Cloud Upon the Sanctuary Two

This evening I will present the second part of a two part series of lectures on the book by Karl von Eckhartshausen, “The Cloud Upon The Sanctuary”. Tonight, I will give a brief review of the first lecture, followed by a study of the remaining three letters and the ideas contained therein. With these concepts and those previously presented, I will attempt to explain von Eckartshausen’s principles and method of obtaining," the recovery of Triple Word ”, or our original divine state, so that we might behold the sanctuary that is presently covered by a cloud or veiled.

For those of you who were present at the last lecture, I apologize for the repetition of the repetition of material previously covered, but I believe that the most central points of the book need to be mentioned for those new to this material. The Sanctuary that Von Eckartshausen speaks of is the “Holy of Holies” that was the inner sanctum of Solomon’s temple. This “Cloud” is like a “curtain “ which veils the sanctuary from our sight. Then he explains why the “Cloud upon The Sanctuary” is there. Its because of, “...the weakness of men, the lack of penetration in perceiving the relation and correspondence between physical and spiritual nature requires that the highest truths should only be imparted gradually.”

We concluded our last presentation of the first 3 letters as follows; natural man cannot partake of the mysteries of God. To experience these mysteries a complete change of our being must take place. This fundamental change in our state of being, will open the inner sensorium, and begin the process of re-generation of fallen man to his original divine state. The exterior church does, however, have a part in this. Eckartshausen sees external worship not as an end in itself, but insofar as it conforms to the “Interior Church” an aid, and a path to “interior worship”, from our fallen state to the complete re-generation of our being to its original, divine state.

To take up where we left off, now we will further examine the ways in which this change of being, the opening of this “inner sensorium” which is truly a re-birth, can take place; in its triple and sevenfold aspects, for the re-union with God and the rescue of mankind, as presented to us in the last three letters; four, five and six.

We will begin with a quote from von Eckartshausen, “There is but one God, but one truth, and one way which leads to this grand Truth. There is but one means of finding it. He who has found this way possesses everything in its possession: all wisdom in one book alone, all strength in one force, every beauty in one single object, all riches in one treasure only, every happiness in one perfect felicity. And the sum of all these perfections is Jesus Christ, who was crucified and who lived again.”

He admits that this great truth, expressed thus, is only an object of faith, but it can also become one of experiential knowledge . He explains how this knowledge was understood in the earliest days of Christianity under the name, Diciplina Arcana, and that it involved the mystery that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, and in it was contained the knowledge of the divine- human. He quotes the gospel of John (1 John, iv.5), where he says, “Hereby know ye the spirit of God, every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which confesseth not is not of God.” Echartshausen explains this, “that is to say, the spirit who separates in Him the divine and Human is not from God .

It may seem, at first, as if he is telling us nothing new, that Religion, more importantly, the religion of Christianity is the answer. If he is, in fact, telling us this, it is a Religion, and for that matter a Christianity that is most likely fundamentally different then that which we have known before. Hopefully we will be able to consider these concepts that may already be familiar to us in a new light. He says, “Religion considered scientifically is the doctrine of the re-union of man separated from God, to Man re-united to God.”...”This doctrine, therefore of re-union is of the most sublime importance, and being a doctrine it necessarily must have a method by which it leads and teaches us.”

This concept of religion as the means to re-union of Man with God or the human with the divine, he is not asking for us to simply believe in the truth of his statement. It is not simply a matter of faith, but it depends on revelation. Rather than have faith in some statement of religious truth, he asks us to have faith in our own revelation. Hence faith is founded on our state of weakness, he says, “Revelation entails the necessity of faith in revelation, because he who has no experience or knowledge whatsoever of a thing must necessarily believe that he wishes to know and HAVE experience. If faith fails, there is no desire for revelation, and the mind of man closes by itself its own door and road for discovering the methods revealed by revelation only.”

“In every grade in which the believer in revelation arrives, he obtains clearer light, and as this progressive illumination continues it is more convincing, because every truth of faith so acquired becomes more and more vitalized, passing finally into conviction.” Notice how these concepts are familiar to us as students of the Gnosis, though here they are explained differently. Possibly we have previously perceived Faith as nothing more than the lack of Gnosis, but now we might consider how in this context it is presented as the way to Gnosis. We will discuss this later if you like, now that we have begun to examine the doctrine, we are ready to discuss the method.

Since however the method speaks of, “recovering the inner-sensorium” that dormant faculty within us that must be awakened, I will first give a brief review of this subject from my last lecture. Again, my apologies to those who already heard this at the previous lecture. He describes the “inner sensorium” as a faculty that allows us to perceive these hidden truths. A story was told to us of how we once had this faculty, before “the fall”. In our present state he says this “inner sensorium” is, to quote, “enveloped in gross matter... and therefore prevents the exterior eye from seeing into spiritual realms.”

This condition has led us to a state of imprisonment where we cannot lead ourselves out of captivity, nor can any other natural “blind” man who has not achieved this re-activation of the inner-sensorium, or re-union of the human with the divine. He tells us how hopeless our efforts towards this end have truly been, how we delude ourselves that we have changed, when we are much the same as before. His answer to this is as follows, “There is but one who can heal these evils, but one who is able to open our inner eyes, but one who can free us from the bonds of sensuality. This One is Jesus Christ, the Saviour of Man, the Saviour because He wishes to obliterate from us all the consequences which follow as a result from the blindness of our natural reason.”

He tells us that many suppose that Jesus Christ has only redeemed, or bought us by his blood form eternal damnation or the eternal separation from God. To him, this is a limited perspective that we can be delivered from the miseries of this earth plane. He says that we ought to have acknowledged this most conciliatory promise that the time of redemption will come . This for the most part means OUR time of redemption. Individually and collectively.

I hope you are not all thinking that this is starting to sound like a sermon, but please try to be aware of the possibility that this mans message is putting across. That there is something for us to realize of the Christ within ourselves, there is a secret science of redemption within the outer form of Christianity. Once again, these are not statements to be “believed” in as an exterior truth, but a message is veiled within them to lead us to inner understanding and realization.

Now you may ask, what does this have to do with the methods you said you would discuss. Exactly this, that the possession of this “comforter” this promise of Christ is Spirit, and on Eckharthausen states that, “Spirit is a substance, an essence, an absolute reality.” and more importantly, ...its properties are indestructibility, uniformity, penetration, indivisibility, and continuity.” The possession of this is the possession of the Christ, it brings about a re-birth, and it is the only means of salvation. It is your guide and your teacher, you no longer need instructions directed to your Natural “blind reason”, if the Natural Man becomes subordinate to it. Now I have to admit, these are my conclusions, but you are welcome to find your own.

The method also consists in overcoming the problem. The problem is, unfortunately, is that we are Natural Man; we have weaknesses inherent in the essence of the matter from which we are made. Eckharthausen states, “Matter is not a substance, it is an aggregate. Hence it is destructible, divisible, and subject to change.” He tells us that when we examine the causes of the obstacles that keep us the Spirit in us ‘buried and bound’, they are, “The inflexibility of fibres, the immovability of temperaments, that would wish to obey the refined stimulation of the spirit, but are, as it were the material chains which bind them, preventing in us the action of the sublime functions of which the spirit is capable.”

He concludes this problem of our fundamental state of being as follows, “The Impossibility of mankind to transport itself, by itself, to true perfection, is a despairing thought, but at the same time, one full of consolation, because in consequence of this radical impossibility, and because of it, a more exhaled and perfect being than man permitted himself to be clothed in this mortal and destructible envelope in order to make the mortal, immortal, and the destructible indestructible; and in this object is to be sought the true reason for the incarnation of Jesus Christ.”

Hopefully we haven’t heard this message in the same way we might have received it in the past, but in a way that holds new meaning for us. Once again, I will need to repeat from our previous lecture; To get from one condition to the other, the immortal principle within us must he says “expand and absorb the corruptible principle so that the envelope of the senses should be opened, and man appear in his pristine purity.” Regeneration being a ‘dissolution and release from impure and corruptible matter which, “enchains our immortal essence, plunging into deathly sleep its obstructed vital force.” Here I picture the imagery of Arthur freeing the Sword from the Stone, liberating the obstructed vital force - That was my ‘Grail interlude’, now back to our topic.

Literally, we must partake of the living spirit, “the Immortal Matter”, he says, to counteract the “poison” we ingested by partaking of “the fruit of Good & Evil”. About this bible story he says, “Many men cannot understand the idea of the Tree of Good and Evil; this tree was, however, the product of movable but central matter, but in which destructibility had somewhat the superiority over the indestructible. The premature use of this fruit was that which poisoned Adam, robbing him of his immortality and enveloping him in this material and mortal clay, thenceforward he fell prey to the elements which originally he governed.”

“This unhappy event was, however, the reason why Immortal Wisdom, the pure metaphysical element, clothed itself with a mortal body and voluntarily sacrificed itself, so that the interior powers could penetrate into the center of destruction, and could then ferment gradually, changing the mortal to the immortal. Thus, when it came about quite naturally that when immortal man became subject to mortality through the enjoyment of mortal matter, it also happened quite naturally that mortal man could only recover his former dignity through the enjoyment of immortal matter .”

I decided to include this long quote from the author rather than paraphrase, because it illustrates a complete story, the Myth behind what he previously states all symbols of external worship are based upon; The Fall, the Reconciliation, and the Complete Atonement. A theme, which is frequently met with in this book; an illustration of the “threefold aspects” of the path of return. Now we will look briefly with our veiled eyes upon the mystery of the atonement, or salvation as we are meant to understand it; the mystery that “true religion” will reveal.

von Eckharthausen says that this great mystery was communicated to the disciples after the resurrection, Christ said, “And the glory which thou hast given Me, I have given unto them, that they may be One even as we are One,” (St. John xvii 22.) von Eckharthausen says, “This alliance is called the Union of Peace. It is then that the laws of God will be engraven in our hearts; we shall all know the Lord; and we shall be his people, and He will be our God.”

He then tells us, “All is already prepared for this actual possession of God; this union of God really possible here below; and the holy element, the effacious medicine for humanity, is revealed by God’s Spirit. The Table of the Lord is ready and everyone is invited; the true ‘bread of Angels” is prepared. The holiness and greatness of the Mystery which contains within itself every Mystery here obliges us to be silent, and we are not permitted to speak more than concerning its effects. The corruptible and destructible is destroyed and replaced by the incorruptible and the indestructible. The inner sensorium opens and links us to the spiritual world. We are enlightened by wisdom, led by truth and nourished with the torch of love. Unimagined strength develops in us wherewith to vanquish the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our whole being is renewed and made suitable for the actual dwelling place of the Spirit of God. Command over nature, intercourse with the upper worlds, and the delight of visible intercourse with the Lord are granted also!”

“The hoodwink of ignorance falls from our eyes, the bonds of sensuality break, and we rejoice in the liberty of God’s children. We have told you the chiefest and most important fact, if your heart having thirst for truth has laid hold on the pure ideas that you have gathered from all this, and have received in its entirety the grandeur and the blessedness of the thing itself as the object of desire, we will tell you further.”

Sounds good to me. Now the next letter ( Letter V) unfolds new information, building on that which has been alluded to before, but not developed in detail. We learn more about our captivity, and our redemption. He asks us to pay earnest attention to this new information, “ In our blood there is lying concealed a slimy matter (called the gluten) which has a nearer kinship to animal than to spiritual man. This gluten is the body of sin.” ...”This ferment of sin, as original sin, is more or less working in the blood of every man, and is transmitted from father to son, and the perpetual propagation of this baneful material, everlastingly hinders the simultaneous action of spirit with matter.”

This he presents to us as the material reality, which is the result of our “fallen state” which we previously had been told the story. We then learn that the shedding of Christ’s blood “which contained the divine and immortal substance” was necessary in order that it could penetrate the recesses of the earth and work a gradual dissolution of corruptible matter. In due time, he says, “a pure and regenerated earth would be presented to mankind, with the tree of life growing once more so that by partaking of its fruit, containing the true immortal essence, mortality is us will be once more annihilated, and man healed by the fruit of the tree of life, just as he was once poisoned by partaking of the fruit of death.’

This material reality is again presented as a myth, a sublime truth is conveyed, but a truth concealed. What is this fruit? What is the similarity between the instrument of the fall and the instrument of redemption? What must become One with us? These are questions we might ask ourselves. Now we will look at how these symbolic actions relate to what he calls, ‘the Sacerdotal Mysteries of the Elect and of the Inner Church.’

He tells us that when Christ as both High Priest and Victim, entered into the Holy of Holies, after accomplishing all that was necessary, he laid the foundation of the Royal Priesthood of his Elect, and taught these through the knowledge of his person and of His Powers, how they should lead, as the first born of spirit, other men, their brethren, to universal happiness. He says, “The Royal and Priestly Science is that of re-generation. It is called Royal Science because it leads man to power and dominion over nature. It is called Sacerdotal, because it sanctifies and brings all to perfection, spreading blessing and goodness everywhere. Melchizedek was the first Priest-King; all true priests of God and Nature descend from him, and Jesus Christ himself was united with him as “Priest after the order of Melchizedek. This word is literally of the highest and widest significance and extent (MLKIZ-DQ). It means literally the introducing of the true substance of vital life, and the separation of this true vital substance from the mortal envelope which encloses it.”

He explains that the Priest separates pure from impure nature, the sacrifice, or that which has been separated, consisting of bread and wine. He tells us, “bread means literally the substance which contains all, and wine the substance which vitalizes everything. Therefore, a priest after the order of Melchizedek is one who knows how to separate the all-embracing and vitalizing substance from impure matter, one who knows how to employ it as a real means of reconciliation and of re-union for fallen humanity, in order to communicate to him his true and royal privilege of power over nature, and the Sacerdotal dignity or the ability to unite himself by grace to the upper worlds.”

Herein is contained von Eckharthausen’s idea of the occupation of the priesthood, and highest aim of the Priest. This communion of bread and wine he says is the “counter-remedy which could be partaken of, containing within itself the divine and revitalizing substance, so that by partaking of this immortal food, poisoned and death-stricken man could be healed and rescued from his suffering.”

A final word on this subject from von Eckharthausen, “Jesus Christ has delivered us from all evil by his flesh , which he sacrificed, and by His blood , which he shed for us. In the clear under standing of what this flesh and blood consists, lies the true and pure knowledge of the real re-generation of man.”

The following letter, “six and last ” he begins with a new subject, the necessity of an entire change, what he calls “a complete and absolute overturning and upsetting of our being, in order that these divine transformations can take place”. “This change, this upsetting is called re-birth. To be born simply means to enter into a world in which the senses dominate, to be re-born means to return to a world where the spirit of wisdom and love governs, and where animal man obeys.”

This is a three-fold process, first the re-birth of our intelligence, second of our heart and will, and finally the re-birth of our entire being. The first two he says are spiritual, but the third is corporal, or bodily re-birth. The last has been obtained only by a few, and those to whom it has been given have only received it so that they might become the agents of God, to bring humanity nearer to felicity. He states however, that anyone who receives the spiritual life, and is born anew from the lord ‘enters into heaven’.

We are then instructed how the spiritual life differs from the Natural. The spiritual life consists in loving God above all else, and your neighbor as yourself. This double-love is the principle of the new life. The spirit of the children of God know no other love than the love of mankind, no other interest but that affecting every man, and no other pleasure than that of the well being of all. He says, “To change the spirit of this world into the Spirit of the children of God is to be regenerated , and it means to despoil the old man, and re-clothe the new. But no person can be re-born if he does not know and put into practice the following principle- that of truth becoming the object of our doing or not doing; therefore, he who desires to be re-born must know what belongs to re-birth. He ought to understand, meditate, and reflect on all this. Afterwards, he should act according to his knowledge, and the result will be a new life.”

In this effort he tells us we must have an instructor, but “of what use is an instructor if the pupil have no faith in him? This instructor is the Spirit of God himself, working within each of us, so that we may know the truth and act in accordance with it. He restates that because this is so, “the commencement of re-birth is faith in Revelation.” “When this most exalted faith has taken root in us, he says, we shall think often of the Saviour, and these thoughts turned towards him develop, and by his grace reacting in us, the seven closed and spiritual powers are opened.” By faith then we can come eventually to living faith, by which we find within ourselves and TRUE through our own experience , all that we have previously believed in merely with the confidence of a child; and this living faith proven by experience is the highest grade of all.

Before the Spirit of God can act in us, however, we must experience the following changes; the seven powers of our understanding are lifted up within us, and afterwards the seven powers of our heart or of our Will. Then he tells us about the seven powers of human understanding. The first power is to look at abstract objects, this he calls intuitis . The second, the perception of objects we look at abstractly - apperceptio . The third, the ability to reflect upon that which has been perceived - reflexio . The fourth, the consideration of these objects in their diversity - fantasia, imaginatio . The fifth, the power to decide upon something - judicium . The sixth co-ordinates all these previous abilities according to their relationships- ratio . The seventh and last, is the power of realizing the whole intellectual intuition - intellectus . This last one contains the sum of all the others.

The heart or will also divides itself into seven powers which taken together as one form the will of man. The first is the capacity to desire things apart from oneself - desiderium. The second the power to annex mentally things desired for oneself - appetitus. Third, the power of giving them form, realizing them to satisfy desire - concuppisentia. The fourth is that of receiving inclinations, without deciding to act on any, as in the condition of passion - passio. The fifth, is the power to decide for or against something - libertas. The sixth is the choice actually taken-electio. The seventh is the power of giving the object chosen an existence- voluntas.

He then describes how all these powers of the understanding, heart and will can be changed, or deflected, as it were to become the possession of the Spirit of God. Each seventh power, accomplishing in us complete union in divine understanding, love and oneness of our will with his. He says, “This actual possession of God or Jesus Christ in us is the Center towards which all the mysteries converge like rays to the circle eye; the highest of the mysteries is this consummation.” This is the means by which he says, “our human nature can be raised to its highest perfection, and humanity can be cured from all the evils of its weakness.”

Now that we have covered the problem of our weakness to perceive the truth, how and why it has come about, how faith in revelation can lead to revelation itself, what Religion can truly be for us, what the Sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood means, and how the sacrament of communion is an important aid to us in this process. Also how a complete “upset of our nature” can lead to re-birth, after which re-generation and the possession of living faith, knowledge and the possession by the Spirit of God, can return us to our true humanity.

Since it is that time of the year, we will end with a traditional Christmas Story as told by von Eckharthausen, “When our hearts, through living faith, have received Jesus Christ into them, then this Light of the World is born within us as within a humble stable. Our will is the Ox that is under the yoke of its passions. Our reason is the Ass who is bound through the obstinacy of its opinions, its prejudices, its follies. In this miserable and ruined hut, the home of all animal passions, can Jesus Christ be born in us through faith.”

"The simplicity of our souls, is as the shepherds who brought their first offerings, until at last the three principal powers of our royal dignity, our reason, our will, and our activity (The Three Magi) prostrate themselves before him and offer him the gifts of truth, wisdom, and love.”