nvalry' which is of course of a purely prmcip1al order It was m the nature of Islam and of its m1ss10n that it should from the begmning have placed itself on poht1cal ground so far as its outward affirmation was concerned, whereas such an attitude would not only have been entirely contrary to the nature or rmssion of pnm1tive Christianity, but also completely unrealizable man ~nvironment as solid and stable as that of the Roman Empire. However, once Chnstiamty had become a state religion, it was not merely able but even bound to enter the poht1cal arena m exactly the same way as Islam. The outward V1c1ss1tudes suffered by Islam after the death of the Prophet are certamly not attributable to a spiritual insufficiency, bemg simply blemishes mherent m the political realm as such. The fact that Islam was established outwardly by human means had its sole cause m the Divine Will, which ruled out all esoteric interference in the structure of the new traditional form. On the 1 33

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other hand, so far as the difference between Christ and the Prophet is concerned, we would add that the great spmtual figures, whatever their respective degrees, mamfest either a 'subhmation' or a 'norm', to the first group belong Buddha and Christ as well as all those samts who were monks or henmts, while to the second belong Abraham, Moses and Mohammed, together with all saints hvmg m the world such as the royal and warrior samts. The attitude of the former corresponds to the words ofChnst· 'My Kmgdom is not ofth1s world', the attitude of the latter to the words 'Thy Kmgdom come'. Those who believe it their duty to deny the legitimacy of the Prophet ofislam on moral grounds forget that the only quest10n to be answered is whether or not Mohammed was inspired by God, it bemg quite irrelevant whether or not he was comparable to Jesus or conformed to some established morality. When one remembers that it was God who allowed polygamy to the Hebrews and commanded Moses to have the population of Canaan put to the sword, it is clear that the question of the 'morality' of such conduct is in no way involved, what alone counts m every case is the fact of the D1vme Will, the object of which is invariable but the means or modes of which vary by reason of the Infimty of its Possibility and, secondarily, because of the indefimte diversity of contmgencies. Christians readily blame the Prophet for actions such as the destruction of the tnbe of the Qoraidha, but they forget that any Prophet of Israel would have acted m a still sterner way than he, and they would do well to recall how Samuel, by the order of God, acted towards the Amalekites and their king. The case "f the Qoraidha is also hke that of the Pharisees m that 1t provides an example of the 'discnmmahon of spirits' which takes place automatically, as it were, upon contact with a mamfestation of Light. However 'neutral' an individual may appear so long as he is placed in a 'chaotic' or undifferentiated environment, such as, for example, the Near-Eastern world at the time of Mohammed or indeed any environment in which a traditional readaptation is about to take place, and however attenuated or obscured the fundamental tendency of the individual may 134

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appear m an environment of spiritual md1fference such as we have JUSt described, this tendency will spontaneously be actualized when faced with the alternative presented upon contact with the Light, and this explains why it is that when the gates of Heaven are opened by the hghtmng flash of the Revelat10n, the gates of Hell open too, JUSt as m the sensory world a light also projects a shadow. If Mohammed had been a false prophet, there 1s no reason why Christ should not have spoken of him as he spoke of Antichrist; but if Mohammed is a true Prophet, the passages referrmg to the Paraclete must mevitably concern him-not exclusively but 'emmently'-for It IS mconce1vable that Christ, when speakmg of the future, should have passed over in silence a mamfestat10n of such magnitude The same reasonmg excludes a przorz the poss1b1hty that Christ, when makmg his predictions, mtended to mclude Mohammed under the general denommation of 'false prophets', for m the history of our era Mohammed 1s m no sense a typical example among others of the same kmd, but on the contrary a umque and incomparable appantion. * If

* 'If greatness of design, economy of means and immensity of achievement are the three measures of the genius of man, who will dare, on the human plane, to compare any of the great men of modern history with Mahomet:> The most famous of them have done no more than stir up arms, laws and empires, when they have founded anything, they have founded only material powers which often have crumbled before them Mahomet stirred up armies, legISlatures, empires, peoples, dynasties, millions of men over a third of the mhabited globe, but further, he stirred up ideas, beliefs and souls Upon a book, each letter of which has become law, he has founded aspmtual natlonhty which embraces peoples of every language and every race, and as the mdehble char~cterIStic of thIS Moslem nationality he has impressed upon it hatred of false gods and love of the one and munatenal God ' (Lamartine, Hzstozre de la Turquze) 'The Arab conquest, wluch flooded simultaneously both Europe and Asia, is without precedent, the rapidity of its successes can only be compared with the rapidity of the establishment of the Mongol Empires of Attila, GenghIS Khan or Tamerlane But these were as ephemeral as the Islamic conquest was durable ThIS religion still has followers to-day m almost all the countries where it was imposed under the first Caliphs The lightning speed of its diffusion IS truly miraculous when compared with the slow progress of Chnstiamty' (H Pirenne, Mahomet et Charlemagne) 'Force had no part in the propagation of the Qoran, for the Arabs always 1 35

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he had been one of the false prophets announced by Christ, he would have been followed by others, and there would exist m our days a multitude of false religions subsequent to Chnst and comparable m importance and extension to Islam The spmtuality to be found w1thm Islam from its ongms up to our days is an mcontestable fact, and 'by their fruits ye will know them'. Moreover it will be recalled that the Prophet m his doctrine has testified to the second commg of Christ without attributmg to himself any glory, unless it be that of bemg the last Prophet of the cycle, and history proves that he spoke the truth, no comparable mamfestat1on havmg followed after him. Finally it is indispensable to say a few words concerning the Islamic attitude towards sexuality. If Moslem morality differs from the Christian-which is not the case m iegard to either holy war or slavery, but solely m regard to polygamy and divorce*-th1s is because it derives from a different aspect of left those they conquered free to keep their rehg1on If Christian peoples became converted to the religion of their vanqu1Shers, 1t was because the new conquerors showed themselves JUSter than their former masters and because their religion was of a greater simplicity than that taught to them up to that moment Far from bemg imposed by force, the Qoran was spread only by persuasion Persuasion alone could mduce peoples who conquered the Arabs at a later date, such as the Turks and the Mongols, to adopt it In India, where the Arabs in reality but passed through, the Qoran IS so widely diffused that it can count to-day (1884) more than fifty million adherents Their number increases each day The d1ffus1on of the Qoran in Chma has been no less wide Although the Arabs have never conquered the smallest part of the Heavenly Empire, there ex1Sts therein to-day a Moslem populat10n of more then twenty rmlhons' (G le Bon, La Civzlzsatzon des Arabes) * Polygamy was necessary for the peoples of the Middle East-who are warrior peoples-to ensure that all the women should be pro\rided for notwithstanding the k1llmg off of the men m the wars, a further reason 1s the high mortality among infants, which made polygamy virtually necessary for the preservation of the race As for divorce, it was, and is, made necessary by the inevitable separation of the sexes, which results m the bride and bridegroom not knowmg one another, or hardly knowmg one another, before marriage, this separation IS itself made necessary by the sensual temperament of the Arabs and of southern peoples in general What we have JUSt said explains the wearing of the veil by Moslem women and also the pardah of high-caste Hmdu women The fact that the ve1l 1s only worn m the latest traditional form, namely Islam, and that the pardah IS a comparatively recent mtroduct1on mto Hinduism, shows that the need for these measures arISes

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the total Truth. Christiaruty, hke Buddlusm, considers only the carnal side of se:xuahty, therefore its 'substantial' or 'quantitative' aspect Islam on the other hand, hke Judaism and the Hmdu and Chmese Tradrtions-apart from certam spiritual ways which reject sexual love for reasons of method-considers the 'essential' or 'qualitative' aspect of se:xuahty, or what we might call its 'cosmic' aspect, and m fact the sanctification of sexuality confers upon it a 'quality' which transcends its carnal aspect and neutralizes or even abolishes the latter m certam cases, for mstance m the case of the Cassandras and Sybils of antig_mty or of the Tantnc Shrz Chakra, or lastly m that of great spmtual figures such as Solomon and Mohammed. In other words sexuality can have a 'noble' as well as an 'impure' aspect, to speak m terms of geometnc symbolism it may be considered m a 'vertical' as well as a 'horizontal' sense, the flesh is 'impure' m itself, with or without sexuality, and the latter is 'noble' m itself, m or out of the flesh. This 'nobility' of sexuality denves from its D1vme Prototype, for 'God is Love'. In Islamic terms one would say that 'God is Uruty', and that love, bemg a mode of uruon (tawhid) is for that reason a way of conformmg to the D1vme Nature Love can sanctify the flesh, just as the flesh can debase Love Islam ms1sts on the first of these truths, while Chnst1aruty tends to ms1st on the second, except of course m the sacrament of marriage m which it unavoidably and as it were incidentally rejoins the Judaeo-Islarmc perspective.

3 Our next task is to show wherem really lies the difference between the respective manifestations of Christ and Mohammed. It must, however, be emphasized that differences of this kind concern only the 'mamfestation' of 'God-Men' and not their inward and Divine reality, wluch is identical. Meister Eckhardt out of conditions that are particular to the end of the 'Iron Age' It is owing to the existence of these same conditions that women have been excluded from certain Brahmamc rites to which they formerly had access r~7

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has expressed this identity m the following terms· 'Everything that the Holy Scriptures say about Christ is equally true of every good and divme man', that is to say of every man who possesses the plentitude of spmtual realization, both m the sense of 'expans10n' and of '.exaltat10n'. Agam Shri Ramakrishna says: 'In the Absolute I am not, and thou art not, and God is not, for It is beyond speech and thought. But so long as anything exists outside myself, I ought to adore Brahma, withm the hm1ts of the rmnd, as somethmg existmg outside myself', this explams, on the one hand, how it was that Christ could pray, though bemg himselfDivme, and, on the other hand, how it was possible for the Prophet, whilst unmistakably 'man' by re~son of the particular mode of his mamfestat10n, to be at the same time Divine m his 'mward' reality. In the same order of ideas, we would also point out that the religious perspective is based essentially upon a 'fact' to which it attributes a character of absoluteness. For example, the Christian perspective is based upon the supreme spiritual state reahzed by Chnst and maccessible to mystic md1viduahsm, but it attributes this state to Christ alone, whence the denial, at least m ordinary theology, of metaphysical 'Deliverance' or the 'Beatific Vision' m this hfe. It should be added that esotencism, speakmg through the voice of Meister Eckhardt, brmgs back the mystery of the Incarnat10n withm the sphere of spmtual laws when it attributes to the man who has attamed the highest sanctity all the charactenstics of Christ with the except10n of the 'prophetic' or rather 'redemptive' rmssion. An analogous example is provided by the claim made by several Sufis that certam of their wntmgs ..are on the same level of inspiration as the Qoran. In exoteric Islam, this degree of mspiration is attributed to the Prophet alone, m conforrmty with the specifically religious perspective which is always founded on a 'transcendent fact' appropriated exclusively on behalf of a particular manifestation of the Word. We have previously mentioned the fact that it is the Qoran which m all strictness corresponds to the Chnst-Euchanst, and which represents the great manifestation of Paraclete, the 'descent' (tanzil) of the Holy Ghost (Er-Ruh, called also Jibril 138

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m relation to its funct10n as Revealer). It follows that the funct10n of the Prophet is from this pomt of view analogous anp symbolically even identical to that of the Holy Virgm, who was hkew1se the 'ground' for the reception of the Word. Just as the Holy Virgin, fert1hzed by the Holy Ghost, is 'Co-Redemptress' and 'Queen of Heaven', created before the rest of the Creat10n, so the Prophet, inspired by the same Paracletic Spirit, is 'Messenger of Mercy' (Rasul Er-Rahmah) and 'Lord of the two existences' (the 'here' and the 'beyond') (Seyzd el-kawnayn), and he likewise was created before all other bemgs. This 'pnonty of creation' sigmfies that the Virgm and the Prophet 'mcarnate' a princ1p1al or 'metacosmic' Reality,* they are identified-m their receptive funct10n, though not m their D1vme Knowledge, nor, m the case of Mohammed, m his prophetic funct10n-with the passive aspect of umversal Existence (Prakrztz, m Arabic El-Lawh el-mahjuzh, 'the Guarded Tablet'), and it is for this reason that the V1rgm is 'immaculate' and, from the merely physical standpoint, 'virgin', whtle the Prophet, hke the Apostles, is '1lhterate' (ummi), that is to say 'pure' from the 'tamt' of human knowledge, or knowledge humanly acqmred. This 'purity' is the first condition for the reception of the Paracletic Gift, just as in the spiritual sphere 'chastity', 'poverty', 'humility' and other forms of s1mphc1ty or umty are md1spensable for the reception of the Divine Light. As a further illustration of this analogical relat10nship between the Virgm and the Prophet, it may be added that the symptoms manifested by the latter at the time of the Revelation are directly comparable to those of the-. Virgin when carrying or giving birth to the Infant

* The op1mon that Christ was the Mleccl1a-Avatara, the 'D1vme descent of the Barbarians' (or 'for the Barbarians'), that is to say the nmth incarnation of Vishnu, must be reJected for reasons both of trad1ttonal fact and of prmc1ple In the first place the Buddha has always been considered by Hmdus as an Avatara, though smce HmduISm had necessarily to exclude Buddhism, the apparent BuddhlSt heresy was explained on the one hand by the need to abolish blood sacrifices, and on the other hand by the need to mvolve corrupted men m error m order to hasten the mevitable advance of the Kaliyuga In the second place, it IS impossible that a bemg havl.Ilg an 'organic' place in the Hmdu system should belong to a world other than India, particularly one as remote as the Jewish world 139

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Jesus However by reason of his prophetic function, m the highest meanmg of the term, Mohammed is also more than the Virgin, and when he utters the Qoramc surahs, or more generally whenever the 'D1vme Ego' speaks through his mouth, he 1s directly identrfied with the Chnst, who is Himself what the Revelation is for the Prophet and whose every word 1s consequently D1vme Speech. In the case of the Prophet, only the 'words of the Most Holy' (ahadith quddusiyah) possess, apart from the Qoran, this D1vme character, his other words proceed from a subordinate degree of mspiration (najath Er-Ruh, the Hmdu Smrzti), as do also certam parts of the New Testament, m particular the Epistles. To return to the 'purity' of the Prophet, we also find m his case the exact equivalent of the 'Immaculate Conception'; according to the traditional account two angels cleft open the chest of the mfant Mohammed and cleansed him with snow of his 'ongmal sm', which appeared in the form of a black stam on his heart. Mohammed, like Mary and the 'human nature' ofJesus, is not therefore an ordinary man, and it 1s for this reason that 1t is said that 'Mohammed 1s (simply) a man, not as (ordinary) men are, but m the manner of a jewel among (common) stones' (Muhammadun basharun la kal-bashari bal hua kal-yaqilti baynal-ha.Jar). This brings to mind the formula of the Ave Maria: 'Blessed art thou among women', which md1cates that the Virgin, m herself and apart from her reception of the Holy Ghost, 1S a '.Jewel' compared with other creatures, thus a sort of 'subhme norm' In a certam respect the V1rgm and the Prophet 'incarnate' the passive or 'femmme' aspect-or pole-of uml!ersal Existence (Prakrtti); * they therefore 'incarnate' a fortiori the beneficent and merciful aspect of Prakrzti, namely Lakshmi (the KwanYzn of the Far-Eastern Tradition), and this explains their essential function as 'mtercessors' and accounts for names such as 'Mother of Mercy' (Mater Misericordzae) and 'Our Lady of Perpetual Help' (Nostra Domina a perpetuo succursu), as well as the names given to the Prophet such as 'Key to God's Mercy'

* Concernmg questions of Hmdu metaphysic we refer the reader to Man and hzs Becoming according to the Vedanta, by Rene Guenon (Luzac) r40

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(Miftah Rahmat Allah), 'Merciful' (Rahim), 'Healer' (Shaft), 'Remover of Grief' (Kashzj el-kurab), 'Effacer of sms' ('Ajuww) and 'Most beautiful Creat10n of God' (A;malu khalq Allah). If1t be asked what relat10nsh1p exists between this 'mercy', this 'pardon' or this 'beneficence' and umversal Existence, we would reply as follows smce Existence 1s 'undifferentiated', 'v1rgm' or 'pure' m relation to its productions, 1t 1s able to reabsorb m its und1fferentiat10n the d1fferent1ated qualities of things; in other words the d1sequihbnums of mamfestation are always capable of being mtegrated m the prmcip1al eqmhbnum. Now all 'evil' comes from a cosmic quality (guna), hence from a rupture of eqmhbrium, and since Existence carnes all the qualities withm itself m undifferentiated eqmhbrmrn, 1t is capable of dissolvmg m its 'mfimty' all the VICISsitudes of the world. Existence 1s m reahty both 'Virgm' and 'Mother', in the sense that, on the one hand, 1t 1s determined by nothmg apart from God, and on the other hand, it gives birth to the mamfested Umverse Mary is 'Virgm-Mother' by reason of the mystery of the Incarnat10n, as for Mohammed, he is, as we have seen, 'virgm' or 'ilhterate' in so far as he is inspired only by God and receives nothing from men, and he 1s 'Mother' by reason of his power of intercession with God; the persomficat1ons of the Divine Prakritz, whether human or angelic, essentially reveal the aspects of purity and love. The aspect of Grace or Mercy belongmg to the 'virgmal' and 'maternal' Divinity also explains why the latter readily manifests itself in a sensible form and in human gmse, thereby becommg 'accessible' to men. the appearances of the V rrgin are well known in the West, and in the case of the Prophet his appearances to Moslem saints are frequent and as it were 'normal'; there even exist methods for obtaming this grace, wluch 1s equivalent in reality to a 'concrettzation' of the 'Beatific VlSlon'. *

* In this connection we may also recall the appearances of the Shakti m Hmdwsm-for example to Shn Ramakrishna and Shn Sarada Devi-and the appearances of Kwan-Tin or Kwannon m the Traditions of the Far-East, for example to Shomn Shmran, the great Japanese Buddh1St Saint, it lS also known that m Judaism the Slu;kinah appears in the form of a beautiful and gracious woman

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

Although the Prophet does not occupy m Islam the same place that Chnst occupies m Christianity, he nevertheless enjoys of necessity a central pos1t10n m the Islamic perspective. It remains for us to explam why this should be so and also to show how Islam mtegrates Christ m its perspective while at the same time recogmzmg hIS 'solar' nature as reflected m his virgmal birth. Accordmg to tlus perspective, the Word does not mamfest itself m any particular man as such, but m the Prophetic funct10n-m the highest sense of the term-and above all m the revealed Books, and smce the Prophetic function of Mohammed is real and the Qoran a true Revelation, Moslems, who admit only these two criteria, see no reason for placmg Jesus before Mohammed. Indeed there 1s every reason for them to give precedence to Mohammed, masmuch as the latter, bemg the last representative of the Prophetic funct10n, recapitulates and synthesizes every aspect of this function and closes the cycle of mamfestatlon of the Word, whence the title 'Seal of the Prophets' (Khatam el-anbiya). It is this umque situation that confers upon Mohammed the 'central' position which he enjoys m Islam and that allows of the Word itself bemg named 'Mohammedan Light' (Niir Muhammadiyah). The fact that the Islamic perspective 1s concerned only with Revelation as such, and not with all its possible modes, explams why Islam does not attach the same importance as Christiaruty to the miracles of Christ. In pomt of fact, all the 'Messengers', mcluding Mohammed, have performed miracles (mu'ju:JU); * the difference m this respect between Christ and the other 'Messengers' is that only m the case of Christ does the miracle possess a 'central' importance, bemg wrought by God

* The ma.ionty of onentabsts, if not all, falsely deduce from various passages m the Qoran that the Prophet accomplished no miracles, a deduction which 1s contradicted m advance, not only by the traditional commentators of the Qoran, but also by the Sunnah which is the pillar of Islamic orthodoxy With regard to the 'avatanc' nature of the Prophet, without mentionmg mfalhble cntena of a more profound order, it is witnessed by the signs which accordmg to the Sunnah preceded and accomparued his birth, signs which are analogous to those associated with Chnst and Buddha m the Chnst1an and BuddhISt Traditions

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

'm' the human support and not merely 'through' this support This part played by the miracle m Chnstiamty is explained by the particular featmes which constitute the reason for the existence of this form of Revelauon, the nature of which wtll be examme.d m the followmg chapter. From the Islarmc pomt of view it is not the miracles that matter so much as the D1vme nature of the 'Messenger's' m1ss10n, irrespective of how important miracles may be m that miss10n It might be said that the part1culanty of Chnst1amty consists m the fact that it IS based first and foremost on a miracle, which IS perpetuated m the Euchanst, whereas Islam is essentially based on an Idea, supportea by human means though with Divine aid, and perpetuated m the Qoramc Revelation of which the ritual prayer IS as It were a ceaselessly renewed actuahzat10n. We have already let it be understood that m his inner reality, Mohammed, hke Christ, is identified with the Word, as mdeed, outside the specifically religious perspective, is every being who has achieved metaphysical reahzat1on m its fullness,* whence the followmg ahadith, 'He who has seen me has seen God (under His aspect ofabsolute Truth)' (Man ra'anifaqad ra'al-Haqq), and 'He (Mohammed) was prophet (Word) when Adam was sull between water and mud' (Fakana nab1!Jen wa Adamu baynal mii'i wat-tin), words that can be compared with these words of Christ: 'I and my Father are one', and 'Verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am'.

* This metaphysical realization, which integrates man m hIS Divme Prototype, so that one may say of the being possessing this supreme 'state' that 'he is not created' (Es-SUfi lamyukhlaq), is hardly withm anybody's reach m our cychc penod, if we speak of it nevertheless, it is solely out of regard for doctrinal truth, for without the idea of the 'God-Man', esotericism would be depnved of an aspect of its very essence

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Chapter VI II

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

W

I

hat, for want of a better term, we have been obliged to call 'Christian exotenc1sm' is not, m its or1gm and structure, strictly analogous to the Jewish and Islamic exotencISms; for whereas the exotenc side of the two latter Traditlons was instituted as such from the very begmnmg, m the sense that it formed part of the Revelation and was clearly distinguishable from its esoteric aspect, what we now know as Christian exotenc1sm hardly figured as such m the Christian Revelation except m a purely incidental manner. It is true that in some of the oldest New Testament texts, particularly those ofSamt Paul, there are suggestions of a pomt of view that may be termed religious in the proper sense of the word, were it only by reason of the employment of a religious symbolism. Such is the case, for example, when the principiC!.,l hierarchic connection existing between esoteric1sm and exotenc1sm 1s represented in the gmse of a sort of h1stoncal relationship between the New Covenant and the Old, the former being identified with the 'spmt that giveth life', and the latter with the 'letter that lulleth'* a companson which leaves out of account

* The interpretation of these words m an exotenc sense IS really an act of swc1de, for they are bound mev1tably to turn agamst the exotenc1sm which has annexed them. The truth of this was demonstrated by the Reformation, which eagerly seized upon the phrase m question (2 Cor w. 6) m order to 144

UNIVERSALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

the mtegral reality inherent m the Old Covenant itself, namely that element m it which is identified prmcipially with the New Covenant, the latter bemg simply a new form or adaptat10n of that same reality. This is a good example of how the rehg10us point of view*, instead of embracmg a truth m its entirety, selects one aspect only as a matter of expediency and purports to give it an exclusive and absolute value, it should not be forgotten, however, that but for this dogmatic character religious truth would be inefficacious with regard to the particular end imposed upon it by the motives of expediency already mentioned. There is thus a two-fold restnction put upon pure truth, on the one hand an aspect of the truth is mvested with the character of mtegral truth, and on the other hand an absolute character is attributed to the relative. Furthermore this standpomt of expediency carries with it the negat10n of all those things which, being neither accessible nor md1spensable to everyone mdiscnmmately, he for that reason beyond the purview of the rehg10us perspective and must be left outside ithence the simplifications and symbolical syntheses peculiar to every religious doctrme. t Lastly, we may also mention, as a make of it one of its chief weapons, thus usurping the place which normally should belong to esotencism, the earlier derual of the latter on the occasron of the destruction of the Order of the Temple was mevitably destmed to lead to a replacement 'from below', that is to say to heresy * Christraruty mhented the specifically religious pomt of v1ew from Judaism, the form ofwhrch comcides with the ongm of this pomt ofvrew, rt rs almost superfluous to stress the fact that its presence m pr:umtrve Christraruty m no wrse invalidates the rmtiatory essence of the latter. 'There exist' -says Ongen-'diverse forms of the Word under which It reveals Itself to I ts disciples, ~nformmg Itself to the degree of hght of each one, according to the degree of their progress in samthness' (Contra Gels iv 16) Thus, the religious doctrmes deny the transmrgrat1on of the soul and consequently the existence of an immortal soul m ammals, and they also deny the total cyclic dissolution which the Hmdus call maha-pralaya, a dissolution which unphes the anruhtlatron of the entire Creation (samsiira) These truths are m no wrse mdISpensable for salvation and even involve certam dangers for the mentahties to which the religious doctrmes are addressed, m other words, an exotencism is always obhged to pass over m silence any esotenc elements which are mcompatible with its own dogmatic form, or even to deny them However, m order to forestall possible obJections to the examples JUSt

t

K

I45

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE

particularly stnkmg feature of these doctrmes, the 1dentificat10n of historical facts with prmc1pial truths and the inevitable confus10ns resultmg therefrom. For example, when it is said that all human souls, from that of Adam to the departed souls of Christ's own contemporaries, must await H1s descent into Hell in order to deliver them, such a statement confuses the histoncal with the cosmic Christ and represents an eternal function of the Word as a temporal fact, for the simple reason that Jesus was a mamfestat10n of this Word, which is another way of saymg that m the world where this manifestation took place, Jesus was truly the unique mcarnat1on of the Word. Another ex~mple may be found m the divergent views of Chnstiamty and Islam on the subject of the death of Christ apart from the fact that the Qoran, by its apparent demal of Christ's death, is simply affirmmg that Christ was not killed in reality-which is obv10us not only as regards the D1vme nature of the God-Man, but also as regards His human nature, since it was resurrected-the refusal of Moslems to admit the historical Redemption, and consequently the facts that are the umque terrestrial expression of Umversal Redemption as far as Chnstian humanity is concerned, simply denotes that in the final analysis Christ did not die for those who are 'whole', who m this case are the Moslems m so far as they benefit from another terrestrial form of the One and Eternal Redemption. In other words, if it be true m pringiven, two reservations requl!'e to be made In the first place, with regard to the immortality of the soul as apphed to animals, 1t should be said that the rehg1ous derual is JUstlfied m the sense that a bemg cannot m fact attain immortality whtle bound to the animal state, since the latter; hke the vegetable and mineral states, lS 'peripheral', and immortality and deliverance can only be attained from the starting poIDt of a 'central' state such as the human one It will be seen from thlS example that a rehg10us negation which is dogmatic m character is never entirely senseless In the second place, with regard to the refusal to admit the Mahii-pralaya, it should be added that this negation lS not strictly dogmatic and that the total cychc dissolution, which completes a 'hfe of Brah.mfi', lS clearly attested by scriptural passages such as the followmg 'For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one Jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled (Matt v 18 ) 'They shall remain there (kh'iiilidn) for as long as the heavens and the earth endure, unless thy Lord wtlleth othel'WlSC.' (Qoran, XI ro7).

146

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

ciple that Christ died for all men-m the same way that the Islamic Revelation 1s prmc1p1ally addressed to everyone-in fact He died only for those who must and do benefit from the means of grace that perpetuate His work of Redemption,* hence the trad1t1onal distance separatmg Islam from the Christian Mystery is bound, outwardly at least, to appear m the form of a demal, exactly m the same way that Christian exotenc1sm must deny the possibility of salvat10n outside the Redempt10n brought about by Jesus. However that may be, although a rehg10us perspective may be contested ad extra, that is to say m the hght of another religious perspective denvmg from a different aspect of the same truth, It remams lllCOntestable ad zntra, masmuch as its capacity to serve as a means of expressing the total truth makes of 1t a key to the latter. Moreover 1t must never be forgotten that the restnct10ns mherent m the rehg10us pomt of view express in their own way the D1vme Goodness which wishes to prevent men from gomg astray, and which gives them what 1s accessible and indispensable to everyone,

* In the same order of ideas, we may quote the following words of Samt Augustme 'That which to-day is called Christian religion existed among the Ancients and has never ceased to exist from the origm of the human race until the tune when Christ Himself came and men began to call Christian the true religion which already existed beforehand ' (Retract I, xm 3) This passage has been commented upon as follows by the Abbe P-J jallabert m hlS book Le Catholzcisme avant Jesus-Christ 'The Catholic rehg1on is but a contmuation of the prmutrve religion restored and generously enriched by him who knew its work from the beginning This explains why St Paul the Apostle did not clallll to be superior to the Gentiles save m lus knowledge of Jesus crucified In fact, all the Gentiles needed to acquire was the knowledge of the Incarn~1on and the Redempt10n considered as an accomplished fact, for they had already received the deposit of all the rema1mng truths. It lS well to consider that this Divme revelation, which idolatry had rendered unrecogmzable, had nevertheless been preserved m its punty and perhaps m all its perfection m the mysteries of EleuslS, Lemnos and Samothrace ' This 'knowledge of the Incarnation and the Redemption' implies before all else a knowledge of the renewal effected by Christ of a means of grace which m itselflS eternal, hke the Law which Christ came to fulfil but not to destroy. This means of grace lS essentially always the same and the only means that exists, however its modes may vary m accordance with the different ethmcal and cultural envirorunents to which it revea1s itself, the EucharlSt is a umversal reahty hke ChI'lSt Himself

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE

havmg regard to the mental pred1sposit10ns of the human collectivity concerned * It will be understood from what has JUSt been said that any seemmg contradiction or depreciat10n of the Mosaic Law that may be found m the words of Christ or the teaching of the Apostles ism reality but an express10n of the supenonty of eso· tenc1sm over exoter1c1smt and does not therefore apply at the same level as this Law,t at least not a priori, that 1s to say so long as this h1erarch1c relat1onsh1p 1s not itself conceived m rehg10us mode It is perfectly obv10us that the main teaclungs of Chnst transcend the religious v1ewpomt and that 1s mdeed the re,ason

* In an analogous sense it is said m Islam that 'the divergence of the exegetists is a blessmg' (Ikhtzlaf el 'ulama'i rahmah) t This is brought out ma particularly clear manner by the words of Chr1St concermng St John the Baptist From a religious pomt ofv1ew, 1t is obvious that the Prophet who stands nearest to the Christ-God 1S the greatest among men, and on the other hand that the least among the Blessed m Heaven is greater than the greatest man on earth, always by reason ofth!S same proxirmty to God Metaphysically, the words of Christ express the supenonty of what is prmcipial over what lS marufested, or, from an mitlatory pomt of view, of esotenc1sm over exotencism, St John the BaptISt bemg m this case regarded as the sumnut and fulfilment of the latter, which explains furthermore why his name is ldentical with that of St John the Evangelist who represents Christianity m its most mward aspect t In St Paul's epistle to the Romans, one finds the followmg passage, 'For circumc!Slon verily profiteth, if thou keep the law but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumc1510n 1S made uncircumc!Slon Therefore If the uncircumcised keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumc151on be counted for c1rcumc1s10n? And shall not unc1rcumcmon which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that c1rcumc1s1on, which lS outward m the flesh; But he lS a,.Jew, which lS one mwardly, and circumcision lS that of the heart, m the spirit, and not m the letter, whose praise IS not of men but of God (Rom u 25-g) The same idea re-appears, ma more conclSe form, m the followmg passage from the Qoran. 'And they say. Become Jews or Nazarenes m order that you may be guided, answer No, we follow the way of Abraham who was pure (or 'primordial', hanif) and who was not one of those who associate (creatures with Allah, or effects Wlth the Cause, or marufestations with the Principle) (Receive) the baptism of Allah (and not that of men), and who mdeed baptises better than Allah? and it lS Hun whom we adore' (swrat el-Baqarah 135 and r38) The 'baptism' referred to here expresses the same fundamental idea that St Paul expresses by the word 'circumcision'. 148

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

for their existence They therefore likewise transcend the Law, m no other way could one explam the attJ.tude of Christ with respect to the law of retaliat10n, or with regard to the woman taken m adultery and to divorce. In fact the turmng of the other cheek 1s not a thmg that any social collectivity could put mto practice with a view to mamtaming its equ1hbnum, * and it has no meaning except as a spiritual attitude, the spmtual man alone firmly takes his stand outside the logical cham of md1vidual react10ns, smce for htm a part1c1patlon m the current of these reactions 1s tantamount to a fall from grace, at least whep. such partic1pat10n mvolves the centre or the soul of the mdividual, though not when it remams purely an outward and impersonal act ofJUStice such as that envisaged by the Mosaic Law. But it was precisely because this impersonal character of the law of retaliation had been lost and replaced by passions that it was needful for Chnst to express a spmtual truth which, although only condemmng a false pretent1on, appeared to condemn the Law itself. All this is clearly evidenced m Christ's answer to those who wIShed to stone the woman taken m adultery, and who, mstead of actmg impersonally m the name of the Law, would have acted personally m the name of their own hypocrisy. Christ did not therefore speak from the standpoint of the Law, but from that of mward, supra-social and spmtual reahties; and His pomt of view was exactly the same on the question of divorce Perhaps the most stnkmg proof to be found m Christ's teachmgs of the purely spmtual and therefore supra-

* Thts ts so clearly true that Christi.ans themselves have never turned thts

ofJJhrxst into a legal obhgat1on, wluch proves once agam that it not situated on the same level as the JewISh Law and consequently was neither mtended nor able to take its place There IS a hadith wluch shows the compatibility eXIStmg between the spmtual pomt ofv1ew affirmed by Chr!St and the social pomt of v1ew which IS that of the Mosaic Law It is related that the first thief among the Moslem community was led before the Prophet m order that lus hand might be cut off according to the Qoraruc law, but the Prophet turned pale He was asked 'Hast thou some objection'?' He answered 'How should I have nothing to object to! Must I be the ally of Satan m enmity against my brothers" If you W!Sh God to forgive your sm and conceal it, you also must conceal the sm of others For when once the transgressor has been brought before the monarch, the chastISement must be accompltshed.' inJunction

JS

149

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social and extra-moral character of His Doctrine, is contained m the following saymg 'If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple ' (Luke xiv 26.) It 1s clearly impossible to oppose such teachmg to the Mosaic Law. As a rehg1on Christianity accordingly possesses none of the 'normal' characteristics of an exotencism mst1tuted as such, but presents itself as an exoteric1sm in point of 'fact' rather than one existing in 'principle'. Moreover, even without referrmg to Scriptural passages, the essentially initiatory character of Chnstiamty is apparent from certam features of the first importance, such as the Doctnne of the Trmity, the Sacrament of the EucharISt, and, more particularly, the use of wine m this nte, or again, from the use of purely esotenc express10ns such as 'Son of God' and especially 'Mother of God' If exotericISm is 'something that is at the same time indispensable and accessible to all',* Chnstiamty cannot be exotenc in the usual sense of the word, since it is m reality by no means accessible to everyone, although in fact, by virtue of its religious application, it is imposed on everyone. This maccessibihty of the Christian dogmas is expressed by callmg them 'mysteries', a word which has a positive meaning only in the imtiatory domam to which moreover it belongs, but which, when apphed m the religious sphere, seems to attempt to justify or conceal the fact that Chnstian dogmas carry with them no 'direct' intellectual proof. For example, the Divme Umty is a truth that is immediately evident and therefore capable of exotenc or dogmatic formulation, for this idea, in its s1mplest express10n, is one that is accessible to every man whose mmd is sound; on the other hand, the Trinity, inasmuch as it corresponds to a more differentiated point of view and represents a particular development of the Doctrme of Umty among others that are equally possible, is not strictly speakmg capable of exotenc formulation, for the simpk reason that a 'differentiated' or 'denved' metaphysical conception is *Definition given by Rene Guenon m his article 'Creation et Manifestation' (.Etudes Traditzonnelles, Oct 1937) 150

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

not accessible to everyone Moreover, the Tnmty necessarily corresponds to a more relative pomt ofv1ew than that ofUmty, m the same way that 'Redemption' is a reality more relative than 'Creat10n' Any normal man can to a certain extent conceive the Divme Umty, because this is the most umversal and therefore m a certam sense the most simple aspect of D1vimty, on the other hand, the Trimty can only be understood by those who are capable of conceivmg the Divinity under other more or less relative aspects, that is to say by those who are able, through spmtual participation in the D1vme Intellect, to 'move', as it were, m the 'metaphysical d1mens10n', but that, precisely, is a poss1b1hty which is very far from bemg accessible to everyone, at least m the present state of humanity upon this earth When Saint Augustme said that the Trmity was incomprehensible, he was necessarily speakmg-doubtless m conformity with the tendencies of the Roman world-from the rational pomt of view of the individual, a pomt of view which, when applied to transcendent truths, can but reveal its own madequacy. The only thmg that 1S completely incomprehensible, from the standpomt of pure mtellectuahty, is that which is totally unreal, m other words pure nothmgness, which is the same thmg as 1mposs1bihty, and which, bemg nothing, cannot become an ob3ect of understandmg. Let it be added that the esoteric nature of the Christian dogmas and sacraments is the underlymg cause of the Islamic react10n agamst Chnst1anity. Because the latter had mixed together the haqiqah (the esoteric Truth) and the shari'ah (the exotenc Law), it earned with it certain dangers of d1seqmhbnum which have m fact manifested themselves dunng the course of the centuries, indirectly contnbuting to the terrible subversion represented by the modern world, in conformity with the words of Chnst. 'Give not that which is Holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swme, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.'

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE

2

Smee Christiamty seems to confuse two domams that should normally remam separate, just as it confuses the two Eucharistic species which respectively represent these domams, it may be asked whether thmgs might have been otherwise and whether this confusion is simply the result of md1vidual errors. Assuredly not and for the followmg reasons. The 'mward' and esoteric truth must of necessity sometimes manifest itself m broad daylight, this bemg by virtue of a defirute poss1b1hty of spiritual marufestation, and without regard to the shortcomings of a"part1cular human environment, m other words the 'confusion' m question* is but the negative consequence of something which m itself is positive, namely, the manifestation of Christ as such. It is to this manifestation as well as to all other analogous manifestations of the Word, whatever their degree of uruversahty, that the following inspired words relate. 'And the Light shmeth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.' It was necessary that Chnst, by metaphysical or cosmological definition as it were, should break the shell represented by the Mosaic Law, though without denymg the latter; being Himself the hvmg kernel of this Law, He had every right to do so, for He was 'more true' than it, and this is one of the meanings of His words, 'Before Abraham was, I am'. It may also be said that if esotencism does not concern everyone, it is for the reason, analogically speaking, that light penetrates some substances and not others; but on the other hand if esotericism must manifest itself openly from time to time, as happened in •the case of

* The most general example of tlus 'confusion' wluch might also be called a 'fluctuation' is the mmghng m the Scriptures of the New Testament of the two degrees of mspiration wluch Hindus denote respectively by the terms Shruti and Smriti, and Moslems by the terms Nafath Er-Riih and ilqa ErRohmiinryah the latter expression, Wee the word Smriti, denotes a derived or secondary msp1ratlon, wlule the first expression, hke the word Shruti, refers to Revelation properly so-called, that IS to say, to the divme Word m a direct sense. In the Epistles, tlus mmghng even appears exphc1tly on several occasions, the seventh chapter of the First Epistle to the Cormth1ans IS particularly instructive m this respect. 152

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

Christ, and, at a lower level of universality, m the case of ElHallaj, it is, sttll by analogy, because the sun illurmnates everything without distinction. Thus, if the 'Light shmeth m darkness', m the prmcipial or umversal sense we are concerned with here, this is because m so doing it manifests one of its possibilities, and a possibility, by definition, is somethmg that cannot not be, bemg an aspect of the absolute necessity of the Divine Principle. These metaphysical considerations must not lead us to overlook a complementary though more contmgent aspect of the que~t10n. There must also exist on the human side, that is to say m the enVIronment m which such a DiVIne marufestation is produced, a sufficient reason for its production, so, for the world to which Christ's mission was addressed, tlus unveiled manifestat10n of truths wluch should normally remam hidden -under certam conditions of time and place at least-was the only possible means of bringmg about the re-onentat1on of which that world had need. This is sufficient to JUStify an aspect of the spmtual radiation of Christ, as we have defined it, which would be abnormal and illegitimate under more ordinary circumstances. This laymg bare of the 'spmt' hidden m the 'letter' could not, however, entirely do away with certain laws that are inherent in all esotericism, under pain of changmg the nature of the latter entirely: thus, Christ spoke only m parables, 'that 1t might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, I will open my mouth m parables, I will utter tlungs wluch have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.' (Matt. xiii., 34, 35.) Despite this fact, however, a radiation of this nature, though mevitable m the particular case m question, nevertheless constitutes 'a double-edged weapon', if one may use such an expression here. But there is another thing to be considered, namely that the Christian way is essentially a 'way of Grace', being m thlS respect analogous to the 'bhaktic' ways oflndia and certam ways to be found m Buddhism. In methods like these, by reason of their very nature, the distinctlon between an 'outer' and an 'inner' aspect is attenuated and sometimes even 'ignored\ in the sense that 'Grace', which)s initia153

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE

tory m its kernel or essence, tends to 'bestow' itselfm the largest measure possible, which it is enabled to do by virtue of the s1mphcity and umversality of the symbolism and means proper to 1t. It may also be said that while the difference separating the 'way of merit' from the 'way of Knowledge' 1s of necessity very great, m view of the fact that these two ways refer respectively to meritonous action and mtellectual contemplation, the 'way of Grace' occupies ma certain sense a position midway between the two. Thus, in the 'way of Grace' the 'mward' and 'outward' apphcat10ns go hand m hand m the same radiat10n of 'Mercy', while m the sphere of spiritual realization the differences will be of degree rather than of prmc1ple; every mtelhgence and every will is able to participate m one and the same 'Grace' according to the measure of its poss1biht1es, in the same way that the sun illummates everythmg without distmctlon, while acting differently on different substances. Now apart from the fact that a synthetic mode of radiat10n such as that JUSt described-with its laymg bare of thmgs a normal exotencism will keep under a veil-was the only possible way to give effect to the spmtual re-orientation of which the Western World stood in need, it must be added that this mode also possesses a 'providential' aspect m relation to cychc evolution, m the sense of bemg included m the Divine Plan concerning the final development of the present cycle of humanity. From another point of view one may also recogmze, in the disproportion between the purely spmtual quality of the Gift of Christ and the heterogenous nature of the environment into which it was received, the mark of an exceptional mode of Divme Mercy, which constantly renews itself for the sake of creatures: in order to 'save' one of the 'sick' parts ofhumamty, or rather 'a humanity', God consents to be profaned, but on the other hand-and this is a mamfestation of His Impersonality which by defimtton lies beyond the religious point of view -He makes use of this profanation, smce 'it must needs be that offences come', m order to bring about the final decadence of the present cycle of humanity, this decadence being necessary for the e:xhaustmg of all the possibiht1es included in this cycle, 154

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

necessary therefore for the eqmhbnum of the cycle as a whole and the accomplishment of the glorious and umversal rad1at10n of God. The rehg10us pomt of view is compelled, under penalty of having to admit that the actions of its personal God, the only one 1t takes mto cons1derat1on, contradict one another, to define the apparently contradictory acts of the impersonal Divmity-when it cannot deny them purely and simply as it does m the case of the diversity of traditional forms-as 'mysterious' and 'unfathomable', while naturally attnbutmg these 'my~teries' to the Wtll of the Personal God. 3 The existence of a Christian esotericism, or rather the eminently esotenc character of pnmitive Chnstiaruty, does not only appear from New Testament texts-those m which certam of Christ's words possess no exotenc meanmg-or from the nature of the Christian ntes-to speak only of what is more or less accessible 'from without' m the Latin Church-but also from the exphc1t testimony of the older authors Thus m his work on the Holy Ghost St. Basil speaks of a 'tacit and mystical tradition maintamed down to our own times, and of a secret mstruction that our fathers observed without discussion and which we follow by dwelling m the s1mphcity of their silence. For they understood how necessary was silence m order to maintain the respect and veneration due to our Holy Mysteries. And in fact it was not .expedient to make known in wntmg a doctrme contaimng thmgs that catechumens are not perrmtted to contemplate ' Agam, according to St Denys the Areopag1te, 'Salvatlon is possible only for deified souls, and deification is nothmg else but the union and resemblance we strive to have with God. The things that are bestowed uruformly and all at once, so to speak, on the Blessed Essences dwelling m Heaven, are transmitted to us as it were m fragments and through the multiplicity of the vaned symbols of the Divine oracles. For it is on these Divme oracles that our hierarchy is founded. And by these 155

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words we mean not only what our mspired Masters have left us m the Holy Epistles and m their theological works, but also what they transmitted to their disciples by a kmd of spmtual and almost heavenly teachmg, mit1atmg them from person to person m a bodily way no doubt, smce they spoke, but, I venture to say, m an immaterial way also, smce they did not write. But smce these truths had to be translated mto the usages of the Church, the Apostles expressed them under the veil of symbols and not m their sublime nakedness, for not everyone is holy, and, as the Scriptures say, Knowledge is not for all' . 1

4 We have seen that Christianity is a way of 'Grace' or of 'Love' (the bhaktz-marga of the Hindus), and this defimtion c<:lls for some further explanation of a general kmd. The most pronounced difference between the New Covenant and the Old is that in the latter the Divme Aspect of Justice predominated, whereas in the former it is on the contrary the Aspect of Mercy which prevails The way of Mercy is in a certam sense easier than the way of Justice because, while corresponding at the same time to a more profound reahty, it also benefits from a special Grace this is the 'justification by Faith' whose 'yoke is easy and burden light', and which renders the 'yoke of Heaven' of the Mosaic Law unnecessary. Moreover this 'Justification by Faith' is analogous-and its whole esoteric sigmficance rests on this-to 'hberat10n by Knowledge', both bemg to a greater or less extent independent of the 'Law', that is to say of works. 2 'Faith' is m fact nothing else than the 'bhaktzc' mode of Knowledge and of mtellectual certainty, which means that Faith is a 'passive' act of the intelligence, its immediate object being not the truth as such, but a symbol of the truth. This symbol will yield up 1ts secrets m proportion to the greatness of the Faith, which m its turn will be determined by an attitude of 'confidence' or of 'emot10nal certainty', that is to say by an element of hhakti or Love. In so far as Faith is a contemplative attitude its subject is the intelligence; it can therefore be said to const11, 2

See notes on pp. r64 and r67

156

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

tute a virtual Knowledge, but since its mode is passive, it must compensate this pass1VIty by a complementary active attitude, that is to say by a voluntary attitude the substance of which is precisely 'confidence' and 'fervour', by VIrtue of which the mtelhgence will receive sp1ntual certamties. Faith is a priori a natural d1spos1tlon of the soul to admit the 'supernatural', it is therefore essentially an 'mtmtion' of the supernatural, brought about by Grace which 1s 'actualized' by means of the attitude of fervent confidence."' When, through Grace, Faith becomes complete, it will have been dissolved in Love, which ts God; that is why, from the rehg1ous standpomt, the blessed in Heaven no long~r have Faith, since they behold its ob3ect, namely God, who 1s Love or Beatitude It should be added that from an irut1atory pomt of view, as expressed for example m the teachmg of the Hesychast tradition, this v1s1on can and even should be obtained m this life Another aspect of Faith that may be mentioned here is the connecbon between Faith and miracles,

* The hfe of the great bhakta Shn Ramalmshna provides a very mstructive example of the 'bhaktic' mode of knowledge The samt WLShed to understand the identity between gold and clay, but instead of starting out from a metaphysical datum which would have enabled hun to perceive the varuty of riches, as a1namn would have done, he kept praymg to Kalt to cause him to understand thlS identity by a revelation 'every morning, for many long months, I held m my hand a piece of money and a lump ofclay and repeated. gold is clay and clay is gold But dus thought brought no spmtual work into operation withm me, nothmg came to prove to me the truth of such a statement After I know not how many months of meditation, I was sitting one morning at dawn on the bank of the river, implormg our Mother to enlighten me All of a sudden the whole universe appeared before my eyes clodied m a sparkling mantle of gold Then the landscape took on a duller glow, die colour ofiu-own clay, even lovelier tllan the gold And while tll1s v151on engraved itself deeply on my soul, I heard a sound hke the trumpetmg of more than ten thousand elephants who clamoured m my ear. Clay and gold are but one thingflYT you My prayers were answered, and I threw far away mto the Ganges the piece of gold and the lump of clay ' In the same connection, we may quote the following reflections of an orthodox theologian 'A dogma that expresses a revealed truth, which appears to us an unfatllomable mystery, must be hved by us by means of a process whereby, mstead of assumlating the mystery to our own mode of understanding, we must on the contrary watch for a profound change, an inward transformation of our sp1nt, so as to make us fit for the mystical experience ' (Vladimir Lossky, Essai sur la thiologie mystique de l'Eglise de l' Orient ) 1

57

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE

a connection which explams the great importance of nnracles not only m the case of Christ, but m Chnstiamty as such In Chnstiamty, by contrast with Islam, the miracle plays a central and quasi 'organic' part, and this is not unconnected w1th the bhaktic nature of the Christian way. Miracles would m fact be inexplicable apart from the place that they hold m Faith; possessing no persuasive value m themselves-for otherwise satamc miracles would be a criterion of truth-they nevertheless possess this value to an extreme degree m assoc1at10n with all the other factors that enter mto the Chnstian Revelation. In other words, if the miracles of Christ, the Apostles and the Samts are precious and venerable, this is solely because'they are associated with other cntena which a priori permit of their being mvested with the value of D1vme 'signs'. The essential and primordial funct10n of a miracle is either to awaken the grace of Faith-which assumes a natural disposition to adnnt the supernatural, whether consciously or not, on the part of the person affected by this grace-or to bestow the perfection of a Faith already acqmred. To define still more exactly the function of the miracle, not only m Christianity but m all traditional forms-for none of them disregard miraculous facts-it may be said that a miracle, apart from its symbolical character which lmks it with the object of Faith itself, is calculated to evoke an intuition which becomes an element of certainty m the soul of the believer. Lastly, if miracles can awaken Faith, Faith can in turn brmg about miracles, for 'Faith can move mountams'. This reciprocal relanonship also shows that these two things are connected cosmologically and that there is nothing arbitrary m this connection; thus, the miracle establishes an immediate contact between the Divme All-Powerfulness and the world, while Faith establishes m its tum an analogous but passive contact between the microcosm and God; ordinary ratiocination, that is to say the discursive operation of the mental faculty, 1s as far removed from Faith as are natural laws from nuracles, while intellectual knowledge will see the miraculous in the natural and vice versa. As for Charity, which is the most important of the three theo158

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

logical virtues, it possesses two aspects, one passive and the other active. Spmtual Love is a passive part1c1pat1on m God who is Infimte Love, but love is on the contrary active m relat10n to created thmgs, and there is a complementansm m this that is .analogous to the complementary passive and active aspects of Faith, the one concerned with Truth, which is God, and the other with our soul, which is creature, and it may be added that in this bhaktic perspective, God is always regarded m His Beatific aspect. Now what distmguishes this perspective or method from the purely rehg1ous attitude is essentially and before all else, the goal m view, which is not md1vidual but Divine; but it will at once be noticed that the 'technical' analogy between the exotenc and esoteric attitudes in the way of Grace or Love implies that this way cannot msist, as does the way of direct Knowledge (the Hmdu ynana-marga)on a clear separation between the two attitudes m question. The way of 'Grace' will therefore distinguish differences of degree rather than differences of nature; from which it results that the exotenc side of Chr1stiaruty will be a kind of 'lesser esoteric1sm', in a much more immediate sense than for example Jewish exotencism, in relation to which an expression of this kind, while not completely meanmgless, is nevertheless far-fetched. Finally, one more observation seems to be called for: questions may well arise as to the nature of the difference, from the standpomt of 'spiritual experience', between the way of direct Knowledge, or let us say the completely intellectual method, and the way of Love in which, as we have seen, Knowledge is mfused mdirectly into the sou] Now this difference resides only m the respective pomts of departure of the two ways and not m their actual contact with transcendent Realities; 1t might be said therefore that the Reality which is apriori 'Light' for one and 'Love' for another could be more exactly defined m the first case as 'amorous Light' and m the second as 'lummous Love'; in other words, 'Knowledge' and 'Love' go together in the same way as light and heat, perfect Knowledge being perfect Love, and mversely. As for the virtue of Hope, all ment10n of which cannot be 159

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE

omitted even though it IS not as important as the other two theological virtues, it wtll be sufficient to define it m the following way m the final analysis Hope is the eqmhbnum mamtamed by the mdividual soul between its knowledge of the absolute and its consciousness of its own relativity It is for this reason that Hope has been compared with a hght m the darkness, that 1s to say a radiance which, although not the sun's, gives us an mkhng of the latter and enables us to bear the blankness of obscunty. Hope is therefore for the mdiv1dual soul a kind of prov1sory substitute for the Beatific VISlon in which the soul transcends its creature limits. In conclusion a few words may be said about the secondary mode of Charity, namely, the love of one's neighbour, which, m so far as it 1s a necessary expression of the Love of God, 1s an md1spensable complement to Faith. These two modes of elhanty are affirmed by the Evangelical teachmg regardmg the Supreme Law, the first mode implymg 'consciousness' of the fact that God alone 1s Beatitude and Reality, and the second 'consc10usness' of the fact that the ego is only illusory, the 'me' of others being identified m reality with 'myself';* if I must love my 'neighbour' because he is 'me', this imphes that I must love myself, a priori, not bemg other than my 'neighbour', and if I must love myself, whether in myself or in my 'neighbour', it is because God loves me and I ought to love what He loves, and if He loves me it is because He loves His creatlon, or in other words, because Existence itself is Love and Love is as it were the perfume of the Creator inherent in every creature. In the same way that the 'Love of God', or the Charity which has as Its object the Divine Perfections and not our own well-being, is Knowledge of the one and only Divme Reality m which the apparent reality of the creature IS dissolved-a knowledge which implies the identification of the soul with its uncreated

* Tlus realization of the 'non-ego' explams the important part played m Chnst1an spmtuahty by 'humility'; a surular part IS played m Islamic spmtuahty by 'poverty' (faqr) and m Hindu spmtuahty by 'chtldhkeness' (ba'lya), the symbolism of childhood m the teachmg of ChrISt will be recalled here 16o

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

Essence,* which is yet another aspect of the symbolism of Love -so the 'love of one's neighbour' 1s basically nothmg else than knowledge of the md1fferentiation before God of all that 1s created. Before passmg from the 'created' to the 'Creator', or from mamfestation to the Pnnc1ple, 1t is m fact necessary to have realized the mdifferent1ation, or let us say the 'nothmgness', of all that is mamfested. It 1s towards this that the 'ethic' of Christ 1s directed, not only by the mdistmct10n that 1t establishes between the 'me' and the 'not me', but also, m the second place, by its mdrfference with regard to md1v1dual just1ficat1on and social eqmhbrmm Chnst1amty is accordmgly placed outside the 'actions and react10ns' of the human order; by primary defimt10n therefore 1t is not exoteric Christian Charity neither has nor can have any interest m 'well-being' for its own sake, becaus~ true Chnstiamty, like every orthodox Tradition, considers that the only true happmess human society can enjoy 1s its spmtual well-being, crowned by the presence of the samt, the goal of every normal c1vihzation, for 'the multitude of the wise 1s the welfare of the world' (W1sd. of Sol. vi. 24). One of the truths overlooked by moralists 1s that when a work of chanty 1s accomplished through love of God, or m virtue of the knowledge that 'I' am the 'neighbour' and that the 'neighbour' is 'myself'-a knowledge which implies this love-the work m question has for the 'neighbour' not only the value of an outward benefit, but also that of a benediction. On the other hand, when charity is exercised neither from love of God nor by virtue of the aforesaid knowledge, but solely with a view to human well-being considered as an end m itself, the benedict10n inherent in tr~e charity does not accompany the apparent welldomg, either for the giver or for the receiver. Some might be tempted to object that Chnstiamty proves itself to be exclusively moral m character by the fact that it puts action, which 1s a necessary expression of Faith, above knowledge. This 'optical * 'We are entirely transformed m God'-says Metster Eckhardt-'and changed m Hun Just as, m the sacrament, the bread JS changed mto the body of Chrtst, so am I changed m Hun, m such wISe that He makes me one with His Being and not simply hke to 1t; by the hvmg God, it JS true that there IS no longer any dIStmct1on ' L

I6I

UNIVERSALITY AND PARTICULAR NATURE

illusion' 1s the cause or pretext for a sentimentalism which affects to despise everythmg mtellectual, as if this were an example of worldly vanity or a kmd of impious pnde. In reality the New Testament attaches no importance to actions for their own sake, considering them only m function of Faith which is their sufficient reason; while as for Faith, its apparent contempt for speculation is simply due to the fact that, bemg a direct mode of spmtuahty, it stands above all ratlocmatlon, though not above mtellections. Faith cannot be opposed to Knowledge, bemg on the contrary, as we have seen, an imtlatory or mystical mode of the latter; it merely derues the v1c1ous circle of nppotent human thought.* Nor should it be forgotten that the Judaeo-Roman world in which Chnstlaruty was born was saturated with vam philosophies and other barren speculations, and was dymg from a sort of lassitude or disgust. In order to

* Contrary to what occurred m the Greek and Oriental Churches, the mtellectuahty of the Laun Church became largely identified with the philosophical mode of thought, notwithstandmg the formal reJect1on of philosophy by St Paul (1 Cor i 19, u 5-16, m 18,19, 2oand Col u 8) Westerners are moreover compelled to admit thlS themselves 'The notion of philosophy came to have a different mearung for the Eastern and Western Churches, m the sense that for the Greeks it comprISed quasi orgarucally a large proportion of religious theories dass der Begriff 'Phzlosophie' dort gan;:, wesenhoft viel relzgwse Weltanschauungskunde umfasste), while for the Latins it contamed, mtent1onally or mvoluntarily, the seed which ultimately led to the total separation of religion and nationalist science (der ;;,ur vollkommenen Dualzszerung von Religion und Gedankemvzssenschaftfuhren sollte) Thus the man of the West became the slave ofhIS speculations, whereas the Oriental spmt knew how to preserve its mward hberty and its seemmgly backward superiority' (A M Ammann S J, Dze Gottesschau zm palamztzschen Hesychasmus) On the other hand, it 1s strange to note how far certain mmds w1thm the Latin Church have gone towards the acceptance not only ofphilosoph1cal thought as such, but even of specifically modern thought thIS attitude has led to a particularly regrettable lack of understandmg of certam trad1t1onal modes of Chrutian thought itself, a lack of understanding which reveals itself above all m an mabil1ty to conceive of the intrIDS1c truth of those modes, or let us say m a fixed deternunation to reduce ideas to the level of historical facts In the case of those who are foremost m adopting what can only be described as pseudo-mtellectual barbarISm, anti-Catholic m its origin, their attitude of mmd IS accompamed by the unshakeable complacency of the 'connoisseur' who arrogates to lmnself the role of arbiter in every field, and who treats the greatest mmds of the past m the spmt of a spec1ahst m mental dISeases or a collector of !DSects.

OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

cut this 'Gordian Knot' 1t was essential for the New Revelat10n to affirm by its form the 'direct', 'formless' and 'non-human' character of true spmtuahty, or m other words of the 'spmt' which conquers the 'flesh' -the latter denotmg everything that is purely of the human order-and this IS one of the reasons for the symbolism of 'Love' in the Chr1st1an Revelation, and 1t may be added that the acceptance of philosophical thought, that is to say of 'wisdom accordmg to the flesh', 1s nothing less than a betrayal of this Love If some have gone to the point of claiming that the outward work of Chanty is more meritorious than the Knowledge of God, and of denymg the value of the lattet as far as they possibly can, this represents a complete inversion of the prumtive meaning of the Christian teaching. The symbol of the higher, by bemg mterpreted literally, becomes ·a JUStJ.ficat10n of the lower, for love m the proper sense of the term, which by its spontaneous and virtually 'limitless' nature is a marvellous symbol of the direct, non-discursive, infimte and transcendent nature of the Spmt, is a passion, and to mterpret this symbol in a narrowly literal sense is to set a pass10n above intelligence. Even if this passion, for those who make of it their spiritual viat1cum, has an object and a goal w1u.ch do not belong to the terrestrial world, 1t none the less confirms the lirmts of the mdividuahty-particularly when it is accompamed by certam negations-whereas it should on the contrary be transmuted into intellectual energy and help to abolish those limits. In reality Chnstian Charity, far from implying a quite unjustifiable contempt of Knowledge-for such contempt IS meaningless except in answer to empty rational speculations~finds m it on the contrary its own basis and sufficient reason; and this Knowledge, whose organ is the 'heart' and not the 'brain', and which is a 'vis10n' and not a 'reflection', must be conceived, not as the fruit of the feeble human reason, but as the shining forth of a Divine Light 'uncreate and uncreatable'.

163

NOTES (1) [See p 156] We may also quote a contemporary Catholic author, Paul Vulhaud 'We have put forward the view that the process of dogmatic enunciation duimg the first centunes was one of successive m1tiat10n, or m a word that there existed an exotenc1sm and an esotencism m the Christian rehg10n Histonans may not hke it, but one findsmcontestabletracesofthe lex arcanz at the ongm of our rehg10n . . In order to grasp quite clearly the doctrmal teachmg of the Chnst1an Revelat10n it IS necessa1 y to admit, as we have already ms1sted, the twofold nature of the gospel preaching The rule enJommg that the dogmas should only be revealed to Initiates contmued m operation long enough to enable even the blmdest and most refractory observers to detect undeniable traces of it Sozoma, a hrstonan, wrote concerning the Council of Nicaea that he wished to record it m detail, pnmanly 'm order to leave for postenty a public monument of truth'. He was adVISed to remam silent con~ernmg 'that which must not be known except by priests and the faithful'. The 'law of the secret' was m consequence perpetuated, m certain places, even after the universal conc1har d1vulgat1on of the Dogma •.• Samt Basil, m hrs work On the true and pious faith, relates how he avoided makmg use of terms, such as Tnruty and consubstant1ahty, which, as he said, do not occur m the Scriptures, although the thmgs which they denote are to be found there ... Tertulhan says, opposing Praxeas, that one should not speak m so many words of the Divinity ofJesus Christ and that one should call the Father God and the Son Lord. • . Do not such locutions, practised habitually, seem hke the signs of a convention, smce this reticence oflanguage is found mall the authors of the first centunes and is of canomcal application? The pnmit1ve d1sc1phne of Christiaruty mcluded an examination at which the competent (those who asked for baptism) were admitted to election. This examination was called the scrutiny. The Sign of the Cross was made on the ears of the catechumen with the word Ephpheta, for which reason this ceremony came to l:>e called 'the scrutiny of the opening of the ears' The ears were opened to the reception (cabalah) or tradition of the D1vme truths.. . The synopt1cojohanrune problem .. cannot be resolved except by recalling the existence of a twofold teachmg, exotenc and achromatic, historical and theolog1co-mystical. ... There is a parabolic theology. It formed part of that inheritance which Theodoret calls, m the preface to his Commentary on the Song of Songs, the 'paternal mhentance', which s1gn1fies the transmission of the sense applicable to the interpretation of the Scriptures..•. The Dogma, in its divine part, constltuted the

NOTES

revelation reserved to the Initiates, under the 'D1sc1plme of the Secret'. Tentzehus clauned to have traced back the ongm of this 'law of the secret' to the end of the second century . . Emmanuel Schelstrate, hbranan of the Vatican, observed it with good reason m apostohc times In reahty, the esoteric manner of transrmttmg divme truths and mterpretmg texts existed among both Jews and Gentiles, as it later existed among Chnstians . • if one obstmately refuses to study the imtratory processes ofRevelatron, one will never arrive at an mtelhgent subjectrve assimilation of the Dogma The ancient Liturgies are not sufficiently put to use, and m the same way Hebrew scholarship is absolutely neglected .. The Apostles and the Fathers have preserved m secret and silence the 'Majesty of the Myst~ries', St. Denys the Areopag1te has of set purpose cultivated the use of obscure words, as Christ assumed the utle 'Son of Man', so he calls bapusm Imtiatron to Theogenes1s .... The disciplme of the secret was fully Justified Neither the Prophets nor Christ Himself revealed the divme secrets with such clearness as to make them comprehensible to all (Paul Vulhaud, Etudes d'EsotbzsmeCatholique). Lastly we should hke to quote, for the sake of documentat10n and despite the length of the text, an author of the early nineteenth cen· tury 'In the begmnmg Chnstraruty was an m1trauon comparable to those of the pagans. When speaking of this rehg1on Clement of Alexandria exclaims 'Oh truly sacred mysteries' Oh pure hghtl Amid the gleam of torches falls the veil which covers God and Heaven. I become holy from the moment I am zmtzated It 1s the Lord Himself who is the h1erophant, He sets His seal upon the adept whom he enlightens; and to reward his faith he commends him eternally to His Father. Those are the orgies of my mystenes. Come and seek admission to them.' These words might be taken m a merely metaphoncal sense, but the facts prove that they must be mterpreted literally The Gospels are full of calculated reticences and of allusions to Christian mit1at1on. Thus one may read 'he who hath ears, let him hear' Je;us, when addressing the multitude, always made use of parables 'Seek', he said, 'and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you ' The meetings were m secret and people were only admitted under stated conditions. Complete understanding of the doctrine was only achieved after passing through three grades of mstruction. The Initiates were consequently divided mto three classes. The first class comprised the hearers, the second the catechumens or the competent, and the third the faithful' The hearers were novices, who were prepared, by means of certam practices and mstructions, for the communication of the dogmas of Chnstiamty. A portion of these dogmas was disclosed to the catechumens who, after the prescribed

NOTES

purifications, received baptism or lnztzatzon to Theogeneszs (divme generat10n), as St Denys calls rt m hrs Eccleszastzcal Hzerarchy, from that time onward they became servants of the faith and had free access to the churches In the mysteries there was nothing secret or hidden from the faithful, all was accomphshed m their presence, they could see all and hear all, they had the right to be present durmg the whole liturgy, it was en3omed upon them that they should watch attentively lest any profane person or m1tiate of inferior rank should shp m among them, and the sign of the cross served them as a sign ofrecogmt10n The mysteries were d1v1ded mto two parts. The first was called the Mass of the Catechumens, because members of that class were allowed to attend it, it mcluded all that is said from the begmnmg of the D1vme Office up to the rec1tat1on of the creed The seconci part was called the Mass of the Faithful. It mcluded the preparat10n of the sacrifice, the sacrifice itself, and the g1vmg of thanks which follows. When this Mass was about to begm a deacon cned ma loud voice: Sancta sanctzs ,Joris canes, 'The holy thmgs are for the holy, let the dogs go out I' Thereupon they expelled the catechumens and the pemtents, the latter being members of the faithful who, havmg some ser10us fault on their conscience, had been sub3ected to the penances prescnbed by the Church, and thus were unable to be present at the celebration of the awful mysteries, as St John Chrysostom calls them. The fa1thful, once alone, rec1ted the symbol of the fa1th, m order to ensure that all present had received mitration and so that one might safely hold converse before them openly and without enigmas concerrung the great mysteries of the rehg10n and especially of the Eucharist. The doctnne and the celebration of this sacrament was guarded as an inviolable secret, and if the doctors referred to rt m their sermons or books, they did so only Wlth great reserve, by mdirect allus10n and enigmatically When Diocletian ordered the Chnstians to deliver their sacred books to the magistrates, those among them who obeyed this eruct of the Emperor from fear of death were dnven out of the community of the faithful and..,were looked upon as traitors and apostates St. Augustme gives us some idea of the grief of the Church at seemg the sacred Scriptures handed over to unbehevers In the eyes of the Church it was regarded as a terrible profanation when a man who had not been m1t1ated entered the temple and witnessed the holy mystenes. St John Chry11ostom mentions a case of this kmd to Pope Innocent I. Some barbarian soldiers had entered the Church of Constantinople on Easter Eve 'The female catechum.ens, who had just undressed m order to be baptised, were compelled by fear to flee in a state of nakedness; the barbarians did not allow them time to cover themselves. The bar-

166

NOTES

banans then entered the places where the sacred tlungs are kept and venerated, and some of them, who had not yet been initiated into our mysteries, saw all the most sacred thmgs that were there' In the seventh century, the constant mcrease m the number of the faithful led to the mstitution by the Church of the nunor orders, among which were numbered the porters, who succeeded the deacons and subdeacons m the duty ofguardmg the doors of the churches About the year 700, everyone was admitted to the spectacle of the hturgy, and of all the mystery which m early times surrounded the sacred ceremorual, there remained only the custom of reciting secretly the Canon of the Mass. Nevertheless even to-day, m the Greek nte, the officiating pnest celebrates the D1vme Office behind a curtam, which is drawn back only at the moment of the Elevation, but at this moment those assisting should be prostrated or mclmed m such a manner that they cannot see the holy sacrament ' (F T B Clavel, Histozre pzttoresque de la Franc-Mayonnerze et des Soczetes secretes anciennes et modernes).

(2) [Seep 156] A dtstmction analogous to the one that sets mopposition 'Faith' and the 'Law' is to be found within the irutiatory realm itself, to 'Faith' correspond here the vanous spmtual movements founded upon the invocation of a D1vme Name (the Hmdu Japa, the Buddhist buddlzanusmrztz, men-Jo or nembutsu, and the Moslem dhzkr); a particularly characteristic example is provided by Shn Chaitanya, who threw away all his books in order to devote hlIDSelf exclusively to the 'bhaktzc' mvocation of Krishna, an attitude comparable to that of the Chnstians who rejected the 'Law' and 'works' m the name of'Faith' and 'Love'. Snmlarly, tociteyetanotherexa mple, the Japanese Buddhist schools called Jodo and Jodo-Shznshu, whose doctnne, founded on the.rUtras ofAmzthaba, is analogous to certain doctrines of Chinese Buddhism and proceeds, hke them, from the 'ongmal vow of Amzda', reject the meditations and austentles of the other Buddhist schools in order to devote themselves exclusively to the mvocat1on of the sacred Name of Amzda. here ascetic effort is replaced by simple confidence in the Grace of the Buddha-Amida, a Grace which he bestows out of his Compassion on those who mvoke Him, independently of any 'ment' on their part. 'The invocation of the holy Name must be accompamed by an absolute sincerity of heart and the most complete faith m the goodness of Amzda, whose wish it is that all creatures should be saved. In place of virtues, in place of knowledge, Amuia, takmg pity on the men of the "Latter Days", has allowed that there be substituted faith in the redempnve value of His Grace, in order that they may be delivered from the suffenngs of the world. We are 167

NOTES

all equal by the effect of our common faith and of our confidence m the Grace of Amzda-Buddha ' 'Every creature, however great a smner it may be, is certam ofbemg saved and enfolded m the hght of Amzda and of obtammg a place m the eternal and imperishable Land of Happiness, if only it believes m the Name of Arruda-Buddha and, abandoning the present and future cares of the world, takes refuge m the hberatmg Hands so mercifully stretched out towards all creatures, rec1tmg His Name with an entire smcenty of heart.' 'We know the Name of Amzda through the preaching of Saky a-Muni, and we know that mcluded m this Name is the power of Amzda's wish to save all creatures To hear this Name is to hear the v01ce of Salvation saying· Have confidence m Me and I shall surely save you, words which Amzda addresses to us directly This meanmg is contamed m the Name Amzda. Whereas all our other act10ns are more or less stained with impurity, the repetition of the Namu-Amzda-Bu is an act devoid of all 1mpunty, for it is not we who recite it but Amzda Himself who, g1vmg us His own Name, makes us repeat It' 'When once belief m our salvation by Amida has been awakened and strengthened, our destmy is fixed we shall be reborn m the Pure Land and shall become Buddhas Then, it is said, we shall be entirely enfolded m the Light of Amzda and hvmg under HIS loving direct10n, our hfe will be filled with JOY unspeakable, gift of the Buddha.' (From Les Sectes Bouddhiques Japonaises by E Stem1lber-Oberhn and Kum Matsuo). 'The ongmal vow of Amzda is to receive m lus Land ofFehcity whoever shall pronounce His Name with absolute confidence happy then are those who pronounce His Name' A man may possess faith, but if he does not pronounce the Name lus faith will be of no use to lum Another may pronounce the Name wlule thmkmg of that alone, but if his faith is not sufficiently deep, his re-birth will not take place. But he who believes firmly m re-birth as the goal of nembutsu (mvocation) and who pronounces the Name, the same will without any doubt be reborn m the Land of Reward.' (From Essqys in <:,en Buddhism, Vol. III, by Daisetz Te1taro Suzuki). It will not have been difficult to recognise the analogies to wluch we desired to draw att~ntion. Amida is none other than the divine Word. Amida-Buddha can therefore be translated, m Christian terms, as ' God the Son, the Christ', theName 'Christ] esus' bemg eqmvalent to the Name Buddha Sakya-Muni, the redemptJ.ve Name Amzda corresponds exactly to the Eucharist and the invocation of that Name to Communion; lastly, the distinction between JZrikz (individual power, that 1s to say effort with a view to ment) and tariki ('power of the other', that IS to say Grace apart from merit)-the latter being the way of Jodo-Shznshu-is analogous to the Pauline distinction between the 'Law' and 'Faith' It may be

168

NOTES

added that if modern Christianity is suffenng m some measure from a dechne of the mtellectual element, tlus is precisely because its original spmtuahty was of a 'bhakt1c' nature, and an extenonzation of bhakti leads mev1tably to a declme of mtellectuahty m favour of sentimentality.

169

Chapter IX

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION .

H

aving dealt with all the foregoing questions of prmciple, we must now consider the question of Christian m1tiation as it extsted until modern times, and as it still perhaps exists to-day among certain monks of Hesychast lineage on Mount Athos or among other spiritual descendants of the same fannly In fact it is the Hesychast Trad1t1on, from the Desert Fathers to the 'Russian Pilgrim',* which undoubtedly represents m its most unaltered form the inheritance of primitive Christian spirituality, that which properly can be called 'Christ-given'. Before gomg further, however, a few words must be said on the subject of the esoteric1sm of Western Christianity, which raises in particular the question both of the Templars and the craft m1tiat10ns If Christian esotenc1sm derives essentially from the person of ChrISt, it may be asked how it came about that the Templars, Masonry and the Gwlds each represented in turn somethmg that from the begmning, and independently of any outside contribution, was 1mplic1r in Christianity itself as such? So far as the Order of the Temple is concerned, despite its warlike character and certain I slarmc and Dru1d1c mfluences, 1t derives from Christian spmtuality by much the same right as the monastic orders. As for those forms of Western esotenc1sm not specifically Christian, namely Mason-

* The Way of a Pilgrim, translated by R M French. Th!S book has been mentioned not only on account of its documentary value m relanon to Hesychasm m general, but because it describes a way which represents m our own times, or nearly so, a sort of final flowering ofHesychast spmtuahty. 170

OF THE CHRIST· GIVEN INITIATION

ry and the Gmlds, which, however, only became d1stmct at a fairly late stage in their existence, they are pre-Christian, perhaps Phoenician, m ongin, unless their ongm is identified with that of sedentansm and architecture themselves, as certain Masonic legends seem to imply, they do not, therefore, trace their descent from Chnst. These craft mitiat10ns were nevertheless integrated into Chnstian civilization, but since their ongin-hke that of Hermetism-goes back much further than that of Chnstiamty, it would be more appropriate to apply to them a term such as 'Chnst1anized esotenc1sm', unless this name be tept as strictly It should be, for certain Drmdic elements, recogmzable m the legends of the Round Table, which were not merely mtegrated m the Christian form m an outward manner, but r~ally absorbed by it-an absorption, which moreover, took place through the tradition of the Templars. As for the monastic orders their presence can only be explained by the existence, m the Western as well as the Eastern Church, of an imtratory tradition gomg back-as St. Benedict and the Hesychasts alike testify-to the Desert Fathers and so to the Apostles and to Christ. The fact that the cenob1tism of the Latm Church can be traced back to the same ongms as that the of the Greek Church-the latter, however, consisting of a single community and not different orders-clearly proves that the first rs initiatory m essence like the second; moreover the hermetical hfe is considered by both to mark the summit of spmtual perfection-St. Benedict said so expressly m his Rule-and It may therefore be concluded that the disappearance of the.hermits marks the decline of the Christ-given rmtiatlon. Monastic life, far from const:J.tutmg a self-sufficient way, is descnbed m the Rule of St. Benedict as a 'commencement of religious hfe', while for 'him who hasten his steps towards the perfection of monastic hfe, there are the teachings of the Holy Fathers, the carrying out of which leads man to the supreme end of religion';* now these teachings contain in a doctnnal *We would hke to quote the remamder of this passage, which is taken from the last chapter of the book entitled 'That the practice ofJUStlce is not wholly contained m this rule' 'What page is there of the Old or New Testa-

17 r

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATIO N

form the very essence of Hesychasm Unfortunately, in the orders of the Western Church, with which we are more particularly concerned here, this irutiatory character hardly seems to have mamtamed itself beyond the Renaissance, that period of impassioned mdividuahsm and spmtual collapse, and this fact m certain respects explains the commg mto being of the modern world; mysticism alone, in the theological sense of the term, seems to have outlived this collapse. To understand the mystic mode of spirituality properly, it is necessary m the first place to have regard to the bhakttc nature of Chnst1amty, which readily lends itself to a confusion )etween the two great traditional 'dimensions', the outward and the mward. The reason for this lies m the bhaktzc method itself, which is founded on mdtvidual attitudes, namely 'faith' and 'love'. It may be said that mysticism is derived-though this must not be understood solely in an historical sense-from the 'methodical', quasi 'matenal' or 'femmme' part of the bhaktzc way, as a consequence of the loss of1ts supenor complement, the intellectual, 'essentiaP or 'masculme' part, and this happened the more easily owing to the fact that the transmission of the properly imt:Iatory teaching, as far as its higher elements were concerned, was oral, as St. Denys the Areopagite attests when he speaks of 'what they (our inspired Masters) transmitted to their disciples by a sort of spmtual and almost celestial teachmg, imtiatmg them from spint to spmt m a way that was doubtless corporeal, smce they used the spoken word, but I dare to say ment, what Divinely authorized word therem, that is not a sure rule for the conduct of man? Agam, what book of the holy Catholic Fathers does not resolutely teach us the right road to attain our Creator? Furthermore, what are the DlScourses of the Fathers, their lns1:J.tut1ons and their hves (those of the Desert Fathers), and what is the rule of our Father St Basil, if not a pattern for monks who hve and obey as they ought, and the authentic charters of the virtues? For us who are lax, who lead blameful hves and are full of negligence, herem is indeed cause to blush with confos1on Whoever then thou mayest be who pressest forward toward the heavenly homeland, accomplish first, with the help of Christ, this poor outline of a rule that we have traced, then at last, with the protectlon of God, wtlt thou reach those sublimer heights of doctrine and virtue the memory of wluch we have JUSt evoked' 172

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

immaterial also, smce they did not put it down in writmg'. Mysticism may therefore be defined as follows it is the purely religious apphcat1on-one therefore hm1ted to the mdiv1duahty as regards both end and means-of the bhaktzc way, of which 1t consequently comes to represent a sort of 'residue' It is obVIous that only the loss of the genuinely intellectual and esoteric Grace can explain the confus10ns and contrad1ct10ns which are encountered m the visions and 'revelat10ns' of the mystics, mcludmg those who have been declared Saints because of their heroic virtues,* nothmg s1m1lar is in fact encountered m the spmtual experiences of initiates, and mab1hty to recognize the falsity of an mspiration would be mcompatible with spmtual perfection in the esoteric and Onental sense, whereas, so far as mystics are concerned, this mab1hty is not even an obstacle to canomzat10n. In addition to this absence of true mtellectuahty, it is necessary to remark once agam upon the mdiv1duahsm of the mystic way, and these two causes, which are moreover bound up together, explain the preponderant part played in this path by 'ordeals'-m the ordmary sense of the word-and the resultmg cult ofsuffermg.t If the mystic way is grievous by

* 'Errors have sometimes gone so far that it has been impossible to know what value to attribute to some of the revelations made to Samts Father Lanc1cms, quoted by Benedict XIV (De Canon, I 111. c LIII No 17) says "I could name several ecstatic women whom the Holy See has mcluded m the number of the Samts, I have read the revelations which they believed they had received durmg ecstasy or thereafter They are strewn with hallucmat1ons and it is for this reason that their pubhcation has been proh1b1ted"' (Father Aug Poulam Des Graces d'Orazson, Traill de TMologie Mystique) t It might be thought that the cult of suffermg IS not peculiar to mystlClsm, but to Chnstmruty as such, smce it may be referred to the sufferings of Christ and the martyrs and to the dolours of the V1rgm That is certainly true, but these sacred sorrows are clearly also capable of a symbolism and an application that IS mward, speculative and spmtual, as IS proved by the perspective of the Greek Church Let us consider the followmg significant feature, namely the almost complete silence in the homilies of the Byz;.antme spiritual masters on the sub;ect of the hzstorzcal Jesus, and the allegorical interpretation whzch in the Alexandrian tradition zs gzven to all Christ's wurds • For the Greeks, the Pass1on1tself is never that of the Man Jesus. . It 1S associated with the hypostasIS of the Son wherem, by the przvilegzum umtatzs, diviruty and humamty are to be found m their entirety . One glance at the respective iconographies IS enough to convince us of the essential difference between East and West In the 173

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

defimt10n, 1t is because of the 'disproportion' or 'contradiction' which its md1v1duahsm mvolves. In other words, this way suffers from an inward paradox m that it aspires to God on the plane of md1vidual hm1tat1ons. The mystic appears to be ignorant of the fact that 1mperfect10n comes from the individuality as such and not from an 'accidental' quality of the individuality; hence the tendency of many if not the majority of mystics to devote themselves to the sorrowful consideration of their human imperfection, rather than to the calmmg and liberating contemplation of D1vme Perfectlon Furthermore the 'ordeals' inseparable from the mystic way are largely due to a cosmic 'reaction' against what amounts to the wholesale repudia'iion, on the part of the mystic, of thmgs created, an 'mdiv1duahst' negation which is based on a failure to recognize the divme quality inherent m Creatlon. This lack of understanding goes hand m hand with the ignoring of the Intellect, which is uncreated, 'paracletic' and 'redemptive', and this second negation is the cause of the 'temptations agamst faith' which mystics have sometimes had to suffer to an extent that can hardly be imagined by an ordinary human bemg. What has JUSt been said will also make it clear that 'heroic virtues' are relatively ummportant as Middle Ages, and even earlier, we find in the foreground an mcreasmgly pathetic representation of the human suffermgs of Christ, flagellation, the Way of the Cross, instruments of the Passion, the agony on Calvary, not to Among the Greeks,for whom mention innumerable scenes of martyrdom religious art is the ob1ect of a cult, or rather of veneration (proskinesis), a conscious idealization and a detachment from terrestrial realities makes its appearance, here sorrow is always transfigured Orthodox holiness has never known and could not have known the delight and frenzies of the Cross, nor felt, imprinted on its flesh, the stigmata of the blessed wounds Neither has it heard the call of the Sacred Heart which seems to it to destroy the orgaruc uruty of the Saviour, for which its doctors have struggled so hard Howbeit according to the firm behef of this Church, its Samts have also en;oyed, during their lifetimes, the most precious physical gifts of grace. levitation, lummosity and other precursory signs of the 'spmtual flesh' solemnly announced by the Apostle . Innumerable are the Oriental hag1ograph1es dealing with these bemgs without desires or needs, as though they were disembodied, or with thell' supernatural power, as when they tame the wtld beasts of the desert by their seraphic gentleness or control even the forces of nature (Mme Lot-Borodme La doctnne de la deification dans l'Eglise grecque, m the Revue de l'Histoire des Religions)

174

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

a cntenon of spmtuahty, masmuch as they are condit10ned m many cases by a lack of mtellectuahty The fear of damnat10n, for mstance, can stimulate a man to apparently superhuman efforts, though it none the less implies, for a wide variety of reasons, a lack ofmtellectual understandmg. The mystic ignores and must ignore the fact that the dangers ansmg from human nature can be compensated and neutralized by the Intellect, which by defimtion contemplates the Divme Nature, disregarding intellectuality and its compensatory virtue, the mystic is quite naturally led to overestimate the importance of moral effor.t, and to see in the mtelhgence-which he readily confuses with mere reason-either an element of lesser importance or else somethmg 'Luc1fenan' or 'immoral', whence the assimilation of mtelligence to pride. This false assimilation, which takes place the more readily m that mtellectual contemplation, being a truly 'deifying' act, is capable of rendering unnecessary many efforts and 'ordeals', 1s not unrelated to the 'sm against the Holy Ghost, and consequently to the painful obscurities that the mystic has to endure. It is this ignorance of the compensatory or 'redemptive' quality of pure intelligence that in many cases conditions the 'heroic virtues'. Although we are very far from denying the potential value of such virtues, it nevertheless remains true that their value is not absolute, as is proved for example by the fact that the Apostles chd not fast Nevertheless mysticism does contam an element which by reason of its compensatory quality corresponds to intellectuality, and this is the mystic's confident self-abandonment to the Mercy of God; it is by thiJ attitude that mysticism rejoins the method of bhaktzc spmtuality. * From what we have said regarding the genesis of mysticism, it will be understood that the latter is a human possibility which, as such, must be capable of mamfesting itself everywhere under certain conditions; this final reservation lS, how-

* The 'httle way' of St Theresa of the Child Jesus was m a certam sense more 'mtellectual' and less 'tormented' than the way of the samtly Cure d'Ars, who came near to fearmg damnation, and it was owing to this attitude of confidence that the Samt was able to make the profound observation 'I am too httle to be damned, httle children are not damned.' 175

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

ever, of great importance, smce the conditions necessary for the growth of mysticism have become general only m the Christian world, where myst1c1sm has consequently become the normal mode of spmtuahty, it is nevertheless true that those same conditions may also occur under exceptional circumstances m other c1v1hzatlons. Thus it normally happens that those elements which m the West would be attracted by mysticism are mother civ1hzat1ons 'absorbed' m varying degrees by m1tiatory orgamzatlons of a bhaktzc nature, but m our times there is always the possibility of such organizat10ns havmg reached such a state of decadence that their teachmg is no longer distmgmshable from exotenc1sm, and 1t may then happen that certain md1v1duals, although 'esotericlSts' in principle, become 'mystics' m pomt of fact, at least as regards their attitude In no case, however, do these possible exceptions justify the attnbutlon of a mystical character, in the rehg1ous sense of the term, to any mitiatory orgamzat1on, nor do they make it permISs1ble to speak generally of an Oriental mystJ.cism or of one belongmg to Ant1qmty 2

Let us now return to the most direct and untouched branch of Christian m1tiation, namely Hesychasm. The esoteric nature of Hesychasm 1s affirmed by numerous cntena, the first of these, which 1s of a doctrinal order, being the apophat1c and antinomian conception of the D1vmity. According to the great Gregory Palamas, whose doctrine is offundamental importance for Orthodox theology and represents a strictly traditional synthesis of the teachmgs of Fathers such as Saint Denys the Areopagite and St. Gregory of Nyssa, or rather of all the Greek Fathers nght back to the Apostles*-and we may observe here

* St Gregory Palamas refers also, and for preference, to the authority of St. Athanas1us of Alexandna, St. Bastl the Great, St Gregory the Theologian, St Cyrtl of Alexandna, St Maxunus the Confessor, St John Damascenus, St Macarius of Egypt, St. D1adochus and St John Chmacus We have cited these names m order to underline the fact that Hesychasm, which r76

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

that the term 'theology' does not m this case imply the limitations imposed upon it by the Scholastic 'logic' -accordmg to St. Gregory Palamas, the defimt10n 'Bemg' cannot by any means be applied to the Divmity. The attnbutes of Bemg are not therefore appropriate to God, 'who is beyond every name that can be named* and everythmg that can be thought'. God is therefore essentially 'Non-Bemg'-m the 'positive' sense in which Taoism understands this term-m His 'Qmddity' or 'Aseity' (v7Tapg,s); consequently, although He comprises Bemg (voata) He is mfimtely beyond it. The Trmity, accordmg to this doctrme, is not coincidental with the D1vme 'Qmddity' (which 1s the Supreme D1vme Reality denoted m Sansknt by the term Advaita, 'Non-duality', and m Arabic by the term Ahadiyah, 'Umty'), for the latter 1s beyond every determmat10n or affirmation of whatever kmd What is named 'God' cannot be this 'Qmdd1ty' m Itself, it is only the conceivable D1vme 'Energy' that is denoted by this name. This distmctlon between the Divme 'Quiddity' and 'Energies' which, though also Divme and uncreated, t are not identifiable with the D1vm1ty 'm Itself' (i<x(J' €avT6v), is yet another fundamental cntenon of the esoteric nature of the Palannte doctrine, the prmcipal aspects of which are, as we have already pointed out, its apophatic and antmomian character. We have seen that apophatism takes us is too often looked upon as a phtlosopluco-mystical 'curiosity' of purely lustoncal mterest, has its roots m Chnstiaruty as such, and that it is not merely a rather special development of Christian spmtuahty, but its purest and deepest expression *One may~ecall here the famous sentence from the Tao Te King 'The name that can be named is not the Real Name ' t One of the innumerable Divme 'Energies' is the Divine and Uncreated Light 'God is called Light', says St Gregory Palamas, 'not with reference to his 'Aseity', but with reference to his 'Energy'. According to St Macanus of Egypt, 'the crowns and diadems wluch Chrisuans receive are uncreated' (Sixth Homily), and according to St John Damascenus, 'The Light of the transfiguration is uncreated' (Homily on the Lord's transfiguration) Detfymg Grace IS a mode of this Light, which has many modalities and degrees, this Grace is therefore an tllummatton by the 'Unmantfest', made possible by the shedding-whether temporary or permanent- of the 'vetls' of manifestation which shroud the 'heart' M

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beyond the hmits of ontology, as for antmomiamsm, which 1s mseparable from it and the full s1gmficance of which will be apparent m the light of what has been said m the first chapter of this book, it results m the last analysis from the knowledge that the Divine Reahty is not subject to the laws of ordmary logic, so that when human thought sets out to translate certam aspects of this Reality, it IS obliged to clothe itself m apparently contradictory express10ns The mitiatory character of the Hesychast tradit10n-and it is to this tradit10n that Orthodox theology owes its great depthappears no less clearly m the elements of the method of spmtual realization. This method has been handed down, through the Desert Fathers, m a direct hne of descent from prmutive Chnstianity-which does not of course imply that all its later formulat10ns and adaptations are to be found as such from tlie very outset, but simply that all the forms of Hesychasm are derived with stnct traditional fidelity from somethmg that existed m Chnstianity at the begmrung-and it possesses characteristics which clearly distmguish It from the methods of ordmary religious piety, hnkmg it to the methods used m Yoga and Sufism and all other analogous ways. The Hesychast method has not m fact a specifically 'moral', 'social' or 'psychological' character, bemg on the contrary purely contemplat1ve-'egotistical' and 'unproductive' some would doubtless call it, unaware that the greatest benefit for a human soCiety (to speak only of extrms1c values which alone mterest shallow mmds) is the presence of the spmtual man and the blessmg that he diffuses. However, let us exanune m more detail the characteristics of the Hesychast way. Its startmg pomt 1s the analogybetween the human microcosm and the Divine Metacosm, and all its spmtual realization may be said to be based on this analogy. Knowledge of God is not to be attained by means of thought, which would mdeed be impossible, but through the perfection of the analogy already referred to, which alone enables the linntations of the created nature to be finally transcended; hence the extreme importance attaching to the virtues, the deepest significance of which hes in the fact that they retrace in I78

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the microcosm 'D1vme Attitudes', and therefore umversal or mac1ocosm1c Laws. It 1s also very important, from an esoteric standpoint, to observe the part played by the body m the Hesychast way. Hesychasm refuses to seem the latter the pnnc1ple of evil and the source of all sm *-which would be a blasphemy agamst the Creator and a dualist error akm to Mamche1smbut on the contrary recogmzes m the human body, of which the perfect prototypes are the bodies of Adam and Eve, and the sublime mamfestat10ns the bodies of Chnst and the Virgm, a work of God m which He 1s reflected, and therefore a 'tabernacle of the Holy Spmt' and a 'House of God'-and here 1t is well-i:o remember that the 'Word was made flesh', and not 3ust 'soul' t On the other hand, for Hesychasm, the absence of pass10ns does not imply their annihilation purely and simply, but their transmutation mto spiritual energy It will be observed that this concept10n, which finds its eqmvalent m Tantnsm-to mention a particularly characteristic example m this respect-clearly goes beyond the limits of mere morahty and social opportunism. The body, according to the Hesychasts, can part1c1pate here and now m the blessed life of the spmt; the 'sanctified body' can 'savour the D1vme'; but m order to attam this sanctificat10n the spmt must be constantly maintained withm the hmits of the body, m conformity with thIS statement of St. John Chmacus 'A Hesychast IS one who strives to grasp the mcorporeal m the corporeal.' 1 Inversely, the wandermg of the spmt 'outside the body' 1s considered as the source of all spmtual aberration; as for the mamtaming of the spirit withm the body, it reqmres, contrary to an opimon that is widely held~mong adherents of the moral pomt of view, more considerable effort than is demanded by any other activity, greater, for example, than the effort needed for the attainment See note on p I8g *This acc01ds with the Islamic doctrine according to which the prmc1pal obstacle to the perfecting of man is not the body but 'the soul mc1tmg to evil' (en-nifs el-'ammarah) t We have explamed the reasons for this m the chapter on forms mart; what we there said regardmg the analogically inverse situation of sensible forms m relation to mtellections, applies equally to our body, which is the 'extreme' reflection of the Intellect 1

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of any one of the virtues, and the reason for this is that perfect and permanent 'concentrat10n' implies synthetically all possible virtues * The organ of the spmt, or the principal centre of spiritual life, is the heart, here agam the Hesychast doctrine is in perfect accord with the teaching of every other mit1atory tradit10n. But what is more important from the standpomt of spiritual realization is the teaching of Hesychasm on the means of perfecting the natural participation of the human microcosm m the Divine Metacosm, that is to say the transmutation of this partic1pat10n mto supernatural participat10n and finally mto umon and identity- this means consists of the 'inward prayer' or 'prayer of Jesus'. This 'prayer'-which m principle is reserved for an elite, thus proving its extra-religious character-surpasses all the virtues m excellence, t for it is a Divine act mus a:nd for that reason the best of all possible acts. It is only by means of this 'prayer' that the creature can be really umted with his Creator; the goal of this 'prayer' is consequently the 'supreme' spmtual state, in which man becomes detached from everything pertaining to the creature and, bemg directly umted with the Divinity, 1s illuminated by the Divine Light This supreme state is the 'Holy Silence' (-liavxta), symbolized by the black colour

* We may quote here the reply given by the Prophet Mohammed when he was asked whether the Holy War was not as precious as the invocation of Allah· 'No, not even if you fight on until your sword IS shattered' According to another hadith, the Prophet said on returning from a battle We have returned from the lesser Holy War (El-Jihad el-asghar) to the greater Holy War' (El Jihad el-akbar) Attention roust be called to the extreme importance 1"1hich Moslem esotencism attaches to the practice of the virtues, which are enumerated at length, with detailed commentanes, m many Sufic treatises Each virtue IS equivalent to the removal of a 'veil' (hiyi.b) which prevents the ray of Grace from reachmg the soul, m other terms, every virtue IS an eye which sees Allah It can therefore be said-bearing m mmd that the most important thmg lS the permanent concentration of our whole bemg on the Supreme Reahtythat virtues such as 'abstinence' (zuhd), 'confidence' (tawakkul), 'patience' (subr), 'sadness' (hu;:.11), 'fear' (khaef), 'hope' (rq;a), 'gratitude' (shukr), 'smcenty' (sidq) and 'contentment' (ndhti) are so many modes of concentration, secondary and mdirect m themselves, but m a greater or less measure mdispensable havmg regard to the constitution of the human soul.

t

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given to certain Virgins* The 'prayer ofJesus', hke every other initiatory nte, but unhke religious ntes the finality of which does not transcend the individual, is strictly methodical, that is to say 1t is subject to techmcal ordinances, the purpose of which will mev1tably escape the profane rmnd, t such as, for example, control of breathing (ava7rvo~)t m order to fac1htate the 'mamtenance of the sp1nt within man and its umon With the heart'. To those who consider 'spmtual prayer' as a simple and even superfluous practice-another example of the 'moralist' prejudice-the Palam1te doctrine replies that this prayer represents on the contrary the 'straitest' way possible, but that m return it leads to the highest pinnacle of perfection, on condition-and this is essential and reduces to nothmg the shallow suspicions of'morahsts'-that the activity of prayer be m agreement With all the remainder of the bemg's activities' In other words, the virtues-or confornuty to the Divine Law-constitute the condztzo sine qua non without which the 'spmtual prayer' would be meffect1ve, we are therefore a long way from the naive illusion of those who imagine that 1t is possible to attam the Infinite by means of merely mechanical practices, Without any other undertaking or obligation. 'Virtue'-so the Palamite teachmg maintams-'disposes us for union with God but Grace

* This 'silence' is the exact equivalent of the Hindu and Buddhist nirvana and the Suficfana (both terms s1gmfymg 'extmct10n'), the 'poverty' (faqr) m which 'uruon' (tawhid) 1s adueved refers to the same symbolism Regarding this real uruon-or this re-mtegration of the fimte m the Infinite-we may also mention the title of a book by St Gregory Palamas 'Witnesses of the Samts, showing that those who participate m Divine Grace become, comformably with Grace itself, without ongm and mfirute ' It would be impossible to•express the 'Supreme Identity' more succmctly than this We may also recall m this connection the followmg adage of Moslem esotencism 'The Sufi is not created' t Hence the facile irony of those 'antichnsts' who hasten to play the part, defined m the Gospels, of 'svm1e' and 'dogs' St John Chmacus, speakmg of the 'prayer ofJesus', says that 'it should be as one with thy breathmg, and thou shalt know the fruit of silence and of solitude' 'Blessed is he', says St Hesychius, 'whose thought IS merged m the invocation of the Name of Jesus and who utters 1t continually m his heart, m the same way that the air IS lmked to our bodies or the flame to a candle ' We ma.y recall here the importance which IS attached to the control of resp1.rat1on (pranayiima) m hatha-yoga and other Oriental methods

t

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accomplishes this mexpress1ble umon'. If the virtues are able m this way to play the part of modes of knowledge, it is because they retrace by analogy 'D1vme Attitudes', there is m fact no virtue which does not denve from a D1vme Prototype, and therem hes their deepest meamng 'to be' is 'to know'. Lastly we must emphasize the fundamental and truly umversal s1gmficance of the mvocat10n of the D1vme Name. This Name, m the Chnst1an form-as m the Buddhist form and m certain initiatory branches of the Hmdu trad1t1on-1s a name of the mamfested Word,* m this case the Name of'Jesus', which, hke every revealed D1vme Name when ritually pronounc~d, is mysteriously identified with the Divm1ty. It is m the Divme Name that there takes place the mysterious meeting of the created and the Uncreate, the contmgent and the Absol~te, the fimte and the Infimte. The Divme Name is thus a mamfestat10n of the Supreme Prmc1ple, or to speak still more plamly, it is the Supreme Prmciple mamfestmg Itself, It is not therefore m the first place a mamfestation, but the Principle itself t 'The sun shall be turned mto darkness, and the moon mto blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come' -says the prophet Joel-'but whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be dehvered,' 2 and we may also recall the beginnmg of the first Epistle to the Corinthians addressed 'to all that m every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord', and the injunction contamed m the first Epistle to the Thessalomans to 'unceasmg prayer', on which St John Damascenus comments as follows· 'We must learn to mvoke God's Name more often than we breathe, at all times and everywhere an~ during all our labours. The Apostle says Pray without ceasmg, which is to say that we must remember God all the time, wherever we are and whatever we are domg'.t It is not without reason See note on p 191 are tlunkmg here of the mvocation of Amzda Buddha and of the formula Om mani padme hum, and as regards Hmduism, of the mvocat1on of Rama and Krishna t Smnlarly, accordmg to the Christian perspective, Christ 1s not m the first place man, but God In this commentary by St John Damascenus the words 'invoke' and 'remember' are used to describe or illustrate the same idea, it will be recalled 2

* We

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therefore that the Hesychasts consider the mvocat10n of the Name of Jesus as havmg been bequeathed by Jesus to the Apostles 'It is thus'-according to the Century of the Monks Calhstus and Ignatms-'that our merciful and beloved Lord Jesus Christ, at the time when He came to His Passion freely accepted for us, and also at the time when, after His Resurrection, He vlSlbly showed Himself to the Apostles, and even at the moment when He was about to reascend to the Father ... bequeathed these three thmgs to His disciples (the invocation of His Name, Peace and Love, which respectively correspond to faith, hope and charity) .... The begmmng of all activity of the Divine Love 1s the confident 1nvocat10n of the Saving Name of our Lord Jesus Chnst, as He Himself said (John xv. 5): "Without me ye can do nothmg ... " By the confident mvocat10n of the Name of our Lord Jesus Chnst, we steadfastly hope to obtam His mercy and the True Life hidden in Him It is hke unto another D1v1ne Source which IS never exhausted (John 1v. I4) and which yields up these gifts when the Name of our Lord Jesus Chnst IS mvoked, without imperfection, in the heart.' We may also quote the following passage from an Epistle (Epistula ad Monachos) of St John Chrysostom· 'I have heard the Fathers say. Who is this monk who forsakes and belittles the rule? He should, when eating and drmkmg, when seated or servmg others, when walkmg or indeed when domg anythmg whatsoever, mvoke unceasmgly. "Lord Jesus Chnst, Son of God, have pity on me.''t Persevere unceasingly in the that the Arab word dhikr signifies both 'mvocat1on' and 'remembrance', m Buddh1Sm also 'to think of Buddha' and 'to mvoke Buddha' are expressed by one and the s~e word (Buddhanusmrztz the Chinese men.Jo and thejapanese nembutsa) On the other hand, it is worth noting that the Hesychasts and the Dervishes use the same word to describe mvocatton. the recitation of the 'prayer ofJesus' is called by the Hesychasts 'work', while the Derv1Shes name every form of mvocat1on 'occupation' or 'business' (shoghl) t This formula is often contracted to the Name ofJesus alone, particularly by those who are more advanced m the way 'The most important means m the life of prayer is the Name of God, mvoked m the prayer Ascetics and all who lead a hfe of prayer, from the anchorites of the Egyptian desert to the mslSt above all on the unportance of the Hesychasts of Mount Athos Name of God Apart from the Offices there exlSts for all the Orthodox a 'rule of prayer', composed of psalms and different or1Sons, for the monks it

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Name of our Lord Jesus that thy heart may drmk the Lord and the Lord may drmk thy heart, to the end that m this manner the two may become one '

3 We must now meet a difficulty which arises from the fact that the mvocat10n of the Name of Jesus seems to duplicate· Commumon, which at first sight appears to be the fundamental means of grace belongmg to Chnstiamty. In order to throw hght on this question, it may be said first of all that alth~ugh Chnstiamty is initiatory in 'substance', an apphcat10n corresponding to the exoteric pomt of view was nevertheless foreseen from the begmnmg. This paradox can be explamed, as was pomted out m the last chapter, on the one hand by the excep1s much more considerable But the most important thmg m prayer, the thmg that constitutes its very heart, 1s what is named the prayer of Jesus 'Lord Jesus ChrlSt, Son of God, have pity on me, a smner' The repetition ofthlS prayer hundreds of times, and even mdefimtely, 1s the essential element of every monastic rule of prayer, it can, if necessary, replace the Offices and all the other prayers, smce its value JS universal The power of the prayer does not reside in its content, which is sunple and clear (1t 1s the prayer of the tax-gatherer), but in the sweet Name ofJesus The ascetics bear witness that this Name contams the force of the presence of God Not only 1s God mvoked by this Name, He is already present m the invocation This can certamly be said of every Name of God, but it JS true above all of the D1vme and human Name of Jesus, which is the proper Name of God and of man In short, the Name ofJesus present m the human heart communicates to it the force of t he deification accorded to us by the Redeemer ' (S Boulgakoff L' Orthodo)l.ze) 'The Name ofJesus', says St Bernard, '1s not only light, 1t 1ralso nourishment All food is too dry to be assimilated by the soul if lt is not first flavoured by this condiment, it JS too msip1d unless th!S salt relieves its tastelessness I have no taste for thy wntmgs if I cannot read thlS Name there, no taste for thy dJScourse, if I do not hear it resounding therem It JS honey for my mouth, melody for my ears, JOY for my heart, but it is also a med1cme Does any one among you feel overcome with sadness? Let hrm then taste Jesus m his mouth and heart, and behold how before the light of HIS Name all clouds vanish and the sky agam becomes serene Has one among you allowed himself to be led mto a fault, and 1S he expenencmg the temptation of despair? Let him mvoke the Name of the Life and the Life will restore hun ' (Sermon r5 on the Song of Songs.)

tional character of the spmtual radiation ISsumg from Chnst, and on the other hand by the fact that Chnst1amty 1s a 'way of Grace' m wruch differences between spiritual planes reduce themselves more or less to differences of degree. This bemg the case, th.ere 1s no contradiction m the fact that the Euchanst, despite its esotenc nature, has at the same time a function from the exotenc standpoint, and thlS double funct10n 1s m fact marked by the difference between the two Euchanst1c elements, the wme referrmg more particularly to the 'essential' and 'mward' function, and the bread to the 'adapted' and 'outward' fun~t1on. The Euchanst guarantees a 'passive' participation m the Grace of Chnst, but the fact that it is received passively, or m other words that the part of the commumcant remams a purely receptive one, shows precisely that this means of Grace 1s not"all-sufficmg from an 1mtiatory pomt ofv1ew, and that 1t must be 'developed' by another means of an 'active' nature. This complementary means, the apphcat1on of which will remam stnctly esotenc-smce its 'active' nature prevents it from bemg accessible to all-is the ritual and methodic invocation of the savmg Name of Jesus. Even from the exotenc pomt of view, Communion is not self-sufficient and must likewise be 'developed' by an active attitude, which m this case consists of 'works', extendmg from ordmary morality to expiatory disc1plmes. To return, however, to esotenc1sm, the Euchansuc Grace which unites man virtually to Chnst represents, m relat10n to the mvocat1on of the Name ofJesus, a ceaselessly renewed pomt of departure, and the best one possible, for the way that leads from a passive and precarious participation m Chnst to a permanent a;d active one, namely to 1dent1ty with the 'Divme Nature'. This real, as d1stmct from a purely virtual, identity can only be obtained with the aid of a means of sanctificat1on-or rather of'de1fication'-which actively engages the being and so integrates him m the 'Divine Act', thereby enabhng him finally to transcend the hm1ts of 'human nature'. This fundamental distinction between a sanctifymg means of grace, to which there corresponds a passive attitude, and a deifying means of grace, the apphcat1on of which is essentially 185

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

active, will perhaps be more readily understood with the help of an example taken from another trad1t1onal form thus m Islam, to look no further, one finds a distmct10n between the ritual prayer common to all Moslems and the mvocat1on of the D1vme Name practised only by mitiates So as not to neglect anythmg which might help to make the matter clearer, we w1ll recall agam the other fundamental analogies ex1st1ng between the two traditional forms, the Christian and the Islarmc: · thus the prmc1p1al Reality which 1s mamfested m Christiamty m the form of the Redempt10n by Christ 1s manifested m Islam m the form of the Qoramc Revelation; the Redempt10n is :eerpetuated m the Eucharist which commumcates the virtuahty of effective Redempt10n-the latter, m its absolute and metacosmic sense, bemg actualized by means of the Name ofJesuswh1le the Qoramc Revelat10n, for its part, 1s perpetuated by 'submission' (zsliim) to the D1vme Law, the 'heart' of which 1s the ritual prayer (saliit), and this 'subm1ss10n' 1s made metaphysically perfect by means of the mvocat10n of the Name of Allah. This transcendence of the 'deifymg' means of grace by comparison with the 'sanctifying' means is moreover clearly illustrated by the simple fact that a man may be prevented by his outward circumstances from taking commumon or accomplishing the Islamic prayer, but not from invokmg God, be it only m his mward consciousness, despite the contmgent nature of this example, It nevertheless serves to show that mvocation possesses a higher degree of umversahty than those means of grace which are e:xotencally applicable. There remams, however, a still more important criterion applicable m the present • prmc1ple case, namely, that the invocation of the Name is m self-sufficient and can render the use of other means of grace superfluous, as 1s mdeed laid down in the following passage from the Manava-Dharma-Shiistra, the sacred Law of the Hmdus: 'There can be no doubt that a Brahmin wtll attain Beatitude by mvocat1on (Japa) alone, whether or not he accomplishes other rites.' There exists m fact, even in Moslem countries, a category of spiritual men who do not accomplish the ordmary rites, an attitude which is based upon the initiatory meamng of the 186

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

followmg verse of the Qoran 'Make not the prayer when you are drunk' (that is to say m a state of spmtual drunkenness) . The pre-emmence of the mvocation over the ordmary rites is moreover also prefigured m the Gospel m the story of the good robber Tlus 'evil-doer'-that is to say, accordmg to the esoteric mterpretat10n, the bemg who acts m accordance with the cosmic illusion and who is 'crucified' by the vicissitudes of formal existence-was m fact saved by merely callmg on Christ-who Himself also was subjected to the same v1c1ssitudes, but voluntarily and without illus10n-and mtegrated by the Grace of the '"WQrd made flesh' mto 'Paradise', which, bemg described here as the dwellmg-place of the Word, can be taken to sigmfy the principial state, non-mamfested and Divme In ~onclusion, it remains for us to say a few words concernmg the mt1mate relationship existmg between the euchanst1c and incantatory methods, and this will enable their spontaneous complementansm to be more clearly seen In the last analysis the Eucharist derives from the same symbolism, and therefore from the same Divme, cosnuc and spmtual Reality, as mvocasion. the ChristJ.an commumon, * m fact, relates to the symbolism

* It may be noticed that the Qoran recognizes the nte of communion and even md1cates it as a spmtual means characteristic of Christ ' "Oh Jesus, Son of Mary'', said the Apostles, "is thy Lord able to send down a nourishment (ma!zdah, meanmg both nourishment and knowledge) to us out of Heaven?" He said "Fear Allah (by accomphshmg what He requires of you) 1fyou are believers" They said "We desire to eat of it that our hearts (which are nourished on knowledge) may be assured and that we may know (m tastmg this knowledge) that thou hast mdeed taught us the truth, and that we may be witnesses thereof (to the world) "Jesus the Son of Mary said "O God, oi1r Lord (Alltihumma) I Send down a nourishment for us out of Heaven that it may be a perpetual blessmg (i e a means of grace) to the first and the last of us (that 1s to say, g1vmg access to every spmtual degree), and a revelation (ayah, a supernatural sign) of Thee (of Thy Reality or Essence), and accord us our (spmtual) subsistence, for Thou art the best ofNourishers (smce Thy nourishment is none other than Thyself)"' (Qoran, surat-elMii'zdah, 112-114) The 'hearts' which are 'assured' are also referred tom a verse referrmg to mvocation 'Alliih leads to Himself all those who turn to Him, who believe on Him (who attnbute all reahty to Him and not to the world) and whose hearts are assured (tatma'mnu qulubuhum) m the mvocat1on (dhzkr "remembrance" or "mention") of Alliih, lS 1t not m the mvocat1on of Alliih that hearts are assured?' (surat Er-Ra' ad, 27 and 28) 187

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATIO N

of the mouth, as mdeed does every category of mvocation, however between mvocat10n properly so called and its euchar1tsic mode there is this difference, namely, that m the latter the mouth is considered m its function of organ of nutnt10n, while m the former it is considered m its function of organ of'Speech. Between these two aspects of the mouth there 1s a stnct symbohcal hnk, which m the corporeal order 1s expressed precisely by the fact that the two faculties of speech and nutrition make · use of the same organ * This symbolical sohdanty results moreover from the complexity of the euchanstic symbol itself the Word which is 'spoken' by God bemg 'eaten' by man Irpnvocation, the symbol, which remains always fundamentally the same and thereby retams its efficacy whatever its mode, is apphed inversely- 1t is man who 'speaks' the Word wher: pronouncmg the D1vme Name, and who, himself transformed mto euchanst1c bread by his 'second birth', is then absorbed by the D1vme Mouth-an image which mdlcates the process of ass1m1lat1on and identification of the md1vidual 'fact' with the umversal Prmciple t On the other hand, there is also an important connection between the invocation of the D1vme Name and the birth of Christ· m the first case the Word ISSues from the mouth of man, m the second case 1t issues from the Virgm This comparison

* Besides the two natural functions of the mouth, speakmg and feedmg, of which the sacred modalities are mvocation and communion respectlvelythe latter being found m other traditions m the form of 'draughts of unmortahty' such as amrzta, soma, haoma, nectar, ambrosia, the 'hvmg water' of Christ-there 1S another natural function of the mouth, second~ry m relation to the two others, namely the k!SS, which is related to the symbolism of both speech and nutrition, and which refers m itself to the spmtual symbolism of love and adoration t There are certain pratikas, or Hindu sacred rmages, which represent Durgti. holdmg a human body between her teeth, this refers not only to the return, destructive from the pomt of view of manifestation, to the universal Essence, but also to re-mtegration by Knowledge. Speakmg quite generally, it may be said that m the natural order a bemg lS 'eaten' by the D1vm1ty when he dies, and thlS has an unportant bearmg on rmtiatory death m which man lS sacrificially 'eaten' by God, that lS to say, extmgulShed m Him and assurulated to Him ChrlSt lS Word and Sacrifice at one and the same time, m the same way that the Universe compr1Ses these two aspects 188

OF THE CHRIST-GIVEN INITIATION

brmgs' to hght the symbolical analogy between speech and childbirth. It results from this analogy that the mouth of one who mvokes God is identical with the Virgm (Virgo genetrix); 'virgmity' is therefore an mdispensable attnbute of the mouth of the spmtual man These analogies also throw mto rehef the relat10nship that exists between the reception of the Spirit of God by the body of the Virgm-a reception which is expressed in Genesis by 'the Spmt of God movmg upon the face of the waters' -and the recept10n of the Eucharist by the mouth of man, the latter, symbolically identified with the Virgm, must be pure, that IS to say m a state of sanctifymg grace The body of Chnst-or His md1vidual substance-proceeds from the Virgm, * His Spmt IS God, and by the same token that the body of Chnst proceeds from the Virgin, and that the Spmt of Christ is God, so the D1vme Name proceeds from the mouth of him that invokes, while the breath, which bemg of air comes from the heavens and fills and vivifies the mouth, corresponds to the 'Spmt which bloweth where it hsteth'. Finally, m the same way that the Euchanst is the support of the 'Real Presence', of the Shekinah of the Holy of Hohes of the Temple, so the Divine Name is the support of this same 'Presence't residmg in the Holy of Hohes of the heart.

NOTES (r) [Seep 179] Tlussp1ritual function of the body explams the sacredness which ISattnbuted tonuditymsomenon-rehg10us tradit10nal forms, notaWy m Hmdwsm, the form which most nearly corresponds to the Pnmord1al Tradition This sacred aspect of nudity 1s mdeed met with, if only exceptionally, m every trad1t10nal form, whether m the *This is so because the universal body of the Word, namely, the manifested Universe, proceeds from the Universal Substance (Praknt1), ofwh1ch the V1rgm IS a human manifestation t The central part that wtll be played by mvocat.J.on at the time of the re-establishment of the Pnmord1al Trad1t.J.on by the Messiah (or Kal/,,1Avattira) IS expressed as follows by the Prophet Zephamah 'For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent' (Zeph m g)

189

NOTES

symbolism itself or m the case of isolated spmtual personages· we need only recall the nudity of the crucified Christ, which 1s far from bemg without significance, or that attributed by Christian iconography to Samt Mary the Egypuan and sometimes to Saint Mary Magdalene In a certain sense there exists a sort of symbolic opposition between the face and the body the face represents in that case the individual and the mental faculty, while the body corresponds to the species and the Intellect, consequently the denuding of the body is capable of manifesting outwardly a penetrat10n or 'transfiguration' of the body by the Intellect, and therefore a re-integration of the flesh into the state of primordial 'innocence'. In another respect the denudmg of the body represents the spmtual extenonzat10n (theyalwah of Sufism) of what in the ordinary or 'hardened' man is mward and hidden The body, having become a sanctuary of the 'Real Presence', thereby becomes sacred and 'radiates' m its turn, and for the spmtual man who affirms this corporeal 'glory' thlS also signifies the rupture of a profane or social bondage and the reJect1on of the artifices of the mmd and so of md1vidual limitations. On the other hand nudrty-servmg thus as a support of contemplat10nmay also express love towards the Creator whose Presence man feels m his consecrated flesh, which 1mphes as a consequence the abolition of the artificial and specifically human lmuts-represented by clothmg-wh1ch separate man from the rest of Creat10n The naked body has not only an 'innocent' or 'duld-hke' aspect, due to the fact that it is the work and image of the Creator and in this respect 'good' and 'pure' hke the primordial Creation itself, but it also possesses an aspect of 'nob1hty'-one nught almost say of 'love'-because it reflects God's beauty by its own, or m other words, because it mamfests the Divme Beatitude and Goodness, which preside over the Divme Act of Creatlon. Lastly the body possesses also an aspect of 'serenity' or 'reahty', smce 1t affirms 'that which really is', that 1s to say, the naked Truth, umque and formless, unobscured by the veils of arbitrary human thought To say that the body symbolizes spmtual reaht1es and even D1vme Aspects-the former necessarliy having a reference to the latter-amounts to saymg that it really 'is' these reaht1es and Aspects on its own plane of existence, and m consequence that the positive aspects of the body are metaphysically more real than its aspects of1mpunty and 'flesh', and 1t 1s precisely this knowledge that sacred nudity affirms Fmally it may be added that the aspects of 'innocence', 'nobility' and 'seremty' refer respectively to the symbolism of the nudity of the new-born child, that of the body exalted m love and that of the corpse 'in the hands of him that washes the dead'. 190

NOTES

(2) (Seep 182 ] The Psalms contam a number ofreferences to the mvocat1on of the Name of God 'I call on the Lord with my vmce, and He hears me from His holy mountam ' 'But I, I have called on the Name of the Lord Lord, save my soul'' 'The Lord is near to all who call on Him, who call on Him from their hearts ' Two passages also contam a reference to the Eucharistic mode ofmvocation 'Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it ' 'Who sat1sfieth thy mouth with good thmgs, so that thy youth 1s renewed like the eagle's ' So also Isaiah 'Fear not for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name thou art mme.' 'Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon rum wrule he IS near 'And so Solomon m the Book of Wisdom 'I called upon God, and the spmt of wISdom came to me ' The verse from the Prophet Joel quoted above situates the mcantatdry rite w1thm the framework of a combination of conditions which are those obtammg at the end of the Dark Age (the Hmdu Kalz-yuga), but which also charactenze, when cons1dermg the four ages t~ken together (the Maha-yuga), the Dark Age as a whole Now accordmg to the Vishnu-Dharma-Uttara 'that which is obtained by med1tat10n m the age of Krita, by sacnfice m the age of Trela, by devotion m the age of Dwapara, is obtained in the Kali age by celebratmg Keshava' (Vishnu) 'The repetition of His Name, Oh Maztreya, is for faults the equivalent of fire for metals' 'Water suffices to put out fire, the sunnse to disperse the darkness, m the Kali age the repet1t10n of the Name of Harz (Vishnu) suffices to destroy all errors.' Agam, the Miinava-Dharma-Shtistra says 'There is no doubt that a Brahmin obtams Beatitude by invocation only' Here are some analogous Buddrust texts 'In the present age, wruch belongs to the fourth half-rmllemum after Buddha, what we have to do is to repent of our transgressions, cultivate the virtues and pronounce the Name of Buddha. Is it not said that to thmk of the Buddha Amztiibha and to pronounce His Name punfies us of all transgressions committed by us m all our hves durmg eighty thousand rmllion kalpas'? 'The faithful one (the mit1ated) must utter without mterrupt10n (St Paul says 'Pray"w1thout ceasmg') the Name of Buddha with one sole thought, leavmg no room lil llS mmd for anthmg else, and he IS then sure to be re-born m the presence of Buddha, (Tao-Ch'o, a Chinese Master). 'Because bemgs endowed with sensible faculties meet many obstacles in their road, and the world m which they hve is full of subtle temptations because (m the 'present age' or 'latter days', and above all as the end of tills epoch is approached) their thoughts are too perplexed, their mtelhgence too clumsy and their mmds too distraught.•.. Taking pity on them, Buddha counsels them to concentrate on the recitation of His Name, for when it is practised with191

NOTES

out interruption the faithful one is certain to be re-born in the Land of Amzda' (Shan-Tao, a Chmese Master) 'For one who is absorbed m the Name of Buddha, which is above time, there is a rebirth which knows neither begmnmg nor end.' 'There is only the Name of Buddha and outside it exists neither he who utters it nor he to whom it is uttered. There is only the Name of Buddha and outside it.there is no rebirth. All thmgs that eXJ.St are virtues mcluded in the body of the Name of Buddha itself . It is better to be possessed by the Name than to possess the Name All thmgs are of one spmt, but this Spmt . is not mamfested by Itself The eye cannot see itself ..• but hold a mirror in front of you and the eye will be able to see itself, such 1s the virtue of the nurror. And the mirror is one that each one of us possesses and which is called the great rmrror of illummat1on, it is the Name already realized by all the Buddha,s' (Ippen, a Japanese Master see Da1setz Teitaro Suzuki Essays in :(en Buddhzsm). Regarding the HmduJapa, and indeed invocation m general, there are some mstruct1ve observat10ns m the teaching of Shn Ramaknshna The following is a selection of quotat10ns from the numerous verses of the Qoran referring to invocation 'Ment10n Me, and I will mention you' 'To Allah belong the most beautiful Names call on ".Hun by them'' 'Oh Believers' when you are face to face with an armed troop, be resolute and repeat without ceasing the name of Allah that you may prosper.' 'Allah leads to Himself all those who turn to Him, who believe m Him and those hearts are assured m the mvocation of Allah, is it not by the mvocation of Allah that hearts are assured?' 'Who speaks a better word than he who calls on Allah?' 'Your Lord has said Call Me and I will answer you.' 'It is certain that the invocation of Allah is of all thmgs the greatest.' We will also quote the following ahadith of the Prophet 'Whenever men gather together to mvoke Allah, they are surrounded by Angels, the Divine Favour envelops them, and Peace (Sakinah) descends upon them, and Allah remembers them m His assembly ' 'There 1s a means of pohshing all thmgs whereby rust may be removed, that which polishes the heart 1s the invocation of Allah and there is no act which removes the punishment of Allah further from you than this mvocation.' The Compamons said Is not the battle against unbelievers equal to it?' The Prophet replied. ' No, not even if you fight on until your sword is shattered.' 0

Index Abd-El-Karim El-Jili, 40 profane, 93 ff , surrealist, 96, trad1t.Ional, principles of, 90 See Abdul-Hadi, L'umversalzti en l' Islam, also Icons 79 Abraham, 38, 39, 117 f, 121, 123, Athanasms of Alexandria, St. 176 n Augustine, St, 147 n, 151, 166 134, 143, 148 n, 152 Avatdras, 38, 105, 139 n Abu Hamfa, Fikh el-akbar, E!8 n Ave Mana, 140 Acts of the Apostles, 112, 114 Adam, 70, 74, 122, 143, 146, 179 Biil;ya, 160 n Advaita, 1 77 Biirakah, 49, 51 Afrad, 52 n Basil, St., 155, 164, 172 n, 176 n AMdith quddiiszyah, 140 Bathsheba, 60 ff Ahadiyrzh, I 77 Bemg, 53, 55 f, 68, 177, and NonAhl El-K1tab, 104 n Bemg, 53, 177 Ali, the Cahph, 59 n Benedict, St, 171 Allah, 43 n, 47, 54 n, 60, 64, 128 f, Benedict XIV, Pope, 173 n 148 n, 180 n, 186, 192 Bernard, St, 51, 58, 82, 184 n Amalek1tes, 134 Bhagavad-Gitd, 133 Amtda, Am1da-B11ddha, 167 f, 182 n, Bhakti, 52 n 192 Bhaktic way, and mysticism, 172 ff Amithaba, sutras of, 167 Bible, the, 57 ff See also New TestaAmmann, A M , S J , Du Gottesment schau mi palamitischm, Hesychas- Boddhisattva-Maitreya, 104 mus, 162 n Body, part played by m Hesycha~m. Amnta, 188 n 179 Angels, 22 n , 71 Boulgakoff, S, L'Orthodo'Cze, 184 n Antichrist, 135 Brahma, 54 n, 138 Antmom1amsm, 176, 178 Brahma, 146 n Apophat1sm, 176 f Brahma-Loka, 54 n Apostles, 11~ f, 113 f, 139, 138, Brahmms, 30 f, 187, 191 165, 175 Buddha, 99, 109, II I, n5, 134, 139 Archangels, 41 n. 167 f, t83 n, 191 f Aristotle, 9 Buddha Amztabha, 191 Arjuna, 133 BuddMnusmr1t1, 167, 183 n Art, ch IV passim, Byzantine, 88, Buddhi, 41 91f,Christian,81n , 84n,88f, Buddhism, 107, 110, 115, 137, 139 n, 153, 167 f, 18.i, 183 n , 191 f, 94, Egyptian, 91 , Gotluc, 88, and Hmdu1sm, 107, 110, 115 Graeco-Roman, 87, 89, 91, modern, 91, natufalrstic, go ff.; Romanesque, 88, 91 f, sacred and Calhstus and Ignatius, Century, 183

INDEX

Cassandras, 137 D1adochus, St , 176 n Castes, Hmdu, 108 f Diaspora, 120 n Cha1tanya, Shn, 83 n , 167 Dogma, 11, 18, 23 ff, 32 f, 37, 39 f, Charity, 158 ff Chrisuan, 39 f , 150 f, 164 f Christ, I 2, 20, 25, 27 n , 28, 32 n , Dogmatism, 18 f, 21ff, 25 33 n , 37 f , 42 ff , 52 n , 59 n , 76, Dominic, St, l 19 n 93, 98 ff, 103 ff, !IO f, Il3 f, Durgii, 188 Dwi;as, 108 l 17 n, Ilg ff, 127 ff, 146 ff, 158, 160 n, I6I, I64 f, 170 ff, 179, 182 ff , and Mohammed, 131 ff , East and West, decadence of, IOI and Mosaic Law, 148 ff Eastern Church, 73 n , 116, 162 n, Chnstiamty, 27, 31 f, 33 n , 38 n., 171, 173 n, 174 n 39ff ,58 ff, 67, 73 n, 74, 76,81 n., Eckhardt, Meister, 9, 46 n , 47, 53, 83 n., 88 f, 98 ff, I IO ff, chs VI, 54 n, 137 f, 161 n VII, VIII and IX, passim, primi- Eleusts, mysteries of, 147 n. tive, 39, 145 n, 155, 164 ff, 178, El Aql, 41 limits of expans10n of, 38 n , 42 f, El Ghazzali, 20 n 44, 99, 102 ff, I IO ff, as way of El HallaJ, 20, 27 n , 153 Grace, 153 f, 156 ff, 185, and El-khalq, 54 n Islam, 41 f, 46 f, 59, chs VI and El-Lawh el-mahfu~, 139 VII passim, 146, 186, and Juda- En-nefs el'ammarah, 179 n ism, 46 f, 59 f, ch VI passim, Er-Ruh, 41, 138 I 48 ff , and Monotheism, ch VI Es-Samawiit, 54 n passim Esoteric1sm, 14, 18, 23 ff, ch III Clave!, F T B , Histoire pittoresque passim, 84 f, 117 n, 120 n, 123, de la Franc-Mafonnerie et des Societes t44 f, I 52 ff, 170 f ; Christtan, secretes anciennes et modernes, I 67 120 n, 150 ff, 155 f, 164 ff, ch Clement of Alexandria, 165 IX passim, Islamic, g, 59 n, 78 n, Commuruon See Eucharist t8o n, 181 n, 186,Jew1sh, l 17 n, Confuciarusm, 50 120 n , and exoteric1sm, 23 ff, Coomaraswamy, Ananda K , The 53 ff , 62 ff , 84 f , II 7 n , 1 20 n , Primitive Mentality, 86 n 123, 144 f' 148 Cosmic illusion, 53 Eternal Church, 102 Covenant, Old, 60, and New, 144 ff Eucharist, 37, 127, 130, 138, 143, Cure d' Ars, r 75 n 147 n, 150, 184 ff, and invocaCyril of Alexandria, St , I 76 n tion, 184 ff Eve, t79 Evil, rehg10us and metaphysical conDarsha11, 92 ceptions of, 63 ff, 'problem' of, Dante, 27 n, 38 n, 46 n, 51, 76 David, 57, 59 ff 67 Denys the Areopag1te, St, 155, 165 Existence, and Intelligence, 7 l f Exoter1c1sm, ch II passim, 53 ff , f' 172 Desert Fathers, I 70 ff , 178 62 ff., 84 f, 102, 117 n, mo n, Devas, 41 123, 144 f, 154, Christian, 144, Devil, the, 63 f 147, 150 ff, 184 ff, Islamic, 26 n, Dhanb, DhUrtiib, 59 n. 64, 78 n., 144, t86;Jewish, 120 n,, Dhikr, 197, 183 n., 186 n 144, 148 ff, and esoteric1sm, 23 ff,

INDEX

53 ff, 62 ff , 84 f , 123, 144 f' 148

I I

7 n , 120 n,

Guilds, l 70 f Guna, 141 Hadith, Ahiidith, 84, 143, 149 n, 180 n, 192 Hal, 74 Hanif, 39, 148 n Haoma, 188 n Haqiqah, 151 Hatha-:Joga, 181 n Hermetrsm, I 70 Hesychasm, 66, 157, 170 ff Hesychms, St, 181 n HmdUISm, 30 f, 51, 83 n, 104 ff, 115, 137, 139, 141 n, 182, 187, 189 n., 191, and Buddhism, 107, I 10, I 15, and Islam, 104 ff Holy Ghost, 38 n , 40 ff , sm against, 27ff, 138ff, 175 Holy War, 180 n Hope, 159 f Humamty, divmon of world mto different humanities, 37, 40, 42

Faith, IO ff, 156 ff, and Knowledge; 156 ff, 162 ff, and miracles, 157 f Fana, 181 n Fana el-Jana, 47 Fanii el-wu;Ud, 47 Faqir, 64 f Faqr, 160 n, 181 n Far Eastern Trad1t1on, l 14, 137, 141 n, See also Confuc1amsm and Tao1Sm Fathers, 94, 165, 171, Desert, 170 ff, 178, Greek, 26 11 , 176 Fede Sp,nta, 48 n Francis, St , 119 n Free Will, 20, and predestination,

6g·r

French, R M , Tlze Way of a Pilgrim, 170 n Fusiis El-Hikam, 61 Gnost1cs, 40 God, Beauty and Goodness, of, 85, Justice and Mercy of, 123, 156, Qmdd1ty of, and Divine Energies, l 77, personal and impersonal aspects of, 42, 53, 56 ff, 62 Gotama, uo Grace, 30, 32 f, 66, 73 f, 153 f, 173, 177 n, 180 n , 181, way of, 153 f, 156 ff, 18,!ii ff Greek Church See Eastern Church Greek Fathers, 26 n , l 76 Gregory of Nyssa, St, 58, 176 Gregory Palamas, St , 176 f, 181 n Gregory the Theologian, St, 176 n Guenon, Rene, 13, 15, 43 n, Sr n, Creation et mamfestation, 1 50 n , Les deux nuzts, 81 n , Les itats multiples de l'!Jre, 53 n , Man and his Becoming according to the Vedanta, 81 n, 140 n

Icons, 91 r' 95 n' 96 Idealism, 88 f flqa Er-Rahmaniyah, I 52 11 Immaculate Concept10n, 140 Incarnation, 43, 45, and Redemption, 128 f, 147 n Imtiatory way, and mystic way, 72 ff' 172 ff Intellect, 9 ff, 16, 21, 22 n, 53, 68ff,75f,80, 151, 174f, 179n' and reason, 9 ff, 70 Intelligence, and Existence, 7 1 f Ippen, 192 Isaac, l 17 Ishmael, 1 l 7 Islam, 24, 26 n • 38 ff , 50 f , 58 f , 76, 78 n, 79, 81 n, 89, 104 ff. chs. VI and VII passim, 146 147n, 186 f; expansion of, 104 ff, 12411, and Clmsuamty, 41 f, 46 f, 59, chs VI and VII passim, 146, 186; and HmdU1Sm, 104 ff, and

195

INDEX

Knshna, 133, 167, 182 n Kural, the, 105 n Kwan-Tm, 140, 141 n

JudalSm, 59, ch VI passim, and Monotheism, ch VI passim Israel, 24, 44 f, 1 17 ff lthm, 59 n.

Lakshmi, 1 40 Lamartine, Hisiozre de la 'Turquze,

J allabert, Abbe P-J , Le Catholmsme <Want Jesus-Christ, 147 n Jalwah, 190 Jannah, 54 n Jannat Edh-Dhtit, 54 n Japa, 167, 187, r92 Jerusalem, destruction of, 45 n Jesus, Name of, 181 n, r82 ff; Prayer of, r 80 ff See also Christ ]tbril, 138 Jihiid, 180 n

Jtrtkt,

135

Lanc1c1us, rather, l 73 n Latm Church, 73 n, r 16, r62 n, I 71 fi La;•lat el-qad1 , 81 n Le Bon, G , La Cwtlisatzon des Arnbes, r36 n Lemnos, mysteries of, 147 n ~ Lossky, Vlad1m1r, Essai sur la theologze 11ryst1quc de l'Eglise de l' Orient, • 157 n Lot-Borodme, Mme, La doctni1e de la dlificatzo11 dans l'Eglzse g1ecque, 174 n Love, meanmg of m New Testament, 29, and Knowledge, 29; I 59, 163 See also Charity Luke, St, 38 n, gr

r68

Jnana-marga, l 59 Jnamn, 157 n Joachim of Flora, 1 r 9 n Jodo, Jodo-Shmshu, r67 f Joel, 182, 191 John the BaptISt, St, 148 n John Chrysostom, St., 166, 183 John Chmacus, St, 176 n, 179, 181 n

John Damascenus, St, 96, 176 n, 177 n, 182 John the Evangelist, St, 148 n Judaism, 24, 39, 46 f, 58 ff, 73 n , 76, 137, 145 n, and Chnstiamty, 46 f, 59 f, ch VI passim, 145 n, and Islam, 46 f , 59, ch VI passim, and Monothe1Sm, ch VI passim See also Mosaic Law Judgement, Last, 45 n Justm Martyr, St, Il3

Ka' bah, 129 n, 131 Kali-yuga, w6 n, 107, 139 n, r91 Kalki-Auatiira, 104, 189 n. Khaja Khan, Studies in Tasawwzif, 26 n Kmgs, Book of, 58 Knowledge, way of, 154, 159; and faith, 156 ff, 162 f, and love, 29, 159, 163

Macarius of Egypt, St , 176 n , 177 n • .Mahii-prnlaya, 145 n , 146 n Mahii-Purusha, 43 n .Mahii-yuga, 14, 51, 109, 191 Maimonides, 120 Miinava-Dha1ma.Shiist1a, 187, 191 Mamche1sm, I 79 Maometto 51 Maqiim, 74 Mary See Vrrgm Mary Mary the Egyptian, St, 190 Mary Magdalene, St 190 Masonry, 170 f Materia Prima, 55 Maxunus the Confessor, St , 1 76 n Messiah, the, 61, 118 f, 122 f, 189 n Metaphysic, and philosophy, 9 ff, and religion, 10 ff, and salvation, ~8 f, umversahty of, 70, 72 Metatron, 41 Miracles, m Chr1stiamty and Islam, 142 f, 158, and faith, 157 f Misswnanes, 99 f

Ig6

INDEX

Afleccha-Avatiira, 105, 139 n Mohammed, 43 n, 45 n, 51, 81 n, 109 t, 122 f, 127, 130 ff, 149 n, 180 n, 192, names of, 140 f, and Christ, 131 ff , and Paraclete, 45 n ~ 135, and Virgm Mary, 139 ff Mohyiddm 1bn Arabi, 47, 50 f, 60, 81 n, 109 Monastic Orders, 171 f Monotheism, 78 n , ch. VI passim Morality, and symbolism, 65 ff Morahsm, 67 Mo&111(, Law, 115, 118, 120 n, 123, 148, ff, 156, and Chnst, 148 ff Moses, 38, I 17 ff , I 34 "Moslem brotherhoods, 48 ff Moutl1, symbolism of, 188 f Mefti, 78 n Mu'Ju:iit, 142 Musnril.un, 127 f Mutabarikiin, 49 Mystical Body of Christ, 24, 127 ff. Mystics, 30, 73, 173 ff Myst1c1sm, 72 ff, 172 ff , and mlt1atory way, 72 ff, l 72 ff

Nur Muhammadiyah, 142 Omar, the Cahph, 112 Om mam padme hum, 182 n Ongen, 145 n Orthodox Church See Eastern Church

Nafath Er-Riih, 140, 152 n. Name of God, mvocat1on of, 167 f, 182 ff Namu-Amida-Bu, 168 Nathan, 59 Nawab A Hydan Hydar Na'Waz Jung Bahadur, 26 n Nembutsu, 161 f, 183 n Neo-Platomsm, 120 n New Testament, Gospels, 29, 38 n , 44, 99, I 13, 130 f., 155, 162, 171 11 , and Qoran, 130 f, quotations from, passim N1caea, Council of, 94, 164 Nicodemus, 120 n Nien-fo, 167, 183 n Nirvana, 181 n • Non-Bemg, and Bemg, 53 Nudity, sacred aspect of, 189 f

Paganism, 38, 44 Pantheism, 55 f, 78, 124 n Paraclete, 45 n , 119 n, 135, 138 Paradise, 54 n, 187, Islamic, 44 n., 54n Pardall, 136 n Paul, ~t, 33 n, 112 ff, 147 n, 148 n, 162 n Ph!lo~ophy, 9 ff, 17 f, 20, and metaphysic, 9 ff, and rehg1on, 10 f P1renne, H , Mahomet et Charlemagne, r35 n Poulam, Father Aug , DeJ Gr(J,Ces d'Oraison, T1a1ti de Thlologie Mystique, 173 n Prakt1t1, 41, 139 ff, 189 n Pratikas, 188 n Prayer of Jesus, 180 ff Predestmation, 20, 68 ff, and free will, 20, 69 f Pnmord1al Trad1tton, 39 f, 102, 104, 107 n, 125, 189 n Prophet, the, See Mohammed Psalms, Book of, 61, 191 Purusha, 41 Pythagoreans, 48

Qabbalah, 41' 58 Qora1dha, I 34 Qoran, 20, 39 f, 45 n, 51, 54 n' 58 n, 59 f, 71, 81 n, 105 n, 106 n, 146, 186 f., 192, and New Testament, 130 f. Rama, 182 n Ramakrishna, Shn, 20 n , 52 n , 138, 14.1 n., 157 n, 192

197

INDEX

Ras-ul Allah, 109 Reality, gradation of, 53 Reason, rational knowledge, and mtellectual knowledge, 9 ff, 70 Redempt10n, 37, 11 r, 129, 146 f, 151, 156, and Incarnation, 128 f, 147 n Reformauon, 144 n Religion, and metaphysic, 10 fl , and philosophy, ro ff Renaissance, 81 n , 82 n , 88, 92 Revelation, ro, 16, 23, 32, 34, 39, 46£. 75, 81, roo, 102, 117 n, 126, 152 n, 165 Rtsii.lat El-Ahadtyah, 47 Sacraments, 37, 129, 131, 151 Sec also Eucharist Sakinah, 192 Sakya-Mu11i, 168 Salat, 186 Salikii.n, 49 Salvation, 23 f, 28 f, 31 f, 147, and metaphysic, 28 f Samadhi, 74 Samothrace, mysteries of, 147 n Samsiira, 54 n , 145 n Samuel, 134 Sarui.tana-Dharma, 24, 51, 105 Sarada Devi, Shn, 141 n Saul, 60 Schelstrate, Emmanuel, 165 Schism, Christian, l 16, Moslem, 116 Scholastics, 9, 26 n Sexuality, Christian and Islamic attitudes towards, 136 f Shaktis, 41, 14I n Shan Tao, l 92 Shari'ah, 78 n, 151 Shekinah, 121, 141 n, 189 Shirk, 41 Shoghl, 183 n Shorun Shinran, 141 n Shri Chakra, 137 Shruti, 152 n ShUdras, 109 Smriti, 140, 152 n.

Solomon, 57 ff, 74 n , 137 Soma, 188 n Song of Songs, 58 Sozoma, 164 Stermlber-Oberhn and Ku,m Matsuo, Les Sectes Bouddhiqul!s Japonaises, 168 Sufism, 41, 43 n, 50 ff, 54 n, 79, 178, t go See also esotencism, Islamrc, and Moslem brotherhoods Sundar Srngh, 32 n Sunnah, 142 Supreme Identity, 181 n Suso, Blessed Henry, 54 n Suzuki, D T , Essoys ti! Zen Buddhism, 168, 192 Sibyls, 137 ff Symbolism, and morality,

65

Tamas, 63 f TantrISm, 65, 179 Tan~il, 45 n Tao Ch'o, 191 Taoism, 50, 53 n, 77, 177 Tao Tc King, l 77 n. Tart.kt, l 68 Tawhid, Templars, Order of the Temple, 27 n, 48 n, 51, 145 n, 170 f Tentzehus, 165 Tertulhan, 164 Theodoret, 58, l 64 Theological virtues, 156 ff Theresa of the Child Jesus, St, "' 175 n Thomas Aqwnas, St, 81 n, 86 n Torah, 120 Transmigration, 106 n, 145 n Treatise on Unity, 47 Trm1ty, the, 40 ff, IIg n, 129, 150 f, 177 Uparushads, 74 n Uriah, 61

Veda, 115

1g8

INDEX

V1rgm Mary, 40, 91 f, 139 ff, 179, 188 f, and Mohammed, 139 ff Virgo .Ge11etn>., l 89 Virtues, 63, 178 ff , her01c, 173 ff , theolog1cal, 1 56 ff, m Moslem esotertc1sm, 180 n Vishnu, ~1 Vishnu-Dharma-Uttara, 191 Vulhaud, Paul, Etudes d'Esotlnsme Cathol1que, 165 !Vay of a Pilgrim, The, 170 n West, and East, decadence of, 101 Wisdom, Boob. of, 58, 74 n , 76 f, !~I, 190 Word of God, 10, 16, 35, 37 f, 43 f,

81 n, 99 f, I 19 f , 129 f, 139, 142 f, 145 n, 146, 152, 179, 182, 187 ff World, meaning of for Chnsuamty, 38 n , 42, 99, l 13 f, d1vmon of mto different humanities, 37, 40, 42

Yahweh, 57, 59 f, 62 Yahya Mu'adh Er-Razi, 54 n Yantra, 96 Yoga, 178 Yoga-Shristias, 73 Togtr, 20, 105 Zephaniah, 189 n