THE SEARCH FOR A GLORIOUS LIFE

© 2017 - Reprinted with permission from Shining Lotus Metaphysical Bookstore newsletter November 2017

by Mario C. Veo

This is the story of a young man, and his search for “a glorious Life”

The story starts in a small mountain village, you know the kind, where everyone knows each other, you call all grownups ‘Uncle or Aunt’, and Life is peaceful … well, some may even say a little boring … what with all the healthy natural foods grown right there, and good, hard work following the seasons, there really isn’t much that can lead you to trouble, you know… [except boredom, perhaps]

You were all expected to provide for your family, and with a little left over to share with neighbors and the elderly – after all, they did the same for you, in your times of need, so it’s only proper that you should too … youngster would hunt for small game, or fish in the swift rivers, or even raise bees if they fancied … while grownups worked the fields, and some felled mighty trees for the local mill …
As I said, it was a peaceful Life … for most …

And so it happened that this particular young man decided that such a ‘simple Life’ was, after all, much too simple … and that he yearned – oh, so deeply yearned – for ‘adventure’ !
And his parents, who loved him very much, thought that if he really, really wanted to go … well then, they should not make him miserable and hold him back unduly …

The day of his departure swiftly came, and all the uncles and aunts gathered at the village square to see him off… many with small tokens and little gifts – a few dollars here and there “To buy you something sweets to remember us by…” or a healthy sandwich to have on the way “You never know what kind of food those outsiders may have… certainly not as good as ours…” and those that had too little to spare, well then, it was hugs and kisses, and loving embrace… [and maybe even a tear or two]

And so he left, to find ‘Life’ in the big world out there… first by train [that beast surely could move !], later by bus [oh, what sticky seats !], and finally he reached his destination – the Big City [oh, what a foul smell !]… but he didn’t care, for he had arrived , and finally he could start living !!!

He was young, he was eager, and strong to boot [never said he was lazy], and soon found a job – a little menial perhaps, but he was well liked, and soon was on track to be promoted…
Harder and harder he worked, saving every penny so he could buy a car [must have one of those, you know, town is too big to walk !], then more money to buy a house… no, a ‘condo’ [it’s more upscale, and who has time to mow the lawn and plant flowers – God forbid !]… then it was girls and dates, and oh the glorious sex !

Yes indeed, he had arrived – this was Life ! as he always wanted it to be !! of course there was so little time that he no longer called home every week, actually, not even every month… What could he say to them, they wouldn’t, couldn’t understand his Life – no longer walking barefoot on the river bank, or swimming butt naked in the creek… nope, he now wore Italian shoes and swam in a proper swimming pool… he had nothing left to tie him to his ‘rural’ [shudder !] background…

Now he found the ‘perfect girl’, and soon will be married… and when she asked about his parents he told
everyone that he was an orphan, raised by the State in different foster homes, until he was old enough to find his own way in the world…
Oh, how they admired him then, the orphan who made it rich ! the boy wonder! the man who forged a Life of wealth and success!… and how he gloried in this adulation, preening himself here and there … [he even overheard someone say that ‘men wanted to be him, and women wanted to sleep with him’… imagine that!]…… …….. ……..
And so he grew in wealth and power, buying up properties, industries, and even a bank or two … and if anyone opposed him, well then, they got what they deserved … [he was friends with some very influential people … and even some who could ‘convince’ others not to cross him … if you know what I mean]
His wife grew fat, his sons spoiled brats, and his many mistresses younger and younger… Ah, what a Life!
…….
Now he nears his final days, surrounded by lawyers and board of directors, jackals wanting to make sure they get their share before the old man dies [his sons too busy playing golf with the mayor, already got theirs]…
Do you think he made the right choice ? was this a Life worth living ? was he truly happy ?
Oh, one more thing, his parents died surrounded by loving friends …all bewildered that the son was not there…

Mario C. Veo is a teacher of Spiritual Science and a Healing Arts Practitioner. He teaches classes and individuals on Personal Transformation and the Expansion of Consciousness. Mario is available for personal guidance and consultations on Tuesdays and the last Sunday of the month at the Shining Lotus™ Bookstore.

JESUS, THE NAZARENE REFORMER - PART FOUR by L. W. de Laurence

From: 1948 - De Laurence's Catalog of Books on Occultism - Magic - Mysticism - Religion - The Cabala - Yoga - Astrology and all related subjects - Occult Students' Equipment - Talismanic and Symbolic Jewelry

L. W. de Laurence

Mystic and Master Occultist, de Laurence is world-famous as an Adept of the Highest Rank. His lifelong study of religious thought and emotion have brought him recognition and renown while his humanistic and sympathetic insight have endeared his name to thousands. His works are everywhere and his name stands high on the roster of independent and intrepid thinkers of all time.

PART FOUR

     On closer inspection, he becomes the double-headed Anubis, having one head human, the other a jackal's, whilst his girdle assumes the form of a serpent rearing aloft its crested head. "This figure," adds the author of the Gnostics, ets., "had two meanings - one obvious for the vulgar; the other mystical, and recognizable by the initiated alone. It was perhaps the signet of some chief teacher or apostle. This affords a fresh proof that the Gnostics and early orthodox (?) Christians were not so wide apart in their secret doctrine. King deduces from a quotation from Epiphanius, that even as late as 400 A.D. it was considered an atrocious sin to attempt to represent the bodily appearance of Christ. Epiphanius brings it as an idolatrous charge against the Carpocratians that "they kept painted portraits, and even gold and silver images, and in other materials, which they pretended to be portraits of Jesus, and made by Pilate after the likeness of Christ... These they keep in secret, along the Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle, and setting them all up together, they worship and offer sacrifices unto them after the Gentiles' fashion."

Epiphanius

     What would the pious Epiphanius say were he to resuscitate and step into St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome! Ambrosius seems also very desperate at the idea - that some persons fully credited that statement of Lampridius that Alexander Severus had in his private chapel an image of Christ among other great philosophers. "That the Pagans should have preserved the likeness of Christ," he exclaimed, "but the disciples have neglected to do so, is a notion the mind shudders to entertain, mush less to believe."

     All this points undeniably to the fact, that except a handful of self-styled Christians who subsequently won the day, all the civilized portion of the Pagans who knew of Jesus, Pythagoras and Apollonius. Whence such a veneration on their part for a man, were he simply, as represented by the Synoptics, a poor, unknown Jewish carpenter from Nazareth?

     As an incarnated God there is no single record of Jesus, on this earth, capable of withstanding the critical examination of science; as one of the greatest reformers, and inveterate enemy of every theological dogmatism, a persecutor of bigotry, a teacher of one of the most sublime codes of ethics, Jesus is one of the grandest and most clearly-defined figures on the panorama of human history. His age may, with every day, he receding farther and farther back into the gloomy and hazy mists of the past; and his theology - based on human fancy and supported by untenable dogmas - may, nay, must with every day lose more of it, unmerited prestige; alone the grand figure of the philosopher and moral reformer instead of growing paler will become with every century more pronounced and more clearly defined. It will reign supreme and universal only on that day when the whole of humanity recognizes but one father - the UNKNOWN ONE above - and one brother - the whole of mankind below.*

Publius Lentulus

In a pretended letter of Lentulus, a senator and a distinguished historian to the Roman senate, there is Jesus. The letter itself, written in horrid Latin is pronounced a bare-faced forgery; but I have found therein an expression which suggests many thoughts. Albeit a forgery it is evident that whosoever invented it has nevertheless tried to follow tradition as closely as possible. The hair of Jesus is represented in it as "wavy and curling... flowing down upon his shoulders." and as "having a parting in the middle of the head after the fashion of the Nazarenes." This last sentence shows: First. That there was such a tradition, based on the biblical description of John the Baptist, the Nazaria, and the custom of this sect. Second. Had Lentulus been the author of this letter, it is difficult to believe that Paul should never have heard of it; and had he known its contents, he would never have pronounced it a shame for men to wear their hair long,** thus shaming his Lord and Christ-God. Third. If Jesus did wear his hair long and parted in the middle of the forehead, after the fashion of the Nazarenes (as well as John, the only one of his apostles who followed it), then I have one good reason more to say that Jesus must have belonged to the sect of the Nazarenes, and been called Nasaria for this reason and not because he was an inhabitant of Nazareth; for they never wore their hair long. The Nazarite, who separated himself unto the Lord, allowed "no razor to come upon his head." "He shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair on his head grow," says Numbers (vi. 5). Samson was a Nazarite, i. e., vowed to the service of God, and in his hair was his strength. "No razor shall come upon his head; the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb" (Judges, xiii., 5). But the final and most reasonable conclusion to be inferred from this is that Jesus, who was so opposed to all the orthodox Jewish practices, would not have allowed his hair to grow had he not belonged to this sect, which in the days of John the Baptist had already become a heresy in the eyes of the Sanhedrim. The Talmud, speaking of the Nazaria, or the Nazarenes (who had abandoned the world like Hindu Yogis or Adepts) calls them a sect of physicians, of wandering exorcists; as also does Jervis. "They went about the country, living on alms and performing cures."*** Epiphanius says that the Nazarenes come next in heresy to the Corinthians whether having existed "before them or after them, nevertheless synchronous," and then adds that "all Christians at that time were equally called Nazarenes!"****
a description of the personal appearance of

   

     In the very first remark made by Jesus about John the Baptist, we find him stating that he is "Elias, which was for to come." This assertion, if it is not a later interpolation for the sake of having a prophecy fulfilled, means again that Jesus was a kabalist; unless indeed we have to adopt the doctrine of the French spiritists and suspect him of believing in reincarnation. Except the kabalistic sects of the Essenes, the Nazarenes, the disciples of Simeon Ben Iochai, and Hillel. Neither the orthodox Jews, nor the Galileans, believed or knew anything about the doctrine of permutation. And the Sadducees rejected even that of the resurrection.
_____________________________________________________
* Those who would know more of de Laurence's real opinion of Jesus should read his book, "The Immanence Of God," Order No. 22.
** 1 Cor. x i. 14.
*** See the "Israelite Indeed," vol. ii, p. 348; "Treatise Naeir."
**** "Epiph. ed Petar." vol. i, p. 117.

EPISTLE TO THE DISCIPLE by L. W. de Laurence

From: 1948 - De Laurence's Catalog of Books on Occultism - Magic - Mysticism - Religion - The Cabala - Yoga - Astrology and all related subjects - Occult Students' Equipment - Talismanic and Symbolic Jewelry

L. W. de Laurence

Mystic and Master Occultist, de Laurence is world-famous as an Adept of the Highest Rank. His lifelong study of religious thought and emotion have brought him recognition and renown while his humanistic and sympathetic insight have endeared his name to thousands. His works are everywhere and his name stands high on the roster of independent and intrepid thinkers of all time.

EPISTLE TO THE DISCIPLE

BY  de LAURENCE

"Thou, O, Disciple! whose mind is high,
"Observe my words, and read them with thine eye (spiritual);
"These Magic secrets in thy sacred breast repone,
"And in thy journey think of God alone'
"The Author of all things, that connot die'
"Of whom I now shall speak----"

     I tell thee here, Disciple, to observe my words, and read them with thine eye, that is, the eye of thine understanding; for, know, there are many that hear me speak, and, pretend to study my writings, that read not the meaning of my words.

     Wherefore shouldst thou contemplate these mysteries, of which, the good books on the subject of Magic, listed in this Great Catalogue teach, with so much constancy of mind, if thou didst not perceive in these works some great good most desirable? -- Listen, then, O young man, or young woman, and hear my words! Study my works; for they will show thee the dangerous precipice of vanity and head-long desire -- The teachings, contained in my books will describe to thee the stubborn and fatal will of thy passions, even with tears of contrition, and heartfelt compassion for thy experience -- I will lead thee, as it were, by the hand, through the labyrinths of vice, wherewith thou art daily surrounded; and, however prejudiced thou mightest be against the receiving of my doctrine, yet be assured, these teachings have in their possession the Magical virtue and power of binding thee to the principles taught therein, and making thee happy, in spite of thyself.

    Here is a great secret! thou shalt say -- every man and woman wishes to be happy - which I grant; but my answer is - most people prevent their own happiness; they destroy it, by suffering themselves to be governed by the outward principle of the flesh, thinking the greatest good to be in the satisfying - of their carnal appetites, or in the amassing together heaps of wealth, whereby they thrust down the meek and poor, raising up the standards of Pride, Envy, and Oppression. These things every day's experience confirms; nay, there are some so blind, that, in the possession of much wealth, they think there is nothing beyond it; insomuch, that they triumph in lust, oppression, revenge, and conumely. But how is it, thou wilt say, that seeing man is a reasonable being, he can possibly give up his government so easily? - I say, when man suffers the unreasonable and bestial part to deprave him, then he immediately becomes a slave, (and the vilest of slavery is that which deprives man of his social virtues;) for then, although in the possession of great worldly things, such as houses, estates, and all other temporal gifts, yet he becomes an immediate instrument to the Evil Astral Spirits and the Powers of Darkness, seeing that those riches he inherits are merely given him in this life, to bestow upon others those necessaries and comforts which he himself does not feel the want of, and by which he might, if not blinded by his passions and lusts, secure himself an eternal and incorruptible treasure. But he who possesses treasures without mercy, liberality, bounty, charity, & robs the Eternal Author of all good, of the honor due unto him, and is working destruction to his own soul; his riches, instead of benefiting himself and others, eventually and finally terminate as a curse; while he lives here he is a scourge to society; and, after he leaves this, it is plain enough pointed out in my writings what will be his situation and condition.

    Therefore, thou young man, or young woman that hast but a few years to live, study how to attain the stone I teach of; it will protract the beauty of thy youth, though thou shouldst live for centuries - it will ever supply thee with the means of comforting the afflicted; insomuch, that when thou hast attained this truly desirable and most perfect talisman, thy life become soft and pleasant; no cares, nor corroding pangs - no self-torment will ever invade thy mind; neither shalt thou want the means to be happy, in respect of the possession of the goods of this life but thou shalt have abundantly. But how and from what source, all this is to proceed - out of what thing or matter thou shalt attain thy wished-for end - the studying of Sacred Magic will sufficiently shew.

                                                                 Thy Friend And Brother In Magic,

                                                                  L. W. de Laurence